Banks struggle with excess N1.5trn deposits

...towards a better life for the people

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VOL. 25: NO. 62698

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

N150

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016

FG to tackle herdsmen over security threat — Dambazau

Strange killer disease in Lekki, Lagos: ‘How I lost 13 3 children in 3 weeks'

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Banks struggle with excess N1.5trn deposits •Reluctant to invest in real sector funding

By Emeka Anaeto, Economy Editor

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AGOS—EXCESS liquidity in the banking system rose to about N1.24 trillion, last weekend, following huge backlog of unmet foreign exchange demand for which the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, returned the Naira backup funds to the banks on Friday.

There is also indication that the liquidity overflow will reach an all

Continues on Page 5

Nobody can reverse new electricity tariff — Ex-NERC boss NIGERIENS VOTE IN NIGERIA—A cross section of Nigeriens on queue, waiting to cast their votes in Sokoto,

during the country's Presidential election on Saturday. Inset: A citizen of Niger Republic casting his vote in Sokoto. Photos: NAN.

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OWEI LAKEMFA

Mathematical politicians C M Y K

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HENRY BOYO

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OCHEREOME

NNANNA

Sheriff: PDP’s Latent wealth with debt messiah or seeking mindset undertaker?

COLUMNISTS:

Buhari in diplomatic shuttle to stabilise oil price, visits Saudi Arabia, Qatar

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Corruption cuts across tribe, religion in Nigeria — OSINBAJO 42

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Mr & Mrs

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POCKET CARTOON Bills auction at the Open Market Operation, OMO, we expect the interbank market to stay liquid as market opens this week but contract by mid-week as banks make provisions for foreign exchange auction.

However, we expect rates to trend lower from Thursday due to expected inflow of N257.9 billion from maturing OMO bills on Thursday and foreign exchange intervention refunds.”

FASHOLA—Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, speaking to journalists on the gridlock being caused by tanker drivers on Ilorin-Jebba-Mokwa Road, in Niger State, yesterday. With him is the Director of Highways, Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, Alhaji Bala Dansheu (L) and other officials of the Ministry. Photo: NAN.

Banks struggle with excess N1.5trn deposits Continues from Page 1 time high of N1.5 trillion by end of this week, following the maturity of Treasur y Bills worth N257.9 billion which will be credited to the banks

by CBN. This is expected to see interbank money rates trending at very low levels with further erosion of margins and yields in money market instruments.

However, financial analysts expect CBN to mop up the unprecedented liquidity overflow with re-issue of

Treasury Bills at a predetermined volume to match the desired liquidity level.

Though the liquidity level is expected to go down by at least N800 billion on Wednesday following banks’ cash back-up for foreign exchange bid, analysts also indicated that there would be further spike in liquidity as more cash refund is expected to be credited to banks representing Naira value of the unmet foreign exchange demand.

Last week money market had opened at a

IT'S UP TO YOU

BY AYO ADIO

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HE noise of crickets’ doesn’t impede the movement of the elephant in the jungle. Do not let the whispers of stagnant individuals distract you. It’s up to.

TAKE HEART

BY ELLA RANDLE

With gratitude comes the realization that we get more than we deserve —Take Heart

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BEAUTIFUL aspect of gratitude is figuring out where that goodness comes from. We recognize the sources of this goodness from life. It didn’t stem from anything we necessarily did ourselves in which we might take pride. We can appreciate positive traits in ourselves, but I think true gratitude involves a humble dependence on something greater. We acknowledge that other people or even higher powers, if you’re of a spiritual mindset, enables life’s bountifulness to help us achieve the goodness in our lives.

SAYINGS OF OUR PEOPLE

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HE cane used to beat the senior wife is waiting paitently for the junior wife.

liquidity level of N1.1 trillion following the refund of over N700 billion foreign exchange cash back-up the previous weekend even after the apex bank had held back N142.4 billion worth of maturing Treasury Bills.

In the last six months, CBN’s monetary measures had created conditions for high liquidity in the banking system so as to force the banks to push their excess liquidity into real sector funding and general stimulation of economic activities.

The apex bank had hoped that the resultant low interbank interest rate and yields on its treasury instruments would discourage banks from investing all their cash balances in the treasury instruments.

But the measures have not yielded the expected results as banks still feel it was safer to invest in the treasury instruments which are secured than to risk losing their money in a higher yield loans which have higher risk of losses to bad business.

While the treasury instruments attracted less than 5.0 per cent yield, interest rates on prime lending to blue chip businesses hovered around 15 per cent with other business loans as high as 30 per cent.

Financial analysts at Afrinvest Group said: “Barring any Treasury

Buhari in diplomatic shuttle to stabilise oil price •Jets out to Saudi Arabia, Qatar to engage OPEC •FG agrees to freeze crude oil output

By Levinus Nwabughiogu, Michael Eboh & Ediri Ejoh, with Agency Report

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B U J A — PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari jets out to Saudi Arabia and Qatar today to engage officials of both countries in further talks to ensure stability of oil prices.

Nigeria, yesterday, agreed to freeze the country ’s crude oil production at 2.2 million barrels per day this month, same as the level recorded in January, in a bid to address the declining price of crude oil in the international market.

The government’s move is a reaction to Saudi Arabia and Russia which have agreed to freeze oil output at near-record levels, the first coordinated move by the world’s two largest producers to counter a slump that has pummelled economies, markets and companies.

Speaking after a meeting with Qatar ’s Energy Minister, Mohammed Al Sada and Qatar Petroleum Chief Executive Officer Saad Sharida Al Kaabi in Doha, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, said the decision was in support of the decision of Saudi Arabia and Russia to freeze oil production.

He, however, disclosed that Nigeria was looking for ways to increase crude oil production, not for the purpose of export but for local consumption.

"Nigeria will continue to look at the possibility of increasing production, not to sell it, because we have local consumption that is essential for us.

“Right now, we are not even exporting the quantity that OPEC has given us. Demand from domestic refineries is at least 500,000 barrels of oil a day,” he explained.

Kachikwu also gave farr e a c h i n g recommendations on how Iran and Iraq could regain some of their lost market share due to sanctions and war.

He said: “Countries like Iran and Iraq have been out of the market for a while and if they are to come back you should not freeze them out where they are, you should freeze them at a higher level. By June, we will come very close to tightening the market.”

Kachikwu stated further that there was little chance that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, will hold an emergency meeting before the next regular one scheduled for June.

According to him, "rather than focus on emergency meeting, we need to talk more because if you held a meeting when you have not agreed largely on the solution, it would not be productive and would also affect the price of oil.”

Buhari jets out

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari is billed to leave Abuja for Suadi Arabia and Qatar today to engage officials of both countries in talks for the stability of oil prices.

The President, who would be away for a week, will be accompanied on the journey by a highpowered Federal Government delegation, including the Minister of State (Petroleum) and Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC), Dr. Ibe Kachikwu.

On Tuesday, President Buhari would fly to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital, to hold talks with King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and senior officials of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

A statement by the presidential spokesman,

Mr. Femi Adesina, yesterday, stated: “Ongoing efforts by Nigeria and other members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, to achieve greater stability in the price of crude oil exports are expected to be high on the agenda of discussions between President Buhari and the Saudi monarch.

“Crude oil prices and market stability will also be on the front burner when President Buhari goes on to Doha, Qatar, on Saturday for talks on Sunday with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.”

The statement said the President would also hold meetings with heads of international financial organisations and multilateral associations in Saudi Arabia and visit Medina and Mecca to pray for greater peace, prosperity and progress in Nigeria before going on to Doha.

Saudi Arabia, Russia to freeze oil output

Saudi Arabia and Russia have agreed to freeze oil output at near-record levels.

While the deal is preliminary and doesn’t include Iran, it’s the first significant cooperation between OPEC and nonOPEC producers in 15 years and Saudi Arabia said it’s open to further action. Oil pared gains after the accord was announced, signalling traders see no immediate end to the global supply glut.

The deal to fix production at January levels, which includes Qatar and Venezuela, is the “beginning of a process” that could require “other steps to stabilize and improve the market,” Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi said in Doha.

6 —Vanguard, MONDAY FEBRUARY 22 , 2015

CPC reforms Pay-TV services ...Tasks MultiChoice on compliance

By Franklin Alli

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O N S U M E R Protection Council, CPC, said yesterday, it has reformed the way pay television companies do business in Nigeria, and assuring that henceforth consumers shall enjoy value for money for services provided by companies in the sector.

Accordingly, the Council has ordered MultiChoice Nigeria Limited to comply with the reform by not suspending service when consumers are away and to release free-to-air channels even when subscription expires.

In a statement, Director General, Mrs. Dupe Atoki CPC said that this was the outcome of the allegations of violations of consumer rights by the operator of Digital Satellite Broadcast Television (DStv) service to consumers in Nigeria.

According to the statement, the Council also ordered MultiChoice to pay compensation across board to consumers for lost viewing time, introduction of local toll free lines; and reasonable equitable spread of popular sports channels, among others.

“The multinational paymedia company is also required to present written assurances in line with Section 10 of the Council’s enabling law that it will not engage in any conduct, which is detrimental to the interest of consumers.

In the same vein, the company shall for 18 months from the date of the orders, subject its processes to the Council’s inspection to ensure compliance with the directives contained in the orders.

During the course of the investigation, the Council observed that the company’s billing system, whereby “billing is not contemporaneous with the provision of service” was not in the best interest of consumers and therefore ordered MultiChoice to install a billing system that ensures billing starts with the provision of service.

The pay-television company was also ordered to within 90 days provide across board compensation to its subscribers, considering the fact that many of them have over time lost legitimate and paid viewing time by its conduct of not restoring service contemporaneously after payment as well as other instances of disruptions.

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Lagos schools suffer from mid-session teachers transfer •The devt is professionally wrong — NUT chair

By Ikenna Asomba

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AGOS—INTER-district transfer of secondary school teachers in Lagos state is putting pressure on the education system generally as many public schools are now without teachers for core subjects of English and Mathematics where their transferred teachers were not replaced.

The transfers which did not consider place of residence of affected teachers were said to have been effected by the office of the Deputy Governor, Dr Idiat Adebule, who doubles as the Education commissioner.

Meantime, Mr Segun Raheem, Chairman, Lagos Wing of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, yesterday described the recent mid-session transfer of secondary school teachers by the state government as “professionally wrong.”

Raheem said in Lagos that the mid-session transfer was against the ethics of teaching.

He said the transfer could affect the school‘s curriculum, especially when students were preparing for mock and Senior Secondary School Examination, SSCE. According to him, though it is statutory that a teacher can be transferred, it must be done with caution as it can affect the quality and standard of education.

“This is February; mock will commence very soon and WAEC will follow.

“If you say some schools are lacking teachers and you want the

PARLEY: Management of Integrated Oil and gas Ltd led by its Chairman, Capt. Emmanuel Ihenacho and 16 Baales and leaders of the proposed site for the new modular refinery and its surrounding villages, including the land owners in a photograph after a meeting on the project on Friday. schools in those districts to have good grades, this is not the best time to make transfers; professionally it is wrong.

“You don’t transfer a teacher mid-session and expect positive results, it is professionally wrong.

“But if there is a need for it at all like the one proposed by the deputy governor, it must not be seen as politics.

“If need be, we will plead with the deputy governor that those who have decided not to go should be allowed to remain in their schools,” he said.

Raheem, however, pleaded with

the government to consider recruiting more teachers in both primary and secondary schools as the state was in dire need of teachers.

Meanwhile, a teacher who was moved from a school in Oshodi to one in Surulere told NAN that the transfer was not evenly done.

According to her, there are four English teachers in her former school, teaching about 120 students in a class.

‘Two of the English teachers have been transferred without replacement; the remaining teachers are forced to take about

28 periods every week.

“Meanwhile, where I am transferred to, they have enough English teachers compared to where I am coming from.

“Although I should be happy because I have more time to myself, considering the love of the job and the students we are grooming, it is not a healthy exercise.

“It will have a serious consequence on their performance, particularly at this period when there is call for improvement in external examinations,” she said.

NCAA issues safety directives to Sikorsky Helicopter operators

By Lawani Mikairu

operators of the affected heli- hours on receipt of the letter and copters types. Adding that the repeated after every 300 flight AGOS—THE Nigerian safety inspection directive must hours until further notice.

“This action is in addition to Civil Aviation Authority, be complied with within 72 NCAA, yesterday ordered all Airlines operating the SIKORSKY S76C series to carry out a safety inspection on this helicopter

By Innocent Anaba type with immediate effect.

The SIKORSKY S76C series operated by Bristow HelicopHE directors and ters has been involved in seshareholders of Borisa Nigeria Limited ries of air accidents in the have threatened to sue a Lagos businessman, coastal waters of Nigeria.

Emeka ’E-Money’ Okonkwo over alleged According to Mr Sam Adurog- impersonation, defamation and injurious boye, General Manager, Public falsehood against the company.

Affairs, NCAA, “As an interim A petition by the company’s Chairman/ safety measure, the under list- Managing Director, Chief Boniface Nworisa, ed safety inspections affects all alleged misrepresentation of facts and Sikorsky S76C series helicopters falsehood in an interview granted by operating in Nigeria.

Okonkwo.

“The action required are as The petition alleged that Okonkwo in the follows: Visual Inspection in interview published by a newspaper allegedly accordance with relevant S76C claimed that he incorporated and founded AMM 20-32-00. Secondly, de- Borisa Nigeria Limited in 1997. tailed Inspection in accordThe petitioners described the statement as ance with relevant S76C AMM false, misleading, fraudulent, malicious and 66-00-00. And detailed Inspec- defamatory adding that he did not register or tion in accordance with rele- own the company as alleged. vant S76C AMM 66-10-00,66They said, “Contrary to his claims of 20-00,66-30-00,66-40-00.” registration and ownership of the Aduroboye further said the company, he was initially an apprentice directive was contained in a and later became an employee before he letter earlier dispatched to all left the company in 2005.”

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the suspension of Bristow Helicopters operations of S-76 C ++ series and the ongoing audit.”

Firm denies ownership claim by bizman

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Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016 — 7

ALLEGED N1TRN DISBURSEMENT: Kuku faults EFCC’s corruption charge

By Dayo Johnson

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KURE—THE former special adviser to erstwhile President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan on Niger-Delta Affairs, Kingsley Kuku has denied allegations of disbursement of over N1 trillion in the two weeks preceeding the last presidential election.

A media report last week said that the wife of the former president, Patience Jonathan may soon be invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to explain her role in the sourcing and disbursement of the funds spent by the Presidency.

The fund, estimated at over a trillion naira, was reportedly routed and disbursed through the Amnesty Office to some notable politicians in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP.).

Kuku, who was the chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, said the alleged investigation by the anti-graft agency into the funds was another calculated attempt to smear his name.

Speaking through his media aide, Yemi Akintomide in Akure, Kuku said with the new move, it was clear enough that the EFCC was too much in a hurry to nail him on corruption charges through media trials, even when he has not appeared before the agency's investigators.

“I continue to wonder why the anti-graft agency would resort to unholy media campaigns and trials to nail me on corruption charges purportedly brought against me through yet-to-be investigated petitions said to be written against my person and former office.

“If not driven by great misgivings, how could they come up with such grievous and wicked report about my person; but paraphrasing my identity, which clearly reveal the deliberate attempt by EFCC to link me with the so-called election funds.

“The EFCC in its new trade, has thrown up another huge figure of one trillion naira election funds just to play on the sensibility of Nigerians, which in reality is just a figment of imagination of the anti-graft agency.

“How in God’s name can an anti-graft agency want Nigerians to believe its newly unveiled huge fraud of N1 trillion in the hand of a single Nigerian when in actual fact, the whole budget for 2015 was a little above N4 trillion. So,

where did the N1 trillion come from two months into the new fiscal year?.

“Or how would you explain the statement credited to operatives of EFCC that my failure to return to the country has slowed down investigations of how the funds were sourced and disbursed because I allegedly disbursed the bulk of the money, which was not part of the funds allocated to Amnesty office.

“During the period, as an aide

VISIT: Former President Olusegun Obasanjo (left), with The Oluwo of Iwoland, Oba Adblrasheed Adewale Akanbi during the former President's courtesy visit to the monarch in his palace.

Osun PDP condemns Aregbesola’s alleged sack of doctors The PDP, in a statement issued traditional healers because of his

By Gbenga Olarinoye

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SOGBO—OSUN State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, yesterday described what it called the tactical sacking of doctors working with the state government as another “outstanding misstep from the slumbering administration of Governor Rauf Aregbesola.”

in Osogbo by its spokesperson, Prince Diran Odeyemi said Governor Aregbesola was obviously not smart enough to believe mere threat and cheap blackmail could work at all times to suppress people’s demands for their rights.

The party alleged that it had been authoritatively informed that Governor Aregbesola’s intention was to replace sacked medical doctors with native doctors and

Glo gains over 3m internet users—NCC report

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new report on the website of Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has shown that Globacom

strengthened its position as the leader among the four major service providers in new data subscriber acquisition.

OAU students win national moot trial competition

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AW Students Society of Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, Ile-Ife, last week won the maiden edition of Dele Adesina national moot trial competition.

They defeated their counterparts from the University of Ibadan, UI, to clinch first position in the competition which was established in honor of Mr.

to President Goodluck Jonathan, my schedule of duty has nothing to do with the person or office of wife to the President or any leader of ruling PDP. “It is limited to managing the welfare package for over 30,000 ex-agitators from the nine states of Niger-Delta as stipulated in the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP.) Kuku reiterated his readiness to return home as soon as his doctors give him clean bill of health as he recuperates from a major knee surgery in the USA.

Dele Adesina, SAN. The OAU defense team led by Mr. Odey Benjamin and Ehimmosan Oyewole scored a total of 255 points to defeat the UI prosecution team led by Ogunmodede Joseph and Victoria Peters.

In his response, the honouree, Mr. Dele Adesina commended both legal teams for their efforts in the contest.

The report covers data subscription activity in the last quarter of 2015.

An analysis of the report showed that it was only Globacom that had an increase in its internet subscriber figure in the last quarter of 2015.

Globacom had 23,285,454 internet users in October, 24,952,559 in November and in December 25,082,066, which indicates an addition of 3.2 million new internet subscribers in the quarter.

This latest report comes just weeks after NCC named Globacom leader in new internet subscriber acquisition in the telecoms industry in the third quarter of 2015.

personal belief in tradition he called “Isese.”

According to Odeyemi: “Now that all the ill-conceived measures to cow the doctors have failed and the Plan “B” of replacing them with new intakes had been frustrated by the Nigeria Medical Association, NMA, Governor Aregbesola wants to experiment with the use of native doctors.

“Governor Aregbesola has a rich history of odd actions all in a bid to be “unique.” If a governor could unilaterally change the education system in Osun from the 6-3-3-4 operating across the country to 4-6-3 by recategorising primary and secondary schools in the state to Elementary, Middle and High Schools, then his plans to replace orthodox medical doctors with native doctors in this modern age cannot be dismissed with a wave of hand.”

The opposition party also accused many stakeholders in the state of not doing enough to caution the Governor Aregbesola against act that had earned the state negative publicity, charging them not give up on the state.

“It is truly depressing that a once shining light among states could be reduced to the least in every aspect that is noble in the space of five years. Osun in the last WAEC rating was 29th and least in entire South West of Nigeria.''

Devalue Naira now, Fayose tells FG

By Rotimi Ojomoyela

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DO-EKITI—Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has called for the devaluation of the Naira, saying the foreignexchangepolicyofthe Federal Government is not only short-changing Nigerians, but also breeding corruption.

Fayose said the value of the naira has already plummeted, adding that it is only natural that the Federal Government should officially abandon the regime of control and allow the naira to be determined by market forces.

He added that with the gap between the official rate of N199 andopenmarketrateofoverN400 to one dollar, Naira has already been devalued.

“President Muhammadu Buhari must stop deceiving himself and short-changing Nigerians, especially states and local councils in the country with his forex policy.”

Governor Fayose, who said there was no time in the history of Nigeria that the gap between dollarofficialrateandopenmarket ratewasmorethanN200,pointed outthatitmadenoeconomicsense for the Federal Government to be calculatingthecountry’srevenue on the basis of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) official rate of N199 to a dollar while states and local councils that are sharing the revenue with the Federal Governmentruntheirbusinesses at the open market rate of over N400 to one dollar, thereby causing business to be folding up by the day and prices of goods sky-rocketing everyday.

SERAP drags NJC and NBA to UN

By Abdulwahab Abdulah

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new dimension was brought into the controversies trailing the allegation of bribery levelled against a Federal High Court judge, as Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) petitioned the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers to prevail on the National Judicial Council (NJC) to suspend the judge allegedly involved.

In its request to Ms. Monica Pinto, the UN Rapporteur and signed by its executive director, Tokunbo Mumuni, SERAP requested her to “use your good offices and position to urgently prevail on the National Judicial Council (NJC) to suspend the judge involved in thealleged receipt of N225, 000 from Mr Rickey Tarfa (SAN).”

Beside, SERAP requested Ms Pinto to prevail on the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to ask the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) to suspend the lawyer involved in the alleged payment ofN225, 000 in Nigeria, pending the completion of any investigation and final determination of any trial on the matter.

8—Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016

consumed. If the pre-paid meters were installed before embarking on the increase in tariff, it wouldn’t have raised eyebrows.”

Tougher times

INSPECTION: An aerial view of the ongoing construction work on the 700 MW Zungeru Hydroelectric Power Project on Kaduna River, Niger State. INSET: Fashola (2nd left) addressing representatives of the Zungeru community on the need to keep the peace during the tour. He is flanked by Commissioner for Works & Transport, Niger State, Abdulmalik Usman Cheche (left) and the Project Manager, Engr. Johnson Adewunmi (right).

Nobody can reverse new electricity tariff —Ex-NERC boss Says Senate’s directive is illegal, unconstitutional As power generation plummets to 3,664MW Organised Labour calls for NERC, Amadi's probe

By Clara Nwachukwu, Sebastine Obasi, Johnbosco Agbakwuru, Ediri Ejoh, Prince Okafor & Iloaze Blessed-Odidi

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AGOS— DESPITE current drop in power generation and supply, the directive by the Senate to suspend the new 45 per cent tariff hike remains invalid, as the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, said it lacked the constitutional authority to reverse the order.

This came as the leadership of organised labour called for the probe of the NERC, and former chairman of the commission, Dr. Sam Amadi, over the controversy surrounding the recent hike in electricity tariff.

The declaration by NERC came as power generation in the country has plummeted to 3,664 megawatts, MW, according to information from the Federal Ministry of Power.

This is happening at a time the distribution companies, DISCOs, are insisting on increasing tariff on all categories of customers without commensurate increase in electricity supply.

Senate order

However, justifying NERC’s stance, immediate past Chairman of NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi, described the Senate’s directive as illegal, unconstitutional and a direct encroachment on executive independence.

He told Vanguard: “The order by the Senate for NERC to rescind the tariff is a direct infringement on the independence of the executive to initiate policies, in this case through NERC. It is a subtle derogation of the powers of the executive. It offends the

concept of separation of power.

The legislature should not interfere and direct executive action. That is clearly against the law. It is unconstitutional.”

Amadi explained that apart from the Senate lacking the constitutional right to give such a directive, NERC, as currently constituted, was not competent to suspend or rescind the tariff order issued by its former Board.

He argued that until a new board was reconstituted to consider reviewing or totally suspending the order, “nobody anywhere can validly review or suspend the current tariff.”

He said: “It is not wise for the Senate to instruct NERC to stop the tariff. It will create serious regulatory risks across the market value chain. People will begin to look at it and say there is no independence of the industry regulator."

Attacks cause generation drop

Contrary to some newspaper reports (not Vanguard), the Power Ministry on its official website said Nigeria achieved energy generation of 3,664MW last Thursday, while energy sent out was 3, 578MW. This shows 1,410MW slide from the 5,074MW, highest peak generated on February 2. It is also far below the peak demand forecast of 12,800MW. The ministry attributed the decrease in power supply to the attack on Escravos gas pipeline, which it said led to a loss of 160 million metric standard cubic feet/day, MMSFCD, of gas.

Counter directive, counter results

But corporate consumers, who spoke to Vanguard believed the

counter orders were only making matters worse, as the Director-General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, Mr. Muda Yusuf, argued that the Senate directive to stay action on the new tariff regime might not achieve the desired result.

He said: “It’s doubtful whether it is within the competence of the legislature to give such a directive. A better approach would be for the legislature to invite the power firms to justify the increase."

Rather than indulge in a show of power, he urged that provision of meters to consumers should be accelerated to put an end to estimated billing.

On his part, National President, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, NACCIMA, Dr. Bassey Edem, said: “We are not interested in the politics between the Executive and the Legislators. All we want is regular and sufficient power supply with which to run our businesses. This price fixing war may adversely affect the volume of power supply which will not be good for our businesses.”

Similarly, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, said: “We are not in support of agencies going against the Senate. We believe that the best way to go about this whole issue is simply by dialogue.”

It argued that “the tariff is welcome as long as they are charged for what is used via the installation of pre-paid meter across homes and office in the country. Like every Nigerian, we are happy that there is a hold to the tariff. Nigerians should be charged according to what is

Rather than getting some reprieves, Nigerians have been, instead, urged to brace up for tougher times due to the deterioration of power equipment.

Managing Director, Egbin Power Plc, Mr. Kola Adesina, told Vanguard, weekend, that the primary cause of generation drop was the failure of machines and the inability to secure foreign exchange, forex, to replace them.

According to him, “the overall crisis that the country is faced with is the exchange rate and that has equally trickled to the power sector. But that is not the primary cause; the primary cause is the failure of machine. But to replace those machines, you need forex and it is not available."

Organised labour wants NERC, Amadi probed

Meanwhile, organised labour has called for the probe of the NERC, and the former Chairman of the commission, Dr. Sam Amadi, over the controversy surrounding the recent hike in electricity tariff by 45 per cent.

The call for the probe of the former helmsman of NERC, Amadi, was based on an alleged statement credited to him (Amadi), asking the Senate to rescind its decision on the hike.

Factional National President of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, in a statement in Abuja, described the statement by the former boss of NERC as “treacherous, shameful and saddening.”

Wabba stated that Amadi was “being economical with the truth and his legal knowledge.

The duties of the Legislature, as defined by the constitution, include legislation, oversight and investigation.

“Amadi not only described the Senate directive as a 'dangerous precedence', but has instigated NERC not to obey the directive as 'it would have put itself in a double bind between the executive and legislature and a violation of the provisions of the Act'.”

“On our part, we demand that the directive of the NASS be respected and effected right away. We also demand that if any DISCO or GENCO does not have the requisite capacity, it should honourably surrender its possessory and proprietary rights to government as was the case with the Yola Electricity Company. The Yola company was honourable enough and reasons adduced by it, genuine.

“We will not fold our arms while a few individuals or companies or institutions further plunder and plunge this country into abyss.”

Boko Haram: Civilian JTF arrests Shekau's suspected impostor As troops nab 2 terrorists sneaking into IDPs camp

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By Kingsley Omonobi

BUJA — AS the battle for the final clear out of Boko Haram remnants continues in the North East, the local security volunteer group, known as Civilian JTF, in Konduga Local Government Area of Borno State, yesterday, claimed it had arrested a notorious Boko Haram kingpin, named Bashir.

The Civilian JTF noted that the Boko Haram kingpin, popularly called Bashir Sarkin Yanka, which in Hausa means “Bashir the King of Slaughter” had been the terrorist acting as Abubakar Shekau in some videos on the social media.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian military, yesterday, said it was yet to confirm the speculation over the arrest of the Boko Haram kingpin.

A statement signed by Air Commodore Dele Alonge from the Information Office of Operation Lafiya Dole also disclosed that two suspected Boko haram members, who infiltrated an IDPs camp, have been arrested.

The statement read: “The Nigerian military has arrested two suspects, Audu Umar and Hassan Umar, for smuggling themselves among the Internally Displaced People (IDPs) brought from Pulka to Gwoza IDPs camp in Borno State.

“The male suspects, who gave their names as Audu Umar and Hassan Umar are undergoing interrogation by the military and intelligence operatives.

“Meanwhile, the Nigerian military is yet to confirm the speculation over an arrest of Boko Haram kingpin, popularly known as Bashir Sarkin Yanka, which in Hausa means “Bashir the King of Slaughter.”

The spokesperson of Operation Lafiya Dole in the North-East, Air Commodore Dele Alonge, said the military cannot confirm the arrest of Shekau’s actor even as the military has sustained its counter-insurgency operations where some terrorists have been eliminated and others apprehended in the NorthEast.

The arrested suspect was reported to have confessed to the Civilian JTF that he had acted as Boko Haram Leader, “Shekau” in some videos and was responsible for the death of his (Bashir’s) mother, two sisters and brother, apart from engaging in mass slaughtering.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016—9

Saraki’s CCT trial, reason for alleged budget padding — Marafa Accuses Saraki of denigrating Senate Says nobody can suspend him from Senate

By Henry Umoru & Joseph Erunke

A

BUJA — A pro-Lawan senator, Kabiru Marafa, has accused the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, of being behind allegation of budget padding in the National Assembly.

He also alleged that the planned delay in the passage of the 2016 budget was a deliberate ploy by the Senate President to trade over his pending trial at the anti-graft court.

Noting that Saraki, within his eight months in office as Senate President, had denigrated the Senate and by extension, the National Assembly, through some unparliamentary actions, Marafa asked senators to immediately move for suspension of the Senate President, saying such action would save the image of the National Assembly.

Speaking to reporters, yesterday, in Abuja, against the backdrop of last week’s resolution of the Senate that he be probed over his recent interview, where he allegedly disparaged the Senate, Marafa, who boasted that nobody in the Red Chamber could suspend him, said the Senate President was the cause of the many controversies arising from missing budget to padded budget in the legislature.

While insisting that the alleged newspaper interview was without fault, he challenged anybody picking hole in it to come with evidence.

He said: “Nobody, I repeat, nobody in that Senate, can suspend me over those remarks I made in the said interview.

Rather, it is the Senate President, Bukola Saraki , that should be suspended by the Senate for turning things upside down within the last eight months, from forgery of Standing Orders to illegally increasing the number of standing committees in the Senate from 57 to 65 with attendant violation of ranking rules in their compositions and above all, refusing to resign as Senate President, in the face of trial on corruption charges at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, and invariably battering the image of the Senate.

“He should remember that when the issue first came up in August or September last year, we didn’t tell him to resign and thus, cannot by whatever means now gag us and gag our mouths. The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria gives us the right to say our opinion, to air our views and nobody can deny us that one.”

He added that even the controversies rocking the 2016 budget in the Senate since

January were in very logical ways, linked to the pending trial of Saraki at the CCT through the aid of fifth columnists shouting at different times that budget was missing, budget has been doctored, budget is padded and can no longer be passed as earlier planned.

He said: “Honestly speaking, if am to comment on the controversy that has been trailing the 2016 budget in the Senate, I will say it is all the work of the 5th columnists there.

“In a nutshell, all the noise about the budget are all about this issue of corruption trial or CCT trial. That is all, no more no less.”

Nobody can suspend me from Senate —Marafa

As he speaks, trouble appears to be looming in the Senate this week, over whatever action the Senate plans to take against the senator, who represents Zamfara Central, on the platform of ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. He was alleged to have disparaged the Senate as an institution, in the interview published by one of the national dailies (not Vanguard).

The Senate had last Tuesday mandated its Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions to investigate Marafa’s

alleged offensive remarks against the Senate and by extension, the National Assembly in the said interview where he, among others, kicked against N4.7billion car purchase plan of the 8th Senate and secrecy of accounts of the entire National Assembly.

The committee headed by Senator Samuel Anyanwu, PDP, Imo East, was further mandated by the Senate to come up with recommendations on action to be taken against Marafa within a week, which expires tomorrow.

But in an interview with journalists on the likelihood of what may happen tomorrow, at Senate’s plenary, Marafa vowed that no body in the Senate could suspend him.

The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi (left) being introduced to the Ambassador of Venezuela to Nigeria, Mr. Miguelangel Della Vecchia by the Ambassador of Cuba to Nigeria, Amb. Carlos Trejo Sosa (2nd left) while the Cuban Deputy Head of Mission, Miriam Norales Palso looks on at an event, in Abuja.

Protest: We won’t extend registration deadline —JAMB 1.5m candidates to write 2016 UTME As exams kick off Feb 29

By Laide Oriere

A

BUJA —THE Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, yesterday, said the board would not extend its registration deadline.

This was in reaction to protests by some secondary school students in Edo and Lagos states over the closure of registration portal in preparation for the 2016 examination.

In a statement issued by JAMB and signed by head media, JAMB, Dr Fabian Benjamin, in Abuja, the examination body said though the board sympathised with the candidates, they were given about seven months to register, adding that the board needed

to prepare for the examination that would start on February 29, 2016.

Some students, on Friday, in Edo and Lagos states protested against an alleged sudden closure of the JAMB online registration portal.

The statement read: “The attention of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has been drawn to the protest by some alleged UTME candidates in Benin and Lagos. The candidates were said to be protesting over the closure of the board’s registration portal in preparation for the 2016 examination which is due to begin in less than a week from today.

“The board sincerely sympathizes with the plight of these prospective candidates

and states that it’s the wish of the board that Nigerian youths desirous of tertiary education are given ample opportunity to register for its examination.

This was why it began the sale of its application document last August, that is about seven months ago.

“In the advertisement for the sale of the registration documents, the board clearly stated that the sales would close

by January, but due to public appeal it extended the registration process to February.

“It’s imperative to disclose that the closure was also to allow the board to prepare adequately for the examination slated for the end of February. The board cannot allow candidates to register perpetually. It has a time table and it adheres strictly to it to allow the tertiary institutions begin the process of admission early. We all must work to enshrine the culture of discipline in the system."

Returning loot may not save suspects from prosecution —Magu

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BUJA— Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, has said the commission could still prosecute suspects, even after they have returned stolen money to the treasury.

Magu had said in recent interviews that the EFCC had recovered billions of naira, especially from its ongoing investigations into the $2.1 billion arms money allegedly diverted by former NSA, Mr. Sambo Dasuki.

In his first detailed interview since his appointment in November, Magu said: “What matters first and foremost is for everyone involved in the arms deal scam to return the money he or she may have collected.

That does not preclude such suspect from facing prosecution.”

He said this while answering a question on whether the EFCC would enter plea-bargaining with suspects or waive prosecution if stolen funds were returned.

The EFCC chairman said the rat race for wealth among public office holders was one of the major reasons for rampant corruption in the country.

He said: “Political offices in Nigeria are too attractive. This encourages a rat race of sorts.

Also, the judiciary, which is the last resort, has allegedly been complicit, making civil servants who have been found guilty of corruption feel confident to poke the law in the face and go scot-free.”

Magu said Nigerians should be outraged at the amount of money originally set aside for the war on Boko Haram, but “which was diverted for personal use.”

He said this was just one of the many cases of looted funds being investigated by the EFCC. He said: “There should be a national outrage by now. There is something wrong with our values. Corruption has been celebrated over the years."

The EFCC chairman said allegations against the commission that its anticorruption war was politically motivated was proof that corruption was already fighting back.

Magu also spoke on his first meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, his efforts to clean up the commission and whether or not he might break the oneterm jinx that has plagued the chairmen of the commission since its establishment.

10—Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016

‘I stole my boss' car for Valentine party’

By Olasunkanmi Akoni & Esther Onyegbula

O

PERATIVES of Rapid Response Squad, RRS, Lagos State Police Command, have arrested one Emmanuel John, 26, for duplicating the car key of his boss, Mrs. Flora Ighalo, and absconding with the car.

The suspect, a driver to Ighalo, was arrested at Abraham Adesanya Estate, Lekki, penultimate Sunday, by the operatives for stealing his boss’ car, a Toyota Corolla, marked Epe 642 DX, with the aim of taking the car to a Valentine party at Splash Hotel, Sangotedo, Ajah.

The suspect had, about a week before the act, duplicated the Toyota Corolla key without the knowledge of his boss.

However, on February 14, when he was not supposed to be at work, John sneaked into the Abraham Adesanya Estate residence of his boss and drove the car away with the duplicate key.

He narrated his exploits: “My friend, Oscar, and I wanted to carry the Toyota Corolla to Splash Hotel’s Valentine Show on Sunday night. I persuaded Madam to give the go ahead to cut a spare key but she declined. A week before, February 14, I duplicated the key at Obalende without her knowledge.

“She excused me from work on Sundays; I sneaked into her resident and took away the car after church. I took the car to my residence in Ajuwe Area, Ajah, Lagos.

“My plan was that after the valentine show, it was going to be stressful for me to leave the show around 3a.m, go home and freshen up and set out for Abraham Adesanya Estate around 4a.m. for the day’s work, with the car.

“After driving the car round Ajah, I was on my way home at around 8p.m. when I saw madam calling me on phone. She asked me where I was and I told her and she said I should come to her house that I was going to take her somewhere. I turned the car and I headed towards Abraham Adesanya Estate.

“I was in Abraham Adesanya Estate Roundabout trying to enter the estate, when a man stopped me and RRS officials arrested me.”

I've received help, but....

— Father of Ibadan quintuplets

By Ola Ajayi

I

BADAN—FATHER of the quintuplets at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Alfa Yussuf Rasaq Ewenje, has acknowledged receipt of some money for the babies’ upkeep.

While expressing appreciation for the kind gestures of Nigerians towards his family, he lamented that the daily prescription of drugs was becoming a source of concern to him.

He told Vanguard on phone yesterday: “Yes, I have been receiving money in my bank account. Some people sent N2,000 and some N5,000. We are very grateful to these kindhearted Nigerians.

“We have been using the money on drugs and tests.

Thank God we are getting this money. What would I have done? But my heart is thumping because I do not know what the bills will be. I just pray that more Nigerians help me so that we can settle the bills.”

On the condition of the babies, he said four of them were normal now, while the fifth was still in the incubator.

When asked when they would be discharged from the hospital,

Seeks Oyo govt, First Lady's intervention Ewenje said: “They have not told me yet. Thank God because the mother and the babies are recuperating fast. I have been buying drugs on daily basis. I have just been given another list.”

He said he was still expecting the Oyo State Government, particularly Mrs. Florence Ajimobi, wife of Governor Abiola Ajimobi, to extend her motherly love to them, as she had demonstrated to others.

He was particularly grateful to Vanguard, saying it was when people saw the account

number in Vanguard that money started coming in.

He said: “It is only God that can reward you for this show of love and understanding.”

He said anyone who wishes to help can still do so via: Rasaq Yusuf Babatunde, Guarantee Trust Bank, 0131404208.

It will be recalled that Mrs. Sakirat Rasaq, 28, who had two children before, was delivered of a set of quintuplets in the teaching hospital last week, bringing the number of her children to seven.

Alfa Rasaq

58 lives lost to Lassa Fever—MINISTER

By Gabriel Enogholase

B

ENIN—MINISTER of State for Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, weekend at Irrua, Edo State, disclosed that no fewer than 58 lives, of the 83 diagnosed with the disease, had been lost to the outbreak of the Lassa Fever virus in the country.

Ehanire, who spoke with journalists after inspecting

facilities at the Lassa Treatment Centre located at Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua, said Federal Government was working towards ensuring that the yearly outbreak of the disease in Nigeria was curtailed.

He said: “We have been trying to curtail Lassa Fever, which is going down now, and Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital is one of the centres of

excellence.

“This hospital is one of the centres with special facilities and I came to see how well the hospital is coping. I have seen what they are doing.

“I have seen development partners working with them. I have seen the equipment and the challenges and we are looking at ways to make sure Lassa Fever does not become a yearly problem.”

One dead, 29 cheat death in East-West Road accidents

By Perez Brisibe

U

GHELLI— ONE person was, weekend, confirmed dead while 29 others sustained various degrees of injuries in two separate accidents at the Ughelli axis of the East-West Road.

Confirming the incident, the Public Relations Officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, Ughelli unit command, Chinyere Ngwu, stated that one of the accidents occurred a few kilometres from SETRACO Yard involving an 18-seater Toyota bus, with number plates XA 595 PTN. It was gathered that the bus had rammed into a trailer parked by the road side.

According to an eyewitness, Mr. Sunny Onabedje, who joined others in rescuing victims and taking them to Ughelli Central Hospital, one of the female passengers gave up the ghost at the hospital before she could get medical attention.

Giving details of the second accident which occurred earlier, a staff of the hospital disclosed that the accident occurred a few kilometres from Ewu Junction, with the passengers heading to Ughelli from Port Harcourt.

The staff hinted further that

the 12 passengers involved in the accident sustained various degrees of injuries.

Meanwhile, two of them, whose cases were severe, were referred to the Delta State

University Teaching Hospital, DELSUTH, Oghara, for medical attention.

Drunk punches 60-yr-old man dead

M

AIDUGURI—THE Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, Sunday, said it arrested a 27year-old man, Musa Inuwa, for allegedly punching a 60-yearold man to death.

The state’s corps Commandant, Mr. Abdullahi Ibrahim, told newsmen in Maiduguri, Borno State, that the suspect was arrested at Jidari Polo Bus Stop area in the state capital.

He said: “The suspect was apprehended by the youth vigilance team known as Civilian JTF, who brought the accused to NSCDC command.

“The victim, who suffered grievous bodily harm leading to his death, was said to have asked the suspect were he could locate a chemist to buy drugs.

“Unknown to the victim, the suspect was already intoxicated on illicit substance and told the old man that he was disturbing him. The suspect then punched him. The man fell forward and hit his head on the concrete pavement that rendered him

unconscious.

“The victim was quickly rushed to Umaru Shehu Specialist Hospital, but unfortunately passed away as a result of massive brain

trauma.”

According to him, the case had been transferred to the Borno Police Command for further investigation and prosecution.

Assault on Lagos journ Court hears suit today

By Abdulwahab Abdulah

J

USTICE A. Anka of the Federal High Court, Lagos, will today commence hearing in the fundamental rights suit filed by Lagos State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, against the Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, and eight others over alleged assault on one of its members, Otunba Yomi Olomofe.

NUJ had filed the suit against NCS over the assault

on Olomofe at Seme border post of NCS last year, asking for N500 million as special and exemplary damages for the violation of the applicant’s rights.

The body had specifically prayed the court for the enforcement of the journalist’s fundamental rights to life, dignity of the human person and freedom of expression and the press and to declare that the brutalised journalist’s rights were indeed violated by the defendants.

The matter earlier came up for mention before Justice A. Anka,

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016—11

Vulcanizer commits suicide in Lagos

By Esther Onyegbula

A

middle-aged man, Afape Fatai, has allegedly committed suicide in Lagos State.

Fatai, a vulcanizer, lived at 28, Orioji Olarewaju Close, Ijaiye, a suburb of Lagos, allegedly hung himself in his kitchen. No suicide note was found, police sources said.

It was gathered that the dangling corpse was

discovered at 6a.m. on Saturday by his neighbours and was reported at Meiran Police Station.

Policemen were said to have taken the corpse to Ijaiye General Hospital morgue for autopsy.

According to one of the tenants (names withheld), “it seems Fatai was murdered. Why will he put a hood over his face before hanging himself?

“This needs to be

properly investigated as it seems like a cover for murder. I believe he was murdered and then hanged.”

It was learned that the deceased’s wife and children had since relocated to Ado-Odo Yewa in Ogun State, where he hailed from.

Lagos State Police Public Relation Officer Dolapo Badmus, confirmed the death. She said investigations were ongoing.

Lagos hotel killings: Navy buries twin brothers

By Angela Okpe

E

MOTIONS ran high, weekend, as the remains of Taiwo and Kehinde Oyesule, the twin brothers who were shot dead alongside their friend last December by a Mobile policeman in front of a hotel in Ketu area of Lagos, were buried.

The burial of the twins at the Ajeromi Ifelodun Local Government cemetery was done by the Nigerian Navy, where late Taiwo served.

The body of Taiwo, who served with the Naval Ordinance Corps, Ojo, was decorated in full Naval regalia, the coffin draped in Nigerian flag and military boots and Navy cap placed on it.

Describing the death of one of their own as a big shock, Captain S. S. Akwu, who led the personnel to the cemetery, said: “The news was received with regret and sorrow. Taiwo was a dedicated, loyal and hard working rating, who

served the Nigerian Navy and his country with a high sense of responsibility.”

On solution to incessant and deliberate killings of innocent Nigerians by security operatives, he said: “Psychiatric test should be conducted before employing any security personnel and the test should be yearly to confirm their status.”

He added that the Navy was working towards payment of late Taiwo’s gratuity.

Customs apprehend trans-border criminals, hands over stolen vehicles

By Godwin Oritse

T

HE Seme border Command of the Nigeria Customs Service, weekend, apprehended two trans-border criminals and the two vehicles

recovered from them were handed over to INTERPOL. Speaking during the handing over, Customs Area Comptroller, Mr. Victor Dimka, said the suspects, Mr. Appah

nalist: y though none of the defendants was in court nor represented.

However, the counsel representing the plaintiff, Adelayo Banjo of Jiti Ogunye chambers, informed the court that the defendants were yet to be served on the processes of the case.

Subsequently, the court adjourned till February 22 (today) for the hearing of the case, while directing that all processes in the case be served on the defendants.

Olomofe, in the suit, asked the court for a declaration that the beating meted out to him by the defendants, who inflicted bodily and internal injuries on him on June 25, 2015, in the premises of NCS, Seme, was “capable of infringing on his right to life as guaranteed by Section 33 (1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Article 4 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.”

George Gobatrans (a Ghanaian) and Mr. Used Onyekachi (Nigerian) were arrested following a tip-off by INTERPOL. The vehicles, according to Dimka, were detected

by INTERPOL personnel, Mr. Mathias Marth and Mr. Eric Sturm, from Germany, who led the operation. They were traced to Nigeria through the assistance of INTERPOL information apparatus.

The vehicles are a BMW X6 series, with chassis number VINSUXFG43569L225084, was said to be heading to Ghana from Nigeria, and Masarati GHIIBLI with number VINZAMWS57b001112000 and number plates EV 413 YZ (Italian), that was reported stolen in Italy on January 20.

Dimka disclosed that the keys of the vehicles and the suspects were handed over for further investigation, repatriation and onward delivery.

12—Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016

Tompolo asks A-Court to set aside arrest warrant E

By Innocent Anaba

MBATTLED ex-militant leader, Chief Government Ekpemupolo, (alias Tompolo), has told the Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos to set aside the order of a Federal High Court, Lagos, which issued a bench warrant for his arrest.

It will be recalled that on January 14, 2016, trial judge, Justice Ibrahim Buba of a Federal High Court, Lagos, issued a warrant for Tompolo's arrest following an application by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. EFCC had filed a charge against Tompolo and nine others, over allegation of money laundering and stealing of about N34 billion belonging to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA. But on January 27, 2016, Tompolo filed an application before the court, to set aside the said warrant of arrest. On February 8, 2016, the said application was argued and dismissed by the court.

Tompolo, thereafter, filed an appeal against the ruling of the lower court, on February 18, 2016.

Tompolo, in the appeal by the law firms of Tayo Oyetibo, SAN and Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, is complaining that the learned trial court erred in law, in refusing to

set aside the warrant of arrest issued against him, when there was no evidence to show that he had been notified of the summons and the criminal charge pending against him, before the court.

Tompolo also complained that the trail court should have ascertained that the EFCC duly complied with the order of the

court for substituted service, by posting the charge at the correct address as contained in the order of the court.

According to him, the application leading to the issuance of the warrant of arrest was not competently placed before the court, as the counsel that signed and filed it on behalf of the EFCC failed to affix his

seal thereto, as required by law.

Tompolo is thus asking the Court of Appeal to set aside the warrant for his arrest and vacate all subsequent proceedings emanating from the flawed process of the criminal charge.

He is further seeking that the charge against him should be transferred from the current judge, to another judge of the Federal High Court.

VISIT: Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State (right) and the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Solomon Arase, duriing the IGP's visit to the governor at Government House, Owerri.

Ogboru, Ochei agree on defection to APC

By Egufe Yafugborhi

W

ARRI—THE 2015 governorship candidate of Labour Party in Delta State, Chief Great Ogboru and former speaker of the state House of Assembly, Victor Ochei, are set to defect to All Progressives Congress, APC. The defection of the two politicians follows last weekend’s defection of Chief John Orido, a prominent PDP chieftain, to APC alongside his supporters.

The revelation of Ogboru and Ochei’s movement to the APC was disclosed by the party’s 2015 governorship candidate, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, allegedly upon an agreement among the leaders.

Emerhor told a meeting of the party’s State Executive Council, SEC, in Warri on Saturday, that the defection of both notable figures and their supporters to the APC would strengthen the party into a formidable opposition towards 2019.

The APC SEC, it was learned, agreed to welcome both men into the party and consequently inaugurated a nine-man committee headed by Fred Okpohworo to interface with

all other political parties, leaders and groups willing to defect to APC to perfect modalities for a successful reception.

Ogboru could not be reached yesterday on the issue.

Tarfa files fresh N5bn rights suit against news media without any reasonable MTN, others cause or a lawful court order.

L

By Onozure Dania

AGOS lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Rickey Tarfa, has instituted a fresh N5 billion fundamental rights enforcement suit against telecommunications company, MTN Nigeria Communications Limited, for the alleged violation of his right to privacy.

Tarfa, in the suit, is praying the court to declare that his right to privacy was violated when the call records/log on his phone with mobile n u m b e r 08034600000 was allegedly accessed without his authority and made available to online

Other defendants in the suit are the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, its Chairman, Ibrahim Magu, Mrs. Rashidatou Abdou and Mr. Femi Falana, SAN. It will be recalled that EFCC had on February 5, arrested Tarfa and confiscated his two mobile phones and his Mercedez Benz SUV with Registration No. KJA 700 CG, on the allegation that he hid two alleged suspects of economic and financial crimes in his car to prevent their arrest by operatives of the anti-graft agency.

Okowa declares May 29 Praise, Worship Day

By Festus Ahon & Egufe Yafugborhi

A

SABA—DELTA State governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, yesterday, declared May 29 as an annual day of praise and worship in the state.

Okowa, who spoke during an interdenominational victory thanksgiving service at the Word of Life Bible Church, Warri, said that the praise and worship would feature internationally acclaimed gospel singers to praise God for His goodness to the state.

He said: “We are all Deltans and should work to move Delta State forward. We bear no grudge against anyone. We will move forward as a state and every May 29, we will dedicate it as a day of praise and worship to the Lord, our God. “I thank all of you for coming to this thanksgiving service but, the true thanksgiving is for us to be sensitive and accountable to our people.”

Flanked by his Deputy, Mr. Kingsley Otuaro, his wife, Dame Edith, Okowa said the thanksgiving was necessary because God made it possible for him to emerge victorious in the election and also, defeat his opponents in the different courts where his election was challenged.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016—13

FG to tackle herdsmen over security threat —Dambazau

By Festus Ahon

A

SABA—MINISTER of Interior, Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (retd), weekend, said that the Federal Government would continue to tackle the security threat posed by Fulani herdsmen in the country.

Dambazua, in Asaba, Delta State, while fielding questions from newsmen, noted with regret that most parts of the country were experiencing one form of security challenge or another.

He said that the ministry was doing everything possible to tackle the challenges by way of capacity building and equipment of the security agencies, adding that the ministry was the hub of public safety in Nigeria.

The minister said that Federal Government was concerned about the security of the lives of all Nigerians, adding that the security challenge posed by Fulani herdsmen was a national issue.

Speaking earlier during a courtesy call on Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, Dambazua thanked the state government for providing a building to accommodate a second Passport Office in Warri, adding that the Warri office would facilitate the issuance of passports to deserving people of the state.

Receiving the minister at the state Government House, Asaba, Governor Okowa stressed the need for public spirited individuals

and corporate bodies to partner government in the reformation of prison inmates in the country.

Okowa decried the present state of the nation’s prisons and its effects on the reformation process for the inmates and called on corporate organisations and individuals to support the Prison Service in easing the hardship being faced by inmates and the reformation process.

He said: “Our prisons are overflowing with inmates, this is not limited to the state but nation-wide. The reform process of the prisons is difficult to manage with the kind of population in the prisons. I urge public spirited individuals to partner government to see what we can provide to ease the hardship so that the reformation process can be carried out.”

Okowa said that his

administration would provide a few vehicles to the prisons to help them improve on their services.

While acknowledging the efforts of the Immigration Service in the reduction of illegal immigrants in the state, he appealed to the minister to look into the expatriate’s quota of some of the oil companies operating in the state so as to provide jobs for Nigerians.

AWARD: Special Assistant to Akwa Ibom Governor on Grassroots Mobilazation, Mr Emmanuel Iyang (middle) receiving an award from the outgoing President of Ikot Abasi, Mkpat Enin and Eastern Obolo Development Association, IMEODA, Abuja chapter, at the reception/award ceremony in honour of IMEODA sons and daughters in Abuja, yesterday. With them is the former president, Akwa Ibom Community in Abuja, Mr Sonny Inyang.

Bayelsa communities vow to shut down Shell's operations

By Samuel Oyadongha

Y

E N A G O A — T W E LV E aggrieved oil producing communities in Bayelsa State have threatened to shut down operations of Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, over the company’s handling of its relationship with the host communities.

In a communique after a meeting attended by all the Community Development Committee, CDC, Chairmen and other stakeholders of the EA field host communities, the communities accused SPDC of defaulting on the implementation of General Memorandum of Understanding, GMoU, entered into with the communities.

The host communities also threatened to stage a protest against the oil company, alleging that the company failed to sign surveillance contracts and reduce the contracts duration period from 12 months to nine.

The communique by Ebimobowei Deboh, Chairman, EA Host Communities Chairmen Forum, said: “SPDC should pay up all the GMOU fund, late and current tranches and also the defaulters' fees with the peace bonus to all clusters in the EA field operations.

C M Y K

“Since the inception of the EA field, SPDC has refused to give opportunities to our contractors to participate in the main stream jobs under the spirit of local content, despite the numerous contracts that run the day to day

activities in the EA field such as standby vessels, servicing/ shuttling vessels, crew boats, take-off/mooring vessels, AGO supply, food/catering services, waste management, well-head maintenance and painting/

Abe harps on Ogoni unity ...flays division over party affiliations

S

ENATOR Magnus Abe, the All Progressives Congress, APC, candidate in the Rivers South-East senatorial district re-run election has enjoined Ogoni people not to allow party differences and affiliations to affect their affinity and unity.

Speaking to newsmen on the sidelines of the 50th birthday of Senator Lee Maeba at his home town, Luuwa, in Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State, Senator Abe said that political difference were mere approaches of addressing the developmental challenges of the people and should not be allowed to cause disaffection among Ogoni brothers and sisters.

He said that all leaders in Ogoni, irrespective of their political affiliations, should be able to come together and discuss issues that affect the

progress of the people without rancour.

“Like I have always said, politics should be about the people and it should not be about enemity. It should not be

sand blasting.”

He described as unacceptable the refusal of the SPDC EA Department to pay the salaries of the community surveillance workers for SeptemberDecember 2015. that because we are not in the same party, we cannot be friends and cannot relate as brothers,” he said.

The former Secretary to the Rivers State Government stated that he was in Luuwa to felicitate with Senator Maeba on his birthday and to wish him well.

NDDC DG warns against attacks on oil facilities

By Jimitota Onoyume

P

ORT HARCOURT— ACTING Managing Director, Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Mrs Ibim Semenitari, has appealed to youths in the region to refrain from attacks on oil facilities, saying that they should rather explore dialogue as a veritable weapon of conflict resolution.

Mrs Semenitari, weekend, when members of Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, paid her a

courtesy visit at the commission’s headquarters in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, pleaded with youths for collaboration to advance the course of the region.

“The Niger Delta is our own and we must protect our own, including the oil and gas pipelines. The greatest proof of bravery is in the use of brain power to break down walls and move people and institutions to positive action, instead of brawls that cause a breakdown of law and order," she said.

Edo infrastructure attracts foreign investors —Oshiomhole

By Simon Ebegbulem

B

ENIN—GOVERNOR Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has said that the state government’s investment in road and other infrastructure in different parts of the state have started yielding the right dividends as different companies, including a Chinese firm which employed 500 staff, have located their factories in the state.

Speaking during an inspection of a ceramics factory which employs 500 direct staff at Utesi community in Benin City, Governor Oshiomhole said that the surest way for government to address the issue of unemployment in the country was to provide basic infrastructure which will in turn attract foreign investment.

According to the governor, the location of an industry in a community attracts development to such community.

He said, “There are some people who do not understand modern governance; when we build roads, some people ask me, ‘why are you building roads to villages?’ It’s because they don’t understand."

PDP chieftain faults Oshiomhole on accountability

By Onozure Dania

A

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, chieftain in Edo State and an economist, Mr Osahon Igiebor, yesterday said that Governor Adams Oshiomhole was running foul of best international financial principles of accountability.

He queried the governor’s fiscal responsibility in the governance of the state's resources.

Igiebor, a former PDP House of Representatives aspirant in the 2015 National Assembly election, accused the governor of playing games with the truth in terms of money expended on projects across the state.

He said: “This can be seen when a critical look is taken at the Airport Road project where money running into billions of naira was used to dualise a road leading to a local airport that is suffering from patronage while other states like Delta State, are using similar amounts to build international airports in their states."

14 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016

THE SUN AWARDS IN LAGOS, YESTERDAY. PHOTOS BY LAMIDI BAMIDELE.

From left; Senator Oluremi Tinubu; Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

Tinubu, with his Man of the Year Award.

From left; Mr Yemi Adeola, MD, Sterling Bank with his wife receiving Banker of the Year award from Mr Dele Momodu, Publisher of The Ovation Magazine

From left Senator Ben Murray-Bruce; Mallam Nuhu From left; Chief Arthur Mbanefo, Chairman of the Ribadu, former Chairman, Economic and Financial occasion; Mrs Sally Mbanefo, DG, Nigerian Tourism Crimes Commission, EFCC and Alhaji Lai Development Corporation; Mrs Katia Ekesi, and Dr Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture. Orji Uzor Kalu, Publisher, The Sun Newspaper.

VICTORY THANKSGIVING SERVICE FOR GOVERNOR IFEANYI OKOWA IN WARRI.

From right; Governor Arthur Ifeanyi Okowa making a remark, while his wife, Edith Okowa; Barr. Kingsley Burutu Otuaro, Deputy Governor of Delta State and his wife, Mrs. Ebiere Otuaro look on.

Some Delta State traditional rulers. HRM Ovie Richard Layeguen, Ogbon Ogoni-Oghoro I, the Ohworode of Olomu Kingdom (left); HRM. Wilson Ojakovo Oharisi III, Ovie of Ughelli Kingdom (2nd right) and others.

C M Y K

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa (3rd right) his wife, Edith (4th right), Barr. Otuaro (2nd right) his wife, Ebiere (right; and (from right) Hon. Evelyn Oboro, Sen. James Manager, Rt. Hon. Monday Ovwigho Igbuya, Hon. Patrick Osanebi and others during a prayer session.

From right; Sen. Patrick Osakwe, Prof. & Mrs. Sam Oyovbaire; Chief Edwin Clark; Commander Walter Feghabor and other guests.

Former Minister of Police Affairs, Alaowei Broderick Bozimo (left) with Senator James Manager

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22 , 2016—15

ACF, Ohanaeze condemn killing of unarmed MASSOB, IPOB members •As IPOB accuses FG of plan to suffocate Kanu

By Emeka Mamah, Francis Igata & Chimaobi Nwaiwu

E

NUGU—THE Arewa Consultative Forum and Ohanaeze Ndigbo have condemned the killing of unarmed Biafran agitators by security agents and asked the Federal Government to release Nnamdi Kanu,Okechukwu Isiguzoro and other detained MASSOB agitators.

Sources at the meeting made this known in Enugu, yesterday, while clarifying some of the issues discussed at a joint closed-door meeting of both ACF and Ohanaeze. “ It was a closed door meeting.

Despite the fact that we did not make it open, we condemned the killing of the unarmed Biafran agitators and called on the Federal Government to release the detained Biafran agitators from Nnamdi Kanu to Ben Onwuka and to compensate those who lost their lives," the source added.

Commenting on the outcome of the meeting, the National Chairman of ACF and former Inspector General of Police, Alhaji Ibrahim Commasie, said, “We are happy that all is well and this is the beginning of greater things to come in Nigeria. If the various groups should be coming together to discuss issues affecting Nigeria, then it will be good for the country.”

Also, the National President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Gary Enwo-Igariwey, in his comments said: “We think that this kind of joint cooperation will solve some of the problems we keep having from time to time.

“It means that we don’t need to come to the north to address issues; it means that we will contact Arewa to tell them about the problems confronting our people. The major issue is that we are starting on a good note of cooperation that will ensure that we have other good results in the future. These meetings will be very regular.”

Communique

In a communiqué jointly by Igariwey and Coommasie, the ACF and Ohanaeze stated, “At the end of our discussion, we have resolved to issue this press statement.

“That the ACF and Ohanaeze Ndigbo reaffirm their belief in the corporate existence of Nigeria with justice, fairness and equity to all.

“We support wholeheartedly, the war against insurgency in the north east and commend the effort of our gallant soldiers and the encouragement given to them by the Federal

Detained leader of Independent Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, and Director, Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu (middle).

Government.

“We extend our condolences to the Federal Government and families of the bereaved and equally sympathise with families of those who lost their lives in the various IDP camps.

“We support the Federal Government’s war on corruption and call on the Federal Government to sustain this effort and call on Nigerians also to cooperate with the Federal Government.

“ACF and Ohanaeze Ndigbo have agreed to meet regularly to discuss the state of the nation

and forward our discussion to the Federal Government to aid good and equitable governance.

“We will also continue to meet with our other brothers- the Afenifere, the South-South People’s Assembly, the Itsekiri, the Urhobo and many other socio-cultural groups to promote peaceful coexistence and unity of Nigeria.”

Plans to suffocate Kanu

Also yesterday, the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, alleged that the All Progressives Congress, APC- led government

has through the Kuje prison authorities, continued to deny,intimidate and harass the leader and Director of Radio Biafra, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu by denying him toiletries, newspapers and access to food.

IPOB further alleged that the Federal Government wants to suffocate Kanu to death by keeping him in an air-tight room for him to renounce Biafra.

Addressing newsmen yesterday in Nnewi, IPOB Media and Publicity Officer, Mr Emma Powerful said their leader is also denied access to some of his

property which the Department of State Services, DSS, is still holding , even when they are not part of the exhibits needed by them to prosecute him.

The group alleged that some of the personal belongings of Mr. Kanu still being held by DSS on the instructions of the APC- led Federal Government are: his clothes, eye glasses, N2,000 pounds, N97,000, his Nigeria and British Passports, wedding ring, pairs of shoes and sandals.

He said the APC government goofed when President Buhari told the world during his first media chat in Nigeria, that Mr. Kanu sneaked into Nigeria without any Passport, when the DSS was holding his two International Passports and cash in both Nigeria and British denominations and other personal effects.

“We are telling Nigerians that APC government is a fraud, full of lies and deceit. It will never offer Nigeria anything good. Their anti corruption crusade is a sham because the people that make up the party have a lot of skeletons in their cupboards and their President is shielding them. They should shamelessly release Kanu’s belongings that are not exhibits tendered in the court and stop disgracing Nigeria to the international community,” he said.

He called on the Amnesty International, African Union, the United Nations, and the international community that have relationship with Nigeria to prevail on the APC government in Nigeria to stop the denial, intimidation and harassment of Mr. Kanu and release him unconditionally because he has not done anything wrong to deserve the alleged ill-treatment being given to him in the Kuje, Abuja prison.

S-COURT RULING: Anambra PDP files contempt charge

against INEC chairman

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

A

BUJA—THE Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has initiated contempt proceeding against Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof.Mahmood Yakubu, over his alleged refusal to in line with judgment of the Supreme Court, recognise the Ejike Oguebego -led leadership of the party in Anambra State.

The notice of consequences of disobedience to court order, otherwise known as Form 48, was lodged against the INEC boss before the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court.

Equally joined as respondents in the suit were INEC Secretary, Mrs. Augusta Ogakwu and the Director of Legal Services, Mr. Ibrahim K. Bawa, SAN. It will be recalled that the Supreme Court had in a judgment it delivered last month, resolved the protracted leadership crisis that rocked the PDP in Anambra State.

The apex court, in a judgment

by a seven-man panel of Justices, recognised the Oguebego-led faction of the PDP as the authentic State Executive Committee of the party.

Meantime, in the contempt charge, PDP warned that unless the respondents obeyed the court order on the authenticity of the Anambra State Executive

Committee led by Oguebego, they will be guilty of contempt of court and will be liable to be committed to prison for two years.

Angry reactions trail postponement of Imo re-run polls government, whose top officials during which he urged the

By Chidi Nkwopara & Chinonso Alozie

O

WERRI—ANGRY reactions have continued to trail last weekend’s sudden rescheduling of the re-run elections for Okigwe senatorial seat and some state constituency seats in Imo State.

Addressing a news conference in Owerri, the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Imo State, accused the state government, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and security agencies in the state of complicity in the aborted re-run election earlier scheduled to hold last Saturday.

“The postponement of the scheduled polls was the handiwork of the state

recruited miscreants and street urchins and stormed INEC premises midday with dangerous weapons and blocked the entrance gate with a heavy duty truck”, the State PDP Chairman, Chief Nnamdi Anyaehie, fumed.

Continuing, Anyaehie said: “It beats our imagination and the minds of all right thinking individuals, how such an ugly incident could successively be accomplished in the presence of fully armed security personnel, including soldiers, and yet nobody was arrested.”

The Imo PDP boss, who also took exception to Governor Rochas Okorocha’s broadcast, which was aired on the airways of Imo Broadcasting Corporation, IBC, a day to the aborted re-run election,

electorate to vote for All Progressives Congress, APC, candidates, dismissed this as a brazen abuse of office.

Speaking also, the PDP candidate for Okigwe senatorial seat, Chief Athan Nneji Achonu dismissed the indefinite postponement of the re-run election as laughable.

In its own reaction, Legislative Watch, a non-governmental organization, has equally accused Okorocha of masterminding the botched re-run polls.

According to a press statement signed by the Executive Secretary of LegislativeWatch,Hon.NgozikaIhuoma, the group said it was shocked at the way government officials led irate youths to barricade INEC gate, which led to its postponement.

16 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016 THE parlous state of the economy attracted the concern of Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka who, after paying a visit to the Information and Culture Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohmmed, last week, called on the Federal Government to summon an emergency economic conference to discuss a hoslitic way out of the current tempetuous doldrums.

He told reporters: “I really think we need an emergency economic conference, a rescue operation bringing as many heads as possible together to plot the way forward”.

Already, Soyinka’s call has received the nod of those who directly feel the pains of the current economic atmosphere: the organised private sector. The President of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) Mr Frank Jacobs and the Director General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Mr Muda Yusuf, believe such a

The call for economic confab forum at this moment of grave economic emergency when the Naira is at an all time low against the US Dollar, is called for.

We also believe that at this juncture when the price of our main foreign exchange earner – crude oil – has fallen to untenable levels for our sustenance, a national economic conference is necessary within, perhaps, the next couple of months. Before that, however, we must take the first necessary steps.

We must prevail on President Muhammadu Buhari to unveil his economic team and unfold his vision and agenda for change

based on which he and his party, the All Progressives Congress APC were voted into power. We are dismayed that, rather than constitute a strong economic team to advise him on ways to lead the country out of the woods, the President is busy appointing more media aides.

After nine months in power, the only aspects of this administration’s three-pronged agenda that are visibly operational are: fighting corruption and the efforts to rid the nation of terrorism and threats to its unity. The third leg diversifying the economy and

creating jobs – has generally misfired. Apart from the fall in the value of our national currency, thousands of people are losing their jobs with businesses folding up.

The main reason for this is that the regime has neither set up a proper economic team nor defined a definite direction for everyone to key into. This has led its critics accusing it of not having prepared well for the challenges of governance even after Buhari’s twelve years of running for the presidency.

President Buhari must prove his critics wrong and unfold his Party ’s agenda to solve our economic problems. While this is going on, an all-inclusive economic conference to define a future of Nigeria beyond oil should follow.

It is the regime’s duty to show the way forward while we lend our support. The time to act is now.

OPINION

By Samuel Omojoye

I

T was such a horrendous scene that I couldn’t get over for some time. I left home for work that fateful day, looking forward to an eventful day. But alas, the whole of the day was messed up by the wayward action of a naughty ‘danfo’ (commercial bus) driver. We were caught in the typical Lagos early morning traffic gridlock which wasn’t really as bad as it used to be because it was a moving traffic.

My mind was not actually on the traffic situation as I had an urgent task to accomplish that auspicious morning. As I thought about how I would carry out the pressing assignment, I looked up and behold there was this ‘Danfo’ bus that had moved completely out of our line and had faced on coming vehicles in what I considered a very audacious display of lawlessness and haughtiness.

He drove in such reckless fashion that every oncoming vehicle had to delicately swerve to avoid a collision with it. Sadly, a heavy duty lorry which, perhaps, was oblivious of the stray ‘danfo’, was approaching and within a twinkling of an eye, there was a collision between the lorry and the ‘danfo’ and what followed is better seen than imagined. It was such a horrible scene.

By now, the whole place was in serious disarray as commuters, pedestrians and other road users ran helter-skelter in utter confusion. Thanks to some brave guys who put a call through to the Lagos

Lagos and nuisance of Danfo drivers State Ambulance Service, ambulance came in no time to ferry wounded commuters in the ‘danfo’ for emergency medical care. The whole place had become a mess of sort. The goods in the heavy duty lorry littered everywhere.

The hitherto moving gridlock had now become completely motionless with serious overriding impact on adjourning and other link roads along the route. It took the combine efforts of men of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, Federal Road Safety officials, traffic police and others to put the traffic situation back to normality. By now, I have spent about four hours on an otherwise 30 minutes trip.

In Lagos, danfo drivers are notorious for contravening traffic laws. They flout traffic rules with impunity by driving against traffic, carrying excess

The efficiency with which people, goods and services can move from one point to the other to a large extent determines the quality of life of a society

passengers, picking passengers at undesignated places, over -speeding among many others. They act in such unruly manner that makes them Lords in their own right. In Lagos, impunity is a way of life for the ‘danfo’ driver.

Though, the traditional Lagos traffic jam occurs as a result of many factors, it is, however, aggravated by human induced actions such as reckless driving, illegal parking, street and roadside trading, ‘beating’ traffic lights among other traffic instructions. Often, failure of motorists, to obey traffic rules and regulations lead to crippling traffic snarls. Sadly, traffic chaos lead to economic losses arising from delays, diminished productivity, wasted energy, environmental degradation, a diminished standard of living, missed appointments, higher fuel bill, and diverse health challenges. This, no doubt, poses great threat to the State’s viability as a decent place to live, visit and invest in.

Public transportation is too important and strategic to be committed into the hands of unruly and disorganised persons. This could jeopardise socioeconomic potentials of the city. The traffic situation of every city determines the volume of investment that it attracts. No sane investor would want to put his money in a place that is renowned for irresponsible traffic behaviour. Concerned authorities

should, therefore, address the issue of public transportation in the State.

The scope of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system needs to be expanded.

Universally, BRT has the capacity to move huge numbers of people from one place to the other at a time in a faster and more convenient way. It operates on the concept of utilising dedicated lanes in areas where competition with highway traffic would be greatest while it makes use of existing highways and roads in areas that are less congested in order to reduce cost.

BRT, if well managed, could help to reduce traffic chaos in the State. Thus, new busses should be injected into the fleet so that it could meet more needs, particularly in areas with greater population density such as Badagry, Mowe-Ibafo axis, Sango-Ota axis, Alimosho among others. Also, the BRT scheme could be planned to include commuting within short distances within a particular local government or location.

The efficiency with which people, goods and services can move from one point to the other to a large extent determines the quality of life of a society. Hence, every investment and every effort geared towards sanitizing the sector is not misplaced. *Mr. Omojoye, a commentator on national affairs, wrote from Lagos.

FEBRUARY 22, 2016

VISIT: From left, Head, Construction and Real Estate, Fidelity Bank Plc, Wale Mesioye, Executive Director, Shared Services and Products, Fidelity Bank Plc, Chijioke Ugochukwu, President, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote; Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer, Fidelity Bank Plc, Nnamdi Okonkwo; and Executive Director, Corporate Banking, Adeyeye Adepegba when Fidelity Bank Exco and Management paid a courtesy visit to the Board and Management of Dangote Group in Lagos.

Nigeria gets anti-dumping relief from WTO —MINISTER SON destroys N10bn substandard goods in 4 years 92% of imported tomato paste substandard We’ve secured WTO’s anti-dumping relief —Minister

BY FRANKLIN ALLI & PROVIDENCE OBUH

D

EAD local industries may come to life again, as the Federal Government has secured some measures from the World Trade Organization to combat dumping.

Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment (MITI), Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah disclosed to newsmen in Lagos that efforts are underway to revitalize local industries and discourage dumping, which has killed C M Y K

local production.

His words: “One of my first official outings as minister was to represent Nigeria at the World Trade Organisation Ministerial Conference in Nairobi, Kenya; and discuss Nigeria’s place in the global multilateral trading system. One of the areas we addressed is dumping and I am happy that we got some relief, antidumping relief that we are going to use to promote local industries. Also, on one of our recent trips to the United Arab Emirates, I was privileged to sign, on behalf of Nigeria, an important

bilateral agreement on Trade Promotion and Protection.”

Influx of finished goods from Europe and Asian countries into the Nigerian market is killing the nation’s local industries and hampering its bid for industrialisation. Investigations by Financial Vanguard revealed that in the last four years alone, Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON, destroyed substandard products worth N10 billion that found their way into the country. Top among these goods were cables, wires, tyres, tomato paste in tins and satchets; textile materials,

among other household items and consumables.

Fielding questions on how he would tackle the influx of substandard goods overwhelming SON and NAFDAC, the new Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment (MITI), Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah said that among the sectors mostly affected by dumping in the last several years is the cotton, garments and textile sector.

The minister said: “We are in the era of globalisation as people like to call it, and what it means is that people are constantly trying to sell their goods, so we have a particular responsibility to ourselves to make sure that the goods that are coming here do not result to dumping. We are competing with the treasuries of the developed world where they are in effect subsidising goods that are coming into countries in the developing world and hampering industrialisation.

In order to solve the problem, the Minister stated: “It is the entire ecosystem – it ranges from trade policies to ensure that there is no dumping of cotton and finished products. I know we have several government agencies that are involved in checkmating products coming into the country. SON is one of them. It is under our ministry and NAFDAC is one of them under the Ministry of Health. I think the important thing is to do it in a systematic way and in a way that leverages technology. If you don’t do it that way there is a risk; you will be overwhelmed.

“Nigeria is a large country with a population of 170 million people and counting, so we must leverage technology and this is something that is being discussed and being implemented whether through the Nigeria Customs in terms of inspection, both the one that arrives or before goods are shipped. This is an area where we can do more and I will also say in the spirit of enabling environment we have to do it as service to stakeholders and not in a way that is adversarial. We would work hard at it.”

According to him, another approach to discourage dumping is to consume what we produce locally. “We,

Continues on page 18

18 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016

Cover

Breaking the Nigerian Poverty Cycle through Entrepreneurial Revolution (3)

T

PRESENTATION: From left: Dr. Rotimi Oladele, President, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, NIPR, (middle) presenting an award of "Corporate Citizen of Excellence" won by SIFAX Group to Mr. Basil Agboarumi, General Manager, Corporate Communication, Skyway Aviation Handling Company Limited, SAHCOL, (left) and Mr. Olumuyiwa Akande, Corporate Affairs Manager, SIFAX Group, during the annual NIPR Presidential Dinner & Award Ceremony held in Abuja.

Nigeria gets anti-dumping relief from WTO —MINISTER Continued from page 17 Nigerians, have to be prepared to make some tradeoffs and the most obvious one that will have the greatest impact is to consume what we produce - Made-in-Nigeria and that includes me. If we are willing to pay the price of consuming what we are producing it will get better with time, like it happened in other countries like Germany, Japan and others, they all went through the same cycle and am fully persuaded we will get the benefits in time.

“Speaking for myself and the leadership of my ministry, I can assure you that we are prepared to make tough choices that are required, we will be prepared to make

tough sacrifices that are required and frankly we will expect that by leading by example, we will be able to carry others along with us.

The principle of delayed gratification is something that we must accept and it is something President Buhari has has been talking about and in the short term, we need to make some tough choices for a better tomorrow.”

On policy inconsistencies, he said: “We do understand that it can be shocking when policies are not consistent. I think it is important to maintain consistency. You heard me say the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan, NIRP, is one we studied and we are going to implement it, we might have to clean up

some areas where we have received useful inputs to clean up and that is what we are doing.

“So, I think you will not find in this government policy reversals unless when it has to do with issues of transparency and governance and that is why government has been quite open in sharing with Nigerians some of the challenges we are facing but it is not around polices, frankly I think it is around implementation.

The problem we have is not government policies but implementation of the policies in a responsible and sustainable way to get longterm results.”

‘Importation doing us a lot of damage’

C

hief Eric Umeofia, Chief Executive Officer, EriscoBonpet Group, who disclosed that 91.9 percent of imported tomatoes pastes from China into Nigeria are substandard, said that the simplest way to stop dumping is to ban importation of finished goods.

Umeofia whose company produces tomato paste locally,

said: “Importation is doing a lot of damage to us. The influx of foreign goods is one of the dangers the Nigerian manufacturers and producers are facing, because the cost of production here is quite high.

The power situation, the cost of diesel, compared to production cost in Asia, we discover that the goods that come in here from those

Nigerians have to be prepared to make some trade-offs and the most obvious one that will have the greatest impact is to consume what we produce

places would be far cheaper and at times, leave only a small margin between our cost of production and cost of sales.

So, it is a very big problem, so many producers cannot just survive.

“Fiscal policy should be put in place to discourage much of the importations of these goods and services. High tariffs should be placed on those goods they know that we have the capability of producing here in Nigeria. It is not too difficult to take a census or to sample goods that are being produced here and such goods; government Continues on page 19

he difference lies in the presence of a critical mass of entrepreneurs that trigger an entrepreneurial revolution with all its multiplier effect.

It is this entrepreneurial spirit that is empowering China, India, along with Russia and the former Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe and the Baltic States, to rise above the gravity of years of underemployment.

The entrepreneurs in these societies are creating new wealth and generating income-yielding opportunities for so many with their vision, daring, sense of innovation and passion for results.

Even in the United States, which has been the world’s leading economic power for so long, the new creators of America wealth are the young entrepreneurs in the realm of information technology There is, you see, a valuable lesson here that we should never miss. The most effective way to get closer to the threshold of prosperity and to be removed farther from the weight of poverty is through an entrepreneurial revolution.

Yes, an entrepreneurial revolution. Such a revolution requires a point of convergence when and where a great number of entrepreneurs will set into motion an irreversible chain reaction of productive ventures outside of the limits of cynicism and fear.

Of course, as true of any successful revolution, no radical changes happens overnight. No society can leapfrog from a stage of being a mere supplier of raw materials to on capable of orchestrating great tasks and events. There are no shortcuts.

To develop a nation of entrepreneurs, there must be a multisectorial, multi-level and multi-phase undertaking that begins with a collective resolve to get out of the old mould of doing things.

We need passionate promoters of the entrepreneurial spirit that can inspire others.

And government, too, must be equally entrepreneurial in its outlook and overall economic policy framework, and create an atmosphere that would inspire and make it easy for ordinary Nigerians to start their own enterprises, large or small.

Such an entrepreneurial revolution can make winners of everyone.

Think of what you can do for yourself and the country and not what the country can do for you.

Let us go and together we will win.

Putting into practice my vision for entrepreneurial development in Nigeria, I have established Success in Your Business a UK registered charity committed to eradicate poverty by empowering citizens with the right skill, and through the development of an entrepreneurial spirit.

I believe that the present economic problems and restiveness in Nigeria can be significantly addressed by growing the numbers and strengthening the capabilities of local entrepreneurs who pursue the business opportunities available in our country. This entrepreneurial development will create self-employment and grow the labour market helping to alleviate poverty and social unrest.

For example, there is a strong potential for developing new niche markets of the 21st century – green, organic, fair trade, our overseas communities. In order to widen private-sector employment opportunities, we must improve the access of rural and low income women and youth to business development resources; improve the abilities of entrepreneurs to manage their business and market their goods and services; grow agriculture-based rural business pursuing opportunities for value-added processing, and expand government assistance programs for MSMEs. We can do this in the form of public-private initiatives offering business training and support services, including:

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016 — 19

Here are some comments from readers on the above topic carried on this column.

We will continue to bring to you comments on the Naira exchange rate debate.

Nonye Odife ll Nigerians should be purged, from company drivers to the executives, and to the highest officials of the land. They should be cleansed because all have sinned. How can a country that has relegated integrity to the background and embraced corruption have a stable exchange rate? What do you export to begin with?

How do you treat tourists?

How honest are you in dealing with others? What do you do to expect a stable economy?. N196.00 to $1 is an artificial exchange rate because the prediction is that it will be N300-400 per dollar.

You reap what you sow. How is the agricultural industry of Nigeria? Where are our mineral resources? The judiciary should investigate the corruption in the country.

Responsibility, accountability, credibility and honesty should be the order of the day. Things have fallen apart in Nigeria and Nigerians are no longer at ease.

President John F. Kennedy once said: “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.” What can you do to help your country?.

Complaining is not one of them.

A

Corruption Nigeria

will

kill

Nigeria’s fixed exchange rate policy: Like an

ostrich that buries its head in sand H

ow can a country whose people and leaders abhor integrity and embrace corruption have a stable economy or exchange rate? First, Nigeria cannot refine the only export commodity it produces and that is crude oil. Further, Nigeria is a nation that imports almost everything including tooth-pick and has no industry to manufacture goods for export. How then can the CBN or the monetary system protect itself from other currencies? The CBN rate is well known to be artificial and the real worth or value of the Naira is the black market rate which is N315 to $1 and probably will be N500 to $1 by the end of this year.

Bertram his writer is right on point. I suspect that those who should do so are scared of telling the President the honest truth. The current official exchange rate is artificial and we all know it.

The CBN cannot in all honesty come up with any quantitative analysis on how it arrived at the rate. I also do not agree

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with Mr. President that all we can export is crude oil. What of products of the Petrochemical, Fertiliser plants, Cement plants, Food and beverage manufacturers, Plastic manufacturers etc.

With appropriate exchange rate, pricing their products will become more competitive if not

Who is deceiving who? It’s better I keep my dollars with me than to freely give it to CBN; this is what you get when everyone relies on oil. We put all our eggs in one basket

in other parts of the world at least in Africa. This will translate to expansion, increase in employment, more tax revenues etc. Also appropriate pricing will encourage influx of foreign exchange from abroad. The Government will receive more naira for its dollar earnings and reduce local borrowing.

Fixed exchange rate does not benefit the ordinary Nigerians whose expenditure outlay is mostly on locally grown food items and products.

Fuzio s a Nigerian abroad who sends money regularly to Nigeria, this policy is discouraging. Last December, I sent a lot of money to support my relatives during the Christmas season. All my remittances which were through the official means were at N196.00 to $1.00. This means that my people were receiving N196 to $1 when they could have gotten N275.00 to $1.00 at the parallel market. Because of this, I have refused to send money to Nigeria, until I can get a fair exchange rate. There are many people abroad who have decided to sit it out if they cannot get the dollar to Nigeria through other means.

It is worthy of note that remittances from Nigerians abroad come second only to oil when it comes to Nigeria’s foreign currency earners. I don’t believe that the current leadership in Nigeria

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appreciates this very critical source of hard foreign currency.

Mukintu Fuzio, why are you so naive?

Most Nigerians who remit funds home have domiciliary accounts whereby the money is received in dollars and paid also in dollars in Nigeria. I do so too. The differential is just too much to be ignored. Be smart.

Sensational estern Union is mandated to use the CBN rate which is currently around 193 to a dollar. Who is deceiving who? It’s better I keep my dollars with me than to freely give it to CBN. This is what you get when everyone relies on oil. We put all our eggs in one basket.

Now that the basket is broken, CBN is trying to add more eggs to the broken basket. We need to face reality. N193 cannot buy $1.

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Ibodemocraticliberationparty nough of this oppression

by Buhari’s government.

I say no and no again to his oppression. No and no again to stamp duty of 50 naira, no and no again to increased fuel price and incessant fuel shortage, no and no again to the unlawful detention of citizens, no and no again to lying and falsehood. If this is the change Nigerians voted for, then no and no again to change.

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Continued from page 18

‘Importation doing us a lot of damage’

should have a deliberate policy from Ministry of Finance hiking the tariffs of the imported ones.

“That is the simplest way to stop it and it takes some good patriotic and political will to do this, and I encourage the government and the CBN to do this for the good of us all.

I agree that the world is a global market right now, but we have to look at our position, we are a consuming nation. Those that are exporting to us right now, we must realise that there was a time when they had a closed market, and they did not allow goods from outside their country to flow in,” he said.

According to Umeofia, a study conducted by NAFDAC recently, revealed that majority of the tomato pastes

in the market across the country fall short of required standard.

“The laboratory analysis of study which covers 27 main markets and four major supermarkets in Lagos indicated that 286 tomato paste out of 298 sampled fall short of the codex standards and the Nigerian Industrial Standards has specified that tomato content should be 28 percent minimum.”

He said that another survey carried out by Nigerian Institute of Science Laboratory Technology, NISLT, showed that of 16 tomatoe paste samples analysed for 13 parameters selected, some manufacturers compromised standard in area of amount of lycopene, starch content and heavy metal contamination. He said it will be in the interest of

local manufacturers for imported tomato paste brands in retail packs from China and other high risk countries to be suspended and immediate mop ups of those brands of

tomatoes paste already in circulation.

“Apart from killing Nigerians with their substandard tomato pastes, these people are also killing the Nigerian economy

Fiscal policy should be put in place to discourage the importation of these goods. High tariffs should be placed on those goods they know that we have the capability of producing here in Nigeria

as they dump these substandard tomato pastes with subsidies from their home government. In the end, genuine manufacturers of tomato pastes find it difficult to remain in business as the consumers unfortunately go for this perceived cheaper tomato paste brands, not knowing they are paying for ill health and untimely death,” he stated.

Umeofia commended CBN for its recent monetary policy tools, adding that the forex measure is a welcome development which will help reshape and reposition the real sector. He further urged CBN to monitor all the banks to ensure that the forex made available is not diverted to traders and Bureau De Change dealers, stressing that government should focus on industrialising Nigeria and not to trade the country away.

20 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016

Business & Economy

Lagos to host N3trn Agro-food global investment showcase

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ith the burgeoning effects of global warming, occasioning the need for a reinvigoration in agricultural production strategies around the world, the Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture will hold its firstever Lagos Agro-food Global Investment Summit from April 26 to 27, 2016 at the state-owned Johnson Agiri Agricultural Complex, New Oko Oba, Agege, Lagos State.

Over 35 foreign investors from Asia, Europe, and the Americas, including leading World Agro food bodies and key financial institutions are expected to storm the Mega City for the 2-day Agro food investment summit expected to drive the creation of over 5 million jobs through a massive direct foreign investment of over N3 Trillion to the state’s agric sector.

According to FOA Consultants, Coordinators of the agro showcase event, working with the State Ministry of Agriculture, 23 key agriculture value chains for investment have been identified in the Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture.

The 2-day agro food global investment showcase also seeks to provide all Agro inclined financial institutions, m u l t i n a t i o n a l s , conglomerates, investment agencies, global funding partners and local governments, through collaboration with publicprivate sector agencies, a fruitful integration and the opportunity to interact substantially and intensively with all the diverse stakeholders in the Agro food industry, towards an overwhelming super growth and desired investment for all aspects of Agro food development in Lagos State.

The state is, accordingly, set to effectively showcase its vast agro-investment goldmine as well as its various Agro-food produce, especially its spectacular aqua-based resources, miscellaneous Agro-allied products, cash crops, poultry and diverse husbandry. The Agro based production industries and manufacturing potential, in Lagos State alone, are more than enough to absorb the huge volume of N3 trillion earmarked for this agro-food global investment showcase.

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he Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) said Federal Government would be collecting N8 per litre as subsidy on petrol imported by NNPC and other marketers.

Alhaji Farouk Ahmed, outgoing Executive Secretary of the Agency, announced this while handing over to Mr Moses Mbaba, General Manager Administration, and Human Resources, last week in Abuja.

Ahmed is among the heads of government agencies that were disengaged and asked to hand over to most senior directors in the office.

“The subsidy as at today came down to minus N8 per litre for PMS. “ What I mean by minus N8 is that government now will collect N8 for every litre imported by NNPC and marketers as against payment to marketers and NNPC,’’ he said.

He said that at the close of work on Feb. 16, the subsidy on petrol was N13.81k, adding that the landing cost was lower than the selling price by N13.81k.

According to him, it translates to what is called over recovery.

Ahmed said that an Over Recovery Account had been opened with the Central Bank of Nigeria on Feb. 3 and would be managed by the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.

He said currently, about N2.6 billion had been lodged into the account with the December importation by NNPC and the marketers.

PRESS CONFERENCE - From left: Mr Gilbert Agbeyegbe, Representative, International Strategic Alliance Committee, Nigeria; Mr Olawale Adenugba, Director, ISAC Events and Gbite Oduneye, CEO, A and O Acquisitions, UK at a press conference in Lagos on the forthcoming Nigeria Mining and Agriculture summit 2016 on April 4-5 in UK.

FG collects N8 per litre on imported PMS – PPPRA “This is just the beginning because some of products just arrived in December; that’s why the subsidy over recovery is low.

“But for those cargo that are loaded in January for example, we want the over recovery to start manifesting; then by calculation, we will begin to know what the price will be for marketers and NNPC respectively,’’ he said.

Commenting on review of template for price modulation in the first quarter, he said the agency was building data

which it would analyse at the appropriate time.

He said that the data would look at the trend and analyse how the market had fared in the last two and half months.

He added that the agency would also check what the over recovery accumulated into before advising the minister.

He said that stakeholders in the sector would meet next week to deliberate on the development which would form part of the decision on the price going forward.

He noted that the price modulation review had some challenges but had led to the over recovery witnessed in the sector.

“There are a lot of things and that’s why we are into over recovery because first of all, we looked at the pricing after we reviewed the template.

“The review instilled some efficiency and cost savings and that cost savings translated into reduction of pump price even though it is 50k and N1 but it is an indication that something is working.

NAICOM under fire over appointment of two exNicon staff

BY FAVOUR NNABUGWU

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fter eight years of peaceful coexistence and coordination of activities in the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), there are indications that the regulatory body may be under fire over alleged appointments of two former staff of Nicon Insurance Corporation in the Commission.

Vanguard learnt that aggrieved members of staff of NAICOM who opposed the appointments of a Director whom they alleged was smuggled into the Commission before the immediate past CFI, Mr Fola Daniel left office but confirmed by the current CFI, Alhaji Mohammed Hunsi Kari, has no requisite qualifications to award him that position as Director Inspectorate while

the other person is a female staff who was also an ex-staff of Nicon Insurance is in the Admin and Human Resources Directorate of the Commission.

The CFI, Alhaji Mohammed Kari, Vanguard investigations revealed, is alleged to have deceived the immediate past CFI while he was the Commissioner Technical to admit the two persons into the Commission whom he confirmed after he assumed office.

The coming in of the said persons may not be unconnected with Nicon Insurance Corporation when it was under the federal government as they both worked with Kari in the government agency way back.

This situation which is alleged not to go down well with staff including some

directors caused the resignation of Dr Samuel Onyeka, a Ph.D holder whom staff described as one of the most intelligent assets of the commission to tender his resignation letter in protest of the development.

The move to crack down on the behaviour of executive management of NAICOM is not the first as the tenure of Chief Oladipo Abiodun Bailey over Vehicle Insurance Sticker (VISER) and Chief Emmanuel Chukwulozie over the industry recapitalisation It was during the fiend that two insurance commissioners: Otunba Oladipo Bailey left the commission in 2004 and Chief Emmanuel Okechukwu Chukwulozie in 2007 after which Mr Fola Adelesi Daniel was appointed in August 2007.

Fola Daniel completed his two tenures last year August without little or no

controversies from Amy quarters before the emergence of the current CFI, Mohammed Husni Kari.

The reputation the Commission was mired in a series of scandals in those years tattering from petitions and protest which is gradually roaring its head in the insurance regulatory body.

Though, the executive management of the Commission, Vanguard gathered, is pleading with the aggrieved staff to grant the two staff waiver for peace to return However, Vanguard stumbled on information that there was a meeting going on between NAICOM and the Federal Ministry of Labour over the situation but Vanguard Correspondent was shown the way out after the Commissioner for Insurance (Finance and Admin), Mr George Onekhena said the journalist was not invited and was asked to leave.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016 — 21

Business & Economy

Rice initiative to impact 122,000 lives —GIZ boss

BY DOTUN IBIWOYE

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he perennial problems associated with smallholder farming in Nigeria such as poor farm implements, inadequate fertilisers, outdated farming

methods and poor techniques which result in poor crop yield will soon become things of the past if plans by the German Agency for International Cooperation, GIZ, are anything to go by.Thomas

Kirsch, GIZ Nigeria’s Country Director disclosed in a chat with Vanguard that his agency has initiated a scheme code-named, 'The Competitive African Rice Initiativ'e,' CARI, which will offer matching grants to no

DINNER - From left: Head of Marketing, Visafone Communications Limited, Olumide Ajayi; one of the winners of the Visafone Dinner, Mr and Mrs Eto and Mr Tosin Agbelusi of Visafone Communication Limited, at a dinner organized by Visafone in Lagos. fewer than 122,000 farmers in four African countries, including Nigeria.Kirsch s a i d , CARI is expected to team up with additional partners to target more farmers, all of whom will be integrated into inclusive business models until 2017.According t o Kirsch, the focus now is on the marketing of l o c a l l y produced rice, and to continue to support policies that will create the enabling environment for high yield production.He affirmed that the core mechanism f o r implementing the program is a Matching Grant Fund mechanism C M Y K

focused on supporting core partners to strengthen linkages and build the capacity of the broader value chain actors.In the Nigerian organisations, where the project, has been implemented, the Country Director said that over 2,000 farmers have been clustered around primary processors, for the production of Garri, Fufu, starch, High Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF).He disclosed that 300 lead farmers have been trained in rapid cassavastem multiplication, providing additional income to the farmers as well as improving access to improved cassava varieties for the general farming community.”The Competitive African Rice Initiative (CARI) seeks to improve the livelihoods of at least 122,000 smallholder farmers in Nigeria, Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Tanzania by integrating smallholder farmers into competitive and sustainable business models,” Kirsch said ”Three special projects for support to female farmers are also supported in Nigeria and Ghana,”he disclosed further ”Potato yields of trained farmer groups have increased from 6 to 12 tons per hectare. Potato farmers have received group formation training and have organized themselves to form an association with about 1,500 members to better respond to market demands.

12 storage facilities for potatoes have increased the profitability of potato farming,” he said”We are working with a number of Nigerian corporate and individual professionals, commissioned

by GIZ as consultants, to build the capacity of partner organizations and small entrepreneurs.He stated that sustainable smallholder AgriBusiness Programme commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) with cofinancing from the European Union and the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) is supporting 350,000 male and female smallholders, mainly in the cocoa growing areas of Nigeria,Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Cameroon and Togo, to sustainably improve their incomes and food supplies from diversified production.Kirsch said approaches are made available to interested programs, companies, organizations in Africa and to the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP).

Manufacturers renew appeal to CBN on forex policy

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he Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has renewed its appeal to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to remove some items from the foreign exchange restriction list.

The President of MAN, Mr Frank Udemba, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Abuja.

Udemba said that some of the 41 items in the list were essential raw materials for many manufacturers across key sectors, and could not be presently sourced locally.

He said that the affected manufacturers would soon run short of stock of those inputs and be forced to shut down with the attendant social implication of massive job losses.

“Information reaching me from our members is that by the end of March, many of those companies will start closing shop, leading to massive job losses.

“The 41 items involve a lot of things such that when broken down into the Customs Harmonised Service (HS) Codes, you have a total of 680 products.

“Based on our analysis, 95 out of the 680 products are essential industrial raw materials for our members but cannot be sourced in this country for now,” Udemba said.

He said the association had tabled its concerns before the CBN and requested for the removal of the 95 items from the list, at least for the time being.

“We are saying they should allocate Forex to our members to import those 95 items pending when local substitutes can be created for them.

“They can give us a time frame of between 18 months and two years to develop the local product capacity for the items before including them in the list.

“This will give our members and other investors time to invest in backward integration projects for those raw materials.”

It would be recalled that the CBN issued a circular in June 2015 excluding importers of 41 products from accessing foreign exchange at the official Forex markets.

22 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016

Banking & Finance Stories by BABAJIDE KOMOLAFE

Why we pioneered agency banking in Nigeria —ECOBANK

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he decision of Ecobank to introduce Agency Banking in the country is part of the bank’s distribution strategy to take banking service to the door-step of the customers.

According to the Head, Cards and e-Banking, Ecobank Nigeria, Ayotunde Kuponiyi, Ecobank Agency Banking service which is the first of its kind to debut in the country is also targeted at offering affordable access to financial services, adding that, it would simplify and engender flexibility in banking operations.

He explained that Agency banking services is designed to increases the bank’s retail distribution network allowing it provide basic banking services to its customers as well as offer payment services such as bank transfers, bill payments and airtime top-up to the general public.

“This is part of the bank’s distribution strategy to take banking service to the doorstep of the customer.

Fitch upgrades Access Bank

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itch Ratings has upgraded Access Bank’s long-term National Ratings to “A” from “A-” with a stable outlook.

A statement from the bank, said, “Fitch Ratings, a global leader in credit ratings and research, has affirmed the Long-term IDRs of Access Bank Plc (Access) and upgraded the National Ratings.The National Rating of the Bank has been upgraded to ‘A(nga)’/ ‘F1(nga)’ from ‘A-(nga)’/ ‘F2(nga)’ to reflect the improvement in creditworthiness over time relative to peers and to the best credits in Nigeria.

“In Fitch’s opinion, banks will continue to face multiple threats in the course of 2016, particularly from tight foreign currency liquidity, worsening asset quality and pressure on regulatory capital ratios.

However, Access’ Viability Rating (VR) is affirmed as these risks are to a large extent already captured in the ratings.

“The Long-term Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) of Access remains on Stable Outlook as the rating is driven by its Viability Ratings (VR) and there is no expectation of any material change in the Bank’s intrinsic creditworthiness.

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he Federal Government needs to introduce a basket of policy measures including naira devaluation in order to address the economic crisis confronting the country.

Group Managing Director/ Chief Executive officer, Cowry Asset Management Limited, Mr. Johnson Chukwu stated this at the bi-monthly forum of Finance Correspondents of Nigeria (FICAN) held last week in Lagos.

In a paper titled, Policy Options to Nigerian’s Economic Crises, Chukwu said, “While we clearly support a more flexible exchange rate management, we strongly believe that devaluation alone will not address the problems of the eeeconomy.

“We need a cocktail of policies which will include exchange rate adjustment, creating windows of investment for long-term funds t h r o u g h concessioning of commercially viable infrastructure, full deregulation of the downstream petroleum industry and stimulating investment in sectors where Nigeria has comparative advantage, as well as investing heavily in social infrastructure such as health, education, security, etc. It

FORUM: From left, Nkoli Edoka, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Cowry Securities Limited; Mr. Johnson Chukwu, Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Cowry Asset Management Limited; Edgar Ebinum, Head, Investment Research, Cowry Asset Management Limited at the Bi-Monthly Forum of Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) held in Lagos.

Devaluation must be complemented with other policies — CHUKWU is such holistic approach to economic management that will change the structure of Nigerian economy and wean it from dependence on oil for export earnings.

“The concerns of the government have been that these routes will inflict pains on the citizens; unfortunately, there is not easy route out. We

however believe that it is better for the citizens to take this pain once and have the economy restructured so that we will not be exposed to another crude oil crises as we suffered in the 1980s, 1990s, 2008 and 2015/16” Highlighting the weakness of the current foreign exchange policy of the Central

Naira becoming a ‘banana republic’ currency — FINANCIAL DERIVATIVES Appreciates to N275% in parallel market

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inancial Derivatives Company has said that the increasing uncertainty in the foreign exchange market has turned the naira into a ‘banana republic' currency.

Meanwhile the naira on Friday appreciated to N275 per dollar at the parallel market, representing N25 appreciation when compared with the closing rate of N400 on Thursday This halted a four day N75 depreciation of the nation’s currency in the parallel market, as the exchange rate rose steadily from N325 per dollar the previous week to N400 on Thursday due to intense demand for foreign exchange aggravated by severe scarcity of dollars.

Vanguard investigation revealed that the appreciation of the naira on Friday was due to massive sell off of dollars following

a text message from the Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) advising bureaux de change (BDCs) to ensure compliance with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) regulations and avoid being used by foreign exchange speculators to engage in hoarding of the dollar. According to a BDC operator who spoke to Vanguard on condition of anonymity, the message triggered apprehension and speculations of CBN intervention in the market to bring down the rate.

ABCON President, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe confirmed the circulation of the text message, saying it was an attempt to ensure that its members don’t fall into the temptation of being used to engage in any form of malpractice. “We are just trying to play our role and do what we can to ensure calm and sanity in the market”, he told Vanguard.

On its part, the Financial Derivatives Company, in its bi-month bulletin issued last week, blamed the steady depreciation of the naira in the parallel market to uncertainties in the foreign exchange market. The Company said, “The CBN is resisting the idea of allowing the naira float and find its true value. The rumour about the restriction of payments on education and healthcare has led to a steep depreciation of the naira. The uncertainty in the forex market is fast feeding into the currency risk premium and thus making the naira turn into a banana republic currency.

“We expect imported inflation to impact prices in February. The foreign exchange uncertainty in the country has led to the depreciation of the naira to as low as N370 per dollar."

Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Chukwu said, “To keep the Naira exchange rate within the N197/$ and a band of +/3%, the Central Bank has been engaged in aggressive demand management with the disqualification of 41 items from accessing the foreign exchange market and subsequently additional two items, which included foreign students’ school fees and foreign medical bills. The reasons adduced for this policy tend to be more of nationalistic than economic.

We however believe that trade policies are better tools to use in discouraging the importation of goods whose import hurt local manufacturers. We have proven cases of successful use of appropriate trade policies to develop specific industries in the country.

“Beyond the above drawbacks of the current exchange rate policy is the fact that it focuses only on demand management. At best it ignores supply improvement and in worst case scenario discourages alternative sources of supply.

Because inflows for investment and other legitimate transactions would be converted at official price as against the ruling rate on the street, which will serve as the transaction rate, investors feel short-changed to sell their inflows at the official rate hence their decision to stay away from the market pending when the official rate is reflective of the market situation.”

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016 — 23

Corporate Finance

N38bn dividend: NB’s shareholders to reap highest returns in 70 yrs

By PETER EGWUATU

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hareholders of Nigeria Breweries, NB Plc will smile home as the Board of Directors of the company has concluded arrangement to declare the highest dividend since its existence in Nigeria.

Nigerian Breweries has consistently added value to shareholders' investments with its dividend payouts. It would be recalled that for the 2013 financial year, the company ’s board had recommended the payment of a total dividend of N34, 032, 169, 944 (thirty four billion, thirty two million, one hundred and sixty nine thousand and nine hundred and forty four naira only), that is, N4.50 (four naira fifty kobo) per ordinary share of fifty kobo each.

At the company ’s 69th Annual General Meeting held last year in Lagos, the shareholders of the company were full of praise for the company ’s management, especially for the recommendation of a total dividend of N37.205billion.The amount represents a payout of N4.75 per ordinary share of fifty kobo each.

According the shareholders, the company’s performance in spite of the challenging operating environment stood out as a shining example for other manufacturers to emulate.

Addressing the Shareholders at the Annual General Meeting, Chief Kola Jamodu, Chairman Board of Directors, said the board had

earlier paid an interim dividend of N9.453billion, representing N1.25 per ordinary share of fifty kobo each in October 2014.

Nigerian Breweries has continued to excite both its shareholders and stakeholders with its results.

For the half year ended June 30, 2015, the company reported revenue of N151.7 billion. This shows an increase of 7.2 per cent above the N141.5 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2014. The company ended the period with a gross profit of N30.99 billion and the profit after tax stood at N21.5 billion.

According to the company, the results reflect the prevailing operating environment in the country, saying it looks to an improved operating environment in the remaining half of and expressed confidence that it is in a position to take advantage of any upswing in the market.

Currently, Nigerian Breweries is the second most capitalised company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). The company paid out a total dividend of N37 billion (N4.75 kobo per ordinary

The bullish run experienced last week on the NSE was buoyed by investors’ drive to take position ahead of probable positive earnings release by listed companies.

Mr. Nicolaas Vervelde, MD/CEO, Nigerian Breweries Plc share of 50 kobo each) for the financial year ended December 31, 2014.

Also last week, Investors in the Nigerian stock market smiled home as the market rallied for five straight days to close the week in the green.

Specifically, the bullish run experienced last week on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE was buoyed by investors’ drive to take position ahead of probable positive earnings release by listed companies.

Already, two companies, Forte Oil Plc and Nigerian Breweries Plc, NB Plc have declared dividends for the 2015 financial year, while more are being expected to announce their performance in the days ahead.

The Board of Directors of NB Plc specifically announced a 10.3 per cent increase in revenue from N266 billion recorded in 2014 to N293 billion in the 2015 financial year.

Fidelity Bank generates over N300bn in IGR for governments

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idelity Bank Plc said it has recorded cumulative collection of over N300 billion in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for the three tiers of government over a period of 10 years.

This is significant in view of the steep decline in monthly federal allocations to both state and local governments precipitated by the free fall in global oil prices and the need for states to meet their respective revenue mobilisation target in the 2016 fiscal year.

Speaking at the inaugural edition of the Anambra State Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) Summit held in Awka, Managing Director/CEO, Fidelity Bank Plc, Nnamdi Okonkwo, said the bank attained this feat by simply driving efficiency in the revenue collection process. According to him, the lender is properly positioned to play dominant roles in Nigeria’s Electronic Payments and Services Market.

“We pioneered informal sector IGR

collections with our successful deployment of the Point of Sale (PoS) Terminal Tax Collections in Abia, Imo and Sokoto States”, Okonkwo stated. This model, he explained has also been requested for and adopted by other state governments. “As a bank, we deployed Automated Electronic Motor Vehicle License to Sokoto, Anambra, Abia and Kano States. We also successfully deployed the first electronic collection solutions for Ondo State (IGR), Anambra and Abia State Land Registry Automation Processes,” he added.

Reflecting on the mood of the country, Okonkwo stressed the need for all tiers of government to seek alternative sources of revenue generation to meet financial obligations and live up to the expectations of the citizenry. “We are eagerly looking forward to building a veritable partnership with the Anambra State government to aid its collection of such revenues and help improve its IGR”.

The 2015 audited results filed with the NSE show that the company’s shareholders would enjoy a total dividend of N4.80 (Four Naira Eighty Kobo) per ordinary share of fifty kobo each for the 2015 financial year. If approved by shareholders at the upcoming Annual General Meeting, AGM. The amount would be the highest dividend ever paid by the company in its 70 year history.

The company had earlier paid an interim dividend of N9.5 billion that is, N1.20 (one naira twenty kobo).

Thus, the final dividend will be N28.5 billion that is, N3.60 per share (three naira sixty kobo). According to the statement, the proposed final dividend will be subject to deduction of withholding tax at the appropriate rate and will be payable on the 12th of May, 2016, to all shareholders whose names appear on the Company ’s Register of Members at the close of business on the 2nd of March, 2016.

A look at the audited results show that Results from Operating Activities closed at N62 billion in 2015 while Profit before Tax stood at N54 billion in the same period.

Profit after tax was N38 billion The statement signed by Mr. Uaboi Agbebaku, Company Secretary and Legal Adviser, says that the Company was able to achieve strong results and deliver good return on investment to shareholders due to its twin agenda of Cost Leadership and Market Leadership supported by Innovation. The statement adds that 2016 will see a continuation of the tough operating environment of 2015, but barring any unforeseen circumstance, the Board remains confident that with the company’s strong portfolio and its Cost Leadership agenda, it should be able to take advantage of any upswing in the market.

The issued and fully paidup Share Capital of the Company as at 31st December, 2014 was 7,562,704,432 Ordinary Shares of 50 kobo each. The Register of Members shows that three companies: Heineken Brouwerijen B.V. holding 37.73%, Distilled Trading International B.V. holding 16.36% and Stanbic Nominees Nigeria Limited holding 16.27% held more than 10% of the Company’s issued share capital as at the said date.

FCMB Promo: Customers commend bank for its empowerment Initiatives

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he First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Limited Millionaire promotion, tagged ‘’FCMB Millionaire Promo Season 2” came to a colourful and exciting end last week,with winners, customers and the regulatory bodies commending the Bank for sustaining its empowerment support to the populace and the society. The promotion ran for six months between August 2015 and the end of January 2016. It was designed to give extra value to customers of the Bank, while encouraging financial inclusion and savings culture.

At the end of the electronic selection exercise held at the 3 regions and 25 zones of the Bank nationwide and witnessed by thousands of customers, three lucky customers were each rewarded with the star prize of N5million, while three others won N1million each. A total of 640 other account holders smiled home with LED television sets, generating sets, decoders, tablets, smart phones and other consolation prizes.

Okafor Innocent won the star prize of N5 million at the Lagos/South-West Regional draw which took place at Matori in Lagos, while Odulawa Tolulope received N1million. At the Abuja/North Regional draw held in Abuja, Umaru Augustine emerged as the star prize winner of N5million, just as Aikay and Franscisca Oduoza (a joint account) smiled home with N1million. In the same vein, Eke Michael won N5million at the South-East/SouthSouth draw held in Enugu and Stella Taribi was rewarded with N1million.

Speaking on his wining, Umaru Augustine expressed gratitude to FCMB for, ‘’being a true partner in progress”. In an excitement laden voice, he added that, ‘’I am very proud to identify with FCMB. This money will help me to further develop myself and my occupation. I have no doubt that I will continue to grow with FCMB, because it has proved that it stands for the progress of the people.

The Bank should keep up the good works it is doing to empower people, especially the less privileged”.

24 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016

Economy

FG Appoints PwC as Growth and Employment project administrator

By Jonah Nwokpoku

P

ricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) a professional services firm has been engaged by the Federal Government as the Grant Administrator for the Growth and Employment (GEM) Project. The GEM project is an initiative of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI) and funded by the World Bank.

Dr. Bert Odiaka, the Project Manager and a Partner with PwC who disclosed this said “PwC is excited about this opportunity to be part of such an important project, which will create numerous opportunities for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME’s) in Nigeria, as well as impact overall economic growth and non oil revenue for Nigeria”.

The project aims to provide technical assistance and grants in support of bright ideas from firms across Nigeria operating in any of the following sectors: Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Hospitality, Entertainment, Light manufacturing, and Construction. Access to GEM support is designed to be routed through the Business Innovation and Growth (BIG) platform.

The Business Innovation and Growth platform (BIG) is an online platform which will be the main channel through which the Growth and Employment (GEM) Project assistance is made available to Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs), building the capacity of firms and helping them to organize, in order to facilitate better access to finance.

On the qualifications requirement for the grant, Odiaka said that a firm must be operating in the GEM sectors in Nigeria and must be a for-profit private sector company, partnership or sole trader adding that unregistered firms or entrepreneurs can be admitted to the BIG Platform.

In his words: “A firm must be operating in any of five GEM Sectors which include Construction, Entertainment, C M Y K

Headline inflationary pressure to mount against February estimates STORIES by Emeka Anaeto, Economy Editor

W

ith over one week to the end of this month, economy analysts and financial institutions have indicated that cost push inflation resulting from foreign exchange crises would resonate in the headline index in February, 2016 reports.

National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, had reported last week that Imported food prices rose by 1.0 per cent month-onmonth in January after an increase of 1.2 per cent the previous month.

Reacting to the inflation report of the NBS for January 2016, economists at FBN Merchant Bank noted last weekend that despite the difficulty of importers in sourcing foreign exchange from official sources, the passthrough to inflation had less of an impact than might be expected.

According to them “anecdotal evidence suggests that they (the importers) have taken much of the hit themselves”.

However, they stated that “since the headline and the food price index were broadly flat in January, while core inflation accelerated, we should cite the NBS statistical health warning: that processed food is included in both the core and food subindices, which are not mutually exclusive”. This they believed must have moderated

the impact of the pass-through of the foreign exchange on the headline index for the month of January, which may not happen in February report.

Noting that the core subindex grew to 8.8 per cent year-on-year from 8.7 per cent in December but stayed flat at 0.8 per cent month-onmonth, economists at Afrinvest Group, a Lagos based investment house, stated that “contrary to the above, we believe the implication of the development in the foreign exchange market points to further pressure on inflation

rate in subsequent month as import costs continue to rise.

“In the interim, this is expected to continue to impair operating performance of companies, thus heightening recessionary tendency of the economy in the short to medium term.

“Going forward, the challenge of greater import costs on businesses is expected to further impact both the core and food inflation rates as cost push factors weaken operating margins amid demand pressure in the foreign exchange market”, they

stated.

Headline inflation in January was unchanged at 9.6 year-on-year, according to NBS report last week.

But this figure was again above the CBN’s “tolerance” range of between 6.0 and 9.0 per cent year-on-year.

The NBS commentary noted that among the highest month-on-month price increases were those recorded for passenger transport by road, a development which impacted on the headline rate and would continue in subsequent months as the transport cost has not abated.

Foreign exchange policy yields mixed results —RESEARCH REPORT T

here are indications in the markets that both the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN and the federal government would be receiving mixed outcome in respect of the exchange rate policy.

Independent survey between July 2015 and January 2016 has indicated that the foreign exchange control regime has resulted in increases in the prices of imported goods and some locally produced ones but some major consumer commodities have remained stable within the period.

The apex bank had pegged official exchange rate at N199/ USD1.0 over the past one year while restricting access to the

resources, shutting out many end users of foreign exchange.

As a result many importers and other users of foreign exchange have resorted to the parallel market forcing exchange rate the market to hit all time low of N320/ USD1.0 by last weekend.

The measures were instituted within this period

by CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, and backed up by both the Finance Minister, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, and President Mohammadu Buhari, principally to conserve foreign reserves while stimulating import substitution with local production of imported goods.

Most economy observers

have noted that as Nigeria grapples with currency controls and rising cost of dollars, the effects are expected to be felt on the prices of goods and services.

According to a report from SBM Intelligence, a Lagos based research firm, price increases were recorded in nearly every segment of house hold goods and consumables between July and December 2015 up to January 2016, indicating that the effect of a weakening Naira is starting to take hold.

The report which is a second part of an earlier research conducted for the first half of 2015 shows that microeconomic life was in a worse state in the second half

of 2015. The impact of the drop in the price of crude oil and the effect of Nigeria’s currency crises is now having a ripple effect on the larger economy.

According to the report tomatoes, one of the most common commodities in Nigeria, sold in Lagos at an average price of N679.50 for a paint container (6 litres; 2 kilograms) over the past six months compared to N540 in the first half of 2015 and N500 in the fourth quarter of 2014 representing an average increase of 26 per cent.

Similar price hikes were also recorded in most Nigerian cities such as Abuja, Onitsha, Ibadan, Kano among other cities covered in the survey.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016 — 25

Homes &Housing Finance Stories by YINKA KOLAWOLE, with agency report

T

he Nigerian Navy is set to secure a partnership deal with the United Nations Humans Settlement Programme (UNHabitat) and a Chinese firm Messrs Beijing Chengdong International Modular Housing Corporation, to deliver 20,000 affordable homes for officers and men of the Navy within the next three years.

Under the arrangement, Navy will provide land as equity, UN-Habitat will provide technical support, while the Chinese firm, which that specialises on prefabricated housing, will be responsible for the construction of the low-cost homes in different locations across the country. To this end, a tripartite meeting was recently held at the Defense headquarters, in Abuja, between the Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas; Director, Regional Office for Africa, UN-Habitat, Professor Banji OyelaranOyeyinka; and representatives of the Chinese firm. A formal agreement is expected to be signed in few weeks time.

The Chief of Naval Staff observed that the Navy has a big housing deficit, asserting

Navy, UN-Habitat to partner on 20,000 housing units

T

Estate development in Abuja that the agreement to develop the 20,000 homes would address the housing concerns when completed in 2019. This, he added, will also go a long way in encouraging officers and ratings of the service.

According to him, the major concern of most Naval personnel in the course of service is the fear of what happens when they are retired, where to stay and be comfortable after they leave service. “The least expectation is to have a place where they

can retire. The 20,000 that would be built in three years will bridge the gap and provide for those who desire to own a home”.

Ibas promise to vigorously pursue the project, noting that

the Research and Development directorate of the Navy already has data of the existing housing deficit in the organisation.

The major concern of most naval personnel in the course of service is the fear of where to stay and be comfortable after they leave service

Lagos introduces e-planning permit processing

T

he Lagos State government has introduced an online planning permit processing

system to improve service delivery in the state.

Commissioner for Ministry of Physical Planning and

Urban Development (MPPUD), Mr. Anifowoshe Abiola, said the e-planning permit system will enable

Steps to becoming a real estate investor

T

he saying, “if getting rich were easy, then everyone would be rich”, is especially true in real estate.

In real estate, there is a fair opportunity to get rich if you start early and commit to becoming an intelligent investor. But becoming a successful, intelligent real estate investor takes time, energy, education and consistent daily action.

Here are a few critical questions to ask before embarking on a career as a real estate investor.

Action mindset The ability to take action despite the obstacles in your way is a key determinant of your success in real estate.

You may be dreaming of retiring early to travel the world while earning millions of naira passively, which is fun and exciting, but the effort required will be intense and challenging. However, if you

Delta repositions mortgage firm

have a bias for action and the resolve to follow, you can rest assured that your success in the real estate business is secure.

Think long-term In the early stages of investing in real estate, a lot of investors are typically seeking short-term gains of within a few years. The intelligent investor should realize that by thinking long term and being able to delay gratification, the potential return on your investment would far exceed any other investment opportunity available.

Opportunity cost Now that you’ve decided to become an intelligent real estate investor you need to determine if you have considered the opportunity cost of your investment?

Ideally you should consider the cost of alternative investments for your capital

and the time cost involved for each option.

While the capital opportunity cost is easy to determine, the time opportunity cost may not be so easy to determine. To be successful in real estate in the long term, you’ll need to create the time required to study the market and other aspects related to your investment and become adept at leveraging your knowledge into other deals.

In conclusion, though real estate investing success is possible for anyone that wants it, it usually requires some perseverance, dedication and self-mastery. The goal of is to help you start thinking about the right steps to take and inspire you to push beyond your personal limits. *Culled Nigeria

from

Lamudi

citizens apply online from the comfort of their homes or offices, and enjoy accelerated service towards the granting of planning permits for development within the State.

Anifowoshe said the move is part of the e-Governance and improved service delivery promised by the present administration in the state.

He enjoined contractors, developers and home owners to visit the electronic planning permit website on www.lagosepp.com to interact with the planning permit system which he described as secured and user-friendly.

A statement signed by the Director, Public Affairs, MPPUD, Mr. Ajao Murtair, said the online permit system allows users to upload design drawings and other requirements, pay stipulated fees through internet banking or other online payment platforms using credit/debit cards, schedule site inspections and obtain up-to-date status information through e-notifications.

he Delta State government has financially repositioned the state-owned mortgage bank to support residents of the state in the quest to own their homes.

Managing Director of Delta Trust Mortgage Finance Limited, DTMF, Mrs. Ruby Okoro, stated this during the ground breaking of Ekpan Better Life Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society Housing Estate at Ewhere, Agbarho, in Ughelli North Local Government Area of the state.

“DTMF is a primary mortgage bank wholly owned by the state government which Deltans can call their own,” she said.

Okoro said the state government had kept to its promise by ensuring that the bank was recapitalised to the tune of N2.5 billion which it has been using to support housing development in the state. She congratulated members of the Cooperative Society for their developmental efforts, foresight and bold steps taken to ensure that the housing estate came to fruition. “When completed, the project will no doubt reduce the huge deficit in the housing sector of our state,” she added.

UK mortgage lending hits 8-year high

T

he UK mortgage market has had its strongest start to a year since 2008, with lending up by 21 percent from January 2014.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said that gross mortgage lending was 17.9 billion pounds last month. This figure is 21 percent higher than the 14.8 billion pounds lent in the same month last year and the highest total since the 25.2 billion pounds lent in January 2008.

Experts said that rock bottom interest rates, cheap mortgage deals and the rush of buy-to-let investors looking to beat the April stamp duty rise had all helped to boost the market.

CML economist, Mohammad Jamei, said: “UK market fundamentals are helping to underpin this recovery, with real wage growth, an improving labour market, competitive mortgage deals, and government schemes all supporting household demand.

C M Y K

26 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016

Insurance

Continental Reinsurance declares new shareholding structure

By Favour Nnabugwu

C

ontinental Reinsurance Plc, the largest private pan-African reinsurer has announced a change in the company’s shareholding structure, following regulatory approval.

The reinsurance announced in a statement released by Ms Lynette Lambert of Brand Communication, London, that its biggest stakeholder, Saham Finances has reduced its equity in the reinsurer from 100 percent to 51percent which paved the way for Capital Alliance Private Equity IV Limited, financed

by African Capital Alliance (ACA), to take up the 49 percent Saham divested in CRe Holding.

The Group Managing Director of Continental Reinsurance, Dr Femi Oyetunji who was pleased with the new structure of the company said, “This is an extremely positive move for our company and we are very pleased to have shareholders who share our determination to realise our vision for Africa.”

According to him, “The new structure will position Continental Reinsurance favourably to bolster our strategic objectives and strengthen what we have achieved over the past few years in terms of our panAfrican foothold, expansionary plans and market positioning as the largest private pan-African reinsurer, outside of South Africa.”

Oyetunji assured that the new shareholding structure is a financial transaction only and Continental Reinsurance will continue business-as-usual.

“Given the new shareholding structure, there will be continued focus on our vision and strategy. There will be no change to our strong pan-African brand or underwriting philosophy, our board will remain independent and there will be no majority shareholding for any individual organisation,” said Oyetunji.

In pursuant to share transfers within C-Re Holding, the ultimate shareholding structure of the Company will comprise of indirect stakes held by Capital Alliance Private Equity IV Limited, (a private equity fund sponsored

by African Capital Alliance and Saham Finances SA (the insurance arm of Saham Group).

From Left: Marketing Manager Durex, West Africa, Bamigbaiye-Elatuyi Omotola; General Manager RB West Africa, Rahul Murgai and Marketing Director RB West Africa, Oguzhan Silivrili unveiling the new Durex single condom in Lagos.

Insurers set to implement code of corporate governance

By ROSEMARY ONUOHA

T

he insurance sector is set to commence implementation of its Code of Corporate Governance by 1st of April this year.

Chairman of the SubCommittee on Publicity and Communications of the Insurers Committee, Mr. Oye-Hassan Odukale, who is also Managing Director of Leadway Assurance Company Limited, stated this

after the Committee’s meeting in Lagos.

Hassan-Odukale said that operators are given up to the end of March to comply with the 2009 code.

According to him, operators and the National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, agreed to transit to risk based supervision that would enable operators shore-up their capital in line with the businesses they want to underwrite.

“We had a lecture from NAICOM on risk based

supervision, which is where we are transiting to. With risk based supervision, there would not be common capital base for insurance companies again, companies have to determine their capital in line with the business they do.

“The board of insurance companies would have the responsibility of determining the risk capital for their companies which would be supported by the appropriate capital. This is new in Nigeria.

Just like the International Financial Reporting Standard

(IFRS), we are transiting to this new initiative and NAICOM is taking us through it so that we can move our capital structure to this base.

“We also discussed the corporate governance code which was introduced by NAICOM in 2009, but for some reasons we have not been so firm on it, we were told that from April 1st NAICOM is going to enforce the code. NAICOM has agreed that since the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is coming up with a new code, we would allow the FRC code when is it out to supersede the present code.

We are giving up to April to make sure we comply with the 2009 code,” he said.

Deputy Commissioner Finance and Administration of NAICOM, Mr. George Onekhena, said the parties had resolved to have representatives from insurers and NAICOM to look into some issues and challenges that insurers have with the Commission and fashion ways to solve them.

Mr. Oye-Hassan Odukale of Leadway Assurance is the Chairman, Publicity and Communications; Eddie Efekoha (Consolidated Hallmark) Chairman Technical; Val Ojuma (FNB Life) Chairman, Corporate Governance and Government Relations, Tope Smart (NEM Insurance) Chairman Market Development; Femi Oyetunji (Continental Re) Chairman Prudential and Keith Alford (Old Mutual) Customer Services.

ILO impacts insurance in Nigeria, 15 other countries

BY FAVOUR NNABUGWU

T

he International Labour Organisation (ILO) has helped Nigeria and 15 other countries in developing their markets through its Impact Insurance Facility to garner an all inclusive insurance and sharing of good practices among African countries.

ILO has in tandem with this, substantially supported market development activities in Tanzania, Morocco, Kenya, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Zambia, Senegal, Ghana, Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Peru and Brazil.

It was in the course of this that the organisation entered into partnership with African

Reinsurance Corporation (Africa Re).

The team leader of 2016 ILO’s Impact Insurance Facility, Mr. Craig Churchill said the ILO has substantially supported market development activities in those 16 countries.

He said that the partnership between the ILO’s Impact Insurance Facility and Africa Re will develop the capacity of insurance providers to offer valuable insurance products to the financially excluded population, and is enabling the insurance sector, governments, and their partners to realise their potential by promoting impact insurance.

He recounted that ILO’s Impact Insurance Facility in 2015, witnessed an exciting transition after years of

pushing the frontiers of inclusive insurance by supporting innovations, adding, “We switched gears and started to proactively promote the experiences of leading insurance providers, and the lessons they have learned, to enable others to follow suit without reinventing the wheel or stumbling over the same obstacles.

“It would allow us to compare countries and identify the most promising strategies for particular ones.

We have therefore designed a country-scoring tool which assesses insurance markets in terms of both quality and scale.”

Throwing more light on the partnership, Mr. Michal Matul, Chief Project Manager of the ILO’s Impact

Insurance Facility said the partnership between the ILO’s Impact Insurance Facility and Africa Re will develop the capacity of insurance providers to offer valuable insurance products to the financially excluded population, and will promote cross country collaboration and sharing of good practices among African countries.

“We are thrilled to collaborate with Africa Re to extend better insurance coverage to more low-income households, small enterprises and smallholder farmers. We believe that Africa Re’s relationship with the insurance industry and governments across the continent will provide a strategic entry through which we can jointly promote the impact insurance agenda,” said Matul.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016 — 27

Naira Debate Private Sector Capital Holds the Key to Nigeria’s Competitiveness

President Buhari, we are killing jobs not the Naira

By Akin Oyebode

I

n a recent interview with the BBC, President Buhari said: “I have asked the Central Bank Governor and others to sit and see if they can convince me to murder the Naira.”

He also said: “Most of our young people can’t get jobs; one of the biggest dangers we face.”

During the campaign that led to his election, the President’s party highlighted job creation as its major economic goal. In many discussions, a target to create 3 million jobs was promised, to ensure the bulging youth population is engaged in productive activities. If various estimates are to be believed, approximately 5 million Nigerians come into the workforce annually, yet in the same period, the country struggles to create more than 1.5 million jobs.

This is why unemployment and underemployment in Nigeria are now 9.9% and 17.4% respectively.

For Nigeria to meet its job creation target, the Government needs to solve the supply side challenges impacting the exchange rate in order to make the economy more competitive.

How the Naira Lost its Shin

C M Y K

The economic principle of demand and supply is simple. If demand for the Dollar increases in Nigeria, it becomes more expensive to “buy” Dollars, since this demand will create scarcity of Dollars. Also, if the supply of Dollars reduces, even if demand for it stays the same, a scarcity will occur, which will lead to a rise in the price of the Dollar.

How does Nigeria fit into this narrative? In 2015 the official price for buying $1 was roughly N200. At this price, we are made to believe the demand for and supply of Dollars is at equilibrium. Since then, a number of things have happened to the supply of Dollars to Nigeria: Oil prices have crashed: According to the NBS: “in Q3 2015 Nigeria exported mainly mineral products, which accounted for 86% of total exports.” This means crude oil accounts for over 80% of all exports and remains Nigeria’s foreign exchange earner. So, the drop in oil prices has reduced Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings by almost $50 billion; ouch.

Non-oil exports are struggling: At a conference organized by the CBN and the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), the CBN Governor said non-oil exports dropped from $10.5 billion in 2014 to $4.4 billion in 2015. If the Naira is over-valued, exporters don’t have an incentive to bring their foreign currency

proceeds back to Nigeria. So, non-oil export earnings dropped by $5 billion in one year; ouch.

Foreign investment is shrinking: According to a Nigerian Capital Importation Report recently released by the NBS: “The total for 2015 was recorded at $9,643.01 million. This represents a 53.53% fall on the previous year, when the total was $20,750.76 million.

So, foreign capital invested in the Nigerian economy dropped by $11 billion in one year; ouch.

The combination of these events means foreign exchange supply in Nigeria has dropped by over $60 billion in one year. To minimize the impact of the drop, the CBN responded by spending almost $11 billion of its reserves to defend its reserves; and when it realized the ineffectiveness of that decision, it decided to manage the demand for foreign exchange with several short-term policies.

But the laws of demand and supply don’t change over-

The weakening exchange rate is compounded by the challenges facing Nigeria’s economy

night. If the supply of a commodity, in this case, the Dollar, drops by almost 50%, then the price of the product will rise. This is why despite the CBN’s best intentions of pegging the exchange rate, most Nigerian businesses now buy the Dollar at N300 on the Black Market, a 50% premium compared to the official rate.

This reflects the decline in supply, and follows standard economic principles.

While Nigeria Faces Significant Economic Challenges The weakening exchange rate is compounded by the challenges facing Nigeria’s economy. Within a decade, Nigeria dropped from 101st position to 124th position in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report. Labour productivity, estimated at $3.50/hour by the NBS, lags comparable emerging markets, whose productivity measures between $10/hour (Brazil) and $29/hour (Turkey). Nigeria also ranks in 169th position out of 180 economies on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business report.

These numbers suggest Nigeria will struggle to attract the necessary investment if a different set of policy initiatives are not developed and implemented.

Nigeria needs capital to improve its infrastructure stock, with power, transport and housing all in need of critical investment, despite dwindling Government revenues.

The Government needs to eliminate its dominance in critical sectors like rail, air, power and the oil industries.

In the oil industry, the JV entities should be incorporated as private companies, with Government retaining a minority stake. We must invite private sector participation in the management of our airports, waterways management and rail operations. Finally, the Government should deregulate the transmission grid and encourage private sector participants in an area that is currently monopolized

by Government.

These deliberate acts not only reduce the strain on Government revenues, but more importantly, they encourage an inflow of domestic and international capital to critical drivers of economic competitiveness.

By providing a transparent and best-in-class framework to transfer existing assets, and enabling a new set of laws to govern and protect future investment, we can commence the long awaited journey to becoming a competitive economy and attractive investment destination.

How Our Exchange Rate Policy Can Stimulate Growth and Improve Job Creation To attract capital, we must create the right environment for those investments. In addition to the oft-repeated political risks and threats to long term growth, if the Naira continues to trade at an artificial rate of N200:$1, rational investors will not consider Nigeria as a destination.

This means the supply shortages of the Dollar will probably get worse, not better, unless oil prices improve.

By ensuring the Naira trades at its fair value, the Government also eliminates speculation and perceptions of volatility. For example, MTN Nigeria and GT Bank, who both have foreign currency debt obligations, have explored the possibility of paying their creditors early. *Akin Oyebode is a trained Economist and finance professional, a member of OfficeOfTheCitizen Series: Citizens using their professional training and experience to contribute to national issues..

28 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016 “It is far more honourable to admit one’s mistake than to let matters proceed to the irrevocable.” Leo Tolstoy, 1828-1910.

VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p 161.

O

nly God never makes mistakes; but, He also regretted creating man.

President Buhari committed a blunder which is costing his government and Nigeria dearly early in his tenure.

And, it cannot now be changed. Was it not Agathon, 447-401? BC, who had truthfully but irreverently told us that “Even God cannot change the past”? When Buhari delayed the appointment of his Ministers, dismissing them as “noisemakers”, he not only demonstrated his contempt for those he was about to select but his own ignorance about how government works in a democracy. Today, the charade over the 2016 budget playing out in various committees of the National Assembly, NASS, represent the inevitable consequences of Buhari expecting his own Ministers to perform a task which had defeated other cabinets, given five months, in one month. Mr President, asked for this mess.

Even a team made of geniuses could not have succeeded.

At the time, his spokespersons, appointed and intruders, told the critics of his “go-slow” approach to go to hell. The President we were told was trying to avoid the mistakes of his predecessors by appointing only credible people into those positions.

Know-nothings all of them, they forgot there was a 2016 budget to be laid before the NASS by November and it requires a lot of time to prepare a national budget and

it must be done with the participation of the people who would implement it. Buhari has never had any competence in budgeting; his Vice President, although a bit better, was also severely handicapped. Instead of admitting his limitations and forming a cabinet, the old General stubbornly kept to his deadline. He must admit he made a blunder given the circus shows at the NASS involving his officials. One Minister disclaimed his budget; another asked to be allowed back to provide more details and one agency simply copied verbatim the 2015 budget. Buhari asked for it.

Of all the Ministers in any government, one is expected to get the facts right when it comes to figures in the budget.

The official encyclopedia of any government when it comes to money is the Minister of Finance, the Treasury Secretary of Chancellor of Exchequer. To reach that height in modern days, one needs a lot more than just character; one needs a mountain-load of competence as well. For a nation’s Chief Financial Officer, integrity is only a fraction of the attributes required.

Intelligence, towering intelligence, counts far more. And some exposure to international financial institutions is now becoming almost indispensable as well.

To be candid, compared to some her predecessors, Olu Falae, Kalu Idika Kalu, Chuks Okongwu and, yes, OkonjoIweala, the current holder of the nation’s purse seems lightweight and slightly insufficiently experienced.

That is not an insult. Few people who had served only as state commissioners of finance can handle the job. Their functions at the state level are

Minister of Finance and the TSA closer to that of the Cashier of a large company than the Group Financial Director.

Mostly they collect funds, bank them and dispense as the Governor dictates. That is not adequate preparation for the top job at the Federal Ministry of Finance. But, Buhari wanted a “Saint”; he probably has one.

Her competence and grasp of the issues that the Finance Minister, FinMin, are becoming suspect.

Mrs Kemi Adeosun raised alarms in every corner of the globe, among financial experts on Monday, February 8, 2016, when at a workshop on the Treasury Single Account, TSA, she claimed that the Federal Government is to cut borrowing

by N1.84 trillion through TSA recovery. It was a fallacy, which, had it been uttered by Alhaji Lai Mohammed, would have been dismissed as another one of the Information Minister’s penchant for not being able to distinguish between truth and “rumour”.

Although Adeosun also padded, to use the latest addition to Abuja vocabulary, the fallacy with nice sounding words, they were designed to lure the unwary. Read what she said.

“The global economic challenges, which are affecting our nation, demand optimum efficiency in the management of public funds.

These objectives require an overhaul of the financial

management approaches adopted to meet financial obligations on time and ensure that cost effective financial support is provided to public institutions.” Good grammar, but, what does it mean? If her comments on the “savings” from TSA serves as a guide to her understanding of what public finance is all about, then she is not only totally mistaken, she will lead the government and Nigeria astray. A little knowledge is always a dangerous thing.

Several facts contradict her position on TSA; but, two will be sufficient for now to illustrate how fallible she is.

First, TSA is not new. At least two governments have tried it in the past, usually when the country finds itself in the predicament we face now.

Then, governments (IBB’s for example) introduce TSA to bring all the Federal government funds residing in various accounts to the Central Bank. Very few savings are involved – except by reducing the slush funds available for top officials to place on fixed deposits to generate income for themselves. Invariably, the introduction of TSA soon creates many problems of its own. That explains why it is soon discarded once the economic emergency calling for it has passed. The reason is simple, TSA slows the usually slow pace of

government almost to a standstill!

For the second reason why the Minister should not be taken seriously, permit me to draw attention to what Mr Adebayo Onabolu, wrote as a rejoinder in PUNCH, February 12, 2016, page 21.

“However, the claim that N2.2tn has been saved because of TSA is the most ludicrous statement ever made in recent years. The fact is that most of the monies which were transferred from commercial banks to the Central Bank of Nigeria were mostly monies for ongoing contracts, legitmate treasury investments of various government-owned funds and a little bit of independent revenues of agencies like the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria.

Definitely, not savings.

That is why the Ministries, Departments and Agencies are unable to pay thousands of contractors….If the government has N2.2tn in savings, then why is it trying to borrow N2tn to fund the 2016 budget.”

The case could not have been better made. And, it points to the possibility of another mistake Buhari might have made. He can have his “saints” as Ministers; but, they better be competent as well. So far, no Minister has even demonstrated a spark of aptitude. Is this the change?

Micro Finance

MCSI targets 4,000 job seekers, small businesses for empowerment Stories by PROVIDENCE OBUH

M

aximum Career S u c c e s s International (MCSI) a Lagos based career and human development Company, has targeted to train and to financially empower 4,000 job seekers and small business owners this year.

Speaking while unveiling the company ’s training programme for the year, President/CEO, MCSI, Dr. Chika Ezeh, said they hope to achieve the target through free seminars and workshops on skills that today’s work requires.

“We target to train at least three thousand people (unemployed, early retirees, mid career changers) and one thousand small businesses this year to become employable or to start their own business,” she affirmed.

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She disclosed that in addition to tailor made books to assist people in discovering their talent potentials and how to use them profitably, the company has designed courses and seminars aimed at providing individuals with the

experience and credentials needed to make them more competitive in the job market and more successful to run their own business.

According to her, the company is on the path to make visible impact both in the public service and the private sector by influencing performance.

“It is expected that many civil servants and private sector employees would have realised that they are in the wrong places and would have discovered where they should rightly be and what they should be doing. This is expected to motivate them to make career shifts. By so doing, they will create vacancies for the right people

in those fields and happily move to create employment or fill gaps elsewhere. The Nigerian Federal government policy to downsize the civil service will no longer be viewed with distaste but will be embraced by many civil servants who may opt on their own to go for more fitting and creative self or private employment,” she said.

PZ Wilmar empowers thrift collector with car P

Z Wilmar Limited has empowered a 33 –yearold distributor of school text books and a thrift collector in Lagos, with a brand new Hyundai Car. Mrs. Mercy Onuda, the thrift collector, won the star prize for Lagos area in the just ended N120 million Mamador vegetable oil ‘Cook and Cruise consumers promotion’ organised by the company.

Speaking during public presentation of the car to her

at the SPAR in Lekki- Lagos, Mrs. Bukky Bandele, General Manager, PZ Wilmar, said that the company has fulfilled every aspects of the promises made

by Mamador to consumers in terms of product quality; cars, cash and recharge cards.

According to her, the promo has improved Mamador ’s brand image, it has improved the consumers’ lives and it has given the brand opportunity to be accepted by

consumers that have been using other vegetable oils before. People now pick the brand on their own without being prompted.

Reacting, winner of the car, Onuda, explained that she has been a loyal consumer of the product for the past two years.

“I am a distributor of school books and a thrift collector. At the end of every year, I normally buy Mamador in large quantities and

distribute them to my customers as end of year gift items. It was the ones I kept for myself that I scratched and sent my number an when the call came that I won, I didn’t pick it because I thought it was not real; now everything is going to be easy for me. Before, I used Tricycle to distribute books to my customers, now I will be using the car for my book distribution business,” she said.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016 — 29

People in Business

Vibrant SME population, key to Nigeria's success —UZOAMA

BY EBELE ORAKPO

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r. Sylvester Uche Uzoama is the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Abuja-based Second Group, a holding company with a number of subsidiaries. The company is active in information technology, communication media and also in textile manufacturing for security; in solar technology as well as engineering and property management. But they started with ICT which is still the company's primary business.

Educational background: *Mr. Sylvester Uzoama... A lot of people have ideas in their heads but do not According to Uzoama, a really have the ability to crystallise them into reality computer engineering graduate from the Obafemi will definitely affect the Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, the ability to crystallise the idea children they are teaching so he had wanted to read into reality because it involves we have created a tab-based architecture because he loved a lot of brainstorming. For you system that every teacher can sketching but later switched to to be an effective business, you have. It is called Teach-App. computer engineering are not just going to look at the It is something that can help because he had a flair for products, you are going to look teachers with the process of computing and OAU was at everything else necessary to teaching, makes them look offering the course. like superstars and that is the make the products such as impression you want a student "Even though I went to accountability, profitability, to have of his teacher. study computer engineering feasibility, technical "We are also doing but a lot of what is required requirements and the market. something with Nollywood, to for computer engineering Is the market ready for the make the industry better. We studies in Nigeria today, lies product? created a platform that allows outside of university "Are there environmental for people to have ready access curriculum. So there was a lot challenges that would inhibit to roles and opportunities of self-help and self the success of the product? within the acting/ development.

Then in some cases, you may entertainment space.

"Back then, getting certified All we do are geared towards need to be involved in applying IT in improving

by Microsoft, Cisco, ADPlus, financing for the client." processes or existing ways of were all very important things doing things, and making that were not taught in school Routine work: them more efficient and but you find a way to do them.

"I am not used to routine increasing their potentials."

I was already coupling work. I cannot do the same computer systems before I got type of work continuously as I Challenges: into the university so apart easily get bored. So we have a "There are a million and one Setting up my company: from pocket money from knack for trying out new challenges and it comes with "I worked for an organisation inventions so I can almost the terrain. I think the first home, I literally saw myself through university by for a while before I decided it boast of a new challenge every challenge is knowing that assembling and selling was time to set up my own. I day. I could do something in there is a better way of doing started with Circum aviation today and tomorrow, things elsewhere and having systems," he said.

Technologies which is 10 years it can be agriculture, the next to cope with doing it the way this year so it has been 10 day, it could be in security or it is done in Nigeria. That, to ICT potential: "There is a lot of potential in years of doing what I enjoy hospitality management. I me, is the most critical challenge but once you start always have something new. the IT world and when I saw doing." accepting how it is done here, So that has led us into a very you then begin to make some it while still studying, it gave virile software development progress and you try to change Focus: me the impetus to continue in "In ICT, our primary area of within the organisation. that line. I actually started the way it is done here to the "We are presently testing way it should be done. working before I graduated focus is technology consulting Capacity is another and by the time I was and start-up developments for software for aviation sector ingraduating, it was more like ICT-related businesses. So we flight entertainment; we are challenge. In my area of IT, an interface that did not carry out business incubation doing something as well for there is not yet a very require any formalities. process where we take a the education sector to help to structured approach to Because I was working, it was client’s idea and come up with improve the capacity and the software development which difficult for my employers to a workable business module. abilities of the teachers means that if you have a release me for the NYSC. In some cases, we go as far as because one of the major skilled developer working Even if I was to do it with setting it up, getting it started problems we have identified with you, if he goes, he goes them, I was going to be away and after a period of with falling standard of with so much that the next for three weeks at the incubation, handing it over to education is the falling person may be trying out a orientation camp and there of teachers totally different style. It hasn’t the client to run. It has proven standard wasn’t any three weeks to very effective because a lot of themselves so if we can focus yet become structured to the spare so I kept that out for a people have ideas in their on how to address the needs extent where it could easily be interchanged between while before I was finally able heads but do not really have of the teachers in terms of personnel without having to get it done." building up their capacity, it

Something just has to be done by government and finance industry to see how to finetune the assistance given to SMEs

C M Y K

some issues.

Again, Abuja is not very well known for software and IT. A lot of people prefer Lagos so we adopted the outsource model of implementing some projects that we know hands are not readily available here.

"Access to finance is another challenge. A lot of businesses have serious issues with access to finance. Banks want to work with established businesses so you find yourself having to wait for your own cash turnover to be able to expand. Something just has to be done by government and finance industry to see how to fine-tune the assistance given to SMEs because I think the more successful SMEs out there have the ability to mop up the unemployed labour.

Success is actually resident in a very vibrant SME population.

"Government policies have their own roles too.

Sometimes you are in this direction and government says no, you are in that direction.

That is a challenge.

Another critical one is that a lot of businesses in Abuja are government-dependent because Abuja is mainly a government spending city so many a time, your clients are government organisations and owing to myriad of reasons, projects are implemented and payments are not made. So for small companies who have put all their efforts into implementing a project and handing over to government and not getting paid, has its attendant effect on how well a business can progress.

Start-up capital: "Actually, it was a suitcase company for a few months and then I got a N2.5 million project, and rather than improve my lifestyle with the profit, I used it to get an office and furnish it. By the time I was done, I was broke again but at least, I now have a structure. Then the next one came because they could see the presence of a structure.

Nigerian businesses still believe in seeing tables and chairs and space and signboard but the reality is that businesses can do without all those in this modern era. But since that was what was required 10 years ago, I put it in place for them and that gave us access to some more jobs.

The company with a staff strength of 22,has an edge over others in the area of support.

"We support clients vigorously even when they are not willing to be that well supported. We insist because for us, a functional implemented project gives you more access to the next project.

Someone sees it, likes it and wants to have something like that and then they get back to you so we have that determination to make sure that whenever we implement a project, we always go back there to ensure that the project is still working properly.

30 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016

e-Commerce

SlimTrader unveils employee share scheme

Uber losing $1 billion annually to compete in China

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ber Technologies Inc is burning through more than a billion dollars a year in China as it wages a fierce price war against local rival Didi Kuaidi, its chief executive said.

The company ’s Chinese business boosted its valuation last month to more than $8 billion after raising more than $1 billion in its latest funding round, but the U.S. ridehailing app is not yet profitable in mainland China because of the intense competition.

“We’re profitable in the USA, but we’re losing over $1 billion a year in China,” Uber CEO Travis Kalanick told Canadian technology platform Betakit.

“We have a fierce competitor that’s unprofitable in every city they exist in, but they ’re buying up market share. I wish the world wasn’t that way.”

The $1 billion figure was confirmed by Uber officials in China in an email to Reuters on last week.

Uber and China’s Didi Kuaidi, backed by Chinese

Amazon to open parcel locker network across Europe

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mazon.com wants to set up a network of parcel lockers across Europe to enable people to pick up their own orders as it seeks to widen delivery options and cut costs.

Amazon already runs its own lockers in the United States and Britain, self-service boxes in places like shopping centers where customers key in a unique code to access their parcel.

The world’s biggest ecommerce company has posted several job adverts in recent weeks that suggest it wants a broader range of pick-up options, including lockers, in continental Europe.

This is part of a broader drive to speed up delivery times and rein in its growing multibillion dollar logistics bill.

Amazon, known for its razorthin margins, also faces growing competition from traditional retailers who allow more delivery options, including collecting goods instore.

In Germany, Amazon’s second biggest market, orders are either delivered to homes or to lockers owned by Germany’s Deutsche Post DPWGn.DE. C M Y K

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VISIT - From left: Senior Public Relations Officer, Consumer Protection Council; Nicholas Utsalo, Head Lagos Office, Consumer Protection Council; Nggada Joshua Yakubu, Managing Director, Kasapreko Company Limited; Kojo Nunoo, and Director Sales and Marketing Kasapreko Company Limited; Sam Osaso, during the Kasapreko courtesy visit to CPC on Thursday, in Lagos.

FG mulls tax rebate for ebusinesses Stories by NWOKPOKU

JONAH

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he Senior Special Assistant to the President on Job Creation/Youth Employment, Afolabi Imoukhuede, has said that the Federal Government is considering tax holidays and rebates for qualifying technology startups in the country so that they can employ more people and grow the entrepreneurial sectors of the economy.

In an interview with newsmen on the occasion of the visit of the Minister of Communication , Adebayo Shittu, to the Yaba Technology Ecosystem Hubs in Lagos, Imoukhuede, said: “ We are working on the details to ensure that we get

it right. We have a million jobs to be created this year and we have a target to create three million jobs over the next three years-2016-19.

“What is keen for me as the SSA on Job Creation is for us to be able to look at which sectors we can create jobs, and ICT, for us is a key area for job creations. For two reasons- you can create jobs within the sector, and you can use ICT as an enabler to also create a lot of jobs. That is why we are focusing on ICT and the digital world for jobs creation; it is therefore important that we visit places like Co-Creation, where you can achieve an organic growth.”

Bosun Tijani, CEO, CoCreation Hub, in his presentation on ‘The Yaba Technology Ecosystem –How

we got here and where we ‘d like to go,’ noted that there is no nation on earth today that can prosper without using technology.

According to him, beyond the incentives, government should patronize companies in th5s sector by giving them business.

He said: “For instance in the last election, we built a website that was used to encourage people on how to vote, when to vote ; we also built another site for ID cards registration- it was so good that INEC adopted it. Somebody paid for that work; that is the kind of collaborations we want.

60 percent of what we do here is building other peoples businesses by using our creativity and knowhow to make society better,” he said.

Firm unveils Schoolcompass.com.ng to drive school search

By EDIRI EJOH

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n f o r m a t i o n Communications Technology (ICT) firm, Mytcodes has unveiled an application to enable parents get information about primary and secondary schools in Nigeria.

The founder and Managing Director, MYTcodes, Mr. Oluwayomi Ojo, stated at a briefing in Lagos, that the platform was established to be a marketing hub to assist parents to get schools for their wards and help parents get the information about the schools, where there are over 250 schools registered from across the country.

He said: “The site is an opportunity to get jobs in educational sector, because

the schools also advertise their products.”

He however, urged schools to register for free on the portal, and also adequately provide information on their facilities, where parents from diaspora, or being on transfer to another town, can use the website.

He stressed for more support from the Federal government towards developing ICT, and enhance home-grown ICT products that would promote the image of the nation globally, and also create jobs for teeming youths “In less than a year, Schoolcompass, which was launched in May 2014 has built a database of about 50,000 parents and now records about 1,000 active users daily, and is rated among top ranked portals in

Nigeria.

Corroborating the benefits, Mrs Nkechi Edet a benefactor of the sites said “relocating to Nigeria from their base abroad posed a serious threat to the education of their children.

“First we were concerned with getting the right quality to match our budget. We realized that this would mean going from school to another and it would take a lot of stress. Fortunately, somebody told us about schoolcompass.com.ng and it was such a huge relief. From the comfort of our home, we were able to go through the profiles of different schools and arrived at our choice. With the platform, our three kids are now registered into schools without hassles,” she explained.

ub-Saharan Africa’s t u r n - k e y ecommerce solution provider, SlimTrader has launched an Employee Share Scheme.

In a statement, SlimTrader said, "With the scheme in place, all SlimTrader employees would be entitled to receive varying numbers of shares in the busines.

Speaking on the scheme, Chief Executive Officer of SlimTrader, Mr. Femi Akinde said,”We are committed to providing organisations with the right technologies to drive growth, improve performance and create a better customer experience. This commitment is borne on the shoulders of our employees and we recognize the need to keep them continuously motivatedwith their career at SlimTrader. In doing this, we would be able to retain and attract top talent as the business continues to expand.

“We pride ourselves in the fact that we are a growth company; growing rapidly in comparison to other companies in the same field and in the economy as a whole. Our ESS will ensure that our employees are well positioned to personally benefit from this growth with shares that vest over time.”

SlimTrader was founded in 2010 and has conintued to grow as a top solution provider for hotels in the region. SlimTrader via MoBiashara - it’s cloud based inventory control management platform that integrates with online travel agencies (OTAs) e.g.

Expedia, Trip Advisor, hotelnownow.com and hotels’ credit/ debit card swipe machines - provides a Personal Computer Point of Sale (PC POS), a Property Management System (PMS) and a channel manager for hotels.

Also speaking, Mr. Adeyemo, a Finance Manager at SlimTrader commended the development saying, “I am pleased that the company has created this added avenue to provide value for us the employees. It shows that our personal interests are a key consideration for the business.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016 — 31

Advertising & Media

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he contribution of Small and Medium S c a l e Enterprises,SMEs is vital to any country, lack of access to relative cheap and effective source of finance for SMEs is the major factors hindering their contribution to economic growth. In this chat, Chude Jideonwo spoke on the integrated Marketing communications, IMC, industry and related issues.

Princewill Ekwujuru reports.

PR and economic downturn: I don’t ever see any possible scenario where Public Relation, PR, as an industry suffers for lack of resources, this is the reason, advertising is a very regimentated field it is very clear in what advertising is, they produce, they design the copy, they do the media buying, the lines are very clear, there has to be a limit to budget for that.

PR, however, is different because it is endless, so everything is clear, the branded events that corporates do is PR, the small meetings that high level PR managers schedule between CEOs of organisations and industry influencers is PR, a part of it that focus on government relations is PR, a part of it that focuses on corporate social responsibility, CSR, with a view to driving the perception of the company is PR. So PR involves so many

PR can’t suffer unless entire economy shuts down

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—REDMedia boss endless different things that helps companies engage with their publics, therefore as long as companies are in operation and are doing business, as long as there they try to engage different segments, and advertising try to engage buyers, mostly customers, the PR try to engage everyone else, government, NGOs, activists, advocates, regulators and international media, they tend to relate with everybody.

Therefore once the business is in operation, budget for PR is impossible and practically not going to stop. I said that because I have done media relations at Virgin Nigeria, I worked in corporate communications of Nigeria LNG, I understand how this budgets are planned. As long as there are series of activities that companies want to use to engage or except the entire economy shuts down, which means

there is absolutely no cash flow, no income, or the GDP of the company drops or the economy stands still or there is a war or there is a catachrestic event and once that happens it is only difficult for the thong and pull of economic uncertainty to effect PR spend.

Recession in Nigeria Nigeria didn’t suffer recession in 2005, In Nigeria we heard about it, nothing real changed, some banks collapsed, government redeemed them.

Government gave them subventions, so Nigeria really has had government cushion the effect of recessions over the years, even in America. In Europe where it actually affected, when you observe the trend lines between 2005 to 2015, the impact on PR spending was very minimal.

The first challenge is the difficulty in defining PR

Eko Supreme to expand brand line with low sud detergent Pledges commitment to technological innovation

By PRINCEWILL EKWUJURU

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Chi introduces Hollandia gogurt pack

ko Supreme Resources Nigeria Limited, manufacturers of Good Mama and Sokline detergents, says it will introduce a low sud detergent for washing machines soon, as it pledges continued expansion of technological innovations in manufacturing high quality products.

Managing Director/ CEO of the company, Mr. Hendra Sunardi, at a press briefing in Lagos, said the company will be marking 20years of its operation in Nigeria, and will continually strive to incorporate advanced manufacturing technologies in the production of its brands as recently demonstrated by recent reformulation, imbued with New Stain Magnet Technology, a combination of broad spectrum enzymes that release and removes all dirt faster from cloth fiber giving brighter and cleaner wash.

Sokline now adorns a new pack upgrade with glossier and trendier look and feel, in tandem with its premium status and for maximum shelf appeal”.

Mr. Sunardi further stated that Good Mama, introduced in 2009, has equally benefitted from

these advanced technologies. The brand recently launched an additional Lemon variant, and its now fortified with improved cleaning power Speaking also, Mrs. Abimbola Alabi, Marketing Manager of the company, stated that due to the increase in ownership and use of washing machines that cater for the busy lifestyle of the Nigerian Consumer Eko Supreme will soon launch ‘Low Suds Detergents’ for both top load and front load washing machine users, to meet their needs.

This, she emphasized, was in line with their company’s strive for innovation and cardinal objectives of continuous improvement of their brands and introduction of high quality products that offer value and address the needs of the modern consumer.

She reiterated, “These milestones clearly underscore our unflinching drive to continually produce same high quality detergent products for our consumers’ satisfaction, despite the current harsh economic environment in the country which has put huge pressures on manufacturers.

spend. Are we talking about media relations spend, government relations spend, what spend are you talking about?. What usually happens is that when economic recession occur the nature of the PR spend changes, people begin to invest more, people are no longer investing more direct media relations, more are investing more in investor relations, more are investing more in shareholder engagement, people are investing more with stock exchanges, these relations change, so the more money moves but it’s still locked in the body of PR. That was what was America saw, that was part of what Europe saw with the focus on France, the UK, spending moved, moved within the orbit of PR. So when you take that global reality, bring it into a basically socialist country like Nigeria, where government intervenes every time, everybody is looking government intervention, farmers are looking for government intervention, people that are selling coffee are looking for government intervention, everybody who owns business is looking for government intervention as a way of fund, when you take that and apply in Nigeria then it’s even better, because in Nigeria it’s very difficult.

It’s almost impossible it really hasn’t happen, even directly to our business, it hasn’t happened that you see drop in PR spend simply because there is a recession, even last year November people were about how the economy was on a standstill, because Buhari has just won, what kind of policy is he going to pursue, who going to be the minister of finance.

I have not seen drop in PR spend.

I saw companies demanding more. I see people stream lining for course efficiency, but I saw all those monies going to agencies that know what they are doing .

hi Limited, has introduced a new Hollandia Gogurt Grab ‘n’ Go Packs.

According to the company the pack has been specifically designed in a dynamic prismatic shape with an attractive cap, making it trendy and attractive for consumers to identify with and enjoy while ‘on the go’.

Speaking on the new pack, Managing Director, Chi Limited, Mr. Deepanjan Roy, said: “As a company, we are always mindful about the wellbeing of our consumers and the society in general, hence, we thought of ensuring that consumers continually get refreshment and nourishment even in challenging traffic situations.”

The pack he said is a handy 315ml designed for convenience handling, while with the new Hollandia Yoghurt consumers will enjoy time in the traffic.

The Hollandia Yogurt ‘Gogurt’ Grab n’ Go 315ml pack is healthy, refreshing, fulfilling and a delicious delight. Hollandia Yogurt ‘Gogurt’ is the right drink to satisfy consumers hunger or thirst on the go, he stated.

UBER, MTN partnership to provide free ride to subscribers

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n app by Uber, in partnership with MTN Nigeria will enable MTN subscribers enjoy rides worth N6,000, which is N3,000 off their first ride.

The partnership according to Uber will provide MTN subscribers the opportunity to move freely around Lagos, whether they are going to restaurant or to meeting.

Explaining the app, the General Manager for Uber Lagos, Ebi Atawodi, at the launch in Lagos; said; “Uber will move you wherever you need to go and MTN will also ensure fast & reliable access to the app, anywhere in Lagos and MTN subscribers who download and sign up for Uber with the promo code Yelloride will receive two free rides up to the value of N3,000 each.

Speaking further Atawodi, stated, “We are very excited to be announcing our partnership with MTN Nigeria.

32 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016

(0805 220 1997)

Latent wealth with debt seeking mindset

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he 2016 Appropriation Bill, has probably generated wider public interest and debate than any other annual budget in recent memory. The projected spending of over N6Tn is by far the highest ever, but will also require an exceptionally heavy loan of almost N2Tn to fund this budget, in which capital expenditure is allocated an unusually high, though still modest provision, of 30% of government’s total spending this year.

It is clearly a mark of tardiness that we have continued to struggle with the discipline required to effectively commence budget implementation as from the first day of every accounting year; furthermore, the recent mind boggling revelations of levity and embedded self interest in the present budgeting process is even more disturbing.

In this event, It is no wonder, therefore that our social infrastructure and welfare continue to be degraded, despite decades of steady increases in government spending.

The 2016 Appropriation Bill is clearly in tatters and it would certainly take much longer to enact, if issues relating to budget padding and the present controversial N2 trillion projected borrowing plans are to be responsibly addressed; invariably, any attempt to hurry through budget enactment may only lead to a self serving antipeople compromise between the Executive and the legislature.

In these circumstances, particularly after the multitude of inconsistencies observed in the preliminary

screening sessions, the Appropriation Bill may just be ready for passage between March/April, especially since the respective Legislative committees have directed most of the MDA’s to come back with realistic budgets which are more appropriate and defensible, after fully considering the trend in the various line items of expenditure and revenue, for the preceding three years budgets.

Consequently, the implementation of this year’s Capital budget may at best only span about nine months, and this reality should therefore recommend a minimum 25% reduction in the projected celebrated capital budget of N1.8Tn in 2016; in this event, the bloated projected loan of N2Tn will invariably also shrink by over N400bn to restrain our already oppressive debt burden and related service charges.

Furthermore, an initial assessment by credible Civil Society Advocacy Groups has also suggested that, ultimately, the huge deficit in the 2016 budget can be further reduced by up to N1Trillion if the observed inconsistencies and obvious padding in the expenditure plan are eliminated.

Fortunately, also, according to President Buhari, the recent implementation of the Treasury Single Account captured and froze about N2.2Tn unspent MDA funds as at the closure of last year’s budget Account on 31st December, 2015. It is not clear if the unspent funds were actually surplus and idle or already committed and awaiting disbursement after

project completion.

Nevertheless, the incredibly huge credit balance cannot be ascribed to unspent remnants from a recurrent budget which should have expectedly been effectively completely drawn down by 31st December, 2015. Curiously also, if last year’s total Capital provision was just N387bn, we may rightly wonder where the residual frozen balance of N2.2Tn came from.

Inexplicably, the remnant is over N1.8Tn more than the total value allocated for capital expenditure on 31st December, and alarmingly, suggests that there was no disbursement for capital projects i.e there was no addition to infrastructure in 2015!

Indeed, in the course of a recent interaction with Nigerian residents in London earlier this year, President Buhari insinuated that top civil servants in MDAs had deliberately conserved the stupendous year end balance of N2.2Tn so that the moneys can be clandestinely diverted into private Accounts as payments against fraudulent commercial invoices and waybills submitted from their own registered companies and from other companies belonging to their collaborators. The recent revelations of a similar scam in the management of NIMASA, probably suggests that this odious anti social culture which robs our people of the dignity of a better life may have become an abiding tradition in several MDAs. Recently, Femi Falana, the well known irrepressible social activist and Senior Advocate, patriotically suggested other potential

latent wealth that should be quickly activated to preempt the projected $3.5bn external loans from the World Bank and African Development Banks respectively. In his letter to the Finance Minister, Falana reported that “from the information at our disposal, the federal government is owed not less than $42billion, which ought to be recovered without further delay”; the potential receivables listed apparently include: $20.2bn from underpayment/ under assessment of taxes, royalties levies and rents, captured in five cycles of audit report by NEITI; $7bn (part of external reserves) that former CBN Governor Soludo apportioned to 14 Nigerian banks to manage; The $4bn (N600bn) injected into commercial banks by CBN in the wake of the global financial meltdown in 2008; The recovery of $9.6bn reported by NNPC in August 2015 as over deducted tax benefits from joint venture partners.

Additionally, the sum of N750milllion recovered in January 2016 from the Abacha loot is also identified as a potential revenue source that could eliminate further debt accumulation which will inevitably trigger a spiral in debt service charges beyond the precarious level of 50% of total generated revenue annually.

Nonetheless, the usually low interest rates (often below 4%) and longer moratorium and tenor should recommend the World Bank/ADB loans, if there is a commitment to dedicate these funds to major infrastructural projects which

would add more value to our lives; such expenditure should be for visible priority projects, such as the completion of a structured intercity railway system, the second Niger Bridge, the East West Road, High capacity Hydro Electric plants and a realistic and committed plan to recover thousands of square miles of land lost to desert encroachment .

Advisedly, the World Bank/ ADB loans should supplement the $42bn outstanding government revenue detailed in Falana’s letter to the Finance Minister, to radically transform and facilitate the enhancement of public infrastructure with increasing access also to qualitative education for children from low income bracket families.

Furthermore, it is necessary to also interrogate why we should even contemplate external loans when our CBN sits on almost $30bn of idle reserves. What indeed stops a smart portfolio investor borrowing at modest cost from J.P Morgan and other International bankers who warehouse our reserves and then to quickly turn around and invest the same funds in higher yield federal government of Nigeria bonds; in otherwords, we may ultimately end up actually borrowing back our own money!

Similarly, it is also worrisome that the 2016 budget has a domestic borrowing plan of N9bn, when in fact the CBN also sits comfortably on Trillions of idle Naira deposits, despite the odd requirement of interest payment on these funds which were mopped up from the surplus Naira liquidity in the market.

Business & Economy PZ Wilmar to begin 100% local production of groundnut oil Head of Sales, PZ Wilmar, product is currently about two

By Michael Eboh

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Z Wilmar, weekend stated that when the acquisition of the 27,000 square hectares of plantation in Calabar, Cross River State is completed, it would commence 100 per cent local production of its groundnut oil, Mamador, in Nigeria, as all the raw materials for the product would be sourced locally.

Speaking during the presentation of prizes to the winners in the Mamador Cook and Cruise promotion in Abuja, Mr. A.Moht Kumar, C M Y K

stated that currently, the product is produced locally, with an insignificant portion of the raw materials sourced outside the country.

He said, “We have our 27,000 square hectares of plantation in Calabar which is upcoming, once the acquisition and all other things are completed, 100 per cent of the raw materials for the product would be sourced locally.

He said the product is 100 per cent pure vegetable oil, is cholesterol free and provides best value for money for its customers due to its affordability and packaging.

According to him, the

years in Nigeria and is already making inroads and capturing the interest of a large number of Nigerians due to its quality.

Commenting on the promotion which saw a 19year student winning the star prize of a brand new car while three other customers won N1 million each, Kumar stated that the aim of the promo was to reward its loyal customers and also attract new customers.

According to him, the promotion was also part of its strategy to ensure that the product becomes a household name in Nigeria within five years of its existence.

Omoh Gabriel Babajide Komolafe Clara Nwachukwu Peter Egwuatu Yinka Kolawole Favour Nnabugwu Godwin Oritse Godfrey Bivbere Michael Eboh Franklin Alli Ifeyinwa Obi Rosemary Onuoha Nkiruka Nnorom CONTRIBUTORS Princewill Ekwujuru Jonah Nwokpoku Naomi Uzor Providence Obuh LAYOUT

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Group Business Editor Deputy Business Editor Energy Editor Asst. Business Editor Snr Bus. Correspondent Insurance Correspondent Maritime Correspondent Maritime Correspondent Energy Reporter Industry/Agric. Reporter Maritime Reporter Insurance Reporter Capital Market Reporter

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Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016—33 Send Opinions & Letters to: opinions1234@yahoo.com

Mathematical politicians

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ANY mathematical problems still elude solution. So, huge rewards are offered for any one that can resolve problems in such fields as partial differential equations, algebra, analysis or combinatorics. The contribution of Nigerian politicians is not to prove the truth or falsity of any mathematical problem, like the unsolved 116-year old Hilbert’s Problems which include algebraic curves, but to add their own mathematical problems.

Let us start with the simple mathematical problems they conjure, to a quite complex one.

Last Tuesday, February 16, 2016 the Kogi House of Assembly sat. There are 25 legislators; with five having legal issues, twenty remain. Out of this, fifteen members had passed a vote of confidence in the Speaker, Hon. Momoh Jimoh Lawal. But the remaining five legislators reconvened the House, sat in the chambers and impeached the speaker and the House leadership. The five then shared the House leadership amongst themselves with Hon. Imam Umar as new Speaker.

The simple mathematical problem posed by the Kogi State Assembly is: 5 legislators are

greater than 15 law makers (5>15) Discuss.

Another simple one, was the May 2013 election of the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF). The contest was between the incumbent, Governor Rotimi Amechi of Rivers State who was seeking re-election, and his challenger, Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State. Thirty five of the thirty six governors in the country were present with only the Gombe Governor being absent. The result was reflective of how many politicians are elected in the country; Amechi lost having scored 19 votes, while Jang won with 16 votes.

In his post-election speech during a Thanksgiving service, Governor Jang told the enthusiastic congregation “I can assure you that my emergence as the chairman Nigerian Governors’ Forum was the will of God because I went to Abuja for the NGF election not with the intention to contest but northern governors and the PDP Governors’ Forum endorsed my candidature. When (Ibrahim) Shema of Kastina stepped down, both forums insisted I should contest; I contested and won. So, it’s the will of God.”

On the allegation that he rigged the election results, the prayerful Jang declared “God is a democrat; he does not support rigging but if you rig and succeed, that means God approves of it.”

The simple mathematical problem the Governors’ Forum presented was; 16 votes are higher than 19 votes (16>19) Yet, another simple mathematical problem was in Oyo State where cultured businessman, Alhaji Rasheed Adewolu Ladoja assumed office as governor on May 29, 2003.

Almost immediately, he was engaged in a stiff intra-party conflict with godfather and party toughie, Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu who then President Olusegun Obasanjo described as the Garrison Commander who must be obeyed. Dr. Ahmadu Ali, then chair of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had also told the elected governor to take directives from Alhaji Adedibu.

Governor Ladoja refused and also rejected Adedibu’s demand that he (Adedibu) must be paid a percentage of the state’s monthly revenue allocation from the federation account.

Adedibu then decided to impeach the governor. The State Assembly was made up of 32

The simple mathematical problem posed by the Kogi State Assembly is: 5 legislators are greater than 15 law makers (5>15) Discuss

Itsekiri nation and politics of sur viv al surviv vival

By Bobson Gbinije

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EMOGRAPHICALLY, the Itsekiri people constitute a minute minority – a kind of microcosm in a macrocosm in the geo-political and heterogeneous nation called Nigeria. The history and origin of the Itsekiri people like other tribal groupings in the Old Western region of Nigeria, remains unambiguously lucid.

History has it that IGINUA (GINUWA I) the eldest son of Oba Olua left Benin in 1473 to found the Warri Kingdom in 1480. The Linguistic finesse and numerical superiority of the Yorubas which they met at ODE-ITSEKIRI (The today real traditional home of the Itsekiris) precipitated cultural osmosis on the Itsekiris and this led to language acculturation, and to the final adoption of the Yoruba dialect of (Itsekiri) as their Lingua franca (Benin and Warri: Meeting Points In History- The Itsekiri Perspective

by J.O.S AYOMIKE).

The Itsekiris, right from 1480 knew the nuts and bolts of “POLITICAL SURVIVALISM” and decided to take their political destiny in their own hands. They found favour in the sight of the colonial masters and this culminated in Chief DORE a shrewd Itsekiri businessman and vulpine litigant becoming a Pro-British political agent. The Itsekiris also acquired early education and this placed them at a vantage political position over their neighbours.

The death of Olu Akengbuwa in June 14th 1848 precipitated 88 years of interregnum. This afforded Chief Dore (1894-1932) the opportunity to entrench the Itsekiri political leadership over their neighbours, notably the Urhobos and the Ijaws. Chief Dore used his connection with C M Y K

the colonial overlords to get and authenticate legal verdicts in favour of Itsekiri ownership of lands-spreading far and wide.

This culminated in the profound principle of “ITSEKIRISM” – A pronuncimiento, an all-embracing ideological format that has as its fundamental fulcrum, the no-holds barred, and total non-negotiable insulation of the political, socio-economic and cultural interest and rights of the Itsekiri people. This remains the political guiding light of the Itsekiris till today.

In the 1959 pre-independence election the Itsekiris teamed up most inexorably with the Action Group (AG) led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo. They vied against the Northern People’s Congress (NPC) and the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC).

The aftermath of the elections ultimately gave rise to covet alliances, carpet-crossing and behind the scene manipulations, which saw the appointment of Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh (Omimi Ejoh) as Minister of Finance, Chief Alfred Rewane and Chief Etchie Ekwejunor as formidable members of the Action Group (AG). The political marriage between the Action Group (Yorubas) and the Itsekiris kicked off on a fine note and

Their politics is that of 'Self preservation' – through the use of the cry-wolf syndrome

members with 14 loyal to the governor, and 18 to Adedibu.

Now, Section 188(9) of the constitution stipulates that to impeach a governor or his deputy, there must be “ a resolution of the House of Assembly supported by not less than two-thirds majority of all its members” By ordinary mathematical calculation, twothirds of 32 is 22. But in the workings of the Oyo State Assembly, with the concurrence of the Federal Government and enforced by the Police, twothirds of 32, is 18. So Ladoja was impeached, and his deputy, a retired police boss, Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala replaced him. It took Ladoja almost one year or a quarter of his tenure to fight for reinstatement.

Now the difficult one. Joshua Chibi Dariye was governor of Plateau State. The state had 24 members in its Assembly. Eight of the legislators were captured by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) under its then Czar, Mr. Nuhu Ribadu. They were like prisonersof-war. One day, they were transported by their captors back to Jos, the capital with instructions to impeach the governor. Section 188(2) of the constitution states that impeachment proceedings can commence against a governor or deputy governor “Whenever a notice of any allegation in writing is signed by not less than one-third of the members of the House of Assembly” The impeachment merchants were in good constitutional standing as they had 8 or exactly one-third of the legislators in their custody. The problem was that when they got to the Assembly chambers, two of the legislators refused to co-operate, so 6 legislators or one-

this continued into the second republic Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and even till date?

During the life time of Chief Awolowo his crown of political glory was diademed with his choicest emerald and carbuncle “THE ITSEKIRIS”. They remained his greatest ally “A Biblical Jonathan and David relationship”. Anything that touched the Itsekiri touched the pupil of Awo’s eye, they were the apple of his heart.

He truly really loved the Itsekiris. The Itsekiris knew this and they rode on that glory using it to establish themselves firmly.

After the death of Awo, the Itsekiris only betrayed a negligible feeling of Papa’s absence, as the immediate past Olu of Warri Ogiame Atuwatse II and his political machines swung into action reasserting the hold of the Itsekiris. He didn’t do too badly as a Progressive.

The Itsekiris in their memorandum, submitted to the 1957 Sir Henry Willinks special commission on States creation strongly declared their profound support for the creation of the Midwest State. They did this because the then Oba of Benin and Chief Awo were in their camp. They were comfortable in the midst of these ones. At another stage again they prevaricated calling for the creation of a Coast State.

Their strategy was to ensure a fair representation and protect their interest as a minority group.

In the subsequent call for the creation of Bendel State, Itsekiris flew a political kite calling for the creation of Delta State.

When it got to the time to call for the creation of Delta State they jumped to their original idea of a Coast State. I think this greatly influenced the location of the Delta State Capital in Asaba. This of course did not go down well with the Ijaws and the Urhobos who then initiated a call for the creation of the “Real Delta State” with Capital in Warri, the Itsekiris again called for the creation of a “Federal Territory”.

quarter of the Assembly was all the impeachers had. This ordinarily should have put paid to the impeachment moves, but the movers did a mathematical recalculation that solved the constitutional challenge; twothird of 24 is 6. With that the impeachment process commenced.

Then came the actual impeachment; the impeachers remained 6 or one quarter, while the constitution prescribes twothirds as the minimum required to impeach a governor. This is where the politicians presented their ingenious mathematical problem which no mathematician in the world has been able to solve; two-thirds of 24 is 6 not 16. With that, six out of twenty four legislators impeached the governor.

Let me state that Nigerian politicians do not just set mathematical problems, sometimes they actually solve them. Back in 1979 when the country had 19 states, the new constitution stated that to be elected president, the winner must have a minimum 25 percent of the votes cast in twothirds of the states which nonmathematical minds assumed was 13 of the 19 states. The problem was that the leading candidate, Alhaji Shehu Aliyu Shagari had the required votes in 12 states and less in a thirteenth state. So the politicians sat to resolve the mathematical challenge, and they came up with the solution; two-thirds of 19 is not 13, but twelve two-thirds. With that Shagari became the elected president.

I suggest as a country, that we set aside a huge sum in dollars for anybody who can solve the mathematical problems compounded by our politicians.

The memorandum submitted to the Boundary Settlement Commission on 8th June, 1974 reads in part “……. it will once and for all times put an end to the possible extinction of the Itsekiri race. Faced as we are by an aggressive populous neighbour, a line must be drawn in terms of ownership of our land lost by progressive population growth and the economic manpower deriving therefrom, there might be no end to what our neighbours might claim. In the result, we will only be left with memories of our past and without any land we could call our home”. (This memorandum was signed by Prince K.B Omatseye, the then Chairman of Warri).

Some political analysts say the Itsekiris political strategy defies classification, some say it is amoeboid, some say it is confrontational and some call it politics of blackmail. But a basic understanding of the simple fact that the Itsekiris are a minority, but a politically vibrant minority group, shows that their politics is that of “Self preservation” – through the use of the cry-wolf syndrome to evoke support and sympathy from the powers that be. They also believe in myriad and aggressive lobbying (by any means) to ingratiate themselves and curry the favour of whosoever is listening. This is an uncontextualised political formula that has yielded great and all-embracing political dividend to the Itsekiris.

In the recent past when Warri was in a state of political topsy-turvydom and social schism, the Itsekiris' political strategy was rebranded to reflect a Fabian and Descartian format, as they were politically sandwiched between the Warri Urhobos and the Ijaws. The truth, facts and fiction about what was really onground remains a mystery till today. continues tomorow on pg 18

*Mr. Gbinije, a social critic, wrote from Warri, Delta State.

34—Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016

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ALL it the Sheriff shocker – that was what it was to most people. Olisa Metuh, the National Publicity Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) airily announced last week Tuesday, that in addition to the candidates who had earlier lined up to contest the vacant position of National Chairman of their party, “moves” were made by the party’s leaders to “bring” four others into the race and that two of them had accepted. His body language spoke volumes. The naughty smile on his face said it all: PDP power brokers were up to something sinister.

A couple of hours after, former two-time Governor of Borno State, Senator Nmodu Sheriff Ali Sheriff (alias SAS) was swornin as the substantive National Chairman of the PDP, subject to his ratification by a national convention of the Party. We were later to hear that the governors of the party, supported by former President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Executive Council (NEC) had shoved aside those nominated by the state chapters of the Party in the beneficiary North East Zone to impose Sheriff. Among those dazed by this “order from above” was former Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Abba Gana, who was the nominee from the same Borno State where Sheriff comes from.

Many PDP sympathisers were taken aback by this choice by the PDP top hierarchy. While newspapers reported that 20 Senators, 50 members of the House of Representatives elected on the Party’s platform, as well as 15 former ministers who served under Jonathan signalled their intention to leave the PDP unless this decision is rescinded, former spokesman of the PDP presidential campaign in last year’s election, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, summarised his own deflation by simply saying the party “needs prayers”.

The question on everybody’s lips was: why would PDP, a party that lost power last year and has faced a withering barrage of demarketing by the incumbent All Progressives Congress (APC) Federal Government through the anti-corruption drive, install as its leader at this juncture, a man widely perceived as the “godfather” or “sponsor” of Boko Haram?

Well, that is what they say.

But why has Sheriff never been arrested and put on trial like other accused “sponsors” of the Islamist Jihadists such as Senator Ali Ndume and the late Senator Ahmed Zanna? He is now in the opposition against the Federal Government APC, so it can no longer be said that he is being protected for political reasons. Perhaps,

Sheriff: PDP’s messiah or undertaker? the security agencies know more than those who are accusing him? Otherwise, why would he be walking free and become so emboldened as to take up the mantle of leadership of the opposition party and openly boast that he would lead it to dethrone the ruling APC? Perhaps, we need to examine how Sheriff got mixed up with Boko Haram. He was elected to the Senate in 1999 from the All People’s Party (APP) which was renamed the All Nigerian People’s Party (ANPP).

In 2003, he decided to run for governorship. Following a factional split in the party, Sheriff, who is seen as a gifted grassroots politician, was able to snatch the party’s governorship ticket from the then incumbent Governor Mala Kachalla, who was making a re-election bid.

Sheriff reportedly achieved this feat by allying with Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf, the leader of the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s

My guess is that the PDP governors chose to see Sheriff’s political sagacity and close their eyes to his public perception. It is a very pregnant and delicately poised gamble

Teachings and Jihad) or simply the Boko Haram sect which, like many Islamic groups in the North at that time, believed that Western education and lifestyle are sinful. Governor Kachalla, sensitive to this yearning, had followed the herd and introduced the criminal aspect of Sharia law in 2001 as other states in the predominantly Muslim North had done.

Both Kachalla and Sheriff were for Sharia and yet Sheriff defeated the governor for the ANPP governorshop ticket. It must have been because Sheriff was a more popular politician whose alliance with Boko Haram was the game changer.

When Sheriff was sworn into office as governor in 2003, he made good his deal with Ustaz Yusuf and appointed one of the Boko Haram chiefs, Alhaji Buji Foi, as the Commissioner for Religous Affairs.

However, somewhere along the line in Sheriff’s eight-year reign, he fell out with the radical Islamic group, and Foi left his government to rejoin Ustaz Yusuf. By 2009 when Boko Haram became ever more recalcitrant towards the laws of the land and increasingly confronted the police and other agents of state security, Sheriff, as second time governor, was seen to be involved in the events that led to the arrest, detention and extra-judicial killing of Ustaz Yusuf in police custody in July 2009.

It was from this moment that Boko Haram went ballistic. They started attacking police, military and other uniformed government agencies’ barracks, institutions, checkpoints and outposts. They also targeted Sheriff, his family and political associates. Among those they assassinated were Sheriff’s younger brother, Alhaji Goni Mustapha Sheriff; former Borno State Chairman of the ANPP and Sheriff’s townsman, Alhaji

Awana Ngala; the late governorship candidate sponsored by Sheriff for the 2011 election, Alhaji Modu Fanami Gubio and Sheriff’s bosom friends, Alhaji Mustapha Fulawama and Bukar Goni Kols.

When, in September 2014 Australian Negotiator, Dr. Stephen Davis, came to Nigeria and accused Sheriff of being a Boko Haram Sponsor, Sheriff debunked it, saying: “I am ready to face any panel in the world that is set up to clear my name.

I am ready for any investigation”.

What must have happened was that Sheriff went into an unholy pact with Boko Haram, used them to shoulder aside Kachalla and become governor. When they became troublesome and created security problems for him, he turned against them. In revenge, they turned their guns on his closest allies, including his in-law, Fanami Gubio, whom he had anointed to succeed him. When Gubio was killed, SAS anointed Alhaji Kassim Shettima, an astute banker and the brilliant and most promising commissioner in his cabinet, to replace him.

The fact of the matter is that the tag of SAS as “Boko Haram sponsor” has managed to stick till date. In politics, public relations and marketing, perception is everything. When Sheriff was still with the APC as one of their topmost leaders and outstanding facilitator of the merger between the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigerian People’s Party (ANPP), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and eventually the “new” PDP, the then ruling PDP stridently booed him as “Boko Haram Sponsor” and “founding father”.

Now that leaders have made him their National Chairman, you cannot blame the APC if they equally boo him as such. That is fair politics.

Nmodu Sheriff as the National Chairman of the PDP might do the party more harm than good. A party that is picking the pieces and trying to rebrand from its halcyon days of majesty charcterised by impositions and impunities cannot afford to approach its political recuperation with an imposition that could cause its disintegration. It can ill afford to be led by a man as stigmatised as Sheriff is.

My guess is that the PDP governors chose to see Sheriff’s political sagacity and close their eyes to his public perception. It is a very pregnant and delicately poised gamble. Time will tell if SAS will be PDP’s messiah. Or its undertaker.

OPINION Budget 2016 : Why heads should roll

By Dan Owegie

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POPULAR Nigerian local parlance says if there are too many fragments in gari (cassava flour), the blind would get to know. This has become the lot of Nigerians with the 2016 Federal government budget brouhaha. First, Nigerians were alarmed shortly after the formal presentation of the N6.3 trillion budget by President Muhammad Buhari, then the budget was missing!

This was promptly followed by denials from some lawmakers who feel they are closer to Mr. President.

Then accusations and counter accusations. The blame game was next, buck passing followed and then Nigerians were told again that the missing budget was found and it was just a matter of copies to be made available to law makers. When law makers got their copies and compared it with notes taken when Mr. President made his presentation, they found out unacceptable variations. The total figure of N6.3 trillion announced by the President suddenly changed to N6.7trillion in the copies distributed among NASS members. Again, the uproar and confusion, then a formal admittance by the Federal government of fraud in the budget process which is currently under investigation.

When the two arms of the National Assembly, met recently, they declared that the 2016 budget was full of errors, hence it will not be passed on February 25 as earlier promised. Following the monumental national embarrassment the Nigeria’s Ministry of Budget and National Planning took responsibility for the situation, saying it understands why the document was full errors. Three points stood out from reasons adduced by C M Y K

the budget office.

First, the ministry said the errors in the 2016 Budget were due to lack of technical knowledge of the bureaucracy on the Zero-Based Budgeting System adopted for the first time in the country to put the appropriation plan together.

Secondly, the Director of Information, Ministry of National Planning Mr. Charles Dafe, said in a statement that civil servants saddled with the task of preparing the budget for their various ministries, departments and agencies were still grappling with some of the technicalities of the new Zero-Based Budgeting approach as it is still new to them.

Thirdly, according to the director, before now, government used the envelope system of budgeting, which has been in use by the Federal government since 2003 and works by providing each MDA with a maximum amount for its capital and recurrent needs for the fiscal year. This appears to have been jettisoned under the zero budget system. The envelope system, he said is in contrast to the Zero-Based Budgeting approach, which is a system of budgeting that reverses the working process of traditional budgeting by ensuring that all expenses must be justified in the new Pure ZBB is period.

Adopting zero budgeting for not operated the 2016 is being fingered as a major reason for the budget by any fiasco. Pure ZBB is not operated by any country on a country at a national scale, but can be national adopted in times of recession or after a national disaster or war. scale It must not be done every year

and in every government department. Why are we adopting it this time around?

Zero-based budgeting requires a justification of expenditure, and has been adopted in times of economic anxiety, and at a time when reductions in government spending have had to be made. Zero based budgeting is used in big organisations in the United States to reshape the organisations. If we must get ZBB right, we must get our attitudes right as well. Theoretical Zero Based Budget focuses on short and long-term gains.

We are glad to know that the 2016 Budget proposals submitted to the National Assembly (NASS) by President Buhari, were very well structured and targeted at reviving the economy, notwithstanding the fall in the oil price.

It is therefore disturbing to note that the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, as well as those handling budget issues in all Ministries and Extra Ministerial Agencies (MDAs) are grappling to master the technicalities in the ZBB template to address all irregularities in the budget. Budget is a very serious document because after the nation’s constitution, the next most important legal instrument is the budget.

For a country like Nigeria, which is grappling with how to lift millions out of poverty, this is not the best time for people who have little knowledge of budget process to begin experimentating. But most annoying is the speculation that some officials of ministries made some inputs and are responsible for the national embarrassment.

From the foregoing, the zero budget system must not be used next year. Government must revert back to the envelop system or incremental budgeting in the next budget cycle.

But for those who responsible for the budget fiasco, they be made to pay for the national embarrassment.

Mr. Owegie, a chieftain of APC, writes from Benin City, Edo State.

Vanguard, MONDAY, February 22 2016 —35

High Speed!

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AVID Venn believes he has one of the most exciting jobs in the world. As boss of Spectranet, the rapidly emerging Nigerian internet solutions company, he has always believed in telecommunications.

And he thinks that telecom is going to be the future of the world: “We are already there now”, he says, “ with smart phones that can be used to talk to anyone in the world. It’s not magic anymore because it’s taken for granted.

And I really think that telecom is going to become a part of everyone’s life much more than it has already done”. Indeed, telecommunications is a fascinating, fast paced industry that now influences every aspect of daily life from normal voice phone calls, connectivity to the Internet, satellite communications, surfing the web, fax transmissions, video conferencing, high speed data communications, and cable TV. The field of telecommunications is no doubt one of the most exciting occupational fields that modern society has to offer.

David Venn CEO, Spectranet

Quality and speed This perhaps explains why Venn opted out of school at 15 to join the British Telecom. His 30year on the job experience in the industry has seen him traverse the telecoms space; holding Clevel positions with telecoms giants such as Vodafone, Celtel, London Interconnect and Augere. He’s also held top posts at Cable & Wireless, Optus Communications and Startec.

Venn was made CEO of Spectranet a little over a year ago.

His task? To pick up the business and expand it. “What I found was that spectranet had built a network that was very good and people that used it really appreciated it for its quality and speed. But then, a lot of people hadn’t heard about Spectranet very much.

When we did market research people couldn’t say what we did.

Some thought we were a TV company; others thought we were a sportswear company. The name wasn’t out there and when you look at the telecommunications market, there are some very strong brands that have invested a lot of money in getting their brand C M Y K

the worst customer service enthuses Venn “and we have experience. As an industry, managed to grow our market in telecom requires huge capital such a way that we have plenty investment to operate. of capacity on our network. A Consequently, they also require year ago when I came, our a massive customer base to break customers were limited in their even. Since coming to Nigeria, speed. Everyone was capped at Venn has acquainted himself two megabits and it worked very with the market and he finds that well but we now have totally customers seem to have suffered unlimited speed that has the same fate, which is; operators doubled our customer base in the come along, they start off well, past year and because of this, then they don’t plan, they don’t we’ve been ordering more base expand and then quality goes stations (radio towers) every down and people move on the month to cope with our capacity next one. “That seems to be the for growth. That gives us more pattern here in this market”, he capacity on our network.

On top of that, we are says. And we are determined not to follow that path”. His plan is connected to four submarine to expand the business big time cables because we buy capacity and grow it from a customer base to London which is connected to to a base ten times bigger. The the global internet which we put on to our network company has and then we since put in place distribute back a lot of capacity What I found through our 4G planning to make was that LTE network to sure it sustains its capacity curve all our customers”. spectranet had the time: “One of In the markets the challenges built a network where Spectranet that’s still left for has rolled out, that was very the whole Venn noticed a industry, not just huge demand for good and for us, is that data and the people that almost all of the abundance of 19 million capacity on the used it really internet users in Spectranet appreciated it this country are network has using the old enabled the for its quality mobile 3G company to and speed. technology to double its access the customer base in internet on their these markets smart phones. over the past year.

They are yet to know what One of the things Venn has learnt broadband is. And I think the in the course of his career in other challenge in the market at telecoms to understand the the moment is that most internet needs of the market. users don’t really understand the difference between what 4G Innovative would give them and what they solutions are currently using. It’s really going to be a big educational In his words: “If you really exercise explaining to people understand what the market what it’s about because that’s the wants and what really resonates biggest thing that’s holding back well with the market you can go consumers from taking on the out there and come up with service. That’s what we have to innovative solutions. And what try and get across”. we are offering is very different Investment in 4G mobile because it’s not available broadband networks has fuelled anywhere else at the moment.

Spectranet’s performance in the And I think that if you’re David Venn race to exploit the potential of this focused on what the customer advanced infrastructure and wants then you’ll get it right; it benefit Nigerian customers in doesn’t matter what the future is 4G LTE. It then terms of reliability, service level competition is doing”. Following migrated to the new Fourth and speed. This is why Venn the lead of Spectranet, a number Generation (4G) Long Term thinks Spectranet is ahead of of operators in the Nigerian market are now positioning to get Evolution (LTE) in August of 2014 everyone in the game: “In terms of value for money, a piece of the profitable 4G LTE affording users a 50 per cent speed increase reaching well, we are not cheap but we action, and as such, some are 109Mbps. Venn says the are very good. We are definitely doing what Venn is quick to response to this brand visibility the biggest 4G operator in the describe as ‘muzzling in’.

“That’s been done under some and migration has been relatively markets where we operate and good: “I think it’s fair to say now we intend to keep it that way”. spectrum that’s available and that the biggest thing that people Since Venn took the reins of the which is not theirs. They are have seen about Spectranet is company, Spectranet has rolled doing this because they’ve that it has a much higher profile out in Lagos, Abuja and Ibadan. realized that they’ve got to have In the first quarter of this year 4G to maintain the size of now with the market and our it rolled out in five new territories business they currently have customers in terms of branding and then by the end of 2016, it otherwise 70 percent of their and communication”.

Telecoms have always topped would launch in another five: business could be wiped out in the list of industry sectors with “2016 is a big growth year for us”, three years and obviously the job of anybody that’s got a company BRIEF BIO as large as theirs must make sure that they remain in business and •Venn opted out of school at 15 to join the British then plan and strategize for the Telecom future.

•Held C-level positions with telecoms giants such as I think that there would be a lot Vodafone, Celtel, London Interconnect and Augere. of pressure on the regulator to •He’s also held top posts at Cable & Wireless, Optus issue licenses because everybody is waking up to the Communications and Startec fact that data is where they need •Venn was made CEO of Spectranet a little over a to be. And they haven’t got a year ago. future without it”.

names out there”. Venn further explains that prior to coming on board at Spectranet; marketing wasn’t a part of the culture of the company. He says that ‘It was more a case of ‘build a network that works well and people will buy ’. Although he’s now managed to get the name out there, one of the biggest challenges is how to communicate to people what the company does and what it means to them.

The task of getting the name better known and build a solid customer enabled Spectranet to emerge with a new corporate identity that has been described as the “hallmark of a new spirit targeted at providing fast and affordable internet connectivity to Nigerians”.

Spectranet emerged on the Nigerian telecoms scene in 2009, launching its revolutionary WiMax capability with innovative features and then very quickly realized that the technology of the

36—Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016

Strange killer disease in Lekki Lagos:

How I lost three children in three weeks •Agonising account of mother of six

By Sola Ogundipe, Chioma Obinna & Gabriel Olawale

L

OSING a child is one of the most devastating experiences that can befall a parent. For a mother in particular, the grief and trauma of losing one child never goes away, so how does she even begin to contemplate the burden and distress of losing three children one after the other?

This is currently the plight of Bose Akuazu, who lost three children to a strange illness that has befallen the Otodo Gbame Community in Eti Osa Local Government Area of Lagos state. Fondly called Mama Twins, the mother of six, who at a rough guess should be in her 30s, was still in shock when Vanguard visited her home weekend.

Fatal Febrile Rash Illness Looking lost and dejected, Bose sat helplessly at the entrance to her home, in the heart of the bereaved community popularly called 'Ikate Waterside,' where the strange disease has wreaked havoc and so far eluded identification while claiming not less than 25 children over the past few weeks.

The unknown sickness, described by the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris as a fatal Febrile Rash Illness, struck without warning weeks ago and has so far snuffed life out of at least 25 children aged between eight and 72 months including Bose's 8-year-old son and her 9months set of twins.

An estimated 34 other cases of sick children have been listed by the state's health authorities, even as Idris assured Lagosians to remain calm as laboratory results of blood

From left; Mrs. Bose, the bereaved mother and baby Taiwo with symptoms of the disease.

samples taken from the victims are being examined to identify the disease pathogen.

It was not an easy task getting Bose to speak about her loss as she was obviously still grieving and trying to come to terms as to why the yet-to-be-identified illness took away her beloved children and robbed her of the joy of motherhood. Her husband was not at home when Vanguard visited, and it took as much patience and persuasion, as well as pleas and assurances to compel her to open up.

Tragic loss: Her first statement was instructive. "Ina omo jo mi (I have suffered the tragic loss of children). I am a full time housewife.

My husband said I should be a housewife full time so that I can take proper care of our six children. Despite that, death still came and took away three of them." Bose, fondly called 'mama twins' can no longer answer that name as the yet-tobe-identified disease which struck her family late January and early February took away her beloved twins and their elder brother.

Strange disease Recounting how it all started, Bose, who is Egun by tribe, tearfully narrated how the strange disease took away her twins - Taiwo, a boy, and Kehinde, a girl -just when they were about to start walking. She also lamented how the cold hands of death snatched away Jisime, the twins' immediate elder bother when he had grown up enough to run errands for her.

"I carried their pregnancies for

good nine months without any health challenges, and after their birth, they grew normally and did not give me any problem. My children are healthy. If at all any of them falls ill, within two to three days that child is back on his or her feet.

But Taiwo, Kehinde and Jisime fell sick and were unable to make it," she lamented.

"The fire of children burnt me, what we thought to be minor sickness took away three children from me. I can no longer be called mama twins because a strange disease has rendered the name useless. The children that I thought would become lawyers, doctors and accountants are gone."

Recounting the events of the fateful evening, she said the first sign of the illness manifested as a high body temperature.

"My thought was that the hot afternoon weather was responsible, so I gave Taiwo a cool shower. The following morning I noticed something like

I gave him pap but he complained it was 'pepperish. All the herbs that were available in the house were given to him.

When there was no improvement, we took him to the hospital but he could not make it

She too left us.

All this happened towards the end of last month January.

But there was yet more trouble in store for the Akauzu family.

During the first week of February, Jisimi, the fourth child, a healthy and energetic boy, b e g a n coughing. He was running Lagos State governor, Ambode...contending h i g h with the strange disease temperature and was not acceptchickenpox all over his body ing his food. "I gave him pap and also when I wanted to feed but he complained it was him, he refused so I tried to 'pepperish. All the herbs that breastfeed him, but he rejected were available in the house that also. were given to him. When there "Then I forced him to drink was no improvement, we took agbo (local herb potion) and him to the hospital but he could when there were still no not make it. changes, I decided to take him "The twins were nine months to the Primary Healthcare old while their brother was Centre which is about 20 eight. I had six children but minutes drive from our house. death has claimed three and left He was attended to and I me with three. My husband is brought him back home, a fisherman but we are not in however, despite all the the season of fishing now so he treatment, he died three days hasn't much money with him. later.

"We cannot afford to go to any of the few private hospitals that Second are nearby because they charge death too high. There is not one Primary Healthcare Centre in this In her narration, Bose said area; the closest is about 20 she did not know it, but her minutes way by road. travails were only just begin- Sometimes the PHC staff comes ning. "While I was still here to immunise the little mourning Taiwo, as if his death children. That's all, " she exwas not enough, Kehinde plained. started her own illness. We tried Child killer loose: Bose is not our possible best but it was not alone in her predicament. Maenough. ziling Zanu, another

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016—37

Pope calls for one-year moratorium on death penalty

P

OPE Francis, who has

The only source of water in Otodo community. community member that lost his granddaughter also spoke. "My granddaughter started her own sickness on New Year's Day, 1st January, 2016, but the following day, Saturday, her situation got worse and they brought her to me. I gave her some herbs that I had at home but the situation remained the same so we took her to the hospital. Aside from presenting with symptoms of chickenpox, high temperature and reluctance to eat, her stools were also different from normal.

"On Sunday evening after we brought her back from the hospital, her mother suddenly Mr. Hupena Zanu, Bale of Otodo community. rushed to my house to raise alarm about her daughter's the hospital the child died so they condition. By the time she and my wife could get back to the child, returned the corpse to us for burial."

SOS to govt: "Since government she had given up the ghost."

Agnes whose son suffered the same doctors started coming about two weeks fate declined to give details. "I leave ago we have not recorded any casualty.

Their coming is frequent and they adeverything to God," she muttered. minister immunisations to the children and give drugs free of charge.

Alarming level "In this community we are more than of casualties 10,000 and our major challenges One of the Chiefs in the community presently are schools, hospitals, potable took Vanguard around to see some of water and public toilets, so we are apthe children who had developed the tell pealing to Lagos State Government to tale symptoms of the strange illness, but help us .

"We want public toilets because at had benefitted from early intervention present, the only way for people to by the Lagos State Government.

In a reaction to the development, the defecate is by the riverside or inside the Bale Todo of Todo-Gbame, Hupena bush which is not good. We have no good Dasu, said the strange disease was not drinking water in this community. Our limited to their community. He admitted only source of drinking water is to go to that it commonly struck during the dry Makoko in Yaba, where some of our season, but the recent level of casualties people reside.

That is where we would buy the water was alarming. and transport it with canoes and then "The disease is called 'amudi' just that this year's casualty is alarming. To be sell to the people back here. Due to the sincere the children that have died are advantage that we are very close to river, up to 25, even on the day that doctors some people dig small wells close to first came to respond to the outbreak, a their houses, which they use to bathe, child died in their hands. They carried cook and do domestic washing, but her inside the bus and on their way to nobody drinks it."

repeatedly called for an end to the death penalty, yesterday proposed that Catholic leaders suspend the practice for a year to mark the Holy Year of Mercy.

“I make an appeal to the conscience of all rulers, so that we can achieve an international consensus for the abolition of the death penalty,” the Pope said in his Sunday address in St. Peter’s Square.

“And I propose to those among them who are Catholic to make a courageous and exemplary gesture: that no sentence is executed in this Holy Year of Mercy.”

The Pope launched the Jubilee Year of Mercy on December 8. The church’s formal yearlong push for mercy and forgiveness is set to continue through November 20, when the feast of Christ the King will be celebrated.

Francis voiced his support Sunday for an international conference taking place on Monday in Rome called A World Without the Death Penalty, saying he hoped the conference would bring renewed energy to the mission to end capital punishment.

The Pope underlined the possibility of redemption for offenders and a “criminal justice open to the hope of reintegration into society.”

“The commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ has absolute value and applies to both the innocent and the guilty,” he said on Sunday. Francis follows prede-cessors Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II in speaking out against the death penalty.

•Pope Francis

Syria: US, Russia reach provisional deal on ceasefire

U

.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said yesterday he and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov had reached a provisional agreement on terms of a cessation of hostilities in Syria and the sides were closer to a ceasefire than ever before.

But he indicated there were still issues to be resolved and he did not expect any immediate change on the ground.

Violence continued to rage in Syria on yesterday . Multiple bomb blasts in a southern district of Damascus killed at least 62 people, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, while twin car bombs killed at least 57 people in Homs, the monitoring group said.

Kerry said he had spoken to Lavrov on several occasions, including earlier yesterday and that he anticipated U.S. President

U.N under pressure to end Burundi violence

W

HEN U.N. Security Council envoys flew to Burundi in January to try to end months of violence, the central African country’s leader flatly rejected their offer of help and hundreds protested against what they saw as meddling.

A month later, with fears of a new ethnic conflict growing a decade after a civil war ended, diplomats say Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will step up peace efforts by visiting Burundi for talks on Tuesday with President Pierre Nkurunziza.

The U.N. is under growing pressure to show

it can halt the bloodshed in Burundi, two decades after the 1994 genocide of ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus by the Hutu majority in neighboring Rwanda, which has a similar ethnic make-up.

Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin would talk in the coming days to complete the provisional agreement in principle.

The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed Lavrov and Kerry had spoken by phone on Sunday about conditions for a ceasefire. It said discussions were on ceasefire conditions which would exclude operations against organizations “recognized as terrorist by U.N. Security Council”.

Russian air strikes launched in September against rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad have exacerbated suffering and destruction in Syria, where a five-year-old civil war has killed more than a quarter of a million people.

Assad said on Saturday he was ready for a ceasefire on condition “terrorists” did not use a lull in fighting to their advantage and that countries backing insurgents stopped supporting them. The Syrian opposition had earlier said it had agreed to the “possibility” of a temporary truce, provided there were guarantees Damascus’s allies including Russia would cease fire, sieges were lifted and aid deliveries were allowed country-wide.

Boris Johnson says UK is better off outside EU

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ONSERVATIVE Mayor of London Boris Johnson has said he has decided “after a huge amount of heartache” to campaign for Britain to leave the EU. He said the EU was eroding British

sovereignty and PM David Cameron’s reform deal would not bring about the fundamental change that was needed.

His decision pits him against Mr Cameron, who says Britain will be “safer and stronger ” within the EU.

38—VANGUARD, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016

•Omu: My entourage abandoned me on the coup day

How Murtala’s brashness cost him his life — Gen. Omu •Senators, Reps may frustrate anti graft war MAJ. Gen. Paul Ufuoma Omu (rtd), soldier and administrator, rose to the rank of Major-General and was a member of the Armed Forces Ruling Council, AFRC before his exit from the army in 1990. Omu served as military governor of the South-Eastern State during the Murtala Mohammed administration and was a point man of the Muhammadu Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade between 1984 and 1985 when he served as chairman of one of the feared military tribunals established by that government to try alleged corrupt politicians.

Omu also served as director-general of the Nigerian Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, NIPSS before his recent engagement as chairman of the board of the institute.

Omu is married to Stella, a former senator who rose to become the Senate Chief Whip and in that position became the first and only female president pro tempore of the Senate.

In this interview he shares his views on the events that culminated in the death of Gen. Murtala Muhammed forty years ago among other issues. Excerpts:

I

By Egufe Yafugborhi & Ochuko Akuopha

T has been a quiet life since you disengaged from the military. What have you been really doing?

It has been a quiet life since I was born. Even in active service, I was not known to be a loud person; I have been quiet from youth till I joined the army and retired, so there has been no difference at all.

Why did you choose this quiet retirement to your community above the common practice of generals taking to partisan politics after retirement?

I gave that background that it is my nature. The army didn’t change me and politics certainly is not for me. I prefer

C M Y K

my quiet life and that is why I retired home. I have been home now for 25 years since I retired and that is my life; I am not involved even in local politics.

But you are the immediate past President General of the Isoko Development Union, IDU. That’s more like local politics?

The IDU is non-political. It is a socio-cultural organization and it wasn’t like I wanted to be PG. There was a crisis and they pleaded with me to come to rescue and bring some sanity into the system and that was what I did for two years. As you know, I have handed over to a younger person to carry on.

There was stability for the two years I came in. I told

them I was a PDP card carrying member, but that doesn’t make me a politician.

I can vote but I didn’t seek for political office. Being in IDU is sheer community service; it has nothing to do with politics.

You were one of the key players when the late Gen. Murtala Muhammed was Head of State. Can you share your personal view about the life and times of the former Head of State and what he stood for?

This question is a difficult one because when you talk about your former boss, you have to be very careful of what you say. Muhammed was an outgoing and very energetic person and when he took over government, he had to appoint

AKEREDOLU

people to assist him; that is, governors to take over the states and ministers to run the ministries and so on.

I was in far away Maiduguri as Brigade Commander then when, on the radio, I was appointed military governor of South Eastern State, now Cross River and Akwa Ibom States. So that was my first direct relationship, because in the army he was in the Signals while I was in the Infantry. We really did not work close together before the government in which he became Head of State and I was military governor under him.

He was very energetic and hard working and sometimes he was brash. When I say brash, I mean he was in a hurry to get things happen.

Unfortunately, he could not achieve much before he was assassinated. We came on board with him in August 1975 and in February 1976, he was assassinated. I didn’t work with him that close for up to one year.

The public knew the man as full of integrity and plans to change Nigeria positively.

From your position what were some of those specific aspirations and strategies that his government intended to achieve?

For instance, there was this much controversial issue of the sack of civil servants, the reorganization of the civil service.

Security and protocol It wasn’t a popular move, but he did it and it drove some fear into the system. Then another major thing was his choice of Abuja as Federal Capital Territory. Those were parts of the major landmarks of his administration.

But generally as I was saying, he was a very brash man. Sometimes he didn’t care whose ox was gored. He was a very vibrant young man but unfortunately, he couldn’t carry everyone along before he was assassinated.

Actually it was all because of a breach of security and protocol. They advised him to go with escort, but he was saying he was popular and doubted if anyone would kill him? He didn’t move into Government House at that time from his residence where he was as a military officer. He would go to work like that in Dodan Barracks. He didn’t move into Dodan Barracks as he was living in the army official residence in Ikoyi.

How did you receive news of his assassination?

It was a shock. As Military Governor of Cross River, I was still doing familiarization tour Continues on page 39

Sometimes Murtala didn’t care whose ox was gored. He was a very vibrant young man but unfortunately, he couldn’t carry everyone along before he was assassinated

VANGUARD, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016 — 39

Senators, Reps may frustrate anti graft war Continues from page 38 of the state, visiting the local government areas and all that.

On that day, I had crossed the river to the main land which is now Akwa Ibom. I was in Itu, visiting the local colony when they put a call to me that I should come back; that the Head of State had been assassinated.

It was a shock and I must tell you people panicked, and before I returned to Oron to Calabar, most of my entourage had disappeared before we got to Government House.

After that the news came that the coup had been crushed, but as it affected me, I was cool headed and I stayed in Government House until I heard that the coup had been crushed; I didn’t panic. I stayed there till August 1978 when a normal reshuffle was made and I moved back to Ministry of Defence.

What do you think Murtala would have done differently to make Nigeria a better place than it was before his life was suddenly cut short?

When we were appointed, there was across the board, order that everybody should use 504 Peugeot cars, so even the cars we inherited from the other governors, we sold them.

My predecessor was using Citroën DS 23 if you knew how palatial that car was.

Different world We gave them up and we were using 504. The Head of State was using 504. Things are different now, if you ask me what is happening when my local government councillor will come in a jeep to visit me, it is a different world to me.

Forty years is a long period.

I would have forgotten many things, but what stands out about General Muhammed was that he came and wanted to give Nigeria a new direction.

He wanted to reduce corruption; he wanted to reduce the indolence in the civil service, he wanted to streamline the civil service and he didn’t have time to do that.

What is government after all?

Government is to make life comfortable for the people. So, any government that cannot do that is a failure.

Do you have much faith in the present administration’s fight against corruption?

I pray for any government to succeed. If we go into many details, you will find out that President Muhammadu Buhari had used me as an C M Y K

•Omu: National Assembly will not make Buhari’s anti-corruption war easy

individual to fight corruption.

If you remember the tribunals that he set up during his time as military head of state, I was heading the tribunals.

People were saying ‘how can this quiet man sentence someone to 80 years imprisonment’? People didn’t believe I could do it, but in my quiet way, I was doing it. But like a typical Nigerian thing, what happened to Muhammed happened to Buhari; he didn’t stay long before he was removed.

As soon as Buhari was elected President, Radio Nigeria came to me asking, ‘if Buhari calls you to do what you did for him in 1984, 1985, will you do it?’ I told them now, I don’t have legs to run. I am old. Besides, even if I can do it, this type of National Assembly we have will not make it easy.

For this thing to succeed, you need a law to back it but the people making the laws are looking back; there is skeleton in their cupboards. If they make the law, it will hook them; so it is going to be difficult but let Buhari shake the system. The good thing is that the anti-corruption fight is shaking the system, but the corruption is so deep rooted that it will take a long time to succeed.

Comparing your time in the military, what do you make of the prolonged failure of the present military to fully

overcome the Boko Haram in one section of the country?

I was in that region when I was appointed as governor. I was a Brigade Commander in Maiduguri, had battalions in Mubi, in Yola; all the hot spots were under my command in those days and it was all peaceful.

From Mubi to the Cameroon border is just about three kilometers. The atmosphere was so free at that time, you could use naira to buy things on the other side of the border in Cameroon. Things were going on smoothly.

Fanatical aspect Today, we are talking about insurgency. Insurgency is a fanatical aspect of the human being whether it is religious, political and all that. Boko Haram say they don’t want Western civilization.

They don’t want Western way of governance and this democracy we are practicing.

They don’t even want Buhari there.

They will prefer an emir being head of state. This is the kind of ideology these people have. It will embarrass any right thinking person that these are people driving jeeps, using automatic machine guns and everything that is a product of science, yet they don’t want to go to school.

Talking about fighting this

sect, insurgency is difficult to find anywhere in the world.

So when you talk about people fighting for their fanatical ideology, rightly or wrongly, particularly when they are using the natives, you don’t know who is who.

Given your knowledge of the area in your active days in the military, if given the opportunity to offer some measure of advise, what would you tell the government and the armed forces to do to tame Boko Haram.?

Honestly, I can’t give any advice because the scenarios are so different. The type of training I had was to contain a situation of riots. That was how we were taught this thing develops; from riot to protests against something then it will result to violence, into insurgency.

Non violent agitation Non violent agitation then violent agitation and that was what we were taught. I didn’t learn about somebody loading bombs into a car and driving it into a church in session or somebody blowing himself up and thinking he will go to heaven by so doing.

Honestly, I don’t know what to advice. What is happening now didn’t happen during my time.

If we go into many details, you will find out that President Muhammadu Buhari had used me as an individual to fight corruption

40 —Vanguard, MONDAY FEBRUARY 22 , 2016

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Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016—41

BENUE SOUTH RE-RUN VICTORY:

reconciliation

Mark calls for

•As APC denies congratulating him power in 2019.“

•PDP, Ekweremadu, Governors hail him

By Ben Agande, Dayo Johnson, Peter Duru, Henry Umoru, & Omezia Ajayiiri

M

AKURDI—IMMEDIATE past Senate President, who was declared winner of last Saturday's senatorial re-run election in the Benue South district, by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Senator David Mark, yesterday called for reconciliation among the people of the area, promising not to betray the confidence reposed in him by electorate.

This came as All Progressives Congress, APC, denied congratulating Senator David Mark on his victory.

However, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its Governors have congratulated David Mark, on his victory,.

Mark who spoke at his Otukpo residence, said his victory was another call to service that required the collective efforts of the people to ensure a greater Idoma nation.

He said: "Now that the elections are over, I beg those who fought me to join hands with me to build the Idoma nation, because this victory is for each and every one of us irrespective of our political, religious or tribal differences."

Recall that Mark polled a total of 84, 192 to defeat his challenger, Daniel Onjeh of the All Progressives Congress, APC who garnered 71, 621 votes. He won in five local government areas while Onjeh won in four.

APC denies congratulating David Mark

Meanwhile, APC has denied congratulating Senator Mark on his victory.

While debunking a report credited to an online publication, APC National Secretary, Mai Mala Buni said: "The APC has not issued any congratulatory message on the Benue South Senatorial rerun election."

The statement which did not recognize Sen. Mark as having been duly elected referred to him as "the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate in Saturday's Benue South Senatorial re-run election."

According to Buni, "the 'congratulatory message' purportedly obtained from a twitter handle, not emanate from the party. The purported twitter message itself is not credited to any APC official. The general public is advised to ignore the false message. The APC reiterates that only the National Chairman and the National Secretary officially speaks for the party", he C M Y K

added.

However, the PDP and Ekweremadu in a separate congratulatory messages, hailed Mark on his victory.

Ekweremadu, described the victory as one which reaffirmed Mark's April 2015 victory in the district.

He said: “I congratulate Senator Mark and our loyal party men and women on this well deserved-victory, which reaffirms his previous victory in April 2015. 'We have always been confident that even if the election should be conducted a million times, PDP and Senator Mark would still win as many times.''

PDP congratulates Mark.

On his part, National Chairman of PDP, Senator Ali Modu-Sheriff, in a statement

through the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, quoted the chairman as saying that the victory of senator Mark had left no one in doubt of the popularity of Senator Mark.

“According to him: “It is instructive to note that the PDP had won 70 percent of all the polls conducted since May 29, 2015, a development that underlines the fact of its deep roots and popularity as a brand, irrespective of the“transitory setback of the 2015 general elections.

“In this regard, the leadership of the party; the National Working Committee, the PDP Governors’ Forum, the National Caucus, the PDP Caucus in the National Assembly and the Board of Trustees, BoT are working very hard to ensure that we have a strong party poised to regain

PDP Govs hail Mark

Similarly, Governors elected on the platform of PDP, hailed the re- election of Senator Mark.

The forum noted that the victory were an indication that the PDP remained committed to the maturing of democracy and its dividends in the country.

In a statement by the chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, Governor Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State and signed by Mr. Osaro Onaiwu, coordinator of the forum, the forum urged Nigerians to trust the party in upcoming elections against the backdrop that the present regime had demonstrated what they described as incompetence in addressing serious economic issues.

HANDOVER: Former Director-General of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, Dr Paul Orhii (left) and the most Senior Director of the agency, Mrs Yetunde Oni, at the official handing over by the former D-G to Mrs Yetunde Oni in Abuja.

....PDP clears all Taraba election re-run seats

J

By John Mkom

ALINGO—THE Peoples Democratic Party , PDP, has won the three legislative positions at Saturday's re-run elections in Taraba State.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC,'s Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Mr. Habu Hinna announced the results at a briefing on Sunday in Jalingo.

Hinna stated that the candidate of the PDP, Mr Dan-Asabe Hosea won the Sardauna/Kurmi/ Gashaka Federal constituency with 37,645 votes as against his closest rival, Ibrahim Elsudi of the All Progressives Congress, APC, with 37,609 votes.

The Commissioner said the former Speaker of the state Assembly, Mr Abel Diah of the PDP defeated Mr. Emmanuel Bongo of the APC for the Mbamnga state Constituency

with 7,825 as against 5, 642.

“According to him, "Mr Emmanuel Dame of the PDP got the victory for Ardo Kola state constituency with 12,138 over Alhaji Sanusi Wale of the APC who

got 11,047 votes.

The REC thanked all the stakeholders for ensuring a peaceful election across the affected areas in the state.

CAN ELECTION:

Tension mounts over alleged plan

by FG to install Northern President •It's a lie —FG

A

By Caleb Ayansina

BUJA—AHEAD of the expiration of the tenure of the President of Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor in July, tension is already mounting within the Christian community following alleged plans by President Muhammadu Buhari and All Progressives Congress, APC, to install a Northern successor.

This appeared to be a repeat of what transpired during the administration of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Already, APC, is said to be interested in sponsoring a pro-Buhari clergy from the North to avoid any radical opposition to his administration from the Christian community.

A group of Christians under the umbrella of Christ Redeemers Union, yesterday, claimed that the Presidency was interested in CAN election for some selfish reasons.

But the Presidency debunked the allegation, saying Buhari did not interfere in an internal affairs of any organisation.

Reacting, the Special Adviser to the President (Media and Communications), Mr. Femi Adesina, dismissed the allegation, saying Buhari does not interfere in the internal affairs of any organisation.

He said: “It means that some Nigerians don’t know their President; Your President, Muhammadu Buhari did not interfere in things like that; so they need to know the person who is their President."

Group condoles with Ganduje, Kano market fire victims victims of these unfortunate

K

By Alozie Egole

ANO—COALITION for Good Governance and Economic Justice in Africa, CGGEJ, weekend commiserated with the government and people of Kano State over last Thursday's fire that gutted the multi-billion Naira Singer Market, where goods and cash estimated at N3 billion were destroyed.

The Coalition in a statement by its Media Coordinator, Mr. Patrick Omene said: “This is most unfortunate to the economy of

Kano State, more so coming after Kurmi market, the oldest market in Kano was destroyed by fire and the last month inferno at the furniture section of Abubakar Rimi market."

The group lamented that the numerous inferno in Kano State no doubt, came with devastating losses in its wake with tales of pain, anguish and hopelessness at a time the economy was experiencing a downturn.

“We share in the pains of the

incidents. We also commiserate with Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje at these trying times just as we commend Mr. Governor for the plans to inject N2 billion in the microfinance banks to establish an enabling environment for small and medium enterprises to grow and operate in the state.

"We wants to thank the Federal Government for making plans to alleviate the sufferings of the victims and other well-meaning Nigerians for their support and understanding,“ Omene said.

42—Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016

Pension assets hit N5.3trn

By Victor AhiumaYoung & Rosemary Onuoha

Corruption cuts across tribe, religion in Nigeria—VICE PRESIDENT

By Levinus Nwabughiogu

A

BUJA—VICE President Yemi Osinbajo has said corrupt people pervades the

social, economic, political and religious spheres of the country.

He alleged that the people appeared to be united in corruption and would protect

the identity of one another.

Speaking at the annual dinner of Apostles in the Market Place, which had its theme as Change Agents in Nation-Building, the Vice

T

HE National Pension Commission, PenCom, weekend, said pension funds had reached N5.3 trillion.

Speaking to newsmen in Lagos, Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, Director General, PenCom, attributed the growth in the funds to the security fence built to protect it from being diverted into personal use by managers of the funds.

The DG, however, dismissed insinuation that the funds were lying idle, noting that the funds were invested in Federal Government bonds, among other lucrative investment windows, which could be redeemed upon retirement of the beneficiaries.

She affirmed that the Commission had never and will never prevent investing of pension assets into infrastructure development and other sectors, but that such investments must abide by the investment guidelines in the Pension Reform Act, 2014.

Anohu-Amazu said: “Nobody denies anybody from accessing pension funds for investment, but the guideline must be strictly followed, and majority of those complaining of such denial have not complied with investment guidelines.”

Noting that the pension assets were a contribution of workers who have decided to save parts of their salaries as pension in a bid to enjoy these savings after retirement, the PenCom DG said such persons should not be denied their pension benefits when they demand for it, hence, the need to protect the growing assets.

COMMISSIONING: From left— Chairman, Alaguntan Community Development Association, Dr. John Adegoke; MTN Project Nominator, Mr. Olanrewaju Ogundeji; Executive Secretary, MTN Foundation, Ms. Nonny Ugboma, and executive member of the association, Mr. Ade Adeyemi, at the commissioning and handing over of the 500KVA transformer in the MTN Foundation What Can We Do Together campaign in Lagos.

$2.1bn arms probe, oil deals: Jonathan's ADC, Omokore spend another week in detention

By Soni Daniel, Northern Region Editor

A

BUJA— THE Chairman of Atlantic Energy Drilling Concepts Nigeria Limited, Mr. Jide Omokore, has reportedly been cooperating with operatives, who are probing him over multi-billion oil swap deals between his firm and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC. Omokore, an active player in the oil sector during the previous administration, was taken in by EFCC last week to assist them in unravelling how his firm won oil swap deals running into billions of dollars, and whether such money had been remitted to the coffers of the government.

A source confided in Vanguard last night: “We are trying to extract from him the quantity of oil his company was awarded under the oil swap deal and how much he has so far remitted to the government.

“So far, he has been cooperating with our operatives but we have not

extracted the exact figure of what the deals were worth; we are certainly making progress.”

Asked if he would be charged to court over the deals, the source said the investigation had not progressed to where charges could be pressed yet.

Omokore’s company was among those accused of lifting crude oil, worth billions of dollars, but only remitting a fraction of its worth to the government.

Jonathan's former ADC

A former aide-de-camp, ADC, to immediate past President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, Col. Ojogbane Adegbe, has claimed ignorance of the contents of the parcels, which he routinely passed from the then President to individuals and groups.

Adegbe, who is being questioned by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over the N10 billion said to have been passed from former national Security Adviser, NSA, to him and one other aide of Jonathan to share to Peoples Democratic Party,

My successor’ll be from God – MIMIKO

By Dayo Johnson

A

KURE—GOVERNOR Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo State weekend spoke for the first time on his successor when he stepped down from office February next year.

He had refused to speak on who would succeed him. Those interested in his cabinet have been

holding secret meetings.

Mimiko told the people of the state that; “God will choose the man after His heart to lead on February 24, 2017, about a year today.

He was speaking at the 84th edition of the monthly praise thanksgiving programme tagged “Divine Agenda”, held at the International Events Centre in Akure.

The governor added that the people of the state should “not be carried away with the propaganda, stay with the real stuff and the good Lord will help all of you.

“I also pray specially that after our tenure, a man after the heart of God will take over in the state. A man that will have the heart for the people.''

PDP, delegates, reportedly told his interrogators that he never looked into the contents of parcels handed over to him by the then President in the course of his duties.

He has, therefore, pleaded with EFCC not to hold him responsible for whatever happened in the course of his duties as the President’s ADC. A source close to the interrogation told Vanguard in confidence that the former ADC had admitted that he used to receive many parcels from the President and passed same to their owners without opening to look at their contents, as it was not part of his duties to look at the contents or question the President’s orders.

A source said: “The ADC explained to our operatives that part of his schedule of work was to collect and handover documents and sealed parcels from his Commander-in-Chief to individuals.”

Adegbe is said to have insisted that as a serving officer, he was bound by his oath of commission into the Armed Forces and would not divulge official secrets which he swore to keep.

The operatives are said to so far met a brick wall in the interrogation of the former ADC but had decided to press him with the hope that he would open up on the N10 billion cash by naming the beneficiaries and why.

President, who delivered a keynote address on A New Tribe, submitted that the country needed a new tribe of incorruptible men and women to restore lost values and norms.

He said: “We need a new tribe of men and women of all faith, tribes and ethnicities; committed to a country run on high values of integrity, hard work, justice and love for the country.

“A tribe of men and women who are prepared to make the sacrifices crucial to building a strong society; who are prepared to stick together, and insist on justice even when our friends are at the receiving end.

“When you look at any list of alleged perpetrators of a heinous cases of corruption, all tribes, ethnicities and religions are well represented. In other words, high level corruption knows no religion or ethnicity.

“Such perpetrators and conspirators are in governments, the legislature, the judiciary and the press. They are united, they protect each other.”

‘Difficult to find men of integrity’

Osinabjo stated that his discussions with his principal, President Muhammadu Buhari, had indicated that finding men of integrity, who would be assigned various responsibility of government, was a herculean task for them.

He, however, stressed that there was the need for the new tribe of Nigerians, consisting of professionals, businessmen, politicians, religious leaders and all others who believed that a new Nigeria was possible.

He said: “I have had several long discussions with President Buhari. The key issue always is finding the right persons for any task. A tough task, indeed, in a corrupted system.”

Criteria for the tribe—KOLADE

Also speaking, Dr. Christopher Kolade noted that the needed change was that which starts with individuals.

According to him, the new tribe Vice President Osinabjo referred to must be made up of Nigerians who accepted and believed in a “society where good things are the norm,” and that such acceptance and belief was what qualified people to belong to the new tribe.

Kolade added that the new tribe of Nigerians were those who want to tell the truth and who want the truth.

He stated that the address by the Vice President should be a wakeup call, especially for legal practitioners.

He said: “I sometimes ask our lawyers, do we have a court of law or a court of justice in this country? If we could all say we are working for a court of justice and not a court of law, we will all be in the new tribe.”

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016—43

Vanguard CLASSIFIED ISESELE—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Charmain Onokabhama Isesele, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. C h a r m a i n Onokabhama Owase.

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YOU CAN BOOK YOUR ADVERT AT: TRINITY MALL, 79/81 OBAFEMI AWOLOWO WAY, IKEJA. CALL: 08028289689, 08035449960 MURPHIS PLAZA 27, SANUSI FAFUNWA STREET, VICTORIA ISLAND. CALL: 08038092373, 08033163424

44— Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016 YOUR LUCK TODAY

LEISURE

By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139

SCORPIO: Better than yesterday. And the more co-operative you are today the better for you. Those of you travelling for love are in for an exciting day.

SAGITTARIUS: Those of you willing to let go hard feelings at work are for a progressive day to the betterment of your finances. Let go yesterday, move ahead.

CAPRICORN: Once again, you’ll have the needed opportunity to assert yourself to the administration of others. Both love and financial success can be yours with efforts. Reason with your tried and trusted friends.

AQUARIUS: You can make it a successful day with positive approach on your part. You will be in a better position to defuse tension within your working arena. Try to be more ambitious.

PISCES: Yes! You’re not scared a bit even, when opposition and/or competition come your way but, if you give in to diplomatic approach, you’ll fare better today.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

By Richard Eromosele

I

guess your answer will be yes.

But let me ask you directly, do you love Okoro?

Do you also love Ahmed? How about Wale ,do you love him too?I ask this be-

Do you really love God? cause the reason why Nigeria is the way it is today is because we do not practise love. True love does not seek its own. True love is selfless. True love knows no ethnicity. True love

TERROR MUDA

is kind. The holy writ says, if you love Him you should feed His sheep. How many have you fed? Now,it’s very easy to give excuses on why we deny someone love.

in “Scavenger Elite”

The truth is that love is not earned.

Can you imagine what would have been your fate if you need to earn the love of God? If you truly love God, you will love your neighbour.

By Lanre Kehinde

ARIES: Pressure that came your way suddenly will give way unexpectedly, today, to the betterment of your course.

The more financially ambitious you are today, the better for you. Be steadfast.

TAURUS: You sincerely believe in intelligent argument or discussion. And if you allow your ability to be diplomatic come to play today, you’ll be better for it. Enjoy your love life.

GEMINI: You’ll tend to become both creative and persuasive to the administration of others. Then those who’ve been resisting secret love may slip suddenly and become excited.

CANCER; Even if opposition persists, supports you are getting from the influential people will be enough to see you through. Yet, the more cooperative you are the better.

LEO: Your creativity quotient within your working arena will today be enhanced. You’ll be blamed if you keep official issues secrets from your challenges at work.

KAPTAIN AFRIKA

in “HEY’

By Andy Akman

VIRGO: After a few tension soaked days, you’ll have the needed opportunity to look through windows of the world and have your way as well. Magnetic and/or magic days is predicted for lovers today.

LIBRA: Even if you continue to work under pressure via increased workload, you will have good results to show for your efforts today. Be steadfast

ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLING Send yyour our dat tr ological datee and place of bir th ttoo the As Astr trological Counselling, PP.M.B .M.B 1100 00 7, Apapa, Lagos 007,

Tell me about my marriage Dear Joshua, I am interested in knowing character of Libra Star Signs.

Adedoyin, Ikeja.

Dear Adedoyin, Here-under are the basic characteristics of Libra-the Star of money, marriage and justice.

BASIC CHARACTERISTICS OF LIBRA Libra is the 7th Zodiac sign related to public spiritedness partnership, marriage, rival, close associates, open opponents, justice, harmony and/or care for peace and concord.

Through Venus - the ruler of Libra, Librans are artistic inclined and as Venus rules money, money, music and comfort are truly important to all Librans and you are not an exception. Libra is a cardinal star sign which induces it’s natives to desire action and importance in a peaceful manner. Things ruled by Libra as stated above must be taken seriously by you.

You see, if a Libran makes mistake while trying to make a partnership choice either of business or emotional type, it will profoundly affect many other areas of his/her life. Equally, business rival and/or open opponents must not be treated with levity.

Element of Libra is air. Natives of air Star signs are naturally intelligent and must think twice of their ideas before trying to discard them. Because their ideas are truly brilliant and most of them can lead to success both for themselves and others.

Libra is the social butterfly of the Zodiac and the issues of justice, fair-play and equity are very important to the natives of Venus ruled Libra. Some people who need to know better erroneously believe that Librans’ love of peace makes them a weak set of people but Librans can revolt, if and when injustice is done to them.

Some other times however, the desire for peace in your inner-self at times get the better off-you, to the point that you seek others’ approval before you do anything. And this your weak point can be taken advantage of by some dubious people who will not hesitate to do so.

But as peace loving as Librans are if a Libran discovers real or imaginary injustice against self, he/she will feel cheated especially, if the matter at hand concerns RELATIONSHIP, few of them will then react violently but many will sulk.

VIRGINIA

HOME & ABROAD

dadadekola@yahoo.com

By Lawrence Akapa

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016 — 45

C M Y K

46 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016

Iheanacho to line up against Egypt M

ANCHESTER City rising star, Kelechi Iheanacho could make his second appearance for the Super Eagles when Nigeria play Egypt March 25 in Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

Coach Sunday Oliseh stated that the player’s recent form with Manchester City may have earned him a starting placing his team that will face the Pharaohs in the must win AFCON tie.

“I have not sent out my

Peters writes off Super Falcons’ coaches

F

ORMER national coach, James Peters has said that Nigeria Football Federation’s appointment of Florence Omagbemi, Pepertua Nkwocha and Ann Agumanu-Chijiene as coaches of the Super Falcons will not reverse the fortunes of the national women team.

Peters, who has coached the Super Eagles, Flying Eagles and the Super Falcons, said the three ex-internationals do not have the experience to carry the team.

“The NFF did not seek expert advice or wider consultation, if they had done that we would have told them differently on how to go about handing the reign of the side to the former players.

“Those picked for the onerous job are not experienced and knowledgeable I think there is absolute need for experience.

list of invited players yet.

But with the kind of goal he came on to score (for Manchester City against Tottenham) recently I am looking very much at him.

“In fact I hope to move up to Manchester, but I am just waiting on some little things to be sorted out then we will have that done,” Oliseh said. Iheanacho has scored nine goals, including a hat-trick against Aston Villa in the FA Cup, for Manchester City this season.

Dead anti-doping chief ‘planned whistleblowing book’

T

HE former Russia antidoping chief had planned to blow the whistle on the country’s use and development of performance-enhancing drugs before his sudden death.

Nikita Kamayev, who died of a heart attack on February 14 at the age of 52, had contacted the Sunday Times’s David Walsh in late 2015 about his proposal to write a book.

The newspaper has reported that the email read: “I want to write a book about the true story of sport pharmacology and doping in Russia since 1987 while being a

young scientist working in secret lab in USSR Institute of Sports Medicine. I have the information and facts that have never been published.”

Russia was suspended from international athletics last November after a special commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency exposed widespread state-sponsored cheating and corruption. Kamayev stood down from his positions along with the rest of the senior RUSADA management in mid-December as Russia began working on lifting the ban in time for its athletes to compete at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in August.

Enyimba Continued from back page forChukwukaEmmanueto get into the act, doubling the visitors lead on 33 minutes but not wanting to be disgraced at home, Ifeanyi Nweke netted a consolatory goal for Nasarawa, who were however unable to find the equaliser as MFM’s prayer for a good beginning got answered as the referee blew to end the match after 90 minutes.

Also recording a moraleboosting away win were Wkki Tourist, who needed a 70th minute strike by Godwin Obaje to inflict a 10 defeat on homers, El Kanemi at the Kastina Stadium.

Ifeanyi Ubah FC put the coaching problem that plagued them last season behind them as they recorded a slim 1-0 victory over Giwa at the Rwang Pam Stadium. The boys of oil tycoon, Ifeanyi Uba have Seka Pasca to thank for the second minute strike that proved the difference after regulation time in Jos. And champions Enyimba are having all sorts of troubles at the start of the season, losing 1-0 to Rivers C M Y K

United in Port Harcourt. It was the second loss the Aba Elephants were suffering in just a week, after losing 01 to FC Vipers in Uganda in a Champions League preliminary round match.

The pressure will start cranking on Coach Paul Aigbogun, who must now regroup his side for this weekend’s Champions League return leg tie with the Ugandan champions in Port Harcourt.

In Kano, Rangers suffered their 12 successive defeat to Pillars, who came back from a goal down to nick a 2-1 win to send their fans into wild jubilations.

Madu has nodded the Enugu side in front on 50 minutes but Pillars fought back, with Gambo Mohammed side-footing past Rangers goalkeeper while former Sunshine Stars striker, Prince Aggrey scored winner in stoppage time.

In Lagos, Ikorodu United held Abia Warriors to a 1-1 draw, in Ibadan, Lobi Stars inflicted a painful 1-0 defeat on Shooting Stars while Heartland and Warri Wolves played out a barren draw in Owerri as the Nigerian league rebounded in a bumper way.

Kelechi Iheananacho

Emenike Ben Marshall put Blackburn ahead in just 25 minutes with a low, left-footed strike. But Moses levelled up just before the break after he made a solo run from the centre circle. Dimitri Payet put West Ham ahead with a free kick from 25 yards (meters).

Emmanuel Emenike then struck twice in the second half to make West Ham safe, before Payet got his second goal in stoppage time.

Chris Taylor was sent off for Blackburn and Cheikhou Kouyate for West Ham, both in the second half.

Emenike who signed for the Hammers on loan was

scoring for his the East Londoners for the first time, while Moses was scoring his first goal since September 19.

At Stamford Bridge, Second-half goals from Willian, Gary Cahill, Eden Hazard and Bertrand Traore gave Chelsea the edge over Manchester City.

Two minutes after Diego Costa’s diving header from Hazard’s cross, teenager David Faupala – one of five players making their full debut in a vastly understrength Manchester City side – equalised for the visitors.

But Willian struck two minutes into the second half, Cahill volleyed home

Oliseh Oliseh, only last weekend groaned about his inability to make contacts with the players he intended to invite for the must win double-header against the Egyptians, due to financial constraint. But a swift reaction, a member of the technical committee hinted that Oliseh must be in Abuja on Friday February 26 to discuss his team list and match plans as the games are too important to be treated with levity.

The Eagles will play group leaders Egypt in Kaduna on March 25, before a reverse fixture in Egypt two days later. The Eagles must win the two games to be in a good stead to qualify for the AFCON

2017 finals.

Meanwhile NFF secretary-general Sanusi Mohammed stated that the NFF will put everything in place to ensure a good outing for the Super Eagles.

He noted that the fluctuation in dates notwithstanding, preparations for the game will not be affected.

“We wanted 26th but they said it had to be before that date and that’s why we chose 25th. They said 26th is not feasible and so we are going to change our programmes and I don’t think it’ll have any adverse effect on our planning.

By the grace of God we are putting everything in place to make sure we have a hitch free match,” Sanusi stressed.

after a mistake by Fernando, and Hazard curled in a free-kick to put the Blues in control.

It meant a second successive domestic 5-1 victory for Chelsea and their third win by that scoreline in five matches – and Traore has netted in all three.

The FA Cup Sixth Round draw in full: Reading v Crystal Palace, Everton v Chelsea, Arsenal/ Hull v Watford’Shrewsbury/Man Utd v West Ham

Arsenal ty to shock any top team in Europe ahead of their Champions League showdown on Tuesday.

Suarez also remarked upon the fact the Gunners have a “very good chance” of winning their first Premier League title in 12 years. The Gunners currently sit two points off of top spot in the Premier League, with Leicester currently occupying first place in the division.

“We are playing very well, but we can not be complacent about Arsenal at all.

“They have players that can hurt any team in Europe, and they look like they have a very good chance of winning the Premier League this season.

“They are one of the best teams in England, and we will have to perform at our best.”

Arsenal’s last five seasons in the Champions

“Even the proposed expatriate coach will fare no better in the circumstance as the best approach would have been to elect an old hand in the land to hold the reign for at least one or two competitive years to midwife and tutor the ex-internationals who will then take over the team thereafter.

“Women envy and jealous each other and now you pick one of them to head the coaching crew there is bound to be problem,” Peters told supersports.com.

However, Super Falcons captain Evelyn Nwabuoku said the women should be give a chance to prove themselves.

“It is not a bad idea to have the ex-internationals as coaches. It is a chance for them to contribute the experience they have gained over the years.

“Let us hope and pray that they will be able to put the team back into top flight,”

Florence Omagbemi League have ended in the Round of 16, with Wenger ’s men having been eliminated by the Catalans at the same stage in the 2010-2011 season.

Since then they have twice been taken out by Bayern Munich while also having been beaten over two legs by AC Milan and Monaco.

Barca were given a tough test at Las Palmas on Saturday before ultimately winning 2-1 thanks to goals from Luis Suarez and Neymar, with Luis Enrique expecting another difficult encounter against Arsenal.

“We’re starting a game of 180 minutes. I’m sure they will be a difficult opponent, with enough quality to create problems for us,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. “It will be tough, just like any knockout.”

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016 — 47

Ailing Eagles coach begs for month’s pay

Dike determined to succeed in Russia

A

N

ILING Eagles coach Jean Francois Lusciuto has begged to be paid at least part of what the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) owe him in salaries for him to proceed to Belgium for further treatment after his surgery in South Africa last month.

It was specially gathered that the Belgian coach is owed five months’ pay, which totals N10 million at two million Naira a month.

“The whiteman is really down - his stomach problem, which needed surgery in South Africa,

has persisted and he now wants to fly to Belgium for better treatment,” a top official disclosed.

“He has said he only needs his salary for a month to do that and he has written several mails to the NFF, but sadly he has not received any reply.”

Incidentally, Lusciuto was left stranded in Lagos when the Super Eagles returned from the 2016 CHAN in Rwanda and he had to find his way back to his base in Togo, where he lives with his wife.

Oliseh’s a pathological liar — SWAN

T

HE National body of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, SWAN, has described Super Eagles Chief Coach, Sunday Oliseh as “a pathological liar who is looking for excuses to justify his incompetence and inability to tinker the Super Eagles to enviable heights which Nigerians are yelling for.”

A press statement signed by the Association’s Secretary General, Andrew Abah is coming on the heels of a 7-day ultimatum given to Oliseh by the body to name journalists he alleged approached him to pay them money to enable them write favourable reports on him.

“Sunday Oliseh has displayed to the whole world that he does not have the capability of being trusted with the Senior National Team of a great football playing nation like Nigeria and lacks the integrity whatsoever as an individual to continue to parade himself as the

head coach of the Super Eagles,”the statement read.

Stressing that since the NFF still wants Oliseh to carry on with the Eagles job, SWAN implored the federation to “ warn him to desist from making frivolous allegations that he cannot substantiate”, adding that it “”would no longer tolerate any of such allegations and would not hesitate to blackout any individual or organisation that accuses any of its members falsely”.

A

Dalung inaugurates committee to evaluate sports facilities Y

OUTH and Sports minister, Barrister Solomon Dalung has inaugurated an eight-man committee with a task of assessing and evaluating all sporting facilities in the country.

The committee headed

by Dr Agboola Adewale Dixon voluntarily offered to carry out a comprehensive inspection of all national mini sporting facil-

Fifth Chukker wins Majekodunmi Cup

T

HE 2016 NPA Lagos International Polo Tournament came to an exciting end on Sunday at the Lagos Polo Club, Ikoyi with Lagos Fifth Chukker winning the prestigious Majekodunmi Cup following a 15-7 victory over Lagos Ironclad/Trojan.

The day’s other title clash

No regrets for Sanchez over Arsenal switch LEXIS Sanchez says his decision to leave Barcelona for Arsenal was the right one as he prepares to take on his former team at Emirates Stadium on Tuesday.

Arsenal host the holders in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 and it will be the first time Chile star Sanchez has faced his old club since moving to north London in

BIRDS OF THE SAME FEATHER ... Super Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh (r) and his assistant, Francois Lusciu on duty

July 2014.

The 27-year-old won La Liga and the Copa del Rey during three seasons with Barcelona but, having already scored 35 goals and lifted the FA Cup in Arsenal colours, feels he made the switch at the ideal time.

“I never regret my decisions,” Sanchez told the Daily Mail. “It wasn’t easy to leave Barcelona.

I G E R I A international striker Bright Dike is confident he can make an impact at his first European club side, Amkar Perm, in Russia.

Dike was released by Toronto FC in August following an injuryravaged spell with the MLS side.

He signed a one-anda-half-year deal for Amkar after impressing on trial, and is excited about the task ahead.

“This is a challenge and I am relishing it,” the 29year-old told BBC Sport.

“Being my first European club I am under no illusion about how competitive this is going to be, but I’m mentally

in the 11-day tournament, mainly sonsored by MTN and GTBank, saw Lagos Aerovote defeated Lagos Zippy 5-3 to emerge champions of the Low Cup. The Majek Cup played before a full crowd that include Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, billionaire businessman Aliko Dangote, GTBank Managing Director, Segun Agbaje, among other dignitaries, saw Fifth Chukker (Adamu Atta, Babao Lawal, Manuel Crespo and Julio Nolito) opening the score through Crespo and he doubled the lead with a 10 yarder to close the chukka.

The second chukka was identical to the initial as a combination of poor finishing and desperate defending prevented further goals but it was Crespo, an eight goaler, again, who scored the games next two goals for a 4-0 lead.

ities in the country and generate an information data bank for the ministry.

Inaugurating the committee, Barrister Dalung praised the group for their patriotism and commitment to restoring the dignity of sports in Nigeria. “ Out of self volition, you have identified a peculiar challenge of sports development and decided to offer yourselves to go round the country and collate statistics and data, and write a comprehensive report on the state of facilities in the country.

You have already undertaken preliminary investigations and you have provided pictures and images of the situation on ground. Knowing the state of these facili-

Dalung , Sports Minister ties will enable us to take action on how to put them back to use” Dalung said.

The committee is expected to also examine the sports health system, clinics , anti- doping centers, rehabilitative, cura-

tive and preventive areas of sports medicine to be integrated into these sports facilities as well as quick intervention to injury prevention which are not in place at the various mini sports centres.

What Osimhen needs to be great in Germany — Akpoborie

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Osimhen

X-SUPEr Eagles and VfL Wolfsburg top striker Jonathan Akpoborie has predicted a bright future for the German’s club latest Nigerian recruit Victor Osimhen, but warned he must a pro both on and off the pitch.

Last month, the Bundesliga side announced an exchange programme of co-operation between Osimhen’s Ultimate

Strikers Academy where players will have the opportunity to train with the club’s various youth and senior sides pending a formal contract in 2017.

And Akpoborie, who scored 20 goals in 39 appearances for the Die Wölfe (The Wolves) between 1999 and 2001, has now said the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup hotshot will only be great if he is dedicated and disciplined.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016

NPFL SEASON OPENER

Enyimba lose, MFM, Wikki, Ifeanyi Ubah record away wins

By John Egbokhan

I

T was a bumper start to the 2015/2016 Nigeria Professional Football League season weekend as four away wins were recorded by new boys, MFM, Wikki Tourists, Lobi and Ifeanyi Ubah while champions Enyimba lost away at Rivers

United.

In a foretaste of what to expect all-season long, travelling fans had a big laugh yesterday, as the likes of Mountain of Fire and Miracles defeated Nasarawa United 2-1, in their first match in the big league.

For the prayer warriors side, yesterday would be

a day to remember for long as they overcame the long and tortuous journey to the north to record a sensational win over Nasarawa.

Newman Musa fired the MFM side into a shock first half lead, only Continues on page 46

AFCON 2017 qualifiers:

Oliseh briefs NFF technical committee on Friday

S

UPER Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh will defend his team list and preparations for the African Cup of Nations qualifiers against Egypt on March 25, when he meets the Nigeria Football Federation technical committee on Friday.

Continues on page 46

Tearing Away... Victor Moses racing to score his first goal that give the Hammers reason to believe in their 5-1 FA Cup win against Blackburn.

UCL: Arsenal can upset any team, says Suarez

forward FA Cup: Emenike, Moses lift West Ham BARCELONA Luis Suarez said Arond-tier Blackburn yes- senal have the capabili

Nigerian strikers Emmanuel Emenike and Victor Moses showed up strong as West Ham

avoided an FA Cup fifthround upset with a 5-1 comeback victory at sec-

TODAY'S PUZZLE

terday.

Continues on page 46

Continues on page 46

Oliseh

RESULTS NPFL Kano Pillars Sunshine Stars Giwa FC El-Kanemi Nasarawa Ikorodu Utd Rivers Utd Heartland Shooting Stars Plateau Utd

2 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 2

Rangers Akwa Utd Ifeanyi Ubah Wikki Tourists MFM Abia Warriors Enyimba Warri Wolves Lobi Stars Tornadoes

1 1 1 1 2 1 0 0 1 1

FA Cup Blackburn Tottenham Chelsea

1 0 5

West Ham Crystal Palace Man City

5 1 1

Sevilla Real Madrid

2 1

Spain Rayo Vallecano 2 Malaga 1

QUICK CR OSS WORD CROSS OSSWORD

FRIDAY'S ANSWERS

ACROSS: 2 Compact (5) 7 Cut (4) 8 Combined (6) 9 Saying (5) 11 Girl’s (3) 13 Delve (3) 15 Flag (4) 16 Border (3) 18 Scoff (4) 19 Widespread (7) 20 Enormous (4) 22 Intend (4) 23 Durable (7) 25 Prophet (4) 27 Heated (3) 28 Lake (4) 30 Bird (3) 31 Performed (3) 33 Emblem (5) 36 Rescind (6) 37 Frustrate (4) 38 Important (5)

` DOWN 1 Go in (5) 2 Spring (3) 3 Meadow (3) 5 Hairpiece (3) Owing (3) 6 Contradict (5) 10 Valley (4) 11 Tallest (7) 12 Curl (7) 13 Erased (7) 14 Permitted (7) 16 Moot (5) 17 Intended (5) 18 Preserve (3) 21 Spike (3) 24 Jot (4) 26 Sea-duck (5) 29 Inflexible (5) 32 Intimidate (3) 33 Plead (3) 34 Expire (3) 35 Newt (3)

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS ACROSS: 1, Greed 5, System 8, Nudge 10, Settee 11, Arid 14, Relate 15, Deficit 18, Pot 19, Dab 21, Rest 23, Melee 24, Less 27, Don 29, Tip 31, Negated 32, Reeled 34, Pear 35, Trance 38, Ached 39, Gentry 40, Deity.

DOWN: 2, Rue 3, Entail 4, Due 5, Sear 6, Sailor 7, Modest 9, Decided 12, Rep 16, Ease 17, Talon 20, Beneath 22, Safe 24, Luring 25, Step 26, Silent 28, Parade 30, Pea 33, Dray 36, Red 37, Cut.

How to Play Sudoku

P

lace a number (1-9) in each blank cell. (No line can have two of the same number).

Each row (nine lines from left to right), column, (also nine lines from top to bottom) and 3 X 3 block within a bold block (nine blocks) contains number from 1 through 9. This means that no number can appear twice in any block, column or row.

No mathematics is involved – no adding, subtraction, division or multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination.

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C M Y K