Friday, september 16, 2016

Recession: FG to slash MDAs budget in 2017 lBuhari challenges cabinet on ways out of downturn

Anule Emmanuel Abuja

I

n the face of current economic recession in

the country, some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of the

Federal Government will have their budgetary allocation for capital projects

cut significantly next year.

President Muhammadu Buhari disclosed this yes-

terday at a cabinet retreat on the economy and budget held at the presidential villa, Abuja.

The retreat, with the

President's resignation: PDP, shameless irritant – FG

}4

theme, “Building Interministerial Synergy for Effective Planning and Budgeting in Nigeria”, was organised by the office of the Budget and National CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

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Emefiele

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'Recession forced me to abandon my day-old baby }10

Eme

Patience Jonathan on money laundering:

EFCC hired mercenaries to testify against me …denies using driver, cooks to open bank accounts lFirms plead guilty, admit laundering $15.5m }2

L-R: Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo; President Muhammadu Buhari and Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, at the Ministerial Retreat on Framework for 2017 Budget in Abuja… yesterday.

PHOTO: Timothy Ikuomenisan

Four Chibok girls' parents killed by Boko Haram –KADA }3

2.5m Nigerian children suffer acute malnutrition –UNICEF }41

2

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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Patience Jonathan: EFCC hired mercenaries to testify against me Akeem Nafiu

F

ormer First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of hiring mercenaries to plead guilty in the $15.5 million money laundering case linked to her.

Mrs. Jonathan ex-

pressed doubts about the authenticity of the representatives of the four companies who pleaded guilty to the 15-count charges of money laundering at a Federal High Court in Lagos presided over by Justice Babs Kuewumi yesterday.

When the case was called yesterday, the four companies announced their representation as

follows: Friday David (Pluto Properties and Investment Company), Agbor Obaro (Sea Gate Property Development Company), Fredrick Dioghowori (Trans Ocean Property Ltd), and Taiwo Ebenezer (Avalon Global properties Ltd.).

After the charges were read to the accused, the four individuals representing the companies

listed in the charge, each pleaded guilty to the offences.

But the wife of the former President Goodluck Jonathan, in a statement by her media aide, Chima Osuji, stated that the antigraft agency presented four unknown people as representatives of the companies, all of who did not show letters authorising them by their respec-

Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, being greeted by his subjects, at the 2016 African Union for Housing Finance and Nigeria Mortgage Refinancing Company Conference/ 32nd Annual General Meeting of the Institution in Abuja … yesterday.

PHOTO: NAN

Akeem Nafiu

F

our companies have admitted at the Lagos division of the Federal High Court that they indeed laundered $15,591,700 linked to former First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan.

The companies – Pluto Property and Investment Company Ltd, Seagate Property Development and Investment Company Limited, Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company Limited, and Avalon Global Property Development Company, yesterday told Justice Babs Kuewumi of their involvement in the laundering of the contentious money, admitting that they laundered the $15, 591, 700 belonging to the former First Lady.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which arraigned the companies, had since frozen the $$15,591,700 found in the bank accounts of the four companies.

Already, Mrs. Jonathan had said the laundered $15 million, which was frozen in the companies’ accounts, were to settle her medical bills while she was out of the country.

When the case was called, the four companies announced their representation as follows: Friday David (Pluto Properties

tive boards to represent them in the case.

According to her, “it is an irony. It was the former first lady who went to court for the repatriation of her confiscated money when she realised that the EFCC and its co-travellers were playing politics with this issue after she had come out publicly to say that the said money belongs to her and that she has all evidence to prove the sources of her money.

“Up till this very moment, EFCC has refused to interrogate or invite her for questioning. This is a clear evidence of the desperation of the prosecution to pull down the former First Lady and confiscate her hardearned money.

“The biggest twist in court on Thursday was that the fourth to seventh defendants pleaded guilty to all the 15-count charges.

It is clear that these unknown faces were agents of the EFCC, who have been stage-managed and tutored to come to court to complicate the case as a strategy to confiscate her money.”

Mrs. Jonathan expressed disappointment that her well-earned image was being maligned in

Firms admit laundering $15.5m lEx-president’s aides, others arraigned

and Investment Company) and Agbor Obaro (Sea Gate Property Development Company).

Also, Fredrick Dioghowori announced his representation for Trans Ocean Property Ltd, while Taiwo Ebenezer represented Avalon Global properties Ltd. The companies charged alongside three accused persons admitted complicity, as they pleaded guilty to a 15-count charge initiated against them by the EFCC before following their arraignment yesterday.

Besides, two of the three principal actors in the $15,591,700 money laundering suit initiated by the EFCC, Amajuoyi Azubuike Briggs and Adedamola Bolodeoku, were granted bail in the sum of N500 million with two sureties.

Briggs, Bolodeoku, an aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Waripamo-Owei Emmanuel Dudafa, and the four companies were accused of laundering $15.5 million.

EFCC had, in an amended charge marked FHC/337C/16, dragged the companies, Dudafa and two others to court over the alleged $15.5 million fraud.

Apart from Dudafa and the four companies, other

accused persons included a lawyer, Briggs, and Bolodeoku.

However, Dudafa, Briggs and Bolodeoku who pleaded not guilty to the charge, were granted bail in the sum of N250 million each with one surety each in like sum.

The sureties, according to the judge, must be owners of landed property and show evidence of tax payment.

Justice Kuewumi directed Dudafa's lawyer, Mr. Gboyega Oyewole, to file a formal bail application for his client as the lawyer had earlier urged the court to allow Dudafa continue on the existing bail granted him by Justice Mohammed Idris of the same court of coordinate jurisdiction following his arraignment in June by the EFCC. Although further hearing in the matter has been adjourned to September 27, EFCC had, in the 15-count charge, said the accused persons had, between November 13, 2013 and May 28, 2015, conspired among themselves to conceal $15,591,700.00 which they knew formed part of proceed of an unlawful act, through various banks in Nigeria.

They were alleged to have committed the fraud with Sombre Omeibi, still being sought for.

Their offence, according to the EFCC, was contrary to Sections 18(a) and 15(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) (Amendment) Act, 2012 and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act. Some of the counts read: "That you, Waripamo-Owei Emmanuel Dudafa, Amajuoyi Azubuike Briggs, Adedemola Bolodeoku, Sompre Omiebi (still at large), Pluto Property and Investment Company Ltd, Seagate Property Development and Investment Company Limited, Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company Limited and Avalon Global Property Development Company Ltd, on or about the 13th day of November 2013, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, conspired amongst yourselves to commit an offence to wit: concealing the total sum of $15,591,700 which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of the proceeds of an unlawful Act and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(a) of the Money

Laundering(Prohibition) (Amendment) Act, 2012 and punishable under Section 15(3)of the same Act. "That you, WaripamoOwei Emmanuel Dudafa, Amajuoyi Azubuike Briggs, Adedamola Bolodeoku, Sompre Omiebi (still at large) and Seagate Property Development and Investment Company Limited between 14th and 19th day of November 2013 in Lagos within the jurisdiction of this honourable court indirectly concealed the total sum of $1,094,500 through account no: 2110002207 domiciled in which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of proceeds of unlawful Act. "That you WaripamoOwei Emmanuel Dudafa, Amajuoyi Azubuike Briggs, Adedamola Bolodeoku, Sompre Omiebi (still at large) and Seagate Property Development and Investment Company Limited between 21st day of January, 2014 and 19th day of November, 2014 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, indirectly concealed the total sum of $1,200,000 through account no: 2110002207 which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of proceeds of unlawful act.

the court of public opinion through the “tissues of lies being churned out by the EFCC in respect of the matter.”

While reiterating her respect for the sanctity and integrity of the judiciary as the bastion of hope for every citizen of the country, she said: “Mrs. Jonathan is not a director, shareholder, promoter and/or participant in any of the four companies now under trial and that she was the sole signatory to all the said accounts, contrary to the fabrication that she used her driver and cook as proxies.”

In the statement, Jonathan’s denied ever receiving any monies from unknown sources into her accounts and that the accounts were opened in order to facilitate her travel overseas, particularly for medical treatment, sundry purchase for herself and her late mother, Mrs. Charity Oba (Mama Sisi).

Osuji further argued that the 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants had earlier told the court through their counsel that their clients were challenging the validity of the representatives of Pluto Property and Investment Company Limited; Seagate Property Development and Investment Company Limited; Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company Limited and Avalon Global Property Development Company Limited on the basis that they failed to produce a letter of authority to represent the companies as required under section 477 (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.

The companies are facing a 15-count amended charge along with Waripamo-Owei Emmanuel Dudafa, a former aide to ex-President Jonathan; a lawyer, Amajuoyi Azubuike Briggs and Adedamola Bolodeoku.

While Dudafa and the two others pleaded not guilty, the fourth to seventh defendants pleaded guilty to the charge.

The EFCC has since frozen the companies’ accounts with Skye Bank, while Mrs. Jonathan has sued the commission and the bank, laying claims to the accounts.

£2.84m

The annual salary of Rafael Van der Vaart of Hamburger SV in 2014/2015.

Source: Paywizard.co.uk

£898.7m

The amount of money spent by all English Premier League clubs in the 2015 Summer transfer window.

Source: 101greatgoals.com

NEWS

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

3

Buhari's resignation: PDP, shameless irritant, says FG lIt's a plot to bring back corruption –APC

Onwuka Nzeshi and Johnchuks Onuanyim ABUJA

T

he Federal Government and the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday fired a volley of missiles at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for daring to demand the resignation of President Muhammadu Buhari on account of the seeming inability of the present administration to provide viable solutions to the nation's economic woes in the last one year.

The Federal Government described the former ruling party as a shameless irritant, which is bent on distracting the present government from its rescue mission.

On its part, the APC said calls for Buhari to quit office was a plot by the PDP to return Nigeria to the era of corruption and unchallenged looting of the public treasury.

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who fired the first salvo, said that if the PDP had understood the meaning of shame, it would never have dared to even make a single comment on the current state of the economy.

According to him, the PDP did everything to kill the economy while it was in power.

Mohammed said that while the Federal Government will continue to welcome constructive criticism, it had nothing to learn from PDP, alleging that the opposition party was in charge of the nation's affairs at a time of plenty, but ended up frittering away the commonwealth and setting the stage for today’s economic crisis.

According to the minister, what the PDP presented as a vibrant economy under its watch was nothing, but a bubble that was buoyed by massive corruption, chronic incompetence and an economy in which some privileged persons became billionaires for doing nothing.

“While the PDP was emasculating Nigeria on all fronts, including social, economic and political, the rapacious party was deceiving Nigerians by giving them the illusion of growth and prosperity. Instead of showing remorse and rebuilding itself to a strong opposition party, the PDP has continued to blame the successor Buhari administration which is left to pack their mess.

PDP undertakers have continued to engage in a

blame game, when they should be hiding from the shame they brought upon themselves and the nation.

“They keep saying we should stop talking of the past, yet the past will not stop rearing its head. They keep saying we should no longer refer to the past, but how can we forget so soon that our foreign exchange reserves plummeted from $62 billion in 2008 to $30 billion by 2015, at a time when oil prices were at a historic high, reaching a level of $114 per barrel in 2014. By comparison, Indonesia, another oil producing economy with a high population, increased its reserves from $60 billion in 2008 to $120 billion in 2015.

“The candid truth is that we failed under the successive PDP administrations to save for the rainy day, and we need to constantly remind ourselves of that so that we won't repeat the mistake. Take the excess crude account, which fell from about $9 billion in 2007 to about $2 billion in 2015. The argument that it was the state governors that depleted the account does not hold water since there were governors in place when the account was being built up.

“Worse still is the fact that up to $14 billion in revenues from Nigerian LNG remains unaccounted for and indeed until the Buhari administration came to office, state governments never got any allocations from this source of funds which properly belongs to the Federation Account.

The naked fact on the revenue front is that there was just a failure of leadership.

This was compounded by the non-transparent uses of funds. We are all witnesses to the sacking of a Central Bank Governor because he raised an alarm about $20 billion that had gone missing.

“We are, indeed, still trying to recover huge sums looted from the national treasury under the PDP's watch, with $15 billion stolen from the defence sector alone. Perhaps most painful is that because of the way funds (about $322 million) returned from Switzerland were mishandled, we now have to accept conditionalities before our stolen assets are even returned to us,” he said.

Mohammed recalled that while the PDP was in power, the nation earned so much from oil revenue, yet it accumulated more liabilities as external debt rose from $5.6 billion to $10.7 billion between 2011 and 2015.

“The case of domestic debt was even worse, al-

most tripling from N888 billion to N2.1 trillion in the same period. Even these figures mask the extent of unpaid obligations to contractors and the huge plethora of uncompleted projects on which money continued to be spent without visible results. Payments to contractors stopped several years ago, while not a single dollar was contributed to the Joint Venture activities.

Over N4.5 trillion was spent on fuel subsidy in just two years under the PDP! “Despite a recent oil boom, Nigerians are indeed all victims of the dilapidated and decrepit infrastructure. The economy that the Buhari administration inherited was certainly in dire straits, if the huge amount of salary arrears that were being owed at various tiers of govern-

ment is anything to go by.

If, after earning so much resources and increasing the total debt stock, our governments were not able to meet salary obligations, sometimes for up to seven months, then something was definitely wrong somewhere and if this is not evidence of a collapsing economy, one wonders what it is.

“Indeed, it was not so long ago that the fuel subsidy regime almost bankrupted the country. Through credibility and commitment to good governance, the current administration has managed to save up to N1.4 trillion that would have been spent on subsidies for PMS. Moreover, the daily demand for PMS has halved from 1,600 trucks a day to 850 trucks a day. If we could achieve such savings, then clearly the pet-

rol sector, which was and remains a huge source of foreign exchange demand, was not being well managed,” he said.

In a separate statement signed by the National Secretary of the APC, Hon. Mai Mala Buni, the governing party said it would not have dignified the comments of the PDP on the economy and their calls for Buhari to step down but for the need to set the records straight.

According to the party scribe, the demand for Buhari's resignation was a plot by the PDP to return the country to the years where looting of the public treasury was the order of the day.

“Instead of this charade by the PDP, we advise the PDP and their cronies to apologise to Nigerians and toe the path of honour by returning public funds stolen under its watch. While the PDP attempts to fraudulently re-write history

and misrepresent facts on its misrule of the country, Nigerians are traumatised on a daily basis on disclosures of the startling level of pillage of the country’s commonwealth perpetuated under its watch.

“Instead of saving for the rainy day, past PDP administrations and their cronies literally looted the public treasury blind, using the loot to build luxury hotels and other properties, stashing loot in farmlands and hidden bank accounts,” Buni said.

He said that while the APC-led administration would remain open to positive and constructive contributions on resolving the country’s economic challenges, Nigerians should be rest assured that the Buhari administration was already employing all legitimate and innovative means to restore the country’s battered economy back to health in the quickest possible time.

L-R: General Manager, Venus Processing and Packaging Limited, Mr. Sumeet Kumar Pandey; Acting Managing Director, Bank of Industry (BoI), Mr. Waheed Olagunju; Group Managing Director, Primlaks Nigeria Limited, Mr. Anil Hemnani; Regional Head (Lagos), BoI, Obaro Marvel Osah and Group Head, Agro Processing, Mrs. Hadiza Shuaib, during BoI's visit to Primlaks in Lagos…yesterday.

PHOTO: SULEIMAN HUSAINI

Four Chibok girls' parents killed by Boko Haram –KADA Yekeen Nurudeen Abuja

M

ore revelations have emerged about the death of 19 parents of abducted Chibok secondary schoolgirls.

The parents died after the abduction of their daughters by the Boko Haram terrorists over two years ago.

A member of Kibaku Area Development Association (KADA), Chibok, Borno State, Dr. Allen Manasseh told New Telegraph yesterday in Abuja that four of the 19 parents were killed by the terrorists in subsequent attacks that occurred after the abduction of the girls.

He said the remaining 15, including Mrs. Paul Lalai whose twin daughters were among the abducted girls, died of trauma.

"Yes, 19 of the parents

have died since the abduction of the girls. Four of them were killed by the terrorists in other attacks that were carried out after the abduction of the girls.

“But others died as a result of post-abduction stress and trauma like Mrs. Paul Lalai who was the first to die. She is from Mbulabam and has two twin daughters among the abducted girls. She is my uncle's wife," he said.

Meanwhile, National Chairman of KADA, Dr. Pogus Bitrus, said the association and the whole of Chibok community were solidly behind the BringBackOurGirls (BBOG) movement in its quest to make the Federal Government to be alive to its responsibilities to the citizenry.

Speaking at a press conference held at the Unity Fountain, Abuja, Bitrus appealed to the Federal Government and its agen-

3.05%

The growth rate of Non-oil sectors of Nigeria’s GDP in Q3 2015.

Source: National Bureau of Statistics

$0.06m

The capital importation of the Drilling sector of Nigeria in Q4 2013.

Source: National Bureau of Statistics

cies to refrain from trying to portray the BBOG in bad light for standing for worthy and just cause of demanding the rescue of the abducted girls.

"We are solidly in support of citizens' movement, the BBOG. We have absolute trust in the movement and its members for their civility. We appreciate their resilience in staying for all this while with us as traumatised community.

“Let the truth be told, if not for BBOG, the issue of Chibok girls would

have been long forgotten.

We, therefore, appeal to the Federal Government and its agencies to restrain from trying to portray the BBOG in bad light for standing for worthy and just cause of demanding the rescue of our innocent girls," he said.

He urged the Federal Government to treat the issues raised in the plea for rescue video with the urgency it deserves, adding that the government should explore avenues of giving opportunity to citizens that can stand between Nigeria and the terrorists to explore best options of getting the girls back and alive.

The KADA chairman also appealed to the Federal Government to periodically communicate with the Chibok community through the leadership of the association what is being done to rescue the girls.

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NEWS

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Planning.

The president stated that because of the need to focus on identified key priorities, some ministries might get significantly less capital allocation than they received in 2016, while others might get significantly more.

His words: “Let me inform you that because of the need to focus on our key priorities, some ministries may get significantly less capital allocation than they received in 2016, while others may get significantly more.

“You may notice that some key non-spending agencies, such as the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), the National Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) and the National Pension Commission (PENCOM) are participants at this retreat.

“This deliberate inclusion underscores the commitment of this administration to leverage on private sector resources, through Public Private Partnerships (PPP) and other arrangements, to augment the scarce budgetary resources at our disposal and to accelerate investments in building critical infrastructure.

“Indeed, the challenges we face in the current recession require ‘out-of-thebox’ thinking, to deploy

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Recession: FG to slash MDAs budget in 2017 strategies that involve engaging meaningfully with the private sector, to raise the level of private sector investment in the economy as a whole.”

Speaking at the event, Buhari explained that the programme was to assist the Federal Government commence the process for the preparation of the 2017 budget.

Government expects to deliberate with key players in the private sector at the retreat to come up with a set of prioritised projects that would feature in next year’s fiscal planning for implementation.

The retreat will also serve as an opportunity to have a general overview of the economy and discuss the framework for the 2017 Budget, its key priorities and deliverables.

He explained that the programme “was in line with the administration’s determination to lay a solid foundation for growth and development as outlined in the Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) of our Change Agenda.”

The president also challenged participants at the retreat to formulate pragmatic proposals on how best to tackle Nigeria’s economic recession.

Buhari particularly urged the cabinet members of his administration to

learn from the experiences of the retreat’s facilitators and resource persons to ensure speedy economic recovery.

He noted that the retreat had become imperative because over the years, there had been a mismatch between planned targets and budgetary outcomes at the national and sectoral levels.

According to him, the MDAs have not also benefited significantly from working together and building consensus around common national objectives, saying that this has impeded growth and development of the country “It is in this context that this retreat has been designed to discuss issues around the state of the economy and build consensus among cabinet members and top government officials.

“The retreat will also serve as an opportunity to have a general overview of the economy and discuss the framework for the 2017 Budget, its key priorities and deliverables.

“This retreat is coming at a critical time in our economic history, when the Nigerian economy is in a recession, with significant downturn in performance in various sectors.

“It is with regard to the importance of this retreat

that I decided to sit through the first part of the session to listen to the views from experienced economists and development experts on how best to implement our plans to rid the country of its oil dependence and to diversify the economy and bring the country out of the current economic recession.”

Buhari also expressed the hope that the level of private investment would grow as his administration had embarked on reforms meant to make it easier to do business in Nigeria.

He said that the reforms were being introduced under the auspices of the Presidential Committee on Ease of Doing Business.

The president reiterated the determination of his administration to continue to strategise on how best to turn the current challenges into opportunities for the nation and especially for the “vibrant youth on whose shoulders lies the future of this nation”.

He said the Federal Government had embarked on measures and actions that would open up the opportunities in the power, housing, agriculture, mining, trade and investment, Information Communication Technology (ICT), tourism, transport and other sectors.

He, therefore, reas-

sured the nation’s teeming youths that the government would remain steadfast in its effort to ensure greater progress and prosperity for them.

Buhari stressed the need for the support and cooperation of the private sector, domestic and foreign investors, the states and local governments, the National Assembly and the judiciary, as well as all wellmeaning Nigerians in the task of transforming the country.

“While government is taking the lead in the task of repositioning our economy for change, we cannot achieve this completely by ourselves.

“We are confident that working together, we shall succeed,” he said.

The president participated in the opening session of the event. There were four sub-themes for discussion all centred on huge investment on infrastructure as a way out of the current economic recession.

In an interview with State House Correspondents, Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, noted that government was sympathetic with the hardship Nigerians were going through and was taking appropriate steps to get the economy back on track.

She said: “We sym-

85

The sex ratio of women to 100 men (international migrants) of Eritrea in 2010.

Source: Un.org

1.06m

The total volume of payment channels made by cheques of Nigeria in February 2015.

Source: National Bureau of Statistics

pathise with the people of Nigeria, but what is more serious is our intentions, our resolve and plans to turn it around. We have said it before that we knew we were going to go into a very difficult period.

“We have not anticipated the impact of the muchawaited crisis, which of course is built on our revenue, which is down significantly. We have a credible plan and that plan is based on the need to invest in our infrastructure and each of the experts spoke on that, that it was the only solution for Nigeria to take us out of this situation and we are working on that.”

Resource persons drawn mostly from the private sector included Bode Agusto, Bismark Rewane, Frank Nweke, Obadaye Mailafia and Ayo Teriba.

The retreat is being attended by all cabinet members, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), permanent secretaries, and directors from the MDAs.

5

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA www.cbn.gov.ng

Communique No 108 of the Monetary Policy Committee Meeting of Monday and Tuesday 25th and 26th July 2016

T

he Monetary Policy Committee met on 25th and 26th July 2016 against the backdrop of fragile global and domestic economic and financial conditions. The Committee evaluated the global and domestic macroeconomic and financial developments in the first six months of 2016 and the outlook for the rest of the year. In attendance were 8 members.

International Economic Developments The Committee noted the continued sluggish growth in global output, being underpinned by weak demand and slowing productivity. In addition to existing risks, rising debt levels in the Emerging Market Economies (EMEs), volatile financial markets and the vote of the United Kingdom to exit the European Union “BREXIT” have lessened the prospects for a more prosperous global economy in 2016. Consequently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in July 2016, further downgraded its baseline forecast for global growth to 3.1 per cent from 3.2 in April. The Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) forecast for global output in 2016 is even less optimistic at 3.0 per cent. Slower global growth prospects is traced to weak trade, sluggish investment, protracted weak aggregate demand and low commodity prices; which have translated to output declines in the Emerging Market and Developing Economies (EMDEs). The Brexit vote has created widespread uncertainty and elevated volatility in the global financial markets.

The United States (US) economy grew by 0.8 per cent in Q1 of 2016, though, much lower than the 1.4 per cent growth recorded in the last quarter of 2015. The tapered growth was attributed to the goods sector which continues to struggle under the weight of declining factory activity; the hitherto resilient service sector is now losing steam while trade remains under pressure from a strong dollar and weak domestic demand.

The Japan economy grew at an annualized rate of 1.7 per cent in Q1 of 2016, a reversal of the negative growth recorded in Q4 of 2015. The Bank of Japan (BoJ) at its 15th-16th July meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee, maintained its monthly asset purchase at ¥6.7 trillion (US$63.93 billion), leaving the policy rate also unchanged at negative 0.1 per cent.

The Euro Area grew by 0.6 per cent in first quarter, 2016, up from 0.3 per cent, recorded in fourth quarter of 2015. Downside risks to the growth outlook have, however, risen following the Brexit vote. The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB), at its meeting of July 21st, 2016, retained its key interest rates on the main refinancing operations, the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility at 0.00, 0.25 and -0.40 per cent, respectively, with the expectation that they would remain at present or lower levels for an extended period of time. The ECB also sustained its monthly asset purchases of €80 billion (US$87.91) until March 2017, with possibility of extension.

In anticipation of and to mitigate the impact of the Brexit vote, the Bank of England (BoE) voted to continue its £375 billion (US$495 billion) monthly assets purchase program, financed through the issuance of reserves and possible increase in the quantum should the need arise. The Bank also retained its policy rate at 0.5 per cent, with a commitment to stimulate inflationary growth towards its 2.0 per cent long run path. The Bank also hinted at a possible further easing of monetary policy in August, 2016.

Major EMDEs continued to face declining capital inflows, rising financing costs and geo-political tensions, all of which pose constrain to growth. Depressed commodity prices continued to tilt the balance of risk towards the downside, thus, dampening prospects for near term economic and financial recovery in the EMDEs. Consequently, the IMF (WEO July 2016 Update) downgraded the 2016 growth forecast for this group of countries to 4.1 from 4.3 per cent in the April projection.

In July, oil and other commodity prices rallied against the backdrop of better-than-expected economic data on China in the second quarter, sustained attacks on oil production facilities in Nigeria, and continued unrest in Libya. Nonetheless, global inflation remained subdued despite widespread easing of monetary policy. In the advanced economies, recent developments such as BREXIT has increased the uncertainty surrounding the future of the Euro zone thus further weakening demand and suppressing inflation. Consequently, while the stance of monetary policy in most advanced economies is expected to remain accomodative through fiscal 2016 in the EMDEs, it is expected to remain mixed, reflecting diversity and multiplicity of shocks confronting them.

Domestic Economic and Financial Developments Output The Nigerian economy is still saddled with the effects of the shocks of the first quarter of 2016; which led to a contraction in output arising from energy shortages, high electricity tariffs, price hikes, scarcity of foreign exchange and depressed consumer demand, among others. Whereas the influence and persistence of some of the factors waned in the second quarter, it is unlikely that the economy rebounded strongly in the quarter as setbacks in the energy sector continued owing mainly to vandalism of oil installations. In addition, the implementation of the 2016 budget in the second quarter remained slower than expected in the second quarter. The Committee noted that most of the conditions undermining domestic output growth were outside the direct purview of monetary policy. It nonetheless, hopes that the deregulation in the downstream petroleum sector and the liberalization of the foreign exchange market would help bring about the much needed relief to the economy.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicate that domestic output in the first quarter of 2016 contracted by 0.36 per cent, the first negative growth in many years. This represented a decline of 2.47 percentage points in output from the 2.11 per cent reported in the fourth quarter of 2015, and 4.32

percentage point lower than the 3.96 per cent recorded in the corresponding period of 2015. Aggregate output contracted in virtually all sectors of the economy, with the non-oil sector recording a decline of about 0.18 per cent, compared with the 3.14 per cent expansion in the preceding quarter. Agriculture and Trade were the only sectors with positive growth at 0.68 per cent and 0.40 per cent, respectively, Industry, Construction and Services contracted by 0.93, 0.26 and 0.08 percentage point, respectively.

Prices The Committee noted a further rise in year-on-year headline inflation to 16.48 per cent in June 2016, from 15.58 per cent in May; 13.72 per cent in April, 12.77 per cent in March and 11.38 per cent in February 2016.

The increase in headline inflation in June reflected increases in both food and core components of inflation.

Core inflation rose sharply for the fourth time in a row to 16.22 per cent in June, from 15.05 per cent in May; 13.35 per cent in April; 12.17 per cent in March; 11.00 per cent in February and 8.80 per cent in January having stayed at 8.70 per cent for three consecutive months through December, 2015. Food inflation also rose to 15.30 per cent in June, from 14.86 per cent in May; 13.19 per cent in April; 12.74 per cent in March; 11.35 per cent in February, 10.64 per cent in January and 10.59 per cent in December, 2015. The rising inflationary pressure was largely a reflection of structural factors, including high cost of electricity, high transport cost, high cost of inputs, low industrial activities as well as higher prices of both domestic and imported food products.

The MPC expressed strong support for the urgent diversification of the economy away from oil to manufacturing, agriculture and services; and called on all stakeholders to increase investment in growth stimulating and high employment elasticity sectors of the economy in order to lift the economy out of its current phase.

Monetary, Credit and Financial Markets Developments Broad money supply (M2) grew by 8.26 per cent in June, 2016, a 4.80 percentage points increase from 3.46 per cent in May compared with the 0.54 per cent contraction in June 2015. When annualized, M2 grew by 16.52 per cent in June 2016 against the provisional growth benchmark of 10.98 per cent for 2016. Net domestic credit (NDC) grew by 12.52 per cent in the same period and annualized at 25.04 per cent. At this rate, the growth rate of NDC exceeded the provisional benchmark of 17.94 per cent for 2016. There was no change in the level of banking sector net credit to government in June, contrasting the 31.45 per cent growth in May. Credit to the private sector grew by 14.45 per cent in June 2016, which annualizes to a growth of 28.90 per cent, outperforming the benchmark growth of 13.38 per cent for the year. The MPC expressed cautious satisfaction over the improved performance of credit to the private sector and urged the Bank to ensure that the tempo is sustained inorder to stimulate recovery of output growth.

The MPC noted that the level of money market interest rates largely reflected the liquidity situation in the banking system during the review period. Average inter-bank call rate, which stood at 20.0 per cent on 17th June 2016, closed at 50.0 per cent on July 15, 2016. The increase was attributed in part; to the newly introduced foreign exchange framework and the mop up of naira liquidity due to increased sale of foreign exchange by the CBN during the period. Generally, the period under review witnessed a decline in volume of activity in the inter-bank market owing to injections by FAAC and maturity of some CBN securities.

The MPC also noted the decline in the indices of the equities segment of the capital market. The All-Share Index (ASI) declined by 6.55 per cent from 29,597.79 on June 30, 2016, to 27,659.44 on July 22, 2016. Similarly, Market Capitalization (MC) declined by 6.26 per cent from N10.17 trillion to N9.50 trillion during the same period. Relative to end-December 2015, the indices fell by 3.43 per cent and 3.55 per cent, respectively.

Globally, however, the equities markets remained generally bearish, in the aftermath of the Brexit vote.

External Sector Developments The MPC noted the actions taken by the Bank as part of the implementation of the flexible foreign exchange regime decided at its meeting in May which was designed to improve liquidity and stabilize the foreign exchange market. The Bank introduced a flexible exchange rate regime in the inter-bank market; introduced a Naira-settled OTC-FMDQ-OTC trading platform, adopted two-way quote trading platform at the inter-bank foreign exchange market and appointed foreign exchange primary dealers.

However, the average naira exchange rate weakened at the inter-bank segment of the foreign exchange market during the review period following the liberalization of the market. The exchange rate at the interbank market opened at N197.00/US$ and closed at N292.90/US$, with a daily average of N244.95/US$ between May 25 and July 19, 2016. The initial weakness was attributable to the normal market reaction to a new regulatory reform. The MPC reaffirmed its commitment to its statutory mandate of achieving a stable naira exchange rate.

The MPC’s Considerations The MPC recognized the weak macroeconomic environment, as reflected particularly in increasing inflationary pressure and contraction in real output growth. In view of this, the MPC underscored the imperative of coordinated action, anchored by fiscal policy, to initiate recovery at the earliest time. Members called on the Federal Government to fast-track the implementation of the 2016 budget in order to stimulate economic activity to bridge the output gap and create employment. In the same vein, the MPC expressed concern over the non-payment of salaries in some states and urged express action in that direction to help stimulate aggregate demand. On its part, and as a complementary measure, the MPC restated its commitment to measures and deployment of relevant instruments within its purview to complement fiscal policy with a view to restarting growth. The Committee also enjoined deposit money banks (DMBs) to partner with Government and the Bank in this direction, by redirecting credit from low employment generating sectors to those capable of supporting 6

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growth, reducing unemployment and improving citizen standards of living.

Members agreed that the economy was passing through a difficult phase, dealing with critical supply gaps and underscored the imperative of carefully navigating the policy space in order to engender growth and ensure price stability. The MPC therefore, summarized the two policy options it was confronted with as restarting growth or fighting inflation. The MPC was particularly concerned that headline inflation spiked significantly in June 2016, approaching twice the size of the upper limit of the policy reference band.

The Committee noted that inflation had risen significantly, eroding real purchasing power of fixed income earners and dragging growth. The MPC was further concerned that while the situation called for obvious tightening of the monetary policy stance, the recession confronting the economy and the prospects of negative growth to year-end needed to be factored into the policy parameters.

The arguments in favour of growth were anchored on the premise that the current inflationary episode was largely structural. In particular, members noted the prominent role of cost factors arising from reform of the energy sector, leading to higher domestic fuel prices and electricity tariffs and prolonged foreign exchange shortages arising from falling oil prices leading to higher inputs costs, domestic fuel shortages, increased transportation costs, security challenges, reform of the foreign exchange market reflected in high exchange rate pass-through to domestic prices of imports. Consequently, the current episode of inflation, being largely non-monetary but largely structural, tightening at this point would only serve to worsen prospects for growth recovery as the Bank had in June 2016, withdrawn substantial domestic liquidity through the foreign exchange market upon introduction of the flexible foreign exchange market regime. Members however, noted the negative effect of inflation on consumption and investment decisions and its defining impact on the efficiency of resource allocation and investment.

The MPC further noted the prolonged non-payment of salaries, a development which has affected aggregate demand and worsened growth prospects. It also noted that at the May MPC meeting, members weighed the risks of the balance of probabilities against growth and voted to hold, allowing fiscal policy some space to stimulate output with injections, but this has been long in coming.

The MPC in putting forward for tightening considered the high inflationary trend which has culminated into negative real interest rates in the economy; noting that this was discouraging to savings. Members also noted that the negative real interest rates did not support the recent flexible foreign exchange market as foreign investors attitude had remained lukewarm, showing unwillingness in bringing in new capital under the circumstance. Members further noted that there existed a substantial amount of international capital in negative yielding investments globally and Nigeria stood a chance of attracting such investments with sound macroeconomic policies. Consequently, members were of the view that an upward adjustment in interest rates would strongly signal not only the Bank’s commitment to price stability but also its desire to gradually achieve positive real interest rates. Such a decision, it was argued, gives impetus for improving the liquidity of the foreign exchange market and the urgent need to deepen the market to ensure self-sustainability. Members were of the opinion that this would boost manufacturing and industrial output, thereby stimulating growth which is desired at this time.

The Committee’s Decisions The MPC, recognizing that the Bank lacked the instruments required to directly jumpstart growth, and being mindful not to calibrate its instruments in such a manner as to undermine its primary mandate and financial system stability, in assessment of the relevant issues, was of the view that the balance of risks remains tilted against price stability. Consequently, five (5) members voted to raise the Monetary Policy Rate while three (3) voted to hold.

In summary, the MPC voted to: (i) Increase the MPR by 200 basis points from 12.00 to 14 per cent; (ii) Retain the CRR at 22.50 per cent; (iii) Retain the Liquidity Ratio at 30.00 per cent; and (iv) Retain the Asymmetric Window at +200 and -500 basis points around the MPR Thank you for listening.

Godwin I. Emefiele Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria 26th July 2016

PERSONAL STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS OF THE MONETARY POLICY COMMITTEE 1.0

ADELABU, ADEBAYO

Macroeconomic performance has been broadly positive since the beginning of the year. Inflation pressure has largely been subdued, headline being at single digit since January, while real GDP growth has also remained robust. However, the downside risks to the near and medium term outlook are quite significant. The major risk is from the external sector through likely sharp decline in the international price of crude oil arising from the falling external demand due to the discovery of new oil technology (shale and fracking) by the Nigeria’s major trading partners, notably the US and UK. This development poses a grave risk to the buildup of the external reserve. At the same time, the imminent tapering off of the quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve Bank has led to reversal of market sentiment against developing and emerging economies with the implication of capital outflows, adding further pressure to the foreign exchange market. Although a reasonable buffer has been built given that the external reserves stood at about US $48 billion by July 19, which is within the range of optimal reserves for middle income commodity exporting country, the level is still below the pre global financial crisis era. This is indicative that the economy is less resilient relative to the pre global financial crisis period.

Another major cause for concern is the development in the fiscal sector. Actual revenue for fiscal operations showed a negative variance of about 17 per cent during the first half of the year. It is pertinent to note is that the revenue is falling not only from falling oil price but much more from shortfall in production. Oil production for the first half of the year averaged 1.9 mbpd, 22 per cent below the 2.52 mbpd assumed in the budget.

Borrowing to finance the ensuing fiscal deficit would not only trigger inflation pressure but would also have serious implication for the real sector growth through the crowding out of the private sector credit. Besides, the reversal of portfolio flows, as indicated above, would impact on the pricing of Government debt instruments given that the yield curve on long tenored government bond commenced an upward movement in May. Thus,

the cost of raising funds by the Government might increase, with the implication of further weakening the fragile fiscal account Although it is probable to assume a fair degree of fiscal prudence given that the actual fiscal deficit of N413.99 billion at the end of first half of the year was within the proportionate level assumed under the 2013 budget, this was, however, achieved at the expense of the Excess Crude Account (ECA). The current ECA is about 50 per cent of the position at end-December 2012, suggesting that the whole ECA could be completely depleted by the end of the year, if the trend continues. This, invariably, suggests limited fiscal space to respond to the impending adverse developments in the global oil market.

Finally, the episode of liquidity surfeit seems to have re-emerged in the banking sector. The market rates: Overnight Buy Back (OBB) and Interbank call rates (IBCR), have virtually remained at the lower end of the MPR corridor since the beginning of the year, suggesting that the market has completely adjusted to the prevailing stance of monetary policy. The foreign exchange market has been hard hit by this development.

On the balance, it is noteworthy that inflation has maintained consistent deceleration in the recent times, providing a valid premise to review the MPR downward or at least maintain the current level. On the other hand, the risks posed to the external reserve, through the developments in the external sector as well as the emerging liquidity surfeit in the banking system from large deposit balances on public sector accounts, require a strong policy action.

In the light of these concerns, I vote for the retention of the MPR at 12 per cent and the symmetry corridor of 200 basis points with a view to addressing the likely inflation pressure from fiscal slippage. With respect to the CRR, however, I vote for a CRR of 50 per cent on public sector deposit while the current rate of 12 per cent be maintained on private sector deposit. This is with a view to altering the conduct of the market and curtailing pressure on the foreign exchange market.

2.0

ALADE, SARAH O

This is the first MPC meeting since the historic Brexit vote which has added additional risks to global economic growth. The big concern is whether a retreat from financial risk due to Brexit will disturb the existing fault lines in the world economy, notably in China and southern Europe, although the Bank of England have put in place some monetary policy intervention measures to cushion these effects. These developments, coupled with domestic economic environment have increased risks to the Nigerian economy. Oil prices remain low, even as militant activities in the Niger Delta are affecting output, putting undue pressure on the fiscal and external sectors and adversely affecting the domestic economy. Headline inflation remains elevated at 16.48 percent in June up from 15.58 percent recorded in May, a further drift from the single digit goal of the Central Bank. The growth for the second quarter of 2016 remains subdued even for the rest of the year. These developments call for balanced monetary policy measures to fight inflation and attract foreign investments to cushion the loss in foreign earnings from oil. I will therefore support an increase in monetary policy rate.

Global economic growth continue to be sluggish: Weak demand and slowing productivity coupled with the vote of the United Kingdom to exit the European Union “BREXIT” is undermining global growth for 2016.

In addition, the Brexit vote has created widespread uncertainty and elevated volatility in the global financial markets. The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) World Economic Outlook (WEO) for July 2016 downgraded its baseline forecast for global growth to 3.1 percent from 3.2 percent in the April version. In the Emerging Market and Developing economies, weak aggregate demand and low commodity prices have translated to output decline and resulting in difficult economic and business environment. Depressed commodity prices continued to pose downside risk to growth in emerging markets, especially on commodity exporting countries, thus, dampening prospects for near term economic and financial recovery in those economies.

The shocks experienced during the first quarter of the year are still affecting Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth negatively: Contraction in output which started in the first quarter due to energy shortages, high electricity tariffs, fuel price hikes, scarcity of foreign exchange and depressed consumer demand continued to determine growth outcomes in the second quarter. In addition, the implementation of the 2016 budget in the second quarter remained slower than expected affecting the speed of economic activities at a time when fiscal policy is needed to complement the efforts of monetary policy to spur growth. First quarter GDP growth stood at -0.36 percent compared to a 2.11 percent expansion in the previous period and way below forecasts of 1.7 percent growth. It is the first contraction since the second quarter of 2004 as the non-oil sector contracted, mainly due to a slowdown in the services sectors as a result of a weakening naira, while lower oil prices keep dragging the oil sector down. GDP Annual Growth Rate in Nigeria averaged 4.12 percent from 1982 to 2016, reaching an all-time high of 19.17 percent in the fourth quarter of 2004 and a record low of -7.81 percent in the fourth quarter of 1983. The resuscitation of economic growth will require the cooperation and collaboration of monetary and fiscal policy and delicate balancing of both global events and domestic risks in the coming months. In addition, policy measures targeted as expanding the revenue base such as improving tax administration and broadening the tax base should be pursued vigorously to help lift depressing consumer demand and increase growth. While an increase in tax rate might not ordinarily be the best at this time, the fact that is declining calls for additional measures to increase government revenues and spending to lift the economy out of the current crisis. In addition, efforts should be made in the area of concessional borrowing to finance infrastructure development and spur employment which will help increase aggregate demand.

Headline inflation elevated even as foreign exchange supply remain limited. Headline inflation further increased to 16.48 percent in June 2016, from 15.58 percent recorded in May. The increase in headline inflation in June reflected increases in both food and core components of inflation. Core inflation rose sharply for the fourth time in a row to 16.22 per cent in June, from 15.05 per cent in May and 13.35 per cent in April. Food inflation also rose to 15.30 per cent in June, from 14.86 per cent in May and 13.19 per cent in April. The rising inflationary pressure was largely a reflection of structural factors, including high electricity tariff, high transport cost as a result of higher fuel prices, high cost of inputs, low industrial activities as well as higher prices of both domestic and imported food products. The persistent upsurge in inflation calls for monetary policy intervention.

High inflation causes lenders to demand higher fixed interest rate on borrowing. It also hurts the poor since it erodes their purchasing power. High inflation is harmful to growth and Central Bank at this time can only support growth by keeping inflation low since it cannot increase aggregate demand by lowering interest rate.

Thus fighting increasing inflation pressure by increasing MPR will also help to attract foreign inflows into the country to cushion the lost revenue from both lower oil prices and lower output.

The recently adopted foreign exchange regime is bringing more transparency into the foreign exchange market. After a period of restriction in the foreign exchange market, a new market driven approach was adopted in June, 2016. This has brought the needed transparency, price discovery and greater participation in the market. In addition, the new framework is attracting inflows into the market, increasing supply and ensuring continuation of economic activities, although more should be done to further increase supply. In addition, the decision to increase the monetary policy rate will further help encourage foreign inflows to curb capital outflow and provide liquidity to the interbank market. At this time, monetary policy should be focused on restoring confidence in the domestic economy and increasing supply of foreign exchange to attract inflows, therefore an increase in MPR is in the right direction.

Against this background, I support a rate increase to help bring inflation gradually under control and bring interest rate to a less negative territory. Decreasing rate at this time will make interest rate more negative which is bad for savers and for investment at a time when the nation needs all the investment it can get to support

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growth. However, increasing Monetary Policy Rate rapidly to make interest rate positive will ground economic activities. The increase in rate coupled with the new liberalized foreign exchange policy will lead to stable currency as foreign inflow increases and inflation moderate.

Pressure Points

I therefore support an increase in Monetary Policy Rate by 200 basis points, to 14 percent, the retention of Private Sector Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) at 22.5 percent, retention of the Liquidity Ratio at 30.00 per cent; and retention of the Asymmetric Window at +200 and -500 basis points around the MPR to help attract capital inflow and resuscitate the economy.

There are a number of significant negative developments in the global environment with potential spillover to the domestic economy. One of such key developments is the exit of Britain (Brexit) from the European Union via the outcome of the referendum in June. Although events are still unfolding, evidence so far reveals amplification of downside risks in the global financial markets with potential spillover to both the real and financial sectors of the domestic economy. Preliminary data shows that the pound sterling has shed about 15 percent, while the credit rating of UK has been downgraded from triple to double “A”s. Pound Sterling denominated assets continued to shed weight on the heel of anxiety by investors who are moving out to a more secured haven. Naturally, the likely destination of most of these investments is the US with implication of further strengthening of the dollar against most currencies particularly emerging economies’ currencies. This could possibly accentuate the risk of depreciation of the Naira against the US dollar and heighten the pressure in the foreign exchange market. Besides, given that most primary commodities exported by emerging market economies, crude oil inclusive, are quoted in US dollar, an appreciating dollar should result in softening of prices of these commodities. The implication of such development on the domestic economy particularly on the fiscal sector is fairly obvious.

3.0

BALAMI, DAHIRU HASSAN

At the global level, the IMF downgraded its 2016 economic growth projection to 3.1per cent from 3.4 per cent due to high level of uncertainty which include some of the following vulnerabilities and risks: the British vote to leave the EU; the continuous fall in crude oil and other commodity prices; the divergence of monetary policy between the USA and other major economies of the world; and the slowing down of the Chinese economy, all of which have had impacts on the Nigerian economy. There is the need for the G20 to deliberately enact policies that would stimulate growth at the global level. It should however, be noted that manufacturing and industrial development are the key drivers of growth and economic transformation for any economy at the global level.

At the domestic level, the Nigerian economy is currently in recession with the twin problem of negative growth indices and rising inflation. It has been observed that for two consecutive quarters, the growth rate has declined Q1 at -0.36% and Q2 at -1.8% while inflation has risen from 15.58 per cent in May to 16.48 per cent in June. The nation is also caught up in economic crisis with pressure on its foreign exchange market and slow growth in the economy, with the private sector being crowded out. Also, sub-national governments are unable to pay salaries which affects the consumption expenditure. The critical questions then are: How do we stimulate growth of output in the face of high lending rate and inflation? Will an increase in interest rate reduce inflation? Will it encourage households to save? Do we control inflation and leave growth or the other way round? How do we stimulate private investment? Do we shift resources to higher productive sectors of the economy? In agriculture for instance, should the government direct social funds to farmers through providing improved seedlings, water pumps and fertilisers etc.? In the light of the questions raised above, growth can be encouraged through diversification of the economy. However, there are a lot of constraints due to the reasons earlier discussed in my personal statement of May 2016. These include lack of adequate infrastructural facilities like energy; poor roads network; insecurity; low level of household income; and the lag in the implementation of the 2016 budget which was expected to be expansionary.

At the theoretical level, any economy in recession would require both expansionary fiscal and monetary policies to move the economy forward. At the Monetary policy level, it requires raising the level of money supply and reducing interest rates to attract more investors. At the fiscal level, the government is expected to raise public expenditure and reduce the level of taxes to raise the disposable income of both households and firms. A lot has been done on the monetary side, particularly to encourage the banking industry to lend to the real sectors of the economy. However, with rising non-performing loans, not much has been achieved in stimulating growth.

Hence, the CBN has had to intervene several times in various sectors of the economy, like the Anchor Growers Programme, to encourage the growth of the agricultural sector where Nigeria has comparative advantage if properly planned. Similar interventions have been done to the small and medium scale enterprise sectors of the economy. For growth to take place, proactive and creative planning is needed.

Another important aspect of monetary policy objective is price stability. Currently, inflation rate of 16.5% is much outside the CBN band of 6 - 9%. However, inflation in Nigeria is partly not a monetary phenomenon, but due to structural reforms in the economy. These include removal of energy subsidies; foreign exchange depreciation; rising cost of transportation; poor electricity and infrastructural facilities. The point here is that the CBN as a regulatory body, should be seen promoting financial system stability, hence the need for taming inflation and sending signals to the fiscal side to pursue growth vigorously. Impact analysis of earlier monetary policies should be made available to the government to complement the fiscal side. In view of monetary policies put in place in May 2016, there is need to allow time for the CRR, liquidity ratio and symmetric corridor to hold while the MPR be varied by 200 point basis to promote the inflow of FDI. These would gradually reduce inflation in the economy. For treasury bills, the banks are quoting 18.5%, then why do we have to leave policy rate at 12%? It should be noted that the policy of setting MPR at 12% is ineffective because it is too far from the current inflation rate of 16.5%. Again, we cannot leave the control of current level of liquidity to the banks because the DMB’s are not using it appropriately. On the basis of the above analysis, l vote to: (I) Retaining the CRR at 22.5%.

(II) Raising MPR by 200 basis points from 12% to 14%.

(III) Retaining the liquidity ratio at 30%.

(IV) Retaining the asymmetric corridor at +200/-500 point basis.

4.0 BARAU, SULEIMAN Background The drag on key macroeconomic indicators since the beginning of the year is still very much at play. It has been complicated by new shocks like the Brexit vote, and rising wave of global terrorism and ascendancy of militancy in the domestic environment. A key outcome of the last meeting in May 2016, was the deployment of a flexible exchange rate model, which, to a large extent, has reduced the high rate of depletion of the external reserves but it is glaring that the pressure in the FX market is still reasonably high given the significant depreciation in the exchange rate even when some slowdown could still be observed on external reserves.

Besides, other major issues include the acceleration in domestic price level and sliding output, with statistics pointing to the likelihood of the economy being in recession at the end of the year. However, this should not be interpreted as a complete bad news because the underlying cause is pretty clear and monetary policy measures will always be proactive in response. The contraction in output was principally a result of unprecedented shocks on both the demand and supply sides. The sharp adjustment in the exchange rate impacted production negatively, while the fall in public revenue arising from the slump in oil price has equally eroded consumption with many subnational governments unable to pay wages and salaries on regular basis. Structural issues including productivity declines from negative spillover in the global environment, exchange rate adjustment, increase in electricity tariffs, and supply deficit from conflict ravaged north eastern part of the country, has accelerated inflation.

A simultaneous rise in inflation and contraction in output would naturally pose serious challenge to any monetary authority, but I am of the view that restoring confidence in the macroeconomic environment should be critical. The policy rate (MPR) was increased by 100 basis points in March against the background of creeping inflation but my view is that the challenge in the macroeconomic environment demands further tightening through upward adjustment in the policy rate. Perhaps, the most compelling case against the status quo ante is the emergence of unanticipated shocks which have caused inflation to overshoot forecast as well as putting additional pressure on external reserves. In the light of this, my vote is to increase the Monetary Policy Rate with a view to addressing inflation concerns as well as enhancing the competiveness of the economy for foreign capital required to shore up the external reserves.

Global Environment:

Another challenge of worrisome dimension brought about by Brexit is the increase in the level of uncertainty in the global output as the IMF has undertaken a third downward revision of 2016 global growth. Global growth in 2016 is now projected at 3.1 per cent compared to 3.4 and 3.2 percent in October 2015 and April 2016, respectively. Although the downward adjustment from the latest revision is restricted mostly to Euro economies but when cognizance is taken that the leading emerging economies like China are still contending with growth challenges under its rebalancing model, then the prospects of increase in exports for most developing economies is highly diminished.

The increase in global terrorist activities, especially in the US and Europe have profound macroeconomic implications. These activities divert attention of leaders in large global economies with likely severe consequence on allocation of resources for real economic activities. Secondly, most of these activities are concentrated in the Euro zone and in view of the fact that the zone is yet to fully recover from recession since the 2008/9 global financial crisis, even after series of quantitative easing by the ECB, the current spate of terrorism challenges confronting the zone would only aggravate the slide into recession.

The last issue in the global environment is the evolving monetary policy stance of systematically important global central banks like the Bank of England (BOE) and the US Federal Reserves (FOMC). Both the BOE and the FOMC kept their rates unchanged at their last meeting in June and July, respectively, which, naturally, is a good news to emerging economies. The reason for keeping the rate unchanged was similar in the two countries but a deeper appreciation of issues should make emerging economies treat the news with caution. In the US, for example, the labor market has strengthened and economic activities were expanding at moderate pace.

The only reason why the Fund’s rate was kept unchanged was inflation running below the long run target of 2 percent as a result of transitory factor of earlier decline in energy price. As the effect of transitory factor dissipates, uptick in inflation should be expected with the FOMC responding with rate hike. The implication of such development on the domestic economy is obvious but more importantly, the Naira may slide further against the US dollar.

Domestic Environment Pressure on Exchange Rate: The adoption of a flexible rate model at the last meeting represented a giant stride in aligning the exchange rate framework to the realities of the operating environment. The model has considerably enabled the exchange rate to absorb much of the pressure in the market but it appears the pressure is yet to abate as external reserves is still slowing down. It is worrisome that demand pressure in the FX market continued to increase at a period when the real side of the economy is contracting, suggesting that some speculative forces could still be at play. Among others, the likely drivers of the excess demand is the difference in rate between the interbank and parallel market rates which is still relatively high although some form of narrowing has been achieved. Additional risk to the pressure in the FX market is the lingering liquidity surfeit in the banking sector.

Slowing Output: The GDP contracted by 0.36 percent at the end of first quarter after persistent slowdown since the latter half of 2014. The key forces at play are yet to ease. The insurgency in the North East, and the militancy in the Niger Delta have impacted negatively on economic activities of those areas. From, the demand side, though there was bailout programme for some states, a considerable number are still owing on wages and salaries thereby reducing consumption and depressing aggregate demand. The softening output portends a lot of adverse consequences. Among others, given the recourse to borrowing to finance budget due to falling fiscal revenue, a softening GDP, therefore, would accentuate the contraction of fiscal space.

Rising Domestic Price: The domestic price level continued its upward trend in June as headline inflation accelerated to 16.48 percent, the highest level since 1994. The pressure on domestic price level emanated from both core and food components with an increase of 15.30 and 16.22 percent, respectively, suggesting that both monetary and non-monetary factors are at play. The medium term path is still challenged by significant upside risks including the lag effect of upward adjustment in energy prices, recent increase in electricity tariff, and rising prices of imported food items on account of depreciation of domestic currency.

High Lending Rates: The challenge to growth is further impeded by the subsisting high lending rate regime. The prime lending rate rose to 16.78 percent in June while the Maximum lending rate increased to 26.93 percent in the same month. A commissioned study on the viability of small scale agro-allied business in Nigeria in 2015 revealed an Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of between 21 to 43 percent for the various agriculture sectors. With the current lending rate, most of the sectors would definitely drop out of the viability zone.

Besides, the current monetary policy rate regime has revealed the inefficiency of resource allocation inherent in oligopolistic banking structure such as ours. It is difficult to understand that while the lending rate increased between May and June 2016, there was a reduction in consolidated deposit rate. The consolidated deposit rate fell to 3.26 percent in June, culminating to wide spread of 23.67 percent between savings and lending rates.

The wide spread in rate would not only inhibit maturity transformation role of banks but the negative real interest rate on savings deposit could reduce incentive to save and thereby threaten banking system stability.

Way Forward To reduce the risk inherent in the macroeconomic environment, the following measures may become necessary.

Address the Rising Inflation: The persistent rise in inflation deserves attention. Although the significant drivers of the current inflationary trend could be ascribed to shocks and structural challenges, nevertheless the demand for money needs to be well managed to avert stagflation. The current policy rate may appear fairly high but in the light of the conventional Taylor’s rule, the central bank’s policy rate must be increased whenever inflation exceeds the target rate regardless of whether the source of the pressure is from decline in productivity or increase in aggregate demand. The current inflation rate is 16.4 percent against the bank’s inflation target of 9 percent, suggesting the need to adjust the policy rate upward. Argument for upward adjustment is further reinforced by the fact that the current level of inflation has taken the real policy rate to negative territory, which is an indicator of loose monetary condition. It is equally significant to mention that the decision to hold the 8

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MPR at the last meeting was in the hope that it would elicit reversal of the declining growth trend. However, the result was a rise in inflation and decline in growth, confirming the thesis that though inflation could be beneficial but it is harmful to growth if it exceeds certain threshold.

Stabilize the Foreign Exchange Market: The perception of economic agents about the medium term path of key economic variables is very crucial to reversing recession and restoring growth on sustainable basis.

One of such variables is the exchange rate. It is appreciated that the currencies of most emerging economies particularly oil exporting countries, are facing pressure but the effect seems much more on Nigeria. Available statistics reveal that Naira depreciated by about 34 percent in July 2016 on year-on-year basis while the South Africa rand depreciated by about 16 percent during the period. When examined on month-on-month basis, however, Naira still depreciated by about 6 percent while South Africa rand appreciated by about 4 percent.

This shows that the switch to a flexible exchange rate model at the last meeting, though a logical step, has not completely eliminated the pressure in the FX market. The model, could only work on one side of the equilibrium path- the demand side, as the supply side is yet to be addressed. At a time when accretion to external reserves through oil proceeds is threatened from both the price and output sides, the only available leeway is capital account. Global capital flow is generally influenced by both push and pull factors. A significant push factor is already at work in the aftermath of the exit of Britain (Brexit) from the EU but the domestic economy needs to strengthen the pull factors. As such, it may be in order to put in place measures that can enhance the attraction of some of these capitals into the domestic economy. Thus, beside the need to address inflation concerns, another reason to increase the policy rate is the need to improve the competitiveness of the domestic economy for foreign capital and thereby shore up the external reserves.

Support the Real Sector: Given the lingering infrastructural challenge coupled with the need to raise the policy rate in other to curtail inflationary pressure, the vulnerable sectors of the economy particularly agriculture and manufacturing may be worse hit in terms of flow of credit. Credit to the core private sector grew by 12.63 percent at the end of the first half, annualized to 25.26 percent, which is below the optimum requirement at a time of softness in critical sectors. As a result, it may be in order for the Bank to intensify its various development finance scheme, like the Nigerian Incentive based Risk Sharing System for Agriculture Lending (NIRSAL), the CAC, and the Anchor Borrowers Programme.

Strong Sectorial Policies: Stabilization of the macroeconomic environment is imperative in reversing the slide to recession but it is important to appreciate the fact that the relationship between stable macroeconomic environment and growth is not symmetry. Instability in the macroeconomic environment would hurt growth but restoring stability does not translate to automatic restoration of growth. This is even more important for developing economies such as ours with a lot of bottlenecks in the production process. At this point in time, there is a compelling need for government to spend in order to halt the slide to recession while at the same time cautiously guides against unproductive consumption that could exert further pressure on price level. It is therefore critical for government to prioritize spending to critical sectors that could promote non-inflationary growth. It is noteworthy to mention some recent initiatives of government, particularly in the transport sector despite the dwindling revenue. The proposed launch of Abuja-Kaduna rail line as well as Lagos-East bound line are good examples of such projects. Other critical sectors like the power sector need to come with robust policies that must be faithfully implemented in order to promote spending that could stimulate growth without necessarily increasing the risk to inflation.

Protection of Oil and Gas Installations: I mentioned this issue in my last statement in May 2016, but it is quite disheartening that the condition has not improved but rather deteriorating with the recent bombing of some key oil installations. We have not benefited from the rally in oil price since April. Instead, our production level had dropped to 2.2million to 1.6million per day. We must implore all initiatives to stop this haemorrhage in order to take advantage of the current rally in oil price and by extension halt the declining fiscal revenue.

Decisions In view of the need to restore stability in the macroeconomic environment and most especially to stem the rising inflation and equally make the domestic economy competitive for foreign capital, I propose that the MPR be increased by 200 basis points, while retaining other measures.

5.0 SALAMI, ADEDOYIN The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in May 2016 had issues around exchange rate management as its overriding challenge. At the end of that session I was clear in my mind that with GDP data for Q1-2016, released in the run-up to that meeting, already showing a contraction and the outlook for both activity growth and inflation indicating a worsening in both parameters, our meeting in July would have to provide clarity as to the priority between inflation and growth.

At the end of deliberations, I voted with a minority of colleagues in favour of the proposal to leave policy rates unchanged.

Additional data published since the meeting in May simply confirmed my feeling that the primary issue at this meeting is for the MPC to indicate its preference for policy attention between growth and inflation. The most recent revision of the 2016 forecast for Nigeria published by International Monetary Fund (IMF) just ahead of this meeting foresees output of the economy in Nigeria contracting by 1.8 percent this year. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), on the sanguine assumption that Nigeria attains daily average oil production of 1.7mn barrels for 2016, expects GDP to contract by 1.3 percent this year. On available information concerning the current state of oil-export production, this assumption looks optimistic.

It is perhaps noteworthy that the forecasts from both the IMF and the NBS show a marked worsening of the economic environment. While the IMF’s January 2016 forecast for Nigeria has swung from 4.2 percent annual growth to contraction of 1.8 percent in updated forecasts published in July, the NBS’ forecast similarly swings from its January forecast of 3.8 percent growth to a conservative estimate of 1.3percent contraction! Allowing for the 0.4percent contraction in Q1-2016, the most optimistic forecasts for growth suggest a minimum average contraction of approximately 1.6percent in each of the remaining 3 quarters of the year.

For inflation, data published (by the NBS) for June shows Aggregate prices rising at 16.5 percent when compared with the same month last year. Both Core and Food inflation also rose by 10.9 percent and 11.67 percent respectively. These figures represent a worsening of inflation when compared with the similar data for the previous month. The trend in inflation is however not fully captured by the year-on-year figures. The month-on-month data however shows a sharp improvement in the rate of aggregate price increase from 2.8 percent in May 2016 to 1.7percent in June 2016. Core inflation and the rate of increase in food prices similarly showed a marked reduction – rising slower, at 1.8 percent and 1.4 percent respectively when compared with 2.7percent and 2.6 percent the previous month.

It is also noteworthy that the rate of change of the month-on-month data has been quite volatile in 2016.

In other words, whilst prices doubtless continue to rise, it is not conclusive that inflationary conditions are worsening. Indeed, forecasts for inflation provided by Bank Staff show a deceleration in the rate of aggregate price increase to 15.95percent in August before increasing to 16.83percent, year-end. Forecasts for month-onmonth inflation show a deceleration to October before rising in the final two months of the year.

In my judgment, raising the MPR is inappropriate at this time. To begin with, the primary causes of rising prices are not driven from the demand-side – indeed, credit conditions are quite tight. Year-to-date has seen credit increase by just 1.3percent. This compares with price rise of almost 12percent between December 2015 and June 2016. It is clear that rising inflation is the result of reform in Energy Costs and the Naira’s weakness.

Whilst it is tempting to conclude that at the very least the Naira’s weakness might be halted by raising the MPR, I am not convinced this will happen. The fundamental challenge facing the Naira is the negative shock in Nigeria’s Terms of Trade caused by sharply lower oil prices. This has been worsened by ineffectual policy responses, leading to a loss of policy credibility with the resultant inability to provide supply stimuli needed to revive the economy. In my view it is unduly optimistic to expect international investors to be attracted to Nigeria until policy credibility and consistency is not only restored but also successfully maintained. Indeed, initial implementation of the supposed flexibility in exchange rate determination simply saw movement from a ‘hard’ peg at N197/US$1 to a “soft” peg in the range N282-284/US$. This, in my view, sent a needlessly negative signal from which we now appear to be belatedly back-tracking.

The ‘market’ rates for Naira are in my view an over-adjustment given the fundamentals of the economy. I have seen estimates that suggest a Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) rate of N315/US$ at the time of this meeting. In all markets, the Naira has weakened beyond this level and shows no sign of appreciation anytime soon. The difference within markets is what can only be described as the cost of FOREX Market illiquidity with a further premium for policy uncertainty. At this point, it may be that the most credible option open to the Central Bank for improving FOREX liquidity is to specifically borrow USD for the purpose.

If, as I contend, upward movement in the Policy rate fails to attract the size of FOREX flows immediately required, the case for raising rates also fails. In my view higher interest rates also worsen the financial stability problems already evident in the banking sector. Data provided by Bank Staff for June 2016, show NonPerforming Loans (NPL) amounting to 10.71percent of the Banking Industry Loan Book, which is well above its regulator’s mandate. My hope remains that the data reflects full disclosure of NPLs. In charting a path out of the present situation, we could not do worse than to draw on lessons from the reaction of Central Banks in other jurisdictions on the prioritization between inflation and GDP Growth. As we have seen time and again in the period of sub-par growth prevailing since the sub-prime induced financial and economic crisis, Central Banks have placed priority on growth, even to the extent of using the instrumentality of unorthodox monetary policy.

The collapse in government revenue in H1-2016 means that the fiscal side will face enormous challenges to deliver any significant stimulus to the economy, through the 2016 Appropriation Act, as hoped. Indeed the government has already warned that it is unlikely to fully implement the budget for this year. Raising rates at this point is unlikely to achieve anything other than to worsen the economic and business circumstances of Nigeria.

6.0 UCHE, CHIBUIKE U With the Nigerian economy now in recession, inflation and bank NPLs in double digit territory, oil prices tottering and no visible sign that our oil dependent economy is being diversified, few will dispute the fact that our country currently has no clear path towards economic recovery. Under the above scenario, as I have argued in the past, it is clear to me that there is a limit to what monetary policy alone can achieve. While some MPC members have argued that we should focus on the main mandate of monetary policy, which is price stability, I am of the view that such a mandate is not an end in itself. This is because the very essence of price stability is to engender economic growth. Since it is now prudent to assert that the days of high oil prices are unlikely to return, the only reasonable path towards encouraging economic growth in Nigeria is to diversify the economic base of our economy by promoting real sector development. Tightening of money supply at the present time, will therefore be counterproductive towards achieving the above objective.

At another level, I also very much doubt whether tightening at the present time will indeed curtail inflation.

This is because evidence available to MPC suggests that liquidity is not the main causative factor of the current inflationary pressure. Rather such inflation has in the main been caused by the reforms in the electricity and petroleum sectors which have resulted in higher prices for the above energy products, which impact on the input costs to the real sector of our economy. Another important factor that has contributed to the present inflation is the oil revenue induced scarcity of foreign exchange which has resulted in both the explicit and implicit devaluation of the Naira.

In the light of the above, I do not see how tightening money supply can help curtail inflation at the present time. Rather such a policy move can only further exacerbate the present difficulties being experienced by operators in the real sector of the Nigerian economy. Tightening, which will definitely lead to increases in lending rates, will adversely affect our already contracting manufacturing sector and thus drive our economy further down the recession path. This will not be in the interest of our banking system which, given its current double digit NPL level, is already in a precarious state.

Throughout the meeting, I also carefully listened to the argument that tightening will help the country achieve higher interest rates which will positively impact on foreign portfolio inflows and thus on the value of the Naira. In my humble view, to tighten monetary policy with the main objective of attracting foreign portfolio flows will be a major policy error. This is because history teaches us that unless foreign capital inflows are deployed to the real sectors of our economy, their impact on stabilizing the exchange rate of the Naira are at best temporary. Given our current precarious economic situation therefore, I am convinced that it would be an error to continue to allow unhindered inflow of speculative capital into our economy.

For the avoidance of doubt, I am not fundamentally opposed to the inflow of foreign capital. All I am saying is that our country should encourage the inflow of foreign direct investments as opposed to foreign portfolio flows. Although some MPC members have argued that foreign portfolio flows are normally the precursor of foreign direct investments, history teaches us that this has thus far not been applicable to Nigeria. While portfolio flows can sometimes help to sustain the value of our currency, this is not sustainable in the long run.

Without investments in the real sector, which admittedly will require a clear strategy to diversify our current oil dependent economy, the value of our currency will continue to slide. Speculators cherish the above dynamics.

In fact, some will argue that speculators are already exploiting the above scenario and reaping handsome profits to the detriment of both the value of the Naira and our economy.

In conclusion therefore, I believe that monetary policy tightening at the present time will be an error. Although maintaining status quo, when there is no clear path towards diversifying the nation’s economy and making the country less dependent on foreign goods, may not provide the optimal solution to our complex economic problems, it is by far the lesser of the two evils. At the very least, this position will give the fiscal authorities the necessary space for it to adopt policies that will encourage the diversification of our economy.

Based on the above arguments, I am inclined to vote that status quo be maintained at the present time. I therefore vote as follows: (i) to retain the MPR at 12.00 per cent; (ii) to retain the CRR at 22.50 per cent; (iii) to retain the Liquidity Ratio at 30.00 per cent; and (iv) to retain the Asymmetric Window at +200 and -500 basis points around the MPR.

9

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA www.cbn.gov.ng

7.0

YAHAYA, SHEHU

The Domestic Economy The dominant challenge facing the Nigerian economy is the fall in GDP experienced in the first quarter of the year, as well as resurgent inflation. Government revenue is also low, and the 2016 budget has not yet really taken off. Substantial progress has been made in the de-regulation of the foreign exchange market, but there are still uncertainties; policies are still evolving and there is quite a bit of fine-tuning.

Output The factors that have precipitated the historical decline in GDP are extant, and have certainly not played out.

Crude petroleum output is still suffering from disruptions, and repairs have not completed on many of the breached pipelines, thereby impacting on exports and supply to domestic refineries. The destructions of gas pipelines has disrupted supplies to power plants and therefore reduced electricity output. The construction sector is reviving and many of the hitherto abandoned projects are coming back to life. However, very little of the capital resources of the budget have actually been disbursed. At any rate, much of the revival effect, including the boost to consumption, will show only in Q3 or Q4 and will not show in the growth figures for Q2 2016. It can only be hoped that the various policy measures deployed in the agricultural sector can substantially raise crop production and livestock sufficient to make up for declines in other sectors of the economy and thereby avoid another quarter of negative growth.

Prices With respect to price levels, the surging trend of prices continue, with headline inflation, YOY, at 16.5% in June 2016, up from 15.6% last month. Both core and food prices combined to drive headline inflation forward. The most significant contributors to the headline inflation include processed food, farm produce, non-alcoholic beverages, clothing and footwear, utilities and fuel. In the meantime, there has been a sharp increase in diesel prices; the deregulation of PMS also implies that the depreciation of the Naira may trigger an increase in pump prices of PMS, with an additional inflationary impact on transport costs. It is worth noting though that month on month prices, for all items, have declined in June as compared to May 2016.

Forex Market The foreign exchange market has been substantially liberalized and the value of the Naira is being increasingly determined by the market. Hopefully, this will lead to additional supply of foreign currency from external investors and other sources, and some movement in that direction is already being observed. But there is still a wait and see attitude from many investors who are weighing the still unfolding policies, the direction of the Naira value and other macro-economic variables in the economy, including foreign reserves and interest rates. However, it is necessary to do some intelligent market intervention to ensure that the market pulls in the direction of desired objectives. An increased intervention capacity from the CBN and a more realistic import regime and overall fiscal policy are therefore essential for a more effective management of the foreign exchange market.

The banking system remains overall sound. The difficult macro-economic environment, particularly the negative growth rates, low government revenues, declines in crude oil export earnings, construction and the energy sector, combined with the effects of the implementation of the TSA have placed onerous burdens on the financial sector. Unsurprisingly, overall capital adequacy ratio, liquidity ratio have experienced some decline during Q2 2016. But they remain above the prudential thresholds. ROE, ROA have both improved recently, and are performing at least as well as comparators in other countries. Profitability is also stable. However, NPLs are rising, given the overall slow- down of the economy

The Global Economy World output growth rate is forecast to be lower than previous estimates, to equate the growth rate in 2015, largely due to the UK vote to leave the EU. US growth rates have experienced a decline in Q1 2016, while unemployment rose slightly and prices remained stable. Overall, this makes it improbable that policy rates will be raised in that country in the near term.

Output growth rate in China continues its gradual slow down. Growth in the Eurozone is still low, although recovering somewhat, while unemployment remains fairly stable and prices remain negative. Effect of Brexit may cast a pall over recovery prospects. There is a slight slow down in UK. Most of the major oil producing developing and emerging economies are still undergoing some painful re-adjustments.

Global crude oil output is still characterized by over-supply. OPEC output is also rising. Overall, prices are holding up, although there was a bit of a decline in the third week of July.

There are unlikely to be any major challenges from imported inflation to Nigeria, except of course higher import prices due to the exchange rate depreciation effect. It also appears that there are unlikely to be threats from higher interest rates in the major trading partners of Nigeria in the near term

Conclusion and Recommendations Many of the issues causing the sharp drop in output are also the same as causing the current inflationary pressures- i.e supply gaps for fuel, diesel, gas, infrastructure, as well as the effect of exchange rate depreciation on imports and now PMS- it is mainly the decline in consumption (salaries not paid and construction staff laid off, austerity and late take-off of the budget) that is undermining growth, but not fuelling inflation. Overall, the current inflationary pressure is not primarily fuelled by excess liquidity in the system.

Under the circumstances, the challenge is for a policy response that addresses inflationary pressure as well as contributes to, or at least does not undermine growth.

dependence, it is also necessary to manage the import regime through fiscal and other measures. This must be done to avoid market outcomes that destabilize the foreign exchange market and to ensure that the market can stabilize, help check inflationary pressures and help drive growth.

I therefore vote to hold, with respect to MPR, CRR and liquidity ratios. This does not exclude some tinkering with the corridor around the MPR. Much attention should be paid to stabilizing the foreign exchange market in order to build on the progress achieved so far.

8.0 EMEFIELE, I. GODWIN, GOVERNOR OF THE CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA

AND CHAIRMAN, MONETARY POLICY COMMITTEE In the first six months of 2016, the state of the global economy was broadly fragile and fragmented amidst lacklustre potential growth, weak demand and diminished productivity in many countries. The tepid global outlook was further complicated by the June 23 decision of the United Kingdom to exit the European Union.

This exacerbated the uncertainties that pervaded global economic and financial markets, and lowered the medium-term growth prospects. The IMF, in the July 2016 vintage of the World Economic Outlook, reduced global growth forecast for 2016 and 2017 by 0.1 percentage point apiece to 3.1 percent and 3.4 percent.

Similarly, 2016 growth prospect in advanced economies was downgraded by 0.1 percentage point to 1.8 percent while medium-term outlook in emerging market and developing economies remained cautious with a 2016 growth rate of 4.1 percent vis-à-vis 4.0 percent in 2015.

In Nigeria, macroeconomic performance remained weak in the first half of 2016 due to both economic and non-economic factors. Output growth declined from 2.1 percent in 2015Q4 to -0.4 percent in 2016Q1. This contraction, the first in many years, was due to the torrents of shockwaves that beleaguered the economy over the past three years. Aside the debilitating effect of lower oil prices, the economy experienced energy shocks (scarcities and price hikes), foreign exchange scarcity, weak domestic demand, late ratification of the 2016 budget, and poor financial markets sentiments. As the effects of these shocks lingered into 2016Q2, an immediate rebound in that quarter seems unlikely. Available indicators of economic activities signify an insipid second quarter performance and the likelihood of a technical recession in 2016H1. I note that although the non-oil sector is the dominant driver of domestic GDP growth, the imperative of the oil sector remains fundamental and deep-seated. The non-oil sector relies heavily on foreign exchange inflows from crude oil, thereby weakening the fabric of our economy. This is why a broad-based diversification of the economy remains non-negotiable, incontrovertible and exigent at this time.

The prevailing difficulty of the Nigerian economy is worsened by rising inflationary trends. From an inflation rate of 9.6 percent in January 2016, domestic prices have assumed an exponential acceleration with year-onyear headline inflation rising persistently to 15.6 percent in May 2016 and 16.5 percent in June 2016. These increases reflected the ascent in both food and core components of inflation. Food inflation increased steadily from 10.9 percent in January 2016 to 14.9 percent and 15.3 percent in May and June, while core inflation rose abruptly over the same period from 8.8 percent to 15.1 percent and 16.2 percent, respectively. Although, the rising inflationary pressure was due essentially to aggregate supply factors, analysis revealed that it was reinforced by monetary factors. The critical supply-side drivers of inflation in the first half of 2016 include high and rising energy costs, high cost of transport, the exchange rate pass-through that is reflected in the rising costs of imported food, and low domestic supply as industrial activities remained lacklustre.

Data on monetary and credit conditions indicates rising domestic liquidity as the annualised growth of broad money supply (M2) in June 2016, at 16.5 percent, exceeded the 2016 growth threshold of 10.9 percent. Net domestic credit expanded at an annualised rate of 25.0 percent vis-à-vis the target of 17.9 percent while private sector credit, at an annualised rate of 28.9 percent, exceeded its benchmark growth of 13.4 percent. To ensure that the private sector credit is productive it must be channelled to sectors that can deliver sustainable and inclusive growth rather than to ventures that will exert unwarranted pressure on the exchange rate and undermine economic recovery.

In the foreign exchange market, the CBN on 20 June 2016 further liberalised the interbank segment to eliminate the pressure on foreign reserves, allow market forces, and correct immanent distortions in the market. Accordingly, the naira-dollar exchange rate weakened from N197.00/US$ to N292.90/US$ as at 19 July 2016. This fall reflected the rush into the market as operators jostled to benefit from the freshly released hold on the market.

Overall, I note that the Nigerian economy is in an intricate conundrum as actual and potential output fall while inflationary pressures intensify. During the review period, we also noticed a faster than desired growth in M2 and a continuing weakening of the naira. I observe more delicately that the intersecting factor that is worsening both growth and inflation is supply-sided. Thus, I want to re-echo the urgent need to resolve the underlying structural imbalances of the Nigerian economy, diversify the economy, and reduce the dependence on imports for consumption, rather than production. This will not only remove the undue exchange market pressure, it will also ensure that the economy has the armour to withstand adverse shocks like the ones we are currently experiencing.

The choice before the Monetary Policy Committee of the CBN at this time is a very difficult one. Given the supply constraint nature of the underlying shocks, we are experiencing both a contracting economy and rising domestic prices. Growth considerations are germane, as growth will ensure that economic development is accelerated, while unemployment and poverty are reduced. But how do we achieve this growth if the needed investments to drive growth are hindered by the distortionary effects of high inflation. It may be more important at this time to contain inflation so that illusions in investment decisions are extricated. Economic theory suggests that inflation is innately undesirable and costly as it creates money illusion, uncertainties, relative prices distortions, market inefficiency, and perverse wealth transfer from creditors to debtors. The ramification of this is that at the current level of inflation no meaningful growth can occur. Our in-house forecasts indicate that, if we do nothing, inflation and growth outcomes will deteriorate rapidly.

Under the circumstances, it may be necessary to tolerate, for a short time, the current negative MPR rate.

Raising the CRR will also not help for similar reasons.

I am strongly of the view that, on the balance of judgment and evidence, the MPC should take a stand and act now. If we must remove the distortions to efficient market operations we must use the tools at our disposal to fight inflation promptly while not losing sight of output growth. By raising interest rate, the MPC will signal its stance to curb inflation. Tangentially, this hike could moderate exchange market pressures as the higher yields on domestic instruments attract foreign investors. I acknowledge that a rate hike may inhibit real sector activities. However, the CBN is perceptive to the health of the critical sectors of the economy.

Accordingly, the Bank will continue to support growth by broadening its development finance initiatives. We have seen the success of the anchor borrowers’ programme in rice: lowering prices and increasing supply. This will be extended to other agricultural products including tomato and palm oil for which we have domestic capacity. We will strategically extend the intervention to manufacturing and industrial sector ventures, while continuing activities with SMEs, power, etc. It is my utmost belief that this development finance activities in consonance with an ardent inflation combating will speed-up the rebound of the Nigerian economy.

There is much greater scope to address inflationary pressures and contribute to growth through the foreign exchange market. As the forex market is being liberalized, it is necessary to ensure that its outcomes are guided to yield the necessary benefits to society. Efforts therefore need to be stepped up to find ways of augmenting the capacity of the CBN to intervene in the market, through additional forex resources. For an economy such as Nigeria, at the current level of development, and given the uncertainties regarding oil earnings, the time lag between policy and results in the effort to diversify the economy and add local value, the high level of import

Based on the foregoing, I vote to: 1. Raise the MPR by 200 basis points to 14.0 percent; 2. Retain the CRR at 22.5 percent; 3. Retain the asymmetric corridor at +200/–500 basis points; and 4. Retain Liquidity Ratio at 30 percent

The MPR, which is one of the main instruments available to help respond to inflationary pressure, will in this case not be much help, since the inflation is not largely a monetary phenomenon. Also, it cannot be very effective as an incentive for international portfolio investors, since there are currently more important macroenvironmental factors for them to consider. Raising it is therefore unlikely to have a significant effect on the supply of foreign exchange. Yet raising the MPR may undermine efforts to re-generate growth if DMBs thereby re-price their loans accordingly. Moreover, it may exacerbate the challenge of rising NPLs in the financial sector and complicate the quest for financial stability.

10

METRO

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

We used Onazi’s name to rob dad –Suspects Taiwo Jimoh, Endurance Evulukwu and Maduabuchi Emeka

F

ive suspected armed robbers yesterday said they used a fake letter to fool Super Eagles’ midfielder, Ogenyi Onazi’s father into opening his gate, before they robbed him in Jos, Plateau State.

The footballer’s father, Pa Wilson Onazi, was robbed on Monday. The suspects bolted with his Highlander Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV), marked GM300A. The suspects said it was quite easy to rob the old man because he lived alone and was drunk on the fateful day.

According to them, if not for the fake letter, Onazi would not have opened his door for them.

After stealing the car, they headed for Lagos. They were in a hotel in Lagos, waiting for the arrival of a buyer, when policemen swooped on them.

Those arrested are Ali Audu (20), Kingsley David (20), Joshua Ozo (20), Osita Ezeanu (23) and Ugochukwu Ebuka (20).

Audu said: “I was contracted by

Kingsley to deliver the letter to the old man. I pretended to be a courier service worker. I told him he had a letter from his son. Immediately, he ushered me into his compound.

“As I was about to enter, two of my colleagues, who had laid ambush, forced their way into the compound. They brought out their machetes and threatened to kill the old man if he did not hand over his car keys.”

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, said the suspects were arrested by policemen from Ajangbadi Police Station, while they were plotting how to sell the car.

He said: “We are going to contact our counterparts in Plateau State.

We will hand over the suspects to them. The suspects were arrested in a hotel, where they lodged, waiting for the person that would link them up with the buyer of the vehicle in Badagry. Policemen from Ajangbadi Police Station, who acted on information, burst into the hotel and arrested them.”

Audu said initially, Onazi refused to hand over the car keys.

He added: “The man, however, later gave us the key. Kingsley

Task force arrests 365 for drug, crime Musa Pam Jos

O

The suspects

drove the car out of the compound. He parked somewhere, before driving down to Lagos the following day.

“I regret my action; I don’t know what to tell my wife and children when they read about me on the pages of newspapers or see me on television.”

On his own, Ezeanu said that the only role he played in the robbery was just to introduce the gang to a buyer.

He said: “I do not know these people before. One of them approached me at the hotel, where they lodged and told me that they had a car for sale.

He said they needed my assistance to get a buyer. I promised to assist them. I collected the phone number of the one who approached me. I never knew the SUV was stolen.”

Stating his own side of the story, Ebuka said that poverty made him join the gang.

He said: “The old man only gave us only N5,000. In order to escape from his house, we used his vehicle. When we discovered we did not get enough money from him, we decided to sell the vehicle. The only place that came to mind to sell the car was Lagos.”

peration Safe Haven (OPSH), a Special Task Force set up to restore law and order in Plateau and Bauchi states, said it had arrested over 300 people for drug-related offences and 65 other criminals.

The OPSH Commander, Major General Rogers Nicholas, said the suspects were arrested in Plateau State within six weeks since he assumed office.

Nicholas spoke yesterday while addressing a consultative Dialogue Conference on Youth, Security and Governance in Jos, Plateau State.

The conference was organised by a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), the Centre for Youth Participation Dialogue and Advocacy Africa (CYPDA).

The commander also said the operators of tricycle, popularly known as KEKE NAPEP, constituted the bulk of the criminals in the state.

Driver robs, injures UNILORIN lecturer Lorry crushes woman, grandchild

Biodun Oyeleye Ilorin

A

driver has allegedly mobilised others to attack his former employer, Professor Abdullahi Onimisi, of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN).

The Kwara State Police Commissioner, Mr. Olusola Amore, said yesterday that the suspect, Opeyemi Esan, conspired with others to rob the don of valuables including an expensive automobile.

He said Esan came from Lagos State to recruit two others in Ilorin and robbed the don.

The police boss said the attackers inflicted bodily injuries on the professor.

Amore disclosed that the suspects were armed with machetes and other dangerous weapons.

He said the robbers carted away valuable items like jewellery, handsets and a Toyota Camry ‘Muscle’.

According to him, the items and the car were later recovered from the suspects.

The commissioner said that his men acted on intelligence report to arrest two of the suspects in Ilorin.

He added that the suspects confessed to have conspired with Esan to rob Onimisi.

He said the gang leader took policemen to four different locations before he finally decided to take them to where the items were kept.

The police boss also said that the suspects would soon be arraigned.

Amore warned employers of domestic servants to monitor their employees, whether serving or retired.

The commissioner said people should have documentation of the identities of their domestic staff for security purposes.

He added that they should also monitor their domestic servants even when they no longer work for them.

Pamela Eboh Awka

A

911 lorry with registration number XB 751-PHC yesterday crushed a woman and her grandchild at IKB Junction, Ejighinandu, Nnobi-Ekwulobia Expressway in Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State.

A witness, Emma Ezeji, said the driver lost control of the vehicle because of brake failure at Eke AwkaEtiti Market and rammed into the woman identified as Mama Ejima and her grandchild.

He said: “Mama Ejima was a widow.

She was selling banana to provide for her family since her husband died early in their marriage.”

It was learnt that the woman had just closed for the day and was going home with her grandchild when the accident occurred.

The victims’ heads were cut off while their bodies were crushed. The

‘Recession forced me to abandon my day-old baby’ Taiwo Jimoh, Endurance Evulukwu and Maduabuchi Emeka

A

31-year-old woman, Ifunaya Eme, yesterday told journalists in Lagos that she abandoned her one-day-old baby on the roadside because of economic recession.

Eme, who was paraded yesterday at the state Police Command Headquarters, Ikeja, claimed that the baby’s father rejected her when she was pregnant.

The woman told our correspondent that she had three kids in her previous marriage but left them with her elder sister in Enugu State to take care of them before she relocated to Lagos “to

hustle”.

Eme said she abandoned the baby at the gate of her house after giving birth to her.

She said: “I gave birth to the baby about 1a.m. in our general toilet. After cleaning myself, I took the baby and dumped her at the gate of our house before going inside to sleep.

“I learnt that it was our community chairman and some neighbours who informed the police about the incident. I am living with my sister at 1, Prince Bello Street, Ajangbadi area of Ojo, but I was impregnated by a man called John.

“Immediately I noticed I was pregnant, I tried to contact John on the phone but to no avail. I was told that he had travelled.

We only met last year and since then I have not seen him again.”

Eme also explained that on the fateful day, she gave birth to the baby herself without any assistance.

She added: “I never thought of going back to check her after dropping her at the gate near the road.

“My intention was for someone to pick her and take care of her, because of my financial predicament. I am sorry for my action. Nobody knew I was pregnant because I had a flat stomach.”

The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, said the baby was found wrapped in a sack and dumped on the roadside.

Eme

woman’s hand cut off from the joint.

Mama Ejima’s children sat beside her body and were crying uncontrollably while the crowd watched helplessly.

First caller at the scene of the accident was the Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano, who was on his way back from a function at a neighbouring town, Mbosi.

The governor, who stopped his convoy to lend a helping hand, could not hold back his tears. He ordered that the ambulance in his convoy be used to convey the bodies to a nearby morgue.

While condoling with the people of AwkaEtiti, Obiano urged them to go about their normal businesses. He also promised to do his best not only to assuage the pains of the bereaved family but to help them have a better.

He warned careless drivers to stay off the state.

According to him, no live of any Anambra citizen is worth being wasted.

‘Igavemywifefakecharmtoswear’

A

father of three, Olanrewaju Aluko, yesterday admitted he prepared a fake charm for his wife, Tolu, to swear that she was not cheating on him.

Aluko made the disclosure when he testified in a divorce petition instituted by his wife in an Ikole Customary Court in Ekiti.

He said: “I am not fetish. I only asked Tolu to swear with a fake fetish substance which I prepared to confirm her innocence when I suspected her to be flirting around.”

Aluko, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), then urged the court to grant him custody of their third child, because the child was the only girl who needed care.

Tolu had urged the court to dissolve the 16-year-old marriage because Aluko was irresponsible and was not catering for the three kids since they were born.

The petitioner accused the husband of being fetish and was always threatening her with charms and other fetish substances.

11

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Edo decides INEC begins preparations for election

Politics Senate President Bukola Saraki believes that the present administration is racing against time as it battles to address the myriads of challenges facing the country. To him, the government has just six months to fix the economy and other challenges before the politics of the 2019 elections starts. He speaks in this interview on the state of the nation.

BIODUN OYELEYE reports National Assembly’s efforts on reviving the economy What we all need to understand is that this recession is not an All Progressives Congress (APC) or Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) problem. This recession does not identify with any party, hence we need to tap into the expertise of our best economic minds wherever they are around the world to come up with plans that both the executive and the legislature can evaluate and implement. We are going to have an exhaustive and comprehensive debate on fixing the country’s economy when we resume next week. Already, all the economic priority bills are being analysed and collated, so that we can hit the ground running when we resume. We understand the pains that Nigerians are going through and we do not take this for granted. In every crisis, there is always an opportunity for positive reforms, in this regard, in order to solve this crisis, all hands must be on deck. Ideas should be sourced from all quarters. All arms of government, people of different political beliefs, from all socio-economic backgrounds and every part of Nigeria must work together at this time Additionally, the Senate intends to invite everybody involved in the management of the economy to address the Nigerian people

FELIX NWANERI

GROUP PoLITICAL EDITOR nwanerif@newtelegraphonline.com

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

Interview INEC shouldn’t be blamed for Edo poll shift – Idahosa

12 16

Nigeria’s economic woes self-inflicted – Saraki

must tackle it collectively and that is why I keep on emphasising the need for inclusiveness. This is the time we should lay less emphasis on the different political parties but work with whoever has the solution.

Saraki

through the parliament on the steps that are being taken to get us out of this mess. We fully intend to hold all those involved in the economic management of the country accountable. However, we will do so in a manner that is transparent and beneficial to the country. In every crisis, there is always an opportunity for positive reforms, in this regard, in order to solve this crisis, all hands must be on deck. Ideas should be sourced from all quarters. All arms of government, people of different political beliefs, from all socio-economic backgrounds and every part of Nigeria must work together at this time. We need to ascertain our actual level of borrowing and what effect the devaluation of the naira has had on our economy; doing this will help us to understand where we are, so that we can determine where exactly we want to go from here.

You will remember also that a lot of pressure came to devalue the naira, that once we allow a free market, it will help foreign exchange but devaluation has taken place but there is no inflow as the supply side has been low and as such, we are beginning see impact on the weaknesses of the naira . So, the questions we should

I am not convinced yet that we have put the right policies in place

be asking those who are managing our economy is: How did we get it wrong? What happened to those other indices that should have come in? Actually, one of those indices is what I called confidence; there is a lack of confidence, whether you want to accept it or not. People are not investing in our economy and with that we are going to have challenges. We believe these are the areas we as Senate will be focusing on. To have a robust debate, we are going to bring in people who are resourceful to come and tell us the way out.

And I can assure Nigerians that we are not going to cover anybody up. Nigerians would know the truth and we will ensure that solutions are going to come, and where people are not capable of delivering, we will advise the president accordingly on what need to be done. This matter has gone beyond what they call ‘man know man.’ This matter affects everyone and nobody is too large or big to be sacrificed in this process. People are truly suffering and I think for the period that I have been in politics; I have not seen this type of suffering. As such, it requires that we find a solution. It is not that there are no solutions. Yes, sacrifices would be made and we

Why Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) is being delayed We have completed work on the PIB but unfortunately, when we were to go into the second reading, the Niger Delta Avengers issue came up and it was just bad timing because the first part of the bill addressed the governance issue, which has to do with the structure of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Petroleum Ministry. If you look at the bill, it does not address other issues such as the community and exploration in other parts of the country because the first was to tackle the governance aspect. In a stable environment, there is nothing wrong with that but in an environment where the Niger Delta people are already agitating that there is no concern and the impression our colleagues, especially from the South-South have is that once the bill is passed, there is not going to be any focus on their issue. So the timing was very wrong.

We just had and emergency meeting and told them that the bill has to do with governance structure; it is not because we have abandoned them. We believe that the bill should be split into sections. The point I am making is that all these problems are interlinked and that is why we must find a complete and comprehensive approach to solving them because they all affect each other. I have said many times that the issue in the Niger Delta needs dialogue, we must use dialogue because if you look at what we lose on a daily basis, it is just not worth it, particularly at the time we are now. We did the budget on 2.2 million barrels per day but we are only producing 1.4 million barrels. Any sacrifice is not too much to resolve the problem. With the right policy, the right approach by government, we will get it done.

Why Nigeria’s economy is in recession It is my view that some of the problems we have are due to economic downturn but some are self-inflicted and some are because we have not addressed the issues properly. Time has come that we all have to drop whatever is perCONTINUED ON PAGE 13

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POLITICS

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

INEC begins preparations for election Onyekachi Eze ABUJA

T

he Independent National Electoral Commission

(INEC), yesterday, said it has already commenced preparations for next week's rescheduled governorship election in Edo State.

The election, which

was earlier scheduled for September 10 was postponed at the last minute due to security concern and was later fixed for Wednesday, September 28.

Union endorses Obaseki T

he National Union of Textile Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN) has endorsed the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Godwin Obaseki as the next governor of Edo State to continue with the development strides of Governor Adams Oshiomhole.

General-Secretary of the union, Comrade Issa Aremu, at the Annual National Education Conference of the union in Benin City, yesterday, said: “I want to say, I want to confirm, I want to reaffirm that Edo is working and Edo has worked.

“National Union of Textile Garment has affirmed, confirmed and reaffirmed continuity in Edo State and we have endorsed the candidature of Godwin Obaseki.”

Governor Adams Oshiomhole thanked the union for endorsing Obaseki, saying: “I want

to thank you for endorsing him. He has no choice but to sustain the tradition that he was a part of. Before we increased the minimum wage, he had to go as chairman of the economic team, to look at the numbers, to look at what we needed to delete, they areas we needed to cut in order to find the revenue to sustain a higher minimum wage.”

Obaseki, who also thanked the union for the endorsement said: “I want to assure you that by the grace of God, I will not disappoint you. We see Edo as the next haven for the garment industry because we have laid the basis for industrialisation. With gas and electricity available here, we are sure that Edo State will be the headquarters of the garment industry.

“As part of our micromedium development fund, I am committing to-

day that we will set aside a hundred million naira, not seventy-five and from Monday, I will want to have a meeting with whoever is in charge in the union so that we can commence the process of disbursement.”

INEC’s Deputy Director, Voter Education and Publicity, Mr. Nick Dazang, said yesterday that the commission has intensified preparations for a successful conduct of the election.

“We are also consolidating on our arrangement for the deployment of ad hoc staff for the conduct of the election,” he added.

According to him, fresher courses would be held for the ad hoc staff while smart card readers to be used for the election would be reconfigured and charged

before the election date.

He said the commission would partner with the political parties to sensitise the electorate on the new date, especially as the election will now hold on a week day.

It was gathered that the retraining of ad hoc staff will begin next week, especially in the use of card readers.

INEC will also undertake the re-printing of ballot papers to conform to the new election date. The commission had distributed nonsensitive materials be-

Edo DECIDES

fore the postponement of the election.

Dazang said INEC will continue to collaborate with election stakeholders for the smooth conduct of the election.

November 12 handover date stands – APC Stories by Cajetan Mmuta BENIN

T

he Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), yesterday, appealed to all political leaders in the state to promote peace across the three senatorial districts and ensure that the September 28 election is peaceful and credible.

The party also appealed to voters and other relevant stakeholders not to allow the unavoidable post-

ponement to dampen their enthusiasm to turn out en mass during the poll.

The state Publicity Secretary of the party, Comrade Godwin Erhahon, who stated this in Benin, the state capital, urged party faithful and supporters to remain confident that the November 12 inauguration of Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s successor cannot be shifted.

He said: “The mischievous insinuations by mean propagandists that the postponement was influenced by APC should

be ignored as it does not confer any special advantage on the ruling party.

As a progressive administration, the APC-led Edo State government has performed to the overall and unprecedented benefit of the people within the limit of its lean resources.

“As such, it is the fruit of our good governance that we are hoping to give us victory again as we believe that Edo people will not reject light which APC offers and vote for darkness. Whoever has anything against our Comrade Governor in spite of

his excellent performance so far should realise that he has played his part and must quit the stage on November 12.

"While we trust that the good people of Edo State, who are in majority, will elect the APC candidate, Godwin Obaseki, it is certain that from November 12, Comrade Oshiomhole will gloriously become former governor.

Let us therefore pray and vote for the candidate, who we sincerely believe will improve on the good work of the outgoing governor.”

DEBT MANAGEMENT OFFICE NIGERIA

The Presidency NDIC Building (1 Floor), Plot 447/448, Constitution Avenue, Central Business District, PMB 532, Garki, Abuja Tel: +2348110000881 Website: http//www.dmo.gov.ng st

Auction Result for the 14.50% FGN JUL 2021 (Re-opening), 12.50% FGN JAN 2026 (Re-opening) & 12.40% FGN MAR 2036 (Re-opening)

Auction Date: Settlement Date: Maturity Date: Tenors: Term-To-Maturity: Amount Offered: Total Bids: Successful Bids: Subscription: Amount Allotted: Range of Bids: Marginal Rates:

14.50% FGN JUL 2021 September 14, 2016 September 16, 2016 July 15, 2021 5-Year 4 Years, 10 Months N40.00 billion 52 35 N30.86 billion N15.00 billion 11.5000% - 17.0000% 15.1430%

12.50% FGN JAN 2026 September 14, 2016 September 16, 2016 January 22, 2026 10-Year 9 Years, 4 Months N40.00 billion 80 46 N50.34 billion N30.00 billion 14.8800% - 18.0000% 15.5357%

12.40% FGN MAR 2036 September 14, 2016 September 16, 2016 March 18, 2036 20-Year 19 Years, 6 Months N40.00 billion 131 97 N80.85 billion N60.00 billion 12.0000% - 18.0000% 15.5974%

Successful bids for the 14.50% FGN JUL 2021, 12.50% FGN JAN 2026 and 12.40% FGN MAR 2036 were allotted at the Marginal Rates of 15.1430%, 15.5357% and 15.5974%, respectively. However, the original coupon rates of 14.50% for the 14.50% FGN JUL 2021, 12.50% for the 12.50% FGN JAN 2026, and 12.40 for the 12.40% FGN MAR 2036 will be maintained.

In addition, N16.000 billion of the 14.50% FGN JUL 2021 was allotted on non-competitive basis.

Politics

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 1 1

sonal issue and put Nigeria first.

We have people who are competent and who can do it. We need to bring everybody on the table to address our problems. For us in the Senate, we will continue to ask questions to make sure that we put pressure on the people concerned and to ensure that we bring back progress report. As soon as we resume, we will engage all those who have expertise on this areas and get their details and to provide all the necessary cooperation.

I have talked about how we can stimulate the economy; we must bring down the interest rate, government must spend money. I don’t think they are spending money in line with what we budgeted. And one of the first bills we passed was the Public Procurement Bill. We addressed one of the most important issues; we cut down the number of turnaround days for the award of contract by 50 per cent.

We looked at the law before and we changed the number of days it takes to do those things. And that is why I want to task the media to also focus on some of these efforts instead of sensational issues.

One of the issues we have with the ministries today is that the budget has been passed, but how many of these contracts have actually gone through due process and contracts awarded? You will find out that most of them are stocked with due process.

Effects of trial on running of the Senate I don’t think I need to answer that question because the focus for us now is how to improve the economy. I don’t want to talk but I am sure that at the end of the day, I will clear myself from all these issues. I said some time that these are politicians fighting; they were defeated in the political arena, so they carried the fight to the judicial arena. It is unfortunate but what is important to us today which should be the primary focus of all us is how to deal with the economy. Every action we take should be driven by that. It is because of this distraction that some people are getting away with certain things. If you have made a commitment as a minister that you are going to bring in an amount of money as external borrowing. Why is nobody asking if this money coming in.

Political philosophy It might sound simple, but service to the people has always been my focus since I joined public service. I am driven all the time by how I can make life better for the people. Throughout my eight years in office as governor, I don’t know any contractor who can say I demanded anything from him.

And that is why it is not all about election time in Kwara State. We are not in election period now but we are here but a lot of other politicians don’t do that. They run away after election and come back six months to election. That is insincerity. I also believe that you should stand on what you believe.

I am not afraid to look at anybody in the face.

You will remember during the time of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan that I stood up on the issue of oil subsidy. Nobody wanted to talk, everybody knew that

13

Saraki: Political colouration weakening anti-graft war A lot of progress has been made by the military in that area and I think what is really important now is the issue of reconstruction and development and a final onslaught to clear the remnants of the insurgents from the Sambisa forest. And then we need to address the humanitarian issues and ensure that the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are able to go back to their communities. And also to ensure accountability and this is an area the Senate will take up seriously when we resume.

We are hearing that food stuffs meant for the IPDs are being diverted. This must be seriously investigated and we must treat that as a serious offence. I can’t imagine how callous people can divert food meant for the IDPs to make money. Those who are responsible will be called by the Senate to come and explain exactly what is going on.

Saraki

money was being stolen and it’s been going on for years but nobody was ready to talk because people were being offered so much but I stood and said no. Again, when we decided to leave PDP; a lot of people here in Kwara were worried. It has never happened before that you will defeat a sitting government but if some of us did not move from PDP with that boldness I don’t think that it would have been possible to do what we did. So, my belief is to stand for whatever I believe in and defend it because of the people. That is what has always driven me.

Budget padding I have not talked about this publicly but when the National Assembly resumes, we shall talk about it. But again, as I keep on saying, those of you who report and interpret news have a lot of role to play. You know Nigerians believe whatever you report, so we should not now allow sensationalism to affect issues affecting our people.

Niger Delta problem and insurgency We must engage the people of the Niger Delta because if you look at it, it is not as if any of the benefits that were agreed had been stopped. It is fear of the unknown and lack of inclusion that has brought about the current challenge. I think it will be easier to tackle these ones than the earlier one because like I said, some of the agreements made at the first time are still in place. When people have the phobia of not being involved, of not being part of, then you see the kind of things we are seeing, and that is why we say that dialogue will easily resolve the problem.

I think it is slightly different from what we are seeing in the North-East about the Boko Haram.

Already, our tenure is almost over... by the time we enter April next year, politics will start again

Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy and recession Addressing the economic recession is a package of many things.

The TSA could be a factor because if you consider the fact that a lot of money has been sucked out of the banks and they are not in a position to lend money to the private sector. But it cannot be in isolation. TSA is not the only reason because there are lots of policies.

I give you an example of the foreign exchange, where the cry was to devalue the naira, but when you devalue without other necessary policies, the devaluation is in vain.

The argument for devaluation was that it would stimulate export and bring in money into the country but at the end of the day, nothing has come in because the other policies that will enhance the devaluation, to ensure that you are truly a free market economy, are not there.

Again, there is a balancing act.

The advantage of TSA is that there is a lot of transparency which has prevented abuses, but again, there might be other ways of achieving that without necessarily affecting the economy. So, it is a balancing act between fighting corruption and stimulating the economy. You need to look at it each time and see which one has greater value at a time. Can you still achieve anticorruption by ensuring a more transparent way by which government agencies manage their accounts? Is it only at the Central Bank that agencies can maintain a transparent management of their account?

But you must also note that a situation, where an agency runs about 10 or 20 different accounts encourages corruption. Can you tighten the process? It is a matter that needs to be looked at as part of the package of policies for the economy.

Reducing cost of governance We all agree on this and if you look at the budgets of the National Assembly over the past two years, they have focused on reducing the cost of governance. It is unfortu-

nate that as in most part of the world, the parliament is at the receiving end. When you look at the percentage of the budget of the National Assembly within the budget of the country, you will see that it is less than five per cent. But the way people talk about it, you will think it is more than that.

Even if you remove the entire budget of the National Assembly, the best you will add to the national budget is five per cent. Is that five percent what will bring recession?

I think we really need to be fair to ourselves. Unfortunately, because of the way it has been reported, some people believe that once you reduce the budget of the National Assembly, Nigeria will get better.

Our view is to reduce cost of governance. At a time we were running a budget of about N150 billion but now we are at about N115 billion, which is close to about 25 per cent reduction. So, I think it is more of a problem of perception than reality. If you look at the TSA, when it was brought before us, we set up a ad hoc committee to look at the cost of the TSA and just by that singular act alone, where we directed the CBN to reduce the charges that was being paid to the company doing the TSA, government was able to save about N10 billion. That gives you an insight about some of the values of parliament. This exceeds far above what the cost of governance might be but unfortunately, these are not reported.

Despite the amount involved; despite the people involved, we made sure that the committee completed its work. And the same thing was what we did with Customs duty waiver, which involved billions of naira and very powerful people. Again that report came to the floor and we debated it. So, when people talk about anti-corruption, I believe the National Assembly has shown that it is a place where nothing would be covered. We are now talking about money stolen from the office of the National Security Adviser; where were all of us when this was going on? Was there any time there was a public hearing on those funds? No! Look at what we did on Nigeria Extractive Transparency Initiative (NEITI). Its reports had been coming for years but nobody debated them and I challenged the anti-corruption agencies that they are just pursuing chairmen of local governments for stealing N1 million whereas people are stealing $300 million and we never heard that anyone from those agencies visited them. This is what I find very distasteful and very frustrating. We don’t talk the main issues but at the Senate, we will continue to expose all these.

Time frame to end recession I am not going to join anybody in saying that recession will be over by tomorrow, one month or so. No! I am not going to do that because I am not convinced yet that CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

14

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Opinion ARIK: Risking rickety flights Emissary EMEKA OBASI emobas2003@yahoo.com 0809-445-7557 (sms only)

W

e are gradually swimming deeper into the black sea of hunger and poverty, that is what I understand recession to mean.

The economists managing our commonwealth from the Villa in Abuja are blowing grammar. Recession sounds sweet in the ears of the common man because the lingo is so deep.

Last Tuesday, a day we were given the freedom to eat ram from as many muslim friends as the stars in the sky, Arik, Nigeria’s leading airline announced they were suspending operations. Public Relations and Communications manager, Banji Ola was quite sensitive to the mood of compatriots.

He said: “At the present time, all flights of the airline have been cancelled for Tuesday , 13 September, 2016, and we would be getting in touch with passengers to provide an update on rescheduling of their flights. This situation is likely to continue for the next few days until such time that NAICOM [National Insurance Commission] approves a waiver on a priority basis for the new insurance company to renew the policy.”

The suspension of operations was blamed on Insurance documentation. Beyond that, we know that the aviation industry has been hard hit by the policies of the Federal government.

In the last couple of weeks, Aero Contractors, the oldest airline in the country and First Nation ,one of the bright new generation carriers, have gone under due to the harsh environment.

Thank heavens, Arik returned to the skies 24 hours after Tuesday's suspension.

The foreign airlines are not having it rosy

either. Since Aviation fuel has become as scarce as sea turtles in the Sahara desert, most airliners touch down in sister West African countries to refuel. A few of them have also closed shop in the country.

This administration should really be worried. We are talking of revitalizing the economy yet many Nigerians are losing their jobs because the foreign airlines are moving away from here. The so called investors we want to attract may find it difficult to book a flight to the country.

When United airlines pulled out at the end of June, I did not figure what it meant until the effects started trickling down. My brother in the United States had sent his three children, unaccompanied, to Lagos to spend their summer holidays here with us. The trio arrived safely just as United announced they were going away for good.

That created a hole in his pocket. United sorted things out but the problem was that the new airline did not flow with the arrangement of flying the children back to Houston unaccompanied. Their dad was therefore forced to travel down to Lagos to pick his family back to base.

The man was in the country for Yuletide, returned in March for our father’s burial and here again because of the harsh economy at home, arrived in August for his children. That was a whole lot of money that could have been used to solve other pressing needs.

Things are not getting any better. Government must wade in to save this country from imminent collapse. We know that there is no direct road link from Lagos, the nation’s commercial hub to Abuja, the seat of government. The rail lines are not in use yet. With fewer or no planes in the air there is bound to be crisis.

The danger is that the roads are anything but motorable. The Lagos-Abuja air route is perhaps the busiest and most lucrative in the land. With Arik grounded even if for 24 hours, Nigeria will be hit by economic polio.

It takes a whole day to get to Abuja from Lagos.

And that is if your vehicle survives the craters

We could even invade the polo clubs, if we want to board First Class horses

that litter the roads. I do not see any serious investor taking this risk just to register presence in our country. We are talking of capital flight.

There will be supersonic disengagement of hard currency in the next couple of months.

A friend just mentioned to me that this is part of Change. We all remember that someone trekked from Lagos to Abuja celebrating President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory in the 2015 elections. Many more compatriots will learn to trek to Abuja since there will be less flights.

My take is that it is possible that we are gradually preparing for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

You know, Mr. President has not spoken since the contingent came back with one bronze from Rio. He could have looked at the Ethiopians and Kenyans and realized that they were able to pick medals through their marathoners. Nigerians will now have to learn to do marathon instead of flying . Can you imagine people flying from Lagos to Benin?

Then Colonel David Ejoor rode a bike from Lagos to Benin in 1967. And today governors want to build airports in Osogbo and Ado Ekiti. The best way to stop them is to ground all the airlines so that we may all start doing marathon. I am told that the president was a good marathoner as an Army cadet.

For those of us who have a lot of luggage, we shall look for other means to transport them across the country. Instead of keeping all the horses at the Bar Beach, we move them from one part of the country to the other. Two passengers per horse, slow and steady wins the race. We could even invade the polo clubs, if we want to board First Class horses.

Sorry horses are not strong as camel, the beast of burden. Those ones could carry Iya Biliki’s adire from Abeokuta to Abuja or Okey Bros’ spare parts from Matori to Mararaba.

It would hurt this economy if Arik did not resume operations immediately. Honestly, Mr. President must not allow this to happen. Rebuilding the economy is a task that must be done. The railways are not smooth yet, the roads are terrible. Please, do not let the airlines die.

Dog naming and its repercussions Carl Umegboro

O

gun State Police Command’s arraignment of Joachim Chinakwe Iroko over alleged attempts to cause ethno-religious violence for naming/labelling his dog “Alhaji Buhari” believably after President Muhammadu Buhari and paraded in a community largely dominated by northerners has generated uproar in the society.

A faction accused the President of maladministration, deficiency of ideas and autocratic tendencies and categorically, tagged him ‘a man who pursues rats when his house is in flames’ on account of the economy which, to admit is in a calamitous condition is affirming the reality.

Apparently, no offence was committed by mere naming of a dog after President Buhari or any other persons. Usually, animals are named based on traits. Characteristically, a fighter-dog could be named after a renowned soldier. Suffice to say, no mischief was done to the President by the act. However, the locus situ (place of the event), inferred intentions and the manner it was done could competently make it constitute a crime in law, particularly attempt to cause a breach of public peace.

If the accused only named his dog without deliberately parading it in Hausa-Muslim community, his arrest by the Police would have amounted to false imprisonment, malicious prosecution and breach of his fundamental rights available to all. The Police is duly vested with powers of ensuring a peaceful society. Commendably, the arrest of the suspect and largely the situation as a preventive security is a desideratum beyond the reactionary security, particularly his arraignment in court strictly within time. Interestingly, the court is the temple of justice and the focal point of the judiciary; the last hope of the common man.

Hence, if truly the president is linked, he still deserves no condemnation since the cardinal purpose of a court is justice.

However, Buhari should be disassociated from the matter since it isn’t a civil matter.

For the fact the accused was charged to court timely should be viewed extensively as a dividend of democracy knowing that both parties will be accorded fair-hearing which is sacrosanct in a court of competent jurisdiction. Hence, to label the President a tyrant over a civic responsibility, is regrettably a misnomer, rather affirms him as a democrat who believes in the rule of law and equality before the law; the hallmarks of democracy.

Admittedly, Buhari avidly prepared for a positive change in leadership, but unconsciously threaded a wrong track by

his extreme lopsided-appointments which clearly favoured the North with almost all key positions. Regrettably, this action, apart from working against the laid down concept of Federal Character in the 1999 Constitution poses a threat to his good intentions to reciprocate the trust reposed

by Nigerians on him. Insentiently, the onesided appointment stands strappingly to frustrate the doctrine of transparency and accountability which are pivotal to eradicating corruption in the society; the President’s core policy.

I still believe the President should freely appoint a dependable team for impressive service-delivery on account of the havocs perpetrated on the economy by the squandermania-PDP governments for 16 wasted-years.

No doubt, the 1999-Constitution allows exercise of discretions on some positions since it didn’t specifically enlist some for its application, however, its emphasis on ministerial appointments ought to serve as a guiding principle on all putting into consideration that Nigeria is a multi-ethnic society. I thus disagree with the position of the presidency that Buhari has not violated the Federal Character principle.

This is because, by commonsense, the Constitution couldn’t have endorsed a situation where most of key positions of a central government of a country with diverse ethnic groups are lavished on a

particular ethnic group at the detriment of others except ministers. Sadly, the utmost threat of this blunder, if unchecked, is the high probability of disintegration of the nation after Buhari’s administration.

This position is bolstered by the obvious temperament of the Northerners who may resort to all manner of combats against a future Southern President’s government rather than tolerate to wail as the Southerners do presently when power eventually shifts out of the zone with reference to the Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen and others obnoxious activities from the zone.

I believe these anomalies could be controlled if the federal government is more philosophical in reflecting the federal character in its appointments as the mindfulness of having all key positions manned by fellow tribesmen is rationally to a section, a stimulus to trample on the rights of others. Reasonably, how could average Northerners submit to the laws guiding their relationships with other tribesmen when only their relatives respectively head the Presidency, Army, Police, Airforce, Judiciary and even the Office of the Secretary of the Federation?

Grossly, this is a blunder, aberration and nonsequito.

• Umegboro, public affairs analyst and publisher of Pinnacle infoGallery, writes from Igboekulie.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

15

EDITORIAL

Our VISION To build a newspaper organisation anchored on the sanctity of truth.

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Our MISSION To publish a newspaper of superior value, upholding the fundamental ethics of journalism: balanced reporting, fairness, accuracy and objectivity.

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Still on quality justice

J

ustice delayed, according to the weather beaten saying, is justice denied. In every society, there are norms and controls. A country like ours which operates a democracy, thrives on the rule of law.

It is therefore the right of every citizen to get justice from the system. Government must not be all about the state, the individual is also an important part of governance.

As correctly noted by the Honourable Justice Adolphus Karibi-Whyte, the attainment of justice is the very basis and goal of the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (hereinafter referred to simply as “the Constitution”). It is provided in the Preamble to the Constitution as follows:

Equity and Justice and for the purpose of consolidating the unity of our people, do hereby make, enact and give to ourselves the following Constitution.”

It is clear from the above quoted Preamble to the Constitution that the realization of justice is the spirit that runs through the organic law of the land and the basis of the activities of the Nigerian society.

Stretched further, the attainment of justice by all and for all is and should be the paramount aspiration of any decent

“We the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria having firmly and solemnly resolved to live in unity and harmony as one indivisible and indissoluble Sovereign Nation under God dedicated to the promotion of inter African solidarity, world peace, international co-operation and understanding and to provide for a Constitution for the purpose of promoting the good government and welfare of all persons in our country on the principles of Freedom,

Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief

Funke Egbemode

Managing Editor, Business & Strategy n Yemi Ajayi

Managing Editor, Publication & Operations n Emeka Obasi

Managing Editor, South n Emeka Madunagu Managing Editor, North & Abuja n Laurence Ani (Leave of Absence) Editor n Ayodele Ojo Editor, Sunday n Juliet Bumah Editor, Saturday n Waheed Bakare Deputy Editor, Group Head, Newsroom n Geoffrey Ekenna

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tion between a judge/lawyer and a jurist is fundamental and critical in the search for not only access to justice but access to quality justice; the end result of any result oriented and civilized society if jailbreaks and other malaise must stop.

Consequently, access to justice will not mean just access to lawyers and courts. It is much more broader than

Access to justice will not mean just access to lawyers and courts

and just society.

In recent times we have had cause to reflect on not just access to justice in our country but on the quality of justice available to litigants or persons seeking any justifiable remedies in our justice delivery system.

This is borne out of our conviction that officers in the temple of justice, whether functioning as judicial officers or law officers including legal practitioners ought to strive not only at delivering their services in their capacity as judges and lawyers or any such nomenclature but ensuring always that they remain jurists. The distinc-

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Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon and the truth – Buddha

this as it encompasses a recognition that everyone is entitled to the protection of the law and that what-

ever rights we seek to protect are meaningless unless those rights can be enforced with minimal constraints to the aggrieved persons and under circumstances ensuring that all manner of people are treated fairly according to the law and are able to get appropriate redress in circumstances when they are treated unfairly. It is in this context that one would say that there is no access to justice where citizens especially the marginalized groups not only conceive the system as frightening, or alien or in circumstances where citizens have no lawyers either because of inadequate resources to access

them, or where individuals lack access to information or knowledge of their rights or where the system is fundamentally weak in delivering justice to the citizens.

Consequently, access to justice entails normative legal protection, legal awareness, legal aid and counsel, adjudication, enforcement and civil society oversight amongst others.

Fundamental rights, civil liberties and supremacy of the rule of law prescribing vital checks and balances in any society are realistic ideals but would in themselves be meaningless without access to justice or the practical means of understanding and enforcing the laws of the land without strings.

The foregoing raises grave concern for all stakeholders in the administration of justice imposing grave responsibilities on all to do something before the system collapses, leading to anarchy and lawlessness and more jailbreaks.

Above all, quality of justice that would guarantee access to justice must be reviewed if jailbreaks must stop.

Also, the system should guarantee equal access to justice and ensure that the quality of justice satisfies the aspirations of our people in the context of civilized norms and practices including international standards and models.

16

POLITICS

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

INEC shouldn’t be blamed for Edo poll shift – Idahosa Mr. Charles Idahosa is Political Adviser to Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State. In this interview with TEMITOPE OGUNBANKE, he speaks on the rescheduled governorship election in the state and the chances of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the poll What is your take on the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to postpone the Edo State governorship election to September 28?

This is not the first time election is being postponed in this country. The last election in Edo State was first shifted because of certain shortcomings of INEC. The electoral commission also shifted the 2015 general elections because of security report. It was clear that the Edo governorship election was postponed because of security issue. So, I don’t see the need for any outcry, especially by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). None of us can question it because we need the protection of the security for people to carry out a peaceful election.

There is no need for people to be making insinuations and noise over the postponement. If the security people said election cannot hold because of security reasons, we don’t need to argue with them because their duty is to protect life and property. The election was postponed because of security reasons. The reason given for the postponement is genuine and we can’t question INEC for its action.

Don’t you think the postponement will have some consequences on your party?

We are not worried; any time INEC decides to conduct the election, we will take part in it. We will defeat the PDP anytime, any day.

So you are confident that the postponement will not affect your party’s chances in the poll?

It is not going to affect us. We are ready for the election. Anytime INEC conducts the election, we are confident of winning because our supporters are still with us.

ration for the election, and do you have confidence in the commission conducting a credible poll in the state?

I have absolute confidence in INEC. It is not INEC that postponed the election; it was the security agencies that said the commission shouldn’t go ahead with the exercise. INEC was ready for the election, but the security agencies said the atmosphere was not conducive. I don’t understand why people are digging into things that are not in the public view. It was the security agencies, which said they cannot provide security during the poll, so people should stop giving INEC a bad name. It is not INEC that deliberately postponed the election; it was the security agencies.

What are APC plans ahead of the reschedule September 28 governorship election to ensure that it sustains the tempo of its campaign?

The campaign continues. I am talking to you from my village and we are still sensitising and mobilising the people.

Don’t you think the postponement will cost your party more resources?

Definitely, we are going to spend more

INEC was ready for the election, but the security agencies said the atmosphere was not conducive

Are you really satisfied with INEC’s prepa-

Idahosa

money. We need money for logistics, moving around, bringing people together, mobilisation and the rest.

There was an allegation by the PDP that APC was behind the postponement because it felt that the outcome would not be in favour of the ruling party...

Does that make sense? We held a mega rally to round off our campaign and we brought President Muhammadu Buhari to Benin. After the rally, security report came that the election should be postponed. If we knew that the election would be postponed, we would not have brought the president to Benin to round off our campaign. PDP is a sinking party and they made a lot of allegations to stop the APC candidate but they didn’t succeed.

People should know that it is a drowning group. PDP is finished; there is no way it can win the poll.

So you are confidence that APC will defeat the PDP in the rescheduled election?

We will do their final burial on September 28. They can’t win; we will beat them.

Why do you think the people of Edo State

should vote for continuity by voting for the APC governorship candidate, Mr. Godwin Obaseki?

Would anybody vote for backwardness? People should compare the two political parties. The PDP ruled Edo State for 10 years and we, APC are in power for just about eight years. The gubernatorial candidate of the PDP (Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu) was former Secretary to Edo State Government when PDP was in government and the APC candidate was Economic Adviser and Chairman of Economic Team to the present administration. People can compare the antecedents of the two candidates and make a choice.

You believe Obaseki has an edge over IzeIyamu?

You can’t compare the two of them.

Obaseki has an edge over Ize-Iyamu.

But some people are the view that Ize-Iyamu is more rooted in Edo State politics and popular than Obaseki...

How many elections has Ize-Iyamu contested and how many has he won since we started conducting election in Edo State?

'Nigeria’s economic woes, self inflicted' C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 1 3

we have put the right policies in place or the right laws or the right solutions. All I am concerned about right now is let us find the solution, let us agree on those solutions and let us hold those who are responsible for implementing those solutions accountable. Once we have debated it, once we have agreed on the solution, then I will be able to say yes, with those solution then we are going to get out of it. Like I said, we have a serious financial deficit in our budget and we are banking on external borrowing, almost $3 billion but I don’t think one dollar has come in. If one dollar has not come in, how are you going to finance the budget?

So, when you start giving a time-frame, I don’t think we are being sincere. It is as we implement the solutions that we can now say this is the possible time frame.

But for now the solutions, in my own view have not been put in place.

Challenges of running the National Assembly I had the opportunity of being gover-

nor for eight years, and also the opportunity to chair the Governors’ Forum which is a meeting of colleagues just like in the National Assembly. Those two areas prepared me well for where I am today and I believe that one has the capability and knowledge of what is required.

The challenges are being brought under control and the confidence that my colleagues have in me have also increased despite all the levels of agitations and distractions. The confidence vote has been running at very high percentage despite all the issues. Where we are now, is how to use the office to help our people and that is why I always tell those in government that this is the time to have stronger collaboration between the arms of government because for as long as the arms of government continue to brickbat, it is Nigerians who will suffer.

Already, our tenure is almost over. As you all know, by the time we enter April next year, politics will start again; whether at the federal, state or local government levels. So, we really have only six months to really address these problems, so that is why we must do everything to

address them. We must be ready to work with anybody who can help us. Things are rough, things are tough and if you are in touch with your people, you will know.

The media should put us under pressure.

Evaluation of the fight against corruption My view has always been that we must find a holistic approach to the fight against corruption. The fight goes beyond sensational reporting in newspapers. I believe there must a transparent process. Once we bring political colouration into the fight against corruption, we weaken the fight because if you look at it today, even the society is some time indifferent; they don’t know which corruption and which is not, and I think it is because the process is not transparent.

The society is even the greatest cause of corruption because when they see someone who suddenly begins to spend money, they don’t ask questions about how he acquired his sudden wealth. But if the society beings to reject such people, then we are on the right path.

It goes beyond the anti-corruption agencies. If we believe that corruption

can only be fought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) or one man, we are deceiving ourselves.

It will go and come back. It is institutions that we need to fight corruption and that I have not seen. We need to strengthen the institutions and that is what we are trying to do at the National Assembly by increasing their budget. My own personal experience has exposed to me the capacity and competence of the agencies; that it is too low, it is not there yet and that is why you see a lot of cases when they get to the courts, they collapse because some of them are based more on sensation and because Nigerians love to hear such, at the end of the day the whole matter just fizzles out.

So, we are trying to make them very transparent so that if you are before them you are sure. Is there a petition?

Was there an investigation? Not that for Mr. A there is a petition and investigation while for Mr. B there is no petition, no investigation and you just take him to court. Once you have that kind of inconsistencies, they raise questions from the people.

17

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Arts

Performing arts veritable tool for diversifying Nigeria’s economy – IFCOD convener

CULTURE

Some of the works on display at the exhibition

Change: Artists seek new visions for Nigeria

Agwu Enekwachi

R

ecently, the Abuja chapter of Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA) opened an exhibition at the Abuja’s Transcorp Hilton Hotel to showcase recent creative works of its members.

The evening was the climax of months-long groundwork and flurry of activities by the artists. Exhibitions like this have always been a regular feature of the organisation since its foundation in 1963. SNA as the umbrella body of visual artists in the nation has always been driven by its core vision of using art exhibitions as a key factor in the promotion of art in the country. Titled “Change: New Visions of Nigeria”, the exhibition featured art works of varied genre which project the reassuring place of art as

TONY OKUYEME Arts Editor tony.okuyeme@newtelegraphonline.com

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

an instrument of social engineering and empowerment. Artists of SNA fold, art and culture stakeholders, and guests affirmed the importance of art as a cultural vehicle that contributes meaningfully to national currency while highlighting the intrinsic values of the various communities and tribes that make up our nation.

The Abuja SNA branch chairman, Okide Tochukwu, explaining the various activities his leadership is undertaking to expand the opportunities for artists, said the exhibition is a “continuation of the engagement of our audience with new and innovative offerings.”

The pieces on exhibition comprised mainly sculpture, paintings and drawings. The multiplicity of styles could be broadly categorised under naturalism and abstract while the use of mediums such as oil colours, acrylic, wood, fibre glass and calabash transcended to uncommon materials born out of experiments such as coffee. There were enough creations to engage the senses though there was an obvious absence of creative ceramics and textile which could have broadened the scope and content of an exhibition held under the aegis of such an encompassing association.

The world is in the affirmative that African contemporary art genre in its formal and contextual diversity has increasingly gained the attention of international audi-

There is need for the interconnectedness of various segments of the society in order to broaden our existential dialogue

ence like never before. It is believed that African artists have finally arrived in the world scene and boldly so. An exhibition like this boisterously celebrates this arrival, its import on art practice and the sociocultural and economic benefit for the nation. Among the values of the exhibition is the idea of the artists collectively dealing with a preconceived theme which is in this case the subject of ‘Change’.

Okide explained that “members of the society discussed the perspectives of the theme Change before creating their own visual narratives with their individually distinct style and media,” he observes that “what lies before us is the result of toil and sweat, dreams and stark reality.” This concept adopted by SNA group of artists is in line with contemporary trends where artists work under the guidelines of designed curatorial themes. This thematic approach to creativity enables artists to interpret contemporary subjects of their interests by freezing fleeting thoughts and memories in chosen mediums.

This is what the exhibiting artists have done about Nigeria in this period of change.

Speaking from the vantage point of his position as the National President of the SNA, Oliver Enwonwu, scion of late Nigeria’s legendary artist, Ben Enwonwu, noted that “the title of this exhibition is testament to the

18

Nigerian visual artists’ commitment to national development, as well as their resolve to champion change in the economic fortune and social welfare of the Nigerian people. Enwonwu saw the works presented in the exhibition as not only the “documentations of the sweeping changes recorded by the Buhari-led federal government but also as a showcase of the artistic visions of a new Nigeria by professional artists living and practicing in Abuja, who constitute a significant segment of Nigeria’s vigorous artistic scene.” The coordination of studio artists into a force for pondering and rethinking social and political order is a veritable avenue for contributing to nation building. There is need for the interconnectedness of various segments of the society in order to broaden our existential dialogue. In doing so, through the opportunity provided by art interests all strata of society will benefit.

Among the exhibiting artists is a predominance of talented youth, but there are some notable masters in the show for example the veteran artist, Prof.

Jerry Buhari of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Known for his modernist and experimental approach to painting, his works were rendered in his unique coffee medium which he combines with ink. The works are both experimental and poetic. Buhari’s frugal strokes avail his audience a challenging cognitive experience. His work titled “The Couple,” Coffee and Ink, 35×50cm is a stylized and expressive figures of a seemingly estranged forms, that though exist in one frame, lack the necessary fondness and warmth expected of a couple.

One could make inferences from Buhari’s work to question the avoidable divisions in connubiality, or to bring attention to the divisiveness in the Nigerian society compounded by religious intolerance, tribalism and harsh struggle for political power. Clement Nwafor’s naturalistic paintings are a departure from Buhari’s style. His “Looking Through the Window” 2016, Oil on Canvas, depicts a lad looking through a wide open window. Windows and doors symbolize opportunities. Perhaps Nwafor sees the need for alternative windows for fresh inputs and insights into the spheres of our existence in order for change to happen.

Agboola Adisa’s colourful and dramatic depictions of the market place draw attention to the economic and social exchange that happen in the market. Market women feature prominently in his paintings and this symbolizes the resilience of Nigerian women in the face of harsh economic realities.

Agwu Enekwachi, a sculptor and art teacher, wrote from Abuja.

18

ART

Retro Africa stages Afro modernism exhibition Sola Adeyemo

IBADAN

D

riven by the need to express Africa in a modern context through works of art, Retro Africa, a contemporary art platform established as a community of art enthusiasts, curators and collectors, will hold an art exhibition in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.

The two-day exhibition, according to a release signed by Abdul Umar and Dolly KolaBalogun, co-founders of the outfit, and made available to New Telegraph in Ibadan, is slated for September 17 and 18, at the Pavilion, Herbert Macaulay Way in Abuja.

The event, which will be held in collaboration with Enigma Art Collective and tagged Afro Modernism, will showcase Africa’s potentialities through canvas and other media and will feature emerging and established African artists.

“The exhibition is comprised of an eclectic mix of stylistic categorisations. This collection seeks to transcend its title in questioning the inspiration and drive behind the contemporary African artist today.

“From the abstract to the realist, we aim to either delineate or shatter the boundary between the traditional and the contemporary. This will be done through a range of creative outlets, such as pop-up exhibitions, art fairs, intercultural dialogues and our online medium.

“Our aim is to spread awareness and encourage a cycle of growth and learning within the African art scene.

As such, a creative alliance with Enigma Art Collective, which shares a similar creative enthusiasm and ethos, was easily established.

The release added that “in our efforts, we found an ally in the secretariat for social development, whose important work as a department under the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), focuses on youth empowerment, poverty alleviation and the promotion of arts and culture.

Reminisce, Blitz The Ambassador for Afropolitan Vibes

T

he stage is set for the 41st edition of Afropolitan Vibes. This month’s edition will feature singer/ rapper Reminisce, GhanaianAmerican Hiphop artist Blitz The Ambassador, German rapper Megaloh and songstress Tesh Carter, all sharing the stage with the 13 piece BANTU collective.

The show holds today at Freedom Park, Lagos Island. There is also after-show party with DJ Java and DJraybeeBrown

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Performing arts, veritable tool for diversifying Nigeria’s economy – IFCOD convener Tony Okuyeme

N

igeria’s performing arts industry holds a huge potential that can be used to effectively transform the nation’s economy and achieve greater pros-

Mrs. Elo Inyeinengi Etomi, Convener, IFCOD

perity, if properly harnessed. This was the assertion of the convener of the International Festival on Contemporary Dance (IFCOD), Mrs. Elo Inyeinengi-Etomi, while speaking on Friday about the event billed to hold in Port-Harcourt from 4th to 8th October, 2016.

According to her, activities preparatory to the festival have already showed that a lot of Nigerians can be effectively and productively engaged in the performing arts industry to play various important roles in economic development.

“Over 80 youths have been engaged and are being paid salaries as part of the forthcoming International Festival on Contemporary Dance (IFCOD). I believe this is a proof of how performing arts, if effectively properly harnessed, can be a big contributor to the nation’s economic development,” she said.

Nigeria, Etomi noted, had not paid proper attention to the overall development the performing arts industry over the years and thereby enhance the quality of performance delivery.

She noted, in particular, that although the film industry had achieved some form of success and global recognition, its potential was still to be fully explored due to several factors including limited investment, absence of guiding standards and ineffective regulation.

IFCOD, according to her, is an event specially designed to address some of these issues by trainings in

NCAP moves against piracy in the creative industry

T

he Nigerian Coalition Against Piracy (NCAP) has taken new steps towards protecting copyright owners in Nigeria’s audio-visual industry with a vow to make piracy a difficult and risky business for those who engage in such an act.

According to a statement released at press conference recently, the Coalition says its fight against piracy will henceforth be anchored on a tripod of enlightenment, regulation and enforcement.

The statement reads in part: “Piracy has brought the creative audio-visual industries to its knees and we have no option now than to rise and fight or die. This piracy comes in various forms. The most popular is counterfeiting of DVDs and VCDs. Other forms include illegal broadcast, illegal downloading and streaming, illegal exhibition and screening”.”

With per petrators ranging from the dreaded Alaba pirates to popular long distance transport companies, television and radio stations, the Coalition says the first phase of its new strategy in the fight against

piracy entails educating infringers, stakeholders, and the general populace on the nature, evils and consequences of piracy, with the hope of persuading some of them to renounce the evil trade and embrace legitimate forms of distribution.

The Coalition further disclosed that in the second phase of the new strategy, which is regulation, it will be engaging and cooperating with government at all levels on peaceful protests to provide logistical and financial support to relevant agencies of government.

On the enforcement strategy, the Coalition disclosed that it will constitute a standing task force with a national spread beginning from the ward to the federal level in order to ensure there is no longer a hiding place for the wicked.

Recall that NCAP came into existence on 19th July, 2016, when the major copyright owners in Nigeria’s audio-visual space rose with one voice and decided to counter attack the virus that has decimated the Nigerian Audio-Visual industries.

sound, light, costume design, stage make-up, filming, photography, setbuilding and design and academic curriculum development.

She said” “The vision of IFCOD is to inspire and advance excellence in the performing arts. This festival, being the first of its kind, is to hold in October 2016 and is themed Inspiring a new Era in the performing Arts. Our aim mission is to empower arts, as a reflection of societal image, echoed our tagline, reflecting life on stage.

“Our objectives are to be recognized as a platform that constitutes festivals, showcases performing arts, expose our rich cultural heritage and reposition performing arts economically, provide wholesome entertainment that promotes cultural integration, using the performing arts.”

She also said IFCOD would draw and establish an inter-disciplinary connection with other professions to maximize economic possibilities in the performing arts.

IFCOD is put together by Mona Dance, a Rivers state based international dance school. This year’s festival is being held in partnership with the River State government and features several elements including master class, international circus acts, thrilling performances, investment forum and exhibitions.

According to her, participants would be drawn from within the African continent and other parts of the world.

Finalists emerge as MTN Project Fame climaxes Edwin Usoboh

F

inalists for Project Fame West Africa Season 9 have emerged. In the last seven weeks the musical talent hunt has travelled with the 16 contestants who made it into the Academy on their journey to fame.

The competition gets to its climax with the last elimination show for the Season.

This means that there will be no goodbyes anymore as the remaining six contestants after this round of elimination have made it to the finals.

The finalists for Project Fame West Africa Season 9 are Winner, Okiemute, Kitay, Pere, Elizabeth and Dapo.

No doubt, all the contestants have all been part of a remarkable growth process.

This was evident as they performed superbly to the admiration of everyone.

In the first round of per-

formances, the contestants entertained with evergreen songs by African legends.

They later took the audience back in time to the 90s/2000 in the second round of superlative performances.

Overall, it was a fun night and the judges and faculty spoke very highly of the contestants for the hard work they put into their performances.

Now that the finalists have emerged, remember it is now up to you to decide who will be the winner and runners-up of Project Fame West Africa Season 9.

The prizes to be won at the end of the season include N5million, a brand new SUV and recording contract worth millions of naira, for the winner, the first runnerup goes home with N3million and a brand new saloon car, second runner-up: N2 million and a brand new saloon car while the third runner-up will take home N2million respectively.

Some of the finalists during their performance

19

FRIday, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Feminique

My life with music – Ekiye, NDDC Accountant

Kunemofa Asu Ekiye is the woman behind the multi award winning gospel musician, Asu Ekiye of the Wakilemo fame. Though part of his music ministry, she had to step down to continue the support from behind and care for the home front.

In this interview, she tells EBERE AMEH about her walk with God that led to her marriage and her tested and trusted ingredient for a happy marriage, among others

W

hen happily married persons talk about marriage, the singles long to get married. Kunemofa Asu is one lucky woman who has been happily married to Asu Ekiye for the past 18 years. But with so much grace and contentment, she explains that it is not luck, but understanding and the grace of God. “I feel blessed to be married to Asu Ekiye, the Prince of the Niger Delta.

A man after Gods heart who is very passionate about the ministry God has given him. I’m very humbled to be married to him.

“We had our issues, especially at the first one or two years of our marriage. I remember packing my things one of those days, that I was leaving him, but we settled,” Kunemofa said.

With many celebrity marriages crashing as early as the fortnight after, one wonders the antidote Kunemofa and Asu has used to wahalaproof their marriage.

“Every marriage will have one challenge or the other. I got to a point in my marriage that I needed to study my husband to know what gets him angry. Because most times everyone is hot and trying to prove that one is right. After that, my approach to issues in our relationship changed - it was no more fire for fire. Even when I knew I was right I prayerfully allowed him to go on with his decision, citing the fact that he is the head of the home.

“On his own after a while, he started accepting my suggestions.

And to be frank with you, we have not quarrelled for years. I have understood him and I think he also has understood me.”

Sharing the interesting story of their marriage, Kunemofa said it was not music per se, that brought them together, neither was it love at first sight, but obedience to a directive

EBERE AMEH ebere.ameh@newtelegraphonline.com

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

from God. “He was a music director in the church and I was in the choir. So somehow muKunemofa sic brought us together but it was more of a spiritual thing. Being born again at a very tender age, coming from a Christian home, I had a very good relationship with God, I still do. So as a teenager, I communed with God, we talk, He gives me messages.

“Then I saw a lot of Christian homes having problems and I didn’t want to have a terrible marriage like theirs. I remember specifically praying about my husband that time. I told God, ‘In as much as I am not ready for marriage yet, I want to know who this man is’. I heard God loud and clear one Sunday say ‘Asu Ekiye is your husband.’ I quickly went back to my prayer closet and began to cast and bind and pray against that ministration.

“I thought, ‘this can’t be lust? We weren’t even friends’. It was just a music director-choir member relationship we had. Besides, he was closer to my elder sister who was a better singer than I am. I’m just a good backEven when I up singer and never really took solo.

“That time in church, many girls knew I was right, were having ‘visions’ that Asu Ekiye I prayerfully was their husband and people used to make fun of them, and I was like, allowed him to ‘How can I be one of those? But I knew go on with his my walk with God, and kept the revelation secret,” she narrated. decision, citing Asu later left the church without the fact that he getting closer or proposing, and Kunemofa got engaged to another man, is the head of but broke up with him after she heard the home from God again. But it wasn’t until after two good years that Asu eventually proposed to her.

“It’s a very long story, so many things happened in-between, but a little over two years after God spoke to me, he came looking for me in the church one day. He dropped a note that he wanted to see me urgently.

Lo and behold, when we met, he proposed, just like that. I was like ‘this is for real?’

“But I had to make a little shakara, you know. Despite telling me that he had been praying, and was convinced after God made him know that I was his wife, I told him I would go and think and pray about it too. And today,

I thank God who made me connect with my true husband miraculously,” Kunemofa enthused.

Asu’s music career grew in leaps and bounds, leading to the production of the popular album, Back-2-Base 1.

The album, which had the hit track, Wakilemo, has Kunemofa as one of the back-up singers and fetched them the Best African Gospel Artist of the year, among other awards.

Though they came up with other albums afterwards, Asu has not been in the limelight for some time, and Kunemofa has slow-pedalled as far as the music ministry is concerned to care for their growing family. “Asu has a signature which is unique - he is more of a traditional singer. He is coming out very soon with an amazing traditional worship. We are looking at launching it in December.

“Besides, he is the founder and president of the Fellowship of Gospel Music Ministers in Nigeria and Diaspora and it takes a lot of his time.

It’s his baby project where he brought together for the first time in Nigeria, all the gospel artists in Nigeria and in diaspora. They are well represented in 25 states, including the United States, and 18th of September is their second anniversary. He is doing a great job and we have all the men of God backing them. I can’t be more proud of him.

“As for me, I sing and always toured with him but we agreed that I should be home to take care of the children,” she explained.

Despite leaving music, Kunemofa, who is a Principal Accountant with Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), still has a number of things up her sleeve.

“I’m working on a massive advocacy for the family of men of God. Most men of God and people involved in ministry have wayward children because they neglect the upbringing of these children to either aunties or house-helps because ‘they are doing God’s work.’ I want to sensitize them that the family is actually the first ministry that God

has given to us.

“I also found that there are lots of subtle demonic influences in the cartoons our children watch. While some scenes are obscene, others are already introducing gay union. So, I plan to partner with well-meaning Nigerians to set up children cartoon programmes that will show interesting stuff but with spiritual and Christian content,” the gracious lady disclosed.

“I also have an NGO called Moffy Foundation. Though yet to be registered, I do outreaches through it in villages. Right now I have adopted a village called Kuchibi, in Kuje, Abuja.

I usually went there with food, back to school items, clothes and school fees; but now I do skill acquisition for them. We identified many areas they are interested in but have started with tailoring and hairdressing. I plan to give money to those trading to boost their businesses, establish a cooperative for those in agriculture, and link them to organizations where they could access grants, trainings, and other help. Ultimately, I plan to build a home for the poor, including prostitutes and destitute, so I could counsel, train and equip them,” Kunemofa who is already rehabilitating a prostitute said.

Daughter of a former gubernatorial candidate in Rivers State, Late Chief A. A. Akene JP., and Deaconess Rebecca Akene, Kunemofa graduated from the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, where her husband also schooled, reading the same course – Accountancy.

The Bayelsa State born beauty says she is particular about her Niger Delta, praying that something tangible comes out of the proposed dialogue between the government and the Niger Delta Avengers to make room for meaningful development.

20 FEMINIQUE

FRIday, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

The absolute marriage commandments

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hese commandments are both for the newly wed and those celebrating their diamond, silver or any other wedding anniversary. Hopefully, your marriage is not by contract but based on genuine love for each other.

Although, this piece is for both to be candid, more men are at fault for not keeping to the 10 commandments than women.

Whilst the responsibility of a successful marriage rests on four shoulders, it is definitely not 50/50. In fact, it should not be. It is shared, but the man has a much bigger role to play. So men, please pay particular attention.

Marriage, just like love is not something you acquire or plant and forget about. Just like any plant, you must learn to keep on watering it and nourishing it, in order to get the best out of it. It is very tempting to put it in the back burner because of the pressure of day to day living.

Whilst every marriage is unique-as we are all differentnevertheless, there are some basic marriage commandments. These commandments will definitely deepen your

Sex and Marriage Counselor drtaiwofadeyi@gmail.com

08033148899

Dr. Taiwo Fadeyi love for one another and save your marriage from collapsing or ending up in divorce. Here they are.

Thou Shalt Be Honest. Try as much as possible not to tell lies.

Not even what we call white lies or diplomatic lies. What this means is that you should always avoid situations that will force you to lie to your spouse.

Thou Shalt Find Balance. Always ensure you find quality time with your spouse and family. No matter how busy you are.

Thou Shalt Show Respect.

Every individual demands respect in a marriage. Do not demean or get physical with your spouse.

Especially in public. Don’t hurl abuses at each other or always allow third parties to resolve your fights. Believe it or not, 90 per cent of them are for the show and the tory they

will knack after about the two of you.

Thou Shalt Be Loving. You see, it is not being in love and expecting your spouse to know you are in love. You must show it all the time. And it does not have to be expensive. You don’t need expensive gifts such as clothes, jewelry etc to shoe you are in love if you cannot afford them.

In fact, doing that is counter productive because it means you are trying to buy love. Hugging, kissing, being appreciative goes a longer way than all those star studded gifts. Pleasant memories definitely last longer than the most expensive gifts.

But if you can afford them, go ahead and do so. They will be like the icing on a cake. Don’t be stingy with your love physically, emotionally or materially.

Always ensure you find quality time with your spouse and family, no matter how busy you are

I have heard from a lot of men who believe wrongly that an open display of love is not good for the marriage.

They will tell you that it will get into her head and she would start misbehaving. I definitely know that is not true. Where situations like that occur, something is wrong somewhere. Either at the beginning or along the line. Display of love is never too much.

Thou Shalt Be Loyal. By the time you decided to get married, I believe you must have finished sowing all your wild oats. There should be no cause for extramarital affairs from both sides. Don’t give your spouse an excuse to start playing away matches. Unfortunately, a lot of women believe very wrongly that all men are the same.

We must all have girlfriends outside the matrimonial homes. With this mindset they refuse to put in their best into the marriage.

Although, I must confess that some of us men are quite incorrigible. We are like the he goat. We chase anything with two legs and a skirt. A beg not all of us o!! cake.

Ego: Diary of a happening mom Ebere Ameh

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hough the boys were ready for the new session that would usher them into secondary school, their school postponed their resumption to next week because of the Salah holiday. It was a welcome development for me who was already wondering how I would cope for months without my boys.

Despite assuring me that they’d be gone for just a few weeks before coming back for mid-term break, it still felt like it ‘d be a full year.

I teased them to change their mind to attend the community secondary school nearby but they protested, promising to call every weekend instead.

On Tuesday, I noticed that my boys that rarely went outside the premises to play, were nowhere to be found. They were gone and so were their bikes. Ibrahim who heard me complain about their whereabouts came forward to explain that they have been riding their bicycles all over the estate but just rode to the road a few minutes ago.

I was just cautioning him to have an eye on them when they came in. “Mom were you worried about us?” Tobi asked rhetorically, explaining that they were playing a game that required them to move outside to catch a virtual creature. They were ready to explain how it works but I was too angry to listen. They still did anyway, saying that it was developed to help people like me watch their weights. I playfully spanked him for the comment but listened all the same. Anything that would make me keep the pounds off is a welcome development.

“Mom, it’s called Pokémon Go. It’s a location based mobile game that is free to play.” Ron said.

The boys go missing playing Pokémon “You can use your phone to play too, you have an android phone,” Tobi chirped in, collecting my phone to search for it.

“It uses the phone’s GPS to find, capture, train and battle virtual creatures called Pokémon, who use augmented reality to appear as if they are in the real world of the players,” Ron wanted to continue when I stopped him.

“Now I’m not interested. I don’t do virtual stuff,” I said and made to leave when they held me begging for another opportunity to go out one more time to catch Pokémon.

‘To play the Pokémon Go, a player must move around his environment and thus in the games map to locate and capture Pokémon, the player can also visit Poké stops and gyms,’ I found out when I searched for it online.

‘Since release. Pokémon Go has become one of the most used mobile apps in 2016 having more than 500 million downloads worldwide. It has popularised location based gaming and promoted physical exercise, and has also helped other businesses grow,’ the site says.

“Sounds a little interesting” I told myself. I’ll get them to explain more how it works I said. I can play it with the girls who at the moment don’t know what we are talking about.

Going to Zainabs place for Salah was a good opportunity for them to capture the Pokémon in a different place. Her family had invited us and a couple of others for the Salah celebrations, and we all, except Danny, who was away on official trip, went. But I was sure to warn them to behave themselves and not sneak out in search of their virtual avatar.

On getting home in the evening, they hopped out to their Poké stops and did not come back till twilight.

After Ibrahim who went in search of them came in with not sign of them, I knew we were in for trouble.

I hope what I fear has not befallen me. Combing the neighbourhood, we found their bicycles but still, no sign of Tobi or Ron, neither was anybody with useful information on their whereabouts. God, I hope they have not been kidnapped. Lekki is getting notorious for all these evils but ‘it is not my portion’, I thought.

At this time, everyone was out in search of them, including some neighbours. I tried to pull myself together but was overwhelmed with emotion. “I pray oh God, let it be that they decided to trek to another Poké stop and not kidnapped.” I cried as I narrated what I know to the police who were prompt to answer our call.

21

friday, september 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Justin Timberlake excited about collaboration with Britney Spears

Entertainment Wizkid joins Davido on Sony Music deal

PAUL ADEFARASIN’S CHURCH PREMIERES EBOLA MOVIE, 93 DAYS

Actor, Blossom Chukwujekwu gives wife another wedding ring

One year after beef, Sean Tizzle reconciles with Basketmouth

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lanreodukoya@gmail.com

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

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Drake buys neighbour’s house for $3million after noise Tyga wants Kylie Jenner’s family to stay out of their romance

Why PMAN leadership crisis persists,

by Chris Mba

Highlife music exponent, Chris Mba, bares his mind on the crisis rocking the Performing Musician Association of Nigeria (PMAN). He also explains how they got the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr. Chris Ngige, to wade into the crisis. FLORA ONWUDIWE reports Are you among the committee that met with other stakeholders to rescue PMAN from the state of coma?

Yes, there are these three individuals that believe that PMAN is a property; they want to grab it, may be because there are no jobs, they would like to grab and sell it to whoever they want to sell it to, that is wealthy enough to buy PMAN. This has been happening for quite some time now. They sold it to Hajia Dangaji to become PMAN president. I don’t want to mention their names because they know themselves. These people believe that they own PMAN and they believe that they can do anything they like with the association. These three people know themselves; after they had collected all that Hajia had intervene, they dumped her.

They went to another person called Pretty Okafor. Hajia’s case was quite different because she contested for the election and there was a delegate conference where she contested for election, but for Pretty Okafor, there was no delegate conference, the man was on his own when this same group of persons went to him and said he should give them money and become PMAN President. This Okafor has grabbed PMAN and does not want to let go; meanwhile, he is not even a member of PMAN and he has never for one day attended meeting. He has no PMAN identity card. Maybe by now they must have given him one identity card. We, as committee members approached him that he cannot be PMAN president without a delegate conference.

Every union has a delegate conference and we belong to trade union. There must be a delegate where you dissolved the former executives. He insisted that he

must be PMAN president. We had negotiated with him that if he has good vision for PMAN he can only be chairman, and he refused. We are into interim government that will set up a proper delegate conference and elect president, then he can contest, but he said no.

The Ministry of Labour and Productivity owns PMAN, and invited us including him. We narrated our story and the director in the ministry told him that we should work together and carry everybody along. We made it clear to him that he cannot be PMAN president without a delegate conference. There was no any election therefore he cannot appeal in the court, if there was election that is when he can appeal. We had held meetings more than three or four times with the ministry in order to have a way out. What are we agitating for?

We are looking for a way where we can move this association forward.

We learnt that PMAN has six presidents, does it not sound ridiculous?

It is not true. Whoever said CO N T I N U E D O N PA G E 2 2

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friday, september 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

PMAN has no president –Mba CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21

that does not attend PMAN meeting and does not know what is happening at PMAN. If the person is interested in what is going at PMAN he should come to PMAN. We have no president as far as the association is concern.

What we have is caretaker committee constituted by the Honourable Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr. Chris Ngige. Anyone that cares to know what is happening at PMAN should attend the meeting.

Wizkid joins Davido on Sony Music deal

A

few weeks ago, there was rumor that Wizkid would be joining Davido soon at Sony Music Entertainment, and the day has finally arrived. Wizkid has just set another record that no African artiste has ever achieved as he signs with Sony Music and RCA records on Tuesday, September 13.

We learnt that the deal is worth a staggering amount of money, which for now is the biggest any African artiste has ever had. Our source wouldn’t disclose in figure what the deal is worth, but this global deal signed by the ‘Ojuelegba’ singer would surely make his brand bigger than it is across the world.

Over the years the association has been fighting over leadership, how did the problem get to where it is today?

I wanted the best for the association. I saw the way things were going wrong; when Femi Lasode was PMAN president, I went to meet Charley boy in his house that ‘this is the time we need your radicalism to change things in PMAN’ . He wanted to reject the offer but I insisted that he needs to come on board now, that we will support him. I went to Abuja where the owner of Chisco Transport, Chief Anyaegbu, and I spoke about what was going on in PMAN and the man has a very big plan for the association. The next question he asked was: “Does PMAN have offices at the state chapter level?” I said no. He said that we are supposed to have buildings and musical equipment that his plan is to think on what to do for PMAN. We presented Charley boy to him and at the end of the day, the man supported us. When we had a president, we as a body are supposed to pay him a courtesy call where we’d let him know that we appreciated what he did for the association, maybe from there, there will be other open doors for other opportunities, but I was indisposed at that period, and I did not know what happened thereafter.

And I did not know what happened to Charles and his deputy, Admiral Dele Abiodun. In fact, I was instrumental to his becoming deputy to Charley boy. Today, I detest the sight of Dele Abiodun because he is the cause of the problem we are having in PMAN today.

These three people that I mentioned earlier are not musicians and they are the ones destroying the association. They are the people shopping for wealthy people that can take up PMAN presidency.

They put us in the mess we are facing in PMAN today.

As a member of the PMAN, are you getting the benefits expected?

The house is not in order. Our hindrance is money; we are doing something about it, and God will see us through. We will hold election, right now people are picking up forms.

Were there attempts to resolve some of these issues during Admiral Abiodun’s tenure as PMAN president?

When Charley boy

brought in Bolaji Rosiji, I don’t know what happened. Tee Mac took over; one day Dele Abiodun stormed the PMAN secretariat with the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) men and chased him out of office. They grabbed Tee Mac’s dogs killed them.

That was how Dele Abiodun came into the office. Dele Abiodun started the problem we are facing at PMAN. I heard a lot of nasty things he did.

I don’t know why they are busy shopping for whoever that wanted to contest for the post of president and collecting money from them.

Is it not time PMAN select whoever wants to contest president?

I am not eyeing PMAN presidency, but people have started picking up forms; some people are gifted in many ways. I made the late Christy Essien Igbokwe the PMAN president. After sometime, she derailed. I fought with her. She said there was no money to host a delegate conference. I went on the field, got a place, Women Foundation at Ogba, I made enquiries that we wanted to host a delegate conference for all the 36 states; they agreed that they will give us without the body paying for anything. I was excited. My president, Christy never wanted the delegate conference to hold; the next two days, my president went there to tell them, “What are you people doing here?

Are you here to do charity organisation?” She said that they had given me N3million and you are now asking us to give the place for free of charge. I went back to them and they were telling me that I was a thief that the president came yesterday that they had given me N3million.

I was shocked, and I wished at that moment for the earth to open and swallow me up. I

drove off. I went to Niteshift and met Guv’nor Ken Olumese to give us the venue and he granted that we had sent out our invitation letters. We did not reveal the venue of the delegate conference until the day before night of the event. And people were coming in trickles even Sunny Ade was having plan B because he was contesting; they could not shift the venue of the event. Even Shina Peters almost fought with me physically and they were in Sunny Ade’s camp. Even when Christy was through with her tenure, she did not want a woman to succeed her. But Sunny Ade won for second time as PMAN president. If Onyeka Owenu has had the opportunity, she would have been a better candidate for PMAN because she had the opportunity to become the PMAN president, she could have done well, because she was hungry to, she was willing to; she would have been a fantastic president for PMAN. I say this because she speaks well; I don’t know if she will have the time to be PMAN president. Very soon, we will get PMAN back to track again.

You were strongly mistaken to have been involved in hard drug (cocaine) and arrested at the International wing of Murtala Mohammed Airport. What really happened?

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) published it that it was a mistake because I wanted to sue them. I was sick at that period, I managed to drive to the NDLEA office that I wanted to see the Chris Mba; they refused to bring him out. I insisted that I wanted to see the man, they refused to bring him out, but an advertisement was placed in some national dailies.

What is happening to you? You have not released any new album. You seem to have left the stage?

I went through surgery which was very painful. I have to reposition myself. It cost a lot to produce an album, and there was something that I heard that musicians will give his song to somebody in Alaba International to compile the songs or mix songs of different musicians to sell. I told them that I will not be part of that arrangement. So that is what is going on in the music industry now. I have songs that I have written; I feel the atmosphere is not conducive.

Does your kind of music have space for the youths?

What the youths are playing now was what I played some years ago; it is highlife.

And, listen to my music, it’s all highlife. I played highlife and that is what the youth are bringing back now. So I fit well in the system; in fact, I am their master.

Mba

entertainment

friday, september 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Adefarasin’s church premieres movie on ebola, 93 Days T

One year after beef, Sean Tizzle reconciles with Basketmouth L ate last year, Basketmouth publicly called out Sean Tizzle for charging unreasonable amount of money to perform in his show. The comedian vowed never to invite the singer for any of his shows again. Although, Sean Tizzle feigned ignorance of the saga, it later appeared it was a mere cover up.

Nothing has been heard about the duo until lately when Sean Tizzle gave a hint that all is well between him and the lively comedian.

He said: “I want to also use this medium to appreciate and thank Basket Mouth who I was able to speak with yesterday .You’re a leader and a true brother.”

Actor, Blossom Chukwujekwu, gives wife another wedding ring B

lossom Chukwujekwu gave his wife, Maureen, a new wedding band as they celebrated their one-year anniversary of togetherness.

The celebration took place on Sunday, September 11, and Maureen took to Instagram on Tuesday, September 13, to share the good news.

“To everyone who wished me/us well… calls, [messages] etc., thank you.

Sunday remains my very best birthday ever... Still overwhelmed at the many events/surprises of that day” “To you… you… you Mr. Chukwujekwu… A year ago, you asked that I be [your] wife which was a major shocker to me and a year later you re-proposed to mark our anniversary. You got my friends to do me birthday videos, even people I would never have expected... too.

How in God’s name did [you] get GodDad to do me a video?????? It tore me up… all day you kept on surprising me. I cried, screamed, jumped, sat on the ground even begged [you] to stop that I was literally exhausted. Blossom Chukwudi Echezonachukwu Chukwujekwu, I bless the day our paths crossed. I bless my ex for leaving me, I Bless Mofe Duncan for introducing me to you and I bless you for loving me more than

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I love myself...I place a rare blessing on you today that everything you lay [your] hand, heart, voice, soul on will turn to gold and for that reason, your many generations will feed on [your] wealth. That they ever [work], will be only for pleasure… And so shall it be... Amen @blossomchukwujekwu.”

The couple had their traditional wedding in 2015 and are preparing for their church wedding, with their pre-wedding pictures released only recently.

he long awaited movie, ‘93 Days’ was finally premiered in Nigeria on Tuesday September 13 at The Rock Cathedral Lekki, Lagos.

Starring Danny Glover, Bimbo Akintola, Keppy Ekpenyong, Somkele Iyamah Idlahama, Tim Reid, Alastair MacKenzie, Gideon Okeke and more, the film, directed by Steve Gukas, tells the true story of how Nigeria was able to eradicate the Ebola virus when it broke in 2014.

From the private screening at The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHA) to a sold out World Screening at The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), ‘93 Days’ has received remarkable commendations as an outstanding masterpiece.

At the premiere staged in the ultra-modern auditorium tucked inside The Rock Cathedral, the host, Pastor Paul Adefarasin said: “We salute the entire cast of ‘93 Days’ -Bimbo Akintola, Danny Glover, Tim Reid, Gideon Okeke, Bimbo Manuel, Charles Okafor, Keppy Ekpenyong Bassey, Somekele Idhalama, Adebola Williams and Mackenzie Alastair - for delivering a stellar performance and reliving, for our viewing pleasure, the gut-wrenching 93 day race against time. The acting was remarkable and I’m not ashamed to admit that I cried through most of the movie.”

He further lauded Nollywood, saying that the Nigerian movie industry has come of age. “Your art will help us reshape the nation’s value systems and reset our cultural norms for progress, development and a national sense of purpose. We expect much more from the crucible of your collaborative endeavors… let’s together arise and reshape the future with the powerful medium of storytelling through movie making,” he said.

The venue was filled to capacity as the epoch-making film drew the fascination of all who thronged The Rock Cathedral to see the movie.

Adefarasin

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entertainment

friday, september 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Justin Timberlake excited about collaboration with Britney Spears

D

Justin and Britney

reams truly come true! Justin Timberlake has said yes to doing a song with his onetime love, Britney Spears, and that explains the excitement of many. After all these years, it would be total heaven for these two to finally collaborate. We guess this is a reason to keep reading.

When Britney Spears, 34, was recently asked in an interview who she’d like to do a duet with, her response, “Justin Timberlake is very good,” made our jaws drop.

But now minds are officially blown because Justin is totally down with the idea! “She did? Sure!

Absolutely, absolutely,” he told E! News‘ Marc Malkin at the Toronto International Film Festival about a future collaboration.

This was totally news to Justin, as he hadn’t heard about Britney’s big dream project with him.

“I have a

Tyga wants Kylie Jenner’s family to stay out of their romance

T

yga isn’t playing around any- from the Kardashians for his ongoing romore! The ‘Rack City’ rapper is mance with Kylie Jenner.

Tyga, 26, isn’t taking kindly to the naysick and tired of getting insults saying comments coming from the Kardashian family. He’s been dating Kylie Jenner, 19, for almost two years, so he feels like he shouldn’t still be seeking their approval.

“Kim, and all the Kardashians, really, for them most parts had been kind to Tyga,” a source tells HollywoodLife.com exclusively.

“But that said, he would really appreciate if they would stay the f**k out of he and Kylie’s relationship. Tyga and Kylie are one! Things are really heating up between them and their passion is just as electric as Kim and Kanye’s. The more the Kardashian gang is in Kylie’s ear, throwing salt on Tyga, the more it’s going to push Kylie away!”

Kyga was last spotted flaunting major public display of affection (PDA) at the Harper’s Bazaar Party on Sept. 9, holding tight to each other while at the lavish star-studded event. The lovebirds recently ventured to New York City to catch Kylie the debut of Kanye’s Yeezy Season 4 collection, proving they’re not going to let any beef with the family stop them from having a good time. The “stimulated” rapper was definitely swooning over the freshly-blonde Kylie, who has been rocking her giant Marquise sparkler everywhere she goes. She took to Snapchat on Sept. 8 and posed the question, “if this is my promise ring I wanna know what my engagement ring gonna look like.”

Kylie and Tyga have been going strong for some time, but her older sister, Kim, has expressed her concern about the pair getting married too quickly. As we previously reported, Kim told her little sister to “pump the breaks” since she already has a “healthy relationship” without exchanging her vows. On top of that, she doesn’t want Kylie to fund Tyga their wedding, since he’s reportedly been having money issues.

17-month-old so I don’t get the headline news,” he added. He apparently doesn’t read the internet much either because it blew up when Brit dropped her mention of working with Justin. He went on to add, “I apologize for not being in the know…I’m accessible, give us a call!” You hear that Britney?!

HollywoodLife.com already mentioned on Aug. 30 that the “Suit and Tie” singer was up to col-

laborate with his teenage sweetheart. “Justin would be totally down with doing a song with Britney sometime in the future. He would want it to be something amazing and not just do it for the nostalgia of it all.

Though he is not actively pursuing a duet with her he would welcome the discussion and would be happy if it were to happen.” Well, now it looks like from Brit’s mouth to Justin’s ears, it’s happening finally.

Drake buys neighbour’s house for $3million after noise complaints I

f you can’t stand the noise, let Drake buy your house. Wait, what? That’s what the neighbour of the singer did when he offered to buy their home for $3 million after they continued to put in noise complaints about how loud he played his music. And here’s the full scoop on Drake’s hefty purchase.

Well, this is one way to solve a problem.

Drake, 29, has reportedly purchased the Hidden Hills home of his neighbour for a whopping $2.85 million, all because he didn’t feel like turning down his music, according to Marie Claire. Apparently, the neighbor had made several noise complaints, which Drake decided to put a stop to by cutting a cheque. Well, that further buttresses the maxim, “silence critics with your success.”

Drake’s neighbour’s home, we mean Drake’s new home, is a ranch-style house with four bedrooms, five bathrooms and a pool, according to Trulia.

The property also reportedly has room for horses. So that’s really nice we guess. The whole thing does seem a little silly though, given that Drake could really have just turned down his music, instead of forking over $3 million so he could blast it as loud as he wants. But, hey, it’s his money.

The funniest part in all this is that Drake buying his neighbour’s house was actually predicted in Future‘s song, “Where Ya At?” Drake chimed in with the lyric, “I’ll buy the neighbour’s house if they complain about the noise.” We guess he was being completely serious.

Now he just has to figure out what he wants to do with the property. Sure, he could let it sit there collecting dust. Or he could fix it up as a guest house for Rihanna, if she wants her own space when she comes over and all. We’d love to see him decorate it especially for her.

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FRIDAY, september 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Agric Appraising alleged ‘poisonous’ GMO rice imports

Business

Environment ‘Lagos, Rivers, others prone to earthquake’

28 30

What's new Experts seek consolidation of Primary Mortgage Banks p.26

‘Nigeria saves N14bn from French Fries import’ p.26

L-R: Head of Operations, Metro Health HMO, Dotun Adebajo; Managing Director/CEO, Kola Awokoya; President, Nigeria Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association (NLPGA), Dayo Adeshina and Executive Secretary, Joseph Eromosele, during the signing of MoU in Lagos

China eyes more crude from Nigeria

MOTIVE China crude output drop lures imports

Adeola Yusuf

C The Business Desk Ayodele Aminu

Deputy Editor (Business)

Bayo Akomolafe

Asst. Editor (Maritime)

Sunday Ojeme

Asst. Editor (Insurance)

Tony Chukwunyem

Asst. Editor (Money Market)

Dayo Ayeyemi Property Editor

Adeola Yusuf Energy Editor

Wole Shadare Aviation Editor

Chris Ugwu

Capital Market Editor

Abdulwahab Isa Finance Editor

rude oil imports by World’s biggest crude consumer, China, from Nigeria may rise further in the coming months as tumbling domestic output leaves refiners looking overseas for supplies.

The Asian country imported 10.56 million barrels in 2015 and this new trend suggests a surge above this figure, helping ease a persistent global glut.

China’s biggest producer, PetroChina Co., cut its 2016 domestic crude output target to 103 million tons (about 2.06 million barrels a day), a drop of about six per cent from the previous year, as it shuts some high-cost fields. Production from China Chemical & Petroleum Corp., known as Sinopec, is on track to shrink by a similar amount to about 763,000 barrels a day, company forecasts show.

“China’s crude output won’t see an apparent rebound unless Brent recovers to $60 a barrel level, as most of China’s aging oilfields can’t make a profit below this price,” said Tian Miao, an analyst in Beijing with policy researcher North Square Blue Oak Ltd. Nigeria saw its share of China’s

crude oil imports shrink by 7.5 per cent last year, as the world’s largest energy consumer reduced its import of Nigerian crude to 10.56 million barrels.

Brent crude, the global benchmark, has lost about half its value in the past two years. Prices have averaged almost $43 a barrel this year, compared with $99 in 2014.

The global benchmark was up 0.3 per cent at $47.26 a barrel at 10:38 a.m. in Hong Kong.

Imports by the world’s secondbiggest consumer may extend last month’s rebound, as the country’s oil processors come out of their peak maintenance season while domestic output falls further after sliding to the lowest in over six years, according to analysts from Natixis SA and Energy Aspects Ltd. “The extent of decline in crude production is quite astonishing,” Michal Meidan, a London-based analyst with Energy Aspects, said by phone. “Naturally, such a gap in supply will be partly made up with imports.”

Production in August dropped 9.9 per cent from a year ago to about 3.89 million barrels a day, the lowest since December 2009, according to Bloomberg calculations of National Bureau of Statistics data released

$14.94 billion Being the trade volume between Nigeria and China in 2014

last Tuesday. Output is down 5.7 per cent during the first eight months of the year.

China, which was the world’s fifth-biggest producer last year, has been pumping less as state-run companies shut fields too expensive to operate after prices fell earlier this year to the lowest since 2003.

The country is forecast to lead production declines across Asia, forcing the world’s largest-consuming region to rely more on overseas supplies.

China’s crude import from Nigeria stood at 11.41 million barrels in 2014, data obtained on Monday from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) showed.

The country bought crude from Nigeria in five months last year, compared to nine months in 2014.

It imported its largest volume of 3.9 million barrels in October; 2.85 million barrels in February; 949,721 barrels in March; 948,024 barrels in July and 1.9 million barrels in December.

China’s import of Nigerian crude in 2014 only hit a high of 1.96 million barrels in January, according to the NNPC data.

The Asian country imported a CONTINUED ON PAGE 26

Taiwo Hassan

Industry, Agric & Brands Editor

Kunle Azeez

Senior Correspondent

Chuks Onuanyin Energy

Nnamdi Amadi Reporter

Johnson Adebayo

Asst Production Editor

Rates Dashboard INFLATION RATE July 2016 ...............................17.1 % June 2016 ..............................16.5% May 2016...............................15.6%

LENDING RATE Interbank Rate....................12.57% Prime Lending Rate...........17.93% Maximum Lending Rate...26.83%

EXCHANGE RATE (Parallel Market as at August 26)

USD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N423 Pounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N564 Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N470

l Foreign Reserves – $49.29bn as at 8/9/2016

Source: CBN

EXCHANGE RATE (Interbank as at August 26)

USD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N306 Pounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N408 Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N345

26

BUSINESS |news

China eyes more crude from Nigeria CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25

record amount of crude last year as oil’s lowest annual average price in over a decade spurred stockpiling and boosted demand from independent refiners.

China increased imports last year by 8.8 per cent to a record 334 million metric tons or about 6.7 million barrels per day, according to preliminary data released by the Beijingbased General Administration of Customs in January.

The country had earlier this month said it was seeking more crude oil exports from Nigeria despite the recent changes in oil prices.

The Economic and Commercial Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Nigeria, Mr. Zao LingXiang, said this in an interview in March.

“In my opinion, it really doesn’t matter whether Iran comes back or not; Chinese companies want to import more crude oil from Nigeria,” LingXiang said.

The impact of rising Chinese imports on the global oversupply could be muted as stockpiles are seen continuing to accumulate and the surplus is seen persisting into late 2017, the International Energy Agency said last Tuesday.

“China will undoubtedly have to import more oil to meet the seasonal increase in refinery runs later this year,” said Abhishek Deshpande, chief energy analyst at Natixis SA in London. “This should not shock the market as the global market is well supplied,” he said.

China’s crude oil imports increased to about 7.77 million barrels a day in August, the highest in four months, according to General Administration of Customs data released on September 8. Imports during the first eight months of the year are up more than 13 per cent.

“Falling crude production supports rising imports through the rest of this year, coupled with strategic oil stockpiling and increased demand from refiners coming out of maintenance season,” Amy Sun, an analyst with commodities researcher ICIS-China, said by phone.

Production declines will accelerate in the final four months of the year, Sun said, with monthly crude output averaging 16.25 million tons, while oil imports average 32 million tons.

Refinery runs averaged 10.47 million barrels a day in August, Tuesday’s data showed, the slowest in three months as processors shut units during the peak of the country’s maintenance season, which ends in September.

The Economic and Commercial Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Nigeria, Mr. Zao LingXiang, had earlier said this in an interview in March that the return of Iran was no threat to China’s imports of Nigeria’s crude.

FRIDAY, september 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Experts seek consolidation of Primary Mortgage Banks BOTTLENECK Experts said that Land Use Act has made the process of perfecting title to landed property burdensome, slow and costly

Dayo Ayeyemi

P

erturbed by paucity of fund rocking the licensed Primary Mortgage Banks (PMBs) in the country, the Federal Government has been urged to initiate a policy that will promote mergers in the sector.

Former Publicity Secretary, Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIEVS), Mr. Meckson Okoro, made this in a chat with New Telegraph in Lagos.

He said the call for consolidation in the industry has become imperative due to liquidity challenge rocking the PMBs in the face of 17 million housing shortages in the country.

Okoro, who is also the Managing Director of M.I. Okoro and Associates, expressed fear that

the primary mortgage banks might not be able to provide the necessary mortgage finance for home/accommodation seekers if nothing is done to increase their financial base.

It would be recalled that a total of 32 primary mortgage banks (PMBs) out of 89 met the recapitalisation requirements of N5 billion for national primary mortgage banks and N2.5 billion for state (PMBs) as stipulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on December 31, 2014.

Since their recapitalisation, the sector has been noted for low activities.

According to the United Nations (UN)’s statistics, Nigeria has a housing deficit of 17 million units.

To redress the housing deficit, experts said that 720,000 units of houses are needed annually to reduce the shortages.

In terms of mortgage financing, over N59 trillion on affordability bases would be required to redress the housing deficit.

Describing housing development as “capital-intensive ven-

ture,” Okoro said that it would be difficult for a single primary mortgage bank to assume position of funding housing initiative successfully .

He said: “Mortgage banks don’t have the fund; they don’t have the financial muscle to support homeownership.

“Government should make a policy where two or three PMBs merge to create big pool of fund. Government can also fund them through Federal Mortgage Bank Nigeria (FMBN) to make sure they provide loans to people that need them.”

Apart from this, the real estate expert suggested that the FMBN should be strongly capitalised and restructured to assume same role the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is playing over commercial banks in the PMBs. “FMBN should do what CBN is doing for commercial banks.

The PMBs can be supervised

by FMBN to ensure that money gets to home seekers and developers,” he said.

Hitherto, real estate experts have noted that mortgage subsector has continued to en-

counter challenges, which have hindered its capacity to act as catalyst for the development and provision of affordable housing among citizens.

Some of the challenges they mentioned included delay in accessing National Housing Fund (NHF); dearth of long term funds as most PMBs find it difficult to provide the required bank guarantee to access NHF; difficulties in deposit mobilisation due to lack of understanding of the nature of business of PMBs; Land Use Act’s bottlenecks, which has made the process of perfecting title to landed property burdensome, slow and costly; and underdeveloped Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS) market.

Other challenges are high cost of building construction, weak corporate governance and risk management practices.

Okoro, who runs an estate surveying and valuation company, stated that unless PMBs are allowed to merge in order to boost real estate’s funding, housing units would continue to increase in prices due to poor supply.

L-R: Representative of the CBN Governor, Mr Ahmed Abdullahi; Managing Director, Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company, Mr Charles Inyangete and representative of the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Eucharia Alozie, at the 2016 African Union for Housing Finance and Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company Conference and the 32nd Annual General Meeting in Abuja .

PHOTO: NAN

‘Nigeria saves N14bn from French Fries import’ LOSS Nigeria has lost billions of dollars to capital flight in the past years

Taiwo Hassan

D

ollar scarcity, occasioned by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s flexible foreign exchange policy, which banned importation of French Fries may have saved the country about $45 million (N14.1 billion) yearly, New Telegraph has learnt.

A top member of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN) and Chairman, Faniz Groups of Companies, Uche-

chukwu Aniezechukwu, disclosed this in a chat with this newspaper in Lagos.

He said the N14billion would have been used to import French fries, a foreign potato chips delicacy.

Aniezechukwu said that the forex policy had made it difficult for fast food operators and supermarket owners to import French Fries , which Nigerians consume with relish.

French fries are finger chips made from potatoes, a crop that is widely grown in many parts of the country.

Aniezechukwu noted that importers of French Fries have been groaning over the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’s) foreign exchange policy.

The amount saved from the importation of French Fries he said, is huge considering the fact that N29.75 billion was

budgeted for agriculture in the 2016 budget.

He said that the ongoing economic woes had lowered profit projections of many fast food operators and supermarket owners that display foreign products in their outlets.

Besides, he said that the tight dollar restrictions had forced domestic lenders to delay hard currency loans and trade repayments to foreign banks, which increases the risk of default.

The Nigerian economy entered a recession in the second quarter, after persistent low oil prices hammered vital public finances and the naira, prompting foreign investors to flee bond and equities markets, which caused chronic dollar shortages.

The CBN floated the currency in June to ease dollar

shortages and preserve its dwindling reserves. It allowed the naira to tumble 30 per cent on the day of the float from its 16-month pegged rate of 197 per dollar.

The currency move helped Nigeria’s trade balance gain some ground to stand at minus N196.5 billion in the second quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said from minus N351.3 billion in the first quarter.

“The improvement in export value is largely due to the depreciation in the value of the naira,” it said in a statement.

“This development arose from a rise of 63.3 per cent in the value of exports largely due to exchange rate gains combined with a rise of 38.1 per cent in the value of imports against the levels recorded in the preceding quarter.”

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

27

labour

PICKETING Some labour unions have recently been resorting to disorderly behaviours to register their grievances

L-R: Faculty Secretary, Dean’s Office, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Dr. Omolara Olarewaju; Prof. of Medicine/ Consultant Cardiologist, Prof Michael Balogun and Dean, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Prof. Reuben Fajemilehin, at the 8th Annual Conference of the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.

Sunday Ojeme

T

he Nigerian Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has flayed the current state of lawlessness exhibited by some labour unions in their bid to compel employers agree to their yearnings.

Director General of the association, Olusegun Osinowo, registered the association’s displeasure in Lagos.

He said the current state of industrial relations could be captured in a single phrase as decadence, chaos, lawlessness and disharmony.

Osinowo said that the rule of law, cherished age-old values of good industrial relations practice, and respect for structure and jurisdiction have all given way to the law of the jungle; might is right and survival of the fittest seems to be the order of the day.

“On account of our fear of strikes and impact on the economy, we have now turned the unions to little gods that must be appeased with libation even if that would mean sacrificing the rights and interest of other key economic actors in the country, whose activities are crucial to the economic development of our

NECA decries decadence in industrial relations nation. Now, there is no limit to the rights of the unions and issues on which the unions could establish prima facie right of negotiation,” he said.

Describing Nigeria as one of the least productive countries in the world, if not the least on account of colossal man-hour lost to incessant strikes and picketing, he said that an economy bedeviled and plagued by frequent strikes could not be productive or be investors’ first port

of destination.

He observed that the situation had been worsened by the failure of the Ministry of Labour and Employment to act impartially and decisively based on the rule of law, working with security agencies, to protect the rights of the employers and other stakeholders and compel the unions to obey the laws of the land on strikes, picketing and trade dispute management.

According to him, the min-

istry itself, therefore, requires radical and wholesale reform to position it for the challenges of today’s economy and workplace. Its workforce requires the right attitude, competence and professionalism to engage the social partners in robust discussion that will promote industrial harmony and protect the rights of all economic actors.

“There is, therefore, an urgent need for the reform of industrial relations system.

‘Why we called off our strike’

M

embers of the organised labour in Nasarawa State have called off their strike after battling with the state government for several months.

The workers were asked by the union leaders to resume work last Wednesday.

A communiqué signed by the state chairmen of both the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Abdulahi M. Adeka and Comrade Danladi Sabo Namo, respectively, said that the decision

was taken in consideration of the on-going intervention of the Minister of Labour and Employment, in conjunction with national labour leaders.

The communiqué also revealed that the state government and the Labour unions had agreed to revert to the old salary structure, and that payment for the months of May and June had already commenced. It added that the salaries for the months of July and August would be addressed in the course of discussions at the tripartite com-

mittee.

The communiqué gave assurance to its workers that no victimisation of any kind would be meted out to them as a result of embarking on the industrial action.

Workers in Nasarawa State have been on strike since 4th of July 2016 to protest the government’s new salary structure.

While it had agreed to pay the remaining balance for the months of May and June, the government insists on “no work no pay” rule for the months of July and August.

NDE to manage training programme for students

T

he National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has been saddled with the responsibility of managing Federal Government’s School-ToWork programme initiated for 150 secondary school students in Cross River State.

While flagging off the programme, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, said it was meant to equip the students with employability skills and engage them in meaningful activities during the holiday period.

Acknowledging Federal Government’s awareness of rising unemployment in the country,

he said that the new programme, which is new in the Directorate, was designed to engage the students in learning self-employed skills like barbing, phone repairs, computer repairs and others.

The minister said: “As part of measures to address unemployment and lack of technical skills, federal government has designed programmes and schemes towards skills acquisition for graduates and non-graduates. This training programme is meant to equip the students with employability skills that would make them self-reliant even after their West African

Examination.”

On his part, Acting Director General of NDE, Mr Olakunle Obayan, said that the idea behind the programme was to provide diverse vocational, agricultural and entrepreneurial skills training for secondary school students.

Obayan said that the students would be entitled to a stipend in the course of the training.

The state governor, Ben Ayade, said that the programme was in line with the state government’s agenda of reducing employment by engaging graduates and nongraduates in meaningful and employability activities.

The objective of such a reform should be to promote an enabling environment suitable for wealth and job creation.

The reform must aim at promoting the rule of law, respect for the sanctity of procedural and substantive agreement and responsible use of strikes and lock-outs as tools for collective bargaining.

“We, therefore, encourage the Ministry of Labour and Employment to articulate and share with the social partners government’s reform agenda for the industrial relations system. The ministry may jump-start this process by setting up a tripartite-plus committee, which should include respected scholars of industrial relations and relevant stakeholders,” he added.

Expert advocates adequate infrastructure for entrepreneurs

A

s part of measures to encourage entrepreneurship in the country, the Ashoka Anglophone West Africa Director, Josphine Nzerem, has called on leaders and individual to provide the requisite infrastructure for the sector to develop.

Nzerem, who made the call during a story telling workshop for entrepreneurs in Lagos, observed that the imperativeness of adequate infrastructure for entrepreneurs could not be over emphasised.

She said: “I will say that the government has great ideas, especially for agroprenuers.

It is one thing to say you are empowering young people and you don’t give them the tools to be empowered. I think government should concentrate on giving young people necessary tools to be empowered and empower others.”

She pointed out that young entrepreneurs needed good mentors as well as being connected to resources.

“Like some in farming maybe they need land, seeds, like those in the ICT, they may need computers. Housing is very expensive, some of them may need office space where there is Internet connection, and power is another important infrastructure.

“Today is International Youth Day and we decided to have this programme, which is story telling workshop, bringing young people together to learn how to package their stories because we discover that the youths may have good ideas but may not know how to put the stories together. The way you organise your story will help you in selling it to others,” she noted.

28 Uneasy calm currently pervades Nigeria’s agricultural sector over the alleged importation of Genetically Modified Organic (GMO) rice into the country, a claim the Federal Government has denied. Taiwo Hassan reports

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

agric

Appraising alleged ‘poisonous’ GMO rice imports

I

t is no longer news that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has reiterated his support to aggressively pursue the revival of agriculture by placing agric as the mainstay of Nigeria’s revenue earnings.

Consequently, since the Federal Government had earmarked agric as part of its transformation agenda, there has been various activities in Nigeria’s agric value chain to achieve government’s aspiration for the sector.

Generally, the Federal Government’s policy summersaults and other economic challenges, have affected all the sectors of the Nigerian economy, including agriculture.

However, the quest by importers of rice, especially the foreign and local rice millers operating in the country’s rice industry to take advantage of the slump in Nigeria’s economy, fueled the allegation that poisonous GMO rice had found its ways into the country.

GMOs can be defined as organisms (i.e. plants, animals or microorganisms) in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination.

The use of GMOs is prohibited in organic products. This means an organic farmer can’t plant GMO seeds, an organic cow can’t eat GMO alfalfa or corn and an organic soup producer can’t use any GMO ingredients The dichotomy surrounding the alleged poisonous GMO rice in the markets created uproars among rice stakeholders, Federal Government and Nigerian populace, on the authenticity of rice imports in the country.

Nigeria has, however, taken laudable strides to adopt the necessary legal bio-safety framework and policy to ensure that GMO grown foods take off in the Nigerian soil.

Government said: “If Nigeria gets it right, it will guide other African countries.’’

Companies such as Dangote Group, Olam and some other key rice majors have been linked with the alleged GMO rice importation, including the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD).

FG’s stance Last week, the Federal Government denied that it imported and flooded Nigeria’s markets with Genetically Modified rice.

Director-General of the National Biosafety Management Agency, Rufus Ebegba, made the position of government known at a news

GMO rice

conference in Abuja.

An online news platform had alleged that the Federal Government through a firm had flooded the nation’s market with poisonous GM rice.

Ebegba said that there was no iota of truth in the report. He noted that no GM rice had either been imported or released officially into the country.

According to him, no such rice has been commercially released anywhere in the world.

He said that the Federal Government had banned the importation of rice and there was no indication that the ban had been lifted.

Ebegba described the online report as a falsehood and imagination of the writer, who “probably used a fake name.”

He added that the report was intended to cause unnecessary panic and called on Nigerians to disregard it.

The director-general also urged the citizenry to join hands with government to ensure safety in the practice of modern biotechnology in the country in line with global best practices.

Dangote’s denial Similarly, the Dangote group also refuted the widely circulated ‘rumour’ that the company was allegedly partnering with the Federal Government to import and flood the market with poisonous GMO rice.

The group, in a statement signed by its Social Media Manager, Adedamola Adeniyi, last Tuesday, tagged as malicious the broadcast alleging the so-called partnership.

He stated that the claim was absolutely false as Dangote “is not involved in the production or sales of GMOs and its research in Nigeria or anywhere.

“What people should know, however, is the ground breaking progress Dangote Rice has made since 2014 when it stopped importation of rice and began local cultivation.”

Clearing itself of any such deal, the company highlighted some facts for reference purposes.

It noted: “2014: Dangote signed $1 billion agreement with the Federal Government or integrated rice production in Kebbi, Niger, Jigawa and Kwara.

“2016, it started a multi-billion naira Rice Outgrower Scheme over 8,000 hectares in Hadejia, Jigawa State.

“2016, it created over 10,000 jobs (direct and indirect) to farmers who are an integral part of the Rice Outgrower Scheme.

“FARO 44 rice seeds distributed to farmers during the Outgrower Scheme was sourced from Africa Rice and certified by the National Agricultural Seeds Council.

The report was intended to cause unnecessary panic

NGO’s stand However, the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) has asked the Federal Government to conduct test to assure Nigerians that there is no genetically modified rice in circulation in country.

HOMEF, in a statement made available to New Telegraph, said its attention has been drawn to the response of the Director General of the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), Rufus Ebebga, at a recent press conference, to the fears of Nigerians as to the presence of genetically modified rice in Nigerian markets. While trying to allay the fears of Nigerians, the DG was reported to have stated: “There was no iota of truth in the report” and that no GM rice has either been imported or released officially into the country.

“The DG missed the point,” said Nnimmo Bassey, Director of HOMEF in reaction to the NBMA response.

“The clarification the agency should make is whether there is GMO rice in Nigeria, even if such were brought in illegally. It is also not enough to say that since there are no known commercially grown GMO rice in the world and no legally released GMO rice in Nigeria or since there is a ban on the importation of rice, therefore there is no GMO rice in Nigeria. That argument cannot stand. The job of NBMA is not only to approve GMOs or to track only approved products.

The Biosafety Agency has to oversee everything biosafety in Nigeria, illegal or not.”

On whether GMO rice has been commercially released anywhere in the world, Bassey said: “We wish to recall that illegal LibertyLink variety 601 GMO rice was tested for and found in the Nigerian market by Friends of the Earth Nigeria in 2006 as well as in 2007.”

Marian Bassey Orovwuje, of Food Sovereignty campaigner of Friends of the Earth Africa/International, said: “I was part of the team that collected rice samples from Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Cameroon and we tested them. That illegal rice variety was approved for release in the USA in November 2006 after complaints of its contamination was raised around the world. Indeed, at that time, the illegal rice was pulled off the shelves in some countries in Europe. Unless and until tests are conducted, the assurances are mere talks.”

Architect and political analyst, Gbadebo Vivour-Rhodes, said: “The matter of GMO contamination of our foods cannot be waived off by hosting a press conference. NBMA should talk less and get to work on addressing fundamental deficiencies manifest in the regulatory system and ensuring that risky technologies are not allowed into Nigeria.”

Besides, he said: “HOMEF and other concerned groups are concerned that our regulatory agencies, such as NBMA and National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) may use the cover of “non-official release of GMOs” to avoid monitoring the markets and thus allowing illegal flooding of our markets with risky and unhealthy GMOs.” He said the foundation, however, reiterates its call for the urgent repeal or drastic review of the highly permissive NBMA Act 2015 to assure Nigerians of protection of the biodiversity and safety of our food systems.

“We also repeat our call for the withdrawal of permits hastily granted to Monsanto to conduct field trials of GMO maize and to grow GMO cotton in Zaria and neighbouring areas, according to the statement issued

by Cadmus Atake, project officer, HOMEF.” Conclusion There is a need to continuously monitor the country’s rice milling firms because of their desperation to make quick profits at the detriment of the Nigerian populace.

businesS \ agric

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

29

UK to invest in rebuilding of Mile 12 market –Envoy engaging in so much trade. However, I think there are quite a number of things that can be done to improve the market,” he said, adding that a lot more needed to done by the market management and the Lagos State government to ensure the market meets international standard.”

He stressed that the bilateral relationship between the two countries is to clearly build strong investment ventures in Nigeria.

Chairman, Mile 12 Market Manage-

AIDS The United Kingdom spends about £500million in aids for Nigeria annually through DFID aids

Stanley Ihedigbo

U

nited Kingdom (UK) has signified her readiness to support the Lagos State government in its quest to turn around Mile 12 market to international standard in line with its Department for International Development (DFID)’s aids programmes for Nigeria.

Permanent Under-Secretary of the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), James Wharton, disclosed this during his official visit to Mile 12 Market in Lagos.

Wharton’s trip was to assess the extent of works to be carried out at the market in line with the Lagos State government’s plans to restructure the market.

The United Kingdom spends about £500 million in aids for Nigeria annually through DFID aids progrommes.

The visit, according to Wharton, was also to look out for areas of possible investment in the market.

He noted that the market offered lots of investment potential, nevertheless, a lot more work needed to be done to ensure it delivered what the people expected from it.

He said that the UK government would play significant role to support the market men and women to add value to their produce.

He identified lack of infrastructural development, including flooring of the market as major areas of urgent attention, adding that the quality of packaging was yet to meet international standard.

“It is really an impressive market where so many people are producing and

T

ment and the World Bank.”

He added that the little visible improvement in the market is the efforts of the present management.

“We will appreciate if anybody comes to develop the market and help us harness our trading,” Muhammed said.

On the rumour of Mile 12 market relocation, Muhammed said that the markets Management is in cordial relationship with the Lagos State government and there no such plans in near future.

L-R: Deputy Director, Standards Directorate, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Mrs. Chinyere Egwuonwu; Acting Director General, SON, Dr. Paul Angya and Deputy Director, Product Certification Directorate of the Agency, Mr. Tersoo Orngudwem, at the on-going ISO General Assembly in Beijing, China.

Nigeria, others to benefit from Foundation’s $5.2m credit Taiwo Hassan

N

igeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Senegal are among the West African countries earmarked to benefit from The MasterCard Foundation’s $5.2 million pledge to Root Capital over next five years to support early-stage agricultural businesses that are targeted

Cassava can bail Nigeria out of recession –NCGA president he National President, Nigeria Cassava Growers Association (NCGA), Segun Adewumi, has said that the country could generate over N20 trillion from cassava within a year.

He said this in Abuja while speaking with journalists on the association’s plans to improve cassava export market.

Adewumi said that cassava, which is one of the most reliable cash crops in the world, could also be used to “trigger industrial revolution and solve Nigeria’s economic problems.”

He lamented that the country spent over N600 billion yearly to import ethanol and starch, cassava derivatives that could be processed and sourced locally. Adewumi said the crop had over 20 food types and three major industrial products, such as ethanol, starch and cassava flour, which were raw materials for other products. “Government should pay more attention to cassava, it has been neglected. “By the time cassava is accorded the needed attention, it will take over crude oil. We have been trying to

ment Committee and Chairman Perishable Food Stuff Market Association, Haruna Muhammed, said the investment opportunity by UK would bring a lot of relief to the market, adding that the market had never benefited from government assistance since its existence.

Muhammed, who admitted there was investment needs in the market, said: “Over 40 years of its existence, there had never been any government’s assistance, we need assistance from both govern-

set up industries that will utilise cassava for the benefit of this country,” he said.

Adewumi called on both the federal and state governments to provide land for farmers to boost mechanised cassava farming.

He noted that modern cassava cultivation required mechanisation to meet up with international best practices.

The farmer explained that making cultivable land available to cassava farmers would improve yields and create employment.

He said: “When we import, we are exporting our job opportunities. The government should encourage the setting up of industries and mechanised cassava farms. “I do not expect the government to give us free money, but to provide enabling environment by making loans and lands available.

“The only area where the government can come in with money is provision of infrastructure. By the time we begin to have 500,000 hectares for mechanisation, the country will get out of this foreign exchange problem.”

to generate transformational impact in rural communities.

Similarly, Root Capital and The MasterCard Foundation, announced that it had entered into a new partnership to increase incomes for 300,000 farmers in the West Africa region.

Director of Financial Inclusion and Youth Livelihoods at The MasterCard Foundation, Ann Miles said these during the African Green Revolution forum in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

He said the foundation had entered a new partnership with impact investing pioneer Root Capital, that will help raise incomes for over 300,000 smallholder farmers in West Africa.

Already, she said, the Foundation had committed $5.2 million to Root Capital over five years to support early-stage agricultural businesses that generate transformational impact in rural communities in West African region.

“With Root Capital we will help to bring much-needed financing and capacity building to businesses in West Africa that work with farmers otherwise excluded from the formal economy,” said Miles.

“We see this as a good avenue to help increase incomes and opportunities for 4,000 employees of agricultural businesses, 300,000 smallholder farmers, and over two million farm family members.”

She said without access to predictable markets for their crops, small-scale rural farmers are often forced to accept lower prices for their crops and find themselves trapped in a cycle of poverty.

Miles noted that while the global credit supply for smallholders has grown in recent years, it is geographically skewed with less than 10 per cent of financial flows reaching sub-Saharan Africa.

Root Capital’s General Manager for West Africa, Diaka Sall, said, over the seven years, Root Capital has worked in West Africa, noting that it has provided

loans of between $50,000 and $2 million to 52 agricultural businesses that have raised incomes for nearly 12,000 employees and over 190,000 smallholder farmers.

Sall added that Root Capital has also scaled its advisory programme in the region, offering agricultural business leaders a suite of training modules to develop the leadership and financial management skills they need to grow and sustain their businesses.

“With the support of The MasterCard Foundation, Root Capital will be able to increasingly target earlier-stage businesses in West Africa that operate on the fringes of financial inclusion – businesses that demonstrate potential to grow and generate increased impact.”

Specifically, Root Capital will collaborate with The MasterCard Foundation to accelerate the bankability and growth of more than 100 high-impact, early-stage agricultural businesses with capital needs under $150,000 and/or business revenues under $300,000; pilot an expanded set of advisory services, including leadership development of agribusiness employees; financial literacy training for smallholder farmers; mobile technology and mobile money; and empowering local microfinance institutions to better serve the agricultural sector; and contribute to sector learning by developing a framework for documenting and analyzing the costs and impacts associated with early business growth in the agricultural sector.

This initiative will help address the urgent need of early-stage West African agribusinesses for capital and capacity building.

With an estimated 48 million smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, however, who remain disconnected from such businesses and the stable sources of income they offer, a great deal of work remains to be done.

30

Environment Watch

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

‘Lagos, Rivers, others prone to earthquake’ PROBE National Geological Agency to investigate and provide appropriate guidance

Stories: Dayo Ayeyemi

W

orried by the devastating tremors that hit Kaduna last Monday, environmental experts have listed six states that are prone to earthquakes before 2020.

The states are Lagos, Bayelsa, Oyo, Rivers, Cross River and Delta.

The listing of these states as earthquake prone locations may not be unconnected to high level of drilling, mining and oil exploration activities therein.

These were contained in the outcomes of researchers from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, led by Dr. Adepelumi Adekunle Abraham in 2009.

According to the study, Kaduna State, which experienced series of earth tremors last Monday, is not included in the list.

The earth tremors, which occurred in Kaduna State, were recorded in Sambang Dagi in Jaba Local Government Area on Sunday and early Monday morning, leaving scores of people displaced.

One of the scenes of tremor occurrence in Kaduna State, last Monday

The tremors have caused fears among many residents of the affected areas, who are currently pondering on possible relocation, However, Governor of the state, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, while calling for calm, said the National Geological Agency had been notified and invited to investigate the tremors and provide appropriate guidance.

Executive Director, National Water Resources Institute, Kaduna, Dr Emmanuel Adanu, a geologist, in a report, stressed the need for Nigeria to be keep-

‘Market tactics key to combatting climate change’

C

onsensus reached by 300 stakeholders from 60 countries at the Asia-Pacific Carbon Forum has shown that experience gained using market approaches to combat climate change could help ensure success of the global climate change agreement adopted in Paris last December.

Participants at the forum, which was held in Jeju Island, Republic of Korea recently, observed that China has more than 10 years of experience with carbon markets, starting with emission reduction and development projects under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), establishment of voluntary emissions trading, seven emissions trading system (ETS) pilots and plans for a national ETS in 2017.

The Republic of Korea has had an ETS since 2015, becoming the second country in Asia to introduce a nationwide cap-andtrade system, which now covers about 530 businesses.

Japan is pursuing a number market approaches to combat climate change, including a Joint Crediting Mechanism similar to the CDM, a system that awards offset credits to domestic entities that reduce emissions, a voluntary ETS and an ETS in the city

of Tokyo.

New Zealand has had an emissions trading system since 2008, designed to assist the country in meeting its international climate change obligations and reduce domestic emissions below business as usual. The system is currently being reviewed.

Australia, after a few years of uncertainty and policy reversals, has stabilised its climate policy suite around its Emission Reduction Fund and the Safeguard Mechanism.

The Paris Climate Change Agreement, the gathering stressed, provides for transferring mitigation outcomes, essentially emissions trading; a new Sustainable Development Mechanism; and a framework for non-market approaches.

Regional Technical Specialist, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) , Rakshya Thapa, said: “It was extremely encouraging to see the commitment of APCF participants to harness the carbon markets in achieving development outcomes.”

President and Chief Executive Officer, International Dirk Forrister, said that the forum drew together a wealth of experience in using market incentives to cut carbon emissions.

ing records of the various earth tremors in the country to prepare ahead of future tremors in the country.

Adanu recalled that the country used to have some equipment that could help in that direction but some of them were no more functioning.

He noted that tremors are products of certain natural actions such as earthquake and volcano.

Adanu pointed out that Nigeria is not a tremor-prone nation but due to earthquake in the mid-Atlantic Ocean and volcano in some mountains around the country, some parts of the coun-

try may experience tremors occasionally.

He said that some parts of south-west such as Ibadan and Abeokuta might experience tremor due to volcano in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

In their report titled “Preliminary Assessment of Earth Tremor Occurrence in Shaki Area, Shaki West Local Government, Oyo State”, researchers from the Department of Geology, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife in Osun State, led by Dr Adepelumi Adekunle Abraham, warned of an impending “damaging earthquake” in the next four years.

According the Environsnews report, the study was informed by an earth-moving tremor that occurred in 2009 at Shaki town, in the Shaki West Local Government, Oyo State.

The study stated: “After the earth tremor of 2009 in southwestern Nigeria that was felt in several towns and villages in Oyo, Osun and Ogun states, a detailed short-term probabilistic earthquake prediction was carried out by our team, our findings indicate the probability of earthquake occurrence in the study area between the year 2009 and 2028 increased from 2.8 per cent to 91.1 per cent.”

‘Economic crunch threatens developing nations’ sustainable devt goals’

T

he deteriorating global economic outlook in developing countries may jeopardised efforts to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030 - a new study by the first United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), has said.

The study by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), conceptualised and financed by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), takes into account changes in projected growth rates in both key driver economies such as the United States, Europe, and China and in many developing countries.

The study showed that almost all countries with large numbers remaining in extreme poverty in 2030 will be in sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia.

The report projected that worldwide, more than 130 out of 189 countries would experience reduced income growth, with the average global GDP growth rate falling from 4.1 per cent to 3.1 per cent between 2011 and 2030.

It estimated that the ex-

treme poverty rate in 2030 would be 5.2 per cent, not the 4.8 per cent projected without the global economic downturn.

Senior Research fellow at IFPRI, David Laborde, said the implication of the project was that an additional 38 million people would still be living on less than $1.90 a day, the benchmark for extreme poverty in 2030.

Prior to this time, the robust economic growth in developing countries - which far outpaced that of most highincome countries - contributed mightily to achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goal of cutting extreme poverty by half five years ahead of its 2015 deadline.

Laborde said: “The economic slowdown doesn’t mean that the poverty rate won’t decline substantially between now and 2030.

“But the economic downturn is hindering the effort to fight extreme poverty. And if we are serious about completely eliminating absolute poverty, we’ve got to identify the right policies and invest-

ments to raise the incomes of poor people and reduce their vulnerability to shocks, especially in rural areas.”

Rural areas, where most of the world’s 900 million poor people live, will be hit hardest, with poverty both higher than in urban areas and more adversely affected by the slowdown, the study finds.

Lead Economist with the Research and Impact Assessment Division at IFAD, Rui Benfica, said that the study has shown that the gains made in rural poverty reduction in the past 25 years was seriously jeopardised by the recent economic slowdown.

Benfica said: “If we want to eradicate extreme poverty, we have to focus our investments on rural areas where the majority of poor people live.

Through the right investments, policies and programmes, we need to sustainably increase agricultural productivity – a key contributing factor to rural income growth. Promoting economic diversification and trade will also be critical to continue to move rural people out of poverty.”

31

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

AutoBeat

GMC Acadia

GM recalls 4.3m vehicles over air bag defect Paul Ogbuokiri

G

eneral Motors is recalling more than 4 million vehicles, most of them in the U.S., to fix an air bag software defect that has been linked to one death and three injuries.

In rare cases, the car's sensing and diagnostic module — a tiny computer that senses what the vehicle is doing and controls air bag deployment — can go into test mode, the company said. If that happens, the front air bags won't inflate in a crash and the seat belts may not work either.

The company learned of the problem in May when a 2014 Chevrolet Silverado crashed and its air bags didn't deploy.

GM notified Delphi. The two companies tested the modules and decided to recall the vehicles last week.

GM will notify customers and update the software for free.

Dealers already have access to the software update so they should be able to repair the vehicles quickly.

It was the second large recall in two days from a major U.S. automaker. Ford expanded on Wednesday an existing recall from about 900,000 to nearly 2.4 million over a potential door latch malfunction on six models from between the 2012 through 2015 model years.

The GM recall is large, but the repair involves a software update rather than a mechanical change. Vehicles involved

in the recall are from the 2014 to 2017 model years and include models from Buick, Chevrolet, GMC and Cadillac.

Unlike the notorious series of ignition switch recalls in 2014 — for which the company paid more than $2 billion in damages, victim compensation, regulatory fines and a criminal

investigation settlement — this recall was voluntary and does not appear to involve a failure to respond to reports of serious injuries or one reported fatality.

On the website of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration the regulatory agency lists 17 vehicles for which an owner filed some notice or

complaint. The recall includes 4.28 million vehicles worldwide, 3.6 million of them in the U.S. But in a statement, the automaker said the cost of this recall is not expected to be material and will be included in GM’s third-quarter earnings when those are reported in late October.

This is unrelated to the ongoing record recall of air bags made by Japanese supplier Takata that now affects more than 20 million vehicles from more than a dozen manufacturers. These air bag modules were supplied by Delphi Automotive and made at a plant in Kokomo, Ind.

Boulos completes Suzuki training

B

oulos Enterprises Limited has completed a three-week intensive training course for its dedicated Suzuki Super Carry Technicians.

In a recent statement, the company announced that the training, which took place inside the new Suzuki training suite, at Boulos Enterprises factory in Ogba-Ikeja, Lagos, included all electrical and mechanical technicians, who were taken through diagnostic aspects of the new high lean burn 1.2 engine and associated ancillaries of a vehicle, which is billed to be assembled by the Nigerian work force of Boulos soon.

The company’s Training Manager, Henry Peters, was elated to remark that “The team of Technicians was exemplary students and it was a pleasure to be given the opportunity to train my colleagues on this wonderful new 1 tonne

truck.”

Also present at the three week training was Mr. Olusegun Adekoya, head of the design team that designed the rear body units said to be 100 per cent manufactured at the factory.

Adekoya explained that Boulos “is a motor industry, first for Nigeria, as we will be producing a choice of 23 different rear units, or pods as we call them, such as a Van version, refrigerated van, pick up, six seater people carriers, mobile shop, tipper unit, hopper, dustbin/trash van and even an ice cream shop, ambulance or fire engine pod/unit.

“It really will offer a commercial vehicle for all users, created here in Lagos for distribution across Nigeria,” he said.

As with all Suzuki vehicles, the Suzuki Super Carry will come complete with a Suzuki new vehicle warranty and

extended service intervals.

The first vehicles are said to be expected from next month, October.

The company’s Marketing Manager, Titi Olodun, also explained that, “The assembly line is 1,132 square metres long, with an additional 1,200 square metres where fabrication of a range of custom made bodies for the Suzuki will be manufactured.

“These include refrigerated units, vans, six seater people carriers, tippers, hoppers, pick-ups, mobile shops and many other body options.

The new facilities will be equipped with state of the art modern manufacturing tools and equipment, with associated infrastructure built to the exacting standards of Suzuki Japan.”

She also said, the “venture not only protects the jobs of Nigerians, but also sets in place a clear manufacturing

base here in Lagos.”

The Marketing Manager was however cheerful to add that Boulos is “truly honoured to be setting up the first ever 4 wheel vehicle assembly/production facility in Nigeria for Suzuki.’’

Boulos Enterprises Limited (BEL) was incorporated in 1964 by the Boulos brothers Anthony and Gabriel Boulos.

The initial trading business was started with Suzuki in 1959 and the main focus of their business was initially, trading and incorporation of general merchandise including some brands of motorcycles from Western Europe and after few years, they went into the importation of the “Suzuki” brand of motorcycles and outboard motors from Japan.

Since then Boulos has remained a leading motorcycle and outboard motors distribution and assembly company in Nigeria.

32

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

EXHORTATION “Every soul will taste death, and you will only be given your [full] compensation on the Day of Resurrection. So he who is drawn away from the Fire and admitted to Paradise has attained [his desire]. And what is the life of this world except the enjoyment of delusion.” (Quran 3: 185)

Islam UNDERSTAND YOUR FAITH

‘Post-Hajj period for pilgrims QUESTION

After Hajj what next?

ANSWER

Allah The Almighty Legislated the acts of worship and obedience for great wisdom and sublime objectives.

No wonder, as they strengthen the faith, purify the soul, correct the attitude and refine the morals. If acts of worship did not achieve these objectives, then the Muslim would not benefit from them properly.

In such a case, acts of worship might turn into lifeless rituals that one performs without any actual influence on his reality and attitude.

This rule applies to Hajj. When the believer performs Hajj properly realizing its objectives and feeling its meanings, it will be of great influence upon him in this life and in the Hereafter.

Thus, dear pilgrim, Allah The Almighty Honored you with the blessing of visiting His House and Enabled you to perform His obligation. Therefore, you have to stop and contemplate your conditions, review the state of your heart and correct the course of your life.

The first thing you have to realize is the greatness of the blessing that Allah The Almighty Bestowed upon you when He Facilitated your affairs and Enabled you to perform this great duty. Certainly, this necessitates you to praise Allah The Exalted for this blessing, of which many people are deprived, despite their longing for it. Praising Allah The Almighty for this blessing entails preserving it, adherence to obedience to Allah The Almighty and compliance with His religion and Sharee‘ah.

The most important thing that you should maintain after your Hajj is the issue of steadfastness and guarding this great deed (your performance of Hajj) against things that could nullify it.

You should ask Allah The Almighty ceaselessly to Help you adhere firmly to His religion and Guide you to obey Him, and Make you avoid His disobedience so that you {will be with the ones upon whom Allah Has Bestowed favor of the prophets, the steadfast affirmers of truth, the martyrs and the righteous.

And excellent are those as companions}[Quran 4:69]

CONTINUE Next WEEK

14 Dhul Hijjah, 1437

Hajj 2016: 54,000 Nigerian pilgrims begin return journey tomorrow lNAHCON, states’boards, others begin pilgrims’return airlifting

STATISTICS Saudi Arabia says Hajj 2016 received 1.8 million pilgrims Adeola Yusuf

O

ver 54, 000 pilgrims from Nigeria will begin their return journey to the country from tomorrow, Saturday, New Telegraph has gathered.

This came as Saudi Arabia, which authenticate this, added that it received a total of 1,862,909 pilgrims for this year Hajj rites.

A cross-section of Muslims faithful praying at Ile Zik, Ikeja, during the Eid El-Kabir prayers in Lagos.

Various countries that participated, according to the Saudi authority have been given different return trips’ schedules for their citizens.

The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) however said that arrangements have begun for the airlift of Nigerian pilgrims from Saudi Arabia.

Speaking at a pre-Arafat meeting in Makkah, the Commissioner in charge of Operations at the commission, Abdullahi Saleh, said the return journey will commence with the airlift of pilgrims from Kwara and Kogi states.

He said the pilgrims from

the two states would be flown

by FlyNas airline.

“Airport will be open on 17th September for airlift. We have got readiness on the part of at least one airline which is FlyNas airline.

“We have got schedule of FlyNas as at today while others of Med-view and MaxAir are to follow suit soon.

“We call on state leadership for collaboration, dialogue and consultation with operators. They should exercise patience and cooperate with the operators,” he said.

Nigeria for the first time concluded the airlift of all pilgrims to Saudi Arabia, five

days before the Kingdoms airspace are closed for hajj operations.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia said that this year’s Hajj has seen a total of 1,862,909 pilgrims, of whom 1,325,372 pilgrims came from outside Saudi Arabia, while the total pilgrims inside totaled 537,537 pilgrims.

The total non-Saudi pilgrims numbered 1,692,417 pilgrims, while the total Saudi pilgrims reached 170,492 pilgrims.

Male pilgrims made up of 1,082,228 persons while the total female pilgrims reached 780,681 persons, according to the Saudi Press Agency.

Prison: MURIC advocates Court-in-Prison adjudication Adeola Yusuf

M

uslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has denounced the long delays in trials of accused throughout Nigeria.

MURIC Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola said this in a document obtained by New Telegraph.

“We believe that speedy trials are possible if the Federal Government can introduce Courtin-prison adjudication method whereby court houses are built inside prison walls,” he said.

This, he continued, would eliminate the disturbing incidence of inability to arraign suspects in court due to traffic jam or lack of prison vehicle to move them.

“Court-in-prison method will also reduce if not totally eliminate the incidence of suspects escaping en route the courts or within the court premises. Prison authorities are advised to ensure that bullion vans used to convey prisoners to court are well ventilated.

“Prisons in hot climates like

Bauchi, Sokoto and Maiduguri should be equipped with a central aircondition system while the obnoxious practice of transferring prisoners targeted for special punishment to such hot climates should be discontinued forthwith. Such transfers are usually politically motivated.

“More prisons should be built.

Both the old and new ones should be well equipped with such facilities that befit human existence and grant respect for the dignity of the homo sapien. More judges should also be appointed,” he said.

Bottlenecks in the trial of awaiting-trial inmates, Akintola continued, should be removed as much as possible.

He said: “Judges should adopt preference for light and affordable fines for lesser offences instead of imprisonment which result in choking the prisons’ capacities.

“In addition, judges should consider the pronouncement of suspended sentences for light offences. People who are fined little amounts of money (e.g. from N3,000 to N10,000) should be given

at least one week respite to pay instead of clamping them in jail because there is nobody in court to assist them.

“The Nigerian prison system should not be made to look like the rich waging war on the poor.

“Nigerian judges should desist from pronouncing ridiculous judgements. For instance, a judge in Otta, Ogun State, last week sentenced a man to one month in jail for stealing seven pieces of meat.

“Another judge sent somebody to jail for stealing one tuber of yam. Contrasting sharply with the principles of natural justice, a politician who stole billions of naira was only fined less than ten percent of the amount he stole.”

MURIC charged the government to embark on aggressive decongestion of prisons.

“The Chief Judges in the states can set up special Task Forces on Prison Congestion (STAFOP). Judges serving in the STAFOP can routinely visit prisons in the state and administer clemency on a weekly basis until the prisons become habitable and run on normal capacity.

“The current practice where-

by chief judges or state governors breeze in occasionally to free two or three inmates does not even scratch the surface.

“How can we give relief to just two people when hundreds are suffering untold and unjust hardship? What Nigeria needs right now is an intensive prison decongestion initiative which is capable of setting inmates free in their forties and fifties on a weekly basis. Only then can we boast of an equitable justice system.

Only then can we talk of treating every Nigerian with dignity. How can we criticize foreign countries who maltreat our citizens when we treat fellow Nigerians like pigs?

“In addition to the above suggestions, the health of inmates should be FG’s priority. Competent physicians should attend to prisoners while no ailment or complaint should be ignored by prison officials. In view of the fact that prisons are basically designed to reform and not to be punitive, the current efforts of prison authorities to empower inmates economically should be strengthened by FG.”

33

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Latest crime

Crime Sola Adeyemo Ibadan

D

etectives attached to the Oyo State Police Command have arrested eight suspects, who allegedly used to pose as customers to survey targeted shops or warehouses, before burgling them at night.

Revealing the gang’s modus operandi, the police said the suspects used to visit shops or warehouses they were planning to attack and pretend to be customers interested in buying some of the merchandises displayed Police said: “Once they get to the selected shops, they would ask for items the owner of the shop may not have.

They used that opportunity to check out the layout and security of the shop. In the night, while people are sleeping, they would burgle the place.”

The suspects have been identified as Hammed Agboola, 31, Raji Lukman, 34, Olatoye Abiodun, 66, Oladimeji Saheed, 28, Olawepo Jamiu, 24, Raimi Ajadi, 75, Harrison Ifeanyi, 48 and Chinabere John, 35.

The suspects allegedly used to carry out their operations within Osun and Lagos states.

They were arrested after burgling a warehouse at Ilesa, Osun State.

They have successfully burgled the warehouse and carted away caterpillar spare parts worth N25m and 43 brand new tyres, worth N650, 000, before they were arrested.

The gang was intercepted by detectives from Oyo State Police Command during a ‘Stop and Search’ exercise in Ibadan. The gang was arrested on August, 27, at about 5.30am, along New Ife Road, close to Old Toll Gate.

One of the suspects, Ifeanyi, who confessed to have been once arrested and charged to court last year for stealing 20 bags of rice at the Apapa

JULIANA FRANCIS CRIME Editor

juliana.francis@newtelegraphonline.com

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

How we operate, using commercial bus –Pick pockets

34

Robbers ' targets We find our victims in bank premises –Gold jewelry robbers

Betrayal ‘Why I organised robbery of my master’s shop’

35 36

We pose as customers to survey our targets –Burglars

•Police recover N25.6m goods from gang

Ifeanyi and John

Wharf, Lagos, said: “We broke into the warehouse at Ilesa, Osun State, around 1:30am. We noticed the warehouse while transporting water melon from Benin to Offa, Kwara State. We came down from our vehicle and went to find out prices of the tyres.”

The owner of the goods, Mr. Marouf Eniola, said the men had earlier visited his shop thrice, asking for prices of tyres. He didn’t know they were using that guise to check out the security of his shop.

Eniola said the thieves would have got away with the crime, if not that someone saw them during operation and alerted him.

Eniola said: “My sales boy told me two men came to my shop to price tyres. They came

We broke into the warehouse at Ilesa, Osun State, around 1:30am

about three times. They requested for a particular sets of tyres, which we didn’t have.

They came back another time and on sighting that I had got the set of tyres they had earlier asked for, asked for another type, which we also didn’t have.

At about 1:30am that same day, one of my friends living in that area called me on phone. He said some people were at my shop, loading tyres.”

He called a friend and together, they rushed to the nearest police station. Before police got to the scene, the suspects have fled. The police however got a vivid description of the truck from the person that alerted Eniola.

Eniola recounted: “Before police could get to the place, the thieves have sped off. The

police raced after them. At about 4:30 am, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) called me. He said the burglars were arrested along Egbeda-Ibadan Road, within the jurisdiction of Oyo State. The arrest was made possible by the description of the vehicle given to the police. While the suspects were pricing tyres, we didn’t know they were using the opportunity to survey ways to burgle my warehouse.”

The Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Sam Adegbuyi, explained: “The gang specialised in stealing containers loaded with goods at the Tin Can Island, Apapa Wharf Port, Lagos and perfecting fake waybills to transport stolen goods CONTINUED ON PAGE 34

34

CRIME

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Mohammed, Akinde and Omotolu

Mbah Merit

T

hree men have revealed how they use commercial bus to pick pockets of passengers in Lagos State, dispossessing them of valuables.

Speaking about this latest method of dispossessing passengers of valuables, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, said: “We advise passengers to be extra careful when boarding commercial buses. One can never tell who is sitting beside him or her in a commercial bus or tricycle.”

The suspects are Terry Omotolu, 24, Kodra Akinde, 22 and Olalekan Mohammed. They were arrested on August 19, 2019, at Mile 2, Lagos.

During operation, Omotolu used to act as passenger, Akinde as the bus conductor, while Mohammed, 35, would be the bus driver.

Revealing their modus operandi, the suspects said they used to pick passengers along any route in the metropolis. Once other passengers are boarding, Omotolu would join them. Akinde’s role was to call unsuspecting passengers to board the bus.

Omotolu, sitting beside any unsuspecting passenger, would pick the person’s pocket or handbag.

They usually find money or phones.

If it’s money, they share it to three places. If it’s phone, they sell and share the money.

They were arrested after a passenger, suspecting their game, alerted the police.

Mohammed said: “I initially didn’t know Omotolu and Akinde were stealing from our passengers.

Omotolu is just my conductor. I always use him because he’s ready and willing to work. I became suspicious after I noticed that Akinde was a regular passenger. Whenever he boards, they would start discussing. It was three months ago I discovered their game. It was after I

bags of rice.

How we operate, using commercial bus –Pick pockets confronted them, that they involved me. We started sharing the proceeds together.”

Omotolu said: “I have been in the business for about a year now. Yes, I have never been caught until the Mile 2 incident. It was that incident that brought me to police station. I tried to pick the pocket of a passenger, but he discovered and alerted the police.”

He further said: “Picking peoples’ pockets is bad, but man must survive. I promise not to go back to it if I’m set free. I have never been caught until now because I’m always very careful. I don’t injure people or force them like thieves do.

I’m not a thief ! I don’t know how that man found out. I’m still wondering where the man came from

and who he is.”

Narrating his own story, Akinde, said: “As the conductor, my work is to monitor people that board the bus with their phones.

Omotolu’s role is to act as a passenger. He’s also supposed to pick phones and other valuables from other passengers’ pockets or bags. If he was lucky to get any valuable, he drops them into a schoolbag, which we keep inside the bus.”

Akinde further said: “Omotolu removes phones from passengers’ pockets or bags and leaves them on the seat beside him. If the owner notices it, he or she wouldn’t suspect him. But if not, he keeps it and at the end of the day’s job, we sell the phones and share the

money and valuables.”

Explaining his reason for joining the crime, Akinde said: “I ventured into the crime because I was not making enough money from conductor work. I don’t like begging people for money. I don’t pick passengers’ pockets or bags. I only supervised.”

Mohammed said: “When I discovered the game Omotolu and Akinde were playing on passengers, I didn’t stop them. I joined them because what we used to share at the end of the day complements my daily earning as a bus driver. I also decided to join because I thought we couldn’t be caught.

I mean, Omotolu has been doing it for a year now and had never been caught.

Since I was working with a professional like Omotolu, I felt we wouldn’t be caught.”

'We pose as customers to survey our targets' CONTINUED FROM PAGE 33

to receivers in Ibadan. They were arrested by our Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). The SARS operatives were on routine patrol to. The suspects were transporting the stolen container, filled with caterpillar spare parts, worth over N25m, to where they would sell them, when nemesis caught up with them.”

The alleged leader of the burglars, Agboola, said that his miserable financial situation, led him into becoming a burglar.

His words: “I was not initially into this sort of business. I have a business of my own. I used to sell iron rods. My shop is at Orile Iganmu, Lagos State.

One day, one of my friends came to my

shop and collected N100, 000 from me.

He promised to use the money to supply me goods. Since then, anytime I asked of the goods, he would say they were at wharf, awaiting clearance. One day, he called me; he said my goods were now available. He said he had assisted me to arrange the waybill. He said I must follow the truck with some guys, down to Ibadan, so we could dispose of the goods.”

Agboola said that when he discovered the goods in the truck were not iron rods, he asked his friend what was going on. The man told him that he couldn’t get the iron rods as agreed.

The man however told Agboola that if he could accompany the truck to Ibadan and succeed in selling them,

he would be rewarded handsomely on two fronts. He would collect his N100, 000 and also get part of the money that would be shared among the gang members.

It was a juicy offer. Agboola couldn’t say no. It was like using a stone to kill two birds. Agboola said: “That was the reason I decided to join the men in escorting the truck.”

Asked whether he knew what was inside the container before he teamed up with the men, Agboola said: "I was aware of the content. My friend said I shouldn’t worry. He urged me to follow those men down to Ibadan so I could get my N100,000. We were arrested at the Ibadan Toll Gate because we couldn’t give proper account of the goods inside the truck to the police.”

CRIME

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

We find our victims in bank premises –Gold jewelry robbers Taiwo Jimoh

D

etectives attached to the Lagos State Police Command, have arrested two suspected robbers, who specialised in lurking around banks, to attack and remove people’s gold jewelry at gun point.

The suspects, Ahmed Musa, 19 and Sunday Oluwole, 18, were arrested at Egbeda on August, 18, 2016, while on operation.

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, said the suspects, who always ride on motorcycles, used to lurk around banks, spying on women wearing gold jewelry, in order to rob them.

Owoseni said: “Some of these victims have sustained varying degrees of injuries whenever the robbers attacked and forcefully removed necklace from their necks.

The robbers only go for gold jewelry.”

Musa said that he was introduced into the jewelry snatching business

by Sunday when the money he was making as a commercial motorbike rider, couldn’t meet his daily needs.

Musa said: “Sometimes, we

The suspects

ing for female customers to come out. Sometimes, we just snatch the necklace off their necks. We pre-

robbed our victims at gunpoint in the night. We also hang around banks, on our motorbike, wait-

35

fer gold necklaces. It’s however not every operation that we get gold.

After snatching the jewelry, we look for Alhaji Haruna. He’s the person that used to collect all the stolen jewelry from us. Since I joined the group in 2014, I have made just about N50,000.”

Musa, however, added: “I regret the decision I took to join the gang.

I don’t know where or how to start my life all over again. I don’t know if I’m going to die or go to jail.

Stating his own side of the story, Oluwole said he is a motorbike mechanic. He used to carry out repairs on motorbikes before he embraced crime.

He said: “I was making money from my mechanic job. But one day, Ahmed and his friends introduced me into the necklace snatching business. I used the money I made from the operation to complement my mechanic job.

“We always assembled at Akerele Street, Egbeda, before going for the operation. They don’t give me much money. My role is just to take the gang members around on motorcycle. After every operation, they give me N5,000.”

Eiye cult members rule my community, says suspect Emeka Maduabuchi

O

ne of the suspects arrested for his involvement in cultism and causing breach of peace in Somolu and AbuleIjesha communities, Lagos State, has denied the allegation.

The suspect, Mr. Sunday Egba, described himself as the Secretary of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Abule-Ijesha branch, Lagos.

The suspect was arrested by the Lagos State Police Command. The police also accused Egba of funding the Eiye group. While denying being a member of Eiye group, Egba said he only mingled with the group because the members are the rulers in his community at Abule-Ijesha.

According to Egba, in such a community, one needed to be careful and smart. He said he was only being smart by being friends with Eiye members. He was arrested with another NURTW official identified as Mr. Abiodun Dosumu.

The police said Egba and Dosumu are connected to the notorious Eiye cult leader, Ibrahim Balogun, otherwise known as ‘small Jpron.’

Balogun was recently arrested by the police for series of murders and unrest of in Somolu community. Balogun was accused of masterminding the murder of a human right activist, known as Vincent Olatunde.

He was arrested after a three-year hunt. Balogun, however, denied being part of those that shot Olatunde. He admitted taking part in the planning of the murder of Olatunde.

Egba was further accused of fund-

ing parties for Eiye cult members in his community.

Egba said: “I was formerly a member of Eiye confraternity. But I have left cultism for long. It was because of cultism that I was remanded in prison. I was even granted bail, but my family couldn’t afford bail, thus I was remanded. When I came out of prison, I decided that I was no longer interested in being a member of any cult group. It was easy for me to leave cultism because I was never really a legitimate member. I never took any oath. I just started following some of the cult members.”

When asked why he gives money to Eyie cult members and funds their parties, Egba said: “Whenever members of the Eiye group want to have a party in our area, I’m always involved. I mingle with them because I’m a member of the NURTW. Initially, I didn’t used to interact or mingle with them, but I soon realised that in my community at Abule-Ijesha, Eiye members rule. During NURTW election, I wanted to go for the post of chairman, but the Eiye group said no.

They said I should go for the position of secretary. I quickly accepted. I got the secretary position.”

Egba further said that his boss, the NUTRW chairman, was aware that he used to give money to the Eiye group and sponsors their parties.

The second suspect, Dosumu, said he is the vice president of Abule-Ijesha NURTW. He insisted that he was innocent of all allegations levelled against him by the police.

According to Dosumu, he was

Dosumu

Egba

in a meeting with some NURTW members, trying to reconcile the association's accounts, when policemen stormed the meeting and arrested him.

His words: “I was invited to the branch office of NURTW at Owe Street, Fadeyi. I was invited because I’m the vice president of my unit. The meeting was for people that were in charge of keeping money for the association. As the meeting was going on, some policemen walked into the office. They pointed at me, and took me to their station.”

Just like Egba, Dosumu said he was a former member of Eiye cult group.

He said: "I was a member of the Eiye cult in 2010. But I left the group when I found out there was no gain in it. I never gave money to the group.

Moreover, I don’t even have money to give anyone. I only joined Eiye group back then because I thought it would make me happy. But it didn’t! I left the group. I never joined in any fight or killed anyone.”

When asked of his connections with Small Jpron, Dosumu said: “I’m not with any Jpron. I don’t even know the person the police are talking about.”

Egba also said: “I have never heard of that name before. It was only after I was arrested I heard the name Small Jpron.”

xxxx

36

CRIME

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Pastor, others arrested for car snatching

The suspects

Cheke Emmanuel LAFIA

A

pastor was among four suspects arrested for car snatching by the Nasarawa State Police Command.

According to the State’s Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq Bello, the suspects were arrested for snatching a Sienna Space bus, marked

RSH 648 RB, belonging to one Mrs. Ogunyemi Obiageli, of Kari-Kari in Karu Local Government of the state.

The suspects are Pastor Stephen Odoh, Steve Chima and Isaac Faase.

Bello said: “The suspects were among four men arrested for snatching a Siena Space Bus with registration No. RSH 648 RB, belonging to one Mrs. Ogunyemi Obiageli.”

The car snatchers were among

38 suspects, paraded by Bello.

The number one policeman in the state said that the 28 suspects were arrested at different locations in the state and for various offences.

Some of the items recovered from the suspects are seven cars, one motorcycle, two AK 47 rifles, and a locally made pistol, amongst others.

The police also recovered four cars and guns and live ammunitions valued at millions of

naira.

Bello said that the suspects were arrested between July and August this year.

The commissioner of police said that besides the arrest of the ar med robbery suspects, the police rescued two Chinese expatriates from their captors at Toto in Toto Local Government Area of the state after a sustained pressure, mounted on the kidnappers by a combined police and other security operatives’ efforts.

Bello said: “One Do g ara Gallo, 47 and Haliru Liman, 60, were ar rested in Lafia, following a complaint of N8, 200,000 fraud from one Alhaji Yusus Ayitogo of Angwan Yazawa in Lafia. The suspects have been arrested and admitted to the crime during interrogation.”

Bello said that the police in the state have no concrete evidence over the alleged emergence of the new Ombatse in the state. He further said that the police were taking proactive measure to forestall any eventuality that could lead to the breach of peace in the state.

Bello added: “We have deployed policemen to different areas in the state to safeguard lives and property, especially in this Ember months.

“We urge members of the public to assist the police with useful infor mation on suspicious movements of criminals for prompt action.”

‘Why I organised robbery of my master’s shop’ Taiwo Jimoh

T

he Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja, Lagos State Police Command, has arrested an apprentice for planning with a gang of suspected armed robbers, to rob his master’s shop at the Ladipo Auto Spare parts Market, Mushin.

The apprentice, Ilebunam Emeka, said that the devil used his friends to lure him into committing the crime.

Emeka further revealed: “My friends sold the idea of attacking my boss' shop to me. I felt there would be money inside the shop, so I invited them to rob my boss.

We were caught and arrested right in the act of breaking into my master’s shop. I have never done this sort of thing before. This is my first time. I regret my action.”

Emeka was arrested along with his two partners in crime, Ebuka Ubajide and Ifeanyi Okoye. The police recovered two guns and an iron cutter from the gang.

The suspects were said to have been caught right in the act of allegedly breaking into a building material stall to cart away valuables and cash.

According to the police, the suspects were allegedly behind series

of burglaries at Mushin and Ladipo Markets.

Emeka said that their leader, one Chibuzor, got guns and iron cutter, which they used in breaking into the shops. Ubajide and Emeka said they were sales boys at the Ladipo Market.

Ubajide, who claimed to have been to two robbery operations, said that Emeka hired them to rob his boss so they could be catapulted into wealth.

Ubajide, 24, said: “I’m a sales boy at Ladipo Market. I met one Ekene, while I was serving my master at the market.

However, sometime last month, I asked Emeka how life was treating him. He said I should meet him at Isolo after the day's job. I got to the spot where he was and saw him with some of his friends.

"One of his friends, Chibuzor, took us in his car for operation at Mushin. We broke into my shops and stole money. The second operation at Ladipo Market was orchestrated

by Emeka. We met at our usual spot at Isolo and Chibuzor asked Emeka what his job was. Emeka told him that he used to assist his master in selling building materials.

"Chibuzor said Emeka would take us to his master's shop. When we got there, Chibuzor brought out the guns and the iron cutter. But

Middle: Emeka

just as we were about to break into the shop, police appeared from nowhere and arrested us. Chibuzor and two other guys escaped, but we were not lucky.”

Okoye resides in Abia State, but usually gets an invitation from the gang whenever there

was going to be an operation, to come down to Lagos State.

He said: "I don't know how the police got wind of our operations. I regret joining them."

The police are already on the trail of the other fleeing suspects.

business \ money line

FRIDAY, september 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

MPC members: Foreign portfolio inflows may not boost naira the real sector, which admittedly will require a clear strategy to diversify our current oil dependent economy, the value of our currency will continue to slide. Speculators cherish the above dynamics. In fact, some will argue that speculators are already exploiting the above scenario and reaping handsome profits to the detriment of both the value of the naira and our economy.”

Similarly, Dr Salami contended : “Whilst it is

eign investors.

Professor said: “To tighten monetary policy with the main objective of attracting foreign portfolio flows will be a major policy error.

This is because history teaches us that unless foreign capital inflows are deployed to the real sectors of our economy, their impact on stabilising the exchange rate of the naira are at best temporary.

“Given our current precarious economic situation therefore, I am convinced that it would be an error to continue to allow unhindered inflow of speculative capital into our economy,” he stated.

He stressed that while he was not fundamentally opposed to the inflow of foreign capital, the country’s authorities: “Should encourage the inflow of foreign direct investments as opposed to foreign portfolio flows.”

Besides, he said: “While portfolio flows can sometimes help to sustain the value of our currency, this is not sustainable in the long run.

Without investments in

Guidance Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) have more positive impact on the economy Tony Chukwunyem

C

ontrary to the view held by a lot of local and i n t e r n at i o n a l financial analysts, a significant inflow of foreign portfolio investments my not lead to the strengthening of the naira on the interbank foreign exchange market, two members of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) have said.

In their personal statements at last July MPC meeting, which the CBN posted on its website yesterday, the two members, Professor Chibuike Uche and Dr. Adedoyin Salami, argued that since there was no guarantee that such inflows will bolster the naira, the CBN would be making a mistake by hiking interest rates to attract for-

tempting to conclude that at the very least the naira’s weakness might be halted by raising the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR), I am not convinced this will happen. The fundamental challenge facing the naira is the negative shock in Nigeria’s Terms of Trade caused by sharply lower oil prices.

“This has been worsened by ineffectual policy responses, leading to a loss of policy credibility with the resultant inability to provide supply

Chris Ugwu

T

he local bourse yesterday trudged along, driven by sustained bargain hunting activities, which lifted the NSE ASI and market capitalisation by 0.30 per cent.

Following the resumed confidence the previous day, stocks of blue chip companies have sustained moderate buy, as price volatility wanes.

Specifically, the AllShare Index gained 83.27 basis points or 0.30 per cent to close at 27.725.40

index points as against 27.642.13 recorded the previous day, while the market capitalisation of equities appreciated by N28 billion or 0.30 per cent to close at N9.523 trillion from N9.495 trillion..

Meanwhile, a turnover of 200.3 million shares worth N3.257 billion was recorded in the day’s trading.

Banking services subsector of the financial services sector was the most active during the day (measured by turnover volume); with 66.4 million shares ex-

As at

MPR 91-day NTB Bonny Light Ext Res**

Description 15.10 27-APR-2017 16.00 29-JUN-2019 15.54 13-FEB-2020 16.39 27-JAN-2022 14.20 14-MAR-2024 12.50 22-JAN-2026 10.00 23-JUL-2030 12.1493 18-JUL-2034 Tenor (Days) Call 30 90 180

N19,142,526.05m N18,579,219.49m 17.1

Mar, 2015 Mar, 2015 July, 2016

14 10.77 US$47.25 US$25,111,764,555

26/07/2016 Mar 2015 15/9/2016 9/9/2016 Source:CBN

FGN Bonds

TTM

Price 104.65 114.59 111.96 120.58 109.60 100.54 83.82 97.56

1.07 3.24 3.87 5.82 7.95 9.81 14.31 18.29

NIBOR

Rate (%) 4.4583 9.1071 11.0102 12.3790

Bid Yield 10.38 10.55 11.60 11.44 12.27 12.40 12.44 12.49

Change (%) -2.50 ▼ -0.74 ▼ -0.65 ▼ -0.68 ▼

T Change (%) -0.02 ▼ -0.01 ▼ 0.00 ↔ 0.00 ↔ -0.07 ▼ -0.08 ▼ -0.03 ▼ 0.02 ▲

Price 104.80 114.89 112.26 120.88 109.90 100.84 84.12 97.86

Tenor (Months)

Offer Yield 10.24 10.45 11.51 11.38 12.22 12.34 12.39 12.44

Change (%) -0.02 ▼ -0.01 ▼ 0.00 ↔ 0.00 ↔ -0.07 ▼ -0.08 ▼ -0.03 ▼ 0.02 ▲

NITTY

Rate (%) 6.9949 7.2368 8.0819 9.2061 9.5872 10.5042

1 2 3 6 9 12

Treasury Bills

Spot($/N)

FX

Offer 199.24

Change (%) 1.12 ▲ -0.27 ▼ -0.17 ▼ -0.11 ▼ 0.03 ▲ 0.42 ▲

Money Market

Change (%) 0.57 ▲

NIFEX

Spot($/N)

Bid 199.0000

CBN Clearing Rates of January 7, 2016 Spot($/N)

196.00

197.00

changed by investors in 1.096 deals.

Volume in the subsector was largely driven by activities in the shares of Access Bank Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc. Other financial institutions sub-sector boosted by activities in the shares of FCMB Plc and United Capital Plc followed with a turnover of 56.6 million shares in 461 deals.

The number of gainers at the close of trading session was 28, while decliners closed at 16.

Conoil Plc sustained upward trend following positive 2015 results released recently, leading

the gainers’ table with 10.23 per cent to close at N28.89 per share, while African Prudential Registrars Plc followed with appreciation of 8.46 per cent to close at N2.82 per share. Unilever Nigeria Plc added 6.79 per cent to close at N45.15 per share.

On the other hand, Neimeth Pharmaceuticals Plc led the price losers’ table, dropping 8.47 per cent to close at N1.08 per share. Skye Bank Plc and Wema Banks Plc followed with 4.55 per cent each to close at 63 kobo per share apiece, while Transcorp Plc trailed with a loss of 4.46 per cent to close at N1.07 per share.

DMO raises N121bn in bonds at higher yields

Maturity Date Discount Bid Yield Change (%) Discount Offer Yield Change (%) Rate (%) 7.67 7.82 -0.51 ▼ Open-Buy-Back (OBB) 3.83 30-Jun-16 7.92 8.08 -0.51 ▼ 6-Oct-16 8.59 8.34 8.71 -0.31 ▼ Overnight (O/N) 4.33 8.99 -0.31 ▼ 16-Mar-17 9.36 10.28 -0.07 ▼ 9.11 9.98 -0.07 ▼ Bid 199.14

rates for naira are in my view an over-adjustment given the fundamentals of the economy. I have seen estimates that suggest a Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) rate of N315/$ at the time of this meeting.

In all markets, the naira has weakened beyond this level and shows no sign of appreciation anytime soon. The difference within markets is what can only be described as the cost of forex market illiquidity with a further premium for policy uncertainty.

“At this point, it may be that the most credible option open to the Central Bank for improving forex liquidity is to specifically borrow USD for the purpose,” he stated.

Stock market rises on sustained bargain hunting

Economic Indicators M2* CPS* INF

stimuli needed to revive the economy. In my view it is unduly optimistic to expect international investors to be attracted to Nigeria until policy credibility and consistency is not only restored but also successfully maintained.”

Indeed, he pointed out that the implementation of the liberalised forex policy so far has resulted in an over-adjustment of the “market” rates for the naira.

He said: “The ‘market’

37

0.00 ↔

Offer 199.1000

Change (%) -1.75 ▼ -2.08 ▼

Change (%) 0.00 ↔

he Federal Government raised N121 billion in an auction of local-currency bonds last Wednesday, with yields higher across the board, the Debt Management Office (DMO) said yesterday.

The DMO sold N15 billion of 2021 paper at 15.14 per cent at Wednesday’s auction, compared with 15.08 per cent at the previous auction last month.

It also sold N30 bil-

lion of 2026 debt at 15.53 per cent, against 15.28 per cent, and N60 billion of 2036 debt at 15.59 per cent, compared with 15.53 per cent.

The DMO also allotted an additional N16 billion worth of the 2021 debt on a non-competitive basis to mandate clients.

The FG issues local bonds as part of measures to finance the government budget deficit and also to help manage liquidity in the banking system.

FG raises N183bn in short-dated treasury bills

N

igeria sold N183.24 billion worth in treasury bills at an auction last Wednesday, with mixed yields on all the tenors, data from Debt Management Office (DMO) showed yesterday.

The DMO raised N48.10 billion of threemonth paper at 14 per

cent, down from 14.38 per cent at August 31, auction, sold N48.45 billion worth of the 6-month paper at 17.77 per cent, higher than 17.50 per cent previously.

A total of N86.69 billion was sold in the 1-year debt at 18.48 per cent against 18.42 per cent at the last auction.

38

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

39

40

40

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

39

friday, september 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Buhari wants autonomy for local governments Anule Emmanuel Abuja

P

resident Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, said that his administration would support a constitutional amendment to free local governments from the stranglehold of states.

The President said this would better the lot of Nigerians at the community level.

Buhari stated this while receiving the leadership of the Association of Local Governments in Nigeria (ALGON) at the presidential villa, Abuja.

A statement giving the details of the closed-door meeting by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said a constitutional amendment was urgently required to clearly define the relationship among the three tiers of government.

Buhari described the frosty relationship between states and local government as “a very

serious constitutional problem”.

“The relationship between the three tiers of government is not a very nice one, especially that between the local governments and the states.”

He noted that "the states feel like they own the local government, if they are of the same party.

It is worse if they are not.

“This is a very serious constitutional problem and unless there is absolute clarity and transparency, the relationship will continue to be exploited against the interest of the ordinary people of the country,” the President said.

President Buhari advised the ALGON executives to hold consultations with their people and lawyers with a view to presenting a bill that will seek a constitutional amendment to free the councils from the stranglehold of the states.

“This will limit the damage they can do to you. The quicker you do this, the better, so that you can help your people

much more,” the President said.

The President acknowledged the request

by ALGON for the release of $3.2 billion dollars wrongfully deducted by the Federal Government for the final settlement of foreign debts in 2005.

Supported by Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, the Minister of Finance, President Buhari said the government recognized the judgment debt but the timing of the request for its repayment was wrong given the current economic situation in the country.

In his remarks, Acting ALGON National President Alhaji Ibrahim Ahmed Karaye, presented a six-point demand to the President, which included the repayment of the 3.2 billion debt and the need to ensure the sovereignty of local government administration in the country.

The ALGON leaders expressed their full support to the President’s programmes on improving security, anti-corruption campaign and economic revival.

national | news

2.5m Nigerian children suffer acute malnutrition –UNICEF

Obinna Odoh Abuja

T

he United Nation Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimates that every single day, Nigeria loses about 2,300 under-fives and 145 women of child-bearing age, making Nigeria the second largest contributor to the under-five deaths and maternal mortality rate in the world.

Also, UNICEF’s estimate showed that Nigeria has been adversely affected by Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) with the number of malnourished children put at 2,539,704.

To this end, Paul Mudzongo, Nutrition Specialist, UNICEF Nigeria, Sokoto Field Office, said what was needed to tackle malnutrition is "breastfeeding" exclusively for six months and adding complementary feeding while continuing with breastfeeding for the next two years.

Considering the alarming data, UNICEF has called on governments at all levels, philanthropists, non-government

L-R: Country Senior Partner, PricewaterCooper (PWC) Nigeria, Mr. Uyi Akpata; Winners of Entrepreneur category, Biogas Production, Dada Samuel; Sarumi Oluwafemi and Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, during the Ready, Set, Work Graduation Ceremony, Class of 2016, in Lagos…yesterday

Civil Defence arrests 50 suspects, destroys 15 illegal refineries Emmanuel Onani Abuja

I

n continuation of its efforts at protecting critical assets, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), said it has arrested about 50 suspected pipeline vandals.

The Corps further stated that its personnel had destroyed 15 illegal refineries in Rivers State.

The disclosure was made in a statement by the Corps' spokesman, Mr. Emmanuel Okeh, an Assistant Commandant of Corps (ACC).

The operation, ac-

cording to Okeh, was undertaken by personnel of the Rivers State Command.

"The Commandant General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Abdullahi Gana Muhammadu, has charged the Personnel to be resolute and committed to the peace of the nation. "He commended the effort of the personnel as well as the Commandant of Rivers State command, Mrs. Helen Amakiri, for a successful operation in the creek leading to the destruction of 15 illegal refineries and illegal dumps yesterday," Okeh said.

organisations (NGOs) and indeed the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to brace up and rescue the children who are the future leaders of this country. The world body stated that children die on a daily basis because of malnutrition.

Worst hit in terms of the number of severe acute malnutrition of children from six months to 59 months in each of the six geopolitical zones are: Total North-West: 1,594,462 (First); Total North-East 695,998 (Second); Total South-South 86,304, (Third); Total South West 84,417(Fourth); To-

tal North- Central 43635 (Fifth) and Total SouthEast 34,889 (Sixth).

Worst hit are the 12 Northern states that have about two million out of the total number of malnourished children in the country.

Details of the data shows that the estimated burden of malnutrition in northern Nigeria in 2016 are: Adamawa 47, 815; Bauchi 169,339; Borno 244, 268’ Gombe 94,052; Jigawa 167,364; Kaduna 263,495; Kano 397,515; Katsina, 278,079; Kebbi 216,795; Sokoto 34,419; Yobe 106,105; and Zamfara 68,382. Total 2,087,628.

EFCC assures Chatham House of cooperation Emmanuel Onani Abuja

T

he Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu, has said that "the EFCC is open to closer cooperation with the Chatham House."

That was even as the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) sought collaboration with the EFCC. A statement by the Commission's spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, said Magu made the pledge to Chatham House on Wednesday, "at a dinner organized by the Royal Institute of International Affairs for researchers and participants in its workshop on Social Norms of Corruption in Nigeria in Abuja."

Magu was quoted as saying that the "Commission was pleased by the institute’s intervention."

Uwujaren said: "Six

states and the Federal Capital Territory have been chosen for the study."

While speaking at the dinner, Leena Koni Hoffman of the Africa Programme, Chatham House, "had restated the purpose of the Social Norm of Corruption research, which she said is designed to provide explanation for the behaviours that exists around corruption and provide policy input against the scourge."

Meanwhile, the FRSC has sought collaboration with the anti-graft agency, in a bid to advance the courses of the two agencies.

Uwujaren said the FRSC's Corps Marshal, Mr. Boboye Oyeyemi, made the plea when he received Magu and his team in his (Oyeyemi's) office yesterday.

"There is need to train and certify staff of the EFCC Transport Unit/ Operations before they can drive any vehicle of the Commission."

Agbakoba writes Buhari, calls for strong policies

Customs delays FirstNation's resumption

Wale Elegbede

Wole Shadare

F

ormer President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Dr. Olisa Agbakoba, has said that the only way out of the current recession in the country is the urgent introduction of strong fiscal, trade and monetary policies. He added that in the absence of these, the nation could move to depression.

Agbakoba, in an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari titled: “Practical solutions to scale Nigeria’s recession,” said now was not the time to lament but to chart a clear economic

policy direction that will give value to the economy.

The human rights activists also copied the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, the letter.

While admitting that the nation’s economy has experienced mismanagement for several decades, he noted that the economy was suffering from malignant metabolic economic syndrome, complicated by inflation, high interest rates, unemployment, weak infrastructure and the results of the global fall in the price of oil.

41

T

he planned resumption of flight operations yesterday by FirstNation Airways could not take place as the carrier had to postpone.

The airline had on August 17 suspended operations to enable the aircraft in its fleet undergo engine maintenance.

New Telegraph gathered that activities for the airline's resumption were in top gear as the new date for resumption could be this weekend.

The equipment needed to fix the airplanes was only released by the Nigeria Customs Service

(NCS) a few days ago.

A source said: “The airline had anticipated that all customs formalities would have been done last week Friday before the Sallah holidays.

“It is hoped that the team of engineers would finish work on the engines before September 16 as the airline plans to resume operations immediately after the engines are fixed.’’

Capt. Chimara Imediegwu, the FirstNation Airway’s Director of Flight Operations, had on September 6, told newsmen that a team of engineers were coming to Nigeria to service the planes.

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NEWS | south-west

friday, september 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

LFTZ: Ambode approves N740m compensation for host communities Muritala Ayinla

...gives 150 RSW graduates automatic job

espite has come the way of host communities of the Lekki Free Trade Zone (LFTZ) as Lagos Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode yesterday approved N740 million compensation for Parcel B land comprising Yegunda, Abomiti and International Airport site of the zone.

Briefing journalists at the state Secretariat yesterday, Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives, Prince Rotimi Ogunleye, who announced the approval said the development was in line with the commitment of the Ambode-led administration to engender a sustainable cordial relationship between the host communities and the investors in the LFTZ. Ogunleye, who briefed journalists alongside Special Adviser to the Governor on Commerce, Hon. Benjamin Olabinjo,

Commissioner for Local Government and Community Affairs, Hon. Muslim Folami, Managing Director of Lekki Worldwide Investments Limited, Dr. Tunde Sodade, among others, said Governor Ambode had addressed some of the salient needs to compensate the host communities, adding that remarkable progress had been recorded in that regard.

According to him, the compensation exercise was a continuous process, revealing that N65 million was paid early this year for land owners affected by the ongoing Dangote projects. The projects included petrochemical plant, gas project, fertilizer and refinery project capable of refining 650, 000 barrels of oil per day.

Also, yesterday, Governor Ambode yesterday promised automatic employment to 150 youths who graduated from the

R

CHANGE AND CONFIRMATION OF NAME

Canaan

This is to confirm that the names Lokpobiri Moses Canaan and Canaan Diffi refer to one and same person, who now wish to be known and addressed as Lokpobiri Moses Canaan. All documents bearing these names remain valid. General public note.

JACINTA

I, formerly known and addressed as Nwakaeze Ngozi Jane, now wish to be known and addressed as Nwakaeze Ngozi Jacinta. All documents bearing my former name remain valid. Banks and general public should please take note.

Ajidagba

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Oyindamola Susan Kadara , now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Susan Oyindamola Ajidagba.

All documents bearing my former name remain valid. General public should please take note.

Umaru

I, formerly known and addressed as Dogo Maichibi now wish to be known and addressed as Umaru Saheed Maichibi. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

Cousin

I, formerly known and addressed as Oride Beauty Erumena now wish to be known and addressed as Cousin Beauty Erumena. All former documents remain valid. Ecobank Plc, GTBank Plc, Sterling bank Plc and the general public should take note.

Megwa

I, formerly known and addressed as Chukwukadibia Chinwe Gloria now wish to be known and addressed as Megwa Chinwe Gloria. All former documents remain valid.

The general public should please take note.

Weky

I, formerly known and addressed as Gbolos Otuma now wish to be known and addressed as Wenetugbekumor Gbolos Otuma Weky. All former documents remain valid. UBA Plc, Fidelity bank Plc and the general public should please take note.

Irene

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Enemuo Ijeoma Irene now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Obinwogu Ijeoma Irene. All former documents remain valid. GTBank Plc, First bank Plc and the general public should please take note.

Okunade

I, formerly known and addressed as Mrs. Deborah Adebayo, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Okunade Deborah Teju. All documents bearing my former name remain valid. Banks and general public should please take note.

Alabi

I, formerly known and addressed as Okunnu Arinola Abiodun, now wish to be known and addressed as Alabi Arinola Abiodun. All documents bearing my former name remain valid. General public should please take note.

Mohammed

This is to confirm that the names Mohammed Umar and Mohammed Umaru Bubaram refer to one and the same person. Henceforth I wish to be known and addressed as Mohammed Umaru Bubaram. All former documents remain valid. Ecobank Plc and the general public should please take note.

Osam

This is to confirm that the names Agbo John Ebuo and Osam John Ebuo refer to one and the same person.

Henceforth I wish to be known and addressed as Osam John Ebuo. All former documents remain valid. Banks and the general public should note.

Egwuonwu

I, formerly known and addressed as Ogili Jeremiah now wish to be known and addressed as Egwuonwu Jeremiah Ikechukwu.

All former documents remain valid.

UBA bank Plc and the general public should please take note.

Gideon

I, formerly known and addressed as Esemor Karo now wish to be known and addressed as Esemor Karo Gideon. All former documents remain valid. First bank Plc, Access bank Plc, Zenith bank Plc and the general public should take note.

Edet

I, formerly known and addressed as Goodness John Edet and Justina John now wish to be known and addressed as Edet Justina. Also my correct date of birth is September 25, 1986. All former documents remain valid. First bank Plc, UBA Plc and general public should note.

Tareowei

I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Awo Hannah now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Tareowei Ekperi Hannah. All former documents remain valid.

The general public should please take note.

Ready, Set, Work (RSW) programme, a state government initiative targeted to equip graduates of tertiary institutions in the State with necessary entrepreneurial skills.

The governor also donated N5 million to two students of Lagos State College Of Health Technology who designed new technology of generating Biogas through the treatment of animal waste.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony, Governor Ambode said his administration remained strongly committed to capacity building, entrepreneurship empowerment and

sustainable youth development as the RSW initiative was one of the initiatives targeted at youth empowerment, insisting that his objective was to allow students of tertiary institutions in the State have access to initiatives such as the RSW and other programmes.

Two of the students, who distinguished themselves received Governor Ambode’s N5million donation.

The beneficiariesSarunmi Oluwafemi and Dada Samuel were among the 422 successful graduates of the scheme targeted to equip gradu-

ates of tertiary institutions in the State with necessary entrepreneurial skills.

Oluwafemi and Samuel emerged as first place winners of the pitch competition of the programme and were equally given N1million seed funding and placed on N100, 000 monthly working capital for six months, all geared towards encouraging their business idea to grow.

New Telegraph gathered that the business idea, which is Biogas production, involves the treatment of animal waste in order to generate Biogas which can be used for domestic cooking, gen-

eration of electricity and other purposes.

The technology, it was also learnt, is targeted at providing a potential substitute for the ever costly liquefied petroleum gas.

With the achievement, Governor Ambode said that the future of Lagos and indeed the country lies in the hands of the youth who constituted a significant portion of the population.

He said: "This is a time to push ahead with the same strength and focus that brought you to this point, and to pursue with vigour the knowledge, skills, and ideas formed in you over the last three months."

Oyo blames parents, students for falling education standards

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31-member committee inaugurated by the Oyo State Government, has blamed nonchalant attitude of students and lack of commitment by parents for dismal education standards in the state.

The 31-member committee on participatory management of public schools in the state, disclosed this in its report presented to Governor Abiola Ajimobi in Ibadan.

It however recommended an adoption of school-based management system that would vest authority and responsibility of school administration in a school

board rather than place the state authorities.

The committee, which was headed by the Vice Chancellor of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Prof. Adeniyi Gbadegesin, was inaugurated on July 12, 2016.

Presenting the report, Gbadegesin said that the seven-week exercise took the committee to 29 secondary schools across urban, semi-urban and rural communities in the eight education zones of the state to gather firsthand data.

While recommending the school-based management system, Gbadegesin

PUBLIC NOTICE

SUNMONU BARUWA DESCENDANT UNION

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

Names of existing Trustees: 1. Alhaja Baruwa Osenatu Kehinde 2. Alhaji Shakirudeen Abayomi Adigun - Chairman 3. Mutairu Alabi Baruwa - Secretary 4. Ganiyat Adunni Aroyewun 5. Ganiu Ajibola Olaseinde 6. Lateef Kehinde Ibrahim 7. Baruwa Olasunkanmi Adio Names of Trustees to be removed: 1. To care for the welfare of family members 2 To give moral, legal and financial support to members when need arise 3 To promote peace, unity and love among members Any objection to the registration should be forwarded to the RegistrarGeneral, Corporate Affairs Commission, plot 420 Tigris Crescent, off Aguiyi Ironsi Street, Maitama, Abuja within 28 days of this publication.

SIGNED: TRUSTEES

PUBLIC NOTICE

THE THRONE OF LIGHT CHRISTIAN MINISTRY. 41 MARINA ROAD EKET

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.

Names of existing Trustees: 1. Apostle(Mrs) Idongesit NseAbasi Emmanuel Chairman/President.

2. Rev. NseAbasi Emmanuel Sunday - Vice President.

3. Evangelist Udeme James Mbat - Secretary.

4. Brother Emmanuel Clement Daniel - Treasurer.

5. Pastor Idongesit Friday Ayara - Member.

6. Pastor Joseph Abasitang Eshiet - Member Names of Trustees to be removed: 1. To preach the good news of our lord Jesus Christ.

2. Heal the sick, raise the dead and cast out the devils.

3. To conduct conferences/seminars.

4. To assist and train the less privilege on what to do and earn living(entrepreneur).

5. To pray for the peace, love and unity among Nations.

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 (MRS) IDONGESIT NSEABASI EMMANUEL

said that the committee had taken cognizance of the willingness of majority of stakeholders to partner the state government in the running of the schools.

He said: “The recommended model does not preclude the openness of government to philanthropic gestures, partial or total adoption of schools by individuals, organisations or local and international groups.

“However, this should be carried out within the general objectives, policy and stringent guidelines

of the state government for the delivery of education to the people of Oyo State.

“The outcome of our study clearly reveals that government alone can no longer bear the responsibility of providing the fiscal, material and human resources needed for the management of schools.

“Stakeholders in the education sector must now brace for more active participation in the education of their children, while government must be in the driving seat."

Lagos to prosecute owners of illegal structures in Ikoyi, V/I Muritala Ayinla

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heLagosStateTaskForce on Clean- Up of Ikoyi, Victoria Island yesterday threatened to prosecute property owners in Ikoyi, Victoria Island and Lekki whose frontages had been overtaken by illegal structures.

The government also warned the property owners to immediately repossess such frontages or face prosecution, saying all property owners who had failed to landscape and beautify their

property as specified under the Parks and Garden Law of 2011 law would face criminal prosecution that may attract a jail term of 6 months or fine of N250, 00.

New Telegraph authoritatively gathered that areas that are likely to be affected include Ahmadu Bello Way, Adetokunbo Ademola Street, Bishop Aboyade Cole Street, Samuel Manuwa Street, Sanusi Fafunwa Street, Karimu Kotun Street, Tiamiyu Savage Street and Ligali Ayorinde Avenue.

New Ekiti Governor’s Office to gulp N1.9bn

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kiti State Government yesterday said it had set aside N1.9 billion for the construction of a new governor’s office and a High Court complex in Ado-Ekiti.

Commissioner for Works and Transportation, Mrs Funmi Ogun, made this known during an open bidding for the two projects in AdoEkiti.

Ogun said that the projects were conceived as part of plans to give the state a facelift in terms of infrastructural development, saying both

projects when completed would add to the existing legacy of the present administration in the state.

According to her, the consultants’ proposed bill for the construction of the new governor’s office is N687, 028, 630.63 while that of the High Court Complex is put at N1, 299, 613, 897.60.

The contractors for the new governor’s office project are Vyouad Construction Company Limited, Tianjin Yuyang Construction Company and Goodek Ventures Limited.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

News|SOUTh-SOUTH

News|SOUTh-EAST

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Ibori’s conviction stands Kalu heads to appeal as tribunal dismisses petition despite bribery evidence – UK lProtest rocks Umuahia, Aba over verdict IGBEAKU ORJI UMUAHIA

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he candidate of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) in the March 5, 2016 Abia North senatorial rerun election and former governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, yesterday said he will appeal the judgement of the tribunal which dismissed his petition.

Speaking through his counsel, Perfect Okorie, at the Umuahia High Court premises yesterday after the eight-hour judgement, Kalu said he was not in agreement with some of the issues raised by the tribunal.

“I disagree with most of the issues the tribunal relied on. That is why we have the higher court; if you feel aggrieved you go to appeal. I know that the Court of Appeal with see it differently.

According to him, “this is definitely the beginning of the process; I am positive that at the Court of Appeal something different will happen.”

However counsel to Mao Ohuabunwa, Mike Onyeka, said the tribunal decided the matter on merit, adding that the respondent who was leading with a small margin, now led with over 5, 000 votes. This, he said was made possible ‘because the tribunal ruled in favour of our objection against some of the wards in Bende where the result was in-

flated in favour of the PPA candidate.’

The tribunal Chairman, Justice James Abundaga, while dismissing the petition said the petition failed to prove allegations of malpractice beyond reasonable doubt. He described some of the paragraphs of the petition as vague just as he discredited the witnesses, including a forensic expert and the testimony of the principal witness.

Meanwhile, there was a protest yesterday in Umuahia and Aba over the tribunal’s verdict.

Reports yesterday said shortly after the judgement was delivered, stakeholders including students, market women, traders and artisans thronged the streets of Umuahia and Aba to register their displeasure over the verdict.

Though it was a peaceful protest, the looks on the faces of the people were disturbing and alarming as they could not hide their discontent over the tribunal’s ruling.

As they moved from one street to another, the protesters were seen singing and carrying placards with different inscriptions such as; “Kalu is the authentic winner,” “Appeal Court return OUK,” “We want OUK,” “Ikpeazu, T. A. Orji and MAO are enemies of Abians,” among others.

According to them, the ruling was biased and against the wish of the people, adding that

Abia State government used taxpayers money to buy the judgement in support of the PDP candidate.

Reacting to the tribunal verdict on behalf of his principal, Kalu’s Special Adviser, Kunle Oyewumi ,said” the tribunal struck out our petition without considering the merit of the whole case. However, we shall appeal the judgement.”

While thanking Abians especially the people of Abia North for their support thus far, Kalu urged them to remain law-abiding and calm.

In a related development, a non-partisan group, Democracy for Nigeria (DFN), has described the decision of the tribunal as biased, adding that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Returning Officer, Dr. Ejike Nwankwo, who had earlier declared the election inconclusive, should not go unpunished for inconsistent decisions.

According to the Secretary of the group, Abel Udensi, the future of Nigeria’s democracy depends on the sincerity of the judiciary, noting that the ruling of the tribunal is not in tandem with the tenets of credible elections.

He said: “In view of our resolve, we would not fail to stand up against any act that is capable of setting our growing democracy backwards.

Okorocha sacks Information Commissioner, others Steve Uzoechi OWERRI

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pparently worried by the near scandalous management of information in his government, Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, yesterday sacked his Commissioner for Information, Vitalis Ajumbe.

Also affected was his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy/ Director-General, Imo Orientation Agency, Kel-

echi Okpalaeke.

It was not clear what exactly led to that decision, but there have been several expressions of misgivings with Ajumbe’s approach to information management.

Not so long after Ajumbe hinted that council elections will take place next January, multiple government sources dismissed it as not coming from the governor.

Also, when recently, former Governor Ikedi Ohakim wrote a letter to Governor Okorocha advising

him on some of his policy flaws, Ajumbe responded to the former governor’s letter but shortly afterwards, Sam Onwuemeodo issued a statement stressing that Imo State government has not replied the former governor, discountenancing Ajumbe’s reply.

Also during the twoweek rumour of Okorocha’s death, it was believed that Ajumbe did not do enough as information commissioner to dispel the rumour until it became viral.

Military smashes vandals’gang in Abia VICTOR MBA ABA

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peration Crocodile Smile recently launched by the Nigerian Army has continued to yield results as men of the 14 Brigade smashed a gang of oil vandals which specialised in crude oil theft.

Commander of 14 Brigade, Brigadier-General Lawrence Ifejukwu, represented by the Operation Officer in Owaza, Captain Ishiaga Banki, said following a tip off, the oil vandals were traced to a water front at Ihando in Ukwa West Local Government Area of Abia State.

According to Banki, the vandals specialised

in bunkering and siphoning crude oil from tankers from the water front, escaped before the men arrived at the water front. The military recovered rolls of pipes, crude oil tanks and 50,000 litre petrol tanker with registration number XD531KHE, which the vandals used to siphon the crude oil.

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ailed former governor of Delta State, Nigeria, James Ibori’s convictionremain valid despite evidence that a British police officer took bribes during investigation of his case, Britain’s state prosecution agency said yesterday.

According to Reuters, Ibori, who as governor of the oil-producing Delta State from 1999 to 2007, was one of Nigeria’s most powerful men, is serving a 13-year sentence in a British prison after pleading guilty in 2012 to 10 counts of fraud and money-laundering.

He is the most senior Nigerian politician to have been held to account for the corruption that has blighted Africa’s most populous nation for decades, and his jailing was hailed as a high point in the international fight against graft.

But the case has become

an embarrassment for Britain since one of Ibori’s associates, convicted money-launderer, Bhadresh Gohil, alleged that the judicial process was tainted because prosecutors had covered up evidence of police corruption.

Authorities initially denied everything and charged Gohil with perverting the course of justice, but that prosecution was abruptly dropped in January.

In May, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said it had found “material to support the assertion that a police officer received payment in return for information”.

After an internal review of the case lasting months, the CPS said yesterday that while the material “should have been disclosed to the defence”, that did not call into question the validity of the convictions of

Ibori, Gohil and others.

Ibori’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Gohil’s lawyer said he could not comment for legal reasons.

Court proceedings on the confiscation of Ibori’s assets are still dragging through the courts, and lawyers for Ibori and Gohil could use the next court hearing to challenge the findings of the CPS review.

Ibori first came to the attention of British police in 1991, when he was working as a cashier at Wickes, a home improvements chain store in London, and was caught stealing from the till.

After returning to Nigeria, he became involved in politics. As governor of Delta, he amassed a huge fortune and became a power-broker in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the then ruling party in the country.

Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (right) with the Chairman of the state’s Agency on road maintenance, Nigerian Construction and Foundation Company (NCFC), Amb. Goddy Agbo, during an inspection tour of ongoing road repairs in Enugu metropolis in Enugu… yesterday.

NUT gives Dickson seven-day ultimatum over unpaid salaries Pauline Onyibe and Chris Ejim

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he leadership of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Bayelsa State council has given Governor Henry Seriake Dickson a seven-day ultimatumbegining from September 12, to clear its outstanding arrears or risk an indefinite strike action.

Chairman of the Union, Kalama John Tompre, made this known to our

correspondent yesterday in Yenagoa, the Bayels State Capital, via a telephone.

He declared his readiness to uphold the tenets of the union which has the training and retraining of teachers on its front burner.

In his earlier resumption to office some weeks back at the union secretariat in Yenagoa, the chairman had described Hon. Seriake Dickson as an education friendly governor but wondered why teachers were left far behind in

the scheme of things.

Tompre said the union would employ all arsenal within its reach to ensure complete payment of teachers’ salaries in the state, reverse of teachers marginalisation, payment of 18% minimum wage arrears, removal of obnoxious policies and absolute regulations that were detrimental to the progress of the education system such as shifting the responsibilities of primary school teachers to local government council.

Two notable factions have emerged in Woji on who is most qualified to lead the community, with some drumming up support for Amb. Sunny Weli Chukwu, who they argue, has already been coronated, while the other camp has described his coronation as an illegality that cannot stand.

The camp that sup-

ports Chukwu said that he has been coronated as king and that the process that led to his emergence was credible, stressing that there was no vacancy for the position as things stand.

However, the other camp opposed to his emergence, alleged that the process to coronate a king for Woji was ongoing.

Tension in Rivers community over kingship tussle

Emmanuel Masha PORT HARCOURT

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here is tension in Elenlenwo Community in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State following disagreement among stakeholders over the rightful person to be addressed as king and assume the of community.

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News|North

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Wamakko restates importance Jibrilla: CBN rejects 100,000 Adamawa farmers’ of separation of powers participation in Anchor Borrowers’ programme

Umar Abdullahi Sokoto

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senator representing Sokoto Central senatorial district, Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, has reiterated the essence of separation of powers, saying adherence to such principle would ensure checks and balances in government.

Wamakko spoke during an interactive session with members of the correspondents’ chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Sokoto last night.

He said: “The economic essence of separation of powers is not to cause trouble or fight each other, but to ensure checks and balances and even development.”

Benue teachers’ board boss docked for assaulting Ortom’s in-law Cephas Iorhemen MAKURDI

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Chief Magistrate’s Court sitting in Makurdi, Benue State, presided over by Dan Ogo, yesterday heard how the Executive Secretary of Benue State Teaching Board, James Aondona Pine, allegedly assaulted his subordinate staff, James Asema, an in-law to Governor Samuel Ortom in Guma Local Govern-

ment Area of the state.

He was arraigned alongside Mr. Iorpuur Laha, Akende Usu and Ihongo Daniel Tsevende, all staff of the board, who failed to prove that their boss did not assault his subordinate as alleged.

New Telegraph observed that when the counsel to the complainant, Adi Demeer, sought to tender a previous statement of the accused person, which is directly in relation to the matter in court.

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damawa State Governor, Muhammadu Jibrilla, yesterday expressed concern over the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) rejection of 100,000 farmers’ participation in the “Anchor Borrowers Programme” due to inappropriate registration.

Jibrilla spoke while launching the distribution of farm inputs to farmers participating in the anchor borrowers’ project in Yola. He described the rejection of the farmers’ application as ‘disturbing.’

“I am worried and disturbed about how 100,000 farmers captured in the national anchor borrowers’ initiative in the state were rejected by the CBN due to lack of Bank Verification Number (BVN).

“There is the need for the state Ministry of Agriculture and farmers’ associations to closely work together and sensitise the farmers to avoid such rejection in the future,” Jibrillah said.

He said the 28,000 farmers that were successfully approved by the CBN were not enough

for the state, adding that more efforts should be made to register more farmers.

The governor said the money meant for Adamawa under the initiative was lying at the CBN, but assured the people that efforts would be made to enable the farmers get involved.

Speaking earlier, the state Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr. Waziri Ahmadu, said out of 120,000 registered farmers, only 28,000 were approved and registered for the initiative.

Ahmadu said the ministry would restrategise to ensure that those that rejected were captured again.

In his remarks, Mr. Venantius Jiddere, the Adamawa State Chairman of All Farmers’ Association of Nigeria (AFAN), thanked the Federal Government for the initiative.

Jiddere promised the support and cooperation of members of the association to the state government for a successful implementation of the programme.

Bauchi to rehabilitate more roads, schools Nankpah Bwakan Bauchi

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auchi State Governor, Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar, yesterday ordered the immediate commencement of the rehabilitation of all dilapidated public primary and secondary schools in the state.

He also ordered the rehabilitation and dualisation of all the major roads linking the state to other states on resumption.

The governor gave the directive while play-

ing host to the Emir of Bauchi, Alhaji Rilwanu Suleiman Adamu at the Government House.

He spoke about the importance of the roads to the people of the state, adding that the roads would aid the economy of the state.

Abubakar lamented the dilapidated state of the roads in the state which he said had subjected the people to untold hardships especially during the rainy season while blaming previous administrations in the state for such neglect.

Kebbi removes 17 administrators Abubakar Abdul Birnin Kebbi

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ebbi State Government yesterday removed 17 of the 21 Local Government Sole Administrators in the state with the immediate effect.

Gover nor Abubakar Atiku Bagudu announced this yesterday shortly after a farewell meeting with the Sole Administrators at the Government House, Birnin Kebbi.

He said the 17 sole administrators sacked by the governor had served for one year as approved by the state House of As-

sembly.

He thanked the sole administrators for their sacrifice in ensuring the development of their areas despite the challenges facing the country.

“We thanked them for the hard work and sacrifice they put in. It has been a very challenging one year for all of us, we are aware of their hard work and tenacity they put in to push the local government forward.”

According to the governor, the state government will consequently appoint acting caretakers among the councilors to manage the local governments pending the conduct of election into their offices.

Adamawa State Governor, Muhammadu Bindow (left), inaugurating the distribution of fertilizer and other farm inputs to rice farmers registered for the anchor borrowers scheme in Yola …yesterday PHOTO: NAN

0.052%

The capital importation percentage share of Drilling of Nigeria in 2009.

Source: National Bureau of Statistics

0.86%

The percentage of individuals using the internet in Bhutan in 2001.

Source: Itu.int

N31.613bn

The total value of payment channels made by ATM of Nigeria in January 2015.

Source: National Bureau of Statistics

Ex-NITEL manager held for ‘stealing’ Biodun Oyeleye Ilorin

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62-year-old former territorial manager of the defunct Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), Benedict Uwulekhue has been arrested by men of the Kwara State command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) for allegedly stealing and selling some equipment of the defunct organisation.

However, Uwulekhue claimed that he decided to move out the equipment from NITEL premises for safekeep when he was pressurised by many prospective buyers of the equipment.

The former manager, who said he was innocent

of his actions, added that he did it in good faith.

Uwulekhue was paraded along with 11 other suspects described as accomplices on allegation of vandalism, criminal conspiracy and illegal sale of equipment of the defunct telecommunication company.

State Commandant of the NSCDC, Pedro Ideba, said two of the accomplices of the former NITEL manager allegedly offered N140, 000 bribe to NSCDC men to stop the investigation of the alleged offences.

According to Ideba, some of the equipment allegedly sold to two suspected buyers in the Ilorin metropolis included vandalised high tension cables, electricity transformer and contai-

nerised transmitter belonging to the company.

According to him, the defunct company still had some telecommunication equipment in its premises in Ilorin, adding that the arrested suspects included three security men on guard at the company.

The NSCDC boss, who said the buyers of the NITEL equipment, could not produce any document to authenticate ownership of the items, adding that it was during further investigation into one of the buyers’ house that two industrial electricity generating plants belonging to government were discovered.

He also said that the security men attached to the said NITEL prem-

ises had confessed to the crime, adding that all the items had been moved to the command’s headquarters and that all the accused persons would be arraigned in court after conclusion of investigation.

Also speaking, two of those alleged to have bought the equipment, Ugwuma Marcelius and Chukwudi Mba, identified as auto electrical dealers, said that they bought the items from auction sale organised

by NATCOM in April this year, adding that they had documents.

They said they bought the industrial electricity generator at N650, 000 each and the containerised NITEL transmitter and high tension cables at N700, 000.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Rio Paralympics: Iyiazi clinches bronze in Discuss Emmanuel Tobi

Sport Jos court to decide Giwa, LMC’s case today Musa Pam JOS

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ustice II Kunda of Plateau State High Court sitting in Bukuru has adjourned ruling for Friday September 16, 2016 in the case involving Mustapha Abukakar of Giwa FC Supporters Club against the League Management Company and Nigeria Football Federation.

This follows an argument on the contempt of court orders against the LMC-Counsel to the respondents the LMC Oludele Olujimi (SAN) stated that the court didn’t have locus standi to hear the suit following an appeal at the appellate court.

Justice Kunda had in his ruling decried the tactics being employed by the counsel to the LMC, Olujimi, to delay the case knowing full well that the Nigerian league is time-bound, and the league would have effectively ended before the case is determined.

It would be recalled again that sequel to the expulsion of Giwa Football Club of Jos, a State High Court sitting in Jos, Plateau State, had granted the prayers of the club seeking reinstatement to the Nigerian Professional Football League.

Giwa

The Sport Team Adekunle Salami Group Sport Editor

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igeria’s Eucharia Iyiazi on Thursday won bronze in the women’s discus throw at the on-going Rio 2016 Paralympic Games with a throw of 27.54 metres in the F57 class to finish behind Algeria’s Nassima Saifi and Ireland’s Orla Barry.

Saifi who won the gold medal could not beat her own world record of 34.68 metres after throwing 33.33m to finish top while Orla Barry won the silver with a throw of 30.06 metres.

As at Thursday’s evening, Team Nigeria had eight gold, two silver and two bronze medals and was 10th in the overall medals table.

Sport News Agu: We must respect Enyeama’s decision

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Rio Paralympics:

Golden athletes may smile to the bank

Adekunle Salami

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he eight athletes who have so far won gold medals at the ongoing 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio, Brazil could be in for a pleasant surprise if the ministry of sports could fast track the process of implementing the report of the Sports Reform Committee.

The Reform Committee with Godwin Kienka as team leader Ezuruike and chairman recommended that each Olympic gold medalist should be rewarded with the sum of N10m.

So far, eight athletes have won gold medals in Rio and the ministry could put smile on their faces if the recommendation is activated soon.

Six powerlifters who have won gold at the games are Rowland Ezurike, Paul Kehinde, Lucy Ejike, Bose Omolayo, Josephine Orji.

The two athletes that have won gold medals are Onye Lauritta in short put and Flora Ugwuna in javelin.

Each member of the Samson Siasia led U-23

team may also be given N2.5m each for the bronze medal won in the football event of the games last month.

“We are going to work hard and move fast with the implementation of the recommendation of the committee because we just have to move sports forward,” Minister of sports, Solomon Dalung said during the presentation of the report in Abuja.

The committee’s proposal also recommended N5m and N2.5m respectively for silver and bronze medallists of the games. So far in the Paralympic Games, Team Nigeria has also recorded two silver and one bronze.

The committee also recommended that the min-

Flora Ugwunwa

istry of sports promote a private sector driven industry.

The Federal Government, Central Bank of

Nigeria, National Lottery Fund Limited are some of those identified as source of funding for the national reward system.

Russia 2018: Rohr to dump Ighalo for Iheanacho Ugochi Akwueze

Emmanuel Tobi

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Assistant Sport Editor

Ajibade Olusesan Sport Correspondent

Charles Ogundiya Sport Correspondent

© Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited

45

Rohr

uper Eagles Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr, may consider playing Manchester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho ahead of Watford’s Odion Ighalo as the team’s top striker when Nigeria battle Zambia in the 2018 Russia World Cup qualifier billed for next month.

Iheanacho is favourably considered to lead Eagles’ attack due to his current form coupled with his goals

scoring consistency.

“Rohr is so proud of Iheancho,” a source close to the German coach told New Telegraph.

“It was not a mistake that Iheanacho’s wonder goal against Tanzania was voted CNN’s best goal of the week and the youngster went ahead to score the winning goal against Manchester United. We also saw him on Wednesday scoring Manchester City’s last goal in the Champions League,” he added.

Ighalo (right)

46

SPORT NEWS

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

NCC Tennis League

Edwards sings revenge song arylove Edwards, bles players respectively.

M one of Nigeria’s Two other ties will be outstanding junior ten- taking place in Abuja and nis prodigies, said she was looking forward to the Tie against Team Kalotari from Port Harcourt holding at the National Stadium, Surulere, on Saturday and Sunday, September 17 and 18, with revenge on her mind.

Edwards who plays for the CBN Futures team made up of the top juniors from the ITA Junior Circuit, was beaten 2-6, 2-6 by Patience Onebamhoin, Team Kalotari’s No.1 player, at the last CBN Senior Championships in Lagos and sees the NCC Tennis League encounter as her opportunity for revenge.

The lively, petite player has every reason to be confident as she beat a top10 player at the Ikoyi Club Masters in January and at the launch of the 2016 NCC Tennis League in July, edged top ranked Sarah Adegoke in an exhibition match.

Team Kalotari will on paper have the upper hand in the men’s singles and doubles events as they have in their squad, Nonso Madueke and Sunday Maku who are accomplished singles and dou-

Onitsha at the same time.

At the Abuja National Stadium tennis courts, Team FCT, parading former national champion Thomas Otu and top female player, Osaremen Airhunwhunde will be taking on debutantes, Team Hope from Asaba.

Team Anambra Onitsha Sports Club, Egerton Road, GRA. Team Goshen Kwara State Stadium Complex Tennis Courts Team Hope First Match: Asaba Squash Club, Government House.

Second Match: Warri Club. Refinery Rd Warri Team Kalotari PH Club, Old GRA. Team Offikwu & Team Civil Defence Murtala Mohammed Square Tennis Courts.

Kaduna Team Leadway & Team CBN Futures National Stadium, Surulere.

Team Tombim & Team FCT Abuja National Stadium Package B Tennis Courts.

Algeria, Cameroon, Zambia drop

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igeria has moved three places higher in the FIFA rankings, placing 64th in the world and 14th in Africa with a cumulative score of 534 in the latest ratings released on Thursday by the world football body.

Nigeria was in the 67th and 16th last month.

I n t e r e s t i n g l y, while the Super Eagles climbed three places all their rivals in the World Cup qualifying group dropped in the month under review.

Charles Ogundiya

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League venues at a glance

FIFA rankings: Nigeria moves three steps up Ugochi Akwueze & Ifeanyi Anyaka

Agu: We must respect Enyeama’s decision

Enyeama

Seven clubs for UPDC Hotels/ NFF’s legal unit delays Salisu’s contract appointment over two months Golden Tulip Squash Adeolu Johnson ago.

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even clubs have confirmed their participation in the inaugural edition of UPDC Hotels/Golden Tulip Squash Series, which commences Friday at Golden Tulip, Festac – Lagos.

The clubs that will be featuring in the invitational tournament include: OTrafford Squash Club, Ikoyi Club, Apapa Club, FESTAC Club, Lagos Country Club, Lagos Lawn Tennis Club and Eagle Club.

Experienced players like Larry Ettah (Chairman UPDC Nigeria PLC), Boye Oyerinde, Goke Adediran, Adebiyi Mabadeje, Fred Udo-Akagha, Clement Efakpokire, and Sadiq Alao are all gearing up for the exciting tournament.

Other top-ranked players from all over Nigeria like Sodiq Taiwo, Jonathan Peters, Lanre Abdulrahman and Tittah Jamah in the men’s category with Udeme James, the Olatunji sisters (Yemisi & Busayo) and Rebecca Auta playing in the women’s category for the national tournament, will take part.

The national tournament starts on Friday September 16 at 10am while the invitational tournament starts on Saturday 17 September at 12noon with all the games to be completed on Saturday evening prior to the closing festivities.

Nigeria’s first opponents in the Russia 2018 qualifiers, Zambia, dropped one step from 91 to 92 in the world and 24th in Africa with a cumulative score of 377.

Algeria was formerly number one on the continent but after dropping three places, the North African country is now second to Cote d’Ivoire in Africa.

The Desert Warriors are 35th in the world from the former position of 32nd.

Emmanuel Tobi Cameroon did not fare better. The ’Tigers defence ace, Lions dropped five Shane Lawal, has steps to place 59th tasked the Nigeria Basketand 11th in Africa. ball Federation to quickly

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he League Management Company has written to the Nigeria Football Federation requesting the exclusion of 12 Referees from further officiating of NPFL matches pending investigations into their respective performances in recent matches.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the LMC also sanctioned Sunshine Stars and Abia Warriors while Enyimba’s Masseur, Mr. Ifeanyi Kalu was handed a one year ban from all activi-

ABUJA

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he Nigeria Football Federation Legal Unit is delaying the contractual agreement of Super Eagles Coach, Salisu Yusuf just has the Glass House chieftains are yet to formalise what will be monthly take home of the coach.

The NFF has agreed to an initial payment of N5million a month but there are moves by the authorities to cut it by 40% leaving the coach to go home with N3m a month.

Our source said the decision was considered owing to the lean purse of the federation and the non-release of its monthly subvention by the Ministry of Youths and Sports.

Salisu said the non-availability of the Chief Legal Officer of NFF, Okey Obi, who doubles as the Head of its Legal Unit has stalled the signing of the contract since his

“I think details of the contract and the amount will be known next week when they tidy up the deal,” he explained.

The NFF had on July 21 handed Yusuf the position following Paul Le Guen’s decision to reject Eagles manager rolethe given to him by the football body.

It also named Imama Amakapabo as assistant coach to Yusuf and Alloy Agu goalkeepers’ trainer.

Salisu

Lawal urges NBBF to resolve players’ insurance

D

LMC suspends 12 referees, sanctions three clubs Charles Ogundiya

uper Eagles goalkeeper trainer, Alloy Agu, has said the country should respect the decision of Lille of France shot stopper, Vincent Enyeama, to stop playing for the national team.

Enyeama retired from the Super Eagles last year after an altercation with former Super Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh.

Speaking on a radio programme monitored in Lagos on Thursday, Agu said the goalkeeper must not be forced into making a return to the national team.

“Enyeama has been a solid hands for the Super Eagles, and we just have to continue to support him to be on top of his game which he has been in recent years,” Agu said.

“But we have to respect each other’s decision at every point in time. He took a decision to resign from the national team and we have to respect that.

“If later he decided to change his mind, he will be welcomed because the country belongs to everyone and he has the talent to continue to play for the country.”

On whether Enyeama will walk straight into the first team if he decided to return, the Nasarawa United coach said the former Enyimba first choice will have to fight for shirt with other goalkeepers currently in the team.

Agu further stated that the technical crew was working hard on having a strong pool of goalkeepers so that the national team will not be short of good hands.

ties of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) and his club fined N250,000 for disruptive the behaviour of their fans in recent matches just.

A total fine of N2.7m has been imposed on Sunshine Stars for various breaches of the rule including failure to provide adequate security, assault on match officials, throwing of object into the field of play.

The club has until close of business on Friday, September 16 to respond in writing indicating acceptance of the charges or electing to appear before a commission.

resolve the pending players insurance in order to have the country’s best talents at international events.

The 29-year-old who got injured against Argentina at the Rio Olympics and had to watch the rest of Nigeria’s games in a wheelchair added that the NBBF can’t leave the players’ insurance unresolved for so long.

Portland Trail Blazer Al-Farouq Aminu pulled out of the squad late in the Olympic preparations because his insurance was not in place.

“When you play for your club, you’re playing for money,” he said.

“You’re playing for other people. You’re a merce-

nary.

“But when you play for the land that you were born in and where your parents were born, it pays

Lawal

itself at the end of the day.

And to do something to help my country become better, to have the opportunity, it hurts not to be able to help your brothers, it hurts.”

“I don’t think anyone thought we would go to the Olympics and win anything,” he said. “Everyone expected us to finish sixth (in Group B) and no one expected us to win a game.

“What those guys did with what we had, you can be nothing but proud. It hurts because we can be better.

“If you look at our team with Farouq and look at what happened in Rio, why can’t we be top 10 in the world?”

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

UK approves nuclear plant deal

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ritain gave the go-ahead for a $24 billion nuclear power plant yesterday, ending weeks of uncertainty that had strained ties with China, which will help pay for it, and France, which will build it.

Prime Minister Theresa May's government signaled it would take a more cautious approach in future over foreign investment in big infrastructure projects than her predecessor David Cameron. But ultimately, after stunning Paris and

NEWS

WORLD \ NEWS

Beijing by putting the deal on hold in July after May took office, it agreed to go ahead with the Hinkley Point C project in southwest England. Britain's first new nuclear power plant in decades will be built by French state-controlled utility firm EDF, backed by $8 billion of Chinese cash.

The deal is part of a recovery of the global nuclear power industry following a slump caused by the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan. The government drew fire for approving it without rene-

47

Shettima: Why Nigerian journalists cause setbacks on security issues

gotiating the price British consumers will pay for electricity.

The opposition Labour Party supports the project in principle but says its guarantee to pay a minimum of roughly double the current market price for electricity for 35 years is a rip off. May's government said a new investment policy would give it greater control over future deals when foreign states are involved in "critical infrastructure", a departure from the more open approach pursued

by Cameron.

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he Borno State Governor, Mr. Ibrahim Shetimma, has said there was the need for security agencies and journalists to have confidence in each other towards eradicating insecurity.

He said that instances where journalists broke stories that work against efforts of security agencies in Nigeria were largely because those in control of sensitive information did not take the journalists into confidence.

He also said that in some cases, they mostly give less information believing that the journal-

ists lack the capacity to get the facts.

Shettima made this observation yesterday at a workshop on synergy between the media and the military jointly organized by the 7th Division of the Nigerian Army and the Borno State council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, which held at the Pinnacle Hotel in Maiduguri.

The workshop was attended by senior Military and para-military ‎officials, including the Theater Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Major General Irabor, as well as the G.O.C 7th Division aside officials from outside the state.

Shettima spoke after a paper delivered by former Defence spokesman, Retired General Chris Olukolade, whose presentation portrayed the Nigerian media as mostly working against efforts by the Nigerian military in the fight against Boko Haram across the northeast.

The governor, in his address, said in developed countries, the media was often taken into confidence and told the truth about security situations with the understanding that the media manages their reports in ways that do not undermine security interests of their host countries.

Troops kill 4 Boko Haram suspects, capture one •DHQ: Latest video, a joke Emmanuel Onani Hinkley Point A and B nuclear power stations are seen near Bridgwater in Britain.

Fuel 'too dirty' for Europe sold to Africa

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wiss firms have been criticised in a report for their links to the African trade in diesel with toxin levels that are illegal in Europe. Campaign group Public Eye says retailers are exploiting weak regulatory standards.

Vitol, Trafigura, Addax & Oryx and Lynx Energy have been named because they are shareholders of the fuel retailers. Trafigura and Vitol say the report is misconceived and retailers work within legal limits enforced in the countries.

Three of the distribution companies men-

tioned in the report have responded by saying that they meet the regulatory requirements of the market and have no vested interest in keeping sulphur levels higher than they need to be.

Although this is within the limits set by national governments, the sulphur contained in the fumes from the diesel fuel could increase respiratory illnesses like asthma and bronchitis in affected countries, health experts say.

The picture is changing but there are still several African countries which allow diesel to have a sulphur content

of more than 2,000 parts per million (ppm), with some allowing more than 5,000ppm, whereas the European standard is less than 10ppm.

Rob de Jong from the UN Environment Programme (Unep) told the BBC that there was a lack of awareness among some policy makers about the significance of the sulphur content.

The sulphur particles emitted by a diesel engine are considered to be a major contributor to air pollution, which the World Health Organization (WHO) ranks as one of the top global health risks.

China launches second trial space station

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hina has launched a second experimental space station, as it looks to have a crewed outpost by 2022. The Tiangong 2 blasted off just after 22:00 local time yesterday from the Gobi desert. Next month, two astronauts will go to the station to conduct research.

Beijing has made space exploration a national priority and is the third country, after the Soviet Union and the US, to launch people into space. The mission follows the launch of the Tiangong 1 prototype in 2011, a smaller but also operational model. Depends on what

you mean by "proper". It is an experimental space laboratory which is part of the preparation for a permanently manned station that Beijing wants to have circling around the globe sometime around 2020.

But make no mistake, the Tiangong 2 is still an operational space station, even if it is still only a prototype ahead of the real thing. Translated as Heavenly Palace 2 it is about 15m long and can have other missions dock with it.

The astronauts that will come on board next month are to spend a full month

up there - a longer period of time than possible on Tiangong 1. If all this makes you worried about China's long-term cosmic ambitions, then you are not the only one. Pushing ahead with its space programme is a priority for Beijing, and China insists it is of a purely civilian nature.

The US Department of Defense has said that some elements of it seem targeted at being able to stop other countries from being able to use their space assets - like satellites - in a time of crisis or confrontation.

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he Nigerian army has said that troops of Operation Lafiya Dole, have killed four Boko Haram suspects, even as they captured one alive That was even as the Defence Headquarters dismissed the latest video by the insurgents as a non issue.

A statement by the Army's spokesman, Col. Sani Usman noted that

the troops, who were on a clearance operation, engaged the fighters around in Geidam Local Government Area of Yobe State.

Usman further disclosed that the battle, which lasted about 15 minutes, led to the recovery of two Machine Guns and other weapons.

The statement reads: "Following reportedly observed activities of remnants of Boko Haram terrorists around

Jororo and Tombaeji villages in Geidam Local Government Area of Yobe State, troops of Operation Lafiya Dole carried out a clearance operation within the area in the early hours of September 14.

"The fighting patrol team sent came into contact with Boko Haram terrorists elements around Gajire village during which there was a fire fight that lasted for about 15 minutes.”

Union calls for emergency to save NCAA, aviation Wole Shadare

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he National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) rose from a meeting it held in Ilorin, Kwara State with a call to the Federal Government to halt the rot in the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). The group said that the situation could help to save the sector from another plane crash.

Experts have condemned the agency for not living up to expectation in

its oversight and regulatory functions with so many inactions that they say violate the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards.

For two years, the mandatory training of inspectors and other critical personnel has stopped. The only capital project for the agency is in training and retraining of its inspectors to ensure a well-regulated aviation industry.

But that seems to have taken flight, owing to alleged paucity of funds and the shift in policy by the

management of the NCAA. This is coming as the union said following the verification exercise carried out by government at the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and other aviation agencies, to determine proper structural balance in recruitment and placement of (certain political) appointees into positions in these agencies it demands full implementation of the committees report already approved by the Minister, to ensure proper staff placement.

Saraki wants implementation of UN resolutions

on environment Chukwu David Abuja

P

resident of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki, yesterday, urged world leaders to develop sufficient political will towards the implementation of the United Nations resolutions on environment.

Saraki made this call when a delegation of the Working Group on Envi-

ronmental Audit of African Organisation of the Supreme Audit Institutions (AFROSAI WGEA) paid him a courtesy visit at the National Assembly complex, Abuja.

While responding to the address by the leader of the delegation, he acknowledged that some of the issues already highlighted by the UN remained unimplemented due to absence of appropriate political will by the leaders.

He said, “I think the problem is, some of the agreements you talked about that you have signed with some organisations, how far have they gone on implementation? Who is making sure that they are being implemented?

"By the time we leave all those conferences as politicians, we shake hands with ourselves, we take pictures, the real issues are these commitments. Are they being met?

Sanctity of Truth

On Marble

Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other.

Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then.

—Katherine Hepburn

M

Emeka Obasi ARIK: Risking rickety flights

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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

She’s a pro, not dove

en are not so smart even if they insist they are the best thing to happen to the human race since bread and butter. Let’s take another look at bachelors who think that having obvious risky fun is hip. Eligible bachelors, they are supposed to be, but they work their randy ways through the ‘rank and file’ of the womenfolk like a hot knife through butter. Some of them have been through so many skirts that they have lost count. Yet they are not tired or ready to retire.

These are men, who develop goose pimples each time their girlfriends bring up marriage. It doesn’t matter for how long this kind of man has dated a girl, he has all the reasons, at his finger tip, why marriage is an issue for tomorrow, not today. It doesn’t matter how many hours the poor girl has spent rehearsing her pitch, he has ready-made answers to all her nice logic.

Ask them about the current girls in their lives and the most honest answer you can get out of them is ‘fine’ followed, of course, by a long list of excuses why the girls are not wife-materials. These are the overgrown sit-tight bachelors.

They almost always find reasons why their girls are incompatible with them.

All the incompatibility talk is rubbish, however. A sit-tight bachelor has gone through so many skirts that he can’t think of being condemned to life with one woman. And so he keeps playing the field, breaking hearts and messing up lives.

He has gotten away with so much bad behaviour that he believes God must be giving him thumbs up.

Running through women, jumping from bed to bed is so fraught with dangers that I wonder why men who think they are smart don’t see them.

As a concerned citizen, I have decided to let you guys into some secrets, especially those of you who think you can get married any time, after all, there are women all over the place. The recently released census figures with all the flaws therein, after all, said there are more men than women in Nigeria.

But let us start with the kind of woman you can easily mistake for a dove. She looks and acts like you are the lord and love of her life. She takes all the shit you want to dish out. She has a good job, a thriving career and does not stint when it comes to spoiling you a little. Of course, because you are such a ‘pro’ at breaking hearts, you think she’s a fool.

The reality, however, is she thinks you don’t have the brain God gave a grasshopper.

This kind of girl has learnt her lesson over time. Her heart has been broken over and again but by now she is as hard as nails, though she does not look it. In fact, everything about her throws you off, everything about her says she’s butter or pepperless.

Our girl is a big-league pro. That beautiful ring on her finger is not just a fashion accessory. That’s why she wears it day and night. Once she wags that finger playfully at you, you will do whatever she says. Or, have you ever

WHO'S FOOLING WHO? - It's really a woman's world.

Adam’s Apple

FUNKE EGBEMODE egbemode3@gmail.com 0805-506-9066 (sms only)

wondered why she likes to put her head on your laps so often? I ‘ll tell you. There are some heavy incisions at the center of her head. Once your eyes get into contact with the spot, you become putty in her hands.

There is also the concoction for fever and pile that she offers you, which I as-

sure you, could be a head-turner.

All those girls who look like they can’t hurt a fly aren’t what they look. They all have Alhajis and babas who they run to when things get ‘tight’. I am telling you all these at the risk of exposing my own species but I believe it’s only fair. Considering that I have been accused of bias

PHOTO:WWW.ctklb.cloudfront.net

by men.

Most guys who have been lucky not to have been cut down to size by these hardtown girls think they are smart. They will soon exhaust their luck by which time it might be too late to cry. It is better for a dog to learn its lesson before its ears are cut.

Throwing away the knife afterwards would amount to medicine after death.

A man who tries to act smart with the butter-won’t-melt-in-my-mouth girls will bite his fingers. He ‘ll as usual go into the relationship to do his habitual hit-andrun thing but he’ll become a husband in no time, for sure. The only trouble may be this dream girl of his will turn out to be the nightmare of his life. But what can he do? He’d be stuck.

If you think that new girl in your life is gentle, you just might be playing with fire. By the time she’s through with you, you ‘ll find out she’s the boss and you are the peon.

Printed and Published by Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Ltd: Head Office: No. 1A, Ajumobi Street, Off ACME Road, Agidingbi, Ikeja-Lagos. Tel: +234 1-2219496, 2219498. Abuja Office: Orji Kalu House, Plot 322, by Banex Junction, Mabushi, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Advert Hotlines: (Lagos 0902 928 1425), (Abuja 0805 5118488) Email: info@newtelegraphonline.com Website: www.newtelegraphonline.com ISSN 2354-4317 Editor: AYODELE OJO.