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Jim Ovia, IT Practitioners to Headline Zenith Tech Fair Nosa Alekhuogie

The second edition of the Zenith Tech Fair with the theme, “Future Forward 2.0,” would be held on Tuesday, November 22 and Wednesday, November 23, 2022, at the Eko Convention Centre, Eko Hotels & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, from 8.00 a.m. to

6.00 p.m. daily.

Conceived in the mould of global technological events such as the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and EmTech Asia, the fair would showcase leading technology innovations that cut across different aspects of life, such as Artificial Intelligence, Computing, Machine Learning,

Blockchain, Robotics, Big Data, FinTech, Augmented Reality, Data Analytics, 5G and Communication Technologies, among others.

According to a statement yesterday, the event would also feature Hackathon sessions to identify innovative startups, panel discussions, masterclasses and exhibitions.

The two-day fair would feature a welcome address by the Founder and Chairman of Zenith Bank, Jim Ovia and opening remarks by the Group Managing Director of Zenith Bank and Chairman, Body of Banks' CEOs, Nigeria, Mr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu.

The keynote address, "The Future of Banking: Digital

Transformation Journey," would be delivered by Brett King, a renowned futurist, bestselling author, award-winning speaker, Founder of Moven and Author of Bank 4.0. Other eminent IT practitioners who represent top global brands would make presentations.

These include Senior Partner,

McKinsey, Tarik Alatovic; West Africa Director, Google, Juliet Ehimuan; Country Manager, Microsoft Inc., Ola Williams; Vice President/Head, Visa West Africa, Andrew Uaboi; Director of Information Technology, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mrs. Continued on page 5

More Troubles for P&ID as Firm Owned by Danjuma Drags Ex-partner to Court over $40m Loss... Page 5 Friday 18 November, 2022 Vol 27. No 10083. Price: N250

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S’East Businessmen Support Tinubu's Presidential Bid with N1bn... Page 43

UTM Offshore, JGC,Technip Energies Sign Agreements on Nigeria’s FLNG Peter Uzoho Nigeria’s quest for energy transition received a huge boost on Wednesday

as an indigenous firm, UTM Offshore Limited signed agreements with three technical partners - Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR) UK;

Japan Gas Corporation (JGC) and Technip Energies Limited - for the commencement of the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) for

Nigeria’s first Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) facility.

The agreements were signed at a brief event at the Hilton Park Lane,

London, UK. The FEED contract with the three firms essentially entails conducting for UTM Offshore Limited, various

studies to figure out technical issues and estimate rough investment costs Continued on page 5

Bawa: Naira Redesign Significant Step to Economic Recovery Says more governors being monitored for stashed cash ICPC recovers N117bn in eight months Arraigns former customary court of appeal judge CBN directs banks to work on Saturdays to beat deadline for return of old banknotes Story on page 5

SIGNING THE FLNG AGREEMENT FOR NIGERIA...

L-R (Front): Chief Operating Officer, Technip Energies Limited, Mr. Marco Villa; Managing Director, UTM Offshore Limited, Mr. Julius Rone; President, JGC, Mr. Tadashi Ishizuka; and Vice President (Operations), KBR, Mr. Paul Baillie. (Standing) L-R: Mrs. Utibe Rone; Executive Secretary, NCDMB Mr. Simbi Wabote; the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva; President Afreximbank, Prof. Benedict Oramah; Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the UK, Ambassador Sarafa Ishola; CEO, Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Mr. Farouk Ahmed; and CEO, Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Mr. Gbenga Komolafe, at the signing of the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) Agreement for Nigeria’s first FLNG in London…recently

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More Troubles for P&ID as Firm Owned by Danjuma Drags Ex-partner to Court over $40m Loss Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja with agency report A firm owned by a billionaire and former Nigerian Defence Minister, Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma is suing Process and Industrial Development (P&ID), an ex-business partner that is at the centre of a London trial over an $11 billion arbitration award.

Documents from the previously unreported court action, obtained by Bloomberg, further compounded the mounting efforts by the company whose officials are also facing antigraft agencies in Nigeria on their roles over what the federal government had described as a sham contract.

A UK tribunal ordered Nigeria’s government in 2017, to pay P&ID $6.6 billion in damages after a gas-supply deal soured and the amount had ballooned with interest. The federal government has since then sought to set aside the court judgment.

In 2019, a source close to Danjuma, revealed to THISDAY how the former minister was double-crossed on the project by the company’s promoters, saying that the gas-to-power project was Danjuma’s original idea, which he introduced to one of the promoters of P&ID, Mr. Michael Quinn, who he subsequently engaged as consultant.

He said Quinn later double-crossed Danjuma to clinch the deal with the federal government.

“Danjuma actually engaged Quinn as a consultant to his company, TitaKuru Petrochemicals Limited, but after obtaining as much as $40 million to prepare the feasibility studies of the project, the Irish went behind to set up a shell company and used it to take the contract from the federal government,” he had told THISDAY at the time.

The source identified the shell company as P&ID, alleging that Quinn colluded with a former presidential adviser on petroleum and some officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as it was then called, to pull the deal.

According to him, when the deal went sore and P&ID went into

arbitration, Danjuma demanded to be briefed but that Quinn and his partner, Brendan Cahill, simply disappeared and became unreachable.

But Bloomberg reported yesterday that Danjuma’s TitaKuru Petrochemicals Ltd. brought its own arbitration claim against P&ID in London in, alleging that its designs had been “unlawfully misappropriated” to secure the gas contract, Nigeria said in a filing to a UK court in February.

“P&ID firmly denies that it unlawfully misappropriated anything from Tita-Kuru,” the company’s majority shareholder, Seamus Andrew, said by email, declining to comment further on the arbitration because the proceedings are confidential. A spokesman for Danjuma declined to comment, according to the report.

Danjuma, 83, amassed a fortune after retiring from the army as a senior general in the late 1970s and going into business.

He founded South Atlantic Petroleum Ltd., which holds a 15 per cent interest in two oil fields that produce about 200,000 barrels of crude a day. Danjuma also served as Nigeria’s defence minister from 1999 to 2003.

Tita-Kuru and British Virgin Islands-registered P&ID worked together from 2006 on an unsuccessful project to build a gas-processing plant. Danjuma’s firm claimed in a 2019 letter sent to Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa has once more praised President Muhammadu Buhari and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the new naira redesigning project, describing it as a significant process in the country’s fight against financial crimes and other forms of corruption as well as a major step towards economic recovery.

Bawa also disclosed that the number of governors under close watch of the anti-graft agency over alleged money laundering has increased from the three earlier mentioned.

He said these while answering questions from newsmen shortly after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, Abuja, yesterday.

The EFCC boss said these just as the Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Prof Bolaji Owasanoye, yesterday disclosed that the commission recovered over N117 billion between January and August 2022.

Also, the CBN yesterday disclosed that it has directed commercial banks in the country to work on Saturdays till January 31, 2023, to enable their customers return the N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes that are to be redesigned.

Bawa had, about a fortnight ago, hinted of the EFCC’s surveillance operations around three governors, whom he alleged were being watched over moves associated with money laundering, at the wake of the federal

lies, the Bloomberg report added.

P&ID denies all allegations of wrongdoing and accuses the government of evading its legal obligation to pay it compensation.

While P&ID was entitled to use the design work paid for

by Tita-Kuru for the facility it intended to build under the contract with the state, most of the plans ultimately were “not required,” the company said in its response to the government’s allegations in September.

UTM OFFSHORE, JGC, TECHNIP ENERGIES SIGN AGREEMENTS ON NIGERIA’S FLNG for the FLNG facility prior to the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) phase of the project. The timeline for this phase of the FLNG project is 10 months.

The FEED contract signing was a follow-up to the successful execution of the pre-FEED agreement between UTM Offshore Limited with JGC, a leading international engineering design, procurement and construction firm, a statement explained.

It revealed that the Pre-FEED scope was completed within four months from the commencement date.

KBR provided due diligence on the JGC scope by conducting a third-party review of all deliverables from JGC during the Pre-FEED phase.

UTM Offshore Limited entered into the pre-FEED agreement with JGC and KBR in May 2021.

At the signing ceremony, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of UTM Offshore Limited, Mr. Julius Rone, underscored the fact that like most other nations of the world, Nigeria was keen on and working assiduously towards achieving energy transition.

He said Nigeria’s energy transition necessarily should start with moving from huge dependence on crude oil to gas.

“Like I have said in several fora, for us in Africa, especially Nigeria, energy transition is steeped in harnessing our abundant gas resources,” he said, adding, “At UTM Offshore, we completely agree with President

Muhammadu Buhari that given Nigeria’s potential of about 600 trillion cubic feet of gas, the commodity has the enormous potential to diversify our country’s economy.”

He explained that the rising global demand for cleaner energy sources had offered Nigeria an opportunity to exploit gas resources for the good of the country.

“We thank the president for making gas development and utilisation a national priority to stimulate economic growth, further improve Nigeria’s energy mix, drive investments, and provide the muchneeded jobs for our citizens in the country,” he added.

Rone disclosed that UTM Offshore was impressed with JGC’s and KBR’s handling of the pre-FEED component of the FLNG project hence the resolve to reengage the firms for the main FEED Phase.

“JGC Corporation came highly recommended, given the several similar projects the firm had undertaken across the world. Indeed, of the total number of five FLNGs in the world today, JGC Corporation was involved in the design, construction, and commissioning of three,” Rone said.

He stated that UTM did not take for granted the fact that what it was doing was largely novel, pointing out that it was the first of its kind in Nigeria.

“Today, we are here to consummate the very fantastic working relationship

between UTM FLNG, KBR, JGC, Technip Energies Ltd, and Cryogas Equipment Private Limited as we sign the main Front End Engineering Design (FEED) for Nigeria’s first Floating Liquefied Natural Gas Facility,” he said.

Speaking at the FEED contract signing event, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva applauded the pioneering efforts of Rone and UTM Offshore, adding that the federal government would continue to support and create the enabling environment for business investments in the country, especially in the area of gas development.

“The PIA is already improving the petroleum industry's reputation, paving the way for new investments, creating jobs, supporting the economic diversification agenda, and strengthening Nigeria's ability to fulfill the world's expanding energy demand,” he said.

The minister reiterated the federal government’s determination to leverage on natural gas as the nation’s transition fuel, with UTM’s Floating LNG Technology as the game changer.

While stressing the significance of innovation, technology, and policy as key drivers of change in the energy sector, Sylva maintained that gas remained the solution to ensuring Nigeria’s energy security, economic competitiveness, and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

The minister noted that the UTM FLNG would target the processing of

BAWA: NAIRA REDESIGN SIGNIFICANT STEP TO ECONOMIC RECOVERY Deji Elumoye, Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja and Hammed Shittu in Ilorin

that P&ID presented work that cost Tita-Kuru $40 million to win its deal with the government.

Nigeria repeated that argument in July to a UK court, where it seeks to overturn the multibillion-dollar arbitration award that P&ID won five years ago.

President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration is now preparing for a London trial in January, during which it will try and prove that P&ID secured the gas-supply contract and arbitration award through bribes and

government’s plan to redesign the N1,000, N500 and N200 notes.

Answering questions from newsmen, the EFCC boss, however, refused to put a figure to the increase, saying he did not want to be misrepresented.

He said: "On the issue of the governors that we are monitoring, in fact, the numbers have even increased. We are monitoring everything, Nigerians are helping.

Well, I don't want to give you the figures so that you will not go and speculate whether they are in the north or in the south, but it's important that Nigerians key into it.”

Asked if it was true that the EFCC was using an application called ‘the Eagle Eye’ to monitor governors wanting to use stashed funds to pay salaries, he said “you are mixing two things; the Eagle Eye is an app, it's a novel idea of the EFCC that we launched for the ease of reporting crimes to us.

“Nigerians can easily download it on their phones, either Android or Apple or whatever, and then they can send in complaints to us through the Eagle Eye, you can even take pictures and send.

“Let me use this opportunity to remind Nigerians that Eagle Eye is very important for those that are reporting the holders of these currencies that we know that are out there. So that is one".

According to him, the huge amount of the country’s currency that has left the hold of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) makes trailing financial crimes difficult, noting that the naira redesigning is an opportunity for the government to regain control over flow of cash in the country.

According to him: "You know that there is an obligation of money laundering law that we have, in which an individual is expected to carry out a transaction that is above five million naira, through the financial institution, there is also the threshold in which a corporate entity is expected to carry out transactions that is above 10 million in the financial sector and why is it so? “It is so because financial institutions are expected to be making currency transaction reports, and suspicious transaction reports to relevant agencies. With that, institutions like us will be able to monitor which funds are legitimate and which ones are not legitimate.

“Here we are now, in which 85 per cent of our currency is out in circulation and people are carrying out transactions above the thresholds as provided for by this provision over and above that we will not be able to monitor, we don't know what they're doing.

“These are the transactions that are creating and giving avenue to other forms of crime that we’re seeing in this country; payment of ransom, banditry, and all of that, payment of bribery to political actors, and the arrest.

“So, we are happy with this naira redesign in the sense that, it will give central bank an opportunity of going back to square one, by the time they collect all these monies back to their system, then they are going to control the money that they are going to release to the system.

“Then, of course, once the monies are back within the financial institution, it will help to further boost economic activities in the sense that there will be more money for

people to borrow and then we on our own part, we'll have the avenue of monitoring what we are doing with all these huge resources that are out there before that are now within the financial institutions.

“So it is a good thing for all of us, for the entire country and that is why we are calling on Nigerians to embrace the policy, to thank the President for coming up with this and then of course, to champion the cause of the successful implementation of this naira redesign,” he said.

The EFCC boss, however, appealed to politicians to go about their campaigns without using illegitimate funds in their campaign finances.

His words: “For politicians the message is very clear. Of course you know, they should sell themselves, they should talk about issues. We want to hear about how they are going to solve the problems, not what the problems are, I think it is very important and I think they are doing that. And then of course we encourage that they shouldn't use illegitimate funds in their campaign finances and all of that.”

ICPC Recovers N117bn in Eight Months Meanwhile, Owasanoye, the ICPC Chairman has disclosed that the commission recovered over N117 billion between January and August 2022.

The disclosure came as the agency arraigned a former Judge of the Imo State Customary Court of Appeal, Francis Chukwuma Abosi for allegedly altering an official document to falsify his age and confer an unfair Continued on page 8

associated gas currently flared in order to cut carbon emissions and monetise additional reserves for the domestic and global markets, which aligns with the federal government’s gas flare commercialisation programme, and the decade of gas agenda.

President of African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Prof. Benedict Oramah, lauded the tenacious and transparent pursuit of the FLNG project by Rone and his UTM team, pledging the full backing of the bank for the project.

He said: “Nigeria is a gas zone; the country holds the highest reserve of gas in Africa, but for years, we were burning our wealth through gas flaring.

“It is a good thing that President Buhari decided to press the pause button so that Nigeria can optimise the utilisation of the country’s gas resources to enhance the lot of the nation, and create wealth for the people from what is abundant in the country.”

The UTM and Afreximbank had signed a $5 billion MoU for the financing of the FLNG in December 2021 with Oramah saying, “The UTM FLNG is one of the projects Afreximbank is very proud of; just like the Dangote refinery. We are proud to be associated with these two projects in Nigeria.”

Also, at the contract signing event in London, Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Ambassador Sarafa Ishola underscored the full backing of the federal government for the project.

“This is one of the occasions that makes us very proud as representatives of Nigeria in other countries,” he said, adding, “Nigeria is committed to climate change and COP 23 and what UTM, conceiving and actualising Nigeria’s first Floating LNG conforms with energy transition strategy of the Government of

Nigeria.”

At the event were the heads of the regulatory authorities in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, the Executive Secretary of Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Mr. Simbi Wabote; the Chief Executive Officer, of Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Mr. Gbenga Komolafe; and Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Mr. Farouk Ahmed.

All the regulatory chiefs commended the tenacity of Rone and his team and pledged their continuing support for the project.

Top officials of the UTM FLNG’s technical partners, including the President of JGC Holdings, Mr. Tadashi Ishizuka; Chief Operating Officer of Technip Energies Limited, Mr. Marco Villa; the Vice President of KBR, Mr. Paul Baillie; and Head of LNG Operations at Vitol, Mr. Steve Brann, committed to concluding the project in a record time.

UTM Offshore Limited is pioneering the development of the FLNG facility in collaboration with LNG Investment Management Services (LIMS), a subsidiary of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation PLC (NNPC Limited).

The facility, a newly built vessel, would receive gas feedstock from an existing offshore facility, treat it to the required LNG standard, liquefy the gas, store the LNG and offload to LNG carriers.

When completed, the floating LNG shall have an LNG production capacity of 1.2 mmtpa, Turret and Mooring System, Gas pre-treatment modules, LNG production modules, living quarters, self-contained power generation and utilities as well as capacities for LNG storage and offloading.

JIM OVIA, IT PRACTITIONERS TO HEADLINE ZENITH TECH FAIR Rakiya Mohammed; Managing Director, Huawei Technologies Nigeria, Chris Lu, and Deputy Managing Director of Zenith Bank Plc, Dr. Adaora Umeoji, amongst others.

The fair would feature three panel discussions. The first panel, which would examine, "The future of payments: what next and how can we get there," has Prof. Yinka David West of Lagos Business School as the host, with four discussants, including Agada Apochi, Managing Director, UPSL; Olu Akanmu, Managing Director, Opay; Premier Oiwoh, Managing Director, NIBBS; and Kari Tukur, V/P & Head of Products East/ West Africa, MasterCard.

The second panel would explore the theme, "What are the main challenges of digital transformation in the financial industry? How do we solve them?". It would be hosted by Brett King and has four discussants, including Tosin Eniolorunda, Managing Director, TeamApt; Obi Emetarom, Managing Director, Appzone; Dr. Babatunde Obrimah, COO, FintechNGR; and Olugbenga Agboola, Founder/CEO, Flutterwave.

The third panel discussion is titled, "Driving the global trade revolution with technology: current

transformation trends." The panel, which will be hosted by Samuel Eze, Founder/CEO, Ourpass, has five discussants, including Mike Ogbalu III, Managing Director, PAPSS; Akeem Lawal, Divisional CEO, Interswitch; Massimiliano Spalazzi, Country Manager, Jumia; and Dr. Ozoemena Nnaji, Director of Trade & Exchange, CBN. The first edition of the Zenith Tech Fair was held on November 27, 2019, at the Landmark Events Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Tagged 'Future Forward', the fair featured a hackathon which produced ten winners, including Octave Analytics Limited, who won the grand prize of N10 million; Neohaul Technologies, the first runner up who received N6 million prize; and reQuid Technologies, the second runner up who won N5 million. Other winners who took home N1 million each included Termii, Xcard Nigeria Limited, Payonhold, Escrow Inc, Alerzo, Nairapacket and Qview.ai.

“To register and participate, visit www.zenithbank.com/techfair.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email. The fair will be live on Zoom for participation and streamed on the bank’s social media pages including YouTube,” the statement added.

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Group News Editor: Goddy Egene Email: Goddy.egene@thisdaylive.com, 0803 350 6821, 0809 7777 322

UBA MANAGEMENT VISITS KENYAN PRESIDENT...

L-R: Kenyan Cabinet Minister, Treasury, Prof. Njoroge Ndungu; Director, United Bank for Africa(UBA) Kenya, Moses Obonyo; Group Managing Director/CEO, UBA, Mr. Oliver Alawuba; President of Kenya, Dr. William Ruto; Managing Partner, Greenhouse Capital, Olubukunmi Olufemi Demuren; and Regional CEO, East and Southern Africa, UBA Plc, Ebele Ogbue, during the visit of UBA management to the President at the State House in Nairobi, Kenya...yesterday

Shell Completes Turnaround Maintenance on 225,000bpd Bonga FPSO ahead of Schedule Ejiofor Alike Efforts by the Nigerian government to ramp-up oil and gas production to generate more revenue have continued to receive a boost as Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCo) yesterday announced that the 2022 Turnaround Maintenance (TAM) of the Bonga Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel has been completed.

The Bonga FPSO, with a

processing capacity of 225,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and storage capacity of 2 million barrels of crude oil, was shut down on October 18, 2022.

The exercise had drastically reduced crude oil production from the deepwater field, though the oil giant was silent on the volume of production that was deferred.

However, the company said in a statement yesterday that the facility, which was shut down to carry out statutory inspections, recertifications and other critical

asset integrity restoration activities, has resumed operations.

“The 2022 TAM which was originally planned for 30 days was completed in 22 days on November 9, 2022, thanks to excellent front-end planning and flawless execution.

“Commissioning and start-up activities are in progress and will culminate in ramp up of oil and gas production in the coming days,” the statement explained.

Shell had pioneered deepwater development in Nigeria, when

SNEPCo launched the Bonga FPSO vessel in November 2005.

The development of the Bonga deepwater oilfield had increased Nigeria’s oil production by 10 per cent at the time and stimulated the growth of relevant support industry.

Located in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 118, formerly Oil Prospecting Lease (OPL) 212, the 60 square kilometre field is situated in water depths of more than 1,000 metres.

The Bonga concession was

Buhari, Emefiele, Ahmad, Wigwe, Others for International Financial Inclusion Conference IFIC'22 opportunity to showcase Nigeria, says CBN governor Dike Onwuamaeze The National Financial Inclusion Steering Committee (NFISC) which is headed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday announced that President Muhammadu Buhari would be the guest of honour at the International Financial Inclusion Conference 2022 (IFIC’22), which would be hosted in Nigeria for the first time on November 24th and 25th, 2022, in Abuja.

The theme of the IFIC’22 is “Financial Inclusion for all: Scaling Innovative Digital Models.”

A statement signed on behalf of the Secretariat of the National Financial Inclusion Technical Committee (NFITC) by Dr. Paul I. Oluikpe, stated that the conference would feature “the launch of the revised National Financial Inclusion Strategy, the Nigeria Financial Services Maps (NFS Maps), the Women Agent Framework, the National Fintech Strategy and the Payment System Vision 2025.”

Also, it would present the Innovation Labs exhibition highlighting innovative products and solutions and the Financial Inclusion Awards, which recognises stakeholders who have contributed to tackling exclusion and the advancement of financial inclusion in Nigeria.

It further stated that through

the IFIC’22, Nigeria would lead an important global conversation on the journey to closing the financial inclusion gap for the last mile in Sub-Saharan Africa and globally.

Commenting on the IFIC’22, CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, who is also the Chairman of the NFISC was quoted to have said: “We are excited to host the maiden International Financial Inclusion Conference in Nigeria. The conference presents a unique opportunity to showcase our financial inclusion journey, particularly the innovative use cases that continue to emerge within the dynamic payments and financial system in the country.

These will be important as we work to ensure 95 per cent of Nigerians are financially included by 2024.

“The conference also creates a platform to spotlight other countries' experiences, the role of policy innovation, digital technology and out- of-the-box approaches in tackling exclusion in underserved segments, and the strategic importance of public-private partnerships to promote digital financial services and economic sustainability.”

The IFIC’22 would bring together delegates, experts and speakers across the world to examine the opportunities, identifying concrete solutions and interventions that

would ensure achievement of the nation’s financial inclusion objectives.

Other distinguished personalities expected at the conference are the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha and the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Mr. Isa Ali Pantami.

Also policymakers expected to deliver keynotes during the IFIC’22 include the Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Mrs. Elsie Addo- Awadzi; Special Adviser to the President, International Labour Organisation (ILO), Ambassador Chad Blackman; Executive Director, Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), Dr. Alfred Hannig, and Deputy Governor of CBN, Mrs. Aishah Ahmad, amongst others.

Other speakers expected at the conference include the Group CEO of Access Holdings Plc, Mr. Herbert Wigwe; Senior Programme Office, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Ms. Anna Wallace and the CEO of Financial Alliance for Women, Ms. Inez Murray; Former Deputy Governor Central Bank of Lesotho & Chair Expert Leaders Group of the Graca Machel Trust, Ms. Gail Makenete; the CEO of PAPSS, Mr. Mike Ogbalu III, and Associate Dean of the Lagos Business School, Professor Olayinka David-West, amongst others.

The statement noted that notable

advancement had been recorded in the area of financial inclusion in Nigeria since the launch of NIFS in 2010.

It added: “The NFIS set the target for financial inclusion in Nigeria at 80.0 per cent by 2020.

But since its launch, advancements have been recorded in financial inclusion, resulting in the exclusion rate dropping from 46.3 per cent in 2010 to 35.9 per cent in 2020 (despite significant annual growth in the eligible bankable population per annum) according to the Access to Financial Services Survey conducted by EFINA. The national target for inclusion has since been revised to 95 per cent by 2024.”

Oluikpe attributed the progress recorded in NFIS to significant evolution of the Nigerian payments and financial system driven by rapid technological innovation, emergence of a vibrant digital economy and the proactive regulatory policies of the CBN and other policymakers. The everincreasing diversity of participants, products and services deployed within the financial ecosystem presents unique opportunities to fast-track the expansion of financial inclusion to a greater number of Nigerians, closing the inclusion gaps in selected segments such as the youth, rural dwellers and women, it added.

awarded in 1993 during the first round of bidding for Nigeria's deepwater frontier acreage.

It is operated by SNEPCo (55 per cent) on behalf of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) under a Production Sharing Contract (PSC).

Production facilities in the project comprises one of the world's largest FPSO vessels and deepwater subsea infrastructure.

The field's initial 16 subsea oil producing and water injection wells were connected to the two million barrel storage capacity FPSO by production flowlines, risers and control umbilicals.

Being the first deepwater development in Nigeria, Bonga had scored firsts in many fronts.

First, the construction of Bonga

FPSO was the first time inconel clad Steel Catenary Risers was used on an FPSO anywhere in the world.

Second, it was also in Bonga that the first, largest and most technologically advanced polyester moored deepwater buoy was built in Nigeria.

While Samsung Heavy Industries had constructed the 300,000 tonnes FPSO hull in South Korea, AMEC built and integrated the 22,000 tonnes oil processing topsides facilities.

The FPSO vessel’s capacity has since been upgraded in recent years, allowing SNEPCo to expand the field with further drilling of wells in Bonga Phases 2 and 3, and through a subsea tie-back that unlocked the nearby Bonga North West field.

Senate Rejects Documents NLRC Presented on N756m Service Wide Vote Sunday Aborisade, in Abuja The Senate Public Accounts Committee (SPAC) has rejected documents submitted by the Nigerian Law Reform Commission (NLRC), which explained how the N756 million the Commission collected from the Service Wide Vote (SWV) was spent.

The fund was meant to carry out the Revision of Law of the Federation.

The Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Jummai Audi appeared before members of the Committee to defend the funds the agency received from the Service Wide Vote from 2017- 2021 currently being investigated by the Senate.

He appeared before the senators and was unable to satisfy them on how the funds was disbursed and spent.

The Committee noted that members of the Law Reforms panel collected sitting allowances totalling N3 million when no meeting was held.

The lawmakers also observed that one person appended his signature for about 15 people.

The Chairman of the

Committee, Senator Mathew Urhoghide, complained that the Commission failed to itemise how the N756 million was spent by the commission for the production of Revision of Nation's Law. He said, "You did not itemise how you spent N756 million, the papers are not properly put together.

"We have found out that the papers are not properly put together, if we tell you to go back do it again, you will not be able to do it.

"The disbursements for money were disconnected for over period of time, list out all the expenditure.

"Make available, all things used money for and attach receipt to them, put your people together, we just want to be sure that the money was used , our your account and furnace department together."

When the Committee asked the Chairperson when the Revision of Law of the Federation would be ready, she said, "It is not within me to determine it, we have submitted it to the printer to print the it."

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NEWS

PTAD AT THE STATE HOUSE WEEKLY BRIEFING...

L-R: Executive Secretary , Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), Dr. Chioma Ejikeme; Director, Pensioner Support Services , Nneka Obiamalu ; Director , Civil Service Pension , Shelleng Sulayman and Director , Customs ,Immigration and Prisons Pension department Abdullah Abubakar, at the State House weekly briefing held at the presidential Villa, Abuja...yesterday GODWIN OMOIGUI

NBS: 133m Nigerians Living in Poverty Sokoto, Bayelsa, Jigawa, Kebbi, Gombe, Yobe are poorest states Declares over half of the poor are children 29% of school-aged children not attending school James Emejo in Abuja No fewer than 133 million Nigerians, representing 63 per cent of the population are currently living in multi-dimensional poverty, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed yesterday.

Of the total, 105.98 million poor Nigerians are located in rural areas compared to 16.97 million in urban areas.

In August 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari committed to empowering an additional 100 million people to escape extreme poverty by 2030.

This implied that on average, 10 million people must be lifted out of poverty each year, starting in 2020.

However, with the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on livelihoods, and unemployment, the challenge was more evident.

According to the Nigeria Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2022 Survey, which was

released yesterday by the statistical agency, there are high deprivations in sanitation, time to healthcare, food insecurity, and housing.

Also, poor people experience over one-quarter of all possible deprivations.

Moreover, both the incidence and intensity of poverty at 62.9 per cent and 40.9 per cent respectively exceeded the 26 per cent poverty cut-off threshold.

The report stated that over half of the 200 million population who are multi-dimensionally poor cook with dung, wood, or charcoal, rather than clean energy.

According to the report, multidimensional poverty is higher in rural areas where 72 per cent of the people are poor compared to 42 per cent in urban areas.

It stated that about 70 per cent of Nigerians live in rural areas, yet these areas are home to 80 per cent of poor people.

The report pointed out that the North accounted for 65 per cent or

86 million poor Nigerians while 35 per cent or about 47 million people living in poverty reside in the South.

The incidence of multidimensional poverty was high in Sokoto State which accounted for 96 per cent of poor Nigerians and the lowest incidence of 27 per cent was recorded in Ondo.

In terms of the proportion of poverty and its intensity, the poorest states included Sokoto, Bayelsa, Jigawa, Kebbi, Gombe, and Yobe.

"But we cannot say for sure which of these is the poorest because statistically, their confidence intervals or the range within which the true value falls considering the sample overlap, " the report noted.

The report, among other things, said two-thirds of children aged 0-17 are poor and accounted for 65 per cent compared to 58.7 per cent of adults, adding that "This gives rise to the sobering reality

that over half of all poor people are children".

The report also stated that the incidence of monetary poverty was lower than the incidence of multidimensional poverty across most states.

It pointed out that the incidence of national monetary poverty stood at 40 per cent in 2018/2019, compared to 63 per cent who are multi-dimensionally poor in 2022.

The report also noted that 29 per cent of all school-aged children are not attending school while 94 per cent of all out-of-school children are poor.

The report, among other recommendations, urged the government to set child poverty reduction as a top national priority.

The survey further stated that, "While the COVID-19 regulatory measures implemented in Nigeria helped to control the spread of the virus, many of these necessary and lifesaving measures had deleterious effects on livelihoods, health,

Osinbajo: Govt Has Broken Bureaucratic Obstacle with Ease of Doing Business Initiative Justifies rise in fintech since 2015 Backs proposed Ondo deep seaport project Deji Elumoye in Abuja The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo yesterday said the federal government has broken the nation's bureaucratic hurdles with the ease-of-doing-business initiative.

Osinbajo said this at the State House, Abuja, while playing host to some of the participants at the ongoing Nigeria Diaspora Investment Summit (NDIS) led

by Chairman/ CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa and the Acting Governor of Ondo State, Mr. Lucky Orimisan Ayedatiwa.

In a statement by his spokesman, Laolu Akande, Osinbajo observed that the challenges involved in working through a bureaucracy accustomed to being more of an obstacle than a facilitator.

He however added that, “we are breaking that - bureaucracy is everywhere and tends to be that way and after a while, regulators (of businesses) don’t recognise

anymore that the reason they are there is to facilitate business.

They are more policemen than facilitators.”

The vice president also acknowledged that some regulators were beginning to understand that the economy depends on how well they do their work and how easy it is for people to come through their gates and leave their gates with some success.

According to him: “There is a great deal more attention being paid to achieving something and we have had discussions with several of the regulators including the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN and National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC. We have seen substantial changes in their approach and attitude.

“For example, if you recall, if you were doing any sort of banking business, you need to take a banking license of N25 billion. CBN in response to some of the work being done

agreed that for many financial intermediary services, there was a need to create other licenses that were not that expensive.

“We have about six categories of licenses where, in some cases, you don’t pay up to a N100 million. This is why we were able to get a lot of these fintechs between 2015 and now, taking these cheaper licenses because a lot of them do financial intermediation on electronic platforms, doing payment processes. There are quite a few of them, but 5 of them are now considered unicorns, companies’ worth over $1 billion.”

Osinbajo also welcomed the idea of the possibility of venture capitalists in the diaspora willing to invest in start-ups in the country.

Earlier in her remarks, Dabiri-Erewa, said through the intervention of the Nigeria Diaspora Investment Summit, “in the last five years, we have had investments, particularly in

the area of agriculture, medicare, ICT and education.”

In a related development, Osinbajo has lent his support for the initiative to build a seaport in Ondo State saying he believed the project is something worth being executed.

He said this at the State House, Abuja, while receiving on audience the Acting Governor of Ondo State, Mr. Lucky Orimisan Ayedatiwa.

Ondo State Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu had been promoting the vision of the state government on the development of a deep seaport in Ilaje area of Ondo advocating the adoption of public private partnership, involving the federal government in order to realise the vision.

Speaking earlier, the acting governor sought the support of Osinbajo in securing the approval of the Federal Executive Council regarding the Ondo Deep Seaport Project.

human wellbeing, state-society relations, and social harmony.

"The Nigerian economy has grown post-COVID, with the real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate rising from -1.92%

in 2020 to +3.40 per cent in 2021.

"Despite this economic recovery, the lingering impact of the 2020 recession has undermined household welfare and exacerbated poverty and vulnerability."

B AWA : N A I R A R E D E S I G N S I G N I F I C A N T ST E P TO E C O N O M I C R E C OV E RY advantage upon himself.

Owasanoye made the disclosure before the House of Representatives’ committees on Anti-Corruption and Appropriation during the commission’s defense of the 2023 Budget Proposal in Abuja.

While speaking on the 2022 budget performance, the Chairman gave a breakdown of the recoveries to include N1.413 billion and $225,965 in ICPC/TSA recovery account and N1.264 billion cash through tax intervention.

Other recoveries included plots of land, completed buildings, vehicles, electronics and jewelries valued at N679.13 million, N2.603 billion, N81.1 million, N1.55 million and N195,500 respectively.

The ICPC boss added that the commission restrained N49.9 billion through System Study and Review intervention; N6.435 billion cash through budget tracking; N53.91 billion through ICPC advisory and N614.2 million in other accounts.

Apart from the recoveries, the chairman also highlighted other accomplishments of the commission during the 2022 budget cycle to include but not limited to completion of 672 investigations as well as 565 non-petition-led investigations; securing of 15 convictions; 538 projects tracked under Constituency and Executive Projects Tracking Initiative (CEPTI); deployment of Ethics and Integrity Compliance Scorecard on 260 MDAs; review of open treasury portal in 30 MDAs; System Study and Review of 10 MDAs; inauguration of 26 AntiCorruption and Transparency Units (ACTUs); 14 corruption monitoring activities undertaken; and public enlightenment and education of Nigerians on and against corruption through various platforms.

The agency has also arraigned a former Judge of the Imo State Customary Court of Appeal, Francis Chukwuma Abosi for allegedly altering an official document to falsify his age and confer an unfair advantage upon himself.

A separate statement by the

commission said Abosi was brought before Justice U.P Kekemeke of the FCT High Court, Maitama Abuja on a three-count charge bordering on forgery and conferring unfair advantage on himself by ICPC. Investigations revealed that during his appointments in 2010 and 2014, Abosi filed November 17th, 1958, as his date of birth in the National Judicial Council Data before the Chairman of the National Judicial Council (NJC).

However, luck ran out on him when the NJC wrote to the Nigeria Law School to verify his records.

Unfortunately, findings from both the Law School and his alma mater, the University of Nigeria Nsukka, showed that he was born on the 17th of November 1950.

Consequently, the NJC suspended the defendant from office and recommended him to proceed on compulsory retirement, which he complied with. The Council then went on to report the matter to ICPC.

Return of Old Naira Notes: CBN Directs Banks to Work on Saturdays The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed commercial banks in the country to work on Saturdays till January 31, 2023, to enable their customers return the N200, N500 and N1,000 banknotes that are to be redesigned.

This is to enable them beat the deadline of January 31, 2023, for bank customers to change the old banknotes.

Speaking at the CBN fair in Ilorin, Kwara State, yesterday, with the theme, "Promoting Financial Stability and Economic Development," the Director, Corporate Communications Department at the apex bank, Mr. Osita Nwasinobi, said the new and existing currencies shall remain legal tender and circulate together until January 31, 2023, when the existing current shall cease to be legal tender in Nigeria.

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TINUBU MEETS SOUTH EAST STAKEHOLDERS FOR SUPPORT...

L-R: APC National Chairman, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu; presidential candidate of the party, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State, at the South-east stakeholders’ meeting for private sector drivers held in Owerri...yesterday

Another Tinubu Associate, Mueez Akande, Dies at 72 Sanwo-Olu commiserates with Lagos Commissioner

Another long time associate of the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Mueez Akande has died. Akande was also the brother-in-law to Tinubu's wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu. Akande was linked to drug trafficking business in the United States of America along with Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The deceased was 72 years.

Akande was the husband of Lola Akande, a sister to Oluremi, and current Lagos State Commissioner of Commerce, Industry, and Co-Operatives. The death of the septuagenarian was confirmed by the bereaved wife.

The death of the medical doctor, a close friend and confidant of Tinubu, brings to two, business and political associates of the APC national leader who have died in the last 48 hours.

Another friend, confidant, and Lagos lawmaker, Olayiwola Olawale, popularly called Omititi, who died in Jos, the plateau state capital during the APC presidential rally was laid to rest in Lagos yesterday, according to Islamic rites.

The death of Akande came at a time the certified true copy of settlement judgement ordering

Tinubu to forfeit $460,000 drug money under the narcotic section of the US criminal code is generating controversy in the country.

The Certified True Copy of the court documents, which included the judgement delivered

by Magistrate John Nordberg of a United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, was dated August 10, 2022, and signed by Thomas Bruton and Johnny Khuu, both Clerk and Deputy Clerk, respectively, of US District Court, Northern District of Illinois.

The documents revealed how Tinubu and his associates were involved in the distribution of white heroin and money laundering between 1988 and 1992, when investigations closed in on them.

According to the documents Tinubu’s involvement in the shady deal was traced to the arrest of one Abiodun Agbele, who was nephew to one Adegboyega Mueez Akande, a major drug trafficker between the US and Nigeria.

The document read in part, “Beginning as early as 1998, Adegboyega Mueez Akande, with others operated an organisation which distributed white heroin, a

controlled substance under Title 21 of the United States Code.

"This distribution operation was conducted on a large scale and the proceeds of the operation substantial."

In a Verified Complaint for Forfeiture of funds in several accounts linked to Tinubu in First Heritage Bank and Citibank in the US, a United States Attorney, Michael Shepard, had narrated how Tinubu opened about 10 accounts in the name of Bola Tinubu and Compass Finance and Investment Limited in late December 1989 and January 1990, wherein he deposited funds far in excess of his earnings in Mobil Oil, where he was working at the time.

Some of the bank account numbers were 263226700 (First Heritage Bank), 39483134, 39483396, 4650279566 (Citibank N.A), and 52050 – 89451951, 52050 - 89451952 and 52050 – 89451953 (Citibank International) all in the US. Shepard noted that the funds in Tinubu’s accounts were suspected to represent proceeds of drugs or property involved in money laundering, hence the initiation of a warrant of seizure and monition was requested from the court.

In an affidavit deposed to in support of the Verified Complaint for Forfeiture by a Special Agent with US Internal Revenue Service, Mr. Kevin Moss, Tinubu was said to have contradicted himself during interrogation on his relationship with Agbele and Akande. While in one breath he admitted to receiving $100, 000 from Akande and used $80, 000 of the money to open the Heritage account, he had at another time denied having any financial relationship with Akande. He also denied having any other bank accounts in the US. Based on the above, Moss said they had cause to believe "that the funds in the amount of $460,000 in account in the name of Bola Tinubu represents proceeds of narcotics or were involved in financial transactions in violation of 18 U.S.C ss 1956 and 1957 and therefore these funds are forfeited to the United States”.

Shepard noted that although, “a less prima facie” case was established against Tinubu, the case was beyond mere suspicion, hence, a motion ex-parte application for order for seizure of the said funds was made by the US attorney on August 18, 1993, which was

WHO Begins Clinical Trials for Ebola Vaccine Deploys three candidate vaccines in Uganda Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja As global concerns mount over the threat of a new Ebola epidemic, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said it has commenced clinical trial against the Sudan ebolavirus—one of the six species of the Ebolavirus genus.

In a statement issued by its Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO said the first doses of candidate vaccines against the Sudan ebolavirus were expected to arrive in Uganda in the coming days, Moeti, who addressed a press conference in Uganda accompanied by the Incident Commander, Ebola outbreak, Ministry of Health, Uganda.Lt. Col. Henry Kyobe Bossa, said WHO was boosting efforts to support the governmentled response against the outbreak which has now affected nine districts, including three complex urban environments.

The statement noted that WHO’s committee of external experts had evaluated three candidate

vaccines and agreed that they all be deployed to Uganda for a clinical trial against the Sudan ebolavirus—one of the six species of the Ebolavirus genus.

It explained that unlike the Zaire ebolavirus which had sparked most of the recent outbreaks, there are no approved vaccines or therapeutics for the Sudan ebolavirus.

"The aim of the randomised trial is to evaluate potentially efficacious candidate vaccines, and to possibly contribute to ending the ongoing outbreak and protect populations at risk in the future.

"The trial is the result of a collaborative effort, coordinated by WHO with developers, academic institutions, countries’ sponsoring the production of the vaccine doses, regulatory authorities, other experts and the government of Uganda,” it said.

According to WHO, supplies of one of the three candidate vaccines were expected to arrive Uganda next week and the other two soon after.

It said trial protocol had

been conditionally approved by WHO and Uganda and the final approvals are expected soon.

It added that import permits for the vaccines were expected to be issued by the National Regulatory Authority soon.

While the trial start date was not certain yet, WHO said it was working with the Ministry of Health and Makerere University, which is leading the trial to make sure everything was ready and the trial would begin once one vaccine has arrived and all the trial preparations are in place.

"The two other candidates will be added, as they become available. The start of vaccine trials will mark a pivotal moment towards the development of an effective tool against the virus behind the current Ebola outbreak in Uganda,” Moeti said.

She expressed hope that the vaccines would be effective in stopping Ebola spread in the same way it helped to check previous outbreaks, Moeti however said it would take time to get trial

results, adding that for now the outbreak can be controlled without vaccines.

Uganda declared an outbreak of Sudan ebolavirus on 20 September.

As of 14 November 2022, there had been 141 confirmed and 22 probable cases (total of 163 cases) and 55 confirmed and 22 probable deaths (77 total deaths) reported.

Nineteen health workers have been infected with the virus and seven have died.

On 11 November, the eastern Jinja district, which hosts Jinja city, became the third urban area—after the capital of Kampala and Masaka city—to detect the virus. Jinja, located on the shores of Lake Victoria, is home to some 300 000 people. While Jinja is now impacted by Ebola, the outbreak is slowing down in six districts, with two dropping from the follow-up list as they have reported no cases in over 42 days.

“The confirmation of Ebola cases in a new district is a concern and places a further strain on the control efforts.

subsequently granted.

“It is hereby ordered that the United States Marshall shall hereby have authority to execute the warrant of seizure and monition issued ….by serving the warrant on mail on Citibank and First Heritage Bank,” the documents read regarding the judgement.

Ever since he returned to Nigeria from the US, he had lived under the radar only associating with a handful of people.

Akande, according to family sources had been ill for some time but it is not clear whether his alleged illness ultimately led to his demise. As of the time of this report, all efforts to confirm how he died from close family sources proved abortive.

Meanwhile, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide SanwoOlu, has commiserated with the Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives, Dr. Lola Akande, on the death of her husband.

Sanwo-Olu, in a statement issued yesterday by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Gboyega Akosile, symphatised with Lola Akande over the demise of her

lovely husband.

The governor also implored members of the Akande family, the deceased friends and associates to take the death of Kolapo Akande in good faith.

Sanwo-Olu urged people to see Akande's demise as the will of God and take solace in Him for a good life spent by the deceased during his lifetime and his contribution to humanity.

He said: “On behalf of my family, my cabinet, the Lagos State government, and the people of Lagos State, I commiserate with the Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives, Dr. Lola Akande, on the death of his beloved husband, Dr. Kolapo Akande.

"Dr. Akande lived a fulfilled life. He will be sorely missed by his family and loved ones. We sympathise with the Akande family, the wife, children and the entire extended families of the deceased.

“I pray for the repose of Dr. Kolapo Akande's soul. God will grant him eternal rest and comfort the family, friends and associates he left behind."

StarTimes Unveils ‘Beta Level’ Xmas Promo As Christmas approaches with funfairs and happy moments associated with the festive period, affordable pay-TV company, StarTimes has rolled out exciting plans for subscribers in its Xmas Beta Level Promo.

According to a statement yesterday, in partnership with Longrich and electronic companies like Amaz and Weyon, StarTimes would be giving families more reasons to spend time together with its Christmas upgrade promo and high-end giveaways.

The Christmas promo, which kicked off on November 15 and ends January 15 2023, offers subscribers opportunity to enjoy more exciting channels with a free upgrade plan.

“Nova, Basic and Smart bouquet subscribers who recharge for two months will be upgraded to the next higher bouquet, while Super and Classic package subscribers will get ten extra days for free when they recharge for two months.

“Also, subscribers who key into the promo will stand a chance to win fantastic prizes like home appliances that include twenty Smart TV sets and eighty blenders; PA systems; hygiene products like clippers and Longrich mouthwash,” the company’s PR Manager, Lazarus Ibeabuchi said.

“Christmas festivities are relishing moments we long for all through the year. Many families share this special period to unwind, recall, reunite, feast and refurbish their homes.

“StarTimes knows the importance of TV entertainment to nourish family bonding during this special season. Thus, we are giving families access to more enriching entertainment for less, as well as safe cost for them as we have dedicated home appliances and hygiene products to refurbish various homes,” Ibeabuchi added.

To liven up family fun moments during the festive period, StarTimes said it has also earmarked contents like Ile-Alayo season 3; intriguing telenovelas like Waves of Life; live world-class football matches; over five kiddies’ channels, and more on its over 95 TV channels.

Ibeabuchi noted that StarTimes was committed to the well-being of its stakeholders.

“In 2022, StarTimes devoted resources to supporting the creative sector in Nigeria and Africa. The pay-tv embarked on collaborations with stakeholders in the creative sector - especially with the music and movie industries - to express its dedication towards the growth and continued success of the entertainment sector,” he added.

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FOCUS Celebrating the Face of Democracy in Africa at 65 Reno Omokri Quite literally, the best President that Nigeria has ever produced is Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. Why? Because Nigeria thrives with democracy, and no other person, living or dead, has given Nigeria the democratic dividends that President Jonathan has.

You see, every election cycle produces more disputes that are taken to the various election petition tribunals than the preceding one. The only elections that bucked that trend were the Jonathanian polls. In 2011, there was a 47% reduction in election petitions from the 2007 polls.

The Chair of the Commonwealth Observer Group that monitored the 2011 Nigerian general election, former Botswana President, Festus Mogae, said of those polls: “Previously-held notions that Nigeria can only hold flawed elections are now being discarded and this country can now shake off that stigma and redeem its image.”

And the trend continued into 2015.

But post 2015, we have returned to the pre-Jonathan trend.

And why did we see that pattern under President Jonathan? Because, as he so aptly put it, “It is better to lose power at the cost of gaining honour, than to lose honour at the cost of gaining power.”

Those institutions and infrastructure for which Nigeria now depends on for her greatness and prestige bear the Jonathan imprimatur, including the single-largest individual civil engineering infrastructure in Nigeria, by way of the Abuja-Kaduna super-fast railway, which was built by the Jonathan administration.

This includes the single-largest individual investment in Nigeria since her return to civil governance in 1999, by way of the Escravos Gas to Liquid project, which is billed to provide 26% of Nigeria’s domestic gas supply, and much more for export.

And no other policy has added to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product in her history, from 1914 to date, like the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Development Act, 2010, otherwise known as the Local Content Act. That Act forced the oil industry majors to employ Nigerians in all cadres, and to only look abroad if they could not find suitably qualified Nigerians, and to award contracts to Nigerian companies for all engineering works, except no Nigerian corporation can provide the needed works and services.

That legislation has been credited as being the catalyst that saw Nigeria’s GDP overtake South Africa’s as Africa’s largest GDP, after the rebasing of our economy by the National Bureau of Statistics.

And there is much more to say.

Including that, Jonathan inspired and signed the Freedom of Information Act, which widened and deepened the democratic space in Nigeria and promoted transparency in government and the private sector.

That legislation was the spark for a conscious effort, driven by Dr. Jonathan himself, which saw Nigeria

Jonathan

eliminate corruption in the fertiliser distribution system, by way of the e-wallet system. That policy, along with the introduction by the Jonathan government of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), which the administration introduced in 2011, requiring the fingerprinting of all civil servants as a prerequisite for salary payments, helped reduce corruption in Nigeria.

Through IPPIS, Nigeria flushed out 50,000 ghost workers during the Jonathan administration’s Presidency, and $800 million that would have been paid to them in annual salaries and entitlement was saved in the treasury.

Those two policies and the FOI law were cited by Transparency International as the main reason why Nigeria made her best-ever improvement in that global agency’s Corruption Perception Index, moving from 144 the previous year, to 136, an 8-point improvement. Thus, those who say Jonathan did not fight corruption do not speak from a factual position.

Former President Jonathan was also particularly and unusually personally involved in curbing youth unemployment, probably because of his background as an indigent youth who went to school without shoes.

Nigeria has a median age of 18.3 years. Our population is young. So the Jonathan administration introduced the Youth With Innovation in Nigeria initiatives, AKA YouWIN, which according to the World Bank, was two

and a half times more effective than Mexico’s similar youth job initiative and ten times more effective than Turkey’s own version.

No wonder the National Bureau of Statistics, posited that the Jonathan administration created 6 million jobs through programmes like the YouWIN initiative, Local Content Law, Graduate Internship Scheme, Nagropreneurs and SURE-P. I know former President Jonathan personally. I named my last child after him. He is not a cleric, or a holy man, and does not have moral absolutes. But unlike a lot of people who do, I have seen him project personal virtues that have left his psyche and permeated the national psyche, thereby injecting a serum of sustained progress, which saw Nigeria becoming the third fastest-growing economy in the world under him in 2015, as ascertained by CNNMONEY (although the World Bank disputed that, and said we were rather the fourth fastest-growing economy in the world at that time), Dr. Jonathan projected these virtues, and others, like his desire to improve the lot of the then 12.5 million outof-school children in Nigeria, which saw him build 165 almajiri schools nationwide.

Nigeria’s street children have never had a mortal friend like Dr. Jonathan, who lived through poverty, and overcame it, and was determined that they would do likewise.

Which is why in addition to those

165 almajiri schools, he built 14 new federal universities, and under Jonathan, there was no Nigerian state without at least one federal university.

Born on Wednesday November 20, 1957, as one of only two surviving children to a canoe builder, Lawrence Ebele Jonathan and his wife Eunice Aye Afeni, he was doted upon by his parents as their second surviving child (the first is a successful teacher).

He would go on to get an education, sometimes having to paddle to school.

His determination to emerge as the first graduate from his line propelled him to study, until in the year of our Lord, 1981, a 23-year-old Goodluck Jonathan graduated with a Second Class Honours Upper Division degree in Zoology from the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

At that time, there was nothing like blocking in Nigeria. If you were not intelligent, you could not graduate with such high scores.

He ultimately secured a PhD in the same discipline, and became Nigeria’s first doctorate-holder President, and thus it is no surprise that not only did education thrive under his leadership, but through his vision and servant leadership, Nigeria was the first nation to defeat the Wild Ebola Virus in the year 2014.

It is for these and other feats, that I believe that Dr. Goodluck Jonathan is Nigeria’s best President ever. I am proud of him. I am honoured to have served under him. And on the occasion of his 65th birthday, I join his many admirers to say, happy birthday to the face of democracy in Africa.

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POLITICS

Acting Group Politics Editor DEJI ELUMOYE Email: deji.elumoye@thisdaylive.com 08033025611 SMS ONLY

More Diaspora Support for Peter Obi David-Chyddy Eleke writes about the growing support for the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, by some Nigerians in diaspora who are currently mobilising for his election

A

cross many states in Nigeria, supporters of the presidential candidate of Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, have shown capacity, by mobilizing themselves, both in political marches to rallies, just to dispel the believe that he only has supporters on social media, where no polling unit exists. The physical marches and attendance at rallies have fully dispelled the previous comments that those showing support for the candidate may be few people quartered in a room to post their support for the former governor on social media to make others believe that he was truly popular.

But beyond the support among people in Nigeria, Nigerians living in the Diaspora have mobilized to get Nigerians living in various parts of the world to show support for the Labour Party candidate through donations and even possibly come down to Nigeria during the election to cast their votes for him.

This is championed by a political action committee based in the United States of America, and founded by Nigerian professionals based in the country. The group, Naija We Can, has said it will mobilize 100,000 Nigerians in the diaspora to support the presidential bid of Obi. Some members of the group who spoke to THISDAY recently have outlined various reasons why they think Obi is the best candidate for the country. They described him as the only frontline candidate who has clarity of mind to decipher the country’s myriads of problems, and also outline clear plans on how to tackle them when he becomes president of the country.

Besides, they have also expressed excitement about Obi’s plan to activate disapora voting when he becomes president, saying such plans will give Nigerians living in disapora a sense of belonging, in taking part in the very critical decision of who becomes president of the country.

A New York FinTech lawyer, Mr Conway Ekpo, who is also a board member of Naija We Can, in a recent meeting said: “Obi has been described by BBC News as the candidate electrifying young Nigerians and a powerful force ahead of Nigeria’s presidential election next February, who is also energizing voters with messages of prudence and accountability, that are amplified by an army of social media users.

“Naija We Can recently partnered with Columbia University’s Africa Business Club and Black Law Students Association to host Obi in New York for a Conversation on Afro Economics and Government Policy.

The event was hosted at the Midtown Hilton and had over 1,500 guests in attendance. As a U.S. political organization focused on good governance in Nigeria, we seek to empower Nigerians in the diaspora to change our country’s political and economic fortunes through campaign finance and thought leadership”.

Another board member of the group, Dr. Hadiza Osuji, a university educator in New York and non-profit director focused on African immigrant families and communities, expressed her thoughts on the promise of the Labour Party presidential candidate’s plan for diaspora Nigerians to participate in voting process.

She said: “Obi has pledged to ensure that diaspora voting is permitted if elected Nigeria’s president next year. Despite annual calls for its implementation, Nigerians in the diaspora are barred from voting.

Naija We Can hopes that this will change if Obi and his running mate, Senator Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, are elected. We know the road won’t be easy, but we want to do everything we can to help the country by ensuring the right leaders get elected.”

Founder of Naija We Can, Mr Nexus Sea,

a litigation and trial partner in New York, during an interview with THISDAY said: “We want to be a part of the new Nigeria.

Obi after his visit to us expressed happiness over the support he has received from members of our group. Obi had taken to his Twitter page to thank us for backing our hopes of a better Nigeria by supporting him. He encouraged his 2.4 million followers to join us to impact change by visiting the Naija We Can website; naijawecan.org, where individuals can make donations to his campaign.”

Speaking on how the group can impact on the campaigns, Sea said: “With $20 billion in diaspora home remittances in 2021 alone, Nigerians in the diaspora have contributed to nearly four times the amount of foreign direct investment into the country. Our goal is to help convert the diaspora’s economic power to political might by ensuring that Nigerians in the diaspora have a strong voice in selecting its leaders.

Next year’s elections are critical and too important for us to sit on the sidelines.”

He, however, acknowledged that their

efforts in crowdsourcing funds for Obi’s campaigns has not been easy, as opposition parties have questioned whether it would be legal for Nigerians in the diaspora to get involved in Nigerian elections.

He said: “Our lawyer, Godson Ugochukwu of the Lagos-based law firm, Fortress Solicitors, has handled that. While Nigerian political parties are barred from receiving funds from outside Nigeria, Nigerians in the diaspora can lawfully make monetary and other contributions to a candidate in an election, provided that the contribution is not more than N50 million.”

The group said presently, it has gotten donors for the campaigns of Obi from Nigerians across the globe.

“From Liverpool, United Kingdom, to Richmond, Texas, Naija We Can’s diaspora donors, have come from across the globe”.

According to founding board member and U.S. trained pharmacist, Everist Njeze, “our goal is to encourage as many small donations as possible, which in the aggregate, could make a substantial difference in the outcome of the upcoming Nigerian elections next year. While donors are free to donate as low as $5 USD, the average donation directed to Obi through Naija We Can currently sits at $169 USD. “By facilitating individual contributions to political candidates, keeping a register of each individual contribution, and ensuring that the contributions are directed to candidates, and not political parties, Naija We Can, is providing a much-needed service to Nigerians in the diaspora. Naija We Can’s formation is evidence of a politically engaged Nigerian electorate, both at home and abroad, that is eager for change and no longer satisfied with the status quo”..

The group also expressed optimism that Obi can turn around the fortunes of the country.

It, therefore, urged Nigerians to consider their future and put it in the secured hands of one who has shown capacity to manage the country.

Oyebanji, Ekiti Parlimentarians and Need for Sustainable Partnership Victor Ogunje writes about the recent parley between Governor Biodun Oyebanji and Ekiti State federal lawmakers on the need to collaborate and attract more federal presence to the state

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n politics, bridge building is important and pivotal to the success of any leader. It is a good instrument of stability, popularity, peace-building and solidification of networks for radical political accomplishments.

Learning from this axiom and being resolute to build solid bridges across political strata of Ekiti State, Governor Biodun Oyebanji recently held a strategic meeting with the National Assembly members of the All Progressives Congress extraction.

This was intended to bolster his performance rating in four years time when he will be put in the public opinion’s court.

Interestingly, the Governor was so ingenious to know earlier enough that his popularity that is fast gaining traction and momentum should be sustained for him to run a government that is crisis-free and less mired in controversy.

Again, he was quick to decipher that it was customary that any government that newly comes to serve always has a period of honeymoon to enjoy before being rated, which may either enhance or mar its popularity and acceptability depending on its strategies. So, he considered the meeting so strategic to the survival of his administration.

Ordinarily, the meeting was supposed

to be a condolence visit to the Governor on the demise of the Speaker, Ekiti State House of Assembly, Hon. Funminiyi Afuye. But the opportunity threw up discourse about Ekiti, woven around how Oyebanji could foster relationships and strong ties with the federal lawmakers to attract federal presence to Ekiti.

Those at the parley included; Senators representing Ekiti Central and North Senatorial Districts, Opeyemi Bamidele and Olubunmi Adetumbi respectively.

Others were; House of Representatives

members representing Ekiti South Federal Constituency 1, Hon Yemi Adaramodu; Federal Constituency 2, Hon Femi Bamisile; Ekiti North constituency 1, Hon Peter Owolabi; constituency 2, Hon Ibrahim Olanrewaju, and Ekiti Central constituency 1, Hon. Sola Fatoba and his counterpart in the constituency 2, Hon Wumi Ogunlola.

The full complements of these APC federal legislators at the parley attested to the fact that Oyebanji musters a lot of respect and acceptability among them.

It signposted that he was ready to go all the hog to make Ekiti great by working with those whose contributions matter in turning things around.

Most rewarding was the fact that the governor perceived these legislators as strong allies who can make things happen.

He sees them as more of instruments that can attract development to Ekiti if well harnessed, rather than being labelled as enemies.

Since the advent of the Fourth Republic in Nigeria in 1999, there had been a trend that was worrisome to the people, which was the consistent mutual distrust between the governors and federal lawmakers.

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

17

T H I S D AY ˾ FRIDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2022

POLITICS

Rising Profile of Nigerian and African Immigrants in U.S Elections

Why Lagos-Ibadan Highway Should Not Go the Way of Abuja-Kaduna Road Semiu Okanlawon canvasses the need for Lagos, Ogun and Oyo State governments to ensure that the Lagos-Ibadan expressway is secured for motorists to travel on

Chido Nwangwu writes about the active participation of Diapora Nigerians in the United States politics which culminated in the recent mid-term election of eight Nigerian-Americans into Parliament.

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radually but successfully the movement towards the mainstream of American politics remains an interest of many diasporan communities here in the United States. This is evident in the younger generation, Nigerian Americans and recent immigrant Africans.

Consequently, the successful campaigns and victories of eight NigerianAmericans in the November 8, 2022 mid-term elections in the United States have attracted encouraging comments from Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari.

In a statement signed by his special adviser on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, Buhari noted that “in Georgia State, Segun Adeyina, Gabe Okoye, Solomon Adesanya, Tish Naghise, and Phil Olaleye won their legislative seats as State Representatives in their Districts.

He also mentioned the fact that Carol Kazeem won the Pennsylvania State Representative in District 159, Esther Agbaje was re-elected as Minnesota State Representative in District 59B, while Dr. Oye Owolewa was re-elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (Shadow Representative) in Washington D.C. President Buhari has promised “his unflinching support for every Nigerian excelling at home and abroad” and “believes that compatriots who succeed in good causes are assets to the nation and the continent, noting that their contributions will always be remembered and celebrated.”

Okoye, licensed civil engineer, told USAfricaonline.com that “preparation, persistence and refusing to give up are the keys to the victory. Also, we attened schools/colleges here in the U.S and we pay taxes here, we have to stay involved.”

Adeyina, a community development activist, has a passion for public service.

Recall that these efforts gained significant momentum during the elections of Tuesday, November 3, 2020. when substantial number of eligible Americans went to the polls to vote for the presidential, congressional and local elections. The majesty of the American electoral system is that this has gone on every four years — since 1789, at the time of the founding of this country, the greatest country known to human civilization.

I also wrote at the time in a piece titled ‘Why I voted for America’ that this tradi-

tion has been sustained —no matter the weather conditions, no matter the state of the economy and no matter the political contentions of the day! It is not left to the whim, convenience or caprice of any American leader or the most competent president to pick and choose what day he prefers. No. There are no exceptions not even for the self-styled “stable genius”, and irreverent divider-in-chief Donald J Trump, the 45th President of the United States.

I am among the 56 million who voted early, almost two weeks ahead.

I did. Yes, with a sense of civic responsibility and faith in the future and promise of a better day for these United States, I voted for America!

Part of the beauty of America is that it is a nation of laws.

In some of the developing countries of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic would’ve been a good excuse for any of popular or unpopular ruler to postpone national elections in order to entrench himself or herself.

Consequently thankfully, after all the partisan fulmination and divisive, diversionary tactics, the schedule and consistent majesty of the ballot box in America continued….

The presidential elections and congressional competition are important. They are important because what happens in Washington DC generally affects most of the world.

For me and for millions of other recent immigrants, it was a choice of realistic, productive and equitable engagement with the President who will offer opportunities to all without regard to race, religion and pre-existing conditions.

In fact, one of the greatest Presidents of these United States, Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), underscored it with these timeless words: “Americanism is a question of principle, of purpose, of idealism, of character. It is not a matter of birthplace or creed or line of descent.”

-Nwangwu is Founder & Publisher of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline. com, and established USAfrica in 1992 in Houston.

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

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magine yourself having two daughters traveling along a route and you suddenly receive information that the very direction they were headed, a kidnap incident had happened some eight hours before and that vehicles from where the hapless victims were snatched away were still left on the road, with no one knowing the fate of the captives.

That was my situation early morning of Saturday October 28th. To worsen the phobia, a call put through to them to confirm how far they had gone with their journey showed they were just some five minutes drive to the very scene of the kidnap the night before.

You could find yourself in dilemma of either calling the driver to halt the journey, make a turn and bring your children back home. But what if another danger was actually lurking on the way for return journey?

“Okay, please go ahead,” you instruct your driver and jumped on the prayer mat to tell God to take control. But don’t forget the victims of the previous hours also prayed to God too?

Two hours later, I was to learn that one of the victims of the incident was actually a kinsman known to me. That was how I got to know that Prof Adigun Agbaje, one of Nigeria’s most celebrated Political Scientists was actually in the kidnappers’ den.

He was not there alone. He was captured along with some other younger persons, mostly students whom he is still sad, he could not help while leaving the camp of the devils.

I had written elsewhere that we cannot afford to allow the Lagos-Ibadan highway become another fearful story of the AbujaKaduna tragedy.

Today, that deadly route simply is a metaphor for the heightened level of insecurity in Nigeria and the expanding killing fields, kidnappers’ den, death traps that the roads have become.

And Nigerians can name such death traps in their respective regions of the country.

Who travels from Ilesa to Akure or to Ekiti without trepidations these days?

Ado-Ekiti to Akure, Shagamu to Ore, Shagamu to Abeokuta, Ibadan to Ijebu Ode, Ogbomoso-Oyo-Ibadan and many others in the South-West all have one tale of fears.

In a post of similar narrative I made few days ago, those who saw the piece as striking the very core of what tugs at their hearts as a people came back with saddening tales of the state of affairs in their respective localities.

Indeed, I got more depressing evidence many Nigerians are suffering in loud

silence and have resigned to fate.

In the North, the Zaria-Katsina-Kebbi routes, Sokoto-Kebbi, Abuja-Lokoja, LafiaAkwanga Road, are known for crimes of all hues.

Of course, almost the entire stretch of the South-East and South-South are taken over by kidnappers with Benin-Asaba, PortHarcourt-Owerri, Aba-Onitsha, Port Harcourt-Yenagoa, Warri-Ughelli and others all have their contributions to the national statistics in highway insecurity.

Two weeks ago, a senior Surveyor in the Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation, Alamu Samsideen Abayomi, was snatched with his mother and son by kidnappers on the Lokoja-Abuja road.

Two days, later, his mother and son were let go. That was not until he had been killed in the presence of his family members.

They also collected a sum of N2.3m but claimed that Abayomi struggled with them. He too, sadly, was from my hometown as Prof Agbaje.

The above simply tells you we lost the battle in many of the aforementioned routes in the country. And no one is bothered!

But we cannot afford to lose the battle for the control of Lagos-Ibadan Highway! And this is for obvious reasons.

Apart from being the busiest economic road in the South-West, this connects the nation’s hub of commerce to other parts of the country with thousands of trucks moving containers of essentials to the hinterland daily.

As at 2019, the road was estimated to have capacity to handle 250,000 passenger car unit (PCU) daily. It is also becoming home to many industrial complexes especially at the Ogun end with many factories coming up at both sides.

When you allow criminals take control of such a route, it amounts to allowing those who want the country on her kneels have their way.

And here comes my charge.

We cannot allow Lagos-Ibadan become another Kaduna-Abuja. Recent kidnap of Prof Agbaje should serve as an emergency reason for us to call on the governments of Ogun, Oyo and Lagos to put resources together to secure the highway.

How can we have forests that become totally ungoverned that terrorists and kidnappers now freely set up camps and snatching citizens and demanding ransoms?

-Okanlawon writes from Lagos NOTE: Interested readers should continue in the online edition on www.thisdaylive.com

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FRIDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2022 •T H I S D AY

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2022 • T H I S D AY

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T H I S D AY • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2022

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ANALYSIS Buhari: Separating Governance from Politics Despite his many foibles, President Muhammadu Buhari, has made conscious efforts to divorce critical issues of state from petty politics, especially when they matter, writes Emmanuel Addeh.

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f there’s one positive that Nigerian leaders, past and present can learn from the current administration, it is probably how in the last seven and a half years, it has treated both its political friends and foes with some level of fairness on a number of issues.

There was a time in the not-so-distant past how Nigerian leaders did not pretend to be even-handed in the treatment of those they perceived were not in their camp, or put more succinctly, in their parties. This undue brashness ranged from harassment of opponents with anti-graft agencies to seizing federally distributed funds accruing to a Nigerian state.

But despite being blamed for taking decisions which may not appear to foster national unity, particularly in the appointment of those working with him since the commencement of his government, what Buhari has not received enough credit for , it seems, is how he’s able treat even people outside his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) unbiasedly.

To those who follow him closely, this may not have been surprising, given that the president on June 29, 2015, exactly a month after he was sworn in , declared specifically that as leader of the country, he will separate politics from governance.

Buhari, who spoke at the Council Chamber of the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja while inaugurating the National Economic Council (NEC), at the time, stressed that the practice of playing politics with everything under the sun would be destructive. In fairness, he may have largely delivered on this promise.

A corollary to this, is his vow to continue to observe the principle of separation of powers as enshrined in the 1999 constitution as amended.

Aside a few incidences which received flaks from the public, like the probe of judges, which many read as a breach of their independence in his early days as Nigerian leader, not many can wholeheartedly accuse Buhari of brazenly violating the principle of separation of powers.

“Order and discipline in society can only be established when the law applies to all, irrespective of position or status, who you are or who you like and without fear or favour.

“I try to keep my distance from you to avoid the perception of interference,” the president reaffirmed on April 15 this year, while speaking to the leadership of the judiciary at an Iftar dinner.

This was attested to by the Chief Justice of the Nigeria at the time, Tanko Mohammed.

“In all your years in office, at no time, no moment did Mr. President or any other person from you attempt to talk or ask for favours from the courts. We can recall no such attempt by you or anyone to interfere with judicial decisions.

“This is a mark of your maturity and sagacity. I am convinced that as you do with the judiciary, so is the case with ministries and other agencies of government,” the then Chief Justice retorted while speaking at the event.

In not mixing politics, àlà Nigeria, with governance, Buhari has been largely able to tread the fine line in his handling of some state matters without necessarily giving preference to his party men and women.

From cash refund to states that engaged in works on federal facilities, to the bailout to states which helped them from collapsing, the handing out of national awards, and even in his disposition to states where his party has been defeated by the opposition, the story of fairness and even-handedness has resonated strongly.

The National Awards 2022 By deciding not to be petty in his award of national honours to deserving Nigerians and looking beyond party affiliations and primordial politics, Buhari may have earned his flowers as a statesman.

Without discrimination, the president conferred the national honours across board, including among several others, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors, including Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu and his Taraba State counterpart, Darius Ishaku. Other PDP bigwigs on the list included the Minority Leader of the House of

Buhari Representatives, Ndudi Elumelu, Senate Minority Whip, Senator Chukwuka Utazi and other PDP leaders.

Weeks later, PDP leaders celebrated the conferment of the Nigeria Excellence Award in Public Service (NEAPS) by the federal government on the Chairman of its Governors’ Forum, Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto state.

The PDP also celebrated Ugwuanyi, Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State; Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State and Nyesom Wike of Rivers State on their receiving the awards for various achievements.

Sounding a political tone, it added it was an admission by the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led federal government of exceptional developmental strides that can only be conceptualised, driven and executed under the policy thrust and manifesto of the PDP. In fact, a chieftain of the APC, Chukwuemeka Eze, urged the federal government to withdraw the award from one of the honourees, Wike, lampooning it for the Infrastructure Award Investiture recognition for the governor.

Eze, a former National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP), in a statement in Port Harcourt, said it was unacceptable that a governor he argued has a lot of baggage will be given the recognition. The president did not heed the unsolicited advice. Many others who got the awards were some of Buhari’s biggest critics.

In fact, days after he collected the award, Wike, as expected, went to town telling whoever cared to listen that the recognition had sealed the fate of the president’s party, the APC and other opposition parties in the state.

“If the ruling party can say you have done well, who is that person, let them come and campaign here. Bring your report card, I will bring the award and the certificate,” he stated, quoting Buhari as having said :“You (Wike) have done well.”

Indeed, in politicising the national recognition, he remarked that a resounding defeat awaited the opposition in the state as the award bestowed on him by the

Buhari-led federal government had already sealed their fate.

The Federal Infrastructure Refund About two years ago, the federal government disclosed that it was set to refund about N148 billion for roads repairs in five states, with Rivers, an ‘opposition’ led state set to get the largest chunk of the funds, followed by Bayelsa, another PDP state.

The breakdown of the funds and their beneficiaries were: Rivers (N78.953); Bayelsa (N38.040 billion); Cross River (N18.394 billion); Ondo (N7.822 billion) and Osun (N2.468 billion).

It followed the approval of a memorandum presented earlier by the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) and was sequel to a huge bill sent to the federal government by the entire 36 states of the federation in 2016.

Buhari decided to set up a committee to visit the states and verify the claims they made and at the end of the investigation, the committee ascertained that the roads and the bridges were not only completed, but were also in good shape, with some built about 10 years earlier.

In January 2021, Wike confirmed the refund to the Rivers State Government of the N78 billion the state spent on federal projects.

The Multi-billion Naira Bailout for Sub-nationals Around July 2015, Buhari who had just taken over the reins of government, approved a sum total equivalent to $2.1 billion (£1.4 billion) intervention package to help bankrupt states pay salaries. Who got what was not on the basis of politics as some leaders were wont to do.

At the time, at least 12 of Nigeria’s 36 states were said to owe their workers more than $550 million in salaries and allowances cumulatively as a result of

the economic meltdown, with some workers having not been paid for upwards of seven months.

The government revenue, which depends largely on crude oil exports, had fallen sharply in recent months before the rescue package because of a fall in global oil prices.

A government statement said the money would come through soft loans from the central bank, and dividends paid by the natural gas agency, NLNG. Thereafter, the president approved a fresh sum of N656 billion bailout to the 36 states, with each state entitled to receive N18.2 billion from the Bridge Financing Facility approved by Buhari to help states meet financial obligations.

The approved bridge facility of N656.112billion was to be disbursed in six tranches over a period of six months to the states on the basis of equality irrespective of political affiliation.

Months later the federal in explaining why it did what it did disclosed that many states were in serious financial mess by the time Buhari assumed office on May 29, 2015.

It also said several states were now afloat because of the financial reliefs the Buhari administration had provided for them.

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, stated that although states governed by the opposition PDP, had in recent times claimed they were not gaining from the Buhari administration, most states were being sustained with bailouts and lifelines from the federal government.

“You will remember that by the time we came in, about 27 states of the federation were unable to pay salaries, they owed salaries and could not pay, it took this federal government to really bail many of them out so they could pay not only salaries, but also they could pay the arrears.

“When the price of crude crashed, this same government gave each state what is called a bailout and some of the states today that complain that they’ve never benefited from the federal government, especially the PDP states, are the ones that have taken the lion’s share of this reimbursement.

“It does not matter whether you are PDP or APC or you’re Labour or you’re APGA, this administration looks at you as a Nigerian and when largesse are being distributed, it does not favour you just because you are from APC state or from a friendly state,” he stated then.

Congratulating Opposition Parties after Polls Another attitude that Buhari has taken beyond politics is to be the first to congratulate opposition parties when it’s obvious his party, the APC has lost elections, as it happened in Anambra and recently in Osun.

For instance, while felicitating the PDP and its candidate, Ademola Adeleke, in Osun recently, Buhari said the outcome of the the governorship election showed respect for the will of the electorate.

He added that the success of the election was an exhibition of stakeholders’ commitment towards reinforcing the country’s democratic processes.

“I congratulate senator Ademola Adeleke, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on his victory in the Osun gubernatorial election. The people of Osun have expressed their will through the ballot.

“This is what democracy is all about: respect for the will of the people. The successful conduct of the poll is a demonstration of the maturity and the commitment of all stakeholders, towards strengthening the integrity of the electoral process in Nigeria.

“I remain fully committed to leaving behind a legacy of credible elections in Nigeria,” he stated.

Although, the APC candidate continues to contest the result of the poll in the courts, Buhari by the statement literally washed his hands off the matter, even though his party is involved.

With his recurrent vow to ensure free and fair polls in 2023, despite the many failings of his government, these may just stand him out in coming years, as a leader who did not use his exalted position to oppress his political ‘enemies’.

T H I S D AY ˾ FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2022

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BUSINESSWORLD R A T E S MONEY MARKET

A S

A T

REPO

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

08056356325

N O V E M B E R

S & P INDEX

1 7 , 2 0 2 2

S & P INDEX

EXCHANGE RATE

OPR

11.25%

CALL

10.25%

INDEX LEVEL

613.31%

1/4 TO DATE

-0.85%

N416.86/ 1 US DOLLAR*

OVERNIGHT

11.50%

1-MONTH

9.56%

1-DAY

0.16%

YEAR TO DATE

7.64%

*AS AT LAST FRIDAY

3-MONTH

10.52%

MONTH-TO-DATE

0.44%

Wet Season: AFEX Forecast 11.5% Decline in Maize, Paddy Rice, Sorghum, Cocoa Production

Oluchi Chibuzor Nigeria’s leading commodities market player, AFEX, has forecasted 11.5 per cent production decline in Maize, Paddy Rice, Sorghum and Cocoa for the 2022 wet season crop production.

AFEX in its 2022 Wet Season Crop Production Report however projected a 6.5 per cent increase in Soybean and Sesame.

At a hybrid event to announce the report, AFEX said it seeks to provide accurate and reliable data to aid the understanding of the national food system through farmer

surveys and measurement of transaction level data, track six key commodities and their performance in the preceding season.

As reflected in the report, price and market changes across maize, paddy rice, sorghum, soybean, cocoa, and sesame have been affected due to predictable seasonality effects, activities in the agricultural value chain and larger macroeconomic global events.

AFEX forecasted an average decline in production levels of up to 11.5 percent across commodities like maize, paddy rice, sorghum, and cocoa,

while soybean and sesame will experience a close to 6.5 per cent increase in production levels.

According to the report Nigeria’s most consumed grains are currently faced with declining food balance sheets as consumption levels rise faster than production levels, worsening food insecurity.

Speaking at the event, AFEX’s Head of Market Data and Research, David Ibidapo, who presented the report findings, said: “AFEX’s annual crop production report seeks to provide robust market intelligence for agriculture value chain players in Nigeria.

We have more than doubled the count of farmers surveyed for this research, up from 9117 farmers surveyed last year to 20,677 farmers surveyed for this year’s report.”

He also specified key indicators measured through the survey, stating that, “Factors such as land usage, inputs (quality of seeds and fertilizer usage), weather conditions, and the farmers’ output expectations were put into primary consideration.”

Meanwhile higher prices were forecasted across all commodities in the report, with soybean price projected to rise by 6 per cent by May 2023.

For example maize which faces a projected decline in production levels of up to 14 per cent, is subsequently projected to reach a higher average price point ranging between $486.72 (N214,980/ MT) and $498.09 (N220,000/ MT) by the end of Q4 2022, compared to an average price of N475.97 (N210,229/MT) in Q4 2021.

It added, “The projected price hikes across commodities in the report were also tied majorly to incidences of flooding resulting from incessant rainfall in key producing regions. This is indicated to further heighten

the gap between production and output levels by farmers.

“The effects of the RussiaUkraine crisis continue to be felt in the local agricultural commodity markets, especially because of the hike in the price of fertiliser. This negative impact was also highlighted in the report as affecting the output level of most commodities. The report forecasts paddy rice as being the most susceptible to production and output pressures, facing close to a 22.47% decline in production volumes this year in the wake of the crisis-induced fertiliser price hike.”

Amid Controversy, Nigerian Airlines Explain Position on National Carrier Chinedu Eze Eight domestic airlines under the aegis of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), have explained why they had to go to court to stop the federal government’s choice of Ethiopian airline and to seek full implementation of a new national carrier.

In an interview with the ARISE News Channel, the CEO of Top Brass Aviation Limited and former Managing Director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Captain Roland Iyayi,

explained that AON was not averse to having a national carrier but was against the structure, which it insisted was at the detriment of Nigeria’s interest.

According to Iyayi, “What we have said and what we are saying is that the structure and the design that is being put together currently by the Honourable Minister of Aviation is a bit of an issue which we believe is not going to help the Nigeria state in the long term.

“He has come out to tell us that this is intended to be a public

private partnership. And indeed if that is the case, we have a situation where we need to query, as a matter of questioning all the issues that have happened to date. We have found the need to question the transparency of the project, because we believe that most of the issues that have been raised or that are coming up are not entirely transparent, and we have issues with that. We have also come to find out, going through all the documentation that has been provided, that there are undue privileges that are going to

be given to this new carrier, which the current domestic operators are not enjoying.

“For instance the government is proposing or the Minister is proposing to have 15- year tax moratorium to the national carrier.

And again let’s be very clear; this is not a national carrier in the context in which it is being presented; this is actually a flag carrier. Simply because if you are bringing in a strategic investor at 49 per cent stakes and you have all the institutional investors one of which is 60 per cent owned by

a foreign entity, in the long term what you are putting together is actually a foreign airline being allowed to come into the Nigeria airspace to operate, which is at variance with Article 7 of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) convention, which is a cabotage.”

AON insisted that the structure of the planned national carrier was not in the overall interest of Nigeria, but being executed to benefit individual interest groups and foreigners instead of Nigeria.

“So we are saying that this

not in the longer term interest of the Nigerian public. In any case, if you also review the outline business case that was put together by the Ministry of Aviation, it will seem to us that this is a contrived outcome which has been decided even long before the arrangement was reached.

So we believe that ultimately the Nigerian public will not necessarily benefit.

The story continues online on www.thisdaylive.com

M A R K E T D ATA A S AT T H U R S D AY, N O V E M B E R 1 7 , 2 0 2 2 BILLS

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

Yield

98.83

15.15

98.45

14.30

94.98

14.50

105.26

14.59

97.66

14.62

Change Updated Time (%) November 0.00 10, 2022 November -0.21 10, 2022 November -0.31 10, 2022 November 0.00 10, 2022 November 0.22 10, 2022

MATURITY NTB 26-Jan23 NTB 9-Feb23 NTB 9-Mar23 NTB 27-Apr23 NTB 11May-23

Discount

Yield

11.58

11.86

8.32

8.49

8.96

9.23

8.05

8.36

8.05

8.39

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CPS MATURITY FDHP CP III 17-MAR-23 VHPL CP III 1-APR-23

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CONTRACT TENOR Contract (MONTH) NGUS NOV 30 1 2022 NGUS DEC 28 2 2022 NGUS JAN 25 3 2023 NGUS FEB 22 4 2023 NGUS MAR 29 5 2023

Current Rate Updated Time ($/₦) November 454.73 10, 2022 November 456.93 10, 2022 November 459.12 10, 2022 November 461.32 10, 2022 November 463.51 10, 2022

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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2022 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

AIR WATCH

First Open Africa Business Forum Holds in Moscow A I R

Chinedu Eze

Travel, trade and commerce between Africa and Russia are set to receive huge boost as the first-ever Open Africa Business Forum has been scheduled to take place in Moscow on February 2 2023.

The Open Africa Business Forum is a communication platform designed to enhance business co-operation between African and Russian industries.

Many African countries have already confirmed their participation.

These include Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Through the Open Africa Business Forum, Russian businesses are looking for new investment and partnership opportunities and the focus is on Africa because of its potential for economic growth.

The first Open Africa Business

Forum hopes to attract business and economic participants from both the private and public sectors from the entire African continent.

Registration for the Moscow event is now open on the Open Africa Business Forum website and registration is free for African delegations. During the event, each African company will have an opportunity to present their products or investment projects to the Russian business audience.

The African companies delegations will also have opportunities for sideline bilateral meetings with different Russian prospective investors.

The Africa Business Forum has actively engaged the Russian Business Association, AFROCOM, as well as other influential corporations and the major embassies in Africa.

The event in Moscow will look at topics such as; Why Africa is the

continent of the future, 10 reasons to start a business in Africa and Ways to increase trade turnover between Russia and African economies.

Other topics during the Moscow convention will include Points of growth: Investment. Digitalization.

Innovation and also business and economic experts will discuss Russian Trading House in Africa-Pros and Cons.

A discussion panel will also examine the road to Africa; logistics, taxation, financial transactions and support measures.

Through the Open Africa Business Forum, Russia considers Africa as the continent of the future because of its massive investment potential across a spectra of social and economic sectors.

The partnerships being created

by Open Africa Business Forum are key in strengthening trade and economic relations between Africa and Russia.

WATCH

Potential of Unexplored Tourism in W’Africa

IATA to Expand Environmental Assessment Certification to Airports, Service Providers The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has launched the IATA Environmental Assessment for Airports and Ground Service Providers (IEnvA for Airports and GSPs).

Edmonton International Airport (YEG) is the first participant in the expanded IEnvA and will play a leadership role as the value chain aligns to ensure a sustainable future for air transport.

IEnvA for Airports and GSPs is an expansion of the successful IEnvA for Airlines. IEnvA programs enable participants to build robust environmental management plans

with continual performance improvements. Some 50 airlines are part of the IEnvA program, with 34 of them fully certified while the others are in the process.

IATA’s Senior Vice President for Environment and Sustainability, Sebastian Mikosz, said: “IEnvA has a solid track record of improving the environmental performance of airlines. As the aviation industry committed to improving sustainability, including achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050, the expansion of IEnvA to airports and GSPs is critical. With

Edmonton International Airport’s pioneering participation in the expanded program, we have a clear signal that the industry’s sustainability commitments are being actioned in a systematic results-oriented approach across the value chain.”

VP, Air Service, Business Development, ESG and Stakeholder Relations, Edmonton International Airport, Myron Keehn, said: “This is a significant milestone for airports around the world, and we are proud to be a part of the movement towards a sustainable future for aviation.

Qatar Airways Touches Down in Düsseldorf, Germany Qatar Airways’ inaugural flight from Doha to Düsseldorf in Germany landed at Düsseldorf International Airport on Tuesday this week, marking the launch of the airline’s latest German destination.

The flight was welcomed with a water canon salute upon arrival.

Operated by a Boeing 787 aircraft, flight QR085 was welcomed with an opening ceremony attended by Qatar Airways VP Sales, Europe, Mr. Eric Odone and Düsseldorf International Airport’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Thomas Schnalke.Qatar Airways currently offers services to Munich, Frankfurt and Berlin, making Düsseldorf its

fourth destination in Germany.

In July 2022, the award-winning airline increased its flight frequency from Frankfurt to three times a day.

The move into Düsseldorf further demonstrates Qatar Airways’ commitment to the German market. Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said: “We are delighted to launch direct services to Düsseldorf, expanding

Group Holds Workshop to Address Election Infrastructure Emma Okonji

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

our services in Germany, and marking our entry to the Ruhr region – just in time for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™. With this new service, not only will German passengers enjoy daily flights from a new location, but customers in the nearby countries of Belgium and the Netherlands will also have access to over 150 destinations across Africa, Asia and the Middle East.”

The Center for Cyberspace Studies, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, is set to hold workshop on Election Infrastructure, in collaboration with her local and international partners from 28th-30th November 2022 at the NAF Conference Center and Suites, Abuja.

The workshop with the theme: Enriching the Values of Free Fair, Inclusive and Credible Election, is intended to draw out the vulnerabilities as well as factors that might be affecting the 2023 general elections considering people, process and technology infrastructure.

According to the organisers, Nigerians will be going to the polls next year to vote their leaders, though an electronic voting system that will be used for the first time in the history of the country’s general elections, where results will be transmitted real-time from polling units directly to the servers and portals of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

They are of the view that Nigeria must be ready in terms of infrastructure, hence the need for the workshop, which also seeks to sensitise the Nigerian populace.

Chairman, Workshop Working Group Dr. Chris Uwaje, said: “Credible, free, fair, inclusive and transparent elections are a hallmark of progressive and decent democracies. The vital component of national security that will continue to guarantee equity, justice, inclusiveness and national unity, confidence and trust of the electorate n the value of their votes is vital.”

In this series of workshops, the Centre for Cyberspace Studies, Nasarawa State University, Keffi has assembled experts from local and international platforms to dive into the landscape of vulnerability, threat and risk in the context of the people, processes and technology.

The thrust is to keep electoral stakeholders better informed and equipped with the various electoral risks, threat actors and opportunities and how to mitigate the risks.

Chinedu Eze Besides generating huge resources for any country, another big thing that tourism does for nations is creating huge jobs and giving the youths something to engage in and earn good revenue.

Tourism is also a repository of culture and tradition bequeathed from generation to generation before being committed into writing and films, like the griots of the Gambia. These are the poets, singers and historians of the Mandika people, whose panegyrics swayed the kings. They’re inheritors of a tradition which has run in their family for centuries, and the knowledge of this instills in them a humbleness and a sense of responsibility.

There is much more that needs to be learnt about the Benin scupture beyond the invation of the British when economic realities of that time moved them from their horrible slave trade to oil marhants and colonisers. Scholars argue that Benin work had lasted for centuries and passed too many phases before the invaders struck.

Scholars recalled that many pieces were commissioned specifically for the ancestral altars of past Obas and Queen Mothers.

They were also used in other rituals to honour the ancestors and to validate the accession of a new Oba. During the invasion, the 3,000-plus items that make up the Benin Bronzes include statues and plaques that decorated the palace of the Oba, the king of Benin, and are representations of kings and queen mothers of the Edo people (the people of Benin) and a historical record of the kingdom Benin sculptors made heads of former kings and queens, which were used in elaborate rituals. These heads were displayed on altars to honor the ancestors of the Oba, who, like the Ife kings, were believed to be gods.

Some of the heads have a circular space on top in which elaborately carved ivory tusks were placed.

These and many more were highlihted by the tourism stakeholders who attended the 18th edition of the recently held Akwaaba African Travel Market in Lagos. These include Faith Wathome of Kenya the Orhaniser of Akwaaba, IkechiUko, the Minister of Sierra Leone Tourism, Dr. Memunatu Pratt, IdilSatguner of Tarquaz Heallth Turkiye and NuraKangiwa, the Director General of the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOR) at the Wave Beach to make the 18thAkwaaba.

Pratt attributed to Africa having too many unexplored but high potential tourist destination to poor marketing.

“One of the things we are not good at is marketing. Our marketing of our natural resources, our natural site, and natural

product has not been much. Our marketing has just been towards maybe the domestic and then maybe consumer and trade related.

But we have not been able to market West Africa as to choose, wherein people would be able to know what is there. We know the tour operators are doing well, but I think an integrated approach will make a lot of difference. Today people are talking about an ECOWAS visa wherein, if you have an ECOWAS tourist visa, maybe these are some of the things, for three months, you issue that one and if somebody comes to Nigeria, they can go to Accra, they can go to Lome. I mean, we have to think in an integrated fashion. So marketing is one, but then also trying to put together the facilities and opportunities that are available. And then it also has to do with a lot of airline arrangements. So if somebody comes with, uh, with an ECOWAS visa, maybe there are some discounts. And what is important around this is that it drives businesses. You see people coming to do hotels, coming to expand entertainment facility, sponsoring local artists, sponsoring film industry. It all drives the process of development of the economy. So marketing, marketing, I should say, should be strategic and should have an integrated fashion. But unfortunately, all of us are not on the same level in our different countries in West Africa. But, I think it maybe like this, we start the call and then the advocacy and we try to conscientise and we try to provide the kind of ownership that is required and get people to understand that this is the way to go, by the level of government and the level of civil society in the media, and then also the private sector. I think that should be a good way to go. So we leave the champions to be able to do this,” she said.

Faith from Kenya also noted that Nigeria is the heartbeat of West Africa and Africa at large. “So what this means to us is that it calls for a very strong relationship in terms of building the roots that we have together. It also calls in terms of popularizing tourism and hospitality, and then really trying to see how we can get the people together. Because the most beautiful thing which tourism can do to you is to ensure that it increases the cultural relationship.

It increases the partnerships, it increases the love, the patriotism amongst nation, and we celebrate this. There is so much in common that we need to celebrate. But once you put tourism at the heart of this, then of course it changes the whole scenario.

But what we have been doing over the years, especially in West Africa, is that from my own knowledge, we have not been doing as much. So we thank Akwaaba for trying to put some of us to this, to this big grouping, he said.

T H I S D AY ˾ FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2022

23

BUSINESSWORLD

PENSION

Aisha Dahir-Umar: The Quiet ‘Iron Lady’ at PENCOM The Director-General of the National Pension Commission (PENCOM), Mrs Aisha Dahir-Umar, has lately come under attacks from different quarters, with some alleging that the staff of the commission are earning humongous salaries. What is fueling these attacks? Is there a merit in the allegations? Ebere Nwoji digs deeper and reports

S

ometime in September 2022, reports started circulating that the staff of National Pension Commission (PENCOM) were on “jumbo pay.”

It was widely reported that the least paid member of staff was paid N3 million monthly. The claim was made by a federal legislator who, in the video that was circulated from a House Committee hearing, was visibly angry. The video went viral.

In a country where youth unemployment is high and salaries are generally poor, the notion that a cleaner earns N3 monthly, compared to the minimum national wage of N30,000, was bound to raise public anger and generate a backlash against the commission and its Director-General, Mrs Aisha Dahir-Umar.

But immediately, the commission issued a statement to counter the trending news.

It said its highest paid official, which is obviously the DG, does not earn up to N1million a month. “The public is invited to note that the claim is absolutely false.

The highest paid official of the Commission earns less than N1 million a month. It is therefore completely illogical and improbable that the least paid will earn a monthly salary of N3 million,” the commission said in a statement to the media.

It added, “From our understanding, it appears someone calculated all staff costs, including training, staff exit benefit scheme, and employer’s pension contribution, and divided the total by the number of the Commission’s employees and concluded that the least paid employee is on a monthly salary of N3 million. There is a clear difference between staff cost and staff salaries.”

The commission said there was an element of “mischief and possible blackmail” in the allegation. It is yet unclear if PENCOM got wind of what was coming since it did not say so in the press release, but thereafter various groups and student union activists began to issue statements alleging that there was corruption in PENCOM and Dahir-Umar should be sacked by President Muhammadu Buhari in what many onlookers would suggest was a coordinated campaign against her.

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), which is not directly involved in the pension scheme, issued a press statement calling for Dahir-Umar’s sack for “corruption, abuse of office and embezzlement”. This was at a time the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had been on strike for seven months and federal universities, its primary constituency, were completely crippled.

“OCCUPY PENCOM” THREATS In its statement, NANS promised to “occupy PENCOM” until Buhari listened to their demand. Less than a week after issuing the threat, NANS made a U-turn and tendered an apology. In a letter dated October 3, 2022, it said: “In our quest to get to the bottom of the true happenings in PENCOM, we have come across information that is now at our disposal on the truth of the matter. In pursuant of this noble objective of ours, we wish to withdraw the letter earlier submitted and inform you of the official stand down of all proposed action therein.” It further said that “we are glad coming across the recent development in PENCOM under your watch that will allow for pension contributors to use 25 percent of their savings to access mortgage and own houses, this will not only improve

EXITS FROM CONTRIBUTORY PENSION SCHEME

Dahir-Umar

the welfare of our nation’s workers but will also go a long way in boosting economic activities across the value chain of the Nigerian Real Estate sector.”

Many found this astounding, but inside sources said the association decided to pipe down after one of its leaders confessed that its initial statement was induced.

If the PENCOM boss thought it was over after NANS’ public apology, she was making a mistake. Different groups started writing to her and threatening to “Occupy PENCOM” over the same allegations of “corruption, abuse of office and embezzlement.” They described themselves as anti-corruption groups.

One was named Civil Society Groups for Good Governance, whose president is one Comrade Ogakwu Dominic. There was another one called Initiative for Leadership and Economic Watch in Nigeria with “Ambassador” Splendour Agbonkpolor as its Executive Director.

Yet another group named Global Integrity Crusade Network (GICN) issued a press statement accusing the PENCOM DG of bribing NANS officials to stop the planned public protests. NANS, in its response to GICN, demanded that the group should name its officials that collected the bribe, describing the press statement as “not only false but malicious.”

While the brickbats went back and forth, sources said Umar-Dahir petitioned the security agencies, asking them to look into the allegations because there was an obvious threat to the public peace by the planned protests. A source at one of the security agencies said when some of the activists were invited to substantiate their allegations, they became jittery.

“One of them said everything they did was based on the statement made on the alleged jumbo pay by a legislator,” the source said. One of the activists was said to have confessed that they were paid to organise the protests and that they had already rented buses for the protesterss and camped them at Lugbe,

on the outskirts of Abuja, ahead of the “Occupy PENCOM” action.

THE POLITICS OF 2023 ELECTIONS There seems to be an increasing pressure on federal agencies believed to be awash with money. According to a recent report, heads of several Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are under pressure to make funds available to politicians ahead of the 2023 elections and are increasingly facing “oversight” heat as well as negative campaigns by various groups via the media.

It should not be surprising that PENCOM, which technically superintends pension assets worth N14.27 trillion as at June 2022, would be one of the agencies under pressure. This may be mistaken. The N14.27 trillion is not in PENCOM’s coffers and it belongs to the millions of contributors across the federation. However, PENCOM is classified as a revenue-generating agency and is allowed to retain some of what it generates. This may be the major attraction for the politicians and activists.

Dahir-Umar, the PENCOM DG, is described by many in the industry as a “quiet but tough lady.” A top official of a Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) said the DG has carried out far-reaching reforms and tightened regulations since assuming office. “PFAs would want more leeway than she is ready to yield but we believe the industry would be the better for it,” the manager said, citing the example of the stoppage of gifts to Retirement Savings Account (RSA) holders in order to allow for “free movement” of contributors.

So far, neither Dahir-Umar nor the commission has made any public statement on the aborted protests.

Rather, she reportedly got her lawyers to write “cease and desist” letters to the groups, failing which they would be slammed with libel suits to prove their allegations in a court of law.

The controversies, accentuated by the claim that the least paid PENCOM employee earns N3 million monthly, could also be traced to the insistence of the commission that certain government officials should not be allowed to exit from the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS). Dahir-Umar has stood her ground that it is wrong and unconstitutional to exempt the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HCSF) and permanent secretaries from the CPS. This has not gone down with some top government officials. Her argument has been that the Pension Reform Act 2004 (PRA 2004), amended in 2014, and well as constitutional provisions do not allow the exemptions and doing otherwise could affect pension reforms and take the country back to the pre-reform era when all pension liabilities were on the government and retirees ended up being owed for years.

Her stance ruffled feathers but the exemption has not been reversed. The police are currently at the National Assembly seeking a legislation that would allow them to exit from the CPS completely, describing themselves as “peculiar”. It has also been reported that some retired senior officers of the policy are now drawing two pensions – one from the police PFA and another from the Federal Government payroll. Umar-Dahir has raised a string opposition to this, although all indications are that the police may get their way as more Federal Government employees seek to return to the Defined Benefit Scheme (BDS) or take away the prying eyes of PENCOM from their PFAs.

WILL UMAR-DAHIR SURVIVE THE BLITZKRIEG? So far, the “Iron Lady” has not appeared to be perturbed by the negative media. If anything, she seems more determined to continue to leave her mark on the pension industry. Since she assumed office in 2017, the assets have grown from N6.42 trillion to N14.2 trillion. In 2019, PENCOM introduced the Micro Pension Plan for the informal sector workers under the CPS. It was launched

by Buhari. The minimum capital base of PFAs has been increased from N1 billion to N5 billion, despite opposition from the administrators. This, according to Umar-Dahir, is to strengthen the sector. Most recently, PENCOM allowed access to a percentage of RSA balance towards paying for equity contribution for residential mortgage. The RSA holders now have a yearly window to change their PFAs in what is expected to encourage healthy competition and service delivery.

Despite the sporadic media war, the PENCOM DG does not appear to be in danger of being fired by Buhari as being canvassed by the groups. This might have been helped by the fact that the president could be aware of the undercurrents, especially as he is said not to trust a senior member of his government who is said to be pushing for her sack. Buhari is also said to be weary of “coordinated” media campaigns and organized public protests asking him to sack any appointee.

It is also possible that he has been briefed by the security agencies over what is going on.

Apart from politicians looking for slush funds to run their campaigns in 2023, some political appointees are also believed to be looking for “severance packages” from MDAs as they are not likely to be retained by the next administration. It is a web of intrigues.

24 T H I S D AY FRIDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2022 TR

UT H

& RE A S O

Friday November 18, 2022 Vol 27. No 10083

N

opinion@thisdaylive.com

www.thisdaylive.com

THE CASE AGAINST SEX EDUCATION SONNIE EKWOWUSI contends that parents should live up to their responsibilities

See page 25

RESTRUCTURING AND ’PRIMITIVE ACCUMULATION’ Restructuring should be anchored on creative industrialisation and create jobs, argues OKELLO OCULI

See page 25 EDITORIAL

THE NEED FOR PUBLIC TOILETS

See page 26

1

PDP presidential candidate seeks to hold his southern strongholds with a promise to decentralise governance, writes BOLAJI ADEBIYI

ATIKU EYES SOUTHERN VOTES WITH COMMITMENT TO POWER DEVOLUTION Atiku Abubakar, former vice-president of Nigeria and the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 general election was at the Nigerian Guild of Editors’ Forum in Lagos on Wednesday where he laid bare his plans, which he called his covenant with Nigerians. He spoke to a 74-page document that articulates his vision and mission for the country he had tried to govern since 1993.

2XWOLQLQJ KLV ÀYH SRLQW GHYHORSPHQW agenda, he explained that he would unite Nigerians despite their diverse backgrounds, ensure the safety and security of their life and property, and build a dynamic economy for prosperity.

Atiku also promised to restructure the polity to foster unity and stability, adding that his last but most important agenda is to provide qualitative education for the citizenry.

6D\LQJ WKH ÀYH WKHPDWLF DUHDV DUH interwoven, the former vice-president explained that his experience as a vicepresident of the federation for eight years during which he superintended over the nation’s economy would put him in good stead to deliver on his promises, adding that he would not seek to reinvent the wheel as he would simply continue with the economic policies of the PDP-led administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The good thing about Atiku was that DV FDOP DQG ÁXHQW DV KLV SUHVHQWDWLRQ was, he did not pretend to be the sole author of his covenant, explaining that it was put together by a team of experts he assembled to help him to put together his ideas about how Nigeria should be lifted from its current comprehensive crises ranging from economic distress to deep social and political strife.

But the former vice-president gave a good account of himself in the interrogation that followed his short presentation, explaining his plans to actualise some of his promises. For instance, on security, he said the way out was to put more booths on the ground across all security forces that he said are desperately in short supply of personnel.

In addition, he would build up the nation’s arsenal and pay more attention to technology and intelligence as well as scale up training and retraining of security personnel.

However, the issue that drew more attention was his restructuring plan perhaps because most of the editors were of southern origin and were quite interested in how a presidential candidate of northern extraction would champion devolution of power, which many of his colleagues from that zone

of the country loath. He said he had been consistent in his commitment to reducing the power of the centre since his days as vice-president, explaining that he believed that not only should there be devolution of responsibilities but also that there should incremental DGMXVWPHQW LQ WKH ÀQDQFLDO UHVRXUFHV that go to the component units of the federation.

Not a few of the editors thought that he was being politically correct and that he would abandon the commitment the PRPHQW KH JHWV LQWR R΀FH 7KH\ ZHUH obviously speaking from experience.

In 2015 the All Progressives Congress latched onto the groundswell of opinion, particularly in the southern parts of the country, promising to restructure the country if it took power. But that did not happen. First, the promise was denied.

Then in an apparent attempt to douse agitations for its implementation, the party set up the Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai committee to look into the issue.

It’s been years since el-Rufai submitted his report, which recommended among others that some of the items on the Exclusive List be moved to the Concurrent List. It is not clear if the party passed on the recommendation to President Muhammadu Buhari for consideration and implementation.

What is clear is that not only did the APC administration go cold on the issue, but legislative attempts to devolve power via constitutional alteration were also killed.

Incidentally, Atiku was in the APC when that manifesto that promised to restructure was published. However, LW LV GL΀FXOW WR KROG KLP WR DFFRXQW because he was not part of the Buhari administration. In any case, he abandoned the party early enough to throw his heart into the PDP ring to be able to contest the 2019 presidential

election.

During that presidential run, he was in the company of the advocates of restructuring. One big proponent of the concept was Afenifere, the Yoruba sociocultural political organisation, which gave its support to him on account of his assurances to the group that he would back the devolution of power if he won the election.

“We have watched and listened to various candidates vying for the position of president in the election to be held on Saturday, February 16, 2019. We realize that [it is] only the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar that has irrevocably committed himself to restructure the country on becoming the president of the country,” the group said in a communique in February 2019, adding, “We take note of the fact that Alhaji Abubakar is not a new convert to the principle of restructuring. He has been at the forefront of the campaign for restructuring for upward of eight years.”

True, Atiku had remained consistent despite the hostility of his fellow northern politicians to the principle. Not that he had much choice though. His stronghold since 1993 had been the south where many of his political associates had been. Outcomes of his electoral contests would show that he garnered more votes from the south than from the north, whether when he contested under the Action Congress in 2007 or PDP in 2019.

Given the prevailing dynamics of the SROLWLFV RI WKH 3'3 ZKHUH D JDQJ RI ÀYH governors, four in the South, and one in the North, see him as a usurper of the heritage of the southern zone, Atiku has a more compelling need to hug the dominant sentiment in the region to appeal to his traditional constituency that is being depleted by the revolt of the gang.

Meanwhile, the former vice-president’s concrete plan to initiate legislation for the devolution of power from day one LQ R΀FH ZRXOG VXJJHVW WKDW KH PHDQV business beyond politics. And his plan to form an inclusive government involving all major political parties could help him to more easily achieve the consensus needed to push the idea forward.

But will he become president so that the people can have a chance to test the sincerity of his purpose? Only time will tell.

Adebiyi, the Managing Editor of THISDAY Newspapers, writes from bolaji.adebiyi@ thisdaylive.com

T H I S D AY

3 25

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2022

SONNIE EKWOWUSI contends that parents should live up to their responsibilities

Restructuring should be anchored on creative industrialisation and create jobs, argues OKELLO OCULI

THE CASE AGAINST SEX EDUCATION Last week, a group of pro-choice NGOs staged a protest against the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu for directing the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) to expunge the current immoral sex education taught in Nigerian schools from the school curriculum. Worried about the immoral content of sex education curriculum in Nigeria and the wrong method deployed in using it to corrupt impressionable secondary school and primary school pupils most of whom are in the age bracket of 5-14 years, the minister had directed last week that the sex education should be removed from the school curriculum and that the teaching of sex education should be left in the hands of parents who are the primary educators of their children and religious institutions which are the custodians of morals of young people. Rather than sexualize and damaging the character of our school pupils with

pernicious sex education, the minister prefers that parents and religious institutions should teach sex education in order to safeguard the morals of our school pupils.

But the minister’s directive has not gone down well with some pro-choice NGOs. Last week they issued a statement stating, among other things, that the minister’s directive is a hindrance to progress in providing school pupils and teenagers with factual information and skills on teen safe-sex and reproductive health (otherwise known as abortion) that are necessary for young people to make rational decisions about their bodies. Also faulting the minister on the said directive, a wife of a former State Governor, who over the years has gained notoriety as child safe-sex radical activist, has written a letter to the minister stating, inter alia, that the Nigerian government should embrace the Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) of the notorious pro-abortion foreign NGO called the United Nations Population Funds (UNFPA).

The government should just ignore the protesting pro-choice NGOs and the wife of the former State Governor. Under the socalled CSE which the wife of the ex-State Governor is prescribing to the government (I have a copy of it right in front me as I scribble this), school pupils in open classrooms are required to touch each other’s genital saying: “I like you”. The pupils are also expected to touch each other’s private parts and ÀQG RXW WKH GLͿHUHQFHV LQ WKHLU UHVSHFWLYH private parts. For years now I have been following the corruption and sexualization of the Nigerian kids by the UNFPA. Under the youth peer sexuality education Training Guide/Toolkit, funded by the UNFPA and used in many public secondary schools in

Nigeria, (which I also have in front of me at the moment), the students are told to share with other students with whom they feel more comfortable things like: “Your sexual fantasies (fantasies), “Your feelings about oral sex (oral)”, “Whether you enjoy erotic material (X), “Whether you have fantasized about a homosexual relationship (gay-fan),” “Whether you have had a homosexual relationship (gay-exp)”. On page 75 of the Guide, there is a condom relay race activity involving boys and girls. It instructs the peer leader to “Ask two volunteers (participants or co-facilitators) to hold the two penis models” and then to invite two teams to race to put the condoms on the models.

I remember that in 2014 the same UNFPA organized what it dubbed the third Family Planning Pre-Conference which was held at the Reiz Continental Hotel, Abuja. At that Conference, the UNFPA launched a condomsafe-sex campaign entitled, “No Hoodie No Honey”. This campaign was widely reported in the Nigerian media. The campaign was also posted on Twitter, Facebook and on other social media. The campaign was targeted at young Nigerian girls in the age bracket of 1418. The campaign was aimed at supplying condoms and contraceptives to these young Nigerian girls and convincing them that “safe-sex” is their right and therefore they shouldn’t be ashamed to practice “safe sex” HYHQ LI WKH GLͿHUHQW 1LJHULDQ FXOWXUHV DQG religions teach otherwise. For example, one of the inscriptions on the No Hoodie No Honey roll-up stand posted on Twitter read: “Lets push for easy access to the female condom and that a woman may buy condoms without being shamed” First: the campaign was tainted by fraud and deception. While VFLHQWLÀF HYLGHQFH FRQVLVWHQWO\ VKRZV WKDW the condoms, which contain naturallyoccurring holes, do not protect its user against infections and against HIV and rarely protect against unwanted pregnancy, the UNFPA fraudulently masquerades about the cities of Nigeria and giving the Nigerian youths the false hope that condoms protect from any misdeed.

It beats the imagination that the UNFPA and others are corrupting Nigerian children with immoral CSE under the watch of the government. The American College of Pediatricians has said that CSE is one of the greatest assaults on the health and innocence of children because, unlike traditional sexuality education, CSE highly and explicitly promotes sexual promiscuity and high-risk sexual behaviors among children and teenagers. CSE programs have an almost obsessive focus on teaching children how to obtain sexual pleasure in various ways. (Please visit this site https:// youtu.be/6yTvdCHgEHQ) and view the 11 minute video to see evidence of the harmful elements of CSE . The video provides just 15 harmful elements typically found in CSE curricula. Since each of these 15 harmful elements has the potential of causing longWHUP QHJDWLYH HͿHFWV RQ WKH KHDOWK DQG well-being of children, having even one of these elements should be reason enough to disqualify a CSE program from being taught to children in our schools. CSE harms children in the following ways and therefore should be banned in our schools.

Ekwowusi writes from Lagos

RESTRUCTURING AND ’PRIMITIVE ACCUMULATION’ In December 2007 Kenya was pregnant with violence. As a researcher for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), I heard taxi drivers, religious worshipers, civil society activists, academics and African diplomats and members of opposition parties in several African countries residing in Kenya all feared that violence would follow the impending general elections.

Church leaders and ambassadors of European Union countries and the United States of America held meetings with media

practitioners, leaders of ethnic associations, academics and public intellectuals to plead for rains on smoking embers of political violence. Nothing seemed to be working.

Incumbent President Mwai Kibaki had escaped death by ‘’accidenting’’, namely: government agents killing an opponent by involving the victim in a car accident. When a leader from the Indian Ocean coastline, Ronald Ngala, was killed it was claimed that a swarm of bees rushed into his speeding FDU RQ D ÁDW DQG VWUDLJKW URDG IURP 1DLUREL to Mombasa, and stung him to death. The public, as they say, ‘’laughed to cry’’.

Kibaki, a brilliant graduate in economics from Makerere and the London School of Economics, had been drawn from his university teaching job to organize the Kenya African National Union (KANU).

From Kenya’s independence he held ministerial positions in business and economic planning, becoming Moi’s VicePresident until 2002 when he was elected president. Coming after Arap Moi’s brutal treatment of critics, he had opened the sky to intellectual discourse, including criticizing him personally.

He had known that the powers behind the World Bank and International Monetary Fund were not interested in Kenya’s development. Consequently, he turned to China for investment in infrastructure.

The new 800 km railway line from the port of Mombasa to Nairobi; various roads to LPSRUWDQW DJULFXOWXUDO ]RQHV DQG D Á\ RYHU WR HQG URXWLQH WUD΀F MDPV LQ 1DLUREL were constructed with loans from China. He supported loans to thousands of SMSEs. Despite these positive measures, I found it intriguing that Raila Odinga focused his campaign speech, at a huge rally in Nairobi’s 8KXUX 3DUN WKDW .LEDNL PXVW OHDYH R΀FH DIWHU RQH WHUP LQ R΀FH EHFDXVH KH ZDV years old. There was no commendation RͿHUHG :KHQ DW D OXQFK LQ D EXV\ VSRW near Nation House I raised this matter, my host urged me to lower my voice before supporters of Odinga broke my teeth. My eulogizing Kibaki as former teacher at my

old university was also an irritant.

What infuriated his critics was the monopoly of the power of the PRESIDENCY by the troika of Kikuyu, Embu and Meru ethnic elites. They controlled awards of contracts awarded by government ministries and agencies; put their ethnic kin in charge of tenders, and excluded graduates from other ethnic groups from government jobs and private businesses nurtured by government contracts.

Moreover, R΀FLDOV FDUULHG RQ EXVLQHVV LQ WKHLU languages, thereby pouring salt and pepper over wounds of unemployment.

That was the petrol pool waiting to be ignited by the impending results of the SUHVLGHQWLDO HOHFWLRQ :KHQ WKH ÀQDO tally of ballots at Kenyatta House was interrupted by protests by opposition agents; and done so on live radio and television broadcasts, anti-Kikuyu violence erupted in the provinces.

The problem was that wealth was being grabbed through ‘’primitive accumulation’’ – without using labour to produce goods for a market- but NOT injected into agricultural production; processing agricultural products, and industrialization for inventing and manufacturing machines that produce more machines. That meant that stolen wealth was not demanding millions of workers and purchasing power from millions of consumers.

This kind of wealth was insecure and needed to be protected by hiring thugs and murderers of critics and challengers.

This characteristic of this wealth was responsible for the naked violence by security personnel on those who rejected election results. The absence of jobs and sources of subsistence made protesters equally murderous; thereby moving the country towards a civil war.

In 2010, President Kibaki supported a UHIHUHQGXP ZKLFK D΀UPHG WKH GLVSHUVDO of centres for awarding contracts from the Presidency to 47 counties; each with an executive led by a Governor. The process is called ‘’DECENTRALIZATION’’ of power. Professor Peter Anyang Nyong’o noted, in 2015, that the 47 counties became more centres for ‘’primitive DFFXPXODWLRQ·· E\ JRYHUQRUV WKHLU VWDͿ and inner-party allies.

In Britain, Brazil and Kenya primitive accumulation drove millions of people from their land. In Nigeria the violence in soya beans producing areas and open grazing zones; oil theft from pipelines follows this pattern. Unlike Nigeria, in Brazil and Britain such wealth supported native capitalist industrialization.

Wealth based on new productivity deepened mass poverty; and violent protests over wages. The unemployed were deported to the Americas, Australia and Africa. African genius must invent AFRICANISED industrialization and combat current theft of human resources. ‘’Restructuring’’/’’decentralisation’’ must anchor creative industrialization; and create jobs.

Prof Oculi writes from Abuja

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T H I S D AY

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2022

EDITORIAL

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

THE NEED FOR PUBLIC TOILETS The authorities should do well to provide toilets and enhance environmental sanitation

T

reveal that there has been limited progress in the he urge to ease oneself most often comes ÀJKW DJDLQVW RSHQ GHIHFDWLRQ LQ 1LJHULD without much warning. When such an What saddens is that the entire country is urge arises, it should be conveniently IDVW EHFRPLQJ RQH KXJH ÀHOG ZKHUH SHRSOH responded to. At present, that is not defecate, without shame, and without putting readily available in most Nigerian into consideration the impact of their action on cities. The embarrassment that this the health of others.

In many rural communities, could cause is better imagined than experienced. people still build houses without provision for That is why the provision of public toilets and toilets, or as the case may be, latrines where waste conveniences is an imperative in a modern society, can be emptied without others coming in contact not the least one wooing investors and tourists. with it.

In the urban centres, the issue is pervasive.

Otherwise, where would a person, outside home, And experts have consistently warned that when who suddenly feels the need to either pass urine or large numbers of people stool, ease themselves are defecating outdoors, without debasing their LW·V H[WUHPHO\ GL΀FXOW WR human dignity?

This culture is more noticeable at motor-parks, public schools, avoid ingesting human As the world marks waste, either through food the 2022 Toilet Day markets, bus and train terminals, and public squares where there are or water contamination or tomorrow, the United either no toilets or poorly kept ones because it has been spread Nations charge E\ ÁLHV DQG GXVW “everyone must Agreed that the have access to a toilet government may not be connected to a sanitary T H I S D AY able to provide every facility needed in a city, it V\VWHP WKDW HͿHFWLYHO\ UHPRYHV DQG WUHDWV KXPDQ EDITOR SHAKA MOMODU must however create the enabling environment to waste” should be a clarion call in Nigeria. It is a DEPUTY EDITORS WALE OLALEYE, OBINNA CHIMA encourage the private sector to do so.

MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO common sight in many of our towns and cities DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR ISRAEL IWEGBU Besides, government at all levels must initiate and WR ÀQG SHRSOH XULQDWLQJ RU GHIHFDWLQJ HLWKHU RQ CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OLUSEGUN ADENIYI sustain a re-orientation campaign to educate and the roadside or in seemingly obscure corners, EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN enlighten the people on the need for observance sometimes in the full glare of passers-by. Since MANAGING EDITOR BOLAJI ADEBIYI of basic hygiene in our communities or cities. It is THE OMBUDSMAN KAYODE KOMOLAFE people who are hard-pressed in the public often the loss of this once cherished culture of cleanliness have to ease themselves in the most inappropriate that has today made certain public places a no-go. places, the health hazards posed by this repugnant Schools, churches, mosques and other agents of habit cannot be over-emphasised.

T H I S D AY N E W S PA P E R S L I M I T E D socialisation should also join in the campaign for EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/CHAIRMAN NDUKA OBAIGBENA This culture is more noticeable at motor-parks, GROUP EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS ENIOLA BELLO, KAYODE KOMOLAFE, provision of public toilets. public schools, markets, bus and train terminals, and ISRAEL IWEGBU, IJEOMA NWOGWUGWU, EMMANUEL EFENI Against the background of reports that majority public squares where there are either no toilets or DIVISIONAL DIRECTORS SHAKA MOMODU, PETER IWEGBU, of the public facilities in Nigeria either do not have poorly kept one. Even some of the nation’s airports ANTHONY OGEDENGBE toilets or they are broken, this emblem of shame DEPUTY DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR OJOGUN VICTOR DANBOYI have no functional toilets. Where such facilities SNR. ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR ERIC OJEH deserves urgent attention. As the world therefore exist, they are poorly maintained. It is amazing how ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR PATRICK EIMIUHI marks the 2022 toilet day, the authorities must work authorities at all levels should ignore such basic CONTROLLERS ABIMBOLA TAIWO, UCHENNA DIBIAGWU, NDUKA MOSERI towards removing this social impediment in our needs as toilets. Available statistics from the United DIRECTOR, PRINTING PRODUCTION CHUKS ONWUDINJO TO SEND EMAIL: first name.surname@thisdaylive.com country.

Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

Letters to the Editor Letters in response to specific publications in THISDAY should be brief (150-300 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 (750- 1000 words). They should be sent to opinion@thisdaylive. com along with photograph, email address and phone numbers of the writer.

LETTERS

SOLUDO AND THE SONGBIRDS OF SOPHISTRY ,W LV GL΀FXOW WR ZDWFK WKH RUFKHVWUD $QDPEUD 6WDWH *RYHUQRU &KXNwuma Soludo is currently conducting in the state.

Watching him shout himself hoarse over the ambitions of one of his predecessors to be president of Nigeria is embarrassing.

For one thing, the jury is still out on Soludo. It takes guts and wits to govern Anambra State and its battle-hardened electorate. Even those unfamiliar with Nigeria`s political terrain will attest to this. Soludo won staggered elections last year after previous failed attempts and for all anyone knows, the economist is yet to work any economic miracles in the state. Instead, in a very inauspicious case of the morning telling WKH GD\ 6ROXGR DSSHDUV WR IDYRXU ÁLWWLQJ OLNH D VRQJELUG IURP RQH WUHH of controversy to the other while leaving his primary responsibility as state governor largely unattended to.

But just how soon until the branches get tired of his weight and wings and snap under him?

Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the Nigerian election terrain has ZLWQHVVHG DQ XQSUHFHGHQWHG LQWHUHVW VLQFH 0U 3HWHU 2EL D IRUPHU *RYernor of Anambra State entered the fray.

7KH GLͿHUHQFH EHWZHHQ 0U 2ELCV SUHVHQFH LQ WKH UDFH DQG WKDW RI WKRVH ZKR KDYH UXQ VWURQJO\ IRU WKH FRXQWU\CV KLJKHVW R΀FH LQ WKH SDVW is that while many others called on all manner of political patronage and peanuts to sell themselves to Nigerians, Mr. Obi has chosen the

road less travelled of prudence and performance to craft a bewitching image that has captured the imagination of millions of people across Nigeria, including many of Nigeria`s young people.

This unprecedented wave washing over Nigeria`s political terrain has not gone down well with many Nigerian politicians, especially those of them cut from the business-as-usual cloth.

Since the Peter Obi phenomenon began, there has been all manner of reactions from many Nigerian political veterans to show that they have been caught cold by the fact that Mr. Peter Obi is promising a new ZD\ RI GRLQJ WKLQJV LI KH LV HOHFWHG SUHVLGHQW DQG IRU WKH ÀUVW WLPH LQ D YHU\ ORQJ WLPH VRPHRQH ZKR LV GDULQJ WR EH UDGLFDOO\ GLͿHUHQW LV QRW EOX΀QJ )RU PDQ\ 1LJHULDQ SROLWLFLDQV WKHLU RYHUZKHOPLQJ UHVSRQVH has been one of jealousy and envy. Ever devious and jealous, they have been careful to mask their envy behind political pragmatism and realism.

Like many Nigerian politicians who are simply jealous of Peter Obi, Soludo cannot seem to wrap his head around the fact that someone has impossibly and improbably built a proper political career out of defying the odds in Nigeria.

Thus, he recently took leave of the enormous task facing him as *RYHUQRU RI $QDPEUD 6WDWH WR WDNH SRWVKRWV DW WKH FDQGLGDF\ RI 0U 3Hter Obi. Firstly, he took little time to dismiss the much-vaunted achieve-

ments of Mr. Obi when he was governor of Anambra State before taking more time out to outrightly dismiss the beeline Mr. Obi is making IRU 1LJHULDCV KLJKHVW R΀FH It is not entirely clear whether Soludo is the eel that now thinks itself the python, but what is abundantly clear is the fact that in taking leave of the enormous responsibilities that confront him as governor of Anambra State where he is said to have performed poorly so far to dabble into that which does not really concern him, he has stirred the hornets` nest and they are bound to hunt him for some time to come.

Like Mr. Obi, Soludo is from Anambra State in the southeast where people have for decades clamoured for the president of Nigeria to come from among them to no avail. *LYHQ HYHU\WKLQJ WKDW WKH 3HWHU 2EL FDQGLGDF\ UHSUHVHQWV D KLVWRULF opportunity to rescue Nigeria from the horrid mess of past administrations one of which Soludo himself served, he would have been better served supporting it, or keeping his odious opinions to himself because whether or not Peter Obi becomes president next year, the political tempest he has unleashed will in the near future sweep away politicians like Soludo whose illusions of grandeur are just as grand and as grating as their incompetence.

Kene Obiezu, @kenobiezu

T H I S D AY ˾ FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2022

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BUSINESSWORLD

AVIATION

Nigeria’s Tempestuous Aviation Road Map The Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika has drawn the battle line between him and the domestic airlines after the domestic carriers pointed out critical reasons why the establishment of Nigeria Air under the current arrangement was aimed at driving them out of business, writes Chinedu Eze

T

he Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika has explained to industry stakeholders the reason he wanted to demolish the headquarters of aviation agencies in Lagos to give way to aerotropolis project, eulogizing the project and how it would transform the aviation industry.

He took a swipe at the airline operators for not responding positively when he allegedly sought their support and inclusion for the national carrier project and insisted that the project must go on despite restraint from a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, which stopped the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Minister of Aviation from implementing the proposed National Carrier Establishment Agreement between the Federal Government of Nigeria, Nigeria Air Limited and Ethiopian Airlines.

Claiming that he was not aware of the restraint, the Minister recalled that early in 2016, “we rolled out our roadmap and the unions at that time formed majority part of the stakeholders that were there. And there were more than 1000 people on the register that were recorded that attended. And we rolled out our roadmap, which included concession, the national carrier, the cargo, the Aviation University, the MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul), the leasing company and so on. And we are well interrogated at that event.

“And since then we have had almost quarterly of those stakeholder conferences, some in Lagos, and some in Abuja. And at every single time the union had been there and we have been also together with the union. I met with them; I am sure over 20 times as a Minister (of state), over 20 times as (substantive) Minister.

And because we were doing a PPP Private, Public Programme), which is guided by ICRC (International Concession Regulatory Commission), which is ICRC is the constitutional agency saddled with the responsibility of doing concessions and PPP programs, we obeyed them. And there are two principal driving committees: The project delivery team, which is the engine house to which all of the activity of concession, national carrier, and the rest of the PPP is being grouped. And finally, the Project Steering Committee (PSC), which is approving unit of the Project Delivery Team (PDT). And no law, no law in Nigeria says that union should form part of either the PDT or the PSC. It is me, Hadi Sirika, for fairness, for representation, for participatory leadership, that I said that we should include members of the union in that committee.

“So that they are aware of what we are doing from day one, from the appointment of the transactional adviser, to the formation of the outline business case and all those route financial closure. So that nobody would say that they are not been carried along and no stakeholder today in Nigeria, I have met some imminent Nigerians. People that I hold in high respect and I still respect them, were even ministers before me, in fact they were ministers when I was in school.

I have read some of them saying that they have not carried along the stakeholders in their actions and decisions as I did,” Sirika said.

He denied that the establishment of the national carrier was literally done under the table, as alleged by airlines and other industry stakeholders, insisting that he urged some industry stakeholders, especially existing airlines to become part of the new national carrier.

“It is not true (that he singlehandedly established the national carrier). It’s absolutely incorrect. It is very unfair on us. Because we advertised those on conferences and we said what we were going to discuss, and we did it. I earned the name-calling from you, the press. Mr. Concession, Mr. National Carrier. How did you come to know about them if you have not been involved?

That is number one. Number two, ICRC is the only agency, or at least the first agency on earth, the first agency on planet earth that opened a portal where all the activity is uploaded online to which you can access and read. So you don’t know about it. It’s either you miss it, not on purpose, or you are lazy to do so,” the minister further said.

OTHER PROJECTS IN THE AVIATION MAP

Sirika said that other projects in the aviation map were also uploaded in the ICRC website; “so nobody should claim that he has not been carried along.”

“And there is Freedom of Information Act today, including Google. Nobody had ever asked for a document from the Ministry of Aviation and I denied him. I have always obliged, if you ask me the name of my mother I will give you. But nobody that ever wrote to ask for one document or another and had not been given.

So if you say you have not been included, I think it’s unfair on us. I think we should have the credit of transparency today. If I put it this way, if you ask every contractor, including this one (who attended the event) and all of the airline owners, the contractors, if any one of them has been to my office to ask for his document to be pushed, if any. So that said, I want to appreciate the question to give me this opportunity to explain. So every stakeholder in this country has been carried through our own advertisement, through the website, through the stakeholder conferences, through

tomorrow morning. I wish that happens tomorrow morning. This, chaos is what you want as an airport?

This chaos in all of these places is it what you want for an aerotropolis, which is part of the roadmap?

Don’t you want a rail link between the old domestic terminal and the new international terminal? Don’t you want that? Don’t you want pattern structures where there are cinemas, Spas, shopping malls, banks, airline offices and a befitting headquarters for Lagos?

The chaos that you have here is what you call an airport? Do you want to continue to live like this? Do you want to keep going to Dubai and come back and say wow these people have done wonderfully well?

Do you want keep going to Ghana and using your phone and say, common Ghana, see Ghana? Is that what you want? So given the chance, I will demolish all the headquarters. In fact, I told somebody that I am going to demolish from where Arik used to be, Nigeria Airways, all the way to police to Aero Contractors to Bristol and something that is befitting of Lagos. Come on, this is Lagos; this is our premier airport,” Sirika said.

ALTERNATIVE LAND

personal visitation by me,” Sirika said.

PARTICIPATING IN THE NATIONAL CARRIER

Alleging that the airlines lied by saying that they were not carried along, the minister said that the National Assembly aviation committees were updated with the updates and procedures towards the establishment of the national carrier.

“The airline owners said they were not carried along.

But if you were there in the National Assembly, both House of Representative and Senate, they chickened out because I called their names and told them where I met them individually. The Max Air, Azman, Air Peace, Ibom Air, everybody where I met them and told them, please come and partner in this airline and own it. It’s meant for you, the private sector. Keep your Air Peace, keep your Max Air, and come and invest in this one. And I went to them individually and one of them said that the method of informing him was informal. I said, well, I went to you at least; I met you in your own place. I discussed with you and I invited you. But if it is informal, I have put it on all the daily media adverts. I have also put it on The Economists. I have also put it on television. I have also put it on the website. So, how more formal can that be? And it is also always been an item in the stakeholder conferences to discuss. I always end by saying, you the stakeholders are invited to come and partner in this project and programs. They are fully private sector, so nobody should say he has not been invited,” Sirika said.

REACTING TO COURT RESTRAINT

Sirika who insisted he was not aware that anybody went to cour, said: “I am not aware yet that anybody is in court. I have not received any court paper; otherwise I will not discuss it. But I cannot see any court, any rational court that will say I am stopping somebody from establishing a company. Because Nigeria Air is a limited liability company, known to Nigeria Laws in the Corporate Affairs Commission.

“So if anybody wants to come and invest in that company of Nigeria, there is no law in Nigeria that stops him from doing so. If there are foreigners coming to invest, nobody is stopping them from investing. You can own the company a hundred percent, Messr (referring to the contractor that installed the runway lights) is not Nigerian, they have been delivering projects. And what would you say to Shell, Uniliver, May and Baker, Julius Berger, PW (airport construction company)? They are companies, known to Nigerian Law and people are coming to invest. What is the big deal? This is what we want. We want Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). So, if it is 350 million dollars for the airline and somebody is bringing 200 million dollars into Nigeria, why not? We want more of them.”

DEMOLITION

On the planned demolition of structures housing aviation offices in Lagos, which include the headquarters of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the headquarters of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria and the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA); just as the edifice, the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) was demolished earlier in the year, forcing majority of the workers to relocate to Abuja, the Minister said that the offices were decrepit structures that were hitherto planned to be temporary and now should inevitably give way to the lofty aerotropolis that was aimed at transforming the aviation industry.

He benumbed grumblings about the plan and spontaneously received ovation about the aerotropolis project, which has become global trend of building airport community for more inclusive and boost to non-aerotronautical revenue. In fact this is commonly defined as a metropolitan subregion whose infrastructure, land use, and economy are centered on an airport. It fuses the terms “aero-” and “metropolis”.

The Minister argued that it was to have this lofty project that prompted the Buhari administration to want to demolish these existing structures; even at the twilight of the administration.

“I wish that it (the demolition) would happen

The Minister rubbished the suggestion that there are other parcels of land the aerotropolis could be built without demolition of existing structures.

He said: “So, the headquarters of FAAN is developed. That wooden structure that has burnt twice is development? Number two, this is an executive function…by the grace of God; we have been invested upon to carry it out. We will carry the stakeholders along. It is their right to know. We will not do it under the table. I have not been known for that neither has anything that I have supervised, been known for that. If we want to demolish a building to make something better, nobody should stop us from doing so, because we know it is for the good of our industry. I am sure those living in FAAN headquarters, an office of a director, is like from here to where you are including the secretary, are made of bamboo 40 years ago. It is a transit place meant for those who would build the airport.

28

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2022 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

INTERVIEW

Olatunde: Weak Institutional Infrastructure Hampering Digital Entrepreneurs Founder of Knowledge Digest Africa and Digital CEO, Tribe International, Samson Olatunde, speaks on some the challenges hindering digital entrepreneurs in the country. Oluchi Chibuzor presents the excerpts.

It has been said that entrepreneurs drive any nation’s economy, how through in this saying? es, this is absolutely true. Entrepreneurs are not just solution providers to an array of problems; they boost any nation’s economy. No nation can completely solve unemployment issues without market-creating innovation.

To begin with, entrepreneurs strongly create new businesses that directly respond to the unmet demands in the market. For instance, before this moment, it was seemingly difficult for Africans in the diaspora to send remittance through their phones, except by using western union and others. Send WAVE came into the picture and therefore allows senders from Europe and North America to send money to their loved ones in Africa. This is not just an innovation; it has also responded to the unmet demands in the market. Also, entrepreneurs are job providers. Just imagine that you have a billion-dollar business idea! You obviously can’t execute it alone; you need people to work with you. By hiring people, you are supporting a nation through increasing the quality of life and reducing the unemployment rate. I can say this for free: no nation can succeed without entrepreneurs.

the country?

With the sector bedeviled with policy summersault as a result of various interplays of government interventions, how easy is it to excel as a digital entrepreneur in the country?

Undoubtedly, Nigeria’s government policies have caused weak institutional infrastructure, social issues and lack of payment online. Recall that the government once banned Twitter! This policy affected many digital entrepreneurs who rely on the platform as a source of getting clients.

As per the weak institutional infrastructure, the government’s fin-tech regulation is also affecting the payment system of most digital entrepreneurs. Some who work for international clients struggle to get their money in Nigerian currency due to this challenge. I think the government policies are not just affecting digital entrepreneurs; other entrepreneurs have received their cake. Remember, in recent years, that many start-ups folded up because of Lagos’s policy on motorcycles.

Y

Why is it that the nation is yet to have fully home-grown digital entrepreneurs?

In my opinion, we have home-grown digital entrepreneurs. The challenge is just that they are few and struggling to survive in Nigeria’s harsh social condition. Let’s first understand who a digital entrepreneur is! A digital entrepreneur deploys the internet power to offer products or services to gain profit. By this definition, one keyword requires emphasis: the internet. Thus,

Olatunde it simply means that you need the internet to survive as a digital entrepreneur. The questions are: how do you survive in a country where the internet access subscription is pretty expensive. Also, as a digital entrepreneur, because you deal with the internet, you need a constant power supply. Another question begs for an answer: how do you survive when there is a low power supply in the country? These are the reasons why we have a few home-grown digital entrepreneurs in

Despite the fact that the nation’s tech hubs have been attracting FDI worth millions of dollars, the country is still heavily dependent on western software and hardware. Why is it so?

I concur that the nation’s tech hubs have been attracting FDI worth millions of dollars. There is no doubt that this will continue. Most of the tech hubs in Africa are based in Lagos, Nigeria.

I foresee Lagos as the Silicon Valley of Africa.

On the aspect of being heavily dependent on western software and hardware, I won’t call it digital colonialism; rather, I feel tech hubs are relying heavily on where they can get the best of the products. I think Nigeria is growing.

We will surely develop to a stage where we have software and hardware at our disposal.

As one of the nation’s digital entrepreneurs helping businesses to expand and become more profitable, can you share how you have been on this for over a decade?

I would describe my experience as creativity and change adaptation. Digital entrepreneurship is not a robotic mechanism; it is a combination of art and science. I am always ready to learn the art of creativity and adapt to change, as social media is evolving day by day. My experience has also made me understand that digital and traditional entrepreneurs possess the same characteristics: vision, determination, persistence, and creativity. The major difference would be that a digital entrepreneur needs to be tech-savvy and more open-minded.

Some of the businesses you have mentored and coached digitally are doing well especially in Ghana, Kenya, Benin Republic and of course Nigeria. How are you able to achieve all these?

To succeed, one needs to have a growth mindset and do a PESTEL analysis that can hinder growth in every business. I do my best to understand the micro- and macro-environmental factors that are capable of hindering a company’s growth (I do this because what works for Peter may not work for Paul). Once I have done this, I then proceed to provide the right digital strategy.

I would like to add that the internet is at our disposal. I easily carry out extensive research about any business model or industry in minutes.

The story continues online on www.thisdaylive.com

This

Weekend

TR

UTH

& R E ASO

WEEKLY MAGAZINE

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2022

NEWS Lions Club Honours Octogenarians for Selfless Service ce

See page 31

ETRENDS With Music, Games, William m Lawson’s Discovers the Firstt Naija Highlandah See page 32

ART WEEKEND D With Amoda and Abass, It’s Two Sides of a Coin See page 33

METRO Lending Helping Hands to Widows, Less Privileged See page 34

Ibijoke Faborode:

Group Features Editor: CHIEMELIE EZEOBI chiemelie.ezeobi@thisdaylive.com

07010510430

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Advancing Inclusion of Women in Politics

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COVER

Ibij o ke Fab o ro d e : Ad van c i n g Inclusion of Women in Politics Ø ÓÞÝ ÌÓÎ ÞÙ ËÎÎÜÏÝÝ ÞÒÏ ßØÎÏÜ̋ÜÏÚÜÏÝÏØÞËÞÓÙØ ÙÐ áÙ×Ïؘ Ìã ÎÏ×ÙÍÜËÞÓÝÓØÑ ÚÙÖÓÞÓÍÝ ÐÙÜ áÙ×ÏØ ËÍÜÙÝÝ ÐÜÓ͢ ÖÏÍÞ ˜ Ë ÚËÜÞã ËÑ̋ ØÙÝÞÓÍ ËØÎ ØÙØ̋ÑÙàÏÜØ×ÏØÞËÖ ÙÜÑËØÓÝËÞÓÙØ ÒËÝ ÝÒÙáØ ÍÙ××ÓÞ×ÏØÞ ÞÙ ÓØÍÜÏËÝÓØÑ áÙ×ÏØ˪Ý ÚÙÖÓÞÓÍËÖ ÓØÍÖßÝÓÙØ ËÍÜÙÝÝ ÐÜÓÍ˲ ÒÏã ÎÙ ÞÒÓÝ ÞÒÜÙßÑÒ ÌÏÒËàÓÙßÜËÖ ÍÒËØÑÏ ÍÙ××ßØÓÍËÞÓÙØݘ ÍÙ××ßØÓÞã ÌßÓÖÎÓØј ÍËÚËÍÓÞã ÎÏàÏÖÙÚ×ÏØÞ˜ ËØÎ ÓØÍÜÏËÝÏÎ ËÍÍÏÝÝ ÞÙ ÝÙÍÓËÖ˜ Òß×Ëؘ ÞÏÍÒØÙÖÙÑÓÍËÖ ËØÎ ÐÓØËØÍÓËÖ ÍËÚÓÞËÖ˛ ÏËØáÒÓÖϘ ÞÒÏã ÜÏÍÏØÞÖã ÖËßØÍÒÏÎ ÑÏØÎÏÜ͔͖˜ ÞÒÜÙßÑÒ áÒÓÍÒ ÓÞ ÓÝ ÝßÚÚÙÜÞÓØÑ ÐÙÜáËÜÎ̋ ÞÒÓØÕÓØÑ ÓÑÏÜÓËØ áÙ×ÏØ ÞÙ ÜßØ ÐÙÜ ÙÐÐÓÍÏ ËØÎ áÓØ ÏÖÏÍÞÓÙØÝ ÓØ ͓͓͔͑˛ ßÞÞÓØÑ ÞÒÏÓÜ ×ÙØÏã áÒÏÜÏ ÞÒÏÓÜ ×ÙßÞÒ Óݘ ÞÒÏã ÜÏÍÏØÞÖã ßØàÏÓÖÏÎ ÏÓÑÒÞ ËÝÚÓÜËØÞÝ àãÓØÑ ÐÙÜ ÝÞËÞÏ ËØÎ ÐÏÎÏÜËÖ ÖÏÑÓÝÖËÞÓàÏ ÝÏËÞÝ ÓØ ÞÒÏ ͓͓͔͑ ÑÏØÏÜËÖ ÏÖÏÍÞÓÙØ ËÍÜÙÝÝ ÚÙÖÓÞÓÍËÖ ÚËÜÞÓÏݲ ÙßØÎÏÜ˹ ÒÓÏÐ â̋ ÏÍßÞÓàÏ ÐÐÓÍÏÜ ÙÐ ÞÒÏ ÙÜÑËØÓÝËÞÓÙؘ ÌÓÔÙÕÏ ËÌÙÜÙÎϘ ÓØ ÞÒÓÝ ÓØÞÏÜàÓÏá áÓÞÒ MARY NNAH, ÏâÚÖËÓØÝ ÞÒÏÓÜ ×ÙÎßÝ ÙÚÏÜËØÎÓ What is the Agender35 initiative all about and how are you going about positioning women with this concept to win the forthcoming elections? gender35 is a non-partisan disruptive political campaign by ElectHer aimed at directly mobilising human, social and financial resources for forward-thinking female candidates. Our immediate objective is to build an influential female voting bloc ahead of the Nigerian 2023 general election.

We are taking a bold, concise and solution-based approach to ensure that we can get more women elected and the way we are doing that is by creating an ecosystem and increasing assess to resources. Resources are not only about finance because sometimes people tend to limit themselves by saying they want to finance. Resources can be social, intellectual, or technical, they can be anything.

The goal is that we should look inward. They are so many women that are elevated in the private sector, how can we draw them in? Just as I was sitting there one of the executive directors said he is interested in the women.

About three or four people came and said they need to fund-raise within their community. We are sure that this will make a difference because most times when women run, they run alone. They need an ecosystem. An ecosystem is where there are people of like minds, and resources, where you can go to vent. Being a woman in Nigeria is not easy and politics is murky water. Society by design is masculine so we need to see more women change that and that is what we are trying to do.

because women who are over half of the population are not getting elected and we are having issues. We are having issues with our children, maternal mortality rate, basic healthcare, education, economy, financial inclusion.

These things are gendered. It is not sentimental at all.

We must understand that it is not a man versus woman conversation. It is a conversation about exclusion and how to bridge that gap, and I am doing this from the gender lens to see what we can do.

A

What background are you coming from considering what you are doing right now?

I think the background of being a Nigerian, is the experience of my childhood. I’ve also gone outside the country, schooled; grew up in a university community and for me, it is that when you leave the country, you see what a functional system is. You understand the gap and you ask why we can’t get it right. We have people with intellectual capacity. I moved back from Paris and I didn’t tell my parents when I made that decision and they were very mad at me. I know what I want, I want to leave an impact and purpose. I’ve worked with international media, I used to work for the British government; trade and investment advisory so I’ve always had my career span through government relations, communication and advertising. It’s the space I know. I’ve done election monitoring. I think those pockets of opportunities also define who I am today. At some point in 2019, I started asking myself what I want to do. I want women in government and I remember a politician promised to fund me. I was doing a lot of high-level government things so I could have gone into government but left for me I would get tired because I don’t like simple things.

What is your view about elections in Nigeria?

We need more people that are conscious. A lot of people let things fly by because of their level of apathy. Look at ENDSARS, a lot of more educated and conscious people were asking questions, you can’t buy them over. If they want to do something they will. The less privileged are in survival mode and they are easily compromised. I try not to make it a good versus bad situation. People are victims of circumstances in which they find themselves.

This country is tough. If you make one million Naira, it’s very tough, before you know the money has finished.

We monitored the Osun state election. You will have people voting even with technology and all that, you have some of the party agents there. They know if you move your thumb forward you’ve voted for someone, if you move it down you haven’t. There are so many things but in that we are also seeing a conscious shift. We are seeing a larger percentage of people registering. We have seen the introduction of a couple of technologies in the Osun state election and we are hoping that we can replicate that. I protect myself in Nigeria is that I look for the silver lining and try to work with it. If you are not careful you will become part of the people that complain yet there is no change. I keep that little ray of hope. Home is home. I have been out of the country but it never felt like home. I don’t have a choice.

Now, tell us what exactly inspired Agender35.

It was inspired by the national gender policy for 35 percent of women. That is our agenda. It was just coining something around it. The word 35 draws curiosity; is it just 35 women? What is the agenda? We wanted something that people can easily adopt, we wanted something relatable. I would say it has been a really good name in

“We need more people that are conscious. A lot of people let things fly by because of their level of apathy. Look at ENDSARS, a lot of more educated and conscious people were asking questions, you can’t buy them over. If they want to do something they will.“ terms of promoting the agenda. It is just building something around 35 percent of women minimum in government.

Is there room for more women to be adopted?

There is but it involves resources. I love to manage expectations. Number one I’m not the government, I’m a private individual. We are going to be three in December. I’m very proud of the work we have done and there is still so much work to do. There is something called smart working. In politics, you have to be pragmatic. I speak with a lot of men in the space, the space is still designed in a patriarchal way and most of them are like sentimental women; come to the table with something… It’s about purpose and value, you have to make sure no stakeholders is seeing you as a liability.

You are supporting a lot of women. How are you tackling financing?

Money can never be enough. What we are doing is that we are crowdfunding them. These videos are going on our platform and you can tap the action button and donate. Everything we are doing is going directly to the candidate. We are testing out the first model. We also have an art event, a wearable art collection and then the revenue, we name each piece after the candidate and the revenue goes to the candidate. We are looking for alternatives, we are not waiting for the world to be equal. We have people that have promised us funds. People like talking things up but for me I’m a very pragmatic person. If something is not working I look for another solution. In the main time, what can we do? What we are trying to do is to generate revenue through different forms, creativity, crowdfunding, leveraging technology, however, we can. We don’t have all the answers but one step at a time because that little seed you are sowing is going to transform a lot of things in the future.

How do you handle the issue of party since the women come from different parties?

There is more that brings us together than divides us. I am a very bold person, I don’t mince my words.

I’m not begging for anything, I’ve come with my resources to partner with you. You cannot dictate to me, I am not a politician, I’m an enabler, a catalyst.

You can’t tell me what I will do because I’m not taking your money. I am trying to create an ecosystem of support and resources and that is why tech is good. With tech, you can mobilise, if you understand tech you can raise money. For me it is looking for alternative means to make people understand that ecosystem is good, the network is good but also you

can find solutions. We are all very lucrative in Nigeria and finance can be a trap, partisan politics can be a trap but I like baby steps. Let one success story tell another. We have different candidates, I told them I am not a politician, I am not a political party, we always put that disclaimer. You don’t pay my bills to start with so you have no right to tell me what to do. We will sit at the table as equals and we will negotiate power for women. We want women to be appointed to office in the new dispensation. The journey has started, even though I don’t understand the scope and the magnitude of what we are doing but I’m very happy with these eight women will teach us and we will learn from them.

You are not a politician and you are not partisan, so what exactly is your driving force to start supporting women in politics?

I believe in good standards of living. I believe in hard work but I also know how to enjoy life and that is my motivation. I like the finer things in life and I tell people that I’m not apologetic because I work hard. For me to be able to afford living there has to be social-economic buoyancy across the board.

You can not blow the other man with the tower, one day you will have to come down and face the people. So when you build transformational wealth and distribute wealth, it is good for everyone. That’s the way I see it. I don’t want to be rich, I want to be wealthy, I want to impact people. I have value, I come from a background of strong principles and a value system. My father used to be a vice chancellor; my mom used to be a university lecturer, and I grew up in a university community. I’m a country girl, so no matter what, I’m very guarded by my principles.

I believe in impact, and adding value and those are the things that drive me. I take every day one at a time. I get pragmatic, if it’s not working, I look for another way. I am a solution-oriented person.

So, do you think women can give us the society that we so desire?

Inclusion is something. When you have a populace and you have five percent deciding for others or you have 95 percent of men deciding for the society, it can’t be inclusive. Economic wealth is grounded in equity, where different factions of society must come together to make decisions. I don’t come into a room because I am a woman, when I enter a room, my presence will speak for me, my intelligence will show forth, and I will act and deliver. Let’s ensure that when we are creating policies, everybody is a part of that process. The reason why Nigeria is the way it is is that we are being short-sighted. What I would have been doing if there were no men was that I would be electing. Right now we have a problem

Tell us about yourself.

I’m a county girl, I grew up in a university community, Ife precisely. I was born in Osun. My first degree was from OAU, then I lived in Paris for about five years and got my second degree. I studied project management with a focus on development. I am currently doing my second masters at the London School of Economics in social business and entrepreneurship. I worked with the British government on trade and investment advisory. I will say that a fusion of my work in media, development, in the private sector has helped me to be a tri-sector leader. I can look at problems and solutions from different angles. I think that is a value that I bring in as an employer, as a citizen, and as a sister.

What can you tell us about your Dad? I always say my dad, Professor Micheal Oladimeji Fagborode, is one of the few good people left in Nigeria.

My dad is a servant. He is one of the best Vice chancellors OAU ever had. We never went on strike. They used to call him short man, very disciplined. The funny thing is that I troubled my parents as a kid because I wanted to see the world. Now I have a good relationship with my parents grounded in respect. When we sit at the table we are talking about politics, I see my dad smile sometimes because he thinks ‘this girl that gave me so much trouble.’

There was something about conformity while growing up, you were a quarters girl, and I just wanted to see the world.

I was very exposed. At some time I wanted to quit school and travel the world. I thought that school was not giving me value. But the truth is that I would not retake my journey to where I am today. I am all about my identity, I always tell people I want to be able to take a glass of wine and talk about politics. I don’t want to apologies for who I am so I don’t try to please people. I am very focused on my self-awareness as a person because in this work I do if I’m not self-aware, I would try to please too many people. I don’t try to please people. I try to be open, and fair, I follow the very basic principles of life and I leave every other thing. It doesn’t mean I am perfect but for me, I think that background I have, my father is also a hard worker, he has served this nation. He is a reformist.

He is someone’s that I know that if politics were given to technocrats, he can lead. Go ask about him in OAU. They are rooms I have entered and when people find out I am his daughter, they say he is a good man and it makes me happy because he cannot give in wealth he gives in character. That is the principle that I come from so that has shaped who I am. People are like you are so excited about your work, it’s because I don’t think about money.

I grew up not thinking about money, not because I was less privileged. Money can be an object, I think about solutions and value and I know the money will come.

That is how I grew up.

Let’s talk about marriage I think it’s important to talk about that. I don’t shy away from that, I’m single. This work I do takes a lot. I’m not opposed to marriage but I’m not a people pleaser. I believe in the institution of marriage. My parent has been married for years. I love love. It’s a beautiful thing. I want to be married to my partner. I’m a strong woman, I know what I come with, not every man… I’m very pragmatic and a lot of things and I understand who I am and what I will not compromise. It took me a long time to work on myself. It comes from mistakes, and heartbreaks and now I know what I will not do and compromise. I Will compromise my value and happiness. I know I am meant to transform the world so I can’t marry a man that can’t understand that. We must build together and be partners. My job is not to kneel and serve you water, it will never happen, I am to be your partner. I will be your support system and vice versa. I will not demand happiness from you because it is a very unrealistic thing.

I cannot depend on others for my happiness. I believe in the value and that is how I see everything. I believe in the institution of marriage but I don’t make it feel like I’m missing something. It will happen when it will happen.

Right now I am enjoying my life and I love it. I love to live a very good life and to look good. I love life.

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NEWS

Lions Club Honours Octogenarians for Selfless Service

Lion Anyanwu with the awardees

Stories by Mary Nnah Nigerian’s senior citizens, namely Akintola William, the Doyen of Accountancy and Doyen of Lionism in Nigeria; Lion (Engr .) Vincent Maduka, former General Manager of WNTV between 1973 and 1977 and first Director-General of the Nigerian Television Authority between 1977 and 1986; and Architect Lion Olufemi Majekodunmi, who all are above 80, were among those honoured for their selfless services to humanity even while in their old age.

The awards given to them were to recognise their services to Lionism and to encourage other people to do so.

Speaking during the award presentation which was held during the installation ceremony of Lion Jude Obaro Onohwosa as the 57th president of the Lagos Doyen Lions Club, District 404 A1 Nigeria at the Metropolitan Club, Victoria Island, District Governor, International Association of Lions Clubs District 404A1 Nigeria, Lion Anogwi Anyanwu explained that Lagos Doyen Lions Club is the first Lions club in Nigeria with membership cutting across all walk of life.

“When Lions Club was established in Nigeria in 1964, the only Nigerian that was a member then was Akintola William, the Doyen of Accountancy and Doyen of Lionism before other loins joined him. He was the only black that was member of the

lions club before many other Nigerians joined later on. “ Lion Jude Obaro Onohwosa is the 57th president of the Lagos Doyen Lions Club and we commend them for the efforts they have been doing all these while”, Anyanwu said.

Speaking further, he explained: I gave awards to three different people today namely, the Doyen Lion Akintola Williams who is the oldest Lion in the world because he is 104 this year and he is still together with his faculties. He came specifically to receive this award. “ So the award, Distinguished Lion Service Recognition award, is given to recognise his services to lionism since 1964 when he helped to bring Lionisn to Nigeria.”

The other two people honoured

were, Lion (Engr .) Vincent Maduka, former General Manager of WNTV between 1973 and 1977 and first Director-General of the Nigerian Television Authority between 1977 and 1986, is in his 80s but still a very active person serving humanity.

The third person is Architect Lion Olufemi Majekodunmi, who is also in his 80s and he has served lionism in every way. These are the people that established the first motherless babies home in Lekki single-handedly for lions movement.

Anyanwu said further that the awards were to also encourage up-and-coming people to know that distinguished people are members of the Lions Club and that more people were needed to join the lions club.

Harpic Collaborates with OPS-WASH, FG, Others for 2022 World Toilet Summit in Nigeria t3FTUBUFT DPNNJUNFOU UP 0QFO %FGFDBUJPO 'SFF /JHFSJB BOE JNQSPWJOH BDDFTT UP DMFBO BOE IZHJFOJD UPJMFUT Precious Ugwuzor Harpic, Nigeria’s leading toilet cleaning brand manufactured by Reckitt, has announced it will be participating as a sponsor and exhibitor in the upcoming 2022 World Toilet Summit (WTS) holding in Nigeria for the first time, in commemoration of this year’s World Toilet Day, along with other partners.

The World Toilet Summit billed to hold in Abuja on

November 18 and 19, 2022, is a global platform that will bring together policymakers, industry and thought leaders, developmental agencies, and other sector leaders to deliberate on policies and actionable steps for addressing the challenges of Open Defecation, and safely managed sanitation services affecting 3.6 billion people globally.

The summit is being hosted by the Federal Government in collaboration with the World Toilet Organization (WTO), and

the Organized Private Sector in Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (OPS-WASH). As a sponsor, Harpic will join diverse stakeholders across the Sanitation ecosystem to drive the conversation for this year’s summit, with the theme: “Sanitation Innovations for Economic Development”.

It would be recalled that in May this year, Harpic launched the pocket-friendly toilet cleaner sachet at an affordable price of

Thirty Naira ( 30) to enable access to all consumers to experience the superior quality of Harpic and the health benefits of sanitation hygiene. As part of this launch, Harpic also partnered with the Lagos State Ministry of Environment and Water Resources on a public ODF sensitization campaign which saw them visit 5 local governments within the State and educate about the ills of Open Defecation and the benefits of Improved sanitation.

Enterprise Development Centre to Unveil 20 Years Programme at 2022 Alumni Dinner The Enterprise Development Centre (EDC), Pan-Atlantic University would be hosting a special dinner and award night to celebrate entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs within her alumni network on Friday, November 18, 2022, at the grand banquet hall of the Civic Center, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The event would bring together EDC Alumni, entrepreneurs across different industries, as well as stakeholders of EDC both in the public and private sectors, in a convivial atmosphere, to meet, discuss, learn, wine, and dine, as part of building collaboration and support within the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

This year, the alumni dinner is designed as part of the celebration for Global Entrepreneurship Week, an annual global event specially dedicated to the celebration of entrepreneurship, innovation and job creation, hosted in Nigeria by the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) of the Pan-Atlantic University.

EDCAlumni Director, Nnenna Ugwu, speaking on the occasion said; “We are excited about this

year’sAlumni Dinner andAward Ceremony especially as it coincides with our unveiling of EDC’s 20th anniversary. Over the years, we have been committed to building a network of entrepreneurial leaders through continuous learning, process improvement, and business integrity. Today we are proud of our story, which is evident through our thriving

network of alumni and we use the Dinner and Award ceremony to celebrate them.”

TheAlumni Dinner would feature a reunion of different sections of the alumni body converging from different programmes offered by the Centre over twenty years. The high point of the event would feature an unveiling of “EDC at twenty”, which would

usher in year-long celebrations for 2023 and onwards.

There would also be special performances and entertainment, a class-of-the-year award, and an enterprise award presentation recognizing the top three undergraduate innovations from the Entrepreneurship course at the Pan-Atlantic University.

MTN Y’elloprenuer to Offset Lopsided Female Unemployment Vanessa Obioha To bridge the disparity in female unemployment, MTN Foundation recently launched Y’elloprenuer, an initiative designed to help women achieve their entrepreneurial ambitions through funding. The first phase of the program was launched in partnership with the Bank of Industry, and the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC).

With a considerable amount of research carried out by the foundation to ascertain why most grant initiatives fail, the team

designed Y’elloprenuer to engage women using capacity-building sessions that will accommodate 500 women.

Of that figure, a final 150 who scale through with outstanding business plans will have access to an equipment loan of up to N2 million at a fixed interest rate of 2.5 per cent over 36 months. in addition, they will have access to advisory and business support services.

“I found that when you empower a woman, you empower a community,” Executive Secretary, MTN Foundation, Odunayo Sanya remarked.

“Women are natural influencers, so for us, the single goal is to contribute to the reduction of women unemployment through investment in women entrepreneurship, thereby moving to a sustainable socioeconomic development of Nigeria.”

“For us, what comes first is capacity building. The funding isn’t just about giving; it is going to the best 150, and it is based on their individual plan, as they present their company. The power, really, is in the hands of our female entrepreneurs,” she concluded.

IFEOMA NWUKE LAUNCHES INSPIRATIONAL BOOK NOVEMBER 27TH Mrs. Ifeoma Nwuke is set to add another title to the genre of inspirational authors with the launch of her book on Sunday, November 27th, 2022.

On that day, Nwuke, the immediate past president of the Catholic Women Organisation of the Catholic Church of Divine Mercy, Lekki will unveil her debut book, “Soothing Waters: God’s Word As Nourishment For The Soul”.

Nwuke, a keen advocate of women and youth development has prepared herself throughout her religious journey through her consistent service in the Lord’s vineyard.

Through this, she has put her faith into action as a successful community leader and an entrepreneur who has integrated these godly values into her Ifeoma Nwuke leadership style.

She is a member of the Parish Pastoral Council of The Church of Divine Mercy and Vice Chairman of the Devotion Committee.

She is the Spiritual Director of the St. Jude’s Society of the Parish.

Also a Counsellor and a Facilitator who serves in the ‘Leading For Mission’ apostolate.

Soothing Waters promises to inspire everyone with profound words of wisdom and knowledge gleaned from the Bible through Nwuke’s daily profound longing spent in peaceful moments with the Lord.

BRANCH INTERNATIONAL APPOINTS SEUN AGBEDE-OLAFUSI AS GLOBAL HEAD OF PEOPLE Branch International, a San Francisco-based fintech with operations across Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, and India, has announced the appointment of Seun Olafusi as Global Head of People, effective immediately.

Olafusi, a veteran of human resources for over a decade, brings years of experience in executive leadership and delivering value in diverse sectors including Fintech, Technology, Aviation, and Financial Services. Before joining Branch International, Olafusi was responsible for setting up and developing the people operations function at start-ups and pan-regional companies such as Softcom and Uber in Nigeria. Upon joining Branch International over four years ago, Olafusi served as Head of People at Branch Nigeria where she kick-started the people operations function, successfully building and growing the team significantly.

In her new role as Global Head of People, Olafusi will shape the company’s strategic people direction globally with a strong focus on leveraging technology to support inclusion. She will oversee the critical functions of over 250+ employees across all of the Branch’s operating regions. These functions include people strategy, global talent acquisition, performance management, employee engagement, learning & development, process improvement, and much more, all with the end goal of enriching the Branch culture and contributing to the company’s overall performance.

Branch Co-founder and CEO, Matt Flannery, said, “We are witnessing a major shift in the way businesses drive the people and culture for growth. At Branch, our focus is on innovating and harnessing the power of humanizing systems to consistently attract, engage, develop and retain the best talents. With extensive experience in both the financial services and technology sectors, I am confident that Olafusi will help sustain the culture and environment that will make all our people proud to work at Branch International”.

RISE CALLS FOR ENTRY INTO GLOBAL RISE COMMUNITY Rise, an educational initiative of Schmidt Futures and the Rhodes Trust, has announced a call for entry for the third edition of Rise Global Challenge.

Supported by Eric and Wendy Schmidt through a $1 billion philanthropic commitment, the Rise Global Challenge supports innovative minds between the ages of 15 and 17 (as of July 1, 2023)seeking to serve global communities through idea creation.

Collated entries will be shortlisted to 500 applicants who will be invited for the ‘Finalist Day’, where they will demonstrate their motivations, problem-solving abilities, and teamwork skills in an innovative interview format.

All Rise Global Winners will receive the following benefits upon selection: A fully funded, three-week residential summit; access to the Rise Global Winners; higher education scholarship and more.

A lifelong scholarship as it terms the program, winners of the 2023 edition will gain continuous access to all its resources.

Since its inception, Rise has welcomed over 150,000 people from over 170 countries to its community. So far, 200 winners have been selected from 69 countries, with 11 Nigerian winners.

Over that period, the program has been able to highlight vital issues such as making education more accessible, fostering ideas mitigating global warming, and developing tools to better detect cancer.

Collectively, all 11 Nigerian Rise Global Winners have been able to kick-start several projects, some of which include starting up international NGOs to educate the public on solving pressing social issues such as gender inequality, developing teaching assistant programs, building robotics to automate tasks, and increasing STEM opportunities for Nigerian girls to mention a few.

Understanding that opportunities are scarce for talented individuals globally, the global initiative has entered into strategic partnerships with over 30 organisations including African Leadership Academy, HALI Network, BUILD Nigeria, and NBA Africa to scout for these talents seeking to leave an impact.

“Eric and I have been impressed by the optimism, initiative and curiosity of the young people in the growing Rise community,” said co-founder of Schmidt Futures, Wendy Schmidt. “We are excited to continue expanding this network with the 2023 cohort and can’t wait to see what these talented teens can accomplish when they work together in service for others.”

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E-TRENDS M.I ABAGA PROVES HE’S STILL ‘THE GUY’ AT TRACE LIVE CONCERT

MUSIC SHOWBIZ

…Your weekly entertainment delight

NOLLYWOOD

With Music, Games, William Lawson’s Discovers the First Naija Highlandah Stories by Vanessa Obioha

M.1

Iyke Bede The weather that Thursday afternoon could be described as hot and humid, one that left no room to bask in it. But undisclosed to anyone, the evening would be bucketed down with rain, delaying the Trace Live concert by an hour.

This, however, didn’t affect the expected attendance, as fans thronged Terra Kulture in Victoria Island, Lagos, drenched but excited at the prospect of witnessing one of Nigeria’s finest rappers, M.I Abaga, on stage.

While they waited, this reporter observed the sheer level of influence the ‘Money’ rapper had on them. The ‘stan culture’ was palpable right from the entrance to the reception area which had light refreshments.

Some of them wore M.I branded merch while others took turns delivering a pre-show concert in the form of a karaoke session that featured his tracks.

While it was fun to watch them evince bravado on the mic, it was nowhere close to the billed performance when the clock struck 9 pm.

Amid chants and thunderous claps, with a stage submerged in blinding neon lights, Jude, as he is originally known, emerged on stage walking briskly from backstage dressed in a dark long suit jacket. For a moment he stood to absorb their reverence before launching into the first song of the night, ‘Anoti’, off his 2008 debut studio album ‘Talk About It.’ To be sure, his stage presence and charisma could suffice for an important night that marked his stage comeback after a noticeable absence from the rap scene in the late 2010s. Despite these capabilities, he acknowledged the audience as the other half of his act. Word for word, they recited all the verses to ‘Action Film’, and ‘Undisputed’ as the show progressed.

To replicate the visuals, he distributed white taqiyahs ahead of his performance of ‘The Guy’, the first single from his recently released fifth studio album of the same name. M.I would later proceed to perform ‘Love Song’, another track from the album that features Wande Coal. Revealing a different, more sensual side to him, the mood switched from a high-energy atmosphere to a laid-back one as he freestyled over Mavin Gaye’s 1982 classic ‘Sexual Healing’, leaving the crowd slowly swaying in nostalgia.

The musical direction, once more, shifted. This time, a choral arrangement of over half a dozen singers flanked him to give a soulful rendition of ‘Overkilling It’, an original song by Djinee that features M.I. It was a spectacle marked by their soaring vocals.

With the casual manner in which he performed, it became evident he spotlighted both the audience present and those watching the televised event. Collated questions from social media were replied to in real-time.

Some of the questions touched on his artistic direction for the recent album, and his marriage to Eniola Mafe which took place a few weeks ago.

It all started at the Bamboo Lounge in Ikeja where William Lawson’s Scotch Whisky brand launched its Naija Highlandah campaign. Having been in Nigeria for a while, the brand deemed it proper to host a select group of journalists and fun seekers to its inaugural campaign in the country. Tagged ‘Naija Highlandah challenge’, the brand was keen on finding Nigerians who embody what the brand stands for: bravery, courage and fun-loving.

Awell-known blended scotch whisky from Scotland, William Lawson’s Naija Highlandah challenge had one thing in mind, to make Nigerians of legal drinking age show their Naija spirit.

After all, the popular slang ‘Naija no dey carry last’ is an assertion of our bold and daring disposition. Testing the Nigerian spirit, the brand required Nigerians to partake in a series of games to win N2 million and a trip to Scotland.

This was not a chance to be missed.

What better to spread the Naija Highlandah gospel than to send a troop of Highlandahs dressed in their kilts to major streets and bus terminuses such as the Oshodi and Ikeja bus terminals, where they paid the bus fares of random Nigerians to the delight of beneficiaries and other members of the public.

So the month-long search began.

Obviously, it was not going to be an easy task. One by one, fun seekers visited bars and lounges across the state where the brand had its set up every weekend.

The numbers increased each passing week. For instance, in the first week, 392 participants registered to partake in the bold and unconventional challenges which included spin the bottle, animal imitation, balloon games, plank no shots, plank with heels, kaku meter, and pull no spill. By the second week, the number had multiplied to 443.

Only 15 participants however made it to the grand finale which took place on November 12. They gained the spot by earning a maximum of 80 points.

The green field of the Stables at Surulere, Lagos, played the venue to

L-R: National Sales Manager, Bacardi-Martini Nigeria Limited, Olumagin Thomas; Project Lead, Chain Reactions Africa, Dixon Odukoya; Winner, The Naija Highlandah Challenge 2022, Akinwale Awatt; and Customer Marketing Manager, Bacardi-Martini Nigeria Limited, Lerato Makume at the Grand Finale of The NaijaHighlandah Challenge by William Lawson’s held at Union Bank Sports Ground, Surulere, Lagos on Saturday, November 12

the last leg of the challenge. Fun seekers and lovers of the brand convened there to witness the crowning of the first-ever Naija Highlandah.

Of the 15 finalists, only two were females.

The Stables was transformed into a mini fair with games for everyone to play, bars stocked with William Lawson’s premium whiskey and finger foods shared generously while a stage was set up for musical performances. For the night, Tosin Music, Clayrocksu and ARB band lit up the place with their live performances.

After going through another intensifying series of games, a Lagos-born entrepreneur Akinwale Awatt emerged winner of the challenge. Awatt who is currently studying Economics and runs his catering service could not hide his excitement when he was announced the winner.

“Naija Highlandah has motivated many Nigerians, including myself, to come out in big numbers and to be their fearless selves. I am thrilled to be a part of it and looking forward to the trip to Scotland,” he enthused.

“We are proud of Awatt and are

pleased to have him on board to be the first Naija Highlandah for William Lawson’s,” remarked Bacardi Marketing Manager in Nigeria, Lerato Makume.

“Awatt embodies the qualities of William Lawson’s of bucking convention, setting your own rules, and being daringly different.”

Although not everyone smiled home in a big way like Awatt, one thing was clear though: through this challenge, William Lawson’s tasked Nigerians to be bold, daring and unconventional.

After all, these are the qualities that set the blended scotch whisky apart.

AFRO AND THE BEATS TARGET 200,000 AFROCITIZENS IN DECEMBER

that the festival is a platform that will encourage and foster inclusivity, diversity and offer teeming youths and adults the opportunity to relieve stress and beam a new sense of hope and aspiration.

“We have chosen rainbow colors for the maiden edition, which signifies a sign of hope, the beauty after the storm, a pot of gold and good fortune.

For us, this represents inclusivity and diversity, an all-embracing image of love and friendship and that is what Afro And The Beats seeks to promote, asides from bringing people together,” Dr. King emphasized.

He continued, “Afro And The Beats Music festival 2022, is hosted as a multi-venue event with super-sized gathering, uniting thousands of fun seekers to further the afrobeat movement.”

Agege Stadium has been identified as one of the venues that would host the festival and of course, imagine Agege Stadium having Portable, Small Doctor and Obesere, that is fire.”

Other musical artists would be unveiled. The creative director of the Afro And The Beats, Azemhobo Otono, who explained the intricacies of the multi-venue event opined that Afro & the Beats is beyond music, concert, and/or people coming together. Rather, it is a philosophy, history and heritage of a people from different background and culture.

“Afro And The Beats celebrates the greatness of Africa and the beats that bring us together. The beats of our behaviour, culture, lifestyle, and the way we interact,” Otono added. speaking to arts, Otono said “I know people will like to talk more about the music but the art is the emotional and history part of the festival.

IbakaTV Makes Content More Accessible with New Offers As streaming continues to gain traction in the film industry, IbakaTV has rolled out plans to make its content more accessible to subscribers.

One of such plans is the free data offer.

At a media briefing recently, the Managing Director and Chief Executive officer of IbakaTV, Mr. Blessed Idomigie disclosed that the platform has come up with ways and technology for customers to access movie downloads and streaming easily and cheaper.

“We observed over time that a lot of customers find it difficult to stream movies because of the cost of content consumption. The issue is not the cost of subscription, but the cost of consuming the content,” he said.

IbakaTV CEO, Blessed Idomigie “So we came up with an innovation in partnership with Globacom watch a movie, the movies are usually and MTN. The innovation is the new in different sizes. We have come up product we have just launched into with the technology for you to reduce the market, which is unlimited data the quality based on the data you want for all our subscription packages.” to spend,” he added.

He further clarified that the subscripUnderstanding that streaming is tion package did not change, rather now a competitive sector in the marit now comes with an added value. ket, IbakaTV which has about 100,000 For instance, the N700 subscription subscribers is looking at penetrating plan on the platform which usually the market with these offerings. Apart lasts for seven days without data now from the free data offering, it also has comes with 3GB of unrestricted data. introduced the IbakaTV Reseller app In addition, Idomigie explained which allows filmmakers, producers, that the data is being controlled by and actors, to promote IbakaTV movies the subscriber. The subscriber can use and make money. The platform is given it on other sites and upon renewal still as high as 10 per cent off the sale of gets the same value. subscriptions from the Reseller app.

“We are also offering customers The platform also plans to start the technology to determine their creating original content by the first download or streaming experience. quarter of next year.

For instance, when you are trying to

Mary Nnah Having completely dominated the experiential and marketing ecosystem in activation and creativity for the past 16 years in Nigeria, Oracle Experience, the nation’s largest marketing experience firm, announces the biggest music and arts festival tagged Afro And The Beats Music Festival.

With this year’s edition tagged ‘Naija Takeover’, the festival is designed to provide unmatched music and arts experiences in a multi-venue location to over 200,000 afro citizens and festivalgoers. The festival is scheduled to commence during the festive season in December starting with Lagos.

Afro And The Beats will feature live musical performances, the detty dance party, a cultural parade and comedy. Also, there will be a kids’ corner and enjoyment village and in addition, sponsors tents for brand experiences According to the organisers, the festival is a convergence point for old artistes, new music stars and emerging talents in Nigeria and Africa, and it would provide the yearning Afro Citizens the platform to reconnect, express themselves, have fun and network.

The creator of the festival, Dr. Felix King, who is also the chief experience officer at Oracle Experience believes

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ART WEEKEND

…For pure art enthusiasts

With Amoda and Abass, It’s Two Sides of a Coin In the duo show titled, ‘The Ascendancy of Machine,’ the legendary sculptor, Olu Amoda and master painter, Kelani Abass are exploring their shared currency in visual storytelling to make statements on the relationship between man and machine as well as modern technology. Yinka Olatunbosun reports

Some of the works at the exhibition

TAOH EXHIBITION SUPPORTS MENTAL HEALTH PATIENTS Yinka Olatunbosun One of Olu Amoda’s sculptures

H

osted by O’DA Art Gallery, Victoria Island Lagos, this intriguing exhibitiontitled‘TheAscendancy of Machine’ runs from October 29th till November 19th.

Abass’s interrogation of this history is traceable to the series ‘Man and Machine’ which seeks to understand the synergy between workmanship of man and the ease of the machine. The thematic focusofthebodyofworkisevenprofoundintoday’s digital world where modern technology plays a pivotal role in the world of work, the dissemination of information and social engagement. This subject is subtly re-echoing the concerns with the industrial revolution where machines are replacing human effort. On the contrary,Abass, through painting and mixed media showcases the interplay between the manualandmechanical,influencedbytheprocesses ofindustrialprintingwhichtheartistlearnedfromhis parentsprintingpressbusinessduringhisformative years.At a recent press preview of the works,Abass revealedhowtheinfluenceofhisrootscharacterised some of his pieces, from miniature to large canvas paintings.

“We were operating letterpress machines. That’s where the work started from. I was observing the machines and other tools we use in the printing press and how the parts suppose one another. For me, that was really special,” he recounted.

His art education taught him to dig into this personal history to create a visual narrative of the stages of labour intensive duties, using a mixture of superimposedfigurativeelementsandtheelements

ofabstractionofappliedobjectsandmixedmedia.

Also,Abass expressed concern about the threat oftechnologytohumaneffortandhowautomated systems are driving the need for less workers.

In the piece titled ‘Chronological Remuneration, Valour and Heroism Triptychs,’ the physicality of workmanship is held together by the visibility of wheels,cogsanddials.Similarly,inChronological Remuneration, XII the gear is embedded in the centreofcanvas’foundationalludingtoaneedfor mechanical elements beyond man’s capabilities.

“The importance of machinery in aiding manpower in today’s fast growing technological advancement”istheonlywayto“takeadvantage of the resources in our arsenal,’’ he explained.

In this exhibition, both artists, although highly distinct in style and subject matter, share a common focus in which the evolution of modern and contemporary practices affect their interpretation of socio-political and environmental discourses in today’s Africa.

OluAmoda’s pieces, displayed in the open-air gardenaroundthegallery,areindeedenvironmentalist’s statements. Made of repurposed objects, his metallic sculptures intersect past and present contexts as a means to measure cultural value and encourage appropriate structural reforms in Nigeria.Foroveradecade,Amodahassituatedhis works within socio-political and environmental frameworks.

Thus,heappropriatesrepurposedmaterialssuch as rusty nails, metal plates, bolts and pipes in his creations,asavisualcommentaryontheconsumer culture. His installation ‘RotationAgainst Masses (Rams), 2014’ critiques the lack of political reform

in Nigeria and at the same time, questions the rationale for the coexistence of the Nigerian people. Each Ram is an indication of regional areas in Nigeria and the disparity that lends itself to faulty voting systems.

In a sense, both artists call for a shift in ideals, focusingprimarilyonencouragingamoreprogressive and forward-thinking environment.

While past articles of history may be important to Abass to preserve, Amoda also shares the sentiment that discarded objects possess some degree of energy can be repurposed.

Creatively, using the welding process, Amoda’s works are reflective of a hope for new forms and possibilities. “This process, drivenbyforensicand archaeological inquest, brings to the fore the sculptural discourse on the technological upgrade of an object and invites my audience on a collaborative journey in which process and product exist side by side.”

His life-sized sculpture of ‘Expectation, 2015’ created from welded bronze cast from firewood, is an indication of the possibilities created from the intricate process of welding.

The artist’s intention to recreate a familiar pose of an individual awaiting a bus is brought to life in a performative and lifelike manner as the references, metaphors and symbols are embodied in physical works. While both artists engage different processes, styles and mediums, their work is linked by a powerful sense of vitality and a need for change to the complexities of the African and Nigerian experience.

A New Dawn: A Commentary of Moral Values and Peer Pressure Yinka Olatunbosun The narrative in ‘New Dawn’ about the central character, Jerome, may be all too familiar. A young man of faith is at war with fleshly desires. Although his resolve to live solely by godly standards is under threat on a daily basis, he lives a considerable normal life much to the annoyance of some of his girlfriends who are crazy about him.

In building the character of Jerome, the author Gedu Jolomi Joy situates him in a campus environment. As a christian, Jerome is determined to lead an exemplary life- service without sins and friendship without blemish. However, the pressure to relish a few moments of pleasure would haunt Jerome in his quest to remain spotless from the world. Then comes a viral post from one of the daughters of jezebel. Will Jerome stay afloat in a situation that can potentially weaken his faith or tarnish his reputation? Gedu leaves the readers to find out in this easy-read.

An example of contemporary Nigerian literature,

‘New Dawn’ is a mix of English language, pidgin English with a touch of colloquialism.

New Dawn is not without errors: a handful of typographical and grammatical errors can be seen in the work which is the first print of the book. No doubt, these would be corrected

in subsequent editions.

Gedu’s sojourn into writing began in her undergraduate years. A native of Delta State Nigeria, she earned her first degree in Animal and Environmental Biology from Delta State University, Abraka.

During her university years, she developed an

interest in nature and African poetry. As a successful creative writer, the author has written various articles for magazines and online platforms; some of her works have appeared in foreign publications. Jolomi aspires to bring awareness about marital issues and general mental health on the home front to the world, as well as introduce African art to the world through her works. She is happily married.

Book cover

The just-concluded group exhibition with the theme, ‘We See; We Dream; We Hope’ has been a showcase of 15 Nigerian artists on a mission to support mental health patients. The show which ran from October 22 to 25 is an initiative of TAOH, a non-governmental organization that derives its acronym from ‘The Art of Healing.’ It was done in partnership with Alliance Francaise, Lagos and held at the Mike Adenuga Centre, Ikoyi.

CuratedbyTonyAgbapuonwu,theshowfeatures the works of Akanimoh Umoh, Deborah Segun, EdozieAnedu, Gerald Chukwuma, KelaniAbass, Kwadwo Asiedu, Nengi Omuku, Niyi Okeowo, NzubechukwuOzoemena,OlayemiFagbohungbe, Olumide Onadipe, Richardson Ovbiebo, Roanna Tella,TegaAkpokonaandYadichinmaUkoha-Kanu.

Earlier, the project took off at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) with mural painting towards transforming the interiors of the psychiatric wardforabetterhealthcareambience.Fourpsychiatric wards were given a complete makeover as some of the patients and staff engaged in the therapeutic experience. Hence, the exhibition which follows this mural project is in itself a fundraiser to enable the project completion at LUTH as well as other health institutions in Africa.

TAOHFounder,Ms.NengiOmukugaveaforecast on the impact of this laudable art project.

“The art workshops at LUTH demonstrated the positive impact of artistic and creative expression on mental health. This programme of work will go on to inform the murals that are created and ensure the new environments have a relationship with the people who encounter them. We are targeting the minds of mental health patients through what they seebycreatinganenvironmentthathelpsthemheal,’’ she said.

ForKwadwoAsiedu, the Project manager for the TAOH project and a participating artist revealed the impact of this art project on mental health.

“One of the things that this project has revealed to me is how therapeutic can be for mentally unwell patients. This is a great opportunity to explore that.

It’s been a highly enlightening experience because as I mentioned earlier. This is a great opportunity to assess and document how art can work as a form of therapy in these institutions,’’ he said.

When asked how to push the conversations around mental health beyond the exhibition walls, he let his witty side kick in.

“Speaking of walls, I think the idea is to break down the walls. Most of the conversations around mental health are confined within the homes. If they have a relative that is mentally unwell, people normally shy away from talking about it openly.

The individuals that are going through this state are often the ones that get marginalized and I feel that it doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. Yes, you can protect their individual right to dignity and privacy, but they are still a part of the family and are still your friends and should be treated as such,’’ he said.

The show was a belated celebration of World MentalHealthDayonOctober10inhonourofmore than 116 million people estimated to be living with mental health conditions acrossAfrica. Reportedly too,thepandemichadcontributedabouta25%global rise in depression and anxiety.

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METRO

…Your city life in print

Lending Helping Hands to Widows, Less Privileged For industrialist Richard Agbapuru, one of his life’s passion is to give back to society by lending help to widows, as well as the less privileged irrespective of tribe, religion or sex. Uzoma Mba reports that to carry out such humanitarian aids, the Ugomba United Social Club of Nigeria, which he was the founding president, continuously renders assistance to those in need

Agbapuru presenting patronship plaque to Barr. Obi

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or Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Richygold Group of Companies, Chief Richard Agbapuru, the need to empower one’s society is sacrosanct. In different fora, he constantly urges well meaning Nigerians, social organisations to always assist the less privileged ones in the society in this economically difficult times, particularly widows who are suffering due to the death of their bread winners.

Recently, he reiterated this appeal while speaking at the end of year party organised by Ugomba United Social Club of Nigeria, of which he is the founding president.

At the event in Lagos, he was also honoured as the grand patron of the club.

According to him, Ugomba as a social club was founded by some of them some years ago, precisely in 1986/87 but was officially registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) in 1992.

He explained that one of the objectives of founding the club apart from creating happiness for members was to render whatever assistance they could give to less privileged persons

Dr. ToroL-R: Mrs. Agbapuru, Mr & Mrs Anthony Onwumere and Chief Agbapuru in the society irrespective of tribe, religion or sex.

He emphasised that over the years, the club has been rendering such humanitarian assistance in its modest way just as it has promoted a high degree of oneness amongst members.

Going back in history, Agbapuru noted that the club came into existence when himself and some other business men who used to travel to Onitsha for bulk buying of products for sale in Lagos decided to form an organisation that could enhance oneness and happiness amongst members.

Reminiscing he said: “the club over the years may look small in structure but certainly mighty in action. Besides creating happiness and promoting oneness amongst members, we have a hotel currently under construction in one of the South-east states. When completed, apart from boosting the hospitality business, the hotel would provide employment and business opportunities for many people.”

The grand patron added that the progressiveness of the club could also be found in the fact that all the pioneer members at the formation of the club were all bachelors but currently, they are all married with some becoming grand fathers.

To walk his talk towards assisting the less privileged, Chief Agbapuru announced half a million naira gift to the widow of a late member (Paul Okochi) who is currently doing some trading in the South-east. According to him, the money would assist the widow in augmenting her trading capital.

Earlier in his welcome speech, President General of the club, Mr. Samuel Okoroji commended members for keeping the vision of the club’s founding fathers alive.

He noted that since the club came into existence over thirty years ago, it has continued to be of help to members and their families including assistance to less privileged nonmembers of Ugomba.

As the fifth president general of the club now in his second four year term, Okoroji promised that with the support of the club’s

grand patron, patrons and other illustrious members, Ugomba United Social Club of Nigeria would occupy a pride of place in the comity of social organisations in Nigeria.

Another highlight of the event was the appointment of two illustrious members of the club as new patrons.

They included Barr. Paul Obi (a.k.a. Ochendo) and Eze-elect Anuma Ifeanyi (Ezeakuchukwu).

Mr. Peter Okochi emerged as newly designated founder of the club as Chief Richard Agbapuru (the actual founder) declined to combine the title of founder with his new position as Grand Patron of the club.

While congratulating the new patrons, Chief Agbapuru paid special tribute to Barr. Obi whom he said, had diligently facilitated the formal registration of the club at CAC in its early years even when he had not yet become a member of Ugomba.

The end of year get-together which took place at the event hall of Ojez Hotels and Suites, Ebute Metta was sponsored by a member, Mr. Anthony Onwumere. It attracted most members of the Club with their wives in attendance and other guests. There was enough to eat and drink just as conviviality pervaded the entire space throughout the occasion.

Sleek Nigeria Announces Ajide Daniels as Creative Ambassador, Launches Back to Base Collection Cosmetics giant, Sleekbeauty curator made a Nigeria, makes its returnname for himself as a to the market with newmakeup artist—gradually and improved productsbecoming a standout that promise quality andname in the beauty and affordability for everyone.fashion industry. Not only With all products underdoes he use makeup to N10, 000, Sleek Nigeriapresent his view of beauty opens up the world ofto the world, but he also beauty and wellness todraws attention as he the masses. promotes the culture of In such a fast-pacedmale grooming within the world, Sleek NigeriaAfrican beauty industry. says “we’ve witnessedHis trailblazing path aligns a change in everywith the innovativeness industry, particularly inand boldness of the the beauty sector. WithSleek Pro Nigeria brand, the rise of the ‘newmaking him the ideal normal,’ the cosmeticscandidate for the brand’s industry now stretchesfirst Creative Ambassador. its hand toward a wider Ajide’s originality audience. An industry thatand passion for beauty once served a mainlyhave taken him far European audience nowduring his career. He has has eyes on everyoneworked with renowned who has an interest infigures like Denola Grey, it—regardless of ethnicity,Mayorkun, Ayra Starr, gender, or belief. In theLupita N’yongo, and last decade, we have seenNaomi Campbell. He an increased demand forhas also been featured in gender-neutral makeupnumerous publications, and inclusion in theincluding Vogue industry.”

Magazine, Vogue Brazil, Ajide Daniels (in front) with some models on the Sleek Nigeria collections This change has createdand Essence Magazine. As with Sleek Nigeria to create content across its many spaces for people likethe brand’s ambassador, marketing channels, attending events on behalf campaigns and master classes.

This pioneer attributes his success to his Ajide Daniels. StartingDaniels will spend the of the company, and showcasing his prowess in consistency, hard work, attention to detail, and in 2017, the editorialnext few months working

prioritizing creativity when creating makeup looks. Ajide’s goal is not to create beauty through makeup but to use makeup to amplify the beauty we already all possess.

Similarly, Sleek Pro Nigeria’s Back to Base capsule collection emphasizes clean makeup that magnifies innate beauty. Sleek Nigeria founder, Dr. Ebele Ugochukwu, maintains that makeup should ‘enhance and not transform’ our features.

Sleek Nigeria’s new range includes an improved silky smooth cream-to-powder foundation, pressed and loose powder, liquid liner, and a variety of high-shine lip glosses. While some of these products are entirely new for the brand, some return as fan favorites. This range mainly features skin products as Sleek Nigeria aims to reinforce its stance that a flawless base is the key to a perfect look. This standout collection and collaboration will attract the attention of different generations of makeup users alike. Ajide’s presence in the Sleek Pro family speaks to the essence of the brand’s values which celebrate individuality and quality. Ajide affirms that “a flawless base is essential to achieving a skin-like finish,” and when asked about his favorite product in the collection, he believes that the cream-to-powder finish foundation is sure to win over the masses with its remarkable texture and formula. He proposes that all makeup should always look ‘like skin, but better.’

Ajide and Sleek are true believers in the power and dynamism of makeup, choosing to use it as a tool for empowerment and self-love. Ajide’s commitment to excellence and Sleek Nigeria’s years of expertise make for a formidable partnership and a turning point in the Nigerian cosmetics industry.

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IMAGES

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

L-R: Nigerian artiste/philanthropist, Timi Dakolo, and founder of the Azeez Amida Foundation, Mr. Azeez Amida, at a handover event in Lagos where the foundation donated medical supplies and relief materials to Dakolo’s support initiative to aid 50,000 Bayelsa State victims of flood…recently

L-R: Group Managing Director, Nigeria New Globe, Mrs. Omowale David-Ashiru; Secretary, Universal Basic Education, Dr. Hamid Bobboyi; Executive Director, Arc Light Foundation, Ms. Abisola Obasanya; and Regional Operations Director, Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Thankgod Otorkpa, during the 28th National Economic Summit in Abuja…recently

L-R: Immediate-past Chairman, Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA)/Managing Director, Cornerstone Insurance Plc, Mr. Ganiyu Musa; former Chairman NIA/Managing Director of NEM Insurance, Mr. Tope Smart; newly inaugurated Chairman of NIA)/ Managing Director, Old Mutual Nigeria Life Insurance, Mr. Olusegun Omosehin; and his wife, Mrs. Modupe Omosehin, during the investiture of Mr. Omosehin as the 25th chairman of NIA, held in Lagos...recently

L-R: Principal, Federal Nigeria Society for the Blind (FNSB), Chigozie Asogwa; student of FNSB, David Uzodinma; Group Corporate Communications and Event Manager, Dufil Prima Foods Plc, Tope Ashiwaju; another student of FNSB, Ejiro Ajaboron; and Executive Secretary, FNSB, Mayowa Oke, when Dufil donated educational aid equipment to the Federal Nigeria Society for the Blind in Lagos…recently

L-R: Vice President Yemi Osibanjo (SAN); Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilikan Adegbite; and Chief Executive Officer, Thor Explorations Limited, Segun Lawson, during the Nigerian Mining Week VIP tour and official opening of the exhibition at the Abuja International Conference Centre…recently

L-R: Coordinator, Foretaste Gospel Concert Project, Otunba Gbemi Oyeneyin; his wife, Mrs. Modupe Oyeneyin (the lead artiste and project sponsor); her colleagues at the gospel concert, Minister Ejen and IfeoluwaAkinpelu of the Ife Worship; and another artiste, Asatta Allwell-Brown, at the ninth edition of the annual gospel concert held at the Elevation Church, Lekki in Lagos…recently

L-R: (back row) Poet, Emmanuela Onyenucheya; Secretary-General, United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), Zurab Pololikashvili; Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed; with the students of Pampers Private School during the UNWTO Global Conference held at the National Theatre, Lagos...recently PHOTO: ABIODUN AJALA

T H I S D AY ˾ FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2022

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BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

Amosun: Capital Market Crucial to Economic Recovery, Infrastructural Development Kayode Tokede

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Capital Market, Senator Ibikunle Amosun has expressed that the capital market is crucial to the economy, stressing its importance in providing the government with much-needed revenue for infrastructural development.

He stated this during the budget defense exercise by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Abuja.

Senator Amosun said that the Committee is very interested in the activities of the capital market as it is capable of providing the country with the much-needed long-term funding to get out of the woods as well as fund the budget.

According to him, “The Capital market is very important to the development of any economy. When the economy is stressed, the capital market can help. We know that globally, nations have been suffering the effects of

Covid-19 and Nigeria is no exception. But we believe that with a vibrant capital market, our growth and development will be faster.

“We now know what the capital market can do to rescue the economy at a time like this. If we have to diversify our economy, the capital market has a role to play and that is why we are here to support you. We will support the capital market for our country to realise these economic goals.

“That is why the Senate is very interested in ensuring that our capital market does well.

We are here to encourage you in the work that you do to ensure that we achieve success.

We will encourage companies to list so as to further deepen the capital market.”

In a presentation earlier, the Director General of the SEC, Mr. Lamido Yuguda told the senators that despite the global economic climate the world over, the Commission has been able to improve its budget performance.

Yuguda stated that due to series of interactions with the lawmakers in the past, the Commission has been able to explore various areas in a bid to shore up its finances.

He stated that “This improvement in our performance is as a result of some of the fees that we introduced at the beginning of this year.

When we came to you last year, the Commission was facing a very difficult financial situation. We had various interactions with this Committee and we were asked to think outside the box so that we can bring measures to improve our performance.

“It is these measures that we started to introduced that have led to our performance improving. We looked inwards and introduced various measures that drastically cut down our expenditures. We had a staff strength that we said was top heavy and we were able to implement voluntarily early retirement programme in 2021 and concluded in December 2021.”

L- R: Secretary to Akwa Ibom State Government,Dr Emmanuel Ekuwem,; Former President, Lagos Business School Alumni Association,Mr Udeme Ufot; Vice-Chancellor, Pan-Atlantic University, Prof Enase Okonedo and President of the Lagos Business School Alumni Association, Agada Apochi, during the Lagos Business School Alumni Association President’s dinner held in Lagos... recently

MARKET INDICATORS MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

(MILLION NAIRA)

AUGUST 2022

Visa Brings Innovative Payment Experiences to 2022 World Cup As the world awaits kick-off of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, Visa (NYSE: V), the Official Payment Technology Partner of FIFA, has readied a payments network that will enable contactless purchases throughout all official venues, including eight stadiums and the FIFA Fan Festival™. With more than one million fans expected to travel to Qatar for the tournament, Visa said it has installed 5,300 contactlessenabled payment terminals at official FIFA venues, making FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ the most payment-enabled FIFA tournament ever.

“Visa will also trial new

payment innovations to give fans easy access to simple and secure digital ways to pay. The FIFA World Cup™ provides a global stage for Visa to showcase and test new technologies, enhance the fan experience and leave a lasting impression on the host country.

Visa will bring a number of digital payment solutions to Qatar, including several limited pilots to demonstrate how future Visa payment solutions may come to life: Pay with Your Face, Card Art Gets Animated, Accepting Payments Gets Simpler for SMBs and Tap to Ride Around Doha.

Senior Vice President and

Group Country Manager for GCC at Visa, Dr. Saeeda Jaffar, said: “As FIFA’s long-standing partner, Visa wants to give football fans from around the world the best way to pay in Qatar, while experiencing exciting new innovations such as the fusion of art, football and technology at Visa’s Masters of Movement venue. With thousands of contactless payment terminals, FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ promises to be the most payment-enabled FIFA tournament ever for the more than one million fans coming to enjoy the magic of football.”

IMO Secretary General to Visit Nigeria for Maritime Summit The Secretary General of the International Maritime Organization, Kitack Lim, is scheduled to visit Nigeria from November 20th – 22nd 2022.

During his visit, he will attend the Nigeria International Maritime Summit 2022 where regional policies and operational perspectives to Decarbonization and Green House Gas Emissions in shipping will be the focus.

The Federal Ministry of Transportation and its Agencies in collaboration with the organized maritime private sector under the auspices of Nigeria International

Maritime Summit, are hosting the event.

The Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo said the federal government is committed to ensuring Nigeria becomes a major destination for global maritime players.

On his part, the Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Dr Bashir Jamoh OFR, said the visit by Kitack Lim, which is the first by an IMO Secretary General to Nigeria in over fifteen years, is a testament to the renewed confidence of the international maritime community in Nigeria.

“We are glad that after fifteen years, an IMO Secretary General will be visiting Nigeria. Our desire is to continue in this stead until we attain a status of not just the hub of maritime activities in the region, but a major player in the global scene”. He said.

The CEO of NIMS, Dr Emeka Akabogu, noted that the summit will provide a platform for practical issues in operations; and regulations impacting Decarbonization in Shipping in the West and Central Africa region would be highlighted as a catalyst for igniting the Blue economy in the said region.

House of Rose Recognizes Olajide as Advocate for Gender Equality Kayode Tokede The Managing Director, Coca-Cola Nigeria, Alfred Olajide has been recognized as an advocate for gender equality by House of Rose Professional through its 2022 list of male champions for gender equality.

The 2022 Male Champions for Gender Equality list celebrates male executives of global companies who are advocates of women in business and leadership

positions and are committed to fostering a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

This recognition comes a few months after Olajide sat as a panelist on the 2022 Africa Online Edition of “Break The Ceiling Touch The Sky”-the success and leadership summit for women, where he spoke on the organization’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategy.

Olajide who resumed his role as Managing Director at the beginning of 2021,

has made it a priority to ensure Coca-Cola Nigeria is a “beacon for diversity and inclusion, as well as a frontrunner in progressive work practices”.

At the 2022 Success and Leadership summit, he spoke about social bias and stereotypes acting as barriers against women in the corporate and entrepreneurial space; the importance of building a gender-balanced workforce; and Coca-Cola’s culture of inclusion.

Money Supply (M3)

49,356,443.6

-- CBN Bills Held by Money Holding Sectors

50,601.36

Money Supply (M2)

49,305,842.3

-- Quasi Money

27,869,678.3

-- Narrow Money (M1)

21,436,164

---- Currency Outside Banks

2,680,236.81

---- Demand Deposits

18,755,927.2

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

5,074,909.92

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

27,869,678.3

-- Net Domestic Credit (NDC)

61,195,142.4

---- Credit to Government (Net)

21,001,401.5

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

0.00

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

0.00

---- Credit to Private Sector (CPS)

40,193,740.9

--Other Assets Net

6,785,979.22

Reserve Money (Base Money

14,040,351.9

--Currency in Circulation

3,210,664.98

--Banks Reserves --Special Intervention Reserves

10,829,686.9 390,557.8

˾ ÙßÜÍÏ ̋

Money Market Indicators (in Percentage) Month

July 2022

Inter-Bank Call Rate

13.00

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

14.00

Treasury Bill Rate

2.76

Savings Deposit Rate

1.42

1 Month Deposit Rate

3.64

3 Months Deposit Rate

4.96

6 Months Deposit Rate

5.87

12 Months Deposit Rate

5.76

Prime Lending rate

12.10

Maximum Lending Rate

27.61

˾ ÙØÏÞËÜã ÙÖÓÍã ËÞÏ ̋ ͯͱϱ

OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE AS AT 24 OCTOBER, 2022

The price of OPEC basket of thirteen crudes stood at $92.17 a barrel on Monday, compared with $92.09 the previous Friday, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

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

37

T H I S D AY ˾ FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2022

MARKET NEWS

SEC Charges LCFE, Other Commodities Exchanges on Investor Protection Kayode Tokede The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has urged Lagos Futures and Commodities Exchange (LCFE) and other commodities exchanges in the country to have investor protection at the centre of their operations in a bid to improve investor confidence and attract more investors.

The Director General of the SEC, Mr. Lamido Yuguda gave the charge during the presentation of Eko Gold Coins to the Management of the Commission by the LCFE in Abuja yesterday.

Yuguda specifically urged the LCFE and the entire value chain to always have investor protection at the core of their work because eventually, this is what will

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

DEALS

F O R MARKET PRICE

make the product succeed.

According to him, “Now the gold itself has great value, once you put out your money and buy it, you have value that is incontrovertible, but where we need to be careful is the associated investment product, the derivatives products.

“The derivatives products are built around the product itself. We must have investor

S E C U R I T I E S QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N )

protection at heart because if it is taken off and investors have confidence that anytime I want to sell this investment am actually likely to get more than I put in which is the true meaning of investment.”

The SEC DG stated that when people invest, they are postponing current consumption for future consumption, and need to

T R A D E D MAIN BOARD

be paid some returns as a price for that postponement of current consumption. In his remarks, Chairman, Board of Directors, LCFE, Chief Onyewenchukwu Ezeagu stated that the core vision of setting up LCFE was to provide a viable structure that will transform the Nigerian commodities market and redefine practice standards

AS O F

that would catalyse economic growth in Nigeria.

According to him, “With your support at the SEC, he said this novel foundation has been laid and gradually the commodities ecosystem is being reformed and transformed with the development of innovative products and fungible Instruments that are being introduced into the Market.

1 7 / 1 1 / 0 2 2 DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

38

T H I S D AY • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2022

Friday, November 18, 2022

Thisday Afrinvest Index Lost 0.3% Thisday Afrinvest 40 index fell 22bps to 1,972.19

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 INDEX

index points due to price decline in GTCO (-1.6%), ZENITH (-2.3%), and WAPCO (-1.4%). ƵŵƵůĂƟǀĞͲ

Fundamental Performance Metrics for THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 Index

ly, these stocks account for 12.8% of the index.

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40

ƋƵŝƟĞƐ DĂƌŬĞƚ ƵĐŬƐ 'ĂŝŶ͙ ASI down 0.1% /Ŷ ůŝŶĞ ǁŝƚŚ ŽƵƌ ƉƌŽũĞĐƟŽŶ͕ ƚŚĞ ĚŽŵĞƐƟĐ ĞƋƵŝƟĞƐ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ƉŽƐƚĞĚ Ă ŵĂƌŐŝŶĂů ůŽƐƐ ĨŽůůŽǁŝŶŐ ƐĞůů ƉƌĞƐͲ

Price Previous Price Current Change Price Change Weighting Index to Change YTD Date

Current Price

Ticker

1972.19

1 Airtel Africa PLC 2 MTN Nigeria Communications PLC

sures on E/d, (-2.3%), GUINNESS (-10.0%)

5 Zenith Bank PLC 6 Dangote Cement PLC 7 Lafarge Africa PLC

and GTCO (-ϭ͘ϲйͿ͘ ŽŶƐĞƋƵĞŶƚůLJ͕ ƚŚĞ E'y-ASI fell

8 FBN Holdings Plc 9 Nestle Nigeria PLC

ϴďƉƐ ƚŽ ƐĞƩůĞ Ăƚ ϰϰ͕Ϭϭϭ͘ϮϮ ƉŽŝŶƚƐ͕ zd ƌĞƚƵƌŶ

10 SEPLAT Energy PLC 11 Access Holdings PLC

ŵŽĚĞƌĂƚĞĚ ƚŽ ϯ͘Ϭй ;ƉƌĞǀŝŽƵƐůLJ͗ ϯ͘ϭйͿ ǁŚŝůĞ ŵĂƌͲ

12 United Bank for Africa PLC 13 Nigerian Brew eries PLC

ŬĞƚ ĐĂƉŝƚĂůŝƐĂƟŽŶ ĚĞĐƌĞĂƐĞĚ ďLJ ʬ19.5bn to

14 Okomu Oil Palm PLC 15 Ecobank Transnational Inc

ʬϮϰ͘ϬƚŶ͘ ĐƟǀŝƚLJ ůĞǀĞů ǁĂŶĞĚ ĂƐ ǀŽůƵŵĞ ĂŶĚ ǀĂůƵĞ

16 Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC 17 International Brew eries PLC

ROA

P/E

P/BV

4.2x

Divindend Earnings Yield Yield

6.3%

97.2%

25.6%

4.7%

1,270.00

0.0%

41.1%

33.0%

-26.7%

18.3%

6.4%

188.00

0.0%

8.0%

-4.6%

-18.3%

162.9%

15.4%

11.0x

15.8x

7.4%

72.00

0.0%

7.4%

7.4%

0.1%

23.3%

12.1%

27.1x

6.1x

4.0%

3.7%

19.00

-1.6%

4.8%

-26.9%

-7.3%

20.5%

3.1%

3.1x

0.7x

15.8%

32.5% 38.6%

3 BUA Cement Plc 4 Guaranty Trust Holding Co PLC

-0.22%

ROE

0.7x

7.6%

14.6%

1.7% 9.1%

21.30

-2.3%

5.1%

-15.3%

-1.8%

20.7%

2.6%

2.6x

0.5x

14.6%

238.50

0.0%

4.1%

-7.2%

-13.3%

34.5%

12.8%

13.7x

5.0x

8.5%

7.3%

21.00

-1.4%

2.9%

-12.3%

-20.5%

14.0%

10.3%

6.1x

0.8x

9.5%

16.4% 52.5%

10.60

0.5%

3.0%

-7.0%

-8.6%

24.6%

2.2%

1.9x

0.4x

3.3%

1,215.00

0.0%

2.8%

-21.9%

-13.2%

122.7%

13.7%

20.7x

23.3x

4.6%

4.8%

1,088.90

0.0%

2.7%

67.5%

-16.2%

8.6%

4.4%

9.4x

0.8x

4.2%

10.6%

8.30

-0.6%

2.4%

-10.8%

-10.8%

17.8%

1.4%

1.6x

0.3x

2.4%

61.1%

7.20

0.0%

2.0%

-10.6%

-3.4%

16.5%

1.4%

1.9x

0.3x

13.9%

51.7%

37.50

0.0%

1.2%

-25.0%

-36.2%

10.9%

3.8%

15.6x

1.6x

4.3%

6.4%

167.50

0.0%

1.4%

18.0%

-22.8%

52.7%

30.7%

7.8x

4.2x

1.3%

12.8%

10.00

0.0%

1.6%

14.9%

-5.7%

20.0%

1.1%

1.9x

0.4x

6.7%

51.6%

30.00

9.1%

1.4%

-16.7%

-10.6%

19.6%

2.5%

4.9x

1.0x

11.7%

20.3%

4.00

0.0%

0.9%

-19.2%

-36.5%

-5.0%

-1.7%

traded fell 38.7% and 70.4% to 97.7m units and

18 Flour Mills of Nigeria PLC 19 Fidelity Bank PLC

27.30

0.0%

1.0%

-3.7%

-16.0%

13.2%

3.2%

4.7x

0.6x

8.3%

21.2%

4.05

0.7%

1.0%

58.8%

18.4%

15.5%

1.3%

2.5x

0.4x

2.5%

39.7%

ʬϴϰϳ͘ϵŵ ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ͘

20 Guinness Nigeria PLC 21 Presco PLC

60.50

-10.0%

0.6%

55.1%

-33.1%

16.7%

7.1%

9.2x

6.2x

11.8%

10.8%

120.50

0.0%

0.4%

37.2%

-27.0%

53.7%

20.2%

5.6x

2.8x

1.8%

17.8%

22 FCMB Group Plc 23 AXA Mansard Insurance PLC

3.29

0.0%

0.5%

10.0%

-4.9%

12.4%

1.2%

2.2x

0.3x

6.1%

46.2%

ĞĂƌŝƐŚ ^ĞĐƚŽƌ WĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ

24 United Capital PLC 25 Dangote Sugar Refinery PLC

Across sectors under our coverage, performance

26 Transnational Corp of Nigeria 27 PZ Cussons Nigeria PLC

was bearish as 4 indices lost, 1 gained while the

28 Cadbury Nigeria PLC 29 UAC of Nigeria PLC

AFR-ICT ŝŶĚĞdž ĐůŽƐĞĚ ŇĂƚ͘ dŚĞ ĂŶŬŝŶŐ and Oil &

30 TotalEnergies Marketing Nigeri 31 Julius Berger Nigeria PLC

Gas ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ůĞĚ ůĂŐŐĂƌĚƐ͕ ĚŽǁŶ ϭ͘Ϭй ĂŶĚ Ϭ͘ϴй ƌĞͲ

32 Custodian and Allied Insurance 33 Wema Bank PLC 34 Unilever Nigeria PLC

ƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ƉƌŽĮƚ-ƚĂŬŝŶŐ ŝŶ E/d, ;2.3%), ACCESSCORP (-Ϭ͘ϲйͿ ĂŶĚ K E K ;-5.8%).

35 Jaiz Bank PLC 36 Oando PLC 37 Union Bank of Nigeria PLC 38 Sterling Bank PLC

Similarly, the ŽŶƐƵŵĞƌ and Industrial Goods ŝŶĚŝͲ ĐĞƐ ĨĞůů Ϭ͘ϱй ĂŶĚ Ϭ͘ϭй ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůLJ͕ ŽŶ ĂĐĐŽƵŶƚ ŽĨ

39 Notore Chemical Industries Ltd 40 Transcorp Hotels Plc

ƐĞůůŽīƐ ŝŶ 'h/EE ^^ ;-ϭϬ͘ϬйͿ͕ E'^h' Z ;UN ILEVER

ĂŶĐĞ index was the sole gainer, up 0.2% due to

;нϴ͘ϯйͿ͘

KƵƚůŽŽŬ

prior session as 13 stocks advanced, 21 declined ǁŚŝůĞ ϳϯ ĐůŽƐĞĚ ŇĂƚ͘ /Ŷ ƚŚĞ ĮŶĂů ƚƌĂĚŝŶŐ ƐĞƐƐŝŽŶ ĨŽƌ ƚŚĞ ǁĞĞŬ͕ ǁĞ ĂŶƟĐŝƉĂƚĞ ƚŚĞ ďĞĂƌŝƐŚ ƉĞƌĨŽƌŵĂŶĐĞ ǁŽƵůĚ ďĞ ƐƵƐƚĂŝŶĞĚ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ĂďƐĞŶĐĞ ŽĨ ĂŶLJ ƉŽƐŝƟǀĞ catalyst.

Afrinvest West Africa Limited

0.0%

0.4%

-28.9%

-17.5%

5.7%

1.7%

7.7x

0.5x

36.4%

12.9%

-5.8%

0.4%

14.1%

-11.4%

46.0%

2.6%

5.2x

2.3x

12.4%

19.2%

15.85

-2.8%

0.5%

-8.9%

-2.8%

23.8%

7.9%

6.1x

1.4x

6.3%

16.3%

1.10

0.0%

0.4%

14.6%

-10.6%

19.0%

4.3%

2.1x

0.4x

1.8%

48.3% 20.1%

8.60

0.0%

0.3%

41.0%

-10.4%

20.3%

6.3%

5.0x

1.0x

11.2%

10.25

0.0%

0.2%

16.5%

-40.6%

11.6%

3.5%

11.0x

1.2x

4.8%

9.1%

8.80

-2.2%

0.2%

-7.4%

-20.7%

7.4%

2.2%

197.00

0.0%

0.2%

-11.2%

-16.0%

37.1%

6.2%

4.2x

1.4x

2.1%

23.9%

21.20

0.0%

0.2%

-5.1%

-20.0%

18.6%

2.1%

4.6x

0.7x

11.7%

21.5%

45.4x

5.35

0.0%

0.1%

-32.3%

-23.6%

18.2%

5.2%

3.2x

0.5x

9.3%

31.0%

3.12

0.0%

0.2%

333.3%

-2.2%

15.7%

0.9%

4.0x

1.6x

7.7%

25.1%

11.00

10.0%

0.1%

-24.1%

-25.7%

3.1%

1.8%

1.0x

4.5%

-1.2%

0.90

1.1%

0.2%

60.7%

-1.1%

20.0%

1.5%

7.0x

1.3x

4.4%

14.2%

9.5x

0.6x

2.3x

0.3x

3.60

-5.8%

0.1%

-18.6%

-36.5%

5.95

0.0%

0.1%

0.8%

-3.3%

1.40

-2.8%

0.1%

-7.3%

-7.9%

62.50

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

6.25

0.0%

0.0%

16.2%

0.0%

-21.5% 6.4%

-249.7%

0.7%

-17.7%

-4.1%

10.5% 7.1%

1.8x 1.1%

T o p 10 T r a d e s b y V o l u m e

P ric e

P ric e C hg %

11.00

10.0%

T ic k er T R A N SC OR P

Vo lum e

P ric e C hg %

10.7

0.0%

9.1%

A C C ESSC OR P

8.1

-0.6%

1.83

8.9%

ST ER LN B A N K

7.4

-2.8%

SOVR EN IN S

0.26

8.3%

GT C O

7.0

-1.6%

R OYA LEX

0.78

6.8%

NA HCO

7.0

-3.4%

GLA XOSM IT H

6.10

5.2%

Z EN IT H B A N K

5.5

-2.3%

A F R IP R UD

5.30

3.9%

OA N D O

3.6

-5.8%

M B EN EF IT

0.28

3.7%

N GXGR OUP

3.5

-1.3%

C UT IX

2.12

3.4%

UB A

3.0

0.0%

LIVEST OC K

0.98

2.1%

UP D C R EIT

2.7

0.0%

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

Value

P ric e C hg %

GUIN N ESS

GT C O

134.0

-1.6%

Z EN IT H B A N K

118.3

-2.3%

60.50

-10.0%

SC OA

1.29

-9.8%

A B CTRA NS

0.23

-8.0%

N GXGR OUP

79.8

-1.3%

UC A P

11.30

-5.8%

A C C ESSC OR P

68.7

-0.6%

OA N D O

3.60

-5.8%

GUIN N ESS

38.4

-10.0%

-4.2%

NA HCO

37.7

-3.4%

-3.4%

WA P C O

30.8

-1.4%

1.40

-2.8%

ST A N B IC

29.9

9.1%

D A N GSUGA R

15.85

-2.8%

NB

21.7

0.0%

VIT A F OA M

19.50

-2.5%

UB A

21.7

0.0%

CHA M S NA HCO ST ER LN B A N K

0.23 5.65

43.1% -1.0%

1.0x

30.00

/ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ͕ ĂƐ ŵĞĂƐƵƌĞĚ ďLJ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ breadth, worsened to -0.11x from -0.05x in the

1.65

UP L

ST A N B IC

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2.8%) and WAPCO (-1.4%). Conversely, the Insur-

0.8x

Brokerage

Asset Management

Investment Research

Adedoyin Allen | aallen@afrinvest.com

Robert Omotunde | romotunde@afrinvest.com

Abiodun Keripe | AKeripe@afrinvest.com

Taiwo Ogundipe | togundipe@afrinvest.com

Christopher Omoh | comoh@afrinvest.com

Damilare Asimiyu | dasimiyu@afrinvest.com

39

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2022 • T H I S D AY

MARKET NEWS A Mutual fund (Unit Trust) is an investment vehicle managed by a SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) registered Fund Manager.

Investors with similar objectives buy units of the Fund so that the Fund Manager can buy securities that willl generate their desired return.

An ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) is a type of fund which owns the assets (shares of stock, bonds, oil futures, gold bars, foreign currency, etc.) and divides ownership of those assets into shares. Investors can buy these ‘shares’ on the

floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

A REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) is an investment vehicle that allows both small and large investors to part-own real estate ventures (eg.

Offices, Houses, Hospitals) in proportion to their investments. The assets are divided into shares that are traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

GUIDE TO DATA: Date: All fund prices are quoted in Naira as at 15Nov-2022, unless otherwise stated.

Offer price: The price at which units of a trust or ETF are bought by investors.

Bid Price: The price at which Investors redeem (sell) units of a trust or ETF. Yield/Total Return: Denotes the total return an investor would have earned on his investment. Money Market Funds report Yield while others report Year- to-date Total Return.

NAV: Is value per share of the real estate assets held by a REIT on a specific date.

DAILY PRICE LIST FOR MUTUAL FUNDS, REITS and ETFS MUTUAL FUNDS / UNIT TRUSTS AFRINVEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD aaml@afrinvest.com Web: www.afrinvest.com; Tel: +234 818 885 6757 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Afrinvest Equity Fund 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 Afrinvest Dollar Fund N/A N/A N/A AIICO CAPITAL LTD ammf@aiicocapital.com Web: www.aiicocapital.com, Tel: +234-1-2792974 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AIICO Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 11.12% AIICO Balanced Fund 3.51 3.55 4.22% ANCHORIA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED info@anchoriaam.com Web:www.anchoriaam.com, Tel: 08166830267; 08036814510; 08028419180 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Anchoria Money Market 100.00 100.00 8.84% Anchoria Equity Fund 135.62 137.10 -2.61% Anchoria Fixed Income Fund 1.15 1.15 0.80% info@anchoriaam.com ARM INVESTMENT MANAGERS LTD enquiries@arminvestmentcenter.com Web: www.arm.com.ng; Tel: 0700 CALLARM (0700 225 5276) Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ARM Aggressive Growth Fund 20.29 20.91 0.04% ARM Discovery Balanced Fund 477.59 491.99 5.86% ARM Ethical Fund 41.27 42.51 5.94% ARM Eurobond Fund ($) 1.09 1.09 1.12% ARM Fixed Income Fund 1.07 1.07 5.14% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 9.51% AVA GLOBAL ASSET MANAGERS LIMITED info@avacapitalgroup.com Web: www.avacapitalgroup.com; Tel 08069294653 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AVA GAM Fixed Income Dollar Fund 95.07 95.07 -7.55% AVA GAM Fixed Income Naira Fund 1,073.70 1,073.70 0.77% AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED investmentcare@axamansard.com Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund 137.65 138.62 2.64% AXA Mansard Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 11.87% CAPITAL EXPRESS ASSET AND TRUST LIMITED info@capitalexpressassetandtrust.com Web: www.capitalexpressassetandtrust.com; Tel: +234 803 307 5048 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CEAT Fixed Income Fund 2.10 2.10 2.15% Capital Express Balanced Fund(Formerly: Union Trustees Mixed Fund) 2.19 2.23 1.27% CAPITALTRUST INVESTMENTS AND ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED halalfif@capitaltrustnigeria.com Web: www.capitaltrustnigeria.com; Tel: 08061458806 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Capitaltrust Halal Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A CARDINALSTONE ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfunds@cardinalstone.com Web: www.cardinalstoneassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 (1) 710 0433 4 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CardinalStone Fixed Income Alpha Fund N/A N/A N/A CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Chapelhill Denham Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 12.87% Paramount Equity Fund 17.43 17.74 4.42% Women's Investment Fund 142.81 144.48 0.59% CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web: www.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 11.28% Cordros Milestone Fund 129.31 130.16 4.00% Cordros Dollar Fund ($) 112.18 112.18 5.07% CORONATION ASSETS MANAGEMENT investment@coronationam.com Web:www.coronationam.com, Tel: 012366215 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coronation Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Coronation Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A Coronation Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A EDC FUNDS MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfundng@ecobank.com Web: www.ecobank.com Tel: 012265281 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class A N/A N/A N/A EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class B N/A N/A N/A EDC Nigeria Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A EMERGING AFRICA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@emergingafricafroup.com Web:www.emergingafricagroup.com/emerging-africa-asset-management-limited/, Tel: 08039492594 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Emerging Africa Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Emerging Africa Bond Fund N/A N/A N/A Emerging Africa Balanced Diversity Fund N/A N/A N/A Emerging Africa Eurobond Fund N/A N/A N/A FBNQUEST ASSETS MANAGEMENT LIMITED invest@fbnquest.com Web: www.fbnquest.com/asset-management; Tel: +234-81 0082 0082 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn FBN Bond Fund 1449.29 1449.29 11.37% FBN Balanced Fund 190.61 191.84 8.76% FBN Halal Fund 121.12 121.12 12.18% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 11.60% FBN Dollar Fund 127.46 127.46 6.53% FBN Smart Beta Equity Fund 153.55 155.68 2.29% 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 11.40% Legacy Debt Fund 3.58 3.58 -10.58% Legacy Equity Fund 1.80 1.83 3.34% Legacy USD Bond Fund 1.25 1.25 3.61% FSDH ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD coralfunds@fsdhgroup.com Web: www.fsdhaml.com; Tel: 01-270 4884-5; 01-280 9740-1 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn

Coral Balanced Fund Coral Income Fund Coral Money Market Fund

3,986.47 3,671.60 100.00

4,012.97 3,671.60 100.00

2.68% 6.68% 13.87%

FSDH Dollar Fund 1.12 1.12 4.13% GUARANTY TRUST FUND MANAGERS LIMITED 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 12.52% Vantage Balanced Fund 2.94 2.98 5.47% Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 8.62% Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) 144.23 144.23 6.97% Vantage Equity Income Fund (VEIF) - June Year End 1.15 1.18 -3.39% Vantage Dollar Fund (VDF) - June Year End 1.08 1.08 4.49% LOTUS CAPITAL LTD fincon@lotuscapitallimited.com Web: www.lotuscapitallimited.com; Tel: +234 1-291 4626 / +234 1-291 4624 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Lotus Halal Investment Fund N/A N/A N/A Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A MERISTEM WEALTH MANAGEMENT LTD info@meristemwealth.com Web: www.meristemwealth.com/funds/; Tel: +2348028496012 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Meristem Equity Market Fund 11.62 11.69 6.98% Meristem Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 12.43% NORRENBERGER INVESTMENT AND CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LIMITED enquiries@norrenberger.com Web: www.norrenberger.com, Tel: +234 (0) 908 781 2026 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Norrenberger Islamic Fund (NIF) 101.85 101.85 9.28% Norrenberger Money Market Fund (NMMF) 100.00 100.00 11.45% PAC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD info@pacassetmanagement.com Web: www.pacassetmanagement.com/mutualfunds; Tel: +234 1 271 8632 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn PACAM Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A PACAM Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A PACAM Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A PACAM Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A PACAM EuroBond Fund N/A N/A N/A SCM CAPITAL LIMITED info@scmcapitalng.com Web: www.scmcapitalng.com; Tel: +234 1-280 2226,+234 1- 280 2227 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SCM Capital Frontier Fund 119.77 122.34 0.05% SFS CAPITAL NIGERIA LTD investments@sfsnigeria.com Web: www.sfsnigeria.com, Tel: +234 (01) 2801400 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SFS Fixed Income Fund 1.07 1.07 10.04% STANBIC IBTC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD assetmanagement@stanbicibtc.com Web: www.stanbicibtcassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 280 1266; 0700 MUTUALFUNDS Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Stanbic IBTC Balanced Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Shariah Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A Stanbic IBTC Enhanced Short-Term Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A UNITED CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD unitedcapitalplcgroup.com Web: www.unitedcapitalplcgroup.com; Tel: +234 01-6317876 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn United Capital Equity Fund 0.88 0.90 0.00% United Capital Balanced Fund 1.31 1.33 0.57% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.13 1.14 9.03% United Capital Sukuk Fund 1.09 1.09 7.21% United Capital Fixed Income Fund 1.94 1.94 6.27% United Capital Eurobond Fund 124.54 124.54 5.80% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 14.58% QUANTUM ZENITH ASSET MANAGEMENT & INVESTMENTS LTD service@quantumzenithasset.com.ng Web: www.quantumzenith.com.ng; Tel: +234 1-2784219 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Zenith Balanced Strategy Fund 13.42 13.54 1.75% Zenith ESG Impact Fund 15.30 15.44 4.63% Zenith Income Fund 23.36 23.36 6.40% Zenith Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 11.23% VETIVA FUND MANAGERS LTD funds@vetiva.com Web: www.vetiva.com; Tel: +234 1 453 0697 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Vetiva Banking Exchange Traded Fund 3.84 3.94 -4.16% Vetiva Consumer Goods Exchange Traded Fund 5.42 5.52 -7.23% Vetiva Griffin 30 Exchange Traded Fund 16.14 16.34 -8.70% Vetiva Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 11.08% Vetiva Industrial Goods Exchange Traded Fund 19.68 19.88 -1.51% Vetiva S&P Nigeria Sovereign Bond Exchange Traded Fund 134.16 136.16 -14.87%

REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

119.29 52.14

5.27% 2.50%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

14.20 118.78 89.97 17.10 16.40

14.30 121.78 91.93 17.20 16.50

1.50% -6.56% -9.82% 9.68% -0.48%

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

107.59

0.00%

Fund Name SFS REIT Union Homes REIT

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS Fund Name Lotus Halal Equity Exchange Traded Fund SIAML Pension ETF 40 Stanbic IBTC ETF 30 Fund MERGROWTH ETF MERVALUE ETF

INFRASTRUCTURE FUND Fund Name Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund

The value of investments and the income from them may fall as well as rise. Past performance is a guide and not an indication of future returns. Fund prices published in this edition are also available on each fund manager’s website and FMAN’s website at www.fman.com.ng. Fund prices are supplied by the operator of the relevant fund and are published for information purposes only.

40

T H I S D AY • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2022

NEWS

IGP MEETING WITH POLITICAL PARTIES LEADERSHIP...

L-R: National Commissioner, Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), May Agbamuche-Mbu; Inspector General of Police (IGP) Usman Alkali Baba; Director-General, National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmad KINGSLEY ADEBOYE Rufai Abubakar, and Chief of Defence Intelligence, Major-General Samuel Adebayo, during the IG's meeting with leadership of Political Parties at the Force Headquarters, Abuja ... yesterday

18 Parties, Security Chiefs Meet, Oppose Use of Quasi-security Outfits in 2023 Say govs may use it to intimidate opponents IG hints 52 cases of politically-motivated violence occurred in 22 states since campaigns started

Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja Eis. Eighteen political parties and heads of all the security agencies in the country, yesterday, met in Abuja and denounced the use of quasisecurity outfits by state chief executives, alleging they can be used to intimidate political opponents ahead of the 2023 elections.

Security chiefs, particularly, expressed concerns over rising wave of violence as the election approached.

Relatedly, Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, disclosed that 52 cases of politically motivated violence occurred in 22 states since the commencement of political campaigns on September 28.

Security agencies and parties present at the meeting expressed concerns about the consequences of violence on national security and democratic process. They called on political actors to reinforce their commitment to a peaceful electoral process.

Agencies represented at the meeting included the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Department of State Services (DSS), and Defence Intelligence.

There were also representatives of the Comptroller-General of Customs (NCS) and Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Commandant General of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, ComptrollerGeneral of Nigeria Immigration Service, Controller-General of Nigerian Correctional Service, and members of the force management team.

A communiqué issued at the end of the meeting held at the Force Headquarters in Abuja, stated, "After a comprehensive deliberation, the following resolutions were reached and hereby declared as the 'Communiqué of the Meeting with Political Parties and Other

Stakeholders in Preparation for the 2023 General Elections.’”

The communiqué, “Recognised that political violence, hate speech, threat, political intolerance, misinformation, and political extremism are potent threats to our democracy and national security interests and expressed grave concerns on the conduct of some governors in deploying state powers to deny opposition parties and candidates (spaces) to advance their electoral freedom and activities in their states."

The communiqué also expressed concerns over the continuous and illegal deployments of sub-national, quasi-security bodies by some governors to intimidate political opponents in violation of the Electoral Act. It "recognised the need to protect our democratic heritage and national security interests in order to insulate the country from possible subversive activities by foreign powers”.

The communiqué, "Condemned in unison and in all ramifications, the trend of political violence, hate speech and other negative tendencies in our electoral process and reached a consensus on the need to present a common front with the Nigeria Police, INEC, military, and other security agencies in nipping the negative trend in the bud and condemned attacks on INEC personnel and assets ahead of the 2023 ggeneral election."

It further called on the Nigeria Police and other security agencies to be conscious of not just violence before and during the elections, but also possible violence after the general election and the effect such could have on the credibility of the process.

The meeting implored the police and other security agencies to remain professional and impartial in the performance of their election security operations and to be firm in dealing with electoral

violence and other threats to the election security process.

The communiqué, "Recognised the assurances by INEC to continue to enforce the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 and to continue to synergise with the Nigeria Police as the lead agency in the election security management process towards addressing threats within the electoral process and in guaranteeing a peaceful and credible 2023 general election.

"Assured that the leaderships of all political parties will rededicate themselves towards undertaking their campaigns and electoral activities within the dictates of the Electoral Act, 2022, and pledged to denounce electoral violence, hate speeches and other negative tendencies in the electoral process.

"Encouraged the InspectorGeneral of Police to extend the engagement to presidential, governorship and other candidates across all parties

as it is recognised that most instances of violence are associated with some of them and their followers."

It commended the InspectorGeneral of Police for his vision in convening the meeting and encouraged him to sustain the initiative of engaging the leaderships of political parties in addressing threats to the electoral process and also to cascade the initiative to the state and local levels of governance for the initiative to have grassroots effect.

Earlier, the IG reviewed the manifestations of political violence to include violence targeted at the personnel and assets of INEC, as recently witnessed in Ogun and Osun states.

The IG said, "The second form of political violence manifests in form of inter-party intolerance and violence, which often become particularly pronounced during campaigns, elections, and post-elections

phases. It is on record that not less than 52 cases of such politically-motivated, intra, and inter-party violence, have been recorded across 22 states since the official commencement of campaigns for the 2023 general elections on 28th September, 2022.

"The last form of political violence relates to the conduct of some governors, who manifest traits of political intolerance, which often inflame political tension. In this regard, we have been receiving reports of some governors, who encourage political thugs and sub-national security outfits under their control to disrupt seamless and statutorily guaranteed campaign activities of parties or candidates with whom they hold opposing political views.

"In so doing, they deploy their powers and influences to either prevent the mounting of campaign billboards or pull them down, while also denying

political opponents of spaces to undertake their campaigns or peaceful political congregations in contravention of the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 (as amended).

"Most of the recorded violent incidents or threats often result from political extremism, misinformation, intolerance, wrong political orientation, hate speeches, incitement, and, most importantly, the desperation of strategic actors within the political field, who often place their parochial political ambitions over and above national security interests and our nation’s stable democratic order.

"Such actors, usually give a wrong direction to their party faithful, arm them, re-orient them and encourage them to resort to the use of threat, violence, and other extra-legal means to frustrate competing political parties and impose their own faulty perception of politicking."

Court: FG Lacks Power to Regulate Lotteries/ Gaming Within Federating States Wale Igbintade Justice Atinuke Ipaye of the High Court of Lagos State, Ikeja Division, has ruled that the federal government lacks the authority to issue licence and regulate lotteries and gaming within the federating states.

Delivering judgment in a suit marked LD/49089GCM/2021filed by the Lagos State Lotteries and Gaming Authority against Shade International Gaming Ltd (trading under the name and style of Betika) and Neomobile Entertainment Limited, Justice Ipaye held that the federal overnment cannot through the National Assembly legislate on any issue not contained on either the Exclusive and Concurrent Legislative List.

The judgement was delivered on November 8, 2022.

Specifically, the court held that the National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC) lacked the powers to license and regulate lotteries and gaming Companies operating in any State across the country.

This decision was sequence to the suit initiated by the Lagos State Lotteries and Gaming Authority (Applicant) against two Operators, (Shade International Gaming Ltd, and Neomobile Entertainment Limited), over their refusal to obtain license from the Applicant before Commencing Operations within Lagos State.

The refusal of the Respondents was hinged on the fact that they have been

licenced by the NLRC, and need not regularise their gaming Operation within Lagos State.

The Applicant's Originating Summons was brought pursuant to Order 5 Rule 4 (2) and Order 5 Rule 5 of the 2019, High Court of Lagos State Civil Procedure Rules 2019 and Sections 19, 35, 86 and 96 of the Lagos State Lotteries and Gaming Authority Law 2021, the agency raised two questions for the Court's determination.

The applicant had asked the court to determine, "Whether the failure of the firms to obtain lotteries and related gaming activities license from the agency as required by the Lagos State Lotteries and Gaming Authority Law 2021, while carrying on the business of lotteries and related gaming

activities in Lagos State is not unlawful.

"Whether the agency can compel the firms to pay appropriate registration fees for obtaining license and other statutory remittances for carrying on the business of lotteries and related gaming activities in Lagos State as stipulated by the Lagos State Lotteries and Gaming Authority Law 2021."

In compliance with the Rules of the High Court, the originating processes were served on the respondents.

Despite the hearing notice issued by the court, the respondents failed and or refused to file a response to the originating processes, thus, the applicant was granted leave to move its summons.

41

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2022 • T H I S D AY

NEWS

BANKS AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS AWARDS...

L-R: Head, Investment Banking Africa Regions, RMB, Chidi Iwuchukwu; Executive Director & Chief Risk Officer, RMB Nigeria, Taiwo Gabriel, and Head, Credit, RMB Nigeria, Jide Onifade, at the 2022 edition of the Business Day Banks and other Financial Institutions Awards ceremony where RMB Nigeria was awarded Merchant Bank of the Year Award in Lagos…recently

657 Days After Ex-NNPC Director’s Kidnap, Whereabouts Still Unknown Family accuses security agencies of complicity Fidelis David in Akure Families of a 62-year-old former staff of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr. Segun Akinmeji, who was kidnapped under suspicious circumstances for over 21 months now have appealed to Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, to intervene on the matter.

THISDAY gathered that Akinmeji, native of Irele Local Government Area of Ondo State, who retired from NNPC and got all his retirement benefits in December 2020, as a director and top management staff, was abducted alongside two of his workers, Mr. Azeez Sikiru, and a tiler identified as Ibrahim, at his (Akinmeji) farm located in Iju-Itaogbolu, in Akure North Local Government Area of the state, on Saturday January 30, 2021.

The whereabouts of the victims have since been a mystery as THISDAY also gathered that the incident took place on the last Saturday of the month, an environmental sanitation day, which restricts human and vehicular movement from 7:00am to 10:00am monthly.

While speaking with journalists in Akure, the family spokesperson and representative of the Akinmeji family, Mr. Samson Akinmeji, lamented that the entire family in Irele Local Government Area of the state have been thrown into despair in the past 657 days.

He explained that Akinmeji had only retired home to contribute to the economic development of his country and help reduce unemployment as a responsible citizen by investing millions of naira in the state, but was preyed upon by the wicked.

Akinmeji, who is a brother to the former NNPC staff, recounted that the immediate family and wife of the victim told the family that they were kidnapped on January 30, while sources at Iju reported that it was on January 15, 2021.

He added: "The circumstances surrounding their sudden disappearance for the past 21

months show that it was an abduction orchestrated by persons that are very close to him, not leaving the immediate family and workers on the farm out of any benefit of doubt.

“Mr. Akinmeji just retired from NNPC service in December 2020 and the kidnappers must have been aware that he just got his pension and gratuities, which will definitely be a huge amount of money.

"On that fateful day, all the regular staff of the farm, who had accommodation on the farm, were also absent; giving suspicious alibi as defence from the scene of crime. Being a sanitation day, Sikiru, who has been working on the farm and close confidant with Mr Akinmeji, contacted two other persons to work on an ongoing project in the farm.

“The three persons are: Sikiru, Ibrahim and one Aliu Akeem.

They left earlier to the farm on Sikiru's motorcycle before sanitation began by 7:00am."

According to him, "It was revealed by tracking on Mr. Akinmeji's line that Sikiru, who was the head job-man, called his boss severally, perhaps waiting for him to come. It was learnt that the farm owner got there between 11:00pm to noon; and the unknown gunmen pounced on them shortly he arrived the farm. So, it was premeditated.

"The unknown gunmen whisked away three out of the four persons they met on the farm: Mr. Akinmeji, Sikiru and Ibrahim, while Akeem managed to escape the abduction.”

Narrating further, he said: “He ran away with Sikiru's bike, reported at Iju Police Station but with a fake name and disappeared into the thin air for many months.

“He neither returned to Sikiru's wife to report the incident nor returned her husband's motorcycle."

Speaking on the alleged complicity in kidnapping, as reported by the wife, Mrs. Comfort Akinmeji, he added that, "The police sprang into action and organised a search party alongside Amotekun Security Outfit, local

hunters and OPC members to no avail. In one of the searches, after the kidnappers had contacted the family members for N100 million ransom, an OPC member, who was later discovered to be a former staff of the farm owner, was overzealous and didn't wait to be teamed amongst the search groups: went alone to the bush and was killed by the kidnappers.

"After a while, the search groups returned to the rendezvous, where they had departed, but the deceased OPC member was missing.

They went back to the bush to look for him but found him murdered in cold blood under suspicious circumstances: his face was covered, his hands and legs were tied, and was shot at very

close range."

He revealed further that "As confirmed by the immediate past Commissioner for Police, Mr. Bolaji Salami, the OPC member must have identified the kidnappers, who killed him to cover up their tracks and identities.

“The kidnappers only contacted the family the first week of February and the ransom was negotiated to N20 million, which was raised by relatives overseas and well-wishers at home.

"While speaking with family members from the kidnappers' den, my brother asked the family to give his abductors whatever they wanted, informing them that his captors were people who know him very well and

know that he could afford their demands."

He disclosed that the attempt to pay ransom was to no avail, lamenting that the security agencies failed to give a clue on the whereabouts of the former NNPC staff. He also expressed frustration at the huge money spent at Anti-Kidnapping Units of the police that yielded no result.

The family appealed to Ondo State government, DSS, police, NSCDC, Amotekun Corps and other relevant security agencies to wade into the matter to unravel the circumstances surrounding the mysterious disappearance of their kinsman.

"Our son and brother is the pride of the family and Ondo State at large and should not just

be missing like that without any clue to his whereabouts.

“He is a benefactor to everyone that came his way and we cannot afford to miss such a rare gem.

We appeal to the state Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, to intervene in this matter.

“Our 'talk-and-do-Governor’ should re-open this matter by keeping the security agencies on their toes, especially the Amotekun Corps that have been unraveling such security matters in the state.

"For years, he has been managing diabetes and keeping him perpetually away from home would further complicate his health condition. Mr Governor, as the Chief Security Officer of the state, help us bring back our kinsman."

Utomi Tackles INEC over Alleged Non-distribution of PVCs Tasks commission to deliver PVCs to registered voters’ homes

Chuks Okocha in Abuja One of the leader of the National Coalition Front (NCFront), Convener of the Big Tent, a coalition of political parties, social movements and civil society organisations, Prof. Pat Utomi has protested against what he described as the non-distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

He alleged that at least 9.3 million of such cards were lying idle at the Commission's offices across the country.

Utomi made the allegation yesterday, when he, alongside the Chief Spokesman of the Peter Obi/Datti Ahmed (Labour Party) Presidential Campaign Council, Dr. Tanko Yusuf and others led an advocacy walk to the INEC headquarters under the aegis of the "Big Tent."

He urged INEC to decentralise the process of PVC collection and if possible, take the cards to the

doorsteps of Nigerians.

Utomi queried the necessity of even having the PVC as a requirement for voting, saying with biometrics authentication of a potential voter, there was no need to have a physical card.

He said; "It is the duty of INEC to do everything possible to decentralise and take down to the people, their PVCs, to make sure that everybody who was registered gets his or her PVC. “We even know that the process is biometric. So, it should not even matter if they don't have it (PVCs).

Once their faces and fingerprints are recognised, they should be able to vote. It is not acceptable for Nigerians to be disenfranchised.

"We know that about 9.3 million voter cards are yet to be collected and are sitting idle at INEC offices. We want an explanation.

If INEC needs help, we are ready to volunteer so that these cards can get to their rightful owners.

"We also want to discourage persons from further vandalising

INEC offices and burning PVCs which is capable of disenfranchising Nigerians. There is urgent need for the dissemination of information regarding the PVCs," he added.

Utomi urged INEC to make extra efforts towards the distribution of PVCs to Nigerians, especially persons with disabilities.

Tanko, on his part urged all supporters of the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to ensure that they replicate the advocacy walk across the states and wards in order to collect their PVCs Receiving the petition on behalf of INEC, an Assistant Director at the headquarters, Kelechi Maduneme, said the Commission does not have the capacity to distribute the PVCs to the homes of voters, stating that Nigerians have to go to their respective INEC local government offices across the country to collect the cards.

He said; "I have collected the letter on behalf of my director

and it will be delivered to the Honourable Chairman.

"On the request that you have made, the Honourable Chairman of the Commission had at several times assured Nigerians that no registered voter will be disenfranchised. He has made that point eloquently at every forum that the votes of Nigerians will count in 2023.

"But I want to remind you that it is the responsibility of every registered voter to go and collect their PVCs. A lot of the PVCs have been printed and as we speak, the commission has commenced the display of the temporary register of voters. So, every Nigerian has the opportunity to visit the polling units to check their details.

"However, I want to state that it will be very difficult for INEC to carry out the distribution of PVCs because of the resources involved.

So, I will like to appeal to every registered Nigerian voter to visit those units and wards to collect their PVCs".

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T H I S D AY • FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2022

NEWS

OANDO CLEAN ENERGY AT COP27...

Minister of Environment, Mohammed Hassan Abdullahi (left) and President & CEO, Oando Clean Energy, Dr. Ainojie Irune, at the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt

Court Frustrating Disqualification Suit Against Tinubu, AA Alleges Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja Action Alliance (AA) has accused the Federal High Court, Abuja, of deliberately delaying the suit seeking the disqualification of the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu.

The opposition party, in a statement yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Rev. Dennis Ubani, said recent

events had led it to the inevitable conclusion that there was a water tight conspiracy to ensure that the pre-election cases it filed before the court would never be heard until the expiration of the time within which the matters ought to be determined.

The party stressed that by Section 285 (9) of the 1999 Constitution, pre-election cases must be filed within 14 days of the happening of the event and

APC to Ayu: Go and Clear Your Name of Corruption Allegations Segun James The Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has asked the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prof. Iyorchia Ayu, to go and clear himself of corruption allegations before dabbling into the affairs of the state.

The APC, in a statement by the party’s spokesman and Director of Strategic Communication of the Babajide Sanwo-Olu Campaign Organisation, Mr. Seye Oladejo, accused Ayu of being “reckless and unrealistic” in his claim that the opposition PDP would win Lagos and 24 other states in the forthcoming elections.

“While we acknowledge the consistency of the opposition party in its permanent day-dreaming and irresponsible permutations, it’s advisable to be more discerning in order to be able to absorb the shock of their impending devastating defeat. It’s also laughable that it came from its National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, who has been declared personal non-grata in his home state.

“Nigerians stopped taking PDP seriously before now with its intransigent crisis, which is a clear reflection of poor leadership and ability to manage its affairs. How

can a party that has been in a free fall since its presidential primaries and even mismanaged funds to build its national headquarters lay any claim to integrity, hope and vision?

“I’m not aware that the PDP national chairman, Senator Iyiorcha Ayu, has been able to clear the corruption allegations against him,” Said Oladejo, adding that it was not enough to dream of winning a certain number of states, but the reality on the ground was in total contrast.

According to him, “Lagos State remains an impenetrable fortress for PDP with its more than two decades of electoral abysmal performance. The incumbent governor, Mr. Babajide SanwoOlu, has earned his place of pride and preference by well-meaning Lagosians to consolidate on the landmark achievements of the first term in the next tenure.”

Insisting that the PDP at whatever level “does not constitute a threat to our retention of power in Lagos State and at the center,” Oladejo said, “Nigeria will certainly not go back to the years of the locust. In any electoral process, talk is cheap but the real language of communication is the PVC. The PDP has no reason to be hopeful.”

determined within 180 days of the filing. The party noted that the clear implication of this was that by the 15th day of December 2022, the court would have lost the requisite jurisdiction to hear the matters and the cases would be struck out without a determination on the merits.

It said, "Our observation is that the judicature of the Federal High Court is not relenting in ensuring the frustration of the two cases. We are convinced that the conductor of the bizarre orchestra is doing the bidding of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

However, we are determined to ensure the failure of this heinous scheme. ''Recent events in the portals of

the Federal High Court, Abuja, have led us to the inevitable conclusion that there is water tight conspiracy to ensure that the pre-election cases of Action Alliance filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja, to ensure the disqualification of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a presidential candidate of the APC, will never be heard until the effluxion of the time within which the matters ought to be determined."

AA said the two cases it filed were Action Alliance vs.

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), APC and Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, with case number FHC/ABJ/ CS/954/2022; and Action Alliance vs. Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC),

APC, Ibrahim Kabiru Masari and Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, with suit number FHC/ABJ/ CS/1097/2022.

The party said it was on record that about three weeks ago, Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, against all known legal customs and practices, recalled the case files of the two cases for reassignment.

The opposition party expressed shock over the alleged recall of the files, saying, "Expectedly, when we heard of the recall of the files, we knew that the serpent had slipped into the hallowed chambers of justice.

Not surprisingly since then, the cases have been stalled.

"Arising from all the foregoing, we hereby urge the Honourable

Chief Judge of the Federal High Court to resist the temptation of aiding and abetting injustice by denying us our right to fair hearing. We have no hesitation in stating that what is happening is a personal agenda and cannot enjoy judicial immunity.

"Finally, we want to assure Nigerians that our avowed determination to enthrone a new Nigeria cannot be diminished by the political chicanery of anti-people agents. We are, thus, determined to ensure that we are not going to sheathe our swords until the victory for Nigerians is attained.

“In this historic war for the birth of a new Nigeria we call on the judicature to stand on the side of justice."

NSA: Buhari's Desire is to Hand over Safer Nigeria to Successor Says current wave of insecurity global Lawmakers task him on security during, after 2023 polls Udora Orizu in Abuja National Security Adviser (NSA), Maj.-Gen Babagana Monguno, yesterday, said the desire of President Muhammadu Buhari was to hand over a safer country to whoever Nigerians would elect in the 2023 general election as his successor. Monguno stated this, when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence for the 2023 budget defence.

Stating that insecurity was not peculiar to Nigeria, but a global menace, Monguno said defeating insecurity would require the collective support of the legislature, which in turn tasked him on the security of the 2023 polls.

The NSA said, "I must also say the type of insecurity that confronts us is not peculiar just to Nigeria but it is a global

thing. And in today's context, we can only overcome this problem, when we recognise the importance of intelligence as being the driver, the propellant of all activities in the whole of society approach.

“It is important that all the problems I present are taken into consideration by this very important committee. We hinge all our hopes and aspirations on whatever action you would take in solving the myriad of problems that confront us. And I want to assure that the problems are quite enormous.

“The successes we have been recording so far in overcoming the security challenges, especially, in the last four to five months are basically rooted in the efforts of the Department of State Services, National Intelligence Agency, Defence Intelligence Agency, having been able to provide timely intelligence to

the operational element.

“I want to commend their efforts and I also want to, by extension, commend the efforts of their counterparts in the operational sphere. Everything revolves around intelligence. And the intelligence we are dealing with is a broad spectrum, which goes all the way down to the local level. We deal with human beings.

“And if we are not supported in the right way, no matter how emotionally, how psychologically we are prepared, we cannot overcome this problem without legislative support.

“I am also happy to inform you that in the recently conducted ministerial retreat, which was organised by the office of the SGF, on behalf of the president, the Senate President and the Rt. Hon Speaker of the House, who were there, I highlighted briefly some of the problems confronting

us and they have all agreed to help us.

“We are appealing to you in good conscience, all of you represent different parts of this country and I know you have the interest of Nigeria at heart. Our people are suffering. They are weeping, they are wailing, they are moaning, they are gnashing their teeth. We must help them.

We have our limitations as intelligence agencies. The rest can only be done through legislative drive.”

Earlier, Chairman of the House Committee on National Security and Intelligence, Hon. Sha'aban Sharada, charged the NSA and all security agencies to ensure that the country was secure during and after the 2023 elections.

Sharada said the total budget of the intelligence community was slightly reduced from N212, 764,192,844 in 2022 to N195, 018,115,836 in 2023.

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NEWS

COURTESY VISIT OF SITA DELEGATION TO NCC...

L-R: Director, Engineering and Information Technology Infrastructure, Ondo State Information Technology Agency (SITA), Omosowone Innocent; Managing Director, Oodua InfraCo, Sammy Adigun; Chairman, SITA, Olumbe Akinkugbe; Director, Legal and Regulatory Services, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Josephine Amuwa, and Director, Digital Economy, Augustine Nwaulune, during the courtesy visit of SITA delegation to the Commission’s Head Office, Abuja... recently

Marwa: Young Nigerian Drug Abusers Now Use Cannabis to Garnish Pepper Soup Says Nigeria has become an important hub of global illicit drug network NDLEA links surge in crimes to abuse Peter Uzoho in Lagos and Fidelis David in Akure The Chairman, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brig-General Buba Marwa has lamented the rising cases of drug abuse among Nigerian youths.

He said a lot of young people who engage in the consumption of the illicit and dangerous drugs now infuse cannabis in cookies and brownies, pepper soup and drinks.

He added that NDLEA's activities since January 2021 had further reinforced the facts of Nigeria being

an important hub in the global illicit drug network, and that the country was not only a transit pipeline but also a market.

Marwa made the assertions yesterday, in Lagos, while delivering a keynote paper at the Realnews Magazine's 10th Anniversary Lecture and Hall of Fame Investiture.

He spoke on the theme: "Drug Abuse among Youths in Africa: Implication for Nigerian Economy and 2023 General Elections."

"So what do we have today?

We have young people vaping, inhaling cannabis-infused shisha

and experimenting with synthetic cannabis and other potent variants such as Loud and Colorado.

"Alarmingly, some of them started using the substance between ages 13 and 17, with the largest pool of users in their early 30s.

"Still, the activities of the past 22 months in NDLEA have given us further insights and we now know that aside from smoking, they use it for cookies and brownies, pepper soup and also infuse it in drinks," Marwa said.

Noting that drug abuse had been on the rise globally and poses

serious danger to the world, he said Nigeria in particular cannot afford to trivialise the menace in light of the country’s illicit drug statistics.

He, however, said every opportunity for public discourse on the subject matter was highly appreciated because keeping drug issues on the front burner in society was one way of catalysing solutions to the scourge.

To start with, Marwa stated that Nigerians were not ignorant about drug trafficking and drug abuse issues.

He pointed out the activities of

PDP Campaign Reacts to NBS Report, Says Nigeria on Auto Pilot Declares APC has no solution to crisis plaguing nation Momodu: Reconciliation with Wike's group ongoing Chuks Okocha in Abuja The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Campaign Council, yesterday, attacked the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying Nigeria was now on auto pilot as the ruling party, had no solution to the multiple problems plaguing the country.

The PDP campaign council had reacted to the National Bureau of Statistics that 133 million Nigerians were multi-dimensionally poor.

According to the NBS report in its latest National Multidimensional Poverty Index Report launched yesterday, the NBS said 63 per cent

of Nigerians were poor due to a lack of access to health, education, and living standards, alongside unemployment and shocks.

The MPI offered a multivariate form of poverty assessment, identifying deprivations across health, education, living standards, work and shocks.

According to the StatisticianGeneral at the NBS, Semiu Adeniran, it was the first time they would conduct a standard multidimensional poverty survey in Nigeria.

However, responding to the report during its weekly briefing, one of the PDP presidential

spoke persons, Phrank Shuaibu, said Nigeria has become an auto pilot as all the promises made by the APC have not been achieved.

"Today, the NBS said there are 63 per cent of Nigerians are poor.

This is because the APC, has not been able to achieve none of its promises, seven and half years down the line.

"The APC government has no solution in hand for any of the problems plaguing the country.

From kidnapping to banditry, prostrate economy. The APC government is full of hot air that contains nothing. You cannot give what you don't have," he stated.

He described the APC as master of failed promises as even the committee it set up on restructuring, headed by the Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, has not been implemented.

He therefore, challenged the APC to state its position on restructuring as the PDP, as Atiku has done.

Director of Strategic Communications, Dele Momodu, speaking on the position of the G-5 governors led by the Rivers State Governors, Nyesom Wike, said as far as the PDP was concerned, they were still members of the party, adding that reconciliations were still on going.

S’East Businessmen Support Tinubu's Presidential Bid with N1bn APC campaign targets northern farmers, traders, others Chuks Okocha and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, has revealed that some 2,000 South East businessmen, have donated the sum of N1 billion to support the campaign of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asíwájú Bola Tinubu.

Director of Media and Publicity, APC Presidential Campaign Council, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, stated this in a statement issued yesterday in Abuja.

At the same time, the Bola Tinubu/Kashim Shettima campaign council, has said it has designed plans to engage farmers, traders and other economic stakeholders in the north.

But Uzodimma, who disclosed what happened in Owerri, when

Tinubu visited for a town hall meeting between with business leaders in the region, said membership of the group was drawn from the five states of the region.

The governor said, "I am happy to say our people are fully in support of our presidential candidate, who has come to share his vision and plan for Nigeria and South East today. To support this aspiration, the sum of N1billion naira has been raised by 2000 business owners across the South East states."

The spokesman for the group, Emeka Mgbudem, said the group believed in Nigeria and was committed to her peace, adding that members contributed N500,000 each, because they believed in Tinubu, after reading his Action Plan for Nigeria, saying where an

Igbo man put his money, he put his heart.

Responding, Tinubu pledged to introduce technology in the clearing of goods at the ports that would render unnecessary the checkpoints on the roads and also promised to run a government where all Nigerians were treated equally.

Meanwhile, the director, Trade and Economic Directorate (North) of the APC campaign, Senator Gbemisola Ruqayyah Saraki, while inaugurating the 96 member of her committee, said, “I Saraki, who also serves as the Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, said they will focus on the northern belt, which spans a land mass of 281,872 square miles, home to great farmers, skilled crafts men and astute traders.”

She explained that Tinubu has demonstrated that he was an engine for prosperity, and that, “The focus of our directorate is the northern belt, spanning a land mass of 281,872 square miles, home to great farmers, skilled craftsmen and astute traders.

“Northern Nigeria, has a rich historical heritage in trade that dates back to the trans-Saharan trade route, when the region was a bustling flourishing trade-hub that marketed goods that found its way to European shores.

“Today, the region which hosts one of the biggest markets in the country; the Kano market remains a potential rich economic-base, which with the right support and policies can transform the lives, the community and the region as a whole.”

the NDLEA in the past 22 months had given the Nigerian society a clear picture, certainty and the severity of the drug problem in the country.

Marwa said during the period under review, the agency arrested 19,341 drug offenders and subsequent convicted 3,111 in addition to the seizure of 5.5 million kilograms of assorted drugs, adding that the 22 months had shown incontrovertible facts of a deeply entrenched illicit drug subculture.

He said NDLEA's activities since January 2021 further reinforced the facts of Nigeria being an important hub in the global illicit drug network, and that the country was not only a transit pipeline but also a market.

"It is disturbing that abusing marijuana and alcohol is the new normal for youths, especially the Gen Z and even the Millennials. For parents who are adept at using social media, Snapchat offers graphic details of what our young people are doing with alcohol and psychotropic drugs.

"The empirical facts around us speak volumes about how young people are abusing dangerous substances. However, we may not have a grasp of the depth of this decadence until we begin to see statistics and other data," Marwa stated.

Stating that the society was also partly to blame for the rise in drug abuse among youths, he argued that there was no gainsaying that the incident of more youths abusing cannabis was fuelled by society sending wrong messages to young people.

He said, “today, there are all sorts of pro-cannabis groups, movements and activists all over the place, who make it seem as if smoking cannabis was innocuous and not dangerous to health, and, therefore, should be an inalienable right of the smoker.”

“Even some politicians and institutions, focused on the economic gains of the cultivation of cannabis, are ready to liberalise the commercialisation of the plant.

All of these send mixed messages to young people.

"Knowing that young people abuse drugs is alarming, but knowing the kind of consequences such action will bring on them and the country, will leave us all in a perpetual state of anxiety", the NDLEA boss said.

However, Marwa said the economic cost of drug abuse by youths was not easily calculable for the country, explaining that the economic cost of the menace in Nigeria would be grossly underestimated.

He advised that all stakeholders should take the issue of drug abuse serious and ensure that young people are kept away from dangerous substances that compromise the bright future ahead of them.

Some of the dignitaries at the occasion included the Managing Editor and the Chief of Staff of THISDAY Newspaper, Mr. Bolaji Adebiyi and Mr. Ayo Arowolo respectively; Arise News Channel's anchor, Dr. Reuben Abati; Managing Directors of The Guardian, The Sun and Vanguard Newspapers, Mr. Martin Oloja, Mr. Ugo Onuoha and Mr. Gbenga Adefaye, respectively.

Others were the Consul General of Ghana to Lagos, Ms. Samata Gifty Bukari; Chairman, Governing Council, Association of Media and Communication Researchers of Nigeria (AMCRON), Prof. Ralph Akinfeleye; Group Managing Director, Futureview Financial Services Limited, Mrs Elizabeth Ebi, amongst others.

NDLEA Links Surge in Crimes to Drug Abuse In a related development, the Commander of the NDLEA in Ondo State, Mumini Kayode Raji, yesterday identified the surge in kidnapping, killings armed robbery in the state and across the country to drug abuse.

Raji who stated this while receiving leadership of the Nigerian Union Journalists, Ondo state council, said there was a nexus between drug abuse and the current state of insecurity in the country.

He said all forms of criminalities are linked with the use of illicit drugs.

According to him, no rightthinking person could take up arms against another individual without the aid of illegal drugs, saying that the abuse and illicit trafficking of drugs among youths in the country had assumed a worrisome dimension.

Raji while expressing worries over the spate of the drug abuse among youths, he called for collaboration of all stakeholders to address the drug problem which has become so prevalent and requires deliberate actions to nip it in the bud.

The NDLEA commander who assured that the anti-drug agency would remain resolute and steadfast in its operations to ensure a drug free society said, "the effect of drug is huge and it's not just restricted to user alone but it's extended to the whole society and we must all join hands together to eradicate this in our society.

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NEWS

BABALAKINS SUPPORT FOUNTAIN UNIVERSITY…

L-R: Chairman, Resort International, Dr. Olawale Babalakin SAN; The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, and Governor of Osun State, Alhaji Isiaka Oyetola, during the inauguration of 25-Bedroom Guest House donated by Babalakin family to Fountain University, Osogbo, Osun State…recently

DHQ Allays Fears over Deployment of Armoured Personnel Carriers in FCT Troops kills 55 terrorists in two weeks

Kingsley Nwezeh inAbuja

Following concerns about the deployment of Armoured Personnel Carriers(APC) in different parts of Abuja, the military high command, yesterday,

the Nigerian Army Training Camp, Kachia, Kaduna State, to deploy their newly acquired combat capabilities to defeat non-state actors disrupting the peace of the country.

At a media briefing in Abuja, Director, Defence Media Operations (DMO), Major General Musa Danmadami, said there was no cause for alarm as security forces were making concerted and that they have germinated. efforts to ensure the security of Enugu youths made the remarks when they paid a Thank-you visit to the governor at the Government House, Enugu.

KingsleyNwezehinAbuja Comprising the leaders and representatives of various youth The Police Service Commission (PSC) groups across the state, the youths yesterday considered the appeals and of Enugu State disclosed that they petitions of 18 dismissed police officers are major beneficiaries of Gov. and approved the reinstatement of Ugwuanyi’s people-oriented 10 of them. administration, stressing that The commission also approved the governor’s commitment to the conversion of the dismissal of youth inclusiveness is second to two officers to retirement and rejected none in the annals of the state. the appeals of six others for lack of merit.

the nation’s capital.

“The military and other security agencies are working round the clock. We are not sleeping to ensure that citizens are protected. The Guards Brigade is carrying out several operations and we are not resting. There is no cause for alarm on the presence of the APCs, it is part of our operational activities,” he said.

Danmadami spoke on the activities and operational successes

The commission took the decision at its 17th plenary meeting which ended in Abuja yesterday. It was presided over by its acting Chairman, Justice Clara Bata Ogunbiyi (rtd).

In a statement the commission said it also approved the conversion of 301 ICT professionals to General Duty.

It had earlier approved the special promotion of CSP Daniel Amah to the next rank of Assistant

Commissioner of Police for his exemplary conduct in rejecting a bribe of $200,000,00 in the course of his duty as the Divisional Police Officer in Bompai Kano State.

CSP Amah was also presented with Honesty and Integrity Service Award and a cash gift of N1 million The plenary meeting also approved the promotion of 48 staff of the commission. Justice Ogunbiyi said the commission would continue

to ensure that appeals and petitions by aggrieved or dismissed police officers would be treated with dispatch so that no police officer is unjustly punished as a result of unnecessary delay.

She also noted that promotions of staff of the commission will remain prompt and regular but called for reciprocity from the staff by improved commitment in the discharge of their duties.

on a courtesy visit at the Council Chambers, Government House, Bauchi.

He emphasised the need for team work in order to achieve the aim and make the discovery of this natural resources beneficial to the two states in particular and the country in general.

He said: “We in Bauchi and Gombe are grateful that Allah has blessed us with this endowment and I assure you that as I have discussed with you privately that we are not going to quarrel with our neighbors.”

The APC chieftain said he had been a Presidential Campaign Council member of three Presidents, Olusegun Obasanjo (2003); Musa Yar’adua (2007) and Muhammadu Buhari (2015), stressing that the level of insecurity of those days and years were nothing compared to the insurgency, carnage, arson and destruction of the present time.

already ominous signs of increased insecurity at campaign rallies with recent reports of attacks on a few presidential campaign rallies, but added that those incidents were not enough to stop political rallies totally.To this end, he urged political parties, especially APC must consider increased use of other campaign tools such as door-to-door

media, while “de-emphasizing huge gathering of people in these days of insurgent activities and bombings.”

According to him, a dead man can no longer live to witness the promises of better Nigeria being made by the Presidential candidates such as Bola Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi or Rabiu Kwankwaso.

reassured Nigerians and residents of Federal Capital Territory of their safety.

The reassurances came as the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lt Gen Faruk Yahaya, charged 1,291 graduating personnel of

Enugu Youths Laud Ugwuanyi on Inclusive Governance Enugu State youths yesterday rose in unison to express their profound gratitude to Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi for giving them a sense of belonging in governance, saying that the gesture is unprecedented in the history of the state.

They said that Gov. Ugwuanyi, in his humility, kind-heartedness, benevolence, peaceful disposition, vision and passion for the growth of young persons, gave them the platform to excel as future leaders, saying that the governor has planted them (youths) as seeds

recorded in the various operational theaters within the six geo-political zones of the country.

He stated that in the past two weeks, both kinetic and non-kinetic operations were conducted in the various theatres of operations, with significant results recorded.

He said no fewer than 55 terrorists were neutralised by troops in the frontline.

He asserted that military operations in the North-east

zone were sustained against the activities of terrorist elements within the zone aimed at restoring peace, security and creating an enabling environment for law and order to thrive.

“Accordingly, troops of operation Hadin Kai conducted operational activities in villages and communities within and around Kaga, Damboa, Bama, Ngazai and Gwoza Local Government Areas of Borno State.

Police Commission Considers 18 Appeals, Petitions from Dismissed Officers

‘Discovery of Oil ‘ll Not Sever Insecurity: Minimise Large Political Rallies, APC Chieftain Advises Parties Relationship between Bauchi, Gombe’ AdedayoAkinwaleinAbuja and watch the event on television.

Nkire added that there were messaging, electronic, print and social Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi The Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammmed, has declared that the discovery of oil and gas in the state has never been an issue or a cause of misunderstanding between Bauchi State and Gombe State.

Governor Mohammed declared this yesterday when he received in audience members of the Gas Monitoring Committee of the National Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission (RMFC) that were

Deaconess Ijeoma Akin- Ogunleye is Dead

The Proprietress of King of Kings International Nursery and primary School and Kings Heritage High School both in Ibadan, Oyo State, Deaconess Maureen Ijeoma Akin-Ogunleye (Nee Obiorah) is dead.

Deaconess Akin-Ogunleye, who died recently during a brief illness, was aged 50 years.

Preparations towards her burial indicate that a commendation service will hold at her residence at No 47, Alao Akala Way, Okebadan Estate, Akobo Ibadan on December 1, 2022.

A funeral service would be held for her at Living Faith Church (Winners Chapel)

Alegongo Akobo Ibadan on Friday December 2, 2022.

Deaconess Maureen Ijeoma Akin-Ogunleye is survived by her husband , Deacon Akin Ogunleye, children, Dele, Demola, Bola and Damilola and siblings.

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Sam Nkire, has advised political parties to minimise huge political rallies due to the insecurity in the country.

Nkire in a statement issued yesterday also advised the public, especially those who has no role to play in the rallies, to stay home

Kogi to Sue EFCC for Contempt over Illegal Harassment of Officials The Kogi State Government yesterday accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) of illegal harassment of state officials “over a bail-out fund the Commission tried fruitlessly” to prove was stashed in an account, despite a Court injunction restraining it.

The State Government in a statement signed by the Commissioner for Information

in relating to the matter pending the determination of the Motion on Notice.”

Fanwo said despite the fact that the EFCC’s attempt to set aside the said order was refused by the Court and its appeal had not also been determined by the Court of Appeal, the Commission, in what the state government described as its usual gestapo manner, attempted to arrest the Cashier of the Kogi

State Government House.

The Kogi government, in a statement titled: “EFCC Resumes Harassment of Kogi Government Officials in Violation of Injunction Restraining it from So doing”, described the attempt as a clear and flagrant violation of a subsisting order by a competent Court of jurisdiction, saying it would challenge this latest action of the EFCC in Court.

Appeal Court Affirms Shittu as PDP Candidate for Ikorodu Federal Constituency Wale Igbintade

Deaconess Akin-Ogunleye

and Communications, Kingsley Fanwo, said further to a Suit No. HCL/128/2021, filed by the Kogi State Government against the EFCC and other Defendants with respect to the said bail-out funds, “the Court issued an injunction on the 3rd of December, 2021, restraining the EFCC or its agents from inviting or arresting any Kogi State Government official or requesting for any documents

The Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, has affirmed Mr. Abdul Kareem Shittu as the Peoples’ Democratic Party’s (PDP) candidate for the Ikorodu Federal Constituency seat in the House of Representatives.

A three-man panel of the court in a unanimous decision

dismissed an appeal filed by Awesu AbdulAzeez, and the PDP challenging the judgment of Justice Daniel Osiagor of the Federal High Court, Lagos that declared Shittu as the party’s flag bearer. In his lead judgment, Justice Abdullahi Mahmud Bayero, aligned with the submissions of Shittu’s Counsel, Patience Patrick Udoh, that the

appeal lacked merit and “it is accordingly dismissed.”

Similarly, the court also dismissed a separate appeal filed by the PDP against Shittu’s victory.

It awarded a punitive cost of N5 million against the PDP and in Shittu’s favour, adding that the appeal was needless.

The court also ordered

Awesu to pay Shittu the sum of N500,000 for bringing a vexatious appeal against him.

The lower court had on September 10, 2022, directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise Shittu as the validly nominated candidate of PDP for the Ikorodu Federal Constituency.

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FRIDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2022 ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS XTRA

MEDICAL WOMEN VISIT EKITI FIRST LADY…

L-R: Social Secretary, Ekiti State Medical Women Association of Nigeria (MWAN), Dr. Tomiwa Adeleye; Public Relation Officer, Dr. Omolola Alao; President-elect, Dr.Bolanle Ojo; Wife of Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Olayemi Oyebanji; President of the Association, Dr. Esther Akinsooto; General Secretary, Dr. Bola Ibirongbe, and Treasurer, Dr. Temitope Okunola, during the association’s visit to the governor’s wife in Ado-Ekiti...recently

Wike Pledges Logistic Support for Obi’s Presidential Campaign 9RZ WR UHPDLQ LQ 3'3 WR ÀJKW DJDLQVW YDPSLUHV Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike yesterday commended presidential candidate of Labour

Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, for leaving the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the frustrations meted at him to pursue his political ambition.

Governor Wike has also

Access Bank, Foundation, Others Equip Students with Entrepreneurial Skills SundayOkobi Enterprise, Growth, and Opportunities (EGO) Foundation,

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly known and addressed as MISS OGUNMAKINDE OYINDAMOLA OLUWAKEMI now wish to be known and addressed as MRS OLA-AINA OYINDAMOLA OLUWAKEMI. All former documents remain valid. The general public should take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as MASTER AINA OLUWADAMILARE OLAOSEBIKAN, now wish to be known and addressed as MR OLAAINA OLUWADAMILARE OLAOSEBIKAN. All former documents remain valid. The general public should take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS ADETOLA ADEDUNNI ADEYEYE, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. ADETOLA ADEDUNNI OTUNLA-JACOB. All former documents remain valid. The general public should take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as OKOGBE OMOYIMEYA BLESSING, now wish to be known and addressed as EVESHOYAN OMOYIMEYA BLESSING. All former documents remain valid. The general public should take note.

a development organisation with the goal of reducing poverty and unemployment in Africa, has launched its work skills (entrepreneurial) programme for undergraduates and fresh graduates in Nigeria.

The event, which was held at the Federal College of Education (FCE) Technical in Lagos, was the first of its kind in the College, and drew hundreds of participants (students) from the institution and beyond.

Several of the participants benefitted through scholarships into tech-related programmes, free mentoring with accomplished professionals, jobs and internships offers, as well as funding opportunities provided by the organisers.

In his opening remarks, the Executive Director of EGO Foundation, Toluwase Olaniyan, reminded the audience of the changing world of work and why having the right skill set can make all the difference in their careers.

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly known and addressed as MISS DANIEL JUSTINA KELECHI, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS CHIDIEBERE JUSTINA KELECHI. All former documents remain valid. The general public should take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as NWOCHI UGOCHI SANDRA, now wish to be known and addressed as NWEZE UGOCHI SANDRA. All former documents remain valid. The general public should take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as IJEOMA ALBERTINA IDIKA, now wish to be known and addressed as IJEOMA ALBERTINA MADUABUCHUKWU. All former documents remain valid.

The general public should take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as BENSON GODWIN SAVIOUR, now wish to be known and addressed as MENSAH KWAME GODWIN. All former documents remain valid. The general public should take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS INEBRI EJEATA EDITH now wish to be known and addressed as MRS EBIE AJEATA EDITH. All former documents remain valid.

Dee - Nath School and the general Public Should take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS ORIYOMI OMOLADE OGUNBAJO, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS ORIYOMI OMOLADE JAMES. All former documents remain valid. The general public should take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as ESTHER FABIAN EFFIONG, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. ESTHER OBONGAWAN OMONDIA. All former documents remain valid. The general public should take note.

offered to provide logistic support to Obi whenever he visits Rivers State for his presidential campaign.

Governor Wike, who spoke yesterday, at the inauguration of the Nkpolu-Oroworukwo flyover, performed by Obi, restated his resolve to remain in the PDP and fight those he described as “vampire, armed robbers and scavengers.”

He said: “I will not leave. I

will stay there, I will fight the vampires, I will fight hyaenas, I will fight the scavengers. I will not leave this house. I will never allow armed robbers to takeover my house. I am going to stay to chase away the armed robbers.”

The Rivers State governor urged the LP presidential candidate to ignore envious persons from his home state, who are hell bent to distract him in

his pursuit for the presidency.

Governor Wike mocked persons in the PDP, who are calling for his dismissal from the party. According to him, those clamouring for his dismissal ironically left the party, frustrated its electoral chances and made it to lose the 2015 election.

“Those who are threatening me are those who destroyed PDP and made us lose election in 2015.

I stood firm in this party when this party was to die. Peter Obi, you were there in the party then.

“I was the one with my friends who supported this party. Those who left the party are the ones coming to tell me that I want to scatter the party when you(they) have scattered the party and made us lose election in 2015. Now we are in opposition. Who put us in opposition?”

2023: Nigeria Needs Inclusive Leadership for Good Governance, Says Ighodalo

Ugo Aliogo

Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the President of Rebuild Nigeria Initiative, (RNI), Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, has stated that the country needs inclusive leadership to promote good governance in the 2023, noting that the process of leadership has been hijacked by a group for their own selfish interest.

According to him, it is very

important that a country as diverse as Nigeria, ensures that people from different parts are included in the discussions around the governance, leadership, economy, and what the people want.

Ighodalo, who stated this in Lagos yesterday at the Dialogue with Corporate Nigerians for Peace, Stability and Economic Growth event organised by the RNI, said there should be a roadmap of needs and aspirations

of every Nigerian put together and a leadership that would try its best to provide in the quickest possible time the best possible price.

He also stated that one of the problems of leadership is that people impose themselves as leaders of Nigeria, noting that from 1966 to date, the country has not had a proper process of electing leaders from the foundation, “often times, they have been imposed

on us largely by the military.”

He explained that the military came and imposed themselves on Nigerians, adding that they were not the best kind of leaders, because they were not prepared for leadership.

According to him, the military just took over power without being prepared for leadership without understanding the fundamentals of doing things rights, “they were not groomed to be leaders.”

Conduct Free, Fair, Credible Elections in 2023, Varsity Don Tasks INEC

Ibrahim OyewaleinLokoja

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been urged to conduct free, fair, transparent and credible elections.

The Vice Chancellor of the Salem University, Professor Alewo Johnson Akubo, gave this advice while addressing newsmen during a press briefing at his office in Lokoja for the fifth convocation ceremony

and award for diplomas, first and higher degrees and prizes to the change agents of the institution.

Akubo explained that the theme of the convocation lecture is “Beyond the 2023 General Elections: the Role of the Media in the Democratic Transition,” noted that the choice of this topic was deliberate in view of coming general elections.

He said that “elections all over

the world have remained a very plain and transparent means of choosing credible leaders by electorates in the bid to acceptable growth and development of nations.”

Akubo noted that Nigeria as developing nation is at the threshold of making yet another democratic transition with the forthcoming 2023 general elections that must be properly superintended by the most revered umpire, the Independent

National Electoral Commission (INEC).

He said: “The commission is expected to be committed to bequeathing to this nation free, fair, transparent and credible elections come 2023 for the smooth political transition devoid of doubt violence and crises that could jeopardise the journey of the Fourth Republic that has raised hopes for many Nigerians.”

NSIEC Bars SDP Man from Secretariat, Denies Him Certificate of Return Laleye Dipo in Minna Victorious Chairman Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Katcha Local Government Council of Niger State, Mr. Danlami Abdullahi Saku, was barred on Wednesday from entering the secretariat of the Niger State Independent Electoral Commission (NSIEC).

As a result Saku was not presented with his certificate of

return for the victory he allegedly recorded in last Thursday’s local government election.

Saku with scores of his supporters traveled several kilometers to Minna for the ceremony only to meet a barricade at the entrance to NSIEC secretariat.

The armed security men at the gates were polite by softly asking Saku and his celebrating team to

go back because he (Saku) was not among those invited to receive the certificate of return.

Saku who had earlier been declared the winner of the Katcha chairmanship race after defeating the APC’s Candidate, Mr. Musa Ishyaku, was shocked to hear that the victory has been annulled and that a rerun election will take place in three wards in the local government area.

The protests by Saku and his supporters fell on deaf ears before they were asked to leave the environment.

But 24 chairmen that were elected on the platform of the APC were given their certificates of return by NSIEC Secretary, Mr. Ibrahim Mohammed Maburya, thereby preparing them for inauguration by Governor Abubakar Sani Bello.

NDDC: Leave Umana, Audu-Ohwavborua alone, Group Tells Critics The Center for Integrity and Good Governance (CIGC) has advised critics of the Minister for Niger Delta, Umana Okon Umana and the newly appointed Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Eng. EmmanuelAudu-Ohwavborua to allow them fix the issues in the Niger Delta without distractions.

Describing the duo as “round pegs in round holes” and “perfect fit for the job”, the group said their appointment

by President Muhammadu Buhari was a recognition of their capacity and zeal to pilot the affairs of the Niger Delta people.

CIGC, in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Timothy Alabraba, stressed that the

attacks on both personalities must stop and detractors should rather join hands with them to build the region.

“Detractors should rather come together and join these men in fixing the rot in the region and pains of the people instead of the mudslinging and unwarranted media attacks being orchestrated by a few disgruntled

people who are pursuing personal agenda.

“The minster, exercising his prerogative, sawAudu-Ohwavborua as the best amongst other senior Directors in the agency because he has the capacity and competency to drive his policy agenda, and appointed him to lead the critical intervention agency.

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FRIDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor: Duro Ikhazuagbe Email: duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com

0811 181 3083 SMS ONLY

Poor Eagles Thrashed 4-0 by World Cup-bound Portugal Duro Ikhazuagbe

A poor display by Super Eagles against Portugal last night explained in clear terms why Nigeria is not one of the 32 teams that will file out at the FIFA World Cup starting on Sunday in Qatar.

Two first half brace by Manchester United star, Bruno Fernandes and additional two goals in the second half by Goncalo Ramos and Joao Mario condemned Super Eagles to a humiliating 4-0 defeat against the Qatar-bound Portugal.

Despite playing the international friendly without their talisman, Cristiano Ronaldo, who suffered stomach bug at training on Wednesday, Jose Peseiro’s wards were poor in every department.

The hosts were hardly troubled all through the 90 minutes of the near drab encounter.

What would have given the Super Eagles hope of a great comeback when they were two goals down was wasted

by Emmanuel Dennis who bungled from the penalty spot in the 80th minute. Sadly, it was Captain, William Troost-Ekong who wanted to play the penalty before Dennis pushed himself to the spot.

Portugal’s Bernardo Silva (right) battling Super Eagles’ Wilfred Ndidi during the international friendly in Lisbon...last night

Saka Pays Surgery Fees for 120 Nigerian Kids ahead of World Cup Arsenal star, Bukayo Saka, has paid for 120 children in Nigeria to undergo life-changing surgery.

The Englandwinger, 21, teamed up with the charity BigShoe to help children in Kano, Nigeria's second largest city, who were suffering from hernias and brain tumours.

Saka'sparents were both raised in Nigeria before moving to London, where the Gunners forward was born in 2001.

He said: "I feel blessed to be in a position where I can contribute to making the children's lives easier and better through these surgeries.

"I still feel very connected to Nigeria.

"For me, it is very important to use my abilities to have a positive impact where I can and I have to say a big thank you to the whole BigShoe team for making this possible.

“For me it is important that every child has the same

opportunity to achieve their dreams.

“If I can do anything to help then I really want to do this, it was very important to me.

"It makes me happy when I can see the kids happy and their parents happy.

"I want to do more and more and help as many children as I can.

This isn't about me, it is about the 120 children."

All 120 operations were successfully completed last month while Saka is now away preparing for his first World Cupas part of Gareth Southgate'sEngland squad.

BigShoe is a charity who help impoverished children get the medical treatment they need but cannot afford.

Former Chelseadefender Antonio Rudiger recently teamed up with the organisation, donating his Germany World Cup bonus to cover surgeries in Sierra Leone, his mother's home country.

The Embassy of Nigeria in Doha, Qatar has warned Nigerians traveling to the Gulf State for the 2022 FIFA World Cup tournament against breaking the laws of the country.

The Embassy, it a statement by its spokesman, Kimiebi Ebienfa, while welcoming Nigerian football fans who might want to watch the tournament in Qatar, said: “We wish to strongly advise that Nigerian fans traveling for the soccer fiesta should endeavour to obey and respect the laws of the host country while in Qatar and ensure that they comply

Stakeholders Knock Dare over Imposition of Kida Board on NBBF Olawale Ajimotokan inAbuja

Sports Minister, Chief Sunday Dare, has come under fire over his subtle imposition of Ahmadu Musa Kida as the President of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF).

The criticism was heaped on the minister yesterday by some basketball stakeholders at a media briefing in Abuja.

They described the action of the minister as illogical, irrational, unreasonable and miscarriage of justice.

The group under the umbrella "New Face of Basketball" was led

by Chairman of Kaduna State Basketball Association, Pastor Scambo Morrison.

It questioned the methodology used by Dare to pick Kida as the NBBF President after publicly acknowledging that two elections took place on January 31,2022.

Morrison said the group decided to be silent for the sake of peaceful resolution and the amendment of the controversial constitution of the basketball federation.

Nigerian Embassy Warns against Breaking Qatar Laws During the World Cup Michael Olugbode in Abuja

Bukayo Saka...excited helping 120 kids have surgeries for Photo courtesy UK’s SUN hernias

“So, it is not news that the Minister of Youth and Sports indeed acknowledged that there were two elections. But our big surprise till today is that the minister and ministry never came out to talk to us about the findings of those elections. As good citizens of this country, we have remained very quiet, calm and disciplined waiting to hear the outcome of those elections.

“But till this day, nobody has called this particular faction to say anything to them concerning the

election. Instead, we now found out that there are some people parading themselves as the 'custodians of basketball in Nigeria. We want the minister to know that we have options if he fails to do the right thing" Morrison stated.

The group sought clarification from Dare on how Kida became the NBBF President having earlier pronounced that there were two elections and that the ministry was looking into the issue to make sure that things were resolved in the NBBF.

The loss fired the Portuguese into increasing their goal haul to put a gloss to an impressive World Cup sending-off party inside the 50,000-capacity Estádio Jose Alvalade in Lisbon.

The only take away from the game was the encouraging performance of first timer, Bright Osayi-Samuel who made his Super Eagles debut. His big day in the senior Nigerian team was however ruined by his handball inside the box that gave Portugal the chance to double their lead on 35 minutes from the penalty spot.

Portugal continued to create the better chances and even forced a big save from Francis Uzoho in the 73rd minute.

The best chance for Nigeria fell to substitute Samuel Chukwueze in the 71st minute, but he was denied a goal by goalkeeper Rui Patricio, who made himself big to block out the final shot.

Shortly after the game ended, watching Nigerian fans were embarrassed by the struggle between assistant coach Finidi George and Moses Simon for the jersey of aging Portuguese star Pepe.

It was the Nantes winger who eventually succeeded in exchanging his Nigerian jersey for the Portugal colour.

with all relevant guidelines/ requirements for visiting fans before embarking on any trip.”

The statement further read that: “the Nigerian Embassy wishes to state unequivocally that the special World Cup visa called Hayya card and Entry Permit cannot and will not be changed or transferred to work visa or permit. Nigerian should therefore not fall victim to unscrupulous elements spreading fake news in that regard to rip off innocent Nigerians.”

The Embassy however encouraged all visiting fans to enjoy the best experience at the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Sadio Mane Finally Ruled out of Qatar 2022, Requires Surgery Senegal forward Sadio Mane has been ruled out of the World Cup as he requires surgery on a knee injury he sustained playing for Bayern Munich.

On Tuesday, Senegal's football federation said Mane, 30, would miss their "first games" at the tournament.

But a further MRI scan was completed on Thursday that showed surgical intervention is needed.

Mane was forced off during Bayern's Bundesliga win over Werder Bremen on 8 November.

Senegal start their World Cup campaign against the Netherlands on Monday. The West Africans are in Group A

with games against hosts Qatar (25 November) and Ecuador (29 November) to follow.

Two-time African Footballer of the Year Mane is Senegal's talisman, having scored the winning penalty when the Teranga Lions became continental championsfor the first time in February, defeating Egypt in a shoot-out in the Africa Cup of Nations final.

Within two months Mane had repeated the feat, netting the decisive spot-kick as Senegal beat Egypt - in a game that again pitted him against then Liverpool team-mate Mohamed Salah - on penalties in a play-off to qualify for Qatar.

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FRIDAY, NO ͹΀˜ ͺ͸ͺͺ ˾ T H I S D AY

SPORTS C O U N T D O W N T O Q ATA R 2 0 2 2 . . . C O U N T D O W N T O Q ATA R 2 0 2 2 . . .

Ghana's Black Stars are back to the big stage after missing the last World Cup four years ago in Russia.

Vengeance in the Air as Ghanaians Recall Suarez’s Heroic in S’Africa

Ghanaian fans are celebrating again.

After missing out on the FIFA World Cup in 2018, their team will be back on the biggest of stages at Qatar 2022 – even if they did take a tortuous route to get there.

After crashing out of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations at the group stage earlier this year, Ghana chose to get rid of coach Milovan Rejavac, replacing him with Otto Addo.

The 47-year-old, who played for a number of years in the Bundesliga, including for Borussia Dortmund, took over the reins of a country for whom he had played 15 times and steered them to Qatar courtesy of an away-goals win over arch-rivals Nigeria in the African play-offs.

Ghana have been drawn in Group

Opening Fixtures NOV. Qatar v NOV. Senegal v USA v NOV. Argentina v Mexico v Denmark v France v NOV. Germany v Spain v Morocco v Belgium v NOV. Switzerland v Brazil v Uruguay v Portugal v NOV. Qatar v Netherlands v Wales v England v NOV. Poland v Argentina v Tunisia v France v

20-11 Ecuador 21-11 Netherlands Wales 22-11 S’Arabia Poland Tunisia Australia 23-11 Japan Costa Rica Croatia Canada 24-11 Cameroon Serbia South Korea Ghana 25-11 Senegal Ecuador Iran USA 26-11 S’Arabia Mexico Australia Denmark

H along with Portugal, Korea Republic and Uruguay. The last of those three names will have caused more than a few Ghanaians to wince when it came out of the hat. At South Africa 2010, the Black Stars were eliminated in highly-dramatic fashion

by Uruguay in the quarter-finals.

Ghana therefore have a chance for revenge in what promises to be a tense showdown, particularly since they face one another in the third and final group game, when there could be plenty on the line.

Ghana are the surprise package in what is a very strong group. While their performances en route to the World Cup were up and down to say the least, the squad has an interesting mix of experienced and talented players capable of winning matches at this tournament. It will be up to Addo as coach to find the right blend and give the team the self-belief it needs to shake things up in Qatar.

Ghana barely squeezed through the second round of qualifying for the World Cup, and then had to face no less a challenge than Nigeria’s Super Eagles in March with a ticket to Qatar up for grabs. Addo had only taken over the coaching reins from Rajevac in the February, meaning that this was a real baptism of fire.

He was already well acquainted with the squad from his role as assistant coach, but he only had a few weeks in which to prepare both himself and the team for the crucial matches against Nigeria. His task was not made any easier by the fact that he also had a number of absences to deal with in the squad.

Addo made five changes to the starting line-up that Rajevac had picked for his last match in charge.

He promoted youngsters Mohammed Kudus and Felix Afena-Gyan to the starting XI for the first leg against Nigeria, and with the formation alternating between 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1, the team looked particularly solid

in defence. This had been a real problem for Ghana in the recent past, but here they kept a clean sheet in a goalless draw in Addo’s first match in charge. He then sent out the same XI for the second leg and his trust was rewarded with a battling performance in a 1-1 that saw them through to the World Cup on the away goals rule.

It has already become clear that Addo will not shy away from picking youngsters, with four members of the starting line-up against Nigeria under the age of 25 and two of them still teenagers. These young and hungry players will bring fresh impetus to the team and put pressure on the more established members of the squad as they look to go as far as they can in Qatar.

One of the most interesting and crucial players in Addo’s squad is Andre Ayew. With 107 international appearances to his name, the Ghana captain is closing in on Asamoah Gyan’s record of 109 caps. The son of the legendary Abedi Pele has also scored 23 international goals, putting him fifth for his country.

In 2009, he was part of the team that won the U-20 crown at both continental and world level.

Facts and figures like these go some way to reflecting the importance of Ayew to the national team. Alongside his younger brother Jordan (81 appearances, 19 goals), himself a critical part of the squad, the 32-year-old will be looking to convert his many years of international experience up front into a haul of goals come the end of November.

Last season, he moved to Qatar to play for Al-Sadd, meaning that he will be well acclimatised to playing conditions as soon as the World Cup gets under way. He is very much Addo’s right-hand man and will play an important role in mentoring the younger squad members, after shining on the world stage as a

youth player himself. Back at South Africa 2010, he came second in the voting behind Thomas Muller for the Best Young Player award.

Similarly, another player to watch is MohammedKudus who moved to the Dutch Eredivisie ahead of the 2020/21 season, joining Ajax and getting playing time in the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League. This year, he has been particularly impressive in the Champions League, scoring in all three of his team’s matches thus far, against Rangers, Liverpool and Napoli. He got an assist as well as a goal against the Glasgow club, which saw him voted as player of the match and named in the Champions League team of the week. He also has four goals in eight Eredivisie games this season.

The 22-year-old attacking midfielder has scored five times in 16 international appearances to date, and established himself as one of the first names on the team-sheet as far as Addo is concerned. He regularly took on leadership roles as a youth player and has the potential to be one of the stand-out players at Qatar 2022. Not for nothing is he regularly cited as one of the most talented players born in 2000.

Ghana’s fans had to wait until 2006 for their team to play in a World Cup for the first time. With John Mensah, Stephen Appiah and Asamoah Gyan in their ranks, the Black Stars made it all the way to the Round of 16 in Germany before losing to Brazil. At South Africa 2010, Ghana went one better before falling to Uruguay in the quarter-finals.

At Brazil 2014, Ghana came unstuck in what was a very tough group, but they could hold their heads up high as they were the only team not to lose against eventual champions Germany. In Russia 2018 qualifying, the Black Stars failed to make it past Egypt and had to watch the tournament from home.

GROUP STAGE TABLES Group A Team Qatar Ecuador Senegal Netherlands

P W D 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

L GD Pts 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Group B Team England Iran USA Wales

P W D 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

L GD Pts 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Group C Team Argentina S’Arabia Mexico Poland

P W D 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

L GD Pts 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Group D Team France Australia Denmark Tunisia

P W D 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

L GD Pts 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Group E Team Spain Costa Rica Germany Japan

P W D 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

L GD Pts 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Group F Team Belgium Canada Morocco Croatia

P W D 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

L GD Pts 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Group G Team P W D Brazil 0 0 0 Serbia 0 0 0 Switzerland 0 0 0 Cameroon 0 0 0

L GD Pts 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Group H Team Portugal Ghana Uruguay S’Korea

P W D 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

L GD Pts 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Friday November 18, 2022

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UT H

& REASO

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Price: N250

MISSILE Ezeife to Atiku Abubakar “I was Chairman of the Power Sharing Committee sometime ago when it was agreed that power should rotate between the North and the South but Atiku, as a Northerner, wants to take over from a Northerner. Atiku, as a Muslim wants to take over from a Muslim. Atiku, as a Fulani, wants to take over from a Fulani. I think he is the real enemy of Nigeria” –President of Igbo Elders Consultative Forum, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, advising Southerners not to vote for Atiku in 2023.

OKECHUKWUOKO GUEST COLUMNIST

PROFESSOR CYPRIAN OKONKWO, SAN:

Death Cannot Mute the Teacher’s Powerful Lessons

S

ince receiving the news of the death of Professor Cyprian Okonkwo after a protracted illness, I have careened between mourning and fighting to suppress my grief. That endeavor has proved challenging, perhaps even difficult. To imagine the loss of a legend who shaped the landscape of the legal academy evokes unfathomable pain.

It is as though a light has gone out of the world or a guiding star has fallen from the firmament. I have, however, found great comfort in the words of Henry Adam who remarked: “A teacher affects eternity: he can never tell when his influence stops.”

Under the lambent flow of his wit and guidance, the next generation of law teachers latched onto the glorious flame of his genius. His memory summons our profound respect, love, and admiration.

One of the most erudite and effusive scholars of his generation, he used his splendid mastery of the law to motivate and inspire us all. He had an admirable mix of brilliance and intelligence that is both rare and unique. It is doubtful that there will ever be another man to possess his wits, acumen, and sagacity. The light may have gone out, but his legacy still illuminates our world and point us to that which is pure and transcendent.

Professor Okonkwo was a towering eminence in the legal profession and not just because he was Six feet five inches tall. A brilliant scholar and first-rate legal mind, Professor C. O Okonkwo was an accomplished author and a prodigious writer whose publications – from criminal law to company law – attest to his unequaled cerebral capacity. His publications gained the blue riband of a grateful profession and stand as powerful testaments to the power of ideas. As a law professor, he had few peers and no superiors. History and posterity will surely rank him as one of the greatest legal minds in Nigeria, if not Africa.

A mind bogglingly prolific scholar, he was especially gifted in making complex problems appear simple and easy. He remained till death at 88 indefatigably committed to the search for excellence.

Early in his career, he distinguished himself from the gaggle by producing a vade mecum on criminal law in Nigeria.

How many twenty-seven-year-olds can author a magisterial book that can stand the test of time and remains till date widely and enthusiastically applauded as the best criminal law textbook in the nation? This book, impressive as it is, represents only a tiny fraction of his legacy. He left behind a vast array of mentees – professors, legal practitioners, legislators, civil servants – who are what they are in part because of him. They were inspired by an academic ideal that he embodied, confirming the view of an American scholar: “A great professor lives

Prof Okonkwo

after his death in his writings, to be sure, but as much and sometimes even more, in the lives he has touched, the values he has imparted, the examples he set.”

Intellectually restless, a curious and prodigiously inquiring mind, he examined issues with penetrating acuity and reached conclusions very few, if any, could question.

His rigorous analysis, systematic explication of issues combined powerfully with his capacity for finely balanced judgment to make his scholarship a must read for all. His books and essays were lucidly written, passionately and persuasively argued, and made original contributions to the subject matter under review. A paradigm of simplicity and clarity, he tackled complex issues with conversational ease and fascinating thoroughness. He had the rare capacity to offer greater insights into issues which made it easy to appreciate the structure and thematic anatomy of his writings.

As a law teacher, his lectures were both illuminating and captivating. His proficiency in the law was absolute and his delivery captivating. His eloquence always held his audience spellbound. We always walked away saying to ourselves: what a mind! What a soul! What a genius! As a commissioner of the Nigerian Law Reform Commission, he served with a rare mix of grace and devotion that will be impossible to replace or replicate. He brought his lapidary

brilliance and dignity to bear on complex issues that helped situate the commission as one of the most effective law reform agencies in the continent of Africa.

He was legendary not only for the brilliance of his ideas but for his intellectual acumen, integrity, implacable distaste for mediocrity, and utter loathing of hypocrisy.

He was a man of supreme dignity powered from within by a heart of gold. The meaning of his life, at least for his students, and mentees, is not so much his brilliance and academic laurels, extraordinary as both are, but rather his character, and capacity to inspire and motivate others. An erudite and charming soul possessed of great warmth, immense spirituality, and a vast capacity for doing good, he brought out the best in all of us. His generosity of spirit was remarkable, and I am most grateful for having been a major beneficiary. It has been a privilege to be Professor Okonkwo’s student and mentee, and a rare honor to be his friend, a badge I will proudly wear till I draw my last breath. He was my inspiring teacher, solicitous mentor, friend, and uncle. My interactions with him were frequent, nuanced, varied, uplifting, and most importantly fun.

His writing and teaching were outstanding but using his fecund and fertile mind to improve the lives and careers of those around him remains a grand and amazing aspect of his life. Those of us who were privileged

to know him can vouch for his integrity.

His mordant advice shaped careers and redirected lives tethering on the brink. His words of wisdom will never be forgotten by anyone who had the delight of hearing it. At the primitive stages of our epistemic development, he challenged and inspired us by demonstrating enthusiasm for the law and giving us a sense of what a truly educated mind can achieve. He helped aspiring scholars to discover, cultivate and deepen the virtues they needed to be fine scholars. Most of us were inspired and changed by his words of wisdom. We learned from him what it means -- and what it takes - to be a legal scholar.

For those who knew him best and loved him most –his family, friends, students, mentees, and colleagues – he will be sorely missed. The most lasting memorial to Professor Cyprian Okonkwo is not at any location. It is in the hearts and minds of all those whose lives and careers have been enriched consciously or unconsciously by his legacy. He remained a monument to all that is good. I marvel at the absence of anger and bitterness in his life as he sought resolutely to find glimmers of hope even in the darkest hour. As long as there is a legal profession in Nigeria, his name will be etched in letters of gold A model of integrity and grace, Professor Okonkwo possessed a rare combination of humility and wisdom. His capacity to inspire and motivate remained unparalleled and unquestionable. He lived a life that can appropriately be described as a template of human excellence. He was that calm, sober, and reflective teacher to whom those in doubt turned and the confused sought clarification. Painful as his loss may be, there should be no tears for a man who lived his life to the fullest, filled with service to humanity. He is at peace; angels and citizens of heaven are pleased to receive him. We are glad that for a moment he belonged to us.

No one who is loved is ever forgotten.

We love Professor Okonkwo for his light and ideas that counteracted darkness and ignorance and unleashed resourcefulness and creativity in his students and mentees.

He is immortal as long as memory lives.

He staked and gave so much to make the legal profession better. Now loaded with honor and enshrined in public esteem, Professor Okonkwo returns to the warm embrace of the heavenly father. May he rest in peace assured that the legal academy he bequeathed to the next generation is superior in every way to the one he inherited. We are all better because he shared his life with us.

•Professor Okechukwu Oko Dodson-Hooks Distinguished Professor of Law Southern University Law Center Baton Rouge, Louisiana

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