BusinessDay 22 Dec 2019

Yuletide: Transport fares spike as holiday markers scramble for interstate vehicles, flights AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE

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any Nigerians desiring to spend their Christmas and New Year holidays away from the hustling and bustling atmosphere in popular urban cities of Lagos and Abuja, to enjoy the serenity in their country homes, are currently paying through their noses to get to their holiday destinations.

This was as the transportation fare to states in the South-Eastern part of country, either by road or air, from Lagos or Abuja, has

Nigeria drifting into state of anarchy – Alaafin of Oyo, Danjuma, Adebanjo cry out

See story on page 4

more than doubled due to the growing number of passengers intending to travel at same time.

In Nigeria, Christmas and New Year celebrations are usually a time when immediate and extended family members residing in different states in the country and those in the Diaspora mark reunion by coming together to spend the holidays.

During those few days, there are usually no dull moments as people enContinues on page 4

Alaafin of Oyo

Danjuma

Adebanjo

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Buhari, others call for urgency in tackling terrorism in West Africa P. 4

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Governors negotiating with bandits ??Magnus Abe walks tight rope in Rivers’ dirty politics are encouraging people to take to crime - Iwuagwu P. 13

pP.41.

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inside

‘An educated person is a clown’: A tale of Sokoto varsity host communities

p. 22-23

A road map for managing change L-R: Kayode Fayemi, Ekiti State governor and chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum; Dapo Abiodun, Ogun State governor; Aliko Dangote, president/ CE, Dangote Industries Limited; Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Lagos State governor, and Devakumar Edwin, group executive director, strategy, Capital Projects & Portfolio Development, Dangote Industries Limited, during the state governors’ tour of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemical Projects in Lekki, Lagos, on Friday.

p. 26

China’s poverty alleviation model, a big lesson for Nigeria

Why Niger Delta remains underdeveloped despite N15trn spent NDDC, special ministry, amnesty programme fail to lift region Ignatius Chukwu

p. 36

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uring a recent boat trip to oceanic island of Offoin-Ama near Kula in Akuku-Toru local council area

of Rivers State, journalists were shocked to find in an oil-bearing community a non-functional primary school. There are no structured classrooms. The villagers said any teacher available would gather the children of all ages and keep them busy with lessons. The

only water tank in Offoin-Ama does not bring water. The doctor posted to the island comes only on special days, especially when there is news that important personalities would visit.

The biggest shock was the kind of brownish and yellowish pools

of water that the villagers pointed at as their source of water. The waterway to Offoin-Ama is rough and on the day of our visit, one boat capsized and a woman disappeared to this day.

When Eroton E&P team visited Continues on page 2

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Cover

Why Niger Delta remains under-developed ...

Continued from page 1 Bille, Krakrama, Minama, Sangama, Ifoko, Tema, Abalama, and Ido communities in Asari-Toru Local Council Area of same state last week, the community leaders said they had never seen development for decades until some sparks now. A leader, Christian Sekibo Jnr, said they grab any opportunity for development with both hands. This is the fate of most rural areas in the riverine areas.

The Niger Delta region has two faces; the cities such as Port Harcourt, Calabar, Uyo, Warri, Bonny Island, Benin, etc where the 13 percent derivative and other development funds are concentrated, and the riverine areas that have difficult terrains, dangerous access, and difficult construction profiles.

So, the cities in the region serve as “posterboy” of the region but the oil-bearing communities look centuries backward; no sanitation, no sustainable economic activity, no amenities and facilities, no justice system, and no modern life.

Wasted trillions?

This raises the question; how were the trillions so far devoted to the development of the region applied and deployed? The past Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, mentioned N12 trillion ($40billion) as the amount so far spent in 15 years, but other sources mentioning back to 1999 have put it at over N15 trillion.

Thevariousdevelopment and intervention agencies created to develop the region include the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) that has an annual budget of about N300billion, making about N6 trillion since 1999; the Niger Delta Ministry that controls the N725billion East West Road and yearly budget of about N30billion; the Amnesty Programme that has been pumping over N60billion per year since 2011,totalling about N500billion; the oil multinationals and marginal field operators that have development funds under the MOU or GMOU schemes and spend almost N100billion per year or at least N1 trillion in 20 years; stategovernmentsthathave been getting 13 percent to develop the region which is about N8 trillion so far; and many other dedicated efforts and funds.

Roadblocks to Niger Delta development Many commentators and authorities have ad-

vanced different reasons why the oil region remains undeveloped despite these huge funds.

Corruption Of all factors eroding value and volume of funds spent on developing the Niger Delta, the most strident seems to be corruption. If corruption truly means dishonesty for personal gains or dishonest exploitation of power for personal gain, then the oil region has seen much of it.

Books have been written on corruption in the Niger Delta and one particular author, Daniel Agbiboa (with Benjamin Maiangwa), says 80 percent of oil wealth is in the hands of one percent of the populace. The authors are in agreement that much of the stolen wealth is hidden abroad, thus about $107billion was traced abroad as investments while the region begs for investments and reflation.

The main disaster is that the race to grabbing oil wealth has created huge conflict and led to what one Brown Ogbeifun (PhD) calls conflict entrepreneurs. Under crisis and chaos, the managers of various agencies loot the funds and divert assets. At the end, the state or agencies reman poor while the CEOs emerge as super rich.

Corruption has become so pervasive in the oil-bearing region and in the oil business that most Niger Deltans now see loot as a right and entitlement. They loot, showcase it, and emerge as heroes who looted back part of the people’s wealth.

Ansource once disclosed how some accounts persons in the NDDC showed an acting MD how to loot funds. They showed him several millions and subheads that he would sweep away. When the new CEO asked to be shown the documents authorising such sweepstakes per month, they said:“That is how the past MDs have been taking”. He told them that past MDs taking the funds did not amount to a document.

Everybody salted away.

Truth is that, as Godswill Akpabio lamented, the NDDC and some of the agencies meant to develop the Niger Delta region have simply become automated teller machines (ATMs) and the CEO have been drawing over the years. Stories have been told about middle class workers in such places that are richer than some ministers with houses everywhere.

Politics Closely associated with corruption is politics. Many experts argue that in Nigeria, both are Siamese twins.

Each time a person is appointed into headship of the big organisations meant to develop the oil region such as the NDDC and the Ministry of Niger Delta, jubilation explodes. This may not be because of the development soon to come or projects soon to come to an area, but looted funds on the way.

Loyalists begin to bring cows for celebration and sew new dresses befitting the office.

Relations of such an appointee find people besieging their homes to submit proposals to present to their brother who is now about to step into power and money.

The belief is that the appointment is a licence to loot, and woe betide any appointee that does not see it this way!

Also, appointment of headship of the NDDC has been purely political. Those making the appointments, making the recommendation and those being appointed, all have politics in their minds. First, almost all those who headed the NDDC in the past have contested for governorship.

Now, those being appointed as MDs could be to compensate them for not making it as governor. By this, gubernatorial advantage seems to be the focus of the office of CEO of the development agency.

When Chibuike Amaechi and Magnus Abe began their quarrels, the position of Director of Finance and Administration became a diadem. The position was believed to be dedicated to winning a state during elections. More so, the position seemed to be a prize for helping in elections because the person is to move funds straight out.

Even mere mention of a person as next MD would lead to contract lists being sent to him while screening is going on to choose him; those with supervisory powers over the Commission in Aso Rock would have a list, those in the parliament would have theirs, etc. That could explain why one senator is credited with 300 contracts with 120 fully paid for without any job done.

Competence in management and engineering has taken a back seat in considering the headship of the development agencies and ministries. The ability to crush all bones and deliver a state to a ruling party during elections would be the most important factor. At

L-R: Emeka Ihedioha, governor, Imo State, with Sam Amadi, chairman, Imo State Power Board, during his swearing-in as the chairman of the Board of Imo State Power and Rural Electrification Agency, at the expanded executive council chambers in Oweri, Imo State.

the end, the CEO would pump contracts and projects in his state to win the next election. The focus of the intervention agency has deviated,accordingtoobservers.

Intrigues The combination of politics and corruption seems to engender intrigues in the region. To get to a position to loot, a person has to form enforcement teams and use the boys to do stuff for top men. To cover the tracks, more violence and conflict is orchestrated. The result is chaos everywhere and every day. For instance, a group of professional protesters once emerged opposite the NDDC gates waiting for those launching a protest.

They would create the placards right opposite the Commission and the boys would move across the road to the gates and begin to chant a slogan.

A worried opponent would raise some cash and come there and recruit the same boys and an opposing protest would begin. A chairman of the Commission was widely rumoured to have been caught burning almost N1million by the riverside while performing “juju” (ritual) to influence the CEO of that time. He was removed from office.

There is a type of war between the governors and those serving as State Representatives on NDDC board.

This time that the PDP is no longer in power in the oil region and do not recommend the Reps, they now sit far and discredit whatever is done by the Commission. All those charge the atmosphere and make development either difficult or expensive.

The intrigues seem to worsen insecurity which has been heightened by pipeline vandalism and illegal refining. A source quoted an in-

ternational news magazine, saying, “Various cult groups have emerged based on cultism lines to terrorise the region and scare away investors. This has driven up costs for projects in the region as military troops have to be factored into costing.

Movement from project to project sites has been difficult. This has affected the private sector component of development project implementation.”

Projects &programmes needed in the region The people of the region had expected the Master Plan developed by the NDDC to serve as development compass of the region to be followed by all development agencies mandated to or interesting in developing the region. They could be the Federal Government, the state governments, the local councils, international oil corporations, foreign development partners, and the NDDC itself.

According to a report in an international news magazine, the Plan was a product of painstaking surveys, studies and investigations, listing all the needs from water, electricity, roads, health facilities, schools, to manpower needs. The expectation was that each development agency or partner would consult the Plan before starting any project so as not to duplicate them. It was expected that by the first 10 years, the various projects put in place in a coordinated fashion would create clear milestones of achievement so that it would be easy to know what has been done and what is left.

This has not been so as every agency carried out without as much as a glance at the Plan. The NDDC itself seems to be groping in the dark, doing everything but seemingly accomplishing

very little. The Commission seems to act by the vision of each managing director than guided by the Plan, the magazine reports in its current edition.

East West Road Perhaps, the greatest expectation of the people of the Niger Delta is the dream of delivering the East West Road. This road has a history and a sentient that touches the desire of the oil region to cut a road link with western Nigeria without recourse to the East as envisaged by their founding fathers such as Samuel Ogbemudia and Alfred Diete-Spiff. Such was the zeal that when the former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, in 2005, wanted to know what he would do to appease the people and youths of the region, the East West Road was the first demand. The president immediately agreed and later announced a N211billion contract in 2006.

Niger Delta-born Goodluck Jonathan, who succeeded the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua (the man who created the Amnesty Programme for the same Niger Delta) reviewed the project and raised the amount to N725.77billion between 2011 and 2014. By the time he left office, there was argument whether the road was delivered up to 70percent or not. Now, the road is an eye sour. To the people of the region, the East West Road is another promise broken and a shattered dream.

Niger Delta Coastal Road Another dream of the riverine people cutting from Edo to Calabar when their son (Jonathan) became president for the first time ever was that after the East West Road, their son would give them a coastal road.

Continues on page 4

Sunday 22 December 2019

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Nigeria drifting into state of anarchy – Alaafin of Oyo, Danjuma, Adebanjo cry out REMI FEYISIPO, Ibadan

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he Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi, an Afenifere leader, Ayo Adebanjo and a former Chief of Army Staff, Theophilus Danjuma, have lamented the leadership situation in the country, saying Nigeria is gradually drifting into a state of anarchy.

The erudite personalities raised the alarm during the launch of the book on the story of Tribune titled: ‘70th Years of Progressive Journalism’, held at the International Conference Centre of the University of Ibadan, Oyo State.

Oba Adeyemi, who is the permanent chairman of the Oyo State Council of Obas and Chiefs, claimed that the Yoruba race was being subjugated.

While describing the Bill against hate speech sponsored by Senator Abdullahi Sabi as misplaced, the monarch noted that the Nigerian politics was gradually drifting to a state where freedom of expression was to be muffled.

“Nigeria is gradually drifting to a state of an offence of hate speech that attracts penalty of death. If I have not killed anyone; and I give an opinion that is contrary to the government’s, will it be a sufficient reason for me to be charged with death penalty? Where are the lawyers in Nigeria?

Constitutional lawyers in Nigeria; where are they? Can’t they speak up? Chief Olowu, you are here. Nobody is speaking up. If you don’t want to be criticised, then you don’t have to be in government. My friend Nnamdi Azikiwe has a peculiar character and I wish he could continue to learn about the Constitutional lesson from Obafemi Awolowo in his reply to Nnamdi Azikiwe. We have quotation and quotations from this literate man. I have read almost all his books, published. They are in my library. I can go on and on citing instances,” he said.

According to him, “During

the Constitutional conferences that held in the 50s at Lancaster House, three giants from the country postulated different approaches to the Nigerian Independence.

Ahmadu Bello said North is for Northerners; East for Easterners and West for the Westerners. Azikiwe said, there should be one Constitution, one country, one destiny.

Awolowo rose up and said No! We are not talking about the Constitution that will be suitable for Nigeria. But what is suitable for Nigeria is when you have a multi-lingual, multinational and multi-religious country with diverse races.

That before independence the whole school we had on ground was 123 for the whole of the North while the South had 5,000 schools. There is no way that illiterates will continue to govern the literate people. It cannot work and it will not work.

Awolowo projected what will be the question of North East, North Central; that if you don’t educate the people, the Almajiri will become bandits.

Today, in Zamfara and Yobe, the governments are now subjected to banditry. And they are exchanging these bandits, giving them money.

How can government give bandits money? That is a collapse of governance and government. If you are a student of Constitution, you must believe Awolowo’s views.

Well, I am not a politician but I understand politics. I don’t do partisan politics because I want to be progressive. In the whole of Nigeria, when Awolowo started his free primary education, we felt it would not work. He started it. Two to three years after he started it, he came out with the position that in the next 30 to 40 years, the Western Region will be years ahead of other areas in education.

And that demography, if you study people like Professor Akinkugbe, who were their doctors, surgeons, they produced a sector of Obafemi Awolowo University by the Action Group government in 1963-64. If you pass out of primary school, you go to

Teachers’ Training College and if you pass out, you would be given automatic admission to University. That was the reason they established the University of Ife. Then we had Agent General United Kingdom catering for the welfare of Western Nigerian students. They go to the school and when they returned, they had jobs already waiting for them. Now our graduates are roaming about the streets. There is no index of people who are out of school. Just three days ago, Governor Ganduje said that Kano has the largest number of out of school children.

How can we have stability in the country when half of the country is governed by illiterates? When banditry has taken over the governance? Surely, there cannot be peace in the country. And tell me, Editors are here. You said you have technically defeated Boko Haram, what is the technicality in defeat?

Either we agree we have not been able to subdue them and admit it. Now, they are quoting United Nations figures for us. And our government is telling them we are not under America or UK but we are going there to loan money from them. Surely, something must be done to take a cue from this man. If he is not an angel, then he must be on the right side of God,” Alaafin said.

Earlier, in his remarks while addressing Alaafin, Ayo Adebanjo said: “The new task for you now is not just to tell us what Awolowo said, it is not just to tell us what Awolowo had done, you are in the forefront now to carry it out. Yorubaland is in danger.

Please, gather your Obas and be the champion for this country. We have been submerged. And only a few of our governors are responsible for us. They have shut down.

They cannot face the head of state because of their own shortcomings.

“Kabiyesi, I am openly appealing to you to lead the crusade for the liberation of Yorubaland. Now, we are already subjugated. We are already

Buhari, others call for urgency in tackling terrorism in West Africa ...As UN urges comprehensive economic development surrounded by enemies who are appearing to be friends and our representatives in government collaborate for our subjugation. Don’t let us mince any word at all. Now, we have to get ourselves out of bondage.

“Buhari is not ruling the country. He wants to dominate us. I don’t mince words about it. There is tyranny in the country. There is anarchy.

When the Head of State said there is no respect for the rule of law, where are the lawyers? The moment there is no respect for the rule of law, there is no government again; there is anarchy.

“And why were the lawyers and judges sitting down at the conference, where he said that and there was no reaction. Judges are being hounded all over the country.

Court orders are not being obeyed with immunity.”

Lamenting further, Adebanjo said: “Kabiyesi, it is no longer the question of telling us what is to be done, it is a question of leading the crusade that we are no longer going to subject ourselves to this bondage. Let our Kabiyesi, the Alaafin of Oyo, call the other Obas and we citizens.

The politicians you think are representing you are not representing us. They are protecting themselves.”

Similarly, Theophilus Danjuma said: “In Yorubaland, everybody seems to have lost their voice, scared. And people appear not to care about what is happening. If I tell you what I know that is happening in Nigeria today, you will no longer sleep.”

Danjuma further said: “Chief Ayo Adebanjo’s warning and advice is very timely.

If you want details, I will give it to you privately. We are in a big hole as a nation. And people who put us in this hole have continued today. So, we have to wake up. Only we can save ourselves. The fifth columnists activities going on among your people are not helping matters. May Almighty God continue to bless this country. But only we can save ourselves from ourselves”.

Innocent Odoh, Abuja

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resident Muhammadu Buhari and other West African leaders have stressed the urgent need for member countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to address the increasing spate of terrorist attacks ravaging the region even as they strategize to deepen economic development and integration of the region.

Speaking during the opening ceremony of the 56th Ordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS in Abuja on Saturday, President Buhari said “terrorism remains the major threat to the peace and progress of our region.”

This development was sequel to the terrorist attacks that killed over 33 soldiers in Niger Republic last week, which elicited shock and sad remarks from the Nigerian President.

“It was with great shock and immense pain that I received the news of the tragedy in Niger Republic where over 33 valiant soldiers were brutally massacred in yet another cowardly terrorist attack by these enemies of peace and progress,” he said.

According to records from ECOWAS Commission in the first eleven months of 2019, terrorist attacks increased by almost 80%, compared to the same period in 2018 and caused more than 1,800 civilian and military casualties. This situation has led to a humanitarian crisis with the displacement of nearly 2.8 million people and the closure of hundreds of schools.

President b Buhari noted that “The recurring attacks by these terrorists remind us of the urgency to build an enduring security partnership to confront and defeat the evil of cross -border terrorism.”

While commiserating with the government and people of Niger, President Buhari re-

President Buhari

stated Nigeria’s commitment to regional integration, adding that it has become necessary for the region to always channel their energies toward devising new strategies and initiatives which will accelerate the attainment of regional aspiration for sustainable peace, security, stability and inclusive economic growth.

“To achieve this we must put our people at the heart of our policies and actions,” he said.

President of Niger Republic, Muhammadu Issoufou, who is also the Chairman of the Authority of Head of state and Government of ECOWAS in his address called for more concerted efforts to tame the terrorist menace in West Africa and the Sahel. He lamented that terrorism had killed many people in Nigeria, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso and destroyed infrastructure and livelihoods and led to the displacement of many peoples.

Meanwhile Mohammed Ibn Chambas, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Gutierrez, for West Africa and Sahel said the United Nations, urged West Africa leaders to deepen economic development, which will help in curbing the menace of insecurity in the region.

“The UN is determined to partner with ECOWAS to create the enabling environment for the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals, including promoting the role and involvement of women and youth in governance processes,” he said.

Why Niger Delta remains under-developed ...

Continued from Page 2 Their understanding was that a road that would run close to the Atlantic Ocean from Lagos to Calabar would bring out the beauty and splendour of the riverine areas and cause the areas closest to the sea to be opened up to civilisation and economic exploitation. The people still expect this, and they look up to Akpabio, who is now minister of the Niger Delta Ministry to give it a shot, but is this realisable under him or under anybody?

Niger Delta Coastal Rail line The people of the region also dreamt of a coastal rail line from Lagos to Calabar.

The dream grew bigger when Jonathan became vice president and president. Even now that their other son, Chibuike Amaechi is minister of transportation with a drive for aggressive railway development, many think the coastal rail line dream may be realised. Others however, say this dream is far-fetched.

Recent plans announced by the Minister of Transportation indicate that something

like this is close.

The Niger Delta Energy Corridor A group of scientists and economists had come up with the concept of an energy corridor to run along the East West Road. The idea is to deliberately locate various oil and power projects along the East West Road such as refineries, petrochemical companies, mega-fuel stations, power plants, etc. These projects would be so interconnected that various cities would tap from them into the hinterlands. Over time, it would

emerge as Nigeria’s most viable route. The design was presented to various review panels in Port Harcourt before it was tabled to the Federal Government but the ensuing political crisis between Rivers State (led by Amaechi) and the Federal Government (led

by Jonathan) ensured that the idea died in the womb.

Agric Revolution and Economic Development The region accepted to take up agriculture and develop few produce items such as garri/cassava, rice, palm oil and fish. Each state

was to take up one. Also, the South-South Economic Commission was set up with Ambassador Joe Keshi as director-general. The idea was to activate massive economic development with each state driving one toward the other.

Again, political interest turned governors against one another and against the Federal Government and the dream died right there. Now, each state is pursuing its own development; most times duplicating turnkey projects such as airports and seaports without knowing where the

cargo would come from.

Conclusion It is public knowledge that the goings-on in the NDDC has attracted the ire of President Buhari, resulting in what is called a forensic audit. The crisis in the Commission is escalating with the report a few days ago, that the already screened new board recently announced by Abuja, will be reviewed and reconstituted.

If the forensic audit goes well, and some past CEOs are sanctioned, sanity may return and the region may return to its planned path of development.

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NCDMB targets 300,000 jobs by 2027 …says 40% of marine vessels owned by Nigeria Olusola Bello

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he Nigerian Content Development and Monit o r i n g Bo a r d , (NCDMB) says it target over 300,000 direct jobs in its 10 years development plans just as it disclosed that 40 percent of Vessels operating currently offshore are owned by Nigerians.

According to the agency, 10 years from now, it is envisaged that around 300,000 job would be created, retain $14 billion out of $20 billion. .Above all, it is pursuing that Nigeria should be able to build ships and seriously engage in manufacturing.

This according to the board, the 40 percent marine vessel ownership is an increased of 35 percent, from five percent recorded in 2010 when the board was inaugurated.

The board as part of it 10 years roadmap, also stated that plans are ongoing to increase the Nigeria content percentage in the oil and gas industry to 70 percent by 2027.

Speaking during the Nigerian Content Workshop for Media stakeholders in Lagos, the General Manager, Corporate Communications and Zonal Coordinator, NCDMB, Ginah O. Ginah, said: “Prior to the inception of the NOGID Act, less than five percent Nigerian Content value exists in-country.

“But since we came up, that percentage has risen to

about 30 percent. 40 percent of Marine Vessels currently operating in the sea are owned by Nigerians.”

He further stated that the nation households have a shortfalls of over 20 million Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, also known as cooking gas and that the agency is doing everything possible to help bridged this gap hence it desire to partners with Rungas to set a gas cylinder manufacturing company in Bayelsa.

He said the key thrusts of the NOGICD Act of 2010 was to Integrate oil producing communities into the oil and gas value chain, maximise participation of Nigerians in oil and gas activities, maximise utilization of Nigerian resources such as goods, services and asset, Attract investments to the Nigeria oil and gas sector (service providers, equipment suppliers etc, Link oil and gas sector to other sectors of the economy, Foster institutional collaboration.

He said it target 70 percent retention of Industry spend by 2027.

According Ginah Ginah, the10 years plans of the agency is built on five pillars, namely technical capability development, compliance & enforcement, enabling business environment, organisational capability, and sectoral and regional market linkage.

Technical capability he said will extend and deepen in country in the oil and gas industry while compliance &

enforcement will ensure Nigeria Content implementation is enhanced through the mobilization of appropriate tools, policies and framework.

Enabling business environment will facilitate a commercially viable business environment that encourages increased sector investment, and organisational capability is to enhance building effective internal structures in terms of people, skills, processes and systems to support the Board’s Increase industry operations.

In the area of sectoral and regional market linkage, this will make contribution to the National GDP and facilitate access of Nigerian-made goods and services to regional markets.

Shell signs innovative $10 billion revolving credit facility Royal Dutch Shell plc (“Shell”) has announced that it has signed a $10 billion revolving credit facility. The new facility replaces Shell’s existing $8.84 billion revolving credit facility and is provided by a syndicate of 25 banks.

In anticipation of the cessation of the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”), this is one of the world’s first credit facilities linked to the new Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”). Also, in a first for Shell, the interest and fees paid on the facility will be linked to Shell’s progress towards reaching its shortterm Net Carbon Footprint intensity target, as published in its Sustainability Report.

Monarch seeks implementation of Omor irrigation project to boost rice production GODFREY OFURUM, Awka

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is Royal Highness, Igwe Oranu Chris Chidume’, Eze AnaUkwu, Eze Igulube of Omor, in Anyamelum Local Government of Anambra State, has called on the federal ministry of agriculture, ministry of water resources and Anambra state government, to see the potentials of lower Anambra-Imo River Basin Development Authority project in Omor, as a veritable tool for exploiting economic opportunities in rice production.

This is as he appealed to the federal government to expedite action in executing the proposed irrigation project in Omor, under the proposed Value Chain Programme (VCP) to enable farmers in the area to engage in three-season per year rice

farming.

Igwe Chidume made the call Friday, in Omor, at the celebration of his 2019 Ofala Festival and second year anniversary on the throne.

He observed that the implementation of the programme will create a multiplier effect on the economy of the community and its neighbouring communities.

“This project when realised will facilitate sustainable water supply to large scale farmlands to enhance agricultural production, reduce production cost for smallholder farmers and support socio-economic development in the area.

“The federal government presented an environmental and social management plan (ESMP) for the proposed irrigation project, under the Value Chain Development Programme (VCP), which is supported by international

fund for agricultural development”.

He commended strategies of the federal government towards economic recovery and structure reforms aimed at diversifying the economy, to set it on a path towards sustained and inclusive growth over the medium to long term This is as he appealed to both federal and state governments to give urgent attention to the construction of access roads to Omor and neighbouring communities, especially the OtuochaOmor-Adani road.

He explained that a good road network will enable easy transportation of farm produce, which are presently produced in large quantity in the area, to other parts of the State and country, where they would access bigger market and at the same time, unlock the economic fortunes of the region.

Yuletide: Transport fares spike...

Continues from Page1 in several social activities that include cultural activities, weddings, birthdays, thanksgivings, mass return, carols, carnivals and other forms of partying.

BDSUNDAY investigation shows that popular transport companies like Young Shall Grow, GUO and Libra Motors and others, are currently charging passengers fare as high N11,700 to N12,000 and N9,500 to N10,000 respectively for passengers paying for tickets across the counter and those buying tickets online.

It was also discovered that passengers travelling with Libra Motors by road pay between N9,700 to N11,700 while GUO Motors charge between N10,000 to N12,000 to go to Aba, Umuahia, Onitsha, Enugu and Owerri for a journey that formerly cost between N4,500 to N6,500 before the yuletide season.

Also, the cost of travelling

by air could be left to people’s imagination as it presently costs between N51,500 to as much as N79,000 to travel to Asaba and Owerri by air as Enugu Airport is presently shutdown by Federal Government for repairs.

For instance, Air Peace has completely sold out the tickets and seats for almost all the flights from Lagos to Owerri between 19 to 24 December and 26 to 28 December while tickets for flights leaving Lagos to Owerri on 25 and 28 December still sell for as high as N51,500 to N79,000 for one-way route.

Meanwhile, Lagos outbound flights to Asaba, from 19 to 29 December were completely sold out except for flight scheduled for 20 December, which sells as much as N51,500 per ticket.

On the other hand, air tickets to less-busy routes or destinations such as Lagos to Abuja cost between N29,900 to N33,000 while Lagos to Port Harcourt, Calabar and Uyo still sells between N35,700 to N79,000.

“I had a meeting in Owerri on Wednesday 19 December, and I was forced to go by road at the cost of N9,700.

That was because I booked and paid using the Mobile App of the transport company. Other passengers that paid over the counter, were charged as high as N11,700,” said a traveller, who gave his name as Sunday Anyanwu.

Anyanwu, who told BDSUNDAY that his initial plan was to fly to Owerri but was scared away by the exorbitant cost of air ticket which stood at N79,000 for one-way ticket.

However, he said: “I was able to fly back to Lagos on Friday 21 December because it was cheap to return to Lagos. Ticket was bought for as low as N20,700. This was because not too many people want to come to Lagos this Christmas period. The traffic is outbound of Lagos and not inbound Lagos.”

Chukwudi Ezeh, a middle-aged man told BDSUNDAY that he paid the sum of N12,000 each for his family

According to her, Nigerians, especially Igbos, are always ready to pay the price in order to visit their country homes during Christmas seasons, following the engagements such as kindred meetings and wedding ceremonies that usually take place during the yuletide.

On why many people show apathy to travelling at nights, Ezeh told BDSUNDAY that very few persons are still travelling at night using the luxury buses to avoid the long traffic congestion that happens during the day on the highways, which ends up making people’s journey less attractive but very cumbersome.

“Night journeys on Nigerian roads are usually very risky for travellers because the last time I joined night bus, we experienced a very ugly attack by armed robbers along Shagamu-Ijebu Ode axis of Lagos-Ore Expressway. They collected almost all our valuable belongings including monies, phones and other things. The worse of it all was not that we lost our belong-

members to travel to Enugu using GUO Motors on Wednesday 18 December.

Ezeh, who stated that he would be travelling to Enugu on the 23 December, said he has set aside about N15,000 as transportation fare in order to cater for any amount that the transport companies would be charging as fare on that day.

“Though, things are very difficult because the economy is tough for many Nigerians, people are really spending huge sum of money just to enjoy their Xmas and New Year holidays in their country homes,” Ezeh said.

The truth, he pointed out, was that any year that my family and I want to travel to our country home for Xmas holidays, we usually start from the month of June that year to save for heavy spending during the festive season.

Another intending traveller, who gave her name as Doris Eneh, believed that the transportation fare would go as high as N20,000 per oneway ticket.

ings, but the trauma that passengers went through in the hands of these wicked robbers, was unimaginable,” he narrated.

According to him, about four passengers on the bus that night was killed in cold blood by the robbers for having no money in their possessions while several married women and single ladies were taken to the bush and raped after being beaten badly by the robbers.

“It was about 10 minutes after those robbers have finished their exploitations and left us to our fate that the police on patrol arrived the scene of the crime and called for help from the Shagamu police station. Several police officers invaded the crime scene but none of us knew the outcome of that,” Ezeh narrated.

Since then, he said, I vowed not to join night buses again irrespective of the fare.

“If I cannot afford to pay for the fare of morning buses, I will not border myself making the trip.” ??

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News

Ikpeazu inaugurates SME microfinance bank in Aba

‘No going back’- Legal reps reassure Kizz Daniel on December concert

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…Flags off N10m micro credit scheme

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UDOKA AGWU, Umuahia

n its resolve to create wealth and boost small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the state through artisans and petty traders in Abia State, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has officially opened the Abia SMEs Microfinance Bank in Aba as well as flagged off N10million Micro Credit Scheme for low income traders in the State.

Ikpeau, while speaking during the event at No 17B Ngwa Road Aba, said that N10 million credit scheme was specifically for the ordinary traders and recommended that six out of every 10 beneficiaries in the first phase of the credit scheme would be women.

The governor said that the idea of the bank was to create multi-millionaires in the state through the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises.

Ikpeazu

He stated that his expectation was that the bank would target at empowering 100 persons each month and urged all to open accounts with the bank.

According to Ikpeazu, “Abia government would use this project to save traders from long processes of collateral from commercial banks,” adding that the col-

lateral needed to benefit from the scheme was ideas from the prospective beneficiaries.

He disclosed that his interest in the Abia SME Bank was that it was an opportunity for the people of the state to access available funds from the Federal Government, the CBN, Bank of Industry, among others.

He assured that he would

continue to fund SME in the state, while stressing that the location of the bank was strategic for traders in Aba. Governor Ikpeazu, who used the opportunity to inform that the first set of Madein-Aba shoes which would emanate from the newly installed automated shoe factory would be out in few weeks’ time called on Aba residents to leverage on the constant electric power in Ariaria International Market to better their lots.

Commissioners for SME, Onyema Wachuku his Trade & Investment counterpart, Cosmas Ndukwe and that of Industry, Uwaoma Olenwemgwa respectively said Abia State believed in the entrepreneurs and was ready to support them in various ways, including establishment of the bank, specially dedicated to the Small and Medium Scale Entrepreneurs.

he Legal counsel to pop artiste, Kizz Daniel has confirmed that the upcoming concert billed to hold at Eko Convention Centre on December 26, 2019, will still hold despite recent threats from the erstwhile record label.

This was made known at a press conference held recently in Lagos, where amongst other things, the artiste’s legal team, L&A Legal Consultants led by Tunde Laoye, cleared the air on the ongoing dispute, describing it as a cheap attempt to distract act. According to Laoye, there is no court order restraining the 27-year-old act from performing his craft as it is legal right to, as an artiste.

Oluwaseye Lawal, one of the partners at the firm, while corroborating Laoye’s stance said, “Many people believe that only the label can end such agreements which is not true. It depends on the specific terms on the contract. We would like to state though that Kizz did not breach his contract, he terminated it formally after issuing notice of termination

as required by the contract.”

It was also revealed at the conference that the concert is not owned by Kizz Daniel rather a set of promoters who employed the music act to perform at the show as a headline artiste among several other musicians. Melvin Ahior Managing Partner Quebec Attorneys representing the promoters of the show said, “Kizz Daniel is only an employee of the promoters, the concert even though headlined by him is not exclusive to him and therefore cannot be stopped. We want to use this opportunity to reaffirm that the show is going to hold, there’s no fear, no worries.”

Kizz Daniel Live, which has become one of the most anticipated concerts since the announcement a few months ago is the final part of the singer’s No Bad Songz Tour. While the names of other performing artists and entertainers at the show haven’t been announced yet, organisers TEC & Achievas Entertainment have disclosed that the lineup will be eclectic and definitely one to watch out for.

TGI Distri reinforces commitment to quality feeding NBS official harps on proper

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…celebrates Christmas with underprivileged in Ijora Community t was a moment that revived hopes for the people of Ijora community in Lagos State when the distribution, sales and marketing arm of TGI Group, TGI Distri, extended its weekly ‘TerraCares4Naija’ sustainability initiative to that part of the country.

The initiative, which commenced on World Food Day in Agege with the aim of putting smiles on 10,000 faces and providing them nutritious meals amidst funfare is one of the company’s (TGI Distri) way of giving back to the society– an activity that has made tremendous progress in reliving hope, especially, in the aspect of

provision of feeding since it began in October 16, 2019.

On Saturday, it was the turn of the people of Ijora Community, which received the Terra Cares4Naija Caring Wheel, as the Terra Seasoning team left a joyful experience with 1000 smiles on the faces of residents in the community.

Speaking at the event, the TGI Distri Marketing Executive, Food Products & E-Commerce, Ms. Ayoola Aiyelabolaspoke glowingly of the company’s vision to spread love and care and help communities end hunger in the land, adding that this “goes to show our resolve to enriching and ben-

efitting our society.”

Ms. Ayoola who was so excited at the sight of smiles, joy and gratitude shown by the residents, said TGI Distri embarked on the initiative as part of its continued efforts to add value to lives, making life better and putting 10,000 smiles on the faces of citizens.

“There is a lot that can be done for this community and we hope that by coming here we can help re-ignite and inspire the consciousness of the season and our responsibilities as corporate entities.

We also use this opportunity to extend warm season’s greetings to our esteemed customers.”

retirement plan UDOKA AGWU, Umuahia

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mah Chikadibia, the Abia State officer, National Bereau of Statistics (NBS) has harped on the importance of adequate planning for one’s financial needs during retirement.

Chikadibia, who stated this during the send-off party of 16 retired staff at the NBS office, Umuahia, Abia State, said planning for retirement should be geared towards ensuring that the retiree and his/her dependents were well provided for in the inevitable retirement phase of his/her life.

He noted that it was necessary for one to ascertain ahead of time, how much income one would need to

maintain his/her desired lifestyle during retirement years.

Chikadibia, who is also the Chairman NBS Social Welfare, had in his welcome address lauded the retired/ retiring staff of NBS for their diligence and dedication to duty and for showing good example to all the staff.

“We are here to bid farewell to our dear colleagues, who have retired from the services of National Bereau of Statistics on attaining superannuation. Parting is always emotional and much more, when it involves our beloved colleagues who were part in our daily life over a few decades.

“The official wording says that they are being relieved today. That is true. After many years of strenuous commute and now they are

getting relieved from those strains, we say they are retiring. I am of the opinion that the word should be re-trying and not retiring,” he said.

One of the retired staff, Emmanuel Ejiogu expressed gratitude to the staff and particularly the NBS Chairman Social Welfare, for organising the event, which according to him would remain indelible in their post retirement life.

Ejiogu, who recalled with nostalgia the pleasant experience shared with the staff, expressed happiness that they were able to train capable hands who would effectively and efficiently carry out the daily routine, especially in the data collection.

Plaques were presented to the retired staff shortly before the group picture.

Those flexing muscles underrated Governor Obaseki - Shaibu IDRIS UMAR MOMOH & CHURCHILL OKORO, Benin

Ayoola Aiyelabola, marketing executive, Food Products & E-Commerce, TGI Distri Limited (right) and Celestine Achi, digital strategist, Metro Media Communications Ltd (left), giving food to some residents of Ijora at the ongoing TerraCares4Naija campaign to feed 10,000 Lagosians held in Ijora, Lagos.

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do State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, weekend said those flexing muscles with the state governor, Godwin Obaseki underrated his political sagacity.

Shaibu made the remarks

during the annual hosting of journalists at his residence in Benin City. “Those characters that are flexing muscles, we know them; they will join us at the appropriate time. We are family members, they underrated the governor and did not know he is a man of strong will”, he said.

The deputy governor, who said the 2020 governorship

election would be the freest and most peaceful in the history of elections in the state, assured that Governor Godwin Obaseki will be victorious in the election.

He however, urged the people not to be worried and disturbed with what is going on within the party, noting that in no distant time everything will be resolved.

8 BDSUNDAY

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Sunday 22 December 2019

News

‘Restructuring, community policing panacea to insecurity’ SIKIRAT SHEHU, Ilorin

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aruf Olanrewaju, the Nat i o n a l President of the Odua Progressive Care Initiative (OPCI), has said restructuring of the nation where each state would be entitled to set up its own police is paramount to tackle insecurity at local levels in Nigeria.

Olanrewaju, who stated this Thursday, in Ilorin while featuring on the ‘News Keg’, a personality programme organised by the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Kwara Council of NUJ, posited that the United States where Nigeria copied its own form of democracy allowed for state and local government police.The OPC boss had while commending the Federal Government on the

Maruf

border closure directive, blamed the spate of insecurity in the past on the porosity of the Nigerian border, saying OPCI is directly involved and has played vital role in

assisting security agencies to checkmate criminality.

Olanrewaju disclosed that act of insincerity, breach of trust and lack of concern for members’ welfare, were responsible for the formation of the

new Yoruba socio-cultural group.

“Besides, OPC is an illegal organization because it has been proscribed and we cannot continue dragging the legality or otherwise of it with the Federal Government. “(Olusegun) Obasanjo’s administration has since 2001 proscribed the group.

“But in the case of OPCI, we are duly registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) in Abuja and instructed our coordinators across states to do the same with their respective state governments”, he said.

Olanrewaju explained that membership of the socio-cultural group had spread across 15 states in the country, adding that the OPCI had sponsored about 120 members on scholarship to study abroad among other empowerment initiatives.

D&Ksoumi Conference calls for end to domestic violence against women Obinn Emelike

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he 5th edition of D&Ksoumi international conference on violence against women in Nigeria, which held on November 29, 2019, may have come and gone, but the lessons and insights gained by participants from the forum will resonate for a long time.

The conference, which held at NECA House, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, on the theme: ‘Facing The Challenges and Future Together’, was graced by participants from Finland,

some officials of the Lagos State government, some senior police officers among other dignitaries.

Al s o i n a t t e n d a n c e w e r e ; s w e l l , Ib i r o n k e Sanwo-Olu, wife of the Lagos State governor; Bolaji Dada, commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation; Elishama Ideh, Anthonia Ojenagbon, Toyin Taiwo-Ojo and Mercy Makinde, who were all speakers at the event.

The conference enabled the participants to tackle major challenges that are facing humanity and proffering solutions as well. The gathering consisted of so-

cial service workers, NGOs, foundations, education trainers, political leaders and other influential professionals, who shared and pooled information and knowledge.

About 27 NGOs were presented with D&Ksounmi Humanitarian Awards in recognition of their devotion to providing for the underprivileged around the world and, especially in Africa. Among the NGOs were: LUCIANO Global Development Foundation, Initiative, Wheels of Hope Raising Foundation, Arm of Hope Foundation, Evergreen Global Initiative, Girl’s Club of Nigeria, The

L-R: Victor Odumuyiwa, acting director, Centre for Information Technology Systems, University of Lagos; John Che, Global president and founder, ZKTeco; Afolabi Abiodun, CEO, SB Telecoms & Devices Olufunmilayo Mafimidiwo, chief lecturer, Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, Yaba College of Technology; Ajiboye Joseph Sehinde, a professor, HOD, Mechanical Engineering, University of Lagos, and Even Wang, vice-president, ZKTeco, at a press conference organised by SB Telecoms to announce ZKTeco’s plans for the Nigerian market recently, in Lagos.

Nigerian Child Initiative, Home and Street Kids Initiative, Little Saints Orphanage, among others.

Speaker after speaker presented talks that related to theme of the conference.

Sadly, virtually all the speakers were victims of sexual molestations during their childhood but overcame the trauma through series of counselings and prayers.

The speakers stressed that advocacy and campaigns are the strong weapons to fight rising sexual violence against women in the society, noting that the consequences are huge on the victims.

Promasidor’s Group CEO meets Fayemi, consolidate pact on Ikun dairy farm

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livier Thiry, Promasidor’s Group chief executive officer, has paid a visit to Kayode Fayemi, Ekiti State governor, to consolidate the pact on Ikun dairy farm which will serve as source of local raw materials for the company’s milk production.

Thiry was accompanied by top management of Promasidor, such as Anders Einarsson, director, External Relations; Andrew Enahoro and Senior Manager, Finance, Yomi Adenson on the twoday visit to the governor at the Government House.

Also, among them was Anthony Ifechikwu, special adviser to the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria on Development and Finance.

After hosting the Promasidor team, Governor Fayemi, together with Olivier and his delegation went on an inspection tour of Ikun Dairy Farm in Ikun Ekiti.

The governor had earlier inaugurated the Board of Directors for Fountain Holdings Limited, the principal investment company of Ekiti State at the Government House before he embarked on a one-and-half hours’ journey to Ikun Dairy Farm (IDF).

The visit by Thiry was in furtherance of the Memorandum of Understanding signed in July this year in Abuja by Einarsson and Governor Fayemi for the company’s backward integration initiative in the dairy sector.

This is in line with the Federal Government’s policy that companies should source for local raw materials for their products to prevent an over-dependence on foreign/imported goods.

Speaking at the occasion, Thiry expressed delight at the partnership which has been

seamless and his strong resolve in ensuring an enduring relationship with Ekiti State.

He said Promasidor, as the maker of quality products such as Cowbell Milk, Loya Milk, Cowbell Chocolate, Miksi Milk, Top Tea, Onga Food Seasoning, Sunvita Cereals, and others, local source of milk collection, is paramount to ease much dependence on foreign raw materials.

The Promasidor’s Chief said that the company would ensure maximum exploitation of the farm’s potentials with the competent personnel who have been working earnestly to ensure successful operation.

He also said that the commitment towards resuscitating the farm has prompted the enormous work already done and with the purchase of over a thousand cows which are being fed and prepared for milk supply.

“With the installation of up-to-the-minute equipment and zeal in attaining our backward integration goal, we hope to have an edge over competitors in the dairy industry,” Olivier said.

Explaining to Governor Fayemi and his team how the equipment at the farm is used, Einarsson promised that work would be completed soon for a robust operation.

He reiterated Promasidor’s preparedness in creating a viable economic base for Ekiti State through employment opportunities and the formation of small and medium enterprises from the positive impact that will ensued.

Responding, Governor Fayemi expressed delight at the company’s eagerness in its source for raw materials and promised immense support in its resuscitation plan.

L-R: Olivier Thiry, Group Chief Executive Officer, Promasidor Group; with Kayode Fayemi, governor of Ekiti State; Anders Einarsson, managing director, Promasidor Nigeria, and Andrew Enahoro, director, External Relations, Promasidor Nigeria, during the visit to Ekiti State Government House and Ikun Dairy Farm for Promasidor Nigeria backward integration initiative.

Sunday 22 December 2019

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BDSUNDAY 9

News US collaborates with Hacey Health Initiative to tackle genderbased violence Josephine Okojie

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L-R: Fidelis Idowu Iziogba (groom’s father); Elizabeth Olaosun (bride’s mother); the couple, Oluwatimininu Nelson and his bride, Olusola Mary; Edith Iziogba (Groom’s mother), and John Olaosun (bride’s father), during the wedding ceremony of Nelson and Mary in Lagos, recently.

Buhari commissions 628 new police cadets in Kano …Promises adequate funding for agency AdeolaAjakaiye, in Kano

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resident Muhammadu Buhari has expressed the commitment of his administration to providing adequate funding to the Nigeria Police, in order to enable the Force function optimally in tackling the complex internal security challenges the nation is grappling with.

He said that the need to scale up is imperative as the institution is critical to his administration’s quest to provide effective security for the country, as encapsulated in the three cardinal agenda of his administration.

President Buhari made this disclosure while delivering address at the passing out ceremony of the 2nd Regular Course of the Police Academy, Wudil, in Kano, where 628 new cadet officers were commissioned as ASPs. The President reiterated his administration`s resolve

to delivering on the cardinal promise to Nigerians which is centered on the enhancement of security, improvement of economy as well as fight against corruption.

“Let me remind you of this administration’s agenda and our promise to the people to provide security, ensure improvement of the economy and the fight against corruption. As we remain committed to deliver on this mandate, the Nigerian Police Force remains the critical pillar of our domestic security agenda; so, it is therefore, important to have orderly, disciplined and modern police officers.

“The mission of this academy is to produce superior police officers that are equipped with knowledge and skills to police Nigeria with its unique complexities” he stated.

The president used the occasion to congratulate the graduands for their successfully completing their course also reminded them of the need to be diligent and uphold the principles of civil policies leveraging national and inter-

national best practices.

“I therefore, seize this opportunity to congratulate the cadets of the 2nd regular course for successfully passing through the rigorous academic and professional training. “With this milestone, I implore you to operate professionally, gallantly and courageously as we continue to make Nigeria a safe country for all law abiding citizens.

“You will soon commence your operational duties; therefore, you must always remember that Nigeria and indeed Nigerians are of interest to you and your assignment to protect their lives and property. This trust must be taken seriously while upholding the principle of civil policy leveraging national and international best practice.

“On our part, we will continue to fund and support the Nigerian police force and its institutions to ensure you deliver in your mandate. This is why we created a dedicated ministry of police affairs,” he further disclosed.

President Buhari then

commended the leadership of the Nigerian Police Force, and the management of the academy for a job well-done which cumulated in the production of trained officers for the next generation.

In his address, earlier, the Commandant of the Police Academy, Zanna M. Ibrahim, an assistant inspector-general (AIG) of police, noted that the academy had introduced modern policing courses geared at meeting the contemporary challenges in internal policing in the country, in the recent times.

“In order to offer courses that have more relevance with the challenges of policing the nation, the Academy will soon introduce courses bordering on cybercrime, gender issues, criminal justice and administration, public security, intelligence as well as peace and conflict resolution which will justify the upgrade of the academy and also contribute meaningfully to the minimisation, if not the eradication of the security challenges facing the country,” he said

n a bid to tackle Gender-Based Violence, the United States Consulate in Lagos in partnership Hacey Health Initiative has created a platform that allows the girl child to discuss issues that affect them. ​These and many more were some of the issues discussed at the screening of the sexual violence episode of the ‘Girls Table Talk Show’ which is part of the 16 days of activism celebration against gender-based violence.

Themed ‘Generation equality stand against rape’, 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence is an international campaign to challenge violence against women and girls. ​Speaking recently, Jennifer Foltz, deputy public affairs secretary of the Consulate, noted that the US is pleased to be a part of the programmes as it fits into its goal of putting an end to the issue of gender-based violence.

“It is a very important 16 days for us and it forms a part of our engagement with some of our alumni,” Foltz said in a statement.

“It is the priority of the US government to support women and respond to gender-based issues. It is not just a women issue; it is a human rights issue,” she said.

Similarly, Joe Okei-Odumakin, human rights activist and president, Women Arise said that in Nigeria, sexual violence is on the rise and if the country fails to take action, Nigeria will not make any progress. ​“It breaks one’s heart to see that even those who suffer from sexual violence

don’t speak up,” Okei-Odumakin said.

“When we can have young girls speak up, then we will be able to minimise the occurrence,” she further said.

“We use these 16 days of activism to condemn child marriage. It is another form of rape,” she added.

Rhoda Robinson, executive director, Hacey Health Initiative, said it is sad that Nigerians live in a society that finds pleasure in throwing the blame of sexual violence at the feet of the survivor. ​ “It is more than a human rights issue; it affects every part of our society. It is something that we need to stand together to stand against,” Robinson said.

“That is why Hacey Health Initiative, as an organisation is, working tirelessly to ensure the eradication of gender-based violence in our society,” she said.

Conceptualised and produced solely by teenage girls, the ‘Girls Table Talk Show’ is a web series designed to give teenage girls a platform to talk about what they want to talk about, however, they want it.

According to Robinson, the focus of the seven-episode series is to encourage girls to be a part of the discussion about issues that affect them.

The screening also featured a panel session where issues of sexual abuse, harassment, and teenage sexual violence were discussed.

The campaign runs every year from 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, to 10 December for the Human Rights Day.

Winners emerge at the Nourish Nigeria Challenge 2019 Competition Anthony Nlebem

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luwaseun Sangoleye, 1st place; Ju l i e t Ai g b e , 2nd place, and Amaka Adekoya, third place emerged winners at the NutriPitch – Nourish Nigeria Challenge, which held recently at the Lagos Inter-

continental Hotel Victoria Island themed ‘Rethinking Nutrition Innovation’.

The three winners who emerged amongst the 10 shortlisted applicants for Local Elevator Pitch Competition were provided a platform to showcase their products and pitch to key funding partners and potential investors with the first

place winner to represent Nigeria at the Global Elevator Pitch Competition in Singapore in April 2020.

They also won cash prizes of N500,000 for the first place winner, N300,000 for the second place winner and N200,000 for the third place winner respectively.

The NutriPitch - Nourishing Nigeria Challenge

which was birthed in collaboration with FATE Foundation, Scaling-up Nutrition (SUN) Business Network, and Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is geared towards supporting food and safety focused businesses who innovatively support the value chain in scaling up nutrition to diet and improve malnutrition

issues in Nigeria.

Speaking about the initiative, Executive Director, FATE Foundation, Adenike Adeyemi, congratulated the winners whilst cheering them of the well-deserved win. She noted that participants of the competition were Growth Stage Businesses who develop or adopt technological solu-

tions to the key areas of Food Design, Post-Harvest Loss Reduction, Market Connectivity and Food Safety. “The competition was designed to equipped participants with key insights, skills, tools as well as resources to develop market-based solutions that address diet quality gap and its need in the Nigerian market.

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Sunday 22 December 2019

Hope rises for Badagry as LASG mulls LASOPACDEC Stories by JOSHUA BASSEY

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lans are underway to establish Lagos State Oil Producing Areas Community Development Committee (LASOPACDEC).

The committee when established would ensure that relevant segments of the oil producing area in Badagry, including women, youths, traditional rulers and other stakeholders not only enjoy development, but protected against degradation.

The state commissioner for energy and mineral resources, Olalere Odusote, who made this known during the oil producing areas community relations committee engagement forum, in Badagry, a bill to institutionalise the committee was being aggressively pursued at the House of Assembly.

L-R: Tokunbo Wahab, special adviser to Lagos governor on education; Shade Olukoya, wife of the General Overseer, Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries; her husband, Daniel Olukoya; Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Lagos State governor; Elijah Ayolabi, vice-chancellor, Mountain Top University; a guest and Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, vice chancellor, University of Lagos, at the first convocation and lecture of Mountain Top University, Ibafo, Ogun State, on Friday.

Odusote said the ratification of the bill and the introduction of a Lagos State Oil Producing

Areas Community Relations (Omnibus) bill, along with other pending and ongoing regulatory,

judicial and state reforms, would stand the state out in terms of compliance with international stan-

Sanwo-Olu tasks students to embrace technology

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agos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has advised graduating students of the Mountain Top University to embrace change and disruption if they intend to compete in today’s labour market.

Sanwo-Olu spoke as a guest lecturer at the graduation ceremony of Mountain Top University, on Friday. The university is owned by the Mountain of Fire Ministries.

The governor delivered a lecture titled, “future of job and the world of work: the need for graduates that are globally competitive.”

According to him, the knowledge acquired in the university becomes obsolete in a short while and needs continuous advancement, urging the graduating students to adopt technology because “jobs of the future will be driven by technology”.

“Many of the things you learnt in university will have

grown obsolete even before you complete NYSC. That’s the truth. Fifty or a hundred years down the line; new technologies would have emerged to disrupt the world as we know it. But it is certain that to thrive in that world, university graduates will need to be fully prepared. They will need to be educated in the tools and the languages of that world, and will need to be able to compete with multitude of other graduates in the quest for jobs and employment. We must also extend this to curriculum transformation.

We will not progress in the 21st century using 20th century curricula. Our young people must become comfortable with coding, robotics, 3D printing and other technologies from an early age, especially in the public school system. Regardless of what academic track our students are on: arts, sciences or social sciences; technological

literacy must be a common denominator,” he said.

The governor listed four most important factors and trends that shape the world of today as demographics, youth employment, globalisation and the fourth industrial revolution. He noted that globalisation has shaped the way we interpret the world we live in.

“This is a word that has come to stay with us, and to shape the way we interpret the world we live in. In its simplest terms, it refers to growing break-down of national borders. The rules that once governed a world composed of distinct nation-states are being re-written.

Under the impact of technology, especially modern communication and transportation technologies, the world has taken on the characteristics of a “global village”– with implications for the present and the future of work.”

He further stated that tech-

nology has made it easier for users to find job opportunities outside their immediate environment.

Vice chancellor of the university, Elijah Ayolabi, a professor, charged the students to be good ambassadors of the institution. He described the students as firstborn, pride of the institution and the symbol of her strength.

He said the students represented what the Mountain Top University stands for.

“What you do with the training you got is your sole responsibility. I charge you today, therefore, to remember the responsibility placed on your shoulders as the first children of MTU.” The university graduated a total of 120 students, 22 among them bagged first class in various disciplines. Other dignitaries present at the occasion include the General Overseer of MFM, Daniel Olukoya, among others.

Waste: LAWMA promises improved PSP services

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he managing director of Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Muyiwa Gbadegesin, has restated the agency’s commitment to improved waste evacuation by private sector participants (PSP) through robust government assistance to sustain their businesses.

In what signaled the readiness of LAWMA to support to assist the PSP operators, Gbadegesin on Friday presented consolatory cheques to three PSP operators whose compactors got burnt on active duty.

The LAWMA boss made the presentation during an interactive session with PSP operators, noting that the authority would not relent effort to provide a businessfriendly environment for the waste collectors, as well as a climate of partnership and collaboration.

He hinted that the authority would early next year take delivery of new compactors being procured by the state government in a determined effort to tackle the challenge of waste management in Lagos.

He, however, charged the PSP operators to secure insurance cover for their businesses in order to mitigate unpleasant and unforeseen occurrences.

The MD said 2019 had been an eventful year for waste management in the state, maintaining that the end of the year interactive session became necessary to dialogue over subsisting challenges hampering PSP operations and working towards proffering appropriate solutions.

The LAWMA boss was emphatic that this administration would stop at nothing to

support the waste collectors in the execution of their statutory duties, promising that the in-coming year would witness drastic improvements in waste management services across the metropolis.

President of Association of Waste Managers of Nigeria (AWAMN), David Oriyomi, applauded the gesture of the government, describing the cheque presentation as humanitarian and promising renewed enthusiasm of PSP operators to work towards making Lagos cleaner and serene for residents.

dards.

According to him, the bill was aimed at institutionalising the collaborative social responsibility effort that was put in place to ensure that stakeholders have a platform to advise government on different issues relevant to unhindered operation in the oil producing areas.

He assured the inclusion of indigenes in the employment plan of the relevant companies operating within the communities, the commissioner also promised to encourage oil companies to engage in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) intervention projects for the benefit of host communities which according to him will empower skilled and unskilled women and youths in the host communities “We have obtained the necessary approvals from the governor for a conference to take the discus-

sion further. In the next few weeks the ministry will announce the modalities for the conference. He commend the efforts of traditional rulers in the area who he said, have been in the forefront of the success of the committee for their dedication, commitment, unity of purpose and loyalty to the cause of developing their communities and the State Stakeholders at the interactive session, however, decried the lack of infrastructure in Badagry and urged the state government to be more responsive to the needs of the oil producing communities.

Vice chairman of the committee, Solomon Hunponu-Wusu said the committee would address its responsibilities with all the seriousness it deserved while also providing an enabling environment for businesses to thrive in the area.

Relocation of Computer Village: LASG seeks stakeholders’ understanding

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he Lagos State government has met with stakeholders to reach agreements towards the planned relocation of the Computer Village.

The Computer Village is to be relocated from Ikeja to Katangowa in Agbado/ Oke-Odo local council development area.

Sanusi Mukaila, spokesman for the state ministry of physical planning and urban development, in a statement said the meeting was to carry stakeholders along on the project.

Mukaila said that the plan included construction or upgrading of network of roads within the new location.

The commissioner for physical planning and urban development, Idris Salako, was quoted as saying that the relocation process began with the engagement of stakeholders to ensure effective communication and successful take-off of the project.

According to him, the project would transform the landscape of the new location and positively impact lives by providing succour to residents of Lagos.

Salako said that the current administration has approved the infrastructure upgrade of the host com-

munity and the delivery of the project site.

“I am happy to note that this is a landmark event, which in no small measure, accentuates our commitment to achieving an orderly, sustainable mega city that is friendly to business and tourism as articulated on the agenda of Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo- Olu. “You will start receiving in your domain agents of government, who will make necessary assessments of property that will be affected, serve notices and carry out other responsibilities in line with this project.

“Please accord them the necessary support, while relevant institutions of government will work out appropriate compensation to properties that will be affected,” he said.

Salako appealed to all stakeholders to support the government’s drive for the development of the axis by releasing the right of way of the project where necessary to ensure speedy completion.

Members of the community called for the speedy completion of the project.

Roads to be constructed in the area include Ahmed Mohammed Road,Ogunyemi Damisa Street and Abubakar Street.

NAN

Sunday 22 December 2019

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Lagos and the threat of environmental pollution

editor Zebulon Agomuo

constitutes serious health hazard to all and sundry.

Contamination from the fume of domestic and industrial generating sets, industrial machines and the likes is a daily reality that we all subsist with in Lagos. Many residents’ health conditions have completely deteriorated as a result of the poisonous effects of industrial pollution. Indeed, many have died as a result of failing medical situation arising from the hazard of air pollution.

It is unfortunate that many people seem not to recognize that the worth of our lives as human beings is significantly a manifestation of the quality of the surroundings which we inhabit. Many still seem not to understand that the environment which we live in, like blood is to the human body, is life in itself.

Therefore, it is whatever we give to the environment that it throws back at us. It is as simple as that! Most cities of the world experience environmental abuse as a result of the ignorance of the people when it comes to environmental matters. When we consciously decide to operate in manners that could jeopardize the environment, we are the ones that would definitely put up with the results of such actions. Hence, we need to realize that ensuring a healthier environment should be everybody’s task.

Research has shown that people who reside in noisy and polluted places are more susceptible to contracting terrible diseases and as such easily vulnerable to avoidable deaths. At the 2007 World

Frank Aigbogun

DEPUTY EDITOR John Osadolor, Abuja EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, OPERATIONS Fabian Akagha EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, STRATEGY, INNOVATION & PARTNERSHIPS Oghenevwoke Ighure ADVERT MANAGER Ijeoma Ude FINANCE MANAGER Emeka Ifeanyi MANAGER, CONFERENCES & EVENTS Obiora Onyeaso BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER (South East, South South) Patrick Ijegbai COPY SALES MANAGER Florence Kadiri DIGITAL SALES MANAGER Linda Ochugbua GM, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT (North)

Bashir Ibrahim Hassan

GM, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT (South) Ignatius Chukwu HEAD, HUMAN RESOURCES Adeola Obisesan

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Imo Itsueli Mohammed Hayatudeen Afolabi Oladele Vincent Maduka Opeyemi Agbaje Amina Oyagbola Bolanle Onagoruwa Fola Laoye Chuka Mordi Mezuo Nwuneli Charles Anudu Tunji Adegbesan Eyo Ekpo Wiebe Boer Paul Arinze Boye Olusanya Ayo Gbeleyi Haruna Jalo-Waziri Clement Isong

Tayo Ogunbiyi Ogunbiyi is of the Lagos State Ministry of Information & Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja

L

agos is a land of opportunities. The sheer allure of Lagos drives many to the sprawling City-State. It is this exodus that actually makes Lagos a melting pot.

This is what makes Lagos tick. The presence of people from diverse walks of life is partly responsible for the prosperity of Lagos.

It is ironic; however, that the prosperity of Lagos has also brought a huge pressure on it as lots of human induced activities that guarantee its prosperity, if not properly checked, could usher in unimaginable misery for this ever bustling metropolis. Beside noise pollution, which is a common trend in almost every part of the metropolis, air pollution has also become an integral part of the hazards of living in Lagos.

With most industries in the state sidetracking the required standard in terms of the management of industrial smoke, water and waste, Lagosians daily live with the risk of inhaling polluted air that

Health Organization Conference on environmental pollution, it was agreed that noise causes severe mental health problems, sleep deprivation, hearing impairment, high blood pressure, and many other diseases.

The most immediate effect of noise pollution is, however, a deterioration of mental health. People who live too close to airports, for instance, will probably be quite nervous. Continuous noise can create panic episodes in a person and can even raise frustration levels.

Also, noise pollution is a big deterrent in focusing the mind to a particular task. Over time, the mind may just lose its capacity to concentrate on things.

This explains why researchers and academics prefer to live in quiet neighbourhoods where they could stay close to nature foe effective concentration.

Another immediate effect of noise pollution is a deterioration of the ability to hear things clearly.

Even on a short-term basis, noise pollution can cause temporary deafness. But if it continues for a long time, there’s a danger that the person might go stone deaf.

Excessive noise could also have a dangerous effect on the heart.

It is in an attempt to address this intricate issue that officials of the Lagos State government recently sealed up some religious centers, hotels and industries for contravening the state environmental regulations. The action was the culmination of months of consistent interface between proprietors of these organisations

and officials of the State.

It is a statement of strong intent from the State government that affirms its zero tolerance for environmental abuse. Considering the harmful effects of this flagrant abuse of environmental laws by the perpetrators, the action of the State government was driven by the desire to protect the well- being of the populace.

The Lagos State government has zero tolerance for environmental pollution in the State. It is, therefore, determined to bluntly tackle this menace. However, it is important to appreciate the difficult and complex nature of the task. There is a need for stakeholders to effectively collaborate with the State government in tackling the ugly trend of environmental pollution in our society.

Worship centers, hotels and industries across the State must comply with the State’s environmental law since it is meant for the common good of everyone.

If we want to maintain a sane society, we must learn to adhere to societal laws. The prevalence of major life threatening diseases is already causing enough health hazards in the land.

Hence, it is only sensible that we shun all human induced activities that could further endanger human lives. We must put aside all pointless sentiments and embrace a sane environment that upholds the safety of everybody.

This is the only way forward.

Ogunbiyi is of the Features Unit, Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja

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Sunday 22 December 2019

PhotoSplash

L-R: Olusegun McMedal, president, Lagos Chapter, Nigeria Institute of Public Relations (NIPR); Rotimi Oladele, immediate past president, NIPR; Omolade Opanuga, manager, corporate & legal services, BlackHouse Media, and Enitan Kehinde, lead consultant, BlackHouse Media, as BlackHouse Media received the award for Best Innovation in PR Practice at the 2019 LaPRIGA Awards in Lagos.

L-R: Jaiye Olafeso, manager, domestic operations, Red Star Express Plc; Ifunanya Iwuagwu, secretary and legal adviser, Red Star Foundation; Tonye Preghafi, chairman, board of trustees, Red Star Foundation; Olakunle Lasisi, executive secretary, Nigerian Red Cross Society (Lagos Branch); Florence Imoh, care giver, Red Cross Society, and Taofeek Adeleye, social worker, Red Cross Society, at the visit by Red Star Foundation and donation of edibles and household items to the Red Cross Orphanage and Motherless Babies Homes in Makoko, Lagos

L-R: Bolajoko Fadipe, founder/CEO, Foodclique support Initiative; Adedoyin Samo, group head, human resources and admin, Zedcrest Capital Group; Sukanmi Suraj, volunteer, Foodclique Support Initiative; Niyi Fajemilehin, team lead, Zedvance Payroll, and Afolabi Ayowole, marketing/brand communications officer, Zedvance Limited, at the Zedvance “Season of Giving” CSR Initiative where over 500 children were fed at Ebuta Metta, Lagos.

From L-R: Peniel Ajuka, GM, Media Panache; Seyi Awolowo, brand ambassador, SeekMed; Nzube Roberts, public relations consultant, Media Panache, at the signing of Seyi Awolowo’s endorsement deal with Seekmed - a telemedicine mobile application, in Lagos.

Over 350 3kgs of Rice was distributed to Lagosians over the weekend by Clubs in Region 6, led by Lion Blessing Umebali, (r); Lion John Oriazowan (2nd r), Club president of Ikeja Metro Lions Club; Lion Cynthia Saka (3rd r), president, Lagos Apex Lions Club; Lion Matthew Obasohan, president, Ikeja Unique Lions Club, and Lion Jaiyeola Ayodele, membership chairperson of Lagos Apex Lions Club

Ted Ojukwu (l), outgoing president, Heritage Advancement Forum (HAF), presenting Meritorious service award to Aaron Irabor, newly elected president, at HAF annual general meeting/Induction and Award Night of the Forum in Lagos

L-R: Emmanuel Ojo, CEO, Chams Switch; Kayode Sorinwa, country director, Network International; Demola Igbalajobi, ED, SystemSpecs; Akeem Lawal, divisional CEO, Interswitch; Stanley Jacob, chairman, Committee of e-Business Industry Heads; Jide Oladipo, sales manager, Inlaks Computers; Uche Elendu, divisional CEO, Digital Payment Services, and Victoria Ilevbare, business development manager, Accelerex, at the 2019 retreat of Committee of Head of E-Business Heads (CeBIH) in Abeokuta Ogun State.

L-R: Titilayo Fowokan, 2nd vice president, Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE); Zubair Muazu, patron, ACFE, assistant inspector general of Police (AIG), being presented Award of Excellence by Godwin Oyedokun, president of ACFE, Lagos Chapter, and Lydia Ajayi, director, ACFE, at ACFE’s 3rd annual conference in Lagos

Sunday 22 December 2019

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13

Politics Governors negotiating with bandits are encouraging people to take to crime - Iwuagwu

Timothy Chimezie Iwuagwu is a retired Naval engineer who served the Nigerian Navy for 31years before he voluntarily retired from service. A former member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Iwuagwu contested for a seat in the House of Representatives in the 2019 general election on the platform of the Abundant Nigeria Renewal Party of Nigeria (ANRP) for Mbaitoli/Ikeduru federal constituency in Imo State. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Safety Professionals of Nigeria (ISPON) and currently the Lagos State coordinator of the body. In this interview, he spoke on a number of issues, including the present state of insecurity in the country, farmers-herdsmen clashes, and the call for state police. Excerpts:

F

What’s your take on the present state of insecurity in the country? irst of all, we should look at the issue from a global perspective because Nigerians are not living in isolation from other comity of nations. Nigerians are human beings like other human beings living across the globe, so, we are also affected by global events. The world now being a global village has made movement of people easier. You have now almost seamless trans-national and transintercontinental movements. Now, people have started interacting in different clusters, so the development has given more tasks to the issue of not only national but also international security across the world.

Nigeria being a part of a regional bloc in West Africa, called ECOWAS, is a signatory to the bloc’s convention which allows free movement of people among member states.

Then, in other parts of Africa you have similar blocs which allow free movement of people.

The aim of all these regional collaborations and cooperation is to ease commerce and social relationships. But this good intention has not always been 100 percent successful because you see some criminals with sinister motives will infiltrate the system, thereby leaving those saddled with maintenance of security in different countries with a lot of work to do.

Looking at insecurity in Nigeria, we are looking at a country that is so large but also a nation so brotherly and accommodating, willing to foster African oneness to the extent that it is now causing Nigeria so much pain. Nigeria has a lot of security challenges, they are enormous. For example, while Nigeria has seaport, some of our neighbours like Niger, and Chad are landlocked and under international law, Nigeria as a littoral nation is forbidden from preventing these landlocked nations from receiving their consignments. We have a duty to ensure that the commodities imported by these nations are not unstuffed while in transit to their countries through Nigeria, but a lot of criminals take advantage of this to smuggle arms into Nigeria. They used the opportunity to bring a lot of terrible things into Nigeria. Nigeria is facing a lot of challenges in this regard.

Nigeria is also sharing boundaries with a lot of countries that share boundaries with North Africa, and we are all aware of the Arab springs where revolts started in Tunisia and spread to other nations, including Libya.

Unfortunately the death of late Libyan leader, Muammar Gadaffi led to a state of lawlessness, thereby resulting in influx of armed gunmen with sophisticated arms into Nigeria and some other nations. Some of these people are sponsoring different groups in Nigeria including Boko Haram. But in a way, these terrorists have brought out the best in our security forces.

How and in what way?

A lot of people before never believed that we can have terrorists in Nigeria or that terrorism can flourish on our soil. Then in the absence of terrorism and terrorists, our security forces were on holiday, but now they have been put on their toes. We now have a more dynamic Army and active Police

Timothy Chimezie Iwuagwu

Force because those policemen that were sent to where insurgents are operating, their attitude changed because it is not a place to start looking for who will give you money because you can just be given bomb thinking that it is money. So, the alertness and consciousness of our security forces have been beefed up because of the dangers inherent in operations they now found themselves carrying out.

What’s the way out of the insecurity challenges, including Boko Haram insurgency?

For the Boko Haram, the group has now been tagged as one of the most dangerous in the world. They even now have different factions, and some of these factions have taken to kidnapping and banditry in order to survive. They now kidnap for ransom, and they use ransom money to procure arms, food and other logistics. Some of these insurgents are also involved in cattle rustling.

They kill herdsmen, steal and sell their cows to raise money to buy arms. Sometimes, they use cattle to transport arms. They even use cattle to infiltrate agrarian communities to attack farmers.

Nigerian security men have now found themselves in a very tasking position to the extent now that men of the Civil Defence, and what some states in the North call Civilian Joint Task Force have to join our security operatives to tackle insecurity, and this is a positive development.

What this means is that we have now realised the important roles the local people can play in the battle against insecurity.

Army personnel may not have a good knowledge of the terrain within a locality, and we have such experience while I was serving with the ECOMOG force in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

The rebels then were familiar with the terrain and the ECOMOG forces and the

United Nations peace keepers were not that familiar with the terrain, so a lot of casualties were recorded on the side of the ECOMOG and UN peace keepers side. But the ugly trend was reversed when some locals called Kamajors in Sierra Leone were embedded with the ECOMOG and the UN Forces.

These Kamajors became an asset, so it is the same way members of the Civilian JTF here in Nigeria are proving to be useful to the soldiers in helping to tackle insecurity and insurgency. So, part of the solution is for us to use the local people as informants for our security forces. This is part of what some people will describe as community policing.

Some Nigerians have even suggested the creation of state police as a way out; what’s your reaction to that?

State police is very relevant. But in a way, what many Nigerians don’t know is that state police is already here with us and what is just needed is to formalise it. What do I mean by this? In Lagos State, you have some groups called Kick Against Indiscipline, you have some called Sanitation Corps, you have LASTMA, you have Neighbourhood Watch, all these are local police whether we want to admit or not, and it is not only in Lagos State that you have such groups, they are in other states across the country. What we just need to do is to give these groups relevant training and orientation on issues relating to security.

Are LASTMA people not helping police with their traffic duties? The only thing is that they can’t charge and prosecute people like the police. But then, they are also policing the traffic system. We may not know but what we are canvassing and looking for is already here with us, and that is state police. Nigeria is already becoming a state police, and there is no big deal in having state police. In other countries, they have state police including Italy, and the United States.

How would you react to the clamour by some Nigerians that security votes being collected by state governors should be scrapped in order to have more funds to boost security and also to recruit more policemen?

Policies are dynamic. What led to security votes being given to state governors may still be relevant but then there is need to confirm whether security votes being given to state governors is being used for the purpose for which it is being collected.

Whether the security vote is meant to protect and save the people or just for the sake of having money in the pockets of the state governors have to be reviewed. But it seems today that security votes have become pocket money for some state governors. The fund is not being used by some governors for the purpose for which it is intended. It is unfortunate that when people come to positions of authorities, sometime, they lose contact with realities so they need constant reminders and our political leaders must also have listening ears. Nigerians should also stop demanding money from politicians. What they should be demanding for is accountability and service. Service and accountability are what Nigerians should demand for instead of asking for a bag of rice or money from politicians.

If a politician gives 500 bags of rice to people in a community, he will just conclude that the people have got their dividends of democracy.

Our security and citizens’ welfare should be paramount on the minds of our leaders.

Nigeria is a very big country and so the issue of security and welfare should b e accorded top priority.

Ranching has been suggested as a way of resolving the farmers-herdsmen clashes; what’s your view on this?

The concept of Ranching is a good idea.

Advanced countries of this world are practicing it and it is working – so why must we not embrace it? We must change with time.

Ranching can to a very reasonable extent solve farmers-herdsmen clashes. Even farmers can cut the grass on their farm, take it to the ranches and sell it to herdsmen instead of herdsmen taking their cows to destroy farmlands.

We should emulate the way ranching is done abroad and I believe we can also do it here if we have the will power to do so.

Some state governors including that of Zamfara and Katsina are now negotiating with bandits in order to secure peace in their states,; how do you see that development?

It is a wrong idea. It is like legitimising the nefarious activities of these criminals. Some well-to-do citizens are sponsoring some of these kidnappers and bandits and they are making money from it. They may be the ones that even go behind to pressure the governors to negotiate with bandits.

They have turned banditry and kidnapping into commodity of trade. Negotiating with bandits is wrong. It will send wrong signals.

It should not be encouraged.

14

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Sunday 22 December 2019

Politics Corruption aiding high unemployment in Nigeria

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Solomon Ayado, Abuja

he high rate of unemployment in the country has being attributed to corruption value chain in high places of authority which is a worrisome situation that urgently require deliberate effort by both government and the private sector to solve .

The wave of criminality such as kidnapping, armed robbery, terrorism, rape, cultism among others, are harvest of unemployment which has remained not addressed.

In Nigeria today, it has become a norm that before an unemployed person secure any job, whether in government or private enterprises, he or she must be connected to a top government appointee and or a staunch politician.

The situation has degenerated to a worsened state that Nigerian lawmakers - Senators and members of the House of Representatives, ministers, governors, commissioners, council chairmen, traditional and religious leaders issue notes to applicants before they are considered for any job.

It is pathetic that even if an applicant angling for a job is eminently qualified but does not have link to the ‘sacred cows’ in top government places, such a person does not get to be employed.

Also, there are situations where some applicants who are not in any way qualified for job but has connections with those in government, are offered plumb jobs without prerequisites or having to go through the rigors.

To worsen the matter, applicants are now reportedly required to pay huge sum of money before they are employed. The ugly trend is allegedly rampant in federal ministries, military and paramilitary agencies.

The principle of federal character which stipulates fair and equal sharing of jobs across states and regions in the country is totally neglected.

It is obvious that jobs are no longer being allotted evenly. The new illegal method is that whoever presides over government decides or pushes chunk of the job slots to his or her state or region.

“The unemployment situation in the country can only get worse than better because corruption has taken the center stage. If you are not connected to a politician or government official, you cannot secure any job in Nigeria.

“When we applied for paramilitary job in the recent recruitment, applicants were asked to pay between N300,000 and N600, 000 according to junior or senior rank.

But those that brought notes from Senators or paid the money did

Chris Ngige

not even go through screening, and they were shortlisted. Some of us, because we had nobody, we were qualified, we passed through all the process including training but at the end, our names were not listed for employment.

This country is finished,” an unemployed youth in Abuja spoke on condition of anonymity.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the current unemployment rate in Nigeria increased to 23.10 percent in the third quarter of 2019 from 22.70 percent in the second quarter of 2018.

Unemployment Rate in Nigeria averaged 12.31 percent from 2006 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 23.10 percent in the third quarter and a record low of 5.10 percent in the fourth quarter.

By this record, it means the country is not making any remarkable progress in tackling the unemployment rate, if compared to the total pollution of the country.

Recently, the minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige, during a workshop on “Breaking the Resilience of High Unemployment Rate in the Country” in Abuja recently, said the unemployment rate in the country will reach 33.5 percent by 2020.

“As if this situation is not scary enough, it is projected that the unemployment rate for this country will reach 33.5 percent by 2020, with consequences that are better imagined, if the trend is not urgently reversed.

“It is a worrisome status as the global poverty capital (World Bank, 2018); and concomitant high prevalence rate of crimes and criminality, including mass murders, insurgency, militancy, armed robbery, kidnappings and drug abuse, among others,” Ngige

had said.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Senate recently said it is concerned that the rate of unemployment is rising to an uncontrollable level.

According to the Upper Chamber, the high level of insecurity is simply as a result of unemployment. It said government must act fast to address the situation, if not, the condition is capable of collapsing the country.

Consequently, the Senate directed the federal government to urgently declare state of emergency on unemployment with a view to not only ending the scourge, but to make jobs available to all categories of unemployed persons.

This, the Senate insisted can be achieved through revitalisation of critical sectors such as agriculture, mines and steel. Also, it said industrialisation and skills acquisition can enhance employment opportunities.

The decision by Senate was sequel to a motion by Senator Ike Ekweremadu, a former deputy Senate President. He said that “any nation with such number of unemployed but employable youth population is only sitting on a keg of gunpowder.

“Senate is perturbed that the most pressing demand on the hand of every legislator and public officer is the rising number of Curriculum Vitae and application for employment from constituents and Nigerians.

“A situation where every graduate has to queue up for job only in government offices is an indication of the breakdown of private sector, which is the major driver of world economies,” Ekweremadu stated.

As much as Senate is peeved with the alarming unemployment rate, it amounts to waging war against itself because the template

for illegal influence of employment can be said to have partly be set by it.

How does it suddenly become a norm that before an unemployed person is offered a job, he or she must bring a written note from a Senator? What becomes of those who do not know, have or not connected to Senators?

Quite funnily, it appears the Senators can no longer cope with the pressure created by themselves. They only seem to be sick and tired of uncountable employment requests they often receive from their constituents, and they want to simply purge it.

One thing that is fact is that, since the lawmakers - politicians, have penchant for making big promises - provision of abundant jobs, during their electioneering campaigns, it is only right they live up to their words than grumble over pressure.

Some persons have alleged that the lawmakers are architects of the breach of the principle of federal character. They alleged that till the lawmakers refrain from hijack of job slots, and issuance of notes to agencies, the alarming unemployment rate will continue to rear its ugly head.

Speaking on the worrisome unemployment issue, Senate President, Ahmad Lawan in an interview said it is high time all hands are put on deck, and that government at all levels should initiate or employ proactive measures that could bring the ugly situation to a permanent end.

Lawan however, denied the allegation that Senators hijack jobs by breach of principle of federal character. He insisted that they believe in fairness and legality.

He also denied lopsidedness in nomination of appointments into

the executive arm of government.

Although Lawan’s denial is coming few weeks after a job illegality was blown in the National Assembly where it was alleged that he cornered majority of slots to his state and senatorial district.

“One of the reasons we have gone for round table discussions in agriculture and solid minerals is to provide enabling environment for diversification of the economy. Agriculture will definitely provide a lot of employment opportunities and so with the solid minerals sector. But before then, we believe that government should continue to support the private sector because it creates more job opportunities than government agencies.

“Members of the National Assembly don’t hijack employment, we represent people and when there are opportunities, everybody applies, in fact these days, it is done online. I want to assure that nobody will hijack any opportunity.

“I believe in federal character principle because, it is equity, fairness and it is justice. Any society that is deficit in these areas is a society that is doom to fair.

There is no issue of lopsidedness in nominations into executive.

“Probably, I over applied the federal character principle in some areas but I believe that I have done that much. In fact, in the last Senate, from employment in my office, only one person was from my place, only my personal assistant and that is because I believe in Nigeria, I believe in merit and want people who will only help me discharge my responsibilities. That same thing, I have done in the office of the Senate President. I am looking for people who will help me discharge the obligations of that office,” Lawan stated.

Meanwhile, experts have advised that to curb unemployment, government must institutionalise entrepreneurial skills. Those entrepreneurs should be supported to build and maintain their brands.

They say that empowering entrepreneurs can change the country’s current unemployment status by making unemployed persons self employed.

Robin Berenson, an academic innovation expert has said economy can only be approved by providing high quality, flexible and accessible higher education.

“The workplace is changing and so should higher education.

We aim to bridge the gap between learners and employers. People should be equipped with leadership and teamwork skills, technology for business, corporate sustainability, innovation, change, and information-driven decision making,” he said in an interview.

Sunday 22 December 2019

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15

Politics Ohanaeze Ndigbo urges Buhari to assent to South East Development Commission Bill ...As fears of withholding assent trail Bill James Kwen, Abuja

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hanaeze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo socio-cultural group in Nigeria that represents all Igbo communities within and outside Nigeria, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to give assent to South East Development Commission passed by the 8th National Assembly.

According to the Igbo socio-cultural organisation, the Presidential assent to the Bill and establishment of the South East Development Commission would not only rehabilitate, resuscitate and propel development in the civil war ravage South-East zone of Nigeria but would enhance the economic revival of the entire country.

The Bill sought to establish the SouthEast Development Commission to “Serve as a Catalyst to Develop the Commercial Potentials of the South-East, Receive and Manage Funds from Allocation of the Federation for the Rehabilitation, Reconstruction, Reparation for Houses and Lost Business of Victims of the Civil War and Address any Other Environmental or Developmental Challenges.”

The Commission when established would be funded by 15percent of the Federal Allocation from States within the region; Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo States shall among other things, formulate policies and guidelines for the development of the South-East region.

It will among others: “conceive, plan and implement in accordance with the set rules and regulations, projects and programmes for the sustainable development of the South-East in the field of roads, education, health facilities, employment, water supply, electricity and commerce.

“Tackle ecological and environmental problems that arise from the soil erosion problems and other environmental challenges in the South-East and advice Federal Government and member states on the prevention and control of the erosion and environmental challenges.

“Identify factors inhibiting the development of the South-East and assist the member states in the formulation and implementation of the resources of the South-East”.

The enactment of the South -East Development Commission Bill target to rebuild

John Nnia Nwodo

the South-East and provide opportunity for the people to display their talent and contribute immensely to the development of the country.

Proponents of the Bill contended that it is sequel to the near failure of Reconciliation, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation (3Rs) of the South-East to reintegrate the people captured in the then Head of State, Yakubu Gowon declaration of ‘no victor, no vanquished’ at the end of the civil war.

However, since the Bill was passed about six months ago it has not received Presidential assent to make it an establishment Act for South East Development Commission, similar to the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC and recently, the North East Development Commission.

Reacting to this development, John Nwodo, President-General, Ohanaeze Ndigbo called on President Buhari to demonstrate his oath of office and his declaration in the first inauguration that “he belongs to everyone and belongs to no one by putting his pen on that bill”.

Nwodo exclusively told BDSUNDAY that the South East is the most ravaged area of Nigeria as a result of the civil war during which the infrastructure in the zone was completely destroyed and since the end of the war, little or nothing has been done about that but with such Commission, the situation could be addressed.

He said as a zone which contributes significantly to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country and the economy generally, South deserved the same treatment such as

National Assembly Complex

the one given to the North East which apart from taking a chunk of the country’s defence budget, has a Commission established to rehabilitate and reintegrate areas affected by the Boko Haram insurgency.

“No serious highway is in the South East.

As I speak to you, Enugu-Onitsha Road is not motorable, Onitsha to Owerri is not motorable, Enugu-Port Harcourt is not motorable.

The density of traffic in South East is the highest in the country. The South East Seaports are still in the drawing stage; nobody has given them federal attention.

“The railway line from Port Harcourt through Enugu-Makurdi-Maiduguri is still at the stage it was at the end of the war. There is no rail connection to Onitsha, the biggest market in West Africa. There is none to Abakiliki, the food basin of the South East.

The South East is completely land-locked; it has no sea outlet.

“The commerce in the South East is second only to Lagos and Kano in terms of its contribution to the GDP if not more. If there is any bill that can contribute to the growth of the nation for special attention to be given to it is the South East. We are also an oil producing area, there are oil and gas reserves in Anambara, Imo, Enugu and Abia. Our coal has become comatose and coal drive this country development in transport and foreign earnings and it has been uncompensated by Nigeria up till today,” the Igbo leader stated.

Meanwhile, there are fears that the South East Development Commission Bill may not get assent or may be sent back to the 9th National Assembly for reconsideration.

Credible sources confided in BDSUNDAY that the presidency would certainly sent the Bill back to the National Assembly and it may be eventually killed as it was done in the House of Representatives in 2017.

The Bill was killed in the House of Representatives in 2017 and almost two years after, Senate, reintroduced and passed and only sent to the House of Representatives for concurrence in line with Nigeria’s bicameral legislature practice.

Before the concurrence, there was a fierce debate that almost torn the House apart along regional and party lines, as Hassan Shakarau from Kaduna State, not in support of the Bill warned against duplicity and wanton creation of Commissions, hence if not checked can become a demand from all geopolitical zones.

“If we continue like this, very soon we will have commission for every zone. My take is that we should find a way of taking care of these anomalies like this so that we don’t end up setting commissions for issues that we can prevent”, he said.

Also, Aminu Suleiman from Kano State asked the House to kill the Bill, recalling that it had been rejected by the House in 2017 and it does not matter whether it emanated from the Senate.

“This Bill was brought before this Chamber and it was debated through. It was stepped down. I do understand. We should look at Bill on the thorough objectives of Bills. I would want to plead without any sentiment that this Bill should not go,” Suleiman argued.

Ekere pledges to support economic development of Akwa Ibom ANIEFIOK UDONQUAK, Uyo

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he governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom State in the last general election, Nsima Ekere says he will continue to support the economic development of the state despite the outcome of the Supreme Court judgment which affirmed the election of Governor Udom Emmanuel.

Ekere, a former managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), who said he bears no grudge against anybody, added that though he would return to his private life, he would continue to support programmes that would ensure the rapid development of the state.

In a statement made available to the media in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, he noted that Akwa Ibom State deserves more than what it is getting at the moment in terms of development and thanked he his supporters for standing by him throughout the campaign.

“I bear no grudges whatsoever and for those I may have hurt in the electioneering process, I apologise unreservedly.

“Akwa Ibom has come a long way since its creation, but we are still far away from the state of greatness which beckons on us. As an indigene of this great state, I pledge to continue to give myself diligently to everything that will impact the greater good of the greatest number of our people,” he said.

Ekere further said: “Now that the elec-

tion and the legal challenges are over, it is my prayer that the current administration in the state will focus on the urgent need to move the state forward so that our people and communities will experience a new and positive lease of life.

“When I joined the Governorship race and ran on the plank of The New Vision for our Collective Prosperity, I believed that the State and our people deserved much better than they were getting. Our five Pillars of Change were designed to deliver economic prosperity, infrastructural and rural development, 21st century education, health and social protection, improved security and overall reforms of our governance system.

“Indeed, the campaign has never been about me but about the impact that a fo-

cused, innovative and committed leadership can make in our dear Akwa Ibom State and in the lives of our peaceful, hardworking and resourceful people.’’

He commended President Muhammadu Buhari for granting financial autonomy to the local government, a position he said he canvassed for which he noted will help to bring rapid development to the grassroots if operated properly and transparently.

Besides, he thanked the party for providing a platform for him to fly its flag at the election, lauding the party faithful and supporters for their support, commitment and confidence reposed in him.

According to him, the “party has moved closer to becoming a major electoral force in Akwa Ibom State.’’

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Sunday 22 December 2019

Politics

Magnus Abe walks tight rope in Rivers’ dirty politics

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Ignatius Chukwu

goni-born Magnus Abe served in the Senate, served as secretary to the Rivers State government, served as commissioner of information, and once a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly where he was minority leader. Many may not easily remember any of these highsounding offices but would more easily signpost him as the man who singled-handedly stopped his party that had 50 percent chances of taking over the state, the All Progressives Congress (APC), from contesting at all. By this, his party lost the election to their rival, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), even before the elections began.

He had secured a court order that stood up to the apex court in the land barring his party from fielding any single candidate. Today, his party with such brilliant chance has no single elected member from the local councils to governor.

He has tried to prove that he did not intend to kill his party but was only fighting for his right, but many APC members keep pelting him with stigmas, saying he worked with the Governor, Nyesom Wike, to stop the APC so as to deliver easy victory to the PDP. Those prosecuting this theory said Abe had reached a deal with Wike against 2023 (to make him governor). They later said Abe would share the cabinet positions with Wike.

The situation remained dicey until when it was time to appoint commissioners into Wike’s cabinet. The long delay by Wike to name his commissioners seemed to give room for speculations, one of which was that new alliances were creating issues in naming the cabinet. While the delay lasted, the APC wanted to conduct fresh congresses but Abe’s men went back to court to stop it. This raised fears that the faction was bent on wiping the party off the ground before moving over to the governor’s party.

At this same period, President Muhammadu Buhari, who is said to have friendly relationship with Abe’s brother, was handing out appointments and many said Abe was on the consideration list. It now appeared dangerous for his men to feature on Wike’s list at such a sensitive moment.

APC insiders argued that as long as Abe was in court against the APC, he would not decamp to any other party and thus would not have full chance to hold his party to the jocular. He would not convince the national leadership of his party that he was still in the family. On the other hand, continuing to be in court with his party would delay

Nyesom Wike

appointment of commissioners and take-off of the Wike cabinet.

When 13 commissioners were named first week in December, most persons rushed to know if Abe’s men were nominated. A neutral source in the party said Abe’s men were not there, saying those regarded as his men were mere Ogoni leaders who have been fighting for an Ogoni as governor.

An inquiry sent to Abe’s media aide, Parry Benson, did not get any response but a former lawmaker and close source in the Abe group however, told BDSUNDAY that no Abe’s men were appointed by Governor. He said: “Any of the Wike’s appointees is on his own.

Sen. Magnus Abe has made it clear to his supporters that his 2019 ambition is over and every person should seek (for) something to do to keep his/her family going.

He never nominated anybody for Governor Wike.”

This may be so, but signs seemed to emerge on the eve of the release of the list. During a burial ceremony, Abe commended Wike as a man of peace and pledged the support of his group to his administration instead of to those dividing the state. This statement went viral as a sign of decamping at last. When the list came out the next day, Abe’s antagonists went to town, accusing him of having a share in the Wike cabinet.

Amaechi strong backer, Eze Chukwuemeka, charges on This chieftain of the APC in the state taunted Abe by asking Wike to appoint him as next information boss for defending the governor so well. He urged the National Reconciliation Committee of the APC as well as the Committee to be constituted by the South-South caucus not to waste their time discussing any reconciliation issue with Abe. According to him, Abe has completed his task of destroying the APC in Rivers State and is set to move on, particularly now that Governor Wike has accommodated his nominees amongst the 13 commissioner-designates. He named them as Peter Meedeh and

Rotimi Amaechi

Bariere Thomas.

He further stated; “Now that Abe is beginning to reap his harvests bountifully from the PDP and Gov Wike on whose soil he toiled and sowed, I demand public apology from the former Senator, for all the public denials he has made against my position on his political fraternity with the opposition party in the state and other anti-party antics before, during and after the 2019 elections.

What Abe said; I have no hand in Wike’s appointments His statement said: The attention of Senator Magnus Ngei Abe has been drawn to a recent publication making the rounds in the media entitled: ‘Abe’s men as Wike’s Commissioners’, written by Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, a publicist for the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and self-acclaimed chieftain of the APC. Abe, in a statement by his spokesperson, Parry Saroh Benson, described the publication as a

Now that Abe is beginning to reap his harvests bountifully from the PDP and Gov Wike on whose soil he toiled and sowed, I demand public apology from the former Senator, for all the public denials he has made against my position on his political fraternity with the opposition party in the state and other anti-party antics before

Magnus Abe

pack of embellished lies, designed to promote hate in the APC family.

It’s nothing but hatred orchestrated by bitterness.

Senator Abe stated that to the best of his knowledge no member of the APC was nominated into Governor Wike’s cabinet. Eze’s lies are designed sorely to deceive innocent Nigerians as Rivers people who know these nominees know that there is absolutely no reason for Eze’s statement other than to pander to the delusions of his paymasters.

Reading through Eze’s statement, it is clear that Eze and his sponsors are trying to incite the national leadership of the APC and its members in Rivers State against a resolution of the sponsored crisis in Rivers APC. The senator stated that wellmeaning members of the APC in Rivers State must take a second look at Eze’s antics and begin to ask critical questions. Firstly, whose interest is Eze promoting at this point? Secondly, what exactly is his stake in Rivers APC? Thirdly, is Eze in any way affected by whatever befalls our State? He is not an indigene, neither is he resident in Rivers State.

A neighbour who continually brings petrol to pour on his neighbour’s burning house cannot be a good Neighbour. “It is time for Rivers’ APC members across every divide to disown Eze and his antics.

A friend who is only happy when you are miserable: Who can only prosper when your house is in disarray cannot be a good friend. Eze is clearly a conflict entrepreneur who is profiting from the crisis in the APC in Rivers State.

Court strikes a blow As the matters were raging, the federal high court threw out requests

by Abe’s men seeking to stop the congresses again. The party began to jubiliate while Abe has not made a public statement yet.

Abe’s faction seems to be in the middle for too long; between the main APC group and the Wike PDP group. Each time Abe commended Governor Wike for one thing or

the other, tongues will wag that he is about to decamp. Each time he takes out a case against the mainstream APC, tongues will wag, accusing him of trying to kill his party.

As the middle gets thinner by the day, people in the Amaechi group are getting appointments at the federal level while those in the PDP are getting appointments at home.

It becomes difficult how long Abe can continue to keep his men in the middle without getting attention from either the Wike government or the Buhari government. It seems to be truly a tight rope.

Going into 2023, any step Abe takes would be controversial. If he gets closer to Wike, APC will shout that it is the reason he destroyed his party in 2019. If he keeps quiet, Wike may think he is becoming unfriendly. If he gets close to Amaechi again, they will shout that he would betray the leader again. If he keeps fighting Amaechi, they would tell the national leadership of the APC that Abe was still fighting the party against 2023. He already lost a chance to be senate president in 2019 and may still lose both ends in 2023.

Conclusion Only Magnus Abe can decide which bitter pill to swallow going forward.

The statement by Wike that he is not in any position to make anyone governor sounds ominous. It could be a decoy to reduce attention on Abe, it could also be a warning to Ogoni and Abe that what he thinks to be an island could turn out to be the back of a whale. When the whale shifts, hopes, aspirations and ambitions may crash into the whale’s belly.

A source advised Abe to leave both the APC and Wike’s PDP alone, form a party rallying all the over 50 small parties into one big party towards 2023. The source said many groups within both the PDP and APC would surely be angry soon and would find a third force fresh and better. That way, Abe’s party could be appealing to the masses and could pose a threat in 2023. That way, the source said, Abe could take his chance.

Sunday 22 December 2019

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Perspective

The lynching of Onyema CHIGACHI EKE

Email: chigachieke@yahoo.co.uk

Tr u e c o m p o s i t e s ke t c h of Onyema and FEHN: 19852005.

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ince the purported indictment of Barrister Allen Onyema for fraud and money laundering by the American Department of Justice, the media utterances of American officials, as in the lead paragraph, suggest his culpability. We therefore, owe it a duty to Nigerians and Americans to give an accurate account of the real circumstances of Onyema and his Foundation for Ethnic Harmony in Nigeria, FEHN. Born 1967 in Warri of Igbo parentage, Onyema schooled at Government College Ughelli and the University of Ibadan, UI. In 1991 he lost his gentle mother when she was only 43 to kidney failure. His irreparable loss made him sensitive to the financial and medical needs of Nigerian mothers. As a Warri product he bears the Itshekiri and Ijaw tribal marks that made him unbearable to some Igbos but highly admired

by Niger Deltans. He is married to a Tiv beauty from Kogi State.

As the Japanese would say, money follows good thinking. Onyema never went into peace building to make money.

Money met him building peace.

It was the money he made as a successful lawyer and business mogul that enabled him carry out his charity works before the big money arrived in 2005.

His business empire covered real estate and international trade before he diversified into aviation.

FEHN is a distinct entity. It is an organisation with Niger Deltans, northerners, Igbos and Yorubas. Onyema is only its National Chairman. In Nigeria grants are hard to come by. None can claim giving grant to FEHN even though it has expended millions. Onyema generates income consulting with FEHN. With the money so generated he pays tax and funds his charity works. This is 100 percent legal.

FEHN is not a front for laundering illicit money. It originated in 1985 while Onyema was a law student in UI. It was his response to the ethnic crisis in northern Nigeria. Until 2005, FEHN limited itself to northern states like Sokoto, Kano, Jigawa, Nassarawa, etc. The emirs were reasonably impressed by the peace and broad nationalism FEHN engendered in their emirates and hosted it after e a c h c o m m u n i t y o u t re a c h programme.

Contrary to the biased narrative of American investigators, records left behind by Sultan Macido, former President Shagari and many emirs will prove that Onyema and FEHN were active in the North as far back as the 1980s. Secondly, pecuniary consideration was

never a factor for Onyema as there was no money during the military decades. We set the record straight as America has deliberately poisoned people’s minds against Onyema ahead of his court appearance.

FEHN in the Niger Delta: 2005-2019 By 2004 Onyema thought it was time FEHN looked south.

The violence in the Niger Delta, occasioned by the Asari Dokubo wars, had claimed thousands of lives. Onyema knew he needed a different weapon and that weapon was the Kingian Non-Violence Approach to social Change, inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. His problem was getting the experts versed in the different stages of non-violence.

The only institution with such experts was the University of Roderland Centre for Nonviolence and Peace Studies, Roderland, USA; headed by the legendary Dr. Bernard Lafayette Jr. Custodian of the key to the Loraine Hotel room where he and Dr. King lodged the day the latter was assassinated, Dr. Lafayette magnanimously approved FEHN’s application to train nineteen of its staff in his centre. The 19 so trained would train other Nigerians back home.

But the US embassy in Nigeria was not convinced and refused them visas even though FEHN had already paid the requisite fees. Onyema did not go about criticising the embassy. He rang up Dr. Lafayette, “Would you consider coming to Nigeria to train us?

Your people couldn’t give us visas.” His listener refused but Onyema also refused to give up. A day came when the don, wearied of Onyema’s importunacy, replied, “I want to come to Nigeria and see this new Martin Luther King Jr that will never give up. I want to

“Onyema allegedly leveraged his status as a prominent business leader and airline executive while using falsified documents to commit fraud. Onyema, a Nigerian citizen and businessman, is the founder and chairman of several organisations that purport to promote peace across Nigeria, including the Foundation for Ethnic Harmony….(U.S. Attorney, Byung J. “BJay” Pak)

regions. Included were youths sponsored by the Timi Alaibeled Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Shell, Chevron and other Western oil multinationals. From 2009 when amnesty came on board to 2012, FEHN trained 26, 366 ex-militants and over 200,000 other Nigerians. Thousands of youths have been trained between 2012 and the present.

Allen Onyema see you. I think you’re sincere.

I need to come to Nigeria because of you.”

Dr. Lafayette came in 2005 and trained 67 Nigerians in non-violence during the first training session. Many of those trained were lecturers, security experts, doctors, lawyers and career professionals. Soon FEHN could no longer cope with the number of those picking up application forms for training. As word went round Shell came calling.

Unfortunately, Shell’s request for FEHN to train some community boys came after the registration for a particular programme was closed.

FEHN declined saying it was fully booked. What? Shell was curious to know this NGO that could say no to big name and money, “Who is this Nigerian organization that does not want to partner with Shell?”

FEHN stood its ground; maintaining that Shell’s candidates would be considered after the ongoing session. But by saying no, FEHN passed the integrity test. Till date Shell holds it in great esteem.

Shell initially sent 10 community boys from the Niger Delta for training. The boys were transformed and trained.

Then it sent a further 23 and FEHN also transformed them.

When Shell observed that none of its beneficiaries went back to the creeks, it sent the third batch of 60. Chevron got wind of the Nigerian Wonder going on in FEHN and simply outdid Shell. The era of big money had dawned.

Onyema was in for a bigger surprise. Obong Victor Attah, the Executive Governor of Akwa Ibom State, sent messengers to FEHN asking to see Onyema. His Excellency

received his August visitor at Uyo with the declaration, “My brother, I want to sponsor 100 boys for the Kingian nonviolence training.” Onyema asked for the list of his candidates but Attah asked him to go anywhere in the Niger Delta and find them. Seeing all these, the US embassy began to issue visas to FEHN trainees.

Dr. Lafayette was horrified by the level of violence in the Niger Delta. He asked, “Allen, which is the most powerful organisation in the Niger Delta that supports violence or controls the militants?” Onyema replied, “The Ijaw Youth Council, IYC.” “How did they get to the position of leadership there?” “By way of election.”

“Allen, we have to dismantle the organisation. We have to start looking for credible people to train so that they can take up leadership position. We train and find a way of sponsoring their elections.” That was how FEHN shifted from training individuals to training organisations.

The search for credible candidates for IYC leadership led Onyema to Dr. Chris Ekiyor, Jonathan Lokpobiri and a handful of others. In 2007 Ekiyor returned from the US where Onyema sent him for non-violence training and won the election that made him IYC 4th president. Needless to say, Onyema played a big role in his victory.

Whereas Asari’s militarist ideology was predominant in the pre-Ekiyor Niger Delta, this was reversed to non-violence two years later leading to the 25th June 2009 declaration of amnesty by President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

Between 2005 and 2009 FEHN trained 15,000 Nigerians from the six geo-political

Conclusion In colonial historiography the black woman, ridiculed as the Negress, was profiled as a seductive mistress that preyed on the white male. As an insatiable bitch any encounter between her and the white man was seen as another instance of the Black Widow devouring her helpless victim. The white woman, by contrast, was elevated to sexual purity even after marrying many husbands.

The point is, the black woman’s unenviable reputation impacted negatively on the N e g ro s t e re o t y p e d a s t h e original son-of-a-bitch and a rapist. Stern-faced missionaries, according to Steve Biko, condemned the Negro for being sex-hungry like his lascivious mother. If a white woman cried out that she was raped, the white police would leave all the white men around and arrest the nearest Negro even if he was a hundred kilometers away. White mob would hang him on the nearest tree, like they did to Emmet Till, with the racist American Department of Justice looking the other way.

That is called lynching.

Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement stamped out lynching but only in one form. Race historicity, defined as the changing nature of American racism, saw lynching resurrect in abortion clinics. No black ever aborts the white woman’s precious “baby.” It is always the white do-gooder setting up abortion clinics to lynch the black woman’s unwanted “fetus.” Nothing has changed.

In 2016 the same American investigators indicted three Nigerian legislators for sexual harassment in Cleveland.

When the accused expressed their willingness to sue the US Ambassador James Entwistle unless he came up with evidence, including video footage, their accusers backtracked.

But by then, the reputations of three distinguished Nigerians were damaged.

Onyema, one of our finest in character and patriotism, has been lynched by Donald Trump’s America. His media trial and conviction must be understood within the context of the changing nature of American racism that tags and discredits our leaders. The only crime he committed was floating Air Peace that flies into Atlanta. Anyone thinking Onyema would receive fair hearing in an American court has no sense of history.

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Sunday 22 December 2019

Interview ‘Disruptive technology and Fintech are compelling growth areas Nigeria must pay attention to’ Lilian Olubi is the chief executive officer of EFG Hermes Nigeria. The company, earlier this year, expanded its global presence into the largest economy in West Africa through the acquisition of Primera Africa Securities Limited. In this interview with HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE, Olubi said that any sector that contributes to infrastructural development should be of interest to economy watchers. She also spoke on other economy-related issues. Excerpts:

M

ay we know about your company, EFG Hermes?

EFG Hermes Nigeria Limited is licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Nigerian Stock Exchange to carry out brokerage and research coverage services and is the Nigerian arm of EFG Hermes Group, a 30-year old, full-fledged financial services corporation with a footprint spanning eleven countries and four continents, listed on both the London and Cairo Stock Exchanges.

As the CEO, I have the responsibility of providing effective leadership for the work force, directing and participating in growth activities to support the business objectives and mission to be the choice broker for unprecedented access to Sub-Saharan business opportunities. The path to the top isn’t always easy but you have accomplished a great deal. What’s the greatest hurdle you’ve encountered, and how did you overcome it? Running a business in a mercurial market such as Nigeria has certainly been an insightful and challenging experience thus far. Every day presents its own unique complexities but steering the firm through the market downturn, subsequent recession and successful acquisition exercise proved to be quite a tasking period.

Tell us about EFG Hermes’ operations in Nigeria; your plans for Nigeria and other markets for the year 2020?

Earlier this year, EFG Hermes expanded its global presence into the largest economy in West Africa through the acquisition of Primera Africa Securities Limited which we now know as EFG Hermes Nigeria Limited. EFG Hermes Nigeria is key to the group’s drive to expand into other frontier & emerging markets in the region and will position Nigeria as a strong platform to manage the growing volume of business in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2020, we intend to consolidate our position as a leading Capital Market operator in Nigeria with a view to expanding on our product and service offerings in the near future. What is the strategic importance of the Nigerian market for your operations in Africa?

Nigeria is the largest economy in West Africa in terms of population and this has an expansive multiplier effect. Having a local base of operations allows us leverage Nigeria’s geographical location and economic relevance to gain a unique spread across Africa and strategically enhance our footprint. In addition, with the international investor appetite towards the Nigerian market, being a very active component of the frontier index allows us to drive much needed liquidity in the market which will in turn accelerate our expansion into and help broaden our coverage of the West African region.

In your view, what are the main challenges experienced in Nigeria’s capital markets as well as the op-

portunities?

The challenges that continue to plague the Nigerian capital markets include limited liquidity, the performance of some stocks and indexes and general investor apathy (particularly the retail segment) towards the market following the market crash in 2008. There has been a limited number of equity capital raises in the last few years and this can largely be attributed to the perceived risk aversion of prospective investors. In addition, the very necessary compliance with capital market regulations may also dissuade all but the most dogged investors from listing. However, the fixed income side of the capital market has been active with commercial paper issuances, government debt and notes, and recent sukuk and green bonds. The good news is that this shift towards comparatively lower risk financial instruments has spurred financial product innovations that cater to all levels of clientele and it is expected that this diversification will enable our capital market compete favourably with its global counterparts.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange recently released its monthly broker performance report for the 1st - 31st of October 2019 and EFG Hermes Nigeria was ranked as the Number 1 broker by volume and value for the month.

Kindly share insight into some of the factors that contributed to this ranking?

EFG Hermes has a competitive advantage owing to an over 30-year track record of providing stellar brokerage and compelling research services to a widespread client network. Simply put, our clients know that their best interests are our driving force. This, as well as our commitment to increasing the depth of the market and enhancing Nigeria’s attractiveness to investors, has driven the company to serve as a gateway to local opportunities and to provide a platform through which our broad international and

The young ones are the successors to whatever legacy we leave behind and they must be adequately prepared to take on the responsibility for changing the narrative for women at work

Lilian Olubi local client network can support active stocks and initiate dormant equities that are of interest to them. We also have a well-seasoned sales and trading team whose expertise in the Capital markets has enabled the firm achieve its enviable ranking within a short length of time.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) is currently one of the least performing in Africa. Do you see any possibility of a rebound in 2020? If so, what factors would bring about a positive change?

The possibility of a rebound certainly exists from a few perspectives such as government policy directions.

For instance, the recent directive of the Central Bank of Nigeria excluding individuals and local corporates from participating in OMO investments is expected to spur local corporates with liquidity to explore the possibility of investing in the equity market where dividend yields for some top listed names are above 14percent. Another factor that could affect the market positively is that a number of IPOs are expected in the market in the coming year. Notwithstanding general investor apathy, investors remain quite keen to invest in companies where exponential growth is expected. The market reaction to the MTN listing is a clear example of this assertion.

The success of these IPOs could potentially lead to a rebound in the capital market in the near term. Another potential rebound factor is that the market has already experienced substantial depletion, and valuations

are quite strong. This presents opportunities for discerning investors to position themselves for the upturn and reap the potentially significant returns on their investments.

Where do you see opportunities in the Nigerian economy? Are there particular sectors you target?

Nigeria is still a developing nation and any sector that contributes to infrastructural development should be of interest to economy watchers. Housing, roads, rails and allied infrastructure businesses are good potentials for growth. Agriculture, which contributes close to 30percent of Nigeria’s GDP is still largely subsistence-based and there are a vast number of opportunities been harnessed in the Agriculture value chain.

Apart from these traditional sectors, Disruptive technology and Fintech are compelling growth areas that Nigeria must pay attention to. These areas drive financial inclusion and as such, they are receiving unprecedented global support and funding which will further enhance the country’s productivity and contribute immensely to our global visibility.

How would you rate the investment banking business in Nigeria?

The investment banking business is still a burgeoning business area characterised by a few active players who essentially dominate the sector. Private Equity has also provided critical opportunities for the growth of investment banking in Nigeria and the ongoing need for capital raising by corporates and government has

also supported the nascent growth of the industry.

What is your forecast for the year ahead?

Nigeria has been for too long all about potential, At EFG Hermes, we are optimistic that the next 10 years will be about delivery. Nigeria should turn the corner and provide ample opportunities for growth across multiple sectors. With a newly elected and respected Economic Advisory Council, a respected Special Adviser on Economics at the federal level among others, Nigeria should begin to see fiscal policies that will align with monetary policies, and renewed focus on growth sectors from next year and onwards. It is important to highlight that EFG Hermes is looking to expand its business and enhance its offerings to local investors as well as introduce new products which it believes will play a significant part in stimulating the capital markets.

Talking about gender inclusion, what is the most significant barrier in achieving more equality between women and men in business and leadership? What solution would you proffer especially in Nigeria?

I think that long-held cultural nuances coupled with the realities of skewed domestic exigencies and expectations propagated the gap between men and women in relation to business and leadership. In the financial services space, one of the unique challenges is that the business functions that most women choose to specialise in, in some cases, do not position them for ultimate leadership from a succession planning standpoint. As such, women must be deliberate about their career choices if they are aiming for the overall leadership positions in certain sectors and not settle for ‘easier’ roles which may stagnate their leadership goals.

That said; there is an ongoing paradigm shift where women are consistently breaking boundaries, becoming leading voices for change and proving that gender or cultural constructs should not be a barrier to excellence. My take has always been to focus on the positives and see how those positives can be sustained. I am also a firm believer in meritocracy and excellence must become a habit for those seeking to rise to the highest levels of leadership. Furthermore, women who have achieved great heights in their fields should be willing to provide mentorship to younger women. The young ones are the successors to whatever legacy we leave behind and they must be adequately prepared to take on the responsibility for changing the narrative for women at work. We all, male and female have unique attributes and dispositions that we bring to the table and these expressions must be fully reflective in organisations on all levels. As such, my advice is to be deliberate about career choices, make excellence a habit, mentor the young ones and actively be a part of creating a new ideal for women in business and leadership.

Sunday 22 December 2019

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Interview

KEDCO will always strive to meet up with our customers’ expectations - Gwamna Recently, Jamil Isyaku Gwamna, managing director/chief executive officer, Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO), unveiled some of the fundamental reforms and strategies deployed in the past six years, when he took over the ownership and management of the company, currently rated as the best customer service provider in the electricity distribution chain in the country. He spoke with ADEOLA AJAKAIYE. Excerpts:

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ould you please share some of the strategies that led the growth of your company in the past six years?

When a child is born, the expectation from everyone is growth. As a company, we have huge expectations from our customers in the area of growth and improvement.

We always strive to meet up with the demands and expectations.

Over the years, such ideas have propelled us into having innovative growth; that has given more happiness to our numerous customers across board. This is not just KEDCO; it’s about supporting the Federal Government to ensure that whatever efforts they put into the power sector trickles down to the ordinary citizen through efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery. We are not where we were years back and in few years to come we would have improved tremendously given the reforms we are putting in place now.

How optimistic are you that all these reforms would culminate in an improved power supply in the Northern Nigeria?

We don’t just carry out reforms in the name of reforms. We embarked on a feasibility study and have seen the prospect of such reforms based on its potency to address the issues of complaints raised by our customers. We often measure our improvement with the demands of our customers.

I can tell you today that with the constant improvement in network and provision of more equipment and maintenance of old ones, we are recording a reduction in the number of complaints from customers across our franchise areas.

What other strategies are being deployed to reduce customers’ complaints?

Aside the massive expansion in network and other equipment, we have also been sensitising the people on measures to take in channelling their complaints to us for proper attention. Many customers who have complaints and do not know where and how to get their complaints to us are now aware of the various means to get our attention and response. Our Corporate Communication Unit runs several special programmes on local media outlets on weekly, monthly and yearly basis and that has given enough enlightenment and we are glad it is working. We have also made attempts to bring down complaints by addressing the problem of meter distribution and installations across our franchise areas.

Of recent, your company floated what was tagged ‘MAP scheme’ in KEDCO franchise areas; what was the scheme all about?

The MAP scheme as we know

Gwamna it was floated as a result of a directive from Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission’s (NERC) to help reduce complaints and ensure estimated billing system is put to an end. So far, we have done very well having started the scheme few months back and the response has been impressive in a way because it has succeeded in ending the wait by our customers.

This is the way forward and that is why we are giving all we have to ensure that the meters get to our wonderful customers. With these meters, it will be a win-win scenario for the power sector as customers will now get value for their money while the DisCos will get their money without being owed several billions of naira by customers. So, the payment system will be better improved upon with the MAP policy of the Federal Government. The MAP scheme is the way forward and we are embracing the future in KEDCO. We have distributed thousands of meters and installed them and we will continue until the NERC policy is achieved.

What about the regulations and several rules in the power sector franchise; how is KEDCO faring in that regard?

Power is expensive and that’s a fact world over. The franchise of electricity from generation to transmission to distribution is capital intensive and that’s why when you spend so much in that regard, the improvement seems to be minimal but steadily; this administration is giving hope to the sector. Because of this fact, there are regulations and rules to guide the sector to avoid any lapse. KEDCO as an organisation, I can confidently tell you, is very law abiding and that is why we have been able to survive all this while. Since we are one amongst the many stakeholders in the sector, we must play our role well by obeying the rules and regulation that guide the sector because, the sector is like a chain reaction which when you fail to play your role, it has several ways of affecting other stakeholders. This is why we often strive to ensure we keep up with our responsibilities and over time

we have really done greatly in that regard. This is one of the reasons we often appeal to our numerous customers to always pay their bills so we can sustain our own part of the obligations which we are ever willing to perform.

How has the power sector, especially in your franchise area, fared under this administration?

Well, we have seen from the previous administrations and now, how the sector has fared?

We all live in this country and can attest to it that there have been lots of efforts by the present administration to prioritise power and see that the economy gets the needed improvement using the power sector to grow the manufacturing sector and other agro-allied industries. For us here, we have witnessed improvement in supply and infrastructural investment from the Federal Government. The recent effort to secure more power for KEDCO franchise areas from Kaduna and Calabar is an evidence of the FG’s goodwill in the power sector.

With this administration, we are

getting the needed attention and micro industries are springing up in Kano and other states. This is impressive and commendable.

Your company has being introducing some initiatives in form of monthly reward and recognition award; what is the motive behind the decision?

Every good businessman or woman you see must ensure that the interest of the staff is well protected and effort made to make the staff feel more like the owner and not just a staff or worker, if you really see growth as your goal. For us in KEDCO, our secret is our staff.

We work as a team and I can tell you that I have the best of staff who can deliver the good news in business at any time. This is why the company tries to motivate them to boost performance and give a sense of belonging. I don’t want to reveal all our secrets but the major thing is that in KEDCO we value our staff and they know; that’s why we have those strategies in place to encourage them.

Could you please share the vision of your company in the year 2020, with us?

In any year or even in ten years from now, our vision will remain constant and that is to satisfy our customers. We derive our own satisfaction as a company from the satisfaction of our customers.

Everything we do is to meet their demand and the demand of other stakeholders in the generation and transmission sectors for the overall good of the power sector in the country. In 2020, we want to have zero complaints from all our stakeholders.

What are the major challenges confronting your company, presently?

We are, like I said earlier, in business to ensure that we play our own part in the chain-like reaction kind of partnership to ensure that everyone goes home happily. In that regard, our major challenge has been the non-payment of bills by some customers. Money is business and business is money.

If we get our money in full and in time, service delivery will be on automated motivation mood; so the attitude of some customers in not being willing to pay their bills or when they pay, they pay below their bills, maybe, say 30 percent or so, is really an issue for us.

Other challenges that we have are vandalism, power theft, and illegal connections.

What is your message to customers?

Simple! They own KEDCO because whatever we do is for their good and when we ask them to pay or support KEDCO we are only asking them to help us to serve them better. So, to all our customers, we say thank you and we assure them of improved service delivery.

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Sunday 22 December 2019

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Interview

We equip female micro-entrepreneurs with financial literacy skills - Okocha Nkem Okocha is a banker-turned social entrepreneur who has found a way to combine her passion for financial inclusion, women’s empowerment, technology and entrepreneurship to create Mamamoni – a social enterprise designed to improve the economic status of women in Nigeria. She is a 2015-Tony Elumelu Foundation Alumnus, 2016 LEAP Africa Social Innovator, as well as a 2017 Mandela Washington Fellow. Excerpts by SEYI JOHN SALAU What is the initiative behind Mamamoni? amamoni is a social enterprise that creates economic opportunities for lowincome women, through activities like skills building to make them diligently engaged, and access to credit so that they can be financially independent – the combination of these enable them to improve their economic status in the long-term.

The service is delivered through multiple tiers and channels: it exists as a financial technology platform which provides socially-conscious individuals to invest in poor women by lending to them; low-income women are enrolled in skills development exercises and trainings, and provided with market access opportunities; female micro-entrepreneurs are equipped with financial literacy skills and micro-loans to help them grow their small businesses. Since 2013, through Mamamoni, we have empowered over 6000 low-income women from different communities.

What is the motivation behind your focus on empowering women with credit facilities and financial education?

When I was a young girl, I lost my father, and because he was the sole provider for our family, his death created a life-changing spiral for my mother and I. My mother has no skills and no finance to start a business or create a source of livelihood through which to support us. As a result, growing up was extremely tough. This was a trend I saw repeatedly in my community – there was a significant level of poverty around, and most of the women had no stable source of livelihood; as a result, their children could not go to school. I realised early on that with a bit of empowerment – education and/or finance – these women could lift – not only themselves – but also their children, and eventually, their communities out of poverty.

M

Nkem Okocha

This was the primary motive behind my starting Mamamoni. We began by training women in lowincome communities so that they would acquire sustainable livelihood skills; this was then supported with micro-loans which would help to support entrepreneurship. The Mamamoni structure is also built to be centred on the specific needs of these women, and so after we conducted a series of interviews to understand where skills were particularly lacking, we found that most low-income female entrepreneurs lacked financial skills, and so we started training them on this. As a result, the Mamamoni

programme has become truly holistic in enabling and empowering women at every stage of their progressive economic development, to ensure that the outcomes are strong and sustainable.

What techniques are used by your organisation to overcome the social and cultural barriers that deter women from accessing financial services in Nigeria?

Research suggests that womenowned small businesses face a credit gap of $1.7 trillion globally, limiting their ability to grow their businesses.

However, this is not to say that women are averse to financial services, but

access is skewed towards men – due to factors like illiteracy, and financial dependency; as a result, women are very reliant on informal financial services.

We work to tackle this by starting off with skills development training, which we also compound with discussions on the need for them to be financially-independent; the latter in particular is usually helped by past beneficiaries, who we bring in to share their own success stories. This is especially powerful, because when these women are given a glimpse into the positive outcomes for women like themselves, they become a lot more receptive, and are even driven to convince their husbands to support their decisions.

How are you working with partners and government to increase financial education for women?

Our partnerships are not limited to financial education alone, but rather, we are able to also ensure that other skill building efforts are pursued under their existing umbrellas. Since 2015 we have worked with partners like The Tony Elumelu Foundation, The United States Consulate General in Lagos, ACT Foundation, Union Bank, Edo State Government, Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) to provide free sustainable Vocational/Financial skills training to low-income women for free. We recognise that the platforms that many of these organisations have can be extremely beneficial to propelling our work and our efforts to build a solid ‘femeconomy’; it therefore, becomes imperative to create and drive as many avenues for partnership as possible.

How do you work with existing formal financial institutions to increase and improve female participation in economic activities?

This year, in partnership with Union Bank, we created an Innovation Hub for low-income women in Amuwo-Odofin – the initiative is designed to create and provide a

space where low-income women from different communities across Lagos can voluntarily opt-in and come to learn different skills. The unique selling point of this hub is the varied nature of the skills that are provided; from photography and video editing, to garment making, catering, understanding computer systems and digital skills, emotional intelligence, customer service, and branding, all for free. What we have found is that these women are more successful when they are empowered with the benefit of choice, and the hub provides an extremely important way to provide that.

What would you say are some of the immediate effects of female financial inclusion on the growth of the Nigerian/African economy?

In 2018, reports showed the shocking and disturbing reality of Nigeria becoming the world’s poverty capital with 87million (i.e. 43percent) living below the poverty line. This is even more disheartening when one considers that majority of these individuals are women.

Women are disproportionately excluded from basic services such as education, employment, and financial services. This automatically restricts their access to the growth factors that would enable them to grow, and to grow their respective communities.

A study conducted on femaleheaded households in Kenya showed that for women, the route out of poverty is not always simply access to credit or capital, but rather financial inclusion at a more basic level i.e. providing avenues through which they can leverage the access and the tools and channels they already have; which ultimately enhances their ability to manage these financial resources. In the same study, when these female-headed households adopted mobile money, there was a 20percent increase in savings; and a 22percent reduction in extreme poverty. A similar study conducted in Nepal revealed that female-headed households where women could access basic financial services experienced a greater ability to withstand health shocks, a 20percent higher spend on education, and a 15percent increase in healthy eating.

TECNO at Lagos Fashion Week identifies with major Nigerian arts, culture, style

MODESTUS ANAESORONYE

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frica’s preferred Smartphone brand, TECNO, made visible appearance at the recently concluded Lagos Fashion Week 2019 identifying with almost everything Nigerian including arts, culture, fashion and lifestyle. There is a mention of TECNO in every sphere of the Nigerian life and fashion has never been an exception as the brand pushes to internalize itself in every country’s activity.

The four-day event held in Lagos, Techno provided plat-

form for designers to exhibit their new season designs and collections on the runway and maximise their exposure within and beyond the industry.

It also afforded guests the opportunity to creatively showcase their sense of fashion to the world. TECNO was there to capture individual creativity of attendees and creativity on the runway.

Every day of the event attracted models, fashion enthusiasts, potential buyers, designers, celebrities and the media to the TECNO fashion Booth, which was one of the major highlights and the most

visited booth of the event as they had the opportunity to experience creativity captured with the Camon 12 Series.

Speaking at the event, Attai Oguche, deputy marketing manager, TECNO Nigeria said: “We are proud to be a

part of this year’s edition of the Lagos Fashion Week, being official mobile partner is a feat, we proud of.”

He also that: “This partnership is coming at a time when the brand just launched its Camera-Centric mobile line the Camon 12 Series. The world of fashion is another medium to explore the limitless possibilities of its camera and that is what we are doing here today. Camon series is a phone loves by creatives and fashion stars” Visitors at the TECNO booth had the opportunity to have their images taken by

two Celebrity photographers Emmanuel Oyeleke and Abdulsalami Photography, as well as the top three from the just concluded CAMission camp. All images taken at the booth were taken with the Camon 12 Pro, an evidence of its excellent camera output quality.

Also present at the TECNO booth were Ex-Big Brother Pepper Dem Housemates: Sir Dee, Isilomo and Esther who came around to take pictures with their fans. Nollywood Actress ToniTones also came around to take pictures in the booth.

Sunday 22 December 2019

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Ogun Watch

Ogun 2020 Budget and Abiodun’s economic growth plan RASAQ AYINLA

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t is universally accepted by economists that, for a budget of a country or state, to be viable and structurally reliable, some key macroeconomic variables must be considered which include stable and strong rate of economic growth; low unemployment rate; stable and low inflation; manageable current account deficit in the balance of payments; and structural fiscal budget balance and a low (or zero) level of debt.

This desired macroeconomic policy formulation will cascade down to consequent economic pillars and enablers focusing on continuous investments in capital projects and the critical infrastructure such as roads, rail, power, education, security, among other economic pillars and enablers which improve ease of doing business, people’s standard of living, creation of wealth, generation of employment opportunities and all other activities that can have multiplier effects on the entire economic landscape.

With all these economic variables put into consideration in any fiscal estimates, coupled with quick and effective policy implementation and policy analysis expected of any serious and responsive government, economic growth, development and prosperity are not too far from such country, state and its government.

It is on this premise that Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State and his team prepared almost all key macroeconomic variablesinclusive budget which is structured to address some obvious lopsidedness in terms of capital expenditure percentage to recurrent expenditure; inflation ratio to cost of living and standard living; gross domestic product growth to debt rate and dependency ratio to employment opportunities in the entire economy.

Governor Dapo Abiodun however, went to the State House of Assembly on the first Tuesday of December 2019, exactly 187 days after he assumed office as Executive Governor of Ogun state to present the State’s 2020 Appropriation Bill, tagged, “Budget to Build Our Future Together”, the first fiscal estimates of his four-year administration with N449.97 billion budget size.

Presenting the budget before Olakunle Oluomo-led Ogun State House of Assembly, Governor Abiodun declared that the budget a total of N269.132 billion as capital expenditure, representing 60.31percent which makes 60percent benchmark for the CAPEX and a sum of N269.132 billion, representing 39.69 percent as recurrent expenditure (OPEX) of N449.97 billion whole budget size, with a three-year CAPEX growth plan of 60 percent for 2020; 65 percent for 2021 and 70 percent for 2022 fiscal years, respectively.

Breaking down economic variables which the Appropriation Bill treats in entirety, Governor Abiodun based the spending on capital projects and social investments which suggests reinventing of the National

Governor Dapo Abiodun presenting 2020 Appropriation Bill before Ogun State House of Assembly

Social Investment Programmes with a view to absorbing thousands of Ogun State residents who had earlier participated in the National Social Investment Programmes such as N-Power - N-Teach and N-Agric with the largest budgetary vote of N128.067billion, representing 28 percent of the whole budget size.

A close look of the 2020 Appropriation Bill further shows that the fiscal estimates are based on five strategic pillars and enablers which is based on Ogun state anthem - ISEYA (it is time to work) - ISEYA - Infrastructure - N107.964 billion = 24 percent; Social Wellbeing and Welfare - N128.067 billion = 28 percent; Education N91.804 billion = 20 percent; Youth Empowerment - N7.896 billion = 2 percent; Agriculture - N21.634 billion and Other expenses - N92.804 billion = 21 percent.

The proposed fiscal bill shows budget finance sources which include internally generated revenue (IGR) that stands at N255.946 billion, representing 57 percent; statutory allocation is N43.431 billion, representing 10 percent; expected revenue from VAT stands at N22.031 billion which represents 5 percent, while capital and other receipts are N129.566 billion which represents 28 percent.

The 2020 Ogun budget was for the first time in the history of the state, devised a Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) with a three fiscal-year financial plan which projects 2.4 percent gross domestic growth of N2.99 trillion for 2020; N3.06 trillion for 2021 and N3.14 trillion for 2022, respectively, that stands to systematically boosting the state’s contributions to the national purse as the largest investment hub in Nigeria in terms of gross domestic products, company income tax, value added tax, excise duties, royalties, among others.

The fiscal estimates project inflation rate at 10.2 percent in 2020; 8.49 percent for 2021 and 6.59 percent for

2022 respectively, just as the capital expenditure has 60 percent benchmark, starting from 60 percent capital expenditure ratio for 2020 as well as 65 percent and 70 percent ratio for 2021 and 2022 fiscal years respectively.

The downward trend in the inflation rate which is constantly systematic within the three-year plan of Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) is designed to improve ease of doing business, stimulate economy and improve standard of living ratio as against the increasing cost of living which is prevalent in Nigeria of today.

In order to further create the enabling environment for state’s economy to thrive Governor Abiodun noted that Ogun State Investment Promotion Agency had been created to offer One-Stop-Shop Services for small, medium and large-scale business owners as well as foreign direct investments, saying all the efforts were undertaken to

improve entire business operations and environment.

He also stated that names of youths in various professions are being collated in order to create desired job opportunities within public and private sectors through the public-private partnership in addition to already established credit facility to Micro, Small and Mediumscale Enterprises (MSMEs) tagged, “Oko Owo Dapo” and soon-to-bedisbursed loans to small and large scale farmers and agriculturists under the Central Bank of Nigeria Anchor Borrowers Scheme.

The governor said as a way of stimulating local economy by not necessarily causing capital flight and allowing residents to supply construction materials and aggregates required for roads construction, his administration had established Ogun State Public Works Agency to fix critical roads across the three senatorial districts of the state, adding that similar efforts

Infographics on Ogun 2020 Budget

would be done in other sectors to improve the local economy.

Governor Abiodun explained government would formulate policy thrust for holistic actualization of the budget towards localising the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through the Public Private Partnership initiatives, for a workable public financial management system to eliminate leakages at ensuring efficient and judicious use of the State’s economy.

According to the governor, other action plans to be put in place includes, full automation of the State’s finance functions, strict adherence to the proposed fiscal responsibility law, instituting credit rating by internationally accepted rating agencies, strengthening internal audit functions, while ensuring timely publication of audited accounts.

He noted that some of the workable financial management system being put in place to eliminate leakages for efficient management of the State’s Commonwealth, said efficient monitoring and blocking of loopholes would be pursued, as the administration was ready to walk the talk to bring dividends of democracy to the people.

Governor Abiodun submitted that the State Debt Management Strategy was currently under review, just as he had issued Executive Order for the establishment of Fiscal Responsibility Commission for prudent financial management of the State resources.

He said the administration has carried out Staff Biometrics and Payroll Audit, implemented Treasury Management Solution for simple review and efficiency in treasury and payment processing, adding that the steps have helped to achieve prudent management of the State resources, which has attracted financial support from financial institutions, multilateral agencies and partners.

Earlier in his welcome address, the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Olakunle Oluomo, remarked that the 2020 Budget presentation was a constitutional requirement, in line with Sections 121 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, aimed at giving the citizens an insight into the lofty dreams of the present administration towards making the State a model in the comity of States.

Oluomo noted that the strides and solid foundations laid in all sectors of the State’s economy since inception of the present administration was a pointer to the massive growth and development that would be witnessed under Abiodun-led administration.

Acknowledging the roles of media in the promotion of good governance in the State, Oluomo stated that the Ninth Assembly, which had so far passed eight bills and ten resolutions, with more commitments to high level performance, would kick against the Hate Speech Bill, as it would gag the press and the masses, thereby preventing them from expressing themselves in a democratic setting.

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Sunday 22 December 2019

The Sunday Magazine

‘An educated person is a clown’: A tale of Sokoto varsity host communities In communities hosting UsmanuDanfodiyo University, an ivory tower in the outskirt of Sokoto State, girl child education is rejected and boy child education is neglected. Despite the free education scheme in the state, children of school age wander the campuses of the university as maids-of-all-jobs, beggars and scavengers, IBRAHIM ADEYEMI writes.

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henever Umar Abdulzeez begs for food, not only his filthy look rends one’s heart, but also the songs of sorrow that accompany his outcries of thirst and hunger. Abdulazeez starves because as a kid, he is on his own – he has parents who do not care whether he lives or dies.

He lives a life of penury and gnashing of teeth. “Give me food, any food, I’ll eat!” he wails.

It was a sunny Tuesday in September. “Help, please help me, I’m hungry,” Abdulazeez cries as he begs for alms at the terminus of UsmanuDanfodiyo University, Sokoto.

While eight-year-old Abdulazeez solely wallows in pains for being rejected as a kid, seven-year-old UsmanuUsmanu is neglected by his own parents – but he is not worried about that. As young as he is, Usmanu can smoke two sticks of cigarettes at a time and a packet of it daily – outsmarting his peers in smoking competition. At school hours, Abdulazeez and his outof-school playmates carouse in the jungle of his slum, playing, smoking and exchanging banters.

Usmanu dwells in a village just behind the university mini-market and at primary three, he had dropped out of school, because his father could not afford to buy him a school uniform.

“We were ordered not to come without uniform,” he tells this reporter.

When asked how he feels whenever he smokes, he says “smoking cigarettes has this special bitterness.”

Usmanu seems bright and bold, while responding to an outburst of questions from this reporter, but his parents are careless about his education. Interestingly, his father works in the university as a bus driver, who conveys students pursuing different academic careers from one place to another.

UsmanuDanfodiyo University is a microcosm of underage scavengers whose parents outrightly have a strong apathy for education. The children roam the streets of the campus as maids-of-all-jobs. ‘Yaro boy’, which contextually means ‘errand boy’, is the popular cognomen used to refer to such male children on the campus while ‘Yarinya girl’, which is

Faculty of Agriculture, UDUS

This girl is four now, she’ll get married in the next 10 years

simply translated as ‘errand girl’ is for the female counterparts.

The out-of-school children are mostly sent by their parents to hustle on the campus and fend for themselves, and in fact, they have become parts and parcels of the university system; they feed from the remnants of the food disposed by students – and sometimes, receive commissions after running errands for them. In their quest for daily livelihood, many of these children, instead of going to school, wake up every morning to find themselves roaming the students’ apartments.

Moreover, with the aim of eradicating illiteracy and fostering adequate education and civilisation in Sokoto and its nearby states, UsmanuDanfodiyo UniversitySokoto (UDUS) was established in 1975.

But then, communities hosting the university have shown strong aversion for schooling and education over

the years.

An educated person is a clown Anybody who is a student at the Department of Modern European Languages and Linguistics, UsmanuDanfodiyo University, Sokoto will know MallamAbubakar, alias Baba MELL. Like other cleaners in the school, Baba MELL is mainly poor.

The 66-year-old man comes in the early hours of the day; he is always at work – not that he’s always thorough with the work – he doubles his hustles by begging from students and staff of the department, while cleaning the environs. Therefore, he is more renowned as a beggar than as a cleaner.

Baba MELL is from GidanYunpa, a stone-throwto the university Senate Building. As an elderly person, he shares a flicker of lights on the reasons many of the communities hosting the university dwell in the darkness of ignorance. The obsessive fear of schooling and the excessive love of their farmlands have made them forfeit education, especially when an ivory tower was brought near to them.

Baba MELL says that up till today, many people in his community have not seen reasons why they should send their children to school. “If you take a look at this university today, you will notice that the old staffs are all children of the poor that were wise enough to send their children to school,” he says.

“It was even worse to the extent that some of our people that had the money then would bribe the authorities not to pick their children among

those that they intend to sponsor to school.

“All these were because they were afraid that they would have no one to take care of their farms. Even, some of the children who went to school were dragged out forcefully.”

Interestingly, Baba notes that his people are blinded by ignorance and do not think well of education. As he speaks well of education, one would wonder why none of his children was sent to school, but the old man expatiates that he never knew the importance of “the so-called education, until I started working here as a cleaner.”

“You see, there is something I want to tell you!” he draws the attention of the reporter in a way that suggested that the next point he would make is salient. “When this university came, they came to our village and were seeking that we worked with them in small capacities, but we turned down the offers. Why? It was because of the phobia we had about anything concerning the government. Our thought was that an educated person is a clown.

“But today, if you don’t have a long leg, you won’t get any job that even pays N7,000. Those who were wise enough to accept the offer have now retired and are being paid huge amount of money that is enough for them and their families.”

Girl child education is a no-go area “It is the right of the parents to choose whether to enroll their children to school or not. If they believe it [education] is harmful to their children, they will not enroll them,” says MallamTukurAbubakar, an Islamic cleric with a sky-high reputation in GidanMarayu, a village behind the school mini-mart.

MallamTukur despises girl child education and he does not hide this. To him, the acquisition of education is not the right of a child; it is, rather, the choice of the parent.

Blunt when he talks and blatant in his demonstration, the Islamic cleric states that beyond the lack of interest that overwhelms his people towards education, the long distance to school premises is another hindrance that outflanks the urge of many kids to go to school.

“Another major challenge is the distance our children have to cover to get to school. We really want schools to be much closed to us here but you know how politicians are: The problem is with the government,” he says.

According to him, only 15 to 20percent of their children go to school. He added that most times, there are just three out of 10 boys in school.

“Look here! I have sat side by side with Governor Waziri (Waziri Tambu-

wal of Sokoto State), so many times.

When you have too many hungry men, you cannot feed them all, at the same time. You can only try your best. The government has so many issues to handle. Recently, about one thousand schools were built but it did not get to us,” he says, adding that “in fact, there are places in Sokoto where education is still very strange to the people.”

When the topic of the interview switches to girl child education, MallamTukur laughs over the matter. “We don’t have any female that will school to the level of getting a degree; the least a girl can go is to have primary education and the next thing for her is marriage; if her husband wishes, he can send her further. It is his right.

Nobody here will keep his daughter unmarried because she wants to go to school. I can’t advise anybody to do that,” he says bluntly.

MallamTukur said: “One of the

Children without surnames

rights your female children have over you as parents is to get them married; I can permit my wife to go to school but for my daughter that is old enough to marry, I will rather get her married – I owe her the responsibility of getting her married – that is more important than educating her.”

“Even in America, there are places women are not allowed to go to school, let alone here in Nigeria, according to MallamTukur. “You can’t have everybody with the same belief.

If out of hundred in this community, one person says he will allow her daughter go to school, then there are still 99 that will disagree,” he says.

Begging in the day, hawking at night They know where they are, where they are coming from – they know their names but none of them can remember their surnames. They’re kids of school ages living to survive on the campus of UsmanuDanfodiyo University. The three kids: Abu, Abba and Junaidu say they have forgotten their surnames and have no idea of their dates of birth. The pale-looking children with rags as their wears hold their bowls firmly, begging and seeking alms from passers-by who are

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Children without surnames

mainly students.

“We are Almajiris; we are not going to school because our parents sent us here to beg,” says Junaidu who seems to be mouthpiece of the team; as he speaks on behalf of the two others, they nod in affirmation to matters concerning them.

The children attend a local Islamic school, coordinated by one Malam Abu in one of the villages in the university vicinity who neither feed them nor cater for their needs but get a return from their daily begging. “We keep some of the things we earn from begging to ourselves, and give some to our Mallam.”

Even in broad daylight, children from communities surrounding the university flood the campus as beggars and hawkers, while some of the children work as maids-of-all-jobs for the students. Although, majority of these children are not wholly forsaken by their homes, they are made to fend for themselves – roaming the campus, in quest for livelihood. However, the conglomeration of the students and the children has halted the relationship between the student and the residents of the communities hosting the university.

At night, while many students of the university vacate their bedrooms for classrooms to study overnight in preparation for their semester exams,10-year-old Abdulrahman Abdullahi and many other children on the campus skip their sleeps to keep the students’ nights free of stress. At 12:15 am, Abdullahi peddles sachets water to students studying for exams in various classrooms of the school. A yard away, two kids lay flat on the floor at the entrance of a spacious classroom in deep sleep, receiving the warmth of the cozy nights while notorious mosquitoes penetrate their skins. “I beg in the day and sell water at night for my mother,” says Abdullahi.

Abdullahi’s parents have refused to send him to school, they prefer him to hustle round and bring them a return on daily basis. According to the boy, he makes nothing less than N100 – in one peddling trip – and delivers the gain to his mother. Interestingly, his father is a security man in the university, who directly or indirectly has

contacts with students every day. “His profane impression about education made him to stop me from going to school,” the boy says.

‘This girl is four; she’ll get married in the next 10 years’ Back in the village in one of the communities hosting the university, AbubakarMamman, 45, leaves many jaws dropped when he announces that his only daughter, Amina, has already been betrothed and that she would be married in the next 10 years.

The man sees no reason a girl child should bother to go to school since she would end up being taken away by a man.

Mamman is a farmer in Bakassi, a village near the non-teaching staff quarters of the university. He has three children with him, but none of them goes to school. While others can still make attempts to go to school, Amina, his girl child dares not. “To be honest, you will hardly find a female that goes to school here,” he states.

“For us, once a girl comes of age, we get her married immediately. For example, (pointing at his daughter) this girl is four now, and in the next ten years, she will be married off.”

Amina’s father would be risking

being convicted to a fine of N500, 000; or imprisonment for a term of five years or to both fine and imprisonment – according to section 23 of the Child Rights Acts – for betrothing the little girl without her consents. Section 22 (1) of the same act prohibits child betrothal, stating that: “No parent, guardian or any other person shall betroth a child to any person.”

According to a report by the United Nation Children’s Fund, over 10.5million children are out-of-school in Nigeria with a rising percentage in the northern part of the country.

“Even though primary education is officially free and compulsory, about 10.5 million of the country’s children aged 5-14 years are not in school. Only 61percent of 6-11-year old regularly attend primary school and only 35.6 percent of children aged 36-59 months receive early childhood education.

“In the north of the country, the picture is even bleaker, with a net attendance rate of 53 percent. Getting out-of-school children back into education poses a massive challenge,’’ UNICEF notes.

UNICEF also states that: “Gender, geography and poverty, are important factors in the pattern of educational marginalisation. States in the northeast and north-west have female primary net attendance rates of 47.7 percent and 47.3 percent, respectively, meaning that more than half of the girls are not in school. The education deprivation in northern Nigeria is driven by various factors, including economic barriers and socio-cultural norms and practices that discourage attendance in formal education, especially for girls.”

The ‘rattle snakes’ on campus However, students of the university have decried the consistent spikes by some of the grown-up children of the villagers who have become somewhat of rattle snakes that bite the students. Moshood Mariam, a 300-level student at the Department of Economics, laments bitterly on how she lost her phone to pilferers who accosted her with a stick and knife on her way back to her hostel at night.

“I was a victim of an attack by these armed villagers during the first semester,” Mariam narrates. “While I was returning from class that night, they accosted me with a long stick and knife. I was hit with the stick and my phone was collected from me. Till

A schoolage girl fetching water at Gidan Yunfa

date, I am still scared every night to go inside the school for reading.”

Jimoh Ibrahim, a 300-level student from the Faculty of Education, suffered a similar attack. “During the first week of our first semester exams, at around 10pm, I was inside the room when I received a call. Due to network problems, I walked out of the room to receive the call.

“While speaking on the phone, two strange guys walked up to me and tried to snatch the phone from me, but I dragged it and they both brought cutlasses out and threatened to cut my hand off if I refused to surrender the phone to them. That was how they forcefully collected the phone and ran away,” he revealed.

The daily influx of the children searching for livelihood in students’ halls of residence has turned the table around; many students fall victims of the dubious ones amongst the children. In her conversation with this reporter, Aminah Abdullah, a 400-level chemistry student narrated a bitter experience of how an unknown errand girl ran away with her money. “When I was a new student and I had no idea of what the errand kids were capable of doing, I innocently gave N1000 to a girl to buy me tomatoes of N100; I waited for this girl for more than three hours, but she didn’t return.

“I even tried asking her fellows, giving them a description of how she looked like but none of them seemed to admit they knew her – they claimed that she was not the only one bearing that name. I had to forget about it. Till this very day, I have not set my eyes on this girl and my money,” she recalls.

Another 300-level student of Microbiology who pleaded anonymity explained that despite her knowledge of how some of those errand girls operate, she has once fallen into the trap of an errand girl who ran away with her N500.

“Almost all of us at the hostel give them work to do, like washing; but I’m not a fan of sending them on errand until that day. I was so tired and had to buy something at the mini-mart. The only option I had was to send one of them, I could remember what I sent her was just N70 out of N500 I gave her. But I later discovered my money was gone after an hour,” she says.

Ignorance is our problem, not government Garba Ahmad, 65, has worked as a security man for 35 years now in UsmanuDanfodiyo University, Sokoto and he’s got a thousand and one reasons to accept that education is worthy of embrace. “There are many disadvantages of not going to school.

For example, I have been working for the school’s security department for 35 years now; if a young man with a secondary certificate is appointed today, he becomes my superior,” Mallam Ahmad says.

Mallam Ahmad appears to be more sincere and honest; he declares that their backwardness in education despite the presence of a university in the community is their own faults and that no one, he says, is to be blamed but them.

“Yes, it is our fault because we are the parents of these children. I know for a fact that most of you in this school are from poor homes, but you are still schooling. I see students who struggle to eat in the hostel, yet they are in school,” Ahmad says.

Mallam Ahmad lives in GidanFati, another village adjacent to the

‘Ignorance is our problem, not government’ says Garba

Vice Chancellor’s quarters. But then, residents of the village are yet to see reasons to send their children to school. However, Ahmad chides his people for embracing ignorance at the expense of erudition.

He says: “To be honest, we have more fault than the government.

The schools are there and are free of charge. One only needs to buy uniform and books for one’s children. For example, all the time my son spent in Dundaye secondary school, I did not spend up to five thousand naira. You see, the government has helped.”

Words from the authorities FarukBarade, the Student’s Union President of the university, spoke to this reporter on efforts made by the Union to tackle the recurrent spikes by neighbouring communities of the institution.

“We are working hand in hand with the University to see that the insecurity in this school comes to an end.

“We must put a stop to these attacks by the villagers; it is becoming unbearable. We just settled a matter with some of them who claim to be the owners of our school stadium,” Barade said.

AbdullahiGwandu, the Chief Security officer of the University affirms that the institution being surrounded by many villages could be a security threat for students of the school. “In the mini market, there was a village there, VC quarters, there was a village there but the former management tried as much as possible to move them and got them relocated. There is an area reserved for that purpose,” he said, noting that students should be very security conscious at all time.

When contacted, the Dean of Students’ Affairs, Prof. Aminu Mode said the school management is “working tirelessly to ensure that something is done about it.” Prof. Mode also noted that the authorities of the school were working on fencing the university to save the school from external forces. .This report was done with support from Ford Foundation and the International Centre for Investigative Reporting.

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Sunday 22 December 2019

Arts Christmas with the arts

O

OBINNA EMELIKE nce again, it is that time of the year when you need to spoil yourself a little and probably end the passing year and usher the New Year in grand style.

If you are looking for something unique to engage your time this festive season, the arts present a good option. From visual, stage performances, cinema to others forms of art, there are exciting varieties to spice your experience this festive season.

If you are a lover of stage play, Bolanle Austin-Peers Production (BAP) is enthralling the public even more this festive season with a super production it tagged Fela’s Republic and the Kalakuta Queens.

The latest production is a sequel of Fela and the Kalakuta Queens, which was about the most-seen stage production in 2017. It is an epic story of one legendary icon, on one stage for 10 days and in one city. It also enables the audience to follow the man Fela, the myth, the legend and the unapologetic activist.

Fela’s Republic and the Kalakuta Queens shows at The Terra Arena, Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, Lagos on December 14, 15, 21, 22, 26, 28, and 29, 2019. It continues on January 1, 4, and 5, 2020 with two time slots of 3pm and 7pm each day.

As well, it will be interesting to see Hertitude, a bold new play by Kessavier Vanille Productions, this festive season. The play is back to the stage after a highly successful inaugural outing in March and April this year at Wole Soyinka Hall, Freedom Park, Lagos.

Back to light up the Christmas and New Year season, Hertitude will be staged in the bigger and purpose-built theater space of

African Art Gallery storefront at Tribeca

the renewed National Theater in Iganmu, Lagos on December 14, 15, 21, 22, 25, 28, 29 and January 1, 4 and 5, 2020, at 5pm daily.

If you are a lover of visual, there are many engaging works to see and artists to appreciate this festive season.

Moreover, there is no lack of galleries to visit as some are within your vicinity.

To enjoy the festive holiday with the creative minds and hands among us, all you need do is ask around for galleries, google for information and step out to see what the galleries offer.

It will be exciting to visit Wheatbaker Hotel Ikoyi to meet Obi Okigbo, a Brussels-based Nigerian-born artist who is staging a comeback to

the Nigerian at scene with her much anticipated solo exhibition titled Convergence.

The exhibition is curated by SMO Contemporary Art and features 50 paintings and drawings on paper, canvas, linen and silk by the artist.

The exhibition is a must-see because Obi, daughter of Christopher Okigbo, late foremost Nigerian poet, is bringing to bear the creative ingenuity that runs in her family blood. As well, the Wheatbaker reserved the best for the last as the exhibition marks the end of an exciting 2019 art program for the Ikoyi-based hotel Ikoyi, which generously donated its exclusive spaces and walls for many exhibitions this year. IThe exhibition will also open New Year art calendar

of the hotel.

Convergence explores the artist’s fascination with how our belief systems, behavioral patterns, and aesthetic values have been shaped by ancient art and mythology from different cultures and eras. Okigbo’s experimentation with delicate paintings using Indian ink and pigment, touch on universal themes of transcendence. Her powerful portraits of heroes of African descent are “a celebration of collective memory, the archetypal quest for the self and the truth of our existence”.

The exhibition runs from November 25, 2019 to February 16, 2020 at Wheatbaker, which is located at #4 Onitolo Road (Lawrence Road) Ikoyi, Lagos.

However, you must not take a room at the premiere luxury boutique hotel before you fete your eyes on the creative works of Nigerian artists because The Wheatbaker is at the forefront of contemporary Nigerian art with its robust and innovative art exhibitions all year round since it opened its doors in 2011.

Also in Ikoyi, at 74b, Norman Williams Street, Mydrim Gallery opens its doors for your visit to see beautiful artworks and also buy some this festive season.

Rele Gallery is a dynamic contemporary art gallery with two locations in Lagos. It represents and exhibits cutting-edge and game-changing visual artists.

The contemporary gallery, which is located at #5 Military Street, Onikan, Lagos, has continued to trigger a larger appreciation, followership, and engagement of art from Nigeria, making it accessible to both a local and global audience. So, Rele Gallery is worth visiting this festive season.

While in Ikoyi, Omenka Gallery is one place to be. The gallery is a leading art gallery at 24 Ikoyi Crescent, Ikoyi. At the gallery, visitors enjoy a fine selection of works of established and emerging contemporary Nigerian and international artists working in diverse media.

The good thing about visiting the gallery is that it is located just by the shore of the Atlantic Ocean and hence offers fresh breeze amid tranquil atmosphere. It also host a restaurant overlooking the ocean and under tree shade.

You can also visit Temple Muse, a lifestyle store that offers large space for art exhibition. The outfit is worth visiting now it has moved to from #21, Amodu Tijani Close, Victoria Island, Lagos to #2 Musa Yar’ Adua St, Victoria Island, a bigger and more stylish space.

Temple Muse offers curated art exhibitions and bespoke events, set within the beautiful setting of an in-house gallery, champagne bar and poolside, which are designed to further inspire visitors. Corporate gifts, luxury hampers and a wedding gift registry are also available in store within the gallery.

Recently, Temple Muse hosted Emeka Udemba’s solo exhibition, which marked the opening of the new location.

Besides these galleries, you can visit Nike Art Gallery in Lekki, National Museum Onikan, among others to fete your eyes on creative ingenuity of master visual artists and emerging ones.

The Lagos Theatres, built by Akinwumi Ambode, former governor of Lagos State, are open to entertain the public this season.

Just give it a trial and you will delight in doing that. I wish you a wonderful Christmas and New Year with the arts!

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Arts ‘Bintu - The Musical’ brings the crisis in Northeast on stage OBINNA EMELIKE

T

he United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) recently premiered Bintu - The Musical, at the MUSON Centre in Lagos. The theatre production is a bold and thoughtful dramatization of the humanitarian impact of the decade-long crisis that has plagued Nigeria’s north-eastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.

WFP taps into Nigeria’s vibrant performing arts and entertainment industry to tell a story of conflictdriven hunger, resilience and humanity.

“We hope the play will spark conversations around the crisis in the North East and lead to greater engagement of all parts of society – the private sector, gov-

Bintu the Musical charts the struggles of families affected by violence and hunger

ernment agencies and individuals – boosting efforts to achieve zero hunger in

Nigeria,” said Paul Howe, WFP representative and country director in Nigeria.

The play follows a young girl called Bintu, whose dreams of going to univer-

sity are dramatically cut short when insurgents strike. Bintu and her friends find refuge in a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs), where they receive humanitarian assistance.

While in the camp, Bintu slowly begins to rebuild her life.

Written and directed by Agozie Ugwu, a Nigerian playwright who teaches performing arts at the Nile University of Nigeria in Abuja, the play uses powerful song, dance and poetic performances to depict people’s struggles, their will to survive and the vital humanitarian assistance they receive.

“This work goes beyond a theatre piece. It is a call to action from humanity to help humanity,” said Ugwu, whose Mosaic Theatre Production developed the play with WFP. Bintu - The Musical,

whose premiere in Lagos will be followed by a showing in Abuja in the first quarter of 2020, is based on the real-life experiences of people caught in the conflict which has driven an estimated two million people from their homes. Nearly three million people struggle to meet their food needs in the three crisis-affected states - almost double the number at the same time last year.

Since 2016, WFP has been providing a lifeline for vulnerable families affected by conflict in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, supporting internally displaced people, returnees, young children and pregnant or breastfeeding women with life-saving food and nutrition support. In 2019, WFP and partners have served an average of 800,000 people with food or cash every month.

Mandilas ‘Back to 50s’, ignites nostagic feelings at end-of-year party OBINNA NNOROM

T

he serene private residence of John Mandilas (founder of Mandilas Group Ltd) at No. 42 Bourdilon Road, Ikoyi, Lagos burbled with excitement and funs when the company celebrated its end-of-year party on December 19, 2019. At the party, the company relived what it coded as “Back to the 50s”, a stylish outing worth attending.

Mandilas Group used the occasion to celebrate, as well as, its 70th anniversary since the conglomerate was established in Nigeria.

The event venue was decorated with the traditional Nigerian national colours of green-white-green and fused with drama (Mandilas customer cares), fashion (best dressed staff) raffle draw and quiz to make the occasion more memorable.

The management and staff of the company dressed impressively in old-schools English wears, local Nigeria ashoke, adire, agbada to showcase the country’s cultural heritage.

In terms of drinks, the local palm-wine was served fresh to guests as they con-

sumed it with delight. Moreover, some interested guests got busy with the daft game, just for leisure.

Interestingly, the DJ busied himself playing the oldies including music of Sir Victor Uwaifo’s “ Joromi and If you see Mamaiwota”, Felix Liberty’s “Ifeoma”, Oliver De Choque’s ‘’Ogene Music’, Mike Okri’s “Time Na Money” and Chris Essien Igbokwe’s among other artistes’ evergreen tracks.

Of spectacular attention was the vintage Beetles brand of Volkswagen car displayed at the lounge with guest after guest taking snap-shot photographs and selfies in reminiscence.

It would be recalled that in 1953, Mandilas was given the sole right by the Nigerian government to import and sale Volkswagen cars in Nigeria; a brand popularized

by Basil Mandilas to become the country’s number one car.

Speaking at the party, Gregory Eze-Okafor, director of Mandilas Group, went down the memory-lane to recall founder of the company’s success story in business in the 50’s.

Ez e - Ok a f o r t o l d h i s guests that John Mandilas’ business acumen and cre-

ativity gave him the ability to excel in any area he ventured.

On the Mandilas Christmas party, Eze-Okafor explained the rationale behind the idea of “Back to the 50s”, saying John Mandilas played a visible role in making the Yuletide to become a memorable and exciting season in the country.

“The occasion of “Back to the 50s”, brings happy nostalgia feeling about how Basil Mandilas taught peo-

ple; how he posted yuletide greetings on the company’s notice board for all the staff, how he sent greeting cards individually to members of the management, as well as, up and down in the country, to the friends and associates, the religious and political leaders and the traditional rulers, among others”, EzeOkafor recalled.

He remarked that in recognition of Mandilas’ legendary contributions to the development of trade and

Some staff members in ‘old school‘ outfits at the party

industry in Nigeria, NACCIMA installed the industrialist with the title of “National Life Vice-President” of the body.

The director also noted that Mandilas’ uncommon patriotism to Nigeria earned him with the Nigerian Naturalization Certificate No 1. on October 1, 1960.

Also speaking at the occasion, Ola Debayo-Doharty, group chief executive officer, Mandilas, who emphasised on customer care management, tasked the compa-

ny’s staff to take customers needs seriously for Mandilas sustainability in business.

Debayo-Doharty noted that part of Mandilas success story is prompt response to the company’s customers needs, a culture that constitutes the organization’s core-value.

The group chief executive officer told the staff to represent the company well by driving its vision to greater heights.

“Be an ambassador by driving the vision of the company so as to expand the business to the next level”, she said.

She also stressed the need for the workers to develop themselves in information technology and skills in their areas of training in order to be in tune with the global dynamics, adding that the company is committed to providing them with the platform for personal development.

“Mandilas offers you opportunity for personal development in order to advance in your carriers.’

Mandilas is a conglomerate company that deals in sales, repair and service of cooling systems, Volkswagen cars, properties among others.

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Sunday 22 December 2019

ExecutiveBookshelf With Chido Nwakanma • Reviews • News • Interview • List

My book world

A road map for managing change Franca Ovadje (2014), Change Leadership in Developing Countries. New York: Routledge. 288 pages. ISBN: 978-0-415-81922-0

Franca Ovadje

If a change initiative is to be successful, change recipients must accept the change and be willing to actualise the vision.

Winning commitment to change involves overcoming resistance to change.

Change agents must decide on strategies to identify and deal with resistance

F

ive years into its publication, Change Leadership in Developing Countries is recommended reading as executives in the private and public sectors prepare for 2020 that all authorities project would be turbulent. Turbulence is one of the precursors or drivers of change. It features in this book alongside the external environment, inefficient processes, stages in the organisation life cycle as well as the macroeconomic and socio-political context of operations.

Change leadership in Developing Countries hit the shelves as Nigeria prepared for elections that ushered in a significant political transition. It did not attract attention or become a best-seller even

as its title and subject matter aligned with the purported agenda of the persons pushing the change mantra. They would have and can still benefit and deepen the essence of their programme by reading books such as this if they are indeed pursuing a change agenda!

Change is one of the most critical subject areas in management literature. Renowned thinkers have works on the subject, fromJ. P. Kotter through Michael E. Potter. It is intriguing to read a book on change management by one of Nigeria’s leading scholars who is a professor of human behaviour in organisations at the Lagos Business School.

Perception of a need for change is the basis for planned organisational

change. Franca Ovadje asserts that the need arises from a performance gap, that is the difference between the desired state and what exists. Many factors drive the change process and perception.

Vision is critical once executives commit to change. The vision has to be clear, written and measurable. The organisation should commit to metrics that make sense, but that also stretch and demand performance from everyone. The author recommends that the change managers spend considerable time on visioning.

Why? Everything in the process depends on realising the vision. If it is not broad, long-term or fails to see widely, it will constrict the organisation.

Equally important are

the change targets (what is it that we are changing?) and the methods of effecting this change. What is a success and how do we recognise it when we achieve it or fail to do so?

Critical to make the right choice of success measures. Equally essential are the choice of pace and sequence of change. Will it be organisation-wide or tackle only parts thereof?

Other elements of the change management model the book treats are the choice of leadership style, the support systems the organisation deploy as well as winning commitment to change. “If a change initiative is to be successful, change recipients must accept the change and be willing to actualise the vision. Winning commitment to change involves overcoming resistance to change. Change agents must decide on strategies to identify and deal with resistance.”

Chapter nine is one of the most insightful in the book as it treats “Winning commitment to change”.

Dr Ovadje asserts, “Many of us have heard countless times that people do not like change and will resist it as much as they can. This is simply not true. We do not resist all changes. Most people will not resist a promotion, a well-furnished large office with a view of the sea or a company car and chauffeur. People tend to accept those changes they perceive to be beneficial and reject others” (p109).

As Noah built the ark before the flood, the central plank of change is planning. The book asserts that a change process must take cognisance of the transitions people must make. The author identifies five essential steps as pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance stage.

The inclusion of the NAFDAC change in this chapter enriches it and helps to deliver the message on the stages, the obstacles and management approaches that work.

The case of Alpha Plc is also instructive, but the author makes it clear she masked the identity of the company.

Case studies of companies and individuals enrich this gripping work. They are CMC Connect, NAFDAC under Dora Akunyili, GT Bank, Seven Seas Technologies of Kenya, and Tade Oyinlola. The case study on “The transformation of Equity Bank” written in 2011 for discussion in Lagos Business School classes underlines the matter of change. Equity Bank is off the radar in Nigeria.

Young people who read the case can only no treat it as a historical instance!

For more than two decades, Dr Franca Ovadje led sessions in human resource management, leadership and organisational change in both local and international programmes at 25 years at the Lagos Business School. She also taught on the African AMP at the IESE Business School in Barcelona and on several programmes in South Africa and Ghana. She is an active consultant to industry and draws on that experience to enrich this significant work on change management in Nigeria and Africa. Dr Ovadje was a recipient of the African Ma n a g e m e n t Sc h o l a r Award in 2005. She is founder of the Danne Institute for Research.

Executives across Africa should read Change Leadership in Developing Countries for both the theoretical insights and enriching case studies. It should be a handy reference for Nigerian executives as the promised dislocations in the environment from various policy changes begin to take effect.

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Travel

It’s Tropical Christmas at Eko Hotel OBINNA EMELIKE

I

t is obvious that this year’s Christmas is set, and you can perceive and feel merriment everywhere now.

But you can feel it more at Eko Hotel and Suites in Victoria Island, Lagos, where the liveliest Christmas is happening.

With its specially curated festive activities branded as ‘Tropical Christmas Wonderland’, the hotel is offering guests and visitors unique unwinding, family reunion, and memorable holiday this festive season.

Already, the fun has started.

Guests and visitors were enthralled on Sunday December 15, 2019, when the hotel’s management officially light up the 2019 Christmas tree amid huge fireworks, Christmas carols, food and drinks.

It was truly exciting to visit the hotel, especially at night to see how it glows beautifully with the specially curated lighting, from the entrance, lawn, reception, walls, bars, restaurants and to the rooms.

At the lighting ceremony, Christopher Chagoury, chairman of the hotel, noted that Eko Hotel and Suites is committed to offering world-class hospitality offerings that would leave the guests with memorable experience, hence the unique activities lineup to mark 2019 Christmas.

He assured that most of the activities are first of their kind in Nigeria, especially the 35 ft tall singing tree, noting that Eko Hotel is worth a visit this festive season and afterwards because of the innovative offerings, which are value for money for guests.

Speaking at the tree lighting ceremony, Danny Kioupouroglou, general manager of the hotel, noted that, “The idea is that we are in Africa, and we cannot always be following European style of celebration of Christmas because it is snow in Europe during Christmas. It is sunny here in Nigeria during Christmas and that is why we tagged it Tropical

…as hotel curates first-of-its-kind experience for guests

Eko Hotel and Suites glowing after the Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony Christmas”.

Explaining further on the Nigerian version of Christmas celebration in the hotel, Kioupouroglou said that, “Our Santa Claus is going to wear sandals and coming in Keke (tricycle) because we want to promote tropical style of Christmas in line with our environment here”.

He assured that the hotel is worth visiting because the management has created a total and exciting package with the Tropical Christmas Wonderland’, especially for Nigerians who usually travel abroad to celebrate the festive season.

On activities for the package, the general manager said that there would be big music concerts, pajamas party, sing-

ing Christmas tree, from whose branches people will come out to sing, Santa Claus parade and procession with Nutcrackers and Elves, Christmas train that will be going around the hotel, among other exciting activities.

Also speaking at the event, Iyadunni Igbadebo, marketing director of the hotel, said the Tropical Christmas Wonderland comes with family-friendly packages that would encourage families to be together and enjoy together this season.

According to her, families have options of three-night and five-night packages, though the four buildings in Eko Hotel are sold-out as at December 15, 2019.

While resident guests have

access to all the events, she noted that visiting guests can buy tickets for the activities they want to attend without necessarily staying in the hotel.

She also elaborated on the activities for the Tropical Christmas Wonderland. “We have pasta baking class for children at the Sky Restaurant, we are going to have two cinemas in the hotel, big games arcade, wonderland, crèche among others.

“Santa will arrive on December 24th at Eko Suites with a 20-man procession that will drive from Eko Suites to all the four buildings in the hotel and when he gets to the main building, we are going to light up again. The idea is to allow families lodging in the hotel to come down and

watch or join the procession”, she explained.

She noted further that Santa will later move from the main bulling to the Wonderland Garden to meet the kids who are waiting for him for the pajama party, which is going to be magical. “There, we have a 35 ft tall singing tree, which is the first of its kind in Africa. We are going to sing Christmas carol with the singing tree as well, On Christmas day, Santa will deliver gifts to each room in the hotel, there will lunch-time Christmas party for families that day and we are going to wrap up the day with a magical evening Christmas carol event, where we have auditioned children who have talent to come and show their talents. Children will be the stars of their own show that evening with no celebrity on sight”, she said.

The marketing director singled out December 24th as a Christmas Eve for holiday makers to enjoy a thrilling Santa procession with Nutcrackers and Elves, and fabulous barbecue buffet dinner. On Christmas day, the Kuramo Sports Café will host families and friends to a choice menu of food options from over seven continents for their lunch buffet. The Christmas Costume concert on Christmas evening promises to be sensational.

Boxing Day will also feature a themed high life and palm wine night with spectacular high life music and an exquisite dinner buffet experience while the New Year eve features midnight fireworks that usher guests into the brand new year 2020.

However, the month-long event, which kicked off with a light-up ceremony on December 15, 2019, will be followed by a lineup of fun events between December 23 and 28, 2019. The events are designed for families and individuals to relive classic Christmas memories and create new magical ones infused with the one-of-a -kind hospitality that only Eko Hotel offers.

Southern Sun Ikoyi unveils festive offerings at year-end cocktail

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t was in its usual style of elegance, merriment and grandeur as southern sun Ikoyi treated its guests, loyal customers, friends and esteemed individuals of the Lagos business community to its exclusive yearend corporate VIP cocktail event.

The event, which is an annual tradition by the hotel geared towards appreciating the efforts and supports by the hotel’s clients, partners, friends and corporate institutions within the eco system it operates.

Speaking at the event, Mark Loxley, general manager, Southern Sun Ikoyi, expressed gratitude to the clientele of the hotel and staff members for taking out time from their busy schedule to unwind and spend quality time with the hotel, which further reiterates the level of commitment to the Southern Sun Ikoyi brand throughout the course of the year.

Mark further stated that, this year marked the 10th Anniversary of Southern Sun Ikoyi’s operation in Nigeria and expressed gratitude for the consistent support it continues to enjoy from loyal partners within the Lagos business community and Nigeria at large, which has ensured that it continues to enjoy the distinguished privilege for being one of the preferred destination for guests and tourists looking to do business or pleasure.

He also used the medium to wish guests a happy holiday as he reiterated the hotels commitment to partnering to them as they look forward to the new year in 2020.

Also speaking at the event, Ubong Nseobot, sales and marketing manager, Southern Sun Ikoyi, unveiled a number of enticing Christmas and New Year offers designed to give each guest

a magical treat in the yuletide season. The offers, such as the Special Christmas Package involving great discounts per standard room each night, complimentary with breakfast for two and two

shirts for ironing upon arrival is billed at N40,000 per night and runs from December 20, 2019 till January 12, 2020, while the Exotic Christmas brunch and New Year’s Brunch on Decem-

ber 25, 2019 and January 1, 2020 respectively are billed at N19,000 per person with a subsidized fee of N10,000 for children between the age of 5-11 years.

Stanley Mwangi, head chef of the hotel, and his team treated guests at the event to an array of sweet and savoury bites, which included fresh prawns, beef Suya, juicy steak burgers, fine wine and champagne alongside assorted cheeses and much more, as they relaxed and networked over glasses filled with finely blended wine and juices.

The evening continued with a special session of lucky prize draw, where guests had the opportunity to win scintillating experiences courtesy of Southern Sun Ikoyi ranging from scrumptious dinner for two with champagne, Sunday brunch for four with champagne and a luxurious weekend stay at the hotel.

28 BDSUNDAY

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Sunday 22 December 2019

Travel

Carbon emissions per air passenger decrease more than 50% since 1990 IFEOMA OKEKE

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he International Air Transport Association (IATA) published information confirming that carbon emissions per passenger have declined by more than 50 percent since 1990.

Much of the improvement has occurred because the industry has achieved an annual fuel efficiency improvement of 2.3 percent over the period since 2009, some 0.8 percentage points ahead of target.

This progress is a combination of investments in more efficient aircraft and operational efficiencies.

“Cutting per passenger emissions in half is an amazing achievement of the technical expertise and innovation in the aviation industry. But we have even bigger ambitions. From 2020 we will cap

net emissions.

“And by 2050 we will cut emissions to half 2005 levels. Accomplishing these targets means continued investment in new technology, sustainable fuels, and operational improvements,” Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO said.

Airlines have invested some one trillion dollars in new aircraft since 2009, and in addition have

signed forward purchase agreements for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) amounting to approximately six billion dollars. In addition, the introduction of the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) will ensure carbon-neutral growth on international flights from 2020 and raise around 40 billion dollars in climate finance.

Alternative measures are inef-

Arik Air donates items to orphanages Gbemi Faminu

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eyond satisfying clients and providing excellent transport services, Arik air also embarks on putting a smile to people’s faces in an effort to give back to the society.

The air transport company recently made a visit to the Love Home orphanage in Lagos where it donated different items ranging from food items like rice, beans, cereal, as well as clothing items and toiletries.

Speaking on the activity, Odion Andrew, Marketing head, Central West Africa, Arik Air, said as an organization, Arik is interested in giving back to the society by providing help and sponsorship whenever

and wherever it is necessary.

“We enjoy putting smiles to people’s faces including children. This is not the first time and it will not be the last time, we have been to other homes across Lagos, Yola and Benin.

It however does not end here, we still follow up with them and check for things they still need from time to time.”

He explained that the company operates a large scale of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), adding that besides providing for orphanages and homes, Arik also engages in sponsorship of programmes, conferences as well as establishments.

He urged the government to do more in satisfying the occupants of the home, “although the government is making efforts, there is

need to do more, as these homes need more to function” Andrew said.

Expressing gratitude, Bukola Fatunde, media manager, The Real Woman Foundation, parent organization of the Love Home Orphanage, said they were grateful to the airline for it’s kind gesture of, adding that considering economic constraints, they were compassionate enough to visit the home.

She said the home has different occupants within different age range however, efforts are being made to ensure that they are well cared for in all areas especially feeding and education. “We thank the airline for having this thought and going through this thought to show them love,” Fatunde said.

ficient and fail to cut carbon.

Analysis from IATA shows that efforts to deliberately suppress air travel through punitive passenger taxes are inefficient and largely ineffective at reducing carbon.

The CORSIA scheme’s effectiveness lies in its global scope. It is estimated it will reduce emissions by around 2.5 billion tonnes over the lifetime of the scheme.

But global goodwill towards implementing CORSIA is being compromised by governments introducing a patchwork of carbon taxes. A series of decisions or proposals have been made in recent months to levy air passenger taxes, including in France, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

“Taxation aimed at stopping people from exercising their freedom to fly will make travel more expensive but do very little to

reduce emissions. It is a politician’s feel-good solution, without taking responsibility for the negative impact it has on the economy or the mobility restrictions it imposes on people with lower incomes,” de Juniac said.

Long-term, aviation is aiming to reduce emissions with cleaner technology. This will require a financially sound airline sector capable of funding the significant investments that will be needed to make flying sustainable.

“Governments must focus their efforts correctly. Flying drives prosperity. It is not the enemy. Cutting carbon must at the forefront. And government leadership is needed to incentivize the commercialization of sustainable aviation fuels, drive efficiencies in air traffic management and support research into next generation low-carbon energy sources,” de Juniac said.

TAAG Angola Airlines launches direct flights to Lagos – Nigeria

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AAG Angola Airlines has announced the launch of its inaugural flights to Lagos Nigeria beginning 16th December, 2019.

The flights will depart from Luanda to Lagos on Mondays and Fridays at 11:330am and is scheduled to arrive in Lagos at 14:30.

The return flights on the same weekdays will depart from Lagos at 15:30 and are scheduled to arrive in Luanda at 18:30.

The service, which will operate initially up to two weekly flights to Lagos, will be operated by a Boeing 737-700 NG, featuring 12 seats in Business Class and 108 seats in Economy Class, totalling 120 available seats per flight. The weekly flights will increase from two to three by early next year.

Rui Teles Carreira, TAAG An-

gola Airlines CEO, said: “We are very excited to be announcing our new service to Lagos - the latest destination added to our network that will further connect African countries and beyond and by which we expect positive results. This route will allow easy connections to and from Johannesburg, Sao Paulo, Lisbon and Porto.

“The new route to the coastal city of Lagos will not only further solidify links between Angola and Nigeria with direct flights between both countries while also fostering connectivity between West and Southern Africa. TAAG Angola Airlines is committed to increasing its presence as well as offering good connections, inside and outside of Africa, looking forward to increasing the number of destinations we already offer our passengers.”

Dana Air wins Best Airline in Passenger Facilitation

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L-R: Adedoja Ikyo, accountant, Love Homes Orphanage; Toke Onasanya, Social Worker, Love Homes Orphanage; Andrew Odion, head marketing, Central & West Africa, Arik Air; Tosin Sanni, human resources/ administrator, Love Homes Orphanage; Emmanuel Awani, senior sales representative, Trade Sales, Arik Air; Joseph Tosin, Intern, Arik Air; and Funmi Ajasa, customer service, Love Homes Orphanage during Arik Air visit and Christmas donation to Love Homes Orphanage recently in Lagos.

ana Air has won an award as the Best Airline in Passenger Facilitation at the 10th edition of the Nigerian Aviation Awards held recently at Oriental Hotels, Lagos Kingsley Ezenwa, the Airline’s Media and Communications Manager, while speaking to newsmen after receiving the award on behalf of Dana Air said, we are excited about this.

“We got similar award last 2 years as best airline, last also and this year, we just got this. This only demonstrates our commitment to providing seamless travel for our customers hinged on comfort and safety. ‘’If you visit our counters you won’t find any passenger because we have eliminated the queues and that’s what we call efficiency. We have invested massively on technology to provide seamless booking,

and check-in for our guests and we are glad they are flying the smartest way. We wish to dedicate this award to our customers for their loyalty and support for the past 11 years.”

On the airline’s preparedness for the yuletide traffic, Ezenwa said, ‘’we are prepared for the yuletide! This high demand is expected and we are creating more flights to ensure that our guests are not stranded in anyway at the airports. You would recall we recently acquired 2 Boeing 737 aircraft and we are at the final stages of their documentation.

Pretty soon, we would have flights in abundance for our guests.’’

“We wish to encourage our guests to visit our website for booking, chat with us on our WhatsApp for inquiries, and take advantage of our self-booking and check-in kiosk at the Murtala Mohammed Airport 2.’’

Sunday 22 December 2019

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Bliss with Nonye Ben-Nwankwo

BDSUNDAY 29

Email: chiwuagwu@yahoo.com Phone number (SMS only) 08057511893

Celebrities, designers I need prayers not thrill at BAFEST mockery – Angela Okorie W hen the organisers of the second edition of Born in Africa Festival promised it was going to be a great event, they weren’t mincing words. The event has come and gone but sure would remain indelible in the minds of many.

The Access Bank’s BAFEST activities characteristically fused everything music, arts, film and fashion in a day-long festival at the Eko Atlantic City last weekend and the event was filled with innovative and immersive African experiences dipped in the world of quality entertainment like never seen before.

BAFEST since its inception in 2018 has become a platform to celebrate and showcase Africa’s exceptional talents to the World.

The Festival had two events- A creative park and marketplace to enable fashion enthusiasts and art lovers engage with cutting edge styles and designers on display.

This year, the best in the fashion industry across the continent such as Tokyo James, David Tlale, Weizdhurm Franklin, and Odio Mimonet showcased how they are shaping Africa’s fashion’s future using cuts, patterns and designs inspired by the African culture.

BAFEST came to a climax at the end of the day with electrifying performances from leading African artists at the Eko Atlantic City, Lagos. Among the A-list

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ctress, Angela Okorie has been trending on social media for some time now especially since the story of the alleged assassination attack on her broke some days ago.

Her claims have attracted so much sympathies as well as condemnation with not just a few pointing some loopholes to her stories while so many others alleged she was not attacked by any assassins.

Amidst all the brouhaha, Angela has cried out on her social media handle that people should not mock her but pray for her.

On her instagram handle, Angela said, “All I need now is your support and prayers not mockery.”

In a long post, Angela added, “So the story would have been ANGELA OKORIE died after putting a smile on the face of her fans after performing at the @ infinixnigeria show. (God forbid, I reject it in Jesus name). They are angry I survived it. Hmmmmm.

Ok ooooo “Some people made a video saying I was lying, that it was framed up. Even as video was shown how the pellets were removed, they still insist I was lying.

“Listen y’all, I am not here to banter words with anyone but to warn those of you carrying fake news about Angela Okorie. Anti kidnapping squad is on this case and they are picking up anybody that is involved or take up fake

news about this incident.

“Fake bloggers, fake accounts continue, open more fake accounts, just know you can’t hide for too long. Whoever that comes out to say contrary to what hap-

pened to me should provide us with their evidence else you will go in for it. It simply shows you know the way about of the criminals, and you must provide them or you go in for it. Be warned!”

Mumagee ‘reunites’ with ex

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inger, Gift Uwame, popularly known as Muma Gee, was all smiles and joyous recently when she and her kids had a great time with her estranged actor husband, Prince Eke. Recall MumaGee and Prince made headlines some time ago with allegations and counter allegations of infidelity andothermessystuff.Thereafter,bothof them separated.

Prince, who is based abroad, was in the country recently and hung out with his family.

The obviously excited Mumagee posted a picture of the family on her social media handle saying, “Everyone posed for a shot after a good meal yesterday in front of the Chinese restaurant, Lagos.”

Her fans and friends were happy with the latest development as they equally posted comments blessing their home and wishing them well.

However, some might also think Prince may have a different opinion with his cryptic post on his page.

He wrote, “You can never eat your cake and have it back...”

Bliss made efforts to reach both celebrities for their reactions but their lines were unavailable as at press time.

artists who ensured the crowd remained excited and engaged were, Burna Boy, Flavour, Teni, Patoranking, Niniola, Seyi Shay, Joe boy, Becca, Mr. Real, 9ice, Ice Prince and Naira Marley.

Sp e a k i n g a b o u t B A F E ST, Group Head, Communications & External Affairs at Access Bank Plc, Amaechi Okobi, said, “It has become impossible to ignore the energy and talent coming out of Africa and this is giving rise to a greater awareness of a strong and proud African identity. These talents are challenging African stereotypes. Taking charge of the African narrative is one of the core reasons for Access Bank’s Born in Africa Festival fusing all of Access Bank’s activities in music, art, film and fashion with an aim to draw the attention of the World to Africa’s true culture and lifestyle.”

Access the Stars wows Calabar, heads to Onitsha

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he City of Calabar got its own dose of fun and excitement when the train of Access the Stars stopped at the city.

The show, after taking off in the very late hours of the day under the cool atmosphere of a typical night in Calabar, delivered on its lofty expectations and provided a night of fun and great music, as Seyi Shay and Dare art Alade delivered some memorable performances.

Both stars had a great time on stage as they engaged the fans in memorable sing-along moments.

The top five selected talents from the Calabar auditions also made it a night to remember as they sang their hearts out in hopes of impressing the judges. At the end of the night, two lucky contestants made it through to the next round, and both stars were clearly elated after being selected.

Seyi Shay, who has been enjoy-

ing her time as a Judge on the show, expressed her expectation for the show’s next outing in Onitsha. She said,“Every city we’ve visited has produced lots of awe-inspiring moments. I know Onitsha will not disappoint and I can’t wait to meet some amazing singers in the city.”

Access the Stars music reality show is the brainchild of two leading Nigerian brands - Nigerian Breweries Plc and Access Bank Plc to provide a platform for budding singers to harness their talents and truly get a chance to shine alongside Nigeria’s biggest stars.

The show will air on major entertainment channels; Hip TV, Africa Magic, and Views Channel.

The show now heads to Onitsha and auditions were held at Dolly Hills Hotel on the 19th and 20th of December, while the concert will take place at Shoprite Onitsha Mall today, December 22, 2019.

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Sunday 22 December 2019

Life&Living A December to remember in Dubai; the Emirates experience

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Jumoke Akiyode-Lawanson

isted as a top holiday destination; over and over again, the beautiful, serene city of Dubai keeps proving to be the most talked about destination for most people; with so many fun-filled activities, that there is absolutely no time to be bored.

Of the seven emirates in the United Arab Emirates, Dubai is the holiday hotspot for people from every part of the world, including Nigerians who troop-in, in their numbers, as Emirates Airlines, the state-owned airline based in Garhoud, Dubai, United Arab Emirates and owned by the government of Dubai’s Investment Corporation of Dubai operates two flights daily between Lagos and Dubai.

This city of high-rise buildings and shopping malls has transformed itself from a desert outpost to a destination du-jour, where tourists flock for sales bargains, sunshine, and family fun.

The already beautiful city lights up even better in December with Christmas tress, lights and sparkly decorations everywhere in the spirit of Christmas. This was quite surprising for me, because although I have been to Dubai several times, I had never visited in December and I wasn’t expecting any Christmas excitement in an Arab country. However, this shows the that city is multicultural and warmly welcomes and caters to all foreigners.

The journey to the land of splendor started on Tuesday 3rd of December 2019. Although Dubai had been ticked off on my bucket list of ‘places to visit’, I was filled with excitement all the same, because I knew that I was going to have an entirely different experience, and I sure did. I was truly impressed with the service on Emirates economy

class which had ample leg room space, delicious food, and the best part was the free onboard WiFi which allows you to surf the internet for two hours with free 20MB data. You can also get two hours of free and unlimited text messaging, which allows you to respond to messages from, and keep in touch with friends, family and co-workers while on air, via WhatsApp, Facebook messenger, iMessage, Viber Chat or Wechat. You have nothing to worry about if you use up your free MB or run out of time after two hours, because the onboard WiFi allows you to purchase unlimited data plans until you land for USD $15.99 or USD $10.99 if you are an Emirates Skywards member.

Upon arrival at the Dubai International Airport, the Emirates PR team, as well as three other jour-

nalists and I were chauffeur driven to Hilton Al Habtoor City were we spent the next five nights in the luxury of the five-star hotel.

We woke up to a special gift package the next morning from Emirates and after breakfast, we headed straight to the Emirates Cabin Cree training college. We were briefed on how Emirates Airlines’ 22,000 cabin crew staff, consisting of about 160 different nationalities, during their seven and a half weeks training are taught about emotional intelligence, cultural awareness, health training for first aid treatment and others, to ensure maximum passenger satisfaction and comfort during all flights on any of its aircrafts.

At Emirates flight catering center where we visited afterwards, we were warmly welcome by Chef

Patrick Beudot, the head baker, and none of us would easily forget the irresistible delicious smell of freshly baked bread and pastry as we were whisked through the kitchen.

“200,000 meals are prepared daily in this kitchen, with about 2,000 chefs and 127 bakers. 80 percent of the food produced here are for Emirates Airlines,” Beaudot told us, as we curiously asked questions.

We were later joined by Vjay Pujari, executive sous chef, who explained that all food products delivered to the kitchen are inspected through scanning, by the Dubai police, and then sanitized manually in the process room.

In the evening, the team was treated to a lovely three course dinner at the exquisite Bvulgari Resort Dubai. Needless to say, the meals were divine.

Apart from the official visits to the Emirates engineering center, one of the world’s most technologically advanced aircraft maintenance facilities, were we learnt about all the work that goes into maintaining a single aircraft, and the meet up with Ambrose Ojobo, a Nigerian born and trained pilot, who talked about his journey to becoming a pilot at the tender ager of 15 and his flying experience with the leading airline, we had a lot of fun, taking pictures at several tourist attractions in Dubai.

If you are up for a thrilling adventure, then you definitely should experience a day at the Dessert Safari. We took a morning dune drive through the dessert, and I would advice anyone up for this experience not to eat before the drive, to avoid feeling sick and throwing up. You would also get the chance to sand board (which is like skate boarding in the sand), and camel ride. The fun part is that you get amazing photo shots to post on all your social media pages!

Atlantis, The Palm’s Cirrque De Cuisine returned for the Frozen edition this season, and diners were allowed enjoy different signature dishes and dance the night away – surely a great way to have fun after a long day.

On the fourth day, we finally got to climb to the top of Dubai’s landmark building; the Burj Khalifa, which at 829.8 meters with 124 floors, is the tallest building in the world and the most famous of the city’s points of interest. This is definitely a most do for all tourists, as the views across the city skyline from this bird’s-eye perspective are simply staggering.

Back on the ground, wrapping around the Burj Khalifa, are the building’s beautifully designed gardens, with winding walkways.

There are plenty of water features including the Dubai Fountain, the world’s tallest performing fountain, modeled on the famous Fountains of Bellagio in Las Vegas.

We also visited the Dubai Aquarium underwater zoo, situated inside the Dubai mall, where we got to experience the beauty of nature under water, picturing different sea creatures.

The highlight of my trip with Emirates was my chance to experience the thrill and challenge of piloting the world’s largest passenger aircraft, as a buckled up and took control of flying and landing the Emirates A380 in a simulator experience at the Dubai mall.

All in all, Dubai is definitely a ‘must go’ holiday destination with so many fun activities for both adults and children to enjoy all year round.

Sunday 22 December 2019

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BDSUNDAY 31

Feature Economy:

How Nigeria missed divine appointment – oil engineer reveals at 70 Anthony Akpan was one of the best brains from today’s Akwa Ibom who studied on scholarship all through, but feels sad that the right things are not done.

Ignatius Chukwu & Favour Ichemati Introduction When Saudi Arabia changed the oil game, Nigeria slept on round the time that Nigeria discovered oil and the oil boom started in the early 1970s, Saudi Arabia took a position and increased the price of oil from about $3 to over $20 per barrel. Kuwait used the windfall to establish refineries in many countries. They started refining their crude outside their territory and selling, but Nigeria did not know what to do with their own money.

Now, at 70 years, an oil engineer, Anthony Akpan, feels sad that Nigeria missed a great opportunity to secure its future and join the league of highly developed and respected oil powers.

Speaking with newsmen in Port Harcourt during his 70th birthday, the retired oil engineer said: “Our problem became how to spend money. In England, they would fawn at a Nigerian, asking what to do for you. Nigerians were worshipped there because of the value of our currency and foreign reserves. We didn’t know what to do with that money. If we had built sovereign wealth across the world, we won’t be in this mess. So, we missed a divine appointment in the early 70s and 80s. That’s why we are suffering today. It is an unfortunate situation.”

He went on: “It is important that we find ways of recouping the economy but that would not happen until we conduct government policies that are consistent.

We still have an opportunity to do something, but we must realize that the oil economy is going down.

“By the time Jonathan was leaving office, Nigeria was one of the four fastest growing economies in the world but as soon as the new regime came, the economy crashed. This came because of trading blames, making scary statements that made the international community to lose faith in the economy of Nigeria. The withdrawal from the stock exchange (NSE) in a couple of months was too heavy. It is only God that kept this nation. Maybe there is a divine purpose for Nigeria. It is important for the economy to be sustained and well thought out.

“The economy is threatened from all angles of insecurity, terrorism, kidnapping, etc. I do not know how we are still having food because of all the insecurity in the middle belt. A few years down the line, we may face the consequences because farmers are not going to the farm.

“We really need to put our money where our mouths are in terms of agriculture. I believe that up till now, it is still subsistence farming that sustains Nigeria. Agric now needs to be taken as a national initiative. People need to buy into it and be actually cultivating crops.

If you do an over-fly over this country, you will see huge land even in

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Akpan and wife

the south. In other countries you see vast tracks of land cultivated but not so in Nigeria. We have the largest population in Africa. How do we sustain this?”

What I learnt at 70: Significance of the Cross Speaking about his age and lessons, he said he talked about the true meaning of the Cross of Jesus. “Talking of relationships, the Cross of Jesus Christ came to me as being actually about the nature of man’s relationships; the vertical is our relationship with God; the horizontal is our relationships with other human beings. Vertical is with God, horizontal is with man. The meeting point depends on how deep one’s relationship with Christ is. Anyone who does not have a relationship with Christ can only have a relationship with men on the ground.” When this revelation came to him, he bowed and thanked God. At 70, he said he does not feel any different physically, spiritually, or mentally. “But, psychologically, I can say it may make one to begin to have thoughts; 70 is a marker age.

More importantly, I ask myself, what have I actually achieved; house, cars? Well, at the end of the day, the only thing that remains for us is the relationships we built. The only thing that can endure is impact we made in the lives of people, the friendships we built. Often, we neglect those relationships.”

Always vindicated The retired engineer thinks with scientificprecision,but often, many around him will not support his position. “I recall when there was the build-up to the 2019 election and I was brought into a whatsApp group of elite. Some of the things that I shared were not appreciated because maybe what they expected was that everybody had to toe the line of their objective. The majority rooted for a younger fellow to win in the PDP while I argued for a candidate that had clout and wide contact network. My position was that a person without a strong constituency would never win election as president. How many would know him in Nigeria? If we were to be on level-playing ground, the person would have to have

a strong constituency. So, I said, let’s pool our efforts to someone that has clout, who is popular and known. I was being attacked and I insisted that we should do some mathematics. INEC said 78million registered to win, the winner would get half of 78 (39m) to win.

That would mean about one million votes per state. What structure does this person have on ground to score one million votes per state? I live in Rivers State, what structure did he have in the state to win one million votes when we did not even know his campaign manager, office, structure, etc? They shouted me down and insisted the man would win. I was removed, but the fellow did not get up to three percent of the votes at the elections.

That is the issue.

“At a point in life, you must ask yourself what the realities on ground were; else, you would be building castles in the air.”

To live again Should the Akpan have a chance to start life all over, he would be a different person. His answer; “One of the things I would have done differently would be that I would not have spent 30 years working for another person. I would have struck out in entrepreneurship.

I would have tried to build a few more relationships. So, if I had another life to live, I would build more relationships that I can call by 2am and ask for N5m and be sure to get it. It means that young persons should strive to build relationships.

It’s important.”

He said: “I am not a good businessman but I tend to see myself as an entrepreneur. I like to initiate things, but am not able to get them to the end. I see opportunities and I like taking risks. As a younger person, I could leave Warri by 6pm and go to Calabar and drive alone till 10pm. Something happened one day and I still wonder whether I was mad or something. I took off here in Port Harcourt to Uyo to buy property and I had N200,000 in the boot of my car in an open sac or plastic bag. When I got to a checkpoint at Oyigbo, the police stopped me, opened my boot, saw the money, closed my boot, and asked me to go.”

Nigeria, full of many good men that do nothing In his message to the world, he said: “Edmund Burke, a British-Isish statesman, said that for evil to triumph it is sufficient that good men do nothing. The problem is that we have many good men but they do nothing. They must rise up and take action in politics. Politics and governance are a major influence of any society. A lot more people need to be involved in politics.

It’s about having voters’ cards, going out to vote, and even to say something and do something. We should begin to say something and do something.

“See the hate bill. How can you want to gag people? The greatest activity of man is to talk, and you want to gag them. You will not have opposition in the country because whatever the opposition says can be termed hate speech. At that point, democracy dies. It will lead to dictatorship. Hate speech is by those who do not love democracy.”

KnowingAnthonyAkpanfrom the Akpans His wife, Ekama, and two of his sons, Michael and Joshua, gave insights.

Michael: He has reached 70 but looks younger. It’s a miracle. He has no trouble in his heart and I wish to reach that age some day.

We aredifferentpeople.Hemay be nicer. We all are willing to give people a chance but I give once but he can give many more times. We both think God is the way.

I wish him many more years because he has to carry my kids and will get to his father age, 120.

Joshua: Talking about miles stones, one thing that has worked for him is simplicity and patience in everything. He has one of the biggest hearts and he gives to a fault.

His faith has been at the crux and that is the way he raised us. Looking for how closest Christ worked on earth, he is one. He does not force his will on anybody. He calls you to his study and tells you what you did wrong and points to how it will end. So, we have learnt to think in binary terms and risk assessment to know the result of every action one wants. To take His virtue includes respect to people and to hold faith very strongly. Morally, we do not have that compass but we always have a belief in God and principles of Christ. Life is a screenshot on perspective. I do not have the level of patience that he has.

I can only advise him to reduce commitment to many things, but it may be what keeps him going.

We the children would want him to reduce going too deeply in everything. He has spent all his life doing ministry and supporting people, and it may be difficult reducing it, but we will support him.

Ekama Emilia, wife: God told me this is my husband and gave me some understanding on how I would have to approach the marriage. It was not one of looking for fault. He does not pull his partner down. He does not hurt people. He

tells you to look for the best things in a person.

I call him the Barnabas of our time. Barnabas was a bridge maker, putting people together. He is also very intelligent. He had one of the best results in his time in Akwa Ibom, soon after the war. He studied with scholarship all his life and work came to him automatically.

That gave us two different paths in life. I had to push myself to get things done. People take advantage of his quiet nature. That is why God brought us together because I see quickly those things he overlooks and I stop things that would harm him. If I do not do that, I would be accountable to God. He is a perfectionist, but a bit laid back. When he does something, it must come out best. He has this great brain and I wanted it for my children. He is also a man who has the heart to serve. You see a lot of people in my house. I know that’s what makes him happy. I know what makes him happy and I make allowance for that.

God knows why He kept us together. I complement his weaknesses, especially in managing money. I make sure his purse is not empty.Whenthearrangementsfor this anniversary came out, he said, wow, it can only be my wife.

He went through a lot of things to get to where he was in career but he never kept it in his heart. He forgives more than 70 times 70.

You quarrel with him, he sleeps well while you are killing yourself.

I too learnt to reject hypertension.

If he is going to look good, I too will ignore tension and look good. He is very neat and clean. His mother hinted me early. He will not wear a dress twice.

He allows me to go about the world and he has no anxiety. He has absolute trust in me. I keep him in focus and ward off advances because I have the best man back home. This is how God has kept us this while.

He is a man of his word. He promised my mother he would give me free hand because my mother said, this my daughter needs free hand, if you want to enjoy her. He kept to that. He gives his children free hand. I pray that his efforts will not be in vain. He is a good man. Many times, he has lost many business deals because of his kind of heart, but today he is at peace. He looks much younger.

Every morning, he will tell God he will forgive all those that wronged him and he will pray they too forgive him. If we all can have that kind of might we will live long.

He does not have headache or BP. That is his secret. God has given me a husband that has made it easy for me. A different man would have mismanaged me. He stooped to conquer me. Even in our courting, he focused on me giving my life to Christ. I know him as a man who fears God. Sometimes he makes a mistake too, but together, we overcome it. It’s not about me or us but about Jesus, at the end.

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Sunday 22 December 2019

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Jesus must be the perfect example of every Christian – Rev. Johnson Reverend Olu Johnson, founder and senior pastor of Great Commission Bible Church, recently met with the Christian Press Association of Nigeria (CPAN) in his church auditorium in Oko-Oba, Lagos, on the sidelines of an event themed, ‘Pastors and modern day challenge.’ Johnson explained some of the misgivings people have about pastors, how church members should relate with their pastors, among others. SEYI JOHN SALAU was at the session. Excerpts: What in your opinion should be the yardstick for holiness in the church; it appears today’s Christians look to pastors? am not in any means saying pastors are not supposed to show the light and lead the way. What I am saying is that pastors are human beings with flesh and blood and capable of making errors. If they become our standard we may fail in our Christian walk. Christ should be our standard. We should all aim to be like Christ. When I gave my life to Christ, the Lord specifically told me to look up to him not any man. We expect so much from pastors and we get it wrong. I never looked up to pastors. I have been the boy to many of the general overseers we see today in time past. God spoke to me that you are here and you’re responsible to me. Jesus should be your perfect example not pastors.

Many Christians look at pastors personal lives but do not know their stories and their pedigree.

Sometimes, we misjudge these people because of what we see from the outside. When pastors exhibit bad behaviour and don’t project Christ, the church should not be taken aback. What we are experiencing today is a reflection

I

Olu Johnson

of the end of age. The system of the world today is presently dominated by the devil. But we should begin to take heed to the word of God to preach the right messages.

I am not defending pastors. I as a pastor should live above board.

We can’t give excuses. But then we are all children of God. We are all going to face judgment. We are the

salt and light of the world. Even as a child of God, if unbelievers cannot read you there is no need for them to read the word of God. To whom much is given much is expected.

What is your position on pastors/churches ownership of private jets?

I would not blame some pastors who buy private jets for the purpose of kingdom work because the volume of their schedule makes it imperative for them to have such facility. It is not out of place for some of the men of God to have private jets. I will not blame them for that. For instance, Pastor Enoch Adeboye has to keep in touch with branches of the church in more than 160 countries of the world.

He is being invited to preach in many parts of the world. He is in fact busier than the president of Nigeria.

In my own small corner here I have missed some programmes that our church organised outside Lagos because of the delay at the airport due to flight rescheduling and cancellation. That is why I will not blame some of them who acquire private jets. It is true that some pastors are unduly flamboyant. Some of them don’t have the capacity for what they try to do

and so end up in trouble. As much as possible God has helped me to live above some of these things.

Presently, I don’t have a car. The car I was given, I gave out. I have given out two cars this year. But, I get vehicles to take me to where I want to go. What more do I want?

If tomorrow somebody sees me riding one supposedly big car they will raise eyebrows.

Many have accused the church of not helping members in times of need and difficulties; how true is this?

That may not be entirely true; for instance Bishop David Oyedepo and several other pastors render tremendous assistance to members of their churches and even those who are not members.

In our own church here, we have rendered assistance to many as God gives us the grace. However, the Church as a body may not be as rich as people think. There is a false image of the church which I think the church has not come to terms with. It is the way we project ourselves that make people think there is money in the church. But then we must appreciate that there is so much pressure on the church that most of the counselling time is for giving out money to members.

‘We need more Churches to support gospel artists in Nigeria’ In this interview, John Godwin, a gospel artist with stage name ‘Godwin J. Godwin’ spoke about the gospel music industry in Nigeria and why he thinks the church should render more support to grow the industry. Excerpts How did you start your journey into gospel music? was born in a family of music.

My mother was a choir mistress. She used to carry me to choir rehearsal as a little boy.

But when you talk about professional music; in 2002 to be precise I started doing music. In 2003, I started going to the studio. I did my first demo in 2005, so professionally, I have been singing for about 15 years.

So, what inspires your music?

I play instruments. I play the keyboard, I play the guitar; sometimes when I play the guitar, I get songs. Sometimes through dream and the Holy Spirit gives me inspiration. But mainly, when I play the instruments I get inspired. In the combination of notes, I get songs. That is how songs come.

Sometimes, in the dream, a verse or chorus comes; so I build it up.

How do you see gospel music in Nigeria?

Gospel music in Nigeria is actually making progress compared to other African countries. I went to Ghana, I saw their gospel music; they are looking up to Nigeria.

I

Gospel Music in Nigeria is trending well; it is making progress compared to other African countries except South Africa.

You mean South Africa is ahead of Nigeria?

Yes, they are ahead in terms of gospel music; they are far ahead.

What is your take on the content of gospel music in Nigeria?

Our contents are very rich. We

John Godwin

have good song writers, people like Nathaniel Bassey, people like Frank Edwards, people like Sinach.

Sinach is a global gospel artiste. She is about the best in Africa and it is a plus. I think we are doing well.

What is your advice to other upcoming gospel artistes?

My message is that they should work. Hard work and consistency are things they need. The success of gospel artistes is not something that happens overnight. It is work, a long time work. If you see someone like Jeremiah Gyang for instance, before he came to limelight, he had produced about six albums that didn’t sell. So, it requires patience, time, dedication, because you cannot be doing many things and expect to succeed in all of them.

You must give your time to one of them. If you have seen music as your professional work; you must give your time to it and wait. The key words are waiting, patience and consistency.

Let me take you back, you said South Africa is far ahead of Nigeria in gospel music, have you compared the support the Church there gives their artistes and what

the Nigerian church gives her own artistes?

We don’t have the kind of support the Church in South Africa gives their artistes. But, thank God some Churches have started encouraging their in-house artistes.

The problem we face here is that some Churches want to appreciate the ones on top, the already made artistes and neglect the ones in-house. If you go to South Africa, a Church can adopt a musician and say this one has gift, they would employ him or her and the person does nothing else. They would bring him to the limelight which is what Christ Embassy is doing. The Church has made gospel music in Nigeria: they have taken them to the next level. They have added value to gospel music, they are the first to start paying gospel artistes within their own house. They gave them platform; they gave them studio to record their work. Some few Churches have started doing that as well. There is ‘The Experience’, the programme is the largest gospel concert in the world and it is championed by House on the Rock. But we still need more Churches to come

into the support of gospel artists.

But, so far so good; that perception; the way they used to see gospel artistes before is changing - but we need more Churches to do more.

How many albums have you produced so far?

I have done two albums that are not in the market. They were sold in church. The first one we did is called ‘New Season of Worship’.

The next one was titled ‘I’m not ashamed of the cross’. That was the one we did; then the latest one is called the ‘Essence of my being’.

It is not in the market yet. We have not got a marketer. We had to retrieve it from the market because we needed to work on it properly.

Could you please tell us about your latest work?

My new work is called ‘The Essence of My Being’. I think it is about three months old now; the Source is going places too. Some people wrote me from the US that they want permission to do one of the songs in their choir. Also in Ghana and in South Africa, it is being a blessing to many; we are looking up to around 25th or 29th December.

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BDSUNDAY 35

TheWorshippers Inspiration With Rev. Yomi Kasali

info@yomikasali.com

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am sure you may feel offended or bewildered with the topic of my article today, but I truly believe that some people are ‘Faith Fatigued’ today in church hence the apparent backslidden state of some of the finest believers.

Paul admonished the Church In Galatia not to

Faith fatigued be ‘wearied’ in well doing or Fatigued in Faith, this is the way he puts it, ‘and let us not be weary (fatigued) in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not’ (Gal. 6 v 9).

It is very clear that people can be fatigued in doing good and keeping faith in a matter.

He repeated the same thing to the Believers in Thessalonica when he was dealing with being ‘lazy’ as Christians; he charged the church that they should not encourage people that do not work but begged, he said he that does not work should not eat...then he rounded up with a chilling directive on doing well at the same time, ‘but you brethren, be not weary in well doing’ (2 Thess. 3 v 13).

I intend to share my thoughts on why we get fatigued in keeping faith today, especially because we do not spend quality time in the Word towards INSPIRING us on how to live in the World. It is the

waiting to cook the meal anymore but just get home and bring something out of the refrigerator to ‘quickly’ microwave and eat, that is the mindset killing this generation. Patience is Profitable (SURULERE)

Word that has the capacity to Inspire, Teach, Guide and Help us live well in this World.

4 Reasons people are faith fatigued When seeds do not become harvest: Paul told the Galatian Believers to continue to sow seeds of ‘good works’ and I’m not saying ‘money’ but good deeds. People do good expecting some good deeds in return somehow, but get Faith Fatigued in the

TRACE partners MultiChoice Nigeria, expands portfolio with dedicated gospel channel SEYI JOHN SALAU

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RACE, the first destination for the latest urban and afro-urban - celebrity news, music, lifestyle, entertainment and culture has partnered with MultiChoice Nigeria to officially launch its dedicated gospel channel, TRACE Gospel across Africa on DStv channel 332.

The dedicated channel will showcase the best of local and international gospel with music videos from various sub-genres that include contemporary gospel, urban gospel, worship gospel and traditional gospel. The channel will be available on DStv Confam, Compact, Compact Plus and Premium packages. These customers will also be able to enjoy their favourite gospel content anytime, anywhere on DStv. “We are a brand that is

dedicated to showcasing the very best of urban music from all genres from across the globe. Trace has built our audience by focusing on the best music and videos within the Afro Urban landscape. So, we are excited to extend our partnership with MultiChoice and launch Trace Gospel as it gives an international platform for the amazing talent within the strong faith community in the region,” said Sam On y e m e l u k w e , t h e managing director of TRACE Anglophone West Africa.

According to Onyemelukwe, the 24-hour channel will offer a diverse offering of programming that will include Sounds of South Africa that will showcase all the best and viewers’ favourite gospel greats from South Africa. Urban Vibes for the best of urban gospel hits of the moment.

Hits 30 brings to viewers the top 30 local and

international gospel hits; US Hit 10 gives audience the top 10 international gospel hits, while Praise Vibes is a blend of local and international praise and worship playlist.

John Ugbe, CEO of MultiChoice Nigeria, said having TRACE on the DSTV platform is part of its ongoing commitment to bring a wide variety of the best in local and international content that touches the lives of its subscribers. “The addition of this channel onto our platform will ensure that our customers are exposed to even more entertainment options for their families, giving more value this festive season,” Ugbe stated.

To get more information on TRACE Gospel, subscribers are to visit www.tracegospel.tv and if you would like to know how to join DStv to enjoy the new gospel channel, visit www.dstv.com

process and cause if nothing happens in return or they do not get a harvest of good deeds.

Lack of patience in our teachings today: We have totally become a ‘microwave’ generation of believers in conduct and behaviour. We are so impatient that we want quick returns on our ‘Faith Investments’ and become WEARIED towards quitting on the Cause. The microwave mindset is not

Envy others without understanding their stories: The vice called Envy has done irreparable damage to the lives of our finest and brightest because of lack of information on the truth behind the scenes of wealthy people. Many would see Invictus Obi some years ago and envy him, some pastors may even have attempted inviting him to speak on their pulpits to charge the people on how to succeed, oblivious of the fact that there was some fraud happening behind the scenes.

Misunderstanding of our faith: James spoke about not having the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ with respect of persons. that means many of us really do not understand

what the ‘Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ’ truly means.

It has nothing to do with wealth, riches, and fame but rather in changing lives morally and saving souls spiritually. Once those two are not in the equation, it’s not the Faith of our Lord Jesus, the reason the Faith Fatigued Generation of Believers are quitting going to church today because of their Faith in Men not in God. Some are disillusioned with the way some bishops live today and now blame God for it all.

Let me stop here and I hope you have been Inspired, do not be Faith Fatigued but Faith Challenged.

Drop me a note of acknowledgment and encouragement.

Be Inspired!

Rev Yomi Kasali is Senior Pastor, Foundation of Truth Assembly (FOTA), Surulere, Lagos.

NEWS

Dangote refinery: Governors’ Forum hails Lagos govt for ‘smooth take-off’ …As NGF members tour petrochemical facilities

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agos State Government on Friday got commendation from Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) for creating enabling atmosphere for the smooth take-off of the petrochemical refinery and fertilizer projects sited in IbejuLekki area Lagos by Dangote Group.

The commendation followed a trip around the massive sites of the Dangote petrochemical refinery and fertilizer projects by Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and his colleagues in the NGF. The six-hour tour was led by the President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, who conducted the governors round the $12 billion projects initiated in 2016 to eliminate Nigeria’s dependency on imported petrochemical products.

The Ggovernors, led by the Forum Chairman, Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, said the tour was informed by the need to key into the Dangote’s vision and also learn about the progress of the projects. They pledged their support for the two projects,

describing them as “growth energisers”.

Sanwo-Olu, who described the petrochemical facility as the “largest single construction site in the world”, said the completion of the refinery would fortify Lagos economy and create irreversible economic growth for the nation.

He assured that there would be smooth operation of the refinery whenever it fully takes off, noting that the facility, which is sited within a Free Trade Zone has created multi-national investments.

A statement signed by Gboyega Akosile, chief press secretary to Sanwo-Olu, quoted the governor as saying that, “It is massive development we are bringing to Ibeju-Lekki neighbourhood with the construction of Dangote refinery and Lekki Deep Seaport. There will be new comprehensive infrastructure we are bringing to this area. We are closing-in on two different road projects out of the Free Zone. One will go to Epe and the other one goes to Ijebu Ode. “We have just done two strong alignments and we

are finalising them. There will be massive infrastructure development around this place sometimes next year. It’s going to be a new ecosystem we are building in this.”

Fayemi said Dangote had inspired a new thinking and vision by embarking on the multi-billion dollar projects, noting that the petrochemical initiative had given hope to Nigerian citizens.

He said: “This is an inspirational initiative, which demonstrates the possibility where Government can provide enabling environment for investment, just as our colleague in Lagos State has done for individuals that are serious-minded to excel.

“As Ggovernors, we need to provide right incentives and ensure that infrastructural responsibilities are delivered on time. This will also not discourage Alhaji Aliko Dangote to discharge materials that can accelerate completion of this refinery project.”

Fayemi, on behalf of the governors, presented an appreciation letter to Aliko Dangote for taking the risk to build the multi-billion dollar projects.

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Sunday 22 December 2019

Focus

China’s poverty alleviation model, a big lesson for Nigeria China’s political and economic trajectory and the immense progress it has recorded in recent times have fascinated many people. The Asian giant has built and continued to develop breathtaking infrastructure. China is the second largest economy in the world and has one of the largest manufacturing sectors in the world. Under the guidance of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the country has made tremendous investments in human capital and diversified its economy such that tourism, manufacturing, commerce and industry, agriculture, education, science and technology, industrialisation, arts, communications technology have all been modernized to meet the desired purpose of service delivery, mass employment and poverty reduction. INNOCENT ODOH, who just returned from the Seminar for Heads of International Departments for Major Media Organisations from Africans Countries, organized by the Chinese Government and China International Publishing Group in Beijing, with visits to the Guangxi province, writes.

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he dominant theme in China’s contemporary politics and policies is poverty reduction and successive governments have embarked on a succession of reforms to tackle poverty. According to Chinese President Xi Jinping, “without reform and opening up China would not be where it is today, nor would it have the prospects for a brighter future”.

Writer and journalist, Charles Onunaiju in his book “China’s Struggle for Modernization: From Revolution to Reform said “the trajectory of China’s reforms is rooted in the dynamics of her socio-economic and political process, whose totality has formed the scientific outlook on development (SOD).”

How the Transformation started About forty years ago, China was reportedly wallowing in abject poverty. Its citizens were among some of the most miserable in the world such that even Sub-Saharan Africa was regarded as doing better in terms of GDP per capita in the early 1970s. China in 1970 has a poverty rate that was higher than sub-saharan Africa.

When China was confronted with hard choices, it was then the irrepressible Deng Xiaoping, architect of the modern Chinese reforms and opening up, charted

High-rise buildings at Beijing’s Central Business District, symbols of China’s economic success

a new form of economic development within the realm of the China’s social construction defined by “socialism with Chinese Characteristics” in 1978.

When the Chinese leaders got the right model and motivation,

The author at the legendary Great Wall in Beijing, China.

they never looked back, they remained focused. From 1978 to 2015 China removed over 700 million people from poverty and today it has one of the lowest poverty rates in the world.

China’s GDP growth rate from 2018 is 6.3% and it has reached about $10,000 GDP per capita one of the highest in the world.

Of the 1.4 billion population of China today only about 16 million people are considered to be living below poverty line.

But the government of President Xi Jinping has vowed that the country will eliminate absolute poverty by 2020. This might be an ambitious move but judging by the models in place, China might reach this goal.

The Magic of Chinese Poverty Eradication Model The great leap forward was anchored by strong and visionary leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), which model is focused on economic growth- the most important factor in poverty reduction. China embarked on rural development policy that was people- oriented and expanded the land policy that helped farmers have access to land to produce enough food to solve the problem of hunger.

The model includes accurate targeting and mapping of poverty with direct government investment in cash marked by

fiscal discipline, accountability and zero tolerance for corrup-

tion. There are six aspects of accurately targeted poverty programme. These are: identification of the poor; Anti-poverty measures; Assignment of work team; Project arrangement, Fund use and Evaluation.

China gave massive attention to infrastructure developmentbuilding roads, waters projects, first class rail projects with speed trains, schools and massive investment in energy. And that is why today it has superb infrastructure that connect the cities, towns and rural areas such that China is a leading investment hub both for foreign direct investment and local investors.

The leaders understood the strength of industrialization, the principle of diversification of investment patterns and balance between growth and development as well as inclusive economic growth. The country also embarked on privatization of small, medium scale enterprises, building up and transforming state-owned enterprises by listing them on the stock market.

China also paid attention to international trade and international cooperation. Although China got help from other countries and international financial organizations in 1970 and 80s,

The iconic Temple of Heaven in Beijing with thousands of tourists

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Focus

such as the World Bank and IMF, it did not accept conditionality that will cripple its chances of economic revival but decided on its own the best way to use loans and aids from international institutions and donor agencies.

Education, National Values and Consensus Education is said to be the bedrock of the development of China. Through massive investment in compulsory education, China was able to resolve its internal contradictions.

As a diverse society of about 56 ethnic groups, the Chinese Government created a national programme that harnesses the potentials of all its different peoples from its 34 provinces.

Its inclusive policies created an enduring national identity for the Chinese People. This has ensured less rancorous politics despite multi-party system in China.

Solving food security, clothing, compulsory education, basic medical care and housing, have all become national priorities in China as all the citizens are being mobilized with greater freedom and liberty of the people, which has ensured social good in the largest scale.

China also adopted labour transfer schemes, relocation of the poor to better and more conducive environment, health assistance, ecological protection and using e-commerce to help the poor. Through the micro-finance system the Chinese government has provided poor families with 50,000 RMD and guided them specifically on how to use the funds on productive ventures.

Measurement of mechanism of evaluation It is instructive that the career of leaders at all levels will be in jeopardy if they fail to curb poverty. In China, officials risk losing their jobs or demoted if they fail to deliver on their mandate of poverty reduction. Therefore alleviation of poverty is seen as a task that must be done in China and the leaders are duty-bound to achieve it.

Building a new type of international relations to address poverty The tremendous progress of China has opened opportunities for Nigeria and other African countries. China through the Forum of China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), has invested billions of dollars to develop infrastructure in Africa to reduce poverty.

China has also initiated the Belt and Roads Initiative (BRI) to enhance connectivity and practical cooperation for shared prosperity. These are some of the measures of China’s international poverty reduction cooperation.

Xu Liping, Senior Research Fellow International Poverty Reduction in China during a lecture in Beijing said “because we have made progress in poverty reduction, we also like to share our experience with other countries.”

China has so far assisted more than 120 countries in the world.

In Africa China has assisted 51 countries, in Asia-30, Europe- 12, Athlantic -9, and Latin America/

The author at the Forbidden City in Beijing

Caribbean 19.

China’s continuous innovation Despite massive achievements in industrialization, which has led to mass production goods and services, China is still investing capital in automobile industry, which has started manufacturing electric cars as well as communications technology and many others.

China’s tourism industry is huge and well organized. Important historic monuments have been preserved and turned to tourists’ attractions that have raked in billions every year. The historic Chinese Great Wall in

Beijing, the Forbidden City, and the Temple of Heaven also in Beijing are among world’s heritage sites. Each of these sites attracts over 40, 000 tourists daily and at peak periods particularly during festive times they can each attract as much as 80,000 people daily. China has tourist centers litter around the country. The magnificent Garden Park in Nanning City, the capital city of the Guangxi Province, the fabulous night boat ride in Liuzhou, the Elephant Trunk Mountain in Guilin all in the Guangxi Province just to mention a few, have become the symbol of China’s identity and the preservation of cultural heritage

with massive economic value.

Lessons for Nigeria On December 2, 2019, the World Bank warned that Nigeria risks becoming home to 25% of the world’s poor people in a decade unless policymakers act to revive economic growth and lift employment.

Although the Nigerian economy is expected to expand by 2.1% in 2020 and 2021, analysts have expressed fears that the nation’s population growth rate of about 3% per annum may overstretch GDP growth rate.

The World Bank urged President Muhammadu Buhari to “increase domestic revenue, remove trade restrictions and improve the predictability of economic policy.” It also called on the government to remove expensive fuel subsidies and reduce central bank lending to targeted sectors that crowd out banks.

“The cost of inaction is significant,” the bank said. “Under a business-as-usual scenario, where Nigeria maintains the current pace of growth and employment levels, by 2030 the number of Nigerians living in extreme poverty could increase by more than 30 million,” the bank warned.

This warning appears apt as the economic indicators are not kind to Nigeria at the moment.

Nigeria’s inflation figure has increased to 11.85 % in November from 11.61% in October. Nigeria according to the World Poverty Clock is the poverty capital of the world with nearly 100 million of its estimated 200 million population living under the poverty line.

Unemployment figures have increased to over 20% in the last four years and the country is heavily terrorized.

All these indicators present some bleak future for the country but Nigeria is abundantly blessed with human and material resources, which need purpose-

Cultural display by Chinese students at the University for the Nationalities in Nanning City, capital of the Guangxi province.

ful government to change the fortunes of the country for the better.

The country has had successive poverty reduction programmes, with the most recent ones being National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP), Sure-P, Social Intervention Programme (SIP), N-Power and a host of others. These programmes have not made the desired impacts because the motivations are usually wrong, probably more elitist and oftentimes hindered by corrosive corruption.

The realities of the deplorable poverty in Nigeria make it mandatory for Nigerian leaders at all levels to face the issues of economic development especially as it is estimated that Nigeria will become the third most populous country in the world by 2050.

Therefore the leaders have to brace the challenge, learn from China and apply a model suitable the Nigerian condition.

Speaking on China’s governance experience recently, Chinese intellectual, Luo Jianbo, a professor from one of China’s leading universities, expressed worries that the menace of terrorism ravaging parts of Nigeria, political instability and inconsistent policies, are major impediments to investment in Nigeria.

He noted that it has “become incumbent on Nigeria to create the condition and opportunity for more investment.”

He stressed that apart from investments in hard infrastructure such as bridges, roads and electricity, Nigeria needs soft infrastructure such as trust, confidence, and political stability to attract more foreign investors.

The Chinese governance model can be replicated in Nigeria and given the Nigerian character within the context of the unique Nigerian situation drawing from China, which has built an effective, responsive, accountable and consensus state built on common understanding and respect for its diversity.

“Nigeria must first build national solidarity to foster a national consensus to create a new identity for Nigerians. Nigerians must get rid of rancorous and vicious political competition.

“Nigeria needs a benign and orderly competition and not vicious competition. It must promote unity and create a relationship between freedom and order,” the Chinese intellectual said.

Former Senator Representing Kaduna Central Shehu Sani, also called on Nigerians leaders to emulate China to lift itself from the travails and challenges bedeviling it. “China today represents the idea of a nation that has succeeded where others have failed,” he said.

Today the challenge of poverty reduction is enormous. This places more responsibility on the shoulders of leaders’ across Nigeria. But can they rise to the challenge? The answer lies within the policies that will respond to the scourge of poverty.

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Sunday 22 December 2019

SundayBusiness Xtra-large Farms’ Thanksgiving takeaways Food & Beverages With Ayo Oyoze Baje

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rom the Biblical perspective, thanksgiving as a form of gratitude to God for His immeasurable grace preserves one’s blessings, more like salt. When a farmer sows seeds and enjoys a bountiful harvest, at the end of the season, it is important to express gratitude to God. It takes both sacrifice and patience but to expect more food items to reap in the new year, one should be humble enough to express appreciation to the ultimate giver of life.This is in sync with the admonition given by Apostle Paul that: “in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus as seen in 1 Thessalonians 5:18.

That is the assertion of none other than Farmer Seyi Davids, the Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of the wave-making Xtra-Large Farms, ably supported by wife, Moji Davids, who doubles as the Managing Director.He also noted that ever since the company began full operation no single investor has experienced untimely death.

Only God, who the famers gleefully describe as limitless and Xtra-large could have done this.

This inspiring statement was made at the recent Third edition of the Annual Thanksgiving ceremony of the company remains instructive.

What the reader should glean from this piece therefore, are the inspiring testimonies given by some members of the Xtra-Large family(investors) who recently gathered at the postgraduate cafeteria to express immense gratitude to God for all they gained from the company over the past one year, 2019.

For instance, several of the farmers had nothing but words of praise to God and the brains behind Xtra-Large Farms for their success stories as far asfarming was concerned in the outgoing year, 2019. They are all delighted that XTra-Large Farms is anchored on the principle of integrity as they keep to their promises. In fact, Farmer Toyin Oguntoye says the company is: “Number One in integrity” According to Mrs. Rachel Oba who has risen to the post of a ‘governor’ in the food network programme said that she and her son invested some years ago and “are now reaping bountifully”. She added with great Joy that soon their three-bedroom bungalow will be ready.

As for Farmer Sola Ajayi who happens to be the first investor in the company and has brought in hundreds of people, he is inspired by the word of God in Habakkuk Chapter2 verse 2: “And the Lord answered me, and said, write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it”.

King James Version (KJV).

O n h i s p a r t , Fa r m e r RotimiOmidire, who could not hide his disappointment at his delay

in investing in Xtra-Large Farms, pledged that he was back and ready to do the needful. Good enough for Farmer Mrs. Ola Amodu a recent investor who said it openly that she is happy to have taken that crucial decision when she did and not regretting it.

Similar testimonies came from Dora, Ayodipe, Mrs. Ogbuloku and Ayodele as some of them described their experiences so far as “classic, wonderful, beautiful” and one said that she is “flabbergasted”!

Oneoftheoutstandinginvestors, Farmer TemisewaBalogun who joined in 2017 who has also risen to the position of a governor saw the advert on WhatsApp and heard it on radio.She is into bothFood Network and investment in Xtratoken. She now eats healthy, organic food, such as wondermeal, sweet beans, ofada rice, vegetable oil, eggs, catfish, as supplied every month by Xtra- Large Farms.

What more, she is on Food Salary of N10,000 monthly and was celebrated when she reached the National Stage with N100,000 cash and food items worth N60,000.She was on all-expenses paid trip to Dubai for nine days in November and along with other deserving farmers taken round to many places of tourist attraction in the United Arab Emirate, including Gracial Farms at Abu-dhabi!

This raises the question as to what Xtra-Large Farms really offers to the wise investors. Interestingly, what began with vegetable farming and the invitation of interested farmers to partake in the program tagged ‘Recession Exemption’ back in 2016 with the promise of 100 per cent profit has since expanded into several other business ventures.

These include Xtralarge allorganic Foods (Wondermeal, fish, vegetable oil, plantains, carrots), Centre for Practical Agricultural

Training, Homes and Property, and the newly Xtra-large MicroFinance Bank.

The icing on the sweet cake is the fast unfolding Agritech City predicated on cuttingedge technology. One can only imagine an Xtra-large University, Nursery and Primary schools, banks, shopping malls all located in a serene, airy vast city occupying 1,00 acres of land at the Idi-Iroko axis of Ogun State. And wait for this-an XtralargeFoodspital where ailments, including seemingly intractable ones are treatedpurely on carefully selected food recommended to the patients.

But all these mouth-watering dishes are just part of a larger picture of bringing together one million Nigerians who share in the vision of the goal-getting and highly resourceful Davids as a family of modern farmers. And why not?

What began in 2016 some 17 members has since expanded into 15,000 members and counting.

Also, the Xtralarge Food network that costs N8,500 to begin with continues to attract legions of investors. So is the Super Farmer Package for anyone willing to invest in farming without the physical rigours of acquiring land, cultivation, sowing or planting, weeding, tendering to the flourishing seedlings as well as harvest and marketing.

All one needs do is to pay N100,000 for one allocation or N500,000 for five allocations, or even N1 million for ten allocations.

Mind you, the land is yours for life. This is for farming that takes a little longer than vegetable growth and you stand to reap a bumper harvest of 100 per cent profit in 24 months! It looks unrealistic, isn’t it?

Well, as the deluge of testimonies expressed during the event showed XtralargeFarms ”under promises

but over delivers.” Is it the raring of snails, turkey, poultry, grass cutters or the cultivation of plantain and cassava? Xtralarge Farms takes care of the entire process and you get paid directly into your bank account. Now you understand why it is referred to as “discovering the ATM in your soil”.

And talking about the monetary aspect of the proposed Xtra-large City, the real deal is the Xtratoken.

And what is this digital currency all about? Simply put it is the acceptable currency meant for all manner of transactions within the City.Good enough, unlike other digital currencies this has the focus of erecting programs on the agritech-driven currency.

Billed to officially become valid for transactions as from June 2021, those interested now are given the opportunity to become part of the building process. With time they will benefit and get V.I.P treatment.

It should however, be noted that it is not in any way a form of shares or debentures. It is not any form of securities either.

In specific terms the currency will pay for entry into the Agritech City, pay for farming, farm produce, accommodation, pay for shopping, as tuition for the schools, for travels and all manner of leisure activities within it.

As t h e C h a i r m a n / C E O has rightly noted: “Modern, technologically-driven agriculture is our future. We do not need to import any food item that we can produce locally here in Nigeria. My son is studying agriculture because I have enlightened him on the vast potentialities.

Baje is Nigerian first Food Technologist in the media ayobaje@yahoo.co.uk; 08057971776

Nigerian pride as cultural export - the MultiChoice example Philip Nwankpa

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ith Nigeria and Nigerians, pride is everything.

Despite the challenges the country faces, Nigerians remain proud in their diverse cultures, languages, resplendent fashion and creative entrepreneurship.

Culture and pride - as seen in bits of our expression through entertainment, sports, arts and fashion - remain our most viable export. This is why we tenaciously hold on to our own, projecting this around the globe, where foreigners continue adopt cultural elements from Nigeria.

We love our music, films, food, languages, slang and our peculiar manner of speaking often referred to as ‘Nigerianisms’. Representation matters to us because we are socialized from birth to embrace community and look for ourselves in others, often as a touchpoint of our shared existence.

Brands in Nigeria know and use this to their advantage in building products for this market. In fact, at the base of brand psychology

is an understanding of how the human mind works. If a brand is the perception of an organization or product that exists in the minds of those who encounter said organisation, then an understanding of the human mind is critical to the work of campaigns and the professionals who engage in selling and branding initiatives.

Understanding users, as well as the context of use, informs the development of brands that deliver the desired effect.

Global brands in Nigeria tap into our national pride and sentiment to create products and campaigns that connect deeply with us on a local level; appealing locally to a market by using global strategies of marketing but keeping the specifics local.

World soda giant, Coca-Cola, launched the ‘Mama di mama’ campaign in 2019, using a popular local slang for maternal deference to create a marketing campaign that celebrated the importance of mothers in the family. Pepsi, their main rival, also created the ‘Long Throat’ campaign in 2015, with help from the word ‘Long Throat’, a Nigerianism denoting ambition and consumption. All around us,

marketing campaigns possess deep attributions to the local lingo.

It’s challenging to find a massmarket product or a targeted campaign for the general populace that lacks these inclusions.

That’s why the new DStv and GOtv campaign sits squarely at the top of recent brand marketing activations. MultiChoice Nigeria in November announced an expanded set of DStv and GOtv packages offering more options and flexibility. An official statement sent to pressmen makes the claim that “customers will have more entertainment options to choose from.” For the first time, new packages are surprisingly given ‘Made in Naija’ names that reflect popular local slangs and vernacular. For DStv, new monikers for packages include DStv Confam and DStv Yanga, while GOtv has GOtv JOLLI and GOtv JINJA as its latest additions. These new low-tier packages bring value to more customers and joins the high-tier packages: DStv Premium, Compact Plus, Compact and GOtv Max that still exist.

The names of the new packages appear strategic: Yanga means ‘swag’ while Confam denotes

‘Assurance’; Jolli is ‘sweetness’ and Jinja means ‘to excite’. These titles can be reworked and be represented with traditional English words.

But why would Nigerians gravitate towards ‘GOtv Excitement’, when they can have GOtv JINJA? The answer is in the ingenuity behind these names.

MultiChoice Nigeria has been in Nigeria since 1993, and today over 70percent of Nigerians can enjoy content in their mother tongue while interacting with the firm through multiple touchpoints including sales agents, installers, and retailers. It’s an extensive network that runs to all ends of Nigeria and can reliably be credited as one of the country’s legacy businesses. This growth has only been possible through years of customer research and the internalization of feedback into products and offerings that identify and reflect the pulse of the people. Local content—which sits at the core of the business—continues to thrive. And to bring that closer to the people, the company continues to evolve its offerings, leading to an economic impact which runs into hundreds of billions of naira.

The company employs over a

thousand individuals, with a supply value chain comprising more than 10,000 dealers, retailers, installers, sales agents and ‘sabimen’. According to information on the company’s website, an independent research in 2014 estimated that at that time, MultiChoice Nigeria had a positive direct economic impact of N34 billion and that, through various multipliers, this increased to N418 billion. In addition, the business paid N22.4 billion in taxes and fees and spent N9.98 billion on content and local production facilities. Much of that has propped up Nollywood, mostly through Africa Magic original productions, Big Brother Naija, AMVCA, the MultiChoice Talent Factory, and directly employing thousands of directors, writers, actors, film and lighting technicians, plus many others.

The future of marketing is dynamic and continues to move as societies evolve, and the human mind stays fluid. MultiChoice Nigeria understands this, and with each new rollout, they provide value couched in the pride that comes with being a Nigerian. .Nwankpa is a Lagos-based technologist

Sunday 22 December 2019

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SundayBusiness Reflecting on mortgage sector growth as year ends

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he year end is always a period of stock-taking and sober reflection.

As the curtain draws on 2019, individuals and institutions are taking stocks and reflecting on issues, especially those that border on the various sectors of the economy including households, and how they have impacted on lives in the past 12 months.

The mortgage system is a critical component of the financial system which, arguably, forms the growth nucleus of many economies. This perhaps explains the concerns about its operations and the interventionist measures so far introduced by supervising authorities with the aim of making it grow and develop.

A major feature of the mortgage system in Nigeria is its slow growth. The frequently cited reason for this is low capital base.

The primary mortgage institutions (PMIs) recapitalization and consolidation in 2008 was aimed to address this problem.

From the statutory N100 million capital base, the PMIs were asked to recapitalize to the tune of N2.5 billion and N5 billion for regional and national licenses respectively.

This exercise which swept aside many of the operators following mergers, acquisitions and outright transmutation to other financial portfolios, was hailed by many as a sure path to growth.

But with the reduction in the number of operators from over 100 to below 40 at the moment, the narrative has hardly changed.

Not even the revised operational guidelines by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which stripped them of other business concerns and compelled them to face their core business of providing mortgages and housing finance for home ownership and other forms of property acquisition, has helped matters.

There is, therefore, a missing link which necessitates the need to reflect on the slow growth which this sector has suffered over the years. “The problems of mortgage banks revolve around their small capital base and so there isn’t much they can do. For all the money I have, unless I raise additional capital, I don’t think I can do 1,000 mortgages”, says Ayodele Olowookere, the CEO, Omoluabi Mortgage Bank Plc. But there is more to the slow growth. “I think mortgage banks need to do self-enlightenment and education to grow the industry”, Olowookere notes, explaining that, over time, there has been wrong perception of the mortgage industry which, he thinks, is understandable because a lot of mortgage banks have also done what is not right like collecting money from people and not giving back.

A lot of people say they will

never go near mortgage banks because of some unethical conducts like this. Though Rose Okwechime, CEO, Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc, would attribute some people’s apathy to mortgage banks to the “newness” of the mortgage system, Olowookere insists it is as a result of lack of self-education by the operators.

Undoubtedly, the mortgage banks have their challenges. Part of these challenges comes from allied operators in the financial system. For instance, the deposit banks are seen to be usurping their functions. These deposit banks own everything in the property industry from funding development to providing mortgages.

A mortgage bank like Union Homes was a very strong player in the market and was also focused, but there was a bit of a gap. The 2008 restructuring programme in the sector and the need for all the banks to strip themselves of their non-core businesses, led to specialized mortgage banks standing up, but they lack all it takes to do so.

Elsewhere, the mortgage sector is a huge contributor to economic growth. Here it remains a sad story that the sector’s contribution to GDP is less than 1 percent. At a time like this when the government needs all it can get to grow the economy, the mortgage sector is a strong possibility.

If there is a particular way,

The Maltina ‘1000 smiles’ campaign, the new approach in engaging audiences Bunmi Bailey

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s individuals, we relate better with people we understand, and are naturally averse to those who approach us with ulterior motives. We sometimes go as far as calling them ‘fake’ or ‘not genuine’. Brands are not any different, and consumers generally will not have a problem being loyal to a brand they perceive cares for them genuinely.

Largely, a brand is similar to a living organism and in the long run, how people feel about your brand will be determined by the core messaging, vision and approach. So just imagine this: you’re streaming a video on the internet and adverts of a particular product keep popping up and interrupting your experience. No doubt, you will remember the product being advertised, but not in the way the brand would like you to. Because you are upset, your brain will most likely associate the brand with discomfort, so building allegiance or loyalty towards such a brand will be difficult.

As a business owner, what you really need is for people to have a fond memory of it. Invariably, it takes a lot more effort to mitigate or improve on a bad brand impression than it takes to create a good one. So, the sooner you acknowledge the importance of becoming a human brand,

and you can truly inspire and connect with your audiences, the sooner you will see results as you integrate this into your campaigns and into the fabric of your organisation.

To reach more consumers, care about things that are important to other human beings like happiness, enjoyment, community, progress and more. In addition, make your audience the hero of your storytelling narrative and communicate with them in language they can understand.

A viral, successful, and really compelling story among Nigerians is the Maltina brand, which has successfully created a campaign that connects with a nation-wide audience, sharing happiness and inspiring Nigerians to share their moments of happiness with loved ones. In recent communications, emphasis has been on the premise that happiness doesn’t have to be shared only when the big things in life happens. For Maltina, it is the “little things” that brings happiness.

Is there anyone who does not identify with that? What a brilliant campaign idea! Anyone who has listened to radio in Nigeria recently, read the newspapers or watched any other media platform, would have heard the Maltina brand talking about ‘Sharing Happiness’.

This campaign birthed another ongoing campaign of Maltina, the ‘1000 Smiles’ campaign, which is

an exciting initiative by the Maltina brand aimed at sharing happiness and capturing smiles of people across diverse backgrounds in Nigeria. The brand partnered with celebrity photographer, Noble Igwe to curate smiley moments from different faces around Nigeria, and is based on the fact that there are always reasons to smile.

So far, the Maltina 1000 smiles tour has run across various cities and the happiness team at Maltina has documented photos, videos and also engaged in other fun activities with the members of the communities including handing out free cans of Maltina drinks.

The brand has done an exceptional job at providing relatable experiences for its audiences across the country, and has so easily become a part of a cultural conversation that is relevant to the brand. They have leveraged on existing cultural moments and proven that they are in touch with what is happening with Nigerians at the moment.

Some other brands have also been able to achieve this in the past, turning their customers into raving fans. But this has become more difficult to witness in recent years, and it is about time brands moved away from impersonal marketing messaging, and evolved into one with which consumers would feel a personal connection.

Talking Mortgage with CHUKA UROKO (08037156969, chukuroko@yahoo.com) therefore, government can call all the mortgage banks together, it will be quite beneficial for the economy. “This is one sector that can grow the economy more than any other sector because if people take mortgages to build houses, the multiplier effect is unimaginable. A lot of jobs will be created for professionals, skilled and unskilled labour, artisans, manufacturers, etc”, Olowookere says.

According to him, government needs to sit down with the mortgage banks and discuss because they are the ones that meet property off-takers and so they understand the market more than the government.

Mortgage operators also understand the market more than the federal mortgage bank of Nigeria (FMBN) and that is why the FMBN says anybody who wants to take a mortgage should go through a primary mortgage bank.

Government needs to know that if the mortgage industry is

well run and there is a good policy thrust to support its operations, it will diversify the economy with job creation. The focus on other non-oil sectors, especially agriculture is good because Nigerians need to feed themselves, but everybody also needs shelter and this can only be possible if the mortgage sector is made functional.

The operators have been pointing out, since 2005, that there’s need to change the Land Use Act of 1978 to no avail. This is the time for government to give that accelerated action.

There is also need to quicken processes leading to title transfer and building approval. Cost and time of perfecting titles need to change. The FMBN needs to be restructured to meet the demands of today. The national housing fund (NHF) also needs to be restructured for same purpose.

There should be special focus on the sector and how the apex bank and National fund are funded.

NEWS Industrialist proffers solution to problems of metal sector SABY ELEMBA, Owerri

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hat could be said to be a reprieve to the perennial problems facing real development and growth of the metal sector and operators in the South East and Nigeria in general may have been reeled out here to enable urgent actions to be taken by the Federal Government administration headed

by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Top on the solution is to ensure that quick infrastructural development is captured in the national budget and ensure it is judiciously implemented.

Also as matter of urgent national importance, Federal Government should aggressively pursue the objective of achieving steady power supply in the South East region of Nigeria, Goddi Ihenachor, a seasoned Industrialist, chairman and chief executive officer, GMICORD Industrial Group said recently, in Owerri, Imo State.

According to him, “Our local operators require more regular allocation of forex and special fund for industrialists. The availability of this needed forex should not, for whatever reason, become an optical illusion. It should move beyond the current restriction.

“The Federal Government should also ensure that the waiting time is

reduced. Similarly, the paltry amount of forex allocated to operators, after much waiting, should be discouraged, if our collective quest to better the industrial climate in the South East will be realised”.

He said the Steel and Metal Operators’ sector, being the engine which drives the nation’s industrial sector in general, that the Federal Government should set up a special fund for the sector.

To ease the challenges of this sector, also, Ihenachor suggested to the Federal Government to declassify the Aluminum Smelting Plant at Ikot Abasi from the Export Zone, stating that doing that would ensure its products are available to both local and foreign markets when completed and functional.

He urged the Federal Government to take a cue from their Chinese government and grant export incentives to Industrialists to attract foreign exchange inflow to Nigeria and to give a certain percentage of export value to manufacturers.

The Indian companies which are operating in Nigeria, according to him, “are supported by the Bank of India, with very low interest rate for machineries and long term repayment plan.

“It is most interesting to note that Bank of India, finances their raw material imports and allows them to pay back within 90-120 days”, Ihenachor said.

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Sunday 22 December 2019

SundayBusiness How Wider Perspectives is building capacities Sterling Bank wins ‘Banking in the Community’ Award of MSMEs in South-East/South-South GODFREY OFURUM, Aba

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ider Perspectives Li m i t e d , a management consulting firm, has chosen to work with micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Abia State and the entire South-East/SouthSouth regions of the country, to build their capabilities, through its Business Acceleration Programme (BAP).

Edughom Hanson, managing director, Wider Perspectives Limited, in an address she presented at the just concluded 4th Abia State SME Forum (ABSMEF), held in Aba, the commercial hub of Abia State, explained that the firm is using the forum to promote SME development, as well as connecting the enterprises to global opportunities, thereby facilitating business linkages.

She stated that the business linkage forum is the firm’s way of contributing to the actualisation of Social Development Goals 17 (SDG)strengthening the means of implementation and revitalisation of the world economy.

According to her, the forum, from inception has the objective of enabling entrepreneurs to have access to finance, wealth and job creation, market linkages, export opportunities and networking, through the various interactions that happen in course of the forum.

“Over the years, Wider Perspectives has been in the forefront of economic development, through our giant strides in the SME development space. We have executed and facilitated pioneering projects geared towards the development and growth of SMEs in Nigeria. Worthy of mention are, micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) Nigeria Project-as World Bank consultants, we were commissioned by the group and the federal government of Nigeria for the MSME Nigeria Project, as Busi-

ness Development Services (BDS) providers, to train, advice, mentor and monitor MSMEs in Abia State.

“We have also developed model business plans for SMEs sponsored, by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on behalf of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN).

“Bank of Industry’s (BoI) business development services provider (BDSP) with the aim of accessing large, medium and small enterprises funds for business growth.

“We are glad to state that an appreciable success has been recorded, by some of the SMEs and businesses, after participated in our SME development conferences across the four states we hold these fora.

“Worthy of note are, John Dodo, the founder, Deepat Integrated Services, who startedhisbusinessafterattending the first edition, Michael Ruky Emeni, owner and head baker Reciparian Cakes, Bake’s n’ Sweets, who expanded his business after the 2017 business linkages forum in Port Harcourt and Shawn Imoni, Hanas Foods, who out of the learning from the forum has been able grow his business.

“We have also recorded success in Abia State. Worthy of mention is Kelvin Azuike, managing director Kevinaz Photography, who after attending our forum got the required push to start his own business. Also Kalu Obasi, managing director Onward Designs, who after attending our forum learnt better ways to manage his business and this helped him to satisfactorily to meet up with customer’s needs.

She continued, “Promoting and supporting business linkages is thus considered an important business development service that can change the NSME landscape in Nigeria. “Through linkages with large and established entrepreneurs , emerging entrepreneurs and small businesses have a great chance of growth.

“It is believed that business linkages have great tendencies to integrate the various players within the value chain. This will bring about social and economic impacts in the wider community”.

She described global value chains (GVCs) as chains of activities, which cut across multiple organisations in different geophysical locations all over the world, noting that global value chains are structured in a systematic way, which involves range of interrelated production sequence carried out by organisations in different locations in order to create value.

“There are many export opportunities in global value chains, a shining example is Shetrades, which is an initiative of the International Trade Centre (ITC) to connect three-million women to market by 2021.

“Shetrades provides opportunities, especially to women-owned businesses and companies looking to source products from women-owned businesses.

“Through Shetrades businesses are able to connect with diverse business opportunities, offer and source products and services, learn new skills, through free online courses, live webinars and the Virtual Learning Space (VLS), and participate in workshops and trade fairs and other business events.

She noted that many African nations are taking advantage of contributing to global value chains and urged Nigerian entrepreneurs to key into it. “Some critical areas of focus for SMEs to consider, while connecting to global value chains are, international standards and regulations, identification of business opportunities and market niches, building managerial and operational competences, negotiation skills required to build sustainable business and export opportunities”.

She promised that Wider Perspectives Limited is ready and willing to work with SMEs in Abia and the entire country to build their capabilities and more, through its business acceleration programme (BAP).

Wider Perspective Limited collaborated with the Abia State Government, trough the Ministry of Small and Medium Development with the support of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND), GVE Projects and Aba Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ACCIMA) in this year’s forum.

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terling Bank Plc, Nigeria’s leading commercial bank, has won the Banking in the Community Award at the Bank of the Year 2019 Awards by The Banker in London, United Kingdom. The bank was recognised at the awards recently for its landmark Sterling Agent Banking Edu-Finance Scheme which seeks to ease the burden of upfront payments of school fees on parents and provide funding for schools to run their businesses.

The Bank of the Year Awards is an annual awards event organised by The Banker to recognise the top financial institutions in the world. The Banker is a British English-language monthly international financial affairs publication owned by The Financial Times Limited.

Commenting on the award, Divisional Head, Retail and Consumer Banking, Sterling Bank, Shina Atilola, said “We are proud of this particular award because even in industrialised countries or developing economies, there is still the challenge of including their poorest members in

the financial system.”

He noted that The Banker Awards has validated Sterling Bank’s status as the number one in the financial inclusion segment. According to him, the bank got the recognition by performing social functions that include reducing poverty, boosting prosperity and also ensuring a responsible and sustainable path to national growth.

Atilola said the Sterling Agent Banking Edu-Finance Scheme was introduced to ease the burden of about 70 percent of Nigerians who receive wages weekly and are unable to make upfront payments of school fees on behalf of their children. The bank is able to assist this category of Nigerians by providing loans of between N25,000 and N100,000 per term to pay school fees.

“We were equally providing funding for the schools to run their businesses so that they could afford operating expenses such as payment staff salaries and have enough savings to venture into capital projects such as buildings and acquisition of equipment while also ensuring a child gets an education,” he said.

He said the bank was able to develop and grow the product by ensuring that agents who resided within the customers’ communities served customers at their homes and trade stores, “making it convenient to enroll and benefit from the scheme unlike competitors who use tech-based platforms which most of these customers do not have, cannot afford or cannot use.” The bank also charged an interest rate of three percent monthly which was less than the prevailing rate of five percent monthly in the Nigerian market while also giving additional benefits such as distribution of free school bags, water holders and raincoats to each child for the payment of school fees as requested by the parent.

TheSterlingAgentBanking Education Finance Scheme was launched on September 3, 2018 and has till date impacted more than 8,000 students, 5,800 parents and 4300 schools, a development which has enabled schools to have substantial inflow of money to aid administration and management of business due to the funds paid by the bank.

L-R: Comfort Coleman, managing consultant, NEKEGO Resources Ltd, and Jide Akintunde, publisher, Financial Nigeria, first winners of the Guild of Public Affairs Analysts of Nigeria (GPAAN) Award, 2019, held in Lagos, recently.

FG to synergiSe with ILO to create more jobs Innocent Odoh, Abuja

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he Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, said, the Federal Government and the International Labour Organization (ILO) will synergize to create more employment opportunities.

According to a statement issued by the Deputy Director Press and Public Relations in the Ministry of Labour and Employment Charles Akpan, Ngige made this known during the Formal Launch of Nigeria’s Future of Work Report, held in Abuja.

The Minister, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, William Alo, said the present Administration in recognition of the threat posed by the growing unemployment; rolled out the most ambitious programme ‘Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP)’ in order to create and expand the national economic base, drive rapid industrialization, build competitive human capital resource and reinvigorate the critical sectors of the National Economy.

He said, it has become imperative on the Federal government to start a con-

versation with major critical Stakeholders drawn from employers, private sector, civil society organizations, media and the academia amongst others to brainstorm and chart a credible roadmap towards addressing the unemployment challenges vis-à-vis globalization, climate change, fast pace of information and communication technology, stiff global competitiveness, internationalization of the production processes, cross-border movement of goods, services and capital, all of which come with their negative and positive consequences.

Sunday 22 December 2019

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BrandsOnSunday SPOTLIGHTING BRAND VALUE

Advertising: New Order emerging as young agencies show forte The concept of New Order in Nigeria’s advertising industry is emerging, principally propelled by the dynamism in the market driven by consumer quest and companies’ mission to meet consumer expectation. This has given rise to new thinking and establishment of innovative new marketing communication agencies. These new agencies including X3M Ideas, Noah’s Ark, Seven Interactive and Up- in-The-Sky are winning awards with their ground-breaking thinking and ideas. Daniel Obi writes.

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he digital new world comes with creation of more businesses and more jobs. In Nigeria, many of these new business concerns in various sectors of the economy including financial, advertising, agriculture are doing great things, displaying forte and competing favourably with generation X companies.

For instance, in the fintech and advertising industries, these new firms, less than 12 years old, are becoming more innovative, dependable and providing vibrancy to their sectors. They are simply nimble. In fact they have pushed the old companies to readjust and re-think their service offering and processes.

It is noted that often times, the drivers of these new businesses are asked to deliver papers on their forte as learning points for others.

The innovativeness and economic impact of these new firms that have displayed understanding of local and global trend are also underscored by the number of recognitions and awards clinched by them.

For example, at the recent 2019 Lagos Advertising and Ideas Festival held in Lagos, the new creative agencies such as X3M Ideas, Noah’s Ark, Isobar, Seven Interactive, Up in the Sky, Yellow Brick, Fuel Communication among others were seen dominating different awards category. Out of the 21 awardees, about 70 percent of them are agencies that are less than 12 years old.

At the award, youthful and upbeat Lagos agency, X3M Ideas emerged the “Best creative agency and Agency of the Year” in the country as the agency clinched the most coveted “Grand Prix” award at the 2019 Lagos Advertising and Ideas Festival.

The 14th LAIF which coincided with the agency’s 7th anniversary of the X3M Ideas’ presence in the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN) equally shows the agency’s steady rise to the pinnacle of the creative industry in Nigeria as an undisputable creative powerhouse in record time of less than eight years of existence.

The star-studded event which

Ikechi Odigbo, President, AAAN; Bola Thomas, chairperson, AAAN BOT, presenting the Grand Prix of the 2019 LAIF awards to Banke Alaka-Coker of X3M Ideas; Tope Jemirigbe, vice chair, LAIF Management board and Steve Babaeko, CEO, X3M Ideas at the presentation of the Grand Prix award to X3M Ideas at the Lagos Advertising & Ideas Festival Awards in Lagos.

parades the crème-de-la-crème of the industry and crop of the best agencies and clients in the country displayed exciting creative works as entries in the award designed to recognize and reward excellence in the Nigerian advertising industry. The edition featured Gbemi Sagay as the head of the Jury panel.

Apart from its most desirable Grand Prix, dubbed as the “mother of all awards” of the night, which the agency won courtesy of its work for DStv Multichoice “DStv step up and boost” in the Film craft - Best use of tv animation” category; X3M Ideas also won 3 Gold, 2 Silver, and 4 Bronze carting home a total of 10 medals including the almighty Grand Prix to emerge the Number 1 creative agency in Nigeria.

The Gold medals were delivered courtesy the agency’s following entries - Multichoice DStv Film craft category – “Best use of tv animation - Dstv step up and boost; FrieslandCampina WAMCO Peak Milk’s “Peak independence” in the Press - food and consumables category; and Kwikmoney – “Mom not ATM” in the Digital and mobile - banking and investment category.

The Silver medals were courtesy entries for Betking virtual

in the Film craft - best use of tv animation category and Absolut women’s day Press - “Ad that never ran” category.

In the same vein, the Bronze medals came courtesy the agency’s following works - DStv compact “Iwobi” won two medals in the Film craft - best use of film editing category and travel, terrorism and entertainment categories; World terrorism day won the “Best use of art direction” Print craft category while the agency’s corporate campaign “Shape Shifters” also picked a Bronze in the Digital and mobile - corporate image category.

X3M Ideas has demonstrated exemplary consistency as the agency has always maintained its enviable position as the most valuable creative and steady agency in the country emerging the Numero Uno at its 7th backto-back appearance on the LAIF scene, said Ogunniyi, an industry watcher and keen follower of the agency.

It will be recalled that the agency was one of the best three at the 2018 edition of the award where it carted home 5 Gold; 7 Silver and 8 Bronze, making a total of 20 medals to place an enviable 3rd in the industry last year, capping it with the first position

in 2019 is remarkable and tells a lot on the characters of the agency and its people -”futureforward and very proactive”, declared Ogunniyi claiming that he has always known this when he visited the agency as member of a University of Ibadan Post Graduate team of Communications students in 2014.

Speaking on the current landmark achievement by the X3M Ideas, the agency’s CEO, Steve Babaeko shortly after the awards, disclosed that winning the most coveted award of the night, the “Grand Prix” took him by surprise. I knew it will come but maybe I didn’t have my mind on it this year but the fact is that “We’ve always wanted to be number 1 and we consistently work towards it without losing focus at any time. After 7 years of chasing this dream, last Saturday we nailed it! X3M Ideas won the Grand Prix at Laif awards and thus emerged the agency of the year in Nigeria” Over the years, working up the ladder, the X3M Ideas’ CEO has consistently maintained “we are not set up or founded to play second fiddle”. Hence, the agency has always had its nose to the grindstone resulting in consistent growth over the years which sets the agency

apart in the industry thanks to exemplary drive, uncommon proficiency at pushing the frontiers on behalf of its discerning clients, cutting through the clutter to give the clients’ brands vantage positioning in the markets and in the consumer’s mind as these are the hallmarks of the agency, Steve explained.

“I am really proud of the team, since we started participating in LAIF in 2013, we’ve consistently been in the top 3 or 4 brackets. I am super grateful to the universe and the team while I also feel so proud of the clients we work with, for giving us opportunities to push for something new, exceptional and beyond the norm, the overall “Grand Prix” of the LAIF award is a good testament for a partnership that set the take the industry to its pinnacle”, he declared.

Another young agency, Noah’s Ark, a full-service marketing communication firm which has registered its presence in global map won 21 medals – Five gold, six silver and 10 bronze medals at the LAIF award. Other young agencies such as Up In The Sky won one gold, one silver and one bronze medals.

Other winners on the night of Tori Tori award, an event to celebrate Nigerian culture and narrative were Isobar with two gold, three silver and three bronze medals; BBDO won two gold, one silver and five bronze medals; Seven Interactive won one gold, six silver and four bronze medals. Ogilvy Nigeria won a total of 6 medals made up of - one gold, four silver and one bronze medals; Leo Burnnet won a total of 8 medals – one gold, three silver and four bronze medals while TBWA Concept run by Kelechi Nwosu won one gold, one silver and six bronze medals.

The jury for the award this year comprises veterans and young advertising practitioners with officials from Ghana and other parts of Africa.

Some of the surviving new agencies in Nigeria’s advertising space have shown dexterity and nimbleness as they have put the old agencies on their toes.

This trend will likely to continue and the ultimate beneficiary is the consumer and Nigerian economy.

42 BDSUNDAY

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Sunday 22 December 2019

LifestyleHomes&Suites

Paul Ojenagbon

pauloje2000@yahoo.com

Forays of Cross & Churchill in Ibadan

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eal estate development firm, Cross & Churchill Real Estate Development Company Limited, has been quite active at Ibadan, Oyo State capital, where they are overseeing projects.

These include Westfield Park Estate and Westland Meadow Park among others. The former is located in the neighborhood of Moniya, off Ibadan-Oyo Expressway, Ibadan, Oyo State. The estate, which sits on 200 acres of land, comprises over 1000 residential plots that measure between 300-500 square metres. The estate will be

adorned with modern infrastructure such as perimeter fencing with gate house, good road network and

drainage as well as street lights. There will be recreational and commercial facilities which would give the residents value for their money. Westfield Park comes with a full package of affordability, easy and flexible payment options that have been structured to assist intending subscribers to achieve their home ownership dream and initiative. The estate is within the vicinity of certain institutional landmarks such as University of Ibadan, Ibadan Polytechnic, Kola Daisi University, International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, Ajayi

Crowther University, major banks, eateries, hotels, among others.

There are three flexible payment options that offer the subscribers instant allocation upon the payment of the minimum deposit.

The company’s other project at Ibadan, Westland Meadow Park is in its first phase and is a government approved 100 hectares land and service residential estate comprising over 5000 residential plots that measure between 300-500 square metres. The estate is located in a serene, widely acclaimed and fast-growing neighborhood of Elebu, Olu-

wole Extension, Ibadan. The project site is about 15 minutes drive from the popular Akala Expressway in Ibadan.

The estate offers its residents a sumptuous combination of quick lifestyle, affordability and peace of mind. It is a functional development designed to take the prospect away from the boisterous Ibadan metropolis into the cuddly hands of serenity. Its value appreciation is envisaged to be huge given its proximity to land residential and commercial axes such as Oluyole Estate, the control Business District (CBD) of Ring-Road/Iyaganku and Challenge Ibadan.

Send your village people packing this festive season, let Enyo take care of your needs

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t is no surprise that December is the most delightful time of the year!

Asides the holiday cheer that fills the air, the month is usually packed with the most exhilarating activities ranging from music concerts to festivals and long awaited family get-togethers. With this period comes a lot of uglyoccurrences, especially when we fail to prevent them. Then comes the frustrated groans‘My village people have come again!’ However, like Benjamin Franklin said, If you fail to plan, you plan to fail; so, ‘it is not your village people o’.

Imagine your car breaking down on the third mainland bridge at midnight or running out of fuel when watching the

NEWS Champions League! Envision the pain of running out of gas when cooking your Christmas jollof! These and many more unforeseen incidents can have a negative effect on plans.

How then can you prevent these incidents? Well, Enyo has got you covered!

Send your village people packing as leading downstream company, Enyo Retail and Supply takes care of all

your fuel needs this season.

With its quality range of energy products curated just for you, Enyo is set to leave a smile on all faces this season.

Get free quality car checks at Enyo’s premium auto maintenance outlet- Vehicon at all Enyo service stations near you to avoid car breakdowns this season. With Enyo’s Diesel2Door, diesel gets delivered straight to your doorstep, giving you the opportunity to enjoy power anytime you want!

Its SL-Gas can also be ordered and delivered anytime, allowing you to complete cooking all your meals!

Have you ever felt that your village people are after you? Share your village people story and stand a chance to win a fuel voucher worth N10,000! To participate, follow @enyoretail and upload your story with the hashtag #NotYourVillagePeople and tag @enyoretail The top entries with the most likes gets a voucher worth N10,000.

Amazing right?

Enyo’s service stations are ready to meet all your energy needs throughout the season, so drive in today and prevent being among the - my village people have come again bandwagon. For more information, visit www.enyoretail.com

Both estates are connected to public electricity supply, potable water is available from borehole with treatment plant. Security is guaranteed round the clock and provision is made for the future management of the estates. Other attractions are central cleaning services and central refuse evacuation services.

P l o t s a t We s t l a n d Meadow Park are selling for N800,000 for 500 square metres and N550,000 for 300 square metres. Payment plan over 6 months for 500 square metres attracts N900,000 and N1million for 12 months for same plot.

There is a development levy ranging between N180,000750,000 depending on the size of land and classification category between standard and premium. Plots at Westfield Park Estate sell outright at N500,000 for 500 square metres and N300,000 for 300 square metres. Payment plan within 6 months attracts N600,000 while 12 months plan goes for N700,000 respectively.

Other incidental payments include N85,000 for survey plans and legal documentation fee of N50,000.

Sunday 22 December 2019

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Sports

Why Arsenal appointed Arteta as new manager

Ex-internationals berate Taribo West over ‘sinking’ comments

Anthony Nlebem

A

Stories by ANTHONY NLEBEM

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couple of former Nigerian international players have lambasted former defender Taribo West over his infantile remarks against the leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation, including his statement that Nigerian Football is ‘sinking’, which they dismissed as ‘silly’.

Former utility player Pascal Patrick, who was in Nigeria’s 1996 Olympic gold medal –winning U23 squad and is presently Co-ordinator of the Super Eagles as well as Chairman of the Bauchi State Football Association, lashed West as “irrational” and failing to bring any statistics to the table to support his “silly remarks” about the state of Nigerian Football.

“What I know and remember is that this year, Nigeria finished third from the biggest-ever AFCON championship in history (involving 24 teams) and Nigerians are excited about a young and strong team that almost defeated Brazil in a friendly match and looks very promising for the future.

“I also know that this year, the Super Falcons reached the knockout stage of the FIFA World Cup for the first time in 20 years, and last year, we came very close to reaching the Round of 16 at the FIFA World Cup in Russia.

On his part, former defender Chikelue Iloenyosi described Taribo West’s comments as the “ranting of a disgruntled fellow.”

“We are aware of a small group of disgruntled fellows and scandal-mongers to which West now belongs, so we are not surprised. Nigeria has finished this year ranked 31st in the world – the highest for a very long time.

“Nigeria won gold and silver in the football event of the African Games in Morocco. Even the losses of the Falcons and the U23 boys in the Olympics race were near misses, as the Falcons only lost out on the away goal rule and the U23 boys lost only one match by the odd penalty goal at the U23 AFCON in Egypt.

“Taribo West was appointed to coordinate the 1994 Super Eagles that were honoured by the NFF at the AITEONFF Awards earlier this year even though he was only on the fringes and was not in the winning team. We remember

BDSUNDAY 43

how he praised the NFF at the Awards.

Now that he has joined those creating a toxic environment, Nigerian Football is ‘sinking’ in his blurred eyes.”

Iloenyosi stated that any former Nigerian international joining the band of detractors to poison the same football environment from which they all benefitted should be ashamed of himself.

“It is a shame for Taribo West to join this negative group. They are not helping Nigerian Football in any way.

Despite all their actions and noise, the Nigeria game holds great promises for the near future. Even the Golden Eaglets that lost out in the second round of the FIFA World Cup remains the youngest we have ever presented at that level and they will do very well in their careers and for the senior teams in the near future.

“Our responsibility is to provide support and encouragement for those who are in leadership positions and to advise them on certain policies if we see they are going wrong. Not to descend to the level of teaming up with negative and destructive opposition groups.”

rsenal on Friday appointed former captain Mikel Arteta as their new head coach on a three-and-a-half-year deal.

Arteta leaves his role as Manchester City assistant manager and replaces Freddie Ljungberg, who took over as interim head coach following Unai Emery’s sacking at the end of November.

“This is a huge honour,” said Arteta, whose coaching team has yet to be announced. “Arsenal is one of the biggest clubs in the world.

“We need to be competing for the top trophies in the game and that’s been made very clear to me in my discussions with (club owner) Stan and (director) Josh Kroenke, and the senior people from the club.

“We all know there is a lot of work to be done to achieve that but I am confident we’ll do it. I’m realistic enough to know it won’t happen overnight but the current squad has plenty of talent and there is a great pipeline of young players coming through from the academy.”

Ljungberg oversaw two draws, two defeats and one victory during his time in temporary charge, and

departs his role with Arsenal 10th in the Premier League table.

Arteta returns to the club for whom he played 150 games between 2011 and 2016, winning two FA Cups and two Community Shields in the process.

City and Pep Guardiola were intent on Arteta remaining at the Etihad Stadium, but the offer from the Gunners proved too enticing for their former midfielder to turn down.

The domestic treble winners were angered by Arsenal’s approach for the Spaniard after pictures emerged of Gunners chief executive Vinai Venkatesham and lawyer Huss Fahmy leaving his Manchester home in the early hours of Monday morning.

“We met several top-class candidates and Mikel stood out to every single one of us as the perfect person for us,” Arsenal head of football Raul Sanllehi said.

“Mikel understands Arsenal football club and what it means to our fans around the world. We look forward to him getting down to work and bringing the best out of our squad as we work to get our season back on track.

FG launches Adoption Campaign Initiative to support athletes DESMOND OKON

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head of the next Olympic games, the Federal Ministry of Youths and Sports Development has launched the Adopt Campaign Initiative to support athletes in the hopes to help them shine at the coming Olympics.

Launched in Lagos on Monday, the campaign was described as a developmental scheme conceptualized in collaboration with the organized private sector and privileged individuals in the society.

The initiative provides private individuals and corporate organisations the opportunity to pick an athlete or a team and sponsor them –invariably, this affords them the chance to also carry out their corporate social responsibility as well as inspire other youths.

“The Adoption Programme is our baby –all of us. By it, we hope to change the narrative about sports in Nigeria,” Sunday Dare, Minister of Youth and Sports Development, said

at the launch.

Dare reminded the audience that the hope of the athletes was to be at the Olympics, or the World Championship for their sport; to stand on the podium, and fly their country’s flag.

Hence, the Adoption programme hopes to reach at least 25 number of athletes in 11 number of sports, “with our 2020 Tokyo Olympic hopefuls.”

“It is our belief that we have

partners here tonight who will adopt one, all or any number of the athletes and support them to win gold, bronze and silver. By this, we hope we can give them the right pedestal to flourish, guarantees increased chances of success at the games,” he said.

The campaign has two models –Adopt-a-Pitch, and Adopt-aSports Centre. These target sporting infrastructure and facilities across the country.

With the models, individuals or private sector organisations commit to rehabilitate and maintain a stadium pitch, or sport centre such as basketball courts, tennis court and the likes, for an agreed period.

BusinessDay learnt that branding/marketing rights around the facility, access to VIP suits, free tickets to games are some of the perks the adopter gets.

“These athletes and youth; they are each travelling the road of their dreams. And only need a little support from us. We can just line the sidelines of their path with a cup of water, or offer a simple clap to provide some push, or just a cheery shout that tells them “we are game!” Sometimes all they need is the little air around them to breathe. We are, by our collective or individual choices, creating and providing that air tonight,” he said.

Adopt just one – an athlete, a facility, a stadium – or it could just be a training track, or a boxing ring, or the volleyball court at the corner of that community, Dare adds.

While the night was dedicated to soliciting support for Nigeria’s athletes, the Work Experience Programme (WEP) was also

launched on the side lines, having found ‘work experience’ to be “a challenge of unemployment”.

BusinessDay gathered that WEP will ensure that young people acquire a level of experience and hone their skills to make them suitable for employment, and acquire the required skill for self-development.

This will be achieved through a three-month internship programme that will provide participants with the opportunity to gain knowledge, develop skills and workplace competencies that will increase their potential for employment success.

Dare said: “We need our corporate organisations to plug in. We need to give our graduates the added advantage they need. A Bachelors of Science in Geography is no longer enough to get you the job. If you go for that job interview and you have zero experience, even if you have first-class, it’s extremely difficult. But if you go for that interview and you have three or four months experience relevant to your course of study, you have an added advantage.

BDSUNDAY

NEW YOU CAN TRUST

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SUNDAY 22 DECEMMBER 2019

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Can cooperative federalism work?

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igeria is a country of so many ethnic nationalities and so has been striving to evolve a workable framework that harmonises the often conflicting interests of these nationalities. As a result of our large population and territory, the most effective political system is federalism because it enables us to have diverse ways of organising ourselves.

Many people say the 1963 Republican Constitution was the best ever because it allowed the different regions to express themselves. The South produced cocoa, the North groundnut and the East palm oil.

There was space for each region. But today, people criticise strong unitary federalism because it forces the component units under a strong centre and so most people feel returning to the 1963 Constitution is better and therefore, restructuring has become a big issue. But restructuring has challenges because it has to be nationally accepted but has not. The issue is whether to look for other models? Restructuring is like sitting atop a 10-storey building which we will eventually get to. But we have to come from the ground floor up. This is why I have proposed Cooperative Federalism for consideration. Of course, there are many other models of Federalism.

George Anderson, in his book ‘Federalism: An Introduction’, has identified some of the models. There are dualist and integrated models of Federalism. The dualist model typically assigns different jurisdictions to each order of government, which then delivers and administers its own programs. The integrated model provides for many shared competences and the constituent – unit governments often administer centrally legislated programmes or laws. Under the dualist, or classical model of federalism, constitutional jurisdiction over different subjects is usually assigned

exclusively to one order of government.

In this model, each order of government normally delivers programmes in its area of responsibility, using its civil service and departments; the Federal Government’s departments are thus present throughout the country. In practice, the dualist model does not achieve a neat separation of powers because so many issues have regional, national, even international dimensions and many different responsibilities of governments are themselves intertwined.

In all dualist constitutions, there are some shared or concurrent powers in which both orders of government can make laws. Canada and Belgium have few concurrent powers, while Australia has very extensive concurrency. Where powers are concurrent, federal law is generally, but not always, paramount, meaning it prevails in cases of conflict. Also, there can be de facto concurrency when both orders of government have different powers that bear on a question: this is a kind of shared power and typically it does not involve paramountcy.

For example, in old constitutions, the environment is not usually a head of power, but both orders of government may have different legal powers that permit them to regulate the environmental impacts of a major infrastructure project, so it can proceed only if they both agree.

Under the integrated (or interlocking) model of federalism, exemplified

by Germany, some subject matters are exclusively assigned to one order of government (e.g. defence to the Federal Government), but most subject matters are concurrent, where the central government sets framework legislation that the constituent units can complement (but not contravene) with their own legislation. As well, the governments of the constituent units deliver programs in these concurrent areas. Thus the central

government has a small civil service in the regions, largely limited to its areas of exclusive competence. This model is also sometimes called administrative federalism because the principal powers of the constituent units are administrative. A great challenge in this model is restricting the detail of central policy-making to leave room for decisions and laws at the level of constituent units. The German model also provides for joint decision making affecting these areas of concurrency, in that relevant federal laws must be approved by a majority vote of the representatives of the Lander in the Bundesrat. South Africa has adopted aspects of this model. Canada, Brazil and the United States are examples of largely dualist federations; Germany, Austria, South Africa, and Spain follow the interlocking model. India and Switzerland have strong features of both. Australia is largely dualist in administrative arrangements but has so many areas of concurrency that it has some strongly interlocking features.

What these models illustrate is that no federation is purely of one form. The purpose of a federation is for the different power centres Federal and States to cooperate. In our case, as it relates to Cooperative Federalism, States and the Federal Government can work together for economic development. Infrastructure and solid minerals development readily come to mind.

Based on the principle of subsidiarity in Federalism which is incorporating the government closest to the people, infrastructure can be commonly developed, for instance, the East-West High Way that has been uncompleted because responsibility excludes relevant state governments but under

OLISA AGBAKOBA .Dr. Agbakoba (SAN) writes from Lagos.w

the principle of subsidiarity including state governments improves implementation and also ownership. States with solid minerals can havecooperativefederalism with the federal government to explore their solid minerals. Ondo state has one of the world’s richest bitumen; Enugu has one of the world’s richest reserve of coal, Ebony has one of the best salt mines valued at about N14 billion. What stops states from cooperating with the federal government to harness minerals? Look at police, in the Constitution under the National Police Council, all the 36 state governors play a role in picking the Inspector General of Police but the states have never requested that the President summon a meeting of the Police Council since 1998 yet they complain. Actually, under the current Constitution under both the exclusive and concurrent list schemes of cooperation exist but it has not been harnessed, for example, states can build power stations and there are several other schemes. So rather than looking to restructuring which is distant, it is good to look at what is in the 1999 Constitution because that cooperation will allow development. This is no way derogates from Restructuring. It simply means we all have to work towards attaining the goal of restructuring but we can have Cooperative Federalism to deepen the process of democracy.

Quick Takes

Off the Cuff

Where is Buhari’s Economic Advisory Council?

L

ai Omotola, group managing director, Masters Reality International Concepts Limited (MRICL) and chancellor of E-Boot Camp Limited, has called out on members of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (EAC), saying that their silence in the face of obvious economic quagmire of the country leaves much to be desired.

He expressed disappointment that the EAC appears to be sleeping on guard at a critical time when the country is looking up to them to wave their magic wand.

Omotola decried the Federal Government’s recourse to borrowing, noting that “a lazy man’s approach all the time is to borrow money.”

He believes that the present government unfortunately worked itself into the situation where the only option for now is to borrow, noting that it was lamentable that having cleaned Nigeria’s debt sheet to zero in the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, the country is being pushed back into a crisis situation.

“I must say that this debt burden is a result of what government created for themselves in the last few years, and borrowing this money is further pushing us into crisis situation. It means that our debt servicing figure is going

to increase. Now, we are using 30 percent of our income to service the debt,” he said.

Questioning the usefulness of the EAC, he said: “This brings me to the question of how serious this government is. The government set up the EAC. Have you seen any impact; have you seen them sit down to even come up with a direction or any rescue mission? It is just there in terms of name and position, and not there in terms of impact to critical thinking and radical approach for the survival of the nation?”

Raising alarm on the likely danger facing Nigeria over the unbridled “borrowing for the stomach”, the expert warned: “As things are, we have to be on our toes so that we don’t get to a point where the best of geniuses in Harvard cannot solve our problem. You know, when a cancer gets to a certain stage, there is no more solution.

And that is where we are moving towards, that we as a nation we are not paying attention to. It is unfortunate that we have continued to borrow having cleaned our sheet to zero when Obasanjo was in government, and we have again built it up to the extent we are seeing now.”

Lately, the Federal Government has received tons of criticisms over its constant borrowing.

The anger is not because of the borrowing itself,

it is about the reasons for the huge debts.

With debt profile of over $81billion, the Buhari administration will soon get additional $30billion. These borrowings are not for tangible projects; they are not for building of more hospitals, clinics, schools, industries, no, they are for “sweet and chewing gum” as someone puts it. Over the years, government has regaled the citizens with the talk about loot recovery. In the last five years, government, through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) also claimed it has recovered huge sums of money from corrupt people. The Nigerian Customs is in the habit claiming it has generated several billions of naira since the advent of the current administration. It therefore, beats many people’s imagination where these recovered loots are being channeled.

Omotola cried out thus, “Our leaders must understand that we have now entered an emergency mode. The best this country can have in 2020 is to ensure that things do not degenerate beyond where we are now.

If we cannot make it better, let it not grow worse. Budget of N10.9trillion will not make any impact in anybody.”

106,000 This is the number of women the Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF) plans to empower across four states in Northern Nigeria, with a sum of N1.1 billion before the end of 2019.

Pathetic!

“As things are, we have to be on our toes so that we don’t get to a point where the best of geniuses in Harvard cannot solve our debt problem.

You know, when a cancer gets to a certain stage, there is no more solution. And that is where we are moving towards, that we as a nation we are not paying attention to.”

- Lai Omotola, group managing director, Masters Reality International Concepts Limited (MRICL), on the increasing borrowing by the Federal Government.

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