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8 days after Ozubulu massacre, gunmen attack police near church

Ï EƈƋƋ Ɔ ƍ ƋƈƅƆƌ è ƅƈƒƈƋƈ ƈ R ƈƐ Ï ƄƑƈƋƗƈ ƅ ƋƋ ƍ Ɔ ƊƈƋƋ ƿ ƈ RƓƆƏƏƈ Val Okara, Owerri

ÏÏÏ Eight days after the mindless

killings of worshippers at the St Philips Catholic Church, Amaka, Ozubulu in Anambra State, some suspected gunmen, on Sunday, shot dead a policeman and a civilian near the Assemblies of God Church, Oguta Road, Onitsha in

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the state.

The development came just as a three- storey building collapsed in Owerri, the Imo State capital on Sunday killing four persons on the spot.

An eyewitness said that the gunmen had stopped near the church, adding that on sighting some policemen at the church, Continued on page 6

MONDAY, AUGUST 14, 2017 VOL. 3. NO. 423

N150

GLOBAL FINANCIAL/COMMODITY MARKETS

CURRENCIES/CBN: CBN: MƢƠǀêÕƠ ^&` #RGG `è Parallel Market: USD MƢÕƣ POUND MƿƣƤ EURO MƿƢƠ NSE: d9 ƢƤè ơÖƤêÕƠ MARKET CAP ơƢêơƣ 0L#_ RƃM ǀÖêƾǀ R ǀǀêƤƢ COMMODITIES: Wheat nd ƿƢÖêƾƠƃLj Rice nd ơƾêǀƠƃLj Cocoa nd ơèÖÖƠêƠƠƃ Coffee nd ơƿƠêƢƠƃdƅ ƍ Cotton nd ÕÖêƾƿƃn ƈƐ Sugar nd ơƢêƾƠƃRƑ ƅƆ METALS: Gold nd ơƾÖƿêƠƠƃRƑ ƅƆ Silver nd ơƣêƠƿƃRƑ ƅƆ Copper nd ƾêÖơƃRƑ ƅƆ ENERGY: Brent nd ǀƾêơƠƃ^ è N/Gas nd ƾêÖƤƃ

Revealed: How we spent N120.5bn in 1 year éjƆƐƇƑ Ɨ Ƅ Ï d ƕ ƈ ƇƏ ƐƏƑƅƐƑƏƆ ƑƋƍƆƗ MƣÕêǀƄ è ƅ ƗƆƌƈƅ ƐƏ ƈ ƈ MƿƿƄ Ï ó& ƅ ƒ Ə ƈƐƕ ƏƆƅƆƈƒƆƗ MơƄ è ^ Ƌƕ MÕÖơƌè R& MÕƣÖƌô Ï ó&Ə Ƈ ƈƌƍƑ ƈƐƕ Ƅƕ ƅ ƐƏ ƅƐ Ə è ƅ Ƌ Ə ƒƆƏô

Tony Amokeodo, Mathew Dadiya, Augustine Okezie, Francesca Iwanmbe and Aisha Inuwa, Abuja

ÏÏÏ Contrary

to insinuations in certain quarters that Nigeria’s higher institutions are not getting any Continued on page 5

Why Sheriff, Dickson, Ayade, Ojougboh, others shun PDP convention 6 #ƈ ô ƏƆƅ ƋƋë Okun leaders shop for replacement 7 CBN to spend $500,000 on 1st bio-diesel refinery

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Despite cramp, Usain Bolt remains the greatest athlete – Experts 31

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Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017

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Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017

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Revealed: How we spent N120.5bn in 1 year -Tetfund boss Continued from page 1 assistance on funding in order to achieve their goals, an intervention agency, the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (Tetfund), has revealed how it intervened with whopping billions of naira to change the narrative.

Speaking with The Daily Times editorial team during an exclusive interview in Abuja on Friday, the Executive Secretary of Tetfund, Dr. Abdullahi Baffa, disclosed that over N120.5billion has been spent in the last one year on the Nigeria’s 203 higher institutions.

According to him, the development is to boost infrastructure and human capital development in the public universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.

Baffa, who spoke to the newspaper as part of activities marking his one year in office, also maintained that the primary focus of his administration is to build world class tertiary institutions that can match their counterparts in any other parts of the world.

He further disclosed that since his assumption of office on August 6, 2016, he has been working round the clock to ensure that the nation’s tertiary institutions compete favourably with their counterparts in advanced countries of the world by making funds available for state-of-the-art facilities in all campuses.

He also stated that within 12 months, the agency under his watch has tripled the amount of allocation made available to the universities, polytechnics and Colleges of Education.

He said that each public university in the country has received N1 billion, Polytechnics N691 million while the Colleges of Education got N679 million all geared towards infrastructure development in the institutions.

This, he said, brings the total sum expended on infrastructure in tertiary institutions to N76.5 billion.

As part of the efforts to enhance teaching standard and research work, Baffa stated that Tetfund has spent N44 billion on human capital development for academic staff trained across top universities in the world.

Baffa further disclosed that Tetfund under his watch has resolved to trans-

form tertiary institutions in the country in line with President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s agenda of “pursuing with vigour, the human capital development.”

The Tetfund boss said: “For the first time in the history of the fund, we have given the biggest allocation ever to beneficiary institutions. Since the establishment of Tetfund or going back to its days as ETF, never was any university given up to N1 billion as normal intervention fund, never was any polytechnic given up to N691 million as normal intervention fund, no college of education was given up to N679 million as annual intervention but we have succeeded in doing this.

“The second thing that we are really happy with and which we count as our achievement, is that we met unutilised allocation of about N175 billion from 2011 to 2016 allocations meant for different institutions on different intervention lines for which they have either not drawn from or which they have started drawing but they have not finish unitlising.

The Tetfund boss also spoke on measures put in place to address issues arising from the critical needs of the higher institutions.

He said: “We have conducted what we call the Access Clinic. For the very first time also in the history of the fund to be able to help beneficiary institutions to overcome whatever challenges that are impeding their ability to fully access and utilise these outstanding balances.

“I am happy to say that arising from the conduct of the Access Clinic, substantial percentage of this unutilised allocation have been cleared, because at the Access Clinic, what we do is to listen to institutions, hear their challenges, advise them appropriately and agree on timeline within which they should overcome such challenges and drawdown the outstanding balances due to them.

“We have also been assuring that we will ensure compliance with their strategic plan, with their academic brief, in the project that they are proposing.

We have conducted what we call Project Proposal Defence.

“It is also for the very first time in the history of

the fund that we invited all institutions, and tell them, we are giving you N1 billion, tell us what you intend to deploy this N1 billion for?

“We listen to your presentation and ensure that all the projects that you are proposing are guided by your strategic plan and according to your master plan and in accordance to your priorities and they are also not in violation of our mandate.

“This, we are very happy with because we have succeeded in ensuring that any project that was proposed by any institution that is outside our mandate area, we have excluded that.

Any institution that is proposing structures that are small, tiny structures, small cubicles, we have also excluded them.

“Any institution that is not aware of what sort of document to prepare and to submit, we have also drawn

their attention.

“These exercises that we have conducted are not only to help the institutions, but also to help ourselves so that we can improve on our own efficiency and our own performance.”

Regarding the issue of impunity, Baffa warned that recalcitrant beneficiaries or contractors would be dealt with, saying that the culture of impunity is over.

He said: “I must also say that we are able to end the culture of impunity in the manner in which the Act establishing Tetfund would be obeyed.

“We are able to ensure that every infringement that was going on in the past has been stopped and that is why for example, institutions that have abandoned projects, where contractors collected money and walked away without doing the project, we are able to get them back.

“We are able to get scholars who have collected money to go on Ph.D. training or Masters training, and failed to go, we are able to recover such money. All these major and minor infringements that we’re going on, we identified them and we have gone after the perpetrators and we are able to commence recovery or compel the contractors back site”.

Baffa also disclosed that the various measures being put in place to end culture of impunity are beginning to attract good results.

He said: “But one thing that we are very happy with, during this last 12 months, everyone out there is now in full knowledge that the Tetfund of today is not the Tetfund of yesterday because our guiding principle is the Act establishing Tetfund.

“Whatever we are doing, we ensure that we are

guided by the provision of the Act, whatever we are doing we ensure that we are guided by the operational guideline of Tetfund.”

The Tetfund boss also spoke on his decision to train members of staff of the agency for efficient performance, saying that the professional training would give them the necessary tools to keep them abreast of global practices.

He said: “I am also happy to say that internally, we have improved on the professional training that we offer to our staff so that we make them better equipped to handle the activities that we are doing.”

Baffa, who recently attained one year in office, also spoke on the agency’s intervention on human capital development, saying that the development remains one of his remarkContinued on page 7

A cross-section of medical students to Karazin National University, Ukraine on their return to Nigeria after the completion of their medical training, at the Muritala International Airport, Lagos… on Sunday.

CBN to spend $500,000 on 1st bio-diesel refinery Myke Uzendu, Abuja

ÏÏÏ The Central Bank of

Nigeria (CBN), through the Bank of Industry (BOI), is poised to enhance in biodiesel refining in the continent with the establishment of the first bio-diesel refinery in Kogi, which will gulp $500,000.

The project is expected to commence operations by 2018 in line with the Paris Agreement on climate change.

Europe and America recently announced that vehicles and equipment running on fossil fuel would be banned by 2040, as they are harzadous to health and

Ï Project to be completed in Kogi by 2018 Ï Jatropha farmers’ cooperatives to get N1m

environment; and would to be replaced by bio-fuel oil, electricity and solarpowered automobiles and machines The refinery, when completed, would turn out 100,000 liters of bio-diesel from Jatropha plant which is an eco-friendly fuel, which does not constitute hazard to the environment.

Director of Agronomy, Kogi bio-fuel Refinery Nigeria Limited, Emmanuel Ogu, said this in Abuja, during the annual meeting of Jatropha Growers Processors and Export Association of Nigeria (JaG-

PEAN).

He said, “the CBN, through the BOI has approved about $500,000 for the establishment of a bio-diesel refinery in Kogi, which will produce about 100,000 liters bio-diesel per day; and also provided about N1 million funds for cooperatives engaged in Jatropha farming, which would be repaired at nine per cent interest rate.

He said,”Bio-diesel is an oil from a plant source; while ordinary diesel is an oil from a fossil fuel. Fossil fuel is damaging to the environment, its causing cli-

mate change, but bio-diesel is good for the climate. It is a clean oil and does not damage the environment.

“Now that we have funding coming from the CBN, it will take less than one year to get the refinery fully installed.” Ogu affirmed He said that some of the states that would benefit from the first tranche of the Jatropha farming funding include Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Benue and Nassarawa; as their products would serve as feed to the refinery in Kogi that is going to refine Continued on page 7

News 6

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017

8 days after Ozubulu massacre, gunmen attack near church Continued from page 1 they opened fire on them.

The source also said the attackers made away with the rifle of the slain policeman.

He said, “When the firing became too hot, the policemen abandoned their patrol vehicle and ran away for safety. The gunmen moved to their patrol van and took a gun belonging to the policeman they killed.”

But the eyewitness said he could not identify the number of armed men in-

volved.

Another eyewitness said: “Gunmen on Okada (motorcycle) shot a policeman and collected his rifle. They also shot dead an Okada man while escaping and the passenger he was carrying was injured.

“The policeman was the one armed among his colleagues; they were providing security while church service was going on at Assemblies of God Church, Oguta road Onitsha”.

Reacting to the incident, Commissioner of Police,

Anambra State Command, Mr. Garba Umar, confirmed the incident to journalists.

Umar said it was not an attack on the church, adding that the gunmen took away a rifle belonging to the slain cop.

He said, “My men were on patrol near the church when they were attacked by some gunmen. It was not an attack on the church in the real sense of it.”

The Daily Times recalls that unknown gunmen on August 6, 2017 attacked worshipers at St.

Philips Catholic Church, Ozubulu, Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra State, killing no fewer than 13 persons and injured 27.

Our correspondent also reports that those who died in the three storey building that collapsed in Owerri on Sunday included a year and six months old girl, Osinachi Nnabu, a threeyear-old boy identified as Amara and two other persons whose identities were yet to be ascertained while three out of the seven survi-

A cross-section of Nigerian refugees from Cameroon, mostly indigenes of Gamboru-Ngala, evacuated to Borno state from Mubi transit camp, Adamawa … on Sunday.

vors wounded were in coma as of the time of filing this report.

According to an eyewitness, the parents of a year and six months old child, Mr. and Mrs. Dominic Nnabu and one Sunday Uzohor, who sustained minor injuries were not taken to the hospital as they were said to be in stable conditions.

Two corps members and one Anoruo whose full identity could not be ascertained were trapped in the building and were unconscious as medical doctors at the police clinic, Owerri, were said to be battling to save their lives.

It was gathered that the two Corps members were sleeping in the same room when the building collapsed in the dead of the night.

The rescue of the Corps members took eight hours as they were buried in the ground by the building, and they were still breathing when they were finally rescued.

One of the survivors, Uzoha, who spoke to reporters, said that there was nothing that showed that danger was lurking, saying that it was by the grace of God that he survived.

But Mr. Dominic Nnabu, the father of one of the dead children, said that it was by God grace that himself and his wife survived,

adding they were barely two months old in the collapsed building.

The Commissioner of Police, Imo State Command, Chris Ezike, said that preliminary investigation showed that the tragedy was as a result of unprofessional construction work by the engineering them.

Ezike assured that with the level of destruction and loss of lives, the Command would prosecute all those involved in the disaster.

The officer in-charge of police clinic in the state, Bose Salami, confirmed that two children and two adults died in the incident.

She also confirmed that two Corps members and one Anoruo were being treated in the medical clinic.

A representative of the state chapter of Nigerian Society of Engineers, Engr.

Kingsley Onwubiko, told reporters that investigation had revealed that the tragedy was as a result of unprofessional approach.

According to him, the building was an old one which its owner against professional guidelines decided to build three storey building on top of it which led to its collapse.

He said that his association would collaborate with the security agencies to make sure that the culprits did not escape justice.

Why Sheriff, Dickson, Ayade, Ojougboh, others shun PDP convention Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja/ Edem Edem, Calabar

ÏÏÏ Findings have shown

the reasons why the Supreme Court sacked former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and few others chieftains of the party shunned the special nonelective convention of the party held at the Eagle Square in Abuja, on Saturday.

Also conspicuously absent at the convention, which was attended by over 3000 delegates, chieftains and leaders of the party, were the Governors of Bayelsa State, Chief Seriake Dickson, his Cross River state counterpart, Prof Ben Ayade, Senator representing Ogun East senatorial district in the National Assembly, Buruji Kashamu, deputy to Sheriff and former member of the House

of Representatives, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh among others.

Sources closed to Sheriff told the Daily Times that the deposed National Chairman and erstwhile Borno State governor, who has not shown up in any of the activities/activities of the opposition party since the nation’s apex court ousted him, was in a dilemma as to how he would be received at such a gathering after his role in the crisis that brought the party to its knees for about a year as well as made it to record electoral defeats in some states like Edo and Ondo.

Another source however said that the former Borno state governor was out of the country as at the time of the convention and that he had been away for some time.

The absence of Sheriff, findings further showed, made his deputy, Dr. Ojougboh, former National Sec-

retary of the party, Prof Oladipo, former acting spokesperson of his group, Hon Bernard Miko to stay away from the convention where the tenure of the party’s National Caretaker Committee (NCC) under the chairmanship of Senator Ahmed Makarfi was extended by four months among other decisions.

On his part, the Bayelsa state governor, Chief Dickson, who sent his deputy, Commodore John Jonah, retd, to represent him, was said to have shunned the convention in view of his alleged open romance with then Sheriff group while he was in office as then national chairman of the party.

But another source said that Dickson’s absence from the gathering was partly due to a major supremacy battle between him and another governor from the South-South geo-political zone as to who the political

leader of the region is.

The governor of Cross River state, Prof Ayade, was however said to have travelled oversea on medical ground.

The Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Christian Ita told the Daily Times that Prof. Ayade traveled abroad as he was indisposed to attend the Convention.

Interestingly, Prof Ayade was named alongside past Governor, Mr. Donald Duke and immediate past governor, Senator Liyel Imoke, as members of the planning committee.

Mr. Ita told our correspondent on phone on Sunday that Prof Ayade was represented by Deputy Governor, Prof. Ivara .

Senator Kashamu, who is a known supporter of Sheriff, was absent at the convention due to the crisis in the south west zone of the party and the struggle for

the leadership of the zone between him and Governor Fayose of Ekiti State.

A member of the NCC of the party who spoke to the Daily Times however said that no disciplinary action will be taken against those who failed to attend the convention, stressing that there is no compulsion in attendance of convention.

The member, who did not want his name in the print, said, “we did not not even notice that those people were not in attendance. You saw the quality of those in attendance. In a gathering where you had former President Jonathan, his deputy, Sambo, former Senate presidents, several serving and former State Governors and Senators among others, we didn’t miss anybody. It’s their own cup of tea.

“Did their absence stop us from carrying out the business of the convention?

The answer is capital NO.

PDP has come to stay. Nobody can stop us”, he said.

Prominent among those in attendance at the special non elective convention were former President Goodluck Jonathan, his vice, Architect Namadi Sambo, former Senate Presidents: David Mark and Anyim Pius Anyim, Chairman, NCC of the party, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Chukwuemeka Nkem Ihedioha, Senate Minority Leader, Chief Godswill Akpabio, Chairman, PDP Governors’ forum and Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, several serving and former Governors, former Ministers, serving Senators and members of the House of Representatives, Prof Jerry Gana and Chairman, Board of Trustees of the party, Senator Walin Jubrin among others.

Continued from page 5

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017

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News

CBN to spend $500,000 on 1st bio-diesel refinery Continued from page 5 it into bio-diesel.

“Kogi is raising about 140 cooperatives to kick-start in phase one. But, why we are doing 140 is to have the capacity to manage them in this first phase, but after some time, it will go to about 3-4,000 cooperatives,” he said.

The problem we have in this country today, Oga said, is lack of market for products from Jatropha; adding that by the time the refinery starts next year, people would want to hijack it because, Jatropha farming will become money spinner.

The JaGPEAN President, North Central, Alhaji Mohammed Bello Dimeji said that Jatropha as a crop does not want to look at a land that is so fertile, so long it can germinate and after the period of gestation, it grows for 50 years and gives yearly yield.

Dimeji, who was a former Director of Sports Kogi state, said that, “the domestic market alone, if Nigeria can get it organized, can feed you and make you a millionaire. Rather than say I want to have oil and export it to China or Europe, or USA. Just get your farmers into cooperatives and you put them through the empowerment scheme, they will have the benefit of what they should get.”

He lamented that government, over the years, has showed no commitment and support for Jatropha farming, because it is not edible, explaining that it is an emerging plant with lots of value chain.

He said, “unfortunately, if you look at the ministry

of agriculture today, Jatropha is not a product along other value chain crops.

But to tell you the truth, the only time it can work is when government decides to put it just along other crops like cashew, cocoa, beans rice, they are all in the value chain.

“Because, Jatropha is an emerging crop, you go to financial institutions and you do all your jargon; and at the end of the day, they will tell you that this is an emerging crop.

“It is not edible, so, you can see the consequences of it. If it were an edible, definitely it would have moved itself naturally. Hence you need an extra effort and interest of the government to move it in,” Dimeji said.

He said that some of the products that can be derived from Jatropha byproducts include soap, candle and Vaseline.

“Let us not even talk of kerozene or petrol that is on the more technical side, the oil itself is medicated naturally. The shaft of the Jatropha, the pressed cake is organic in fertilizer if you get the proper combination, because it is very rich in nitrogen. At the University of Ilorin, they use it for ceiling board, it is eco-friendly.

“Why we are failing always is that we are not always looking at the basics, we are always looking at the ones that can give us billions of naira. So everybody want to hear somebody stand here and talk beautiful stories on how to export to make dollars and that is why we are not getting there” Dimeji stated.

He said that his target is

to see that there is enough Jatropha plantation in the country, “it is when I have enough plantation that I will become your hot cake.”

The President General of JaGPEAN, Maj. Gen. J. Omosebi said that the association is making efforts to provide all the necessary support needed by Jatropha farmers, so that the 2.4 million liters required by the Federal Government as 20 per cent bio-diesel content of the nation’s oil change needs can be produced locally by 2020.

He said,”Currently, the diesel being consumed in the country is about 12 million liters, 20 percent of it is about 2.4 million liters which will be required by Nigerians assuming that the rate of consumption is the same.

“The bio-diesel we are talking about is oil and the waste is cake which can be used for organic fertilizer, which can be used to improve farm crop yield and also facilitate or reduce significantly the importation of in-organic fertilizer.

“So, Jatropha is the winner crop because it will provide the oil for blending in line with the international standard and at the same time avail the opportunity for us to produce organic fertilizer locally to meet the desires and demands of the farmers.”

He was optimistic that despite the fact 2020 is just three years away, the plans on the ground can beat the deadline, as the Federal government has appended its signature on the Paris agreement on Climate change, which is the blue print for the inclusion of

Dino’s recall: Okun leaders shop for replacement Idris Ahmed, Lokoja

ÏÏÏ Despite the legal battle

and the order to cease fire on Senator Dino Melaye’s recall, a group under the umbrer of Okun Leaders’ Forum (OLF) has began shopping for his replacement ahead of the 2019 senatorial elections in Kogi state.

The group made their stand known at a meeting held in Isanlu, Yagba East Local Government Area of the state at the weekend.

The leaders penciled down the member representing Kabba/Bunu-Ijumu Federal Constituency in the House of Represen-

tatives, Honorable Tajudeen Yusuf to contest for the Senate.

In a statement in Isanlu, the Patron of OLF Chief Arowosafe Jemigbon noted that Kogi West people could not afford to continue with the leadership style of Senator Dino Melaye.

He said the embattled lawmaker has turned legislative business to “show of assets” and urged the political stakeholders of the zone to “kick-start the process of wooing Honorable Teejay Yusuf to replace him in 2019”.

“Teejay Yusuf would defeat Melaye come 2019 and it won’t be a surprise to us because he did that in the

2011 House of Representatives when Melaye’s 2nd term bid could not materialise.”

He described Dino’s two years so far in the Senate as “a total failure and poor representation to the people of Kogi West”.

“As it stands today in Kogi West, it has become the more you look, nothing you see. There is no important project going on in our dear district, yet some people go around making questionable endorsements.” he said.

Earlier, the President of the group, Dr. Omolade Ojo pleaded with Honorable Yusuf not to disappoint the Okun leaders by answering their call without delay.

20 per cent of bio-fuel in exchange for fossil fuel.

According to Omosebi, the Jatropha farming project will contribute immensely to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), as it will trigger a lot of value chain activities.

“The Jatropha oil is not only for bio-diesel, it is me-

dicinal, it is used for soap, it is used for so many things, even the leaves are for medicinal purposes. There are arrays of opportunities that you can get out of it.

“Now, that the country depends on in organic fertilizer imported from foreign countries, if we have this programme fully

implemented, we shall be selling fertilizers to other countries. Even right now that organic fertilizer is selling for N2,500 per 50Kg; whereas, inorganic fertilizer, even with the subsidy of government, is about N5,000 to N6,000 and the land is more tolerant with organic fertilizer”.

Revealed: How we spent N120.5bn in 1 year -Tetfund boss Continued from page 5 able achievements.

His words: “One very clear achievement that we are proud to announce is our ability to increase the human capital development intervention. In 2015, each university was given N100 million, polytechnics N70 million and colleges of education N60 million and for the purpose of academic staff training and development.

“But in 2016 when I came, we have tripled that amount, we have given each university N300 million as against the N100 million given to them. We have given each polytechnic N200 million as against N70 million given to them in previous years and we have also given colleges of education N200 million each as against the N60 million given to them.”

Baffa further disclosed that all the abandoned projects are getting necessary attention, saying that every project he inherited would be completed before the end of his tenure.

He said: “It is great to say that we have also succeeded in continuing with all the projects that we have inherited and we have also started numerous other ones arising from the intervention allocation that we have given. Suffice to say that counting numbers or listing is almost impossible as far as Tetfund is concerned.

“But suffice to say that one only needs to walk into any campus of our beneficiary institutions and would see the signature of Tetfund all over. But what we are very proud of is that our support for scholars to pursue higher degrees, our support for scholars to attend academic conferences at home and abroad, our support to scholars for institution based research grant so that they can conduct research, our support to scholars for academic monitoring development has been increasing day in day out.”

Baffa also commended the agency’s workers for working hard to achieve

desirable results and also thanked the beneficiary institutions for their cooperation.

On the accusation from certain quarters that the agency is partially fulfilling its mandate by focusing on two areas namely: infrastructure and academic equipment out of its 14 statutory interventionist areas, the TETFUND boss said the accusation is a misconception, insisting that his administration is eminently balanced in the execution of its statutory mandate to ensure an all-round development of every tertiary institutions In a related development, Tetfund has disbursed about N1.72 billion to finance researches in different areas.

Baffa, who stated this while inaugurating two committees namely: the National Research Fund Screening and Monitoring Committee (NRF&MC) and the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on Book Development, also noted that additional N1 billion was allocated in 2016 to beef up the intervention and that one of the concerns of the fund in respect of the implementation of the intervention, is quality of research proposals that are being submitted by applicants.

He further said that N2 billion seed grant was

dedicated for lecturers in various public tertiary institutions to assess for the development of manuscript into books.

The National Research Fund (NRF), according to him, was introduced to resuscitate research activities in the national public tertiary institutions to support scholars meet up with the requirement teaching, research and community service.

He said: “Conducting quality research in our public tertiary institutions will not only engender national growth but will also raise the standard and the global competitiveness of Nigeria’s education system.”

The TETFund boss also maintained that to achieve research and developmentdriven socio-economic process in the country, a coordinated, properly focused and cutting edge researches in all critical areas are required to be anchored by scholars in the higher education institutions.

Urging the committees to help in accelerating Nigeria’s journey to building a strong and responsive knowledge economy, he noted that Chairmen and members of the committees consist of wide range professionals drawn from the academia and some relevant parastatals under the Ministry of Education.

The Executive Secretary of Tetfund, Dr Abdullahi Baffa, during an interview with the editorial team of The Daily Times in his office in Abuja on Friday .

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017 Benjamin Omoike

ÏÏÏIn continuation of

efforts to stem the tide of corruption among the state traffic officials, the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), has arrested eight of its officials for collecting bribe from motorists and for other corrupt practices.

The officials, who are attached to the Agege-Pen Cinema Office of the Agency, were arrested last week. They are Adebeshin Adeola, Davies Idowu, Folashade Abolade, Shittu Lanre, Akinkotu Olusoga, Olowu Said, Olaoye Peter and Adebola Said.

It is alleged that the duo of Adeshina and Davies had earlier arrested two Lagos painted commercial buses with registration numbers FKJ 770 XT and KRD 558 XM, driven by one

LASTMA arrests 8 officials for bribery Ïy Ƒ Ǝ ƍƆƕ Ƅ ƃƓ ƅ ƃ ƍƍƏƋƎ Ƌƍ ƃƎƆƃƄ è Ɔ ƕƆ ƃƆƋƉƆ Ƅ

Olatunji Mayowa and Donatus Eze respectively at Abule Egba area of the State for seat belt violation.

The actions of the drivers were in violations of the Lagos State Traffic laws, and the buses were subsequently apprehended and taken to the Agege-Pen Cinema Office of the Agency.

However, the matter took a new twist at the Agege Office when the apprehending offi-

cials in conjunction with the General Duty Officer demanded for the sum of N7, 200 from each of the bus drivers before the release of the buses.

The drivers, knowing the position of LASTMA on corruption and having listened to various media programmes where official complaint numbers were given, alerted the Agency and marked currency were given to the complainants

and collected by the officials in a successful sting operation organised and coordinated by the Provost Marshal of the Agency, Mr Femi Ajibosho.

The Provost Marshal arrived when Abolade was about collecting N7, 200 from Donatus Eze, while the collected marked money of N7, 200 of Olatunji Mayowa was found on her after search.

In the same vein and at the

same location, members of the patrol team of the Agency comprising of Shittu Lanre, Akinkotu Olusoga, Olowu Said, Olaoye Peter and Adebola Said, also arrested a vehicle for traffic laws violation and asked Abolade to facilitate collection of bribe on their behalf from the alleged offender before the release of the vehicle.

All the traffic officials involved in this shameful act have been released on bail, but are to face the full weight of the Lagos State Public Service Rules and Regulations.

Speaking on the incident at Oshodi Office of the Agency, LASTMA General Manager, Mr. Olawale Musa, said the Agency had set a standard for itself to become one of the most disciplined, credible and efficient traffic management institutions in Sub-Sahara Africa.

FG’s school feeding programme now in 14 states

Youths identify factors militating against peace building Amaka Agbu,

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ÏÏÏYouths in Rivers state have

identified various factors coming between them and their desires to become ambassadors of peace in the country.

In a dialogue session organized by Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta, PIND, to commemorate the International Youths Day which was celebrated world–wide last Saturday, representatives of various youth organizations agreed that economic factors, marginalization, stealing of public funds meant to develop the country and cater for the needs of young people were some of the factors that generated conflict between society and young people.

During the brain-storming session, the youths’ representatives also identified other factors as lack of empowerment and employment for young people, lack of tolerance for youths, poor education, religious intolerance among youths, nepotism, favouritism, and tribalism.

The youths pointed out that these factors, among others had always put young at war paths with society which they always wanted to fight back.

Enumerating factors that could help to bring about youth participation in peace-building in the country, the youths said that young people must be meaningfully engaged in legitimate activities, given enabling environment to be proper educated to be able to appreciate peace and love, as well as making themselves unavailable to be used for violence.

Earlier the Chairman of Conflict Prevention Committee of the Rivers State Partners for Peace, Mr. Princewill Sobebo, advised the youths to always send text messages using the state code to the appropriate numbers made available to them whenever they sensed trouble in their areas.

8 News

L-R: Shepherd of the Youth Fellowship Cherubim and Seraphim Movement Church, Surulere, District Headquarters, Ayo Ni O, Special Apostle Oluseyi Coker; General Leader/Chairman, Surulere District, Special Apostle, Prophet (Dr.) Sunday Korode; his wife, Margaret Korode; District General Secretary, Special Apostle/Pst. George Ogunleye; Personal Assistant to the General Leader/District Chairman, Apostle Tunde Adebayo and others, at the 30th Youth Fellowship Anniversary in Lagos… on Sunday.

Atiku flays quit, counter quit notices to ethnic nationalities Tom Okpe, ƂƏƇ

ÏÏÏFormer

vice president and Chieftain of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), Atiku Abubakar has reiterated his believe in one Nigeria and its unity, stressing that an eye-for-an-eye will leave the country blind and weak.

Atiku, was reacting on Sunday in Abuja, on a counter quit notice issued to the unfortunate initial notices to the Igbos which he described as, “some misguided youths in July this year said: “Again, it has sadly come to my attention that there has been a counter quit notice issued in reaction to the unfortunate initial notices issued by some misguided youths in July of this year.

“Just as I strongly condemned this act on people of the Igbo ethnic stock living in Northern Nigeria and the counter quit notices that ensued, I also vehemently condemn the retaliatory quit notice given by certain elements in other parts of

Nigeria to persons of other origins be they Northern, Yoruba or any other ethnic grouping within our nation.

“It is a fallacy to believe that there are people of Northern or Southern origin. Nigeria only has people of one origin. We are all of Nigerian origin”.

The Waziri of Adamawa also said as Nigerians, we must be pragmatic enough to realize the obvious truth that an eye for an eye will leave Nigeria blind.

“Let me at this juncture remind those involved in this “quit notice”, when brothers fight to the death over a domestic dispute, it is their neighbors that eventually end up inheriting their father’s properties.

“It is also for this reason, among others, that I emphasize on restructuring of Nigeria and state of origin to be removed from our constitution and other relevant laws and policies be replaced by state of residency.

“If we as Nigerians are tied to our residency, rather than the

states where our ancestors originated from, this whole idea of quit notice would not have arisen in the first place.

“Let us remember that though we have many ethnic nationalities in Nigeria, we are all largely of one race. In the United Arab Emirates, foreigners exceed the native Emirates in number, yet the UAE is one of the most peaceful nations on earth. If people of different races can live in peace in South Africa and the United States, why can’t we do the same here in Nigeria”, he queried.

Atiku commends the National Broadcasting Commission and the National Orientation Agency for taking steps to sanction radio stations that were guilty of playing the Igbo hate song and for embarking on an anti hate speech drive saying, “Nigeria is our only country and our value as human beings is tied to the value of Nigeria. So if we must give ourselves value, we must first give Nigeria value”, he said.

ÏÏÏIn fulfillment of its plan to ramp up the Social Investment Programmes (SIP), this year, the federal government is now close to its target of feeding three million primary school children this year under the National Homegrown School Feeding Programme, one of its four ongoing SIP schemes.

Specifically, at the last count, a total of N6.2billion has been paid out to 14 states during the school year ending August 2017.

According to the Senior Special Assistant on Media & Publicity to the Acting President, Laolu Akande the 14 states that have been covered under the School Feeding programme are Anambra, Enugu, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ebonyi, Zamfara, Delta, Abia, Benue, Plateau, Bauchi, Taraba and Kaduna.

So far, he said, a total of 2,827,501 school children are currently benefiting from the School Feeding Programme, which is well on course to achieve the Federal Government’s projection to feed over three million pupils this year.

In total, 33,895 cooks have been engaged in the communities where the schools are located across the 14 states.

He gave a breakdown of the amount the states received for the programme and the number of pupils that benefited from it as Anambra (N693million) with a total of 103,742 children fed thus far, with 1,009 cooks paid; Enugu (N 571.9million) and 108,898 children fed so far, with 1,276 cooks paid; Oyo state (N490million) and 107,983 children fed, with 1.372 cooks engaged; and Osun state (N1billion) and 151,438 children fed and a total of 2,863 cooks engaged in the state.

Similarly, Ogun state received a total of and N1,042,217,400 for the feeding of 231,660 schoolchildren, while a total of 2,205 cooks were paid.

For Ebonyi state, a total of N344,633,100 has been released for the feeding of 163,137 pupils so far, with a total of 1,453 cooks paid.

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017

9 News

Gov Bello lifts ban on forestry in Kogi Chukwuemeke Iwelunmo

ÏÏÏThe first Fellow and Chief

Consultant in Aerospace Medicine and Human Factors of the West African College of Physicians and the USA-based Aerospace Medical Association, Dr. Makanjuola Akindele Owolabi, has said that Nigeria is not doing much to address human factors which constitute about 80 to 90 per cent of all problems, crashes and disasters in aviation globally.

Dr. Owolabi also observed that the authorities seem not to be ready to tap from the wealth of knowlee inherent from experts in certain field of aviation, particularly in aerospace medicine.

According to him, human factors are about people who are working in their natural environment whether politically, scientifically, educationally or technologically.

He therefore, pointed out that human beings need to know that

to attain optimum efficiency and safety, by nature, we have certain limitations, which can make them fail and those things need to be changed by training or by indoctrination.

Owolabi, while speaking shortly after the 12th Annual Lecture organised by the University of Ibadan Alumni Association (UIAA), Ekiti State branch, held at the Conference Hall of Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti in Ekiti State recently said that, as a practitioner in that field, he has remained completely underutilised both when he was in the Nigerian Air Force and even now that he is retired, adding that “we are a nation where until my name changes to either Igbo, Hausa or Yoruba, I’m not relevant. Until I come and beg them, I am not relevant, but who are we punishing? We are punishing ourselves.

The time has come for all of us to use our best because Nigeria is a great country. Mandela once said the entire black race has to

look up to Nigeria to get its heart together before other countries on the continent can get theirs together.

Dr Owolabi who is also the President and Founder of Makanjuola and Edna Owolabi Charity Foundation lamented that most of the people that he trained are already leaving the shores of the country since there were no opportunities for them to opportunities to reflect the changes and the knowledge they have acquired.

Aviation industry, he said is the leading edge of every human development and there is no way any society can develop more than aviation.

“All these mobile phones we are now carrying now, we were using them in aviation about 40 years ago. What we are currently using in aviation now, we will start using them in the public, maybe in the next 50 years. For instance, I can tell you the examinations I conduct for American pilots are internet based.

Idris Ahmed, Lokoja

ÏÏÏIn its determination to tackle environment related matters and ensure its contribution to the economic development, Kogi state last week lifted ban on logging and other forestry activities, and also flagged off the 2017 tree planting season across the state.

The governor, represented by his deputy, Elder Simon Achuba, also inaugurated the state Inter-Ministerial Committee on climate change, and presentation of the Kogi State Forestry Tarrif regulation and the drafted Kogi Forestry law, at the Stakeholders Sensitisation Forum on Climate and Tree Planting in LokojJa. Bello said that the government had placed the ban on logging and forestry activities in the state on March 17, 2016,because the state was not able to have internal control of its forests,the Deputy Governor Elder Simon Achuba who represented the governor at the occasion asserted.

“We had placed a ban on the forest to ensure that the right thing is done

and all the necessary things have been put in place, hence the need to reopen the forest; I hereby declared the states forests reopened.

“Today, the state will also flag off 2017 tree planting season to promote the state afforestation. So, we encourage all of us to plant trees in our various homes, schools and business premises to protect our environment.

“The government declared state of emergency on environment in Kogi to ensure proper management of our environment. We have also recruited forest guards to ensure that our forests are protected.

“Environment is not only about forest, but also connected to all human activities; environmental issues are very important and should not be neglected.

He therefore urged the people to ensure that they live in clean environments to prevent outbreak of sicknesses and diseases, as they are all stakeholders on the issue of environment, and should ensure proper personal hygiene.

Auctioneers’ union flays NASS, alleged delay in bill passage Nosa Akenzua, Asaba

ÏÏÏWorried by what it described

L-R: Actor, Kunle Idowu; Actress, Rahama Sadau; Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed; Producer/Director, Hakkunde Film, Asurf Oluseyi and Nadine Film Actress, Nadine Ibrahim, at the Hakkunde movie premiere in Lagos… recently.

as unnecessary delay in passage of its bill, the Certified Institute of Auctioneers of Nigeria (CIAN) has flayed the alleged delay by the National Assembly to pass the Auctioneering Bill into law with measure to ensuring professionalism in the industry.

The Registrar of the Institute Mr. Adeleke Hassan, who spoke with journalists on Sunday in Asaba while inaugurating the Delta state chapter of the institute, disclosed that the auctioneering industry has a window of opportunities that had not been adequately explored by the government, adding that the Industry could provide legitimate jobs for the teeming unemployed if

Anambra Guber: Chidoka to resurge productivity, empower the poor Idu Jude Abuja

ÏÏÏFrontline contender in the

November 18, 2017 Anambra governorship election, Chief Osita Chidoka, has said his mission is to establish a highly competent, resourceful and prudent government that will not only re surge productivity but also create a system that empowers the ordinary people to create wealth.

The former aviation minister who stated this at the weekend while commenting on his screening and clearance by his party, the United Progressive

Party (UPP) in Abuja on Friday, also commended the leadership of the party for upholding the ideology of the party to serve only the interest of the people.

Stating that the ordinary people in Anambra state have suffered enough neglect, Chief Chidoka said one of the cardinal agenda of his administration under the UPP would be “the empowerment of the ordinary people through a special wealth transfer policy; the first of its kind, that grants hardworking people of Anambra state direct access to government guaranteed facilities, opportunities and connections to

excel in their respective fields.

“I want to restate our commitment to run a highly transparent people-based government driven by a knowledge economy that re-surges our innovativeness and wealth-creating abilities as a people.

“Our driving force will be our competence, sense of duty and honesty. We will not run a government where only a few individuals have access to state resources and opportunities while the rest of the people suffer.

“No! That will not happen under my watch. Anambra state belongs to all Anambra people

and everybody must be carried along and afforded equal opportunity. I want to create a situation in Anambra where the children of the poor and the forgotten have equal access and opportunity in our development as a state. Once I do this, I would have been true to my calling and vision,” he said.

The former Corps Marshal of Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) further said the time has come for ndi Anambra to stand up in one accord and take back their state, and once again restore the integrity of governance “by voting not on the basis of divisive arguments

well harnessed.

He said “Government needs to pay attention to auctioneering, he should develop and encourage auctioneers, that is the best thing, he should ensure that the institution’s bill before the National Assembly is passed into law to entrench professionalism, the passage of the bill among other things will eradicate quackery, the institute has international recognition with the largest auctioneering bodies in the world like the National Auctioneers Association, in and certified auctioneering institute in U.S.” He further disclosed that CIAN started six years ago with members all over the states of the federation but Delta as the only chapter that has just been inaugurated in the South-South region.

but for a person of proven competence, character and required commitment to lead the state at this trying time.”

Chidoka who has since been touring his campaign structures in all the 326 electoral wards across state said the people are not only very much aware but also solidly behind him in the patriotic quest to restore their rightful place in governance. He therefore urged them to get their permanent voter’s cards in preparation for the election.

It would be recalled that while receiving Chief Chidoka at a stakeholders meeting in Orumba South, a community leader in the area, Ichie Nwagboso Onyeagba, commended him for always standing with the people and championing their course at all times.

News 10

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017

AFAC 2017: NCAC set to unveil official attire and hairdo

Mathew Dadiya, Abuja

ÏÏÏAll is now set for the unveil-

ing of the official hair style and dress code for the 10th edition of the African Arts and Craft Expo (AFAC) holding, August 27 to September 17, this year.

The Director-General of the Council, Otunba Segun Runsewe, made this declaration while receiving members of the Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria (FADAN) at the headquarters of the National Council for Arts and

Culture (NCAC) in Abuja as preparations for the Expo hits top gear.

Runsewe, while discussing with the FADAN members, announced the endorsement of ‘Abahi’ hair style typically adorned by the Benue people of North-central Nigeria affirming that the beautifully styled hairdo will make a very strong cultural statement during AFAC and stimulate the creativity of Nigerians.

The NCAC boss also identified possible ways the association and its members can part-

ner with the Council starting with AFAC to create thousands of jobs which will translate to massive improvement in both the local and national economy while empowering the youths to become entrepreneurs.

He stressed that fashion remains a huge global industry capable of enhancing the socio-economic condition of the country in terms of employment generation while advising members of FADAN to work on their corporate brand identity and ensure greater cooperation sighting instances abroad

where Designers form partnerships to create unique attires.

Otunba Runsewe promised to give the Association a Stand during AFAC challenging them to maximize the opportunity and create an outstanding AFAC designer outfit that will epitomize the cultural heritage of Nigeria.

Speaking earlier, the leader of the delegation and Coordinator of FADAN in Abuja, Fatima Sule said the group visited the Council to reaffirm their support for the DG and his management seizing the opportunity to

SMEDAN to partner with NDDC to develop Niger Delta

20 year-old wanted robbery suspect nabbed

Joy Anyim

ÏÏÏA 20-year old notorious armed robbery suspect, Ahmed Lateef, who has been on the wanted list of the Lagos State Police Command, was arrested at the weekend in Oshodi by men of the state Rapid Response Squad (RRS), while returning from an all-night robbery operation in Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital.

Ahmed Lateef, a.k.a ‘Ajona’ who has been on the police wanted list since April 2017, for a robbery operation in Ejigbo area of Lagos, where two motorcycles and other personal effects were stolen by him and his gang, confessed to have participated in countless robbery operations in Lagos, Oyo and Ogun States. The suspect who is from Oshogbo, Osun State also added that he participates in two robbery operations twice a week in company of Enu – Ose- his other gang member.

Lateef, who is also an ex–convict disclosed that they went to Kuto area of Abeokuta, Ogun state to burgle a computer and phone retail outlet. He was arrested with a motorbike with registration number of OGUN:MEK 339 WM, which he also confessed to have been stolen in Kuto, Abeokuta.

Lateef revealed that EnuOse, a member of his gang who is an indigene of Abeokuta, provided information to the gang about the computer dealing outlet and he also led three other suspects to the Ejigbo robbery, where they carted away two tricycles and two motorcycles amongst other personal effects.

When further quizzed, the 20-year old suspect stated that for every stolen item such as jewelries, phones, motorcycles and latptos; there is always a ready buyer and that his robbery gangs usually hire metal cutters in Mushin for N10,000 per operation.

appeal to Runsewe in assisting them secure accommodation at the Arts and Craft village to make their work easier.

She also advanced the need to relax the stringent conditions put in place by banks to ease access to soft loans by Fashion Designers while also advocating for a friendlier visa regime to enable members secure visas in order to participate in international exhibitions.

In a separate development, the Federation of Tourism Association of Nigeria (FTAN) has bestowed ambassadorial status on the DG, NCAC.

L-R: Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Olusola Enikanolaiye; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama and Head, European Union Delegation to Nigeria and West Africa, Michel Arion, during the NigerianEuropean Local Political Dialogue in Abuja… recently

NNPC partners WAEC in annual quiz competition Idu Jude, Abuja

ÏÏÏThe Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, has expressed satisfaction over the innovation introduced in the conduct of the 2017 edition of the competition, just as results conducted 22 July in all the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) began to emerge.

Receiving briefs on the status of the 15th edition of the competition in Abuja, Dr. Baru said the engagement of the West African Examination Council (WAEC), the Junior Engineering Technical Society (JETS) as well as Science Teachers Association of Nigeria (STAN) for the exercise, promised to enhance the integrity of the competition.

He described as catalytic, the one-off grant of N100,000 for state winners and the scholarship

award of N300,000 per session for the overall winner at the grand finale, redeemable upon presentation of evidence of admission into tertiary institutions, saying it would enhance the competitiveness of the yearly event.

“As a Corporate entity, we are passionate about impacting lives positively through our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects.

The annual quiz competition is a flagship project for NNPC that was designed to encourage science and technology education among the youth for the purpose of lending a hand in building future manpower for the Oil and Gas Industry,” Dr. Baru stated.

Emerging details of the just concluded state level event indicated that of the 36-state and FCT winners, 15 came from public schools, while 22 were from private colleges.

The data from the yearly competition which started exclusively

for participants from the Niger Delta in 2000 but morphed into a nationwide exercise in 2001, also indicated a gender mix among the winners, with 8 and 29 female and male state-winners respectively.

NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, who spoke at the briefing, described the overall performance of the exercise as excellent.

Explaining the details of the results, Ughamadu said 19 winners scored 80 per cent and above in the exercise, adding that 13 of them had scores that ranged between 60 per cent and 79 per cent, with the five others emerging with marks below 60 per cent.

The Group Public Affairs Division which coordinates the yearly event sent its personnel who are members of the quiz committee to observe the exercise in some selected states of the federation, including Kogi, Plateau, Enugu, Rivers, Oyo, Zamfara and the FCT.

ÏÏÏThe Director General of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Dr. Dikko Umaru Radda, has reiterated the agency’s commitment to partner with the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to achieve its mandate of developing the Niger Delta region. He disclosed this during a meeting with the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mr. Nsime Nkere, at the agency’s corporate headquarters in Abuja.

The Director General of SMEDAN commended the Mr. Nkere for identifying and acknowledging the importance of the Agency in helping to actualize the mandate of the Commission. The Director General stated that the agency was set up to facilitate the development and promotion of MSMEs in Nigeria and the visit of the MD of NDDC to the agency is highly commendable and apt. He added that the agency was well positioned to create jobs and alleviate poverty in the country and always ready to work with the NDDC in the implementation of its work plan for the development of the Niger Delta region.

The SMEDAN Director General also informed the NDDC Managing Director that the agency has 23 Industrial Development Centers nationwide set up to provide technical manpower for industries in the country and four of these Centers are located in the Niger Delta Region.

He lamented that facilities in the IDCs are dilapidated with most of the equipment obsolete coupled with the problem of land encroachment. The Director General however stated that the Agency received a grant from the African Development Bank (ADB) to study how the IDCs can be turned around to become enterprise clusters.

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017

Politics 11

At PDP’s non-elective convention, Jonathan, Makarfi, Okowa, others send signal to APC

JONATHAN

MAKARFI

OKOWE

Days before its Saturday’s special nonelective convention held at the Eagles Square in Abuja, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had assured that the exercise will be carnival-like. It indeed turned out to be so.

The setting was perfect. The attendance was not only impressive; it was equally qualitative, judging from the calibre of those present. From former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, his deputy, Architect Namadi Sambo, to former Senate Presidents, serving and former governors, former ministers, Senators, members of the House of Representatives and lawmakers from State Houses of Assembly.

The security arrangement was equally superb following the great efforts put into the convention by its planning committee, chaired by the serving governor of Delta State and former Senator, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa.

The convention provided a golden opportunity for the opposition party, which was until few weeks ago embroiled in a major leadership crisis between two factions, to announce to the world that it has staged a powerful come back in the nation’s political turf and, to a very large extent, put its crisis behind it. The weather was equally very clement at the convention which attracted over 3,000 delegates, observers (foreign and local) ,officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and many other party members.

This must have been taken into consideration by former President Jonathan when he openly said that God himself is in support of the PDP. Many others further used the opportunity of the convention to signpost their campaigns for various political offices ahead of the forthcoming 2019 general elections.

Several speeches were delivered at the convention ground by those who have been saddled with one form of responsibility or the other, while four motions were moved, seconded and overwhelmingly voted for.

Chief among the four motions, which were the main business of the convention, was that which sought for and got a fourmonth period of extension for the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee (NCC), of the party and another one that ensured the dissolution of the executives of the party in four states.

All those that spoke at the convention, virtually made it pointedly clear that the PDP was out for a serious business of sending the governing All Progressives Congress (APC), packing from the Aso Rock presidential villa in 2019. The party had occupied the Aso Rock villa for 16 years between 1999 and 2015 before losing out to the APC and its presidential candidate at the election, President Muhammadu Buhari.

In his address at the convention ground, former President Jonathan, who first thanked God that the worst is over for the PDP, stressed that it was to His grace that the party was able to emerge from “this unsavoury experience”, from which some political parties in other emerging democracies hardly recover, to become even stronger, within a short period of time.

Jonathan declared that the PDP is indeed back to reclaim its prime position as the party to lead Nigeria to greatness.

Saying that the party’s giant develop-

…Say we have leant our lesson

On Saturday, August 12, 2017, over 3,000 delegates, leaders and chieftains of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), converged at the Eagle Square in Abuja, the nation’s capital, for the party’s special non-elective convention. At the end of the convention, the tenure of the National Caretaker Committee (NCC) of the party, under the chairmanship of Senator Ahmed Makarfi, was extended by a period of four months among others by the delegates through popular affirmation among others. Our Group Politics Editor, LATEEF IBRAHIM, who was on ground at the convention, captures what took place there. mental strides are there for all Nigerians to see, the former President pointed out that there is ample evidence to demonstrate that PDP has indeed proved to be a party of vision and accomplishments.

In the words of the Otuoke, Bayelsa State born former President, “As a party that heralded Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999, the PDP had become so accustomed to success in its 16 years in power that the first time our fortunes changed at the polls, it was obvious that the party would suffer the aftershocks of the loss. It was indeed a most trying period for us as a political party.

“However, it is not an experience that is peculiar to us. This is because all over the world, any party that loses election at the centre as we did, will first of all, struggle to hold together, before regaining its composure to effectively present the strong voice of the opposition, and resume the contestation to return to office.

“But we thank God that the worst is over for our party. It is to His grace that we were able to emerge from this unsavoury experience, from which some political parties in other emerging democracies hardly recover, to become even stronger, within a short period of time.

“The PDP is indeed back to reclaim its prime position as the party to lead Nigeria to greatness. As a human institution we cannot claim perfection, but obviously as a political party, our accomplishments as at 2015, far outweigh our shortfalls.

“Our giant developmental strides are there for all Nigerians to see. There is ample evidence to demonstrate that PDP has indeed proved to be a party of vision and accomplishments,” he said.

In his address, the Chairman of the NCC of the party and former governor of Kaduna State, Senator Ahmed Makarfi prayed for quick recovery for ailing President Muhammadu Buhari, saying that the party wanted him to be fit and on seat to be defeated in 2019.

Makarfi contended that PDP was already the government in waiting.

According to him, “We mean well for our President. We continue to pray for his full recovery. We want him to be fit and on seat when we will defeat the APC government come 2019.

“We will continue to pray for him, but that doesn’t mean we will go to sleep. We will work hard to replace the APC government come 2019 God willing,” he said.

The Caretaker Chairman stated that PDP, not being an alliance but a party with strong bond among its members, has much experience and has much to offer the country.

The PDP, he said, was a truthful party to Nigerians which would not engage in de-

ception, adding that Saturday’s event was an affirmation that the PDP was poised to recapture power in 2019.

Makarfi lamented that the APC -led government has brought hunger and starvation to the country while insecurity has increased many folds.

Facing the mammoth crowd of delegates and other observers, Makarfi said, “Nigerians may wonder, what has PDP got. Well, what are you getting now? Are you not hungry? Are you not jobless? Are you not insecure? My God, pray for PDP to come back.

“Kidnapping is part of insecurity and it has spread across the length and breadth of the this country and it’s because of joblessness,” he said stressing that students were crying over hike in tuition fees even when money was scarce.

He thus promised that when the PDP returns to power, it would consider a Students Loan Scheme to alleviate their sufferings.

His words, “There will be no hunger because there will be plenty to eat. There may be plenty in the market but you have zero cash in your pocket. Under PDP, there will be cash in your pockets because you have earned the cash.”

He thanked the delegates for funding their ways to the convention and not expecting any refund of their money.

The Chairman, planning committee of the convention and governor of Delta State, Senator Okowa, in his address, thanked all Nigerians who are desirous for the PDP to get its acts together and play the role of a strong and vibrant opposition that is critical for sustainable democracy in the country. The prayers of these Nigerians, Okowa categorically said, were answered with the heart-warming Supreme Court judgement that thankfully halted the drift into chaos and bifurcation of the PDP, stressing, “let it be known to all Nigerians who prayed for us during our time of travail that the PDP is back with a bang.

We shall not disappoint you” According to him, “No doubt, the last two years have been the greatest test that our great party has faced. The loss of the 2015 presidential election, the gale of defections that ensued and the leadership crisis that factionalised the party were enough to sink the PDP ship.

“That the party survived this baptism of fire is an eloquent testimony to the resiliency of its grassroots structure, organisation and appeal. Ours is a party firmly anchored to the grassroots, connected to the people in a unique way that recognises that power truly belongs to the people.

“We are rebounding. We must realise that there is a champion in each and every CONTINUED ON PAGE 11

Politics 12

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017

Anambra guber polls Akwu rallies support for Obiano Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja As the Anambra State governorship election draws nearer, the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), at the 2015 general election in Kogi State, Dr Pharooq Goodman Akwu has harped on the need for the leadership of the party to close ranks and eschew bitterness in the interest of the success of the party.

The Anambra State governorship election holds on November 18, this year.

The state is currently under the control of APGA and the governor, Dr. Willie Obiano is seeking a re-election.

Akwu, who is also the leader of APGA in Kogi State, in a statement at the weekend in Abuja, advised that it is pertinent for all hands to be on deck to make sure the party retakes and wins Anambra State back to back as there is nothing like the second best in an election.

He pointed out that Anambar State, under the able and dynamic leadership of Willie Obiano has what it takes to excel, warning that the ambition of some greedy members of the party must not be allowed to constitute an impediment for the success of the party.

Saying that he was sure that the people of the state know what they want, Akwu urged them not to make mistakes about their choice of governorship come Nov 18, this year.

OBIANO

He further admonished the people of the state not to risk electing any other person to truncate the free flow of democratic dividends they are presently enjoying.

According to the APGA governorship candidate, “I admonished the leadership of the party to close rank and eschew bitterness. All hands must be on deck to make sure the party retakes and wins Anambra back to back. There is nothing like the best second in an election, it’s like the game of Ludo and not chess where players can draw the match, in an election it’s a must win.

“Anambra, under the able and dynamic leadership of Willie Obiano has what it takes to excel, let the ambition of some greedy members not constitute an

impediment for the success of the party, which is 50% sure .

“They should not risk electing any other person to truncate the free flow of democratic dividends they are presently enjoying, I will recommend Obiano for them even if he changes party at the eleventh hour, your best bet is willy, his records speaks in volumes, he is the Nigerian Prince of Projects,” he opined .

Akwu however frowned at what he called the activities of some party leaders, who have reduced the status of the party to an ethnic club, whereby some extractions will wake up from their slumber to emerge as APGA leader and begin to dish out instructions without recourse to due process.

He recalled that in the last one year about two attempts were made by some rebellious groups from the South East to dethrone the elected chairman without cogent reason(s).

According to him, “APGA is a political party duly registered by INEC and guided by constitution, it not a tribal forum whereby baton of leadership will exchange hands between kinsmen.”

Akwu noted with regrets that the party is staying too long on her knees and crawling like a lame duck which has refused to stand up and walk.

He reasoned that APGA, in hierarchy, should normally be the next to PDP before they were overtaken by APC, which was formed barely three 3 years ago.

‘ Jonathan, Makarfi, Okowa, others send signal to APC’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 one of us in the party, and that a collective leadership and partnership, resolved to do things right is all that we need to build the strength to recapture power.

“We cannot shy away from the fact that there are lessons to be learnt also. For with our defeat at the presidential election, the loss of many states at the governorship election, and the slide into minority in the National Assembly came the sobering lesson that the PDP had become a victim of its own success.

“Internal democracy took a backstage, aggrieved party members were disregarded and impunity became the order of the day at various leadership levels in the party. In short, we cut short the hopes of Nigerians with our failure to manage our success. The travail of the last two years, I am persuaded, is our divinely ordained chastisement for this pitfall.

“I am convinced that our wilderness experience may well be a blessing in disguise, for two reasons. First, it afforded us the rare opportunity to look inwards and do some soul searching. In life, you do not always have the opportunity for a second chance. But to God be the glory, we have had the marvelous opportunity of understanding ourselves better, identifying our mistakes, suffering the painful consequences of defeat and learning the lesson of a lifetime.

“The wilderness experience has refined us, sharpened us and made us stronger.

Like the saying goes, sometimes you have to go through the wilderness before you get to the Promised Land.

“The second advantage of our wilderness experience is that Nigerians have had

the opportunity of experiencing another party govern at the national level. They can now compare and contrast.

“As leaders we must read the times and take responsibility. We must condition our hearts for a new beginning. We must root out the past mistakes and model the right attitudes. It is time for self re-examination and a return to what is right.

“To build a solid team, we must be warm and inviting; the love for impunity and exclusion must cease. There must be integrity and discipline in our democratic system at all levels of party governance, and we must put to fore those things that add value to the growth of our party.

“As we gather here today to chart a new course for our great party, we shall do well to stay true to the vision and mission of the founding fathers of our great party.

“On this day, we need to reaffirm our commitment to the democratic ideals of internal party democracy, sovereignty of the people, majority rule and minority rights, the rule of law and good governance, respect for civil and political rights, and inclusive participation of all in party administration.

“On this day, we must understand that our nation is at a cross road. Therefore, our emphasis must be about building a party focused on fashioning a better society founded on the principles of fairness, equity and justice. We must commit to making the needs – and aspirations – of the Nigerian people the centre piece of our party’s democratic agenda.

“On this day, we must call for a paradigm shift in our party leadership style.

Too often, we have demanded service – and worship - from the very people we have been called to serve. That must change. We

need leaders, sincere leaders, strong leaders who understand that power is held in trust for the people and, therefore, must be administered for their good and advancement.

“Finally, on this day, we call on all true PDP faithfuls to return home. It’s time to forgive. It’s time to heal the wounds of the past. It’s time to get over the hurts of the past. It’s time to embrace love and reconciliation. It’s time, brothers and sisters, to come back home,” he said.

Prominent among those who stayed away from the special non-elective convention were former Governor of Borno State and former National Chairman of the party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and his deputy, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh as well as the governor of Bayelsa State and one time Chairman of the reconciliation committee of the party, Hon Seriake Dickson.

Now that the party’s special non-elective convention has been successfully held, the PDP, no doubt, still has some hurdles to cross. These include the task of reconciling other members of the party still aggrieved with a view to bringing them back into the fold, effective organisation of some of its states’ chapters presently going through one crisis or the other, raising of enough funds for the running of the party as well as conducting its elective convention in December, this year, which certainly is going to be an acid test for the party.

The way the party is able to successfully and effectively deal with these issues among others will determine whether the party has, truly, come back powerfully in the nation’s political arena as being claimed by its chieftains.

South-South leaders hail Oyegun at 78 Patrick Okohue Prominent South-South leaders have eulogised the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun for his total dedication to the service of the nation.

“Nigerians have reasons to be grateful to Oyegun for his contribution to the development of democracy.” the leaders, under the aegis of the South-South Front (SSF), said.

In a statement signed by SSF Chairman, Chief John Harry, the leaders commended Oyegun for devoting almost his entire adult life to the service of the Nigerian state, engaging party faithful in exciting ways and thinking outside the box.

They described the APC national chairman as a selfless leader, ardent nationalist, a profound humanist, an astute politician and a paragon of virtues.

“Chief Odigie-Oyegun, a clean and competent administrator, erudite politician and a true democrat, is dedicated and fearless. He is also a fighter for good governance and transparency” the leaders said.

Recalling his days as executive governor of Edo State on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the leaders noted the improvement in the various sectors, provision of potable water, potent health care delivery and good roads as well as secured living in the state.

They praised Oyegun for his free education at all levels and health services for children and maternal cases, the completion of Oba Market, the Cultural Centre and State Water Board Headquarters.

They also commended him for the huge employment, provision of a modern and subsidised urban mass transit system, relocation of NABTEB to Edo State and successful lobbying of the Federal Government to take over the polytechnic in Auchi.

“Oyegun’s politics hinges on the pillar of development, concern for the nation and its people. The former governor of Edo State met the yearnings and aspirations of the people during his short stint in power.”

The leaders described as irresponsible the campaign of calumny by Anambra State governor, Dr. Willie Obiano.

OYEGUN

Page Thirteen

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017

s

Editorial

13

PHOTO TIMES

Return of national carrier

T

he federal government has begun efforts to reestablish the national carrier,some 13 years after it liquidated the former national carrier, Nigeria Airways. The former national carrier was liquidated following its mismanagement, government control and undue interference in its affairs, resulting in huge debts and depletion of its fleet. This time around, the government has appointed transaction advisers for the establishment of the national carrier, a facility maintenance company and an aircraft leasing company. The transaction advisers have also swung into action.

When he was briefed on the state of the aviation industry on assumption of office in 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari rightly observed that the nation’s airports were the windows through which people saw the country and that peoplecoming into the country were likely to come through the airports. Thus, if the nation cannot secure and maintain its aviation infrastructure, it will reflect very badly on the country. In other words, the state of a country’s national carrier also impacts on the image of the country in people’s minds.

With well over 170 million people, Nigeria has the largest population in the country. In other words, the state of a country’s national carrier also impacts on the image of the country in people’s minds. Nigeria has the largest population andthe largest economy in Africa.

It is also one of the most endowed with resources by nature. Unfortunately, in spite of these resources, the country does not have any national carrier that can effectively compete with major carriers across the world in operating international destinations. These, among others are plausible reasonsthat make it imperative for Nigeria to have a robust and well managed national carrier

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to fly its flag at this point in its history.

Also, the establishment of a national carrier will provide the necessary platform for a strong and well developed aviation sector in the country. In particular, the need for a strong aviation sector in the country is why the government is establishing Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility and an aviation leasing company in tandem with the establishment of a national carrier. MRO servicesare very costly but few in Africa and most airlines in Africa take their airplanes overseas for mandatory checks and maintenance.

Consequently, the MROfacility will attract local airlines and other airlines from across Africa for patronage, while the establishment of an aviation leasing company will solve the problem of inadequate access to capital and the high cost of funds in the country.

However, in re-establishing the national carrier, the government must ensure thatit is free from government control and interference as these were the seeds of the mismanagement and neglect that led to the failure and eventual death of theformer national carrier. Also, granting that in Nigeria, whatever belongs to the government belongs to no one, and that government does not have a history of successful management of any enterprise, the ownership of the new national carrier mustbe well distributed with the government having not more than 10 percent of itsshares and the rest shares sold to private individuals across the country.

Going forward, such a PPP arrangement in the ownership and management ofthe proposed new national carrier will free it from government control and undue interference. Above all, the airline must have a competent technical partner who will bring expertise, knowledge and fund into the airline and make it a successful enterprise.

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L-R: Vice Chancellor, Prof. Adeniyi Agunbiade; Chancellor, Dr. Christopher Kolade, CON and Chairman, Board of Trustees, Dr. Mayowa Afe, all of McPherson University, during a strategic development meeting with a group of consultants in Ogun State... on Friday.

Director General, National Council for Arts and Culture, Otunba Segun Runsewe (3rd right); Coordinator, Fashion Designer Association of Nigeria (FDAN), Fatimah Sule and other members of FDAN when they visited Otunba Segun Runsewe in Abuja… at the weekend.

Julius Nyerere

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Words On Marble :

– Fidelis Anosike Group Head Finance/ Administration Tobi Oyeniyi 07060528139

L-R: Senator Stella Omu; Taraba State Governor, Dairus Ishaku; former President, Goodluck Jonathan; former Vice President, Namadi Sambo and Delta State Governor, Ifeayin Okowa, during the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) non elective convention in Abuja… at the weekend.

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“Independence cannot be real if a nation depends upon gifts.”

STATEMENTS BY THOSE WHO MATTER

Obafemi Awolowo

Aminu Kano

“Violence never settles anything right: apart from injuring your own soul, it injures the best cause.”

“The road to freedom is full of thorns and fire, yet happy is he who follows it!

14 Opinion

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017

Understanding farmers-herdsmen conflict and way forward

M Olusegun Tinubu

any Nigerians have been talking about restructuring Nigeria as a whole. Many talk about the devolution of powers, a change in the sharing formula, marginalisation, state policing and fiscal federalism. These are just a fraction of so many different definitions of what the term means to so many different people.

I believe that these definitions are all interrelated, and as the debate continues, we will at some point come to have a clear definition of what restructuring means with respect to Nigeria. The We must be careful however.

The tigers are, as always, waiting to pounce. They will hijack the debate, morph it into an empty slogan like the 2015 “Change” slogan, and then go ahead to sing the song to Nigerians until it brings the votes they need. We all know what will happen after that; our leaders are that shameless. 2019 is close, and it is our duty to make sure this does not happen—or at least try to.

Already, Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president, is talking about restructuring Nigeria.

What the word means to him, we do not really know. Even Ibrahim Babangida, a man, who, in 1985 seized all the power available in

the country for himself is talking about restructuring. Is it that time has convinced Babangida and Atiku that the country needs to be restructured, or are they playing to the gallery for the sake of 2019? Time will tell.

No one person can unilaterally and single-handedly restructure Nigeria. As far as I know, a sizeable number of people from all the geopolitical zones must agree to it, at least in the background of things.

It is not too early to start asking the hard questions, so here are the questions I have for all the presidential aspirants that are going to promise to restructure Nigeria in 2019.

First, you must tell us what restructuring means to you. A plan must be properly articulated for us to see. Tell us about the plan.

Authoritarianism has never helped us. The amalgamation and the Ironsi decree 34 come to mind.

Who did Ironsi’s Supreme Military Council ask? Who did they talk to?

Did the Nigerian people agree to it? Those two decisions played a huge role in why things are the way they are in Nigeria today. The British did not care if we wanted the amalgamation, they did it for their own selfish reasons. Ironsi and his crew unilaterally announced the decree 34 for whatever reasons seemed okay to them. As an aspirant preaching restructuring, who

have you been talking to? Do you have the majority’s backing from your party?

How do you intend to deal with those who would attempt to block the process? How do you intend to break through forces of resistance?

There are people who benefit from the status quo and would do everything possible to make sure the current structure remains. What is your plan for them?

What are the short-term goals that can be used to encourage the sceptics and the cynics along the way?

It is important you surround yourself—mostly—with people who share your visions. You cannot promise a weaker centre and surround yourself with statists or power drunk ex coup-plotters. Their values must be similar to yours.

What kind of people do you plan to surround yourself with? Who are they?

The aforementioned are the questions I have for now, feel free to add yours. It is not too early to ask these questions.

The trouble with Nigeria The late Chinua Achebe said, and I agree with him, “The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership.”

Simple!

Nigeria has never had a real leader, and it is crying out for one now.

All we have managed to have—at

best—are managers who were good enough to maintain the existing structure. If we want transformation, we need leaders more than managers.

P.S: A manager is often the one who is able to maintain an existing structure or status quo; to keep things in place and run things smoothly. A leader, however, is a dreamer, a creator of organisations; the one who comes up with the ideas and a very good plan of executing it.

A good leader listens; he knows that he must carry everyone along and take their input very seriously even if he doesn’t like them. He knows that his dreams and ideas must be sold to a reasonable number of people in every department of the organization.

Who will bell the Cat? Restructuring is only a precursor to the much needed transformation Nigeria needs and I hope we get it right in 2019. 2019 must be a battle between ideas and values; and not tribalism and religion.

This must begin at the primary level. Our political leaders must get their heads out of the cooking pot and present ‘leaders’ as aspirants, that is if they have any intentions of getting things right. We need leaders in 2019. Who will bell the cat?

Olusegun Tinubu is a Materials Engineer based in Texas.

Building future economic leaders through agriculture

S

Olukayode Oyeleye

ubject relating to promotion of entrepreneurship among those who would be leaders of tomorrow is an idea whose time has come.

It is timely as current realities warrant a shift of Nigeria’s economic base towards the direction of the future, with robust emphasis on thoughts about diversification of our economic base.

The time has, therefore, come to shift emphasis from wealth emanating from minerals to that emanating from the minds. Over the years, these broad gaps created by inattention to the consequences of their handling, were precursors to our present economic predicaments.

Going forward, as a nation, leaders are saddled with the huge responsibility of repositioning Nigeria, economically and socially in a futuristic direction. This will entail a shift of attention in the direction that holds immediate and long-term promises for the youth in the context of the local, national and global realities.

The reality today is that the issue of youth, locally and globally, could no longer be ignored, particularly in view of our contemporary experiences in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa and beyond. The numbers of young people are growing fast in developing countries, with young people making up 20 per cent of the population on the average.

Their ascendancy in population is a double-edged sword, speaking metaphorically.

They thus represent a huge potential resource to those countries if well harnessed, and a huge threat if improperly managed. This is especially evident in sub-Saharan Africa where, in some countries, more than 60 per cent of the population is less than 25 years old. This increases pressure on the labour

market, thus creating opportunities for the consumer market.

Yet, ironically, rural areas are not benefiting fully from this resource; indeed, many rural communities are ageing precisely because, in the absence of incentives to remain there, young women and men are leaving to seek opportunities elsewhere. When young rural women and men cannot get adequate education, make a living or create a secure home, they move to sprawling urban areas or to foreign countries they believe offer more hope. Now is the time to change that narrative and give the young people a hope for the future, to remain, develop the countryside, boost the rural economies and make decent living in the rural areas.

We need not allow a recurrence of the economic crises of 2007 to 2009 in which global youth unemployment rate rose from 11.9 to 13.0 per cent, fueling further migration of young men and women who eventually became frustrated and idle, because they have failed to find decent jobs after migrating to urban centres.

The urban labour markets, in turn, have been frequently unable to absorb the inflow of migrant workers, and many young migrants lack the education and skills to compete for decent urban jobs, and therefore contribute to social unrest, crime and even armed conflicts.

Building economic leaders for tomorrow is clearly not an overnight task. It will entail systematic coalescence of efforts, programmes and interventions that woulg provide options and choices, allowing the target beneficiaries to contribute positively to the social, political and economic milieu of the people.

One of the all-embracing contributions is the production of food for the growing population as a

prelude to a stable and sustainable future.

Preparing a good future for our youth is an imperative, recognising the need to expand the horizon of our young people, broaden their options and increase their choices.

They are needed as solution providers, incubators of ideas, promoters of innovations and implementers of positive change. As the economic outlook undergoes changes, so should the opportunities and means of unlocking existing potentials.

We have a great challenge and a great opportunity in our hand – one of feeding the people. This requires harnessing of the energy and skills of our young adults in the production, processing and marketing of food for the teeming population.

Nigerian youth will find opportunities as entrepreneurs, service providers and paid workers in a sector that is gaining recognition as a beacon of hope for Nigeria’s presently troubled economy. This sector is agriculture.

The young people, without doubt, are at the cornerstone of any meaningful efforts to translate this into reality. None of these efforts can be possible without requisite financial support.

Investment in skill-building, capacity building, entrepreneurial mentoring, social safety nets and stable economy will provide great prospects for the youth.

Putting the Nigerian youth in the forefront of the nation’s economic development is not debatable. It is the engine of economic growth that must be oiled if Nigeria is to move forward economically. This will entail special attention on the rural economy, which requires urgent revival, with a strong collaboration between the state and federal government.

The deplorable threats emanat-

ing in recent times between youthcamps, in the north against the south and vice versa, are symptoms of development vacuum that needs to be urgently filled.

The openings for the youth to make a positive difference are many. Youth’s prevalent skills in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) could be harnessed for positive development in the overall economy in general and agro-economy in particular.

Increasing the food production by our farmers will require the enlistment of young Nigerians for extension services. The interface provided will be a good opportunity for inducting many graduates into agriculture, through direct participation as farmers and indirect participation as service providers.

Beyond primary production, vast opportunities exist in the value chains – in harvesting, storage, processing, transportation, marketing and in standards as there are now windows for private standards in agribusiness.

Nearly 40 per cent of post-harvest losses are recorded on food produced in Nigeria annually. These are clearly preventable if subjected to appropriate agro-processing activities, which either add values or prolong shelf-life.

While the logistics aspect may be fairly Herculean for upstarts and small operators, the information dimension activities are within the ambit of innovative young minds.

The latter presents more opportunities for innovative intervention through networks creation and innovative platform for information sharing. This is one area needed to make agriculture more appealing to the teeming Nigerian youth.

Dr. Oyeleye, public analyst, journalist and veterinarian, writes from Abuja

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017

15 Column

The First Family and its image makers Guest Columnist FEMI ODERE

M ‘

Therefore, the image maker must not only be versatile, but must constantly sleep with his two eyes open to prevent the ‘deconstructionists’ from making mincemeat of his principal.

’

anaging the image of a country’s president and that of his family can be a very serious and daunting undertaking by those who are fortunate/unfortunate enough to be saddled with the responsibility. It can be a tasking, energy-sapping, yet thankless specialty especially in the Nigerian political landscape where the deconstruction of the Chief of State and/or his family begins almost immediately after the swearing-in ceremony----largely by the same political class that had helped in achieving victory for him in the first place.

All nefarious options and tactics are always on the table towards the deconstruction. Therefore, the image maker must not only be versatile, but must constantly sleep with his two eyes open to prevent the ‘deconstructionists’ from making mincemeat of his principal.

While Nigerians are pretty familiar with Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser (Media & Publicity) to President Buhari and Garba Shehu, his Senior Special Assistant (Media & Publicity) as the public face of the president in which how they themselves are perceived by the Nigerian people may very well be a reflection (good or bad) on how the president is also construed, there’s a ‘platoon’ of young, dedicated, upwardly mobile, highly accomplished with uncommon commitment to the president and his family that has sustained the endearing and favourable image that Nigerians generally have of the First Family in the past two years. Tolu Ogunlesi, the Special Assistant on Digital/New Media in the presidency and Bayo Omoboriowo, Buhari’s personal photographer, may at some point have come into Nigerians’ consciousness either before they joined the president’s image making team or in the course of their job in the presidency. But the duo of the opposite gender among the core minders of the First Family are the persons of Zaynab Ikaz-Kassim, Mrs. Buhari’s Personal Assistant and Haye Okoh, the personal photographer of the Wife of the President are worthy of note.

Tolu Ogunlesi, 35, is far from being an unknown quantity in the media establishment both within the shores of Nigeria and outside of it. This young, high achiever packed a huge punch in just about all aspects of the media into his young frame that one cannot help but be dazed at how this trailblazer has been able to do a swell job in a relatively short period of time. With a Bachelor of Pharmacy (B. Pharm) degree from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria and a subsequent MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom which formed his academic foundation, Ogunlesi has rumbled through just about all the media genre with a bang. As a creative writer with a collection of poetry, among which are Listen

President Buhari (right) and his wife, Aisha to the Geckos Singing from a Balcony (Bewrite Books, 2004) and Conquest & Conviviality (Hodder Murray, 2008) that dripped from his pen (or keyboard), Ogunlesi in 2006 was awarded a Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg poetry prize and in 2008 the Nordic Africa Institute Guest Writer Fellowship. Also in 2009, he won the Cadbury Visiting Fellowship by the University of Birmingham. This young journalism professional has twice won the annual CNN Multichoice African Journalist Awards, among many other awards under his belt.

If anyone is in search of relentlessness in the pursuit of one’s passion, an uncommon focus, and an uncompromising believe in oneself, and yet, puts in all he has on a job that much of society do not necessarily place much stock on. If someone is compelled to look for a man who decided, ab initio, that the unattractive social conditions and the environment he was born into are not strong enough to define him and dampen his drive to succeed in the goal he has set for himself, one needs not search any further. Bayo Omoboriowo is an embodiment of these virtues which----quite unfortunately----have become hard to come by in today’s Nigerian youths.

Omoboriowo’s story may one day become what legends are made of as it is still unfolding. Making Buhari’s image in his own unique way----one picture at a time----the personal photographer of the president, just like his principal, packed a steely resolve that has not ceased to amaze those who knew how this youngster from Ekiti State started his journey as a photographer even before he graduated from the University of Lagos---not in photography but in Pure and Applied Chemistry. Constantly trying to carve out a niche for himself in his field, Omoboriowo, 28, has developed a brand in the photography industry which he simply calls ‘Reality Photography.’ This, he translates to mean that the pictures he takes today are materials of communication for tomorrow. This is what drives him to go to all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria and beyond in search of stories that tells everyday reality.

His works have been widely published and they remain one of the most used materials on social media platforms. The series that he calls “Nigerian Unsung Heroines” which celebrated exceptional people contributing to Nigeria’s development has been featured on CNN. He has exhibited his work titled ‘Red Gold’ which is a body of work that calls the attention of the Nigerian government to the once upon a time bubbling palm oil production industry and the

revamping of the agricultural sector as a whole. Omoboriowo is the founder and project manager for Photographer’s Collage, a platform he established to ensure a progressive movement for the photography industry in Nigeria which has recorded massive success in its first season. He’s a project coordinator for “Photograph a Child” which is an annual project that uses photography as an approach to supporting the under-served around the city of Lagos. Omoboriowo, who said he was inspired by George Osodi, Andrew Esiebo, Kelechi Amadi-Obi, and Jide Odukoye, among others in one of his interviews has inspired over 1000 young Nigerians and trained over 100 aspiring photographers. Omoboriowo has mentored directly more than 15 emerging photographers and has been a part of various workshops, conferences and programs where he has impacted countless numbers of lives using photography as a channel.

Zaynab Ikaz-Kassim’s official designation with the First Family may not be in the image-making business in the strict sense of the word, but this Edo State born Personal Assistant to the Wife of the President is a multi-talented prima donna who has not only embarked on making the image of Mrs. Aisha Buhari behind the scene, but has earned the respect and admiration of those who crossed her path in the course of her professional responsibility. Zaynab’s core constituents have always been the media and entertainment industries ever since she completed her academic studies in International Relations from Houdegbe North American University and also being a certified Project Management expert from the University of California at Irvine as well as a Social Media and Public Relations professional from National University in Singapore. Honest and trustworthy, Zaynab made her debut into the world of media and entertainment as a Social Media Management expert for Nigeria’s most popular thespians couple of Joke Sylva and Olu Jacobs at their Lufodo Academy in Lagos. A profound display of mastery of her work and her commitment to duty became very compelling that she had to be poached from the Academy by the Lagos Intercontinental Hotel.

In 2011, the Child Aid and Support Awareness Foundation (CASAF) became the brainchild of Zaynab when it was launched as a child advocacy group for the Nigerian child. The foundation’s aim is to create a link between those who need support among this very vulnerable group of the human species and those who can give the support. CASAF’s overarching objective is therefore, to

acquire material and moral support for the orphaned, displaced, abused, victimized and the less privileged Nigerian children. As if minding the most popular and conspicuous woman in the land (Mrs. Aisha Buhari) and nurturing CASAF which has since maintained formidable presence in eight Nigerian states since its inception are not nerve-wracking enough, Mrs. Ikaz-Kassim also runs the Majmua Theatre; a 5-year old entertainment company she’s passionate about in effecting social change and consciousness through art and entertainment. She has produced over 30 shows since 2012 and she mentors youths through her speaking engagements at various youthrelated events. Zaynab is a part of the publishing team that oversees the Diaspora Magazine from the Office of the Senior Special Assistant on Diaspora and Foreign Affairs (Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa) as an Assistant Editor. She was listed among the top 10 Lagos theatre practitioners in 2014.

Haye Okoh may be considered fairly unusual in this clime as a professional female photographer who’s just as determined as Omoboriowo to reach the pinnacle of what she believes is her calling. As the personal photographer to the Wife of the President Mrs. Aisha Buhari, both the personal and professional life of this Delta State born professional photographer has taken a quantum leap since she joined the team that minds Nigeria’s First Family. Just as Omoboriowo saw photography being practised on the side by his father when he was growing up in Mushin----one of the densely populated Lagos slums---Haye attributed her interest in photography to her father who lived the last 25 years of his life making photographs in and out of his studio.

She admitted that these were the years when the passion for photography was imbibed in her. Although formally trained with a degree in Communications and Multimedia, Haye has gone on to fuse her love for writing and picture making into one hobby. Having come into life through different socio-economic and cultural paths but are now welded together in the nation’s Number One family, perhaps the most common, yet profound, thread that runs through Tolu, Bayo, Zaynab and Haye by which history would probably judge them is their uncommon passion to give back to the society in which they found the courage to discover and/or rediscover themselves through their various mentoring and advocacy initiatives.

Femi Odere is a media practitioner.

16

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017

17

18 News Examine your breast monthly to prevent cancerexpert tells women Samuel Luka, Bauchi

ÏÏÏA gynecologist with

the Bauchi state specialists’ hospital Dr Habiba Ismail has at the weekend advised women to deploy self examination of their breast at least on monthly basis after menstruation as a way of preventing cancer.

Ismail who is also the Chairman Medical Advisory Committee [CMAC] of the hospital gave this advice while delivering a lecture at the flag off of breasts and cervical cancer screening for 100 women sponsored by the state chapter of the Federation Of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria [FOMWAN].

She stressed that regular breast examination could help women prevent cancer ‘because they will be able to identify changes on their breasts and get treated on time before the problem escalates’.

The expert said “some of the signs of breast cancer include; bloody milk, rashes, lump on breast, roughness, darkening of breast and lump under armpit.

I therefore urged you (women) to rush to hospital immediately for screening and treatment whenever you notice such changes”.

She pointing out that cancer could lead to amputation of breasts as well as affect their livers, intestines and brains if it is not cured.

“All women including those who menstruate and those who reached their menopause should examine their breasts regularly. They can do that by taking off their cloths in front of mirrors so that they check if there are changes on their breasts such as roughness, rashes or swelling’’. She admonished.

The state Ameerah [Chairperson] of FOMWAN, Hajiya Yagana Muhammed Gidado who had earlier lamented that many women develop breast and cervical cancers without knowledge said, that informed the organization’s idea to sponsor the screening, adding that they have spoken with the wife of the Bauchi state governor, Hajiya Hadiza Abubakar who promised to support women in carrying out the exercise.

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017

Ambode approves phase 2 of CodeLagos, to launch 300 new coding centres next month Benjamin Omoike

ÏÏÏ

Lagos state governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, has approved the implementation of the second phase of the CodeLagos Project, which will be launched in September 2017.

The approval is coming on the heels of the successful implementation of the pilot phase of the project which has trained 5,464 students of primary and secondary schools across the State.

Special Adviser to the governor on Education, Mr. Obafela BankOlemoh, in a statement on Sunday, said that 65 schools including government and private schools took part in the pilot phase.

He said: “The training has delivered to the students critical life skills including basic computing, computational thinking and use of basic computer programming tools like Scratch and python over a period of eight weeks and the feedbacks have been inspiring.

“Of the 65 schools in the pilot, 23 are government schools of which seven of them are girls’ only schools while two others are boys only.”

He also disclosed that the experience and knowledge garnered from the pilot phase has helped the Ministry to assess and fine-tune the framework and implementation model of the project in view of future roll out.

“This pilot phase has helped us test our as-

sumptions and implementation plan, we have observed what worked and what didn’t and would put them into consideration for future roll out beginning with the next batch slated for September, 2017,” the Special Adviser said.

Meanwhile, the government has concluded plans to roll out the project in all the State-owned public libraries to ensure access to CodeLagos classes for more Lagosians especially those out of the conventional schools system.

Bank-Olemoh said that more Lagosians would have the opportunity to take part in the training free-of-charge at any of the public libraries.

“We currently have 12 Libraries and we are setting up Coding Centres in

each of the libraries for Lagosians to partake of the programme. We will also have coding centres in our tertiary institutions,” he said.

CodeLagos, an initiative of the Lagos State Ministry of Education, which aims to teach one million Lagosians to code by 2019, was unveiled to the public in November 2016.

According to Bank-Olemoh, “CodeLagos will ensure that the Lagos economy has the people that will drive its development for the next 50 years, positioning Lagos State as the technology frontier in Africa.

He enjoined Lagosians to visit www.codelagos. org as the registration portal would be open for the public to sign up for free on Monday August 21.

‘Media should be neutral in elections’ Henry Enegede The Special Adviser to Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, on Communities and Communications, Kehinde Bamigbetan, has stated that democracy can only survive when citizens pay interest in it.

Speaking at a Stakeholders’ Post-Election Forum on Lagos State 2017 Local Government Elections, Bamigbetan pointed out that Governor Ambode is very much interested in the development of the grassroots.

He added that they are creating community radio stations, engaging with community newspapers and currently assessing community needs to input in the next budget.

He then concluded by saying that democracy can only survive when people pay interest in it so citizens should be interested in knowing how they are being governed.

Anambra Guber: MASSOB, BIM to hold mega rally in Onitsha Sept13 Val Okara, Owerri

A cross-section of participants at the International Youth Day in Abeokuta, Ogun State… at the weekend.

Plateau Speaker push for Peace Corps inclusion in 2018 budget

Kingsley Chukwuka, Jos

ÏÏÏSpeaker

Plateau State House of Assembly, Hon. Peter Azi, at the weekend advocated the inclusion of Peace Corps funding in the 2018 budget.

Azi made the call when officers and men of the corps, Plateau state command, visited the State House of Assembly on a thank you rally to express appreciation with the National Assembly for passing the bill estab-

lishing the Peace Corps into law.

The Speaker also called on President Muhammad Buhari to sign the bill awaiting his assent as soon as he returns to the country.

According to him, “we are in synergy with the the National Assembly and we are working to ensure that the peace corps bill gets the President’s assent.

“President Buhari is a man who is passionate about the security of this country and with this I am appealing that provision

should be made for the peace corps in next year’s budget”, he said.

However, the chairman House Committee on security and labour in the Plateau State House of Assembly, Hon. Daniel Dem, while speaking at the occasion said “we would continue to support the members of the Peace corps at all times and ensure that the bill gets final assent by the President for the interest of the teaming youths who are unemployed.

Dem called on mem-

bers of the Corps to be law abiding, adding that the Plateau State government will continue to support the course until it finally gets the presidents assent.

Speaking earlier the Plateau State Commandant of the Peace Corps, Patriot Joseph Sunday, said they were in the State House of to thank the members for their support during its public hearing and called on the House to continue to support the struggle.

Pro-Biafra groups, the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and Biafra Independence Movement (BIM) plan to hold a mega rally in support of November 18 governorship election in Anambra on September 13, 2017.

Founder and leader of MASSOB and BIM, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, is expected to deliver a keynote speech while other dignitaries invited from within and outside the country will present their goodwill message.

MASSOB and BIM leaders,Chief Okechukwu Nwaogu and Chief Cannice Anujuru, announced this during media briefing in Owerri on Sunday.

The duo said that the rally will take place at Onitsha the commercial nerve centre of Anambra state.

Nwaogu specifically explained that Onitsha was chosen for rally to clear the erroneous news that pro-Biafra groups were opposed to the November 18 governorship election in the state. ``The founder and leader of MASSOB/BIM, Chief Uwazuruike, will personally attend the rally and deliver keynote message on the position MASSOB/BIM on November 18 governorship election in Anambra.

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017

News 19

Chidoka, Offodile to fight for UPP’s governorship ticket on August 19 Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja

ÏÏÏ

The United Progressives Party (UPP), has cleared former Minister of Aviation, Chief Osita Chidoka and a two-term member of the House of Representatives, Hon Chudi Offodile, to contest for its primaries ahead of the November 18 Anambra State governorship election.

The clearance was confirmed in the report of the party’s Screening Committee, headed by Alhaji Sadeeq Masalla.

The UPP has also slated its primary election to pick its governorship candidate for Saturday ,19th August , 2017, at Awka, Anambra State.

A statement at the weekend in Abuja by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Chief Ogbuehi Dike assured that UPP will be fair and transparent in its dealings as well as abide by its guidelines in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Act in the conduct of the primary election.

The statement reads, “The

United Progressive Party has continued to abide by its guidelines in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Act in its preparation for the 18th November Governorship Election in Anambra State.

“At the close of nomination on Thursday 10th August 2017, the Screening Committee of the Party led by the National Secretary, Alhaji Sadeeq Masalla screened the two aspirants who fulfilled the requirements of the Party to be screened.

“They are –Hon. Chudi Offodile, a two term member of the House of Representatives and Chief Osita Chidoka, former Corps Marshal of Federal Road Safety Corps and immediate past Minister of Aviation.

“Following the report of the Screening Committee, the Party can now confirm that Hon. Chudi Offodile and Chief Osita Chidoka are eligible to participate in its Primary Election scheduled to hold on Saturday 19th August 2017, at Awka, Anambra State.

House C’ttee blames scarcity of kerosene on none involvement of MFBs Edem Edem, Calabar The Special Task Force (STF) is committed to consolidating on the mandate of the task-force, aimed at ending insurgency and returning troops to the barracks, says the new STF Commander in Plateau state, Major General Anthony Atolagbe.

House of Representatives committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) has advocated the use of Micro Finance Banks to end scarcity of kerosene in the country. It expressed worry over the scarcity of the product and urged the major stakeholders in oil and gas industry to involve micro finance banks across the country in distribution of the product.

The committee members while interacting with stakeholders at Calabar Free Trade Zone, decried the activities of middlemen in the industry and suggested the intervention of micro finance banks to reduce prices of kerosene.

Speaking on behalf of the committee, its chairman, Dr. Joseph Akinlaja, commended stakeholders for safety measures taken so far and suggested how to make kerosene affordable, unadulterated and manageable, especially intervening

through the micro finance banks on the product distribution. Akinlaja said: “We came here to assess and see how kerosene can be affordable to all at high quality and low price.”

“We commend the depots for their planed investment in hydro-carbon because the future of Nigeria depends on gas. Well CFTZ is an asset to the Nigeria’s economic development. We have come to know why kerosene is expensive and also come to ask the players –those in supply and distribution-in the industry what way forward. We are actually concerned with kerosene explosion as a result of no fault of theirs.”

“We have identified a whole lot of problem ranging from haulage, distribution to surface tanks issues.

And we want to see how these challenges can be reduced to a minimal level”.

Welcoming the Committee, the Managing Director of Fyn Field Fynefield, Petroleum, Mr. Akshay Saxena, said since cardinal points of the Committee visits is to make sure the right price of kerosene gets to the consumer in quality and at cheaper rate, it is important that we understand the system first.

A cross-section of participants, at the graduation ceremony for students of Advanced Conflict Management Course in Abuja… at the weekend.

Obasanjo challenges youth to push out old politicians Abiodun Taiwo, Abeokuta ÏÏÏFormer Nigeria President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo on Satuday challenged youths in the country to wrestle for leadership space adding that older generation politicians will not quit the stage for them unless they push them out.

Obasanjo who spoke in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital at the Youth Governance Dialogue organised to mark International Youth Day, 2017 added that the youths have potentials to succeed if given chance.

The former President, however, was quick to add

that the youth who would occupy leadership positions in the country must have carved a niche for themselves through hardwork.

Obasanjo who maintained that leadership was never given on a platter of gold, said they have to work for it.

The former president who noted that moral values had been eroded in the society, when compared to what obtained in the 50s and the 60s, said those moral values were required for leadership position.

Obasanjo said Nigeria was in need of leaders who are academically and spiritually sound, urging the

youths to get prepared to occupy elective offices as there were moves to lower the age into elective positions such as that of the president, governor, and National Assembly.

He appealed to them to stop complaining and moaning.

His words “I joined politics from the top. The only position I contested for in Nigeria is the Presidency, but I had track record of achievements which led to that.

“Nobody will choose you, you have to choose yourself. Why should you have to become president at the age of 40? Why can’t you become president at the age of 35? Why can’t

you become president at the age of 30?

“General Gowon became Head of State at 33.

I became Head of State at 39. And it is because of my track record, and thanks to Abacha(late Gen. Sani Abacha) for putting me in jail.

“Those were the reasons why I have opportunity to come back as elected President of Nigeria.

“The point is this -how are you prepared? Are really prepared?”

The former President also spoke about unity and integration, urging Nigerians to see themselves as one family instead of pursuing things that could divide the country.

Those opposing restructuring are anti-Nigeria -SEF Moses Oyediran, Enugu

ÏÏÏ

The South East Forum (SEF), an Igbo pressure group, has stated that over 70 percent Nigerians are rooting for the restructuring of the country stressing that anybody or group of people opposing it are anti-Nigeria.

President of the group, Dr. Ezekiel Izuogu, who stated this at the weekend after a meeting of the forum in Enugu noted that only a negligible 30 per cent Nigerians are opposed to it.

According to him, a lot of advantages accrue to restructuring if it is allowed to see the light of the day, pointing out that if Nigeria is restructured

according to the yearning of the people, it would help check the agitations and the supposed hate speeches going on presently in the country.

“Vast majority of Nigerians are going for restructuring. 70 per cent of Nigerians are for restructuring while only about 30 per cent are against it.

“Restructuring must take place. People who are organising the hate songs are the enemies of Nigeria. Anybody circulating the songs is anti-Nigeria,” Izuogu pointed out.

He went on, “if we restructure and correct the ills in Nigeria, there will be no need for Biafra agitation and other agitations. If Nigeria is restructured, agitations

will fizzle out on their own.”

Harping on the advantage of restructuring, SEF president said that if Nigeria is restructured, the federating units that make up Nigeria will be able to develop at their own pace as it was when Nigeria was running the three regional governments of North, West and East and later, Mid West.

Speaking on one of the major issues that has been fueling the agitation especially among the Igbo people, Izuogu noted that the West and the North have held on to the presidency for too long whereas Ndigbo have never had the opportunity even for once safe the military era when Ironsi held sway as

the military president before he was brutally assassinated.

He expressed the view that if this anomaly is addressed, it would go a long way in building unity in Nigeria because, according to him, Igbos love Nigeria dearly, citing Zik, Okpara, Ibiam as some of the Igbos that sacrificed a lot to see that Nigeria gained independence to become one united nation.

He suggested that if Nigeria should go back to the 1963 Constitution instead of the 1999 Constitution, Nigeria would be the better for it because the 1963 Constitution recognised the discreteness of each of the zones and did not give room for dictatorship but democracy.

20

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017

21 Public Notice

DIASPORA EMPOWERMENT AND REHABILITATION INITIATIVE

UNITED YAMFLOUR & CASSAVA TRADERS ASSOCIATION OF AGO ARE

The General public is hereby notified that the above named has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for registration under part “C” of the companies and allied matters act 1990.

The General public is hereby notified that the above named ASSOCIATION has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for registration under part “C” of the companies and allied matters act 1990

This is to inform the General Public that the above named ASSOCIATION has applied to Corporate Affairs Commission for registration under part C of the Companies and Allied Matters Acts, 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE:1. Alao Remi Kehinde - Chairman 2. Ikwuonu Cajetan Chukwuma - Secretary 3. Eggenberge- Kekong Mary Dele 4. Ayanleke Olatoye Mukaila

THE TRUSTEES ARE:1. TAIWO OLUSEGUN 2. LAWAL MUKAILA ADEOLA 3. AYINLA FOLASHADE GANIYA 4. ALIMI SALIU OGUNMODEDE 5. ADEDIGBA MARY DOTUN

THE TRUSTEE ARE:( 1) Prince lsa Oyekola ( 2) Mr Babatunde Johnson (3) Mr Olagbenro Johnson ( 4 ) Mrs Omikunle Alimot (5) Mr Ogunjimi John Adeyemi

THE AIM AND OBJECTIVE IS:To be a platform to channel and provide empowerment and rehabilitation assistance to needy individuals or group.

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE:(1) To support members business trade and vocations financially and morally (2) To facilitate enterpreneurial and vocational skills acquisition training among members of the association

THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE:(1) To support members business trade and vocations financially and morally (2) To facilitate enterpreneurial and vocational skills acquisition training among members of the association

Any objection to this Registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja within 28 daysfrom the date of this publication.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the RegistrarGeneral Corporate Affairs Commission, plot 420, Tigris crescent, off Aguiyi ironsi street, Maitama Abuja within 28 days of the publication.

The general public is hereby notified that the above named foundation has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for registration under Part “C” of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2004.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. Yemi Joseph 2. Henry Emmanuel Joseph.

3. Awonusi Olatunji Obafemi THE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ARE: 1. To equip young persons in Nigeria and across Africa with Information Technology skills including but not limited to computing coding skills with a view to supporting them to become active players in the economic development of the Nigerian society and Africa at large.

2. To equip young persons in Nigeria and across Africa with Information Technology skills with a view to making them financially self-sufficient and help reduce the scourge of unemployment in the society.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent off Aguyi Ironsi Street, PMB 198, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days from the day of this publication.

SIGNED BY: Solomon Okedara Esq. 08034781490

Signed by: Babatunde Johnson Secretary

IKWO UNITED BROTHERS ASSOCIATION

FAMILY CHANGE OF NAME

This is to inform the general public that the above named “Organisation” has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for registration under the part C of Companies and Allied Matters Acts 1990.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES (1) NWOKE KELECHI IGWE (2) UMOKE CHIDIEBERE MONDAY (3) NWAFOR NWAKPU EMMANUEL (4) NWANKWO ONUZURUIKE DAVID (5)SUNDAY NNABO OGBUAGU (6) SAMUEL CHINEME PATRICK (7) NWEKE CHINEDU SYLVESTER (8) NWOBA OKECHUKWU PETER (9) MBAM SUNDAY CHUKWUEMEKA. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES (1) TO PROMOTE PEACE AND UNITY AMONG MEMBERS OF THE ASSOCIATION (2) TO PARTAKE ACTIVELY IN THE SOCIAL RELATIONS OF MEMBERS. Any Objection(s) to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar General, Corporate Affairs Commission, plot 420, Tigris Crescent, off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, PMB 198, Garki, Abuja within 28 days from the date of this publication.

Signed by: TRUSTEES

THE EVERLASTING ARMS CHRISTIAN CENTRE

AWGU MARKET TRADERS ASSOCIATION CHANGE OF TRUSTEE/CHAIRMAN/MEMBER

The general public is hereby notified that the above named has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for registration under Part “C” of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2004.

This is to inform the general public that above named association with registration no. Rc No: CAC No. 43974, has applied to the corporate affairs commission (CAC) under part c of the companies and allied matters act for change of its trustees.

TRUSTEES ARE 1. OWOLABI OLUKAYODE BABATUNDE - CHAIRMAN 2. DR. OKUBOYEJO KUDIRAT ADEDOYIN - SECRETARY 3. OWOLABI IWALOLA MOTUNROLA 4. ADERIBIGBE ADESOLA AIMS. 1. TO PROPAGATE THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST ALL OVER THE WORLD. 2. To win souls for GOd’s kingdom through Bible study and evangelism, deliverance services.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the RegistrarGeneral, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent off Aguyi Ironsi Street, PMB 198, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days from the day of this publication Signed TRUSTEES - 08023295245

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. EKENE NWEZE (CHAIRMAN) 2. ELIAS UZONU 3. VINCENT NWAFOR 4. MRS. ONYEKWENA MABEL 5. SUNDAY AKA 6. PASTOR EDWIN OKEKE

MRS AGUNABO CHINONYE MARYCYNTHIA

I formerly known as MISS BASSEY INIUBONG, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS IDRIS INIUBONG ESSIEN. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I formerly known as MISS CHUKWU CHIAKA PRECIOUS, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS OFOR CHIAKA PRECIOUS. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

MRS PATIENCE CHIBUZO OBINNA-ROLAND. I, formerly known and addressed as MISS PATIENCE CHIBUZO NWAOPARA, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS PATIENCE CHIBUZO OBINNA-ROLAND. All former documents remain valid.

Federal University Of Technology, Owerri and general public please take note.

MUSTAPHAR UMAH MUHAMMAD

I formerly known and addressed as MUSTAPHA YUSUF now wish to be known and addressed as MUSTAPHAR UMAH MUHAMMAD. All former documents remain valid.

General public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as BARRISTER CHUKWUEZI DORIS CHINYERE, now wish to be known and addressed as BARRISTER MRS AHANONU DORIS CHINYERE. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

MRS. ODHOMOR PATIENCE GUKE

EGBUNIWE JERRY IWEAYA OBANYE

TAIWO MODUPE AISHAT

KUYORO ADEKEMI BOLANLE I, formerly known and addressed as ADEYEMO ADEKEMI BOLANLE , now wish to be known and addressed as KUYORO ADEKEMI BOLANLE. All documents bearing my former names remain valid. General public and Authorities Concerned should please take note.

MATHEW SANDRA ELOHOR

I, formerly known and addressed as SAMUEL SANDRA ELOHOR, now wish to be known and addressed as MATHEW SANDRA ELOHOR. All former documents remain valid. General public and Authorities Concerned should please take note.

REMOVE RETAINED RETAINED RETAINED REMOVED RETAINED

ANY OBJECTION TO THIS CHANGE SHOULD BE FORWARDED TO THE REGISTRAR GENERAL, CORPORATE AFFAIRS COMMISSION PLOT 420 TIGRIS CRESCENT OFF AGUIYI IRONSI STREET, MAITAMA, ABUJA WITHIN 28 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. SIGNED SECRETARY

MRS OFOR CHIAKA PRECIOUS

I, formerly known and addressed as OBANYE TONY IKECHUKWU, now wish to be known and addressed as EGBUNIWE JERRY IWEAYA OBANYE. All former documents remain valid. General public and Authorities Concerned should please take note.

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THE NEWLY APPOINTED TRUSTEE AND CHAIRMAN/MEMBER ARE: 1. ELDER EMMANUEL OKAFOR CHAIRMAN 2. MR. INNOCENT CHIBUEZE MEMBER

MRS IDRIS INIUBONG ESSIEN

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS. OKOH PATIENCE GUKE, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. ODHOMOR PATIENCE GUKE. All former documents remain valid. General public and Authorities Concerned should please take note.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama Abuja within 28 days from the date of this publication

SIGNED BY: SECRETARY

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CODE AFRICA TECHNOLOGY EMPOWERMENT FOUNDATION

AGO ARE POULTRY & MEAT SELLER ASSOCIATION

I formerly known as MISS EZEAGU CHINONYE MARYCYNTHIA, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS AGUNABO CHINONYE MARYCYNTHIA. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

BARRISTER MRS AHANONU DORIS CHINYERE

I, formerly known and addressed as KOLAWOLE MODUPE AISHAT, now wish to be known and addressed as TAIWO MODUPE AISHAT. All former documents remain valid. General public and Authorities Concerned should please take note.

CORRECTION OF NAME

That my name was wrongly written on my BVN Account as OGUNNIMO KEHINDE TOBILOBA instead of OGUNNIMO KEHINDE OLUWATOBI. That my correct name is OGUNNIMO KEHINDE OLUWATOBI. General public and Authorities Concerned should please take note.

IHEDIGBO OBINNA ISAAC

I, formerly known and addressed as IHEDIGBO IKEM ISAAC, now wish to be known and addressed as IHEDIGBO OBINNA ISAAC. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

CASMIR CHUKWUEBUKA CLETUS

We the underlisted formerly known and addressed as 1. JAMES TAJUDEEN AYODEJI AGBOOLA 2. BOLA AGBOOLA 3. TAIWO JOSEPH AGBOOLA 4. TAIWO PAUL AGBOOLA 5. KEHINDE PETER AGBOOLA now wish to be known and addressed as 1. JAMES AYODEJI AKINWALE 2. BOLA RUTH AKINWALE 3.TAIWO JOSEPH AKINWALE 4. TAIWO PAUL AKINWALE 5. KEHINDE PETER AKINWALE. All former documents remain valid. General public to please take note.

LIFE FRIENDS SPORTS CLUB This is to notify the general public that the above named club has applied to the corporate affairs commission for registration under part c of the companies and allied matters act, 2004.

Trustee are: 1. Igwedum Echezonachukwu Jonathan -President 2. Mbaonu Onyeka Michael -secretary 3. Okeke Ifeanyi -Member 4. Okonkwo Obinna - Member 5. Mike Omeanu -Member 6. Engr. Jude Okoli -Member.

Aims and objectives 1 To foster brotherly relationship among members.

2 To unite the members in the bonds of friendship, Good followership, and mutual understanding.

3 To serve as a forum for bringing together all members and their families.

4 To take active interest in the sports, culture, social and moral welfare of the members.

Any objection to the registration should be forwarded to the registrar general corporate Affairs Commission,plot 420,Trigis crescent, off Aguiyi Ironsi street Maitama, Abuja within 28days Of this publication.

Signed: CAMILLUS C. AKOR ESQ. Applicants Solicitor, A. O. Uzodike & Co Uzodike Chambers 77,Igwe Orizu road Otolo Nnewi 08032378752

OKORAFOR FAVOUR CHINYERE

ADELEKE OLUWAFUNKE OLAWUNMI

I Formerly known and addressed as OGBAEGBE CHARITY CHINYERE now wish to be referred to as OKORAFOR FAVOUR CHINYERE. All former documents still remain valid, general public and other affected institution kindly take note

I, formerly known and addressed as ALADE OLUWAFUNKE OLAWUNMI, now wish to be known, called and addressed as ADELEKE OLUWAFUNKE OLAWUNMI. All former documents remain valid. General public and Authorities Concerned should please take note.

MRS. PRINCESS SCHOLASTICA UNAEGBU

MOSES LSAIAH AROME

I, formerly known and addressed as CLETUS J. CLETUS, now wish to be known, called and addressed as CASMIR CHUKWUEBUKA CLETUS. All former documents remain valid. General public and Authorities Concerned should please take note.

I, Formerly known and addressed as MISS PRINCESS SCHOLASTICA NJEMANZE, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. PRINCESS SCHOLASTICA UNAEGBU. All former documents remain valid. UBA, UNION BANK PLC and the general public take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as MOSES AMOS, now wish to be known, called and addressed as MOSES lSAIAH AROME. All former documents remain valid.

General public and Authorities Concerned should please take note.

NDUKWE REJOICE OZIOMA

HASSAN ADESHOLA KAZEEM

UGOGEORGE WILLIAMS OPARA

I, formerly known and addressed as JUMBO EBIERE REJOICE, now wish to be known and addressed as NDUKWE REJOICE OZIOMA. All former documents remain valid. General public and Authorities Concerned should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as HASSAN ADESHOLA, now wish to be known and addressed as HASSAN ADESHOLA KAZEEM. All former documents remain valid. General public and Authorities Concerned should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as ANYANWU MARYLEONA UGO, now wish to be known, called and addressed as UGOGEORGE WILLIAMS OPARA. All former documents remain valid. General public and Authorities Concerned should please take note.

KUNLE-OMOPE FUNMILAYO ABISOLA

OSENI ADEWUMI ROFIAT I, formerly known and addressed as ADEWUMI TAIWO ROFIAT, now wish to be known and addressed as OSENI ADEWUMI ROFIAT. All former documents remain valid. General public and Authorities Concerned should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS. MARY EJUMA ADANU, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS. MARY EJUMA GODWIN. All former documents remain valid. General public and Authorities Concerned should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as SHODIYA FUNMILAYO ABISOLA, now wish to be known and addressed as KUNLE-OMOPE FUNMILAYO ABISOLA. All former documents remain valid. General public and Authorities Concerned should please take note.

MRS. MARY EJUMA GODWIN

Public Notice 22 MRS YAYA MONSURA BOLANLE

MRS NKWUDA ESTHER MFOM

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017

SOLIU AFUSA

ETIM JEREMIAH UNYIME

MRS ADIJAT AYO ABBASS

MRS CATHERINE ONYINYE AZONOBI

Formerly known and addressed as MISS CATHERINE ONYINYE CHUKWU, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS CATHERINE ONYINYE AZONOBI. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

Formerly known and addressed as MISS UDO ESTHER MFOM, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS NKWUDA ESTHER MFOM. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

Formerly known and addressed as SALIU AFUSAT ABENI, now wish to be known and addressed as SOLIU AFUSA. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

xx AGWOM EZEKIEL NYAM Formerly known and addressed as JAMES JOHN, now wish to be known and addressed as AGWOM EZEKIEL NYAM. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

MRS OLORIOKE MOTUNRAYO MARY Formerly known and addressed as MISS OLUGBOSI MOTUNRAYO MARY, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS OLORIOKE MOTUNRAYO MARY. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ONOYANRO JOY ISIOMA

xxMATHEW ADESUWA BLESSING MRS

MRS OWOEYE OLUWABUKOLA BOLANLE OMOWUNMI Formerly known and addressed as MISS AKOREDE BOLA and MISS FAKOREDE BUKOLA OMOWUNMI now wish to be known and addressed as MRS OWOEYE OLUWABUKOLA BOLANLE OMOWUNMI. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

YAKUBU CHRISTIANA DELE

OLUSOLA MATHEW ADEKUNLE

ONU ROSEMARY CHIKWADO

Formerly known and addressed as AWUZIEKE JOY ISIOMA, now wish to be known and addressed as ONOYANRO JOY ISIOMA. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

Formerly known and addressed as MRS BLESSING SUCCESS MATHEW, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS MATHEW ADESUWA BLESSING. All former documents remain valid. BANK and the general public take note.

I formerly known and addressed as KEHINDE ESTHER now wish to be known called and addressed as YAKUBU CHRISTIANA DELE. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I formerly known and addressed as OLAYEMI ADEKUNLE RAYMOND now wish to be known called and addressed as OLUSOLA MATHEW ADEKUNLE. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I formerly known and addressed as UDEAGBARA ROSEMARY CHIKWADO now wish to be known called and addressed as ONU ROSEMARY CHIKWADO. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

MRS FRANCIS FAVOUR ADANNAYA

xx OLA OMISHORE Formerly known and addressed as Ola Ruth Olorunshola, now wish to be known and addressed as Ola Omishore. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

MRS EMEREMGINI MODESTA ANIZOWA I formerly known and addressed as MISS EZEBILO MODESTA now wish to be known called and addressed as MRS EMEREMGINI MODESTA ANIZOWA. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

Formerly known and addressed as chukwuma muoka, now wish to be known and addressed as chukwuma chukwuemerie.

All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

Formerly known and addressed as MISS SANGODARA MONSURA BOLANLE, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS YAYA MONSURA BOLANLE. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

GBADEBO ABIMBOLA

Formerly known and addressed as ILESANMI MODUPEOLA ABIMBOLA, now wish to be known and addressed as GBADEBO ABIMBOLA. All former documents remain valid.

FIRST BANK and the general public take note.

I formerly known and addressed as I formerly known and addressed as MISS ISAAC FAVOUR ADANNAYA now wish to be known called and addressed as MRS FRANCIS FAVOUR ADANNAYA. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ISEMEDE MERCY AINA Formerly known and addressed as ISEMEDE MERCY EGHA, now wish to be known and addressed as ISEMEDE MERCY AINA. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

xx PRINCE CHUKWUKELE OKAEZE Formerly known and addressed as NKWOKWU CHUKWUKELU now wish to be known and addressed OKAEZE PRINCE CHUKWUKELE. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ONYEKACHI-ISAAC NKIRU LYNN

xx ADEBAYO SIKIRAT AGBEKE

I, formerly known and addressed as lkedionu Nkiru Pauline Oscra now wish to be known and addressed as Onyekachi-Isaac Nkiru Lynn.

All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

I, Formerly known and addressed as ARUTU SIKIRAT AGBEKE now wish to be known and addressed as ADEBAYO SIKIRAT AGBEKE. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

PUBLIC NOTICE THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA COMPANIES AND ALLIED MATTERS ACT 2004 COMPANY LIMITED BY SHARES SPECIAL RESOLUTION OF CNOOC ENERGY SERVICES NIGERIA LIMITED MEMBERS VOLUNTARY WINDING UP (PURSUANT TO SECTIONS 457 (B) & 464(1) OF CAMA 2004) AT THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE ABOVE NAMED COMPANY HELD AT ITS REGISTERED ADDRESS IN LAGOS, NIGERIA ON 11 DAY OF AUGUST 2017, The following Special Resolutions were duly and unanimously passed; That ‘CNOOC ENERGY SERVICES NIGERIA LIMITED’ be wound up.

That Mr. UHABIA OJIKE of Ojike & Partners (Chartered Accountants) of 5th Floor, 18 Oba - Akran Avenue, Ikeja Lagos with phone number 08052090525, be appointed as Liquidator until the Company is wound up.

Dated this 11 Day of AUGUST 2017 Signed ………………………….

DIRECTOR

Signed …………………………..

DIRECTOR

CHILD PLUS INITIATIVE

KAMSELEM-JAMILU DANAYA Formerly known and addressed as KAMSELEM DANAYA now wish to be known and addressed KAMSELEM-JAMILU DANAYA. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CORRECTION AND CONFIRMATION OF NAME

This is to notify the general public that my names were wrongly written, stated and called as Ishola Fatai Festus and Festus Moronkeji instead of Ishola Ishola Festus Moronkoya. Henceforth I wish to be known, called and addressed as Ishola Festus Moronkoya. First & Zenith Banks take note.

Formerly known and addressed as AKANIMO UNYIME ETIM, now wish to be known and addressed as ETIM JEREMIAH UNYIME. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

OPARA UGOCHI CHIKA CATHERINE

Formerly known and addressed as CHIKA ROWLAND OPARA, now wish to be known and addressed as OPARA UGOCHI CHIKA CATHERINE. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHUKWUMA CHUKWUEMERIE

OWONIKOKO MOSHOOD KEHINDE

Formerly known and addressed as MUHAMMED MOSHOOD KEHINDE now wish to be known and addressed OWONIKOKO MOSHOOD KEHINDE. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

YUSUF KAMORU DAUDA

I formerly known and addressed as KAMORU DAUDA ABIODUN now wish to be known and addressed as YUSUF KAMORU DAUDA. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

Formerly known and addressed as IMOLE ALICE AYO ADIJAT, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS ADIJAT AYO ABBASS. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ADETOLA SAMSON ADEYIGA

GANIYU RAMOTALAHI

Formerly known and addressed as ADEYIGA OLUWOLE ADETOLA, now wish to be known and addressed as ADETOLA SAMSON ADEYIGA. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

Formerly known and addressed as LUKMON MORUFAT, now wish to be known and addressed as GANIYU RAMOTALAHI. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CORRECTION OF NAME My name was wrongly written on my account as waidi adisa folorunsho instead of wahèed adisa kolorunsho. My correct name is waheed adisa kolorunsho. All documents remain valid. General public take note.

VICTORY OJOGBANE OMATOLA

I, formerly known and addressed as VICTORY PETER now wish to be known and addressed as VICTORY OJOGBANE OMATOLA. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

NWOKORA ONYEMAECHI GIFT

Formerly known and addressed as Nwokora Onyeanechi Nwaso, now wish to be known and addressed as Nwokora Onyemaechi Gift.

All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

NKECHINYERE DEBORAH OSUJI

I, Formerly known and addressed as NKECHINYERE DEBORAH OCHUBA now wish to be known and addressed as NKECHINYERE DEBORAH OSUJI. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OBINNA CHINENYE MAXWELL

CORRECTION OF NAME

I FORMERLY KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS OBINNA CHINENYE UMEORANEFO NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND CALLED OBINNA CHINENYE MAXWELL. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID. GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD TAKE NOTE.

This is to inform the general public that my name was wrongly written as Akeem Dosumu Wale instead of Dosumu Akeem Olawale. Henceforth, I wish to be known, called and addressed as Dosumu Akeem Olawale. All former documents remain valid. Diamond bank, FCMB and general public should take note.

EDO – DELTA ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA, BADAGRY LAGOS

SOUTH EAST TRADITIONAL MEDICINE PRACTITIONERS ASSOCIATION

The General Public is hereby notified that the above named body has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for registration under part C of the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990.

The general public is hereby notified that the above named Association has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission [CAC] Abuja for registration under Part C of the Company and Allied Matters Act 1990.

TRUSTEES ARE: 1.MR. OKOGHO LUCKY - PRESIDENT 2.MR. OHWOJERO EMMANUEL - SECRETARY 3.MR. IYEIVELE TIMOTHY - TREASURER Aims and Objectives: 1.To promote the unity among the Edo – Delta Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420, Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama Abuja within 28days of this publication.

SIGNED SECRETARY OGECHI ANGEL HELPING HAND FOUNDATION

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. Chief Dr. Ebubedike Ugorji - President 2. Mr. Nicholas .C. Elekwa 3. Mr. Ikechukwu John 4. Mazi Azubuike .A. Nwosu (JP) 5. Chief Innocent Nweke – Secretary 6. Mrs. Ann Nwangwu 7. Mrs. Ikenwilo Regina Ifechukwu Odife AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 1. Production of Genuine Traditional Medicine.

2. Intends to build General Hospital.

3. Sales, Marketing and Distribution of Traditional Medicine.

Any objection to this registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission [CAC], Plot 420 Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

SIGNED: EMMA. OKORAFOR ESQ. 08033345827

EVANS DULE’S FOUNDATION

This is to inform the general public that the above named has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for Registration under part “C”of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, Decree No. 1 of 1990.

The general public is hereby inform that the above named Foundation has applied to Corporate Affairs Commission for registration under Part ‘C’ of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, Decree No. 1 of 1990.

The general public is hereby inform that the above named Foundation has applied to Corporate Affairs Commission for registration under Part ‘C’ of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, Decree No. 1 of 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE; 1). OGAZIECHI CHIKEZIE 2). OGAZIECHI EGO IMMACULATA

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. Mrs. Okeke Ogechi Chinyere - President.

2. Dr. Njaka Vitalis Ugochukwu.

3. Mr. Anthony Okpara - Secretary.

4. Innocent Maduabuchi Njaka.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. Barr. Evans Giayetor - Chairman.

2. Dr. Marvin Dekil.

3. Barr. Pedro Madukwe.

4. Mrs. Evlyn Nna - Secretary.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ; (1). TO PROTECT CHILDREN FROM ALL FORMS OF ABUSE (2). TO ENSURE QUALITY EDUCATION FOR EVERY CHILD Any objection to the registration should be forwarded to the RegistrarGeneral, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420 Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja, within 28 days of this publication SIGNED: TRUSTEES

AIMS/OBJECTIVES: 1. To give helping hand to the needy.

2. To care for the less privileged.

3. To create an enabling environment for creation of wealth.

4. To provide training for the youth.

Any objection to the registration should be forwarded to the RegistrarGeneral, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420 Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja, within 28 days of this publication Signed: Mrs. Okeke Ogechi Chinyere (President)

AIMS/OBJECTIVES: 1. To render legal services to the less privileged in the society.

Any objection to the registration should be forwarded to the Registrar-General, Corporate Affairs Commission, Plot 420 Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja, within 28 days of this publication Signed: Barr. Evans Giayetor (Chairman)

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017

23 Public Notice

24 Public Notice

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017

25 Public Notice

News 26

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017

27 Public Notice

Buhari values relationship with China - Presidency Mathew Dadiya, Abuja

ÏÏÏThe

Senior Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Mr Femi Adesina, has said that the relationship between Nigeria and China is very important to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Adesina stated this when he received in audience the Vice Minister

of Information of State Council, People’s Republic of China, Mr Guo Weimin, who was on an official visit to Nigeria.

According to Adesina, the fact that Buhari cherishes the cooperation between Nigeria and China automatically means there will always be areas of mutual cooperation between the two countries from which their media

organisations could explore.

The presidential spokesman reiterated the readiness of the presidential media team to build on the existing relationship while also exploring other areas of cooperation.

Adesina further assured the visiting Minister that the presidential media office will work closely with the Ministry of In-

formation to explore areas where the agreements signed during the visit will enhance the interests of the Nigerian media in particular and the Nigerian government in general.

The Vice Minister, Mr Guo Weimin had earlier informed Adesina that he led a team of other officials of the Chinese government to explore areas of exchange of ideas

towards deepening the relationship between the Chinese and the Nigerian media industry.

He also mentioned New Media, transparency in governance, broadcast communication and sociocultural values as areas in which they hope to share ideas with their Nigerian counterparts.

The Chinese envoy also acknowledged that presi-

dential spokesmen have a big role to play in deepening the relationship and therefore solicits the cooperation of Adesina in that regard.

Weimin also said that his delegation had interacted with a broad spectrum of Nigerian media professionals to hear firsthand from them over their expectations from the visit of the Chinese team.

Malabu: HURIWA drags FG to UN over Adoke

Francesca Iwambe, Abuja

ÏÏÏA

pro-Democracy and Non-Governmental Organization, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has dragged the Federal Government before the United Nations over what he called harassment and invasions of homes of former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr Mohammed Adoke (SAN).

In a statement made available on Sunday by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and National Media Affairs Director, Zainab Yusuf, HURIWA said that it has send a team to Dakar, Senegal over the weekend to submit a petition to Mr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, the Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations (UN for West Africa).

The group also claimed that due to credible fears CORRECTION OF NAME This is to inform the general public that my name was wrongly written as Genesis Kizzy Tony instead of Genesis Joseph Ajayi. Henceforth, I wish to be known, called and addressed as Genesis Joseph Ajayi.

All former documents remain valid.

General public should take note.

ADENIJI ADUNNI ADETORO

for his life, the former AGF cannot return to Nigeria from Europe where he has gone for a postmaster’s programme. It called on the World body to intervene by means of guaranteeing the security and safety of life of the former minister.

Calling on the UN to use it’s good offices and institutions to wade into the matter by demanding that the Nigeria provides remedial redress to the victims of serial human rights violations aforementioned, the group faulted the federal government over its continuous harassment of Adoke and his family.

HURIWA also drew the attention of the UN on the Malabu oil deal, saying that the immediate past AGF is being wrongfully targeted because he was a key kitchen cabinet member of the last government by the now opposition party- the Peoples Democratic Party.

HURIWA’s statement MRS BALOGUN AMINAT OPEYEMI

reads in part, “The settlement between Shell Nigeria Ultra Deep Limited (SNUD) and Malabu Oil and Gas Limited (Malabu) over the ownership / right to operate OPL 245 which was facilitated by the Federal government of Nigeria through the office of the Attorney General of Federal and minister of justice commenced in April 2011.

“We note that Adoke himself has written to explain his official role in all of these but the harassment has persisted especially by the Economic and Financial Crimes commission (EFCC) even when the former minister who served Nigeria without blemish for five years had instituted litigation challenging the government wrongful persecution based on substantially improvable and unsubstantiated and indeed baseless allegations”.

CORRECTION OF NAME

I, formerly known, called and addressed as Miss Lawal Aminat Opeyemi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Balogun Aminat Opeyemi.

All former documents remain valid, bank and general public should take note.

My name was wrongly written as EZE NJOKUAGWU instead of my correct name as EZE FRIDAY NJOKU. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

xx BLESSING NGOZI UGBEH

OLOKO REBECCA TEMITOPE

SHITTU BILIKIS TEMITOPE

MRS. FAITH UWAOFURE ODUARAN

saying that the development was gratifying and in line with his vision to use sports as a catalyst for growth and development of the economy.

He said: “We are very happy to have hosted this competition. This is the fourth edition and you can see that this year’s competition has actually attracted more people and then more countries.

The idea is to use sports as a catalyst for the growth and development of the economy.

UGOKWE ONYINYE PERPETUA

I, formerly known and addressed as OGBU MONDAY, Now wish to be known and addressed as INYAVA EMMANUEL ONU. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

That I Jolayemi Lateef Ademola my name was wrongly written as Jolayemi Lateef Olamilekan wish to be known and addressed as Jolayemi Lateef Ademola. All Documents /Credentials bearing these names remain valid, general public please take note.

OGUNBOTE OLABODE ISMAIL I, formerly known as ADEOYE OLA OLABODE, now wish to be called OGUNBOTE OLABODE ISMAIL that my date of birth is 27-02-1972. All relevant former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as MISS AKINTOYE YETUNDE ABOSEDE, Now wish to be known and addressed as MRS AREMU YETUNDE ABOSEDE. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

IDRIS HASSANAT

MRS FALOKUN MODUPE CHRISTIANA

xxBRIDGET REKHIA ABU

I Formerly known as Alabi Ramotalahi Temitope now wish to be know as Sunmola Ramotalahi Temitope. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as BRIDGET ADIGUN, Now wish to be known and addressed as BRIDGET REKHIA ABU. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

INYAVA EMMANUEL ONU

I, formerly known as ADEFEMI OLUWADAMILARE, now wish to be called ADEFEMI OLUWADARE DAVID. All relevant former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

ÏÏÏLagos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode on Sunday identified the right investment in sports as the necessary impetus that can bring about good performance of Nigerian athletes in sporting competitions, saying that it was time for the country to focus in such direction.

Governor Ambode, who made the reamrks while speaking to journalists

at the end of the Seamaster ITTF Challenge Nigeria Open held at the Molade Okoya Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, tagged Lagos 2017, said government and all the necessary stakeholders must now invest more in sports to take the country to its rightful place in the world of sports.

He expressed excitement at the successful hosting of the tournament which attracted Table Tennis stars from 22 countries,

ASUOHA EMMANUEL IJEOMA VESHE I formerly known as ANDRE SMITH wish to be known and addressed as ASUOHA EMMANUEL IJEOMA VESHE. All former documents remain valid, general public please take note.

SUNMOLA RAMOTALAHI TEMITOPE

I, formerly known as MISS, ABIMBOLA AYOOLA KALEJAIYE, now wish to be called MRS, OLUBIYI-DANZO ABIMBOLA AYOOLA. All relevant former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

Abuja

TAIWO OLAJIDE SUNDAY I formerly known as TAIWO OLAJIDE SAHEED wish to be known and addressed as TAIWO OLAJIDE SUNDAY .

All former documents remain valid, general public please take note.

I formerly known as SALISU REBECCA TEMITOPE wish to be known and addressed as OLOKO REBECCA TEMITOPE . All former documents remain valid, general public please take note.

ADEFEMI OLUWADARE DAVID

Francesca Iwambe,

I formerly known as Miss.

FAITH UWAOFURE OGBE wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. FAITH UWAOFURE ODUARAN. All former documents remain valid, general public please take note.

I formerly known as ADEDUN FAITH ADEWUYI wish to be known and addressed as ADENIJI ADUNNI ADETORO. All former documents remain valid, general public please take note.

ABIMBOLA AYOOLA

Investment in sports crucial to winning competitions – Ambode

I formerly known and addressed as Adefila Bilikis Tope, now wish to be known and addressed as Shittu Bilikis Temitope. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

I formerly known as BLESSING NKECHI UGBEH wish to be known and addressed as BLESSING NGOZI UGBEH. All former documents remain valid, general public please take note.

xxMRS, OLUBIYI-DANZO

Group Managing Director/CEO, Skye Bank Plc, Tokunbo Abiru, Chairman of the Bank, Mr. Muhammed Ahmad, General Counsel/Legal Adviser, Babatunde Osibodu and Executive Director, Technology & Services, Innocent Ike at the launch of SkyeXperience, a unique and new banking digital solution in Lagos today.

MRS AREMU YETUNDE ABOSEDE

I, formerly known as AKINYEMI HASSANAT now wish to be called IDRIS HASSANAT. All relevant former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

I formerly known as OBUKAIBIE ONYINYE PERPETUA wish to be known and addressed as UGOKWE ONYINYE PERPETUA. All former documents remain valid, general public please take note.

CORRECTION OF NAME

Formerly know and addressed as MISS ADESANYA MODUPE CHRISTIANA, now wish to be known and addressed as MRS FALOKUN MODUPE CHRISTIANA. All former documents remain valid.

The general public take note

28 News

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017

StarTimes restates commitment to connecting villages to digital TV

A cross section of fertiliser distributors at the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative (PFI) programmed in Kaduna State… on Sunday.

Traders in Enugu accuse govt of interfering in union politics Moses Oyediran, Enugu

ÏÏÏ

The leadership of Ogbette Main Market Traders Association (OMMTA), Enugu has called on government officials to stay neutral in the election of executive members of the association.

The association also absolved the state governor, Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, of complicity in the crisis allegedly championed by an executive member of the association.

Addressing newsmen in Enugu, the president of the association, Chief Temple Ude, said that some government officials were instigating crisis among them.

He said that traders in the market had enjoyed unprecedented peace in the past seven years, a disposi-

tion that had made the governor accept the proposal to give grants to traders in the state as well as donate N20 million as further support.

He, however, said that the association was currently under threat by a group serving the interest of some government officials from Nsukka zone of the state.

Ude, who is also the Special Assistant to the Governor on Market Matters and Development, said that the current situation would not affect the unflinching support the governor enjoyed from the traders.

He said that the reason for the crisis was the forthcoming election of executive members of the association, adding that some unpopular people wanted to hijack the association.

According to him, such people are hiding under the

pretext of coming from the same zone with the governor.

“The governor will never use his position to influence any activities of the traders. It is some politicians from Nsukka that are championing the crisis in our association,” he said.

Ude said that the traders needed to be allowed to elect their leaders, adding that any form of imposition would brew anarchy among the traders.

“If you try to impose anybody in the market you are brewing crisis. The traders will surely revolt because the market is where we make our living,” he said.

He said that the association under his administration had built peaceful bridges which must not be allowed to collapse due to the antics of few members.

have not done too well in employing the people of the state.

“Corporate organisations in the state have not done too well for the inclusion of Cross Riverians in their job line. And that, it is important the young people in the state are given a priority of employment in these ventures,” the commissioner lamented.

He urged youths to stay clear of crime involving cultism, kidnapping, raping, stealing and other social vices and instead

should embrace the spirit of enterprise to move the State forward.

Okang said the state, the nation, families and everybody is against cultism, crime and social vices and added in tackling the problem, it is important that the youths take advantage of the EU Amnesty programme by surrendering the arms they’re in possession with.

He went ahead to say, it is also important that the Government provides veritable means of sustaining young people outside the creeks, aside of the issues

“We made transparency a paramount aspect of our administration which was manifest in pay-rolling executive members for the first time,” he said.

Ude said that it had never been as rosy and that their efforts at building good rapport culminated in the governor accepting to include traders as members of Development Area Centers in the state.

He posited that traders at the market were appreciative of the governor’s support which had led to the institution of traders welfare scheme were several of them had been empowered.

He called on those fanning the embers of disunity to desist forthwith and realign with efforts aimed at consolidating the progress made by his administration.

C/R govt flays corporate organizations for not employing indigenes of state Edem Edem, Calabar

ÏÏÏ

Government of Cross River State has accused corporate organizations in the state of not employing its indigenes. Though the corporate organizations were not mentioned by the Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development, Comrade Asu Okang, who represented Governor Ben Ayade at this year’s International Youth Day Celebration held in Calabar, said that corporate organisations in the state

of violence and charged the young people to take advantage of the Ayade excellent leadership prowess and eschew the ‘Pull Him Down Syndrome’.

“I’d like to charge young people to eschew violence and to also make use of the best of their time, because their tomorrow depends on their in-actions today.

For us to grow, it is important to understand that as young people, we owe ourselves the collective support. We should shy away from the ‘Pull Him Down syndrome’ as well,” Asu Okang said.

StarTimes group has restated its commitment to connecting villages to the outside world; thereby changing the belief that only the top-class can enjoy digital TV. Speaking at the launch of StarTimes satellite TV project in Hulumi village, a community in Idu Local Council in the Abuja municipal, the group’s Vice-President, Ms Guo Ziqi, said that their TV has been accepted by the local government and its people.

“The joint venture between StarTimes and NTA has boosted the Nigerian TV industry and created lots of employment. As part of the China-Africa cooperation, 10,000 African villages are expected to benefit from this connection to satellite TV,” she said.

Also speaking at the event, the Director-General of NTA, Alhaji Ibn Mohammed, also added that the joint venture between the two media groups has in the last seven years grown in leaps and bounds.

He said: “We have decided to provide access to digital

TV to some small communities in Nigeria. Hulumi is just like many other villages across Nigeria with limited access to digital TV. The government of Nigeria is working hard to improve the lives of people in rural areas in Nigeria.”

According to him, five villages are expected to benefit from the first phase - two in the Federal Capital Territory, two in Nassarawa and one in Kwara. The venture will also provide maintenance for the facilities freeof-charge for the next one year.

Pupils of the Hulumi Village Primary School were also presented with stationary items.

Present at the launch were Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, represented

by Mr. Timothy Oyedeji, DG of Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation, Mallam Ishaq Modibbo, DG Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Dr. Mansur Liman, Chinese Vice Minister of Information, Mr. Guo Weimin, CEO Star Times Nigeria, Mr. Justin Zhang and Sarkin Jawa, HRH Idris Musa.

Tony Elumelu condemns human trafficking, supports NAPTIP Azubike Nnadozie In recognition of the growing concerns around human trafficking in Africa, The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), an African founded and funded 21st century philanthropic organization committed to youth empowerment and entrepreneurship development, hosted the DirectorGeneral of National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Julie Okah-Donli.

According to Okah-Donli, UNESCO ranks human trafficking as the third most lucrative criminal enterprise in Nigeria. Thus, agencies like NAPTIP need goodlaws, sustained funding and equally important, critical support from local and global stakeholders to execute the urgent war against human trafficking.

“We can no longer wait for government alone to fight this war. Many victims are on standby, anxious to be fully reintegrated into society.

At the agency, we are desperate for assistance to empower and rehabilitate these millions of victims in need. Thus, we are identifying and approaching organizations like the Tony ElumeluFoundation (TEF) for support.”

She continued: “We need to refurbish and rehabilitate our existing shelters,

facilitate periodic provision of food, clothing and medical consumables and shelter for victims. We also need assistance in the development of standard skills’ acquisition centres in strategic locations for the training of vulnerable persons, as well as rescued victims.”

In response, Mr. Tony Elumelu CON, Founder, Tony Elumelu Foundation, commended Okah-Donli for her accomplishments at the agency, including the conviction of over 325 persons, and successful rehabilitation of more than 12,000 victims. He also added that she was a former staff of leading pan-African bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA).

“She is an alumna of the United Bank for America (UBA), Africa’s global bank, thus we are not surprised at what she has become.

We predicted that she will attain such great heights because of the passion she has always had for human trafficking.”

On behalf of the Foundation, he pledged commitment to the war against human trafficking. “We support what you are doing and we stand behind you.

The TonyElumelu Foundation believes in the empowerment of our youths and as we all know, they cannot be empowered if they are notfree.”

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017

Foreign News 29

Political uprising looms in Kenya as opposition claims police killed over 100 Bonny Amadi with Agency reports

ÏÏÏFears

of sustained political unrest have continued to envelope Lenya following its recently concluded elections of which the incumbent president, Kenyatta has been announced reelected by the state electoral committee.

Kenya’s opposition accused the security forces on Saturday of killing more than 100 people, including 10 children, in a crackdown on post-election unrest.

Following uprising that erupted, following the announcement of Uhuru Kenyatta, as being reelected by the people in the presidential election, the coalition opposition party has claimed that Kenyan police has killed over 100 protesters, while the government claims no protester was killed.

Agency reports wrote that, speaking at a news conference, James Orengo, a top member

of the NASA opposition coalition, said police had provoked the violence.

His colleague, Johnson Muthama, said NASA would not be cowed or relent under the pressure. He however called on their supporters to stay out of harm’s way.

Meanwhile human rights groups reported that at least 24 people have been killed in violence following the presidential vote, which opposition supporters’ claim was rigged The report pointed “Midafternoon, and black smoke trails above the grey tenements. Broken glass, burned tyres, rubble and makeshift barricades block roads.

Charred spars mark where a stall once stood, incinerated in confused clashes overnight.

Police, armed with batons and assault rifles, cluster around their trucks. Angry men shout slogans and wave fists”.

Meanwhile, Kenyan government has dismissed reports of shooting of protesters by

Kenya’s dead victim of police bullet police saying the country used force against any is safe and there are no in- peaceful demonstrators securities except in parts in this country. Security of the capital and the port agencies are facing indicity of Kisumu. viduals who are looting Acting Cabinet Sec- and committing violence. retary for Interior Fred They are not demonstraMatiangi told the media tors but criminals,” he on Saturday morning said. that there are no demon“No one is dead by live strations in the country bullets. They are all rubut criminal activities mours and lies. Everyin Mathare and Kibera thing possible will be done slums in Nairobi and in to stop criminality. There Kisumu. is no need for alarm, the “The police have not country is safe,” he added.

China’s most wanted man cancels Botswana trip

ÏÏÏChina’s

most wanted man, Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama has canceled his planned trip to Botswana this week due to fatigue.

China had earlier warned Botswana against hosting the 82-yearold exiled leader, which may have led to the cancellation of the trip.

The Dalai Lama was scheduled to be in Botswana’s capital Gaborone to attend a human rights conference on August 17 to 19 and then meet President Ian Khama.

The announcement of his visit by the Botswana presidency was followed by a warning from China which said it will “certainly not tolerate another country doing anything that harms China’s core interests.”

Agency report stated that a statement issued on the trip cancellation, expressed Dalai Lama’s apology for the cancellation of the trip in order

to have enough rest according to his doctor’s advice.

“His Holiness acknowledges that his 82-year-old body must rest. His doctors have advised him to avoid long journeys in the coming weeks,” the statement said adding that he will return to India to recover.

The Dalai Lama, who fled from Tibet into exile in India in 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule, has long been at loggerheads with China, which sent its troops into Tibet in 1950.

He transferred his political authority in 2011 to the democratically elected leader putting an end to the 368-year old tradition of the Dalai Lamas functioning as both the spiritual and temporal head of Tibet.

His sour relationship with the Chinese government comes from his quest to liberate Tibet from Chinese rule.

Bill Gates eats with kids in Tanzania, tells story on Instagram

ÏÏÏWorld’s richest man, Bill Gates recently on a visit to Tanzania, ate in company of large number of children and shared his story on Instagram.

The world’s richest man, Gates joined Instagram while on a philanthropic visit to Tanzania.

While in the East African country, Gates also met President John Magufuli.

Bill Gates has donated 350 million dollars towards the development of projects in the Health, Information Communication Technology and Agriculture sectors in Tanzania.

His handle on the photo-sharing site @thisisbillgates already has 145 thousand followers in just a weekend since he opened it.

‘BillGates’ handle had been taken but still, his handle as a billionaire social influencer is sought after. He is following only 25 accounts including that of entrepreneur Mike Bloomberg and organisation The Malala Fund.

His profile reads, ‘Sharing things I’m learning through my foundation

work and other interests’.

Hello from Tanzania, Instagram!I just had a great lunch with some amazing kids at Kicheba Primary School in Muheza and met Upendo Mwingira, a remarkable physician who has dedicated her career to fighting neglected tropical diseases “I just had a great lunch with some amazing kids at Kicheba Primary School in Muheza and met Upendo Mwingira, a remarkable physician who has dedicated her career to fighting neglected tropical diseases.

Melinda and I have been coming to Tanzania for many years now. I always love seeing how much progress the country has made to improve health and provide opportunity. Plus, the scenery is stunning”, part of Gates’ first post that starts with “Hello from Tanzania, Instagram!”.

Forbes real time rankings estimates Bill Gates’ worth at 89.5 billion dollars, not including the 31.1 billion dollars he has donated to charity through his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Dalai Lama China has strong ties with African countries including Botswana. Neighboring South Africa has denied visa to the Buddhist monk three times since 2009.

Dalai Lama has travelled to more than 67 countries spanning 6 continents and has received over 150 awards, honorary doctorates and prizes in recognition of his message of peace and nonviolence.

The Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for his non-violent struggle for the liberation of Tibet.

Bill Gate in Tanzania

Uganda, Tanzania set world record with $3.5bn longest oil pipeline ÏÏÏEconomic

Tanzanian President John Magufuli, flanked by Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni

developments in Uganda and Tanzania are positioned for boost as the countries embark on partnership to play critical role in development of the regional economy and living standard of their citizenry.

The leaders of Tanzania and Uganda weekend laid a foundation stone for the construction of a $3.55 billion crude export pipeline that would pump Ugandan oil for international markets.

The 1,445 km-project set for completion by 2020 will stretch from landlocked Uganda’s western region, where crude reserves were discovered in 2006, to Tanzania’s Indian

Ocean seaport of Tanga.

Senior Vice President of Africa at Total Exploration and Production, Guy Maurice said the project will become “the longest electrically heated crude oil pipeline in the world.”

We don’t need to delay the completion of the project for almost three years. They can do it even night and day to ensure the project is completed as quickly as possible.

Total is one of the owners of Ugandan oilfields, alongside China’s Cnooc and Britain’s Tullow Oil. Tanzanian President John Magufuli, flanked by his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni, urged the three joint venture partners to speed

up construction of the pipeline.

“We don’t need to delay the completion of the project for almost three years. They can do it even night and day to ensure the project is completed as quickly as possible,” Magufuli said.

“Act with big speed and make sure you finish this project before 2020.”

Uganda estimates overall crude reserves at 6.5 billion barrels, while recoverable reserves are seen at between 1.4 billion and 1.7 billion barrels.

Kampala said it picked Tanzania over its other neighbour Kenya as the route for the proposed 24-inch export pipeline because it was a “least cost and least risky” option.

Monday, August 14, 2017

EXTRATIME

30

Andrew Ekejiuba with Agency Report

N

eymar is not worth the €222million Paris Saint-Germain paid Barcelona, according to Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness.

PSG stumped up a world-record fee to prise the Brazilian away from Camp Nou, and prior to the comple-

Neymar not worth €222million, says Hoeness tion of the transfer Hoeness branded the Ligue 1 club’s willingness to part with such an astronomical sum as “a sign of weakness”.

Neymar won La Liga twice, struck the final goal in Barca’s 2015 Champions League final triumph and has scored 52 goals for Brazil.

However, Hoeness revealed that

he is unsure Neymar – who made his PSG debut against Guingamp on Sunday – was worth such a significant outlay. “€222million? I don’t consider Neymar that good,” Hoeness said.

Hoeness was also critical of Neymar’s Brazil team-mate Douglas Costa.

MAN CITY sign Kayode, loan Eagles’ star to Girona Ben Nwachukwu with Agency Report

M

anchester City have signed Nigeria striker Olarenwaju Kayode from Austria Vienna on a four year deal and have immediately loaned out the Super Eagles striker to Spanish side Girona.

The 24-year-old finished as the top scorer in Austria’s top flight last season with 17 goals in 33 games.

Kayode, who was also reportedly linked with a move to Newcastle United, opted for City and moves to the newly promoted La Liga outfit Girona where four other City players are to spend the 2017/18 season.

The striker scored 24 goals in all 48 matches for Austria Vienna last season, including two goals in two games against AS Roma in the Europa League.

In total he produced 37 goals and created 18 assists in 85 appearances for Austria Vienna during his two-year spell at the club.

Kayode, who has also played in the Ivory Coast (ASEC Mimosas), Switzerland (FC Luzern) and Israel (Maccabi Netanya), represented Nigeria at the 2009 and 2011 FIFA U-17 and U-20 World Cups respectively.

He made his debut for Nigeria in a friendly against Senegal in March and has three caps for the threetime African Champions.

Costa swapped Bayern for Juventus in a loan move that could become permanent if an option in his contract is triggered, with Hoeness stating he had not earned the new deal he wanted at the Allianz Arena.

“Costa wanted more money after only a little time, despite not performing well at all,” he said.

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Kayode

Lukaku hero as Red Devils hammer West Ham Andrew Ekejiuba with Agency Report

R Romelu Lukaku (left) scores a brace on his Premier League debut for Man Utd.

Andrew Ekejiuba

T

he Minister of Youth and Sports, Barrister Solomon Dalung has expressed disappointment in a recent media report in which the Chairman, Senate House Committee on Sports, Senator Obinna Ogba took a swipe at the Minister over allegations of financial recklessness.

Barrister Dalung said that the statement credited to Ogba was just another attempt to dance to the gallery of public opinions and paint the ministry as villain.

The Minister described the recent scathing statement on his person as a media trial, unprofessional and an attempt to put him under pressure, weeks

omelu Lukaku announced his arrival at Old Trafford by scoring twice on his Premier League debut for Manchester United on Sunday, as they hammered West Ham 4-0.

Jose Mourinho’s team were a constant threat against a poor Hammers side, offering excitement and encouragement to their supporters on the opening weekend of the new Premier League season.

Lukaku, a £75m summer signing from Everton, put the Red Devils ahead with a rising drive off the post after racing onto Marcus Rashford’s pass. The Belgium

international doubled the lead after halftime, glancing in a header from Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s inswinging free-kick.

United teenager Rashford curled against the inside of Joe Hart’s left-hand post before substitute Anthony Martial ended the match as a contest with a slick finish.

There was still time for a fourth goal, however, as Paul Pogba curled in from distance. The Hammers offered little going forward in a passive performance, although new signing Marko Arnautovic did flick a header onto the top of the home crossbar at 2-0.

The Red Devils have now lost only one of their 14 opening-day Premier League fixtures at Old Trafford, while West Ham’s season began with a record 11th defeat.

Neymar

BRIEFS Alli, Davies down 10-man Newcastle!

Jonjo Shelvey’s moment of petulance was punished by Dele Alli and Ben Davies as Tottenham opened their Premier League campaign with a 2-0 win over 10-man Newcastle United at St James’ Park. It was a pleasing result for Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino, who has fielded difficult questions following Tottenham’s absence of movement in the transfer market and the explosive comments from Danny Rose in which the left-back hit out at the way the club has been operating.

No excuses for Red’s Watford draw—Mane

Sadio Mane believes Liverpool deserved to beat Watford but is not making any excuses for his side dropping two Premier League points after Miguel Britos’ late equaliser. Mane had levelled for Liverpool after Stefano Okaka’s early opener, with goals from Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah then putting Jurgen Klopp’s men 3-2 up at Vicarage Road on Saturday. Britos scrambled home in stoppage-time to snatch a point for the hosts, although Klopp insisted the defender was offside and the goal should not have counted. But Mane, who scored on the Premier League’s opening day for the second season in a row, noted Liverpool’s defending had been below-par.

Farah accuses media of ‘trying to destroy’ legacy

Mo Farah has accused sections of the media of trying to “destroy” his legacy over his relationship with his coach Alberto Salazar. The Briton has worked with the American since 2011, winning four Olympic gold medals and six world titles. Salazar is under investigation by the US AntiDoping Agency. Both he and Farah deny they have ever broken anti-doping rules.

Dalung faults Ogba on media attacks before his purported appearance before the committee which Ogba stated has been fixed for September 25.

“For a distinguished Senator to make such sweeping statements about a Minister in the media is dishonorable. If the Senator has personally tried and condemned me before my appearance for a hearing, then I should be reported to EFCC for investigation. I don’t have to appear at the National Assembly to defend myself anymore since I’ve already been tried and found guilty by one man,”Dalung said.

On allegations of misappropriation of

funds for the National Sports Festival and National Sports Federations elections, the Minister challenged Senator Ogba to tell the public how much was budgeted and allocated for the sports activities for 2017.

“Appropriating funds and releasing money are two different things. I am still wondering when Senator Ogba turned to the Central Bank of Nigeria or the Accountant General of the Federation. Does the Ministry of Youth and Sports collect money from the National Assembly?” Dalung queried.

Dalung noted that while N9m was bud-

geted for the 2016 National Youth Games, while over N350m was the cost of hosting the previous edition of the games. He added that he had to go from one state to another seeking funds from state governments and corporate bodies.

The Minister challenged the Sports Committee Chairman to forward all his claims and documents of indictment to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission or the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission who are agencies specifically set up to handle cases of financial misappropriation and other related matters.

Dalung

Monday, August 14, 2017

EXTRATIME

SPECIAL FEATURE

Jamaica’s Usain Bolt lies on the track after he injured himself during the 4x100 m relay final during the World Athletics Championships in London Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017.

The rise and dramatic exit of Bolt!

Ï#Ƅ ƋƆƎƄ ƃƍ ƊƋè Ƅ ƍƄƊ Ɔ Ǝ Ƅ ƍƄ ƎƄ Ǝ ANDREW EKEJIUBA with Agency Report

I

rony was at its cruellest moment on Saturday, August 12, 2017, as Usain Leo Bolt’s career ended in heartbreak!

The sprinter pulled up hurt in his final competitive race to end, in a cry of pain and agony; a decade of dominance that is unrivalled in the history of track and field.

Bolt failed to finish the men’s 4x100m relay race of the World Athletics Championships after he pulled a hamstring at the home straight, however, despite cramp, he remains the greatest!

The astonishing turn of events marred what was expected to be a golden farewell.

Running the final race of his career, the 30-year-old Bolt, after taking the baton from his Jamaican teammate Yohan Blake, suffered cramps on his left hamstring as he tried, in vain, to chase down the British and American rivals in the last lap of the race.

Needing to make a lot of ground, Bolt began his familiar initial long strides but could not produce the trademark explosive burst of speed and suddenly stumbled, hobbled a few strides before falling on the track in pain and agony.

“It’s cramp in his left hamstring but a lot of pain is from disappointment from losing the race. The last three weeks have been hard for him. We hope for the best for him,” Jamaican team doctor Kevin Jones said later.

It was a terrible sight at the Olympic stadium, the theatre of his three gold winning exploits in the 2012 Olympic Games. Bolt went down on his knees with hands on his head in dejection and was then lying alone on the tracks for a while before Blake and the other teammates, Julian Forte and Omar McLeod gathered around him.

The towering Jamaican, who had dominated the sprint race like nobody else, was helped to his feet. As he limped over the finishing line, the crowd applauded him.

The result sheet, however, showed DNF

(Did Not Finish) against the Jamaicans.

The scene was more heartbreaking than last Saturday when Bolt was beaten by his long-time rival Justin Gatlin in the 100m dash in his last individual race.

The last time, Bolt took a lap of honour to acknowledge the support and adulation of the crowd. But this time, there was no lap of honour and with Britain winning the gold, the crowd gave more attention to their home heroes and Bolt disappeared to the medical room.

For that matter, there was no kissing of the finish line nor the celebrated “Lightening Bolt’ pose, which fans around the world got used to all these years. The showman actually did not turn up that night.

In fact, it looked like the lap of honour he took while winning the bronze in the 100m dash on August 5 would be his final farewell to the crowd. But it is learnt that the IAAF and local organisers have decided to arrange a lap of honour on the final day of the championships.

Britain won the gold in 37.47 seconds while United States (38.01) and Japan took the silver and bronze respectively. Bolt would have had his task cut out, if he did not suffer the injury, to fight his way into the gold medal picture, as he was some three meters behind the British counterpart when he took the baton from Blake.

“Bolt ended the World Championships in disappointment by collecting just a bronze but he will still be considered the greatest sprinter of all time and saviour of a sport for long mired in doping controversies.

No man has ever dominated sprint like Bolt since he won a gold each in the 100m and 200m in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and for nearly 10 years, he strode like a colossus with his running prowess and charisma.”

Gatlin, who was booed by the London crowd for snatching the gold medal from Bolt in the 100m, paid a tribute to his rival.

“Usain Bolt is a great athlete. I am sorry he got this injury. I think it was the elements. But he is still the best in the world,” said Gatlin.

“You can’t let these championships define what he has done in the past. He has done amazing things. He’s still the man, you know. He’s still the man, you know. The was his farewell race and we wish him the best and hope he recovers soon,” added the American who ran the second leg in the relay race.

“Usain’s name will always live on,” Bolt’s team-mate Omar McLeod, who ran the first leg, said.

Bolt ended the World Championships in disappointment by collecting just a bronze but he will still be considered the greatest sprinter of all time and saviour of a sport for long mired in doping controversies. No man has ever dominated sprint like Bolt since he won a gold each in the 100m and 200m in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and for nearly 10 years, he strode like a colossus with his running prowess and charisma.

He has won eight Olympic and 11 World Championships gold medals before coming to London.

He has won three gold each in all three Olympics he has taken part, but returned the gold he won in 4x100m relay in Beijing after team-mate Nesta Carter tested positive for a prohibited substance. He has won three gold in all World Championships from 2009 till this edition, except the 100m event in 2011, when he false started to be disqualified.

He has also won a silver each in 200m and 4x100m relay in the 2007 Osaka World Championships. Taking into account the latest bronze in 100m in London, he has won 22 medals in Olympics and World Championships taken together, with 19 of them gold.

The ‘Muhammed Ali of Athletics’, as christened by world athletics body boss Sebastian Coe, Bolt is one of the most charismatic athletes across all sports and he would be remembered as someone who has brought more fans to athletics at a time when public cynicism of the sport was on

31

“Running the final race of his career, the 30-year-old Bolt, after taking the baton from his Jamaican teammate Yohan Blake, suffered cramps on his left hamstring as he tried, in vain, to chase down the British and American rivals in the last lap of the race. Needing to make a lot of ground, Bolt began his familiar initial long strides but could not produce the trademark explosive burst of speed and suddenly stumbled, hobbled a few strides before falling on the track in pain and agony.” the rise due to doping controversies.

The latest -- and the biggest -- controversy to hit athletics was the Russian scandal in which the country was accused of systematic state-sponsored doping programme.

Despite these scandals, Bolt kept the fans intact, his exploits and charisma brought more youngsters to the sport, a fact Coe has admitted.

Bolt’s successes are unprecedented and all the short sprint records are his. He holds the 100m (9.58 seconds) and 200m (19.19 seconds) world records -- both of them set during the 2009 Berlin World Championships.

Since 2007, he has run 54 100m races (excluding heats) and won all but six. In 200m races since 2008, he has lost just one out of 30.

He emerged as a prodigious talent for the first time by winning the 200m as a 15-year-old in the 2002 World Junior Championships at his hometown Kingston. He then won another 200m gold in the World Youth Championships in Canada.

Bolt’s young career was, however, rocked by injuries for a few years, but he came back stronger in 2006.

Bolt was initially thought to be more suited to run in 200m and 400m as he had difficulty in smoothly starting out of the blocks but, in 2007, his celebrated coach Glenn Mills, who has been with him since 2005, allowed him to run the 100m.

In his native Jamaica, he is the most wellknown athlete -- and possibly the most famous public figure. Thousands turned out in his domestic farewell event in Kingston earlier this year.

His exit from the competitive stage -though the IAAF wants him to be associated as global brand ambassador -- will bring shudders to athletics bosses.

Bolt’s clean image has been a contrast to his long-time rival Gatlin, who is considered the opposite of the Jamaican.

And the IAAF has banked on the Jamaican’s clean image to shield the dope-tainted sport.

As one of the richest sportspersons in the world, Bolt reportedly earns more than USD 30 million a year, mostly through endorsements.

The greatest entertainer that athletics -perhaps all sports -- have known, Bolt, unlike Ali, has rarely given opinions on issues beyond sport.

But the Jamaican wants to coin superlatives about himself like the boxing legend, and fans and media lapped up the idea.

Just before this championships, he had demanded that the world write one last headline about him -- “Unbeatable. Unstoppable”.

Just after his 200m triumph at the 2012 London Olympics, he had declared, “I am a living legend. Bask in my glory!”

Frankly, the world will continue to bask in Bolt’s glory, not minding the sorry farewell in London!

Published by FOLIO COMMUNICATIONS LTD, Lateef Jakande Road, Agidingbi, Ikeja. email: info@dailytimes.ng Tel: 08038099089.

Editor Daily: TONY AMOKEODO

MONDAY, AUGUST 14, 2017

VOL. 3. NO. 423

Price: N150

Reminscence of Nigerian Polity

Flashback in Times: August 14,1962

News Hotline: 08050220561 Advert Hotlines: 08086296714, 08033228839

The Federal Governments perpetual competition with other tiers of government in Nigeria, as contained in the 1962 reported row over foreign awards, appears to be a DNA ailment that has robbed the nation of coordinated development synergy. (For more insight on the Nigerian polity visit www.dailytimes.ng)

The Anambra Times 2

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017

INEC to close voters’ registration in Anambra Aug. 15 - REC ÏÏÏThe Resident Electoral Com-

Regent of Ojoto in Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State, High Chief Gerald Mbamalu, dancing to traditional music during the New Yam Festival of the community...recently

missioner (REC) in Anambra State, Dr. Nkwachukwu Orji, on Thursday, said the ongoing continuous voter registration would end on August 15, 2017 in the state.

Orji, who disclosed this in an interview with newsmen in Awka, the state capital, said the exercise was conducted at the local government level and all the 326 electoral wards across the state, to enable eligible voters register before the closing date.

He put the total registered voters in the state at 2.42 million, and expressed the hope that more people would be captured.

Orji assured that the commission had deployed all necessary

facilities for the voter registration.

According to him, people should use the opportunity to transfer their registration centres, collect their permanent voter cards and have their lost cards replaced.

On the forthcoming governorship election, the REC said the commission would deliver transparent, free, fair, and credible election.

Orji therefore encouraged the electorates to ignore reports making the round that election would not hold, stressing that INEC was fully prepared for the polls.

“Come out en-masse to perform your civic duty and have a voice in your governance,” he urged registered voters in the state.

III programme executes My administration will give more priority FADAMA 5 irrigation projects in Anambra to women empowerment, Obiano assures ÏÏÏ Stories by Alphonsus Nweze Awka

ÏÏÏAnambra

State Governor, Chief Willie Obiano, on Friday, said his administration will give more priority to women empowerment.

Obiano made the promise after his screening in Abuja at the secretariat of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) on which platform he won the governorship election.

“If you look at my present cabinet, women constitute 27 per cent, so I am coming up and in the coming year women

would be given more priority.

“Out of the N1.5 billion that we gave to farmers in the state, women farmers got 60 per cent of the money, so we are paying attention to women generally including their health.

“We tried to reduce the maternal and paternal rate in Anambra and in my administration we got accreditation for the school of nursing and they have graduated more than 300 midwives,’’ he said.

Also speaking, National Chairman of the party, Chief Victor Oye, said the governor went through a rigorous screen-

ing process and the report would be submitted to a panel for assessment.

He said the party’s governorship primaries would hold we hold on August 15, observing that the party was confident that it would go on smoothly.

“APGA is the only political party in Nigeria with a clean bill of health because the party is intact without a crisis.

“Though some impersonators tried to hijack the party, their plans have failed and party members will continue to stick together until victory is won in November election,’’ he said.

Nov. poll: APC will ensure thorough screening of aspirants –Izunaso ÏÏÏThe

All Progressives Congress (APC) will ensure thorough screening of the credentials of all the aspirants contesting the Anambra State governorship election on its ticket, Senator Osita Izunaso, the party’s National Organising Secretary, has said.

Izunaso made the statement on Wednesday in Abuja, while inaugurating the party´s screening and appeal committee ahead of the November 18 poll.

He inaugurated the committee after the party´s National Chairman; Chief John Odigie-Oyegun had a closed door meeting with the aspirants.

While handing over the expression of interest and nomination forms of the aspirants to the committee chairman, Izunaso tasked him to ensure the authenticity of documents submitted by the aspirants.

He said that all round investigation must be carried out on all the 12 aspirants, including their

level of support for the party. ´´ You have to look at their support for the party both at the state and the national level. `You are to score the aspirants, if anybody does not score up to 50 per cent, the person stands disqualified. ´´ You have to look at their credentials; I am sure you know that the minimum requirement is school certificate, but if any aspirant brings a PHD certificate, you have to look at it properly to ensure it´s correct. ´´It might lead to perjury if it is not correct, which might even led to the person losing the seat even after winning the election, ´´ Izunaso said.

The organising secretary said the seven man screening committee would be headed by Mr. Agboola Ajayi, Ondo State Deputy Governor while Alhaji Ishaya Ibrahim would serve as secretary.

Izunaso, who expressed optimism that the party would

emerge victorious at the election, added that Sen. Adebayo Shittu, Minister of Communication would head the appeal committee.

The party had also fixed screening appeal for August 14 and August 15, while its primary election and primary election appeal for aspirants were scheduled for August 19 and August 21.

The APC made a total of N60.5 million from the sale of expression of interest and nomination forms to the aspirants.

While male aspirants purchased the forms at the cost of N5.5 million each, the female aspirant was given a waiver.

The aspirants are Mr. George Moghalu, Sen. Andy Uba, Mr. Paul Chukwuma, Madu Nonso, Bart Nwibe Bart and Mr. Patrick Nwike.

Others included Mr. Tony Nwoye, Mr. Chike Obidigbo, Johnbosco Onunkwo, Adaobi Uchegbu, Adaobi Uchegbu and Uzoh Obinna.

Project Coordinator, FADAMA III Additional Financing (AF) programme in Anambra State, Mr. Chucks Egbueh, on Friday, said the programme is executing five irrigation projects across the state.

Egbueh said this in an interview with newsmen in Awka, adding that the projects were currently at various stages of completion.

He said that that the programme was also constructing not less than 45 kilometres of roads to open up various farming communities.

He said that the irrigation and road projects were some of the projects which the FADAMA programme was implementing to support all-year farming in the state.

According to him, the irrigation works include those in Ifite-Iguari, Ihiala 1 and Ihiala 2 and Ogbaru as well as the Central Pivot Irrigation Scheme in Ogborji.

Egbueh said that some projects had reached different stages of completion, while others were awaiting inauguration.

The coordinator said the FADAMA III AF programme was also developing about 50 farming clusters, with mini irrigation schemes across the state.

He also said that no fewer than 3,000 agric-entrepreneurs had been created in Anambra under FADAMA III AF programme, adding that the target of creating over 5,000 agric-entrepreneurs was realistic.

Egbueh said the 250 beneficiaries of the recently concluded FADAMA Graduate Unemployment Youth Support Scheme (FADAMA GUYS) training had been registered in the E-control Centre of the state Ministry of Agriculture for post-empowerment support.

He said that the FADAMA programme, by its nature of operations, was determined to address joblessness among the youth and regenerate the farming population which, he said, was already ageing.

Egbueh commended the state Govwenor, Chief Willie Obiano, for his commitment to the project through the prompt payment of counterpart funds, adding that the commitment had earned the state the best rating in agriculture.

He stressed that food would be more available and affordable to the citizens if other states could show similar commitment to empowering the youth and growing the agricultural sector.

FG condoles with ANSG over Ozubulu attack

ÏÏÏA Federal Government delega-

tion led by Dr. Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment, on Saturday condoled with Anambra State Government over the August 6, 2017 attack on worshippers at St Philips Catholic Church, Ozubulu in Ekwusigo Local Government Area of the state.

Members of the team included the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Anthony Anwukah; Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama; and Minister of State for Environment, Alhaji Ibrahim Jubrin.

Handing over the two-page condolence message to Governor Willie Obiano, represented by his deputy,

Dr. Nkem Okeke, Ngige described the shooting as unfortunate.

He said the Acting President, Prof.

Yemi Osinbajo, was deeply saddened by the news of the shooting and death of innocent worship, adding that he extended his deep sympathy to the government and people of Anambra State.

The minister assured the government of Anambra that the Federal Government would cooperate with the state government in the effort to fish out the perpetrators of the dastardly act.

“We have been delegated by the Acting President to come and condole with you on the sad shooting of innocent worshippers in Amakwa, Ozubulu, on August 6, 2017.

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017

NACCIMA boss canvasses more Agric testing laboratories ÏÏÏNational President of

Nigeria Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Iyalode Alaba Lawson, has stressed the need to sustain the demand for agricultural produce and improved access to international markets if the country must attain a viable commercial agricultural value chain.

Iyalo Lawson spoke in Onitsha, the Anambra State commercial nerve centre during the installation of the 12th President of Onitsha Chamber of Commerce, Mines and Agriculture and holding of the 10th edition of the Chamber’s annual lecture called “the Perspectives”.

She said there was compelling need to sustain more international accredited produce testing laboratories in Nigeria to match the increasing agricultural production.

This, she said, would ensure farmers, manufacturers, miners and indeed every Nigerian who engages in production of goods for exports, meet the international standards, assuring that this will reduce the rate of rejection of produce and products from Nigeria.

She lamented that some countries in Africa own hundreds of accredited laboratories, while Nigeria has only 10 set up by Standard Organisa-

tion Nigeria (SON) and the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) through Public – Private Partnership (PPP) agreement with internationally acclaimed laboratories.

These laboratories, said Iyalode Lawson, were grossly inadequate, hence some samples for testing were flown to other countries in Africa such as South Africa and Ghana to be tested.

The NACCIMA President, then urged the Anambra State Government to see this as another means of supporting farmers, manufacturers and people doing business in the state as well as a source of revenue.

Urging the ONICCIMA members to support the new president, Mr. Donatus Ebubeogu, she said they expect them to improve on their membership, flourishing of existing businesses and establishment of new ventures.

In his address, the outgone president of Onitsha Chamber, Uchenna Apakama, a pharmacist, called for the construction of second Niger Bridge once and for all, saying “let there be a political will channeled towards the meaningful execution of the project as a political weapon to garner electoral votes as has been the case over the years”.

Nkwele-Ezunaka youths protest planned removal of PG ÏÏÏThe youths of Nkwelle-Ezunaka

community in Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra State, on Wednesday, protested the planned removal of Chief Ikechukwu Nnalue as the President General of the community.

In the protest, the youths who carried placards to the major parts of the community and then to Nteje, the Local Government headquarters, where they handed protest letter to the chairman of the local government council asked Governor Willie Obiano not to allow some influential elements in the community to remove their President-General before his tenure expires in December.

Innocent Ibemezi, Chairman, Nkwelle-Ezunaka youths, said they were not happy that some influential people brought a letter to the effect that their President-General has been removed.

Attributing the situation to the handiwork of some people who have interest in the position, Ibemezi said that they want to replace their elected town union executive with caretaker committee.

He said the youths were protesting because Nnalue-led executive were duly elected and their tenure will end in December, querying why they would not want Nnalue and his executive to complete their tenure, so that any person who has interest should come and vie for the position.

“They are doing well since they were elected. They have been work-

ing with the Anambra State Government. Whoever wants to be PG should wait and contest for this December election,” he said.

He alleged that the removal of Nnalue had political undertone, lamenting that the persons who have been slated to replace the Nnalue-led executive were even All Progressives Congress (APC) sympathisers.

Alleging that those plotting the removal were not sympathetic to Governor Obiano’s second tenure bid, Ibemezi lamented that they have petitioned Governor Obiano but he was yet to respond to their petition.

“They did not state his sins. They just don’t want peace in NkwelleEzunaka, but we won’t allow them.

There is no crisis since Nnalue became PG. We want peace. We support Obiano. Nkwelle as a whole is APGA,” Ibemezi said.

Another youth Leader, Emmanuel Orjiakor, said that it was on August 4, 2017, that they received a message that Nnalue has been removed and he would be replaced them with a caretaker committee.

He said the tenure of NkwelleEzunaka town union is three years, which will end in December this year, having been elected in 2014 but some unpopular persons want to enter through short cut.

“But they want to enthrone anarchy, which is not possible. Nkwelle is peaceful, we call on Governor Obiano to intervene in this matter and restore peace,” he said.

The Anambra Times 3

I have no hand in killing of IPOB members, says Obiano Stories by Alphonsus Nweze Awka

ÏÏÏAnambra State Governor, Chief

Willie Obiano, has washed off his hands in the killing of the members of Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) on May 30, 2016, noting that the impression held in some quarters that he was responsible for the death of several members of the group at Nkpor in Onitsha was false and unfounded.

The governor spoke when he received members of Biafran War Veterans led by Gen. Joe Achuzie, popular known as Air raid, at the Governor’s Lodge, Amambia, who paid him condolence visit over the death of his mother, Mrs. Christiana Obiano, adding that he could not have ordered the killing of those who voted for him in 2013 election.

He said that he has a mentality that guides him in issues of conviction which made him against all opinions and vehemence from federal authorities to still go ahead to bury those that died during the civil war, less than a year into the life of his administration.

He said: “Abuja was against my plan to bury the victims of Biafran war, there was a lot of opposition to it from security agencies but I went on to bury our war dead. As a young boy during the war, I knew what happened. I saw many dead bodies and I

know the importance of according proper burial to the departed even more so those that departed in the painful and regrettable way as they did, so I had to embrace all odds to bury them in an elaborate ceremony on the 12th of January 2015, less than one year into my administration.

How then will I contemplate killing their offspring for the same reason of Biafra? I didn’t do that, I’m innocent of the name calling.”

Obiano also said that the report the security agencies made available to him on the incident showed that nobody was killed but that when he visited Menax hospital, St. Charles Borromeo hospital among others to see the victims himself and to provide succour to them, he was told that people were killed and that some of those killed and the injured were taken out of the state to neighbouring states as very many of them came from outside Anambra State.

Obiano said he was elated to pay the hospital bills of the victims but some of them refused his offer. He also said he deeply sorry for what happened and assured that he has since then been battling to ensure that such incident doesn’t happen again in Anambra State.

While regretting the circumstances that led to the current agitation for Biafra, the governor said that he had told the President Muhammadu Buhari that if what is being done for the Northeast or close to it was done for the Igbos after the war, there would

have been no agitation for Biafra today.

Obiano said he has directed that history about Biafra should be taught in schools in the state, adding: “Our children need to know what happened. There are about four or more very good books on Biafra. It is important that our children are told of what happened and I have directed that Biafran history be taught in our schools in Anambra State.”

Obiano told the Biafran ex-servicemen that he appointed a liaison officer for the Biafran war veterans in order to ensure that issues affecting them and by extension pro-Biafra groups were better handled and that he is the only one that created such office.

In his speech, the leader of the Biafran war veterans, Chief Joe Achuzie, said Governor Obiano was innocent of the accusations as nothing before, during and after the incident suggested that the governor was culpable.

Achuzie spoke extensively on the build up to the protest that led to the killings, whose information, he said, he was privy to, and recalled how he had spoken with the then Anambra State Commissioner of Police to request that they allow the agitators to stage a peaceful protest but noted that on the said day, the army who were not in the picture suddenly appeared and became trigger-happy in killing citizens they were meant to protect.

Youths of Nkwelle-Ezunaka community in Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra State during a protest over the planned removal of Chief Ikechukwu Nnalue as the President General of the community at the council headquarters ...on Wednesday

Nov. guber poll: Chidoka pledges to resurge productivity, empower the poor Idu Jude, Abuja

ÏÏÏA contender in the November

18, 2017 Anambra State governorship election, Chief Osita Chidoka, has said his mission is to establish a highly competent, resourceful and prudent government that will not only resurge productivity but also create a system that empowers the ordinary people to create wealth.

The former aviation minister, who stated this on Saturday while commenting on his screening and clear-

ance by his party, the United Progressive Party (UPP) in Abuja on Friday, also commended the leadership of the UPP for upholding the ideology of the party to serve only the interest of the people.

Stating that the ordinary people in Anambra State have suffered enough neglect, Chidoka said one of the cardinal agenda of his administration under the UPP would be “the empowerment of the ordinary people through a special wealth transfer policy; the first of its kind that grants

hardworking people of Anambra State direct access to government guaranteed facilities, opportunities and connections to excel in their respective fields.”

“I want to restate our commitment to run a highly transparent peoplebased government driven by a knowledge economy that resurges our innovativeness and wealth-creating abilities as a people.

“Our driving force will be our competence, sense of duty and honesty,” he said.

The Anambra Times 4

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, August 14, 2017

Interview

Nov. guber poll: If APGA loses Obiano, the party is finished –Anigbata Chief Ikechukwu Victor Anigbata, former Governorship aspirant on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Anambra State, in this interview with Alphonsus Nweze, warns stakeholders of the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in state that the survival of the party is dependent on their support for Governor Willie Obiano in the forthcoming November 18 election. He also spoke on the need for restructuring Nigeria and advised members of Indigenous Peopels of Biafra (IPOB) to soft-pedal on their campaign of no election in Anambra State in November 18, 2017 among others. Excerpts: Recently the National Assembly dropped the discussion about restructuring. Do you think they were sensitive to the yearnings of the people and in tune with the realities of the time?

Restructuring is the basic panacea to have a united and developed Nigeria .Those that are against restructuring on the premise that we are still young are people who belong to dark ages. The action of National Assembly in rejecting restructuring is not only anti-Nigeria but also anti-themselves as they will soon leave office to see what they have done to the future of their children and themselves. Some of them in the nearest future will be the ones leading people to demand for the restructuring of Nigeria.

By nature all fingers are not equal but they need each other in order to work as a team in order to give a services to all the fingers. So they think they are smart. They should abolish Local Governments, where they share money without development. Restructuring is about working for the good of the people, provide enabling environment for people to develop their talents. If Nigeria is well developed, two to three people can provide enough rice for the country and export them to African countries. I urge National Assembly to look beyond their nose and do that which will profit the nation and should not be self-serving.

There is ample time for them to change their position. What they did is anti-people, anti-North, anti-West, anti-East, anti-South and anti-Nigeria. They are not helping the people.

They want to limit the competition among the constituent group in Nigeria but competition is key to all breakthroughs and development in life. They are not helping our youths.

Why then should they tell them to stop robbery, kidnapping, when they encourage such by their action. Their action cannot create jobs. The era of national cake is over. They are also not helping the unity of the country by rejecting restructuring.

Do you think that there is any implication if Nigeria is not restructured?

Anybody who is against restructuring is not helping Nigeria. When we got independence, we restructured and that is why we prospered then, the North was producing ground nut, the West Cocoa, the East palm oil. Why can’t we produce enough tomato, rice, millet, yam, palm kernel? Why can’t they boom, because there is no competition? People cannot develop talents.

Why can’t Anambra, Ebonyi, Plateau, Benue and Taraba states supply the whole world yam, either in tubers or floor and it will be the sweetest yam.

Why don’t we produce rice and distribute to African countries? It’s because nobody wants to produce what he specialised in. Everybody is pursuing oil money. If we don’t restructure, we are encouraging agitation and if there is any trouble, all these generals who fought the war before would not be there to fight again. And interest will differ now. And those who have money now, may not have it after crisis.

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has continued to insist that the November 18, 2017 Governorship election in Anambra State will not hold. And you know they have sizeable supporters especially among the youths. What is view on this IPOB position?

IPOB may have good intention as youths who can see the future, but I want them to know that today is the projection of yesterday and the forecast of tomorrow. Much as their intention may be good, those intention should be married with the current realities. If there is no election in Anambra State, they cannot stop election and stop emergency rule at the same time, whereby a military man would become the Sole Administrator of the state and tell you what to do and the entire place would be militarised. And this will be another second Boko Haram. In fact, worst Boko Haram. It is an ill-wind that blows no-

Anigbata

APGA will die a natural death if some hawks in the party who because of pecuniary interest would want to stop Governor Obiano from flying APGA’ s ticket in November 18 Governorship election body any good. So, while agitation is welcomed, violence of all forms must be shunned.

Recently, Chief Martins Agbaso got order of Madamus from Enugu State High Court making him the National Chairman of APGA. A lot of political pundits believe that this was targeted against Governor Willie Obiano from becoming the flag-bearer of All Progressives Grand Alliance in the forthcoming Governorship election in the state.

What is your take on that?

My take is that APGA will die a natural death if some hawks in the party who because of pecuniary interest would want to stop Governor Obiano from flying APGA’ s ticket in November 18 Governorship election.

It is only Obiano as the incumbent Governor who has done well within the limited resources available to him that can stop the forces of All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

But don’t you think that the recent litigation within the party few weeks to the election will hamper the chances of Obiano and the party?

People should not be deceived by the recent court cases in APGA. The party has been known to thrive in the midst of many cases. People said Igbos want a party of their own where they can express themselves, where an Igbo man or woman can join if they so wish to realise their political ambition. APGA is that Igbo party. If they succeed in removing Obiano as their flag bearer, that is the end of the party. Unless they would want to kill the party. If APGA loses Obiano, the party has finished.

As a chieftain of PDP in Anambra State, what is your view about the recent Supreme Court judgment that recognised the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led executives as the authentic leadership of the party?

I want to commend the Supreme Court for restoring democracy in Nigeria and by upholding Makarfi faction of the party as the authentic PDP executive. The judgment will bring balance in our polity because Makarfi has majority of PDP members and followers. It will stabilise our polity. It will make APC to wake up from slumber. They are sleeping now. Makarfi leadership of PDP has no hidden agenda, rather the overall interest of the party.

Business Times Daily Times Nigeria

Agency approves N360m grant for modular refinery in Lagos Page B2

Naira depreciates against dollar, pound at unofficial market

Page B3

Monday, Agust 14, 2017

Recession, best time to diversify Nigeria’s economy - Ohuabunwa Page B8

NASCO customers get $3,000, others win prizes

(Middle to Right): Mr. Oscar Onyema, CEO Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), with Employer of Choice Award recently won for the 2nd Year in a Row by the NSE, flanked by Ms. Pai Gamde, Acting Head, Corporate Services Division, NSE, Mr. Olumide Oriyomi , Head Corporate Communications NSE, and others.

By Kingsley Chukwuka, Jos. NASCO Group of Companies, in a bid to encourage customers and other stakeholders to continue to patronise its products/ services, has rewarded three of its customers with $1,000 each ($3,000).

The lucky customers also got free tickets to this year’s Hajj in Saudi Arabia.

This were part of the highlights of the company’s 2016 Customers/Partners Award Ceremony, held at the weekend in Jos, Plateau state capital.

NASCO also rewarded several other customers with awards and gifts television sets; washing machines, etc, for their continued loyalty to the organisation.

According to the Head, Supply Chain, NASCO Group, Mr. Nasir Khan, “The three customers sponsored to the holy land would also be given 1000 dollars each, to make them comfortable while in Hajj.”

Khan said that, it was the company’s policy to reward and appreciate it’s esteemed customers at the end of every business year.

He said the the awardees were drawn from the six geopolitical zones, adding that the initiative was targeted at inculcating the right values of goods and services within the minds of young Nigerians, so as to deepen the ideal perception of what customer service should be.

Our correspondent however reports that the ceremony specifically targeted NASCO customers, who were best performing partners, including transporters.

They were in the Gold, Silver and Bronze categories.

Those who got the Hajj tickets are under the Gold category, were, Alhaji Ibrahim Danlami of Hayat Integrated Limited in Minna, Sidi and Sons from Kaduna; and Aminu Mohammed from Minna.

BUSINESS TIMES Business Editor Ganiyu Obaaro Deputy Business Editor Azubike Nnadozie Asst. Business Editor Simon Ugwu Capital Market Editor Bonny Amadi

Agency approves N360m grant for modular refinery in Lagos Azubike Nnadozie, with Agency report The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has approved a grant of $1 million (N360 million) for the detailed engineering design of 20,000 barrel per day (bpd) modular refinery in Lagos.

Head, Media Communications of Integrated Oil and Gas Ltd., Mr Enyeribe Anyanwu, disclosed this in a statement made available to newsmen in Lagos on Sunday.

Anyanwu said that the U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Stuart Symington, who disclosed this during the official signing of the agreement in Lagos, commended the initiative of Eko Petrochem and Refining Company’s management.

Symington expressed the hope that the proposed 200, 000 bpd production refinery would attract more investments to the country and develop host communities. ‘‘The grant was meant for detail engineering design and development of the proposed refinery in Tomaro Industrial Park in Lagos. ‘‘I feel honoured to be part of the success story. I also promised to support the projects to actualisation,’’ he said.

The U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria commended the Chairman of Integrated Oil and Gas, Capt. Emmanuel Iheanacho, for his commitment to the project.

He said Iheaneacho noted that the investment was coming at a time when the country needed it most.

He also praised the Federal

Government for believing in the power of the individual citizens and entrepreneurs to undertake laudable projects for the nation’s development. ‘‘He is doing it at a time with a government that believes Nigeria can do what can be done anywhere in the world.’’

Capt. Iheaneacho said the Eko Petrochem and Refining Company would complement efforts of the Federal Government in providing lasting solution to the problems of importation of refined petroleum products into the country.

He said that the U.S. Government, acting through the USTDA, has accelerated the process of the planned economic investments through the industrial development grant of one million dollars, which it had seen fit to bestow to us.

PENCOM: Over N6b paid to pensioners monthly Joy Ekeke The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has said at least 184,979 receive N6.7 billion monthly from the Contributory Pensions Scheme.

The Acting Director-General of PenCom, Mrs. Aisha DahirUmar, disclosed this at a retreat organised by Pension Operators (PenOp) in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

She said as at March 2017, the retirees were receiving pensions regularly with an average monthly pension payment of N6.7 billion.

She commended the Federal Government for providing stable, predictable and adequate source CONTINUES ON PAGE B2

CAMA: CAC sanctions 4000 firms Ganiyu Obaaro, with Agency report About 44,000 companies have so far been delisted from the database of the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, while 1.5 million companies have been registered.

The Registrar General of the CAC, Bello Mahmud, disclosed this in Abuja, Federal capital recently.

He said the development was

…says many operate in briefcases

sequel to several breaches of the Companies and other Matters Act, CAMA, and other extant regulations of the commission, notably, late and outright refusal to file returns.

He said, “So far, there is an improvement and a current ratio of 45 per cent. We are still checking on company records especially in terms of compliance for those who

have not been filing.

“If we discover you are not a going concern, the law establishing us gives us the power to delist from our database.”

He said, “If we discover and write you first, second and third letter without reply, we now deem it that you are not a going concern; and we will delist you from our database.”

“So far, the first batch we delisted were about nine thousand (9000); and in the second batch, about thirty-five (35,000), totalling 44,000 firms delisted from our database and is still ongoing”, he said.

Mahmud regretted that, “unfortunately, these companies are “briefcase” companies, because when you check on the addresses given, you won’t find them. We CONTINUES ON PAGE B2

Business News B2

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, Agust 14, 2017

Entrepreneur advises govt on solution unemployment

An entrepreneur, Uchechukwu Elugu, on Sunday told the Federal Government to adopt policies that would engender entrepreneurship to resolve the endemic unemployment in the country.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation is plagued by worsening unemployment; leaving majority of the younger segment of its population without jobs.

Speaking with the News Agen-

cy of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, against the backdrop of what he described as the worrisome unemployment situation, Elugu said that government must introduce policies that would facilitate job creation.

The entrepreneur, who recently launched a publication, “Anambra Icons’’, expressed regrets that various job creation initiatives, introduced by the Federal Government in recent

years had not curbed unemployment.

He described youth unemployment as central to the increasing crime wave in the country, advising government to come up with original ideas that would make the difference.

Elugu suggested that government should engage students while still in tertiary institutions to mentor them on choice of careers before their graduation.

“It makes a lot of sense to strike the iron while it is still hot, rather than waiting for youths to roam the streets in search of nonavailable jobs after leaving institutions of higher learning.

“It is clear that various job creation schemes introduced by various administrations are not meeting set goals.

“The way out is to think outside the box and engage students directly, rather than engaging them through third parties.’’

Promasidor appoints Einarsson as new MD

CONTINUED FROM PAGE B1

are still compiling the list’ and before the end of this year, you will see more delisted companies”, he said.

He also stated that about 1.5 million firms have so far been registered by the commission.

Speaking on the clampdown on touts and illegal use of business names, the CAC boss said touts are no more in the premises of the commission “because if you can do it yourself you don’t even need to hire a lawyer and that is part of what the government has told us to do.

PENCOM: Over N6b paid to pensioners monthly CONTINUED FROM PAGE B1

Azubike Nnadozie Promasidor Nigeria Limited has appointed Mr. Anders Einarsson as Managing Director. Einarsson, succeeds Mr. Olivier Thiry, who is now elevated to the Group as Chief Executive Officer.

Until his elevation, Einarsson served the organisation diligently as Chief Operating Officer. He joined PNG in 2013 as Strategy Director and was later promoted Finance Director.

As Finance Director, he inspired a first class department, leaving a strong legacy for his passionate and committed team.

Einarsson has extensive experience in Nigeria and other emerging markets, having worked across Africa and Russia for the last 15 years, in various corporate finance and investment related roles. Prior to his appointment by Promasidor Nigeria Limited, he was a Partner at a Johannesburg-based private equity fund manager, being responsible for deal origination and execution in West and Central Africa.

Announcing the appointment of the Managing Director, Thiry says excitedly: “He (Einarsson) will focus on moving Promasidor Nigeria business forward in these very exciting times.”

Promasidor was founded in 1979

by Robert Rose, who left the United Kingdom in 1957 for Zimbabwe to pursue his African dream. It has since grown with presence in 25 African countries. Promasidor Nigeria Limited has achieved tremendous growth since it commenced operations in 1993 with six product brands in the market.

Promasidor produces, distributes and markets quality range of products such as Cowbell milk, Loya milk, Miksi milk, Top Tea, Onga seasoning, among others bringing joy to millions of consumers across the country. Its milk powders, culinary and beverage products are affordable, delicious and good for all.

CAMA: CAC sanctions 4000 firms

L-R , Dangote Cement Plc , Deputy Regional Sales Director Bankole George; Dangote Cement Plc , Regional Sales Director, West, Mrs. Funmi Sanni, Congratulates One of the star winners, Anthony Gbadegoye; and Chairman Ifesowapo Cement Dealers Association (Ibadan) Raheem Adesina, at the Dangote Cement Retail Bonanza, season 2 where star winners presented with their prizes in Ibadan over the weekend

of income for employees.

Dahir-Umar, who was represented by the Head of Research and Management, PenCom, Mr. Aminu Farouk, said the pension funds’ assets had also increased to N6.42 trillion.

She said the N6.42tr represents the total pension asset grown as at March, with an average monthly contribution of N30b.

He said the number of registered contributors increased significantly to 7.4 million within the same period.

She said the total pension assets were equivalent to six per cent of the Nigeria re-based Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Tosin Adewuyi appointed Executive Director, FBNBank UK Dangote Cement Sam Nzeh/ Afolabi Adesola First Bank of Nigeria Limited has announced the appointment of Mr. Tosin Adewuyi as a Group Executive of First Bank of Nigeria Limited and an Executive Director of its flagship subsidiary FBNBank UK Limited. The appointment is, however, subject to approval from the appropriate regulatory bodies in Nigeria and United Kingdom.

Tosin holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics & Accounting from University of Manchester, UK and is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA). He brings to the Group, over 20 years’ extensive experience covering both the UK and Sub-Saharan Africa with cross-functional exposure to Corporate and Investment Banking, Treasury and Investor Services, Trade Finance and Audit.

Until his appointment, Tosin served as a Managing Director/Senior Country Officer, Nigeria, for J.P. Morgan where he was responsible for executing growth strategies across all business lines – Investment Banking, Treasury and Cash

Management, Trade Finance, Debt and Equity Capital Markets, Leveraged Finance and Advisory. In his role as J.P. Morgan’s Head of Nigeria, he was responsible for leading interaction with all Nigerian clients, high government officials, regulators and senior J.P. Morgan executives. In addition to his Nigeria responsibilities, over the last two years, Tosin also led J.P. Morgan’s Sub Saharan Africa Cash Management (“Clearing”) and Liquidity Business, actively managing clients in South Africa, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Kenya, Ghana, Namibia, Botswana, Uganda and Tanzania.

Prior to this, he served as an Executive Director/Head of Trade Finance, J.P. Morgan (London) between 2007 and 2010, where he had oversight responsibility for Trade and Structured Trade Finance for Sub-Saharan Africa.

In this position, Tosin played a key role in setting up J.P Morgan’s Trade Africa business, he also set up the in-country Financial Institutions Trade Department in Nigeria to drive the growth of the trade portfolio for all Nigerian correspondent banking and corporate relationships.

Tosin was a steering group member of J.P. Morgan’s Black Leadership Forum and a member of the Diversity Committee. In 2012, Tosin was voted one of the most 100 influential black people in the UK in the finance category published by the Power List.

Prior to joining J.P Morgan, Tosin worked with Standard Bank London Limited between 2001 and 2006 in various positions. First, he served as an Internal Auditor and later moved to Trade and Corporate Finance Department responsible for trade and structured financing, relationship management, business development, deal origination, credit analysis, security documentation and portfolio management.

Adewuyi

gives away N500m cement to retailers in bonanza Azubike Nnadozie It was exciting moments for retailers of Dangote Cement as the management of Dangote Cement Plc at the weekend redeemed the prizes won by the customers and splashed them with thousands of cement bags and branded containers worth N480 million in the on-going Dangote Cement Retailers Bonanza, season two.

No less than 10 retailers who have emerged as star winners from the Company’s West region claimed their prizes at the weekend with some going home with 1200 bags of cement with 40 ft container and others winning 600 bags with 20 ft containers.

Amid pomp and pageantry, members of the Company management moved from locations to locations in a carnival like procession to deliver the products and containers to each of the winners at their business locations, mostly markets to the surprise of many other traders.

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, Agust 14, 2017

Stories by Motolani Oseni The Nigerian currency, Naira, over the weekend, extended its losing streak against major foreign currencies, dollar and pound sterling at

CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele

B3

Money Market

Naira depreciates against dollar, pound at unofficial market Ï& Ɔ Ɛ M 0& Ɛ ƢÕƿêƣƤƃ ơè ƈ Ơêƿƣü

the unofficial segment of the Foreign Exchange (Forex) market to close at 367 and 478, respectively, against 366 and 477 sold on Thursday.

The naira, however, remained unchanged throughout the weekend at 430 per Euro, the same rate it traded on Thursday and Friday at the parallel market.

Although, it recorded a remarkable gain against the US dollar at the Nigeria Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) window, otherwise known as Investors and Exporters FX window with a growth of 0.4 per cent to

have a new closing rate of 364.78 per dollar on Friday, against 367.50 sold the previous day.

The naira, at the autonomous window opened at a better rate of 365.92, indicating a difference of 0.24 per cent, against $366.79 did on Thursday; and 367.46 on Wednesday, but slightly lower than 366.70 opened on Tuesday, while settled at an improved rate of 364.78 per dollar at the end of trading activities for the week under review.

The I&E FX window, also, reciprocated rebounded performance in terms of turnover re-

corded as at the close of market for the week, settled a total sum of $142.28m, compared to $53.13m daily turnover recorded on Thursday, showed an improved traded figure of $89.15m, even though it represented a decline of $19.89m, while compared to $162.26m stood on Wednesday, but better than $96.03m exchange on Tuesday, data obtained from the FMDQ OTC has revealed.

At the interbank window, the local currency ended the trading week at 365.20 to the dollar, 473.77 per pound and 429.40 against the euro, respectively. But at the

CBN official foreign market, the naira fell further to 305.60 to the Greenberg, against 305.55 traded on Thursday and Wednesday, as well as 305.50 of the preceding day within the week under review.

Consequently, forex dealers and financial analysts believed that the parallel market rate is beginning to appreciate in response to improvements in the apex bank’s capacity to supply foreign exchange, with the parallel market rate rising below N370 per dollar in the recent time, after touching an all-time low of above N500 in February this year.

Union Bank’s lucky customer wins brand new car A lucky customer of Union Bank has emerged the winner of a brand new MG3 car in the bank’s ongoing 100th anniversary data enrichment promo.

Mr. Emmanuel Alu, a customer from Minna, becomes the first customer to win one of three cars up for grabs in the Centenary anniversary promotion.

Selection of winners in the promo, is conducted using a transparent, automated draw process supervised by the Consumer Protection Council (CPC).

Other prizes already won by customers include microwaves, flat screen TVs and generator sets.

The lender’s Head of Retail Segments, Paul Aseme, said that the car was presented to the winner in Abuja, while reinstated that the promo is in line with the theme of the 100thanniversary celebration which is ‘Celebrate, Impact, Lead’.

According to him, “It is our culture to celebrate our customers, they are a very important part of our history and the success story which we have created together. We set up this promo as an opportunity for us to give back to our customers; and show our appreciation for their loyalty through the years.

He added that the unique promo rewards new and existing customers, who simply provide their up-to-date

information - which in turn helps us offer them suitable products and services. The promo does not require any minimum balances or relationship period, and anyone can qualify by updating their details at our branches or digital channels.

Alu praised the bank’s gesture, and its top-notch banking services and the recent upgrade of the branches and facilities across the country.

“I have been a Union Bank customer for several years; and it has been a wonderful experience. I thank Union Bank for putting a smile on my face. My family and I are happy and grateful”, he said.

Union Bank’s 100th anniversary promotion is open to new and existing customers. To qualify to win, existing customers are required to update their details at any of the bank’s branches nationwide or reactivate a dormant account. New customers are eligible to win once their accounts are opened.

The bank also recently launched a bouquet of digital banking platforms in a bid to provide its customers with cutting edge digital banking services.

Union Bank remains committed to leveraging on its rich, 100 year old heritage and wealth of experience to deliver simpler and smarter banking services to its esteemed customers.

Forex trading, T Bills, others hit N67.3trn in six months Foreign exchange transactions, Treasury bills; Money Market, including; Repurchase Agreements, Buy-Backs and Unsecured Placements/Takings; FGN Bonds and Other Bonds traded for a period of six months have been put into a total value of N67.3 trillion in the first six month of 2017.

The latest FMDQ OTC market turnover’s report has showed that turnover on all products traded on the FMDQ secondary, excluding primary market auctions in Treasury Bills, Bonds and Foreign Exchange accounted for the new figure.

According to the FMDQ half year report, foreign exchange derivatives

stood at N7.930 trillion ($25,365,000,000b) between January to June this year, while Treasury Bills accounted for N31.309tr ($100,348,000,000b).

Also, FGN Bonds’ Turnover from January to June 2017, stabilised at N5.353b ($17,169,000,000) but recorded N1.631b ($5m) on Other Bonds in the second quarter of this year.

The data, extracted from the report indicated that Eurobonds made during the quarter under review was N51.347b ($164m), while Repurchase Agreements/BuyBacks steadied at N15.734 trillion ($50.468billion) during the period.

Although, Unsecured Placements/Takings re-

sponsible for the total sum of N671.796b ($2,150, 000,000), as Money Market Derivatives only accounted for a fraction of N19,590b ($63,000,000m) of the total market turnover of N67.373 tr or ($215.906b) during the first six month of 2017.

Meanwhile, our correspondent further findings showed that transaction turnover in the nation’s fixed income and currency markets increased by a total sum of N3.13tr in June alone, while compared to the value recorded in May. Both markets in the month under review, recorded a new figure of N12.62tr, representing 34.56 per cent in June, year-on –year (y-o-y).

The FMDQ OTC monthly

report, however, indicated that the treasury bills (Tbills) segment of the fixed income market continued its dominance the market in the month of June 2017 accounting for 43.22 per cent, against 40.73 per cent recorded in May while FGN2 bonds recorded 6.22 percent compare to 5.23 per cent in May of total turnover in June.

Turnover in the fixed income market generally, in the month under review, settled at N6.24tr, representing a 43.03 percent (N1.87trn) month-on-month increase.

Transactions in the Tbills market accounted for 87.41% of the Fixed Income market, from 88.67 percent the previous month.

Capital Market B4 Afolabi Adesola The worth of investment on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has continued on an uptrend as trading closed in a positive territory for the week ended 11th August 2017, extending gains into the 5th consecutive week, while Year-to-Date returns sit at 42.14 per cent.

The lead market indicator; NSE’s All-Share Index (ASI) appreciated further by 2.07 per cent to 38,198.60 points, from 37,425.15 points recorded last Friday, improving the Month-to-Date returns to 6.57 per cent.

Also worthy of note at the equities market last week is a four-year record high, made by the market capitalization which closed at N13.17 trillion, the highest since 2013.

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, Agust 14, 2017

Equities market maintains uptrend as YTD returns surpass 42% A breakdown of trading activities in the week under review revealed that the equities market remained bullish, as all sessions ended on a positive note, except on Thursday, when the market fell to profit taking activities, following the bullish run previously recorded.

Further investigations revealed that the performance for the week in review was driven by investor interest in consumer and industrial goods stocks, following impressive Q2-17 earnings releases and short-lived interest in banking shares, as investors positioned ahead of

interim dividend declaration

by Tier 1 banks yet to release their audited H1- 17 results, except Zenith Bank that reported a double-digit growth across most income line items and declared an interim dividend of N0.25, last Thursday.

A review of sectoral performance, showed that the Consumer Goods Index, led the gainers with an appreciation of 9.71 per cent, spurred by demands for the shares of Nestle Nigeria Plc which appreciated 17.7 per cent last week.

This was followed by the Industrial Goods index that added

2.89 per cent, as investors demanded for the shares of CCNN which recorded an appreciation of 8.84 per cent in the course of the week.

On the other hand, the Insurance, Oil & Gas and Banking indices booked losses of -3.02 per cent, -2.78 per cent and -0.94 per cent respectively, as investors sold of the shares of NEM that fell by -18.52 per cent , Forte Oil that dropped -10.55per cent and FBNH that depreciated -2.09 per cent.

Guinness led the week’s 30 gainers with a growth of 27.08 per cent, against 37 losers, led by NEM that dropped 18.52 per cent.

L – R: Classic FM News Reader, Kachi Nnochiri; Directorate Apex of Mainland and Yaba Local Government, Omolara Riberio; Executive Chairman Yaba Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Hon. Kayode Omiyale; Marketing Manager PathCare Laboratories, Oluwatosin Otusanya and Marketing Manager, Megaletrics, Olamide Alli-Balogun at the PathCare Laboratories 2017 Medical Mission at Yaba LCDA Secretariat in Lagos... at the weekend.

Dizengoff lifts argic with 50 tractors Bonny Amadi Nigeria’s economy has continued to generate increasing growth opportunities as organizations sustain drive to key into opportunities provided by government’s renewed focus on agriculture.

Dizengoff Nigeria’s focus on boosting Nigeria’s agriculture economy for rewarding economic growth, received boost recently, as the company rolls out more tractors to enhance mechanized agriculture in the country.

The company is delivering 50 units of the 75HP CASE IH tractors to tractor service provider.

Dizengoff is one of the leading Agriculture companies in Nigeria, providing customers with the best Innovative solutions in Irrigation, Greenhouses, Tractor & Implements, Agro-Consumables and Turnkey project.

For over 58 years, the company has been operating in Nigeria.

Daily Times Nigeria gathered that deal, which will see the leading agriculture company in Nigeria, deliver 50 units of tractors in 2 batches within 30 days, with the first sets of tractors to be delivered immediately and the second batch delivered by end August.

The CEO/Country Manager for Dizengoff Nigeria, Mr. Antti Ritvonen, in a statement, assured customers of Dizengoff ’s of the company’s commitment to supporting their operations. “We assure you of our best in class after sales support, to minimize any downtime. We are determined and committed to providing quality machinery services to all of our tractor owners in Nigeria”.

Conoil shareholders approve N2.15bn dividend EcoCorp on 2014 result Afolabi Adesola Shareholders of Conoil Plc, at its 47th Annual General meeting (AGM), held last Friday, approved a total dividend of N2.15bn for the 2016 financial year, which translates to N3.10 per share compared to N3 per share paid in the preceding year.

The dividend paid, which represents about 76 per cent of a total profit of N2.84bn declared for the 2016 financial year, is in line with the company’s history of progressive dividend policy, and testament to its unwavering commitment to continue to deliver a healthy performance by providing exceptional service to its customers and adding

value to its shareholders’ investment.

At the AGM held in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, the energy provider assured shareholders that the company has laid a strong foundation to enhance its overall efficiency and ability to deliver outstanding results in the years ahead.

The company, in a statement made available to our correspondent at the weekend, gave details on its 2016 financial results and how it was able to achieve positive growth across all key financial indicators.

The major oil marketer noted that it proactively capitalized on every emerging opportunity in the sector and explored new income streams to continually boost its relevance and constantly

grow its market share.

“We launched initiatives to strengthen our income base in the core segments of the business, especially retail, lubricants and aviation. We also reinforced our sales force with core competencies and consolidated on our dominance in the aviation business while investing in modern equipment and bringing in more strategic customers”, the company said.

Whilst expressing grati-

tude to all those who made it possible to achieve the excellent results; including shareholders for their confidence in the company, customers for their unalloyed patronage, and embers of staff for their dedication and hard work, it assured its various stakeholders of relentlessly evolving bigger and better business propositions with an eye on the future to continue to deliver excellent results.

Summary of activities on NSE ASI DEALS VOLUME VALUE CAP

38,198.60 4,079.00 353,645,485.00 6,301,038,739.32 13,166,018,346,824.49

-filing default list Bonny Amadi

The much awaited audited financial result of Eco Corp Plc for the period ended 31 December, 2017, has finally been delivered, just as the company faces more expectations to attain a new status devoid of Minimum Regulatory Filling (MRF) by the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

However, as at the close of trade on the floor of the Exchange last Friday, 11th August, 2017, the company’s name, EcoCorp Plc, appeared prominently as number two among the four listed companies yet to file their 2014 audited financial statement with the bourse.

The company, currently, has the challenge of releasing audited financial statements for year 2015, 2016 and Q1 and, Q2 periodic unaudited results for 2017.

Turnover closed the 2014 financial year at N1, 303,585,802b from N1, 215,217,291b indicating 2.27 per cent rise.

Total profit (loss) after tax closed the year at N156, 708,608m against N152, 766,156m reflecting 2.58 per cent growth.

The company’s total assets closed the 2014 financial year of the company at N2, 249,300,454b, which was against N2, 187,151,206b, in the preceding 2013 year, indicating growth in total assets by 7.16 per cent.

39,500

29-Mar 03-Apr 08-Apr 13-Apr 18-Apr 23-Apr 28-Apr 03-May 08-May 13-May 18-May 23-May 28-May 02-Jun 07-Jun 12-Jun 17-Jun 22-Jun 27-Jun 02-Jul 07-Jul 12-Jul 17-Jul 22-Jul 27-Jul 01-Aug 06-Aug 11-Aug

B5 Daily Times Nigeria Monday Agust 14, 2017

NSE All Share Index Naira Value (m)

99,000

37,000

34,500 79,000

32,000 59,000

29,500 39,000

27,000 19,000

24,500 (1,000)

`

B6 CSR

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, Agust 14, 2017

Stories by Godwin Anyebe There is no gainsaying the fact that, in today’s digital world, information marketing and content development has prove to be necessary for companies.

Before now, blog writing was only thought of as personal diaries published to the Internet. However, checks by Daily Times showed that, today, almost forty per cent of companies use blogs for marketing purposes, and more than forty six percent of people read blogs more than once a day.

To this end, digital marketing campaigns are critical for every business these days. Like everything when it comes to business, the more thought you put into your content and your media, the better results you will get.

The elements above are ones that should not be left out of any digital marketing campaign; and they are ones that you can’t afford to miss. The right time to take a good look at your marketing strategy is right now.

Ask yourself if you could be doing better in one of these areas. If the answer is yes, be sure to address that issue right now.

Analysts are of the view that, regardless of the industry – whether you are running a bakeshop, law firm, or technology start-up – creating content should be a top goal in order to increase more inbound traffic to your website and become a trusted advisor.

For these analysts, identify a handful of employees who could provide quality content about corporate social responsibility and keep your website updated.

Commenting on this issue, a CSR analyst, Inès

CSR: Aligning with digital world Seddiki said; “company using big data are now able to predict with more efficiency how much stock they need to supply to their factories; and when they need to ship them for example. They reduce their carbon emissions by reducing transportation, and by ordering the exact amount of product they need they diminish their energy consumption implied by stocks and their waste as well. In other words, these tools help them both save money and reduce their impact on the environment.

For example, a consulting firm, Accenture, has released a report on this topic, explaining in details all the ways big data is changing the supply chain and making it greener. Their work shows, for example, that big data seem to increase the efficiency of their supply chain by ten to thirty six percent! Big Data has impacts on every pillar of a CSR strategy, even topics, such as, well-being at work or equality in the workplace. Some implementation of Big Data in CSR strategies have become case studies in the universities around the world.

According to him, the scope of possibilities has become so wide the United Nations has launched an international competition called, “Data for Climate Action”. One of last year’s winner was a project called “Aclimate Colombia”.

They came up with a tool, a decision support system, based on data sets related to the weather, the market and many other topics to help rice cultivators manage their crops and avoid shortages. Big Data can

Procession during the Power Oil WalkHeartOn 3.0 Activity in FCT, Abuja. be ground-breaking in so many ways and on so many levels.

Commenting on the importance of data to CSR, an information technology expert, George Kleru, told Daily Times that; “a new and relatively unused term — Corporate Data Responsibility — is a bit different, yet very much a part of CSR. “The twenty first century is riddled with big data, analytics, machine learning, and millennial stereotypes. Increasingly, all companies are recognizing or reimagining themselves as technology companies.

They understand that they are data-driven enterprises, even if they aren’t typically part of the tech sector. Putting aside traditional types

of trade secrets and proprietary data, the most valuable commodity upon which to base business decisions is consumer data: personal information, behavioral histories, and customer intent. Indeed, there is an abundance of information and innovation hubs that are leveraging data to provide services for finance management, healthcare, retail, and shifts in our daily habits and lifestyles. For example, Apple’s new Wake Alarm is designed to help improve your sleep schedule through data monitoring and reminders — an artifact of the quantified self movement.”

According to him, sometimes ago, “Accenture published “Guarding and Growing Personal Data

Value,”identifying five principles to guide responsible data management: stewardship, transparency, empowerment, equity, and inclusion. While Accenture does a good job of combining each of these ideas into a single framework, it does not go far enough. Creating an organizational culture of data ethics and responsibility requires that the right stakeholders be empowered with the correct mission.

Specifically, the Chief Information Officer function — or the top-level executive responsible for information governance — must be integrated into the organization’s CSR function, and the business must identify that Corporate Data Responsibility is really, in fact, a CSR issue.”

He said, “Without trust, people share less information, bad information, or no information at all. They become anxious, bewildered, and suspicious. They lie or self-censor otherwise beneficial information. If people don’t trust a company, they are more likely to switch to a competitor or resist or fail to become fully invested in the commercial relationship.”

On transparency, he said, “It only comes with good stewardship. It is incredibly difficult to provide transparency to consumers about internal business processes and information governance when the data life cycle of different products and marketing strategies is either poorly understood or undocumented.

Edo, Ondo in Cowbellpedia Mathematics TV Quiz semi-finals The 2017 Cowbellpedia Secondary Schools Mathematics TV Quiz Show produced the first set of semi-finalists recently in Lagos.

Anita Alabi of Gloryland Secondary School, Igarra, Edo State and Henry Famuyiwa of Model Secondary School, Alagbaka, Akure, Ondo State triumphed over their counterparts to proceed to the semi-finals in the Junior category of the competition sponsored by the flagship brand of Promasidor Nigeria Limited, Cowbell Our Milk.

Oseghale Ailuelohia of Mind Builders High School, Satellite

Town, Lagos; Abdusamad Ahmad of Flora College, Ilorin, Kwara State; Stanley Odebeatu of All Hallows Seminary, Onitsha, Anambra State and Olali Diepreye of Belary Schools, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State failed to qualify for the semi-final stage in the Junior category.

Alabi and Famuyiwa, who garnered 90 and 105 points respectively, could not conceal their excitement, as they screamed and embraced their teachers who expressed their confidence in the students’ ability to reach the finals.

Alabi, the only female in the group, had a perfect score in the qualifying examinations, which was conducted in March 2017.

She said her performance in the competition would make her father proud.

Famuyiwa, whose hobbies are drawing and singing said he looked forward to celebrating his success with his schoolmates.

In the Senior category, Michael Paul of Excelgrace Academy, Gboko, Benue State and Margaret Chibuzo of Dority International Schools, Aba, Abia State with 105 and 110 points respectively scaled

through to the semi-finals. Paul had a perfect score in the qualifying examinations while Chibuzo scored 95 per cent.

The duo knocked out Goodluck Samuel of Emplace College, Akure, Ondo State; Samuel Adekunle of Christ the Redeemer College, Sagamu, Ogun State; Kyrian Obikwelu of All Hallows Seminary, Onitsha, Anambra State and Abdullahi Nasir of Late Sabo Memorial Progressive Secondary School, Tilden-Fulani, Bauchi State.

Chibuzo, 15, who is visiting Lagos for the first-time desires

to become a computer engineer.

She prays for more confidence and to improve her speed in the journey to actualise her dream of becoming the Senior category winner of the 2017 Cowbellpedia Secondary Schools Mathematics TV Quiz Show.

Paul, who wants to be a medical doctor, traced his interest in Mathematics to the encouragement he received from his father.

He said,“My father, a civil engineer, trained me, encouraged me and got me prepared for this competition and I can only hope for the best.”

Insurance B7 Stories by Bonny Amadi Annuitants and diversified clients seeking for greater value in insurance annuity have cause to opt for optimized service delivery, as Axa- Mansard Insurance Plc, has recommenced sale of Annuities.

AXA Mansard Insurance Plc revealed to Daily Times Nigeria that it has recommenced the sale of Annuities nationwide in line with the joint guidelines released by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM); and the National Pension Commission (PenCom).

Axa-Mansard Insurance is one of the leading insurance companies in Nigeria; and a member of the AXA Group, a global leader in insurance and asset management.

AXA Mansard’s Annuity offering ensures regular payments in retirement for the duration of a person’s life providing security and peace of mind.

Daily Times Nigeria Monday, Agust 14, 2017

Axa Mansard Insurance restarts annuity business

Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Kunle Ahmed said, “We are pleased to recommence sales of our annuity products. We welcome the opportunity to continue our business relationship with all Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) and our business partners nationwide in providing this much needed service to the Nigerian public, who will benefit from the strength, expertise and security of AXA Mansard and the AXA Group”.

The company is an early pioneer of the annuity business in Nigeria, obtaining its license back in 2007 and commencing sales activities in 2010. The company has since grown its portfolio over the last seven years.

However, in October 2016, PenCom communicated to NAICOM, its resolve to bring annuity assets of insurance companies under the custody of Pension Fund Custodians (PFCs), culminating in a joint circular issued on March 20, 2017, by both NAICOM and PenCom directing all life insurance companies underwriting Life Annuity business under the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014 “to transfer all annuity assets under their custody to licensed PFCs as mandated by the pension law.”

The circular stated that the PFCs shall have custody of annuity funds, and directed insurance companies underwriting annuity to transfer such funds to PFCs of their choice. In line with this, the

approval and release of funds for annuity requests was put on hold until insurance companies open operational accounts with PFCs to receive new premium.

Today, AXA Mansard is in compliance with these requirements and the company has expressed confidence in its ability to meet all annuity commitments.

Ahmed further stated that, “We assure all our customers that their annuity payments will continue to be met as at when due, and we appreciate our customers for their continued patronage.

In line with our Group’s principle of being more of a partner than a payer, we will be unveiling some valued added services for our retirees in due course.”

Linkage tops week’s gainers’ list Linkage Assurance Plc has emerged highest price gainers in the sector during the week,becoming the third highest price gainers among all the equities listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) For the week ended Friday, 11TH August, 2017, Linkage Assurance gained 27.12 per cent or N0.6, to close trading for the week at N0.75 per share, having opened trade at N0.59 per share.

Linkage, the week’s top gainer was the only insurance firm in the top 10 gainers table of the exchange as it dwarfed other eight top gainers that spread across other sectors of the market.

The cvompany followed C&1 Leasing, emerged as the week’s top gainers with 44.93 per cent or N0.31 growth in its equity price for the week , closing trade at N1.00 per share.

The company opened trade for the week at N0.69 per share.

Dangote Sugar was the second highest gainer for the week with N4.05 or 37.29 per cent growth in its equity price, closing trade at N14.91 per share. Dangote Sugar opened trade for the week at N10.86 per share.

Meanwhile, commit-

ment by insurance companies towards meeting the post- listing rules is gathering momentum as six firms filed their quarterly and annual results with the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) for the week ended August 11, 2017.

Prestige Insurance filed its second quarter periodic result for the period ended June 30, 2017.

The result showed growth in the company’s key performance measuring indices and lifted confidence of investors in the firm.

Prestige Insurance plc also delivered its second quarter 2017 result with the NSE during the week, while Standard Alliance Insurance also filled its Q2 2017 result with the NSE during the week.

The NSE’s weekly report also showed that Law Union and Rock Insurance, and African Alliance Insurance respectively, filed their Q2 2017 unaudited results for the period ended June 30 2017.

During the week, the much awaited 2016 audited result of the Great Nigerian Insurance Company was followed with the NSE; this was followed with the delivery of the company’s Q1 2017 for the period ended March, 2017.

Celebrant / Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Sola Enikanolaiye (left) receiving a souvenir from retired Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amb Nkem Wabidia-Anyanwu (right), at the retirement celebration in honour of Enikanolaiye, in Abuja. With them are his wife, Adunni(2nd left) and Acting Under-Secretary, Admin and Finance, Amb. Bello Ringim.

Wapic, AIICO, AxaMansard, others boost sector’s turnover Activities in four top ranking insurance companies lifted the sectors turnover gr the week ended, Friday,11th August, 2017.

The insurance sector, during the week, pulled a turnover of 19,206,684 million shares valued at N18,139,051.03m, in total of 551 deals. Four insurance companies comprising of Wapic Insurance, AIICO, Axa, Mansard and NEM Insurance lifted the sectors turnover with a combine transacted volume of 14,828,614 million shares, representing about 76 per cent of the total turnover of the insurance sector for the week.

Shares of Wapic Insurance Plc emerged as the most traded stock in the sector during the week, with a total of 5,932,754 million shares valued N3, 125,697.00; and traded in 178 deals, the company’s shares traded at N0.52 per share during the week.

Wapic Insurance Plc Half year one (H1)2017 result showed growth in key performance indices as premium written rose by 31.47 percent, while profit after tax grew by almost 134.64 per cent to N395.69 million.

Wapic’s underwriting profit soared by 103.32 pe rcent to N622.08mn as against N305.95m earned in 2016 half year.

Meanwhile, underwriting giants, AIICO Insurance Plc, followed on the sector’s activity table for the week, with 3,424,078 million shares valued at N1, 984,438.26m; and transacted by investors in 89 deals, the company closed trading for the week at N 0.57 per share.

AIICO Insurance recently secured the endorsement of the National Pensions Commission (Pencom) to resume the writing of annuity business regulated by the commission.

Insurance firms charged on opportunities in sector The insurance sector in Nigeria has been urged to end the continued dialogue on prevailing opportunities inherent in the country; and actualize the opportunities that the industry provides for local and global investors, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Okechukwu Enelamah made the call recently in Abuja, at the 2017 National Insurance Conference organized by the International Insurance Industry Consultative Council (IICC) theme, ‘Nigeria Open for Business’.

The minister beckoned on the sector to drift from the rhetoric at regular conferences where critical issues are discussed, but such

issues end at the conference devoid of a strong follow up for actualisation.

“Insurance industry is so important and so critical to the country. The secret of achieving relevance of insurance sector is to accept responsibility and get a clear vision for the industry.” Okechukwu Enelamah said, “It is not about gathering here and discussing critical issues that command people to clap their hands and that is it. Insurance industry needs to move beyond the rhetoric, make something meaningful from the conference.”

Earlier in her address, the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun called on the insurance sector to

intensify effort towards attracting foreign investments into the country, going by the huge earning opportunities It provides to investors.

According to the minister, foreign investors have demonstrated interest in the Nigerian insurance sector by entering into the market, which has led to the introduction of new insurance products in the growing mortgage and housing sector.

Represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Dr Mahmud Isa-Dutse, the fiancé said that it is expected that insurance industry reforms will continue to lure more investors’ into the

country.

Adeosun reassured that the federal government is not unmindful of its responsibility to ensure adequate insurance of its assets, “To consolidate on progress being made, the Federal Government would play its part to ensure that Government assets are adequately insured.” While she assured of government support to the sector, “We will therefore, support this sector to continue to contribute effectively to sustainable and inclusive economic growth.” She noted that the sector had grown in recent years and should therefore be able to command investment to the country.

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Daily Times Nigeria Monday, Agust 14, 2017

Sir, how would you access the Nigerian business environment, taking into consideration the president’s policy on ease of doing business?

Well, the business environment in Nigeria remains very challenging; and it is not just a matter of opinion, the world has designed mechanisms for accessing countries in terms of the ease of doing business. They have designed mechanism for looking at global competitiveness of businesses; and if you check us out, unfortunately, when you look at the global rating on each score, we are doing poorly. In fact, the last one I saw was in 2016; and we were at 169 in the global ease of doing business out of 189 countries; in terms of difficulty in doing business or what they call ease of doing business ranking.

When we have countries like Denmark, Singapore, we are even worse than many African countries. We are even worse than Ghana in terms of ease of doing business. So, global investment goes to where there is ease of doing business, places where we have competitive economic business environment. Well, this is not lost to our nation, especially this government, who seems to have realized this and seems to be putting focus on it. Of course, this is not the first time, during the last (President Goodluck Jonathan’s) government, they even set up a global competitiveness committee. I was invited to serve on that committee set up by the Ministry of Trade and Investment under (the then Minister, Dr. Olusegun) Agagu. But the new government has built on that; and we now have a global competitiveness commission or ease of doing business commission that is now focusing on issues.

We are not just looking at general issues; we are looking at what are the components, because that is what I recommended. I said look, ease of doing business has different components, and some may be more difficult, while some may be easier.

For example, having power is a problem that is not going to be easy for Nigeria to solve because, it is proven tractable. Such as how long does it take you to register a company, how long does it take you to get a Certificate of Occupancy; how long does it take you to transfer properties from one person to the other, issues of intellectual property possession, the ease with which you can pay even government levies, issues related to taxation and such other things. And even the way investors are treated, ability even to respond to investors’ inquiry, the regulatory environment, those are the things that all

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Business Interview

Recession, best time to diversify Nigeria’s economy - Ohuabunwa Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, a quintessential professional pharmacist, former chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and ex- chairman, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), and Founder, Sam Ohuabunwa Foundation, in this interview with GANIYU OBAARO, BUINESS EDITOR; and JOY ANYIM, says Nigeria should take advantage of recession to diversify its economy. Excerpts

contribute to the ease of doing business. How visitors are welcomed, the look of our airport. Nobody is interested in the size of your airport as they are interested in its cleanliness. Nobody is interested in the level of skyscrapers, but as in terms of how they feel welcomed.

Nobody is interested in whether the roads are all tarred, fine, but do they feel secured when they arrive your country?

These are the issue we are talking about. What about corruption? Do you do things without having to grease palms and do all those kind of things?” And I thought that we can deal with some of them, I believe that that is what Minister of Trade and Industry Mr. Okechukwu Enelama is doing working with the acting President. They have focused on a few areas; and say, let’s deal with these areas, let’s remove the number of people that harass you in the airport in the name of checking you.

We need both foreign and local investment. The more you make it easier for people to do business in Nigeria, or Nigerians to do business in Nigeria, the easier it will be for other people to come.

Our operating environment is still very though, because of too many issues; and one of them is policy consistency.

This is because everything that goes about investment is a question of carrot and stick. If you have something that motivates an investor, that makes him feel welcome, that makes him feel that if he puts his money, he will get it back with a good profit, nobody will ask him tomorrow you are a stranger, we are taking your asset, you are coming from India or China, you have occupied everywhere, start going like they did in Uganda at some point. Those kinds of things are issues today; you cannot do it and get away like that.

Of course, it hurts Ugandan economy for a long time.

The times of nationalisation of asset are gone. Today, it is free trade; and people have a right to make their investment and repatriate when they feel like and sell off. The ease with which you can do that is also a measure of your global competitiveness.

I think Nigeria is aware, we

Ohuabunwa

hear the right things being said by government, but as they say, the taste of the pudding is in the eating. And, it is when we see these changes over a long time; not because the vice president went to the airport and then conveyor belt begins to work and when the man leaves, it stops working. We want to see this conveyor belt working all the time. Over a time, the world will recognize it and investors will say, Nigeria is changing.

Over the years, we have relied on oil as our means of foreign exchange.

There is a government policy now, which is tailored towards moving away from oil, what they call diversification. In a recession, do you see us achieving the diversification process in line with the thinking of the Federal Government and what are your reasons?

I think the recession is perhaps the best time to start a diversification. Why? Because it is a time when your choices are limited; so you are compelled by the desire to survive to become creative and innovative. It is creativity and innovation

that lead to diversification.

When oil money is flowing; and we can afford to spend our money, buy what we want, our thinking is limited, we follow what we call the least line of resistance, we go into what they call the comfort zone; and so you just follow the comfort zone, you wake up in the morning, you order your breakfast and they give you all kinds of imported food.

Now the day you wake up and imported food is not coming like we experienced in the recession, we begin to say can we eat corn, can we go back to Acara and we will also look for a way to improve on Acara. The truth of the matter is that recession is the best time to do diversification; and I believe of course that the challenge is sustainability.

And because the cause of our recession is drop in oil; and some time drop in volume, now, if we get to a place where the oil price recovers and the oil volume recovers as it has happened before, Nigerian will go back to it, especially from the policy perspective; and that is why I have written and said look, if I were government, which

of course, former President Olusegun Obasanjo started, with the excess crude income, he started setting apart money that was above the budgeted price, which is good.

But, the then governors, led by the former governor of Rivers state, Mr. Rotimi C. Amechi said ‘we have a right to keep our money’, so, when the oil price fell again, we didn’t have enough. Because in 2008 and 2009, we overcame economic shock, because of the excess crude account. I am saying that look, if I were the president of this country, what I will do is to say okay, lest see at the point at which we come out of recession; and we say oil price is 50/55, from now, a law will be made that any price above oil income should not even be spent, it should be put in reserve for future spending. We can only spend it on issues related to diversification.

Norway did something like that; and today, Norway earns money and theirs is not a matter of excess.

Every, money they earned they invested it in their sovereign wealth fund; then the interest from saving it in the bank; they use it like an endowment and invest it.

The capital is there accruing; and you take the interest to run your affairs. You guarantee the future development of the country, and you guarantee the stability of exchange rate, because local currency will have so much power by the amount of reserves it has.

As a member of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, we know that at different levels, you have discussed the Micro and Macroeconomic challenges facing Nigeria, particularly infrastructure, energy crisis. The DG and the chairman, both of them have expressed that government should give them discriminatory rates or concession in terms accessibility to foreign exchange. To what extent has this been effected in terms of bailing you out of the socioeconomic crisis facing the sector?

It is usually difficult for government to implement these policies, where they talk about preferential allocation. There was a time when there was difficulty

in manufacturers sourcing foreign exchange in 2015 and 2016 till the early part of this year when government instituted that policy. It was an attempt by the Central Bank Nigeria, CBN, but if you ask manufacturers, they will tell you that not much happened, because of the reality of treating scarce commodity.

The moment you have scarce commodity anywhere in the world, price will jump. If you put price low at the artificial level, then you immediately promote black market; you promote corruption and subterranean activities.

The incentive for rent seeking increases, it was a good intention by CBN, some companies got a little bit of benefit, but it didn’t last; and because such policies truly are difficult to sustain, the incentive to break the policy is so high, because you say there is a dollar to be sold and somebody is willing to buy the dollar at N500; and you say sell it to somebody at N305, if you are a very nice guy, you can tell the person I want to sell at N500 and say there is almost N200 difference, we share it equally, let everybody go home that if you are a moral person. What I am saying is the incentive to break it is high. So, it will require people with very high moral strength an environment where the moral system is high to obey this rule and that is why we are writing, please let the naira float.

Are you therefore satisfied with the interventionist role been played

by CBN so far?

Absolutely. The CBN took us in the wrong direction.

They caused the depreciation of the naira, they cause the scarcity of the foreign exchange flowing in, because the capital importation came down, and it was coming to a very low level.

You know if you want to do business in country, you have to bring your money through the official route so that you can also export it.

Somebody wants to invest a hundred dollars, or one thousand dollars, you tell him that if he invests one thousand dollars, he will get N300, 000 when he gets here while this same dollar somebody is willing to give me N500, 000. What do I do and of course if I give it to the N500, 000 person, I can get the money, but I can’t take it out, I say okay, I am waiting for you, but I won’t bring my money. Now government has intervened, they have narrowed the rates.

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TIMES Monday, August 14, 2017

Lil Kesh: From Bariga to the world L P

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Daily Times Nigeria

Monday, August 14, 2017

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Interview L4

Daily Times Nigeria

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Music is the only reason I’m relavant –Lil Kesh For Keshinro Ololade popularly known by his stage name, Lil Kesh, music is not just a hobby but rather serious business where keen attention is pivotal and necessary. The 23-year-old Nigerian Singer, rapper and songwriter not long

household national anthem till date. Born and raised in Bariga, a suburb of Lagos State, Lil Kesh is not relenting and ready to battle head to head to still remain

a strong Christian background, composed and reserved person who is ready about his music amongst others.

How was growing up in Bariga for you?

your material on TV? What inspires your creativity generally?

Do you write your lyrics yourself?

Take the music from Lil Kesh, who is Lil Kesh?

Which is your favourite among all your work?

Starting off as a musician, were you parents in support of that?

What is your projection for YAGI records few years from now?

How long does it take you to make a song?

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Was music something you derives from your parents?

What is your most annoying daily routine?

You sounded more of a church boy?

What should we expect from you?