BusinessDay 05 Apr 2020

We have to build an economy with strong buffers – Amadi

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am Amadi, a former chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), and currently lecturer with the Baze University, has said that the world economy would receive a major hit as commercial and industrial activities shrink. Unemployment, according to him, is already a problem but will get worse as busi-

nesses struggle to survive.

He believes that the lesson for Nigeria from the global challenge this time around is to realise that “we have to build an economy that has buffers and only an innovative economy can withstand the degree of risks and vulnerability expected of a globalised economy that is unbalanced”.

Amadi

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COVID-19: Don’t be partisan in distribution of relief materials - Abiodun RAZAQ AYINLA & JEREMIAH OLOWOKERE, Abeokuta

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s total lockdown declared by President Muhammadu Buhari started in Ogun State Friday night due to waivers granted the state for effective preparation, Governor Dapo Abiodun has warned all party men within the All Progressives Congress (APC) family to steer clear

of partisanship in the distribution of relief materials meant for all residents of the state.

Governor Abiodun explained that situation at hand in Nigeria affects all Nigerians, irrespective of party or ethnic affiliations as coronavirus is no respecter of anybody no matter how lowly- or highly-placed, therefore, nobody should play politics with the relief materials and stimulus packages

either provided by Federal Government or any State Government of the Federation.

Speaking at the inauguration of Committee saddled with the responsibility to distribute relief materials for people of Yewa South in Ogun West Senatorial District, Governor Abiodun noted that the stimulus package distribution would reach See page 7

Two weeks of sacrifice won’t kill us – Dauda Birma

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Vol 1, No. 307

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How we are surviving the lockdown – Nigerians See page 2

It’s been harrowing without food, electricity ‘Transparency in doubt in palliative distribution’ Review of capital market activities in first quarter of 2020 35 Clubs risk Champions League exclusion if seasons end prematurely - UEFA

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Security agents enforcing the Federal Government’s directive on lockdown and social distancing on motorists and residents in parts of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. picture by TUNDE ADENIYI.

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Sunday 05 April, 2020

Cover How we are surviving the lockdown – Nigerians CHUKA UROKO, OBINNA EMELIKE and AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE

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s well-intentioned and important as the Federal Government’s stay-at-home order is, many Nigerians insist that government should have gone a step further to help the people by providing palliatives across board, especially for those who earn their income on daily basis.

In the absence of the palliatives, a large number of citizens are already groaning under the excruciating pain of forced “holiday”.

Brown Okafor is a middle-aged man with an eight-member family living in Ejigbo, a Lagos suburb.

Until 2018, he was a staff of a beverage producing company in Ikeja, Lagos where he served as an office assistant—a job he lost when the company decided to downsize its operation.

Okafor has since then trained as an iron fitter, moving from one construction site to another to eke out a living and to fend for his family. He is a daily-pay worker whose income depends largely on his going out to search for work at construction sites.

For him, the stay-at-home order handed down to the residents of Lagos, which restricts all forms of movements amounts to mercykilling because the only way he and his family can survive is by going out to work, get money and buy their needs. But now, he cannot move about.

“It is good that government wants to save us from the deadly disease, but I think that for people like me, what will kill us fast is hunger. As I am talking to you now, I don’t know from where our next meal will come. My house is empty and hunger is just by the door; I have decided to come out to the street because my children won’t let me be,” Okafor lamented.

Reminded that the stay-athome order was for his own good and that of his children, an angry Okafor agreed, but asked why nothing was coming from the government to help the poor.

In Lagos, compliance level was quite high on the first day which was Tuesday. But ever since then, compliance has been waning.

Quite a good number of the residents are becoming restive and impatient, citing hunger and discomfort in their homes due to lack of electricity and other social amenities to keep them indoors.

Ordinarily, Lagos is a very difficult and challenging environment where many of the residents are daily income earners. For people in this group, hunger has taken a disquieting position in their families, forcing them out to the streets in search of whatever they can lay hands on for survival.

“I don’t really know how long we have to be in this cage; government has directed that we should stay at home but has not made any provision for us; no food in

the house; no money in the pocket to buy anything and there is no light that can even make you stay indoors,” Gbenga Osunyomi, a vehicle licensing agent, complained to BDSUNDAY. Osunyomi, who has not been having it easy on account of the slowdown in the economy, said he had expected the government to give out money to people to cushion the effect of the coronavirus.

“Even if they cannot give us cash, why not give out foodstuff as it is done in other places?” he queried.

Driving through the streets of Lagos one discovers that many residents are really uncomfortable with the presidential directive. So many people are out on the street, discussing in clusters and making a huge joke of the precautionary measures put in place, especially social distancing.

Apparently, a lot of the people do not understand the meaning and essence of the stay-at-home order by the government, creating the impression that they are doing government a favour by staying in their houses and avoiding contact with people on the street who may be infected.

“Coronavirus is not just a health problem; it is also an economic crisis which is why the government is trying hard to ensure that it does not spread to a point where it will not be controllable. By asking people to stay indoors, government is trying to make it easy to contain the virus and also to save the economy from total collapse,” Jude Oloyide, a health worker at a Lagos hospital explained.

Oloyide observed that many people were yet to come to terms with what is on ground, advising that government has to step up enlightenment campaign, “because many will die for lack of knowledge.”

For Harry Ikechukwu, a young graduate who had been unem-

ployed for the past three years, the past six days have been the longest six days of his life. Ikechukwu has just secured a job with an accounting firm in Lagos. He has worked for only 23 days and the lockdown happened.

“As I am now, I do not know the next step to take. My company says we should stay at home till further notice, yet we have not received our March salary which, of course, is my first. How am I sure that the job will still be there for me after this crisis?” Ikechukwu, who is putting up with an uncle in a Lagos suburb, wondered.

On his part, Obiora Eze, who lives in Surulere area in Lagos mainland, complained that power supply has further dropped in the past few days such that in some cases, one can stay the whole day at home without a flash of the electricity.

“In such cases, I run generator for at least 12 hours a day in order to cool the refrigerator, watch television and to put on the fan because this is the dry season when the weather is usually very hot and unbearable to stay home without fans,” Eze said.

Life has not been easy for Mama Ayo, a mother of four, who hawks sachet water to fend for a family left behind by her late husband since three years ago.

Mama Ayo or ‘Oni Pure Water’, as she is fondly called, is among many hawkers who queue to collect bags of sachet water and bottled ones from a major dealer who freezes them at Jakande Estate Junction in Isolo, Lagos.

In this business, the hawkers only need bowels to put the water; they collect, sell, bring back the capital to the supplier, take the little profit and continue in that order as much as their strength can carry them.

It is with this little profit that Mama Ayo takes care of her fam-

ily. It is also from daily hustling that the roadside mechanic, rewire, vulcanizer, loaders at motor parks, informal sales agents at Idumota market, touts at passport offices and visa centres earn their livelihood.

Mama Ayo is in a dilemma now as she needs daily hustling to keep up with her family and so also many others who are looking for daily bread. Even though she moves out, she does not see people to sell the water to because of the lockdown. She couldn’t stock food because of lack of money and cannot get money now because there is no savings in the bank.

“Oga, it is when you get money that you save in the bank. I make N3, 000 everyday from selling sachet water; it is from there I settle government touts, eat once, and buy food for my family. So, how much is left to save?” she asked.

Towing her line, Afis Kaka, a mechanic, lamented that hunger is likely going to kill more people than coronavirus if the lockdown persists because people are hungry and government has not been supportive.

“All my customers are not picking my calls again because they think I want to beg for financial assistance. Two of them warned me to buy enough food and drugs for my family; keep some money in my pocket and prepare for one month without any job. I did not listen because I thought coronavirus is big man disease. It is for everyone now and my family is not finding it easy”, Kaka confessed.

But Muniru Adekumbi, a motor electrician, who managed to stock up his food supplies, said it is now he is at home that he has discovered the volume of food his family consumes daily.

“I was banking on doubling the items at home, but I was deceived by my daily food item purchase approach. The supplies are almost

drained and I will need money to stock up now. I should have listened to my wife to buy in bulk when I made some money last month”, the electrician lamented.

Like Adekumbi rightly observed, most breadwinners, especially fathers hardly have time for their families, as long as they bring money for food.

While most fathers leave very early and return very late, they hardly know how the family is doing apart from what the children or wives tell them.

Some are still giving their wives same upkeep amount they started three years ago despite high cost of food items in the market today. So, the lockdown is now opening their eyes to the reality of the high rate of inflation in the country.

“Our wives are trying. With my stay-at-home, I have noticed that my wife makes up any amount I give her for upkeep”, Adekumbi said.

But some people also see themselves as part of the masses too, who are affected by the lockdown.

Ada Enuwah, a banker, said that salaries at some levels in the banking profession are poor and that such staff depend on the goodwill of some generous customers.

With the lockdown, she said life has not been easy for some bank staff, especially those who have many mouths to feed.

“As a banker, nobody believes you don’t have money. Almost all my relations have been calling on me to send money to them to stock food. But the bank has not increased my salary, we even expected salary cut. So, we are part of the masses and equally affected”, Ada declared.

But the grave concern for Ikem Oti, an economist, is when the lockdown did not achieve the expected results and government extends it across the country.

“There is suffering in the land before now, the lockdown is worsening it. The masses will revolt at some point if the lockdown is extended and we pray this does not happen”, Oti warned.

He thinks that the masses have had so many disappointments from government that make them always suspect any move by government.

“I think, there should be sincerity in dealing with the masses now. Government should not just promise, but fulfill any promise now, especially of providing alternative supplies for food and essentials, financial assistance and other forms of support needed to alleviate the hardship imposed by the lockdown”, Oti said.

Dare Okiki, a lawyer, said government should truly cushion the harsh impact of the lockdown on the masses as most families who depend on daily bread are suffering now.

“As a people, we hardly plan.

Many were taken unawares by the lockdown. Those who have money can still buy things at supermarContinues on Page 6

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News Lockdown: ADP urges FG to check brutality of Nigerians by security agencies Iniobong Iwok

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h e Ac t i o n Democratic Party (ADP) has charged the Federal Government and state governors to urgently address the issue of police and military brutality of Nigerians, during the current lockdown.

T h e Fe d e r a l Government last Sunday declared a fourteen day lockdown in three states of Lagos, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Ogun in a bid to check the spread of the COVID-19 in the country.

However, there have been complaints by some section of the populace of brutality by security agencies against some Nigerians in a bid to enforce the lockdown.

The party stated this through a press statement made available to journalists on Friday by, Adelaja Adeoye, its national

Buhari

Publicity Secretary, noting that there was no part where it was mentioned that citizens, seen on the streets should be arrested or be brutalised when

President Muhammadu Buhari gave the order for a lockdown.

Ac c o r d i n g t o t h e statement, “Police have been seen in some cases

extorting money from the people, while soldiers are flexing their power by beating and humiliating innocent citizens. These are well captured in many trending videos on social media.

“To avoid a situation where unrest may spring up, when citizens decide to fight back, as many are already angry over the dreaded coronavirus pandemic, through inability to freely move and other reasons, such as hunger and lack of basic support from government during this time” he said.

The party therefore, called on government, State Governors, the Inspector General of Police, Adamu Adamu, Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai to call their men to order.

“We cannot be dealing with a deadly virus that is capable of terminating the lives of our citizens and also have police and soldiers doing the same to Nigeria citizens,” he added.

COVID-19: Pistis Foundation launches food bank, health scheme for less privileged SEYI JOHN SALAU

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istis Foundation, a non-profit social intervention arm of The Elevation Church, said it has launched the Pistis Food Bank to provide at least 2,000 less privilege residents of Lagos state with food supplies during this period of untold hardship in the country.

Ac c o r d i n g t o t h e Foundation, this was the first step in executing the two-pronged initiatives embarked on by the Elevation church to help economically challenged

residents of Lagos state in this season of 14-days lockdown of Lagos State by the Federal Government to contain the spread of Coronavirus in Nigeria.

The second initiative was the launch of Pistis Health Intervention Scheme which was being carried out in partnership with St. Kizito’s Clinic in Jakande area of Lekki, and Chion Hospital at Maryland Ikeja.

According to Godman Ak i n l a b i , t h e Pi s t i s Foundation is partnering with these two hospitals to provide medical aid to anyone who might need medical assistance during

this time. “Medical bills will be paid by the Foundation, he said.

He s a i d t h a t t h e s e interventions are executed in addition to other social impact initiatives already embarked upon by the foundation with its three key focus areas as education, health and shelter.

He further stated that both the Pistis Food Bank a n d t h e Pi s t i s He a l t h Intervention are at no cost to the beneficiaries and can be accessed by anyone proven to be in need of them.

“However, for the sake of order, to access these

interventions, intended beneficiaries should send an email to covid19@ pistisfoundation.org or call the foundation help lines on 09085222216 or 0817 003 5878.

According to the church, all requests will be treated on a first-come, first serve basis. “ Th e e c o n o m i c a l l y challenged are the worst hit during this pandemic because they lack access to the basic necessities, e s p e c i a l l y f o o d . Le t ’s continue to show love this season. Remember, love is an action word,” said

COVID-19: Ondo raises welfare committee KORETIMI AKINTUNDE, Akure

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he Ondo State Government has set up a 9-member palliatives committee to address burdens facing the people of the state as a result of various measures against the coronavirus pandemic.

Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, in a statement signed by his Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Donald Ojogo, and made available to journalists Friday in Akure, said: “Concerned by the enormous burden imposed on the populace arising from the various measures put in place to curb the spread of COVID-19, the

Ondo State Government has set up the State Palliatives Committee.

Among other responsibilities, the Committee is to work out modalities as well as mobilise human and material resources to cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in the areas of food supply and access to

same.

The Committee comprises the following members Akin Olotu, chairman; Mo r e n i k e Al a k a , Al e x Ka l e j a y e , Mo r i n s o l a O l a n i p e k u n , Ab a y o m i Eniayewu, Roseline O k a f o r, Ja c o b Ad e b o, Festus Aregbesola and To s i n O g u n b o d e d e , secretary.

WAHO reiterates support to ECOWAS member states to tackle COVID-19 Innocent Odoh, Abuja

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he West African Health Organisation (WAHO) has again reaffirmed its commitment to support Member States of the Ec o n o m i c C o m m u n i t y of West African States (ECOWAS)inthefightagainst the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic that has bedeviled its member states.

As t h e i n s t i t u t i o n designated by the highest authorities of ECOWAS to lead the coordination, collaboration and communication in the region with regards to Covid-19, WAHO in a statement said the institution has distributed over 30,000 diagnostic test kits, 50,000 specimen transportation kits and 10,000 personal protective equipment (PPE), and some medications to Member States supplementing what individual countries are doing by themselves.

“WAHO has been very active in bringing together Member State to adopt a regional approach to the pandemic and to support them as necessary. As at

February 2020, a few days after the declaration by World Health Organization (WHO) of COVID-19 as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, WA H O c o n v e n e d a n emergency meeting of the Ministers of Health across ECOWAS on preparedness and response to the outbreak of Covid-19, and the meeting agreed on a unified regional approach to the pandemic,” the statement said.

The statement noted f u r t h e r t h a t “ WA H O immediately strengthened the capacity of all 15 member states to test for COVID-19 through a regional laboratory training and distribution of the first batch of diagnostic kits to all member states. In all the 15 ECOWAS Members States, several actors including health workers are being mobilized to save lives.

“However,therecontinues to be the challenge of securing sufficient materials given the disruption in global supply chains, this is something WAHO is tackling through its partnership with other agencies and bodies to ensure Member States do not run out of stock” the statement disclosed.

Adeboye donates medical supplies in fight against COVID-19 Iniobong Iwok

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he General Overseer of the Redeemed Christians Church of God (RCCG), Enoch Adeboye has donated medical supplies to support the efforts of the Lagos State government in equipping the medical staff with the necessary protective gears needed to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

Adeboye donated 200,000 hand gloves, 8,000 Hand Sanitizers, and 8,000 Surgical Face Masks and one ventilator to support the efforts of the fight against the Coronavirus spread.

While presenting the donations at the Mainland Hospital, formerly Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba , Lagos, Assistant General Overseer Admin/Personnel of the RCCG, Johnson Funsho Odesola said the RCCG commended the sacrifices that all medical personnel were making at this period.

Odesola said that the church would continue to pray for them as they give their sacrifice of love even as the RCCG as a church agrees that combating COVlD-19 is by no means work for all.

According to him, “The first ICU attached to Lagos University Teaching Hospital ( L AS U T H ) La g o s w a s

delivered in 2017. In 2019, the ICU in Jos Specialist Hospital, Plateau and an UltraModern Intensive Care Unit at the RCCG Health Centre, Mowe, Ogun State were both delivered and fully functional to address the immediate health needs of Nigerians and host communities.

“These lCUs across three states in Nigeria; Lagos, Plateau and Ogun States can now fully support treatments for confirmed Coronavirus cases particularly those requiring ventilators to aid their respiration.

“In addition to the ICUs, several other projects have been executed over the years in the areas of education, skills acquisition and daily feeding programme that has fed over 60 million people in the past one year, the church continues to live within its expectation as a church that truly understands its Christian Social Responsibilities (CSR); this is a confirmation of the broadness of minds and reach of the church. “ RCCG, thr ough its CSR arm has been heavily concerned about the loss of lives due to inadequate healthcare facilities in the country and as provided various health intervention including medical mission outreach for thousands of people all over the nation with 230,538 beneficiaries.

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News

Wike lifts curfew in parts of PH after over 200 persons prosecuted for violation …Pardons suspended local council boss, deputy …set to roll out palliatives Ignatius Chukwu

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he curfew imposed on parts of Rivers State has been lifted only after 48 hours.

The curfew itself has been controversial as over 200 persons have been prosecuted for violations.

The Rivers Civil Society Organisations (RivCSO) said in Port Harcourt Thursday, April 2, 2020, that Governor Nyesom Wike’s broadcast declared it ‘dusk to down’ but that the security agencies began to arrest people by morning when it was not yet dawn.

This forced the state government to clarify that it was 24 hour curfew. The RivCSO said those arrested and prosecuted were victmised and that the state governor should apologise and free them.

Few hours after that demand, Wike lifted the curfew imposed on Education Bus Stop to Agip Junction along Ikwerre Road and Obiri Ikwerre Junction to Ozuoba, Rumualogu and Choba. This takes effect on Tuesday, April 3, 2020.

Governor Wike also lifted the suspension of the chairman and deputy chairman of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area. The RivCSO had lambasted the governor for suspending them despite a Supreme Court ruling that elected local council chairmen were not appointees of state governors and thus cannot be removed or suspended by the governors expect by the Houses of As-

Wike

sembly.

Wike announced these decisions during a state broadcast on Thursday, but said all boundaries and markets in the state remained closed.

“Following the interventions of some well-meaning citizens of the state, the suspension of the chairman and deputy Chairman of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area has been lifted.

However, this should serve as a warning to local government chairmen and traditional rulers who will allow markets to be open in their areas.

“Residents of Mgbuosimini-Rumueme in Obio/ Akpor Local Government Area are hereby warned to desist from flouting Government directive on closure of markets or be

prepared to face unpleasant consequences.”

The Presidential Task Force (PTF) has said satellite markets can hold between 10am and 2pm every other day, and that boundaries should allow foods, medicines and essential materials to pass, but Rivers State government does not seem to allow these.

Wike said: “Commercial vehicle operators will soon get appropriate directives on their operations in order to maintain social distancing.’

He informed that his administration is working out palliative measures to cushion the effect of the sit-at-home directive.

“International oil companies operating in the state should support government by donating towards the containment of the virus.”

Coronavirus: Edo trains special volunteers, others on civil engagement with residents

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n the wake of the Edo State government’s charge for security agencies to enforce the stay-at-home order and the social distancing policy in public places, the state has trained members of the Edo State Public Works Volunteers (PUWOV) Scheme and other law enforcement agencies on civil engagement with residents to guard against incidents of molestation and harassment.

The Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, disclosed this in a television interview monitored in Benin City, the state capital.

Shaibu noted that though the state government has ordered for full compliance with the directive to stay at home, as well as closure of markets, it was imperative to ensure that Ed o r e s i d e n t s a r e n o t molested.

According to him, “We do not want our people to be molested. We are deploying persuasion and liaising with the religious and traditional rulers so that they can talk with their people to ensure that the message is understood. At the local level, people are being sensitised through town criers and

other local communication mechanisms.”

On the state g o v e r n m e n t ’ s preparedness to attend to more cases of coronavirus in the state, he said the Stella Obasanjo Hospital in Sapele Road, Benin City, has been repurposed to serve as a holding and isolation centre for coronavirus cases in the state.

He reiterated that the state government is ensuring that all hands are on deck to check the spread of coronavirus in the state, adding that the training of health workers is progressing swiftly.

MultiChoice Nigeria commits N1.2bn to support Nigeria’s fight against COVID-19 SEYI JOHN SALAU

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s the battle to minimise the impact of the global pandemic in Nigeria wages on, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), has continued to receive support from companies and private individuals, MultiChoice Nigeria has announced a number of initiatives to support the Federal and Lagos State governments’ efforts in ameliorating the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak in Nigeria.

MultiChoice’s contribution in the fight against Covid-19 includes cash support of N200million and N50million to the Federal and Lagos State governments, respectively; the donation of 10,000 certified test kits to the NCDC, Public Service Announcements (PSAs) on Covid-19 prevention tips in English, Pidgin, Ibo, Yoruba and Hausa

languages as well as approved inventory worth over N550m highlighting the NCDC’s Covid-19 Helplines and PSAs on more than 10 channels across DStv and GOtv. John Ugbe, CEO of MultiChoice Nigeria, said the company’s intervention, in line with its values as a responsible corporate organisation and leader in the media and creative industry, is aimed at supporting government, especially the NCDC’s initiative in fighting the pandemic and reducing its attendant impact on Nigeria’s national economy. “ We h a v e c o m m i t ted N550million worth of inventory to public service announcements in our indigenous languages in addition to English and Pidgin to ensure that every Nigerian understands how to prevent Covid-19 or call for help through the NCDC helplines. Also, the creative industry salary paymentofuptoN400millionwill

offer a much needed financial reprieveforproducers,actors, and technical talent currently contracted to MultiChoice Nigeria, whose livelihoods have been disrupted by the pandemic,” said Ugbe.

Nigeria’s creative industry has been particularly affected, with ongoing productions suspended in response to government’s advisory on public gatherings and social distancing. However, Ugbe opined that MultiChoice will cover the remuneration for engaged creative industry professionals whose productions have been disrupted by the current lockdown.

As seen in most hard-hit countries, the availability of test kits and supplies for medical personnel has been some of the biggest challenges in fighting the pandemic. The outbreak has also had a direct impact on individual businesses and general economic activities since its outbreak in December 2019.

Glo-sponsored African Voices profiles Nigeria’s reality TV show hosts

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s millions of Ni g e r i a n s s t a y indoors in line with the lockdown being observed in many parts of the country to help check the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, they can look forward to an interesting episode of African Voices Changemakers on CNN International.

The programme which is sponsored by digital transformation leader, Globacom, will bring to viewers the inspirational storiesofthreeyoungAfricans who are creating a niche on the continent through unique reality television shows. They are Nigeria’s Seyi ‘Shedams’ Olusore and Olawunmi ‘Olah’ Oyedeji and Kenya’s Patricia Gichinga.

Olusore is a popular fitness trainer and the brain behind

Nigeria’s first Weight loss Reality TV Show- The faSttest Shedder. He is also one of the show’s official trainers. He is expected to give viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the 90-day intensive weightloss show.

Also scheduled to talk about his show on African Vo i c e s Ch a n g e m a k e r s this weekend is Olawunmi Oyedeji, business development manager, d i r e c t o r, p r o d u c e r, T V content creator and film maker. He is the creator of Nigeria’s ‘Try My Job’, a reality television show aimed at tackling social justice issues and unemployment using entertainment as a major tool. The programme is endorsed by the Lagos State Ministry of Wealth Creation and supported by Ford Foundation.

He is also the creator of Project Renew which is focused on renewing the minds of the average Nigerian starting from the grassroots through a three-pronged program that includes seminars, skills acquisition and talent hunt.

Th e t h i r d g u e s t o n the programme is Patricia Gichinga, from Kenya. She is the Head Producer, Mediae, Kenya. She will talk about her farming TV reality show, Shamba Shape Up, East Africa’s leading agricultural TV program. It is a reality make-over show filmed on smallholder farms addressing the problems of the farmers in order to increase production and encourage farming as a business in Kenya and Tanzania. It reaches over 8 million households each week in English and Swahili.

Covid-19: C/River to distribute food to 44,000 households MIKE ABANG, Calabar

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h e Cr o s s Ri v e r State government has indicated willingness said it would distribute food items to 44,000 vulnerable households in the state to cushion the effects of “stay at home” order over the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chairman of COVID-19 Taskforce team in the state, Betta Edu, disclosed this at an interactive session with

journalists at the weekend in the state capital.

Edu said that following the state governor’s directives that food be distributed to the vulnerable poor, the committee had to procure rice, garri, plantain, yams and others for distribution.

Edu, who also doubles as the commissioner for health, explained that the register of the vulnerable in the state was obtained from the state World Bank Youth Employment and Social Support Operation (YESSO) programme.

A c c o r d i n g t o h e r,

the gesture by the state government was also to ameliorate the suffering of the vulnerable that cannot provide food for themselves.

On sanitizers, she said that 5,000 bottles of alcoholbased sanitizers have been produced and ready for distribution to residents in the state.

“In line with Governor Ben Ayade’s directives, we have procured food ready for distribution to the vulnerable people in the society, consisting of 44,000 households.

Sunday 05 April, 2020

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ifeGuide with Emem Nwogwugwu

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Emem Nwogwugwu is an entrepreneur, author, life coach and certified project manager.

For over a decade she has been working to motivate people to live their best lives.

Work-life integration: Working from home tips

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s the world goes through this season, more than ever, we need to find creative ways to do business and work from home and still raise our children right. We as humans had evolved even before the pandemic but with recent happenings in the world. Work, and the way people live and do business will never be the same again.

A lot of organisations might decide to cut their cost and request that their employees work from home and maybe have physical meetings only once a week at the office after the lockdown.

The new digital business disruption is here to stay. Company, who didn’t understand the need for digital transformation will be forced to invest in their organisational trainings to educate and implement an online automated systems to enable workflow within their organization. Employees need to cover the skills set gaps to remain relevant in their organization and career.

Many families will be forced to create a safe workstation in their homes. And before I dive into sharing these tips, this would be good time for organisations to train and coach their leaders and employees about the new face of work.

No matter how organised you have been, it can still be a daunting task to successfully manage your career and your household in the same space, especially if you’re raising a family, too.

These tips can be used by home-based

business owners, their employees and entrepreneurs who work for themselves and anyone who is experiencing working from home for the first time, only thing they need is the discipline to draw the line between personal and professional work time, this shutdown will force us to learn better ways to integrate the different areas of our lives. I call that work – life integration.

Start your day right- Taking time out to say daily positive words of affirmations is so powerful, you can also meditate on scriptures, workout for 30 mins and plan your healthy meals for the day before you resume at your home workstation.

Dressed up for Work Dressing up at home, sets the mood for a productive day. Working from home is not an excuse to stay dirty all day. Though it’s tempting to work in your favorite PJs, it may not be the best option for productivity.

“You don’t have to wear a suit or heels, of course, but don’t stay in your pajamas, either.

Dressing in clothes that you would wear outside of the home helps you get into the mindset of work.”

Getting ready is important, especially because the way you dress can affect the way you feel.

Maintain healthy hygiene – Make sure your space is neat and cleaned up daily, don’t live in chaos, that’s not good for your mental health and make sure you are taking good care of your body, even your dental health,

please brush your teeth so others won’t be punished when they come close to you.

Achieving success in doors requires a lot of discipline.

Use a work hourly tracker or a App like Any.do to schedule your daily tasks and work online meetings. Also you can get my book to organise your children schedule and a detailed to- do list for your babysitter/Nanny. My book Parent Organiser is a great resource for planning & organisation for your family/children to reduce the burden for parents and their care- givers.

Create (and maintain) a designated work space in your home.

Getting the right table and chair for the safety of your back is also very important.

Make sure your sitting posture is safe, to avoid backaches.

Create a workstation in your home “It’s critical to commute out of the bedroom to a dedicated workspace that separates work from home, and also have a fun part in your home that is just for relaxation and breaks. Also create a learning station for your children and a daily schedule for all their activities.

Avoid distractions- Decide when is your TV, radio or podcast breaks. You need to be disciplined to achieve your daily work goals.

Effectively Communicate- Communicate your schedule with your family, let them support your work, by respecting your schedule.

And find ways to allow you focus.

It’s important to communicate with your team members in your organisation to maintain your team connection.

Your company can use a tool like Slack, to join online meetings or ”Go To Webinar” App. Make sure you join in the conversations and try to have some verbal communication, either by telephone or by the computer so that you have conversations that helps you connect with other of your team members.

Create a schedule that allows you to exercise your body either by morning or by evening, this is another way you can take care of your body and your mind.

Be clear on your daily goals, so you can achieve them seamlessly.

Be determined to stay focused, regardless of whether it’s work- or home-related, it can be tough with all the distractions that pop up throughout the day and the negative news on TV. “Create a schedule that gives you time to also take care of your family. Striking a balance is very important “Set your priorities and stick to them.

Weather you are a paid employee working from home due to the lockdown now or an entrepreneur working for yourself.

Create your time for meditation, positive affirmations, fitness, daily work tasks, online meetings, learning new skills, family work, in door fun time because of the lockdown and time to rest your mind and body.

Integrate both your personal and professional to-dos.

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News Commissioner explains why Taraba produced citizens’ budget Nathaniel Gbaoron, Jalingo

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araba State Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Solomon Elisha has said his ministry produced a simplified version of the state budget called citizens’ budget to ensure transparency in governance.

In an interview with our correspondent in Jalingo, Elisha said government was determined to ensure that the people of the state follow government-planned spending for the development of the state.

The commissioner, who said the innovation was part of Governor Darius Ishaku’s quest to bring transparency in governance, urged the people of the state to support the administration to serve them better.

“Over time, people look at the budget as a document for the elite class. We are determined to change that

perception.

“Budget is a public document and an average man on the street of Taraba ought to know the plans of the state government towards the development of the state and in that way they will support the government better.

“I am happy to announce to you that we have produced 10,000 copies of the simplified version of the budget which can be read and easily comprehended by an average person,” he said.

According to him, “Although we couldn’t organise an elaborate ceremony for the distribution of the copies of the simplified citizens’ budget because of the pandemic we have at hand, we have devised other ways and distributed copies to citizens.

“We have also uploaded a soft copy of the citizens’ budget on the government website which can be ac-

US nationals stranded in Lagos over alleged crew illegality IFEOMA OKEKE

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undreds of Americans scheduled to be evacuated from Lagos on Friday were stranded at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos due to crew illegality.

The evacuation flight which was supposed to be operated by Omni Air International with aircraft type B767-200 was cancelled.

A letter dated April 3, 2020 issued by Landover Aviation Services, signed by Adegbola Adediran, Flight Operations and made available to BDSUNDAY titled, ‘Flight Cancellation’ was sent to Comptroller of Immigration MMIA and United States Embassy Abuja.

The letter reads: “The operator has advised while aircraft was enroute, that aircraft was forced to return

back due to crew illegality issues without further details.

“We hereby request that all passengers already checked in and stamped out be stamped back,” the letter stated.

The US nationals who had already been checked-in by the airport authorities were seen collecting their baggage from through arrival baggage belts with the plan to go back home.

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) had banned international flights but confirmed essential flights would still operate.

The essential flights include aircraft in state of emergency, over flights, operations related to humanitarian aid, medical and relief flights, alternate aerodrome identified in the flight plan, technical stop where passengers do not disembark, cargo flights and other safety related operations.

cessed by anybody we wish to do so.”

The Budget and Planning Commissioner said government was making plans to see the state as one of the best three in Nigeria in terms food production, natural resources exploration and model in the north in the near future.

He commended Governor Ishaku for his deliberate efforts towards ensuring the development of the state, adding that his ministry was working hard in fast-tracking development of the state through robust monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.

“We are here for a serious business and we won’t relent until we achieve our goals. So far, we have searched and discovered that Ondo State has the best monitoring and evaluation template and we are going to copy their template, work on it and deploy here to track progress,” he said.

COVID-19: Hundreds of traders stranded in Bayelsa …As Diri’s executive order takes effect Samuel Ese, Yenagoa

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undreds of traders at the popular Swali Ultra Modern Market in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State were stranded as the market was shut on Friday following Governor Douye Diri’s executive order on lockdown in the state.

Late Thursday, Diri had thrown his weight on resolutions towards containing coronavirus in Bayelsa State in a statewide broadcast, restricting movement, gatherings and commerce as measures aimed at protecting the populace.

In the broadcast, he announced that only those businesses dealing in essentials such as foods and pharmaceuticals would be allowed to operate while violators would be arrested

and could face fines, imprisonment or both.

He ordered the Ministries of Health, Trade and Environment as well as the state Environmental Sanitation Authority to monitor the situation and compliance while directing security agencies to arrest those who fall afoul of the executive order.

Following the broadcast, the Swali Ultra Modern Market was shut on Friday, leaving traders stranded as they had no access to their stalls just as many of them complained they were not given prior notice which left them in a terrible situation.

When BDSUNDAY visited the market at about 9.00am on Friday morning, all three gates to the market were shut with hundreds of traders waiting outside as they were denied access to their businesses.

However, some itinerant traders and those selling under umbrellas along the roads leading to the market were transacting brisk business.

Diri had earlier shut the borders of the state resulting in a sharp increase in the price of garri and other staple foods including rice and beans.

It was gathered that the sharp increase in the prices was allegedly due to the activities of officials at the entrance to the state who demand bribes before allowing lorries carrying foodstuff into the state.

BDSUNDAYreliablygathered that a truck could be charged as much as N15,000 before allowing it entry into the state which made the price of a custard container of garri to shoot up to as high as N1,500 from N600 before coming down to N1,300.

How we are surviving...

Continued from Page 2 kets, but what about those whose earnings are daily and have not earned money since the lockdown. How will they feed, government should identify and help these category of people out”, the lawyer said.

Barely a week into the lockdown, food supplies are running down in many homes, some are getting agitated, especially those who do not have money to refill their supplies. It is needful that government offers assistance to many who need it now so as to save people from unnecessary death from hunger.

Transparency is suspect in palliative distribution On Thursday 2, 2020, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of World Health Organisation (WHO) said on his twitter handle @DrTedros, that countries of the world have started asking people to stay home by shutting down population movement to limit the spread of coronavirus, otherwise known as COVID-19.

While acknowledging that these steps can have unintended consequences for the poorest and most vulnerable, he called on those countries implementing such measures to ensure the vulnerable populations have

food and other life essentials during the crisis.

Emphasising on this, Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO Regional Director for Africa, who noted that many people in the region live in crowded conditions or work in the informal sector and need to earn money daily to survive, said that it was important that countries make provisions to ensure that people can still access essential services.

The big question remains, is Nigeria meeting up this expectation for the benefit of her citizens? On the night of Monday, March 30, 2020, Nigeria, a country of over 200 million people with over 50 percent of this number living below the poverty line, joined the rest of the world to restrict gatherings and the movement of people by locking down some of her states, including Lagos, Ogun, and the capital territory (FCT) Abuja.

By restricting movement of people in the above mentioned places, other state governments followed suit, by closing down their borders to ensure that people from affected states do not have access into their states.

As a result, many Nigerians who need to earn money daily to survive started staying home without any means of survival. While small business owners worry about cash flow owing to closure

of markets in states for two weeks, families now fear the increasing rate of spending to cater for family needs in a period of limited resources.

This was why the Federal Government in line with the WHO advice for countries to make provision for the vulnerable in the society, rolled out plans to disburse N20,000 Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) payments of four months to the beneficiaries.

The disbursement, which kicked off in Kwali Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory and some parts of Nassarawa State, was to serve as a palliative to help ease the untold hardship, which the lockdown has imposed on the vulnerable.

Sadiya Umar Farouq, minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, claimed that over 2.6million households have so far benefited from the palliative and that over 11 million vulnerable persons have been identified in 35 states yet to benefit from the palliative measure.

Farouq, who stated that the 2.6 million households come from the FCT, Nasarawa, Katsina and Anambra states, insisted that there was no favoritism in disbursing the palliative.

In addition to this, several state governments claimed they have invested millions of

naira into buying basic food stuffs that would be shared among the residents in those states.

Despite these efforts, many angry Nigerians, who have been improvised by the stay-at-home order, have expressed concerns regarding the rationale behind the sharing of the Federal and State Governments’ COVID-19 lockdown palliatives.

For them, there seems to be no transparency in the distribution of the palliative, which according to them have been hijacked by the high and mighty for their own personal interest.

“Federal Government said they are sharing money to the poorest of the poor in the society but I have not seen anybody that has benefited from that palliative,” said a Lagos resident, who gave his name as Ade. Ade, who resides in Ejigbo Area of Lagos State, told BDSUNDAY that he is yet to benefit from the food stuffs, which Lagos State Government said it’s sharing to residents to cushion the effect of the lockdown.

“Nigerians need help because the closure of markets has not been easy for us.

Several Nigerians rely on the money they bring home on a daily basis to survive. Some of us wonder how we are going to survive in the coming weeks,” Ade said.

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News

COVID-19 shutdown: MAN appeals to Imo/ Abia governors for exemption SABY ELEMBA, Owerri

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he Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has in its effort to protect its members and promote close cooperation with its members, other organs of the organised private sector (OPS), government as well as other relevant sectors in the Nigerian economy and achieve a conducive atmosphere for industrial growth, appealed to the governors of Imo and Abia States to exclude its members engaged in the manufacturing of essential products from the shutting down order by the governors of the two states.

The shutdown order was given by Governors Hope Uzodinma and Okezie Ikpeazu of Imo and Abia States, respectively in order to check the rate at which the dreaded Coronavirus is spreading.

In the two states, all major markets, companies, shops and manufacturing compa-

nies have been shut down temporarily, and a fraction of their workers told to stay at home.

The group made the appeal in a letter titled ‘Exclusion of Manufacturers of Essential Products from shutting down’ dated March 26,2020 with Ref: MAN/ IMAB/ADM-30/020/03 signed by Jude O. C. Eluma, chairman of MAN, Imo/Abia branch and made available to BDSUNDAY in Owerri.

The exclusion appeal letter said: “Your Excellency, we are not unaware of the outbreak of coronavirus, otherwise called COVID-19, because of which many institutions have been directed to shut down as a measure put in place by government to check the pandemic.

“In view of the above, we wish to appeal that manufacturers of essential products such as pharmaceuticals, consumables, sanitary and hygienic products needed to curtail the spread of the virus (COVID-19) be excluded from total shut down of op-

erations.

“This is to avoid supplies of those essential products from running dry thereby creating more problems and hardship for the citizenry.”

The chairman of the Imo/ Abia branch of MAN, further said that their member companies that are into the production of the said essential products had been already advised on the precautions and measures to take if allowed.

According to the letter, the precautions include that “all industrial sites should sensitise and educate their workers on compliance with National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) guidelines.

“All industries shall provide requisite facilities and supplies for the prevention of COVID-19 in line with extant guidelines of the NCDC,” he said.

The sectoral groups according to Eluma include pharmaceuticals and laboratories, food and consumables, sanitary and hygienic products.

Bello orders investigation into alleged assault on Kogi beauty queen by commissioner VICTORIA NNAKAIKE, Lokoja

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overnor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has given an order to investigate the alleged battering of the state’s beauty queen, Elizabeth Oyeniyi by the Commissioner for Water Resources, Absumumini Danga.

The commissioner was said to have battered the beauty queen last week in Lokoja for posting a message urging the commissioner to lend a helping hand to a sister who happens to be a friend to the beauty queen.

The message was said to have angered the commissioner who ordered her arrest and taken to Commissioners quarter in Lokoja where she was allegedly “battered and raped” till the next day.

According to a press statement issued on Thursday by the state information commissioner, Kingsley Fanwo, the governor was shocked on hearing the news and subsequently ordered a full scale investigation into the matter.

“The governor hereby assures both accuser and ac-

Bello

cused, as well as the general public, that the whole truth will be uncovered and justice served as appropriate,” Fanwo stated.

“The attention of the Kogi State Government has been drawn to the allegations of assault, battery and other serious crimes levelled against Abdumumini Danga who is a serving Commissioner in Kogi State.

“It is alleged that he is involved in the alleged abduction and assault of a woman which allegedly occurred in Lokoja recently.

“His Excellency, Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi

State, who is an avowed advocate of the fundamental rights of Nigerian citizens, and especially within the boundaries of our dear state, is shocked by these accusations.”

The statement further said: “The Kogi State Government reaffirms its unalloyed commitment to the protection of everyone from all forms of oppression, and will not tolerate violence against women or children under any form or guise. We give our word that if these allegations are proven, everyone found culpable will be brought to justice”.

COVID-19: Don’t be ...

Continued from Page 1

L-R: Fidel Ogwuazor, Funmilayo Erikitola, Agnes Ikechi-Oleka, and Blessing Adebola, all members of Inspire Her Nigeria, a woman-focused NGO, during the distribution of hand sanitizers to Lagosians at the Ojudu-Berger area, as part of their COVID-19 intervention initiative, at the weekend.

COVID-19: NGO donates hand sanitizers to Lagos residents

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n its desire to help halt the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and contribute to the health and well-being of Nigerians, a non-governmental organisation, Inspire Her Nigeria, has embarked on distribution of hand sanitizers to Lagosians in the Ojudu-Berger area of Lagos State.

The NGO also used the opportunity of the distribution to sensitise residents of the area, particularly drivers, artisans and roadside traders, on the necessary precautionary measures to counter the coronavirus and its spread. Such measures include personal hygiene (regular washing of hands with soap, use of hand sanitizer, not rubbing of hands on face, and general cleanliness of environment), social or physical distancing (main-

taining of a distance of three feet from people, especially those with cough or cold), restraints from bodily contacts (handshakes, hugs, pecks or kisses) with people other than family members, and most importantly adhering to all precautionary guidelines issued by the government.

Speaking on the initiative, Inspire Nigeria, an NGO dedicated to the social, physical and economic wellbeing of women in the society, said it became incumbent on them to contribute their little quota in the fight against the dreaded coronavirus, a global pandemic that has crippled the social and economic health of countries. According to Inspire Her Nigeria, the distribution and sensitisation are important interventions to complement efforts by other

well-meaning Nigerians and organisations as well as governments in the fight to stem the COVID-19 scourge.

“COVID-19 is very real and deadly. Thousands have lost their lives to the virus, including here in Nigeria. It has destroyed the socio-economic fabrics of societies across the world. People have died, businesses have collapsed and family incomes and savings have been wiped out by coronavirus. To halt the virus’ destructive tendencies in Nigeria, it is imperative that everybody must pitch in, however little,” said the leader of Inspire Her Nigeria, Lagos chapter, Fidel Ogwuazor. “We hope to help, through this intervention, to stop the spread and the damage by the virus, especially the enlightenment aspect.

500,000 homes with an average of four persons per household.

The governor, who was represented by Olaolu Olabimtan, commissioner for Budget and Planning at the inauguration of 20-man COVID-19 Relief Committee being chaired by Fagbenro Olabode, said that the bags to be distributed to residents of the state would contain food items and hand sanitizers which, if used judiciously, would sustain each household for the 14-day pilot stage of the lockdown.

“We have to make sure it touches everybody and we are going to work on that. There are some people who if they don’t go out in a day, they won’t be able to eat. There are some people who have absolutely no earnings and from there we will begin to go up,” he said.

Ac c o r d i n g t o h i m , “When we finish with that and there is still more materials we will look up the ladder. But we are still going to sit and go to specifics. By the way, this Committee is not partisan, incorporated, fully inclusive

Governor Dapo Abiodun

of Community leaders, Baales (township heads), across all party lines, religious lines - everybody is represented.”

The governor has also directed all transition ch a i rme n of 2 0 Loca l Government Councils in the state to finalise details of the distribu-

tion of relief materials that started Saturday 4th, 2020, just as he directed them to begin sensitisation programmes for people in all the local government areas of the state to enlighten people on the symptoms and preventive measures of the coronavirus.

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PhotoSplash

Governor Uzodimma cutting the tape to commission the Covid-19 Response Centre at Orlu Road, Owerri.

Ben Ayade(left), Cross River State governor, , Eteng Williams Jones (right), speaker of the state House of Assembly arriving at the Calabar Garment Factory for distribution of free nose masks to residents of the city.

Photo: Cross River State Government

Men of the Nigeria Police checking and enforcing compliance with the Federal Government directive for a total lock down to contain the spread of COVID-19 in Abuja on Friday (3/4/20).

L-R: Uche Okoro; head of Organisation and Development, Nigerian Red Cross, Pedro Azuogu , assistant secretary genera,l , NRC, and Abubakar Kende, secretary general, during a press conference on the Covid-19 and lock down in Abuja

Thoroughly trained personnel ready for the fight against Covid-19 infection and prevention.

Olatunji Disu, deputy commissioner of police, Lagos State/commander, Rapid Response Squad (RRS), Inspecting the House Community Mosque, Mosalasi Alhaja, after the seal by the state government on Friday. Pic by Olawale Amoo

Cross River State Commissioner for Environment, Mfon Bassey (R), presenting hand sanitizers and liquid soap to the Commissioner of Police in Cross River

L-R: Ernest Edgar, Lead PMO, Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC); Henry Ajagbawa, MD/ CEO, PHEDC; Linus Nkah, Hon Commissioner for Finance, Akwa Ibom State; Matthew Edevbie, Managing Director, 4Power Consortium; Etido Inyang, Chairman, Ibom Power; Chima Omeike, Project Advisor and Meyen Etukudo, MD/CEO, Ibom Power at a stakeholder workshop on the Akwa Ibom State ‘Power for All’ project held in Lagos recently.

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Inside Lagos

Eti-Osa leads other LGAs with 19 confirmed cases of Coronavirus Stories by JOSHUA BASSEY

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he Lagos State commissioner for health, Akin Abayomi, says Eti-Osa local government area has the highest numbers of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the state.

Abayomi, during an update of Covid-19 situation in the state on Friday, said that Eti-Osa has 47 out of the 98 confirmed cases.

The commissioner said that Ikeja has 24 cases, Lagos Mainland- 11, while Alimosho, Agege and Ikorodu has one case each.

According to him, out of the 98 confirmed cases in the state as at Friday, 74 are active cases, while 24 patients have recovered and discharged.

He noted that most of the patients fell between 30 and 59 years, adding that two patients over 60 years and another two

LASEMA team and fire servicemen at Maola Shopping Mall, Ebute Ero market, Idumota, on Lagos Island, gutted by fire on Friday April, 3.

over 70 years were among the patients currently receiving treatment at the facility.

Abayomi said 64 per cent of the patients were males, 36 per cent females; noting that 68 per cent of the cases were imported

in the first four weeks of confirmation of the index case in the state According to him, 91 per cent of the cases are Nigerians, stating that since the closure of the air and land borders imported cases had reduced, while

Eko Disco assists Lagos with N150m to fight COVID-19 OLUSOLA BELLO

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ko Electricity Distribution Company has set aside N150 million to assist the Lagos State government in its efforts to stem the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the state.

The company has also promised to ensure that there is 24-hour electricity supply to all the isolation centres that fall under its franchise area.

The managing director of the company and CEO, Adeoye Fadeyibi, stated this when the company donated two lorry loads of food items received on behalf of the state government by Gbolahan Lawal, who is the state commissioner for agriculture.

He said: “Eko Electricity Distribution Plc will not stand aside and watch, as this virus ravages our city and threatens our fellow citizens and our way of life. This is why our board and management have approved a budget of 150 million naira towards assisting the government during this crisis.”

According to him, the approved budget will be used

to provide relief items for the low income earners/less privileged and invest in infrastructure to deliver consistent electricity to isolation centres within our coverage area. “We hope this will encourage others to pitch in and assist the government in containing and permanently eradicating this pandemic” The Eko boss also seized the opportunity to appreciate the Lagos State government under Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for its commendable and rapid response in handling the COVID-19 situation.

He said Friday April 3, 2020 marked day 37 since Lagos state’s (and Nigeria’s) index case was discovered and clearly the team has not let up since.

“Lagos state’s citizens receive regular and detailed updates and Lagos State’s dedicated medical facilities and isolation centres are reassuringly equipped to cater to the health management of residents whom have tested positive to the coronavirus,” he said.

He said while each confirmed case was one case too many, Nigerians should

count themselves fortunate that so far, the crazy explosion of case numbers which other countries have racked up has been relatively low here, stating further that it was the prayers and hope of members of staff and the board that all the factors in play in Lagos and across Nigeria result in our country being less vulnerable and more fortunate than others have been, as we battle this pandemic.

Lawal thanked the management of Eko Disco on behalf of the government stating that it will go a long way assisting the people because on a daily basis the government receives a barrage of calls from people who complained that they have not been reached with the relief materials.

The commissioner also clarified the issue of the shift markets created by the government for sale of food items. He said 26 shift markets were scattered across the state with farmers on ground to sell their produce to consumers. The commissioner also said that the government was using schools for the programme.

the state has started experiencing local transmission of the virus.

He said most of the patients were experiencing a mild to moderate degree of the illness, adding that two of the patients were presently on oxygen. The com-

missioner, said that if the oxygen does not work for them, they would change it to ventilators.

According to him, there are about 20 ventilators in the state hospitals, and another 20 in the private hospitals which the state can access if the need arises.

The commissioner said that the state has three molecular laboratories for Covid-19 test, and was conducting between 200 and 300 Covid-19 tests daily.

He said there was an ongoing training of medical personnel and volunteers, stressing that the state has adequate personal protective equipment for its staffs.

Abayomi disclosed that the state was tracing 2, 450 contacts.

He advised the public to continue to practice social distancing and adhere to the stay at home order toward reducing the spread of Covid-19 in the state.

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Fire guts shops at Idumota market JOSHUA BASSEY

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wo shops with household utensils have been destroyed by fire which engulfed Maola Shopping Mall in the Idumota area of Lagos.

Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, the director-general, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), who confirmed the incident on Friday, said with the combined efforts of emergency agencies, the fire was eventually put out.

“Upon the arrival of the emergency responders at the scene, it was discovered that a building (Maola Shopping Mall) was affected by a fire of unknown origin.

“A combined team of LASEMA responders from Lagos Central Zone, Lagos State Fire (Sari Iganmu), Federal Fire service and Nigeria Police Force were able to curtail the flames within shortest period of time.

“Only shops 35 and 36 on the last floor of the building stocked with different goods such as cartoons of detergents, kitchen utensils, were affected by the fire and no casualties,” Oke-Osanyintolu said.

He urged members of the public to comply with the COVID-19 social distancing guidelines laid down by the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to avoid endangering themselves.

Lockdown: Lagos introduces TV, radio lessons to engage students JOSHUA BASSEY

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o positively engage students throughout the lockdown period, the Lagos State government is partnering some stations for radio and television lessons for students in the state.

Commissioner for education, Folasade Adefisayo, said that the daily educational radio programme targets Junior Secondary School (JSS) students.

Adefisayo, in a statement, noted that the radio teaching programme was a partnership between the government, Naija FM 102.7 and South Saharan Social Development Organisation.

The radio lessons cover four subjects; English, Mathematics, Basic Science and Civic Education. The teachings will commence from Monday, April 6, 2020, running from noon to 1p.m daily.

According to the commissioner, the radio programme will keep the students engaged

while at home during the lockdown period, urging parents and guardians to ensure that their children tune in to Naija FM 102.7 and make the best use of the quality teachings and educative programme.

She however noted that a similar programme initiated for Senior Secondary School Students had commenced on Monday, March 30, 2020 and currently ongoing on WAZOBIA radio and television stations between 11a.m to 1p.m as well as 2p.m and 4p.m daily respectively.

TREM distributes food items to indigent members, others

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heRedeemedEvangelical Mission (TREM), Festac branch, has distributed food items to hundreds of its members and others families in the community.

The food distribution took place over a period of two weeks to ensure that the public adhere to the government’s stay-at-home directive to combat the spread of COVID-19.

Items distributed include rice, beans and ‘garri’, noodles, spaghetti, sardines, tomato paste, vegetable oil and seasoning.

The parish pastor, Iyke Osuji, said that the gesture was to ensure that its members had food to eat while staying indoors during the lockdown.

“As a church, we deal with a whole lot of issues; we under-

stand what people are feeling, we know where they’re coming from and the challenges they have.

“Everyone is not equal; there are many people who cannot afford to be under any form of lockdown without assistance. It is very important to have something to eat when you are in your home, so we decided to help the most vulnerable among us who don’t have enough to eat.

“I believe that is one of the cardinal reasons we exist as a church, that is one of the things our Lord Jesus Christ ordered that we should fulfill,” he said.

Osuji commended the members who assisted the church to make the project possible.

Helen Ebodiwe, a church member and a beneficiary, said

that some food items were received before the lockdown, but got some more recently since she wasn’t sure if the restriction of movement would be extended.

Ebodiwe said: “What the church has done is very encouraging and it helps me believe that I have a family that cares about its members.

“With this, I believe I have enough that will keep us at home for two weeks by God’s grace.”

Also, Benjamin Imonah, who repairs generators for a living, said he wasn’t finding things easy because he was no longer getting patronage since the lockdown.

“People who would usually bring work to me are all indoors, they’re also keeping money to take care of their families,” he said.

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COVID-19: Not a death sentence after all

Frank Aigbogun

editor Zebulon Agomuo DEPUTY EDITOR John Osadolor, Abuja

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Sunday 05 April 2020

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s things currently stand, all over the globe, the fear of coronavirus (COVID-19) is the beginning of wisdom. Indeed, who will not fear a pandemic that has inflicted so much pain on the world like no terrorist organisation has ever done within such a spate of time?

As at the time of putting down this piece, the number of people that have died as a result of the pandemic, on a global scale, now surpasses 51,000, with more than 1,000,000 infected in 158 countries. Since its outbreak in the Wuhan Province of China only four months ago, the mysterious virus has found a foothold on every continent except for Antarctica.

Its socio-economic impact on nations of the world is simply astonishing. Many businesses have been shut down, with experts projecting disastrous economic outlook for many nations in the coming months. Thousands of flight has been cancelled while countless money spinning entertainment and sporting events have

been postponed indefinitely, and in some cases cancelled out rightly.

As at Thursday, April 2nd, Nigeria has recorded 184 confirmed cases of the pandemic and two fatalities.

Though the fatality figure is comparatively fewer, but governments across the country are not taking chances.

A few States in the country are currently under lockdown, while many others have devised various drastic measures to ward off this ethereal pandemic, infamously described by the garrulous American President, Donald Trump, as a ‘Chinese disease’.

But then, as it is often said, behind every dark cloud lies a silver lining.

Though the rage of the enemy coded COVID -19 is truly frightening, the truth, however, is that there is a glimpse of hope in the horizon. As former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, rightly affirmed in his 68th birthday homily, ‘the pandemic does not have the power to sink us, so, we shall not go down but rise’.

Steadily, the Lagos experience has cheerfully established that the pandemic is not a death sentence, after all. A recent statement by the Lagos State COVID-19 Incident Commander and governor of the State, Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, confirms that 11 more Coronavirus infected patients from the State’s prime Isolation facility at the Infectious Disease Centre, Yaba Mainland Hospital, have been released.

“They have fully recovered and tested negative to COVID-19 and have been allowed to return home to their families”, the governor revealed. According to the governor, the tests results of the patients came

out negative twice and as such they no longer pose any threat to the public.

With the soothing news of the survivors, two females and nine males, a total number of 18 patients have been discharged in Lagos since the index case was reported in February 25th. Recall that, aside the Italian index case, who was the first in the country to triumph over the pandemic, six other coronavirus patients were earlier discharged from the Yaba facility.

The survivors were quarantined and treated at the isolation centre for two weeks after testing positive for the deadly virus. Reliable reports have it that the survivors looked stable and unruffled, saying they felt very happy they had been given a clean bill of health.

They expressed joy and satisfaction with the State Government and Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu over the treatments they received at the isolation centre and his proactive approach towards the containment of the virus.

Though, it is not yet time to thump up, as the battle isn’t won yet, commendation must, nevertheless, be accorded to all stakeholders, both at the national and state levels, who have been working tirelessly to demystify this mysterious pandemic.

It is a testimony to the famed ‘Naija’ spirit. In Lagos, especially, Governor Sanwo-Olu has been a major rally point. Like Winston Churchill did for the British during World War 2, the governor has provided firm leadership. He has creatively galvanized human and material resources to

combat this invisible adversary.

Credit must also go to the State Commissioner for Health, Professor Akin Abayomi. May God bless this man. Since 1999, Lagos has been blessed with passionate and competent cabinet members. Prof Abayomi is, no doubt, simply following in this impressive tradition.

According to testimonies from some of the discharged patients, the frontline health workers, who took care of them, were awesome.

No matter the negative stereotype about our nation, we still have some of the most passionate professionals in the world. Currently, health workers as well as other volunteers, across the country, valiantly battle on to tame the arrogance of COVID-19. Remember Dr. Ameyo Adadevoh? That is the woman who sacrificed her life to free the whole nation from the pang of the deadly Ebola Virus.

That is the never- say-never ‘Naija’ spirit.

As earlier affirmed, nothing has been won. So, no trophy has been received. But then, if we can all work together as one, with a common vision and goal, victory is surely in sight. This is neither the time for cheap politicking nor needless divisive jibes. The enemy that confronts us knows no language. It knows no tribe. It knows no political party affiliation. Neither does religion means anything to it. It has no respect for neither the rich nor the poor. All it wants is blood. For this evil virus, there is no discrimination in blood.

Blood is blood.

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Politics Where are the political parties?

Zebulon Agomuo

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uddenly, the political parties in Nigeria have gone underground and the so much noise about the power shift in 2023, which was already becoming irritating, has been drowned in the ocean of coronavirus (COVID-19).

Before the outbreak of the virus in the country, some political actors had begun to claim ownership of power in the next three years. There had been sponsored publications both offline and online about individuals warming up to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari.

In February, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) deregistered 74 out of the 92 political parties and banned them from participating in subsequent elections in Nigeria. Recall that 91 parties participated in the 2019 general election. One more party was registered by court order after the elections, making a total of 92 political parties.

While announcing the deregistration, Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman, had explained that the affected parties failed to meet the constitutional requirement that determine the continuous existence of political parties in the country.

He added that the parties breached their requirements for registration because they failed to win at least 2596 of votes cast in one state of the federation during the presidential election.

Before the coronavirus outbreak, a number of the affected parties were kicking against their deregistration. Some had even gone to the court to contest their legitimacy. Some were also talking tough online and offline, alleging that INEC must have been prevailed upon by some powerful elements that felt threatened by the possibility of losing power to some of the affected parties.

Since the issue of COVID-19 pandemic hit Nigeria, there has been dead silence over how many parties are alive or dead. It has been as usual the war of words between the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition group, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), especially on issues of what was perceived to have been done rightly or wrongly.

Of the 18 parties that escaped the INEC hammer, nothing is coming from them at a critical moment as this, either by way of shelling out relief materials, press releases, encouraging Nigerians to keep hope alive or other forms of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. Absolutely nothing!

A political analyst said: “If this were election time, all manner of flyers, with various messages, most times outright lies, aimed to hoodwink prospective voters, would have been flying everywhere; churned out by desperate politicians.

Why would they not at this period, send out flyers that speak hope to faint-hearted compatriots?”

The names of political parties are missing on the lists going viral on the social media, of individuals and groups that have donated handsomely towards the fight of the pandemic in Nigeria.

Adams Oshiomhole, APC chairman

Uche Secondus, PDP chairman

Ralphs Okey Nwosu, ADC chairman.

Mike Omotosho, LP chairman

Where are those parties that came up with the crowd-funding strategy to bankroll their campaign activities during the election? Does it mean it is not possible to champion that same crowdfunding at this time in order to help the less-privileged?

We have seen some heavy donations from one or two of the former presidential candidates, where are others? Does it mean they became bankrupt as soon as the elections were over?

Has the APC as a party made any donation? Is it not possible for the PDP to go beyond finger-pointing and namecalling, and announce a palliative for the Nigerian people that tolerated them for 16 stretch years? Or would they give excuse that there is no money? But what of the wealth accumulated yesteryear?

Today, the political parties have gone underground waiting for when the dust settles to begin to heat up the polity again with selfish campaigns.

Speaking with BDSUNDAY on the possible reason for the silence from political parties, Cosmas Ali, a Lagos-based politician, said those expecting political parties to begin to make donations may be misinterpreting the role of parties, particularly when a government is in place.

“I have heard a lot about parties not reaching out and not donating money the way some individuals and other corporate organisations are doing. I think, we are getting things mixed up here. Parties are made up of individuals who pulled resources together, primarily, in Nigeria

at least, to seek power through election.

It is not as if there is a bank they kept billions of Naira as savings; no. Whatever money that came in was expended during the election period. In Nigeria, most parties raise money on ad-hoc basis. What I mean is, if there is an election, everybody is taxed to make contribution towards it, and after that everybody goes back to his house, unless if the election favours you,” he said.

According to Ali, “You can make a personal donation if you have the resources as a politician, the way some have done; but to expect a party like ours to shell out money the way some corporate organisations are doing is asking for something that is impossible, because in the first place, there is no money.”

Faulting the parties for not creating opportunity to send message of hope to Nigerians at this trying period, a woman, who runs a non-governmental organisation, said the political parties could still make themselves felt by sponsoring jingles on radio stations, and other means that may not cost them so much.

“I am not expecting political parties to make cash donations; I am not even sure if the Electoral Act permits political parties to do so. But I am of the opinion that they can make their presence felt this time around, by sending messages out there to the Nigerian people, through radio jingles and flyers; telling Nigerians to keep hope alive. You know, this is the time that soothing words can help many people; Nigerians have suffered so much;

they have gone through a lot; they need soothing words to keep them going,” the NGO woman, who asked not to be named, said.

According to her, “Nigeria has lost many people through fear. Because they faced some situations they felt they would not be able to come out of, they took their own lives. That’s why we have so many cases of suicides in the country today. Do you know what the lockdown mean for many families in Nigeria? These people need encouraging words, and political parties that cannot give out money, can give loving words, and spread some cheers at this time.”

Alex Opeyemi, an information and communication technology (ICT) expert is worried that Nigeria’s brand of political parties is only vibrant during elections.

“I have continued to wonder why we are the way we are in this country.

Parties must not exist only for elections; where they do not win election, they die a natural death. In some countries, political parties have existed for many decades; whether they win elections or not, they are there, providing a shadow governance for the people. Shadow government in well-developed democracies means that the opposition, for instance, are exercising power behind the scenes, beyond the scrutiny of democratic institutions in power. But that is lacking here,” Opeyemi pointed out.

He further recalled that “In some countries, there are shadow cabinet made up of senior group of opposition spokespeople who are under the leader of the opposition, they form an alternative cabinet to that of the government.

This shadow cabinet scrutinizes the policies and actions of the government, as well as offer alternative policies. Do we have that in Nigeria? The so-called opposition members, just after they lose election, they declare allegiance to the party that has won the election. Or some of them, what we see here, they pretend they are opposition in the day, but at night they are hobnobbing with powers that be. Politics of the stomach, that is what we play here.”

A public affairs commentator, Jibril Edward, said the political class was always short-sighted, and on an ego-trip most of the time.

“Can I say that this coronavirus of a thing really provided a pleasant interlude from the annoying activities and utterances of some politicians, who have almost seen themselves as the next president. They were already heating up the polity; calling other people names.

As terrible as this coronavirus outbreak may seem, it has helped to tame our overambitious politicians,” Edward said.

“To think that we have not even done one year after an election, and these politicians are already plotting and using uncouth language against some other people is to me, the height of insensitivity. Now, that the virus has grounded every activity, why are they not talking; why have they retracted into their shell?

I think they see themselves as tin-god, they should have been carrying on with their campaign. They never learn, and they can never learn.”

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Politics There’s no system of election that will not be abused in Nigeria - Adewale Bolaji Adewale, a legal practitioner, is the Lagos State chairman of the Action Democratic Party (ADP). In this exclusive interview with INIOBONG IWOK, he spoke on effort to reposition the party ahead 2023, Muhammadu Buhari’s response to the Coronavirus outbreak, among other issues in the polity. Excerpts: presidency to the Southeast? This question that they should go and join force with our region, I don’t believe in it. The people of the Southeast belong and are members of the party; why not zone the presidency to them? But I believe they have lot of qualified Nigerians from the Southeast who can vie for the presidency.

What is your take on the recent defection of Babatunde Gbadamosi, your party’s governorship candidate in the 2019 gubernatorial election in Lagos State, to the PDP? e has just changed party; we are not surprised, it is his fundamental right. Nigerians as right to choose who their leader is, so he is just exercising his right under the constitution; he just remembered that the moment we finished the gubernatorial election that he does not belong to ADP and since that time he has been inactive in our party.

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What does this portend for the ADP; a crisis?

Obviously no; but like I said, I do not know what informed his decision to defect, he is in a better position to say that, but what I know is that there is no crack or crisis within the party; we are moving on stronger. Don’t forget that, this is a new party not even up to three years old. In June this year, it would be three; for us to be among the parties that were not delisted

by INEC tells you that we are still a force to be reckoned with among the political parties in the country. 2023 is still far away and we are preparing and not relenting; our structure is getting stronger. Some people have come into the party others have equally left. Like I said, this is Nigeria, politicians defect like they are changing singlet. This moment the person is in APC, the next moment he is in APGA, there is nothing strange about what has happened; it is normal in Nigeria.

What does this defection mean for the future of your party?

You can only get the performance of a party during election; at the last election, among the 80 political parties that participated in the election in this state ADP came third in the state. This was a party that was less than two years old. Then, for the 2019 election we were just one year and nine months old and we were able to come third; nationally, we were sixth or seventh, that is something to write home about. It means that there is something that we have and can work on towards the 2023 election.

Also, the local government election in the state comes up next month; we are going to see a better party and performance.

Yes, we are going to consolidate on our performance in last year’s election that is what we would do.

But there is the presumption that your party is not grassroots-based?

The reason ADP was not deregistered is because INEC found us in the grassroots.

You know INEC checked all the parties and we were all invited, including all our officials from the ward to the national level and they carried out verification. They are able to establish that ADP is on ground; what you people don’t understand is that

What is your take on Buhari’s administration?

If there is another name to be used than failure that is what I would use to qualify the Buhari administration now, because Buhari is a failure right from day one when he assumed office. Look at this issue of this Coronavirus; the President has not meaningfully addressed the nation, but look at what Presidents of other nations have been doing, they are active but ours decided to keep mute. That is a sign of failure, as a President who does not know what to do, this is a failure. I don’t see what he has achieved in five years and I don’t know what he can achieve.

Bolaji Adewale

ADP is not making noise; the result of elections would make noise for us.

The conduct of LG government election in Lagos State has been questioned in recent times; are you saying your party would participate in next year’s LG election?

What I can tell you is that ADP would participate in all elections. Look at the local government elections in Sokoto, Jigawa and the rest states, the ADP participated and had candidates, even some constituencies in Sokoto State for example, we came second in the election. That is to show you that we are always there and ready, and we would compete with most of these so-called big parties, and overtake them. In the last general election, our candidates in Oyo won House of Representatives and Assembly seats.

What is your take on the recent delisting of parties by INEC? It was long overdue; I am not an advocate of multi-political parties, I don’t know the essence of it. I was thinking that they want to limit the number of parties to five. Many of the parties are just there in the newspaper and television; they are not on ground.

But some of them have complained they were not given enough time after being registered by INEC? Why did they go and submit proposals for registration during the election when they knew they were not ready? They knew the election was coming even when they don’t have the grassroots support; they asked for registration. We knew what we wanted; they know that there is going to be

an election and they went to compete; they should not blame anybody. The Senate should control the number of political parties in the country; parties with the same ideology can merge together. In the United States and the rest, things are not done like this. If the Electoral Act is amended, parties would be streamlined. What is happening now is proper; more than 90 parties, and does not make sense. How does INEC monitor 92 parties? Then should you have a ballot paper that is as tall as this. And we are saying that we would not tamper with the system; it confuses people.

What is your take on electronic voting?

If it is achievable it is ok. But there is no system that is adopted that would not be abused here, everybody see the system as survival of the fittest, everybody wants to win election. But if the purpose for contesting election is for the development of the people, you want to go to office and service the people, assist the poor it should not be a do-or-die affair. But rather our people want to win at all cost, destroying ballot paper, it is business to them.

What is your take on agitation by the Southeast that the 2023 presidency should be zoned to the region in 2023?

If it is the presidency, personally I think the Southeast should have the presidency in 2023; it is their turn. I don’t believe that they don’t have anybody in the Southeast who can occupy that position, it is not true. There are Southeastern politicians in APC; what kind of alliance are they talking about? We have Igbo politicians in the PDP and APC; why can’t they pick candidate from there. Why can’t they zone the

What is the position of your party on ‘Amotekun’ Necessity is the mother of invention; if the President had not failed, there would not be need for ‘Amotekun’. Even in your house, when you have an issue, no one tells you to look for solution for your problem.

The President has not done well in terms of security; what has he done? It appears nobody is safe now. People are being killed every day and some people are supporting him. People are getting missing and nobody is doing anything about it; they have their reasons.

Your party criticised the performance of INEC after the 2019 election; has that position changed now?

INEC is doing their bit, but within INEC there are some infractions that have taken over the place; they give political parties the power that they have their men in INEC employment; that is part of the issue we have.

Is your party satisfied with performance of the Governor of Lagos State so far?

Let’s see what happens after one year by May 29; the government met Lagos State in a very bad shape, it would not be fair to pass judgment negatively now, let us wait and see what happens in the next three months and the shortest period. He was not a politician, but was drafted there by his godfather. So, within the first six, nine months he is grappling with issues in that office, but let’s wait and see for now. But going forward Nigerians should be wary of politicians; they should look for alternatives; People who can sanitise the system and not people who want to do business and make money; if you want to make money, go into business instead of going into politics all in the name of wanting to serve.

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Politics How government can handle the lockdown - APC Chieftain Kafilat Ogbara is an activist and a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State. In this interview with journalists, she bares her mind on the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic, the need for the government to make it comfortable for people to sit at home, among other issues. INIOBONG IWOK brings excerpts:

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New cases of COVID-19 are being recorded daily; where do we go from here? e saw it coming, and now it’s here already. A lot of developed nations could not even contain it, so we don’t expect anything super from Nigeria, it is a pity we could have prevented it, but the government is doing all it can to stop further spread. I think we need to do more, unlike the Ebola case, government has failed in taking proactive measure in preventing this. As it is now, we need all hands on deck to contain it, government bodies, corporate organisations, individuals, we all have to come together to stop this. As individuals, we should invest in the test kits, join the government in the awareness campaign, within our estate, we can ensure people get tested before they are allowed into our compounds and when we discover any case, we should call any of the free toll numbers. I can tell you for free that this thing is more than what is being reported in the media; a lot of people already have contracted this thing who have not been tracked and they are infecting others every day. We need to follow the instructions given by medical practitioners, we need to wash our hands regularly, keep our environment clean, stay at home, if you must go out at all make it a selective outing, we need to ensure we use one stop shops where we can get all our things and return home immediately, this thing is everywhere now, you can see it in high places, the son of a former Vice President, Chief of Staff to the President, so, it’s no longer a joke.

Government also needs to decentralise these isolation centres, we have halls that we use for ‘Owambe’ parties; government can use those facilities for now in each Local Government.

Would you support the position of the wife of the President that the whole country should be locked down in a bid at curtailing the pandemic? Of course, she is right because, of what meaning is it when children stay at home and the parents go out, get exposed to all manner of things out there; come back and still make contact with their children; it does not make any sense. However, the government must also make it comfortable for people to stay at home, we are asking people to stay at home, how safe is it for a family of seven inside one room, there are houses where 15 people stay in a room in this Lagos? It is easy for us to say people should stay at home, but do you know the condition of their houses? People even look for small space to lay their heads and when the day breaks they are out again, we need to make things easy for this set of people, they are our people, we are one family, this is already being done in other countries, government is already giving incentives for people to stay indoors, food items are being distributed, payments of rent stopped and so on, Nigerian government needs to do something to make staying at home easy for the people.

You asked people to stay at home, there is no electricity, the house is hot, some depend on water vendors for their daily water use, if the vendors stay at home, there would be no water for them to use for their hygiene, some only have access to decent toilet facilities in

Kafilat Ogbara

their place of work and now that you ask them to stay indoors, what happens? I think government needs to look beyond these elitist policies and realise that there are downtrodden Nigerians who cannot survive without going out to vend for their daily living. What are the provisions government is making to ensure a level of palliative for this kind of people who must always go out to look for money to feed their children?

All these still boil down to what people have been saying about bad leadership, poor governance. I am an APC chieftain, yes, but truth be told, things are not the way they should be; we don’t even have the right data to do all these; we don’t have the number of people who are old and young, how many people are employed, how many are unemployed, people’s telephone numbers, account details and so on, with all these data, it would have been easier to reach out to the people but in the absence of that, if the government can still work with the Local Governments, they know how to get the people at the grassroots.

We know how we go from house to house to meet people when we want votes; we know how to reach every house when we want to collect our levies, we can always devise means to reach out to the people if we actually want to, as government.

Do you think the government has been proactive enough in handling this issue?

I am one of the people who have been clamouring for a shut down before now, asking that our borders be closed, but you can see from the calibre of people coming back into the country in recent times the reason the government refused to shut down the airspace before now. They were waiting for family members

to arrive before they would close the airspace; they are putting the lives of over 200 million Nigerians at risk because of their family members. I am speaking as a Nigerian now not as an APC Chieftain or a politician. Before we have the index case, we were hearing how it was spreading everywhere; yet, we were still allowing flight to come into Nigeria from those high-risk countries. They kept telling us they have this electronic device that could test people from afar off and I wonder why the device could not pick the cases we have now, who came in through the Airport.

Most of the cases we have now, the people affected called by themselves not even that they were detected by the government; so, if they had not called they would be spreading it everywhere, it is pathetic, I think the government failed in this area, that’s my opinion. I think this is an opportunity for us to reflect as a nation; for instance, like the NAFDAC DG told us, we are at a risk now because most of the drugs we use are imported from China and some other high-risk countries, it is time for the government to begin to look inward and see how we can be independent in these essential areas like education, health, drugs and so on.

Bola Ahmed Tinubu on his 68th birthday Asiwaju is not just our leader, he is a global phenomenon, a mentor and a visionary leader; he is a man with foresight, he is somebody I admire a lot, we look up to him, he has taken Lagos to an enviable height, with this level of social, economic and political stability. I wish him many more years in good health, sound mind, joy and happiness, not only for him, his wife too, Senator Oluremi Tinubu. I wish him happy birthday.

COVID-19: We need to be more compassionate, caring at this trying period of our nationhood - Speaker Razaq Ayinla

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s Ogun State begins the lockdown to halt the spread of coronavirus, in line with the recent directive of President Muhammadu Buhari, the residents of the State have been urged to complement government’s efforts at assisting the less privileged and the vulnerable groups by showing love to one another and be brother’s keeper especially during the period of the lock down.

The Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Olakunle Taiwo Oluomo, gave the admonition, while fielding questions from newsmen in Abeokuta on government’s efforts at alleviating the plight of the indigents during the trying time of the global pandemic.

Oluomo explained that the cooperation of the people with government was essential during the lockdown of the state from 11pm today Friday, which he noted remained a major sacrifice towards curtailing the spread of the coronavirus in the state.

He noted that the state government had embarked on the distribution of food items to support the less privileged, the widow, aged and other indigent groups but there was need for more through the supports and care of the residents to their neighbours to give them succour during the period.

“Although government had embarked on the distribution of palliatives through some relief materials across the State, but love and care for our neighbors during this period would further bring succor to everyone.

“Government’s relief materials are meant for those who don’t have any means of catering for themselves during this period, hence

Olakunle Taiwo Oluomo

those who have more should also support government’s efforts”, he remarked The Speaker also called on well-meaning individuals to support the less-privileged and the down trodden, so as to reduce the challenges associated with times like this in the society.

He seized the opportunity to implore all residents to be law abiding by remaining indoors, obey all rules given by government and maintain social distance throughout the lockdown period.

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Interview How online lending is helping Port Harcourt’s SME financial market – Ife Ibitokun, BizNurture CEO Ife Ibitokun, founder and CEO of BizNurture Financial Services Limited, has bachelor science degree in Accounting from the University of Lagos and is a Chartered Accountant with an MBA from Cranfield School of Management in the UK. I have a degree from Harvard Business School (Online) on Disruptive Strategy. She is married with two children. In this exclusive interview with IGNATIUS CHUKWU in Port Harcourt, she reveals how she stumbled into a novel idea that is today a thriving online lending business and a fast-expanding enterprise. Her desire is to wake up the Niger Delta people especially women to 21st century business models and online businesses such that no person would be idle.

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ay we know how BizNurture operates?

BizNurture is an online lending company that provides funding for SMEs in Lagos and Port Harcourt. We have been around for four years, having started and ran as consulting firm for two years before I now sold the vision to my partners thereby evolving into a lendtech company in 2018.

We started from Port Harcourt because it is the region I know.

I worked in Port Harcourt for six years and then left for studies for about one year. When I got back, I saw there was an opportunity in the space because I had people calling me, asking about finance and funding. This was despite that I was away from the country for about 15 months. I turn on my phone and it would be the same issue of ‘we need funding, the banks are not funding us’, etc.

What I did was to start by using the little funds I had to help these business owners. Now, the word started going out; when you help one or two persons, they begin to tell others about you. I was in the banking sector, so I had contacts.

People knew me. That was how I started the consulting company. I would get people who wanted to invest in small businesses i.e. those who have the funds, and I took the funds from them, use my skills in banking, credit analysis, financial analysis, to assist those coming to me for loans.

Many wonder if truly there are people interested in genuinely investing in others. I will say yes, there are such persons. Some do so for better returns, some because they believe in the cause you are championing. Right now, returns are low.

Treasury Bills are below five per cent but inflation is very high. The former is single digit while the latter, double digits. So, there are people willing to invest where there is higher return but while some do not know where, some just want to put their funds in someone’s hand, someone trust and that person in turn looks for profitable investments for them.

It started with family and close friends that know Ife (me) as a person who worked in the bank with trusted skills, etc. They know if they gave her their funds, she would do the right thing. Funds thus started trickling in. Word of mouth also brought in Borrowers and business started.

Between 2016 and 2017, it was about getting funds from those who had and giving to those that needed. When I saw the traction

by December ending 2016, I spoke with one of my friends who we had worked together on an idea to start a crowd-lending platform where borrowers and lenders to

Ife Ibitokun get connected. We wrote our business plan, went as far on deciding names, etc. Then, we were not sure what the regulations (CBN) were.

And had written to them. The only response we got was informing us we had addressed our letter to the wrong department and pointed us to the right department. We wrote to the said right department but we never heard from them to this day.

That was that.

Eventually, my friend had to move on to fend for his family, he got a job in a bank. This effort started in October 2015 and by 2016 nothing was happening. I remained here in Port Harcourt while he moved to Lagos. I didn’t want to return to the banks even though I had offers. As previously mentioned, I then began using my funds to help people in business. I went further to register a business name to do this as the umbrella of my services.

When it gained traction, and I was still in touch with this friend, I told him, look, there is opportunity here. I had also started doing a lot of research in online lending. I had attended conferences that involved fintech companies when I was in the UK. It was more like, this is fantastic if we could do it in Nigeria but the idea that I was going to start one never crossed my mind; and that is because I was not thinking of becoming a business owner or an entrepreneur! I returned, the opportunity just came up and I was just happy to try it out and see where it led.

I called my now partner up again in June 2017 and sold the vision to him, something different from what both of us had in mind. I told him, look, we can do this. We can change the mode of doing this, that I had done a lot of research. Already, he just tendered a resignation letter

to start his consulting practice. He is into strategy and IT. He said, ok, let’s do this. I got introduced to one more person. The three of us came together, created a new business plan for the online lending platform which officially launched in January 2018. That is the background.

We have done almost N1Bn volume to over 200 SMEs. In the same 2018, we opened our Lagos office. Again, we just migrated the list in my consulting company to this new firm. People were beginning to know us. We have moved from a one-man company to a 15man company (three partners, 12 employees).

You are not scared lending to people you do not see?

We eventually meet with them.

Initially, we do not, but at last, we meet. The whole idea is to make you sit down at the comfort of your home or office and submit your documents online without having to drive around to meet BizNurture or any lender for that matter. After which it will be reviewed. If there is the possibility of giving you the loan, we go through the normal processes. When this is sure, then we can meet. This cuts off unnecessary meetings until eligibility status is achieved and we then send you the documents for execution. It is at this point that you then come with those documents (the hard copies) and we now meet you. Those documents can also be submitted by a proxy. If we need to see you during processing, we arrange to do it, most times by visiting your facility.

Nigeria has a huge reputation problem; now that you are handling funds, what is the situation in terms of fraud and false claims?

That is very interesting because we have also learnt our lessons on

the job about fraud.

Again, we are unable to achieve an entire faceless transaction for SME lending because of the economy we are in. In developed countries, data is available, you can easily trace a business and its owners, their credit system is stronger than what we have here. We have adapted the model brought into the Nigerian environment. We have even had to modify some of our processes just because of this. You are faced with the issue of how to give people funds when we do not ask for collateral.

We only demand for guarantors, strong guarantors with very strong cash flow such as salary earners and business owners with strong inflow we can trust. We have had issues, especially in Lagos.

The Lagos borrower vs the Port Harcourt borrower Lagos borrowers are more sophisticated than Port Harcourt ones. The Port Harcourt borrowers seem to be ‘good people’ as some of our staff members would put it. I wouldn’t say the Port Harcourt borrower or businessperson is naïve or has rural mentality, no, I would say they have a higher level of sensitivity or fear over debt or higher interest in protecting his or family name. They know they owe you and they have this feeling of an obligation to pay.

On the contrary, with our experience in Lagos, you find that the borrowers there have probably gone to many lending firms or banks. You find that they really understand what the lenders are looking out for. Some of them then doctor some of the documents they submit to us. For instance, one of BizNurture’s products is local purchase order (LPO) financing. You come with an LPO from company A. Initially, we were not confirming those orders, so long as we see it is a blue-chip company.

But when we got our fingers burnt, we began to verify them right with the issuing companies.

Another thing we discovered was that emails that were provided for confirmation did not have the issuing company’s domain name. We expect that the person to confirm should be, say, ife@campanyA.com, instead of ife@gmail.com. We now realized that a well-known company must have a domain name and cannot send us confirmation by general mail system. We even had a staff member that was doing all these things from the inside. He connived with people to come take loans with dubious credentials.

Again, in entrepreneurship, you learn, and relearn. For me, my mantra is, progress is the goal, not perfection. If we wanted to be perfect before venturing out, we would not have started today. So, we have made mistakes, we met fraudulent people, we have seen documents

that are doctored, we have done tracings, etc. All these have made us more careful and cautious particularly in Lagos.

We have not really had many issues in Port Harcourt, maybe we started with people I knew so well from my banking days; and people they also know. People will naturally behave like the people that introduced them. You find out that they are quite loyal to us. They also must guarantee the persons they brought in. Once they hear the person is defaulting, they literally stand on them to ensure there is no damage to their reputation. Also, working from the known to unknown really helps in entrepreneurship. It has helped here.

Lagos was a new environment for me though I started my career there, but it was just for nine months. What we have tried to do with the Lagos office is to get people who know that environment. The first person we got was is the earlier person I referred to - he is the earlier person I referred to is the earlier person I referred to - the one telling clients how to defraud us. We had to let him go. In fact, we had let him go before we found out what he was doing to the firm. We found the certificate he used to get the job was fake. The funny thing is that he had worked in big banks with it and they did not find out. It took a small company like ours to find out. It pays to have those structures in place and to do things properly. When we found out and let him off, we now found many of the things he did, including charging clients to process their applications, otherwise, he wouldn’t do the job we employed him for.

You can’t know it all. You, therefore, have keep learning and updating your processes. In as much as we want to make access to finance very easy for business owners, we also must protect our investors’ funds.

In doing this, we learnt; to confirm all documents from the issuers. Because we started from Port Harcourt and we could trust the people we started with, it was easy, but Lagos taught us new lessons. Trust is important in this business. From the onset of treating an application, if we find dishonesty in minor disclosures, we stop there.

So to answer your question, yes, we have met fraudulent people.

How is Niger Delta in business drive, attitude and volume of patronage between Port Harcourt and Lagos?

Majority of our requests come from Lagos. Lagos as a city is very commercially viable. In terms of disbursement, however, we have done more in Port Harcourt than in Lagos. Again, it could be due to the aforementioned reasons. Lagos

Continues on page 15

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Interview

We have to build an economy with strong buffers – Amadi Sam Amadi, is a former chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), and currently lectures at the Baze University. In this chance interview with HARRISON EDEH, Amadi spoke on the lessons Nigeria could learn from the COVID-19 pandemic in order to build a resilient and healthier economy. Excerpts:

C

ould you kindly speak to us on how the coronavirus is already adjusting the global economy and what lessons Nigeria could learn with regard to having a productive economy?

The world will survive the coronavirus but with great or less casualties; but it will hardly survive the economic effects of the virus. The figures are not yet in but we will witness severe recession that some people estimate could be to the degree of the 1930s global crisis. The world economy will receive a major hit as commercial and industrial activities shrink. Unemployment is already a problem but will get worse as businesses struggle to survive. Countries will inject their economies with stimulus but these will not be enough to get the global economy to pre-COVID19 status.

The lessons for Nigeria is to realise that we have to build an economy that has buffers and only an innovative economy can withstand the degree of risks and vulnerability expected of a globalised economy that is unbalanced.

Nigeria is practically down economically with a plummeting

Sam Amadi oil price. Oil remains the mainstay of our economy; how do we get out of this mess and have an economy that has an identity and not absolutely dependent on the volatility of the oil market?

We can’t solve our economic crisis of over-dependence on oil through usual economic policy making. The crisis is rooted in the legal and institutional framework of the economy. That’s the sense of restructuring. Our political economy is rent-seeking. It creates

a perverse incentive to develop a productive economy based on brain power. We are a single commodity economy and as long as it remains more attractive to political elite to share rent, then you will not have enough incentive to move to a productive economy. Nigerians are talented and we have significant brain power to become an industrial and innovative medium level economy.

Our salvation lies in de-emphasising oil economy and its freezing

impact on creativity and innovation. We have to abandon the rentier economy that is serviced by oil and move to a productive economy built on innovation and enterprise.

What model of an economy would you suggest for the Nigerian government to adopt and grow now since our lip service to diversification has failed us overtime?

Nigeria has been yoked to the neoliberal model and needs to unyoke itself to become a productive economy. We missed the road when we abandoned industrial policy because of the failures of the post-colonial planned economy. We allowed the market forces to determine our economy and today we are worse than we were during the days of neocolonialism because our economy is basically an appendage of western economy.

Government still pays a lot of subsidy despite scarce resources; not just the fuel subsidy, virtually in various sectors including power, oil, among others. These are no longer sustainable; how do you think we could

make headway since Nigerians’ taste buds are already used to these subsidy?

We need to act like the Asian countries and embrace developmental state that strategically engages the market to create industrial capacity. We are at the right spot to leverage new technology to deepen capability for a real economy. We have been sold the falsehood of economic development based on financialisation. So, most of our billionaires are bankers and traders not manufacturers.

We need to build solid economy.

So, how do we address concerns of subsidy that we can’t sustain?

I think we may not run away from subsidies in the short to medium terms especially in the light of COVID-19. But we need to review who captures these subsidies and for what purpose. This will show that most of these subsidies are mere ripoff by the well-off. So, we may need to remove some of these subsidies and target better those that will benefit from the subsidy.

Subsidy should be rarely allowed and allowed only when it benefits only the worse off.

How online lending is helping Port Harcourt’s SME financial market – Ife Ibitokun, BizNurture CEO Continued from page 14

Ife Ibitokun borrowers are very sophisticated.

When they come to you, they are indebted to a couple of companies.

Some of the things we advise them is on debt profile, over exposure. If you had been previously financed by a company and you had ‘behaved’ well and acquitted your integrity, that company should be able to finance you again. The question now is, why are they not doing it again?

We drill this down and analyse this and find out what they do, etc. We also have limit of lending which is N5m. If you need N10m and you

go to two firms for N5m each, it is understandable. There are so many companies in Lagos, but we lend more to Port Harcourt businesses because of higher integrity levels or compliance levels.

How do people know that such opportunity is here at BizNurture?

Initially, it was from known to unknown, from people I knew, and word of mouth started spreading.

We also have marketing strategy; we have staff members that go out to create awareness. We also have digital tools to target places in Port Harcourt and Lagos. People get to know us in several ways. There is field marketing, traditional marketing, and digital marketing. Part of our strategy is to build our network.

I was a banker and I still relate with my ex-colleagues and let them know what we do. We know that banks do not treat all the requests they get; so, can you refer them to us?

There are also consultants in various field that deal with SMEs and refer them to us.

How exactly is BizNurture boosting SMEs in PH? Some experts talk about PH and the Niger Delta people being laid in businesses; how then are you helping awareness and structuring to position them for loans and partnerships like in Lagos?

We have always come across people who look laid back, and again, we have our criteria to give loans. Before you get a loan from us, your business must have a structure such that your personal

account is not the same as your business’s account. The lender must know what is going on in your business separate from your personal life. When they come to us, we don’t just turn them down, we educate them on why they can’t get a loan from us. They get to know about being properly structured.

You also need to have been in business for two years. Some will say they have been in business for long, but it is in their name. We say, you need to register the business. You also need to be able to apply for a loan online. In BizNurture, there is significantly less paperwork. We have that advisory service though we do not charge for it. As we go through your financials (bank statement), we can point out that there is something going on. We can tell you how the cash flow should look like in your industry. We ask such questions. We provide feedback.

We let them know that there is huge information out there on google and social media. We tell them to join our blog where we can regularly send out tips on how to structure and manage their businesses. We also send out weekly educational materials. Your phone should not be just for selfies..

What is your growth path like, your next steps?

For us to grow, we have immediate, medium, and long term plans.

Our long term plan is to be one stop for SME related matters including where SMEs can come and be sure of alternative finances quicker and

surer and at affordable rates. The truth is that there are sharks out there charging as high as 20 per cent. We also intend to provide the advisory arm. Right now, we just talk to them but we intend to have educational resources for them to improve themselves or their businesses. We will do learning and development for clients.

We are taking it one step at a time. We first want to be deeply rooted in lending before we go broad. Our immediate plan is to get deeply rooted in the lending space, create our own algorithms, and develop our technology to help us in credit risk management. The medium term is to have the advisory and help SMEs. Government angle A lot of government policies will help us. We were very happy with the BVN 2.0 initiative by CBN because we felt it is a right step. BVN 2.0 will allow banks debit debtors from any of their other bank account. If you are owing Bank A and you have funds in Bank B, bank A can debit a person’s account in Bank B. The Credit system in Nigeria is still not strong. We need a strong policy that would help the credit market. If a client gives a bank a cheque, with BVN, we should be able to get our money from anywhere they have money in any bank. It’s just a matter of technology to plug in and get information from anywhere. We are not a deposit-taking lender or firm, so we rely on the banking system to get out funds back and this is why trust is important.

Is the Niger Delta backward in personal financial management skills and what advice do you give them?

I feel Port Harcourt people are comfortable with where they are.

They must realise that there is more out there. What they need to do is to get exposed; get some financial education, look at what people are doing, attend courses, and meet with people. Do not sit back and think you know it all.

It is not that there are no resources in Port Harcourt, but people have to step out of their comfort zones, find out where courses are going on, and also go online. Avail yourself of knowledge. Go for those free and paid programmes. Invest in yourself.

To invest in yourself though, you need some sort of clarity as to where you are going because there are also many programmes out there which can lead to information overload and more confusion.

With the advent of social media, I have seen a lot of people that have improved themselves. If I want to buy a dress, all I have to do is go online and buy in Lagos and they bring it to Port Harcourt. That is because those in Lagos are the ones we see. Social media is not for looking beautiful (snapping and posting).

I think Port Harcourt people are now beginning to go in that direction but there is need for massive action there. Spend some money to get improvement. If they hear of N20,000 training, they scream, but people should be ready to invest in themselves.

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Perspective Advancing Autism awareness drive: Orange Ribbon initiative charts the course Kate Odim

T

he World Autism Day is an internationally recognized day by the United Nations in order to encourage members of the United Nations to take measures about people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) throughout the world. The day, which began in 2008, draws special attention to people with special needs that should be managed by others.

Over the years, there have been various themes that have sought to highlight the needs and propose ways of addressing the challenges faced by Autistic people, their families and immediate environment. Some of the themes that had been discussed include, ‘Employment: The Autism Advantage’ in 2015; ‘Autism and the 2030 Agenda: Inclusion and Neurodiversity’ in 2016; ‘Toward Autonomy and Self-Determination’ in 2017; ‘Empowering Women and Girls with Autism’ in 2018 and ‘Assistive Technologies, Active Participation’ in 2019.

According to the United Nations, the 2020 theme is ‘The Transition to Adulthood’. As expected, adulthood is typically equated with becoming a full and equal participant in social, economic and political life of one’s community. However, the transition to adulthood remains a fundamental challenge for anyone with autism majorly because of the lack of opportunities and support devoted to this phase of life.

According to the World Health Organisation, one in 160 children live with Autism Spectrum Disorders (AUD) worldwide.

Further statistics shows that 135 million established cases of Autism in the world, with more than one million children and teenagers suffering from the condition in Nigeria. Although there are no specific statistics in Nigeria because the condition is hardly diagnosed and rarely understood, sufferers of this condition lack medical and psycho-social help.

Despite the rising number of sufferers, autism is one of the most ignored health issues in the country as there is low awareness to early diagnosis and management of the cognitive disorder in Nigeria. Unfortunately, many children suffer great health loss, some are even denied their right to basic needs of man. Some are isolated by their families due to the shame of having a child with intellectual/cognitive disability, while some suffer from the menace of cultural beliefs, superstitions

and myths as they are being called various names.

All of these show that more work needs to be done to identify children with autism at an early age, refer them to early intervention and create adequate help for them. Research has shown that there is practically no cure for autism at the moment but studies are constantly going on to examine causes and create proper treatments. For some autistic children, administering certain medications and behavioral health patterns can improve the condition and also enable them to be self-reliant as they approach adulthood.

Every year, thousands of children in Nigeria are born with Autism and other developmental disorders that affect their abilities to learn and build social skills. Most of these children do not get the adequate medical, social and academic support that they require and when they grow up, they are often faced with little or no employment or vocational opportunities to build their own lives.

To help rescue this situation,

Africa’s foremost financial institution, Guaranty Trust Bank has

“

People with Autism have their own aspirations, dreams and God-given potential, just like any other person; they just require a little more support to live fulfilling lives, we strongly believe that reaching out and supporting these children and adults who are often the most vulnerable in our society, is how we truly demonstrate our shared humanity

”

Since 2009been at the forefront of leading an annual discourse on the management and care of persons with the Autism Spectrum Disorder through her GTBank’s Orange Ribbon Initiative.

The initiative is an advocacy program designed to support children with developmental disabilities, most especially the Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). It seeks to ensure that these children are not stigmatized and that they receive the required support from parents, teachers, friends, government and the society.

The initiative started with the gathering of a small group of people with similar interest in seminars and talks aimed at improving awareness and management of ASD, which has now grown to become a conference which is annually well attended by parents, professionals and care-givers and viewed through several channels across the globe.

Usually designed as a 2-3 days program coordinated by world leading experts in the

management of the ASD, the conference is comprised of critical discourse on topics relating to the support of children and adults living with Autism. The conference also have sessions for free one-on-one consultations for children with Autism and other developmental challenges as well as counselling for parents and guardians.

Some of the other sessions held during the annual conference are seek to address challenges relating to Speech Therapy, Physical Therapy, Behaviour Analysis, Audiology, Clinical Psychology, Developmental Psychiatry, Physiotherapy and Occupational therapy.

Speaking about the bank’s Orange Ribbon Initiative, Segun Agbaje, the managing director and chief executive officer of Guaranty Trust Bank plc, said “With autism being reported constantly, It is crucial that we continue to educate people around us, we will promote awareness and acceptance of individuals with autism. As a bank, we are delighted to be a part of this great initiative and it gives us so much joy that we can impact our society and enlighten people on the need to create more enabling environments for kids living with autism.”

According to him, “People with Autism have their own aspirations, dreams and God-given potential, just like any other person; they just require a little more support to live fulfilling lives, we strongly believe that reaching out and supporting these children and adults who are often the most vulnerable in our society, is how we truly demonstrate our shared humanity.”

The bank will continue to be a Voice for people living with Autism by constantly investing in initiatives that help them lead better lives and by partnering with like minds at home and around the world who share in our belief in a world full of support and attention and free from stigma and prejudice, against people with special needs.

Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, through its clearly defined Corporate Social Responsibility, champion’s education for all, empowers underserved people and communities, expands access to healthcare, promotes Art and advocates for environmental protection. The Bank undertakes hundreds of community development projects every year across Nigeria and beyond to expand opportunities for individuals and families in the communities where it operates.

Odim, a crusader for autism patients, writes from Lagos

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Perspective

A fresh beginning for ASCETA under Nto Ama Abraham

W

hen two months ago, the traditional rulers in Arochukwu Kingdom visited the Abia State College of Education (Technical) in the town, they were astounded that the once glorified secondary school had been transformed into a great citadel of learning with imposing structures and a serene environment. After a guided tour of the campus, they told the Provost of the College, Philips Nto to perish the thought of leaving after the expiration of his first tenure.

They elected to stage a protest to Government House to persuade Governor Okezie Victor Ikpeazu to reappoint him.

That planned trip was aborted because Governor Ikpeazu without prompting from any quarters renewed Nto’s appointment effective March 03, 2020. His achievements had gone before him and had spoken volumes.

Those who knew what the college was in 2016 when Nto first birthed there have always wondered the magic warned he waved to exorcise the derelict squalor that paraded the environment and in its stead imposed structures that have given a face lift to the institution.

If Nto didn’t know better, he would have thought that he was sent to ASCETA in 2016 as a punishment. The infrastructure was run down. The morale of staff was at its lowest ebb owing to issues of welfare. The students’ population was down.

In fact there was a general sense of abandonment such that only the lion hearted would have accepted the appointment. However, Nto, being lion hearted and a distinguished Alumni of University of Nigeria Nsukka and Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike where he obtained multiple degrees, was not deterred. He was determined to succeed.

As the then immediate past Commissioner for Finance and Economic Planning and a World Bank Consultant, Nto came prepared. He started from the basics, restoring the environment, providing security, connecting the school to the national grid, rehabilitating the dilapidated hostels and motivating the staff through payment of their salaries as soon as the government released the subventions.

As an academic, working in an academic environment, he tackled the issue of accreditation of courses in the various schools. Approaching the National Council on Colleges of Education (NCCE) which has

withdrawn accreditation from those courses was not easy. But he had a governor who believed in quality education, thus, the state government availed him the resources with which he employed to secure accreditation for almost all the courses in the college. He also resuscitated the moribund affiliation with Abia State University and went a step forward to affiliate ASCETA to Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike.

It is instructive that those very policy issues gave ASCETA a fresh breath of life. Students wishing to undertake a straight four year course can now do that comfortably because a man who understands where he is going was given an opportunity to drive the vision of the state government on education. He also strengthened the academic staff capacity to ensure that the College produces the best graduates within the South East region.

But the nagging issue of the inability of the College to issue certificates to her graduates became a challenge which Dr. Nto immediately confronted.

Today, for the first time since the inception of the institution; graduates are being issued their National Certificate in Education and degree certificates from the affiliated institutions. This has understandably given the students the confidence to make ASCETA their destination College of Education.

Having firmly secured the academic front, Dr. Nto turned his attention to infrastructure.

It is instructive that when he arrived the College, the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) had severed relationship with ASCETA because the previous administration failed to adhere to the fund’s rules. It is a general knowledge that to be qualified for a new project, the benefitting institution must have completed a previous one satisfactorily.

Dr. Nto had to source money elsewhere to complete all the abandoned TETFUND projects, including the fish pond, thus qualifying the school for new

Philips O. Nto, provost, Abia State College of Education (tech), Arochukwu ones.

When some of his senior staff refer to the Provost as Mr. infrastructure, it is not for nothing.

Within the last four years, he has executed landmark TETFUND projects running into millions of naira. Those include the College’s Auditorium, School of Arts and Science, and School of Business Education. Two other projects are ongoing while he has attracted a N1billion intervention fund. The 1 billion is special high impact and will assist in landscaping. In addition, hundreds of staff including academic and non academic have received local and international training under the fund.

That was why both staff and students of ASCETA were ecstatic when Governor Ikpeazu graciously renewed his tenure for another four years. That was why the host community, Arochukwu led by the Traditional rulers could not hide their joy that the Provost has been offered another opportunity to consolidate on the gains of his first tenure.

Abia State College of Education Technical, Arochukwu

It was not surprising therefore when the College on Tuesday, March 03, 2020 erupted in joyous celebration to receive the reappointed Provost. As the new Auditorium was filled with staff, students and well wishers waiting for him, Nto elected to first visit the traditional rulers of Arochukwu kingdom to seek their royal blessings. He told them God answered their prayers through Governor Ikpeazu to bring him back and that it was only natural for him to formally thank them for their support and seek their collaboration in the years ahead.

Eze Eze Agwu, Mazi Majesty, Mazi Okoroafor Uror who spoke on behalf of his colleagues described Nto as a proud son of Abia State who has earned the respect and accolades being heaped on him. He said they were happy because the Provost has transformed ASCETA academically and infrastructural and therefore deserved his second tenure. But they pleaded with him to present to government the plight of staff who were down-sized last year with a view to paying them their entitlements.

As the Provost left the palace enroute the College, hundreds of students forced him down from his car and led him into the College with a dancing troupe.

A journey of just three minutes took them about 30 minutes within which the carnival like atmosphere had reached a crescendo. In fact the Chairman of the inaugural ceremony, Paul Anyaogu said it was just a modest show of appreciation from the College community for a

job well done. “We are here to celebrate Philips Nto whom God has used to reposition ASCETA on a noble path of sustainable progress in his first tenure.

We thank our Governor, Victor Okezie Ikpeazu for appointing the Provost for a second tenure”.

And that became a refrain for every speaker in the solemn Assembly held to inaugurate the Provost for a second tenure.

The Guest Speaker and Assistant Parish Priest of St. Paul’s Catholic Church, Ututu, Rev. Fr. Samuel Kalu-Okondi eulogised Nto for heeding the call of God and the society to serve selflessly. He called on staff and students of the College to live upright life for God to continue to bless them.

Responding, Nto acknowledged the supreme presence of God in his life. He acknowledged the benevolence of Ikpeazu for reposing confidence in him. He acknowledged the sacrifices of junior staff of the College who toiled even without salary to ensure the success of his administration. Above all, he acknowledged that whatever progress he made would not have been possible without the collective efforts of the entire staff. While seeking forgiveness from those he might have offended in the course of his assignment, he emphasised that all his actions were aimed at making ASCETA better than he met it.

He thereafter announced a four year strategic plan comprising academic development, infrastructure, staff development, capacity building, sports development and backward integration. He said the programmes under backward integration will help artisans and other youths acquire skills in welding, block moulding, agriculture, carpentry, poultry and piggery management, barbing and catering with a view to making them self employed.

Nto also pledged to focus on staff welfare and commended the Governor and the Finance Commissioner, Dr. AhamUko for promptly releasing subventions to the College to enable it pay staff salaries. He said he was engaging the government to ensure that retired staff of ASCETA are scheduled for pensions while the issues of promotion and salary arrears would be addressed in due course. He however urged the staff to reciprocate these gestures by working harder to realize the vision of the founding fathers for ASCETA as a ladder through which the technological breakthrough of Abia State will be realised.

Ama Abraham is Special Adviser to Abia State Governor on Political Affairs.

Sunday 05 April 2020

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Focus

“

We commend the government for the intervention in water supply but the quality of water being supplied to us is not good. I want those concerned to note and appropriate action taken

How Ishaku’s revolution in water sector is yielding result in Taraba One of the areas the Rescue Mission initiative of Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku is yielding positive result and impacting directly on the people of Taraba State is the water sector, writes NATHANIEL GBAORON from Jalingo:

W

hen in 2015 Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku was traversing the nooks and crannies of Taraba State, seeking the mandate of the people to vote him as governor with a promise to rescue the state from her numerous challenges, bring water to the door steps of the people, improve the health and education sectors, empower the youth and women, among many others, not many people believed him.

To some, it was usual of politicians to make lofty promises, but once they get into office the social contract is thrown to the dustbin of history. But the governor proved many wrong within two weeks on assumption of office. He injected funds into the water sector and the pipe started running years after residents of Jalingo, the state capital, lost the taste of pipe borne water through public water supply.

Before the coming of Ishaku, access to potable water by residents of Jalingo was a major problem, forcing residents of the city to rely on local water

vendors popularly called (Mairuwa) in Hausa, and few streams stretching through the city and its environs. Public water supply remained exclusive for a few as a result of lack of adequate attention to the sector.

During his campaign, Ishaku expressed worries that water, a God-given commodity to mankind, could be so scarce in Taraba, he drilled boreholes in more than five communities even before elections were held and he subsequently won.

To further consolidate on this gains of his efforts in repositioning the State Water Supply Agency for better service delivery, Ishaku, within the first three weeks in office, met with the African Development Bank (AFDB) and sealed a deal for the commencement of 47,273m3 per day water supply target by 2035, the agreement, the contract of which was signed in 2012, during the Danbaba administration.

Work on the first phase of multi-billion naira water project has been completed and residents of Jalingo and its environs are now enjoying

potable water supply.

The state government between 2015 to date has drilled over 300 boreholes across communities in the state to boost potable water supply in the rural areas. A resident of Mallam Joda Jalingo, Hamisu Umar told our correspondent that he did not vote for Governor Ishaku in 2015, but because of the governor’s performance, especially in the area of water supply, he had no choice than to vote for him in 2019.

Umar said: “Usually, water scarcity is a major issue in the state, especially during the dry season and our people have had to put up with untold hardships in the past. But with the efforts of this administration in collaboration with some donor agencies, to provide water for the people both in urban and rural areas the situation has changed.”

Today, the popular Mairuwa (water vendors) are no longer popular as every part of Jalingo is now enjoying potable water supply. Buba Siem, managing director of the Taraba State Water Supply Company (TAWASCO), speaking recently during the US-

AID- E-WASH media roundtable in Jalingo said the company was doing its best to serve the people and urged the public to pay their bills promptly to enable company serve them better.

As part of his administration’s commitment to rescue the state, Governor Ishaku had during the launch of the State Water Sanitation and Hygiene WASH policy in Jalingo, assured Tarabans of his determination to complete the N7billion Jalingo Primary Water Source Project with a bid to ensuring that people of the state have access to potable water in both urban and rural areas.

Another innovation brought by the administration in the water sector is the introduction of ‘Water vending Machine’, first of its kind in Nigeria. The vending machines make use of vending card like ATM which are preloaded by the state water agency and slot into the machine like the banking ATM to fetch water.

The administration has also procured and installed about 7, 000 prepaid water metres to ensure effective revenue collection.

The state government has also entered into agreement with

Nairobi City Water Agency in Kenya to train 50 Taraba youths on revenue.

Thrilled by the technology, Zaku Agbu, a resident of Nukkai in Jalingo and Kabiru Adamu of Lamurde area also in Jalingo said they were happy to see the innovation in their time and commended the state government for the initiative. Hajiya Zainab Magaji of Angwan Aisha in Jalingo, though commended the government for the transformation in the water sector, called on the authorities to improve on the quality of water being supplied to the area.

“We commend the government for the intervention in water supply but the quality of water being supplied to us is not good. I want those concerned to note and appropriate action taken.

“The government is really trying in the area of water supply.

Throughout this dry season, we didn’t look for water like before. I was travelling to Jos recently and in almost all the villages from Wukari to Ibi I saw new boreholes, courtesy of this government and for us women, water is very important and I was impressed with what I saw,” Magaji said.

The giant stride of the administration in the water sector did not go unnoticed as the governor was in 2018 honoured with an award as the ‘Waterman of the Year’ by the Nigeria Water Supply Association in Abuja.

A cross section of the people who spoke to our correspondent shared testimonies on how they have been able to cut down on their spending on water and the socio-economic benefits of the water in the state. While they commend the government for the great intervention in the water sector which is receiving pragmatic and purposeful attention and support, they want the government to focus on improving security and opening up of rural roads for the economic transformation of the state.

20

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Sunday 05 April 2020

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Lockdown

Lockdown in the eyes It is unjustifiable Two weeks of sacrifice - Onovo won’t kill us – Birma INIOBONG IWOK

T

D

auda Birma , a former presidential aspirant, has urged Nigerians to take seriously and abide by the social distancing and sit-athome directives from the Federal and state governments in order to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, irrespective of the inherent inconveniences.

Speaking exclusively with BDSUNDAY on the effect of the lockdown ordered by the Federal Government in some states and the complaints arising from affected poor masses of Nigeria, Birma said the situation at hand calls for sacrifice on the part of every citizen, urging everyone to exercise patience since the lockdown is not indefinitely. He further said that a period of two weeks or less would not kill anybody.

“Let us obey the directive.

Even myself sitting at home, I am also poor. But the times we are in call for sacrifice.

Which is better, is it to sit at home, endure the inconveniences for a period of time and come out alive with long neck as a result of hunger, or to say, let us go out and continue with our work and then jeopardise our lives, and at the end of the day we all die because we have infected ourselves? I think, it will pay us better to obey the directive and stay alive. That’s how people like China survived and overcame the virus. We must suffer now and come out of it alive,” Birma , who was a former Education minister, said.

According to him, “We must receive the lesson from the situation at hand, that obedience at this time is better than anything else. Let us hope that in a very shortest time, we will come out of it alive.”

He further said: “At this trying period, I urge Nigerians to be patient with the government and abide by the directives from government. It is true that government started a little bit late to respond to the pandemic. By and large, things are picking up eventhough it did not prepare for this type of thing. Our infrastructure is not strong enough to contain this type of thing, unlike the state of infra-

structure in some developed countries. We really need to look at the weakness of our infrastructure. It is never too late to start.”

“We must always be prepared for the rainy day. I think we must learn lessons from what is happening now. It is no longer business as usual,” he further said.

The politicians from Ada m a w a St a t e s t r o n g l y b e lieved it was time to give restructuring a thought.

“Again, this restructuring we have been running away from, it is time for us to really look at it. We have all along been giving different interpretations to it. We should begin to look at the message and modalities to adopt to ensure that we give the necessary powers to states and local governments and not allowing the Federal Government to be over-burdened.

We s h o u l d n o l o n g e r p l a y politics with this restructuring. The issue of restructuring is like the story of blind men and an elephant; where the men described the elephant according to the parts they t o u c h e d . Pe o p l e d e s c r i b e restructuring from different perspectives, according to their own understanding, or what they want,” he said.

“But I think that time has come when we can no longer c o n t i n u e t o a v o i d i t . Ev e n in something which is bad, something good can still come out of it, if we take the right approach,” he added.

he lockdown is unjustified and it is a clear panic measure and the cost outweighs the benefit a thousand times. In the first place, what the government is saying is the usual media noise and it would not cover up the mediocrity we are seeing in which nothing works and there is no excellence.

I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that the government could not even do temperature surveillance at the airport; what does it cost them to do that? How many international airports are in Nigeria? If government just had five nurses per shift in each of the international airports they would identify suspected individuals and test them. Unfortunately, that was not the case; we don’t even have testing materials.

WHO says that the virus is a respiratory illness; if we had just done only temperature test we could have identified and prevented entry of the disease into the country. A government that cannot do just temperature check at the airport is a government that you want to save you from Coronavirus; I don’t believe.

Coronavirus is not among the top killer diseases in the world and the WHO says that COVID-19 would

It is in our collectiv

W

ell, like I have discussed in other platforms there is no alternative to the current lockdown. You would realise that China was able to deal with the disease and its initial force because they locked down Wuhan completely. Yes, they could do it easily because they are not a democratic society; there was less agitation about it. So, if it is what medicine says, in terms of the solution to the problem, then it means, that we all have to bear the burden and comply with the government directive; in the long run it would be in our collective and individual interest.

Wale Oshun, former lawmaker and national president of the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG)

only cause mild illness. Right now, the UITH Medical Director who tested positive has tested negative. We don’t know if it is correct, because this is a country without excellence; everybody is doing eye-service. The health organisations have said most of the people infected get mild illness and they recover. But because of Coronavirus you lockdown the country; because we are black we allow the colonial masters to think for us.

Martin Onovo, critic and former presidential candidate

No sacrifice is t achieve good h

Though draconian in nature, yet very necessary - Omotosho

W

ell, I think the lockdown is the appropriate means of suppressing the spread of the virus in addition to containment using social distancing; both are draconian in nature but are necessary to lower the viral replication rates and flatten the infection curve thereby reducing imminent mortality.

We all must ensure that we have what it takes to make the stay at home sustainable; otherwise, you will have people flouting rules in the bid to stay alive. I am in close contact with different people and the average Nigerian is not finding the lockdown easy. I am told of thefts, of exorbitant prices of commodities, hoarding or items, even truancy of medical workers etc. It’s sad to see our people exploiting each other in the name of the lockdown.

How do we as a nation grow

This is no time to pl

I in the midst of such exploitation? We must understand that sometimes losing our balance is what helps us stay balanced and we exist for each other.

Mike Omotosho, the national chairman of the Labour Party (LP)

t is necessary and absolutely required for us to halt the spread of this pandemic. I want to appeal to Nigerians that despite the inconvenience that this may have caused and considering our extreme poverty situation; we must as much as possible adhere to the directive of the state government concerning this and stay indoors. You can see across the world that the numbers of infected people are increasing; it is more than 40,000 now.

Coronavirus is real; we must not toy with it and play politics with it. We must work with government agencies to help all Nigerians. We were very ill-prepared for this situation, this disease outbreak, we must be careful.

Eddy Olafeso, national vice-chairman (Southwest) of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)

Sunday 05 April 2020

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21

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Lockdown

of politicians

ve interest - Oshun

We are in a dicey situation - Okorie

too much to health – Yabagi

I

n my party we see the lockdown has a necessary thing that should be done.

What you must be aware of is that health is wealth; if you have money and you don’t have good health, it is like you don’t have anything. Everything that one can do to protect one’s health is worth doing. And if you look at it for the fact that it is not peculiar to us alone, it is a global phenomenon, it is something that is here already and what is being done is for our own sake. Government has a responsibility to cushion the effect of the lockdown. It is opportunity for the government to reach out to those who have money among us to put pressure on them to immediately support the effort, either through material and or financial means. It is a necessary sacrifice that we must make.

Sanni Yabagi, national chairman of the Action Democratic Party (ADP)

I

t is a move that is necessary to stop the spread of the virus, since social distancing is a necessity to stop the spread.

It is also necessary because; we lack the facility to handle the pandemic, if it spreads across the country and gets out of hand. The casualty rate is alarming in the western world. So, these precautionary measures are unavoidable at this time. But I have fears, so I cannot recommend that the lockdown be total. My greatest worry is that, we may begin to encounter death arising from hunger and illness such as kwashiorkor. This

was witnessed during the war as a result of malnutrition and lack of food. Kwashiorkor itself means that your immune system is down; so malaria and other ones that are not very severe that are used to be treatable can kill. So, if you check the statistics you may end up having more death from hunger than from the virus itself. The situation now is; if you go out and mingle you may die, if you stay home you die of hunger it is a very bad situation.

Chekwas Okorie, former national chairman of the defunct United Progressive Congress (UPP).

It is the right step in the right direction - Salvador

lay politics - Olafeso

I

t is important for everybody to realise this and what we have in our hand. I got disappointed when I started hearing people talking about the legal perspective of the lockdown. We are talking of health here; it is only when we are healthy that we can be talking of moving around. This is the mistake they made in the western world and the same mistake they made in America, that made the virus get out of hand. Their President cannot order them not to go out and we are talking about human rights and this and that. We have

to be very careful about what we are doing in Nigeria. We have to make sure, but this is personal sacrifice we must make. If we don’t go out for fifteen days and fourteen days, which is the incubation period of this virus and there are no dead bodies being carried out of our houses, it means that we are all not infected. For me at that point, we should be able to protect ourselves more and more. It is very important; this is the right step in the right direction Moshood Salvador, APC chieftain and former federal lawmaker

Abdulrahman-Abdulrazaq, Kwara State governor

Kwara debunks COVID- 19 case in state, begins N154m palliatives SIKIRAT SHEHU, Ilorin

K

wara State government Friday denied rumour that the state had recorded a case of coronavirus (COVID-19), saying all the six samples of suspected cases so far tested in the state had been negative.

“The Kwara State Technical Committee on COVID-19 wishes to clarify that the state has not recorded any confirmed case of COVID-19.

As of now, all the six samples tested from Kwara State have returned negative.

“The committee states that there is no fact, at this moment, to support suggestions that a male patient who died on Wednesday night at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital was a COVID-19 patient.

“Findings by the medical advisory subcommittee revealed that the patient and his wife arrived from the United Kingdom, reportedly came to Ilorin on 20th March, 2020, and went into self-quarantine without reaching out to the government or the technical committee. On the 13th day of the self-quarantine, the husband suddenly had difficulties breathing after reportedly eating dinner and was rushed to the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital. Efforts to resuscitate him proved abortive and he was pronounced dead.

“The deceased, a Muslim, was promptly taken to Offa, his hometown, where he was interned on Thursday. Owing to the travel history of the deceased, all the medics who attended to him at the UITH have gone into self-quarantine.

Similarly, family members who have had contact with the deceased and his wife have been directed to do same. For

abundance of caution, samples have been taken from his wife and four others and results are expected in the coming days.

“The committee hereby repeats that there is no record that the UITH patient ever tested positive for the virus,” Ra f i u Aj a k a y e , s p o k e s m a n of the Kwara State Technical Committee on COVID-19, said in a statement in Ilorin, the state capital.

Me a n w h i l e , t h e g o v e r n ment, has flagged off the distribution of the first phase of palliatives from the Kwara Central Senatorial District with Asa Local Government Area of the state as the first point of call.

Emir of Shonga and chairman of the subcommittee on palliatives Haliru Yahaya Ndanusa told reporters in Ilorin Friday that commodities for the first phase comprise 19,400 pieces of 10kg of rice; 19,400 of 5kg of semovita; 1,940 packs of spaghetti; 9700 packs of salt; 4,850 packs of sugar; and 38,800 (1 litre) of vegetables.

Nd a n u s a a l s o e x p l a i n e d t h a t g a r r i (c a s s a v a f l a k e s) and tomato purée donated to the government are to be distributed, saying, “We have the first batch of palliatives already delivered. More are being delivered while we expect more to be delivered to the subcommittee in the coming days. We are beginning the distribution from the Central and we urge people to be patient as we will be as fair as possible to everybody.

“The credibility of what we do depends on how calm our people are and maintain social distancing. We have made arrangements for security cover.

We have asked the trusted locals and community based organisations to try to prevent the rush and maintain social distancing.”

20

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Sunday 05 April 2020

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Lockdown

Lockdown

Lockdown in the eyes of politicians It is unjustifiable Two weeks of sacrifice - Onovo won’t kill us – Birma INIOBONG IWOK

T

D

auda Birma , a former presidential aspirant, has urged Nigerians to take seriously and abide by the social distancing and sit-athome directives from the Federal and state governments in order to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, irrespective of the inherent inconveniences.

Speaking exclusively with BDSUNDAY on the effect of the lockdown ordered by the Federal Government in some states and the complaints arising from affected poor masses of Nigeria, Birma said the situation at hand calls for sacrifice on the part of every citizen, urging everyone to exercise patience since the lockdown is not indefinitely. He further said that a period of two weeks or less would not kill anybody.

“Let us obey the directive.

Even myself sitting at home, I am also poor. But the times we are in call for sacrifice.

Which is better, is it to sit at home, endure the inconveniences for a period of time and come out alive with long neck as a result of hunger, or to say, let us go out and continue with our work and then jeopardise our lives, and at the end of the day we all die because we have infected ourselves? I think, it will pay us better to obey the directive and stay alive. That’s how people like China survived and overcame the virus. We must suffer now and come out of it alive,” Birma , who was a former Education minister, said.

According to him, “We must receive the lesson from the situation at hand, that obedience at this time is better than anything else. Let us hope that in a very shortest time, we will come out of it alive.”

He further said: “At this trying period, I urge Nigerians to be patient with the government and abide by the directives from government. It is true that government started a little bit late to respond to the pandemic. By and large, things are picking up eventhough it did not prepare for this type of thing. Our infrastructure is not strong enough to contain this type of thing, unlike the state of infra-

structure in some developed countries. We really need to look at the weakness of our infrastructure. It is never too late to start.”

“We must always be prepared for the rainy day. I think we must learn lessons from what is happening now. It is no longer business as usual,” he further said.

The politicians from Ada m a w a St a t e s t r o n g l y b e lieved it was time to give restructuring a thought.

“Again, this restructuring we have been running away from, it is time for us to really look at it. We have all along been giving different interpretations to it. We should begin to look at the message and modalities to adopt to ensure that we give the necessary powers to states and local governments and not allowing the Federal Government to be over-burdened.

We s h o u l d n o l o n g e r p l a y politics with this restructuring. The issue of restructuring is like the story of blind men and an elephant; where the men described the elephant according to the parts they t o u c h e d . Pe o p l e d e s c r i b e restructuring from different perspectives, according to their own understanding, or what they want,” he said.

“But I think that time has come when we can no longer c o n t i n u e t o a v o i d i t . Ev e n in something which is bad, something good can still come out of it, if we take the right approach,” he added.

he lockdown is unjustified and it is a clear panic measure and the cost outweighs the benefit a thousand times. In the first place, what the government is saying is the usual media noise and it would not cover up the mediocrity we are seeing in which nothing works and there is no excellence.

I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that the government could not even do temperature surveillance at the airport; what does it cost them to do that? How many international airports are in Nigeria? If government just had five nurses per shift in each of the international airports they would identify suspected individuals and test them. Unfortunately, that was not the case; we don’t even have testing materials.

WHO says that the virus is a respiratory illness; if we had just done only temperature test we could have identified and prevented entry of the disease into the country. A government that cannot do just temperature check at the airport is a government that you want to save you from Coronavirus; I don’t believe.

Coronavirus is not among the top killer diseases in the world and the WHO says that COVID-19 would

It is in our collective interest - Oshun

W

ell, like I have discussed in other platforms there is no alternative to the current lockdown. You would realise that China was able to deal with the disease and its initial force because they locked down Wuhan completely. Yes, they could do it easily because they are not a democratic society; there was less agitation about it. So, if it is what medicine says, in terms of the solution to the problem, then it means, that we all have to bear the burden and comply with the government directive; in the long run it would be in our collective and individual interest.

Wale Oshun, former lawmaker and national president of the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG)

only cause mild illness. Right now, the UITH Medical Director who tested positive has tested negative. We don’t know if it is correct, because this is a country without excellence; everybody is doing eye-service. The health organisations have said most of the people infected get mild illness and they recover. But because of Coronavirus you lockdown the country; because we are black we allow the colonial masters to think for us.

Martin Onovo, critic and former presidential candidate

No sacrifice is too much to achieve good health – Yabagi

I

n my party we see the lockdown has a necessary thing that should be done.

What you must be aware of is that health is wealth; if you have money and you don’t have good health, it is like you don’t have anything. Everything that one can do to protect one’s health is worth doing. And if you look at it for the fact that it is not peculiar to us alone, it is a global phenomenon, it is something that is here already and what is being done is for our own sake. Government has a responsibility to cushion the effect of the lockdown. It is opportunity for the government to reach out to those who have money among us to put pressure on them to immediately support the effort, either through material and or financial means. It is a necessary sacrifice that we must make.

Sanni Yabagi, national chairman of the Action Democratic Party (ADP)

Though draconian in nature, yet very necessary - Omotosho

W

ell, I think the lockdown is the appropriate means of suppressing the spread of the virus in addition to containment using social distancing; both are draconian in nature but are necessary to lower the viral replication rates and flatten the infection curve thereby reducing imminent mortality.

We all must ensure that we have what it takes to make the stay at home sustainable; otherwise, you will have people flouting rules in the bid to stay alive. I am in close contact with different people and the average Nigerian is not finding the lockdown easy. I am told of thefts, of exorbitant prices of commodities, hoarding or items, even truancy of medical workers etc. It’s sad to see our people exploiting each other in the name of the lockdown.

How do we as a nation grow

We are in a dicey situation - Okorie

I

t is a move that is necessary to stop the spread of the virus, since social distancing is a necessity to stop the spread.

It is also necessary because; we lack the facility to handle the pandemic, if it spreads across the country and gets out of hand. The casualty rate is alarming in the western world. So, these precautionary measures are unavoidable at this time. But I have fears, so I cannot recommend that the lockdown be total. My greatest worry is that, we may begin to encounter death arising from hunger and illness such as kwashiorkor. This

was witnessed during the war as a result of malnutrition and lack of food. Kwashiorkor itself means that your immune system is down; so malaria and other ones that are not very severe that are used to be treatable can kill. So, if you check the statistics you may end up having more death from hunger than from the virus itself. The situation now is; if you go out and mingle you may die, if you stay home you die of hunger it is a very bad situation.

Chekwas Okorie, former national chairman of the defunct United Progressive Congress (UPP).

It is the right step in the right direction - Salvador

This is no time to play politics - Olafeso

I in the midst of such exploitation? We must understand that sometimes losing our balance is what helps us stay balanced and we exist for each other.

Mike Omotosho, the national chairman of the Labour Party (LP)

t is necessary and absolutely required for us to halt the spread of this pandemic. I want to appeal to Nigerians that despite the inconvenience that this may have caused and considering our extreme poverty situation; we must as much as possible adhere to the directive of the state government concerning this and stay indoors. You can see across the world that the numbers of infected people are increasing; it is more than 40,000 now.

Coronavirus is real; we must not toy with it and play politics with it. We must work with government agencies to help all Nigerians. We were very ill-prepared for this situation, this disease outbreak, we must be careful.

Eddy Olafeso, national vice-chairman (Southwest) of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)

I

t is important for everybody to realise this and what we have in our hand. I got disappointed when I started hearing people talking about the legal perspective of the lockdown. We are talking of health here; it is only when we are healthy that we can be talking of moving around. This is the mistake they made in the western world and the same mistake they made in America, that made the virus get out of hand. Their President cannot order them not to go out and we are talking about human rights and this and that. We have

to be very careful about what we are doing in Nigeria. We have to make sure, but this is personal sacrifice we must make. If we don’t go out for fifteen days and fourteen days, which is the incubation period of this virus and there are no dead bodies being carried out of our houses, it means that we are all not infected. For me at that point, we should be able to protect ourselves more and more. It is very important; this is the right step in the right direction Moshood Salvador, APC chieftain and former federal lawmaker

Abdulrahman-Abdulrazaq, Kwara State governor

Kwara debunks COVID- 19 case in state, begins N154m palliatives SIKIRAT SHEHU, Ilorin

K

wara State government Friday denied rumour that the state had recorded a case of coronavirus (COVID-19), saying all the six samples of suspected cases so far tested in the state had been negative.

“The Kwara State Technical Committee on COVID-19 wishes to clarify that the state has not recorded any confirmed case of COVID-19.

As of now, all the six samples tested from Kwara State have returned negative.

“The committee states that there is no fact, at this moment, to support suggestions that a male patient who died on Wednesday night at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital was a COVID-19 patient.

“Findings by the medical advisory subcommittee revealed that the patient and his wife arrived from the United Kingdom, reportedly came to Ilorin on 20th March, 2020, and went into self-quarantine without reaching out to the government or the technical committee. On the 13th day of the self-quarantine, the husband suddenly had difficulties breathing after reportedly eating dinner and was rushed to the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital. Efforts to resuscitate him proved abortive and he was pronounced dead.

“The deceased, a Muslim, was promptly taken to Offa, his hometown, where he was interned on Thursday. Owing to the travel history of the deceased, all the medics who attended to him at the UITH have gone into self-quarantine.

Similarly, family members who have had contact with the deceased and his wife have been directed to do same. For

abundance of caution, samples have been taken from his wife and four others and results are expected in the coming days.

“The committee hereby repeats that there is no record that the UITH patient ever tested positive for the virus,” Ra f i u Aj a k a y e , s p o k e s m a n of the Kwara State Technical Committee on COVID-19, said in a statement in Ilorin, the state capital.

Me a n w h i l e , t h e g o v e r n ment, has flagged off the distribution of the first phase of palliatives from the Kwara Central Senatorial District with Asa Local Government Area of the state as the first point of call.

Emir of Shonga and chairman of the subcommittee on palliatives Haliru Yahaya Ndanusa told reporters in Ilorin Friday that commodities for the first phase comprise 19,400 pieces of 10kg of rice; 19,400 of 5kg of semovita; 1,940 packs of spaghetti; 9700 packs of salt; 4,850 packs of sugar; and 38,800 (1 litre) of vegetables.

Nd a n u s a a l s o e x p l a i n e d t h a t g a r r i (c a s s a v a f l a k e s) and tomato purée donated to the government are to be distributed, saying, “We have the first batch of palliatives already delivered. More are being delivered while we expect more to be delivered to the subcommittee in the coming days. We are beginning the distribution from the Central and we urge people to be patient as we will be as fair as possible to everybody.

“The credibility of what we do depends on how calm our people are and maintain social distancing. We have made arrangements for security cover.

We have asked the trusted locals and community based organisations to try to prevent the rush and maintain social distancing.”

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Sunday 05 April 2020

Arts Empty parks, galleries, theatre leave creative entrepreneurs agitated

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OBINNA EMELIKE ith the empty streets, across major cities in the country, creative spaces such as theatre, art galleries and parks are also empty, all because of the concerted efforts at curtailing the spread of coronavirus (Covid-19).

Going by the way most creative events are done, there are usually long weeks of preparation ahead of the main event. Some preparations for stage performances, musicals and shows for 2020 Easter started as far back as November 2019.

At present, no meaningful public gathering will hold this Easter, including well rehearsed stage plays, art exhibitions, cultural events among others. The sad development implies that the efforts by organisers, cast and crew, and event sponsors are going down the drain as most people never envisaged this magnitude of impact by the virus.

But many creative entrepreneurs, especially those who obtained bank loans are agitated because the banks will be after them soon after the pandemic is over, not minding that the shows did not hold.

Some have expended money in getting costumes, assembling and paying cast and crew members from the first rehearsal, reserving

Empty seats at cinema

Nike Art Gallery in Lekki, with no visitor in sight

venues among other logistics with the hope of pulling off an enthralling show this Easter, some before or after Easter.

Margaret Esonye, producer of a musical due for premiere this Easter, is already caught in the web of bank debtors as her show cannot hold in spite of expending over N10 million in the preparations.

“I have written many stage plays for people, but this one is my own and I have put in everything to make it a success including borrowing from bank to assemble

the best cast and crew, ensure world-class production and venues. But the musical will not hold again because of coronavirus. We have changed dates twice and are suspending the show until normalcy returns”, Esonye lamented.

As well, ‘Beautiful Wilderness’ musical play, which ran from February 14 - 16, 2020 at the AGIP Recital Hall, MUSON Centre, Lagos, will not show this Easter because of the lockdown. Theatre lovers who witnessed it and look forward to an Easter edition will miss its mesmer-

izing scenes, relatable narratives and gripping twists and turns. If the organisers had obtained bank loan for the production and had scheduled many shows with revenue streams in mind, especially this Easter, their targets would not be met as theatre halls are empty and would be so in a long while if the virus spread is not curtailed.

For now, Bolanle AustenPeter Production (BAP) is not thinking of an Easter edition of Fela’s Republic and the Kalakuta Queens, which excited the public last festive season. As well, Man Enough, BAP’s latest production, which premiered in Lagos last November, cannot stage this Easter as people are still hiding from coronavirus.

The suspended shows are huge loss of revenue for theatre owners, dance troupes, stage producers, directors and cast as well.

It is bad for the creatives generally.

For the art galleries, this period is also tough as all galleries across the country are closed in line with ban on public gatherings and later lockdown directives of the federal government.

Alexis Galleries in Victoria Island is one of the hard hit because of the many activities it hosts. The gallery hosted over 20 exhibitions

last year, the most of any Nigerian gallery in a long while, amid empowering the artists whose works were displayed.

Patty Chidiac-Mastrogiannis, founder and director of Alexis galleries, is happy that the galley has already pulled off two exhibitions this year, but worry over how events would turn out in the rest part of the year in the face of the pandemic.

Adekunle Salako, one of the artists, revealed that it is going to be tough for artists, who have made the gallery their home, as visitors who buy their works are restrained by lockdown and travel restrictions.

Sandra Obiago, curator, SMO Contemporary Art, has always been grateful to Wheatbaker Hotel Ikoyi for donating its space for art exhibitions, but the pandemic, which is also impacting on hotels, may to a large extent, limit the number art activations in the hotel, visits and art appreciation as people hardly move around now.

Moreover, all ongoing exhibitions are on hold, visitors and potential art collectors held back and the galleries, curators and artists disappointed as well.

Also, a sponsor who invested in an art exhibition prior to coronavirus spread will likely not get the best

from it as the lockdown now puts everything on hold.

Bidemi Adigun, owner of a Lagos-based dance troupe, cannot behold the sight of many event cancellations this first quarter, especially for Easter holiday theatre performances, amid calls by some organisers to suspend rehearsals.

“We have lost three jobs for Easter worth N9 million, and this is after assembling my troupe members, several weeks of rehearsals and other expenses, which I gladly sorted out because of the job ahead. Now, the jobs are cancelled and I lost because my pay is due after the show”, he lamented.

Going by the lockdown, Adigun noted that 2020 would be the first time Easter would not hold in his 35 years of existence.

For him, holidays such as Easter are usually periods when many creative and entertainment events happen.

He lamented that the period, which features a somewhat harvest of excitement, as well as, offering discerning public opportunity to unwind in convivial environments, would for the first time in a long while, offer no excitement this year if the lockdown continues.

His regret is that many creative people are already losing huge revenue from their events and shows that would not hold during this period of lockdown.

“If you have received advance payment from a client and used it before the cancellation, you will be forced to payback if the client insists.

What if the money was expended on private things instead of the job, that is why this period is bad for we creative people, no rehearsals, no action, no payment”, he lamented further.

Currently, there are many art residencies, theatre productions, art exhibitions, book readings and tours, book fairs, studio exchanges, among other projects that are on hold because of the efforts at curtailing the spread of coronavirus.

But the sad thing is that most of these projects are funded by loans, hence putting the organisers in tight corner as the lenders would soon be asking for their money or debt servicing.

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Arts At home with the diaspora artist OBINNA EMELIKE

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igerian-born Sokari Douglas Camp is one of the best female sculptors having broken into the maledominated field of sculpting in Africa, and belongs to the first generation of female artists to have attracted the attention of the international art market.

Originally from a large Kalabari town in the Niger Delta, Douglas Camp’s work is greatly inspired by Kalabari culture and traditions.

Besides her Kalabari roots, she draws inspiration from the history of the African diaspora, fashion, the current situation in the Nigerian delta, and last but not least, the famous Italian painter, Botticelli.

Employing modern sculptural techniques with the predominant use of steel, Douglas Camp creates large, semi-abstract figurative works, adorned with masks and ritual clothing, reflecting her close relationship to Nigeria despite having lived in London for many years.

Douglas Camp has had numerous solo and group

Sokari Douglas camp possing with her works

shows all over the world and permanent collections of her work can be found in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, and the British Museum in London.

The form of her work is unique. Sokari uses Kalabari culture as her main inspiration for her sculptures, including traditions and aesthetics of masquerades, textiles, dances, and other ceremonies that she witnessed from direct experience.

Her work often-

times uses the figure as a main subject, and she dresses it with a sculpted costume, textiles, and organic materials.

Steel is the primary material bused bin her sculptures.

“I began my work by observing how masks are put on to masqueraders, how the human form is changed, and how men become gods when they perform. The way I remember seeing masks and masqueraders when they perform in

Arthouse Affordable Art Auction 2020 fetches N35,762,500 in sales

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rthouse Contemporary held its 5th annual Affordable Art Auction on March7, 2020, at the Kia Showroom, Lagos. Featuring 103 lots from emerging and established artists, in addition to five charity lots, the auction brought in a total of NGN 35,762,500 ($99,340) during the evening’s sale.

The Affordable Art Auction aims to engage new collectors with all works of art estimated below one million naira. As the sister edition to

the May and November auctions, the Affordable Art Auction features artworks that are scaled to an affordable and accessible price point.

Highlights of the evening were Rom Isichei’s Girl with Purple Umbrella, a charcoal and pastel on paper from 2019, and Segun Aiyesan’s Ewa, a mixed media on canvas from 2019, which both sold for N1,233,750. Others include Rom Isichei’s Delineation, a mixed media on paper from 2017, sold for N1,116,250, Reuben Ug-

bine’s Athleticism, a wood sculpture from 2019, which sold for N1,086,875, and Alex Nwokolo’s Red Canopy series, an oil on textured canvas from 2020, sold for N 1, 028,125.

This edition also featured charity lots by Oladele Awosoga, Nkechi Nwoso Igbo, A. Akande, Em Inwang and Agemo Francis, in support of the Arthouse Foundation, the non-profit artist residency programme in Lagos, raising a total of N 750,000. The proceeds from these charity lots will go directly to supporting the programmes of the Arthouse Foundation, including its residencies, workshops, talks and public events.

The Affordable Art Auction was generously supported Kia Motors, Absolut, 7UP and Guardian Arts.

Founded in 2007, Arthouse Contemporary is an international auction house that specialises in modern and contemporary art from West Africa. Arthouse Contemporary aims to create awareness of the scope of contemporary art in the region, encourage international recognition towards its talented artists and strengthen the economy of its art market.

my town is the masquerades are alive and frightening and beautiful when they move. Fear in masquerading is an important element for the observer. It adds to the play of the spirits. You do not come across this element in a museum, because the mask is not moving and is usually in a glass box’’, she says.

It is also intriguing to mention politics behind Sokari’s work. Her recent works are highly political, commenting on the effects of the oil

industry on the Niger Delta, violence, Diaspora, and other international issues.

Sokari responds to the static presentation of African masks in Western m u s e u m s a s o p p o s e d to their lively context in their original culture. She aspires to contextualize the objects and display them with the figure and dress, sometimes with motion, as they were originally intended.

Being a woman, her Kalabari background would not have allowed her to become a sculptor in her home land. Thus her work’s political connotation relies heavily upon being situated in Western institutions.

A graduate of Fine Art from Central School of Art and Design and the Royal College of Art, Sokari has represented Britain and Nigeria in National exhibitions and has had more than 40 solo shows worldwide. In venues such as National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institute 1988-1989, the Museum of Mankind, London 1994/1995. Her public artworks include Battle Bus: Living Memorial for Ken Saro‐Wiwa (2006), a full-scale replica of a Nige-

rian steel bus, which stands as a monument to the late Niger Delta activist and writer.

In 2003 Sokari was shortlisted for the Trafalgar Square Fourth Plinth. Her work is in permanent collections at The Smithsonian Museum, Washington, D.C., Setagaya Museum, Tokyo and the British Museum, London. In 2005 she was awarded a CBE in recognition of her services to art.

In 2012 All the World is Now Richer, a memorial to commemorate the abolition of slavery was exhibited in The House of Commons. The sculpture was exhibited in St Paul’s Cathedral, London, 2014.

Battle Bus traveled to Nigeria as part of Action Saro – Wiwa, a campaign to clean up the Niger Delta Summer 2015.

Ibiye Camp, her daughter, is following her artist mother’s footsteps. In 2011, then 19, Alexandra Galleries in London completed the framing of eleven paintings

by Ibiye Camp, to the delight of her mother and mentor.

Sokari Douglas Camp is currently showcasing her work at the October Gallery in London.

National Gallery of Art returns Picasso work to heirs of German-Jewish banker

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decision by New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum to settle a restitution lawsuit in 2009 involving two paintings by Pablo Picasso marked the end of one of the most famous—and, sometimes, controversial—cases of its kind in recent history.

Now, the family behind that case will become the owner of a different Picasso work after a major U.S. museum made the decision to return it on its own accord.

According to reports, the family of banker Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, who was based in Germany during World War II, will now own Picasso’s pastel Head of a Woman from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., which claims to have had the work in its holdings since 2001. According to the report, the National Gallery decided to return the work to avoid any potential litigation.

While the museum asserted in a statement that the restitution of Head of a Woman “does not constitute an acknowledgment of the merit or validity of the asserted claims,” the work’s return is unusual because it was enacted before a lawsuit

was filed. Museums typically return works subject to restitution claims after a suit has been initiated.

According to the heirs of the Mendelssohn-Bartholdy family, the Blue Period pastel is one of 16 works by Picasso that were sold, possibly under duress, before the banker died in 1935. The famed dealer Justin K. Thannhauser bought the piece in 1934.

This is the third major res-

titution case involving the heirs of the MendelssohnBartholdy family and paintings by Picasso. The one in 2009 involving MoMA and the Guggenheim was settled under terms that were not disclosed, and the museums still own their Picasso works.

Three years earlier, the family heirs sued the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation when it tried to sell a Blue Period Picasso at auction at Christie’s.

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Life&Living COVID-19: Things to do to keep kids entertained at home

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IFEOMA OKEKE

o one knows how long schools will remain closed, it’s not just the adults stuck in self-isolation.

Anyone looking after the kids will know little most care for social distancing, and how much many resent being cooped up indoors – just like us grown-ups.

Still, there’s plenty of ways to keep them – and you – entertained. It’s not all about sitting them down with an iPad, after all.

From board games to bug hotels, here’s our pick of the ways to keep the little ones busy while school’s out.

Stay connected Encouraging kids to keep in touch with their friends and family is essential. While self-isolation has brought many families together, it has equally forced physical distance between loved ones. “It is important for all of us to feel that we belong – to a family, a friendship group, a community,” says Dr Teresa Belton of the School of Education and Lifelong Learning at the University of East Anglia.

FaceTime is a great option for staying connected, as are video chat platforms such as Skype, Google Hangouts, Zoom, House Party and WhatsApp. Younger kids can draw pictures for friends and family members which can be emailed over. Encourage older children to write letters or send emails to each other – this is great for practising writing skills.

“Children could also telephoneinterview grandparents or elderly neighbours about how they entertained themselves when they were children, which could be transcribed, making the older generation feel val-

ued,” says Dr Belton.

Create a theme If you are home schooling, creating a theme for your days can be very effective for young children. Topics such as foods, shapes, colours or science not only help children to get excited, but can also help you to think outside of the box.

“Try a food themed day, where you can start by doing some baking, then get them to order the contents of the food cupboard by size, weight or food group, use play dough to create a pretend picnic scene and let them help with cooking dinner,” shares children’s play coach Claire Russell (who is also hosting Instagram Lives at 10am every weekday, where parents and children can play along with her).

Another idea is to turn your home into a science lab. Mel Science offer a monthly subscription service that delivers safe and exciting chemistry experiments directly to your doorstep and have launched a VR classroom where older children can discover

chemistry concepts (such as the structure of an atom) in an interactive way.

Keep calm and read on “Reading is the gateway to learning pretty much anything,” says child development expert Amanda Gummer. “It’s also a great way of feeding children’s imagination and can help them to relax.”

If you have pre-school aged kids, find some time to read with them during the day; if they’re not old enough to read independently, prompt them to talk about pictures, ask them what might happen next and how the characters might be feeling. This will help develop language and comprehension skills.

“Keep it exciting by finding somewhere unusual to read – in the bath, in the garden, you could even build a den,” says Russell.

For older children or reluctant readers, you could create a family book club where you all read the same book, either out-loud to each other or individually for discussion as part of a family evening.

“Make sure older children get the chance to read about things that really interest them – comics and magazine also count. The important thing is that they are reading,” Dr Gummer adds.

Oxford Owl has a variety of free e-books for 3 to 11 year olds, while Kindle Unlimited have a solid selection of titles for all ages.

If you’re working from home and need to keep kids independently occupied, try Audible who are now offering an extensive range of free stories for children until schools re-open.

On social media, Penguin Kids are holding story time sessions every weekday at 11am on their Instagram page. Similarly, HarperKids from Home have story sessions at midday on their Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube channels. More details are on their website.

Nurture Nature Spending time outdoors can improve children’s psychological and mental wellbeing, by reducing levels of the stress hormone cortisol, crucial at this time. If you have access to a garden or outdoor space, there are a variety of things you can do.

“Have a picnic, start a scavenger hunt then use what the children have found to create a piece of art; build a mini bug hotel using sticks and leaves or ask them to help with weeding and planting their own bulbs. It’s a great opportunity to talk about nature with them too,” shares Russell.

Stay active The NHS recommends that children need to be active for 60 minutes a day. Joe Wicks, aka the Body Coach is holding 30-minute PE session live on his YouTube Channel every morning at 9am – a great way to keep everyone from toddlers to teens fit.

You could also set up some sporting

activities in the garden – see here for more active ideas from the NHS. Use imaginative play With limited access to shops and children’s clubs, try being imaginative with what you have at home.

“Kids like novelty – something new can be super exciting – so let them play somewhere they’ve never played before, like under the dining table, behind the sofa or in an empty bath,” says Russell.

Toddlers also love pretend role play. If you are investing your time and energy to set up an activity, then use it wisely. “Try setting up a shop, where children can develop lots of different lines of play – this will often be played with over a couple of weeks so set it up and leave it out,” shares Russell.

Little Tikes have a super selection of toys, including kitchens and construction benches that encourage role play and creativity. Stored away camping gear can also come in handy – use it to set up a family camp in the garden, or plan an indoor disco.

Teach with tech “Tech play can be hugely beneficial and is a good way of helping keep children engaged in learning,” says Dr Gummer. “Be sure to balance children’s ‘play diet’ – if the tech play is solitary, sedentary and passive, it needs limiting, but if it is encouraging active, imaginative social play, then it can be a great way to help children thrive and stay in touch with their friends,” she adds.

Retro games are high on playability.

Parents can relive their childhood and share it with the next generation with the Sega Mega Drive Mini Console (£75, menkind.co.uk). The retro console comes with two controllers and is preloaded with 40 easy-to-play classic games, including Sonic the Hedgehog and Tetris.

Meal prepping and all you need to know about it

M IFEOMA OKEKE

eal prepping can be described as several different food preparation methods, but basically, it’s almost like organizing leftovers for easier breakfast, lunches, or dinners.

There’s no singular way to do it, but two common types include: Batch cooking: Make big recipes at once, like on the weekends, and freezing or saving for use later on.

Individually portioned meals: Divide up portions of containers ahead of time so you can grab and go.

Prepped ingredients: Do a bunch of chopping, peeling, slicing or roasting beforehand and use those prepared components in recipes later on.

What are the benefits of meal prepping?

Meal prepping can save you money and time since you’re buying and preparing home-cooked food ahead of time.

Many people meal prep by shopping and cooking on the weekends, which may work better with your

schedule than cramming it in during a weekday.

Meal prepping can also make it easier to eat healthier (and lose weight, if that’s your goal) since the menu gets set in advance. You’re less likely to choose a not-so-great option when you’ve already have a healthy dinner at home, ready to go.

Is there any downside to meal prepping?

Since meal prepping can involve eating the same dish or types of food a few days in a row, it’s not for people who prize variety and freshness above all else. To avoid monotony, use different spices, dressings, or condiments to flavour your meals — or plan on freezing your prepped food for dinner another week.

How to start meal prepping Before you do anything, you’re going to want to stock up on reusable, airtight food storage containers that will make your prepared ingredients or meals stay fresh longer and taste better by locking bacteria and odors out.

Once you have your meal-prep-

ping gear, you may want to download a meal prep app that will help you keep your plan organized and make shopping and cooking a snap by curating recipes and grocery lists for you.

All set? The next step is picking your recipes. Before you do, consider these three things: Choose a meal you’d like to prepare for — breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Keep it simple by starting with one you usually eat out or skip altogether.

Pick a day to do your meal prepping. Sunday and Wednesday are two common choices.

Determine how much you want to prep. Experiment with prepping for two or three days before attempting five. You may not like eating the same thing the whole week.

If you’re planning on creating your own recipes, Jaclyn London, MS, RD, CDN, Director of the Nutrition Lab at the Good Housekeeping Institute, says to make veggies or fruit at least 50 percent of whatever you’re prepping.

They don’t necessarily have to come from the actual produce section, though: Frozen or canned varieties will last almost forever and work in nearly every meal.

The best foods for meal prepping: Frozen vegetables: peas, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, green beans, veggie pastas, cauliflower pizza crust, riced veggies, veggie-based tater tots Starchy vegetables: parsnip, cassava, potato, yuca, taro, parsnip, sweet potato, canned pumpkin

Stiff fresh vegetables: celery, carrots, bell peppers, cabbage, radish Sturdy greens: romaine, green leaf (dress just before serving) Whole grains: oats, quinoa, barley, buckwheat, sorghum Pulses: chickpeas, lentils, beans, peas Lean protein: frozen or canned seafood, eggs, unsweetened Greek yogurt, skyr, reduced-sodium cottage cheese, shredded cheese, tofu, lean cuts of chicken, turkey, beef, pork Whole fruits: apples, bananas, oranges, clementines, plums, peaches, pears Nuts and seeds: almonds, walnuts, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, chia, flax.

Best meal prep recipes for snacks: Put a healthy spin on your childhood favorites when the afternoon slump hits. Trade peanut butter for almond butter and cheesy popcorn for sweet matcha.

Make hitting your macros child’s play with these high-protein snack recipes.

If fat loss is your goal, go wild with best nutritious options.

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Travel

Covid-19: The unprecedented full-stop in the travel industry OBINNA EMELIKE

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rom the hundreds of parked aircraft, empty hotel rooms, silent beaches to empty s tre e ts , th e gl oba l travel industry is currently at an unprecedented full-stop courtesy of the deadly blow by coronavirus (Covid-19).

The growing negative impact of the virus has grounded travels and other businesses as countries battle to curtail the spread of the virus with travel restrictions, lockdown and other measures.

Currently, tourism, travel and hospitality companies are not looking at the losses because they are huge and still counting.

They are rather switching to survival mode. But some have already closed shop, especially the online travel companies (OTCs), which depend fully on robust travels to stay afloat.

In Nigeria, OTCs are among the worst hit businesses by the negative impact of the virus. According to Bankole Bernard, immediate past national president, National Association of Nigerian Travel Agents (NANTA), the members have lost over N180 billion to coronavirus pandemic that has grounded global travel today.

He fears that more revenue would be lost if the virus spread is not curtailed and normalcy returned soon to make people travel again.

The loss is expected to reach over $0.76b revenue and 91,380 jobs.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has also alarmed that potential revenue loss by carriers in Africa has reached US$4 billion.

NANTA’s fears are equally expressed by other OTCs in the world.

Obviously, as nobody travels again, no bookings made and aircraft parked, OTCs are out of business and may not bounce back easily after the heat is over because travelers will not jump into the aircraft soon for travel. Many will stay long to travel again, most OTCs agreed.

According, Simon Ughala, a travel expert, the aftermath of coronavirus would usher in a new order in global business including travel. “In the aftermath of Covid-19, people will shy away from the ‘global thing’ and do more domestic engagements to build from within first. It will impact OTCs in countries where emphasis is on foreign than domestic

An empty beach

destinations”, he said.

Goodwill Kambira, a Kenya OTC operator, noted that Kenya, as a destination, has survived many challenges including Ebola because 70 percent of tourism engagements are domestic. “If there is no coronavirus in Kenya, our OTCs can survive with domestic patronage, but that is not possible now because the virus is a global pandemic”, Kambira said.

Aside, OTCs, destination marketing companies and tour operators are hugely impacted too as nobody buys destination or holiday packages in these days when human existence is under threat.

“Everybody is hiding including we the destination marketers because life is important now than luxurious holiday.

But it will be very difficult to restart after the pandemic is over”, Collins Thumba, a South African tour operator, said.

However, Mama Kiji, the owner of souvenir shop at a cultural centre in Jinja, Uganda, is also out of business as tourists hardly stopover to buy her gift items.

Also, the Adire cloth makers in Abeokuta and Osogbo are

not selling again as foreigners who buy these items as souvenirs are held back by travel restrictions and lockdown. Local shops were visitors buy artifacts may be open in remote areas, but the visitors are held back in the cities, while local dance troupes that usually entertain visitors will hold on with their enthralling performances for now.

In all, the local economies are impacted, evidence of the global impact of the virus.

Again, the hospitality sector is groaning. As aircraft are parked, travelers held back, government and corporate activities stopped to curtail the spread of the virus, the hotel is now a ghost yard.

If you visit any good hotel today, you will notice the emptiness from the usually busy lobby, which is now a shadow of itself.

Hotel rooms are empty and most hoteliers are considering shutdown to save them from incurring more losses.

“I run an 80-room hotel in Abuja, we are usually almost fully booked, but with only 20 rooms occupied, we are considering transferring our guests to nearby and willing hotels

and closed down from April 10th if the situation does not improve”, Marcel Kabunda, a Kenya general manager said.

For him, the virus pandemic comes with the most challenge for the hospitality industry in his 25 years experience in the industry.

While Kabunda is still contemplating shutting down, Sylvester Emordi, a hotel entrepreneur, has ordered for the closing of three of his hotels due to little profit, yet high operation cost.

“Whether 100 rooms or 20 rooms, it is the same energy cost, maintenance and salary.

So, why open when guests are at home, and using our reserve to run high operation cost. As we cannot breakeven now, it will be a wise business decision to shutdown until normalcy returns”, Emordi explained.

Hospitality outfits such as Eko Hotel and Suites, Transcorp Hilton, Southern Sun, Sheraton, among others have already adopted some survival strategies, especially scaling down operations to essential services for now. But there is fear that they will eventually shutdown when occupancy is not enough to sustain their op-

erations, and some experts are saying that it may be sooner than they expected as foreign nationals are being evacuated by their respective countries as the virus spreads in the country.

“In a case where Eko Hotel has only 30 guests in its over 600 rooms, Transcorp Hilton sees fewer guests and all the golf pros and long time guests desert Ibom Golf Hotel and Resort, the outfits will shutdown.

We pray the situation does not get to that because it will be more difficult to restart when the pandemic is over”, Ughala declared.

As well, tour guides are out of job as those to be taken around across tourist attractions on a fee are no more. Of course, the museums, art and craft centres, beautiful landscapes, sprawling beaches, thundering mountains, among others, hardly receive visitors now, while colourful cultural events, festivals and entertainment fiestas are on hold until the virus is curtailed.

Indeed, global tourism is witnessing an unprecedented full-stop, and Nigeria is counting losses too, despite her little investment in the sector.

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Travel

COVID-19: Foundation insists on safety compliance despite reduced operations Stories by IFEOMA OKEKE

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light Safety Foundation (FSF) has called for a continuous entrenchment of safety principles despite reduced operations of airlines and airports because of the raging COVID-19 pandemic.

The independent, non-profit, international organization which developed a document as supplemental material for safety and aviation professionals in spheres of the sub-sector held that it is important to maintain high safety performance in operations.

According to the Foundation, the document which it described as “work in progress,” is set to collect and organize the various detailed recommendations and specific COVID-19 procedural steps that are being implemented around the world The Foundation stated, ”As global society struggles with the tragic and unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, we in aviation are seeing a previously unimaginable impact on our industry. The International Air Transport Association’s latest projection shows that 2020 passenger revenues could fall $252 billion, or 44 percent from last year’s level, assuming severe travel

restrictions remain in place for up to three months and are followed by a gradual economic recovery later this year.

“As has been well documented, passenger operations have been slashed, fleets of aircraft have been ground, and thousands of employees have been furloughed. But, at the same time, the global aviation system is still functioning. Air traffic control towers and en route centers continue to guide aircraft to their destinations; airports are open and

operating, albeit at much reduced capacity; and pilots and flight attendants continue to operate airplanes that maintenance engineers are ensure are airworthy.

“In the midst of crisis, safety must still prevail. It is essential to maintain high safety performance in continuing operations, in reduced operations and, hopefully sooner rather than later, in increasing operations as carriers begin bringing aircraft and service back online.”

The FSF further explained that

How to stop spread of COVID-19 without shutting airports, cities - Flight dispatcher

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n United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) licensed Flight Dispatcher and Ground Instrument, Victoria Jumoke Adegbe has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to review the continued shutting down of airports and other economic activities as a way of curbing the spread of COVID - 19.

The Aviation Consultant and Chief Executive Officer of Insel Networks said continuous lock down will spell doom for the airline industry.

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) licensed Flight Dispatcher and Ground Instructor canvassed the destruction of screening tray at airport terminals, a development, she said provide fluid contact from one passenger to another.

She proposed a ban on the use of such trays which she noted provides contact during check in.

She suggested the use of disposable trash bags to be placed at screening point and trashed after use.

Adegbe said :” The solution may not be a total lockdown when airlines are grounded and the passengers are stranded all over the world.

“There is need to look at some things around the airport including

automatic terminal doors , which opens on own accord without passengers touching any handles.

“Then you get to the screening point. Here you put your carry-on in a tray for screening while you pass the screening machine empty handed.

“Then you pick the tray containing your personal effects, take possession of your items and the tray is picked by the officials to be used by someone else.

“You check in, board, not touching a single person, not assisting anyone to carry any bags for security reasons; no hugs or kisses.”

She wondered how the virus spreads so fast when airline passengers never touched each other She reiterated that it is the trays.

“Here’s the solution, I hope Nigeria implements it first so it goes on record all over the world! Throw out all the trays, better still, burn them all.

“Use disposable trash bags placed at screening points where you put all your items inside and trash them yourself when done.

“I believe that’s just what we need to do.”

Adegbe cited a report published

by The New York Times on Sept 5th, 2018 where it stated that the plastic trays used at airport checkpoints around the world and touched by millions of passengers as they drop their carry-on and other items for X-ray scanning harbour a variety of germs.

She also cited a Forbes publication by Bruce Y. Lee which supports germ spreading capacity of airport trays.

She said :” The trays were described as disgusting and from facts gathered from the Helsinki airport in Finland, research indicated that they carry various viruses such as rhino virus (which causes common cold), Coronavirus, Adenovirus and influenza A. “Airports have to do away with the trays. Dear President, we do not have to halt everything and bring our economy crashing.”

the coronavirus pandemic is having a devastating effect on aviation and represents the biggest strategic shock to the global aviation system since international air travel began but that their mission to connect, influence and lead global aviation safety cannot be overemphasized.

“Whereas we need to acknowledge that the crisis is first and foremost a human tragedy, and everyone’s first priority is to ensure their own family’s safety, we also need to understand that our world as we

know it will not be the same even after the virus is contained. “ Never has there been such a critical time to bring together the world’s aviation community for the protection of our people and our operations. Through its independence, impartiality and international community, the Foundation is in a unique position to assist with safe navigation through these exceptional times. Together we must establish a broad industry set of guidelines of “good things to do” in an increasingly fragmented and complex situation, recognizing that financial pressures will be acute and that there are no limits to the benefits of sharing information and learning.”

Some airlines are shutting down their operations. Others continue to run on reduced schedules. Cargo operations, air traffic control, airport and ground services now become critical elements in society’s efforts to overcome the crisis. Some routes and services are already reopening.

All these changes are putting a massive strain on the system and generating clear business, operations and safety risks. Industry leaders and managers will need to take care that the understandable focus on financial viability in the coming months does not include diversion of resources from safety activities.

European Airlines revenue losses mount, urgent government support required

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he International Air Transport Association (IATA) strengthened its call for urgent action from European governments to provide financial relief to airlines. The latest IATA scenario for potential revenue loss

by European carriers is $76 billion and passenger demand (measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometers) is projected to be 46 percent below 2019 levels. A decline of this magnitude puts at risk about 5.6 million jobs and $378billion in GDP supported by air transport.

Some of the impacts at national level include: United Kingdom There are 113.5 million fewer passengers resulting in a $21.7 billion revenue loss, risking almost 402,000 jobs and around $32.7 billion in contribution to the UK economy.

Spain There are 93.7 million fewer passengers resulting in a $13 billion revenue loss, risking 750,000 jobs and $49.4 billion in contribution to Spain’s economy.

Germany There are 84.4million fewer passengers resulting in a $15 billion revenue loss, risking 400,000 jobs and $28bn in contribution to Germany’s economy.

Italy For Italy, there are 67.7 million fewer passengers resulting in a $9.5

billion revenue loss, risking 256,000 jobs and $67.4 billion in contribution to Italy’s economy.

France There are 65 million fewer passengers resulting in a $12 billion revenue loss, risking 318,000 jobs and $28.5 billion in contribution to France’s economy.

To minimize the sweeping damage across the European economy that these losses would have, it is vital that governments step up their efforts to aid the industry. Some European governments have already acted, including Norway, Sweden, Finland, Spain, and Italy. But more help is needed. IATA is calling for a combination of: Direct financial support, loans, loan guarantees and support for the corporate bond market tax relief.

“The air transport industry is an economic engine, supporting up to 12.2 million jobs across Europe and $823 billion in GDP. Every job created in the aviation industry supports another 24 jobs in the wider economy. Governments must recognize the vital importance of the air transport industry, and that support is urgently needed.

“First, this will keep airlines financially viable during the present lockdown, preserving jobs, maintaining essential connections to repatriate citizens, and carrying life-saving air cargo supplies.

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@Businessdayng

Consumer Watch LASCOPA marks World Consumer Rights Day ... Tasks consumers on sustainable consumption Stories by NGOZI OKPALAKUNNE

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onsumers have been urged to practise sustainable consumption in order that human needs can be met not only in the present, but also in the future.

Chairperson, Lagos State Consumer Protection Agency (LASCOPA), Funmi Falana who gave the advise recently in Lagos at a press briefing organised by the Agency to mark this year’s World Consumer Rights Day which came under the theme, ‘The Sustainable Consumer’, explained that when sustainable consumption is practised, resources are used wisely and waste products and pollution are minimized. “ Th e m a i n w a y t h i s i s achieved is by doing more and better with less. In other words, we can find ways to meet our needs and desires without depleting our planets finite natural resources,” she said.

According to her, “This might include carpooling, using renewable energy sources, such as biofuels for our transportation needs and using environmentally friendly cleaning products.’’

Explaining further, she said that practising sustainable consumption can ensure that the environment has resources available long in to the future.

She observed that in most industrialised and developed nations, consumption is not sus-

L-R: Jide Oduyebo, Board secretary, Lagos State Consumer Protection Agency (LASCOPA); Funmi Falana, chairman, Board of LASCOPA; Kemi Olugbode, general manager, LASCOPA, and Lanre Alayande, a Board member, during a press briefing organised by LASCOPA to mark this year’s World Consumer Rights. are burned, more consumption to meet their basic living needs. tainable.

“Take for instance, subsistence Driving her point home, Falana means more pollution. farming which is farming that “This level of consumption said: “Their products and services rely on too many resources and cannot be sustained due to the provides only the farmer’s needs create too many harmful emis- depletion of non-renewable re- without surplus for the market, sions when consumed. Take for source and the adverse effect requires the clearing of woodinstance, Nigeria relies on non- to the environment. Of course, lands to make room for farms renewable fossil fuels for her unsustainable consumption pat- and is one of the leading causes transportation needs. As more terns are not just a problem for of deforestation. This will lead drivers hit the roads and more fuel developed countries, but also for to environmental damage such as soil erosion, drier climates and is consumed, fossil fuel reserves many developing countries”.

To her, the consumption pat- higher levels of carbon dioxides in are depleted, and because fossil fuels emit greenhouse gasses tern in Nigeria is unsustainable the atmosphere,” Falana added.

However, she stressed the into the atmosphere when they as the citizens exploit the natural

Honda partners Enyo to reward customers …kicks off promo

LASG trains traders on proper milk handling

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n order to reward their customers across the country, Honda Automobile Western Africa Limited in partnership with Enyo Retail and Supply recently kicked off a sales promotion of HR-V SUV car in Lagos.

The promo, which came under the theme, ‘March into Easter with the real deal’, will witness reduction in the price of the product which was launched into the Nigerian market early last year.

Speaking at a press briefing held in Lagos to announce the partnership and the sales promotion, Managing Director of Enyo Retail and Supply, Abayomi Awobokun expressed his excitement for the commencement of a partnership which he said looked very much like the start of so much more collaborations between the two brands.

Awobokun emphasised that Enyo was committed to whatever that makes the life of her teeming customers and the average Nigerian better and appreciated the team from Honda for the initiative behind the Honda

HR-V SUV. Head of Sales, Honda Automobiles West Africa, Remi Adams who also spoke at the briefing, affirmed that the partnership was to achieve certain solutions that would in the long run yield to customers satisfaction.

“Our core objective is to ensure that our customers are satisfied with our products and services and our coming together as brands with like mind interest will bring lots of benefits to our customers,” he said.

According to him, Honda HR-V SUV was designed and assembled in Nigeria, adding that it is suitable for Nigerian roads and the peculiarities associated with the West African terrain.

On the benefit of promo that will last for thirty days, he said each buyer is entitled to two years free car services at any Honda service centre nationwide as well as free 50 thousand naira Enyo Velox card.

Corporate Development Lead of Enyo, Banjo who spoke on the Enyo Velox card said it was the latest innovative solution by Enyo to ensure that all her customers experience maximum value and ease at any of her fuel stations.

“With the Enyo Velox card, the days of being cautious of being cheated by a pump attendant are over. The Velox card tracks your purchases and digitalises your transaction, among other benefits,” he said.

need for consumers to establish mindful shopping habits and choose products based on their impact on the environment, adding that ninety percent of plastic is not recycled and 1.3 billion tons of food gets trashed every year in Nigeria.

“There are many harmful chemicals and plastics in household products from beauty and cleaning products to clothing and food storage containers, Chemicals end up in our water and food supply. Toxins are everywhere and waste is clearly a problem. So, it is on us to educate ourselves and make conscious choices about what we consume for the health of our bodies and our planets.

“Sustainability begins at home, look around your houses and make sustainable swaps for products you use. Recycle your plastic containers and store your food in glass containers. Opt for reusable cleaning clothes instead of paper towel and use reusable food wrap instead of ziploc bags. By finding eco-friendly alternatives, you are limiting your exposure to the toxins in plastic, cutting down on waste and saving money in the long,” she said.

General manager, LASCOPA, Kemi Olugbode affirmed that the Agency since inception has not only educated consumers on their rights, but had also executed policies that protect consumers’ rights in the state. Olugbode also appealed to manufacturers in the country to be mindful of what they produce for consumption.

s part of efforts to guarantee the protection of consumers from the dangers of unwholesome products, Lagos State Government has commenced the training of traders in the proper handling and sales of powdered milk.

The training which began with market men and women in Ojuwoye market in Odi Olowo/ Ojuwoye Local Council Development Area (LCDA), to ensure that traders are well enlightened was organised by Lagos State Consumer Protection Agency (LASCOPA) in collaboration with Ala Food, Promasidor Nigeria Ltd and FrieslandCampina.

Addressing participants at the sensitisation programme, the general manager of LASCOPA, Kemi Olugbode said that the event was organised to give proper orientation to traders on the need to avoid unwholesome sale of powdered milk.

She said that the sensitisation which was part of strategy to fulfil the mandate of LASCOPA protecting consumers from the sale

of hazardous products was the first phase, adding that another training would be organised for solely traders of powdered milk.

Continuing, she said that it became necessary to sensitise traders and the general public on the inherent danger in the sales and consumption of powdered milk meant for industrial use after the Agency discovered, through research the trends of indecent handling of powdered milk by traders.

Olugbode further disclosed that keeping milks beside soaps and unhealthy exposure to air has great likelihood to be contaminated; noting that sale of industrial milks in piecemeal over a period of time is not only unhygienic, unacceptable, but also injurious to their health.

The general manager also warned that after the series of sensitisations, if any trader is discovered to be involved in the unwholesome display and sale of powdered milk, LASCOPA would not hesitate to arrest and prosecute such offender.

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Feature Akwa Ibom and the COVID-19 test results story ANIEFIOK UDONQUAK, Uyo

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ispute over COVID-19 test results in Akwa Ibom illustrates the apparent lack of coordination and portends great and immediate danger in the management of the unfolding pandemic.

Since the outbreak of the global pandemic, things have not been the same again in many countries of the world.

Its spread and devastation have taken many countries unawares and unprepared. From social life to the economy, from transportation to inter-state trade, things have come to a standstill.

When the first case was reported in Nigeria, it was greeted with apprehension and anxiety and as days go by and it began to spread to many states with all the geopolitical zones fairly represented. Apart from the lockdown announced by many states which includes the restriction of movement and in many cases, closure of inter-state borders, healthcare professionals have been stretched “beyond the limit of their elasticity.”

So, as many states of the federation began to record cases of CONVID-19, many believe it was only a matter of before it would hit Akwa Ibom State and it came with a bang. Five cases were confirmed in a go and this generated much anxiety and hopelessness among the people.

Before the announcement by the National Centre for Disease Control that five persons had tested positive for COVID-19 in Akwa Ibom State, there had been calls for a lockdown of the state, which many thought would have presented the ‘entry of the disease’ to the state and this was ignored.

Soon after, the governor made a broadcast in which he outlined steps taken to curtail the spread which were seen as not being far reaching enough and most significantly, there has a squabble between health professionals targeting the commissioners for health and information directly and indirectly taking an aim at the governor. All this were a pointed to the state of healthcare service in the state.

According to the health professionals, they were irked by the risk they had to take while in the line of their duty in the treatment of COVID-19 cases, the poor state of medical facilities particularly the absence of adequate number of life saving ventilators as well as the non-payment of salary to newly recruited doctors for an upward of six months. In fact, things

got to a head that the State branch of the Nigerian Medical Association had to threaten a strike over the contending issues.

“We shall continue to monitor our resolution. Where Dominic Ukpong, the commissioner for health decides to do otherwise, we may be forced to pull out our members from coronavirus duties while we continue to render other forms of health services. This is especially as Dominic Ukpong has successfully convinced us that he is capable of fighting coronavirus alone,’’ the health professionals said in a statement.

After the disagreement between the health professionals and the state government had dragged for days, truce was finally achieved when the two parties resolved to settle their differences and work to check the spread of the disease in the state.

Observers say the damage may have already been done while it lasted, adding that they might have tactfully withdrawn their support to the health commissioner who they had accused of not involving them on measures being taken by the state government to curb the spread of COVID-19.

So, it was no surprise that when NCDC announced the test results of five samples from the state confirming them to be positive for COVID-19, the health commissioner quickly issued a statement rejecting the test result. The foundation had been laid for the disagreement and it came sooner than expected.

Many people in the state who have expressed worry over the development said it showed a lack of focus among healthcare managers with the commissioner for health taking

Chikwe Ihekweazu

Ukpong, commissioner for health, Akwa Ibom most of the blame as expected.

According to the statement issued by the health commissioner, Dominic Ukpong, the state government only heard about the test results in the news, adding that “all five reported cases have been contacted and they have showed no symptoms of COVID-19.’’

The statement did not help matters; it fell flat in the face of the confusion that had greeted the announcement of the five cases in the state. In many ways, it added to the anxiety and the people became infuriated and demanded further explanation on what had really transpired.

The NCDC stood its grounds and maintained that the procedure was transparent while the test was conducted at the Iruwa

specialist hospital in Edo State where they have collaboration in the use of their laboratory facilities. This had left the people in doubt about who to believe, thus throwing more confusion into the pandemic. The dispute and controversy over the test results have yet to be laid to rest in the state until the governor stepped into the fray.

However, a broadcast by Governor Udom Emmanuel that same day according to many residents finally put paid to the dispute. Not only did he confirm the test results, he gave an indication how the five persons got infected.

“The confirmed cases who are mostly healthcare professionals are in good health and have so far presented no symptoms. However, they have been moved to the isolation centres for proper management and the process of contact tracing has begun, to identify those who they may have been exposed to.

“To enable this process to be carried out effectively, I am hereby announcing a complete cessation of movement in the state extended to period of 14 days. There will be no movement of persons, except those on essential duties who must carry a proper means of identification on them at all times,” the governor said in his broadcast.

From the denial by the health commissioner and the confirmation from the governor, it shows clearly the discrepancy in the fight against COVID-19 an indication that all is not well in the sector and most importantly in the preparation and management of the coronavirus cases.

It is the view expressed by many

that the disagreement has exposed the under belly of the healthcare delivery and shows poor coordination and lack of cooperation in the sector.

Furthermore, it tends to indicate that the dispute between the health workers and the commissioner may not have been fully settled. It is believed that if the commissioner had enjoyed the support of the health professionals, it would have been impossible for the test results to have been made public without his knowledge.

With the release of the confirmed cases in the state, it has now dawned on the people that it is no longer a time for living in denial of the virus as exhibited by the commissioner’s statement but it is their responsibility to comply with the guidelines on how to stay safe and beat COVID-19, part of which is the stay-at-home order and the total lockdown of the state.

Similarly, the government officials have a duty to be sincere in the management of COVID-19 cases in order to enjoy public confidence.

Though the governor has announced a lockdown of the state to take effect immediately as part of steps taken to curb the spread, groups and individuals including the Civil Liberty Organisation (CLO) in the state have appealed for a period of grace for the people to stockpile their basic needs that would last for the next 14 days.

According to Franklyn Isong, chairman of the group while supporting the decision of the state government to announce a total lockdown to take effect same day to curb the spread of the disease, he said the order should have come with a prior notice of 24 or 48 hours to ensure adequate preparation by the people.

“The governor should consider our prayers so that Akwa Ibom people and its residents can use the short period of the notice to stock up, make necessary arrangements and get themselves prepared for the total lockdown of the state,’’ it stated.

The pandemic has taken the global community by storm and left thousands of people across the world in a state of devastation, the impact on human lives can hardly be quantified and the cost to the economy is better imagined according to observers.

In Akwa Ibom State, it should not be the time for a blamegame, disputing test results and giving out untruthful information about the pandemic, rather it should be an opportunity for all, including the healthcare professionals to work together to defeat the pandemic which has left in its wake a trail of tears and agony.

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Feature

Is the oil industry at verge of collapse?

OLUSOLA BELLO

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ith the ravaging coronavirus and the price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia which have led to the dramatic decrease in demand worldwide, leading to a steep decline in prices, it is believed in some quarters that the industry may collapse anytime soon.

Many countries around the world including Nigeria have ordered their citizens to stay home in order to contain the spread of the virus. And airlines have dramatically cut back on flights as the number of passengers has also drastically reduced. Fewer cars on the road and planes in the sky means far less demand for oil.

Coupled with a dispute between Saudi Arabia and Russia that has resulted in an oil surplus, the price for crude as well as gasoline has plunged. The national average for gas in the U.S. is now below $2 a gallon.

Former Energy Secretary, Rick Perry said he believes that the oil industry could collapse because of the dramatic decrease in demand worldwide caused by the coronavirus outbreak and a steep decline in prices.

The current prices of Brent Crude in the mid-$20s are well below Saudi Arabia’s fiscal breakeven price of $80 a barrel oil, below the break-evens of nearly all U.S. shale production, and below the Russian breakeven price, too.

Saudi Arabia’s crude supply rose on Wednesday to a record of more than 12 million barrels per day, two industry sources said, despite a plunge in demand triggered by the coronavirus outbreak and U.S. pressure on the kingdom to stop flooding the market.

A producer pact to rein in oil production expired on Tuesday, removing restrictions on output by members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, as well as Russia and other producing nations.

Saudi Arabia had said that its oil exports would be about 10 million bpd, but it gave no indication of how much crude would go into storage.

One of the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Aramco has increased its production to its maximum capacity of 12 million bpd.

Supply to the market, both domestically and for export, may differ from production depending on the volumes taken out of storage.

Saudi Arabia has hundreds of millions of barrels of crude in storage inside the kingdom and abroad.

However oil prices spiked 25 percent weekend after President Trump tweeted that Saudi Arabia and Russia would cut production by 10 to 15 million barrels per day (mb/d), but there are a variety of reasons why a cut of this size faces

steep odds, analysts said.

They said this should be prefaced with the fact that nobody knows what will happen and that the onset of a global pandemic means that all of the old rules are thrown out the window. Anything can happen in the context of the greatest public health and economic crisis in a century.

The crash in crude oil prices means volume is especially important for oil-dependent Nigeria, and as there will be no OPEC output limits to adhere to this month after, the country can pump at will.

The current drop in oil prices is hitting the country hard, making a big dent in government revenues and threatening the viability of upstream projects.

Experts are however, of the view that even if every country decides to produce at will it may not be able to produce beyond 2.3million barrels per day, giving the fact that the country has been too lackadaisical about exploration activities. To achieve this may take a few years.

They also said even at this volume of production she would have to sell her commodity at a highly discounted rate to be able to create market for it and the revenue from it may not make so much impact on the economy According to Petroleum Economist, the country is bracing to take a big hit from the collapse in oil prices resulting from the end of the Opec+ agreement and the Covid-19 pandemic. She is particularly vulnerable as it has yet to fully recover from the previous crash in 2014. Nigeria’s 2020 budget is based on an anticipated oil price of $57/bl, but the decline in the price of the Brent benchmark crude has forced the government to revise this to $30/bl while maintaining proposed production volumes at 2.18mn bl/d, condensate inclusive.

Diran Fawibe, chairman and chief executive of IESL/Doris Joint

Venture said presently Nigeria can hardly produce up to 2.6 million barrels per day which she did just a few times in the past. He, however, stated that if the country is able to improve national production through exploration she might be able to produce above two million barrels per day. This will, however, depend on market availability while the crude is also discounted.

Seye Fadunsi, a former executive director of Pillar Oil, said the country currently does not have the capacity to ramp up beyond 2 million barrels per day.

He said even if the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) is passed today and investors come into the industry for them to start drilling, development of fields and production it will take about two to three years to start seeing the result.

“

I think something like this was inevitable because there is nowhere to put the oil,” said Dan Eberhart, a Trump donor and chief executive of drilling services company Canary Drilling Services. “I think this is out of necessity, not out of gamesmanship

Abiodun Adesanya , managing director of Degeconek, said that without the price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia, Nigeria had never been able to sustain the 2.2 million quota allocation given to her by OPEC though it has always tried to move closer to it. This is because of constant infractions on the pipeline infrastructure.

Already, many oil servicing companies in the country have been out of jobs thereby reducing their staff strength because the big multinational oil companies are no longer operating, and even those that manage to operate, have been asked to lockdown, which is not in the interest of anybody but there must be a way of cutting the spread of COVID-19.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump said he expects Saudi Arabia and Russia to cut oil production by about 10 million barrels after he spoke via phone with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman on Thursday.

Trump didn’t specify in a tweet whether the production cut would be per day. He said Prince Mohammed had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin about their oil price war. “Could be as high as 15 million Barrels,” Trump added in a subsequent tweet.

“Good (GREAT) news for everyone!” he said.

But Putin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the Russian president had not spoken to the Crown Prince. And Saudi Arabia didn’t confirm a production cut, instead calling for an “urgent meeting” of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries plus Russia and other unnamed countries, according to state-run media.

If Trump meant 10 million barrels per day, that would equal both Moscow and Riyadh curbing nearly 45percent of their production- an unprecedented move that triggered skepticism in markets.

Riyadh has until now made

clear it’s ready to cut production provided that other big oil producers, including some that aren’t part of the OPEC+ group like the U.S., Canada and Brazil, also reduce their output. OPEC+ refers to a previous alliance between OPEC and Russia to set production levels.

Russia’s refusal in early March to cut production triggered the oil price war, with the kingdom responding by increasing its output to a record high, above 12 million barrels a day.

Despite the triumphant tone of Trump’s tweets, Saudi Arabia and Russia have yet to agree to the size of any production cut, according to an OPEC+ delegate familiar with the conversations.

Any curbs will be conditional on every major oil producer also agreeing to reduce production, the delegate said on condition of anonymity, while discussing diplomatic conversations.

Saudi Arabia wants countries that aren’t part of the OPEC+ alliance to join in any future prorationing. Although Riyadh hasn’t drawn up a formal list, in the past OPEC+ had invited big American oil producers, Brazil and Canada to its meetings. Both Canada and Brazil have previously declined.

OPEC had also invited the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the oil industry in the state, to participate in its meetings.

Trump is scheduled to speak with the leaders of U.S. oil producers and refiners. One industry leader said the president may have been motivated to remark on the surplus oil production because the U.S. is literally running out of physical space to store crude.

“I think something like this was inevitable because there is nowhere to put the oil,” said Dan Eberhart, a Trump donor and chief executive of drilling services company Canary Drilling Services.

“I think this is out of necessity, not out of gamesmanship.”

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Feature

The politics of zonal Development Commissions and concerns over non-performance SOLOMON AYADO, Abuja

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t appears the establishment of zonal Development Commissions in the country has become a matter of serious politics and concerns mount that the reasons these agencies were established are seemingly not being adequately achieved.

The main motive behind the set up of the zonal Commissions is generally to foster development in the geo-political zones.

This is because the zones have varied peculiar challenges; the Commissions are designed and mandated to serve as catalyst and to properly settle the numerous problems so as to enhance both socio-economic and political stability.

While some zones are faced with ecological and infrastructural problems, others are confronted with insecurity, lack of education and agriculture, among others.

One of such Commissions is the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) which was established by President Olusegun Obasanjo in the year 2000, with the sole mandate of developing the oilrich Niger Delta.

In September 2008, President Umoru Yar’Adua announced the formation of the Niger Delta Ministry with the Niger Delta Development Commission to become a parastatal under it.

One of the core mandates of the Commission was to train and educate the youth of the oil-rich Niger Delta region to curb hostilities and militancy, while developing key infrastructure to promote diversification and productivity.

Also, there was establishment of the Hydro Electric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPADEC). It was charged with the responsibility of managing ecological menace due to operation of dams and other hydroelectric power activities in some states of the country.

The Act establishing the Commission was passed by the Seventh National Assembly in 2010 and subsequently signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan.

However, about nine years after, the HYPADEC has not properly taken off; exposing communities within the area of operation to serious ecological challenges like flooding, loss of lives, health hazards and loss of farmlands.

On May 8, 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated the Board of the North East Development Commission (NEDC).

The North East Development Commission (NEDC) was established in 2017, after the Bill establishing the Commission was passed by the two legislative chambers. On October 25th, 2017 President Buhari assented to the Bill and signed it into an Act. The core mandate of NEDC, “among other things”, is to “receive and manage funds from allocation of the Federal Account, interna-

tional donors for the settlement, rehabilitation and reconstruction of roads, houses and business premises of victims of insurgency as well as tackling menace of poverty, illiteracy level, ecological problems and any other related environmental or developmental challenges in the North-East states.”

The Act establishing the Commission provides for a Governing Body, comprising a Chairman, a Managing Director and Chief Executive; three Executive Directors (one from each member state not being represented by the Chairman of the Board, the Managing Director and the representative of the North-East zone); one person each to represent the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria; and one person to represent the Federal Ministry of Finance; and Budget and National Planning.

On January 2019, the President nominated candidates to serve as Chairman and members of the Board of the Commission. And on April 9, 2019, the Senate confirmed the appointment of Major-General Paul Tarfa (rtd) as chairman and the commission has since taken off.

However, since the commencement of NEDC, other geo-political zones have since started pressing for such to be replicated in their own domains. Many people believed that the establishment of the NEDC by Buhari was clannish.

Others posited that the President should have extended the gesture to other zones, since they all have their peculiar issues that needed government attention and intervention.

Due to alleged nepotic posture of Buhari, a lot of persons questioned the establishment of NEDC even as it was mandated to tackle insurgency in the zone. The argument Obasanjo established NDDC was not from the SouthSouth region, and that the current government should avoid doing things that could engender strife in the polity.

The Senate is being inundated with all kinds of bills for Development Commissions. There is a Bill in the Senate seeking for the Establishment of South East Development Commission. It was sponsored by Senator Stella Oduah of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), representing Anambra North.

The bill titled, ‘South East Development Commission (Est, etc) Bill, 2019 ( SB. 161)’ seeks to provide a master plan for the reduction of unemployment while also providing the master plan and schemes to promote the physical development of the southeast.

Also, the North Central Development Commission Bill, sponsored by the Chairman, Senate Services, Senator Mohammed Sani Musa, (APC, Niger East), is currently being read in the Senate.

The commission, according to the bill, would be saddled with the responsibilities of managing and administering funds received from the Federation account to address developmental issues in the states which make up the North Central geo-political zone of the country.

Similarly, a bill seeking the establishment of the North West De v e l o p m e n t C o m m i s s i o n

(NWDC) has passed second reading in the Senate. The bill is sponsored by Jibrin Barau (APC, Kano North). Senator Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun Central, APC) has sponsored a bill to establish the South West Commission. Amosun said the region has contributed immensely to the existence of the country; the reason he argued government is expected to fund and solve the existing challenges faced by the zone.

Against the backdrop of the various proposals for establishment of zonal commissions, it appears no region wants to be cheated. Observers say that the contemplation by government to establish Commissions to tackle challenges in some zones while excluding some other zones, smacks of fresh shenanigan in the political system of the country in managing the diversity of nationalities.

The already established Commissions that are being funded by government have not fully achieved their mandates. According to public affairs analysts who spoke to BDSUNDAY, the commissions are at best conduit pipes for some privileged few in government to siphon public funds.

For instance, the Federal Government had appropriated N612, 177,269 for HYPADEC even as management board has not been constituted. With heavy budget, the affected states are still left in dilapidation.

Also, in the Niger Delta region where it exists, the NDDC, till today, has not been able to address the problem of oil spillage; it has remained a major issue. The Ogoni clean-up embarked upon by government is still a mirage.

The Senate is currently probing it.

To many pundits, it is more appropriate to adduce that the Commissions serve as agencies used by government managers to settle political allies by way of creating employment opportunities for them.

Of course, it is obvious that even if the commissions were established across all the six geo-

political zones in the country, the states will continue to witness underdevelopment and the citizenry would keep facing the dehumanising situations.

Many observers have said that the government was not sincere and that the leaders lacked the political will to ensure the Commissions discharged exact mandates they were established for, and that until the anomaly is perhaps, addressed with a genuine mandate entirely, the problem would still persist.

An Abuja-based development expert, Sanda Jamiu said: “Everything in Nigeria is politicised. It is so because our political leaders – government- do not have genuine intention. The Commissions can only be said to be means of pilfering the public coffers. They are not adequately discharging the mandates for which they were established. In the North East, insurgency is still on the rise even with the establishment of NEDC, just as the situation for Niger Delta states is still deplorable with NDDC in existence for many years.

“The other zones are not wrong to clamour for such commissions because it is their right. But do you think such can change the situation? If finally such commissions are established, the lawmakers that sponsored them will be given room to project their allies for appointment into the Boards and things will still remain the same.

Until things are done differently, if not, let every zone have Commission; yet the states under them will still continue to face development challenges.”

Another political affairs analyst, Obi Matthew, who spoke to our correspondent, said: “It is the clannish posture of President Buhari that has triggered the clamour by all zones to demand for Commissions. The government under Buhari is nepotic and does not have the interest of other zones at heart.”

Matthew further said: “Of course, I totally agree with you that the Commissions are not ensuring the development they are mandated. The states are seriously underdeveloped and the commissions are being funded handsomely. It is only hoped that things will change for the better.”

Meanwhile, speaking on the need for zonal Commissions, Senate President, Ahmad Lawan said: “Let me say that what we have all agreed is, each geo-political zone should have a Development Commission, but in my view, what Nigeria needs most is proper planning.

“Because, all these channels, is not based on Commission, but National Planning that is followed through. Lagos State is setting the pace in many aspects as a state compared to most of our states.

They have been able to, through a well-grounded blueprint, progress faster I think, than most of the states.”

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BDSUNDAY 31

SundayBusiness Food & Beverages With Ayo Oyoze Baje

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he body’s immunity is its capacity to withstand and ward off disease-causing germs (pathogens) when they enter the body through the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat. How well our white blood corpuscles (wbc) are developed would determine how effective our anti-bodies perform. They act like the soldiers of the body, protecting its territorial integrity.

Good enough, it has been found that some foods are powerful in contributing to the body’s immunity. We need to know them, eat them regularly in this age when new diseases such as Acquired Immune Deficiency

Foods that boost immunity Syndrome (AIDS), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Ebola virus are prevalent.

One is also well-advised to live cleaner and healthier lifestyles.

Avoid being exposed to frequent smoke, dust, dangerous factory chemicals and gas, fumes from insecticides, generators and even the smoke from cigarettes and mosquito coil.

Listed below are immuneboosting foods and their functions.

1. Egg. Eggs? Yes, eggs because they are packed full with useful amino acids, zinc and B-vitamins. One boiled egg per day is recommended. Contrary to previous belief, Harvard scientists have proved that eggs do not raise blood cholesterol levels.

Eggs also build white blood cells (wbc) and antibodies, which the body needs to fight off illnesses. Eat them boiled for maximum effect. An egg a day increases blood levels of lutein by 26percent and zeaxanthin by 38percent without raising cholesterol.

Eggs may not contain as much lutein and zeaxanthin as we have them in the eye-friendly anti-oxidants present in dark green, leafy vegetables but are better able to absorb them says nutritional bio-chemist,

Elizabeth Johnson.

2. Yoghurt It contains pro-biotics that strengthen the immune system.

In one research, it was found that people who drink three-quarters of a cup of yoghurt daily for a year had 25 percent fewer colds than those who didn’t.

3. Brightly coloured fruits (tomato, water melon, purple apple, mango) and dark green vegetables (efo, ugu, bitterleaf).

They contain cell-protective flavonoids and anti-oxidants that are both anti-aging and immuneboosting.

4. Red ball pepper On e p e p p e r c o n t a i n s a whopping 200mg or more of vitamin C (an orange provides 70mg). It helps in both the building and protection of body cells.

5. Ginger For centuries, the Chinese had used ginger as a cure-all for cold. Fresh ginger fights viruses by helping your body to sweat out toxins.

To enjoy it, peel it, chop to small pieces and add to shrimp mixed with vegetables that are stir-fried.

6. Garlic You don’t like the smell, do you? However, it is nature’s own anti-biotic. This is because it contains sulphur-based

compounds that keep your body free of infection. Peel, crush it and mix with mashed potatoes.

Garlic also has anti-viral and anti-biotic properties. Two cloves a day will keep your immune system in top form.

Do not cook for long to keep it potent.

7. Raw cocoa and dark chocolate Eating raw cocoa and dark chocolate is good for one’s health as they contain very useful antioxidants known as flavonoids that provide numerous health benefits.

8. Sweet potatoes Unknown to some people, sweet potatoes do not belong to the same family as the common white potato. Like other brightly-coloured, orangeyellow vegetables they are rich in beta-carotene that enhances good eyesight.

They also contain potassium, foliate, some iron. They possess plant sterols that assist to lower blood cholesterol because of the excellent source of soluble and insoluble fibre.

9. Mushrooms From the Stone Age period to modern times, mushrooms have been known and used by man for medicinal purposes. Asians adore it. The Japanese, particularly have taken their time to study them. They are natural flavour

enhancers in dishes because of monosodium glutamate (MSG).

They are fat-free, low in calories, but rich in chemicals, especially glutamic acid that boosts the body’s immunity.

They are also powerful in fighting cancer, arthritis and lupus. Rich in copper, a single dose contains 20-40percent of daily need. All mushrooms contain good amounts of potassium, helpful in lowering blood pressure. White mushrooms are sources of selenium that prevents prostate cancer. It works with vitamin E to clean up the free radicals.

Caution: Some species of wild mushrooms are poisonous to human beings. You can grow your own mushrooms with species obtained from FIIRO, Oshodi.

Generally, any mushroom you grow that is not eaten by ants or insects is poisonous. Farmers in the olden days used this to identify fruits that should be avoided by man.

10. A mixture of carrot, apple, pear and mango helps to clear the body of heat, toxins, decrease blood pressure and fight oxidation.

Baje is Nigerian first Food Technologist in the media ayobaje@yahoo.co.uk; 07068638066

BAT working on potential COVID-19 vaccine through US bio-tech subsidiary

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ritish American Tobacco (BAT) is developing a potential vaccine for COVID-19 through its US bio-tech subsidiary, Kentucky Bio Processing (KBP). The vaccine is now in the pre-clinical testing phase and if it goes well, BAT is hopeful that, with the right partners and support from government agencies, between 1 and 3 million doses of the vaccine could be manufactured per week, beginning in June 2020.

While KBP remains a commercial operation, the intention is that its work around the Covid-19 vaccine project will be carried out on a not for profit basis The vaccine in development usesBAT’s proprietary, fastgrowing tobacco plant technology which has severaladvantages over conventional vaccine production technology Firstly, it is potentially safer given that tobacco plants can’t host pathogens which cause human disease. Then it is also faster because the elements of the vaccine accumulate in tobacco plants much more quickly – 6 weeks in tobacco plants versus several months using conventional methods.

A further plus is that the vaccine formulation KBP is

developing remains stable at room temperature, unlike conventional vaccines which often require refrigeration.

It also has the potential to deliver an effective immune response in a single dose.

David O’Reilly, director of Scientific Research, BAT said: “We are engaged with the US Food and Drug Administration and are

seeking guidance on next steps.

We have also engaged with the UK’s Department for Health and Social Care, and BARDA in the US, to offer our support and access to our research with the aim of trying to expedite the development of a vaccine for COVID-19.

“Vaccine development is challenging and complex work, but we believe we have made a

significant break-through with our tobacco plant technology platform and stand ready to work with Governments and all stakeholders to help win the war against Covid-19. We fully align with the United Nations plea, for a whole-of-society approach to combat global problems.”

“KBP has been exploring alternative uses of the tobacco

plant for some time. One such alternative use is the development of plant-based vaccines. We are committed to contributing to the global effort to halt the spread of Covid-19 using this technology,” he further said.

BAT’s US subsidiary, Reynolds American Inc, acquired KBP in 2014, with the aim of using some of its unique tobacco extraction technology to aid further development of its new category non-combustible products.

In 2014, KBP made headlines as one of the few companies with an effective treatment for Ebola, having manufactured ZMapp™ with California-based company, Ma p p Bi o Ph a r m a c e u t i c a l s in partnership with the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

KBP recently cloned a portion of COVID-19’s genetic sequence which led to the development of a potential antigen - a substance which induces an immune response in the bodyand in particular, the production of antibodies. This antigen was then inserted into tobacco plants for reproduction and, once the plants were harvested, the antigen was then purified, and is now undergoing pre-clinical testing

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SundayBusiness COVID-19: Stay-at-Home order deepens need for affordable mortgage in Nigeria

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t no time has the need for affordable mortgage in Nigeria been so deep and necessary as now when the country, like other nations of the world, is grappling with coronavirus and its devastating impact.

The federal government has, as part of efforts to curtail further spread of the deadly disease, has shutdown Lagos, Abuja and Ogun State and ordered their residents to stay-at-home to avoid contact with person or persons who may have contracted the disease.

Interestingly, the stay-at-home order has turned out to be an expose, showing how deep ‘homelessness’ which is a product of an inaccessible, unaffordable and dysfunctional mortgage system, is in the country.

In Lagos where housing situation is dire, many residents are seen roaming the streets, talking in clusters, not in defiance of the stay at home order but because either they have no house or they have one but it is not comfortable enough to keep them indoors.

Housing shortage in the country, which is both quantitative and qualitative, is not easing because unlike other economies where anybody on paid employment or who has regular flow of income can get mortgage to buy a house, home buyers in Nigeria must pay from his pocket.

All hopes are not lost though because, incrementally and on consistent basis, ideas on improving access to housing, mortgage loan and homeownership keep coming

into the housing sector. But how well these ideas are being harnessed or implemented to achieve set goals is another kettle of fish.

The federal government, through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has been intervening in the housing sector with programmes, policies and initiatives that are aimed to get more Nigerians, especially the low income earners, on the property/ homeownership ladder.

Besides the Family Home Finance (FHF) and the Federal Integrated Staff Housing (FISH) is the new My Own Home scheme which is an offshoot of the Nigeria Housing Finance Programme (NHFP) set up by the Federal Government and implemented by CBN with the support of World Bank’s $300 million loan.

Part of the federal government’s plans for the housing sector is to introduce public private partnership scheme that seeks to increase access to housing finance. Pursuant to this, the CBN selected recently 34 primary mortgage banks (PMBs) and four commercial banks to facilitate access to housing finance for low-income earners in the formal and informal sectors.

These banks along with nine other micro-finance banks will drive the My Own Home scheme whose main objective in line with the parent NHFP is to catalyse the growth of the housing sector through derisking the housing finance value chain and improving access to finance. The scheme is also aimed to increase access to housing finance and housing in Nigeria and to inspire young Nigerians on the need to key into mortgage process and start

owning homes.

The 34 selected PMBs and others are to benefit from a Housing Micro-finance Fund estimated at $15 million, and also from a $10million Technical Assistance Fund, with LAPO Microfinance Bank as pivot of the pilot scheme in the housing sector. Unlike the conventional mortgage, My Own Home allows beneficiaries to use the loan for purchase of land, incremental building or renovation.

The scheme has broad-based stakeholders and partnerships that include the Federal Government of Nigeria, Federal Ministry of Finance, Central Bank of Nigeria, World Bank, Federal Ministry of Works & Housing, Federal Ministry of Justice and Mortgage Banking Association of Nigeria (MBAN).

Others are mortgage originating institutions such as Mortgage Lending Banks (MLBs) that are participating in the scheme through equity/investment in Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC).

There is need now, more than ever before, for strengthening the housing sector by setting up sustainable framework by mortgage originators such as financial institutions to access long-term refinancing and NHFP is expected to create the enabling environment for that. It is also expected to scale-up mortgage and housing finance awareness through mortgage literacy, customers’ right, responsibilities and education.

Adeniyi Akinlusi, the MBAN President, is of the view that the scheme will revamp the housing finance sector and also make access to housing finance a lot easier. He says

Talking Mortgage with CHUKA UROKO (08037156969, chukuroko@yahoo.com) that NMRC will be providing longterm refinancing of mortgages and standardizingmortgageprocedures.

According to him, most initiatives that are solely funded and run by the government as social housing programmes are usually not successful and sustainable. “My Own Home, being a PPP is likely to succeed going by our experience with other PPP programmes such as NMRC, infrastructure provision and even the pension scheme reform, which also have private sector stakeholders.”

The beauty of this scheme is that it offers mortgage guarantee that allows borrowers with insufficient or no equity contribution to access mortgage for home ownership.

Besides, it will increase lending to low-income earners in the formal and informal sectors through microfinance banks for incremental housing construction or housing improvement.

The scheme has its challenges but Akinlusi reasons that, despite the challenges, public awareness is gradually being created, although there is no available statistics on the extent of coverage yet, adding that more would still need to be done in this direction.

Government believes that this

Krisoral Group chairman bags honorary doctorate degree in business administration from COOU GODFREY OFURUM, in Awka

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is Royal Highness, Igwe Oranu Chris Chidume, Eze AnaUkwu, Eze Igulube of Omor Kingdom, in Ayamelum Local Government Area of Anambra State, has added another feather to his cap, as Chuwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam, Anambra State, conferred on him, a honorary doctorate degree in business administration.

Igwe Chidume, a renowned entrepreneur with exceptional leadership skills and innovative cum creative abilities, is the founder and chairman of Krisoral Group of Companies.

Krisoral Group of Companies is a holding company for four subsidiaries, that are into packaging, farming, food processing and distilling.

His Royal Majesty, Oba Rufus Adeyemo Adejugbe, Aladesanmi 111, the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, chancellor, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University,

Igbariam, while presenting the certificate to Igwe Chidume, at the 10th convocation ceremonies of the University, held at its Igbariam campus, affirmed that Igwe Omor’s selection was not indiscriminate, but followed meticulous criteria that involved a consideration of his tremendous impact on society in many spheres.

“We are glad that you recognised this and have done us the honour of accepting our Honorary Degree. By all standards, you deserved to be honoured. It is, therefore an honour and privilege for me to preside over the occasion where you, a first class citizen is being honoured”.

Igwe Chidume, after receiving the award, expressed gratitude to Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University for the honour bestowed on him. According to His Royal Highness, Igwe Chidume, “I was excited when Greg Chukwudi Nwakaoby, a professor and the Vice Chancellor of this great University, informed me of the decision of the University to confer

this honour on me.

“Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University is one of the latest springouts that is doing admirable work, through delivering comprehensive and qualitative learning.

“Indeed here exists a valuable and necessary place for anyone, who has the burning desire to learn”.

He congratulated the new graduates of the University and their families.

“You would only be able to appreciate the thrill of excitement felt by these parents here today, if you have had the privilege and opportunity to train and watch your ward(s) graduate, through tertiary Institution”.

He urged the new graduates to be positive, principled, pro-active, and productive and at the same time be open to change.

“You are part of the largest generation of young people the world has ever known.

When I look around this hall, I see more than leaders of tomorrow. I see a people prepared, waiting to join the

global economic activities.

“Few are they that don’t need to ask themselves ‘what should I do with my life?’ such people don’t even need an advice to follow their passion. The rest persons struggle with this question at regular intervals.

“If you are in this category, don’t get discouraged, acquire more skills to keep up with the changing nature of work, invoke your passion for the field you have found skill in, ensure that what you do, creates value that is of benefit to others, and such value when created overtime, becomes your bargaining power in the world of economy,” Igwe advised.

Igwe Chidume expressed appreciation to Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State, for the commendable work he has been doing to advance education in the state.

This is as he also thanked his people of Omor Kingdom, for their unalloyed support, by coming out en masse to show solidarity and for always standing by him in that which he represents.

scheme has the interest of every Nigerian, but being a new initiative, there is still no statistics to quantify the response of Nigerians to it. It still needs some time to take firm root and have imprint on the minds of the public.

The major challenges of initiatives like this are funding and sustainability which, in the opinion of the MBAN president, will depend on the NHFP and how it will be able to synchronize the scheme to generate public interest that would make it run on “auto-pilot.”

Expectation is that this product will provide a platform for potential mortgage clients who do not have the required equity contribution, that is, initial deposit of 20 percent of the value of a property, for a mortgage but have the capacity to make the regular payments, to access a mortgage on the basis of a third party guarantee.

The good news then is that homeowners with insufficient or no-equity contribution can approach their lenders for a mortgage guarantee and the mortgage guarantee firm will insure only the equity contribution required so that the lender can advance the full value of the mortgage loan for the property.

COVID-19: Unilever restates commitment to achieve competitive growth in 2020 SEYI JOHN SALAU

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ollowing the health and economic impact of COVID-19 on businesses across Nigeria, management of Unilever Nigeria has restated its commitment towards achieving a competitive growth for the year 2020.

This commitment was stated as the manufacturing company released its audited financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2019.

Unilever Nigeria recorded a turnover of N60.5 billion in the year under review, which represents a decline compared to N92.89bn recorded for the corresponding year, 2018.

The results show the company also recorded a loss after tax of N7.42bn for the year ended 31 December 2019 relative to profit after tax of N10.55bn recorded for the comparative year 31 December 2018.

These results reflect challenging operating conditions but also the company’s decision to tighten credit terms to address exposure from trade receivables and excess stock in trade in order to better position the company for innovation and a return to competitive growth.

‘Soromidayo George, the corporate affairs director of Unilever, said the Company is also better placed to adjust to the prevailing operating circumstances now emerging in 2020.

George said that given the current global economic uncertainty, Unilever will continue to monitor the business environment as well as focus on its strategy to deliver sustainable growth both in the medium and long term.

She noted that the business acknowledged that 2019 was a challenging year for everyone, but also that there were measures taken to adjust those challenges.

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BDSUNDAY 33

SundayBusiness LG Premium and mid–range TVs earn 5 The purpose of victory Kemi Adeyemi star ratings in UHD performance test

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L

G has distinguished itself by earning the highest scores in the UHD TV performance Test. LG’s premium TVs (over USD2,600) and mid-range TVs (between USD 840 – 1,700) received full marks and five – star ratings. Competing brands could not equal LG’s results due to the viewing angle performance of its premium TVs and the picture quality of its midrange TVs. The result of performance tests which was conducted by the Korea Consumer Agency (KCA) has attracted considerable attention from stakeholders and TV industry experts. The head of the KCA’s department of Testing & Inspection, Yang Jong-chul announced the results of the organization’s UHD TV comparison at the FTC’s headquarters in the Sejong government complex after the brands filed a lawsuit with the Korean Fair Trade Commission (FTC) over each other’s products (LG OLED TV and Samsung Q-LED TV).

The test results proved favourable for LG. KCA evaluated 55-inch UHD TVs (including OLED and Q-LED models) from four different brands, assessing a range of performance metrics such as picture quality, audio quality, input lag, yearly power consumption , reliability , power-on time, safety and the ability to receive / display terrestrial UHD broadcasts.

KCA tested the most expensive, and the cheapest 55-inch TVs available, selecting the models that have proved most popular with local consumers in both categories. The products were LG OLED T V 5 5 E 9 ( p r e m i u m) and 55B9 (mid-range), Samsung QN55Q80R

(premium) and 55Q60R (mid-range), Anam Electronics’ model UQ550YT, and Philips OLED TV (55OLED873/61) LG OLEDC9TV which comes in 77”, 65” and 55” appears to be in similar premium category with LG OLED TV 55E9 which received full marks across all evaluation criteria, including picture quality, audio and input lag conducted

by KCA. The LG C9 OLED offers an unparalleled blend of superb media performance, rich features and forwardlooking technologies. It’s the best TV we’ve seen, and have been one of the best TV overall since its launch.

The main attraction of the LG OLED 4K TV - C9 is its OLED screen. These have become the stuff of legend in the AV world, with their contrast and viewing angle advantages helping them find their way into the homes of a huge number of serious AV fans, despite them typically costing way more than most LCD TVs. Sharpness and detail levels have been stepped up – especially when the TV is up converting sub-4K sources to its native 4K screen, and there’s better motion handling.

The TV comes with a new second generation α9 Processor with Artificial Intelligence, advanced voice control, perfect colour on

perfect black, Dolby Vision & Atmos Cinema Experience at home, 4K Cinema HDR Delivering the filmmaker’s vision and minimalistic design blends in to any space. The new processor also impacts sound quality, thanks to LG’s latest AI Sound system.

This optimises all types of incoming sound to match the precise capabilities of the set’s speakers.

Th e T V i s a l s o G SYNC Compatible, the critically-acclaimed LG OLED TVs will deliver the smoothest, most immersive gaming experience without the flicker, tearing or stuttering common to most displays. Gamers have long valued LG OLED TVs for their exceptional picture quality, low input lag and ultra-fast response time. The addition of GSYNC Compatible support allows gamers with GeForce RTX 20-Series or GTX 16-Series GPUs to fully enjoy extreme responsiveness and optimized visuals on LG’s large OLED TVs from 55 inches up to an immersive 77 inches. The addition of NVIDIA G-SYNC Compatibility raises the bar once more, guaranteeing even more immersive big-screen PC gaming on the company’s industryleading 4K OLED models, available in 55 to 77 inch screen sizes. G-Sync and other VRR technologies help eliminate flicker, tearing or stuttering on displays when used to play games that are built using VRR. LG OLED C9 series are available in stores nationwide in Nigeria. The brand continues to be the front line of OLED TV technology considering the level of commitment and investment the company has made over the last decade.

It’s superiority in picture quality, viewing angle and aesthetics remains an envious progress.

ave you ever watched a movie with a Villain as one of the main characters? Do you itch to see the end of the Villain? Do you feel the excitement when the Villain is defeated by a super hero and watch all that was lost returned back to the victims? Yes, I do when I get the chance to see a movie with such a theme.

There is a true-life story with this theme in the Bible.

The book of Exodus details the story of an Egyptian Pharaoh who got intimidated by a people whom the Lord’s hand was upon and whom he sought to conquer through slavery. These people who intimidated him were the nation of Israel that came from the loins of Jacob, the son of Abraham and Isaac. It was a long four hundred and thirty years of tears, pain, injustice and slavery until the God of Abraham raised a savior in the name of Moses. Through Moses, God destabilised the Egyptian Empire. Through ten plagues, Egypt became ruins and in just one night, all the wealth of Egypt was

transferred to the nation of Israel. God asked the Israelites to dispossess the Egyptians of all their gold all was given without questioning to the Israelites.

The crux of my write up today however is not that happy ending of the defeat of the villain but the future of that one that was once the victim. So back to our movies; sometimes we then see the victim whom we think that years of victimisation would have humbled and made a person of compassion turn around and become the villain. The purpose for victory is unknown and hence abused.

In the story of the Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt, they spoiled the Egyptians in one day. All the wealth of Egypt was transferred to them, all the gold of Egypt became theirs. The journey to liberty and the Promised Land began.

God called Moses up to the Mountains to give him the constitution that will guide this nation into truth and righteousness where he spent forty days. Fearing he was gone and won’t be back again, the Israelites gathered the wealth, all the gold transferred to them by God from Egypt and made a golden calf out of

it. They bowed their heads, worshipped the golden calf and hailed it saying it was the god that delivered them from slavery. God brought justice on them for this act of idolatry, infact it led to the death of thousands who should have come to the promised land that God did all the miracles in Egypt to bring them to.

Few chapters down the line, only if they had known that the gold they dispossessed the Egyptians of what meant to be for the building of the Tabernacle of God and all the components in it; the symbol of the presence of the Living God in the nation of Israel.

Oluwakemi Adeyemi SAP HCM Consultant M: rhodaadeyemi@gmail.com T: +234 813 804 5311 S: kemi.oloidi

News COVID-19: ActionAid Nigeria makes case for vulnerable women, aged, others Victoria Nnakaike, Lokoja

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ctionAid Nigeria, an anti-poverty non-governmental organisation, has called on the Federal Government to prioritise vulnerable women, children, aged and persons with disabilities in its palliative measures to cushion their loss of income during this period of lockdown in the country.

Speaking in Abuja on Friday, Ene Obi, the Country Director pointed out that electricity, water and food should be made available to households to reduce the burden of work on women, adding that when women are reached their households benefit.

Obi equally disclosed that AAN has released strategic funds to her project partners in different parts of the states to cater for the protection of women during the period of epidemic, adding that a 9-member committee on COVID-19 has been set up by AAN who are finalising a strategy and seeking innovative ways of working with relevant stakeholders during this period.

She said: “ActionAid Nigeria (AAN) has followed

with keen interest the Federal Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We applaud some of the steps taken by the Presidential Task Force and other stakeholders, including the media and first responders who are working tirelessly to ensure that the novel virus is exterminated from our shore.

“As an anti-poverty nongovernmental organisation working to combat poverty and promote social justice in Nigeria for the past 20 years, ActionAid Nigeria is responding to the pandemic and we deem it fit to highlight our response and comment on governments response strategy thus far particularly as it affects our primary beneficiaries; women, children, youths and persons with disabilities”.

“ActionAid Nigeria’s approach to emergencies focuses on cultivating women’s leadership and shifting power to local organisations and movements. ActionAid Nigeria is currently respondingtotheCOVID-19 pandemic in partnership with Activista Nigeria; a youth movement consisting 2957 youths, 28 women led organisations, 12 Local Rights Programme partners and the CSO Network on

Social Protection consisting of 60 CSO groups across the federation. AAN’s immediate response is focused on protection services for women and girls, awareness, prevention and control; this we are implementing through community-based facilitators who have received safety kits and the pandemic awareness materials including megaphones, flyers, posters and banners with messages in local languages.

Working with community-based facilitators is a safeguarding approach to mitigate the risk of staff and partners infecting or being infected in the response process.

The community-based facilitators are leading the awareness campaigns in the communities and providing real time updates on the situation”.

“Also, strategic funds have been released from AAN to our project partners in different states to cater for the protection of women during the period of the epidemic. AAN has set up a 9-member Committee on COVID-19 finalizing a strategy and seeking innovative ways of working with relevant stakeholders during this period”.

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Sunday 05 April, 2020

BrandsOnSunday SPOTLIGHTING BRAND VALUE

There will be more strategic business alliances this year – Kwame Senou Kwame Senou is the Senior Vice President at Opinion and Public. He says the firm is positioned to deliver tailored marketing services in Francophone Africa to organizations based outside its borders but interested in doing business within the region. In this interview, Senou regrets that Africans don’t know much about the continent as they know destinations in Europe. According to him, the firm is working on platforms for the business community of West and Central Africa, whatever the language, businesses can dialogue with their peers and governments to promote cross border trade and investment. Excerpts

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Could you assess the business landscape in 2019?

019 was a stressful year for businesses. The uncertainty of USA-China trade war, Brexit and a strong dollar, led to a slowdown.

In Africa, the electoral year in Nigeria, and the recent border-related tensions really affected businesses.

But we also saw the expansion of industrial capacities, the strong growth of many economies in ECOWAS.. The challenges posed to businesses in 2019 were mainly related to the state of the economy.

The digital disruption is also showing a significant impact. While some analysts predicted a recession year, businesses were nevertheless able to resist and sustain through innovation, especially in the digital space. It is common to complain but considering the external factors in 2019, I think businesses performed well in controlling the possible damages.

What do you think are the factors that will shape 2020?

The early signs of 2020 suggest optimism globally. The factors that will shape 2020 for me includes the rush for Africa, where I see more investment from competing global players like USA, China, Europe, Russia and Turkey. The increasing use of technology and data will require more talents and more knowledge services. The misfortune of some startups might drive some businesses to reduce pace and enhance their current model.

2020 will mark the beginning of a new decade. It is usually a milestone used by companies to launch new strategic initiatives, opening doors to partnerships. There will be an increase of strategic alliances. Many companies that expanded in the previous decade will focus on their big hubs and subcontract the other markets. It is a way of keeping their

Kwame Senou

geographic reach without risk. In West Africa, we have seen a wave of people going back to basics to benefit from the debate happening around local content and manufacturing our products. The need for local value creation will be there as a factor. But all these won’t happen without businesses understanding that they are the ones to train their employees and not a formal education system.

African companies and individuals hardly trade and engage in tourism among themselves despite the huge potential across the region, what bottlenecks account for this?

People blame lack of connecting infrastructure, but it is not true. You don’t just make infrastructures to

be waiting for people to come and visit, especially when everything is a priority from education to health and security. The real problem is much simpler, we don’t know much about each other as we know of the global destinations we fantasize about like the US, Paris, Dubai or Thailand. The first job to be done is to increase the awareness of our tourist attractions to one another.

There’s some strong public relations work that African countries must do; targeting themselves to achieve the level of attractiveness required to fund a trip. I met a Nigerian billionaire in Abidjan in 2018 and he told me that it was his first time ever then. I know a couple of wealthy individuals in Cotonou that swear they will never come to

Lagos or Nairobi because it is too dangerous. If you add the artificial language barrier that were built in our minds, I believe promoting and educating ourselves about our destinations is the thing. Nigeria just lifted the visa requirement for all Africans, this is a good move and an occasion to promote the country’s multiple attractions. Nollywood movies now on Netflix and Canal+ (the French paid TV) has made audiences in Francophone to have strong attractions for the Nigerian lifestyle depicted in these contents.

How can Nigerian organizations and businesses who know little about Francophone African countries penetrate the markets?

Learning from previous experiences of expansion into Francophone, I think Nigerian organizations need to get a good understanding of the local context and the agility that comes in such a situation of differences. Though the needs are the same, the values are not. So, to address them, there’s a need of paradigm shift. And the best way to do this is to execute a 2-step process: [1] attract francophone talents in Nigeria and then [2] send them back to execute. Let’s say you are planning to expand, recruit francophone people, get them to work with you in Nigeria, learn and understand your culture, learn from them. It is a critical step. We have observed that poor internal decisions, due to cultural illiteracy were the root causes of some of the previous expansion failures.

Nigeria has closed its land borders for some time now, what are the implications of this on trading in W/Africa?

There’s an extensive coverage of this subject both in local media and international. Many institutions have concluded that it will harm the ECOWAS partnership, increase

poverty and create tensions and distrust between the neighboring countries. The negotiations are happening at a very high level, I hope each country will make the necessary sacrifices to allow this situation to come to an end quickly.

Is single currency possible across W/Africa, what are the advantages of disadvantages?

I think the question should be how strong we want it. Euro was possible in a complex Europe. It should be possible in West Africa.

My concern is that I don’t believe in the reasoning behind it. The same way, the Ecowas passport didn’t change the trips between our countries. We need to build regional businesses that make the use of a single currency obvious rather than betting on the currency to deliver the regional trade objectives. The good thing with this project is that if it happens, it will push more enforcement of the regional policies to ensure we reach the performance targets set. Recent developments however suggest that it will be postponed again, with the CFA transforming into ECO without the Anglophone countries. This type of uncertainty will make many to lose faith in the process especially in the business community that always portrays governments and regional institutions as too slow. My point is since we have chosen to go for a single currency, we should make it happen very fast and to allow entrepreneurs plan and enjoy the expected benefits.

How can governments across W/Africa promote policies to enhance business across the region?

Governments should bridge the Francophone-Anglophone divide by enabling the creation of regional bonding institutions like schools and universities, research centers, media and arts companies.

VID-19 pandemic, Jumia Nigeria is said to have demonstrated responsible corporate citizenship. The company on Wednesday announced its partnership with Lagos State Government on MyHandsAreSafe campaign, as an information tool to curb further spread of COVID-19.

Recently, Jumia announced the

implementation of Contactless Delivery as a safety measure for customers to further enhance social distancing measures. In response to the pandemic, Jumia announced a partnership deal with Reckitt Benckiser to enable customers to have access to hygiene products at affordable prices during the lockdown.

LASEPA re-opens Jumia warehouse

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agos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA) has re-opened Jumia’s warehouse situated at Surulere industrial road, off Allen, Ikeja, Lagos. A statement said the warehouse was earlier sealed on April 1, 2020 for contravening the lockdown order by the Federal government in the state but re-opened

the following day.

According the statement, the agency said the warehouse was opened “having established that Jumia can be classified as an ‘Essential supplier’ as contained in the Infectious Disease Regulation signed by the Executive Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu on the 27th March 2020.”

The initial sealing of the popular online retail store had elicited reactions from social media users, who lamented why the Jumia outlet should be closed down at a time Lagos residents have been asked to stay at home to stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Since the outbreak of CO-

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CapitalMarket Review of capital market activities in first quarter of 2020 TELIAT SULE

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he All Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed at 21,300.47 points on the last trading day of the first quarter of 2020. In terms of performance, it amounted to a return of -20.65 percent. The mood at the end of the first quarter of this year was in contradistinction to the mood of the market in the first few days of trading in the New Year.

Starting on January 2, 2020 at 26,968.79 points, renewed interest in listed stocks on the NSE ensured that the first two weeks of the New Year were a time of a rebound of interest in the nation’s capital market.

On January 8, 2020, ASI gained 3.48 percent when it closed at 28,562.48 points.

ASI maintained an upward movement albeit in an arithmetic sequence until it attained the highest point in the quarter on January 20, 2020 when it closed at 29,710.56 points-the highest points during the quarter. Since then, ASI has consistently sustained its downward movement, no thanks to coronavirus that made mess of Nigeria’s highest source of income-crude oil.

NSE changes into bonds market Equities listed on the NSE during the period shed a whooping N1.95 trillion in the first quarter of the year. At N12.97 trillion on January 2, 2020, the total market capitalisation of equities, bonds and exchange traded funds (ETF) was skewed in favour of equities which controlled over 50 percent of the market value of stocks. Not anymore. The continuous beating equities have received year to date, has made the bond market to surpass the equities market capitalisation. As at the close of business on Friday, April 3, 2020, the bond market capital was N13.42 trillion; equities market capitalisation was N10.99 trillion meaning that the bonds listed on the NSE accounted for 55 percent of the entire market capitalisation while equities accounted for 45 percent.

Sectoral performance Six sectoral indexes outperformed the market whereas nine sectoral indexes underperformed the market. The best performing index in the market is the NSE Industrial Index which returned -3.28 percent. NSE Insurance ended the quarter at -5.10 percent; NSE Premium Index, -16.77 percent; NSE Lotus Islamic Index,

Source: NSE, BRIU

-17.56 percent; NSE Oil and Gas, -18.01 percent and NSE AFR Div Yield Index, -18.86 percent.

On the flip side, we have the NSE Consumer Goods as the worst performing index during the quarter. It closed at -45.10 percent. It was followed by NSE AFR Bank Value Index which ended the quarter at -38.18 percent; NSE Corporate Governance Index, -37.29 percent; NSE Banking Index, -33.90 percent; NSE Meri Growth Index, -29.66 percent; NSE Meri Value Index , -23.67 percent; NSE Main Board Index, -23.41 percent; NSE 30 Index, -23.39 percent; and the NSE Pension Index, -21.57 percent.

value; EFG Hermes Nigeria Limited that traded N78.28 billion worth of transactions translating to 12.48 percent; Rencap Securities, N58.34 billion or 9.30 percent of the market value; CSL Stockbrokers, N36.41 billion or 5.30 percent of the market value; Cardinal Stone Securities, N26.54 billion representing 4.23 percent of the market; Tellmer Capital, N24.36 billion or 3.88 percent; ChapelHill Denham, N24.02 billion or 3.83 percent; ARM Securities, N17.72 billion or 2.82 percent; Cordros Securities, N16.75 billion or 2.67 percent and Meristem Stockbrokers, N16.16 billion or 2.58 percent.

Market volume and value at 49.59 billion units and N627.47bn Based on the market volume and value metrics, the top ten stockbroking firms traded 23.60 billion units of shares which implies that the total volume of shares traded in the first three months of this year amounted to 49.59 billion shares. In terms of value, the top ten brokers executed N391.85 billion shares which represented 62.45 percent of the total market value, implying that the total market value was N627.47 billion in the first quarter.

On the value chart for the top ten brokers are Stanbic IBTC Brokers, which traded N93.25 billion worth of shares, representing 14.86 percent of the market

Dividend recommendations Twenty one firms and three funds recommended dividends during the quarter. The firms are Vitafoam Nigeria Plc, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Infinity Trust Mortgage Bank Plc, Africa Prudential Plc, United Capital Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, Transcorp Hotels Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc and Custodian Investment Plc. Others are Access Bank Plc, MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, Sterling Bank Plc, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc, Nestle Nigeria Plc, Dangote Cement Plc, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, and BOC

Gases Plc. The funds are Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund, Nigeria Energy Sector Fund (NESF) and The Frontier Fund.

Delisting of firms Three firms delisted from the main board of the Nigerian Stock Exchange in the last quarter. They are A.G. Leventis (Nigeria) Plc which delisted on 7-Jan-2020 voluntarily; Cement Company Of Northern Nigeria Plc which delisted on 9-Jan-2020 as a result of its merged with BUA Cement Plc(formerly OBU Cement Company Plc), and Continental Reinsurance Plc which delisted voluntarily on 17-Jan-2020. The three firms that delisted in January brought the total number of delisted firms since 2002 to 113.

Board appointments Between January and March 2020, about 30 firms effected changes in their boards, leading to the appointment of 36 individuals. The firms are Transcorp, Dangote Sugar, Nestle, PZ, UBA, NCR and Champions Breweries. Others are MRS, Eterna, Fidelity Bank, Unilever, Meyer, Ikeja Hotels, Abbey Mortgage Bank, FCMB and Unity Bank.

Some Institutions were also appointed. The institutions are Greenwich Registrars and Alsec Nominees Limited, appointed by NCR and SPN Packaging Studio

Press as their companies’ registrars’ respectively. FCMB appointed Deloitte and Touché as its external auditors.

Most of the female board members have first and second degrees in law, MBA while industry experience averaged 20 years.

Notable male managing directors and chief executive officers are Georgious Polymenakos, who is now the managing director and chief executive officer of Champion Breweries; Christopher Ezeafulukwe, managing director and chief executive officer of Transcorp Power; Oliver Alawuba, CEO of UBA Africa; Carl Raymond R. Cruz, managing director and chief executive officer of Unilever while Austin Oyegha, was appointed as the acting managing director of Global Spectrum Energy Plc. Outlook for the second quarter The performance of the nation’s capital market will be shaped by how countries could quickly address the coronavirus pandemic.

A rise in the fortune of crude oil will bolster investor’s confidence in the nation’s capital market.

Also, we foresee a pick in the activities of private equity firms due to the fact that equity valuations of most stocks are far below their real worth. In addition, the current valuations offer opportunities to those who want to position for long term. There will be regular profit taking in the market.

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Sunday 05 April, 2020

TheWorshipper Ministry is about changing lives and affecting people positively - Bishop Samuel The presiding Bishop of Royal Place Ministries International based in the United States of America, Blessing Samuel recently shared with journalists his humble beginning, challenges in ministry, and advice to clergymen and religious organisations in the propagation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, especially in reaching out to the needy and the less-privileged. Excerpts by SEYI JOHN SALAU:

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What informed the charitable work you held recently? t’s a passion from my heart and it’s due to my personal experience in life. Growing up was not easy for me; I went through a lot. When God decided to bless me, I felt I should give back to the society. While I was growing up, putting on good wears and shoes was difficult for me; I was not privileged to go out like some others. Now that God is blessing me gradually, I made up my mind to put smile on people’s face. What I am doing is out of past experience and out of love for God and humanity. It’s still part of ministry, and ministry is about changing lives and affecting people. I am doing the work of God and also fulfilling my dreams. I do yearly programmes called Festival of Fire in Texas, Houston, and I invite Nigerian gospel artistes to come and bless the people of America with worship. I am very proud of Nigeria, it’s still my country. This year Festival of Fire will be coming up in May; Steve Crown will be ministering along with other gospel artistes.

How long have you been involved in charity?

I have been doing this all my life; showing love to individuals and widows. It’s just that I have not been doing it publicly but I decided this time around we should take it to another level and it will be every year till when it reaches to thousands of people across the globe.

Who are your targets for charity?

When we started, my target was the orphans; the less-privileged, and the orphanage homes, then I extended it to the widows and widowers. Now, I am reaching out to people unable to eat, majoring on single parents and older people. We are doing this to help and take them out of the streets.

The vision is broad. We are reaching out to everybody who needs

help. It is a vision God gave to me and it is very huge. It is not limited to Nigeria alone; it is a mission for Africa to reach out to all African countries, but we are starting with Nigeria then we move to other cities, states and countries.

How do you fund your charity activities?

For now, it is personal. I fund it myself though I have people that support me here and there but there is no particular body or organisation supporting us. When you start something like this, you will shoulder it yourself first, then, other people will begin to come in.

Can you say you are fulfilled?

I am very much fulfilled. I am doing this not because I have so much money to throw around but it’s out of passion. I am doing this because this is the work of God. Preaching on the altar and not able to help our members or our community is not ministry. I discovered that what we are doing is not enough, it’s just like giving people fish, you can never satisfy them, except you teach them how to catch fish. I intend to have a training school, something that will make them discover themselves and make money for themselves, that is the vision. We can’t keep giving them food, how long am I going to give them food?

When we empower them, they will be able to sustain themselves.

This is just for a start. I also have a vision to set up hospital with free treatmentaspartofmakingimpact.

What is your advice to fellow ministers of God, privileged individuals and perhaps corporate organisations in terms of reaching out to the needy?

The Bible says ‘Jesus went about doing good’, that is the work of ministry. Ministry is all about doing good. What is the gospel?

Gospel means good news. So, we are telling people the good news and if you check the ministry of Jesus, He didn’t just keep them for days, He taught them the word and

Blessing Samuel

fed them. When you teach people the word with an empty stomach, it is a problem. I am advising and encouraging ministers of God not to forget where they started from. Many of them started very poor but today they are up there.

You must not be too successful to forget your root. Always remember where God picked you from; that is why I told God that if wealth will make me proud, make me poor, that is my own personal vow to God. I encourage men of God out there, don’t just preach the word, try the best you can to empower people. Ministry is not preaching on the altar, ministry is about positively changing lives, not just by words but by physical demonstration of love by giving.

In Texas, the Mayor of Houston gave me a proclamation acknowl-

edging the work we do, because we are able to make impact, assisting people in our own little way. In America, I have given over 25 cars within a space of two years. Here in Nigeria, I am paying thousands of rents, taking care of thousands of people. Sometimes, I give my last, go back home to sleep without food and nobody will know. They will believe I have it in abundance.

Ministerial work is a selfless work.

Ministers out there should not think about themselves alone, they should take the ministry from the altar to the street and also try to reach out to people. With this, the world will be a better place.

For the benefit of those who do not know you, can you share your journey in the ministry and some of the pains of bearing the cross?

My salvation experience and call to the ministry was unique, itinerant, and a divine visitation. I was born with sickle cell anemia and lost my father in 1994. Now, I am enjoying wealth and divine health from God who healed me from sickle cell anemia by changing my blood group to AA. Despite my bitter experience while growing up, I did not lose focus or got discouraged. It’s quite a long story but in all we are more than a conqueror. By the grace of God, I have been in the ministry for about 29 years now. As a result of what God is doing through me, many are becoming envious and jealous, at a point, my co-pastors ganged up against me. But that did not deter me from moving forward because God is in control.

What would you now consider your ugliest experience?

There was a time I came back from the United States and was driving through Ikotun axis, Lagos.

Out of my kind gesture, I decided to help some group of people I saw who needed help. I got down from my car, immediately I removed money from my pocket, thieves came from nowhere, collected all the money with me, my jewels and all I had with me. It was a terrible experience but didn’t stop us from the good work God has assigned us to do. It was one of my ugly moments.

Finally, as a preacher, what is your vision and mission?

My vision is to expand the kingdom of God, build and raise leaders as God’s end-time army; teach people the reality of redemption, human empowerment, touch lives by the power of the Holy Spirit and prepare the saints for the second coming of Christ. I desire to plant churches in 120 countries of the world. I have seven branches, three in Nigeria, one in Houston, New York, Michigan, and another branch is kicking off soon. There are great testimonies everywhere.

Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion has no monopoly over the name Anglican’ SEYI JOHN SALAU

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he Bishop-elect of Lagos Mainland, Orthodox Anglican Church in Nigeria, a newly registered church in Nigeria that has its root in the US, The Revd. Funso Awe has said the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion has no monopoly over the name Anglican.

Awe, who was recently elected Missionary Bishop of Diocese of Lagos Mainland, Orthodox Anglican

Church, said the church has been in Nigeria since August 2011.

However, the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion had in a statement signed by the Primate of the Church, Henry Ndukuba; Registrar of the Church, Abraham Yisa, and General Secretary of the Church, Paul Dajur dismissed the existence of the church stating that it would institute a legal action against it.

The church stated that all the bishops of the Orthodox Anglican Church in Nigeria are not members of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican

Church.

The statement noted that the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) is registered under the companies and allied matters acts and the Trade Marks Act, saying all necessary legal action will be taken against the infringement.

Awe, however, dismissed the press statement, saying the Orthodox Anglican Church International started operation in the US in 1963.

He said the church broke out of the Episcopal Church of the Anglican Church in the US and has been oper-

ating independently since then. The Primate of the Church is Thomas E. Gordon.

Awe, who was a priest in the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, retired voluntarily from the church in November 2019. He said he had nothing to do with the Church of Nigeria again wondering why the church came up with such statement.

Awe was also a governorship candidate in the 2019 general election in Lagos. According to him, the name Anglican is not a monopoly of

the Church of Nigeria because it’s an English word. “If they are going by the use of the name, then the Church of Nigeria should not be bearing the name Anglican, because it also broke away from the Anglican Episcopal Church in the US because of the gay issue,” he said.

Awe stated that he had never claimed to be a Bishop in the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion since he voluntarily retired last November wondering why the church Continues on Page 37

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BDSUNDAY 37

TheWorshipper Inspiration

Symptoms; red flags to look out for

ovid-19 is an existential threat to our way of life and world today and I’ve been writing articles in the last few weeks in a bid to Inspire you on Moral and Spiritual Lessons from this Pandemic. I’ll like to draw your attention to the Symptoms of Covid-19 that should trouble anyone and make them rush to the hospital for Tests.

Symptoms are Signs and indications that something may be wrong with the carrier of those symptoms, they are what I call red flags and heath conscious beings do not play with symptoms. We have been told that the major symptoms of Covid-19 are, Fever, Sneezing, Dry Cough and Shortness of Breath etc as released by the WHO. The moment anyone manifests the above symptoms, they are advised to get ‘tested’ towards ascertaining their status, either positive or negative for Corona Virus. However, let us take a closer look at our spiritual health today and check the symptoms of an unhealthy Spiritual Being.

We must always run the Tests to confirm our status as believers.

Paul the Apostle charged the Church in Corinth to ‘Test’ themselves whether they are in ‘faith’ or ‘healthy spiritually’. This is very important for those who want to be in ‘positive’ healthy status before God and not Negative. He wrote to the Church about their Faith which is an irony because

Church of Nigeria...

Lockdown: Religious leaders canvass strict adherence to order

With Rev. Yomi Kasali

info@yomikasali.com

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Continued from Page 36 should put out a disclaimer.

According to him the name Anglican, like the name apostolic, is a generic name.

There are several Churches with the name Anglican on the global front the same way we have churches with the name Apostolic. So, there is no basis for the press statement from the Church of Nigeria.

“We are not claiming we are Church of Nigeria. The name is distinct. It is Orthodox,” said Awe. Speaking further on the name registration, Awe said that the former Primate of the Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion, Nicholas Okoh had taken the church to court, restraining it from using the name when the church first came to Nigeria. “That was why we first registered as Orthodox Gospel Church. But in court it was discovered that the Anglican Church could not produce its CAC certificate which has Anglican on it. The court even had to fine the Anglican Church N100,000 at the end of the day. So, we could not register ours too as Orthodox Anglican Church in Nigeria and had to use Orthodox Gospel Church in Nigeria.

But we have the international registration certificate which we now use. That one has the name Anglican,” Awe stated.

SIKIRAT SHEHU, Ilorin

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hristians and Muslims in Kwara State have been charged to strictly adhere to the stay-at-home and lockdown directive of both federal and state governments to save them against the global COVID-19 pandemic.

The clerics stated this while fielding questions from journalists in Ilorin, the state capital.

It is exactly two weeks that churches and mosques are being shut down and in compliance to the directive, both religious faithful have been praying at home with their families and not in congregation.

Speaking on the development, Amos Idowu of St-Barnabas Cathedral Church Ilorin, advised members to use the period for sober reflection by praying more to be closer to God. He says: “As Christians, people should be focused, devoted and closer to God. In this period of pandemic, people should obey God and as well obey the instructions from the government. They should stay at home and use the time for study and meditate words of God.” He, however, enjoined members to observe

we believe once someone is in Church, he must be in Faith.

‘Examine yourselves whether you are still in Faith, Prove (Test) your own selves. Know you not your own selves, How that Jesus Christ is in you...’ (2 Corr. 13 v 5). It’s very amazing how the Bible encourages us to ‘Test’ or ‘Prove’ ourselves whether we are in faith. So, do not mind the Pastors and Bishops who tell you not to Test yourself for Corona virus, they are not speaking out of faith but fear.

5 Deadly symptoms to test your status in faith Prayerlessness: This is a major symptom that reveals there is a prob-

high level of personal and environmental hygiene during the period, as he calls on government at all levels to take citizens’ welfare seriously by assisting the needy and plan ahead like Lagos State government that is constructing isolation centre at stadium.

Also, the presiding pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church, Sabo-Oke in Ilorin, Olawuyi James explained that all members have been advised to conduct their service with their families, saying, the church has adopted the method of ministering to members online using the available social media platforms.

Similarly, AbdulKadir Or i r e ( Ju s t i c e) , t h e Chairman, Muslim Stakeholders Association described the suspension of religious congregation as a way of safeguarding the health of the citizens against the COVID-19 disease which has killed about fifty thousand people across the world.

Orire, who is also the Serikin Malami of Ilorin Emirate, reminded Islamic religion leaders not to go against the constituted authorities, noting that the sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad discouraged arrogance and disobedience to their respective leaders.

lem with your spiritual health. Once this symptom shows up like coughing literally, rush to your pastor and take the Test.

You may be weak in the Faith and dying spiritually not strong. Even our brothers and sisters in Islam pray as well yet we that call ourselves men of faith do not pray.

Weak conscience: I am amazed at how many people think they can be morally sound without a strong conscience. Being a Morally sound person is having a strong sense of ‘right and wrong’ so if you are go to church yet morally bankrupt, I doubt your faith is strong. You must answer people with a good and strong conscience.

Slothful in service: Th o s e w h o s h o w t h i s symptom are weak and not growing in faith. This is a very deadly symptom in the church today, people call themselves Christians and do not work for God; how that is possible is still strange to me. We are ‘saved to serve’ and Paul told us to be fervent in the spirit not slothful in business when serving the Lord.

Giving: This is likely going to be misunderstood but I will mention it anyhow. Those who don’t give to charity, humanity, God, and others yet claim to be in faith are deceiving themselves. This is a major symptom of selfishness and self-centered nature of man which is a sickness in the spirit. Those who are morally and spiritually sound are givers without expecting back in return.

Fellowship: Show me your friends and I’ll tell you who you are. The symptoms you manifest tells us the sickness you carry.

The people you fellowship with will give you the sickness you shall carry. We all

need to take the Test and evaluate our friendships and those we fellowship with. In whose company are we comfortable and relaxed. This to a large extent points to what we can or cannot get.

Kindly take the Test today to know your status spiritually, just as there are symptoms in the natural and that medical science has proven to always be correct pointers to the sickness or disease, there are also symptoms in the spiritual that tells us you are unfortunately sick and not healthy.

Drop me a note of acknowledgment and encouragement and also follow me on my Social media handles below: Instagram: @yomi_kasali Twitter: @yomi_kasali Facebook: www.facebook. com/revyomikasali Youtube: www.youtube. com/revyomikasali Be Inspired!

Rev Yomi Kasali is Senior Pastor, Foundation of Truth Assembly (FOTA), Surulere, Lagos.

NEWS AUN transitions to online instruction for remainder of Spring 2020 semester Kelechi Ewuzie

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he American University of Nigeria (AUN) has announced a switch to the online mode of instruction for the remainder of the Spring 2020 semester.

AUN, the Governing Council of which had approved full compliance with the Federal Government of Nigeria’s directive to all tertiary institutions to close down as a precautionary measure against further spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, will begin course delivery through online channels with effect from Monday, March 30, the Vice President for University Relations, Abubakar Abba Tahir, said. The programme ends on Friday, April 17, 2020.

“This is a familiar measure deploying AUN’s vast technological resources and support infrastructure toward ensuring that the remaining weeks of the semester are concluded within reason while meeting the remaining learning outcomes of the courses our students are enrolled in”, Tahir said.

While announcing the closure of the campus on March 20, AUN’s President (ViceChancellor), Dawn Dekle assured departing students

and their parents of continuity in their studies despite the shutdown as the University prepared to switch to online delivery modes which students and faculty (lecturers) are already familiar with.

“I am proud of how our AUN learning community is adjusting to the COVID-19 health crisis. We have transitioned to alternative learning platforms quickly, allowing us to continue our Spring 2020 semester with as little disruption to the academic calendar as possible, said Dekle, while adding that ‘’Our capacity for swift and successful deployment of AUN’s massive tools and techniques of technology within such short notice, is unprecedented in the region.’’

In preparation for a seamless transition to online course delivery systems, the Office of Academic Planning and Quality Assurance (APQA), in collaboration with the Office of Technology Support

Dawn Dekle, AUN presiden

(OTS), organised refresher sessions on the use of online course delivery systems for faculty and staff.

Participants were drawn from the Schools of Information Technology & Computing, Business & Entrepreneurship, Arts & Sciences, Law, and Engineering.

Also, to ensure that the online model of instruction comes closer to the lively, interactive classroom experience which is a uniqueness of AUN’s American-style liberal arts system, students have been assigned a Mentor/ Learning Support Advisors who will facilitate additional support and interfaces with instructors and support staff elsewhere.

The University library has granted the undergraduate and post-graduate students unimpeded access to scholarly e-books and e-journal articles they may require for their courses and research.

The American University of Nigeria, which is enjoying its 30th uninterrupted semester since its establishment in 2004, was founded to be Africa’s first Development University whose mission is to promote service-learning and to educate leaders who will be prepared to tackle the development issues of Nigeria and Africa.

38 BDSUNDAY

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Health&Science Coronavirus-Africa:WHO concerned as COVID-19 cases increase in Africa

What you need to know about donor eggs, semen and embryos Contributor

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ANTHONIA OBOKOH

or socially restrictive measures to be effective, they must be accompanied by strong, sustained and targeted public health measures that locate, isolate, test and treat COVID-19 cases says Matshidiso Moeti,theWorldHealthOrganization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa.

Addressing the restrictive measures during a virtual media briefing held today 2nd April, by the WHO Regional Office for Africa with the support of the World Economic Forum.

Lola Castro, the WFP Regional DirectorforSouthernAfricaalsopointed out that It’s vital that ports continue to operate to receive food and other essential humanitarian cargo; that borders and roads stay open so it can be moved where it is most needed; and that distributions to vulnerable people are conducted safely.

“It’s also crucial that the international community promptly provide the considerable funding needed to maintain and scale up assistance programmes,” she said.

To contain COVID-19, many countries in Africa including Nigeria are implementing measures, which restrictsgatheringandthemovement of people.

With more than 6000 COVID-19

Abayomi Ajayi

cases reported in Africa, the virus is threatening fragile health systems on the continent.

Infections are increasinglyspreading not only betweenAfrican54countries but within different localities in the hardest-hit countries.

“Case numbers are increasing exponentially in the African region,” said Moeti.

“It took 16 days from the first confirmed case in the Region to reach 100 cases. It took a further 10 days to reach the first thousand. Three days after this, there were 2000 cases, and two days later we were at 3000,” she said.

However, governments must use these measures in a considered,

evidence-based manner, and make sure that people can continue to access basic necessities.

As many people in the region live in crowded conditions or work in the informal sector and need to earn money daily to survive, it is important that countries make provisions to ensure that people can still access essential services.

WHO is working closely with national governments and United Nations partners including the World Food Programme (WFP) to plan for these needs.

As well as ensuring basic needs are met,WHOispursuinginnovativesolutions to the region’s pressing public health problems.

Coronavirus: Nigerian military scales up response, recalls retired medical Godsgift Onyedinefu, Abuja

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he Nigerian military has scaled up response to tackle the spread of Covid-19 (Coronavirus) with the creation of additional isolation and treatment centre, and the training of 80 of its active medical personnel.

John Enenche, coordinator, Defence Media Operation who mad this known on Friday said the armed forces of Nigeria have also began processes to recall its retired personnel to support the fight against the pandemic.

The additional isolation centre according to Enenche is located

at the Nigerian Navy Reference Hospital, Navy Town, Ojo in Lagos.

He also said the 80 medical personnel are being trained in batches and would soon be deployed to the various units they would serve.

The Coordinator further informed that the Nigerian Air Force is currently operating at full capacity and its Liquefied Oxygen (LOX) Plant at the 103 Strike Group (103 STG) at the Nigerian Air Force Base, Yola is on 24 hours operation to ensure uninterrupted production of pure Liquefied Oxygen.

“The Liquefied Oxygen is being gasified and will be stored in cylinders for immediate supply to

isolation centres and designated hospitals as will be directed,” he said.

Enenche further clarified that the viral videos trending online showing men in uniform are not genuine.

“The general public should please disregard these videos and consider it as actions of mischief makers who intend to tarnish the good image, integrity and sterling achievements of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.

“It is should be understood that the directives are in the best interest of the Nigerian populace, in order to prevent the spread of the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.

Coronavirus: Foundation voices concerns over violation Women’s right in childbirth Godsgift Onyedinefu, Abuja

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ell-being Foundation has expressed concerns that the human rights of women, their babies and their midwives are being violated by the introduction of ‘inappropriate protocols’ for management of pregnancy, birth and postnatal care in response to the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic.

The Founder, Wellbeing Foundation Africa, Toyin Ojora Saraki noted that the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) shares the same concern. She said the “inappropriate protocols” are not based on current reputable evidence and are harmful to the wellbeing of women and their babies.

Saraki said pregnant women around the world are already facing a crisis of uncertainty over

where and how to access much needed routine antenatal and postnatal care as health facilities shut their doors to patients except those needing care for severe respiratory symptoms of the covid pandemic.

‘As a woman, as a mother and grandmother, as Global Goodwill Ambassador to the International Confederation of Midwives since 2014, I share, endorse, and give my support to the grave concerns expressed by the ICM which represents over 1 million midwives and 600 country associations in more than 130 countries, that Women’s Rights in Childbirth Must be Upheld During the Coronavirus Pandemic”, Saraki said in a statement issued in Abuja.

She added, ‘In every country and community worldwide, pregnancy and childbirth are momen-

tous events in the lives of women and families and represent a time of intense vulnerability.

“Thus, the notion of safe motherhood must be expanded beyond the prevention of morbidity or mortality to encompass respect for women’s basic human rights including respect for women’s autonomy, dignity, feelings, choices, and preferences, including the right to companionship during maternity care. “ A childbearing woman’s right to respectful maternity care focuses specifically on the inter-personal aspects of care received by women seeking maternity services.”

Saraki issued a passionate call to policymakers to respect the rights of pregnant women, during the global, regional and national responses to the coronavirus pandemic.

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housands of children are born every year using donated eggs, sperm, or embryos. Donation is an altruistic act which may represent the only hope for some infertile people to have children of their own. The act of donating can have a significant impact on the people who receive the donation, the donor-conceived child, the donor, and their family. It is not a decision to be taken lightly and should be considered carefully before being attempted.

There are many reasons to become a donor. It could be to helpothers, or a particular friend or family member, even if you have children of your own. Counseling is usually necessary to give opportunity to discuss what is involved and future implications. In a legal and social sense, recipients of donor eggs and sperm or embryos are considered parents of any child that is born.

There are many couples that require donor semen to create a pregnancy in cases of male factor infertility or to avoid transmitting a genetic disease. It may also be used by women who wish to become pregnant without involving a male partner.

When there is severe male factor infertility, couples are most commonly offered a choice between using donor semen and using in vitro fertilization (IVF) with Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI).

Preferably men in their 20s and 30 are eligible as older men aremore likely to pass on problems like genetic disorders and mental illnesses. The sperm is often frozen and success rate is about 10 to 15 percent per cycle, depending on age of the woman is who’s supplying the egg.

Typically, women in need of donors are over the age of 40 and no longer have viable eggs. They may have gone into early menopause, have a history of genetically transmittable diseases, or have had multiple unsuccessful IVF attempts using their own eggs.

Now with modern technology, it is possible to freeze eggs and therefore donor eggs could be fresh or frozen. Most egg donors are young adult women who are recruited and screened by fertility programmes. Donors undergo the required medical procedures (taking fertility drugs, monitoring, and egg retrieval) at the same programme as the recipient.

The screening of potential egg donors is essential. It is important for you to be comfortable with how your egg donor has been selected and screened, and how she will be treated by the programme.

Known donors may be used, if they fit the eligibility standards.

Your friend or relative could serve as your egg donor.

Donor eggs may be used in IVF when a woman wants to avoid transmitting a genetic disease or no longer produces usable eggs, often because she is approaching or has entered menopause.

After the age of 35, a woman’s pregnancy rates using standard IVF begin to fall.

In IVF using donor eggs, the pregnancy rate corresponds to the donor’s age. With supplementary hormone treatment, many women in their 50s or older have given birth through this process.

Whether or not an embryo implants is determined by the age of the woman that produced the egg, not the age of the recipient. Since younger eggs are higher-quality and have significantly fewer chromosomal abnormalities, they have a much better chance of implanting.

When donor eggs are used, the recipient is the birth mother, but not the genetic mother, of any resulting children.

Multiple eggs are retrieved from the donor’s ovaries through a minor surgical procedure and then mixed with sperm in a lab via IVF to form embryos. Then, one or more of the best-quality embryos is transferred to your uterus in the hopes that it will attach.

Fertility programme options of having a donor embryo transferred into a woman’s uterus - after she receives medications to prepare her uterus to accept it. Although the woman would be the birth mother, any resulting children would not be genetically related to her. Donor embryos might be used when there is both male and female infertility, by couples who wish to avoid transmitting a genetic disease, or as a possibly less costly alternative to a complete IVF cycle.

It should be explained that donor embryos have usually come from couples who created and froze extra embryos during their own treatment but no longer wish to use them. There are guidelines about use of embryos. The donors need to be screened as thoroughly as semen or egg donors.

Infectious diseases can be passed through donor semen. Just like other human tissues, semen can harbor bacteria and viruses that can cause illness in the recipient. For this reason, it is essential that semen donors be regularly tested for a variety of infections.

It’s not unusual that infectious diseases be passed through donor eggs. It is theoretically possible that an infection could be passed through a donor egg. Tests are carried out on egg donors for the same infections as semen donors.

If a donor has a genetic disease, or is healthy but carries a gene associated with a genetic disease, it can be transmitted during semen or egg donation.

Note: The rest of this article continues in the online edition of Business Day @https://businessdayonline.com/

Sunday 05 April 2020

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BDSUNDAY 39

Sports

Clubs risk Champions League exclusion if seasons end prematurely- UEFA Anthony Nlebem

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EFA and Europe’s top clubs have stated their determination that the current football season should be played to a conclusion and threatened that teams may be excluded from the next Champions League if their domestic competitions are ended prematurely.

In a joint letter released on Friday, UEFA, the European Club Association (ECA), and the European Leagues body representing nearly a thousand clubs in 29 countries, said that they were working on the possibility of playing on into July and August if need be.

The Champions League and Europa League - both of which are frozen in the last-16 stage - could be completed once the domestic seasons are finished, and stopping competitions should really be the last resort after acknowledging that no calendar alternative would allow to conclude the season.

The joint response came after the Belgian Pro League announced on Thursday that it recommended declaring the season over with the present table accepted as final.

It is the first European league to take such a measure.

That means Club Brugge have qualified for next season Champions League group stage, but UEFA, the ECA and the European Leagues indicated that they may be barred from continental competition if the Belgian league decision is finalised.

“It is of paramount importance that even a disruptive event like this epidemic does not prevent our competitions from being decided on the

field, in accordance with their rules and that all sporting titles are awarded on the basis of results,” the joint letter said.

“We are confident that football can restart in the months to come - with conditions that will be dictated by public authorities - and believe that any decision of abandoning domestic competitions is, at this stage, premature and not justified.”

Since participation in UEFA club competitions is determined by the sporting result achieved at the end of a full

domestic competition, a premature termination would cast doubts about the fulfilment of such condition.”

“UEFA reserves the right to assess the entitlement of clubs to be admitted to the 2020/21 UEFA club competitions.

“The Belgian Pro League said it had had “constructive” discussions with UEFA on Friday morning in which it “contested any approach which would force a league to continue in the current health crisis”.

It has called for a “varied

approach” based on the specifics of individual leagues and countries.UEFA has set up two working groups to devise a way for European football to get out of the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

One is tasked with looking at the legal and financial consequences of the crisis, while the other is devising a new match calendar.

UEFA and the clubs have set themselves a mid-May target for deciding on the most viable option for completing the season.

There have been calls in other countries for this season to be declared null and void, but any option which rules out completing this season could have serious consequences for leagues reliant on huge television deals and who could find themselves having to reimburse broadcasters if remaining matches are not played.

Commenting on its decision, the Belgian Pro League said: “It was very unlikely to be able to hold matches in front of crowds before 30 June and that it had unanimously decided that it was not desirable to continue the competition.”

The decision still needs to be formally validated at a General Assembly on 15 April.

FIFA says football to wear a new UK health minister urges premier league stars to take pay cut look after Covid-19 outbreak Anthony Nlebem

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Anthony Nlebem

ootball will be totally different when it resumes after the coronavirus pandemic outbreak, FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, said.

“Football will come back, and when it does, we will celebrate coming out of a nightmare together,” he told Italian news agency ANSA. “There is one lesson, however, that both you and me must have understood: the football that will come after the virus will be totally different; more inclusive, more social and more supportive, connected to the individual countries and at the same time more global, less arrogant and more welcoming.”

He added: “We will be better, more human and more attentive to true values.”

Recently, Infantino told Gazzetta dello Sport that it was the right time to take a step back and reform a sport where fixture lists have become overloaded and financial resources increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few elite clubs.

Infantino told the annual

congress of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) that “it is our responsibility as football administrators, first of all to ensure football can survive and secondly move forward once again.”

“On the international match calendar we have to look for global solutions to tackle these global problems in a spirit of cooperation and solidarity,” Infantino said in Zurich.

rofessional football in England has been suspended until April 30, at the earliest, due to the pandemic with some top- flight clubs putting non-playing staff on leave.

In the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, UK health minister Matt Hancock has urged Premier League players to take a pay cut and play their part as UK battles the coronavirus pandemic.

One parliamentary committee head earlier called for a windfall tax on clubs who failed to tackle the “obscene situation”.

“I think everybody needs to play their part in this national effort and that means Premier League footballers too,” Hancock said, highlighting the sacrifices made by National Health Service workers who had caught the disease and died.

“The first thing that Premier League footballers can do is make a contribution, take a pay cut.”

Julian Knight, a member for the ruling Conservative party who chairs the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) Committee, wrote to finance minister Rishi Sunak urging action.

“We are facing an obscene situation where top players who aren’t working are continuing to see hundreds of thousands of pounds roll in each week while the staff who keep the clubs going are losing wages,”

he said.

“If the Premier League isn’t going to act to resolve this crisis then the Government must step in by imposing a significant financial penalty on clubs to reimburse those hit hardest in the pocket.”

Sky News recently reported that senior figures wanted the Premier League’s20clubstoagreetoablanket wage cut of up to 25% at a meeting to beheldbyvideoconferenceonFriday.

The PFA players’ union said it hopedtoreachanagreementwiththe Premier League and was aware of the public sentiment.

“However, our current position is that — as businesses — if clubs can afford to pay their players and staff, they should,” it added.

The PFA said players did not want to see club staff treated unfairly and recognised “any use of the government’s support schemes without genuine financial need is detrimental

to the wider society”.

It added, however, that “in instances where clubs have the resources to pay all staff, the benefit of players paying non-playing staff salaries will only serve the business of the club’s shareholders”.

NorwichCitysaidtheirplayersand management had agreed to donate a percentage of their salaries, amounting to more than $247,000 to help those affected by the virus.

“As a group of players, we wanted to stand up and do our bit,” captain Grant Hanley told the club website.

The managers of Bournemouth and Brighton & Hove Albion have also taken voluntary three-month pay cuts.

Others, such as last season’s losing Champions League finalists Tottenham Hotspur who imposed a 20% pay cut on 550 non-playing staff, have said they hoped players would end up “doing their bit”.

Former England and Tottenham strikerGaryLineker,whohasdonated two months of his BBC presenter’s salary to the British Red Cross, said highly-paid footballers were an easy target.

“There are lots of other people in society who earn huge money — billionaires, CEOs on huge money,” he said. “I hope it’s not just footballers who are targeted. Football will, and should, do something.”

Knight said the Premier League should be “role modelling a responsible approach” along the lines of European rivals.

BDSUNDAY Another recession: Rewane’s economic equation NEW YOU CAN TRUST

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ecently, the Minister for Finance, Budget and Planning, Zainab Ahmed warned that if the current Coronavirus pandemic persists for six months or more, Nigeria faces the possibility of experiencing another economic recession.

It will affect the revenue profile of states and the Federal Government as the price of crude oil has plummeted far below $30 per barrel.

The Federal Government was therefore, looking for alternatives to fund the budget.

That explains the reason behind the setting up of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 headed by the Secretary to the Government.

Perhaps, we should learn from the submissions of erudite economist, Bismarck Rewane when the country entered recession back in 2016.

Some of the prominent features that characterise the series of public lectures, delivered on annual basis by top technocrats and eminent citizens at Bells University of Technology, Ota are the pragmatic solutions and practical means they offer, towards resolving the persistent socio-economic challenges that bedevil our nation, Nigeria. From the intractable electric power supply, climate change, the corruption debacle, entrepreneurship through to building collapse and the current economic recession, the answers are there for the asking. That is, if our policy makers and those who implement them are ready to glean a lesson or two from them.

In that well-laid tradition, the recent 8th Convocation Lecture given at the country’s premier private university of technology, by none other than erudite economist, Bismarck Rewane of Financial Derivatives Ltd did justice to the topic. It has to do with how to get Nigeria out of the darkening hole of an economic recession.

According to Rewane, economic development can be measured by looking at the state of human development, institutional structure/evolution as well as physical development. The Human Development Index (HDI) as the closest measure covers the three dimensions of knowledge, a long and healthy life and a decent standard of living.

Another measure is the state of institutions

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Sunday 05 April 2020

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“Things may get even more difficult…

But any sustainable economic progress will require a new direction, driven by a cocktail of comprehensive and timely policy actions implemented by a forward-looking and innovative government” -Bismarck Rewane in a country. Without polarised institutions, a certain group of individuals and organisations tend to capture all the wealth, power and opportunities the country has to offer. We have seen this happen in Nigeria, over the decades.

Nigeria, which recorded one of the fastest growing economies in the world over the past decade, is currently “in one of her darkest moments- a period of negative economic growth and gloom. Between 2006 and 2014, average growth was about 6.5percent compared to the 4.5percent growth for Sub-Saharan Africa region.” The past two years have however, witnessed a significant macro-economic headwinds. This has been triggered by the slump in global oil prices which plummeted from $115 per barrel in 2014 to a price that hovers around $40 pb. Add these to the fall in oil prices driven by the rising production in shale oil in the United States, the global rout in the prices of oil and commodities and Rewane calls it “Oil Shock 1.0”.

In addition, renewed militant activities in the Niger Delta, with a wave of attacks on oil pipelines that have put four key oil exports streams under force majeure ushered in what he calls “Oil Shock 2.0”.The oil output has since declined from 2.2 mbpd in January 2016 to 1.37 mbpd in May. The results are obvious with foreign exchange constraints.

Currently, we are witnessing the first recession in over 20 years, with the economy contracting by 0.36% ,2.06% in the first and second quarters and the recent revelation of a negative growth of -2.27% in the third quarter. Instead of the potential growth of 5.2%, 5.9%, 6.6% and 3.8% between 2012 and 2015 Nigeria’ economy has expanded by 4.3%, 5.4%,6.3% and 2.7% in that order. Also, weak macro-economic environment deters

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business and investments. The CBN’s Purchasing Manager Index (PMI) as an indication of the state of the manufacturing sector has contracted. In the latest Global Competitiveness Report Nigeria fell three places to the 127th position, scoring less in technological readiness, innovation and infrastructure.

The way forward, according to Rewane is the application of radical innovation across sector and industries.

This will enable Nigeria to leapfrog more expensive, less efficient processes to accelerate inclusive growth and drive sustainable development. Our political leaders should learn from countries such as Rwanda and South Korea, that have suffered similar or even worse economic fortunes before. For instance, only 22 years ago, Rwanda was enmeshed in inter-ethnic genocide that sent over 800,000 citizens to their early graves. But between 1996 and 2015 its GDP based on purchasing power parity has more than tripled to $1,758.73 by tapping into the technological and innovation wave sweeping the global market.

On the technological front it partnered with the California-based Zipline and launched the first national drone delivery program on October 13 that currently makes 5o-150 daily deliveries to 21 locations. Now, the country is nearing 40% internet penetration up from 10% in 2012.

On the 2017 World Bank Doing Business Report Rwanda ranks second in Africa and 54th overall compared to Nigeria’s 169th out of 190 countries.

Apart from cashless payment system in bus routes it has introduced Rwandan Integrated Electronic Case Management System (IECMS) to improve the delivery of judicial services to its citizens. Similarly, agricultural research development spending by government and NGOs has increased by almost 50% in 2011.In 2012 Carnegie Mellon University known for its technological expertise on ICT established a campus in Rwanda.

In a similar vein, South Korea, a resource-poor country transformed into

Off the Cuff

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Ayo Oyoze Baje Baje is the Media Consultant to Bells University of Technology, Ota

a high-income, innovation-driven industrial economy in 50 years. How did it achieve the feat? It was by employing a technology-driven growth by prioritizing manufacturing and high-tech exports. It was complemented with increased state-led spending on Research and Development, focus on SMEs. The GDP rose from 1.7% in 1991 to 4.1% in 2013. It will be investing a whopping $1.4billion in the next ten years on nine identified core technology areas.

The flicker of hope we have is that digital technology has taken precedence with the growth of startups in areas such as hospitality, tourism, agriculture, education and financial services. The fastest growing segment in the Service Sector is ICT which accounts for 10% of the country’s GDP. Nigeria’s capacity for innovation was ranked 77th amongst 138 countries. Internet penetration has hit47.44% the second highest in Africa. And four telecoms operators have rolled out 4G services.

Indeed, the booming ICT space was boosted by the recent visit of Mark Zuckerberg. With the establishment of our first ICT University and the adoption of e-voting to institute transparency in the electoral process we may well be on our way to taking the first step out of the dark hole of recession.

But shall we capitalise on our areas of strengths and stop playing politics with the economy? Are those in government reading this piece and more importantly taking steps to ameliorating a bad economic situation?

The answer, as they say is blowing in the wind.

Quick Takes

Let it go round, please here is a political angle to everything in Nigeria. People read political meaning in every activity of government. Perhaps, this is because, over the years government has not been transparent. Even in religious circles nowadays, people see political undertone in activities of clerics.

The sharing of the Federal Government palliatives through the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, under Sadiya Umar Farouq, has so far been enmeshed in controversy.

The Federal Government had, last week, started to make provision for the vulnerable in the society, disbursing N20,000 Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) payments of four months to the beneficiaries.

The disbursement, which kicked off in Kwali Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory and some parts of Nassarawa State, was to serve as a palliative to help ease the untold hardship, which the lockdown has imposed on the vulnerable.

Farouq reportedly claimed that over 2.6million households have so far benefited from the palliative and that over 11 million vulnerable persons have been identified in 35 states yet to benefit from the palliative measure.

Many people are wondering what

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criteria were employed to arrive at the conclusion that the poorest of the poor were domiciled in Nasarawa, for instance.

Some videos of the exercise making the rounds on the social media show that some of the beneficiaries cannot be said to belong to the category being described as the poorest of the poor, as they look chubby and well-fed.

Food-sharing has always been a serious issue even in bible days. The decision of the Apostles in the Acts of the Apostles to choose Seven Deacons was as a result of complaint of neglect by certain of the Apostles that their own people were not being reached during food-sharing. It was clearly to address a concern raised by Greek-speaking believers about their widows being overlooked in daily ministry.

In Nigeria where politics is played with everything, fears are that those distributing the money would likely go partisan just as it happened with the trader-moni and other empowerment packages rolled out by the Federal Government during the electioneering campaign preceding the 2019 general election.

Already, rumours are rife that the distribution pattern so far is pointing to that same faulty pattern of distribution.

Those saddled with the responsibility of distributing the current stimulus

$1.9bn packages must be sensitive enough over the perception of government in this regard, and then do the right thing.

Government must not be selective in the sharing of the largesse at a time when political meanings are being read over the pattern of donations toward combating the coronavirus scourge.

Certain elements are already saying that greater percentage of the financial donations came from a certain part of the country that unfortunately always being neglected by government when it comes to the distribution of goodies meant for all the geo-political zones in the country. Rightly or wrongly, such thinking which is trending on the social media platforms could find a fertile ground on some people’s mind, and then they would take critical interest in the current sharing of the N20,000 largesse. Government should prove the purveyors of such propaganda wrong by being plain with the business of distribution of the current relief materials. Why not try locating a sleepy village in one of the South East states, for instance, and move the sharing there immediately. What government does now or fails to do will join its other activities in the History book of Nigeria.

I wish somebody will “listen”.

The World Bank says it has received approval for emergency support operations for developing countries.

The Bretton Wood Institution said the approval given by its board of executive directors is for the first group of projects to help 25 countries respond to immediate health consequences of the pandemic and bolster economic recovery.

The first group of projects is said to total $1.9 billion.

“Coronavirus is very dangerous and contagious; there is no medicine for it yet and it is not just capable of killing, overwhelming healthcare system, it will destroy the economy.

“In some countries, they are putting dead bodies in big refrigerators, because the morgues have filled up. Nigerians should not forget that these are not the type of corpses that can be claimed for burial because it must be handled by the ministry of health”.

Lai Mohammed, Minister of information and culture, speaking on the (COVID-19) pandemic situation in the country.

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