BusinessDay 22 Jul 2018

BDSUNDAY BUSINESS DAY

Apapa gridlock: Endless task forces, lamentations, blame game to no avail p . 16-17

Ecobank, Wema post N53 bn profit at half year 2018

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p. 40-41p.

p. 33

Sunday 22 July 2018 Market & Commodities Monitor Brent Oil

5yr Bond

$73.04

0.00 13.74%

Gold

10yr Bond

$1,230.50

0.13 14.18%

Cocoa

$2,322.00

20yr Bond

0.00 14.16%

inside Buhari has performed up to expectation with available resources – Lanre Razak

Vol 1, No. 226 N300

Atiku declares Tackles APC on poor economy, insecurity Pledges better governance To return Adamawa to PDP Innocent Odoh, Abuja

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ormer Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has formerly declared his intention to run for the 2019 Presidential election on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) even as he castigated the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for Nigeria’s poor economy and increasing insecurity in

the land in the last three years.

Addressing a mammoth crowd during a PDP rally in Yola, capital of Adamawa State on Saturday, Atiku noted that his intention to seek the leadership of the country is to rescue the nation from the bondage of poverty and divisiveness of the APC and restore hope to traumatised Nigerian people.

Atiku noted that the PDP has plans to bring back smiles on the faces of Nigerians once again, saying “What the PDP is going

to do is to restore our economy, unify our country, ensure we have security of lives and property. I want to appeal to all of you, wherever you may be that it is time you now re-embrace the party that has given you unity, prosperity and security in this country.”

He further lamented that in the last three years, the APC has destroyed Nigeria’s econ-

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Despite criticisms, Buhari’s lopsided appointments get messier As North gets 18 out of 31 political appointments in 48hrs OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja

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espite repeated assurances that it would ensure free, fair and credible elections in 2019, political observers have said the actions and inactions of the Muhammadu Buhari administration show a level of desperation to return to power through untoward means.

Even as the administration makes a show of reaching out to the Nigerian populace and many of the aggrieved members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) towards 2019, the observers say its consistent exhibition of lack of emotional intel-

p. 2

National Chairman of PDP, Prince Uche Secondus (R), Atiku Abubakar and behind him Otunba Gbenga Daniel, DG, Atiku Presidential Campaign Organisation at the declaration rally of Atiku for the 2019 presidential election, at Ribadu Square, Yola, Adamawa State on Saturday.

Extreme poverty fuelling vote-buying – Pundits CHUKS OLUIGBO & INIOBONG IWOK

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hereas the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) received commendations for the conduct of the Ekiti State governorship election of July 14, the issue of brazen vote-buying arising

from that election continues to generate concern.

Reports from both international and local observers indicate that during the election, party agents had huge cash and stayed close to voting points, party stalwarts indicated to voters where to thumbprint, and voters showed their ballot papers to party agents to collect money.

“I was there in Ekiti to monitor elections and I heard a lot of reports of alleged vote buying and we are convinced that some vote buying went on. I condemn it,” said Paul Arkwright, British High Commissioner to Nigeria, after a meeting with Mahmood

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Sunday 22 July 2018

Cover Extreme poverty ...

Continued from Page 1 Yakubu, INEC chairman, in Abuja on Friday.

“Vote buying is illegal; it is against the law, it is just as vote rigging, it is just as bad as ballot stuffing,” Arkwright said.

As a confirmation, the police in Ekiti State on Friday arraigned 10 persons before an Ado-Ekiti Chief Magistrate’s Court for alleged vote-buying during governorship election in the state. Femi Fałade, police prosecutor, told the court that the accused persons offered money to voters to induce them to vote for their parties during the election, an action which, he said, contravened Section 130 (a) and 130 (b) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).

The trend is also casting doubts in the minds of Nigerians about the possibility of free, fair and credible elections in 2019.

Amid the growing concerns, political pundits have continued to examine the factors responsible for vote buying, with many blaming the situation on the extreme poverty in the country.

Yusuf Sanni, national chairman, Advanced Democratic Party (ADP), said the poverty rate in the country has been exacerbated in the past few years, stressing that the trend of vote buying would continue because there was no punitive action against the act by the government.

“Vote buying is because the political class has reduced Nigerians to ordinary commodity that can be bought. This group of politicians, the APC and PDP, that are in power don’t like Nigerians nor have conscience; they have bastardised the system because of their corrupt tendencies and because they are getting away from it, it is continuing,” Sanni said.

“Poverty is a state policy under this APC administration. You have to also realise that this people came into government through corrupt process. The primary election is about money; you have to bribe delegates to vote for you. This tendency has shifted to the election proper,” he said.

Sanni of ADP said the solution lies in continuous voter education by the government and the civil society, as well as

legislation that prescribes punishment for both vote buyers and sellers.

“People should be brought to book, and as far as this impunity is allowed to continue, it would not change. If Buhari is serious about fighting corruption, why can’t he send EFCC officials to monitor parties that induced voters in the Ekiti election and apprehend them, or where else can you fight corruption if not in the process that guarantees good leadership?” he said.

Eddy Olafeso, vice chairman of PDP (Southwest), blamed the increasing trend of vote buying on the extreme poverty in the country, which has worsened since the All Progressives Congress (APC) took over the mantle of leadership in 2015. He said while vote buying may have been around for a while, it was never as pronounced as it is today.

“Vote buying has become more pronounced under the APC government than when PDP was in power. It is the complicity of everybody in the system – the political parties, politicians, even the security agencies. It is a shame on the country and I think the international community and election observers have condemned our elections,” he said.

He added that vote buying had also con-

tributed to bad governance in the country, saying it was why politicians, when they get into office, loot public funds to recoup the money they spent and are less concerned about their promises to the electorate during the campaigns.

Nigeria has recorded worsening poverty rates in the past few years, aided by bad economic policies that led to a recession in 2016 which the country is yet to fully pull out of.

Every day more Nigerians continue to slide into the squalor of poverty despite more money budgeted and spent annually across all tiers of government.

A report by Brookings Institution in June 2018 showed that Nigeria has overtaken India as the nation with the highest number of extremely poor people.

According to the report, Nigeria had about 87 million people in extreme poverty as at the end of May 2018, compared with India’s 73 million, with the number of Nigerians in extreme poverty increasing by six people every minute.

In March, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had said Nigerians were getting poorer, stressing the need for coherent and comprehensive economic reforms.

Similarly, Iftikhar Nizami, country director of Oxfam International in Nigeria, had at a one-day colloquium on inequality in Nigeria in March raised the alarm over worsening poverty and extreme inequality in Nigeria, saying the government needed to focus on meeting the needs of people in the quest for economic development.

Nizami, who was represented by Abdulazeez Musa, head of influencing, Oxfam in Nigeria, had said that though Nigeria’s economy had expanded at an average of 6 percent every year since 2006, more than half of Nigeria’s population continued to live in poverty.

But Dapo Thomas, a lecturer in the Department of History and International Studies, Lagos State University (LASU), said while the high poverty rate in the country was a major cause, the trend had become pronounced in recent times because Nigerians were disenchanted with the system.

“The people see the votes as their personal franchise. As a Nigerian, I have

the right to determine what I do with my vote. Nigerian voters have been voting according to their conscience for decades and they have not had commensurate level of performance from the ruling class,” Thomas said.

“N400 or N500 may mean much to an ordinary voter; it could solve a lot of problems. What we should also note is that the people are disappointed with the system and have lost confidence in the government to deliver on its promises. I am not saying it is good, but it shows lack of confidence by the electorate in the electoral system,” he said.

Thomas said he doubted whether there was much the present administration in the country could do because it was also culpable and lacked credibility.

“In normal society, you expect those party officials to be brought to book. But I don’t think the government has the moral authority to arrest these people because they are the ones doing it. I am sure the electoral law provides for it, but would they follow it?” he said.

Balarabe Musa, Second Republic governor of Kaduna State, said there was little INEC could do to check the trend, stressing that only a constitutional revolution could change the trend.

“I am not surprised that money plays a key role in elections in the country. Most of this money is stolen and they are using it to buy people’s conscience. And when they get back to public office, they loot the treasury to get the money back.

“There has always been money in the system. When I contested for the governor of Kaduna State decades ago, I can say we spent, but mind you, spending that I mean is not about buying the voters and influencing election; it was not enough to influence election. Nowadays, money is used to dictate elections result.

“What is happening is beyond INEC. The government needs to act. What is happening now has reached a level of constitutional revolution and until that is done, we should not expect anything. But I don’t think that be done realistically with the present state of affairs in the National Assembly,” Musa said.

from President Buhari seeking approval for the appointment of nominees for the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA).

According to Ekweremadu, the President’s lopsided appointments violated Section 14 (3) of the 1999 Constitution which provides that: “The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few State or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies”.

President Buhari hails from Katsina State in North West Nigeria.

BDSUNDAY examined the President’s correspondences to the Senate between Wednesday, July 18 and Thursday July 19, and observed that out of 31 political appointments, the South East and South-South geopolitical zones received three nominations each as against 18 to the North and seven to the South West.

The three political appointees for the South East include Josef Okoloagu (Enugu State) as member of the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC); Ejor Chukwuemeka (Anambra), commissioner, Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), and Loretta Aniagolu, executive director, Governing Board of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA).

The three South-South nominees are Festus Keyamo (Delta), member, NDIC; Joe Poroma (Rivers), commissioner, Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC), and Simon Etim (Akwa Ibom), also a commissioner in FCSC. The seven South-West appointees are Tunde Lemo and Vincent Kolawole, chairman and executive director of FERMA, respectively; Olabode Mustapha (Ogun), chairman, NDIC; Muiz Banire (Lagos), chairman, Governing Board of Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON); Adewale Adeleke (Ondo), member, NDIC; Iyabode Odulate-Yusuf (Ogun), and Fatai Adebayo (Oyo), both commissioners in FCSC. The 18 political appointments in respect

Lopsided appointments get messier...

Continued from Page 1 ligence may suggest that it had perfected plans to ride back to power through other means other than credible electoral process.

One area the Buhari administration has shown evidence of lack of understanding of the feelings of Nigerians, they say, is in its appointments since it came to power in 2015.

In October 2017, BusinessDay drew the attention of the world to the lopsided appointments, when it reported that 81 out of President Buhari’s 100 political appointees were Northerners.

Specifically, the report indicated that Buhari’s appointees were mainly from the North East, North West or North Central, in violation of the Federal Character Principle as enshrined in section 13, subsection (3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

However, Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, had dismissed the report and claimed that the administration was committed to serving Nigerians well irrespective of religion and ethnic origin.

The report had also alluded to President Buhari’s infamous “97 percent/5 percent” speech which he gave while addressing the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) in July 2015.

But it took the senators at the nation’s bicameral legislature three years after Buhari’s controversial Washington statement to begin a probe into the matter.

The recent appointments into boards of agencies and parastatals bear eloquent testimony of the policy of excision which the Buhari administration has orchestrated in the last three years.

South East senators are set for a showdown on Tuesday with their Northern colleagues, as the Senate Committee on Federal Character is expected to submit its report on the alleged lopsided political appointments by President Buhari.

The probe followed a ‘Point of Order’ raised by Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who expressed concerns that the President’s appointments were skewed in favour of a section of the country.

His ‘Point of Order’ came shortly after Senate President Bukola Saraki read a letter

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Cover 2019: Atiku declares Continued from Page 1

omy and plunged about 10 million people mostly youths into unemployment, adding that more people have died following the pervasive insecurity in the country than those killed in war-torn Iraq and Afghanistan, amidst the alleged divisive politics of the APC government.

“The Government of APC has failed; it has failed to unite Nigerians. Today, we are more divided than at any other time in the history of this country.

The APC has destroyed our economy. They took over an economic growth of 7percent and brought it down to less than 2percent. Today, we are witnessing the most insecure atmosphere in Nigeria ever since its existence. More people have died in Nigeria during the reign of the APC than people killed in Iraq or Afghanistan.

“Today, we have the highest unemployment in the history of this country.

More than 10 million of our youths are unemployed,” Atiku bemoaned even as he beckoned on the people to give PDP the requisite support to unseat the President Muhammadu Buhari administration and the APC-led Federal Government.

The Wazirin Adamawa also promised to take back his home state, Adamawa from the grip of the APC and return it to the fold of the PDP. “It is time we take back our state. In 1998, I took this state, Adamawa to PDP, and today, I have returned to reclaim what rightly belongs to the PDP,” he said.

National Chairman of the PDP, Uche Secondus said the PDP is the party of choice, adding that Atiku has a lot of support across the country and assured free and fair election during the PDP presidential primary.

He also noted that in the coming weeks there would be political tsunami that will sweep the APC

away from Nigeria’s political landscape stressing that APC cannot survive because their hands are stained with innocent blood.

“I want to tell Nigerians that we are on a rescue mission to save Nigerians from the hands of this wicked government. You are aware that the APC has failed completely to provide security for our people; people are being killed across the states.

They killed them in Zamfara, in Taraba, in Sokoto, in Adamawa in Borno, in Benue, in Plateau state and all over the country, there has been bloodbath.

The leaders of APC are corrupt and they are in the valley of corruption, they cannot allocate the revenue to the states in the last two months. The government has collapsed, economy has collapsed, and security has collapsed.

“We are on a rescue mission in 2019, we are not afraid, we are strong, we are coming like train and APC will be crushed in the name of God. We believe that God has finished with the APC,” he said.

He pointed out that the PDP would provide employment for Nigerian youths and women, saying: “Our youth will be employed and women will be engaged. Our youths are not lazy, they are resourceful, they are energetic and they are innovative.”

The high point of the events was the acceptance of dozens of former members of the APC and others, who defected to the PDP during the rally.

The man, Atiku Atiku was elected governor of Adamawa State in December 1998 on the platform of the PDP, but before he could be sworn in, he was picked

by Obasanjo, then presidential candidate of the PDP, as running mate. The Obasanjo-Atiku ticket eventually won the February 27, 1999 presidential election.

Atiku is no doubt a po-

litical phenomenon who has not only the means and capacity to prosecute elections, but also the sagacity and clout to wield influence and garner sufficient support for his cause.

As vice president under Obasanjo, Atiku was a powerful political figure who used his position to build and nurture a formidable political machine that remains a launch-pad for his soaring political ambition till date. Those close to him say he used his period in the APC to build even more bridges across the country’s geopolitical and ethnic divides.

Perhaps, the strongest threat to the second-term ambition of Buhari so far, political observers say he is a major aspirant to watch as the struggle for PDP ticket hots up. They strongly believe that if Atiku secures the ticket to run on PDP platform, he would give the APC a run for its money.

At i k u u n d e r s t a n d s the mood of the moment and has been striking the right chords among Nigeria’s progressives. He has been everywhere across the country and beyond “preaching” about restructuring and need for the unity of Nigeria. Observers recall his seminal lectures across the country bordering on the urgent need for restructuring, privatisation, job creation, revamping the education and health sectors, and generally growing the economy.

The long-term goal of Atiku’s key economic agenda as espoused in 2015, analysts say, is wealth generation through infrastructure development and power, education and skill acquisition, security, entrepreneurship and good governance, agriculture and food security and Niger Delta development. He has always maintained that if elected president, he would address habits and practices that currently compromise policy implementation, but also those that would

promote the hallmark of good governance through effective policy monitoring, evaluation and implementation.

At a Chatham House lecture in London entitled ‘The Importance of Strengthening State Economic Management Systems’, Atiku promised to offer states a matching grant of $250 million each to challenge them to enhance their Internally Generated Revenue.

Many are of the view that if Atiku gets the PDP ticket, the battle for presidency in 2019 would be between him and the incumbent President Buhari as other aspirants may chicken out and beat a retreat when the battle field becomes too hot and risky to advance further.

An analyst who is rooting for Atiku enumerated three key reasons why he believes the Turakin Adamawa is the right man

for the presidency in 2019.

“Our beloved country is in a danger of being plunged into a civil war.

There is a feeling of discontent all over the place.

It will take a man who is very strong and reads the signs of the times to pull the country from the nadir into which it has sunk. It can also only be done by a Northerner. Nobody from any other part of the country can possibly say he will take over power from the North at this time; any attempt will only result in bloodshed. So, Atiku fits that bill,” the analyst, who pleaded anonymity, said.

“The second reason is that he is very wealthy and would not possibly be interested in stealing when he gets there. The man has seen money and he is using it to touch lives.

If he gets there, he can only use the country’s wealth judiciously, giving what he is doing with his personal

endowments.

“The third reason is that the man has built bridges across the country. He has friends all over the place. I am impressed the way he is taking the issue of restructuring and I believe that he will do well if he is given the opportunity. My analysis is based on my observations, but I also know that politicians in this country are not predictable,” he said.

The only snag for Atiku, however, is that many perceive him to be corrupt, even though there is as yet no evidence to prove this, neither has he been tried or convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction. Analysts say he will need all the luck to erase that perception from the minds of Nigerians and convince them to give him a chance even after laying out fantastic plans for the economy and the country.

tor), with Buba Silas Abdullahi, Babangana Aji, Shehu Abdullahi, and Mujaidu Dako as executive directors.

An analyst, who spoke with BDSUNDAY on condition of anonymity, said that the body language of the President shows a man who may have perfected

arrangements to return to his beat by other means, not by votes from the electorate.

“The way the APC and President Buhari are going about the business of governance and the ambition to return in 2019 shows that they do not even fac-

tor in the role of voters in the electoral process. It appears they have perfected plans to win by every means possible, hence the impunity they exhibit.

“The ‘go-to-hell’ posturing points to the fact that they don’t need you to return to power; otherwise,

why would a government that wants to be voted back into power be dishing out anti-democratic policies and actions, and consistently inflicting pains on the those that should cast their votes for them?

It does not simply add up,” the pundit said.

-L-R: Kenneth Kobani, representative of the Rivers State governor; Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ooni of Ife; Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, governor, Gombe State; Mohammed Abdullahi, governor, Bauchi State, and Ibrahim Hassan, deputy governor, Jigawa State, at the BusinessDay States Competitiveness and Good Governance Award, in Abuja.

Pic by Tunde Adeniyi

Mammoth crowd at the event

Lopsided appointments get messier... of those in FCSC are Bello Ingawa (Katsina), chairman; Moses Ngbale (Adamawa); Waziri Ngurno (Borno); Bello Mahmoud (Jigawa); Ahmed Sarna (Kebbi); Shehu Danyaya (Niger); Ibrahim Mohammed (Kaduna), and Aminu Sheidu (Kogi).

Other Northerners nomi-

nated as members of the Federal Judicial Service Commission include Abba Ali (Katsina) and Mohammed Sagir (Niger).

Also, Northerners nominated on the Governing Board of FERMA by the President include Nurudeen Rafindadi (managing direc-

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Sunday 22 July 2018

ForTheRecords When Donald Duke ‘preached the gospel’ of good governance at Deeper Life to manage their political dispute peacefully without lapsing into conflict or sustain economic growth without creating huge inequalities, critically depend on the quality of their relevant national institutions. We should not just set the rules, we must place the right people who have the expertise and moral competence to understand and implement the objectives of our institutions and ensure that these institutions inspire public confidence by being fair, by being transparent and by being steadfast.

ZEBULON AGOMUO

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ike every other important personality in the country who loves God and the things of God, Donald Duke, a former governor of Cross River State and a presidential aspirant for 2019 on a yet-to-be-determined platform, last Thursday joined the worshippers at the Deeper Life Bible Church headquarters in Gbagada, Lagos.

As a principle, Pastor William Folorunsho Kumuyi, general superintendent of the church, does not abandon his pulpit for anybody. Although he recognises constituted authorities and seriously works for safe and Godly society through his pulpit engagements, he so much believes that politics and religion must play their roles, apart. He does not campaign on pulpit and does not encourage such in any way. But he can allow those in authority a moment to greet the people whenever they come calling, and particularly, when he is led by the spirit of God to so do.

So then, Duke, a fine gentleman, went to the stage. Below are his own words: Salutation I would like to express my gratitude to the Almighty for affording me this opportunity to be part of this Special Revival Service. And I would also like to thank our pastoral father and General Superintendent, Dr. William Folorunsho Kumuyi for this very rare honour of being in your midst on this podium in this magnificent auditorium. And may I also on behalf of my wife and I and my delegation to this event congratulate the church and you, Sir, on the commissioning of this befitting ultramodern international headquarters of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry.

Although this event has been tagged ‘Night of divine increase,’ it is also evident that the sustained growth of the church is not just a night of divine increase but infinite divine increase through the grace of the Almighty God. Kindly oblige me this opportunity to thank you Dr. Kumuyi, for your contribution to our nation and global development over the years. Thank you, Sir, for being consistent and committed to your ministerial calling. May the Lord Almighty continue to uphold you and sustain the church.

State of the Nation Ladies and gentlemen, I do not think anyone is in doubt about the challenges facing our country today. If anything, we probably agree that we are at our lowest ebb, as a nation. And if not checked, could lead us into a situation where anger, anxiety and utmost distrust not at the leadership but at our fellow citizens. This is an evening of optimum grace and not one suited for recounting the recurrence of dismal things that have happened. And what has led us to this point?

We probably have the answers or at least, faint idea of it. I would rather want to use this opportunity given to me to speak to urge us all to move beyond complaining and watching things go wrong, stop resign-

Leadership: The key Lastly, and most fundamental is the challenge of leadership. Leadership is an important key factor in national development. Unless we have leaders with ability, integrity, commitment, vision. And above all, the fear of God, our nation will continue to falter and remain within the confines of mediocrity and sideline amongst its peers. Our nation is in great need of leaders who have a vision to leave it better than they met it, leaders who would lead by deed and not by words; leaders who believe that everyone matters; leaders who by their fruits we shall uphold them.

Donald Duke

ing ourselves to criticisms and forlorn hope but rather stand up to those who wish to desecrate our future with fallen policies, strategies and crass ignorance.

Appeal It is time to stand up and come together to oppose all forms of inequalities and discrimination because our nation Nigeria, as dire as the situation may be, is a land of grace and abundance, a biblical land of milk and honey. We cannot in such abundance live in penury like the children of Israel while in Egypt. The solution relies in our collective resolve to take back our destiny in our hands; reclaim our future and reassess the rules of engagement in all strata of our national life. Growing up, this story was my favourite subject.

I marvelled at the trials and lessons and novelty of our past and prospect and credence they lent to our future. But today, I wonder what history our children will relish. I wonder if theirs would not have been that of hate, division and distrust.

For my generation seated in this hall, it is a burden that is hanging on us and posterity would be unkind to us if we do not do something about it. I use the children standing the risk of being lost and it will be uncharitable for us not striving to guarantee them a better future. But even more importantly, ensuring that they embrace that future with renewed vigour and zest; one which does not personify hope but actively involve in the process of shaping their future.

My brothers and sisters, we must defend our country, its vital interest, its image in the comity of nations and its message to the world. It is our obligation to defend our nation from all those who seek to desecrate it. Our civilisation is at stake, our way of living of being free or promot-

ing our values, our common enterprise, our hopes, our stake. And we cannot live it to chance any more - we must act and act now. We must come together to rebuild the link between our leadership and the led; between the state and its citizens and between Nigeria and the rest of the world.

The essence of the privilege of my speaking to you today is a clarion call to each and everyone of us, particularly our young people here to recognise our strength in our diversity and to awaken to democratic activism, actualise the powers in building your right of democratic suffrage with the conscious realisation that skills, industry, productivity and competitiveness are determinant factors for national greatness.

Without doubt, industry and creativity, Nigeria will remain an overgrown underfed and over indulgence geographical description and not a nation. There are certain challenges we must overcome to achieve greatness. First is the challenge of social and economic dichotomies. Nigeria painfully suffers the failure of common citizenship. This failure is embedded in the fact that we primarily define ourselves by our tribes rather than by our nation. We do not see Nigeria as our home but as a geographical entity where our primordial home, our tribe is located. Until we commonly go beyond tribal sentiment, we would always have the challenge of leadership. It should never matter where leadership comes from. What should matter is how capable leadership is.

The need for strong institutions The next challenge we must tackle is that of building institutions of democracy and development. One of the greatest problems of nation building today is the absence of institutions. Whether nations are able

The future is bright Our experience in the past has been very disappointing. But we have every reason to believe that the future will be better, if we collectively agree to address these challenges that becloud our nation. Let me point out that the enemies of Nigeria are not many challenges destroying our land but the people and institutional mechanisms that support and enable these challenges to persist. My dear friends, if you refuse to speak up, refuse to vote and participate or refuse to seek office you are eminently qualified because you feel there is nothing you can do to make a difference.

Or worst still, believe you do not count, then you are part of the problem. Indeed, a major part of it. You were born as a change agent and must resolve to play your part with humility, diligence, confidence and with the injunction of the Almighty to love our neighbour as our ourselves.

As I close, I implore you to get involve with the polity. Any vocation that seeks to regulate the affairs of men for the better or to be a noble one. But nobility can only come from noble person. You here gathered form the ranks of the noblest of Nigerians. You cannot and must not allow filth occupy and take control of our national estate. Every institution is a lengthen shadow of one man and it is evident here this evening. I want us to commend our General Superintendent again.

And by extension, our political institution would always reflect the values of those whom through our actions or omissions are entrusted with his leadership. For us this more, as our future as a nation may seem, our God is a prayer answering Father, for His grace knows no bound. For He shall lead us not destruction but upon calling His name deliver us from evil. Our revered General Superintendent, congregation, my friends, ladies and gentlemen, the honour is mine to be in your midst this evening. Thank you.

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5

News Nigeria Air: You can’t deceive Nigerians, PDP tells Buhari, FG OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja

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he People’s Demo c r a t i c Pa r t y (PDP) has asked the Federal Government to perish the thought of trying to use the ‘unveiling’of the new national carrier to deceive Nigerians.

Specifically, the main opposition party accused the Buhari administration of using the announcement of the new national carrier to score political advantage ahead of the 2019 general election.

A statement by Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP National Publicity Secretary, maintained that “having run out of fake promises and not having any development project to parade, President Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) have now resorted to international kite-flying aimed at hoodwinking unsuspecting Nigerians”.

The statement reads: “Is it not comical that while other nations are unveiling and rolling out real planes,

Ologbondiyan

the Buhari administration, in a most hilarious manner, is ‘unveiling’ drawings of an airplane, name, logo and imaginary routes of a nonexistent fleet, as our national carrier, in faraway London?

“What President Buhari and his handlers fail to understand is that Nigerians can see through their fraud and lies.

“Apart from drawings of

airplanes, there are no structures to indicate that a new airline, billed to commence operation in December this year, is being set up; there are no offices, no recruitment of personnel and no form of ground activity anywhere in the country.

“Does it not smack of pure scam that less than six months to commence operations, the supposed new

airline has not even started the process of Licensing, even when it takes a minimum of six months for a new airline to obtain Air Operating License and three months to develop its manuals?

“Furthermore, every discerning mind can see through the lies in the announced private sector funding, as the Buhari administration has been unable to list any private investor it has gone into negotiation or signed any form of deal with in the said project.

“If the Buhari administration is not on a fantasy trip to beguile Nigerians and pave further ways for its humongous corruption, it should have focused on our existing national carrier structures, in addition to three operating airlines, already taken over by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).

“It is therefore, clear that the entire project is a huge scam and that the five percent government funding is a direct ploy by the cabal at the Buhari Presidency to siphon billions of naira, using a phantom project”.

Over 200m births not registered globally - UNICEF/NOA UDOKA AGWU, Umuahia

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he United Nations Children’s Fund and National Orientation Agency (UNICEF/ NOA) have said that available records show that over 200 million children around the globe have not had their births registered and about 80 countries do not have well-functioning civil registration systems to document births and deaths, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Imo Uche, a resource person from National Population Commission (NPC) while addressing over 150 women at Umuode-Nsulu autonomous community, Isiala North L.G.A, of Abia State during UNICEF/NOA Social Mobilisation Technical Committee, SOMTEC outreach, disclosed that the use of sworn affidavit in place of birth certificate would be dropped in the near future.

He warned that without birth certificates, individuals would face challenges of going to school, seeing the doctor, accessing social protection and participating in public life.

Uche pointed out that inability of some parents to register births of their children could deprive such children of their identities and

the crucial birth certificates which are literally children’s passports to benefits such as education and welfare programmes, and shield to help protect him/her from trafficking, child labour, or other forms of abuse.

He said: “When the government knows how many children are born, how many people die and what the principal causes of their deaths are, we know better where to prioritise health investments.”

Ngozi Uduma, Abia Director of NOA, earlier in her remarks, envisioned a Nigerian society where all adhere to Essential Family Practices, EFPs, adding that such practices keep the society healthy while moving forward.

She highlighted that the Essential Family Practices ( EFPs include; routine immunization, focused antenatal care, exclusive breastfeeding on demand, balanced diet (containing all the four food groups), effective hand washing among other Essential Family Practices.

Oriaku Blessing Egbu, leader of Umuode women while interacting with newsmen, described the programme as beneficial, adding, “We are happy for this programme and we must commend the UNICEF and NOA for this wonderful sensitisation programme.

Ekiti: NDI, IRI urge FG to prosecute vote buyers OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja

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eactions have continued to trail the just concluded governorship election in Ekiti State, as international observers have called on the Federal Government to prosecute culprits of vote buying on election day.

The call was made by the International Republican Institute (IRI) and National Democratic Institute (NDI) on Friday at a joint news conference in Abuja.

They also urged the Federal Government to urgently establish the Electoral Offences Tribunal and Political Parties Registration Commission to ensure that electoral offenders are punished and activities of political parties are closely monitored.

In its Pre-Election Statement on Preparations for 2019 General Elections, the joint delegation led by

Christopher Fomunyoh also charged President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill into law.

While expressing concern that rising insecurity across the country could hamper the preparation of the Independent National Electoral Commission

(INEC) to conduct credible 2019 elections, Fomunyoh emphasised the need for security agencies to be more professional and impartial in guaranteeing security during elections.

The delegation which has been monitoring elections in the country since the return to civilian rule in

1999, and participated in the just concluded election in Ekiti State, also urged political parties to be transparent in their primaries.

According to him, “The Fe d e r a l G o v e r n m e n t should: intensify efforts to address insecurity in many parts of the country; “Enforce the law in re-

gard to illegal activities such as vote buying on election day wherever it occurs; “Establish the Electoral Offenses and Political Parties Registration Commission as soon as possible to enhance the accountability of political parties with regards to the funding of campaigns and other services.”

The group pointed out that vote buying and other electoral malpractices were very visible in Ekiti, noting that they continue to occur because offenders have not been brought to book.

They equally recommended that INEC pursue “technological advances that could allow issuance of PVCs upon registration” and also improve the card reader technology.

They also tasked the electoral umpire to evolve a political process that will be accessible to people living with disabilities and release samples of ballot

papers early to facilitate voter education.

They observed that the 2019 general elections will be keenly contested, noting that INEC has made immense efforts to ensure that every election records significant improvement from the previous ones.

The delegation encouraged Nigerians to continue in their efforts to enhance citizens confidence and participation in elections.

Members of the delegation were Pauline Baker, President Emeritus, Fund for Peace (United States), Christopher Fomunyoh, Regional Director for Central and West Africa, NDI (Cameroon).

Also present were Commissioner Terry Tselane, Vice Chairperson, Electoral Commission (South Africa), Jan Surotchak, Regional Director for Europe, IRI and Lauren Poch Blanchard, Specialist in African Affairs, Congressional Research Service (United States).

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News Nigeria’s image brightens on effective digital passport regime …experts suggest synergies to curb crime IFEOMA OKEKE

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igeria’s image is improving in local and international circles following the expiration of the last set of non-digital passports.

Under the non-digital passport regime, many Nigerians held multiple international travel passports with different identities which they switched for dubious purposes, especially upon being denied visa into some countries.

The advancement in technology and digital verification systems, including the SIM card registration, Bank Verification Number (BVN) and establishment of digital passports which carry biometric content including photographs and finger prints make it almost impossible for people to maintain more than one identity.

A lot of these identity lapses created credibility problems for the Nigerian government, businesses and individuals.

A stakeholder in the telecoms industry affirmed that the advancement in technology and the age of the internet of things (IoT) have given government access to information on citizens.

“Systems of data collection such as the e-passport, new biometric driving

license, bank verification number (BVN), permanent voter’s card, amongst others, are excellent ideas as having access to information allows the government to lay foundations for policies and make commitments to improve conditions of the country,” the stakeholder added.

A source at the Ikoyi Passport Office who craved anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, told BusinessDay that the digital passport regime

has improved the image of both the passport holder and the country as a whole, adding that the integrity of the passport holder and the image of the country are enhanced because the passport is fraud proof.

“You cannot do multiple acquisitions or alter any information in the digital passport.

If you try to alter any information on the passport, there is a microchip embedded in the passport, just like the debit card, which could expose

the culprit. With this, you can access all information about the person and no one can remove the microchip,” the source explained.

The source however suggested there could be more synergy with the relevant stakeholders to ensure crimes are eliminated using various measures.

“There could be synergy at some point. The Nigerian Immigration Service is collaborating with National Identity Management Com-

?? L-R: Jerry Gana, a professor, former minister of information and chairman of the occasion; Winifred Adefolahan Awosika, chairman/founder Chrisland Schools Limited; Arabinrin Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu, wife of Ondo State governor; Daisy Danjuma, executive vice chairman, Sapetro, and Abiodun Folasade Omotade, special guest of honour, during the Joint Valedictory Service/Prize Giving Ceremony of Chrisland Schools held at Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.

mission, (NIMC) so that the information in our database can be accessed and the information in NIMC can also be accessed together,” the source added.

Abiola Akiyode Afolabi, Chairperson, Transition Monitoring Group also observed that the digital passport regime has reduced insurgence of crimes in Nigeria but said more can be done in curbing fraud through the use of SIM card registration and the BVN. “When you go to the airport now, one of the things they do is to scan your passport. Through this process, you know if it is original or not, but I think that criminal acts could be reduced drastically if there are greater synergies,” Afolabi said.

She explained that in the United States of America, when a crime is committed, the information of the culprit could be accessed and the information could help in carrying out investigation and tracking down the criminal.

She affirmed that Nigeria can achieve this feat if there are right synergies in place.

Although the global online fraud report by Iovation in 2012 ranked Nigeria as the highest for cybercrime activities, recent data from Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) on its fraud landscape report shows the decline of e-fraud in the country.

Femi Fadairo, Head, Industry Security, NIBSS, said that Nigerians are becoming more comfortable transacting on electronic channels which seems to be much safer than it ever was before.

“There has been a 43 percent increase in the volume of electronic transactions and 11.5 percent increase in the value of transactions done online between 2014 and 2015. Even with the bad economy, Nigeria still saw a volume of 166,598,740 etransactions compare to the volume of 43,857,767, 842 in 2014,” he said.

Fadairo said that regardless of the fact that electronic transactions have increased, which should naturally translate to higher risk, Nigeria has seen less e-fraud cases over the years.

“In 2014, the number of fraud cases was 1,461 reported, with an attempted fraud value of N7.8 billion but they were eventually able to steal about N6.2 billion. That is a success rate of over 80 percent. This means that every ten times someone tries to defraud, the person will be successful eight times.

“However, in 2015, we had a total of 10,743 fraud cases reported with a value of about N4.3 billion and the actual loss was about N2.2 billion. From these statistics, we can see that the success rate has decreased.

Hoteliers mull secondary markets, mid-level brands …resort to crowd-funding OBINNA EMELIKE

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oing by the difficulty in sourcing funds for the execution of new hotel projects, especially with the over 23 percent interest rate on bank loans, Nigerian hoteliers and hospitality promoters are beginning to take their investments to secondary cities across the country.

Aside Park Inn by Radisson in Abeokuta, Four Points

by Sheraton Ikot Ekpene, Protea Hotel by Marriott, Owerri Select, Protea Hotel

by Marriott Benin, City Select Emotan, Golden Tulip Jericho Ibadan, and Golden Tulip Warri Airport, many hoteliers have ongoing projects in cities such as Makurdi, Illorin, Awka, Keffi, Yanegoa, Uyo, Eket and Lafia among

other secondary markets.

Furthermore, they are following trends in the industry, which now see more business and corporate executives and even middle class Nigerians willing to stay in mid-market hotel brands, against the appeal for star rated and luxury hotels.

Besides following the trends, hoteliers, who are also part of the larger society, are driven by the realisation that most people are not quick to forget the lessons of the recession. As such, they prefer to travel on budget, while many corporate organisations have now made budget travel part of their corporate policy. The development, according to Jemi Alade, a Lagos-based tour operator, is opening huge investment opportunities in mid-market brands and secondary cities, to grow

their economy.

Alade observes that as purchasing power keeps sliding, mid-market hotels and secondary cities become attractive to people who are on budget. International brands are also aware of the development and have responded by introducing mid-market brands such as Double Tree and Curio by Hilton, Essentials

by Golden Tulip, Select by Marriot, Four Points by Starwood, Park Inn by Radisson, while original mid-market brands such as Best Western, Ibis, among others, are expanding.

Speaking during the opening of Protea Hotel by Marriott, Owerri Select, Volker Heiden, vice president, Protea Hotels by Marriott, Marriott International, said: “The opening of Protea Hotel by Marriott, Owerri Select, il-

lustrates our confidence in the potential of Nigeria and is in line with our commitment to grow in strategic secondary cities across the continent. The recent expansion of the city’s airport, will give the city better accessibility, which we are confident will further drive business travel.”

The developers of the 90room hotel; African Capital Alliance, a leading investment firm, and Kunoch Limited, sited the hotel in Owerri on the realisation that during the recession, Nigeria witnessed many businesses leaving major cities which experience multiple taxation, high rents, high wages and huge operation costs.

Kayode Aina , general manager, Park Inn by Radisson, Abeokuta, noted that the hotel is unbelievably full of guests from Lagos,

who are running away from noise, and are attracted by the quality of the facilities, offerings and the cost as well.

In the case of Four Points

by Sheraton Ikot Ekpene in Akwa Ibom State, the developer sited the hotel in a central location that targets guests from Uyo, the state capital and Aba, the commercial hub of Abia State. Due to the closeness of the two cities to Ikot Ekpene, guests who desire international branded hotels, which are scarce in Uyo and Aba, are likely going to settle for Four Points in the long run.

Moreover, hoteliers are resorting to crowd funding, as sourcing fund has become a big challenge, especially going by the high interest rates charged by banks.

The Abeokuta and Owerri hotels were made possible by crowd funding, while the owners of three other hotels in the pipeline have offered other investors stakes that are expected to bring the needed funding to complete the hotel projects in the next two years.

Magnus Olumide, a hotelier, observed that the growing level of default in servicing bank loans and the speed at which AMCON is taking over defaulting hotels are both alarming.

“So, crowd funding is the way out now. Between two and 20 people can come together to fund and share equity in hotel projects. This reduces a single investor’s vulnerability to bank loans and desire for immediate return on investment to service the debt,” Olumide concluded.

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News Abia establishes farmers’ Business School to boost production UDOKA AGWU, Umuahia

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n its bid to boost the productivity of farmers, the Abia state government has inaugurated Farmers Business School Multipurpose Cooperative Union.

Ikpeazu, while speaking during the occasion in Umuahia, said that Cooperatives had the capacity to play a key role in the development of the state and nation at large.

The Governor who was represented by Obioma Ogbonnaya urged farmers to “take advantage of the initiative in order to acquire the technical knowhow required in reducing cost of production, and increase returns on investment in Farming.”

He said that the state government would continue to lend its support through evolving policies and programmes that would complement the activities of the farmers.

Uzo Azubuike, Abia Commissioner for Agriculture, in his remarks, described the initiative as a welcome development, which would add value to the efforts made to boost agriculture In Abia.

Azubuike, who was represented by Alozie Anyim, said that the ministry was ever ready to provide the platform for agri-businesses

in the state to thrive.

Israel Amanze, the Chairman of the occasion, in his address, said that increased farmer education at the grassroots level was essential.

Amanze noted that the introduction of Farmers Business School multipurpose cooperative union was relevant because of the need for farmers to keep abreast with the best farming technologies.

Also speaking, Anniemarie Matthess, the head of German International Cooperation (GIZ), pointed out that formation of the Union was an indication that farmers had realised the benefits to be derived in coming together as a group.

Matthess added that state government funding would help the Cooperative union to expand its services, resulting in competitive production, growth and employment.

John Kalu, the Chairman of Abia state Farmers Business School multipurpose cooperative union, appealed to Abia government for access to grants and loans to farmers.

“The benefit of what we are doing to this state is enormous as even university graduates who have seen the benefits of this movement are joining to embrace Agriculture,” Kalu said.

Moghalu meets UK business experts, woos investors to Nigeria Innocent Odoh, Abuja

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ingsley Moghalu, a presidential hopeful on the platform of the Young Progressive Party (YPP), has met with a range of experts in London, United Kingdom to discuss the solutions to the challenges facing Nigeria.

A statement issued by the media section of the Moghalu Campaign Organisation, made available to BDSUNDAY, noted that Moghalu met Mark Simmonds, former UK Minister for Africa to discuss the opportunities for Foreign Direct Investment between US and UK private sector companies and Governments into Nigeria.

During the July 12 meeting, he gained insight into the applications of innovative technologies for energy in Nigeria, security, and waste management, the statement said.

Moghalu also met Hayyan Bhabha, Senior Advisor to the UK Parliament and Ministry of Defence where he gained key insights on counter-terrorism, internal security and the need for greater community and religious unity in Nigeria.

The former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) also held an open ideas forum and question and answer event for the public aimed at young Nigerians in the Diaspora, as well as African interested influencers, and investors.

Jonathan Leape of London School of Economics and Julia Hulme of Cherie Blair-owned strategy company, Omnia, were among the experts who joined Moghalu to discuss the solutions to issues facing the Nigerian economy, especially regarding job creations.

These business engagements according to the statement are in line with the promise of the Presidential aspirant to use his global connections to bring productive and profitable trade and investment in Nigeria to boost the Nigerian economy.

“As a global leader who has made contributions to the stability, progress and wealth of nations and communities across academia, economic policy, entrepreneurship, diplomacy and more, Professor Kingsley Moghalu has taught and inspired citizens from more than 40 countries in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia.

PDP publicity secretary lifts community with water project, education materials ANIEFIOK UDONQUAK, Uyo

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he publicity secretary of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Akwa Ibom, Ini Ememobong has displayed a rare sense of communal love by providing the people with drinking water, a meeting hall as well as donating exercise books and uniform to schools in Ibiono Ibom Local Government Area of the state.

Particularly significant is the water project for the people of Use Abat who are proud the beneficiaries of the project initiated and completed by Ememobong in which women and youths used to trek several kilometres each day in search of drinking water.

In addition, new set of school uniforms were also donated to students of community high school in Edem Urua while a modern administrative block in Use Ndon was completed and presented to a foremost socio political organisation in the area, Ibiono Ibom Welfare and Development Union (IWADU).

Inaugurating the projects which also included the presentation of an artificial limb to a 15-year-old amputee, the wife of the governor, Martha Udom lauded the donor for the love he has shown to his community and described the publicity secretary of the PDP as man of vision whose contributions to his community and the society could not be ignored.

The wife of the governor used the opportunity

warn youths against being allowed to be used as tools of violence in the forthcoming general elections saying elections should not be a do or die affair.

“I want to plead that the election should be free and fair. Election will come and go but Akwa Ibom will remain as one, let us have the mind to help each other,’’ she said.

Speaking earlier, Ememobong said he was moved by the love the state governor, Udom Emmanuel has shown to the people of his local government area to replicate same for his community adding that the governor has completed a number projects in the area.

According to him, the commissioning of a long abandoned road in the

area done within the first 100 days of the governor being in office was remarkable.

He thanked the governor “for the show of unrestrained fatherly love” while also lauding the immediate past governor of the state, Godswill Akpabio who gave him the first appointment in the state government.

Ememobong also had kind words for IWADU for being at the forefront for the emancipation of the people of the area.

The chairman of the party , Paul Ekpo and the speaker of the state house of Assembly, Onofiok Lke who were both present at the inauguration of the projects commended Emembong for the sense of commitment to the develop-

ment of his community and they urged others to emulate him.

According to Ekpo, the donor is a straightforward person who loves the truth and well as the people. He lauded the governor’s wife for coming around to inaugurate the projects including the modern administrative of IWADU which is located in Use Ndon in the local government area.

The inauguration of the projects turned out to be a carnival of sort as the rich cultural heritage of the people of Ibiono Ibom was put on display which included masquerades and traditional dances to the admiration of the numerous guests who thronged the venue of the event.

Association of Professional Women Engineers of Nigeria (APWEN) Technical Tour on Rehabilitation / Upgrading of Arterial /Inner Roads Project, Phase 1at Epe being Executed by Craneburg Construction Company limited Under the Supervision of Lagos State ministry of Works and Infrastructures.

Ikpeazu inaugurates road built by ASOPADEC UDOKA AGWU, Umuahia

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overnor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia state has commissioned a 1.1 kilometres Ukaegbu Pocket Layout road project in Ohokobe - Afara, off Aba Road, Umuahia, constructed by the Abia State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, (ASOPADEC).

Ikpeazu, while commissioning the road project, extolled ASOPADEC for the quality of the road built and the street lights that accompanied it, saying that it was in line with his administration’s style of building long lasting roads with street lights for the people of the State.

Governor Ikpeazu disclosed that he had already provided and energized two electric transformers for the entire community of Enyiukwu, Ohokobo Afara, where the road is located and vowed to ensure all within his powers to make life better for Abia people.

The Governor, who congratulated the ASOPADEC leadership on putting smiles on the people’s face through fixing the road, also charged the users of the road to continue to maintain government amenities in their communities.

Sam Nwogu, the chairman, ASOPADEC, in speech said the road was done to alleviate the untold hardship the people of the estate were passing through. He

also stated that the road was one of the 80 projects embarked upon by ASOPADEC in the State.

Ikpeazu

Nwogu thanked the Governor for ensuring constant release of funds to enable the commission carry out its responsibilties. He further called on the people to sustain their support for the reelection of the Governor.

In their various speeches, the representative of the community, Celestine Nwaoha, Eze Ukaegbu and others said that they were overwhelmed by the show of love of the Governor in assisting them to achieve the dream of the estate and appreciated the quality of the road network and drainage system.

The occupants of the estate pledged their loyalty to the administration of Governor Ikpeazu and assured him of their votes in 2019.

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News ‘My defection to PDP is due to APC insensitivity to plight of citizenry’ Victoria Nnakaike, Lokoja

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ass defection has hit Kogi State Al l Pr o gressives Congress (APC) as former Ambassador to the Republic of Botswana and a chieftain of the party, Isaac Onuh, defected to the People’s Democratic Party(PDP) with his followers, saying insensitivity to the plight of the citizenry by the APC government has been his headache.

Onuh, who until his defection was the managing director of the Kogi State Water Board, said that he took the decision to quit the party to salvage his political career which could be jeopardised by remaining with APC. Speaking at the PDP Secretariat in Abejukolo, headquarters of Omala Local Government Area of the state, on Wednesday, the former Ambassador said his defection was a home coming and a removal of the cobweb that has hitherto covered his eyes for so many years.

He equally noted that he was led astray by anger over some misgivings but has put the issue behind him, adding that he has come back to

help the PDP which he was a founding member to regain power.

Flanked by thousands of his supporters, Onuh disclosed that the former governor of the state, Ibrahim Idris played major roles in his coming back to the PDP. Speaking at the palace of the paramount ruler, Boniface Musa, Ojogba of Ife, the Ambassador said: “I

left the PDP because of some misgivings. But having realised that you cannot because of annoyance abandon your house, PDP is my baby, I was part of its formation and I supported its growth both in Kogi and Omala Local Government Area.

“The veil that covered my eyes has finally been removed. I went to APC but

I discovered that the party has no human face. There is hardship across the land.

People are dying of hunger.

I have come back to help put smiles on our people.

I must commend the effort of his Excellency, Ibrahim Idris; our royal father, Boniface Musa, and the lovers of Omala LGA who kept urging me to return to my home. Today marked

a new beginning of PDP in Omala and Kogi State. I equally came here to seek for your royal blessings for me to vie for the House of Representatives, Ankpa/ Olamaboro, /Omala federal constituency in the forthcoming general election,” he asked.

In his remarks, the Omala chairman of PDP, Jeremiah Adaji described the return of

the Ambassador as big fish that any party worth its onion would be glad to receive, adding that his defection has put the APC on life support.

He therefore, urged all lovers of democracy in the area to come back to PDP, saying that the Omala Local Government Area has always remained with the PDP since the return to democracy in 1999.

L-R: Executive Director, Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Aminu Ismail; Chairman of House of Representatives Committee on Banking and Currency, Jones Chukwudi Onyereri; Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, AMCOM, Ahmed Lawan Kuru; Vice Chairman of the House Committee, Zakari Salisu Ningi and Executive Director, AMCON, Eberechukwu Uneze at the commencement of the three-day House Committee retreat in Kano.

ICAF set to hold 2018 annual art show NIMC refutes reports on suspension of issuing cards …Organisers pledge to take art to new level in Africa Chinyere Okeke

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he International Culture & Arts Festival (ICAF) has announced its 2018 annual art show scheduled to hold on the 28th of July.

ICAF said that the workshop will hold from 25th to 27th July 2018, at the Radisson Blu Anchorage, Victoria Island, and is primarily aimed at growing new art tradition and art exchange programme, as well as promoting other forms of art in Nigeria Solomon Ogbonna , managing director Amuna Museum, who addressed journalists at a media event, announced that sequel to

ICAF Berlin 2017, ICAF annual art show for 2018 spans four countries. “It is our mission to support art in Africa and as such the 2018 show spans four countries, including Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Germany with the theme ‘Global Peace and Harmony,” he said.

He further said that this year’s ICAF sets to attract an audience of 2000 art enthusiasts at the art shows in Africa and Europe. Also to generate 100,000 views online of Art work on the show from around the world.

“The show promises an exciting art experience and exposure for artists. It also invites other creative personalities and entrepreneurs in Music, Fashion, Entertain-

ment, Media, and Food industries. Making the ICAF 2018 an ideal platform for African Artists to be seen and followed,” he said.

According is to support art in Africa.

Professor Dilomprizulike, a German-based artist, opined that Art is huge business with global art sales topped 45 billion USD 2015.

“ICAF presents to everyone, experts or not, the latest innovative thinking, challenging what successful Art entrepreneurs know and shaping how we understand the business of Art around us.

In addition to that, discover how new digital techniques have revolutionised, how lives can be transformed through Art in a sustainable Economy,” Dilomprizulike said.

ICAF Lagos art show involves three main sections, one of which is the Art exhibition; a display of rich art collections to visitors of all ages, presenting the opportunity to see works by some of the world’s best artist in Africa, categories including paintings, photography, sculpture and prints, among others.

James Kwen, Abuja

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ational Identity Management Commission, NIMC has refuted publication in some news media platforms quoting the Director General of the Commission as saying that, the Commission has suspended the issuance of National Identification Cards for the next three years.

According to NIMC, it should be recalled that a similar article was published on 1st April, 2018 by a major Newspaper which was adequately addressed by the Commission.

Th e C o m m i s s i o n i n formed the general public that the report, especially the headline, is false and misleading as the Commission has not suspended the issuance of Cards to successful enrollees at any time.

Loveday Ogbonna, Head of Corporate Communications Unit, NIMC, noted that the Director General at the said event which held in Ibadan recently had stated that the focus of the Com-

mission for the next three years via the Ecosystem is to populate the National Identity Database.

Ogbonna quoted his principal of saying, National Identification Number, will be issued while issuing the National e-ID Cards to successful enrollees and also stating that the world is moving towards digital identity and there is a need to bridge the digital divide.

He stated that, “all individuals who, upon completion of their enrolment, have received an SMS are invited to proceed to the NIMC Office where they enrolled to pick up their Cards. Those who have not received an SMS can equally check the status of their cards on the NIMC website via www. nimc.gov.ng.

“The NIN can also be accessed by using USSD code, dial *346# and follow the prompt, this service is available on all mobile networks.

“Citizens and legal residents who have also relocated from where they enrolled are advised to visit any NIMC office closest to them to request a card transfer form, which they would fill, and submit to the

State Coordinator for processing”, Ogbonna stated.

The NIMC Spokesman said, however, Nigerians and Legal Residents are reminded that the National Identification Number (NIN) is the unique identifier and most important token issued by the Commission and not the physical e-ID Card.

He further disclosed that NIN, which is fast gaining acceptance by Nigerians,

is a set of 11 non-intelligent numbers randomly assigned to an individual at the completion of enrolment into the National Identity Database (NIDB).

Ogbonna added that, NIN is used to tie all records about an individual in the database and is verifiable via the NIMC Verification Service (NVS) portal which is made available to institutions and organizations upon request.

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PhotoSplash

L-R: Gbenga Olateru; Ayomide Osineye (son of the celebrant); Olumide Osineye (celebrant); Folake Osineye (wife of the celebrant); Akin Olateru, commissioner/CEO Accident Investigation Bureau, and Adeniji Oni. Took place in Lagos last week.

L-R: Ayomide Osineye (son of the celebrant), Olumide Osineye (celebrant), and Folake Osineye (wife of the celebrant). Took place in Lagos last week.

L-R: Segun Aina, chairman of Fintech Association; Alderman Charles Bowman, Lord Mayor of the City of London; Paul Arkwright, British High Commissioner; Laure Beaufils, British deputy High Commissioner; Bunmi Lawson, board of director EFInA and Segun Akerele, board chair, EFInA, at the FinTec Roundtable discussion

L-R: Col. D. C. Ogo, proprietress, Arrow of God Orphanage receiving donations from Ubong Nseobot, sales and marketing manager, Southern Sun Ikoyi while flanked by Southern Sun Ikoyi staff members and the Orphanage teachers and caregivers, during the Hotels’ annual visit to the Orphanage in celebration of Nelson Mandela’s Day in Lagos.

L-R: Ifeoma Okoye, public affairs manager, Lagos & West, Nigerian Bottling Company Limited (NBC); Bode Ayeku, chairman, regulatory & compliance technical committee, Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), and Abiodun Peters, senior legal counsel, Nigerian Bottling Company Limited(NBC), during the 61st NECA Annual General Meeting held in Lagos recently.

L-R: Vivian Akindele, group brand and development and activation manager PZ Cussons; Taofeek Yahaya, masters of style winner in University of Lagos; Busayo John, brand manager, Imperial Leather, and Tsemaye Binitie, competition judge at the Imperial Leather and Canoe Masters of Style Campus showcase at the University of Lagos.

From R-L: Doyinsola Ogunye, Founder Kids Beach Garden Lekki with Children from Kids Beach Garden surrounded by staffs of SHOPRITE Circle Mall during the Shoprite Africa’s Biggest Clean-Up Event in Kids Beach Garden Elegushi Lagos

L-R: Olanrewaju Komolafe, beneficiary of Airtel Touching Lives Season 4, and his wife, Adijat Komolafe, during a prize presentation the prize presentation of a fully stored ultra-modern shop and #500,000 worth educational support for Olanrewaju’s children at the on-going Airtel Touching Lives Season 4 in Odo Ona Elewe in Ibadan.

10 Inside Lagos

Sunday 22 July 2018

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Concerns grow over truck drivers’ preference for roads …as LASG insists on relocation to parking facility

Stories by JOSHUA BASSEY

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mid growing concerns over the dire consequences of c o nt i nu e d o ccupation of the roads in Lagos, Kehinde Bamigbetan, the state commissioner for information and strategy has insisted that petroleum tankers and other articulated trucks must leave the highways, and move into available parking lots within and outside the state, noting that enough damage has been to the people and the economy of the cosmopolitan state.

Bamigbetan has also flayed the continued disregard to an extant directive by the state government to petroleum tankers to restrict their movement to designated routes, a consequence of which have been explosions, loss of lives and valuable properties.

He was reacting to the lock-down of critical road infrastructure within the Lagos metropolis, notably the Oshodi-Apapa expressway, Western Avenue, Ikorodu road and Eko bridge, where tankers and container trucks park in perpetuity, with dire consequences on traffic flow.

According to him, the refusal of most of the truck drivers to take advantage of one of the parking facilities near Orile Iganmu, smacks of an irresponsible way of

doing business by merchants in the downstream oil sector, stressing that it was time the Federal Government wielded the big stick.

An estimated 60 million litres of fuel are consumed across the country daily, 80 percent of which are imported, and discharged Apapa, Lagos.

This meant that trucks must travel long distances from other parts of the country to Lagos for the sole purpose of lifting products. Industry stakeholders estimate that over 2,000 tankers enter Lagos daily and mostly head for Apapa where the nation’s premier seaports: Tincan and Apapa are located

in addition to several product storage tank farms.

It had been lamentation all through last week, as a major access road to the ports, Apapa-Mile 2-Oshodi expressway remained blocked by thousands of trucks, with a lot of motorists locked in the middle for hours.

In a reaction to the development, Bamigbetan, who sympathised with the people and business owners for the difficulty faced, blamed the renewed congestion on “the recalcitrance of owners and drivers of tankers and trucks to fully comply with the subsisting directive that restricts

their movement within the state.”

He also attributed the worsened situation to the “slow pace of goods clearance within the ports as well as the ongoing repair works on the Ijora-Apapa axis most of which are federal roads.”

“It is indeed pathetic that private firms seeking to make profit from legitimate commerce would continue to subject the citizens of Lagos State to horrendous pains in spite of the provision of holding bays for their trucks and tankers until it is their turn to pick goods at the ports,” he said.

The commissioner ex-

plained that “the recent rehabilitation of the truck park at Orile Iganmu, with capacity to take 3,000 trucks shows the commitment of the Akinwunmi Ambode administration to find a solution to the enormous challenge posed by the indiscriminate use of the highways by articulated vehicles.”

He lamented the state government had hoped that with the unfortunate loss of lives and property to destruction caused by tanker explosions and truck mishaps, the conscience of the haulage stakeholders would be pricked enough to save Lagosians from the threat of carnage on the highways by adhering to directives and also investing in truck terminals themselves.

He therefore warned that the state government would not allow its highways turned to death traps and also called for the speedy delivery of the roads under reconstruction within the Ijora-Apapa axis as well as the full computerisation of ports operations in order to save the state from the avoidable hardship.

The commissioner’s position comes, as Timothy Nkeonye, manager, Orile parking terminal, has expressed concern over what the persistent low patronage of the facility by truck and tanker drivers, said to be avoiding the payment of N1,000 parking fee per day. Nkeonye said that the 3000-capacity terminal

had been experiencing low patronage since it was constructed in 2007.

“The park is experiencing low patronage as the drivers park on the expressway to avoid paying the parking fee at the terminal. They (drivers) are very difficult to control.

“For now, the parking terminal can conveniently contain additional 600 tankers if the drivers obey parking rules, ‘’ the manager said.

Nkeonye suggested adequate enforcement to prohibit indiscriminate parking of trucks on the roads and also advocated punishment for offenders.

According to him, “part of the terminal was waterlogged and the Lagos State government had intervened to find lasting solution to the challenge.

“Some of the tankers drivers had no park but instead of parking in the terminal for convenience and safety, they decided to hang around the expressway before loading at the depots,’’ the manager said.

The manager appealed to owners of the tankers and trucks to always provide their drivers with parking fees in order to have convenient spaces before loading at Apapa depot.

“Some of them hide under the guise that the owners did not give them parking fees and they could not use their money to pay for the terminal, ’’ he said.

Train, commercial bus accident claims 3 killed, many injured

NGO warns on implications of open dumping of refuse in Lagos

hree persons were on Friday confirmed dead and many others injured when a train hit a commercial bus at Pen Cinema railway-crossing in Lagos.

An eyewitness, Raji Oladimeji said that the accident occurred when the bus driver was negotiating a U-turn on the rail line.

“We warned the driver not to make U-turn at that particular point when a train was approaching but he refused.

“It was in the process of making the turn that the ap-

n nongovernment a l o r ga n i s at i o n (NGO), Metro Lions Club, District 404B2-Nigeria has warned on the socio-economic and health implications of continued dumping of refuse on roads and open spaces in Lagos.

The NGO warned that the practice was an invitation to severe sanitation problems and epidemics, and urged the state government to adopt proactive measures in checking the menace.

Elizabeth Ibe, the president of the club, who stated this at an environmental protection sensitisation programme in Lagos, Friday, said that the rapid deteriorating conditions of sanitation in some areas of the state should worry both the government and the residents.

Ibe listed inadequate waste management services, ignorance and lack of law enforcement as some of the factors contributing to indis-

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proaching train crushed the bus where people hanging on the train fell off and three die instantly while other sustained various injuries,” Oladimeji, electrician said.

According to the eyewitness, some youths set the bus ablaze in anger while the injured were taken to a nearby hospital.

Jerry Oche, the Lagos district manager, Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), who confirmed the incident, said the accident happened at 9.30 a.m.

“We were informed that a bus was trying to make a U-turn at the railway line

this morning at Agege Pen Cinema area when a moving train crushed it in the process.

The police are on top of the incident bringing the situation to normalcy as youths went on rampage over the death of people who lost their lives in the accident.

“The information given to us by the police was that a number of people hanging on the train were affected where two people died while many others sustained injuries,” he said.

Hundreds of illegal passengers are seen daily hanging on moving trains in Lagos. Although the NRC has repeatedly warned against the practice, it has, however, been unable to enforce its laws against the dangerous act.

Ibrahim Farinloye, the public information officer of the Lagos office of National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA), who also confirmed the incident, said most of the injured that were rushed to a hospital, were persons hanging on the moving train.

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criminate dumping of refuse on the roads in the state.

“Problem of waste management is a global issue and it requires a collective approach to address it and secure our health and wellness. Government alone cannot do it.

“This is why the Ikeja Metro Lion Club is holding this environmental protection exercise to sensitise the public on the dangers associated with indiscriminate dumping of refuse in our environment. “ He a l t h, t h e y s ay , i s wealth; and we must all be involved in protecting ourselves, our homes, the state and the country at large,’’ she said.

Blessing Umebali, the NGO’s communication officer, also condemned the dumping of refuse at every available space in the state.

Umebali said that this had resulted in creating stench and the attraction of unwanted insects such as flies and mosquitoes to the envi-

ronment.

She urged the state government to endeavour to provide the necessary waste management services, monitor and regulate waste management to help maintain good sanitation.

“Prolonged dumping of wastes on the road and in the environment can lead to increased risks of the spread of diseases such as cholera, malaria and typhoid among residents in the area,’’ she said.

Kehinde Shogunwa, the project manager of the NGO, said that residents needed to change their attitudes of seeing the roads and streets as refuse dump sites.

The NGO, however, donated items for cleaning environment to Oregun Primary Medical Health Centre, in Ikeja, Lagos.

Janet Atotilato, the chief nursing officer, health centre, who received the items, commended the NGO for the initiative and the donation.

Sunday 22 July 2018

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News Feature

Questions raised over Nigeria’s new national carrier IFEOMA OKEKE

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n the 18th of July, the Federal Government of Nigeria unveiled the c o u n t r y ’s n e w national carrier, ‘Nigeria Air’, at the Farnborough Air Show in the United Kingddom.

A national or flag carrier by definition is an airline that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by the government for international operations.

Hadi Sirika, the minister for state on aviation said the government is not fully funding the airline as it is midwifing it via the option of a Public Private Partnership to deliver a carrier that will stand the test of time.

The proposed airline will cost $8.8million preliminary cost and $300 million as take-off cost.

However concerns have been raised by experts and stakeholders as to whether Nigeria really needs a national carrier, since it will be 95percent owned by investors which will compete with other investors (domestic airlines) when it commences operations.

Questions have been asked on whether the new airline will enjoy privileges other airlines may not enjoy since it is Nigeria’s carrier, owned by private operators. Again, what models will the new airline adopt for operations? And how does the airline intend to compete healthily on the same routes with its technical partners such as Ethiopian Airline and Qatar Airways?

Allen Onyema, chairman of Air Peace says he welcomes the national carrier being established by the country but asks for a level playing field for the domestic investors who have put their monies in the airline business without any form of support and protection from government and are expected to thrive in a harsh economic environment.

Onyema says, “If you say it’s a national carrier and it is private investors-driven, are you not saying it is just investors like me, Muneer Bankole, MD, Medview and other investors?

So you are simply saying that government is just supporting another private airline?

“I do not have a problem with the national carrier per se, it is welcome but it must not

be given any undue advantage over other airlines, as the owners are investors too. Now, as this airline is coming on stream, are they going to take routes already allocated to other airlines and give it to this carrier? These are the things government has not told us.”

Nick Fadugba , chairman, African Business Aviation Association (AfBAA), has said that there are many unanswered questions in terms of the management, funding and fleet, as it concerns the newly unveiled national carrier.

Fadugba critiqued the soon to be established carrier Nigeria Air, stating that as it stands, government is already de facto owner of both Aero and Arik, through the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) and wondered how it would juggle them.

He further mused that as it stands, the national carrier might have to have a synergy with other carriers, so they can better harness the huge market that foreign carriers due to their organisation are taking advantage of.

He said,” There are many questions that need to be answered in terms of the management, the funding, the fleet. So, I believe the government now needs to brief the Nigerian

people on the national carrier.

Rather than doing it abroad, we need to come home and explain to the whole nation what the concept is.

“More importantly, I am interested in how the national carrier interfaces with all the other airlines in Nigeria. Because remember that the government is the de facto owner of two other airlines: Arik and Aero. So, this is the first time I have seen one government own three airlines. Government needs to coordinate its airlines strategy in terms of moving forward.”

The Aviation sector saddens me greatly.

This is a sector that with the right policy and regulatory framework, complemented with quality safety standards and security infrastructure, will surely attract global capital

Oby Ezekwesili, Nigeria’s Former minister of Education and former Vice-President of the World Bank’s Africa division, has in a series of tweets via her twitter handle @obyezeks questioned the Federal Government’s proposed national carrier (Nigeria Air), calling the project a “waste.”

“I actually believed that at some point the FG would have “advised itself” and known that the so called “National Carrier project” is a waste. Sadly, not so, as they are determined on what is clearly a wrong priority.

It shall fail. For the sake of the country, it must fail.”

“The Aviation sector saddens me greatly. This is a sector that with the right policy and regulatory framework, complemented with quality safety standards and security infrastructure, will surely attract global capital. But no. Lovers of statist systems want to give us a “National Carrier” She further said Nigeria lost the benefit of its market-size comparative advantage to be West Africa’s Travel Hub, because of policy, regulatory, safety and standards failures of the aviation sector. According to her “Failure of Public Sector begets Failure of Private Sector.”

Tayo Ojuri, an industry ex-

pert and chief executive officer, Aglo Limited, an aviation support service firm expressed concern over the airline not having any legal framework or act establishing it, which questions its transparency.

However sources close to ex-Nigerian Airways staff who craved anonymity, told BusinessDay that the airline will not see the light of day, except government pays them 45 billion pension benefits of former workers of the defunct Nigeria Airways Limited (NAL). “ Th e k i n d o f a i r l i n e w e should have is one that the government does not own a controlling equity or manage. It is good, it is a highly responsible act for the present government to say we must re-establish a national airline but it should be re-established in the best way that it should be, not in the form of Nigerian Airways, where government owned 100 per cent, no,” Chris Aligbe, former general manager, Public Affairs of the Nigeria Airways, said.

“It should be zero funding by government but the government should have equity; what we call sweat equity. Then once it is re-established, the Nigerian public should have access in two, three years, to buy into the airline so that it becomes a property of Nigerians,” he said.

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Sunday 22 July 2018

Feature

From Seme to Lagos by fraud ... On the trail cross-border rice smugglers

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STEPHEN ONYEKWELU muggling of food items into Nigeria through the land borders, especially from Seme in the Republic of Benin to Lagos, has for long been a cog in the wheel of Nigeria’s effort to drive self-sufficiency in food production. One major food item that has been caught in this complex web is rice, a staple in many Nigerian homes.

It was in the bid to boost national rice sufficiency that the Federal Government of Nigeria banned importation of rice into the country through the land borders while also placing a 70-percent tariff on rice imported through the ports.

These steps by the government seem to be yielding results. Data from the Thailand Rice Exporters Association show that Thai rice exports to Nigeria dropped by 58.50 percent to 20,973 metric tonnes (MT) as at September 2017, from 58,260 MT in 2016.

The exports fell by 96.74 percent when compared to the 2015 figures of 644,131 MT. Yet, imported rice floods Nigerian markets.

Curiously, however, rice exports to Republic of Benin increased significantly within the same period. Benin imported 1,330,809 MT of rice between January and September 2017, a 51.9-percent increase from 876,228 MT it imported within the same period in 2016, according to data by the Thai rice exporters. This is despite that Benin’s population is less than 10 percent of Nigeria’s and that Benin does not consume parboiled rice which it imports. So, where were the excess imports into Republic of Benin ending up?

It was against this background that this writer was assigned with the task of attempting to “smuggle” rice from Seme to Lagos with the aim of ascertaining whether rice smuggling across the land borders was still a thriving business.

A risky affair I didn’t know much about the task I was embarking upon. So, I called up a few friends who might be of help. The response was not encouraging.

“Hey, this is a very dangerous path you are about to tread,” one said. “I will advise you to steer clear of such investigations and face other more mundane, harmless matters. Smuggling is dangerous and smug-

Seme border: Woman straps 25kg bag of rice for onward delivery to Lagos.

glers are even more so, if you dare rock their boat.”

Another said, “You make me laugh. The manner in which these networks of smugglers would catch up with you and waste you would surprise you. You won’t know what hit you.”

But rather than discourage me, these words strengthened my resolve to go on with the project, and also put me on maximum alert.

Frantic search for a lead A few acquaintances had told me in the past they knew a couple of people who smuggle commodities through the Seme border. It was time to use those contacts.

One of my old acquaintances told me in a telephone conversation that he smuggles cars and not rice.

“After buying the car you get the chassis number and other necessary details. When you have these, give them to me and I will send them to the person I need to send them to in Customs Service; he will give me the price of the whole thing, based on the year of the car, then we start work,” the acquaintance told me.

“When you buy the car, the first thing is to get the Cotonou papers, also known as Beninoit. It is called laisez passé. Get this clear. Before the vehicle can pass through the normal Seme land border, the papers

Alaba Rago, 5:00am: Prototype of vehicles used for rice smuggling

must be done.

“This is a clean business. This is what I am into now. I have a Mercedes C300 in Cotonou, I can send the photos to you through WhatsApp. The last time I went, I brought Prado 2012/13 and a C Class 2010. It took us about three weeks to clear, because we did not start the process early enough. Otherwise, it takes two weeks to clear. The papers take four to five days to process. Once this is done, you drive your car comfortably across the border,” he said.

The acquaintance told me on the phone that I should not trust those who offer to do the papers for me at a cheaper – for instance, asking for N800,000 for a job of N1.2 million. His reason: “You might get the papers but they may not be captured in Customs database.”

“The toughest guys to evade are the Customs officials after Badagry. They have laptops connected to the central database and when they catch you, your car is impounded,” he told me.

“The contact I have at the Customs is top secret. I am only mentioning it to you because we are close and you are interested in the business. It is highly reliable. My assurance to you is 100 percent, we can do business. The most important thing is clearing the cars, not shipping them. There are many uncleared cars sitting in Cotonou seaport as we speak,” he said as the call came to an end.

Alas, I was not interested in cars. Even though it sounded like something I could explore, my budget could not carry it. So, my search continued.

After a total of 26 calls, each lasting 20 minutes on the average, I got what looked like a lead. One of my contacts told me I should go to Ilaro in Ogun State where I would meet the ringleader of a smuggling cartel. The date was Sunday, September 17, 2017.

The next day I set out for Ilaro, but soon reached a dead-end as it turned out the ringleader I was chasing after was not in town.

I was despairing and getting discouraged at this point. Time was ticking and I seemed to be making no progress. It was then that someone referred me to a friend of his in Mowu, after Agbara, in Lagos. That, I hoped, would be the breakthrough I needed.

Trip to Badagry I met the person I was directed to at a gas

station in Mowu at about 7am. Together, we headed for Badagry to meet some of his friends in an expensive hotel. There, they said to initiate me, I must first buy them drinks, pepper soup, isi-ewu (goat head) and pay for them to use the services of commercial consorts at the hotel. This cost a whopping N30,000. At the end, I still did not know anything about how they smuggle rice through Seme land border and it was 9pm already. Afraid my security was at stake, I decided I was not going to sleep with them at the hotel. So, I left the hotel hoping to find a fairly-priced guest house to rest myself.

But during the time I spent with the smuggling cartel at the hotel, I struck up conversation with one of them who looked a lot more welcoming than the rest. I told him a friend of mine had a consignment of rice sitting in Thailand but would not ship it until he was sure I could successfully bring it into Nigeria when it arrives in Cotonou.

His eyes lit up and we exchanged telephone numbers. The following morning, I called him and he told me where to meet him.

Breakthrough at last The smuggler took me to Cotonou.

When we arrived, he invited three of his friends, a lady (who turned out to be his girlfriend) and two men. We lodged in a beachfront hotel for two nights and the bills were on me since I presented myself as a wellto-do businessman. The bills were quite a burden, with a room going for N10,400 per night (I paid for three rooms for two nights) and the meals costing an average of N1,500 per plate. Cotonou is indeed a beautiful port city, but I did not enjoy the beautiful scenery because I was concerned about both my fiscal and physical security.

I was told not to worry because they wanted to introduce me to a “very big madam”, known simply as Funmilayo, of Nigerian descent, who controls a big clearing and forwarding business in Cotonou as well as a powerful smuggling racket. I waited.

They took time to groom me through series of lectures, ranging from how to spot potential business threats, such as hostile law enforcement agents, to how to maximise profit once my rice arrives in Lagos.

I was told about the three big warehouses in Cotonou, where goods are held temporarily before the onward journey to various destinations, Nigeria in particular. There is the Cherika in Akpakpa, one kilometre from Cotonou, which has the capacity to hold 25 40-ft containers of 50kg bags of imported rice. A 40-ft container takes between 1,000 and 1,400 50kg bags of rice. The other two warehouses are Defezi, close the Cotonou Port, and Cica in the Missebo area of Cotonou. The former can hold 40,000 50kg bags (40x40-ft container loads) of rice, while the latter can take 20,000.

Meeting Funmi After a long wait, I was finally ushered into the presence of Funmi, an amiablelooking ‘madam’, who said she has been doing this business for more years than she can remember. She quickly assessed me and from the look on her face, she must have been satisfied with what she saw. She immediately started making the necessary calls meant to fill her in on the latest developments at the port.

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Feature as it might sound, unless you have access to a well-organised cartel. I saw bags of rice seized by Customs officials, and I saw women who were molested for carrying as little as a 25kg bag of rice.

Later, I asked a neighbour who deals in food items how much a bag of Caprice was sold in the market. She said it was between N14,000 and N15,000. However, when the enforcement of the ban on importation through the land borders was stiff, a bag of Caprice sold for as much as N18,000.

Alaba Rago, 5:30am: Bags of rice from Seme

As soon as she was done with her calls, we were back to business. Given that my proposition was to import a container load of rice from Thailand through Cotonou to Lagos, she gave a breakdown of the process as follows: “The container load of rice must be duly registered with Cotonou as the port of destination and the name of the one who is to receive it. Once the container of rice arrives in Cotonou, the rest is easy to handle,” she said.

I was told I would have to pay Customs and Excise duties. And because the rice is meant to be smuggled into Nigeria, I would pay N1,700 per bag. Our projection was for 520 units of 50kg bags, which is what a 20-ft container usually carries.

“That N1,700 per bag will be used to settle police, Customs and to pay for space at one of the warehouses. This does not include the lorry fare from Cotonou to Seme.

Once the lorry gets to Seme border, I will take over,” my guide told me.

At this point, I realised my funds were rapidly depleting and I could not sponsor another night of conspicuous consumption. I told my guide I needed to smuggle some bags of rice into Nigeria the following day. We quickly went to Seme and paid for three bags of rice. But since it was just evening, around 4pm, I was told we could not move the bags of rice out immediately.

Unfortunately, I was too cautious to take photographs for fear of giving myself away as a spy.

I paid N10,700 for each 50kg bag of Caprice and an additional N2,000 per bag to settle Customs officials and others along the route. Now, because the bags of rice were loaded in the dark, I did not see what was being put into the vehicles.

Uneasy passage to Lagos We left Seme at 2am in a convoy of about 10 other old cars modified to carry rice.

The backseats were clearly not meant for human passengers because they were hollowed into shapes that could hold as many as 12 units of 50kg bags of rice when piled up from floor to the ceiling of the car.

The boot of the cars protruded underneath by about one metre and the rear shock absorbers were adjusted such that the height of the car rose by an additional one metre to make up for the additional depth of the boots. These modified boots could take between 15 and 20 units of 50kg bags of rice. Our convoy carried a consignment of over 600 units of 50kg bags of rice.

The journey was stressful because although my guide negotiated for me to get a front passenger seat in one of the cars in the convoy, I sat on a bag of rice. The motion was slow because the vehicles were clearly overloaded and had lost their original capacity.

It was dark and I cannot say I understood the geographic coordinates of our journey.

However, each time we encountered law enforcement agents, there was a little delay to clear with whichever law enforcement agency it was we encountered. We were always soon on our way once again. I thought the N2,000 per bag was doing its job.

We got to Agbara at 4:35am but the bags of rice were offloaded around 5:30am at Alagboron, 2 kilometres away from IyanaIba. Instead of the Caprice I had paid for, I was presented with three bags of African Princess brand of rice. I didn’t argue. I took my three bags of rice to BusinessDay office as evidence of my smuggling exploits.

The experience was eye-opening. I saw market women attempting to smuggle rice in the most creative ways. Some emptied the bags of rice into plastic bags and some carried them in their wrappers strapped like babies to their backs. I saw that smuggling rice through the land borders is not as easy

Smuggling stalling Nigeria’s rice sufficiency initiative The ban on importation of rice into Nigeria through its land borders was designed to boost national rice sufficiency. The agriculture promotion policy of the Federal Government for 2016 to 2020 shows rice production in the country is currently at 2.3 million metric tonnes per annum, with a 4-million-tonne deficit out of the country’s 6.3 million metric tonnes of demand.

Nigeria spent more than N1 trillion ($2.7 billion) importing food in 2015, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The country, which vies with Angola as the continent’s largest oil producer, is turning to farming as dwindling oil income drove the economy in 2016 to its first full-year contraction in a quarter century.

“I stopped farming rice for more than 15 years but the ban imposed on rice importation has now made me go back to farming,” said Sunday Oketa, chairman of rice farmers in Nkeleke Unuhu community, a rural settlement in Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, during BusinessDay’s visit to rice farms in the state.

“Importation of foreign rice was responsible for relegation of Made-in-Nigeria rice, but since the ban on rice importation, we farmers have been encouraged to return to our farms

My guide in a rice store at Seme to purchase three bags of rice

Commercial motorcyclists at the Seme border

and cultivate more rice,” Oketa added.

Dangote Group, Nigeria’s largest conglomerate, is making a five-year investment of at least $1 billion to grow and process rice in seven states.

Dangote Rice Ltd., a unit of the Lagosbased company, plans to increase cultivation of paddy, or raw rice, to 150,000 hectares (371,000 acres) and harvest an annual 1.7 million metric tonnes by 2019.

Tunji Owoeye, managing director, Elephant Group Plc and chairman, Rice Investors Group of Nigeria, said by discouraging imports, while at the same time encouraging local production and supporting the value chain in ramping up production, the country has been able to achieve appreciable growth in self-sufficiency in food production, particularly rice.

Analysts, however, say smuggling through the land borders may stall the effectiveness of these initiatives. Nigeria has numerous entry points with neighbouring countries which the relevant agencies are simply unable to effectively police. As such, even though rice importation through the ports has almost disappeared on account of a discouraging 70-percent tariff, and though it is officially not permissible through the borders, the smuggled commodity still finds its way to markets and, invariably, homes across the country.

Akai Egwuonwu, CEO, Anambra Rice Limited, told BusinessDay that after the mill commenced operation in 2008, it was shut down after a year (in 2009) until 2012 due to “excess importation of foreign rice that we cannot compete against”.

The closure saw a multi-million dollar investment wasting away while the hundreds of jobs it could have created, taxes it could have paid to government, and even returns on investment were lost.

“Thegovernmentneedstosustainthefight againstillegalimportationofgoods(especially food)intothecountrybysecuringtheborders effectively,” said Godwin Umeaka, managing director, Coscharis Farms.

Customs reacts When contacted, Nura Abdullahi, public relations officer, Seme Area Command of Nigeria Customs Service, told BusinessDay over the telephone, “Based on your story, there is lot we can question. How can we be sure of your story? Anyway, one of the biggest problems we face in Nigeria is the continued patronage of these smuggled items, in this case rice. Rice smuggling simply exports jobs from Nigeria to other countries.”

Abdullahi said Customs was mounting campaigns to curtail smuggling activities along the Seme land border.

“I must add that nowhere in the world would you find 100 percent blockage of smuggling across borders. We strive to reduce it to the barest minimum and I must say we are succeeding. Our warehouses are open to anyone, especially journalists who want to report about our activities. We have tonnes of seized smuggled rice,” he said.

A source at the Customs headquarters, who does not want to be named because he is not authorised to comment on the matter in public, said there could be instances where, on humanitarian grounds, Customs officials may allow someone who has travelled to Benin Republic to come in with a bag or two of rice destined for domestic consumption. This, he said, is not smuggling per se.

“In the last four to six months there has been drastic decrease in the quantity of rice smuggled into Nigeria. We have distributed some of these among Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps,” the source said.

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Sunday 22 July 2018

Feature

Unsung heroes Not all heroes wear capes, some are women. In communities around Ohaji/Egbema, in Imo State, brave women wade through a sea of challenges to fend for their families as smallholder farmers and business owners, writes ISAAC ANYAOGU.

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In Ohaji/Egbema, women like Ogechi are the real heroes in the story of survival

t was 8.am on the morning of March 6 when I arrived Umuagwo, a sleepy suburb in Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State. By then Ogechi Ogu was already midway into boiling a drum full of palm kernel fruits.

The air around her makeshift kiln was choking, confining. Billows of white smoke rose towards the sky in a blinding haze. The palm fronds from surrounding trees swayed sideways as if turning their noses away from the angry smoke singeing their fronds. Beneath the large drum, a low fire burned from a hearth with tired logs.

Ogechi had risen at the crack of dawn to tend the fire. “Sometimes, my clattering pots wake up the cocks,” she joked.

Two years shy of her 30th birthday, Ogechi knows enough about struggle to write a book on it. She moved into the community five years ago to fend for herself after prospects for work in her village were not so promising and she never returned.

With limited formal education and a bagful of determination, Ogechi, like over a dozen other women I met during a visit to the community engage in the back breaking task of planting palm trees and processing oil from the fruits when they mature to eke out a living.

In a community where industrial processors are few and far between, many depend on local palm oil processing techniques using produce from small holder farmers who are part of their clusters.

Adapalm Nigeria Limited, located less than fifteen minutes away from Umuagwo by car, is the closest industrial palm oil processor but since it cannot use up all the quantity of fruits it produces, due to capacity constraints, supplies most of the fruits needed from its 4,310-hectare palm tree plantation.

The women organised themselves into groups based on what they produce: cassava farmers groups, millers, palm oil trading groups and others to form clusters. Within these clusters, they make weekly contributions ranging from N5,000 and N50,000 depending on capacity when they meet at the end of the week.

These funds are kept in a bank and a treasurer is appointed to handle transactions. From these funds, they form a cooperative and fund the purchase of assets for members and also give out interest-free loans.

It is a nifty system that ensures that each member of the group can finance important projects including paying children school fees, buying motorcycles and building their own houses.

“It is from this work that I get the money

to pay my children’s school fees, this is where we get money to eat, to pay for my meeting dues,” Clara Nwama, whose son is in his first year in Imo State University, told me during a chat while she worked the threshing machine of a local miller.

There is a common notion that men in the Ohaji/Egbema have relinquished their role as primary breadwinners because they have industrious wives. So I pressed my interviewee for what she thought about grown men drinking and twiddling their thumps all day while their women toiled through rain and sun, then come home and cook, only for the men to fall on them in the night huffing and puffing merrily away.

“So while you do all these, does it ever bother you that your husband does virtually nothing to support the family?”

“My husband works,” she answered sharply and as if right on cue, he barrelled in on a motorcycle, growling with the fury of angry thunders. In more genial conditions, it would be sitting out the rest of its days in a museum.

“He supplies products, he also assist in man-job around here and takes the palm oil we produce to the market on his machine, but we don’t depend on our men here,” she said.

Like work was an itch a man has to do for the sake of his ego, and perhaps provide some support, while assured his family would feed fine, regardless of what he chooses to do. (Now I’m wondering why I didn’t marry someone from Egbema.)

Ogechi told me that she is affiliated with a group that utilises an old mill and can produce 50 tons of oil from 600 bunches of palm fruit.

This comes roughly to 30 -35 gallons of a typical 25-litre can with each one sold between N7,500 and N8,000. The entire operation can last between seven and ten days and could generate income of about N200,000 after each operation. The constraints of getting

Men are engaged in the part that demands brawn

sufficient fruits means they often deliver less than their capacity.

“But it is not easy,” she said with an infectious smile, wiping her brow. “The work is too much, and getting fruits is difficult.”

The manual processing of palm oil is a task that will teach you patience. The fruits are harvested by brawny men who climb the palm tree using ropes woven from raffia palms. They use a cutlass or an axe to cut down the nuts, often bunched together in a big cob of about eighteen inches long. This task along with operating mechanical processors, boiling the oil palm and cutting apart palm oil bunches are often the most critical roles played by men.

The women proceed to gather the scattered nuts into a trough. They slice the bunches into smaller pieces and cover them with palm branches after which they are left for a period of three days to ferment, this helps to soften the nut and enables further processing.

Afterwards, water is added to the pulp created, it is shaken to allow the oil float on the surface after it is cooked. The oil is extracted off the top of the water and stored in drums

and boiled for about three hours.

Then the brew is fed into a digester, a machine, which separates the chaff from the real thing and then, another mechanical device, a presser, extracts the oil which is stored in cans of various sizes ready for consumption and sale.

In the business of palm oil making, no part of the fruit is wasted. The clean nuts and fibrous residues are thrown out of the trough to dry for about nine to ten days. The women crack open the nuts to recover the seeds for domestic use and sale.

While it may be tempting to disregard what they do, these smallholder farmers account for 80 percent of output in the industry. All over Nigeria, industry experts say they own over 400,000 hectares of oil palm plantations across the country but produce two to three tons per hectare.

This compares poorly with Malaysia where smallholder farmers produce 18 to 20 tons per hectare. This is why Nigeria’s share of global oil output is a paltry 1.7 percent, a bruising fall from 45 percent output in the 1960s.

The fruits are harvested by men with cutlass and ropes woven from raffia palms

Mechanical processors For many communities in Imo state, this is the traditional way of processing palm oil but some have gone beyond this including the use of high capacity mechanical processors. I visited one such operation ran by Stanley Agbuebu, a burly, bearded hunk of a man, past middle age but hasn’t quite looked the part yet.

Agbuebu could install his processor through the aid of the Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND), a nongovernmental organisation, supported by Chevron to address deep-rooted socio-economic problems in the region. Through PIND’s Small Scale Improved Processing Technology (SCIPT) using locally-trained fabricators, the equipment was constructed.

“The difference between the old and the new one is that with this new one, I can arrange my palm fruit today and process it today. I will cook it instantly and I will get my result. With the old one, I have to cook it overnight and begin processing tomorrow’’.

Part of the difference was the functionalities. “In processing, we are using steam on this new one. That old one, we use water. We will bring a pot, pour the palm fruit inside it and then begin to cook it. But this one now, we use the steam from the boiler inside to cook it and it will process the whole thing.”

After the fruits are harvested, they are allowed to ferment, or fully ripen, in order to loosen the base of the fruit from the bunches

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Feature

Stanley Agbuebu’s palm oil processing business turned around with a mehanical processor procured with support from PIND

and make their removal easier during threshing. Next the fruits are sterilised using heat to partially cook the fruit.

Kwasi Poki, a Ghanaian expert on palm oil value chain, in a paper for the Food and Agricultural Organisation, says this process also stops enzymatic reactions that lead to oxidation and disrupts the cells in the mesocarp, allowing for easier oil extraction.

The fruits are fed a digester which crushes them before extraction and warms the pulp to maximize oil yield. The nuts are then removed from the pulp before pressing to yield oil which is then collected in an underground trough.

While all these processes are handled mechanically, yet in each stage of production, including sterilization, stripping, digestion and pressing, clarification, purification, drying and storage, and kernel handling, women form the critical mass of labour. I counted about sixteen women working in the factory, there were four women after every man you saw.

Many always fear that adoption of technologies meant job loss. “I now have about 25 people working on the mill. The only difference is that with this new one, we have just two people operating the machine.”

Agbuebu further said that the processing equipment created other value-added job opportunities such as processing the increased kernel by-products from the processing and supply of the additional palm oil to manufacturing companies, even as it reduced the labour for operating the machine.

For Agbuebu, the best part of it all was the impact on the quantity and quality of his yield. ‘’This new one can give me 8 or 9 cans of palm oil (160-180 tons) from one ton of fresh fruit bunch while the old one can give me 4 or 5 (80-100 tons) for the same bunch.

“Also, with the old one, the oil will be thick while this new one, the oil will be light so if you want to use it for another industrial aspect, it will be good.”

With all the benefits the new processing technology brought to his life, Stanley could not get over his awe that it was all locally manufactured.

“The machine was done in this village, this town! At Umuagwo right here. Because of easy processing, we extract our oil faster and it will give us better quality oil. And the efficiency of this one is okay so the operating cost of it is low too,” he sums up.

The use of a mechanical processor means that Agbuebu could more than double his yield, hire more workers, from 6 to 25, and produce better quality oil at lower cost. While it shows the kind of possibilities, advanced processing techniques could yield, it barely scratches the surface of problems in the sector.

Emergency due Henry Olatujoye, national president, National Palm Produce Association of Nigeria (NIPPAN), told this newspaper that production has increased in Nasarawa, Adamawa, Cross River, Ondo, Edo states, abandoned plantations are being revived and many large firms are organising farmers into clusters and providing them with high-yield seeds.

However more still needs to be done to plug an 800,000MT gap in the industry. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in the second quarter of 2017 that Nigeria imported N7 billion worth of Crude Palm Oil (CPO) within the three-month period, about 76 percent from Indonesia.

It could have been worse if not for government’s punishing 35 percent duty on imported palm oil which has encouraged big companies like Olam, Okomu and others to invest in developing local capacity.

In a world where economic nationalism is the new normal, it would seem that policies like the Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS) and Common External Tariff (CET) may require a review. Nigeria would need over two million hectares of land to achieve self sufficiency in palm oil production, experts say, but with housing estates being the current rave, land fragmentation along family lines, poor processing facilities and inability to wean Nigeria off crude oil, the prospect is bleak.

PIND suggests that the place to start is inputs. Dura, the common wild palm found all over Nigeria gives a low amount of palm oil and begins to yield 6 to 7 years after planting.

Tenera, produces higher quantity and bears commercial fruit 3.5 to 5 years after planting.

Companies like Okomu have developed their own varieties. PIND says Nigeria should be investing to improve seedlings.

The Nigerian Institute of Palm Oil Research (NIFOR) seems already on this path with elite tenera hybrid seeds and seedlings of oil palm now produced in large quantities for distribution to farmers. Between 1993 and 2004 NIFOR supplied about 24 million sprouted improved oil palm seeds to farmers in Nigeria (equivalent to 120,000 ha of oil palm assuming all were planted) and produced 4.04 million oil palm seedlings (equivalent to 20,000 ha, assuming all were planted).

NIFOR now has the capacity to produce up to 8 million sprouted oil palm seeds annually and is the sole supplier of improved oil palm seeds in Nigeria. This capacity is now being expanded to Since we cannot wish away smallholder farmers, investments in agric extension services to teach them proper agronomic practices have become necessary. Longterm loans with low interest rates, expert say, would help smallholder farmers invest in new palm plantations and more research developing better processing techniques will help to increase yield.

“Mr Pressman,” Ogechi called me with a teasing laugh, “make sure you tell government to look into our side. We don’t have light (electricity), no good road to take our harvest to the market, they have just forgotten about us.”

I’ve heard about struggle, grit, determination and hope, but the two days spent in Umuagwo helped me see how courage is forged, to understand just how hope begins to ripen even through a bitter drought of opportunity.

With a heavy heart, I told her, “I’m sorry Ogechi, but they complain about the same things in the city where I am from.”

“Even in the city?” her lower jaw was on the floor.

“Yes, Ogechi, even in the city.”

And we both sighed.

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Sunday 22 July 2018

Focus

Gridlock returns as Naval officers pull-out at the Ijora-Apapa Bridges in Lagos.

Pics by Pius Okeosisi

Apapa gridlock: Endless task forces, lamentations, blame game to no avail CHUKA UROKO & JOSHUA BASSEY

P

erhaps the best of efforts to address the long years of chaos in Apapa was in 2012, when Ngozi OkonjoIweala, then minister of finance and chairman of the Federal Government’s Economic Management team, alongside other federal ministers visited the area to personally assess the situation.

Federal authorities upon the visit, had liaised and agreed on a task force with the Lagos State Government, wherein the military, police, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) would jointly undertake the sanitisation of the roads leading to Apapa, particularly, the Oshodi-Mile2-Tincan Expressway.

It turned out useful, as over 800 trucks parked indiscriminately on the expressway were reportedly removed in an operation that started about 3:30am and lasted several hours. The Lagos State Task Force on Environmental and Other Offences would subsequently complement the operation, as it deployed armed security personnel to remove all manner of shan-

ties, kiosks and makeshift shops that sprung up in and around Apapa.

What followed were accolades and commendations from stakeholders, including port users, business owners and residents of Apapa. But it became obvious that the solution to the challenge goes beyond task forces, as the trucks after the operation, one by one, started coming back to the roads and eventually took over the dual carriageway.

Ever since, several task forces at different times had been set up, with a view to finding a solution to the Apapa gridlock.

Asides those by the state government, efforts by the residents association, in collaboration with the Apapa Local Government, the police and the military, have proven inadequate.

It should be recalled that when the All Progressives Party (APC) was desperately looking for people to vote for them to win the 2015 general election, it went to town with all manner of promises all of which have remained at the level of utterance three years into the government that the party formed.

In Apapa, the party saw the infrastructural decay, the port congestion and the siege on the port city by rampaging trailers and tankers as campaign tools

and capitalized on them, assuring the business community and residents that an APC government would put an to their woes because, turning Apapa into an Eldorado in just six months which the PDP government could not do in four years, was not “rocket science” after all.

Three years after, despite several insincere stakeholdermeetings chaired by representatives of the Federal Government, elitist helicopter aerial survey of the port city and its rot by the vice president, and apparently detached interest by the Lagos State Government, Apapa remains a super nuclear science to the APC government.

Increasingly, Apapa is degenerating into a wasteland where residents are groaning, businesses are dying, the environment is degrading and suffocating, properties are decaying and losing value in hundreds of millions of naira, and the government smiling away with billions, sometimes trillions, of naira revenue from the ports.

To think that both the Lagos State and the Federal Governments are products of the same party beats the imagination because part of the excuse for the abandonment of Apapa by the Lagos State Government was that it belonged to the Federal

Government which was, before now, controlled by the umbrella party, the PDP. Today, the story is different.

As Lagos governor, Babatunde Fashola was pained by the situation in Apapa and demonstrated this with his frequent interventions that helped to check the activities of the mindless truck owners and their agents. Expectation was high when the same Fashola emerged Minister of Power, Works and Housing because it was believed that Apapa would be his first priority.

The Buhari government inherited a trailer park along the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway that was over 80 percent completed.

That park is aimed to take away from the expressway about 500 trucks which would have significantly reduced the chaos on that expressway. Three years of APC government, the park is “still under construction” and the contractor is one day on, and one month off the site.

The palliative work on that expressway for which naira figures were bandied about by the Federal Government has become a lame-duck and the entire stretch of that expressway from Sunrise through Coconut Bus Stop to Tin Can Second Gate/Liverpool Bridge has not only collapsed but also become a death trap

with trailers and tankers falling on one another on regular basis.

But for the kind intervention by the trio of Dangote Group, Flour Mills of Nigeria, and Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) who have undertaken the reconstruction of the 2km Ijora-ApapaWharf Road at an estimated cost of N4.3 billion, that second route to the port would have collapsed completely by now.

Apapa represents a dysfunctional system run by a government that is ruled by self-doubt and self-indulgence. Apart from oil which is the highest source of revenue for the country, maybe, no other sector of the economy gives the federal government more revenue than the sea ports.

And the two busiest sea ports in the country today are the ones in Apapa which generate revenues that run into hundreds of billions of naira.

The Federal Government has very strong presence at the two ports with its revenue collecting agencies which collect money for it in form of import duties and levies by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS); royalties, rents and dues collected by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA); dues and levies collected by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA); certification levies collected by

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Focus the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), among others.

Report has it that, in 2016, NCS alone generated N898 billion as revenue for the federal government and this was even less than the N904 billion collected in 2015. The reduction, according to a close source at the NCS, was because of the difficulty in accessing foreign exchange and removal of the 41 items which forced down the level of activities within the ports. In spite of the recession that ravaged the economy for 15 months, unconfirmed report has it that NCS revenue for 2017 was over N1trillion.

What stops the APC government from deconstructing the nuclear science inhibiting making Apapa a truly port city by ploughing back part of the revenue it generates to take care of its decaying infrastructure, especially the port access roads, establish an efficient port operation system, and build a rail system dedicated to the ports.

As already mentioned, the Ijora-Apapa-Wharf Road is being rehabilitated at the cost of N4.3 billion. The projected cost of rehabilitating the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, at a time, was N100 billion. All things being equal, it means the two major routes require just N104.3 billion to make them motorable. Completing the trailer park may not take more than N50 billion and that is being too liberal with estimates.

The whole of this could be done with one year revenue from just one agency of government at the port. Therefore, fixing Apapa shouldn’t be a rocket science for any government, more so for a government that seeks to diversify its economy away from oil.

Events over the past couple of years have shown that the setting up task forces to handle the perennial gridlock around Lagos and Apapa, amounts to addressing symptoms and not the cause of the problem. The latest task force constituted on Thursday, by the Lagos State Government, like several others in the past, will only address the traffic menace momentarily.

Going by stakeholders’ views, an estimated 2,000 trucks, comprising petroleum tankers and carriers, drive long distances from different parts of the country into Lagos, daily. Over 90 percent of the trucks are headed for Apapa, where two of the nation’s most utilised and money spinning ports- Tin Can and Apapa ports are located. Within the ports, areas designated as holding bays for trucks and other complementary facilities had been sold out to various interests as part of the ports concession.

Within the Apapa precincts, are several petroleum tank farms operating with government permits. Not done, the Federal Government, over the decades, had abandoned the development of critical infrastructure within and around Apapa from where it earns trillions of naira.

It is no secret that the Federal Government generates over N1 trillion annually from the ports, via import duties, charges, and royalties paid by the concession-

aires and terminal operators.

In the build-up to the 2015 general elections and the heat of the presidential campaign, the neglect of Apapa and its socio-economic consequences featured quite prominently. The then opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) had a swell time, as it pounded the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for failing to act responsibly.

The kernel of the campaign as it related to Apapa was that a Federal Government controlled by the APC would work together with an APC-controlled Lagos to salvage Apapa and breathe new life into the dying environment.

But if the accusing finger being pointed at the Federal Government by the Lagos State Government is anything to go by, it is worrisome that nothing has yet changed, almost four years into the ‘political marriage’ between the two governments.

“It is indeed pathetic that private firms seeking to make profit from legitimate commerce would continue to subject the citizens of Lagos to horrendous pain.”

“If the power of the state is inadequate to force these powerful

Increasingly, Apapa is degenerating into a wasteland where residents are groaning, businesses are dying, the environment is degrading and suffocating, properties are decaying and losing value in hundreds of millions of naira, and the government smiling away with billions, sometimes trillions, of naira revenue from the ports

merchants to obey the law, shall we also say that the Federal Government, with all the forces at its command, is unable to protect residents of Lagos against this common threat?” says Kehide Bamignetan, Lagos State commissioner for information and strategy.

According to Bamigbetan, who was reacting to the current gridlock on Oshodi-Apapa expressway, and its damaging effects on the economy, the congestion is also a result of the recalcitrance of owners and drivers of tankers and trucks to comply with the subsisting directive that restricts their movement within Lagos.

“The state government had hoped that, with the unfortu-

highways by adhering to directives and also investing in truck terminals themselves.”

But beyond the seeming lack of political will by the federal authorities and the lamentation by Lagos State, stakeholders believe that the creation of container depots/holding bays outside the ports, exploring the practicality of a pre-documentation process that would result in accommodating only a fixed number of trailers that the port operators can handle, would in the immediate, bring about significant relief.

They suggest that for instance, tallies indicating specific day of the week for dropping off empty containers should be obtained ahead. They also sug-

transportation.

According to Paul Gbededo, group managing director of Flour Mills Plc, whose company is partnering with the Dangote Group to repair a section of the Ijora-Wharf road at about N4 billion, trains can go riding to the ports to evacuate goods.

“Even if we make the existing rail service to take just 10 to 15 per cent of the logistics, it will make some difference and it can be dedicated to conveying tankers and containers only and this will ease congestion on the roads. While the long term solution is to pipe fuel to somewhere outside Lagos entirely.

“So we can have a network of pipes, but meanwhile, why don’t

nate loss of lives and property to destruction caused by tanker explosions and truck mishaps, the conscience of the haulage stakeholders would be pricked sorely enough to save Lagosians from the threat of carnage on the

gest the review of the present documentation process within the ports as the immediate steps, while the long lasting solution would be haulage of fuel and other imported goods out of the ports by rail, as opposed to road

we dedicate to taking containers or tankers out of Apapa by rail?

It cannot really be quantified, the impact of these challenges on the operations of the business community in Apapa,” says Gbadebo.

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Sunday 22 July 2018

TheWorshippers ‘Christians are blessed with divine abilities to be solution providers’ The Primate of the African Church, His Eminence, Emmanuel Josiah Udofia, in this interview with SEYI JOHN SALAU speaks on key national issues as he urged security agencies to be plain and stop playing politics with lives of Nigerians. Excerpts: The church has been under incessant attacks from insurgents, especially up north. What options do you think the Christian Association of Nigeria should adopt to ensure safety of churches and Christians in troubled areas? he Bible says in 2Corinthians 10:4, “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.” The best weapons we have as Christians to fight any battle that rises against us are in the Lord. We should continue to lift up our voices in prayer unto God for divine intervention according to 2Chronicles 4:17. Furthermore, we should follow the Bible principles that we should overcome evil by our good deeds, we should always show love irrespective of the persecution.

Moreover, we should also remember that Christ said that when the end-time is near, things like these would happen; so we should also see these things as a pointer to the fact that the end is near, even nearer than we could ever imagine.

CAN has been encouraging Christians to get involved in the electoral process and play active roles in the polity. Do you share similar sentiment?

It depends on the motive for such encouragement. In my own view, Christians are supposed to get involved in and play active roles in the electoral process because of who we really are in Christ. The Bible says in Matt. 5:13-14, “We are the light of the world; we are the salt of the earth.”

This means that where there is darkness, if a Christians shows up there, we should expect light and where there is bitterness, if a Christian shows up there, we should expect sweetness and joy. This is to say that Christians are blessed with divine abilities to be solutions to problems, be they national problems, community problems, or whatsoever. Therefore, if the motive is to get involved in order to be catalysts for positive transformation in the country, then I am 100 percent in support of such encouragement by CAN. The just concluded election in Ekiti State is a pointer to 2019 general elections. With the allegation of money changing hands, what hopes are there for Christians in politics?

This is where I may have issues with

T

Emmanuel Josiah Udofia

people who claim to be Christians but are exhibiting the fruits of lawlessness and unrighteousness. This set of people could have been said to be religious because they are just Christians by mouth but they deny Christ through their unfaithful lifestyles. How could a Christian give or collect bribe? I believe a genuine Christian will not engage in such because the scriptural principle of giving is completely against the giving and receiving of bribe.

It is quite unfortunate that some of our politicians who claim to stand for fighting corruption in the country are caught in the same web. If by the way fighting against corruption is loudly announced in the country we still see this kind of things happening, even from the league of people whom we think are fighting against corruption, then I can only pray for quick divine intervention in the country. I just want to encourage the true and genuine

Christians as we prepare for the general elections in 2019 to please perform their civic responsibilities by voting according to their consciences.

What is The African Church doing to be more visible to young Christians?

The African Church is committed to the vision of shining the Gospel Light across the globe. With that in mind we are committed to raising young Christians who truly fear the Lord, who will always be shining light and good examples to be emulated wherever they are found. To the glory of God the youth bodies of our church (The African Church Evangelical Fellowship and African Church Youth Association) are fast becoming the great and revolutionary groups to be reckoned with in their ways of provoking revival within and outside the church. The TACEF group is found across virtually all the tertiary institutions in the country with the vision of raising an army for the Lord.

The news broke recently about Boko Haram attack on Nigerian Army personnel, yet the FG claims the group has been decimated and the Army is silent on the issue. What does this portend for the nation?

Honestly, that is not a good thing for this country, especially at a critical time as we are right now. But let me say that I appreciate the fact that the FG has used the word ‘decimated’ regarding the fight against Boko Haram; it means they know that they have not been able to completely wipe out the insurgents, which means that there is still much work to be done in this regard. I want to encourage the FG to double its effort in ensuring that the issue of Boko Haram insurgency is completely eradicated. You can imagine that while we are thinking that Boko Haram is decimated, there are ugly activities of the herdsmen. It is quite disheartening to be witnessing these kinds of sorrowful activities in our country. My heart goes out to as many families whose members had been victims of killings by these unscrupulous people; may the Lord heal their pains. On this issue I would like to charge our leaders and the security agencies to be plain and stop playing politics with people’s lives; we should value human lives and be committed to keeping them safe above everything else. A country that is not secure cannot enjoy the best from its citizens. Please let us all join hands to fight insecurity without any tribal sentiment.

Is The African Church not ripe for its own university?

The African Church is indeed ripe to have its own university and I can tell you categorically that the plan is in top gear presently and work is at its peak to see to its fruitful end. But please let me state here that our church is not starting a university because almost all other churches are doing it; we are not in competition with any denomination, all churches are working towards the same goal, which is making Christ known to the entire world. We are starting a university because we see it as another way to accomplishing the vision of the church. We have been pursuing this as we already have a College of Education in operation in Lagos and we thank the Lord for the progress we are experiencing in this regard.

Christians in politics should sanitize the polity, says cleric

F

ollowing the call on Christians across all works of life to actively participate in Nigeria’s political process, the pastor in charge of Shephard Hill Baptist Church, Obanikoro, Lagos, Israel Kristilere has urged Christians to sanitize the polity.

Kristilere in a recent interview with BDSUNDAY said the move that Christians should become active in politics is not about entrenching Christianity over other religion. “I am the last person that will be talking about that but my believe is that

we can’t stay away from it and expect the change we desire. The fact is that you cannot stay outside of the box and turn the box or make the box to turn right; so we need to join and actively participate in whatever level God gives us the grace,” he said.

According to the clergyman, with the level of sensitization created by both the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Baptist Convention, the participation of Christians in the forthcoming election will be different from

what it used to be.

“Weather that active participation will truly translate into what we desire is another thing entirely, but at least it will be shown that our people have woken up to their responsibilities and they are tackling the bull by its horn. I see a better future in that election and I believe that the lord will use it to bring the true change we all desired, because currently we are yet to see the change we asked for,” said Kristilere.

However, speaking on the church’s

theme for the year, ‘Our year of unlimited triumph,’ the reverend opined that the entire congregation of Shephard Hill Baptist Church trust on God to give the church triumph in all areas.

“As a church I must say that in the past six month we have seen God being faithful to His words and we have seen God acting according to what He has promised us, and as we keep on following Him and working with him, I have no doubt that the remaining six month will be far better than the first six month,” Kristilere concludes.

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BDSUNDAY 19

Inspirations The power of divine connections (1)

Pastor I.S James Text: Ruth 1:1-17

R

uth and Orpah, Naomi’s daughters-in-law realised there was something irresistible about the woman who raised their husbands. And they wanted to remain and stay connected to her even though their husbands had both died and it looked like the cords that bound them together had been removed.

Naomi tested their resolve. She tried to discourage them from following her back to her own country and after a while, Orpah was persuaded to turn back and return to Moab. She kissed Naomi and returned to her own people. That was the last time Orpah’s name was mentioned in the Bible.

Ruth however, would not be dissuaded; she made a significant statement, declaring her loyalty to Naomi in (v16), “Entreat me not to leave you or to turn back from following after you; for wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people and your God my God.” What we see here is that Ruth went from just her direct relationship with Naomi to accepting Naomi’s people, culture and ultimately

her God as her own. Her relationship with Naomi facilitated a transition from her own homeland and way of life to Naomi’s. (v17) “When Naomi saw Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her…” This kind of attraction and relationship between these two women is very rare and had obviously transcended a legal or filial relationship.

All through history and up until now, this kind of relationship between a mother and daughter-in-law is unprecedented.

The question that this passage of scripture provokes is “What was it that made Ruth so determined to follow Naomi back to her homeland?” Ruth had probably seen something in Naomi’s life that spoke to her as an individual. When Naomi tried to persuade her to return, she made it clear to her that she had nothing to offer her. Ruth was under no delusion about where she was going and what she was entering into by following Naomi; she was going to a land where Moabites like her were regarded as second class citizens at best. She was going to a land where she would be called an outcast. It’s doubtful that anyone would undertake such an endeavour if there wasn’t a form of divine connection or prompting involved.

The importance of her relationship to Naomi had trumped that of her relationship to her late husband; she may have realized that her marriage to her husband was a portal to this divinely inspired relationship with Naomi. An instance like this where God’s hand is obviously involved in connecting two people is rather strange, but when it happens both you and the other person will know it’s a relationship initiated by God. It happens in different aspects of life: between two men, two women, a man and a woman, in business, between friends, between two neighbours, be-

tween a man and a church. Somehow, if God is in it, He will leave you without a witness. And when you realise this, never let go of that relationship, do all that you can to cultivate and nurture it. Break every tradition that you need to in order to maintain it, change and adapt whatever you need to; do what you can to keep the relationship alive and healthy.

“When Naomi saw Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her…” At the end of the day and primarily because of her attention to a divine connection, Ruth – who was a Gentile – ended up marrying Boaz (a wealthy and influential Jew who could have had his pick of any woman in Israel at the time) and even more significantly, she became engrafted into the lineage of Jesus Christ.

This is Ruth, a woman from Moab (a race that God had expressly forbidden from entering into His assembly) who found a legitimate way into God’s nation by following a divine prompting to maintain her relationship with Naomi. When a person feels a divine power pulling him/ her into a relationship they should not toy with that divine connection because if they do, they might just be destroying part of their own destiny.

An impartial God gave Orpah the same opportunity He gave to Ruth – I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Naomi had two sons who married two women from Moab. God will give everyone the same opportunities, but it’s those who follow the divine pull/prompting to enter into (or maintain) a divine connection that get the maximum fulfillment of their destinies.

The Bible does not tell us if there was anything bad about Orpah, neither do I think she was a bad person, she simply made a wrong choice in not following Naomi, when she was given the opportunity to

do so.

Prayer: May you never vanish into obscurity like Orpah did in Jesus’ name.

There’s a place God intends to take you and divine connections are part of the means to get you from obscurity into the prominence associated with God’s divine positioning.

Another example of a divine connection is from the New Testament. It’s the case of a murderous religious zealot called Saul. He’s someone who terrorised Christians in the early church and did his best to decimate their ranks. Even after God had arrested him and he was converted (and became Paul), the level of distrust he experienced from Christians was significant (and dare I say, justified).

Only one person took the risk to trust him enough to develop a relationship with him – Barnabas.

There are people around us whom no one is attracted to and we don’t consider to be important, but they keep coming back. These are people who might just be the “Ruths” who will connect us to our place of destiny that God has placed amongst us today.

There are also those amongst us that can be considered as “terrors,” whom people want to avoid because they want to have peace. Take a risk and be a son of consolation in relating with them. If the Spirit of God is nudging you in that direction, God is trying to connect you to something significant.

To be continued next week

Dr. Iruofagha James is the Founding Pastor, Glory Christian Ministries, Odo-Olowo Street, Apapa/Oshodi Expressway, Ijeshatedo, Lagos. www.isjames.org Tel: 08060599144

Entitlement Culture

REV. Yomi Kasali

@rev.yomikasali

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his is one of the most deleterious habits in every relationship on earth, I’m referring to ‘entitlement culture’, and I’ve seen the dangerous trend in most churches today and amongst believers generally. The pressure on pastors to grow their congregation has also encouraged this carnal culture in religious assemblies.

A particular biblical story caught my attention a few days ago and I would love to stimulate your hearts with while considering the subject of Entitlement Culture. In Luke 7, the elders of the Jewish faith accosted Jesus on behalf of a Roman centurion for the healing of the centurion’s servant, they however built their premise for the healing on the Centurion’s worthiness or better still his ‘entitlement’ considering the financial donations towards the advancement of Jewish cause.

‘And when they came to Jesus, they begged Him earnestly, saying that the one for whom

He should do this was deserving’, but amazingly the Centurion himself felt otherwise about his worthiness of the miracle, ‘...Lord do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should Exeter under my roof, therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You..’ (Luke 7 v 4-7).

The irony of the matter is that some of the people who are new in faith usually have a very sincere heart towards the things of God and would not mind giving their all towards the Cause of the gospel, but elders are the ones who tout the Entitlement Culture in most places, they justify longevity as basis for Entitlement hence become very agitated when they don’t get what they consider ‘deserving’ because of their longer time in the Lord.

Let us take a closer look at how to identify someone with Entitlement Culture around you because you have to distance yourself from such people or else danger looms for you. They can never be satisfied with your commitment to their welfare and usually show ingratitude in their external behaviours.

How to Identify People with Entitlement Culture.

They Are Ingrates: whatever you do for those who have the Entitlement Culture is considered ‘expected’ hence usually aren’t thankful to their benefactors. There were 10 lepers that were cleansed in Luke 13 and only one of them came back to Thank Jesus for the healing, the Lord wasn’t happy about that development and mentioned that the only one who came was a Samaritan because others were Jews (they felt entitled to the healing).

Most people that are ingrates demonstrate that satanic attitude because of their expectation of the blessing hence had Entitlement Culture.

They Brag About What They Did: another major sign of someone who has Entitlement Culture is that giving factor. The elders told Jesus in the story of Luke 7 that the Centurion ‘deserved’ the miracle because he had ‘built synagogues’ and ‘loves the nation’. Whilst the latter could pass for a good reason, the first is very carnal in nature. People that mention money or giving of their time could be displaying that dangerous culture.

They Over Emphasize Family Ties: my siblings and I have always had running battles when it comes to this point. The feeling is that they are ‘Entitled’ to some things from me simply because they are my family members, but Christ didn’t espouse that ideology and many Christians are guilty of the same. Jesus said ‘but He answered and said to the one who told Him, “who is My mother and who are My brother?”

and He stretched out His hand towards His disciple and said, “here are My mother and My brothers”’. Jesus redefined family ties to same values and spiritual ties. Though many of us still don’t practice that especially in Africa where blood they say is sticker than water.

They Believe They Are Doing You A Favour: being your friend is adjudged as doing you a favour. These are people that measure things wrongly and don’t treasure relationships as much. They have an over-valued estimation of their importance in the lives of others, therefore believe they are helping people by associating with them. It is a very dangerous opinion and valuation in life.

They Value Money More Than Morals: finally people with ‘Entitlement Culture’ value money more than morals, especially from the story above. The elders thought the Centurion deserves the Blessings because he had money and had been quite supportive of the Jewish Cause. Many people in today’s church leadership also value Money more than Morals hence they give uncommon attention to money bags in their churches, reflecting the ‘Entitlement Culture’, I hope we all don’t have the same culture.

Kindly ask God to help us all as we walk with Him so that we don’t have this harmful culture in our walk with God, more often than none it will be there when you have the same with men. Be inspired and God bless.

Shalom.

Rev. Yomi Kasali is Senior Pastor, Foundation of Truth Assembly (FOTA), Surulere, Lagos

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Russia 2018: At last, the ‘war’ is over!

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Sunday 22 July 2018

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

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midst a most stunning ambiance, the 23rd edition of Federation of International Football Associations, FIFA, World Cup, tagged Russia 2018, came to a scintillating close on Sunday, July 15 at the 81,000-capacity Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow.

The final match between France and Croatia was as impressive, action packed and spectacular as almost all the 64 matches witnessed at Russia 2018. In the match, the French national team came top by trashing a resilient Croatian side 4-2.

With this victory, France has now recorded a second World Cup triumph. Interestingly, the victory has equally put French coach, Didier Dechamps, in the league of Brazilian Mario Zagallo and German Franz Beckenbauer as those who have won the World Cup as both a player and a manager.

The 2018 Russia World Cup is particularly unique in many ways.

The introduction of the controversial VAR (Video Assistance Referees) at the tournament makes it the first time that technology would be employed to assist referees in making crucial

decisions. VAR has been seen by many as necessary to ensure in order to reduce human errors in officiating.

Russia 2018 was also almost flawless in organization. Prior to the competition, many have doubted the ability of Russia to host a memorable and World Cup. But events of the past month seem to have proved cynics wrong as the Russians have not only hosted a great Mundial, but have also razzmatazz the whole world as regards the exquisiteness of their country.

In terms of security and safety concerns, Russia 2018 also proved to be an incredible event.

Initially, many expressed reservation about the safety of visiting soccer fans at Russia. As things eventually turned out, there was no major security breach worthy of note throughout the competition. Fans’ hooliganism was completely out of the equation. The usually cantankerous German and English soccer fans strangely turned a new leaf at the Mundial. Hence, at Russia 2018, worry over fans hooliganism was simply not a major concern.

On the pitch, more than ever before, Russia 2018 has shown that football is more of a team event, and as such, individual brilliance and talents no longer count for much. For instance, the Croatian, Japanese, Korean, Iceland and a few other national teams that came up with a closely knitted side thoroughly passed home the message that football

is more about how well a team plays together as a unit.

In particular, the Croatian team amply exemplified teamwork as a major base for success in football as it got to the final not on the basis of the individuality of its players, but on the strength of joint effort. Unlike the Brazilians, Argentines and other such teams that depended mostly on the strength of their individual players to thrive at the championship, the Croatian team is an amazing study in team solidarity and group effectiveness.

Russia 2018 also sufficiently demonstrated to the soccer world that the days when so called bigger soccer nations could just stroll into a major soccer championship in sheer arrogance, expecting unhindered success, might be over for now. At the Mundial, big footballing nations such as Germany, Argentina, Spain and Brazil got the shock of a lifetime as they all unceremoniously exited the competition when it was least expected.

As for the English team, which most pundits agreed actually over achieved at the Mundial, it becomes quite clearer that if football were to ultimately come home, as it was excitedly chorused by English fans in the course of the competition, it would be through sterling (unfortunately English Raheem Sterling didn’t come to the party at Russia) performances on the pitch. Not through overly over hyped media crusade.

Back home, the pains of the Super Eagles’ disappointing outing at the Mundial have since subsided. Sadly, we don’t seem to have learnt much from our below par show as the nation’s football house is once again being immersed in needless leadership squabbles that portend great danger for our football. Regrettably, appropriate authorities seem not to be managing current footballing crisis with required tact and speed. Characteristically, it is only when FIFA hammer comes dangling that those concerned would start running helter-skelter.

Meanwhile, congratulations to France for deservedly winning the World Cup and also kudos to Russia for hosting an amazing Mundial. As the soccer world awaits what Qatar has to offer in 2022, football fans would continue to relish and savour some of the most astounding memories of Russia 2018. One of such, for me, is the image of dashing Croatia President, Kolinda GrabarKitarović tenderly patting France President, Emmanuel Macron on the head at the final. On the sight of the noticeable MacronKitarović show, a naughty commentator said: “What Russia has joined together”. One could not but chuckle at the prospect of such amusing remark. Goodbye Russia 2018!

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

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Sunday 22 July 2018

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Insecurity and the shape of a growing debate CHIJIOKE MAMA Chijioke MAMA is the Founder of the Advisory Company Meiracopp Nigeria Limited (MNL) and a Doctoral Researcher in Business Management. Mail: m.chijioke @ meiracopp.com

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i g e r i a ’s i n s e curity crises come at an economic cost that is largely unaccounted. From a macroeconomic perspective, insecurity and political risks deter a nation in numerous ways. On one hand, the political uncertainty that precedes general elections in Nigeria; has been known to slow economic activities and investments significantly. Relatedly, several investments and business expansion plans are either delayed or called off in the first twelve months of most administrations; as business observers size and weigh their risks.

Invariably, Nigeria is an insecure country by every measure and the challenge is very complex. The country’s security systems do not live up to many people’s expectation including the government that owns them.

ISAH BALA

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t is Haile Selassie who posits that, “throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.”

Most of the problems we have in this part of the world cannot be unconnected to the fact that the oppressed decided to keep quiet, they refused to protest against the injustice of the oppressors when it mattered most for the fear of the power that be.

In the face of injustice and avarice, few altruistic people usually emerge who stand tall to be the voice of

The lack of confidence which deters investment either lowers the overall confidence or doubles the price of courageously going ahead. When the free movement of goods and people within a nation is significantly encumbered by poor security and safety conditions; it becomes tough to numerically quantify the loss. With a very poor assurance for the safety of people and lives, Nigeria ironically anticipates levels of investment and economic growth that betrays the reality. Frequent, graphic media accounts of life losses and economic mishaps that threaten businesses as well as, various forms of economic vandalisation that go on routinely in Nigeria will not suffice as a quantitative measure of the economic loss.

Nigeria is yet to deploy any systemic means of measuring the economic losses occasioned by insecurity, from which we may derive hard facts and data that will make the strong case for far reaching reforms in the national approach to security issues. Heighted insecurity that breeds tension in several parts of the country has led to the severe and unfortunate exclusion of several states and cities from any kind of investment or business expansion – laying the foundation for the widespread poverty

that the country is now witnessing.

What has been Nigeria’s major response to the complex security challenges that has troubled the nation for decades? Conflict Historians support the notion that models of policing for a nation should evolve to reflect the time, the social changes and any specific community transformation. For Nigeria there have been very little changes in the police system or model and what has historically been viewed as reforms has delivered little gains.

For example, with an expanding and ever growing Lagos as the financial & commercial nerve of the country (made possible by the strategic benefits of the Lagos air and sea ports) we see trade patterns across the country that logically centralise Lagos as the primary source of both goods and services; thereby transferring a good measure of some security and safety burden unto the state. There are analogous scenarios elsewhere in the country, such as Nigeria’s Niger Delta , an operationally active region for Oil and Gas production which also bears some unique security burdens. In spite of the strong cases for befitting security approaches for these outliers – especially with respect to their gradual evolution over

the years– there has not been sufficient consideration or political will to address them uniquely.

Take the Nigerian police for example, as an important part of the nation’s criminal justice system, the footprints of police departments and services are decidedly farreaching. Does this make the case for “state controlled police” in Nigeria? especially in the context of Nigeria’s present day security challenges.

The case for decentralised and state-level control of some aspects of the security apparatus in Nigeria appears to be strong, justifiable and cogent. However there is some false understanding that state-controlled police is a utopian solution to the current security problem/crises in Nigeria, which makes the ongoing debate to be halfformed.

Th e m o s t c o n s p i c u o u s fault line, is the part of the debate equation which suggests that a federal or central police system will be used, cum abused, by a federal government in a manner that will be unfair to certain sectors, tribes or persons in a multiethnic and socio-politically polarised nation such as Nigeria.

That argument is largely correct. But it must be stated that the worrisome variables are also prominent at the

state level, where some Nigerian governors have used the powers they have to establish and guard a fiefdom that mostly mirrors autocracy.

The challenge therefore is not only in decentralizing the control of the police but in structuring the nation’s police- at the state level - in a manner that eliminates the tendency of unilateral, executive control/manipulation which has historically been the norm in Nigeria. Advocates of state police must remember that there are countries with federal and centralised police systems that are performing well. And there are other nations with decentralised systems who are still plagued by insecurity and crises.

The necessity of state controlled police in Nigeria has become evident; however, of even greater importance is the extent and feature of the reworks/reforms. A model that checks unfettered executive control and the proclivity of state executives to personalise the security apparatus; may be tough to design and run in Nigeria.

The debate therefore shifts from the level of control (Federal or State) to the manner of control, which in turn highlights the degree of independence as opposed to the source/place of the independence.

Ajaokuta steel project: Barrister Natasha Akpoti is making a big difference the voiceless, calling for not will benefit them alone but what will benefit the masses not minding their safety that is beyond the redline.

As Desmond Tutu holds, “silence in the face of injustice is complicity with the oppressor”, amidst all odds, Barrister Natasha Hadiza Akpoti has refused to be cowed.

While many are still in doubt of what could be her real intention for spending her hard-earned resources, time, energy and whatnot for the resuscitation of Ajaokuta steel, she continues to prove that we will never wake up to see Nigeria of our dream if we continue to whine and

hurl tantrums at our leaders without being ready to take the bull by its horns.

Beyond the rhetoric, Barrister Natasha Hadiza Akpoti has shown the broad line of dichotomy between true activism and charade crusade beguiled to seek cheap popularity.

People have leveraged Ajaokuta steel to seek election and re-election while they quickly forget the bait they used to catch the big fish as soon as they get hold of their greedy quest.

Akpoti has not only shown that gender, age and one’s background have nothing to do with doing what oth-

ers think is impossible, she represents a paradigm shift from the status quo and has proven beyond measure that we must not only think of what we can get from a cause but the big difference we can make to unshackle many from avoidable hardship.

Through thick and thin, many huddles have been crossed, old orders have been defied, new records have been set but we are not unaware of those who are still in doubt of the struggle and always cast aspersions at any given opportunity.

If it’s easy to achieve a monumental change, Nelson Mandela wouldn’t have

spent 27 years in prison to end apartheid in South Af r i c a , Ma h a t m a Ga n d h i wouldn’t have been unduly persecuted and later assassinated, Martin Luther King Jr. wouldn’t have been killed, but the thorn of mending the wrongs would not cow Barrister Natasha Hadiza Akpoti from shouting for the voiceless to be heard and setting our society to attain its true meaning.

At the end of the struggle, even the cynical believers will rejoice the triumphant victory and every step sacrificed for the journey will be duly recalled and accorded its due accolades.

We cherish readers’ reactions to stories and articles published in BusinessDay. All such reactions, which must not be more than 250 words, should be sent to bdsundayletter@businessdayonline.com with names and addresses of writers. The star letter every week will be rewarded.

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Sunday 22 July 2018

Politics Buhari has performed up to expectation with available resources – Lanre Razak Lanre Razak is a former deputy national chairman of the defunct All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP), former Commissioner of Public Transportation in Lagos State, and currently a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). In this exclusive interview with Iniobong Iwok, Razak assesses the state of the APC, the Buhari administration, among other issues in the polity.

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ow would you react to recent defection of some members of your party to form an alliance with the opposition?

If you are closely monitoring events, those people are not really genuine party members; they were trying to take over their states, which was not successful, and other people are looking for serious administration from those states. We are looking for people who would rescue the country, these people cannot do it. We have Buhari, the president who is not corrupt; he would not allow the wealth of the country to be looted among the few individuals and that is also one of the reasons for this problem.

Don’t you think their defection would affect the APC’s chances in next year’s general elections?

Not as much as you think.

What is their percentage in the country? Nigerians know they would be an impediment to the country, and now they have formed an alliance, Nigerians would fight them. They formed an alliance; how many House of Assembly members, senators, or chairmen do they have among them? The only party in the country that can win election is PDP and APC; they are not serious politicians, and they don’t have antecedents that can make them to be trusted with public offices.

Nigerians are of the view that President Buhari has not delivered on his campaign promises. What’s your view?

When people talk, I just laugh, because they don’t have fact and figures of what they are saying. If you know the level of destruction that was brought to this country before APC assumed office, you would never want the PDP back to power.

I mean destruction that happened for 16 years and you cannot claim it back in three years.

The railway line that they could not complete, Buhari has done it as soon as he came to office.

But that was former President Goodluck Jonathan’s project?

But they could not finish it.

If you have 11 years and you could not finish such, how long do you want to use? The entire projects that they could not finish we are working to complete them. Look at what we are doing in Lagos-Badagry road, we are working to complete it, among several other projects across the country. Buhari has done well with the resources available to him; he has applied it and used it to turn around the

country.

What about the killings in the country, don’t you think there is need to replace some of the service chiefs?

If you have headache, would you cut off your head because of that? The security agencies are working and there are people researching, working out the cause of the current killings. Buhari is working to stop the killings, he should be supported. People should give the police the right information. I am happy the National Assembly has supported the call for state police; so let’s see the person who would leave his house and go and kill.

Does Buhari deserve a second term in office?

He would get another term by the grace of God. He would get it.

Do you think the APC could have managed the recent crisis that led to the defection better?

I don’t cry over spilt milk.

The crisis has come and gone.

I am happy that the leader of the party, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is looking at resolving the issues and machinery has been put in place by the party to resolve them. I am sure that very soon we would resolve them.

How do you react to the recent crisis in Lagos APC that led to the factionalisation of the state exco, while two congresses were held?

When they did not take part in the congress from the ward level, how can they take part in the state congress? It is the delegates at the ward level and local government that would select the state executives. Let me tell you that apart from the congress in Ogba, there was no other parallel state congress in Lagos State; we had only one congress. No one should support that. These things are happening because these people have no knowledge of the running of party. We had only one congress and that was the one that was attended

by INEC and officials from the national headquarters of the party. This is democracy, you have to accept it when you lose or win, and plan ahead and reassess the situation, rather than planning to pull the party down.

Are you saying their grievance was not genuine?

It was not; there is a process of appeal in the party and anybody aggrieved should go through that process.

Are you satisfied with the internal democracy in the APC? I am satisfied with internal democracy in the party because

Lanre Razak

I have been involved in the running of the party. I was a former publicity secretary, ward chairman, local government chairman, South-West chairman, among other positions.

When my chairman travels out, I know how to function and run the party well.

What is your view about the clamour for restructuring of the country?

I would rather say that there should be devolution of power from the centre to the state and local governments. We should practice true federalism; states should not be appendages of the central government. Except we want to merge the states, and except we are thinking of a parliamentary system. Some of the people calling for restructuring don’t know what they are talking about. Each state should know its limitations and should be able to manage the local government the way it likes in its locality, that is what I think is the ideal situation for this country. I have said it that we need to go back and debate if we need a presidential system or a fed-

eral system because the current system is very expensive. If we want a presidential system, we have to do it. So the call that the legislature should be cancelled is unnecessary to me. Put less money in the centre; give 60 percent to the state and the federal government can have 40 percent, then it means more money to the states and they can do more projects for the people.

Does it mean you don’t believe in local government autonomy?

I don’t believe in local government autonomy for now. They should be under the states; I know what I am saying because I have been a local government chairman. Their functions, like managing parks, cleaning of the environment, overseeing markets, some of these could be better done when they are under the state. We still want the state to provide law for the local government.

What’s your view about the situation in Ekiti State?

One thing is clear, the people of the state know who to vote

for and the kind of government that should govern them. You know the character of Ayo Fayose. My people say, show me your friend and I would tell you who you are.

We need credible people in the system in the country; it is only when you have a clear knowledge and understanding of the people that you can think of helping them, and the current administration in Ekiti State does not know that.

But Fayemi was accused of performing below expectation in his first term?

What are the criteria that Fayemi did not do well in his first term and would not do well this time? Is it all about sharing money among the people? An adage says, teach me how to fish, instead of giving me fish. Create a platform where people can secure jobs. Ekiti is a highly educated state and it should not be rubbished. Ekiti people would want to rescue the state and that is what they did.

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Politics Dickson, Ogola to battle for Bayelsa West Senatorial seat?

SAMUEL ESE, Yenagoa

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ith only a few weeks to the collection of expression of interest forms for the 2019 general elections, there are indications that Bayelsa State governor, Henry Seriake Dickson could be locked in battle with Foster Ogola, representing Bayelsa West Senatorial District in the Senate, over the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) ticket.

Four years ago when Governor Dickson supported Ogola in his victorious bid to represent the senatorial district at the Upper House of the National Assembly, some keen political observers noted that the governor had an eye on the seat after his two terms as the number one citizen of the state.

However, his media aides promptly dismissed the news as unfounded and said the governor would retire to his hometown to play the role of a political father in the state, but surreptitious moves are afoot to actualise the ambition of the governor by embarking on an elaborate plan filled with lots of intrigue.

It is unclear whether Ogola, who was the chairman of the Bayelsa State Scholarship Board before contesting the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primary ticket against the incumbent Minister of State for Education, Heineken Lokpobiri and went on to defeat the All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate, Eddi Julius in the election, would stand against the governor.

BD Sunday learnt that there was an arrangement between Ogola and Dickson that the former would step down for him after the expiration of his governorship, but that agreement or whatever it was, appears to have failed as the senator is said to be bent on continuing beyond 2019.

Impeccable sources said it was after the disagreement between both men that the subtle moves to undermine Ogola through sponsored publications about alleged certificate forgery started and that the romance has effectively been soured, as the senator has come to understand and enjoy power.

The source said the smear campaign was aimed at discrediting Ogola to pave way for disgracing him out of office.

However, one pertinent issue is that while a growing number of the constituents believe that the senator has failed them in his representation, they are also not comfortable with Dickson, as they see his policies and programmes as hurtful to them.

The plot, however, could prove to be one of the thrillers of the forthcoming elections in the state, as it includes other persons that the governor would allegedly use to effectively remove Ogola, install one of his own, who would be given another role and thereby creating a vacuum that Dickson would eventually fill in a bye election.

One of the sources said Dickson is determined to sponsor his Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Lawrence

Seriake Dickson

Ewhrudjakpo to contest the primary election for the senatorial seat against Ogola and when victorious, later install him as deputy governor, thereby creating a vacuum that he would fill in a bye election.

However, other names have been mentioned as potential replacements for Ogola in the Bayelsa West Senatorial District. These include that of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Government House, Ebizi Ndiomu-Brown.

But, that is as far as it goes for now, due to the emerging fact that the governor had earlier promised to make the member representing Sagbama/Ekeremor Federal Constituency, Fred Agbedi deputy governor; and the new arrangement is said to be irking the lawmaker.

Another worrying factor in the plot is that there is no certainty that Dickson would be able to install his own as governor and deputy governor, especially as he is a second term governor and some of such attempts in the past in some states had not gone down well.

Such examples are in Rivers State where Peter Odili wanted to install Rotimi Amaechi, but failed and Lagos State where Babatunde Fashola also failed to install his own, though there were those who were successful like in Delta State where James Ibori left for Emmanuel Uduaghan and Akwa Ibom State where Godswill Akpabio was succeeded by Emmanuel Udom.

One other factor is the fact that despite working assiduously to reposition the state, Dickson is still perceived as unpopular among some sectors in the state, particularly civil servants and traders who see him as the cause of the economic hardship being experienced in the state.

To them, the ongoing public sector reforms is a witch-hunt which reduced the earning power of most civil servants and affected commercial activities, in spite of the successful town hall meetings organised by the state Ministry of Information and Orientation to garner support for the reforms.

Aside that, one of the support blocks for the governor may have been undermined by the defection of Government Ekpumokpolo aka Tompolo, to the APC as it could affect the balance of power among repentant militants in the creeks of the state from where the bulk of votes are expected to come.

Already, the news of Tompolo’s defection is being felt in the state, as one exwarlord and former caretaker chairman of Southern Ijaw Local Government Council, appointed by Dickson was also in line to defect to the APC over alleged contractual disagreements with the governor.

Should the trend continue, it is believed that it could mortgage the votes in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area which were critical to the governor’s victory in 2016 and could prove pivotal in the 2019 governorship election; the cancellation of the election in that area saw him coast to victory and defeat former governor, Timipre Sylva by a landslide.

It would be recalled that if the result of the election in Southern Ijaw had been upheld, Sylva would have won by a landslide, so, the balance of power in the creeks and who holds the aces is a strong determinant of who gets the nearly 200,000 votes from the local government area.

One other significant factor is Governor Dickson’s attempt to pick his successor from Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, a step that could anger the people of Yenagoa and Kolokuma/Opokuma local government areas as it is against the spirit of zoning which has been entrenched in the state.

Southern Ijaw, Yenagoa and Kolokuma/ Opokuma local government areas make up Bayelsa Central Senatorial District which produced late Diepreye Alamieyeseigha as governor; after him, Bayelsa East Senatorial District produced former President Goodluck Jonathan and Timipre Sylva while Bayelsa West Senatorial District produced incumbent Dickson.

According to the zoning arrangement, it

is the turn of either Yenagoa or Kolokuma/ Opokuma local government areas to produce the next governor, and already, politicians in the area are gearing up for the elections.

Perhaps, the greatest challenge, according to the source, is a subtle rejection of Ewhrudjakpo as potential senator or deputy governor on the grounds that other stakeholders in the senatorial district do not see him as a true Bayelsan despite the fact that he is from Ofoni in Sagbama Local Government Area.

This, however, looks far-fetched as Ofoni community whose local language is Urhobo is part of Tarakiri clan and the people are in actual fact descendants of Tarakiri just like the other Ijaw speaking people and communities that make up Tarakiri clan.

To some political observers, the impasse in the PDP could gift the seat to the opposition APC should they field a stronger and more acceptable candidate for the election to the Senate and going by the recent political developments in the country.

But, BD Sunday further gathered that Governor Dickson is now willing to allow the Jonathan camp to produce the governor so that he can produce the deputy governor, which will pave the way for him to effect his plans to get into the Senate.

When BD Sunday contacted Francis Ottah-Agbo, Chief Press Secretary to Governor Dickson on whether he had interest in the senatorial seat, he responded in the negative and that people of the senatorial district are mounting serious pressure on him to contest.

Ottah-Agbo stated in a text message: “He is not interested in Senate. The people of Bayelsa West Senatorial District are mounting serious pressure on him to go to the senate after his governorship in 2020!”

Though Ogola did not indicate second term interest, he told BD Sunday on phone that some elders in the senatorial district have been holding meetings over the matter, but he remained unperturbed by the development maintaining that he has no issues with Governor Dickson over the senatorial seat.

Ogola who made the disclosure after the inspection of damage caused by oil spill Agoro in Ekeremor Local Government Area, was emphatic that he has no issues with the governor and he is still the leader of Bayelsa State Caucus in the National Assembly.

When our correspondent contacted Agbedi on phone whether Governor Dickson wanted to use him as running mate to whoever would emerge as governorship candidate, he laughed it off wondering where such a story was coming from in the state.

Agbedi stated: “If I have my way, I want my people to return me to the National Assembly. That is where I want to be.”

Ewhrudjakpo, who responded via text message when asked if he was interested in going to the Senate, said simply, “That is complete unfounded rumour.”

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Politics

2019: No alternative to credible, free and fair elections

W CHUKS OLUIGBO

ith Nigeria inching ever closer to the 2019 general elections, concerned stakeholders have continued to harp on the need for free, fair and credible polls. The stakeholders believe that only a transparent and credible electoral process would engender peace, stability and good governance in the country. The alternative, they say, is a recipe for cataclysm.

The concerns are mostly born out of the fear that President Muhammadu Buhari, being a major contender in the election, may not give his co-contenders a level playing ground. The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Buhari’s party, has since zeroed in on him as its presidential candidate in the coming election.

Given Nigerian politicians’ do-or-die approach to elections, and particularly Buhari and the APC’s rather belligerent disposition towards the opposition, questions are being raised as to whether the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which is believed to be loyal to the president, would be allowed to play the role of a neutral umpire in the forthcoming elections.

More specifically, will the government in power be disposed to free and fair polls in 2019?

Pundits say with unhindered access to the state treasury, state-owned media, the entire security apparatus, official vehicles and jets, government officials and appointees to be deployed at will for electoral campaign purposes, and so much more, the incentive is high for an incumbent president to want to meddle in the electoral process to his advantage. They, however, urge President Buhari to resist any such temptation in the interest of peace.

The major opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has always accused INEC of leaning towards the APC, saying it lacks confidence in the commission’s ability to be fair and to conduct credible polls. The chairman and 12 national commissioners of INEC are the president’s appointees, even though the appointments are made in consultation with the Council of State and subject to confirmation by the Senate. As such, the commission is often reduced to a mere tool in the hands of the incumbent.

Just last Thursday, while playing host to a combined delegation of the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) at the PDP national secretariat in Abuja, Uche Secondus, the party’s national chairman, threatened that the party would pull out of the 2019 general elections if INEC and security agencies fail to demonstrate sufficient level of

President Buhari

impartiality expected from them by Nigerians.

Decrying what he called the manipulation of vote figures by INEC in the recent governorship election in Ekiti State in favour of the APC, Secondus also accused the Nigerian Police of chasing away PDP agents from various polling centres, particularly in areas known to be PDP strongholds.

“We are still contemplating on whether we will participate in the 2019 elections or not. We are yet to take a decision on this. We are not sure that the security agencies and INEC would be impartial and transparent,” Secondus said.

“In the Ekiti elections, there were instances where our party agents’ tags were removed and given to the APC agents. There were clear cases of manipulation, ballot snatching and harassment of our party agents,” he said.

Earlier in January when the United Nations Needs Assessment Mission Team, led by Serge G. Kubwimana, paid a visit to the PDP leadership in Abuja, Secondus had expressed fears over the ability of INEC and the APC government to conduct free and fair elections in 2019.

He had also urged the UN to monitor the activities of the APC, demand free and fair elections in 2019, and ensure the ruling party accepts the result of the elections as might be decided by the voting public, just as the PDP did in 2015.

Secondus sounded the alarm that all the elections conducted by INEC under the APC government since 2015 had come with a huge question mark, with rigging involving security agents, and that once any election did not end in APC’s favour, it was declared inconclusive or cancelled outright and there would be a rerun. He was apprehensive that a similar scenario may play out in 2019.

“So, we want to urge this body to look seriously in the area of free and fair elections that guarantee security and free from crisis. In any part of the world, it is when elections are not transparent that we have problems,” Secondus said.

“We conducted free and fair elections in 2015 and we handed over and conceded defeat, but what we are seeing so far has not given us the confidence at all that they can conduct free and fair elections. The entire country is worried, not only PDP; it is across the board. All the other political parties are very worried because of what is happening today in the country,” he said.

Shehu Gabam, national secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), in May also raised similar fears, especially on grounds of the widespread insecurity across the country.

Gabam, who was of the view that no free election could take place in a chaotic situation as being witnessed in the country at present, called on President Buhari to stop “the political rascality” by government functionaries, APC

members, security agencies and other categories of individuals and groups.

No alternative to free, fair elections John Cardinal Onaiyekan, Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, in April charged the Buhari administration to ensure free and fair elections next year and avoid any form of manipulation of the election results.

Onaiyekan, who spoke at the inauguration of the Regional Episcopal Conference of West Africa (RECOWA) Peace Committee in Abuja, recalled that the Buhari government benefitted from free and fair election in 2015 and warned the government not to start off on the assumption that it must win in 2019.

“Everybody should be prepared to lose and everybody should be prepared to win. The electorates have the final say,” he said.

Also speaking at the British Parliament earlier in January, Ike Ekweremadu, Deputy Senate president, called on President Buhari to not only ensure that his administration conducts a credible, free and fair election next year but also be prepared to accept in good faith the outcome of the election should he and his party lose at the presidential poll.

Ekweremadu, who spoke on the topic ‘African Politics: The Dynamics and Lessons’, said any attempt to manipulate the 2019 elections to the advantage of self or party would not augur well for peace and democracy not only in Nigeria but in the entire African continent.

“Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan put Nigeria on the global map as a leading democratic nation when he put in everything to ensure a free and fair election, in which he not only lost the presidential poll as an incumbent, but also willingly conceded defeat. In fact, he called the incumbent president, Muhammadu Buhari, and congratulated him even before the announcement of the final results. In addition, neither former President Jonathan nor the PDP challenged the outcome of the election in court,” Ekweremadu said.

“Therefore, to whom much is given, much is also expected. The onus is now on President Buhari to likewise provide a level playing ground and show uncommon statesmanship if he and his party lose the 2019 presidential election. That way, Africa’s biggest democracy will further entrench the culture of peaceful and smooth transfer of power from a ruling party to the opposition in both Nigeria and Africa,” he said.

Ekiti guber sign of what lies ahead?

Before the Ekiti State governorship election of July 14, political analysts had said the conduct of the election would give a peek preview into 2019.

Now that the election has come and

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Politics gone, observers say if it is indeed a sign of what lies ahead, then there is much to fear as 2019 approaches.

Even now, the dust raised by the Ekiti election, which INEC said was won by Kayode Fayemi of the APC, is yet to settle as the opposition PDP has rejected the results, alleging malpractices. PDP said the election “was far from being free, fair and credible”, described Fayemi’s victory as a “stolen mandate”, blamed INEC and security agencies for the “robbery”, and vowed to use “every constitutional means” to reclaim its victory. It said it was compiling “exhibits” as it prepares to head to the tribunal.

This is even as a coalition of domestic and international election observers accredited to observe the Ekiti election has said the election fell short of global best practices and electoral standards and could not be recommended as a template for next year’s general elections.

The observers, comprising representatives from over 50 domestic organisations, human rights groups and international election observer bodies, while commending INEC for certain improvements, faulted the deployment of 30,000 policemen for the election.

They said the electoral process was largely characterised by unwholesome practices, such as vote-buying (where voters surreptitiously showed party agents which party they voted for and then went behind to get settled), ballot box snatching, sporadic shootings and intimidation of some party agents, among others.

“The exercise witnessed a high level of unprecedented electoral-related challenges and such abuse will remain contentious until justice prevails, especially in the areas of cash inducement, arrests of political stalwarts by security agents and snatching of electoral materials by political thugs, among other abuses,” said Gabriel Nwambu of the Centre for Credible Leadership and Citizens Awareness, Abuja, who addressed journalists on behalf of the domestic observers.

“Finger biometric capture was slow.

Party stalwarts were indicating to voters where to thumbprint. Poll was delayed due to slow pace of machines.

Party agents had huge cash and were close to voting points. Security agents were indifferent to cash inducement of voters. The whole process falls short of the compliance with international best standards,” he said.

Virginia Marumoa-Gae of the International Republican Institute (IRIS) in South Africa, one of the international observers, said, “Voters showed their ballot papers to party agents to collect money, thugs disrupted voting process by shooting, but the police and other attaching security agents did well by establishing their presence at the polling units as stipulated by the constitution. We also noted that the INEC has improved on card readers this time.”

Buhari, INEC commit to credible poll Given the heightening apprehension over 2019, it was heartening to hear President Buhari last Tuesday promise to conduct credible, violence-free polls

Mahmoud Yakubu

in 2019.

Delivering a keynote address at the 20th anniversary celebration of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague, Netherlands, July 17, Buhari said his administration would deploy every power within its reach to conduct free, fair and violence-free polls in 2019.

“Contrary to the tragic incidents that characterised the 2011 general election in Nigeria which necessitated preliminary investigations by the ICC, I assure you that all hands are on deck to prevent any recurrence of such tragic incidents,” Buhari said. “We shall do everything possible to ensure that Nigeria witnesses the conduct of free, fair and peaceful elections in 2019.”

Recall that the 2011 elections were nearly marred by post-election violence, which led to the death of over 800 persons in the North, including 10 members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

A report by Human Rights Watch, an international non-governmental organisation that conducts research and advocacy on human rights, said that deadly election-related and communal violence in northern Nigeria following the April 2011 presidential voting left more than 800 people dead, adding that the victims were killed in three days of rioting in 12 northern states.

It said the protests degenerated into violent riots or sectarian killings in the northern states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Niger, Sokoto, Yobe, and Zamfara, with relief officials estimating that more than 65,000 people must have

Uche Secondus

been displaced.

Corinne Dufka, then senior West Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch, had also said that although the presidential election was heralded as among the fairest in Nigeria’s history, it also was among the bloodiest.

“The newly elected authorities should quickly build on the democratic gains from the elections by bringing to justice those who orchestrated these horrific crimes and addressing the root causes of the violence,” Dufka had said.

Indeed, the Federal Government Panel on the 2011 Elections Violence and Civil Disturbances headed by Sheikh Ahmed Lemu had, in its report submitted in October 2011, identified provocative utterances by many individuals as part of the causes of the post-election violence.

“Provocative utterances by many individuals and the widespread charge by prominent politicians, including the CPC presidential candidate, to the electorate to ‘guard their votes’, ‘appeared’ to have been misconstrued by many voters to include recourse to violence,” the report had said.

The then CPC presidential candidate, now President Muhammadu Buhari, had, however, denied making inciting utterances, saying that the panel and the then government were executing a pre-determined agenda since PDP and President Goodluck Jonathan had earlier accused the CPC of being responsible for the mayhem even before the panel was raised.

The 2015 elections also generated similar apprehension, with many Nige-

rians with the means relocating their families abroad for fear of eruption of post-election violence. Former President Jonathan, however, saved the day when he conceded defeat and called to congratulate Buhari, his major challenger and candidate of the APC in the election.

INEC has also continued to commit to free and fair elections in 2019. At a one-day national consultation with key stakeholders on importance of women in politics organised by Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC) in Benin, the Edo State capital, in June, Mahmoud Yakubu, INEC chairman, assured Nigerians that the electoral body was committed to conducting a free, fair and inclusive election. Yakubu was represented at the event by Blessing Obidegwu, deputy director, Gender Division, INEC headquarters.

But analysts say verbal assurances alone are not enough, urging Buhari, the APC and INEC to walk the talk.

“If antecedents are anything to go by, then we have no reason to believe any promises made by the Buhari government. How many of the promises made on the campaign trail in 2015 have been fulfilled today? Rather, this government and the APC turned around and denied all the promises,” said a Lagos-based public affairs commentator on condition of anonymity.

“But on this very issue of free and fair elections in 2019, Buhari must not renege on his promise if he still has any love left for Nigeria. Not doing so will spell doom for this country,” he said.

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Politics

Ekiti guber election: Sign of things to come?

A

Iniobong Iwok

s the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) continues to savour its controversial electoral victory in the July 14 governorship election in Ekiti State, which was contested by more than 30 candidates of various political parties, the manner the election was conducted and the ‘drama’ in the days leading up to the election continue to raise serious concerns ahead of the impending 2019 general elections.

A major worrying concern to political observers in the country is the increasing trend of votebuying by especially the two major political parties, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the AllProgressivesCongress(APC), all in their desperation to win at all cost.

There were reports of monetary inducement of voters by agents of both political parties with the intent of swaying voters to cast their votes for the inducing party. The amounts ranged from N5,000 to N7,000.

The Ekiti State government was also accused of offering each voter between N4,000 to N7,000. This was even as Ekiti State workers and pensioners, who had been owed several months’ salaries, were reported to have received alert of N7,000 a day before the election.

This trend has dented the credibility of the governorship election and is also capable of undermining the electoral process in the country, while promoting irresponsiveandbadgovernance.

Speaking on the prevalence of vote-buying in the Ekiti election, Muhammed Haruna, INEC National Commissioner and Member, Information and Voter EducationCommitteeofthecom-

Kayode Fayemi mission, said the trend was worrisome ahead of future elections.

“The Commission reviewed the conduct of the July 14 governorship election in Ekiti State and preparations for the September 22, 2018 Osun governorship election. It noted the satisfactory conduct of the Ekiti governorship election as attested to by both domestic and international observers, the media and other stakeholders,” Haruna said.

“The meeting also noted with deep concern the rising phenomenon of vote-buying during elections and restated its commitment and determination to continue to work with all stakeholders, especially the security agencies, to stem the ugly trend,” he said.

Yemi Kool, a chieftain of the

Kolapo Olusola Accord Party (AP), accused the ruling class for exploiting the masses, while blaming INEC for refusing to act.

“It is a worrisome. What happened in Ekiti also happened in Anambra, but the ruling party could not succeed because the governor was on ground. It portends danger because the mind of our people can easily be bought by these politicians who know they are hungry,” Kool said. “INEC needs to do more, but then, I don’t think this present setup of INEC would act.”

AnalystssaytheEkitiscenariois a pointer to what to expect in next year’s general elections. They add, however, that INEC must move beyond paying lip-service to the issue and prosecute political party agents involved in this act.

They say the practice of militarisation of a state before any major election with thousands of securityforcesalsocallforconcern ahead of the general elections.

This is because experience in recent elections shows the security forces could easily be used to manipulate election, while scaring away potential voters.

Sanni Yusuf, national chairman of the Advanced Democratic Party (ADP), condemned the militarisation of elections in the country, warning that it was capable of undermining the electoral process.

“What happened in Ekiti where the security forces were used everywhere as if we were in a warzone would not get us anywhere. This is a mockery of democracy. That was daylight

robbery,” Yusuf said.

“Nigerians should rise up. We should not condone this in next year’s election. We risk losing our democracy. Many lives were lost to get this democracy. Elections should not be bought by security forces. It must stop,” he said.

Wale Ogunade, an election observer and political analyst, however, supported the deployment of heavy security to the state, stressing that unlike in 2014 when the army was used to manipulate the Ekiti governorship election result, the presence of heavy security in the state this time around led to the smooth conduct of the governorship election.

“IwasinEkitiStatein2014when thegovernorshipelectionwasconducted using the security forces to manipulate the process and I think thistimearoundtheywerethereto maintain peace in the system and see to the smooth conduct of the election. We saw that no life was lost,” Ogunade said.

Some other observers, however, say INEC needs to do more to give credibility to election in the country by maintaining neutrality, while corrupt officials in the commission who have been accused of colluding with fraudulent individuals and party officials to falsify election results and diverting voting materials as reported in the Ekiti election must face the law.

“INEC is not doing enough.

We saw what happened in the Ekiti governorship election. They need to realise that they are the umpire; why can’t they arrest or sack some of their officials manipulating election result? Personally, I have doubt about the Ekiti election result and the way it was conducted,” A view which was also canvased by the National Chairman of the ADP, said Yusuf, ADP national chairman.

‘Only a credible opposition candidate can defeat Buhari’ Iniobong Iwok

A

presidential aspirant under the Kowa Party (KP), Tope Adefemiwa, has urged the current opposition coalition in the country to present a credible presidential candidate for it to stand any chance of defeating incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari in next year’s presidential election.

Adefemiwa, in an interview with BDSUNDAY, advocated

for a youthful presidential candidate who has no record of corruption charges, stressing that such a candidate would win Nigerians’ confidence in the opposition alliance going into the 2019 general elections.

“We must set out to present a sellable personality as the flag-bearer for the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) for the 2019 presidential elections. This will be a testament to the fact that this merger means well for Nigerians, both at home

and in the diaspora,” Adefemiwa said.

“The need for a youthful, intelligent and incorruptible flag-bearer for the CUPP cannot be overemphasised, as the question raging on everyone’s mind now that there is a formidable coalition is, what next?” he said.

He berated the President Buhari administration for failing to fulfil its campaign promises to Nigerians, while lauding the current opposition alliance against the ruling All Progressive Con-

gress (APC).

Adefemiwa pledged that if chosen as the presidential candidate by the opposition coalition, he would transform the country and initiate peoplecentred policies.

“Let me state categorically that it’s a great idea that the parties are coming together thereby providing the much-needed structure and impetus to wrestle power from the hands of the failed APC-led presidency; but it’s another score entirely featur-

ing the right candidate,” he said.

“I definitely fall under the category of the young, incorruptible, energetic and intelligent Nigerians capable of leading the country to the promised land. I believethatwhenelected,Iwould bring about the much-needed change in this country which will culminate in security of lives and property of all citizens and dwellers, bountiful job opportunities, unity, massive infrastructural development, sanctity and an end to impunity,” he said.

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AssemblyWatch From the Red Chamber

OWEDE AGBAJILEKE

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ll roads lead to National Assembly Complex, Abuja as the first ever National Assembly Open Week commences tomorrow.

The four-day event aims to broaden public understanding of legislative functions and processes, highlight the achievements of the National Assembly in promoting legislative openness, create a platform for interraction between legislators and key stakeholders as well as improve public confidence in democratic institutions, particularly the legislature.

Participants include state assemblies, civil society organisations/non-govermental organisations, private sector, media groups and organisations, committees of the National Assembly, re search-

Using NASS Open Week to launder battered image? ers/academia, traditional and religious leaders, development partners, ministries, departments and agencies, judiciary, trade unions/pressure groups, lobby groups among others.

President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to declare the event open as Special Guest of Honour.

This will be his first visit to the National Assembly since signing the N9.120 trillion 2018 budget into law. He had accused federal lawmakers of making reductions amounting to N347 billion in the allocations to 4,700 projects submitted to them for consideration and introducing 6,403 projects worth N578 billion.

A semblance of peace seemed to have returned to the National Assembly after a troubling start on June 9, 2015 which saw the emergence of Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara as Senate President and Speaker, House of Representatives respectively against the directives of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC).

As a step towards redeeming its battered image, the Eighth National Assembly will do well to use the programme to reveal to the public the salaries and allowances of individual lawmakers.

In March this year, the Chair-

man Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts Shehu Sani (APC, Kaduna State) had revealed that he and his colleagues received N13.5 million monthly as running cost.

Unfortunately, four months down the line, there has been no official reaction from the Legislature to either confirm or dispute the figures.

In the same token, the occasion will provide an opportunity for Saraki who doubles as Chairman of the National Assembly to come out clean on the alleged complicity of the federal legislature on the certificate scandal involving Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun.

A report by an online platform, Premium Times, had indicated that although legislators were privy to Adeosun’s fake National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) exemption certificate, ‘a National Assembly cartel turned it into a tool for blackmail’ by using it to coerce the Minister to keep releasing funds to the lawmaking arm.

That the leadership of the National Assembly is yet to speak on the matter a week after the story broke out, leaves much to be desired.

The just concluded week provided an avenue for members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senate Caucus to bare their

mind on the issue but it ended up becoming a lost opportunity.

Just like the NYSC authorities and the Federal Government through the Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, Chairman of the Caucus and Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, was evasive on the matter.

Responding to question put to him while addressing Senate correspondents after an emergency meeting, Akpabio, the immediate past governor of Akwa Ibom State said: “Well, certificate is certificate.

Whether it is degree or NYSC. Am I right? I believe that the Federal Government is on top of the situation. And as a Caucus, we can’t go into that issue.

“The Federal Government definitely will investigate the issue and come up with a report. As a Caucus we cannot go into that issue but you know the Federal Government will definitely do the needful if the allegation is true”.

Meanwhile, the use of federal might in the buildup to yesterday’s governorship election in Ekiti State is another justification on the need for state police. The same Federal Government that sent in over 50,000 security personnel to conquer the state cannot guarantee the security of lives of police officers in Abuja, let

97% vs 5% and senators’ grouse

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n October 2017 when BusinessDay published a story that 81 out of President Muhammadu Buhari’s 100 political appointees were northerners, the Presidency dismissed the publication as having ‘ulterior motives’.

But for the first time since the inauguration of the Eighth Senate on June 9, 2015, the issue of lopsided appointments by President Muhammadu Buhari occupied front burner, as its Committee on Federal Character and InterGovernmental Affairs was mandated to investigate the matter.

The moment President Buhari gave his infamous “97%/5%” speech while addressing the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) in July 2015, I knew where the President’s body language was tilting towards.

But it took the senators three years after his controversial Washington statement for lawmakers to probe the matter.

Shortly after Senate President Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki read a letter from President Muhammadu Buhari seeking approval for the appointment of nominees for the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency

(FERMA), Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu had raised concerns at last Thursday plenary that the President’s appointments w e re s kew e d i n f a v o u r a section of the country.

This, he stressed, breached Section 14 (3) of the 1999 Constitution which provides that: “The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few State or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies”.

Although the committee was mandated to submit its report by Tuesday this week, curiously the absence of the chairman, Tijani Kaura (APC, Zamfara State) and his vice are strong signals that Saraki merely made a political statement to calm frayed nerves.

A critical analysis of President Buhari’s confirmation letter read on the floor of the Senate between Wednesday, July

18 and Thursday July 19, revealed that the appointments are skewed in favour of a section of a country, as it revealed that out of 31 political appointments, the South East and South South geopolitical zone received three nominations each as against eighteen to the North and seven to the South West.

This is despite the fact that the headship of virtually all the security agencies are headed by northerners.

T h e P re s i d e n t ’ s a c t i o n i s l i ke a f a t h e r w h o t e l l s some of his children in the presence of the rest of his children that he loves them more than the others. When that happens, the disaffection that it will cause may lead to the breakup of that home.

The Presidency and the President’s supporters may rationalise Buhari’s action but the truth is that he has only succeeded in setting a bad president. Many commentators have expressed concern that never in the history of Nigeria had her citizens been so divided along ethnic, religious lines.

And this is mainly attributed to the unfairness that the President has displayed in office in the last three years.

I agree with the submis-

sion of Azuka Onwuka that: “The danger in this is that in future, a Southern President may decide to do something worse than what Buhari is currently doing. If any part complains, they will be given ample evidence of how it was done in the past by Buhari and many people rationalised it. In addition, a diverse country like Nigeria needs the President to take actions and make statements that show that he treats all parts of the country equally”.

It would later turn out that the President’s plagiarised inauguration speech that he belonged to everybody and nobody was nothing but a scam.

As senators proceed on annual recess this week, it is still uncertain if lawmakers will approve the N228.8 billion 2019 elections budget request by Buhari. With his supplementary and/ or virement request asking lawmakers to transfer the funds appropriated for the 6,403 inserted projects worth N578 billion to cover for the sum of the elections, the President has only succeeded in laying an ambush for them. He adopted the “command and control” approach rather than engage the National Assembly leadership.

alone protect citizens in the interior parts of Nigeria. If the Federal Government had used half of its energy in deploying security operatives to Ekiti State, in tackling rising insecurity in other parts of the country, cases of herdsmenfarmers clashes, cattle rustling, kidnapping, insurgency, armed robbery among others would have been history by now.

If there had been state police in the first instance, what transpired in Ekiti State wouldn’t have happened.

Thankfully, a Bill for the amendment of the 1999 Constitution for the creation of state and community police passed First Reading last week. The Bill titled ‘Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Alteration) Bill, 2018’ was sponsored by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu and co-sponsored by 75 other senators.

But like I observed on this column last week, except the National Assembly garners the political will to override President Buhari’s veto, the current constitution amendment may be an exercise in futility. The President has never hidden his disdain for proponents of state police, by extension restructuring. And I won’t be surprised if he declines assent to the bill when eventually passed.

From the Green House With

KEHINDE AKINTOLA With only three legislative days left to sit before they embark on long recess, I do not see the p o s s i b i l i t y o f l a w m a ke r s approving the request now.

This is because in line with parliamentary practice, such Executive Communication will be slated on the O rd e r P a p e r a f t e r w h i c h it will be referred to the relevant committee, which will then invite the agencies concerned and submit i t s re p o r t t o p l e n a r y f o r adoption.

I won’t be surprised if lawmakers throw a joker by removing some projects from the budgetary allocations to the two other arms: Executive and Judiciary and present same as 2019 elections budget.

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Sunday 22 July 2018

Perspective

The hashtag revolution gaining ground

Africa’s millennials are using technology to drive change ELENI MOURDOUKOUTAS

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hen some 276 teenage girls were kidnapped from their boarding school in northeastern Nigeria in April 2014, Oby Ezekwesili, a civil society activist and former World Bank vice president, was disheartened by the lacklustre response of her government and local television stations.

Ms. Ezekwesili and others decided to take to social media to demand action from the government. They emphasized their point with a march to the national assembly in the capital, Abuja.

Within three weeks, the “Bring Back Our Girls” campaign put the girls’ kidnapping front and centre on the world stage: the Twitter hashtag had been used over one million times, including by notable influencers former US first lady Michelle Obama and girls’ rights activist and Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai. The grassroots movement proved instrumental in pressuring the Nigerian government to acknowledge the kidnapping and to commit more resources to rescuing the girls.

Te c h n o l o g y a n d y o u n g people Beginning with the Arab Spring in 2011, young Africans have been using technology to mobilise around issues affecting them. Images of young Africans assembled in protest, mobilising around hashtags, are now commonplace on Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms.

Professor Alcinda Honwana, inter-regional advisor on social development policy at the United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs, cites the immediacy of social media as a key factor in mobilising large numbers of people and catalysing change.

“Without the internet and social media, it would be very difficult to organise a huge rally in 48 hours,” Prof.

Honwana told Africa Renewal in an interview. Social media enables organizers to have a major impact on society, she said, “because you can assemble large numbers of society very quickly and differently from what you would do when you had to go to the streets or knock on doors or put up flyers.”

Young people’s political

Young people are using technology to change society.

activism probably safeguarded the integrity of the 2016 election in The Gambia. They began using the hashtag #GambiaHasDecided when former president Yahya Jammeh refused to vacate his office and hand over power after suffering electoral defeat. In addition to spreading the word over Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, the anti-Jammeh campaign also encouraged citizens to wear T-shirts bearing the slogan.

“Social media has forever changed the dynamics of politics in Africa,” Raffie Diab, one of the campaign’s founding leaders, told Africa Renewal.

In October 2014, young people organised over social media against Blaise Compaoré, then president of Burkina Faso, who was planning to change the cons t i t u t i o n t o a l l ow h i m t o run for another two terms, thereby extending his 27year tenure.

The emergence of the movements Ça suffit (That’s Enough) and Le balai citoyen (the Citizen’s Broom) marked the first time since the Arab Spring that popular movements managed to unseat an African president.

Driving transparency Likewise, young people in Senegal have drawn attention to the country’s high u n e m p l oy m e n t ra t e ov e r social media, and their protests galvanised the population to vote out President Abdoulaye Wade in the 2012 election.

Just as citizens broadcast

the abuses of government with video and photographic evidence during the Arab Spring, Africa’s younger generation is taking advantage of tech-based strategies to drive accountability and transparency.

One example of this is Livity Africa, a South Africa– based nonprofit organisation whose aim is to amplify authentic youth voices and concerns, in part through its nationwide media channel, “Live Magazine” SA. Launched in 2011, the channel highlights issues that are overlooked by mainstream media, and it encourages government accountability via its weekly “Live from Parliament” segment.

Similarly, the Nigeriabased SMS and web platform “Shine Your Eye” facilitates public engagement with parliamentarians and other elected officials by providing access to their track records. By sending a free SMS message to the platform’s dedicated number or visiting its website, anyone can get detailed information on the record of a public official.

African leaders themselves are also now using technology to attract young people to their campaigns.

Voters under the age of 35 made up 51% of the entire electorate in the 2017 election in Kenya, and the number of voters in the 26–35 age range had more than doubled since 2013, according to data from the electoral commission.

Kenyan president Uhuru

Kenyatta maintains active Facebook and Twitter accounts, and his supporters say his modern communication tactics are “demystifying the presidency.”

In an unprecedented break from his predecessor Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s new president Emmerson Mnangagwa has wasted no time in engaging directly with Zimbabweans over social media, regularly posting comments on Facebook that address concerns raised by his constituents. Mr. Mugabe famously did not own a smartphone.

Mr. Mnangagwa is gaining popularity for posting short videos on his Facebook and Twitter accounts in which he encourages citizens to message their thoughts as part of a “new national dialogue,” maintaining that leadership is a “two-way street.” The digital approach is exciting many Zimbabweans who are eager to get the president’s attention.

While young people in recent years have become the most politically engaged on the continent, their involvement has been primarily through protests and activism rather than voting.

Negative effects Youth engagement with social media also has its negative effects. “Sadly, [social] media is not often used wisely by youth,” notes the Africa Alliance of the Young Men Christian Association, a leading pan-African youth development network.

It adds that, “Instead, in-

creasing reports reflect that young people use these virtual spaces as platforms for cyber bullying, violence and intimidation.” The association maintains that this is “an age of unprecedented access to explicit images and videos” that can have a harmful influence on the youth.

In 2016, the African Development Bank, a multilateral development finance institution, reported that by 2050 Africa will be home to 38 of the 40 youngest countries in the world, and that all 38 will have median populations under 25 years of age. Experts believe that the youth vote will determine election outcomes in a few years.

Campaigns encouraging young people to vote span the continent. In 2014, South Africa’s electoral commission launched the “I Voted” campaign, which encouraged voters to take a picture of their marked thumb and post on social media with the hashtag #IVoted. The hashtag boasted more than 30,000 uses on Twitter.

Not a cure-all However, Prof. Honwana warns that social media is not a cure-all for apathy. In the case of South Africa, the national South African statistical service reported that young people accounted for only 18% of total voters in the 2016 local government elections, despite those under the age of 35 making up 66% of the total population.

She asserts that while social media can be a useful tool for conveying the importance of voting, young people will not take up ballots over mobile devices unless they believe that their votes will bring about real change in their lives.

In the 2016 presidential election in the Gambia, for instance, young people largely supported Adama Barrow, who challenged Mr. Jammeh, because they thought Mr. Barrow would bring about a change in governance. “I just know Barrow will be different. He’s listening to us,” 25-year-old Gambian voter Haddy Ceesay told The Guardian, a UK-based newspaper.

Still, Prof. Honwana does not see social media as just a trend. “If we are talking about young people, I think everything that will happen from now on is going to be through social media. That’s where they live,” she said.

C u l l e d f ro m A f r i c a R e newal.

Sunday 22 July 2018

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SundayBusiness X-raying NEPC, Afrexim strategic push for $1bn Nigeria-Africa trade, investment profile The Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) and the African Exim Bank are designing a new investment pathway for the Nigerian economy, with a strategic push to launch $1 billion Nigeria-Africa Investment Programme at the upcoming Africa Trade Fair in Cairo, Egypt, later in the year. HARRISON EDEH writes on the benefits and the imperatives of the agreement, and other issues germane to the African development agenda.

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igeria, Africa’s largest economy, with about the largest share capital in the Afrexim Bank is working towards expanding its investment at home, and is set to explore that advantage at the upcoming intraAfrican trade fair coming up in Cairo later in the year.

The economy is already consolidating owing largely to Nigeria’s ease of doing business drive and several other initiatives of the Federal Government to attract investments into the economy.

For instance, in the first quarter of 2018, energy, oil and gas alongside manufacturing accounted for over $6.3 billion investment inflows.

Specifically, in the year 2016, the total capital inflow was $5.4 billion in 2017, there was a material increase in the volume of flows, and it was $12.4 billion.

Also, in 2018, actual capital flows translated to $6.3 billion. The investment inflow in the first quarter of 2018 is more than all the flows that came in 2016, signalling that this year is going to be far better than the previous years. Also, 112 projects were tracked in 26 states of the federation and Federal Capital Territory.

In line with these Investment attractions, the Nigeria Export Promotion Council working closely with the African Export-Import Bank has announced plans to launch a $1 billion Nigeria-African Trade and Investment Promotion Programme (NAPTIP), which will promote trade in goods, and services while providing risk mitigation instruments that support trade between Nigeria and other African countries.

NAPTIP is being proposed to support finance of transactions including those that will be concluded at the intra-Africa Trade Fair (IATF) holding in Egypt in December this year, Kanayo Awani, who is the managing director, Intra-African Trade Initiative at Afreximbank said.

Awani spoke in Abuja last Monday at the IATA engagement session ahead of the trade fair, which is hoped, would transform the way African countries deal with each other with respect to trade issues.

She said Africa could do much more in terms of trade but needed to address huge infrastructure challenges, which had been a major impediment to Intra-African trade.

Lack of access to trade and market information was another huge challenge.

She said the situation was better illustrated by the bank’s recent survey, which revealed for instance, that Mauritius and Nigeria import leather from Italy and Belgium at

Segun Awolowo

much higher cost when compared with South Africa and Botswana who were also cheaper product exporters.

In his earlier speech at a panel session, Benedict Okechukwu Oramah, president of the board of Afrexim Bank, said the bank was targeting $25bn intra-African trade deals at the upcoming Intra-African Trade to be held in Cairo.

Oramah said the bank was determined to support various initiatives that would drive Intra-African trade, as he also pledged to incentivise companies and multi-laterals that would support the fair with subsidised pavilion stands.

“Trade fair presents a big opportunity to promote trade relations in Africa, linking and match-making African businesses through .We expect more than 1,000 exhibitors, 70,000 visitors, and we are expecting ‘B2B’ meetings of various companies properly integrating their trade deals with other companies and various regions coming in more stronger.”

Also, he said, “Multi-companies are also expected to have their pavilions wherein, where they would also have opportunities of linking properly with MSMES. ”We are working towards a Pan-African payment platform that would address concerns of multiple currencies among various business deals in the continent” Albert Muchanga, commissioner for trade and industry, African

Union, at the panel, assured that the political will to get things right was now available with various African leaders getting more committed to Pan-African issues.

“Political independence without economic independence is meaningless. African community economic blueprint is being worked on assiduously. The Establishment of the Continental Free Trade Area is a major leap in driving Intra-African Trade and you could see the reaction of various African countries wherein up to 44 countries signed up to it at in March. Currently now 49 countries have signed and six are waiting to join soonest,” he said.

According to the African Union representative, “Some of concerns we are dealing with are on market information. We are working assiduously on providing the needed information to all stakeholders to enhance trade relations.

“On Infrastructure improvement, we are considering and working towards having Air Africa which would basically be having a single airline for the African continent to facilitate Intra-African trade.”

Also, Abba Bello, the NEXIM Bank managing director, said, “Nigeria needs to play more in the Intra-African trade, and on the NEXIM bank, we are working on providing market information .In Europe, South America, Intra-Trade has deepened, and we are expanding the frontiers of our intra-African trade relations.

“We are also initiating initiatives to support infrastructure. We are working on supporting road transportation while working on financing and supporting export trading of Nigerian businesses.”

Also speaking at the panel, Jali Ibrahim who represented the President, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture urged the bank not to neglect Micro Small and Medium Enterprises.

“Most often when you look at big banking corporations in Africa,supporting big businesses while neglecting small enterprises.

But the big businesses don’t really lift majority of people out of poverty.

“NACCIMA key focus is on organizing Trade fair, and understands the key challenges of small scale industries. You cannot under estimate the impact of small-scale businesses. Market access strategy is very important, and the Trade fair could be a big blow for linking markets and regional blocs.”

The United African Bank representative at the event Victor Osadolor, deputy group managing director, UBA, also talked about the bank’s vision to spread across to ensure an enduring strategy that assist financial inclusion in IntraAfrican Trade. ”UBA is happy with what Afrexim is doing to assist financial trade deals for African trade deals. We have offices in about 21 countries in Africa, and we are assisting buying and selling in various African countries assisting on exportation of goods and services across the continents among businesses” he adds further.

Most notably, the Afrexim Bank is currently working on a Pan-African payment platform that would see payments made through e-mobile transactions across different continental blocks, while promoting a lowly rate 12% Intra-African trade.

The pan-African payment platform would also see various African countries trade deals inter-connecting various buyers and sellers in their local currencies with their respective banks in hitch-free mobile transactions with their phones, while spiking the $3.3 trillion size market.

Speaking at a joint press conference on Intra-African Trade, organised with the Nigeria Export Promotion Council, Kanayo Awani, managing director of Intra-African Initiative said the platform would assist in capturing mostly small scale businesses and formalizing their trading activities.

Kanayo expressed huge concern that intra-African trade is still on

the lowest ebb, stating further that there are already efforts to increase intra-African trade among African countries.

Kanayo pointed out further that, “Informal trade is very huge and we at Afrexim bank are aware of that. However, we are working on a pan-African settlement platform to improve payment mechanisms for intra-African trade. The mobile transactions will help to formalise the huge informal trade. ”The Pan-African payment would also address concerns of currency, in cross-border trade. It would allow in buying and trading in your local currency. We are looking at launching it in December or latest first quarter of next year to ensure we formalize our trade deals in the continent” he said.

“The trade fair is one of our instruments in promoting the continental free Trade Area. We are trying to connect buyers and sellers together in the trade,” Kanayo said.

Olusegun Awolowo, executive director, NEPC, also expressed similar concern that Intra-African Trade is still low owing to a number of factors which he listed to include: “Poor infrastructure, poor freight connecting and port systems among others.

“Africa is not really trading enough with Africa. President Macron, you recall was here recently, and told us that we are surrounded by francophone countries. He told us it must be our strategy to learn French, package our goods the French way, and dominate francophone African countries.”

Speaking further on difficulties in Intra-African trade, he said, “It is easier to move goods from Nigeria to Paris Ports than even Ivory Coast because of infrastructure challenges.

“We in NEPC would be working more closely with Afrexim Bank towards having a freight and shipping system that would grow and improve Intra- African trade linking various continental blocs.”

The trade fair initiative being promoted by the Afrexim Bank is strategic in connecting the whole African countries together, connecting buyers, and connecting various regional blocks in the continent.

The advantage, Awolowo said, is that the trade fair will assist in promoting Nigeria’s trade brand, as the country is concentrating more on processed commodities, rather than just exporting raw materials.

Industry watchers say Nigeria should capitalise on the Trade fair and consolidate it’s position as Africa’s largest economy, while establishing linkages to other regional blocs in trading, light manufacturing and services sector.

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Sunday 22 July 2018

SundayBusiness

Pharmamax plans huge investment in cardiovascular therapies ...Concludes plans on instituting annual cardiovascular awards in varsities ...Applauds NAFDAC for sustained war on counterfeit medicines Seyi John Salau

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harmamax Nigeria Limited, a pharmaceutical generic marketing giant in Nigeria, plans to invest in broad range of cardiovascular remedies before the end of the year to enhance patient’s accessibility to antihypertensive medicines.

The pharmaceutical marketing giant also says it has concluded arrangements to partner faculty of pharmaceutical sciences to institute an annual Pharmamax Cardiovascular Academic Awards in select universities across the country.

The company is spurred by encouragements it received from numerous physicians and drugstores across the country on account of efficacy of its Pharmamax brands of Amlodipine and Lisinopril therapies in restoring health and saving lives of patients across the country. ‘’The testimonies we are getting especially from physi-

Ukah

cians in major hospitals across the country on Pharmamax Amlodipine and Lisinopril is encouraging and provide insight into what we need to do next,’’ Morgan Nwanguma, Head Public Communication

and New Media, said recently in Lagos.

Dropping the hint shortly afterreceivingtheprestigious Pharma Entreprenuer of the Year Award from the Board of Fellows of the Pharma-

ceutical Society of Nigeria, the KCH boss, said that with the acceptability of Calcium Channel Blockers and ACE inhibitors range of anti-hypertensive molecules by patients in the country, Pharmamax is committed to invest in broad ranges in other to provide physicians with wider options in prescriptions to varied heart related conditions and also to ensure that the greatest majority of Nigerians in need of these essential medicines are covered. ‘’Pharmamax has unique understanding of the needs of physicians and patients and that is why we focus on areas of high unmet needs and leverage our expertise to strive for solutionsthatdramatically improve people’s lives,’’ Ukah added.

Building on a remarkable track record of achievement, the KCH boss expressed the willingness of Pharmamax to fulfil the letters of its mission statement which is anchored on increasing access to a unique range of high quality products for those who need them most.

He also disclosed that Pharmamax provides access to a wide range of highquality patient-centric essential drugs in nearly every therapeutic area numbering over 50 generics at affordable rates.

Giving insight on the Pharmamax Annual Cardiovascular Award, the KCH helmsman said that his organisation is desirous of encouraging students in pharmaceutical sciences in Nigerian universities especially those who have interest in contributing to on-going research and discussions in cardiovascular related conditions to achieve resounding successes.

He explained that the award which is planned to take effect from next year is designed to recognise outstanding pharmacy students in their final year that distinguished themselves in providing unique answers to test questions relating to cardiovascular health conditions.

The overall best student, he further disclosed, would be rewarded with mouth-watering cash prize for outstanding

performance. Similarly, the Dean, faculty of pharmaceutical sciences of the recipient university will also smile home with a cash reward for his distinguished contribution in moulding excellent mind.

According to him no less than six outstanding students will be rewarded each year primarily to spur pharmacy students into paying more than ample interest in achieving high academic performance and excellence in the field of pharmacy.

On his company’s relationship with regulators and stakeholders in the health sector, Ukah said that KCH group enjoys excellent working relationship with PCN, NAFDAC and the ministry of healthbecauseofitspursuitof excellence and compliance in all its operations.

He however, applauded NAFDAC under the leadership of Prof. Moji Adeyeye for the determined effort to conquer the menace of counterfeit medicines in the country and also the commitment to re-position the regulatory agency for greater heights

guaranteed to last for the rest of their lives, no matter how long that might be.

Annuity for Life Policy has the following benefits: (a) Annuity pays the retirees as long as he/she lives. Imagine the Mandela

example. If he had retired at age 50, because he lived for 94 years, he would have received annuity income for 44years after retirement till death. (b) Annuity for Life Policy has a guaranteed period of

ten (10) years. The implication of this, is that if the retiree dies a year after retirement and he/she has just received one (1) year, the remainder of the retiree’s income for nine years shall be paid to a named beneficiary.

Annuity will pay your wage in old age Modestus Anaesoronye

U

fomba worked for 27 years in an engineering firm in Kaduna and retired in 2004, with a huge sum of money received from his company as gratuity.

But Ufomba, not understanding the risks of investment, having a been a civil servant all his life ran into trouble embarking on an unfamiliar business. He got a warehouse in Port Harcourt his state capital and went into rice business as a wholesale distributor.

Five years into the business Ufomba could no longer pay rent on the warehouse, or staff salaries or keep his vehicle running. All the money is gone and huge debts have surfaced and out of frustration Ufomba developed high blood pressure.

The little money left over was spent on hospital bills to take care of his health, and he

is no longer in business.

Fourteen years after, Ufomba is still alive but can hardly take care of himself and now depends largely on his children and relatives for survival.

If Ufomba had used his gratuity to buy an annuity product, which will guarantee him an income for life, he would not have any reason depend on other people for survival.

When we talk about annuity, many people think it is for only those who have worked in the public service or corporate organisations, or those who have pension arranged by their employers.

That is not true. It is for everybody who anticipates long life and a regular income in old age. If you are looking forward to a long life, then you need to have an annuity plan, so that you would be in a position to earn an income throughout your life.

George Onekhena, deputy commissioner for Insurance,

Finance and Administration at the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), had said, “Plan for your tomorrow’, old age, with life annuity.”

Onekhena says longevity is a blessing from God and so it should not turn to a course because of the lack of planning. “If you are blessed with old age and you die of hunger, you are the cause. Buy annuity today,” the insurance expert advised.

What is Annuity for Life Policy?

Annuity for Life Policy is a retirement instrument for retiring employees or people offered by a life insurance company.

Annuity for life policy is a type of annuity contract that provides, in return for a lump sum, a monthly or quarterly payment, starting immediately after retirement and continuing for the rest of the retiree’s life.

The contract is often purchased by retiring persons who want an income that is

L:R: Omobaba No 1; Dominic Okwuchukwu Martins, creative director, Amazing Klef Studio; Kate Jacobson, marketing manager, BBC World Service; Sarah Fox, art director, BBC Creative; INSA artist; Bebe Kiffin, producer with BBC World Service, and Adetoba Caf-Obasa of Boomerang Communications, during ‘Make More of your World Campaign’ at University of Lagos

Sunday 22 July 2018

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SundayBusiness Informal sector and mortgage market growth

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mongrealestatedevelopers and mortgage operators, expectation is high that the informal sector of the economy holds a key to the sectors’ growth. This is because, according to them, people in this sector have a lot of disposable income which can be measured in terms of their lifestyle, expenses, the kind of properties they have and the company they keep.

The mortgage operators have already come out with uniform understanding standards for this sector that harbours the country’s largest work force. This is a good step towards bringing the sector into the mortgage net. This is a good idea which is never in lack in Nigeria.

What the country, however, lacks is the will power to implement ideas as they evolve.

A few years ago, the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) packaged and launched a good scheme described then as a game changer for the informal sector operators. It was a mortgage product called ‘Informal Sector Co-operative Housing Scheme’ aimed at bringing that sector of the economy into the mortgage net to enable them own homes through mortgage loans.

The product with the theme ‘Affordable Home Ownership Through Co-operative Financing’ was launched as part of the apex mortgage bank’s efforts at bridging the housing demand-supply gap, and giving the vast majority of this class of Nigerians the opportunity to have decent and affordable homes.

The informal sector in Nigeria

Spiritonomics

Debo Atiba

www.spiritonomics.org

I

n life what is considered to be the scarcest commodity is an opportunity. Many times when one has the privilege of chatting with people about life, you realize what they are all waiting for is that big break, that singular opportunity that would turn their lives around. They spend time daydreaming, expecting the opportunity to land on them like ripe mango off the tree. Innumerable number of people have lost countless opportunities because they are waiting for that SINGULAR opportunity. Some have even wasted a fortune looking for that same opportunity outside the shores of their country. No doubt

comprises low income earners struggling to earn their daily living such as artisans, the road-side mechanics, the market traders, farmers and so on. Basically, these are individuals who do not wear suits, ties or polished shoes to work in air-conditioned offices, yet they contribute significantly to the national economy.

The National Housing Fund (NHF) scheme has always been accessible by only those in the formal sector, but by the launching of this new product, FMBN assured that Nigerians in the informal sector would be registered as bona fide contributors to NHF and become eligible for affordable loan to build, purchase or renovate residential accommodation.

Bola Ogunshola, who was the director, Loans Production/Securities Issuance and Market Development, at the time, explained that the loan facility under the scheme could be accessed in one of two ways, namely Cooperative Housing Development Loan (CHDL) and the Cooperative Housing Funds Loans (CNL).

The CHDL enables a cooperative society that has acquired a plot of land to develop houses for allocation to its members. The parcel of land should have title in the name of the society which would act as the facilitator on behalf of its members and in the loan transaction and would also facilitate construction of the housing units.

To qualify for this loan, the cooperative society must have been in existence for a minimum 12 months; the proposed estate must have good title that can be subleased to individual allottees/pur-

chasers of the housing units therein, and the tenor for the loan shall be 24 months with a moratorium period of 12 months at an interest rate of 10 percent.

CNL, on the other hand, offers individual cooperative members a mortgage loan to buy a house developed through the cooperative housing development loan or to renovate an existing one. Individual cooperator shall enjoy the housing loan at 6 percent interest rate repayable over a maximum period of 25years. “Cooperators shall make a down payment of 15 percent of the approved selling price/value or improvement as their personal stake in the loan”, Ogunsola informed.

Five years down the line, Nigerians are yet to hear of milestones or even the status of this scheme, giving way to the suspicion that it must have gone the ‘Nigerian way’.

Government, at various times, has adopted strategic policies aimed at integrating the informal sector into mainstream national economy.

Such policies include the promotion of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) , directive to commercial banks to engage in rural banking , encouragement of microfinance banking among others.

These policies are usually aimed at enhancing the contribution of the informal sector to the growth of Nigeria economy. Unconfirmed report indicates that the informal sector in Nigeria constitutes about 85 percent of the country’s total workforce. In terms of economic output and employment, the informal sector accounts for as high as 60 percent of gross domestic product and about 70 percent of total employment across all economic

Talking Mortgage with CHUKA UROKO (08037156969, chukuroko@yahoo.com)

sectors.

The informal sector generates about 6.2 percent of aggregate employment in the United States, 22.3 percent in China, about 50 percent in Israel and 80 percent in India which means that given the needed support and regulatory frame work, the informal sector should be a major facilitator in fighting unemployment and poverty in Nigeria. But this is yet to happen here.

In her speech at the launch, the then minister of housing, Amal Pepple, described the scheme as a significant step towards improving access to affordable housing to a considerable number of people who may not have the opportunity of owning a home, in their life time, unless they are assisted to do so.

“It is important to resolve the housing challenges of this important segment of the population who constitute about 60 percent of the productive labour force in urban areas; housing finance in Nigeria is encumbered; there is scarcity of long term funds for housing/mortgage finance; there is also unsatisfactory state of housing delivery which is accentuated by other factors such as high cost of land acquisition, difficulty in obtaining land title, high cost of perfecting legal processes and of building materials”, she noted.

The minister noted that the new product was remarkably different from the existing NHF; Estate Development Loans (EDL) for estate developers and the Cooperative Housing Development Loan (CHDL) which are for formal and private sector operators, adding that the new product has been designed specifically with the informal sector operators in mind to enable them to have access to cheap, reliable and affordable funds, with more relaxed condition for access.

Pepple hoped to witness the handover of home keys to the lowly placed in the society, urging all stakeholders including primary mortgage banks, estate developers and cooperative societies to lend their support to this venture in order to ensure sustainability.

But, from all indications, the scheme ended its journey with the minister’s closing remarks. The country has had other ministers since after Pepple and little or nothing is heard about this scheme.

However, Nigerians are hoping that with the drive by the current executives of the mortgage Banking Association of Nigeria, and the government’seconomicdiversification, the mortgage industry might be given deserved consideration and attention.

man can be taught in life is this, having this understanding of what opportunity is. The purpose of going to school and having a career should be this. No man or woman with this understanding can never be a burden to their society. They are always a blessing, they are celebrated and appreciated, and they are honored amongst their peers.

This should be the reason for living.

There is no man that does not have endless opportunity staring them in the face all day long, all year long. And there is so much joy and peace when you wake up every day knowing you are the solution to other people’s problems, or you are causing a change positively in your world. You can never run out of opportunity because you can never run out of problems. Every problem is a potential opportunity waiting to be harnessed.

Now that you know what opportunities are, you will bear me witness that they are truly endless. What this understanding does to you is that you will never view problems the same way

again, this is because if you avoid it or throw it away, you might be losing your God sent opportunity.

Look at every business on the surface of the earth today, it is all about problem solving, they don’t run away from problems, rather, they run towards it. No business exist for no reason, the reason for their existence is traceable to the problem they are solving. Joblessness is a problem that has within it wonderful opportunities to generate wealth if they are solved. Illiteracy is a problem, security is a problem, lack of confidence is a problem etc., there are myriads of problems in the world we live in today, and all you need to do is to look around you and take your own problem and turn it into profit.

My prayer for you this season is that the GOOD LORD will open your eyes to recognize the opportunities around you and grant you the Grace to maximize them in Jesus name.

Remain blessed. @spiritonomics

Endless opportunities opportunity must be truly scarce according to them, because if it is not scarce in your nation you cannot be searching for it in another nation where they think there is an abundance of it.

How do you find what you do not know? How do you take advantage of what you cannot recognize? That is a million dollar question begging for answers.

That is where the majority of the people have found themselves like blind men leading other blind men, you can perceive that their level of ignorance is second to none. Little wonder why only a few people are successful in life and majority are languishing in poverty or slaving the remaining days of their lives out. Without a change of understanding, without a rude awakening as to what opportunities truly are, they will all end their lives looking for that proverbial opportunity that never exists.

Now, what are the endless opportunities? Every problem you see and identify is an opportunity, it becomes your opportunity when

you take responsibility for proffering solution to it. Every product or service that you see that are in existence is your opportunity because they are begging for change.

Any product or service that you can see has become obsolete the moment they arrive at the marketplace. It becomes your opportunity when you take responsibility for improving on it. Without much ado, you will bear me witness that what we have going for us is nothing short of endless opportunities and possibilities. Every process of conversion from their raw state to your personal opportunity are always filled with supposed challenges, but that is the least of your problem. Most people are dissipating energy on what is not opportunity every day and they do not know. What is most important to you is the identification and recognition of what opportunity is. With this understanding, processing opportunity becomes easy.

The most important lesson a

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Sunday 15 July 2018

SundayBusiness Local food machine production for economic growth Food & Beverages With Ayo Oyoze Baje

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Benefits he quest for self-reliance in food production, processing, preservation and packaging can be fully realized when the issue of local fabrication of food machines and equipment is brought to the front burner by relevant policy makers as well as stakeholders and adopted holistically. Nigeria cannot be talking about sustainable revolution in the agric sector if we continue to import sundry food machines, most of which could be produced locally, if the enabling environment is provided.

The advantages are enormous.

The technological ingenuity of our local scientists, mechanical engineers, systems designers, food technologists, agric economists and even welders would be put to good use. Thousands of jobs would

Property Logic With Akhigbe Dominic

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ohn Locke FRS was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the father of Liberalism (according to Wikipedia).

John Locke died in October 28th, 1704. His quote cited above came long before his demise. Today; this quote has become more relevant in the narratives of property ownership with definite respect to Real Estate. No one demonstrates

be created. It would enthrone and sustain the culture of technological acquisition instead of distant dream of the so called technology transfer.

No country worth its salt would willy-nilly transfer its money-spinning technological knowhow to another, least of all Nigeria which has refused to use what it has(abundant natural and human resources) to get what it wants(economic stability).

Similarly, we would save scarce foreign exchange and reduce capital flight. Indeed, experts are agreed that if the near comatose Ajaokuta Steel Company which kicked off on July 13,1979 with a global contract agreement signed between the Federal Government and Messrs Tyajzh –Prome- Export(TPE) of the defunct USSR, had been seen through to its logical conclusion, Nigeria’s manufacturing industries would have reached a high level of capacity utilization. By now we would have been making more money by processing our cocoa beans, coffee, cashew nuts, cassava chips and sesame seeds before exporting them. This would strengthen their export value as well as the food industry’s value chain.

Unfortunately, we still import most of the machines required for virtually all the processes that would enhance food security. Apart from hoes and cutlasses, most machines needed for modern agricultural practices, including tilling of farmland, weeding, sowing, irrigation, crop spraying and harvesting are imported to the detriment of our national economy. For years, the Manufacturing Association of Nigeria (MAN) had asked the Federal Government for the lowering of tariffs for this equipment without focusing on the gains inherent in local production. Yet, the rolling mills,

thermal power plant and mechanical repair shops of the Ajaokuta Steel Company would have taken good care of production of several of these.

The missing link On paper, we have had policies in this direction. But lack of adequate funding and the needed synergy between the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources and that of Science and Technology, as well as Trade and Investment has led us to a situation whereby we depend on foreign technology to solve our immediate challenges. For instance, PRODA in Enugu meant as an intellectual incubator for our technological leap was frustrated due to lack of funds and sustained political will. As part of its mandate on Engineering Services, the Engineering Division of FIIRO was to meet the needs of research and development work in addition to industries and general public. But most of its noteworthy inventions and innovations are stalled due to inadequate fund injection.

If it had been fully funded as it happens in China, India, the United Kingdom and United States, the various designs and fabrication of Machinery and Equipment(M and E) needed to demonstrate the technical feasibility of completed Research and Development(R and D) would have been earning reasonable revenue. How many Nigerians know that it is also involved in cutting of various types of gears, machining of spare parts, production of cast components of iron and aluminum materials up to 200 kg weight? Glass blowing, refurbishing of spark plugs, electroplating of metals, metal forming, cropping, aluminum welding, heat treatment and foundry casting all fall within the

ambit of its core functions.

Amongst the machines locally fabricated are cabinet tray dryer, extruder, cassava mash mixer, solar dryer and cassava chipping machine. Others are oil filter press, hydraulic press for cassava processing, essential oils distillation plant and groundnut Sheller. Therefore, if the Ajaokuta Steel Company was in full operation the afore-stated would have been mass produced to fast track food processes that are carried out manually at the rural areas.

Types With the benefit of local technology we now have mechanized cassava flour production, production of fufu, dry milling of grains and legumes, fruit juice extraction, cassava-wheat flour composite flour bread making and instant pounded yam production. Others are soy-garri production, soy-ogi, soy-dawadawa, starch production, edible mushroom production and bottling and preservation of palm wine.

To maximize the huge potentials in this largely untapped sector of the food industry a lot still has to be done from both the public and private sectors.

Master plan The Federal Government should embark on assessing the areas of inventions and innovations from various departments of food science and technology, agriculture, agric engineering and related arms of engineering across the country and their financial implications for mass production. What types of food machines have been invented and fabricated? Who invented or innovated them-individuals, universities or research institutes?

Where are they located? What are their uses? Where, if possible can

we obtain local raw materials for their production?

In essence, we need to have far-reaching plans of a sustainable industrial revolution. We have to itemize the food machines we are currently importing but which we have the capacity for local production: Especially, for food production, processing, preservation and even marketing.

Human Capacity Development Without doubt, we cannot talk of food security and job creation without the human element. Instead of allowing the best of our brains to relocate to foreign lands, thereby denying our dear country the economic growth and development from their creative ingenuity, the enabling environment must be provided for the products of their intellectual energy to see the light of day.

We should identify local food machine fabricators who need bank loans to facilitate the commercialization of their products .Where necessary, industrial parks/ villages could be created across the six geo-political zones, equipped with stable electric power, access to Bank of Industry(BoI) loans, access to foreign markets and security for their ideas to thrive.

There should also be a workable synergy between food research institutes. The salutary aim is to see the areas where there are similarities in their inventions and innovations and what assistance the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology as well as Ministry of Agriculture could provide.

Baje is Nigerian first Food Technologist in the media

The intrigues about land titles

‘The reason why men enter into society is the preservation of their property…’ - John Locke confident ownership of any Real Estate variable without an unencumbered Proof of ownership to same. This is what is clearly referred as Title. If otherwise done; such a fellow only wallops in the illusion of real ownership. It is in view of the above assertion that we would take a cursory look at THE INTRIGUES OF LAND TITLES as a welcome back pack for our various teaming readers who have unavoidably missed us in the last two months when we consolidated on other very important assignments thrown at us by those who reposed confidence in our capacity to emancipate them from political emasculation.

Your darling Column that enriches your nomenclature with undiluted information about Real Estate and Property is back with new Property peps that are expected to help mitigate if not totally take away the usual harrowing hassles associated with procuring, disposing or managing your Real Estate derivatives.

Just keep hanging on to PropertyLogic Incorporated; your One

Stop Property Information Mall.

PropertyLogic Incorporated is a huge community that can serve as a profitable medium to reach your target audience. Do you doubt me? As far back as 2016, close to fifty thousand persons read a single write up titled: When Regularization does not come to the rescue on: www.govandbusinessjournal.com.ng /when-regularization-doesnot-come-to-the-rescue/ We are even larger today.

Just keep visiting www.govandbusinessjournal.com.ng/ propertylogic Incorporated and do not hesitate to reach out to us when there is need to reach your business target audience.

Now, let hit the ground running with this week’s business which is…

The intrigues of land titles (1) Even to the average Professional Consultant, Land Titles could be as confusing as advanced rocket science. It takes tact and meticulousness and of cause practice to be vast in the

wilderness of Land Titles. It is in view of this we have decided to scratch the surface but with sufficient information that can guide the average Property Owner to enhance your decision making process while dealing with your Lands and other Lands related Matters.

Land reciept Generally speaking, this is the most elementary document or proof of transaction that comes your way while procuring a land or landed property. The RECEIPT generally is actually your proof of payment for the Land or Landed Property under consideration. As basic as this is; the absence of it could pose a huge challenge in an effort to procure more superior Title from government agencies.

The receipt should be jealously guided once issued. In celebrated land disputes and litigations; the absence or inappropriateness of Land Purchase receipt has swung cases in very unpleasant destinations for parties.

In Lagos for instance, Receipts come in various forms and patterns. You could have

the “Agent Receipts” or “Family Receipts”. If you are dealing with an accredited Agent who has the mandate to act for a family (mostly in Omo’o nile lands), be sure you are ultimately given the revered “Family receipt” which is primus inter parius. Otherwise, some unscrupulous members of the same family could cut your joy short with the argument of not possessing the transaction thereby disowning the transaction. …To be continued Akhigbe Dominic.M. Esq., /Property Law Expert/CEO, PROPERTYLogic Homes Ltd Visit: www.propertylogichomeslimited.com for listed properties & Property information.

Call us on: +234-8034846294 & +234-1-2166914 Senior Strategic Partner, Prope r t y Lo g i c I n c o r p o r a t e d / Se a soned Business Coach/Columnist of The BusinessDay/Contributing Editor,govandbusinessjournal.com. ng <http://govandbusinessjournal. com.ng

Sunday 22 July 2018

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Equity Market Ecobank, Wema post N53 bn profit at half year 2018 ….share prices rise 33% and 22% YTD to outperform index TELIAT SULE

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cobank Transnational Incorporated‘s profit after tax (PAT) at half year 2018 rose by 36.6 percent from N37 billion in June 2017 to N52 billion same period this year. This is as gross earnings fell by just 1 percent between the period.

As at June last year, ETI group’s gross earning was N386.8 billion and that witnessed a marginal decline to N384. 6 billion as at June 2018.

The regional bank also recorded mixed results in its statement of financial position. Loans and advances declined by 8 percent from N2.9 trillion as at June last year to N2.68 trillion same period in 2018.

On the contrary, deposits from customers rose by 12 percent from N4.34 trillion in June 2017 to N4.72 trillion in June 2018.

Total assets rose by 2 percent while the total equity declined by the same margin. From N6.46 trillion at half year 2017, ETI’s total assets rose to N6.61 trillion in June this year. On the contrary, total equity fell by 2 percent from N602.59 billion in June last year to N587.77 billion in 2018.

“These results show the considerable achievements we are already making in the execution phase of our strategy. For the first half of the year the firm generated profit before tax of $213 million, an increase of 41% from the same period a year ago, and a return on tangible total shareholders’ equity of 20.9%. We

were encouraged with the levels of client activity we saw in most of our businesses and precisely in our deposit-generating franchise. As a result, customer deposits grew 12% in constant currency, improving the firm’s liquidity and ability to lend to customers. The enormous efforts we have made to improve asset quality is also paying off. We have started to see improvements in our credit portfolio, resulting in lower impairment losses for the period”, Ade Ayeyemi,

group chief executive officer said “Finally, on 14 June, we announced intended meetings with global fixedincome investors, following which, if market conditions permitted, would result in a 5-year USD denominated senior unsecured bond offering.

Despite positive investor meetings, market conditions were less benign, driven by the confluence of interest rate rises in the US and sell-off in emerging market debt. As a result we have held off on the offering until

such a period when conditions will improve”, Ayeyemi added.

Profit margin improved from 10 percent in June 2017 to 15 percent in similar period this year. Similarly, basic earnings per share rose by 27 percent from N131 in 2017 to N167 in June 2018. Meanwhile, its share price closed at N20.70 per share representing 21.8 percent year to day returns which made it one of the stocks that outperformed the All Share Index (ASI) as at July 20, 2018.

Wema Bank, also last week, gave an indication of what stakeholders should expect by year end following the release of its half year results which showed mixed results across board. Interest income remained flat at N25.4 billion in June 2018 as against N25.5 billion made in same period in 2017.

Operating income rose by 14.8 percent from N13.40 billion in June 2017 to N15.38 billion in June 2018.

Profit after tax trended upward by 28.8 percent from N1.22 billion in June last year to N1.57 billion same period this year. Its share price close at N0.69 per share last week Friday, representing an upward movement of 32.7 percent year to date, thus becomes one of the most performing stocks on the Nigerian bourse as at July 20, 2018.

Sell pressure still continue to guide stakeholders’ activities in the nation’s capital market as the All-Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Stock Exchange closed last week Friday with a year to date negative returns.

The ASI ended its weekly run at 36, 603.44 points as against 37,392.77 points in the previous week and 38,243.19 points on the last trading day of 2017, representing a year to date -4.29 percent returns. This time in 2017, ASI had returned 26.6 percent.

Only the NSE Premium Index, NSE Insurance Index and NSE Pension Index closed positive year to date at 3.89 percent, 3.06 percent and 0.30 percent respectively. Others closed in the negative territory year to date.

ETI appoints Akinwuntan as managing director

T Seplat Board approves 2018 half year financial results

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n line with Section 1.1 of the Rules Relating to Board Meetings and General Meetings of issuers, there is an obligation on the Issuer to notify the Exchange within twenty-four hours after the relevant Board meeting of the key decisions taken by the Board.

It is hereby stated that the Company held its Board meeting on Thursday, 19th July 2018 at its London Office, 50 Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5JH, UK to review and approve its Q2 2018 Financial Results for the period ended 30th June 2018.The results were duly considered and approved by the Board of

Directors and will be filed with the Exchange on 30th July 2018.

SEPLAT Petroleum Development Company Plc is a leading indigenous Nigerian oil and gas exploration and production company with a strategic focus on Nigeria, listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange (“LSE”) and Nigerian Stock Exchange (“NSE”).

SEPLAT is pursuing a Nigeria focused growth strategy and is well positioned to participate in future divestment programmes by the international oil companies, farm-in opportunities and future licensing rounds

he Board of Directors of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) is pleased to announce the appointment of Patrick Akinwuntan as the Managing Director and Regional Executive – designate of Ecobank Nigeria, subject to applicable regulatory approvals.

Prior to this appointment, Patrick was the group executive, consumer banking responsible for leading the consumer banking business across Ecobank’s global network of 40 countries, 36 of which are in Africa.

As a seasoned banker with over 20 years of senior and executive management experience, Patrick has

held several strategic positions for the Ecobank Group in Ghana, Togo and Nigeria. He had previously been a group executive director on the board of ETI and earlier as executive director in Ecobank Nigeria.

Patrick started his career with Ecobank, in 1996 as head of commercial bank and regional head in Ecobank Nigeria and since then he has held various senior and executive positions in Nigeria and within Ecobank Group, including executive director, retail bank, Ecobank Nigeria, group chief finance officer, ETI, Group executive director, operations b technology, amongst others.

Prior to joining Ecobank, Pat-

rick was a general manager, Spring Fountain Management Consultants, Lagos from 1993 1996; deputy manager corporate finance, credit and marketing, Manufacturers Merchant Bank Plc, Lagos from 1991 to 1993, and was a supervisor in Ernst and Young International (Chartered Accountants), Lagos from 1987 1991.

A fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountantsof Nigeria (FCA), Patrick also holds a Masters in Business Administration from the Obafemi Awofowo University, Ile lfe. He is an alumnus of the senior executive program (SEP) of the Harvard Business School, a honorary senior member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria and an associate of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria.

In line with our leadership and business continuity procedures, the outgoing managing director, Charles Kie, will continue to manage Ecobank Nigeria throughout the transition period and ensure a smooth handover to Akinwuntan.

Once again, we extend our sincere gratitude to Charles Kie for his tremendous contributions to Ecobank Nigeria’s development and wish him every success in his future endeavours.

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Sunday 22 July 2018

BrandsOnSunday SPOTLIGHTING BRAND VALUE

Beyond football, political messages greatly pushed at 2018 W/Cup Daniel Obi

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rdinarily, FIFAorganized tournaments are supposed to be engaging and entertaining, devoid of political or religious remarks or racism. They should be friendly and platforms for social engagement. FIFA has a principle of sports without politics but this, more than ever before, was tested greatly at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

In fact, sports and politics should not mix and that is why FIFA does not consider politics or political rivalries in awarding hosting rights. It also does not consider politics in grouping teams for matches. But politics and sport were seen playing chess and shaking hands at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The preparation to this chess game really started before the actual tournament in Russia.

Three months before the W/ Cup kick off, Britain had accused Russia of being responsible for the poisoning of both Sergei Skripal, a former Russian military officer and British spy, and his daughter.

Skripal acted as a double agent for the UK’s intelligence services during the 1990s and early 2000s, until his arrest in December 2004. On 4 March 2018, he and his daughter Yulia Skripal were poisoned in Salisbury, England. Following the trade of words between Russia and Britain, there were calls from stakeholders, including Alan Johnson, the former Labour home secretary, for England to boycott the W/Cup. England overlooked accusations and politics and featured its players and fans in the tournament. England was eventually eliminated at the semi-final stage.

When Germany embarked on

a journey to defend the W/Cup it won in Brazil four years ago when it defeated Argentina 1-0, its two famous players, Ozil and Gundogan who are of Turkish heritage visited Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in UK. The visit and pictures angered some Germans and reignited a debate over dual citizenship and national identity in Germany.

Report in the Guardian of UK says the pictures amounted to a PR coup for Erdoğan, who is seeking to extend his 15-year rule in a snap poll on 24 June but he is banned from holding election campaign rallies on German soil. “About 1.2 million people in Germany with a Turkish background are eligible to vote in the election”.

Some people who assessed the development, according to the report said it has “thrown up questions and invited misunderstandings”. It was “not a good thing” for the players

Fifa needs to come hard against political messages in order to sustain the game and avoid deep frictions

to pose with Erdoğan, another commentator said. Germany crashed out of the competition in the preliminary stage.

That is not all; American sportswear brand, Nike did not supply cleats to the Iranian National team this year. The decision followed the Trump administration’s plan to re-impose sanctions on the Middle Eastern nation. Some other teams wore the company’s cleats at this year’s games.

In a report, CNBC says “For many Iranian Americans, the World Cup is a rare chance to put aside the politics that complicate our relationship with our ancestral homeland and just enjoy rooting for Team Melli. Nike is dragging politics back into the picture and souring what should be a global celebration”. Iran also crashed out of the competition in the early round.

Also, Russia’s football commentator for Russia’s biggest state-run broadcaster, Leonid Slutsky resigned saying he will no longer comment World Cup matches for the station. He had earlier broken a taboo by calling President Vladimir Putin’s most vociferous critic live on air.

“However, his resignation comes only four days after during a commentary on Germany’s World Cup match against Mexico, Slutsky mentioned the taboo name of Alexei Navalny, Russian opposition leader who has been repeatedly jailed for organising anti-Kremlin pro-

tests. President Putin does not mention Navalny’s name in public, and it has been claimed officials and state television anchors on state-run channels are also forbidden to name the anti-corruption campaigner”, a report said.

During the World Cup, between Switzerland and Serbia, Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka who play for Switzerland celebrated their goals by crossing their hands into an eagle gesture which was considered as political statement. It is said that the gesture symbolizes the Albanian flag.

Though Shaqiri said the gesture was emotional celebration, but it is believed that he was showcasing ethnic Albanian heritage. The gesture could have inflamed tensions among Serb nationalists and ethnic Albanians. Shaqiri was born in Kosovo, the former Serbian province that declared independence in 2008.

Serbia doesn’t recognize Kosovo’s independence and relations between the two countries remain tense. Xhaka’s parents are originally from Kosovo and they are of Albanian heritage.

His brother plays for Albania’s national team, a report said.

Similarly, during the friendly match between Nigeria and Poland in preparation to the World Cup, fans had displayed Biafran flag at the Wroclaw, Poland stadium. Biafra was a secessionist state in Nigeria which existed

from 30 May 1967 to January 1970; it was made up of the states in the Eastern Region of Nigeria. It was rejoined to Nigeria by force. Since then some people in that region still nurse the ambition of secession.

Also, after beating Russia on penalties, Croatian coach Ognjen Vukojevic and defender, Domagoj Vida, were accused of giving “glory to Ukraine” which was considered as political message, but the defender said it was not.

The video posted online by Vida led to criticism from Russian politicians and a warning from FIFA’s disciplinary committee but the coach was relieved of his duties and fined $15,150 for ”unsporting behavior”. Vida was let off with a warning.

It is said that relations between Ukraine and Russia remain fraught after Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and its backing for a proRussian uprising in the east of the country.

The 29-year-old Vida previously played for Ukrainian club, Dynamo Kiev. “I regret that some media representatives have interpreted our communication in such a manner,” Vida said in a statement released by the Croatian Football Federation (HNS).

“It was definitely no political message, but a simple thank you for all the support from Ukraine, where Vukojevic and I spent a number of years”, he said.

It is commendable that France which eventually won the World Cup has more payers with African heritage and it never allowed comments about it to distract the country focus.

As FIFA tried to keep politics out of sports, the two elements deeply find friendship in themselves. But a day before the World Cup kick off, President Vladimir Putin of Russia thanked FIFA president Gianni Infantino and the football community for keeping politics out of sports.

His thanks may have informed by the Fifa decision to hold the tournament in Russia despite some oppositions and criticisms.

“I wanted to underline FIFA’s commitment to the principle of sports without politics,” Putin said during a FIFA Congress in Moscow while standing next to the World Cup trophy, according to a report.

Fifa needs to come hard against political messages in order to sustain the game and avoid deep frictions.

Friday 20 July 2018

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Sunday 22 July 2018

Arts ‘Whenever I work on wood, I think of conflict resolution’

Gerald Chukwuma is a celebrated visual artist who works with a multitude of found objects and uses African symbols and patterns in refreshing new ways. In this interview, his unveils to Obinna Emelike his passion and vision for art.

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Why the passion for art? did not start out doing art. Somehow, my parents did not feel it was a good course so I did not study art in secondary school.

Unfortunately my WAEC (school leaving exam) subjects did not include art, so I ended up studying marketing at the Nekede Polytechnic in Imo State and graduated with an OND. But, I was still doing my art on the side, making posters, cards, and banners for shows and doing small commissions. I did not feel fulfilled and started asking myself a lot of questions and became discouraged. In the end, I decided to re-sit my WAEC with art as one of my subjects and was eventually accepted at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka to study art. It was 10 years after graduating from secondary school that I was finally able to go to university to study art.

Can you recall memories of your university years?

When I went to university, I took a big risk because at the time, I did not know any professional artist, but I had a huge yearning to continue my studies. A miracle happened the first day I got to the university. I had traveled to Nsukka without my parents’ knowledge, and I had no idea how long the trip would take. The road was terrible and it took me over three hours to get there. When I finally made it to the Art Department, I felt I was in paradise. Everything was so intriguing. I was amazed by the beautiful art works and sculptures. I noticed a newspaper clipping on the student notice board, stating that an artist had won thousands of pounds in Osaka, Japan. The winner was Prof. El Anatsui and I was amazed. I did not know artists could aspire to have international careers and travel abroad.

That publication caused a paradigm shift in my thinking. Besides focusing on my studies, I began looking for competitions to enter my works.

During my first year, I submitted a work into a Red Cross competition in Lagos which focused on the theme of women, children and war. My piece was among the top works featured and someone offered to buy my work for N15,000 which was a lot of money at the time. It was heaven to me. I realized an artist can be successful and have a lucrative career.

Who influenced your choice of art as a career?

My biggest influence was Professor Chike Aniakor. He was ready at whatever time of day or night, to critique our works, teach and encourage us. He was such a marvelous teacher. In terms of color, my greatest mentor was Professor Krydz Ikwuemesi who taught me color and inspired me to get a first class degree in art. My final year thesis was on his Pan African Circle of Artists (PACA) initiative.

After graduation, I came to Lagos in 2003 and spent my time working on art, visiting galleries and exhibitions. I even submitted my works to the American Women’s Bazaar at Chevron at that time. I hung on to Chike Aniakor’s words “Never give up!” I remember visiting Signature Gallery and after looking at my work, they told me to get out. I was furious but determined, so I went back to my studio and started making new works. I went back to Signature with my new works and Rahman Akar, the owner, wanted to kick me out again – but when he took a closer look at my works, he was surprised and told me to come and sit down. That was my break-

Gerald Chukwuma at work in his studio

through. I believe God has a way of arranging things. One day, I wanted to print a poster and went to a local printer where I noticed a guy editing an art catalogue on his laptop. We started talking and it turned out to be Tayo Olayede, who was working on an exhibition with Jess Castellote of Pan African University. I used to carry around a stack of photos of my work and when Tayo saw my pictures, he introduced me to Jess. I did not have a car then, so I chartered a taxi and carried two panels and a painting to my first meeting with Jess at the Lagos Business School. When Jess saw my work, he said, “Oh my goodness, you’re good.” He accepted my work in his exhibition – which was the first professionally curated show I took part in. My first panel piece still hangs at the Lagos Business School. That was my first break. I met so many great artists through that encounter, and since then have taken part in many local and international shows in Nigeria, Holland, France and in the US. How do you create a hanging work?

Creating my wooden panels is a journey and an adventure. I get different types of wood depending on how I intend to work them, hang them on the wall and then sketch on them. I usually work on several pieces at the same time.

I try to depict different angels of similar themes.

I carve, burn and chisel the wood before I paint t and clad them with recycled metals of different colors. Whenever I work on the wood, I think of conflict resolution. I believe people create conflict; it is manmade. So, I ask myself, how can I get different panels to agree? Sometimes they match or do not match. What I like is the adventure because you do not know how the materials will juxtapose. I find this exciting.

What is your most controversial work and how did the audience react?

Audiences differ. In Nigeria, I have had people interested in my work but outside Nigeria, audiences sometimes get shocked. Some people come and look at my works for hours.

The reactions are very encouraging. My most controversial piece – was “Chop” (in which I featured empty plates and spoons). I was angry and wondering why are there so many empty plates and empty spoons in the midst of plenty, hence ‘’Chop’’. I am not controversial but I like to speak the truth.

Do you think it is important for artists to be provocative through their art?

Yes. Everyone has a role to play. But art is not just conceptual. It is also used to create fiction.

We should tell our story in different ways. It is important that we point at issues that we love and hate. Everyone is part of the community and has a role to play.

What do you think about conceptual art? Do you think there is a place for politics in your work?

Art is like giving birth. Not everyone gives birth to a soldier. Some works we give birth to are army officers while others are reverend fathers or teachers. We should use art to speak on different levels.

How do you decide on which art form to use to express a particular message?

I love to paint and have painted all my life. But I enjoy the texture of wood because there is structure. The adventure of burning, carving, chiseling wood gets me more excited than when I paint on a single canvas.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years time?

I have always thought about creating monumental outdoor sculptures. I do not want to work in metal however. I dream of making a sculpture

over 300 feet tall. It will come to pass. If I had resources I would do it tomorrow morning.

Beyond art who else do you love doing?

I love cooking. I find it so interesting. If I was not an artist, I would have been a chef. Imagine, I can cook up to 18 different types of rice, and then you can use rice and create different forms…the possibilities are endless. My best channel is the Food Network on DSTV. I love cooking for my family every Sunday. When I was young, I used to cook for my father everyday, and the whole family looked forward to my unique Christmas dinners. I would experiment with different ingredients. When I am in the kitchen, I never get tired; I can literally cook for hours. It is so creative!

What is your advice to young artists?

From my experience, I tell every young artist that the greatest advantage I had was that I never stopped working. Whenever I received an assignment, I would do three to four different works instead of only one. But many artists are in a great hurry. I believe that you must continue to experiment with everything you can find, even though the cost of materials may be high. I went to school very poor and lost my father during my first year so I had to work. Even when people discourage you, just go back and continue. When you work incessantly, you perfect your craft. That is what our masters have understood and taught. I had the opportunity to listen to Professor El Anatsui when he spoke to a group of us. He said “first you focus on the medium, then the medium begins to know you, then you become the medium.” This inspired me. I have come to understand that when you work with a medium – the medium becomes you; it becomes part of your life. That is what I have tried to do with my panel work.

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Arts ‘Nigeria lacks institutions, facilities that serve artistic production’

The Alter’ NATIVE Artist Initiative (ANAI) is a non-profit foundation for the promotion of visual art in Nigeria.

Its arts advocacy is practical with training, provision of infrastructure, and artists’ residency, as well as, facilitating the creation of new collaborations between creative practitioners and the local community.

In this interview, Aminat Lawal Agoro, arts programme manager of the foundation, shares her thoughts on why ANAI was established and its expectations.

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What inspired the creation of ANAI? he Foundation was borne out of a need to fill in the gaps in formal art education in Nigeria, build a bridge between local and international artists; and to establish an enabling platform where artists can experiment and create in a way that is collaborative with local communities.

Formal arts education in the country is decent. But it is not world class. ANAI seeks to fill existing gaps by bringing best of experts in the world across different mediums to train emerging artists and get them accustomed to global best practices. Also, Nigeria is very short on much needed institutions, facilities that serve artistic production.

We can all complain about the government not doing enough or we can come together and do something about the said gaps. ANAI is an expression of the latter.

Who will the Foundation serve?

Emerging artists who are finding their way, honing their artistic voice, as well

as, established artists who need a space to undertake their projects and also learn new skills and mediums. We will be holding residencies, trainings and workshops for both categories. The residency takes the form of free studio provision and aim to relieve an artist from pressure for a period during which they can focus on their practice and progress within their chosen field.

How are you going to make ceramics economically viable?

One of our principal objectives is to revive and develop the art of ceramics to a level compatible with international health and quality standards. To this end, we have a purpose built ceramics studio that is equipped for professional ceramics practice, with equipment such as kilns, various throwing wheels and slab roller. We will also grant access to the ceramic studio to interested artists for hire. What we want to do is to create a successful ceramics module from creation of the goods to creating demand to sale, and hopefully see it replicated across the country.

Aminat Lawal Agoro

Munachi, 10-year-old author launches two books KELECHI EWUZIE

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en-year-old Munachi Mbonu, a multi-talented author, recently launched two books in Lagos titled ‘Concealed’ and ‘Chidubem: A Child of Destiny’.

Munachi, who started writing at the age of seven, says her aspiration is to become a surgeon and a writer because she is interested in medicine and writing books.

She says she was inspired by her mum. “She likes us to do something all the time. She tells us to read and do review of the book. Before I started writing, I used to sketch a picture and write short story behind it,” she says.

At the launch of her two books, Munachi encouraged the young ones like herself to be whatever they want to

be because their destiny is in their hands.

The books were products of leisurely exercises by the Year Six pupil of Grande Oakbridge Montessori School, Osapa London, Lekki, which she wrote to entertain her cousins until her mother, Ifeoma, urged her to seek a wider audience.

Munachi said ‘Concealed’, centred on a group of young friends in school, was inspired

by TV drama series, Friends, while ‘Chidubem’, which features a boy who relocated from the village to the city, was influenced by her interactions with her cousins who had similar experience.

Ifeoma Mbonu, mother of the author, said she got her a laptop at the age of five, so she would sketch something and write a story behind it and everybody would laugh because

it was hilarious.

“She is a multi-talented child. Whatever she sets her mind to, she can achieve. She has been writing since the age of seven. When they are at home and are not doing anything, I make them to read and do books review for me. The boys will just sleep off because reading is boring to them. This is how she developed interest for her own book. I programme her activities, weekend she does games and extra activities, school time is school and we also make out time to read,” said Mbonu.

She urged parents to invest in their children first before investing for them because in every child there is always a talent.

Toni Kan, popular writer and poet, who was the guest of honour at the launch, disclosed that he started writing

at age 11 and urged Munachi’s parents to support her in her chosen passion for writing.

Kan shared how he ended up studying English at the University of Jos after three failures to get in for Medicine, adding that his love for writing had taken him all over the world.

“I wanted to study Medicine at the University of Jos. I was admitted for Chemistry the first time, then Biochemistry, then Microbiology. My uncle then asked what I wanted to do, and I opted for English. In the first year, we had a reading list of 48 books. I had read 47 of them,” he said.

“I want to say to Mum and Dad, this girl is doing something great; encourage her. I have travelled all over the world but I have never bought a ticket in my life. I get invitations from people because of my books,” he said.

The economic potential for it is immense. Every household uses ceramic goods: water closets, mugs, plates, coasters, tiles, the list goes on. We currently import all these items by hundreds of thousands of container loads to meet our needs.

That is billions of naira going outside to countries like China and other locations.

Imagine if we produce locally and that wealth could circulate and benefit exclusively Nigerians.

Why is the residency for emerging artists coming now?

Why not now? Clearly the need is there and it is urgent. This residency is the fruit of a years-long dream by founder, Peju Alatise who by virtue of her work has travelled the world and has seen what obtains in other climes. There’s a global mentoring and grooming chain for artists to experiment, grow and thrive and that’s how you keep an industry alive. This is missing in Nigeria. To answer your question simply, for anyone who cares about keeping the Nigerian art industry alive, this is necessary. It had to be done.

The Last Carver to be released in September

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owards the last quarter of 2018, Purple Shelves Publishers, Nigeria will be releasing—The Last Carver (TLC), a magnificently crafted novel written by Ositadimma Amakeze in response to the growing concern about culture continuity and bequeathal of traditional values to the next generation.

Set in pre-colonial Igboland, the much anticipated novel is evocative of the spellbinding effects of old-style African classics such as Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. It makes insightful use of proverbs and nuanced narrative flair that portray African lifestyle in its pristine stage.

“In the generous and colorful deployment of folk wisdom and culture lies the depth and strength of The Last Carver.

In this inter-cosmic world of man, masks, and masquerades where words are sent on gno-

mic errands are messages that transcend fiction to reality. This is whom we are, our own very story recollected in print”, says Chinyere Chukwudi-Okeh, Author of From the Crevices of Corps Hearts.

The plot revolves round Omenka who takes the centerstage immersing the readers, navigating through the intricacies of cultural ideals which the present, in all its romance with exogenous influences, must consistently recourse to in order to retain its characteristic glory.

Poet, novelist and a priest, Osita seems to have a knack for exploring ancient stories that have inexhaustible relevance and this trait comes to the fore once again as it did in his 2014 novel (Teeth of a Snail). TLC is another colorful feather in his prolificcareercap,onethatwould undoubtedly receive resounding applause from the public.

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Bliss with Nonye Ben-Nwankwo

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Sunday 22 July 2018

Email: chiwuagwu@yahoo.com Phone number (sms only) 08057511893

Ronke Oshodioke still my friend – Liz Anjorin

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espite the fracas on social media between two actresses, Ronke OshodiOke and Liz Anjorin, the latter has come to say that there is no ‘beef’ between them as Ronke is still her “friend”.

The two actresses had engaged on social media ‘war’ few days ago with Ronke chiding Liz and then the latter, responding by calling her “brainless act.”

In a recent phone interview with Bliss, Liz said she wasn’t ready to talk about the issue she had with Ronke while insisting she has moved on with her life after that episode.

“I am not ready to talk about Ronke. In fact, you should know me, if I am done with my ‘craze’ then that is it. I have passed my message to her and I am sure she has understood me.”

When reminded that her fans felt she shouldn’t have abused Ronke more so when the actress is older than her, Liz said, “Do they know my age?

Ronke is my senior colleague, my friend and my sister.”

Stressing that they fight will not go beyond this level, Liz said, “Don’t sisters fight?

We have passed our messages to each other. Why won’t I greet her anytime I see her again after this? Am I the keeper of my life? God owns everything. I will greet her very well.

“Let’s leave waste for LAWMA. I have reached a level in life and once I am against something, I speak out. I don’t care how it will seat in their brains or minds.

I have said my mind and I will not hold any grudge against anybody. It is better that way than to call two or three

other people together and we sit down and gossip.”

Liz also used the opportunity to explain why she had to go on social media to express her anger.

“If Ronke had started this behind the camera and called us one on one to talk, we would have trashed it.

But she went on social media. I really don’t want to say anything bad about her. We all have our issues and challenges in life.

“All this brouhaha is all about me and my shop and what I sell and the people I sell to. I have become the talk of the town.

I sell to the top clients including governors’ wives. One will come and if she is asked where she made her clothe, she would mention me. I do aggressive marketing on social media and it has helped.”

Liz also said she has not left her acting career.

“I am still acting. I produce all my movies. Owo Naira Bet will be released this year.

Then I will hit location for another movie.”

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unke Etti is one actress who is known for her sexy dress sense. She enjoys look good at all times and dressing sexily .

However, in a chat with Bliss, the actress who features mainly in Yoruba movies said she doesn’t dress that way all the time.

“I dress sexy but it is not all the time. It actually depends on the event I am attending.

You don’t expect me to tie iro and buba and attend a party in Lekki. The people in that part of town don’t wear such to parties. But then also, you don’t expect me to wear skimpy clothes and attend an event in Oshodi. It is not every time I wear skimpy clothes.”

An Economics graduate, Funke said she started acting at a very young age but couldn’t study Drama in school.

Giving her reasons, she said, “I was already an actor before I got the admission to the university. I had actually wanted to study Drama but it didn’t work out so I had to settle for Economics. It has been great. I give God all the praise.”

At the moment, Funke has added other careers to her profession.

I don’t dress skimpily all the time – Funke Etti “I not only act, I plan events and I do interior decor. But then, I don’t see myself quitting acting unless God says so. He alone can make me quit acting because I love the profession so much.”

Funke is also one actress who has managed to stay off controversy. Speaking on how she was able to achieve this she said, “So far, I have escaped scandals. I try to be careful. I will not say I am perfect and I will not say I am not. I am a family woman; I have children so I try as much as possible to stay away from what will bring scandal.”

Married to an abroad based husband, Funke said marriage is not a bed of roses.

“Marriage is not easy. I and my husband are okay. We tolerate each other. We are not from the same womb. We try to blend. Even people who are from the same womb quarrel.

It is all about tolerance.”

Fathia, Saidi Balogun unite for son

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stranged Nollywood couple, Fathia Balogun (now Williams) and Saidi Balogun were seen together at an event recently.

The once upon a time

power couple attended their son’s graduation ceremony and Saidi, earlier in the week, proudly posted the picture on his instergram handle while congratulating his son.

In his post, Saidi said, “My

son Khalid Balogun graduated from senior secondary school yesterday. It has been a great pleasure watching you grow from that little toddler to a big boy you have become. Just as you achieved this enviable milestone in your life’s journey, it is my prayer that many more of such milestones of greater proportion will become walk over for you. May your dreams come through and may your life’s ambition actualized without stress.

I congratulate you my son and pray Allah continually be with you as you embark on the next phase of your life. Congratulations Jamal, Znat and Haliya Balogun.”

The post and the picture in particular, attracted so many comments from fans as most of them, while expressing surprise that the former husband and wife could come together again, also wished that their union would be permanent.

Praiz hangs out with PH fans

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t was an eve- match, the X3M act singer serenaded ning of music, guests with lovely tunes off his album and fun, laughter he endeared more fans to his hearts. and more music in the garden city recently as Rand B sensation, Praiz, hung out with his fans in Port Harcourt.

The informal event, which was held at Higi Hagga Bar, was actually meant for Praiz to relate and relax with his fans as they watched the World Cup final match together.

And after the

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Entertainment Amstel Malta celebrates best World Cup moments

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he global tournament is over and there were a lot of highs and lows.

The final match of the competition which was between France and Croatia ended 4 - 2 in favour of the French team.

Amstel Malta , the official malt drink of Nigeria’s national teams, has a list of outstanding individuals and moments that brought smiles to the faces of many during the pressure filled matches. The game was not just about the round leather ball, it was also about beauty, fashion and style.

The BEST performing coach is Didier Deschamps, the third coach to win the quadrennial tournament as a player and as a coach. He won first as the captain of the France national football team in 1998 and now as a coach in 2018.

The BEST kit is Nigeria! The

nation’s home kit was ranked as the best in a sky Sports poll. It depicts the nation’s rich culture through its colours and design.

Cardi B, Beyonce & Jayz lead 2018 Video Music Award nominations ANGEL JAMES

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TV has announced nominations across all gender neutral categories for the 2018 VMAs. The list includes dozens of artists whose reach and influence have elevated music’s relevance within the cultural conversation. The VMAs will air live from Radio City Music Hall on Tuesday, 21 August across MTV’s global network of channels in more than 180 countries and territories, reaching more than half a billion households around the world.

Cardi B received nods in 10 categories, including “Video,” “Song” and “Artist of the Year,” and The Carters secured eight,

including “Video of the Year,” “Best Collaboration” and “Best Hip Hop” for their recent hit single “APES**T.” Other top contenders include Childish Gambino, Drake and Bruno Mars.

“It has already been a monumental year in music, and this year’s ‘VMAs’ will take things to a whole new level,” said Bruce Gillmer, Head of Music and Music Talent, Global Entertainment Group, Viacom. “The extraordinary group of nominees have amazed us with their talent and inspired us with their creativity – and when you get them together for one night, anything is possible.”

MTV’s collaboration with Instagram to reveal the nominees on IGTV with an all-star group

The BEST footballer dad is Cristiano Ronaldo. The Real Madrid and Portugal icon is the proud father to four wonderful

of creators is the first time an awards show has used the new platform in this capacity. With a combined reach of more than 23 million followers on Instagram alone. From live parrots to gospel choirs, workout videos to bathtubs filled with rubber duckies, each of the creators was tasked with revealing a category and its nominees in eccentric vignettes that emphasize that everything might happen at the “VMAs.” Beginning today, fans can vote for their favorites across eight VMA categories, including “Video of the Year,” “Artist of the Year,” “Best Collaboration” The 2018 VMAs broadcast in partnership with SKKY will air live on Tuesday, 21 August.

DStv Eutelsat Star Awards opens 8th edition

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CHINYERE OKEKE he DStv Eutelsat Star Awards is back following a successful Ugandan edition. This year, interested participants are expected to write a creative essay or design a poster on areas they believe the full potential of satellites, which are currently being used in a variety of ways, can be fully tapped or embraced for expansion and growth.

Since its inception in 2011, the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards has created a meaningful engagement with students, the academic community and the scientific world and has also given young Africans the opportunity to see their dreams come true.

Over 7,000 students have

taken part in this pan-African collaboration, while 24 students from all over the continent have had their lives changed.

In 2016, Emmanuel Ochenjele of Christian Discipleship Mission International Academy, Gboko, Benue State, emerged the continental winner in the poster category.

Uganda-born Amos Mumbere, who was the overall winner in the previous edition, is set to fly to Paris in a couple of weeks, and onward to French Guiana to witness a live satellite launch as part of his prize.

Similarly, Tajer Rasheed, winner of the poster category, has been in South Africa since July 15, as a guest of MultiChoice Africa where he visited the South African National Space Agency

as part of his prize. He also saw the heritage sites such as Nelson Mandela’s former home in Soweto, the Constitution Hill and Soccer City.

This time around, students between the ages of 14 and 19 stand a chance to walk in their footsteps by submitting their essay or poster to any MultiChoice office listed on the entry form.

MultiChoice and Eutelsat are convinced of the power of science and technology education to encourage young minds to positively change their world.

Their joint initiative, the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards, continues to inspire and excite young people across the continent to become involved and exposed to science and technology concepts, especially the satellite technology.

children and he is very protective of his family.

The BEST Nigerian player is Ahmed Musa. He is the first Af-

rican player to score two goals in a single game in two quadrennial tournaments. He scored two goals in the competition against Argentina in 2014 and against Iceland in 2018.

The BEST dressed coach is Gareth Southgate, the coach of the England national team and former player who played as a defender or as a midfielder.

He is the definition of elegance personified.

The BEST young player is Kylian Mbappe, a 19-year-old who scored four goals at the tournament - one at the finals and three at the knockout stage. He is penned to win the Ballon d’Or in a few years.

The BEST tournament goalkeeper is Thibaul Courtois. The Belgium goalkeeper made some great saves and six goals in seven games. He really made some great and unbelievable saves.

Harrysong, MC Shakara, DJ Big N credit deep friendships for their rise

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t’s a popular belief, especially among Africans, that friendships should be based on mutual love and respect, as well as a desire to see the other person do well in life.

That theme was made manifest at the recently held media launch of 33 Export Lager’s ‘City of Friends’, where a number of Nigerian celebrities revealed certain milestones they achieved courtesy of one friend that helped them get there.

Alterplate Records owner and performing artiste Harrysong recently disclosed who the one friend he has is. The 37-year-old musician (whose real name is Harrison Tare Okiri) chose his childhood friend, Design, with whom he grew up in the streets of Warri, Delta State.

Harrysong was speaking at the launch event of 33’s City of Friends in Lagos. He was one of the A-list entertainers that came to kick things off.

“Design is my childhood friend and we’ve been together…we always come through for each other”, he said.

Friendship has always been a core of Harrysong’s artistry, having had a long professional and personal relationship with KCee for many years, a quality that not many entertainers can boast of.

Meanwhile comedian Bash declared that he had a lot of friends, but he still pointed out a particular one named “Shakur” whom he revealed to be the driving force behind his tertiary education. “He was the friend that took me to The Polytechnic Ibadan- my first tertiary

institution, and then paid for my school fees’.

On his part, Mavin disc jockey DJ Big N identified his label exec Don Jazzy and Dr Sid (who is also signed to Mavin Records) as his two closest friends. He credits Dr Sid for bringing him to the record label in the first place where his talent was given a platform to shine. He also mentioned Don Jazzy as he individual who helped him get a car. “Don Jazzy literally gave me half of the money for my car!”

Another inspiring story was MC Shakara who told the story of renting his first apartment and the support he got from his friend Emeka Smith. “It was a one-room apartment but nevertheless it was still a house.

We saved up together to raise the funds. It took a long time to complete it but eventually we did… that’s a friend!

The City of Friends is an initiative of 33” Export Lager Beer as part of the activities marking the International Friendship Day. The campaign was set up to connect and share value among friends; which is a core characteristic of 33 Export Lager.

The City of Friends parties in Calabar will hold July 28th – 29th (at Municipal Gardens) and August 3rd – 4th in Lagos (Eagles’ Club, Surulere) and will feature the musical performances by 9ice, Harrysong, Simi, Kizz Daniel and Alabi Pasuma amongst other fan favourites. Veteran comedian, Gordons, is also billed to perform alongside Nigeria’s top DJ’s who will be providing the tunes to keep fans on their feet.

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THINGS TO DO IN LAGOS

Andrea Iyamah Summer Shopping Party Venue: 32 Adetokunbo Ademola Street, V.I. Lagos Date: 21st-22nd of July Time: 12PM-6PM There’s always some place to go in Lagos each day of the weekend; Sunday is not left out. Here are a few events that will interest you; Kiwito Cocktails launch Party!

Date - Sunday 22nd, July 2018.

Venue - Pub 1, 1, Adekunle Fajuyi way, Ikeja GRA. weekend continues on a Sunday which is why the fun never stops in Lagos

Dedicated to Digital (Beauty edition) Date – Sunday 22 July 2018 Time – 11am to 7pm

Sunday 22 July 2018

Sunday 22 July 2018

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BDSUNDAY 41

BusinessDay MarketPlace With Vortex Studios COO, Somto Ajuluchukwu

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Tell us a bit about Vortex ortex is a creative content company that is deeply rooted in the African culture, methodology and lifestyle. I’ll like to say that we are a story telling company too because we express our stories through animations, comic books and mobile games at the moment.

We started in 2016 and it’s been quite a journey, but we are excited about the growth of the industry and the prospects for the future.

Who is your target audience?

Our target audience is wild and majorly depends on the kind of content we are creating, but our key target audience is teenagers and young adults (16-25 years). But we have the younger audience, which are the kids. They are the ones our animated content appeals to (10-13 years).

And finally we have the audience X, which will be the few people who are above 30 years, but still have love for creative works, like myself.

What challenges do you face as a content business?

Funding!!! Not just funding for producing the content, but for selling it. Marketing is a huge chip on our shoulder. Making content that will reach the right audience and will please both your local and international consumers is key. We are trying to figure this out by working with investors, because the end goal for us is to sell out more comic books and increase our customer base.

How do you generate revenue?

Currently we generate revenue from a lot of client work. We have quite a number of clients across industries, from FCMGs, to financial industries, to household names and brands, which I can’t really mention now.

Another way we generate revenue is by selling our comic books digitally (online). We have a distribution with Amazon, Google books and a ton of online stores.

Also, we sell through YouTube.

Some of our animated content have picked the interest for a lot of people and those views have translated to cash. But one thing I can tell you for sure is that the revenue we are making is not enough.

What’s your drive to business suc-

and make money off them. We have the talent here. Infact on any standard across the world, you’ll be surprised how they will blow your mind away.

Once the international market can see this, we will start thinking about collaborations with companies like Universal, Dream Works, Marvel or Disney. It’s endless what the opportunities can be when it works out.

cess?

I’m really passionate about storytelling and I want my kids to grow up loving black superheros/characters. I want my daughters to grow up and fall in love with three girls that aren’t powerpuff girls. I want my sons to be crazy and thrilled about their culture and

all this begins from cartoons and comic books. Consumption of this content at a tender age, develops their minds over time to the kind of movies they like to watch. That’s one thing that keeps me going even through the toughest times in this emerging industry.

Another thing that drives my

passion is looking at the financial opportunity, the numbers are wow! You won’t believe how much can be generated from the animated industry or the value of animation itself.

So there is a very strong reason for bringing the international market and their needs to Africa, Nigeria, service them

How do you deal with Competition?

We straight up try to be better than them. A lot of research is done so that in generations to come, our content is still relevant. We study our competitors, we learn from both their successes and mistakes.

We try to stay ahead of the game by innovating, because you know you can’t copy innovation. This keeps us a step ahead. This gives us a better advantage because people trying to do what we are doing, exactly how we’ve done it, always end up doing what we’ve done. This is how we stay ahead of competition.

Another thing we do to stay ahead is our marketing. We are always thinking of smart ways to market our products, creative ways to collaborate and sometimes this involves doing it with our competition. This is an initiative that a lot of studios in the states adopt and eventually it’s a win win for both parties, because the credit is shared.

Where do you see Vortex in 5 tears?

I see Vortex in 5 years having atleast 3 major projects in the top 5 best animated or comic books in West Africa. I see us growing our fan base to over a million active users. I see us making toys, because I’m really fascinated about toys. Nowadays when we create, I’m thinking about how we can also turn them into merchandise.

I see us getting partnerships that will help our stories to be told not just in Africa but in Asia, America, Europe and the rest of the world.

Vortex will be a household name.

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Sunday 22 July 2018

Life&Living

How to get rid of mould in your wardrobe JUMOKE AKIYODE-LAWANSON

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ost times, when we hear mould, our minds never go into thinking that such disgusting looking things can grow in wardrobes where we store our clean clothes, shoes, bags and other accessories. We usually associate mould with dirt or spoilt food, but trust me, these things grow in the weirdest places and

can be a menace.

Mould is a term used to refer to fungi that grow in the form of multicellular thread-like structures called hyphae. So, it is very scary to know that there is fungi on the clothes that you wear on your body.

As a typical woman, I do have my wardrobe filled to the brim with a lot of clothes and shoes.

About a month ago, I went on vacation and came back to find this nasty looking things on my leather bags, belts and shoes and I started

to wonder how on earth they got there. My first thought was that my bedroom is as clean as possible, so how did these spores get in my wardrobe?

The most common causes of mould and mildew growing on walls and in wardrobes are high humidity, condensation and water leaks (which are often hidden inside the wall). Condensation forms when water vapor in the air meets cold surfaces and cools to become liquid. This is how to

get rid of them and make sure that they never re-appear.

Dry the air: since mould is caused by moisture and humidity, make sure that the air in your wardrobe and bedroom is dry.

Heat the air in closets by keeping a light bulb burning, if there is one in the closet. If not, try using a heater, a dehumidifier or use chemicals such as Silica gel (the little sachets that come in your new box of shoes or bags) to absorb moisture by placing them on your wardrobe

shelves or in clothes bags.

Stop leakages: You might want to get a plumber to fix any plumbing leaks as soon as possible. Do avoid moulds, you would need to do whatever you can to prevent rain water from sipping into your home.

Dry your clothes: Avoid putting damp clothes into your closet.

After washing, make sure that your clothes are properly dried before you hang them up or fold them into your wardrobe.

Move your wardrobe from the wall: Make sure that your wardrobe, if moveable, is not place tightly on the wall. Make sure that there is a little space for air between the wall and your wardrobe.

Clean it out with Vinegar: A bleach clean will be ideal to get rid of mould and mildew, but because not all furniture is good with bleach, especially polished wood, you will need to clean with vinegar.

According to cleanipedia , one should always test any product in a small area first before continuing.

“Mould should be treated with a 50/50 mixture of vinegar and water. This will remove the very outer layer of the mould, removing any black residue. To do this, simply dip a cloth into the solution and wipe over the affected surfaces.”

Never overcrowd: Don’t overfill your wardrobe. If clothes are tight up against each other, mould can grow from the fibres of one item to another, encouraging the spread of spores.

Elite Model Look: Celebrating outstanding models

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IFEOMA OKEKE

he roles of models across the world are fast changing. Before now, models were people who promote, display or advertise commercial products (notably fashion clothing in fashion shows), or to serve as a visual aid for people who are creating works of art or to pose for photography.

However, that role is fast being redefined as creators for product, places and even nation. Models convey various messages on subject matter and could shape thoughts of people.

This is why Elite Model Look (formerly known as Look of the Year from 1983–1995) a yearly fashion modeling event held by Elite Model Management, an international model management group has sustained its focus in promoting modelling and ensuring it retains global standards and practices across various countries.

Elite Model Look is used to discover and launch female fashion models in the international fashion marketplace, like the similar Ford Models’ Supermodel of the World contest.

Each year the contest attracts some 350,000 participants from roughly 70 countries in the world, with castings held in over 800 cities.

Contestants, typically between the ages of 14 and 22, compete in local contests for a chance to represent their country in the world final.

Notably, Nigeria has taken a cue from this and recently hosted the 2018 Elite Model Look Nigeria competition at Art Twenty One Gallery, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Olivia Edomonu and Nosarumen Awanbor emerged winners out of

1000 boys and girls who tried out for this year.

The winners were not only selected based on their photogenic qualities, their personality, and their natural beauty but also for their potential to correspond to current fashion trends.

The event was attended by several fashionistas and celebrities including, Omawumi, Rita Dominic, OC Ukeje, Mpho Laing, Bryan Okwara, Lanre DaSilva-Ajayi, Sharon Ooja, Udoka Oyeka , Michelle Dede,

amongst others.

The two winners joined other National winners worldwide and participated in the prestigious Elite Model Look World Final which took place in Europe, with hopes of following in the footsteps of Fei Fei Sun, Ruth Bell, Vittoria Ceretti, Greta Varlese, Benjamin Benedek, Mayowa Nicholas, Victor Ndigwe and Davidson Obennebo all discovered by the Elite Model Look contest and propelled to fame.

For the 11th consecutive year, The Elite team held various street

scouting around Nigeria and toured Abuja, Port Harcourt and Delta State offering a unique springboard to the girls and boys who dream of becoming models.

A select jury of industry professionals, including a representative from Elite Model Look, will judge the contestants.

Premium Champagne brand Veuve Clicquot partnered with Elite Model Nigeria for this year’s edition as they go on a quest to find models that would join top models in the Modelling Industry and Fashion space to do great things.

Veuve Clicquot is happy to once again partner with Elite Model Look and will continue to support the event” says Elizabeth Oputa, Moët Hennessy Manager of Champagnes and Wines portfolio.

“Veuve Clicquot is continuously appreciative of the success and support this event has received over the years and is particularly excited about the unique experiences that we will provide our consumers with the 2018 Edition. We look forward to maintaining a long-lasting relationship with Elite Model Look Nigeria as we continue to build together a culture that appreciates arts, fashion and lifestyle,” Oputa said.

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Travel Enugu, a city atop many hills OBINNA EMELIKE

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f you are a lover of serenity, awesome landscape and metropolis fun, one Nigerian city has it all. Of the five eastern states in Nigeria, Enugu State seems to be the most endowed in terms of tourist attractions. The principal town of the former capital of the Eastern Region and the old Anambra State nicknamed ‘Coal City’ is really a tourist haven.

It is adorned with a vast and appealing landscape dotted with undulating hills, lush green vegetation, highlands and lowlands.

The city offers same captivating scenery like Abuja; the Federal Capita, especially its great undulating landscape.

In reference to its glorious past as a major mining centre, the city is usually referred to as ‘the Coal City’ and was once an economic hub when the coal business was still flourishing. The relics of the old coal trade that are now scattered all over the city are worth seeing, especially during a visit to the Onyeama Coal Mine and the Okpara Coal Mine; the city’s two distinct coal mining enclaves.

Going by history, Enugu was and is still the home of the Igbos.

Till date, it remains a melting pot for the Igbos; a people reputed for travelling vast and wide.

One of the main indigenous people of the city is the Enugwu Ngwo people, who live on the hilltop with their farmlands sprawling all over the valley. The discovery of coal deposits in Enugu gave rise to settlements around the foot of the hills and as the population grew, the city expanded into the areas of other indigenous inhabitants. The city was called Enugwu Ngwo before it was changed to just Enugu.

However, citizens who take delight in being associated with the pseudonym of “the Coal City state,” are waiting anxiously to fete visitors with the hospitality and very nourishing local delicacies.

The art and culture of the people will be generously in display and as well as their proclivity in metal work, wood carving, cloth, and mat weaving. There is a lot of traditional entertainment on display across the town, especially on weekends and festivals. During these periods, the colourful Mwanwu (masquerade) lead the

Enugu City display.

The Mwanwu display is one of the most important and prevalent cultural entertainment as it cuts across all the states and towns in the eastern part of the country.

However, that of Enugu is highly revered because of its unique theatrics, puppetry, pomp, artistry and massive nature.

There are pockets of art shops and malls where many of the art-

works are on display. Even, a visit to some of the traditional homes could reveal a lot about the art and culture of the people.

A visit to the city will mean well for a visitor because of the good number of attractions that make sight-seeing appealing.

Two of such attractions are the Onyeama and Okpara coal mines, where coal was mined in the past.

It is a symbol of the city that has

however been abandoned for several years.

The mines proudly display relics of the mining era and the technology of that time. The National Museum located in the city also offers a glimpse into the art and cultural heritage of the people.

Enugu is home to many lakes, and a visit to the Iheneke Lake, a tropical lake with maximum density during the warmest season,

Enugu City

will worth a tourist’s while. During the rainy season, the lake cools and then cools further as harmattan period advances; offering a lovely place to rest.

But the mystery of Ogbeluke Lake will intrigue you because it is a mysterious lake of sort. As small as it looks, its water level remains constant throughout the year and it is home to crocodiles and many other water creatures.

You will, however, experience premium fun at the Nike Lake and Resorts, the biggest of the lakes in the city. The natural ambiance of the lake, the water habitats, boating activities and beautiful renditions of wild birds will thrill your sense of leisure. The lake offers a 240-room resort and is a lovely place for relaxation with friends and family. Its closeness to hotels makes it an ideal place to go for holiday or escape from the city.

Ogelube Lake is yet another, a tropical lake having desmids dominated phytoplankton with maximum density during the warmest season. During the rainy season, the lake cools, phytoplankton declines and dominance shifts to algae other than desmids.

For a closer communion with nature, a warm swim at Awhum Waterfall will ever refresh your hot body.

The waterfall stands over 30 metres high. Located in Enugu city, it has a cave just by the fall. The locals believe that the water of the fall has cleansing powers that could be used to keep away satanic forces.

The list of attractions is endless.

From Ezeagu Tourist Complex, Opi Lakes Complex, situated outside the city with lots of natural attractions such as sport fishing, boat cruises, picnics, to Ugwueme, Udi hills: a good locations for mountaineering, Michael Okpara Square, the National Commission for Museums and Monuments Complex, the Zoological Gardens and the Arts gallery at the Institute of Management and Technology, there are enough for the budding visitor.

Enugu new has an international airport from where Ethiopian Airlines connects its Eastern passengers to other parts of the world.

There are various airlines operating domestic flights to; Abuja, Lagos, Owerri, and Port Harcourt.

Before you leave, try the native delicacies such as ‘Okpa,’ ‘Ofe Agwu,’ Nsala, among others. They will delight your culinary taste no matter how sophisticated it is.

Hadur Travel &Tours wins Africa’s brand leadership merit award JOSEPHINE OKOJIE

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adur Travel and Tour has won the 2018 Africa’s best premium travel management agency award.

The award was presented to the company by the African Brand Congress at the 2018 edition of the African Brand Leadership Merit Award held at the Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos recently.

As the only brand selected from the travel and tour subsector in 2018, Hadur was picked for the award by the technical committee of the Brand Leadership Award owing to its recent

strides and innovation in building a brand that is in tune with international best practices.

Desmond Esorougwe, convener, ABC, explained that Hadur Travel and Tours has made an outstanding contribution to the development of tourism and agriculture in Nigeria and across the continent.

“Hadur has contributed to the economic aspirations of Nigerians and the transformation of African’s image in the International market while displaying a high standard of good corporate citizenship and social responsibilities. The award is aimed at celebrating Leadership, innovations and creativity in Africa. It

showcases brilliant minds and institutions that are delivering positive change and shaping Africa’s future,” Esorougwe said in a statement made available to BusinessDay. Olufunke Taiwo, chief executive officer, Hadur Travel and Tours, explained that the company’s sophisticated online presence is backed up by a good reputation has earned Hadur such laurel.

With the recognition, elated Taiwo expressed gratitude to the organisers for the recognition and ascribed the company’s success to its “ever-increasing number of satisfied clients, who give us challenging projects and

their post-service referrals over the years. We assured both existing and potential clients that we will not relent in providing personalised, exceptional, professional services for them.”

“We are set to further give our best to stakeholders in the tourism and the agricultural sector.

As a support player, we will go all out to use tourism as a tool to educate farmers in a practical way. Travel is an education and the best way to learn is practical exposure. Farmers need to take time off work to go on group tours to other farms, exhibitions, courses, training to other agricultural establishment as it remains a very smart way to grow,” Taiwo.

Aside from organising agricultural tours, the Hadur CEO added that it also provides actionpacked life-changing spiritual tours, stress-free and exciting trips to holy sites, exotic sites around the globe, inbound tourism, business training and visa assistance to selected countries among others.

“Though, we admit that doing business in Nigeria is challenging as the business environment is harsh but we will keep innovating and look for new ways to delight our customers. Hadur will never give up on exploring new opportunities because it is sure of a better Nigeria tomorrow,” she added.

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Sunday 22 July 2018

Travel

Fadugba suggest models for efficient airline connectivity, co-operation Stories by IFEOMA OKEKE

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ick Fadugba, the CEO, African Aviation Services Limited has suggested best models to adopt for Nigerian airlines to operate efficient and effective airline connectivity.

Speaking during the 22nd Annual Seminar & Awards of the League of Airport and Aviation Correspondents (LAAC) at Sheraton Hotels and Suites, Lagos, Fadugba said strong hub airports are the key to airline connectivity.

He noted that airline connectivity stimulates economic growth, adding that there are strong hub airports in East Africa, South Africa and North Africa, which account for most of the scheduled capacity in Africa.

He regretted that West and Central Africa have not been so successful in establishing strong hub airports, reiterating that strong hub airports enable efficient passenger and cargo transfers.

“Effective hub and spoke

Nick Fadugba, CEO, African Aviation Services Limited

operations multiply the number of city pairs that can be connected,” he added.

On how airline can cooperate to maximize profit, Fadugba noted that joint training, Maintenance Repair Overhaul (MRO), spares pooling, joint operations,

interlining, code-sharing, are essential for joint growth.

He advised airlines to overhaul current business plans with emphasis on unit cost, load factor and yield as well as raise more equity and capital to strengthen balance sheets.

SAHCOL wins ‘Most Efficient Ground Handling Company’ award

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k y w a y Av i a t i o n Handling Company Limited (SAHCOL), has been honoured with the award of the ‘Most Efficient Ground Handling Company’ of the year.

Also, Taiwo Olayinka Af o l a b i t h e c h a i r m a n o f SA H C O L h a s b e e n inducted into the prestigious Aviation Hall of Fame, at the Association of Foreign Airlines and Representatives in Nigeria (AFARN) Summit/Awards, held at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Ikeja.

According to AFARN, Taiwo Afolabi is an hero who is worthy of emulation, having given his all to grow the aviation industry in Nigeria, buying over and transforming a crippling company to the world class company that it is today.

Af o l a b i e s t a b l i s h e d SIFAX Nigeria Limited due to

his passion for development in the maritime sector and grew the company to be a leader in ports, shipping and bonded terminal, he then added Aviation to the Group of companies by purchasing Skyway Aviation Handling Company Limited from the government and transforming it to a company that has made its mark in Aviation Ground Handling , competing favourably with the world best.

SAHCOL was said to be selected for the ‘Most Efficient Ground Handling Company’ award due to the unmatched impact it has made in the industry.

SA H C O L w a s h a n d e d over to the Sifax Group in December 2009, after its successful privatization by the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Within this period, SAHCOL has invested in personnel development, purchase of modern equipment, infrastructural development and good customer services, which has helped reposition the company to meet the expectations and needs of its growing list of clientele.

Kingsley Nwokoma , the President of AFARN,

disclosed that the event was organized to induct great and legendary aviators in their life time, who have demonstrated uncommon qualities in their line of duties. Stating that they do not believe in celebrating individuals after they are dead, emphasizing that the survival and growth of the industry is a major concern and encourages professionals to remain steadfast in their safety consciousness.

SA H C O L , a w h o l l y indigenous aviation ground handling company provides Pa s s e n g e r Ha n d l i n g , Ramp Handling , Cargo Handling and Warehousing, Aviation security, Baggage Reconciliation, Crew bus and Executive Lounge services and other related Ground Handling services for World best Airlines, originating within Nigeria and from various parts of the Continent.

Meanwhile, Max Air has picked SAHCOL as its preferred Ground Handling partner at Kano and Abuja airports as it resumes its domestic operation in Nigeria. The contract is to provide passenger, ramp and cargo handling services to Max Air at these stations.

“Abide by air finance and lease obligations or re-negotiate rather than default.

In aircraft transactions, always take expert advice on structuring deals on the best terms - remember that the power balance is often with the airlines, not the lessors.

Win-win partnerships are a key to success,” he said.

On the challenges of Nigerian airlines, he stressed that Nigeria has a buoyant international and domestic air transport market but most beneficiaries, till date, are foreign airlines since the Nigerian airline industry is characterised by numerous small, weak and under-capitalised carriers who often default on their financial obligations.

He also mentioned that lack of airline business knowledge and acumen is a major constraint, which is manifested in the fleet planning, route network scheduling, aircraft finance and lease negotiations.

Fadugba further noted that lack of co-operation, joint ventures, interlining, manpower development and code-sharing have also been a challenge.

Arik Air, police pledge enhanced cooperation to boost aviation security

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he management of Arik Air has pledged to enhance its cooperation with the Nigerian Police in a bid to further boost security at the nation’s airports.

The airline said information sharing was necessary in order to curb criminal acts in the sector, stressing that without the collaboration of all security agencies, it would be difficult for the government to achieve security of lives and equipment in the industry.

Adetokunbo Adekunbi, the Senior Vice President Op e r a t i o n s , Ar i k Ai r, stated this on Monday when Danjuma Ibrahim, the Assistant InspectorGeneral of Police (AIG), Airport Police Command, paid the airline a courtesy visit at its headquarters at Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.

Adekunbi who represented Roy Ilegbodu, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the airline, said the airline had always taken security as top-notch since its establishment and

pledged to continue with the tradition.

He assured the AIG that the airline would continue to cooperate with the airport command and would not hesitate to share security information when the need arises.

Earlier, Ibrahim lauded the management of the airline for its continuous collaboration with the command. He noted that the report he received when he assumed office indicated that the airline had over the years supported the command and appealed to the management to continue with the collaboration.

Ibrahim also recalled that the Airport Command was previously headed by an assistant commissioner of police and later to commissioner of police before the current improvement to Assistant I n s p e c t o r Ge n e r a l o f Police.

He explained that his primary responsibility at the airport was to improve on the existing security network, a task he promised to fulfill.

Africa Top 100 tour operators awards to hold at 14th Akwaaba African Travel Market Epum Somtochukwu

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rganizers of A k w a a b a African Travel Market in collaboration with ATQ News, Africa’s foremost online travel news portal, have announced that the Africa Top 100 Tour Operators awards and recognition will take place during the 14th edition of the annual travel show and exhibition which will hold from the 9th to 11th September 2018 at the Eko Hotel and Suites Lagos.

Speaking about the Af r i c a To p 1 0 0 To u r Operators, Ikechi Uko, the founding member of the #TeamAfrica, who is also the organiser of Akwaaba African Travel Market expressed his excitement about the awards as he also shed light on the award for the Africa Top 100 Tour Operators.

In his words, “Last year we celebrated the awards of the Africa Travel 100 Women at the 13th Akwaaba Travel Market. During that event, top of the Class, great and industrious women who have established themselves in and are still driving the

growth of travel business from across Africa gathered in Lagos for that memorable Africa Travel 100 Women awards. The resounding reception, feedback and transformation that event set forth in Africa coupled with the massive acceptance we received from every country in Africa and beyond was great.

Today many Countries have set up Women in Tourism organisations and we are proud to have helped set it off.

“Our vision is to stimulate Intra Africa Tourism. We need to get at least 10% of Africans to travel within Africa. This can only work with the support of Tour Operators. We are going a step further this year to recognize and celebrate the core professional outbound Tour Operators who are at the fore of attracting and moving Africans outside their own countries to explore the abundance of the beauties of our Africa. “ Af r i c a r e m a i n s a great goldmine whose tourism potentials remain unmatched and untapped.

So you can nominate your Top 5 of such Operators.

Nominations should be ONLY for tour operators

who do outbound tours to other African countries.

Nominations should be sent to atqnewsawards@gmail. com before the 23rd of July 2018.”

Ac c o r d i n g t o t h e World Economic Forum’s Tr a v e l a n d To u r i s m Competitiveness Report 2017, “Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region where Travel and Tourism competitiveness is the least developed. Although regional performance has increased, it has improved less compared to other parts of the world.

“Southern Africa remains the strongest sub-region, followed by Eastern Africa and then Western Africa. Yet, on average, Eastern Africa is the most improved region, while Southern Africa has experienced a slight decline.

And that considering the size and the rich cultural and natural resources, the 63 million tourists visiting the continent in 2017 remain low.”

It is against this background that the Africa Top 100 Tour Operators were chosen. Only Destination Marketing Companies (DMCs) that market mainly Regional Destinations were selected.

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Health&Science Ogun state to focus more on primary health care RAZAQ AYINLA, Abeokuta

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gun state government has disclosed that deliberate attention will be given to primary health care, with special focus on maternal and neonatal child health, to prevent complications that could lead to secondary and tertiary care.

Babatunde Ipaye, State commissioner for Health, Ogun state made this known at a 3-day training for health workers in Advanced Life Support for Obstetrics and Neonatal Resuscitation with the theme “Multidisciplinary Obstetrics Structured Emergency Skills (MOSES), organised by the state primary health care development board, in conjunction with Adejoju Adeyemi Foundation Caring Art, UK (AAFCA), at mitros residences, Abeokuta.

Ipaye, said, “As a government, we are focusing on primary health care, especially in the area of maternal, neonatal and Child health because we will be able to reach virtually everybody in the state and it

will also prevent complication that will need secondary and tertiary healthcare.” “the training would expose participants to international best practice in the health sector and sharpen the professional skills of birth attendants, they have been selected from primary, secondary and tertiary health institutes, as well as schools of midwifery in the State,” added Babatunde Adenuga, special adviser to Governor on Health.

Also speaking at the training, Adejoju Adeyemi, the founder, Foundation Caring Art (AFCA), a consultant in obstet-

rics and Gynaecology, University Hospital, United Kingdom, represented by Adebimpe Motiluko, said maternal care is an important factor for measuring the state of health in any nation, this training will give additional skills to birth attendants, thereby reducing maternal and neonatal deaths.

According to the participants the training is well packaged and has exposed us to new knowledge in skilled birth attendance, maternal care and neonatal resuscitation, also updated our knowledge on how to avert maternal mortality in the state.

MTN donates medical equipment to COOUTH, Anambra SEYI JOHN SALAU

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ollowing the successful intervention strides of MTN foundation to the North Eastern part of Nigeria during the period of insurgency, MTN foundation has now extended its Emergency Ward Intervention project to the Eastern part of Nigeria piloting with Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital (COOUTH), Awka, Anambra state.

The medical equipment include digital patient monitors, stethoscopes, fracture immobilizers, laryngoscopes, aspiration suction machines, amongst others which will assist in delivering safe and affordable healthcare services in the state Joe Akabuike, commissioner, Anambra state ministry of Health, in a statement commended MTN Foundation for

the kind gesture, stating that MTN has provided the means for the state to cater for 24 hours emergency healthcare delivery. “It is better to prepare for emergency than to expect it not to happen,” he stated.

Some notable dignitaries present at the event includes Dennis Okoro, director, MTN Foundation; John Ndibe, Ag. Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Anambra State; Basil Nwankwo, chief medical director, COOUTH; Ebelechukwu Anukwu, chief medi-

cal director, general hospital Onitsha; Abasi-Ekong Udobang, senior manager, MTN Foundation; Victor OrieOnonogbu, manager health portfolio, MTN Foundation; and other government stakeholders.

The MTN Foundation Emergency Ward Intervention project train will move to Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki (FETHA 1), Ebonyi before concluding at Imo State University Teaching Hospital (IMSUTH), Owerri.

Oyo state sets to complete paediatric, maternity centre in 6 months AKINREMI FEYISIPO, IBADAN

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he state-of-the-art Jericho Paediatric and Maternity centre, a World Bank-assisted project of Oyo state government under construction, in Ibadan would be completed in 6 months, says Abiola Ajimobi, Governor of Oyo State.

The place would be a referral centre for health issues like tuberculosis, maternal health and child-related diseases.

The governor made this known during his inspection at the centre, the new paediatric and maternity centre under construction is located at the abandoned orthopaedic hospital, Jericho, Ibadan.

According to Ajimobi, judging by the pace of work at the centre, this project will be completed in six months’ time.

“It would be inaugurated latest by the end of the year to institute integrated and modernised health delivery services in the state, “Our government is striving to bring a good standard of living to the people and this is not possible without good health delivery,” he said.

Ajimobi stated that the project which he described as an integrated health delivery center, would rival the popular University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, in service when completed.

“We are known for modernising Oyo State. We are not only modernising the state through the education sector, we are also modernising the physical environment and more importantly, we are modernising the health sector” “The idea is to establish a hospital, where all health services would be made available for the treatment of various ailments” “We want to make this another UCH, so to speak, where virtually everything will be integrated, where any service you want will be on the ground when it comes to health,” he said.

According to him, “This center is another testimony to the fact that ours is an administration noted for projects. The governor however, assured the people of the state that his administration will continue to embark on life-changing legacy projects and programmes till May, next year when his tenure will end.

Support crowd funding to save cancer patients – Akeredolu YOMI AYELESO, AKURE

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call has been made for support of crowd-funding initiative of Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu, the wife of Ondo State governor to fight the scourge of breast cancer.

This call was made at a press conference organised in Akure to stress the importance of crowd funding as a way of assisting breast cancer victims in the state.

“No fewer than 10 women have been treated of breast cancer through the crowdfunding initiative of the Breast Cancer Association of Nigeria, BRECAN and many are still waiting to be treated, so we urged people to continue to donate money in order to save more lives” said Akeredolu represented by the chairperson of Breast Cancer Association of Nigeria (BRECAN), Ondo chapter, Toyin Ayimoro.

According to Ayimoro, since the launching of BRECAN in the state last year May, the organisation has moved round the 18 Local government areas of the state to sensitise women on cancer and steps to take to prevent it.

“In the cause of BRECAN’s sensitisation programmes, it discovered that a lot of women are living with cancer, we call on supports and financial aids to sustain the initiative in order that more women who are awaiting help can access funds from the programme.

“Treating the disease requires a huge amount of money which many families cannot afford, the importance of people contributing to the initiative, “she added.

Also speaking Aba Katung, a consultant and General Surgeon at Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Owo,

said, “treating a patient of breast cancer will cost N1.2million, which many victims’ families could not afford, there is need for government to subsidise the treatment to give breast cancer victims hope of living.

“I will not but appreciate the efforts of the First Lady of the State for shouldering a good percentage of the financial responsibilities of breast cancer patients who are undergoing treatment across the State, because giving the poor economy of the country; many victims’ families cannot afford the huge amount needed for the treatment of cancer,” Katung said.

One of the beneficiaries of the initiative Oye Temitope, a 41 year old said she was weighed down when she discovered that she had breast cancer but succour came when she was introduced to BRECAN. “I have never met the founder of this organisation, but she attended to my case. Today, i am a breast cancer survivor,” she added just as she thanked Betty AnyanwuAkeredolu, the team of doctors and other BRECAN members for saving her life.

“I want to commend the efforts of the First Lady for taking steps to save lives of breast cancer patients in the State. I will also want to appeal to the general public to give at least N200 to the initiative for the treatment of cancer patients which will help other victims to commence treatment immediately” “Treatment of cancer patients requires a lot of money that cannot be shouldered by the First Lady alone. We need to encourage her by donating to the crowd funding initiative,” added another beneficiary Grace Meroyi.

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Sunday 22 July 2018

Sports

World Cup finalists set to ignite new LaLiga Season Stories by Anthony Nlebem

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he 2018 World Cup final was unlike almost any other. There were six goals for the first time since 1966 and while champions France logically raced to Paris with the trophy in tow, Croatia were just as warmly welcomed back in Zagreb, having massively exceeded expectations.

In total, there were 11 LaLiga players celebrating their summer achievements the following morning, and LaLiga should relish the prospect of these players carrying their positive momentum into the 2018/19 domestic season.

Lucas Hernandez (Atletico Madrid): Atleti will be especially happy with the 22-year-old’s performances. Lucas began last season as Los Rojiblancos’ backup centre-back but played so well as a left-back following an injury to Filipe Luis that he was called up to Didier Deschamps’ France squad. In Russia, he picked up two assists, including one in the final, which will have made Diego Simeone gush with pride.

Sime Vrsaljko (Atletico Madrid): Lucas was included in many fans’ and publications’ ‘XI of the tournament’, but so was his Croatian teammate Vrsaljko.

The right-back was influential in

both defence and attack for his country, laying on an assist in an ever-present campaign.

Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid): Atleti will also be pleased that Griezmann, who has pledged his future to the club, was a key factor in France’s attack. As well as his four goals and an MVP award in the final, he demonstrated the kind of defensive commitment that those

at the Wanda Metropolitano love to see.

Thomas Lemar (Atletico Madrid): The Frenchman, who signed for Atleti from Monaco just before the tournament, was named on the bench in the final having previously featured against Denmark in the group stages. With Lemar joining Griezmann and Diego Costa in Simeone’s impressive attacking

line, Atleti fans are in for a treat this season.

Samuel Umtiti (FC Barcelona): The Frenchman’s defensive solidity was a real highlight but he also pitched in with a key goal, the only goal of the game in the semi-final vs Belgium. ‘Samu’ signed a new contract this summer, ensuring that Barça can count on his quality as they look to defend their LaLiga Santander title this season.

Ousmane Dembele (FC Barcelona): While not a starter in Russia, 21-year-old Dembele made an impact for the champions from the bench and his World Cup experience should help him further develop as he looks to breakout at the Camp Nou this season.

Ivan Rakitic (FC Barcelona): One of Zlatko Dalić’s team’s most influential players. The 30-year-old showed last season that he can play in a variety of positions and further demonstrated his versatility in Russia, which will delight Barça coach Ernesto Valverde as he looks to consolidate his midfield following the departures of Andres Iniesta and Paulinho.

Luka Modric (Real Madrid): The standout performer of the tournament and winner of the Golden Ball for the best player at Russia 2018. There is talk of him winning the 2018 Ballon d’Or and a strong start to the 2018/19 LaLiga campaign for Real Madrid

will strengthen his case.

Mateo Kovačić (Real Madrid): Modric’s teammate for club and country was an important part of Croatia’s run to the final, playing in the first five matches and helping his team to close out their victories. The 24-yearold is going into his fourth season as a Real Madrid player and will be keen to impress new coach Julen Lopetegui’s.

Raphael Varane (Real Madrid): Real Madrid’s representative on the winning France team added the World Cup to his honours list, which already includes four Champions Leagues, three Club World Cups, three UEFA Super Cups, two LaLiga titles, two Spanish Super Cups and a Copa del Rey… and he’s still only 25! Already one of the most decorated players in world football, he could finish his career with more medals than anyone in history, the prospect of which should see him attack the start of the 2018/19 LaLiga season with the same hunger as always.

Steven Nzonzi (Sevilla FC): The sole Sevilla player to get his hands on the World Cup after coming on in the second half of the final to help Les Bleus close out the match and to stave off the Croatian fight back. He’ll return with sky-high confidence as Sevilla look to improve on their seventh-place finish last season in Pablo Machin’s first season at the helm.

World Cup: Fan ID holders to get GOtv Boxing Night 15: visa-free entry to Russia till year end Houanvoegbe vows to punish Dodo

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oreign holders of Fan IDs they used to attend matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia will be granted multiple visa-free entry to Russia till the end of the current year, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday.

“I think we will do the following: foreign fans who have Fan IDs will be granted visa-free entry to Russia till the end of this year, multiple, and I repeat, visafree entry,” he said, adding he hopes foreign fans will use this possibility.

He said he had spoken about it with his foreign counterparts when we was congratulating the French and Croatian sides.

Putin said he would not like to recall “what was said ahead of the championship and how it was said.” “Let us turn over this page, let us speak and think about the good,” he noted.

“Naturally, I cannot but thank our guests - foreign tourists, foreign fans,” he went on to say, adding that the Russian side has also been warned about possible hooliganism from, for instance, English fans. “But all behaved perfectly well, demonstrating the best qualities of sports fans.

They demonstrated that sport and football can unite people on the basis of common principles and cultural and humanitarian values rather than disunite them,” Putin stressed.

He noted that foreign fans have had an opportunity to learn more about Russia and its people. “Millions have changed their opinion about our country and it is a great result too,” he added.

Russia had its first-ever edition of the FIFA World Cup from June 14 to July 15. Eleven host cities, namely Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan,

Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara, were selected to be the venues for the matches of the 2018 World Cup. The national football team of hosts Russia managed to make it to the quarterfinals stage of this world championship, where Croatia edged them out in a 4-2 penalty shootout on July 7 at the Fisht Arena in Sochi.

The FIFA World Cup Trophy went to France, which defeated Croatia 4-2 in the final match on Sunday.

epublic of Benin boxer, Franc Houanvoegbe, has vowed to make his opponent, Nigeria’s Akeem “Dodo” Sadiku, suffer when they meet in an international light middleweight challenge bout at GOtv Boxing Night on July 29.

The bout is one of the two international contests scheduled to take place on the night at the Indoor Sports Hall of the Obafemi Awolowo (formerly Liberty) Stadium in Ibadan.

Houanvoegbe said his low boxing profile will be an advantage, as Dodo will not know what to expect. He also disclosed that he involved in intensive training for the bout and intends to severely punish Dodo.

“Dodo is not likely to have heard of me. I like it that way. I’m coming to surprise him. He will receive the type of punishment he has never imagined possible.

It will be war,” Houanvoegbe said.

In the other international bout, the biggest on the night, reigning African Boxing Union, ABU, lightweight champion, Nigeria’s Oto “Joe Boy” Joseph will

defend his title against Ghanaian challenger, Nathaniel Nukpe.

Other bouts of the scheduled seven at GOtv Boxing night include a national cruiserweight clash between Michael “Lion Heart” Godwin and Idowu “ID Cabasa” Okusote, and a national light heavyweight contest between Daniel “Big Shark” Emeka and Sulaimon “Olags” Adeosun.

The event, sponsored by GOtv and Bet King, will be beamed live on SuperSport in 47 African countries. The best boxer at the event will go home with a cash prize of N1 million alongside the Mojisola Ogunsanya Memorial Trophy.

Sunday 22 July 2018

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BDSUNDAY 47

Sports

Delta ready to host Africa

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Mercy Enoch, Asaba

ll is now set for the hosting of the 21st African Senior Athletics Championship in Nigeria

by Delta State as the Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba, venue of the event billed to hold from August 1 to 5, has been completed and facilities installed just as the test-run of the facilities have been carried out.

The test-run of the facilities: The test run of facilities for the championship was done Wednesday, July 18, featured various track and field events by students of selected secondary schools and professional athletes from within and outside the country.

Kingsley Otuaru, Deputy Governor of the state, speaking at the occasion, said the athletes from 45 African countries including Nigeria, would be in Asaba for the championship.

According to him the test running of the facilities was in preparation of the championship. “As you can see, we are very set for the country, we are set for Africa. For everyone, both athletes and guests, as a state government, our simple message is that Delta state is set to give them a beautiful hosting; we are an accommodating people, everything that is needed to make this championship a success is set and we are welcoming them all”, declared the number two citizen of the state.

The issue of security is not a problem as the Otuaro assured that adequate security and other logistics had been provided to ensure a hitch free championship.

He explained that the test run of facilities was organized to prove to the world that the state was 100% ready to host the continent.

Flooding issue and cleaning of Asaba: Journalists who were at a media briefing held at the ministry of information on July 18, had expressed reservations over the issue of flooding in the state capital.

But the commissioner for works, James Augoye while addressing the issue, assured of the state government’s commitment to addressing all flood related challenges in Asaba, Warri and other prone areas across the state.

He noted that the state government had embarked on three strategic storm water projects in Asaba, assuring that

Barrister Kingsley Otuaro, Delta State Acting Governor, (2nd right); and Solomon Ogba, (right), Chairman, Local organizing committee for Asaba 2018, during the African Tour and the Test Run of Facilities at the Steven Keshi Stadium in Asaba.

Pic by BRIPIN ENARUSAI

at completion, the challenge of flooding in the state capital would soon be addressed at the project completion in February 2019.

He made them to understand that the current flooding challenge was not only caused by the quantum of flood water from rainfall but that the indiscriminate dumping of waste by the residents of Asaba and Okpanam communities contributes to a large extent.

He pointed out that with the rainy season, the challenge of flooding would not be over yet until the storm water projects were completed. He added that roads construction and drainage work were ongoing at various corners of Asaba in addition to the dualization of Okpanam road among others.

The government is on course with the ongoing storm water projects in Asaba and is determined to make the drains effective to evacuate flood waters in the state capital, assured Auguye.

He recalled that, “The governor in his quarterly briefing had said that the storm water project will not have much effect this year until 2019 when they will be completed.

“Apart from the high volume of water particularly from the Okpanam axis to Asaba, the challenge we have is with the people who dump waste indiscriminately into the water channels.

“The people have turned the drains to refuse dumps and this is creating a serious problems to us”.

He, however, assured that state capital would be cleaned

up within the week to make it presentable as the contractors handling the roads and drainages channels were working into the nights.

“We assure that before the contingents for the African Senior Athletics Championship will start arriving the state, Asaba shall be cleaned up and made presentable,”Augoye said Sports minister’s rating of Stephen Keshi Stadium: On July 12, the Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung having inspected the Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba, told newsmen that the facilities in the stadium were of high standard capable of hosting world tournaments.

Dalung who was conducted round the facilities by the chairman of the local organizing committee (LOC) for the event, Solomon Ogba, “there has been great and massive improvement on the stadium from the last time I came here.”

“I can confidently assert that with what I have seen here, our capacity to even host world championships is possible and this is because apart from the infrastructure, the equipment that has been installed and are being installed can serve and host the world,” he said.

“I must again, commend the government of Delta state for not only taking responsibility to host, but for this massive and durable legacy which the governor has invested; the sports community will live to remember him and his legacy and I am indeed impressed”, he emphasized.

He added, “this championship is an African championship and Nigeria is hosting, so, there is already existing partnership between the federal government and Delta State government.”

Explaining the nature of the championship, the Minister of Sports, stated, “this championship is a Senior African Championship, meaning that participants are professionals, so, they are coming here to either defend their titles or to upturn existing titles and make newer records and those who will emerge victorious here will emerge as African champions and they are going to take us to the next level.”

N500m raised in support of the championship: On the night of Thursday, July 13, more than N500 million was realized at a fundraising dinner for the forthcoming championship.

Zenith Bank Plc led the donors at the event with the sum of N300 million while Bube Dan, gave N20 million, Levant Construction N20 million, Gomene N11 million, Delta State House of Assembly-N7 million, Federal ministry of Sports -N5 million among others. Some corporate organisations and individuals made their donations anonymously.

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, his wife, Edith, Deputy Governor, Kingsley Otuaro, Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Sheriff Oborevwori, Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung, President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Ibrahim Gusau, among

numerous others attended the fundraising ceremony which took place at the Grand Hotel, Asaba.

“In less than three weeks from today, athletes from 47 African countries, as well as officials will begin to converge in Asaba for this historic event; it is historic in the sense that though this is the second time Nigeria will be hosting this event, this is the first to be held outside Lagos, Nigeria’s sporting capital because in 1989, Lagos was the venue for the sixth edition of the competition,” Governor Okowa said at the occasion.

He disclosed that he accepted for Delta State to host the tournament being organised by the Confederation of African Atheletics (CAA) in conjunction with the NAF, saying, the championship provides “glorious opportunity to further our agenda to regain Delta’s frontline status in sports by hosting this event.”

“Apart from being a dominant force in the National Sports Festival in the years gone by,. Delta State has produced foremost international athletes such as Tony Urhobo, Maria Usifor, Violet OdogwuNwajei, Sunday Uti, Blessing Okagbare and many others; however, in recent times, it does seem like athletics is taking a backseat, hence, our young ones do not see much hope in pursuing a career in athletics; we believe this event has the strong potentials to reawaken the interest and consciousness of the upcoming generation and motivate them to strive for greatness in athletics,” the governor said.

Continuing, Okowa said, “on our own, we have delivered on our promise; the Stephen Keshi Stadium is ready for the event; it was tough but, we got it done and the stadium is actually a beauty to behold.”

Minister for Sports, had in a speech, described Governor Okowa as a performer who saved Nigeria the shame of failing to host the tournament.

“If this type of stadium is replicated in every part of Nigeria, no Nigerian will pass through the Sahara to look for greener pasture because, they will be engaged; Asaba in future may host world championship because of the quality of facilities at the stadium”, expressed Dalung.

Okowa’s performance also attracted the accolades of the AFN’s president who in his address, described him as a blessing to Delta State, saying no one had hosted bigger championship in the country like the governor.

BDSUNDAY

NEW YOU CAN TRUST

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Sunday 22 July 2018

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Just before the floods

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ith the increasing devastating effects of the seasonal, flushing floods beginning in earnest in both Ogun and Katsina states, “the time to start taking concrete, pro-active measures is now. Not tomorrow. Not when the dams have overflowed their capacity and the rivers have swelled their banks, swallowing up the pot hole-riddled roads, homes, offices and shops. Not when casualty figures have risen to thousands before half-hearted, panicky measures are embarked upon by top government officials”.

That was the candid warning given by yours truly in an opinion essay as published in some dailies on 21st May, 2013. Apparently, few, if anyone of substance in government has heeded the piece of advice freely offered over the past five years! Now, the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has confirmed the initial assistance by NEMA, during his recent visit to the state, to meet with the governor, Aminu Masari.

Meanwhile, the death toll has risen to 52, with 90 houses destroyed, over 260 livestock confirmed dead and several people declared missing.

Property worth millions of naira was destroyed, as flood wreaked havoc in 10 communities of Jibia Local Government Area of the state.

Before then was the sweeping tide of the devastating flood that claimed 12 lives and literally ‘swallowed’ 3,800 houses in Ogun State.

Osinbajo has said that the Federal Government, along with the two states will look into the cause of the flash flood with a view to providing lasting solution so that such incident does not happen again! We must have heard this swan song years before, haven’t we? That is Nigeria for you As usual, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET) has warned that many parts of the country are likely to experience flooding. According to the Director-General, Prof. Sani Mashi, this is due to a shift in rainfall pattern caused by climate change. We do fervently hope that other state governors have for the moment put their 2019 ambitions at the back burner and are prepared for the onslaught.

This is not the time for them to exhibit their cosmetic concern by paddling boats while visiting the voiceless victims to shed crocodile tears!

And this is also not the period for some showbiz celebrities to cash in on the avoidable tragedy to boost their flagging profile.

Instead, enlightened Nigerians should be asking their state governors how judiciously, or otherwise they have spent their ecological fund.

That is more so, expedient as the international donor agencies too wonder whatever happened

to the huge sums in hard currency, earmarked for the preventive measures and sent to countries prone to flood disasters. But those on the receiving end cannot but wonder why the policy makers, entrusted with the protection of their lives and property refused to heed the timely warning of NiMET. Back in 2013, the agency had for months categorically warned that Nigerians should expect more rains that year, with increase in frequency and intensity. That also means that more damages to infrastructure (residential and office buildings, roads, wire cables) and of course, people should be expected. Such early warning is commendable. Ordinarily, these should spur political leaders at both the state and federal government levels to begin to put in place measures and mechanisms to stave off the projected effects.

Here, communication through the mass media is an imperative towards finding such long-lasting solutions. Are the residents of the state fully aware about actions they should be taking to assist the government in minimising the scourge of months of heavy rains, and in their own local languages too? Have they assisted in tree planting, clearing of the gutters and drainages, proper waste disposal of all manner of filth in their immediate environment? Do they know the importance of the days set aside for sanitation, or do they convert it to preaching the gospel, as has been prevalent in Lagos metropolis on Thursdays?

According to Muhammed Sanni, the director general of the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, such early warning should afford the policy makers the ample opportunity to monitor situations in their communities, so as to enable remedial measures to be initiated. This would also bolster effective relief through disaster preparedness actions. Again the crucial questions arise. Are the relevant government organs such as the Ministries of Environment and Natural Resources, Agriculture and Rural Development, Science and Technology as well as Transport equipped with the necessary information about the history of environmental disasters in affected areas? Are they working in concert to articulate comprehensive solutions to the problems at hand? Or, are they dissipating their energy in different directions without achieving meaningful results? And are they well funded to discharge their onerous duties to the communities and the country?

What roles is Information Communication Technology, ICT playing in information gath-

Ayo OyozeBaje Baje is Nigerian first food technologist in the media and author of ‘DRUMBEATS OF DEMOCRACY’

As usual, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET) has warned that many parts of the country are likely to experience flooding. According to the Director-General, Prof. Sani Mashi, this is due to a shift in rainfall pattern caused by climate change

ering, information dissemination, early warning systems and eventually in finding solutions to the environmental menace? The answers to these troubling questions will go a long way towards charting a master plan that could be relied upon in the event of future occurrences.

From the global perspective, there were Early Warning Conferences in 1998, 2003 and 2006 to analyze and examine methods that were working and those that were not. In fact, the 2005 World Conference on Disaster Reduction, in Kobe and a similar one in Bonn, Germany made appreciable progress. What came to light was the need not to focus only on technically accurate warnings as much as the need to understand the risks and make an information link between the producers and consumers of the warning signals.

The aim is to trigger actions that would mitigate the scourge.

Simply put, a people-oriented approach with more focus on the social and psychological aspects of early warning instead of concentrating on the science and technology is most desirable. And it must be emphasized; according to the Hyogo Framework that early warning on impending environmental disasters should be treated as a national priority.

The veritable platform to realise this goal is government’s pragmatic partnerships with the local government authority, civil society, scientific and academic community as well as the private sector; with the media as the effective vehicle for information dissemination on early warning.

Whether we like it or not, we are in the era of freaky weather changes-intense heat waves, increasing drought, desertification, thawing of snow, hurricanes, tornados, tsunamis, with their telling effects on the socio-economic landscape of the entire world. Now, food insecurity with escalating food prices is here with us.

Since early warnings by the worlds’ top environmental scientists on the thinning of the ozone layer, occasioned by the increasing emission of the green house carbon gases were not heeded, man has nowhere to run to but to face the dire consequences frontally. And Nigeria is no exception. The time for action is now!

Quick Takes

Off the Cuff

3,838MW

Ortom’s faux pas!

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magine Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State trying to pull some wool over our eyes. The question is, who does Ortom want to please? Twice in one week, he spoke with both sides of his mouth. He first came up with a false alarm that he had dumped the All Progressives Congress (APC) having been giving a “red card” by the leadership of the party. A few hours later, Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the party came up with a denial that nobody gave Ortom any red card and that it was impossible for that to happen.

A meeting was staged in Abuja, and Ortom went, and by the time he rose from the parley, he had dropped the “I have dropped the APC” song.

Here is a man that was abandoned by the APC at the thickest hour of his need; here is a man who cried to the Aso Rock Villa in the same Abuja to President Muhammadu Buhari on several occasions when his people were being massacred by herdsmen; here is a man who was desperately looking for a shoulder to cry on but was refused by the leadership of his party in

Abuja; he turned to God and on some occasions he was pictured inside the Church as he lay prostrate on the altar, pleading for divine intervention and seeking courage from the Almighty having been abandoned by those he called his own.

The only voice he heard from Abuja was blame galore. They lectured him on why his people were killed and remain being killed. They stylishly told him that his refusal to accommodate strangers was his undoing and that he must be prepared for more burial ceremonies. They also reminded him that he invited the attack by enacting a law against open grazing.

Ordinarily, the scornful way the governor has been treated is more than enough reason to drive him away from APC without looking back. When Nigerians thought he had woken up from the slumber, he made a volte face and decided to hang in.

When the right spirit was on him, he said: “As for party, I’ve been given the red card and I’m now outside the pitch. So, if I have been given the red card and I’m standing outside, that means I’m a free man. I don’t know what will happen next, but I’m waiting. If others approach me, then I will tell

the Benue people that I’m joining another football club.”

But after he met with APC leadership, he began to sing a new tune.

“I am here in APC…I am still flying the flag of APC. I only said I was given a red card. That has been corrected by the national leadership of the party,” he said.

“I was given a red card by a senator who is the leader of the party in Benue State. But the leadership of the party told me that the decision at the national level is superior to any individual and I think that is good enough.

We have spoken to him, he has spoken to me, stakeholders are going to be spoken to and that is where I belong. We have not concluded the matter, it is an ongoing process because I have always stood for peace and I always want peace to prevail,” he rationalized.

So, for Ortom and APC, what matters is power. No one cares about the victims of Fulani herdsmen’s onslaught. For APC, the only thing at stake is, “let Benue remains our territory.” Too bad!

This is said to be the total volume of electricity available for distribution in Nigeria.

This thing called politics!

Until Last Thursday, Bukola Saraki, president of the Senate, had been a “bad” politician in the eyes of the APC apparatchiks. He has suddenly become a bride to be wooed following the approaching 2019.

We must continue to expect such wonders.

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