THURSDAY 7TH NOVEMBER 2019

FG Extends Deadline for ‘No Pay’ Order on IPPIS NUC concludes negotiations with ASUU today Ndubuisi Francis, Onyebuchi Ezigbo, James Emejo and Kuni Tyessi in Abuja For

federal

government

workers, including academic staff in universities, who risk non-payment of salary for non-enrolment on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System

(IPPIS), now have relief as the deadline for enrolment has been moved from October 31 to November 30, 2019.

The acting Head of the Civil Service of the Federation,

Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, in a circular dated October 29, 2019 and marked HCSF/ CSO/HRM/M.1278/I/95, sighted by THISDAY, gave this window of compliance,

stating that the civil servants now have up to November 30 to complete the enrolment process.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has

been at logger-heads with the federal government over a presidential directive that all federal workers must migrate Continued on page 8

NEITI: Nigeria Lost $42bn Oil, Refined Products to Thieves... Page 5 Thursday 7 November, 2019 Vol 24. No 8977. Price: N250

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Buhari Weighs Options on Magu, Fowler’s Tenure President to decide whether to extend their tenures as done for military chiefs, or give them second term Yemi Ajayi, Chiemelie Ezeobi in Lagos and Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja As the tenure of Acting Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu, and the Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr. Babatunde Fowler, come to an end, their fate hang in

the balance with President Muhammadu Buhari weighing his options on the leadership of the two prime agencies.

Although there is lack of clarity on their effective dates of appointments, presidency sources told THISDAY yesterday that the president would definitely make a Continued on page 8

New Regulation Confers on AGF Power to Manage Recovered Assets

States to pay 30% to FG on reclaimed properties

Tobi Soniyi The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), has been empowered to manage all assets recovered as proceeds of crimes under a new regulation that came

into effect on October 24, 2019.

Entitled: “Asset Tracing, Recovery and Management Regulations, 2019,” and published as Government Notice No. 88 in the Federal Republic of Nigeria Official Continued on page 8

ROYAL VISIT...

Oba of Benin, Ewuare II (left) and Managing Director/CEO of Access Bank PLC, Mr. Herbert Wigwe, during a courtesy visit to the Oba’s palace in Benin... yesterday

Appeal Court Sacks Senate Spokesman, Adeyeye... Page 6

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Group News Editor Ejiofor Alike Email Ejiofor.Alike@thisdaylive.com, 08066066268

NEITI: Nigeria Lost $42bn Oil, Refined Products to Thieves

Chineme Okafor in Abuja

The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) yesterday put the value of volumes of crude oil and refined products stolen from Nigeria in the last 10 years at $41.9 billion.

NEITI said the theft occurred between 2009 and 2018 with the value of stolen crude put at $38.5 billion while that of refined petroleum products amounted to $1.8 billion.

It also noted that another $1.56 billion worth of domestic crude oil allocation usually to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was stolen from the country in the period under

consideration.

A statement from NEITI’s Director of Communications and Advocacy, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, explained that the information was contained in a policy brief titled, ‘Stemming the Increasing Cost of Oil Theft to Nigeria’ which the natural resources transparency agency published.

To stem the tide of such heavy hydrocarbon theft, the NEITI in the statement urged the government to embrace oil fingerprinting technology, comprehensive metering infrastructure of all facilities, and other creative strategies to combat the menace which it added was growing.

It further expressed concerns that in the face of current dwindling revenues, paying priority attention to curb oil theft in the country’s oil and gas industry has become both necessary and urgent to expand the nation’s revenue generation.

According to the agency, Nigeria loses an average of $11 million daily which translated to $349 million in a month and about $4.2 billion annually to crude and product losses arising from stealing, process lapses and pipeline vandalism.

The statement quoted the report to have said that: “While figures from government put the loss at

between 150,000 to 250,000bpd (barrels per day), data from private studies estimate the figure to be between 200,000 to 400,000bpd. “This implies that Nigeria may be losing up to a fifth of its daily crude oil production to oil thieves and pipeline vandals.�

On comparative analysis of the size and implication of the losses to the country’s current dwindling revenue profile, the NEITI said it wanted the government to curb oil theft to reduce budget deficits and external borrowing, adding that the value of crude oil and allied products so far lost were equal to the size of Nigeria’s entire foreign reserves.

BATTLE FOR BAYELSA...

L-R: National Chairman, Poeples Democratic Party, Prince Uche Secondus; Bayelsa State Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson; and Delta State Governor, Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, during the grand ďŹ nale of the PDP gubernatorial campaign in Yenagoa‌yesterday

“Stemming this hemorrhage and leakages should be an urgent priority for Nigeria at a time of dwindling revenues and increasing needs,� it stated.

It added that what the country lost in 20 months in fiscal terms was “enough to finance the proposed budget deficit for 2020; in 15 months to cover total proposed borrowing or increase capital budget by 100 per cent and in five months to cover pensions, gratuities and retirees’ benefits for 2020.� “In terms of volume, 138,000 barrels of crude oil was lost every day for the past 10 years, representing seven per cent of average production of two million barrels per day. “Nigeria lost more than 505 million barrels of crude oil and 4.2 billion litres of petroleum products between 2009 to 2018.

What is stolen, spilled or shut-in represents lost revenue, which ultimately translates to services that government cannot provide for citizens already in dire need of critical public goods,� it said.

NEITI identified other effects of oil theft to the nation to include pipeline vandalism, criminal sabotage, illegal refineries in oil producing communities, which threatens the safety and livelihoods of the environment where these illegal refineries operate.

On the environment, it said the impact and implication of oil spills were monumental, including degrading the environment and negatively affecting the livelihoods of host communities.

Examining the reasons for increase in crude and product theft, NEITI stated that they included inadequate legal sanctions to serve as deterrent, stringent laws, deployment of technology designed to swiftly detect,

localise and cut off flows to specific pipelines as soon as leakages occur.

It thus recommended operational, security, legal and global governance instruments to combat crude theft. “Among them is efficient response and containment time in checking oil theft and pipeline vandalism, urgent review of the status of various security organisations currently involved in crude pipeline and product surveillance,�

NEITI noted.

Given the increasing rate of stealing and sophistication of the illicit trade, NEITI called for forensic investigation into the activities of syndicates operating in the oil and gas industry, adding that, “curiously, the volume of losses does not particularly reflect the rate of pipeline breaks for the corresponding years, suggesting either that the criminals are becoming more efficient, or crude theft is occurring increasingly elsewhere. This may require further probing.�

It also suggested that the government reconstitute a special security task team for Nigeria’s oil and gas assets, with a specific mandate to minimise crude theft and vandalism.

According to it: “This task team should include the oil companies and technical expertise in relevant fields.

Command and control responsibility should be manned by professional intelligence personnel. “The key mode of operation should be based on seamless communication to improve response time. The command and control should have direct real time access to information produced by the leak detection and localisation systems installed and operated by the oil companies.�

Osinbajo Not Relegated Democrats to Hold

by Buhari, Says Presidency First Open Hearings in Iyobosa Uwugiaren in Abuja The Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Babajide Omoworare, yesterday said President Muhammadu Buhari did not relegate Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo by travelling without transmitting a letter to the National Assembly to empower the vice president to act in his absence.

Omoworare stated this while briefing newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday.

Buhari had, on November 2, 2019, embarked on a private visit to London and he is expected to return to Nigeria on November 17.

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress,

Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, had, on Tuesday, said that the President could “rule from anywhere.�

Omoworare backed Oshiomhole yesterday, saying contrary to worries by some individuals and groups, the president had not, in any way, undermined or relegated the office of the vice president. “He has no reason to do so.

I don’t think there is any way or manner that the office of the Vice President has been relegated. The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria can work from anywhere he is in the world,� the presidential aide stated.

The presidential aide insisted that the only case where people could raise issues would be if the

president falls ill and is unable to transmit his absence to the National Assembly.

According to him, “The only celebrated case was that of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who was ill and could not transmit any letter to the National Assembly. The National Assembly had to work round the situation by ensuring that executive powers go to the vice president.’’ He said the present circumstance was different from the Yar’Adua era and that Buhari did not breach any law by not transmitting a letter to the National Assembly to enable the Osinbajo exercise executive powers while on his ongoing private trip to London.

Impeachment Inquiry

Democrats will hold the first open hearings in Congress next week as part of the impeachment inquiry against US President Donald Trump, Adam Schiff, the Head of the House Intelligence Committee, on Wednesday said.

This is what appears to be a targeted pivot from factfinding to a public information campaign.

Schiff said three key officials would testify in an open forum.

On November 13, the interim ambassador to Ukraine, William Taylor, will be questioned and on November 15 the committee will publicly depose Marie Yovanovitch.

Yovanovitch is the former ambassador to Kiev, who was pushed out by Trump.

George Kent, a diplomat, will also testify.

The impeachment inquiry is focused on whether Trump and his agents pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to open a probe into Joe Biden – the president’s political rival- in return for military aid.

Democrats accuse the president of abusing power for personal gain, alleging he was seeking dirt on Biden to give his own political campaign a boost.

Taylor already spoke with lawmakers behind closed doors, though parts of his testimony have been released,

in which he expresses concern about the White House’s pressure on Ukraine.

Yovanovitch appears to have been pushed out of office over her refusal to play ball with the White House.

Trump denies there was a quid pro quo in Ukraine, insisting he was only interested in fighting corruption.

However, the mounting evidence shows he had a particular interest in a company linked to Biden’s son and that he was also pursuing a debunked conspiracy theory about the 2016 election.

Biden’s son, Hunter, was paid handsomely for being on the board of a Ukrainian energy company.

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Appeal Court Sacks Senate Spokesman, Adeyeye APC Kicks as PDP hails judgment John Shiklam in Kaduna and Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti The Court of Appeal, sitting in Kaduna yesterday depleted the rank of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Senate caucus, removing the upper chamber’s spokesman, Senator Dayo Adeyeye, and replaced him with former minority leader, Senator Abiodun Olujimi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The APC in Ekiti State immediately rejected the verdict, saying it did not reflect the wish of the people. But the PDP hailed it as the restoration of the people’s mandate.

Both senators contested Ekiti South Senatorial District seat in the February 23, 2019 National Assembly election.

The Court of Appeal nullified the election of Adeyeye and ordered INEC to issue a certificate of return to his challenger, Olujimi, who it said won the election, upholding the election petition tribunal’s September verdict in favour of the PDP candidate.

The election tribunal had nullified the declaration of Adeyeye as the winner of the election and declared Olujimi as the authentic winner.

In her petition, Olujimi had asked the election petition

tribunal to nullify Adeyeye’s victory on the grounds that the election was marred by massive rigging and irregularities.

In her written address, the petitioner claimed that the election was not conducted in substantial compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, having been allegedly fraught with irregularities.

But not satisfied with the outcome of the tribunal judgment, Adeyeye approached the Court of Appeal to set aside the judgment of the tribunal.

In the judgment delivered yesterday in Kaduna, Justice Uzor Anyanwu upheld the judgment of the tribunal and ordered INEC to issue a certificate of return to Olujimi.

INEC had declared Adeyeye as winner of the February 23, 2019 National Assembly election.

Olujimi, who was the incumbent senator representing the senatorial district during the election had challenged the result at the tribunal, saying she should have been declared the winner, having scored the highest number of votes cast.

Adeyeye was until a few weeks to the election, a member of the PDP where he served as its spokesman and was one of the fiercest critics of the APC. But following his

disagreement with the then governor of the state, Mr. Ayo Fayose, he joined the APC and was given the ticket to contest for the senatorial election.

There was wild jubilation among the members of the PDP in the state following the appeal court judgment yesterday.

The victory dance was more visible in Omuo Ekiti, Olujimi's hometown and headquarters of Ekiti East Local Government,

where the crowd trooped to the streets to praise the judiciary for its steadfastness.

Also reacting to the judgment, the PDP said the decisions of both the lower tribunal and the appeal court did not come as a surprise because the result declared by the INEC did not reflect the votes cast in the first instance.

In a statement by its state Publicity Secretary, Mr. Jackson Adebayo, the PDP berated

INEC for colluding with the APC to steal the mandate, which was given to Olujimi and PDP at the poll.

"We want to assure all our members that with the victory of Senator Olujimi, there is a great future for the party; what we just need is to walk in unison towards subsequent elections in the state, " it stated.

But the APC rejected the Court of Appeal judgment, saying that it did not reflect

the wishes of the voters.

APC, in a statement by its Director of Media and Publicity, Mr. Sam Oluwalana, said: "The judgment, delivered earlier today (yesterday), can best be described as a travesty of justice and robbing Peter to pay Paul."

He described the short period spent by Adeyeye in the Senate as indelible and remarkable for the people of Ekiti South and the state.

ON ISLAMIC FINANCE...

L-R: Former governor, Cross River State, Mr. Donald Duke; Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II; and Managing Partner, Metropolitan Law Firm, Ms. Ummahani Amin, during the 4th African International Conference on Islamic Finance in Lagos...yesterday

Nigeria’s Neighbours Must Obey Fair Trade Rules, Says Emefiele FG restates private sector role in implementation of AfCFTA Dike Onwuamaeze and Nume Ekeghe Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, yesterday said Nigeria’s neighbours must comply with fair trade practices to avoid depriving Nigeria the benefits of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, explaining that the country would prevent itself from becoming a dumping ground for goods that did not originate from Africa.

Emefiele, who was represented by the Lagos Branch Controller of CBN, Mr. Ekhator Atise, spoke in Lagos, at the 2019 International Trade Seminar, with the theme: 'Nonoil Export in Nigeria, Emerging Opportunities, Financing Options and African Regional Trade Integration,' that was organised by Zenith Bank Plc. Also at the event, the federal government reiterated the importance of the Nigerian private sector to the successful implementation of AfCFTA agreement, which will come into force from July 1, 2020.

The position of the federal government was conveyed by the Minister of Industry, Trade and investment, Chief Adeniyi Adebayo, who said Nigeria did not need to look beyond the recent recession to understand the urgency for the government to grow and diversify the country’s economy in order to develop new sources of export revenues.

Emefiele said it was imperative that all stakeholders supported the growth in the physical industry that would help insulate the economy from external headwinds.

He added that supporting the growth of the real sector needed

to improve non-oil exports as a viable alternative that would help the country to project better growth and create jobs for the teaming youths and the nation, had become imperative.

He expressed optimism that the continental free trade agreement was going to be fruitful for Nigeria and would enable Nigerian manufacturers to access other markets within the continent.

Emefiele, however, stressed the need for all parties to engage in fair trade. “If the agreement is going to be of value to our country, the situation where other countries and goods are on transit point to enable a type of subsidised imports in Nigeria which harm our local farmers and industries cannot and should not be tolerated. All parties must work to encourage fair trade in order for the gains of AfCFTA to be achieved. “The CBN will continue to implement policies that will enable improved domestic productivity and further the growth of non-oil exports in Nigeria as a more diversified economy is crucial in promoting stable growth and in creating job opportunities on a wider scale and it would also help to improve our non-export earnings thereby protecting our economy from the volatility of the crude oil market,� he added.

He stated that for a country with close to 200 million people, the emphasis on non-oil exports was due to the potential gains that would be made when human and natural resources are harnessed in creating new products and services that could be produced in large scale and sold to people in various parts of the world.

Adebayo, who was

represented by the Special Assistant to the President on Public Sector, Mr. Francis Anatogu, said Nigeria did not need to look beyond the recent recession to understand the urgency for the government to grow and diversify the country’s economy in order to develop new sources of export revenues.

Adebayo said: “The private sector has a critical role to play in the drive to grow non-oil export and in the implementation of the AfCFTA. “There is a need for a paradigm shift in the way we do business, for us to unlock the country’s export trade opportunities.�

According to him, there was need for the private sector to defend their share of the domestic market and to expand their market share in Africa. “Also, you need to evolve ways of building networks with businesses and governments in African countries of interest in order to effectively execute these strategies. “In addition, it is important to evolve effective partnership with government on how to realise the projects that will make the country ready for the AfCFTA by identifying specific programmes and initiatives that government should prioritise to fast-track non-oil export and enhance our readiness for AfCFTA,� he told his audience.

Furthermore, the former Governor of Ekiti State, noted that the long-term outlook for oil and gas was uncertain, given the global drive to reduce the use of fossil fuel in order to tackle climate change as well as market disruption created by shale oil and gas, which has moderated oil prices.

He pointed out that already, other major oil and gas producing countries have started shifting their economies away from oil.

He noted that the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has been using the Economic Growth and Recovery Plan (EGRP), which was developed in the first term of the administration, to prepare the country to withstand the challenges that would come with the implementation of the AfCFTA. The EGRP is focused on restoring growth through macro-economic stability and economic diversification with emphasis on agriculture, energy, and MSME led growth in industry, manufacturing and key services. “The plan also focused on building a globally competitive economy through investment in infrastructure and improving the business environment.

In these areas, a lot has been achieved and several projects are at various stages of implementation. “Government also recognises the need to promote export trade to assure markets for our manufactured products and for our services. To manage our balance of payments as we diversify our economy, we must therefore grow non-oil export to counterbalance our current dependence on imports for quality inputs and capital.�

The minister observed that one of the key risks associated with AfCFTA was the potential rise in smuggling and abuse of rules of origin, saying it would inadvertently incentivise rogue traders to disguise and distribute goods imported from outside the continent as duty free made-in-Africa goods.

“It is also envisaged that without adequate provisions for adjustment costs, the surge in import that would arise with AfCFTA will likely threaten output, jobs and investment in the manufacturing sector and in local infant industries. “While these conditions and threats indicate that a lot must be done to prepare Nigeria to achieve the envisaged benefits of the AfCFTA, it is also worth knowing that Nigeria is not at ground zero in terms of readiness. “In this regard, AfCFTA complement Nigeria's national development agenda as it offers Nigerian products and services, preferential access to the huge African market. As you may know, currently, Africa sources over 85 percent of its products imports from outside the continent. “It also provides immense export opportunities for madein-Nigeria finished products as trade on 97 percent of tariff lines will be conducted at zero duty, when liberalization kicks in. “The new supply capacity that will result from producing for export to Africa will deepen both forward and backward linkages and grow domestic and regional value chains, in line with government’s backward integration agenda.�

On his part, the Group Managing Director, Chief Executive Officer Zenith Bank, Mr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu, identified the escalating trade uncertainties as the biggest risk to the future of the global trading system that could cause the slowest pace of growth of the global economy since the 2008-2009 financial crises.

Onyeagwu said: “The synchronised economic slowdown and volatility

in commodity prices have continued to underscore the vulnerability of our weighty dependence on crude oil as a major source of foreign exchange earnings. “These developments have prompted an awakening and introspection among policy makers and key stakeholders in our country on the need for accelerated economic diversification and the search for alternative revenue sources.�

Onyeagwu who was represented by the Managing Director of Zenith Bank Ghana, Mr. Henry Oroh, said the most viable option for Nigeria was in stimulating the non-oil exports. “The appropriate response to these limitations will help to mobilise resources for growth of the sector, especially with the emergence of African Continental Free Trade Agreement which has the potential to boost intracontinental trade by about $35billion yearly,� he added.

According to the President of African Export and Import Bank (Afreximbank), Prof.

Benedict Okey Oramah, the implementation of the AfCFTA would help African countries to specialise in their respective areas of comparative advantages. “It will enable business to grow, jobs created and infrastructures developed. It will also help to reduce cost of doing business because of the economies of scale it will offer.

In addition, it will stimulate innovation and create different ways of doing things,� Oramah said, adding that “we must sustain the momentum because it will be very disastrous for the continent if we fail. I do not think that there will be another opportunity for Africa.�

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PAGE EIGHT BUHARI WEIGHS OPTIONS ON MAGU, FOWLER’S TENURE decision within weeks.

While Magu was appointed in acting capacity on November 9, 2015 and would clock four years on Saturday, Fowler was announced on an interim basis on August 18, 2015 but got Senate confirmation on December 9, 2015.

With Fowler, whose tenure terminal date ran into a web of controversy a few months ago, contending that his effective date of appointment was December 9, 2015, making next month his end of tenure, Magu’s case is more complex, having regard to his nonconfirmation by the Senate.

THISDAY investigations revealed that the president has been under intense pressure by politicians, top government officials and others in the last few months to take a decision on Magu and Fowler.

While some of the lobbyists, especially influential politicians, were said to be mounting pressure on the president to drop them, both are said to enjoy the confidence of some government officials and some dignitaries who want their tenure extended.

The options, a presidential source said, were for the president to retain them by giving them a new term, extend their tenure or drop them.

The president, for instance, could either reappoint Magu for another term of four years, in line with Section 3(1) of the

EFCC Act or to replace him.

Section 3(1) of the EFCC Act states: “The Chairman and members of the Commission other than ex-officio members, shall hold office for a period of four years and may be re-appointed for a further term of four years and no more.�

It was gathered there were so many forces arrayed against Magu and his chances of remaining in the EFCC beyond the expiration of his first term tenure would depend on which of the group of the lobbyists win with the president.

But some sources told THISDAY yesterday that the president might retain Magu by making him also a beneficiary of the tenure extension being enjoyed by the four services chiefs: the Chief of Defence Staff, General Abayomi Olonisakin; the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai; the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar; and Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas.

It was learnt that Magu, enjoyed the confidence of the president, which was why he was retained despite his rejection by the Eighth Senate, which refused to confirm his nomination as substantive EFCC chairman.

Twice, Magu’s nomination was sent for ratification and on both occasions, he was rejected.

In explaining his

rejection when he was first considered on December 15, 2016, the Senate had said it refused to confirm Magu based on security report, in an apparent reference to the mandatory report from the Department of State Services (DSS) on nominees for top public office appointments, available to the senators.

The then Senate spokesman, Senator Aliyu Abdullahi, had said the Senate took the decision after a closed-door meeting, adding: “The Senate wishes to inform the public that based on available security report, the Senate cannot proceed with the confirmation of Ibrahim Magu as Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. “The nomination of Ibrahim Magu is hereby rejected and has been returned to the President for further action.�

The same fate befell Magu when he was re-presented for confirmation in March 2017.

The Senate had again rejected his nomination as the DSS upheld its earlier position that Magu was not fit for the position.

When Magu appeared in the Senate for confirmation on March 15, 2017, Senator Dino Melaye had read out a portion of the DSS report, which stated: “In the light of the foregoing, Magu has failed the integrity test and will eventually constitute a liability to the

anti-corruption stand of the current government.�

During the screening, Magu had satisfactorily answered the senators’ questions but he was confronted with the DSS verdict on him.

However, he had questioned the trustworthiness of the DSS report, adding that the security agency sent out two reports on him with different contents. “What do you say about credibility of that agency?� he had asked rhetorically.

But despite his rejection, the president had rebuffed entreaties to replace him then; thereby leaving him to continue in office in acting capacity.

Under Magu’s watch, the EFCC has recovered about N939.51billion in four years and secured about 1,636 convictions, including those of two former governors: Senator Joshua Dariye (Plateau State) and Jolly Nyame (Taraba State) Analysts asked yesterday whether given the controversy that heralded his confirmation hearing, the president would just reappoint him or return him to the Senate for confirmation for a second tenure given a new found friendly relations the executive has with the legislature.

When contacted on whether the president would retain Magu or replace him, Senior Special Assistant to the President

on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, told THISDAY to get back to him at a given period with the aim of obtaining information on Magu's fate from higher authorities.

However, when he was reached again over the matter yesterday, he said he was unable to secure any response on Magu's fate.

"I am unable to get the responses to your question," he said.

The president had named Fowler as acting chairman of the agency on August 18, 2015 to replace its former Coordinating Director, Mr. Samuel Odugbesan, who was put in the position five months earlier.

The Senate on December 9, 2015, confirmed his appointment for four-year tenure.

However, the commencement of his tenure had sparked a legal battle following a suit filed by an Abuja-based lawyer, Mr. Stanley Okwara, seeking an order of the court to sack him on the grounds that his tenure lapsed on August 18, 2019.

Okwara, in the suit No FHC/KN/CS/141/2019, had asked the Federal High Court, sitting in Kano, to order Fowler to vacate his office.

But a lawyer with the FIRS, Mr. Barry Chukwu, in an affidavit dated September 30, had countered Okwara’s claim, saying Fowler’s tenure could only have been said

to have started counting in the aftermath of the Senate’s ratification of his nomination.

Chukwu, in an affidavit, had said: “Following a meeting by the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the 9th December, 2015, Fowler was confirmed as the substantive Executive Chairman of the FIRS. “The following day, 10th December 2015, the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, informed President Muhammadu Buhari of Fowler’s suitability for confirmation as substantive Executive Chairman of the FIRS. “Based on this, Fowler’s appointment as Executive Chairman did not take effect on 20 August, 2015 when he was appointed as the acting FIRS Chairman.�

He also quoted a letter from the then Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, to the president, informing him of Fowler’s confirmation as the FIRS chairman. “Your Excellency may, therefore, wish to formally appoint the confirmed nominee as Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service,�

Saraki’s letter, dated 15 December 2015, read in part.

The court, however, struck out Okwara’s suit, upholding the preliminary objection filed by Fowler’s counsel, Mr. Paul Erokoro (SAN), that the plaintiff had no locus standi to file the suit.

negotiations to allay the fears of the union on the IPPIS and convince the university lecturers that the president’s directive must be carried out.

The NUC’s Director of Media and Publicity, Mallam Ibrahim Yakasai, who confirmed the negotiations in a chat with THISDAY yesterday, said the commission was optimistic that ASUU would allow its members to enrol on IPPIS by the end of the talks. “We are meeting with them to make them understand further that the directive of Mr. President must be carried out. He has given a deadline of when all federal workers will join the IPPIS. In this respect, the military, police and every organisation has joined. “In the university system, there are four unions namely ASUU, SSANU, NASU and NATS. The three other unions have all agreed to join. We are sure

that ASUU, by the time the meetings we are having with them is concluded, they are also likely to join,� he said.

Yakasai explained that the issue was that universities had some peculiarities in their salaries, adding that when the Accountant General of the Federation held series of meetings with several unions including ASUU, all their peculiarities were taken into consideration. “The software was adjusted to solve the peculiarities of the Nigerian university system. So, we are pleading with them to see reason and withdraw their objection and join their colleagues in the role of the IPPIS,� he said, adding: “In any case, ASUU is just onethird of the workforce in the university system.

Two-thirds have accepted and ASUU’s issue has been dealt with.�

He said the issue of legality or illegality of

the IPPIS should not arise because the employer had the right to determine how the worker would be paid. “What is important is that he pays you the right amount in which government has demonstrated it's commitment to do. We are sending more appeals to ASUU and I am sure that at the end of the meetings, the problems will just fall away,� he said.

FG EXTENDS DEADLINE FOR ‘NO PAY’ ORDER ON IPPIS to the IPPIS platform by October 31 or risk their names struck off the payroll.

The National Universities Commission (NUC) is expected to conclude negotiations with ASUU today over the dispute that federal government has refused to compromise.

The Head of Service in the memo noted that for the purpose of the final roll-out of the Human Resources Module of IPPIS, her office had earlier issued two circulars directing all public servants to update their records via an online portal. “It is pertinent to emphasise that failure of any MDA and /or employee to comply with the content of this circular will lead to stoppage of the salary of the entire MDA and/or the affected employee on the IPPIS platform,� she said. “By this extension of the deadline, the federal government has given federal civil servants till

November 30 to update their human resources records on the IPPIS or have their salaries suspended,� she stated firmly.

While presenting the 2020 Appropriation Bill to a joint session of the National Assembly on October 8, Buhari had said the directive was targeted at managing personnel cost, which has ballooned to over N3 trillion.

Thereafter the federal government gave October 31 as the cut off date for enrolment, warning that anyone not on the platform by that date would no longer be paid.

But ASUU opposed the move, saying the platform does not capture the peculiarities of the structure of the university system, which is flexible and pragmatic.

The ASUU President, Prof. Abiodun Ogunyemi, confirmed to THISDAY yesterday that the federal government had not yet implemented the no-pay

directive.

In a telephone chat, he said: "To the best of my knowledge, the federal government has not enforced the no pay order," adding that he would not like to make further comments on the issue.

THISDAY also gathered from a source in one of the federal universities that the October salaries of staff, including those of lecturers had been paid.

He also said while the academic staff are yet to register with IPPIS payment platform, most of the nonacademic staff had enrolled since 2014 and have been receiving salaries through the IPPIS. The government took decisive step in 2007.

NUC Negotiates with ASUU over IPPIS Meanwhile, NUC and the leadership of the ASUU have commenced

NEW REGULATION CONFERS ON AGF POWER TO MANAGE RECOVERED ASSETS Gazette No. 163, Vol. 106 of 29th October, 2019, it says all anti-corruption agencies, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), have ceased to have power to manage assets whether recovered in the interim or final forfeiture.

The gazette, a copy of which was obtained by THISDAY, was signed by Malami and stated that the AGF resorted to the powers conferred on him by the

EFCC (Establishment) Act; the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act; Administration of Criminal Justice Act, Money Laundering (Prohibitions) Act, Terrorism (Prevention) Act, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit Act (NFIU), among others, as “and all other powers enabling� him in that behalf to make the regulation.

By the regulation the

AGF will also coordinate all inter-agencies investigation in recovery matters within and outside the country even as he would also coordinate tracing of proceeds of crimes within and outside Nigeria.

The AGF would operate and maintain a “centralised database for the storage of records of all recovered assets within and outside Nigeria.�

According to the gazette, the regulation shall apply

to illegally acquired assets and proceeds of crime by a person, corporate bodies, including financial institutions and designated non-financial institutions investigated or prosecuted under any relevant Act in Nigeria.

Section 5 of the regulation states that “all nonconviction- based forfeiture shall be conducted by the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation.�

Anti-corruption agencies

have also been mandated to transfer to the office of the AGF all non-convictionbased forfeiture issues, which arise in the course of investigation or prosecution.

Section 10 empowers the AGF to set up a structure for the transparent management of all final forfeited assets.

Under the new regulation, states will now pay not less than 30 per cent of assets recovered on their behalf to the federal government as administrative charges.

TOP GAINERS CORNERSTONE LAWUNION LASACO TRANSCORP FCMB TOP LOSERS PRESCO INTBREW MCNICHOLS

NGN NGN 0.04 0.49 0.04 0.50 0.01 0.27 0.03 1.02 0.03 1.74 NGN 3.80 34.60 1.10 10.25 0.04 0.46 FIDELITYBANK 0.13 1.76 WAPIC 0.02 0.32 HPE Nestle Nig Plc â‚Ś1,150.00 Volume: 232.216 million shares Value: N3.121 billion Deals: 3,171 As at yesterday 6/11/19 See details on Page 41

% 8.8 8.7 3.8 3.0 1.7 % 9.9 9.6 8.7 6.8 5.8

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THURSDAY NOVEMBER 7, 2019 ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

Presidency Sacks 35 Osinbajo’s Aides The Presidency on Tuesday night fired 35 aides of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

A news medium, Daily Nigerian, had reported yesterday that the president, who is currently in London on a private visit, sacked 35 of the vice president’s 80 aides.

Hours later, an online medium, TheCable, lent credence to the story, saying it had confirmed its authenticity from some senior presidential aides.

However, as at the time of filing this report, there was no official confirmation of the

Finally, Sowore, Bakare Meet Bail Conditions Alex Enumah in Abuja After over 90 days in captivity, detained convener of #RevolutionNow protests, Omoyele Sowore and a member of the protest group, Olawale Bakare have perfected their bail conditions, their lawyer, a human rights activist, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) has revealed.

It was not clear as at press time if the duo regained their freedom.

However, the trial of the defendants who were arrested on August 3, was stalled due to the failure of the prosecution to serve the defendants with witnesses statements and documents relating to the trial.

When the matter was called on yesterday, Falana told the court that the defendants who their bail conditions were varied on October 21 by the court have perfected the bail conditions and would be released on Wednesday.

He said that the defence team was denied access to the defendants in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS), adding that after 10 futile attempts by members of the defence team and his fruitless waiting at the lobby to see the defendants, they called it off.

Falana said the defendants temporary freedom would avail them ample opportunity to prepare their defence and interact with the defence legal team.

The trial Judge, Justice Ijeoma

Ojukwu had last month slated yesterday, November 6, for commencement of trial.

However, senior lawyer to the defendants objected to the commencement of trial on the grounds that he had no access to his client while in the custody of the DSS to adequately prepare for his defence.

While noting that the defendants had perfected their bail conditions imposed on them by the court, Falana said counsel can have unfeterred access to the defendants to take instructions from them and prepare for their defence.

“In the circumstances, we will be asking for an adjournment to enable us take full instruction from our clients, so that we can fully prepare for our trial”, he submitted.

Sowore, the publisher of Sahara reporter and his codefendant are facing a sevencount charge bordering on conspiracy to commit treasonable felony in breach of Section 516 of the Criminal Code Act, money laundering and cybercrimes.

The second defendant, through his counsel aligned himself with the submissions of Falana in urging the court for adjournment.

Prosecution counsel, Hassan Liman (SAN), while objecting to the application for adjournment told the court that the DSS, had at no point in time restricted counsel from having access to the defendants.

House Probes ‘Parallel’ Minority Leadership Adedayo Akinwale ín Abuja The House of Representatives has ordered a probe into the allegation that Hon. Kingsely Chinda and three other members are parading themselves as Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus leaders in the House.

The decision was taken yesterday at the plenary presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Ibrahim Wase, following the alleged breach of legislative privilege by Chinda, Umar Barde, Chukwuma Onyema and Muraina Ajibola, raised on the floor by Hon. Ben Igbakpa.

He said that Section 60 of the 1999 Constitution as amended provides the House the power to regulate its own procedure, adding that it is supported

by Order 1(1) and (2) of the Standing Orders of the House.

Igbakpa said it was a common knowledge that on July 3, 2019, the Speaker, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, in line with Order 7 Rule 8 of the Standing Orders of the House, which empowers the minority parties to nominate their leaders, announced the Minority Leaders of the House.

This, he said, was consequently published in the Votes and Proceedings of the same date.

Igbakpa said, “In spite of this Mr. Speaker, some members of this House - Hon. Kingsley Chinda; Hon. Chukwuma Onyema; Hon. Umar Barde; and Hon. Muraina Ajibola, parading themselves as PDP Caucus Leader, Deputy Caucus Leader, Minority Whip and Deputy Minority Whip respectively, have been issuing public statements outside the nomenclature of this House; misleading the general public and causing confusion and disaffection in the House of Representatives. This is a gross abuse of our collective and individual privileges.”

He stressed that their actions violates Section 24, Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act, Cap L.12, 2004 as well extant provisions of the Standing Orders of this House.

Igbakpa therefore called on the House to investigate and bring the perpetrators to book.

The speaker however directed the Committee on Ethics and Privileges to investigate the matter.

report or otherwise.

A top presidential aide contacted by THISDAY over the matter, declined comment.

However, THISDAY learnt that the story was true.

Some individuals privy to the information, said the vice president hopes that the trend will be reversed when the president returns from London.

It was learnt that the sacked aides, whose Presidential Villa tags had been retrieved, were

sent out of the seat of power in a bid to reduce Osinbajo’s perceived high number of aides.

But a good number of others were of the belief that the sack was political and was only a part of the measures to render Osinbajo irrelevant.

The past one month has not been the best of times for Osinbajo as a number of privileges he enjoyed in the first term of Buhari’s administration have been

withdrawn.

For instance, the president who at different times went on vacation for 10 days in his first term, had voluntarily handed power to his deputy, who accordingly discharged the functions of his office, is currently away for 15 days without dignifying him with such honour.

Earlier, the president had moved the Social Investment Programme of the administration to the

newly created Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Investment.

Buhari had also replaced the Economic Management Team chaired by Osinbajo with Economic Advisory Council led by Prof. Doyin Salami which reports directly to him.

Analysts believe these seem to show that these are not the best of times for the vice president.

SIGNED AND SEALED…

General Manager, Corporate Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Muyiwa Akinyemi (left); and Regional Commercial Manager, West Africa, British Airways(BA), Kola Olayinka; signing collaboration agreement between UBA and BA, to reward customers who purchase their flights tickets using UBA cards with discount up to 15%, in Lagos..yesterday DAN UKANA

Senate Moves to Regulate Social Media Use Proposes three-year jail term for offenders Deji Elumoye in Abuja The Senate has begun moves to regulate the social media use in Nigeria, as a bill to that effect is already before the upper legislative chamber.

The bill titled: ‘Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulations Bill 2019’, sponsored by a first-time Senator, Mohammed Musa, which was one of the 11 bills read at plenary for the first time, stipulates a maximum penalty of three-year jail term for offenders.

Shedding more light on the bill after plenary yesterday, Musa said if the bill is passed, it would curb the spread of fake news on the internet.

He stressed that the bill is for “patriotic Nigerians” who want to see the country live in peace, adding that with the advent of

social media, there is a reason for Nigeria to see how this new media is tolerated.

The senator wondered why an individual would decide to remain in his room or office and then write something he knows very well is false because he wants to hit at someone.

“He or she will decide to write and post it on social media. Waiting few seconds, it’s on there! Before you know it, it has been shared all over the world. I have a passion for information technology (IT), and I know what it takes to disseminate your information-it is like the speed of light,” Musa said. The senator noted that the bill was not an attempt to gag the social media users or right to free press “but a legislation that will guide how we can tolerate our activities on the

social media.”

According to him, false information has been disseminated so many times, and has caused chaos in different parts of the world, citing examples of the spread of fake news on the internet during the recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa.

The lawmaker said: “I felt we need it (law) in this country. If countries like Philippines, Singapore, Italy, Malaysia, Australia, France, Indonesia, Egypt are putting control to prevent the spread of false information, what stops us from doing it? There has never been a time when Nigeria has been very fragile in terms of its unity than this period.

“This is not to stop the people from assessing the internet to do whatever they feel legitimately

is okay to do, but what we felt is wrong is for you to use the medium to document information that you know is false, just because you want to achieve your interest.

“If one commits an offence of this nature, and by the virtue of what was committed, the law enforcement agencies will take the person to court, as there will be a court process that will prove that the person has done something wrong. It will serve as deterrence to others, and there should be certain penalties.”

The senator further said: “If you can disseminate information of your president by taking his picture and putting it in an invitation card, giving false information of your President, which is the highest office in the land, that is unlawful.”

Total Plans to Sell Stake in Nigerian Oil Block French oil major, Total is seeking to sell its 12.5 per cent stake in the giant Bonga deepwater oilfield off the coast of Nigeria, in an effort to adjust the energy company’s Africa portfolio amid a broad expansion.

Reuters quoted banking and industry sources as saying that the stake in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 118, which is located some 120 kilometres (75 miles) off the Niger Delta, is valued at up to $750 million.

Investment bank, Rothschild, is said to be running the sale process for the oil major.

Rothschild and a spokeswoman for Total declined to comment.

OML 118 is operated by Royal Dutch Shell, which holds a 55 per cent interest. Exxon Mobil holds a 20 per cent stake in the block, while Italy’s Eni and Total each hold 12.5 per cent The sale process is part of Total’s plan to sell $5 billion of assets around the world by 2020, the sources said.

The block includes the Bonga field, Nigeria’s first deepwater project which started in 2005 and produced around 225,000 barrels of oil and 150 million

standard cubic feet of gas per day at its peak.

Output from the block is planned to grow sharply with the $10 billion development of the Bonga Southwest field which is expected to produce up to 200,000 bpd, roughly 10 per cent of Nigeria’s current oil production.

Nigeria’s vast oil resources have attracted foreign oil companies for decades but changes to the country’s oil revenue laws as well as an unexpected tax levy over the past year could make investments in offshore projects less attractive.

Shell and its partners were expected to make an investment decision on Bonga Southwest last year but uncertainty over its fiscal terms with the Nigerian government have delayed the process.

However, with the signing of the new Production Sharing Contract (PSC) Act by President Muhammadu Buhari, there is now clarity of terms for deep offshore production.

Shell in February launched a tender for bids for a 225,000 bpd floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel for the new development phase.

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COMMENT

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

ENGINEERING SKIN COLOUR LINES Okello Oculi writes that Africans should be proud of their skin

W

.E.B. Dubois was the first Black man to earn a doctoral degree from Harvard University. His doctoral thesis was on the role of Africans in creating human civilization. He showed that Greeks went to study in Ancient Egypt ruled by Black African Pharaohs to learn the Mathematics, the Medical Sciences, Religious and Political Philosophy and Astronomy which they passed into Europe.

This discovery calmed his pain about four hundred years of ‘’Black Folk’’ as victims of Euro-Americans importing Africans immigrants as labourers to build their economic and industrial growth. It also fuelled his research on historical and current social and economic conditions to achieve the liberation of African-Americans; and peoples exploited under dictatorships of European rule in Africa.

Like his contemporary, Russia’s Vladimir Lenin, he disagreed with Karl Marx’s prediction that workers everywhere under capitalism would unite in a universal brotherhood of overthrowing capitalism and creating socialism. He declared that the 20th Century would be characterized by Black and Yellow skins fighting against people with Caucasian skins.

Capital owned by Caucasian would be promoted with political tools which would arouse Afro-Asians to mount liberation wars for freedom and economic growth. George Padmore supported him.

Not being Caucasian his earning Harvard’s highest academic flag did not open skies of advancement in American politics and business sectors.

He turned his enormous intellectual powers to fathering Pan-Africanism as the call to Black peoples to fight for power in world affairs. This proposition has been made for Martin Luther King, Andrew Young, Thurgold Marshall, Colin Powel and all those labeled as ‘’high Yellow’’ who led Civil Rights struggles inside America.

In 1922, Sweden’s Ambassador to Brazil beat alarm bells about Brazil becoming the largest African country in the world if skin pigmentation was not politically engineered. A Brazilian sociologist created the concept of classifying persons with Afro-Caucasian skin colour as ‘’MESTIZO’’ – a separate racial category. The Brazilian state promoted feelings of superiority in them to persons of Black skins; while assuring them of being lower

NIGERIA’S MEDIA RECENTLY CARRIED A SHOCKING REPORT THAT OVER 60 MILLION NIGERIANS ARE SUFFERING FROM MENTAL ILLNESS. ONE CONTRIBUTING FACTOR MAY WELL BE WHAT FELA KUTI ONCE DENOUNCED AS ‘YELLOW FEVER’

than Caucasians.

The intense frustration which the American colour bar created in ‘’High Yellow’’ persons was diverted into a racial income rather than intellectual and business achievements. The managers of ‘’apartheid’’ in South Africa followed the Brazilian model by labeling ‘’Coloured’’ as a racial category. They were not altogether successful. The poet Denis Brutus ‘’was an honourable man’’ who, as a ‘’Coloured’’, fought against the evil regime.

In Jamaica, the MESTIZO were known as the ‘’Middle Class’’. In the 1970s, Prime Minister Michael Manley, separated from his ‘’Middle Class’’ wife, married Beverly, a Black Beauty. He also appointed a Black politician as the country’s foreign minister. Outrage in one skin-colour caste met jubilation among those who constituted over 85 per cent of the population. This courageous political engineering was aided by Cuba appointing Black supervisors over Caucasian and Black crews doing construction projects in Jamaica.

Nigeria’s media recently carried a shocking report that over 60 million Nigerians are suffering from mental illness. One contributing factor may well be what Fela Kuti once denounced as ‘’Yellow Fever’’.

On 15th October, 2019, ARISE television reported on a children’s book

by Hollywood star Lupita Nyong’o. She read out a letter from a girl who was so delighted by Lupita wearing her natural Black skin, and thereby saving her from purchasing chemicals to make her own skin ‘’yellow’’.

There is a skin-bleaching advertisement which brazenly links ‘’Yellow Fever’’ to being ‘’beautiful’’. DSTV shares with Nigerian television the monopoly by Yellow Fever females of news-casting. Officials in Ministries of Health, Information, Youth and Culture must consider psychological injuries to self-worth that these skin-colour engineering campaigns inflict inside eyes and minds. Mechanics working with mental spare parts must be taken on board in this matter.

The ‘’Black is Beautiful’’ campaign in the United States caused a massive panic among light-skinned African-American folks. They illustrated Albert Einstein’s view that: “if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend the rest of its life believing that it is stupid’’.

THE FUTURE OF OKUN NATION (2)

A unity of purpose could turn around the fortunes of Okun land, writes Eniola Bello

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he politicians came, the politicians conjured by the Babangida administration’s elastic transition programme that is, and things tumbled down south. Make no mistake about it, the core of the political elite that took over the affairs of the Fourth Republic since May 29, 1999, and have remained in charge till today in different guises and disguises, are products of then President Ibrahim Babangida’s political experiment between 1986 and 1993. Their crowd mostly include the crooked, the fraudulent, the lawbreakers, the career criminals, those who game the system, and those adept at perverting justice. Called the new breed politicians, they revel on the fast food principle and have turned politics into a money- making industry. As a result, they have in the last 20 years easily attracted, where they have not created, their type. They have no compassion, do not know the meaning of loyalty, and have no sense of shame. They exploit every relationship and institution and resource but believe in nothing. They pay themselves huge allowances while owing the people several months of their meagre salaries; they appropriate the resources of the state and pauperise the people. They pass budgets to fend for their comfort and wellbeing and abandon development projects. They steal in billions of Naira, sink the state in debt and the people in poverty. They make laws to advance their economic interests, and for self and group preservation; they put self first before nation. They are not driven by any profound ideology except the ideology of the stomach.

Of course, this new politics is fully domesticated in Okun land. Look around you and examine the life our politicians and public officials, at whatever level – centre, state and council – live. They drive in a convoy of exotic cars, their patrol vehicles clearing the traffic and sending the people off the pothole-ridden roads. They live in mansions, their security preventing the people that voted them into office from seeing them. They own the hotels and supermarkets and fuel stations. They travel in style, a retinue of aides and friends in tow.

They marry a harem of wives and could still afford the cost of a salad of concubines and mistresses and girlfriends and everything in between. These are men, who only yesterday, had no job, no known business address, indeed, no visible means of livelihood. But they joined politics, and government, and became the new lords of the manor – feted by the monarchs, celebrated by the people, honoured in places of worship. Worse, they become role models, negative role models, to our youths and students. On this account, I can only the leave to your imagination, the future Okun is headed.

The tell tale signs of what is to come are already here with us. The drive for education, for which our people

were known, has waned. Okun youths almost can’t be bothered about going to school at the highest level anymore. This is not because results are poor as a result of dilapidated schools, unmotivated and untrained teachers, and lack of instructional materials, although these are part of the story. It is not because students are chased out of school or withdraw because their parents couldn’t afford to pay the direct and indirect tuition fees, although that is also part of the story. The main story is our politicians’ obscene display of wealth placed against graduate unemployment. Unconsciously, our youths have come to the realisation that it is better to get enrolled in the new school of politics than to “waste� four years (where ASUU strikes would not extend that by another two years) in the university without any prospect of getting a job. Any wonder why a rabble of Okun youths today follow the politicians as touts and pimps and mendicants and aides, official and unofficial. I once had the fortune, or if you like the misfortune, of assisting a young graduate get an offer in the Kogi State Civil Service some few years back. I had to personally see the governor over his matter. On getting that offer, however, he said he was no more interested, that he would rather join a political party, as he wanted to be a councillor. That was somebody who had only just finished in school, had not done anything for himself, and had no second address, as they say.

Although he didn’t immediately become a councillor, he was appointed one of a battalion of office-less aides to the council chairman. And in less than two years, he told me with a cheeky grin that he had bought a car. I could only say, congratulations! It is the nature of the politics industry.

Perhaps because the new politics is about self and not about service, or the people, Okun political leaders have no sense of community, no commonality of ambition, and therefore no unity of purpose. We’ve seen this in the serial disruption of the rotational principle of the legislative seats, particularly the senate, and the ensuing bitterness and violence that usually follow. We’ve repeatedly seen it in the failure of our political elite to rally behind one of their own as a candidate and present a common front for the governorship contest.

We’ve seen it in their crab mentality or what our people call, “Kaka eku nmo je hehe, amu se awadanu�.

This is the way of the new politics.

It wasn’t so in the old politics. I remember in the 1983 elections of the Second Republic, I was, as a student, an unpaid polling agent to the Great Nigeria People’s Party (GNPP) in Ayetoro Gbede. Young, angry and idealistic, I stood up to local politicians moving from one polling unit to another campaigning for votes.

Ayetoro Gbede then, like most Okun communities, had sympathy for the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN).

Although the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) won the governorship in Kwara State (of which Okun communities were a part at the time) in 1979, the party leader Olusola Saraki had fallen out with Governor Adamu Attah before the 1983 election. Ayetoro Gbede had benefitted tremendously from the Attah administration, particularly the lightening up of the community in 1981. The community leaders discussed with the politicians across the two main parties – UPN and NPN - and resolved to share the unused ballots 60-40 per cent in each polling unit in favour of the former. The idea was whichever of the parties won the election, the community wouldn’t be punished for not voting for that party. All the party agents were thereafter briefed. The point of this story is that the politicians, across party lines, accepted the arrangement in the interest of the community. That was unity of purpose. Try such a thing today and operators of the new politics would most likely send out battle-axes and guns. Indeed, the violence unleashed by one notable exponent of the new politics caused the cancellation of the 2007 National Assembly elections in the same Ayetoro Gbede.

What Future for Okun Nation?

Permit me to begin to conclude with the narration of some radical transformation going on in Ayetoro Gbede since the formation of Ayetoro Gbede Global Network, AGN for short, an association that is barely two years old. For as long as I can remember Ayetoro Gbede Development Association (AGDA) had been the flagship association driving the community development efforts. The association had branches in three or four cities and for more than 40 years had an annual fund-raiser every December 26, particularly for public water supply or “omi ero� in public consciousness.

There is still no public water supply in the community, mind you. Every working adult is automatically an AGDA member even while not bothering to pay the annual membership dues. In no time the association fell into the wrong hands. Its affairs were run by quasipoliticians; men and women who could barely cater for their own needs. There was little or no accountability.

Funds raised were spent to no identifiable end as some executives claimed travel allowances on trips to nowhere, looking for what was not lost. Those in the big cities from where the major funding came from lost interest in the association. Some would rather intervene at the individual level rather than put their money in what had become a bottomless pit. But then there’s nothing like group action in matters of development.

This led to new thinking and AGN was formed.

Like a club, membership is by subscription. There’s membership fee and annual dues. For capital projects, members contribute according to their capacity.

Accountability is key as there’s a monthly accounting of income and expenditure. And because of the calibre of the people managing the association either at Executive or Board level, accomplished people in their own right, notable sons and daughters of the community in Nigeria, and outside, easily bought into the project. In less than two years, AGN has renovated four completely run down classroom blocks at the Community High School, constructed a borehole and built a modern toilet in the school (the school had no toilet for 40 years), hired seven additional teachers at its own cost, and is equipping the school’s science laboratories. On account of what they have seen, some individuals are doing other things for the use of the community and them handing over to AGN to manage. The association has even acquired a massive piece of land to build an ultramodern hospital. What the AGN has done within such a short period of time, AGDA did not achieve in half a century of existence.

The AGN example is a testament to what could be achieved when there is unity of purpose. Imagine the possibilities for the future if we could replicate the AGN template in many more communities in Okun land.

What is certain is that the salvation of our people from poverty and want, and our communities from deprivation and disease, does not lie in the hands of our present class of politicians. For they have shown, in the last 20 years, that they are clueless, visionless, greedy and wicked. Our people needed to stop being their enablers by going back to the ways our fathers used to treat the social deviants in their time – excommunication, public ridicule and censure. We should learn to punish our politicians for bad behaviour. We should pelt with eggs and tomatoes those who failed to deliver on their campaign promises or flaunt their ill-gotten wealth in our faces. We should force the hands of our monarchs from honouring them with “jeun-jeun� chieftaincy titles. We should jeer them when they deliver useless speeches at public events.

We should stop our women from dancing before them simply to partake of the crumbs from our common patrimony they have stolen. We should stop their salutation as “Honourable� or “Distinguished� or “Excellency.� Our people should stop worshipping at the shrine of their houses.

It is such collective course of action, such unity of purpose that would turn around for the better the future of Okun land. We need to begin to mobilise our people to take our communities back.

Excerpts from a lecture delivered at the ďŹ rst OKUN DAY of Okun Development Association, Kogi State University, Anyigba by Mr. Bello, Managing Director, THISDAY Newspapers

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T H I S D AY ˾ THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2019

EDITORIAL MISPLACED PUBLIC EXPECTATIONS People in places of authority should do what is right

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ne distinctive feature of democracy is the right of the people to expect and demand good governance from elected officials. It is also the duty of the latter to perform creditably. That, in a nutshell, is the whole essence of public trust.

In Nigeria, however, this noble relationship has for long been misapplied such that public expectations of office holders in the country seem to be at conflict with national aspirations. It is then little surprise that many of the overpaid politicians and public officials have continued to fleece the very people they are supposed to protect and yet walk the streets free.

A former governor once lamented on national television that the inability of public officers to function well is due to the demands of money and other personal gratifications from the people they are supposed to serve. Government functionaries, he explained, often lose THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC concentration and DEVELOPMENT OF divert funds meant THE COUNTRY IS THE for development to ONLY GUARANTEE satisfy the need of individuals or groups FOR IMPROVED LIVING within their various STANDARDS OF THE communities. In PEOPLE other words, public office holders expend the resources put in their trust to preserve their positions through satisfying the personal needs of their constituents and with that, it becomes difficult to deliver on the core responsibilities of government.

Although the former governor was attacked for justifying corruption and abuse of office, he indeed expressed an unfortunate reality about our country today: Family members, friends, communities and tribesmen most often insist that the only way for a public officer to show their worth is to address personal needs. This is taken to a ridiculous extent during elections when they demand instant gratifications in exchange for votes.

Letters to the Editor

However, we are persuaded by trends in the country to believe that the persistent pressure on public office holders is largely a product of leadership failure. Successive governments have failed to frontally address critical issues like provision of social infrastructure and security. So, in the absence of any real empowerment in such critical areas as health facilities, education, shelter and others, desperation compels the people to directly source money from persons they see as the faces of government. This option is not only beggarly but also undermines the essence of representative administration – the very soul of democratic practice.

T T H I S DAY EDITOR BOLAJI ADEBIYI DEPUTY EDITOR YEMI AJAYI, DAVIDSON IRIEKPEN, MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR KAYODE KOMOLAFE CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OLUSEGUN ADENIYI EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN MANAGING EDITOR JOSEPH USHIGIALE

T H I S DAY N E W S PA P E R S L I M I T E D EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/CHAIRMAN NDUKA OBAIGBENA GROUP EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS ENIOLA BELLO, KAYODE KOMOLAFE, ISRAEL IWEGBU, IJEOMA NWOGWUGWU, EMMANUEL EFENI DIVISIONAL DIRECTORS BOLAJI ADEBIYI, PETER IWEGBU, ANTHONY OGEDENGBE DEPUTY DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR OJOGUN VICTOR DANBOYI SNR. ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR ERIC OJEH ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS PATRICK EIMIUHI, SAHEED ADEYEMO CONTROLLERS ABIMBOLA TAIWO, UCHENNA DIBIAGWU, NDUKA MOSERI DIRECTOR, PRINTING PRODUCTION CHUKS ONWUDINJO TO SEND EMAIL: first name.surname@thisdaylive.com

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.

ENDING CRIMES AGAINST JOURNALISTS

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ovember 2 is proclaimed the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalist as members states are urged by the United Nations General Assembly to implement definite measures in countering the present culture of impunity.

However, according to the Global Impunity Index report published by the Committee to Protect Journalist (CPJ), there have been several cases of murder of journalist in countries where ‘democracy’ is practiced. It is indeed painful when people capacitated by the constitution in carrying out their duties are being killed on a regular basis around the world and their perpetrators are not prosecuted.

Equally, the report indicated that during the 10 years index period since September 2009 and ended on August 31 this year, around 318 journalists were murdered just for doing their jobs worldwide and 86 per cent of those cases, no perpetrators were successfully prosecuted.

In Nigerian, apart from being a professional career, journalism is a call to national duty. This is for the fact that under section 22 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, journalists are always obliged to uphold the responsibility and accountability of the government to the people - freely.

It is however appalling that this section is being ignorantly violated by the haves and powerful, gangsters and to certain extent, owners of the media. In this country, we have heard

here is therefore an urgent need for a proper re-orientation if we must reverse this detestable drift. Public officers must come to terms early with the doctrine of true service. In most cases, people are reduced to beggars by twin effects of illiteracy and poverty, so prospective office holders should be determined to discharge their responsibilities effectively rather than succumb to any shady practices, including the so-called public blackmail.

All said, no excuse should be made for corruption and ineptitude. This nation will fare better if persons in places of authority insist on doing the right things, and not compromise responsible and responsive governance. Then, on their part, the people should not unwittingly provide public officers with reasons for underperformance. Poor implementation of projects and programmes is bad enough. And linking it directly to what is now being painted as the parasitic behaviour of the public makes the situation even worse.

From whatever perspective it is viewed government patronage and begging are also caused by greed and selfishness without due consideration of the reality that such individuals stand to gain from the overall development of the country. Embracing accountability and political maturity is, therefore, urgently required by public officials to wake them up to the much-needed task of ensuring that the socio-economic development of the country is the only guarantee for improved living standards of the people and, indeed, the only true cure for poverty.

and seen instances where accountable journalists were killed, and some are still detained for carrying out their jobs as vanguards and watchmen of the society.

There is no doubt that these acts of negligence from government and security agencies have contributed to crippling the efforts of journalist to carry out their jobs efficiently and effectively.

Just recently, a young journalist filled with passion and enthusiasm, Gidado Yushau Shuaib, was arrested alongside his webmaster in Abuja for publishing an investigative report on the 18th of May 2018 which was authored by Mr. Alfred Olufemi, an award-winning campus journalist from one of the premier universities in the country. The report is titled: Inside Kwara factory where Indian Hemp smoking is ‘legalized’.

We only learnt in History and Political science classes that it was during the brutal military regime that journalists faced series of human rights violations as a result of carrying out their jobs. Some were killed, others imprisoned while some went on exile.

Currently, the situation is somewhat like a replica of that dictatorship particularly during the Abacha’s regime. This is because series of journalist including concerned citizens and whistleblowers have been arrested and detained - some with, some without charges. Journalists like Jones Abiri, George Uboh, Stephen Kefas, Abubakar Idris (Dadiyata) whose whereabouts are still unknown.

Isah Ismaila Gagarawa, NYSC, Abuja

NIGERIA AND CARE FOR THE ELDERLY

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igeria with a population of over 170 Million did not have any healthcare facility that focuses on the care of elderly people. Statistics show that there are over nine million persons who are 60 years and above in Nigeria. Elderly people faced challenges in performing activities of daily living (ADL) such as bathing, toileting, dressing, feeding and continence. They also encounter difficulty carrying out instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) such as housekeeping, cooking, shopping, bill paying and correct use of medications. The ability of older adults to engage in both activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) represents important aspects of functional independence among older adults. Nigeria’s government public health intervention measures are focused on polio vaccine, malaria, HIV/AIDS, maternal mortality, infant mortality and other infectious diseases. There is absolute neglect of public health intervention on older persons. Nigeria is yet to enact a national policy on the care and welfare of older persons. Therefore, I urge the National Assembly to pass a bill to address elderly care and welfare in Nigeria and also beckon on World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations (UN), World Bank, Bill Gates Foundation, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and other international donors to contribute toward public health intervention programmes for elderly people in Nigeria. It is worrisome that a country with over nine million older adults has only seven geriatric specialists. Changing demographics in Nigeria, breakdown of family structure and absence of social security system pose great challenges to the older adults in Nigeria. Most of the aged people are suffering for hearing (ear- related problem), vision (eye-related problem), dementia, stroke, depression, high blood pressure and pension salary crisis. There is a need for a health care delivery system that carter for all people in Nigeria.

Pedro Ukokobili, Lagos

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THURSDAY NOVEMBER 7, 2019 •T H I S D AY

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THURSDAY NOVEMBER 7, 2019 ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWSEXTRA

Sanwo-Olu Drops ‘His Excellency’ Title Segun James In a surprise move yesterday, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has said the prefix “His Excellency” should no longer be attached to his name officially.

The governor, in a statement he signed renouncing the prefix, said “in the last five months that I have been privileged to exercise the mandate freely given to me by the great and hardworking people of Lagos State, it has come to my consciousness to review certain features of citizen-government relations which impede the genuine expression of the democratic spirit of our society and the

meaningful exercise of the sovereignty of our people.

“The office of the governor has been celebrated as the paragon of excellence, a temple of perfection and a throne of purity. This demi-god mystique spreads over the entire machinery of the executive arm of the government, symbolising an authoritarian disposition on the governed. It has deformed the orientation of elected and appointed persons who are paid from the taxes of the people to see themselves as oppressors who can do no wrong and must be served, rather than serve the people.”

The governor added that for whatever reason, he’s human and should be seen as such.

“Whatever might have been the reason for this myth, let us be honest, the office is occupied by a mortal who has been called upon to serve the electorate with humility - and sincerity. The office of governor is a public trust that calls for sacrifice, modesty and willingness to add value to the lives of the people.

“Fellow Lagosians, I have concluded that for us to change the narrative of governance, we have to strike down this seeming symbol of executive arrogance that commands popular obeisance and undermines the democratic role of citizens as the masters of those they have elected and appointed to serve.”

Soludo Tasks Nigerians in Diaspora on Investment A former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and member, of the National Economic Advisory Team (NEAT), Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, has told Nigerians in the Diaspora that it is in their interest to contribute to the prosperity of their country.

He argued that it is wrong to regard investment in the homeland by Nigerians abroad as an act of charity.

In his keynote address yesterday at the second Nigeria Diaspora Investment Summit at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Soludo said racism and

xenophobic attacks abroad had made it imperative for Nigerians in the Diaspora to have a prosperous country they could return to when the need arose.

He recalled that the Jews learnt their lesson in a hard way during their persecution which culminated in the Holocaust.

Soludo however urged the government to ensure the security of such investments, noting that the ease of doing business policy should be vigorously pursued.

“Diaspora synergy would be a decisive strategy for

sustainable prosperity. In today’s world, a prosperous homeland is not just a choice, it is a duty.

“The diaspora is not just some group of people somewhere we are begging to come to Nigeria and do us a favour. My view is that the diaspora constitutes a strategic part of Nigeria and therefore, the development of Nigeria is not a choice, but a duty. But for this to happen, organisation is key.”

He disclosed that that the diaspora remittance estimated at over $2.6 billion would overtake crude oil earnings in the future.

Sexual Harassment Bill, Others Pass through Second Reading in Senate Deji Elumoye in Abuja The Sexual Harassment Bill sponsored by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, and 105 other Senators and three other bills yesterday passed through the second reading at the Senate.

The three other bills that scaled second reading at plenary are: a bill for an act to provide for the establishment of the Federal University of Education, Kontagora, sponsored by the Senate Deputy Whip, Senator Sabi Abdullahi; a bill for an act to establish the Federal College of Education, Illo; and a bill for an act to make incremental changes to Nigeria Tax and Fiscal Law both sponsored by the Senate Leader, Senator Yahaya Abdullahi.

The bills were debated at plenary before passing the second

reading for necessary referral to relevant committees that would report back to plenary in two weeks.

Omo-Agege, in his lead debate on the Sexual Harassment Bill, said “the most effective way to deal with the offence of sexual harassment in our tertiary institutions is to penalise the very impropriety of the act, with or without consent.”

According to him, sexual harassment must be defined in tertiary educational institutions as statutory rape with strict liability for offenders to be prosecuted easily.

On the suggested extension of the bill to primary, secondary schools, worship centres and work place, Omo-Agege said doing so would not be necessary because the Criminal and Penal Codes already adequately dealt

with these categories with sufficient clarity.

He, however, stressed that the bill prescribes expulsion for students who falsely accuse educators of sexual harassment.

“An educator whose character is maligned is at liberty to sue for defamation under the law of defamation which is well-settled in our jurisprudence and needs no duplication in this bill,” he said.

The proposed legislation titled: “A Bill for an Act to Prevent, Prohibit and Redress Sexual Harassment of Students in Tertiary Educational Institutions and for other matters connected therewith 2019” has 27 clauses.

The bill proposed up to 14-yearjail term with a minimum of five years without an option of fine for any educator who commits sexual offences in tertiary institutions.

Senate to Probe Alleged Killings at Border Posts By Customs Deji Elumoye in Abuja The Senate has mandated its Committee on Customs and Tariff to investigate alleged extra-judicial killings at the nation’s borders by operatives of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS).

This was coming as it charged security agencies to intervene in the increasing rate of kidnappings in the riverine areas of Ogun State, especially by establishing a Naval Base in Makun-Omi to address the problem.

These were sequel to the adoption of two different motions moved at plenary by Senators Tolulope Odebiyi and Olalekan

Mustapha on the subject matters.

Odebiyi in his motion on “the need to condemn the incessant excesses and the recent extrajudicial killings of people by men of the Nigerian Customs Service in Idiroko/Ipokia state constituency,” stressed the need for the upper legislative chamber to intervene in the ugly incident.

According to him, since the closure of the country’s land borders, men of NCS had been conducting themselves in a very reckless and unruly manner along the Idiroko axis.

He added that it was disturbing that “precisely, on October 7, while we were on

break, men of the NCS were alleged to have shot and killed a student including subjecting many students to various degrees of injury.”

The Senator explained that “the people of Idiroko state constituency are daily being harassed and treated with disdain by men of the Nigerian Customs Service.

“While many of the actions and excesses by the NCS operatives including the recent killings were not only breaches but were done against the state, sadly there are yet to be any report of any of the officers involved or reprimanded.”

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T H I S D AY ˾ THURSDAY NOVEMBER 7, 2019

POLITICS

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

‘APC is Relatively at Peace in Kwara State’ Hammed Shittu makes a determined effort to examine the state of the ruling party, All Progressives Congress, in Kwara State in an interview with its Chairman, Hon. Bashr Omolaja Bolarinwa

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will ultimately lead to an improvement in the poor standard of education in the state. Don’t forget that this state has not been part of the Federal Government school feeding programme because the role which the state is expected to play has not been met in the past governments. This governor has provided the right environment for the take off of the programme in the state. He knows the effects of that in the state. One of the effects of that is increment in school enrolment and also improvement in the standard of education. What do you want to teach a hungry pupil? In the health sector, recently there was health summit which the government actually organized to look into the sector. All the challenges in that sector too have been collated and they are receiving attention from the governor. The governor has been able to do so many things in a very short period of time and we are looking forward to seeing better things from him. We have only seen a tip of the iceberg.

hy do you think Kwara got more than one slot in the Federal Executive Council?

It is a very fine one. It is said that ‘you don’t change a winning team.’ That is what exactly played out. Those that the president was comfortable with, he allowed them to come on board and you will see that almost all the ministers that were nominated were made to go back to the ministries they served before.

It is because President Muhammadu Buhari wants continuity and he sees them as members of his winning team that should be taken to the next level. For those sets of new people too I think the president has tied his ropes very well and that is why he feels that those gaps created those are the best people that will fill them up. I also thank Mr. President for deeming fit to give Kwara state two ministers.

What do you think APC can do to emerge victorious in the November governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa state?

We are confident that our party will win the two states by the grace of God. There will always be differences. There will always be dissenting views because these days people don’t realize that governance should be likened to a position of the breadwinner of the family, like the father of the house. The father of the house has a lot of challenges. At the end of the month he has to pay rent, buy food, pay school fees and other things. This is drawn from his salary. This salary has been depleted to the extent that some will have to spill over. Running of government is like that too. There are so many challenges that usually face a government at any point in time. And that accounts for the reason why all the means of the people cannot be attended to at a single point in time. As a result of that there will always be some complaints from some quarters. In the case of Kogi, we have had a lot of complaints. Some coming from the opposition; some of the problems are being magnified. I think Governor Yahaya Bello who has emerged as our party’s candidate in the November 16 election, has been there in the last four years, is familiar with the terrain. I think by now he should actually know how to cross his Ts and dot his Is. He should know how to take care of the challenges he has before the election. We are very optimistic that our party will reclaim victory in Kogi state again.

Challenges differ from one party to the other.

Even the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is struggling with its own too. From reports getting to us in Bayelsa, people of the state are ready for APC. The PDP has been ruling the state since 1999. There are not too many good thing to show for their many years of governance. People of the state have made up their minds to give APC a trial. We are also looking forward to take power in Bayelsa.

Since your party, APC, came into power in Kwara state, how has it been?

We thank God. As a party we are trying to make things up. But we have a very big responsibility to actually deliver dividends of democracy to the people of the state. As a party also, we have been trying to put our house in order. Every effort is being made to see that our party is strengthened at all levels. You know that when the APC, of which I am the chairman, came on board, we brought people of different groups and camps together. We buried our differences and we were able to win the elections. Thank God for that. But as a party chairman I see that we need to do more than that because I know that after the victory some people will be pushed aside. I don’t want a situation where anybody will feel alienated. I try as much as possible to bring most party members on board so that there will be less complaints from any quarter.

One of the first things we did was to put in place caucuses at all the levels of the party.

Going by the Constitution of our party we are

How do feel about the victory of your party and Governor Abdulrasaq at the governorship election petition tribunal?

Naturally, I feel extremely happy. We know very well that those who went to court just wanted to waste the time of the court and also waste their own resources. We know that our party had done proper screening. We know that there was nothing wrong with the qualification of our candidate to contest the election. What the Electoral Act says now is that parties are to screen their candidates. If any party puts up a candidate that has ‘K-leg’ then it is the party’s cup of tea when the problem comes.

Our party has done a thorough job. What the tribunal did was to confirm the very good job that our party did.

Bolarinwa allowed to have local and state government caucuses. But that provision of the constitution may not be enough. Standing on that section which allows us to float caucuses, we tried as much as possible to come up with something that will suit our situation and that was why we expanded our local government caucus to allow some notable elders come on board.

In the constitution of the party there is nothing like senatorial advisory committee but we had to put that in place to create an avenue for leaders in each of the districts to

There was nothing on ground. The governor declared that his predecessor looted the treasury. There was virtually nothing to point at. To the extent that the roof of the office of the governor was leaking.

Both the governor and his deputy do not have good offices to operate from. They are just trying to make use of guest houses converted to offices. It is as bad as that

interact with one another. We also expanded the state caucus to include notable elders and members of the party as a way of taking care of a lot of our party members. We don’t want a situation where our members will complain of lack of information at any level. By the time we oil those caucuses, it will work well for us in any other election.

How has Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq fared in terms of performance since assumption of office?

So far so good, don’t forget that the state was in shambles by the time APC took over.

There was nothing on ground. The governor declared that his predecessor looted the treasury. There was virtually nothing to point at.

To the extent that the roof of the office of the governor was leaking. Both the governor and his deputy do not have good offices to operate from. They are just trying to make use of guest houses converted to offices. It is as bad as that. The same thing goes for infrastructure in the state. There is nothing to fall back on in terms of money left behind. Since he came in over three months ago the governor has been putting his pieces together to see that things are in shape. That is why the governor has made some notable achievements. When I say notable achievements, there were so many services the people of the state were hitherto deprived of, which they now have the opportunity of getting. For instance, for several years, the state had to contend with acute water shortage. The governor has put on board a temporary measure which allows some parts of the state capital to have supply of potable water. The same thing goes for the other two senatorial districts of Kwara South and North. Secondly, in the area of education, the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) counterpart funding expected of a state which the previous government had not thought fit to pay for so many years has now become a thing of the past. The governor released the counterpart funds which now allows UBEC to release some funds to the state. If this fund is released, it will assist the government in its educational policies. This

How have you been managing the different interests, groups and politicians that ensured APC’s victory in the state?

To a large extent, we have been able to manage that. The party is relatively at peace. Although, some new groups are trying to spring up for one reason or the other. We have made them to understand that no group should be allowed to override the structure of the party. That is my position as the state chairman of the party.

Every political group that is being formed must queue behind the structure of the party.

They must also follow the order of the party.

We must not allow ourselves to be derailed.

Do you think the APC government in Kwara has come to stay?

I want to tell you that by the grace of God APC has come to stay in the state. We are also hopeful that our government will perform so very well that in the next four years our people will not have any choice than to vote APC. We know that we must not relent at all.

That is why there is always work in progress at the party and government levels to enable us maintain and sustain the victory.

How do you think members of the party should conduct themselves?

I urge the party members to see themselves as ambassadors of government wherever they are. They should rally round the governor.

They should know that they are the eyes, ears and mouthpiece of the government. Where they see that things are going wrong they should turn the attention of the party leadership and the government to it.

Are you concerned that former Senate President Bukola Saraki could launch a comeback?

Of course, as politicians we will be fooling ourselves if we think that Saraki is not lurking in the corner. That is why we are trying to put our house in order; to see that the governor is also on his toes at all times. It is by working together that we can make great gain. We need cooperation to enable us ward off whoever may want to challenge us.

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T H I S D AY ˾ THURSDAY NOVEMBER 7, 2019

BAYELSA/KOGI DECIDE 2019

PDP Receives 500 APC Defectors in Bayelsa Emmanuel Addeh The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader in oil and gas-rich Gbarain, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Mr Keniebi Okoko, has received hundreds of All Progressives Party (APC) defectors in the kingdom.

Okoko, a former governorship aspirant under the party in the September 3 primaries in the state, while receiving the former APC loyalists in the area, promised that they would not be discriminated against in the PDP. Receiving the over 500 APC members, among whom were also leaders from various political groups, youths, elders and women, Okoko, a businessman, assured them that they had done the right thing by moving back to the PDP, noting that only the party can win election in Bayelsa.

Also among the defectors were popular ex-agitators in the Niger Delta struggle from the Gbarain kingdom and their foot soldiers.

While appreciating them for their show of understanding and

return to the party, Okoko urged the returnees to join him in the task of delivering Senator Douye Diri and Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo come November 16th.

He added that only then will the Gbarain people have a voice in the government and the goings on in the state in the coming years.

He also commended Mr Orufah Bolobolo and the entire people for reaching out to all the aggrieved persons in the kingdom, noting that it will foster unity and progress of the PDP and Gbarain people in general.

“Let me assure you that you will be treated as part and parcel of the PDP and won’t be discriminated against.

“I have always said that the grass is not greener on the other side. You have done the right thing by returning to the PDP which as far as I am concerned is the only party in Bayelsa.

“It is the only party that can deliver prosperity and development to our people. The APC has nothing to offer.

APC’s N7bn VAT Refund Claim Mischievous, Says Bayelsa Govt Emmanuel Addeh The Bayelsa State Government has described the All Progressives Congress’ (APC) claim of a N7 billion Value Added Tax (VAT) refund to the state as mischievous.

The Special Adviser to the governor on Treasury, Accounts and Revenue, Mr Timipre Seipulo made the clarification while presenting the revenue and expenditure profile of the state for the month of September, 2019.

Yekini Nabena, the APC Deputy National Spokesman had called on the Federal Government and the Ministry of Finance not release the fund till the November 16 Bayelsa State governorship election is over.

Responding to a question during the monthly statutory Transparency and Accountability briefing, Seipulo said that contrary to media reports, the yet

to be released VAT refund was in the region of N4 billion and not N7 billion, noting that the process of releasing the money was still in the works.

He said, “On the N7 billion VAT refund, actually there is a VAT refund the state is pursuing and it is not as much as that.

“Somebody mentioned N7 billion. We are not expecting N7 billion , we are believing it should not be less than N4 billion, by the time the money drops and the transfers are made.

“However, it doesn’t come around this period and that is why it is not within this report and as usual what the state does when such money comes in, definitely, will be reported accordingly in the (next) transparency briefing.

“The actual money that will drop was not shown because we make a presentation once every month to the CBN. At

the end of the day, the money transferred to us will be less charges.

“We will report what actually will came to the state on VAT when the money is received,” he said.

The Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson also remarked that the forthcoming governorship election in the state, was about the future of the state He urged all well-meaning people of the state to vote the PDP standard-bearer, Senator Douye Diri, to sustain the development agenda of the government.

He cited the Bayelsa International Airport, Agge Deep Seaport, three Senatorial roads, Health Insurance Scheme, model and boarding schools as achievements of the PDP and urged the electorate to vote wisely.

Earlier, presenting the revenue

from the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC), for the month of September, Mr. Seipulo said the total inflow stood at N14.2 billion.

He noted that the amount consisted of statutory allocation of N3.4 billion, derivation N8.87 billion, VAT N774 million, foreign exchange equalization N579 million among other components.

Mr Seipulo also announced N1.3 billion as total deductions from the federation account, comprising refund of budget support of N225.2 million and foreign loans to state, federal government recovery N37 million.

He said other deductions include, restructured commercial bank loans of N741 million, Excess Crude Account loan facility to states N126 million and refunds from overpayment of revised 13% derivation indices of N128 million.

APC’s Lyon Vows to Slash Varsity Fees, End Blackout Emmanuel Addeh The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Bayelsa State, David Lyon, has promised to end the incessant power cuts in the state and drastically reduce the fees currently paid in the state-owned Niger Delta University (NDU).

On his campaign trail to Igbogene, Agudama, Opolo, St Peters and Amarata in Yenagoa, Lyon vowed that since the money belongs to Bayelsa and not him, it will be put to use judiciously to end the current electricity nightmare being encountered by residents of Bayelsa.

He asked the people to remain focused in their decision to vote for him and the APC at the poll, stressing that he would correct ‘all the mistakes made by the PDP’ “I have already promised you that Bayelsa money is not David

Lyon’s money. Bayelsa money is for the development of Bayelsa and solving the problems of our people,” he said.

The oil and gas contractor said the APC would end the perpetual darkness, insecurity and usher in the era of industrial revolution and empowerment of women and youths.

Lyon added, “This government has joked with us for about eight years. David Lyon is a humble servant. My team and I want to serve Bayelsans and we depend on you all to vote for APC. Our government that is coming will empower women and give women appointments. We will not disappoint women.

“We will provide good empowerment programmes.

Can you imagine that they increased the school fees of our university, the NDU? But when we come on board, we will bring all the school fees down. “

Dickson Calls for Credible Poll At Last Thanksgiving Emmanuel Addeh Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, has led prominent personalities within and outside the country to observe the State annual Thanksgiving Service.

During the event, statutorily held every November, the governor, who will hand over the reins of government to a new administration in February next year, insisted that “God would not allow those who do not mean well for the state to assume the reins of governance.”

He expressed optimism that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Senator Douye Diri, would emerge victorious in the November 16 governorship election through a free, fair, peaceful and credible process.

The governor who emphasised the importance of thanksgiving, urged the clergy and the people to sustain their prayers and

support for the state.

He listed critical infrastructure such as roads, health facilities, the airport, educational facilities and public buildings including the Ecumenical centre as some of the projects that have elevated the status of Yenagoa, the state capital.

“The forthcoming election will be free, fair and credible and our candidate, Senator Douye Diri will win the election. This is the only way we can continue the developmental path taken by me.

“It’s been eight years that we started this and I thank God for using me as an instrument to serve the people of Bayelsa. It is a great honour. He used me to build this Ecumenical Centre.

“I want to thank you all, the men women and youths of this state who keyed into my policies and we pray that those who want to destroy this state do not get there” Dickson said.

HONOUR TO JAKANDE

From right Mr. Seyi Jakande, Alhaji Abdulsalami Ambali, National Coordinator, Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), first civilian governor of Lagos state, Alhaji Lateef Jakande and President OPC, Prince Osibote during a welfare and goodwill visit to Jakande at his Ilupeju-Lagos residence on Wednesday

INEC, Security Agents Set for Fair, Credible Governorship Election in Kogi Ibrahim Oyewale The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured media practitioners in Kogi State that the Commission was ready to conduct free,fair and credible election on November 16.

Making a similar commitment in public, the Kogi State Police Command pledged to provide adequate security, before, during and after the governorship election in the state.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC),Professor James Apam gave the assurance while receiving the media practitioners who staged a walk for peaceful election in the state on November 16, said that the commission is now set to conduct hitch free

governorship election,organised

by Nigeria Union of Journalists in collaboration with Search for Common Ground, an International NGO. Apam explained that INEC has since commenced preparations toward having free and credible election and all is now set for the governorship election in Kogi State.

The REC appealed to the critical stakeholders to challenge INEC by allowing peaceful conduct of the governorship election, stressing that in as much as INEC is ready to conduct peaceful election as all critical stakeholders should abide by the rules of the game and then give the commission to perform it constitutional responsibility.

As part of effort to conduct free, fair and credible election, INEC had trained journalists on fake news and held several seminars, workshops for the stakeholders including journalists.

In the same vein, the Kogi State Police Commissioner, Hakeem Busari has called on Kogi electorates not to be afraid of coming out in large number to exercise their voting rights as police is ready to provide adequate security.

Busari spoke on Tuesday while receiving participants of media peace day rally organised by the Kogi state council of Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ in collaboration with Search for Common Ground.

He explained that with the

kind of security arrangement put in place by the police, there would be no reason to entertain any fear.

He also assured politicians and their supporters of adequate security saying that everyone have been given level playing ground for campaign “We have enough personnel,at least eight policemen and other security agencies ready to collaborate with us on that day to give necessary assurance to the people”he noted.

According to him, “the inspector general of police have provided us with additional police to man the polling station so that everybody will be able to come out and exercise their franchise without any fear of molestation.”

APC Begins House-to-House Campaign in Kogi Central Ibrahim Oyewale The Secretary, Media Committee, APC Kogi State Governorship Campaign Council, Mr. Tom Ohikere has revealed the commencement of house-to-house voters education and sensitization

programme which will run from Thursday, November 7 to Sunday, November 10 in the five local government areas of Kogi Central Senatorial district.

A statement issued by Gabriel Atume in Lokoja on Wednesday stated that the

programme aims to educate and enlighten potential voters on the electoral processes and voting procedure in the November 16 governorship election.

He said, the APC recognises the role of the grassroots in the re-election quest of Governor

Yahaya Bello hence the imperative to carry them along. “The exercise will seek to enunciate the achievements of the new direction government to the people of Kogi Central and what they should expect in the next four years if by their support Bello is elected.”

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FEATURES

Group Features Editor: Chiemelie Ezeobi Email chiemelie.ezeobi@thisdaylive.com, Tel: 08038901925

Ernest Azudialu-Obiejesi: Defying the Odds Chiemelie Ezeobi reports that in defying the odds, Dr. Ernest Azudialu-Obiejesi, Group Managing Director of Nestoil, has transformed his humble beginnings from a trading business to the commanding heights of corporate Nigeria which has also established a foundation - with far more reaching impact on communities

59-hectare Nestoil Industrial Layout, Abuloma, Port Harcourt

Commissioning of NCTL Pipeline Project

The Nestoil Tower in Victoria Island is an unmistakable edifice in the heart of Victoria Island of Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital.

This amazing piece of Architectural genius has not always been the Head Office of Nestoil.

The journey began in a one room office in Idumagbo Avenue in Lagos Island. This was Nestoil’s first corporate office. Starting out as a young businessman, he had always desired to build something that will have its roots in the local environment; one with global appeal, creating exceptional value and outliving him.

Early Start From his humble beginning in Okija in

present day Anambra State, Azudialu-Obiejesi had set his eyes beyond the confines of his village on lofty targets in distant and difficult terrains. He knew quite early that the world out there is competitive and unforgiving of errors, he therefore took time to study in order to gain inspiration for the task he had envisioned.

Azudialu-Obiejesi commenced his primary education at St. Johns School, Fegge Onitsha Anambra State in 1964. However, this was truncated by the Nigerian civil war which raged from 1967 to 1970. After the war, he got into New Bethel Primary School Onitsha to complete his primary education. In 1973,

he gained admission into the elite Dennis Memorial Grammar School, Onitsha (DMGS) for his secondary education which he completed in 1978. After his secondary education, he attended Government College Owerri, Imo State for his Higher School Education.

Upon completion of this program, he worked with his father at the family trading business, DA Ifeanyi & Brothers Trading Company, where he participated in trading activities.

This was to be his first real exposure to the business environment. During his tutelage under his father, he was able to learn the rudiments of the trading business and started thinking of ways to transform, expand and

revolutionise the family business.

In 1983, with encouragement from his father, he set up what was to be the first of many business ventures – Obijackson West Africa Limited. The company engaged in direct procurement from overseas suppliers and manufacturers of household goods and consumables, engineering and carpentry tools, cosmetics and beauty products. The company’s head office was located in Lagos, and branches set up in Onitsha, Aba, Maiduguri and Cotonou. Azudialu-Obiejesi nurtured the company from inception, grew and diversified it, with extensive interest in Manufacturing, Haulage and Real Estate development.

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FEATURES (OB3) gas pipeline. The section of the project that Nestoil is working on is the swampy areas starting from Omoku in Rivers State to Umukwata in Delta State. A large portion of this section transforms from dry land to swamp during the rainy season, hindering work on the pipeline for about seven months each year. Part of the Nestoil scope is to cross the 48-inch diameter pipeline under the bed of the River Niger over a 2 km span. This has never been done anywhere in Nigeria but Dr Azudialu-Obiejesi is confident that despite setbacks the company has faced till date, Nestoil will deliver on this project sooner rather than later. The 48-inch diameter and 65-kilometre long gas pipeline is the largest gas pipeline ever built in Nigeria and is expected to boost domestic gas supply by two billion standard cubic feet per day (bscf/d) when it begins operation.

A Heart to Give As his businesses began to flourish, Dr Azudialu-Obiejesi set up the Obijackson Foundation as a platform to propagate his humanitarian endeavours. Through a wellthought out strategy of empowerment, the Obijackson Foundation became a catalyst for growth, job creation, skill acquisition, healthcare delivery, infrastructural overhaul and cultural renaissance. The evidence is overwhelming.

Roads are being tarred in Okija and beyond, Street lights are being installed and street sweepers employed to clean Okija streets; scholarships are being awarded to indigent students, widows are being supported with seed capital to set up businesses. The list of social and infrastructural intervention is endless.

There is also the Obijackson Women and Children’s Hospital in Okija which he has built and developed into the foremost Women & Pediatric health-care institution - first of its kind in eastern Nigeria. The hospital with state-of-the-art diagnostic, surgical and other equipment has delivered over 300 women with zero mortality till date. Patients who have no funds to pay for treatment are catered for by the Obijackson Foundation.

Nobody is turned away from this hospital on account of inability to pay their bills. Dr Ernest Azudialu himself says the sheer profile of the hospital and the impact in saving the lives of women and children across eastern Nigeria makes this project extremely humbling and fulfilling. This hospital directly employs about 100 locals. Hundreds more are indirect employees in the form of contractors and other service providers.

Nestoil Engineers at work on OB3

Upon leaving Okija, his comfort zone in Eastern Nigeria, he realised that the future, though pregnant with promises, requires starting out early, with diligence, out-of-the-box thinking and hard-worn genius for the promise to be liberated from the clutches of obscurity.

Humble Beginning Unknown to many, Nestoil started from a one room office on Idumagbo Avenue in Lagos Island in 1991. Dr Ernest Azudialu-Obiejesi had decided to give up the trading business and chart a new course in his entrepreneurial journey. He settled for the Oil and Gas industry.

From a staff strength of about 10 persons, he has nurtured Nestoil into a conglomerate which has created about 2,000 direct jobs.

The conglomerate renders services spanning Pipeline Constructionrepairs and maintenance, Fabrication and Pressure Vessel Manufacturing; Detailed Engineering Design and consultancy; Civil Construction Works as well as Dredging and Shoreline protection. These companies virtually cover the entire value chain of the Oil and Gas industry and they all operate from the very impressive 59-hectare Abuloma industrial layout.

At the time Dr Azudialu-Obiejesi ventured into the Oil and Gas industry, Local Content in the industry was still a figment of people’s imagination. He saw the landscape move from a tranquil one to a stormy one with locals demanding more say and involvement in the industry.

After nearly 20 years of literally weathering the storm alone in an industry dominated by foreign companies, government finally signed the Nigeria Content Bill into law and set up the Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) to enforce compliance and protect the interest of local players in the industry. The move has seen the emergence of new indigenous players in the Oil and Gas space.

Seeking Solutions to Festering Challenges Like great entrepreneurs and inventors whose paths to greatness seem impossible and were first derided for taking on arduous and risky ventures, young Azudialu-Obiejesi took the road less travelled. He walked the path of greats like Alexander Graham-Bell who invented the telephone in 1876, from a small workshop after working through the years on ways to transmit multiple telegrams and discovering that voice could travel through wire. He walked the paths of the likes of Thomas Edison, the inventor of the incandescent light-bulb who did over a thousand experiments before eventually stumbling on the formula for creating a light bulb.

In deciding that his next move was going to be Nestoil, Azudialu-Obiejesi must have raised so much dust carving a small office out of a retail shop with a mandate to capture the commanding heights of Nigeria’s Oil and Gas value-chain. Through dint of hard work and focus, he has established an indigenous Oil and Gas conglomerate that will seek to

Azudialu-Obiejesi

maximise Nigeria’s energy potential through value-additions such as B&Q Dredging, Energy Works Technology (EWT), Impac Engineering, Hammakopp amongst others.

What’s more fascinating is that he dreamed big dreams that had no semblance with his reality at the time. From his small shop in Idumagbo avenue, he built a business better known today as the face of local content in the Oil and Gas industry. All men dream dreams but few bring them to life.

Brand Builder – Creating Novelty from Obstacles Charismatic leaders usually define the life, character and personality of the brands they help nurture to success. Such brands are defined by the character and personalities of their founders or those who run them. It is virtually impossible to divorce Nestoil as a brand from its iconic founder Dr Ernest Azudialu Obiejesi. Indeed, the Nestoil brand has taken on the doggedness of its founder earning it the reputation of “King of the Swamps�.

The Shell Nembe-Cawthorne Channel Trunk Line Replacement Project (NCTL) project is a case in point. This was the largest single pipeline construction under the SPDC Joint Ventures Asset Integrity Programme that replaced more than 1000km of deteriorated major pipelines and flow lines in Nigeria.

The 97km Package A of this project was

executed by Nestoil under the leadership of Dr. Azudialu-Obiejesi. This project involved major construction in a harsh mangrove swamp terrain and traversed 3 cluster communities and hundred autonomous communities in both Bayelsa and Rivers state of Nigeria at the height of militancy in Niger Delta. Nestoil completed this project one month ahead of schedule without a single fatality. 99% of the workforce in this project were Nigerians including the Project Manager. This pipeline has the capacity to evacuate about 600,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

The Shell Kolo Creek Trunk Line (KCTL) Replacement Project is another project that validates doggedness and innovation. This project, which is a first of its kind involved a method of pipeline installation that preserves the delicate natural environment of the Niger Delta. It is well known that the Niger Delta is an incredibly well-endowed ecosystem that contains one of the highest concentrations of bio-diversity in addition to supporting abundant flora and fauna and more species of freshwater fish than any ecosystem in West Africa.

The fact that this pipeline was laid by Nigerian engineers without disrupting this unique environment is quite remarkable.

One project that may have thoroughly tested Nestoil’s resolve to deliver in spite of very harsh terrain, militancy, and frequent kidnappings is the Obiafu, Obrikom, Oben

The Power of Education Despite being introduced into the trading business at an early age, Dr Azudialu-Obiejesi found time for formal education. He believes in the power of Education as the only springboard that can actually lift humanity out of poverty.

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accountancy and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Benin. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate degree in Business Administration (DBA) from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is also an Honorary Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (FNSE). He was a finalist in the prestigious Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 and gained recognition from the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) for Industry Achievement of the Year Award 2014.

Under his leadership, Nestoil companies were nominated in 2017 and 2018 by the London Stock Exchange Group as a Company to Inspire Africa, being companies that generated vital employment opportunities, contributed to sustainable economic growth and are the bastions of best practices and good corporate governance practices.

Succession in the Radaar After nearly 30 years of founding a business, Azudialu believes it is time to hand over to the next generation. His shoes may appear too large to fill but Azudialu-Obiejesi disagrees.

He says he has seen enough talent within his pool of Nestoil employees that are driven by uncommon passion – a restless spirit seeking answers to Nigeria’s engineering and technology challenges especially in the Oil and Gas industry. Their relentless quest to deliver exceptional value continues to define the Nestoil Brand as it takes on more audacious mandates within the oil and gas industry.

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BUSINESSWORLD R A T E S

A S

MONEY MARKET OBB OVERNIGHT

A T

REPO 3% 4.07 %

CALL 1-MONTH

3.50 % 7.50 %

N O V E M B E R S & P INDEX INDEX INDEX LEVEL 1-DAY

Group Business Editor Obinna Chima Email obinna.chima@thisdaylive.com 08152447875

1 , 2 0 1 9 S&P

442.48 % 1.77 %

1/4 TO DATE YEAR TO DATE

EXCHANGE RATE 7.31 % 23.95 %

N307/1US DOLLAR* *AS AT LAST FRIDAY

Quick Takes Interswitch Holds ‘Code Week’

PROMOTING TRADE, EXHIBITION

L-R; Deputy President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Mrs. Toki Mabogunje; Head, SME Banking UBA Plc, Mr. Babatunde Ayaji; President, LCCI, Mr. Babatunde Ruwase; Vice President, Agnes Shobajo, and Member, Dr, Michael Olawale-Cole, during the UBA Interactive Special day at Lagos International Trade Fair in Lagos...recently

FG Issues NCC Ultimatum to Resolve Illegal Data Deduction Stories by Emma Okonji The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami has directed the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to resolve issues of illegal data deduction and review downwards, the price of data in the country within five days.

The minister gave the directive during the presentation of Barrister Adeleke Morofolu Adewolu, the new Board Member/Executive Commissioner by the Chairman of the Board of Commission at NCC, Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye at the Ministry’s headquarters in Abuja recently.

He pointed out that there

TELECOM were numerous complaints from Nigerians regarding illegal data deduction and high price of data adding that he had personally experienced illegal data deduction.

He charged NCC to facilitate the penetration and expansion of 3G and 4G and urged the Commission to design a target on how mobile operators can expand penetration of 3G and 4G in the country.

Pantami stated that government was aware of the challenges the mobile operators experience in their business such as vandalism and issues of Right of Way (ROW).

According to him, “the way we pursue the mobile operators to do what is right, we should also work together to protect their interest and resolve the challenges operators face�.

Pantami said: “The main agenda of NCC is to protect the interest of customers and our priority is to protect Nigerians.

It is our collective responsibility to make sure we give 100 per cent support to Mr. President to deliver his key mandate.�.

He charged the new Commissioner to use his experience and support the board to fight corruption, noting that the success of NCC and the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, remained the success of Nigeria.

The minister noted that the mandate of the Ministry has been expanded towards improving the economy of the country through ICT hence, there is a need to work together for the progress of Nigeria.

The minister commended the NCC on the success recorded in the deactivation of unregistered Sim cards, 35 per cent broadband penetration and operators’ compliance in payment of fines as well as remittance of the amount to the government.

Meanwhile, Paradigm Initiative (PIN), a social enterprise that builds ICT-enabled support systems and advocates for digital rights of under-served young Continued on page 24

Regulator Pledges to Stimulate Local Investment in Telecoms Sector The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta, has re-affirmed the Commission’s commitment to always promote any initiative capable of stimulating local and foreign investment in the Nigerian telecommunications sector.

Danbatta stated this when he played host to the executive members of the Association of Mobile Phone and Accessories Traders (AMPAT) in Kano, who visited to discuss how to harness investment opportunities in the Nigerian communications sector. AMPAT members were

TELECOM led by their Chairman, Musa Mmza, who disclosed that AMPAT currently has over five million members across the six geo-political zones in the country. He said the members had over the years, diversified their business approaches in the telecoms industry with some now venturing into investing in local production of phone accessories such as phone chargers, power banks, hand-free cables and other telecoms devices.

Mmza acknowledged the role played by the NCC in the formation of the association,

saying the guidance received from the Commission resulted in the formal establishment of AMPAT and regularisation of its membership.

He further stated that AMPAT, “has plans to initiate and set up a mobile phone manufacturing and assembly plant in Nigeria as a way of keying into the federal government’s vision of boosting local investment and stimulating local content generation and development in Nigeria.�

While commending the executive members of AMPAT, Danbatta commended their efforts and plans for growing

the communications industry in Nigeria, which, he said, is in line with the mandate of the NCC, as enshrined in the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA), 2003 and in accordance with its 8-Point Agenda, which seeks to promote Information and Communication Technology (ICT) innovation and investment opportunities in the sector. “The Commission is always in support of any investor, be it local or foreign, who wants to invest in the Nigerian telecoms market. We do give them necessary support within the Continued on page 24

Interswitch, a Pan-African integrated digital payments and commerce companyinpartnershipwithSlum2schoolAfrica,recentlyhosted‘Slumto-schoolcodeweek’inlinewiththeAfricaCodeWeek.

The four-day event which held at Adekunle Primary School, Makoko, Lagos,recently.

TheSlum-to-schoolcodeweekwasinlinewiththeInterswitch’s“Switch-AFuture�CSRobjectivethatspecializesinharnessingcareeropportunities amongstsecondarystudentsintheScience,TechnologyEngineeringand Mathematics(STEM)paths.Atotalof30studentswhoresideinMakoko drawnfromvarioussecondaryschoolsinLagos,benefittedfromtheproject.

Interswitch aims to drive the study of STEM through students across differentageandsocialcategories.Thiscommitmentisfurtherreiterated bythecompany’ssocialinvestmentinaninnovationlaboratoryattheslum toschool.Theinvestmentincludesbuildingandmanagingthelaboratory sinceitsinceptioninMay2018.

Throughoutthecodeweek,volunteersfromInterswitchcameineveryday fortwohoursafterschooltogivethechildrenhands-ontrainingoncoding.

Onthelastday,thechildrenmadegrouppresentationsofwhattheyhad learnttotheInterswitchCSRteam.

Commentingattheevent,InterswitchGroupHead,CorporateSegment Marketing, Enyioma Anaba, stated that she was impressed with the progressthestudentshadmadeinsuchashortwhile. Shesaid:“Thisjust goestoshowhowsmartthesekidsare. Inlessthanoneweek,wecansee thesechildrencoding,buildingwebsitesandwritingdifferentcomputer programmes. As a company, our CSR focus is on education, innovation andleadership;so,itisveryimpressivewhattherightenvironmentand rightmindsetcandoforstudents�.

Enyiomaalsoencouragedthechildrentodreambigandneverbeafraid toachieve.

Samsung Galaxy Fold Set for Launch

SamsungissettolaunchitsGalaxyFoldinNigeriaonNovember14.Since Samsung Globally unveiled the Galaxy Fold and created a new mobile category,there’sbeenmuchhypeabouttheextraordinarydevice.Notonly istheGalaxyFoldinfusedwithnever-seen-beforeintegrationoftablet and phone, but it also encompasses incredible innovation in material, engineeringanddisplay.

ManagingDirectoratSamsungElectronicsWestAfrica,DavidSuh,said: “Samsungpridesitselfonbeingattheforefrontofdesignandtechnology innovation and the Galaxy Fold is a testament to this. Quite simply, it’s a devicethatwillchangethewayweusesmartphones,aswellaswhatwe expectthemtodointothefuture.I’mreallylookingforwardtoseeinguser responsestothisamazingdevice.�

TherevolutionaryGalaxyFoldwilllaunchinNigeriaonthe14thofNovember 2019atwhichtimemoredetailswillbesharedaboutlocalpricing,availability andwheretopurchasethedevice.

Registration for ARM Initiative Begins

AssetandResourceManagementHoldingCompanyLimited(ARM)and TechnoVisionCommunicationsLimited(TechnoVision),haveannounced thatapplicationsfortheDAAYTA2020programmearenowopen.

The Deji Alli ARM Young Talent Award (DAAYTA) programme was inaugurated by ARM in 2015 in honor of its founding CEO Mr. Deji Alli to promote lifelong learning by aiding young Nigerian graduates and undergraduatesbringtheirideastolife.

The maiden edition of the DAAYTA programme was held in 2016 and resulted in the selection of a 1st Class graduate of Computer Science from the University of Lagos as the winner. The winning initiative was a pharmaceutical mobile app venture whose goal was to digitalize and optimize the relationship between pharmacies and patients; with the aimofalleviatingthechallengesofunavailable/inaccessiblepharmacy consultation,medicationnon-adherence,druginventory,accesstomedical recordsandotherbasichealthdeliveryconcerns.

MurtalaSaniemergedthewinnerofDAAYTA2019editionwithhissolution, WeSabi, an initiative created to help households find reliable and prescreenedartisansintheirneighbourhoodthroughawebsite,mobileapp andaUSSDplatform.Sanirecentlycompletedanacceleratorprogram attheEnterpriseDevelopmentCentre(EDC)wherehehasenhancedhis

“During the one week campaign, we had unique product launch. We had service campaign which has to do with ‘check and clean’ campaign for professional photographers and videographers as well as specific promotions which are run during the campaign�

Sales and Marketing Director, B2C Business, Canon Central and North Africa,

Mr. Amine Djouahra

T H I S D AY Ëž Íľ, 2019

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BUSINESSWORLD FG ISSUES NCC ULTIMATUM TO RESOLVE ILLEGAL DATA DEDUCTION Africans, has cautioned the Senate against passing what it described as oppressive legislations.

According to the advocacy group, a Bill titled “Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulations Bill 2019, was presented before the Senate for a first reading. CEO of PIN, Mr. Gbenga Sesan, in a statement that was made available to THISDAY, said: “As seen in the Senate Order Paper for 5th of November 2019, the Bill was sponsored by Sen. Musa, Mohammed Sani of the Niger East constituency. While we are not yet privy to the exact content of this Bill, we are aware that an Act with the same short title exists in Singapore, which seeks to prevent the electronic communication of false statements and to enable measures to be taken by the government with regard to that. “We have sufficient cause to believe that this Bill contains elements that may affect the right to free expression of internet users in Nigeria and we intend to follow up on it as it goes through the legislative process and is officially gazetted. As always, it is our mandate as an organisation to remain aware of relevant developments in digital laws and policies and to advocate for the protection of human rights in the process.�

REGULATOR PLEDGES TO STIMULATE LOCAL INVESTMENT IN TELECOMS SECTOR ambit of the NCC Act. Nigeria is a huge market of over 200 million population. So, the Commission is always ready to support any initiative aimed at serving this huge population better,� he said.

While stating that the Federal Government has been creating the enabling environment for businesses across various sector to thrive through policy around ease of doing business, reduction of entry barriers, among others, Danbatta, however, advised AMPAT executive members, “to visit the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council (NIPC), which is statutorily established to properly guide potential investors be it local or foreign on their investment plans in the country.�

NEWS

FG Launches Policy to Reduce Gender Bias in Agriculture James Emejo in Abuja The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Sabo Nanono has launched the National Gender Policy in Agriculture.

The initiative is aimed at drastically reducing the bias of women in the sector, address the unequal gender power relation as well as bridge the gender gap.

He said going forward, his ministry would advance gender equality and empowerment and promote the belief that this remains crucial for agricultural development.

Speaking at the ceremony, the minister noted that despite the important role women play in the sector, their contributions were neither adequately valued nor reflected in the national accounting systems or given prime consideration in agricultural policy processes.

But he said the new policy was being launched to reverse the unfair and unfortunate trend as the development of any country requires the participation of both men and women.

He added that apart from social justice which demands equal opportunity for all citizens, it is smart economics to plan for bothering men and women as such approach benefits society as a whole.

Nanono, said women make up about 50 per cent of the country’s population and are responsible for carrying out 70 per cent of agricultural labour, 50 per cent of animal husbandry related activities and 60 per cent food processing activities.

Nevertheless, he said

women only have access to less than 20 per cent of the available agricultural resources, describing it as a serious impediment to their efforts to maximise agricultural production.

The minister said unveiling of the policy was consistent with the global 2030 Agenda

for Sustainable Development adopted by World Leaders at the United Nations Summit in New York, in September 2015.

According to him, the agenda underscores the vital role agriculture plays in sustainable development and its importance in achieving the Sustainable Development

Goals (SDGs) of eradicating poverty (SDG-1), ending hunger, achieving food security, improved nutrition and sustainable agriculture (SDG-2) as well as ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages and enhance the empowerment of women and girls (SDG-5) among others.

MEDIA BRIEFING

L-R: President, Women in Renewable Energy Association, Mrs. Anita Okuribido; Market Research Specialist, Greenville LNG, Mr. Pradipta Mitra; Head of Sales, East and West Africa, Clarion Event, Mr. Ade Yesufu; and Marketing Manager, Jubaili Bros Engineering, Mr. George Kai, at the media presentation of the Future Energy Nigeria conference and exhibition, held in Lagos‌ recently PHOTO: ETOP UKUTT

Stakeholders Harp on Standardisation of Data Security Stories by Emma Okonji Participants at the one-day conference on data security in Nigeria, organised by Bloomfield Law Practice in collaboration with Citrix Systems, have stressed the need for standardisation of data security in the country.

This, they said would address challenges of multiplicity of data in different agencies.

Worried that the data sitting in silos do not interconnect with each other, which has made data access extremely difficult across the country, the conference called for standardisation of such data, backed by proper regulation.

Although the Market Development Manager in charge of sub-Saharan Africa for Citrix

Systems, Mr. Bradley Smith, in his presentation, explained that Citrix has developed a disruptive solution that is diagnostic, descriptive and prescriptive that could enable organisations connect to different data locations, from a single point, while still securing the different data, the participants however stressed the need for synergy among regulators, FinTech players and end-users of technology solutions, in order to achieve data connectivity and interoperability.

In one of the panel sessions at the conference, which held in Lagos recently, the Chief Information Security Officer at Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Mr. Abumere Igboa, said: “Synergy is key to data security. We need proper legislation and policy

implementation on data that will address key issues in the use and control of personal and organisational data. We have several data in silos and there must be synergy to integrate those data and make them accessible to Nigerians for the purpose of research work among others.�

The Chief Customer Enterprise Architect at Oracle Nigeria, Dr. Olufemi Oyenuga, said multiplicity of data had remained a challenge for data Standardisation in Nigeria, adding that government needs to do more on regulation to address the challenges of multiple data sitting in silos at different government agencies. “We need to standardise data, localise data and improve on our data security, through

regulation,� Oyenuga said.

He, however, explained that data security was improving in the country, but added that more needed to be done to further improve on it, through proper regulation.

While Igboa was of the view that huge gap still existed in data security, he called on government regulatory agencies like the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), including the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), to align in their policies and regulatory frameworks to enhance standardisation of data security in Nigeria.

The Head, Legal at CWG Plc, Mrs. Abisola Oshin, explained

that since technology is evolving, regulators must evolve with technology in order to be abreast with technology trends that are driving data security and standardisation.

Also, the Head, Regulatory Services at MainOne, Mr. Ifeloju Alakija, said too many regulations and regulators exist in the area of data control, yet the impact of the regulations were yet to be felt by industry players. According to him, Nigeria does not have regulation for critical national infrastructure in the telecoms sector, like the submarine cables that transmit broadband capacities, hence operators of submarine cables are faced with incessant fiber cable cut, most of which were deliberate.

Institute Backs Indigenous Auctioneers Group Business Editor

Obinna Chima

Capital Market Editor

Goddy Egene

Comms/e-Business Editor

Emma Okonji

Senior Correspondent

Raheem Akingbolu (Advertising) Correspondents

Chinedu Eze (Aviation) Eromosele Abiodun (Maritime) James Emejo (Finance) Ebere Nwoji (Insurance) Chineme Okafo (Energy) Reporters

Nume Ekeghe (Money Market) Nosa Alekhuogie (ICT)

The Certified Institute of Auctioneers of Nigeria (CIAN) has thrown its support for indigenous auctioneers.

It stated that the institute has capable and well-trained certified auctioneers who can handle the delivery of online and offline auction services in the country, in the line with the best international practice comparable to anywhere in the world.

Registrar of CIAN, Mr. Hassan Adeleke, gave the support, while speaking with journalists in Lagos on the need to support indigenous auctioneer in the country.

Speaking specifically against the plan of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commis-

sion (EFCC) to use foreign auctioneers to auction some items recovered under the fight against corruption, the institute which commended the Chairman of EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, and his team for the fight against corruption and the seizure of property illegally acquired from the proceeds of corruption, however condemned the plan to use foreign auctioneers instead of indigenous auctioneers to auction the seized assets.

When asked about the reports credited to Magu that the EFCC has decided to invite non-Nigerians to assist the agency to sell off recovered assets, the Registrar said he believes that EFCC chairman

was misquoted.

According to him, “The Certified Institute of Auctioneers of Nigeria wishes to place on record the appreciation of our institute about the effort of the Acting Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Mr. Ibrahim Magu and his team in the light against corruption and economic crimes in Nigeria. “We are however surprised about the statement credited to him in some national newspapers on 1st November 2019 and some online publications that foreign auctioneers will be engaged to auction the pieces of jewellery and luxurious houses forfeited to the federal government as a result of court

order made absolute against the former minister of petroleum resources as well as sales of other recovered assets within the purview of the commission. “We want to believe that he was misquoted because, from our professional deduction of his pronouncement, he specifically stated “local and international collaboration to transparently dispose of all recovered assets by the commission.

We don’t believe he is inviting foreign certified auctioneers to carry out an assignment which local certified auctioneers can do very well. We believe his assertion is simply that of collaboration.�

He added, “Accordingly, the Certified Institute of Auction-

eers of Nigeria has capable and well-trained certified auctioneers who can handle the auction both online and traditionally in the line with the best international practice comparable to anywhere in the world.�

Adeleke said to sell these assets particularly the houses located in different countries abroad, they believe that valuers were engaged to determine their reserve prices. “Most countries all over the world use their local professionals to carry out this type of assignment not only for economic and security reasons but for proper accounting, monitoring and sanctions when the need arises.

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PERSPECTIVE

Closing Inequality Gap through Employment, Entrepreneurship Dayo Aderugbo

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or most developed countries, the youths remain an important focus in areas such as economic development, sustainability and nation building.

When organisations and the government drive conversations and activities around social investments, these discourse are usually focused on empowering young people as they hold the power to drive growth across all levels of the economy both locally and internationally.

In a country like Nigeria, with lots of liquid resources and just about 2.11 trillion Naira in circulation as at May 2019 according to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the standard of living for the average citizen does not exactly reflect the volume of Nigeria’s asset. There is an existing gap in connecting education, employment and entrepreneurship within the youths, creating a great layer of social inequality.

Globally, more than 200 million young people are either unemployed, or they have jobs, but continue to live in poverty due to low income. This social and economic inequality is a challenge shared by many countries.

In fact, it is estimated that one per cent of the world’s population will own two thirds of its wealth. This level of inequality stifles growth and creates disharmony. It significantly affects disadvantaged young people who often can’t access the skills and opportunities needed to close this income gap.

The question for us now is how do we build a sustainable development agenda, spearheaded by young people now and in the

future. How do we invest in them and equip them to learn, earn and grow?

Achieving a more developed and sustainable society as a nation, calls for youth inclusion in closing the obvious existing inequality and prosperity gap. Heavy and consistent investment in the youth through education employment and entrepreneurship will contribute greatly to tackling this challenge.

Youths are often referred to social actors with the abilities to bring revolutionary changes and improvement in any society so there is a need to implement long term strategies to invest in future economies. Active youthful engagement in the labour market is a necessary prerequisite to generating a young people pool of resources for both government and private entities.

In Standard Chartered Bank, we believe that education, employment and entrepreneurship are three key pillars through which young people can be empowered. We do this through our Future Makers project, which seeks to tackle the issue of inequality and promote greater economic inclusion for young people in our communities. We encourage young people especially from low income households to take part in programmes focused on education, employability and entrepreneurship.

- Aderugbo is the Head of Corporate Affairs, Brand & Marketing Standard Chartered Bank for Nigeria and West Africa.

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

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ANALYSIS

Achieving Digital Transformation through Collaboration The renaming of the Federal Ministry of Communications to Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy was a welcome development, writes Emma Okonji

Pantami

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resident Muhammadu Buhari on October 23, 2019, renamed the Ministry of Communications, which supervises the information and communications technology (ICT) sector, to The Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, to further expand its mandate to capture the goals of digitalisation of the Nigerian economy in line with the Economic Growth and Recovery Plan (EGRP), one of the key issues on the agenda of the present administration.

According to a statement issued by the ministry and signed by the Deputy Director, Press and Public Relations, Mrs. Philomena Oshodin, Buhari granted the prayers of the Honourable Minister of Communications Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami to properly position and empower the ministry to fulfill his digital economy objectives.

Pantami, in the statement, explained that the former name was not only limiting in pursuing the objectives of a digital economy, but obsolete as it did not reflect the trends as emphasised by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). “ICT contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) stood at 13.85 per cent in the second quarter of 2019. The change of nomenclature will propel the ministry to reposition its strategic objectives as laid out in the priority areas of this administration while accelerating growth and social inclusion,� the statement added.

Pantami cited examples of global and African economies like Scotland, Thailand, Tunisia, Benin Republic and Burkina Faso among others who have adopted deliberate strategies and created Ministries of Digital Economy in line with global best practice, and especially the European Union which has a commissioner for Digital Economy.

In a letter containing his approval, the President noted that the request was in line with global best practice which will further reflect the priorities of his administration.

During the seventh National Assembly, the ministry was known as Ministry of Communications Technology but was changed to Ministry of Communications during the Eight National Assembly by President Buhari.

Stakeholders, who hailed the decision of the president to rename the ministry, said the new name would give the ministry a true direction in today’s digital era.

Collaboration Industry stakeholders strongly believe that collaboration among the ministry, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the key industry stakeholders, is key towards achieving digital transformation for the country, where telecommunication has contributed immensely to the growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country.

The Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo, said the ministry has the mandate to develop policies that will shape the telecoms industry, while the NCC has the mandate to implement policies of the ministry and that all

Danbatta

these must be achieved through collaboration.

He called on the ministry to come up with a defined digital inclusion programme that will help Nigeria achieve digital transformation, which has to be implemented through proper regulation by the NCC. Industry stakeholders are of the view that the minister should therefore, focus on matters of policy and leave the aspect of the regulation to the commission to handle according to its regulations, directions, determinations and the provision of the Nigerian Communications Act 2003, without any ministerial interventions capable of bringing about reversal in the growth of telecoms industry.

According to them, the 13 per cent Information and Communications Technology (ICT) contribution to the GDP recorded in the second quarter of 2019 was largely driven by the telecoms regulator and its licensees before the minister came on board.

Stakeholders are therefore looking forward to mutual collaboration among the ministry, the NCC and industry players to avoid a situation that could lead to the reversal of the sustained growth that the telecoms/ICT sector has recorded in the past.

Towards digital transformation NCC had in the past, done the ground work towards achieving digital transformation, having consistently attended international programmes organised by the International Telecoms Union (ITU), an arm of the United Nations that oversees global telecoms growth. Through its yearly participation, the NCC was able to sell the country’s broadband plan to international investors, who are beginning to see the huge investment opportunities in Nigeria, especially in taking broadband capacities to the rural parts of the country where Nigerians are in high need of broadband access for broadband connectivity.

The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof.

Umar Garba Danbatta, had said despite the challenges faced in the Nigerian telecoms sector, Its contribution to the Nigerian GDP has surpassed $70 billion.

Danbatta, said telecoms investment to GDP was $70 billion as at 2017, but explained that the figure had since been surpassed, following the steady growth in telecoms contribution, adding that telecoms contribution to Nigeria’s GDP rose to 10.5 per cent in 2018, up from the initial 9.1 per cent in 2016.

Since the appointment of Danbatta as the Executive Vice Chairman and CEO of NCC, he has continued in that trend of ensuring that Nigeria attains ubiquitous broadband access for her citizens.

While Danbatta gave priority to broadband access in its 8 Point Agenda, he was able, through team work, to achieve and surpassed the 30 per cent broadband penetration target by December 2018, as enshrined in the country’s five-year National Broadband Plan (NBP) from 2013-2018, all geared towards achieving digital transformation for the country.

Today the country can boast of 33 per cent broadband penetration level, up from its initial

6 per cent penetration in 2010. The industry is, however, projecting the achievement of 70 per cent broadband penetration by 2024, which the NCC is already working towards. NCC had over the years, encouraging base stations deployment and fiber deployment in order to achieve digital transformation for the country.

Licensing of InfraCos In order to drive broadband infrastructure development across the country, geared toward achieving digital transformation, NCC had, in 2015, licensed IHS and MainOne to lay metropolitan optic fibre for the North East and Lagos region, respectively under the Open Access Model.

According to the NCC, the Open Access Model for fibre-optic network deployment is best suited to bridge the digital divide, facilitate the development of local content, and deliver fast and reliable broadband services to households and businesses.

The infrastructure companies were expected to help address the challenges of fibre deployment in towns and cities, and promote infrastructure sharing.

Although IHS was unable to rollout within the stipulated time and had since returned the licence, NCC said it was making efforts to licence another InfraCo as replacement of IHS. In 2018, NCC, licensed two new infrastructure companies to fill critical infrastructure gaps and enable broadband services in two geopolitical zones in the country.

The InfraCos were Zinox Technologies, which was licensed to deploy metropolitan fibre-optic infrastructure in the south eastern part of the country, while Brinks Integrated Solutions Limited won the bid for another region.

Spectrum auction From the launch of 4G LTE networks to the licensing of 2.3GHz and 2.6GHz spectrum among others, NCC, no doubt, has laid the foundation for digital transformation in Nigeria.

The 2.6GHz spectrum frequency, while enhancing speedy deployment of broadband services across the country, is also expected to create opportunity for the deployment of advanced wireless 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology services, as well as standardisation and harmonisation of telecoms operations.

According to the commission, the licensing of 2.6 GHz Spectrum was necessitated by the need to open up the space for the delivery of present and future generations of broadband services to subscribers in consonance with the Nigerian National Broadband Plan. The 2.6 GHz band, which spans from 2.5 GHz band to 2.7 GHz band, is generally considered to cover the frequency range between 2500-2690 MHz, although there are some minor national variations among countries in the use of the frequency band. The frequency band was designated for mobile terrestrial services and other applications of the frequencies in this band include satellite services – fixed, mobile, and broadcast – as well as terrestrial video broadcasting.

After a wide consultation with the relevant

industry stakeholders to determine the demand and the best way to issue the Spectrum, NCC said it decided to license the available 2 X 70 MHz slot in slots of 5 MHz to be aggregated by applicants through the Spectrum auction process. The auction process commenced with the publication of the resumption of the 2.6GHZ frequency spectrum auction notice on February 25, 2016, which was followed by a period for the submission of questions to the commission, relating directly to the licensing process defined in the information memorandum, and the period elapses by April 16. By April 29, the application closed, to give room for the auction committee to scrutinise the applications and inform those that will qualify for the bidding exercise.

Addressing multiple taxation In a bid to address the challenges of multiple taxation that is almost crippling the sector, the NCC had in the past, constituted Telecoms Industry National Working Group, comprising of industry stakeholders, federal, state and local government agencies, to address the issue of multiple taxation.

Although the efforts have started yielding results with states like Lagos, rescinding on its earlier stand on taxes that have stalled Right of Way (RoW) approval to roll out telecoms infrastructure, but most states are still hell-bent at introducing multiple taxes, a situation that has compelled the NCC to consider seeking an executive order, to address the issues of multiple taxes.

Governments across the country have continually imposed various taxes on telecoms operations, a development that is giving telecoms operators serious concern.

In an attempt to enforce payment of the taxes, government agencies across states, seal up telecoms sites and disrupt telecoms operations in and around the state.

The Kogi State Internal Revenue Service, for instance, last year and this year, shutdown several Base Transceiver Stations (BTS), commonly known as Base Stations belonging to telecoms operators in the state for alleged refusal to pay imposed levies.

A recent report from africapractice, a strategic communications firm on Tax and Enabling Business Environment in Telecoms, shows that telecommunications industry is crippled by a multiple taxation challenges. According to the report, telecommunications firms in Nigeria pay over 40 different taxes and levies, imposed by various different state and local governments. This directly impacts the industry’s ability to innovate; to improve mobile and data network quality, to reduce prices, to drive mobile penetration, and to deploy infrastructure around the remotest parts of the country. This also directly impacts the ability of telecoms operators to support nascent businesses and industries, further stunting economic growth.

In the light of these developments and in a bid to sustain the growth of telecoms in Nigeria, industry stakeholders have called for collaboration among the ministry, the NCC and the telecoms stakeholders in order to achieve the desired digital transformation.

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Experts Highlight BeneďŹ ts of Data Localisation, Cloud Adoption in Nigeria Stories by Emma Okonji Some leading IT professionals in the country recently gathered in Abuja to discuss the country’s need to take charge of the data it generates, and drive the adoption of cloud technologies by government, security agencies and indigenous businesses. The event was hosted by Layer3, an IT services provider, in conjunction with VMware, a firm in cloud computing and virtualisation.

The theme of the event was: “The Benefits of Data Sovereignty and Harnessing the Power of Cloud.�

Speaking at the event, the CEO of Layer3, Oyaje Idoko, explained that countries across the world were increasingly holding data generated by their citizens in data centres located within their borders.

According to him, organisations in Nigeria’s public and private sectors could benefit from making a similar move. “The whole notion about where your data resides is

something we need to take very seriously,� he said.

He however added: “There’s been a lot of talk about data being the new oil. If we say that data is the new oil, why would we want someone else to be in custody of our ‘oil’?�

Idoko noted that the country was disadvantaged in many respects because of its failure to locate vital IT infrastructure locally. He expressed the belief that the local economy could make significant gains by leveraging home-grown IT facilities instead of relying on foreign cloud service providers. “We see the impact of this in the amount of foreign exchange leaving the country as payment for these services. But we have the infrastructure to provide these services locally.

We think it’s important to take charge of what is our own. “We are a local company and we understand the complexities of the technology, cost, operations, support, experience and so on involved in deciding on a cloud strategy.

IXPN Upgrades Switches to Offer 25GE, 40GE Ports As part of efforts to improve performance, service and scalability that are critical to today’s evolving Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry, the Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN), has acquired Switches capable of 25GE and 40GE ports for its entire network in Lagos.

The Chief Executive Officer of IXPN, Mr. Muhammed Rudman, who disclosed this in a statement in Lagos, said the upgrade of the switches would help the company address the current and anticipated needs of its members. “The essence of upgrading our core switches is to keep up with global trends and to ensure that the expectations of our members are met, this would allow us to offer 25Gbps and 40Gbps (Gigabits per second) ports to our existing and potential members. Prior to this time, we could only provide a maximun capacity of 10Gbps. With the acquisition of the current switches, IXPN is providing an opportunity to our members to scale and to get access to the latest features.� Rudman said.

He added that the upgrade would provide more switching platforms for the Exchange customers that need high capacity, and also, boost the scalabilty of the exchange by accommodating more volume of traffic.

The Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria has recorded an increase in membership, with the connection of seven new members, making a total membership of 66 getting direct access to multiple internet networks with a single connection, he revealed These new members, according to the company are Bitflux, Brainshare Technologies, Cynox-IT, Microsoft, SoftAl-

liance, WACREN and WIOCC: This necessitated the addition of a 4th Point of Presence to its list of Lagos POPs, which is at Interconnect ClearingHouse Nigeria Limited’s Data Centre at NECOM House, locates in Lagos. Thus, members interested in connecting to the exchange point within Lagos Island can now establish their connection at the ICNL data centre.

Meanwhile, IXPN is on the verge of launching what can be described as a standard training facility, where its members and the general public will constantly receive capacity building/training in tandem with the fast-growing Information and Communications Technology industry.

The facility, located at the IXPN’s corporate office in Lagos is set for launch this month and will be used for training IXPN’s members on topical issues affecting their services, with facilitators regularly drawn from local and international organisations.

Speaking on what informed the decision to setup the the training facility, the Chief Executive Officer of IXPN, Rudman noted that the capacity building facility is borne out of the fact that, the ICT ecosystem is evolving rapidly and it is has become imperative to have an avenue for increasing the knowledge base of members and generally players in the industry. “As a regional IXP with 66 members presently connected to the exchange point, we felt it was high time we upgraded our facilities to include capacity building for our members, so as to tackle the current dearth of technical skills in the ecosystem and to also keep our members abreast on the latest trends in internet technologies.� he said.

We are available to help our clients through the decision making process so they can get more out of their CAPEX spend. What is more, we offer the flexibility to our clients to manage their workloads across multiple infrastructure with ease,� Idoko added.

The CEO, Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN), Muhammad Rudman, said

savings could be made by Nigeria if it utilised local data centres. He linked the high cost of internet service provisioning and user experience in Nigeria to the limited number of such supporting infrastructure within the country. “We pay so much for internet because the cloud that supports it is not within

Nigeria, but in some other country. The farther away we are from the cloud, the more it costs to access the services it supports. We can avoid these costs by hosting data locally,� Rudman said.

Head Cloud Solutions at Layer3, Niyi Osibeluwo, said the company was tackling the issues raised at the event. “Our infrastructure was

designed using best-in-class technology from Vmware� he explained. “Our cloud services allow organisations to manage their virtual estates at the touch of a button. Configuration, real-time changes, capacity and pooling of resources can all be done on-demand via our secure self-management portal,� he added.

BUILDING BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP

L-R: Vertical Industry Solutions Architect, EBG Huawei Technologies (Nig) Ltd., Mr. Olayemi Joseph; Managing Director, Brandone Technologies Limited, Mr. Samuel Anyawu; Managing Director, Streamline Acquisition Limited, Mr. Chinedu Nwajagu; Managing Director, Coscharis Technologies Limited, Mr. Mukoro Emomine, and Deputy Group Managing Director, Coscharis Group, Dr. Okey Nwuke, at the Huawei/Coscharis Partner event in Lagos...recently

Stanbic IBTC Launches Virtual Wallet to Enhance Financial Inclusion Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, a member of Standard Bank Group, has launched the Stanbic IBTC virtual wallet called @ease wallet, in line with its commitment to deepen financial inclusion and drive its digitisation agenda.

The product is set to provide a unique range of financial services to the informally served, the underbanked and the unbanked on various structured platforms with

the last 10 digits of a phone number.

Stanbic IBTC @ease wallet affords customers the opportunity to access banking services such as interbank transfers, debit card issuance and card less withdrawals from Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) or the Agent Network, amongst others. This reinforces Stanbic IBTC Bank’s drive to support the federal government to deepen financial inclusion

and thereby drive economic growth.

Executive Director, Personal and Business Banking at Stanbic IBTC Bank, Wole Adeniyi, said: “The Stanbic IBTC @ease wallet is a financial freedom vehicle for all Nigerians to access seamless financial services. This service is available to every Nigerian that can legally own a bank account. Following the product launch, there will be a series of Market and Campus

Activations starting from - The Lagos International Trade Fair, where we will introduce an array of products to visitors and exhibitors at the fair.� “We recognise the daily complexities of living in a fastpaced digital society. Stanbic IBTC @ease Wallet covers a unique range of mobile financial transactions, it is intuitive and designed around the needs of the average Nigerian,� Adeniyi added.

‘Collaboration, Innovation key to Improving Internet Access’ Issues around access to quality internet service and affordability, especially to those living in rural and underserved areas, formed the major point of discussion at the two-day annual conference of The Nigerian Network Operators Group (ngNOG) which held in Lagos recently with the theme: ‘’The Internet: For Everyone?’’.

Stakeholders at the event called for more collaborations in the area of infrastructure sharing, colocation and alternative power supply, coupled with a friendlier business setting, all to ensure high quality and affordable internet services that will investors recoup their investments.

Speaking at the conference, the Managing Director, Bandwidth Consortium, Mr. Dewole Ajao, made key references to the headways being made in the quest to ensure Internet

for everyone is being realised, despite looming challenges around the economy. “There are quite a number of issues hindering internet penetration. One primarily is that we don’t have enough appreciation of what the internet can do hence, very little encouragement for ICT adoption in relevant areas. Although we are yet to have a silver bullet that champions the ultimate solution, the very first step we’re taking to disrupt the norm is having the key stakeholders talking to themselves. That’s what we’ve been achieving with ngNOG. And just like we’ve seen across the years, the 2019 edition has opened up engagements and a lot of interactive sessions where the audience gets to ask tough questions and the stakeholders on the hot seat can utilise that feedback.The next steps are

for us to move the output of these conversations up to the policymakers, lawmakers and regulators for their inputs.

And we’re seeing that happen because representatives from the state governments present are hearing the pain points straight from the horse’s mouth,� Ajao said.

The Director-General/ CEO, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mr. Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, said the Federal Government of Nigeria recognised the immense socio-economic importance of broadband services to national development and therefore seeks to ensure that the infrastructure necessary to provide ubiquitous broadband services is available and accessible to all citizens.

The DG, who was represented by the Head of South West Zonal Office, Mrs.

Chioma Okee-Aguguo, said the Internet, as the world’s biggest library and the largest repository of information and knowledge, requires high-speed access to fully harness the benefits of the internet.

In his keynote address, the Chief Executive Officer of Internet Exchange Point of Nigeria (IXPN), Mr. Muhammad Rudman, listed challenges faced by service providers including multiple taxations caused by uncoordinated activities among regulatory agencies, excessive Right of Way charges, among others.

He said internet services in Nigeria would improve greatly if the service providers collaborate more by setting concrete targets and providing annual performance reviews to show the government the impact of implemented policies.

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THURSDAY NOVEMBER 7, 2019 •T H I S D AY

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Tozun: Government Should Implement Renewable Energy Policy to Reduce Custom Duties Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of d. light Solar Limited, Ned Tozun, shares his views about the Nigerian market, especially at it concerns the acceptability of solar system and how fake products can be checkmated. Raheem Akingbolu brings the excerpts:

A

s a stakeholder in Nigeria’s marketing space and with your experience over the years in trying to push your products, how can issues related to fake products be controlled?

From any angle one chooses to look at it, fake products, adulteration or whatever name we call it, kill businesses and the economy. Now to the question on how it can be checkmated.

First, stakeholders in the market must cooperate with government to condemn the ugly situation in its entirety. Secondly, institutions must be respected by all the parties and regulation must be strengthened by the government and agencies concerned.

Narrow it down to your segment of the market, what advice can you offer the government on checkmating fake solar products?

Government is doing a great job but we still need tighter regulations because fake solar products still come in through the borders.

Another advice to the government is to implement a renewable energy policy especially for solar technology that will reduce or remove entirely, custom duties placed on solar energy products. Paying as much as 20 per cent negatively affects everyone in the industry and makes solar products quite expensive. Finally, for them to empower the organisations and agencies that are supposed to certify these products are good.

Having said that, Nigeria is an interesting market you will agree with me, probably because of our challenges when it comes to power. Fake products are many in the market and they don’t last long but you can always tell the difference when you see the good ones and this applies to all products.

A fake product may enjoy good packaging but with time, a sophisticated consumer will know the truth.

In the segment where we operate, there are millions of fake products. What distinguishes d.light from every other solar brand is that our products are quality-verified from Lighting Global. Lighting Global is an institution that certifies the quality of any solar product in the world.

Secondly, we are bold enough to offer our customers two years’ warranty, if you buy our

Solar portables need sunlight to charge but some people can’t charge the portable devices outside for fear of it being stolen or like this period of rainfall, how can one charge it?

For d.light Solar products you don’t need intense sunlight to charge. Our products are manufactured to capture the smallest ray of light from the sun. This is possible because the company controls the entire production chain from design, manufacturing, and sales.

So you don’t really need direct sunlight to charge the product especially our portable lamps, and that is one of the unique features of d.light Solar.

Who is qualiďŹ ed to engage in the solar business, because it looks like an all-commerce business? d.light Solar products are designed in the USA by professionals who are intellectually and technically sound. The business or commercial aspect of solar energy development also requires skilled manpower to operate.

I am proud to say that at d.light Solar, our multi-cultural team of experts from our founders and design team in America to our highly skilled Nigerian team and our teams across the world, we have cracked the code in accelerated solar energy development in Nigeria and 64 other countries where we sell our products.

Tozun

product and anything happens to it within two-years, please return it because that is how confident we are about our product’s quality.

If our products are not of high quality, we would not offer a 2-year warranty.

Thirdly, we have offices strategically located all over Nigeria. We also have our sales representatives and Experience Centers across the country where you can take the product to if anything happens.

When your product is great there is a tendency for it to be imitated, have you encountered such in Nigeria?

There are so many people who have tried to create fake versions of our products by copying the look and feel but we have somethings embedded that they cannot copy and in addition we work with the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), to identify these

fake products and they locate the perpetrators.

How do you get the products across to the rural people who need electricity but are not easy to get across to?

We have a robust route-to-market strategy and we utilize sales offices strategically located across the country even in rural areas of Nigeria.

We also have a dedicated sales team that focuses more on the rural areas, they are familiar with the people, their language, and they sell to the community effortlessly.

Secondly, we have created indirect employment to thousands of people and partnered with Small and Medium Enterprises such as Electrical Shops across the country to increase the accessibility of our affordable solar products to Nigerians. So anywhere you go you will find our products.

How Nigerian is d.light Solar Nigeria? d.light Solar Nigeria is a Nigerian company being managed by Nigerians at all levels.

From our Managers to our Solar Energy Promoters on the streets, we are grateful to our global leadership for reposing so much trust in our ability to deliver affordable, reliable and high-quality solar products to Nigerians without any compromises.

We have been seeing the marketing and sales activations by your company, aside from these, what other tools are you using to communicate the brand?

We deploy Below The Line (BTL) and Above The Line (ATL) strategies in communicating our products and their benefits. We also engage in roadshows, trade activations and word-of-mouth approaches to communicate the benefits of our solar products.

‘LAIF 2019 Will Re-write African Story’ Raheem Akingbolu With the theme ‘Tori Tori’ of Laif, the 2019 edition of Lagos Ideas Festival, will do more than rewarding creativity, its organisers have assured stakeholders in the advertising industry.

Addressing journalists in Lagos, members on the board of the annual award platform admitted that Nigeria and the rest of Africa have not had it so good when it comes to media and visual representation. To this end, they called on stakeholders in the advertising industry to support the organizers of the creative award to change the narrative and speak to the world about Africa and Africans.

According to the Chairman of the LAIF Management Board, organisers of LAIF Awards, Steve Babaeko, this year’s theme was deliberate to deepen the conversation about African stories and the need to focus on Nigerian and African culture. “This Year’s edition of the Lagos Advertising and Ideas Festival (LAIF) Awards, the 13th in the series, is about to do something different: celebrating Nigerian culture. It would revolve around “Tori Tori for Life�, a story about life. The theme is about telling our stories. Over the years, you see that we are looking for just a little material, some kind of background literature on a person

or an institution, in Nigeria, and, until you go to the BBC, you can’t get some of these materials, which is a little bit embarrassing.�

Aside the emphasis on telling our own stories, the dress code, music and atmosphere for this year’s outing will have a Nigerian and African flavour. Besides, the organisers are looking forward to seeing more participation from younger agencies, who are believed to be the lifeblood of the industry. “We expect smaller agencies to give the bigger agencies a run for their money. They should throw their hats in the ring and fight. To get a LAIF Award on your shelf for the work you have done for a client is the only calling card you have as an agency as a testimonial to say we are still relevant in the scheme of things today,� he said, adding, “We are expecting a keen contest that is usually associated with LAIF Awards.

Everybody wants to know who the top five or ten agencies are.�

The jury list for the 2019 LAIF Awards include Ayode Olowu, Ekenena Ezeaga, Gbemi Sagay, Toni Kan Onwordi, Irene Donati, Yaa Boateng, Daye Chukwuji and Sunny Mohammed. They come from all over the world: Europe, Africa and Nigeria. It is mixture of veterans and young advertising practitioners in Nigeria. “I think this should be an exciting year where we can really see

the best crop of judges,� he said, The LAIF Award is about the biggest advertising award in West Africa, and one of the biggest in Africa. Lending her voice its uniqueness, the Vice Chairperson of the group, Temitope Jeremigbe, echoed that the theme of the awards this year was a little bit different, for the organisers were committed to making it the biggest brand.

Similarly, Jenkins Alumona, PRO, Advertising Agencies of Nigeria, said this year’s award was striving to bring our culture to the fore.

This year’s edition will feature seminars, too, aimed at encouraging young, talented creatives.

The vision of the award is not restricted to celebrating Nigerian creatives but regional, but getting entries from the west coast has been challenging for the organisers, yet it can’t stop trying to get everybody on board. “West Africa is the final destination for the awards, which is why we will continue to reach out to our brothers from West Africa to join the fold so that we can have one big award,� said the chairman.

One of the new categories for 2019 will probably be the award of Advertiser of the Year whereby one brand that has supported and invested in seeing more robust adverts created for it. “We think that will help stimulate other

clients to support not just advertising but creative advertising. This award is all about creativity and the efficacy of communication, so we are trying to push it strongly this year to reward beacons of the industry to be emulated by others,� said Babaeko.

Shedding more light on the theme of this year’s awards, he said, “Clearly, storytelling is becoming a global phenomenon, and sometimes we get trapped when we follow the trend of what’s happening globally. You can jump in at the deep end when you start to behave the way they do abroad. You can say, ‘Look, I understand this trend, but we are going to look at it from the perspective of our home front.’ “That’s why we decided to tell our own story using our own cultural nuances and metaphors to tell a compelling story that the audience will be able to relate to.� Entries are limited from works done in 2018 up to July 2019 According to him, changing the African narrative will not only reflect on the content but on dress code at the award scheduled next month. “Even in the dress code, it will be Nigerian. If we don’t celebrate our own, who will do it for? In terms of content, we expect higher content which the award is associated with, this is our own premier league�, he said.

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BUSINESSWORLD

ANALYSIS

Alaghodaro 2019: Building Sustainable Future for Edo Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State will mark his third-year anniversary on November 12, 2019. In recognition of his reforms and achievements, the burgeoning private sector in the state is rallying for the third edition of the Alaghodaro Summit to interrogate the progress made and set the state on the path of prosperity for the future, writes Sunday Okobi

New classroom

I

n the annals of development, only few can boast of engendering drastic change in the life of their people in a short time, reversing decade-old prejudices and obstacles that impinge on the people’s dignity and collective prosperity.

Gradually, through what could be described as a systematic, frugal allocation of scarce resources, Edo State is joining the league of sub-national entities that are rewriting their story through pragmatic policy reforms, programmes and initiatives.

The Alaghodaro Summit series are annual events held to showcase these gradual, steady steps, unveiling the numerous reforms and initiatives that have created opportunities for prosperity – driven by Edo people and the state’s burgeoning investors – and opened up the space to interrogate and challenge conventions that impede progress, with a view to correcting them.

On mounting the saddle as Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, espoused plans for resetting the state’s economic base as well as restoring the dignity of Edo people, anchored on six thematic pillars for development, which touch on all indices of human development.

This year’s edition is the third in the series organised by the state in partnership with the private sector.

It is being held to mark the governor’s third year anniversary in office. It showcases reforms, policies and programmes implemented by the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led administration in the state, which are opening up space for private investment, inclusive economic growth and improvement of the people’s livelihood.

Themed ‘Delivering to Our People: The Next Level,’ the 2019 edition of the summit focuses on showcases the overreaching impact of the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led administrations reforms on all sectors of the state, furthering the governor’s vision of building a total society in Edo. Edo’s changing healthcare landscape Governor Obaseki on October 31 launched the Edo State Social Health Insurance/Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) as well as revamped Primary Healthcare Centers under the Edo- Primary Health Improvement Programme.

The state had made an initial contribution of N100m to access the BHCPF, opening up opportunities to energise its health insurance programme. All of this tie up to an organic plan to retool the primary healthcare system to be able to meet the needs of ordinary Edo people.

Speaking at the launch of the scheme, Governor Obaseki said the focus of his administration was to improve the lives of the people through good education and provision of basic healthcare services accessible to all Edo people and residents.

He noted his administration set out to provide accessible and affordable healthcare services to residents of the state, adding that his administration is focused on human capacity development by providing good education and quality healthcare services.

Obaseki “Our emphasis and the bulk of money accrue to the state is dedicated to improve the lives of the people of Edo State through quality health and education. We are spending more than 50 per cent of our recurrent expenditure on healthcare and education. “Edo Health Improvement Programme (Edo-HIP) will enable us deal with health challenges in the state. This means total revamp of our entire health system from basic to secondary and specialist care.

Edo-HIP is comprehensive,� he added.

The governor noted that the focus of his administration is to establish 230 PHCs across Edo State as the centers to serve as referral centers, noting, “You will not be attended to in General Hospitals without referral from your PHCs.�

On training and support for health officials, Obaseki said, “We have put in Information Communication Technology (ICT) to help capture information and pass it to a central database. The information gathered will be used for referrals. All over the world, healthcare services are not cheap but affordable, which is achieved by pulling resources together. “We have established a Health Insurance Agency in Edo State backed by law for every citizen, as its now compulsory for every Edo citizen to have health insurance. You will be given a card that will enable you access healthcare in the state provided you are enrolled. For the civil servant and local government workers in Edo State, they will be compulsorily enrolled into the scheme from 1st January 2020. Finance will not hold citizens back from getting healthcare.�

The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, said that the BHCPF would commit N573m to enable Edo people to benefit from essential services after the details are worked out and the healthcare system begins to function, adding, “the fund is disbursed to states equitably and on per capital basis using a poverty index determined by the World Bank. “This will guarantee that the BHCPF will reach the deserving population and reduce inequality in access to health services, particularly by the vulnerable. Public Health Emergencies and other emergency medical services shall also be addressed through the fund.�

Ehanire said “the President Muhammadu Buhariled administration is committed to its mandate of improving the health and productivity of Nigerians in its commitment to human capital development, consistent with national goals in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP). His desire is to lift 100 million Nigeria out of poverty in the next 10 years.�

Edo-BEST: revamping basic education for results On education, the state government has revamped the basic education sector by training and equipping 11,300 teachers with tech-based tools and skills to deliver technology-driven education to not less than 300,000 pupils across 918 schools in the state.

Governor Obaseki was awarded the Best Per-

forming Governor in 2019 for the impact of the Edo-BEST programme as well as his prioritisation of teachers’ welfare in the state, which has led to improved outcome in primary schools across the state.

The programme is designed to develop a highlyskilled teaching workforce by training, supporting and motivating them to succeed in the classroom.

Governor Godwin Obaseki, said the programme will, “develop a highly-skilled teaching workforce by training, supporting and motivating Edo State teachers to succeed in the classroom of tomorrow, empowering our children to compete effectively in the world of work. The programme will leapfrog the basic education delivery systems by leveraging technology to gather and utilise accurate and timely data to drive policy and planning decisions.�

Checks showed that in public schools across the state where teachers now teach with tablets and other digital teaching aids, parents and guardians are hurriedly registering their children to benefit from the new teaching methods.

It was learnt that the parents are pulling their children from private schools to the public schools, which have been revamped under the Edo-BEST programme.

Enagbare, a parent who withdrew three of his children from a private school to be registered at Oba Akenzua Primary School in Oredo Local Government, said he was impressed with the transformation of the schools in the state.

Job Creation: EdoJobs multifaceted jobs drive Committed to ensuring that the state is reset from its status as a civil service state to one that is driven by productivity on the back of its teeming, education youth population, the state government established the Edo State Skills Development Agency (EdoJobs), to actualize the governor’s promise of creating 200,000 jobs in his first term in office.

Not less than 150,000 jobs have already been created, including training programmes in technical and vocational skills, technology innovation and business acceleration, among others.

The Edo Production Centre, a novel initiative to drive is being built-in partnership with the Market Development for the Niger Delta (MADE) II programme, Benson Idahosa University (BIU) and the Des Moines Area Community College in Iowa, the United States of America. It would be a multipurpose, one-stop-shop for small businesses. share support infrastructure such as 24 hours electricity, security and low-cost financing to help boost economic growth in the state.

Another major contributor to the state’s burgeoning tech scene, which now incubates young innovators is the Edo Innovation Hub. The Hub, which also houses the South South Innovation Hub, is a cluster for innovators and inventors in Benin City, and is priming youth to evolve and strengthen the technology ecosystem in the state.

Head, EdoJobs, Mrs. Ukinebo Dare, said the state government has done a lot in energizing

the economy by engaging youths and providing opportunities for the to garner skills or to improve their chances for employability.

According to her, “We have struck a number of partnerships with businesses within the state and beyond, aimed at upskilling our youths. A number of them have gotten employed while many others are self-employed. Our strategy is wholistic and takes the issue of job creation from different fronts, ensuring that youths are best served with the right opportunities to explore their potentials.�

One of the innovative projects to drive industrialisation by the Obaseki-led administration is the Edo Production hub. The facility provides Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and artisans with 24-hour electricity, business support, market development and industry linkage opportunities.

It currently serves as a mini-replica of the big businesses and diverse industries expected at the Benin Enterprise and Industrial Park. The facility allows small businesses to share support infrastructure like security and low-cost financing to help boost economic growth in the state.

2019 Alaghodaro The Local Organising Committee for the 2019 Alaghodaro Summit recently released the programme of activities to mark the third-year anniversary of the Alaghodaro Summit, adding that the business summit will evaluate the administration’s achievements and propose ways to deepen their impact on Edo people and residents.

Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr. Crusoe Osagie, said the five-day event would commence with the women’s summit/Jumat service on Friday, 8th November, 2019.

According to him, the women summit will be followed by a golf tournament on Saturday, November 9, while a special thanksgiving service will take place on Sunday, 10 November, 2019. Also, the 2019 Alaghodaro will feature a Job Summit on Monday 11 and while the Edo Summit holds on Tuesday 12, 2019, with the theme, “Delivering to the People, The Next Level�. “The Women’s summit will present an opportunity for women groups to engage with relevant stakeholders and brainstorm on the government’s programmes as well as explore ways to contribute to efforts to drive inclusive social growth for women to improve their socio-economic conditions. “The fair will also feature experts, businessmen, captains of industry and employers of labour and showcase the governor’s commitment to promoting social inclusion through intervention programmes on industrialization, jobs creation, affordable housing, reforms in basic education and primary health care. “Over 150,000 jobs have been created directly and indirectly through EdoJobs, in addition to the several trainings that are ongoing to improve skills.

The governor has achieved so much in the education sector with the EdoBEST (Basic Education Sector Transformation).�

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 7, 2019 • T H I S D AY

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IMAGES

L-R; President of Igbo Youth Movement (IYM), Mr. Elliot Uko; Representatives of the leadership of Oodua Peoples Congress, Alhaji Abdulsalam Ambali and Prince Sylvester Eweka at the 20th anniversary of Igbo Youth Movement in Enugu...recently

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Photo Editor ĂŒĂ“Ă™ĂŽĂ&#x;Ă˜ ÔËÖË Email Ă‹ĂŒĂ“Ă™ĂŽĂ&#x;Ă˜Ë›Ă‹Ă”Ă‹Ă–Ă‹ĚśĂžĂ’Ă“Ă?ĂŽĂ‹ĂŁĂ–Ă“Ă Ă?Ë›Ă?Ù×

Cross section of members of SustainUS, a youth organization ďŹ ghting for climate action, with the “Fossil Free Bankâ€? posters at the IMF building during the 2019 Annual lMF/World Bank Meetings in Washington DC, USA...recently abiodun ajala

L-R: Baale of Surulere, Chief Kareem Jinadu Awoyemi; Chairman, Surulere Local Government, Mr. Tajudeen Ajide; acting Executive Secretary, Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF), Mrs. Teju Abisoye; and Member, Board of Trustees, LSETF, Comrade Popoola Ajayi, during the LSETF W-Initiative Grassroot Stakeholder’s Engagement in Surulere Local Government, Surulere, Lagos... recently

L-R: Principal Research Economist, African Development Bank (AFDB), Dr. Andinet Woldemicheal; Representative of University of Abuja, Prof. Sarah Anyawu; Director, Special Duties and Projects, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Dr. Martina Nwodu; Senior Director, Nigeria Country Department (AFDB), Mr. Ebrima Faal; Country Director, ILO, Nigeria, Mr. Dennis Zulu and President, Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria, Mr. Mansur Ahmed, during the presentation of the report on creating decent jobs, in Abuja.. recently

L-R; Trade and Regulatory Manager Guinness Nigeria Plc, Gbolahan Afolayan; Managing Director, Bluebird Communications, Kayode Ebatamehi; Deputy Director NAFDAC Food Inspection, Dodoyi West; President Distillers and Blenders Association of Nigeria, Chief Patrick Anegbe; Assistant Director Federal Ministry of Health, Karimu Oluwatoyin ; Head of Marketing Intercontinental Distillers Limited, Mobolaji Alalade; Executive Secretary DIBAN, John Ichue and Principal ScientiďŹ c OďŹƒcer Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, Kemi Oladipo at a stakeholders meeting to discuss the campaign against irresponsible drinking and underage drinking in Lagos.. recently SUNDAY ADIGUN

L-R: Deputy Director (NGO) FCT- Secondary Education Board, Mr Gama Yakubu; 1st runner up, 2019 Annual Trustfund Pensions Limited Essay competition, Ezechukwu Victoria; 3rd Runner up, Osoria Rejoice; Head Business Development and Marketing, Trustfund Pensions Limited, Mrs. Eno Adetayo Olugbemi; Winner, Nwanwa Chinenye Joann of the Gifted School and 2nd Runner up, Adewale Dorcas at the prize giving ceremony of the 2019 Annual Trustfund Pensions Limited Essay competition for Senior Secondary School Students in the FCT in commemoration of the World Savings Day in Abuja... recently.

L-R; Tony Okwugo, Andy Akporugo, Ochuko Udu, Efe Inside, Peter Omoruaye, Mudiaga Enajemo (Mudi) and Chief Akpodiete. at the reunion party to celebrate 40 years of Government College Ughelli Class of ‘79 in the school premises, Ughelli, Delta State...recently

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L-R: General Manager, Global Sales Team 2, Hyosung TNS Inc, Ik Hyun Oh; Executive Director, Inlaks, Olufemi Muraino; Managing Director/CEO, Africa Operations, Inlaks, Femi Adeoti; Deputy Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Folashodun Shonubi; and Head, Payment System Department, Bank of Ghana, Clarence Blay, at the maiden edition of the Inlaks Digital Summit in Lagos...recently

L-R: Chief Operating OďŹƒcer, Startimes, Mr. Tunde Aina; Chief Executive OďŹƒcer Startimes, Mr. David Zhang; Chairman House Committee on Information and National Orientation, Mr. Olusegun Odebunmi; and Commercial Counsellor, Embassy of People Republic of China; Mr. Li Yuan, during the completion ceremony of access to satellite Tv for 10,000 African Villages in Abuja..recently KINGSLEY ADEBOYE

L-R; Deputy President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce &lndustryMrs Toki Mabogunje; and MD, National Engineering &Technical Company, Mrs Catherine lheme(Representative of GMD, NNPC) during the NNPC special day at the 2019 Lagos lnternational Trade Fair in Lagos...recently Abiodun Ajala

L-R: President, Fashion Designer Association on Nigeria, Mrs. Funmi Ajila-Ladipo; Moderator, Samuel Oluyemi; Deputy President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce, Toki Mabogunje; Managing Director, MD Perspective, Morenike Dele-Alimi; and Panelist, Pascal Ihenacho, at the 2019 Lagos State Trade Fair symposium in Onikan, Lagos... recently ETOP UKUTT

L-R: Chief Financial OďŹƒcer, STL Trustees, Oko U. Mba; Head, Business Development, STL Trustees, Sade Ademokunwa; MD/CEO, STL Trustees, Funmi Ekundayo receiving the “Trustees Of The Yearâ€? award from, GMD, FBN Holdings, Uk Eke and Head, Trust Services/Legal, STL Trustees, Akin Oni at the 7th Business-

l-R; Honourable Minster of Information And Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed; FCT Minister Malam Muhammad Musa Bello and Fct Minister of State, Dr Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu during the Visit of the Information Minister to the Minister of Federal Capital in Abuja..Recently

Head of Marketing Maxng, Adam Anyika; CEO/Co-Founder, Adetayo Bamiduro; Content and Community Development, Fola Illawole and Marketing Manager, Rotimi Ogunwede, at the ongoing 2019 Lagos International Trade Fair at Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos...recently

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Nnoli-Edozien: Empowering Local Rice Farmers the Way to Go

The Group Chief Sustainability and Governance Officer, Dangote Group, Mrs. Ndidi NnoliEdozien, in this interview, speaks about efforts by the company to boost rice production in the country. Oluchi Chibuzor and Hamid Ayodeji bring the excerpts:

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proximately one million metric ton of parboiled rice upon completion and I would say that production level should have been reached within the next 18 months and that is just the beginning.

hat do you think can be done to scale up rice production and supply of agricultural products in Nigeria?

We need to deploy correctly imports that are required to enhance yields because yields in Nigeria are currently lower than most of the averages across the world; not only because it generates more income for the farmers, but also because it encourages more youths to go into farming and agricultural production as well enhancing food self-sufficiency. It will also reduce the amount of money we spend on importing food from other countries which takes you back to the issue of having more wealth and being able to create more prosperity locally.

Also, if we are more conscious of adequate agricultural practices, then we enhance the quality of food that we produce, and once we enhance the quality of the food that we produce, we enhance the health of the citizens; and once we enhance the health of our citizens that drops the cost of healthcare. Thus, food is at the centre of everything and it must begin with ensuring that we are enhancing agricultural production with the use of good agricultural practices.

One of the issues that is believed to be slowing down the development and productivity of the agricultural sector is the minimum usage of technology in methods of production as majority of the farmers still make use manual equipment during production and harvesting. What do you think can be done to assist these farmers towards more efďŹ cient modern methods so as to boost their production capacity?

I can use the case of Dangote rice as an example. Dangote rice has improved varieties of rice seeds. Unlike the average farmer’s hectarage of 0.5 to one hectare. So, we have a lot of smallholder farmers and their average yield is one and a half to two metric tons per hectare which was our baseline when we first started. What we were able to do was secure seeds. In controlled conditions, those seeds yielded up to eleven metric tons per hectare and we were able to distribute those seeds to farmers which have led to a lot of our farmers producing approximately six to seven metric tons per hectare which means their yields have tripled as well as tripling their income level for the same amount of labor. In addition, because we were able to provide access to input and market, we created a more secure supply of input, more secure access to market as well as a more guaranteed cashflow for a smallholder farmer so that they can depend on the fact that their crop would actually yield the kinds of returns that they hope it to. Also, there are other introductions that are very valuable to farmers such as insurance, just in case things go wrong, also learning when to apply the efficient type of fertilizer, or perhaps, if you are producing on the right soil with no fertilizer and if your soil has the required nutrients to grow your crop, and also when to weed. We have also initiated a number of programmes with youths that we have tried to pilot with the view to understanding better, what it takes for young people to engage in the sector. One of the things we have explored with partners, but not yet implemented is the idea of having clusters of smallholder farmers and making it cost effective to mechanise. Once you have a cluster of smallholder farmers and they are able to jointly hire equipment to harvest, not only do you reduce post-harvest losses because when you thresh rice by hand you have a lot of yield, thus the rice milling yields reduces significantly much better than when you use thresher and it is more cost effective for the farmers as well.

What is Dangote doing to meet the demand for rice in Nigeria and within what timeline?

First of all, our market is always large and you would always want to have different actors

Nnoli-Edozien

meeting market demand as there is a significant demand for rice in Nigeria. I think that the argument has always been can we create an enabling environment that encourages investors to invest in local production, local processing, local marketing of rice and what happens from a business perspective? If you choose to meet 15 percent of market share first with the plan to expand your market share from 15

to 25 per cent, 25 to 40 per cent, and then 40 to 55 per cent, that should surely be enough; while allowing other players to operate in the market. I think it is a projection which happens over time. So, you cannot put your finger to say exactly how long it will take to meet market demand.

However, we have invested in rice milling factories that would be able to produce ap-

Considering the current situation whereby price keeps getting higher and the access to locally-made rice is not up to market demand, what do you think should be done?

Ten years ago Ofada rice was not popular but today in every ceremony you attend or organise it is the absolute delicacy. So, we need to invest in ourselves and we have to start somewhere and we cannot solve and do everything overnight. So, it is a journey towards development. Making investments in rice mills that are local is an investment as it takes time to get the plants built, it takes time to build the civil works, it takes time to procure the land, and it takes time to actually begin to grow enough paddy rice for you to be able to mill that paddy rice locally to create that parboiled rice that is put out into the market.

So, there is a timeline for making investments and producing as well as ensuring that you are meeting market demand. Definitely, the demand is here and prices are not going to drop until we have enough local production and that is exactly the commitment Dangote has made, not just to produce parboiled rice locally, but to also produce tomatoes, tomato pastes, and also backward integration of sugar so that we integrate and produce more sugar cane locally which would be used to generate the sugar we put on the shelves of super markets.

For us as an enterprise, it is about ensuring that we are using our land resources more cost effectively, more sustainably, more responsibly, creating more jobs ensuring that we have more local content and ensuring that more of the food that ends up on our table is actually produced in Nigeria.

Group Commits $1m for New Aquatic Food Research Stories by Oluchi Chibuzor Responding to the global call to action for sustainable transformation of food systems amid the growing climate crisis, WorldFish has pledged one million dollars to expand scientific understanding of the role of aquatic foods for planetary health and human wellbeing.

The commitment would support the development of a new multiyear global research program on fish and future aquatic foods. The establishment of a fish for Africa Innovation Hub would help accelerate national and regional efforts to meet the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 through cutting-edge market and policy innovations

informed by scientific evidence on affordable, safe and sustainably fish and aquatic foods.

The pledge was made during the 6th annual “Our Ocean Conference� hosted by the government of Norway recently in Oslo.

The new initiative includes national foresight studies for India and Nigeria – countries with large fisheries sectors that are expected to grow significantly in the coming years.

According to the statement, WorldFish would utilise this new research program on fish and aquatic foods to build a coalition of public and private partners to help accelerate the transition to sustainable aquatic food systems and enhanced ocean governance.

Speaking on the development, the Director-general, WorldFish, Dr Gareth Johnstone, said that there is a great promise in fish and aquatic foods to feed billions, nourish nations, and help make the much-needed transition to healthier diets and more sustainable food systems.

According to him, “We must make fish and aquatic foods matter to as many policy makers, investors and entrepreneurs as possible and place them at the heart of the food and nutrition security agenda and the wider efforts to meet the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. “Our commitment will ensure good food policies and smart investments for a healthy and

sustainable future are informed by solid scientific evidence on the critical value of fish and aquatic foods to the health of people and our planet,� he said.

This latest pledge by WorldFish, was in addition to the 2017 commitment of $57.8 million to generate scientific research and innovations in support of the sustainable development of smallscale fisheries in the framework of the CGIAR Research Program on Fish Agri-food Systems. which WorldFish leads in partnerships with International Water Management Institute, the James Cook University, the University of Greenwich and the Wageningen University & Research.

The move which is new vol-

Lagos Seeks Support for Hygiene in Meat Markets The Lagos State government has solicited the support and cooperation of market women and men in the state in ensuring the cleanliness of its various meat markets.

The State Commissioner for Agriculture, Gbolahan Lawal, made the call in Lagos recently when he met with the leaders of the market in the state.

He said the call became imperative in furtherance of the push for a conducive and hygienic environment in the red meat value chain.

He urged them to enforce the use of a uniformed hygienic butchers’

table as well as meat crates or boxes to convey beef cuts or chunks to the markets, stressing that the current use of wood butchers’ table and the mode of conveying chunks from the abattoir to the markets was unacceptable hence the reforms in the red meat value chain.

Lawal, who pointed out that a survey undertaken by the Ministry revealed the deplorable state of the meat markets in the state, added that he advocated the need for the market women and men to work closely with the state government in adopting a system that is 21st

century compliance in the red meat value chain.

He explained that the meeting was part of the series of engagements with stakeholders whose support and cooperation was crucial towards the effective implementation of the reforms adding that a similar engagement had been done with the Butcher Association in the State.

The Commissioner noted that the objectives of the reforms included the need to improve the red meat value chain so that it meets international standards; to ensure

that wholesome and hygienically processed beef is available to the populace and the modernisation of all meat outlets to international standard. “Lagos wants to redefine the red meat value chain by standardising its slaughtering, processing and marketing in order to ensure that wholesome beef is not only available but that the beefs are traceable as well. “Moving forward, we have grouped the implementation strategies to be used into immediate, intermediate and long term.�

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DEVELOPMENT

Institutional Mechanisms for Sustainable Peace in Nigeria Edward Kallon

N

igeria faces three broad typologies of conflicts. Communal conflicts that have resulted from the politicization of ethnic and religious identities and those that are fueled by settler-indigene tensions can be characterized as identitybased conflicts. Then there are conflicts fueled by competition for resources such as land for both farming and grazing purposes and the control of natural resources such as oil wealth as in the Niger Delta region which can be described as resource-based conflicts. The third set are conflicts and violence driven by political dynamics such as elections and the struggle for power at both national and local levels belong to the category of power-based conflicts.

These conflicts have degenerated into a wave of insecurity around the country.

According to the Police, 1,071 persons were killed in violence and crime related incidents across the country in the first quarter of 2019 alone, with banditry and communal violence claiming most lives.

According to the Civil Society Situation Room, an estimated 626 persons were killed across Nigeria in the six months between the start of the election campaign and the commencement of the general and supplementary elections from October 2018 to March 2019, a significant increase in the trend, compared to the 106 killed in the 2015 general elections.

Nigeria has a significant “youth bulge�, with an estimated 83 percent of the population below the age of 40 years while 62 percent are below the age of 25 years. The official youth unemployment rate is around 36.5 % but as we look at combined UNand underemployment rates, this number increases to around 45% for those 24-35 and around 65% for those 15-24.

While these youth have an unmatched economic potential to help Nigeria grow, their exclusion is increasingly becoming a destabilizing factor, fueling violence, and criminality.

We know that there can be no peace without development and no development without peace. Without peace, the country cannot achieve Agenda 2030 and the sustainable development goals. This is why we need to redouble efforts towards achieving peace in the country. The federal government and its development partners have come up with some commendable initiatives.

The Lake Chad Basin Governors’ Forum, an initiative the UN conceptualised and nurtured has continued to show signs of progress towards stabilisation of the region.

During the second Forum Meeting in Niamey from 17th to 18th July 2019, donors committed around $60 million USD to the establishment of a stabilization facility that will channel support for the implementation of the Regional Strategy for Stabilisation, Recovery and Resilience in the Lake Chad Basin.

There are growing prospects of longterm solutions to the Lake Chad crisis, a veritable climate change induced crisis, as Nigeria’s President Buhari has continued his advocacy for the refilling of the Lake Chad possibly through a trans-basin water transfer.

The United Nations has committed to partner with Nigeria in this regard in mobilising the required $50 billion to restore hope to the 40 million people across Nigeria, Chad, Niger, and Cameroon that depend on the Lake for the livelihoods.

With UN support, the Government of Nigeria has produced a National Peace Policy, which outlines how peace can be built in a preventive manner through early warning and response structures; mechanisms and structures for peaceful conflict resolution; and the creation of a dedicated Peace Fund. The National Assembly passed a “Bill for An Act providing for the Establishment of the National Commission for Peace, Reconciliation and Mediation� on 19th July 2018, although the process did not

sail through. Similar initiatives already exist in some States, including Kaduna Peace Commission and Plateau Peace Agency.

The UN is ready to support the efforts of the government of Nigeria to create a National Peace Commission in line with the National Economic Council (NEC) Security Summit of 17th August 2017, directing the establishment of a National Peace Commission by the federal government of Nigeria and Peace Agencies by state governments.

It is also the wish of the UN that a National Peace Commission, and commensurate State Peace Architectures that promote justice, inclusivity, national and social cohesion can be established. The UN can bring on board technical support and a wealth of global best practices.

These developments are steps in the right direction, capable of paving the way for

sustainable peace in Nigeria as expressed in SDG 16 on “Peace, Justice and strong governance Institutions�. To ensure that the top-bottom policy measures are matched by bottom-up initiatives, there is need for similar peace platforms to be established at local government levels (LGAs), with traditional and religious leaders, women and youth groups playing a pivotal role.

This will further enhance community and grassroots ownership, making use of traditional mechanisms and values that have so far held societies together.

There is compelling need to further enhance national cohesion by working towards bridging the gap between the ‘North’ and the ‘South’ in Nigeria, and to promote a feeling of belonging by undertaking targeted initiatives to address grievances in parts of the country. Governance and

electoral democracy reforms are also critical to build confidence in the overall governance and electoral processes and state institutions.

I believe that Nigeria’s endowments and diversity are great assets to Africa and the world. Despite the challenges, this country remains resilient. The opportunity provided by the SDGs which we see as pillars for sustainable peace, if well harnessed, can transform and reposition Nigeria. Creating requisite institutional and well-funded peace structures is key. Investing in peace is a collective responsibility and constitutes a critical factor for the country to Achieve Agenda 2030, leaving no one behind.

-Kallon, is the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria

CSR-IN-ACTION

L-R: General Manager, Western Assets, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, Mr. Chima Njoku; Commissioner for Education, Edo State, Jimoh Ijegbai; Commissioner for Oil and Gas Delta State, Emmanuel Amgbaduba; General Manager, External Aairs and Communications, SEPLAT, Dr. Chioma Nwachuku; with students of Don Bosco Science Academy, Ekpoma, the overall winning school at the closing ceremony of 2019 SEPLAT PEARLs Quiz programme held‌ recently

‘Infrastructural Devt Key to Nigeria’s Transformation’ Stories by Ugo Aliogo Nigeria’s economy can be transformed into a modern and globally competitive one if only it can let go of subsidies and channel the money into infrastructure development and investment.

This was the view of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) during the launched of its documentary titled: ‘In The National Interest’ and coffee table photo book in Lagos, recently.

Speaking at the ceremony, Member of the NESG Board, Udeme Ufot, noted that a lot of policies supported by the economic summit group have

been implemented, even though it is not at the desired pace.

He said that there was a need for Nigeria to let go of subsidies and channel the money into infrastructure and investment while adding that the NESG would continue to dialogue and ensure the growth of the Nigerian economy.

In his remarks the Chief Executive Officer, Laoye Jaiyeola, said Nigeria’s population doubles every 30 years, stressing the need to double investment in infrastructure, social and human capital development, to meet up with population growth.

He said Nigeria needs to invest in her people and the economy

to fast-track development while adding that NESG believes in a free market economy and that it was important for the transformation of the Nigerian economy into a modern and globally competitive one. “The government will say that revenues are not enough and that it is not a debt problem but the truth is that if a country’s revenue is good enough and expenditure is effective, then debt will not rise.

But if the revenue is not enough and you are just spending and spending, then there is bound to be problems. “Looking at our budget which is up to N10 trillion, our revenue

will just be about N8 trillion, so there is a gap and so the quality of expenditure needs to be seen as this might reduce the deficit and we will not have the need to borrow,� Jaiyeola explained.

The newly launched documentary film focused not only details the past, present and future circumstances for Nigeria, but also took a critical look at the economic activities through the different timelines from the lens of the NESG; a private sector think tank, founded to bridge the gap between the private and public sector in order to mitigate the struggles of everyday Nigerians and to enable widespread prosperity.

Firm Introduces New Agricultural Solution Big Dutchman Agriculture Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of Big Dutchman International, has developed an innovative agricultural management system for egg production in Nigeria.

According to a statement made to THISDAY by the Cooperate Communication Officer, Eniola Oluwatusin, the innovation system which is known as EasyStep56 layer cage, aims to support many African farmers and small scale entrepreneurs in the development of the

egg production industry.

The statement also noted that the EasyStep56 layer cage is a management system for layer chicken. It explained that the system is available in two handy packages with a total weight of 55 kilograms, adding that this makes the cages easy to carry and aids comfortable transportation.

The Managing Director, Big Dutchman, Thomas Ogundiran, explained: “The EasyStep56

layer cage will encourage small/ medium scale entrepreneur to start egg production on a small scale.

They can begin from one unit and gradually increase to more units as their capacity increases. The set-up of this cage is very easy and everyone can do it.�

Oluwatusin further stated that only three tools are required to set up the cage, “they are pliers, an open-ended spanner and a hexagon spanner. All parts of the cage are

pre-drilled and pre-cut upon supply.�

The National Sales Manager, Big Dutchman, Adebolu Fatunmise, explained that the major benefits of the system in comparison with traditional barn egg production systems are the 56 capacity layer cage, 20 percent egg increase, low mortality rate, durability, efficiency, accurate feed and water supply, none feed wastage, manure removal, soil fertilization, simple assembly and efficient production.

T H I S D AY ˾ THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2019

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HEALTH & LIFESTYLE

Group Features Editor: Chiemelie Ezeobi Email chiemelie.ezeobi@thisdaylive.com, Tel: 08038901925

Tackling Fibroid, Endometriosis through Laparoscopy While many Nigerian women continue to nurse the pain of infertility due to fibroids, endometriosis or ovarian cysts, experts believe they have a high chance of overcoming the challenge with the use of laparoscopy, a technology which involves minimally invasive procedures. Martins Ifjeh writes

W

hen Adaugochi E, a banker, got married in 2015, she did not envisage she and her husband were going to experience fertility challenges. It was the least on her mind. Prior to her wedding, she had undergone abortion once for him since they were not ready at the time to take the relationship to the next level.

So, in her mind, she had no fertility issues.

Few years into marriage, it dawned on Adaugochi that something was wrong. And then the young couple started to move from pillar to post. Diagnosis proved all was well except for the huge bouts of fibroid she was battling with. By December 2018, Adaugochi had done three surgeries to remove the growth from her uterus; the more she tried, the more the mass returned, thereby preventing her from getting pregnant and having a child of her own. It was the scariest thing she has seen.

Raising her cloth to show her belly, it appeared Adaugochi had done several caesarian sessions. But no. They were the surgeries done to remove the episodes of fibroid she kept experiencing. And none of these surgeries has successfully resulted in pregnancy.

10 months after the last operation, her belly has started to protrude again as though she was expecting a baby. But she knows, yet again, another mass of fibroid was finding footings where her unborn babies should bud.

Linda has been living with fibroid since she was 18. At 25, the protrusion in her abdomen could pass for a woman with seven months pregnancy. In 2017, she had an MRI, and was told she had at least 17 fibroids. Linda desperately wants to have children, but with her fibroid ranging from four centimetres to 12 centimetres, doctors say she would first require treatment.

“We first tried a uterine fibroid embolization, but that only shrunk them 50 per cent. A year later, I had a myomectomy removing nine of 17 fibroids. I was going through all of this, to proceed with Invitro Fertilisation (IVF), but after one failed cycle we are back at square one because the fibroids have grown back again and the doctor says I need to have another myomectomy,” she said.

Adaugochi and Linda are just two among the millions of Nigerian women currently experiencing issues associated with fibroid.

While some, despite the challenge have been able to have children, others find it difficult to break the chain.

Experts described fibroid as benign tumor that grows in or on the uterus, or womb which may either impact infertility or pregnancy chances.

They said about 20 to 80 per cent of women develop these noncancerous growth by age 50, and 30 per cent of women between ages 25 and 44 have symptoms of fibroids; thereby making uterine fibroids common during a woman’s childbearing years.

Managing Fibroids using Laparoscopy But despite the huge challenge caused by fibroid and its associated fertility issues, the Managing Director, Nordica Fertility Centre, Dr. Abayomi Ajayi believes it can be effectively managed using endoscopy (laparoscopy); a technology described as a minimally invasive procedure which allows a key hole incision for a laparoscope to successfully address issues in the organ or tissue of focus. He also said the technology has a role to play in addressing endometriosis, ovarian cyst and other forms of infertility.

According to him, fibroids were better tackled laparoscopically than with open surgery if they are not too large, adding that the procedure was much cheaper and safer than open surgeries because it is associated with shorter hospital stay, as well as occurs with minimal blood loss.

He said when a woman has a protruding

Ajayi

abdomen but not pregnant, she could be suspected to have uterine fibroids. “These fibroids are found in one out of five women of reproductive age, but are more common among black women. The exact cause is unclear, but it may be a combination of genetic, hormonal, and environmental factors. It is true that not all women with fibroids have symptoms but there are chances that if one has symptoms, she will often find the fibroids hard to live with.

“A laparoscopy is used to diagnose and treat women with fertility problems. What this amount to is that a laparoscopy of the reproductive organs (a gynaecological laparoscopy) is quite often necessary. In the past, this technique was not so readily available, but these days, the feasibility of laparoscopic surgery particularly in Nigeria is more common. This is fast gaining ground in Nigeria just like the rest of the world.

It is cheaper, less complex and presumed safer than open access surgery and, hence, brightens

Fibroids are better tackled laparoscopically than with open surgery if they are not too large.

The procedure is much cheaper and safer than open surgeries because it is associated with shorter hospital stay, as well as occurs with minimal blood loss

the future of gynaecologic surgery.

“Laparoscopy is now utilised to carry out virtually every medical procedure that can be done through open surgery in gynaecology, ranging from surgeries involving the uterus, fibroids, early stages of ovarian cancer, and difficulty in getting pregnant from blocked fallopian tubes.”

He said infertile couples trying to resolve their issues often stand to benefit from the procedure, adding that, for instance, in selected couples with infertility from blocked fallopian tubes, surgery can be done laparoscopically in other for them to attain pregnancy.

The fertility expert, whose organisation is one of the few centres across Nigeria currently performing endoscopy, said if wombs have to be removed for any reason, they can be done laparoscopically.

He said: “Clinically, this procedure is almost infinitely useful in gynaecology practice particularly because the trauma of opening somebody up with a wide incision and the challenge of recovery afterwards is completely removed.

“The opening is minimal just like a “keyhole” and it allows the body to recover much faster unlike opening up the womb through the normal traditional method, in which you would have been on admission for a number of days, but in laparoscopy, you can return home within 24 hours.”

Ajayi, who said the most common cause of female infertility in Nigeria is tubal blockage as a result of infections, also noted that the advantage of laparoscopy was that when used for diagnosis, it can also be used to treat, adding that the limitations were often the expertise and experience of the surgeons.

According to him, during a gynaecological laparoscopy, a small incision will be made in the abdomen (small is good for risk reduction and recovery), and then a tube with light and camera attached (laparoscope) is guided into the pelvic area.

“Secondary incisions may also be made

nearby, allowing small surgical tools and gas to be pumped in, creating a better view of the reproductive organs. The aim is to seek out cysts, fibroids, endometriosis, ectopic pregnancies, pelvic inflammatory disease, adhesions, infections and other issues that may be affecting fertility. It lasts up to 60-90 minutes, depending on what’s done. Depending on the procedure patient may go home after a few hours in the recovery room.”

How Laparoscopy can Address Endometriosis He said many couples with unexplained infertility can benefit from laparoscopy to check for abnormalities in the woman, with conditions such as endometriosis picked up through the technology.

While noting that endometriosis cannot be cured, he said it can be managed through non-invasive procedures before surgery. “If you are trying to get pregnant, the treatment option is usually either surgery or IVF as medication used for endometriosis usually stops ovulation and therefore prevents pregnancy. So, laparoscopy is usually the surgery of choice to treat endometriosis. It involves removing the endometrial growths while protecting the ovaries and uterus.”

He said if unfortunately, endometriosis surgery didn’t result in pregnancy, the female can as well freeze her eggs or try other options of Assisted Reproduction Techniques (ART).

“The bottom line is that getting pregnant after laparoscopy is improved. In early-stage endometriosis, it is useful to help diagnose and treat women with infertility problems.

A laparoscopy can therefore be operative, not just diagnostic.

“Meaning that if something is found wrong, it can be dealt with there and then. Some tubal repairs may be unnecessary in the face of IVF technology. But if you have had one or two failed IVF cycles, you will want to do everything you can to get to the root of the problem,” the fertility expert added.

T H I S D AY ˾ THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2019

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NEWS

EKEDC, Arrive Alive Flags Off Free Prevention Healthcare Services Oluchi Chibuzor The Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) has partnered Arrive Alive Diagnostic and Imaging Services Limited to flag off free healthcare services to the people of Ojuelegba environs in Surulere.

The General Manager, Corporate Communications, EKEDC, Idemuchia Godwin, who stated this during a press briefing for Arrive Alive Initiative held in Lagos, said the company would do everything possible to give back to the community as part of its mandate to alleviate the plight of the people.

He said the company is always attracted to initiatives that are targeted at empowering people across board that would help increase the level of medical check- ups awareness of their customers.

According to him, “some persons have not done medical test over 30 years of their life, so we see this as an opportunity to help the helpless, as it is not all about collecting electricity bills, we need to take care of our health because health is wealth.

“If you cannot have the money to go to regular hospitals, why not partner them so that whatever they need for this period would be part of efforts to relieve the burden on them.”

On his part, a Pathologist consultant, Dr S.O Keshinro, said the initiative was borne out of compassion the group felt for some persons who could not access medical care due to dearth of cash.

The pathologist stressed that Nigerians are suffering and dying on daily basis because they cannot afford to pay medical bills.

The diagnostic centre held its free healthcare on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20, October in its office at 35 Cole street, Oguelegba, Surulere, aimed at making people Stay Alive.

“Stay Alive is a community -oriented free health programme focused on prevention care and screening for common ailments within our environment.

“We are focused on conditions like; the hypertension, diabetes, eye conditions, worm infestation, nutritional deficiencies, common cancers of the cervix, breast and prostrate, malaria among others.”

Nigerian Doctors Meet, Seek Ways to Reverse Brain Drain Syndrome Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja The leadership of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) has expressed its resolve to deal with the problem of brain drain afflicting the country’s medical profession and to translate it to brain gain.

The body has flagged off its second National Health Summit in Abuja where it has articulated measures that would reverse the low points in our healthcare delivery system.

Addressing a press conference to herald the commencement of the

four-day health summit, the President of NMA, Dr. Francis Adedayo Faduyile said among the issues to be taken up were improving the Nigerian health indices, inter-professional relationship in the health sector, brain drain and brain gain. Others are to seek ways to enhance the universal health coverage and to reverse medical tourism. He said that this year ’s summit will be pushing a new narrative to focus attention on a patient-centred care.

“We are looking at how we can reverse this probably bad situation to

profit Nigerians. That is when we begin to make it a brain gain.”

He explained that the main thrust of the drive was to get those Nigerians who have travelled out to acquire special skills to come back and transfer these knowledge and skills to their compatriots at home.

Apart from playing host to doctors from the commonwealth countries, the second NMA Health Summit is expected to have delegates from 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) attending.

Regarding the suspension

placed on the ministry of health preventing it from carrying out direct procurement, the NMA urged government to lift it to enable the ministry p e r f o r m t h e n u m e ro u s t a s k s b e f o re i t .

“NMA is not happy with the situation of things, we believe that if the ministry has done s o m e t h i n g w ro n g t h e y n e e d t o b e c o r re c t e d .

Persistently asking the ministry of agriculture to oversee the procurement in the ministry is not something that makes work go efficiently and e ff e c t i v e l y, ” h e s a i d .

FG Rehabilitates 4,000 PHCs with Support from States, Partners Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja The Executive Secretary of the National Primary Health Care Developmental Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaib has said that not less than 4,000 Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) in Nigeria have so far been renovated by the federal government.

He said the renovation of PHCs which were among the 10,000 such facilities earmarked for rehabilitation, was carried out with support from states and developmental partners.

Shuaib made this known recently in Abuja at the first-year anniversary of the Technical Support Programme (TSP) of the agency aimed at providing technical assistance for states’ primary healthcare boards and agencies upon request. According to him, federal government was also conducting human resource and material upgrade in the affected hospitals in order to restore them for efficient use.

“We are very mindful that we are working in a tight fiscal space, so what it means is that we are not expecting that overnight all 10,000 PHC centers will be available.

“So far, since President Muhammadu Buhari launched the revitalisation of 10,000 PHC centres across the country in Kuchigoro in 2017, working with states, donor and development partners, about 4,000 PHC centres have been renovated,” he said.

Shuaib further explained that for the first time in the history of Nigeria, under the leadership of President Buhari, there was a fund set aside to the tune of N55.5 billion in

2019 budget towards providing basic healthcare services for all Nigerians.

He said the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) was drawn from the one per cent of the federal government Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) set aside under the National Health Act (2014) as well as contributions from donor grants set aside to fund the basic health needs.

Shuaibu however acknowledged that there was still gap that needed to be filled, like electricity, water, commodities, and drugs.

“Maybe what we all need to agree is that within the first two to three years, at least 50 per cent of Nigerians should be able to access any PHC center and get essential services; in another five years, 70 per cent; then maybe in another seven to 10 years, by the time we are measuring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2030, all Nigerians should have access to PHC services that can actually treat their conditions that will not lead to catastrophic financial hardship as a result of paying out of pocket.”

While explaining the format used for disbursing the basic healthcare fund, the NPHCDA boss said his agency got 45 per cent, the NHIS got 50 per cent while the remaining five per cent went to the Federal Ministry of health and the NCDC. The Minister of Health, Mr. Osagie Ehanire, in his keynote address lauded the TSP initiative by the NPHCDA as being a very effective tool ensuring that every citizen has access to optimum quality healthcare irrespective of social status.

The Connect President of the Rotary Club of Abuja Maitama, Rotn. Eucharia Ekweozoh (Fifth from left) with residents of Galuwyi village during the Rotary Family Health Day outreach to the village recently

Tosin, 38, Urgently Needs N1.2M to Treat Deadly Tumor Martins Ifijeh 38 years old Mrs. Tosin Obaro from Ogun State is urgently in need of at least N1.2 million for surgical procedure to treat deadly nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Doctors believe the carcinoma, which started two years ago, can be

surgically treated so she can lead a normal life.

Consultant Radiologist, Mecure Healthcare, Dr, Ukwaigwe C, described the deadly tumor as antrochonal polyps with chronic pan sinusitis and bilateral OMC blockage.

According to her husband, Joseph Obaro, the carcinoma has deprived her of many

things, including her sight, voice, facial figures, her job as a business woman, as well as her role as a mother.

“I have spent all I have just to keep her going. I have sold my properties and borrowed money from everyone I know. I do not want her to die. I am calling on well-meaning Nigerians, nongovernmental

organisations, Ogun State government and religious organisations to come to our aid,” he said tearfully.

For support, Mrs Obaro can be reached on 07052121989 and 08151206664.

Account number: 0018922487, bank name: Guaranty Trust Bank, account name: Kehinde Joseph Obaro.

PECAN Galvanises Stakeholders on Eradication of MalariaVectors Mary Nnah In commemoration of its 30th anniversary, the Pest Control Association of Nigeria (PECAN) will be creating awareness on the need to eradicate malaria parasites by keeping the surroundings clean and devoid of pests which he said are the major vectors that carry malaria parasite.

Speaking during a press briefing to announce the activities marking the association’s anniversary this year, the National President, PECAN, Mr. Kunle William, said the organisation will use the event as an avenue to sensitise the public and government on ways to control malaria through effective vector manage-

ment.

He said: “Malaria is a big problem in the country.

The reality is that Nigeria suffers the world’s greatest malaria burden with approximately 51 million cases.

“This accounts for about 30 per cent of the total malaria burden in Africa while 97 per cent of the total population is at risk of the infection.

This shows how devastating the scourge malaria could be, especially in children and pregnant women”, he said.

PECAN is made up of professionals, individuals and businesses engaged in the practice of pest and vector control in Nigeria.

He said, “We in PECAN believe that the best way to go about this is to deal

with the vector that carries the parasites and these are mosquitoes.

“We are poised to support and complement other initiatives, governments, NGOs and corporate organisations, by initiating a mosquito management programme in selected malaria endemic communities.

This comprises “Indoor Residual Spray” (IRS) and Laviciding.

“We intend to go into the rural communities where there are lots of poverty and people who are not able to afford the daily insecticide or even malaria drugs.

“We believe that if there are no mosquitoes in the environments, you probably don’t need the

insecticides and drugs. So, we want to attack malaria from the roots through mosquito control,” he said.

The anniversary celebration scheduled for 10am prompt on November 27, 2019 at the Providence Hotel Ikeja, is themed, “Malaria Control through Effective Vector Management”.

PECAN is a body of professionals in the business of vector managements, be it in the area of public health or agricultural pest control.

Members are spread over the nooks and crannies of Nigeria and they partner governments, both states and local governments, in the area of pest control.

“We are actually the private sector practitioners in this filed”, William added.

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T H I S D AY ˾ THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2019

HEALTH

When Succour Came to Visually-impaired Orphan, 300 Nigerian Youths The Hill City Foundation has brought succour to a visually-impaired orphan, Blessing Yakubu along with 300 other poor Nigerian youths, Ogechukwu Obi reports

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or some indigent students whose chances of living out their dreams became slim by reason of life challenges, the assistance from Hill City Foundation annual scholarship grant has given them rare opportunity to make lemonade from the lemon life has thrown at them.

Nigerian youths are known for their resilience such that in spite of the various challenges they are confronted with, they are hardly deterred from pursuing their dreams. And just like dynamites, a flicker of spike is enough to trigger their explosion into global icons.

Some kind-hearted individuals and organisations have come to appreciate the unique quality Nigerian youths are made of, their commitment towards lifting many out of poverty and other obstacles that tend to swallow up their dreams have remained unwavering.

Just like raw gold and other precious treasures are buried in the ground waiting for extractors and refiners to locate, transform and present to the world in a most acceptable, attractive and appreciable value, so are gifts and talents locked in the lives of the less-privileged youths begging to be located, nurtured and channeled in the right direction. And this is a mission the non-profit organisation, Hill City Foundation has embarked on for a decade and half.

Hill City, a non-profit organisation established in 2004 with the vision to confront and arrest what it described as a monumental threat to Nigerian society – abandoned young people with trapped talents and aspirations in its 15th year anniversary and scholarship award ceremony in Lagos recently, doled out scholarships to 300 students from indigent families.

The event attracted youths from different parts of the country. It was a convergence of resilient minds who earnestly seek opportunity to wangle out of the burden of living with a failed vision. And to many beneficiaries of the 2019 Hill City Foundation’s scholarship award, it was a moment of joy as providence that their future left hanging in the balance rescued.

Outstanding among the recipients of the scholarship awards was Blessing Yakubu, a visually-impaired young lady. To Yakubu, the scholarship award was a jinx breaker and a true case of divine intervention in a hopeless situation.

With excitement in her voice, Yakubu, who is currently a student of University of Jos gave

Some of the beneficiaries

THISDAY a peep into her story. According to the visually-impaired orphan who lost both parents between 2010 and 2018, life has been miserable but she was determined not to give up on life. And just like a patient dog, her prayers and hope that a helper will one day locate her eventually became a reality and has spurred her to remain focused. She said that though bruised by many unpleasant experiences in life that tend to steal her smiles, she has managed to remain strong all these years, adding that HCF’s intervention gave her reason to muster a bolder smile.

According to Yakubu who happens to be the first of four children of her late parents, fate laid on her the burden of being a parent over her siblings. She said: “I lost my Dad during the 2010 Jos crisis, while my mother, who became the breadwinner died last year of breast cancer.

I was in senior secondary school, SS3 when I lost my sight as a result of illness in 2008. “ In fact, I became an orphan within the space of eight years. Having congenital blindness made me repeat classes. I couldn’t cope in science class any longer and I had to go back to start from SS1 where I was placed in Arts department.

From there, I wrote the West African Examination Council, WAEC in 2013 with the aid of Braille.”

Continuing, she said, “Schooling as a visuallyimpaired student isn’t just challenging but also very expensive. At a point, life became

‘Lagos Requires 260,000 Units of BloodYearly’ r6SHF SFTJEFOUT UP EPOBUF CMPPE WPMVOUBSJMZ Martins Ifijeh The Executive Secretary of the Lagos State Blood Transfusion Service (LSBTS), Dr. Bodunrin Osikomaiya has said that the state will require over 260,000 units of blood to meet the growing blood demand for transfusion.

Osikomaiya who disclosed this in Lagos recently, urged residents to donate blood voluntarily, adding that efforts were being intensified by the state government through LSBTS to ensure that all blood for transfusion were from voluntary blood donors.

Appealing to residents to donate blood voluntarily in order to meet the growing demand of safe blood for transfusion in the all health facilities, she said: “The demand for blood is ever present and increasing especially with the growing population of Lagos State.

“At least, 260,000 units of blood yearly is required to meet our blood transfusion demand

and this is according to the WHO estimate that blood donation from at least one to two percent of the population is needed to meet their blood needs. This is why we need residents to donate voluntarily to meet these demands and save precious lives”.

The executive secretary hinted that Lagos State has less than 10 per cent of voluntary blood donors, stressing that over 90 per cent of blood was sourced from replacement donors who according to her, have a higher risk and prevalence of transfusion transmissible infections such as HIV, Hepatitis C and Syphilis.

The Executive Secretary posited that creating awareness on the vital role of voluntary blood donation toward achieving the goal of saving lives is very important to completely bring to the barest minimum the number of deaths related to loss of blood.

“We therefore cannot over emphasize the need to ensure

availability of blood in our blood banks where patients who require blood transfusion can be readily supplied. That is why we are intensifying our awareness campaign to encourage more voluntary blood donors to join others who give their blood willingly and freely without knowing the recipients”, she added.

While noting that the LSBTS has zero tolerance for transfusion of unscreened and unsafe blood, Osikomaiya assured that no blood will be transfused into a patient unless such blood has been screened, tested and labelled with the Lagos State Logo by the screening and certification unit of LSBTS and found to be negative for all transmissible diseases.

“We will continue to advocate, monitor and enforce policies aimed at the strengthening of external quality control and proficiency testing in all blood screening centers and blood banks in order to ensure optimal quality of bloods for transfusion,” she added.

unbearable for me and my siblings. I applied for HCF scholarship in 2017 but got the support in 2018 while in my 200 level. Today, I got N100,000 because of my challenge and educational needs.

Also, my younger sister is also a beneficiary of the scholarship. We are grateful to them for bringing hope to us again.”

For another beneficiary of HCF, Ajayi Martins, his lifelong passion of becoming an entrepreneur in recycling has been fulfilled. Martins said, “I got to know about HCF through my pastor, Momodu in Port Harcourt. My first application was in 2016 and I got it and from 2016 to 2018 when I graduated, this foundation sustained me and saw through.

“I really can’t tell you how I feel or explain but I am excited and extremely grateful to God for this foundation. For me, I will say that Hill City Foundation is the hand of providence and hope restorer. I say this because aside the Educational Support Programme (ESP) grants, the mentorship programme is another tool of inestimable value the foundation uses in nurturing dreams and vision amongst of their beneficiaries so that are properly guided in life.

“The things one learns through the mentorship programme can’t be found in any four walls of schools and they are things that can help in one’s personal growth both in business and any endavour. After I graduated, I was able

to start my own business. By God’s grace, I am doing great in the city of Port Harcourt with my brand “Beauty Martins”. This brand is in existence today because of Hill City Foundation.”

Asked what he does, the young graduate said, “I am a sustainable furniture designer, a sociologist by training and an environmentalist by passion. I convert tyres to furniture, which is up-cycling of tyres. I make tyres into tables, chairs for playgrounds, offices, and homes. I also do interior decoration and home finishing and space design for offices, gardens, playgrounds and schools.”

Founder and lead coordinator of Hill City Foundation, Mr. Obi Imemba in his remarks noted that the NGO that started 15 years ago with five staff and could afford N10,000 as grants to its beneficiaries has within the period in review empowered over 2000 individuals with skills and grants that currently stands between N85,000 to N100, 000 yearly to each beneficiary.

Imemba explained that his love for humanity and a mandate from God pushed him into setting the foundation up with people of like minds. He said, “HCF was borne to reach out to very vulnerable young people in our society.

I saw that many of them lacked care, hope and support they needed to become who they are meant to be. And through divine inspiration, I took off the journey.

“15 years after, I would say that I am humbled by the result we have attained.

Today we are giving 300 scholarship awards.

To date, we have given about 2000 university scholarship awards, and we have also mentored all the awardees. In addition, we are giving those that have graduated what it takes to become entrepreneurs especially for those venturing into entrepreneurship. We do that through our Economic Empowerment Programme (EEP).

“Aside that, from the moment we discover an individual, we start with educational support and mentorship programme. For instance, the people we gave the award this year were camped for three days. They were taught basic skills and mentors were assigned to them. After today’s event, mentoring will still continue.

And moved by the generosity of HCF, the Founder, Leadership Seed Foundation, Austin Ufomba pledged to give N50,000 scholarship grants to 20 individuals to pursue their dreams.

“I am interested in the development of the next generation of leaders in secondary schools. So, partnering with HCF is going to help the less privileged”.

UHC: House of Reps Sets Agenda to Demystify NHIS Kuni Tyessi in Abuja In achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) target of 2030, the House of Representatives has announced its agenda towards modifying the perception of Nigerians concerning the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

According to them, the House will fund efforts to establish special hospitals and research centres, as well as rapid response units for treatment, study, management and control of infectious diseases such as cancer, diabetes, renal diseases, HIV/AIDS, Ebola virus, Lassa fever and cardiovascular diseases.

The Chairman, Healthcare Service Committee, Dr. Yusuf Sanunu disclosed this at the 25th Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of National Guild of Medical Directors, with its 2019 theme and sub theme, “Achieving

Universal Health Coverage” and “Re-thinking business model for private practice in Nigeria” respectively.

He said the House will review all existing healthcare laws for necessary reforms and amendments as well as monitor private sectors to ensure they meet international best standards to healthcare provision and medical ethics.

Sanunu who was represented by a member of the committee, Dr. Adamu Alhassan Umar, pledged that the House will work with all stakeholders, especially the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) and the NGMD in order to expand access to the scheme.

“The House shall work with all stakeholders to expand access to NHIS for all Nigerians. It will ensure adequate funding to the health sector through improved budgetary provision and effective oversight in general, particularly

with regards to efforts at disease prevention across the country.

“Another worrisome trend of concern to the 9th House is the exodus of doctors, nurses, lab technicians and other healthcare professionals from the shores of Nigeria for greener pastures.

As a result, millions of Nigerians continue to die from preventable diseases and the country lose millions of dollars each year to medical tourism,” he said.

Similarly, the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire called on medical doctors to come up with proposals that will ensure that funds were reserved for doctors that will want to venture into private practice.

Represented by one of the ministry’s director, Mr. Nasir Sani Gwarzo, the minister said there will be effective financing to such proposals so that medical personnel after investment can recover their monies.

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 7, 2019 • T H I S D AY

39

n

40

T H I S D AY Ëž ÍľËœ 2019

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

NDIC Assures PSB Customers of Coverage Nume Ekeghe The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has assured customers including those of recently licensed Payment Service Banks (PSBs) of adequate coverage in the event of failure.

Speaking at the NDIC special day, at the ongoing Lagos International Trade Fair, the Managing Director and Chief Executive of NDIC, Ibrahim Umaru, said the corporation had taken steps towards securing depositors’ funds as it strives to encourage financial inclusion in the country. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently granted Approval-in-Principle to some firms to operate as PSBs, as a way of taking financial services to rural areas where financial exclusion is high and banking penetration is low. Owing to this,

Umaru who was represented by the Director, Special Insured Institutions Department, Joshua Utopidok, said following the issuance of the “framework for the Licensing and Regulation of Payment Service banks (PSBs) by the CBN which stipulated the extension of Deposit Insurance Coverage to the depositors, the Corporation has designed an appropriate Differential Premium Assessment System (DPAS) Matrix for Premium computation/payment as well as set an Insurable Limit to the Depositors in the event of failure.

He said the, “corporation is taking these measures so as to engender confidence in the system and to discourage bank customers from keeping cash at homes, shops and other places outside the banks. “Monies kept outside the banks are not insured by the corporation and

are susceptible to loss through robbery, theft or fire outbreak.�

He further said the corporation had also ensured provision of the deposit insurance coverage to subscribers of Mobile Money Operators (MMOs) to the maximum limit of N500,000 through the Pass-Through Deposit Insurance Framework. “As provided for in the NDIC Act 2006, when insured financial institutions fail, depositors of Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), Non-Interest Banks (NIB) and Primary Mortgage Banks (PMBs) are reimbursed up to a maximum limit of N500,000, while the maximum insured coverage for depositors of Microfmance Bank (MFBs) is N200,000. “However, the insured limits are periodically reviewed by the Board of the Corporation to ensure that majority of depositors are covered,� he explained.

L-R: Former Executive Secretary/Chief Executive OďŹƒcer of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board,(NCDMB), Mr. Denzil Kentebe; Executive Secretary, Mr. Simbi Wabote; Chief Operating OďŹƒcer, Starzs Investment Company Limited, Mrs. Iroghama Obuoforibo, and Pioneer Executive Secretary, NCDMB, Mr. Ernest Nwapa, at the NCDMB stakeholders’ retreat held in Akwa Ibom‌ recently

MARKET INDICATORS

Fidelity Bank Rewards More Loyal Customers Nume Ekeghe Fidelity Bank Plc yesterday rewarded 10 beneficiaries of its Fidelity Personal Savings Scheme (FPSS) and its savings account holders for kids and teens, the ‘Fidelity SWEET Account’ (SWEETA).

Five sweeta account holders received N150,000 school fees support each and five FPSS account holders received N500,000, at the Fidelity Bank’s special day, at the ongoing 2019 Lagos International Trade fair.

Speaking at the event, the Managing Director, Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo, said the bank would continue to reward all its customers across all its savings products.

Okonkwo, who was represented by the Executive Director, Corporate Banking, Fidelity Bank, Obaro Odeghe, said: “In addition

to our promos, we also have loyalty reward scheme, where SWEETA and FPSS savings account holders are rewarded quarterly with N150,000 and N500,000 respectively.�

He added: “In two weeks’ time, we shall be conducting the draws for ‘Get Alert in Millions’ (GIAM) promo season four and a total of N15 million would be given out.�

But, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has urged Nigerian banks to ease the cost of credit for MSMEs. The President, LCCI, Babatunde Ruwase, explained that the theme of the trade fair, ‘connecting businesses, creating value,� was aimed at deepening cooperation between the Organised Private Sector (OPS) and government in industrialisation for inclusive and sustainable growth.

Ruwase said: “MSMEs

represents the backbone of the Nigerian economy in terms of contribution to the GDP and job opportunities,� while adding that Fidelity Bank has carved a niche in that market saying the bank was the first to go into the MSMEs market aggressively.

He thereafter called on Nigerian banks to do more in terms of easing the cost of credit to the MSME sector. “There is no better time for the private sector to collaborate with government regarding the formation of the pro-market policy to enable us diversifying the productive base of the economy to key non-oil sectors, achieve industrialisation, attract private investment as well as creating a more enabling environment. “We appreciate the bank’s participation and we believe more can be done to ease the cost of credit to the sector,� the LCCI president said.

IWEC Appoints Awosika President The International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge Foundation (IWEC) has announced the appointment of Mrs. Ibukun Awosika to its Board of Directors as its new president.

Awosika is the Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria Limited.

According to a statement, Awosika was elected to replace Miguel Valls, former president of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce and president of the IWEC Foundation, who passed away last month. “The Foundation is very excited to announce the appointment of our new president,�

IWEC Chairwoman and former US Ambassador, Ruth Davis said.

“Ibukun Awosika has been a solid, steady presence at IWEC since its inception, and she is also a past IWEC awardee. “Ibukun has not missed one IWEC conference since 2008 and has lent her voice and experience not only to our conferences, but to our meetings after joining our Board in 2017. “We are delighted that our Board of Directors voted on her appointment, and we’ll introduce her as our president at our upcoming 12th Annual IWEC Foundation Conference in New Delhi, on November 10th.�

The Foundation’s 2019 Conference will focus on “Connecting Women Businesses Globally: Leading the Way to Innovation

and Integration�. The event would be hosted locally by the FICCI Ladies Organization (FLO) of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), which represents over 5000 women entrepreneurs and professionals across India.

Commenting on the appointment, IWEC Foundation Vice Chair, Carmen Castillo, CEO of SDI International said: “Ibukun has demonstrated a significant commitment to IWEC over the years. Her breadth of knowledge extends from being an entrepreneur running SOKOA Chair Centre Limited, to overseeing the board of directors for the renowned First Bank of Nigeria Limited.

UPDC REIT Approves N1.5bn Payout to Unit Holders UPDC REIT, the largest Real Estate Investment Trust listed on the Floor of The Nigerian Stock Exchange held its fifth Annual General Meeting on Tuesday, 5 November 2019.

At the meeting, the Unit holders approved the distribution of N0.26k and N0.32k per unit being the distribution proposed by the Fund Manager, FSDH Asset Management Limited, (FSDH AM) as the final distribution for the financial year ended December 31, 2018 and the

interim dividend for period ended June 2019 respectively.

The Unit holders commended FSDH AM for the Management of the UPDC REIT. Mr Igwe Robert Iheanyichukwu, a unit holder expressed his satisfaction over the fact that despite the challenging macroeconomic environment, the REIT was still able to fulfil its promise of consistent income distribution to unit holders.

The Managing Director of FSDH Asset Management

Limited, Mrs. Olumayowa Ogunwemimo, attributed the performance not only to the quality of assets in the REIT, but also to the management process of the REIT portfolio.

She added that, FSDH AM would continue to seek additional investments in quality real estate assets and real estate related assets to ensure that the REIT continues to deliver on its promise to generate and distribute competitive returns to its unit holders.

MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

(MILLION NAIRA)

SEPTEMBER 2019 Money Supply (M3)

35,029,779.72

-- CBN Bills Held by Money Holding Sectors

7,374,356.91

Money Supply (M2)

27,655,422.82

-- Quasi Money

116,533,891.21

-- Narrow Money (M1)

11,121,531.60

---- Currency Outside Banks

1,625,047.69

---- Demand Deposits

9,496,483.91

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

13,911,335.83

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

21,118,443.89

-- Net Domestic Credit (NDC)

35,918,179.45

---- Credit to Government (Net)

10,452,199.38

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

11,007,422.79

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

25,465,980.07

---- Credit to Private Sector (CPS)

-14,799,735.56

--Other Assets Net

7,000,253.07

Reserve Money (Base Money

2,005,600.83

--Currency in Circulation

4,677,530.81

--Banks Reserves

317,121.43

Ëž Ă™Ă&#x;ĂœĂ?Ă? Ě‹

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

Ëž Ă™Ă˜Ă?ĂžĂ‹ĂœĂŁ ÙÖÓĂ?ĂŁ Ă‹ĂžĂ? Ě‹ ͯ͹Ϲ

OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE Ëœ Íł Ͱ͎ͯ͡

The price of OPEC basket of fourteen crudes stood at $62.57 a barrel on Tuesday, compared with $62.00 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

The OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Djeno (Congo), Oriente (Ecuador), ZaďŹ ro (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).

SOURCE: OPEC headquarters, Vienna

41

T H I S D AY Ëž ÍľËœ 2019

MARKET NEWS

Jaiz Bank Shareholders to Receive Dividend Next Year Goddy Egene Shareholders of Jaiz Bank Plc, Nigeria’s premier non-interest (Islamic) bank, are to receive dividend next year, following improved performance of the bank.

The Managing Director/CEO of Jaiz Bank Plc, Hassan Usman stated this while speaking in Lagos, saying that while the bank was able to break even within three years in operations,

it had not paid dividend.

However, he said based on the impressive performance for the nine months ended September 30, 2019, the bank would be able to pay dividend for the current financial year.

According to results, Jaiz Bank Plc posted total income of N7.670 billion in 2019, up by 49.2 per cent from N5.141 billion in the corresponding period of 2018. Profit before tax jumped by 510 per cent to N1.471 billion,

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

F O R

DEALS

compared with N241 million in 2018, while profit after tax grew fast by 643 per cent from N161 million to N1.205 billion in 2019.

Deposits from customers rose from N33.24 billion to N57.1 billion, while total assets grew from N99.86 billion to N151.94 billion.

Usman said the results further demonstrated that the bank has the capacity to grow sustainably in line with its strategic vision of becoming the leading non-

S E C U R I T I E S

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N )

interest bank in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2022.

He said the bank is determined to be in every state of the economy, rendering financial services that address human needs irrespective of their faith and religion.

Explaining the operations of the bank, he said Jaiz Bank does not represent any particular religion. “We are the face of a new concept in banking. One

T R A D E D MAIN BOARD

A S

important information we will continue to emphasize is that this product is not a religious product. It is open and available to all, irrespective of their faith or religion. It is a mode of financing that tries to address human needs directly by providing goods and services on a payment basis different from conventional banking that we know. Literarily, that is what non-interest or Islamic banking is doing anywhere in the world.

O F

It is about providing financing to people who cannot afford to buy directly with their own resources at a time. So, rather than give money, we provide the services and goods people are looking for to meet their consumption needs or businesses. We have seen from our operations so far that all manner of persons do come to us and we do business with them. This, I believe, is what we have been doing,�

Usman said.

0 4 / 1 1 / 2 0 1 9 DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

42

˾ THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2019

Thursday, November 7, 2019

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 INDEX

Thisday Afrinvest 40 Index Down 39bps Yesterday, the Thisday Afrinvest 40 Index lost 0.39% to ƐĞƩůĞ Ăƚ ϭ͕ϭϱϰ͘ϯϵ͕ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ƐĞůů ƉƌĞƐƵƌĞƐ ŝŶ DANGOTE CEMENT

Fundamental Performance Metrics for THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 Index

(-ϭ͘ϭйͿ͕ FBNH (-Ϭ͘ϵͿ ĂŶĚ UBA (-Ϯ͘ϯйͿ͘ dŚĞƐĞ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ĐƵŵƵůĂͲ ƟǀĞůLJ ĂĐĐŽƵŶƚ ĨŽƌ ϭϴ͘Ϯй ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ŝŶĚĞdž͘

Sell-ŽīƐ ŝŶ ĞůůǁĞƚŚĞƌƐ ƌĂŐ DĂƌŬĞƚ WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ͘​͘​͘ ^/

Ticker

Current Price

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40

ĚŽŵĞƐƟĐ ĞƋƵŝƟĞƐ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ĂƐ ƚŚĞ ^/ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ ϱϴďƉƐ ƚŽ 26,223.66 ƉŽŝŶƚƐ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ƉƌŝĐĞ ĚĞƉƌĞĐŝĂƟŽŶ ŝŶ DANGCEM (ϭ͘ϭйͿ͕ MTNN (-Ϭ͘ϴйͿ ĂŶĚ STANBIC (-ϯ͘ϭйͿ͘ ŽŶƐĞƋƵĞŶƚͲ ly, zd ůŽƐƐ ǁŽƌƐĞŶĞĚ ƚŽ -ϭϲ͘ϲй ǁŚŝůĞ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ĐĂƉŝƚĂůŝƐĂƟŽŶ

ROE

ROA

P/E

P/BV

Divindend Earnings Yield Yield

1,154.39

-0.39%

-21.3%

15.4%

17.1%

6.0%

5.1x

0.6x

7.3%

26.25

0.8%

18.7%

-23.8%

-23.9%

32.9%

5.4%

4.0x

1.2x

10.5%

25.2%

2 Zenith Bank PLC

17.35

0.0%

11.9%

-24.7%

-24.7%

24.3%

3.4%

2.7x

0.6x

16.1%

36.7% 15.3%

4 Nestle Nigeria PLC

zĞƐƚĞƌĚĂLJ͕ ƚŚĞ ďĞĂƌŝƐŚ ŵŽŵĞŶƚƵŵ ǁĂƐ ƐƵƐƚĂŝŶĞĚ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ

Price Change Index to Date

1 Guaranty Trust Bank PLC

3 Dangote Cement PLC

Down 58bps

Price Previous Current Change Price Weightin YTD Change g

147.90

-1.1%

9.0%

-22.0%

-20.5%

47.8%

23.1%

6.5x

3.0x

10.8%

1,150.00

0.0%

8.1%

-22.6%

-22.0%

82.9%

26.3%

19.5x

16.1x

5.6%

5.1%

46.50

0.0%

4.2%

-45.6%

-40.6%

10.2%

4.6%

21.7x

2.3x

5.0%

4.6%

5 Nigerian Brew eries PLC 6 FBN Holdings Plc 7 Cement Co Northern Nigeria PLC 8 United Bank for Africa PLC 9 International Brew eries PLC 10 SEPLAT Petroleum Development C

17.3%

5.45

-0.9%

4.6%

-31.4%

-31.9%

10.2%

1.2%

3.4x

0.3x

4.7%

29.3%

16.40

0.0%

4.9%

-15.5%

-15.5%

5.8%

5.4%

10.9x

0.6x

2.7%

9.2%

6.30

-2.3%

4.6%

-18.2%

-19.2%

0.4x

13.7%

10.25

-9.7%

1.5%

-66.4%

-67.5%

-48.8%

-4.0%

565.00

0.0%

4.0%

-11.7%

-11.7%

13.7%

8.7%

3.7x

0.5x

6.6%

26.9%

8.35

0.6%

5.3%

22.8%

28.5%

22.7%

2.2%

2.1x

0.5x

6.0%

47.7%

11 Access Bank PLC

4.7x

-14.9%

12 Ecobank Transnational Inc

7.00

0.0%

1.8%

-50.0%

-51.0%

13.8%

1.0%

2.3x

0.3x

ĨĞůů Eϳϯ͘ϴďŶ ƚŽ EϭϮ͘ϴƚŶ͘ ĐƟǀŝƚLJ ůĞǀĞů ǁĂŶĞĚ ĂƐ ǀŽůƵŵĞ ĂŶĚ

13 Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC

37.80

-3.1%

2.7%

-21.2%

-21.2%

27.0%

4.0%

5.8x

1.4x

5.3%

17.3%

14 Unilever Nigeria PLC

24.05

0.0%

ǀĂůƵĞ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ Ϯϯ͘ϳй ĂŶĚ Ϯϭ͘ϴй ƚŽ ϮϯϮ͘ϭŵ ƵŶŝƚƐ ĂŶĚ

2.0%

-35.0%

-35.0%

3.4%

2.2%

52.3x

1.8x

6.8%

1.9%

15 Lafarge Africa PLC

14.00

0.0%

2.4%

12.4%

16.7%

50.3%

23.4%

14.1x

0.6x

16 Guinness Nigeria PLC

23.30

0.0%

0.5%

-67.6%

-67.6%

4.8%

2.6%

11.9x

0.6x

6.5%

8.4% 10.7%

Eϯ͘ϭďŶ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ͘ dŚĞ ŵŽƐƚ ĂĐƟǀĞ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ďLJ ǀŽůƵŵĞ ǁĞƌĞ UBA ;ϱϵ͘ϭŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ͕ ACCESS ;ϰϱ͘ϲŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ ĂŶĚ ZENITH ;Ϯϲ͘ϱŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ ǁŚŝůĞ MTNN

;Eϲϲϴ͘ϭŵͿ͕ GUARANTY

;Eϱϭϱ͘ϬŵͿ ĂŶĚ ZENITH ;Eϰϱϵ͘ϰŵͿ ůĞĚ ďLJ ǀĂůƵĞ͘

17 Okomu Oil Palm PLC

7.1%

52.95

0.0%

1.2%

-30.5%

-30.5%

18.3%

13.2%

9.4x

1.7x

4.0%

18 Total Nigeria PLC

123.20

0.0%

1.0%

-39.3%

-39.3%

1.0%

0.2%

154.1x

1.6x

15.3%

0.6%

19 11 PLC

147.90

0.0%

1.3%

-20.3%

-20.3%

24.8%

10.9%

6.6x

1.5x

5.8%

15.1%

7.9%

20 Flour Mills of Nigeria PLC

15.20

0.3%

1.0%

-34.2%

-31.5%

3.6%

1.3%

11.8x

0.4x

3.37

0.0%

1.0%

-32.6%

-29.8%

14.5%

2.6%

1.5x

0.2x

22 Fidelity Bank PLC

1.76

-6.9%

1.2%

-13.3%

-13.3%

12.4%

1.4%

2.0x

0.2x

6.1%

50.7%

23 Transnational Corp of Nigeria

1.02

3.0%

1.0%

-22.7%

-20.9%

11.7%

2.6%

5.2x

0.6x

3.0%

19.1%

24 Dangote Sugar Refinery PLC

10.35

0.0%

0.8%

-32.1%

-30.1%

19.6%

11.6%

6.1x

1.2x

10.8%

16.3%

26 FCMB Group Plc

1.74

1.8%

0.7%

-7.9%

-3.3%

9.2%

1.2%

2.1x

0.2x

8.0%

48.4%

27 UAC of Nigeria PLC

6.20

0.0%

0.4%

-36.4%

-35.1%

-6.9%

-3.3%

6.9x

0.3x

10.3%

14.5%

21 Oando PLC

ĞĂƌŝƐŚ ^ĞĐƚŽƌ WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ

44.2%

8.5% 68.9%

25 Diamond Bank PLC

WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ǁĂƐ ďĞĂƌŝƐŚ ĂƐ ϱ ŽĨ ϲ ƐĞĐƚŽƌƐ ƵŶĚĞƌ ŽƵƌ ĐŽǀĞƌͲ ĂŐĞ ůŽƐƚ͘ dŚĞ ŽŶƐƵŵĞƌ 'ŽŽĚƐ͕ &Z-/ d ĂŶĚ /ŶĚƵƐƚƌŝĂů 'ŽŽĚƐ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ Ϭ͘ϱй ĂƉŝĞĐĞ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ďĂĐŬ ŽĨ sellŽīƐ in INTBREW (-ϵ͘ϳйͿ͕ MCNICHOLS (-ϴ͘ϳйͿ͕ MTNN (-Ϭ͘ϴйͿ and DANGCEM (-ϭ͘ϭйͿ͘ ^ŝŵŝůĂƌůLJ͕ ƚŚĞ ĂŶŬŝŶŐ ĂŶĚ /ŶƐƵƌĂŶĐĞ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ ϱďƉƐ ĂŶĚ ϯďƉƐ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ƉƌŝĐĞ ĚĞƉƌĞĐŝĂƟŽŶ ŝŶ UBA (-Ϯ͘ϯйͿ͕ FIDELITY (-ϲ͘ϵйͿ ĂŶĚ t W/ (ϱ͘ϵйͿ͘ &ŝŶĂůůLJ͕ ƚŚĞ Kŝů Θ 'ĂƐ ŝŶĚĞdž ĐůŽƐĞĚ ŇĂƚ͘

/ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ^ĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ tĞĂŬĞŶƐ

2.20

0.0%

0.7%

15.8%

15.8%

8.1%

0.8%

7.3x

0.6x

29 Presco PLC

34.60

-9.9%

0.3%

-45.9%

-45.9%

6.3%

3.8%

12.8x

1.3x

5.8%

7.8%

30 NASCON Allied Industries PLC

14.85

0.0%

0.4%

-17.5%

-17.5%

23.4%

8.6%

14.8x

3.5x

6.9%

6.7%

31 Forte Oil PLC

28 Sterling Bank PLC

15.90

0.0%

0.2%

-42.1%

-43.2%

49.7%

8.1%

32 Union Bank of Nigeria PLC

7.00

0.0%

0.5%

25.0%

25.0%

7.0%

1.1%

11.1x

0.9x

33 Julius Berger Nigeria PLC

18.55

0.0%

0.3%

-7.7%

-16.1%

21.8%

2.5%

2.7x

0.7x

100.6%

37.1%

34 PZ Cussons Nigeria PLC

ƚŽƉ ůŽƐĞƌƐ͘ tĞ ŵĂŝŶƚĂŝŶ ŽƵƌ ďĞĂƌŝƐŚ ŽƵƚůŽŽŬ ĨŽƌ ƚŚĞ ǁĞĞŬ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ǁĞĂŬ ŝŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ƚŽǁĂƌĚƐ ĞƋƵŝƟĞƐ͘

0.1%

-54.1%

-54.9%

0.2%

-26.7%

-26.7%

36 Wema Bank PLC

0.60

0.0%

0.2%

-4.8%

-4.8%

9.0%

0.9%

4.9x

0.4x

5.0%

20.6%

37 Beta Glass PLC

53.80

0.0%

0.2%

-21.2%

-21.2%

17.8%

12.5%

5.0x

0.8x

2.4%

20.2%

38 Dangote Flour Mills Plc

96.8x

0.5x

2.7%

1.0%

8.8x

8.9x

11.8%

11.4%

22.25

0.0%

0.6%

224.8%

237.1%

-33.1%

-9.4%

39 Transcorp Hotels Plc

5.40

0.0%

0.1%

-11.5%

-11.5%

3.6%

1.8%

20.0x

0.7x

40 AXA Mansard Insurance PLC

1.65

0.0%

0.1%

-9.8%

-9.8%

9.4%

2.6%

5.7x

0.8x

4.0x

-10.1% 3.0%

P ric e

P ric e C hg %

C OR N ER ST

0.49

8.9%

UB A

59.1

-2.3%

LA WUN ION

0.50

8.7%

A C C ESS

45.6

0.6%

LA SA C O

0.27

3.8%

Z EN IT H B A N K

26.5

0.0%

T R A N SC OR P

1.02

3.0%

GUA R A N T Y

19.7

0.8%

FCM B

1.74

1.8%

T R A N SC OR P

13.0

3.0%

VIT A F OA M

3.55

1.4%

ST ER LN B A N K

10.3

0.0%

T ic k er

Vo lum e

P ric e C hg %

-0.9%

26.25

0.8%

FB NH

8.8

A C C ESS

8.35

0.6%

J A IZ B A N K

6.6

0.0%

UC A P

2.16

0.5%

F ID ELIT YB K

6.5

-6.9%

15.20

0.3%

M TNN

5.4

-0.8%

GUA R A N T Y

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 T ic k er

P ric e

P ric e C hg %

T ic k er

P R ESC O

34.60

-9.9%

M TNN

668.1

-0.8%

IN T B R EW

10.25

-9.7%

GUA R A N T Y

515.0

0.8%

M C N IC H OLS

0.42

-8.7%

Z EN IT H B A N K

459.4

0.0%

F ID ELIT YB K

1.76

-6.9%

A C C ESS

378.1

0.6%

Value

P ric e C hg %

-2.3%

WA P IC

0.32

-5.9%

UB A

371.5

CHA M S

0.23

-4.2%

N EST LE

297.7

0.0%

37.80

-3.1%

ST A N B IC

171.7

-3.1%

D A N GC EM

63.1

-1.1%

FB NH

48.1

-0.9%

ST ER LN B A N K

22.7

0.0%

ST A N B IC UB A D A N GC EM

6.30

-2.3%

147.90

-1.1%

5.45

-0.9%

FB NH

Asset Management

Investment Research

Ayodeji Ebo | aebo@afrinvest.com

Ola Belgore | obelgore@afrinvest.com

Robert Omotunde | romotunde@afrinvest.com

Adedoyin Allen | aallen@afrinvest.com

Oluwarotimi Ashimi | oashimi@afrinvest.com

Adedayo Bakare | abakare@afrinvest.com

Brokerage

5.0% 17.5%

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

F LOUR M ILL

Afrinvest West Africa Limited

37.7%

0.0%

ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ƉƌĞǀŝŽƵƐ ƐĞƐƐŝŽŶ ĂƐ ϭϬ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ŐĂŝŶĞĚ ĂŐĂŝŶƐƚ ϭϮ ĚĞĐůŝŶͲ

ϵ͘ϵйͿ͕ INTBREW (-ϵ͘ϳйͿ ĂŶĚ MCNICHOLS (-ϴ͘ϳйͿ ǁĞƌĞ ƚŚĞ

9.0% 10.8%

0.0%

T ic k er

LAWUNION ;нϴ͘ϳйͿ ĂŶĚ LASACO ;нϯ͘ϴйͿ ǁŚŝůĞ WZ ^ K (-

-1.7%

5.55

;ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞͬĚĞĐůŝŶĞ ƌĂƟŽͿ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ ƚŽ Ϭ͘ϴdž ĨƌŽŵ Ϯ͘ϭdž ƌĞĐŽƌĚĞĚ

;нϴ͘ϵйͿ͕

1.2x

25.55

35 Chemical and Allied Products P

/ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ĂƐ ŵĞĂƐƵƌĞĚ ďLJ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ďƌĞĂĚƚŚ

ĞƌƐ͘ dŚĞ ƚŽƉ ŐĂŝŶĞƌƐ ǁĞƌĞ CORNERSTONE

13.7%

43

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2019 ˾ T H I S D AY

MARKET NEWS

C&I Leasing Gets SEC’s Approval for N3.2bn Rights Issue Goddy Egene C&I Leasing Plc has received the approval of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to conduct the signing ceremony with regards to the proposed rights issue to raise about N3.2 billion.

The company plans to make a

right issue of 539,003,333 ordinary shares of N0.50 each at N6.00 per share, on the basis of four new ordinary shares for every three ordinary shares held.

In a notification to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday, C & I Leasing Plc said subject to the approval of the executed offer documents by the SEC, the

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

application list was expected to open on the 11thof November 2019 or any other date approved by the commission and shall open for a maximum period of 28 days.

“Rights circular will be distributed to shareholders while application forms would also be made available on the website of the company’s Registrars

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 05Nov-2019, unless otherwise stated.

for ease of access. Esteemed shareholders are advised to contact their stockbrokers and other financial advisers for more details on the offer,” it said.

The Managing Director/ CEO of the company, Mr. Andrew Otike-Odibi had last Juy at the 28th annual general meeting (AGM) of company

given indication to the capital raising exercise.

“The business is at a point where we need equity injection and management is working with financial advisers to look at different options that we can use to raise equity. One, it might be a rights issue. So we might be calling on you very

soon to support the business by taking up your rights and getting capital into the business to help the business grow to new heights,” Otike-Odibi told the shareholders.

The company had ended 2018 financial year with a profit after tax (PAT) of N438 million and paid a dividend of N104.3 million.

Offer price: The price at which units of a trust or ETF are bought by investors.

Bid Price: The price at which Investors redeem (sell) units of a trust or ETF. Yield/Total Return: Denotes the total return an investor would have earned on his investment. Money Market Funds report Yield while others report Year- to-date Total Return.

NAV: Is value per share of the real estate assets held by a REIT on a specific date.

DAILY PRICE LIST FOR MUTUAL FUNDS, REITS and ETFS MUTUAL FUNDS / UNIT TRUSTS AFRINVEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD aaml@afrinvest.com Web: www.afrinvest.com; Tel: +234 818 885 6757 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Afrinvest Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Afrinvest Plutus Fund N/A N/A N/A Nigeria International Debt Fund N/A N/A N/A ALTERNATIVE CAPITAL PARTNERS LTD info@acapng.com Web: www.acapng.com, Tel: +234 1 291 2406, +234 1 291 2868 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ACAP Canary Growth Fund 0.88 0.89 4.59% ACAP Income Funds 0.76 0.76 33.79% 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 12.16% AIICO Balanced Fund 2.40 2.44 8.24% 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 N/A N/A N/A ARM Discovery Fund N/A N/A N/A ARM Ethical Fund N/A N/A N/A ARM Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A 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 92.75 93.41 -8.34% AXA Mansard Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 11.18% 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 1.91 1.91 13.08% 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 0.12 0.11 12.10% Paramount Equity Fund 12.03 12.09 1.69% Women's Investment Fund 107.69 108.42 4.02% 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 11.88% Cordros Milestone Fund 2023 95.02 95.69 Cordros Milestone Fund 2028 96.04 96.90 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 11.22% Coronation Balanced Fund 0.87 0.87 1.43% Coronation Fixed Income Fund 1.28 1.28 14.68% EDC FUNDS MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfundng@ecobank.com Web: www.ecobank.com Tel: 012265281 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class A 100.00 100.00 11.63% EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class B 1,000,000.00 1,000,000.00 11.73% EDC Nigeria Fixed Income Fund 1,150.16 1,154.92 15.43% FBNQUEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD invest@fbnquest.com Web: www.fbnquest.com/asset-management; Tel: +234-81 0082 0082 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn FBN Fixed Income Fund 1,215.80 1,216.54 14.26% FBN Balanced Fund 137.95 138.80 -3.38% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 12.33% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Institutional 118.43 118.73 8.85% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail 118.98 119.28 9.60% FBN Nigeria Smart Beta Equity Fund 122.78 124.35 -18.15% FCMB ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED fcmbamhelpdesk@fcmb.com Web: www.fcmbassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 462 2596 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Legacy Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 10.99% Legacy Debt Fund 3.59 3.59 10.64% Legacy Equity Fund 1.04 1.06 -14.64% Legacy USD Bond Fund 1.07 1.07 4.31% 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 Growth Fund 2,971.50 3,000.98 -0.43% Coral Income Fund 3,046.99 3,046.99 11.18% FSDH Treasury Bills Fund 100.00 100.00 12.70% GREENWICH ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gtlgroup.com Web: www.gtlgroup.com ; Tel: +234 1 4619261-2 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Greenwich Plus Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 9.84% Nigeria Entertainment Fund 112.91 113.31 4.57% GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gdl.com.ng Web: www.gdl.com.ng ; Tel: +234 9055691122 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn GDL Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A

INVESTMENT ONE FUNDS MANAGEMENT LTD enquiries@investment-one.com Web: www.investment-one.com; Tel: +234 812 992 1045,+234 1 448 8888 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Abacus Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 11.44% Vantage Balanced Fund 2.34 2.36 8.39% Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 15.01% Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) 140.06 140.19 12.08% LOTUS CAPITAL LTD fincon@lotuscapitallimited.com Web: www.lotuscapitallimited.com; Tel: +234 1-291 4626 / +234 1-291 4624 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Lotus Halal Investment Fund 1.15 1.17 4.73% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,106.22 1,106.22 11.09% 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 9.09 9.18 -14.41% Meristem Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 10.98% 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 1.31 1.33 6.11% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 12.19 12.24 8.93% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 12.08% PACAM Equity Fund 1.01 1.02 PACAM EuroBond Fund 101.47 103.46 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 123.32 123.96 2.17% 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 1.01 1.01 11.51% 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 2,397.71 2,408.72 3.55% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 207.97 207.97 11.74% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 0.83 0.84 -12.11% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 270.32 270.42 11.40% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 145.17 146.66 -11.05% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 11.87% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 7,389.51 7,468.30 -13.01% Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) 1.15 1.15 6.21% Stanbic IBTC Shariah Fixed Income Fund 101.33 101.33 0.00% UNITED CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.unitedcapitalplcgroup.com; Tel: +234 803 306 2887 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn United Capital Balanced Fund 1.15 1.16 -0.55% United Capital Bond Fund 1.70 1.70 15.79% United Capital Equity Fund 0.66 0.68 -7.42% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 12.44% United Capital Eurobond Fund 110.68 110.68 8.37% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.05 1.06 5.29% QUANTUM ZENITH ASSET MANAGEMENT & INVESTMENTS LTD service@quantumzenithasset.com.ng Web: www.quantumzenith.com.ng; Tel: +234 1-2784219 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Zenith Equity Fund 9.75 9.89 -13.63% Zenith Ethical Fund 11.24 11.41 -10.20% Zenith Income Fund 22.57 22.57 11.66% Zenith Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 11.16%

REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

5.40 117.80 53.38

-44.85% 6.01% 3.17%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

7.92 84.90 68.04

8.02 86.74 69.33

-20.11% -24.84% -20.61%

Fund Name FSDH UPDC Real Estate Investment Fund SFS Skye Shelter Fund Union Homes REIT

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS Fund Name Lotus Halal Equity Exchange Traded Fund SIAML Pension ETF 40 Stanbic IBTC ETF 30 Fund

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 Industrial Goods Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva S&P Nigeria Sovereign Bond Exchange Traded Fund

funds@vetiva.com Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

3.27 4.85 11.46 10.45 156.76

3.31 4.93 11.56 10.65 158.76

-18.27% -36.22% -21.46% -15.36% 18.14%

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

108.40

17.40%

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.

44

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 7, 2019 ˾ T H I S D AY

INTERNATIONAL

General Election Campaign Begins in Britain Britain’s general election campaign officially started on Wednesday after Prime Minister Boris Johnson had an audience with Queen Elizabeth II to formally ask her permission to dissolve parliament.

The Houses of Parliament closed its doors at midnight and will not re-open until after the December 12 election.

The dissolution essentially fires the starting-gun on campaigns by the political parties in the run-up to polling day when up to 46

million people will cast their votes.

It will be Britain’s third general election in five years, following polls in 2015 and 2017.

Johnson is leader of a minority government and Britain’s future with the EU likely to be the major issue for voters in a country divided by Brexit.

The result of the election will determine what happens to Johnson’s Brexit deal with the EU during the Brexit delay till Jan. 31, 2020.

Johnson has headed to the

Midlands region of England to officially launch the Conservative Party’s election campaign.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph on Wednesday, Johnson said: “For the last three-and-a-half years this country has been trapped

by Brexit… We have been paralysed by a broken parliament.”

“It is only by getting Brexit done in the next few weeks that we can focus on all the priorities of the British people,” he wrote.

The minority Liberal

Britain to Begin DNA Testing for All Newborns Britain plans to offer DNA drug,’’ he added.

The newspaper said some testing for all newborns to screen them for serious 3,000 of the 660,000 children hereditary diseases and identify health risks in adulthood, reports said on Wednesday.

“This is brilliant news, just imagine how many lives can be saved when we know the genetic risks we face,’’ Health Secretary, Matt Hancock tweeted.

The government owned Genomics England will launch a trial of the testing programme in 2020 with the National Health Service (NHS), The Times reported.

The testing could be made widely available within three years if the trial proves successful, the newspaper said.

It quoted Hancock as saying at a Genomics England research conference earlier this week that the DNA testing technology put Britain “on the cusp of a healthcare revolution’’.

“Predictive, preventative, personalised healthcare. That is the future for the NHS,’’ he was quoted as saying.

Chris Wigley, Genomics England chief executive, said he hoped an initial 20,000 parents would agree to DNA testing of their babies.

“The benefits of this test can play out over the course of someone’s life,’’ the newspaper quoted Wigley as saying.

“Someone may have had their genome sequenced as a newborn and 25 years later they develop another health problem.

“We can use the same genomic data to assess, are they likely to have an adverse effect to this drug versus that

Lufthansa to Cancel 1,300 Flights Due to Strike The German airline said on Wednesday that Lufthansa would cancel a total of 1,300 flights with around 180,000 passengers affected as a result of a two-day cabin crew strike.

On Thursday, 700 of 3,000 planned flights are to be cancelled with 600 axed on Friday.

Lufthansa lost a bid to halt the strike at a Frankfurt labour court earlier on Wednesday, but the company said it would appeal.

The industrial action is set to mainly affect flights leaving from Germany.

born each year in England and Wales are believed to have a treatable, early-onset disease.

Democrats want Brexit to be scrapped altogether with Britain remaining a member

of the bloc.

Although, the main opposition Labour Party says

it will seek a new agreement with Brussels if it wins and put it to a new referendum.

Turkey Captures Wife of Late ISIS Leader al-Baghdadi President Recep Erdogan on Wednesday announced that Turkey has captured Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s sister and wife in Syria, a week after the Islamic State leader was killed in a US operation.

He provided no further details as he addressed theology students in Ankara.

“Al-Baghdadi took himself out in a tunnel. You know, America launched a very solid communication campaign about this,’’ Erdogan said.

“We captured his wife. But, we did not make a fuss out of it. I announce it for the first time today,’’ he added.

Erdogan didn’t say where or when she was detained.

On Tuesday, Turkey said it had taken into custody al-Baghdadi’s sister Rasmiya Awad during a raid in the Syrian town of Azaz, as well as her husband, daughter-in-law and five children. Erdogan confirmed on Wednesday that al-Baghdadi’s sister and

brother-in-law were taken into custody “on the Syrian side.’’

Al-Baghdadi proclaimed the caliph, or leader, of Islamic State in 2014 died during a US raid in October in Barisha, in the north-western Syrian province of Idlib.

US President, Donald Trump, announced al-Baghdadi’s death on October 27, saying he blew himself up after he was trapped by US special forces in a tunnel within a compound in Barisha.

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 7, 2019 • T H I S D AY

45

46

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 7, 2019 •T H I S D AY

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 7, 2019 • T H I S D AY

47

48

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 7, 2019 ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWSEXTRA

Supreme Court Acted Right on Atiku’s Petition, Keyamo Replies Nwabueze Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr. Festus Keyamo (SAN) has disagreed with an elder statesman and constitutional lawyer, Prof. Ben Nwabueze (SAN) on the way the Supreme Court handled the presidential election petition filed by the

presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar.

In a statement issued yesterday, Keyamo said that the respected lawyer could not reasonably fault the action of the Supreme Court since it was guided by the constitution.

On the question raised by Nwabueze as to whether the

House Moves to Curb Discriminatory Practices of PPMC against Petroleum Marketers Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja The House of Representatives has ordered investigation to the alleged discriminatory practices of Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC) and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPRA) against the Independent Petroleum Marketers (IPMAN) on the sales of petrol.

The Deputy Speaker, Ibrahim Wase, who presided over the plenary yesterday, ordered investigation into the matter with a view to ensuring a uniform pricing regime for all concerned marketers, and ordered that the report be submitted within four weeks for further legislative action.

Hon. Odebunmi Dokun, who moved the motion, expressed worry that PPMC, being the coordinator of petroleum products distribution in the downstream sector, was selling petrol to both the major marketers and independent marketers at different prices.

He alleged that PPMC was selling petrol to major marketers at N125. 65k per litre, while also selling the same product to independent marketers at N133. 28 per litre.

Odebunmi expressed concern that since members of the two blocs are selling the products to retailers in the same market, the discriminatory prices had been affecting the participatory capacity of the independent marketers in the market as well as impoverishing them against their counterparts in the sector.

He also stressed the need to check the discriminatory practices of the PPMC in order to give all concerned marketers a sense of belonging.

The House, therefore, mandated “the Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) to investigate the matter with a view to ensuring a uniform pricing regime for all concerned marketers, and report back within four weeks for further legislative action.”

parties in the matter were given opportunity to be heard, Keyamo said there was enough evidence to show that such important requirement of the law was complied with.

Furthermore, Keyamo said Nwabueze’s assertion that the Supreme Court went on a recess on October 30, 2019 during the hearing of the presidential election petition appeal whereupon they reconstituted the panel was not correct.

He said: “The purpose of that recess was, as widely reported, was to enable the

counsel to the appellant decide on consolidating the seven interlocutory appeals with the main appeal pursuant to an application by the appellants’ lead counsel who asked the court to allow all counsel to adopt their briefs, both in the main appeal and in seven other interlocutory appeal,” he said.

Nwabueze had reasoned that the decision dismissing the appeal as lacking in merit was not taken at the sitting of the Supreme Court on 30 October, 2019 and that the decision had been taken

during an examination of all the briefs of argument and exhibits for over two weeks before the sitting on October 30, 2019.

While reacting to what he referred to as the learned Professor’s “rhetorical inquiry” as to the makeup of the panel in question and the timeline of the appointment of its members, Keyamo said the Supreme Court is under no legal obligation, to publish or disclose the identities its justices chosen to hear an appeal.

“It is important to note that

the Supreme Court is under no legal obligation, neither has it been the practice, to publish or furnish the names of members of the panel to hear an appeal to the parties before the hearing of the appeal. The practice of keeping the identity of members of such an important panel anonymous has ostensibly been put in place to encourage neutrality and also to discourage contesting parties or members of the public from attempting to reach or compromise the Honourable Justices.”

HISTORIC FEAT…

L-R: Chairperson, WIMBIZ Executive Council, Olubunmi Aboderin Talabi; Founding Trustee, Ifeyinwa Ighodalo; Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Oscar Onyeama; Chairman, WIMBIZ Board of Trustees, Funmi Roberts; member, WIMBIZ Executive Council, Ijeoma Taylaur; Executive Director, WIMBIZ, Hansatu Adegbite; Executive Director, Nigerian Stock Exchange, Tinuade Awe, when WIMBIZ made history by being the first women’s organisation to ring the closing bell at the NSE in Lagos…recently

Okowa Presents N389.19bn IG Deploys 35,000 Additional Policemen for Kogi Election The Inspector-General of Police on November 11, saying that cases of violence and physical to perpetrate violence, as this (IG), Mr. Mohammed Adamu, they are coming from Abuja attacks between the All was recorded in Dekina, Ankpa, as Delta 2020 Budget has deployed additional 35,000 and other states.

Progressives Congress (APC) Olamaboro, Omala, and Idah Omon-Julius Onabu in Asaba

Delta State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, yesterday presented the 2020 Appropriation Bill of N389,190,799,362 approximately N389.19 billion to the state House of Assembly.

Okowa noted that he was presenting the 2020 Budget Estimates, christened Budget of Sustained Development ‘’from a position of cautious optimism’’ due to certain prevailing circumstances in the country.

The budget estimate comprised Recurrent Expenditure of N171,549,384,315 and Capital Expenditure of N217,641,415,047.

This disparity between total recurrent and capital estimates signalled a positive development, indicating that the state government intended to spend more on capital projects than recurrent for the financial year.

Comparatively, the 2019 Budget sum of N390,378,671,178 comprised N157,096,029,253 for recurrent expenditure, and N233,282,641,925 for capital expenditure.

The 2020 budget figure represented a decrease of about N1.18 billion from the current 2019 budget by N1.18bn, which totalled N390,378,671,178.

Nevertheless, the governor noted that the 2020 revenue

and expenditure projections were based on a Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), based on the national data of a $57 benchmark price for crude oil at production levels of 2.18 million barrels per day, 10.36 per cent annual inflation, 3.60 per cent projected real GDP growth as well as the exchange rate of N305 to the US dollar.

“This (figure) represents 44.08 per cent Recurrent Expenditure and 55.92 per cent Capital Expenditure, consistent with our agenda to spend more on projects and programmes that will impact directly on the socio-economic well-being of our people,” the governor said.

Nonetheless, Okowa expressed appreciation for the responsible manner the state lawmakers conducted their legislative functions vis-a-vis the Assembly’s convivial relation with the executive arm of government and others in the overall development of Delta State.

Okowa said: ‘’As an elected governor, I consider myself and, indeed, the state blessed by the candour and civility with which this House conducts its business. It is one that makes for unabridged development and I continue to count on this strong partnership as we strive to build a stronger Delta standing on the tripod of prosperity, peace and progress.

policemen to Kogi State to ensure “visibility policing ” of lives and property before and during the November 16 governorship election in the state.

The Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of operation in the state, Mr. Kayode Ayilara, announced this in Lokoja, the state capital, yesterday.

The police chief disclosed this while responding to concerns raised about the neutrality of the police in the coming election at an event organised by a nongovernmental organisation, ‘Search For Common Ground’.

He said that the deployed policemen will arrive the state

Ayilara said that armed policemen will also be positioned at identified strategic areas in the state to ensure quick response to any emergency. He said that four policemen will be deployed to each of the 2,548 polling units in the state, assuring citizens of police neutrality in their conduct before and during the election.

An official of the NGO, Mrs Lola Memedu had earlier in a presentation expressed worry over the steady rise in tension in the state ahead of the election.

Memedu said that the group through its Electoral Empowerment of Civil Society Project (EECSP), had observed

and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“Series of attacks have been recorded during campaign rallies and party activities.

“Dekina and Ankpa Local Governments have recorded the highest number of violence attacks among party members and supporters. “For example, on the 19th of Oct, 2019 a party supporter was shot dead in Anyingba during one of the political party rallies.

“The number of death recorded in Anyingba and Ankpa communities is quite alarming.“There has been a rise in the use of political thugs

Local Government Areas,” she said.

According to Memedu, the objective of the report is to identify potential threats to peaceful election at the pre-and post-election stages.

This, she said, will facilitate an early response by stakeholders like the Police, INEC and the National Orientation Agency (NOA) with the intention of intervening to prevent violence.

The group also urged the media to report issues relating to the process, conduct and outcome of the election objectively to douse tension and prevent violence.

House Divided over Motion to Scrap Post-UTME Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja House of Representatives members were divided at the plenary yesterday over a motion to scrap post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) being conducted by universities across the country for candidates seeking academic admission.

While some lawmakers spoke in favour of the motion to scrap the post-UTME, some expressed reservations and asked for it to be retained.

The motion was moved by Hon. Ademorin Kuye at the

plenary yesterday which was presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Ibrahim Wase.

He said that the Act establishing the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) states that only the body has the right to conduct examinations after charging fees, give undergraduate admissions, carry out placements in universities, polytechnics and Colleges of Education, adding that other universities are only supposed to send their requirements and preferences.

Kuye said the only exception is post-graduate admissions,

stressing that today, universities charge another amount, sometimes higher than JAMB’s to conduct a parallel examination, which clearly defies the Act, while also giving admissions using methods known to no one else. The lawmaker stated categorically that post-UTME infringes on the sole right of JAMB to give admissions.

Kuye said the House in 2016 ordered the Ministry of Education and the National University Commission (NUC)to ensure the immediate abolition of post-UTME in the universities, a decision he said was hailed

by parents who felt that they were being used as cows to be milked.

The House member stressed that post-UTME is not transparent, and that it is even more fraud-prone than JAMB Computer Based Test (CBT) which he said had greatly reduced fraud, eliminating text message answers, buying answers online and impersonation.

Kuye argued that post-UTME is not standardised, and the process is fraud-prone, while the money realised is serving as a slush fund for universities to loot as it is unaccounted for.

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UNICEF: 15m Nigeria Children Need Basic Support Bassey Inyang in Calabar United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said about 15 million children in

Nigeria are seriously in need of basic support in various aspects of their lives.

The disclosure was made by the UNICEF Chief of Field

US Awards $523,314 Grants to Nigerian Civic Groups Adedayo Akinwale ín Abuja The United States has awarded $523,314 in grants in accordance to its 2019 annual program statement.

The US mission in Abuja, in a statement issued yesterday. said that a total of 16 projects were funded that would address pertinent issues of concern to Nigerian citizens.

It said the grant recipients include non-profit organisations such as Global Peace Foundation, Centre for Change and Community Development, Development Initiative for West

Africa, and arts organisations like the Jos Repertory Theatre.

These projects were focused on empowering marginalised women for economic development, providing educational opportunities and development; enhancing social cohesion to foster conflict prevention and promoting peace and security.

It also revealed that a one-day workshop was organised on October 29, to mentor the 16 grantee organisations on best practices in project management and to familiartize them with the US Embassy grants management procedures.

Office in Enugu, Ibrahim Conteh, while delivering his remarks at the opening session of an event to mark the 30th anniversary of the inauguration of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Speaking with journalists at event tagged: “Youth Talk for CRC @ 30” with the theme: “The Naija We Want - Improving Access to Quality Education for Youths,” which took place yesterday in Calabar, Conteh said: “UNICEF

is supporting the government in their budgeting process to do public finance management to ensure that the issues of children are being addressed when they are doing their budgeting. Our aim is to see that every child everywhere deprived is supported.

“There are over 15 million children in Nigeria and every child needs support in basic services: in education, in health, in nutrition, etc part of our core commitments is actually

to ensure that wherever the child is, every child needs all the basic services and our support to every child is the same. Though we try to focus on the more deprived areas, we are supporting up to five million children in Nigeria directly. We also work with the government.”

Conteh said UNICEF would continue to provide support to government at all levels to ensure that issues affecting the welfare and the future

of children are adequately addressed.

“We give support to government for their strategic plan. In UNICEF, our mandate is for children and we support children in different aspects like in water and sanitation, nutrition, education, health, HIV/AID and others. We also support government in public finance management in making sure that the government is able to provide sufficient budget for children’s issues.”

Abiodun Advises FG to Deregulate Oil Sector Idowu Sowunmi Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, has harped on the need for the deregulation of the petroleum sector to make fund available for the provision of basic amenities to the people.

Abiodun stated this when he received members of the Depot and Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN), who paid him a courtesy visit in his Oke-Mosan office in Abeokuta, saying it was increasingly becoming difficult to provide infrastructure, hence the need to embark on deregulation.

“We can actually embark on deregulation and save about a trillion naira, and if these savings are put into road infrastructure, the citizens of Nigeria will appreciate it,” he said.

The governor, who noted that deplorable condition of roads is the biggest problem confronting the people, said: “In the course of my campaign, we realised that the biggest problem that our people have is the state of our intra-city and township roads.

That is the biggest problem.”

“If you just fix roads in this state and do nothing else, our people will be happy because it facilitates every other thing. If people can move from point A to point B, they can transport their children to school, move their products and produce to

the markets and go to work on good roads, they will be happy.”

Abiodun, who said he was not impressed by the marginal drop on local consumption of petrol from 56 to 53 million litres per day due to border closure, said the drop was an indication that little has been achieved.

“NNPC showed some numbers that arose from the border closure that the consumption of fuel has dropped from 56 to 53 million litres daily.

It shows that we have achieved very little. When you look at the N145 charge in Nigeria and the N320 that is charged in the neighbouring country, there is more than enough to go round to compromise everybody.

So, we cannot continue to deceive ourselves. We must do something about it,” he said.

The governor commended the association for its commitment to national development, calling for partnership in the area of advice to ensure that the system continues to work.

Abiodun used the opportunity to call on members of the association to invest in Ogun State, saying the state is a factor in the supply and distribution chain, as it’s a host to one of the NNPC biggest depots in the country and with gas pipelines crisscrossing the the state.

Ahmed: I Requested for Sarah Alade’s Appointment Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Hajia Zainab Ahmed has hailed the appointment of a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CNN), Dr. Sarah Alade as the Special Adviser on Finance and Economy to President Muhammadu Buhari.

In a statement issued by her Special Adviser, Media and Communication, Yunusa Tanko Abdullahi, Ahmed said: “It is gratifying to receive the news about the appointment of Dr. Sarah Alade by President Muhammadu Buhari,

Commander- in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces, as Special Adviser on Finance and Economy.

“I made an express request to have Dr. Alade join the team to support us in the work with the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC).”

“Dr. Alade is obviously coming into her new role with a vast experience in finance and economy. I wish to express my profound gratitude to President Buhari for his foresight and diligence in selecting and picking our best brains as we strive to get our economy working again.”

OILY AFFAIR …

L-R: General Manager, External Relations, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC), Igo Weli; Business Relations Manager, Steve Okwuosah; Group General Manager, National Petroleum Investment Management Services, Musa Lawan; and Head, Sales and Marketing, OES Energy Service Limited, Rosy Edward-Awoloja, at the public launch of a book, “Top Tier: The Leading Upstream Companies in Nigeria held in Lagos…recently

Wike: Niger Delta Govs Behind NDDC Audit The Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, yesterday said that the Niger Delta governors were behind the directive by President Muhammadu Buhari to audit the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

Wike explained that the governors had told the President

during their visit to about the rot in the commission and the need for a forensic audit of the interventionist agency.

Wike, who made these revelations when members of the commission’s interim board visited the Government House in Port Harcourt, added that apart

from the demand for the audit of the commission, the Niger Delta governors also urged the President to set up a Board of Governors for NDDC. “Niger Delta governors asked for the forensic audit of the NDDC when we met with the President. We also asked for

the setting up of the Board of Governors for the NDDC. “Those who fought for the establishment of the NDDC will weep that the commission has deviated from its mandate.

NDDC has collapsed; NDDC has become a cash cow for politicians,” Wike explained.

FCT Police Smash Kidnap Syndicate, Arrest 26 Suspects Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja The joint counter kidnapping operation conducted by the Federal Capital Territory Police Command yesterday, in collaboration with the Nigerian Army and other security agencies, has smashed a kidnapping syndicate and arrested 26 suspects.

The joint operation was carried out at the wake rising incidence of kidnapping in the nation’s capital, which include the recent kidnap of a police inspector, a personnel of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corp who later died and several others.

The FCT Police Commissioner, Bala Ciroma, who paraded the kidnappers led by one Usman Abdullahi said the kidnappers at various times collected ransoms ranging from N8 million to N13 million from families of kidnapped victims while some of the victims lost their lives in the their hands.

Ciroma narrated that the suspects were arrested in several hideouts in Kuje, Kwali and Abaji area councils during the joint operation, which was tagged ‘Operation Sharan Daji.’

He said the command recovered four locally fabricated firearms, one dane gun with 10 rounds cylinder loader, four

cartridges, three cutlasses, three face masks and 24 wraps of Indian hemp and charms.

Police operatives also arrested a member of another kidnap gang named Juri Abubakar whose gang terrorised residents of Yangoji while he was on his way to supply food to the kidnap gang in their hideout.

His arrest followed a tip off that a victim kidnapped by the gang was in a den and the gang members were expecting payment of ransom.

“Before the police team got to the den of the kidnappers, they escaped thereby scuttling the ransom payment.

“Concerted efforts are

being made to arrest alleged members of the gang whose names were given as Ibrahim Usman, Dahiru, Jayah, Saidu and Awalu.

Similarly, police operatives attached to Abaji Division has arrested another five-man kidnap gang including a student of the University of Abuja who said the money they made from kidnapping was used to “attend night clubs.”

The alleged members of the gang are Zaharadeen Abubakar, 23 years, Hamza Garba, 25 years, Usman Ibrahim, 25 years, Jubril Yusuf, 24 years and Ismail Omadivi, 20 years old.

House, NNPC Assure Nigerians of Fuel Availability during Xmas Peter Uzoho The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the House of Representatives have assured Nigerians that there will be no fuel scarcity during the upcoming Christmas period and even the New Year.

The Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr. Mele Kyari, and the Chairman, House of Representatives’ Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Hon. Abdullahi Mahmud Gaya, gave the assurance yesterday in Lagos during an inspection

tour of the newly rehabilitated Ijegun-Egba access road.

The road project was funded by the petroleum product depot owners operating in the community to help alleviate the plight of the residents and also ease movements of petroleum products in and out of the community.

Speaking to journalists at the tour, Kyari who led the inspection team to the area, said over 2.6 million litres of petrol was available to carry Nigerians throughout the festive season.

He, however, allayed fear of any scarcity of fuel arising from distribution glitch, saying the corporation has a robust supply plans to make sure such does not occur.

Kyari said: “We have over 2.6 billion litres of product in tank and in marine in the country, petrol in particular. We have a robust supply plan that stretches well across the Christmas period and into the New Year and actually forever. Our plans are robust, so we have no fear what so ever of any supply disruption or distribution recession, and

Nigerians will go to Christmas peacefully.”

He said the era of sharp practices by unscrupulous persons in the supply and distribution activities has gone, adding that: “I have never seen this level of alignment of stakeholders as we see today and I know that those sharp practices of the past are gone for good. “That’s why we are talking to our partners, the deport owners and every stakeholder, and they have assured us that nothing like that will happen”.

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Rivers APC Crisis: I was Accused of Plotting to Kill Buhari, Says Abe Ernest Chinwo in Port Harcourt A former lawmaker, representing Rivers South-east Senatorial district, Senator Magnus Abe, has lamented that people opposed to his ambition to be governor of Rivers State went as far as accusing him of plotting to kill President Muhammadu Buhari in their bid to scuttle his ambition.

This came as he gave reasons why he went to court against some persons who wrote libelous stories against him

in the media.

Abe, in a statement he personally signed and titled: “Rivers APC Crisis: No One Can Rewrite History,” said Nigerians are aware that the crisis in the APC in Rivers State had its origin in the alleged unconstitutional decision of the leader of the party in the state, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi, to summarily expel him, and other leaders of the party in the state that were sympathetic to his governorship ambition for no discernible reason.

The senator further alleged

that Amaechi’s directive to unilaterally exclude party members from all party activities without due process was also the origin and the root of the crisis in the party.

He alleged: “Indeed, prior to the troubled congresses, the then state chairman of the party, Chief Ibiamu Ikanya, called an all-inclusive stakeholders/state SEC meeting of Rivers State APC where all the issues were amicably resolved, including the distribution of forms to all aspiring party members.

“An all-inclusive committee

was set up to implement the resolutions of that meeting, as soon as the minister was informed of this move, he not only dissolved the committee but he voided the efforts and consensus decisions reached by the entire leadership.

“The minister directed that in keeping with his earlier directives at the Dome, members of the party perceived as sympathetic to Senator Abe be excluded from the congresses and denied the forms they paid for.”

The former Chairman,

Senate Committee on FERMA at the 8th National Assembly said those members, Ibrahim Umar and 22 others who went to court, rightfully secured an injunction on the facts but again alleged that the minister directed the party to disobey.

Abe added that he approached the courts because in an unprecedented sponsored media campaign, the facts were buried and re-crafted by hired publicists for the minister who became the face of the attempt to re-write history.

“Those who went to court

were accused of working for Governor Nyesom Wike and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The courts were promoted as Wike’s supermarkets. Some of Amaechi’s publicists went as far as accusing me of plotting with the Vice President to kill President Buhari and collecting billions of Naira from Governor Wike and the PDP to destabilise the APC in Rivers State.

“I was painted to the Nigerian public as a desperate politician who destroyed his party because of his personal ambition.”

FEC Approves N58.488bn for Road Construction Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja The Federal Executive Council (FEC) presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday in Abuja approved N58.488 billion for the construction of Bida-SachiNupeko road and Nupeko-Patigi bridge across the River Niger.

Briefing reporters at the end of the weekly cabinet meeting, the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, said the road and the bridge would link Kwara and Niger states to facilitate movement between South-west and North-central.

According to him, the project, which was first awarded in 2013 without the bridge, would be completed in 30 months.

“FEC approves the contract for the construction of BidaSachi-Nupeko road and the Nupeko-Patigi bridge across River Niger, linking Nupeko and Patigi in Niger and Kwara State.

“The project is to link Niger and kwara together and facilitate connectivity from South-west to the north central and the north of Nigeria.

Fashola said it is an old contract that was awarded in 2013, but was terminated for non-performance, and revaluated.

“It didn’t have a bridge then. So, we have added the bridge now, approved for 58.488 billion and is expected to take 30 months,” he said.

WORTHY HONOUR… L-R: Society Relations Manager, EMEA, Sammya ZamZam; Managing Director, EMEA, CFA Institute, Gary Baker (CFA); Charter awardee, Sunday Matthew Olumoroti (CFA); Board member, Sade Odunaiya (CFA); and CFA Society President, Banji Fehintola (CFA), during a charter award ceremony for 64 new investment professionals who have earned the prestigious CFA designation in Lagos…recently

P&ID Scam: Former Director Claimed Draft Agreement Sent House Calls for Increased Security around Judicial Officers to AGF, Says Witness Adedayo Akinwale ín Abuja

Alex Enumah in Abuja A prosecution witness in the trial of the former Director of Legal Services in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Grace Taiga, yesterday told an Abuja High Court that the defendant claimed to have forwarded the draft of the contractual agreement between Nigeria and an Irish firm, Process and Industrial Development (P & ID) Limited to the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice for necessary action.

The witness, Umaru Babangida, an official of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) made the revelation while giving evidence as the second was of the prosecution (PW2) in the matter.

Taiga is standing trial on an eight-count charge bordering on criminal breach of trust and gratification among others.

The EFCC in the charge, specifically accused Taiga of signing the said agreement without obtaining approval of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) as required by law.

Taiga however pleaded not guilty to the charges and was admitted to bail in the sum of N10million.

The said agreement entered in 2010 has resulted in a serious litigation between Nigeria and

P&ID Limited.

A British Commercial Court in August this year held that the firm can seize assets belonging to Nigeria anyway in the world to recover the sum of $9.6billion judgment debt in its favour.

Nigeria has since appealed the UK ruling and had also obtained an order of court to freeze assets belonging to the Irish firm in Nigeria, after the firm was convicted by an Abuja Court for economic sabotage, money laundering and tax evasion amongst others.

At the commencement of trial yesterday before Justice Olukayode Adeniyi of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) sitting in Apo District of Abuja, the witness, who claimed to be the leader of the EFCC’s team investigating the circumstances surrounding the signing of the agreement said, Taiga made the claim during interview and also in her written statement at the headquarters of the commission in Abuja.

Being led in evidence by the prosecution’s lawyer, Abba Mohammed, the second prosecution witness said the defendant personally brought herself to the office of the EFCC even though a letter inviting her for interview was sent to the office of the AGF and Minister of Justice.

House of Representatives has called on security agencies, especially the Nigerian Police to increase security and protection around judicial officers across the country.

At the plenary yesterday, which was presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Ibrahim Wase, Hon. Luke Onofiok raised a motion of urgent national importance on the need for security agencies to ensure the release of Justice Chioma Nwosu of the Court of Appeal, Benin Judicial Division, who was recently kidnapped.

He expressed worry that judicial officers were becoming preys in the hands of criminals and the security of their lives and that of their families was under serious threat.

He noted that the risks and dangers associated with performance of judicial responsibility on the lives of judicial officers and their families made it imperative for judicial officers to be provided a safe, comfortable and conducive environment to operate.

Onofiok recalled that some weeks ago, Justice Abdul Dogo of Federal High Court in Akure was kidnapped on

his way to discharge his official functions and was later released after spending some days in kidnappers’ den.

He said few days after the release of Dogo, Justice Nwosu was kidnapped in brutal circumstances where his orderly was shot dead and the whereabouts of Nwosu is not known till now.

Onofiok added that though ordinary Nigerians have been groaning with the increased kidnapping in the country, he noted that the recent events have shown that privileged Nigerians are not immune either.

In his contribution, Usman Kumu said security challenges could not be tackled without adequately funding the security agencies.

He was of the opinion that when the issue for unemployment is tackled and the security agencies are well funded, it would be easy to tackle the menace.

Also, Yusuf Gangi said there was need to take pragmatic step to stem the scourge, while also stressing the need for the security agencies to revisit their strategy in order to put an end to insecurity issues in the country.

Jonathan, Wike Shun PDP Mega Rally in Bayelsa Emmanuel Addeh in Yenagoa Former President Goodluck Jonathan was conspicuously absent yesterday at the grand finale of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship campaign in Bayelsa State.

The absence of Jonathan, who failed to send either a written message or a representative, at the rally attended by some PDP governors, further lent credence to the breakdown in relationship between him and the state governor, Seriake Dickson.

Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike, was also missing in action at the mega rally that was held at the Ox-Bow Lake Pavilion, Yenagoa, the state capital.

But the National Chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus led other national executive members of the party to the occasion, which was attended by mammoth crowd of party faithful.

The Governors of Sokoto, Aminu Tambuwa; Bauchi, Bala Mohammed, who is the Chairman of the PDP Campaign Council; Imo, Emeka Ihedioha and Delta states, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, graced the occasion.

Also present were some of the PDP National Assembly members, various youth and women groups, who turned the event to a carnival.

Secondus, who presented the flag of the PDP to the party’s

governorship candidate, Senator Douye Diri, described Bayelsa as a PDP state and warned security agencies against compromising the election.

He said the PDP was on ground in the state, alleging that there was no federal presence of the APC in Bayelsa.

He said the APC took the control of the federal government from former President Goodluck Jonathan, a son of Bayelsa and appealed to voters to shun the APC. Secondus, who derided the APC candidate, Chief David Lyon, said there was a huge difference in qualification between him and the candidate of the PDP. He said while Diri was tested,

trusted and educated to govern Bayelsa, Lyon lacked the academic qualifications to represent Bayelsa as a governor.

He said: “There is a great difference between our candidate and their candidate. Lyon cannot represent himself. It is not enough to say I want to be a governor.

It is not a village affair. We don’t want people who will go there and will not represent Bayelsa.

“If they wished Bayelsa good, will they bring that kind of candidate? Douye Diri has been tested and has performed. He will not hire professors. He is professor himself. With Douye and his running mate, what else are you looking for? Don’t be deceived.”

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THURSDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor Duro Ikhazuagbe Email duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com 0811 181 3083 SMS ONLY

Eaglets Crash out of FIFA U-17 World Cup in Brazil NFF denies Coach Manu Garba has been fired from the job Duro Ikhazuagbe

Forward Sontje Hansen netted a hat-trick against the Golden Eaglets early hours of Wednesday to knock out five-time champions Nigeria 3-1 from the ongoing 2019 FIFA U17 World Cup finals in Brazil and book a ticket in the quarter finals.

The Ajax Academy product produced two brilliant goals in the opening 15 minutes to put his side in front, then placed the match out of reach of floundering Nigerian Eaglets with his penalty

in the 80th minute.

However, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) dispelled speculations in the social media that Head Coach of the Eaglets, Manu Garba has been fired from the job.

Spokesman of the NFF, Ademola Olajire, dismissed the speculations, insisting that the board of the federation would need to meet and review the team’s overall performance before a decision is reached on the coaching crew. “As I speak with you

(THISDAY), no decision has been taken on the coach yet.

The news of the sack of Manu Garba is from the fertile minds of those who are speculating it,� declared Olajire.

The Dutch lost their first two matches of the competition and only got into the knockout stage thanks to their 4-0 defeat of USA in their final group phase encounter, while Nigeria topped Group B following wins over Hungary and Ecuador and shock defeat to Australia.

The Golden Eaglets’ untidy habit of conceding early in their

games proved ill-advised this time, as Sontje Hansen scored in the fourth minute and then followed up with two more goals to render Olakunle Olusegun’s goal from a blistering shot in the 12th minute of no effect.

A game of very high intensity at the Estadio Olimpico was decided by tactical awareness, silky skill, economic football and good organization, with the Eaglets doing most of the running but failing to get their passes right in the critical zone. They were also guilty of wayward shooting.

After Olusegun cancelled Hansen’s first goal, the Nigerian youngsters had themselves to blame for Hansen’s second, which arrived no thanks to sloppy defending of a free kick in the 15th minute. A poorly cleared ball fell at the feet of the gifted Hansen at the edge of the box, and he let fly a rasping drive that goalkeeper Daniel Jinadu had no answer to.

Oluwatimilehin Adeniyi got a poor touch on the ball from Ibrahim Sa’id’s cross in the 22nd minute and a stinging Sa’id shot was parried by the Dutch goalie

11 minutes later. In the second half, Charles Etim’s good shot in the 54th minute only rattled the Dutch goalkeeper, and four minutes later, Akinkunmi Amoo should have done better when he had only the opposing goalkeeper to beat.

Coach Manu Garba introduced Divine Nwachukwu and Ibraheem Jabaar while withdrawing Peter Olawale and Sa’id, but Nigeria could find no way back into the game in the manner they did against Hungary and Ecuador in their first two matches.

Nigeria’s Team off to FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Players and officials of the beach soccer national team, Supersand Eagles, will jet out of the country on Friday to Paraguay for this year’s FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup finals.

The two-time African champions picked a ticket for the 10th edition of the global finals after finishing second behind Senegal at the Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations staged in Egypt in December last year.

This year’s FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup will hold between 21st November and 1st December in Asuncion, capital of Paraguay. Match venue is the ‘Los Pynandi’ World Cup Stadium, named after the Paraguayan national beach soccer team and located at the headquarters of the Paraguayan Olympic Committee in Greater Asuncion. “We are travelling early to Asuncion in order to participate in an eight-nation pre-competition tournament that will take place in Asuncion, 12th – 16th November. After the tournament, the team will continue intensive training ahead of our first match against Portugal on 22nd November,�

Team Administrator, Sunday Okayi, announced yesterday.

The pre-competition tournament will involve Oman, Tahiti, Paraguay, Nigeria, Belarus, United Arab Emirates, Senegal and one other team to be confirmed.

Nigeria, winners of the African title in 2007 and 2009, and quarter –finalists at the World Cup in 2007 and 2011, have a mountain to surmount in Group B against Brazil (ranked world number one), Portugal (ranked world number two) and Oman (ranked number 14 in the world). Nigeria is ranked 21st in the world.

Host nation Paraguay will tackle Japan in the tournament opening game on 21st November. After their first game against Portugal on 22nd November, the Supersand Eagles take to the beach against Oman on 24th November and then against Brazil two days later.

Head Coach Audu Adamu ‘Ejo’ has listed veterans Abu Azeez and Victor Tale in his final squad of 12, with Emmanuel Ohwoferia, Emeka Ogbonna, Godspower Igudia, Dami Paul and Taiwo Adams also in.

Godwin Tale (Victor’s younger brother), Egan-Osi Ekujimi, Babatunde Badmus, Godwin Iorbee and Hameed Kareem are the other names on the list.

GROUPS

Group A: Paraguay, Japan, Switzerland, USA Group B: Uruguay, Mexico, Italy, Tahiti Group C: Belarus, United Arab Emirates, Senegal, Russia Group D: Brazil, Oman, Portugal, Nigeria

Nigeria’s 3x3 Basketball Teams in Uganda for FIBA Africa Cup The national 3x3 teams departed Abuja yesterday for Kampala, Uganda aboard a Rwanda Air flight for the 2019 FIBA 3x3 Africa Cup. Kano Pillars duo of Godwin David and Lucky Subel alongside Agu Ibeh (Gombe Bulls) and Victor Koko (Rivers Hoopers) made the final men’s team released by the Team’s head coach, Chris Acha.

For the women, Zenith Bank Women Basketball League winner, Okah Chinwe of Air Warriors of Abuja will team up with Gloria Umeh (Plateau Rocks), Dangosu Theresa (Customs) and 2019 Africa

Games gold medalist, Ifunaya Okoro (First Bank).

Despite all four making their debut at the senior level, the team will hope to go a step further and surpass her silver medal finish at the 2017 edition. The men’s team won the inaugural edition in 2017 and settled for the bronze medal at the 2018 edition hosted in Lome, Togo.

The u-18 boys team comprises of Oyedokun Olamilekan (Flygerian Academy), Akomolafe Olamilekan (Kwara Falcons), Mustapha Oyebanji (Kwara Falcons) and Kanyinsola Odufuwa (Hoops and Read)

L-R: Director General of the Lagos State Sports Commission (LSSC); Toyin Gafar, Chairman of LSSC, Sola Aiyepeku; Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his Deputy, Obafemi Hamzat with match oďŹƒcials at the ďŹ nal of the 2019 COPA Lagos Beach Soccer Tournament in Lagos‌last weekend

LSSC Will Give Sports a New Lease of Life in Lagos, Says Aiyepeku The newly appointed Chairman of the Lagos State Sports Commission (LSSC), Sola Aiyepeku, has promised to give sports the focus it deserves as part of the vision of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s THEMES agenda.

Speaking at the Final of the 2019 Copa Lagos at the weekend, Aiyepeku also said working with Toyin Gafar, the Director General of the commission and Commissioner for Youth and Social Development, Segun Dawodu, makes the task even more exciting. “The governor has mandated us at the sports commission to reinvigorate and optimize the opportunities sports provide in Lagos. Our goal is to work with him and the commissioner to create social and economic value through sports for Lagosians.

“We at the commission are very lucky to have a commissioner in charge who is very passionate and has vast experience in sports administration.

Remember that Mr Segun Dawodu was once a commissioner for youth and sports in Lagos. His support so far has been huge and his experience will definitely be an asset for us. We see sports as an opportunity to not only engage youth but to alter behaviour for better, build a sports culture for recreational and competitive sports, discover and nurture talents that will represent Lagos and indeed Nigeria. “We also hope to work with stakeholders in the professional and amateur ranks to provide access, support and platforms on which they can build sports teams and activities to complete

our own activities and to create and ecosystem that contributes economically to Lagos.�

Aiyepeku cited the recently concluded Copa Lagos as an example of what his vision is.�

Copa Lagos for instance holds for three days. In that period, young people have a social activity to meet and engage and build connections. The footballers have a platform to showcase their skills, represent their country, increase their value and portray their countries in good light.

Brands have an opportunity to engage and connect with their target markets and gather more data about their behaviour and consumption preferences. “SMEs also have a window to sell their products and services.

All of these have been achieved just through one single platform.

The governor, the deputy

governor, the minister of sports and the commissioner for sports in Lagos were all here to signal a new vista in sports and to show their support and commitment to sports in Lagos. “The governor’s vision is to have many more platforms like this so we can multiply the benefits and that’s a challenge we have embraced.

The LSSC chairman said working with Mr. Gafar and with the support of the Commissioner, “we will develop a holistic plan to engage all sectors of sports in Lagos and then focus on execution and optimization.

Lagosians can look forward to an exciting time as far as sports is concerned under our leadership. It’s a challenge that excites us and we will deliver on the governor’s agenda for sports in Lagos.�

Port Harcourt Hosts 2nd Gladiators Football Camp After Lagos and Abuja hosted the maiden edition of the Gladiators Football Camp, the city of Port Harcourt has been selected as the venue of the second edition slated to hold between December 8 and December 14, 2019.

The annual camp is being organised by the Dynaspro Sports Promotion and Advanta Interactive Ltd, in collaboration with UK-based Football CV Academy. The venue of this

edition is the Bloombreed Schools in Port Harcourt.

According to the Coordinator of the project, Oluseyi Oyebode, the camp would continue with its ideal of bridging the gap between education and football. “The aim of the camp is to bridge the gap between education and football and also to encourage studying while playing football,� he said.

For this year, Oyebode said: “The highlights include learning

basic techniques, marrying education with football. There will also be mentoring of players

by UK coaches, with two outstanding players selected to visit FCV Camp in UK,� he added.

He however, said the decision to move the camp to Port Harcourt was aimed at meeting the yearnings of the South-south region of the country. Already, registration has commenced across the country.

For the Head of Bloombreed Schools, Ahmed Kamal, the college’s decision to host the camp was aimed at providing opportunity for participants from the region. “The school decided to host the camp as an avenue to provide opportunity to young people, ages 6-18 years, to hone their skills and also explore alternative career paths as they make progress in their academic pursuits.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

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MISSILE Bianca Ojukwu to Willie Obiano “Tell Obiano that there is no evil spirit in the venue of Ojukwu memorial lecture.

This is the second time the event is holding and Obiano doesn’t want to attend by himself. Tell him that he is gratuitously handing over the credentials for history to call him an ingrate who steps on all the benefactors that held the ladder for him to climb to political power” – Widow of the late Biafran leader, to Anambra Governor for shunning Ojukwu memorial lecture.

OLUSEGUNADENIYI Lai Mohammed and the Social Media THE VERDICT

olusegun.adeniyi@thisdaylive.com

I

was in Maiduguri in 1992 with the current Managing Director of ‘The Nation’ newspaper, Mr Victor Ifijeh, then a political correspondent for Concord Newspapers, to cover the National Assembly election under the ‘guided democracy’ of General Ibrahim Babangida.

The battle for the Borno Central Senatorial district was between Hajia Kolo Kingibe, wife of then Social Democratic Party (SDP) National Chairman, Ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe and Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff of the National Republican Convention (NRC). In those days, Kingibe used to describe Ifijeh as ‘the campaign manager of M.K.O. Abiola in Borno’ because the latter had visited the state several times while working for the late Abiola’s newspaper.

In the course of monitoring the keenly contested senatorial election, Ifijeh and I met with Kingibe who said, “Victor, I can imagine what Concord headline will be if Kolo loses this election. Okay, let me help you: ‘Kingibe’s wife floored’. We laughed over it and while we observed the election, the official result had not been declared before we left Maiduguri for Lagos. Ifijeh himself was not sure who had won the election by the time we arrived Lagos so he didn’t file a report and did not go to the office. But the next day, relying on a news alert from the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Concord newspaper (I suspect Mr Tunji Bello, then political editor) came with a lead story on the contest. Guess the headline? ‘Kingibe’s Wife Floored’.

Quite naturally, Ifijeh felt bad when he saw the newspaper but there was nothing he could do about it. A few days later, before addressing a press conference at the SDP national secretariat, Kingibe sighted Ifijeh and remarked, “Victor, you couldn’t even resist the headline I gave you.”

I recall that story against the background of memories that have flooded back in recent weeks on a WhatsApp group, cobbled together following the death of Mr Tunji Olawuni, a former political editor with Vanguard newspaper. Between Bosun Odedina (now Oluwabusayomi), Feyi Smith and Deba Uwadiae (now based in the United States), it was decided that a few of us who reported politics in the nineties be contacted to support the burial. Many joined us and the burial has since been done but the WhatsApp group remains, comprising mostly of majority of the Big Boys (and a few Big Girls) political reporters during the aborted Third Republic.

With all of us scattered across the world and after almost three decades, we are now able to reconnect, thanks to the power of social media. As we reminisce and recall salacious stories of mischief at a time when men were boys, there is a suggestion that we produce a book on the politics of the era in Nigeria. I don’t know how that will work out but it is an interesting prospect.

However, what the virtual reunion has demonstrated is the power of social media to build stronger relationships while connecting long-lost friends and relations. Besides, with social media, every individual can now communicate their views over different topics with a large number of audiences, and elevate their voice. But it is not without its own downsides. From being a distraction in the workplace to the negative impact it has

Lai Mohammed on mental health, there are serious problems with the social media. Perhaps the greatest danger is that social media has become a weapon for spreading information that is too often false and potentially damaging to the larger society.

It is within this context that we should interrogate the statement on Tuesday by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, that the federal government would regulate social media in Nigeria. “No responsible government will sit by and allow fake news and hate speech to dominate its media space, because of the capacity of this menace to exploit our national fault lines to set us against each other and trigger a national conflagration,” he said.

While hate speech has long been with us, what is new is ‘Fake news’. Before I deal with the substance of this intervention, let me first address that. A recent European Commission Working Paper offers several definitional perspectives, using different sources that include, “News that is made up or ‘invented’ to make money or discredit others; news that has a basis in fact, but is ‘spun’ to suit a particular agenda; and news that people don’t feel comfortable about or don’t agree with”; “Verifiably false or misleading information that is created, presented and disseminated for economic gain or to intentionally deceive the public, and in any event to cause public harm”; “All forms of false, inaccurate, or misleading information designed, presented and promoted to intentionally cause public harm or for profit”; “Perceived and deliberate distortions of news with the intention to affect the political landscape and to exacerbate divisions in society” etc.

If we go by those definitions, there is no doubt that much of what transpires today on social media is not only fake but inimical to the development of our society. And there is a strong argument to be made for regulating such harmful contents in our country. This is also an ongoing global debate. In June this year, the Wall Street Journal posed a question, ‘Should the Government Regulate Social Media?’ to University students across the United States. As to be expected, opinions

were diverse even though majority are for non-regulation. Zachary Handler, a history student at the University of California, Berkeley who endorsed regulation said that “elected governments across the world should step in to restore some degree of popular control to the institutions that now shape our public engagement and political debate.”

Several countries are already implementing measures of control. Following the live streaming of the New Zealand shootings, Australia in April this year passed the Sharing of Abhorrent Violent Material Act which prescribes criminal penalties for social media companies, financial penalties worth up to 10 percent of their global turnover and possible jail sentences for their executives.

Earlier in 2015, the Enhancing Online Safety Act had been enacted with the appointment of an eSafety Commissioner with the power to demand that social media companies take down harassing or abusive posts. In Germany, the NetzDG law which applies to companies with more than two million registered users in the country empowers the authorities to review complaints and order removal of contents considered harmful within 24 hours.

What the foregoing clearly indicates is that the enactment of laws and regulations that protect all of us should not be controversial.

But is that what the federal government is planning? I doubt. The publisher of Sahara Reporters remains incarcerated despite a controversial bail by an Abuja court. It is worth remembering that his main offence was sending “messages by means of press interview granted on Arise Television network which you knew to be false for the purpose of causing insult, enmity, hatred and ill-will on the person of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

I understand the frustration of the federal government and particularly that of Alhaji Lai Mohammed. Just six years ago, he was the toast of the media as he assailed then President Goodluck Jonathan whom he characterised in words that would be deemed ‘treasonable’ in today’s Nigeria. What he forgot is that what politicians say and do when seeking power most often comes back to bite them when they eventually get what they want. In a piece titled “Goodluck to the President”, published on this page on 31st May 2012 at a period Jonathan was marking his first year in office as elected president, I reminded him of what I told his handlers in May 2010, during the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua illness saga.

I repeated that same story for the benefit of Buhari on 27th May 2015, two days before he assumed office.

My contention was that courting public adulation, as the Jonathan crowd did in

2010, and Buhari’s people did in 2015, could ultimately prove to be counter-productive.

To drive home my point, I used a fictional account of events which followed the death in 1997 of Princess Diana as depicted in ‘The Queen’, a multiple award winning 2006 British film starring Helen Mirren. As it would happen, the ‘Change’ agents were obviously too drunk on their electoral success at the time to pay attention so let me repeat the story as captured in the movie about the drama at Buckingham palace after the death of Princess Diana.

While Queen Elizabeth II saw Diana’s death as a private family affair, then newly elected Prime Minister Tony Blair exploited the situation by reflecting the public wish for an official expression of grief. This instantly earned Blair public acclamation while the Queen became so unpopular that many were even calling for the abrogation of the monarchy. The instructive dialogue from the encounter (as depicted in the film) goes thus: Queen Elizabeth II: You don’t think that the affection people once had for me, for this institution, has been diminished?

Tony Blair: No, not at all. You are more respected now than ever.

Queen Elizabeth II: I gather some of your closest advisers were less fulsome in their support.

Tony Blair: One or two but as a leader, I could never have added my voice to that chorus.

Queen Elizabeth II: Because you saw all those headlines and you thought: ‘One day this might happen to me’...

Tony Blair: Oh... er...

Queen Elizabeth II: (cuts in): ...and it will, Mr. Blair; quite suddenly and without warning...

Now that the ‘Change’ exponents have moved from the passenger’s side to the driver’s seat of government and their ammunition of ‘blame Jonathan’ propaganda is exhausted as an excuse for every challenge, Alhaji Lai Mohammed contends that social media is the problem. He may need to look at himself in the mirror.

In all these, what the federal government should understand is that a nation divided along partisan, sectarian, geo political and ethnic lines is a breeding ground for hate speech and the weaponisation of falsehood masquerading as alternative truths. The technology of social media only makes it easier for a thousand lies to multiply.

It is in that context that the source of the current social media excesses in Nigeria can be located. While the negatives must be condemned, the immediate challenge is not to constrain free speech but to run a less divisive government. Moreover, a desire to sanitize free speech in the social media must not become a guise to gag and clampdown on regime opponents.

Reuben Abati’s Day Yesterday, Simon Kolawole and I (we share same birthday) received so many messages of goodwill. I was even indulged with a giant cake by Tunde Ahmadu and his people at the Shehu Musa YarAdua Centre. Last night, Mrs Sandra Adio and my wife conspired for a big ‘come and eat’ affair that brought together unexpected guests. And an epidemic of birthday cakes. I appreciate everyone.

Today is for my aburo, Dr Reuben Abati.

He may claim he is younger than me by just one day. But being Yoruba himself, he is well aware that those 24 hours are enough for me to demand he prostrates anytime we meet. I wish His Excellency, the Ogun State deputy gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) a happy birthday.

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