THURSDAY 16TH DECEMBER 2021

Otedola: I Have No Interest in Holding Any Board Position in FBN Holdings, First Bank Dike Onwuamaeze The Chairman of Geregu Energy Group and billionaire businessman, Mr. Femi Otedola has debunked

speculations that he is interested in holding any board position in FBN Holdings, First Bank or any of their subsidiaries.

Otedola was recently invited by

the UK-based Save the Children to join the prestigious group of its Vice Presidents, in recognition of his philanthropic efforts to better the lives of children in Nigeria.

Save the Children is the second largest charity in the world after UNICEF and has Princess Anne as Patron since 2017 after serving as President since 1970.

In a brief chat with THISDAY at the ExecuJet Private terminal in Lagos yesterday, Otedola was asked about his next steps after becoming the single largest

shareholder of FBNHoldings.

He smiled and said he did not acquire the bank’s shares because Continued on page 10

Bankers' Committee Pledges to Prioritise Infrastructure Financing in 2022... Page 5 Thursday 16 December, 2021 Vol 26. No 9747. Price: N250

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Electoral Bill: Three Days to Go, Buhari Keeps Nigerians in Suspense President plays card close to his chest, as ex-lawmaker expresses optimism Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja, Emma Okonji and Nosa Alekhuogie in Lagos Despite appeals from different quarters to President Muhammadu Buhari, including the diplomatic

community, to sign the amended electoral bill forwarded to him by the National Assembly on November 19, the president has continued to keep the people in suspense even when it is three days to the

30 days deadline within which he is constitutionally mandated to assent to the bill or return same to the legislature.

Although the president has not hinted at any possibility since he

received the electoral bill, the bill has, however, been mired in controversy between those urging Buhari to sign it in order to enhance participatory democracy as indicated through the approval of direct primaries and

those who have reservations about that model of electing candidates by political parties.

However, while a political party, the National Rescue Movement (NRM), has accused the president of

failing to assent, a former member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Timothy Golu, has expressed optimism that Buhari would sign the bill eventually.

Continued on page 10

To Boost Morale, FG Increases Police Salary By 20% Effective January 2022 Raises duty tour allowance to 6% Approves payment of N1.012bn for uninsured personnel from 2013-2020 Okays N13.12bn outstanding death benefits for 5,472 personnel from 2013 to August 2021 N18.6bn tax waiver approved for junior officers from October 2021 Deji Elumoye in Abuja In a morale-boosting effort, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) yesterday approved a new welfare package, including a 20 per cent increase in allowances, for personnel of the Nigeria Police. Minister of Police Affairs, Alhaji Maigari Dingyadi, disclosed this in Abuja while speaking to newsmen at the end of the weekly virtual FEC meeting at the State House, presided over

by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Dingyadi said the increments would take effect from January 2022.

Other packages announced by the federal government included tax waiver for junior officers with effect from October 2021 and payment of outstanding funds for uninsured personnel between 2013 and 2020.

Dingyadi said FEC also approved a review and upgrading of the take home pay of police personnel in Nigeria.

Continued on page 10

FIRST MEMORIAL LECTURE FOR SAM NDA-ISAIAH...

L R: Moderator, Kadaria Ahmed; Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed; First Lady, Aisha Buhari; Chairman, LEADERSHIP Group Ltd, Zainab Nda-Isaiah; Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu and founding Chairman, THISDAY/ARISE News Channel, Prince Nduka Obaigbena, at the reception to mark the First Memorial Lecture to honour the late Chairman of Leadership Newspaper, Sam Nda-Isaiah... on Tuesday (see story on page 8)

Slower Increases in Food, Commodity Prices Moderate Inflation to 15.40%... Page 6

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Group News Editor: Goddy Egene Email: Goddy.egene@thisdaylive.com, 0803 350 6821, 0809 7777 322, 0807 401 0580

NEWS

CAMARADERIE AT FEC...

L-R: Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha; National Security Adviser (NSA) to the President, Major General Babagana Monguno (rtd.) and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, PHOTO: GODWIN OMOIGUI at the Federal Executive Council meeting held at the newly refurbished Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja... yesterday

Bankers' Committee Pledges to Prioritise Infrastructure Financing in 2022 To engage government agencies on export promotion

Nume Ekeghe The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Chairman of the Bankers Committee, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, has disclosed the committee’s resolve to support the federal government to reduce the country’s huge infrastructure deficit by committing more funds to the sector in 2022.

The CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele disclosed this yesterday at the closing ceremony the 12th Annual Bankers’ Committee retreat.

He also added that the CBN and Bankers Committee through Infrastructure Company Limited (InfraCo) would facilitate an initial funding of N170 billion for the Lagos- Ibadan expressway, AbujaKano Road and the second Niger bridge which would be tolled.

He also added that as part of measures to increase foreign exchange through non-oil exports, the CBN would engage government agencies and parastatals in the sector so as to enhance export proceeds.

He said: “In 2022, the Bankers Committee will be focusing on supporting the CBN and the federal government in developing the infrastructure of the country, reducing the level of infrastructure deficit of the country; realising that there is increasing limited fiscal space to fund capital projects.

“The president had given approval for the establishment of

the Infraco earlier in the year. As we speak, Infraco is already working on three major infrastructure projects in the country - the Abuja -Kano road; Second Niger Bridge and the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.”

Speaking further, he said: “What Infraco has done was when the federal government approached us to provide some kind of bridge funding. The bridge funding is N170 billion provided so that those projects can move on. The entire scope of those three projects I'm told is slightly above N1 trillion but the numbers are being worked on.

“And I believe by the time the asset managers effectively come on

board, the details of those projects and the remaining aspects of those funding would be coming in through debt and that is where the asset managers would come in with entire scope and then we would know the detailed cost of those three projects.”

Furthermore, he said the roads when completed would be tolled to recoup the money spent as well as for maintenance.

He added: “All of the roads will be tolled. And we know that many other countries in the world, roads are tolled because those projects are commercially viable, they can be refunded with tolls

Dike Onwuamaeze The Head of the World Health Organisation’s new pandemic intelligence hub, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, has harped on the importance of establishing pandemic treaty among nations in order to promote stronger cooperation and collaboration in fighting present and future pandemics.

Ihekweazu also warned that the world would pay a heavy price if the treaty to protect humanity from politically expedient decisions that are not backed

by science was delayed, adding that the normal capitalist, privatesector approach to developing therapeutics, diagnostics and vaccines was not suitable in responding to existential threats to humanity.

He added that the punitive response meted on South Africa by some countries for sharing its data on Omicron cast a gloom on the way nations react during pandemic.

He said: “It’s shown us how difficult the political landscape is, and that global governance that can guide decision making

Arrests former MD, Okonkwo, Onyedibe

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has arrested a former Managing Director of Fidelity Bank Plc, Nnamdi Okonkwo, allegedly over an additional $72,870,000 million found in the coffers of

I must say that we are happy here that these are substantially going to be naira funding.

“The banks have large pool of funds; the pension administrators have large pool of funds and we are reasonably optimistic that more than 50 per cent or two third of this money is going to be raised locally.

“Before we begin to think about accessing international finance, we would try as much as possible to limit debt for foreign currencies particularly knowing that some of these projects and revenues are going to be generated with local currency. Where foreign currencies are needed, we will also take those

and then be able to use them.

“What is important is that we are saying that within the Nigerian financial system, there is a lot of idle capital or idle forms that can be channeled if packaged the way Infraco has set up to give comfort to investors especially our local investors to really put their funds in these projects. This is a brilliant alternative financing methodology that has been brought up and we seek to really look into this.

It intends to help government and private sector to raise finance, without necessarily encumbering the balance sheet of the federal government of Nigeria.”

COVID-19: WHO Calls for Accelerated Treaty in Managing Pandemics

Diezani: EFCC Says It Has Uncovered Additional $72.8m in Fidelity Bank Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja

so that maintenance can be done on a regular basis and people will pay for it and enjoy good roads and enjoy good facilities because that's the only way we can fund the infrastructure of this country, which is the large amount of money needed.”

On funding of Infraco and how it would be recouped, he added: “We have already said that N1 trillion out of the 15 is equity, being contributed by the CBN, African Finance Corporation, Nigerian Sovereign investment authority (NSIA) also very visible authority.

The remaining N14 trillion would be accessed from debt market. And

the bank.

THISDAY gathered that Okonkwo, who is Group Managing Director of FBN Holdings Plc and others, were earlier grilled over a sum of $153 million and $115 million by the commission.

While all the $153 million were

recovered by the EFCC, the cases involving $115 million, as it relates to the Independent National Electoral Commission bribery matter are in various courts.

Okonkwo and Charles Onyedibe are currently being detained by the EFCC over the whereabouts of the new $72.8m.

in our own joint best interest is just not strong enough. That’s why other things happening in parallel, such as the pandemic treaty, hopefully will lead to a better place.

“Every nation state feels entitled to make what they consider - even sometimes against the advice of their own scientists - the most politically expedient decision.

“We are not naive about the challenges, but we also see a lot of opportunity. What happened with South Africa sharing their data is not a coincidence. It seems very gloomy to be honest, but I do think that as we develop not only the technical competence, but also the trust which comes with working together, we can provide a counter influence to the dominant theme of looking at the TV every morning and wondering which countries have stopped which other countries from crossing their borders.”

The epidemiologist admitted that he was worried about the capitalist private sector interests in the production and sharing of vaccines that could protect humanity from pandemics.

Ihekweazu said: “What worries me is that I do not think that

the normal capitalist, privatesector approach to developing therapeutics, diagnostics and vaccines is suitable in responding to existential threats to humanity.

“If we rely on vaccine development and distribution to be so heavily skewed to countries that can afford them, irrespective of where the actual risks are coming from, unless we’re able to bridge this gap a little more, we will not be able to efficiently respond to the threats that are present today and will emerge in the future.”

He regretted that nations were walking alone in fending for themselves even at the expense of vulnerable countries at a time “we thought the world was coming a lot closer together, but right now we seem to be further apart than ever before.”

“Member states are where the primary responsibility for detection and response actually lies. Our role is to support them.

They’ve been improving their own systems, and in the last two years that has accelerated. But almost every country is doing that on their own. There’s no connectedness between them.

They’re not learning from each other. A lot of technologies exist

already. It’s about pulling them together,” he added.

Ihekweazu added: “Already, a few days after the detection of a new variant, colleagues are working in real time to adapt existing vaccines. The speed is incredible. But how do we get better at distribution?” adding that “as much as we tell the story of the miracle of vaccines, the impact is variable.

“The vaccine we use against tuberculosis has never really stopped TB in itself. It prevents serious forms of TB. And we have things like yellow fever vaccines, where one shot really protects you for life, and in between there’s everything. That’s a very difficult message.

“Because of our high anticipation of a vaccine, maybe to an extent we oversold its potential, or people did not understand fully.

In most countries where there has been sufficient supply, most people have had the vaccine, but there is still a pocket of people that are hesitant for whatever reason.

In a context like this, where there’s so much infection around and there’s so much risk that has become increasingly relevant in mitigating spread.”

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EXCHANGING VIEWS ABOUT STATE OF THE NATION...

L-R: Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola; Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu and Minister of Communications, Ali Isa Pantami, at the Federal Executive Council meeting held at the PHOTO: GODWIN OMOIGUI Presidential Villa, Abuja... yesterday

Obaigbena Advocates Security Tax to Effectively Fund Armed Forces Urges Buhari to sign electoral act amendment Peter Uzoho The Chairman of THISDAY Group and ARISE News Channel, Prince Nduka Obaigbena has advised the federal government to introduce security tax in order to effectively fund security agencies and curb

the rising cases of insecurity in the country.

In addition, Obaigbena, who spoke at the First Memorial Lecture to honour the late founding chairman of the Leadership Newspaper, Sam Nda-Isaiah on Tuesday, also urged President Muhammadu Buhari to

sign the 2021 Electoral Act Amendment Bill into law.

Speaking during a panel session on ‘The Big Ideas,’ he stressed that securing Nigerians was a key challenge facing the present government.

“So, one way I believe is to have a security tax. We all pay taxes every

day to secure ourselves. So, if we have a security tax that is managed by a trusteeship, they can have the equipment, then I think we can go somewhere,” he said.

According to him, signing the 2021 Electoral Act Amendment Bill into law was necessary to enthrone a

70% of Nigeria's Foreign Missions Receive Zero Allocation on Capital Budget, Lawmakers Reveal Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja The House of Representatives has lamented that over 70 per cent of Nigeria's foreign missions across the world have for several years received zero allocation in their capital budget.

The House made this known after the adoption of recommendations of its Committee on Foreign Affairs report following its oversight visit to the Nigerian Consulate in Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America, and the Nigerian High Commission in Kingston, Jamaica.

The Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Yusuf Buba laid the report before the House at the plenary yesterday, saying the zero allocation in capital budget had led to infrastructural and structural decay in the missions.

The House said: "From realities on ground, the delegation discovered that over 70 per cent of our Foreign Missions across the world have for several years received zero allocation in their Capital Budget year in year out. As a result of the above, this reality has led to infrastructural and structural decay in each of the missions."

The lawmakers further the findings had created a situation where Foreign Service Officers prefer to rent houses than staying in the Missions owned property due to their dilapidated state.

The House stressed that funding was needed to put the issue of renovation and sundry works at almost all missions abroad to rest.

It also decried the cases of indiscriminate postings above the approved ceiling of the President for Foreign Service Officers.

It noted that this had led to

overstaffing and wastage of resources that ought to have been used for the maintenance of other staff, the mission buildings and general infrastructure.

The House lamented that shortage required by Nigerians in the Diaspora had continued to be a major issue at our Missions.

It said: "The reality on ground indicates that the Nigerian Standard Passport and others are still being printed outside the shores of our country.

The delegation in its consideration, believes that the problems associated with shortages in the required number of passports for Nigerians abroad can adequately be mitigated by the termination of existing contracts for the printing abroad, while commencing production locally."

The House stressed that the foregoing would enable Nigeria as a nation service the increasing need of its citizens, especially, those abroad.

The Green chamber lamented lack of synergy among sister agencies including Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nigerian Immigration Service, National Intelligence Agency, Nigerian Military and Accountants from Office of the Accountant General of the Federation at the duty post.

It further decried the unhealthy rivalry among officers of these bodies/organisations, who are serving at each of the Embassies/ High Commissions abroad.

It added: "In spite of the fact that roles are seemingly defined, as per the nature of services offered citizens of Nigeria on other lands, the clashes that sometimes occur appear likely to cause more serious

problems than already seen; "There was even a case where the delegation (Committee) was informed that the military attachee at post left the Embassy building to rent office space elsewhere and, again, where Immigration officers started to issue visa without the vetting of the Mission’s Consular Officer (usually, NIA Officers)."

The lawmakers noted that all these anomalies could be addressed by a serious definition of roles and the establishment of boundaries (or precincts of duty) for officers at post no matter what body, Agency or department they have come.

Specifically, the House said the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs must, as a matter of urgency and for face-saving measures, lift the ban on the continuation of the construction project of the Haiti Model School.

It said it would ensure that investigation on the mismanagement of the funds continue, adding that the above has become necessary in the face of pressure being mounted by the international community on the Nigeria Mission in Kingston and on other Nigerian authorities.

The House urged the Ministry of Aviation and other relevant bodies to promote the introduction of a direct flight from Nigeria to Jamaica to service all Caribbean countries.

sound electoral system where every vote counts.

“We need to have a sound electoral process where every vote counts. So, I urge the minister of information and culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, to ensure that the Electoral Act Amendment Bill is signed immediately and then we begin to look for leaders who will position our country for the next generations,” the publisher added.

Obaigbena also called for a national consensus to identify big ideas ones and to begin to implement them, “so as to put our houses in order to secure the lives and property, and educate people, provide water supply and other basic things.”

He added: “We can also solve these problems by restructuring the way revenue is distributed so that the states don’t come begging the federal government for one thing or the other.”

He also paid tributes not only to the late Sam Nda-Isaiah, but also to three other senior journalists who died recently – Samaila Isah Funtua, Wada Maida and the late chief of staff to the president, Abba Kyari.

On his part, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, said the late media guru

did not die in vain, as he impacted many lives positively.

Mustapha said the late pharmacist and politician touched lives, uplifted the down-trodden and provided comfort to those that had lost hope.

Describing Nda-Isaiah’s death as a big loss to Nigeria, Mustapha said his life was one of service, passion, doggedness and living for country.

“Sam’s life was a clear and resounding message, subtle in its delivery and profound with its impact. A message of service, passion, commitment, loyalty, doggedness, love for country and legacy.

“Sam gave meaning to the age-old truism that it is not how long but how well we live our lives that matters,” Mustapha who was chairman of the memorial event said yesterday in Abuja.

“The lives he touched, the processes he changed, the downtrodden that he uplifted, the advice he gave for the good of the country and even the comfort he provided for those that have lost hope are already speaking for him,” he stated.

In her address, the wife of the president, Aisha Buhari, described the late Nda-Isaiah as a personality Continued on page 10

Slower Increases in Food, Commodity Prices Moderate Inflation to 15.40% James Emejo in Abuja

The Consumer Price Index, (CPI) which measures inflation dropped to 15.40 per cent (year-on-year) in November 2021, compared to the 15.99 per cent recorded in the preceding month, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) stated yesterday.

However, on month-on-month basis, the NBS said the food subindex increased by 1.07 per cent in November 2021, up by 0.16 percentage points from 0.91 percent recorded in October.

Food inflation increased by 17.21 per cent in compared to 18.30 per cent growth rate in November 2020.

According to the CPI figures for November, which was posted on

its website, the food index was influenced by increases in prices of bread and cereals, fish, food product, potatoes, yam and other tuber, oil and fats, milk, cheese and eggs and coffee, tea and cocoa.

Also, the core index, which excludes the prices of volatile agricultural produce stood at 13.85 per cent in November 2021, up by 0.61 percent when compared with 11.05 percent recorded in November 2020.

On month-on-month basis, the core sub-index increased by 1.26 per cent in November 2021. This was up by 0.46 per cent when compared with 0.80 percent recorded in October 2021.

The core inflation witnessed highest increases in prices of gas, liquid fuel, other services,

garments, vehicle spare parts, passenger transport by road, nondurable household goods, jewelries, clocks and watches, passenger transport by air, pharmaceutical products, appliances, articles and products for personal care.

Other are cleaning, repair and hire of clothing and fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment.

The average 12-month annual rate of change of the index was 12.96 per cent for the twelve-month period ending November 2021.

The urban inflation rate increased by 15.92 per cent (year-on-year) in November compared to15.47 per cent in November 2020, while the rural inflation rate increased by 14.89 per cent from

14.33 per cent in November 2020.

On a month-on-month basis, the urban index rose by 1.12 per cent in November 2021, up by 0.10 the rate recorded in October 2021 (1.02) percent, while the rural index also rose by 1.04 percent in November 2021, up by 0.09 the rate that was recorded in October 2021 (0.95) percent.

The statistical agency noted that the corresponding 12-month year-on-year average percentage change for the urban index was 17.55 per cent in the review period.

This is higher than 17.53 percent reported in October 2021, while the corresponding rural inflation rate in November 2021 is 16.42 percent compared to 16.39 percent recorded in October 2021.

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UNDEMOCRATIC TAKEOVER OF GOVERNMENT A CHALLENGE...

L-R: Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman, Electoral Commission of Burkina Faso (CENI) Mr. Elyse Quedraogo, outgoing ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commission’s (ECONEC) President and Chair, Electoral Commission (CNE) of Cabo Verde, Mrs. Maria do Rosario Goncalves at the plenary of the ECONEC 7th Biennial General Assembly, held in Accra, Ghana…. yesterday

Transfer MDAs' Deposits in Your Custody to TSA or Face Anti-graft Agencies, FG Warns Banks Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja The federal government has warned commercial banks still holding on to public sector funds to immediately lodge such deposits into the Treasury Single Account (TSA) or face the anti-graft agencies.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed who issued the warning while inaugurating the reconstituted TSA implementation structures in Abuja Tuesday, said the government was compiling the list of affected banks and ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) for submission to anti-corruption agencies for enforcement.

According to the minister, a post-implementation compliance exercise to determine the extent to which MDAs and banks complied with the Presidential directive on TSA issued on August 7, 2015.

Ahmed stated: "In 2018, we conducted a post-implementation compliance exercise to determine the extent to which MDAs and Deposit Money Banks complied with the Presidential directive on TSA of 7th August, 2015. The finding was that huge amounts of public funds were still trapped in commercial banks.

"It has been reported that the banks have not been co-operating with the consultants assigned to sweep these funds to the TSA. I therefore take this opportunity to call on the affected banks to transfer all remaining balances in the accounts of federal government owned MDAs in their custody without express exemption to the TSA. "We are compiling the list of affected banks and MDAs for submission to anti-corruption agencies for enforcement. For the avoidance of doubt, except for selected accounts of NNPC and WAEC, no other MDA or fund of federal government is exempted from the TSA. "If in doubt about the status of any account of federal government’s MDA in your custody, re-confirm from the Office of the AccountantGeneral of the Federation."

She disclosed that the impact of TSA on government’s internally generated revenue performance had been impressive.

She stated that using the TSA platform, the government had since automated direct deduction of operating surplus of eligible agencies, adding that at the last count, 16 agencies were covered and more will be added in the coming months.

"Between January and October 2021, a total of N86 billion in revenue was generated through this means.

Aggregate collection of N7 trillion was made from 22 million transactions between January and November, 2021while N19 trillion worth of payments were processed from 20 million transactions within the same period.

"This goes to show the enormous volume of transactions processed on the TSA platform and the need to leverage on the onboarding of additional PSSPs to reduce the cost of collection which is currently N150 per transaction.

"Government is of the opinion that there is sufficient room for reduction in cost of collection to no more than N50 per transaction.

I strongly believe that given the volume of transactions, N50 per transaction is fair consideration for collection services," she noted.

The minister stated that from inception, the federal government set out to be transparent and to provide a level-playing field for all participants in the TSA implementation.

Ahmed added that it was in line with this that, although there was a selective collecting bank approach as was popular then, the collecting service had been opened to all licensed DMBs. "For this reason, there is no need for any bank to apply or lobby to participate in TSA collection and payment.

Participation of more than one Payment System Service Provider (PSSP) was however a challenge at the time.

“The Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) which was the first TSA management application was designed to interface with T-24, the CBN core banking application through a single payment gateway.

“The original intention was to use Real Time Gross Settlement system (RTGS) to be provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Unable to provide the service at the time, CBN opted for SystemSpecs/ Remita after a rigorous competitive procurement process," the minister said.

She observed that initial constraint ultimately paved way for Remita to become the dominant TSA PSSP. According to her, notwithstanding the obvious constraint, government insisted that other service providers should be accommodated in the TSA collection process provided they are integrated with Remita.

She added: "The reason is that without such integration, it would be difficult to keep track of transactions in diverse, stand-alone collection applications.

"This singular act, innocuous at the time and borne out of our

desire to do the right thing has unfortunately been misunderstood, generated too much controversy and become a source of needless distraction for everyone."

The minister explained that through the work of the committees being inaugurated it was expected to finally open the TSA to multiple service providers to put an end to the agitations and discontent of the past.

Ahmed stressed that of all reforms of the government, the TSA is arguably the most popular, both locally and internationally, adding that as a public trust, Nigerians of all works of life monitor its progress and voluntarily report observed non-compliance to appropriate quarters.

"Internationally, it is recognised as one the most successful public financial management reforms out of Africa, noting that this recognition is attested to by the bilateral

co-operation Nigeria entered with other countries to share experience with them as they implement similar reforms in their countries.

"Our TSA experience has been a pleasant one. The centralisation of our banking arrangement has made it easier to determine government cash balances, reduce cost of borrowing, enhance liquidity, block leakages and improve internally generated revenue performance.

"As a work in progress, we are aware that there remains more to be done. We intend to harness the diverse and rich expertise of the distinguished and accomplished members of the Committees to further improve the TSA for greater benefit to our country and people," the finance minister pointed out.

But the minister noted that government was aware of the challenges MDAs had been facing since early December, 2020, with respect to access to TSA bank

statement and creation of service types for collection.

She, therefore called on the InterMinisterial TSA Implementation Committee to prioritise solution to these challenges so that MDAs can reconcile and prepare their end-of-year financial statements in good time.

"In line with our desire for ICT-driven processes, we charge the Committee to ensure that the solution is one that enables MDAs to access detailed bank statements online and on-demand while at the same granting unfettered online and on-demand access to all MDA TSA bank statements to the Treasury.

"Let me remind the Inter-Ministerial Committee of the need for mutual co-operation and respectful engagement in the course of their assignment.

"It is only by working harmoniously with each other that you will be able to deliver on the critical task

before you within the three-month timeline given to you. We put our trust in you and will give you all necessary support to deliver," the minister said.

Members of newly-inaugurated TSA supervisory board are the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning as chairman and the Accountant-General of the Federation as deputy chairman.

Other members are the Deputy Governor (Operations), Central Bank of Nigeria; Director-General, Debt Management Office; representative of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation; Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service ; Chief Financial Officer, NNPC; Director-General, Bureau for Public Service Reforms; Auditor-General for the Federation and the Director, Treasury Single Accounts, Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) as secretary of the committee.

INEC Boss Condemns Undemocratic Takeover of Govt in West Africa Chuks Okocha in Abuja

The undemocratic takeover of government in some West African countries has created a great challenge for Electoral Commissions in the sub-region, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman,

Prof. Mahmood Yakubu has said.

Speaking at yesterda’s plenary of the ECOWAS Network of Electoral Commissions’ (ECONEC) 7th Biennial General Assembly holding in Accra, Ghana, Yakubu, was quoted in a statement, to have also described the development as a democratic and electoral

retrogression. This according to him, underscored the need for free, fair, and credible elections.

“We are facing great challenges,” he remarked.

“We are having democratic and electoral retrogression in the sub-region, and we have had undemocratic takeover in one or

2022 Budget Suffers Setback as INEC Fails to Submit Estimate for 2023 Polls May be passed next Tuesday NPC proposes N400bn for census

Deji Elumoye and Juliet Akoje in Abuja Move by the two Chambers of the National Assembly to pass the N16.39 trillion 2022 budget proposal this week was thwarted yesterday as the financial requirements from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the 2023 general polls wasn’t presented and captured.

This was just as the National Population Commission (NPC) declared that the National Census slated for next year would cost N400 billion.

Last minute efforts made by the Senate Appropriation Committee to get the required financial details from INEC on the 2023 general elections at a special

session failed as Chairman of the electoral umpire, Prof. Mahmud Yakubu, failed to show up at the session.

The Commissioner who stood in for INEC Chairman, Alhaji Zuru Abdulrahman Abdul, informed the committee that the details being sought for could not be given by him but by only the INEC Chairman.

He said: "Mr. Chairman and members of this distinguished committee, we have listened to you and appreciate the concern on funding the 2023 general elections as regards the need to capture some of the projected expenses in the 2022 budget.

"But such financial details can only be given by our Chairman who is presently abroad and billed

to return on Sunday or Monday morning. So in the light of this, financial details requested for shall be made available on Monday next week".

Thereafter, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Jibrin Barau, ruled for adjournment of the session to next Monday.

Speaking with newsmen after the brief session, Senator Barau said the latest development would not make passage of the 2022 budget this week possible.

According to him, "2023 general elections and projected national head counts slated for next year are very important the reason why we want to make provisions for them in the 2022 budget.

two places.

“Only a few years ago, we went round the sub-region saying that for the first time in the history of West Africa, all the countries were democracies. But today, we cannot say so.

“This imposes a challenge on us as Chairmen of Electoral Commissioners to be more vigilant.

And that is where ECONEC comes in.

“We must continue to support one another to conduct the kind of elections we all aspire for. I recall that before the second round of elections in Niger Republic, the Republic of Ghana provided support, and I know that other countries are supporting one another as well.

“I would encourage us to continue to share not only ideas but also resources. No one can do it alone. We can make ECONEC what we want it to be by working cooperatively. I urge all of us to continue to work as brothers and sisters for the improvement of the electoral process in the sub-region,” he said.

This year’s Assembly kicked off on December 13, with a symposium on, “An Efficient Communication Strategy for Enhanced Relationships Between EMBs and Electoral Stakeholders in West Africa,” with presentations from CENA Benin; CNE Cabo Verde; CEI Cote d’Ivoire, Electoral Commission of Ghana and INEC, Nigeria.

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TEN OBAIGBENA ADVOCATES SECURITY TAX TO EFFECTIVELY FUND ARMED FORCES that will be forever remembered by every Nigerian.

The First Lady said Nigerians would remember the deceased not only because they loved him, but also because of how he lived his life and the many ways he impacted people’s lives positively.

“We converge here to remember Sam who left us a year ago. We remember him today as we have done since he left and we will remember him tomorrow and for the rest of our lives.

“To Zainab (his wife), you have been very strong since Sam’s departure, please remain strong. The children, the family, his business empire, and the rest of us need you more than ever because your strength and visibility give us a sense of Sam’s presence.

“We will surely miss you, Sam, and but we take comfort that you have lived a good and memorable life. I pray that your soul may continue to rest in peace,” Aisha Buhari added.

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, described the late Nda-Isaiah as a patriot who was interested in a united and peaceful Nigeria.

“He was always patriotic and ready to help in affairs of the state.

His dream was for a united and peaceful Nigeria. The late Sam Nda-Isaiah will be happy that he is remembered by those he called friends.

“Sam was a brother, but above all, Sam was a patriot. He loved Nigeria and believed in possibility. He did not participate on the sidelines; he was one of the aspirants to fly the flag of the APC after the merger.

“His passion for Nigeria never waned after losing the ticket to President Muhammadu Buhari,” he added.

According to the information minister, the late Nda-Isaiah used his medium to constructively criticise government but also believed that government needed support.

“I admired his willingness to do anything for Nigeria. I miss him a lot because he was a standing board for me,” he said.

On how government has met its campaign promises, he said it was rare for any aspirant to understand how bad a situation was unless he/she assumes office to face the stark reality.

He said the government had

committed resources to fighting insecurity which would have been used to create jobs and provide infrastructure.

Chief Executive Officer, Asset

Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Ahmed Kuru, said the late Sam Nda-Isaiah’s political ambition was driven by his conviction that Nigeria’s woes could easily

be fixed.

Kuru, in his tribute during the lecture to honour Sam Nda-Isaiah, said he had never come across such a passionate person like Sam.

Kuru further remarked that Nda-Isaiah saw potential in every idea and pursued all initiatives and opportunities concurrently, thereby always running thin on resources.

CBN Renovates State House Council Chambers

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has resumed its weekly sitting at the renovated Council Chamber of the State House, Abuja.

The Chamber which was upgraded with funds provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had showed sign of disrepair when the present administration came into office in May, 2015, necessitating an upgrade approved by President Buhari to be delivered in 2019.

The development forced the Cabinet to relocate and hold its regular meetings, using the facility in the First Lady's Conference room also located in the State House, Abuja.

Presenting the facility shortly before the commencement of the FEC meeting on Wednesday, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, stressed that

the new equipment installed in the upgraded Council Chamber were comparable to those deployed in other climes, saying "there is nowhere in the world you go that you can find a better facility than what we have here."

He noted, however, that the project could not be delivered as scheduled owing to the outbreak in 2020, of the Covid-19 pandemic which resulted in the global lockdown.

According to him, "the upgrade of the council chambers in the Aso villa commenced under the previous administration in 2011 when the facility that was initially installed by the contractor who constructed this place, began to fall apart.

"Thereafter, a British firm was assigned the responsibility of the upgrade which was done in 2012.

But when this administration came to office in 2015, the facilities out

of old age began to completely disintegrate, which necessitated even having some quarterly maintenance program attached to it until in 2019.

"Excellency Mr. President, we approached you about the need for this particular upgrade, which you graciously approved, and asked the Central Bank of Nigeria, like they did in 2012, to also fund the process.

And the process commenced with the intention of being completed within the year 2019 or the early part of 2020. But due to the COVID pandemic, and the lockdowns all over the globe, it became quite obvious that this project was not going to be delivered at the expected time.

"But we are very grateful, Mr. President, for your leadership and support. And in the process, you directed the Minister of Communications and digital economy and myself to constitute the project

management team, which undertook the supervision of this entire process that has brought us to the climax of today."

The SGF further said "The PTT, which is the project management team, was chaired by the Managing Director, CEO of Galaxy Backbone and other members were drawn from the Office of the Secretary to the government, NIDA, and the Office of the Chief Security Officer of Mr. President, the central bank, Galaxy Backbone and the contractor.

"They started work in April and we have worked assiduously for the last couple of weeks. And we have now gotten to the stage in which we are in having an equipment that is comparable to those deployed in other climes. There is nowhere in the world you go that you can find a better facility than what we have here."

sent to him.

National Chairman of the party, Senator Saidu Dansadau, who spoke at the end of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting on Tuesday in Abuja, said the executive was not fair to the National Assembly by President Buhari’s action.

“If there is any president since 1999 that enjoyed maximum cooperation, it is President Muhammadu Buhari and for National Assembly to respond to the yearnings of majority of Nigerians and passed the bill as requested for by Nigerians.

“And we saw on national televisions that APC governors met and said they are against the bill that would ensure free and transparent elections in the country. And they went and lobbied Mr. President to hold his assent by returning it to the National Assembly.

“To me, he (Buhari) is unfair to the National Assembly. He has not reciprocated their gesture as they have done to him since the past six and a half years. Also, he has not been fair to Nigerians, who voted him into power, because majority of Nigerians are interested in the passage of this bill and this is unacceptable to Nigerians.

“I appealed to Mr. President to, in the name of God, assent to that bill without any doctoring and I also appeal to members of the National Assembly to resist any attempt by the president to tinker with what they have done,” he said.

Also, Golu, while calling on the National Assembly to encourage Nigerians and assure them that the bill would be signed eventually, said the president has been in touch with various people from the villa regarding the bill.

Golu, who spoke yesterday on the Morning Show of ARISE NEWS Television, said he believed that the National Assembly would stand its ground as they were not doing it for the president or the party but in the interest of democracy.

“In Nigeria, you can see the level of joy and excitement. Everybody is watching and listening to what

is happening everyday in regards to the the electoral reforms. There is no reason for him not to sign it.

We are waiting patiently, because it’s going to be a legacy as this has encouraged a lot of people to start registering in political parties.

“Most Nigerians don’t belong to any political party, because they don’t participate in raising or nominating flag bearers. They only participate at the general election, where flag bearers or ticket holders are imposed on them,” he said.

On direct primaries, he explained that it was dependent on whether the nation was operating a delegate system or direct primary system.

“Whoever is putting pressure on the president wants to achieve some personal gains but when you look at the bigger picture, I believe that four or three days should not be a problem, because he has signed bills towards the end of the minimum time frame before, so whatever happens, members of the public are there to hold their representatives accountable in case the president decides other wise, which is very unlikely.

“I don’t think the president will be ready to be embarrassed by the National Assembly at that level.

The question is: did you win your elections the way it should have been won? Those who do not want it know, those who didn’t want it know what they did to get to the National Assembly,” Golu further stated.

While calling on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) witness primary elections as provided by the current provision of the electoral act, noted that political parties contributed to maintaining these things as it was going to be a systematic process with due accreditation.

“I urge them not to allow partisan and I want to believe that in their own conscience, the National Assembly will not toy with what the nation has been looking up to. Nobody should be above the electoral act and constitution,” he said.

ELECTORAL BILL: THREE DAYS TO GO, BUHARI KEEPS NIGERIANS IN SUSPENSE Recently, some newspapers’ reports had alleged that the president might have caved in to pressure from some governors of his party, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and withheld his assent to the bill, because of the excuse that direct primaries would be too expensive to run.

But the presidency and the National Assembly had quickly come out to dismiss it as untrue.

While one of Buhari’s spokespersons, Mallam Garba Shehu, said he had not been briefed about such a development and therefore not correct, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, too said it was untrue.

Interestingly, those believed to be pushing for indirect primaries were said to have recently reactivated their agenda, seeing that the president had a few days more to the deadline.

According to sources, they have reached an understanding with a section of the National Assembly leadership that they would convince the president to return the bill to them on the grounds that he wanted certain clauses amended, but that once that was done, they should file it away and not treat it till the time of the elections.

Although the president, sources claimed, was being convinced to inform the principal officers of the National Assembly that he would withhold his assent for them to

also reconsider the timing for the submission of candidates’ list by political parties from 180 days to 90 days as it currently stipulated in the 2010 amended electoral act, it is a decoy to scuttle the whole process.

Yet, those who want the president to leave a legacy of sound and enduring electoral system, have insisted that even if he would return the bill on the grounds of a few contentious clauses, including direct primaries, he must ensure that the current effort at reforming the electoral system through many other clauses did not go to waste.

Curiously, however, those in support of the president assenting to the bill as it were and also convinced he would sign it eventually, have argued that the process of returning a bill to the legislature was much longer than merely signing it hence their conviction that the president had only kept the decision to himself.

According to a THISDAY news analysis published yesterday, which quoted a presidency source, “You also need to understand the process, because there is a process or if you like, protocol to these things.

Remember that immediately the bill was forwarded to the president by the National Assembly, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, wrote to the president and advised against it.

“It was after this that the governors took up the campaign and asked for the aspect of direct primaries to be yanked off, citing many reasons that could not fly in the face of logic. But if the president was going to listen to his AGF or give in to the pressure by the governors, the process is that he would have instructed the AGF to draft a letter of response back to the National Assembly.

“Thus, if a process like that has been triggered, then you would have known that the president was not going to sign it, following the same channel of communication and as advised by his AGF. But since it was sent to him, the president has just kept quiet and knowing that signing is just about a small ceremony and solely the call of the president, so, he could choose to delay it and just sign whenever he wants for as long as it is before the deadline,” the source said.

The source, which cited the fact that the National Assembly would proceed on recess today, Thursday, December 16th, further contended that, “If there was going to be any communication rejecting the bill, he would have triggered the process before they embark on their recess, of which they wouldn’t be back until later in January, and by which time, the process for the Ekiti and Osun States governorship elections would have begun.

“I mean, it belies logic that

the president would write to the National Assembly after they had proceeded on recess. Therefore, if he is not writing them between now and Thursday, when they would go on recess, then, it is a deal. He will sign it, since the signing ceremony is his personal business,” the source explained.

Besides, the source, which equally quoted the president at a recent virtual Summit for Democracy organised by the United States President, Joe Biden, where he reiterated his commitment to leaving behind a lasting legacy of credible polls for the nation’s democratic development, added that Buhari was mindful of his commitment to the diplomatic community.

“As we countdown to our next general election in 2023, we remain committed to putting in place and strengthening all necessary mechanisms to ensure that Nigeria will not only record another peaceful transfer of power to an elected democratic government, but will also ensure that the elections are conducted in a free, fair and transparent manner,” Buhari stated at the summit.

Meanwhile, a political party, the National Rescue Movement (NRM), has accused the president of failing to reciprocate the usual cordial relationship between the Executive and the present National Assembly by his refusal to assent the Electoral Act amendment bill

TO BOOST MORALE, FG INCREASES POLICE SALARY BY 20% EFFECTIVE JANUARY 2022 The pay rise came amid awful revelations and controversies in the wake of the reports and recommendations of the #EndSARS panels set up by state governments to probe the protests, which rocked the country last year.

Dingyadi recalled that in October 2020, Nigeria was rocked by #EndSARS protests and Mr. President addressed the country and appealed for calm. He said the president also promised a review of the remunerations of police officers to enhance their take home pay in recognition of the services they rendered to the country in terms of maintenance of peace and order.

The minister explained, "We have tried to create a situation where their take home pay will be enhanced through the increase in their allowances.”

Dingyadi listed the police personnel allowances and approvals that were reviewed upward to include duty tour allowance, which was raised to six per cent of the new take home pay. Council also approved the payment of N1.12 billion for the settlement of outstanding benefits of personnel for the uninsured period between 2013 and 2020, which had not been covered under the group personal insurance programme.

He stated, “FEC has also ap-

proved the release of N13, 127, 972, 260 (Thirteen billion, one hundred twenty seven million, nine hundred seventy two thousand, two hundred and sixty nine naira) for payment as outstanding death benefits of 5,472 personnel within the uninsured period of 2013 to August 2021, not covered under the Group Life Insurance.

“Council has also approved the payment of the sum of 1.2 billion as payment of outstanding burial expenses of personnel period of January 2012 to 2021.

"Council has also graciously approved the annual insurance premiums of 750 million naira as well as payment of Four billion, eight hundred and twelve million, five hundred thousand naira for the repairs and replacement of damaged police infrastructure in future budgets, starting from 2022.

"Council has also approved a tax waiver in the sum of eighteen billion, six hundred million for personnel, junior officers in the police, in order to increase their take home pay, this is going to take effect from October 2021.

"Similarly, government has also approved the increase of the current rent subsidy, which is currently between 15 and 20 per cent, amounting to N61 billion, increase is 40 per cent of the consolidated policy salary structure

(CONPOST) in the sum of seventy eight billion three hundred million naira, that is to say an increase of about sixteen billion, four hundred million naira. “It has also approved payment of an additional six per cent shift duty allowance for officers on level 01 to 14 and the supervisors allowances for officers on level 15 and above. This will come out to about ten billion and thirty million naira with effect from 2022. Most importantly, government also approved payment of about 20 per cent of CONPOST, it is peculiar allowances to boost morale, and take home pay of the Nigeria Police.

"This 20 per cent is percentage of the total salary, known as peculiar allowance. It is a new allowance created to improve their take home pay."

Dingyadi added that all the proposed allowances and salary structure would be compiled and forwarded to the office of the Auditor General of the Federation (AuGF) and Salary and Wages Commission for vetting and proper scrutiny He said, “It is thereafter that the Accountant General of the Federation will be directed to approve the payment. We can see that with this development now, the police would be earning a more attractive pay that will be

commensurate with what they're doing. What we expect the police to do after this is to double their efforts and justify the confidence that Mr. President and FEC have vested in them.

“As a ministry we will do whatever it takes to ensure that we improve the performance and the relationship between the police and the public to ensure that they justify this good gesture."

The minister emphasised that although the proposal may not have been captured in the 2022 Appropriation Bill, it would be taken care of via a supplementary budget that would be sent later to the National Assembly for approval.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, who was also at the media briefing, said the police wage increase was not part of the 2022 budget proposal of federal government currently before the National Assembly. Ahmed assured that the police salary increase would come into effect once the supplementary budget was approved by the legislative arm.

"No, we are not talking about taking effect in January 2022. But the effective date is still January 2022. When all the problems are sorted out there will be supplementary budget sent to the parliament."

OTEDOLA: I HAVE NO INTEREST IN HOLDING ANY BOARD POSITION IN FBN HOLDINGS, FIRST BANK he wanted to be chairman of the bank.

“I am simply an investor who saw an opportunity in the financial institution and decided to take advantage of it through the investment I have made. My interest, contrary to speculations is not to become chairman of the bank or its holding company (Holdco). Moreover, I am in semi-retirement,” he explained.

According to him, the hallmark of any good investor was to see opportunities where others don't, saying that he was convinced that FBN Holdings has a bright future, is strong, solid and would remain a dominant player in the Nigerian financial services sector

in the foreseeable future.

Otedola praised the financial institution, saying "being the single largest shareholder doesn't mean I must necessarily hold a position in the bank. I believe in allowing competent people run institutions in a professional manner and to the benefit of all the stakeholders."

The billionaire recently acquired an additional 2.5 per cent in FBN Holdings Plc, raising his stake to become the single largest shareholder in the company with a total shareholding of 7.5 percent.

Market analysts believe Otedola must have pumped a whopping N45 billion to attain this dominant position.

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COMMENT

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

COMBATING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila has been proved right, writes Wale Bamide

T

he 2020 Coronavirus pandemic that ravaged the world and threw humanity into unprecedented disarray and chaos is yet to abate. Nations reputed to be leaders in medicine and pharmaceutical science quaked as the death toll rose.

The virus that reportedly broke out in the Chinese town of Wuhan has killed millions and ruined others.

The deadly pandemic in history is not only a health pandemic. It evolved into an economic and relational pandemic. Global economic activities were brought to a halt. Nations and households groaned as incomes plummeted disastrously. Industries and sectors that could not leverage technology in their production mix missed out. They faded away in the post-COVID-19 era. It was a litmus test for leaders globally, whilst some maximised the adversity for development, many others were helpless and made matters more precarious.

It was also a period of revelation. Many nations, especially in the third world with obsolete health facilities, were exploring internal solutions to the greatest public health crisis in centuries. The foreign partners are not ready to lend a helping hand as they were badly hit by the pandemic.

They need to save their people too. Ventilator, a device that assists sufferers of respiratory distress became scarce as many victims of COVID-19 urgently needed it for survival.

The Trump Presidency in the United States invoked powers of the Defence Production Act to compel companies to manufacture items in short supply that would aid in the U.S. response to the deadly coronavirus.

Big American corporations such as General Motors, General Electric, Hill-Rom, Medtronic, ResMed, Royal Philips, Vyaire Medical and 3M got cracking, churning out ventilators, other critical medical devices and supplies at a neck-breaking pace to save their people.

In Nigeria, as the nation stood the risk of mass fatality, a leading figure that stuck his neck out for the preservation of the people in the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic was the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila. He belled the cat on the proposed Control of Infectious Disease Bill that mischief makers and fifth columnists twisted and turned into a controversial subject.

Yet, Gbajabiamila was only acting in public interest. The Speaker was only concerned on how to avert a major public health crisis at a time Nigeria was plagued with dearth of medical infrastructure and personnel. He averred that the bill, if passed into law, would mitigate the recklessness of the few who might want to endanger many Nigerians.

But he was vilified, lampooned and hounded for seeking public good. “When the House last sat in session on Tuesday the 28th of April 2020, we considered the proposed Control of Infectious Diseases

THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAS MANDATED CIVIL SERVANTS TO GET VACCINATED. THE ECONOMIC FINANCIAL CRIME COMMISSION COULD NOT ALLOW WORKERS IN WITHOUT SHOWING THE VACCINATION CARD

Bill, amongst other things. Since then, there has been a barrage of criticisms and accusations, including allegations that the proposed bill is a product of inducement by foreign interests. The bill, which is still a proposal subject to consideration, amendment and improvement has been assailed as a sinister attempt to turn Nigerians into guinea pigs for medical research while taking away their fundamental human rights’, the Speaker lamented.

The Speaker dismissed the tales of mischief makers saying, “Suffice it to say that none of these allegations are true. Unfortunately, we now live in a time when conspiracy theories have gained such currency that genuine endeavours in the public interest can quickly become mischaracterized and misconstrued to raise the spectre of sinister intent and ominous possibility.

“This House of Representatives will never take any action that purposes to bring harm to any Nigerian here at home or abroad. As we have thus far shown by our conduct, the resolutions and actions we take in this 9th House of Representatives will always be in the best interests of the Nigerian people who elected us, and no one else”.

Despite the unabated missiles fired from many quarters, Gbajabiamila boldly declared that, “In the recent uproar, certain fundamental truths have been lost and are worth remembering. Our current framework for the prevention and management of infectious diseases is obsolete and no longer fit for purpose. The current law severely constrains the ability of the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to take proactive action to prevent the entry into Nigeria of Infectious diseases and the management of public health emergencies when they occur. Even now, the government remains vulnerable to claims that some directives already being implemented to manage the present crisis do not have the backing of the law and therefore cannot withstand judicial scrutiny.

“I disagree wholeheartedly with the suggestion that this is not the ideal time to seek reforms of the infectious diseases and public health emergency framework in the country. The weaknesses of the present system have already manifested in the inability of the government to hold to proper account those whose refusal to adhere with NCDC guidelines led to the further spread of the coronavirus in Nigeria. We have had people break out from isolation centres, and others, who were fully aware of their status, chose to travel across state lines on public transport.

“The number of those currently infected by the coronavirus continues to rise alongside the number of those who have died. There is no timeline for when this disease will pass, and nobody can predict when the next public health crisis will occur, just as nobody predicted the present predicament.

AKANDE, TINUBU, BUHARI AND 2023 The country is in its most interesting political season, writes Olusegun Adeniyi

Continued from backpage

T

he announcement of Pastor Bakare as the CPC presidential running mate undercut the efforts at joint working between the two parties. “I remember that Chief Bisi Akande was so livid that he was asking them, ‘What then is the alliance for’?” recounted Tinubu who explained what transpired during negotiations that took several days. “The choice of Pastor Bakare, we were made to understand, was to pacify the Nasir El-Rufai wing of the CPC that came from the ‘Save Nigeria Group’, but it wasn’t one we could accept in the circumstance, and we made that very clear,” said the former Lagos State Governor matter of factly. With the benefit of hindsight, Tinubu reflected that what the CPC could have done “was bring Pastor Bakare to us prior to making the announcement, while explaining the rationale that made him their preferred choice for the VP position.

Perhaps, we would have examined the idea. Instead, the decision, when made public had the effect of a fait accompli.”

Tinubu pointed out that in the course of the entire negotiations, Pastor Bakare “was never present and as the person whose actions and acceptance of this decision was most pivotal, his absence from the talks concerned us. When we insisted on the slot, all they kept saying was that Pastor Bakare would resign, but again no specific plan or timeline was given for this.

Because of this impasse, talks ultimately dissolved and we went our separate ways in the 2011 elections.”

Tinubu clarified that ACN insisted on the CPC making the position vacant “for the ACN to fill, as that had been the initial understanding of how this partnership would be structured. We had no business with the precise manner in which they would rescind the announcement of Bakare. The crucial point was that the VP slot should be available for the ACN. Eventually, it became obvious that CPC was unable or perhaps unwilling to surrender the number two slot.”

At one point during a meeting with key national figures who were urging for the merger, according to Tinubu, he emphasized that the ACN had bent and

shown flexibility on all other issues as far as possible.

“I remember very vividly that I told these figures, ‘Dear Leaders, you invited us to this meeting, and for the sake of the country, I have tried to bend over backwards to accommodate your positions. But you are asking me to surrender my two legs for amputation and you are not even ready to provide a wheelchair to take me home.’”

EL-RUFAI’S RESPONSE El-Rufai’s reflections on the turn of events contradicts that of Tinubu because, as far as he is concerned, it was “the ACN leadership who double-crossed Buhari and the CPC” in the negotiations preceding the 2011 presidential election. He also debunked the insinuation that he had any political ambition in the period preceding the 2011 general election. Narrating what he knew at the time – since he was not close to Buhari and was merely a distant CPC sympathizer by virtue of his association with Pastor Tunde Bakare – El-Rufai indicated that the agreement between CPC and ACN was that while the former would hold convention and pick a presidential candidate without a running mate, the latter would hold a convention without a presidential candidate, “because the Action Congress (AC), as the party was known at the time, was to produce the running mate in what was to be a joint ticket. That was the agreement.”

By the time the AC had their convention during which they added “Nigeria” to the party’s name and nominated Mallam Nuhu Ribadu as their presidential candidate, El-Rufai felt it was evident that there was a breach of good faith in the negotiations with CPC. “For me, that was the deal breaker. I know the pressure that was brought on Pastor Bakare to accept being running mate to General Buhari. He didn’t want the job and I was one of the people who persuaded him to take it,” said El-Rufai, who further claimed to be the one who told Buhari that Pastor Bakare was ready to step down for ACN candidate. “I remember Tinubu and his people had left for Lagos and we made frantic efforts to bring them back. I recall seeking the intervention of the Awujale of Ijebuland and the Oba of Lagos but by then, time was no longer on our side,” said El-Rufai.

To El-Rufai, the experience of the 2011 election so shattered Buhari that he was initially reluctant about revisiting the idea of any merger talk with Tinubu.

“But I was part of a group that persuaded him that without the alliance with South-West, of which Tinubu remains very critical, there was no way there could be any serious opposition platform to defeat the PDP. General Buhari eventually saw our point and I was part of the team that encouraged him to visit Tinubu at his home after receiving the Silverbird Lifetime Award along with General Danjuma and others in Lagos,” explained El-Rufai, currently Governor of Kaduna State… ============================= ENDNOTE: The foregoing may be past, but remains important, especially for the future of the APC. With growing security challenges that embolden bandits to carve out territories and collect taxes from rural dwellers in some northern states, the mounting debt burden for a country without any clear idea about repayment, collapsing social sectors like education and health, Nigeria is in a bad place. To worsen matters, we are graduating millions of our young people into unemployment and misery every year. But those are not the issues that will decide 2023 nor will our politicians even bother to engage them as they seek power. In the build-up to 2023, as it was in previous elections, the contentions will not be about programmes, policies, and ideals. What we will witness are cold calculations and personal interest, ethnicity, religion etc. in both the ruling APC and the main opposition, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

However, attention is now on APC, especially following Akande’s memoir where he described Vice President Yemi Osinbajo as “one of our brightest boys”. The memoir also implies that the arrangement that brought Buhari to power in 2015 presupposes that it is the turn of the Tinubu-led defunct ACN or at best the Southwest to produce the APC presidential candidate in 2023. That leaves us with the question of the exact nature of this pact between Buhari and Tinubu when they strategized to capture power in 2015.

Whatever may have been the deal, I do not envy the president. According to the author, when the idea of a political marriage between the Southwest and Northwest started with Tinubu and Buhari as principals, not only was he (Akande) skeptical, he was also warned against it. Let’s hear Akande: “One Yoruba leader after another begun (sic) to call me aside to warn about the dangers of dealing with the Fulani. I was literally being invited to many Yoruba sectoral meetings to explain if it would be practicable for our group to internalize the historical Fulani’s true or perceived antecedents of turning friends to slaves; of becoming the king among strange princes in the palace of another man’s culture; and of reducing landlord communities to territorial vassalage…”

In the event that a Northerner secures the presidential ticket of the APC for 2023, what will Akande tell these Yoruba leaders who called to warn him? How do these permutations respond to the genuine agitation in the Southeast that the presidency be ceded to one of their own? Should Tinubu (who admitted on Tuesday in Abuja that he is still consulting) decide to join the presidential race, how will he navigate the tricky issue of religion that was used to edge him out of the vice-presidential slot on two different occasions?

Where does Osinbajo, whose supporters have already started their not-so-subtle campaign, stand?

And very importantly, on whose side will Buhari himself tilt his support when the chips are down?

There are no easy answers to these questions, but they are what the APC may be contending with in the weeks and months ahead. And whether we like it or not, they will impact the future of our country. Meanwhile, Akande also gave his version as to how Osinbajo emerged the vice-presidential candidate to Buhari in 2015. His account is not materially different from mine, except that much of what I wrote in ‘Against The Run of Play’ came directly from Tinubu. While I recommend Akande’s memoir, interested readers might also find my book useful as we enter this most interesting political season in Nigeria.

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T H I S D AY • WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2021

EDITORIAL INSURGENCY, BANDITRY AND TEACHERS The authorities must do more to secure the schools

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he Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) has claimed losing at least 800 of its members to the insurgency which has been ravaging the Northeast zone of the country in the past 12 years.

The union has also threatened to withdraw teachers from some local government areas in the Northwest over rising cases of kidnapping, banditry and other criminal activities ravaging the zone. NUT National President, Dr Nasir Idris, said recently, “The way things are going, if this problem is not addressed you may notice that schools will be non-existent in so many places in this country.”

With students and their teachers being kidnapped and killed at random, the climate of fear is further worsening the low level of education and literacy in the north. It has been found that conflict reduces school enrolment as well as years of education. Expectedly, the number of out-of-school children in the country has spiked, put at about THE STATE OF EDUCATION 15 million, and mostly from the north. The IN THE NORTH IS implication of such INCREASINGLY FALLING a state of affair is INTO DISREPAIR AND implicitly damaging.

IT CAN ONLY WORSEN Education is fundaIF TEACHERS FEEL SO mental to development. The state of THREATENED AS TO education in the north ABANDON THEIR JOB is increasingly falling into disrepair and it can only worsen if teachers feel so threatened as to abandon their job.

As we keep highlighting, perhaps aside the 30-month civil war, Nigeria has never been so threatened by security challenges as it is today. That these criminal gangs now target schools from where they abduct students and teachers has compounded the problem. The challenge of insecurity becomes more perplexing when parents can no longer send their children or wards to school without the fear that they could

Letters to the Editor

be abducted. Repeated attacks on schools in recent years have created fear in many vulnerable students and their parents in some sections of the country and is affecting the attitude to education, especially with teachers now also targeted.

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T H I S D AY EDITOR SHAKA MOMODU DEPUTY EDITORS WALE OLALEYE, OBINNA CHIMA MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR ISRAEL IWEGBU CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OLUSEGUN ADENIYI EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN MANAGING EDITOR BOLAJI ADEBIYI THE OMBUDSMAN KAYODE KOMOLAFE

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

ith a growing pattern of roving genocidal gangs, we must challenge the federal government and the authorities in many of the states concerned to do a little more than the usual blame game that has deepened our insecurity. Suspending telecommunications services in some states because of bandits has also proved to be counterproductive since these criminals now resort to using walkie-talkies while their victims have no means to communicate. But of utmost concern is the urgent need to adequately secure schools in areas where the activities of the bandits and insurgents are prevalent.

Since most schools in these places are owned by either the state or federal government, we hope the security agencies can extend to them their presence.

It will also not be out of place for state governments in Northwest and Northeast where cases of banditry and insurgency are rampant, to buy life insurance policies for their teachers. The insurance policy will give some sense of relief that in case of any eventuality, the families of the affected teachers will have something to fall back on.

That these targeted attacks on schools and teachers are widespread is dispiriting and government, at all levels, and other stakeholders must find a solution to the challenge. In 2014 the Safe Schools Initiative was launched to counter the growing attacks on the right to education and to build community security groups to promote safe zones for education, consisting of teachers, parents, police, and community leaders. While the initiative has been abandoned, safety is an issue we cannot afford to push to the corner. We must create the right environment and a safe space in schools not only for the children who want to learn but also for their teachers.

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

SOKOTO BUS BURNING AND A COUNTRY ON FIRE

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herever one is in Nigeria, chances are that they are that a fiery proximity prickles, like red-hot pins from hell. Because a beloved country has refused to bow to the iniquitous idols of terrorism and anarchy, its citizens are being fed into a furnace.

As 23 hapless passengers travelling through Gidan Bawa village in Isa Local Government area of Sokoto State burnt to their deaths on 6th December 2021, with fire scorching their feet, singeing their eyebrows and fingers, and roasting their hopes for a better Nigeria, they died with the taste of ashes in their mouths.

As they burnt, they must have cursed the day fate melded with (mis)fortune to deposit them into the laps of Nigeria. Who will comfort their families? Who will comfort Nigerians? Routine messages of condolence have been issued by the government to the families of the victims. But those messages jar with their perfunctory emptiness. Those condolence messages jar with the falsity of their routine repetition.

Those messages are all the countless victims of Nigeria`s victimization ever get.

Every day, when Nigerians open newspapers or tune in to radios and televisions, they are inundated with news of horror after horror.

And as the relentless attacks continue, Nigeria burns with the fury of terrorists who bathe with the blood of Nigerians. Nigeria burns with the impotence of government at all levels and the inability to confront the killers prowling the land.

Among Nigerians, the feeling grows by the day that among high-ranking government officials, security personnel, traditional rulers, business men and diasporans are those feeding the flames burning up the country. Suspicions are mounting that terror has some sympathizers

in Nigeria`s corridors of power.

Nigerians want to know them. Nigerians want to know those who sell them off to killers. Nigerians want to know those stoking the flames that now raze a country that once promised so much.

Bandits have been declared terrorists. But even that took an inordinately long time, undoubtedly delayed by the politics of those who call the bandits brothers.

Now that the dog has been given the bad name it richly deserves; having grown rabid since then, it must be hung, and immediately. They have grown more rabid. With their sole interlocutor having withdrawn his nebulous services, Nigeria and the bandits must now go to head in a pas de deux of death.

The wind of economic austerity tears through Nigeria, brutally wiping away the little financial stability few Nigerian families had.

Nigerians can no longer travel or live freely. Terrorists routinely jump out of the bush surrounding the Abuja-Kaduna expressway and many parts of the Northeast to kill and kidnap passengers.

In communities in Niger State, the crude economists of terrorism advise impoverished villagers to sell their farm produce and raise ransom to secure the freedom of their kidnapped relations.

In Sokoto State, searing flames become the portion of those who run into the terrorists. Nigeria faces a security crisis and in spite of the posturing and grandstanding of the government, security agencies appear overwhelmed.

While young Nigerian soldiers are caught down in their prime by the superior fire of terrorists in the Northeast almost on a weekly basis, legislators bicker over a closed NYSC orientation camp.

While well-heeled terrorists rip through communities with cyclonic fury, the government trains its propagandists to dispute the findings of

a judicial panel of inquiry that a massacre happened.

While point-and-kill prosecutors hound political and ethnic opponents of the powers that be on incredible allegations of financial impropriety, ISWAP pushes its billions through the country`s leaky financial system.

There is no doubt that death stares Nigeria in the face. And more than ever, it appears that those who should rescue Nigeria are poised to be its undertakers.

Nigerians must rally. The fires did not start today. The fires burned during the Kaduna and Jos crises of the early 2000s.Terrorists torch the farms of impoverished villagers when they deem fit in the Northeast.

Police stations and INEC offices have been burnt by those who should be truly ashamed of their crimes. Last year, the EndSARS protest was so brutally cut short last year by the bullets of Nigerian soldiers, but the seeming silence is that of the graveyard.

The queries for those in authority must flow again, thick and fast.

Nigerians must learn, emboldened by self-preservation, to question those who hold the reins of power in the country.

Nigerians must unequivocally demand that those who contribute to terrorism`s blood money be unearthed and prosecuted. Nigerians must ask all those who fill public offices but are unprepared to lift a finger for anything other than self-preservation to exit those offices.

2023 is very much around the corner and Nigeria must look away from those who currently govern the country. Nigerians must look away from those who log the fire which now burns with unquenchable rage.

Nigeria must look elsewhere for the fourth man in their fire. Perhaps, he will come from the east.

Kene Obiezu, keneobiezu@gmail.com

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THURSDAY DECEMBER 16, 2021 •T H I S D AY

THURSDAY DECEMBER 16, 2021 • T H I S D AY

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T H I S D AY ˾THURSDAY DECEMBER 16, 2021

POLITICS

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

Musa: Rotational Presidency Has No Place in Our Constitution Senator Sani Musa, representing Niger East in the National Assembly tells Nseobong Okon-Ekong that his quest for the national championship of the All Progressives Congress is anchored on an impressive record of service in the private and public sectors

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usher visionary and pacesetting leadership for the party. my reform agenda for the party is expressed in what I call the three Rs for success, that is, Reconciliation, Reorganisation and Redirection. We need to immediately reconcile aggrieved members of the party on a sustainable basis. We need to reorganize the party in such a manner that it is able to effectively mobilise all segments of the country from youths to women groups for elections. And thirdly we must redirect our efforts towards winning elections and nation building and not wrangling. We’ll run an inclusive leadership that is devoid of the habitual grain of the entrenched political culture of dynastic politics, sectionalism, favouritism, money politics, parasitism on the public pay roll, cronyism and patronage.

We’ll run a party that will preserve the legacy of our founding fathers to build a strong country that is more tolerant, more prosperous and fairer by giving every member of the party equal opportunity.

hat is your assessment of the preparations for the APC national convention?

Arrangements are in top gear for the scheduled convention of our great party. I have no reason to be anxious. I believe we are ready and we are going to have a hitch free convention that other parties will even emulate. So far, I believe that all the indications for the conduct of the National convention of our party are positive. As you’re aware, the Chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum and Governor of Kebbi State, Alhaji Atiku Baguduhad earlier disclosed after his meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House that the convention will hold in February 2022.

This is enough time for the States that are yet to hold their congresses at the State level to do so. The APC reconciliation committee is also working round the clock going from States-to-States to find solutions to all grievances either before or after the congress. So I am optimistic that we are on the right course, and the convention will be a success come February 2022.

Aspirants for national chairman have been declaring their interest in the position. Is consensus candidacy still feasible as once mooted by the National Caretaker Committee?

In any democratic process , all options are always on the table. You must also bear in mind that consensus candidature is one of the recognized modes of electing the leadership of the party so you cannot foreclose the possibility of a consensus candidate arrangement emerging even at the eleventh hour to the convention.

Why do you want to leave the Senate to become the national chairman?

Well, Man by nature is a boundless entity, the desire to be for everyone is one of the cardinal reasons that sees me aspiring for the head of the All Progressives Congress.

Before I was elected a Senator, I have worked in the public and private sector. I have been a leader in the APC since 2014 and served as a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) from 2019 to date. If you look at the antecedents, you will notice the consistency.

As a serving Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, representing the good people of Niger east Senatorial District and Chairman Committee on Senate Services. I have served my people well as a first term Senator, and it has been an amazing experience.

So my interest in the chairmanship of our great party, the APC is another call to national service just like my current position as a Senator of the Federal Republic. You must bear in mind that as a Chairman of the APC I can leverage on my experience here in the Senate to push the manifesto of the party to the National Assembly more efficiently. It will also give me vantage position to deliver reconciliatory leadership which the party needs now to navigate out of its present challenges. And my leadership of the party will reinforce our commitment to keep the towering legacy and leadership of our amiable President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR, whom has given our party an ideology and presence in the international community, his democratic ideals and work within the sub-region and Africa, fight against corruption and his efforts at providing security.

Hence the need to have a leader that will continue to give full support and attention to such progressive efforts. There’s going to be a continuation and all of my efforts will be directed to support the deepening of democracy in Nigeria. It is a necessary sacrifice I must make to build our party in particular and the nation in general.

What are the challenges APC should resolve ahead of the convention?

We must put in place measures that are effective in resolving pre and post – convention disputes so that the party does not emerge from the convention worse off. Adequate arrangements for security and COVID -19 precautions must be put in place especially with the recent confirmation of Omicron in Nigeria.

Musa

What support base do you have in the party that makes you to think or believe that you are the best choice?

Since I indicated interest in the chairmanship of the APC, the support has been overwhelming. Across the leadership of the party at the State level, down to the grassroots and back to the Federal level, those who are sincere will tell you I am the candidate to beat. Even my opponents know in the recesses of their hearts that I am a better candidate based on my pedigree, my contribution to the party and my sincere commitment to ensure the stability and success of the party.

If it is an elective convention, what is the assurance that you will beat other contestants at the convention?

I told you from the beginning that all options are on the table and I have no discomfort or difficulty emerging as the chairman of the APC even if it’s

an open contest. What are the qualities of a good leader? Make your assessment based on those qualities that makes a good leader, you will see that I stand higher. Leadership isn’t something people are born with – it’s a skill that can be cultivated over time. When you’re able to develop strong leadership attributes, you’re positioned to inspire your entire organization, team or country. Right from the inception of our campaign, we have always been reaching out to party leaders and members at every level. I will surely triumph even in a highly contested election.

What would you do differently if elected as chairman? What reforms would you carry out? What are your plans for the party?

If given the opportunity to lead the party I will completely re-engineer the internal structures and workings of the party. I will be adaptive to participatory and affiliative work style that will

PDP as a party is a shadow of its former self and remains a toothless bulldog. It cannot even offer credible stiff opposition which is expected of it under the present circumstances of our democracy. Since PDP was defeated at 2015 general elections it has not recovered from the shock of the defeat and it is obvious in all that the umbrella does at the moment. They are now going about with a very scandalous mantra to “ rescue and rebuild “ Nigeria.

I would have said the mantra itself is ludicrous but I would rather say it is embarrassing. Embarrassing because how can a party like PDP forget about its atrocities so fast?

What is your view on direct primary for the choice of candidates for election?

First we all need to know what a direct or indirect primary is, direct primary is one whereby members of a political party choose their party’s candidates while an indirect primary is one whereby party members elect delegates from among themselves who in turn decide the party’s flag bearers for upcoming elections.

The decision of the National Assembly in passing for a direct election has have applauded by some while others see it as an infringement on the independence and internal democratic workings of individual political parties.

There is nothing new about direct primaries as a means of electing party candidates because it is one of the options in our party Constitution. Nigeria’s democracy has been evolving and if it is the aspirations of Nigerians that direct primaries is the way to go then to me it’s a welcome development because it will guarantee the credibility and integrity of the electoral process and internal democracy of various political parties. Whatever the legislation brings we will adapt to use.

What is your opinion on presidential zoning or rotation? Should the presidential ticket go to the South or remain in the North?

Rotational presidency has no place in our Constitution neither is it recognized in the Electoral Act. It has always been a coinage of political parties at every point in time looking at political exigencies. Like I said earlier, Nigeria’s democracy has been evolving and so we are gradually navigating away from political solutions to our national challenges to solutions that are based on the Constitution which is the ground norm. So while others are clamouring for rotational presidency, all I can say is that from a strict reading of the Nigerian Constitution, rotational presidency is not recognized. However as a people and party we will take the right decision at the right time in the interest of the nation.

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

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T H I S D AY ˾ THURSDAY DECEMBER 16, 2021

POLITICS

Igini: Nothing New About Financial Burden Argument for Direct Primaries

Independent National Electoral Commission Resident Electoral Commissioner in Akwa Ibom State, Mike Igini, in this interview with Deji Elumoye, speaks on various national issues including the argument that there will be additional financial burden if the President signs into law the 2021 Electoral Act Amendment Bill does not hold water, saying INEC has been conducting elections in 119,973 polling units deploying its staff. Excerpts

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hat’s the position of INEC on direct and indirect primaries by political parties?

INEC’s position as the impartial umpire is the position of the directives of the extant legal framework. As Managers of the electoral process, the commission has institutional memories and knowledge of the advantages and pitfalls of the different methods of conducting party primaries. But as Alexander Pope said, for forms, mode or methods, it’s scarcely necessary to contend because “what is best administered is best”.

In other words, there’s nothing inherently so good or bad about Indirect or Direct primary to warrant the ongoing acrimony that may affect other profound provisions of the current bill given that this issue of Direct primary is just one item in the entire one bill. We must avoid a repeat of the 3rd term situation whereby just one obnoxious item in a single bill truncated the entire bill. We must bear in mind that one common formula for success in any approach chosen depends on the sincerity of those who lead and manage these parties as well as those who participate in those primaries conducted by political parties. Unless political party members from top to bottom sincerely submit themselves to the due process they subscribe to, any hope for the success of whatever method they subscribe to will be a futile hope.

From our political experience in this country, one of the biggest political challenges has been the inability of political parties to organize primaries without squabbles. Whenever they manage to do so, it has always been seen as a remarkable achievement, whereas it should be something of a routine. Looking beyond the problems to the solution, our take is that whatever mode that we subscribe to, political parties should do the following; a mandatory submission within a reasonable time before any primary election certified true copies of verifiable party Register of members of each Ward or delegate list for the election and certified true copies of party guidelines for same election submitted to INEC and published on the party website, as well as two newspapers displayed in all LGA offices of the party within the Constituency of the Election.

There is also the issue of a huge financial burden on INEC monitoring the process associated with Direct primary?

Look, no mode of primary is cost-free. The commission had always spent money to mobilize staff who are deployed to monitor either Direct or Indirect primaries in the past. There is absolutely nothing new about this issue of financial burden argument. What the political parties have done in the past because the Commission bears the burden alone was that after giving notice to the Commission of date, time, and venue and after the commission’s staff have all been mobilized, even some staff from the Headquarters in Abuja, suddenly officials of parties will send notice to the states, few hours to the time that the exercise is suspended and sometimes it may even be a message of outright cancellation received at the venue of the scheduled primaries while mobilized INEC staff and their members are waiting for party officials that will conduct the primary.

As a result, funds and time committed are all wasted to be repeated. We are just monitors of compliance to guidelines set out by political parties to regulate their affairs and not the Commission that conducts the primary. Why so much noise and concerns about the cost of monitoring by NEC and a loud silence over the cost of the exercise itself by the political parties?

Why are people not talking about the cost to be incurred by the political parties but INEC cost of monitoring and by implication dragging the Commission into the arena of a subject matter that has now assumed partisan dimensions?

We have been conducting elections in 119,973 polling units deploying staff. And in the 2023

Igini

election, the Commission will conduct an election in a total of 176,846 polling units. So what is this hue and cry about monitoring primary exercises in just 8,809 Registration Areas or wards compared to several polling units in general elections?

We should simply make up our minds on what we want to do with the greatest promise and hope of democracy, which is participation, whether it should be given meaning and purpose in our practiced democracy.

So you don’t think that monitoring cost is a serious issue that should be considered?

I have not said so but rather saying that all cost elements should be considered and not just that of monitoring by NEC itself that has not mentioned any figure yet, monitoring cost has suddenly become the main issue with some mischievous

outrageous figures put out there in the social media to conflate the conversation.

This is unnecessary and unhelpful at this time that we all should ensure we have a new electoral Act in preparing for the 2023 elections. As I pointed out a while ago, the most important factor is willingness and sincerity for the process to succeed by all.

I’m warning against relapse to cognitive cherry-picking, with emphasis on one and maintaining loud silence on other elements in the mix. What is currently going on is nothing but an echo chamber, individuals seeking to share the views on those areas of the Bill they agree with to reinforce their held position, there is no more objective engagement and understanding of the subject matter.

The Electoral Act (as amended) would it in any way affect INEC’s effectiveness as we approach another election year?

All cost elements should be considered and not just that of monitoring by NEC itself that has not mentioned any figure yet, monitoring cost has suddenly become the main issue with some mischievous outrageous figures put out there in the social media to conflate the conversation.

This is unnecessary and unhelpful at this time that we all should ensure we have a new electoral Act in preparing for the 2023 elections. As I pointed out a while ago, the most important factor is willingness and sincerity for the process to succeed by all. I’m warning against relapse to cognitive cherry-picking, with emphasis on one and maintaining loud silence on other elements in the mix.

What is currently going on is nothing but an echo chamber, individuals seeking to share the views on those areas of the Bill they agree with to reinforce their held position, there is no more objective engagement and understanding of the subject matter

While the constitution provides a broad general framework on matters of elections particularly concerning tenure and time frame within which election should be conducted, qualifications, and other matters. The Electoral Act is the principal legal directive framework for organizing, conducting, and supervising elections in addition to the Commission’s guidelines and manuals made under the powers donated exclusively to the Commission by the Constitution. Therefore, changes and proposals in the expected new Act will affect the conduct of elections, marginally or profoundly depending on the significance.

We hope that this bill comes out as we enjoin all stakeholders to make it happen for the improvement of our election and the sustenance of our democracy.

Anambra election has come and gone, what do you attribute to its success?

One will attribute it principally to the commitment of all stakeholders to see that competition, participation, and legitimate outcome of the election occurs to the joy of the overwhelming majority of the voters. We must commend the people of Anambra, the Security agents, and indeed the leadership of the Commission under whom there is a steady progressive consolidation of innovations and the entire staff of the Commission for a job well done. The media has remained our dependable ally helping to educate the public in keeping to its credo which is the people’s right to know. All these factors came together in a good mix that led to the acceptable outcome of that election.

How do political parties’ actions and inactions impact INEC’s performance?

Modern representative democracy is inconceivable without political parties. They are the main actors in the Electoral process and governance before and after elections. Their impact is therefore significant, the values that political parties subscribe to, promote and convey in their actions shape political behavior and make a difference in the impact n Electoral performance.

If the values they subscribe to and act upon adversely affect key indicators of electoral performance i.e free participation, unfettered competition, it will affect how the outcome of the election will be accepted y stakeholders.

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FEATURES

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

Making a Bold Statement Ordinary Nigerians have seized the chance to own a piece of MTN. Chiamaka Ozulumba reports that the symbolic action and bold statement are testament to the future of the telecommunications company

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hen the parents of sevenmonth-old Abubakar Muhammad Jiddah and one-year-old Hamida Sulaiman purchased shares of MTN Nigeria Communications Plc in the names of their babies in Sokoto on December 2, they were making a bold statement. It was a symbolic action that spoke to an understanding that MTN is not just a company of today but also of the future. They, therefore, laid a solid foundation for the two children to partake in that future.

That action is also a testament to the grand reception that has greeted the ongoing MTN public offer. For clarity, MTN Nigeria has put up for sale to retail investors up to 575 million shares held in MTN Nigeria by MTN Group at the price of N169.00 per share, with a minimum subscription of 20 shares and lots of 20 shares thereafter. The offer opened on December 1 and will close on December 14.

To encourage investors, MTN is offering an incentive of one free share for every 20 shares purchased, subject to a maximum of 250 free shares per investor, but to benefit from this incentive, retail investors have to hold the shares allotted to them for at least 12 months after allotment.

The offer is in line with MTN Group’s commitment to reduce its shareholding in MTN Nigeria from 78.8 percent to 65 percent over time.

The MTN public offer comes as a fulfilment of a promise made some two years ago when Africa's leading telecoms group was listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, now Nigerian Exchange Limited.

"This is just the beginning, we still intend to pursue a future public offer giving more Nigerians greater access to the MTN opportunity," MTN said in a statement in 2019 announcing the listing.

For a company whose “success and growth…are intrinsically linked to that of Nigeria and Nigerians”, according to MTN Nigeria CEO Karl Toriola, there is no better appreciation than offering “Nigerians the opportunity to own shares in MTN Nigeria”.

MTNN is the largest listed company by revenue on Nigeria Exchange Limited and the second-largest listed company by market capitalisation. It is a market leader with 39 percent of the market share which is ascribed to its superior performance among competing brands, according to industry data.

Since its inception, MTN Nigeria has paid out over N2.3 trillion as dividend, according to CEO Toriola. The telecom services provider recorded 127 per cent return on equity in the 2020 financial year, from 111 per cent in 2019, while earnings per share jumped to N10.08, from N9.99 in the same period.

Similarly, MTN Nigeria dividend payment increased to N9.40 in 2020, from N6.92 in 2019, and equity analysts are projecting a better dividend payment for the 2021 financial year. The recent approval-in-principle of Payment Service Banking (PSB) licence by the Central Bank of Nigeria means that MTN Nigeria will soon begin to accept deposits and facilitate payments across both local and foreign counterparties within Africa through its designated platforms.

There is no gainsaying that the telecoms services provider, which analysts at WSTC Financial Services have described as a fast-growing and high potential company, holds a lot of promise going into the future.

Having worked diligently in the last 20 years to connect 68 million subscribers onto voice and data networks and ensure delivery of the benefits of a modern connected life, according to MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita, MTN Nigeria see the next 20 years being even more transformational than the first.

CEO Toriola speaks of this future when he says the essence of the public offer is to let every Nigerian in every part of the country “have a share in the wealth creation that MTN is going to take us through in the coming years". It is the beginning of another journey, a new phase that would

Toriola

The essence of the public offer is to let every Nigerian in every part of the country “have a share in the wealth creation that MTN is going to take us through in the coming years" see the acceleration of MTN Nigeria’s transition from Telco to Techco, opening up new opportunities and possibilities.

“There is much more to do to support

the evolution of an inclusive digital economy, and we continue to invest as we evolve into a truly digital operator, capable of seamlessly integrating value

across the evolving telecommunications, digital and fintech segments,” Toriola says, giving a glimpse of that promising future.

In many ways, the MTN public offer is transformational and innovative. The MTN retail offer is the first in Nigeria to be delivered via a digital distribution platform.

The use of such innovative technology indicates MTN’s intention to facilitate the maximum possible participation by Nigerian investors.

Similarly, by encouraging investors to hold shares for the long term through an incentive structure, MTN has shown that it intends to build a long-term relationship with its shareholders.

The MTN retail offer also presents a unique opportunity, one that millions of Nigerians have been looking forward to, to participate in the telco’s huge success.

And MTN has shown sincerity of purpose.

Rather than give a chunk of its shares to a few large institutions, it has opted to have as many Nigerians as possible partake in the offer.

So, Modupe Kadri, MTN Nigeria Chief Financial Officer, is right in describing the retail offer as democratized participation in share sales. Which explains why the telco is offering as low as 20 units of shares, a first in the Nigerian stock market. “[W]e have never had an offer as low as 20 units” in the history of the Nigerian stock market, said Kasimu Garba Kurfi, Managing Director/CEO, APT Securities and Funds Limited, at an Investor Forum in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, on December 6. He added that the offer would “encourage retail investors”.

But it was not only Kurfi that is excited about the offer. At the Investor Forum which provided insights into MTN Nigeria’s investment case, the public offer and business outlook, Boniface Okezie, National Coordinator, Progressive Shareholders Association (PSAN), tipped MTN Nigeria as “still the best company to invest in” and asked investors to “go and invest in MTNN and keep your dividends rolling in”.

“MTNN is Nigeria’s strongest company in terms of dividend distribution and dividend policy. It is an increasing season of giving; if there is one gift you must give to a family member if there is one share they would buy, it is MTNN,” said Bolaji Balogun, CEO of Chapel Hill Denham, the Lead Issuing House and Bookrunner for the MTN Nigeria public offer.

For analysts at Coronation Asset Management, the MTN Nigeria offer represents excellent value for investors.

“At the offer price, the shares trade at a Price/Earnings (PE) ratio of 11.6x our forecast of 2021 Profits After Tax, and a PE of just 9.1x our forecasts of 2022 Profits After Tax. The historic dividend yield for the stock is 5.5 percent and this is expected to increase,” Coronation Asset Management analysts said in a December 6 note to investors.

There are indications that the objective to get as many Nigerians as possible to buy shares in MTN Nigeria and so fundamentally transform the telco’s ownership structure is already being achieved. Chapel Hill Denham’s Balogun gave this indication when he spoke of the influx of applications within the first few hours after the public offer opened.

“In my 30 years of issuing shares, I’ve never seen this number of applications in the first few hours. People typically wait until the last few days to start buying. It shows that there’s a huge benefit in doing this digitally,” he said.

MTN may have envisaged this. The telco indicated earlier it would offer another 15 percent, which translates to 86 million more shares, to the public if the 575 million ordinary shares already on sale are oversubscribed before the December 14 closing date. The numbers are not yet in, but the signs point in that direction. By the time the process is complete, MTN would have the largest retail shareholder base of any company in Nigeria, and Nigerians would be the better for it.

T H I S D AY ˾ ˜ ͯʹ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

21

#THISISNIGERIA

Nelson Olanipekun

REVAMPING THE NIGERIA POLICE FORCE FOR TRUE SERVICE

ix years ago, I was in the police station to respond to a distress call made by our client to the chambers I worked at. On getting there, an argument ensued between me and the officers; they were determined to perpetuate the illegality I sought to prevent, and as a result, they pushed and dragged me out of their station.

Violations of human rights, assaults, recklessness and extrajudicial killings have long been associated with the police. It is however essential to establish that not all officers are bad, and some officers are doing fantastic work in the pursuit of justice. Many upright officers who are diligent have shown outstanding efforts to keep communities safe.

However, the ills that permeate the Nigeria Police Force, such as brutality, indiscriminate killings, arrests, and extortion, undermine the system’s reasonable efforts.

As much as citizens are deeply exposed to human rights abuses, officers of the Nigeria Police are likewise, not invulnerable to human rights violations, most especially in their line of duty. Oftentimes, it comes from their employer and even the citizens they are saddled with the responsibility to protect and serve. They are also victims of unfavourable policies.

According to a police officer interviewed

by Team Gavel, “Good welfare is the major challenge. No one regards us, especially, if you are in a lower cadre. We buy everything with our money; money that is not even enough.

We buy complaint books and uniforms. The last time I was given a uniform was when I was in Police College.”

This was a statement made by an Inspector who has spent 21 years as a police officer and currently earns about N87,135 monthly. An average police officer earns their salary based on the level or rank.

The majority of these officers start their career in the Nigerian Police as constables at grade level 03 with a monthly earning of N43,293.80, which is approximately 75 dollars. After three years or more on the job, an officer only moves to the next level with a N6,000 salary increase.

In a society like ours, the mere appearance of armed police officers is enough to terrify innocent citizens. Indeed, the Nigeria Police Force has faced overwhelming criticism and detestation which is not unconnected to cases of brutality and inhumane dealings of its officers. Nonetheless, the force is made up of humans, people who could do better at their jobs if only the authorities made necessary efforts by way of reforms.

A police officer interviewed by Team Gavel shares his opinion, “I cannot really blame people when they are defensive.

They have seen officers mistreat people and they are only scared for themselves.

But I can categorically say, if there is improvement in our welfare, the officers will behave better. Although it is not a guarantee because there will always be bad eggs no matter the improvement.”

While it is worthy to note that the use of force by officers of the Nigeria Police is necessary, it should only be proportionate to the perceived harm intended to be caused by a suspect, without brute force and show of terror. The Police Act provides

for humane treatment and dignity of all suspects, thus, there are no laws whatsoever justifying the brutality, use of lethal weapons, and reckless behaviour of officers of the Nigeria Police Force to citizens who they are expected to protect.

While the #EndSARS protest was in part, a response to the need for a better police force in Nigeria, a quick examination of the root cause of the age-long problem within the policing system would refer us to a vicious cycle where years of poor welfare and poor remuneration of police officers have sapped officers’ morale.

Only recently, a video emerged showing police officers, many of whom were deployed to Anambra for the just concluded elections, protesting. The aggrieved officers were heard chanting ‘pay us our money’ as they demanded that the N10,000 approved for their feeding, amongst other allowances, be paid immediately.

According to an affected police officer, the officers were “protesting over non-payment of Election feeding allowance. 10,000 naira is the amount for feeding. Meanwhile, over three days now, no accommodation and no food to eat. Many of the junior ranks are stranded in Idemili Ogidi Division where they received 1,500 police personnel from Lagos State.”

These challenges are not limited to serving police officers; even retired police officers are not left out.

Two months ago, retired police officers gathered in front of the National Assembly, Abuja, to drive home their demands for improved retirement benefits. Chief among

their requests is for the Nigerian Police to be withdrawn from the Contributory Pension Scheme just as their counterparts in the army and other sister security agencies. The protesting retired officers explained that after 35 years of dedicated service, their monthly take-home is “a transport allowance to the grave.”

One would think that the exacerbating insecurity in the nation would spur the Nigerian government to implement reforms that would boost morale and ensure that the numerous sacrifices as well as occupational hazards these officers go through on a daily basis are at least worth something. Unfortunately, they would rather pay lip service to the long overdue reforms.

As Christmas and the New Year celebrations approach, heralding a possible increase in crime rate, it is still these police officers who are paid a pittance as salary that are tasked with maintaining order and risking their lives to protect citizens. The same officers who lack the required modern equipment, technology and hardware to combat crime and criminality in the country.

These and many other similar plights of men and women tasked with securing lives and property necessitate the call for a total reform of the policing system in Nigeria.

Among other things, there is an urgent need for personnel reorientation and retraining for police accountability, if the gap between the police and the citizens will ever be bridged. t/FMTPO 0MBOJQFLVO JT B /JHFSJBO IVNBO SJHIUT MBXZFS FOUSFQSFOFVS BOE UIF 'PVOEFS 5FBN -FBE PG $JUJ[FOTh (BWFM

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THURSDAY DECEMBER 16, 2021 •T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY ˾ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2021

23

BUSINESSWORLD R A T E S MONEY MARKET

A S

A T

REPO

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

08056356325

D E C E M B E R

S & P INDEX

1 5 , 2 0 2 1

S & P INDEX

EXCHANGE RATE

OBB

14.00%

CALL

4%

INDEX LEVEL

565.29%

1/4 TO DATE

6.06%

N412.08/ 1 US DOLLAR*

OVERNIGHT

14.50%

1-MONTH

6%

1-DAY

–0.11%

YEAR TO DATE

– 15.66%

*AS AT LAST FRIDAY

3-MONTH

10%

MONTH-TO-DATE

0.41%

Stakeholders Optimistic 3.5GHz Spectrum Licence Will Usher in Real-time Benefits of 5G Technology

Emma Okonji Following the successful auction of two lots in the 3.5GHz spectrum licence by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), industry stakeholders have said the auction will usher in enormous and real-time benefits of 5G technology for the Nigerian telecoms consumers.

NCC had Monday this week, successfully auctioned the country’s 3.5GHz spectrum licence for 5G

network deployment, which MTN Nigeria Plc and Mafab Communications Limited won at a keenly contested bid price of $273.6 million each.

Giving details of the many benefits of a successful spectrum auction for 5G deployment, the Chief Executive Officer of Tetconsult UK and the immediate past Secretary General of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (WTO), Shola Taylor, told THISDAY that the ultimate beneficiary of

the successful launch of 3.5GHz spectrum, would be the Nigerian telecoms consumer, whom he said, would enjoy the enormous and real-time benefits of 5G technology, considering its high speed downloads, high internet connectivity capacity, with very low latency that would drive a faster digital transformation across Nigeria.

While commending NCC and the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy for a successful

spectrum auction, Taylor said: “The successful auction of the 3.5GHz spectrum is a great example of how you determine the market price of highly demanded spectrum.

The NCC must be congratulated for managing this process excellently, having demonstrated a shining example for the rest of Africa. Auctions remain the most transparent method of awarding such spectrum licences.”

On his part, Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecoms

Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo said the 3.5GHz spectrum auction would open vista of opportunities for 5G rollout and also enhance digital transformation across the country in several ways. According to him, “The 3.5GHz spectrum will pave way for speedy deployment of 5G network, and once we have systems and applications running on the spectrum at high speed data, there will be faster integration of systems and there will be increased

access with machine-to-machine connection that will also drive financial inclusion. What we used to download in minutes before, will now be in milliseconds and there will be improved customer experience to speed, access and connectivity. It will enhance e-Commerce, e-Health, e-Government, among others, with great improvement on national security.”

Continued on page 24

FG Targets N100bn Annual Revenue from Proposed Vehicles Recycling Policy James Emejo in Abuja The implementation of the proposed national End-of-Life Vehicles (ELV) recycling regulation in the country is expected to generate about N100 billion in annual revenues to the federal government, Director-General, National Automotive Design and

Development Council (NADDC), Mr. Jelani Aliyu has said.

The policy, he added, would further create 40,000 direct and indirect jobs and among other things protect the environment from hazards as well as keep the roads and highways safer.

Aliyu, while commenting on the proposed vehicle recycling

policy which is awaiting regulatory approval, said one of the ways by which Nigeria could jump-start clean mobility is by creating policies and regulations to encourage automotive recycling plants.

He said the council had proposed to develop pilot automotive recycling plant for environmentally friendly recycling

and material recovery accessible to the public.

Speaking at a one-day validation workshop on End-of-Life Vehicles Regulation and presentation of data baseline study on automotive waste recycling in Nigeria, which was organized by the NADDC, in partnership with the and Economic Development Initiative of

Nigeria (REDIN) and the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), Aliyu, described the ELVs as vehicles that reached end-of-life yearly due to age, poor maintenance and traffic accidents.

He said these vehicles become traffic and environmental hazard, and have the potential of polluting

the environment if not properly disposed of, causing long term negative environmental impact.

He stated that proper management of ELVs could transform the potential environmental hazards to useful raw material which can be utilised Continued on page 24

ATA AASS AT AT WWEEDDNNEESSDDAY, AY,DAEUCGE UMSBTE R 1 11, 52, 022012 MMAARRKKEETT DDATA ONNDDSS FFGGNN BBO DESCRIPTION 11.668 FGNSB 9.091 FGNSB 15-AUG-2021 11-DEC-2021 10.301 FGNSB 13.402 16-AUG-2021 12-DEC-2021 11.150 FGNSB 7.144 FGNSB 11-SEP-2021 15-JAN-2022 12.364 FGNSB 13.125 12-SEP-2021 16-JAN-2022 12.175 FGNSB 16.39 27-JAN10-OCT-2021 2022

BILLS

OTC FX F U T U R E S

100.09 100.28

3.16 3.72

Change Change (%) (%) 0.00

100.10 100.81

3.16 3.71

0.00

9-Sep-21 NTB 27-Jan-22

3.10 3.85

3.11 0.00 0.00 3.86

100.67 101.46

3.13 3.64

0.00

16-Sep-21 NTB 10-Feb-22

3.15 4.00

3.16 0.00 0.00 4.03

100.80 100.38

3.12 3.53

0.00

30-Sep-21 NTB 24-Feb-22

3.25 2.45

0.00

NTB 10-Mar-22 14-Oct-21

3.35 2.98

Price

101.47 101.54

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3.08 3.52

MATURITY

Change(%) (%) Discount Yield Change

26-Aug-21 NTB 13-Jan-22

3.00 3.69

3.00 0.00 0.00 3.70

CONTRACT TENOR (MONTH) 1

Contract

Current Rate ($/₦)

AUG29 252021 2021 421.18 420.93 NGUS DEC

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SEP26 292022 2021 422.61 422.38 NGUS JAN

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OCT23 272022 2021 424.04 423.83 NGUS FEB

3.26 0.00 0.00 2.46

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NOV 24 425.28 NGUS MAR 30 2021 2022 425.46

3.37 0.00 0.00 3.00

5

DEC 27 29 2022 2021 426.89 426.73 NGUS APR

CCPs Ps MATURITY

Discount Discount Yield Yield Change Change(%) (%)

MREP CP XXXI MTNN IV 1713-AUG-21 DEC-21 UNCPCP CPIIII 27FDHC 17AUG-21 DEC-21 VAAGCP CPIII 27PARP 30AUG-21 DEC-21 TTNG CP IIXVI 31CMBL AUG-21 7-JAN-22 SIBPCP CPII102-SEPCTIL 21 JAN-22

9.02 7.31

9.03 7.32

0.00 0.00

4.26 7.31

4.27 7.32

0.00 0.00

10.20 5.61

10.25 5.62 0.00 0.00

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4.60 7.72

0.00 0.00

4.13 5.87

4.14 5.90

0.00 0.00

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

BRANDS

Evaluating Multichannel Customer Engagement via SMS, WhatsApp Raheem Akingbolu writes on how various multimedia customer engagement platforms are redefining market activities, pointing out that WhatsApp appears the most dominant with reach of about 40 per cent of the mobile subscribers

C

ustomers are the lifeblood of every business and their expectations of businesses being able to deliver an “experience” not just a “transaction” is high. They expect businesses to know them, be aware of their user journey, reach them via their preferred channels and even predict their wants through accurate recommendations. Yes, the skills required for every marketer now goes beyond just “selling” but includes customer success, digital transformation, data analysis and much more.

Beyond gaining an understanding of consumers, being able to reach them via the most effective channels is critical, which is why having a multichannel solution is not just a “good to have” but a “must-have ‘’ for Businesses. In Africa which is a “mobile-first” market, the 2 most effective and powerful channels for customer engagement consumers offline and online are SMS and WhatsApp respectively!

For online customer engagement, recent findings have revealed that WhatsApp is by far the most dominant channel for reaching consumers in Africa compared to other similar platforms and apps. With over 300 million online mobile subscribers (40 per cent of mobile subscribers), projected to hit 475 million by 2025 (according to Statista), WhatsApp adoption is at 97 per cent in Kenya, 96 per cent in South Africa and 95% in Nigeria (according to the Global Web Index’s 2020 Social Media User Trends Report). Marketers and leading brands alike therefore cannot afford to ignore or downplay WhatsApp as an effective customer engagement channel when there are over 2 billion monthly global users on WhatsApp from 180 countries, sending 100million messages daily.

WhatsApp is not just a messaging app but has now become the dominant multimedia platform allowing features such as video/voice calls, sharing QR codes, weblinks, location pins, sharing photos, audio and videos and much more. Thus, providing an opportunity for Businesses to offer a much better customer engagement experience to customers through the WhatsApp for Business solution; of which Terragon is a Business Solution Provider (BSP). Terragon is now able to enable “promotional” and “marketing” messaging in addition to “customer service” and

“transactional” messaging via WhatsApp, to businesses in Africa.

Due to the ubiquitous nature of the solution, the WhatsApp Business Solution can be deployed for various use cases by a spectrum of medium and large businesses across verticals. It can be used by Banks as a digital channel for customers to carry out transactions such as getting bank statements, making payments and transfers, obtaining loans etc. e-Commerce businesses

can promote deals, discounts and offers such as Black Friday deals, allow customers to track deliveries, share videos detailing specific items or products etc.

Telcos can offer airtime and data packages, notify subscribers of new services and offers as well as allow them to sign up for automatic top-up. Airlines and Travel agencies can send tickets and boarding passes to passengers while FMCG Companies can reward loyal customers

with discount coupons, send them location pins for events, run surveys, quizzes and lots more.

Other benefits of this solution include, sending out template and interactive messages at scale to thousands of opted-in subscribers and connection to bots to cater to a wide range of automated communication with consumers. It also integrates with back-end systems e.g. CRM, payment solution, marketing automation platforms etc., to cater to various business activities and needs.

On the other hand, when thinking about reaching the broader spectrum of consumers in Africa, which are in the range of over 750 million mobile users, all of whom have the ability to receive SMS which is device, operating system and network provider agnostic and does not have the limitation of needing the internet or data - simply put, everyone who has a mobile device can text!

“Bulk SMS” is a solution that has been used by Brands since the inception of GSM in Africa for the promotion of Businesses and services via SMS to mobile subscribers at scale. However, this simple phenomenon has evolved with the availability of Martech platforms that leverage “data and insights” to enable more “intelligent” and “hyper-targeted” messaging to consumers as against the typical “spray and pray” approach. This means that a Brand can promote their new app to only consumers with smartphones rather than feature phones, or a newly opened retail store can send messages that will entice customers in that vicinity with discounts redeemable in-store - this sort of “intelligence” is what guarantees higher conversions, better returns on ad spend and lowers the cost of customer acquisitions.

In addition to being able to offer these two channels for Brands (SMEs and Enterprises) to engage consumers via its marketing solution, TerragonPrime also offers businesses in Africa access to millions of potential customers in Africa and provides the intelligence and deep insights needed to run hyper-targeted and personalized customer acquisition and retention campaigns, cost-effectively.

Terragon is also the only African CDP company, listed as a partner for the Facebook Conversions API; a tool which helps businesses deliverpersonalised ads without third-party cookies.

Komolafe: Nigeria Requires 10 Critical Gas Projects to Achieve 20bcf by 2030 Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja The Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Mr. Gbenga Komolafe, yesterday disclosed that for Nigeria to achieve the projected 20 billion cubit feet (bcf) of gas by 2030, it must embark on at least 10 major projects.

Speaking at the 2021 Annual Business Forum of the Nigerian

Gas Association (NGA) on the theme: “The Petroleum Industry Act - Progress and Opportunities in the Decade of Gas,” Komolafe stated that the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) would be critical in achieving the goal.

He explained that the commission would continue to stimulate investments, provide opportunities, and enable businesses in the Nigerian oil and gas sector and partner all

stakeholders for the advancement of the industry.

Stressing that the energy outlook of the world was changing, Komolafe who was represented by the Head, Health, Safety and Environment (HSE), NUPRC, Mr. Afeez Balogun, posited that the industry must adapt accordingly to survive, maintain relevance, remain competitive and thrive.

According to him, it is a collective

responsibility to ensure that the abundant petroleum resources, which nature has bequeathed on Nigeria works for its citizenry.

Komolafe stressed that the PIA, which he described as an omnibus law holds the key to unlocking value from the nation’s petroleum resources for the benefit of generations of unborn Nigerians, opining that it will enable far-reaching reforms and a sustainable overhaul of the industry.

“Now, with the enactment of the PIA, the legal, regulatory, fiscal, governance and institutional frameworks to enable the attainment of the key imperatives of government for the Nigerian oil & gas sector have been emplaced, none the least of which is the Decade-of-Gas initiative.

“On the governance and institutional front, it is no news that the regulatory institutions have been delineated for increased focus

on the upstream, on the one hand, and midstream & downstream, on the other.

“The single-minded focus of the NUPRC on upstream business will enhance gas reserves growth through dedicated gas exploration, optimal development of gas resources and increased gas production to cater for the anticipated growth in demand which is forecasted to exceed 20 bcf by 2030.

STAKEHOLDERS OPTIMISTIC 3.5GHZ SPECTRUM LICENCE WILL USHER IN REAL-TIME BENEFITS OF 5G TECHNOLOGY Adebayo said those operators that would deploy 5G technology, would likely change the dynamics in the telecoms sector and the Nigerian economy at large, because they would be introducing new applications that would run faster on 5G network, and improve

customer experience.

Adebayo commended NCC for a transparent auction exercise as well as the operators who bided for the auction. He encouraged the spectrum winners to meet up with the payment deadline, in order to facilitate 5G deployment across

the country.

Also speaking, President of the Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Ikechukwu Nnamani, said the deployment of 5G services in Nigeria would enhance the Nigeria’s digital economy drive with all the

attendant benefits including employment creation, which he said, would be good for the country.

According to Nnamani, “The successful auction of 3.5GHz spectrum will facilitate 5G deployment that will promote digital transformation and

financial inclusion. Services will be extended to areas that are currently underserved and more efficient ways to deliver services to the subscribers will be in place.

We also expect better quality of service as new infrastructure is implemented.

“There is immediate revenue from the payment for the spectrum.

There is also new investment for the infrastructure that will be built.

This is expected to bring foreign direct investment to the country, and all aspects of the economy will improve financially.”

regulation will ensure an economically and environmentally vibrant industry in the collection, dismantling, recycling and recovery of valuable materials in the automotive sector and create thousands of jobs and wealth for Nigerians.

According to him, ELV recycling project will develop the automotive recycling sector and create 40,000 direct and indirect jobs, recycle over 140,000tons of ferrous and non-ferrous metals annually, recycle over 1,000,000 used batteries annually and recycle over two million used tyres annually.

The policy would also help to recycle millions of litters of used engine oils annually, generate over N100 billion in annual revenue from the sector, protect the environment from hazards and keep the roads and highways safer.

He explained that a one-off fee

of N5,000 had been proposed under the policy which will be made at the point of registration of the car with the vehicle inspection office or state vehicle registration authority in line with the Extended Producer Responsibility programme.

He said the fund will potentially generate N25 billion in the first year of implementation from vehicles already on our roads and N2.5billion annually from new car registrations.

According to him, ARF fund will be managed by the NADDC directly or through the Bank of Industry to issue low interest loans and grants for the establishment of recycling facilities for various automotive waste.

The funds would also be used to fund research and development of automotive technical colleges and auto parts manufacturing projects, he added.

FG TARGETS N100BN ANNUAL REVENUE FROM PROPOSED VEHICLES RECYCLING POLICY by industries and create thousands of job opportunities for the teeming youths.

He pointed out that ELVs are currently a global concern as automobiles ownership is increasing rapidly adding that the automobile industry had the most recycled products in the world with a global market of over $60 billion annually.

According to him, over 80 per cent of material from ELV could be recycled to manufacture new vehicles or as raw material for other industries, stressing that recycling of expired vehicles greatly reduces environmental pollution created by reckless dumping.

In 2018, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) estimated that Nigeria had about 11.8 million vehicles on road and the number is increasing with population growth, which remained a huge resource

for secondary raw materials for the country.

However, NADDC boss said in line with the growing need for proper recycling of ELVs and the environmental and economic sustainability of the sector, the council in collaboration with REDIN and NESREA developed a national regulation for End-of-Life Vehicles recycling in Nigeria.

He said, “The goal of this regulation is to introduce a vehicle collection and recycling framework across Nigeria and to build automotive recycling facilities that support local industries and create thousands of jobs for the citizens.

“To accomplish this goal, NADDC obtained evidence -based information to establish an ELV recycling regulation to facilitate cooperation between members of the existing ELV scrap metal

recycling value chain and design a framework for coordinating the ELV recycling industry in Nigeria.”

He said the management of ELVs was of vital importance for environmental conservation, investment opportunities and sustainable development.

He pointed out that the proposed ELV regulation was modeled after the Japanese and Dutch models, two countries with highest automotive recycling rates in the world.

Aliyu said if passed, this regulation would be a landmark achievement of the country and the first in Africa as it will require people to take responsibility for the waste their vehicles create as it is currently done globally.

He added that the objectives of the policy are to among other things ensure proper management of ELVs in the country, ensure

effective use of resources by reducing waste from automotive usage as well as ensure efficient recycling and usage of recycled automotive parts and generation of revenue for the government.

Also, in his presentation on the planned ELV policy, Chief Executive of REDIN, Mr. Terseer Ugbo, said automobiles remained the most recycled consumer products in the world adding that Nigeria with a population of over 200 million people and more than 11 million private and commercial vehicles on the roads, generates over 400,000 scrap vehicles every year.

He said only a fraction is collected and dismantled by the informal metal scrap market, while a majority is abandoned at private and public spaces around the country.

Ugbo said the proposed

T H I S D AY ˾ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2021

25

BUSINESSWORLD

E-BUSINESS

As NCC Opens Stage for 5G Deployment The successful auction of the 3.5GHz spectrum licence on Monday this week by the Nigerian Communications Commission, which was won by MTN Nigeria Plc and Mafab Communications Limited has paved way for the deployment of 5G network across the country in 2022, writes Emma Okonji

T

he Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, on Monday this week, made history, when it successfully auctioned two lots of the country’s 3.5GHz spectrum licence, which MTN Nigeria Plc and Mafab Communications Limited won.

The auction exercise, which was keenly contested by three eligible bidders, MTN Nigeria Plc, Mafab Communications Limited and Airtel Networks Limited, was eventually won by MTN Nigeria Plc and Mafab Communications Limited at a bid price of $273.6 million each, after Airtel exited the bidding stage at the eleventh round, after offering $270 million as its highest bid offer.

The main bidding on Monday, which commenced by 11 am, came to a close at exactly 7.22pm, with all three bidders reaching the eleventh round of the bid process, before Airtel Networks exited after the eleventh round at $270 million offer. At the end of the main auction process, where the two winners emerged, both winners had to enter into another stage of bidding called the Assignment Stage, to determine, which of the winners will get the first lot and second lot, from the two available lots.

During the Assignment Stage of the bid process, MTN paid additional $15, 900,000 to get lot 1of the spectrum, while Mafab paid additional $11, 120, 000 to get lot 2.

Announcing the auction result, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, said provisional licences would be given to Mafab Communications Limited and MTN Nigeria, as winners of the two lots in the 3.5GHz spectrum licence.

According to Danbatta, the two winners entered into another stage of auction called the Assignment Stage, in order to determine the operator that would take a particular lot out of the two lots that were auctioned.

Danbatta said the winners would pay fully for the licence fee by February 24, 2022, and that the payment must be made in Naira denomination.

At the main auction exercise, which held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja, MTN was represented by its Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Karl Toriola, Airtel Networks was represented by its Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Sreeddhar Krishna Menon, while Mafab Communications Limited was represented by its Chairman, Alhaji Musibau Bashir.

With the successful auction of the 3.5GHz spectrum licence and the eventual planned payment of the licence fee by the two winners on February 24, 2022, NCC has set the stage for 5G rollout in Nigeria in 2022.

3.5GHZ BID SHOCKER

The emergence of Mafab Communications Limited, as one of the winners of the country’s 3.5GHz spectrum license, has remained a shocker to many Nigerians, especially among the telecoms operators, who did not expect that the newly registered company, which has a non-mobile licence, would win in the 3.5GHz spectrum auction.

Although Mafab Communications is not known in the Nigerian telecoms space, THISDAY gathered that it is a new entrant that was registered barely a year ago, and a strategic investor with a non-mobile licence that is investing in one of the small telecoms operators in Nigeria.

At the beginning of the auction process when the Chairman of Mafab Communications Limited, Alhaji Musibau Bashir was announced as the person representing Mafab in the bid process, many thought that MTN and Airtel, that have become household names in the telecoms industry, would eventually emerge winners, since there were only two lots to be won by only two operators.

The majority were however proved wrong, when it was

announced that Airtel exited the bidding at the eleventh round, leaving only MTN and Mafab to clinch the two lots in the 3.5GHz spectrum licence.

The surprise for telecoms operators who spoke with THISDAY, was that Mafab Communications is not a known telecoms operator in Nigeria and it is not among the big players in the telecoms industry. They are more worried because Mafab owns a non-mobile licence, and they are wondering how a company like Mafab who is investing in one of the small telecoms operators in Nigeria, would be able to roll out 5G network across Nigeria, even if it has the money to pay for the $273.6 million bid price. All eyes are therefore on Mafab Communications to successfully roll out 5G network across Nigeria by next year.

THE MOCK AUCTION

NCC had on Friday December 10, 2021, successfully carried out a mock session for the 3.5 gigahertz (GHz) spectrum auction for the deployment of the Fifth Generation (5G) network in the country.

The simulated auction was preparatory to the main auction, which also successfully held on Monday December 13, 2021.

The conduct of the simulation exercise was in line with the requirements stipulated in the Information Memorandum (IM) for 3.5 GHz spectrum auction.

The IM is a document that defines the process for the licensing of the 3.5 GHz spectrum band earlier published in the commission’s website at the inception of the auction process.

Using the Ascending Clock Auction System for the mock session, the three qualified bidders for the 3.5 GHz spectrum, namely MTN Nigeria, Mafab Communications, and Airtel Networks, participated in the software-based simulated auction exercise.

The mock auction was witnessed by the Chairman, Board of Commissioners, NCC, Prof.

Adeolu Akande; the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Commission, Prof.

Umar Garba Danbatta; Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, Ubale Maska and the Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, Adeleke Adewolu.

According to NCC, the main auction would mark a turning point in Nigeria’s determination to harness the benefits of 5G for the nation’s socio-economic growth as concrete roll-out of 5G commences in 2022.

In a brief remark at the Mock Auction, Danbatta said the commission had taken all necessary steps to ensure due diligence on the credibility of the consultants and to safeguard the integrity of the software solution being used to carry out the implementation of this historic national assignment.

“This is consistent with the open, credible transparent and fair manner by which the Commission is known to have conducted previous auction processes, which have been locally and globally applauded,” Danbatta said.

In order to ensure a fail-proof process, the commission also carried out a simulation of the manual process of the auction, aside the electronic mock. This is to ensure that bidders are also familiar with the manual auction in case of any circumstances on the main auction day that may warrant a need to switch to the manual auction.

THE MAIN AUCTION

At the beginning of the main auction process, NCC adopted the Ascending Clock format in auctioning the 3.5GHz spectrum licence, which allows the

auction manager to continuously increase the bid price within a certain per cent threshold, as the bidding progresses from one round to another.

Before the bidding commenced, the Auction Manager, who is the Director of Spectrum Administration at NCC, Mr. Oluwatoyin Asaju, assigned each of the three bidders to their bidding rooms, and accredited one representative from each of the bidding operators as monitoring agent.

MTN Nigeria Plc was assigned bidding room two and monitoring room three, Airtel Networks was assigned bidding room three and monitoring room one, while Mafab Communications was assigned to bidding room one and monitoring room two.

For transparency, the bidding process was transmitted real time to two broad screens located at a general location inside Transcorp Hotel, where observers, including journalists, were seated.

According to Asaju, the first round of bidding was mandatory for all the three bidders and each bidder was at liberty to exit bidding at any of the bidding rounds. The initial rounds were allotted 20 minutes as duration period for each round.

Although NCC had placed the reserve bidding price for the 3.5 GHz Spectrum at $197.4 million, the Auction Manager however commenced round one bidding process at a reseve price of $199,374,000 and all three contenders agreed with the new reseve price.

At the end of round one, the Auction Manager increased the reserve price to $201,367,740 for the commencement of round two. At the end of round two, the Auction Manager, again, increased the bid price to $204, 288,256.1 for the commencement of round three.

At the end of round three, the bid price for one lot of the 3.5GHz spectrum was increased to $209,497,962.5 for the commencement of round four. Round five commenced with a bid price of $215,782,901.38 Round six of the auction began with $224, 414,217.43 bid price per lot, and all the three eligible bidders were still in the competition.

From round seven upwards, the bidding time was reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. The round seven commenced with $231,146,643.96 bid price per lot, while round eight commenced with $240,392,509.71 bid price per lot, with all the three eligible bidders still in the competition.

Round nine commenced with all three eligible bidders with a bid price of $251,210,172.65. Round 10 commenced with all three bidders with a bid price of $263,017,050.77, while round eleven also commenced with all three bidders with a bid price of $275,904,886.25. The main stage auction eventually ended at about 7.22pm with round eleven, with a final winning bid price of $273,600,000 ($273.6 million).

NON-REFUNDABLE 10% DEPOSIT BID

Before the commencement of the mock and the main auction exercise, all the three bidders that expressed their interests to bid for the 3.5GHz spectrum, met all criteria, including the payment of the stipulated Intention to Bid Deposit (IBD) as outlined in the Information Memorandum (IM), which pegged the initial non-refundable deposit at 10 per cent of the reserved bid price of $197.4 million (N75 billion).

Giving details of the non-refundable 10 per cent deposit, the Director, Public Affairs at NCC, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, told THISDAY that the 10 per cent initial deposit was statutory and mandatory

to qualify any operator to participate in the bid process.

Adinde explained that since NCC was auctioning only two lots of the 3.5GHz spectrum to three bidders, only two out of the three contenders would emerge winners, while the loser would be refunded its initial deposit.

He however said the winners could forfeit their initial 10 per cent deposit payment, if they fail to meet up with all necessary criteria, including payment of the final $273.6 million bid price and the additional $15.9 million and $11.1 million, which MTN and Mafab respectively offered to get a particular lot of the two available lots in the 3.5GHz spectrum.

REGULATOR’S EXCITEMENT

Excited by the successful and transparent auction exercise that led to the emergence of MTN and Mafab as winners of the 3.5GHz spectrum, Danbatta commended the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ibrahim Pantami, including the staff of NCC, for their roles in ensuring the success of the auction exercise.

According to Danbatta, “The 3.5GHz spectrum auction represents a culmination ot all the etforts at the international and national levels that have prepared Ngeria tor this momentous leap toward. Therefore, in line with the 5G Deployment Policy and global best practices, the Commission has set in motion the process for the auction and will be offering two lots in the 3.5GHz band with three companies competing to acquire a licence for the available lots. The auction is based on the powers bestowed on the commission by Section 121 of the Nigerian Communications Act 2003 as well as the Licensing Regulations 2019.”

Pantami, who declared the auction open, said the Federal Executive Council (FEC), has on September 8, 2021, approved a National 5G policy for Nigerian Digital Economy. He said the national policy contained all the necessary information guiding the processes and procedures for the development of 5G in Nigeria.

According to Pantami, “The National Policy noted the key role of the National Frequency Management Council in the allocation of spectrum for the deployment of 5G networks in Nigeria.

The NFMC is also to ensure that the required spectrum for 5G standard is made available in the most appropriate and timely manner to enable investments, innovation, and competition in the deployment of 5G services for the benefit of consumers and businesses.”

Pantami added that the main spectrum auction followed the successful mock spectrum auctioning process, which held on the 10th of December.

He commend the Board and Management of the NCC, as well as all stakeholders on the landmark event.

The Chairman, Board of Commissioners at NCC, Prof. Adeolu Akande, said the main objective of the auction was not just the offer of a premium frequency, but also aims to support the deployment of 5G in Nigeria, which has been identified as a critical factor for the growth of the national digital economy.

“The full socio-economic benefits of 5G technology is largely dependent on access to a variety of spectrum resources. Consequently, Spectrum plays a strategic role in meeting the insatable demand for advanced mobile data services as well as a new wave of wireless broadband use cases such as remote object manipulation, industrial automation, virtual and augmented reality as well as next-generation connectivity for vehicles,” Akande said.

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

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

BUSINESSWORLD

INTERVIEW

Jiti Ogunye: AISOP Policy Should be Revisited for Nigeria’s Economic Growth The Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) recently came up with a new Advertising Standards of Practice codes which the Council touted as the required practice standard that can support the development of Advertising practice in Nigeria, but the practice standard has continued to stir controversies. Though supported by the Heads of Advertising Sectoral Groups (HASG) on the supply-side of the industry, one sectoral Group, the Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN), the only sectoral group on the demand side, have come out to contest some provisions in the new AISOP. In this interview, foremost business, and human rights lawyer, Jiti Ogunye pointed out that some of the knotty issues contained in the policy are diktat, not constitutionally backed, and should be revisited for industrial growth. Excerpts these new rules are now saying that I should do this and should pay this, rather than allow the parties to agree on their terms, terms that are favorable to them, and terms that they knew at the time of engagement that they could easily carry out, that they could easily, mutually execute. That’s how contracts are done. And so for me, that provision, that section, for example, and I go to other sections, clauses is creating a regime, or I rather call it, regulatory diktat -this is how it must be. I’m seeing that those provisions offend the right to contract in freedom, and even if you look at this in the larger perspective, is tantamount to restriction of trade, restriction of business. Because I’m not even sure that studies and surveys were carried out before the formulation of these rules to determine or anticipate what will be the impact of such provisions if they were ruled out and were enforced.

Can we meet you briefly? ’m Jiti Ogunye. I’m a lawyer, a general legal practitioner. However, I have vast interests, professional interests in human rights issues, democracy issues, corporate issues, business issues, and we have clients from all over the country that we service in respect of their business engagements and all that. Within that context, we keep an eye on the business environment and corporate governance issues, and issues that generally affect business and give advice to clients regarding compliance issues and legal matters generally.

I

How will you assess the Nigerian business environment with the various policies of the government and its agencies and the effects on some of the business sectors in the country?

The major challenge that businesses have with the government regarding regulations and policies, is policies and regulations inconsistency. Some people call it somersault but I rather call them inconsistency.

Society is dynamic, the business itself can be dynamic and it is expected therefore that regulations and policies are not expected to be static. I mean, there should be no dogmatism regarding regulations. However, when regulations and policies appear not to be well thought through or even when they are well thought through and people are just embracing them, businesses are embracing them, there is a macro intervention gain, and then regulators want to respond to that, and then they churn out new regulatory regimes, businesses suffer as a result of this, because as lawyers say, the law must be certain. Law must be predictable so that when a lawyer gives advice, he gives advice based on the certainty of law and the possible certainty of the operation of that law, you can just say see this is what’s going to happen. It’s like a medical doctor giving a prognosis of how an illness will be.

In the same vein, businesses also want predictability because those rules and regulations govern their business operations. When the regulations appear not too certain, and all businesses complain a lot about this and they suffer the consequences of this.

Are there other challenges bedeviling businesses in the country aside from policy inconsistency?

Yes, there are other challenges, but I call it the major challenge, I won’t talk about production challenges.

We all know that for those who produce things in Nigeria, the issue of how they source power, cost of production has gone up. Added to that now is the issue of insecurity in the country. Even the issue of businesses effectively distributing their products across the length and breadth of Nigeria is a concern, human beings are not secure. So how do we then imagine that goods and services can be secure? I mean, how would, for example, telecommunication companies have envisaged that at a point government, for reasons of maintaining security, in the North West, for example, that they will have to be called upon to shut down their operations.

The one they had in the North East which, of course, telecommunication companies are getting familiar with is the actual vandalisation of their equipment and all that. But here, it’s not the case of vandalisation, but a case of shutting down because it has to be done.

How could they have imagined that that would occur two, three years ago? Yes, we have this problem of the macro reality impacting on businesses and we are not going to talk about that for now, but focusing on regulations and policies of the government and how they impact businesses. And I’m saying that the major concern of businesses, based on our experience is the issue of policy inconsistency, regulatory inconsistency, and even the issue of pandering is something that we have observed here. In our response to what is happening globally, we do not want to be left out.

We also want to do certain things even when our local reality is not dictating that we should just copy and paste and do that. So post-COVID era, there have been a lot of regulations, interventions here and there and all that. And so people responding to that without actually looking at our environment, looking at our peculiarities and then, coming to a reasonable understanding that while we have to be global, regarding best practices, we also have to be local in terms of how these practices are domesticated and then at the end of the day ensure that they serve the interests of businesses and interests of people who want services at the end of the day.

Looking at the policies and regulations of govern-

Ogunye ment and its agencies, recently APCON came out with AISOP policy, it says, to regulate the advertising sector and grow the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country, as a follow up to the demand of the government to grow businesses post-Covid. What’s your view about it as it relates to laws on businesses?

Well, APCON, has a statutory duty to regulate the sector. That’s why it’s a council and nobody is going to doubt that. In regulating, however, certain factors have to be taken into consideration.

How far must regulation go? No one in his right senses will call for the absence of regulations.

Human affairs have to be regulated. Law regulates the conduct of human beings, right? So, there should be regulation and that’s why sometimes when there is under-deregulation, people also call for regulation.

When there’s over-regulation, people also complain about over-regulation. The challenge is how to strike a balance that will ensure that what is being regulated is not killed, it’s not stifled, and the regulation does not even impede growth and creation of value. We have had a look at the AISOP, we look at that document.

Largely it has 11 broad sections and then a lot of appendices. Our assessment, I will say this with all sense of responsibility is that as a whole, and this is a general critique of that document, the document strives to put in place what I will call regimentation of the sector rather than regulation, I have said that regulation is not negative and that overregulation is bad, but I’m using a harsher word that what l see is regimentation. I have looked at those provisions and I’m a little bit amazed that a sector that is not only a public sector, which indeed largely is private sector-led in terms of those who are on the demand side and the supply side in the advertising industry is being dictated to on how to create a contract, on how to arrive at the contract, and not only that, on what the contracts must contain.

That is an affront to the principle of freedom of contract. Any basic text, law text, business law text that you read on the law of contract will tell you that contract, essentially is a phenomenon, is a concept, is an arraignment by which two parties or three parties or more parties willingly and voluntarily come together to agree on a relationship for value. And there are certain elements inherent, there must be an offer, there must be an acceptance of that offer, there must

be a consideration. And then you talk about the resolution of the contract, etc. Now parties are expected to voluntarily engage. Of course, certain contracts are not permissible in law, and that’s why we have what we call void and illegal contracts.

Two parties, for example, cannot agree to engage in an illicit business, with one party agreeing to supply cocaine, for example, to another party and then if one party defaulted, the party that was supposed to be receiving the cocaine would then go to court and say, I want to enforce the contract. No, they’ll be arrested. That’s purely an illegal contract. Certain contracts are domestic and cannot be regarded as a contract. If you agree, for example, either orally or in writing that my daughter, if you read and pass your examination, I will buy you a car and you defaulted and the daughter then wants to enforce that contract against the father or parents, the court would say no, this is not the kind of contract to enforce.

So, there are laws that govern that but save this, parties are expected to voluntarily come together and create their terms, including terms of payment. Now the AISOP rules that we’re talking about, for example, in section three, and there are many sections but that level broadly, section three governs payment terms, and it has specific subsections or subclauses prescribing days within which payment must be made. It must be made within 30 days and no later than 45 days.

If there’s a default, there must be Interest and that interest must be at the Central bank rate.

I say, wait a minute! What kind of contract is that? Truly, I hope this will be revised because when it comes into operation it will stifle, whereas they intend to grow the industry, protect SMEs so that they are not exploited, and ensure that you continue to create business and generate income.

That might be a good intention, but as it’s said, the way to hell is paved with good intentions. So how will these provisions, how will these rules operate in real-time, and what will be the lasting impact on the industry regarding the creation of value and value flow? Because when you do that, rather than focus on how to creatively expand the volume of value, I will speak in clear terms.

When you say that that should be, an advertiser, for example, or those on the demand side, when they consider all the issues - if I have to pay someone, if I have to do this or that -, rather than advertise monthly or daily, as I should do, why can’t I be advertising on a weekly or quarterly? Because

Are there other provisions in the AISOP Policy that should be looked at as regards it being contradictory to laws of the land and will affect business operations of the players in the sector?

Yes. The other provisions, for example, after the payment terms, you have the method of payment.

The method by which payments will be made, and discounts and commissions. These are things that should be at the contractual discretion of the parties.

Not something that a council can dictate in the name of regulations. So that it will be clear, let’s use two other professions as examples. I know this is comparing apples and oranges, but I don’t think so as it’s about the provision of services.

Does the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) or the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria dictate to doctors the cost of providing medical services? How much they must take to treat malaria? To carry out surgery? And the period within which those who need medical services must pay? Or that there should be an intervention that Doctors shouldn’t carry out surgery or help patients to save their lives if they are not paid first, because if they are not paid first, their businesses will suffer. Or are you aware of such rules in the legal profession, by which the NBA, or the body of benchers, or the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee or the Bar Council then tell lawyers that?

Yes, in the legal profession, there is the schedule of fees for certain things, and that is why lawyers talk about five percent of this and so on.

But nobody is going around to say look, to recover your fees, you must be paid within 30 days as payment terms, you must be paid within 20 days, nobody says that. The rules of professional practice in the legal profession, rules of professional conduct we call it, has a provision, for example, allowing lawyers to conduct cases on a contingency fee payment arrangement.

Meaning that you take an action, the person whose actions you are taking has a good case. The prospect of victory upon litigation is there but is indigent or he doesn’t have the funds to pay for the services at that moment that he desperately needed legal service, the rules allow you to offer that service. That’s why it’s called contingency fee tenant on the premise that upon you winning, it’s like no cure, no pay, upon you winning, you will pay X amount and you are then permitted to charge more than you would have charged if he has the cash to pay you already. Contingency fee payment.

But even the percentage that you must charge is not prescribed, the days within which, or the month within which you must recover the money, it’s not prescribed because that’s left to the parties. So what I’m saying is that any law of contract, any regulation of contract, any regulation of business, should not go beyond setting the ground rules that will govern how parties contract and should never attempt to then go into the nitty-gritty, the details of contracting as to be prescribing the terms of payment, the payment method, dispute resolution and so on. These are my valid objections to the AISOP rules, and I wish that these rules be revisited so that such provisions are then taken out of because I see it stifling business and in the name of encouraging small and medium scale enterprises and businesses and all that, What we then have at the end of the day is that you have a skewed regime that is tilted in favor of those who are on the supply side, who can then say If you should want to come and advertise here, this is how we are going to recover our money and all that.

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

T H I S D AY ˾ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2021

BUSINESSWORLD

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NEWS

Expert Calls for Dialogue to Save Nigeria’s Advertising Industry Raheem Akingbolu A veteran Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) lawyer and Managing Partner of Gee Law Firm, Mr. Nosakhare Uwadiae, has urged stakeholders displeased with the new Advertising Industry Standard of Practice (AISOP) document to embrace dialogue in the interest of bringing sanity to the industry.

He also warned IMC agencies to be careful with the document they sign with brands as most of those contracts fall within the regime of unconscionable contracts.

Nosakhare, who spoke on, “Advertising, Impartiality and Regulation,” at the Brand Journalists Association of Nigeria (BJAN) 9th Annual General Meeting/Conference held in Lagos faulted the nature of most contracts entered with Nigerian agencies by multinationals and pointed out their elements of unequal bargaining powers. The main theme of the conference is; “Media Management in Difficult Times”.

He said, “From experience, it is observed that most contracts between clients and agencies are bereft of equity. More often, the contracts are more to the advantage of clients (one-sided) and the agencies’ bargaining power is weak because of desperation to get business from the client. Most of the contracts clients sign with agencies fall within the

regime of unconscionable contracts,” he stated.

Speaking on AISOP, Uwadiae stated: “I would recommend that Advertising Stakeholders in Nigeria should take another look at the AISOP and come up with balanced recommendations. A short, medium and long-term assessment of the recommendations should be candidly reviewed to make recommendations that will be far-reaching in the interest of all parties. There should also be an agreement amongst stakeholders for review of the AISOP every five years to plug gaps and adjust to current realities. This should be part of the AISOP. More engagement should be encouraged and all stakeholders should shun grandstanding. We must work together for the collective interests of the industry.”

Noteworthy, according to APCON, AISOP is a business framework that seeks to improve mutual respect, eradicate unfair advantage, unethical competition, and inequitable engagement terms between stakeholders in the Advertising and Marketing Communication sector of the Nigerian economy which took effect from the 6th of October 2021.

The AISOP code captures engagement policy, how stakeholders engage agencies, payment terms, and commission, remuneration, disengagement protocol, returns on advertising investment and measurement, peaceful resolution,

and other related protocols. However, the Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN) rejected the AISOP code, stating that it infringes on the rights of private entities to determine their contractual terms.

Stating the benefit of selfregulations like AISOP, the IMC legal expert said: “Marketers benefit from self-regulation because responsible advertising helps build consumer trust in brands, which in turn builds brand loyalty and increases sale.”

On another note, Nosakhare said AISOP should have taken cognisance of the fact that some agencies do not live up to the service-level agreement (SLAs) and do not act as strategic business partners to clients and even when clients pay, some agencies and media independents do not pay third parties “If not properly handled, it could worsen the present situation of payments. There is a need to have more engagements with ADVAN so that realistic timelines can be agreed upon based on SLAs and KPIs,” he stated. Earlier in his welcome address, immediate past Chairman of BJAN, AfolabiIdowu said the association picked the theme and subtheme to address salient topical issues in the industry and help members get a firm grasp of the issues so as to be able to provide the sound analysis and reportage that Nigerians and other stakeholders need for better understanding of the subject matter.

NiRA Tasks Registrars to Deepen Domain Name Adoption Emma Okonji Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA), the Registry for .ng Internet Domain Names, which maintains the database of names registered on the .ng country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD), recently met with Registrars of .ng domain name in Lagos.

At the meeting, which was attended by the media, NiRA tasked Registrars on innovative solutions to increase the adoption of .ng domain names across Nigeria.

In his opening remarks, the President of NiRA, Muhammed Rudman, thanked the Registrars for their efforts towards the growth of .ng domain names in Nigeria.

He noted that the growth of .ng domain name could be attributed to continuous efforts by the executive board, and staff of NiRA as well as the discounts offered during the .ng promo.

He added that the fall in the value of Naira, made it clear that it is capital flight to register non- .ng

domain names.

Giving update from the second .ng promo, the Vice President of NiRA, Toba Obaniyi, said the .ng domains were sold to Registrants at a discounted price, as a way of making the domain names more accessible to many.

He said although there was an increase in registrations, compared to previous months, the expected number of registrations has not been attained.

Obaniyi stated that in addition to the price reduction, NiRA introduced a 50 per cent refund of Registrars’ marketing costs for the period of the promo.

He informed the meeting that 31 Registrars indicated interest in the promo and that in two months, there was a noticeable increase in the number of registrations.

Obaniyi also said there was need for a few Registrars that were yet to adjust their prices, to do so and that Registrars needed to be more involved in ensuring the sector thrives.

Chief Growth Officer at

WhoGoHost, Aransiola Damilola, advised that the promo should be moved to hold at the beginning of the year rather than towards the end, when organisations were already closing up business for the year.

The feedback from Registrars’ community indicated that it would be great for .ng to match .com domain pricing to improve adoption.

Programme Officer at NiRA, Ike Ezeji, who spoke on the proposed training for NiRA Accredited Registrars in 2022, said the training would include: Linux, Networking, DNS Security, Digital Marketing, Business Marketing, and Effective Service Delivery The forum resolved among other things, to further engage stakeholders on enforcement of price reduction. NiRA is also expected to lead a campaign for the compulsory adoption of .gov. ng by government agencies, which is in line with the provisions of the Federal Government’s policy statement.

Firms Partner to Digitise Transportation for 1.2m Customers Annually Emma Okonji Treepz, whose mission is to provide commuters with convenient and affordable means of transportation within cities and across Africa, has partnered CMS Taxi and Motor Nigeria Limited (CMS T&M) in Lagos to digitise transport system through applied technology solutions.

The partnership will see the CMS T&M passengers have access to a more convenient payment option and predictable travel times. The technology provided by Treepz will allow the CMS T&M management to manage their operations efficiently and digitise their ticketing systems to provide transparency for the bus operator.

CMS T&M is a 53-year-old licensed shuttle bus company that operates in the Central Business

District of Lagos including Marina, Lagos Island, Victoria Island, Ikoyi and Lekki areas of Lagos State, with high-capacity buses and minivans. With over 1.2 million passengers annually, CMS T&M provides conducive vehicles that ease the daily commute of workers, students, and traders within the city.

Commenting on the partnership, the CEO and Co-Founder Treepz Inc., Mr. Onyeka Akumah, said: “At Treepz, our goal is to improve the public transportation system in Africa using technology and we are constantly looking out for opportunities to partner with major bus operators and state governments to digitise the transportation sector. By combining the expertise and technologies of Treepz, with CMS T&M’s 53 years of experience

in public transportation and fleet management in Nigeria, we are on the right path to achieving this goal. I am particularly excited about the opportunity for this foremost transportation company to use Treepz technology to move away from cash-based payments, paper-ticketing and the general issues that come with this old way of buying bus tickets. CMS T&M will now move into the digital era with different ways for their 1.2 million annual customers to purchase their travel tickets while providing transparency and an efficient way to manage their operations with our technology. This will greatly improve the experience of daily commuters in Lagos and kick-start the digitalization of transportation systems across Nigeria.”

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THURSDAY DECEMBER 16, 2021 •T H I S D AY

THURSDAY DECEMBER 16, 2021 • T H I S D AY

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T H I S D AY ˾ , DECEMBER 16, 2021

HEALTH & LIFESTYLE

ÜÙßÚ ÏËÞßÜÏÝ ÎÓÞÙÜ˝ Chiemelie Ezeobi ×ËÓÖ chiemelie.ezeobi@thisdaylive.com, Tel: 07010510430

Making the Blind See in Abia Many people that lost their sights are being saved from living the rest of their lives in the dark. Charles Ajunwa and Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo report

Esther Nduka blind on both eyes...before the operation

I

t was a bright new world for Mrs. Esther Nduka when she regained her sight six months after she became blind in both eyes.

“I was completely blind; I never knew I would ever see with my eyes again in this world,” she told THISDAY at her home in Umuahia.

Her vision was fully restored not by miraculous happenstance as was the case with the biblical blind Bartimaeus but a high-tech eye surgery performed at Anya Specialist Eye Clinic, located at Ohafia Street Umuahia, Abia State.

Mrs. Nduka was a beneficiary of the Ochendo Free Eye Surgery Programme of Senator Theodore Orji through which hundreds of persons have been brought back from the world of darkness to the world of sunshine and colour.

Mrs. Nduka was not born blind. She had been living a very active life when suddenly darkness enveloped her. She said that her two eyes blacked out after the death of her 19-year-old son, Obinna Nduka. The distraught mother said that light went out of her eyes after weeping profusely over her deceased son. She believed her eyes went blank following the torrents of tears she had shed while mourning the deceased son.

But such a belief has no medical or scientific foundation. A consultant Ophthalmologist and Phaco surgeon, Dr. Anya Kalu, who is the proprietor of Anya Specialist Eye Clinic, explained that Mrs. Nduka could have started her journey to blindness over time without actually knowing exactly when it started as cataracts don’t happen overnight but it comes gradually.

“It’s difficult to remember when actually the blindness started that she couldn’t see at all.

Blindness and cataract doesn’t happen just over night. It’s gradual until suddenly you cannot see any more. So because of her condition her children only bring her out to collect the sun, greet people and when they come back from work they take her back into the house,” Anya said.

The blindness gave room for other health problems and further compounded the woes of the bereaved woman. A hitherto active person was forced into a sedentary lifestyle. According to Anya, the blind woman started adding weight and developed severe joint pains hence walking became a problem. In her pain and darkness Mrs. Nduka was just helpless as she was unable to witness the burial of her teenage son. “She was just in darkness while her son was being buried in May this year. That was the most painful thing to her,” said Anya.

Her son-in-law, Mr. Emmanuel Emeka Anyanwu, said that “sudden” blindness of his mother-in-law created a whole lot of inconveniences not only for her but for the people around her. “It was not easy for somebody who was doing everything for herself to just lose her freedom and start depending on other people to survive.”

It was indeed a double tragedy for Mrs. Nduka.

After crying about losing her beloved son, she started another round of shedding tears. This time, she was crying for divine intervention to enable her to regain her lost sight. Narrating her condition after going blind, she said she was a pitiful sight.

“It was as if my world was turned upside down. I depended on my daughter for everything. I could hardly do anything for myself,” she recalled. God

Esther Nduka...seeing with both eyes after the operation

answered her tearful prayers and sent help.

Dr Anya, who has been deeply involved in the eye care programme of Senator Orji, brought his attention to the plight of the blind woman. The Abia Central Senator promptly authorised Anya to proceed with the surgery and other medical care needed to restore sight to the visually impaired woman.

“That is how Senator T.A. Orji gave back a woman who was nearly out of this world, hope, joy. It was evident on her face and you could see the smile on her face each time she heard my voice and I reminded her she is a lucky woman. After the successful Phacoemulsification cataract operation (eye surgery) a new world of brightness was beheld by Madam Nduka after six months of gloom. She was full of smiles as she saw her daughter and caregiver, Mrs. Florence Chiamaka Anyanwu, her doctor and the entire environment,” Anya explained.

It was a 300 degree turnaround for a woman who had resigned herself to fate, thinking she had been condemned to the clutches of blindness for the rest of her life.

She could indeed not believe her eyes. She told THISDAY at her home that she was short of adequate words to thank Senator Orji for giving her back her lost eyes. The highly appreciative woman poured out her heart praying and blessing the former Abia governor. “It will go well with Ochendo.

God will bless him for me. He will never be disappointed,” she went on and on. “I was completely blind; I never knew I would ever see with my eyes again.”

Anya noted that the transformation in the blind woman was evident after the surgery. He said: “Madam Esther Nduka was just unfortunate in the first place by going blind. Seeing her today you will know that she is a smart woman. The first day I saw her after surgery she was not using a walking stick. This was the same woman that couldn’t walk without a walking stick; she started walking by herself and her weight has reduced as she now walks about because we did PhacoEmulsification surgery which is called the laser surgery.

“She is back to her life, she even comes for check up by herself and she makes sure that her medications which we gave her in large volume are still with her. And because she did an operation in both eyes she is likely going to need more medications but as for the wound healing is exceptional. If you don’t see you may never believe,” Anya explained.

After the successful eye surgery, Anyanwu acknowledged that his mother in-law is now less of a burden as she can now see and do for herself those things that she depended on others to do for her during the period her life was enveloped in darkness.

So many others have, like Mrs. Nduka, regained their visions courtesy of the Ochendo Eye Surgery Programme. The case of a 14-yearold, who had to stop going to school when her eyes failed her was equally touching.

Anya narrated how Senator Orji came to

Orji...helping the blind to see.

her rescue and gave the girl her sight after sponsoring her surgery for free.

“It was a case of an unfortunate 14-year-old female. She just discovered that she was not seeing in both eyes and by the time we did a normal laboratory test, we discovered that her sugar was level 572. If you know what 572 sugar levels means in a 14-year-old child - it’s enough to kill anybody. While we now made further enquiries we discovered that a year before that time the mother died of kidney failure from complications of diabetes. So diabetes was running in the family and as a young 14-year-old she got diabetes without knowing,” he said.

To save the teenager from her blindness and life threatening sugar level, Anya immediately put a phone call to Senator Orji and told him about the condition of the teenage girl and the need to save her. He got a positive answer instantly because “each time you pick up a phone and call the Senator concerning free eye surgery the answer is always ‘Yes, go ahead and let me know the details’. “So, we took the child to the theatre and knowing full well her condition we invited other specialists to help us bring the sugar down, while other specialists were on standby to help us in case we had any challenges.”

According to Anya, it was “a multi-specialists approach” that was used in treating the girl.

After the surgery the patient was readmitted for three more days to make sure that the sugar doesn’t go up high. But then the Abia Central Senator had to spend nearly N100,000 in another clinic just to make sure we maintain the sugar level down. Good enough the intervention worked well for the girl,” Anya announced the good result with gusto, saying, “the girl that was not seeing, started seeing in both eyes and she can now understand the diabetes more, she can now help herself with her medications. She can now go back to school. So, let’s just say what befell her mum (kidney failure) may not befell her because she is now more knowledgeable and educated about managing diabetes.”

Anya went on and on telling stories of people who went blind and were helpless to seek medical care before Ochendo intervened.

The stories evoked varying degrees of pity.

There was a case of a mother and her daughter in her early teens, and both were blind and poor. According to him, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), which was scouting for people to assist, found a blind girl who was presumed to be eight years old. She was hawking by the road side with her equally blind mother. “Eight years was what we were told but I finally discovered that the child was more than eight years,” Anya narrated.

“The child was in the neighbourhood of 10-12 years. She was blind in both eyes and the mother was also blind in both eyes. They usually sit by the roadside selling whosoever cares to buy and people used to patronise them out of pity.”

When the NGO people brought the blind mother and child to Anya’s clinic they

discovered that the financial resources required to solve their visual impairments was beyond their reach. “The NGO said their problem was that they don’t have funds to foot the bills and I told them they shouldn’t worry. That I will notify someone I know that will do the job and they asked me who? I mentioned Papa Ukwu. Immediately, I picked my phone and sent a message - permission to proceed Sir? It didn’t take up to two hours. I got a reply ‘permission granted’. So we prepared the child for surgery immediately, and did surgery in both eyes.

“All these three people I mentioned had surgery for them in both eyes. And this girl now I’m told has gone back to school, she is no longer selling from morning to night. Of course, I expect her to be assisting in family business but the fact that she has gone back to school is my joy. She now comes for her check up by herself. So who will not be proud of Senator T.A.Orji? Who will not say ‘Thank You’ to Senator T.A.Orji? He has done so much for us in eye care,” Anya said.

Orji’s interest in eye care started when he was the governor of Abia. It happened that when he had an eye problem he travelled overseas for medical attention. The hi-tech medical care he received created a huge impression on him.

With his eyes fully functioning very well to his satisfaction the then governor decided that the best thing to do was to domesticate the hi-tech eye treatment he had received. On return from the foreign medical trip Ochendo immediately initiated plans to make available in Umuahia the hi-tech eye treatment popularly known as laser method.

That was how the Ophthalmology Clinic was built and equipped with state-of-the-art facilities at the Abia State Specialist Hospital Umuahia.

According to Anya, it was “the first ever standard eye clinic in Abia.”

Even after he left office in 2015, Orji still sustained his interest in eye care and healthcare in general did not wane. He designed and instituted his own programme – The Ochendo Eye Surgery Programme through which people, especially the underprivileged, could have access to quality eye care services without financial cost. Anya, who has been deeply involved in the design and implementation of the programme, said that modifications were introduced at each stage to include other necessities.

“So, we have the Ochendo Eye Surgery Programme which he signed on Tuesday, October 17, 2017, and he mandated me to proceed on training in Phacoemulsification Cataract Surgery. When we mention Phacoemulsification surgery people mistakenly call it laser cataract surgery but it’s Phacoemulsification cataract surgery where the machine does the surgery.”

Anya proudly refers to himself as the first beneficiary of the Ochendo Eye Surgery Programme.

This is because he was sponsored overseas by Orji to obtain the knowledge on the use of the Phacoemulsification machine in eye surgery. The training took Anya to Bangladesh. According to Anya, the Abia Central Senator “insisted on quality and high level manpower.”

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

T H I S D AY ˾ , DECEMBER 16, 2021

31

NEWS

Bastion Health CSR Project Donates to Health Units of Five Public Schools in Lagos

FERTILITY

With Dr. Kemi AILOJE drkemi@lifelinkfertility.com www.lifelinkfertility.com +2348033083580

SYPHILIS AND INFERTILITY (Part 1)

L-R: Marketing, Communications and Branding Lead for Bastion Health, Ellen Ukpi; Headteacher, Archbishop Taylor Memorial Primary School, Olaniran Muibi Gafari; Assistant Headteacher, Archbishop Taylor Memorial Primary School, Mrs Abass Rashidat Mojisola; and the Managing Director of Bastion Health, Naomi Aduku at the Bastion Health Limited CSR Project commissioning of donated health units and materials to public schools in Lagos, recently Nume Ekeghe As part of its plans to positively impact and bring about change in its environment, particularly healthcare in the education sector in Nigeria, Bastion Health, through its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative kicked off and inaugurated its outreach to rehabilitate and improve the standard of health facilities of schools in Lagos State, paying special attention to public schools.

In the two-day commissioning event that took place recently, the Health Maintenance Organisation located in the heart of Victoria Island visited Archbishop Taylor Memorial Nursery and Primary School, Victoria Island; Gbagada Comprehensive Junior High School, Gbagada; Araromi Nursery and Primary School, Gbagada;Victoria Island Junior School, Victoria Island; and Lanre

Awolokun High School, Gbagada to commission renovated health infrastructure and donate medical materials to the schools.

Findings from the visits to several public schools in Victoria Island and Gbagada axis revealed that these schools required several essential health amenities and infrastructure to support as a first point of call in addressing basic healthcare needs.

The absence of these basic amenities can be a hindrance to good healthcare administration for students.

Speaking at the commissioning, the Managing Director of Bastion Health, Naomi Aduku stated that Bastion Health is passionate about ensuring basic health is available to every Nigerian, most especially children.

Aduku in her remark noted that the company plans to support schools by providing basic healthcare supplies in all the local govern-

ment areas in Nigeria over the next five years.

“We are pleased about this project which we believe will provide the much-needed basic healthcare to the children who are our future leaders.

Bastion Health will support at least one underserved school in different local government areas in Nigeria over the next five years and this support will be in the form of renovations, donations, and maintenance of the health facilities in public schools,” she noted.

The Bastion Health vision is to make healthcare accessible and affordable for all. The HMO leverages cutting-edge technology to drive its operations and services, to offer flexible and innovative products.

Bastion Health is committed to ensuring financial protection to all Nigerians by offering affordable and accessible healthcare plans

Airtel Feeds 5000 IDPS at Christmas, Felicitates with Nigerians Leading telecommunications services provider, Airtel Nigeria, has commenced plans to feed 5,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) across five different IDP camps under its annual Christmas programme, “Airtel 5 Days of Love”.

The initiative to distribute 1,000 palliative packs to five select IDP camps in five states across the country over a period of five days kicked off on Monday, December 13, in Ugha IDP Camp, Benue State.

Next stop was in Kasaisa IDP Camp in Damaturu, Yobe State on Tuesday, 14 and on Wednesday, 15 December, were at the IDP camp in Ekiti State.

On Thursday, December 16, the programme will hold in Anka, Zamfara State. The distribution will be concluded at the IDP Camp in Ekende, Ogoja, Cross Rivers State on Friday, December 17.

Speaking during a virtual press conference , Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Airtel Nigeria, Surendran Chemmenkotil, noted that this year’s edition of “Airtel 5 Days of Love” is symbolic as it coincides with the company’s 20th anniversary in Nigeria which he described as a landmark achievement and glowing testimony to Airtel’s commitment to the government and people of Nigeria.

“Against the backdrop of our 20th anniversary and 20 years of GSM operations in Nigeria, I must express my profound ap-

Airtel CEO

preciation to all the stakeholders in Nigeria’s telecom’s ecosystem.

Airtel appreciates you all and most importantly, we value all our customers, especially those that have been with us since 2001,” said Mr. Chemmenkotil.

The Airtel CEO added that 2021 has been an interesting year and as the year winds down, it will be good for well-meaning individuals and corporate organizations to express love and appreciation to their stakeholders especially the less privileged.

“It is that time of the year when we all count our blessings, appreciate our friends, help and uplift the less privileged and generally show love to one another and everybody.

“Aside the special token we

are extending to our fellow Nigerians in these five IDP Centres, we would like to seize this opportunity to wish all Nigerians a merry and safe Christmas and prosperous New Year”, the CEO concluded.

The Airtel ‘5 Days of Love’ programme, which is in its 7th edition, is designed to identify with less privileged persons as well as support the downtrodden in communities where Airtel operates.

Through the programme, Airtel says it is uplifting the less privileged and providing support for the vulnerable as this aligns with its overall CSR theme of touching lives and improving the standard of living of the less privileged.

I

nfections that can be passed through sexual contact and activities are referred to as Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs).

Globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than one million people get an STI every day.

If left untreated, STIs can cause serious health problems, including cancers, liver disease, pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), conception/pregnancy challenges and infertility. Some examples of these STIs include Chlamydia, HIV, Gonorrhea, Herpes, Trichomoniasis and Syphilis.

Today’s focus is on Syphilis and how it can affect fertility.

WHAT IS SYPHILIS? Syphilis is a bacterial infection that was once a major public health threat. It is a highly contagious sexually transmitted infection that can be spread through sexual activities (including oral and anal sex) with an infected person without the use of a condom or latex barrier. The infected person often does not know that they have the disease and passes it on to their sexual partner.

CAUSES OF SYPHILIS Syphilis is caused by a bacterium called Treponema pallidum. It is spread through contact with an infected person’s sore during sexual activity.

The bacteria enter the body through minor cuts in the skin or mucous membranes. Less commonly, syphilis may spread through direct contact with an active lesion, such as during kissing.

Syphilis can’t be spread by using the same toilet, bathtub, clothing or eating utensils, or from doorknobs, swimming pools or hot tubs. Once cured, syphilis does not return on its own. However, one can become reinfected if contact is made with syphilis sore. Some of the consequences of syphilis on fertility are the possibility of transmission from mother to baby which may cause miscarriages and congenital disease, male and female infertility, and the increase of HIV infection risk.

STAGES AND SYMPTOMS OF SYPHILIS Primary syphilis: The first symptom of syphilis is appearance of a painless sore (chancre). The sore appears at the point of entrance of the bacteria into the body. An infected person could have one to several chancre sores which usually develops about three weeks after exposure. Many people who have syphilis may not notice the chancre because it’s usually painless and hidden. The chancre will heal on its own within three to six weeks.

Secondary syphilis: Few weeks after the sore has healed, one may start to experience a rash that begins on the trunk which will eventually cover the entire body including the palms and the soles of feet. This rash is usually not itchy

and may be accompanied by wartlike sores in your mouth or genital area. Some people also experience hair loss, muscle aches, a fever, a sore throat and swollen lymph nodes. These signs and symptoms may disappear within a few weeks or repeatedly come and go for as long as a year.

Latent syphilis: If left untreated, the disease moves from the secondary stage to the hidden (latent) stage, when it becomes asymptomatic. The latent stage can last for years. Signs and symptoms may never return, or the disease may progress to the tertiary stage.

Tertiary syphilis: Complications from untreated syphilis infection develops when syphilis is left untreated. These complications are known as tertiary syphilis. In this stage, the disease may damage the brain, nerves, eyes, heart, blood vessels, liver, bones and joints. These problems may occur many years after the original, untreated infection.

Neurosyphilis: At any stage, syphilis can spread and cause damage to the brain, nervous system and also, the eyes.

COMPLICATIONS OF SYPHILIS Without treatment, syphilis can lead to damage throughout the body. Syphilis also increases the risk of HIV infection and can cause problems during pregnancy. Treatment can help prevent future damage but cannot repair or reverse damage that has already occurred.

Small bumps or tumors: In the late stage of syphilis, bumps (gummas) can develop on the skin, bones, liver or any other organ. Gummas usually disappear after treatment with antibiotics.

Neurological problems: Syphilis can cause a number of problems with the nervous system, including: Headache, Stroke, Meningitis, Hearing loss, Visual problems (blindness), Dementia, Loss of pain and temperature sensations, Sexual dysfunction in men and Bladder incontinence.

Cardiovascular problems: These may include bulging and swelling of the aorta (the body’s major artery) and of other blood vessels. Syphilis may also damage heart valves.

HIV infection: Adults with sexually transmitted syphilis or other genital ulcers have an increased risk of contracting HIV. A syphilis sore can bleed easily, providing an easy way for HIV to enter the bloodstream during sexual activity.

Pregnancy and childbirth complications: Syphilis may be passed to an unborn baby. Congenital syphilis is extremely dangerous to a newborn baby, with a significant chance of fatality when untreated. It greatly increases the risk of miscarriage, stillbirth or death of the newborn within a few days after birth. Getting tested for syphilis before getting pregnant or early in the first trimester is extremely important as the symptoms are not always obvious TO BE CONTINUED

32

T H I S D AY ˾ ˜ DECEMBER 16, 2021

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

CBN Earmark N41bn for Dry Season Wheat Farming Nume Ekeghe In a bid to meet high demand amid poor production capacity of wheat, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has earmarked a whopping sum of N41billion, which is being disbursed by Heritage Bank Plc to farmers across multiple states for the expansion of wheat production project.

The disbursed fund is to consummate the expansion of Wheat Seed Multiplication Project, as part of the CBN’s Brown Revolution Initiative, an intervention programme to flag-off and support the commencement of dry season wheat farming across States in Nigeria.

Speaking on this laudable initiative, the Governor of CBN, Godwin Emefiele disclosed that the move is part of the apex bank’s intervention to address the challenges in Wheat value chain, thereby increasing the domestic production of wheat and closing the wide supply gap

inherited in Nigeria agricultural space.

According to him, following the successes in the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP), the apex bank decided to extend the gains recorded in rice and maize value chains to wheat production.

He said the programme would benefit over 150,000 farmers.

He also said the programme would be implemented in 15 states on about 180,000 hectares of land. Emefiele said the apex bank sought to save $2 billion spent on importing five million metric tons of wheat annually through the intervention.

“Wheat is the third most widely consumed grain in Nigeria after maize and rice. It is estimated that the country only produces about one per cent (63,000 metric tons) of the 5-6 million metric tons of the commodity consumed annually in Nigeria,” he said.

“This enormous demandsupply gap is bridged with over $2 billion spent annually

on wheat importation. This has made wheat the second highest contributor to the country’s food import bill.”

He said that unless the issue was addressed, the increasing demand would add more problems to the country’s reserves.

“Given the high growth rate of the country’s population and the demographic structure, the demand for wheat is projected to continue to rise. This can only intensify pressure on the country’s reserves unless we take a decisive step to grow wheat locally,” Emefiele said.

The MD/CEO of Heritage Bank, Ifie Sekibo said the Brown Revolution Initiative would help reduce the nation’s food import bill by increasing wheat production, create market linkages between smallholders farmers and Anchors/Processors, create an ecosystem that drives value chain financing, improve access to credit by the smallholder farmers by developing credit history through the scheme and many more.

Burger King Launches in Nigeria One of America’s leading fastfood chains, Burger King, has officially launched in Nigeria, bringing its iconic flame grilled burgers to the giant of Africa, with its first outlet in the heart of Lagos. To commemorate the official opening of Burger King in Nigeria, the brand hosted an exclusive launch event at the Victoria Island location, inviting key stakeholders, influencers, celebrities, and excited customers

to experience this moment with Burger King. The launch event was aimed at officially announcing Burger King’s presence in Nigeria, communicating future plans for Burger King in Nigeria as well as allowing the guests to immerse themselves in the real burger experience.

Speaking on Burger King’s launch in Nigeria, Marketing Coordinator, Burger King Nigeria, Ibukun Aiyemo stated, “We are

thrilled to bring a worldwide favorite like Burger King to Nigeria. I believe we have the right partners and team to make this market a success for the Burger King brand. At Burger King, we are committed to providing thrilling experiences with our signature recipes, and affordable prices. Burger King in Nigeria is definitely a game changer, and we are excited about the prospects.”

COVID-19: Sterling Bank Reaffirms Support for Sustainable Healthcare Nume Ekeghe Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO), Sterling Bank Plc, Mr. Abubakar Suleiman, has said the bank is deeply committed to deploying resources in support of Nigeria’s healthcare system.

Speaking at the National COVID-19 Summit in Abuja recently, Suleiman in a statement disclosed that Sterling Bank provided technical support for the Presidential Steering Committee and other stakeholders in the planning of the summit. He also acknowledged the outstanding work of the genome sequencing team of South Africa who helped

to identify and mapped out the Omicron variant of COVID, remarking that the qualities of their resilience, perseverance and innovation have birthed work that has given the world a chance to get ahead of the new dimension of the on-going pandemic.

The CEO also highlighted the key numbers on Nigeria’s healthcare, which is projected to contribute three percent to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for 2021 with three quarters of those contributions coming from the private sector.

On the role of private sector financing in health emergencies, Suleiman said there was a need to expand the private sector’s role

from a funding channel to full partner that assesses the current national and sub-national frameworks for healthcare delivery.

He also advocated for a push in Public Private Partnerships (PPP) to achieve framework redesign and improve delivery, efficiency and cost of medical assistance as well as the need to introduce the constructs of public good and positive externality as reasons for continued private sector financing in healthcare, adding that the secondary role for the private sector includes monitoring and evaluation functions for the sole objective of continuously improving on the progress made in the past two years.

Access Bank Excites Customers With Christmas Campaign Nume Ekeghe

Access Bank Plc has announced that it will be rewarding its customers with Cash prizes, mobile phones, Gift Hampers, Bags of Rice, Groundnut Oil and other various gift items in the XtraWin 12 days of Christmas offer.

The bank which is renowned for regularly rewarding its custom-

ers disclosed this in a statement the reward campaign is open for all new and existing customers of the bank and that the campaign tagged ‘12 Days of Christmas’ will run from December 13-24 December, 2021.

Group Head, Products and Segments, Access Bank Plc Adaeze Umenoted that the aim of the campaign is to deliver on the promise of the bank to continually reward

customers for their loyalty and savings culture.

“In the spirit of the season, we are going to be rewarding our loyal and new customers with mouthwatering gifts. Starting from the 13th of December, 80 customers will emerge as winners of various gift items like cash rewards, Hampers, Bags of Rice and other various gift items.

CAPSA Announces Collaboration with UAC Foods Nume Ekeghe

Alternative finance startup, Capsa Technology has signed up a new partner for its invoice factoring product.

The company announced yesterday that it signed a collaboration agreement with food

and beverage giant UAC Foods Nigeria recently only a few weeks after the company announced its partnership with the leading agri-business OLAM Group.

Capsa’s partnership with UAC Foods will open up more financing opportunities for suppliers under the UAC Foods network

all over the country. This means that UAC Foods suppliers will now have the option to convert their invoices to immediate cash on Capsa’s platform - getcapsa. com without having to wait out the mandatory payment cycle or terms included in their contract with UAC Foods.

MARKET INDICATORS MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

(MILLION NAIRA)

JANUARY 2021 Money Supply (M3)

38,779,455.43

-- CBN Bills Held by Money Holding Sectors

1,039,129.55

Money Supply (M2)

37,740,325.88

-- Quasi Money

21,779,302.69

-- Narrow Money (M1)

15,961,023.19

---- Currency Outside Banks

2,364,871.13

---- Demand Deposits

13,596,152.06

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

7,414,275.50

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

31,365,179.93

-- Net Domestic Credit (NDC)

42,916,586.63

---- Credit to Government (Net)

12,304,773.44

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

0.00

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

0.00

---- Credit to Private Sector (CPS)

30,611,813.19

--Other Assets Net

3,892,112.74

Reserve Money (Base Money

13,264,585.14

--Currency in Circulation

2,831,167.19

--Banks Reserves --Special Intervention Reserves

10,433,417.96 317,234.17

˾ ÙßÜÍÏ ̋

Money Market Indicators (in Percentage) Month

March 2018

Inter-Bank Call Rate

15.16

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

14.00

Treasury Bill Rate

11.84

Savings Deposit Rate

4.07

1 Month Deposit Rate

8.82

3 Months Deposit Rate

9.72

6 Months Deposit Rate

10.93

12 Months Deposit Rate

10.21

Prime Lending rate

17.35

Maximum Lending Rate

31.55

˾ ÙØÏÞËÜã ÙÖÓÍã ËÞÏ ̋ ͯͱϱ

OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE ˜ ͵

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

33

T H I S D AY ˾ ˜ ͯʹ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

Stock Marker Rebounds By 0.09% over Gain in Consumer Good Index Kayode Tokede The stock market of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) appreciated by 0.09 per cent yesterday, driven by gain in companies in the consumer index of the bourse.

The likes of Dangote Sugar Plc, Honeywell Flour Mill Plc, Nigerian Breweries Plc were among ther top gainers on the NGX yesterday.

The gain position the NGX All-Share Index growth of 39.84

basis points or 0.09 per cent to close at 42,357.36 basis points from 42,317.52 basis points the stock market opened for trading.

Similarly, the overall market capitalisation size gained N21 billion to close at N22.102 trillion from N22.081 trillion Sector performances were broadly negative yesterday with the Banking index dropping by 0.20 per cent, Industrial index was down by 0.11 per cent, and Oil and Gas declined by 0.05 per

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

F O R

DEALS

cent, while the NGX Consumer Goods added 0.22 per cent, a lone gainer on The Exchange.

Market sentiment, as measured by the market breadth, was positive, as 19 stocks gained relative to 13 losers.

Red Star Express recorded the highest price gain of 7.94 per cent, to close at N3.40, per share.

Meyer Plc followed with a gain 7.69 per cent to close at 42 kobo, while Japaul Gold and Ventures rose by 5.41 per cent to close at

S E C U R I T I E S

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N )

39 kobo, per share.

UPDC went up by 4.35 per cent to close at N1.20, while Africa Prudential appreciated by 4.10 per cent to close at N6.35, per share.

On the other hand, eTranzact International led the losers’ chart by 9.57 per cent, to close at N1.89, per share. Royal Exchange followed with a decline of 4.76 per cent to close at 60 kobo, while Cutix lost 4.21 per cent to close at N2.50, per share.

T R A D E D MAIN BOARD

A S

International Breweries lost 4.08 per cent to close at N4.70, while Unity Bank shed 2.13 per cent to close at 46 kobo, per share.

However, the total volume traded declined by 16.26 per cent to 226.180 million shares, worth N2.633 billion, and traded in 3,476 deals.

Transactions in the shares of International Breweries topped the activity chart with 51.794 million shares valued at N253.342 million.

FBN Holdings (FBNH) followed

O F

with 32.532 million shares worth N392.191 million, while GTCO traded 17.993 million shares valued at N457.216 million.

Unilever Nigeria traded 10.006 million shares valued at N132.084 million, while Mutual Benefits Assurance transacted 9.476 million shares worth N2.311 million.

Analysts at InvestmentOne Research said: “The equities market closed positive today due to the gains recorded in the Consumer Goods sector.

1 5 / 1 2 / 2 0 2 1 DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

34

THURSDAY DECEMBER 16, 2021 •T H I S D AY

35

THURSDAY, ͹;˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

SME EXPORTERS AND PRODUCT EXHIBITION...

L-R: Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, BG Tea Nigeria Limited, Alh. Mohammed Yusuf; Executive Director/CEO, Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Mr. Ezra Yakusak; Director, Product Development, NEPC, Mr. William Ezeagu and Director, Trade Information, NEPC, Mrs. Evelyn Obidike Ifeyinwa, during the presentation of certifications to the beneficiary of SME Exporters and Product Exhibition in Abuja... yesterday

COVID-19: A'Ibom Assures 55,000 Guests Expected at Christmas Carols of Safety Okon Bassey in Uyo Akwa Ibom State Government has assured foreign and local guests attending its annual Christmas carol festival of sufficient provision to ensure the prevention of the spread of the ravaging COVID-19 at the event.

No fewer than 55, 000 guests are expected to attend the festival.

The maiden edition of the Akwa Ibom Christmas Carol Festival was held in 2008.

The 2021 event which would be staged on Friday, December 17, 2021, at the Ibom Hall field along IBB Way, Uyo, has as its theme “The Return” "The manager of that event has made sufficient provision for the safety of guests against COVID-19.

There are enough hand washing stations, face mask will be available for everybody. Recently, the state government took delivery of huge number of hand sanitiser and will be deployed to the venue.

"The most important thing is you must wear your face mask. It has proven to be the most potent protection available. Sufficient Covid prevention guidelines has been activated especially with omicron variant around the corner," the state government explained.

Speaking at a media briefing yesterday, the Special Assistant to State Governor on Public Affairs, Mr. Raphael Edem said, "from inception, the Akwa Ibom Christmas

Carols Festival was conceived to enhance the spiritual rejuvenation of the state and people, and after 12 successful editions, that purpose of the Carols Festival has remained undefeated.

"As a people who have been largely preserved from the fatalities that rocked the world in the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are returning to thank God for his blessings to us as a state and a people."

For the first time in the history

Despite OPEC’s ‘Mild Omicron’Projection, Oil Extends Losses for Third Day Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja Despite the forecast by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that the Omicron variant of Covid-19 will be ‘mild' on the oil industry, the commodity declined for a third day yesterday, as further restrictions were imposed to counter the spread of the virus.

Brent Crude traded at $72.72 per barrel early on yesterday, down by 1.33 per cent, as traders continued to assess the potential impact of the new variant on global oil demand amid mounting signs that an oversupply on the market is imminent.

This week’s decline had exceeded two per cent, as China, the world’s biggest importer of crude, was set to start 2022 with a subdued appetite.

This was projected to partially offset the traditional increase in demand from refineries to replenish inventories during the winter months.

Investors are currently assessing the rapid spread of the omicron variant as the world enters the year-end and the uncertainty surrounding the severity of the virus will only add more volatility.

But while there had been some level of uncertainty in the global oil market over the new variant, OPEC has been on a very different path, with its forecast for the current quarter remaining unchanged from the one it published a month ago.

In addition, the oil producers'

group has revised its outlook upward for the start of 2022 by 1.1 million barrels per day.

The organisation stated that its position was based on the assumption that the impact of the omicron variant on oil demand would, “be mild and short-lived, as the world becomes better equipped to manage Covid-19 and its related challenges.”

It forecast a steady economic outlook in both the advanced and emerging economies, despite current inflation and supply chain bottlenecks, ongoing trade issues and their impact on industrial and transportation fuel requirements.

However, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had cautioned against dismissing omicron, which has been reported in at least 77 nations as mild, considering how quickly it’s spreading.

Yesterday, Commerzbank predicted that international crude oil benchmark Brent, will drop to $70 per barrel on the back of an expected oversupply of oil in the first quarter of 2022.

In its monthly report on Tuesday, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said global oil production was set to outpace demand in December, led by growth in the US and OPEC+ countries.

“Much needed relief for tight markets is on the way, with world oil supply set to overtake demand starting this month,” the IEA noted.

“If OPEC+ continues to unwind its cuts, the first quarter of 2022 will see a surplus of 1.7 million

bpd, and the oversupply could grow to 2 million bpd in the second quarter of 2022,” the agency added.

The organisation said the surge in cases was set to temporarily

slow the recovery in global oil demand, but that the impact of the Omicron variant will likely be more muted than previous waves and may not upend the current demand recovery.

of the event, two Guest Ministers - Senior Pastor of The Potter’s House Church from the USA, Bishop Thomas D. Jakes and the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye – would grace this year festival.

He added: "The 2021 Festival will feature a predominantly Nigerian line up of renowned gospel music ministers including the legendary Panam Percy Paul, and other award winning gospel singers like Tim Godfrey, Dunsin Oyekan, Ada Ehi, Aity Dennis, Bobby Friga, David G, Ema Onyx, GUC, Progress Effiong, John Bassey, Patience Ekwere, Uduakobong Akpan Jnr etc.

"The choirs performing at this year's edition include the globally recognised World Record Mass Choir of the Akwa Ibom Christmas Carols Festival. The World Record Mass Choir in this edition will feature 5,000 out of the 25,000-strong choir.

"Other choir groups that will

perform this year are the host choir, the Akwa Ibom State Government Choir, The PromisedLand Chorale Int’l, Intenxity and the Ibom Orchestra.”

Speaking further, he said: “Another special appearance and the only non-Nigerian performer will be the multi-award winning South African DJ and musician, Master KG. "We must place on record the unwavering commitment of His Excellency, The Governor of our dear state to the successful hosting of this event. This is exemplified in his consistent all-round support to this religious cum tourism event.

"We are also grateful to our partners for this year, Fidelity Bank and Zenith Bank, for their support.

"With the kind approval of His Excellency, Governor Udom Emmanuel, the 12th edition of the Carols Festival will be hosted at the 55,000-sq. metre Ibom Hall Arena, along IBB Avenue in Uyo by 6pm."

Senate Okays FG's $5.8bn External Loan Request, $10m Grant Deji Elumoye and Juliet Akoje in Abuja The Senate has approved the sum of $5,803,364,553.50 and a grant component of N10 million under the 2018-2020 External Borrowing (Rolling) plan of the federal government.

The approval was sequel to the consideration at yesterday’s plenary of a report by the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts.

Presenting the report, the Committee Chairman, Senator Clifford Ordia, said $2,300,000,000 would be sourced from the World Bank; $2,300,000,000 would come from the German Consortium; $90,000,000 from the Islamic Development; 786,382,967 from the China Exim Bank; $276,981,586.50 from the Bank of China, and $50,000,000 from the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

He recalled that President

Muhammadu Buhari in a communication dated May 6, 2021, had requested the Senate to consider and approve the federal government's 2018-2020 External Borrowing (Rolling) plan.

According to him, the 2018-2020 External Borrowing (Rolling) Plan contained a request for approval in the sum of $36,837,281,256 plus €910,000,000 and Grant Component of $10,000,000.

The ranking Senator noted that a report was laid by his Committee before the Senate in July 2021, recommending approval of the sum of $8,575,526,537 and €490,000,000.

He further recalled that the Senate at Plenary in July 2021 approved financing for projects as recommended by the Committee above whilst the Committee continued further legislative action and consideration of the outstanding request.

The Senator added that on September 15, 2021, the President

of the Senate had read another communication from the President containing an addendum to the 2018-2020 External Borrowing (Rolling) Plan in the sum of $4,054,476,863, €710,000,000 and Grant Component of $125,000, 000 for various projects and same was also referred to the Committee for further legislative action.

Consequently, Ordia stated that a second report was laid by the Local and Foreign Debts Committee before the Senate in November 2021 recommending approval of the sum of $16,229,577,718, €1,020,000,000 and a Grant component of $125,000,000.

In accordance with the recommendation of the Committee, the Senate at Plenary in November 2021, had approved the sum as financing for projects as recommended by the panel.

He explained that the request for the approval of $5.8 billion was part of the mandate of the Committee in respect of the

2018-2020 External Borrowing (Rolling) plan.

The Committee on Local and Foreign Debts in its observations noted the genuine concerns of Nigerians about the level of sustainability and serviceability of Nigeria’s borrowing within the last decade.

It nevertheless reiterated its stance on the need for a more proactive and broad based approach to revenue enhancement related issues, adding that, “there are noticeable improvements in the country’s revenues.”

The Committee underscored the need for rapid infrastructural and human capital development while noting that the projects to be financed with the loan would have great multiplier effect on stimulating economic growth through infrastructure development, job creation, poverty alleviation, health care and improvement of the nation’s security architecture.

36

THURSDAY, ͹;˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

Airline Operators Commend Minister over Handling of UAENigeria Travel Impasse Chinedu Eze

SANWO-OLU'S HOUSING REVOLUTION...

The newly constructed 744 housing units in Sangotedo, Ajah, commissioned by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu INSET L-R: Commissioner for Housing, Hon. Moruf Akinderu-Fatai; Deputy Speaker, Lagos House of Assembly, Hon. Wasiu Sanni-Eshinlokun; Special Adviser to the Governor on Housing, Mrs. Toke Benson-Awoyinka; Ojomu of Ajiran, Oba Tijani Akinloye; Elejigbo of Langbasa, Oba Hafeez Olakunle Badru; Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Chairman, Committee on Housing, Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Rasheed Makinde and Secretary to the State Government, Mrs. Folashade Jaji, during the inauguration of the newly constructed 744 housing units in Sangotedo, Ajah... on Tuesday

Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has commended the Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, for his effective handling of the disagreement between Nigeria and the United Arab Emirate (UAE), saying his action reinforced the dignity and honour to Nigeria.

The body in a statement yesterday, expressed gratitude to President Muhammadu Buhari for his unwavering stance on the issue which emboldened the Minister of Aviation to reciprocate with equal measures the treatment meted out to a Nigerian airline operating into the UAE. “The AON wishes to commend the Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika for the courageous way he stood up for the honour, dignity and respect to our sovereignty as a nation on this matter. AON is not unmindful of the leading roles the Minister played in getting our dear President to sign the Customs Duty and VAT waivers into law immediately the National Assembly passed the bill.

"We commend President Muhammadu Buhari's government for standing solidly and protectively behind not only Nigerian airlines but also indigenous investments and investors in Nigeria.

“By the recent reciprocal actions undertaken by the federal government, National sense of pride and belief in Nigeria rose to an all-time high", the statement said.

The airline operators also commended the Director-General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Musa Nuhu, for his dogged and courageous actions which did not leave anyone in doubt about his resolve to do all within his capacity not to allow any country disrespect us.

Subsidy Withdrawal: NLC Cautions against Precipitating Industrial Crisis in 2022

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday warned the federal government to desist from actions that could precipitate a crippling industrial crisis in 2022.

President of NLC, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, who gave the advice in Abuja, insisted that organised labour remained opposed to the plan by the government to withdraw fuel subsidy.

Wabba spoke during an interview with journalists on the side-lines of the 48th National Executive Council meeting of the Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MHWUN). He warned political leaders not to neglect governance in preparation for the 2023 general elections The NLC president called on Nigerians to be ready to fully mobilise and vehemently reject the federal government’s unfriendly policies, if implemented in 2022 as being proposed.

He stated, “NLC has remained very consistent in its position about the issue of what we call subsidy. The position of NLC is that Nigeria has no reason to continue to import refined products for domestic use, particularly PMS, because we have also found out that we are the only member country of OPEC doing that.

“It’s an imposed policy on Nigeria, and our leaders must find a way and means to actually get us out of that imposition. We have made this point very clear that because of the devalued value of our currency, it then means that the policy of importation will continue to have a negative impact on consumers.

“We have seen that with kerosene, we have seen that also with diesel, which our government has claimed that they’ve fully deregulated, but the price has never been at the reach of ordinary Nigerians. Even the cooking gas, people are now

using firewood.

“So, the position of NLC remains very consistent that we’ll be against any policy of removing subsidies in the name of deregulation if it is based on importation. And we’ve said so that we export our jobs, and yet our refineries remain under lock and key. It’s a patriotic position that many Nigerians have supported.”

Wabba described the continued importation of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol, by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as “forced policy” on Nigeria, He said the congress was also urging the Federal Ministry of Health to ensure that the amount agreed on the consolidated health salary structure was captured in the 2022 budget to avoid another round of industrial action in the health sector next year.

Wabba disclosed that the labour movement would meet today to review many pronouncements made by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and the federal government through the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, on fuel subsidy. He warned the government not to transfer its inefficiency to the Nigerian people by inflicting more pain on the masses in 2022, saying N5,000 palliative policy is not sustainable.

According to him, “That remains the official position of NLC. But we are going to meet tomorrow and next tomorrow at the level of the National Executive Council (NEC) to also review some of the pronouncements that have been made by the IMF, World Bank and, even by the Nigeria government through the Minister of Finance.

“There will be an official position of the NLC National Executive Council, which is composed of all our state councils, presidents and general secretaries of our 49 affiliates.

“There will be an official

statement and actions that will be lined up to try to do proper engagement in order to make sure that they don’t impose this policy on Nigerians.

“Today, the cost of goods and services has gone very spiral. Not many families can have more than one meal on their table per day.”

He said “increasing the price of this important commodity, which will affect the life of every family,” would carry adverse consequences.

Wabba added, “It’s not only the 40 million we’re talking about because, whether you like it or not, directly or indirectly, every Nigerian will feel the impact. It’s

either you have a car or you use commercial transport or you use a small generator, which we call ‘I pass my neighbour’ or you use a small grinding machine.

“There are many factors that have not been considered. As I speak, in 49 countries around the world, energy is still subsidised.

So, our own is about making the process transparent, which shall be part of the programme.

“So, instead of making the process very transparent, the policy of the government is about transferring the inefficiency to the Nigerian people, and to continue to pay for the inefficiency, which I think is not correct.

“It’s still a misery that despite the fact that diesel and kerosene have been deregulated, the price has never come down, even when the price of crude oil at the international market was almost at zero dollar, the price never came back, Nigerians must realise that.

“Market forces are actually for profit and, therefore, it is not for serving the people. We must realise all of these. Also, in the context of argument, we must try to compare apples with apples because I saw some of the comparisons, where we are comparing Nigeria with many countries, without looking at

what GDP is.

“Per capita income of many of those people we’re comparing with, where subsidy has been removed, they have many means of transportation and the impact could not be felt. But in the context of Nigeria, whether you like it or not, the impact will be felt by every family.”

On his part, National President of MHWUN, Comrade Biobelemoye Josiah, said it was counterproductive for the federal government to consider privatising some public health facilities, noting that the union would use every available means to resist the move.

World Bank’s IDA Unveils Fresh $93bn Support Package for Poorest Countries The World Bank yesterday announced a $93 billion replenishment package by its International Development Association (IDA) to help low-income countries respond to the COVID-19 crisis and build a greener, more resilient, and inclusive future.

The financing brings together $23.5 billion of contributions from 48 high- and middle-income countries with financing raised in the capital markets, repayments, and the World Bank’s own contributions.

A statement yesterday explained that the financing package, agreed over a twoday meeting hosted virtually

by Japan, was the largest ever mobilised in IDA’s 61-year history.

It explained that IDA’s unique leveraging model enables it to achieve greater value from donor resources, saying, “every $1 that donors contribute to IDA is now leveraged into almost $4 of financial support for the poorest countries.”

“Today’s generous commitment by our partners is a critical step toward supporting poor countries in their efforts to recover from the COVID-19 crisis,” said World Bank Group President David Malpass.

“We are grateful for the confidence our partners have in IDA as a non-fragmented and efficient platform to tackle development challenges and improve the lives of millions of people around the world,” he added.

The funds would be delivered to the world’s 74 poorest countries under the 20th replenishment (IDA20) program, which focuses on helping countries recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis.

It noted that the countries, the ongoing pandemic was worsening poverty, undermining growth, and jeopardising the prospects of a resilient and inclusive development.

“Countries are struggling with falling government revenues;

increasing debt vulnerabilities; rising risks to fragility, conflict, and instability; and dropping literacy rates. About a third of IDA countries are facing a looming food crisis.

“To help countries build back greener, a substantial portion of these funds go to tackling climate change, with a focus on helping countries to adapt to rising climate impacts and preserve biodiversity.

“IDA will also deepen support to countries to better prepare for future crises, including pandemics, financial shocks, and natural hazards. While IDA20 will support countries globally, resources are increasingly benefiting Africa, which will receive about 70 percent of the funding,” it added.

According to the statement, with the strong package, IDA would be able to scale up its support in the pandemic and address health challenges, helping 400 million people receive essential health and nutrition resources.

“The social safety nets program is also expected to reach as many as 375 million people.

“The IDA20 program has more ambitious policy commitments that will support countries in prioritizing investments in human capital, covering issues such as education, health and nutrition, vaccines, safety nets, and support for people with disabilities. “IDA will also increase its ambition in addressing other major development challenges such as gender inequality, job creation, and situations of fragility, conflict and violence, including in the Sahel, the Lake Chad region, and the Horn of Africa.

“A continued emphasis on governance and institutions, debt sustainability, and digital infrastructure interventions will help foster economic and social inclusion.

“Due to the urgent development needs of IDA countries, the replenishment was advanced by one year. IDA20 will cover the period of July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2025,” it added.

THURSDAY DECEMBER 16, 2021 T H I S DAY

37

NEWS

Lawmakers Ask Police to Investigate Assassination of Katsina Commissioner Also abduction of engineers in Ebonyi

Udora Orizu in Abuja The House of Representatives has urged the Nigeria Police Force to conduct exhaustive investigations into the gruesome murder of Katsina State Commissioner of Science and Technology, Dr Rabe Nasir and ensure that everyone complicit in the murder is brought to book.

The lawmakers resolution was sequel to the adoption of a motion sponsored

by Hon. Isansi Sallsu Iro. Moving his motion, Iron noted the media reports that the Katsina State Commissioner for Science and Technology and former member of the House of Representatives, Dr Rabe Nasir, was assassinated in his residence in the Katsina metropolis on Wednesday, 2 December 2021 at night by unidentiÀed gunmen.

While expressing concerns about the increasing rate of insecurity, especially in the North, he, however, said assassination is a new phenomenon in Katsina and other North-West states of the country.

He was worried that the

murder of Nasir has further triggered anxiety and apprehension amongst the people of Katsina metropolis

and the state at large as they have been living in constant fear for their lives.

He added that there

was overwhelming need for security agencies to thoroughly investigate the assassination of Nasir with a

view to bringing the culprits to book and allay peoples fear as regards their safety in the state.

Adopting the motion, the House mandated its committee on police aͿairs to ensure compliance.

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We’ll No Longer Rely on Your Odili: Court Admits 12 Alleged Invaders to N5m Bail Each Lies, Pledges, ASUU Tells FG Alex Enumah in Abuja

Francis Sardauna in Katsina

The Academic StaͿ 8nion of 8niversities (AS88) has said it will no longer rely on what it termed lies and pledges by the federal government to implement the December 23, 2020, Memorandum of Action (MoA).

The Sokoto Zonal Coordinator of the union, Jamilu Shehu, disclosed this yesterday at a press conference in Katsina titled, ‘Back to Trench: Causes of the Current Raw between AS88

and the Federal Government’.

Shehu said the failure of the government to implement the demands of AS88 as contained in the December 2020 MoA, would leave the union with no option than to embark on another trench of industrial crisis.

He said the federal government had refused to implement the university transparency and accountability solution (8TAS) payment and mainstreaming of earned academic allowances (EAA) and renegotiation exercise.

Gbajabiamila: Climate Change Act, One of Nigeria’s Life-changing Laws

Udora Orizu in Abuja

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, yesterday said that Climate Change Act recently assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari is one of the life-changing laws in Nigeria today.

Gbajabiamila, who spoke during a presentation of an award of excellence in legislation given to the sponsor of the bill, Hon. Sam Onuigbo by the House of Representatives Press Corps, said the Act would help protect the

environment and the entire ecosystem.

While commending the Bill’s sponsor, Hon. Sam Onuigbo for his doggedness in the passage of the bill, the speaker added that the House would hold a special lecture where Onuigbo would be invited to share the significance of the act.

He said: “I have a bill signing ceremony of about 25 bills, but none as important as this bill that we celebrate this morning. I congratulate you on this landmark achievement. There are bills and there are bills.”

Kidnappers of Ekiti Trader Demands N6m Ransom Victor Ogunje LQ $GR (NLWL

The kidnappers of a popular trader, Alhaja Nusirat Saliu of Iyemero Ekiti, Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti State, have demanded a sum of N6 million to facilitate her release from captivity.

Panic was on Saturday evening enveloped the people of the town, as gun-wielding kidnappers invaded the community and

abducted Alhaja Saliu.

In the process of invasion, which was accompanied with sporadic gunshots, a man known to be a farmer, was macheted in the head and sustained severe head injury during the dastardly operation.

A source told journalists in Ado Ekiti yesterday that the abductors had contacted the family of the captive and demanded a sum of N6 million.

Justice Nkeonye Maha of the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, yesterday, admitted to bail in the sum of N5 million each, 13 out of the 15 defendants arraigned over complicity in the invasion of the residence of a Supreme Court Judge, Justice Mary Peter-Odili.

The defendants were admitted to bail in the said sum with two sureties in like sum.

While the court declined to grant an oral application for the 11th and 15th defendants, it held that their was no bail application in respect of the 14th defendant.

Justice Maha subsequently ordered their remand at the Kuje Correctional Centre, pending the next adjourned date of January 17 and 18, 2022.

The defendants were arraigned by the Nigeria Police Force on an 18-count charge, bordering on alleged conspiracy to commit

felony and alleged forgery of court documents.

Other charges included attempt to effect an unlawful search warrant at the house of the second most senior Justice of the country as well as threat to her life and that of members of her household.

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to all the charges, following which their lawyers moved and argued their bail application, which were not

opposed by prosecution counsel, Mr Mathew Amosun, on the grounds that the court attach “stringent conditions” to the bail.

Delivering ruling in the applications, Justice Maha held that bail was at the discretion of the court and since the alleged offences were bailable, the court was inclined to admit the defendants to bail, adding that the court, having reviewed materials placed before it, found no reason not to admit the defendants to bail.

Niger Asks Villagers Not to Pay Taxes to Bandits

Laleye Dipo in Minna

The Niger state government yesterday told villagers whose communities have been ravaged by bandits not to pay levies and taxes to the gunmen before harvesting their crops It was learnt that bandits, who are now in control of many communities especially in Mashegu and Munya Local Government Areas are demanding levies and

taxes ranging from N5 million to N10 million before they will allow the villagers to harvest their crops.

It is already the season for the harvest of yams, millet, beans and sorghum in many of these villages.

However, the Niger state government, which claimed it is aware of the demands of the bandits directed the villagers not to pay any tax to the bandits.

The Commissioner for Local Government, Chieftaincy affairs and

Internal Security, Mr. Emmanuel 8mar, while reacting to the threat told newsmen that the villagers have been directed “to ignore the criminal threat and go ahead to harvest their farm produce.”

8mar confirmed that “some criminal elements in Rumbun Giwa in Mashegu Local Government Area of the state recently wrote under the name Kungiyan Manuma ordering all farmers to pay some specific levies and taxes

before they can access their farms to harvest their farm produce” adding that “the state government is alive to its responsibilities and has put modalities in place to ensure that those behind the threat are apprehended and brought to book.

“These criminal are trying to extort the farmers, communities should support the security agencies, we are doing everything to ensure that criminals don’t have a space in our community,” he said.

Group Condemns Attacks, Kidnappings in Kogi, Calls for Improved Security Ugo Aliogo

Okun Development Association (ODA), a socio-cultural body of the Yoruba people of Kogi State, has condemned, in very strong terms, the attack on the Divisional Police Station as well as three banks killing two persons in Egbe and Odo Ere, Yagba West

Local Government Area.

A statement by the National Secretary, ODA, Pastor Ben Abereoran, said the Tuesday attack was a confirmation of their cry that Okun land needed more protection,adding that security agencies should do more to nip crimes and criminality in the bud.

They added that the attack on

the three banks crippled economic activities and the attendant loss of life was extremely very sad.

The group sympathized with the families of those who lost loved ones in the attack, while praying for God to grant the deceased eternal rest.

The group said: “It was the fear of this and similar occurrences in

different parts of Okunland that made the ODA to passionately plead with the state government very early in the life of the administration to reconsider her invitation to Fulanis (Bororos)who pretend as ordinary people going about for their survival, whereas they had and still harbor evil intentions.

Joint Border Patrol Team Intercepts 550 Cartridges of Ammunition in Benue Hammed Shittu LQ ,ORULQ

The Joint Border Patrol Team (JBPT) Sector 3 yesterday said it intercepted 550 cartridges neatly wrapped in 22 packs of 25 pieces each in Benue Stats axis under the JBPT sector, which includes Kogi, Kwara, Benue and Niger States.

JBPT is made up of officers of the Nigeria Customs Service, Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Immigration Service, Department of State Service (DSS), NIA and others.

The JBPT Team Coordinator, Comptroller Olugbenga Peters, revealed this in Ilorin, Kwara State capital, during a press conference

on the activities of the team since August till date.

According to him, “This landmark seizure was made around Benue State axis of the sector command due to surveillance and determination of our operatives.”

Peters said: “The bus was coming from the eastern part

of the country.

“Based on intelligence report, the sector intercepted a commercial bus around Adikpo junction in Benue State heading to Taraba State. “On searching the vehicle, two black sacks were found to contain pump action cartridges suspected to be smuggled into the country.

38

THURSDAY DECEMBER 16, 2021 T H I S DAY

NEWSEXTRA

Three Killed, One Abducted in Cult-related Clash in Awka David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka At least three persons, including two policemen, an unidentiÀed woman were on Tuesday evening killed by unknown gunmen, suspected to be cultists.

A source said the gunmen blocked a red Toyota Corolla car being driven by a man identiÀed as Snoop, who is also the leader of tricycle riders in Awka North and Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State.

The source said Snoop was being accompanied by two armed policemen from the state anti-cult department when he was accosted, and that the two policemen lost their lives, while a woman who was passing by was hit by a stray bullet.

“Snoop himself was dragged out of his car and put in the trunk of the car driven by the assailants, while ri΁es belonging to the policemen were made away with,” the source said.

It was also gathered that heavy shooting at the Unizik junction area of the attack sent many people scampering for safety.

There have been heightened fear in Awka as a result of a proposed protest by members of the tricycle riders association, over a N4,000 levy being imposed

on each tricycle riders in Awka North and Awka South Local Government Area, which was tagged Christmas party levy.

Some tricycle riders had

protested the levy, and The Chief Convener of Recover Nigeria Project (RNP), Comrade Ositadimma Obi had stated that his group would join the tricycle riders on a

protest on Wednesday.

There are fears that cult related clash in Awka was aggravated by tricycle riders, most of who have been said to involve in clashes.

As at the time of Àlling this report, the spokesperson of the Anambra State Police Command, DSP Toochukwu Ikenga was yet to react to the news of the killing.

BOOSTING LEADERSHIP SKILLS… L-R: Cascador Administrator, Mr. Patrick Amajama; Lead Faculty, Mr. Iyin Aboyeji; Cascador Alumni, Mr. Babatunde Akin-Moses, Paballo Makoqo; Cascador Founder, Mr.Dave DeLucia; and Cascador Alumna, Mrs.. Adeola Balogun, at the 2021 edition of the Cascador programme on entrepreneurs’ leadership skills and business plans held in Lagos…recently

ISWAP Threatens to Attack Unite for Devt, Monarch Charges N’Delta Leaders Adamawa During Christmas Daji Sani in Yola

The Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP) has sent letters threatening to attack communities in Michika Local Government Areas of Adamawa State during the yuletide celebration.

Locals from Bazza in Michika LGA, who conÀrmed reading the letters, said they saw the letters at the early hours of Yesterday scattered on the main road in Bazza town.

According to them, the development ensued panic and pandemonium as residents were rushing to read the letters.

Omon-Julius Onabu in Asaba

“The letters were dropped in some towns informing residents of impending attacks by suspected members of ISWAP on Christmas day,” one of the locals said.

Shehu Kambile, a resident of Michika, also conÀrmed the alleged letters to journalists in Yola via phone, saying threatening letters were dropped

by ISWAP terrorists in Bazza and some communities in Michika.

According to him, “The terrorists have warned of an impending attack on our communities during Christmas festivities.

TETFund to End Plagiarism in 9DUVLWLHV YLD 7KHVLV 'LJLWLVDWLRQ

Kuni Tyessi in Abuja

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has begun a process to digitise theses and projects in the nation’s higher education institutions to ensure seamless access to research outputs and end plagiarism.

Executive Secretary of TETFund, Professor Suleiman Bogoro, made this known at a workshop on thesis digitization project for beneficiary institutions yesterday in Abuja.

He said: “We want to dematerialise and electronic theses and projects by starting with thesis

at PhD and master’s levels across our beneficiary institutions and we hope we extend it to the private institutions. The idea is simple, the world has gone digital. We cannot continue to operate analogue. We know that a number of materials from theses at postgraduate level and even undergraduate have literally disappeared.

“Where there are fire incidents, physical papers are burnt and the theses gone. But if we are able to dematerialise them and they are stored in different forms in different repositories, it will be easier to access and the protection of the materials is guaranteed.

Akeredolu Links Achievements in Health Sector to Infrastructure Devt

Fidelis David in Akure

Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has said the outstanding successes recorded by his administration in the health sector are predicated on the infrastructural development drive by his government.

Akeredolu, who explained that 36 graduate nurses who were awarded the Bachelor of Nursing Science (BNSc) degrees from the University of Medical

Sciences (UNIMED), and recorded 100 percent success in their national examination, stress that two state-owned institutions make top 10 in the recent NUC rankings.

In a statement made available to journalists in Akure yesterday by the state Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Donald Ojogo, Akeredolu revealed that the graduates were thereafter inducted into the Nursing Profession on December 1, 2021.

The Olu of Warri, HRM Ogiame Atuwase III, has urged leaders in the Niger Delta region to reduce whatever their diͿerences or personal interests might be in favour of the higher and nobler task of working together to tackle the numerous developmental challenges confronting the region today.

According to the Itsekiri monarch, only through collective action and

sincerity of purpose could the desired enduring peace and sustainable development of the region and its people become a reality.

The Àrst-class royal father made the remarks while receiving the Interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Col. Milland Dixon Dikio (rtd), who paid him a courtesy visit in his palace in Warri.

He expressed worry over certain divisive tendencies among the leaders and people,

stressing that the envisaged goal for the region could only be reached with a common sense of positive purpose by the stakeholders.

Ogiame Atuwase III said: “Our heads have been held down for too long; but we have always been capable of greatness. The divisions among us have not allowed us attain the greatness we desire.”

He said that the region was blessed with many economic opportunities capable of changing the fortunes of the region’s economy beyond oil

and gas. All the things that sustained our ancestors are still here, still valid. From the palm, cocoa, Àsh and so on. All we need to do is to use the resources to grow our economy and make life better for our people,” he said.

He charged Dikio to use his o΀ce to unite people of the region, adding that “once the Niger Delta gets it right, it would be easier for Nigeria to also get it right” because of the strategic place of the region to the Nigerian economy.

Police Debunk Bandits’ Attack on Sokoto Mosque Onuminya Innocent In Sokoto

The Nigeria Police Sokoto State yesterday debunked information that bandits attacked Sokoto Mosque kidnapping about 48 persons.

In a statement, the force public relations o΀cer, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Sanusi Abubukar, urged the

general public to disregard the information, saying it is false and fake .

He said: “Attention of Sokoto State Police Command has been drawn to the above purported news in circulation on social media which emanate from weetalknaija.com that, arm bandits break into Sokoto State mosque and kidnap 48 worshippers.”

He further explained that in view of the above, the Command is using this medium to debunk such fabricated story capable of misleading the general public and to create chaos in the minds of law abiding citizens of Sokoto State.

According to him, members of the public should be wary against deception and lies

concocted by unveriÀed news websites and further replicated in many online publications.

Sanusi avered that Sokoto State Police Command is very much aware of the prevalent security situation in the state,adding that the command was working tirelessly for a lasting solution in conjunction with other sister security agencies.

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Olusegun Samuel in Yenagoa

The Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has warned criminal elements to henceforth steer clear of the state.

Diri gave the warning last Tuesday during the re-launch of the state security outÀt codenamed Operation Doo-Akpo.

He also inaugurated 50 brand

new operational vehicles, 40 motorbikes, and security gadgets while signing into law the Community Safety Corps Bill passed by the state House of Assembly.

The law streamlines operations of the state security outÀt ‘Operation Doo-Akpo’, and the special outÀts, ‘Bayelsa 9olunteers and Bayelsa 9igilante’ under one umbrella.

The governor’s move may not be unconnected to the serious security threats in the state as cult groups-turn-armed robbers have been disposing innocent citizens of their property almost everyday, while the waterways had been invaded constantly by rampaging sea pirates and kidnappers.

Speaking during the re-launch event at the Peace Park in

Yenagoa, Diri noted that the exercise was to reinvigorate the security architecture of the state to make it more e΀cient in crime Àghting.

According to him, the operations of the state security outÀt were not to usurp the functions of the conventional security agencies but to support and collaborate with them in eͿorts to rid the state of criminals.

Nigerians in Italy Appeal to FG for More Passport Booklets Adibe Emenyonu in Benin-city

The National Union of Nigerians Associations in Italy (NUNAI) has appealed to the federal government to make available more passports booklets to the Nigeria Embassy in Italy.

The group made the appeal in an open letter to the Ministers of

Interior, and Foreign Affairs, Alhaji Rauf Aregbesola and Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama respectively, which was made available to journalists in Benin-city, Edo State, yesterday.

The letter, which was signed by its President, Mr. Rowland Ndukuba; Welfare Officer, Mike Oputteh, and the Public Relations Officer, Bruce Idahosa, stated that the appeal became imperative

because many Nigerians living in Italy have been denied access to jobs. It stated that the current monthly provision of less than 2,000 passport booklets was grossly inadequate.

While describing the situation as unfortunate, the body noted that many applicants that were scanned since May are yet to get their printed passports till date.

According to the group, “Over the years, Nigerians living in Italy have been totally grateful towards the immeasurable assistance the offices of the Comptroller General of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Minister of Interior, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs have rendered in making their living conditions worthy of commendations.

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CAF, European Clubs at War over Release of Players for AFCON

Femi Solaja with agency report The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has dismissed reports in the European media that the continent's premier tournament, the Africa Cup of

Nations scheduled to begin on January 9 in Cameroon will be cancelled. CAF insisted the tournament will take place as planned.

This is the second time within one month that CAF will state

C O U N T RY V E R S U S C L U B categorically that it will not shift the tournament because of the pressure from top European clubs that will lose the services of their

African players.

The last edition of the tournament held in Egypt had the greatest assemblage of top

Ademola Lookman and Kelechi Iheanacho remain doubtful for Leicester City’s clash with Tottenham Hotspur this evening at the Kings Power Stadium. Both players are believed to be isolating for COVID related illnesses

Tearful Aguero Bids Football Goodbye Barcelona and Argentina striker Sergio Aguero broke down in tears as he announced his retirement from football on Wednesday due to a heart condition, bringing the curtain down on an 18-year career during which he scored more than 400 goals.

Aguero, 33, was taken to hospital 30 on October after experiencing chest pain and breathing difficulties in Barcelona's 1-1 draw with Alaves.

The club announced a few days later that he would be out for at least three months following cardiac analysis before doctors advised him not to play again.

"This press conference is to communicate that I've decided to stop playing soccer. It's a very hard moment but I'm at peace with the decision I made," Aguero told a gathering at the Camp Nou. "It's a decision that I made to preserve my health. It's what the doctors said to me, that it would be better to stop playing. I made the decision around 10 days ago.

"I'm very proud of my career, it was a dream come true. I just wanted to be a professional player and never thought that I would play in Europe."

Aguero moved to Spain prior to this season after a decade with Premier League champions Manchester City, where he scored 260 goals in 390 appearances to become the club's record goalscorer.

He famously scored an stoppage time winner against Queens Park Rangers in 2012 to secure a first top flight league title for City since 1968, to which he added four more Premier League trophies, one FA Cup and six

League Cups.

Having heard of his impending retirement, City fans paid tribute on Tuesday when they chanted Aguero's name during their 7-0 thrashing of Leeds United.

He also scored 41 goals in 101 games for Argentina, representing them at three World Cups and helping them win the 2021 Copa America -- their first major title in 28 years.

The Argentine joined Barca

on a free transfer during the close season, but made only five appearances in all competitions due to a calf injury and his cardiac issues.

"The first weeks (after the diagnosis) were really hard. When I took the first physical tests after the incident... the doctors told me that there was a big possibility I could not play again," Aguero added.

"So I started to process it, that

I could never play professional football again. When they gave me the definite diagnosis, I was prepared. It hurts, of course, it was a really difficult process to go through, but I'm good now.

"I'm positive about it... That I can live my life happy after professional football, that nothing more serious happened. Now I can live a normal life and do other things with my family as a regular guy."

players plying their trades in Europe because the 2019 edition held in summer when league seasons were over.

But playing the next AFCON in the equatorial region of the continent was the reason behind the change from June back to January because of persistent rain fall that may disrupt the flow of matches.

To further justify its readiness for the tournament, top officials of the continental football body are already on ground in Cameroon to step up the final preparations of the 24-team event that will kick off in Yaounde.

French media outfit, RMC Sport, has been leading the campaign that CAF has been forced to take the decision to cancel the tournament because of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

RMC Sport appears the megaphone of the European Clubs Association (ECA) which is the umbrella body for the big clubs in Europe. They do not want to lose their African stars during the AFCON. They are therefore using the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus as excuse.

However, ECA has written Mr Mathias Grafstrom, FIFA’s Deputy Secretary General to insist that top clubs in Europe having African players were not going to release them for the tournament in Cameroon.

“With the January 2022 window and the AFCON fast approaching, all stakeholders are again unfortunately having to deal with an aggravation of the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequent implementation of new restrictions by various governmental authorities.

“As you know, the pandemic and its associated implications raise three fundamental concerns for clubs when it comes to the release of players to national teams: first and foremost, the clubs’ duty to ensure each and every player’s wellbeing is properly protected; second, that clubs are not forced

Mark D'Ball Basketball Championship Holds in Abuja Olawale Ajimotokanin Abuja

Sergio Aguero...announced an end to illustrious football career yesterday

PHOTO: AP

to be without players for club competition matches; third, that all players resume their activities with their clubs following national duty in a timely fashion, as per the applicable rules.”

ECA insisted that: “With regards to applicable protocols, as far as we are aware, CAF (the Confederation of African football) has not yet made available a suitable medical and operational protocol for the AFCON tournament, in the absence of which clubs will not be able to release players for the tournament.”

CAF on the other hand has responded to the claims of the European body, insisting that its top official, the CAF General Secretary Veron Mosengo-Omba, has arrived in the Cameroon to seal preparation for the tournament.

Mosengo-Omba is joining a strong CAF team that is already on the ground in Cameroon together with the Local Organising Committee (LOC) and Cameroon government to deliver a great competition.

“We have put the best support system for this competition. For the last few months, our office in Cairo and also the office in Yaoundé has been working closely with the Cameroon government and the LOC in ensuring that we create the best possible conditions for the teams and visitors," MosengoOmba said yesterday afternoon.

"We are working on a number of aspects now including ensuring the movement of the 24 participating teams, the commercial partners and other stakeholders coming to Cameroon.”

The top leagues in Europe are oiled by the brilliance of African footballers like Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane of Liverpool, Algeria's Riyad Mahrez, Thomas Partey of Ghana as well as Gabon's Pierre Aubameyang, Achraf Hakimi and Idrissa Gana Gueye of Paris Saint-Germain etc.

The AFCON will be held in Cameroon between January 9 and February 6.

The Mark D'Ball Basketball Championship will hold in Abuja next year as an expanded competition that will feature both male and female basketball teams drawn from across the nation.

The winners are to be presented with trophies and undisclosed cash prizes.

The initiator of the tournament which was birthed in Otukpo, Benue State, Igoche Mark disclosed this at the unveiling of the trophies for the tournament yesterday in presence of state basketball chairmen and their representatives, elected members of the Nigeria basketball, coaches, team owners, veteran basketball players and active players.

He said the championship will start on January 8 with 20 teams, to be followed by the male competition to kick off on January 22.

Mark noted that the male event expected to feature 12 team will run for 12 weeks.

He further added that the organisers will work with stakeholders to determine the modalities of how the championship will be organised.

Mark, the founder of Mark Mentors, said registration is open to all the teams from across the country.

He, however, declared the organisers will apply ballot system to pick the participating teams if they get more than 12 teams for both the male and female teams.

He declared Mark D’ Ball Basketball Championship as the continuation of their contribution to the sustainable development of basketball.

Mark also used the unveiling to declare his intention to vie for the Presidency of the NBBF as a representative of the North Central on the basketball federation board.

He said there is the need for the stakeholders to come together and resolve all their differences in order to grow and develop basketball in the country.

Thursday, December 16, 2021

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Price: N250

MISSILE

Ayo Adebanjo to Bisi Akande “Tinubu didn’t give the money to buy my house. I’ll give the details. The name of the contractor; the number of houses I sold; including the one in which (the late Ambassador Walter) Carrington was assaulted by Abacha; the one I inherited from my mother, I sold it. I’ll give out all the details for verification.

Truth is constant. And when I give my own details, I’ll ask for their own details”—Afenifere leader debunking allegation in Akande’s memoir

OLUSEGUNADENIYI THE VERDICT

olusegun.adeniyi@thisdaylive.com

Akande, Tinubu, Buhari and 2023

F

ormer Osun State Governor and founding national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bisi Akande, released his memoir, ‘My Participations’ last week in Lagos. The 534-page memoir, including an 11-page foreword by Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, was apparently written for two reasons. One, to render his own interpretation of past events in Yorubaland, especially since the return to civil rule in 1999. Two, to warn, albeit in a subtle manner, that President Muhammadu Buhari (who eulogized Akande at the ceremony) has a responsibility not to renege on a certain political agreement that facilitated his ascension to power in 2015.

Let’s begin with past events in Yorubaland.

As someone who has been in politics since the Second Republic (beginning with the 1977 Constituent Assembly), and a founding member of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in 1998, Akande belongs to a certain class of Yoruba leaders. They are old men who neither forget nor forgive an injury and for whom the past is often more important than the future. So, it is no surprise that Akande used his memoir to hit back at those who might have hurt him along his journey. But aside the Yoruba political leaders (including those now late) for whom Akande has unsavoury words, he also presented the late Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuade and the Owa Obokun of Ijeshaland, Oba Adekunle Aromolaran as mere hustlers. Akande summarized his relationship with his former deputy, Senator Iyiola Omisore, thus: “Omisore crept into my life like a silent malignant tumor. He came in full force.”

Although the book could have been better produced and more tightly edited, Akande’s memoir is rich with historical insight and I found it enjoyable to read. Sample this: a month after the death of Chief Obafemi Awolowo in 1987, his disciples had gathered in Ikenne for their meeting when the late Mrs HID Awolowo took the chair usually sat on by her husband, wanting to preside.

According to Akande, “Papa (Adekunle) Ajasin confronted her. ‘You have to leave that chair,’ he told her. ‘That is my chair!’”

Awo’s wife immediately yielded the chair to Ajasin. The memoir also contains several gossipy bits like ‘Tinubu told me’, ‘Jakande told me’ etc. For instance, Akande’s bosom friend, Senator Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa has labelled him (Akande) a ‘pathological liar’. Interestingly, Akande did not directly discredit his friend in the memoir, but he quoted disparaging things about Akinfenwa which he claimed were told him by the late Chief Bola Ige! What stands out most sharply is the division between and among Yoruba political leaders resulting from the 1999 conclave of 23 old men where Chief Olu Falae defeated the late Ige. Ige’s assassination in December 2001 remains an open sore and the single most important reason why Afenifere appears to have lost its way. Incidentally, I spoke to this issue 22 years ago in my 30th December 1999 column, ‘Before Afenifere Becomes Irrelevant’ and the subsequent one in January 2002, ‘No Longer Alu Janjan Kijan in Yorubaland’, following the assassination of Ige. I intend to come back to that issue one day.

Now, let’s begin with how Ige lost the AD

Akande

presidential ticket to Falae in 1999, as recounted

by Akande. With the conduct of the local government election scheduled early that year, a meeting of the party’s big wigs was convened at the home of the late Ambassador Tanko Yusuf in Kaduna. All Afenifere leaders (Bola Ige, Olaniwun Ajayi, Ayo Adebanjo, Ganiyu Daodu, Olu Falae, Segun Osoba, Femi Okunrounmu, Wahab Dosunmu, Bola Tinubu, Ayo Fasanmi) were in attendance. That night, Akande said he advised Ige to inform “his three friends” (Ajayi, Daudu and Adebanjo) about his presidential ambition. He said Ige heeded his admonition because he saw him discussing with the trio. Let’s take the rest of the story from Akande’s memoir: “We then left for Kaduna airport to board Chachangi airline for Lagos. Inside the plane, I saw his three friends talking animatedly with Chief Ayo Fasanmi. As soon as we alighted from the aircraft, Ayo Fasanmi asked me for a ride in my car to Dr Tunji Otegbeye’s house at Ikeja GRA. On our way, he told me that the three friends would not support Bola Ige’s ambition because, according to him, Bola Ige would be too tough to control as President of Nigeria. That began the surprises at the Ibadan D-Rovan meeting of Afenifere contrived committee where Chief Olu Falae was preferred to Chief Bola Ige as the presidential candidate of AD.” On Ige’s assassination, Akande points fingers in the direction of President Olusegun Obasanjo, Omisore, Chief Olabode George, the late Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu and other Southwest PDP leaders at the time without any evidence. But it was his recollection of what transpired moments after Ige was killed that is revealing. At the residence of the deceased in Ibadan, the Police Commissioner reportedly handed Akande his mobile phone, saying President Obasanjo was on the line. The following transpired, according to Akande: “‘Now, you see the lapses in your security!

Look at what happened to Bola Ige.’ The President was shouting at the other end. I was enraged at him. ‘You must be out of your mind Mr President. How can you say lapses in my security when Bola Ige was killed in Ibadan? I rule in Osun State. I am not the Governor of Oyo State. When his cap was removed at the Ife Palace during your wife’s chieftaincy ceremony, what did you do about it?’ Obasanjo cut the line. I gave the CP back his phone. Everyone was silent except those who were weeping silently.

Few minutes later, Obasanjo called back on my own line. He started sermonizing. ‘You know that Bola Ige too was my friend. What happened was very unfortunate.’”

Not surprisingly, Akande is very critical of the Afenifere leadership, especially the quartet usually called the ‘Ijebu Mafia’ (Abraham Adesanya, Olanihun Ajayi, Solanke Onasanya and Ayo Adebanjo). Since Adebanjo is the only surviving member among them, Akande berated him on sundry issues, including the way Afenifere collaborated with Obasanjo in the weeks preceding the 2003 general election on account of ethnic ‘Parapoism’. Akande, who lost the Osun State gubernatorial election of that year because of the deal which allowed Obasanjo to snooker the AD Governors except Tinubu, wrote: “Shortly after we were rigged out of office, Chief Adebanjo came out with a statement that we, the governors, sold out to Obasanjo. He refused to admit that they, the so-called Afenifere leadership, shamelessly sold out on our behalf!”

Akande has bitter words for many people, except of course Tinubu, on whom he lavished praise at every turn. There is even an entire chapter (34) dedicated to the former Lagos

State Governor titled, ‘Tinubu, The Strategic Thinker’.

Given the timing of Akande’s book and the tone, some will argue that it is a ‘Manifesto’ for 2023. The tendency within the APC to which Akande belongs believes that Buhari reneged on their agreement over the choice of running mate twice, first in 2011 and then again in 2015. On both occasions, it was the idea of equal partnership. In my 2017 book, ‘Against The Run of Play: How an incumbent president was defeated in Nigeria’, I spoke with many of the principal characters, including Mallam Nasir el-Rufai and Tinubu himself on this issue. I crave the indulgence of readers to take excerpts from the book before I conclude with my take on 2023:

TINUBU ON THE 2011 BOTCHED DEAL

In putting the whole episode in context, Tinubu believes that the (2011) alliance could have worked if there was good faith on the part of the CPC leadership at the time. “In any marriage or partnership, there is usually a spirit driving such union and that is the spirit of sharing. But in the middle of negotiation, the CPC pre-emptively announced the choice of Pastor Tunde Bakare as the presidential running mate,” said Tinubu in my chat with him. That decision, he added, “roiled the waters and severely complicated matters because a crucial part of the negotiations and our understanding of the partnership was that the vice-presidential candidate would come from our side or at least we would have a substantial input into the selection process.”

NOTE: Piece concluded on page 14

Debo Olujimi’s Great Feat B rilliant and respectful, Adebowale (Debo) Olujimi is someone with whom I have shared an enduring friendship for over a decade. He has accorded me the courtesy of an egbon and I also happen to know his equally respectful wife, Gbesoye. Our families have related very closely over the years but I never knew exactly what Debo does for a living beyond the fact that when I once asked a mutual friend, he simply said, “he is into oil and gas”. In the Nigerian context, that doesn’t say much. So, when two weeks ago Debo sent me an invitation to the commissioning of what he described as a 120 MT LPG Storage and Bottling Plant, I didn’t hesitate to accept. Debo, as it turns out, is a big player in the sector and an employer of labour as CEO of Emadeb Energy Services Limited.

On Monday, I joined other well-wishers at the company’s sprawling edifice in Lokogoma area of Abuja as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Group Managing Director, Mele Kyari performed the formal opening. Afterwards, I listened to Debo as he fielded questions from the media. He said he chose the Lokogoma, Gaduwa and Apo axis of

Abuja to serve the huge market so his investment is targeted not only in terms of location but also the product. “With about 126 trillion cubic feet of gas reserve in Nigeria, that is the future of our country” explained Debo who seeks to position his company strategically. “We are about to start developing our asset which has a reserve of about 120 billion cubic feet of gas at the Emadeb Ibom Field. We intend to convert some of the gas processed out of that facility to support the local market.”

The capacity of the expansive Abuja facility, which accommodates auto-gas stations and vehicle conversion garage, according to Debo, would be doubled to 240 MT within the next 18 months. And he made a pitch for stakeholders in the industry “It is capital intensive doing gas infrastructure and government needs to encourage private investors,” he said. “In the electricity sector today, the major issues are the shortage of gas and its pricing; those are things that the government has to help us to look at.”

I am delighted by Debo’s entrepreneurship in a sector that is strategic to the economy of our country as I wish him more success in his business.

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