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Budget padding scandal: Obasanjo insists NASS members are corrupt

PDP didn’t lose 2015 presidential election – Ciroma

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90

YEARS OF JOURNALISM

Ï MƗƑƌƆ Ɨƈ ƌƈ Ɔ ƅ ƏƏƑƍƐƈ ƈ M ddè ƕ ÏÏÏFormer Minister of Finance, ƍ ƗƗƈ ƈ ƑƗ ƆƐ Adamu Ciroma, said the Peoples Ɔ ƐƆƗ Ɛ Ƅƕ Ƒ Əƈ Democratic Party (PDP) did not g6 lose the 2015 presidential election Ï CƈƄƏƈ ƌ ƊƆ ƌ ƏƆ neither did the All Progressives ƋƋƆ Ɛƈ ƈ Ɛ # Ə è Congress (APC) win it. ƕ dƍƆ ƊƆƏ ƈ ƄƈƐ Ƈ Ciroma said this in Abuja on soliciting inappropriate Continued on page 6 Ƈ ƒ ƑƏ

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TUESDAY, JULY 26, 2016 VOL. 2. NO. 159

N150

FG unveils 3-yr plan, pegs 2017 Budget on $42.5pb Ï Lƈ ƈ ƐƆƏ Ƈ ƑƗ ƆƐ Ɨ ^Ƌ ƈ ƍƏƆ Ɔ Ɛ ƾƠơƣéƾƠơÖ LƆƗƈƑƌ jƆƏƌ &ƔƍƆ ƗƈƐƑƏƆ 0Ə ƌƆƓ ƏƊ æLj&0ç Ɛ ƅƈƒƈƋ Ə Ƒƍ g6 Ï d ƕ ƾƠơƣ ƑƗ ƆƐ óƋƋ ƄƆ ƏƆ Ɨƕ ƈ RƅƐ ƄƆƏè Ƅ ƆƗ ƿƾêǀ ƍƆƏ Ƅ ƏƏƆƋ Ɨ ƒƆƏ Ɔ ƑƐƍƑƐ Ƈ ƾêƾƌ Ƅ ƏƏƆƋ ƍƆƏ Ɨ ƕ Ï 9 ƇƋ Ɛƈ ƍƏ ƉƆƅƐƆƗ Ɛ ơơêƤƤü Ƈ Ə ƾƠơƤ Ɨ ơƾêǀƣü Ƈ Ə ƾƠơÖì ƈƋ ƄƆ ƅ ƌ ƏƊ ƆƐ Ɛ ƿǀ Ɨ ǀƠ ƍƆƏ Ƅ ƏƏƆƋ ƏƆ ƍƆƅƐƈƒƆƋƕ Ƈ Ə Ɛ Ɔ ƐƓ ƕƆ Ə Ï ó01 Ɛ Ɠ ƏƊ ƓƈƐ ƆƔƅ Ɔ Ə ƐƆ ƑƌƍƐƈ Ƈ MƾÖƠ Ɛ Ɛ Ɔ Ɨ ƋƋ Ə ƅ ƆƅƑƐƈƒƆƋƕ Ƈ Ə Ɛ Ɔ Ɛ ƏƆƆ ƕƆ Ə ô Ï MƾêơƐƏ Ƈ Ɛ Ɔ MÕêƠÕƐƏ ƍƍƏ ƒƆƗ ƾƠơÕ ƑƗ ƆƐ ƋƏƆ Ɨƕ ƆƔƍƆ ƗƆƗè ƄƑƐ Ƌƕ MƾǀƢƄ Ƈ MơêƤƐƏ Ƈ Ə ƅ ƍƈƐ Ƌ ƍƏ ƉƆƅƐ ƍƆ Ɛ Opeoluwani Akintayo

ÏÏÏThe

Federal Government on Monday announced a benchmark of $42.5 per barrel for the 2017 budget,

which it said will be ready in October.

The announcement was made by the Minister of Continued on page 6

No plot to impeach Buhari in Senate g12 – Ndume NSE QUICK BITE

GAINERS AS AT 25th July, 2016 OANDO

5.63

0.51

9.96%

TRANSCORP

1.48

0.13

9.63%

LOSERS FO

175.91 -18.99

-9.74%

SEPLAT

313.50 -16.50

-5.00%

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Photo: BOLAJI OLASUNKANMI

Buhari marginalising S’East, not keeping promises – Ezeife g8

2

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

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Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Page Three Æ s

3

PHOTO TIMES

Editorial Protecting the Nigerian child from abuse

T

he prestige and respect any country enjoys depends on how its vulnerable population, especially children is treated.

Unfortunately, the majority of Nigerian children cannot be said to be enjoying the best of protection from the society. One does not have to look far to reveal the inhuman conditions many of them are exposed to on daily basis. In our cities and towns, many of these children could be seen meandering in between vehicular traffic on busy streets and roads, trying to hawk petty wares. Unfortunately, in the process, some of them are knocked or even crushed by moving vehicles. Many others work as beggars, shoe shiners, car washers, scavengers and bus conductors.

Today, many Nigerian children have become breadwinners of their respective families. Due to poverty, many parents and guardians are finding it difficult to fend for their families more less sending the children to school. The statistics of Nigerian children out of school is very scary. According to the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), Nigeria is among the top list of countries with the highest numbers of children out of school.

These children represent the face of hunger, insecurity and social neglect.

The plight of Nigerian children is even more depressing when survey is carried out across the geopolitical zones. Among them are two categories of children. There are those who live and work on the streets and those who return to their homes at night after working on the streets. Even when the point of demarcation is nebulous, both categories of children meet and interact on the streets, thereby making it easier for them to graduate

into society miscreants over time.

Rather than abate, the situation is growing worse due to the persisting social climate of poverty and corruption at all levels of government. This social malaise is more profound in many ways. One distinct manifestation is the “Almajiri’ syndrome in the northern part of the country, which is an Islamic education that encourages young boys mostly in tattered apparels and bowls begging from house to house in order to survive.

In the south, they are mostly street urchins known as “Area Boys” who use persuasive and often coercive tactics to demand for money and are often involved petty and sometimes violent crimes.

Another cause of delinquent children is the cult of child witches, especially in some states of the South -South region. Their plight is exacerbated by ignorance of parents who are persuaded by religious ministers and even native doctors to abandon their children who are often branded witches and accused of bringing misfortunes to the family. In the end, these children are unprotected from extremes of weather conditions and exposed to various forms of abuses such as sexual exploitation, vagrancy and kidnapping.

It is therefore imperative that the authorities enforce the Child Rights Act 2003, which is a legal document that sets out the rights and responsibilities of the Nigerian child and provides for a system of child justice administration. Sadly, only 16 out of the 36 states of the federation have adopted the Act. We call on those states yet to adopt the Act to do so in order to protect our children from exploitation and deprivation. This way, they can join their peers in other parts of the world to enjoy a brighter future.

Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole (right), with new Commander, 4 Brigade, Benin City, Brig-Gen. Bambella Raji, during Raji’s visit to Oshiomhole in his office… on Monday.

L-R: Chief Judge of Imo State, Justice Paschal Nnadi; Chief Judge of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed and Administrator, National Judicial Institute, Justice Rosaline Bozimo during a workshop for judicial and legal assistants in Abuja... on Monday.

PHOTO: TEMITOPE BALOGUN.

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Lagos initiates N6.25b poverty alleviation scheme Oluwaseun Agbato and Folashade Martins

ÏÏÏThe

Lagos State Government, on Monday, constituted an Employment Trust Fund (ETF) programme for wealth creation through entrepreneurial development to alleviate unemployment in the state.

Addressing Lagosians on the event held at Bero Hall, Alausa, Ikeja, , Special Adviser to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode on Civic Engagement, Mr. Kehinde Joseph, said the state government has promised to institute ETF fund to assist the youths and other residents of the state to grow economically and achieve individual aspirations.

He further stressed that ETF would help address the challenges of unemployment and promote wealth creation through entrepreneurial development, adding that an annual contribution of N6.25billion will be injected into the Fund by the State Government for a period of 4years totaling N25 billion.

He maintained that the

scheme is not about indigenes or class in the society. Joseph howeber said that residency in the state, with assured guarantor, would be a criteria for benefitting in the scheme In the same vein, an APC chieftain in Lagos State, Mrs. Kemi Nelson lauded the initiative, saying; “It’s a way of sending poverty out of the land”.

Scores of participants at the event were of the opinion that the ETF would yield a positive result.

No dialogue with N’ Delta militants – UNDEDSS ÏÏÏA new twist, on Monday, was Ambode

Ubani to hosts Ambode, launches NGO Titilope Joseph & Racheal Akomolafe

ÏÏÏ

A former chairman of Ikeja chapter of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Barrister Onyekachi Monday Ubani, is set to host Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State and other dignitaries as launches a charity foundation, “Onyekachi Ubani Foundation” (OUF). The event is scheduled to hold on Satuday, August 6.

In a release by Ubani, the passion for charity and the desire to help fellow humans and Nigerians are the motivations behind the setting up of the foundations.

The event is timed to coincide with his birth day celebration.

According to him, “The occasion is also to double as my birthday celebration, it is actually an appreciation of a privilege to serve humanity and save the souls of the poor and less privileged Nigerians who have been battered and broken by the harsh realities of life.

“There is a limit to what I can personally do to help many Nigerians because I have limited resources, but by mobilizing friends, individuals , institutions, both public and private,

local and foreign, we can achieve a lot.”

He further said that, the foundation will run programmes in four different areas, which includes youth literacy Initiative geared towards ensuring that every youth can read, write and solve the most fundamental and basic life questions.

The youth creativity and media forum major goal is to raise a new generation of young people who can dare to dream and believe in the unseen possibilities that await them in life.

Other areas are men of standard, is a skills acquisition program targeted specifically at men who by reason of circumstance, have found themselves unable and ill equipped to provide for themselves and for their families because they lack particular skills in order to be gainfully employed or selfemployed.

Women of substance is another area where women will be trained on courses aimed at equipping them with the skills that can earn them a living and put food on their respective tables.

The executive governor of Lagos state alongside other dignitaries are expected to grace the occasion.

brought into the purported ongoing dialogue between the Federal Government and militants in the Niger Delta region of the country, as the United Niger Delta Energy Development Security Strategy (UNDEDSS) denied any such negotiations are afoot at the moment.

It could be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had, last week, through his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said that the Federal Government was in talks with recognisable representatives of the militants through oil companies and law enforcement agencies.

This position was later confirmed by the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) in a statement.

But spokesman of UNDEDSS, Mr. Tony Uranta, in a counter release on the issue, made avail-

able to Daily Times, on Monday, maintained that there was no iota of truth in the peace dialogue as claimed by the government and MEND. The statement read in part: “We note, with dismay, the insistence by some spokesmen of the Federal Government of Nigeria that dialogue is ongoing with the ‘real militants’ of the Niger Delta. We hope the Federal Government is not being fooled by 419 scoundrels and impostors, because UNDEDSS can affirm, unequivocally, that, whilst attempts are being robustly made to open negotiation channels, no Dialogue has truly commenced between the government and armed actors like the Niger Delta Avengers.”

Then group maintained that the Presidency was fully aware of the conditionality that are sacrosanct to opening channels of discussion with it by the militants. Uranta listed the conditionality as assurance by President Buhari to the

nation that the National Maritime University remains on course and that President Buhari appoint a Special Adviser on Niger Delta Affairs to drive the 2009 Yar ‘Adua template, which had five sub-committees headed by the Ministers of Petroleum and Works.

The group also is demanding that there should be a safe passage be guaranteed all delegates to the proposed ‘Niger Delta Peace and Prosperity Talks’, which the president would convene as soon as all parties are agreed; and, that relevant International Diplomats will be present at the said talks.

The statement continued, “Considering how critically important resolving this Niger Delta crisis is to Nigeria’s peace, security and economic stability, UNDEDSS is dismayed at the continuing treatment of the current realities as just another opportunity to grandstand and indulge in vain anti-people one-upmanship propaganda stunts!

No more Boko Haram camps in North-East, says Army Segun Adio

ÏÏÏThe Nigerian Army has said

that at the moment, there are no camps of Boko Haeram terrorists in any part of the North East.

The Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sanni Usman, said this at the inauguration of Strategic Communication Course for senior officers at the Nigerian Army School of Public Relations and Information, Bonny Camp, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Usman, while assuring Nige-

rians that the military was winning the war against terrorism, said there were no more terrorists clustered in a particular place in the area.

Said he, ``The situation in the North-East has tremendously improved. The military operations or the fight against terrorism and insurgency in the North-East is hinged on three things. ``First, defeating the Boko Haram terrorists which have been accomplished and making room to facilitate humanitarian assis-

tance which is also ongoing. ``Then restoration of law and order for good governance to take place. ``We no longer have camps of Boko Haram terrorists and we no longer have them conveyed in the territories,’’ he said. ``Those that were hitherto close are now open to the extent that we have trans-border trade. ``Take for instance; just recently, the important road that links Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon was just re-opened.

News 7

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

FG unveils 3-yr plan, pegs 2017 Budget on $42.5pb Continued from page 1 Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udoma, at the presentation on the 2017-2019 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) to civil society groups in Abuja.

According to him, next year’s budget would also be based on an average daily oil production output of 2.2 million barrels per day.

The move, the Minister said, is part of the key assumptions. He then said crude oil benchmark price and production under the 2018-2019 MTEF would be at $45 per barrel and $50 per barrel respectively.

The government also set oil production output for 2018 at about 2.3 million barrels per day and 2.4 mil-

lion barrels per day in 2019.

Inflation rate may not drop to a single digit in the two years as government assumes 11.88 percent and 12.57 percent respectively.

But, the GDP growth rate is projected to rise to 4.04 per cent in 2019, averaging 3.77 per cent during the MTEF period.

The minister said government would be working with an exchange rate assumption of N290 to the dollar consecutively for the three years, while the nominal oil gross domestic product (GDP) was set at about N7,775 billion for 2017, N8,997 billion for 2018 and N10,885 billion for 2019.

The 2016 Federal budget was based on assumptions of about 2.2 million barrels per day oil produc-

tion at $38 per barrel, with inflation rate at 12.92 percent and gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 0.35 per cent.

The Minister said government remained optimistic that these assumptions were realisable despite the global economic downturn which has resulted in low crude oil prices.

Nigeria, a leading member of the organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has been one of the worse hit by the decline, a situation that is worsened by the increasing spate of attacks by irate armed on oil and gas installation in the Niger Delta region since January.

The series of sustained coordinated attacks by armed groups, led

by the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), has significantly cut the country’s oil production from 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) at the beginning of the year, to about 1.6 million barrels per day.

Nigeria relies on the export of about 70 percent of its oil production capacity to raise revenue to fund its budget.

“Government expects that growth within the three year period would be largely driven by the non-oil sector as government intends to pursue export led growth and improved tax collection,” the Minister said.

“Company Income Tax (CIT) is projected to increase from N1.788 Continued on page 12

Gé`ë G dƐ ƐƆ ƌƌƈ ƈ ƆƏ Ƈ Ə zƆ ƋƐ ƏƆ Ɛƈ Ɨ &ƌƍƋ ƕƌƆ Ɛ æz &çè LƏê Ƅ ƐƑ ƗƆ #ƑƏ ƈ ƌƈé&ƐƐƈì dƍƆƅƈ Ƌ Ɨƒƈ ƆƏ Ɛ Ɛ Ɔ 1 ƒƆƏ Ə ƈƒƈƅ & ƆƌƆ Ɛ æ &çè 6 ê EƆ ƈ ƗƆ C Ɔƍ ì G dƐ ƐƆè ƋƋ ^Ə ƏƆ ƈƒƆ ƏƆ æ ^ ç z ƌ GƆ ƗƆƏè LƏ EƆƌƈ MƆƋ Ɨ ^ƆƏƌ Ɔ Ɛ dƆƅƏƆƐ Əƕè RƇƇƈƅƆ Ƈ ƈƒƈƅ & ƆƌƆ Ɛè #Əê RƋƑƊ ƕ ƗƆ R Ƒ ƐƈƌƆ ƈ ƗƑƏƈ Ɛ Ɔ Ɔ ƈƐƈ Ɛƈ Ɨ Ɠ ƏƆ Ɔ ƍƏ Ə ƌƌƆ G dƐ ƐƆ &ƌƍƋ ƕƌƆ Ɛ jƏƑ Ɛ 0Ƒ Ɨ ƈ ƅ ƋƋ Ƅ Ə Ɛƈ ƓƈƐ z & Ɨ & ƈ Ƌ Ƒ è 9ƊƆƉ è G Č L Ɨ ƕê Photo: BOLAJI OLASUNKANMI

Ciroma

PDP didn’t lose 2015 presidential election – Ciroma Continued from page 1 Monday while receiving members of PDP Board of Trustee (BOT) led by its Chairman, Sen. Jibrin Walid.

According to him, in spite of the fact that the Federal Government is being led by the APC, the PDP is dominating political discuss.

He said: ``Just before the last elections and when we saw the trend of events, I warned members of the PDP to prepare itself for whatever eventuality that may come. ``Today, PDP didn’t lose and APC didn’t win because APC has a lot to do. ``When you talk about politics, you talk about PDP. When you talk of politics, people talk about PDP as If APC does not exist. So far, APC is not playing the right role.’’

Noting that any party that got into power must make mistakes, the elder statesman advised fellow party members to prepare ahead of the 2019 elections, ``especially as the APC will continue to make mistakes’’.

Edo Speaker steps down, Deputy takes over Ï &ƔédƍƆ ƊƆƏ Ɠ ƗƆƍƑƐƕ

Budget padding scandal: Obasanjo insists NASS members are corrupt Egena Egena and Olufemi Samuel, Abuja

ÏÏÏFormer

President Olusegun Obasanjo on Monday said the feud in the House of Representatives over alleged padding of the 2016 Budget has confirmed his earlier position that Nigerian lawmakers are corrupt.

Obasanjo had in 2012 alleged that corrupt persons filled the National Assembly.

Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Hon. Abdulmumin Jibrin, had last week alleged that House Speaker, Hon. Yakubu Dogara and some principal officers padded the 2016 Budget to the tune of

over N40b.

He alleged that the padding was done at a secret location with the backing of the Speaker and three principal officers including Deputy Speaker Yusuff Lasun, House Whip Alhassan Ado Doguwa and Minority Leader Leo Ogor.

Some supporters of the Speaker in the House of Representatives in turn accused the aggrieved member of padding the 2016 budget with billions of naira.

Obasanjo, who spoke with State House correspondents after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at Aso Rock to whom he delivered messages from the Presidents of Liberia and Gambia, said those criticising him

over his past comment on the National Assembly can now see the justification.

He said the Nigeria can only get out of the mess of budget padding and other criminalities perpetrated by the National Assembly by ensuring that only men of integrity are elected into the National Assembly.

He said: “Well, if you said that I have said it in the past and if there are people who didn’t believe what I said in the past, then you now say that what has come out confirms what I said in the past. Then you can say what I said in the past is what I will say now.

“It is not question of investigation. We should get men and women of integrity in the place and the

president should be very vigilant.

Whatever should not pass should not pass.”

Obasanjo had also in January challenged the National Assembly to open the financial records of the Senate and the House of Representatives since 1999 to external bodies.

Meanwhile, Senate Leader, Senator Ali Ndume has dismissed reports of corruption in the National Assembly, most especially on budget matters, stating that even President Muhammadu Buhari would not admit that the 2016 budget he signed was padded.

“We simply passed a clean budContinued on page 12

Titus Akhigbe Ɔ ƈ

ÏÏÏSpeaker of

Edo State House of Assembly, Mrs. Elizabeth Ativie, on Monday, stepped down from her role.

She was replaced by the Deputy Speaker, Dr. Justin Okonoboh, representing Igueben Constituency, who was sworn in at about 11am on Monday.

It would be recalled that Ativie was sworn in on May 3, 2016 when her predecessor, Victor Edoror, was impeached.

Ativie decided to step down after a motion was moved by the Majority Leader, Folly Ogedengbe, under matters of urgent public importance, for a change in the leadership of the Continued on page 12

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

7

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Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Politics

OLUSEGUN MIMIKO

Æs

Ondo people have been punished for the past eight years — Aspirant

I am not preparing for election, I am preparing for good governance.....

Niran Moyosola Niran Moyosola, a businessman is one of the aspirants in the race for the governorship position under the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC). In this interview with Abimbola Obatayo, he shares his dreams of a new Ondo State and his aspirations and issues about himself. Excerpts: You have really thrived well in business, so why politics

now?

You might think I’ve tried, to some people, they believe I’m nobody; to myself I believe I’m just coming up so I know I can do better and I will always try my best and strive to do better. Now you said why politics, politics is our life, that is what has made us as human beings, we are all political animals, there is no way we can survive in this world without politics and I will rather not say I’m interested in politics; rather I will say I’m so much interested in the well being of my people, especially my community, my local govern-

ment, my state and my country.

It is the desire to ensure that we have visionary leadership and it’s not something that one person can do, it’s a vocation that everybody in Nigeria must show interest and be part of; so that is actually what has inspired me and that is what is driving my interest in political activities.

When did your political ambition begin?

It begins from my birth, I’ve been a politically conscious person, I was born in a politically conscious and active family; my late CONTINUED ON PAGE 9

Buhari marginalising S’East, not keeping promises- Ezeife Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja Former Governor of the old Anambra state, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife has expressed his disappointment in the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government over his (Buhari’s) marginalisation of the SouthEastern part of the country among others.

Ezeife, in an exclusive interview with the Daily Times in Abuja, equally accused the President of not keeping to most of his campaign promises.

The former Governor, who is popularly called Okwa Dike by his fans and admirers, further declared that so many things have been done, in the process of implementation, to corrupt the anti-corruption stance of the present government.

Ezeife, while assessing the one year regime of President

ABUBAKAR TAFAWA BALEWA

“I am pleased to see that we are now all agreed that the Federal system is, under present conditions, the only sure basis on which Nigeria will remain united.’’

Buhari’s administration, said: “I am from the South-East. As am talking with you now, if a national security council is meeting, nobody is representing me and they have nine members.

“Since you are in the press, you must have Whats’App and you will see where South-East is given zero on appointments.

“You have the budget to read, you can see where the SouthEast is given minimum allocation.

“No other zone comes anything close to a tiny, tiny thing they (South East) were given.

“So, from the point of view of the South-East, am very disappointed in the government.

“From the point of view of Nigerians, what can I say? The promises we had was one dollar to one naira. Now, it is one dollar, four hundred naira, one dollar, three hundred naira, etc.

EZEIFE “From the point of view of Nigerians, what can I say?

The promises we had was one dollar to one naira. Now, it is one dollar, four hundred naira, one dollar, three hundred naira, etc.’’

CONTINUED ON PAGE 11

NNAMDI AZIKIWE

No matter how old an individual may be, no matter if he is young or old, if he thinks in accordance with the times he is immortal.

FELA ANIKULAPO KUTI

“To be spiritual is not by praying and going to church. Spiritualism is the understanding of the universe so that it can be a better place to live in.”

OBAFEMI AWOLOWO

“Those who desire to reach, and keep their places at the top in any calling must be prepared to do so the hard way.”

ALEX EKWUEME

“Ours is hardly a Federation except in name”.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

9 Politics

Corrupt officials cant be prosecuted without evidence — Legal practitioner Iniobong Iwok The slow pace of prosecution of corrupt officials and persons have been attributed to the inability of relevant agencies of government to provide and prove evidence against allege corrupt officials before the court.

This was disclosed by a legal practitioner and Public affairs analyst, Idowu Omolegan in an interview with Daily Times, noting that little success would be achieved in terms of prosecution of corrupt officials in the current anti- graft war if the federal government does not take its time to investigate and present evidence before the court.

Omolegan added that the court could not manufacture evidence against alleged corrupt officials when not tendered, adding that the judiciary has new laws which have aided the prosecution of corrupt cases to help

the fight against corruption in the country.

He said: “What is happening now is you are only been quizzed and embarrassed, left off the hook. How many corrupt officials have they brought to court to say the judiciary is not operating with them?

“The government has not been fair to the third arm of government. It is not the judiciary that would provide charges against corrupt person or bring them to court, it is the job of organs like EFCC and ICPC”.

“Unlike in the past where the lawyers ask for unnecessary and frivolous adjournments, that has changed now, you can not seek adjournment more than three times or the case have to move on. It is when the cases drag unnecessary for long that you say the judiciary is not working”. Omolegan added.

Speaking further, he berated the administration for the

method of application of plea bargaining, adding that it was wrongly applied.

On agitation for immunity by federal lawmakers, he said they were only protecting their loots, adding that they already enjoyed immunity on the floor of house. According to him, “Plea bargaining is very open but it is not done the way it is done in America. Look at the former Governor of Edo state, he submitted little money and he was allowed to go.

The former president was the first to be allowed to go after submitting his part of the share; that is not the way it is done in the United States, you have to drop all the money.

“Those lawmakers are asking many for things, what they are trying to protect is what they have steal. They enjoy immunity because what ever they say and do on the floor of the National assembly has Immunity.”

Magu

Ondo people have been punished for the past eight years— Aspirant

Moyosola CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

father was a retired principal and after his retirement he ventured into politics and to a large extent I could say he was a successful politician and my grandfather (maternal) was a community leader of repute, my grandfather (paternal side) was a community leader in repute so I think it is inborn in me and I also believe that we have a legacy, that is why I’m not shying away from what we are born for.

Is this the first time you are contesting in a political ambi-

tion?

This is not my first time; I was the pioneer founder of the Alliance for Democracy Action Vanguard in the South West in 1999.

I was also a active member of the People Solidarity Party (PSP) (1991) and I’ve always been in politics, I’ve coordinated elections before and I think I am not a novice in this game.

There are lots of candidates lined up in this governorship aspirant in your party APC, so what assurance do you have

that you will become the overrule winner at the primaries?

We are all aspirants on the platform of the party, one of us will emerge as the candidate of the party and one person will also emerge as the governor. I’ve always believed in my ability to provide the desired leadership to the people, I’ve always believed in my mental capacity to provide the visionary leadership that the people of the state need at this moment.

I am also very happy that we are competing with lot of people in this party at this point in time; it is the avenue to showcase the stuff that we are made of. It is an avenue for us to convince the people of the party and the people of the state to vote for us. I have no doubt in my mind that I will emerge winner of the party having provided all other competitors, I have no doubt in my mind that God Almighty will give the state the best amongst us this time around; and that is one prayer that we want to ask every citizen of Ondo State to pray that this point in time God should come in and salvage the state Himself and provide us that one man that would genuinely

and sincerely and selflessly serve the people. If our people pray that prayer fervently and they trust that God will answer that prayer, I believe.

So what plans do you have for the people of Ondo State?

The plan is to run a very proactive governance. The plan is to run a very sound governance, the plan is to serve the people by example, the plan is to lead by what you do and not what you say and I am very optimistic, the people of the state, they know our legacy, they know our foundation, they know our antecedent and they know that we come from the background where we do. We are going to touch every sector, we will make sure we improve the economy of the state, we are going to ensure that wealth is distributed, we are going to ensure that standard of education improve, we are going to ensure that there is abundant food for people.

Governor Mimiko has actually governed this state for eight years. In your own opinion, what do you think about his administration?

The people of the state will pass

that judgment on the 26th of November by their approach. I am a player in this game and to be very modest, I think the people of the state have been punished very well for the past eight years, where that punishment came from I don’t know because I’m sure the people of the state did not vote for what they eventually got but apart from that, the decision will be made on the 26th of November by then we will know whether the governor has done well to the satisfaction of the people or not but you need not to be told if you walked through the length and breadth of Ondo State, you will see poverty on the faces of everybody, you will see hardship, you will see suffering, you will see environmental denigration, you will see planlesness, you will see wickedness on the part of the governor, that is what I can see and I know that every citizen of Ondo State now will know that this is not what they bargained for but to God be the glory, it’s every four years the exam will be conducted and the result will be out, on the 26th of November the incumbent governor will hear the result of his performance.

Politics 10

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Kogi loses N213b to ghost workers in 16 years — Auditor General Obaseki

Edo guber hots up as Obaseki joins PDP The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State got a big boost on Monday as the governorship candidate of Accord Party in the September 10, 2016 election in the state, Don Pedro Obaseki joined the party.

Speaking in Benin City, Obaseki said praised the candidacy of Pastor Ize-Iyamu which he said is much needed now to wipe away the tears of Edo people.

Ize-Iyamu thanked Don Pedro Obaseki and his supporters for believing in him. He assured them that their support in the election will translate to good governance for the people.

The governorship election in Edo S|tate is believed to be a two horse race between PDP’s IzeIyamu and APC’s Godwin Obaseki which is trying to consolidate on the eight years of incumbent Governor Adams Oshiomhole.

BELLO

Kogi State Governor

The Kogi State Auditor General, Alhaji Yusufu Okala, has said that the state lost a colossal amount of money, approximately N213,034,857,280.44, to a category of entities he described as “Ghost Workers/Unintended Beneficiaries.”

The Auditor stated this when the Staff Screening and Validation Committee, jointly led by the himself and the Auditor General of the Local Governments Areas, Mallam Usman Ahmed Ododo, submitted their report to the State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, at a Stakeholders Forum held in Government House, Lokoja, on tuesday. The committee was set up by the Governor with the mandate to review and authenticate the report earlier submitted by the Staff Screening and Verification Committee under the Chairmanship of Dr. Jerry Agbaji.

According to him, “As at the time of inaugurating the Staff Screening and Verification Committee on February 22, 2016, the total staff on the nominal payroll of the State (State MDAs and Local Governments) was 88, 973 with monthly wage bill of N 5,809,578,703.72.

However, after the conclusion of this exercise on July 24, 2016, the cleared and validated workforce is 63, 870.”

Gov. Bello lamented the colossal loss recorded by the state through the syndrome, said his administration has put a permanent stop to financial theft in the state. The Governor said the screening exercise is the first layer of civil service reform, which his administration is embarking on, adding that he is determined to re-position the State Civil Service to play a vital role of facilitating economic drive growth in the state. The State Auditor General, who presented the report before the large turn out at the forum, said, his committee, which had the State Commissioner for Finance, Alhaji Idris Ashiru Asiwaju and the State Accountant General Alhaji Jibrin Momoh, made certain recommendations to the Governor. These recommedations include the Computerising the Payroll System of the State, Local Government workforce& Pensioners, Centralising Payroll Processing, Biometric for All State& Local Governments Staff, and Introduction of PreDisbursement Audit for Salary Payment among other recommendations.

Already, the governor has set up a review Committee to entertain complains that may arise from the screening exercise. The 11-man committee is expected to submit its report within 21 days.

Abia former PDP Chairman seeks quick resolution of governorship crisis Sen. Emma Nwaka, the immediate-past chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP ) in Abia, has expressed worry over the governorship crisis currently rocking the state.

Nwaka, In a statement made available to newsmen in Umuahia on Monday, that he was praying for the quick resolution of the crisis.

“I pray fervently for early resolution of the challenges confronting Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu’s administration, a government we laboured so hard to install.

“This matter should be resolved expeditiously so that the government can deliver on its campaign promises,” he said.

He argued that the different suits challenging Ikpeazu’s qualification to contest the 2015 governorship election posed serious distraction to him.

“Our governor needs peace of mind to navigate the ship of state at a time like this.

“We must be mindful of the fact that this matter is taking a huge toll on the peace and stability of our state and must not be allowed to linger any further,” Nwaka said.

He called for the intervention of “all men and women of goodwill” in the state and beyond to find quick resolution to the matter, which was still pending in court.

According to him, the problem is hurting the economy of our state badly and by extension the well-being of its people.

“I do not know of any political problem that cannot be resolved at the negotiation table, even moreso as this is mainly an intra-party matter.

“I know that court victory doesn’t always bring peace with it,” Nwaka said.

He also dispelled the alleged factionalisation of PDP in the state, saying that “the party remains one and indivisible

Nwaka

entity under the leadership of Chief Johnson Onuigbo”.

He implored the party members, who still nursed grievances against the party congresses that produced Onuigbo to seek redress through the party’s internal crisis-resolution mechanism. He urged Onuigbo “not to close his doors permanently against such people if they repent.

“As we say, a party is like a church; there should be free entry and free exit,” he said.

Nwaka, who was PDP chairman for more than five years, urged concerted efforts to ensure that the party did not disintegrate.

He further spoke on the crisis rocking the leadership of the party at the national level.

He said that although the party was facing challenges at the centre, “it is not factionalised”, noting that efforts being made to resolve the differences were yielding the desired fruits.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

11 Politics

Food shortage will end in 2018 — FG

OGBEH

Tom Okpe, Abuja

In what appears to be a relief to Nigerians who are faced with shortages in all fronts, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh has assured that food shortage problems in the country will be over in two

Gov. Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi State on Monday said state governments had the right to determine how bailout funds from the Federal Government was expended.

The governor made the assertion in Abuja at a meeting organised by Conscience Nigeria, an NGO, on the usage of the Federal Government’s bailout funds to states.

Abubakar said the bailout fund was a loan and as such the states had the right to use it for any other projects. ``Constitutionally, executive powers of the state reside on the governors; when a government of a state takes a loan, ideally that government can utilise that loan in whatever way it feels it is good for people of that state. ``The only thing is that of course transparency requires that in every request a political leader must give account’’, he said.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development

years.

The Minister gave the assurance while receiving the Executive Governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano in his office in Abuja.

Chief Ogbeh commended the serious commitment of the governor in the agricultural sector and promised to support

the state in the ministry’s programme, saying the ministry would be willing to help the state in fish fingerling production and other areas of the sector to boost food production in the country.

The Minister advised the governor on the use of NPK 15-15 fertilizer which according to him destroys the soil and encouraged the state to consider the use of lemon grass to tackle erosion problems in the state.

His words: “The ministry is considering the need to add 10% soya beans into cassava to enrich it with more protein for more nourishment for the children. About 15,000 broken down tractors out of the 30,000 available in the country would be rehabilitated to support farmers in Nigeria”, while speaking about plans to end fod shortages in the country.

The Minister commended Anambra State for improving its rice production capacity from 80,000 metric tons to 210,000 metric tons, disclosing that the ministry has succeeded in reclaiming all the Universities of Agriculture.

“The ministry has commenced the process of training 100,000 Extension workers up to the Local Government areas, we are determined take off the wandering cows out of the streets of the country in 18 months”.

Buhari marginalising S’East, not keeping promises — Ezeife Ezeife CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8

“We were promised that things will go very well, but today, go to the stock exchange, after the British exit, even before the British exit.

“But let me say that there are two things I must praise. First is the conception of anti-corruption. I was so happy with the conception, but the implementation has destroyed my happiness. This is because so many things have been done to corrupt the anti-corruption policy.

“Secondly, the one that I don’t have reservation about is that I praise Buhari and I praise the Central Bank of Nigeria for adopting a floating exchange rate. It does us no harm and can do us good.

“Among the good it can do us is that little export of crude oil will yield more naira. So, states may get more money from the federation account and pay workers.

But I wouldn’t want them to depend on that.

“They (States) should now begin to encourage economic activities within their states so as to generate internal revenue that is substantial”, he said.

Answering a question on the issue of State Police being canvassed for in some quarters, the former Governor, who was a delegate to the 2015 National Conference in Abuja, described it as a contending issue.

His words: “It is a contending issue. My position has never been clear. It is possible for the incumbent governors to abuse the state police. But I have an alternative.

“This is why I say true federalism is the only answer. If we now have six geographical zones as federating units and each has government, no one person will be controlling a state police as such.

States have right to determine use of bail out fund — Gov. Abubarkar Abubarkar said the critical thing was for civil society organisations and other Nigerians to ask questions about the utilisation of the fund.

He said settlement of the outstanding salaries of civil servants in the state could be among the other projects that the fund could be used for.

The governor said Bauchi state owed its workers only one month salary while workers in the local government councils were owed two months salaries.

According to him, when he took over as the governor of the state on May, 29, 2015, workers were owed salaries of four months. ``After taking over, we discovered that for gratuity alone, we

inherited a debt of N14.5 billion and the four months salaries of course was N8.6 billion.’’

Abubarkar said other commitments such as commercial loans, debts owed to contractors among others, amounted to over N100 billion.

The governor said loan was taken to enable the state to pay the one month salary owed workers in order to calm nerves. ``All these happened before the bailout came up; we were asked to send the total outstanding salaries, which we did, to the tune of N8.6 billion. ``We were given the money and as governor of the state, I have that chance to use the money as I pleased’’, he said.

According to him, some of his colleagues used part of the money to construct roads, some for other purposes.

Mr Tosin Adeyanju, Executive Director, Conscience Nigeria, said there was need for the CSOs to know how the bailout given by the FG to settle outstanding salaries of states was used.

Adeyanju said many of the states still owed salaries in spite of the bailout given to them.

He called on the National Assembly to investigate all the states that owed staff salaries.

According to him, the bailout to states was principally for the settlement of salaries owed civil servants and not for the governors to use for other projects.

Abubarkar

News 12

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

No plot to impeach Buhari in Senate – Ndume

Edo Speaker steps down, Deputy takes over

Olufemi Samuel & Chris Emetoh, Abuja

Continued from page 6

Ï d ƕ è ó Ɔ ƋƆ ƈ Ƌ ƐƈƒƆ Əƌ Ƌ Ɔ ƅ ôƐ ƈƌƍƆ ƅ ƍƏƆ ƈƗƆ Ɛô ÏÏÏThe

Senate on Monday dismissed report on plot to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari, stating that the idea was never mooted in any of its sittings.

It said the report on impeachment plot was merely trumpeted by the media because it has no capacity to impeach the President all alone.

Senate Leader, Ali Ndume (APC Borno South), who made this known during a briefing, said the Senate does not have the capacity to impeach the President all by itself.

He said the idea of impeaching the President could not be mooted by an arm of the legislature but the two.

According to him, both the Senate and the House of Representatives must concur on the plan to impeach the president after filing grounds of impeachable offences against him.

He said the alleged move was a ruse and even if actually thought of by some few senators at any time, such imagination could never become reality in any way because the Senate alone cannot carry out such action in bicameral legislature.

He said: “Senate cannot impeach the President. It is the National Assembly that can impeach the president and it is by 2/3 based on clearly stated impeachable offences that must be served on the president which he must respond to, or if he fails to respond, the process is there.

“It is a process, it’s a long tedious process and in this country, we don’t even need that. We are not even contemplating on it and even if anybody contemplates on it, it is not going to work because this is APC senate; we have the majority, we have 58 to 60 senators and you need 72 senators to start off impeachment process.

“In a nutshell, the issue of im-

peachment is non-existent in the senate. We don’t need it because we don’t have a president that has issues of corruption, integrity, mismanagement of the economy at hand. We have a President that is straight forward and he doesn’t have any mismanagement of anything through abuse of due process”.

He described the crisis rocking the House of Representatives over alleged budget padding as unfortunate, saying “there is nothing like budget padding as far the National Assembly is concerned”.

According to him, working on a budget either by adding to a vote already estimated for a proposed project or subtracting from it or even making new provisions as constitutionally empowered, cannot be said to be budget padding by the National Assembly.

He added: “I don’t want to say that there was budget padding

and I don’t want to talk about something I really don’t know but what is happening in the House of Representatives is just very unfortunate because we have processes and procedure of doing things in the National Assembly.

“If somebody has an issue, he supposed to know what to do and not just by going to the press but I think they are going to sort out things in the next coming days.

“There is nothing like budget padding. If it is the National Assembly that works on the budget, then you don’t call it padding because padding is like illegality which is not done here.

“But if there are certain abnormalities in the budget passed as against what transpired in the budget process which is now an Appropriation Act, I think they should know the right thing to do rather than engaging in media war.

House.

Ogedengbe explained that the change was necessary to ensure fairness in the political system, so that the three senatorial districts would be well represented.

The incumbent State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, hails from Edo North senatorial district while his deputy, Dr. Pius Odubu, and Ativie hail from Edo South.

Okonoboh represents Igueben constituency in Edo Central senatorial district.

Rules 1(2), 20, 22 and 73 of the House were relaxed before the member representing Owan East asked Ativie to step down for the Igueben lawmaker to assume officer while she took office as his deputy.

Ogedengbe said: “I move, therefore, that the Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Mrs. Elizabeth Ativie, should step down and assume office as Deputy Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly and that the Deputy Speaker, Dr. Justin Okonoboh, be promoted as the new Speaker.”

FG unveils 3-yr plan, pegs 2017 Budget on $42.5pb Continued from page 6

Gé`ë G Ƅ Ə Ɛ Əƕ jƏ ƈ ƆƏè LƏê ƄƗƑƋƋ ƈ nƌ ƏƑì #ƈƏƆƅƐ Ə 1Ɔ ƆƏ Ƌ Ɨ ƈƆƇ &ƔƆƅƑƐƈƒƆ RƇƇƈƅƆƏè M Ɛƈ Ƌ 9 ƐƈƐƑƐƆ Ƈ Ə ^ Əƌ ƅƆƑƐƈƅ Ƌ `Ɔ Ɔ Əƅ Ɨ #ƆƒƆƋ ƍƌƆ Ɛ æM9^`#çè ^Ə Ƈê E Ə ƈƕƑ 1 ƌ ƈƆƋ Ɨ ^ƏƆ ƈƗƆ Ɛè ^ Əƌ ƅƆƑƐƈƅ Ƌ d ƅƈƆƐƕ Ƈ Mƈ ƆƏƈ è #Əê ƌƆƗ Ɗ ƈ ƗƑƏƈ Ɠ ƏƊƈ Ɛ ƑƏ Ɛ M9^`# ƈ ƄƑƉ êêê L Ɨ ƕêêê Photo: TEMITOPE BALOGUN

Budget padding scandal: Obasanjo insists NASS members are corrupt Continued from page 6 get which the President signed to end all controversy on the issue.”

Ndume said the issue of padding was a media creation from the start of preparations for passage of the budget, stressing that what the public interpreted as budget padding stemmed from the efforts by lawmakers to appropriate sufficient funds to agencies and departments of government that were initially underfunded.

He said the task of appropriation rests with the Lawmaking arm of government. According to him, the National Assembly has the constitutional responsibility to tinker with the estimate from the Executive arm of government to ensure that resources are evenly distributed.

Ndume refrained from making comments on the controversy on budget padding in the House of Representatives, stressing, “Although I was once a member of the

House, but I cannot speak for them because the House can speak for itself.”

In another development, the former chairman of House committee on appropriation, Abdulmimin Jibrin, on Monday continued his series of revelations on corruption allegedly perpetuated by Speaker Yakubu Dogara.

In a statement made available to the press, the lawmaker alleged that Dogara frequently solicits for inappropriate favours from agen-

cies and multinational companies.

According to Jibrin, Speaker Dogara forced an agency to grant loans and also blackmailed a construction company to do some work at his Asokoro ‘plot’.

Jibrin also accused Dogara of perpetuating a monumental fraud which has led to his refusal to release details of financial dealings and internal budget of the House.

The lawmaker insists there is more, and further revelations will be made in due course.

trillion in 2016 to over N1.86 trillion in 2017, and beyond, while Value Added Tax (VAT) collection and receipt is expected to increase by about 42.4 percent in 2017. Customs duties collections are projected to moderate in 2017 before picking up outer years,” he said.

Part of the fiscal strategies for the three years, the minister stated, would be in building on the framework of the 2016-2020 medium term development plan and strategic implementation plan for the 2016 budget.

“It is designed to reflate the economy out of recession to a sustainable and inclusive growth path,” Mr. Udoma said, “For 2017-2019, we want to do what we are doing now, but to do them better.”

He said government would extensively engage with the private sector to explain its policies and establish what other bottlenecks “we need to remove to stimulate investment in Nigeria.

“We would take advantage of the opportunities to invest in production, agriculture, solid minerals, manufacturing as well as generating Foreign Exchange by Exports of Goods and Services.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

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Opinion 14

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Imperatives of new national shipping fleet

A

Martins Nwamadi

s Nigeria ‘technically’ enters into economic recession that will be short lived, and as the Federal Government maps out plans to restructure and diversify the economy through expansion of trade, increasing portfolio investment and developing agricultural and maritime potentials, there is a compelling need to integrate strategies that will grow the economy.

Recently, the indefatigable and business minded Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi set up a commission comprising prominent and influential captains of industry and experts to draw up a blueprint for a new private sector driven National Shipping Fleet.

This committee is headed by a maritime industry guru who also is the Executive Secretary of Nigerian Shippers’ Council, Hassan Bello.

Being a consummate professional in the maritime sector, the Chairperson knows how to untie the ‘Gordian’ knot.

While inaugurating the committee, Minister of Transportation Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi who rolled out the rules of engagement stated what is expected of the members. Part of the assignment, which fundamentally is the most significant, is that the new National Shipping Fleet must be private sector driven.

Nigeria is not only a maritime state but also a cargo-owning nation and therefore occupies a unique position in international trade.

Incidentally, the country has a coastline of approximately 853km and lies between latitude 4⁰10⁰ to 610⁰N and longitude 2⁰45 to 8⁰5⁰E. The Nigerian coastline stretches from the Western border with the Republic of Benin to the Eastern border with the Republic of Cameroon. It is also a fact that more than 90 percent of global commerce is facilitated through shipping transport because it is the most reliable option both in terms of cost effectiveness and in terms of volume.

As we know, the Nigerian National Shipping Line (NNSL) was established in 1959, a year before Nigeria gained independence. The vision of the founding fathers was that with the enormous maritime potentials, vast market, huge and vibrant population coupled with a rapid growing economy, a National Shipping Line flying Nigeria’s flag would bring not only pride to the country but also lubricate the economy through creating massive employment opportunities. There is no denying the fact that the NNSL achieved those objectives in its two decades of operations before institutional corruption and

lack of cargo conveyance drove it out of the market space. Unfortunately, the NNSL became a line for government officials and their cronies returning from bad voyage. The vessels were aging, even as there were no commodities for export, while the oil boom only stimulated our cravings for imported foreign goods.

Eventually, such negativities led the death of the shipping line.

Having learnt its lessons the hard way, the Federal Government is now acceding to the numerous requests for a new private sector driven national fleet. It therefore would not be out of place to request that the committee look at some critical areas especially in those countries that have enormous maritime potentials as Nigeria or facing similar challenges in order to develop a carrier that will meet national aspiration.

The committee must therefore enter into discussions with the Federal Ministry of Justice to expunge some obnoxious admiralty or trade laws that impinge on trade facilitation.

Also, the Federal Ministry of Trade and Commerce, Bank of Industry (BOI), Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPZ), Manufacturing Association of Nigeria (MAN), Export Processing Zones (EPZs), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) and even agencies in the Federal Ministry of Transportation and Agriculture should be consulted so as not to sabotage a good effort.

Their collaboration and input largely would define the rights of overseas business transactions. It would also help build critical massive inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and with its multiplier effect create huge export/import of

commodities that will survive the fleet.

Furthermore, the committee should recommend the review of insurance principles governing shipping at least to support our domestic insurance.

The Lloyds of this world are part of the international conspiracy against emerging markets. Moreover, with insurance industry consolidation in Nigeria, a pool of insurance companies can indemnify or insure as many fleets as possible.

The committee should also critically re-examine the structure of Cabotage Fund domiciled with NIMASA, its application and role in the entire gamut of ship acquisition.

In addition, the committee should look at why previous strategic intervention funds by government never achieved its intended objective.

Why was it that most beneficiaries of NERFUND loan failed? Is it due to the harsh investment climate or were the beneficiaries careless in their investment drive? What happened to the Airline Intervention Fund, including the Textile Mills Intervention Fund and Agricultural Loans? It is public knowledge that few Nigerians benefited from the Cabotage Fund which was diverted to real estate where returns on investment was higher, thereby leaving our maritime industry in comatose.

Furthermore, the committee made up of reputed corporate governance experts should be patriotic enough to recommend a window of protection for the new National Shipping Fleet against international exploitation. There must be room for cargo allotment or sharing, tax incentive, manpower training and development. Given that the new fleet will be

flying the national flag, the Federal Government has a duty to promote and market it. As at today, the French Government keeps promoting and marketing Peugeot Automobile to the world so the South African Government with regards to MTN. The new shipping fleet should be assisted to stabilise through aggressive media campaign that would promote its intrinsic values and advantages to our brothers, sisters and friends in the Diaspora.

Lastly, we urge the committee to look at the NPA 2016 first quarter report, which shows that a total of 1,131 Ocean Going Vessels (OGVs) and crude oil tankers with a total gross tonnage (GT) 59,461,614 called at Nigerian ports. This statistics is even low due to present economic recession and falling oil sales, when compared to 2015 fourth quarter report. The index shows that as a cargo nation, Nigeria requires vessels that would compete in the international maritime market.

Indeed, the expectations from this committee are huge. Ethiopian Airlines and South African Airways have become the pride of Africa in International Airspace. We have the capability of replicating such in the maritime domain.

Finally, I believe that if members of the National Implementation Committee succeed in establishing a robust and vibrant shipping fleet for Africa’s largest economy, history will remember their achievements, even as their names will be written in Nigeria’s Hall of Fame. Definitely, they cannot afford to fail in this assignment.

Nwamadi is a Lagos based journalist.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

15 Opinion

Overcoming challenges of alternative banking channels

B Razack Olaegbe

anking in Nigeria is more than 100 years old. It has migrated from the era of ‘tally number’ to branchless banking. The latter has birthed ATM, PoS, mPoS, mobile, and Internet banking etc. However, when ATM arrived, one would have thought there was nothing more to add.

However, the branchless banking is positioned as distribution strategies to deliver banking services to customers so that they no longer visit the banking halls.

So why do we still encounter congested banking halls? Before we answer the question, let us uncover reasons the banks roll out alternative channels.

The branchless banking strategy is designed to pull bank customers out of the banking halls. For the banks, it will reduce

costs, create convenience for customers, increase adoption rate, ensure higher speed of transactions, increase streams of revenue, and enhance banks’ profitability.

Research has shown that these channels have a direct effect on the banks’ profits.

That is why the banks embraced 24/7 services so that customers would enjoy the superior sense of independence this creates. However, the reality is that the banks are in a race to diminish costs.

Besides, the latest technologies have revolutionised global banking industry, just as extensive change in the rules governing the application of these technologies.

Therefore, the banks have shifted from brick and mortar service to direct sales and marketing through these channels; Email, phone, mobile applications, internet, and other electronic transactions. To the banks’ broad under-

standing, this extension generates value; first for the banks, and then for the customers, in that order.

In addition, the banks are following customers’ digital lifestyle, and this technological insurrection channels have brought to residences and offices the momentous demographic shift. Top on the list is “account accessibility.” The customers want instant access to funds transfer, bill payment, and account status. Now, when the customers move, the banks follow, even as the banks always follow the cash.

Therefore, to drive superior differentiation, some banks have deepened these channels, as shown

by GTB, Wema, Access Bank, Diamond, First Bank etc. Yet, the customers are still waiting in the banking halls. As a decongestion strategy, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data [USSD], a global system for mobile [GSM] commu-

nication technology was deployed.

GTBank’s 737 code rides on this technology. A bank executive said UBA would market similar code.

With five banking applications from five banks, I was forced to delete U-mobile app. It has failed several UBA customers and me.

This bank should address this concern. Meanwhile, other banks need to woo customers, and ensure the customers understand how to navigate the mobile apps. Until this is done, banking halls, especially GTB, UBA, First Bank, Diamond, and Wema banks would remain congested.

However, to overcome these challenges, the banks should fund customer education on a large scale, using all touch points.

Educating bank customers is paramount as the Central Bank of Nigeria [CBN] and management of banks look forward to the next 100 years.

A tale of two senatorial comedians

W Williams Bozimo

hen two seemingly well- bred Senators in Remi Tinubu and Dino Melaye engaged themselves in un-parliamentary behaviour before the glare of cameras and intense publicity.

The story was that Senator Remi Tinubu, wife of the former Governor of Lagos State and currently the National leader of the ruling APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubucalled Dino Melaye names like ‘Dog and Thug’ and in response, the ever combative Melaye from Kogi State called her ‘Barren’, and allegedly said ‘I will beat you up and impregnate you.’

The worst form of ‘rofo-rofo’ fight between them, had by their of un-Senatorial language brought the Red Chambers into disrepute.

The verbal diahorea had caused a stir not only in the Senate but a trending story in the country.

As the story went, Mrs. Remi Tinubu has petitioned the Senate leadership and some how the Senate President did not intervene in the fracas between the two comic senators.

Side reports have said Senator Remi Tinubu was alleged to have mobilised various women groups to stage demonstrations in Abuja in solidarity.

Did that sponsored demonstration cost N75 million only in a country where many are reeling in poverty and hunger? As the Chair-

man of the Senate Committee on Women Affairs, Remi Tinubu could be acting out her defence of women rights using her person as a starting point.

If we go down memory lane, the same Remi Tinubu refused to shake the hand of the freshly elected Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki and since then, she had borne a lot of disdain for the Senate leadership.

That aside, we also saw in the days of Governor Ahmed Tinubu in Lagos when he fought the deputy Governor, Senator Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele and she was eventually impeached. As the wife of a strong- willed politician, Remi Tinubu does not see herself as a woman but the wife of the ‘Lion of Lagos’ politics and one of the major sponsors of the APC campaigns that brought President Buhari to power.

Meanwhile, her husband, Bola Ahmed Tinubu had written a letter to the new IGP to give more security protection to his wife, who, according to him, is being threatened by Dino Melaye.

Dino Melaye has also been involved in demonstrations in the premises of the Assembly in times past when many senators jumped fences to gain entry into the building during the Seventh Senate under David Mark.

Dino Melaye’s name is as controversial as Remi Tinubu’s, so when two controversial senators reach out to their war arsenals, anything could be expected, especially, mutual bad mouthing which could have been avoided.

In a chamber where more important issues are on ground, weighty issues like the Senate leadership is currently on trial, Sarakai and his deputy, Ekweremadu are facing seemingly spurious charge of changing the Senate rules for electing its leadership that brought the them to power. It is definitely a sad commentary to see two senators engaged in comic relief of verbal attacks on their persons.

One would have expected the Senate to show greater solidarity in defence of their independence and separation of powers from the Executive.

Does Remi Tinubu have an ambition to sit on Ekweremadu’s chair, as she was reported one to have engaged in the funny display of wanting to act as a Deputy Senate President?

If Ashiwaju Tinubu had major shares in sponsoring Buhari’s presidential elections in 2015, he could easily sponsor his wife to any position of choice.

He could start with the governorship of Lagos State, which literally, has become his footstool.

This tale of two senators masquerading as comedians is nothing more than a storm in a teacup. Nigerians should ignore their antics, intended to draw undue attention and publicity to themselves while causing incalculable damage to the APC as a ruling party.

What can the SENATE Committee on Rules and Ethics do in this despicable display of verbal and discourteous exchange of unprintable exchanges against each other in the hallowed Chamber?

As disabled and endangered as the Senate leadership is now, it is perhaps, quite difficult to open up any other window of conflict when their leaders are facing hard times, under-going trials in court.

I think the twosome; Oluremi Tinubu and Dino Melaye deserve a standing ovation for giving impoverished Nigerians a useful breathe of fresh air in this climate of fear and routine harassment of EFCC for mere reasons of suspicion of many politicians developing itchy palms. The comic relief is worth our collective while.

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Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

FCTA to revive sporting activities in Abuja Idu Jude Abuja

T

he FCT Administration will soon take steps to revive sporting activities in the Federal Capital Territory to enable sports take its rightful position in the socio economic development of the Territory.

The FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello dropped the hint on Monday in Abuja, while receiving a delegation of the Nigeria Hockey

Federation (NHF) led by its President, Senator Abdul Ningi that paid him a working visit.

The Minister said that sport is a very important avenue to engage the youths as it also serves as employment opportunity.

According to him, the FCT Administration under him would turn around sporting activities, even as he acknowledged the assistance the FCT has been receiving from the Nigeria Hockey Federation.

Bello reiterated that the FCT Administration

would partner and support Sport Federations in order to take sporting activities to greater heights in the Territory.

His words: “The current FCT Administration would do everything possible to revive sporting activities in the Federal Capital Territory particularly hockey, because it also goes a long way in improving the health status of the people”.

The Minister emphasized that the FCT has an international standard hockey pitch and

Page 17

therefore urged the NHF to take advantage of the facility to entrench the game in all the nooks and crannies of the Territory.

Bello noted that his Administration would leverage on the experiences of the President as well as the Board members in engaging the FCT youths.

He assured that the FCT Administration would be represented at the closing ceremony of the on-going super league competition in Abuja as requested by the Federation.

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

R-L: Proprietor of IfeanyiUba FC, Dr. Ifeanyi Uba (2nd left) and President of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Mr. Amaju Pinnick (3rd left), presenting a football jersey to FIFA President, Mr Gianni Infantino in Abuja on Monday.

Saraki admonishes football administrators ANDREW EKEJIUBA

P

resident of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki on Monday admonished football administrators to learn to accept defeat in the interest of the immediate environment and larger society, and not engage in ‘pull-the-house-down’ syndrome when things do not go their way.

Nigeria’s number three man spoke at the Senate President’s Conference Room at the National Assembly on

Monday, when he received visiting FIFA President Gianni Infantino and Secretary General, Ms Fatma Samoura, alongside NFF President Amaju Pinnick, FA presidents from other African countries and members of the NFF Executive Committee and Management.

“The kind of global recognition we have today, as a result of this historic visit, challenges us to learn to allow peace and stability in Nigeria football.

“If people lose election, they should learn to accept defeat. People used to blame politicians for do-or-die

attitude; politicians have moved, it is now football administrators who have this attitude! When you lose an election, you should be prepared to wait for the next poll.

“I call on those who are fomenting trouble or trying to divide the house to stop their act. The National Assembly is united in moving to restore peace in Nigeria football, and creating an enabling environment for the game,” he said.

Saraki, who owns a football club (ABS FC, in the Nigeria National League), said

the passion and love of Nigerians for football is incredible.

“Football is a big unifying factor in our country. As governor of a State, I set up a football academy because there are so many talents out there waiting to be nurtured,” he stated.

Earlier, the FIFA boss called Nigeria “a great country in a great continent,” adding: “I was impressed coming from the airport on Sunday and seeing so many kids playing football on both sides of the road. That shows Nigerians not only love football, they live football.

FIFA bans exGerman FA boss, Niersbach

Niersbach

F

IFA’s Ethics Committee has banned Wolfgang Niersbach, the former president of the German Football Association, for one year for failing to report potential misconduct surrounding the award of the 2006 soccer World Cup in Germany.

The adjudicatory chamber of FIFA’s Ethics Committee banned Niersbach from all football-related activity, it said on Monday. FIFA investigators had sought a two-year ban.

“The present case did not look into possible breaches of the FIFA code of ethics in relation to possible acts of bribery and/or corruption with regards to the award of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, but only evaluated Mr Niersbach’s awareness of the said incidents and his failure to report them to the Ethics Committee in a timely manner,” the panel said in a statement.

Maikaba, Nwabulu win NPFL-LBA for June W

ikki Tourists head coach, Abdu Maikaba and his goalkeeper, Emeka Nwabulu, have been named Manager and Player for the month of June by the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) - League Bloggers Awards (LBA).

Maikaba and Nwabulu were among eight shortlists announced to vie for both awards last week by the organisers.

The Wikki gaffer edged the trio of Solomon Ogbeide (Sunshine Stars), Gbenga Ogunbote (Shooting Stars Sports Club) and Kabiru Dogo (Nasarawa United) to win the manager’s award for June.

Maikaba helped Wikki to garner the most points, including wins at Ikorodu United and victories over heavyweights Enyimba and Kano Pillars, in the month under review.

Wikki got 13 points out of 18 available which gives Maikaba 72 per cent points gained in June.

Ogbeide, who masterminded an unbeaten streak for Sunshine Stars, only earned 67 per cent from total points as his team took eight points from 12 while Ogunbote also had 67 per cent points gained after 3SC amassed 10 points from 15.

However, Dogo led Nasarawa

United to three wins (all at home) out of four games in June.

Wikki custodian, Nwabulu, kept three clean sheets in five appearances in June, including two on the road at Ikorodu United and Heartland where his club earned four points out of six. His other clean sheet was in the NPFL home game against Enugu Rangers that ended Wikki Tourists goalkeeper, Emeka Nwabulu. goalless.

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Tuesday, July 26, 2016

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Nolito defends

Man City move

Nolito

N

Bordeaux target Debuchy Bordeaux are set to approach Arsenal to try to sign full-back Mathieu Debuchy, according to reliable sources. Debuchy spent the second half of last season on loan at the Ligue 1 club but only made nine appearances due to injury. Reports revealed that Bordeaux would like to sign Debuchy on a permanent deal but would be open to a loan move if necessary. He has three years left on his contract at Arsenal, but has played just 12 games for the club since joining from Newcastle in July 2014.

olito said a big reason for joining Manchester City was to work with Pep Guardiola, despite being sold by the Spanish manager at Barcelona.

City completed the signing of 29-year-old Nolito on a fouryear deal after activating his release clause at Celta Vigo, thought to be £13.8million.

Nolito was heavily linked with a return to former club Barcelona, where he played under Guardiola, but elected to move to the Premier League instead.

“I thought it was the best decision for me and my career,” he said. “I have come to the Premier League to play with City under Pep Guardiola, who will play me in the first team and I am very happy with the decision I took.

“I wish Barcelona all the best. I am very proud of Barcelona’s interest, but now I am here and I think I made

Allegri coy on Pogba’s transfer

Stoke snap up Sobhi J Stoke City have completed a deal to sign rated Egypt winger Ramadan Sobhi for a fee could rise to €6m (£5m) after his work permit is granted. The 19-year-old helped his club Al Ahly to the Egyptian title last season, under former Tottenham manager Martin Jol. Sobhi scored 17 goals in 71 appearances for the club in just over two years at the club.

h i g h l yt h a t

- Aubameyang

I can only quit

the best decision to come here.”

While Nolito enjoyed little game time under Guardiola, eventually being sold by the former Barca boss in 2011, Nolito said the opportunity to work with the 45-year-old again was too good to pass up.

“The truth is I enjoyed working with him in Barcelona even though it wasn’t much time,” he said. “It’s a reason for me to come here but not the only one.

“It was also about City -- they have a great team, it’s a great project, they got to the semifinals of the Champions League last season and the truth is I will try to help this club achieve great things.”

Nolito, who turns 30 in October, believes City have built a squad capable of challenging for the title in 2016-17.

uventus head coach Massimiliano Allegri silenced questions on the future of Paul Pogba, as Manchester United and Real Madrid continue to circle.

Pogba’s next destination has dominated talk ahead of the new season, with the France international expected to command a world-record fee if he moves back to Old Trafford or heads to the Santiago Bernabeu.

A fee upward of €100million

is expected to fund a club recordbreaking move for Napoli striker Gonzalo Higuain.

“This is an issue I don’t want to talk about,” Allegri said when quizzed on Pogba’s future.

Juve have already significantly bolstered their ranks ahead of the new campaign with the signings of Dani Alves, Miralem Pjanic, Marko Pjaca and Medhi Benatia, leaving Allegri satisfied with the club’s business so far.

Pjanic, Pjaca and Benatia will

all start when Juve continue their pre-season preparations against Tottenham in Melbourne on Tuesday as part of the International Champions Cup. Allegri added: “We’re here to train and to get ready for the upcoming season. All I can say is that from Turin they’re doing a fantastic job and a fantastic market.

“I’ll try and give more playing time to those who start from the first minute.

Dortmund for Real Inter warn Napoli over Icardi pursuit

- Aubameyang

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang claims playing for Real Madrid is his “main goal” and that the European champions are the only club that could persuade him to leave Borussia Dortmund. The Gabon international stated in an interview last year that he had made a promise to his grandfather that he would one day play for Madrid. Aubameyang also reiterated that only Zinedine Zidane’s side could tempt him away Ibrahimovic from Signal Iduna Park.

I

nter has warned Napoli, as they intend to build their squad around Mauro Icardi and the Nerazzurri have no intention of letting the striker leave San Siro, according to Piero Ausilio.

Icardi has been linked with a move away from Inter ahead of the 201617 Serie A campaign, with Napoli reported to be leading the race for his signature and speculation was only intensified when the Argentine was not involved in Monday’s 3-1 friendly

defeat against Paris Saint-Germain.

Napoli’s interest comes amid speculation Gonzalo Higuain is set to join champions Juventus, but Inter director Ausilio has warned Icardi will not be his replacement at San Paolo.

“Icardi will remain at Inter, our position is very clear,” he told reporters,”It’s not a question of money, it doesn’t matter what Napoli can offer us.

“Our plan this summer is to reinforce Inter and to do that we’re

keeping hold of Icardi and our best players regardless of the figures offered. Icardi does not have a release clause and we do not want to sell; simple.

“There’s no problem between us and Icardi, he’s working very hard.

He has been with us for years and become captain of a team with a glorious past. We have always been attentive to his needs and always renewed his deal at the right time.

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Tuesday, July 26, 2016

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ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE…ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE…ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE…

Mertesacker Deschamps

Mertesacker misses

Bruce

Arsenal’s US tour

P

er Mertesacker has been ruled out of Arsenal’s United States tour after suffering a knee injury.

The Gunners’ most experienced centre-half played in Friday’s friendly at Lens and was named in the provisional squad to travel to the US this week.

But injury means he will not be

among 23 players on tour, leaving Calum Chambers as the senior central defender in the absence of Gabriel and Laurent Koscielny.

Gabriel has tonsillitis, while Koscielny will miss the start of the Premier League season after helping France finish as runners-up at Euro 2016.

An Arsenal statement said

Burnley ban fan

for racist abuse Burnley have given an indefinite club ban to a supporter who was ejected from Saturday’s friendly against Bradford City for shouting racist abuse at a player for the League One club. No action has been taken against a second man

who voluntarily left the stadium in connection with the incident. West Yorkshire Police are investigating the incident, which was strongly criticised on social media by Burnley striker Andre Gray, who scored twice.

Pre-season Manchester

derby cancelled The hotly anticipated pre-season meeting between Jose Mourinho’s Man United and Pep Guardiola’s Man City has been cancelled. Mourinho vs Guardiola is set to be a standout rivalry in this season’s Premier League, with the two managers in close proximity for the first time since their days in charge of Real Madrid and Barcelona. The International Champions Cup offered fans a first glimpse of their rivalry, but torrential rain in Beijing has rendered the pitch at the Bird’s Nest Stadium unplayable.

Liverpool hit with fine Liverpool and Sevilla have been fined

by UEFA over the behaviour of their supporters during May’s Europa League final. Both Liverpool and opponents Sevilla were hit with charges relating to

crowd disturbances, an illicit banner and the setting-off of fireworks at Basel’s St Jakob Park. And UEFA’s disciplinary body has fined the Reds 16,000 euros - around £13,400 - and Sevilla 17,000 euros.

Mertesacker would remain at the club’s London Colney base but did not go into detail about the severity of his injury.

New signing Rob Holding could partner England U-21 colleague Chambers in the States, while Nacho Monreal, Mathieu Debuchy and young Pole Krystian Bielik all have some experience at centre-half.

Arsenal will play an MLS All-Star team on Friday and finish their tour against Chivas on Monday, and Granit Xhaka will make the trip with his new team-mates.

But Alexis Sanchez, Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil are among the big names l e f t out following their summer

Balotelli trains with Liverpool kids M

ario Balotelli showed potential suitors he has the attitude they might be looking for, delivering a positive update on being forced to train with Liverpool’s second string.

Jurgen Klopp’s first-team squad are currently in California ahead of games against Chelsea, AC Milan and Roma in the United States.

Balotelli is not in the travelling party, with Klopp having confirmed that the Italy international does not feature in his plans for upcoming season.

“Since he has been back here, he’s been a good guy and I can’t say anything different than that,” Klopp said earlier this month.

“There will be a club around who would be happy to have a new Mario Balotelli, if you like. I have spoken clearly to the player about that.

“It’s now time to make decisions and I try to help Mario to get in the best shape he can be in and we will see what happens.”

the

Bruce stands by decision to quit Hull City

S

teve Bruce says his decision to resign as Hull City manager was made “for the sake of the club”.

Bruce won his second promotion as City manager in last season’s Championship play-off final, but will not guide the Tigers into the Premier League having quit on Friday after his relationship with club owners Assem and Ehab Allam deteriorated.

Pre-season injuries to the likes of Allan McGregor, Moses Odubajo and captain Michael Dawson have left City with just 15 fit senior players, with Bruce recently lamenting the club’s inactivity in the transfer market - thought to be a key factor in his exit.

Having previously taken City to their first FA Cup final and maiden European campaign, though, Bruce departs with happy memories.

Bruce said: “It was with a heavy heart that I ended my time as Hull City manager on Friday. The four years I spent at the club were among the happiest times of my managerial career.

“The first promotion out of the Championship, survival in the Premier League and then the FA Cup final and European football were all fantastic times for me, my staff and my players.

The relegation back to the Championship was hard to take but we all stuck together to win promotion through the playoff final at Wembley in May. “ I f someone had told me the success w e ’ v e had when I was appointed, I would have told them to give their head a bang. It wouldn’t have seemed possible.

News 20

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Delta: 16 tested HIV positive at Total screening ÏÏÏ

About 16 persons, 10 females, 6 males), have tested positive to HIV/ AIDS in Asaba, the Delta State capital.

The persons were discovered during the Total Nigeria Plc free HIV/Tuberculosis and malaria preventive education and screening programme.

Speaking at the event, Executive Director, Strategy, Mr. Jefferson Nnamani, who represented the Managing Director, said the company was committed to impacting positively to the lives of Nigerians through healthy education

on preventive measures against HIV/AIDS and other diseases.

According to him, “our fight against HIV/AIDS is to protect our host communities, employee families, organisation, and society in general from the devastating challenge of these diseases” He said the group, under the programme, had trained 23 on global approach, who will now carry out sensitisation on their communities and created the awareness needed to help prevent the diseases, adding that the

company had so far been launched in 19 states of the country.

“It is our conviction that achieving an AIDS free- generation is possible; this can happen with sustained financial, political and selfless commitment from us all,” he pointed out.

In his speech while flagging off the launch, the Secretary to Delta State Government (SSG), Hon. Festus Ovie Agas, lauded Total Nigeria for embarking on the education programme.

While saying that the

programme was in line with the agenda of the State Government, he disclosed that a bill on HIV/ AIDS prevention and education was already before the State House of Assembly and would soon be passed into law.

According to him, “Delta State has very low percent rate of HIV/AIDS. It will continue to be committed through Delta SACA to improve on sensitisation of the people.”

The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Nicholas Azinge, represented by the permanent Secretary in

the ministry, Dr. Sunday Otobo, commended Total Nigeria for the sensitisation and free HIV/AIDS testing.

He advised the populace to abstain from premarital sex, be faithful to their spouses and always use condom when necessary.

Corporate Affair Manager, Mr. Albert Mabuyaku, enjoined all to be safety conscious and avoid smoking, driving without seat belt and switching off electrical appliances while leaving office.

Director, Occupational Safety and Health, Mrs.Nofisat Arogundade (middle), and others in photo session after inauguration of new National Tripartite Technical committee on the development of the National Occupational Safety and Health Profile in Abuja…recently.

Burutai lauds Troops’ success in counterinsurgency operation

ÏÏÏ The Chief

of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, has expressed satisfaction with the success recorded by troops fighting insurgency in the NorthEast.

Represented by Maj. Gen. Hassan Umar, the Chief of Training and Operation, Buratai made the statement on Monday during the Combat Support Arms Training Week at the 7 Division Headquarters in Maiduguri.

“I am glad to state that significant progress has been made and several successes recorded, especially in the current operation.

“Our troops have been able to carry out timely and synchronised operations in the theatre thereby denying the Boko Haram terrorists freedom of action.

“This, therefore, calls for more coveted efforts and synergy by all to achieve the desired end state of enduring peace and development in the country.

“Success in battle depends largely on the support provided by the supporting arms.

Buratai

Buhari’s anti-graft war not targeted at PDP, says Osinbajo

Edo 2016: Market women endorse Obaseki

Bureau Chief, Abuja

ÏÏÏ Thousands of market

Lateef Ibrahim

ÏÏÏ

From the nation’s Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, came, on Monday, a declaration that the Federal Government’s anticorruption crusade was not targeted at the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its members.

The declaration by Osinbajo came against the backdrop of allegations that the present administration’s anti-graft war is one-sided and that it is targetted at the PDP and its members.

But the Osinbajo categorically stated that such claim was far from the truth.

Speaking at the 2016 Annual Conference organised

by Mallam Bashir Yusufled Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Osinbajo pointed out that what the federal government is doing was to recover public funds diverted for campaign purposes by the previous administration.

The Vice President, who was represented by his Special Assistant on Political Parties, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, said, His words, “The war against corruption is not targeted at the opposition parties.

“What government is doing now is that money meant for essential servic-

es should not be diverted for campaigns or any other purposes,” he stated.

He added that the aim was to bring sanity to the polity in order to sustain democracy in the country.

The President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government, Osinbajo stated, recognised the critical role of opposition parties in deepening democracy but stressed that they should be careful with public funds.

According to him, “Politics and elections should not be war or depletion of public resources. Never again will government agencies be used in favour of any political party to

win elections”.

The Vice-President revealed that investigations conducted by the administration showed that a huge chunk of money meant for the purchase of arms to fight Boko Haram insurgents in the North East was diverted into private pockets while part of the money was used for political campaigns by the party in power.

The trend, he insisted, cannot be allowed to continue.

He thus called on IPAC to play critical role in educating political parties and the general public, and ensuring that democracy survives in Nigeria.

Titus Akhigbe

Benin

women across Edo State stormed the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City, on Monday, where they endorsed the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Godwin Obaseki for governorship.

Led by Mrs. Blacky Omoregie, the market women who filled the stadium to capacity said they had a firm belief in Governor Adams Oshiomhole to bring a worthy successor.

According to Mrs. Omoregie “your belief in Godwin Obaseki is not misplaced following your burning desire to turn Edo State into an El-

dorado. We want to assure you of our readiness to support his ambition to become the Governor of Edo State with our prayers to enable him embrace your sterling leadership qualities in the interest of Edo people.

“We told the Governor that before the end of his tenure we want him to show us the person who will be the next Governor so that we can get an assurance from him that he will also develop Edo State like Oshiomhole.

“If the person he brings assures us that he will perform, we will bring out our PVCs which we hid in our boxes and vote for him. So, Comrade Oshiomhole has built roads, he built schools, he built hospital, the next person will do more.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

21

Public Notice 22 COVENANT MANGER EVANGELICAL MISSION The general public is hereby inform that the above named Church has applied to Corporate Affairs Commission for Change of her President and additional two (2) trustees members to bring the total Trustees from Five (5) to Seven (7) under Part ‘C’ of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, Degree No. 1 of 1990.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. Apostle Enouwem Elijah Elijah Uko - New President 2. Pastor Joseph Archibong Bassey - Secretary 3. Pastor Daniel Effiong Udoh - Old President 4. Pastor Iboro Udonna Ememem 5. Pastor Comfort Inyang Akpata THE NEW TRUSTEES ADDED ARE: 1. Pastor Inyang Inyang 2. Pastor Kufreabasi Ediomo Uko

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

FEYISETAN OLAGBAJU 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 company and Allied Matters Act of 1990.

The Trustees Are: 1. Ms Ibijoke Feyisetan Olagbaju - Chairman 2. Miss Rachael Ideho - Secretary 3. Dr Ebun Ladipo Bamgboye 4. Mrs Olayinka Omobola Olaniyan 5. Mr Eyimofe Olagbaju 6. Mr Gabriel Oluwatosin Agbede

AIMS/OBJECTIVE: 1. To prech the word of God evangelical mission to all Communities.

Aims And Objectives: 1. To promote the bond of charity among the people.

2. To enhance civil education of young people 3. To help the poor, assist the physically challenged and donate to the aged.

4. To encourage the sick and ensure that they get good health.

Any objection to the registration shouls be forwarded to the Registrar-General, Corporate Affaira Commission, Plot 420 Tigris Crescent, Off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days of this Publication.

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: Apostle Enouwem Elijah Elijah New President.

Signed: Francis Ogunbowale Esq Glassy Gold Solicitors 23b Adedayo Doherty Street, Lekki Phase 1, Lekki, Lagos.

ASSOCIATION OF ANCIENT DIETIES ORISA PARAPO WORSHIPPERS BADAGRY LAGOS This is to inform the general public that the above named Association has applied to the Corporate Affairs Commission for registration under Part “C” of the Companies and Allied Matters Act No. 1 of 1990.

The Trustees are: (1) DR. SANNI NOJEEM MAUTIN (2) CHIEF AFEEZ NAIBI (3) IBRAHIM TAIWO (4) PRINCE ADEWALE ADEBISI YOSSUF.

DIVINE ABUDANCE CHRISTIAN CENTRE NO 86 ADENIYI JONES IKEJA LAGOS 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 company and Allied Matters Act of 1990.

THE TRUSTEE ARE: 1. EKWUNIFE SANDRA IFEYINWA 2. EKWUNIFE JUDE CHUKWUDI 3. TIMOTHY UGOCHUKWU G.

AIM: TO PROMOTE AFRICAN RELIGION WORLDWIDE. .

AIM AND OBJECTIVE: TO PREACH THE GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

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

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 Secretary .

SIGNED BY: ANDREW OJO NWEKE ESQ

IVORY HEALTH INITIATIVE FOR THE POOR The general public is hereby inform that the above named has applied to Corporate Affairs Commission for registration under Part ‘C’ of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, Degree No. 1 of 1990.

ALABI OLUWASHOLA SUNDAY OMONIYI

FUNMILAYO OLUSOLA ODUEKUN I FORMER LY KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS FUNMILAYO OLUSOLA MAJEKODUNMI NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS FUNMILAYO OLUSOLA ODUEKUN ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD TAKE NOTE

DEBORAH OLUBUKOLA OYOLOLA

MRS IRENE OGHENEMANO AKORA

I, formally known and addressed as DEBORAH OLUBUKOLA OYEKANMI now wish to be known and addressed as DEBORAH OLUBUKOLA OYOLOLA. All former documents remain valid . General public should take note.

I FORMERLY KNOWN AS MISS IRENE OGHENEMANO IBAGERE NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS MRS IRENE OGHENEMANO AKORA. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAINS VALID. GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD TAKE NOTE.

OLANREWAJU ABDULAZEEZ. MUSILI

FANEGAN. OMOBOLANLE MULIKAT

I formerly known and addressed as OBI MARTINS MONDAY now wish to be henceforth reffered to as OBI CALLISTUS MONDAY ODINAKACHUKWU . All erstwhile documents still remain valid.

General public please take note.

MR SUNDAY WILLIAM ABANG

I FORMER LY KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS OLAREWAJU ABDULAZEEZ. MUSILI NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS OLANREWAJU ABDULAZEEZ. MUSILI ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAIN VALID GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD TAKE NOTE

I, formerly known and addressed as OLADEJO MULIKATT. BOLANLE now wish to be known and addressed as FANEGAN. OMOBOLANLE MULIKAT. All former document remain valid, general public please take note.

I, formally known and addressed as MR FRANCIS OBI now wish to be known and addressed as MR SUNDAY WILLIAM ABANG. All former documents remain valid . General public should take note.

MRS MORIDIYAH OLUBUKOLA OMOTOYE ADETUNJI

CHARLES EBOFUAI LAMBO JOSHUA

AIM AND OBJECTIVE : TO PROVIDE HEALTH CARE FOR THE POOR 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 Secretary

OBI CALLISTUS MONDAY ODINAKACHUKWU

I, formally known and addressed as MISS. DEBORAH OLUBUKOLA OMOTOYE now wish to be known and addressed as MRS MORIDIYAH OLUBUKOLA OMOTOYE ADETUNJI. All former documents remain valid . General public should take note.

I FORMERLY KNOWN AS CHARLES ALABO EGBOKHARE EBOFUAI NOW WISH TO BE KNOWN AND ADDRESSED AS CHARLES EBOFUAI LAMBO JOSHUA. ALL FORMER DOCUMENTS REMAINS VALID. GENERAL PUBLIC SHOULD TAKE NOTE.

AUCTION SALES THERE WILL BE AN AUCTION SALES OF MOTOR VEHICLES, KEKE AND OTHER HOUSEHOLD ITEMS AT THE NIGERIA POLICE, DIVISIONAL HEADQUARTERS, RUMUKPAKANI DIVISION, PORT HARCOURT, RIVERS STATE. AFTER 21 DAYS OF THIS PUBLICATION. 1. NOKIA HANDSETS PHONE 2. TECNO PHONE 3. ONE LG PHONE 4. ONE NOKIA TORCH LIGHT PHONE, ONE BLACK BERRY HAND SET. 5. SCRAPPED TOYOTA CAMRY REG. NO. EPE 489 BK. 6. SCRAPPED HIACE BUS REG. NO. EKY 87 CG. 7. SCRAPPED KEKE WITHOUT PLATE NO. 8. SCRAPPED BUS REG. NO. XW 727 RUM RIVERS. 9. SCRAPPED BUS REG. NO. BRS 57 XA. SIGNED: AUCTIONEER ALHAJI ADENIYI NURU 08038967011

CHARLES OKWUDILI EKWUEME

The Trustees Are: 1. ALHAJI AGBOLADE MUTIU ONASANYA - Chairman.

2. MR QASIM ALYASAU ATANDA - Secretary.

3. ALHAJI(CHIEF) RAMON ONAKOYA -Treasurer.

4. ALHAJI MUSHAFAU ADEYEMI- Financial Secretary.

5. ALHAJI (CHIEF) QASIM MUSLIUDEEN -P.R.O. Aims and Objectives are: 1. To propagate the Islam.

2. To enhance muslim welfare particularly in the locality.

Any Objection to this registration should be forwarded to the registrar General, corporate Affairs Commission, 420, Tigris crescent, off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama Abuja, within 28 days of this publication.

Signed: Trustees.

EXCELLERS EAGLES CLUB LAGOS

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 company and Allied Matters Act of 1990.

The Trustees Are: 1. Ede Osmond Chinedu 2. Chineke Longinus Nnayo 3. Ozoagu Benjamin Onyebuchi 4. Ikechukwu Emeka. E. Aims And Objectives: 1. To provide a forum for social interaction and co-operation among members 2. To promote the welfare, development, happiness and security of the society and members of the club.

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 by Barr Amuji Emmanuel - 08065882905, 08092747890.

I formerly known and addressed as OYEDEJI SUNDAY OMONIYI now wish to be henceforth reffered to as ALABI OLUWASHOLA SUNDAY OMONIYI . All erstwhile documents still remain valid.

General public please take note.

THE TRUSTEES ARE: 1. ISICHEI I. PAT 2. HRH EZE INNOCENT OKPAN MBAH, 3. VERY REV. DR. UKWE CHARLES EMEKA 4.ANDELENE EGBE

AWODI-ORA MUSLIM COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION This is to inform the general public that the above named ASSOCIATION has applied for registration under part”C” of the Companies and Allied Matters Act of 1990.

JIMOH ABDULMUHMEEN OZOVEHE

JOAN-OKHIKU EHIARINMWIAN I, formerly known and addressed as JOAN EBAHI OKHIKU now wish to be known and addressed as JOAN-OKHIKU EHIARINMWIAN. All former document remain valid, general public please take note.

ANNMARIE ELIZABETH EZIUGO

OMORODION BLESSING OSARENINOMA

I, formally known and addressed as ANNMARIE ELIZABETH COLE now wish to be known and addressed as ANNMARIE ELIZABETH EZIUGO. All former documents remain valid . General public should take note.

SUNMOLA ABIODUN RASHIDAT I, formally known and addressed as SALAKO ABIODUN RASHIDAT now wish to be known and addressed as SUNMOLA ABIODUN RASHIDAT. All former documents remain valid . General public should take note.

OYEYEMI COMFORT TOYIN

I, formally known and addressed as FADAIRO COMFORT TOYIN now wish to be known and addressed as OYEYEMI COMFORT TOYIN. All former documents remain valid . General public should take note.

I, formally known and addressed as KOCHI OBUCHI now wish to be known and addressed as CHARLES OKWUDILI EKWUEME. All former documents remain valid . General public should take note.

I, formally known and addressed as MUMIN ORMEIZA JIMOH now wish to be known and addressed as JIMOH ABDULMUHMEEN OZOVEHE. All former documents remain valid . General public should take note.

MRS. CHIOMA KASARACHI CONFIDENCE

AYODELE ODUNAYO CHARLES

I, formerly known and addressed as, MISS. ENYIEGBULAM KASARACHI, now wish to be known and addressed as, MRS. CHIOMA KASARACHI CONFIDENCE. All former documents remains valid.

General public should take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as, AYODELE ODUNAYO DADA, now wish to be known and addressed as, AYODELE ODUNAYO CHARLES. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

I, formally known and addressed as MARTINS UGO KELVIN now wish to be known and addressed as NWOKOLO ONYEKA DENNIS. All former documents remain valid .

General public should take note.

MRS. TAIWO-ODEKUNLE FARIDAH TAIWO

IKUMA PEDRO

CONFIRMATION OF NAME

I, formerly known and addressed as, MISS. TAIWO MISTURAH TAIWO, now wish to be known and addressed as, MRS. TAIWOODEKUNLE FARIDAH TAIWO. All former documents remains valid.

General public should take note.

I, formerly known and addressed as, JAMES MONDAY, now wish to be known and addressed as, IKUMA PEDRO. All former documents remains valid. General public should take note.

RICHARD ANUCHA CHIJIEZE I, formally known and addressed as RICHARD NWAGWU CHIJIEZE now wish to be known and addressed as RICHARD ANUCHA CHIJIEZE. All former documents remain valid . General public should take note.

NWOKOLO ONYEKA DENNIS

That I am the same person bearing adekoya. Hannah atinunke olubanke and adekoya atinunke olubanke all Former documents remain valid general public should take note.

I, formally known and addressed as AREBOJIE BLESSING OSAREN now wish to be known and addressed as OMORODION BLESSING OSARENINOMA. All former documents remain valid .

General public should take note.

KETU IKEDIUBA

I, formally known and addressed as ANTHONY IFEANYI. IKEDIUBA now wish to be known and addressed as KETU IKEDIUBA. All former documents remain valid .

General public should take note.

AMUSAN TEMITOPE ESTATER

I, formally known and addressed as OLUFAYO TEMITOPE ESTATER now wish to be known and addressed as AMUSAN TEMITOPE ESTATER. All former documents remain valid . General public should take note.

OGBU FRIDAY EMMANUEL

I, formally known and addressed as FRIDAY OGBU now wish to be known and addressed as OGBU FRIDAY EMMANUEL. All former documents remain valid .

General public should take note.

CORRECTION OF NAME,

That my name was wrongly writing as Ajuwon emmanuel and Ajuwon rotimi my correct name is Ajuwon rotimi emmanuel all Former documents remain valid general public should take note

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

23 News

Herdsmen menace: Enugu monarch seeks ban on grazing Moses Oyediran, Enugu

ÎÎÎThe traditional ruler of

Obeleagu- Umuana, Ezeaugu Local Government Area of Enugu State, Igwe Charles Benjamin Aniedo Ude, has called on the state government to, with immediate effect, place a ban on Fulani herdsmen from grazing and moving their cattle in any part of the state.

Igwe Ude who was testifying before the Commission of Inquiry set up to find out the immediate and remote causes of the mayhem at Uzo-Uwani and other communities in the state, opined that asking for compensation will not work but for the herdsmen to stop their activ-

ities forthwith in the state.

In the alternative, the royal father suggested that the herdsmen, who have been causing havoc in communities in the state, should relocate to their home states.

“In view of the devastation by the herdsmen in different parts of Enugu State including loss of lives and property, kidnapping, raping, damage to farm crops, fear and insecurity, the Enugu State Government should ban with immediate effect the movement and grazing of cattle in any part of the state,” he points adding that cattle like other livestock should be conveyed in vehicles and not to be allowed to move about.

Also testifying at the

panel, the traditional ruler of Alum Inyi, Oji River Local Government Area, Igwe Cletus Umezurumba lamented that the herdsmen have forced his people who are predominantly farmers from going to their farms.

According to him, “Our people for the past six years had almost stopped going to farm Agu Alum arising from their experience of the seemingly deliberate destruction of their crops by the cattle of the Fulani herdsmen,” he laments.

Owing to the devastating effect of the activities of the herdsmen, Igwe Umezurumba suggested that the Fulani herdsmen should hence be purchasing grazing land from willing communities where they will confine their cattle to a particular location.

He also suggested that a law should be enacted to prohibit herdsmen from carrying dangerous weapons such as firearms and pointed out that movement of cattle at night should be prohibited.

In his own submission, the

traditional ruler of Ekwegbe Community in Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area, His Royal Highness Igwe Nathaniel Ezeani, suggested that security agencies in the state should be mobilised to disarm the herdsmen to curtail the incessant shootings going on in his community at night.

Ezeani said that the herdsmen have turned his community to a shooting range and a kidnapping haven and suggested that government should set up a school or a

company in the area to preclude the activities of the herdsmen who are no longer welcome sojourners.

“As Ekwegbe Community has become a save haven for the Fulani herdsmen because of the vast arable land, may your Commission find favour on our land and direct government into it for the purposes of either establishing a school of Agriculture or an industry of high repute to reduce the attractiveness of the vast grazing field,” the Igwe pleads.

Edo NMA laments depressed economy Titus Akhigbe, Benin

ÎÎÎEdo

State Branch Chairman, Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Prof Afekhide Omoti, has decried the alarming rate of brain drain in the health sector, particularly, amongst medical doctors, saying poor incentive and motivation had been identified as a key factor responsible.

Speaking at the Nigerian Medical Association(NMA) Edo State Branch, 2016 Annual General Meeting / Scientific Conference with theme: “Medical Practice in a Depressed Economy”;

Omoti said the AGM was to x-ray the challenges in the health sector, as well as proffer solutions.

Omoti who lamented the frequent disruption of services as a result of industrial actions by the various groups of healthcare professionals, also frowned at the unnecessary and unhealthy struggle for supremacy by various paramedical practitioners.

He appealed to the Edo State Government for the payment of competitive salaries to doctors in its employ when the New Central Hospital complex in Benin city, the state capital, became operational.

Scene of a car washed away by flood in Suleja, Niger State… on Monday.

PDP rejects results Okigwe senatorial rerun Val Okara, Owerri

Lagos Vigilance group trains officers Njoku Chibuike

ÎÎÎThe Lagos State Vigilan-

te Group of Nigeria, on Monday, commenced the 3rd Batch of the Training at Ikeja Police Training College, Lagos.

This was made known through a statement signed by the Lagos State Commander, Vigilante Group of Nigeria, Otunba James Udoma and released to the Daily Times.

Hundreds of youths from 20 Local Government and 37 Local Council Development Area (LCDAs), in the state were at the VGN to register for the training as part of the efforts to combat crimes at the grassroots level in the

state.

Speaking on the exercise, Udoma said that the essence of the training which included anti-robbery, detectives, surveillance and marine operation was to engage ablebodied, young school leavers to secure jobs opportunities in the area of security.

Udoma also emphasised that when the activities of group becomes fully operational in different Local government areas of the state, crimes such as kidnapping, pipeline vandalism, armedrobbery, rape, corruption and ritual killings would however be reduced to the barest minimum.

ÎÎÎThe

Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) senatorial candidate in the Saturday 23rd July, 2016 Imo North rerun poll, Chief Athan Achonu, has rejected the inconclusive result declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) returning officer, Prof Arinze Agbogu, saying that he should officially be declared winner.

The electoral body also declared inconclusive the results of Oru East and Isiala Mbano State Constituencies, following reported cases of shootings and thuggery that characterised the exercise in some communities in the two af-

fected areas.

At a press conference in Owerri, Achonu called on INEC to declare him the winner of the election based on the results from the polling units in the zone He accused the All Progressive Congress (APC) of beating and chasing away the PDP agents who had the authentic results from their different wards with their recruited fake soldiers and armed thugs.

According to him, from the results available from Okigwe LGA, PDP pulled 5,128, while APC scored 5,909 as against the result declared by INEC which shows that APC scored 9,355, with PDP pulling 4,343.

He said that the Ihitte/

Uboma LGA result shows that PDP pulled 5,119, APC 8,861 as against the INEC result of PDP 5,184, while APC scored 10,170 among others.

Describing what transpired at the election as shame, he called on INEC to review their earlier announcement while urging the Chief of Army Staff and Mr. President to determine who the soldiers were.

Also speaking, the former Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives,

Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, accused INEC’s staff of conniving with state government to rig PDP out.

He said: “We shall not accept that the election was inconclusive, rather INEC should declare PDP candidate the winner of the election”.

Governor Rochas Okorocha has thanked the electorate in Okigwe Senatorial Zone, Oru-East and Owerri West State Constituencies for voting for the candidates of the APC.

AYALOGU DEBORAH ADAMA

CONFIRMATION OF NAME

I formerly known, called and addressed as DEBORAH HAMMOND PILLER. Now wish to be known, called and addressed as AYALOGU DEBORAH ADAMA. All documents bearing my former name remain valid, general public should please take note.

I, NWAMAGA SOLOMON ANAYOR, AND NWAMAGA ANAYORCHUKWU CHUKWU, refer to one and same person but, now wish to be known and addressed as, NWAMAGA ANAYORCHUKWU CHUKWU. All former documents remains valid.

General public should take note.

News 24

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Counter-terrorism: Britain, Italy pledged to train Nigeria police officers Andrew Orolua, Abuja

ÏÏÏ

The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Paul Arkwright and Italian Ambassador to Nigeria Dr. Fulvio Rustico, have pledged their countries’ commitment to assist in the training of Nigeria Police personnel on counter- terrorism.

They conveyed their countries preparedness to retrain Nigeria Police on counter-terrorism when they paid a courtesy visit

on the Acting Inspector General of Police Ibrahim K. Idris at the weekend.

Arkwright intimated the IGP of the Britain’s role as a major donor to the Nigeria Police Force and that his Government would do more in the area of CounterTerrorism Training for officers and men of the force.

Rustico informed Idris of the willingness of his home government to partner with the Nigeria Police Force on training.

He said that there were plans

for Italian Heads of Police and IGP to hold a bilateral meeting.

He stated that Rome had also concluded plans to train at least 20 officers and men of the Nigeria Police Force in Counter Terrorism.

In his responses, Idris expressed delight at their visits and acknowledged the fact that Nigeria Police Force personnel, had in the past, undergone series of training in Britain.

He further stated that he was confident that the visit would

open avenues for more of such opportunities.

Idris commended the Italian Government for rendering such invaluable assistance. He said that such gestures were immeasurable in the light of the current fight against terrorism.

He recounted how he had witnessed, first-hand, the high standards maintained by the Italian Government as regards training of her security personnel, while he was working with the United Nations.

CAN appeals to Lagos govt to reverse court ruling on hijab Joy Ekeke

ÏÏÏ

The Lagos State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), has expressed displeasure over Thursday’s Court of Appeal ruling (by a special five-man panel presided

by Justice Ali Gumel) to lift the ban on Muslim female students wearing hijab (Muslim female head cover) to public primary and secondary schools in the state.

It has, therefore, appealed to the state government to take all legal steps immediately to reverse the judgment, as not doing so would imply Islamising the state.

In a statement signed by the chapter’s secretary, Elder (Dr.) Israel Akinadewo, the association stated that the state was a cosmopolitan one, in which the development and peace, that all had witnessed over the years, could be credited to the cordial relationship between the leadership of the Christians and Muslims, and also their co-operation with successive governments.

“Some of these public schools are missionary schools, bearing Christian names, hence any implementation of this judgment is tantamount to Islamising the state of excellence.”

Gov. Ambode

L-R: Director, Legal and Regulatory, Airtel Nigeria, Shola Adeyemi; Chief Commercial Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Ahmad Mokhles; Regional Commercial Manager, West Africa, British Airways, Kola Olayinka and Corporate Sales Manager, British Airways, Adetutu Otuyalo during the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Airtel and British Airways in Lagos... on Monday.

Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja

ÏÏÏ The Independent National

Electoral Commission (INEC) has postponed the rerun elections in Rivers State earlier slated for Saturday.

This was confirmed in a statement last night by Secretary to the Commission, Mrs. Augusta Ogakwu.

The Prof. Mahmud Yakubuled INEC pointed out that security report on the affected local government areas where the rerun polls were to hold indicates that the situation was not yet conducive for the elections.

The Commission, it will be recalled, had fixed July 30 for the conclusion of the court ordered rerun elections in Rivers and Kaduna states, after a stakeholders’ meeting on June 30.

The INEC’s statement

INEC postpones Rivers rerun elections over insecurity however, categorically said: “Rhetoric of some political actors, the incidences of violence in number of local government areas where the elections are to hold and the atmosphere of fear and intimidation created by rhetoric and violence, all indicate a clear and present danger in proceeding with the elections as earlier scheduled.

“This situation is now further worsened by direct attacks on the Commission, of which the most recent and glaring was the burning down of INEC office in Khana local government on 22nd July, 2016.

“As a responsible organisation and conscious of the violence, maiming and fatalities which accompanied the previous election in March as well as

developments in the state since then, the commission cannot ignore such credible reports.

“In the circumstances, therefore, it is compelled to further postpone the rerun legislative elections in Rivers State as one of the principal conditions earlier stipulated for the return of the state for the conclusion of the election has, regrettably, not been met”, it said.

The commission stated that it is conscious of the efforts by respected individuals, organisations and leaders to douse tension and ensure a conducive atmosphere for elections to hold.

No new date has been fixed by INEC for the rerun polls in the state.

Forgery: Two suspects arraigned over fake travelling documents Titilope Joseph Rachel Akomolafe

ÏÏÏ

The Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), on Monday arraigned two persons, Mr. Animashaun Sadiq Abimbola and Miss Adeniji Olamide Modupeoluwa, for allegedly forging National Diploma Certificate (ND) of Osun State College of Technology, Esa Oke, for the purpose of obtaining a British visa.

The forged documents were said to have been discovered by the verification team of the British High Commission when the defendants presented the documents in an attempt to obtain British visa.

The defendants were arraigned before an Ikeja High Court, presided over by Justice Oluwatoyin Ipaye, on a 40- count charge offence bordering on conspiracy, forgery, and use of false documents among others.

According to the EFCC prosecutor, Mrs. I. Daramola, the defendants, on September 16, 2015, with intent to defraud, conspired to commit felony by allegedly forging National Diploma (ND) Certificate of Education and statement of examination result of Osun State College of Technology, Esa Oke, Osun State, dated September 7, 2012.

The EFCC also alleged that the defendants, on August 3, 2015, forged a documents titled “To whom it may concern”, in order to obtain a United Kingdom visa from British High Commission.

Other documents that the defendants were alleged to have forged included a letter titled, “Offer of Provisional Admission into Higher National Diploma Programme for 2014/2015”; student identity card bearing the name of Adeniji Olamide Modupeoluwa purporting them to have been issued by the institution.

The defendants, also allegedly forged a number of letters including a “Letter of Sponsorship” dated August 10, 2015; a letter titled: “Self Introduction Letter/Origin of Funds” dated August 21, 2015; a “Letter of Information” dated August 14, 2015; a “Letter of Introduction/Sponsorship” dated August b17, 2015; a “Board Resolution Letter” dated August 12, 2015; an “Application for Entry Clearance Visa” dated August 19, 2015; forgery of an identity card bearing the name of Sulaiman Monsurat.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

ÏÏÏ He may be half-brother to the president of the United States, but Malik Obama says that come November, he is going to vote for Donald Trump.

President Barack Obama’s half-brother told The New York Post that he likes the Republican nominee “because he speaks from the heart” and

President Obama

25 Foreign

Obama’s half-brother will vote for Trump that “’Make America Great Again’ is a great slogan.’”

Malik Obama also criticized some decisions by his brother and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, especially the move to oust former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.

“I still feel that getting rid of Gadhafi didn’t make things any better in Libya,” he said, adding “My brother and the secretary of state disappointed me in that regard.”

Clinton is due to accept the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination this week at the party’s convention in Philadelphia, with President

Obama expected to deliver a ringing endorsement.

In a separate interview with Reuters news agency, Malik Obama said Trump’s stance against Muslims coming into the United States was understandable, even to Muslims like himself.

“I’m a Muslim, of course, but you can’t have people going around just shooting people and killing people just in the name of Islam,” he said.

President Obama has seven half-siblings from both his mother and father. Malik, who is three years older than the president, is the son of Barack Obama senior and his first

wife.

Malik Obama was once close to the president and served as best man at his wedding. But the two appear to have drifted apart in recent years. Malik told the Post that his brother did nothing to help him when he ran for governor of the Kenyan county of Siaya in 2013.

The president’s half-brother currently lives in the western Kenyan village of Kogelo but remains registered to vote in the state of Maryland, where he lived for many years. He said he will come back to the U.S. to cast his vote in November.

jƑƏƊƆƕ Ɛ Ə ƆƐ Ɖ ƑƏ Ƌƈ Ɛ ƈ ƅƏ ƅƊƗ Ɠ ƇƐƆƏ ƅ Ƒƍ

ÏÏÏ

Turkish authorities on Monday issued arrest warrants for over 40 journalists in a new phase of the controversial legal crackdown after the failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, sparking fresh alarm over the scope of the detentions.

With Erdogan seeking to rally national cross-party support for his rule 10 days after defeating the attempted putsch, he hosted two top opposition leaders for an unprecedented meeting at his presidential palace.

Over 13,000 people have been detained so far in a vast sweep in the wake of the July 15 military coup bid, which the authorities blame on the reclusive US-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen.

The crackdown has raised tensions with the European Union, further hampering Ankara’s stalled membership bid, while a potential diplomatic crisis with Washington is looming if the United States refuses to extradite Gulen to Turkey, a fellow NATO member.

Istanbul anti-terror prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 42 journalists as part of the coup investigation, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.

Among those targeted was prominent journalist Nazli Ilicak, who was fired from the pro-government Sabah daily in 2013 for criticising ministers caught up in a corruption scandal, it added.

Five people have been detained so far although 11 of the suspects are believed to already be outside the country, the Dogan news agency said.

Liberia’s President Sirleaf

38 killed in Madagascar fire

ÏÏÏ Thirty-eight people, including 16 children, were killed over the weekend when fire razed a house during a housewarming celebration in central Madagascar.

The tragedy occurred in the village of Ambalavato in the district of Ikalamavony, in central Madagascar and the gendarmerie announced the incident on Monday saying it was an accident.

“Of the 39 occupants of the house, 38 were killed, including 16 children,” the communications manager of the gendarmerie in the capital Antananarivo, Commander Herilalatiana Andrianarivosona told AFP. “A celebration was being held in Ambalavato after completing the rehabilitation of an old house with a thatched roof.

The roof caught fire early Sunday morning,” he added.

Among the victims were several family members of the owner of the house who had travelled to the town for the celebration. Only one boy was able to escape the flames by jumping out the window.

The fire was fueled by an oven built in the yard of the house and then spread to a small rice straw hut which went ablaze before the roof of the main house, Herilalatiana Andrianarivosona explained.

Liberia celebrates 169th independence ÏÏÏ

Liberia will today (Tuesday) celebrate 169 years of independence.

Some Liberians say there is little to celebrate in the face of economic difficulties.

But Liberia’s ambassador to the United States, Jeremiah Sulunteh, said while there are some challenges, the country has made remarkable progress under President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

“This year, we are celebrating our independence with the theme: ‘Consolidating Progress Toward Transformation’ of Liberia. As you know, the Agenda 2030 that has been encouraged by our president is a long-range plan. And so

every progress we are making toward the transformation of Liberia needs to be celebrated,” he said.

Ambassador Sulunteh said much progress has been made in the government’s effort to rehabilitate some of Liberia’s broken infrastructure as a result of civil war.

“The Mount Coffee Hydroelectric project is coming alive, hopefully in December; we have miles of roads that have been paved that were never touched during last 20-30 years. So, there’s a lot of progress being made, but at the same time we still have challenges,” he said.

Sulunteh, who has been Liberia’s ambassador

in Washington for the last four years, said this year’s Independence Day celebration will be his last.

He said he hopes to be part of the political process in 2017 when the country will be electing a successor to President Johnson Sirleaf.

“Usually, diplomats are posted for four years, but at the same time you serve at the will and pleasure of the president. So are calculating and assuming that we will be here for four years. This should be my last independence celebration, and we look forward to serving the Liberian people in another capacity,” he said.

Ambassador Sulunteh said some presidential candidates

have been speaking with him for what he calls possible collaboration.

“The truth of the matter is many of the presidential candidates are talking not only to me. I know everyone is talking to someone. So people have been asking us what role we might want to play in their own camp. But the bigger picture is for Liberia,” Sulunteh said.

Marking the independence anniversary, there have been cultural performances at the Liberian embassy as vendors from across the Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia area sold Liberian food, including cassava leaves, fufu and soup, check rice with gravy, and a lot more.

26

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Law Æ s

Plea-bargaining not a deterrent for corruption cases-Omolemen Chief Macdonald Omijie – Omolemen read law at the former Bendel State University now Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma, Edo State and was called to the Bar almost three decades ago. Chief Omolemen holds two Master’s Degree in International Law and Diplomatic Analysis (MLS) and LL.M in Maritime and International Commercial Law from the Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos. He spoke on Plea bargain, creation of special court to try corruption cases, National Judicial Council and sundry other issues. PETER FOWOYO, met him.

Most of the alleged looters have resorted to plea bargain with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). What is plea bargain? Is it known to our constitution?

Plea bargain is a situation where a defendant in a criminal matter will negotiate his plea of guilt with a prosecutor. In a scenario like that the prosecutor would agree to reduce the criminal counts against the defendant and the defendant will also accept to return some of the stolen monies back to the state. It is a situation where plea is negotiated but, most unfortunately, it is not in our statutes. It is a system that was imported from the United States of America and I think what the anti-graft agency tried to do, is to see if they can through

CHIEF MACDONALD OMIJIE – OMOLEMEN this process recover most of the stolen monies.

The only thing I don’t like about plea bargain is to ask somebody return monies that you’ve stolen then a fine is placed as an alternative to jail term and the person smiles home, I don’t think it’s good enough. It is alright if the jail term is reduced because there is a need for an offender to go to jail. For instance, if jail term is supposed to be seven years and is now mitigated to one year it doesn’t matter but, let the offender go to jail. The psychological effect would have a lot of roles to play in the society. It will be a precedent that will discourage other thieves from stealing.

People steal not to go to jail but to have the opportunity of enjoying their stolen wealth.

But if they now know that if

you plea, the best that can happen to you is for the jail term to be mitigated, the tendency to steal would reduce. That is the only area I don’t like plea bargain. The former governor of Edo state, there and then he paid the fine of N3 million and just smiled home and the case got closed likewise the other M.D. of those defunct banks. If we want to make it our laws, we must make a provision where the defendant will serve some jail terms. I would advise the anti-graft agency not to go by it because it has continued to increase stealing.

Since the operation of plea bargain you could imagine the magnitude of stealing that has been in the country, it increases it because a thief would say: “after all, they are not going to trace all the monies I stole, perhaps I will

return 30 percent, at most 50 percent, pay a little fine and go back to enjoy my money” Plea bargain is not a deterrent, it has not been able to discourage people from stealing. What the society tried to do when laws are made is to use the law which is like a social engineering method to discourage people from doing a particular bad thing.

For example, when this President was Head of States, drug pushing was to attract death sentence, though I didn’t like the ways he went about it because you don’t make laws to be retrospective but what I am trying to say is that the moment drug pushers got to hear that if you’re caught, you will die what happened? Drug pushers started finding other businesses and that was how 419 came about because

it was believed that 419 attract lesser punishment. But a situation where a thief is told; ‘you stole N10 return N3 or N 4, pay a fine of N5, go and sin no more” will it encourage or discourage?

That is what those that make laws should look at.

The President has alleged that the judiciary has slowed down the fight against corruption. As a stakeholder in the third arm of government how would you respond to this allegation?

Well, I will not blame the President judging from the background that he is coming from because he had ruled in military decree before, a situation where he could just say this should be the case and nobody challenges him became the case. So far so good, I still give him kudos for his transformation.

The judicial system is not corrupt as far as I am concerned, I am not trying to say there aren’t bad eggs, judicial system has a process whereby if a defendant is charge to court, if it is a bailable offence the bail will be argued first, whereby the defence counsel is able to convince the court about the issue of bail, the court grants bail to the defendant and the defendant cannot just go like that he has to meet up with the condition of bail.

After that, a date is taken for mention which is normal to enable the prosecutorial team to assemble their witnesses and you cannot say the judiciary is delaying when it would take the prosecutor two years to assemble witnesses, we’ve seen cases like that. A situation where sluggishly the prosecutor would take months, what would the court do? The court cannot descend to the arena of the prosecution just because a matter that is before it must move fast, it doesn’t work that way.

In most cases whereby the prosecutor had failed totally to present hiss witnesses, the court most of the time will not have any alternative because justice is now three way traffic, we have justice for the complainant, justice for the defendant and justice for the entire public.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 27

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

27 Law

We are practicing unitary, not federal system of government – Omolemen

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 26

So the court would not have any alternative but to discharge the defendant because of the failure of the prosecutor to prosecute the case. It should be looked at from that point of view. Most delays are caused by the prosecutors, not the defence counsel. If the prosecutor is ready and the defence counsel decides to go on technicality, it will always have a limit, it may sail to the Supreme Court and come back, it will have a limit.

Compared to the delay that is being orchestrated by the prosecutor. But now, with the new law in place that gave time frame for criminal matters to be heard, I think there will be more timely consideration in the handling of criminal matters by the court.

The court is there to do justice.

The law presumes an accused person innocent until he is proven guilty by the prosecutor that is our legal system.

The court wouldn’t hear that somebody was alleged to have stolen N3 trillion and decides to presume the person guilty, it does not work like that except the president is suggesting that we should change our legal system where the accused person is presumed guilty until he proves himself innocent. The system must work. If you presume the accused person guilty until he proves himself innocent, he does not go to jail until proper trial is conducted to enable him prove himself innocent. The president needs to be a bit lenient with his expression and the nation on the judiciary.

There are calls for the creation of special courts to try corruption cases. Would you lend voice to such call?

I feel that the case of corruption is so rampant at every level.

Local government level, state level, federal level, everybody is stealing and since this is the case perhaps the government should sponsor a bill whereby special courts would be created. Like those days when armed robbery was rampant after the civil war, cases were so much in court up to the extent the High Court could not cope, Firearms and Armed Robbery Tribunal was set up and it was able to expeditiously determined those cases because it’s a special court, it does not hear anything other than that kind of a matter. It was able to expeditiously dispose those matters.

Not a state High Court that will hear land matter today, tomor-

row criminal matter, next day, divorce matter and so on. It hears all matters likewise the Federal High Court, Admiralty matters, actions against government then you want corruption cases to be expeditiously heard? It doesn’t work like that. It will improve if these special courts are set up by law and persons with good records, the judges should not be appointed the way most judges are politically appointed. Persons with good records that have not been found wanting in any area of corruption should be appointed as judges of these courts.

In most cases because they are from indigent background, no god father, they don’t end up getting to the position they are supposed to get to. If that can be done, I am very sure the issue of corruption will reduce if not eliminated completely.

How do you view the action of the National Judicial Council in the compulsory retirement of three judges?

The National Judicial Council is a creation of the law, it is an executive body established by the federal government in accordance with the provision of section 153 of the 1999 constitution as amended to protect the judiciary of Nigeria from the whims and caprices of the executive. It also deal with the appointment of judicial officers of all superior courts of records in Nigeria. It appoints, it also can recommend punishment in case a petition is written against any serving judge.

It can recommend punishment which is subject to ratification of the state governor in case the judge is from a state High Court or the President in case the Judge is from a Federal High Court, Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court. There is no smoke without fire, the Judges that were relieved of their appointment may have had their appointments relieved consequent upon petition that must have been written against them.

And one thing that is synanymous to judiciary is the right to fair hearing, I am sure that the Judges must have been granted opportunity to defend themselves. Their sack as far as I am concerned is consequent upon the outcome of the panel that tried them. I think there could be more of these type of Judges but what the public need to do is to learn from what has just happened to these Judges that a judge is not a god. That he also has a body that regulates his activities.

Omolemen

“The court wouldn’t hear that somebody was alleged to have stolen N3 trillion and decides to presume the person guilty, it does not work like that except the president is suggesting that we should change our legal system where the accused person is presumed guilty until he proves himself innocent” So that when a judge is corrupt or is found wanting, member of the public should learn to do a petition to this body that has the constitutional responsibility to look at such a complaint and take a decisive action.

I don’t see anything bad in

what has been done. And if any of the aggrieved judges feels that the judgment passed on them is unfair I think they have right to challenge it. It can be challenge at the High Court because it is an administrative decision, it can be challenge. I would want to recommend that more of this should be done so that the other ones will learnt a lesson from what has happened to these Judges and sit up to the reality that they are the last hope not just of the masses but everybody.

Some senior lawyers have criticized the constitution of the National Judicial Council (NJC) as unconstitutional.

What is your take on this?

I learnt some senior lawyers criticized the constitution of the NJC as unconstitutional. I have not been privilege or opportune to see their criticism because the constitution is very clear on its constitution that there shall be the establishment of the following bodies namely: Code of Conduct Bureau, Council of States, Federal Character Commission, Federal Civil Service Commission, Federal Judicial Service Commission, Independent National Electoral Commission, National Defense Council, National Economic Council, National Judicial Council. So how is it unconstitutional?

Are you saying it is consti-

tutional for a Zamfara state Judge to appoint or discipline a Judge from Lagos state in a federal system of government?

What we need to address is the issue of federalism. What the senior lawyers are saying is very logical. We have to look at the whole gamut, is there federalism in Nigeria? Are we practicing federalism as it is in America?

We have to go back to reality. A situation where the state has its Court of Appeal, Supreme Court, it would have its National Judicial Commission, National Judicial Council, it would also have its own police. Before a matter goes to the Federal Supreme Court it would have been defined by the constitution the kind of matters that will leave the state to the Federal Supreme Court.

As it is now, I believe we are still practicing unitary system although we claim we are in a federal system. The condemnation should have more to do with the entire system that is not federal in nature. Why will somebody from Sokoto state who knew nothing about Edo state be the Commissioner of Police in Edo state? Is that not madness? Policing means you are familiar with the terrain, wherever the criminal is coming from you can detect him or her. That is policing.

That is why most countries in the world now have community policing because they discovered that even if you are from that terrain you still need information from the community before you can deal with any situation.

Worst still, the governor who is supposed to be the Chief Security Officer of that state does not have any control over the police because he is a federal police. I think this federalism is making people sick. I would suggest that the system should be reviewed, not only in respect off the NJC. True federalism, nothing more, we should stop pretending. We cannot be black and be pretending as if we are white. Those lawyers should be contending for true federalism.

As it stands now, what the NJC has done is what has been happening, not a new thing. State Judges immemorial that were found wanting had been sacked via the recommendation of the NJC. There was a scenario during Rotimi Amaechi tenure as governor of Rivers state where he was saying the NJC cannot tell him who to make as the Chief Judge of that state. It is an issue that has been on for a while.

28

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Tech Times Æ s

Foreign software contributes to 80%

revenue loss

in Nigeria

UNCTAD urges developing countries to grab $22trn e-commerce opportunities

Lack of skills, resources, challenge of Africa data centre -Nel

Stories by Tony Nwakaegho

Gerhard Nel, global technology operations at Standard Bank, has declared that African countries are making efforts in building up their data centre infrastructure, but lack of skills and resources are their challenges.

Nel said that Africa is the fastestgrowing region for mobile technologies and data centres is playing a big role in that demand.

“For many of the countries on the continent the infrastructure can’t yet cope with the rapidly growing interest and investment in technology,” said Nel. So many of the countries, he added are however desperately trying to develop new infrastructure to cater for the massive data growth brought by the high mobile penetration.

According to Nel, they are trying to develop their countries into first world countries, but they do not always have access to the resources they need to do this.

He noted that this presents immense opportunities for investors, but added that infrastructure service providers need to understand the environment and the problems the countries in this region face in operating and maintaining data centres.

“Because Africa is a continent and not a country – you cannot standardise how data centres are operated in this region – different markets have different levels of maturity. Every country is unique,

with different culture, requirements and expectations,” Nel pointed out.

He stressed that one of the biggest challenges for data centres in Africa is the power grid, while rapid growth of IT demand in Africa has created a massive demand for power, with data centres are running out of space and power.

Nel opined that Africa still lags behind other regions of the world with regard to electricity consumption and generation, adding that electric power in many African countries is still inaccessible, unaffordable, and highly unreliable.

About 90 percent of the rural

population in Africa, Nel explained has no access to electricity, with Ethiopia and Kenya among the most severely underpowered.

Trained staff, he said in data centre operations is still a scarcity, as most data centres in Africa are managed by IT staff who are not adequately trained in data centre operations, let alone optimisation and virtualisation strategies and optimal cooling techniques.

He disclosed that embracing changing requirements and always re-evaluating business priorities are critical to data centre success in Africa.

DATA CENTRE

Presidency, NITDA, others laud StartUP Friday IT campaigner advocates action to expand Africa’s internet connectivity

Mr. Tolu Ogunlesi, President Mohammadu Buhari’s special adviser on digital media, and Dr. Vincent Olatunji, acting director general, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), have lauded the organiser of StartUP Friday, for the monthly event which has become the vehicle for discovering and nurturing technology startups in the country.

In his remark, Dr. Olatunji said he was impressed with the rich content at the event and urged the participating startups to imbibe the spirit of entrepreneurship.

“Coming up with an idea is not enough. You need to learn the rudiment of business from established business. That is the only way Nigeria can march the foreign countries in terms of development”.

Ogunlesi on his part commended the organiser, adding: “I think it

is a good thing to witness such a large gathering of startups in the ICT ecosystem in Abuja. This is a revolution”.

StartUP Friday is organised by the Office for ICT Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIIE), a subsidiary under NITDA, as an event where nascent companies, irrespective of the sector and solution offering, gather to learn from selected CEOs of some of the established companies.

Bunmi Okunowo, national coordinator of OIIE, disclosed that StartUP Friday has increased over the months from 89 participants in February to 2,210 in July, consequently creating more funding opportunities, new ventures, new products and more markets for startups.

“This is all about community building, creating a networking opportunity that brings resourceful people within the

reach of the ecosystem. They are part of the ecosystem, and we are tapping from their experience.

Another dimension to this edition of StartUP Friday is the introduction of our new program we called FutureHACK, which is a geared towards solving tomorrow’s problem today”, he added.

Among other speakers at the occasion are Andy Madaki who advised the startups to leverage on the power of “barter and partnerships”.

Manager at Google Nigeria, Jola Makinde, also said the startups “need to be at this type of event in order to learn how to grow their businesses”.

The startups that attended the recent event include: ArtNigeria, ChowHub, Jebitum Techxion, Edves Suite and College Mobile.

Others are Huvid Connect, Poles, Persona, PiggyBank and Solar Backpack Cedarseed Foundation.

Lois Auta who, is a representative of Solar Backpack Cedarseed Foundation, said she had learnt new ways to innovate, and also expressed her expectations from the programme.

In her words: “I have met new startups executives. I have met friends whom I have not seen for over ten years. I have made new friends. The audience was inspired by my pitch presentation and I have got business connection.

I like this big platform. I look forward to more opportunities and collaborations with OIIE”.

Also speaking, the representative of College Mobile, Kingsley Ezejiaku said his expectations are to be accepted into an accelerator programme that would fast-track the development of the company, grant access to strategic partnerships and new opportunities.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

29 Tech Times

Foreign software contributes to 80% revenue loss in Nigeria Stories by Tony Nwakaegho Absence of local content policy has been attributed to 80 percent revenue loss from foreign software purchase for the country.

These dynamics of capital flight from foreign software purchase formed the interview sequence when Tony Nwakaegho met with Dr. Femi Adeluyi Assistant Chief Scientific Officer of NITDA who represented the Acting Director General NITDA, Dr Vincent Olutunji at the Tech+ 2016 in Lagos at an aside.

Adeluyi cited the Nigeria’s National Office for Technology Acquisition & Promotion (NOTAP) which evaluates and registers technology transfer agreements figures indicated that Nigeria spends $1billion annually for software imports, many of which have local substitutes.

According to him, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) also revealed that about $4.8billion is spent annually to import 48 million phones.

While UNCTAD report, he stated also indicated the importexport imbalance that in 2012 as Nigeria imported $2 billion of ICT goods but only exported $5million and that leaves the country with an Export-Import Ratio of 1:400.

Again, Nigerian branded computers represents less than 8 percent of all computers bought in Nigeria.

ADELUYI

Until recently, he stressed that 100 percent of the over 100 million smart cards (for SIM and ATMs) were imported.

Adeluyi stated that these and many more examples give NIT DA the motivation to use a Local Content Policy approach to stem

Assistant Chief Scientific Officer of NITDA

the tide.

According to him, in March 2001 the Federal Executive Council approved the National Information Technology Policy, while NITDA was established in April 2001 to implement this Policy and the NITDA’s Act was

passed in 2007.

NITDA coordinates the development of ICT in Nigeria and part of NITDA’s mandate is to serve as the clearing house for ICT in government.

NITDA’s initial approach to promoting local content, he revealed was focused on getting pronouncements from the Federal Executive Council in the form of Circulars and Directives.

He lamented that both achieved some degree of success, but they were short-lived, while it became obvious that a clear cut policy/ guideline and an institutional approach was required to achieve longer lasting success.

“This led to NITDA establishing an Office of Nigerian Content (ONC) in 2015 which is similar to the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB).However, while NCDMB focuses on the petroleum sector, ONC focuses on the ICT sector.

“ONC is a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) established as a sustainable institutional framework to enforce compliance with the regulatory Guidelines for Nigerian Content Development in ICT under the NITDA Act of 2007.”

He informed the Daily Times that what ONC is doing: “We want to ensure that our software will be at par with software produced outside the country.

We want to be able to service our

local industry as well as be able to export. We have the Indians exporting a lot of their soft wares and it is generating revenue for the government, we also want to do that for the government here.

We have a young population that loves ICT so we want to take advantage of that.”

Commenting on the impact of the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) stakeholders meeting with ONC, Adeluyi said that there is actually a draft policy that they are working with, adding the ONC is discussing with them to ensure that they have support services, create the market for them as well as create the capacity for them.

On the other hand, he explained that the agency is working on creating the market for them in the sense that government establishments should patronize them, while they have to meet a certain standard failing which the agency will sanction them.

“I want to assure you that even though you have not seen the effect yet, you will see it very soon,” he added.

He pointed out that the enforcement of the policy has not taken effect yet because the agency is still educating them about it, but the enforcement will start when the Agency has started the implementation of government establishments buying from them.

CWG Plc pledges to offer ATM as service to financial institutions

AGADA

Chief Executive Officer of Computer WareHouse

Computer Warehouse Group Plc, Nigeria’s foremost indigenous IT Company with operations in four African countries has declared that it will be offering ATM as a service, with the ultimate aim of delivering result to financial service institutions, which enable them to focus on their core operations.

Mr. James Agada, Chief Executive

Officer of the Company, disclosed this while making a presentation at a recent workshop organised by CWG Plc for ICT Editors in Nigeria at the company’s headquarter in Lagos.

ATM as a service, according to Agada, would cover up for some of the lapses associated with the use of ATM in Nigeria.

He added that ATM remains the most significant and primary agent of financial inclusion in Nigeria, which give financial service to a greater number of Nigerians, even in the rural areas.

Agada affirmed that some of the agency banking are most times not reliable, and currently, he said banks in Nigeria spend on an average about N637, 047 on a monthly basis over 5 years on ATM outright purchase, translating to N38 million in those 5 years.

“But with ATM as a service initiative, where the outcome is only expected, the IT integration company can help the banks make a saving of a minimum of 20 percent in comparison.

“In other words, CWG can offer the banks NGN 509,638 on a monthly basis over 5 years. Meaning, the banks would be spending N 31 million over 5 years instead of N38 million.

“The ATM as a service initiative is outcome based, whereby it is expected that you pay for the outcome and not the technology. It frees your enterprise to focus on what it does and not the technology itself. We believe that the initiative will increase bank ATM deployment and coverage and ensure cost savings based on ATM volumes,” he said.

Agada assured that the initiative would help increase ATM in the country to the expected 60,000, instead of the 15,000 that are presently deployed across Nigeria, where CWG is servicing 4,500.

CWG boss said the company will provide the service with its vast infrastructure that ensures efficient service delivery to its clients across Africa.

He list the infrastructure to include: technical service centre (ATM repair

centre); Tier 3 data centre; satellite uplink facility; customer service centre; monitoring centre; training centre; application delivery and support team, and software development team.

“We have the expertise housed in CWG Plc, which ensures that we are able to provide the following services: ATM as a service; ATM Deployment, monitoring solution, logistics, handling of spares / parts replacement, secondary power solution & support, value added services, call centre services, multiple vendor Management & Software upgrades,” he assured.

Commenting on some of the security challenges surrounding ATM and how best they can be resolved, Agada said, though technology will not stop all kinds of ATM fraud, it’s imperative to have cameras, anti phishing devices and encrypting technology installed on the ATM. He noted that this would go a long way to check the excesses of the would-be fraudsters.

Tech Times 30

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Nigeria to promote innovations, SMEs and Startups @ ITU Telecom World 2016

UNCTAD urges developing countries to grasp $22trn e-commerce opportunities Stories by Tony Nwakaegho The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has appealed to the developing countries to grasp the rapidly growing opportunity of electronic commerce – e-commerce – worth around $22.1 trillion in 2015, up 38 per cent from 2013, or risk falling quickly behind.

The electronic commerce – e-commerce which is worth around $22.1 trillion in 2015 is indeed a rapidly growing opportunity for over 138 developing countries including Nigeria.

The United Nations Conference

on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) made this disclosure again recently at the launch of a new e-commerce initiative ahead of UNCTAD 14.

Mukhisa Kituyi, SecretaryGeneral, UNCTAD said: “A huge divide is opening between countries that are exploiting those opportunities and those that are not.”

The new initiative, called “eTrade for All”, brings international organisations, donors and businesses under one umbrella, easing developing country access to cutting-edge technical assistance and giving donors more options for funding.

UNCTAD said that by providing new opportunities and new markets, online commerce, it could help generate economic opportunities, including jobs.

However, while more than 70 percent of people are shopping online in Denmark, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom, the situation is different in most developing countries. In Bangladesh, Ghana and Indonesia, for instance, just 2 percent or less of the population buy online.

Kituyi citing the new UNCTAD data said that E-commerce which includes both businessto-business (B2B) and businessto-consumer (B2C), respectively

valued at around $19.9 trillion and $2.2 trillion each.

This trade is typically domestic, but is now becoming more and more international.

The new UNCTAD data indicated that e-commerce is growing rapidly, with emerging economies accounting for most of this growth.

China now ranks as the world’s largest B2C e-commerce market, both in terms of sales and in number of online shoppers, while Brazil, India, the Republic of Korea and the Russian Federation have also all moved into the top 10 e-commerce markets.

Huawei joins Smart Africa Alliance to drive Africa’s digital transformation

Huawei has declared that it has joined the Smart Africa Alliance as Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) advisor and Platinum member at the Smart Africa Board Meeting in its efforts to drive digital transformation in Africa.

Smart Africa is a bold and innovative commitment from African Heads of State and Government to accelerate sustainable socio-economic development on the continent, ushering Africa into a knowledge economy through affordable access to Broadband and usage of Information and Communications Technologies.

Paul Kagame, president of Rwanda, has revealed the Smart Africa Manifesto, the foundation of this initiative, is based on 5 principles: To put ICT at the center of our national socioeconomic development agenda; To improve access to ICT especially Broadband; To improve accountability, efficiency and openness through ICT; To put the Private Sector First; To leverage ICT to promote sustainable development.

Dr. Hamadoun Touré, executive

upgrade the digitalization of every industry, and promote the knowledge-sharing and skill transfer. We will continuously support the Smart Africa initiative, in collaboration with all related stakeholders to increase the connectivity of Africa, and build a smart Africa together. ” Huawei joined the Board Meeting of Smart Africa, and L-R: Paul Kagame, the President of Rwanda(left 5), H.E. Alpha Conde, shared its insights on how to the President of Guinea(left 6), H.E. Ali Bongo Ondimba, the President of leverage ICT to develop Africa’s Gabon(right 5), Dr. Hamadoun Touré, Executive Director of Smart Africa social-economy with board Secretariat(right 4), Jimmy Pang, Huawei Vice President(right2), Brahima Sanou, members of Smart Africa, Director of the Telecommunications development Bureau of ITU(right 1). head of states from African director of Smart Africa us to partner with African countries, including the host of Secretariat extended a warm governments, ITU, GSMA, the the 27th African Union Summit, welcome to Huawei: “One of the World Bank, and all the other Paul Kagame, the President of key objectives of the Smart Africa Smart Africa members, to Rwanda, who is also the chairman initiative is to strengthen the transform Africa through ICTs. of the Smart Africa Board.

Public-Private collaboration to We believe Huawei’s expertise Huawei entered Africa in accelerate the ICT development in and experience will promote 1998, and has been improving Africa.

African countries’ digital connectivity in over 50 African “As a global leading ICT economy and improve their global countries through providing solutions provider, Huawei competitiveness.” advanced telecom network has been continuously making Jimmy Pang, Huawei, vice services and affordable smart significant contributions to president discussed the Smart devices. provide telecom connectivity, Africa’s vision at the Board Huawei will assist Smart especially broadband connections Meeting with ICT ministers Africa to deploy its flagship to Africa, giving African people from various African countries, projects, and push Africa’s access to affordable broadband and said: “The key to accelerate digital economy through network. We are more than Africa’s digital economy is to experience-sharing and ICT happy that Huawei has joined improve ICT infrastructure, talents cultivation.

The Nigerian government through its agency, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said it is set to promote Nigerians with innovative ideas in the areas of e-environment, e-agriculture, e-education, e-health and e-commerce at this year’s International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Telecom World, scheduled to hold in Bangkok, Thailand 14th to 17th November.

In addition, the commission revealed that the government will use the global platform to encourage technology hubs and entrepreneurship in the area of e-finance and e-government, adding that the ITU Telecom World provides a platform to accelerate Information and Communications Technology innovation for social and economic development.

“The ITU provides a platform, where policy makers and regulators meet industry experts, investors, SMEs, entrepreneurs and innovators.

We want to sponsor entries in the above categories as part of the Nigeria’s delegation to ITU Telecom World 2016,” the NCC announced in an advertorial signed by Tony Ojobo, Director of Public Affairs.

The Commission stated further that participation at the ITU Telecom World 2016 will afford the winners the opportunity to showcase their innovation to the international community at the Nigeria pavilion.

NCC stated further that for those interested should send a detailed power point presentation of the innovation that is driven by ICT, which positively impact on the socioeconomic development of the community to the Commission, as entries close

by August 4, 2016.

As part of its effort to give exposure to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country, NCC has also promised to sponsor some SMEs in the above listed categories to the ITU Telecom World 2016.

The commission believes that SMEs and Start-ups are critical to ensuring economic growth in a sustainable and inclusive manner.

“SMEs represent an essential source of economic growth in an industrialized countries, as well as in emerging economies,” NCC statement added.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

31 Tech Times

IT campaigner advocates action to expand Africa’s internet connectivity

OMOBOLA

Stories by Tony Nwakaegho

Dr. Omobola Johnson, Chairperson of Alliance for Affordable Internet, has stressed that the continent of Africa needs bold actions from all quarters if the challenges of internet connectivity must be tackled effectively.

Dr Johnson made these assertions while delivering her speech at the just concluded Techplus 2016 held at Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Dr Johnson leads an alliance of World Wide Web Foundation comprising more than 80 members from the civil society,

Chairperson of Alliance for Affordable Internet

the public and private sectors.

The initiative has a vision to ensure that everyone, everywhere can afford a fast, reliable Internet connection.

Dr. Johnson noted at the Africa’s biggest technology conference that although the United Nations has set a new global goal: universal, affordable Internet access for all by the year 2020, the reality is that Africa still has a long way to go to achieve this goal.

Her words: “Across our continent, just 1 in 5 people is online today. What’s more, growth is slowing and recent statistics from the NCC have shown that

CECAD urges FG to declare October ‘Nigerian National Cybersecurity Awareness’ month

Centre for Cyber Awareness and Development (CECAD), a media stakeholder group and a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has called on the federal government, through the office of the National Security Adviser to adopt October as the Nigerian National Cybersecurity Awareness month as it is being done globally.

The group vindicated its position on the increasing threats of cyber-attacks to national security, economic crimes, political instability and social insecurity as a result of the vulnerability of national, corporate and private databases through identity theft.

The Group in a statement signed and made available to the Daily Times in Lagos, by Olubayo Abiodun, director of Communications, said it is set to work and collaborate with the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) to President Muhammadu Buhari in order to boost the multi-stakeholders awareness across government, corporate institutions and private citizens through the principles of the Public Private Partnership (PPP).

“The month-long series of activities would be delineated to accommodate sectorial weekly, emphasises on every facets of the lives of the nation and its people.s

over the past year, Internet use in Africa grew by just 1.8 percent. At this rate, it will take decades for Africa to reach the Internet usage levels currently seen in Europe. A recent report by the Alliance for Affordable Internet shows that at current trends, we won’t achieve universal internet access until the year 2042 — over 20 years beyond the target date set by the UN”.

According to her, the way out of this situation is for Africa to promote tech advancement, invest in quality education for youth, continuous skills training for workers and for all stakeholders to understand the importance of the continuous IT revolution.

She added that technology has now become a key driver to development, because technological revolutions underpin economic advances, improvements in business, health systems, education and infrastructure.

“The technological revolutions of the 21st century are emerging from entirely new sectors, based on micro-processors, telecommunications, bio-technology and nano-technology. The most remarkable breakthroughs will come from the interaction of insights and applications arising when these technologies converge,” she said.

Also speaking at the event Lagos State Commissioner for Science and Technology, Mr. Olufemi Odubiyi noted that access and application of technology has become quite critical in today’s

society.

He stressed that service and technology are the differentiators between countries that are able to tackle poverty effectively by growing and developing their economies, and those that can’t.

The commissioner who was represented by Mr. Jide Adenuga, Director of Computer Service in the State said, the extent to which developing economies emerge as economic powerhouses depends on their ability to grasp and apply insights from science and technology and use them creatively.

Mr. Tunji Adeyinka, Managing Director of Connect Marketing – organisers of the conference – commented that, TechPlus has come at the right time to tap into the buzz surrounding technology in the country.

“We see our platform as a catalyst which will bring together the entire ecosystem together. When we started we were looking to create a platform that would allow companies, individuals and businesses in the tech space to bring together customers, clients and for all players to showcase their products and services. Before now, we had lots of talk shops, but this event is meant to be a practical opportunity to talk about technology and feel the impact that technology has on different parts of life both from a business perspective and from a consumer perspective,” Adeyinka stressed.

“And this among others will include weekly awareness focus on government and its agencies, banks and financial institutions, education, health, tourism, transport, military/security communities.

“The central theme would be on how to enhance safer connections to the Internet without compromising corporate and individual safety.

Families will also enjoy primary attention in the course of the awareness programme in order to ensure the safety of all and sundry, particularly children from dangers inherent in the uncontrolled access,” Abiodun stated.

The media stakeholders highlighted that csriminals, terrorists, and countries with the intent to harm have found the information superhighway a veritable platform to execute their attacks.

“To this radicalized minds, attack online is often easier to

execute because across the world, corporate and national and individualized information are being digitalized in conformity with transformation of the global community into information society (digital economy); which encompasses e-government, e-commerce, e-health, cashless society, e-learning, digital entertainment, and e-agriculture among other electronic engagements in all spheres of life.

“As more and more sensitive data is stored online, the consequences of those attacks grow more significant each year. And by this implication, the group stated that E-fraud is now the fastest growing crime in Nigeria.

“As a consequent of this, the Nigerian nation and its citizens have been under increasing threat from cyber-attacks following the proliferation of digital platforms in the rapid integration of its social, political and economic facets into the digital economy.

NTLA honours Danbatta as ‘Telecom Personality of year 2016’ The Executive Vice-Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Professor Umar Garba Danbatta was honoured with an award as the “Telecom Personality of the Year” at the 2016 Nigerian Telecom Lecture and Awards (NTLA) which was held recently in Lagos.

The award ceremony was held with lecture and serves as a platform to discuss and interact for the benefits of exchanging ideas about how to improve the telecoms industry in Nigeria.

Prof. Dambatta in his remarks reiterated the steps the NCC has taken to ensure that all telcos operating in Nigeria get listed on the Stock exchange as an important milestone reached by the commission.

He also reiterated that the sector has raised it’s 3.5 percent contribution to the GDP in 2015 to 5 per cent in Q1 2016 which translates to about N1.4 trillion according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

He reiterated that in 2009, there were over one billion fixed and mobile broadband subscriptions globally of which North America and Europe accounted for about 975 million of the figure while south Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa merely accounted for 3 percent of this figure and that this informed government to set up a task force which produced Nigeria’s broadband plan.

“There is an inequality squarely facing Nigeria on fixed and mobile broadband subscriptions which could create another digital divide if not confronted squarely.

“We will like to invite you who are here to another event the NCC will be organising to give a progress report on the journey so far.” Dambatta said.

He said that this is in line with the Commission’s 8-point agenda, adding that “Broadband networks are as important as Power, Water, Transport, as well as other sectors important to the socio-economic development of any country.”

The NCC boss congratulated all other winners of awards as having made contributions to making the telecom industry in Nigeria better than it was before now.

DANBATTA

Executive Vice-Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)

Published by FOLIO COMMUNICATIONS LTD, Lateef Jakande Road, Agidingbi, Ikeja. email: info@dailytimes.ng Tel: 018447948.

DAILY EDITOR: BIODUN DUROJAIYE

TUESDAY, JULY 26, 2016

VOL. 2. NO.159

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P 17

admonishes football administrators

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Anti-corruption:

Buhari tasks NFF, welcomes FIFA reforms

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Founder, Folio Media Group/Publisher Daily Times Nigeria, Fidelis Anosike (left) welcomes FIFA President, Mr Gianni Infantino in Abuja on Monday.

Mikel joins Dream TeamVI camp in Atlanta

Mikel

C

helsea star Mikel Obi has finally hit the training camp of the Nigeria Olympic team in Atlanta, Georgia, after a slight flight delay.

AfricanFoootball.com exclusively revealed that the highly influential Super Eagles skipper arrived the camp at 1pm Nigerian time.

“A close source to Coach Samson

Siasia said: “Yes, Mikel Obi is here at last despite all the talks going on in the media that he won’t join us. We are very happy to receive him.

“In fact the chief coach himself was very happy when he received him personally at the hotel camp of the team this morning.

“He has told the chief coach that he is happy to join the team and he can’t

wait to join the team’s training this evening.

“He also told the coach that he would have joined the team on Sunday as he had earlier promised the coach. He said that bad weather forced his cancellation of his flight from Sunday to Monday.”

resident Muhammadu Buhari on Monday in Abuja said his administration would pay keen interest to accountability and transparency to fast-track football development in the country.

The president stated this when he received Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) President, Gianni Infantino, and the Secretary-General, Fatma Samoura, at State House.

Buhari challenged football administrators to fashion out strategic programmes to develop the game.

W h i l e congratulating the duo on their election, particularly Samoura, the first African and female to be elected FIFA SecretaryGeneral, he welcomed Infantino’s programme to reform football through transparency, anti-corruption and good governance.

He pledged Nigeria’s support to FIFA president’s reform agenda, noting that they were similar to those his presidency had outlined to resuscitate Nigeria.

“Majority of Nigerians are

married to football.

“In the rural areas, when there is no electricity and there is a game to watch, Nigerians go to the extent of renting small generators, popularly known as ‘I better-pass-my neighbour’ to watch the game. ‘‘We will take the development of football very seriously and I encourage the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to behave itself and organise effective competitions for the good of the game,” he said.

“Accountability is serious business and I welcome you (Infantino) into the club of accountable Chief Executive Officers,” the President added.

Earlier, Infantino had asked the Nigerian authorities to pay attention to infrastructure and find a lasting solution to the problem of violence and insecurity at match venues. ‘‘I foresee Nigeria as a bedrock for the development of the game in Africa; however, infrastructure, stability and security are needed to make this happen,” he said.

The FIFA officials were accompanied by the Minister of Youths and Sports, Mr Solomon Dalung, NFF President, Amaju Pinnick and President, Nigeria Olympic Committee, Habu Gumel.

Business Times Daily Times Nigeria

NLC, ITUC-Africa meet to review labour data Page B2

MPC outcome: Analysts want FG, CBN to develop how to manage economy in recession Page B3

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

FG’s construction projects will create more jobs – Ngige Page B4

Gas scarcity: Power supply drops by 50%

Opeoluwani Akintayo

The new Group Managing Director, GMD of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Maikanti Baru, has said that supply of gas for power supply has dropped by 50 percent.

He revealed this during his visit to the Defence Headquarters, Abuja.

According to Baru, the estimated drop of about 50% from 1,400Million standard cubic feet of gas per day, (MMscf/d), to barely 700MMscf/d, resulting to sig-

nificant power outage exposure of between 2500MW to 3000 MW as a result of direct and indirect impact, has been recorded.

He then made a passionate appeal to the Nigerian military to help secure critical oil and gas infrastructure and curb the losses

incurred by the Corporation due to pipeline vandals and oil thieves.

The Buhari Government had, in June 2015, a month after it took office, terminated the pipeline surveillance and protection contracts awarded to both ethnic militia and other individuals by

Total L – R: Communications Manager, Total Nigeria Plc, Mrs Chinwe Ifechiga; PS Ministry of Woman Affairs Funding, Delta State, Mr Sunday A. Omamofo; Executive Director (Strategy), Total Nigeria Plc, Prince Jeff Nnamanii handing over certificate to one of the participating staff of Total for the community preventive health education training on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and malaria, in Asaba... recently.

Scarcity of Aviation fuel abates Chukwuemeke Iwelunmo Scarcity of Aviation fuel in the country has continued to abate especially at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport Abuja following the supply of the product there.

Investigation by the Daily Times revealed that with supply coming in little quantities, airlines have started taking the product and commenced flight operations.

However, passengers still groan as the supply of Jet A1 was yet to get to all airlines.

At the MMA2, Dana Air, Azman Airlines and Aero Contractors operated in and out of the terminal to various destinations on Mon-

day.

According to the Dana image maker, Kingsley Ezenwa, aviation fuel, jet A1 now sells for N250 per litre and was being supplied by only one marketer.

He told the Daily Times that that it has not negatively affected their operations but only few cancelations between Sunday and Monday.

Ezenwa appealed to the government to resolve the issue as most passengers were not ready to know reason why airlines were canceling flights.

The scarcity of Aviation fuel has led to rise in air fares and compounded by shortage of aircraft, thereby increasing the pressure on the existing airlines and

Ï M ƃ ƉƉ ƅ ƍ ƍƄ Ǝƍ Ɔ Ǝ capacity. Nigeria’s oldest airline, Aero Contractors had many of its airplanes ferried out of the shores of Nigeria for maintenance and about four of the airplanes are yet to return.

It was learnt that Medview, Dana and Arik among others, also have some of their airplanes out for maintenance.

The implication is that demand outweighs supply, leading to full flights by many of the carriers for the few passengers they airlift.

An hour flight from Lagos to Abuja for instance, has jumped from between N16, 000 and N17, 000 to between N23, 000 and N28, 000 depending on time of ticket

purchase.

The fare could be more if tickets are bought shortly before a trip and that could be as high as N30, 000 and N32, 000 depending on availability of seats for just a one way flight.

Jet A1 has now jumped to N250 per litre and above. Before now, it used to be between N85 and N90 per litre depending on place of purchase.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has called on all passengers who are experiencing the attendant flight delays and cancellations arising from the scarcity of Aviation fuel to exercise restraint.

former President Goodluck Jonathan.

During the visit, Baru told the Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Olonishakin, “From January to May 2016, almost 1,447 cases of pipeline hackCONTINUED ON PAGE B2

Techplus signposts Nigeria’s role in Africa’s technology revolution As over 10,000 participants and notable technology thought leaders converge in Lagos for Techplus 2016, Chairperson of Alliance for Affordable Internet Dr. Omobola Johnson and other tech experts have highlighted Nigeria’s key role in Africa’s highly anticipated technology revolution.

Giving her opening remark at Africa’s biggest technology conference, Dr. Omobola Johnson, stated that developments in technology are fundamentally altering the way people live, connect, communicate and transact. These developments, in her view, have had profound effects on economic development in Nigeria and Africa at large. According to her, to promote tech advancement, developing countries should invest in quality education for youth, continuous skills trainCONTINUED ON PAGE B2

Glo announces ‘Do not Disturb’ service with code 2442Nigeria’s grandmasters of data, Globacom, has launched ‘Do not disturb’ service code in line with the directive of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on unsolicited calls and text messages.

The code empowers subscribers to control unsolicited text messages and calls on the Glo network by giving them the prerogative of choosing messages or calls they wish to receive or block.

“Do Not Disturb” is a self-service platform for subscribers to manage all promotional messages sent to their lines with the option CONTINUED ON PAGE B2

Business News B2

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Techplus signposts Nigeria’s role in Africa’s technology revolution

Glo announces ‘Do not Disturb’ service with code 2442-

CONTINUED FROM PAGE B1

CONTINUED FROM PAGE B1

ing for workers and managers for all stakeholders to understand the importance of the continuous revolution.

She also added that technology has now become a key driver to development, because technological revolutions underpin economic advances, improvements in business, health systems, education and infrastructure. Her words, “The technological revolutions of the 21st century are emerging from entirely new sectors, based on micro-processors, telecommunications, bio-technology and nano-technology. Products are transforming business practices across the economy, as well as the lives of all who have access to their effects. The most remarkable breakthroughs will come from the interaction of insights and applications arising when these technologies converge”.

Also speaking at the event, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Job Creation/ Youth Employment, Mr. Afolabi Imuokhuede who represented the Vice President, noted that access and application of technology has become quite critical in today’s society. He stressed that service and technology are the differentiators between countries that are able to tackle poverty effectively by growing and developing their economies, and those that can’t.

of either opting in or out.

Globacom, in a press statement in Lagos on Sunday, urged subscribers interested in using the service to text ‘help’ to a short code ‘2442’ to receive a list of fields from which they want to receive or block unsolicited messages.

The statement said that subscribers interested in receiving information on Banking, Insurance and Financial products can send 1 to 2442, while subscribers are required to send 2 to 2442 to receive information on Real Estate.

Those interested in having information related to Education only need to send 3 to the short code, 2442.

Gas scarcity: Power supply drops by 50% CONTINUED FROM PAGE B1

ing was recorded resulting to a loss of 109Million litres of petrol and 560,000 barrels of crude oil to refineries posing a great threat to the nation’s economy and the 2016 Federal budget. Olonishakin responded that that the Defence Headquarters and the armed forces were duty bound to support and provide the NNPC with all necessary security support because of its strategic role in ensuring the economic survival of the nation.

He stated that over 3,000 vandalism incidents were recorded every year from 2010-2015. In 2015 alone, pipeline losses of PMS volume of over 643Million litres valued at over N51.28Billion was incurred. ”The 2016 National budget plan was based on 2.2Million barrels per day of crude oil production.

However, the budget plan is now grossly impacted due to renewed militancy: with about 700, 000 bpd of oil production curtailed due to pipeline vandalism,” he said.

AAAN

L-R: Vice- President of Advertising Agencies Association of Nigeria (AAAN), Ikechi Odigbo ; The President of The Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN ), David Okeme ; AAAN President, Kayode Oluwasana and first Vice President of ADVAN, Joan Ihekwaba when executives of AAAN visited ADVAN Secretariat, Lagos recently.

NLC, ITUC-Africa meet Analyst berates government’s role in business to review labour data Joy Ekeke The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in collaboration with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUCAfrica) will meet to review available information on labour practices on the continent.

They would be meeting under the auspices of a two- day regional conference in Abuja, tagged “Advancing Decent Work in Global Supply Chains in Africa”.

The ITUC represents 180 million workers in 162 countries and territories, with 333 national affiliates including the Nigeria Labour Congress.

The regional planning meeting will be in Nigeria on Monday and Tuesday, July 25 – 26, 2016.

A statement signed by the NLC General Secretary, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, said the General Secretary of ITUC-Brussels, Belgium, Ms Sharan Burrow, would attend the conference as well as other trade union offi-

cials from Belgium, Ghana, Kenya, Niger, Zambia, Senegal and South Africa.

“The regional conference in Nigeria will bring together union leaders with their campaign coordinators from the targeted countries.

“Examine research relating to footprint of largest companies operating in Africa. Correlate national campaign priorities with research and deepen campaign planning.”

Ayuba

Afolabi Adesola For the nation’s economy to rebound, the General Secretary, Association of stockbroking houses of Nigeria (ASHON), Mr. Akinsola Akeredolu-Ale, has said government does not have any business in running the economy but to provide enabling environment for businesses to thrive.

According to him, what the government should be doing instead, is to continuously relinquish affairs of the economy to the capital market, the money market and to the experts to run, and empower them, rather than focus on playing more roles which will end up stifling the private sector.

“Government by a way of double digit interest rate still controls the finance industry on the one hand. As long as Federal government continues to issue bond at 13 per cent to 14 per cent, they are effectively giving money and collecting the funds back from the public.”

“The Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) is supposed to regulate economy in such a way that commerce should grow. The day CBN decides to reduce MPR to about nine per cent; you will see investors rushing back into the capital market, then the equities market will grow.

“When the MPR rate is at 13 per cent - 14 per cent, the nation’s capital market will not grow.” he said.

On this, the Central Bank of Nigeria 251stMonetary Policy Committee meeting commences from today and experts expressed that CBN might introduce new policy to tackle inflation rate and scarcity of foreign exchange.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its recent report disclosed that the nation’s inflation rate hits 11-year record high of 16.5 per cent.

CBN at the last MPC meeting had retained the MPR at 12 per cent; Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 22.50 per cent and liquidity ratio at 30.00 per cent.

IPMAN gets license to import kerosene, diesel ... To build refinery in Nigeria Opeoluwani Akintayo The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has said that it will start to import kerosene and diesel into the country to ease the suffering of Nigeria.

Mr Chinedu Okoronkwo, the

association’s National President disclosed this on weekend.

According to him, in addressing the ongoing scarcity and hike of Kerosene and Diesel in the country, the association will partner some major stakeholders in the country to make its goal a reality.

Okoronkwo said that the association had been given license to import kerosene and diesel into

the country, adding that IPMAN had also concluded agreement with its foreign partners to finance the importation.

He said the importation would ease the suffering of Nigerians as soon as the products land in a couple of weeks. He also assured products would be at affordable prices.

He pointed out the need both government and marketers to en-

sure availability of the products to the benefit of the consumers.

According to him, this would go a long way to improving on the nation’s economy and bringing about development in the oil and gas sector. ``We, IPMAN have entered into partnership with some multinationals to assist the Federal Government to make petroleum products available in the country.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

B3 Money Market

MPC outcome: Analysts want FG, CBN to develop how to manage economy in recession Stories by Motolani Oseni Contrary to the belief that the Nigerian economy is heading towards recession, some financial analysts have said that the country is already in recession but tasked the economic team of the President Muhammodu Buhari administration and the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to critically look into how to manage the economy during recession, as the committee concludes the 251st edition of its meetings today.

As crude oil prices dived lower, threatening to dip below $40 a barrel for the first time since the financial crisis of 2008 and notching their longest losing streak since 1986, economies around the world are catching cold.

In view of this, the former

...Expect no changes in economic indices President/Chairman, Chattered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, CIBN, and current Managing Director/CEO, Maxifund Investment and Security Plc, Mazi Okechukwu Unegbu, told our correspondent on Monday on phone that the MPC and the federal government must not come up with any long term planning, because in a recession you don’t make long term plans.

Unegbu said, “I do not agree with people saying we are heading to recession, because we have been in recession right from the last quarter of 2015, it is just that people were padding figures here and there.”

For instance, the nation has consistently recorded negative inflation for three consecutive quarters, “what they should be

talking about is how to manage the economy for recession, by devising new ways of managing the economy”, he said.

He warned the committee not to make a mistake of tampering with the flexible exchange rate for now, adding that it is just a new policy but all they need to do is to thinker with the other aspects of the economy.

“For instance, what is our productive base? Nobody is planning for production but only talking on consumption.

“The president and the finance minister must look outside the box to see more people, in order to get more suggestions on how to manage the decaying Nigerian economy.

“I don’t think they should change anything for now but to

leave the monetary indices the way they are, because changing any of them now would result in flip flop, but must be able to thinker with some of the things to stabilises the economy”, he noted.

Also, speaking exclusively with Daily Times on phone on Monday, Managing Director/ CEO, GTI Securities, Mr. Babatunde Oyekunle, said that the committee have to consider so many factors, but believes it is very important to consider the projected global slower economic growth due to the Brexit.

He explained that Nigeria is currently battling with the rise in headline inflation at 16.5 percent coming from 15.3 percent in May, with the first Quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

at 36 basis point negative which is not very good for the economic growth the country, couple with the challenges of insecurity, vandalisation of pipelines, devaluation of the Nigerian currency, naira, among many other critical issues they need to consider.

His words: “With the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) at 12 percent, they may want to increase or decrease it, but increasing the MPR in a contrasting economy is not very good, because it will slow down the economy growth, and at the same time, although it may boost liquidity of dollars which will definitely generate foreign direct portfolio into the country, but due to the state of the Nigerian economy, I expect them to come up with an urgent outcome to stimulate the economy.

ABCON commends CBN directive on sales of forex to BDCs The President, Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, has commended the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on its directive in ensuring that forex authorised dealers sell foreign currency accruing from inward money remittances to licensed Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators.

He said that the new directive of the apex bank on foreign exchange (FX) will stem exchange pressure currently being experienced in the country.

Gwadebe added that the directive will help determine a realistic exchange rate in the FX market and make local currency at the inter-bank market sovereign.

CBN in a recent circular signed by Acting Director, Trade & Exchange, Mr. W. D Gotring, had authorized dealers who are agents to approved International Money Transfer Operators to sell foreign currency accruing from inward money remittances to licensed Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators.

In his response to an inquiry, the ABCON president in a text message said that BDC

operators welcomed the development, and that the CBN should be commended.

According to him, the directive by CBN to the banks is laudable and a welcome development.

The message reads: “It will also help to determine a realistic exchange rate in the market and making naira a sovereign currency. The new directive will stem spikes in exchange rate in the economy.

The banks are directed to sell the proceeds of money transfers to BDCs and it is clear with no ambiguity. We are talking of the total $21 billion Diaspora remittances into the country.”

He, however, urged CBN to holistically monitor FX utilisation by authorized dealers across the country.

“The CBN should henceforth demand the sources and utilisation of the inflow from banks on daily and weekly basis,” Gwadabe stated.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had released its world economic report which shows that Nigeria’s economy would contract in 2016 due to foreign currency shortages arising from lower oil prices, and low power generation.

L-R: Emmanuel Daniel, Chairman, The Asian Banker International PTE Ltd; Patrick Akinwunmi, Group Executive, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI); Matt Dooley, Managing Director, Connected Thinking and Jasper Roos, Chief Inspiration Officer, XI, Family and Founding, Partner, Ventures during the presentation of awards to Ecobank, winners of Customer Relationship Management of the Year, Retail Risk Management Initiative of the Year and Best Business Model Execution in West Africa 2015 in Lagos…recently CLOSING FX & MONEY MARKET RATES 21/7/16 Rate

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Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

FG’s construction projects will create more jobs – Ngige Stories by Joy Ekeke The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Nwabueze Ngige, has disclosed why the Federal Government chose to channel about 80 percent of funds so far released for the capital projects in the 2016 budget to the construction industry.

Ngige said the decision was taken based on the strategic role of the sector in job creation and the resuscitation of the economy.

He made this disclosure while receiving the leadership of Con-

struction and Civil Engineering Senior Staff Association yesterday in Abuja.

He said, “The capital releases of the government stand at N247 billion out of which a larger chunk has gone to the construction industry in five ministries -Works and Housing with about N120 billion or there about. Transport- the construction angle of it, rail and others account for another large chunk. So in effect, 80 per cent of N247 billion so far released has gone to the construction industry. ‘’The idea is that government

wants to reflate the economy and put money in the hands of the people through these construction companies that have millions of Nigerians in their employ.”

He urged the construction companies to reciprocate government gesture by swiftly mobilizing to site and recalling all workers earlier disengaged to forestall worsening unemployment index and further aggravate the fragile security situation in the country.

“For the little we have done, we want to see you people in action. Another chunk of money is

going to be paid as the economy improves and things get better.

The budget also has a special provision for settling outstanding debts and for the completion of on-going projects. Through this, government intends to take away our youths from idleness, fruitfully engage them, and avoid making them easy recruits for insurgents.”

On the abuse of the expatriate quota which the union highlighted as one of the bane of the sector, the Minister said the situation where expatriates take over positions

meant for Nigerians, even as low as the menial, was unacceptable.

“I have already sent a letter to the Ministry of Interior. I want us to engage the Ministries that are in charge of infrastructures like Transport, Housing, Work and Agriculture so we can have session on job creation and how to protect Nigerians and their rightful quota on jobs. A situation where we have foreigners driving heavy duty and other menial jobs is unacceptable.

These are not jobs captured in the immigration Act for the expatriates.”

PENGASSAN seeks protection from militants

Beneficiaries of the MTN Foundation Hearing Aid Project, Mr. Jamilu Umar and Mr. Muntari Ibrahim receiving hearing aid devices from Senior Manager Government Affairs MTN Nigeria, Mr. Austin Iyashere and representative of International Centre for Prevention of Deafness and Rehabilitation of Hearing Impaired Persons, Dr, Audu Anthony Eneche during the MTN Foundation hearing aid distribution in Katsina recently.

IndustriALL Commends Dangote’s job creation efforts in Africa IndustriALL Global Union, a labour solidarity organisation with over 50 million workers in 140 countries, cutting across different sectors of the global economy, has commended the Dangote Group for creating over 24,000 jobs across the continent.

Issa Aremu, Africa regional chairman of the organisation, who spoke weekend at a network meeting organised by IndustriALL, in Lagos, however, urged Aliko Dangote, chairman of the Dangote conglomerate, to lend support to the unionisation drive of workers.

According to Aremu, Dangote Group’s effort at industrialisation of Africa can be better ap-

preciated when viewed against the creation of over 24,000 direct jobs in different African countries.

“Dangote is the only African that is re-industrialising Africa.

He stimulates growths and creates more employments for the huge population in its branches across the continent,’’ he said.

Aremu observed that it was time for the Dangote Group to enter into mutual rewarding engagement with relevant unions to unionise the workers, saying that union presence was pertinent in a company to enable it function effectively and to prevent sabotage and absentees by workers.

“It is time for Dangote Group

to ensure there is respect for minimum labour standard in accordance with the law by allowing workers in the company to freely belong to a union. As partners in progress, members of the IndustriALL Global will support and cooperate with the company and ensure business-friendly unionisation.

“There is need to ensure that anybody who wants to produce does not enslave a worker. We need decent work and we must show that we can complement investment,’’ Aremu said.

He also called on the government to provide favourable environment for investment as well as improve development of infrastructure.

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has said that the threat by the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), warning National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), PENGASSAN and expatriates to leave all oil fields and terminals in the region, should not be taken for granted.

National President of the Association, Comrade Olabode Johnson reacting to threat, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure the protection of its members working in the Niger Delta Region, stressing that without securing the environment, investments won’t come.

The Avengers have in recent time, blown oil pipelines in the region, with a renewed threat to attack the workers if they failed to leave, threatening that “things will get dirty very soon.”

Comrade Johnson, who was speaking at the 3rd Women in PENGASSAN National Conference/ Workshop, also said the association is presently engaging the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, over the issues, urging government to ensure peace in the region.

“We are having a meeting with the Minister of Labour and Employment. In view of the issue on ground, this is something we should take as priority. That kind of threat is not something that should be taken lightly.

“So, I think we are going to put our feet down. Whatever the issue, let government look for a way to fast track everything and discuss so that there can be peace

in this country. This is not time for us to start destroying ourselves and our properties and oil installations. We all need to work together, as a country so that Nigeria can rise from the ashes of what we are going through.”

On the recent decision of the association to suspend its strike, Labour lamented the situation where decisions of government were not taken serious by its agencies and oil companies.

“We had series of meetings with the government team. But we also want to inform government that a situation where agencies and oil companies behave as if they are more powerful than the government is not acceptable to the union.

“You cannot have an agreement with the minister standing in for the president of the Federal Republic, and when it’s time to take action, you say no. We only suspended our strike, if these issues are not addressed properly, we may have to resume the strike.

“Though, we don’t like taking that route; that is why we are imploring every agency of government that whatever agreement reached must be respected.

We will abide by our side of the agreement but if they are not ready to honour theirs, we will have no choice than to resume,” the association clarified.

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu said yesterday that the federal government was discussing with Niger Delta militants through oil companies and lawenforcement agencies to find a lasting solution to the persistent insecurity in the region.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

BOI, FG NCDMB in $100m oil and gas project Stories by Opeoluwani Akintayo The Nigerian government has floated a $100million (about N28.4 billion) Nigerian Content Intervention Fund (NCI Fund) to take care of the challenge of securing credit facilities to fund the activities manufacturers, service providers and other key players in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

The pool of funds would be managed by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) in conjunction with the Bank of Industry (BOI) to provide lending directly to qualified players in the oil and gas industry under competitive

7.8%

terms.

The new funding arrangement is different from the old Nigerian Content Development Fund (NCDF), which provided partial guarantees and 50 per cent interest rebate to service companies obtaining facilities from commercial banks for asset acquisition and projects execution.

Under the old model, which became operational in 2012, three indigenous oil servicing companies – Ladol, Starz and Vandrezzer were able to benefit from finances they used in running their operations in the industry.

At the signing of memorandum

of understanding (MoU) to signal the formal take off of the NCI Fund, Acting Executive Secretary of the NCDMB, Patrick Obah, said the Board opted for the new model in response to the feedback from industry operators who experienced difficulties accessing funds to carry out their bsuiness.

He said the Board was leveraging on BOI experience in development financing, pointing out that the MOU reflected the determination of the two agencies to lead the industrialization process, by closing the financing gap in projects with high prospects of creating employment, retaining revenue in-country and adding value to the economy.

The index turned out to be the worst performer of the year. Brent is down 7 percent this month and WTI 7.8 percent.

Shell, Chevron, Exxon, others record profits in 1st three quarters 2016 For oil companies, the second quarter might be as good as it gets.

Shares gained more than in any other industry, thanks to crude rising from a 12-year low.

Profits were the best in at least three quarters for majors including Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Chevron Corp. and BP Plc, helped by cost cuts, analysts say. The rest of the year might not be as rosy as supply holds near record levels.

The combined market value of the world’s oil companies shrank by $2 trillion in the past two years following crude’s collapse. While analysts agree the worst of the oversupply is over, BNP Paribas SA and JBC Energy GmbH are

among those forecasting a slide back to $40 a barrel as output rebounds in Canada, Iran, Nigeria and the U.S., hurting producers whose investment cuts have put future growth in doubt.

“The oil market has still to absorb higher supply from the return of disrupted production,” Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS Group AG in Zurich, said Thursday. “Oil prices could fall to $40 again.”

West Texas Intermediate crude averaged $45.64 a barrel last quarter and Brent $47.03, recovering from less than $28 for both grades earlier in the year.

The 89-member MSCI World Energy Index, led by Exxon Mobil

Corp., Chevron and Shell, rose 9.7 percent in the three-month period. It beat the 5.2 percent advance of the next strongest sector, health care, and the 0.3 percent gain of the MSCI World Index.

The last time the energy index surpassed every other sector was in the second quarter of 2014, just when oil’s slump was starting.

Six months later, the index turned out to be the worst performer of the year. Brent is down 7 percent this month and WTI 7.8 percent.

“The road ahead is far from smooth,” the International Energy Agency cautioned July 13 as it said bloated stockpiles will continue to damp oil prices.

B5 Energy

Perception Management for John Olatunde Ayeni This is a top-line proposal and will concentrate on an initial execution period of three months.

Introducing SBM SBM Relations is a lean and fast machine that provides the most costeffective but innovative ways of delivering strategic communication services that influence the stakeholders critical to our clients’ objectives.

Some of the work that we have done (which identifies with this brief) include: media relations and content development (in partnership with Portland PR) for Kofi Annan during his visit to Nigeria ahead of the country’s general elections in 2015; perception management and research for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; content development for the Murtala Muhammed Foundation; media relations for The Economist Events, etc. More details about the clients we work, and have worked for, can be provided on request.

Objective To build and maintain the reputation of Tunde Ayeni as a thoroughbred professional lawyer and investor who effectively utilised his position as Chairman of the Board of Skye Bank to champion exemplary service delivery; influence positive perception of the Nigerian financial and energy sectors; and show him as a business magnate whose thought-leadership has provided invaluable expertise to stakeholders and entrepreneurship in the country.

Target Audience • Nigerians in the country and the Diaspora • Foreign Media • Local Media • Investors Strategy Overt – Utilise the media (traditional and digital/new) to gain the target audience’s deeper understanding of the exemplary manner that Tunde Ayeni executed his role as the Chairman of the Board of Skye Bank; maintain his brand value by securing the target audience’s acceptance of the achievements recorded by Mr Ayeni as a business magnate; and showcase his thought-leadership on relevant national development issues and how this can positively impact on Nigerians.

Covert – Utilise advanced SEO tools to downgrade negative online mentions about Tunde Ayeni; and work with media partners to limit possible future negative reports. sbmrelations. com Tactics Website Management Out team includes an award-winning web developer that will build and operate www.tundeayeni.com (on the assumption that this already registered domain name belongs to Mr Ayeni. If not, we will either procure this or secure another domain name, subsequent to the client’s preference).

This website will be designed using a WordPress platform for ease of management and best mobile integration.

It will be promoted via advanced SEO to ensure that it emerges as the first option for information about Tunde Ayeni online and sustain/increase his brand value in a way that it has positive direct impact on his networks and businesses. Content on the site will cover Mr Ayeni’s biography, resume, accomplishments as a lawyer and business magnate, thought- leadership articles and also serve as an aggregator of positive news about him.

New/Traditional Media Management Customised accounts will be

opened on strategic social media platforms and promoted via influencers and direct adverts to build followership and position Tunde Ayeni as a media-savvy business magnate who understands the importance of engaging with the over 50 million Nigerians who are active online and consume the bulk of their news via new media platforms. A core team of highly influential newspaper editors, bloggers and online newspapers will also be recruited into a loyalty group that will be the first line of advocates for Tunde Ayeni. Periodic interviews will be arranged for select members of this group with Mr Ayeni at his convenience.

Media Monitoring Digital monitoring will involve the use of specialised tools to trawl the web and such strategic social media platforms as Twitter and Facebook for mentions of Tunde Ayeni. A weekly report will include analysis on online mentions; while issues requiring urgent response will be reported as flagged. The results of these weekly reports will guide any tweak in content development and management.

Content Management Key to all the above mentioned tactics is strategic content development and management. Our team includes an award-winning journalist and content developer who will ensure that a steady stream of content is produced and fed to our media loyalty group, the social media managers and the website manager. sbmrelations.com Budget This budget covers monthly running costs. Third party expenses may be required in such activities as a media interview where logistics as to venue and possible transportation costs may arise. The client reserves the right to take out any activity that may be deemed necessary for costeffectiveness. However, it is our professional opinion that the activities listed are needed for achieving the objective of this brief.

Profiles of SBM Founders Chinedu Ozordi is a director and co-founder of SBM. His experience spans across journalism and public relations. A former Media Manager at C&F Porter Novelli, he provided media relations and content development services for clients across many sectors in West Africa and the UK. At SBM, Chinedu oversees operations.

Brands that he has worked for include The Economist, Coca Cola, Etisalat, Union Bank, Pfizer, HP, the Kofi Annan Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, RenMoney, etc.

Cheta Nwanze is a director and co-founder of SBM. His experience spans across journalism, web development and research. He has also built and managed the online platforms of several media organisations in Nigeria. At SBM, Cheta oversees business intelligence and market research. Brands that he has worked for include University of Oxford, the Heinrich Boll Foundation, British Council, Folio Media Group, National Bureau of Statistics, etc.

Conclusion We believe we are the right fit and are confident that our application of the deliverables outlined here will result in increased reputational mileage for Tunde Ayeni. Our costs are the most competitive within the industry; and we will be happy to provide any further explanation as may be needed about the ideas and budgets in this proposal.

Thank you.

Capital Market B6

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Livestock Feeds to list rights issue of N1 billion ordinary shares … As NSE indices sheds 0.11% Afolabi Adesola The Nigerian Stock Exchange has announced Livestock Feeds submission of an application for approval & listing of a Rights Issue of 1,000,000,000 Ordinary Shares of 50 Kobo each at N1.10 per share on the basis of 1 new ordinary share for every 2 ordinary shares held.

The announcement was made via the NSE’s official twitter page and is coming on the heels of the Livestock Feeds plans to restruc-

ture its operations for improved performance.

Livestock Feeds Plc, which is a subsidiary of UAC of Nigeria Plc, , has said at its Annual General Meeting earlier this month that “it is restructuring its operations for an improved performance against the backdrop of an extremely challenging economic and business environment.”

Meanwhile, The Nigerian equities market resumed the week on a negative note, as NSE ASI depreciated by 0.11 percent to close at 27,629.90 points in contrast to

1.21 percent lost previously to close at 27,659.44 basis points, extending the Year-to-Date (YTD) losses by 3.53 percent.

Market capitalisation depreciated by N10.1 billion to close at N9.489 trillion against N116.0 billion lost previously to close at N9.499 trillion.

The day’s top losers (by price) were led by Forte Oil Plc which lost N18.99 to close at N175.91 per share, SEPLAT followed with a loss of N16.5 to close at N313.5 per share, Dangote Cement Plc dropped N4.5 to close at N175 per

share, GUINNESS lost N1.48 to close at N95 per share and WAPCO depreciated by 41 kobo to close at N59.24 per share.

Conversely, Nigerian Breweries topped the gainers chart with a gain of N6.9 to close at N144.91 per share, Total added N1.5 to close at N181.5 per share, Eco Transnational Incorporated gathered 59 kobo to close at N12.39 per share, OANDO improved by 51 kobo to close at N5.63 per share and Zenith Bank gained 28 kobo to close at N15.65 per share.

CIBN CIBN Valedictory Lecture: Outgoing GMD/CEO, UBA Plc and Valedictory Lecture Speaker, Mr. Phillips Oduoza (middle), wife Jumai and President, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria(CIBN), Professor Segun Ajibola(Right) at the 4th Valedictory Lecture in honour of Phillips Oduoza, organised by CIBN in Lagos ... on Friday.

UBA GMD calls for closer collaboration among African Central Banks Outgoing Group Managing Director of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc Mr Philips Oduoza has called for increased collaboration among African central banks in order to drive intra-African trade on the continent.

Speaking specifically on the need to improve intra-Africa trade in order to drive the growth of Pan-African banks like UBA, Oduoza decried the low levels of intra-African trade. “The volume of formal intra-African trade is relatively low and estimated between 10 per cent and 12 per cent of Africa’s total trade. Comparable figures are 40 per cent in North America and about 60per cent in Western Europe” he said.

He also listed lack of the re-

quired infrastructure and policies as the major challenges to intraAfrica trade while noting that the adoption of policies like tax holidays, waivers, and market interventions to promote investments in sectors outside commodities will help diversify African economies and drive intra-African trade.

“I strongly feel African Central Banks have a greater role to play by collaborating to promote the development of cross border trade platforms in order to encourage the informal sector to join the formal banking system. When this is done, the opportunity will be readily captured by Pan-African banks.”

He noted that “Intra-African trade growth will be further sup-

ported by the introduction of a visa-free travel policy across the continent by the African Union as well as the development of intra-regional transport infrastructure.”

Oduoza harped on the need for improved financial inclusion on the continent, noting that research has shown that only 34per cent of African adults have a bank account as at 2014. He suggested the adoption of mobile money services could help drive financial inclusion on the continent.

“Data shows about 12 per cent of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa have a mobile money account as against 2 per cent of adults worldwide. I believe mobile technology has the potential to vastly

expand financial inclusion across Africa. Pan-African banks with a good understanding of the continent can leverage their technology platform to capture this opportunity. Invariably this will mean a growth in retail banking as most of those financially excluded fall within this bracket”

Briefs

CAP Plc posts N779.8 million as profit for H1’2016 Chemical and Allied Products (CAP) Plc has posted a 10.2 percent reduction in its profit after tax (PAT). The company made a PAT of N779.8 million in contrast to N868.2 million realised for the same period of 2015.

The company’s statement of comprehensive income for the period ended June 30 2016 showed that revenue declined

by N111 million or 3.1 percent from N3.6 billion to N3.4 billion, profit before tax dropped by 9.9 percent from N1.3 billion to N1.1 billion, while earnings per share declined to N1.11 from N1.24 per share.

Nascon Allied achieves 23.4% growth in half year profit Nascon Allied Industries Plc has posted a Profit After Tax (PAT) of N1.3 billion, representing a 23.4 percent growth from N1.0 billion posted as PAT one year ago.

The company’s financial statement for half year ended 30th June 2016 showed that profit was buoyed by a 30 percent increase in revenue to N8.6 billion from N6.6 billion in the same period of 2015 and a significant increase in investment income, which grew by 4,272.5 percent to N11.3 million from N258,000 recorded in 2015.

Profit before tax stood at N1.9 billion growing 23 percent from N1.5 billion in 2015, improving earnings per share to 96 kobo from 78 kobo per share.

Summary of activities on NSE ASI

27,629.90

DEALS

3,519.00

VOLUME

378,513,593.00

VALUE

2,268,694,789.17

CAP

9,489,474,379,351.00

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

NLNG

B7 Business Feature

NLNG General Manager, External Relations, Kudo Eresia-Eke, other managerial company staff with management staff of University of Ilorin at the opening of NLNG’s $2m engineering centre in University of Ilorin recently.

Baru’s 16-point agenda: How it affects you – Analysis

Opeoluwani Akintayo

The newly appointed Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Maikanti Baru, took over from former GMD, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu on Friday, 8th July, pledging to work closely with staff of the Corporation to find lasting solutions to the challenges facing the industry.

The pledge was part of a 16-point agenda he unfolded shortly after taking over from his predecessor and Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Kachikwu.

Mr. Baru said it was Mr. Kachikwu who recommended him to President Muhammadu Buhari for his appointment. He said his management would continue the on-going comprehensive restructuring of the NNPC, describing it as inevitable.

It is common knowledge that NNPC, before Kachikwu took over 11 months ago, was enmeshed in corruption and secrecy, prompting stakeholders to call for an overhauling of the Corporation.

Besides, the change was timely because the Corporation for the past 10 years, posted annual loses however, in Kachikwu’s handover statement, he said within the period he remained at the helm of affairs at the Corporation, some modest achievements were recorded to include the downstream liberalization regime; reducing upstream contracting period to nine

months from initial average of two years, and redirection of NNPC on the path of profitability as witnessed in the May 2016 NNPC monthly financial report, which posted a profit of N274 million.

Now that Baru has taken over, there is need to peruse his 16-point agenda to see their viability- are they what NNPC truly needs to chart it on a path of success?

His first agenda- Implement new business models that would grant autonomy required to empower the strategic business units and autonomous business units deliver on their mandates- this is commendable because unlike what most new GMDs who would have discarded the agenda of his predecessor, Baru embraced Kachikwu’s unbundling of the NNPC. The new business units indeed need to be empowered to run as real business companies that can compete with private businesses. With the right business strategies, NNPC will become profit oriented.

Secondly- Provide relevant directions and controls to ensure their growth and profitability- although he did not state how he intends to achieve this goal yet, it is believed that the NNPC needs a dogged direction if it would begin to make any meaningful impact.

In the past, NNPC’s activities had been marred with corrupt practices which cumulated into losses.

So, it is high time the company started declaring profits, and this can be achieved through providing

relevant directions.

Thirdly- Continue exploring ways of relieving government the burden of cash calls obligation as well as address and defray the agreed cash call arrears of the IOCs- since NNPC was not making profit, the burden of cash calls fell on the federal government who would provide investment money ought to be provided by the NNPC. Besides, cash call has become a huge problem in NNPC which will be solved if the Corporation starts running like a fullfledged competitive company. The Federation Account has also been depleted, making it impossible for the government to pay cash calls, leading to the International Oil Companies, IOCs, also refusing to pay theirs. So, the defrayed cash call from the IOCs have to be obtained for capital investments and projects to be made possible in the country.

Fourthly- Restore oil and gas production and grow the national reserve portfolio- yes, Nigeria’s oil and gas production has been affected due to spates of attacks by oil militants in the Niger Delta, vandalism and oil theft, less productive refineries and less number of refineries. This problem has led Nigeria to exporting its crude for refining in other countries and then buying it back at more expensive prices. This problem has also affected the national reserve as Nigeria had stopped growing its reserve for the past 10 years. If

this problem is solved, this means more money for the country to take-on capital projects, diversify, and no more fuel scarcity.

Fifthly- Increase crude oil production capacity by the NNPC upstream subsidiary, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC)- NPDC is an arm of NNPC that has been underproductive over the years. So yes, there is need to up the ante of the company to begin to produce at full capacity.

Sixthly- Review all weak contractual agreements and terminating bad ones as appropriate- this is one of the Corporation’s biggest problems. Nigeria has signed loads of contracts with the IOCs especially which was later discovered to be less favourable for the country. The Minister of Petroleum Resources and the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR which is also an arm of NNPC, have been accused of giving out marginal oil fields licenses to unqualified bidders, cronies, families and allies, discretionary allocations of oil blocs, many of which are not producing today. There is also the oil swap issue- this point needs to be addressed.

Seventhly- Leverage on equity positions to cause the development of key gas assets for both domestic and export- NNPC shares equity in IOCs mostly in the 60 percent (NNPC)/40 percent IOCs, except in Shell where NNPC has 55 percent.

NNPC needs to exert its authority as the highest shareholder in these

companies and begin to direct the affairs to the benefit of Nigeria unlike what truly obtains where the country is given whatever it likes by the IOCs. Also, it has been proven that Nigeria has more gas deposits than oil. This means that for all the years the country had concentrated on oil, most of the gas reserves have been untapped.

And as analysts would say, “gas is the new oil”- this means gas is gradually taking the place of oil even in the international market.

By 2020, the number of cars that would run on gas would have increased greatly as the world is now paying more attention on gas than oil. And if Nigeria were serious with its gas reserves, every home including those in the rural areas would be cooking with gas stoves because it would be cheaper as cheap as water. There will not be problem of electricity if our gas reserves as made best use of. However, not everyone supports this point. A school of thought believes NNPC should sell off its equity in the IOCs and take the place of dishing out the policies. According to them, “NNPC has no business in running businesses”. They argued that NNPC’s equities in the IOCs, are behind its inability to curtail the excesses of the IOCs. Eighthly- Pursue the expansion of gas networks across the country- Yes, there is need for more gas pipelines to be built if Nigeria would take advantage of its gas reserves.

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday, July 26, 2016

O

32,000

Naira Value (m)

NSE All Share Index

14,000

29,500

10,500

27,000

7,000

24,500

3,500

25-Jul

22-Jul

19-Jul

16-Jul

13-Jul

`

10-Jul

07-Jul

04-Jul

01-Jul

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22,000 25-Jun

B8

Life &

Times

Reignite the lost spark in your relationship

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

L3

P

L7

P

The Best of Paris Fashion Week Spring 2016 ready-to-wear

Gbenga

Adeyinka L2

P

Popular comedian to Host 5th Podium Recognition Awards in London

Buzz Byte L2

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday July 26, 2016

Mutiat Alli

9ice, Rayce, CDQ, others set to perform at Sky Pavilion Night Club Abolore ‘9ice’ Akande, Rayce, and Jaywon are set to lead set of artistes that will perform at Sky Pavilion Lounge and Night Club opening party which takes place at Opic Roundabout, Oke Ilewo, Abeokuta, Ogun State on Friday, August 5, 2016.

According to the organiser of the event, Yusuf ‘Danku’ Adepitan, who lures these artistes to Abeokuta, he is also using this platform to unveil a talent hunt concert tagged ‘The Voice of The Street’.

“The Voice of The Street is a programme to encourage young and rising artistes to

9ice

rub minds with the established ones. The concept is to as well create avenue where these next rated artistes will meet investors who create platform for the artistes. So we are using Sky Pavilion Lounge as the kick off venue for the volume one. And other artistes that will perform are CDQ, Joel, Seriki, Oluwaseun, Miz Spice, and Samcole.

“Special appearances are Spanky, Bash, DJ Bombastic, Swazzi and Rapgodd”, Adepitan said.

The event will also be the launch of Sky P Entertainment.

Gbenga Adeyinka to Host 5th Podium Recognition Awards in London …as Lagos, Ogun first ladies, Late OJB, others to be honoured For the first time since its launch in 2008, the Podium Recognition Awards, now in its 5th edition, will hold in London, England.

The award ceremony that was initiated to honour individuals who have excelled in their various fields of endeavour by the CEO of Podium International, Titi Aboyade Cole, will hold on August 27, 2016 (Bank Holiday Saturday) at Best Western Hotel, Hendon way, London.

Speaking on the 2015 award, the founder, Titi Aboyade Cole said: “We are glad to be back, bigger and better. This time, the ceremony will hold in London. The concept of Podium Recognition Awards has been expanded and it’s going to be amazing package this year. This is the first time we are going to be having awardees and guests coming to London. The award categories have become more interesting and they have become more competitive.

“The wives of the Governors of Ogun and Oyo States are to be honoured with Special Awards at the event in London.

Lagos State House of Assembly Speaker, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, a staunch female politician and Commissioner for Women Affairs in Ondo State, Mrs. Olasinmi Odunmbaku

Gbenga Adeyinka

Brain billed to perform at the 2016 Dubai Summer Reunion party

Brain

T E A M

The organisers of this year’s Dubai Summer Reunion party has announced BRAIN as one of the guest artistes that will be gracing the occasion billed to hold in Dubai from 7th to 15th August, 2016. This a big platform for BRAIN and he will be performing alongside other musical acts such as Dammy Krane,

Life&

will be honoured too. Selected winners in different sectors including law, medicine, entertainment and business will also receive honours at this year’s edition”.

“Our first Podium Ambassador will be unveiled this year, and we are picking a new Youth Ambassador. There are a whole lot more side attractions that will make the day a great one, because the event equally marks the 10th anniversary of Podium International”.

Speaking further, Aboyade-Cole stated that the first ever BOAC Posthumous Awards will be presented to the families of three late winners who did well for Nigerian Music- Dr. Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, OJB Jezreel and Goldie Harvey at this year’s edition.

“It is going to be a wonderful evening, as we have the very best for all guests to have a swell time. One of Nigeria’s finest comedians and compere, Gbenga Adeyinka De 1st will be the host and he will be joined by London-based Daizy Ajisefini.

Jyhbo, Q-Dot, Opa6ix, Chinadex and many more.

The rap act that recently dropped his debut EP, “Hurricane Season” is all excited about the event and believes it to be an opportunity to launch himself unto the international stage.

The annual event which is being packaged by Billy Entertainment UK

Entertainment Correspondent Mutiat Alli

provides a big platform for showbiz and entertainment practitioners across the globe to converge in Dubai to have fun, party and network during the Summer time.

The holiday package whose activities for the 7 days of fun includes Pool Party, Clubbing, Tourist Attractions, Shopping at the

Society Correspondent Abimbola Obatayo

Dubai Mall, Dhow Cruise Dinner, Desert Safari, Aqua Parks and many more.

There’s also an exclusive All White Yacht Party on Thursday, August 11, 2016 just for 100 people ONLY! BRAIN is currently in the studio working on new singles and collaborations that will be dropping soon.

Photography Quadri Olowolagba

Graphics Daniel Ekiye

Chief Brand Strategist, PRM Africa and President/Executive Producer, AFRIMA, Mike Dada

AFRIMA

commends African Union’s single passport The International Committee of The All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) has commended the African Union (AU) for the launch of a single common electronic passport (e-Passport) for all Africans at the just concluded 27th AU Summit, in Kigali, Rwanda.

It also applauded the ultimate goal of the single passport which is set to realize the dream of visafree travel for African citizens within the African continent by 2020.

In the same vein, the AU’s single, common electronic passport throughout the continent falls squarely within the framework of Africa’s Agenda 2063 and has the specific aim of facilitating free movement of persons, goods and services around the continent in order to foster intra-Africa trade, integration and socio-economic development.

Reacting to this development, President/ Executive Producer, AFRIMA, Mike Dada, said: “The African Union’s plan to allowing free movement of citizens within the African continent is a stepping stone towards building stronger unity among African nations and this is what we at the International Committee of AFRIMA have been canvassing and propagating for years in line with the AFRIMA’s vision.

“For us in AFRIMA, it is a strong step towards making every African citizen to think and act beyond national identities and identify themselves as citizens of the African continent with a sense of pride that, ‘I am an African.’

“We have found that it is easier to travel to Europe and America from Africa than Africans travelling within Africa.

Yearly, we face a big hurdle in visa processing, direct flights and protocol to bring in over 880 nominees/superstars and their guests, 150 production crew members, international media and over 2000 international invited guests to the AFRIMA Awards ceremony annually.”

“The single passport will also ease and facilitate one of the AFRIMA objectives which is to engage all the stakeholders who are critical to the awards process to give them a platform for knowledge sharing and capacity-building on the continent.

AFRIMA has embarked and organized stakeholders’ engagements and press conferences in over 25 African countries in the five regions of Africa. This we will do until we cover the 54 member states,” he concluded.

In line with the AFRIMA 3.0 calendar, submission of entries closes on July 30, 2016. There are 34 award categories open to music artistes, producers, video directors, songwriters and music/entertainment journalists as well as the hitherto unheralded music professionals. The spectacular 2016 awards ceremony will be hosted in Nigeria in November 4-6.

This will be preceded by the AFRIMA Music Village and Africa Music Summit.

Daily Times Nigeria

Tuesday July 26, 2016

L3 Relationship

Mutiat Alli

the lost spark in your relationship When you lose the spark in a relationship, it’s not always because both of you don’t have time for each other. Almost always, it’s because both of you just aren’t having enough fun together. All relationships start with a bang. And all lovers know just what it takes to please their lover and keep love alive. But somewhere along the way, most lovers overlook the little things that brought them together. And they end up in relationships where two people exist together only because they were once passionately in love with each other. It’s a memory of blissful romance that binds them together. And if you take that memory away from them, there would be no reason to even talk to each other.

The spark in your love life

may be missing, but it’s definitely not gone for good.

All of us have a choice, and we can bring that magical spark back into love if we choose to. But you need to remember that something that’s been missing for a while would take a considerable amount to time to come back again. Bringing the spark back into the relationship can be a lot of fun, and it can make both of you feel like little kids again, but it does take some time and patience. But I can assure you, with every step along the way, you’ll feel closer and more alive than ever before!

These are steps that will not just rekindle the spark in your romance, but both of you would feel completely infatuated by each other:

1 Make time for each other: Every big change starts in small ways, and this is one such start.

The first thing you need to do is learn to make time for each other. It’s not about living together or sleeping together, but about bonding together or sharing something that’s fun. Schedule a few hours

every week, maybe a Sunday evening, to do something that both of you enjoy, like watching a movie or working on a pet project together.

2 Communicate: Don’t give up on each other. It’s the biggest mistake you can make. Making time for each other is a start, but communication is what brings both of you closer together.

Talk to each other frankly *sugarcoating the truth won’t hurt though!* and if there are a few things you don’t like about your partner, talk about it with them.

3 Pillow talk. Don’t bring your worries into bed. Don’t bring your gadgets or reading material into bed. This is the biggest mistake lovers do.

When you enter step three, make a habit of getting into bed with no distractions and just lie down together, even if it seems awkward or boring in bed because there are tons of things you could rather do.

4 Get fit: Well, yes, this sucks, but you need to do this. Most couples let go after getting married or when they get into a long term relationship. They pile up several pounds, they stop dressing up and they just don’t care anymore. If you’re that partner, change yourself.

How would you care for your appearance if you were single, and if you had to go on a first date with someone you like, just how much of an effort would you put into dressing up for them?

Do you make the same effort for your partner who loves you and cares for you?

Most probably, you don’t. And why is that? Do you think your partner deserves less of you than a stranger on a first date? You may not want to admit it, but the fact is, you’re taking your lover for granted and just don’t care about their

opinions. And it’s time you stop that. Try to impress your lover and win their appreciation.

Look good, dress well, use perfume, flirt and attract their attention!

5. Surprise each other: The romantic gestures may have been forgotten, but it has to be brought back into your relationship. And if you care enough to bring the spark back into your relationship, you need to start somewhere. Do you remember how often you used to do nice things for each other at the start of the relationship?

Why stop now? Is it because it’s easier to just laze on the couch instead of walking down a street and buying flowers or a little sweet treat for your lover? Make the effort to woo each other and surprise each other, at least in little ways.

You can start small, and your partner will start reciprocating your effort too.

6. Go clubbing: Remember, the loss of spark in love isn’t because of too much distance in love, it’s because both of you have forgotten to have fun together. So do just that!

Go out, paint the town red and have fun together. Get drunk, party hard, dance and grind against each other, kiss on the dance floor and laugh out loud. Even if you feel too old to dance all night long, try to make the effort to go out to places where you and your partner can have a wild and fun time.

7 Go on a vacation or a short getaway: The first few steps would bring both of you closer together and bond better. And now, it’s time to make a bigger change. Take off on a vacation or a weekend getaway. But don’t plan something romantic just yet. Remember, there’s always the awkward feeling at the back of your mind because

you’re doing all this not because you feel like it, but because you want to reignite the romance. So don’t put too much pressure on trying to focus on romance. Plan a fun vacation to a beach where the two of you can party all night long, meet new and exciting people together and have a fun time. When you have fun together, romance will find a way back into your lives, so stop worrying about romance just yet!

8. Get intimate: Asking each other fun questions is a great way to open new conversations and get to know each other better. On a lazy weekend together, lie down in bed or on the couch, and ask each other a series of intimate and yet revealing questions.

9. Get naughty: A happy romantic relationship needs a good dose of love and sex.

So try to bring the sizzle back in your bedroom. Experiment in bed, and try a few naughty things in bed that both of you haven’t tried before.

10. Bring romance back into your lives: Now that you’ve followed the first nine steps, both of you would already feel a lot more passionate and happy in your love life.

And now that happy love and passionate sex have found their way back into your love life, you need to learn to keep it that way.

Don’t take your partner for granted again. Woo them, serenade them, plan romantic ideas every now and then, and impress and awe them all the time. Each time you feel lazy or too bored to bring the magic back into love, just ask yourself sincerely if you’re taking your lover for granted.

And ask yourself if you’re truly trying your best to make your lover smile.

L4

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday July 26, 2016

Daily Times Nigeria

Tuesday July 26, 2016

L5

L6

Daily Times Nigeria Tuesday July 26, 2016

Daily Times Nigeria

Tuesday July 26, 2016

L7

Eyola

eyola@aol.com

The Best of Paris Fashion Week Spring 2016

ready-to-wear 1ne

The central theme for the Paris Spring 2016 shows can be summarized as “relaxed tailoring mixed with a feminine flair and over-the-top embellishments” (feathers, embroidery, beadwork etc). Regardless of the uniformity, the collections were individual and characteristic of each designer’s house codes and hallmarks, all honouring France’s haute couture roots with artisinal craftsmanship and couture-like handiwork. Below are some of the memorable highlights that took the Parisian stage by storm.

2wo

Wet behind the ears. Kenzo (and fellow luxury fashion house DSquared2) have given women a reason to jump straight out of the shower and out the door, by making wet-hair fashion the IT-hairstyle for spring. However, mimicking this style is not as easy as it seems, requiring a generous amount of quality extra hold hair gel to keep the look watered throughout the day.

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Blue-eyed girl. Chanel and Missoni have given fashionistas the green light to experiment with blue eyeshadow. For the more fashion-forward fashionistas out there, go all out with blue eyeshadow wide across the eyes, over the arch of the nose and high up to the eyebrows à la Chanel’s runway makeup.

Dare to experiment with a more outrageous look? Then give Alexis Mabille’s cyan-yellow

combination eyeshadow a trial run.

3hree

Let’s twist again. Perhaps experiment mixing spring’s wet-look hairstyle with partially braided hair like the models on Kenzo’s runway. Celine also gave a fashionable nod to this popular African hairstyle with a braided single plait ponytail. Plaits took different forms, not just in Paris but also making grand appearances at the other fashion capitals, notably: New York’s Herve Leger & Proenza Schouler and London’s Kristian Aadnevik.

Paris gave its approval on this spring trend: Valentino’s cornrow twists and Esteban Cortazar’s modern take on braids. Traditional African cornrows and French plaits took the runway by storm and have inspired designers who have made spring the “braids and locks season”. Take cues from the fashion runways and rework and restyle the classic braids and plaits.

4our

An American in Paris. The Row moved to Paris from New York. The American fashion house took their signature tailored-minimalism silhouettes out of their natural habitat of New York and into a 17th century Parisian property, Chateau de Courances. Ambitious American sweetheart child actors to bona fide international two-time award-winners of the CDFA’s Womenswear Designer award, twin sisters Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen did what they do best: sharp tailoring and minimalism.

The design duo’s design hallmarks of

simplicity and pure lines alongside their signature neutral colour palette and loosefitting trouser suits, cape dresses and sun hats were well-received by the Parisian audience. French label Hermès also adopted a similar design aesthetic. Classically tailored separates (leather skirts, tank tops, coats, mini and mxi dresses) came in neutral whites, nudes and a pop of red and hints of midnight blue, which dominated capes and dresses in block colours, geometric prints and stripes.

Each look was stylishly paired with a matching pair of sneakers, adding more momentum to the growing trend of athleisure - sportswear worn stylishly for daywear.

5ive

On the double. Two-tone blueberry lipstick was the order of the day at Miu Miu. How refreshing to have a runway makeup look that can be instantly tried, tested and reinvented while also being everyday-friendly.

Try something new this spring by lining the outside of the lip in one colour and then colour the lips with another complimentary colour.

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Africa rising. African themed collections continued to inspire the spring collections.

From the jewelry, accessories to the clothes, Italian design duo Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli kept Africa alive and kicking on the fashion runway for Valentino’s spring collection. Models paraded the catwalk with sandy hued tulle dresses, African exotic wildlife prints - from elephants to giraffes and

tie-dye printed dresses, trousers and jackets.

Support local talent and craftsmen and shop for traditional accessories and fashion in Lagos, while keeping on cue to fashion’s latest trend.

7even

Party animal. Party dresses were the stars of the season. Sonia Rykiel’s party girl wears a feminine one-shoulder floral print mini dress and disco-diva sequined evening silhouettes. The Saint Laurent girl is the life of the party and is undoubtedly ready to get down and dirty on the dance floor, with a more relaxed effortless style. Previously known as Yves Saint Laurent, the French label’s party girl’s wardrobe consists of sequins, denim, cheetah-print, leather, army prints and camouflage decorating loose-fitting jackets, slip dresses, sweaters and blazers; all styled with tiaras and wellington boots or sandals.

8ight

Golden opportunity. One of the highlights of Paris Fashion Week was the handiwork of ‘the most influential makeup artist’, according to Vogue. Pat McGrath, of British-Jamaican heritage, took it upon herself to do something one could describe as ‘charitable style’ and as a result made fashion sociable and interactive.

She took to Paris’ Tuileries garden, with her team, to lend her expertise to the public decorating and painting women’s faces with metallic gold makeup.

Photo credit: Harpersbazzar

L8 TV guide

Daily Times Nigeria

Tuesday July 26, 2016

Showing on

Showing on

Movies ACTION+ Channel 106

Movies Comedy Channel 104

11:20

18:00

Tue, 26 July | PG 16

Tue, 26 July | PG 13

Gru, the world’s most lovable villian, and his minions are back in this Oscar-nominated adventure.

This time Gru is recruited to help bring down a bad guy. Benjamin Bratt, Kristen Wiig, Russell Brand, Steve Carell. (2013) Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud.

Andrew Garfield returns for a second round of web-slinging action. Dangerous new enemies and family secrets weigh heavily on young Peter Parker as he struggles with his destiny. Jamie Foxx, Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone.(2014) Marc Webb

101 M-Net West

23:30 Chicago PD 00:30 The Real Housewives Of Atlanta 01:30 The Longest Week 03:00 Other Plans 04:25 Away And Back 06:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 07:00 MasterChef Australia 08:00 The Big Bang Theory 08:30 The Last Ship 09:30 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 10:30 Begin Again 12:30 The Middle 13:00 MasterChef Australia 14:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 15:00 Code Black 16:00 Blue Bloods 17:00 Made In Hollywood 18:00 The Ellen DeGeneres Show 19:00 Mom 19:30 MasterChef Australia 20:30 Chicago Med 21:30 Chicago Fire 22:30 Chicago PD

23:40 The Face Of Destiny 00:30 Elena's Ghost 01:20 Broken Angel 02:10 Broken Angel 03:00 The Face Of Destiny 03:50 Fearless Heart 05:20 Elena's Ghost 06:10 Husband For Hire 07:00 The Face Of Destiny 07:50 Fearless Heart 08:40 For Love And Justice 09:30 Cruel Love 10:20 Husband For Hire 11:10 The Face Of Destiny 12:00 Fearless Heart 12:50 For Love And Justice 13:40 Cruel Love 14:30 Husband For Hire 15:20 The Face Of Destiny 16:10 Fearless Heart 17:00 Broken Angel 17:50 Broken Angel 18:40 Husband For Hire 19:30 The Face Of Destiny 20:20 Fearless Heart 21:10 Broken Angel 22:00 Broken Angel 22:50 Husband For Hire

152 AfricaMagic Epic

23:17 Mary And Martha 01:01 Behind The Scenes: The Place

01:10 Royal Guard 03:13 Forest King 05:10 Twins Of The Rainforest 05:38 Behind The Scenes: Secret Room 06:03 Secret Adventure 08:43 Behind The Scenes: October 1st

09:11 Behind The Scenes: The Place

120 BBC Brit Entertainment

118 Telemundo

09:20 Igbotic Love 11:19 Igbotic Love 13:13 Healthy Snacking 13:25 Implication 15:29 Above Implication 17:50 Behind The Scenes: Next Dean 18:00 Africa Rising: Behind The Scenes 19:00 The King Is Coming 21:21 The King Is Coming

23:22 Moone Boy

11:10 Would I Lie To You?

23:47 Moone Boy

11:45 QI

00:12 An Idiot Abroad

12:15 The Cube

00:58 The Cube

13:05 Top Gear

01:46 Police Interceptors

14:15 Police Interceptors

02:33 Ben And James Versus The Arabian...

15:05 Undercover Boss USA

03:25 Undercover Boss USA

16:30 QI

04:12 Pointless

17:05 Pointless

05:00 The Cube

18:00 Top Gear

05:45 Would I Lie To You?

19:00 Youngers

06:20 QI

19:30 QI

06:55 Police Interceptors 07:40 Top Gear

20:00 Travel ManThe Graham Norton Show

08:45 Pointless

21:05 Top Gear

09:35 Undercover Boss USA

22:05 Very British Problems

15:55 Would I Lie To You?

10:25 Ducks Quacks Don't Echo

155 AfricaMagicWorld 23:15 Music On Africa Magic 00:15 Behind The Scenes: The Place 01:15 Good Morning Africa 02:15 53 Extra 02:45 Star Gist 03:15 Star Gist 03:45 Jara 04:20 Jara 05:00 Goodmorning Africa 06:00 Deal Or No Deal SA 07:00 53 Extra 07:30 Star Gist 08:00 Jara 09:00 Good Morning Africa 10:00 Lies That Bind

10:28 Lies That Bind 10:53 Lies That Bind

11:20 Lies That Bind 11:41 Behind The Scenes: Broken 12:00 Deal Or No Deal SA 13:00 Music On Africa Magic 14:05 Music On Africa Magic 15:00 Music On Africa Magic 16:00 Star Gist 16:35 Deal Or No Deal Sa 17:25 53 Extra 18:00 Jara 18:30 Tinsel 19:00 Lies That Bind 19:30 Lies That Bind 20:00 Princess Tyra 18:00 Star Gist

128 SONY MAX

23:00 Most Shocking 23:45 World's Wildest Police Videos 00:35 World's Wildest Police Videos 01:25 Enemy Territory 02:55 Sexy Car Wash 03:20 Sexy Car Wash 03:45 Video Zonkers 04:10 South Beach Tow 04:35 South Beach Tow 05:00 World's Wildest Police Videos 05:45 World's Wildest Police Videos 06:35 Top 20 Countdown: Most Shocking 07:25 Video Zonkers 07:50 South Beach Tow 08:15 South Beach Tow 08:40 Most Shocking 09:35 World's Wildest Police Videos 10:30 World's Wildest Police Videos 11:30 Baywatch 12:30 Top 20 Countdown: Most Shocking 13:30 South Beach Tow 14:00 World's Wildest Police Videos 15:00 World's Wildest Police Videos 16:00 Most Shocking 17:00 Top 20 Countdown: Most Shocking 18:00 South Beach Tow 18:30 South Beach Tow 19:00 Baywatch 20:00 Extreme Reality Clips 20:30 Rude Tube 21:00 Rude Tube 21:30 Freakshow 22:00 Sexy Car Wash 22:30 Sexy Car Wash