MONDAY 7TH DECEMBER 2020

Apapa Gridlock Pushes Cargo Cost to Nigeria to $600m Monthly Haulage cost up 1,000% Shipping firms diverting Nigeria-bound cargoes to Cotonou, Ivory Coast Eromosele Abiodun The federal government's inability to find a solution to the intractable Apapa gridlock has negatively impacted the

cost of shipping containers into Nigeria, which has risen by 600 per cent.

On average, 100,000 containers, carrying various cargos are discharged in Lagos

ports monthly.

With shipping companies now charging $6,000 to ship a container to Nigeria, it costs shippers in Nigeria $600 million (N234 billion) every

month to transport 100,000 containers to Nigeria, findings

by THISDAY showed.

As a result of the blockage of the roads in and around the ports, millions of containers

are trapped in the ports and shipping companies have had to stay at anchorages for between three to four months incurring various surcharges due to circumstances beyond

their control.

Numbers obtained by THISDAY revealed that in the first half of this year, it Continued on page 9

FG Assures Operators on CBN's N250bn Gas Intervention Fund... Page 8 Monday 7 December, 2020 Vol 25. No 9373 Price: N250

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Flour Mills Appoints Boye Olusanya New CEO... Page 8

Buhari Expresses Excitement as APC Sweeps By-elections Says party still choice of Nigerians Omololu Ogunmade, Chuks Okocha, Udora Orizu in Abuja, Segun James in Lagos, Amby Uneze in Owerri, Seriki Adinoyi in Jos and Bassey Inyang in Calabar With the All Progressives Congress (APC) commanding victory in Saturday's byelections held in 11 states of the federation, President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday expressed satisfaction with the

INEC regrets assault on staff

party's performance.

The president, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, said the results from the polls showed APC as the choice of the people, adding that they will not be disappointed.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had conducted 15 by-elections Continued on page 9

ASUU Seeks Time to Conclude Consultations over Strike

FG meets labour on petrol, electricity tariff hike today Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja Amidst concerns over the long closure of public universities, the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities ((ASUU) has requested that it be given till Wednesday to conclude consultations with its chapters on the terms of

resolution of the dispute with the federal government.

Similarly, the federal government team is expected to continue discussions with the organised labour unions on ways of resolving the dispute over the recent increases in Continued on page 9

LATEST SENATOR...

Lagos East senator-elect, Mr. Tokunbo Abiru (left), and Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu during the senator-elect's visit to the governor in Lagos...yesterday

Insecurity: Buhari Capable of Discharging His Functions, Says Fayemi..Page 11

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

Again, Police Warn against Fresh #EndSARS Protest

Chiemelie Ezeobi

The Lagos State Police Command yesterday warned those planning another #EndSARS protest to desist as the move would be resisted.

The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hakeem Odumosu, said any gathering or procession with an

undertone of #EndSARS had been banned.

According to him, the protest is backed by “some unpatriotic individuals and groups, who are planning to embark on the replica of the recent destructive and violent #EndSARS protest that left pains and agonies in Lagos State.�

Intrigues Deepen as APC NEC Meets Tomorrow Caretakers to get tenure extension Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja The power struggle within the All Progressives Congress (APC) persists, giving rise to massive intrigues as the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party meets tomorrow over the tenure of the National Caretaker/Convention Planning Committee led

by Yobe State Governor Mala Bunu.

The committee’s tenure would expire this month having been set up in June after the Adams Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee (NWC) was dissolved by the NEC. But the committee failed to kick-start the process of the national convention and rather proposed to reregister members of the party before holding the convention.

Tomorrow’s meeting, THISDAY gathered, will deliberate on the extension of the tenure of the caretakers, the membership registration and revalidation exercise and zoning of various party offices for the party's national convention.

A party source informed THISDAY yesterday that for President Muhammadu Buhari to have given his support to the membership registration and revalidation exercise proposed by the caretaker committee was an indication that the tenure of the committee would be extended.

The source who does not want his name in print also added that the party cannot be allowed to function without leaders.

The source stated: "That Eta's case, he only filed it; there is no ruling or any judgment. There is no way they won't extend the tenure of the committee because you can't allow a vacuum. If you don't extend the committee's mandate, what will you now do, will you now say the party will be without leadership "For the president to endorse the membership registration and revalidation exercise, if you follow the so-called body language, that's already a pointer now."

However, the inability of the caretaker committee to organise a national

convention within the six months, as part of the mandate given to it has started creating ripples within the party.

It has also renewed hostilities and power struggle within power blocs in the ruling party.

As the battle for the control of the soul of the party continues, a former National Vice Chairman (South-South) of the party, Mr. Hilliard Eta, last week instituted a case against the party over the dissolution of the NWC. Eta approached a Federal High Court in Abuja and asked for the nullification of the June 25th NEC meeting, which dissolved the NWC. Also, a group, Concerned Members of APC, has raised the alarm over alleged plan by the caretaker committee to dissolve all the party structures across the states before the expiration of their tenure in 2022.

The group, in a statement at the weekend, alleged that "a cabal of four governors" have abandoned governance in their states and have hijacked the party, adding that the planned dissolution of the party’s structures will take place after the registration and revalidation exercise embarked on by the party.

The Spokesperson of the group, Mr. Abdullahi Dauda, in a statement also said: "We are aware of the plan to postpone our convention and do a fresh registration. The questions we are asking are: What happened to the party register? Has the party been operating without one? How did we come about the 16 million members we told Nigerians in 2019? Is this registration not another plan to remove people who those controlling the party now don’t like?

"We know the agenda of the NEC meeting is to extend the tenure of the caretaker committee, we are also aware of the meeting in Abuja where it was agreed that the Kebbi State Governor, [Senator] Atiku Bagudu, will move the motion and the Jigawa Governor [Mr. Mohammed Abubakar] will second it."

His warning came amid reports that the planned second phase of #EndSARS protests is billed to commence today in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and other cities.

Organisers of the protests, who have raised awareness on the social media, said the second phase was to demand among other things, the release of all protesters detained during the first action, unfreezing of all accounts frozen by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as a result of the earlier protest and a referendum.

But the Lagos Police

Command in a statement by its spokesman, Mr. Olumuyiwa Adejobi, warned that no such gathering would be permitted.

It said some unpatriotic individuals and groups were planning to embark on the replica of the recent destructive and violent #EndSARS protest that left pains and agonies in the state. “The command has reliably gathered intelligence that certain individuals/ groups have concluded plans to lure unsuspecting Lagos residents, especially youths, into their planned protest, which is proposed

to commence tomorrow, Monday, December 7, 2020, at designated locations in the state. “The Lagos State Police Command wishes to re-echo and remind the general public that the Government of Lagos State, businesses, individuals and security families still groan in losses and pains that the last violent #EndSARS protest occasioned. “Lagos State is still nurturing the wounds orchestrated by some violent #EndSARS protesters and not fit to accommodate such protest for now. “In the light of the above,

the Lagos State Police Command, therefore, warns those who might want to disguise under #EndSARS protest to cause another set of mayhem, brouhaha and violence in the state to desist from such plans as the police and other security agencies will not fold their arms seeing individuals or groups orchestrating another violence and anarchy in the state. “The command wishes to reiterate that any unlawful gathering, procession or protest will be suppressed professionally in accordance with the provisions of the law."

COURT ORDER...

L-R: Managing Director/CEO, GTBank, Mr. Segun Agbaje; Chairman, Mrs. Osaretin Demuren; and Company Secretary, Mr. Erhi Obebeduo, during the bank’s court-ordered meeting in Lagos‌weekend

FG to Complete Abandoned Power Projects in Abia by Q1, 2021 Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The federal government has pledged to complete and put into operation three major power projects in Abia State by the first quarter of 2021.

Minister of Power, Mr Sale Mamman, who gave the assurance that the three power projects located in Abia North would be reactivated and completed within schedule, explained that the job had been abandoned for too long.

A statement by his spokesman, Mr Aaron Artimas, noted that the 2x30/40MVA substations 132 KVA transmission lines, which are located in Arochukwu, Ohafia and Ubur-Ihechiowa, were awarded since 2001 but abandoned more than 10 years ago at about 95 per cent completion.

Speaking during an

inspection visit to the three projects, the minister expressed disbelief that the projects would be abandoned at such levels and pledged that the contracts would be reviewed and rewarded for immediate completion.

Mamman noted that the power projects were of immense importance to the people because they would not only boost electricity supply, but give room for expansion to cover the entire Abia senatorial district.

The Minister, who was accompanied on the inspection visit by Senator Orji Kalu, the statement said, addressed cheering crowds at the three locations and assured them that their long wait was over.

Meanwhile, the federal government through the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) has commissioned two hybrid solar power

mini-grids to provide uninterrupted power supply to two hospitals in Kogi State.

While one is a 65 kilowatt (KW) mini grid at a 250-bed cottage hospital in Ukpogo, Okene Local Government Area, another 5.4KW was inaugurated at Government Cottage Hospital, Eba-Adavi in Adavi council.

Managing Director of REA, Mr. Ahmad Salihijo, said the projects were timely interventions to help hospitals in generating alternative sources of power supply with challenges brought by the Covid-19 pandemic.

He described the launch of the solar grids as a harbinger for electrification of more rural hospitals in the country, noting that the idea of providing power to millions of Nigerians through off-grid power was to ensure

equitable delivery of social and economic benefits that would improve lives. “I hope what we have done for the hospital from the REA will enable you to power some of your equipment that needs 24 hours reliable clean energy,� he said.

Executive Director, Dr. Sanusi Ohiare, assured that the communities would be connected to the grid in the nearest future and urged management of the hospital to ensure the projects are well maintained. “With the energy deficit in the country, President Muhammadu Buhari has continued to give REA the support so that we can bring this kind of intervention.

We would not stop at hospitals because there are communities we would extend the projects,� Ohiare said.

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FG Assures Operators on CBN’s N250bn Gas Intervention Fund Assures Nigerians of safety of new autogas scheme

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The federal government has allayed fears of difficulties by operators interested in the fuel-to-gas conversion scheme for vehicles to run on autogas to access funds.

It urged them to take advantage of the provision of N250 billion through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to embrace the autogas scheme, an exercise to provide cheaper fuel to replace petrol.

Director of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mr. Sarki Auwalu, in an interview in Abuja, said any Nigerian interested in investing in the downstream may approach the CBN through the commercial banks.

The DPR boss also doused rising concerns over the safety of the newly-introduced Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), saying the federal government is doing everything to ensure that the fuel will have the least or minimum capacity for the destructive explosion.

The CBN had introduced N250 billion stimulus package under a National Gas Expansion Programme (NGEP) in September to stimulate investment in the gas value chain and spur its use in transportation as an alternative to petrol-powered cars.

The initiative is to be implemented in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources.

The government stated that

the move will ensure improved access to finance for private sector investments in the domestic gas value chain.

It added that the fund will fast-track the adoption of CNG as the fuel of choice for transportation and power generation, as well as Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) for domestic cooking, transportation and captive power.

Those who are able to access the fund are expected to establish gas processing and small-scale petrochemical plants, gas cylinder manufacturing plants, CNG regasification modular systems as well as autogas conversion kits and components manufacturing plants.

Auwalu explained that the federal government has directed 9,000 filling stations to allow the use of their facilities for the operation of the scheme, stressing that the licences of defaulting stations will not be renewed.

He said: “These add-ons will have safety measures so that Nigerians can have maximum benefits from their God-given resources. And that is why out of 31,000 filling stations, we have identified and selected only 9,000 that are ready for it. “We are not going to reregister or recertify them, but we are only going to issue an approval for the add-on to the existing facilities. And all they need to do is to add

a mechanism that will fuel the autogas or LPG scheme as the case may be. “We have given the 9,000 of them directives and that means that before they get their next licences renewed, they must file provision for the add-on. And if they are looking for investment, the federal government has already made available N250 billion for any interested company

to access the funds through commercial banks.�

On fears over safety, the DPR director said there are programmes in place to curtail any excesses, adding that the regulatory agency will make sure that the right mix of autogas is available in the market.

He explained: “To achieve safety, we have developed a programme called QQIS

(Quantity, Quality, Safety and Integrity). And so for safety, we have created a programme called the MISDO (Minimum Industry Safety for Downstream Operations). “In that training, you can use your app and it is translated into several Nigerian languages to save people from danger. You can only achieve investment if you are alive and you know one life is more than

an entire investment. “For that, we emphasise on MISDO and for the quality because if the right mix is not there, there will be problems.

For example, the autogas and LGP is a mix of propane and butane, so we want to ensure that the mix does not exceed the 40/60 ratio, which will lower the explosive limit and make it safe for the entire operators and the people.�

BRAND NEW SENATOR...

Senator-elect, Prof. Nora Dadu'ut (left), and Plateau State Governor, Hon. Simon Lalong, after Dadu’ut was declared the winner of last Saturday’s Plateau South Senatorial District by-election in Jos‌yesterday

Analysts Advocate Flour Mills Appoints Boye Olusanya New CEO Legislation on Unclaimed Financial Assets Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Dike Onwuamaeze

Financial experts and operators in the Nigerian capital market have advised the federal government to establish holistic legislation on unclaimed financial assets across the economy with a view to managing them for the benefit of all instead of isolating unclaimed dividends in the capital market through the Finance Bill 2021.

The federal government has proposed to set up an Unclaimed Dividends Trust Fund with the intention of taking over the over N150 billion unclaimed dividends in the capital market, a move many stakeholders have kicked against.

The analysts said at the Capital Market Correspondents Association of Nigeria (CAMCAN) 2020 Annual Workshop with the theme: “COVID-19: Impact and Opportunities for the Nigerian Capital Market,� at the weekend in Lagos, that unclaimed dividends is one of the smallest portion of unclaimed financial assets in the country, which include dormant accounts, unclaimed bankers' cheques, unclaimed insurance benefits among others, which run into

trillions of naira.

They, therefore, said the government should go after those financial assets.

The President of the Institute of Capital Market Registrars and Chief Executive of Coronation Registrars Limited, Mr. Seyi Owoturo, stated that research carried out four years ago showed that there is more than N1 trillion unclaimed in the country and asked government to approach the National Assembly with a bill that would be passed as unclaimed assets law in Nigeria.

Owoturo said: “We did a study about four years ago that estimated the value of unclaimed financial assets to be more than N1 trillion. The problem that I see is that the government shouldn’t be using the Finance Bill to take over unclaimed assets. It should go to the National Assembly and do an unclaimed assets law. Let us face unclaimed assets generally. There are unclaimed (banker’s) cheques that are issued by companies.

In Britain, these cheques will go to the Crown while in the United States of America (USA) they will go to the state of the intended beneficiary’s last Continued on page 10

Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, a leading integrated food business and agro-allied group and owners of the Golden Penny brand, has announced the appointment of Mr. Omoboyede Olusanya as its new Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, effective January 1, 2021.

A statement by the Company Secretary and Director, Legal Services, Mr Joseph Umolu, said Olusanya, who joined FMN in January 2020 as Group Chief Operating Officer, has been a core member of the executive management team.

The statement added that Olusanya was admitted to the Board of Directors since July 2020 and will take over from Mr. Paul Gbededo, who is retiring after 38 years of service to the group.

An engineer and a computer scientist by training, Olusanya, the company said, graduated from the University of Lagos and had his postgraduate studies at the University of Liverpool and the University of Manchester, England where he obtained his M.Sc. Computer Science and M.Sc. Environmental Civil Engineering respectively.

It stated: “Boye has also attended several management programmes at the Harvard, London and Lagos Business

Olusanya

Schools. He is a member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Institute of Directors (IOD) and Institute of Highway and Transportation, UK (IHT). “Boye, a success-driven leader with strong business acumen and adept risk management skills, began his career over three decades ago as an engineer with Ove Arup and Partners (a global design consultancy firm). “Within this period, he has served in several progressive roles of increasing responsibilities across various industries, including structural engineering, information technology, FMCG and telecommunications.�

It added that prior to his new appointment, Olusanya had over the past two decades held

executive positions in various industries, most recently as the Group Operating Partner at Helios Investment Partners (a global private equity firm), where he managed diverse investment portfolios.

He was, according to the statement, the Chief Executive Officer of Emerging Markets Telecommunication Service Limited (formerly Etisalat), where he anchored the sale process for 9Mobile, which he saw to completion.

Olusanya was also Partner at GA Capital Limited (2016), a consulting and advisory firm providing technical and financial advisory services to several privately-owned businesses and government parastatals.

In addition, he was the chief transformation officer at Dangote Industries Limited, Managing Director of Dancom Technologies and Acting CEO, VEE Networks Limited, formerly ECONET Wireless, where he successfully managed the transition of the company to a new brand.

Commenting on the appointment, Chairman of the Board, Mr. John Coumantaros, described the new GMD as an exceptional business leader who will strengthen the company’s brand. "l am happy to welcome Boye Olusanya as our new GMD/ CEO. The board is confident

that he is the right person for the job. He is a seasoned professional and an exceptional business leader who will lead the group into the future as we continue to strengthen our brands and create value for investors and stakeholders," he said.

On his part, Gbededo expressed confidence that his successor would take the company to even greater heights. "l cannot deny that I will miss the rigorous strategy sessions with the board, the passion of the executive team and of course the relentless inventive spirit of our people across various business locations in the country. “Nevertheless, I must say that I am confident that it is time to hand over leadership to the next generation. I have worked closely with Boye Olusanya, and I am confident that with him at the helm of affairs, the group is on course to reach even greater heights," he said.

Reflecting on his appointment, Olusanya described the development as an honour and promised to deliver on the company’s promise of excellence.

"It is an absolute honour and I am committed to carrying the legacy of our great company forward as we continue to deliver on our brand's golden promise of excellence.

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NEWS BUHARI EXPRESSES EXCITEMENT AS APC SWEEPS BY-ELECTIONS the Federal High Court, Abuja.

The Court of Appeal judgment had faulted that of the Federal High Court, sitting in Owerri, nullifying the candidacy of Ibezim and declared him the APC's candidate.

The Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, on the other hand, had declared Araraume as candidate of the party, on the grounds that Ibezim presented fake certificates to the APC and INEC, and declared him (Ibezim) as "unfit" to hold any public office.

APC's Dadu’ut Wins Plateau South Senatorial Byelection The APC's candidate in the Plateau South senatorial byelection, Prof Nora Dadu’ut, has been declared the winner and returned elected.

The INEC Returning Officer, Prof. Idris Amale, said Dadu’ut polled a total of 83,15104 votes, to beat her PDP rival, Hon. George Daika, who polled 70,838 votes.

The candidate of the APC defeated her closest opponent in four local government areas in the senatorial zone, namely Shendam, Wade, Quan'pan and Mikang while the PDP candidate won in two local government areas of Langtang North and Langtang South.

Dadu’ut's victory excited Plateau State Governor, Hon. Simon Lalong, who congratulated her for making history as the first female senator-elect in the state.

He described her victory as not surprising as the APC is well rooted in the state.

The governor commended INEC and the security agencies for working assiduously towards a successful byelection.

APC's Abiru Wins Lagos East Senatorial By-election The candidate of APC in the Lagos East senatorial by-election, Mr. Tokunbo Abiru, has been declared the winner.

The results, announced

by INEC, showed that Abiru polled 89,204 votes to beat PDP's Mr. Babatunde Gbadamosi, who secured 11,257 votes.

Abiru, a banker, defeated his opponent by a wide margin in all the five local government areas in the senatorial district.

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, was ecstatic about Abiru's and Saheed’s (Kosofe State Constituency II) victories.

According to INEC, Saheed polled 12,494 votes to beat his rival, Mr. Sikiru Alebiosu of PDP, who got 2,068 votes.

Sanwo-Olu, in a statement yesterday by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Gboyega Akosile, described the APC's victory with wide margin in the by-elections as a testament to the confidence the people of Lagos State have in the party.

The governor commended the electorate for coming out to perform their civic responsibilities and for voting in large numbers for the two candidates put forward by the APC. He also appreciated chieftains of the party and members for working assiduously for the victory during the polls.

PDP Victorious in Cross River North Senatorial Byelection The candidate of the PDP, Dr. Stephen Odey, has been declared the winner of Saturday's by-election for Cross River North Senatorial District by INEC. The INEC Returning Officer, Prof. Ameh Akor, announced the results yesterday after the collation of votes cast in the five local government areas that make up the senatorial district.

Akor said the PDP candidate polled 129, 207 votes to defeat eight other contestants, among them, his closest rival in the election, Mr. Mr. Joseph Agi (SAN), of the APC, who polled 19,165 votes.

The position became vacant following the death of the former representative of the senatorial district, Dr. Rose Oko, early this year.

But a senatorial aspirant in the by-election, Mr. Agom Jarigbe, has kicked against the announcement of Odey as winner of the election.

Jarigbe, who is the representative of the Ogoja/ Yala Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, said as at the time of the election, INEC had not reflected anyone as the candidate of the PDP.

Dickson Wins in Bayelsa West Race Immediate past Bayelsa

State Governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson, has clinched the Bayelsa West Senatorial District seat in the National Assembly.

The Returning Officer, Prof.

Ekechukwe Okeke, returned Dickson as the senator-elect, having polled 115,257 votes to defeat his closest opponent, Hon. Peremobowei Ebebi of the APC who polled 17,541.

Dickson, who spoke in his country home of Toru Orua shortly after his return, dedicated the victory to God, the voters, Bayelsa and the Ijaw nation.

Dickson, in a statement yesterday by his media aide, Mr. Fidelis Soriwei, said the mandate was beyond the Sagbama/Ekeremor senatorial district but an opportunity to galvanise unity and solidarity in Bayelsa and the Ijaw nation.

According to him, his legislative mission will focus on restructuring of the country, which he described as a task that must be done.

He said he would exploit the opportunity of his contacts to build new bridges of understanding, consolidation of existing bonds and effective networking with critical stakeholders.

He invited Ebebi, he whom described as his brother, to join him in the mission to attract development to the area now that the elections have been concluded.

announced the result in Dass.

The APC candidate garnered a total of 12,299 to defeat Mr. Lawal Wundi of PDP who scored 11,062 votes.

Reacting to his party's loss, the state Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed, urged PDP supporters to accept defeat in good fate.

The governor, in a statement yesterday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mr Mukhtar Gidado, in Bauchi, said PDP members and supporters should “accept the outcome of the election with dignity and in the spirit of sportsmanship.�

He described the PDP’s loss at the election as the will of God and urged the party loyalists not to let what he called a temporary setback to divide them. “The loss of our party is a lesson for all of us, but no one is to be blamed. “Remember that we lost 21 House of Assembly seats and the Senate seats in 2019, but God gave us victory in the gubernatorial election. “Let us not play to the gallery by indulging in blame game, internal rancour, accusations and mistrust,� he added.

APC Wins Kogi Assembly By-election

The Independent National Electoral Commission has declared Mr Egbunu Atule of the All Progressives Congress as the winner of the Ibaji Local Government constituency by-election of Kogi State, conducted on December 5.

The INEC Returning Officer, Prof Rotimi Ajayi, who announced the results of the election yesterday at Onyadega, headquarters of the local government, said that Atule polled 8,515 votes to emerge the winner of the poll.

Ajayi also announced that Mr Daniel Enefola of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came second having scored 4,565 votes.

Six other parties also fielded candidates for the election.

They included SDP, AA, ADC, AAC, APM and NRM. The election was conducted to fill the vacancy created by the death of John Abah also of the APC, which occurred in June.

The APC also retained the Ibaji Constituency seat in the Kogi State House of Assembly as INEC declared the party's candidate, Mr. Egbunu Atule, the winner of the by-election.

The INEC Returning Officer, Prof. Rotimi Ajayi, said Atule polled 8,515 votes to beat Mr. Daniel Enefola of the PDP, who scored 4,565 votes.

The election was conducted to fill the vacancy created by the death of Hon. John Abah also of the APC, which occurred in June.

APC Wins in Bauchi as Gov Appeals to PDP Supporters The APC also won the by-election to fill the Dass constituency seat in the Bauchi State House of Assembly.

INEC had declared APC's Bala Lukshi winner of the by-election after the Returning Officer, Prof.

Ahmed Mohammed,

APC’s Atule Emerges Winner of Kogi By-election

APC Wins in Katsina By-election The APC also retained the

Bakori constituency seat in the Katsina State House of Assembly, which became vacant in the aftermath of the death of the former occupant, Abdurrazaq Tsiga, in May. The Returning Officer, Prof.

Aminu Kankia, yesterday declared Dr. Ibrahim Kurami winner of the Saturday election.

According to him, Kurami scored 20, 446 votes to defeat his Alhaji Aminu Magaji of the PDP who polled 11,356 votes.

However, INEC yesterday expressed dismay that those it described as "unscrupulous persons" are still bent on disrupting the electoral process and causing mayhem as well as violence to the electorate.

In its appraisal of the conduct of the by-elections, it said in some areas, electoral officials were assaulted and materials destroyed, while in others there was resistance to the use of the smart card readers.

In a statement yesterday, the INEC National Commissioner in charge of Information and Voter Education, Mr. Festus Okoye, said in yet other areas "the commission staff were prevented from deploying altogether. In fact, in one area in Lagos State, some people demanded money from INEC staff before they would be allowed to deploy."

"These acts continue to reflect poorly on our country and denude the spirited efforts of the commission to improve the electoral process under very difficult circumstances.

"Sadly, a number of the commission’s staff were assaulted during the byelections. The commission commiserates with them.

The commission also wishes to extend deep condolences to the families of the six policemen who lost their lives when the boat in which they were escorting election staff and materials capsized in Bayelsa State," Okoye said.

INEC explained that one of the consequences of the lingering problem of election disruption manifested in the declaration of the by-election for Bakura State Constituency in Zamfara State inconclusive.

According to him, the returning officer declared the result inconclusive in line with the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) and the commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections.

"The election for Bakura State Constituency became inconclusive because the 2,181-vote margin between the two leading candidates – those of the PDP (18,645 votes) and APC (16,464) – is less than the total number of registered voters in 14 polling units where elections were cancelled or not held, which stands at 11,429. " By the “margin of lead principle�, the election could not be declared and no winner was returned.

Voting in the 14 affected polling units was marred by over-voting, abduction of staff of the commission, violence, assault occasioning grievous hurt against INEC officials, burning of INEC materials and snatching and carting away of sensitive electoral materials, resistance to the use of smart card readers and obstruction of the electoral process," he added..

He said the commission met yesterday and fixed Wednesday for the conclusion of the by-election.

the companies in the sense that if unclaimed dividends should return to the companies after a period of time, there will be no incentives for those companies to be chasing the real owners to come for those dividends. “So, my recommendation is that it should not be limited to dividends alone; it should also cover dormant bank accounts. I think that the idea that government should take over unclaimed assets is in line with what obtains in other jurisdictions,� Uwaleke said.

He urged the government to pursue the diversification of the country’s export base to reduce the vulnerabilities of the country’s foreign reserves to external shocks.

He recommended that the government should partially privatise the NNPC via the stock exchange rather than its

commercialisation as contained in the current Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) that is pending before the National Assembly.

Uwaleke said: “The new PIB is talking about commercialisation while the former Petroleum Industry Governance Bill talked about privatisation through the stock exchange, which in my view is the way to go. “Section 66 of that bill says that within the first five years of the incorporation of the National Oil Company of Nigeria (NOCN), it should be listed on the stock exchange to privatise 10 per cent of its assets. That is the advocacy that I want all of us to join hands in. Because when you commercialise, it will still be 100 per cent owned by the government and the problem will still be there.

PDP Holds on to Enugu Assembly Seat Also yesterday, INEC declared PDP's Amaka Ugwueze winner of Isi-Uzo State Constituency by-election in Enugu State.

The seat became vacant following the death of the member representing the constituency, Chijioke Ugwueze, who died earlier in the year. PDP fielded his widow to replace him.

Announcing the results at Isi-Uzo Local Government Area headquarters in Ikem, INEC Collation Officer for the by-election, Chukwuemeka Nwachukwu, said Ugwueze scored 11,041 votes to defeat her main challenger, Ejiofor Okwor of the APC, who polled 2,293 votes.

He explained that the by-election had 13,597 total valid votes and 391 rejected votes, while a total of 13,988 votes were cast. “From the result announced and displayed herein, it is clear that the candidate of the PDP scored the highest valid vote cast. “By the power conferred on me, I hereby announce that the PDP candidate is hereby duly elected,’’ he said.

INEC Regrets Assault on Staff, Violence

ANALYSTS ADVOCATE LEGISLATION ON UNCLAIMED FINANCIAL ASSETS known address. There are also unclaimed insurance benefits and dormant bank accounts that were estimated at over a trillion naira four years ago.

The unclaimed dividend is only about N150 billion. Really if there is a problem, it certainly is not unclaimed dividends. The real problem here is that they abound all over the place.�

He added that the enactment of a holistic unclaimed assets law would also resolve the potential conflict that would arise from the Finance Bill, which stipulated that the unclaimed assets would revert to the government after 12 years while the amended Company and Allied Matter Act 2020 stated that the unclaimed dividend, should revert to the company. “Where will the money go?

All over the world, countries seek to institute discipline and

transparency around unclaimed assets by letting them go to either the sovereign or the state governments. But what the bill is saying is that after 12 years, it would not revert to the company as stated by CAMA but to the government,� he said.

He also called on the government to partially privatise its stakes in the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the refineries through the stock exchange in order to improve their efficiency and deepen the capital market. “So many assets are tied up with the government. What will happen if NNPC is partially privatised? A case in point is the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), which pays over a billion dollars every year as a dividend. Contrast that with the NNPC that made a loss of

N40 billion. You can imagine the difference and how that will stimulate significant economic activities if entities like NNPC and the refineries are partially privatised,� he stated.

Also, a financial economist and Professor of Capital Market, Nasarawa State University, Prof.

Uche Uwaleke, in his keynote address, titled: “The Capital Market in Post COVID-19 Nigeria Economy,� supported the idea that the government should take over the unclaimed assets.

He advocated Nigeria emulating countries like Uganda, Kenya, The United Kingdom and USA that have specific legislation that governs the treatment of unclaimed assets in their respective jurisdictions.

Uwaleke, however, advised against the involvement of the Accountant-General of the

Federation and the Ministry of Finance in the management of the trust fund that would shepherd the unclaimed dividends when they became statute-barred.

He said: “What I do not support there is bringing in the Ministry of Finance and the accountant-general to the management of the trust fund. I think that the trust fund should be managed by the stakeholders themselves so that registrars should be part of its management. What about the unclaimed dormant accounts that also run into billions?�

He warned against the anticipated moral hazard that might ensue if companies are allowed to take over the unclaimed dividends. “There is this issue of moral hazard in some countries where these funds return to

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MONDAY DECEMBER 7, 2020 ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

Insecurity: Buhari Capable of Discharging His Functions, Says Fayemi Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja The Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has said President Muhammadu Buhari is capable of delivering on the responsibilities of his office.

The recent horrific killing of at least 43 rice farmers at Zabarmari in the Jere Local Government Area of Borno State had sparked fresh call for the sacking of the country’s service chiefs by the president.

A cross-section of Nigerians also advised the president to resign for failing to protect the citizens.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Caucus in the House of Representatives yesterday added its voice by calling on members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to invoke the provisions of Section 144 (1) of the Constitution by declaring President Buhari incapable of ruling the country.

But Fayemi said the president is committed to defeating the insecurity challenge confronting the country.

The governor, who spoke on a live television programme yesterday, also urged the opposition lawmakers to be constructive in their criticisms of the president.

He said, “I meet President Buhari from time to time on behalf of my colleagues and there is nothing to suggest that the president is (an) invalid or incapable of delivering on the responsibilities of his office,” the Ekiti State governor said.

According to him, “Our country has challenges and let’s deal with the challenges. We may have subjective or objective criticisms of the president, that is within the realms of politics and public service and I am sure the president doesn’t mind that.

However, when we want to do it, let’s be constructive. It’s the Office of the President that you are denigrating when you do that; it is not his person.”

“If the PDP caucus in the

House of Representatives feels they are empowered to start an impeachment process, that is their prerogative but the matter of security is beyond partisan politics,” he added.

Fayemi further advised the PDP members in the various security committees in the National Assembly to contribute their quota on how to defeat the insecurity menace in the country.

The governor urged the service chiefs in the country to recommend their successors to President Buhari.

He said it is not about the sacking of the service chiefs but it is about “transitioning them out of their current responsibilities into retirement”.

He said, “The service chiefs have served the country well, they’ve given their best and they’ve been committed. I know them personally and I know how well they are committed to ensuring that we get rid of this insurgency but the point I am making is that if you have done something, the same thing for five years, and you have even gone beyond your retirement age, of course, once you are a service chief, you may argue that there is no retirement age but the military has protocols, the military has processes and from time to time, one of the real consideration is renewal of the leadership.

“My approach is for Mr. President to ask them in their role as service chiefs who understand the military very well, who know their men very well, to even be the ones to suggest some of the best men that may step into their shoes.

“It’s not about sacking them; it’s about transitioning them out of their current responsibilities into retirement. A part of me even feels that there may be some of them that would rather exit now but they wouldn’t want to be seen as jumping ship if they have not been directed by Mr. President but I am not the president of Nigeria

and the president has within his rights to determine how he wants to direct this.

“Our own as governors and field commanders in the 36 states is to let him know the feelings of our people about security in the country and that we will do when we have the meeting.”

Fayemi said the 36 state governors would meet with the President very soon and convey the feelings of the people on the insecurity in the country to him.

Meanwhile, the PDP Caucus in the House of Representatives yesterday called on members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to invoke the provisions of Section 144 (1) of the Constitution by declaring President Buhari incapable of ruling the country.

It also called on Nigerians to compel their representatives in the National Assembly to immediately commence impeachment proceedings against Buhari for gross incompetence and persistent and continuous breach of Section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution.

The Leader of the PDP Caucus, Hon. Kingsley Chinda, disclosed this in a statement issued where he said it was disheartening to the Caucus that the president had failed to lead Nigerians from the front as he promised.

He lamented that Nigerians are daily and defencelessly killed by terrorists and bandits, while the economy is being freely bled by public officers.

Chinda, while reacting to

the recent killing of farmers in Zambarmari area of Borno State, insisted that the reactions of the presidency and the military to such killings highlight a certain crassness and lame duck attitude that has for the past five years come to define the Buhari presidency.

He stated: “The PDP Caucus in the House of Representatives wants Nigerians to compel their representatives in the National Assembly to immediately commence impeachment proceedings against President Buhari for gross incompetence and persistent and continuous breach of Section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution.

The Section provides “ the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government; ...”

“The PDP caucus also wants members of the Federal Executive Council to invoke the provisions of Section 144 (1) of the Constitution by declaring that the President is incapable of discharging the functions of the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“The Section provides that the President or Vice-President shall cease to hold office, if by a resolution passed by two-thirds majority if all the members of the executive council of the federation, it is declared that the President or Vice-President is incapable of discharging the functions of his office: “ Chinda stressed that the body

language of the government was worrisome as it emboldens terrorists in the country.

He added that the greater worries for the country however, is “the do-nothing posturing” and the effeminate reactions of the presidency and the military that follow the dastardly attacks.

Chinda pointed out that the Caucus had observed with deep pain the dastardly attacks on poor farmers which have continued unabated across the vast swathes of northern Nigeria, which act came to a sad climax over the weekend in Zabarmari, near Maiduguri, north east Nigeria.

The caucus noted that the attacks continue to take a consistent pattern - a pattern that results in mass deaths and emboldens the insurgents to embark on more spectacular attacks that provide them national and global attention.

It regretted that northern Nigeria has long become the vortex of massacres.

Chinda said that from Buni Yadi, Gamboru, Baga, Gwoza, Shiroro, Konduga, Kawuri, Southern Kaduna to Benue and certainly everywhere else in Nigeria, lives are being snatched by insurgents, bandits and kidnappers who have no respect for the sanctity of life. “ According to him, while President Buhari idles in the typical fashion of Emperor Nero as our country burns.

Questions must be asked about

his capacity to lead at a time that our country desires robust and responsible leadership that can pull it from the brink and rescue it from the debilitations of insurgents, terrorists, bandits and kidnappers.

Chinda stated categorically that Buhari is unwilling- as it consistently appears, to provide leadership to the fast collapsing country.

He noted that rather than take the proverbial bull by the horn, Buhari comfort himself in Aso Rock, typical of a “Mourner-in-Chief”, and issues press statements that make no meaning to a grieving nation.

The Caucus leader reminded the President that a true leader who is worth every ounce of respect leads from the front as he assured Nigerians that he would do; adding that a true leader doesn’t hide away from those he leads and pretends to mourn with the circus, whilst in fact, he lacks empathy and compassion.

China added: “When a country elects a clown as its President based on sentiments and deceit, the country becomes saddled with circus, pantomime jesters who reduce statecraft to utter joke.”

“Our country is in the grips of the clowns, hyenas and the circus is on. We need to rescue Nigeria from the clowns, acrobats, trapeze actors, hawks and hyenas manipulating the statecraft.“

FCT Public Health Director Contracts COVID-19 Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Director of Public Health, Dr Josephine Okechukwu, has tested positive for COVID-19.

The nation’s capital number one frontline health worker against the dreaded virus confirmed her status in a a video she shared online yesterday.

Okechukwu said she came down with the virus last Friday after having a 24-hour symptoms.

Her result came out positive and is presently admitted in one of the isolation centres in the FCT. In her message, she urged FCT residents to be careful as COVID-19 cases are on the rise in the territory going by the new cases that health workers are identifying recently.

“In the past two weeks, coronavirus cases have been on the increase in the FCT. It does not matter what people think about it or what their beliefs are, the truth is that COVID 19 is real and is very

fertile and many people are dying without being diagnosed with the sickness. I am now a victim and I want everybody to know that all we are doing is just to make people safe,” Okechukwu said.

She raised the alarm that people are no longer adhering to the use of face mask and social distancing, warning that such an attitude will not help as in the next couple months as it is likely to be an escalation of the COVID-19 crisis in FCT. “Everybody should play safe and start wearing face marks as we go into the festive period.

We need to help ourselves because from what we are seeing now, many people are coming up with the virus.

“Unfortunately, I have been wearing my facemasks and doing what I ought to do but I don’t know how I got the virus and the person through whom I got it. But I thank God I survived the crisis and have a positive feeling that I will come out alive. We should all play safe”.

ROYAL VISIT...

Emir of Kano, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero (left), and Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, during Kano monarch’s visit at Lagos House, Marina...yesterday

Recession: Emefiele Calls for Moderate Consumption of Foreign Goods John Shiklam in Kaduna The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has advised Nigerians to moderate their insatiable tastes for consumption of foreign goods to stabilise the nation’s economy.

Emefiele, gave the advice during a one-day interactive engagement session with stakeholders on the five year Policy thrust of the CBN. The event was held in Kaduna.

In attendance were the organized labour union,

commercial banks executives and among others.

Emefiele in an interview with journalists shortly after the interactive session, said the most lasting and sustainable measure to grow the nation’s economy fast is by producing what we eat in the country.

He recalled that in the 70s, the country invested in agriculture, production of some basic items to cater for its needs and export of locally produced goods to strengthen its currency and the economy.

Represented by Assistant

Director, Corporate Communications of the CBN, Sam Okogbue, the apex bank governor advised Nigerians “to return to production of what they consume. Nigerians should go back to moderation of their taste and consumption of foreign food.

“If we do so, it will help the government to stabilise the economy,” he emphasized.

While noting that, the nation’s economy has been affected

by COVID-19 pandemic, the #ENDSARS saga, Emefiele said there was the need to accelerate

growth of double digits by reducing inflation.

This according to him, would lower rate of unemployment and put the country back on track.

In his welcome address, the branch controller of the CBN in Kaduna, Umar Biu, said that the interactive session would create opportunity for the department and the relevant stakeholders to carefully deliberate on the subject of discourse to chart a way forward for socioeconomic development of the nation.

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MONDAY DECEMBER 7, 2020 • T H I S D AY

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T H I S D AY Ëž Ëœ ÍľËœ 2020

COMMENT

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

MESSING WITH MERCENARIES ON BOKO HARAM There is no shame in seeking external help to deal with a threat like Boko Haram, argues Fredrick Nwabufo

O

n January 22, 2015 at Chatham House, London, Sambo Dasuki, former national security adviser (NSA), baited the whirlwind. He said he had suggested to Attahiru Jega, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to postpone the general election scheduled for February 14 by six weeks – which is within the constitutional 90-day election window – to give more time for voter-card distribution. “It costs you nothing, it’s still within the law,� Dasuki was reported to have told the INEC chairman.

Being a spy chief, Dasuki secreted the underlying reason for his startling suggestion away in election contingencies.

But the raison d’être for his proposition was the Boko Haram snag. The insurgents had scaled up their pursuit of tragedies months before the scheduled date of the election. In fact, the Chibok schoolgirls’ abduction happened just 10 months before the time.

Eventually, the concealed agenda seeped into the news -- the Armageddon; the six-week battle to miniaturise Boko Haram. There was hysteria of pessimism. How can a government which has failed to trim the large coats of the insurgents over the years bring the group to capitulation in six weeks? It was doubtful. But there was an outlier.

Gladiators from South Africa and Eastern Europe were being thrown into the arena.

Dasuki had said at Chatham House that “cowards� peopled the rank and file of the military and dismissed the claim that there was a hierarchical conspiracy to keep the insurgency alive. “We have people who use every excuse in this world not to fight. There is no high-level conspiracy within the army not to end the insurgency,� he said.

And truly, Boko Haram sustained the most lethal blow ever in those six weeks. They were pummelled and expelled from their “terrodoms�. They subsequently tumbled into the fringes and territories outside Nigeria. The six-week operation could have been the defining surgery on the malignant cancer, if the Buhari administration which inherited this success was responsible.

In 2015, elections were held in Borno, Yobe, Adamawa and other areas hitherto dominated by the insurgents owing to the effective war campaign driven largely by the mercenaries.

There was scarcely any report of attacks during the election.

In fact, President Buhari secured some of the highest votes in these troubled states.

The 2015 election has been widely described as peaceful, free, fair and credible. The Buhari administration was the biggest beneficiary of that successful operation. But what did the APC and Lai Mohammed, its spokesman, say at the time when shifting the election was contemplated? Hear Lai: “Why are they not ready? Why should we postpone? We say ‘no’ to postponement. They know that if they don’t postpone they can’t win. They are just terrified.�

The lies of a liar will always find him out.

Tukur Buratai, chief of army staff, and other service chiefs

IT IS ASININE TO SEND SOLDIERS IN DROVES TO DIE WHEN THERE IS AN OPTION OF DRAFTING AGENTS THAT CAN PUSH BACK THE VIOLATORS

were appointed at the time the tide of insurgency was receding. Perhaps, lost in the reverie of the success against Boko Haram, Buratai boasted that the army was capable of interring the group finitum and had no need for external support. The same army chief is now saying the insurgency will live with us for 20 years.

The mercenaries who had secured the most evident success against the insurgents were “clamped down� on and ‘’expelled’’ like aliens by the Buhari administration. Eeben Barlow, founder of Specialised Tasks, Training, Equipment and Protection (STTEP) which recruited the foreign fighters that secured the gains, ululated about how they were abysmally treated by the Buhari administration.

In a Facebook post in August 2019, he alleged that the Buhari government politicised their effort and ignored all intelligence warnings by his team. He also alleged the government repudiated their strategy to take down Boko Haram. Barlow said: “The initial three-phase campaign strategy (known as ‘Operational Anvil’) to degrade and destroy BH in Borno State, was rejected by his (Buhari) advisors.’’ And speaking on the terror alerts, he said: “These warnings covered the implications of not allowing the 72 MSF to annihilate BH in Borno province; the plans by Boko Haram to re-arm and escalate their activities; the implications of regional spill-over, the impact on the armed forces; and so forth.�

Alas! Five years after the fiercest blitz on the insurgents, we are back in the days of the freewheeling of terror -- when insurgents can massacre as many as 78 people without any resistance and when bandits extract tax and tolls from citizens to allow them access to their farms. We are back in the night of doom. Governors of the north-east are now calling for the enlisting of mercenaries to deal with the jagged threat.

There is no shame in seeking external help to deal with a threat like Boko Haram. In fact, it is a viable strategy to enlist specialised agents to deal with certain threats. But the undoing of the Buhari government is its insincerity and hollow ego. The government bragged that it “technically defeated� the insurgents by sleight of hand only to be caught up in a web of its own lies and perfidy.

The lies of a liar will always find him out.

It is asinine to send soldiers in droves to die when there is an option of drafting agents that can push back the violators.

Again, there is no shame in engaging mercenaries against Boko Haram; even the US and Israel deal with terror by engaging external agents on certain missions. It is a standard practice. It does not make our military less powerful.

But the trouble with the Buhari regime is the lies, deceit and vacuous ego. I hope the government has learnt its lessons. Messing with mercenaries can cost lives. r/XBCVGP JT B XSJUFS BOE KPVSOBMJTU

STOCK EXCHANGE LISTING AND SMES

Timi Olubiyi writes that the stock exchange is one of the most appropriate forms of acquiring long-term ďŹ nancing for structured SMEs

A

ccording to the World Bank, formal Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) contribute up to 60% of total employment, and up to 40% of national income (GDP) in emerging economies. A common outcome of research and discussions on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is that this form of business play a crucial role in promoting economic development, especially on the African continent where SMEs have remained critical contributors to employment and economic activities. However, these SMEs face a financing gap and the challenge of access to capital, which restricts their economic prosperity. From context observation, these SMEs largely ponder with questions such as “should we take a bank loan, or should we consider other alternatives for funding and credits?�.

World over, SME operators primarily depend on bank loans or government schemes for financing. More so, SMEs have a heavy dependence on debt rather than equity in their business operations. Therefore, the need to bring awareness to the diversification of funding sources is necessary. The capital market is critical to a country’s economic development and a distinct alternative to traditional bank lending and financing. If accessed it can provide a cost-effective medium-to long-term finance for SMEs including large corporations and multinationals. Though many non-bank financing alternatives such as financial leasing, private equity (including angel investing and venture capital), and crowd-funding are all other forms of financing which businesses may use at various stages of their life cycle, however they are not as easily accessible as the stock market.

Importantly, SME listing on Stock Exchanges will add significantly to the creation and distribution of wealth in any economy.

However, firms may list on a Stock Exchange for a variety of financial and non-financial reasons. Evidently, the recent crisis with

the novel coronavirus pandemic and the recession has revealed that bank financing is not a reliable source of long-term financing.

Agreeably, long-term financing is an essential element for supporting investment and growth at this time for any business. Hence, the stock market is the best way to have access to a meaningful impact. Bank loans might either be too expensive or not even an option for most SMEs at this time because of bank stringent measures which often require assets to back the loans. Access to long-term financing enables SMEs to solve their financing needs over the long term and this has a positive effect on economic growth and employment generation. The stock market can provide this and have always played a role in bringing together those with savings to invest and those who need capital thereby supporting economic growth. The Stock Exchange can be the most appropriate form of acquiring long-term financing for structured SMEs and the cost of equity capital can be lower than other forms of finance particularly bank loans.

The stock market’s capital allocation role, which means that the exchange provides channels for financial intermediation between investors and issuer (listed companies), which creates an opportunity for SMEs. Businesses do not need to be a conglomerate or multinational to be listed on the Stock Exchange.

In fact, there are trading platforms tailored to the needs and capabilities of SMEs. Many countries in the world allow SMEs to raise funds from the capital market and have SME platforms such as the Alternative Investment Market in the UK for instance. In Africa, SME board also exist on some Exchanges on the continent; namely Botswana (BSE); Casablanca, Morocco (CSE); Douala, Cameroon (DSX); Egypt (ESX); Johannesburg, South Africa (JSE); Nairobi, Kenya (NSE); Lusaka, Zambia (LuSE); Mauritius (SEM); Mozambique (BVM); Alternative Securities Market (ASeM) board in Nigeria (NSE); Seychelles (Trop-X) and Swaziland (SSX) amongst others.

One key difference on these platforms is the requirements for listing which vary across the Exchanges. Significantly, listing requirements for SME boards are usually more relaxed compared to the main trading boards, this is done with the aim of cutting barriers and encouraging SMEs to list.

The SME board is a segment of the Stock Exchange, dedicated to trading the shares/ securities of SMEs, who otherwise find it difficult to get listed on the main board of the Exchange due to stringent listing requirements. In Nigeria, the Alternative Securities Market (ASeM) trading platform helps small and growing companies to raise funds and it is different from the premium and main platform of the Stock Exchange. The platform is strictly for SMEs and the platform is characterized by lower attractive listing requirements and reduced listing costs than the mainboard. Simply put, it can be adjudged a second-tier listing alternative which provides the opportunity for SMEs to raise long-term capital at relatively low cost from the capital market.

Businesses can raise funds directly on the stock market when they list. In Nigeria for instance there are no limits to the amount of capital companies can raise on ASeM trading platform of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, as long as it is in line with other regulatory requirements, such as those of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Whether or not they raise funds upon listing, listed firms may also be able to tap other sources of finance more easily than similar, unlisted firms.

This is because the process of listing requires firms to meet strict financial reporting and corporate governance requirements. Therefore, meeting these standards improve accounting practices and financial management, thereby increasing firms’ transparency and potentially improving their creditworthiness out there.

It is important to state that a Stock Exchange listing offers the following benefits

to SMEs: firstly, it will provide a clear price for the shares and a valuation of the business once listed; it gives businesses access to a wider potential investor base and access to long term capital for growth and expansion.

Recall, one of the most important reasons firms list is to increase their access to finance.

Moreover, listing does encourage good corporate governance culture from the listed companies. It can also raise the company’s public profile with customers, suppliers, investors, financial institutions and it can majorly help SMEs with international business conducts, particularly with the company perception and prestige. Like all businesses, SMEs need capital to start up and keep going until they become profitable, once listed SMEs can have access to fund raising as required.

In order to make listings more attractive, however government, regulators, and policymakers should consider policy responses to encourage more listing, further lowering listing requirements to encourage more participation in the capital market. Furthermore, regulators can reduce transaction and listing costs so that more SMEs will be attracted to the market and make the space wider. Also, to deepening market participation, it is recommended government agencies that regulate the market, should organize promotional campaigns, public seminars, and conferences to increasing public awareness and to address potential drawbacks of SMEs from listing. The point of note is that, to improve responsiveness of SMEs to listing and its ample benefits, government intervention is necessary. Therefore, the post-COVID-19 regulatory regime should involve consistent and coordinated policy responses and pronouncement to assist and encourage SMEs to list on the Stock Exchange, this will, in turn, improve foreign market participation, boost the economy, and also advance market confidence. r%S 0MVCJZJ JT BO &OUSFQSFOFVSTIJQ BOE 4NBMM #VTJOFTT .BOBHFNFOU FYQFSU

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T H I S D AY Ëž Ëœ ÍľËœ 2020

EDITORIAL

A NATION BESIEGED BY INSECURITY‌(2) It will take political will and deployment of more resources to turn the tide

t$ontinued from yesterday

A

ll over the country today, major highways have become unsafe as robbers and kidnapping gangs terrorise road travellers and take many hostages for ransom. In this regard, the Abuja-Kaduna highway in particular has recently become a nightmare for travellers. While military and police patrols and checkpoints have been mounted along this and other target routes, it is distressing to note that sometimes, the security personnel emplaced in these places are often outgunned by the marauding criminal gangs.

LOSS OF FAITH IN THE The motivation and equipment ABILITY OF THE STATE TO levels of the PROTECT THE LIVES AND security personnel LIMBS OF THE CITIZENRY IS we deploy to THE LOGICAL HARBINGER OF these dangerous assignments need STATE DISSOLUTION to be immediately upgraded. In communication and deterrence gear, our security forces should be miles ahead of what is available to criminals and bandits.

Taken together, the diverse security challenges that face Nigeria today constitute a major obstacle to economic growth and the realisation of a truly democratic society. Most investors are becoming averse to the risk of investing in Nigeria on account of our pervasive insecurity. This has dimmed our chances of relieving the massive pressure of youth unemployment which contributes to criminality and restiveness in turn. Similarly, the fundamental freedom from danger and violence which inspires the concurrent freedom of movement of persons and the factors of production can only be guaranteed if the imminence of violent harm and even death are removed. No democracy can attain full realisation if citizens are trapped by the fear of harm and death in a Hobbesian hell.

The permanent resolution of the current epidemic of insecurity requires more than the garrisoning of the entire country through the deployment of more

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soldiers. While the involvement of the military in internal security operations can be excused as a stop-gap measure given the handicaps of the police, it should have an end. There needs to be a credible time- bound programme for the reduction of military presence in internal security assignments.

Democracies are secured by the police as a civil force while the military’s assignment remains the heavy task of defending the nation’s space from adventurous outsiders and clearly dangerously armed enemy citizens. Whether or not we retain the present federal-controlled police structure or devolve into state and community policing cannot detract from the need to achieve a sensible police-topopulation ratio.

There is of course a long-standing homeland security challenge. Most of our borders remain rather porous in some areas. Our identity management system is either non-existent or in disarray.

Consequently, we hardly can make out who is a Nigerian citizen from the millions that throng our cities and villages. Beyond identity management, we need more effective border control and a more rigorous enforcement of immigration violations.

The holistic solution to the nation’s current internal security situation is first and foremost that of political will. President Muhammadu Buhari cannot take pride in the fact that under his watch, the nation has witnessed the worst insecurity in its entire history. This should not be his legacy. The situation requires the deployment of not just resources but the most modern expertise as well as the pragmatism for urgent and resolute solution. The impression that the president is either absent or indifferent as the nation writhes in the pain of insecurity is a most edifying credential for any leader.

What President Buhari must understand is that the frightening political consequences of the present insecurity are far too dire to contemplate. Loss of faith in the ability of the state to protect the lives and limbs of the citizenry is the logical harbinger of state dissolution. In a polity already riven with divisive rhetoric and ethno-religious fractiousness, pervasive insecurity can shorten the distance to anarchy and national unravelling.

The time to act is now!

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

THE BOLA TINUBU PRESIDENCY?

he debate that the presidency moves to the south in 2023 is gaining momentum.

Both the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have strong candidates from the south. But these candidates have their respective baggage and the parties have internal squabbles that must be resolved.

The APC has its stronghold in the Northwest, Southwest, Northeast and Northcentral - four of the nation’s six geo-political zones. The PDP has strong structures in the six zones with a stranglehold in the Southeast and Southsouth.

Come 2023, the APC has no reasons to retain power in the north, but there is strong politicking by some governors and other bigwigs in the north to retain power. This will mean the APC contravening the unwritten agreement between the north and the south on power rotation. In any case, the APC does not have a strong presidential

candidate from the north, though there are some northern governors and bigwigs secretly nursing presidential ambitions.

If APC picks its presidential candidate from the south, especially southwest, the PDP may attempt to outwit this by looking to the north for its presidential candidate. This as well will put PDP in a catch-22 situation on how to explain this to the south, especially the Southeast and the Southsouth.

PDP has good candidates in their own ‘rights’ from the southeast and Southsouth. Peter Obi from Southeast and Governor Nyesom Wike from the Southsouth. Obi does not have friends in the north, and has never tried to pull an appeal from the north, directly or by proxy. His deportation of other Nigerians to their states when he was governor of Anambra State was used against him in the north during the 2019 electioneering, and it worked. For Wike, his words‘Rivers is a Christian state’ will be

used against him in the north, like Governor El-Rufai’s Muslim-Muslim ticket in Kaduna can be used against El-Rufai. This is how local politics impacts a candidate’s wider political opportunities.

The Southeast has started a move to convince other Nigerians to support the region. Southeasteners like Governor David Umahi, Orji Uzor Kalu, Rochas Okorocha, Ike Nwachukwu and others have friends and are well-known across the Niger.

However, the major hurdle on the path of the region is the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Nnamdi Kanu. The current mirror-image of the Southeast in the mind of many Nigerians is IPOB and its leader.

In APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has the brightest chances to clinch the presidential ticket among all the presidential hopefuls, but he has a very difficult dilemma to solve.

Tinubu, a Muslim from the Southwest, might have a free sail at home because of the complex nature of the socio-

political settings of the region. But to appeal to other zones in the country, he will be in a quandary in respect of his choice of a running mate. If he picks a Christian from the north, the bulk of APC support in the north - the Muslim north, will look the other way; if he picks a Muslim from the north, the whole country will certainly be against a presidential Muslim-Muslim ticket. Tinubu is a good candidate, but has a big dilemma.

The 2023 battle will be very interesting – like this writer has always maintained. PDP will be on the offensive while the ruling APC will be on the defensive. The standard bearer of either parties will also have many political hurdles to cross. However, #ENDSARS has opened a big window of opportunity for politicians, whoever offers the youths the vice-presidential position may be able to contain the other obstacles effortlessly. r;BZZBE * .VIBNNBE +JNFUB "EBNBXB 4UBUF

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MONDAY DECEMBER 7, 2020 •T H I S D AY

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T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY DECEMBER 7, 2020

Group Politics Editor NSEOBONG OKON-EKONG

POLITICS

Email: nseobong.okonekong@thisdaylive.com 08114495324 SMS ONLY

M O N D AY D I S C O U R S E

The Year That Changed Everything Nseobong Okon-Ekong and Vanessa Obioha embark on an appraisal of some of the landmark events that shaped the year 2020

Buhari

Tinubu

Buratai

Sanwo-Olu

B

phenomenon that tested the leadership strength of politicians as well as the patience of citizens.

Clouded in uncertainty and dread, the pandemic exerted pressure on the President, Muhammadu Buhari, ministers and state governors.

Before its arrival, there were calls to close the borders and stop international flights but these measures were not implemented. Even after the first case of the novel virus from the family of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) was recorded in the country, international flights were still allowed. The pandemic became an open pandora box that set off a chain of events.

For the first few days of the virus unwelcome arrival, Lagos state governor Babajide SanwoOlu rose to the occasion with an admirable swiftness. His first step was to activate the State Emergency Operations Centre while working closely with the Federal Ministry of Health and Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). He also ensured that the bio-security facilities in the state were well equipped with the personnel to treat infected persons after an outcry that the health centres were not conducive enough.

As health officials advised social distancing, Sanwo-Olu implemented it in the state, barring social gatherings from clubs to religious centres, that exceeded 50 attendees and the number was whittled down to 20 before the eventual national lockdown.

More infections required the governor to shut down schools and issue a stay-at-home order.

However, the restricted movement required the government to provide a stimulus package for individuals and companies. As the state with the highest number of infections, the Federal Government approved the sum of N10 billion to the state. Financial institutions like

GTB and UBA made significant contributions to the state as well. The state also planned stimulus packages for 200,000 householders whose distribution was questionable as there was no data to determine who gets what. For instance, in the Amukoko area of Lagos state, a paltry sum of N120 was distributed to residents.

Some state lawmakers’ attempt to provide food packages for their constituents was ridiculed, notably that of the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa whose constituents in Agege made a caricature of his relief materials. Notwithstanding, some eminent politicians extended their largesse to the people. Chief among them was former military and democratic president, Olusegun Obasanjo who donated his former residence at the Presidential Hilltop, Abeokuta, Ogun State, a 32-room facility for use as an Isolation Centre.

With Lagos state getting all the attention from the Federal Government, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State criticised the FG for the preferential treatment to the state. He alleged that the Federal Government was politicising the fight against COVID-19. He argued that he was constantly inundated with letters to allow expatriate oil and gas workers into the state who may or may not be carriers of the virus. He complained that his state should be considered too for special status.

To prevent the spread of the virus in his state, Wike took some drastic measures that were condemned by the public. One of such was the demolishing of Edemete Hotel and Prodest Home. The hotels were said to have flouted the shutdown order in the state but the owners reportedly said the buildings were

brought down because they refused to pay a bribe to the officials. The government, however, denied the accusation. The governor made news for authorising the arrest of two pilots from Caverton Helicopters, whom he claimed illegally entered the state.

Still on palliatives, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disasters Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouk came under fire for the perceived fraudulent activities surrounding the cash disbursement of the palliative sum of N20,000 to some Nigerians. The opposition party Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) argued that FG must provide accurate details on how the proposed fund will be spent.

In Akwa Ibom, the situation was no less dramatic. In a move that surprised many, Akwa Ibom State government complained loudly and expressed disapproval over the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control’s (NCDC) announcement that five cases of Coronavirus were identified in the state. The state consistently denied the presence of the virus in the state, despite early warnings from the World Health Organisation that some states were at high risk of Coronavirus outbreak.

Although state governors were mostly attacked for their response to COVID-19, the president, Buhari was not spared. His attitude of not speaking with citizens angered many Nigerians who interpreted it as a lack of empathy.

On numerous occasions, Sanwo-Olu who made it a habit to communicate with Lagosians on the latest update on the fight against COVID-19 was commended and recommended to the President for lessons on how to show empathy.

A worrisome trend during the lockdown period of the pandemic was the spread of misinformation. Conspiracy theories were copious and not a few respectable persons acted like purveyors of such falsehood. One of them is the founder of Believers Loveworld Pastor Chris Oyakhilome who raised an alarm that the lockdown was a ploy by the government to install a 5G network in Nigeria.

Such deliberate distortion of information would take an unwanted form in subsequent days.

As infection cases spiked, so did the number of deaths, and Aso Rock was not immune to it. The virus claimed the life of one of the President’s right-hand men, Abba Kyari. In his lifetime, the late Chief of Staff was a popular gambit in the national discourse. This was due to his influence in the Presidential Villa. His godlike influence was always whispered, even to the extent that many saw him as the de facto president. Kyari who died on April 17 after contracting the virus was still a mystery in death, drawing sympathy and apathy from friends and foes.

Nearly two months later, Nigeria lost another politician to Coronavirus. The beloved Senator representing Lagos East Senatorial District, Adebayo Osinowo was said to have died on June

efore the Pandemic At the beginning of the year, there were no signs that 2020 would take an unexpected turn. Forecast for the year shed little restoration in the political space. Insecurity was still a nagging problem, impunity of corrupt leaders was still conspicuous, economic hardship was still looming, political gladiators were still pursuing selfish interests than governance and the people still clamouring for restructuring.

On January 19, Boko Haram insurgents killed 17 men of the Nigerian Army two attacks. The next day, Rev. Lawan Andimi, a Christian leader from Adamawa State who was held in captivity was executed by the violent Islamic group.

The economic projection, for many, was based on a national budget of N10.6 Trillion.

However, some changes were imminent.

The prevalence of insecurity warranted states to devise new strategies for the safety of the people. The South-west states began talks to launch a security outfit last year and on New Year Day, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State disclosed in his New Year message that the new security outfit ‘Amotekun’ by six states in the region would commence work on January 9. He added that it would complement the efforts of the regular security agencies.

Following the inconsistencies that marked the 2019 election in some states, the Supreme Court in a move that befuddled the Peoples Democratic Party in Imo state sacked Emeka Ihedioha, the proclaimed winner of the election in the state and pronounced Hope Uzodinma, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the duly elected governor of the state on January 14.

The judgment sparked ire and not a few advocacy groups weighed in on the controversial verdict. They argued that since none of the candidates attained the requirements of Section 179 (2), which stipulates that the winner in a governorship contest should have the highest number of valid votes and a spread of 25 per cent of the votes in two-thirds of the local governments in a state, that a rerun will be apt. That never happened.

Shortly after that came the suspension of Adams Oshiomhole as the National Chairman of APC. A Federal High Court in Abuja on March 4 upheld the suspension of Oshiomhole, who had earlier been suspended by his Etsako Ward 10 in Edo State. His suspension was jubilated by many who saw Oshiomhole as a thorn in their flesh. His suspension would later play out in different colours as the year progressed.

Then the Pandemic Happened Nigerians are used to disease outbreak within the continent in recent times, but not on a global scale. The outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic caught everyone unprepared. The projected outlook for the continent was gloomy.

The Coronavirus pandemic was an unwanted

With a few weeks to the end of the year, it is becoming clear that the six-month mandate given to the Yobe State Governor Mai Mala Buni-led APC Caretaker Committee may be prolonged. A NEC of the party is expected to hold tomorrow, Tuesday, December 8, but a convention at which new national officers will be elected may not be possible this year. Meanwhile, the battle over who will carry the presidential flag of the APC is heating up the polity and is largely responsible for the multiple crises in the party. Not a few chieftains of the party have declared that there is a gentleman’s agreement to rotate the presidential slot between the north and the south. However, a strong campaign has emerged to zone the 2023 APC presidential ticket to an Igbo candidate

T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY DECEMBER 7, 2020

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MONDAY DISCOURSE

Wike

Adamu

Buni

Yakubu

15 from COVID-19 complications. Fondly called ‘Pepper’, the senator was greatly mourned by his constituents. Within the same constituency, the lawmaker representing Kosofe Constituency 1 at the Lagos State House of Assembly, Tunde Braimoh, also died.

Another victim of COVID-19 was the former two-term governor of Oyo State, Abiola Ajimobi. The governor was said to have died from complications of the disease on June 25.

Like Kyari, his death met mixed reactions.

The unfortunate passing of the Commissioner for Health in Ondo state, Wahab Adegbenro on July 2 did not only shock the public but was a wicked reminder that the virus was no fearer of persons or age. The commissioner was said to contract the disease from patients he was attending to in his private hospital. Due to his underlying health problem, he couldn’t survive the virus.

Buruji Kashamu, the long-time foe of former President Olusegun Obasanjo bowed to COVID-19 on August 8, at a time when Nigerians were adjusting to the new normalcy instituted by the pandemic. Senator Ben Murray-Bruce announced his death on Twitter. Condolences poured from many politicians but the one that ruffled a few feathers was from Obasanjo. The former President in a letter that was leaked on social media suggested that the late Ogun state senator deployed the manoeuvre of law and politics to escape justice on an alleged criminal offence but couldn’t escape the cold hands of death. His letter was deemed insensitive by some, while others hailed the elder statesman for his bluntness.

While COVID-19 claimed some lives, some political elites were infected with the virus, but managed to recover. They include the Governor of Abia state, Okezie Ikpeazu; Governor and deputy governor of Bauchi state, Bala Mohammed and Baba Tela; Ekiti state governor, Kayode Fayemi; Governor of Kaduna state, Nasir El-Rufai; Governor of Ondo state, Rotimi Akeredolu; and Governor of Oyo state Seyi Makinde.

Apart from COVID-19 related deaths, Nigeria lost quite a few politicians this year. They include Rose Oko, a female Senator from Cross River State who died on March 23 in a hospital in the United Kingdom from an undisclosed ailment; Senator representing Plateau South in the National Assembly, Ignatius Longjan, who died in a Turkish hospital in Abuja on February 9; and former governor of Kaduna state in the Second Republic, Balarabe Musa who died from a heart attack on November 11. Businessman and former Chieftain of the defunct All Peoples Party (APP), Chief Harry Akande passed away on Saturday, December 5.

Away from COVID-19, there was intriguing power play in the political arena. Chief among them was the power tussle between Oshiomhole and his erstwhile political godson Godwin Obaseki. While battling his chairmanship position in the party, Oshiomhole worked against Obaseki’s effort to get the party’s blessing to run for a second term. The party’s refusal to grant him a ticket made Obaseki switch parties to the delight of the opposition party, PDP. They welcomed the new member with open arms and saw his defection as a sign of victory over the ruling party. His defection coincided with the Appeal Court sack of Oshiomhole as the chairman of the party and a few days after, President Buhari dissolved Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee of APC, bringing to an end the confrontational leadership style of the trade unionist turned politician.

Nonetheless, Oshiomhole alongside Senator Ahmed Tinubu backed Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu whose ambition to occupy the executive seat of Edo state was yet to be realised. The Edo election thus became a battle between persons and not parties. It was a battle between Oshiomhole and Obaseki. If Oshiomhole had any chance of maintaining relevance in the state, it was ruined by Tinubu’s last campaign for Ize-Iyamu where he told indigenes to vote out Obaseki. The corresponding response was not what he anticipated. Supporters of Obaseki kicked at the Senator, reminding him that Edo state was not Lagos. His outburst would later secure a win for Obaseki which inadvertently diminished Oshiomhole’s persona as well as foil Ize-Iyamu’s political dream.

In Ondo state, the theatrics were less dramatic as Akeredolu won his second term bid.

the polity and is largely responsible for the multiple crises in the party. Not a few chieftains of the party have declared that there is a gentleman’s agreement to rotate the presidential slot between the north and the south. However, a strong campaign has emerged to zone the 2023 APC presidential ticket to an Igbo candidate.

It is in this light that many see the defection of Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State to the APC. Multiple attacks have been hurled at Umahi over his recent defection to APC from the PDP. The antagonists claim that he has been promised the presidential ticket of the APC.

government workers. Already, the FG may have broken the resistance of the union by registering a rival body, Congress of University Academics (CONUA).

Revised Budgets Due to the pressure on the economy occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic and the crisis in the oil market, The Federal Government had to cut down the 2020 budget by over N320 billion and proposed a new budget of N10.27 trillion against the N10.59 trillion passed by the National Assembly.

All the states in the country took a cue from the FG and also revised their budgets in the light of prevailing economic realities. Some states like Ebonyi State embarked on an elaborate public inclusion of CSOs and other interest groups, to make a show of carrying every one along. Other states like Bayelsa barely kept within the confines of the law by enlisting the cooperation of the state lawmakers only.

Edo and Ondo Elections

APC Crises and Buhari’s Successor, Umahi’s Defection to APC With a few weeks to the end of the year, it is becoming clear that the six-month mandate given to the Yobe State Governor Mai Mala Buni-led APC Caretaker Committee may be prolonged. A NEC of the party is expected to hold tomorrow, Tuesday, December 8, but a convention at which new national officers will be elected may not be possible this year.

Meanwhile, the battle over who will carry the presidential flag of the APC is heating up

INEC’s Mahmood Yakubu Sets Record Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu has become the first in that office to get a second tenure The years 2015 to 2020 have recorded some of the most history-making and calamitous events in Nigerian electoral history. And this is the period Yakubu took charge. His reappointment by President Buhari for another five years has been confirmed by the Senate.

‘Off the Mic Drama’ and NDDC Probe Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio turned the heat on federal legislators when he told a House of Representatives panel probing alleged N40 billion irregular expenditure at the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) that most of the contracts were given to National Assembly members.

Embarrassed by this revelation on national television, “It’s ok Hon. Minister, off your mic,” a member of the panel told him.

ASUU’s Strike Without End Students of government owned universities have been at home since March 9 when their lecturers embarked on a strike to press home multiple demands and also formce the Federal Government to honour previous agreements reached their union, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

Many meetings habe since been held between the negotiating teams of ASUU and the FG, but there seems to be no solution to be one of the primary concerns-which is whether ASUU should be on the payment platform for federal

Due to the pressure on the economy occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic and the crisis in the oil market, The Federal Government had to cut down the 2020 budget by over N320 billion and proposed a new budget of N10.27 trillion against the N10.59 trillion passed by the National Assembly. All the states in the country took a cue from the FG and also revised their budgets in the light of prevailing economic realities. Some states like Ebonyi State embarked on an elaborate public inclusion of CSOs and other interest groups, to make a show of carrying every one along. Other states like Bayelsa barely kept within the confines of the law by enlisting the cooperation of the state lawmakers only

Between the Nigeria Police and the Police Service Commission A planned increase in the number of policemen ran into a stalemate as the leadership of the Nigeria Police engages the Police Service Commission over who has the right to personnel into the force. The matter has become a subject of litigation.

EndSARS Campaigns The wave of protests that spread across the world this year did not elude Nigeria. In a protest that nearly turned to a revolution, the Nigerian government felt threatened by the power of the youths.

It all started with a protest to end the unjust harassment and brutality of the Special AntiRobbery Squad (SARS), a special unit of the Police. The protest was sparked by the killing of a Nigerian youth in Delta state. The movement gained traction both online and offline with protesters crowding the streets of different parts of the country to demand the scrapping of the unit. However, the protest resulted in killings and lootings after the protesters refused to end the campaign following the scrapping of SARS. Some politicians fell victim to the assault by hoodlums, including the Minister of Youths and Sports Sunday Dare who was attacked in Ogbomoso, Ibadan state. Police stations and police officers were targeted. The height of the protest was the alleged shooting of protesters at Lekki tollgate by the Nigerian army on October 20. A disc jockey DJ Switch who streamed the event live claimed that the army shot at unarmed protesters and carted away their corpse. That allegation is being investigated by a judiciary panel. Although reports from international media CNN corroborated Switch’s claim. The Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed dismissed the report of CNN, terming it unprofessional.

The aftermath of the alleged shooting was a series of looting and arson that turned Lagos state to a dystopian nightmare. Government parastatals, state commercial buses, judiciary courts and even the revered Oba of Lagos Rilwan Akiolu’s palace were vandalised.

Sanwo-Olu was not spared as both his family and mother’s homes were torched. He was accused of calling the army on the protesters.

Tinubu too was not spared. Businesses related to him were torched as he, like Sanwo-Olu was accused of masterminding the alleged massacre at the Lekki tollgate. Protesters reportedly gathered at his house in Bourdillon street in Ikoyi to air their anger. With chaos in the state, hoodlums used the opportunity to attack businesses and shopping malls, a notable one was the looting of shops at Bode Thomas Street in Surulere.

The looting spree led to the discovery of warehouses where piles of palliatives were stored. The supplies were contributions from the private sector to government to help citizens during the peak of the pandemic. That discovery incensed Nigerians who saw the hoarding as an act of cruelty by politicians. News of looting of Covid-19 palliatives warehouses became rampant before a degree of orderliness was restored.

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

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T H I S D AY ˾ MONDAY DECEMBER 7, 2020

POLITICS

Time to Return NDDC to Its Original Mamdate Kemebradikumo Daniel Pondei, Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission admits that the agency wandered away from its objectives in the past, encumbered with opportunistic practices that led to debilitating debts and a bad reputation, but there is a new resolve to return NDDC to its noble goals

Buhari

T

he Niger Delta Development Commission(NDDC) was set up by the Act 2000 No. 6 of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, which repealed the Oil Mineral Producing Areas Commission Decree 1998. The Act was amended in the year 2017 with no significant addition or effect.

NDDC is an interventionist agency with a clear mandate of its role in bringing development to the Niger Delta Region. Over the years, NDDC became an alternative state government, assuming and performing the duties of local governments and state sovernments. With a musical chair of leaders going in and out (it is on record that no Governing Board of the NDDC has completed its four-year tenure), the agency was bereft of direction even as it was turned into grounds for high stakes political games.

The amount of money that has been spent by the NDDC since inception is not commensurate with what is on ground and falls short of the expectations of the founding fathers and the people of the region.

Indeed, when I was appointed by His Excellency, President Buhari, GCFR on February 19th 2020, to serve as the fifth Chief Executive of the agency within one year of my resumption, the palpable and overwhelming feeling from the citizenry was that of exasperation. The accrued rot in the agency had choked progress and innovation, and the mandate from Mr President was that we should clean house. And cleaning, we have started.

It is true that the old NDDC was proliferate, and probably not well managed.

It is true that the old NDDC had a lot of problems with procurement and staff morale was equally low.

Besides, at the old NDDC, consequences were not linked to actions and many well thought out programs were bastardized. Again, it is very true, that the old NDDC left bankruptcy in the way of many vendors, contractors and service providers by not paying on time, even as abandoned NDDC projects littered the land.

All these were true, but in keeping with the ‘Change’ and ‘Next Level’ mandates of Mr. President, we have since begun to clean house.

As soon as I resumed, I realized that no organization could give what it does not have. Hence, an immediate re-organization of the work force was a task we needed to undertake. We took a decisive decision to reshuffle key team members, and reward competence and capacity. Indeed, today that re-organi-

Pondei

zation is work in progress even as the top hierarchy of the organization are now more responsive to the needs of our communities. Further to this, we began to take a hard look at staff promotions and motivation, to correctly incentivize the team and dissuade them from engagement in unwholesome practice.

Further more, our team took a cold hard look at the existing procurement system. A lot of contractors were being owed, and we swung to pay well over N20 billion of outstanding debts of our N2 trillion outstanding, many of them so aged that hotels and restaurants did not consider NDDC to be credit worthy even in Port Harcourt.

This necessary step ran into natural resistance by forces that were used to business as usual, but thanks to the support of Mr President, we have weathered it. NDDC should never be punished for doing the right thing, and no media propaganda can stop the good works the agency was saddled to implement. The scholarship program we met was poorly managed and creating a lot of bad press for the government, we have begun to clean up the program even as we need to get to the bottom of the ever-rising bill and claims of non-payment despite several disbursements.

In the process of evaluating project completion for payment, our new project management system saved the agency over 2 billion naira. Implemented for basic amount by a crack team from the agency, this digital system has so far being deployed to assist the forensic audit ordered by His Excellency, the

President of the Federal Republic and supported by our Honourable Minister, HE Senator Godswill Akpabio, who have both been of immense support to us.

Despite the fact that since February, we have been involved in putting out fires, in the midst of one controversy or the other – some orchestrated, others unreal – we recognized that we still owe it to our people, the people of Nigeria and citizens in Niger Delta in particular, to deliver the dividends of development.

To this end, we have not relented on our core mandates. Projects that were previously left uncompleted are being re-mobilized and contractors are slowly coming back to site, even as we have access to limited resources; as a result of the on-going audit of the agency that seeks to examine actions predating our tenure but certainly necessary for moving forward.

However noble any action may be, devoid of strategic planning, it won’t amount to much. The NDDC has a masterplan, which it does not adhere to. The masterplan we inherited has neither time frame nor key performance indicators to measure effectiveness of its interventions.

As a result, NDDC had concentrated on small pocket projects and avoided doing major infrastructure projects, which would have made more impact on the quality of life and the economy of the region. Many major communities still have no road access, even as pipe borne water in the midst of the region that produces the golden egg remains largely a mirage.

However noble any action may be, devoid of strategic planning, it won’t amount to much. The NDDC has a masterplan, which it does not adhere to. The masterplan we inherited has neither time frame nor key performance indicators to measure effectiveness of its interventions. As a result, NDDC had concentrated on small pocket projects and avoided doing major infrastructure projects, which would have made more impact on the quality of life and the economy of the region. Many major communities still have no road access, even as pipe borne water in the midst of the region that produces the golden egg remains largely a mirage

For this reason, upon stabilization of the agency in the past three months, we have begun to develop a new roadmap for the Niger Delta based on the courageous vision of President Buhari and his cabinet Minister. This roadmap shall be predicated on: r %FWFMPQJOH UIF NBTTJWF IVNBO SFsource potential of the over 30 million people that call the Niger Delta their home. The focus shall be on job creation through innovation and industrialization, not just training for its own sake. r $PODFQUVBMJ[F BOE EFWFMPQ CPME OFX infrastructure, as a bulwark of economic linkages for Niger Delta communities. r #VJME TVTUBJOBCJMJUZ JOUP PVS QSPKFDUT realizing the ecosystem of the Niger Delta is particularly vulnerable to climate change while opening up new vistas for collaboration and rapid funding of eco-friendly development initiatives around power & water. r &OHBHF XJUI TJTUFS BHFODJFT UP MFWFSage resources, achieving more with less while avoiding duplication. r $PMMBCPSBUF XJUI TUBUF BOE MPDBM governments around new towns & cities development; opening up new vista through erosion control, land reclamation and waterways modernization. r -BTUMZ SFCVJMEJOH UIF SFQVUBUJPO of the NDDC as a reliable partner for development; working across various stakeholders to build confidence in a bright future for the people of the Niger Delta region.

The goal of this roadmap is in line with the vision for economic diversification, job creation and rapid industrialization of the President. It will also promote a strong security environment with the community as stakeholders, while reducing corruption in delivery to the bare minimum. All these being cardinal policies of President Buhari, and fully carried along in this new roadmap.

We will be able to achieve our grand goals not only by prudence, but also by being afforded the statutory resources meant for the agency. The oil companies owing over $5 billion, being 3% of their annual spending, need to pay up. We also enjoin Mr President to release over 1.6 trillion naira in accrued earnings from the ecological fund among others, including 15% of FAAC allocations to member states.

We have no doubt that given the roadmap which will be launched in couple of weeks before the year runs out, it is time to give NDDC a chance to prove itself once again under this new leadership.

The time to ensure we execute is now, a new Niger Delta is possible again.

T H I S D AY Ëž ÍľËœ Í°ÍŽÍ°ÍŽ

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FEATURES

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

Hope Arises for Anambra Cargo Airport David-Chyddy Eleke who has followed the Anambra Cargo Airport Project from inception, in this investigative report, writes that though the state might soon join the league of states with airport, it didn't come without hassles

H

opefully, in April 2021, Anambra Airport will commence operations. Anambra Indigenes from everywhere, who seek to come home will simply dash into the nearest airport, catch a flight and touchdown in Anambra and land at the Umueri International Cargo Airport.

Most importantly, businessmen and women in the state and beyond can leave for China, Thailand, Bangkok and other parts of the world to do businesses, from their own backyard, straight to the world. This is if the promise of the state Governor, Chief Willie Obiano that the airport would be commissioned in April 2021 can be relied on. The project once it comes alive would be four years after it was flagged off in April 2017.

The Proposal On April 11, 2017, Anambra State Governor, Chief Willie Obiano made history with the story of a planned Airport City Project in Umueri, Anambra East Local Government Area. Governor Obiano during the flag off boasted that the project was far beyond just an airport.

He announced that the project was an aerodrome (an airport city), which would beyond seeing to the touching down of flights from all over Nigeria and beyond, would also provide services like maintenance of airplanes; which is a rare service, while the deep oil reserve in Aguleri Otu community, where Orient Petroleum Company is domiciled, would offer services like refueling of aircrafts.

The project he said would cost $2.2billion, and would be solely financed by a Chinese company, Sinoking Enterprises, at no cost to Anambra Government.

He said, “Three years into my first term in office, I stand before you today to answer the call of history. In Christian numerology, the number three is the number of perfect manifestation. So, three years into my administration, the Lord God Almighty has given us a new Vision and a new Song! Umu nnem, our elders say that na Ugo gbuzuo, ochakee!

Anambra State has finally hit the bend in the river and our famous can-do spirit has now taken over! “What we are flagging off today is an Airport City Project with a model that will accommodate an airport with two runways, an aviation fuel dump, an airport hotel, an industrial business park, an international convention centre as well as a facility for aircraft maintenance. The Umueri Airport City Project is conceived to join some of the most advanced airports in the world with a capacity to land any of the most sophisticated vessels known to man today. “It sits on 1,500 hectares of land with enough elbowroom for expansion from Ivite Umueri to neighbouring communities such as Nando, Umunya, Otuocha, Aguleri, Nteje, Nsugbe and beyond. The project is estimated to cost over 2billion US Dollars. It is a partnership between the Government of Anambra State, Orient Petroleum Resources Limited and Elite International Investments Limited (Sinoking Enterprises Limited). “Under the contractual agreement, Elite International Investments Limited will provide all the funds needed for the project under the Build-Operate-Manageand-Transfer arrangement. However under the same SPV arrangement, the Anambra Airport City Infrastructure Limited has allocated 75 per cent equity stake to Elite International Investments Limited, 20 per cent to Orient Petroleum Resources Limited and five per cent to the Government of Anambra State. The host communities are entitled to three per cent of the profit from this project

Site of the much-awaited Anambra Cargo Airport

in perpetuity as a part of the standard corporate social responsibility. Indeed, the economic benefits of the Umueri Airport City Project are enormous.�

That is not all that Obiano proposed to Anambra people. He also said that it is expected that the project would generate 1,200 direct jobs and 3,600 indirect jobs, and expressed confidence that Anambra indigenes would grab 70 per cent of these jobs in continuation of his efforts to create wealth and prosperity for the people.

The governor said the project would also provide an opportunity for training and skills transfer to the people of the state.

He added that, “I have no doubts whatsoever that this project will have a tremendous impact on the ease of doing business in Anambra State as it opens a direct access by air to our vast markets.

In particular, I hope that on completion, the Umueri Airport City Project will wipe out the difficulties our businessmen and women often encounter in exporting and importing goods and services and help in improving the entire supply chain. Ladies and gentlemen, with this project and our subsequent plan for a light rail project, Anambra State will eventually assume its rightful place as a major commercial and industrial hub in the West African sub-region�.

A Reporter’s Visit to Site The project as announced by the governor in April 2017 has a completion deadline of 36 months, this means that the project was expected to be ready by April 2020. 24 months after the flagging off of the project (that is 12 months to completion), this reporter decided to take a trip to the airport project. The journey to

Umueri, the proposed site of the Anambra Airport City Project which was made on April 3, 2019 was a smooth one for this reporter who drove from Awka through the Enugu-Onitsha expressway to Awkuzu Junction before veering right to drive through Nteje community in Oyi Local Government Area to Umueri in Anambra East Local Government Area where the project is located. The sign board which announced the arrival at the project site also seemed to announce the end of a smooth ride, as the road into the project site was bumpy, dusty and over-grown by grass; an obvious sign that nothing was happening on the site.

During the visit, THISDAY found that not much had been done on the site.

Besides the initial clearing of the 1,500 hectares of land during the flag off, the site remained the same, and overgrown by bushes, just as herdsmen also found it a fertile place for their herds to graze. Also, a big portion of the land had been dealt a serious blow by erosion, just as access road into the project from Nteje – Umueri road was almost being cut off by a gully, which developed as a result of rainfall.

The access road into the project from Nsugbe flank, where the project spanned is not different as attempt by this reporter to drive through the road, into the project proved difficult. Though the road was initially wide and pliable, as one drove in, the road became narrower, and later turned into a foot part that could only be accessed on foot. For a project that was supposed to be ready by April 2020, THISDAY saw no equipment on site, or any sign of work having been achieved.

A farmer who was seen working on a portion of land in the project site said,

I have no doubts whatsoever that this project will have a tremendous impact on the ease of doing business in Anambra State as it opens a direct access by air to our vast markets. In particular, I hope that on completion, the Umueri Airport City Project will wipe out the difficulties our businessmen and women often encounter in exporting and importing goods and services

“We have not seen anything. Since 2017, the place has been like this, so some of us who do not have land outside this one, always come to farm on it, pending when work will start.�

White Elephant?

The flag off of the airport project in April 2017 was just seven months to the Anambra governorship election which was to hold in November 2017.

Obiano was to seek reelection into the governorship seat then, so as to complete his constitutionally allowed two term of eight years. For a year of politicking, it was expected that Obiano would receive jabs for the project, especially as Anambra people were already falling in love with him for such lofty vision.

Then candidate of the United Progressives Party (UPP) for the election, Mr Osita Chidoka who was an aviation minister and considered to have a good knowledge of aviation system dismissed the project as a white elephant one. Chidoka speaking with journalists said the $2.2 billion cost of the project was unrealistically too high. He said, “I totally disagree with the airport proposal. Anambra does not need an airport for $2.2 billion when the federal government used $500 million to build four terminals. “How can the federal government borrow $400 million from the Chinese and put its own $100 million to build four terminals with repayment of $12.5 million every quarter and Anambra government alone invited Chinese to build airport project for $2.2 billion. How much will it be paying at that amount? How much did Lagos International Airport cost us? What we will do is to build a small airport and grow it organically. Airport is a runway, not terminal building or cargo shed,� he said. “The basic infrastructure we have to put in place is the runway and landing gear.

I will ask the private sector to come and build cargo sections and when I finish, I will ensure that the airport grows naturally at no cost to the state administration.

The whole passenger flow in Nigeria’s airport is between five and six million passengers annually. What will be the share of Anambra from that traffic? “Heathrow Airport grew from terminal one to terminal two and now terminal five.

There is no traffic study for the proposed

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FEATURES (Anambra) airport; no passengers data too. They said it will be a cargo airport and fuel dump. Where is the fuel and refining capacity for Jet A1 here? Let us come down from this high horse. There is no five-star hotel in the whole of South East zone because the economy has not supported it. Why telling us then that you want to build a five-star hotel in Umueri Airport?� Chidoka questioned.

The opposition All Progressives Congress(APC) speaking through the then coordinator of youth affairs, Arinze Igboeli described the project as a political one meant to attract votes in the then election. Igboeli described the Chinese company handling the project; Sinoking Enterprises Investment Ltd as a fake company that ceased to exist many years back. He insisted that the airport city project was a fluke. Despite the strong opposition then, Obiano however won his reelection.

Shortly after THISDAY visited the site and published that no work was on site in April 2019, opposition political parties in the state tackled the Obiano administration, over the failed promise of an airport. The criticisms generated by the project may have given Obiano cause for concern. While making a budget estimate for the Anambra State House of Assembly for 2020, Obiano included a whooping sum of N6billion for the airport project. For a project that was initially said to be solely funded by the Chinese Company, Sinoking Limited, it was curious why Anambra was budgeting money for the project. THISDAY during a press conference asked the Anambra State works commissioner, Mr Marcel Ejiofor why Anambra was budgeting money for the airport.

He said, “The governor is a man of his words, and since he had already promised the people an airport, he did not want to go back on his words, so, he budgeted N6billion for the project in the 2020 budget. There is a foreign partner, and there are sorting out their funding, as we wait for them, the government will be doing something, and when they eventually come, they will balance us our money. That airport is real. We have done the expression of interest, and it is now in the tending service and before Christmas (2019), the contractors will mobilise to site. What we are doing is not just an airport but international cargo airport because our people are predominantly business people and there was a feasibility study before that license was approved.�

As Anambra people waited for the reimbursement of the spent N6billion by the Chinese company, again, for 2021 fiscal year, in a budget estimate to the Anambra State house of Assembly, Obiano again budgeted N5.8billion for the completion of the airport project.

Investigation however showed that the Chinese company was an inexistent company that long stopped operations. A mail sent to the company by this reporter on the state of the contract regarding the Anambra Airport was not responded to. A visit to the company’s website also showed that it was last updated in 2015, while no mention of any tripartite agreement with the government of any state in Nigeria was stated on the site.

A senior government official who spoke to THISDAY in 2019 on condition of anonymity said, “Truth is that, those people almost duped the governor. We are unaware what their interest was because they did not take any money from the state government, except of course if they planned to use the airport project to amass land in Anambra State for themselves.

You remember some people were already accusing the governor of using the project to take Umueri land.�

Close Shave with Death on a Second Visit In June 2020, this reporter gathered that work was in full force at the proposed airport project site, just as it was gathered that Obiano was getting set to deliver the best airport in Nigeria to Anambra people, and decided to pay a second visit to the project site, but the visit turned

Governor Willie Obiano

out a close shave with death.

Some youths had barricaded the road into the main project site, denying this reporter entry. From where the reporter stood, heavy equipments could be seen from afar working on the project. The youths insisted they had the instruction of the state Commissioner for Works, Mr Marcel Ejiofor not to allow anyone in.

When called for permission to move into the site, Mr Ejiofor who told this reporter he was at the site already became panicky. “How did you get in here?� he queried. Though he affirmed that he was at the site, he advised this reporter and his colleagues to quickly leave the site to avoid harm. He requested to see the journalists in his office to field questions instead (and not at the project site).

When it became obvious that Ejiofor could not be convinced to let the journalists in, the option was to leave. It was while the journalists were driving out of the site leisurely that they suddenly became aware that a Mack truck was racing behind them. The journalists immediately veered off into the bush, just as the truck sped by, missing the car driven by the journalists by whiskers.

Not done, the truck stopped in front, made a u-turn and headed towards the journalists again, causing them (journalists) to alight from their vehicle in readiness to flee. When Ejiofor was later met in his office the next day, he told the journalists they were lucky to return alive. He said, “I don’t know what you want to be told about the project. Go and quote me, just say work has not started. I am not ready to talk further on the project. So, you can say that I said ‘no comment’. If you have other things to know about the state of roads in Anambra, I will be ready to speak to you, but I am not willing to

talk about the airport.�

Real Deal What is however certain about the state of the Anambra airport is that Governor Obiano plans to deliver a surprise package to Anambra people. It is also certain from the testimonies of those who have visited the site that the project would soon be delivered, and that it is a world class airport with many state of the art facilities. What is also certain is that the airport is no longer being built by any Chinese company at no cost to Anambra State government, rather, every penny needed for the project was being provided

by Anambra government.

The state Commissioner for Works, Mr Marcel Ejiofor who spoke to journalists during a press conference at the government house affirmed that, “the airport is being financed 100 percent by Anambra State government.�

Though the project is packaged as a surprise to Anambra People (reason journalists were denied entry), a few people who have been granted access to the project have disclosed snippets of what should be expected when the project is ready. Mr Femi Fani-Kayode, a former aviation minister who was in the state in August 2020 told journalists that when completed, the airport would be first of its kind in Nigeria. He said, “What I have just seen is mind blowing.

We just ran down the runway of the Anambra Airport, and what I have just seen shows that when completed it will be one of the best airport in the country. “The runway is longer than the runway of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport and that of Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport in Abuja, and longer than any other airport in Nigeria. It is silkier than

The airport is the most modern in Nigeria, designed to revolutionise commerce in Nigeria, particularly export and import business.

Anambra people are easily the greatest importers in West Africa, and the people have 63 major markets, including the famous Onitsha Market, the biggest open market in West Africa

any other and wider than any other runway of any airport in Nigeria. There is no federal government, not to talk of state government that has undertaken that kind of project before and you all know it. To me, it is amazing that such a project has remained and has been kept a secret. It would dwarf every other airport around, probably throughout the south. It is a good thing for the people of Anambra State and that is my view as a person who has knowledge of aviation industry.�

Another aviation industry expert and Owner of Peace Air, Allen Onyema who visited the project told journalists that, “Every infrastructure that will make an airport of international standard is there.

They are doing everything; taking care of all those complains we used to have in Nigeria hitherto. There are plans to do runway lightings of the highest grade.

There are plans to install the instrument landing system that will be top notch, so that pilots can come in and land blindly even at zero visibility. So, and these are what we are yearning for. “That airport, to the best of my knowledge, and by God’s grace, if everything pulls through the way they are planning it and the way they are going, it might end up being the best airport in the entire African region; not just Nigeria, because what I saw; everything has been provided for. There are places for cargo. There are places for passengers; everything.

And the spacing gives room for more development. And that is what you need in an airport. The runway is one of the longest in Africa; 3.7km. That is the runway that can land 777 (aircraft), Airbus380 and others,� he said.

A source close to the state government who claimed to have visited the project, while speaking to THISDAY on condition of anonymity said, “The truth is that what the governor is doing in that site will shock a lot of people. You know he is a man who has taste? He is sinking money into that project. There are three things that the governor is working on now, and he refers to them as legacy project. The airport, international conference centre and the Awka stadium. These are promises that he has made to the people and he does not want to go back on them. Those projects are costing him money, but he has no option than to do them.�

The source added that even though the project was conceived to be an aerodrome, the governor had to make some amendment when it became obvious that the Chinese company was no longer forthcoming. “What it means is that the aviation fuel dump and the aircraft maintenance section as the governor had earlier said may be absent for now. Maybe, the baton may be passed to the next governor of the state to take off from there,� he said.

Also, speaking to THISDAY, the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Mr C. Don Adinuba told THISDAY that what was most heartwarming is that the governor is delivering the project without borrowing any money from anywhere. “That airport project has the longest runway in Nigeria, if not in Africa. Its runway is 3.7 kilometres long. Its control tower is 11-storey, the tallest in Nigeria. “The airport is the most modern in Nigeria, designed to revolutionise commerce in Nigeria, particularly export and import business. Anambra people are easily the greatest importers in West Africa, and the people have 63 major markets, including the famous Onitsha Market, the biggest open market in West Africa. Modern and big as Anambra State International and Passenger Airport is, the state government is building it without a loan from any financial institution anywhere in the world.�

As Anambra begins preparation to open its airport for operations, what is the real deal is that after all the back and forth, Anambra would be joining the league of states with airports, but beyond that, it would be one with many state of the art infrastructure, and even if it fails to meet the bogus proposal made to Anambra people, there is room for the government after Obiano’s tenure to add up what is lacking.

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Quick Takes AfDB Board Approves New Strategy

INDUCTION CEREMONY

L-R: President, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), Gladys Olajumoke Simplice; Special Guest of Honour/ Dean of Law, Bayero University Kano, Prof. Abdulmumini Bala Ahmed; and Deputy Vice President, CITN, Mr. Samuel Olushola Agbeluyi, at the 43rd induction ceremony of the CITN held in Lagos... recently ETOP UKUTT

Online Food Market Projected to Hit $142m in 2020 Emma Okonji Nigeria is ahead of African countries like Kenya, Uganda, Senegal, Ghana and others in online orders for food and grocery, according to Jumia Food Index 2020 report released at the weekend.

The report stated that the value of food and grocery market in Nigeria increased over the years, and was predicted to hit $142 million by the end of 2020.

The report which was released during a webinar, attributed the growth of food and grocery to new generation of Nigerian middle class consumers that are spending more money on food and grocery products during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Analysing the report, CEO, Jumia Nigeria, Mr. Massimiliano

AGRIC Spalazzi, said: “Increased internet access, smartphone penetration, COVID-19 pandemic and induced social distancing guidelines, continue to drive an uptake in online food ordering, as many people now prefer to order via their smartphone as against going out to restaurants.�

He added that the pandemic crisis did not just show the world that online food delivery could be not just a commodity, but a necessity. He said more people would rely heavily on having their hot meals and groceries delivered at their doorsteps, as against going out to offline retail shops to purchase, as governments all over the world continue

to battle the pandemic.

According to the report, Nigeria’s agricultural sector, which Jumia Food supports, experienced a major boom in 2019. It was among the non-oil sector that contributed 90.23 per cent to the country’s GDP. The global food and grocery retail market had total revenues of $44.9 billion, representing a Compound Annual Growth (CAGR) of 8.7 per cent in the last eight years. The apparent boom in the sector is creating more jobs and influencing massive food production.

The report stated that grocery retailing would continue to expand, as consumers seek comfort and convenience when shopping for food, hence online food delivery is gaining momentum through companies

such as Jumia Food. “With the outbreak of COVID-19, the demand for food rose significantly, especially online food delivery as a result of the lockdown and social distancing guidelines. Many people relied heavily on food delivery as opposed to shopping in grocery markets. “With over 200 million and an average of 18 years, Nigeria’s population is expected to double over the next 30 years at a growth rate averaging around 2.3 per cent in a year. With its diversification plan from oil production, the country is set to witness growth in a large consumer market such as food and grocery retail market. “Growth in spending on food and non-alcoholic drinks Continued on page 26

Stock Market Gains N138bn Despite Profit Taking Goddy Egene The stock market posted positive performance last week despite profit taking by some investors, as it sustained the growth recorded in the previous week.

Precisely, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index (ASI) rose 0.7 per cent to close at 35,137.99, while market capitalisation gained N137.5 billion to print at N18.365 trillion.

Apart from the NSE ASI index that appreciated, NSE Insurance, NSE ASeM and NSE Oil/Gas indices also went up by 2.61 per cent, 1.56 per cent, 0.19 per cent and 1.71 per cent respectively.

Although the gains recorded in the market in November was expected to propel profit taking, some market analysts are still

CAPITAL MARKET upbeat that the bulls would remain in control till the end of the year. “With the low yield environment in the fixed income space and investors’ corresponding stance of exercising caution, the local bourse recorded gains in this week’s trading session as investors took positions on fundamentally sound counters. “However, with the introduction of the Special Bills by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the current performance of the equities market might be impacted depending on how attractive the rate at which this bill is issued. Nonetheless, as fingers remains crossed till further direction from the apex bank, we expect the market to continue to

record positive gains,� analysts at Greenwich Research said.

In terms of market turnover, investors traded 1.675 billion shares worth N25.425 billion in 23,650 deals last week, compared with 1.816 billion shares valued at N25.791billionthat exchanged hands in 31,665 deals the previous week.

The Financial Services industry led the activity chart with 1.206 billion shares valued at N12.064billion traded in 13,534 deals, thus contributing 72 per cent and 47.4 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The Consumer Goods Industry followed with 102.368million shares worth N3.616 billion in 3,511deals.

The third place was occupied by the Natural Resources Industry, with a turnover of 86.626 million

shares worth N17.492 million in 28 deals. Trading in the top three equities, Access Bank Plc, FBN Holding Plc and Zenith Bank Plc accounted for 475.819million shares worth N6.144 billion in 4,900 deals.

Meanwhile, the price movement chart displayed 22 price gainers lower than 27 equities in the previous week, while 45 equities depreciated in price, higher than 43 equities in the previous week.

Tripple Gee and Company Plc led the price gainers with 20 per cent, trailed by Airtel Africa Plc with 19.6 per cent. FTN Cocoa Processors Plc appreciated by 16 per cent. Cutix Plc garnered 11.7 per cent, just as AIICO Insurance Plc and 11 Plc gained 9.2 per cent.

MCNichols Plc and University

The board of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a new people strategy for the next five years.

It was designed to enhance the Bank’s standing as the continent’s premier development institution.

According to a statement, the strategy seeks to tap the Bank’s human capital – its most valuable resource – to deliver, through the institution’s projects, optimal development results for the people of Africa. “A key management commitment made as part of the 2019 General Capital Increase, the people strategy is designed to: promote a stronger employee value proposition; attract and retain top-notch staff; and raise the Bank’s employee engagement index to 85 per cent or higher by 2025,� it stated.

The broad objectives of the people strategy include building a talented, resilient and diverse workforce with the right skills, attitudes and passion to deliver the best development solutions for Bank clients. “The strategy also seeks to create a forward-looking workplace, with staff that are equipped with the right tools and technologies, to promote a culture of strong performance and accountability. Furthermore, it aims to enhance collaboration among all Bank stakeholders to achieve the best results for Africa,� it added.

Commenting on the new strategy, Vice President, Corporate Services and Human Resources, Mateus Magala, said: “We are delighted to move forward with the adoption of the AfDB’s People Strategy for the next five years, a period of great challenge as well as great opportunity for the African continent.�

NGO Supports Visually Impaired Persons

The Florence Modupe Foundation has donated food items, cash and writing materials to support the welfare and development of the School of the Federal Vocational Training Institute for the Blind, Oshodi, Lagos State. The items were nose masks, five bags of rice, exercise books and N450, 000.

Speaking during donation the Founder, Florence Modupe Foundation, Olubukola Abitoye, said the vision of the foundation was to support children’s development, education, and development in general.

She also stated that apart from the donation made to the school, the foundation was also contributing to support the campaign against indiscrimination, “which as an organisation we are against.� “We don’t want the society to discriminate these people, they are part of us, because they don’t have a part of their body working doesn’t make them less privilege and make us better than them, this is why we need to identify with them,� she stated.

Abitoye remarked that the foundation wants to identify with the school and work with them to live a better life, adding that the visit today is not a one-off.

She hinted that the foundation wants to partner with the school, adding that presently, “we have regarded them as our partner now to be able work with them all through the journey.�

According to her, “We will be supporting from time to time, identify their needs and see where are can come in.

We will also bring sponsors and organisations Oversees who are interested in this project and see how they can support. “Government has a lot to do, but I don’t like to say it is only the duty of government. In oversees government pay attention to the less privileged and give them the needed support more than the able bodied individuals.�

“The banking industry has been positively impacted by the fiscal and monetary actions taken by the government to accommodate the socio-economic impact of the pandemic on the people and business landscape�

MD, Fidelity Bank Plc,

Continued on page 26

Nnamdi Okonkwo

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BUSINESSWORLD ONLINE FOOD MARKET PROJECTED TO HIT $142M IN 2020 is witnessing a bump in 2020, as consumers re-priotise their spending patterns towards only essentials. The launch of Jumia late night food delivery, in addition to Jumia Party, which launched in 2017, was a strong boost to food and drinks e-Commerce in 2019,� the report stated.

The food and grocery retail market includes the retail sales of all food products, both packaged and unpackaged, as well as beverages, tobacco and household products, excluding on-trade sales of food and beverages.

Jumia attributed the growth in the demand for food and groceries from 2019, to positive results recorded from e-Commerce, mobile e-Commerce, supported by the growth in the use of mobile phones that are connected to the internet.

Chairwoman, Jumia Nigeria and Group Head of Institutional Affairs, Juliet Anammah, said the e-Commerce firm would continue to address several inefficiencies that exist today in the food value chain by connecting consumers and sellers and providing logistics network for sellers to get products delivered to consumers and enable payment on the Jumia platform.

STOCK MARKET GAINS N138BN DESPITE PROFIT TAKING

Press Plc chalked up 8.5 per cent and 6.5 per cent respectively, while May & Baker Nigeria Plc and Ardova Plc went up by 5.6 per cent and 5.0 per cent in that order.

Conversely, Northern Nigerian Flour Mills Plc led the price losers with 18.7 per cent, trailed by Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc with 16.1 per cent. Royal Exchange Plc shed 15.3 per cent, just as Unity Bank Plc, LearnAfrica Plc and Chams Plc went down by 14.6 per cent, 13.0 per cent and 12.0 per cent respectively.

Fidson Healthcare Plc lost 10.7 per cent, while Cadbury Nigeria Plc, shed 9.3 per cent.

Prestige Assurance Plc and Coronation Insurance Plc went down by 9.0 per cent apiece.

Group Business Editor

Obinna Chima

Capital Market Editor

Goddy Egene

Comms/e-Business Editor

NEWS

FIRS Collects N4.122trn in 10 Months Hammed Shittu in Ilorin The Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Alhaji Mohammed Nami has put the performance of the agency from January to October, 2020, at N4.122 trillion, despite the Covid-19 challenges, the implementation of the Finance Act 2020 as well as concessions granted to taxpayers.

He said non-oil revenue collection performance in the same period stood at N2.8 trillion and oil revenue collection performance stood at N1.3 trillion.

Also, the chairman of Board of Trustees of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) Alhaji Kashim Imam, has said about 226 tertiary institutions would access a total sum of N500 billion as education tax in 2021.

Nami, spoke at the TETfund/ FIRS 2020 joint interactive forum in Ilorin. He also said the agency has collected the sum of N251 billion as at October this year for the TETfund.

Nami, who was represented by the agency’s State Coordinator, Oyo-Ogun-Osun, Nureni Fasola, said FIRS raked in N214 billion for the Fund in 2019.

Also speaking, Imam, said a new target of N500 billion was set as education tax for the FIRS in 2021 considering the magnitude of challenges facing tertiary education

James Emejo in Abuja The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has advised the federal government to adequately insure its assets and liabilities to avoid using taxpayers’ money to compensate victims amidst existing fiscal challenges.

The advice came amidst the growing agitation that the government should compensate victims of the recent civil unrest occasioned by the EndSARS protests across the country.

Speaking to journalists at a 2-day National Workshop on Microinsurance and Takaful, which was organised by Star Sapphire

The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) has urged the banks to strengthen their cyber-security architecture in order to prevent attacks by fraudsters President/Chairman of Council of the institute, Mr. Bayo Olugbemi, made the call while delivering his remarks at the 2020 CIBN Fellowship Investiture in Lagos, at the weekend.

The CIBN at its investiture formally conferred its honorary

Nume Ekeghe (Money Market) Nosa Alekhuogie (ICT) Peter Uzoho (Energy)

tor of Finance, Idris Seidu, said the Fund was striving to change the narratives by taking practical steps to put the nation on a revolutionary path of a knowledge based economy.

He said TETfund was committed to impacting the nation’s tertiary institutions comprising of 226 federal and state universities, federal and state polytechnic and colleges of education for improved infrastructure components.

STOCK-TAKING

L-R: Managing Director, Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc, Mr. Femi Asenuga; Chairman, Dr. Akin Ogunbiyi and Company Secretary, Mr. Jide Ibitayo during the ExtraordinaryGeneralMeetingofthecompanyheldin Lagos...recently abiodunajala

Foundation in partnership with NAICOM in Abuja recently, the Head, Corporate Communications and Market Development Department, NAICOM, Mr. Rasaaq Salami, said the protests, though unfortunate goes to emphasise the essence of insurance in risks mitigation.

He said: “We believe that if these properties are insured, the insurance companies will pay the appropriate claims to them. “If government will support insurance and adequately ensure that government assets and liabilities are adequately insured, the issue of government dipping hands into its coffers to compensate victims

would not arise.�

He said: “Imagine if stalls and markets were insured, if public buildings are adequately insured- insurance companies will take over all these liabilities, rather than government having to look for money or having to deep hands into the scarce resources to compensate victims, monies that could be channeled into other use. “So our advice, and we will continue to stress it, is that government should ensure that their assets and properties and liabilities are adequately insured.�

He, however, pointed out that the essence of the summit was to reach out to MSMEs and educate

them on the benefits of insurance to them as individuals as well as their businesses.

He said: “Majority of Nigerians don’t know about insurance and those who know about insurance don’t actually know the benefits in the consumption and that is our goal, to ensure that people are educated, and know what to do in terms of benefits, they know their rights when it comes to claims settlements, they know how to apply for their claim and when they have issues with the companies, they know where to go and seek redress.�

Salami said the commission is always available and ready to ad-

dress consumers concerns adding that it has created a dedicated department which handles issues of disputes between consumers and insurance companies.

He said: “My advice to companies especially the MSMEs is to ensure that you take adequate and appropriate insurance to cover your businesses and to cover you as an individual so that in the event of a loss, insurance will bring you back to that same level you were before the loss. “Insurance is not actually for you to make profits but to bring you back to that level you were before any loss so that it would look as if you didn’t lose anything.

fellowship awards on 19 distinguished bankers in recognition of their contributions to the banking industry and the economy; 77 associates as elected Fellows while 105 senior management staff of banks and the academia became Honorary Senior Members of the institute at the event with the theme: ‘Financial Services in a post COVID 19 Environment: Strategic Imperative’.

Some that were conferred with the award were President, African

Development Bank, Dr Adewunmi Adesina; Governor, Bank of Sierra Leone, Prof. Kelfala M. Kallon; President, West African Bankers Association and President Liberia Bankers Association, Mr. John Davies III; GMD/CEO, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Dr. Demola Sogunle; the MD/CEO, Zenith Bank Plc, Mr. Ebenezer Onyeagwu; MD/CEO, Wema Bank Plc, Mr. Ademola Adebise; MD/CEO, Sterling Bank Plc, Mr. Abubakar Suleiman; MD/CEO, Providus Bank Plc,

Mr. Walter Akpani; MD/CEO, Standard Chartered Bank Limited; Mr. Lamin Manjang; MD/CEO, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Ahmed Musa Dangiwa; Board Member, Lead Capital Group of Companies, Mr. Bimbo Olashore; Board Member, Oodua Investment Company Limited, Bimbo Ashiru; former DMD Diamond Bank, Mrs. Caroline Anyanwu, and former Executive Director, Fidelity Bank, Mrs. Ugochukwu Chijioke.

Olugbemi told over six hun-

dred participants who attended physically or connected online, that Nigeria had been bedeviled by myriads of challenges this year ranging from drop in oil price, COVID-19 pandemic, the recent #EndSARS protests and the attendant pocket of unrests across the country and now the recession.

The pace of these disruptive forces and their attendant effects on the financial service system has been intense.

WACCIMA Decries Multiple Taxation on Members

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cooperation by the leadership of both organisations and our zeal to improve Nigerian education nationwide�, he said.

The chairman of the BOT also said the team at TETfund and FIRS would visit project sites in tertiary institutions in the state to see if the funds were judiciously utilised.

In his speech, the Executive Secretary, TETfund, Prof. Suleiman Bogoro, represented by the Direc-

CIBN Urges Banks to Strengthen Cyber-security

Senior Correspondent

Chinedu Eze (Aviation) Eromosele Abiodun (Maritime) James Emejo (Finance) Ebere Nwoji (Insurance) Chineme Okafor (Energy) Emmanuel Addeh (Energy)

FIRS and TETfund is vital to the transformation that is evident in our public tertiary institutions nationwide. “This was achieved as a result of joint delivery of complementary services by providing amiable and lasting solutions to our beneficiaries. “In addition, the successful strategic partnership over the years can be attributed to the strong, relentless commitment and

NAICOM Urges FG to Insure Public Assets, Liabilities

Emma Okonji

Correspondents

in Nigeria.

He explained that beneficiaries of the affected tertiary institutions would be federal and state universities, polytechnics and colleges of education in the country.

Imam, who said the Fund was committed to impacting more, added that the BOT under him was determined to prove that public agency must, should work and must work to get results. “The synergy between the

Sylvester Idowu in Warri The Warri Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (WACCIMA) has decried multiple taxes imposed on investors and business operators by government officials, touts and community leaders in Delta State.

President of WACCIMA, Mr.

Richard Akhaighe, in a statement signed by the group’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Bamidele Ayodele, lamented that Warri and environs were becoming unconducive for businesses to flouring because of imposition illegal taxes on members.

This development, he argued was scaring away prospective investors while those in the

state were relocating to other states considered as conducive for their business activities.

He, however, assured that WACCIMA was determined to make businesses in Warri and its environs to flourish again by creating awareness and orientation on the needs for investors to be in the oil-rich city.

Akhaighe gave the assurance when he led other members of the newly elected officers of the body on a courtesy visit to the executives of Timber dealers association, Warri branch.

He promised to engage in vigorous advocacy aimed at attracting investors into the state and also engage government to create a conducive operating

environment for its members.

Vice Chairman of Timber Dealers Association, Warri branch, Mr. One Certificate, expressed appreciation over the concern shown by the newly inaugurated executive for the challenges faced by timber dealers in the state and particularly members of the Warri branch.

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New Registration Template for Economic Zones Effective Jan 2021 James Emejo in Abuja The Managing Director/Chief Executive, Nigeria Export Processing Zones (NEPZA), Prof. Adesoji Adesugba has said the agency will commence the implementation of a new template for Free Zone registration from January 1, 2021.

He said the move was line with the federal government’s focus on improving the ease of doing business in the country.

He explained: “The new registration process, which I am proposing to take off from 1st January 2021, will make the process of registering a free zone company more efficient and attractive for potential investors without compromising the integrity of the system. “There are two plans outlined, one is to be adopted immediately and the other to be implemented in the next 6-12 months�.

Adesugba added that, “It is imperative that we continue to make timely process improvements such as this, in order to generate goodwill for the Authority and position our Free Zones as an attractive investment location to a wide range of investors.�

According to him, the steps leading to successful registration listed for adherence in the short term entails that “NEPZA will allow the official submission of registration documents by clear

scanned signed copy to emails of the Zone Administrators. “This email should then be forwarded to the team at NEPZA HQ instantaneously for processing. Once received by Email, the documents should be processed, and a virtual screening meeting scheduled within 24hours. “Once the application is approved, Certified True Copies (CTC) of the scanned signed documents and the NEPZA registration certificate should be

sent to the Zone Administrator on behalf of the newly registered Enterprise. “The Zone Manager will then submit the original documents to the Zone Administrator and collect the CTC documents and NEPZA Registration certificate on behalf of the new Enterprise.�

In a statement by Head, Corporate Communications, NEPZA, Martins Odeh, the NEPZA boss, however, said the federal government is meticulously

laying enduring foundation for the industrialisation of the country.

Addressing global business audience via web conference at the 5th Annual Meeting of the Africa Economic Zones Organisation recently, he said the Dangote Industries Free Zone, Lekki, Lagos and a host of other private zones with a cumulative investment of over $20 billion provided the country with a firm foundation toward realising its roadmap towards industrialisation.

AfDB Pledges Support for AEZO Dike Onwuamaeze The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has assured members of the Africa Economic Zones Organisation (AEZO) of the bank’s continued investments to close the infrastructure gap that has limited the capacity of the AEZO to be as vibrant as other zones in Asia and other parts of the world.

Adesina gave this assurance recently, when he spoke during the Fifth Annual Meeting of the AEZO. He said: “Globally, special economic zones have powered the economic growth of several countries. Their numbers have exploded from less than 200 in the 1980s to 5,000 today. Collectively, they have contributed exports worth $3.5 trillion, roughly 20 per cent of global trade in goods. But in Africa, special economic zones are operating in 38 countries, accounting for an annual trade turnover of $680 million.�

He said the special economic zones have not been as successful

in Africa compared to Asia and other parts of the world because of limited infrastructure, weaker institutional environment and coordination challenges, limited access to financing to develop well-integrated value chains and the primary focus of the special economic zones on exports alone.

Adesina noted that the commencement of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), would positively change the fortunes of the continent’s AEZO by redirecting their focus to the regional markets in the continent and enable Africa to develop its manufacturing capacity.

He said: “Today, let me highlight one important opportunity: agriculture. Agriculture, food and agribusiness is the sector with the largest potential wealth impact for Africa. “The size of the food and agriculture market is estimated to rise to over $1 trillion by 2030.

Tapping into this massive market requires a structural approach to develop better-integrated food and agriculture value chains.�

‘Amendment of NIMET Act will Boost IGR’ Chinedu Eze The House of Representatives Committee on Aviation has assured that the planned amendment of the Act establishing the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) will enhance the agency’s revenue base.

The Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Nnolim Nnaji gave the assurance during the committee’s oversight visit to the agency’s headquarters at Abuja.

Nnaji regretted that despite the wide range of services NIMET offers to various sectors of the economy, only the aviation sector pays the agency for its services.

Nnaji said such a situation would no longer be tolerated if the agency must remain in business, adding that a lot of resources in terms of equipment and manpower are daily deployed by NIMET to give weather forecasts to marine, oil and gas, construction industry, water resources and agriculture without returns.

The chairman, however, reassured the management of the agency that the current amendment bill before the National Assembly when passed into law would empower NIMET to collect revenues from all organisations that make use of its services. He praised the current management for their forward-looking initiatives, which according to him has placed the agency on a global map as a leading meteorological organisation in Africa providing support services to several African countries.

Earlier in welcoming the committee, the Director-General of the agency, Prof. Sani Mashi told the visiting legislators that the agency was rated among the best by the World Meteorological Organization, (WMO), adding that NIMET was the first African Meteorological Agency to scale through the International Standard Organization (ISO) standards this year despite the challenges of COVID-19.

WE ARE OPEN FOR BUSINESS

L-R: Group Human Resources Manager, Ultimus Holdings, Chinedu Eboh; Vice President, David Ewemie; President/CEO, Dr. Ifeanyi Odii and Marketing & CommunicationsManager,ColetteAmaeshiduringtheofficiallaunchofthecompanyinLagos‌recently

Sanwo-Olu Reiterates Commitment to Make Lagos Smart City Nosa Alekhuogie The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has reiterated his commitment to make Lagos a smart city by digitalising every operations in the state.

The governor who reiterated his commitment while speaking during the second edition of Art of Technology (2.0), which held in Lagos recently, said Covid-19 spurred his administration to speed up ongoing projects and plans to make life comfortable for Lagosians.

According to him, his administration was committed to give entrepreneurs in the Information

and Communications Technology (ICT) sector, an avenue to explore opportunities the state is offering as the proposed plan to create a technology hub in Yaba where startups and other technologists can secure a space and do their businesses in the pipeline.

Sanwo-Olu said Lagos State was initiating a “Unified Communication first Respondent� where Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) and other security agencies can communicate with one another for security and safety purposes. “There are so many plans in pipeline, we are deploying 2000 cameras in Lagos for security, intelli-

gence gathering, traffic management to track criminals, this shall be in full operation by first quarter of 2021, because we want to make Lagos a resilient and safe City�, Sanwo Olu said.

He affirmed that the state would leave no stone unturned to give residents sound governance, adding that it can be possible through data gathering, just as the state has proposed to capture four million Lagosians to serve the people better.

He said: “We need to know ourselves, so with data obtained from Lagos State Residents Registration Agency (LASRRA) and other agencies, we shall be able to plan well, take sound decisions and make

better policies.�

He added that his administration was putting Validators in place in BRT, rail way and water transportation system through Lagos connect card as an integrated transport system to give Lagosians better transport experience.

He also added that education sector was not left out, saying the Eko Excel Potent initiative is ongoing in primary schools where teachers are given mobile Tablets and training for them to work efficiently and effectively while Lagos State Science Research and Innovation Council (LSSRIC) is in place to promote research and development in the state.

Lufthansa Resumes Flights to Nigeria The first Lufthansa flight after an eight months suspension occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic, arrived in Lagos last Thursday.

The airline said it is offering in December, up to eight weekly departures scheduled from Lagos and Abuja Airports to Frankfurt, while safety and hygiene on board remain a top priority The European mega carrier said it would offer up to five weekly departures from Lagos to Frankfurt and starting on December 8, it would also connect the capital Abuja with three

weekly departures. “All long-haul flights depart from Nigeria in the evening as overnight flights, arriving in Lufthansa’s main hub Frankfurt in the early morning. “This allows all passengers from Nigeria to get the full choice of connecting flights to European, American and Asian destinations, leaving all from the same Terminal 1,� the airline said.

It also noted, “Lufthansa always was and will stay dedicated to Nigeria, one of our key markets in Africa. As we have received the final permission to reopen our

flight operations, we are happy to be the first airline to reconnect Nigeria directly to the centre of Europe and onwards to all other continents.� “We offer a considerable number of flights to the US and Canada, allowing our Nigerian guests to have family members and friends again at reach throughout the world. Health and safety continues to be our top priority and we are committed to maintain a strict adherence to hygiene regulations for all our flights,� General Manager Nigeria & Equatorial Guinea Lufthansa

Group Airlines, Adenike Macaulay.

Lufthansa said its flight LH568, Frankfurt to Lagos, serviced by an Airbus 330-300, offers passengers seats in all three classes, including Business Class and Premium Economy Class, disclosing that after its arrival in Lagos this service will continue to Malabo /Equatorial Guinea.

The non-stop flight would commence with three weekly departures on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to be increased to five weekly frequencies every day except Tuesdays and Sundays.

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Adeyemi: Digital Channels Now Preferred Banking Method The Group Chief Executive Officer, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, Mr.AdeAdeyemi, in this interview speaks about the pan-African bank’s recently released nine-month results, his expectations from the African Continental Free Trade Agreement as well as his expectations for the rest of the year. Obinna Chima presents the excerpts: Can you take us through the numbers in your recently released nine months results?

Our 2020 nine months results for the period September ending printed $91 million yearto-date profit before tax. That profit before tax of $91 million was as a result of specific one-off that we took. The first one was the question of the goodwill that we are holding in the book of the holding company, relating to the acquisition of Oceanic Bank that ETI did in 2011, which is almost nine years. At the point of acquiring Oceanic Bank in 2011, the goodwill that was in our book was about $387 million. As at the beginning of this year that goodwill that we were carrying in our books was $159 million. Normally, by policy and standard you assess goodwill on an annual basis based on the asset that created that goodwill in the first instance. So, when we did the assessment at the beginning of the year, the macro-parameters in Nigeria at that time also concurred with our auditors that the goodwill was not impaired. That is something you are supposed to do annually. However, because of the change in events, because of the COVID-19 which is one in a 100-year event, we are supposed to also do another assessment of the goodwill. You don’t assess the goodwill itself, you assess it indirectly by looking at the macro-parameters of the country in which the investment is kept. So, when we looked at the macro-parameters of Nigeria, it has shifted between December 2019 and September 2020, around inflation, expected growth rate of the country. Of course, that growth rate will affect the growth rate of all the firms in the country.

A large component of the calculation of the value is the terminal value that you discard and a small shift, even a two per cent shift in those numbers, is that affected the value you are holding as an asset. So, that affected the value of the Nigerian assets we were holding.

That mandated that we needed to write off the goodwill. That good will write-off of $159 million impacted our numbers on a year-todate basis. The second factor that impacted our number is because in Zimbabwe where inflation accounting, we incurred a monetary loss of $33 million due to hyperinflation. If you all remembered, two years ago or so that Zimbabwe dollar was one-to-one at the beginning of the year, it letter went to about 16 to one, right now it is about 81 to one US dollars. So when you convert those things, they required that we convert the books at the current rate and when you do that you incur a net monetary loss. We also during the period did take a one-off restructuring charge to reduce people both at the head office, to close some branches in Nigeria and also reduce people elsewhere. All of these one-off issues came to about $205 million. But the one that is most impactful to the number is the $159 million goodwill write- off. Now, a goodwill write-off does not affect the capital of the firm, because before you arrive at the capital you always deduct the tangibles from the equity. So it is a non-cash item, it does not affect the capital of the firm. In fact, the capital grows through the earnings that we have through this period. And it is something that is non-recurring, it is not cash and therefore it is something that we wanted to put behind us.

With the setback, we remain very comfortable with the progress the institution has made that has resulted in our earnings. You will see in the numbers that we printed that revenue of the firm continues to be strong, the cost has gone down, and we actually have a positive operating leverage or positive of 400 basis point. The other point is that our deposit across the firm has grown year-to-date by about $1.1 billion. So, we have a deposit base of about $17.3 billion. One other point I want to make is the fact that the write-off of the goodwill has no impact on Ecobank Nigeria, because the goodwill is carried in the books of the holding company and not in the books of

Adeyemi Ecobank Nigeria. As we continue to manage that asset, we expect Nigeria to recover from its recession and in the future for Nigeria to be doing much better than it is doing before.

But if you look at the 2020 year inflation for Nigeria, it is not single-digit. The believe was that Nigeria will get to seven per cent, nine per cent and 10 per cent growth rate, that has always been factored into the long-term development plan of Nigeria. But that is now muted. And because of that muting those are the things that affected the long-term expectation that drove impairment of the goodwill.

So with this ďŹ rst nine months results, what are you looking at in terms of projection for the rest of the year?

For the rest of the year which is one quarter, of course we can’t be writing of goodwill every quarterly, because the goodwill is now zero. So, the performance should be consistent without a goodwill write off. Which means that without a goodwill write-off our number will been about $80 million for the quarter and therefore you should expect that range of number for the fourth quarter.

So, because of our PanAfrican presence, we have been discussing with the governments and our customers to start to take another look at their businesses and understand that the market is bigger than what it used to be before

I am particular of your operations out of Nigeria. Of course COVID-19 was not only limited to Nigeria, and we all saw the damage COVID-19 did in the last couple of months. Now, there is this fear of a second wave. Now out of Nigeria, how has this development actually affect your operations?

I think if you exclude Nigeria from our numbers you will see that all other countries and then there is the Zimbabwe issue that I have mentioned, but we actually picked up a lot of new businesses for all our countries.

Our deposit increased significantly and it is there in the numbers that we published. Our francophone West Africa, we actually had more opportunities to respond to some of the needs of our clients, so that is pretty good. In Anglophone West Africa anchored out of Ghana, we are able to respond again to the needs of our clients where we have seen increases in our businesses and our performance. Remember in all those countries we are the leading banks in those banks in those countries. So, when there is run to safety the deposit comes to us.

When a customer needs specific solutions, we get approached, when the government need solutions, we get approached in those countries.

If you look at the central, eastern and southern Africa, if you take out the impact of $33 million net monetary loss, again we were able to do very good in those 18 countries that formed those clusters. So, across the board we are actually able to substitute the losses that we expected as a result of COVID-19 with other income streams that we were able to get and a large build-up of our deposit base. And the impact of our technology which is the same across board allows our customers irrespective of where they are domiciled to continue to operate.

Earlier you talked about closing some branches in Nigeria, what informed that decision?

Yes, we closed 114 branches. We still have about 250 something branches still remaining.

So, 250 branches are big and it is massive when you consider the branch network that the rest of our competitors have. That is the first thing.

The second is the idea of using agency network as a means of being able to distribute banking services to people. The third thing is the idea that digital platform is now going to continue to be the preferred method of delivering banking services to people as we go forward into the future. Those are the things that informed our decision, and some of these branches were not profitable. So of them were weak and that was the basis on which we made the decision to close those branches and merge their activities with some other branches that is existing in agreement with our regulator – the Central Bank of Nigeria.

What then happened to your staff while you decide to close these branches, what is their fate?

Well, you see the management of the staff of the firm continues to be what we do, in moving people around and in making decisions on how many staff we need to be able to run the business because we cannot keep a branch open when there is no profitability attached to that branch. Because ultimately if you do that, then the bank is going to really go down and then the question is not just going to be what happens to the staff, is actually going be what happens to the depositors? So in working with the central bank, we take so many things into consideration in making a Continued on page 29

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ADEYEMI: DIGITAL CHANNELS NOW PREFERRED BANKING METHOD

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Adeyemi decision to reduce the number of branches.

And all those presentations were made to central bank before they approved. And they were made to the board before the decisions were made. We don’t take them in isolation.

But remember if you keep the staff you need to be able to continue to pay them. So, from management point of view, we need to be fair to the staff, if we are going to let people go, we need to pay them to go. We need to make sure that we are fair to them which is something that we do. When I said we took $12.5 million restructuring charge, it is to make sure that we are fair to people. For example, when we met let drivers go, we supported them.

Looking at Ecobank as an African brand are you doing anything speciďŹ cally in the area of corporate social responsibility to support the continent especially in this time of COVID-19?

The way we approached the issue was that in all the countries where we are present, we actually gave specific donations for the palliatives when this matter started. We gave over $3 million in form of donations in the countries where we do business. We also understood that one thing is to have palliatives, the other is to make sure that the people are aware of what they need to do to be able to avoid catching COVID-19 in terms of radio, television and other awareness programme. Again, we participated in ensuring that, that is done, to be able to engage people to make they don’t contract COVID-19. The third thing was stepping back and working with our client because in the developed world the government was able to provide money to the corporations, the government was able to follow up, where people get paid for sitting at home.

But in our part of the world the government couldn’t do that and therefore we had to work with our clients to restructure their facilities so that they don’t have to pay and then they can support their staff. The fourth is making sure that we work with the African Union around the concept of micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs), where we usually put a lot of money aside to be able to support MSMEs across the continent. And we actually did training in these countries grooming a lot of people that will be able to have access to, not just finances but access to organisational structure and training. So all of those things were things we felt we needed to do as a player in the continent. And of course some of our governments wanted to put money in the hand of the poor and they didn’t want to give cash to them because cash became vehicle of transmission and we were able to quickly create accounts for those people and be able to transmit money into those systems.

The African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) will take off in January, what opportunities do you see for Pan-African banks speciďŹ cally for Ecobank and how your bank being positioned to take advantage of the opportunities therein?

For the AFCFTA, we are one of the key supporters in trying to make sure that, which is done because it is something that is good for the continent and is good for our customers. So, because of our Pan-African presence, we have

been discussing with the governments and our customers to start to take another look at their businesses and understand that the market is bigger than what it used to be before. So, if your job in Aba is to manufacture bags for the Nigerian market, if you now start thinking about, how you can expand your manufacturing capacity to be able to export across West Africa and also other African countries not just looking at Nigeria as market alone. And as you change your demand forecast, then you need to now improve your capacity to produce and that will mean importing new machinery, which will mean expanding your manufacturing base and being able to develop the market and hire people. The same for people in Aba manufacturing is also applicable to people producing sugar, they can now produce and send to other places. So, there is a whole range of clientele that we are working with that will enable that to happen. And we then work with the likes of Afreximbank on how we can make sure people can now make payments in West Africa in a very smooth way because we are the platform that connects 33 countries today. It means that if you are in Nigeria and if the regulator allows you, which is what we do in other places by the way, if you want to send money from Ghana to Gambia today, you can use Ecobank Rapid Transfer and the money goes there. It is only in Nigeria because of the exchange rate rules that doesn’t allow that to happen instantly unless you are remitting out of a domiciliary account. So, the whole range of these, both at the institutional level, working with clients, repositioning our portfolio and making funding available to our customers will enable us to deal with the AfCFTA in a way that creates good opportunity for Africans. Because there is no need for Nigeria to import rubber from Malaysia when rubber is being exported by Côte d’Ivoire and the distance is not that long.

It is better within the African space. So there is a whole range of business that we are having conversation with, the customers, with the governments and the African Union because of our pan-African presence.

Don’t you think the issue of border closure will frustrate that?

It is our expectation that border closure will be temporary and my understanding is that it was put in place as a security measure. Nigeria has always played a key role in the continent whether when it was the Organisation of African Unity. Nigeria and Togo were the two countries that spearheaded the creation of ECOWAS and we think that Nigeria understands its key role as enabler of Africans coming together.

What is your projection for Nigeria’s economy for the rest of the year?

So the Nigerian economy will contract in 2020 which means Nigeria is in recession because it has had two quarters of contraction. We think the economy will revamp in 2021 and that is the basis in which we are out planning activities for Nigeria. Nothing should be taken for granted, the government and the people still need to act in a way that is supportive of those growth expectations. So we think that Nigeria will go back to growth in 2021.

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Dimensions of Global Unclaimed Funds Jonathan Eborah

When we consider unclaimed tax benefits in the United Kingdom in Naira terms, we have an annual unclaimed benefits figure of 7.95 Trillion Naira while the USA has 22.04 Trillion Naira. This is shown in a table below:

In every geographical and political jurisdiction and in all financial markets, the issue of unclaimed financial benefits is increasingly becoming a matter of serious concern to governments, financial markets and the general public.

Across board and in every nation, unclaimed financial benefits continue to grow year-on-year.

The acceleration in growth and the divergent views of the public on the reasons for the growth gave rise to this article which is an attempt to properly examine the nature and types of unclaimed benefits, particularly where we are in Nigeria, and what could be done (in addition to what has been done already) to reduce their growth to minimum acceptable levels and develop the right attitude towards it.

Types of Unclaimed Fund/BeneďŹ ts Unclaimed Funds or financial benefits are money and other assets whose rightful owner(s) cannot be located by the paying agency or institutions and where the owners or their proxy cannot locate the paying agency or institutions. Sometimes, it occurs where the beneficiary is located and aware but reluctant to activate collection. In strict sense, the first situation is called lost funds while the second situation is called unclaimed funds but for purpose of this discourse, all are grouped as unclaimed fund/benefits.

There are many types and reasons for unclaimed fund/benefits, but we shall categorize them into six broad headings - Unclaimed Dividends, Unclaimed Account Balances/Cheques and Redundant Bank Accounts, Unclaimed Insurance Benefits, Unclaimed Tax/Social Security Benefits, Unclaimed Pensions, and Unclaimed/Lost Asset and Properties.

Unclaimed Dividends & Shares This is the most popular form of unclaimed fund/benefits, especially in Nigeria. But it is a worldwide problem, occurring in varying degrees across nations. It typically refers to that portion of total declared dividends (amount of monies paid out of the distributable profit of a company) payable to equity shareholders after deduction of government withholding tax but remains unclaimed for a given period of time after the payable date.

In Nigeria, it becomes unclaimed when the equity investors fail to claim such benefits within 6 months.

Unclaimed Dividend and Shares could be in form of declared dividend, liquidation dividend, take-over benefits (and sometimes bond coupon), etc. Take-over benefits are made up of unclaimed shares and shares in dissenters’ register. As at year end 2019, the total value of unclaimed dividends in the Nigerian capital market was N158.44 billion; in the United Kingdom, it is estimated that over £3 to £4 billion of unclaimed dividends is available across the FTSE 100; in Australia, it is AS$1.1 billion (Australian dollars).

Over the years, in many nations including Nigeria, several steps have been taken to curb the unclaimed dividends problem, yet, it kept rising. In Nigeria, the capital market community led by the Securities & Exchange Commission have introduced the following policies - separation of the custodian of unclaimed dividend funds into two after 15 months. Fifteen months from the payable date of a declared dividend, 90 per cent of the unclaimed portion will be returned to the company that declared the dividend while 10 per cent will remain in the custody of the Registrars who are the paying agents.

The second major step is the establishment of “Electronic Dividend Payment System� called eDMMS where shareholders/investors’ dividends are paid direct to the respective accounts of the investors on the payable date. To achieve this, SEC working with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) agreed to allow savings account holders to receive Unclaimed Dividends through Savings Accounts.

It is noteworthy that many countries operate the electronic payment system, yet, unclaimed dividends keep rising. The third major step is that they authorized investors who bought shares with multiple names to regularize their position through their Stockbrokers and Registrars with valid evidence of purchase.

Unclaimed Bank Balances, Cheques and Dormant Accounts Another is unclaimed benefits from bank deposits, dormant bank accounts, owner untraceable deposits/ cheques, etc., for various reasons. For context, the UK has an estimated ÂŁ15 billion pounds held in dormant bank and building society accounts. In Nigeria, about 47 million bank accounts with estimated

S/NCountry Unclaimed Rate Naira Value (N) 1. Nigeria Not Available N1 Not Available 2. UK ÂŁ15,900,000,000 N500/ÂŁ1 17,950,000,000,000 3. USA US$58,000,000,000 N380/US$1 22,040,000,000,000

From the above analysis, unclaimed Tax Benefits in USA is higher than that in the UK with N14.09 Billion. There is no record for Nigeria.

Comparative Unclaimed Pension BeneďŹ ts Considering unclaimed pension benefits in naira terms, the UK presents a figure of N9.7 Trillion while the USA has a figure of N114 Billion.

S/N Country Unclaimed Rate Naira Value (N) 1. Nigeria Not Available N1 Not Available 2.

UK ÂŁ19,400,000,000 N500/ÂŁ1 9,700,000,000,000 3.

USA US$300,000,000 N380/US$1 114,000,000,000 4. Australia AS$16,200,000,000 N260/$1 4,212,000,000,000

Buhari deposit volume in excess of N1 trillion are dormant or redundant with effective unclaimed benefits.

Dormancy occurs when there is loss of contact between a bank and its customers over a period.

Generally, accounts are classified as dormant after a specific period of the absence of a customer-initiated transaction. This period of inactivity is usually referred to as the dormancy period. Dormancy period varies from nation to nation (where there are laws). In context, Dormant Period is 15 years in Ireland and Portugal, 7 years in Australia, 10 years in Canada and Switzerland, 3-5 years in USA (depending on State Laws), 26 years in Spain and Greece, 30 years in France and 25 years in New Zealand. However, in Nigeria, on October 7, 2015, CBN issued “Guidelines on the Management of Dormant Accounts and Other Unclaimed Funds by Banks and Other Financial Institutions in Nigeria.�

The CBN Guidelines defined dormant accounts in Nigeria as accounts where there is no customer or depositor-initiated transaction for a period of One (1) year after the last customer or depositorinitiated transaction. The Guidelines also defined Unclaimed Funds (Bank) as proceeds of stale local and/or foreign currency drafts not yet presented for payment by beneficiaries, funds received from a correspondent bank without sufficient details as to the rightful beneficiary and/or a recall of funds made to the remitting bank to which the Nigerian bank’s account had not been debited, and judgment debt for which the judgment creditor has not claimed the amount of judgment award. In addition, it defined customer or depositor-initiated transactions to include cash deposits, withdrawals and transfers to or from the account.

One major provision in the Guidelines is that dormant account balances shall continue to be reflected in the books of banks as deposit liabilities until they are eventually withdrawn by the account holders or disposed of on their instructions.

Unclaimed Insurance/BeneďŹ ts A lot of insurance policy details and fine lines are often misunderstood or completely ignored by insurance policy holders. Often times the primary function of the policy is reckoned with, while all the other add-ons in the policy are completely ignored. This has led to mounting but unclaimed insurance benefits, accruing to policy holders lying idle across countries.

Unclaimed Tax/Social Security BeneďŹ ts In many countries, millions of families and individuals fail to claim their tax benefits for various reasons, which leads to annual figures of unclaimed tax benefits in billions of dollars. These include child tax credit, working tax credit and tax refunds, Job seekers’ allowance, income support, child benefit, council tax support, housing benefits, etc. In the UK, the figure for annual unclaimed tax benefits is about ÂŁ15.9 billion. In the United States of America, it is currently about $58 billion.

Incidentally, in Nigeria, there is no data.

Unclaimed Pensions Unclaimed pensions represent another sore but common source of unclaimed benefits worldwide.

Unfortunately, a lot of retirees and families are living in poverty because of this. A myriad of factors is responsible for this. In the UK for example, there is an estimated ÂŁ19.4 billion of lost or forgotten pensions. In the USA it is estimated at US$300 million unclaimed by over 38,000 individuals.

Namibia has unclaimed benefits of about N$150 million (US$9.5 million) comprised of roughly 130,000 members/beneficiaries.

In Austria, the total lost accounts and unclaimed benefits was AS$16.2 billion (US$12.2 billion) comprised of Lost Accounts AS$13.5 billion (US$10.1 billion) and Unclaimed Benefits AS$2.7 billion (US$2.0 billion) for 5 million member beneficiaries/ accounts.

According to the International Organisation of Pension Supervisors (IOPS), there are two classes of Unclaimed Pensions, namely: Lost Accounts and Unclaimed Benefits.

Lost Accounts are adopted for situations, either during the accumulation or pay-out phase, where the administrator of the pension fund did not have contact details for the holder of an account.

Unclaimed Benefits are used to describe the more specific case where a member who has a right to claim benefits does not make an application or take other procedural steps to claim it.

In context, different jurisdictions adopt different names for different purposes. In Nigeria, there is no known record for unclaimed Pensions.

Unclaimed/Lost Asset and Properties Assets and properties are considered dormant, unclaimed or lost, when contact with the owner is lost usually due to name change, unreported change of address or death of the owner.

In the UK as at the end of 2019, over ÂŁ200 billion worth of assets were reported unclaimed or lost.

In the USA the figure is $49.5 billion.

Comparative Analysis To enable us make valuable comparison with the figures we have, we consider it necessary to convert the figures to a common currency (Naira).

Therefore, using a Naira baseline (of N500 to £1, N380 to US$1, N66 to GH 1 and N260 to AS$1) to make comparative analysis, we discovered that: Comparative Unclaimed Dividend For unclaimed dividends, Nigeria has a total outstanding figure of N158.44 Billion compared to the UK’s outstanding figure of N1.5 trillion.

This can also be compared to Australia’s N286 Billion. This is shown in a table below: S/N Country Unclaimed 1 Nigeria N158,440,000,000 2 UK £3,000,000,000 3 Australia AS$1,100,000,000

Rate

Naira Value (N)

N1 158,440,000,000 N500/ÂŁ1 1,500,000,000,000 N260/AS$1 286,000,000,000

4 USA US$ (No records yet) N380/US$1 Thus, in terms of unclaimed dividends, comparatively among the three nations stated above with values, the UK has the highest quantum in Naira at N1.5 trillion followed by Australia at N286 Billion. Nigeria has the lowest at N158.44 Billion.

Furthermore, in Nigeria, the following are the total declared dividends from January 2009 to October 2019 together with the unclaimed portion.

From the above analysis, unclaimed Pension Benefits in the UK is the highest at N9.7 Trillion followed by Australia with N4.212 Trillion. The US has the lowest with N114 Billion. From the above, the Unclaimed Pension in the UK is higher than that in the US with N9.586 Trillion. There is no record for Nigeria.

Comparative Unclaimed Properties For unclaimed properties, in naira terms, the UK presents N100 Trillion while the figure for USA is N18.81 Trillion.

S/N Country Unclaimed Rate Naira Value (N) 1. Nigeria Not Available N1 Not Available 2. UK ÂŁ200,000,000,000 N500/ÂŁ1 100,000,000,000,000 3. USA US$49,000,000,000 N380/US$1 18,810,000,000,000

From the above analysis, unclaimed Properties in the UK is higher than that in the USA with N81.19 Trillion. There is no record for Nigeria.

Contributory Factors There are myriad of factors that contributed to these unclaimed funds across the globe some of which are highlighted hereunder: UNREPORTED CHANGE OF ADDRESS The main factor that contributes to the issue of unclaimed benefits of any kind is unreported change of address. Whether by omission or commission, when beneficiaries, heirs, assigns or next of kin to any kind of benefits relocate or move to a new address without reporting such changes to the governmental authority or financial institution responsible for providing such accrued benefit.

Benefits remain unclaimed at the time of dispensing since there is no way to trace the beneficiary until proper and present address information is supplied to the concerned agency or institution.

UNREPORTED CHANGE OF NAMES Some persons change their names due to marriage, while others for religious or family reasons do so, but fail to effect the statutory publishing of such name change in the proper publication as stipulated by law, or forward same to the concerned agency or institution from which the benefit accrued. Thus, cheques are written, dividends paid, transfers made, etc. but cannot be completed because of the unreported and un-updated name changes.

UNREPORTED BANK ACCOUNT CLOSURE Whether the account was closed by the beneficiary or the bank; or the bank/financial institution went under while the beneficiary failed to provide another bank account details to the institution or agency responsible for their benefits, such benefits remain unclaimed until a new account is provided. This is one of the reasons why the electronic payments campaign may not lead to zero unclaimed dividends. What is important is that continuous effort is made to reduce the quantum in terms of size and, possibly, volume.

Comparative Unclaimed Bank Deposits Looking at unclaimed bank deposits, Nigeria has an outstanding figure of N1 trillion naira, compared to the UK’s N7.5 trillion as seen in the table below:

INCOMPLETE AND ILLEGIBLE RECORDS Most beneficiaries do not take the time to legibly fill in their details in the forms, sometimes they fill in incomplete records and information. These do not however come to matter until it is time to process their benefits, when such incomplete or illegible records make it impossible. Some even fill in wrong phone numbers or may have changed their phone number without updating such with the institution or agency responsible for the benefit.

S/N Country Unclaimed Rate 1.

Nigeria N1,000,000,000,000 2.

UK ÂŁ15,000,000,000

Naira Value (N) N1 1,000,000,000,000 N500/ÂŁ1 7,500,000,000,000

rEborah is the Registrar/CEO, Institute of Capital Market Registrars

From the above table, unclaimed bank deposits in the UK is higher than that in Nigeria 6.5 times.

Comparative Unclaimed Tax BeneďŹ ts

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

MONDAY DECEMBER 7, 2020 • T H I S D AY

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L-R: Nollywood Actor, Mr. Zack Orji; Author of the Book ‘’Democracy and the Untold Story of June 12’’, Mr. Abimbola Aboderin and President, Ohaneze Indigbo of Lagos State, Chief Solomon Aguene, during the presentation of the book in Lagos...recently PHOTO: KOLAWOLE ALLI

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CITYSTRINGS

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Harnessing Snake Farming as an Antidote Due to poor funding, inadequate knowledge of treatment and availability of drugs, antidotes for snake bites fall under one of the Neglected Tropical Diseases as stated by the World Health Organisation.

Kuni Tyessi writes on the need for more investors to harness snake farming not just for the immense financial gains, but also in order to fill the vacuum of lack of anti venom for bite victims

S

nake bite belongs to a group of 20 disease conditions which have been categorised as Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). They are common in tropical or sub tropical regions, of which Nigeria is one. The diseases are referred to as neglected because they generally affect more of the world's poor population who hardly have a voice and a representation.

Historically, NTDs have not received much attention in terms of funding as other diseases.

The National NTDs Elimination Programme Coordinator, Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Anyaike Chukwuma in a paper titled "Overview of NTDs in Nigeria: Challenges and Prospects", said it has been estimated that not less than 122 million Nigerians stand at the risk of contracting 12 out of 20 while 119 million, equivalent to two out of three persons suffer from at least one or more.

According to him: "it is estimated that 122 million persons are at the risk of contracting NTDs. 20 per cent are preschooled age children, 28 per cent are school age children within the ages of 5-14, and 52 per cent are adults from 15 years and above."

The World Health Organisation (WHO) reinstated snakebite envenoming into its list of 'category A' NTDs which is without challenge, an important milestone in disease control. The inclusion is expected to further strengthen anti venom development and the capacity to boost investor funding for snake bite prevention and treatment access initiatives.

In Nigeria, approximately 15,000- 20,000 humans, mostly farmers and herders are bitten by different species of snakes each year.

This is common in the Niger/Benue province, including Langtang in Plateau State, Nsukka in Enugu State, parts of Oyo State and with the highest prevalence in Gombe State which is about 7,000- 10,000 annually.

This has led to several deaths which are preventable and treatable, as snake bite envenoming is a potentially life threatening disease that results from the injection of a blend of toxins following the bite of a venomous snake.

With the aforementioned numbers of snake bites, only about 5,000 anti venom are procured for treatment due to inadequate budgetary allocations which suffers a huge deficit of over N350 million as against N500 million which is needed as cost implication for all treatments. Consequently, economic loss and negative agricultural implications are recorded, as victims who are usually not exposed to mechanised farming are bedridden, thereby affecting the output of farm produce.

In a two-day media dialogue which was organised by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) with the theme NTDs control in Nigeria, the Deputy Director, Public Health Department, Mr. Fatai Oyediran, stated that while the gap of over N350 million worth of anti venom exists, N131 million worth of anti venom is approved by the Ministry and is distributed to state governments for free. However and sadly too, not all of it is completely released, hence the need and call for snake farming from individuals and corporate bodies including Public Private Partnerships.

According to him “annually, funding has being a challenge because of the dwindling budget we've been experiencing in the last three to five years and between 5,000- 6,000 anti venom being procured. We encourage state governments to procure and already, Gombe, Bauchi and Plateau States have started but not as expected."

With high economical value that comes with breeding varieties of snakes, often for the purpose of research, the collection of venom for the creation of anti venom, in the treatment of snake bites should be welcomed by all, even though highly cost effective with risks that can be minimised.

In closing the huge gap towards the financing of anti venom with respect to the ratio of

Snake farming will ďŹ ll the vacuum of lack of anti venom for bite victims

National NTDs Elimination Programme Coordinator, Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Anyaike Chukwuma

persons affected and the quantity of medicines available, snake farming which in many cultures is seen as a taboo or going to the extreme in business choices, comes in handy to serve not just as choice meat for human consumption, materials for fashion accessories such as bags, shoes and belts among others, sports and circus, tourism, pets, worship, but most importantly for medicines and anti venom.

Snake farming business, apart from being lucrative and adventurous, increases GDP and has the propensity to create jobs -an all time challenge of the government as a result of the swelling population. And because there has been an increasing and constant demand for snake venom in the global anti venom market, with very few people interested in

the trade, to tackle this shortage, investors will be highly appreciated.

In western climes for example, the job of snake breeding is paid by the hour. "The Guardian.com" reports that on the average, salary as high as $60,520 (N22,997,600) is paid for all zoologists and wild life biologists, while jobsites advertising for professionals qualified to milk snake venom earn a typical annual salary of about $30,000 which is equivalent to N11,400,000.

Countries like China, Thailand and the US have the largest number of snake farms in the world and snake farm owners can earn as much as $12m (N4,560,000,000)per year.

In Nigeria, snake farming is a legitimate business backed by law with regulations on

who can buy and sell the venom. However, knowledge on how to operate properly, and other arrangements need to be considered for the capital intensive investment. Oyediran said they include location, investing in the buying, hunting and importation of snakes, feeding, cleaning and marketing amongst others.

According to him, “location is the first thing one should consider in snake farming. It is usually suitable in an isolated area where there are lesser or controlled human traffic.

You also need to consider which is usually in the range of 24-29 degrees Celsius and 21-24 degrees Celsius during day time and night respectively.

"Some people might use snake charmers in acquiring the different types of snakes while others have been trained in handling snakes.

Some of them are even imported but importance should be more economically viable.

"Then you have to consider feeding which is also very expensive. You have to give them meat and bear in mind that not all snakes eat the same types of food but will commonly feed on rodents, insects, eggs, birds, fish, lizards, frogs and toads. You have to clean their cages from time to time as this will enhance their productivity level and forestall health problems."

Pharmaceutical companies spend millions of dollars each year to purchase snakes or snake venom. These spending may soon get into multi billions if ongoing research on the use of snake venom to cure cancer is positive.

Additionally, pharmaceutical companies use the gall bladders, livers and skin from the snakes to create nutritional supplements which are ultimately sold to customers.

Therefore, in the federal government's quest to take 100 million people out of poverty in the next 10 years, as well as individuals and corporate bodies contributing their quota to the growth of the economy, snake farming should be reasonably considered, especially in the area of diversification. Where and how to invest should no longer be a challenge.

Moreso, when juxtaposed with the foreseeable, but debatable target timeline of the year 2030 which has being pegged as the year for the complete elimination of NTDs, there exists a fertile ground with little competition, but viable and massive marketability worldwide.

35

T H I S D AY Ëž ÍľËœ Í°ÍŽÍ°ÍŽ

CRIME&SECURITY

Borno Massacre: Ekhomu Calls for 10,000 Vigilantes to Provide Protection for Local Communities Stories by Rebecca Ejifoma

S

ecurity expert, Dr Ona Ekhomu has advised the Borno State government to immediately hire 10,000 Borno Youths into a robust vigilance force to defend the state alongside the military, the police, the paramilitary and the Civilian JTF. The absence of a capable guardian is what facilitated the Borno massacre that occurred last Saturday, he added.

Dr. Ekhomu, who is President of the Association Industrial Security and Safety Operators of Nigeria, said hiring the 10,000-man youth vigilance force will provide protection of the rural populations against incessant terror attacks.

He said: “The vigilance initiative will also help Governor Zulum to fulfil his campaign promise to hire Borno youths to secure the State. “The Borno Vigilance Force which should employ able-bodied youths who must receive musketry, martial arts and security tactics training will be willing to take the fight to the terrorists to defend their home state against the implacable jihadists. “What the vigilance group lacks in superior fire power, it will make up for in manpower.�

Reacting to the slaughter of almost 70 rice farmers by Boko Haram fighters in Jadamari last Saturday, Ekhomu said that rural dwellers were targeted because they are“soft targets� and are considered

Dr. Ekhomu legitimate targets. exploiting.

He said the absence of a capable He explained that the goal of Boko guardian in the Borno countryside was Haram is to get citizens to lose faith in a huge vulnerability that the terroristswere the government. The constant slaughter

of rural dwellers which is causing so much pain and grief is likely to achieve that goal.

Ekhomu, who is West Africa’s first chartered security expert said the Borno Vigilance Force will act as force multipliers for the military and ensure greater security.

He said that the killing of the rice farmers just 20 kilometres from Maiduguri showed that the entire state was unsafe.

He urged “the Borno State government to take a more active role in the defense of the state stating that the constitutional warrant that the security and welfare of the citizens is the purpose of government did not refer only to the federal government as often misconstrued. “Under current statutes, the state government can license shot guns for use by vigilantes as a minimum. We know that Defence Industries Corporation produces shotgun shells. So, the Nnewi boys can produce shotguns which can be used by the Borno and other vigilance outfits. It is a fallacy to think that every combatant must carry an AK-47 rifle.�

Ekhomu said that the days of benign jihad policy of Abu Musab Al-Barnawi were over, adding that with the hardliners firmly in control, the conflict is bound to get more bloody.

He prayed for the repose of the souls of the executed rice farmers and said major lessons should be learned from this incident to safeguard the lives of innocent Borno residents.

HORA Decries Alleged Illegal Detention of Staff by Police The Management of House Owners and Residents Association (HORA) of 1004 Estate, Victoria Island Lagos has condemned what it called the wrongful arrest and illegal detention of its Operations Manager , Mr. Chris Amako by authorities of the Bar Beach Police Station for carrying out his official duties.

In a press statement by HORA's lawyer; Mr Femi Gbenle, the association expressed deep worry over what it called the meddlesomeness of the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of bar beach police station, Isah Lawal, a Superintendent of Police in what is "ordinarily a civil matter within the jurisdiction of the estate “.

According to the statement, one of the residents in the estate Mr. Olusegun Ogunleye (who was later discovered to be a Deputy Commissioner of Police, with Interpol as his last place of posting) had defaulted in paying his service charges and electricity bills for three years. After much efforts to make him settle all his bills failed, HORA management directed its Operations Manager, Mr. Chris Amako to disconnect electricity supply to his the apartment.

The disconnection, HORA said, was

in line with the agreement reached with Eko Distribution Company (EKDC) the company supplying electricity to the estate- a provision in the agreement empowers the estate management to act on behalf of the EKDC on matters relating to default in settlement of bills.

It was further stated that following the disconnection of Ogunleye's light, he reported the matter to Bar Beach police after which Amako was arrested on the orders of the DPO. On learning about the arrest of its Operations Manager last week Tuesday, HORA Management sent legal representatives to seek the release of Amako, but he was denied bail and detained on the orders of the DPO without a clear explanation of what his purported offence was.

The association said, it was surprised that in spite of existing court order restraining the police from interfering in the estate’s internal operational matters, the Bar Beach Police arraigned Amako before a Lagos Magistrate Court on Wednesday. “The court�, HORA said, “in its wisdom granted Amako bail on self recognition same Wednesday. Regrettably, the DPO

of Bar Beach Police Station refused to allow Amako his freedom as he insisted on personally verifying from the Magistrate if he truly granted the bail. This was in spite of the fact that a release order was issued and signed by the court�.

Though, the detained Amako was eventually released in the morning of Thursday, yet HORA management has condemned the perceived conspiracy of the DPO and the Ogunleye who has refused to keep to terms of his tenancy/ residency in the estate.

According to HORA, Olusegun Ogunleye who was later found out to be a Deputy Commissioner of Police, had misled his landlord at the point of becoming a tenant.

He had reportedly told his landlord that he was the managing director of an oil and gas company instead of identifying himself as a police officer.

The association disclosed that the same Ogunleye has been dragged to court by his landlord for owing rent for three years.

Reacting to the allegations leveled against him, DCP Ogunleye said the allegations were spurious as he was not owing any house rent, service charge or electricity bill for three years as alleged.

According to him, his problem started when the landlord of his apartment after collecting two years rent and service charge reneged on his agreement to put the apartment in good condition as some facilities were not in proper condition.

The senior police officer said, it was the refusal of the landlord to put the apartment in order that precipitated a court action now in a Lagos Court.

Ogunleye said it was an embarrassment for him to learn from his children who reside in the apartment as he is in Abuja that the operations manager of HORA led some people to disconnect his light and tempered with other facilities in his apartment, thereby causing water leakage which has damaged many of his household items.

He said that since he did not want to take laws into his hand, he decided to report the incident to the Bar Beach Police station which in turn invited the operations manager for explanation.

It was gathered that the operations manager allegedly refused to honour the invitation following which he was arrested and charged to court for willful damage of property.

Magodo Residents Task LASG, IG over Harassment by Officers, Land Grabbers The Magodo Residents Association (MRA) in Magodo Phase 2, Lagos, has tasked the Lagos State government and the Inspector General of Police to secure their lives and properties over incessant harassment by the police and land grabbers.

The MRA Chairman, Mr. Bajo Osinubi alongside other representatives of the estate made this call at a press briefing held in Lagos.

MRA’s call is coming after “some personnel of the Force Criminal and Investigation Department (FCID), Alagbon alongside some alleged thugs disrupted activities in the estate on Wednesday, November 25�.

It said the invasion was connected to a court case between the Adeyiga family and the state government, who rejected the 548 plots of land by the state government.

The chairman said: “It was with great

shock residents received the treatment meted out by law enforcement agents of the government led by an Assistant Superintendent of Police from FCID Alagbon. They were accompanied by thugs and they entered the estate in two vans on Wednesday 25 November, 2020.�

Osinubi, who accused the operatives and their thugs of causing hysteria among residents, noted that the operatives drove their vans round the estate and attempted to arrest workers. “They accessed various construction sites, harassed workers and arrested all found on the sites. But we calmed the situation, and they left,� he added.

While noting that the invasion led to the total lockdown of the estate, Osinubi said out of panic some residents thought there was an attempted kidnap or robbery.

The chairman, who said he has lived

in the estate for about 13 years now, acknowledged that while they are aware of the case between the Adeyiga and the state government, they are not aware of any entitlement in Magodo. “We are aware that a certain Adeyiga family obtained judgment in court against the Lagos State government, and writ of execution to enforce the said judgment in respect of certain numbers of plots within the Shangisha scheme. “We are not aware that any plot of land has been allocated to them by the Lagos State government within Magodo GRA phase 2 for them to be entitled to lay claim to any particular house or land within Magodo GRA. “The writ of execution obtained by Adeyiga family has been challenged in court and same has been set aside by honourable Justice R.I.B Adebiyi of the

high court of Lagos state appeal,� he clarified. “We call on the Inspector General of Police, and the Nigeria Police authority not to allow the police force be rubbished and/or misled the Adeyiga family in an attempt to perpetuate their illegal and unlawful act and take possession of innocent people’s properties,� he pleaded.

The MRA chairman also called on the state government to come to their aid and live up to its responsibility of securing the lives and properties of “reputable, and responsible people of Magodo�.

Osunibi described Magodo residents as law abiding, who have contributed immensely to the development of Magodo.

Others present at the briefing were the General Secretary, Ade Aroloye; the Legal Adviser, Tunji Abdulhameed; and the Estate Manager, Ago Solademi.

36

T H I S D AY Ëž ÍľËœ 2020

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

Shareholders Approve GTBank’s Planned HoldCo Structure Goddy Egene Shareholders of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank) last Friday approved a holding company (HoldCo) structure for the bank, even as they expressed excitement about the benefits they would derive from the new structure.

At the Court ordered meeting held in Lagos, the investors gave their approval to the company for the transfer of the 29,431,179,224 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each in the issued and paid-up share capital of the bank held by them to Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc. This was done in exchange for the allotment of 29,431,179,224 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each to the shareholders in the same proportion to their shareholding in the bank credited as fully paid without any further act or deed.

Expressing his members’ excitement over the planned restructuring, the founder, Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN), Sunny Nwosu, explained that the shareholders are happy because the arrangement the bank has put in place was devoid of complexities usually known as share reconstruction.

According to him, the bank has performed well under the leadership of the Chairperson and the managing director and thus projected that the HoldCo would perform better if the duo are still in charge of the new brand.

He said: “We are excited about the development because we are going to get value as everything we have would be transferred to the holding company. There will be no manipulation as a result of

reconstruction that usually leads to fractional shares.�

Also commending the bank’s leadership and ingenuity, The President, Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Mr. Boniface Okezie said: “GTBank has over the years proven to be a force and leading initiator of revolutionary advancement and technology based development in the nation’s banking industry and we look forward to the growth and advancement it is sure to bring into the new business areas it will be taking on with the Holdco structure�. “The arrangement where all existing shares of the bank would be transferred entirely to the Holdco in the name of the beneficial owners is good, while the same number of units and percentage would be held in the new entity, is commendable,� he added.

Agbaje

MARKET INDICATORS

Gbededo Retires as Flour Mills GMD, Olusanya Takes Over Goddy Egene Flour Mills of Nigeria (FMN) Plc, one of Nigeria’s leading integrated food and agro-allied companies, has announced the retirement of Paul Gbededo as its Group Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, effective December, 31, 2020 ,while Mr. Boye Olusanya has been appointed to take over effective January 1, 2021.

The company said in a statement that Gbededo’s career with the FMN Group started at the Nigerian Bag Manufacturing Company (BAGCO) as a management trainee in 1982.

Since then, he had taken up several managerial positions within the group. On the 13th of

March 2013, he was appointed a member of the Board of Directors and designate Group Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer,which position he assumed fully effective April 1, 2013.

Commenting on the retirement of Gbededo, Chairman of FMN, Mr. John Coumantaros, said: “Paul is a brilliant colleague and an exceptional leader who we will miss dearly. On behalf of the board I must express our heartfelt thanks for his extraordinary contributions in leading our great company through a period of growth, expansion and profitability. “After 38 years of meritorious service to the Group, he is leaving the business in an executive capacity at an excellent position for further growth and

we wish him the very best as he takes on a new chapter in life, which I trust will include a well-earned rest and plenty of time with his beloved family.�

On his part, Gbededo said: “It has truly been a great privilege and honour to have worked with some of the best minds in our country and indeed across the world. “I am truly proud of our rich heritage, our winning culture and market capability that had over the years positioned us for continuous growth. “I cannot deny that I will miss the rigorous strategy sessions with the board, the passion of the executive team, and of course the relentless inventive spirit of our people across various businesses locations in the country.

Citygate Microfinance Launches Digital Loan App Sunday Okobi A microfinance institution, Citygate Global, has unveiled a multi-purpose mobile loan application, MonĂŠĂŠ, which it said was designed to also cater for loan, savings, funds transfer services, investment, bill payment among others for customers. The management of the company, while speaking at the unveiling of MonĂŠĂŠ, said the app was designed as a one-stop loan App and financial technology service digital platform for the growing population of loan users on digital platforms across Nigerian segments.

Speaking at the launch of the financial technology App in Lagos recently, the Group Managing Director/CEO of Citygate Global

Group, Dr. Seun Durojaye, said: “We are excited to announce the introduction of MonĂŠĂŠ, a unique financial technology product from the stable of Citygate Global, after two and a half years of thorough research and product development to create an industry most customer-friendly digital loan App that comes with other key financial technology services for the growing Nigerian market. “MonĂŠĂŠ is simultaneously a mobile loan App as well as for savings, investment, bills payment and funds transfer. We are here to grow the economy, individuals, businesses as business people need our facility to go ahead. “Our customers can now access the beauty of affordable loans 24 hours daily in just few minutes.

The future of banking is digital, and that is MonÊÊ.�

Durojaye told journalists that, “with MonĂŠĂŠ, individuals can get a quick fix to their financial challenges with a Nano loan from N5,000, N10,000 and up to N25,000 or more at a relatively low interest rates compared to what is obtainable among similar products in the Nigerian market today. While on the other hand, our specially profiled High Net-worth Individual (HNI) customers can instantly access up to N2 million loan facility through the unique MonĂŠĂŠ App. “With MonĂŠĂŠ, Nigerians can do all their banking transactions without being physically present in a bank at lower interest rates compared with those charged by competition.â€?

He added that MonĂŠĂŠ would be a revolutionary product in the market.

CSCS Wins Award for Post-trade, Custody Services The Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc has won the Continental Leader in Post-trade and Custody Services award at the seventh annual Business Day Banks’ and Other Financial institutions (BAFI) awards, which was held in Lagos, recently.

Nominations for the BAFI Awards go through a rigorous review processes before finalists are selected.

Speaking on the award, the Managing Director/CEO, CSCS

Plc Mr. Haruna Jalo-Waziri, said: “This award reinforces the value we bring to the financial services industry and inspires CSCS to continue to live up to the expectation of the market�.

Central Securities Clearing System Plc (CSCS) is Nigeria’s Central Securities Depository (CSD) licensed to carry on the depository, clearing and settlement of transactions on several exchanges in the Nigerian capital market.

CSCS provides an effective single access point for all post-trade services in the Nigerian financial market, covering all forms of capital and money market securities including equities, treasuries, bonds, ETFs, unit trust funds and cash. With an “A+� CSD rating from Thomas Murray, CSCS ranks amongst the best rated financial services firms in Nigeria and one of the best rated FMI in Africa.

MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

(MILLION NAIRA)

JULY 2020 Money Supply (M3)

36,822,751.47

-- CBN Bills Held by Money Holding Sectors

3,476,121.25

Money Supply (M2)

33,346,630.22

-- Quasi Money

120,764,479.02

-- Narrow Money (M1)

12,582,151.19

---- Currency Outside Banks

2,002,026.89

---- Demand Deposits

10,580,124.31

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

7,637,137.23

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

29,185,614.24

-- Net Domestic Credit (NDC)

39,711,115.95

---- Credit to Government (Net)

19,521,851.08

---- Memo: Credit to Govt. (Net) less FMA

0.00

---- Memo: Fed. and Mirror Accounts (FMA)

0.00

---- Credit to Private Sector (CPS)

-130,189,264.87

--Other Assets Net

3,472,017.70

Reserve Money (Base Money

13,421,827.07

--Currency in Circulation

2,395,917.03

--Banks Reserves --Special Intervention Reserves

11,025,910.04 317,234.17

Ëž Ă™Ă&#x;ĂœĂ?Ă? Ě‹

Money Market Indicators (in Percentage) Month Inter-Bank Call Rate

March 2018 15.16

Minimum Rediscount Rate (MRR) Monetary Policy Rate (MPR)

14.00

Treasury Bill Rate

11.84

Savings Deposit Rate

4.07

1 Month Deposit Rate

8.82

3 Months Deposit Rate

9.72

6 Months Deposit Rate

10.93

12 Months Deposit Rate

10.21

Prime Lending rate

17.35

Maximum Lending Rate

31.55

Ëž Ă™Ă˜Ă?ĂžĂ‹ĂœĂŁ ÙÖÓĂ?ĂŁ Ă‹ĂžĂ? Ě‹ ͯ͹Ϲ

OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE AS AT THURSDAY, 3 DECEMBER 2020

The price of OPEC basket of thirteen crudes stood at $47.45 a barrel on Thursday, compared with $46.67 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.

The OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Djeno (Congo), ZaďŹ ro (Equatorial Guinea), Rabi Light (Gabon), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela).

SOURCE: OPEC headquarters, Vienna

37

T H I S D AY Ëž ÍľËœ Í°ÍŽÍ°ÍŽ

Fidelity Bank Assures Stakeholders of Sustained Impressive Performance Goddy Egene The Managing Director/CEO Designate, Fidelity Bank Plc, Mrs. Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, has assured capital market operators and other stakeholders of sustained impressive financial performance by the bank, noting that the corporate aspirations of the bank will remain the same under her leadership.

Onyeali-Ikpe will be taking over from Mr. Nnandi Okonkwo

effective January 1, 2021, after Okonkwo must have completed his contract tenure.

The outgoing MD/CEO engaged stock market stakeholders last week to give account of his 7-year stewardship and formerly introduce Onyeali-Ikpe to stockbrokers.

Speaking during a virtual closing gong ceremony, the incoming MD/CEO thanked Okonkwo for laying a solid foundation for her and the new team, to take

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

F O R DEALS

the bank to greater heights. “We will continue to deliver superior returns and to do this, we will rely on the active support of the market and all stakeholders,� she said.

The doyen of the stockbrokers, Mr. Rasheed Yusuf commended the bank for the sustained financial performance and successful transition. “It’s cheering news to us in the stockbroking community and the market that the new

S E C U R I T I E S MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N )

MD was appointed from within.

Fidelity is a well-known brand with high expectations from us. You have been meeting our expectations, but we want more.

We are eagerly looking forward to when you will become a Tier 1 bank. Please be assured that the market will give you all the required support,� Yusuf said.

Speaking on his tenure, Okonkwo said he delivered on the promise, upon assuming office on January 1, 2014, to foster a robust

T R A D E D MAIN BOARD

A S

engagement with the market, grow the bank and improve on key performance indices. “I am happy to state that we have been able to grow our return on equity (ROE) which averaged at five per cent in 2013 to 13.3 per cent in 2019� he stated. “We recently appointed five executive directors(EDs) from within and the incoming MD/ CEO, Mrs. Onyeali-Ikpe, has been an integral part of management since 2015. She is part of the suc-

O F

cess story and we are convinced that the performance of the bank, under her leadership, will be even better,� he enthused.

He attributed the successful capital raising exercise of 2015 and 2017, when the bank raised N30 billion local bond and $400million Eurobond, respectively to the result of the deepening of investor engagements, through holding quarterly earnings calls and non-deal road shows across different geographies.

0 4 / 1 2 / 2 0 2 0 DEALS

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QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

38

MONDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2020 ˾ T H I S D AY

MARKET NEWS

Mutual Benefits Shareholders Endorse N4.8bn Private Placement Goddy Egene Shareholders

of

Mutual

Benefits Assurance Plc last Thursday approved that additional capital of N4.8

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

billion be raised through a private placement. The placement will be made to two

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 03Dec-2020, unless otherwise stated.

companies through 8.9 billion shares. Charles Enterprises LLC will get 5.3 billion shares for

N2.9 billion, while Arubiewe Farms Limited will get 3.5 billion shares for N1.9 billion.

The shareholders also increased authorized share capital to N10.050 billion.

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 156.15 157.69 5.42% Afrinvest Plutus Fund 100.00 100.00 76.00% Nigeria International Debt Fund 443.29 443.29 41.22% Afrinvest Dollar Fund 105.69 105.69 0.47% ALTERNATIVE CAPITAL PARTNERS LTD info@acapng.com Web: www.acapng.com, Tel: +234 1 291 2406, +234 1 291 2868 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ACAP Canary Growth Fund 1.04 1.06 15.80% ACAP Income Funds 0.86 0.86 11.37% 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 2.01% AIICO Balanced Fund 3.74 3.87 53.10% 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 0.90% Anchoria Equity Fund 128.58 129.04 20.73% Anchoria Fixed Income Fund 1.45 1.45 21.38% 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 17.99 18.54 17.47% ARM Discovery Balanced Fund 399.13 411.16 15.54% ARM Ethical Fund 33.66 34.68 15.75% ARM Eurobond Fund ($) 1.21 1.22 21.23% ARM Fixed Income Fund 1.13 1.13 12.86% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 1.30% AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED investmentcare@axamansard.com Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund 122.72 123.58 27.72% AXA Mansard Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 1.56% CAPITAL EXPRESS ASSET AND TRUST LIMITED info@capitalexpressassetandtrust.com Web: www.capitalexpressassetandtrust.com ; Tel: +234 803 307 5048 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CEAT Fixed Income Fund 2.26 2.26 20.96% Capital Express Balanced Fund(Formerly: Union Trustees Mixed Fund) 2.26 2.30 47.63% CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Chapelhill Denham Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Paramount Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Women's Investment Fund N/A N/A N/A CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web: www.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 1.62% Cordros Milestone Fund 2023 126.71 127.50 Cordros Milestone Fund 2028 N/A N/A Cordros Dollar Fund ($) 108.42 108.42 CORONATION ASSEST MANAGEMENT investment@coronationam.com Web:www.coronationam.com , Tel: 012366215 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coronation Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 1.28% Coronation Balanced Fund 1.11 1.12 19.29% Coronation Fixed Income Fund 1.73 1.75 30.96% EDC FUNDS MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfundng@ecobank.com Web: www.ecobank.com Tel: 012265281 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class A 100.00 100.00 1.06% EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class B 1,000,000.00 1,000,000.00 1.28% EDC Nigeria Fixed Income Fund 1,210.86 1,228.54 9.26% FBNQUEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD invest@fbnquest.com Web: www.fbnquest.com/asset-management; Tel: +234-81 0082 0082 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn FBN Fixed Income Fund 1,477.95 1,479.66 24.45% FBN Balanced Fund 181.52 182.94 23.63% FBN Halal Fund 111.33 111.36 11.33% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 1.46% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Institutional 120.68 121.11 6.91% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail 120.86 121.29 6.53% FBN Smart Beta Equity Fund 147.17 149.43 13.09% 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 N/A N/A N/A Legacy Debt Fund N/A N/A N/A Legacy Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Legacy USD Bond Fund N/A N/A N/A FSDH ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD coralfunds@fsdhgroup.com Web: www.fsdhaml.com; Tel: 01-270 4884-5; 01-280 9740-1 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coral Growth Fund N/A N/A N/A Coral Income Fund N/A N/A N/A FSDH Treasury Bills Fund N/A N/A N/A GREENWICH ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gtlgroup.com Web: www.gtlgroup.com ; Tel: +234 1 4619261-2 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Greenwich Plus Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 1.94% Nigeria Entertainment Fund 127.03 127.56 18.65%

GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gdl.com.ng Web: www.gdl.com.ng ; Tel: +234 9055691122 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn GDL Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A INVESTMENT ONE FUNDS MANAGEMENT LTD enquiries@investment-one.com Web: www.investment-one.com; Tel: +234 812 992 1045,+234 1 448 8888 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Abacus Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 2.01% Vantage Balanced Fund 2.84 2.90 29.79% Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 7.50% Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) 155.62 156.53 8.62% LOTUS CAPITAL LTD fincon@lotuscapitallimited.com Web: www.lotuscapitallimited.com; Tel: +234 1-291 4626 / +234 1-291 4624 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Lotus Halal Investment Fund 1.39 1.41 23.23% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,146.73 1,146.73 10.22% MERISTEM WEALTH MANAGEMENT LTD info@meristemwealth.com Web: http://www.meristemwealth.com/funds/ ; Tel: +234 1-4488260 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Meristem Equity Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Meristem Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A PAC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD info@pacassetmanagement.com Web: www.pacassetmanagement.com/mutualfunds; Tel: +234 1 271 8632 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn PACAM Balanced Fund 1.60 1.63 29.79% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 12.10 12.20 7.40% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 2.08% PACAM Equity Fund 1.53 1.55 PACAM EuroBond Fund 107.36 109.69 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 132.38 135.33 11.65% SFS CAPITAL NIGERIA LTD investments@sfsnigeria.com Web: www.sfsnigeria.com, Tel: +234 (01) 2801400 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SFS Fixed Income Fund 1.01 1.01 8.70% STANBIC IBTC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD assetmanagement@stanbicibtc.com Web: www.stanbicibtcassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 280 1266; 0700 MUTUALFUNDS Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Stanbic IBTC Balanced Fund 2,521.35 2,532.80 25.20% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 210.33 210.33 6.26% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 0.88 0.89 25.00% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 273.87 273.95 7.39% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 154.92 156.64 30.88% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 0.46% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 7,674.15 7,756.30 22.01% Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) 1.22 1.22 5.21% Stanbic IBTC Shariah Fixed Income Fund 110.73 110.73 6.26% UNITED CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.unitedcapitalplcgroup.com; Tel: +234 803 306 2887 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn United Capital Balanced Fund - 1.3898 14.36% United Capital Bond Fund 1.8788 1.8788 8.62% United Capital Equity Fund 0.87 20.27% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 2.31% United Capital Eurobond Fund 116.53 116.53 6.61% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.07 1.08 1.75% QUANTUM ZENITH ASSET MANAGEMENT & INVESTMENTS LTD service@quantumzenithasset.com.ng Web: www.quantumzenith.com.ng; Tel: +234 1-2784219 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Zenith Equity Fund 12.10 12.25 17.74% Zenith Ethical Fund 13.48 13.62 16.03% Zenith Income Fund 24.89 24.89 9.54% Zenith Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 1.83%

REITS NAV Per Share

Fund Name SFS Skye Shelter Fund

Yield / T-Rtn

120.00

6.88%

52.10

0.10%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

11.63 116.44 88.43

11.73 116.44 90.08

37.93% 21.95% 17.72%

Union Homes REIT

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS Fund Name Lotus Halal Equity Exchange Traded Fund SIAML Pension ETF 40 Stanbic IBTC ETF 30 Fund

VETIVA FUND MANAGERS LTD Web: www.vetiva.com; Tel: +234 1 453 0697

funds@vetiva.com Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

4.03

4.07

17.47%

Vetiva Consumer Goods Exchange Traded Fund

5.64

5.72

-4.56%

Vetiva Griffin 30 Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva Money Market Fund Vetiva Industrial Goods Exchange Traded Fund

15.94 1.00 16.36

16.04 1.00 16.56

32.42% 2.25% 56.90%

225.19

227.19

19.84%

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

107.71

13.11%

Fund Name Vetiva Banking Exchange Traded Fund

Vetiva S&P Nigeria Sovereign Bond Exchange Traded Fund

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.

MONDAY DECEMBER 7, 2020 • T H I S D AY

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MONDAY DECEMBER 7, 2020 ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWSXTRA

22 Deregistered Parties Accuse INEC of Obstructing Justice Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja Twenty two deregistered political parties who sued the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and obtained a court judgment restoring their registration via the Court of

Appeal ruling on August 10, 2020, have alleged that the INEC is frustrating their efforts to regain recognition and participate fully in the electoral process.

In a statement titled, “Our Fear of Clandestine Moves By the INEC to Frustrate the 22

Bayelsa By-election: Police Confirm Death of Six Officers in Boat Accident The Bayelsa State Police Command has confirmed the death of six officers on bye-election duty in the state.

The Commissioner of Police, Mike Okoli, said this in an interview with journalists at the command headquarters in Yenagoa while giving an update on the incident.

One of the speedboats conveying policemen deployed for the polls in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa Central senatorial district was said to have capsized and resulted in the drowning of six officers.

Reports on the incident, which occurred on the eve of Saturday’s exercise in Bayelsa Central and West, had earlier indicated that three policemen died.

But Okoli, while giving an update, said that 11 policemen were on board the ill-fated speedboat, but six of them were missing while five were rescued.

Expressing sadness over the incident, he said, “The command is still searching for the body of the missing six policemen. They were travelling from Yenagoa to Southern Ijaw for election duty before the boat capsized at Oporoma (headquarters of the LGA).

“They are brave, dedicated and disciplined officers of the Nigeria Police Force that have paid the ultimate price while on a national assignment.”

Meanwhile, the Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, has sent his condolences to the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, over the loss of the deceased officers on bye-election duty in the state.

Diri said in a statement on Sunday by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Daniel Alabrah, that he was deeply saddened by the incident.

Political Parties Restored by the Court of Appeal on 10/08/2020,” the parties alleged that the INEC has deliberately ignored the court order by unlawfully excluding and refusing to put the parties on the ballot for Edo and Ondo States’ governorship elections.

The statement signed by the National Chairman of People Democratic Change (PDC), Mr. Igwe Emeka Benjamin, on behalf of other affected political parties and made available to THISDAY yesterday said: “We in the PDC and other parties restored by the Court of Appeal on 10/08/2020 have observed with horror, tepidity and awe at the antics of the IINEC to frustrate the 22 political parties restored by the Court of Appeal in Appeal No. CA/ABJ/CV/507/2020, ACD & 21others vs. AG Federation and INEC. “We have also observed that both the INEC and its solicitors

have either neglected or refused to serve the 21 parties with all the necessary court papers such as Notice of Appeal and the Appellants Brief of Argument to enable them prepare adequately for the appeal.

“On Thursday, 26/11/2020, an Amended Brief of Argument and Motion on Notice with SC No. SC/CV/485/2020 dated 27/10/2020 from INEC’s solicitors was served on one of the 22 restored parties, the United Democratic Party (UDP), and ever since then no other party has been served with the above papers.

“We are afraid and of the opinion that there is an insidious motive behind the non-service of the court processes on the other parties, as the appellant the INEC may go on to falsely swear to an affidavit that they could not reach the remaining 21 parties.”

The parties claimed that at the time INEC served the parties with the notice of appeal, they restricted the service to only five political parties, and now they have restricted it to only one party, the UDP. They also alleged that ever since the unanimous judgment was delivered by the Court of Appeal, the INEC has deliberately ignored the court order by unlawfully excluding, and refusing to put the parties on the ballot for Edo, Ondo governorship elections, and even the by- elections held in many states of the federation on December 5, 2020.

The statement further said that notices written by the 22 parties informing the commission of their intention to field candidates in those constituencies were rejected

by INEC, which refused to acknowledge them.

The 22 parties alleged that the front desk of the INEC’s Chairman told them that they were under a strict and standing instruction not to accept any correspondence or correspondences from the restored parties either by hand, post or courier.

“The INEC is continuing in this disobedience to the Court of Appeal judgment despite having not set aside, applied for, or obtaining any stay of execution from the Court of Appeal. INEC’s disobedience to Court of Appeal or any other court judgment for that matter diminishes the quality of democracy and rule of law in our country since nobody or agency of government should arrogate to itself the power of determining the court order it should obey,” the affected parties said.

Lagos Security Fund Receives N82.8m as COVID-19 Lockdown Shrinks Donations Segun James The Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF), Dr. Abdurrazaq Balogun, has stated that the fund received a total of N82.8 million donations between January and November 2020.

Balogun told the 14th Annual Town Hall Meeting on Security that the volume of donations received by the fund this year was the least since its creation

in 2007.

He said: “From January 2020 to November 2020, only N82.8million was received in donations to the fund, the most dismal donation recorded since the inception of the fund.

“We may attribute this to the shutdown of the economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The fund has only survived because of the judicious application of funds pledged in 2019, some of which were redeemed in 2020.”

Abia Governor Suspends Chief of Staff after Spraying Cash on Pastor Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, has suspended his chief of staff, Anthony Agbazuere.

This was announced in apress statement yesterday by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Chris Ezem.

It noted that Agbazuere’s suspension takes immediate effect.

“Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, has directed the immediate suspension from office of the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Dr ACB Agbazuere,” the short statement read.

The suspension was announced a few hours after a video surfaced online showing Agbazuere spraying money in his office on Prophet Chukwuemeka Ohanaemere, popularly known as Odumeje.

The CoS had since the video surfaced online become the target of public outrage on social media.

Apart from the video trending online, ‘Indaboski’ and ‘Abia’ were among the Nigerian trends on Twitter.

The video showed Agbazuere spraying naira notes on a dancing Odumeje in a place believed to be his (CoS) office.

Odumeje is a popular and controversial Onitsha-based clergyman.

The preacher is the leader of Mountain of Holy Ghost Intervention Deliverance Ministry.

He became popular in 2019 when he described himself as ‘the liquid metal’, ‘the war’, and ‘the indaboski pahose’ among others in viral videos in 2019.

SWEET VICTORY...

National Leader, All Progressives Congress, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu; Chairman, APC Lagos State, Hon. Tunde Balogun; Senator-elect, Lagos East Senatorial District, Mr. Tokunbo Abiru; and Member-elect, Kosofe Constituency II, Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr. Obafemi Saheed, during a visit to Tinubu at his Bourdillon residence, in Ikoyi, Lagos ...yesterday

NASU Decries Drop in Education Budget Issues fresh notice of strike over IPPIS Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja The Non Academic Staff Union of Universities and Inter-University Centres, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education (NASU) has Condemned the continuously low budgetary allocations to the country’s education sector.

The union at its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting held in Abuja last Friday observed with deep concern that over the years, the federal government has failed to adequately fund the education sector.

In a communique jointly signed by NASU President, Makolo Hassan, and GeneralSecretary, Peter Adeyemi, the union urged the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to urgently redress the shortcomings, falling which NASU

may embark on a strike in the Universities and Inter-University Centres, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education.

“NEC condemned in strong terms the 7.05 percent budgetary allocation to education in 2019 and 6.7 percent in 2020 federal government annual budget, which are inadequate from the 26 percent UNESCO recommended budgetary allocation to education,” the body said.

It noted with dismay what it described as the complete neglect of the Polytechnics and Colleges of Education in all the financial interventions by the federal government despite the fact that Needs Assessment has been concluded in the sectors and the reports released.

In the communique, it also noted that the funding level of teaching/

specialist hospitals and research institutes is grossly inadequate, and called on the federal government to live up to its responsibilities by adequately funding these institutions.

NASU urged the federal government to, as a matter of urgency, improve on the budgetary allocation to the education sector, and also implement the White Paper for the Needs Assessments in the Polytechnics and Colleges of Education.

The union, however, acknowledged the sum of N40 billion recently ceded to the revitalisation by the federal government.

It further noted the intervention of TETfund in the release of N1 billion each to 12 universities in the six geo-political zones.

On the implementation of Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information

System (IPPIS), NASU NEC expressed dismay over the “haphazard implementation of the scheme in the Universities and Inter-university centres, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education since February 2020.

It said contrary to the assurances given by the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation prior to the enrolment of staff of the body into the scheme, IPPIS will ensure the convenient and prompt payment of staff remunerations with minimal wastages and ensure efficiency in service delivery, as the experience of the federal Universities and InterUniversity Centres, Federal Polytechnics and Federal Colleges of Education since the implementation o f I P P I S i n F e b ru a r y, 2020 showed that the scheme is fraught with noticeable shortcomings,” it stated.

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Don’t Allow Governors Borrow N17tn from Pension Funds, SERAP Tells Buhari The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to instruct the DirectorGeneral and Board of the National Pension Commission (PENCOM) to use their statutory powers to stop the 36 state governors from borrowing or withdrawing N17 trillion from the pension funds purportedly for ‘infrastructural development.”

The organisation said this in a letter dated December 5, 2020, and signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare.

The organisation said, “Allowing the governors to borrow from pension funds would be detrimental to the interest of the beneficiaries of

the funds, especially given the vulnerability of pension funds to corruption in Nigeria, and the transparency and accountability deficits in several states.”

SERAP said, “It is patently unjust and contrary to the letter and spirit of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as amended), the Pension Reform Act, and the country’s international anti-corruption and human rights obligations for the federal government and state governors to repeatedly target pension funds as an escape route from years of corruption and mismanagement in ministries, departments and agencies.”

SERAP expressed “serious concerns that the proposed

borrowing by the 36 state governors from the pension funds would lead to serious losses of retirement savings of millions of Nigerians.”

Part of the letter read, “This proposed borrowing faces the risks of corruption and

listening to Shehu’s counsel Mr. Madu Joe-Kyari Gadzama of J-K Gadzama LLP, Abuja who argued an application before the court in this regard.

Shehu was detained by the police in Abuja on November 25, 2020 and has since been held in custody by the police in whose detention

Sunday Okobi The people of Tiv ethnic group in Taraba State under the umbrella of the Mutual Union of Tiv in America (MUTA) has called on the federal government to lead efforts, not only to

facility, he was bitten by a huge venomous snake on November 25, 2020.

The court has also invited the IG to show cause why Shehu should not be released.

The substantive fundamental rights application has been set down for hearing on December 9, 2020.

Emir of Kano Sympathises with Sanwo-Olu, Oba of Lagos over Destruction There seems to be no depletion in the roll call of well-meaning personalities identifying with Lagos State Government over the destruction of public and private assets in the carnage spiked by the hijack of the recent #EndSARS protests.

Emir of Kano, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero, yesterday, led all the traditional councillors in the ancient kingdom on a commiseration visit to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, at the State House, Marina.

The Emir and his entourage were personally received by the governor in company of the top officials of the state, including the Secretary to the State Government, Mrs. Folashade Jaji, Chief of Staff to the Governor, Mr. Tayo Ayinde, Commissioner for Local

Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Dr. Wale Ahmed, and Commissioner for Waterfront, Kabiru Ahmed, among others.

The governor’s meeting with the Emir was, however, held behind closed doors.

After the meeting, Bayero briefed reporters on his mission to the State House, sympathising with residents of Lagos over the coordinated destruction, which he described as “mindless”.

The monarch said Kano felt the irregular pulse experienced by Lagos in the wake of the violence, noting that his visit to physically sympathise with the governor was compelled by the shared history of both States in commerce and royalty.

He said: “I am here in Lagos to sympathise with

the Governor and the Oba of Lagos, who happens to be a father to me. We bring them the goodwill of the Government and people of Kano State. We thought it necessary to come and greet Lagos people over the crisis of the few weeks ago and sympathise with everyone affected.

“The long relationship between Lagos and Kano cannot be over-emphasised.

Whatever happens to Lagos is happening to Kano. I have just met with the governor; I met with Oba of Lagos yesterday (Saturday) and we had fruitful discussion, which could lead to further good relationship that has been existing for centuries between Kano and Lagos.”

CSOs Urge Yakubu to Prioritise Electoral Reforms Chuks Okocha in Abuja Some civil society organisations have urged the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof.

Mahmood Yakubu, to prioritise electoral reforms in his second term especially ahead of the 2023 general elections.

The CSOs - Raising New Voices and Centre for Liberty - stated this in a joint congratulatory letter to Yakubu on his confirmation for another term.

The letter, signed by Messrs Jude Feranmi and Ariyo-Dare Atoye, was made available to newsmen yesterday in Abuja.

They urged Yakubu to “continue to prevail on the National Assembly to ensure the Electoral Bill was passed before February 2020”.

Yakubu was re-nominated for a second term by President Muhammadu Buhari on Nov. 9, and confirmed by the Senate on December 3.

The CSOs urged the INEC boss to use his commitment to reforms and technology-driven process to further improve on Nigeria’s electoral process.

They expressed satisfaction with the confirmation of Yakubu’s re-appointment, saying there had been improvements in the recent elections conducted by the commission.

The CSOs commended the achievements of Yakubu in his first tenure, advising him to build on the successes recorded in the recent Edo and Ondo governorship elections in future elections.

“Indeed, your re-nomination

it.

“Allowing the governors to borrow money from the pension funds would amount to a fundamental breach of constitutional provisions, the Pension Reform Act, and Nigeria’s international

obligations, as well as fiduciary duties imposed by these legal instruments on all public officers to prevent pension funds from unduly risky investments, and to ensure transparency and accountability in the management of pension funds.”

Tiv People Urge FG to Resolve Crisis with Jukun in Taraba

Court Orders IG to Produce Mahdi Shehu The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, presided over by Justice H. Mu,Azu has ordered the Inspector General of Police (IG), Mohammed Adamu, to produce Mr. Mahdi Shehu in Court on Wednesday.

The judge gave the order on December 4, 2020 after

mismanagement, and would ultimately deny pensioners the right to an adequate standard of living and trap more pensioners in poverty. Rather than devising ways to address pensioner poverty, governments at all levels would seem to be pushing to exacerbate

by President Muhammadu Buhari is a testament to your noble accomplishments and transformational leadership at INEC. “Your commitment to electoral reform, electoral integrity and the transformation of INEC into technology-driven institution is remarkable and should be commended beyond partisan considerations.

“We trust that this renewed mandate will spur you to build on the successes recorded in the last two governorship elections‚ to ensure free, fair and credible elections at all times,” the letter read.

The CSOs assured Yakubu of their support and contributions to the success of his second term mandate.

resolve the displacement of Tiv people in Taraba State, but also ensure that the threat to their citizenship rights is eliminated.

The group in a statement issued and signed by its leaders, Prof. Joseph T. Zume and Simon Kusugh, and made available to THISDAY, stated that it does not believe that the Taraba State Government will sincerely resolve the issues involved “because it has spearheaded the campaign to obliterate Tiv history in the state. The renaming of Tiv towns was carried out by the state government and when attacks on Tiv communities began, the state government refused to provide places of safety for the victims.

“We, therefore, demand that the changes to the names of Tiv towns and villages in Taraba State be reverted to their original names.”

Zume and Kusugh in the statement alleged that over the years, Taraba State has grown increasingly hostile to its Tiv population.

Highlighting their grievances further, they said: “Back in 2001, the Tiv diaspora community had cause to write to then President Olusegun Obasanjo, expressing concerns about the massive killing of Tiv people in Taraba State by Jukun militias. A swift government intervention then brought succor, albeit temporarily.

“Eighteen years later, a more vicious pogrom has been visited on the Tiv people of Taraba State by the Jukun. In 2019, the violence killed scores of Tiv people and caused the displacement of hundreds of thousands from their communities.

“What makes the current crisis deserving of special attention is

that the Jukun have not only violently overrun about 30 Tiv villages and towns, but they have also renamed them to obliterate their Tiv histories. To provide just a few examples, the Jukun have captured and renamed the following towns and villages: ‘In Takum Local Government Area, Peva has been renamed Chanchanji, and Tse-Ahmadu renamed Kufai Ahmadu. In Wukari LGA, Tse-Ayu has been renamed Tsokundi, and Toho Abanyon renamed Adikyan. In Donga LGA, Ananaum has been renamed Wutobi, and Ishagogo renamed Sabongida Suntai. In Gassol LGA, Dan-Anacha, the biggest Tiv settlement in the local government area with a population of over 150,000 people has been renamed Kwararafa. The list is much longer,” they declared in the statement.

47

Ëœ ÍżËœ ͺ͸ͺ͸ Ëž T H I S D AY

MONDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor Duro Ikhazuagbe Email duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com 0811 181 3083 SMS ONLY

CAF Competitions: Enyimba, Rivers Utd Through to Next Round Duro Ikhazuagbe Nigeria’s last two teams standing in this year’s continental competitions, Enyimba FC and Rivers United managed to scale through to the first round of the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup, respectively after surviving huge scare at home.

In Aba, Enyimba that gave their fans so much hope last week when they went to Ouagadougou to beat Burkina Faso’s Rahimo FC 1-0, were forced to a one-all draw at home but still managed to progress 2-1

on aggregate to the first round of the CAF Champions League.

In Port Harcourt, Futuro of Equatorial Guinea created panic in the Garden City as they battled the home team to a standstill.

The game ended 2-1 in favour of the Pride of Rivers to tie both legs at 3-3 aggregate. The first leg ended in favour of Futuro by same score line.

Rivers United had over 20 goal attempts with little to show for the efforts. The visitors Futuro had just one shot on or off target and they scored with it. They then sat back and played for the shootouts It was a gameplan that

almost worked to perfection but Ostino Egbe, the Rivers United goalkeeper lived up to the threat of the men from Equatorial Guinea.

With the penalty shootout on the card, Technical Adviser of United, Stanley Eguma brought in penalty specialist, Chigozie Ihunda for Mike Gopey Stephen.

Egbe saved three of the spot kicks by the visitors to emerge man of the match.

Luck smiled on Rivers United as they won 2-0 to advance to the first round of the CAF Confederation Cup The Rivers State owned team are to next Play South Africa’s Bloemfoentain Celtics club.

Earlier on Saturday, Nigeria’s

other teams in continental campaign Plateau United crashed out of the CAF Champions League after battling to a 0-0 draw against Simba SC of Tanzania in their preliminary round second leg tie away at the Mkapa Stadium.

Abdu Maikaba’s side lost 1-0 in the first leg at the New

Jos International Stadium. The Jos club exited the competition losing 1-0 on aggregate In the CAF Confederation Cup, Kano Pillars also crashed out in the preliminary round following a 0-0 draw against Senegalese club ASC Jaraaf at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna. The Sai Masu Gida lost 3-1 on aggregate.

Ndidi, Iheanacho Start from Bench as Vardy Grabs Late Winner for Leicester Super Eagles duo of Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho started from the bench yesterday as Leicester City defeated Sheffield United 2-1 to climb to fourth spot of the English Premier League standing.

Ndidi who just returned from two months lay off due to groin injury replaced Namplays Mendy while Iheanacho came on for Ayoze Perez. Both substitutions were made in the 69th minute.

The Blades looked set to secure only their second point of the season when Oli McBurnie scored his first of the campaign after Ayoze Perez had given the visitors the lead.

However, the Foxes never looked like wanting to settle

for a point in their pursuit of a Champions League spot.

With moments of the match remaining, James Maddison fed in Jamie Vardy, who scampered clear of the home defence and slotted his shot past Aaron Ramsdale.

The 33-year-old boyhood fan of Blades’ rivals Sheffield Wednesday celebrated by running to the corner flag and snapping it with his boot.

Earlier, Vardy and Maddison both came close with fierce efforts that struck the Blades’ right-hand upright.

Oliver Burke had United’s only other chance of note when he slipped with just Kasper Schmeichel to beat.

The defeat leave Sheffield United in a perilous position at the bottom of the Premier League table

Work and Play Throws Weight Behind Fanfaro Autofest In deepening her commitment to the growth of motorsport in the country, Work and Play, Nigeria’s leading promoter of the sports has thrown its support behind Fanfaro Autofest scheduled to hold Ibadan, Oyo State on December 13, 2020.

Ade Ojuoko, the Founder of Work and Play stressed at the weekend that Fanfaro offers opportunity to extend the benefits of the active motorsports community in South-western Nigeria. “Fanfaro is a brilliant expression of what motorsports represents, youthfulness, fun, entrepreneurship and community engagement and our team at Work and Play believes it compliments our vision of engaging more youth and exposing them to the benefits of the sports. “We have already established partnership with the BMW Club and Zuru Motorsports. These two events are on cards for this month as well. Fanfaro will be the biggest assemblage of

top racecars in this part of country so far, this year and we see the need to associate with them,’ he stressed further.

The event, which is in its second year, will hold at the Cultural Centre in Mokola-Ibadan.

Adekunle Olanrewaju, the promoter of the Fanfaro Autosports said the partnership with Work and Play would definitely help convey a spike in deliverables at the one-day event; as compared to last year. “Apart form the line-up of top racers that we have been able to attract, this year’s event will also feature top celebrities including Deejay Jimmy Jatt and Nollywood star Wale Ojo,� he added.

Other supporters of the event include: Toyota Nigeria, SMT, MEGAMOUND, Soundcity, YM Autos, Gabaz among others.

The event will feature drifting, autoshows and races which winners will be rewarded with cash prizes.

FOUR-STAR WELCOME FOR FANS...

Defending champions Liverpool welcomed the return of fans to Anfield for the first time since March with an emphatic 4-0 victory over Wolves last night. Mohamed Salah gave Liverpool the lead in the first half after Wolves defender Conor Coady misjudged a long ball from Jordan Henderson.Georginio Wijnaldum added a second after the break, bending a superb shot into the top-right corner from long range, before Joel Matip’s thumping header and Nelson Semedo’s scrambled own goal made it 4-0.

Korean Ambassador, Danjuma, Suleiman Win CBN Governor’s Cup Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja The Korean Ambassador to Nigeria, Lee in-Tae was among the individuals with a podium finish at the CBN Governor’s Cup held over the weekend at IBB International Golf and Country Club, Abuja.

Ambassador Lee, a 22handicapper, turned in 75 nett to win the Veteran Men title, beating Chika Chiejena on countback.

The competition was the maiden tournament at IBB Club since the Covid-19 lockdown on non-combat sport was lifted. It

featured 168 golfers under strict COVID-19 protocol.

In what has become commonplace, Rachel Danjuma beat Jumia Abdulahi by one stroke for the Best Nett prize in Ladies Division One. Parading an intimidating 8-handicap, Danjuma, who has won the tournament on three occasions, carded 75 to beat the pack of competitors in the Handicap 0-20 flight category. D. Mamza finished as 1st Runner Up three shots off the pace.

Anne Abimiku shot 81 nett to win the Veteran Ladies honours

by a commanding 18-stroke at the expense of Julie Acholonu.

Mohammed Suleiman won the correlating Men’s gross title with a round of 79, beating P. Uzezi by six shots.

Similarly, O. Akobundu returned the score of 73 to beat Joe Gadzama by two shots to claim the Men Division Two prize, while Barnabas Yilkes trailed the front two with 76 nett.

J. Baba-Ali posted 74 to edge Jimmy Ahmed by two shots for the Men Division One prize, while S. Adebayo carded 79 to finish as 1st runner up. A.

Birch signed for 73 to win the CBN Staff nett prize. Abubakar Abdulahi netted 86 to finish as Runner up while O. Owoeye finished as 1st Runner up.

However, it was 25-handicapper, M. Agbo, who emerged as the overall winner of the 2020 CBN Governor’s Cup, with a nett score of 67.

Meanwhile the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele has declared the bank’s consistency in promoting golf and sports in the country has had a remarkable impact on youths and sportsmen in general.

LAGOS CITY MARATHON

Access Bank, Partners Restate Commitment to Race, Says Olopade The Headline Sponsor of the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon, Access Bank, and the race partners over the weekend restated their commitment to the road race which within half-decade has become the biggest one-day event in Africa and a World Athletics Silver Label event.

This was disclosed by Access Bank Lagos City Marathon Project Consultant Bukola Olopade while speaking to media men on Sunday

after watching the Valencia Half Marathon where Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie set a new world record of 57.32 seconds.

Olopade revealed that he has held several meetings with top officials of Access Bank the headline sponsor and partners like 7UP Bottling Company, Kia Motors, Revolution Plus, Skechers, and Eko Atlantics to ensure that 2021 is bigger and better than the previous editions.

“We have already started activities for the 2021 edition with registration online a couple of months ago. The physical form is out this month and intending runners can pick their forms at the Teslim Balogun Stadium Surulere, Lagos.’’ Olopade said the press conference that will herald the 2021 edition will hold in the next couple of days. “We have made some adjustment to the 2021 race and

we will inform Nigerians of the new changes through the media during the press conference.

Olopade praised the media and Access Bank for making Nigeria a global marathon destination, “Nigeria will not be a global marathon destination without the media andAccess Bank. When we started in 2015, nobody believed we could do it but the media and Access Bank supported us heavily with finance and personnel.

Veteran Sports Journalist, Muyiwa Daniel, Passes On The sports journalism fraternity in Nigeria was thrown into mourning mode yesterday afternoon following

the news of the death of veteran sportswriter, Muyiwa Daniel.

He passed on a little after 4pm on Sunday afternoon

while being prepared for a major surgery at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital.

He was the last sports editor of National Concord before the leading newspaper went into extinction in 1999.

Monday December 7, 2020

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Price: N250

MISSILE

Police to #EndSARS Protesters

“The Lagos State Police Command warns those who might want to disguise under #EndSARS protest to cause another set of mayhem, brouhaha and violence in the state to desist from such plans as the police and other security agencies will not fold their arms seeing individuals or groups orchestrating another violence and anarchy in the state” – Lagos State Police Command warning those planning another #EndSARS protest to desist as the move would be resisted.

OKEYIKECHUKWU

EDIFYING ELUCIDATIONS

okey.ikechukwu@thisdaylive.com

Oil Economy: Lest We Forget T ake inventory of the federal government’s expenditure in Niger Republic, over the last five years and you will be speechless with dismay and consternation.

Brand new Rail line service on a route of questionable economic value. Petroleum refineries started and finished, while we have neither repaired our damaged ones nor built new ones. We are still importing petroleum products and increasing the pump price of the product against global trends in oil prices. New expressways and other major infrastructural projects are springing up in, and around, Niger Republic at the expense of the Nigerian State; with more projects still loading, according to reports.

Our government is increasing taxes, is still borrowing and is still spending on mostly economically and socio-politically unproductive ventures. Is it that Zakat is now state policy, as most cost items are “palliatives” of sorts? But we are digressing.

Our concern here today revolves around the dawning global oil crisis, which will certainly impact negatively on our economic fortunes. True, oil is going to be around for quite a while yet. Afterall coal has not quite disappeared as industrial fuel, has it? Without denying the likely continued relevance of oil, the issue today is that forward looking nations are already migrating into the new fuel-and-energy future; which is not oil determined, or oil dominated. While some commendable industry thinking is trying to weave great survival initiatives around that, current political thinking appears to be light years behind.

Former Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, was once quoted as saying: “... we should do everything possible to frustrate the sale of electric cars in Nigeria to enable us sell our oil.” This was during the Senate Plenary on a bill sponsored by Senator Ben Murray-Bruce.

The latter was angling for an Act to phase out petrol vehicles by 2035 and introduce electric cars in Nigeria. Continuing, and as if saying “Let us close our eyes, ears, doors and windows to the match of world events, in terms of where the global economy was headed, on that occasion, Ekweremadu was reported to have said, “Besides, in economic sense, we are an oil producing country.”

This was coming years into the Obama Presidency. It would be recalled that Obama, on being elected, said that the US would look for alternative sources of energy, to reduce its dependence on petroleum products for the bulk of its energy needs. America was screaming “biofuels.” American farmers got sundry matching orders. A lot of research and innovation went into ascertaining the fuel output of various food items. Most US research on energy and related endeavours were geared towards this one goal. It also coloured discussions on the country’s national energy policy. Then research confirmed that most agricultural products did not turn out impressive fuel yields. The massive volumes for agricultural products needed as input, to produce small quantities of usable fuel was a major drawback. So, the US began to recalibrate.

Now that a post COVID-19 world is staring us in the face, after years of declining

NNPC GMD, Mele Kyari market value for our oil, it seems safe to say that events have now come full circle for Nigeria. It is no longer news that the US, which had hitherto been Nigeria’s biggest oil customer, backpedalled from our oil.

As at 2014 the US authorities, and official sources in Nigeria, put the total volume of oil bought from Nigeria by the US at zero litres.

Since then we have neither re-strategized nor modified our ‘Almajiri’ national income management policy, which is hand-out based and which is heavy on consumption and expenditure on unproductive ventures and sectors. We are now up against the wall.

What the states and local governments get at regular intervals, when they present their empty plates, has declined precipitously.

But their spending habits, priorities and appetites are unchanged.

The federal government was told to go to hell by a Rotimi Amaechi led Nigerian Governors Forum, when it proposed savings.

“Share it, let us eat today and be merry” was the mantra. Like typical epicureans, the then leaders focused on their takings from the national sharing formula. They said nothing about a national production formula. Today, as back then, nearly all the states are in debt. The situation of the federal government is worse. But it is still borrowing. No one dares think, or talk, about savings. The driving disposition of all ‘stakeholders’ in matters pertaining to the national treasury today is “distribution

and consumption.” Not investment and/ or production. We still think that it is a simple matter of digging out the oil from the ground and sharing its value. No, not even that. What actually happens is that foreign companies, whose alleged output we accept in good faith, dig out the oil and give us whatever they declare. Till date, we know little about the actual daily output of Nigeria’s oil fields.

The world’s New demand for, and focus on, alternative energy sources has sounded the death knell for the large quantities of oil that we used to ship all over the world.

Continued, and continuous, loss of market, as well as loss of revenue, are here with us.

Lo and behold, we are face to face with the diminishing profile of a nation whose presumed greatness rested for too long on a wasting asset. As oil imports from Nigeria has dropped practically to zero for some countries, and with clear indications that the situation is now irreversible, we are still far from re-strategizing. Amidst the declining revenue, disappearing foreign reserves and colossal pressures on the exchange rate, some allegedly knowledgeable experts are saying that the Nigerian economy is more than robust enough to withstand the shock waves all manner and economic counter currents may bring to bear on it. Brilliant, is it not? A man it is told that a trailer has just run over someone and replies with: “Don’t sound so tragic, a toe is still twitching in the dead man’s crushed right leg!

That Nigeria in now one of the countries from which the US, the world’s largest oil producer and consumer, has almost completely stopped buying oil is because of the growing sourcing of very high quality oil from shale. The shale revolution has led to dramatic increase in its domestic production, following the use of such new technologies as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to maximize oil yields. As I write, international oil firms like the Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil, Total and Chevron, which operate most of Nigeria’s major oil fields, are still on the divesting curve. What is going on today among these oil companies is a portfolio rotation of their assets, as they divert more resources into shale oil production. Does Nigeria have shale in the right quantities and is working towards its commercial exploitation? Shale is more ‘democratized’ in the world than petroleum.

But we all know that “Diversification of the Nigerian economy”is now a threadbare expression. It has been the subject of many seminars, international trips and presidential speeches. Yet, it is what will raise, or restore, Nigeria’s global relevance and economic viability in the medium and long term

Nigeria shares the same fate with countries like Algeria, Libya and Angola, whose high quality crude is similar to the one pumped in the new oil fields of North Dakota. See how our ‘sweet crude’ has now become a curse?

It is interesting that the Middle East nations, like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, are less affected by this development, because their lower quality crude oil is still very much in demand by US refineries. The 2013 warning of the then Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, about the threat posed to oil producers by energy from shale, did not elicit the right national response or a strategic position document from her ministry. The nation’s switching of more of its oil exports to Asia, and the replacing of US with India as the largest importer of Nigerian oil at the time, was an ostrich move. It has got us nowhere, till date. The truth is that we have a lousy product in a demand-switching world.

The solution is diversification of the national economy. But we all know that “Diversification of the Nigerian economy” is now a threadbare expression. It has been the subject of many seminars, international trips and presidential speeches. Yet, it is what will raise, or restore, Nigeria’s global relevance and economic viability in the medium and long term. Truth is: just as slaves became unwelcome commodity in international trade when mechanisation came on the scene, and coal gave way to petroleum over time, we must face up to the hard fuel-facts of today. Such ‘energy sources’ as slaves and coal, as well as well as the national economies that depended on them in a mobile world, collapsed because they were overtaken by the march of events.

This need not be our fate.

Other nations facing the same problem as Nigeria today are also in search of new markets in the same Asia. The possibilities of price crashes and all manner of undercutting by marketers are out there and thriving. The giant of Africa must now find other ways of measuring its greatness, besides talking about its large population and landmass. A large, not too educated, population that is not enjoying wonderful health facilities is no asset. Massive landmass, part of which is prime arable land that is not properly cultivated for maximum yield, is also no asset. Poor governance structures, unfocused leadership and insecurity, working together with divisive leadership ethos promise little of good cheer. So, or “greatness” is now open to question on all counts Almost every country in the world today can produce fuel from shale. In addition, countries like Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, South Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia and Kenya, which have discovered oil in commercial quantities, will not tremble before Nigeria because it once wielded a big purse that it did not manage strategically. It’s back to our agricultural products of the thirties, forties and fifties, Afterall. But not the subsistence farming we have always known. As for those whose idea of how to survive the current global trends is to cover our eyes, or bury our heads in the sand like an ostrich, a rude awakening is around the corner.

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