FRIDAY 5TH NOVEMBER 2021

Ikoyi Building Collapse: Sanwo-Olu Declares Three Days of Mourning in Lagos Flags to fly at half mast Inaugurates tribunal Death toll rises to 38, developer’s body found Emergency teams ramp up recovery operation Segun James Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has declared three days of mourning in Lagos State over

the Ikoyi building collapse tragedy which occurred on Monday.

This is just as he has inaugurated the investigation

tribunal that would conduct an inquiry into what was responsible for the collapse of the 21-storey structure that was still under construction on

Gerrard Road, Ikoyi. Reports late yesterday indicated that the body of the property developer, Femi Osibona had been pulled from the

rubble while that of his friend, Wale Bob-Oseni, is yet to be recovered.

Bob-Oseni, who was to catch a flight to the US, briefly made

a detour to see the project on the invitation of the developer but did not walk out alive.

Continued on page 8

US Special Envoy Arrives Ethiopia as America Scrambles to Avert Bloodshed in Addis Ababa ... Page 42 Friday 5 November, 2021 Vol 26. No 9706. Price: N250

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MTN Group to Sell 575m Shares in Public Offer Announces completion of N90 billion Series II 10-year fixed rate bonds

Kayode Tokede The MTN Group has disclosed plan to proceed with a public offer of up

to 575 million shares in its Nigerian subsidiary, MTN Nigeria Communications Plc. The telco disclosed this in a statement signed by Company

Secretary, MTN Nigeria, Uto Ukpanah, a copy of which was made available to the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) yesterday.

It explained that the public offer was going to be by way of book building to institutional investors and fixed price to retail investors.

According to the MTN Group, the offer was anticipated to open this month, with a book build to institutional investors,

after which a fixed price was expected to be announced for retail investors also in Continued on page 42

Abdulsalami: Parties, Candidates Must Accept Outcome of Anambra Poll Once Credible, Free Says INEC has guaranteed transparent election 18 governorship hopefuls sign peace accord All is set for tomorrow, declares electoral body IPOB suspends stay-at-home order PDP reiterates call for Kanu’s release Chidoka, Abaribe, Amadi, others call for peaceful exercise NBC warns against inciting broadcast Nseobong Okon-Ekong, Nume Ekeghe in Lagos, Chuks Okocha, Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja and DavidChyddy Eleke in Awka Chairman of the National Peace Committee (NPC) and former Head of State, General Abdulsalamii Abubakar, has appealed to political parties and their candidates in Anambra State to accept the outcome of tomorrow’s governorship election once pronounced credible. Abdulsalamii made the call in Awka at a Peace Accord signing ceremony preparatory to the poll, which was attended by candidates of the 18 contesting political parties.

Abdulsalamii, who coordinated the signing of the Continued on page 8

CANDIDATES COMMIT TO PEACE ON ELECTION DAY...

L-R (Front row): Co-convener of the National Peace Committee and Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Most Rev. Matthew Hassan Kukah; former Head of State and Chairman of the Peace Committee, General Abdulsalami Abubakar; Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu; behind them from left are candidate of APGA in the Anambra Governorship election, Prof. Charles Soludo, candidate of the PDP, Mr Valentine Ozigbo; candidate of APC, Dr Andy Ubah and others, during the signing of peace accord amongst all the candidates participating in the governorship election in Akwa… yesterday

NBA Vows Not to Relent Until Perpetrators of Siege on Justice Odili's House are Punished... Page 6

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

LET THE ENQUIRY BEGIN...

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu (4th left), flanked by his deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat (3rd left); Chairman, Tribunal of Inquiry into the Ikoyi building Collapse, Mr. Toyin Ayinde (4th right) and other members of the Tribunal, during their inauguration at LASWA Building, Ikoyi...yesterday

NCC, Telcos Differ on N75bn Reserve Price for 3.5GHz Spectrum Fixes December 13 for auction Emma Okonji Ahead of preparations for 5G rollout in Nigeria in 2022, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has released draft Information Memorandum (IM) for 3.5GHz spectrum auction that would facilitate 5G rollout across the country.

The NCC had fixed December 13, 2021, for the 3.5GHz spectrum auction and had pegged the reserve price at $197.4 million (N75 billion).

But telecoms operators, including GSM Association (GSMA), have disagreed with the reserve price, and have called for a downward review to enable more operators participate in the 3.5GHz auction process.

The NCC at a stakeholders’ consultative forum, held in Lagos yesterday, presented the dissenting positions of the operators and the GSMA, which they had earlier submitted to the commission.

The stakeholders’ consultative forum, which was organised by the NCC further discussed the reserve price, among other issues such as longevity of the spectrum licence, the auction process, the requirements and rollout obligations.

While the NCC was considering 10 years period for the duration of the spectrum, the operators want the NCC to extend it to 20 years, to enable winners of the spectrum to have enough rollout time to utilise the spectrum in offering telecoms services to subscribers.

Reacting to the N75 billion reserve price, telecoms operators, which included MTN, Airtel, Huawei, Intelsat, including the GSMA, called on NCC, to consider the current exchange rate in pegging the reserve price.

They argued that if the reserve price remained high, it would discourage operators from participating in the auction process.

The Director, Spectrum Administration at NCC, Oluwatoyin Asaju, who presented the draft IM for the 3.5GHz spectrum auction at the stakeholders’ consultative forum said: “The IM provides guidance and process that the commission has decided to adopt for the licensing of the 3.5 GHz band, including details of the

spectrum to be made available, the pre-qualification process and the auction process.”

According to him, the 3.5GHz spectrum would come in five lots of 100 MHz each, to be cleared at different periods depending on the level of encumbrances on the slots.

He, however, said for the purpose of the auction, only two lots of 100 MHz each would be offered in the first phase of the auction, while the remaining three lots would be auctioned some other time.

For the auction process, Asaju explained that it would be Ascending Clock Auction (ACA), while the auction would be software based.

He said provisions had been made for manual auction should the auction software fail during the auction process, adding that

there would be a mock auction that would precede the main auction on December 13.

“A reserve price of approximately N75 billion, equivalent to $197,400,000.00, will to be used. An Initial Bid Deposit (IBD) equal to 10 per cent of the reserve price is adopted in line with the previous auction.

“New entrants are allowed to participate in the auction in addition to existing licensees and only licensees with 100 per cent regulatory compliance will be allowed to participate in the auction.

“The auction comes with a 10-year spectrum licence and a minimum requirement of a UASL Operational Licence. New entrants or licensees without a UASL will be required to additionally obtain a UASL Operational Licence,” Asaju said.

For the rollout obligations, he said operators would in the first two years, starting from the effective date of the licence, roll out service in at least one state in each geo-political zone, including federal capital territory, and in additional six states after the five years.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ibrahim Pantami, in his keynote address, said the planned 3.5GHz spectrum auction was another milestone in the desire of the federal government to roll out 5G network in the country as quickly as possible.

Pantami who was represented by a director in the ministry, Mr. Abubakar Abdullahi Ladan, said: “The 3.5GHz spectrum band (the lower C-band), which is not effective in satellite operations, has been recovered from

NIGCOMSAT and reallocated to the NCC in the first instance, for deployment of 5G technology based on terms and conditions agreed by both parties.

“The next step is auctioning of the spectrum which is under the purview of the regulator of the industry. However, for transparency and accountability in the sale of this common national heritage, the federal government thought it wise to involve relevant stakeholders in the process so that the general public is carried along.

“The purpose of this gathering therefore, is to discuss the Information Memorandum on the Auction of this 3.5GHz Spectrum Band allocated for deployment of 5G network in Nigeria.”

The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, in his speech, said: “5G technology

does not only offer enhanced broadband and ultra-reliable low/ latency communications, it also provides massive machine type communications, where lots of devices will seamlessly connect and interact independently with the Internet without human intervention.

“Given the importance of 5G technology and the critical role of spectrum, the International Telecommunications Union Radio Communication Sector (ITU-R) conducted studies in its last two study cycles during the World Radio Communication Conferences of 2015 and 2019 (WRC-15 & WRC-19) and identified spectrum for 5G technology including the 3.5GHz band, which stands out due to its excellent propagation characteristics which offer both capacity and coverage.”

CCB Seeks Public Office Holders’ Cooperation on Asset Verification Exercise Insists bureau cannot be used to witch-hunt anybody Laments underfunding of its activities Emmanuel Addeh in Abujai The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) yesterday called on all public office holders who are yet to fully cooperate with the organisation on its ongoing asset verification exercise to comply immediately.

The leadership of the CCB, a body under the presidency, noted that one year after it inaugurated several committees in Abuja, to verify assets declarations of federal public officers, several of those covered by the activities of the bureau had shunned its entreaties to do the right thing.

Chairman of the CCB, Prof.

Mohammed Isah, in a briefing in Abuja, emphasised that the committees were set up to verify the completed Assets Declaration Forms (CADFs) of public officers, whether appointed or elected.

In addition, he noted that part of the committees' job was to carry out due diligence by

cross-checking the declared assets, invite donor agencies and civil society groups to monitor the exercise, invite declarants for conference verification, carry out on-site inspection of assets as well as prepare and submit a report to the board for final consideration.

“In the light of the above, letters were sent to the concerned public officers asking for information, but the response is not so far encouraging.

Instead, we have been receiving complaints from different quarters where some public officers believe the bureau is merely targeting their personalities.

“Let me use this opportunity to state it clearly that the bureau, as a constitutional body, will never allow itself to be used by any one against anybody or authority.

We are merely discharging one of our constitutional mandates.

“It is therefore necessarily important to, in as much as we allay the fears of public officers, emphasise that cooperation of

public officers is mandatory, as nothing will stop the bureau from getting all the information it needs for effective conduct of this verification exercise,” Isah declared.

The CCB boss noted that of all its mandates, verification remains one of the most tedious exercises, requiring large capital, saying that though the bureau is poorly funded, it is determined to go ahead with the process to ensure the success of the fight against corruption.

While noting that the complex nature associated with assets declaration and verification would soon be a history, Isah disclosed that the bureau had completed all arrangements to launch its online assets declaration system.

“This is a system that when launched, will make the process of the assets declaration easy for the public and the bureau will also find it easier to get the most relevant information for its verification exercise.

“Finally, the CCB reaffirms its

position in ensuring that all public offices in Nigeria comply with the code of conduct for public officers in all their official engagements.

“This is in line with the agenda and commitment of this administration of President Muhammadu Buhari that no stone will be left unturned in fighting corruption as a cankerworm which eats down to the roots of our national development,” Isah added.

Describing the CCB as the pioneer anti-corruption agency established by the 1979 constitution and retained through the 1999 constitution (as amended), he pointed out that the vision of the organisation remains honesty, transparency and accountability in public office and to eradicate corrupt practices.

According to him, Part 1 of the third schedule to the constitution, empowers the bureau to administer assets declaration.

He added that examination

(verification) of declarations made to the bureau was part and parcel of assets declaration administration, without which, the assets declaration scheme stands incomplete.

“It is instructive to also draw the attention of the general public and public officers, in particular that the essence of the exercise goes to the root of ensuring that corrupt practices are stamped out of Nigeria’s public service,” he explained Quoting Paragraph 11(1) of Part 1 of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution, he affirmed that the law clearly states that every public officer shall submit written declaration of all properties, assets, and liabilities and those of their unmarried children under the age of 18 years at scheduled intervals.

“Any statement in such declaration that is found to be false by any authority or person authorised in that behalf to verify it shall be deemed to be a breach of this code,” he said.

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HONOUR FOR RETIRED CIVIL SERVANTS ...

L-R: Husband of the retiring head of Ogun State Civil Service, Alhaji Bashiru Otun; the retiring bureaucrat, Alhaja Selimot Otun; Governor Dapo Abiodun; his deputy, Engr. Noimot Salako-Oyedele and former head of Ogun State Civil Service, TPL Ajibola Amope Chokor at the reception in honour of the two retired head of Service and other retired and retiring permanent secretaries at the Arcade Ground, Governor's office, Abeokuta...yesterday

NBA Vows Not to Relent Until Perpetrators of Siege on Justice Odili's House are Punished Calls on IGP to unveil masterminds, warns against discordance tone Alex Enumah in Abuja The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has vowed not to relent until all those involved in last week’s raid on the Abuja home of Justice Mary Peter-Odili, the number two Justice of the Supreme Court.

The President of the NBA, Mr. Olumide Apkata, who stated this yesterday in Abuja, also noted that the denial of the federal government and its agencies was not enough and called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to unmask police officers

who might have directed the operation.

He spoke at a valedictory court session held in honour of Late Justice Samuel Oseji, who died late September at the age of 67.

Akpata, who stated that although the event was meant to celebrate the lifetime of the late jurist whom he said was of impeccable character, he added: "My Lord Hon. Justice Oseji himself would not forgive us if all we do today is to celebrate his life whilst we turn a blind eye on the actions of these agents of government who are

obviously intent on desecrating and denigrating this Honourable Court and indeed the entire Nigerian judiciary".

According to him, the sting operation by faceless security personnel calls for grave concern, describing it as an undoubted attempt to intimidate the Judiciary and to dissuade Judges and Justices from dispensing justice without fear or favour.

"We are thoroughly dissatisfied with the denials emanating from the relevant agencies and departments of Government and we have vowed to leave no stone

unturned in our bid to unmask all those behind this attack and to bring to justice anyone found culpable, no matter how highly placed," he said.

"Whilst we note that the IGP has announced the arrest of all the officers who invaded the residence of Hon. Justice Mary Odili, we however demand that the veil of secrecy behind which those who directed the said officers are hiding must be torn to shreds for them all to be brought to justice.”

The NBA President further assured that the body would with equal determination call

IGR: Ogun Generates N75 Billion in Nine Months Reveals why state joined VAT war James Sowole in Abeokuta The Ogun State Government has realised not less than N75 billion as Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in the last nine months.

The State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, disclosed this when he played host to members of the Institute of Chartered Accountant of Nigeria (ICAN) in his office at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.

Abiodun was quoted in a statement to have said the state was working towards surpassing N75 billion IGR figure next year.

The governor explained that his administration decided to take advantage of the Value Added Tax (VAT) controversy with the view to ensure that Ogun gets a fair share from the money being generated from the system.

He lamented that despite the huge revenue being generated from VAT, the state's share does not reflect what it generates, insisting the state action on the issue was to ensure fairness.

"We have joined the fray on the Value Added Tax because we believe that a state like us, which generates huge fund from it, is not getting fair share of the proceeds.

Not only are we producing, we are also a consuming state.

"We generate so much money, yet, we don't have a bigger chunk of that same fund that we worked

with our sweat and blood to generate," he noted.

The governor lamented that the country is spending so much subsidising petroleum products, thus wasting fund needed to provide basic amenities which would fast-track development.

He told the ICAN leadership that his administration was strictly adhering to all the tenets of good governance.

On the State's Accountability Index (AI) position of the ICAN, he observed that Ogun moved from the 29th to 19th position, expressing his administration's desire to see the state in the first three positions next year.

Abiodun urged the institute to look at ways of partnering the state in the area of youth development, employment and empowerment, saying the Institute Entrepreneurship Training Centre being planned for the state was a welcome development.

Enumerating some of his administration's achievements since he came on board, the governor hinted that housing projects sited across that state, was part of the Sustainability Model Strategy to generate employment and at the same time provide affordable houses to the people.

Speaking earlier, the ICAN president, Mrs. Comfort Olu

Eyitayo, noted the exemplary leadership style of the governor, which she said has impacted positively in the health, education, youth development and other sectors of the economy of Ogun.

She said that the institute has made its position known on topical issues such as VAT and the Petroleum Industry Act, adding that the institute would soon embark on another round of Accountability Index assessment

across the country.

She, however, pleaded for the cooperation of the state ministries, departments and agencies to enable place the state in its rightful position.

Eyitayo said the visit was as part of the stakeholders engagement to reposition the Institute in order to make it stand out as a foremost accounting professional body in the country.

out and discipline any of their members who is found to have been part of this despicable attempt to ridicule the Judiciary.

He also advised members of the Bar against singing discordant tunes in condemnation of attempts to desecrate the sanctity of the Bench.

He said: "The cacophony of often discordant voices emanating from what ordinarily should be one Bar, on this same issue, has almost become comical and those to whom we purport to direct our umbrage may be forgiven for not taking us seriously.

"It serves no useful purpose, after the NBA has clearly articulated a position on such a serious matter, for other groups within the Association, whether they be a body of senior or junior advocates, to muddy the waters by embarking on needless road-shows and issuing statements that only serve to portray our Association, and indeed our approach to the issue at hand, as uncoordinated and ultimately ineffective."

He emphasised that the NBA remains the only voice of the legal profession in Nigeria, saying it has spoken unequivocally on the issue and shall follow it up with unmistakable resolve.

While extolling the virtues of

the late Justice, both the NBA and body of senior advocate (BOSAN) represented by Awa Kalu, hailed his dedication and commitment as judicial officer.

The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Ibrahim Muhammad, on his part described Oseji's thirtyfive years in services to fatherland and the generality of mankind as meritorious.

According to Muhammad, his rise to the Supreme Court bench was a testimony of hard work and total submission to the dictates of his profession.

"His judicial pronouncements have occupied vital pages of law books across the continent of Africa and beyond," he added.

Hon. Justice Samuel Oseji who hails from Idumuje-Uno in Aniocha North Local Government of Delta State was born in Jos Plateau State on the 2nd June 1954.

He attended the University of Nigeria, Nsukka ( UNN to study law in 1980 and after graduating with LL.B (Hons) Degree, he immediately proceeded to the Nigerian Law School in Lagos where he was subsequently called to the Nigerian Bar in 1985.

He was sworn into the bench of the apex court in November 2020, but died late September after a protracted illness.

Power Minister: Why Mambilla, Kashambilla Projects Have Not Been Completed Says access to N160bn bilateral loan for power projects deferred to 2022 Emma Okonji The Minister of Power, Engr.

Abubakar Aliyu yesterday explained why Mambilla and some other power projects across the country were yet to be completed.

This was as he disclosed that the draw-down of the N160 billion bilateral loans for power projects has been deferred till 2022.

The minister gave the explanation when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Power to defend the ministry’s

N301.258 billion 2022 budget proposal.

Addressing lawmakers on status of Mambilla, the Minister said there were some legal issues impeding its completion.

According to him, "It is being told in the press that we have a case on Mambilla. Someone has taken us to court to claim that he was the initial contractor for Mambilla and the Chinese, who are supposed to bring money for the construction withheld their money because of that arbitration and it is not in Nigeria.

“It has been taken to Paris,

which we have been working seriously even before now.

And now we have reactivated discussions and we are working on that to see how we can pull down that encumbrance. Actually I would not want to continue to talk on that since it is something that is being negotiated at a certain level.

"Once you say much about it, it may affect what is going on since we have not reached any agreement on anything yet. But we are working day and night to see how we can resolve that issue. The con contract has been

signed since 2017, but the financial contract between the Nigeria and Chinese was not signed.

“So nothing about money exchanging on Mambilla as far as the loan is concerned but we are trying hard to see how we can resolve the legal issues, which the Attorney General is heading that team. This is as far as i can say on the issue of Mambilla."

On Kashambila, the Minister explained that they were working towards reconnecting villages surrounding the facility with electricity, to be able to commission the project.

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PAGE EIGHT ABDULSALAMI: PARTIES, CANDIDATES MUST ACCEPT OUTCOME OF ANAMBRA POLL ONCE CREDIBLE, FREE peace understanding, assured that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had promised a credible election in the state.

Chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, said the commission had, against incredible odds, done all it should to make the electoral process smooth. Yakubu called for a violence-free poll.

Remarkably, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) had a change of heart and suspended its stay-at-home order, billed to commence today.

But the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) called for the release of the detained IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu. PDP said releasing Kanu and engaging the group in a dialogue would help to stem the tide of insecurity in Anambra State and the entire South-east.

In a similar vein, some key voices in the South-east called for a halt to violence and hostility in Anambra State. Former Minister of Aviation, Chief Osita Chidoka; Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe; and a law lecturer and activist, Dr. Sam Amadi, pleaded for peaceful conduct of the governorship election.

But the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) warned all broadcast stations covering the Anambra State governorship election to avoid languages and scenes likely to encourage, incite or compromise the unity or corporate existence of Nigeria.

Speaking at the Peace Accord signing ceremony held at the Professor Dora Akunyili Women Development Centre, Abdulsalamii urged the governorship hopefuls to abide by the letter and spirit of the peace pact, which they had agreed to. He told the candidates that the peace accord was a clarion call to them to commit to a peaceful election, adding that the pact became necessary following the history of electoral violence in the country.

Abdulsalamii stated, “In Nigeria, almost every election was accompanied by violence, ballot box snatching, vote buying, outright disruption of the process, and in some cases, the intimidation of ordinary citizens, who simply want to select a leader, who will govern them.

“We, the members of the National Peace Committee, have come to Anambra to support a peaceful electoral process. We

cherish Anambra and we cherish the peace and unity of Nigeria.

Most importantly, we want to contribute our own quota to see that the governorship election in Anambra is devoid of violence.

“Therefore, the signing of the peace accord today is not a mere exercise, it is, indeed, a clarion call for all the candidates and the political parties and all people of Anambra people to commit themselves to have peaceful process.

“We call on all the candidates, political parties and their supporters to accept the outcome of the poll as long as it is adjudged to be free, fair and credible. I have been assured by the chairman of INEC that all efforts are in place to ensure a free and fair election.

“All of us have the responsibility to deepen the cause of democracy in every part of Nigeria. We want every Nigerian to begin to enjoy the fruits of democracy. This can only happen, when there is peace and stability.”

The peace deal signing ceremony saw the candidates of all the political parties participating in tomorrow’s election, the INEC chairman, and NPC chairman, putting pen to paper and signing up to an agreement to ensure peace before, during, and after the November 6 governorship election.

The event, organised by Abdulsalamii and Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah to foster peace among politicians and their supporters, was attended by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Usman Baba, represented by Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police Joseph Egbunike, who hails from Anambra State.

Others at the ceremony were Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Anambra State; the leadership of all the political parties; and Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) Chairmen.

Those who signed the agreement included former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and candidate of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Professor Charles Soludo; Mr. Valentine Ozigbo of PDP; Senator Ifeanyi Ubah of Young Progressives Party (YPP); and Andy Uba of All Progressives Congress (APC).

All Set for Tomorrow, Says INEC The INEC chairman said the

commission had done all it should to make the electoral process smooth.

Yakubu appealed for a violence-free poll.

He commended the National Peace Committee for always lending INEC a helping hand whenever it was faced with the challenge of insecurity.

Yakubu said, "Faced with the current situation in Anambra State, the commission once again appealed to the NPC to bring parties and candidates to commit to peace before, during and after the election.

We believe that Anambra cannot be different from Edo and Ondo. For this reason, we are also confident that, just like Edo and Ondo, the election on Saturday will be peaceful and the outcome will reflect the will of the Anambra voters.

"INEC has done everything possible to ensure credible elections in Anambra State under very difficult circumstances. I would like to appeal to all parties, candidates and other actors to play their roles in support of the Peace Accord.

"Without peace, our deployment plans, innovations in voter accreditation and result management, safety of election duty personnel and accredited observers, security of election materials and, ultimately, the credibility of the polls will be undermined. That is why we must all support today’s Peace Accord and the work of the NPC, in general.

"Before I conclude, let me re-echo what the chairman of the NPC has just said. Those who signed the Peace Accord must abide by its letter and spirit in words and deeds.”

IPOB Suspends Stay-athome Order A statement yesterday, signed

by IPOB’s Director of Publicity, Emma Powerful, said the group decided to call off its stay-at-home order following appeals by elders in the South-east, coupled with the grave economic implications of the movement restriction for the people.

The body urged the people of Anambra State to come out and vote in the governorship poll without intimidation or fear.

The statement said, “Following the genuine intervention of our elders, esteemed traditional institutions/rulers and religious leaders, and after due consideration of the positive impacts of their engagement, and sequel to the fact that our elders have spoken

in our terms, the leadership of IPOB, ably led by Nnamdi Kanu, hereby and immediately calls off the one-week sit-at-home earlier declared to commence tomorrow, November 5, to November 10, 2021.

“We have equally considered several appeals by our mothers, who earn their living based on their daily economic activities, which will obviously be affected if the region is locked down for one whole week.

It's never our intention to add to the pains of our people, hence, our decision to suspend the sit-at-home.

“The people of Anambra State should go out en masse and peacefully exercise their franchise come 6th November 2021, and accordingly, choose a leader of their choice and should not be intimidated by anybody, group of persons or security agents.

“Anambrarians should vote and standby to protect their votes. No rigging of any kind will be tolerated on the Anambra State governorship election. It must be transparent, free and fair to all.

“We wish to thank IPOB members worldwide, friends of Biafra and lovers of freedom for their continued support for our dogged struggle for independence.

“May we, therefore, warn detractors, traitors and our enemies not to cause confusion by imputing motives to our decision. IPOB doesn't expect anybody to observe, monitor or enforce the suspended order, otherwise, such action will be considered a rebellion to the highest leadership of our global movement.

“On the other hand, our oppressors should not take our decision as an act of cowardice.

IPOB still believes that our elders, religious leaders, political leaders and various stakeholders will live up to their promises in their engagements and efforts towards securing the unconditional release of our leader.

“We, therefore, urge everyone to go about their lawful businesses without fear of any molestations.

All agents of darkness recruited by our enemies to inflict pain on our people under the guise of enforcing the sit-at-home are hereby warned to steer clear or brace up for the consequences of their evil action.”

State PDP Chapter Reiterates Call for Kanu’s Release

PDP, in a statement by the publicity secretary of the party’s Publicity Committee for the Anambra election, Ken Okologbo, said, "President Yar’Adua used the stick and carrot approach to stem the issue of militancy in the South-south. This brought the present peace experienced in that region and greatly increased our revenue as a country.

“The APC government will rather continue to leave us in this terrible state of insecurity all over the country. We are fast turning into Afghanistan, as rightly described

by Governors Okowa and Ortom."

The statement said PDP ended its campaign at Uga, in Auguata Local Government Area of Anambra State. It alleged that the party was "mindful of the propaganda going on that money was used in mobilising the huge crowd that thronged Alex Ekwueme Square on Tuesday 2nd November 2021, where we had our official flag-off.

"Our opponents are intimidated by the overwhelming welcome Ndi Anambra have shown for our candidate Valentine Ozigbo and our party."

The party called on INEC to go beyond the peace accord and ensure that incident forms were not used during the election.

PDP stated, "We have all been assured that the Bimodal system of accreditation will be applied. If the card reader fails to recognise your thumbprint then the facial features will also come into play. This was used in Isoko South by-election to the Delta State House of Assembly and we saw how successful it turned out to be.

"We are set to win this election and we urge Ndi Anambra to come out to vote for PDP. A vote for our party is a signal to what will be happening in Ekiti, Osun and eventually in 2023 to free us of the rudderless government of APC that has left us in this complete state of insecurity presently threatening the elections in the South-east."

Chidoka, Abaribe, Amadi, Others Call for Peaceful Exercise The plea for peace was the central point of a conversation initiated and anchored by Chidoka on practical ways to push through the agitation of the South-east people, particularly,

within the context of the Anambra election.

The discussants, including Abaribe and Amadi, said call became imperative to prevent external forces, criminal elements and desperate politicians from hijacking the genuine agitation of the people and cashing in on the situation in the state to unleash violence and frame up innocent persons to justify state-backed brutality.

The trio urged the various groups agitating in the region to shame and disarm their traducers by asking Anambra people to come out and choose the leader that approximates the type of personality they would represent Ndi Igbo in their yearnings as a people.

The discussants believed, “The act of Ndi Anambra voting on Saturday is a major part of the affirmation of our self-determination as a people. If the people cannot decide who will govern them through an election, they are not close to determining their future through a democratic process. Denying the people the right to vote is a major denial of their rights to self-determination.

“When the people elect a leadership that represents their hopes and aspirations, they are in a position to pursue the people's agenda more effectively. Whatever is the plan, it has to go through a political process. If you have governors and legislators, who share in the vision, it would be easier to realise such vision.”

Abaribe pointed out he would have languished in prison if he was not a senator and ready to meet the bail condition that required a senator to stand surety.

"You have to be in the game to score a goal," Abaribe explained.

Amadi called for a more pragmatic strategy in the Southeast, like the Catalonia approach of self-development and using the movement as a platform to achieve political control.

In his summary of the discussion, Chidoka restated the call for a peaceful election on Saturday and noted that the election was a significant part of the self-determination process of the people. He said the poll was an opportunity for the people to elect the leader that would best advance their agitation instead of allowing situations that give their traducers an Continued on page 42

IKOYI BUILDING COLLAPSE: SANWO-OLU DECLARES THREE DAYS OF MOURNING IN LAGOS As at the time of going to press, nine people were rescued, 38 have been confirmed dead The Governor said all flags are to be flown at half-mast in public and private buildings and official engagements cancelled during the mourning period.

The Lagos State Government in a statement signed by Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso commiserated with all those who lost their loved ones in the unfortunate incident.

According to the statement, "Governor Sanwo-Olu has visited the site thrice to encourage the rescuers and console relations of those who are believed to have been trapped in the 21-storey building. “He was today at the hospital to cheer up those injured before swearing in a six-man panel of Inquiry to find out why the building went down and recommend measures to prevent such incidents."

The governor who inaugurated the six-man panel of enquiry also signed the instrument legitimising the composition of the panel empowering the tribunal to invite or summon anyone and organisation useful to the investigation.

Members of the tribunal, who were totally drawn from the private sector, took the oath at the event held in the LASWA Building at Falomo, Ikoyi.

“Their duty begins immediately and they are expected to report back within four weeks,” the

statement added.

President of Nigeria Institute of Town Planners (NITP), Mr. Toyin Ayinde, is the chairman of the panel, while Ekundayo Onajobi, a lawyer in a private law firm, is the Secretary.

Other panel members are a structural engineer, Dr. Akintilo Idris Adeleke; an architect, Yinka Ogundairo; representative of Institute of Builders, Mr. Godfrey O. Godfrey, and Mrs. Bunmi Ibrahim, a real estate lawyer.

Sanwo-Olu, who described the event as a “sad one” for Lagos was visibly in a sombre mood during the inauguration.

The governor said members of the public deserved to know what went wrong.

He stressed that the work of the panel would not bring back the lives lost, but added that it would help to prevent reoccurrence of such tragic events.

He said: “We are gathered here to perform a sad but necessary duty, which is the inauguration of a 6-member Panel of Inquiry into the collapse of the 21-storey building at Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, on Monday. It is a solemn moment for me personally, but this is an important assignment.

Indeed, the generation coming after will not forgive us if we don’t do the right thing on this incident.

“The inauguration of this panel shows sincerely that the state government is interested in unravelling and get to the root cause of what happened

to the building, so that everyone concerned, including the government, will learn from the very unfortunate incident.

“Lagosians and the world will be watching and waiting keenly, with the full expectation that the immediate and remote causes of this tragedy will be uncovered,” he added.

Sanwo-Olu identified with distraught families of victims trapped under the collapsed structure, expressing the belief that the outcome of the investigation would assuage their pains and worries.

The oath taken by the tribunal members, the governor said, empowers them with adequate privileges of government powers to conduct independent investigation without fear, favour, interference and restrictions.

The governor believed the tribunal members would bring their expertise and professionalism to bear in unravelling the infractions that brought down the building.

“What this tribunal will be doing over the course of the next few weeks will have important implications for building safety and for emergency response, not just in Lagos, but in the entire country.

“It will also go a long way towards ensuring that the families of the innocent victims of this avoidable tragedy experience some sort of closure and get justice,” Sanwo-Olu said.

Ayinde said Lagos was in its

“dark period”, given the record of fatalities from the site of the building collapse.

He pledged on behalf of members to discharge the duty with all sense of responsibility and in line with ethics.

“We accept at our own liberty and with humility the important assignment the State has placed before us. We will go ahead with a sense of dedicated responsibility.

This exercise can only make the expected difference if we all agree to place value on Nigerian life.

“As members, we promise to be guided by professional standards and hope that we will chart a new course that will guarantee the safety of lives of Nigeria citizens,” Ayinde said.

For the third time within 72 hours, Babajide Sanwo-Olu was at the site of the Ikoyi building collapse to see how the search and recovery operation was being conducted, and also to boost the morale of the emergency responders on site.

The governor expressed satisfaction with the rescue operation, commending the first responders for their efforts.

He also met with some of the distressed family members at the site, cheering them and raising their hopes, while the rescue efforts progressed.

Sanwo-Olu was in company of his deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, at the site for over three hours.

The actual number of persons still trapped in the collapsed building remained unclear as

at Thursday afternoon.

Sanwo-Olu, while giving an update to the press, disclosed that family members had submitted 19 names of those still missing, saying the ongoing corona inquest on the bodies evacuated from the site was expected to be concluded today (Friday), after which families would be invited to identify them.

He said: “Yesterday (Wednesday), we opened a register for people that have missing persons or loved ones whom they believed must have been at the site before the collapse.

“As I speak here, it is only 19 names of missing persons that have been registered. Some of them have pictures, others do not. This list would help us to get information on manifest of those at the site.

“As at this afternoon, we have recovered a total of 32 bodies. We are conducting a corona inquest on the bodies and by tomorrow (Friday), we hope the exercise would have been concluded.

That is the deadline we gave to the corona, so that the families can come and identify the bodies recovered so far.”

Earlier on Thursday, the Governor visited Lagos Island General Hospital where survivors of the building collapse are being given medical attention.

One of the nine people rescued alive, Sanwo-Olu said, has been moved to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) in Ikeja for advanced

medical examination, “but he is not in a life-threatening situation.”

Three survivors were discharged two days ago, he disclosed.

The governor said he had ordered structural integrity test on two high-rise structures in the premises where the 21-storey collapsed. The action, he said, was necessary to safeguard the lives of emergency workers on the rescue operation.

Sanwo-Olu appealed to journalists covering the incident on speculative reporting and sensationalism, asking them to confirm any unclear details about the search and rescue operation from the official channel of communication.

The governor was reacting to inconsistent figures of fatality being spread by the media.

He said: “Ministries of Information, Special Duties and Health are fully on ground at the scene. Among these key ministries, members of the public can get answers to any information not clear to them.”

The multi-sectoral search and rescue operation was ongoing as at press time. The effort was being led by teams of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) and National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), with the support of construction giants, Julius Berger, Craneburg, HiTech and China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC).

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COMMENT

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

ENOUGH IS NOT ENOUGH YET

Persisting executive lawlessness suggests a need for joint control of coercive machinery of state, argues Bolaji Adebiyi

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We are deeply saddened and taken aback by this uncivilised and shameful show of primitive force on an innocent judicial officer that has so far spent several years of her productive life serving the country she calls her own.”

Those were the angry words of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in a statement by Festus Akande, its director of information, reacting to last Friday’s midnight raid by security agents on the Abuja home of Mary Odili, a justice of the apex court. The exercise was reportedly carried out by agents from the police force and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in aid of a search warrant issued by a magistrate.

Interestingly, all the security agencies, reportedly involved, and the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation have denied fore-knowledge of what the apex court referred to as a dastardly act.

Expectedly there has been a deluge of condemnation of the incident.

The Nigerian Bar Association, the Body of Benchers and the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria have risen as one to upbraid the federal government for the action the Supreme Court suggests is an intimidation of one arm of government by the other.

As usual, all sorts of investigations have been announced with Alkali Usman, the inspector-general of police, saying on Tuesday that all the perpetrators of the incident have been arrested. Hopefully, it would not be long before the outcomes of the enquiries would be made public.

The incident occurred exactly five years after similar raids on the residences of two justices of the court, Sylvester Ngwuta and John Okoro; two judges of the Federal High Court, Adeniyi AdetokunboAdemola and Nnamdi Dimgba; and two judges of state High Courts, Kabiru Auta (kano) and A.I. Umezulike (Enugu), by the agents of the Department of State Services. On that occasion the response to the umbrage of the public against the midnight operations spread over two states and the Federal Capital Territory, was that the secret service was on sting operations to arrest evidence of corruption by the judicial officers. The fears of the unimpressed public were confirmed later when years of prosecution of the affected jurists yielded no conviction in the courts of law. No wonder, therefore, the apex court referred to that incident in its Tuesday statement as questionable.

“This incident brought back, rather painfully, the ugly memory of the October 2016 midnight invasion of the homes of our respected justices with no satisfactory explanations as to the true motive behind such brazen assault on our collective sensibility,” it said, adding: “We wish to make it abundantly clear that the Nigerian Judiciary is the third arm of the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and should be respected and treated as such.”

Embedded in the anger of the apex court is the disdain with which the executive arm of government has treated the judicial arm, particularly since the Muhammadu Buhari administration mounted the saddle in 2015. Notorious for its disrespect for due process and obedience to court orders, it opened hostility to the judiciary with that October 2016 raids. Very few people were left without the conviction that the invasion of the justices’ quarters was intended to intimidate the judiciary. References were made to the series of judicial setbacks

THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS THAT RESISTING THE EXECUTIVE’S BULLY MUST GO BEYOND BELLY-ACHING AND THREAT ISSUING FROM THE OTHER ARMS. BOTH AGGRIEVED ARMS MUST COME TOGETHER TO TAKE CONCRETE ACTIONS TO ABATE ITS ARROGANCE AND HOSTILITY. THIS MUST INCLUDE, IN THIS SEASON OF CONSTITUTION AMENDMENT, A WHOLESOME REVIEW OF THE EXCLUSIVE CONTROL OF THE COERCIVE MACHINERY OF STATE

the secret agency and indeed its anti-corruption partners had suffered in courts of the jurists around the period. It was even said then that the actual target of the raid was the next-in-line to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, who was waiting to succeed the retiring Chief Justice Mahmud Mohammed.

Any doubt about this dubious intention was cleared barely a month later when Mohammed eventually retired in November and President Muhammadu Buhari decided to sidestep the National Judicial Council, refusing to send Onnoghen’s name to the Senate for confirmation as recommended by the NJC. It took the absence of Buhari and the acting presidency of Yemi Osinbajo, a silk professor of Law and vice president of Nigeria before Onnoghen’s name appeared in the Senate three months later.

If Buhari was unhappy about Onnoghen’s clearance behind his back, he could not show it until two years later when the chief jurist of the nation was hurled before an administrative panel, the Code of Conduct Tribunal, charged with false declaration of assets. Although leading legal luminaries, including the NBA raised issues about the constitutionality of the procedure applied, the president removed the chief justice from office through a questionable exparte order of the CCT and replaced him with Ibrahim Mohammed.

Opposition politicians and social critics read into that perfunctory and obvious presidential disdain for clear provisions of the 1999 Constitution as altered with regard to discipline of judicial officers, a burning desire of the Buhari administration to bring the judicial arm under its control.

Meanwhile, it is not only the judicial arm that is being twisted by the executive under Buhari’s watch. In the early hours of 8 August, 2018, barely two years after the invasion of judges’ quarters, the nation woke up to the news of the siege laid to the National Assembly by operatives of the DSS. Although no clear reasons were given for this desecration of the legislative arm of government, there had been no love lost between the leadership of federal legislature then under an astute politician, Bukola Saraki, then president of the Senate and the executive. Unfortunately for Lawal Daura, the DSS boss, Buhari was not in town when he carried out his audacious heist. Faced with massive public outrage, Osinbajo, who was in charge of affairs, had little or no other option than to shove Lawal aside. But the damage had been done. The symbol of democracy had been defiled to the anger of the public which had become concerned about the growing lawlessness of the executive arm of government.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday made a direct reference to this rising bully by the executive arm when it said: “We have had a full dosage of this fusillade of unwarranted and unprovoked attacks on our judicial officers and even facilities across the country and we say it loudly now that enough is enough.” It then warned: “The Nigerian judiciary cannot only bark, but can also bite. We can no longer be treated with disdain and levity. The rule of law and constitutionality must govern our conduct so that we can tag along with the comity of nations and be taken seriously, too.”

Adebiyi, managing editor of THISDAY Newspapers, writes from bolaji.adebiyi@thisdayonline.com

NGF AND THE US$418M PARIS AGENCY FEES Nosike Ogbuenyi urges the governors to honour the agreement they freely entered

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n recent times, the payment of the approved $418m service fee to four consultants who facilitated the US$13 billion Paris/London Clubs refunds to the 36 states and 774 local governments has been hugging unnecessary controversy. This follows the opposition of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) leadership to deductions from their share of the Federation Account for the payment. The NGF is calling for forensic audit of the approved part payments and further investigation of the consultants by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The governors are also contending that the approved US$418m part payment was too much for the states to shoulder. The NGF has even hired a ranking Lagos lawyer to file a suit seeking to halt the release of the money to the consultants despite presidential approval of same.

The approved consultancy payments are service fees which are supposed to have been deducted at source by the Federal Government during the payment of the various tranches of London/Paris Club refunds to states beginning from 2016. The states had collected the entire payments then with the promise that the service fees accruing to the consultants would be set aside and paid to them.

But that pledge has not been kept thereby constraining the consultants to file various suits in court to compel the government to pay. They got judgments in their favour which left the Federal Government at the mercy through invocation of garnishee orders.

The Federal Government in approving the US$418million part payment to the four consultants came out with a staggered payment arrangement which spreads the deductions over a period of 10 years. The reason was to make the payment easier to bear by the states. The FG has demonstrated commitment to have the matter of the payment resolved

to avoid further embarrassment of government through enforcement of garnishee orders by the consultants.

Matter of fact, enforcement actions have already been carried out against the Federal Government in various cases through garnishee orders absolute made against the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) attaching Federal Government funds.

Under the prevailing situation, the Federal Government is bearing liability over the actions of NGF and ALGON in not paying the consultants when they reaped the refunds. Yet the consultants were lawfully engaged by them. It smacks of selfishness and lack of honour for the NGF to be resisting efforts to defray the liability incurred by them without providing any safety net for the Federal Government. And should the Federal Government accede to the request of the governors by not implementing the payment, the implication is that the judgment creditors (consultants) will continue to threaten or take actual steps against the assets and funds of the Federal Government and its agencies. Such enforcements would come with the accompanying adverse effects and legal burden that would be suffered by the Federal Government and its officials and not the NGF or ALGON. The NGF’s contention that the US$418million approved fees is huge cannot suffice when one remembers that the staggering sum of $13billion fully reaped by the states and the LGAs came through the sweat of the consultants. There were also other direct or indirect salutary effects of the consultants’ services such as the $18b accumulated debts earlier written off by the London/Paris Club creditors and the US$12billion debt buy back deal. This hindsight, together with the binding agreements, explains why the Federal Government, which knows more about the matter, has demonstrated clear commitment to

making the payments in order to keep faith with agreement terms and avoid further embarrassing judgment enforcements.

It is not enough for the NGF to accuse the consultants and some Federal Government officials of corruption in a futile bid to demonize them into abandoning the quest for the payment. Honouring the terms of the agreements with them will enhance rather than diminish the anti-corruption stance of the current administration. It will preserve the integrity of the governors as well. There are still many Nigerians who will not fall for the cheap antic of spraying the odium of corruption on persons and companies asking to be paid for agreed lawful services rendered.

The fact should not be glossed over that many consultants are involved and that there were many consent agreements. The agreements were essentially class actions entered into either between the states via NGF and the consultants or between the consultants and the local governments through ALGON. It is both unlawful and dishonourable for the NGF to attempt to foot drag midway on the deals they willingly signed with the consultants after benefitting from the refunds they labored to bring about.

Also the blame for the duplication of consultants which led to the ballooning of the service fees should be laid on the doorstep of the NGF and ALGON not the Federal Government or the consultants. If the governors and the local government chairmen had stuck with the initiator of the refund process, Ned Nwoko Associates/Linas International as the sole consultant, the cost would have been far less. But the NGF and ALGON introduced more consultants and contractors once the signals began to emerge that Ned Nwoko had won the case for them. That was precisely what raised the cost of

the consultancy services. The Federal Government knows the truth about the matter.

The President is aware that it is not an issue of corruption on the part of the consultants but bad faith by the Fayemi-led NGF aimed at barricading payments with documentary and judicial backings.

Furthermore, the argument of the Governor Fayemi-led NGF that the London-Paris Club refund is a sovereign debt which ought to be predicated on the consent of the 36 state governors plus approvals by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and the National Assembly (NASS) cannot suffice due to the fact that the states under the NGF have already received payments from the same source since 2016 through 2018 and 2019 amounting to trillions of naira without recourse to FEC and NASS approvals.

Similarly, the indemnity issued by the immediate past NGF Chairman, Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State with respect to the consultancy payment remains a valid class action which cannot be repudiated by his successor and the incumbent Chairman, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State as untenable or antithetical to the best interest of the forum whereas they had collectively received refunds through processes and authorizations by the same former NGF leadership. The law recognizes leadership as a valid continuum.

The consultants whose efforts and risks culminated in the multi-billion dollars London-Paris Club refunds should be paid their fees without hindrance or grudges. And in factuality, if you risk nothing, you gain nothing. Why begrudge those who staked their lives and careers to fight for a cause while you relaxed in your comfort zone thriving in political and social correctness? As the holy books say, a labourer is entitled to his wages.

Ogbuenyi, former SA Media to the FCT Minister, wrote from Abuja

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EDITORIAL THE ANAMBRA STATE GUBERNATORIAL POLL The security agencies and INEC should ensure a free and credible election

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lthough there are several political parties on the ballot, tomorrow’s gubernatorial election in Anambra State is essentially a contest between Prof Chukwuma Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Dr Valentine Ozigbo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Senator Andy Uba of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Amid needless muckraking, these candidates presented their cases before Anambra people at the ARISE Television debate on Monday. But the real issue about the election is that it is being held in an environment heaving with dangerous weapons and swollen further by criminal networks that have threatened the people not to come out to vote. We therefore urge the security agencies to do everything to protect Nigerians who may choose to exercise their franchise at the poll tomorrow.

On Wednesday in Awka, the state capital, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Mahmoud Yakubu, held a stakeholder meeting with the political parties, WE HOPE THAT COMMON religious leaders, SENSE WILL PREVAIL SO traditional rulers, and THAT THE PEOPLE CAN BE civil society groups.

ALLOWED TO EXERCISE The commission, THEIR FRANCHISE IN AN Yakubu pledged, will ATMOSPHERE OF PEACE deploy the Biometric Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) device which replaces the Smart Card Reader (SCR) used in previous elections since 2015.

“The BVAS has the dual capacity for fingerprint and facial authentication of voters. This is to guard against voting by identity theft, where one person uses another person’s Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) to vote using the incident form,” said Yakubu. “With this development, the use of the incident form is abolished. No voter without genuine PVC will vote. No voter, who has not been successfully accredited electronically, using the BVAS, will vote.”

Letters to the Editor

The election is coming at a very testy period. For several weeks, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has imposed a weekly ‘sit at home’ protest in all the states in the zone. By the order, businesses, and normal work as well as social activities in the zone are to come to a halt every Monday. To date, this order has been obeyed largely out of fear of the violent enforcers acting on behalf of IPOB. Banks have been closed to the public just as markets and shops have been shuttered. School sessions, including during examination, have been crudely disrupted. Inter-state transportation has similarly been affected while several critical institutions have considered it wise to observe one day of compulsory holiday every week.

T T H I S D AY 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 D AY 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 TO SEND EMAIL: first name.surname@thisdaylive.com

o ensure compliance with their illegal order, IPOB has seen it fit to use thugs to infringe on the freedom and safety of innocent citizens who insist on exercising their basic freedoms of movement and enterprise on the days of the ‘sit at home’ protests. Reports of murder and robbery of innocent citizens in various locations under the sit at home regime have further complicated the internal security challenge in the zone. Yet, there is scant evidence that this strategy has altered the plight of their detained leader, Nnamdi Kanu. Nor is there any evidence that it has brought IPOB and its sympathisers any closer to the attainment of their larger political objective of a ‘Biafra’ nation. But there are genuine fears about the Anambra State gubernatorial poll.

With INEC and the security agencies expressing their preparedness for tomorrow, we hope for an election that will be free, fair, and devoid of violence. To ensure a smooth conduct of the election, there has been several well-meaning interventions by critical stakeholders. We hope that common sense will prevail so that the people can be allowed to exercise their franchise in an atmosphere of peace. At the end, the choice of who governs Anambra for the next four years is that of the residents of the state to make. That is what is before them tomorrow. May the best candidate win.

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

THE CIVIC SPACE IN NIGERIA IS SHRINKING

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t is important for citizens to be given enabling structures to enable civil organization and participation. This will, in turn, aid the creation of progressive institutional structures. But then the enactment and promotion of harsh policies and the stifling of participation, amongst many other factors, have hindered this development, thereby repressing the civic space. Participation is key, especially for impact and policymakers, but the shrinking civic space has affected the involvement of key players, especially women.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines the Civic Space as the “set of legal, policy, institutional, and practical conditions necessary for non-governmental actors to access information, express themselves, associate, organise, and participate in public life”.

It entails the policies, laws, institutions and practices that provide a conducive atmosphere for citizens and civil society organizations to thrive as they promote progressive liberties, freedoms, and spaces for institutional growth. This creates and empowers structures necessary for social, economic and political mechanisms necessary for societal growth.

A study by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy reveals that there are concerns about the shrinking civic space in the less democratic communities, where it has been realized as part of authoritarian rule. The phenomenon, according to the study, has been explicitly cast as “a potential threat rooted in the fact that civil society often plays a critical role in both promoting democratizations and bringing a broader backlash against democracy and a worrying sign of global democratic recession.” This is evident in how the closing civic space limits

the operational effectiveness of Civil Society Organizations, constrains their geographic reach, and heightens security risks for local staff.

The excesses in government’s arbitrariness tilt heavily against women participation, especially in Nigeria. Clampdowns on social media, unbalanced quota systems, societal stereotypes and lack of enabling environments have restricted the participation of women, especially in the area of politics and governance.

Women voices are stifled and restrained, and political parties are not ready to actualize their mandates regarding the candidacies of women politicians. Equal gender participation is a facade on paper, just waved by Nigerian politicians and policymakers to restrict dissent and throw crumbs at women affected by the shrinking space they have found themselves in.

A study by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics in 2018 shows that in the years between 1999 to 2015, 6% of councilors (at the local government) were women, 24% of judges in the federal court were women, and an average of 7% of each type of high-level government officials and senior administrators were women. There were no female central bank governors.

According to the report, “the role with the highest percentage of women at 28% was the special assistant role”. This shows the depressing extent of women participation in political civic spaces.

Governments are making the civic space a tug of war – one of survival and strategic positioning by civic organizations and participants fighting against a system designed to kill activism and civic engagements. Civic actors are threatened and bullied with harsh policies targeted at dampening “dissent” against

authorities. Being a female player in the civic industry does not help matters as cultural, political and social elements exist to hinder the impactful work of participants of the female gender, thereby contributing to gender inequality in the already shrinking civic space.

This is why women-themed advocacies are not gaining traction. It is why alliances like Civicus have recognized that “meaningfully realizing Sustainable Development Goal 5 (on Gender Equality) requires ensuring that civic freedoms for women in civil society are protected, recognized, celebrated and supported by multilateral institutions and governments across the world.” Women participation would bring about an infusion of new energy and balanced avenues for teamwork and participation, and the whole polity is bound to be better for it.

It is necessary for state actors to recognize the importance of women participation in Nigeria, especially in an environment as crucial as the civic political space. This is why Damilola Agbalojobi, political scientist and gender specialist, noted that Government and civic spaces should, therefore, ensure that enabling environments are created for women participants to exhibit their leadership qualities in impactful leadership positions. It is also recommended that more gender-sensitive policies and frameworks are developed and put into effect to ensure that women participation in all spheres is encouraged.

Without this, we cannot truly utilize civic spaces in achieving progress and development.

Abideen Olasupo is the Executive Director of Brain Builders Youth Development Initiative

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POLITICS

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

An Appraisal of Yari’s Qualificatiins for APC National Chairmananship Mika’ilu Barau presents a catalogue of virtues that recommends former Governor of Zamfara State, Abdul’Azeez Yari for the National Chairmananship of the All Progressives Congress

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ne of the requirements of good governance in the context of democracy like ours is building virile party structures. Twenty two years since the return of democracy, we have witnessed a lot of permutations around what it takes to build enduring political parties. It will be an interesting study for political Science students to examine how different parties in the country fared under different Chairpersons. At least, whether for good or bad, the reign of Adams Oshiomhole as the Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC) and the subsequent interim role of Governor Mai Mala Buni have demonstrated two different styles of party leadership -one overtly aggressive and the other covertly so to mention one among many differences.

As the processes of selecting substantive party leaders for the ruling APC commence, the former Governor of Zamfara State, Abdul’Azeez Yari Abubakar, happens to be one of the earliest and leading contenders. In this piece, I enumerate five reasons that make Yari a perfect fit for the post from his personal attributes and experience.

Long and Relevant Political Experience Since 1999, Yari has been a chieftain of the political group that produced today’s APC. He was the Secretary and later Chairman of ANPP in Zamfara State; National Financial Secretary of ANPP; Member of the National Assembly and Chairman Debt Management Committee in the house under the party; two term Governor and Chair of the Nigeria Governor’s Forum on the same platform. These are political credentials that can hardly be matched by any other contender. It is also instructive to note that Yari was a member of the defunct Democratic People’s Movement in 1995 and was only stopped from contesting the post of State Assembly by age factor as he was only 27 then.

Record of Good Performance as Governor Whoever knows Zamfara before and after Yari’s eight years as a Governor will tell the story of revolutionary infrastructural development in form of roads, school buildings and water supply to mention only a few areas. Permit me to challenge that no Governor in Nigeria constructed as many roads as Yari did from 1999 to date. Here is the list of the first batch of roads: Wanke-DanjibgaBilbis-Kucheri at some N8.3 billion: Gummi-Gyalange-Gayari road (33.5km) at N2.8 billion; Yandoto-Shemori-Mada road (11.9km) at N1.4 billion; MayanchiAnka-Daki Takwas-Gummi (143km) at N10.1billion; Gusau-Kaura Namoda road at 3.2 billion; Nahuche-Karakkai road at N588 million; Talata Mafara township roads at N2 billion; Gusau township road at N3.6 billion; Dualization of Eastern Bye-pass N750 million and sundry township roads in Gusau (second phase of bye-pass, Gidan Dawa, Dan Turai, Ahmadu Bello Shagari Road, GRA Ring Road) amounting to some N2 billion. In another batch, several other roads were constructed among which are Colony-Birnin Tudu-Rini-GoraFaru-Boko; Kaura-Zurmi-Gidan Jaja; Talata-Mafara-Kagara-Tashar Awwali; and township roads in almost all the local government headquarters. The benefits of these roads are regional as they are local having linked Zamfara

hensive rehabilitation of 56 township primary schools in 14 LGEAs with provision of ICT Centres, boreholes and VIP toilets in most of them. On water supply, Yari executed 203 rural water supply projects with solar powered boreholes and hand pump boreholes accordingly. Yari has done a lot more on infrastructural development than this piece can accommodate without being boring. In an intensive discussion with Yari, he talked about how he wants to see this replicated in Nigeria by the progressive Governors under his chairmanship.

to all the neighbouring states of Katsina, Kebbi and Sokoto with ease while facilitating internal movement from one town to another and area

to another through township roads.

Talk about school buildings; in one swoop, Yari built 313 blocks of classroom and made a compre-

My Takeaways from the 2021 PDP Convention Kayode Adaramodu, Ekiti State governorship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party singles out the show of unity by governorship aspirants from Benue State at the recent PDP National Convention in Abuja and wishes fellow aspirants from Ekiti can display similar affection

T

he October 2021 PDP Convention has come and gone. But the many lessons it teaches anyone who chooses to learn remain.

One is the near faultless organisation.

An admirably orderly and generally peaceful convention which can be recommended as standard for political parties in Nigeria. We may have to write on this aspect another day.

But right now another lesson which is very important to me personally is what I saw in some delegates from Benue State. At the venue and during balloting they didn’t look extremely unusual. But shortly after the event had concluded, group photographs of some 14 jolly friends surfaced. Upon enquiries, I found out that they were pictures of governorship aspirants from Benue State. They, wearing the same clothes, had apparently assembled and posed for photographs in the residence of one of them before heading for the convention.

Aspirants vying for the same office were in uniform. They assembled in a place to chat, deliberate, wine and dine, and then took photographs.

I felt instantly emotional. I wish it were my State-- Ekiti State-- that had demonstrated that uncommon friendship in politics. I wish we were the ones that had shown to the whole world that wanting to serve your people does not have to turn the applicants to sworn enemies of one another.

If I can remind you very quickly: Benue State has at least seven main tribes. Seven main tribes! About 10 or more, broadly. The “seven main ethnic groups each with a distinct cultural

heritage” are: Tiv, Idoma, Igede, Etulo, Utono, Akpa and Igala. “The people of Benue State hold their cultural heritage in high esteem.” The state has 23 constitutionally recognized local government councils. In other words, there’s no such thing as the state being homogeneous!

Yet, the burning love for their people made the Benue State PDP governorship aspirants, politicians like us, show such a high level of togetherness. Love for their people bound and bonded these exemplary politicians together.

Ekiti (with only one tribe, only one language and only one dialect) is said to be the most homogeneous state in Nigeria. Apart from speaking the same standard Yoruba, we can attain nearly ninty-six percent mutual intelligibility when we use Ekiti dialect to communicate with one another. We are more compact than any other state in Nigeria.

We are not complex. We have the same perspective and philosophy of life.

Education and agriculture are our main industries. It is from Ekiti people that occupants of all political positions meant for Ekiti State will emerge. And the purpose for occupation of any position is usually to serve. So if all of us politicians truly desire a better life for the rest of Ekiti people, why can’t we seek political positions with love of one another at heart, and in singleness of purpose?

-Kayode Adaramodu writes from Ado Ekiti NOTE: Interested readers should continue in the online edition on www.thisdaylive.com

Positive Energy and Network Yari’s house in Abuja is like a Ministry of a sort. If you want to meet any prominent person from Zamfara, North-west and to a large extent the country just go to Yari’s house and stay. I was privileged to know this because from September 2020, my office relocated from Garki to Maitama and we happened to be on the same street. Every morning I drive pass the house, I see cars of visitors parked and the same happens when I close even with my habit of leaving office later than 10pm. Yari attend to all these. Somebody may think that it is about money; recent reasons that brought me to the house in few occasions led to realising that is a lot more about networking and consultation. To satisfy my curiosity, I dragged Yari into talking about it. He told me a story of how in 1996, his father talked about how much money he dolls out that people keep trooping to his family house on returning from business trips to Lagos. “Baba, nobody has the money to give all these people; it is about relationship” explained Yari. The same answer I got, “ I don’t have all the money to give the people that visit even today” Yari answered my interrogating self. One of Yari’s lieutenants corroborated this to me saying, “we all feel safe and connected here”.

On the other hand, Yari can arguably be described as the most mobile politician today on matters of public engagement. In a certain week in March this year, I followed a coverage of Yari’s movement in around a week time and saw him go to Katsina to commiserate with Alh. Dahiru Mangal on the demise of his son; Sokoto for the Maulud of Sheikh Inyass and Talata Mafara afterwards; Kebbi to commiserate with Alh. Abba Aliero on the demise of his wife and Kano for the wedding of Accountant General of the Federation’s daughter in addition to his usual visit to Kaduna. Kebbi’s visit was on Thursday and I came to the house in the evening.

I understand that Yari observes fasting every Monday and Thursday; as he took his meal after the fasting, he led us in the early and late evening prayer at around 7pm and 8pm respectively. After that, he met with 4 groups of people with me as the last. As he invited me in, he told about 10 other groups individually to return the next day then he drove out for meetings outside his house after our discussion. In the few days I visited, this is more of a norm in Yari’s day than exception. Till today, one dares not attempt to compete with Yari in taking walking speed just as he still drives himself around Abuja. APC truly needs this kind of energy and zeal from 53 year old Yari to fulfill the promise of a party and the nation.

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

T H I S D AY ˾ FRIDAY NOVEMBER 5, 2021

19

PERSPECTIVE

Indelible Footprints of Otedola, an Entrepreneurial Maven

750,000 Americans Killed by COVID, So Far Chido Nwangwu expresses regret at the high number of avoidable deaths from COVID-19 largely, through infections and/or refusal to follow the pandemic protocols and necessary changes in life style

T

he devastation of the Coronavirus — specifically COVID-19 — on American families continues to escalate. The Washington Post reported on November 3, 2021 that the number of people killed by the virus in the United States “reached another haunting milestone: 750,000 Americans.”

This is, “according to Johns Hopkins University’s running tally of COVID-19 related deaths, the losses have reached a level that can be compared to entire states: If the Americans who’ve died of COVID made up a state, it would rank 47th in the country, more populous than Alaska, Vermont or Wyoming. The District of Columbia — though not a state, it surpasses Vermont and Wyoming in population — also would be eclipsed.”

The Post reporters (Marc Fisher, Lori Rozsa and Kayla Ruble) note that “In the first year and a half of the pandemic, a common way to try to fathom the loss was to compare the nation’s death toll to the living population of increasingly larger cities: Kenosha, Wisconsin, at 100,000 deaths, Salt Lake City at 200,000, St. Louis at 300,000, Atlanta at 500,000.”

Most of the COVID-19 deaths came, largely, through infections and/or refusal to follow the pandemic protocols and necessary changes in life style.

The complications and challenges which the U.S., Africa and other parts of the world continue to face are rooted in what is called “denialism.”

This is the denial of basic, fundamental facts of science especially the evident value of simply wearing masks and taking vaccinations.

It is very dangerous when the sources of disinformation, antiscience, anti-factual evidence, antireason and against common sense are some of the political leaders and heads of religious organizations.

Unfortunately, here in United States, the impeached, former President Donald J. Trump, during significant and critical periods of his presidency serve(d) as the giddy cheerleader and champion of misleading messaging and mortally dangerous actions such as his appearances at public events in stadiums and other venues without wearing any mask.

It is important to note that those hideous actions actually had severe consequences.

Remarkably, one of those who didn’t speak up when it mattered most has, recently, made a revelation.

Trump’s former adviser on the Coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Deborah Birx, informed a closed-door meeting of the House Select Coronavirus Subcommittee on October 12 and 13, 2021 that more than 130,000 American lives could have been saved if the Trump administration promoted mask-wearing and social distancing protocols, especially soon after the pandemic was known.

Dr. Birx is quoted in testimony excerpts released by the committee: “I believe if we had fully implemented the mask mandates, the reduction in indoor dining, the getting friends and family to understand the risk of gathering in private homes, and we had increased testing, that we probably could have decreased fatalities into the 30 percent less to 40 percent less range.”

Unfortunately, many people including his supporters have lost family members and friends by listening to and going along with his toxic and false pretenses. Interestingly, while he was saying absurd, baseless and toxic falsehoods about vaccines and drumming up his bizarre prescription of ingesting/consuming bleach and some stuff.

Thankfully, we survived the intoxicated Trumpian gods of petty, little things; his tumultous presidency of True Lies!

Trump misled millions, including the African-American multimillionaire Herman Cain, to their untimely and needless, fatal struggle with Coronavirus!

I am vaccinated against the pandemic of COVID-19. Anyway, we’re all only, relatively, safe in God’s own country! But the callous deceit and schemes to become the Republican candidate for the presidency of the United States again in 2023 is in top gear! Without any doubt, President Joe Biden is working very hard to provide effective solution to the pandemic.

Somehow, the Biden approach to handling politics and defining critical events are not as effective as Donald Trump’s ways and means!

Sadly, some clergymen across Africa, particularly Nigerian pastors such as Chris Oyakhilome (the founder and president of LoveWorld Inc., also known as Christ Embassy), joined the Trump academy of anti-science.

Thankfully, on the other hand, there are some African countries and communities that joined the fight against Coronavirus. In stepping up its fight against the Coronavirus, the government of the east African country of Kenya will require its citizens traveling out of the country from 2022 to have a vaccine passport.

-Dr. Nwangwu is the Publisher of USAfricaonline.com

Darlington Nwobodo highlights the achievements of Mr. Femi Otedola is an exemplar of this ideology; a quintessential businessman and renowned philanthropist on his 59th birthday

T

ime is the unit of life. We are all on transit. Centuries had come and gone. Empires had risen and fallen. Life being a voyage, both powerful and weak individuals had transversed this universe. There were times when we were not here, we are here today. There will be a time when we will no longer be present here, but represented by our legacies. The shades, colors and imaginations of memories that will be held about us, depends solely on how judiciously and impactfully we use our time here while still transiting.

In the equation of life, other variables can change, but time remains eternally constant.

This is one of the reasons it is important to be conscious of our time; how we spend it, and what will be remembered of us when we finally take the inevitable flight of death into eternity. This is the philosophy that inspired the noble postulation of Williams James, American philosopher and a historian, that the great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.

Birthdays cum anniversaries are opportunities, not only to mark time as unit of life, but windows of introspection to x-ray whether we are truly living or merely existing. In order to make the world a better place, while we urge people to live a life of impact, we are morally obligated to celebrate those already living in that realm of positive legacies—entrenching indelible footprints on the sands of time. And elevate them to olympian height where they will be torchbearers for those coming behind.

Femi Otedola is an exemplar of this ideology; an entrepreneurial maven cum quintessential businessman—a renowned philanthropist, using his legacies to engrave his name with gold on the path of life. As Grandmaster of the Universe, God programmed entrance into this physical realm in times and seasons. On 4th of November, 1962, like a ship on voyage of destiny, Femi anchored on the shores of Sir Michael Otedola’s family—his time on earth began ticking.

59 years—a year shy of 60 years, down this glorious journey, his life has not only been a success but a huge inspiration to younger and up-coming generations. One of the difficulties children born into influential homes usually have, is stepping into the great shoes left by their parents and maintaining the family name. Femi Otedola had neither of these challenges. In fact, he felt uncomfortable existing under his father’s shadows.

He started with the fierce zeal like the son of nobody, without any privileged family background.

As the son of ex-Lagos State governor, whose father governed the economic hub of West Africa between 1992 and 1993, Femi Otedola did not only sustain the father’s name, but step out of its cloak to carve a niche for himself in the business world. In his almost 60 years stint in life, so far, every nook and cranny of the Nigeria’s economy cum polity, has had entrepreneurial grit and wit of this shrewd investor and ebullient billionaire written on it, albeit with bold letters.

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

Why Anambra Should Get it Right Elliot Ugochukwu-Uko urges the people of Anambra State to appreciate the importance of the governorship election to the entire South-east region

F

orty-eight hours to the Anambra State gubernatorial election, it may be necessary to remind our people, especially Anambrarians, that Anambra, as the leading light in this country, must endeavour to get her acts together in order to inspire a new social and political order.

Everything should be done to, manage properly, the quite avoidable and unfortunate untidy sociopolitical environment, created unconsciously by political hubris and leadership errors.

This unpleasant political climate of uncertainty, buck passing, name calling, finger pointing and muddled up cocktail of meaningless recriminations, cannot actually be divorced from the poor handling of agitation closely tied to the painful unwillingness by those in power, and for for a very long time, to genuinely address and fairly but firmly resolve the lingering Igbo question within the Nigerian project.

Consistently shying away from the inevitable truth, simply deepened the melee.

Applying the wrong strategy, only worsened the mess. That is the unpalatable truth.

Pushing the truth under the carpet and consistently postponing the evil day, brought us to this impasse.

Absolving one’s self or group, while engaging in recriminations, wouldn’t help the situation now. Mistakes were made by all sides. Current fire brigade efforts, clearly aimed at only interim relief, will also not

bring lasting peace. Courage must be found, to address the crisis altruistically from the root.

This is where bold and sincere leadership comes in. Our elders and political leaders have floundered for so long, almost abdicating their responsibilities, thereby compounding the crisis.

The situation shouldn’t have degenerated to this shameful level, had the right and needful leadership been shown earlier than now.

Having said this, I humbly call on our aggrieved brothers, to place the security of our land, the welfare of our beleaguered citizens and the future and destiny of our people, into consideration at this delicate period. I call on the authorities to show restraint and to remember that excessive use of force, had only worsened the situation. Finally, after a careful consideration of the leading candidates, and placing the inevitable reshaping of the destiny of Ndigbo at this auspicious moment in history, as guide.

If Anambra gets it right, Alaigbo will get it right.

-Ugochukwu-Uko is the Founder of Igbo Youth Movement NOTE: Interested readers should continue in the online edition on www.thisdaylive.com

20

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 5, 2021 •T H I S D AY

PRESS RELEASE BY SOUTH EAST GOVERNORS’ FORUM ON SECURITY SITUATION IN SOUTH EAST 1.

We are aware of the various illegal orders of sit-at-home by different groups of state agitators for our people of South East to sit at home every Monday and from 5th to 10th November 2021.

2.

Whereas we have identified some of the spokespersons of some of these groups and we have been engaging them to stop all forms of violence and illegalities in South East and allow South East leaders to address all issues raised by them, we are however working with security agencies, our local security and our leaders to protect the lives of our people and to address all issues raised.

3.

We thank Ohaneze Ndigbo for a good job they did through their various committees in raising various solutions towards addressing all issues raised by our young children. South East Governors are studying their reports with the elders and leaders of the various South East States and very soon, we will be meeting with Federal Government of Nigeria on these issues including deploying political solutions in the case of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu which we have already initiated.

deployed for Anambra election to please secure the lives of our people in Anambra State while playing within the rules of their engagements.

6.

We are aware that the insecurity in South East has gone beyond IPOB. Cultists, armed robbers and kidnappers have recruited themselves and are using the name of IPOB to be killing innocent citizens. We will not allow this to continue.

7.

We thank Federal Government of Nigeria and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for their determination to hold Anambra election on 6th November, 2021.

We will give them every support and shall help them to ensure a free, fair and violence free election. We therefore ask our people to go out and vote for candidates of their choice as we have been assured of adequate security measures to secure their lives and properties.

8.

We are confident that through our mediation, that of religious leaders, Ohaneze Ndigbo and traditional rulers, IPOB will see reasons to call off all sit-at-home orders including the recent one of 5th to 10th November, 2021.

We as South East Governors are committed to political solutions over the present situation in South East and this will be achieved faster if all the illegal sit-at-home orders and violence by the various state agitators are stopped in South East.

4.

We thank our religious leaders, Conference of Bishops and Archbishops of South East, the traditional institutions of South East and Christian Association of Nigeria of South East for their interventions and mediations on this matter. We will work with them to achieve the 9.

We wish Anambra people a peaceful desired result for our people and Nigeria. election on 6th November, 2021.

5.

We plead with all security agencies

Signed: Engr. David Nweze Umahi, FNSE, FNATE Governor, Ebonyi State & Chairman, South East Governors’ Forum

T H I S D AY ˾ FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2021

21

BUSINESSWORLD R A T E S MONEY MARKET

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

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O C T O B E R

S & P INDEX

2 8 , 2 0 2 1

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9.00%

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6%

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As Yuletide Draws Nigh, Experts Trace Cause of Flight Delays, Cancellations to Low Capacity Nigerian Airlines’ Capacity Utilisation

Aviation experts have traced the cause of flight delays and cancelation besides weather and VIP movement to inadequate aircraft, which leads to hiccups caused by overutilisation of equipment.

The development, they stressed, would become more acute as Yuletide season approaches when travellers demand the highest number of seats in domestic air travel every year.

The Managing Director of Flight Logistics Solutions, Amos Akpan, explained that what causes delays is overscheduling without enough ground time for turn around, which

he said is caused by ignorance and poor management.

Akpan said there should be schedule reliability, taking into consideration the factors of environment and earmark enough time for turn around.

He noted that when these realties are not observed, the airline would not be able to keep to its schedule.

“For example, if an operating aircraft is scheduled to fly to Port Harcourt, from Port Harcourt to Abuja and from Abuja to Asaba, the operations manager must allocate enough time for turnaround time. If

an aircraft is scheduled to operate from Lagos to Abuja, leaves Lagos by 9:30 and it would fly for 55 minutes and the turn around time is 30 minutes, it might take more than 55 minutes if there is weather issue or VIP movement, by the time it would land it has already spent about one hour, 10 minutes and on landing disembarking and boarding can take a longer time after the 30 minutes scheduled for ground turn around has been eroded.

“This means that if the airline scheduled that the aircraft would operate the next flight by 11:00 it

would be late by at least 45 minutes to one hour and if the weather or VIP movement that delayed the aircraft was longer, it may even delay the next flight by two hours, “he explained.

The experts said that airlines over schedule their fleet when there is not enough equipment and they would want to service their routes.

Akpan noted that if the airlines do not plan very well they would find it difficult to keep to their schedule.

“Airlines have environmental and managerial factors to contend with and these include bad weather, VIP movement because in Nigeria

we don’t have blue corridor, which enables commercial airlines to fly even when there is VIP movement.

In VIP movement they don’t tell you when it will end for security reasons. Also our airports do not have fuel hydrants at the airside, fuel bowsers have to come to fuel the aircraft. If this is not planned well it can cause delays. A flight should be given at least one hour to one and half hours ground time.

Then an airline should schedule all its daylight airports first to make sure that they don’t operate towards dusk because if there were delays

the airline would be forced to cancel the flights,” he said.

Akpan further suggest that airlines should review regularly what they send out to the public to reflect the real situation on ground, disclosing that maintenance must always update operations and logistics department on the aircraft that are airworthy so that they would be scheduled for operation.

“Operations and logistics would now notify ticketing and stations that the aircraft, example, 5NXYZ Continued on page 22

Nigeria, Other African Countries to Benefit from UK’s £143.5m Climate Change Support Kayode Tokede In a bid to tackle the impact of extreme weather and climate change, the United Kingdom (UK) government has announced a £143.5million funding to support Nigeria and other African governments to roll-out critical adaptation projects.

In a statement, the UK said the £143.5 million programmes to support African countries in adaption to the impact of extreme weather and changing climate include, “£20 million to the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP); £42 million of adaptation allocations

under the new Africa Regional Climate and Nature Programme (ARCAN); at least £22 million of premium financing support to help African countries pay for drought insurance; £19.5 million for the Shock Response Programme in the Sahel, including support to the World Bank to strengthen government social protection systems and its committed of about £40 million to the Climate Adaptation and Resilience research programme (CLARE) to support action-focused research to inform development in a changing climate in Africa.”

Aside the above, the UK government said it has a new ‘Room to Run’ guarantee to the African

Development Bank (AfDB) that is expected to unlock up to £1.45billion ($2billion) worth of new financing for projects across the continent, “half of which will help countries adapt to the impacts of climate change; doubled its international climate finance to £11.6 billion over five years – with a balance between adaptation and mitigation.”

Nigeria, the statement added, is eligible to benefit from the Africa Regional Climate and Nature Programme (ARCAN), among others projects.

“The UK is a long-standing supporter of Africa’s adaptation to climate change, with around half of the UK’s £2.7 billion ($3.7 billion)

adaptation budget between 2016 and 2020 spent in Africa, “it stated.

Early this week, the COP26 President Alok Sharma announced the new UK support for the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP) – an initiative endorsed

by African Union leaders and led by the African Development Bank, Global Centre on Adaptation and the Africa Adaptation Initiative, to back African-led plans to accelerate resilience-building across Africa.

The announcements came on the second day of COP26, the two-week UN Climate Change Conference, where world leaders are meeting with the aim to agree how to tackle the urgent threat of global climate

change.

UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson also announced the UK is offering an ambitious new guarantee mechanism – the ‘Room to Run’ guarantee – to the AfDB. This, he said, is expected to unlock up to £1.45 billion ($2 billion) worth of new financing for projects across the continent, half of which will help countries adapt to the impacts of climate change.

UK Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss in the statement said: “More finance for African nations to develop and adapt to climate change is important as these countries find themselves on the frontline of impacts. It is a huge investment opportunity.

“By combining our cash with other donors and businesses, and working with partners such as the African Development Bank to direct funding into green projects, today we are delivering on our commitment to African-led climate adaptation.”

On her part, the UK Minister for Africa Vicky Ford said: “For communities across Africa, the impact of climate change is being felt right now. From cyclones in Southern Africa to locusts in East Africa, changing weather patterns are already having catastrophic impacts for communities living across the continent, impacting lives and Continued on page 22

M A R K E T D ATA A S AT T H U R S D AY, O C T O B E R 2 8 , 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

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T H I S D AY ˾ FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2021

BUSINESSWORLD

NEWS

INTERNATIONAL STOUT FESTIVAL

L-R;Manager, Consumer Connections, International Breweries Plc, Mr.Joshua Oyeleye;Marketing Director, Mrs.Tolulope Adedeji;Marketing Manager, Mr.Bamise Oyegbami; and Brand Manager, Mrs. Ifeoma Igbokidi, at the media conference on the Trophy International Stout Festival by the International Breweries Plc held in Lagos recently. ETOP UKUTT

Nasarawa Seeks FG, World Bank’s Partnership on Joint Power Grill Supply Olawale Ajimotokan and Folalumi Alaran in Abuja The Governor of Nasarawa state, Abdullahi Sule, has declared that the state intends to adopt the mini-grill supply system that will ease the state’s chronic electricity challenges via collaboration with the federal government and the World Bank.

He disclosed this when he paid a courtesy visit to Olam Farm in

Rukubi, Doma Local Government Area with an installed production capacity of 120,000 metric tonnes per day.

The governor stated that the power supply system will be implemented in all six communities in the local government area councils, starting with the Rukubi community.

He said that the system will not only improve the standard of living of residents of the community but will also enhance business operations

in the area.

He urged the workers to continue to promote the rice out growers’ policy thereby fulfilling the current administration’s mandate of food security.

In another engagement, Sule also commissioned a school funded by Olam Farm in Rukubi.

The Vice-President Olam Rice Farm, Mr. Anil Nair, listed some of the challenges affecting the sustainable growth of the company.

He listed transportation as the major challenge and called on the state government to look inward and develop new measures to urgently improve the road linking Doma to Akpanaja.

“This visit could not have come at a better time than now considering the on-going expansion works in our milling facilities which is expected to process about 240,000 MT of rice paddy per annum as against the present capacity of 120,000MT

making it the largest Rice Mill in Nigeria.

“The on-going expansion is expected to contribute 90,000MT of milled rice to domestic market.

The farm on the other hand, which started as a model rice farm in 2011 transformed to a commercial operation in 2012 with a present size of over 4,400 hectares with a yield of 9MT per hectare over two annual crop cycles (wet and dry season cropping), “Nair said.

He lamented that in spite of the mill’s commitment to a strong and sustainable long-term relationship with her host communities and other critical stakeholders, its sustainable growth is being hampered by the poor state of the Doma to Akpanaja, which was included in 2021 budget.

He noted that the construction/ rehabilitation of this road will have direct impact on the sustainable growth of the company business in the state.

Wike Receives Knock over N16bn Expended on Law School Construction

The immediate past Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside, has faulted the Governor, Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, for spending N16 billion on building a law school without approval from the Rivers State House Assembly.

Peterside, while saying he was not opposed to building such a facility in Rivers State, queried how the contract was awarded from the, “breast pocket” of the Governor without bidders nor provision in the state budget.

He also wondered why the governor did not follow due process in terms of advertisement and competitive bidding from interested contracting firms The former works commissioner in Rivers State lambasted the governor for always condemning others over what he serially indulges in but is always

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)

quick to call names in a veiled attempt to portray himself as a saint.

“Rivers people may not yet understand the damage being done to the finances of the state government as many contracts have been awarded under Wike’s administration without following the due process,” Dakuku said.

“Rivers State has a public procurement law that clearly states how contracts should be advertised

and awarded to successful bidders, we have not seen such in this administration. Contracts are just simply awarded from the breast pocket of the governor and to who he likes, competent or not,” he added.

According to him, “Under what law did the governor award the contract from his private residence?

Who evaluated the bill of quantities and how do you account for N5 billion set aside for miscellaneous?

Under what law are 50-70 percent advance payments made?

“I know that the governor’s usual attack dogs will respond without first thinking of the future of Rivers generations and governance where one man single-handedly awards contracts without laid down procedures. Rivers people do not even have access to the state’s budget, hence do not know how many more contracts have been awarded

without budgetary provisions and in accordance with laid down procurement law as enacted by the House of Assembly,” he averred.

“In due season, we shall demand how the governor has spent our collective wealth and shall account for every money that he has fritted away in a veiled attempt to hoodwink Rivers people, “he said.

Peterside, who is also a former House of Reps member expressed

concerns over the inability of the Wike-led administration to create jobs for teeming Rivers youth since he became governor in 2015.

“Governance is beyond brick and mortar, it is beyond the award of contracts, it is deliberate and measured, aimed at touching key sectors and giving the youth the platform to excel but the governor is sadly bereft of such ideas,” he summed up.

Caverton Earns EASA Certification for Training Facility Chinedu Eze Caverton Helicopters has achieved another milestone with the qualification by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) as an official full flight simulator operator, using the Thales Level D, Reality H full-flight simulator product for the AW139 helicopter.

With this achievement, Caverton will fully embark on the training and

retraining of pilots in the certified equipment. In a joint statement

by Caverton Nigeria and Thales of France, they stated that the facility is the first Reality H system operational in Africa, and operated

by Caverton.

“Developed in France, the AW139 Full Flight Simulator offers pilots an immersive experience with extremely faithful reproduction of their operational missions, to train

in complete safety for a variety of complex situations (adverse weather conditions, helicopter failures and emergencies), that could occur in the real flight operations, “the statement read.

“It offers pilots high-level training opportunities with the most comprehensive and versatile equipment available on the market. Having been approved

by EASA, the Caverton Aviation

Training Centre, located within the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, Nigeria, is now able to commence commercial training operations for AW139 helicopter operators based in the African continent and beyond, ”the added.

Caverton Helicopters said it was excited to have reached this significant milestone of the qualification of the company and the simulator.

“We selected the Thales Reality H product because of its state- ofthe-art features and the fact that we could modify key aspects to suit our operating environment in Africa. With this new training centre now operational, Caverton will provide state-of-the-art training, including initial type rating, recurrent training and proficiency checks, for offshore and onshore missions as well as military and special operations.

AS YULETIDE DRAWS NIGH, EXPERTS TRACE CAUSE OF FLIGHT DELAYS, CANCELLATIONS TO LOW CAPACITY would not be in service today. But if it would be in service, maintenance would indicate when it would be in service and give enough time so that the schedule that would be done would not lead to delays.

“Maintenance department must tell the operations and logistics when it will release the aircraft for flights and it must be fuelled before handling it over to operations.

There should be a synergy between

maintenance, operations, customer, ticketing and stations. Operations are seen as customer to maintenance and customer service is customer to operations. They are known as internal and external customers.

The external customers are the passengers, which must be satisfied by the airline,” Akpan said.

Since the resumption of flights last year, domestic airlines have been facing the problem of under

capacity, which has given rise to flight delays and sometimes flight cancellation, especially on daylight airports.

To solve this problem, airlines have embarked on leasing aircraft to at least meet the demand of the Yuletide season.

In the last four months Nigerian carriers have leased aircraft from lessors and other airlines whose fleet are not in service due to shrinking

market occasioned by the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recently the Managing Director of Aero Contractors, Captain Mahmoud Abdullahi told THISDAY that aircraft leasing is good for Nigerian carriers because they do not have capacity and that explained why there have been issues of flight delays, flight cancellation and high cost of flights.

“Nigerian airlines don’t have capacity, there are passengers, if

you go to the airport as of today, you could see passengers begging for tickets. So all you are looking for is for capacity, just get the right aircraft, put it on the right route and passengers will fly. We could see the passengers’ number growing and the high season is coming, we don’t want Nigerians to go through what they have been going through in previous years most especially in November and December, ”Abdullahi said.

NIGERIA, OTHER AFRICAN COUNTRIES TO BENEFIT FROM UK’S £143.5M CLIMATE CHANGE SUPPORT jobs. This is despite African nations being responsible for just 2-3% of global emissions.

“New support announced today will enable African countries to adapt to a changing climate and build

resilience to the impacts of climate change. This is essential if communities and countries are to thrive in an uncertain future. The UK is a long-standing supporter of Africa’s adaptation to climate

change, with around half of the UK’s £2.7 billion ($3.7 billion) adaptation budget between 2016 and 2020 spent in Africa.”

Speaking also, the UK’S Deputy High Commissioner

in Lagos, Ben LlewellynJones, said: “Africa is already bearing the brunt of climate impacts as a consequence of dangerous climate chance. The need to scale up adaptation finance

to protect the people and economies from the impact of climate change is clear.

“Climate action, building resilience and sustainable development are inextricably linked.

Working with key partners such as the African Development Bank and others, this new suite of programmes will support African countries, including Nigeria, to adapt to the effects of climate change.”

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AIR WATCH

Stakeholders Raise Concern over Multiple Charges in Aviation, Shipping Sectors Chinedu Eze Aviation and shipping were the top focus as industry stakeholders led by Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Pedabo Professional Services, expressed concerns over the impacts of multiplicity of charges, levies, and taxes in the sectors, stressing that there was need to address the situation for the sectors to grow.

They explained that unless the federal government and other stakeholders address challenges bedevilling the nation’s maritime and aviation sectors, projected benefits may remain elusive.

The experts insisted that adopting the same presumptive tax rate of six percent as in other industries may be counterproductive in the shipping and aviation sectors, adding

that consolidation of accounting mechanisms as well as a single revenue authority remain sacrosanct for the country.

Speaking during thought leadership session for aviation and shipping sectors led by FIRS and Pedabo Professional Services, the Executive Chairman of FIRS, Muhammad Nami asked the federal government to block leakages in the accounting and revenue segments of the economy through consolidated accounting mechanism and a single revenue authority.

He noted that existing gaps provide run for leakages and limit revenue and accounting potential, adding that there was a need to consolidate or aggregate the country’s accounting mechanism to ensure taxes paid are accounted for by a single revenue authority in

the country.

To him, the development would ensure that taxes collected on behalf of the government are remitted to fund budgetary allocations, social amenities as well as critical infrastructure.

Managing Partner, Pedabo, Ajibade Fashina said that the shipping and aviation sector can leapfrog contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), if well managed.

Speaking on blocking the leakages in the country’s tax system to boost remittances, he said the law is certain and is being improved regularly.

“The Finance Act that is being reviewed on a yearly basis. They (FIRS) identify the leakages and loopholes, and they are blocking those loopholes, and that is what should be done.

NCAA Urges Youths to Take Up Career in Aviation The Director General, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) Captain Musa Nuhu, has said that the regulatory body is committed to educating Nigerian youths to choose career in aviation to address the dearth of manpower in the sector.

Speaking at the 5th Explore Aviation Career Conference, which held in Lagos with the theme: ‘Harnessing the potential of the Next Generation of Aviation Professionals,’ Nuhu said, the industry was in dare need of adequate, competent and experienced workforce.

He said since the restart of flight operations after the Covid-19 lockdown, more airlines have commenced operations, increased their

fleet and expanded their routes.

According to him, with this development and growth of the aviation industry, the scope of oversight activities of the NCAA have expanded.

Nuhu stressed that the regulatory body and the industry in general were suffering from lack of adequate specialised aviation professionals especially in the technical areas.

“Especially in the integral critical areas, it is important to know this is not peculiar to Nigeria but a global one especially with our inspectors in flight operations department,” Nuhu said.

He explained the career conference came at the right time as this would serve as a

starting point in the process of identifying and training of young aviation professionals that would ultimately operate and manage the various sectors of the industry.

“We need to have the young people to get into the aviation industry, the industry is growing, we need you, excellent career to have a wonderful career, fulfilled career at the end of the day, we would all support you,” Nuhu added.

Convener of the conference, Joy Ogbebo, said the essence of the yearly conference was to bring the professionals and the aspiring youths together, discuss and ask questions, adding that the impact on the industry has been tremendous.

‘There was Moderate Rebound in September Passenger’s Demand’ The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced a moderate rebound in air travel in September 2021 compared to August’s performance. This was driven by recovery in domestic markets, in particular China, where some travel curbs were lifted following the COVID-19 outbreaks in August. International demand, meanwhile, slipped slightly compared to the previous month.

IATA explained that because comparisons between 2021 and 2020 monthly results are distorted by the extraordinary impact of COVID-19, unless otherwise noted all comparisons are to September 2019, which followed a normal demand pattern.

Total demand for air travel in September 2021 (measured in revenue passenger kilometers or RPKs) was down 53.4 per cent compared to September 2019. This marked an uptick from August, when demand was 56.0% below August 2019 levels.

Domestic markets were down 24.3 per cent compared to September 2019, a significant improvement from August 2021, when traffic was down 32.6 per cent versus two years ago. All markets showed improvement with the exception of Japan and Russia, although the latter remained in solid growth territory compared to 2019.

International passenger demand in September was 69.2 per cent below September

2019, fractionally worse than the 68.7 per cent decline recorded in August.

IATA’s Director General, Willie Walsh, said: “September’s performance is a positive development but recovery in international traffic remains stalled amid continuing border closures and quarantine mandates.

The recent US policy change to reopen travel from 33 markets for fully vaccinated foreigners from 8 November is a welcome, if long overdue, development. Along with recent re-openings in other key markets like Australia, Argentina, Thailand, and Singapore, this should give a boost to the large-scale restoration of the freedom to travel.”

Need to Take AGHAN Threat to Aviation Sector Seriously

Chinedu Eze

A

viation Ground Handling Association of Nigeria (AGHAN) has threatened that it may embark on indefinite action starting from today if the National Assembly does not withdraw its suspension order on the implementation of new handing service rates approved by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

Recently, NCAA gave the approval to the ground handling companies in the country to increase the new safety threshold handling rates after 36 years with commencement dates slated for October 1, 2021 (for international) and January 1, 2022 (for local) operators, but the House Committee on Aviation directed it to stop the implementation forthwith.

Industry stakeholders have warned that the Senate and House Committees on Aviation should urgently attend to this issue because if the handling companies are allowed to embark on indefinite strike it would paralyse flight and cargo operations at the airports all over the country.

THISDAY learnt that the new rates being charged are the same with what obtains in other West African countries like Ghana, Senegal and others.

With the new rates, the handlers could charge between $1,500 and $5,000 (passenger and cargo flights) for narrow and wide body aircraft on international routes, respectively, while for domestic operators it was upped to N20, 000 and N70, 000, depending on the aircraft type.

Also with the approval, the ground handling companies in Nigeria; the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) Plc, the Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO) Plc, Precision Aviation Handling Company Limited (PAHCOL) and the Swissport Handling Company, were expected to charge the same handling rates as their counterparts in the sub-African countries.

Reacting to the development, the Director, Research, Zenith Travels, Olumide Ohunayo, said that the National Assembly might be interfering in NCAA oversight functions.

“I think the National Assembly should back off from interfering with the decisions taken by the regulator of the industry. This will not augur well for us. We cherish our achievements on the safety level, based on the prowess of our regulator and the ability to sustain it over the years and that has made them to retain all international certifications from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) “We do not want all these to be jeopardised or ridiculed by interference in the decisions taken by the regulator. This is never done and never accepted. The world is watching us. So, we appeal to the House Committee on Aviation and Senate Committee to back off from the decisions taken by NCAA with respect to the industry. Rather, all they can do is to advice or raise a resolution and pass it across to the regulator or ask other industry players to speak on such issues instead of interfering directly on such issues,” he said.

Ohunayo said political interference would make Nigeria lose face in the comity of nations, principally with the regulator.

“We might be seen as a country, which doesn’t follow standards and recommended practices of ICAO and as applied in other climes. So, I think the government should allow the regulator to do its job without any form of interference from the House of Reps Committee and its Senate counterpart. This will not help us with the safety applications that we have been pushing up. This is an industry that came up from the crisis safety management and had improved on safety and assiduously improving the commercial part. We have done very well in safety, but the commercial aspect is still a problem. That is what is going to be our contribution to the GDP – the viability of our airlines; allied companies have been very poor because we have not been able to step up the commercial aspect,” he added.

Speaking in similar vein, the CEO, Centurion Security Services and General Secretary of Aviation Round Table (ART), an industry think-tank, Group Captain John Ojikutu (retd), said that what the NCAA did was the oversight right given to it by the provisions of the economic regulations in the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulation (Nig CARs) Part 18 on all operators - government or private and allied services.

He said that the handling rates approved for the ground handling companies are not different from similar provisions for the airlines fare tariff.

“Unfortunately, it has not been known if any airline has ever applied for fare increase.

The Nig.CARs is a legal authority of the NASS to the NCAA to perform the functions of regulating service rates and fare charges. None of the NASS chambers can interfere in the law it has legislated on except the Court.

The problem of our legislators is that they have no sufficient knowledge of how the laws they made work for the purpose they were meant to serve.

“Political interference has been some form of deterrence in the progress of our economic sector and has caused the defunct or the downfalls of most Nigerian airlines, including the Nigeria Airways. Political actors in and out of government often ask for debts concessions or government intervention funds for private operators and sometimes government services providers where they have personal and individual interests,” he said.

Ojikutu also noted that the problem was not much with the implementation of the new rates by the companies, but the multiple layers of agencies charges at in the airports, adding that the increase is justifiable.

“I think we need to advise the NASS members of the aviation committees to have copies of the CAA and Regulations, which they promulgated, read them to know where they have powers in them before they exercise those powers; can they promulgate a judicial law or Act and begin exercising the executive powers in the law? They need to decide on which sides of the divides they want to be and move there; not a bird and rat at the same time,” he said.

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MARITIME

As ICTN Contract Pitches Rotimi Amaechi Against BPP Eromosele Abiodun writes that to restore investors’ confidence in Nigeria’s fledging maritime sector, the allegation by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) that the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, illegally awarded a contract to a healthcare company and the allege move to restore INTELS pilotage contract through the backdoor must be investigated and a decisive action taken by President Muhammadu Buhari

Rotimi Amaech

Mamman Ahmadu

S

ix months after THISDAY’s exclusive report on the Lagos, Port Harcourt (Bonny) and Warri channel management contract scandal, it has emerged that the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, is again enmeshed in another contract scandal.

This time, it is the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) that is accusing Amaechi of illegally awarding a maritime contract to a healthcare company. In carrying out its constitutional duty, the BPP in a memo denounced the move by the Minister to award the International Cargo Tracking Note (ICTN) contract to a healthcare company, MedTech Scientific Limited, in partnership with Rozi International Nigeria Limited, a property development company.

The procurement agency described the process as embarrassing and illegal, adding that the contract was awarded in clear breach of the Public Procurement Act 2007.

THISDAY gathered that Amaechi relied on anticipatory approval from President Muhammadu Buhari to award the said contract, citing national security and economic benefits.

The ICTN scheme is an electronic cargo verification system that monitors the shipment of seaborne cargo and enables a real-time generation of vital data on ship and cargo traffic in and out of Nigeria.

The scheme was first muted during the administration of President Umaru Yar-Adua. However, the contract between the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and an operator, TPMS-Antaser-Afrique was abruptly terminated by former finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in October 2011, on suspicion of corruption and breach of extant laws.

The Ministry of Transportation, in a memo dated August 26, 2021 to the Bureau of Public Procurement said Nigeria will continue to lose revenue, experience worsening maritime security and allow alteration of cargoes and under-declaration if the contract was not awarded.

According to the document, the Minister of Transportation, on September 11, 2020, sought the approval of the BPP to conduct a restricted/selected tendering exercise to engage agents or partners for the implementation of the cargo tracking note scheme.

The BPP, it was learnt, rejected the selective tender request because of the need to regain international confidence, and, instead, asked the Transportation Ministry to conduct international competitive bidding (ICB) for the project.

The BPP, in a memo dated October 22, 2020, stated, “This (ICB) was to ensure that experienced international firms with high reputation, integrity, and capacity to deliver participate in the procurement process.”

The BPP noted in a separate memo that the Transportation Ministry on August 26, 2021, reverted to it with an approval dated August 19, 2021 from the president to adopt a direct procurement in favour of MedTech Scientific Limited, in partnership with Rozi International Nigeria Limited, a property development company.

Direct procurement is single sourcing of a contractor with no room for competition either in a selective exercise, which invites interests from a restricted number of companies based on experience and capacity, or an open exercise, which is publicly advertised for companies to express interest and compete.

The BPP said the ministry did not provide the basis for picking MedTech and Rozi International to partner for the project.

But the Ministry of Transportation said the companies selected to participate in the selective tendering process were chosen on the basis of, “proven records of experience, competency, and reliability to execute the services.”

It was gathered that Amaechi allegedly handpicked MedTech Scientific Limited, in partnership with Rozi International Nigeria Limited, out of the firms selected to compete for the contract.

He then sought and obtained President Buhari’s anticipatory approval to engage MedTech without any competition, a development stakeholders said was inconsistent with the public procurement law.

“This procedure is clearly against the spirit and intent of the Public Procurement Act 2007 and if challenged has the potential to embarrass the government,” the BPP said in another memo to the Chief of Staff to the President, Ambassador Ibrahim Gambari.

The BPP raised a question about the required security clearance from the Office of the National Security Adviser.

The BPP also told the Chief of Staff to advise the president to rescind his anticipatory approval granted to the Transportation Minister in order to ensure an international competitive bidding exercise that is not compromised and to protect the president from embarrassment.

INTELS CONTRACT CONTROVERSY

Apart from the BPP revelation, there are reports of Amaechi’s allege bid to restore Integrated Logistics Services Limited (INTELS) pilotage contract through the backdoor.

The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and INTELS are currently in court over the contract. The INTELS contract had expired and the company, owned by Atiku Abubakar, an opposition figure and former vice president, wanted the contract renewed. The NPA insisted that the space be thrown open for other players so as to get the best for Nigeria in the face of foreign exchange crunch. INTELS bided but reportedly violated the bidding rules and was consequently disqualified by NPA. INTELS then took NPA to court.

Amaechi, it was learnt, wrote to President Buhari in February this year, requesting that INTELS Pilotage contract, which expired last year, be restored. However, in an interview with

THISDAY last week, Amaechi claimed that he didn’t know anything about the INTELS contract.

But sources within the NPA informed THISDAY that the minister is being honest by half on the INTELS matter, alleging that many industry players know of his strong relationship with the company, sometimes, at the country’s expense.

One of THISDAY’s sources threw the following poser: “Was this not why he vehemently opposed the removal of the monopoly that INTELS had on the discharge of oil and gas cargo at their terminals. The reversal of this monopoly, which he had opposed until he was overridden, led to the Egina FSPSO received at the LADOL Terminal in Lagos saving the country millions of dollars.

The removal of the monopoly also saved Shell Nigeria Exploration & Production Company of exploration cost of over 1 billion USD for OML 18 and 40% of operation costs amounting to 15 million USD. The company conveyed this information, which commended the NPA via letter dated 4th June 2018.”

The source stated further that the minister should be specific about the due process the NPA allegedly violated on the issue of the public tender of the service boat management agency. He suggested that the minister should be asked if the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) did not write to the Chief of Staff to the President earlier this year saying that the minister’s submission seeking presidential approval of the “reinstatement of the expired contract to INTELS, without due process was not in the interest of the Federal government.”

The letter also said that the public tender process NPA conducted in which INTELS participated was proper and that the process should be completed expeditiously. Can he confirm whether this BPP correspondence to the Chief of Staff dated 9th March 2021 is true or not?”

MOVE TO RESTORE CONTRACT

Despite the allegations of conflict of interest, THISDAY gathered that the Ministry of Transportation is set to award the service boat monitoring agent contract or pilotage contract for another 25 years to INTELS, despite being disqualified in the bid process.

The contract between the NPA and INTELS for providing the authority with the service for monitoring boats expired in August 2020. The contract, which commenced in 2007, lasted for 13 years.

The NPA is one of the major sources of revenue for the Federal Government, a development that attracts attention and interest from investors and other stakeholders.

Documents indicating revenue generated by the NPA on service boat operations showed that between 2017 and 2019, the Onne pilotage delivered N98.2 billion ($240 million).

The Warri pilotage area generated N116.3 billion ($284 million) between 2014 and 2018, while the Calabar pilotage area brought in N644.5 million ($1.6 million).

THISDAY exclusively reported recently that the federal government lost about N100 billion that would have accrued to the federation from the contract of service boat operations monitoring agents in four pilot districts in the last year.

INTELS DISQUALIFICATION

In line with the Public Procurement Act, The NPA in December 2019 initiated a public tender to engage a company to provide the service at four pilotage districts.

In the tender document sighted by THISDAY, the NPA reduced the commission due to the agents from 28 per cent of all revenues collected to 15 per cent. During the active period of its contract, INTELS was collecting 28 per cent of total accruals as agency commission.

But the NPA was not comfortable with this arrangement, a development, which among other issues pitted NPA against INTELS. The NPA noted that the reduction of the commission was to maximise revenue going to the authority and in turn the federal government, in addition to keeping with best practices for agency commissions of such services which were typically not above 15 per cent.

INTELS and others submitted their bids to qualify for the tender. The NPA in a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari noted that INTELS violated one of the criteria advertised and was disqualified.

The tender process continued and four companies with the highest scores were pre-qualified. The four companies selected out of the 32 that applied to man the four pilotage districts were Pacific Silverline Ltd. (Warri district), Isasha Investment Ltd (Calabar), ICA Logistics Ltd (Lagos) and Nexttee Oil & Gas Trading Company Ltd. (Onne/Port Harcourt).

The four companies, THISDAY learnt, were yet to be issued with letters of engagement as a result of horse-trading and legal battles, making government incur losses running into billions of naira.

THE LEGAL BATTLES

The business dispute between the NPA and the INTELS first became a subject of litigation in 2017 after NPA sought to end the latter’s monopoly of terminal operations on Nigerian ports by reviewing an existing agreement.

In its suit filed on June 4 before a Federal High Court in Abuja, INTELS said the review amounted to a violation of an October 24, 2005 lease agreements in respect of the Warri New Terminal, Warri Old Terminal, Calabar Terminal B, Federal Lighter Terminal B (Onne) and Federal Ocean Terminal A (Onne).

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

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NEWS

‘Adoption of Online Strategies, Improved Social Media Presence Vital for Brand Competitiveness Post COVID-19’ Ugo Aliogo The Chief Executive Officer, ADSTRAT Branding Management Consortium, Charles O’Tudor, has stated that for brands and corporates to remain competitive in the post-COVID-19 era, there is need to adopt effective online strategies and improved social media presence, which he identified as key growth indicators for brands that survived the pandemic.

He urged brands to invest in online platforms to improve brand presence, stating that online presence is the most critical content, not controversy “because you will not pay you for controversy.”

O’Tudor, who disclosed this during a media briefing in Lagos to announce the fifth edition of theCharles O’Tudor Brand Masterclass, season05 (COBMC05) with the theme: ‘Audacious branding,’ is coming at a time when many brands are still adjusting to the changes brought by the pandemic.

He disclosed that the goal of the masterclass is to reveal how brands and corporates can be audacious in their branding.

He further explained that as a brand, they have organised the masterclass for exceptional entrepreneurs who need to grow their businesses from the branding point of view, to brand strategy, execution and how they manage it.

He revealed that the organization has added they have added value to entrepreneurs

Charles-Tudor from brand strategy, consistency, and efficiency, adding that they invest in human capital, “because without it you cannot transform the society.”

According to him, this will give many brands opportunity to learn strategies that will help them remain relevant on their space.

He said, “After previously executing this daring Masterclass which has refined over 17,000 entrepreneurs, I am pleased to announce that this year’s event has been scheduled for the November 27, and it a hybrid event. I would be speaking on the theme: ‘AUDACIOUS BRANDING,” How do you break the mould in a system designed to stop you from succeeding? Being Audacious means taking BOLD steps, steps which frighten even your core essence, and being organised in a way that ensures you have

a place in the space, it means creating your own space.

“The November, 27 can be likened to the Sabbath day due to its significance, only this is not a day of rest, but a day when sleeping brands are awoken, and high flying brands are taken to new heights never before seen, a day where the game challenges the hunter and where the future of brands across Africa is reimagined.

In essence, the day is the birthing of a new sun and delivering on a promise of excellence. We are set to achieve this. Five years ago I had the vision to create a platform where exceptional entrepreneurs would be groomed and given the right tools to excel. This was the birth of the Charles O’Tudor Brand Master Class (COBMC).”

He added that the panelists and discussants includes, Udo Okonjo, Fela Durotoye, Lanre Olusola with (The Catalyst), Olawale Ayilara and Olakunle Soriyan.

According to the convener, the panelists and discussants have been carefully selected across various fields and are phenomenal industry leaders who exemplify the theme of this year’s event in its truest form, noting that they have committed years of their lives to redefining their industry and nurturing talents for the future.

He described the panelists as phenomenal personalities who have defined what being ‘audacious really means would on that day unravel secrets that have the potential to initiate a quantum leap effect in the minds and hearts of the listeners.

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BUSINESSWORLD

INTERVIEW

Sotunde: We Celebrate Unsung Heroes Who Sustained the Economy Despite Covid-19 Devastation The Managing Director, BusyBee Group, Bisi Sotunde said that despite the negative effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nigerian businesses and entrepreneurs weathered the storm and need to be recongised. She said the Group provides platform for empowerment, proffering solutions to struggling businesses through its mentoring/coaching programmes and master class/business summits. She spoke to Chinedu Eze. Excerpts: The major challenge Nigeria is having in the business sector is dearth of professionals. Can you throw light on the BusyBee Academy? he academy is an arm of the Group that sees to the training and mentoring of aspiring / existing event professionals in the industry.

The brand has carved a niche in the industry by providing a platform for empowerment, proffering solutions to struggling businesses through its mentoring/coaching programmes, master class/ business summits and through its event planning and decorations courses.

The group has recorded successes in so many ways and has contributed to the growth of the SME sector in the event space in Nigeria.

There are thriving “eventpreneurs” today who have passed through the BusyBee Academy with many more still undergoing training.

Rising from the aftermath of the COVID-19 global pandemic, the BusyBee Group has not relented in positioning its brand to provide solutions to some of the industry challenges through relevant professional development trainings.

in search of bringing to limelight those professionals who are doing greatly in their space. From North to West to South South to East, we will be celebrating various professionals who have exhibited excellence in the delivery of their services The awards is given on merit. No voting was done.

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You spoke about recongnising Nigerian entrepreneurs in the BusyBee Excellence Awards.

How did these awards evolve?

The BusyBee Excellence Award is a platform to celebrate/recognise outstanding event professionals who have supported colleagues/community in the industry, who have shown consistent growth in business as well as who have displayed excellence in the delivery of their events/jobs.

This holds on Wednesday November 10th, 2021 at the Rosetree Event Centre Oniru by 4.30pm.

The Awards are in two Categories that include events industry awards and well-watered garden tribe members’ awards.

How do you intend to grow professionalism through your summit?

The BusyBee Event Business Summit is an entrepreneurial workshop that seeks to address the challenges of event professionals in the industry. We bring on board industry leaders, event experts, business consultants, etc from Nigerian and also international players to tackle issues and proffer solutions on how to take the business to the next level.

This is its fifth year running, this edition is bigger with us introducing an ‘After Party’ into its activities tagged ‘Great Gatsby’ as well as Awards Recognitions.

Sotunde You’ve been holding summits for several years and this year you decided to incorporate the Excellence Awards. What prompted this? What do you intend to achieve?

Well, being an influential industry leader with a large following, I thought it was a good time to celebrate the unsung heroes in the events industry. By virtue of mentoring and supporting a lot of event professionals, I realised that a lot of people are doing well in their corner but are not known or popular, so why not use my platform to celebrate these ones? This was how the BusyBee Excellence Awards was birthed. The intention is basically to recognise professionals who are doing something right within their corners. The awards is an excellent one because the panel of judges has gone

How have the last years been for you in the business?

BusyBee Group, which comprises of BusyBee Events, BusyBee Academy and BusyBee Rental Hub has been there for over 12 years in the industry. We have been creating unforgettable experiences for our clients through excellent services and delivery. I am a certified business coach, mentor and consultant, who has trained/coached over 1000 event professionals in the industry through our event planning, decoration and business development workshops. I sit as the Convener of one of the most talked about conference in the industry, BusyBee Event Business Summit. I am also the Founder of the Thriving Business Support Community in the industry – ‘The Well Watered Garden Tribe Network’ with over 250 members cut across Nigeria and diaspora.

What challenges did you meet while setting up

and growing the business?

I am who I am in the events industry, because God has blessed and elevated me to this level. Secondly, I am very big on personal development and empowerment, so I have consistently built my brand both personal and corporate by attending trainings/workshops locally and internationally. I network with colleagues and like-minded people, I try in my capacity to support and empower colleagues, etc. I have also ensured I deliver excellent services to all my clients. All of these have helped build my track record in 12 years.

Lately, organisations have developed the habit of giving out awards to questionable characters, what difference do you intend to make in BusyBee’s?

What are the criteria used in the selection of the awardees?

The BusyBee Excellence Awards will be purely given based on merit. All nominees are winners; we will be giving then ‘Certificates of Nomination’ to say well done. The winners for the night will be picked based on showing consistent growth in business, genuine support to event professionals /community at large, outstanding delivery of services in their businesses etc.

BusyBee Excellence Awards will also be recognising two industry giants: Funke Bucknor Obruthe of Zapphaire Events as Our Industry Icon as well as Mrs. Yewande Zaccheaus for her Excellent Leadership. We will also be recognising Kabir Tukura, from Zuru/Fakai Constituency who is member of the House of Representatives. He has supported entrepreneurship and empowerment in his Constituency, so he deserves to be recognised.

Some of the awards include Young Event Professional of the Year Awards, Most Supportive Industry Leader.

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

T H I S D AY ˾ FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2021

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BUSINESSWORLD

BUSINESS ECOUNTER

Inside Adam & Eve’s Men Who Cook and Art Exhibition

From November 5, 2021, there will be a collage of ‘Men Who Cook’, exquisite artists and females reading the Nine Lessons. In an exhilarating event put together by Adam & Eve, the public will be treated to life’s effervescence like never seen before, writes Bayo Akinloye

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t’s not the avant-garde event. There’s no bling. But its zing fills the air, fits the mood and permeate the ambience. It rings of rapture, pleasure and closure to everything routinely rambunctious. It opens the eyes, cleanses the soul and sets the mind at ease.

It takes you away from the riotous moments of Lagos and anywhere you may have come from. It transports you to experience and embrace the glimpse of life’s paradise: family, comfort, convenience and some luxury.

It leads you to beauty with a choice to beautify your home, your space and rejuvenate your relationship with those beloved to you.

Welcome home. Welcome to Adam & Eve. Amidst the preponderance of despondency thrown at humanity by the COVID-19 pandemic, Adam & Eve’s CEO, Mrs Modupe Ogunlesi, is convinced much can still be achieved with the celebration of the oldest structures of humanity — the trilogy of family, arts and worship. Creatively crafted, Adam & Eve will begin a laundry of exquisite activities captured in the trinity of an art exhibition, cooking competition, and a carol.

The event begins on November 5 and runs through November 28.

“We pick things that are beautiful, not only beautiful but must be functional, and it must make that job easier to do. So, you look at it from these three points; beautiful, functional, ease of use, and then we went further so that in your space you can have the beauty to elevate your mind, to make you feel happier,” says the Adam & Eve matriarch.

After years of trying to put products together that will actualise these dreams, Adam & Eve started with The Content, an art exhibition. “Because there is something about original art on your wall that increases the beauty and also, of course, your feeling, your emotional wellbeing,” says Ogunlesi.

About the cooking competition — Men Who Cook Competition —, the homeware mogul notes that there is something emotive about a man who can cook.

“It means that it doesn’t matter how well the wife cooks, but that occasionally for one reason or the other, you can say, ‘take a back seat today. Relax, I’m doing the cooking’. Or it means your wife has a commitment outside the home, and you can say, ‘Don’t worry. Children, let’s have fun together. I’ll do the barbecue, or I’ll do the cooking’. So, this is to encourage men to cook.”

Ogunlesi adds, “So, we are encouraging men, especially younger men, to see that there is nothing wrong in saying I can cook. So, this is an addition to Adam and Eve because it is part of our bigger picture. Always, it is to make the home a home. Even when it’s occupied by one person; it’s occupied by two people, the children, it doesn’t matter. And anyway, at one point or the other, the children will go, and the original two will remain, and these are the things that the original two must enjoy their space. So, that’s where I’m coming from.”

The cooking competition starts November 6, opening with the elimination series that ends on November 7.

“We pick the best 20 from the videos they’ve sent and then elimination series 6th and 7th. On the 13th, the semi-final because the elimination series will whittle it down to 10 people. Then, on the 13th, the 10 are whittled down to four,” explains Ogunlesi. “These four on November 28 will have their finals. In that finals, all four are going home with a prize. The prizes — there is no cash prize — should enhance your lifestyle; t’s not about the cash. The prizes will enhance their lifestyle.”

In that case, the first prize is a complete outfit from Sofisticat, “you go in there, and it’s bespoke for you.”

“You get a bespoke, complete Nigerian attire from Sofisticat, and you get dinner for two at Latavana — it’s a Chilean-Spanish restaurant on the Island. So, they’re giving them a meal for two. Now, after that, you just have a general Aladdin Cave because each person, you know what you value,” she further states. “You have an Italian ceramic pot set, five-piece, that is also in the Aladdin’s Cave. You have a German briefcase.

It’s a briefcase that doubles as a backpack, and you can put it on your travel luggage. It’s right on top of your travel luggage. It’s your cabin luggage.”

The Adam & Eve executive also mentions there are two nights at Esporta Hotel, “two nights and breakfast for two at Esporta Hotel.”

“We have a pressure cooker by Inuviya. Inuviya uses surgical steel for its pots, so that is top-level stainless steel. So, the procedure is that the first person gets the agbada or whatever they want from Sofisticat and the dinner for two, and then they go into the Aladdin’s Cave and pick one of these prizes,” says Ogunlesi, shedding more light on ‘Men Who Cook’.

The second person comes in and picks something from the cave, whatever they like best. The third will go in, pick something. The fourth will go in; pick something.

Then, the first goes back and take a second present, the second goes in next, takes one, third and then fourth.

So, that everybody will get two prizes apart from the

Ogunlesi first who goes home with four prizes.”

The theme of the art exhibition is ‘The Content’ is fitting and absorbing, after all, content, they say, is king. Besides, the exhibition boasts of kingly artistes within range though not as popular as world-famous creatives, but they hold their own any day. The art exhibition will feature Hamid Ibrahim, Segun Aiyesan, Wande George, Clara Aden, Emeka Nwagbara, and Elizabeth, with the “versatile, meticulous, engaging, and widely explorative character Lekan Onabanjo, whose curatorial proficiency and eclectic tastes, bringing his experience to bear upon the event.

Legendary Bruce Onabrakpeiya will be there too.

“He will be here. So, we’re celebrating Bruce at 89. Then we have Lekan Onabanjo, who is, of course, also the curator. They’re all presenting five pieces each. Very interesting, very diverse and very interesting because we have much more than that,” Ogunlesi enthuses. For her, the message of the exhibition is quite simple.

“If you have your space, you should try and put an original work because, in your interpretation of that work, your emotions get involved. And it’s a nice thing because what other investment can you describe as low maintenance and enjoy it on a daily basis and the value does not drop,” says the homeware mogul. “It’s an investment, and you can enjoy it; you can enjoy it every day.

It needs no maintenance, you know, and the value does not deplete. If you have a home, you must maintain it.”

The artist will be on the ground on November 5 (Friday) and then on November 7 (Sunday).

“And the time span is long, 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Sunday,” adds Ogunlesi. “We will be open 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Sunday. That first Sunday, the artist will also be here. So, it’s your chance to actually talk to the artist, if you like artwork, to be able to ask what was the artist thinking when he was painting? Of course, we will have the wine. We will have some little bits to nibble on, you know. But, always when you come in, the hospitality of Adam & Eve is part of what you should look forward to, especially if you’ve never been here.”

“We picked Friday for the opening of the art exhibition,” says Ogunlesi because “if you walk

around Ikeja, it is easy for you to drop in on your way home. So, you will see it on that day.”

So when you come in, in the first day, the second day, by the time you’re coming in on the third day, the better pieces you would have loved might have gone.”

She adds: “Anybody is welcome to come in and look at the art exhibition. The men who cook, their cooking, we have an observation point. We’re planning to have an observation point which is you’re sitting here, you have that, the projector there, and you can see what they’re cooking. And you can see how adept they are at what they are doing. And we’ve got lovely judges. We got five judges, three females and two males.”

Then, there is what she calls the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols — first held at the King’s on Christmas Eve 1918. It was planned by Eric Milner-White, who had just been appointed dean after experience as an army chaplain; this experience convinced him that the Church of England needed more imaginative worship.

“The festival of nine lessons and Carol is actually something that King’s College Cambridge brings out every year with BBC. And I thought, for us, Christmas is the most celebrated festival in most countries. And why? As things get not as good as we hope, Christmas is a time to look and think about, to give hope of a new beginning,” Ogunlesi reasons. “I always think of that in the new year. It is a new beginning. Hoping for a new beginning, for a better year. So, when people say may the years ahead be better than all the years gone by, that is Christmas.”

She further states, “We want to make it not just a commercial Christmas but the real message of hope which is the real Christmas message. That it doesn’t matter what has gone on before, a new beginning, a new year, a message of hope. So, I looked at it that how do you send out this message? So beyond the commercial, we have these nine lessons which run through the fall of Adam, the rise of Abraham in offering his son, the angel visiting Mary to announce the coming of her son, our saviour’s arrival.”

There will be nine lessons, eight being read by females “who have established themselves” then, the ninth lesson will be by either a bishop in the Anglican Church or the Catholic Church.

“Because each time you hear the message, it’s a new message, and that’s what the Christmas Carol is about. The music is good, the carols are nice, we have a proper choir, and then after that, we have a reception to herald in Christmas,” Ogunlesi explains.

Real fun lies ahead. And in this case, seeing is believing.

With the passage of time, Adam & Eve has kept looking forward into the future. As the global community begins to “live” again, move freely, Ogunlesi knows what products to offer in the coming years.

“More outdoor. More outdoor. Yes, more outdoor products. More kitchen gadgets. And all these are geared toward ease of living. As you work harder, you must never forget yourself because it is only one life, you live it only once, and that is why you must give yourself a treat,” she discloses. “That is why you need to visit Adam & Eve because what we have is to ensure that you enjoy this one life.”

Where does she see the homeware giant in the next five years?

“Well, probably more online, but I believe very strongly that nothing can beat a physical look. Humans are meant to interact physically. I always say something that, when your child is far away from you, it doesn’t matter how often you FaceTime, you would like to see your child face-to-face because there are nuances that you will miss over the phone,” Ogunlesi notes. “I want to see how well you are.”

She continues: “In the same way when you come to Adam & Eve, and you walk round, there is no way even if you don’t have money, when you’re going out through that door, your heart must be lighter because the way things are, there is so much research going on in everything that they are putting out: there is something about coming here and touching and having a face-to-face conversation. I can feel your emotions. You can feel my emotions.”

She points out that this is not the same with robots and other digital applications.

“I think this is something that within the next five years we are going to find, and we’ll probably in five years’ time retrace our steps,” Ogunlesi predicts. “So, at the moment, that’s why we’re not opening branches.

People are saying, ‘oh no!’ They prefer to shop from home. Fine. So we have one branch that I can assure you when you visit you will go out there, and you will feel lighter. It doesn’t matter what burdens you came in with.”

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FRIDAY NOVEMBER 5, 2021 •T H I S D AY

THIS WEEKEND WEEKLY MAGAZINE

Tarere Obaigbo: 2021 Mrs. Nigeria Gears Up for Global Stage

NEWS METRO THISLIFE ART WEEKEND ENTERTAINMENT Group Features Editor: Chiemelie Ezeobi chiemelie.ezeobi@thisdaylive.com 07010510430

T H I S D AY ˾ ͳ˜ 2021

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COVER

TarereObaigbo:2021Mrs.NigeriaGearsUpforGlobalStage Few months after emerging winner of the 2021 edition of Mrs. Nigeria in March,Tarere Obaigbo is set to take on the rest of the world at the global stage at the forthcoming Mrs. World Pageant.The beauty queen from Edo State will be the first Nigerian to participate in the prestigious beauty pageant billed to hold in LasVegas, US between January 9 and 16, 2022. While representing Nigeria as a contestant, she is also billed to be the country guest at the Mrs Universe, Mrs Globe and Mrs United Nations. In this interview with MARY NNAH, Obaigbo popularly known as Oreime, while highlighting some of her achievements, which she believes speak volumes, also unfolded her plans to give quality representation at the competition What motivated you to go into this and what do you hope to achieve afterwards? have always loved pageantry and I have done so many pageants right from when I was very young. I have always been drawn to pageants so much that at every competition that I have participated in, has always engaged me in serious concerns.

So when I saw Mrs. Nigeria I felt that this was an opportunity for me. Mrs. Nigeria is different from the Miss Nigeria pageant. The Mrs. Nigeria pageant focuses more on the things that you have already achieved as a woman and then on how you intend to impact the lives of women especially in Nigeria.

I have always loved pageant but since I got married, I just left that space but by the time I saw the criteria for Mrs. Nigeria – a non-bikini beauty pageant for married women between the ages of 23-45 years and you have to have an existing project, you have to have empowered and impacted on women, I felt this was something I really wanted to be part of. I felt this was something that will change the face of pageantry and also show the world the gorgeous women we have in Nigeria.

Mrs. Nigeria is also looking to put a new face to the married woman, which is the reason why I am so excited about this. As African women, the moment we get married, a lot of us remove ourselves from the stage and our interaction with people is reduced. You can even see this in how most beauty queens act once they get married – they just disappear from the limelight and their projects disappear with them.

Mrs. Nigeria is more about women showing the world that you can still make a difference and look good even after marriage. It is showing the world that we can still look good and make an impact even after marriage and kids.

So, I couldn’t have done otherwise seeing the possibilities inherent in such beauty competition that gives married women the opportunity to exhibit their potentials and achievements and not just their beauty and physical endowments alone.

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What makes this different from all other pageants you have participated in?

The Mrs Nigeria competition is quite a deviation from the regular norm for beauty pageants. There is a particular connotation about pageants generally. And when it comes to Miss.

Pageant, you begin to imagine the things you look forward to; they are more or less asking them from the point of view of the potential they have. But Mrs. Pageant’s version is not asking you about potentials, you are qualified by the virtue of what you have brought to the table - Womanhood, the fact that you are building a legacy or that you have built one and thirdly, responsibility. So, it is not just for the beauty alone, but you are bringing beauty, brain and achievement to show for it.

The competition debuted in Lagos in 2017 and has since then produced winners at each edition, what was the attraction for you?

I am attracted to this competition because it is quite a departure from what beauty pageantries are originally known for. In Miss Nigeria or Miss World for instance, they are more or less asking for participation from the angle or perspective of the potentials the contestants have.

But for this Mrs Nigeria/World version they are not talking about potentials as you are only qualified by virtue of what you have brought to the table already. So, Mrs World is about womanhood, building legacy and responsibility.

To put it in a better way, it is about beauty, brains and achievements.

Now you are going to represent Nigeria at the global stage. How prepared are you for this?

I believe I am a purpose driven individual who thrives to make a society a better place through advocacy for environmental sustainability and empowerment programmes. As a result I am currently running different PET projects towards realising this goal. They include the Gathering Africa, which is a bi-monthly spoken word event, which is meant to boost culture and creativity among Nigerians and indeed Africans.

L-R: MD CEO M778ng, Lekan Lawal; Mrs Nigeria, West Africa 2021 and Mrs World representative in Nigeria, Tarere Obaigbo, and Head, Business Development, M778ng, Opeyemi Odeyale, during the press conference in Lagos The Gathering Africa is about poetry and eloquence.

Most of us in The Gathering are writers.

We love the act of writing but you find out that there isn’t as much financial reward for the art and the passion. So The Gathering is pretty much creating a platform, whereby newbies writers, poets and musicians come together to share their ideas and also be empowered. We usually give funding to students and also source for very talented students and bring them together to encourage them to do more and to aspire to continue with their passion.

I have another project called Ecoprolive.

It is designed to create awareness on the importance of making the environment clean and green. Here volunteers come together, go to different water areas and clean the shorelines. We have gone to different beaches in Lagos.

The third is called the F4A Initiative, an acronym for Food for All, meant to feed the less privileged and disadvantaged in the society. What we do is that once a year; we go out there, cook and try to feed at least 3,000 people.

Those are the three projects that have been ongoing and right now, with the Mrs. Nigeria platform and other subsequent platforms, we are looking to expand to reach more people and see how we can get more West African countries on board and then show the world that black is beautiful.

The fact that this is the first time Nigeria will be represented at such a big stage makes it even more interesting and instructive. I feel highly motivated to represent the country on such a big platform that parades the most inspiring women across different parts of the world

with beauty, intelligence and achievements to show. I promise to make my participation count for the good of the country.

I am happy to be in the midst of great women all across the world that have been successful too in their respective countries.

As I speak, we have a WhatsApp platform where we have been connecting and relating with one another on some of the projects we are doing in our various countries.

We have been sharing ideas on how to improve on our projects in a way that can be more felt and appreciated by the people.

Women will do better to inspire others with their achievements and lofty attainments and not give in to the stereotype which condemns their roles only to the kitchen.

You are an African woman married to an African man and everyone knows what that means. So what has been the society’s reaction and to what extent is your husband supporting you on all of these?

It is important that we change our perception of pageantry in Africa generally, which is also a problem that we generally have in Nigeria, in the sense that pageants are platforms for women to showcase their uniqueness. But a lot of Africans have misconstructions about what pageants are and so a lot of these people have abused the term pageantry. However, Mrs. Nigeria comes to maintain the standard of what a pageant should be. Mrs. Nigeria is not just a pageant but a platform where women come together and they don’t see it as I am competing with you because I am more beautiful than you are. It is more about we are here together to learn and share with each other. And at the end of the day we say, this is the person that can represent us out there.

Mrs. Nigeria is more about women showing the world that you can still make a difference and look good even after marriage. It is showing the world that we can still look good and make an impact even after marriage and kids

Talking about the extent to which my husband supports me, I would say that my husband is very supportive and he is always there for me.

He is my friend. Although initially when I told him I was going for the pageant, he didn’t believe me. He thought I was joking. But he knows that I have always been involved in pageants and he knows I have always loved pageants.

When I told him about this pageant, he didn’t even think about it and in fact he thought I was joking until I told him I was going for the Mrs. Nigeria camp. He was like what camp and when I explained everything to him, especially the criteria for the pageant, he said okay – “this fits what your brand has always been about”, and he encouraged me that if I wish to grow on what I was doing, it was important that I expose myself to a national platform. He was with me on the day of the pageant when I won; he came on stage.

So what did you get for winning Mrs. Nigeria?

I got a million naira but it is more of a support fund for whatever project you are working on.

What is your expectation for Nigerian women? And if you win the global competition coming up in January next year how would that help the Nigerian women?

The journey of the Nigerian woman has been very long and tedious in the sense that we have been relegated to the background. Now women have worked so hard to get themselves into relevant positions in various sectors of the economy. Even at the workplaces, a lot of women are underpaid.

Women put in so much into whatever they do and yet women are overlooked a lot of time and regarded as unimportant and this affects a lot of things. But the most important thing is that every generation must endeavour to create a platform that the next generation can stand on.

For the first time in Nigeria, we are able to produce someone that is going to represent not just Nigeria but West African in a pageant that is keenly contested globally.

Nigeria has never participated in Mrs. World pageant and we don’t even have anybody in West Africa that has participated. I think in Africa as a whole only about five countries have actively participated.

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T H I S D AY ˾ ͳ˜ 2021

Lagos Ikoyi Lions Club Installs Abdulkarim Yusuf as 34th President Stories by Mary Nnah Lions Club International District 404A1 Nigeria, Lagos Ikoyi Lions Club has officially made Lion Abdulkarim Yusuf its 34th president during an elaborate Fundraising and Investiture ceremony held recently in Lagos.

Abdulkarim, during his acceptance speech expressed profound gratitude to the club members for bestowing such honour on him promising to do everything possible to uphold the integrity of the club.

His core project, he said is on environment – an avenue he intends to use to redesign the Oye Williams Garden, a garden named after the club’s Charter President, Late Lion Oye Williams.

Commissioned on May 16th, 2018, the garden was established in line with one of the Lions Clubs International five focus areas - the environment.

The garden is equipped with a water fountain, walkway and has a seating capacity of 40 persons.

“I hope to deliver quality leadership to the club and in doing that continue with the excellent jobs that previous presidents have done by providing services to the less privileged.

“I am passionate about the

environment and want people to have quality lives and learn to keep the environment clean and also give the next generation the opportunity to live a good life. To this end, I will redesign the Oye Williams Garden”, he noted.

Chairman of the occasion, Yemi Sanni, encouraged the club members and all good hearted Nigerians to support the president morally and financially, stressing that the club needs resources to be able to execute the number of projects that were on ground for the Lions` year.

“We need to rally round the president to ensure that the Lion’s year will become a success for him and that he is able to embark on all of the projects he desires”, Sanni said.

District Governor 2021-2022, Lion Fortune Wagbatsoma, expressed satisfaction over the event, saying that it was an opportunity to raise funds for the less privileged.

She affirmed that the newly installed president’s focus on the environment was commendable, adding, “He is the right course trying to pursue our mandate”, while encouraging the president not to relent in his efforts.

The guest speaker at the event, Group Managing Di-

rector, FinTrak Software, Mr. Bimbo Abioye, spoke on the topic, “Impact of Technology on the Environment”. He noted that the Ikoyi Lions club is concerned with so many things that have to do with the environment.

“We are dwelling on the impact of technology on the environment - the activities of man in trying to create things in

addition to what God has done are not without using energy.

“The sources of the energy are sometimes from fossil fuel, gas flaring etc which on a daily basis emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and all of these things combined together to create global warming and some other environmental degradations – water and land pollution and all of these have

impact on man affecting what the man eats and drinks. These are the impact of manmade activities on the environment.”

Explaining the diverse ways that technology can help to make the environment better, Abioye said that technology creates these problems and technology can also be the answer by looking at alternate sources of energy as opposed

to fossil fuel and related kind of energy and then looking at technology that can capture carbon dioxide that is creating the problem right from the sources.

Lion Olajumoke Simplice , the Chairperson, Investiture Committee, said the event went well due to the commitment of members of the planning committee.

L-R: 1st Vice District Governor 404A1, Anogwi Anyanwu; Zone 1A Chairperson and wife of President, Lagos ikoyi Lions Club TPL Soledotun Abdulkarim-Yusuf, President, Lagos Ikoyi Lions Club, Abdulkarim Yusuf and District Governor 404A1, Fortune Wagbatsoma during the fundraising and investiture ceremony of the president of the club

Rotary Club of Lagos Island First Female President Emerges Rotarian Kamlesh Jain was recently installed as the sixth and first female president of the Rotary Club of Lagos Island, District 9110, Nigeria, for the Rotary year 2021-2022.

The change maker president, as she is called, at the investiture ceremony, pledged her commitment to the club while calling for support and collaboration from members urging them to serve humanity in their various endeavours and be a true change maker. She explained that giving back to society has great joy and being Rotarians, they were always led by their actions.

“Our action, our character to provide service to humanity is such that inspires millions to come forward and join the league in service of human-

Rotary Club of Lagos Island members during the investiture ceremony ity. We serve humanity with limited resources and that is why as Rotarians we appeal to concerned citizens to con-

NationalMuseumofAfrican ArtPresents‘24 Hoursofthe SmithsonianinLagos’ The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art is partnering with Art X, the African International Film Festival (AFRIFF), the African Artists’ Foundation and Alára to bring together the U.S., Nigeria and African diaspora through the worlds of film, art, photography and fashion.

“24 Hours of the Smithsonian in Lagos” will feature “Taste!” a multisensory, participative art experience at Alára Sunday, November 7, from 12h00-18h00 WAT (7 a.m. to 1 p.m. EST).

“24 Hours of the Smithsonian in Lagos” comes during an ongoing explosion of creativity in Lagos and Nigeria and helps mark the end of Art X and the beginning of AFRIFF. Curated by former Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow, Temitayo Ogunbiyi, “Taste!” will include experiences by sound artist Emeka Ogboh, photographer Iké Udé and

Ogunbiyi in collaboration with chef Renèe Chuks. Using sound, portraiture and food, the three artists question assumptions concerning culture, geography and identity.

The experience will culminate in a living installation in which many of the celebrities featured in the upcoming exhibition “Iké Udé: Nollywood Portraits” and others become works of art by posing for photographs alongside Udé’s exuberant sets at the opening night of the African International Film Festival.

“24 Hours of the Smithsonian in Lagos” is the launch of the National Museum of African Art’s global presence under newly appointed director Ngaire Blankenberg.

“Iké Udé: Nollywood Portraits” will open at the National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C., Feb. 5, 2022.

tribute to the Rotary 4T; time, thought, talent and treasure”.

She therefore urged wellmeaning Nigerians to continue

to partner Rotary International in their quest to improve the standard of living of the poor and the downtrodden in the

society. The District Governor, 2021-2022, Remi Bello encouraged Jain to lead by example during the Change Maker year

and also for her to inspire Rotary club to participate in projects that have immeasurable and sustainable impacts.

He urged Rotarians to be more involved in service projects, stressing that caring and serving others are the best way to live because it changes not only other people’s lives, but also the givers’ lives.

The Chairman for the investiture ceremony and President Elect, Rotarian Anant Sabat said the club`s focus has been to do more service projects which are sustainable and impactful, adding that under the leadership of the first female president, the club has lined up projects this year also to serve humanity.

MyWorldof Bags, MastercardLaunch KafawaTraining Programme

AREAi Wins Theirworld Education Innovation Award

My World of Bags, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation has announced the launch of Kafawa, a training initiative designed to bridge the skills gap in the leather and non-leather manufacturing industry.

My World of Bags, the parent company of FemiHandbags, one of Africa’s leading luxury accessory brands, is partnering the Mastercard Foundation’s Young Africa Works to upskill hundreds of Nigerian youths and connect them to work opportunities in the creative sector.

Kafawa, which means ‘establishment’ in Hausa, will kick-off its pilot edition in Oyo State and will launch a series of intensive courses in hard and soft skills.

The goal is to empower and establish a highly skilled generation of youth to enhance the quality of workmanship in Nigeria - and Africa’s leather and non-leather industries.

In a statement by the Pro-

Aid for Rural Education Access Initiative (AREAi), a Nigerian non-profit focused on foundational skills development for disadvantaged children, has recently been named as one of the five winners of the Theirworld Education Innovation Awards 2021.

Each of the organisations, including the Abuja-headquartered charity, will receive £50,000 scale-ready grants and mentoring to help them make an even bigger impact as they deliver education to vulnerable children.

The organisations were selected after rounds of application screening, before they were earmarked to receive necessary scaleup funding and mentoring support towards reaching more beneficiaries and maximising impact.

Speaking after the media pronouncement, Chief Executive Director of AREAi and a Global Youth Ambassador for Theirworld, Gideon Seun Olan-

gramme Director and Founder of My World of Bags/FemiHandbags, Mrs. Femi Olayebi, she said, “There is a breadth of potential in the leather and non-leather manufacturing industries in Nigeria, and yet, there is a lack of skilled hands to bring that potential to life.

“This partnership with the Mastercard Foundation is the perfect opportunity to achieve this, by not only equipping young Nigerians with the necessary skill sets to grow and expand the sector, but also to enhance their own economic outcomes.

“We are honoured to be driving this change, and we are committed to creating access for as many young people at the bottom-of-the-pyramid as possible.

“We truly believe that there is dignity in working your way to the top, no matter how low you start, and we hope to begin to change mindsets and create a chain reaction.”

rewaju, said his organisation decided to start its initiative, the FastTrack innovation, as a response to the urgent need for Nigeria’s upcoming generations to acquire the foundational and functional skills, particularly literacy and numeracy, which they require to strive in a constantly evolving world.

“When I heard the announcement, I was extremely happy because, finally, Theirworld is adding the last element needed to have a complete youth engagement strategy. It is really, really empowering for every member of our team who has played or continues to play a critical role in the process of designing this intervention”, he said.

Another member of the AREAi team, Olajide Charles Falajiki, the Community Engagement Manager explains that the funding award is crucial for the growth of FastTrack, a high-impact intervention.

34

T H I S D AY ˾ ͳ˜ 2021

E-TRENDS

MUSIC SHOWBIZ

…Your weekly entertainment delight

NOLLYWOOD

‘Collision Course is Personal to Me’ Says James Amuta Stories by Vanessa Obioha Filmmaker and writer James Amuta is elated at the nomination of ‘Collision Course’, the Bolanle AustenPeters yet-to-release film which he wrote and produced, at the 2021 Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA). The film earned four nominations which include Achievement in Screenplay; Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Kelechi Udegbe); Best Young/Promising Actor (Oluwabamike Olawunmi-Adenibuyan, aka Bambam), and Best Nigerian Film.

“This is a film we did out of passion. We just wanted

to tell the story and for it to be nominated at AMAA for Best Screenplay and Best Nigerian Film, this is good.

It is huge.”

Set against the backdrop of the End SARS protests, Collision Course explores the seedy underbelly of rogue law enforcement agents when they collide with a frustrated young man.

For Amuta, who wrote the script in 2008, watching the film for the first time at a screening brought tears to his eyes.

“The first time I saw the private screening, I wept. It’s a personal story for me. It was something that actually happened to me because I

experienced it. For the first time, it became real that night, I could have ended up shot or killed like the character.”

The award-winning filmmaker continued: “AMAA is big so this nomination is very big to me. I made films for Africa and this is the continent validating me as a good writer. I’m proud.”

Collision Course stars Nollywood veteran actors Bimbo Manuel, Norbert Young, as well as Chioma Akpotha, Daniel EtimEffiong, Ade Laoye among others. The film which will close the Africa International Film Festival 2021 will premiere in February 2022.

James Amuta

Made Kuti Leaves Lasting Impression at Second Concert Whatever doubts about the ingenuity of Made Kuti, the rising Afrobeat musician from the famous Fela Anikulapo-Kuti lineage, were cast aside at his second concert held at Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Alongside his band, The Movement, the young man gave guests and fans of Afrobeat an unforgettable experience that left many calling for an encore.

Made, who is a skilled multi-instrumentalist, is steadily gaining the admiration of many. At his first concert held last July at Terra Kulture, Made’s performance with his band was reminiscent of his late grandfather’s. His mastery of the saxophone combined with the theatrics between him and the dancers brought

Made Kuti

guests to their feet.

The atmosphere was no different at Oriental Hotel.

Performing songs from his debut album For(e) ward which include ‘Free

Your Mind,’ ‘Your Enemy,’ ‘Blood,’ ‘Different Streets,’ ‘Higher,’ ‘You’ll Find,’ and

‘Hymn,’ as well as some unreleased songs, Made held guests spellbound while urging his fans to vote him at the upcoming All Africa Music Awards where he is nominated in the Best Artiste, Duo, or Group in the African Jazz category. His performance was preceded by his regular collaborators, The Bandhitz and Cavemen.

Comedian Omo and Kojah Kaze provided humour for the night, leaving prominent guests like Edi Lawani, Funlola Aofiyebi-Raim in stitches.

A significant trademark of Made’s concert is familial support. At his sophomore concert which was packaged by his mother’s event company, FK Management with support from Trophy Stout, Lagos Inland Revenue

Service, and Soundcity, Made’s parents, Aunt, Yeni Kuti; and other family friends were present to support him.

The pride in his father’s eyes as he watched his son deliver sterling performance was so luminous that one needed no conviction that Made is indeed the son whom Femi Kuti is very pleased with.

Made, the first son of Femi and Funke Kuti has been walking on a familiar and family path of music since he was young. He was a member of his father’s Positive Force band for a while after he graduated from London’s Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in 2018.

In 2020, he formed his band, The Movement, and has since been performing and headlining some gigs.

Ex-BBNaija Housemate Saskay Makes Dazzling Runway Debut Saskay, the 21-year-old model who participated in the recently concluded Big Brother Naija season six was among the stunning faces at the 10th edition of the Lagos Fashion Week.

Donning different pieces from fashion designers like Banke Kuku, Studio 189 as well as Sisiano, Saskay whose real name is Tsakute Ladi Jonah, displayed her modelling and dancing skills with panache. For instance, on her first day on the runway, she was lauded for the way she rocked Kuku’s two-piece purple “dayjama” set. She stole the show rocking Studio 189’s outfit and closing the show with Sisiano’s collection titled ‘My Eyes Before Yours SS22.’

Saskay joined a powerful delegation of models, including Vine Olugu, Damilola Bolarinde, Emmanuel Umoh and David Pwajok who walked for other designers including Gozel Green, Orange Culture and Kikoromeo.

Being one of the youngest persons to ever grace the show, Saskay says she is “grateful for the opportunity and happy to be back doing what I really love.”

Saskay was one of the BBNaija season’s most loved contestants. She spent

D’Banj

D’banj Announced as Keynote Speaker at AMBS 2021

Saskay closing the show for studio 189 (2), LFW Day 2

eight out of 10 weeks and exited the show to discover a massive community of fans. At the moment, the model is focusing on utilising her talents for fashion, music, dancing, painting

and stage performances.

Her competitive strength, creative delivery during task preparations/presentations and her winnings while in Biggie’s house earned her the nickname “TasKay”.

Although an orphan and a northern girl from a minority ethnic group, Saskay is poised to show her talents and leave an imprint in the fashion and entertainment world.

The International Committee of the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) has announced musician and entrepreneur D’banj as the keynote speaker of AFRIMA Music Business Summit (AMBS).

The summit is one of the key features of the platform leading the awards night.

It serves as an avenue for African music creatives to discuss the business of music.

This year, the focus will be on ‘Monetising Music in Africa’, and will feature three panel sessions that will plumb ‘Building a Cult: The Magic of Music Marketing’, ‘The Music Industry Goes Online’, and ‘Modern Technologies and Music Struggles’.

The music conference is scheduled for November 19 and will take place at Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.

35

T H I S D AY ˾ ͳ˜ 2021

ART WEEKEND

…For pure art enthusiasts

Artists Embrace Brand New Art Trade Gallery

At 75, BIC Rewards Nigerian Winners As art spaces reopen for business in spite of the lingering pandemic, the luxury store, of ‘Art Master Adam&Eve is unleashing the harmattan edition of The Content, a group exhibition tradition Africa’ Competition

which started in June 2017. Yinka Olatunbosun reports

Yinka Olatunbosun

T

he exhibition tagged ‘The Content’ returns today in Lagos after a brief hiatus.

Running till December 12 at Adam&Eve, GRA Ikeja, Lagos, the show features works

by Wande George, Hamid Ibrahim, Segun Aiyesan, Clara Aden, Emeka Nwagbara and Elizabeth Ekpetorson alongside guest artists - master printmaker, Bruce Onobrakpeya and leading painter Lekan Onabanjo.Again, a parade of diverse medium, styles and techniques awaits visitors.

“The gallery space created from ‘The Content’ exhibition has been making some modest sales in the last few years, even without organising formal art exhibitions,” the CEO, Adam&Eve, Mrs Modupe Ogunlesi revealed in a recent press briefing.

In the same vein, Onabanjo who doubles as the show’s curator remarked that the exhibition-like the luxury store that houses it- still basks in its premium standard quality. Other events atAdam & Eve during the exhibitions include Cooking Competition elimination series for Men, 6-7, November; Art, Wine and Music, Nov 7, while Sunday 28, November is the grand finale of ‘Men Who Cook’ alongside ‘Afestival of Nine Lessons and Carols.’

For the artist Hamid Ibrahim, his works convey hidden messages and coded emotions; tapping from issues of national interest and concern.

Segun Aiyesan, who turns 50 this year, is a self-taught minimalist artist whose style is an amalgam of cubism and minimalism with emphasis on design and effective use of space.

Clara Aden, an award-winning illustrator, has carved a niche for herself with constant retraining and themed

Clarity

international group exhibitions.

Drawing is her passion which she has continually used as a social commentary.

Her recent body of works include a new series where she explores and manipulates materials from newsprint to other forms of mixed media to treat African women’s

narratives. Emeka Nwagbara, a contemporary artist who ventured into full-time studio practice in 2005 is inspired by everyday people and like Aden-female subjects. With a recent show in California, USA, Nwagbara has spread his artistic wings to fly out to the world his expressionistic paintings.

The fast-growing painter of diverse expression, Elizabeth Ekpetorson draws upon her experiences, memories and her philosophy of life deploying human forms as muse. Not one to be labelled or caged by a title, her works amplify the need for self-acceptance.

An Artist and Her Present RealitiesFelabration 2021 Yinka Olatunbosun Nestled in an eco-friendly scenery in the heart of Victoria Island Lagos, the secluded lounge, Miliki was the venue for the latest body of works by Chinyere Akachukwu. In producing the acrylic paintings, the UK-trained Nigerian lawyer and self-taught artist had contemplated social-realities in Nigeria-a luxury she could afford during the lockdown. Afterwards, she decided to document the trends and events that shaped the year and beyond. And that was the genesis of the solo exhibition titled, “These Resent Times.’’ Curated by Hannah Oghene, the show which kicked off on October 17 amplifies the need to document history and educate people on social causes. Some of the themes highlighted in the various paintings include insecurity, emigration, social media culture as well as human rights violations.

Though called to the Nigerian bar about nine years ago, Akachukwu had been inclined towards artistic representation of her emotions and thoughts on canvas as a child. After acquiring a first degree in law from the University of Nottingham and a masters’ degree at the University of Birmingham, her parents had been apprehensive about her intense interest in the Arts. Eventually, she convinced them that she could balance her legal practice with her studio work.

Akachukwu

For her, burying her talent in painting was not an option.

Whilst studying for her masters, she began to create her own works.

“For me, it is really about constant self-education. I watch a lot of art-related movies and videos about the techniques. I listen to podcasts about art and I visit galleries and I don’t want to be too influenced by other people’s ideas in a way that affects my originality. Sometimes, you may create a work that is based on that,’’ Akachukwu recounted as

camera flashed in her direction.

In her ‘Surviving These Resent Times’ series, she sought to encourage all who are enduring this tough period occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic and economic hardship in Nigeria.

“I am telling them that there are different ways of passing through these times. It is not going to last forever. Times change.

And there is a series called, “It’s Hard Not To Look Back.” And another called “Everything Will Be Alright. And another one is called ‘I Can’t Kill Myself.’ When

you are going through a difficult time, and you have tried everything that you can and there is nothing left for you to do, don’t dwell on it just do what you can and keep it moving. It is a buzz statement,’’ she explained.

The theme ‘These resent times’ is a hybrid of ‘These present times’ and ‘The Resentful Times.’ In ‘Japa-Gbapu Oso’, she interrogates the disillusionment that has given rise to emigration.

“Migration is not voluntary for many,’’ Akachukwu continued.

“Some are unhappy to leave. But they had to leave to secure a better future elsewhere and be able to leave if they have to. If you are unhappy about something, I’d say don’t do it, right? But if don’t have a choice, then that means that things are very bad for you and that means you resent what you have to do.’’

Through ‘Panic Buying,’ she documents the mad rush that accompanied the announcement of the lockdown using a segmented painting of a typical scenario in a departmental store.

In order to commemorate the events of October 2020, she captured the peaceful protest march with the allure of bright colours.

“First of all, I am more about documentation of events as opposed to sending across a message. We don’t have a lot of historical documentation. In ten to twenty years’ time, most of us may have forgotten it,’’ she said.

The show which runs till November 7.

The Anthony office of BIC, a world leader in stationery lighters and shavers, was abuzz last week for good reasons. Journalists were gathered for the formal announcement of the Nigerian winners of the flagship edition of the ‘Art Master Africa’ competition. Though the media friends were also given a mock drawing competition with an undecided closing, the real deal was meeting the young and gifted winning artists.

The competition which targeted Africa and the Middle East tasked budding artists to create a piece of art, using the famous BIC Ball pen. Two Nigerian artists were announced in third and fourth places –also enlisted amongst the top ten Art Masters of Africa.

The ‘Art Master Africa’ winners included one continent-wide winner as well as 11 winners from countries within the region. Odaro Franklin Osaivbie was named as 3rd place winner with his art piece, ‘Entranced’. Andrew Nathan came fourth with his art piece ‘Value.’

Both artists have been rewarded with a cash prize of $500 and $300 respectively alongside branded gift items. The event saw the attendance of the 2020 BIC Art Master of Africa, Fatiou Aboudou.

Osaivbie’s ‘Entranced’ was created using five BIC Ball Pens and took a total of 200 hours to complete while Nathan’s piece ‘Value’ was created using five BIC ball pens and took a total of 180 hours to complete.

Ugandan artist Gayi Eric was named the 2021 BIC Art Master of Africa. His portrait titled ‘Circle of Life’. In the second place was Kamgaing from Cameroon who developed the piece titled ‘In My Room’.

In his remarks, Osaivbie said: “I am a big fan of BIC pens because of their unique ball points. I use them to write and draw. I am grateful for BIC for running the Art Master Africa competition which allows talent across the region to express themselves through art and creativity.”

The Senior Sales Manager West Africa, Guillaume Groues, expressed his satisfaction on the impact of the competition. “Human expression and creativity are core values of BIC, and the inception of the Art Master Africa competition is testament to that.

The competition has allowed us to support thousands of talent in Nigeria and across the continent,” he said.

The Art Master Africa competition is an annual competition that invites artists to creatively develop art pieces using the iconic BIC Ball Pen. The competition fosters creativity in Nigeria and across the region.

BIC has long been connected to art and regularly celebrates the creativity and originality of talented individuals. In 2018, BIC hosted the first of its kind exhibition with 150 creations of art by 80 international artists.

The collection, which started in the late nineties at an exhibition in Italy devoted to the life story of Marcel Bich today consists of more than 250 works by up and coming artists.

36

T H I S D AY ˾ ͳ˜ 2021

It’s a New Dawn as New Turaki Takes Charge in Ilorin In what will go down in history as one of the most colourfully organised turbaning ceremonies, last Friday, the people of Ilorin got more than they bargained for when the Emirate officially rolled out the drum to decorate its new Turaki, Mallam Ahmed Mustapha. Raheem Akingbolu who witnessed the event and the reception that followed, writes that it was a day glitz and rich cultural heritage came to the fore

T

he Emir’s palace at Oja-Oba Ilorin, which also houses the iconic Ilorin Central Jumaat Mosque is always a beauty to behold because of its splendid architectural masterpiece. The Ilorin Emirate, which the palace and the Mosque represent, is perhaps the only traditional state that accommodates many ethnic groups in Nigeria; the Yorubas, the Fulanis, the Hausas, the Nupes and others. The Emirate’s uniqueness as a traditional state was easily noticable as dignitaries trouped in, to witness the turbaning of a new Turaki this Friday morning.

From Airport to Oja Oba, through Gari Alimi, Emir’s road to Taiwo/Post Office, Pakata to Okekere/Abemi, vehicular and human traffic was the first sign that gave the indigenes the feelings that the new Turaki, Mallam Ahmed Mustapha was a man of the people and of class. Aside from vehicular and human traffic that besieged the entire city, entertainers and horse racing enthusiasts added glamour to the event.

As early as 9.30am, the palace environment was cordoned off to avoid stampede and to prevent street urchins from taking over. To protect lives and properties of dignitaries and indigenes, palace security chiefs and men of the Nigeria Police took positions in strategic places. By this time, traditional rulers, top government functionaries, including Governor of Kwara State, Abdulrahman Abdul-Rasaq, top business chiefs and members of diplomatic corps were already trooping into the venue of the turbaning ceremony. Of course, the Turaki-in-waiting had already been ushered in in his royal regalia.

As a prelude to the official decoration of the new Turaki, the Emir and his guests, had earlier been entertained at the forecourt of his palace where another phase of the history of the southernmost Emirate began.

At exactly 11am, the shout of Saakii! Saakii!!

Saakii!!! rented the air, which announced the arrival of the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari. It was a moment to behold as the people of Ilorin competed to catch the glimpse of their revered traditional ruler, the supreme head of the Emirate. In a motorcade that took off from the inner chamber of the Emir, His Royal Highness sat in the passenger seat of a four-seat open-roof S-Class Mercedes-Benz, acknowledging greetings from his subjects with smiles and intermittently raising of hands in appreciation.

The peak of the event was the moment the new Turaki was to be decorated by the Emir, supported by members of the Emirate council, which included the Baloguns –Gambari, Ajikobi, Fulani and the Magajis, who all sat side by side the monarch. Also seated next to them was the Governor Abdul-Rasaq who was watching the exercise with keen interest. They beckoned on Mallam Mustapha to sit on an expansive and well decorated Muslim prayer mat in front of the Emir. Here and there, he was turbaned after the Chief Imam of Ilorin Shiekh Muhammed Bashir Salihu said the opening prayer, followed by recitation from the glorious Quran by an Islamic scholar.

Other dignitaries at the traditional ceremony were Kwara State Deputy Governor, Kayode Alabi, the deputy governor of Kogi State, Edward Onoja, the Emir of Bichi, Alhaji Nasiru Ado Bayero, National and State of Assembly members, notable traditional rulers from the state, President and members of Ilorin Emirate Development Progressives Union, IEDPU, other honorary traditional title holders, friends and well-wishers of the new Turaki.

The Chief Imam of Ilorin prayed to God to grant the new Turaki long life and prosperity to handle the new position bestowed on him by the Emir. He described Saliu Mustapha as a generous and humble personality who has established a very firm reputation for himself which is worthy of emulation adding that he really deserved the honour.

In his remarks, the Emir of Ilorin also described the new Turaki as a very outstanding son of the Ilorin Emirate, a humble personality and someone who has a greater and brighter future before him.

According to him, he is a rare gem and special gift to the downtrodden.

The monarch urged Saliu Mustapha not to relent in his strides and prayed to God to spare his life in good health and guidance.

The Emir, New Turaki and Gov. Abdul-Rasaq

New Turaki In his goodwill message, the state governor, Abdulrazaq said that Saliu Mustapha has been a fine gentleman and a true son of the Ilorin Emirate who has positively impacted the Ilorin community in his own capacity.

Speaking with newsmen after his turbanning ceremony, the new Turaki said he accepts the title wholeheartedly stressing that he considers the recognition a great honour, given the importance of the title in the context of development both within and outside the Ilorin Emirate.

Saliu disclosed that whilst he understands the enormity of the responsibilities that comes with the title, he prayed to God to guide and protect him.

The new Turaki sought the support and cooperation of all and sundry in the new task ahead of him.

Musapha, a politician and businessman, is the fourth Turaki of Ilorin. The first one was Alhaji Sanni Olarewaju Buraimo Okin, who was turbaned in 1963 and reigned till 1972, late Dr. Abubakar Olusola Saraki (1933-2012) and the former Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki (2003-2011) who was later elevated to the position of Waziri of Ilorin Emirate.

The title Mallam Mustapha holds in Ilorin was made famous by three great Nigerians such as the first elected President of Nigeria, Alhaji Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari,GCFR, who was the Turaki of Sokoto between 1962 and 2018 when he died; the second republic Senate Leader, Dr Abubakar Olusola Saraki, who was the Turaki of Ilorin; and the first elected Vice-President in the present dispensation, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar,GCON, who was the Turakin Adamawa before his elevation to the title of Wazirin Adamawa in 2019.

The emergence of Mustapha, who is also the Chairman of Saliu Mustapha Foundation, as Turaki was significant in many ways.

Unlike the Sarakis, who had reached the peak of their political career before being conferred with the title, Mustapha is an unassuming businessman and philanthropist who carry on with his businesses and political participation with little or no media attention.

But to Ilorin people and other eminent personalities, who demonstrated through many ways at the event and during the dinner organized in his honour at the Kwara State Banquet Hall, that Mustapha is their beloved son, the contribution of the new Turaki to human development is second

to none.

While the event lasted, it was easy to establish that Mallam Saliu Mustapha has registered himself in the consciousness of the people as a patriot and philanthropist of note in the last few years.

As captured by the Secretary, International Press Institute, Alhaji Raheem Adedoyin, who gave the closing prayer at the dinner, the new Turaki has by this ascendance to the eminent position, stepped into the big shoes in the Emirate.

Adedoyin, who is also the Oloriewe of Oro Kingdom, described the new traditional chief as a humble and generous man, whose philanthropic deeds are extraordinary and in plain sight. “Salihu Mustapha is taciturn but shrewd, calculating and extremely pleasant,” Adedoyin added.

While commending the Emir for settling for Mustapha, whom he described as lover of his people, the Vice Chancellor of University of Abuja, Prof. Abdulrasheed Na’Allah, also an eminent son of the Emirate said the decision was a popular one.

Na’Allah said: “A great philanthropist, a true lover of his people no matter who or where; an Ilorin Girki, an Ilorin Gangaariya! What I have known of this son of the soil is his respect for the grassroots and his true commitment to his city and his nation. As a higher education administrator, I always feel joyous seeing how Salihu Mustapha carries himself nationally with an Ilorin dignity, an air of Ilorin honour, Ilorin pride, Ilorin integrity! I’m sure these are among the qualities that Maimartaba Sarkin Ilori sees in our new Turaki,” This was also the position of a former Minister of Youth Development and Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdulahi, who attested to the fact that the turbaning was in recognition of Mustapha’s contribution to the development of the Emirate and for his deep love for Ilorin People,” In the view of a former National Publicity Secretary of All Progressives Congress, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, who went philosophical while paying tribute to the new Turaki, whatever was expected of a Turaki of Ilorin was surpassed

by Dr. Olusola Saraki whom he said held the title with panache.

“It would take someone of uncommon candour, charm and mien to match up to the standards set by Oloye, Salihu Mustapha personifies these attributes and more. He is a man who exudes honour. Even as a politician, his dignified carriage is unmistakable. He conveys an aura of gracefulness and gentility,” Issa-Onilu stated.

With the personalities in attendance, one can easily conclude that Mustapha, who is currently aspiring to lead the ruling APC as national chairman, is a bridge builder. Some of the guests at the dinner are; Alhaji Jani Ibrahim, Executive Chairman, LUBCON Group, Ilorin; Engr. Lanre Sagaya, Zaanu of Ilorin; Hon. Moshood Mustapha (MM); AU Mustapha, SAN; Alhaji Adelodun, SAN and Alh. Lukman Mustapha, FCMB, Abuja. Others are; Hajia Memunat Shagaya, Ambassador Yahaya Seriki, Messrs Taiwo and Kehinde Salami and members of Harry’s Club, Lagos.

37

T H I S D AY ˾ ͳ˜ 2021

POLSCOPE

áÓÞÒ ÎÎã ÎÓàáÜÓ ÏÎÎã˛ÙÎÓàáÜÓ̶ÞÒÓÝÎËãÖÓàÏ˛ÍÙט ͸΀͸ͽ ͻ͸; ΁ͻͽ;

DidtheySayAnotherWorldisPossible?

I

was eager and excited when in 2006, fifteen years ago, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, a German NonGovernmental Organisation (NGO) selected me as one of the Nigerian journalists to attend the World Social Forum programme in Bamako, the Malian capital. My excitement was on two folds: one, it would be my first time in Bamako, the hitherto quiet Francophone West African country that produces lots of quality Kampala fabric.

And then two, and more importantly, the theme of the International conference that year was Another World is Possible. I was keen on exploring the character and content of the alternative world being canvassed.

Already, the world was choking as its people, especially in Africa, were wondering if the hardship, instability, uncertainties, and difficulty was all the world had to offer its people. And thus, the preachment and prospect of Another World is Possible offered lots of hope for humanity.

For the records, the World Social Forum (WSF), is a coalition of civil society groups, movements and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) which believes in tackling neo-liberalism and is determined to crusade for a new social order that will offer relief and succor to mankind, through democracy and fair governance. It was largely a gathering of youths and the youthful. I was a youth then.

Now I am getting old. And I am still searching for the promised new order.

At the Bamako conference, the attendance was huge.

Participants were drawn from nearly all African countries.

A swathe of Civil society groups besieged the various venues of the conference. The talks and advocacies were sundry. One common thread in all the presentations and submissions at the conference was the fact that the world was warped and it was high time it was re-ordered. Group after group lamented the various shades of drawbacks they were experiencing in their own country. Neo-liberalism was widely and roundly condemned as there were loud calls for governments in all countries to be more people-friendly.

The unemployment problem plaguing the various countries was deeply decried, and governments were challenged on not only integrating the youths into the business of governance, but that conscious efforts be made to make life

L

Who is Regenerating the Bandits?

D

id you hear that very soon, the troubles and fears of insecurity in the country would be over?

Really? Who said so? I will be too eager and glad for the trouble to end.

Osinbajo

a more pleasant experience for the younger African generation.

After about five or so days, we all carried our bags and returned to our various countries, from whence we came. There was no programme of action. There was no specific demand from any government on what to do. There was neither a statement nor a communique.

Just a rudderless proclamation of what actually was a mere wish of how things ought to be.

Fifteen years after, nothing has changed in the world order. In fact, things have literally gone from frying pan to fire. The problems confronting us today would have made the ones we thought were a plague, fifteen years ago, a child’s play.

Indeed, some adventurous Civil Society delegates from Nigeria had opted to drive all the way from Lagos to Bamako.

They regaled us with the tales of country-side experiences as they drove through the various countries. Today, that expedition would not be considered, as they would not have driven a hundred kilometers before they would be kidnapped.

Our problems as a people simply quadrupled. And we are gasping.

And so, when last Monday, the Vice President, Professor

Yemi Osinbajo, at the maiden edition of the National Youth Conference, in Abuja, urged the Nigerian youth not to despair, but keep faith in the Nigerian project, it re-echoed to me, the vacuous mantra of Another World is Possible, in Bamako, fifteen years ago.

Professor Osinbajo told the Nigerian youths that they cannot win if they don’t bid, that they should do away with the present order of complaints and move on.

But sir, they should move to where?

Hear him: This country is ours, above and beyond partisan troubles, disagreements and everything else, the future will be what we make of it in these days when we seem to be assailed on all sides. It is natural to fear for the future and nurse anxiety on what tomorrow holds.

However, this is not the time to give up or succumb to despair. This is the time to engage and to work more seriously to build the country of our dreams” The Vice President is a Pastor.

A Pentecostal pastor for that matter. They are typically huge on buoying up hope on their congregants. They ignore the

realities facing them and beam large on faith and belief that the supernatural would happen. I think that was what Osinbajo did last Monday. Almost like a throwback to the delusional Bamako mantra of Another World is Possible, without telling us how and when.

Coming, shortly after the one year anniversary of the #EndSARS protests, speaking of what will rekindle hope and faith in the country would appear to be the only wise and nice thing to say.

Were it not so, he knows that the Nigerian youths are assailed by the troubles of joblessness, of unfair and hostile economy, of insecurity and hunger. Professor Osinbajo knows that the future is bleak for the Nigerian youth. Does he not know that that is why Nigerian youths are streaming away, in droves, to Canada and other countries? We have almost got to a point of ‘Anywhere but Nigeria’ (perhaps except Afghanistan).

Even when so much noise was made about the Not-TooYoung-To Run law in 2019, how many youths have truly had access to governance?

Have the old folks let go the tethers of politics and public governance?

Is NNPC Now an Arm of Ministry ofWorks? ast week, after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, Nigerians were told that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) would be constructing 21 federal roads (with a total of 1,804.6 kilometers) at the cost of N621 billion in the next three years.

For one week, I have been trying to understand why the business of road construction is now passed on to the NNPC and not the Ministry of Works, especially when the announcement was made by the minister of Works himself, Mr Babatunde Fashola.

Canticles….

The announcement added that the funds will be drawn from the tax liability of NNPC. What does that mean?

I tried to see if it can pass for NNPC’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), but it is clearly not. So, why did NNPC suddenly dabble into road construction? Is it so that the ministry and its officials will also be in the grove of huge contract-award?

N621billion is huge by all considerations.

Why did the NNPC not pay its tax to FIRS and allow the Ministry of work to construct the roads?

Another concern is the distribution of the roads to

be so built. The North Central geo-political zone (which has no oil at all) got the lion share of 791.10 kilometers, while the South South, from where the oil comes, without which there would be no NNPC in the first place gets a paltry allocation of 81.9 kilometers. Haba! What explains this unfairness? It is even more ironical knowing that the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva who supervises the NNPC is from Bayelsa, State, one of the core states of South south. So who did that unfair and unjust allocation? A crying case of monkey dey work, baboon dey chop! And we say One Timipre Sylva Nigeria!

Didn’t you hear that the military recently captured 1,400 Boko Haram fighters?

And another 400 arrested but keot in custody by Abaubakar Malami, the CJN, just as a whopping 8000 of them have long surrendered? Didn’t you Gen Lucky Irabor also hear very recently from ers and their family members the Chief of Army Staff, that from University of Abuja staff in a recent air strike that 189 quarters? Is that the sign that bandits were killed? the bandits and terrorists have And you know that the been technically or mechanically Defence Headquarters (DHQ) defeated? also said that 1,999 Boko Haram fighters surrendered Don’t you know the level of in the last two weeks. poverty in the north is fueling Do you therefore need to the recruitment process into be told that the war is almost the terrorist enclave? Have over? Calculate all the number you not heard that with the of persons that have either promise of just N50,000 to been killed, captured or sur- their families (after dying) rendered. Is it not to be taken Boko Haram members agree that the rank and file of the to undertake suicide bombterrorists has been irrecover- ing? ably depleted and disabled?

So, how come the sophistiHmmmmm, is your hope cated DSS have not been able and declaration based on these to foil the recruitment process figures? How naïve you are! You or even discover and block the mean you have not known that source of the arms and ammunithe more they announce these tion available to the bandits and killings, these surrenders and terrorists? these captures, the more the rank And lest I forget, how come and file of the terrorists swell? bandits have been operating Have you not noticed? Open successfully despite the fact that your eyes; can’t you see? Can’t almost all telephones in Nigeria, you see that a force is regenerat- should have been registered by ing the bandits?

NIN? How come government and the agencies in charge have There is no force regenerat- not been able to use the phone ing anything here. Don’t bring calls to track and trace the banmystics and metaphysics into dits when they use telephone to this matter negotiate ransom with families of abducted persons? Or is it Ok, so explain why it is that the telephone numbers of that the more the bandits are the bandits are exempted from captured and killed, the more the threat of blockage by the they become in number. Or is it Minister of Communication and that they are lying to us? After Digital Economy, Isa Pantami? all, they have never shown us pictures of the people they You should be fair to allegedly shot and killed. Not the efforts being made by even the picture of the captured government to rein in the ones are always given? So, some- troublers of the society. Are thing is wrong somewhere. Or you not aware that telephone can it be that they are claiming services were suspended in those “victories” to impress the Zamafara State and some Commander-in-Chief, so that parts of Katsina State? Did more money can be released? you not see cases of abduction and banditry reduce in You are asking too many those states as a result of that questions. Don’t you have measure? Come on, give some faith in the words of the Army credit please!

Chiefs? How do you expect them to display the bodies of So are you saying that uncaptured and killed bandits less telephone services are and terrorists before you can suspended nationwide, we believe? Do you know the UN won’t have respite from banditry guideline on that? and banal criminality?

When the Information minister announced many I didn’t say that. A unique years ago that the Boko problem requires a unique Haram members have been solution and strategy. “technically defeated”, did you think he was joking?

Ok. Go and tell your Service Chiefs that Nigerians are You don’t get the point. Our worried and beginning to be worry is that instead of the doubtful of their claims of conpopulation of the bandits deplet- quest. Nigerians should not be ing and thinning out and thus deluded or deceived of phantom their capacity reduced, we keep victories. They cannot tell us that seeing a rise in their number the bandits and Boko Haram and becoming even deadlier by members are in millions. They the day. Did you not hear, for cannot be killing and capturinstance, that after the successful ing them and yet, they will be kidnap of many school children increasing in number by the day. in Sokoto, Zamfara, Kaduna, They should be honest about Katsina, Niger etc., the bandits the true report from the “war have now come to Abuja with front” and not embark on war the kidnap of University lectur- times propaganda.

38

T H I S D AY ˾ ˜ NOVEMBER 5, 2021

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

MTN Nigeria Completes Issuance of N89.99bn Series II 10-Year Bonds Ȋ ȱ ȱ ȱ ȱśŝś ȱ ȱ Kayode Tokede MTN Nigeria Communications Plc (MTN Nigeria) has announced that it successfully completed the issuance of its N89.99 billion Series II 10-Year 12.75 per cent Fixed Rate Bonds due 2031 (“Series II Bond”) under the N200 billion Bond Issuance Programme.

The company in a statement said the book build process commenced on 8 October, 2021, “and was completed on 15 October, 2021. The offer was well received with active participation from a diverse range of high value investors, including pension funds, insurance companies, asset managers, financial institutions, and high net worth individuals. During the book build, the total value of subscriptions received, peaked at N133.45billion representing a 1.48 times oversubscription. As a result, the Series II Bond was launched at a clearing coupon

of 12.75 per cent with N89.99 billion in qualified bids” This is as MTN Nigeria has announced MTN Group intention to proceed with a public offer of up to 575 million shares in its Nigeria subsidiary.

A statement signed by Company secretary, MTN Nigeria, Uto Ukpanah on the Nigeria Exchange Limited (NGX) yesterday disclosed that the offer is going to be in a way of book build to institutional investors and fixed price to retail investors.

Commenting on the bond issuance, Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria, Karl Toriola, said, “We continue to be grateful for the immense investor support, as the domestic debt capital market has yet again given us the opportunity to raise long-term financing to aid our investments in our network. In line with our strategy, the bonds issued this year enable us to diversify our funding sources and extend the

maturity profile of our debt portfolio. We are very proud of this landmark transaction and thank the investor community for their continued confidence in MTN Nigeria’s long-term strategy, our management team, and the overall telecoms industry.”

Also speaking, Kemi Awodein,Managing Director, Chapel Hill Denham stated that, “We are delighted to have led and completed MTN Nigeria’s N200 Billion Bond Issuance Programme with the pricing of the N89.999 billion Series 2 bonds.

MTN Nigeria’s strong credit story has underpinned what have been two oversubscribed issuances in tricky market conditions this year. Chapel Hill Denham acted as Lead Manager and Bookrunner on the MTN debut and follow on issuances of the first bonds issued by a Nigerian telecommunications operator further broadening Nigeria’s capital markets.

L-R: Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan; Professor Kayode Adebowale; Group Head, Corporate Affairs, First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Mr. Diran Olojo and former Acting Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Professor Adebola Ekanola, during the handover of the E-Classroom donated by FCMB to the University.

The ceremony took place at the University’s campus, Ibadan, Oyo State

MARKET INDICATORS

FCMB Invests in Child Health Care First City Monument Bank (FCMB) has equipped the newly constructed E-classroom of the Institute of Child Health (ICH) of the University of Ibadan (UI) to safeguard children’s health care through research, training, and services in a post-pandemic world.

Speaking at the handover ceremony, Group Head, Corporate Affairs of FCMB, Mr. Diran Olojo, said, “we have created a platform for borderless learning and collaborative teaching. It is different from a conventional classroom and will greatly benefit the

Institute of Child Health students and faculty. They now have access to real-time information about child health care trends from other parts of the world.”

Also speaking, the Acting Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Professor Adebola Ekanola, commended FCMB for its various impact investments in the institution. He expressed his gratitude to the Bank for consistently supporting the University of Ibadan and helping it to sustain access to inclusive and quality education, which changes lives and society.

According to Professor Ekanola, the facility donated by the Bank has firmly planted the Institute of Child Health of the College of Medicine in the new era of e-Teaching and e-Learning.

He affirmed the university’s commitment to building virtual and physical infrastructure to provide unique education pathways for students.

The Professor urged leading Nigerian corporations to emulate First City Monument Bank’s commitment to good health, well-being, and quality education at scale.

Jise Food Delivery App Raises $100,000 Angel Fund Oluchi Chibuzor Jise, Nigeria’s food-only delivery platform has announced that it has successfully raised One hundred thousand dollars as angel funds from Europe and Africa.

In a statement released by the firm recently, Jise is led by four co-founders including Marvelous Gbenro as CEO, Tokurah Majid as VP Growth & Operations, Ibukun Olasupo as VP Customer Engagement and

Jeremy Osazuwa Agbonze VP Technology.

According to the firm, In the wake of starting its operation officially, Jise has raised $100,000 angel investment from notable investors including Backroom Capital,Nigeria, Winston Capital, Ireland and also a few angel investors including Jonny Enagwolor, Co-Founder Treepz Inc. They stated that together, these co-founders of Jise promise to improve the livelihood of its merchants, runners and users

by continuously creating a swift, seamless and affordable delivery service using its integrated solution.

“Jise has gone live by signing up more than 40 restaurant menus on their platform first within the Lekki Phase 1 axis of Lagos. We hope to provide meals within 25 minutes to customers in this axis then gradually expand our community-based model starting with bicycle runners across Lagos in preparation for the holiday season.”

Custodian Investment Appoints Falade as Director The Board of Directors, Custodian Investment Limited has announced the appointment of Mr Adeniyi Falade as Director, with effect from 1stJanuary 2022. This was disclosed recently, following the Board’s approval at a meeting held on 27thOctober 2021.

According to a statement released by the company, Falade is a seasoned Investment banker with a wealth of experience of over three decades in the financial

services sector and has over the years served as Director on several Boards in both the financial services and Real estate sectors of the economy.

In addition to his current position as the Managing Director of CrusaderSterling Pensions Limited, a subsidiary of Custodian Investment Plc, he has attended various technical courses within and outside Nigeria which will make him a valuable member of

the Group Board, the statement says.

Falade holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria and an MBA from the University of Warwick, United Kingdom. In addition, He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and an Associate of the Institute of Chartered Stockbrokers of Nigeria.

HollandiaYoghurt Drives Increased Consumer Affinity in Northern Nigeria Hollandia Yoghurt, is renewing its connection with consumers in Northern Nigeria as the favourite drinking yoghurt brand for wholesome nourishment.

Consumption of drinking yoghurt is very popular and well embraced amongst consumers in Northern Nigeria irrespective of time, season, or demographics. It is also widely consumed as part

of the cuisine of several ethnic groups in Northern Nigeria.

It is therefore very fitting that the favourite yoghurt brand Hollandia Yoghurt renews its connection with the consumers.

With the launch of its latest communication campaign tagged “Always Tradition, Always Hollandia Yoghurt”, Hollandia Yoghurt celebrates

the deep connection of the Northern consumers with tradition, love and friendship.

The campaign contextualizes the local needs and way of life of consumers through their moments of wholesome nourishment. Be it in moments of replenishment from a very humid day in Sokoto, Katsina, Bornu or Kano.

MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

(MILLION NAIRA)

JANUARY 2021 Money Supply (M3)

38,779,455.43

-- CBN Bills Held by Money Holding Sectors

1,039,129.55

Money Supply (M2)

37,740,325.88

-- Quasi Money

21,779,302.69

-- Narrow Money (M1)

15,961,023.19

---- Currency Outside Banks

2,364,871.13

---- Demand Deposits

13,596,152.06

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

7,414,275.50

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

31,365,179.93

-- Net Domestic Credit (NDC)

42,916,586.63

---- Credit to Government (Net)

12,304,773.44

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

0.00

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

0.00

---- Credit to Private Sector (CPS)

30,611,813.19

--Other Assets Net

3,892,112.74

Reserve Money (Base Money

13,264,585.14

--Currency in Circulation

2,831,167.19

--Banks Reserves --Special Intervention Reserves

10,433,417.96 317,234.17

˾ ÙßÜÍÏ ̋

Money Market Indicators (in Percentage) Month

March 2018

Inter-Bank Call Rate

15.16

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

14.00

Treasury Bill Rate

11.84

Savings Deposit Rate

4.07

1 Month Deposit Rate

8.82

3 Months Deposit Rate

9.72

6 Months Deposit Rate

10.93

12 Months Deposit Rate

10.21

Prime Lending rate

17.35

Maximum Lending Rate

31.55

˾ ÙØÏÞËÜã ÙÖÓÍã ËÞÏ ̋ ͯͱϱ

OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE AS AT THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7

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

39

T H I S D AY ˾ ˜ ͳ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

Q3 2021: Transcorp Delivers Significant Increase in PBT to N14.13bn Kayode Tokede Nigeria’s leading and largest listed diversified conglomerate, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (Transcorp) has released its unaudited results for the third quarter (Q3) ended September 30, 2021, indicating sustained growth in 2021 as seen in the first two quarters of year.

With strategic investments in the Power, Hospitality, and Energy

sectors, the conglomerate recorded a profit after tax of N13.5billion, rising by 617per cent up from N1.75billion recorded in the previous year.

Transcorp on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) also announced a 599.5 per cent increase in profit before tax to N14.13billion in Q3 2021 from N2.02billion reported in Q3 2020.

Other key highlights of the results that contributed to growth in profit are 57 per cent increase

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

F O R

DEALS

in revenue to N85.6billion in Q3 2021 from N54.4billion reported in Q3 2020, while net finance cost dropped by 3.3 per cent to close Q 3 2021 at N11.29billion from N11.68billion reported in Q3 2020.

Hospitality subsidiary, Transcorp Hotels, returns to profitability amidst the Covid-19 pandemic in the period under review. Transcorp Hotels profit closed the quarter under review at N745.09million from a loss of N5.6billion reported in prior quarter.

S E C U R I T I E S

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N )

The hospitality’s revenue grew significantly by 115 per cent to N14.6billion in Q3 2021 from N6.79billion to contribute to profit.

Transcorp Hotels also recorded decline in finance cost to N3.09billion in Q3 2021 from N4/45billion in Q3 2020 to contribute to positive growth in profit.

President/Group CEO of Transcorp, Mrs. Owen Omogiafo in a statement said: “the results reflect the continued commitment by the

T R A D E D MAIN BOARD

A S

group to improve performance across all the sectors in which we operate.

“Our power business increased by 49per cent year on year, while our hospitality business increased by 115per cent.”

Omogiafo indicated that the company intends to complete the year with another quarter of excellent year-over-year growth, thanks to its scalability and sustainability strategy.

Omogiafo said, “Our outlook

O F

for the rest of the year remains positive despite some macroeconomic issues. We are particularly excited by the performance of our Hospitality business and its recovery following the impact of the Covid pandemic.

“We have remained on track regarding our capacity recovery plan in our Power business and despite the systemic challenges in the Power sector, Transcorp remains a strong contributor to the power generated in the country.

0 4 / 1 1 / 2 0 2 1 DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

40

˾ FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2021

Friday, November 5, 2021 Thisday 40 Index declined ThisdayAfrinvest Afrinvest 40 Index fell 4bps by 14bps The ĨƌŝŶǀĞƐƚ ϰϬ /ŶĚĞdž ĨĞůů ďLJ ϰďƉƐ ƚŽ ĐůŽƐĞ Ăƚ ϭ͕ϳϳϮ͘ϲϴ The dŚŝƐĚĂLJ dŚŝƐĚĂLJ ĨƌŝŶǀĞƐƚ ϰϬ /ŶĚĞdž ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ ďLJ ϭϰďƉƐ ƚŽ ƐĞƩůĞ

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 INDEX

points on the back of sell-ŽīƐ ŝŶ WAPCO (-1.9%), ACCESS (-0.5%),

at 1,674.89 points due to sell-pressure on ZENITH (-0.6%),

and UBA (-Ϯ͘ϰйͿ͘ dŚĞƐĞ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ĐƵŵƵůĂƟǀĞůLJ ĂĐĐŽƵŶƚ ĨŽƌ ϵ͘ϲй ŽĨ ƚŚĞ

WAPCO (-1.3%), and UBA (-0.7%). These stocks cumula-

index.

Fundamental Performance Metrics for THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 Index

ƟǀĞůLJ ĂĐĐŽƵŶƚ ĨŽƌ ϭϯ͘Ϯй͘ Sustained Sell Pressure Dampens Performance... ASI down 8bps

ASI up 11bps as DANGCEM Gains Yesterday, the local bourse extended its3.3% bearish performance as sellŽīƐ

in WAPCO (-1.9%), UBA (-Ϯ͘ϰйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ ACCESS (zĞƐƚĞƌĚĂLJ͕ ƉƌŝĐĞ ƵƉƟĐŬ ŝŶ ,KEz&>KhZ 0.5%) pulled the E'y ůů-Share Index lower by 8bps to 41,943.83

(+9.8%), E' D ;нϯ͘ϯйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ & E, (+0.7%) bol-

ƉŽŝŶƚƐ͘ ŽŶƐĞƋƵĞŶƚůLJ͕ the ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ĐĂƉŝƚĂůŝƐĂƟŽŶ ƐŚĞĚ േϭϲ͘ϱďŶ ƚŽ

stered ƉŽƐŝƟǀĞ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ŽŶ the local bourse as the All-

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Share indexvalue traded declined rose by 45.1% and by faltered as volume and 31.6% ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ƚŽ ϭϲϬ͘ϵŵ ƵŶŝƚƐ ĂŶĚ േϭ͘ϰďŶ͘ FBNHzd (19.5m units), 11bps to 39,550.36 points. ŽŶƐĞƋƵĞŶƚůLJ͕ ůŽƐƐ ŝŵͲ LASACO (10.6m units),while and TRANSCORP (10.6m units) topped proved to -1.8% ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ĐĂƉŝƚĂůŝƐĂƟŽŶ ƌŽƐĞ the ďLJ volume chart while FBNH ;േϮϬϴ͘ϯŵͿ͕ NGXGROUP ;േϭϱϰ͘ϭŵͿ͕

േϮϯ͘ϰďŶ ƚŽ േϮϬ͘ϲƚŶ͘ dƌĂĚŝŶŐ ĂĐƟǀŝƚLJ ǁĂƐ ŵŝdžĞĚ ĂƐ ǀŽůƵŵĞ and ZENITH ;േϭϯϬ͘ϱŵͿ ůĞĚ ƚŚĞ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ďLJ value.

ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ ďLJ Ϯϭ͘ϲй ƚŽ ϭϭϬ͘ϴŵ ƵŶŝƚƐ ǁŚŝůĞ value ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ƌŽƐĞ ďLJ ϴϴ͘ϱй ƚŽ േϯ͘ϭďŶ͘ The most traded stocks Bearish Sector Performance

by volume were dZ E^ KZW ;ϭϭ͘ϵŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ͕ & E, (11.1m WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ĂĐƌŽƐƐ ƐĞĐƚŽƌƐ ƵŶĚĞƌ ŽƵƌ ĐŽǀĞƌĂŐĞ ǁĂƐ ďĞĂƌŝƐŚ as 4

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the Consumer Goods and ĂŶŬŝŶŐ indices declined 0.6% and 0.5%

Bearish Sector Performance

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;нϰ͘ϵйͿ͕ D E^ Z ;нϯ͘ϲйͿ ĂŶĚ >/E< ^^hZ (+7.6%).

er 'ŽŽĚƐ ĂŶĚ Insurance indices, down 4.6% and

ϭ͘Ϯй ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ďĂĐŬ ŽĨ ƉƌŽĮƚ-ƚĂŬŝŶŐ ŝŶ E ^d> (-

Investor ^ĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ tĞĂŬĞŶƐ

9.1%),

hE/> s Z

(-3.5%),

>/E< ^^hZ

(-6.4%),

Investor ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ͕ ĂƐ ŵĞĂƐƵƌĞĚ ďLJ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ďƌĞĂĚƚŚ ;ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞͬ

and D E^ Z (-Ϯ͘ϮйͿ͘ ^ŝŵŝůĂƌůLJ͕ ƚŚĞ Kŝů Θ 'ĂƐ ĂŶĚ ĂŶŬͲ

ĚĞĐůŝŶĞ ƌĂƟŽͿ͕ ǁĞĂŬĞŶĞĚ ƚŽ Ϭ͘ϱdž ĨƌŽŵ Ϭ͘ϳdž ĂƐ ϭϯ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ĂĚͲ

ing indices Ϭ͘Ϯй ĂŶĚ ϮďƉƐ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ƐĞůůvanced ǁŚŝůĞ fell Ϯϱ by stocks declined. SCOA (+9.5%), LINKASSURE ŽīƐ ŝŶ K E K (-0.8%),;нϱ͘ϮйͿ E/d, (+7.5%), and OKOMUOIL ůĞĚ (-Ϭ͘ϮйͿ͕ ĂŶĚ 'd K ;-Ϭ͘ϮйͿ͘ ŐĂŝŶĞƌƐ ǁŚŝůĞ PHARMDEKO (-

Price Previous Current Change Price YTD Weighting Change

Price Change Index to Date

Divindend Earnings Yield Yield

Ticker

Current Price

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40

1,772.68

-0.04%

20.8%

77.3%

15.0%

3.5%

5.5x

0.8x

5.2%

15.2%

780.00

0.0%

28.8%

-8.4%

-8.4%

14.7%

5.2%

10.8x

2.8x

2.3%

9.3%

74.50

0.0%

10.8%

-3.7%

-3.7%

19.1%

11.2%

35.8x

6.7x

28.20

0.7%

8.1%

-12.8%

-12.8%

24.8%

3.9%

4.3x

1.1x

10.6%

23.4% 30.1%

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

ROA

P/E

P/BV

2.8%

24.50

0.0%

6.7%

-1.2%

-1.2%

20.9%

2.8%

3.3x

0.6x

12.2%

280.00

0.0%

6.9%

14.3%

14.3%

40.4%

16.7%

13.9x

5.4x

6.0%

7.2%

175.60

0.0%

5.0%

3.4%

3.4%

179.2%

14.1%

12.7x

19.2x

5.9%

7.9%

1,400.00

0.0%

3.7%

-7.0%

-7.0%

106.8%

15.6%

27.2x

32.0x

4.3%

3.7%

25.60

-1.9%

4.0%

21.6%

21.6%

11.6%

8.4%

9.6x

1.1x

3.9%

10.4%

9.25

-0.5%

3.1%

9.5%

9.5%

17.0%

1.4%

2.6x

0.4x

9.2%

38.5%

8.10

-2.4%

2.5%

-6.4%

-6.4%

2.0x

0.4x

6.6%

49.1%

10.75

1.4%

3.7%

50.3%

50.3%

10.6%

1.0%

5.0x

0.5x

4.2%

19.9%

52.50

0.0%

1.9%

-6.3%

-6.3%

5.3%

1.9%

48.4x

2.5x

2.1%

2.1%

39.00

0.0%

2.1%

3.3%

3.3%

15.4%

2.0%

9.0x

1.4x

10.5%

11.2%

-10.3%

-3.9%

8 Lafarge Africa PLC 9 Access Bank PLC 10 United Bank for Africa PLC 11 FBN Holdings Plc 12 Nigerian Brew eries PLC 13 Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC 14 International Brew eries PLC 15 Flour Mills of Nigeria PLC 16 SEPLAT Energy PLC 17 11 PLC 18 Okomu Oil Palm PLC

5.70

0.0%

1.5%

-4.2%

-4.2%

29.20

0.0%

1.2%

12.3%

12.3%

731.50

0.0%

1.9%

81.8%

81.8%

0.0%

19 Fidelity Bank PLC 20 Ecobank Transnational Inc 21 Dangote Sugar Refinery PLC 22 FCMB Group Plc 23 Sterling Bank PLC 24 NASCON Allied Industries PLC 25 Transnational Corp of Nigeria 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

1.1x

-10.0%

4.5x

0.7x

5.7%

22.2%

3.4%

1.9%

16.9x

0.6x

5.9%

5.9%

-100.0%

142.00

5.2%

1.3%

56.0%

56.0%

38.8%

25.2%

9.7x

3.4x

4.9%

10.3%

2.70

0.0%

0.8%

7.1%

7.1%

12.7%

1.2%

2.3x

0.3x

8.1%

42.6%

8.30

1.8%

0.9%

38.3%

38.3%

1.5%

0.1%

27.5x

0.3x

16.70

0.3%

0.6%

-5.1%

-5.1%

25.6%

12.1%

6.4x

1.5x

8.9%

15.5%

3.6%

3.05

0.3%

0.5%

-8.4%

-8.4%

1.50

-3.8%

0.3%

-26.5%

-26.5%

10.1%

0.9%

3.3x

0.3x

3.3%

14.65

0.0%

0.4%

1.0%

1.0%

20.7%

5.9%

13.8x

3.0x

2.7%

7.3%

1.01

1.0%

0.4%

12.2%

12.2%

-1.3%

-0.3%

0.6x

1.0%

-2.1%

2.1x

1.1%

-1.3%

-0.8%

1.3x

89.00

0.0%

0.3%

25.4%

25.4%

14.25

-8.7%

0.2%

2.5%

2.5%

6.00

-5.5%

0.2%

13.2%

13.2%

4.9% 30.7%

-1.1% 4.2%

9.05

0.0%

0.4%

92.1%

92.1%

2.0x

7.7%

37.00

-7.3%

0.4%

94.7%

94.7%

8.1%

3.8%

13.2x

1.0x

1.2%

7.6%

8.45

0.0%

0.3%

44.4%

44.4%

24.7%

7.5%

4.2x

1.0x

6.9%

24.0%

1.28

4.9%

0.2%

13.3%

13.3%

12.2%

1.8%

12.8x

0.6x

240.80

0.0%

0.3%

85.2%

85.2%

1.8%

18.3%

25.00

0.0%

0.2%

41.9%

41.9%

18.3%

2.4%

4.4x

0.8x

1.6%

23.0%

0.80

-2.4%

0.2%

15.9%

15.9%

13.7%

0.8%

3.8x

0.5x

5.0%

26.5%

0.0%

0.0%

-100.0%

7.1%

0.8%

5.6x

0.6x

5.0%

-3.4%

0.2%

30.0%

14.5%

2.6%

2.1x

0.3x

4.7x

0.6x

4.81

38 Notore Chemical Industries Ltd 39 Beta Glass PLC 40 Transcorp Hotels Plc

10.0%), UNILEVER (-8.7%), and REDSTAREX (-ϴ͘ϮйͿ ůĞĚ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞƌƐ͘ /Ŷ ŽŶǀĞƌƐĞůLJ͕ ƚŚĞ /ŶĚƵƐƚƌŝĂů 'ŽŽĚƐ ŝŶĚĞdž ǁĂƐ ƚŚĞ ůŽŶĞ ŐĂŝŶͲ

ROE

30.0%

7.8%

5.5x

62.50

0.0%

0.1%

0.0%

0.0%

-38.7%

-9.5%

52.95

0.0%

0.1%

-4.4%

-4.4%

14.8%

10.1%

5.38

0.0%

0.0%

49.4%

49.4%

17.7% 48.3%

2.1x

-20.1% 2.0%

21.4%

0.9x T o p 10 T r a d e s b y V o l u m e

T o p 10 G a i n e r s

ƚŚĞ ĮŶĂů ƚƌĂĚŝŶŐ ƐĞƐƐŝŽŶ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ǁĞĞŬ͕ ǁĞ ĂŶƟĐŝƉĂƚĞ that the bears

er,

up

1.8%

driven

by

price

apprecia-

would hold sway in the absence ŽĨ ƉŽƐŝƟǀĞ catalysts.

ƟŽŶ in E' D (+3.3%).

T ic k er

P ric e

P ric e C hg %

T ic k er

Vo lum e

SC OA

1.04

9.5%

FB NH

19.5

1.4%

10.6

-0.9%

LIN KA SSUR E OKOM UOIL

Corporate Disclosure

/ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ^ĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ^ƚƌĞŶŐƚŚĞŶƐ

Yesterday,

DdE EŝŐĞƌŝĂ ŽŵŵƵŶŝĐĂƟŽŶƐ WůĐ

A IIC O

;DdE EŝŐĞͲ

P ric e C hg %

0.57

7.5%

LA SA C O

142.00

5.2%

T R A N SC OR P

10.6

1.0%

1.28

4.9%

J A P A ULGOLD

8.7

-5.0%

H ON YF LOUR

3.64

4.6%

N GXGR OUP

8.1

-4.4%

CHA M S

0.23

4.5%

UB A

6.8

-2.4%

M A N SA R D

2.32

3.6%

J A IZ B A N K

6.7

-4.8%

ET I

8.30

1.8%

Z EN IT H B A N K

5.3

0.0%

ǁĂLJ ŽĨ à ŬďƵŝůĚ ƚŽ ŝŶƐƟƚƵƟŽŶĂů ŝŶǀĞƐƚŽƌƐ ĂŶĚ ĮdžĞĚ ƉƌŝĐĞ ƚŽ ƌĞƚĂŝů

ĨƌŽŵ ϭ͘ϯdž ƌĞĐŽƌĚĞĚ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ůĂƐƚ ƚƌĂĚŝŶŐ ƐĞƐƐŝŽŶ ĂƐ Ϯϰ stocks

FB NH

10.75

1.4%

F ID SON

4.7

0.0%

ŝŶǀĞƐƚŽƌƐ͘ ĐĐŽƌĚŝŶŐ ƚŽ ƚŚĞ ĐŽŵƉĂŶLJ͕ ƚŚĞ KīĞƌ ŝƐ ƚŚĞ ĮƌƐƚ ƐƚĞƉ ŝŶ

T R A N SC OR P

1.01

1.0%

C OUR T VILLE

4.5

-2.5%

ria) announced the ŝŶƚĞŶƟŽŶ ƚŚĞ DdE 'ƌŽƵƉ ƚŽ ƉƌŽĐĞĞĚ with a /ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌƐ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ͕ ĂƐ ŽĨ ŵĞĂƐƵƌĞĚ ďLJ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ďƌĞĂĚƚŚ ƉƵďůŝĐ ŽīĞƌ ĨŽƌ ƐĂůĞ ŽĨ ƵƉ ƚŽ ϱϳϱ ŵŝůůŝŽŶ ƐŚĂƌĞƐ ƐĞƩůŝŶŐ ŝŶ DdE EŝŐĞƌŝĂ ďLJ ;ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞͬĚĞĐůŝŶĞ ƌĂƟŽͿ͕ ƐƚƌĞŶŐƚŚĞŶĞĚ͕ Ăƚ 1.6x

advanced while 15 stocks declined. MRS (+9.9%), MAY-

DdE 'ƌŽƵƉΖƐ ƉƌĞǀŝŽƵƐůLJ ĐŽŵŵƵŶŝĐĂƚĞĚ ƉůĂŶ ƚŽ ƐĞůů ĚŽǁŶ Đ͘ϭϰй ŽĨ

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

BAKER (+9.8%), and HONYFLOUR (+9.8%) led gainers

its current shareholding ŝŶ DdE EŝŐĞƌŝĂ͘ dŚĞ KīĞƌ ŝƐ ĞdžƉĞĐƚĞĚ ƚŽ

while ABCTRANS (-8.3%), LASACO (-6.7%), andinvestors LIVEŽƉĞŶ ŝŶ EŽǀĞŵďĞƌ ϮϬϮϭ ǁŝƚŚ à ŬďƵŝůĚ ĨŽƌ ŝŶƐƟƚƵƟŽŶĂů

T ic k er

P ric e

P ric e C hg %

T ic k er

Value

FB NH

P ric e C hg %

P H A R M D EKO

2.34

-10.0%

208.3

1.4%

ĂŌĞƌ ǁŚŝĐŚ Ă ĮdžĞĚ ƉƌŝĐĞ ƐŚŽƵůĚ be announced for retailthe investors in STOCK (-4.8%) led losers. Yesterday, we expect market

UN ILEVER

14.25

-8.7%

N GXGR OUP

154.1

-4.4%

the same month. ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ƚŽ ƌĞŵĂŝŶ ŵŝdžĞĚ͕ ĂƐ earnings season gradually

R ED ST A R EX

3.12

-8.2%

Z EN IT H B A N K

130.5

0.0%

R OYA LEX

0.48

-7.7%

GT C O

112.2

0.7%

winds up.

C UT IX

5.55

-7.5%

M TNN

94.9

0.0%

37.00

-7.3%

OKOM UOIL

73.6

5.2%

6.00

-5.5%

UB A

56.0

-2.4%

-5.1%

SEP LA T

49.4

0.0%

42.0

0.0%

39.4

-0.5%

GUIN N ESS PZ C OR N ER ST

Afrinvest West Africa Limited

0.56

J A P A ULGOLD

0.38

-5.0%

N EST LE

J A IZ B A N K

0.60

-4.8%

A C C ESS

Brokerage

Asset Management

Investment Research

Adedoyin Allen | aallen@afrinvest.com Robert Omotunde | romotunde@afrinvest.com Abiodun Keripe | AKeripe@afrinvest.com Taiwo Ogundipe | togundipe@afrinvest.com

Christopher Omoh | comoh@afrinvest.com

Damilare Asimiyu| dasimiyu@afrinvest.com

41

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 5, 2021• T H I S DAY

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 03Nov-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 166.42 167.88 2.81% Afrinvest Plutus Fund 100.00 100.00 8.11% Nigeria International Debt Fund 320.61 320.61 -15.98% Afrinvest Dollar Fund 104.59 105.64 -5.46% 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 9.52% AIICO Balanced Fund 3.29 3.35 -4.65% 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 8.75% Anchoria Equity Fund 141.58 143.37 6.44% info@anchoriaam.com Anchoria Fixed Income Fund 1.14 1.14 -13.93% 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 20.60 21.22 13.57% ARM Discovery Balanced Fund 449.72 463.28 12.33% ARM Ethical Fund 39.56 40.75 17.35% ARM Eurobond Fund ($) 1.08 1.09 -1.34% ARM Fixed Income Fund 0.98 0.99 -6.12% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 8.30% AVA GLOBAL ASSET MANAGERS LIMITED info@avacapitalgroup.com Web: www.avacapitalgroup.com Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AVA GAM Fixed Income Dollar Fund 107.11 107.11 5.31% AVA GAM Fixed Income Naira Fund 1,049.42 1,049.42 4.94% AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED investmentcare@axamansard.com Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund N/A N/A N/A AXA Mansard Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A CAPITAL EXPRESS ASSET AND TRUST LIMITED info@capitalexpressassetandtrust.com Web: www.capitalexpressassetandtrust.com ; Tel: +234 803 307 5048 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CEAT Fixed Income Fund 2.08 2.08 -4.37% Capital Express Balanced Fund(Formerly: Union Trustees Mixed Fund) 2.24 2.29 4.16% mutualfunds@cardinalstone.com CARDINALSTONE ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED Web: www.cardinalstoneassetmanagement.com ; Tel: +234 (1) 710 0433 4 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CardinalStone Fixed Income Alpha Fund 1.03 1.03 4.34% CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Chapelhill Denham Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 9.09% Paramount Equity Fund 17.36 17.68 8.56% Women's Investment Fund 141.33 142.99 6.21% CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web: www.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 8.63% Cordros Milestone Fund 132.57 133.40 12.98% Cordros Dollar Fund ($) 109.56 109.56 5.10% 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 1.00 1.00 7.99% Coronation Balanced Fund 1.24 1.26 3.36% Coronation Fixed Income Fund 1.41 1.41 -10.99% EDC FUNDS MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfundng@ecobank.com Web: www.ecobank.com Tel: 012265281 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class A N/A N/A N/A EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class B N/A N/A N/A EDC Nigeria Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A assetmanagement@emergingafricafroup.com EMERGING AFRICA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED Web:www.emergingafricagroup.com/emerging-africa-assetmanagement-limited/, Tel: 08039492594 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Emerging Africa Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 8.34% Emerging Africa Bond Fund 1.03 1.03 2.71% Emerging Africa Balanced Diversity Fund 1.12 Emerging Africa Eurobond Fund 103.93 FBNQUEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.fbnquest.com/asset-management; Tel: +234-81 0082 0082 Fund Name Bid Price FBN Bond Fund 1,438.57 FBN Balanced Fund 196.89 FBN Halal Fund 114.05 FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 FBN Dollar 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

127.45 171.18 Bid Price 1.00 3.99 1.70 1.19

1.12 11.69% 103.93 3.89% invest@fbnquest.com Offer Price 1,438.57 198.32 114.05 100.00

Yield / T-Rtn 11.48% 4.91% 9.23% 8.98%

127.45 3.96% 173.46 13.23% fcmbamhelpdesk@fcmb.com Offer Price 1.00 3.99 1.74 1.19

Yield / T-Rtn 6.74% 3.07% 11.79% 5.17%

FSDH ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD coralfunds@fsdhgroup.com Web: www.fsdhaml.com; Tel: 01-270 4884-5; 01-280 9740-1 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coral Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A Coral Income Fund N/A N/A N/A Coral Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A INVESTMENT ONE FUNDS MANAGEMENT LTD enquiries@investment-one.com Web: www.investment-one.com; Tel: +234 812 992 1045,+234 1 448 8888 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Abacus Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 7.63% Vantage Balanced Fund 2.89 2.95 1.07% Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 4.50% Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) 154.60 154.88 -0.58% Vantage Equity Income Fund (VEIF) - June Year End 1.27 1.32 1.20% Vantage Dollar Fund (VDF) - June Year End 1.06 1.06 3.68% 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 N/A N/A N/A Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A 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 11.88 11.94 13.46% Meristem Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 9.98% NORRENBERGER INVESTMENT AND CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LIMITED enquiries@norrenberger.com Web: www.norrenberger.com, Tel: +234 (0) 908 781 2026 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Norrenberger Islamic Fund (NIF) 100.66 100.67 7.31% Norrenberger Money Market Fund (NMMF) 100.00 100.00 8.32% 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 1.59 1.62 13.11% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 11.02 11.03 -9.33% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 6.94% PACAM Equity Fund 1.46 1.48 -7.32% PACAM EuroBond Fund 112.38 114.51 2.43% 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 136.06 137.52 11.75% 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 1.07 1.07 10.11% 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 3,398.67 3,428.63 5.73% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 234.29 234.29 4.20% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 1.27 1.29 8.47% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 309.92 309.92 5.18% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 235.97 239.57 8.14% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 7.68% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 11,145.63 11,309.01 6.23% Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) 1.28 1.28 4.55% Stanbic IBTC Shariah Fixed Income Fund 116.23 116.23 4.64% Stanbic IBTC Enhanced Short-Term Fixed Income Fund 104.99 104.99 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 1.34 1.36 4.55% United Capital Bond Fund 1.94 1.94 5.70% United Capital Equity Fund 0.92 0.95 15.83% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 8.94% United Capital Eurobond Fund 121.30 121.30 5.95% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.08 1.10 6.17% United capital Sukuk Fund 1.07 1.07 6.74% QUANTUM ZENITH ASSET MANAGEMENT & INVESTMENTS LTD service@quantumzenithasset.com.ng Web: www.quantumzenith.com.ng; Tel: +234 1-2784219 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Zenith Balanced Strategy Fund 13.09 13.21 10.33% Zenith ESG Impact Fund 14.61 14.76 19.68% Zenith Income Fund 24.60 24.60 2.53% Zenith Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 5.65%

REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

124.98 53.90

10.62% 6.67%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

13.96 130.36 104.16 17.90 20.87

14.06 133.60 106.44 18.00 20.97

5.61% 8.41% 4.99% 1.07% 13.38%

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

3.93 5.67 17.89 1.00 21.90 157.99

4.03 5.77 18.09 1.00 22.10 159.99

4.91% -0.26% 10.44% 6.60% 6.69% -14.91%

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

107.28

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.

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NEWS

BUDGET DEFENCE SESSION ...

L-R: Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola; Chairman, House Committee on Works and member representing Bichi Federal Constituency, Kano State, Hon. Abubakar Kabir Abubakar and Deputy Committee Chairman,and member representing Abeokuta South Federal Constituency, Ogun State, Hon. Edun Olanrewaju Oladapo, during the 2022 proposed budget defence by the minister in Abuja...yesterday

US Special Envoy Arrives Ethiopia as America Scrambles to Avert Bloodshed in Addis Ababa The United States Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Feltman, arrived Ethiopia yesterday for a two-day visit to secure a ceasefire as the American government scrambles to avert bloody war after Tigray rebel attack forces announced they had inched closer to taking over Addis Ababa.

The US is an ally of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government but insisted it would not tolerate unjustified violence on the part of the Ethiopian government.

The special envoy is in Addis Ababa to stop military operations and had a ceasefire roundtable between the warring parties.

Reuters reported that the African Union Commission Chair, Moussa Faki Mahamat met Feltman to discuss efforts towards dialogue and political solutions to the conflict, which pits the central government against the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and its allies.

The European Union and the East African bloc, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), joined the chorus of bodies calling for a ceasefire.

Ugandan President Yoweri

Museveni announced an IGAD meeting on November 16, to discuss the war.

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development, according to NBC News, also appealed for an immediate ceasefire, imploring the parties to engage in peace talks.

On his part, Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta said "the fighting must stop" on Wednesday, urging the government and rebels to, "put down their arms and to cease the fighting, to talk, and to find a path to sustainable peace."

Similarly, UN Secretary-General

Antonio Guterres said he had spoken to Ahmed on Wednesday "to offer my good offices to create the conditions for a dialogue, so the fighting stops."

Before his trip to Ethiopia, at Washington-based think-tank US Institute for Peace, Feltman said as many as 900,000 people in Tigray faced famine-like conditions, while 90 per cent of the population needs aid.

He added that the most serious obstacle to getting food, medicine, and other critical assistance was the Ethiopian government, which

imposed bureaucratic obstacles and expelled seven senior UN humanitarian and human rights officials in October.

“This, unfortunately, suggests an intentional effort by the authorities to deprive Ethiopians who are suffering of receiving lifesaving assistance,” said Feltman.

Meanwhile, the special envoy said the government’s airstrikes and TPLF’s alliances with other disaffected armed groups were “alarming,” and warned that the country risked sliding into a bigger conflagration.

“A multi-decade civil war in Ethiopia would be disastrous for its future and for its people,” Feltman warned.

“We urge the government of Ethiopia, the TPLF, and the other belligerents to give peace a chance, to choose a different path and engage in dialogue without preconditions.”

Feltman deflected accusations that the US was biased toward the TPLF. “Let me be clear: We oppose any TPLF move to Addis or any attempt by the TPLF to besiege

Addis. This is a message we have also underscored in our engagement with TPLF leaders,” said the US envoy.

He also denied claims that President Joe Biden's administration planned to replace Ahmed with a TPLF-dominated regime.

According to USIP, Feltman said the Biden administration was prepared to impose sanctions targeting all parties to the conflict and those obstructing humanitarian operations, leaving thousands killed,

issuance programme, which was fully subscribed.

The book build process commenced on October 8, 2021 and was completed on October 15, 2021.

The offer was well received with active participation from a diverse range of high value investors, including pension funds, insurance companies, assets managers, financial institutions received peaked at N133,454,000,000, representing a 1.48 times oversubscription.

As a result, the Series II Bond was launched at a clearing coupon of 1.275 per cent with N89, 999,000,000 in qualified bids.

As at the time of filing this report, MTN Nigeria Communication share price was trading at N175.60 per share.

MTN Nigeria is one of Africa’s largest providers of communications services , connecting approximately 68 million people in communities across the country, with each other and the world.

Continued on page 43

MTN GROUP TO SELL 575M SHARES IN PUBLIC OFFER November 2021.

It added: “The offer is expected to close in December 2021. This is the first step in MTN Group’s previously communicated statement of intent to sell down approximately 14 per cent of its current shareholding in MTN Nigeria.”

The telecommunication giant on the Exchange also announced a successful completion of issuance of its N89,999,000,000 Series II 10-year 12.27 per cent fixed rate bonds due 2031 under the N200

billion Bond Issuance Programme.

Commenting on the bond issuance, Chief Executive Officer, MTN Nigeria, Mr. Karl Toriola in a statement explained: “We continue to be grateful for the immense investors support, as the domestic debt capital market has yet again given us the opportunity to raise long-term financing to aid investments in our network.

“In line with the company’s strategy, the bonds issued this year enable us to diversify

funding sources and extend the maturity profile of the company’s debt portfolio.

“We are very proud of this landmark transaction and thank the investor community for their continued confidence in MTN Nigeria’s long-term strategy, our management team, and the overall telecoms industry.”

The Series II Bond is the second issuance in 2021 by MTN Nigeria following the successful debut in May 2021 This completes MTN Nigeria’s N200billion bond

ABDULSALAMI: PARTIES, CANDIDATES MUST ACCEPT OUTCOME OF ANAMBRA POLL ONCE CREDIBLE, FREE upper hand to perpetrate violence and foist undesirable leadership on them.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment in Anambra State, Don Adinuba, raised the alarm over an alleged plot by some members of an unnamed political party to use the federal might to arrest key officials of Governor Willie Obiano’s administration.

In a statement, Adinuba said the desperate politicians wanted to use certain compromised security operatives to orchestrate the sinister plan. He added that the statement was designed to bring the evil plan of the people to the knowledge of Anambra people and also for the attention of all relevant authorities for prompt action.

IGP Restricts Movement Meanwhile, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) announced a 24hour restriction of movement in Anambra, beginning from today, Friday, at 11:59pm. Deputy Inspector General in charge of operations, Mr Zaki Ahmed, who is the leader of the operations, announced this to journalists while unveiling the activities of police operatives posted for the Anambra governorship

election.

Ahmed said, "I assure you that the police will be professional in carrying out its duty throughout the election, and will maintain neutrality and a level playing ground for all the political parties.

"Adequate security is provided and you have seen the level of manpower in the state, and we are working in collaboration with other security agencies to ensure peace in the state. We are protecting everyone and ensuring that all parties will be protected equally.

"We have created intervention spots and they will respond to any distress call. This is a national assignment and we should work hand-in-hand to ensure peaceful election.

"The restriction of movement is for 24 hours and begins on Friday 11:59. All the hotels in Awka are very well covered and fully armed men are there. We have men on all the streets of Awka and we are well protected. We have cautioned our men over human rights abuses, and they are sure to behave themselves."

South-east Marginalisation Responsible for Agitation

In a related development, the

governorship candidates of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Mr Obinna Uzor, and Africa Democratic Congress (ADC), Mr Akachukwu Nwankwo, insisted that the marginalisation of the Southeast in the distribution of national resources was the trigger for the agitation championed by IPOB. Speaking on Arise News Channel, Nwankwo said the federal government should engage IPOB in order to resolve the insecurity in the region.

He said, "There should be a tactical, rational approach that enables us to have this conversation going. What IPOB is saying is that they want good governance.

IPOB wants a relationship between the Igbo people and the federal government that makes every Igbo child feel that he is part of Nigeria.

In the absence of that, they want to leave Nigeria. Theoretically, that's what they are doing."

Similarly, Uzor said the situation required a political solution. He said, "What they are saying is, recognise us, let us be part of Nigeria. The Igbo are the most patriotic tribe in Nigeria. What we are saying is, let us have a dialogue, let's have a political solution."

AA Candidate Optimistic

of Free, Fair Poll Dutch The governorship candidate of Action Alliance (AA), Mr. Ben Etiaba, said yesterday that he was confident that INEC would conduct a free and fair election tomorrow. Etiaba said he expected that the turnout might be low but expressed the readiness of his party's followers to turn out en masse to cast their ballot.

He spoke on Arise News Channel, saying, “I have more faith in this election than I have ever had. INEC went out of their way as a body to educate the political parties, the masses, and the candidates on what to expect.

"They have come up with a system that if adopted and if implemented properly would give us a credible result. I have no reason to believe that the election wouldn’t be credible. I am not one of those, who believe the results have been written. I don’t believe that. I believe this election would be credible.”

On voter turnout and the fear of voter suppression, Etiaba noted that there was a valid concern of voters about their safety. But he remained optimistic of an average turnout.

He said, “In every election,

voter turnout has been suppressed, but I would be lying if I didn’t acknowledge the fact that there would be more voter apathy this time than we have always had. The number of people voting would be suppressed than before, because people are scared.

"But it is my belief that enough people would turn out to make the exercise very credible and whatever happens, there would be a result and I am looking forward to mobilising people to make sure people come out to vote for us and create an upset if we win.”

NBC Warns against Inciting Broadcast The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) urged all broadcast stations covering tomorrow’s election in Anambra State to eschew broadcast language and scenes capable of stoking emotions and violence.

Director General of NBC, Balarabe Shehu Ilelah, issued the warning yesterday in a press statement.

Ilelah implored all broadcasters to desist from using or allowing their platforms and facilities to be used for the broadcast of contents that might lead to the breakdown of law and order. He asked all

broadcasting stations to take note of the provisions of the Nigeria Broadcast Code and other relevant regulations guiding the broadcast of elections in the country.

Ilelah cited some of the provisions, including sections 3.11.1 (a), 3.11.1 (b), 5.41 (f), 5.3.3(j), 5.3.3 (i), 5.3.3 (k) and 5.3.4 that required broadcast stations to ensure that no programme contained anything tantamount to subversion of constituted authority.

Specifically, section 5.41 (f) provides, “Broadcast shall not transmit divisive materials that may threaten or compromise the indivisibility and indissolubility of Nigeria as a sovereign state,” he said.

NBC also warned broadcasters to end the broadcast of partisan political campaign, jingle and any form of partisan political party identification 24 hours before the election. It said broadcast stations should use any vote obtained at the polling station or from an exit poll to project or speculate on the chances of a candidate.

Ilelah said the relay of election results or declaration of a winner could only be done by the authorised electoral officer for the election. He warned that any broadcaster that breached any of the listed provisions of the code shall be severely sanctioned.

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NEWS

CHARTERED ARBITRATORS CONFERENCE...

L-R: :Conference Planning Committee, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN); Chairman, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb), Nigeria Branch, Chief Akingbola Akinola; Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde and fellow member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Richard Akintunde, during the 2021 Annual Conference of CIArb held at Jogor centre, Ibadan, Oyo State...yesterday

Fashola, Fayemi to Mobilise N10bn to Boost Medical Research Development Gilbert Nqugbe The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola who also doubles as the Chairman, Board of Trustees, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) Foundation, has announced plan to mobilise N10 billion to support medical research initiatives.

This is with a view to promoting home-grown medicines, vaccines and technology to address health problems in Nigeria and Africa at large.

He stated this at the launch and fund raising for NIMR foundation in Lagos.

According to him, the Foundation has developed a plan of action for 2021-2023 and has resolved that research developed would be in accordance with all standards of prevailing global ethics and advised by the advisory board of NIMR. "We are seeking to raise N10 billion and the income that comes from that money is what we will

propose to commit to the site so that our capital is not eroded and it is preserved," he added.

He said subject to the ethical and medical guidelines, the board also proposed that states, local government, businesses and all sort of interest group who seek knowledge about certain types of things would get funded subjected to its code of governance.

"We will undertake it through the Institute on their behalf," he assured.

He said Nigeria, Africa's biggest nation was not playing a leading role at a time when vaccine production and the number of citizens vaccinated by each nation was a means of projecting sovereign might and invariably an economic might.

He said Nigeria has outstanding researchers who are hindered by lack of funds, stressing that currently all the 12 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine imported into the country were as a result of the benevolence of other nations who

US SPECIAL ENVOY ARRIVES ETHIOPIA AS AMERICA SCRAMBLES TO AVERT BLOODSHED IN ADDIS ABABA hundreds raped, and over 2.5 million people forced to flee their homes.

In September, the US president issued an executive order to impose sanctions on parties “complicit in prolonging,” the conflict in the Tigray region.

On November 2, citing “gross violations of internationally recognised human rights,” Biden informed Congress of his intent to end a preferential trade designation for Ethiopia as of January 1, 2022. The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) provides market access to the US for some sub-Saharan African countries.

Meanwhile, Ahmed declared a six-month state of emergency on Wednesday, calling on his compatriots to defend their neighbourhoods if rebels arrive in the capital.

On Sunday, he boasted on Facebook that: "We will bury the enemy with our blood and bones."

His rhetorics have drawn the ire of Facebook, which removed a post

by Abiy urging Ethiopians to rise up and “bury” the Tigray rebels.

According to the social media's spokeswoman Emily Cain, Ahmed’s post on Sunday violated Facebook’s

policies against inciting and supporting violence.

“The obligation to die for Ethiopia belongs to all of us,” said Ahmed, telling Ethiopians to fight the rebels by “holding any weapon or capacity.”

The US and other countries have warned Ethiopia about “dehumanising rhetoric” after the prime minister in comments in July described the Tigray forces as “cancer” and “weeds.”

Meanwhile, Ethiopia's government yesterday said it was on the brink of victory in an "existential war" against Tigrayan rebels and vowed to fight on, in an apparent rebuke of international ceasefire calls on the conflict's first anniversary.

"This is not a country that crumbles under foreign propaganda!

We are fighting an existential war!" the government's communications office said on Facebook, following advances by rebel groups towards the capital.

The combative statement could dampen hopes for a negotiated settlement between the government of Prime Minister, winner of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, and the TPLF rebel group.

did many years ago what Nigeria is about to do today.

"They funded research. Can we imagine all the money we use to import vaccines today have been invested in boosting NIMR's capacity since when it was founded," he added.

"We have registered the Foundation with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to invest our activities with some legal balance. We have also developed a constitution for the Board of Trustees and a code of governance to provide some level of integrity to the source and the use of any money we aspire to raise. Those code of governance compels us to support anti-corruption efforts," he noted.

Also speaking the Governor, Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi and Chairman of Nigeria Governors' Forum, stated that Nigeria in the past 18 months had one point or the other expressed concerns and disappointment that the nation has not lived up to its dealing as a country when people talk about vaccine dominance.

"All efforts to get Nigeria back

to produce vaccines has remained the vision and I think if there is one thing the pandemic has taught us is that all what we need to combat future pandemic must be built on a commercial scale that will make it available to other African countries so that we can play the giant role we have always dreamed of," he said.

"I want to assure you that this is a course we will support in order to ensure that the N10 billion target is not only met, but surpassed," he assured.

Earlier, the Director General, NIMR, Babatunde Salako, said the Institute has played a significant role in the control of Neglected Tropical Diseases including Guinea worm infection and Buruli Ulcer.

It has continued to work with the Federal and State Ministries of Health to control and eradicate malaria.

"Over the past three years the Institute has been involved in conducting for the Federal Ministry of Health’s Therapeutic Efficacy Study for antimalarial drugs in the country as well as the Entomology Survey on

malaria vectors including clinical trials on long lasting insecticide impregnated nets being distributed in the country,” Salako added.

He noted that its researchers, working with other stakeholders and the Federal Ministry of Health, had been providing evidence for policy and guidelines for the treatment of a number of diseases, stressing that in the last one and a half years, it has played very significant roles in training researchers and contributing to the control of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I must mention that since the COVID-19 outbreak, the federal government has provided COVID-19 intervention fund to the Institute totaling 3 billion naira, which has helped tremendously in the contribution of NIMR during this pandemic," he added.

The NIMR boss stated that the Institute established the first ever “Drive /Walk Through” COVID-19 testing Center in Nigeria in March 2020, maintaining that the center has tested over 40,000 Nigerians living in Lagos for free.

"I am sure that if you put a cost

to these tests, it would amount to a humongous financial contribution on the part of government and the corporate organizations that supported the center," he said.

According to him, the institute was building two new laboratories and has acquired a lot of equipment including a Next Generation Sequencer, which provided the opportunity to sequence the index case of COVID-19 in Nigeria and many more samples to help the NCDC determine the circulating strains of the virus in country to date.

"Furthermore, two of our laboratories are ISO accredited, making the results from our labs comparable to those of their peers anywhere in the world. In the last two years we acquired the World Health Organiation Prequalification for kit testing status, which made Nigeria one of only 8 countries in the world for such recognition then.

“In the last six months, we also acquired WHO designation as National HIV Drug Resistance Testing laboratory, the only one in the West Africa Sub region," he averred.

FG Inaugurates Sub-committees on Whitepaper and Review of Parastatals, Agencies, Commissions Laments failure to implement Oronsaye Report on civil service restructuring Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja The federal government has lamented that its failure to implement the report of the Committee on the Restructuring and Rationalisation of Federal Government Parastatals, Agencies and Commissions, otherwise known as the Oronsaye Report was costing the country so much.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha made the outcry yesterday, during the inauguration of the subcommittees on government Whitepaper and review of parastatals, agencies and commissions that were created following the submission of the Oronsaye report.

Mustapha, who was

represented at the inauguration by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Mrs Folasade Yemi-Esan, noted that cost was escalating for every delay that the implementation of the Oronsaye report suffers.

“This is further worsened by the fact that immediately after the report was released, parastatals and agencies billed for mergers or scrapping began developing means of further entrenching themselves as a major expenditure source to government. Furthermore, new agencies were also created to compound the situation,” Mustapha said.

He said the country has continued to suffer under a daily increasing weight of a high cost of governance borne by high personnel and

overhead costs to the detriment of having adequate resources for development projects.

The SGF said the country has for many years been struggling to make sure that at least 30 per cent of its annual budget goes into capital projects.

He recalled that the Oronsaye committee which was constituted on August, 2011, and which submitted its report on April 16, 2012, recommended that of the 541 statutory and non-statutory federal government parastatals, agencies and commissions, 263 statutory agencies should be reduced to 161 while 38 agencies should be abolished.

It also recommended that 52 agencies should be merged while 14 should revert back to departments in the ministries.

He, however, lamented

that after the White Paper on the report was issued and published in March 2014 and the White Paper implementation Committee headed by Senator Anyim Pius Anyim that was inaugurated in May 2014, for a number of reasons, premised on political expediency, the White paper not only rejected many of the recommendations, it also merely noted an equally greater number of others.

The SGF said most of those recommendations accepted by the Committee were not implemented.

He averred that the underlying principles for restructuring and rationalising government agencies has become necessary now than when the initial committee was constituted in 2011.

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NEWS

LAGOS MOURNS VICTIMS OF IKOYI BUILDING COLLAPSE...

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu updating the Press during his revisit to the site of the Ikoyi building collapse on Thursday. With him from left: Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr. Olusegun Ogboye; Commissioner for Physical Planning & Urban Development, Dr. Idris Salako; Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat; Commissioner for Information & Strategy, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso; his counterpart for Special Duties & Inter-Government Relations, Engr. Tayo Bamgbose-Martins and Director General, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu...yesterday

House: Designating Bandits as Terrorists Will Empower Military to End Insecurity Expresses worry about spate of banditry As TRADOC demands increment in 2022 budgetary appropriation Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja The House of Representatives has said designating bandits as terrorists would give security forces more power to deal and curtail the spread of banditry.

Both Chambers of the National Assembly recently passed resolutions where they called on the federal government to designate bandits as terrorists.

House Committee Chairman on Army, Hon. Abdulrazaq Namadas, stated this yesterday, when top military brass from Training and Doctrine Command, Nigerian Army (TRADOC), Minna, Niger State, appeared before the committee to defend its 2022 budget.

"We are worried with the spate of banditry across the country. That's why we feel that attention should be paid to banditry and also terrorism.

"That was also why the National Assembly decided to pass a resolution urging the President of the Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, to designate bandits as terrorists so that the security forces can have more power to deal with the situation," he said.

Namdas noted that TRADOC was established in 1981 to formulate training policies, monitoring of training exercises, operations of the Nigerian Army and conducting promotion examinations for officers amongst others.

He, however, stressed that as tasking and important as TRADOC was, it was funded directly by the army headquarters until 2021, when the president approved its status as a budget centre and the National Assembly started appropriating funds for it.

Namdas said it was based on this that the Committee started its oversight functions by visiting TRADOC before any other army formation, adding that the visit of the committee gave them more

confidence that TRADOC was doing exactly what it was established to do.

Presenting the budget, TRADOC Commander, Maj-Gen. Steven Olabanji, said in preparing the 2022 budget, TRADOC and the Nigerian Army were expected to commission about 3,885 cadets into the officer's cadre, enlist about 18,000 recruits as other rank and a further

Special Forces Training of about 4,800 amongst those commissioned and other rank cadres.

He said the essence of the Special Forces Training was to further give these personnel some specialised training in the aspect of waterman ship, deep-diver, airborne and leaving off the land.

Olabanji, therefore, requested for the sum of

N43.3 billion for 2022 budget appropriation as against N26.2 billion proposed in the budget by the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.

He also urged the committee to approve the sum of N30.8 billion for TRADOC army personnel emolument as against N25.5 billion in the Appropriation Bill.

"The sum of N44.96 billion should be approved

for TRADOC for year 2022 overhead as against N200 million in the Appropriation Bill. The sum of N7.4 billion should be approved for Training and Doctrine Command Nigerian Army for year 2022 Capital as against N544 million in the Appropriation Bill."

He urged the Committee to approve the total sum of N43.3 bill, which covered

the personnel emolument – Trainees/instructors’ allowances, assuring that the Doctrine Command was committed to training mobile, dynamic, fierce, gallant Nigerian youths into the Nigerian Army, who wish to defend the territorial integrity of their fatherland from any external violation and internal disturbances as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution.

Police Deploy Personnel to Man Expressways as Soldiers Abandon Checkpoints in Ondo PDP berates Akeredolu over insecurity Fidelis David in Akure Following the withdrawal of soldiers from all military checkpoints on major highways across Ondo State, the state police command has deployed its officers to man major expressways in the state.

THISDAY gathered that soldiers manning security check points in the State, especially, at the inter-state boundaries had abandoned the check points, as a result of the refusal of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu to pay the allowances due to them.

Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Funmilayo Odunlami, who spoke to THISDAY said, "It is true that after what happened, we have deployed our men to those axis, because people have

been apprehensive of probable breach of security in those areas and that is why we have to act now to allay fears of residents and motorists.”

Odulami, however, charged residents of the state to go about their lawful businesses and report any extortion by any police officers to the command.

But the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, has berated the governor for the growing insecurity, alleging that "over the years, the Army high command approved the mobilisation of soldiers to thirty two (32) strategic locations in the state to stem the activities of kidnappers and other criminals on the condition that the state government pays a token

as allowances to the soldiers.

“This arrangement preceded the incumbent administration under Akeredolu.

Unfortunately, in the last four months, these allowances have not been paid. All efforts to appeal to the governor fell on deaf ears. Also, efforts by traditional rulers to plead with the Governor did not yield any results.

"In the last one year, eleven Traditional Rulers have been kidnapped, while one first class Oba, the Oluifon of Ifon was murdered in cold blood by gunmen.

"The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Ondo State chapter joins other well meaning Ondo State citizens to appeal to Governor Akeredolu, to immediately pay the outstanding allowances due

to the security personnel without further delay," the party stated in a statement by its Publicity Secretary in the state, Kennedy Peretei.

Continuing, the PDP noted that, "The primary responsibility of any government is the protection of lives and properties, a duty that has been observed by the APC government more in the breach. Even with the presence of the soldiers, the people don’t sleep with their two eyes closed, what happens when, the criminals now have a field day, because of the failure of the governor to do the needful?" the party questioned.

Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Donald Ojogo, while reacting, described the PDP statement

as a calculated attempt to put Akeredolu's government into disrepute.

"The spurious efforts of the opposition PDP to weaponise a seeming situation of near sabotage, clearly shows how detached they are from the arena of vigilance. To them, everything is politics and politics must be infused into everything, including the safety and welfare of the people. No discerning group could have bought into such cheaply brandished propaganda.

"The ignorantly appraised security situation by the PDP is an inelegant manifestation that they would rather dance on the blood of innocent South westerners on the alter of politics for patronage than stand firm in defence of their people."

Goodluck Jonathan Foundation Appoints Olukoshi to Its Board The Goodluck Jonathan Foundation (GJF), has appointed Professor Adebayo Olukoshi, a renowned academic and international development expert, as a member of its board.

Wealth Dickson Ominabo, Communications Officer of

the Foundation, in a news statement, said, Olukoshi would work with other reputable individuals drawn from different backgrounds and nationalities within and outside Africa to give policy direction to the Foundation’s programmes and policies.

Olukoshi joins the Foundation with over 35 years of experience in the areas of political economy, international relations, democratic governance, and higher education, both in the academic sector and intergovernmental institutions.

Executive Director and Secretary of the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation Board, Ms Ann Iyonu said, “The Goodluck Jonathan Foundation is pleased to welcome Prof.

Adebayor Olukoshi as a member of our board. He joins the Foundation with

over 35 years of experience in governance and academics.

“Having worked and excelled in different focus areas of the Foundation, we are optimistic that he will contribute meaningfully towards the promotion of our values.”

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NEWS

Security Operatives Kill Suspected Kidnapper in Ekiti Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti A suspected kidnapper was yesterday killed by combined forces of security agencies in Ekiti State during a midnight shootout in a sprawling forest between Ekiti and Kwara boundary.

A source revealed to journalists in Ado Ekiti that the suspected abductor was killed by combined forces of soldiers, police and local security task force belonging to Fulani extraction called Yan Banga set up by a Sarkin Fulani in Ekiti, Alhaji Adamu Abashe, inside a forest at Eruku, in Kwara State.

The security forces were said to have laid ambush for a kidnapping gang at the point of payment of a sum of N2.1 million ransom for an abducted Fulani man and chased them after collecting the money until they shot the suspect dead.

The police ,led by the Police Public Relations Officer, Sunday Abutu, paraded the kidnapper’s corpse at the police headquarters in Ado Ekiti.

The suspect was one of the gang of abductors terrorising

Ikole , Ekiti East and Oye Local government areas of Ekiti State in recent time.

A source at Itapaji, in Ikole Local Government Area of the state, where series of

kidnappings had taken place recently, said the corpse had been handed over to the police.

“The joint security forces chased the bandits inside the forest from 10pm on

Wednesday till around 2am on Thursday. There were exchanges of gunshots. At a point, the police and soldiers had retreat, but the Ban yanga task force didn’t relent until

they shot the one carrying a AK 47 rifle . A sum of N210,000 was found inside the pocket of the dead suspect,” he said.

The Secretary of Gan Allah Fulani Development

Association of Nigeria, Ekiti chapter, Ibrahim Toyin Mumini, suggested that composition of the expanded joint task force remains the best way to tackle insecurity in Ekiti.

AWARD WELL DESERVED…

L-R: Chancellor, Edo State University, Dr. Aderemi Makanjuola; Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki; Chairman of Sterling Bank and Nigeria Economic Summit Group, Dr. Asue Ighodalo, and Senior Pastor, Trinity House Church, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, when Asue was awarded Doctor of Letters by Edo State University, Uzairue, Edo State…yesterday

Abductors of Two Pupils in Gunmen Kidnap Four Persons in Niger Edo Demand N10m Ransom Laleye Dipo in Minna

Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City Abductors of two pupils of Glory Land Group of Schools Igarra, in Akoko-Edo Local Government Area of Edo State have demanded N100 million ransom.

The demand came yesterday shortly after parents of the pupils cried out they were yet to be contacted by their abductors.

The two schools girls of the same parents were kidnapped on Tuesday by gunmen at about 5:35 pm along IgarraAuchi Road, near Ikpeshi in Akoko-Edo Local Government Area of the state.

The vehicle in which the pupils were traveling with other students as gathered, was intercepted at gun point and the abductors dragged the

pupils from the vehicle into the bush.

Earlier yesterday in Auchi, father of the abducted girls, Mr. Kola Momodu, who said he was yet be contacted by the suspected kidnappers, had expressed worry over the safety of his children and appealed for their safe release.

Spokesman of the Edo State Police Command, SP Kontongs Bello, who confirmed the incident, had said that the police operatives, soldiers and vigilantes were already combing the bush in an effort to rescue the abducted kids.

“Two of the students were kidnapped but efforts are on to rescue them unhurt. Men of the Nigeria Police, Soldiers and vigilantes are already combing the bush to rescue the students,” he disclosed.

Unknown but heavily armed gunmen in the early hours of yesterday kidnapped four people from Kwamba area in Suleja Local Government Area of Niger State. The incident is the second within one week in the area.

THISDAY learn that those kidnapped were a Customer officer and his wife, and an Assistant Inspector of Police

said to be a woman and another woman.

It was gathered that the gunmen in their numbers first raided the house of the Customs Officer where they picked up the official and his wife and made away with some valuable items from the building.

From the Customs officers residence it was reliable learnt that gunmen went to the house of the female ASP where she

was abducted.

It was not immediately known how the fourth victim was kidnapped.

Until the time of filing this report no contact had been made with the relations of those concerned by their abductors.

When contacted the Niger State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Monday Bala Kuyars, confirmed the story saying “I know four people were kidnapped”

Asked for the identities of the victims Kuyars said he had no information that those abducted are a police woman and customs official. “ All I know is that four people were kidnapped,” he said.

A week ago it was gathered that a similar operation took place in the same Kwamba area of Suleja where many people were abducted. There has been no confirmation of that last incident.

Court Orders EFCC to Apologise for Declaring Saraki’s Ally Wanted Wale Igbintade A Federal High Court, sitting in Lagos has ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to delete the name of a businessman, Dr. Kenedy Sule Izuagbe, from its websites as a wanted person.

Justice Lewis Allagoa, also ordered the EFCC to publish unreserved apology to the businessman on its websites

and on social media. Izuagbe is an ally of the former, Senate President Bukola Saraki.

Besides, the court awarded a cost of N5 million, against the EFCC for breaching the businessman’s fundamental rights.

Justice Allagoa made the orders, while delivering judgment in a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed against the agency by Izuagbe.

Izuagbe had in suit number FHC/L/CS/2127/2021, filed by his lawyer, Mrs. Ifeoma Esom, sought for a declaration that the EFCC has no power or authority to declare him “wanted” without any order of a court of competent jurisdiction and in the absence of any facts providing reasonable suspicion that he has committed an offence to warrant such declaration.

He also asked for a

declaration that the action of the EFCC in declaring him wanted and publishing his name on its official website without any prior order or leave of a court of competent jurisdiction is illegal, wrongful, ultra vires and constitutes a flagrant violation of his fundamental rights to personal liberty, private and family life as guaranteed under Sections 34, 35, 37 and 41 of the Constitution.

in Lagos State, said:”If we want to have a good Nigerian Army, we have to book more money for them to do what they are expected of.”

His statement is coming after the Nigerian Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Farouk Yahaya, kicked against the reduction in the allocation from N29 billion in 2021 to N28 billion in 2022.

While taking a stand with the

Chief of Army Staff, Ndume described the budget as grossly inadequate.

“When the budget was presented to us, we were surprised, especially if the capital allocation to the Nigerian Army being implemented in this year’s budget is N29 billion, which we consider grossly inadequate. To our surprise, instead of increasing it this year it reduced to N28 billion,” he said.

Ndume continued that even the overhead of the Nigerian Army compared to what is the total overhead of the federal government in the proposed 2022 budget, we have a total of N6.83 trillion.

“But the army, who are everywhere in unconventional war in the over 32 states, has N530 billion allocation. They even need over N630 billion,” he said.

Omo-Agege’s Aide Detained for Allegedly Harassing Ndume Calls for Increase in Army’s Budget Female Lawmaker Udora Orizu in Abuja An aide to the Deputy Senate President, Jide Babalola, has been detained by men of the Nigeria Police Force for allegedly harassing a House of Representatives member, Hon. Tolu Akande-Sadipe (APC, Oyo) at the premises of the National Assembly, Abuja, yesterday.

Akande-Sadipe, who’s the Chairman House Committee on Diaspora Affairs was alleged to have ordered the detention of the DSP media aide for allegedly bumping into her at a lift at the House of Representatives.

Speaking to newsmen on the development, Babalola said it was a minor issue that did not necessarily warrant the Ill treatment he got from the lawmaker because bumping into someone was never a crime.

He said: “I was coming

down from an elevator, there were about six or seven people in the elevator. So it was a bit crowded for all of us. There were about two women and I was being careful enough.

Then she (Hon. Sadipe) said I almost bumped into her, and she continued accusing me that I bumped into her and then I said madam I didn’t bump into you.

At that point, I didn’t know that she’s an honourable member, so I referred to her as madam which obviously didn’t sit well her. So it now made things worse, by the time we got to the ground floor, and then it became something else. So one of the persons in the elevator tried to beg but she was adamant.

“As I tried to explain that, look I am a man of 55 years old and I have put in 31 years in journalism, so I will not intentionally hurt a woman.”

Rebecca Ejifoma

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Army, Senator Ali Ndume, yesterday called for an increased budget for the Nigerian Army following the reduction of 2022 army allocation to N28bn.

Ndume, who led members of the committee to e 81 Division in Victoria Island, Lagos as part of an oversight visit to Army formations

FG Reiterates Commitment to Rule of Law, Free Press

Alex Enumah in Abuja

The federal government has reiterated its commitment to the rule of law, just as it vowed to pursue all legitimate efforts that will bring to an end the issue of impunity for crime in all ramifications.

Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, who reiterated the position of the government said the

President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration recognising the crucial role Rule of Law play in any democracy, has introduced various reforms that has shored up the image of Nigeria in the international community.

Malami spoke in Abuja, at a one-day policy dialogue organised to commemorate the 2021 International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists.

According to him, before

the advent of the present administration, Nigeria ranked between 12th and 13th across the globe and used to be among top three African countries with impunity for crimes against journalists only after Somalia and South Sudan.

“Recent developments in Nigeria proved that the federal government has laudable initiatives to end impunity for crimes against Nigerian. The laudable achievement recorded

could not be unattributed to deliberate and committed efforts of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration through the implementation of many reforms in the Nigerian justice sector; to include increased access to justice, speedy justice dispensation, decongestion of Nigeria’ s correctional centers and judicious implementation of the Criminal Justice Act and Justice Sector reforms.

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NEWS XTRA

Ohanaeze: Sponsors of Suit to Expel Igbos from Nigeria Should Face Treason Trial Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja The Chairman of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Council of Elders, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu has described as provocative and insulting a suit instituted by a group described as Northern Elders requesting the Court to order the National Assembly to make a law expelling Igbos from Nigeria.

He described the situation as very embarrassing to not only Ndigbo, but also to all patriotic citizens of Nigeria maintaining that in a larger sense, adding that the action of the group amounted to treason against Nigeria.

Iwuanyanwu insisted that

the action was hostile against the unity, peace and stability of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and urged all patriotic Nigerians to view the action with great concern.

Iwuanyanwu who stated the position in a statement yesterday, recalled that few years ago, some northern leaders rose from a meeting in Kaduna state and issued a communiqué calling for the expulsion of Igbos from Nigeria.

He also observed that some months ago, many news media carried the demonstration of some Northern youths and women insisting that Igbos should leave Nigeria.

The elder statesman said since

the attacks on Igbo nation in Nigeria, he had received lots of curious enquiries from many Igbos within and in diaspora as regards their safety.

According to Iwuanyanwu, investigations carried out revealed that the action of the group do not represent the opinion of true leadership of Arewa and Northern Elders.

Iwuanyanwu pointed out that the younger generation of Igbo believed that they are hated and do not have opportunities to survive or succeed in Nigeria, adding that most of the crisis experienced in south-east presently were caused by the feelings by the younger generation.

Suspected Cattle Rustlers Attack Herder in Kwara, Cart Away15 Cows Hammed Shittu in Ilorin Three suspected cattle rustlers have attacked a herdsman identified as Mr. Mustapha Bello at Ahun Ruga Settlement in Oro Ago town, Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State.

The incident, according to THISDAY checks, happened last Wednesday night, as 15 cows allegedly belonging to Bello were taken away by the suspected cattle rustlers.

The development, THISDAY gathered, prompted the people

of the settlement to raise the alarm and informed the men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) at Oro Ago, who swiftly moved to the area of the incident.

But before they could commence a manhunt for the suspected attackers, they had escaped into the bush.

Upon getting to the scene of the incident, the men of the NSCDC saw the victim of the attack in the pool of his blood, and was subsequently taken to the hospital for medical attention.

Sources close to the community told THISDAY in Ilorin yesterday that the men of the NSCDC, vigilantes and local hunters had commenced the manhunt to arrest the cattle rustlers.

When, contacted, the state Command of the NSCDC Public Relations Officer, Mr. Babawale Zaid Afolabi, who confirmed the incident, said the men of the Corps and other security operatives have been working towards arresting the cattle rustlers who perpetrated the dastardly act.

Gas Marketers Urge Buhari to Suspend Charges on Imports Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja and Nume Ekeghe in Lagos Following the prevailing hike in gas price, the National President of the Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers, Mr Olatunbosun Oladagbo, yesterday called on President Muhammadu Buhari, to order the suspension of charges on gas imports.

He said the measure had become imperative in view of the absence of functional refineries for local production.

Speaking on ARISE News

Channel, he said the president should, as a matter of urgent national emergency, emplace a waiver for gas imports in order to reduce spiralling gas price.

He said Nigeria produced only 550 metric tonnes which was insufficient while the rest were imports.

Oladagbo said gas prices would remain high since there was no gas imports.

“President Buhari needs to authorise a waiver for gas imports so that the price can come down.

Nigeria needs to suspend

charges on import gas so that marketers can settle with counterparts and we also need to bring in investors.

“Now 10.5kg is N10,000, 20 metric tonnes is N11.6 million.

If it’s not done, the price will continue to go up”, he said.

“Nobody is bringing gas into the country. It is the intervention of Mr President that will save the situation”, he said.

He maintained that government should suspend the charges on import gas pending when Nigeria would be ready to produce sufficient gas locally.

Protest: Osun Appeals to 2016 Pensioners to Be Patient Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo Osun State Government has appealed to protesting pensioners to be patient with it, as it was doing everything possible to review their demands, which were tabled at a meeting 10 days ago.

Speaking with journalists in Osogbo, the state Commissioner for Information and Civic Orientation, Mrs. Funke Egbemode, noted that rather than take to the streets, the senior citizens should show understanding and be patient with the government, especially because since it was inaugurated in 2018, it has never defaulted in payment of pensions and

CONFIRMATION OF NAME This is to notify the general public that EDEH SUNDAY EMMANUEL, EDH SUNDAY AND EDE SUNDAY is the same person, and now wish to be known as EDEH SUNDAY EMMANUEL. All former documents remain valid. General public should take note.

gratuities, including those of contributory pensioners, just as it is gradually clearing the backlog it inherited.

The government representatives and leaders of the pensioners had met on

October 14, 2021, where the pensioners, among other things, requested the government to do an upward review of the monthly releases to cater for pensioners in the state.

Zulum Uncovers Extortion in Health Centres Michael Olugbode in Maiduguri

Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Zulum, during a sting exercise at two government healthcare centres in Maiduguri, the state capital, discovered that some officials were extorting patients by collecting between N8,000 and N10,000 for services which were supposed to be free.

A statement issued by the spokesman to the governor yesterday, Mallam Isa Gusau, said his principal disguised his convoy and visited some government healthcare centres

unannounced, where he found some officials collecting between N8,000 and N10,000 from patients, whereas the services are meant to be provided free of charge.

According to Gusau, the governor, who had summoned the state Commissioner for Health, Mrs. Juliana Bitrus, asked her to join him on a 10-seater bus usually used for airport services, and took her along on a sting operation.

He said the governor left the Government House around 1:30 p.m. without any convoy and siren, leaving everyone surprised and wondering.

WORLD OF ISLAM

Edited by: MJO Mustapha Email deji.mustapha@thisdaylive.com

The Seven Phases of Prophet Muhammad’s Life By: Javeed Akhter/IslamiCity Traditional scholarship’s divides Prophet Muhammad’s life into Makkan and Madinahn phases. This is chronologically valid and represents the two broad aspects of his life before and after the watershed event of the Migration. It is historically important and marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar.

Additionally, I believe Muhammad’s (pbuh) struggle can be naturally divided into seven phases. Each phase brings forth a different aspect of his personality and highlights a different facet of his mission. Studying the Messenger’s mission for its various phases and analyzing its internal dynamics is important as it gives the narrative relevance for today. Since his life is better documented than the lives of other prophets and leaders of major world religions, it is possible to build this analysis on a historical foundation.

The Search for Light in a Period of Darkness: The Seeker of Truth As his biography (Seera) is recorded we find Prophet Muhammad pondering over societal ills for years. The society he was born in was in a state of moral, religious, economic and social chaos. It is difficult to resist drawing analogies between the seventh century world and the state of the human morality in today’s world at the beginning of the new millennium. The nuclear man-woman two-parent family, as a core unit of society has eroded seriously in the West. Brazen sexual exploitation in the media is commonplace and illicit sex condoned and even accepted. Violence at home, against women, children, and violence in the streets, is frightfully routine. Substance abuse is widespread, with United States as the largest consumer of drugs in the world. Alcoholism is rampant, especially among college students, with only feeble attempts being made to address the problem. AfricanAmericans have been liberated as slaves for a century and a half, yet many are still trapped in an unending cycle of poverty and discrimination, which is in a way a form of economic slavery. Because of a system that allows unrestrained growth of wealth without encouraging proper redistribution, economic disparities and injustices continue to grow at an alarming rate.

There are many excellent characteristics in Western societies, especially in the US that include the freedom of thought, speech and assembly, a tolerant attitude toward eccentricities in human nature and an ambition to be a just and compassionate society. These qualities of the ordinary American however are not always reflected in the policy makers and political leaders.

The unraveling of the moral fabric in today’s society must weigh heavily on the minds of individuals with insight. They can draw personal solace and inspiration from the Prophet’s life. The Arab tribal society of the Seventh century, whose structure was based on greed, debauchery, and violence, was changed in a very short time, by the Prophet, into a society with one of the highest moral standards in history.

Compassion, humility, devotion to God and egalitarianism replaced the old well-entrenched tribal attitudes of pride in wealth, family and class and self-centered behavior. Women, for the first time in history, had rights and dignity, and the vulnerable and weak sections of the society were protected.

Sexuality was removed from public prurience and became private and wholesome. Wealth was re-circulated so that even the poorest segments of the society were infused with energy and indigence became nearly extinct.

The Warner and Exhorter During one his meditative trips to a cave near Makkah, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) receives the revelation. Divine revelation is the reaffirmation of the fact that celestial knowledge is essential in guiding the inherently limited human intellect.

The profundity of this realization that he is the recipient of this divine revelation, and the enormity of the task ahead overawes him. Initially he shares the message only with his closest family and a few loyal supporters. It is both fascinating and revealing that even the individual who would later be rated as the most influential man in human history had these initial periods of doubt and uncertainty about his mission.

It was the reassurance from the Quran and the confidence and support of his wife Khadijah (may Allah be pleased with her), and his close companions which provided him the support he needs - surely a lesson for us lesser mortals!

The Stoic Optimist The next facet of his life is of bringing about proactive change by inviting people (Dawah) to Islam. With it comes the inevitable hostility of the entrenched powers in the society. Change is always threatening, and the greater the change, the more threatening it is. This would be true of the change against any established system of practices, whether it be economic, social or behavioral. It would also be true for change in personal behavior like wearing immodest clothing, promiscuity, and consumption of intoxicants.

Changing attitudes that valued pride in wealth and country or class and color of the skin over all else would also be difficult. Not surprisingly the struggle for change becomes life threatening. Muhammad (Peace be upon him) had to lay his life on the line and on several occasions the nascent Muslim community faced the possibility of total extinction.

Fortitude in the face of adversity is the salient feature of this phase. The patience and stoicism Muhammad (pbuh) displays during this phase has been a source of strength

to many a Muslim who has found himself beleaguered by apparently hopeless circumstances The Pluralistic Leader The Migration, which marks the beginning of the next phase, involves careful planning and meticulous execution. He demonstrates that self-help and reliance on Allah go together and are both essential for success. With his nomination by the community in Madinah to a position of leadership, he shows another facet of his personality: the capacity to create a truly pluralistic society with equity and dignity for all religious and ethnic groups. In a very short period after the Migration to Madinah, Muhammad (pbuh) proves he is capable of uniting various factions and setting exemplary standards of cooperation between them. He makes a seamless switch from being a person under constant persecution to a leader with a large administrative and judicial responsibility. The “Covenant (Constitution) of Madinah” that lays out the rules of living in a pluralistic society is a document that needs to be studied carefully and implemented to the fullest extent in today’s inescapably multi-religious and multi-cultural world.

The Courageous Yet Reluctant Warrior After a brief respite, his mission is consumed by the need to fight wars of survival. These three wars in four years, Badr, Uhad and Ahzab, besides posing a physical threat, must have been extremely distracting and demanding of his time and energy. Yet the work of building the community goes on.

It is important to remember that even though faced with very aggressive proponents the Prophet and his followers never initiated or instigated any wars. Muhammad (pbuh) and the Muslims engaged in these battles with great discipline, avoiding injury to the innocent and using only the minimum force needed. Women, children and non-combatants were not to be harmed. When the enemy stopped fighting, he was to be given immediate sanctuary. Striking a blow in anger, even in battle, was prohibited. He uses innovative strategies in the battles, which include the use of the trench as a defense. During the digging of the trench he is an active participant. He consults frequently (Shura) with his companions and follows the majority opinion (Ijma’), even when it sometimes goes against his own judgment.

The Statesman Par Excellence and Teacher During the next phase, he shows the capacity to compromise and demonstrates the foresight and wisdom to realize that peace, even at seemingly unfavorable terms, is better than hostility. The “Treaty of Hudaybia” also needs to be studied and emulated by all who negotiate with their opponents.

The peace dividend, following this treaty with the Quraysh, is huge and results in an exponential increase in the number of Muslims.

This also allows the building of a model and just society that functions in a coherent manner. Wealth is allowed to be accumulated but has to be circulated fairly into even the tiniest capillaries of the community’s economic system.

It is an egalitarian society with equity and justice for all, governed by mutual consultation, equality before the law and protection of its most vulnerable members, women, children, orphans, indigents and slaves.

As illustrated by many incidents from this phase of his life, the Prophet proves to be an exemplary statesman. He mediates disputes, defuses potentially explosive situations with ease, allowing the parties to the conflict to walk away as friends and allies. He is unafraid to take risks but is never reckless and compromises for the sake of peace. His emissaries to other nations bring with them a message of cooperation seeking common ground. When he gives a pledge, he always keeps it. If the other party breaks the pledge, he does not flinch from measures that are appropriate to maintain the sanctity of the pledge.

The Compassionate Ruler and Spiritual Leader.

The final phase begins with the conquest of Makkah, which is a demonstration of meticulous planning and the use of overwhelming force to achieve a victory with practically no loss of life on either side of the battle front. The stunning magnanimity and humility shown during victory

by Muhammad (pbuh) and his companions is unmatched in history. He is humble in victory, compassionate, and forgiving to even his most intractable opponents.

The final sermon consolidates the social, economic, and moral changes that have been brought about in the society.

It is time to prepare for the end.

The anatomy of the mission, its growth and evolution in some ways parallels the various stages of human life itself. These various phases reflect not only the growing sophistication of the message but also the increasing maturity of the audience to whom the message is directed. The audience grows in its understanding of what it would take to bear the burden of passing on the message to posterity. The Prophet’s mission in its most fundamental analysis was to interpret and spread the Quranic ideology. This Quran centered spirituality remains the constant theme through all of the phases of his life. The Quran says about him “Indeed there is for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent pattern” (Quran 33:21). His wife Ayesha (may Allah be pleased with her) calls him the living embodiment of the Quran. It is this complementary bequest of the Quran and Sunna that is our special blessing.

FRIDAY, ͽ˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

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Group Sports Editor: Duro Ikhazuagbe Email: duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com

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Leon Balogun Concedes Own Goal as Brondby Hold Rangers Duro Ikhazuagbe

Nigerian internationals on parade in the early Thursday night fixtures of the Europa League had nothing to show for their outings with Leon Balogun in particular causing Rangers an own goal in the 1-1 draw with Danish team Brondby.

After starting the game promisingly, Steven Gerrard's men went into the break a goal down with Balogun's own goal separating the sides.

The Super Eagles centre back on the dot of 45 minutes headed a corner beyond the reach of Allan McGregor in goal for the Glasgow Rangers.

Balogun’s national teammate, Joe Aribo partly contributed the equalizer scored by Ianis Hagi to level scores for the Glasgow team.

Elsewhere in the Europa Conference League, former NPFL Star, Stephen Odey got sent off in the 90th minute

EUROPA LEAGUE as Jablonec fought back from two goals down to claim a point in the 2-2 draw with Randers FC. In the absence of Victor Osimhen, Italian Serie A Leaders Napoli hammered Legia Warsaw 4-1 in Poland. Osimhen missed the trip due to a calf injuring copped at training last Saturday.

Paul Onuachu who played all 90 minutes in the Genk versus West Ham two-all draw was caged and rendered ineffective the English team.

Kelechi Iheanacho paired Patson Daka in Leicester City’s attack in the late fixture against Victor Moses’ Sparta Moscow last night. The former Chelsea winger back, Moses however fired Moscow into the lead in the 51st minute before Leicester defender, Daniel Amartey, leveled scores in the 58th minute with game still 25 minutes to play as press time.

Leon Balogun...conceded an own goal as Glasgow Rangers were held 1-1 by Brondby last night

Lookman’s Switch to Nigeria Delayed as NFF Yet to Apply to FIFA Leicester City winger Ademola Lookman’s desire to switch from England to Nigeria and play for the Super Eagles may take a while to happen as the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is yet to formally apply to FIFA for a nationality switch.

The 24-year-old helped England win the Under-20 World Cup in 2017 but is eligible to play for the Super Eagles through his Nigerian parents.

BBC Sports reported yesterday that the NFF is yet to apply to world governing body FIFA for a nationality switch because he has

played for England at Under-19, Under-20 and Under-21 level.

"We are aware of Lookman's desire to play for us and I have spoken to him as well. However, there is a process to it," NFF chief scout Tunde Adelakun confirmed.

"After this process, then comes the consideration and decision of the head coach (Gernot Rohr) on whether or when he deems it fit to get him involved."

Nigeria have previously succeeded in convincing several former England youth internationals, such as Sone Aluko, Victor Moses, Shola Ameobi,

Alex Iwobi and Ola Aina, to swap allegiances.

Meanwhile, the quartet of Sheyi Ojo(Millwall), Ovie Ejaria(Reading), Chuba Akpom(PAOK) and Ike Ugbo (Genk), born in England to Nigerian parents, have also made themselves available to the three-time African champions.

Should Lookman get clearance from FIFA to play for Nigeria, he would face competition from Villarreal's Samuel Chukwueze, Samuel Kalu of Bordeaux and Lorient's Terem Moffi for a place in the squad.

Maikaba: Enugu Rangers Best Organised Club in Nigeria The newly unveiled Technical Adviser to Rangers International F.C of Enugu, Abdu Maikaba, has described the 'Flying Antelopes' as the best-organised club in the country and happy to be opportuned to serve the team.

The vastly experienced gaffer who has led some top clubs in the country to glorious outings made this assertion during his unveiling at the club's corporate headquarters that had Enugu State Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Hon. Manfred Nzekwe and the top hierarchy of the club's management in attendance.

"As you know, I have served in many top clubs around the country and I must say that Rangers is the best-organised club in the country. I have been a secret admirer of the club even from my youthful days. Support and followership of Rangers is unprecedented.

He further continued: “I am a coach who always set a target for himself in all the teams I have coached and here in Rangers, my target will not change. It is to annex all trophies in all competitions we partake in.

“With the support of management and government, we shall all smile at the end of the season,” he pledged.

Earlier in the brief but colorful unveiling ceremony, G.M/CEO of Rangers, Prince Davidson Owumi assured the well-traveled tactician of management's support towards achieving all set goals for the season, stressing, "Let me officially welcome you again to Enugu as we unveil you to assume your

duties as technical adviser of our great club, Rangers.

“We assure you that all that is needed by you to take us to the glory land will be made available,” Owumi promised.

Hon. Nzekwe in his remarks described coach Maikaba as the best in the country and urged him to use his wealth of experience to take Rangers to the expected heights both in the country and continent.

Abdul Maikaba...unveiled as Enugu Rangers new Technical Adviser

He has scored twice in nine appearances since joining Leicester City on a season-long loanfrom German Bundesliga side RB Leipzig in August.

Lookman also spent last season on loan at Fulham, scoring four goals in 35 appearances, but was unable to save them from relegation from the Premier League.

He joined Charlton Athletic's academy in 2014 and made a rapid rise through the ranks before his first-team debut in November 2015.

Over two seasons, he went on to feature 49 times in all competitions for the Addicks, scoring 12 goals, before signing for Everton on a four-and-a-half-year-deal in January 2017.

He scored four goals in 48 appearances for the Toffees, before enjoying a brief loan spell with RB Leipzig in the 2017-18 season which led to a permanent five-year deal in July 2019.

Ademola Lookman...Super Eagles debut delayed by paper works at Sunday Dankaro House in Abuja

AFN President, Okowa, to Grace South-west Athletics in Lagos President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Tonobok Okowa, has promised to attend the maiden South-west Athletics Secondary Schools Invitational and Relays billed to hold later this month at the Yaba College of Technology Sports Ground in Yaba, Lagos.

Dr Solomon Alao, the South West Zonal representative on the board of the AFN told newsmen in Lagos yesterday that the AFN president has given his words to be in Lagos for the event.

“The AFN president is delighted that we at the South-west zone are giving proper definition to grassroots development as it is not the business of the AFN to do it.

“The states own the athletes and the six states that make up the Southwest zone have decided to unearth more talents that will graduate into

the elite pool,” said Alao.

The meeting, one of several lined up by the association towards the development of the sport in the zone will have Olatunde Makanju, a professor of Psychology and chairman of Osun State Athletics Association as chairman.

Reigning Nigeria long jump record holder (8.27m) and two-time World Championships and one time Olympics finalist, Yusuf Alli has also been named the competition director for the meeting.

Alli who is also a former African, Commonwealth and World Universities Games champion in the horizontal jump will be in charge of the technical organisation of the event.

Meanwhile, Lawrence Adegbeingbe, the vice chairman of Ondo State Athletics Association has been

named a member of the technical committee of the association.

Adegbeingbe, a 200m semifinalist and member of the gold-winning 4x100m relay team to the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, Australia will also be in the team for the technical organisation of the South West Athletics Secondary Schools Invitational and Relays in a fortnight.

Also in the technical committee to organise the event is Samuel Ademolu Fatunla, a track and field statistician recognised by the International Association of Track and Field Statisticians.

The tournament will hold on Friday November 12 with contingent from the five out of the South West zone to arrival a day earlier while departure has been fixed for November 13.

Friday November 5, 2021

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MISSILE AbdulRazaq to Fed Govt

“Security challenges are huge, especially with the declaration by Southern Governors to ban open grazing. Once they pronounced it and set a date, we saw a migration of herdsmen coming in, to the extent that if you go to Kwara South and Kwara North now, in some villages, the Fulani have moved in. They are more in population than the indigenes” – Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, lamenting that Fulanis have spread into several villages in Kwara State.

SHAKAMOMODU The Rise of Separatists and Terrorists THIS REPUBLIC

shaka.momodu@thisdaylive.com

I

t is very tempting to just sit back and black out the daily horrors bombarding Nigeria.

These include the mindless carnage and butchery of human lives, the sheer audacity of terrorists/bandits armed with the capacity to shoot down fighter jets, the wave of mass kidnappings of schoolchildren in the North-east and North-west, and the sit-at-home or you die order in the South-east that has claimed many innocent lives. Together with the perilous economic situation and broken infrastructure, you have a perfect storm for a failing nation in slow motion, being steered by a failed leadership.

Curiously, the government says that all these are not happening, that they are not founded on reality but are fabricated stories by losers and Buhari-haters just to give a dog a bad name. But how do these people just manage to pretend these things are fakes? How do they even sleep at night?

I am always amazed at their barefaced mendacity and audacity to lie. I am beside myself with rage but take solace in the potency of Isaiah 5:20 which curses enablers of evil: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.”

I believe they will surely reap the full value of that biblical curse at some point in their lives.

As they lie to minimise what we are dealing with, I feel the agony and cries of my fellow countrymen affected by the free reign of evil let loose upon this land of our fathers. Their eyes are swollen from the pain of mourning loved ones lost to the senseless anarchy in the land – a country that has lost its humanity. I can’t for the life of me ignore the fact that Nigeria has become synonymous with corruption, hardship, kidnappings and killings.

We have become a nation where hyenas and baboons have become soaked in the blood of innocent people, schoolchildren and their parents, farmers, etc., are killed or kidnapped, with their wives raped and videoed by marauding herdsmen from hell. I am beyond shocked by President Muhammadu Buhari’s enablers’ lack of empathy. In all facets of national life, Nigeria is buffeted by crises of confidence and righteous anger. Terrorists’ exploits have reached unprecedented levels. Agitations for separate homelands have morphed undeniably into terrorism. Corruption has become more valuable than the air we breathe and now defines every activity of governance. It is no longer committed in the secret places, it’s now done in the open. While the All Progressives Congress (APC) made fighting this evil one of its cardinal campaign objectives, evidence abounds that it has actually liberalised the malaise.

But far more alarming is the pervasive insecurity that stalks our daily existence. Everywhere you turn, East, West, North or South, danger lurks. No one sleeps with their two eyes closed anymore, we now sleep with our eyes wide open and our ears more alert to the slightest whiff of danger.

Our noses sniff the air constantly for ominous signs of kidnappers and bandits. Indeed, Nigeria can sleep no more. Travelling by road is now such a frightening and hazardous endeavour that it’s a miracle to make it safely to one’s destination.

Many even describe it as a death wish.

Apart from the fact that the entire travel infrastructure network is broken, kidnappers lurk at nearly every kilometre of our roads. Every day, survival is now a miracle in this land of our fathers which was once upon a time a very safe country. The sparkling blue eyes of promise and opportunities are now gone. So is the hope many of us had about our country. All that’s left are charred and blackened promises and dreams

Buhari of a potentially great nation.

The once tranquil countryside has become a den of kidnappers, and home to hideous herdsmen from hell, the lush green forests are now safe havens for criminals. There was indeed a country called Nigeria – unfortunately we lost it to ethnic-minded centrifugal forces – a country now the most dangerous place to be born.

How did the country get here? How did we arrive at this abyss of danger? How did bandits/ terrorists from hell take over the North? How did the South-east become a den of a mentallyderanged megalomaniac Nnamdi Kanu and his IPOB group? How is the South-west on the way to becoming a Sunday Igboho territory? How did people who are non-state actors and at best should be on the fringes, become the key players of our destiny? How did they become heroes of our land? How come men of intellect and noble heritage are bowing to nonentities and cuddling them as heroes?

Well, why won’t they, some would ask, when leaders of thought around the country acquiesced, prevaricated and openly hobnobbed with ethnic and religious zealots with a medieval mindset that have gravely mismanaged our resources and our diversity. To rub salt in the wound, some celebrated them, describing their bad leadership as the new gold standard for measuring success.

In other words, the nonentities rose to fill the void and became the voice of the marginalised and those that have been traumatised by relentless herdsmen’s attacks on their communities.

There’s an unholy trinity of evil playing out in Nigeria: Corruption, ethnicity and religion – these may very well sound the country’s death knell.

It all started in the North and others then followed suit. Leaders of the major ethnic groups are aiding and abetting the erosion of national values and helping to promote the gradual destruction of the foundations of the Nigerian state. Of course, the ascension of Buhari to power and his ethnic agenda has triggered a wave of dissension from other ethnic groups, his policy pursuit and treatment of other parts, particularly the South-east, as conquered people has more than anything else galvanised agitations against the Nigerian state. His clear and unambiguous nepotism and double standard in dealing with terrorists and the handling of government business have led to disenchantment. His cuddling of real terrorists in the North-east, North-west, North-central with kid gloves while applying

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the sledgehammer on others has more than anything else exacerbated tensions in the land and given birth to a myriad of ethnic warlords masquerading as freedom fighters and defenders of their groups’ interests.

President Buhari will be leaving a toxic and crippling legacy that will require national reconciliation and healing to deal with for a long time to come. On this I dare say the president and his enablers must be held to account. When Boko Haram started some years back, most of the people of the North-east were sympathetic to their cause or whatever it is they claimed to be fighting for. The northern establishment rallied to provide intellectual context to the evil and backwardness that Boko Haram represented. They looked the other way as the terrorist group embarked on a killing spree, because they wanted to undermine the then president who hailed from the South.

They even defended them from criticisms and instead blamed the then government. The Borno Elders’ Forum was formed and became the vocal mouthpiece in the blame game and ultimately aided in frustrating efforts to curtain the terrorists.

Where is the group now?

Northerner leaders of thought and intelligentsia to a large measure tolerated the evil ideology Boko Haram represents. They excused the group’s atrocities and rationalised it. They saw it as a means to achieve political power and did everything in the book to undermine efforts to defeat the group’s evil ideology of hate, violence, unprovoked killings and kidnappings.

Surprisingly, one of the chief defenders of Boko Haram was brought back from retirement, repackaged to smell like a rose as the one to change Nigeria’s story and build for us the Nigeria of our dreams. Our people that are smart in every sense of the word but with a history of foolish choices went on to elect him president of this land of our fathers. A man who should NEVER have come close to the presidency of Nigeria was given the sacred keys to this land.

Now, we all see what he has done to the labour of our fathers.

Since he became president, Borno elders have been silent in the face of massive escalation in the activities of the terrorists. When Buhari visited Borno recently, they quietly organised a massive welcome for him. I tell you, with all sense of responsibility, these people are impossible to understand.

According to a United Nations’ report, since the war began, more than 350,000 lives have been lost, 90 per cent of whom were children, with millions of people displaced and the North-east devastated! No one is talking or issuing press statements from the North-east condemning the federal government over its poor handling of the campaign against the blood-thirsty terrorists.

Lest we forget, immediately Buhari ascended to power, his kinsmen unleashed violence in the North-central states, particularly Benue and Taraba States, in a desperate attempt to seize other people’s ancestral lands. Fulani herdsmen unleashed terror on the people with no action from the president. He refused to rein them in and did everything to protect them. His ministers and top-ranking officials prevaricated and equivocated on the killings. They proffered all sorts of lame excuses for the president’s refusal to act even as the terrorists spread their violence to other parts of the country. He chose to be a willing spectator to the mindless criminalities perpetrated by his Fulani brothers. When he finally chose to visit Benue, the hotbed of the killings, what did he do or say to the victims: “Learn to live with your neigbhour.” There was no condemnation of the perpetrators of the aggression, no promise

of compensation, no empathy, none. It was a moment forever etched in infamy. Up till now, no one has declared Fulani herdsmen terrorists.

Now let’s go to the North-west. When banditry started and governors were appeasing the criminals and calling them ‘our’ brothers, they were impervious to any criticism coming from any quarter. They posed for photographs with the soulless animals and looked for any stupid excuse to justify their action. They gave the bandits/ terrorists money, bought them cars, motorcycles and what have you, and begged them to stop the killings. Oh my God!!! What manner of leaders is this country cursed with? How could they not see the futility of their tactics? Well, we have all seen the result of that appeasement.

Instead of abating, the killings and kidnappings have intensified. It was as if the appeasement only served as a tonic to motivate them more to continue and to even escalate the scale of their atrocities. They carried out mass kidnappings of schoolchildren, travellers, just anyone, including security personnel. Today, we all know what the North-west has become – a terrorists’ enclave. The North backed its own to commit all manner of evil in the name of ‘our own’. Northern leaders pandered to evil under the guise of ethnicity and religion. What has the North’s control of political power done for the region?

Now let’s go to the South-east: IPOB has since shed its peaceful toga and transformed into a terrorist organisation. The only viewpoint in Igboland today is IPOB’s which it brutally enforces on the people. From peaceful agitation, it has evolved into a violent extremist group that is earning validation through fear. Buoyed by the silence of a cowed majority, it started attacking and killing law enforcement officers, attacking and burning the offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and prisons. Any criticism of their actions was met with a riposte that they are freedom fighters. Now prominent Igbo citizens are being mercilessly killed and their houses burnt. If this madness is not nipped in the bud, the South-east would go the way of the North-east and the North-west!! No matter how genuine the grievances are, IPOB’s modus operandi is faulty.

Interestingly, Ohanez has now thrown its weight behind Kanu and by doing so, has fully embraced IPOB’s atrocities. “Our son is not a terrorist” is now the common refrain. All the violence and acts of terrorism clearly perpetrated by IPOB are now wished away and blamed on some other unknown groups, who are doing all these, according to them, to make IPOB look bad. All the violent activities of IPOB are being made to smell like roses. Clearly, Ohaneze leaders are in denial either for fear or expediency. They have deified Kanu and are falling over themselves to worship him. Some of the governorship candidates in the Anambra election, made a show of their love for Kanu. One in particular, went to court seeking an order to be given access to Kanu who is in detention and made a show of it in the press. I shook my head in pity.

How can anyone in their right senses support IPOB’s tactics? How? I need answers. IPOB’s sympathisers will readily tell you that it is not IPOB that is carrying out the killings. They claim that it is some fifth columnists trying to give Kanu and his group a bad name. They deny everything and admit nothing. And some otherwise intelligent but foolish people act as echo chambers to help propagate their nefarious narrative.

NOTE: Read full article in the online edition on www.thisdaylive.com

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