Monday, june 20, 2016 binder1 by Newtelegraphonline

Economic woes: N150bn state airports in jeopardy

Wole Shadare

igeria’s financial crisis, which affected all the three tiers of government –federal, states and local gov-

ernments has led to the suspension and in some cases abandonment of airport projects embarked upon by states, New Tele-

graph has learnt. The nation’s financial woes were triggered by the slump in the price of oil at the international markets,

where Nigeria earns about 70 per cent of her revenues and 80 per cent of her foreign exchange earnings. Oil that earlier traded

for as high as $100 per barrel more than a year ago, has just recovered to $50 per barrel. These developments

Cautious trading expected as forex reforms begin today

have swept virtually all the states off their feet financially. Most of them have backlog of unpaid salaries and can neither embark on any capital project nor CONTINUED ON PAGE 37

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SGF, AGF plotting to impeach me –Fayose }37

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Vol. 3 No. 852

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N'Delta Avengers fighting for Biafra, not amnesty –IPOB }40

Ugwuanyi appoints New Telegraph }3 Editor as SSA

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Kalu welcomes Buhari, seeks cooperation

N150

Black Sunday Fayose

Kanu

Ani

}44

l14 die in Lagos-Ibadan Expressway auto crash

Kalu

}8 & 9

lThree students shot in Ondo lHerdsmen kill three in Ogun lFlood ravages Nasarawa, claims three lFresh graduate kills mother over N20,000 Buhari returns to Nigeria, says I'm strong, fit }10

President Muhammadu Buhari (centre) after his arrival at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja... yesterday.

Forgery case: Senate accuses executive of plotting coup …says APC leaders want to jail Saraki, Ekweremadu

Single motherhood raises risk of heart disease

}2 }38

NEWS

MONday, JUNE 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Forgery case: Senate accuses executive of plotting coup

Onwuka Nzeshi and Chukwu David

he Senate yesterday broke its silence on the controversial case of the alleged forgery of its Standing Rules 2015 and accused the executive and some leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) of plotting to destabilise the legislature by re-opening the case. It said that there was a sinister plot to stoke fire in the matter so as to send the

presiding officers of the upper chamber of the National Assembly to prison and effect a regime change in the red chamber. It described the alleged plot of the executive as a ‘coup’. Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, who made these assertions yesterday, warned that such a plot to interfere in the Senate was a violation of the principles of separation of powers and could spell doom for democracy in Nigeria.

Abdullahi urged President Muhammadu Buhari to call the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN) to order as the matter of electing the leadership of the Senate was an internal affair of the Senate which had long been settled on the floor of the red chamber. The Senate said: “After reading in the national newspapers and online platforms of the planned charges of forgery and conspiracy preferred

A hunter, Umar Nuhu (left), showing an alligator to the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (right), during his inspection tour to Nasarawa State. With them are the Director Highway, Alhaji Dan Shehu (second left) and Emir of Loko, Alhaji Ahmed Sabo…at the weekend. PHOTO: NAN

against the Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, immediate past Clerk of the National Assembly, Alhaji Salisu Maikasuwa and the Clerk of the Senate, Mr. Ben Efeturi and reviewing the circumstances leading to the filing of these charges, we are compelled to alert the good people of Nigeria and the international community, that our democracy is in danger and that the attempt by the executive arm of the Federal Government to muzzle the legislature and criminalise legislative processes in order to cause leadership change in the National Assembly is a return to the era of impunity and lack of respect for due process which we all fought to abolish. "This latest plot is directed at forcing a change of leadership in the Senate or, in the extreme case, ground the Red Chamber of the National Assembly. Or how do one interpret a move in which the two presiding officers are being set up to be remanded in Kuje Prison or incapacitated from sitting at plenary through a day-today trial on a matter that is purely an internal affair of the Senate? "This obviously is a dangerous case of violation of the independence

Shell pays N39.1bn for social investments

lInsists there’s no plan to exit Nigeria Adeola Yusuf

hell paid N39.1 billion ($195.5 million) to the Federal Government and for social investments course in Nigeria in 2015, its Country Chair, Companies in Nigeria, Mr. Osagie Okunbor, has said. He said this while unveiling the company's 2016 brief notes in Lagos. Okunbor explained that out of the money, N29.02 billion ($145.1 million) was paid to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) – an interventionist agency of government as required by law, while another N10.08 billion ($50.4 million) was directly expended in social investment project by Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) operated Joint Venture and Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo). Declaring that the $199.5 million investment made Nigeria the largest concentration of social investment spending in the Shell Group, Okunbor refuted claims that Nigeria is one of the 10 countries

that Shell planned to exit. "I am pretty sure exiting Nigeria is not on the cards for Shell. It is a heart-land that we actually have a lot of respect for," he said while fielding questions from New Telegraph. On the security situation in the Niger Delta, Okunbor said: "We are constantly monitoring the security situation in our operating areas in the Niger Delta and are taking all possible steps to ensure the safety of staff and contractors." He, however, said that issues of legitimate requirement for the Niger Delta and criminality have to be separated. “That certain percentage of revenues made from oil that should be used to develop the Niger Delta should be separated from criminality. "People that resort to criminality should be singled out and dealt with as criminals while the need to address issues of the Niger Delta must also be dealt with squarely," he said. Highlighting crude theft, illegal refining and insecurity as key challenges in 2015, the Shell's helmsman in Nigeria

maintained that his companies are working with the Federal Government to get a lasting solution to the menace. On why some installations of Shell remained shut months after they were attacked, Okunbor said: "The militants write direct mails to our contractors threatening them to go ahead with the repairs and see what will happen. There is no point going through all these and later get the line attacked at another point. "As a country, we need to find a lasting solution to this. We are undaunted. We will not relent until we fix it and, at the same time, we are appealing to the government that we need to find a lasting solution to this issue. We cannot police all the lines at the same time and therefore need a lasting solution to this." Okunbor, who doubles as the Managing Director of SPDC, also said with the firm’s contributions to developing the country's human capital and contracting capacity, spending some $0.9 billion on local contracting and procurement, ownership

of key assets such as rigs, helicopters and marine vessels was a key focus of these efforts to support Nigerian and community contractors. "These spend levels have not come about by accident," the Shell boss said. “Shell and its partners believe they can make a real difference in the lives of Nigerians, and have targeted our investments at community and enterprise development, education and health. Of course, we cannot take the place of government, but we are keen to play our part in the development of a country we've been a part of for more than 50 years." He continued: "Shell has a history of over 50 years in Nigeria and the largest footprint of all the international oil and gas companies operating in the country. "Our companies and investments have played a pioneering role in onshore, shallow and deep water oil exploration and production. Shell has also been at the forefront of gas development, producing and delivering gas to domestic consumers and export markets for more than 40 years."

of the legislature, undue and unnecessary interference in the internal affairs of the Senate and blatant abuse of the judicial process. The matter now being criminalised was brought to the plenary of the Senate in session, over a year ago. And because it had no support, it was overruled and roundly defeated in chambers. To now take a matter that was resolved on the floor of the Senate to the police and then make it form the subject of a criminal prosecution of freely elected legislators beats all imagination of free thinking men all over the world. "This present effort, therefore, is clearly a coup against the legislature with the ignoble aim to undermine its independence and subject the lawmaking institution to the whims and caprices of the executive. It is a plan to return Nigeria to the dictatorial era, which we have, as a nation, voted to reject. It is a dangerous trend with grave implications for the survival of our democracy and the integrity of the component institutions. “This rule of men as against the rule of law is also the reason why the war against corruption, one of the cardinal objectives of the present administration, is losing credibility because people perceive it to be selective and, in most cases, aimed at settling political or partisan scores. "We urge President Muhammadu Buhari to please call his Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, to order. It is clear that the Attorney General and party leaders behind this action either lack the understanding of the underlining principles of constitutional democracy, the concept of separation of powers, checks and balances and parliamentary convention or they just simply do not care if the present democracy in the country survives or collapses in their blinded determination to get Saraki and Ekweremadu by all means necessary, including abuse of office and sacking the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.” According to the spokesman for the Senate, Nigerian economy was in dire straits and rather than instigating crisis in the parliament, the executive ought to be busy working hard with the cooperation of the legislature to resolve the issues and reflate the economy. "We must make it clear here to the individuals in the Executive arm and party leadership behind

these plots not to mistake the maturity and hand of co-operation being extended to the Presidency by the legislature as a sign of weakness. The National Assembly bent backwards to accommodate various infractions and inefficiencies in pursuit of interarms co-operation and national interest. We did not follow up the various infractions because we believe there are bigger issues, which the government has to attend to in order to ensure that every Nigerian has food on his table and live comfortably in a secure environment. We know that the country is actually in a state of economic emergency and all hands must be on deck.” Meanwhile, Ekweremadu has absolved himself of all blames on the matter. He said that he had no case to answer in the alleged forgery of the Senate Standing Orders 2015 (as amended). In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Uche Anichukwu, Ekweremadu said that he had no case to answer because he had no business whatsoever with the production of Senate Standing Orders. He also wondered why the purported invitation by the police when the petitioners never mentioned him in their petition. He expressed surprise that such invitation was being touted now, after police authorities earlier said that it did not invite him for questioning and that the Police did not, at any time, question him over the alleged forged Senate Standing Orders. He further stated that he had not been served any letter of invitation by the police or court summons pertaining to the alleged forgery of the Senate Standing Orders 2015 (as amended), as inundated in the media. "The hands of Senator Ike Ekweremadu are clean because he has no business whatsoever with the production of Senate Standing Orders. "This latest attempt to try and convict him in the court of public opinion notwithstanding, we do not want to mount a public defence. We would rather meet them in court if they so wish.”

12,587

The number of fixed-telephone subscriptions of American Samoa in 2001. Source: Itu.int

The total number of matches played by Portugal at Brazil 2014 World Cup. Source: Fifa.com

NEWS

MONday, JUNE 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Cautious trading expected as forex reforms begin today Tony Chukwunyem

igeria’s new foreign exchange policy, which begins today in the interbank foreign exchange market, is expected to start on a cautious note when the new rules introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) come into effect today. CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, announced last Wednesday that the apex bank would, from today, begin market trading of the naira to alleviate chronic foreign exchange shortages and boost the economy. Forex dealers and banking industry sources told New Telegraph that despite the release of the guidelines by the CBN, no one could predict how the market will play out until actual trading commences. A treasurer with a new generation bank said: “Given the circumstances, the market is likely to open on a cautious note. There will be lots of naira, but few dollars. We expect dollar demand to be in the range of between $4 and $5 million. “All the banks are going to be primary dealers, so, this would bring pressure down. Banks don’t have to run around. “Also, remember, it’s a two-way quote; if you don’t have dollars to sell to the CBN, you cannot buy. So, the market would open on a cautious note tomorrow (today). There would be lots of naira but little dollars.” New Telegraph further gathered that a significant impact of the new policy is that it would lead to a devaluation of the naira on the interbank market, thereby making more money available to the Federal Government and the

Ugwuanyi appoints New Telegraph editor as SSA

he Enugu State governor, Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, has appointed Mr. Laurence Ani as his Senior Special Assistant on Research and Communications. Ani was the managing editor of New Telegraph with a job schedule that includes overseeing the newspaper's operations in the North and Abuja. A graduate of the University of Calabar, he was the pioneer editor of Saturday Telegraph and had also edited Thisday, The Saturday Newspaper. He is a member of the Nigerian Guild of Editors and an indigene of Enugu State. He has since resumed duties.

states to spend, which will in turn reduce pressure on the parallel market. Indeed, following the announcement of the new policy, the naira has steadily appreciated on the parallel market, rising to N340 to the dollar as at yesterday. Another bank official also pointed out that the new forex policy will negatively affect lenders that have suspended international transactions on naira debit cards, as their customers will rush to banks that still allow such transactions. He said: “The new policy will see the naira

exchanging against the dollar at close to the parallel market rate. So, those issues that banks were having because of the disparity between the parallel and official market rates under the old system have now been taken care of.” According to guidelines on the new system issued by the CBN, the market will operate as a single market structure through the inter-bank/autonomous window while the exchange rate would be purely market-driven using the Thomson-Reuters Order Matching System as well as the Conversational

Dealing Book. Under the new structure, the CBN will also introduce Forex Primary Dealers (FXPD) that will be designated as authorised dealers to deal with it on large trade sizes on a twoway quote basis. The guidelines further state that participants in the market will include authorised dealers, authorised buyers, oil companies, oil service companies, exporters and end-users. Significantly, Reuters reported at the weekend that banks had asked customers to submit bids ahead of the start of to-

day’s trading. Analysts said that lenders asking customers to submit bids is a signal that the new forex trading platform will be driven by market forces and not dominated by internal bank trading. The news agency reported a source as saying that after a meeting with CBN officials and bank chief executives last Friday, banks asked their clients to send them pending Letters of Credit (LCs) for them to resubmit and to quote a rate at which they want to buy dollars. According to the source,

customers had, so far, submitted bids between N210 and N290 naira to the dollar. "Liquidity will likely return to the market because Central Bank will now sell its dollars at higher rates," the source was quoted as saying. A Reuters’ poll found that analysts expect that when the naira floats freely today, it will trade at N275 to N300 per dollar. The banking watchdog had said that there is a $4 billion backlog of demand in the market, which could take three to four weeks to clear.

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MONday, JUNE 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

monDAY, JUNE 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

METRO

ABIODUN BELLO

...CRIME, CITY WATCH, COURTS

14 die in Lagos-Ibadan Expressway auto crash S

abiodun.bello@newtelegraphonline.com 08023938212

Three killed as herdsmen attack Ogun community Kunle Olayeni, Cephas Iorhemen and Dominic Adewole

Kunle Olayeni Abeokuta

t least 14 people died yesterday in an accident involving three vehicles on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. The incident, which left one person seriously injured, was said to have occurred at the Fidiwo/ Ajebo axis of the expressway about 1pm. The vehicles involved in the crash included a cement-laden truck with registration number AJG 40 XA, a fuel tanker marked RAN 571 XA and a passenger bus with registration number Lagos AGL 373 XR. Witnesses said the tanker, which was moving inward Ibadan, had attempted to overtake the truck conveying cement at a road diversion spot. The tanker, however, had a head-on collision with the Lagosbound passenger bus which was coming from the opposite direction. All the occupants of the commercial bus, including its driver, were said to have been killed on the spot. The Public Relations Officer of Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps (TRACE), Babatunde Akinbiyi, confirmed the accident yester-

Scene of the accident

day. Akinbiyi explained that there had been an ongoing repair works on the expressway, which necessitated the road diversion at the point of the crash. He said it took the combined efforts of TRACE, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and police personnel to carry out rescue operation at the scene. At press time, the TRACE PRO said fuel from the tanker was being trans-loaded into another vehicle.

But when contacted, the Sector Commander of FRSC, Adegoke Adetunji, said only 14 people died in the incident as against the earlier report that 19 were killed. Adetunji said one person was injured in the crash. He said those injured were taken to the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH), Sagamu, while the dead were deposited at FOS mortuary, Ipara.

City Briefs

Flood kills three in Nasarawa

Cheke Emmanuel LAFIA

lood, which ravaged Dungu Dakachi village in Lafia Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, has killed at least three people. One person was also reportedly missing as the flood, which followed a-three-hour down pour, wreaked havoc on the community. It also destroyed valuables and crops. Community Head of Adogi, Alhaji Abdulhamid Usman, confirmed the incident. He told journalists that three people lost their lives in the flood while one person was missing. Usman, who also said the

flood destroyed houses and crops, called on the Federal Government and Nasarawa State Government to come to the aid of the affected residents. A member representing the area at the state House of Assembly, Mohammed Alkali,

uspected Fulani herdsmen have killed three persons and carted away huge sums of money and other valuables at IlewoOrile community in Abeokuta North Local Government Area of Ogun State. Two of the victims identified as Amosun Ogunronbi and Owolabi Ogunronbi were siblings. It was learnt that the third victim, simply known as Philip, was hacked to death on Friday night while his body was discovered the following day. This came as more bodies have been recovered from Gabo community in Nengev and Turan wards of Logo Local Government Area of Benue State which was attacked at the weekend by suspected Fulani herdsmen. A resident of Ilewo-Orile, who pleaded anonymity, said the community had in the past come under similar attacks by rampaging Fulani herdsmen. The man alleged that despite repeated complaints to the police and relevant authorities, nothing tangible had been done to curb the criminal activities of herdsmen in the area. According to him, Philip

was killed on Friday night after suspected herdsmen accosted him and snatched his motorcycle, mobile phone and some money. He said: “Philip is an Egun man. He went to work on Friday but did not return. When his wife was going to the market at Ibara-Orile on Saturday morning, she saw the body of her husband by the road side.” The incident was reported at the Lafenwa Police Station, Abeokuta and later at the state Police Command Headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta. It was learnt that the victim’s relatives requested that they be allowed to bury their dead, which the police did not object to. The source, who stated that the murder of Ogunronbis occurred prior the Friday incident, disclosed that the suspects carted away the victims’ motorcycle and cash. The cash was said to include daily thrift savings, otherwise known as ‘Ajo’. The source added: “Amosun went to collect some thrift savings at IshagaOrile and he asked his brother (Owolabi) to convey him there on his motorcycle. When they were coming back, Fulani herdsmen attacked them about 8:30pm. The assailants hacked them to death.

Four RRS officials injured in auto crash

who also visited the area, described the incident as a colossal damage. The lawmaker called on the people to avoid building houses on waterways. Alkali also called on government to come to the aid of the victims.

File: Flooded community

Muritala Ayinla

our officials of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) in Lagos were injured yesterday when a KIA RIO car rammed into their vehicle near Ogudu bus stop. The RRS officials were patrolling Ogudu-Alapere axis inspecting the Light Up Lagos Project facilities when the accident occurred about 12:06am. The policemen were driving when the car with a lone occupant rammed into them from behind. A man who witnessed the accident and conveyed the policemen to the Lagos State Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Ikeja, for treatment, said the RRS of-

ficials were on duty when the accident occurred. He said: “The RRS vehicle was going on the road because the policemen were monitoring the Light Up Lagos Project facilities when the KIA Rio from Lagos Island going towards Alapere rammed into the RRS Ford car with registration number RRS 068 LA thereby bundling it and the officers into a nearby ditch.” The four RRS officials and the driver of the KIA car were seriously injured. At press time, three of RRS men have been discharged from the hospital while the remaining one and the driver of the KIA car were expected to be discharge later in the day.

METRO

monDAY, JUNE 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Fresh graduate stabs moth- One feared killed as police shoot Owo Poly students er to death over N20,000 Babatope Okeowo Adeolu Adeyemo Osogbo

fresh graduate of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, identified simply as Christian has allegedly stabbed his mother to death. The woman, simply called Iya Christian, was a widow. She was said to have singlehandedly raised the suspect from primary school till he earned a decree from OAU. The victim’s offence, according to sources, was because she did not give her son N20,000. The incident occurred last week at Ede in Ede South Local Government Area of Osun State. The suspect is now being detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) at OkeFia, Osogbo. Sources said the deceased, who was buried last Friday, had a sharp disagreement with her son over the said money. A source close to the family said when Chris-

tian requested the money from his mother, she asked him to exercise patience because she had no money. Dissatisfied with his mother’s response, Christian reportedly dragged his mother into a room in their apartment at Obalaoye area of Osogbo and stabbed her until she gave up the ghost. His younger sister, Folake, tried vainly to persuade Christian from attacking his mother. The suspect was said to have pushed Folake away before locking his mother inside the room where he reportedly stabbed her to death. One of the residents, who pleaded anonymity, told journalists that, “when I had a noise from their room, I thought it was a mere one until I later heard of what happened. “It was when I noticed Folake was knocking on her mother’s bedroom door and shouting and I saw blood flowing out of the bedroom that I knew unexpected thing had happened.”

My husband was killed in my presence –Wife Taiwo Jimoh

grieving widow, Mrs. Ramota Buhari, has revealed how some militants, who invaded Imushin community in Ogijo Sagamu Local Government Area of Ogun State, killed her husband, Waheed. The men also shot her 13-year-old daughter. The gunmen were militants on a revenge mission. The gunmen claimed their colleagues were killed. At least 15 residents were alleged to have been killed by the rampaging militants, but police insisted that only three persons were killed. A worker at the palace of the Olu of Imushin, who pleaded anonymity, debunked claims that 15 persons died in the community as reported by some national dailies. He said: “It is forbidden for a king in Yoruba land to see a corpse. As the workers in the palace, we were ordered by the monarch to count the corpses with the assistance of policemen. We counted nine corpses.” As of yesterday, residents have started fleeing

The deserted Elepete community... yesterday

the community. Many of them told our correspondent that the gunmen vowed to return. The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Muyiwa Adejobi, said the militants were about 100. He said: “Information from witnesses showed that the hoodlums were militants and they came from the riverine area. But we have not confirmed this, as investigations are ongoing. We are particularly interested in why they came in such a large number.” Recalling the last moments of her husband, Ramota said Waheed was shot and killed moments after he stepped out to urinate. She held him and was screaming for help, when she heard that her daughter had been shot. According to her, the family usually goes to bed earlier than 11pm, but because it was Ramadan and the kids had gone to lecture in one of the mosques, they decided to wait for them. She added: “After my husband had ushered the children in, he stepped out to urinate. What I heard next were loud noise of gunshots. Waheed fell down and died on the spot.”

Akure

student of the Ondo State-owned Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo (RUGIPO), was feared killed yesterday during a violent encounter with the police. The deceased was one of the three students of the institution allegedly shot by the police. But the RUGIPO Head of Information Protocol and Public Relations Unit (IPPPR), Mr. Olumide Olugosi, said no student died during the protest. He said one of the injured students was referred to Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife, Osun State, for further evaluation and treatment. Olugosi added that the three students who sustained gunshot wounds were stable and were receiving treatment at Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Owo. Three other students were critically injured while property worth millions of naira were damaged. The students were said to have been shot accidentally by the police during the clash. Aside the students, scores of residents of Owo were injured while about 10 vehicles were vandalised in the ensuing melee. Sources in the school said crisis broke out when a private car of a police officer allegedly hit two students in the town. The students accused

The protesting students

the police of abandoning the victims. This was said to have forced the students to embark on a protest to the ‘B’ Police Division at Otapete. But the police dispersed them with tear gas and sporadic shooting. The victims were reportedly hit by stray bullets. The police reaction angered the students, who allegedly destroyed vehicles parked inside the station. They later blocked the Owo-Akure Expressway which is opposite their school, thereby causing a gridlock. Residents of Owo were not spared in the unrest as they were prevented from moving out of the town. A resident said the students burnt used tyres at the main gate of their school, Fasawe

and white House areas, which were mainly occupied by the students. Three hours later, the police brought in an Armour Personnel Carrier (APC) to clear the main road of Owo town, blocked by the students. But the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Femi Joseph, said the students attacked the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Mr. Akande. According to him, Akande is presently in a critical condition. Joseph said the students also attacked the police officers who were on duty when they stormed the station. The PPRO alleged that the students vandalised the parked vehicles inside the station although the DPO was calling for calm. He said: “The police vehicle which hit the

students was not deliberate. It was a total lie that the driver abandoned the students because he immediately took the victims to the hospital and they are currently receiving treatment.” The Vice President (Affairs) of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Mr. Timileyin Ayenuro, called for the immediate removal of the ‘B’ Police Division DPO. He accused the DPO of fuelling the crisis. Ayenuro said what the students were expecting from them was an apology over the matter since they did not know the present state of their colleagues. He also called for the immediate release of the arrested students and warned the police to stop harassing the students.

Soldiers kill kidnappers, rescue three women

Some of the soldiers and the rescued victims

Nankpah Bwakan Bauchi

oldiers from 33 Artillery Brigade, Bauchi, yesterday killed three suspected kidnappers and rescued three women held captive in Ningi forest. Addressing journalists at Shadawanka Army Barracks in Bauchi, the

Commander, Operation Flush Ningi, Major Boyi Uba, disclosed that the soldiers attached to the local government acted on an intelligence report received from a Good Samaritan and swiftly moved into the forest where they recused the women and killed the suspected kidnappers. It was learnt that gunmen abducted the women

in Ningi around 2pm and escaped into the bush. Uba said his troops stormed the bush, which is 120 kilometres away from the Ningi town, and engaged the about 50 suspected kidnappers at their camp in a fierce battle. According to him, three of the suspects died in the encounter while others fled into the forest.

He said the soldiers recovered two AK47 rifles, four cartridges, two motorcycles, two mobile phones from the fleeing kidnappers. The commander added that the soldiers then razed the camp. Uba, however, said the three women were rescued unhurt. He promised that his men would fish out the rest of the suspected criminals. Uba also urged residents of the area to continue to provide useful information to the soldiers that would lead to the arrest of the criminals. He said: “The bandits usually target Fulani people that reside in remote areas or villages. But if people will report to us in good time, I assure them that we are ever ready to come to their aid and their identities will be protected.”

10 NEWS

MONday, JUNE 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

MTN fine: Senate summons ministers, CBN gov, others

NIGERIA DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION Plot 447 / 448 Constitution Avenue, Central Business District, Abuja E-mail: info@ndic.gov.ng Website: www.ndic.gov.ng

INVITATION TO TENDER FOR THE PAINTING OF HEAD OFFICE BUILDING, ABUJA The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) wishes to invite reputable and competent Companies with good track record of performance and experience to tender for the Painting of Head Office Building, Abuja. CONDITIONS FOR ELIGIBILITY All bids must be accompanied with the following: i) Evidence of Company Registration with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) in Nigeria. ii) The current 3 years Tax Clearance Certificate of the Company (2013 – 2015). iii) Certificate of VAT Registration. iv) The Company’s audited accounts for the last three years (2013 – 2015). v) Evidence of Financial capacity or bank support to undertake the project. vi) Evidence of having successfully carried out similar works. vii) Company profile indicating qualification and experience of key staff for the project. viii) Proof of Company’s understanding of the job, Implementation plan and work methodology. ix) Evidence of Health and Safety/Environmental Policy and Community relation x) Evidence of compliance with ITF Act. xi) Valid Certification of Compliance with Pension Act issued by the National Pension Commission (PenCom). xii) Sworn affidavit to indicate that the Company is not in Receivership and none of its Directors was ever convicted of fraudulent activity. xiii) Evidence of registration with relevant professional bodies. xiv) Evidence of registration with the Bureau of Public Procurement Database for Contractors and Consultants. SCOPE OF WORK i. Prepare the existing surfaces of internal walls and soffits of suspended concrete slab to receive new work. ii. Prepare and apply ‘Berger’ Texcote and Emulsion paint on surfaces of walls and soffits of suspended concrete slab as applicable. iii. Painting and Decorating of the existing mild steel grills. TENDER DOCUMENTS Interested companies should obtain the tender documents from the Administration Department, 2nd Floor, NDIC Headquarters, Plot 447/448 Constitution Avenue, Central Business District, Abuja upon payment of the tender fee of N10,000.00 in Bank Draft made payable to the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, Abuja. Further requisite information required can be obtained from the Administration Department at the above address. Enquires could be made through the following e-mail address: info@ndic.gov.ng SUBMISSION OF TENDER DOCUMENTS Five (5) bound copies of the ‘Technical’ and ‘Financial’ tender documents must be submitted in separate sealed envelopes clearly marked “Technical Bid” and “Financial Bid” respectively, both put in a third (3rd) envelope sealed and marked on the right hand top corner “TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL TENDER FOR PAINTING OF HEAD OFFICE” and addressed to: Director of Administration Department, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Plot 447/448 Constitution Avenue, Central Business District, Abuja, Nigeria. The closing date for submission is Wednesday, 3rd August, 2016 by 11:00am. The tender is to be dropped in the tender box on the Ground floor, reception area at the Head Office Building. Companies submitting tenders are expected to sign the tender register on the 2nd floor, Admin Department., before dropping the tenders. Submission of tender by post or courier will not be acceptable, and any tender submitted at the designated location after the stipulated date and time shall be considered late and non-responsive. OPENING OF THE TENDER • Opening of tenders shall be on Wednesday, 3rd August 2016 by 11:00am at the Ground Floor, Visitors waiting room. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION i. Failure to satisfactorily fulfil the conditions as requested above will result to invalidation of such tender. ii. NDIC shall reserve the right to verify the authenticity of claim(s) made by the tendering parties. iii. NDIC shall reserve the right to reject any submission based on unverifiable information. iv. All financial bids should be quoted in Naira (N) for all Nigerian companies, while foreignbased companies should avail themselves with the most current (prevailing) exchange rate. v. All bidders are strongly advised to inspect the site before submitting their bids. SIGNED:

MANAGEMENT

lFG relaxed fine to encourage investors, says Shittu Chukwu David and Sola Adeyemo

he Senate has summoned the key players in the reduction of N1.04 trillion fine to N330 billion slammed on MTN Nigeria by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). Also, the committee condemned the manner Nigeria was short-changed in the reduction of the fine imposed on MTN for failing to disconnect 5.1 million unregistered subscribers. Those summoned include the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Minister of Communications, the Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of NCC, the Accountant-General of the Federation, Managing Director/CEO of MTN and the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria. They are to appear before the Senate Committee on Communications on Thursday, June 23, to shed more light on the issues surrounding the settlement. The sanction, which originally attracted N1.04 trillion, was initially reduced to N780 billion and finally to N330 billion. However, the committee alleged that the transactions were fraught with

suspected criminal tendencies as they were perfected secretly without recourse to due process. In a letter titled Re: Settlement Between NCC and MTN Over Fine dated June 15, and addressed separately to all the parties in the deal, which was obtained by our correspondent, the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Gilbert Nnaji, expressed dismay that the settlement agreement of N330 billion was reached with MTN out of a whooping N1.04 trillion. Consequently, the committee summoned all the parties involved to appear before the committee to explain their extent of culpability or otherwise. “As a committee and representatives of the Nigerian people, we are saddened about this development at a time when the Nigerian economy needs all the available capital infusion to bolster it. "It is our strong opinion that Nigeria has been short-changed in this whole process on account of the ridiculous settlement payment plan; coupled with the disparity in the exchange rate regime when the fine was imposed ab initio compared with the current prevailing exchange rate when it was agreed to cut the fine to N330 billion,” the letter read. Meanwhile, the Min-

ister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu, has said that the Federal Government decided to relax its stand on the $5.2 billion fine slammed on the telecoms company basically to encourage foreign investment in the country. The minister made this disclosure on Saturday in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. According to Shittu, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) decided to relax the penalty against the telecommunications giant after realising the negative impact the burden could have on the nation, its people and the economy. “As far as we are concerned, the MTN issue is a closed matter. The FEC has remitted substantial part of the penalty to them. Nigeria as a country must move on. We must not do anything to drive away foreign investors. Foreign investments are potent means of bringing about development and wealth creation. “Again, we must not forget that before MTN and other telecoms operators came on board, Nigeria had only less than 500,000 telephone lines. Today, because of their involvement, Nigeria now has more than 152 million lines and MTN is the dominant operator in the field. It controls almost 50 per cent of the lines," the minister submitted.

Buhari returns, says I'm strong, fit Anule Emmanuel Abuja

resident Muhammadu Buhari has returned to the country after a 14-day medical vacation in London. The president landed at the Presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja about 5:37p.m.and was received by the Zamfara State Governor Abdulaziz Yari; Governor Yahaya Bello (Kogi), members of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), top government officials, federal lawmakers and the nation's service chiefs at 5:46p.m. Buhari, who was conveyed in the official jet, 001 on arrival, inspected a special guard of honour mounted by men of the Guards Brigade and exchanged pleasantries with government officials, including members of FEC, Service Chiefs, Inspector-General of Police and presidential aides that turned up to welcome him. With the parade and

exchange of pleasantries over, Buhari entertained questions from reporters who sought to know his state of health after the medical trip. Asked how he was presently feeling, the president replied: "You saw me when I was going and you saw me when I came back, you can access the situation yourself. "I'm okay, you have seen me inspecting the guards of honour." Responding to a question in Hausa about how he was feeling, the president threw guests into laughter when he said: "Do you want to wrestle me? You can see I am taller than you." Shortly after the interview, Buhari left for the presidential villa. Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, reiterated his earlier position in an interview with reporters that the president did not go on medical vacation, but merely followed the advice of his physician, an ear, nose and throat specialist.

He said Buhari was fit and will resume duties today. While speaking to journalists, Governor Bello thanked God that the president went and came back in sound health. In his remarks, Governor Yari said: "It is a good thing that the president went on break and returned to meet his people hale and hearty.” Buhari had transmitted a letter to both leadership of the National Assembly, informing them that he would be proceeding on a 10-day trip to the United Kingdom. Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo had, on Wednesday before the commencement of the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting, confirmed that the president would return yesterday after his vacation. This is Buhari's second vacation since he assumed office as president on May 29, 2015. He spent his first vacation from February 5th to 10th also in London.

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Interview Buhari’s anti-graft war commendable but approach defective – Martins

Politics

Unending battle for PDP chairmanship The Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the former National Chairman of the party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, have renewed their battle over the leadership of the party, ONYEKACHI EZE reports

his is not the best of times for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). While other political parties are busy wooing electorate in Edo State and planning how to win the September 10 governorship election, PDP leaders and their supporters are busy throwing punches and abusing themselves on the pages of newspapers. PDP leaders returned to the trenches two weeks ago after members of the Board of Trustees (BoT), the Governors' Forum and National Assembly caucus, led the Senator Ahmed Makarfiled seven-member National Caretaker Committee to take possession of the National Secretariat. Chairman of the BoT, Senator Walid Jibrin, who, a week earlier, led the board members to take possession of the secretariat, which was sealed off for nearly two weeks by police, handed over the party headquarters and the Legacy House (PDP Presidential Campaign office), to the caretaker committee. "As the conscience of the party trusted with the responsibility of the property of the party, the Inspector General of Police handed over the Secretariat and Legacy House to BoT. "We are handing over the secretariat and Legacy House to the Senator Makarfi-led national care-

FELIX NWANERI

GROUP PoLITICAL EDITOR nwanerif@newtelegraphonline.com

Sheriff

taker committee to run the affairs of the party. "Makarfi was duly appointed and accepted by us, to legitimately lead our party, and we abide by the decision and resolution of the May 21 national convention in Port Harcourt, Rivers State," Senator Jibrin had said at the occasion. Former Deputy National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, who handed over the affairs of the party on behalf of the former National Working Committee (NWC), said there was no crisis in PDP. He said: "On behalf of the former National Working Committee, we are here to make a formal hand over to the new caretaker committee, which will midwife the convention. And we want to assure you that all politics is local. "We have to restate here, that all politics is local. Our leaders must go back to the grassroots. It is not enough to be in Abuja. It is not enough to say I am strong in Abuja. It is not enough to say I am former this, I am former that. I am strong here, I am strong there. You must be able to prove your worth in local politics and popularity. "We are no longer in government, we no longer have security agencies, we no longer have money. So, what matters is the grassroots, the popularity of your person at the grassroots to be able to deliver; do not wait for another person to deliver for you and for you to earn all the glory in Abuja. So, go back home and campaign for your

Makarfi

Makarfi was duly appointed and accepted by us, to legitimately lead our party

party." It was against this backdrop that many thought that the leadership crisis in the party was over. Except the former National Chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff who was said to be out of the country, and few governors, everybody who matter in PDP was present. But a statement by Special Assistant, Media to the former National Chairman, Inuwa Bwala, later that day gave the indication that Sheriff has not given up in the battle for the leadership of the party. Bwala in the statement described Makarfi's assumption of office as a "charade." According to him, the constitution of the national caretaker committee was "illegal, null and void." The seven-man caretaker committee was put in place in Port Harcourt on May 21, following a court order which bars PDP from conducting elections into the national chairman, national secretary and national auditor positions at its national convention. Apart from Makarfi, other members of the committee are Senator Ben Obi, (Secretary); Senator Abdul Ningi, Senator Odion Ugbesia, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, Hajiya Aisha Aliyu and Barr. Kabir Usman. Sheriff who left Port Harcourt shortly before the convention, obtained an order from a Lagos Federal High Court presided over by Justice I.N Buba, restraining the Makarfi-led caretaker committee from functioning as leadership of

the party. The caretaker committee, had a day before, on May 23, obtained an injunction from another Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, restraining Sheriff and others from parading themselves as national leaders of the PDP. The court also mandated the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to recognise the caretaker committee in all matters pertaining the conduct of primary elections for political offices and the submission of the PDP list of candidates for any elections, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice. It was based on the court order from Lagos that Sheriff called on his supporters to disregard the “so-called handover” of the PDP to some people as the matter was still in court. He also denied that he instructed Secondus to represent him at the handover event. The statement from Bwala read: "While we await the verdict of the court, we wish to state that Senator Ali Modu Sheriff remains the national chairman of the party, until otherwise declared by the courts. "We allowed the charade to go on at the secretariat without any form of challenge, in strict obedience to careful pronouncement to the matter, but we must also state that there is no gathering of groups or individuals, however powerful, such groups or individuals may be, CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

POLITICS \ MONDAY INTERVIEW

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Buhari’s anti-graft war commendable Former chairman of Police Equipment Foundation (PEF), Chief Kenny Martins, believes that President Muhammadu Buhari should not be held responsible for the lull in the economy. In this interview with Adewale Ajayi, he also speaks on the war against corruption, even as he disagreed with the approach adopted to recover the looted funds

How will you assess the state of the nation vis-a-viz the economic crisis and the complaints by Nigerians? There is no doubt that the country is in a worse state right now. Unfortunately, Nigerians as a people, both the leadership and the followership are guilty, because it is easy now for the governors to complain that they can’t pay salaries of their workers, but are they not the same people who clamoured to have every money accruable to the federation account. In fairness to former President Goodluck Jonathan, when he attempted to save part of the money accruable to the Federal Government from the excess revenue from crude oil sales, the governors resisted him and went to court. When President Olusegun Obasanjo was leaving office, we had about $56 billion in foreign reserve; we had about $36 billion in Excess Crude Account. That is in excess of $90 billion we have in our account. After that government left, there was a global glut also in the oil sector, and Nigeria and the rest of the world had economic glut, but because we had substantial money in our reserve, we were able to weather that storm, salaries were paid on time, foreign exchange level was steady, we had enough foreign exchange in our reserve for the rest of the world to know we are capable of funding our importation of goods and services. That is not where we found ourselves today. So, it is not just about blaming President Muhammadu Buhari or the All Progressives Congress (APC) responsible for the situation. We should also hold ourselves responsible as a nation. When next we have that kind of surplus and a set of governors want to take on the president as to why he wants to save, despite that there is no constitutional provision for such savings, but come to think of it, is it the constitutional provision we are going about now, or the crunch? It takes wisdom and pressure to say no to such extravagancies and filtering away our resources. To talk of a solution, there is no doubt that

Martins

the government in power is a determined one. Nigerians voted for Buhari as an individual because they trust him, and I believe that the government is poised to reciprocate that trust. It is wrong to always use the perception that we are broke, we are corrupt, we are hopeless, and we are worthless. That makes it impossible for anybody who has serious business in mind to be in Nigeria not to look in our direction. No nation can survive on its own resources and savings but it is when a country is stable that it can attract investors. You can see how much has been lost in the stock market in the last one year of this government. It all boils down to the fact that it took so long before the cabinet was put together. It took so long to have an economic team and policies which are not clear yet. It took too long for us to sort out budget. It also took so long to form a synergy between the executive and the National Assembly. Some of those avoidable squabbles at that level must be removed. There are so many internal wrangling at the topmost level of the government and ruling party. Instability and lack of confidence in the system scare investors. Except investors have confidence in us nothing can happen. We always say that China did well, how well did China do? China 25 years ago had virtually nothing, they were riding one billion motorcycles, one and half billion of them were wearing their blue uniform as dresses, but now they wear the best designer dresses, they have the best cars

and manufacture them also. What happened between the one billion motorcycles they were riding and 100 million cars they manufacture every year and even export now? The answer is simple; they were able to engender confidence of investors. Lack of continuity is one the things impeding development in Nigeria.

We cannot lay the blame on the doorstep of this new government. We must lay the blame on the doorstep of Nigerians; we need a national orientation

How do you mean by lack of continuity? Continuity in policy and execution of programmes. Nigeria use to have a rolling plans under the military but since we started democracy 17 years ago, there is nothing like a rolling plan. Any president or governor that comes to power forgets about everything the last government was doing to start new ones. Take the power sector as an example, billions of dollars have been wasted, we are the only country in the world that cannot generate its own power. We should be ashamed to tell the world how much we have invested in power since 1999. We met power at about 4,000 megawatts in 1999 but up till now, we are still talking about 5,000 megawatts, which means we can’t add 1,000 mega watts to the power grid in almost 16 years. This happened because there is no continuity. We need to correct all these, we cannot lay the blame on the doorstep of this new government. We must lay the blame on the doorstep of Nigerians, we need a national orientation. The government in power is blamed because it does not have economic policy that can

move the country forward. For example the official exchange rate was formally put at N197 to a dollar. That discourages investors, because if they bring their money in at the official rate, which falls short of what they get at the parallel market which is N300 and above, and they always find it difficult to buy at the official rate. I was surprised that the Federal Government could wait so long before pegging the dollar’s official rate at N250. They waited too long and the government gave room for speculations and speculators, when they were selling at N197 and the parallel market sold at N310. So, there was a gap of at least N100 between the official rate of the foreign exchange and the Central Bank rate, it has never happened in the history of Nigeria. What is your take on rising insecurity in the country, especially the menace of herdsmen? First, let me commend the government of the day led by President Buhari for taking on the Boko Haram insurgents in a totally different manner by boosting the morale of the army, equipping them, putting the right men in the right place. Perhaps, there are no too many cases of soldiers abandoning the fronts under this government because they know their generals stay in the camp with them. That was missing in the last government but today we should give kudos to Federal Government and also to Nigerians, the soldiers, the civilian JTF, some of the governors in those areas and the people there too, they

POLITICS \ MONDAY INTERVIEW

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

but approach defective – Martins herdsmen has been building up for some time, I believe President Buhari needs to put up holistic approach in place on how to really solve the problem. Some of these herdsmen do graze in Sambisa forest and Lake Chad region, but the lake is drying up and Sambisa forest is occupied by insurgents, who steal their cattle and kill the men, so they have to take off. Since they have left the viable place, do they have anywhere in the country that can sustain them? I believe that clearing of Sambisa forest will create a major grazing reserve for them.

have risen to the occasion having gotten the support of the Federal Government. So, I believe in a short while, Boko Haram would be a thing of the past. That also takes us to the Niger Delta, where we have Niger Delta Avengers. The Federal Government needs to find advisers who are willing to reconcile these people, so that we don’t fight too many battles in too many fronts. Niger Delta Avengers did not come up until this government emerged. I do not believe anybody has an axe to grind or to undermine the government of the day; it is because some of the approaches and some of the steps taken by some of the government advisers have been wrong. There is no arguing that Niger Delta is in a sorry state because of oil exploration, so any government that comes to power must put in place, palliative measures that must be permanent. What about the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) set up to address the issue? Is it not the same NDDC that money allocated to it was squandered. How many NDDC projects have you seen in the Niger Delta? Now that we have new government in place, I hope the NDDC will rise up to its responsibility. Let the NDDC do to the Niger Delta people what the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) did to the rest of the country. Let us see what they have done, let’s see their achievement, you don’t hide these things, you don’t hide positive achievements, they speak for themselves. Secondly, I do not see any reason

in confronting or picking up some of those militants who surrendered their ammunitions during the administration of President Umaru Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan. There is no need stirring crisis. If they were accused of stealing money, does it need this conflagration? I am happy government has decided to send the man in charge of amnesty to go and commence negotiation because the battle cannot be won by military confrontation. Government should also be aware it has enemies in government circle and outside. There are also enemies outside the country’s shores, who may want to benefit from the confusion in the Niger Delta, either economically or politically. On the Fulani herdsmen, I have read some reports, and listened to some comments, whereby people accused the President of taking side with the Fulanis but I said no president will do that. I remember when Obasanjo was in power and Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) turned itself to a menace in the South-West, he dealt with them. No president will allow anybody to grow wings to the extent of taking up ammunitions. When they do that, they are usurping the president’s authority. So, President Buhari can’t do such a thing. What I believe is responsible for that is that, now that Boko Haram is dealt with, a lot of people who are part of the insurgents are pretending to be herdsmen. They have criminalized cattle rearing because they maim, kill and rape. These are not the hallmark of Fulani men we knew as kids. Though the nefarious act of these

APC won’t be in government forever, when another party comes to power, let them take care of any APC member that is corrupt

What is your take on the inability of most states of the federation to pay salaries? It is so sad that they place all what they need on the table of the Federal Government. Can you imagine that only last month, Ondo State government was talking of raising the production level of cocoa after being in office for almost eight years. Ivory Coast last week overtook India as the largest producer of cashew nut. They can’t even process 10 per cent of the cashew nut they produce, so they send them out for processing. They are now aspiring to increase the processing level by about 50 per cent between now and 2019. These are things Nigeria excelled in before. What excuse do states like Nasarawa and others known to be high producers of cashew nuts have? What were the governors doing in the last 16 years of democracy? Any time I speak with some of the governors as a business man, they will be looking for investors, but they don’t make hay while the sun shines. I asked some why they can’t build global standard hospitals in their states, and investors who have the expertise will manage it for them and get their money back in 10 years, but they ignored the good advice. They will use their states resources to build gigantic buildings without equipment and call them hospitals, so they have squandered all the money that could have been used in productive ventures that would have increased their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) by now. Now, they don’t have money to invest, even when investors come they can’t provide counterpart funding. Those investors want seriousness and their level of involvement too. The states are talking about diversifying their economy but they don’t have the resources to do it and they have humongous civil servants salaries to pay. How will they pay? Unfortunately, in most of these states everybody looks up to the government for survival. The best thing that has happened to the country is the reduction in money accruable to states and the Federal Government. That is going to compel both of them to start thinking and start listening to people. For the last 20 years, we have been shouting that there is the need for diversification, investment portfolios, investment options from health

area, agric and transportation. I am very happy about the enthusiasm of the governors who are looking for investors from different areas. This shows there is still hope for the country. I am sure Nigeria will bounce back; this drop in the price of oil price will not last forever. When there is new dawn, Nigeria will be wiser and those in the executive position will be wiser too. Do you think the present administration is serious about diversifying the economy? I have always said it that Nigeria is the only country where yesterday is always better. In other nations, their yesterday is just a reference point and a stepping stone to better today. Is it enough to say that we didn’t diversify the economy, even in the oil industry, should we build refineries and all of them are dead by now? Should we just be exporting crude oil? We are not talking of the bye product that we can bring back for our plastic industries, pharmaceutical industries, agro allied and chemical industries. Instead of selling crude oil at $30 dollars per barrel, we can process them in Nigeria and get almost $300 per barrel or $200 conservatively. We would not have been much affected by this fall in the price of oil, in which case, we don’t need to spend our foreign exchange to buy that same product of petrochemical refinery that we are buying from abroad. Can you believe we are selling oil to the outside world and Nigeria is not involved in its shipping? All the effort by Nigeria to be involved is sabotage through the people in the industry, and that is major source of revenue earning. What is the Federal Government’s reason for building four refineries over 30 years ago and still holding on to the dead refineries? Why has the Federal Government not taken at least $20 billion out of the $56 billion kept in the foreign reserve to build new refineries, sell it to Nigerians to manage and return the money invested? Can’t we do that? They are waiting for external investors to come and build for them, where is that done? Government needs to take a strong position in such strategic investment. About 100 licenses were issued for new refineries but none has been built. What is your assessment of the ongoing war on corruption, which members of the opposition have described as a witch-hunt targeted at them? The fight against corruption has to start from somewhere. When Obasanjo was president, he was accused of taking on the PDP governors, which happens to be the party in power then. Now, APC has come to power and it is taking on PDP personalities and governors. PDP should go and strategise and get power back, and take on the APC members who are not being tried now. The four years of APC ruling will soon elapse. What is important is that, we have started the fight against corruption from somewhere; not starting it at all is the problem. With the fight against corruption, I have seen that so many people that want to do business with government are very careful nowadays, even the civil servants CONTINUED ON PAGE 15

POLITICS

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Makarfi, Sheriff rekindle hostilities C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 1 1

that can be said to take precedence over the law.” Former National Secretary, Prof. Adewale Oladipo, who is still laying claim to his position, also said the caretaker committee lacked powers to run the affairs of the party. Oladipo, who described the caretaker committee as group of lawbreakers, said in a statement that “It was very wrong for the committee to takeover PDP’s headquarters (also known as Wadata House). "Sheriff is out of the country and will be back. The lawbreakers are in Wadata deceiving themselves. The law will take its course in the next one week." But without waiting for the law to take its course, Sheriff alongside Oladipo and Alhaji Adewole Adeyanju, former National Auditor, invaded the PDP National Secretariat last Monday with hired thugs. And after four attempts and consultations with the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Aresa, they gained access to the complex. The former National Chairman later told newsmen that he remains PDP chairman till 2018, stating that he delayed taking over after the Port Harcourt convention to allow the exparte injunction obtained against him by the caretaker committee to elapse. His words: "It is public knowledge that, although there was an order by the Federal High Court in Lagos, declaring me the authentic National Chairman of the PDP, I have kept away from taking steps that could jeopardize the law following an exparte order from the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt which had given a contradictory order, restraining me from operating as the Chairman of our party notwithstanding some further orders from the Federal High Court Lagos, specifically directing the inspector General of Police to provide me with adequate security to enable me carry my duties. "Now that the exparte order given in Port Harcourt has elapsed on the 9th of June and has not been renewed or extended, it is now my pleasure and privilege to inform you that I have fully resumed as the one and only National Chairman of our great party, the PDP." Sheriff also announced that the party had set up a committee to organise governorship primaries for Edo State, with Senator Hope Hope Uzodinma as chairman and ordered interested aspirants to obtain nomination forms with the sum of N10 million. INEC had initially put the party on notice that the crisis within its fold may make it (PDP) ineligible for the September 10 governorship election in Edo State. According to the commission’s Deputy Director for Public affairs, Nick Dazang, who was quoted while speaking on a radio programme in Abuja, the crisis may affect the party’s participation in the governorship election if not resolved on time. He noted that the schedule of the election demands that parties participating in the election hold their primary elections between June 2 and July 4 to pick their

Oladipo

candidates. “The primaries are supposed to take place between 2nd June and 4th July. So, we expect that between now and then the PDP should be able to resolve some of these issues in the interest of that election. “In this instance when we are pressed for time if the parties in the dispute resort to court, it is going to take long it before the issues are resolved and they collect these forms. So, we advise that they resolve some of these issues in good time to collect the forms so that they can hold the primaries and the candidates that will contest under their platform can emerge. They have between now and July 4 to do that,” he said. Dazang explained that Section 30 of the Electoral Act states that: “the Commission shall, not later than 90 days before the day appointed for holding of an election under this Act, publish a notice in each state of the federation and the federal capital territory (a) stating the date of the election; and (b) appointing the place at which nominating papers are to be delivered.” With only two former NWC members with him, the former National Chairman ordered other former NWC members supporting the caretaker committee to resume duty immediately or risk losing their positions. "The party's constitution is very clear, you have right to resign your appointments. There is a deputy to take over automatically. All the deputies are waiting and if by tomorrow (Tuesday), anybody that did not come, we ask the deputy to apply for that office and takeover," he declared. Already, the party has commenced contempt proceedings against him for misinforming party members and members of the public that the ex-parte order obtained from Federal High Court in Port Harcourt expired after 14 days. The court has, at its sitting last Thursday, stated that its earlier

Adeyeye

I have fully resumed as the one and only National Chairman of our great party, the PDP

order still subsists and has not elapsed. It reserved judgement on the matter on July 4. The caretaker committee also accused Sheriff of working with the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) to destabilise PDP. At a press conference last Tuesday, the committee member in charge of publicity, Prince Adeyeye, alleged of a meeting between the former National Chairman and APC governor from North West. According to him, it was agreed at the meeting "to give full security and financial support" to Sheriff to exacerbate the crisis in the PDP with the objective of preventing party from presenting a candidate for the Edo governorship election, or in the very least to prevent the PDP from offering a serious challenge to APC. He also disputed the assertion by Sheriff that he called off the Port Harcourt convention, adding, "The National Convention of PDP can only be called by NEC and once that is done, it is only the National Convention that can cancel and postpone its proceedings. No individual or other organ of the party can postpone or cancel the National Convention. "The appointment of Senator Sheriff was not ratified by any National Convention of our party; so constitutionally, he has no other mandate which can extend beyond 21st May, 2016. "The case before Hon. Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court, Lagos was instituted by Sheriff and others to restrain the PDP from conducting election into the offices of the National Chairman, National Secretary and National Auditor. "The court did not restrain the PDP from conducting the National convention. The National Convention is the supreme organ of the party under Article 3302) of the PDP constitution. "In the exercise of its power under Article 33(5)(b) & (e) of the constitution, the National Convention

removed all officers of the party and set up a caretaker committee to plan and a National organize convention within 90 days." Reacting, however to the PDP caretaker committee’s allegation that Sheriff is working for it, the ruling APC said it would not join issues with PDP, noting that the main opposition party was suffering from its sins of the past. In a statement issued by APC’s National Secretary, Mai Mala Buni, the party said, “For the umpteenth time, the APC wishes to state that instead of joining issues with the baseless and laughable allegations, the APC would rather join issues that will bring about all-inclusive development in the country. “However, it should be put on record that the PDP forced on them whatever crisis it is troubled with today due to its politics of imposition and other undemocratic practices which the APC abhors. “The PDP should put its house in order rather than playing to the gallery and blaming others but themselves for their sins which has come to hunt (sic) them. Also, it is evident that the PDP has chosen to employ diversionary tactics because of its inability to produce credible candidates for the forthcoming elections in Edo and Ondo states”, Buni said. Also lending its voice to issues about whether Sheriff is an APC mole in PDP, a group, Northern Youths United Against Impunity in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said the statement is a propaganda and cheap blackmail against the former governor of Borno State. In a statement signed by the group's national coordinator, Alhaji Tanko Yunusa, the youths said the view by the Makarfi-led caretaker commitee lacks the facts and adequate information to address the contending issues. "If they say it is the APC that is using Senator Sheriff to destabilize our party, shall we also say it was the APC that used Governor Ayo Fayose and others who brought him and sold him to other stakeholders as the “messiah” the party needed?” Interestingly, since last Monday's invasion of the secretariat with thugs, the PDP headquarters has witnessed skirmishes between various groups drumming support for each of the chairmanship claimants. Before the seal off of the secretariat by the police last Friday on the orders of the Inspector General of Police for the second time, the Makarfi group, which brought in local hunters from Kaduna State, had effectively taken control of the party headquarters. The IGP had, after a peace meeting with stakeholders, which was attended by the Director General, Department of State Services (DSS), Lawal Daura, said the two groups agreed to nominate four representatives, each, for peace talks to arrive at a harmonise position within one week. It was also resolved that the PDP Secretariat at Wadata House Plaza and Legacy House should be under lock and key pending the outcome of the resolution. Perhaps, this might bring the crisis to an end.

POLITICS

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Umahi: Building a new Ebonyi Stanley Emegha

he emergence of our illustrious son, Engr. David Nweze Umahi as the Governor of Ebonyi State after surmounting some inexplicable hurdles and daunting challenges is nevertheless a divine arrangement that goes to demonstrate the fact that power belongs to God and not the exclusive preserve of some people to the exclusion of others. Unequivocally, there is no doubt that the developmental paradigm of the pragmatic, focused and visionary administration of Engr. Umahi, has within a short time ushered-in an enduring revolution in the socio-economic and political facet of Ebonyi State. This unstoppable revolution has not only gained prominence but is fast sweeping across the state like a hurricane of fire. The change mantra as encapsulated in the urbanization of Abakaliki capital territory as well as the rural transformation scheme of the state government, has overwhelmed doubting Thomas's even beyond the stretch of imagination of the average Ebonyian. This excellent and unparalleled performance of our ebullient and indefatigable Governor has unarguably singled him out as the best Governor of the Year and thus raised some fundamental questions agitating the minds of Ebonyians, and other Nigerians. Some of the questions border on the secret behind the success story as well as the source of funding of the on-going massive infrastructural development in the state in spite of the prevailing global economic recession. There is no gain saying that the anti-corruption crusade of the Engr. Umahi led-administration coupled with the systematic and scientific approach adopted by his administration in the art governance of Ebonyi state are obviously the magic streak behind the success story. In his attitude of zero tolerance to corruption, Engr. Umahi on assumption of office in May, 2015 introduced monthly self auditing exercise of all financial records of ministries, agencies and parastatals for purposes of maintaining sanity and financial discipline in the management of the state resources. This measure, nevertheless, is intended to checkmate sharp practices which had in the past served as a conduit pipe for the siphoning

Umahi

government treasury. The laudable reform of the state civil service with special emphasis on productivity has inspired change in the attitude to work among the civil servants, and also, evoked the spirit of genuine competition among ministries and other government agencies for the overall good of the people. Hopefully, those recalcitrant workers who are yet to adjust themselves to the new work ethics in vogue following government pronouncement would henceforth receive salary on pro-rata basis according to their monthly work input. The drastic shortfall in the revenue accruing to the states from the federation account as a result of the dwindling oil revenue no doubt compelled the state government to look inwards and consider the possibility of diversifying the state economy in order to meet with the conflicting demands and diverse interests of its citizenry. Consequently, the Ebonyi State governor in his magnanimity and wisdom domesticated internal revenue generation in the state following the enabling law passed by the State House of Assembly authorizing the appointment of an 8-man Internal Revenue Board for purposes of maximizing internal revenue proceeds. Despite the slim resources at his disposal, Engr. Umahi has unarguably excelled in his dogged deter-

Umahi has unarguably excelled in his dogged determination to rebuild a new Ebonyi State of our dream

mination to rebuild a new Ebonyi State of our dream. This lofty dream which initially started with the beautification of the Abakaliki capital city has not only improved the ecstatic value of the capital city but has spread to other parts of the state. Suffice it to say that the capital city has received a tremendous face-lift as a result of the asphalt over-lay of more than 60 kilometers of urban roads, provision of standard drainage system, bridges and culverts; construction of flyovers and pedestal crossing at strategic locations to check incidence of road accidents and loss of innocent lives, installation of streetlights, water reticulation, improved environmental and waste management strategy etc. The aggressive approach adopted by the state governor towards construction of roads and bridges across the state received warm enthusiasm and overwhelming support of the masses who logically concluded that the problem of road in state would soon be a thing of the past before the expiration of the 2nd tenure of Governor Umahi’s administration. Some of the roads under construction are; Hilltop / Nwofe / Izzi Road, Amegu / Ikwo road, Nkalagu /Ehamufu Road, Ntezi/Ohafia Agba/lsu Road, Onueke / Abomege Road, Amasiri / Okposi / Uburu ' Road, Amasiri / Owutu / Ebunwana / Ekoli / Nguzu Road etc. In his unwavering commitment to revolutionize the agricultural sector in order to ensure food sufficiency enough to promote and guarantee commercial export of agricultural produce, the Umahi administration, obtained N2 billion loan from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for disbursement to deserving farmers after critical evaluation of their farms. The government has also put back on track the Rice Clusters at Ikwo and Izzi respectively which have since started full scale production while the one sited at Oso Edda is currently being re-activated. It is gratifying to note that the State Government procured over 200 tractors for mechanized farming including the acquisition of 85,000 hectares of land which the government has right now entered into partnership with UNIDO for purposes of embarking on large scale rice, cassava, tomatoes and fish production while arrangements have reached an advanced stage for the installation of additional

rice mills across the state to meet with the grandiose agricultural programme. It is worthy to note that the State Government had carried out an empirical evaluation of factors that inhibit success in the education and health sectors. This study has offered the government the opportunity to identify these problems and the attendant solutions to enable government re-position these key ministries for effective teaching and learning as well as provision of efficient health-care delivery service to the people. Consequently, the Ebonyi State Government, at the moment enjoys the privilege of having fore-knowledge of what it takes to digitalize the education and health sectors for a result oriented services, having access to N5 billion UBEB fund as take off grant. Similarly, the establishment of Laser Fever Center, Abakaliki - the first of its kind east of the Niger; the special assistance given to indigent patients suffering from complex ailments such as cancer, heart, liver, kidney diseases etc as well as the proposed plan to give accelerated attention to School of Health Technology, Ngbo and College of Nursing, Uburu are worthy of commendation. At this juncture, one can unequivocally say without fear of contradiction that Ebonyi State has been adjudged as the most peaceful state in Nigeria. This is apparently because of the high premium, Engr. David Nweze Umahi placed on internal security as an indispensable agent of development. He has aptly demonstrated this commitment by providing the necessary logistic support to security agencies such as patrol vehicles and operational gadgets for effective security surveillance in the state. The declaration of war against cultism, planned introduction of CCTV at all the exit points of Ebonyi State, the amicable resolution of both the Ezza/Ezillo crisis and the lingering Nigercem dispute, Nkalagu, have placed Gov. David Nweze Umahi, as a case study and a role model whose sterling leaderships qualities should be emulated by the contemporary African society. His giant strides and monumental achievements within his one year in office are unparalleled in the annals of history of our great country. Hon. Emegha writes from Ekoli Edda, Ebonyi State

'Lack of continuity, bane of Nigeria’s development' CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13

are very careful. Even those in the private sector are also doing business with much carefulness. What is important is to take on some people. APC won’t be in government forever, when another party comes to power, let them take care of any APC member that is corrupt. I don’t think we should worry about that. What do you think government should do about the money recovered from those who looted the treasury? Has the money reflected in the fed-

eration account, until when the money reflects in the federation account, we can’t talk of what to do with it though I believe that the approach to the corruption fight itself is defective. Defective in what way… I believe there should have been a kind of amnesty on corruption. Other countries like Malaysia did it when they wanted to do a turn around. They called on all the corrupt people and told them to release 60 per cent of what they have stolen and take 40 per cent and urged them to invest the 40 per cent given to them in the country.

Isn’t that a way of encouraging corruption? Now that they have been in court with late General Sani Abacha family, how much have they recovered? All these money you are talking about, is it possible to recover them? It is not possible, because the countries where the funds are kept are not willing to return them. The money has already been invested in their system, they are only waiting for the investment to mature and return the interest they made from it. That is why we are just getting the Abacha loot now. So, the money we are looking for are

already invested in those countries and no matter what you tell them, they won’t return the money, they always find one excuse or the other. But if the person that saved the money in their account says ‘I want my money back’ that is a different case, but this one you have to wait for conviction and it takes a long time. You can stop the stealing from now, but the one that has been stolen, you need to be creative in other to recover them. If we get the stolen money, it will turn the economy around for better. It takes two to tango, the countries where the money are kept are interested in taking the money from them.

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Opinion

Enejere of candour, integrity and passion I.N.A Ugwuegede Life will test man to see if he is willing to put “loyalty” to others ahead of fidelity to his principles. He will be offered many temptations to expose his true character. A man’s greatest reward is to live with integrity, and his greatest punishment is what he inflicts upon himself for placing anything above his integrity. Whenever the man sacrifices his integrity, he loses his freedom… and himself as well. (StevePavlina.com)

very well recall the day that I spent the greater part of the afternoon with Dr. Emeka Enejere in 2006 at our family home in Opi. My father, the late Igwe G.A. Ugwuegede, had just been buried and in the days immediately following that event one of the guests we, my sister, Dr Joy Ugwuegede, and I, received was Dr. Enejere. Dr. Emeka Enejere was a very recognizable name in Nsukka and certainly in my family; he had visited with my parents severally. So when he came calling to offer respects in memory of his departed friend, I, for one, braced for what could be a stiff and formal meeting. That day I learned how easy-going, compassionate and even humorous he could be. He told us the stories of his relationship and friendship with our parents, of their attempts at the development of the people and the zone, of his perspective on persons, on the church, on our Igbo and Nsukka cultural institutions and on life itself. His was no high horse. He consoled us and cheered us up. We were glad to have met with him. By the time he left in the evening, we had formed a bond a personal bond, with him. This very healthy relationship, involving

other members of our family, especially my mother’s siblings, and his dear wife, the Honourable Justice, continued to blossom as time went on. By the time I forayed yet again into politics in 2011, this time in a constituency formally involving Igboeze South LGA, his own LGA of origin, he was prominent among those whose support I sought. Dr Enejere continued to be concerned about my matter right up till the very end of his life. I will ever remain grateful that he was so minded and thought me a fit person to expend his thoughts and support upon. I will continue to remember him. I am sure there are very many others who will remember him very fondly too. I do not dare to give his life history – there are far too many around who are more disposed and who have more data than I – but two areas of his life endeavour will show the candour, passion and integrity that is so much in him. One is the creation of Igboeze South LGA. Tributes generally are a time of benevolent hagiography of the deceased but it is no exaggerations that the contribution of Dr. Enejere to the creation of Igboeze South local government area, during the military administration of then President Ibrahim Babangida, is possibly at the apex of all such efforts. In a country where access mattered, it was he who had the contacts and access, the will and the zeal, to tenaciously pursue the cause of the people until the creation of Igboeze South local government area became a reality. His integrity, courage, strength of conviction and resolve to walk the talk were brought to the fore very poignantly during his time as the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The details of the governance challenges besetting the university and the governing council

It was he who had the contacts and access, the will and the zeal, to tenaciously pursue the cause of the people

that he led may have many sides, depending on who you ask, but it is undisputed that the Pro-Chancellor, an alumnus of the University himself and a former lecturer had a vision for his assignment and a passion to bring it to fruition. Perhaps for him was the dictum in Romans 12:2 King James Version (KJV) “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” An intelligent man, he certainly knew that it was “safer” for him to “go with the flow” and “be a team player” but he chose to do what he perceived to be the right rather than the convenient or safe thing. He chose to be guided by the dictates of his principles and his integrity. Whatever may be the judgment on his tactics, it is obvious that he did not just talk the talk of probity, transparency and accountability, he also walked the talk. He never lost his integrity, and he never lost himself. And so he toed a difficult path, seeking to contribute to the motto of that university – to restore the dignity of man – for indeed there was restoration required at the time he came. Some had reasoned that Dr Enejere could have “gone with the flow”, become strong within the scheme of things as they were and end up with more power and influence, in tandem with the status quo. But to go with the tide is to go only downstream; it may be quieter but you are in the company of flotsam and the destination is not yours. Dr Enejere chose to plot a path to a destination carved out by a vision, and the sounds of his voyage to his intended destination are yet distinct. Though he was removed from office, the actions of the students, staff (academic and non-academic, and the entire university and its’ host community after the fact show clearly that his was an appreciated effort. • Engr. Ugwuegede wrote in from Enugu.

Kogi: From court to Kangaroo panel The last trick of a devil is to pretend to be dead”- Napoleon

Saka Raji

e have just learnt about the constitution of a Panel to investigate the Governor of Kogi State, His Excellency, Yahaya Adoza Bello. The Panel, we understand, has seven days within which to submit her Report. The Panel is said to have been anchored by some aggrieved APC members, both at the State and National Assembly from Kogi state. They accused Gov. Bello of what they refer to as “anti party activities” by allowing other political party ‘members’ particularly from PDP to become Commissioners and Aides in the State. Ironically, most members of the Panel were directly or indirectly members of PDP who moved away to take cover under the umbrella of APC. It would be recalled that since the young energetic Bello assumed leadership of the state, he has been made to face series of challenges, which of course, the governor has survived so far. Ironically too, we observe with dismay that such challenges are always caused by some self styled leaders of the APC, both at Local, State and National levels.

They made themselves strangers and opposition in their own house. Incidentally, none of these self styled APC leaders from Kogi State could boast of having been instrument to Yahaya Bello’s election as the fourth Executive leader of the state. It is simply the work of God. Bello has so far performed excellently well in his avowed determination to bring Kogi from the nadir of poverty to the limelight of recognition. The good people of his state are already getting a sigh of relief, considering some high level of progressive steps he has taken so far. He won his court cases at the State tribunal and put his detractors to shame. Gov. Yahaya survived every antic mounted against him and his state by some retrogressive elements in the State that prefer “business as usual” It is however appalling and regrettable that with the good work the young governor is doing for the state, the elements have not relented in their archaic method of “if not me, it is no one else. In our strongest view, what the confluence state deserves now is cooperation and understanding with the progressive governor God put in place so that tomorrow shall be better for the people of the state. The setting up the Kangaroo Panel to investigate the so called anti party

activities of the governor is nothing but a smokescreen of the conspirators to still have their dubious way of making Kogi a backward state while they feed fat at the detriment of the masses. This act must be resisted at all costs as Kogi state cannot afford to live in yesterday ‘s agony of corruption, nepotism, aggrandizement and all forms of political evil machinations. Nothing good can come out of the gang up called Panel of investigation. No discerning mind should take the panel serious as even the reason for such dubious intention requires investigation. Alhaji Yahaya Bello is a God-sent governor to the good people of Kogi state, not only to APC as a political party but also to other political parties in the State. As a Governor on the platform of APC, he necessarily requires that he extends an olive branch to other willing political party members for the growth of the state. Therefore, he has not committed any offence worth investigation if he has taken such progressive step for the state. In the history of Nigerian politics, we have seen how out of the mass oriented good policy of the ruling party, the opposition is willing to join the former for the progress and development of the State. This is what is referred to as “political marriage of

convenience”. No man born of woman should put the governor of the state on trial for such progressive action. The governor knows that he who eats alone dies alone. So, he needs to carry every member of the state along for good or bad. If the detractors who want to eat alone are not happy about it, let them wait for their turn when God would equally permit them the position of the governor. Kogites therefore in unequivocal terms condemn the setting up of Kangaroo Panel to investigate the hardworking governor under the facade of so called anti party activities, when in effect those who set the panel and the members are products of other political parties in the State. We consider such action as another form of witch hunt in furtherance of already existing animosity and hatred by this select few in the society. They should again go to court if they are so much aggrieved, the result of which they already know. Let them know that things are changing fast and they must adopt this change for the common good of the state. Finally, let the detractors down tools, their weapons of destruction in the State because as Napoleon stated, “the last trick of a devil is to pretend to be dead. • Raji is a Kano based journalist.

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

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his is indeed a time to mour n, one of the greatest patriots produced by Nigeria Stephen Okechukwu Chinedu Keshi passed on when there are calls for more dedicated citizens to pick up positions all over the land. Keshi who rose from a World Cup qualifying substitute to captain and later manage the senior National soccer team showed he could do or die for country when he was punished severally by his European teams for choosing Nigeria above Strasbourg, France and RWD Molenbeek, Belgium respectively. The Nigerian captain had joined Division Two side Strasbourg in 1991 from Anderlecht, Belgium. In the next one year, he helped the team to the elite division. Coach Gilbert Gress was so impressed that he handed over the Skipper’s band to the Big Boss. Keshi knew the responsibilities of a leader. He also knew the Eagles needed to qualify for their First ever World Cup. The Captain travelled to South Africa against the Bafana Bafana in a 1993 USA’94 qualifier. Gress was furious. The Manager reacted promptly by stripping the Nigerian of the captain’s band. Big Boss was also condemned to warm the bench. Not many Nigerians knew what their team leader was going through. Keshi was compelled to open up at the Gateway Hotel, Otta in May 1993 shortly before the Eagles flew to Abidjan to confront the Elephants of Cote D’Ivoire. He said,” my headache is manager, Gilbert Gress, a man who was like a father

to me but today does not want to have anything to do with me. We used to be the best of friends. He always called me for discussions, asking questions like what is happening to me, what of the family and all that.” Frustrated, the skipper returned to Belgium to join RWD Molenbeek. Love for country was like a red rose sweetly tuned in June. Keshi was thrown out in 1994, for the same reason that cost him a place in France. The Eagles qualified for the World Cup, a huge compensation. At the end of the Mundial, he moved to the United States. Keshi’s patriotism earned him the respect of former Camerounian international, Joseph Antoine

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this boy talking like that? Since then we became friends. I love the way Keshi believes in his country.” Keshi stood out as a player and many could bet a fortune about his place in future. South African journalist and FIFA Media Officer, Mark Gleeson, after watching the Eagles pound his country 4-0 in Lagos prophesied thus, “ Keshi is world class. He will be the next coach of Nigeria.” The skipper achieved that much later. The exodus to Europe began with Keshi after he joined

Keshi’s patriotism earned him the respect of former Camerounian international, Joseph Antoine Bell

Bell. Appointed Eagles Skipper to the Cote D’I voire 2006 Nations Cup by Coach Adegboye Onigbinde, he squared up with the Indomitable Lions duo of Roger Milla and Bell in a pregrand finale radio programme. Bell explained Keshi’s infectious patriotism. “ A day to the final, a journalist interviewed Keshi, Roger Milla and I”, the goalkeeper told Nigerian daily, Champion, eight years later in Dakar, Senegal. “ I was surprised to hear Keshi tell the reporter ‘we came here to win. We promised our people back home we wil win and we are going back to Nigeria with the cup.’ I asked Milla, ‘who is

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Belgian side Lokeren from Stella Abidjan. He had been a xe d from the Eagles by NFA boss To ny Ikazoboh in 1985 leading to his move to Cote D’Ivoire. Be-

fore Keshi, some Nigerians had played in Europe. There was Albert Osakwe who played in England before the UK Tourists in 1949. Titus Okere starred for Swindon in 1952, Teslim ‘Thunder’ Balogun joined Peterborough in 1955. In the 1980s, names like Christian Nwokocha, Sylvanus Opkala[Keshi’s 1977 Flying Eagles team mate], were in Portugal. It was Keshi who opened the big door. Stars like Osaro Obabaifo, Samson Siasia, Mike Emenalo,Humphrey Edobor, Etim Esin, Ademola Adesina, Andrew Uwe, Chidi Nwanu and Austin Eguavoen journeyed to Belgium.

Here was the little boy of yore who won the Lagos state Principal’s Cup with St. Finbarr’s College, Akoka Lagos as a junior student in 1976 and again 1977. His first club was NICON Lagos from where he teamed up with Seven Planners, Badagry. Keshi later joined Johnson Wyatt, Lagos before he moved to ACB, the Lagos Rangers and then New Nigeria Bank, Benin in 1979. Skippo joined Anderlecht from Lokeren and in a 1989 Champions League quarter final game with Barcelona which the Belgian side won 2-0, Keshi was voted Most Valuable Player. He won the Belgian Cup in 1988, 1989. Twice the Big Boss won the then elusive WAFU Cup with NNB, 1983,1984, lifted the Ivorian Cup with Stella in 1985. Keshi made a huge mark in African soccer in 2013 when he won the Nations Cup as Eagles coach thus becoming the second to win as player[1994] and coach after Mahmoud El –Gohary of Egypt. He was also the first African to lead three African teams to the Nations Cup. The first Nigerian to play soccer in four continents-Africa, Europe, Asia and North America. Nigeria owes this great son who sacrificed so much a lot. First Nigerian to qualify another country to the World Cup, CAF Coach of the year 2005 and former Flying Eagles coach. The best way to honour our own dear Keshi is to name the National Stadium, Abuja after him.The history of our football should be the story of patriots like Stephen Keshi.

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

monDAY, JUNE 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Interview

Law

Why plea bargain is complex, by Olowokure

News Lawyers caution Osun govt on religious attires

20 23

lthough they were unanimous that the country is in need of true federalism, prominent Nigerian lawyers at the weekend disagreed on the implementation of the National Conference report of 2014 as a first step towards restructuring the country. While others believe that the country may not know peace until President Muhammadu Buhari embark on restructuring of Nigeria in line with the recommendations contained in the confab’s report, others differ. They said the confab’s report notwithstanding, the restructuring of Nigeria must be in line with the principles of true federalism. For weeks, restructuring of Nigeria had dominated the centre stage following agitations and demand for separation by various groups as well as other socio-economic crisis. This was further dented by President Buhari’s statement that the much anticipated implementation of the 2014 National Conference report belonged to the archives. The President had said that the document will continue to remain in archives as he was not ready to entertain any briefing on it for now. He said: “I advised against the issue of National Conference. You would recall that ASUU was on strike then for almost nine months. The teachers in the tertiary institutions were on strike for more than a year, yet that government had about N9billion to organise that meeting-National Conference and some members were complaining that they hadn’t even been paid. I never liked the priority of that government on that particular issue because it meant that what the National Assembly could have handled was handed to the Conference, while the more important job of keeping our children in schools was abandoned. That is why I haven’t even bothered to read it or ask for a briefing on it, and I want it to go into the so-called archives.” But some eminent Nigerians advised President Buhari to implement the confab’s report as a first step towards restructuring of Nigeria. This also dominated positions of some senior citizens at the 17th convention of the Igbo Youths Movement in Enugu last week. All the speakers including former Vice-President Alex Ekwueme, former governor of old Anambra State Chukwuemeka Ezeife and a former National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) chieftain, Ayo Opadokun called on President Buhari to embark on restructuring of Nigeria in line with the principles of true federalism. Specifically, they asked Buhari to implement the National Conference

FOLUSO OGUNMODEDE JUDICIARY Editor

foluso.ogunmodede@ newtelegraphonline.com

Akeredolu

Akintola

Ali

Lawyers: Confab report can’t solve Nigeria’s problems TUNDE OYESINA and AKEEM NAFIU write that lawyers disagree on the implementation of the confab report by the Muhammadu Buhari-led government as panacea for the nation’s socio-economic and political stability

report of 2014 as a first step towards restructuring the country. However, lawyers at the weekend joined the fray. Although they differed on the implementation of the confab’s report as panacea for the nation’s socio-economic and political statbility they agreed that there was the need to do a structural re-adjustment on how this country would be run. A former president of the lawyers’ umbrella body—the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu, Chief Adeniyi Akintola, SAN, Malam Yusuf Ali, SAN, Mr. Festus Okoye Mr. Toluwani Yemi Adebiyi, university don Wahab Shittu sharply disagreed on the implementation of the confab’s report. For instance, Akeredolu believes that the implementation of the confab’s report may not solve the nation’s myriads

of problems even as he dismissed agitations and demand for separation by various groups as well as other socioeconomic and political crisis as inconsequential to the implementation of the report. According to him, the country could only progress if a structural re-adjustment on how the country would be run was put on the front burner. Apparently miffed by agitation that the implementation of the confab’s report would reduce some of the crisis bedeviling the nation, Akeredolu tasked Buhari to adopt a carrot and stick approach to bring the demand for separation by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) and others to the barest minimal. He said: “I do not believe that the

present agitation has anything to do with the non-implementation of the confab report by the Buhari-led administration. No doubt we are facing some problems as a country and I think the President should continue in his approach to these issues, in particular, the dialogue it planned with the Niger Delta Avengers. “The only way we can solve this problem is to allow a carrot and stick approach. We must discuss the issues in a round table. There cannot be any military solution to this type of agitation. There can never be a solely military solution to it but we must have to discuss. Now, the issue of confab decisions has always been there but there is a need for us to sit down again to address these agitations by the various groups in the country. CONTINUED ON PAGE 24

20 Law|Interview Muyiwa Olowokure is a former chairman of the Kaduna branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). In this interview with IBRAHEEM MUSA, he speaks on the NBA election, regional groups, voting formula, corruption and sundry issues President Muhammadu Buhari has said in London that the judiciary is one of his major obstacles in the fight against corruption. Similarly, EFCC Chairman Ibrahim Magu said that senior lawyers are a clog in the wheel of his anti-graft war. In which way will A.B Mahmoud help in the fight against corruption if he becomes the NBA president? A.B Mamoud has said it time and time again while addressing lawyers that before we even clean up the judiciary, we have to look inwardly at our own people, our practices. Are we above board? Do we as lawyers still command the respect that we had 20 to 30 years ago? A.B intends that there should be an in-house cleaning, that lawyers keep to accepted professional and ethical standards. And that they do not get involved in sharp practices. After that, he intends to take on the issue of corruption in the judiciary in full. He has said it is time and time again that a lot of judges were very upright and straight forward. But there are a few bad eggs and he has admitted that he has also been a victim of some judges whose judgments have been very questionable. So, we are not running away from that, there are issues both within the Bar that need to be cleaned up and those in the judiciary as a whole that also need to be cleaned up. His proposal is to first of all regulate the conduct of lawyers so that the public is convinced that every lawyer you meet on the street or in his office, will live up to his name by showing good ethics and professionalism. That is the first stage. The second stage is to insist that the judiciary is clean. And any judge that we find to be corrupt or involved in questionable practices. I can assure you that the National Exco under A.B Mahmoud will go after him. The bottom line is that the Bar needs a man of courage at this point in time. The Bar needs a man of integrity. The Bar needs a man that is not and has not been deep in partisan politics. The Bar needs a man that will be respected by all organs of government. The Bar needs a man that does not have any baggage. The Bar needs a man that will not be intimidated by antigraft agencies and that man is AB Mahmoud. What does plea bargain mean? Plea bargain is a very complicated issue. What creates the problem is if it is not done with transparency and sincerity. If somebody has stolen N1 billion of the country’s money and we do not know where this money is and the man is not ready to talk, there is a problem. And he is jailed for three or five years and he comes out and starts spending the N1 billion the way he wants, as a nation we have not gained anything. Yes,

monDAY, JUNE 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Why plea bargain is complex, by Olowokure

I am referring to the Screening Committee which reportedly endorsed Gadzama and not a panel… That is what I am saying. The Screening Committee which was set up with the consensus of Arewa Lawyers’ Forum has not sat. It was a Committee that was to have three nominees from each candidate. Whatever process that you are referring to, if it existed at all, was not properly constituted. So, I am not saying that what you are saying is incorrect or correct, but the only legitimate process that was instituted was a process that required the parties to give three nominees each with the Exco of Arewa Lawyers’ Forum nominating the chairman. That process, to the best of my knowledge was truncated, for reasons known best to those that truncated it. So, as far as I’m concerned and as far as members of the Arewa Lawyers’ Forum are concerned, that Committee never sat, although I can’t speak for them because I am not a member of Arewa Lawyers’ Forum. But A. B Mahmoud is a member and he has told me and I have every reason to believe him and other senior members of the Forum have also told me that JK Gadzama’s group aborted the process because they believe that the panel will endorse A.B Mahmoud and that the vast majority of the members will follow suit.

Olowokure

he has been prosecuted but he can just see it as a sacrifice for stealing. So, the idea of a plea bargain is to take this stolen money away from him. By so doing, you have disempowered him because if you jail the person and he comes out and has N1 billion at his disposal, he can do a lot of havoc to the government of the day. So, the idea of plea bargain in corruption cases is first, to recover the money. Disempower the culprit and at the same time mete out punishment. So, you have to balance all these ideals or principles together in order to get an acceptable balance. I think what makes an acceptable balance rests on the integrity of the people who are implementing it. If the people do not have integrity, then obviously the general public will cry out because it will be clear that Nigeria as a nation has not gained anything. For me, plea bargain as a principle is good if people understand what it is set to achieve, which is get Nigeria’s stolen money back, disempower the individual that has that wealth and still punish him. So, you have to balance all these principles. The process of getting back the money and disempowering the culprit sometimes, cannot be achieved without the individual’s cooperation. A.B Mahmoud contested against Bayo Ojo and J. B Daudu, both Senior Advocates of Nigeria, and lost in 2004. What has changed between now and then do you think? If you look at the indicators then, Bayo Ojo with due respect, won with

any person to participate in that process which was unanimously agreed upon. If a process is put in place to find a consensus candidate and J.K Gadzama himself did not participate by nominating three people, to the best of my knowledge that panel has not sat because it has not been constituted. So, it is totally impossible for there to have been any consensus candidate. So, that report is not correct and it was deliberately planted to mislead members of the legal profession.

Plea bargain as a principle is good if people understand what it is set to achieve, which is to get Nigeria’s stolen money back

the maximum number of votes. At that time, many people at the Bar thought he was a government candidate and we were vindicated because at the end of the day, he became the Attorney-General of the Federation. So, I think he had an undue advantage in that race. J.B Daudu beat A.B Mahmoud fair and square, we can’t argue with that. But the vote margin wasn’t much; I think it was just 20 votes or so. J.B Daudu, by the grace of God became the president six years later. We now believe that it’s A.B Mahmoud’s turn. He has stayed in touch with the Bar, he has continued to serve the Bar; he is now wiser, smarter and stronger. And we think he will serve us creditably well. What is the correct position on the adoption of Chief J.K Gadzama by the Arewa Lawyers Forum? That report is totally incorrect and false. The Arewa Lawyers Forum which is a regional body of lawyers of northern extraction initiated a meeting and wanted to move towards endorsing a particular candidate. This move was resisted by a large number of its members. What was agreed was that a panel should be set up. And that panel should comprise three nominees from J.K Gadzama, three nominees from A.B Mahmoud and one member nominated from the executive of Arewa Lawyers’ Forum. A.B Mahmoud nominated Yusuf Ali (SAN) J.B Daudu (SAN) and Garba Tetengi (SAN) and J.K Gadzama raised objections in respect of A.B Mahmoud’s nominees. But J.K Gadzama never nominated, to the best of my knowledge,

Why is NBA into regional bodies? With due respect to the regional bodies in NBA and we have many of them. We have the Eastern Bar Forum, the Egbe Amofin, that is the South West Lawyers’ Forum, you have the Mid-West Lawyers’ Forum and the Middle Belt Lawyers’ Forum. There are so many zonal/ regional/ ethnic fora in NBA. A.B Mahmoud’s position is that, it is the constitutional right of any group to come together and associate based on their ethnic or regional interests. But his emphasis has always been that, he wants to lead a Nigerian Bar Association. He wants to be the president of lawyers in Arewa Lawyers’ Forum, the lawyers in Egbe Amofin, the lawyers in the Eastern Bar Forum, the lawyers in the Middle Belt Lawyers’ Forum and every other forum. So, some candidates may be more interested or have shown more interest in these ethnic or regional fora for reasons best known to them. But what I can tell you is that A.B Mahmoud is a totally detribalized Nigerian. He places Nigeria and the Nigerian Bar Association, above regional fora. So, it may be that in relative terms, one of the candidates has placed much more emphasis on his ethnic/ regional enclave and wants to be the President of a regional block. A. B Mahmoud wants to be the President of the Nigerian Bar Association and represent all shades of interests and opinions. But I know that A.B Mahmoud has been contributing to Arewa Lawyers’ Forum programmes. May be some of the members feel CONTINUED ON PAGE 21

Law|Interview 21

monDAY, JUNE 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Although he has made a detour, lawyers at the weekend gave a hard knock on the chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, Mr. Danladi Umar for contemplating Decree 2 against journalists. TUNDE OYESINA reports

CCT chair under fire over Decree 2

e was absolutely livid that he threatened journalists with decree 2, saying was ready to bring back the obnoxions decree 2 should he have his way. According to him no members of the Fourth Estate of the Realm would escape being hauled behind the bars with the obnoxions law. Mr Danlad Umar, who chairs the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), had accused journalists of an alleged misrepresentation of facts before him especially the ongoing trial of Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki over alleged false declaration of assets. Apparently miffed by a series of media coverage of proceedings he described as ‘misrepresentation’ of facts, Danladi threatened to jail journalists should he had access to the obnoxious decree 2 in a democracy. “I would have called for the return of Decree 2 against journalists’ covering the ongoing trial of Dr. Saraki. Umar who could not hide his disdain for journalists said that “journalists should be punished” for publishing falsehood, “it is a criminal offence.” He went on: “If I have my way I would bring back the decree 2 of the olden days to take care of the irresponsible journalists in this country. How can they dare to publish that we have adjourned the trial of this defendant (Saraki) indefinitely, it is the highest point

C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 2 0

that he has not been as committed as they would have liked him to be, but to the best of my knowledge, he has been very committed to the Arewa Lawyers’ Forum. The fact that people from other regions feel more comfortable with him like I do, is a very good indicator of his wide acceptability. I am a member of Egbe Omofin, I was chairman of Kaduna Branch of NBA, I am a detribalised Nigerian, we want the best for the Bar. We are not looking for an ethnic leader. We want a President for the Nigerian Bar Association. What qualifies a lawyer to be a member of Arewa Lawyers’ Forum for example? Is it ethnicity or place of practice? It’s ethnicity. You must be ethnically from the north in order to be a member of the Arewa Lawyers’ Forum. Apart from the allegation that A.B Mahmoud is aloof to the activities of Arewa Lawyers’ Forum, the Kano Branch of NBA itself has complained that he has kept his distance from it. As they say, all politics is local, don’t you think that this may affect your candidate’s chances in the July election? No, I don’t think so. The Branches in Kano are leading his campaign and have informed the gen-

Agabi

of irresponsible journalism but I thank God for them that we are in a democratic era and that is why they are doing what they are doing now. They are embarking on sensational journalism to sell their newspapers at the expense of truth but that is not journalism but a serious crime that can lead them to jail”. Decree 2 in the dictatorial regime of General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida empowered the Chief of Staff Supreme Headquarters to detain journalists for up to six months without trial. At the time, special military tribunals increasingly replaced law courts while the state security agency, the National Security Organization (NSO), were given greater powers. But the chairman described his comment as ‘a cracked joke’. In a release, Justice Umar said: “The statement by the Chairman was made out of joke, not to intimidate any member of the Fourth Estate of the Realm in this country from observing their statutory functions as mandated by the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria, as anchored in liberal

Jacobs

Umar

democratic society like ours. “We wish to state that the CCT Chairman as a law-abiding citizen recognises the role assigned to media practitioners by law and would not do anything to hinder the media practitioners from doing their legitimate jobs” However, days after this ‘misfire’, lawyers at the weekend, took turn to berate the CCT judge. They described his statement as unbecoming of a judicial officer especially as a judge expected to be a functus officio. In a swift, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and former Justice Minister and Attorney-General, Kanu Agabi said although his admiration of journalists was borne out of their contributions to the enthronement of democracy in this country, he said Nigeria was not in need of the obnoxious decree but peace. Agabi asked Nigerians to pray for peace rather than anything that would endanger the peace of the nation. A human rights lawyer, Joel Mac Gabriel stated that such statement credited to Umar was uncalled for as far as a judge was concerned. According to him, “if truly the

I would have called for the return of Decree 2 against journalists covering the ongoing trial of Dr. Saraki

CCT chairman has uttered such statement, it is not a good thing at all for the image of the judiciary. It seems the chairman had forgotten that he should be seen but not heard, making such side statement which cannot add to the justice of the matter before him, but rather makes the public to form a perception about him. “Also, on the statement credited to him being spoken to the Senate President, the chairman seemed to have jumped into the arena of the case, and is against the code of ethics for judicial officers. “By that statement, the chairman threw away the principle of fair hearing and also breached the trite law that an accused is still presumed innocent until he is pronounced otherwise by a competent court.” Already, Saraki had filed a fresh suit seeking the disqualification of the chairman over the alleged statement as it related to facing the consequences of his actions. Saraki claimed that the alleged threat by Umar in an open court was a clear indication that the tribunal had made up its mind to convict him at all cost irrespective of the evidence before the court.

‘Why plea bargain is complex’ erality of Nigerian lawyers that he is the best candidate for this period and that he will lead the Bar with integrity and strength. In concrete terms, almost all the branches of the association in the North are solidly behind his candidature and what we are doing at the moment is mop up operation. I have also talked to members from Kano. In our National Steering Committee, they are two to three substantive members of the Kano Branch and I can tell you that we have a very large following in that Branch. I think what you said is the opinion of the people that you spoke to. But I can give you the names of other members of the Kano Branch who will give you a different opinion. As far as we are concerned, A.B Mahmoud has been supportive of Arewa Lawyers’ Forum, the Kano Branch of NBA and more importantly, the Nigerian Bar Association in general and we are confident that he will lead a brave new Bar that will defend the profession and will not shield those members that have brought our profession to disrepute. What role do young lawyers play in the

We want the best for the Bar. We are not looking for an ethnic leader. We want a President for the Nigerian Bar Association

election especially their perception of Mahmoud’s candidancy? It is totally untrue for people to say that A.B Mahmoud is aloof. We have put out our contact lines now, people can call him and have discussions with him. Just two days ago (June 8th), he addressed a large gathering of young lawyers in Abuja and the interaction was fantastic. A.B is not a politician by nature, he doesn’t play to the gallery, he doesn’t do the things that politicians do to make them seem acceptable. He tells you what he can do in clean, clear and concise language. If that’s what is interpreted as being aloof, that is not true. I have been on his campaign trail and we have interacted with young lawyers in every single branch that we have been to. And we have been to quite a number. The allegation is not true but I must confess that it is one that I have heard but it is not correct. AB is accessible and understands the challenges of the younger elements of the profession. He has broad and practical programmes to address their challenges. Obviously, people have that impression and we will continue working to address that issue. But I affirm that

AB Mahmoud is accessible and his numbers are on our website and our members can pick up their phones and call the numbers on our website and speak to him. What should Nigerian lawyers expect from A.B Mahmoud’s NBA presidency should he win the coming election? What Nigerian lawyers can be assured of with A. B Mahmoud as president of NBA is total integrity, transparency, fearlessness and focus. He will not play to the gallery and will not call black white. You will be rest assured that a lawyer sitting in his office, will be proud of associating with the president of NBA, that A.B is his president and representative. Under his Presidency, honest members of the Bar will be proud of their association. He will isolate those that bring the Bar to disrepute and clean up the association. The young lawyers will have more job opportunities and enhanced job security. During his Presidency, you can be sure that anti-graft agencies will not visit the secretariat of the association because the President has no baggage. AB Mahmoud will lead a brave new Bar.

22 Law|File

monDAY, JUNE 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Money laundering Act: An exposure to domestic PEPs’risk

Ibrahim Yeku

he term politically exposed persons (PEPs) originated in the Swiss banking community and have been relevant within this sphere for several decades due to the high profile of many Swiss banking clients. The famous case of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos “Steel Butterfly and the Dictator” and millions in illicit funds hid in Swiss bank accounts highlighted the need for enhanced client due diligence and ongoing transactional screening when dealing with senior politicians , their associates and families as clients. In Nigeria, the concept may be new in the sphere of public discuss and lexicon. However, the case of a former governor of Bayelsa State, the late Diepreye Solomon Peter, a UK associated PEPs with approximately 18 financial vehicles and other legal entities who pleaded guilty to six counts of corruption during July 2007 and was convicted of six counts of fraud and false declaration of assets, brought to the fore the inherent exposure to domestic PEPs risk. The prominence of the concept in the international community can arguably be traced back to Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations of 2003 on Money Laundering wherein an attempt was made to proffer a definition for PEPs. Although there is no generally acceptable definition of term, varying attempts have been made to define PEPs in the context of the risk it poses to investment and the business community at large. The FATF defines PEPs as “individuals who are or have been entrusted with prominent public functions in a foreign country, for example heads of state or of government, senior politicians, senior government, judicial or military officials, senior executive of state owned corporations, important political party officials. Business relationship with family members or close associate of PEPs involves reputational risk similar to those with PEPs themselves. The definition is not intended to cover middle ranking or more junior individuals in the foregoing categories.” Basel Committee on Banking Supervision defines PEPs as “individuals who are or have been entrusted with prominent public functions, including heads of state or government, senior politicians, senior government, judicial or military officials, senior executives of publicly owned corporations and important political party official”. UK Joint Money Laundering Steering Committee Group 2009 defines PEPs as “an individual who is or has at any time in the preceding year, has been entrusted with prominent public functions, and an immediate family member, or a known or close associate of such persons. This definition only applies to those holding such a position in a state outside the UK or in a Community institution or an international body.”

Magu

The forging definitions provide an insight into the meaning of PEPs and categories of persons that can be classified as PEPs. However, the lack of international acceptable definition and clarity in the definition of PEPs has significant impact on financial institutions compliance obligations. Knowing persons who classified as PEPs and those who are not is crucial to the effectiveness of Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Progarmme. For instance, the Basel Committee’s definitions varies from FATF in the sense that it does not include family members or close associates but covers middle ranking or more junior individuals and excludes provision for PEPs in a foreign country. The UK JMLSC’s definition differs from FATF’s definition by placing restriction on time and the use of the phrase “prominent public function” which is obviously vague and capable of diverse interpretations. The implication of unclear definition of PEPs by FATF has resulted in the exclusion family members beyond immediate family, junior and middle ranking PEPs, close associate and domestic PEPs thereby overlooking the inherent risk exposure of institutions who may be dealing with these individuals. The use of the phrase “in a foreign country” by FATF made its definition of little or no significance within the domestic circle where the PEPs operate. This definition is a useful guide when a UK based financial institution is dealing with persons who reside outside the UK but does not help the local Nigerian bank to identify PEPs in the domestic sense; rather the definition would be useful to a Nigerian bank dealing with PEPs in UK. This is a misnomer because the entire 40+ 9 recommendations apply PEPs provisions to foreign PEPs. Hence, a Nigeria

Financial institutions are the major beneficiaries of corruption as they use this dirty money to boost liquidity and create artificial balance sheet

bank that desirous of complying with the highest standard of compliance applicable anywhere in the world in fulfilling its domestic compliance obligations may not find solace in FATF’s recommendation. Although the interpretation note of the recommendation encourages countries to extend the requirement to domestic PEPs, this can only be advisory and does not form the substance of the definition of PEPs. Though it has been argued that FATFs recommendations are mainly advisory and failure of states to follow the recommendations does subject states to sanctions. Nonetheless, one would have expected an immediate amendment to the recommendations following barrage of criticisms that has bedeviled the definition. The question is why would FATF place such weighty provision in the interpretation note as against its substantive recommendations? Why is reference made to domestic PEPs in the interpretation note when same was not implied or inferred in the express definition of PEPs by FATF? Who is a domestic PEP or Foreign PEP? The limitation contained in FATF’s definition has created a distinction where there should be no difference. The same effort used by FATF in interpreting the recommendation could have been used to reword the definition to accommodate both PEPs in domestic and foreign country. The implication of FATF definition is that the risk exposure to PEPs locally is likely to be undermined by local financial institutions as attention will be focused on foreign PEPs whereas corrupt public office holders are no longer interested in moving the proceed of corruption outside the country due to the tight AML enforcement regime rather have devised a scheme for laundering

money locally. Although the fight against money laundering requires concerted effort amongst regulators and the financial institutions, it is worrisome to know that the enforcement of AML legislations and the effectiveness of the system lean heavily on the collaboration with the financial institutions. The pursuit of profit at all cost by financial institution has made it near impossible to trust the commitments of the institutions to the fight against money laundering. Money laundering investigation and enforcement starts with the financial institutions filing various report either STR or SAR. The question is how many of the current AML cases in Nigeria were triggered by the reports filed by local financial institutions? The failure of Nigerian banks to file these reports can be attributed to the culture of impunity and corruption that has become a way of life. In Nigeria, no money is dirty; hence violation of AML obligations are rarely sanctioned or prosecuted by regulators and law enforcement agencies. The government is busy prosecuting launderers but without considering the role of the banks in aiding the laundered monies. As at the time of writing this article, no Nigerian bank has come out to state its involvement or make available the due diligence report or enhanced due diligence report issued with respect to the various indicted account holders. The question is how has Nigerian banks fared in terms of compliance with AML compliance obligations? In Nigeria, PEPs are untouchable and highly esteemed by financial institutions. This is not surprising because government institutions and PEPs are the preferred client of financial institutions operating in Nigeria. The financial institutions are the major beneficiaries of corruptions as they use this dirty money to boost liquidity and create artificial balance sheet. Sadly, a successful enforcement of AML requires the cooperation of the financial institutions. Whilst in other part of the world financial institution are skeptical about dealing with PEPs, in Nigeria, knowing PEPs is a meal ticket and guarantees you a promotion within the financial institution. The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Central Bank of Nigeria has been docile over its monitoring functions of the financial institutions prior to this time. This is because the previous administration allowed corruption to breed in an uncontrollable proportion. In the wake of the current fight against corruption, the entire anti-money laundering framework of Nigeria needs to be overhaul in order to forestall future Dukigate’s 2.1 billion dollars (arms deal scandal in Nigeria). It is worthy of note to state that financial institutions failed because there was a failed government in Nigeria before now.

Law|News 23

monDAY, JUNE 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Lawyers caution Osun govt on religious attires Placing some schools in Osun state under security watch following unrest trailing a court verdict which empowers female Muslims to wear hijab to school may not solve religious crisis already brewing in the state after all, writes Akeem Nafiu

awyers have cautioned the Osun state government to tread softly by applying strict rules of law and due process to resolve the brewing religious crisis enveloping the state over a court judgement, empowering female Muslims to wear hijab and other paraphernalia. Justice Jide Falola of an Osun State High Court, in a case instituted by a Muslim community against the government on the rights of female Muslim students in public schools to use hijab on their school uniform, had in his ruling empowered the students to wear hijab. But the court judgement did not go down well with the state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) which on Tuesday directed Christian students to wear choir attires and other apparel to school. Speaking on the issue, a Lagos based lawyer, Ige Asemudara, described the Osun drama as a reflection of what was happening in Nigeria. He said: “The country is in a serious crisis. This crisis is political, legal and social. It proceeded from the background of our history. We are all strange bed fellows and that is why we are having most of these problems we are having. I have said

John Chikezie

head of its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting holding next month, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikorodu branch has elected new officers to run its affairs for another two years. The election of the new officers was however held amid protest as some candidates challenged their disqualification by the association’s electoral committee. The committee was set up by the national body of the NBA for the branch to oversee the election. The committee which comprised of former chairmen of the branch had the followings as members. Mr. Nurudeen Ogbara, Prince Kazeem Adebanjo, Mrs. Gloria Ukeje and Mrs. Tope Sarumi, the Secretary of the committee. The placards carrying lawyers attempted to disrupt the process of the election but were dislodged by policemen from Ipakodo division. The aggrieved members was led by a chairmanship candidate, Abimbola Ojedokun, complained that a two man representative of the national NBA which visited the branch earlier wrote in its report that they were “substantially” qualified for the election. But according to Ojedokun

Some students of Baptist High School Iwo Osun State wearing different religious attires to schoo

it somewhere, even before this crisis get to this level, that if care is not taken, Nigeria is on the precipice and something urgent should be done to salvage the situation. “Now, in that judgement by the Osun High Court Judge, you will see that there is no iota of nationality in it. This is because the judgement seems to be protecting a religious belief and practice. It is not wrong for one to practice his religion but when you find yourself in a secular state like we have on our hand, you must be able to draw a line between protecting a religion and the secularity of the state. When you have schools operated by religious bodies, then you can decide what dress code will be adopted by the students. “But, when you have public schools belonging to a secular state, we must be able to respect the secularity of that state. There had been cases in the United States where judgement was given in respect of the secularity of the country. That is why you hear statement like we are a religious

people but we do not belong to a church or a mosque. “The United States Congress cannot pass laws promoting a particular religion or belief. To that extent, both the judiciary and the law enforcement agencies should stand aloof from backing any religions or its beliefs. This particular judgement has set Osun State on fire and I believe one thing that should be paramount in the mind of every judge while giving judgement in the interest of the state. “The Constitution has guaranteed the right to religion. Nigerians collectively do not believe in heaven but we do individually. Therefore, such rights are individual rights and not collective rights. By the time you say a Muslim body should go and do something and vice versa, you are given a collective colouration. I strongly urge people against whom the judgement was given to go on appeal. I believe when it is appealed against, the wisdom of my noble lords

at the appeal court will be able to correct the anomaly.” To McAnthony Aikharialea, nothing was wrong with the judgement. “To me, in my personal view, there is nothing wrong with that judgement. The real intent of the judgement is there to show that Nigeria is a secular state. However, there is a pertinent point that every serious minded individual must address his or her mind to. This is the fact that the state of the Nigeria nation must be put into consideration in all things.” Aikhrialea went on: “The major problem facing this country today borders on security. We have come to realize that the Boko Haram terrorist groups are employing all means to bring the country to its knees. One of the strategies they have employed is the use of hijab in carrying out bombings. “No one is against the use of hijab because it is a particular way of dressing for people of a particular religion. No one has any right to condemn it. But I want to advice that due to security challenges in the country, that way of dressing should be relaxed till when we surmount all the challenges. We must put the country and its present situation into consideration. Also, I want this particular judgement to be appealed against. At the appeal court, we have the luxury of having five legal minds to preside over the matter.” He was echoed by a former chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja branch, Monday Ubani, who said it would be in the interest of justice if the matter goes to the Court of Appeal. Ubani said: “I would have loved a situation whereby this matter goes to the Court of Appeal and possibly the Supreme Court, so that there will be a definite pronouncement on the issue.” I also want to emphasize the need for all Nigerians to try as much as possible to tolerate one another. There is so much internal wrangling and hypocrisy in the system.

Ikorodu NBA elects officers amidst protest ...as Ikeja gets chair

Alegeh

the Ogbara led election committee refused to implement report of the national officers that visited the Ikorodu branch of the Bar. However, Ogbara dismissed his claim insisting that the disqualified candidates had failed the uniform bye laws put

in place for election in NBA branches nationwide. He said one of the three candidates was technically disqualified because he had held office twice and not eligible for election until after five years as stipulated in the new bye laws while another was disqualified

because he was sponsored by persons not qualified. The third person was disqualified for not paying professional practice fee for 2014 and 2015. He said two earlier committees set up at branch levels had earlier disqualified them but that they kept re-presenting themselves for the election. Outgoing chairman, Dotun Adetunji said what happened was as a result of a few members having different views from that of the majority. He said: “Their candidate for the chairman was disqualified and they petitioned the national body which culminated in the setting up of a new election committee of past chairmen of the branch, led by Nurudeen Ogbara. “The new committee screened all candidates and again disqualified the aggrieved candidates including Ojedokun on similar grounds as stipulated in the new uniform bye law.” The election which was held peacefully, produced Mr. Levi Adikwaone as chairman, Mrs. Charity Fagade as Secretary, Mrs Bolatito Olasola as Treasurer, Mrs. Odunola Jegede as

Social Secretary, and Mr. Oladipo Adewunmi as Financial Secretary. Meanwhile, a former 1st vice-chairman of the NBA Ikeja branch Mr. Adesina Ogunlana was elected as the branch’s new chairman. Ogunlana replaced Mr. Yinka Farounbi, whose tenure ended last week. The electoral committee chairman, Adebamigbe Omale, who declared the result at the association’s Ikeja, Lagos Secretariat said Ogunlana polled 94 votes to defeat two other contestants. Other contestants are Aguegbodo Batholomew, who polled 53 votes and Gloria Nweze 51 votes. Also elected are Carol Ibharuneafe, Vice Chairman, Muna Esegine, Secretary, Adedokun Issa Akanji, Asst. Secretary, Akinwale Ajibola, Publicity Secretary, Coco-Bassey Thelma, Treasurer, Okeke Uju, Financial Secretary, Jemerigbe Eyimofe, Social Secretary and Tanimowo Oluranti as Welfare Secretary. The new executives who will take charge of the association for the next two years had since assumed office following their swearing in ceremony at the weekend.

24 Law|news

monDAY, JUNE 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 1 9

“We need to do a structural readjustment on how this country is being run. A committee of some wise men in the country can be constituted. They will now come up with some comprehensive recommendations to the President on how to restructure this country. This probably might douse the tension across the country.” Akeredolu was echoed by another Senior Advocate, Akintola, who simply said even though the confab’s report was implemented, Nigeria’s myriads of problems would remain. He was however quick to canvass implementation of relevant aspects of the confab’s report as a guide to structuring the country. Akintola said: “I don’t belong to that school of thought. Although I believe that if the confab report is looked into and certain aspects of it is implemented, the chances are there that the agitations might reduce. “But implementing the confab report cannot solve our problems until the country is restructured. I was part of the conference but I can tell you that the report fell short of the expectations of Nigerians. We must have true federal structure otherwise the country will remain in the dark. What is important for us is to sit down and fashion out a proper federal structure in line with the thinking of our forefathers. There must be another deliberation because the one we had was full of compromises. “For instance, the issues of resource control and devolution of powers was not fully addressed by the last confab. There is no state in this country that does not have one resources or the other. For instance, I am from Oyo State, my state does not produce oil but I believe it can be richer than Bayelsa if we practice true federalism. If a man from Bayelsa passes his pipeline through Oyo State, he must pay for every inch of the land that the pipeline is occupying. No State should envy the other in this country with the potentials God has blessed us with.” Yusuf Ali said “people talk about the report, what is in the report? Nigerians just talk out of sentiments. What exactly is in that report? They should let us know what exactly the issue is all about even if there is no report; we should know what they are agitating for. I think that is the bottom line. “In any event, the heading is not an answer for a headache. So, when you are clamouring for restructuring, what are they restructuring, so we must be sure of the exact thing. The issue is this, all the geo political zones have different things in the report that they want implemented. So, we must know the exact one we are implementing. It is just like the issue of restructuring. It means the same thing to all the geo-political zones. “To the South-West, it is about regionalism, to South-South it is economic independent, to the north, it is about power, and we are talking about different things. We must know where we are heading. The worst thing that can happen to a country is to approach an issue without knowledge. We should know which aspect of the report they want implemented. If they insist on a particular aspect, another region will also call for the implementation of another aspect to be implemented. So, we need to harmonize and synthesize.” Foremost rights activist, Dr.

Okoye

Abayomi

Confab report splits lawyers Tunji Abayomi said that there was no reason for the implementation of the report as it had no backings of the law. Abayomi said: “The confab has no legal foundation nor does it have constitutional authority. To begin with, the President under the Constitution has no job except like three specific jobs. The President can constitute his cabinet, appoint ambassadors and grant prerogative of mercy. Those are the only specific jobs specifically stated by the Constitution for the President. Apart from those three jobs, the President has only one single job and that is to execute the laws and the Constitution. Now in this case when it comes to the confab, what authority was the President standing on to constitute it? “I was one of the people who began the agitation but it was purely for the purposes of ensuring that the people of Nigeria have their constitution. Like I said, it is not a government that gives the people a Constitution; it is the Constitution that gives the people a government. It is not the content of a Constitution that validates it, it is the process of making the Constitution. In the case of Nigeria, the Constitution was forced on us by the military that has no power to make a Constitution. When the military came into power in 1984, it vested on itself the power to make laws not the power to make a Constitution. A Constitution is different from a law. “When President Jonathan was going about constituting the national conference, it was a voyage of discovery. No basis at all, he was just wasting national resources on a mere expedition. So, Buhari cannot execute what is organically and fundamentally unconstitutional. “However, the president cannot disregard the voice of Nigerians that this nation needs to be restructured. When people are talking about restructuring, nobody appear to operationalize it. The concept of restructuring only has meaning within the contemplation of the Constitution of the people by the people and for

The confab report fell short of expectations of Nigerians. We must have true federal structure otherwise Nigeria will remain in the dark

the people. Nigeria has never had a Constitution, what we have before the military was a writ of summons. We were merely summoned by the British government and told the Constitution that must guide us according to their own hope, essentially in their own interest and then the military came, harassed us, intimidated us and stole all our wealth and forced the Constitution on us. “The Constitution itself told a lie, it is a lie. We did not give the Constitution to ourselves, it was one military dictator that gave it to us. So, the Nigeria needs to be structured according to the needs of the people. The people of Nigeria need to meet to agree on the terms of their relationship. There is something peculiar about this nation. It is made up of people, geographically located in different geographical areas. That is the restructuring we are talking about. The President cannot execute that document because he has no binding authority to do it.” Festus Okoye said there was no connection whatsoever between the resolutions of the national conference and some of these agitations. Okoye went on: “As somebody who went to the national conference, I believe that there are some good aspects of the resolutions that should be implemented. But this whole issue about agitation should be properly channelled. What we need at this point in time is to hold government accountable in terms of good governance, if government is sensitive to the yearnings of Nigerians, it is delivering the dividends of democracy, some of the restiveness, in terms of unemployment, poverty, will definitely reduce. “But this whole issue of wanting a separate republic has nothing to do with good governance because the areas that are even saying that they want to secede, some of their governors are not performing at all. What they should do is to turn the agitation against their governors and insist that their governors should use the resources allocated to the benefit of all rather than looking for a new republic for themselves.” Abdul Mahmud said that the con-

ference was set up as a result of one progressive agitation by progressive elements within our country and also by those who are interested in promoting ethnic agenda. “Their participation in what they called regional frame work in Nigeria hounded by the Afenifere group and others. The struggle within the national conference was not pretty, but we cannot take away from it was that voices of the progressives and ethnic Nigerians were distilled by the national conference and far reaching resolutions touching on the restructuring of Nigeria were arrived at”, he said. Mahmud went on: “I am surprised that this present government is unwilling to implement the resolution. In constitutional law government is a continuum. What I expect the government to do is to look at the report of the national conference and pick the ones that will douse the tension in the country. Since election last year, the country has been stagnant.” Adebiyi said the implementation of the confab’s report was germane to a series of problems bedeviling the nation, urging President Buhari to immediately look into the confab report in order to address the current wave of agitations across the country. He said: “Yes, its implementation will actually help because when you look at the situation of this country now, something drastic and urgent should be done by the government. Nigeria is a big nation comprising of different ethnic groups and I believe that was why we had the confab in the first place in order to address the peculiarities of each region in the country. “So, when there were agitations from different groups as we are having it at the moment, a close look at some of the recommendations of the confab might give us clues as to the way out of all these agitations. The report should be looked into and part of it may be helpful to move the present day Nigeria forward should it be implemented. Shittu opined that the confab report would offer the country a long term solution to the myriads of problems confronting it if it is looked into by the Buhari-led administration. He said: “I want to say that there is a lot of expenditure that went into the putting together of the confab report. The confab was organized at the public expense and a lot of money was voted for it and I believe it would not be right to throw public expenditure to the lagoon. “So, government should look at that confab report and see proposals contained therein that could assist the country. I don’t believe in throwing the baby away with the bath water. But this will be on a long term basis. However, in the short term, government should ensure that it reachES out to the aggrieved groups and dialogue with them. I am not in support of any military action because Nigerians are involved in these struggles. So, I will support dialogue with all the critical stakeholders in the regions so that we can understand what the demands are. The long term solution is to restructure the country. But again, we need to restructure ourselves. One of the ways by which we can restructure the country is by recognizing the state as the only federating indices. “Also, by recognising the need to create state police agencies, then, we must ensure true federalism. Nigeria’s problem can be categorized into two. These are: crisis of values and crisis of structure. These two need to be restructured.”

MONDAY, june 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Interview We’re engaging African govts on aviation’s high taxes –Kuuchi

Business What's new Telecoms: Regulators, operators differ on 30% broadband target

Money Line Forex reforms: Analysts predict mixed impact on banks

34 36

Rates Dashboard INFLATION RATE May 2016.................................15.6% April 2016.................................13.7% March 2016..............................13.2%

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

EXCHANGE RATE

(BDC as at June 17)

(Interbank as at June 17)

USD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N350 Pounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N490 Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N400

l Foreign Reserves – $26.443bn as at 16/6/2016

USD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N200 Pounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N307 Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . N224

Source: CBN

p.26 L-R: Executive Director, Finance and Strategy, Sterling Bank Plc, Mr. Abubakar Suleiman; Head, Debt Capital Market, Stanbic IBTC Capital, Mr. Kobby Bentsi-Enchill; Executive Director/ COO, Sterling Bank Plc, Mr. Yemi Odubiyi and Managing Partner, Constant Capital, Mr. Ike Echeruo, at the Sterling Bank Investors Forum in Lagos at the weekend

Nigeria imports N1.34trn power equipment p.26

REASON

NNPC records N3 billion losses in April, as the removal of subsidy began to take effects on the downstream sector

Adeola Yusuf

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

Taiwo Hassan

Industry, Agric & Brands Editor

Kunle Azeez

Senior Correspondent

Chuks Onuanyin Energy

Nnamdi Amadi Reporter

Johnson Adebayo

Asst Production Editor

ecovery by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) of monthly loss has hit N37 billion, a feat that had not been recorded in the last 20 years. This came as lull hit the hitherto booming illicit trade of fuel through diversion by marketers to neighbouring republic of Benin, which has now become unprofitable due to the increase in pump price in Nigeria last month. A document of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) seen by New Telegraph showed that the corporation, which recorded about N40 billion loss both in February and March, reduced the loss figure to N3 billion in April, as the removal of subsidy began to take effect on the downstream sector. The Federal Government had, in May, began partial deregulation of the downstream sector, which raised the pump price from N86.50 per litre to N145 per litre. Investigation by this newspaper showed that the diversion business, which consumed 140 truckloads of fuel daily at the heat of fuel scarcity in March, is now bearish. The illicit fuel diversion trade,

NNPC’s monthly loss recovery hits 20 year-high at N37bn As marketers end trucks’ diversion over bearish trade Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, said last April, consumed over 30 per cent of fuel imported into the country and worsened the scarcity of the product before the partial deregulation of the downstream sub-sector. The corporate restructuring initiated in NNPC, including the removal of subsidy on premium motor spirit (PMS), the PPMC document showed, has increased the monthly loss recovery to N37 billion. “It has reduced the average monthly loss recorded by the Corporation from N40 billion in the recent past to N3 billion, while efforts remained on target to achieve profitability before the end of 2016.” The deregulation policy has also re-awakened the downstream sector and will help the nation become a net exporter of petroleum products in a few years, Kachikwu had said. “We now have a lot of people who are interested in investing in our refineries and building more refineries and we will remain committed to the goal, which is to reduce importation of petroleum products by 60 per cent by the end of 2018 and become a net exporter of petroleum products by 2019,” the

N40 billion Being the value of the loss recorded by NNPC in February and also in March

minister maintained, Over 140 truckload, amounting to about 4.62 million litres of PMS also known as petrol, meant for Lagos in April, did not get to filling stations for which they were meant. Investigation by this newspaper during the heat of scarcity last April showed that marketers, in just 10 days, had diverted the volume, which was scheduled to be off-loaded majorly in filling station in Lagos and environs, into havens including border towns between Nigeria and Republic of Benin. This subjected government’s efforts to end the then long queues to further jeopardy and worsened the fuel scarcity rocking Nigeria, especially the lingering acute shortage of the product in Lagos. Fuel meant for Lagos and its environs, Kachikwu had said, are being diverted to other countries rather than points of sale in Nigeria and the trucks cannot be tracked. He said that no fuel truck in Nigeria has a tracker, which leaves the NNPC at the mercy of the truck drivers. CONTINUED ON PAGE 26

BUSINESS |news

MONDAY, june 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Telecoms: Regulators, operators differ on 30% broadband target GAP Investment deficits and other operating challenges are gaps between attainments of pervasive broadband access Kunle Azeez

ivergent views have continued to trail the practicability of achieving a 30 per cent broadband penetration in the nation’s telecommunication industry by 2018. While the two major industry advocacy bodies, the Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), have doubted the ability of the country to achieve the target, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Ministry of Communications have insisted the target is achievable. The National Broadband Plan (NBP) approved by the Federal Government in 2013 had prescribed a five-fold increase in broadband penetration in the country’s $32 billion telecoms market. Having pervasive broadband access across the nooks and crannies of the country is believed to be the new plank upon which accelerated economic development could be achieved in the country. As at 2013 when the NBP was approved, the industry highspeed Internet or broadband penetration stood at six per cent. Three years after approving the target, the country has only been able to achieve additional four points, bringing penetration to 10 per cent. However, with less than three years to 2018, the industry operators say achievement of additional 20 per cent points to the existing 10 per cent penetration

NNPC monthly loss recovery hits 20 yearhigh at N37bn CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25

“Do not judge our work on the basis of the difficulties you have had in fuel supply. I love your patience, I appreciate it; we are working feverishly at solution. We are looking at intelligent solutions,” the minister said. “Over 30 per cent of (fuel) supply is diverted. “For example, in the last five days, we have pumped 400 trucks of product into Lagos State. The total consumption (in the state) at the maximum is 250 trucks and most of those trucks are diverted from Lagos to the hinterland of Chad…and Cameroon. “We need, literally, a whole army to stop this from happening. So, I continue to supply and over-supply and so we struggle.”

remains a mirage. Though, the number of Internet users in the country, according to NCC data, has surpassed 93 million, less than 10 per cent of this has access to true broadband services. “With the factors on ground in terms of the various challenges being faced by the operators, thinking that the industry can achieve the tall order of 30 per cent broadband penetration in less than three years’ time is façade and a sheer mirage,” said Chairman, ALTON, Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, in an interview with New Telegraph in Lagos. He said: “There are so many challenges on ground, ranging from multiple taxations issues, issue of Right of Way (RoW), delay in granting approvals to operators, vandalism, non-classification of tele-

coms infrastructure as critical national economic and security infrastructure, forex issue and a host of others.” Adebayo insisted that unless the issues are collaboratively achieved, it might be difficult to achieve up to what the industry had achieved in terms of penetration in the last three years. Also, ATCON President, Mr. Olusola Teniola, who backed Adebayo’s positions, called on government to see telecoms as critical sector to the nation’s economic growth. “Telecoms sector has remained a major contributor to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Today, we contribute about 9 per cent to the nation’s GDP and this is meant to increase, as we create more enabling environment to attract the needed investment, encour-

age ubiquitous infrastructure deployment, among others,” he said. According to Teniola, the country needed to do more than it is currently in terms of improving the operating environment for the telecoms licensees. “Today, Nigeria has the fastestgrowing telecoms market, the biggest sector in terms of Foreign Direct Investment (FDIs) pull into the country and the most promising industry that is having positive impacts on all other sectors of the economy,” he said. However, both the NCC and the Ministry of Communications have consistently expressed optimism that the industry would achieve the 30 per cent broadband penetration come 2018. “Yes, we should remain op-

timistic. Nothing is unachievable once the right frameworks have been put in place. As you are aware, the ministry has unveiled an Industry Roadmap for the Telecoms Industry while the telecoms regulator, NCC, has also unveiled its Eight-Point Agenda for telecoms industry,” Minister of Communications, Mr. Adebayo Shittu, said. “All we need is to ensure strict implementations of these plans in collaboration with existing ones and who says we could not even surpass what we had achieved in past (three) years.” Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, Prof Umar Dambatta, had recently declared at a Lagos industry forum that the regulator was on course in facilitating the attainment of the much-touted 30 per cent broadband penetration by 2018.

L-R: President, Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, Retired Maj.-Gen. Umaru Usman; National Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Muhammed Lecky; Chairman, Electoral Operations and Logistics Committee (EOLC), Hajiya Amina Zakari and Member, EOLC, Mr. Adedeji Soyebi, during a workshop for Operations and Logistics Officers, in Lagos. PHOTO: NAN

Nigeria imports N1.34trn power equipment LAXITY Customs ask the transmission firms to remove abandoned imported electricity equipment or forfeit them to the Federal Government

Bayo Akomolafe

igeria imported electricity equipment and tools valued at N1.34 trillion ($6. 71 billion) from China and some other countries in the last two years, New Telegraph investigations have revealed. The equipment include electric switchboards, conductors, power capacitors, power converters, power generation boilers, power generators and electricity meter. Also included are distribution boards, transformers, circuit breakers and disconnects, power plant valves, power storage devices, switchgears, turbines and voltage regulators.

Statistics from the World Trade Organisation (WTO) revealed that some power equipment valued at $2.89 billion were shipped from China to Nigeria between 2014 and 2015. Others are United Kingdom, $773.8 million; India, $399.1 million; United States of America, $321million; South Africa, $230.3 million; Sweden, $260.4 million and Republic of Korea, $122.5 million. It was also learnt that some of the equipment, which were imported by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), have been abandoned and are rusting at the seaports. Worried by the neglect of the poower equipment, in July 2014, the Federal Government secured the release of 248 containers rusting at the Lagos and Tincan Island ports to Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN). The containers were meant for the Independent Power Project (IPP) and were imported by the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN). Also, in 2011, the PHCN abandoned 250 containers, containing vital equipment to boost power generation in the coun-

try. Of the containers, 140 of them were abandoned at the Ports and Cargo Terminal in Tin Can Port, while 110 containers were moved to Ikorodu terminal as over time cargoes. Also, in 2015, some power equipment in 27 containers were abandoned at the Lagos Port Complex. The consignments were the remnant of the 69 imported into the country between July and August 2014. A source at a shipping line that ferried the equipment to the port revealed that the consignee of the goods, a Romania firm, Dextron Engineering Company Limited, incurred a demurrage of N100 million on the cargoes. The company was contracted by TCN to handle power project in Kaduna. The source told this newspaper that the shipping line that allegedly brought the containers to the port had written several letters to TCN to clear the cargoes, but there was no response. In 2015, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) asked the transmission companies that took over assets and liabilities of the defunct PHCN to remove their abandoned imported electricity equipment

from Ikorodu Lighter Terminal before end of this year or forfeit them to the Federal Government. According to its Zonal Coordinator in charge of Zone A, Assistant Comptroller-General Eporwei Edike, the electricity equipment imported by the defunct PHCN had been left unclaimed at the terminal in Lagos for years. He said: “A lot of containers loaded with electricity equipment lying uncleared at the terminal belong to the defunct PHCN. These containers were transferred to Ikorodu from the ports. Meanwhile, Korea has said that it would focus on its top export market, Nigeria and other four African countries by investing $17.2 billion on electricity between 2016 and 2025. Already, the trade volume between Nigeria and Korea had exceeded $4.4 billion between 2014 and the first quarter of 2016. The country said that its power company, Korean Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), would also invest the money on water and electricity in Mozambique, Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda.

BUSINESS | Movers, Shakers and Appointments

MONDAY, june 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Dangote Cement names non-executive director

angote Cement Plc has announced the ap p o i n t m e n t o f D o ro t hy Udeme Ufot (SAN), as an Independent non-Executive Director. According to a statement from the company, Ufot, an experienced legal practitioner, has more than 26 years’ experience in commercial litigation at trial and appellate levels. She was admitted to the Nigerian Bar in 1989 and

Inner Bar as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria in April 2009. Also, the non-executive director qualified as a Chartered Arbitrator at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London in 2003. According to the statement, Ufot was a member of the council of the Legal Practice Division of the International Bar Association from 2006 to 2010 and is currently serving her second term as a member of the Nominations

NBC appoints director

Morgan

he Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) Limited has appointed Mrs. Sade Morgan as its Director, Legal, Public Affairs and Communications. A statement by the company’s Corporate Communications Manager, Akomen Omijeh, said that Morgan took over the mantle of leadership of the newly merged Legal, Public Affairs and Communications department of the company with effect from February 2016. She joined NBC in 2014 with over 20 years of experience in legal practice and professional corporate experience across international markets covering various roles, including several years of executive team experience. Prior to her joining NBC, she was Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa (EEMEA) regulatory and marketing counsel for British American Tobacco, based in the United Kingdom and was responsible for regulatory and marketing issues across the group’s 86 country markets. Managing Director, NBC, Ben Langat, explained that the announcement of Mrs. Sade Morgan was to further drive excellence in managing NBC’s external legal and community relations, while up scaling the process in which the company relates with stakeholder publics. The managing director added that Mrs. Sade Morgan

would also drive the company’s reputation management process and business sustainability agenda. He noted that Morgan had managed development and implementation of regulatory strategies in conjunction with corporate and regulatory affairs and marketing functions aimed at delivering workable and successful code of practices with internal and external stakeholders. She obtained her Bachelor of Laws degree from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife in 1992. Morgan is a Barrister of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, member of the Nigeria Bar Association and the Institute of Directors. In the last few months, Morgan according to the statement, has overseen the public affairs and communications function in addition to her original role of legal director of the company. She is expected to sustain and further build on the already very respectable reputation of the company amongst its publics, stakeholder groups and continue to effectively manage every aspect of NBC’s corporate governance.

Committee of the IBA. She has served as vicechair of the Arbitration Committee of the IBA and has authored numerous publications on the subject of international arbitration. Also, Ufot has served as a Non-Executive Director of several well-known companies, including: Chevron Oil Nigeria Plc, MRS Oil Nigeria Plc and SO&U Limited, one of the leading advertising and media relations companies in the country. Ufot is the managing partner of Dorothy Ufot & Co, a firm of legal practitioners and Arbitrators, which she founded in 1994. Commenting on her appointment, Founder and Chairman of Dangote Cement, Alhaji Aliko Dangote said: “I am proud that Dorothy Ufot, SAN, has become the first woman to serve on

Tumaka

Dangote Cement’s Board. She brings formidable legal skills and business insights that will strongly enhance the Company’s governance.

Her appointment represents a positive step forward in our goal to improve the diversity and functioning of our Board.”

Abia governor names SSA on Arts, Tourism

bia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, has named Mr. Kingsley Ogbonna, as his Senior Special Adviser (SSA) on Arts and Tourism. Ogbonna, who is among the talented Nigerian actors, according to the statement, is a Mass Communication graduate from Federal Polytechnic Oko, Anambra State. The new SSA is from Obingwa Local Government Area of

he Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) has elected Deacon Titus Soetan as its 52nd president. Soetan, according to a statement, by ICAN, is a fellow of the Institute and the Senior Partner, Baker Tilly, Nigeria (Chartered Accountants).

Personality award: NIMASA DG praises deputy director he Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside, has congratulated his agency’s deputy director, Corporate Communication, Hajia Lami Tumaka on her award as the “Evergreen Public Relations Personality” in the

Dorothy

maritime industry by Transquest Media Group. In a statement by the agency, Peterside also congratulated Mr. Daniel Kajo, an Assistant Chief Public Relations Officer in the agency for his award as the “Enterprising Public Relations Personality” in the industry. The director general said that the awards were an eloquent testimony of Hajia Tumaka’s dedication, mentorship and passion for her responsibilities, which have brought about improved dynamism and innovation in the communication machinery of the agency. While noting that Hajia Tumaka’s inspiring leadership qualities had positively impacted the agency and the industry at large, Peterside urged her not to rest on their oars but to continue fashion out more innovative ways of communicating the change process in NIMASA for the benefit of the entire sector.

the state. Ogbonna said his appointment as the Senior Special Adviser on Arts and Tourism was a call to service, which would give him the opportunity to serve his people. He said: “This administration in Abia State under Governor Ikpeazu is committed to see that Abia State is repositioned for better, and I have just been called to join the team to help the governor to interpret

his dreams for the state. “It is a call to service, and I will give my best. Those of us who started what is known as Nollywood and entertainment in Nigeria today know that Aba played a major role in production, promotion and marketing of our works, but suddenly and somehow, Aba was no longer in the picture, but Governor Ikpeazu is poised to reverse the trend and we are here to support him and make it work.”

ICAN gets 52nd president He commenced his professional career as accounts clerk at W.N Housing Corporation between 1972 and 1973. Also, he worked at the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) between 1978 and 1979 before joining Z.O. Ososanya & Co as audit senior manager between 1979 and 1985 and later became partner at Z.O. Ososanya & Co between 1985 and 1998. Soetan was partner and co-founder of Oyelami Soetan Adeleke & Co be-

Soetan

tween 1998 and 2005 and senior partner in the same firm from 2005 to 2008 before moving to Baker Tilly. He attended Premier Grammar School, Abeokuta between1967 and 1971, where he obtained West Africa School Certificate. He also attended The Polytechnic Ibadan between 1973 and 1975 and the City of Birmingham Polytechnic, United Kingdom between 1976 and 1977 where he qualified as ACCA. Soetan according to the statement, has been a council member of ICAN since 2004 and had served on various committees and sub-committees either as member or Chairman. In his inaugural address, he gave assurance that he would take the institute to a greater height. He urged members to join the government in the fight against corruption. He said: “As professionals and chattered accountants trained in the art and science of wealth creation, protection and management, we cannot fold our arms and stand idly by. We must act now to save our nation from the stranglehold of corruption as stoutly espoused by the current administration. Corruption and sharp practices are evil.

BUSINESS |Stock Watch

MONDAY, june 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Fortis MFB: Microeconomic pressures hurt earnings Fortis Microfinance Bank Plc like its peers is experiencing pressure on its earnings. CHRIS UGWU writes

n Nigeria, the issue of financing the active poor in both urban and rural areas and also financing the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are perceived as a highrisk segment of the market. Unstable macroeconomic policies further make banks to be conservative about exposure to these sectors because of their higher failure rate. In order to address some of these challenges, the Microfinance Policy Regulatory and Supervisory Framework (MPRSF) was launched in 2005 and the objectives were to address the prolonged nonperformance of many existing community banks. This lack of performance has been attributed to incompetent management, weak internal controls and high cost of transactions. Other objectives to be addressed by MPRSF are poor corporate governance, lack of well-defined operations, restrictive regulatory/supervisory requirements, and weak capital base of existing institutions. Indeed a huge gap exists in the provision of financial services to a large number of active but poor and low-income groups, especially in the rural areas as a result of rigidity in operations of formal financial institutions in Nigeria. However, in spite of the efforts, the problem of funding has remained a major militating factor against the effectiveness of micro finance banks in Nigeria. This is because the Nigerian economy has continued to face major headwinds, from substantial decline in international crude oil prices to significant constraints to business activities in the north eastern part of the country owing to the activities of insurgents. The fall in crude prices heightened pressure on the nation’s foreign reserves and the domestic currency - leading to the volatility in exchange rate and a dip in foreign reserves. These microeconomic pressures and unrelenting regulatory adjustments have to a large extent constrained the margins of financial institutions in the country. Fortis Microfinance Bank Plc despite that it was recently granted a national microfinance banking license by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), like other quoted companies in the country, has also been affected by the harsh operating milieu. The MFB, which recorded impressive results in 2014, reverted to the path of decline in profitability in 2015 financial year. It also began the 2016 with a re-

Achibiri

Fortis MFB Plc. 2015 June 30

N5.42

July 31

N5.42

August 31

N5.42

September 30

N5.42

October 30

N5.15

November 30

N5.15

December 31

N5.15

2016 January 29

N5.15

February 29

N5.15

March 24

N5.15

April 30

N5.15

May 6

N2.58

cord of profit after tax (PAT) of N71.910 million in Q12016 from N160.933 million it recorded in the corresponding period of 2015, representing 55.31 per cent drop. The share price, which closed at N5.42 per share on July 31, 2015, recorded a significant decline. As at the close of business last Friday, the company’s share price stood at N2.58, representing a decrease of N2.84 or 52.39 per cent year-to-date. Financials Fortis Microfinance Bank Plc posted good numbers in the 2014 full year financial results with a profit after tax (PAT) of N674.512 billion from the N382.903 million it recorded in the corresponding period of (FY) 2013. This depicted a growth of 76.15 per cent. Profit before tax was up by 68.50 per cent from N634.674

As at the close of business last Friday, the company’s share price stood at N2.58

million in 2013 to N1.070 billion in 2015, while interest income rose to 22.15 per cent, from N2.045 billion in 2013 to N2.498 billion in 2014. Taking a cue from the gains in 2014 financial year, Fortis began the year on a positive trajectory, as it reported a 315 per cent growth in its pre-tax profit for the half year ended June 30, 2015. In filings with the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE), the company’s pre-tax profit went up by 315 per cent from N80.493 million in the Q2 of 2014 to N334.608 million in the review period of 2015. Also, post-tax profit equally grew by 315 per cent in the second quarter of 2015, as the company declared N234.225 million compared to N56.345 million reported in same period of 2014. Interest income firmed up to N1.304 billion in 2015 from N858 million in 2014, accounting for an increase of 51.98 per cent. Fortis Microfinance Bank maintained the tempo in profit reporting 123 per cent growth in profit after tax for the Q3 ended September 30, 2015. Its net earnings grew to N365.84 million during the period under review, from N164.017 million recorded in 2014, representing an increase of 123 per cent. Its pre-tax profit equally rose by 123 per cent to N522.636 billion, from N234.310 billion a year earlier. Interest income also increased to N1.836 billion compared with N1.478 billion the previous year, accounting for an increase of 24.22 per cent. However, the dwindling fortune of the microfinance bank began in full year 2015, as its profit after tax fell 13.46 per cent to N583.703 million from N674.512 million recorded a year earlier. In a filing to the Exchange, the microfinance institution’s pretax profit dropped by 17.52 per cent from N1.070 billion the previous year to N882.521 million during the period under review. Fortis’s gross income grew by 8.56 per cent from N3.361billion in 2014 to N3.649 billion during the financial year 2015. The company also began the current year in the red, as the first quarter ended March 31 2016 profit after tax fell 55.31 per cent to N71.910 million from N160.933 million recorded a year earlier. The microfinance institution’s pre-tax profit equally dropped by 5.31per cent from N102.728 million the previous year to N229.904 million during the period under review. Fortis’s interest income grew by 17.89 per cent from N566.429 billion in 2015 to N667.774 million during the financial year 2016. However, Fortis MFB increased Net assets by 21.9 per cent to N2.8 billion from N2.3 billion. Future outlook Fortis was last year granted a national microfinance banking license by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). With the license, Fortis Mi-

crofinance Bank can now operate as a national mircofinace bank with the opportunity to open shops across the country. The bank’s Chairman, Mr. Felix Achibiri announced the new statutes of the lender to the shareholders at the 2nd annual general meeting (AGM) of the bank held in Abuja. The Chairman said the lender would replicate its success story in Abuja and in the northern parts of Nigeria in other states of the federation when they launch there. Fortis Microfinance, which is the second microfinance bank in Nigeria to be listed on the Exchange, is also the only microfinance bank in Nigeria to be issued a Mobile Payment license by the apex bank. According to the chairman of the bank, Fortis from the onset was clear that it would build a world-class bank of Nigerian origin and with the right workforce that places customers at the heart of all its activities. “With a national banking license Fortis will be driving the Central Bank of Nigeria’s financial inclusion programme across the country by providing financial services to all the states of the federation. Our success story over the years will be replicated nationwide and we will also through the use of technology bring banking to the door step of all Nigerians particularly those at the base of the economic pyramid who are either underserved, underbanked or out rightly disenfranchised by the conventional financial service providers,” he said. Achibiri during the NSE closing gong ceremony held in Lagos recently, noted that the MFB investment arising from the conclusion of special placement exercise was a huge vote of confidence in the vision of the Bank to be the dominant microfinance bank in Nigeria by reaching out to more underserved communities across the country, especially on the back of the lender’s recently acquired National Microfinance Bank License. “In the last eight years, Fortis has majorly funded its growth from seed capital, customers savings and retained earnings, and in doing so, have built one of the fastest growing microfinance institutions in Nigeria,” he said. Achibiri noted that the investment is expected to bring a renewed sense of purpose and additional resources to deliver varied products and services to its esteemed customers and improved value to all stakeholders. He also said that the bank is looking at sourcing for fund through the capital market in the fourth quarter of the year. Conclusion For the financial sector to experience positive times, the industry should embrace changes in business environment, which presents uncommon opportunities to deepen penetration of the market through creativity and ingenuity.

MONDAY, june 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

BUSINESS | Capital Market

The Nigerian Stock Market Exchange as at May 6, 2016

30 COMPLIANCE Commission seeks partnership with inland revenue agencies to access employees’ data

n a bid to ensure companies comply with the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014, the National Pension Commission (PenCom) has initiated moves to develop a database of eligible employers in the country. To this end, PenCom and the National Bureau for Statistics (NBS) have constituted a Technical Committee for developing a data base of eligible employers that will assist the Commission in its efforts. It was gathered that the NBS is to assist the Commission to enumerate all private sector employers in the coun-

Insurance

PenCom hunts for employers’ details to boost compliance try with a view to identifying all organisations that must comply with the PRA 2014. The exercise is, however, yet to commence due to budgetary constraint. The commission also said there are ongoing efforts to collaborate with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Internal Revenue Service Departments at the state level to access their database on employers, adding that these agencies have reliable data on employers that would help in expanding its coverage. According to PenCom, about seven million employees working with public/private sector

employers have registered with PFAs for the management of their pension contributions. It noted that the number of companies whose employees have so far registered is 73,403, adding that of this number, 43,918

employers with more than three employees have largely complied with the provisions of the PRA. PenCom said the remaining 29,485 with less than three employees are mostly the

overeign Trust Insurance Plc has paid out a total sum of N386.93 million as claims in the first quarter of the year. A statement released by the organisation stated that the industry regulatory authority, the National Insurance

Commission (NAICOM) duly verified the total claims figure for the period under review. While commenting on the claims payment, Divisional Head, Technical, STI, Rufai Tajudeen, reiterated that the company was totally committed to settling all genuine

NAICOM moves to expand product distribution channels

“We have also identified the limited channels of distribution as a major inhibition factor to penetration. In this regard, we have considered the creation of additional distribution channels and have gone far on the preliminary works and draft of guidelines, which would soon be exposed for input,” he said. Kari also posited that the commission is coming up with a mystified type of operation for brokers, an initiative, he said, would open a new vista in insurance intermediation in Nigeria. “We have further decided to explore and develop the mysti-

fied partnership type of operation for Brokers. A draft of the proposed guideline will be exposed for input within the next couple of weeks, and I can assure you it will open a new vista in insurance intermediation in Nigeria,” he added. The NAICOM boss said the task of market development, should be a concern to all parties in the industry, stressing that penetration would continue to be low if everyone would only operate from the comfort of the metropolis or chase only existing clients with insurance policies.

Royal Exchange confirms Muktari as GMD

he Board of Directors of Royal Exchange Plc has announced the appointment of Auwalu Muktari as the substantive Group Managing Director with effect from June 15, 2016. This was made known at

non-compliant organisations, stressing that this category of employers are usually more of portfolio companies and in some cases are companies that had either been liquidated or ceased to exist.

STI pays N.3bn claims in Q1 2016

L-R: Director, CAP Plc, Opeyemi Agbaje; Company Secretary, Rose Hamis; Chairman, Larry E. Ettah and Managing Director, Omolara Elemide, during the company’s Annual General Meeting in Lagos. PHOTO: SULEIMAN HUSAINI

orried by effects of limited channels of insurance distribution in the country, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has initiated moves to create additional vehicles to convey insurance products to the public. The Commissioner for Insurance, Mohammed Kari, disclosed this at Ilesha, Osun State according to a statement. He said the commission had identified limited channels of distribution as a major inhibition factor to penetration, hence, it would soon issue draft guidelines to correct the abnormally.

MONDAY, june 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

the end of a meeting of the Board of Directors of the company in Lagos according to a statement from the company. In announcing the appointment, the Chairman, Board of Directors, Royal Exchange Plc, Kenneth Odogwu, com-

mended Muktari, who was appointed the Acting Group Managing Director in January 2016. He lauded his esteemed service and contribution towards the continuous expansion of the Group.

claims within agreeable periods. In his words: “There is no compromise to claims settlement in Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc and that will always remain so to keep our customers always coming back. Prompt claims settlement no doubt will remain the enduring yardstick for our customers in determining whether we are delivering on our promise or not. We do not intend to fall short of this obligation and we will continually strive to make good our promise at every point in time.” He stated that the company had put in place a friendly claim process, which ensures that customers do not go through undue bureaucratic process in getting their claims settled in good time. In the same vein, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the organisation, Olaotan Soyinka, said over the years, the company’s prompt claims settlement had helped to strengthen the relationship between them and their various customers across the country.

A.M. Best upgrades ratings of African Re

.M. Best has upgraded the financial strength rating to A (Excellent) from A- (Excellent) and the issuer credit rating to “a” from “a-” of African Reinsurance Corporation (Africa Re) (Nigeria). The outlook for each rating according to a statement from the insurance firm, has been revised to stable from positive. The upgrade reflects Africa Re’s excellent riskadjusted capitalisation, consistently strong operating performance, and robust market position in the increasingly competitive African reinsurance sector. Additionally, the ratings factor is in the framework in place to mitigate Africa Re’s exposure to the heightened political and economic instability on the continent. Africa Re’s risk-adjusted capitalisation remains at an excellent level, supported by robust earnings derived

from its expansion within its core African market, the statement added. Additionally, A.M. Best expects the corporation to continue benefitting from its strong financial flexibility, which is derived from the long-term capital support of shareholders, owing to its shareholding structure and status as a Pan-African reinsurer. Africa Re’s shareholders consist of member states, African and international (re) insurance companies and supranational organisations. Prospectively, A.M. Best expects strong internal capital generation; a conservative balance sheet and excellent financial flexibility will likely continue to underpin Africa Re’s financial strength. Africa Re’s strong operating performance is consistently supported by stable and excellent underwriting results, as per the five-year average combined ratio of 90.3%.

BUSINESS | Insurance

MONDAY, june 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Nigeria, others push for Africa’s insurance growth Only 3.5 per cent of the African market is insured, indicating a vast opportunity for insurance firms, according to World Bank. According to Dr. Martyn Davies, managing director, emerging markets and Africa, Deloitte, an absence of information on the insurance market in Africa is a main source of reluctance for insurance firms wanting to tap into the continent’s potential market. Davies stated that despite its importance for economic

SLIGHT Insurance penetration in Africa is very low

anelists at the 40th Anniversary Symposium and General Assembly of the African Reinsurance Corporation (AfricaRe) have agreed that Africa needs favourable insurance regulation to enable the growth of the market on the continent. Speaking at the meeting that brought together about 200 participants from Africa and beyond, Moulay Hafid Elalamy, minister of industry, trade, and new technologies of Morocco, said that unfavorable insurance regulation policies have hindered the growth of the insurance sector in Africa. “Lack of reliable data and statistics, low capital requirements, as well as limited enforcement of regulatory provisions have been identified as major draw backs and key challenges to the growth of African insurance market,” he noted. Elalamy highlighted other challenges facing the industry as inadequate enforcement of compulsory insurances, failure by the government to lead by example in patronage of the industry and inadequate budgetary provisions for the insurances of government asset.

s part of the lessons of Ramadan, Muslims in the country have been advised to embrace insurance as a means of securing their lives and properties. The Chief Imam, Oluyole Es-

development, the majority of African countries lack access to insurance products. Insurance penetration in Africa is still very low at 2.9 per cent of Gross Domestic (GDP), meaning that African governments have not significantly embraced insurance in their economies. Africa’s most attractive insurance markets have seen the entry of foreign players that generally create their subsidiaries from scratch, or simply acquire an existing local player.

“Most Africans still just struggling to meet their basic food and other day-to-day needs, insurance is still a long way off,” said Claver Gatete, Rwanda minister of finance and economic planning. “We should look at insurance needs for goods traded across borders to facilitate regional and international trade.” Gatete stated that demand driven insurance is not enough, stressing that there is a need to address supply side

by massive sensitisation and introduction of new products. African insurance premium volume in 2014 totalled $69 billion down from $72 billion in 2013. Life insurance accounted for about two thirds of the 2014 total, with non-life insurance accounting for the rest. In 2014, the 10 largest markets South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, Algeria, Angola, Namibia, Tunisia and Mauritius generated premium of $63.4 million of insurance premiums.

L-R: Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director, International Management & Health Consultant Limited (IMHC), Professor Eyitayo Lambo; President, Chairman of Council, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN), Professor Segun Ajibola, representative of Minister of Environment/Director of Forestry, Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Adesola Adepoju and National Treasurer, CIBN, Ken Opara, during the CIBN 2016 Annual lecture, with theme: ‘Sustainable development goals and the financial service sector: The meeting point’ at Bankers House, Lagos . PHOTO: TONY EGUAYE

Ramadan: Muslims advised to embrace insurance tate Extension Ibadan, M.A. Bada, gave the advice at the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) 2016 Ramadan Tafsir in Lagos. In a statement, he noted that

PFAs UNIT RATE FOR RSA FUND AS AT JUNE 10, 2016 S/N

PFA

Unit Value - RSA

Date (RSA)

Premium Pension

2.9960

8-Jun-16

Crusader Sterling

2.9766

10-Jun-16

ARM Pension

2.9450

10-Jun-16

Stanbic IBTC

2.8365

3-Jun-16

Legacy Pension

2.8020

10-Jun-16

NLPC Pension

2.6408

10-Jun-16

Pension Alliance

2.5903

10-Jun-16

Trust Fund Pensions

2.5631

10-Jun-16

First Guarantee Pension

2.4759

10-Jun-16

Sigma Pension

2.4612

10-Jun-16

Leadway Pensure

2.4025

10-Jun-16

AIICO Pension

2.3043

10-Jun-16

Fidelity Pension

2.1179

10-Jun-16

FUG Pension

2.0770

10-Jun-16

Apt Pension Managers Limited

2.0385

10-Jun-16

AXA Mansard

2.0172

10-Jun-16

OAK Pension

2.0168

10-Jun-16

Investment One Pension Managers Limited

1.8624

10-Jun-16

IEI Anchor Pension Managers Limited

1.8378

8-Jun-16

IGI Pension Fund Managers Limited

1.5219

8-Mar-16

NPF Pensions Limited

1.1462

10-Jun-16

Prophet Mohammed practiced insurance inform of charity, adding that Islam did not negate insurance practice. He noted that insurance being a form of risk mitigating tool had a place in Islamic religion. He said: “Islam did not negate insurance, since it is a form of protection against future loss. Prophet, during his life time, practiced a form of insurance, although he did this as charity, because he never collected any form of money for rendering such service. The difference between then and now is that insurance operators

have decided to operate insurance as an entity or a company, where managers get paid for providing insurance services. “In fact, in Saudi Arabia, if you are not insured, there are certain privileges you would not enjoy.” He called on Muslims to shun greed and high quest for money, stressing that God has promised to bless those who fear Him. The Imam called on insurers and the public to esteem utmost good faith in all they do, adding that by doing so, would make the world a better abode for human.

The Director-General, CIIN, Richard Borokini, urged Muslims to imbibe the teachings of God and ensure that they practice all they had learnt during the fasting. He said the annual event was designed to elevate the spirit of insurance practitioners and by extension attract God’s blessings to the industry. Managing Director, Staco Insurance Plc, Sakiru Oyefeso, said Ramadan Tafsir, which started four years ago, had recorded tremendous progress and impacted followers both within and outside the insurance industry.

shortly before the street presence exercise commenced to the destination. The company reiterated It’s commitment to rekindling the true spirit of sportsmanship and fostering national unity through interactions among industry players and analysts. “We are proud to have partnered with the Institute especially as the benefits of the street presence exercise extend far beyond weight management to improved health conditions and overall quality of life,” she said. Lady Isioma Chukwu-

ma, President of the Institute, while addressing participants, lauded them for their resilience and utmost commitment to move the industry forward despite the unscheduled cancellation of the event, which was initially slated to hold on Saturday, May 21, 2016. She observed that the urban lifestyles of members dissuaded them from engaging in any form of physical exercise, which, in effect, had triggered poor health and low quality of life.

Firm hosts CIIN 2016 fitness walk

uinea Insurance Plc (GI) partnered the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) to ensure that the recently held “street presence” exercise in Lagos was seamless and successful. The company in a statement issued by its Acting Managing Director, Mrs. Isioma Omoshie-Okokuku,, hosted the pre-walk reception of the institute’s members at its Corporate Head-office premises at Jibowu, where the pre-walk aerobic exercise and health tips were conducted

BUSINESS | Financial Market News

MONDAY, june 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

PROSPECT Stockbrokers have advised investors to take advantage of the current low prices of shares to increase their portfolios

Stories by Chris Ugwu

he Chartered Institute of Stockbroker (CIS) has re-assured investors that the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has the potential to generate strong Return on Investment (ROI) and that the market is set for rebound very soon.

BUSINESS | Financial Market News

CIS sees stock market rebound ●As benchmark index rises by 7.40%

This is just as the NSE AllShare Index and market capitalisation, riding on the back of new forex policy, appreciated by 7.40 per cent to close last week at 29,247.27 and N10.045 trillion respectively. Similarly, all other indices finished higher last week, with the exception of the NSE ASeM Index that declined by 0.17 per cent. Based on the renewed confidence, the stockbrokers advised investors to take ad-

C&I Leasing to complete merger of subsidiaries

&I Leasing Plc has said that part of its strategies for future growth is divestment of its peripheral activities to focus on core operational areas. Chairman of the company, Mr. Chukwuma Okolo, stated this while addressing shareholders at the company’s 25th Annual General Meeting (AGM). He said the company expect to complete the merger of its Suzuki distribution businesses, C&I Motors into a support service unit within its feet management services business. Okolo noted that the principal reason for the restructuring is the need to streamline operations, reduce administrative costs, improve operating efficiency and derive full benefits of synergy in line with the company’s long term strategic thrust. He disclosed that a merger arrangement with the parent company, C&I Leasing planned for 2015 could not be concluded during the year, adding that approvals have subsequently been obtained from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the first quarter of 2016 for the merger to proceed. Okolo said that it was hoped that the streamlining of the operations will have positive impact on future operations.

Shareholders of C&I Leasing ratified the Board of Directors’ four kobo per share dividend payment for the financial year ended 2015. Speaking at the AGM, the shareholders commended the dividend payout in spite of the harsh operating environment. Oladimeji Balogun, one of the shareholders of the company, while reacting to the C&I Leasing Plc’s 2015 financial reports, said that companies operating in the country were facing harsh economic hardship because of the instability in the country’s economy.

vantage of the current low prices of shares to increase their portfolios as many of the stocks are trading below their intrinsic values. Responding to investors’ enquires, the Chartered Institute of Stockbroker’s President and Chairman of the Council, Mr Oluwaseyi Abe, explained that the coast was already clear for the investors to shore-up their holdings, as market has begun to rebound. He noted that there was nothing unusual about the

current state of the market, as the market essentially mirrors the economy and it moves in phases. “It is only normal for the market to swing upward and downward because that is what makes it a market. It is absolutely normal. In any case, the direction of the market at any given time is the reflection of the economy and it’s been known that the economy has not been doing well lately. So, I feel it is even the best time to invest in the capital market

Abuja

ulius Berger shareholders have approved a dividend of N1.98 billion for the 2015 financial year. The N1.98 billion profit before withholding tax translates to N1.50 per ordinary share compared to N2. 70 paid out to shareholders in 2014 business operations. The company’s profit before tax during the year under review was N6.5 billion.

because the economy is now on the steady path of rebound.”, Abe said. Corroborating him, the Institute’s First Vice President, Mr Dapo Adekoje, gave assurance to investors that uncertainty, which characterised the investment climate would soon disappear completely. According to him, the Federal Government’s policy on the economic direction is becoming clearer and the international community has so much respect for President Mohammad Buhari who has been waging war against corruption in Nigeria.

CAP shareholders get N1.6bn dividend

hareholders of CAP Plc, at the company’s 51th Annual General Meeting (AGM) approved a dividend of N1.645 billion, representing N2.35 per share for the 2015 financial year. CAP Plc, a subsidiary of UAC of Nigeria Plc and manufacturer of Dulux, had against the backdrop of challenging economic and business environment, recorded a turnover of N7.06 billion, a growth of one per cent and profit before tax of N2.57 billion, an increase of

five per cent over N2.442 billion in 2014. Addressing the company’s shareholders at the AGM in Lagos, the Chairman of the company, Mr Larry Ettah, said: “On the strength of this performance, the Board has recommended a final dividend of N840 million, representing 120 kobo for every 50 kobo ordinary share to shareholders on the register of members at the close of business on May 27, 2016 for consideration and approval. “This is in addition to the

Shareholders endorse Julius Berger’s N1. 9bn dividend Abdulwhab Isa

Addressing the company’s shareholders at the 46th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Abuja, Julius Berger Board Chairman, Mr. Mutiu Sunmonu, presided over the business affairs of the company for the first time after taking over from AVM, Mohammed Nura Iman, as board Chairman. He reflected on operating business environment for 2015, which he described as a tough and challenging one. Sunmonu noted: “While Nigeria saw a generally smoother

and more credible electoral process, resulting in the successful transition to the new presidential administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, the nation faced difficulties due to persisting economic challenges, low crude oil prices, higher interest rates, devaluation of naira and stringent fiscal policies were on going daily realities that contributed to an extremely volatile business environment and ultimately resulted in an overall hiatus of key development and major investments”.

interim dividend of 115 kobo per share paid on December 15 2015. This brings the total dividend for 2015 financial year to N1.645 billion, representing 235 kobo per share.” On the review of the company’s operations, Ettah said that to further improve the company’s brand visibility and accessibility to consumers, the company opened additional Dulux Colour Centres in Yola and Gombe and Dulux Colour Shops in Lafia, Ada-George Port Harcourt, Ado-Ekiti, Dugbe Ibadan, Agbor, Suleja, Lugbe Abuja and Jalingo. He stated that the company retained its ISO 9001:2008 and 14001:2004 certifications on Quality and Environmental standards respectively as it continued to offer high quality products and services to customers while complying with regulatory requirements and conduct its operations in a healthy and safe manner, ensuring minimal impact on the environment. On the outlook for 2016, the Chairman stated, “Fiscal policy is expected to be largely expansionary, as the government seeks to stimulate economic activities and generate employment. The year has, however, started on an adverse mode, with acute shortage of foreign exchange.”

BUSINESS | Interview

MONDAY, june 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

We’re engaging African govts on Raphael Kuuchi is the International Air Transport Association (IATA)’s Vice-President for Africa. He joined IATA from the African Airlines Association (AFRAA) where he was the Director of Commercial. The consummate administrator discusses a myriad of issues bedeviling the continent’s aviation industry, among others, with WOLE SHADARE, at the IATA AGM in Dublin. Excerpts

Accident rate in Africa is said to be the highest. Does this not sound alarming and what is the role of IATA in developing the continent’s aviation? The region’s aviation industry has many priorities, which we are focusing on now and chief among them is safety. I am sure you are aware that safety in Africa has been improving steadily in recent years. But the level is still not up to the global average where we want it to be. Today, we have about 7.88 accidents per million sectors, which is above average. We would want to see this come down. Now, what are we doing to assist in this initiative? As IATA, we are providing training support for many of the airlines in line with the Abuja Declaration to ensure airlines get unto the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) register. We have been successful in providing training capacity building to about 20 airlines. We have now move airlines from the IOSA registry from 18 in 2013 to 32 now in IOSA registry. We still have many of them who have finished with their audits and closing their gaps. This year, we are going to have some of them join the IOSA registry. We already got Allied Air from Nigeria and Air Burkina as well as Cameco in Cameroon who are the newest members that have joined IOSA registry of late. We believe that with IOSA coupled with the implementation of the ICAO Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) audit findings, we will be able to significantly improve African aviation. The second area of concern for African aviation is the connectivity. We are urging African governments to open up their markets, so as to allow free movement of people and goods and to enhance competition among operators in the region. Fortunately, African Union Commission Heads of State summit last year agreed amongst themselves to have a sort of understanding amongst states that are willing and ready to open up their markets to do so bilaterally through the signing of what was call the solemn declaration. To date, we have 21 countries in Africa that have signed the solemn declaration to open their markets. We are working with the African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC) to see how best we can assist them to see how they can come up with some steps if an airline wants to exercise the right to fly to another country, what should it do if the country is part of these 21 that have signed up the solemn declaration? Those steps and clarity is yet to be agreed. That is what we are pushing on now. We do hope that sometime this year, we will have clarity on that, which will be communicated to the states and it would now mean any African airlines that wants to fly can within Africa do so many number of times without restrictions. What about bilateral agreements? No bilateral. That will actually do away with bilateral completely for African airlines within Africa. Bilateral Air Services Agreements (BASAs) are agreements that

Kuuchi

are signed by governments that allow air services between two countries. If two countries have an agreement between them for air services, it might specify the number of airlines that can fly from each country to the other and the number of frequencies (times) it can fly in a week between those two countries. That is what is called BASAs. The major challenge we have in Africa is that we have small airlines with an average of five aircraft. The foreign carriers have eroded the market. How do we empower the local airlines with low interest rate? Unfortunately, IATA does not work in the area of financing. However, we are currently in discussion with African Development Bank as IATA to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), because over the years, what we have noticed is that ADB has focused much of its resources in developing airports infrastructure and not in supporting African airlines. So, we want through this MoU to be able to have a framework where we can advise the bank on why it is important to not just support infrastructure but also to some extent support the airlines themselves. How many African countries are signatories to the Cape Town Convention? I don’t have the number off hand, but I know that there are many African countries that are signatories to the Cape Town Convention. Can you elaborate on the cooperation with African Development Bank? Memorandum of Understanding is what we are preparing to sign. Lawyer of IATA and the bank have concluded the review and we are just waiting for one more step before it can be ready for signing. Once we have that

memo signed, it is to give IATA a framework for collaboration and working with the bank on various projects, not just on financing the different projects; we could advice the banks on matters on aviation.

On the average, we notice that fuel price is 21 per cent more expensive in Africa than the world average

How many African countries signed the declaration on wildlife trade? I know Seychelles and Mauritius signed. Before that, Kenya was part of the Buckingham Palace signing. The African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC) is to monitor the liberalisation of air transport in Africa to have the framework for that. What input is IATA giving to AFCAC and all the airlines that have agreed to liberalise their airspace? AFCAC is the body or agency of Africa Union Commission and this agency has been designated as the executing agency of the Yamoussoukro Decision, that is the continental liberalisation programme and with the 21 countries that have so far signed the solemn declaration to open up their markets unconditionally, the responsibility now falls back on AFCAC to ensure that the framework within which airlines would be able to exercise this freedom is actually in place. The support we are giving to AFCAC is to ensure that they come up with a framework that is not only applicable within the continent. According to the Abuja Declaration, every upcoming airline will need to be given Air Operator Certificate (AOC) and must meet IOSA conditions. Have you entrenched this policy on individual countries? Let me clarify this first. You cannot have an IOSA before you start operations. The audit is on your safety system and processes and procedure. You must be in operation before. As far as IATA is concerned, IOSA

BUSINESS | Interview

MONDAY, june 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

aviation’s high taxes –Kuuchi

I would rather operate to another airport. We need to be careful to make our airports attractive. If they are attractive, many airlines would come in. If the cost of flying there is cheaper, many airlines will come; if the taxes are less and there is more attractive destination, if you make visa acquisition much easier, many more passengers would want to come to that destination. We need to facilitate the process. If you facilitate the cargo process, many more people would come. Today, you see in the West African region, many traders prefer to carry their cargo as baggage instead of cargo. Even though it is more expensive than to go through cargo, for them, the clearing process is easier. You just arrive, you pick you baggage, you go to the Customs, declare and go out. If it goes through the cargo site, it can take you weeks to clear that same cargo. Why can’t we facilitate this process so that we can collect more revenue?

CV Work experience: Director, Commercial, Corporate & Industry Affairs AFRAA February 2005 – February 2014 (9 years 1 month) Vice President for Africa International Air Transport Association (IATA) February 2014 – Present (2 years 5 months

It is projected that African airlines would make a loss of $400 million this year, $200 million less than last year. How long do you think it will take African airlines to be profitable? I don’t know how long it is going to take. Our projection was that from 2017, we estimate that African airlines will be back to profitability. If you look at last year, for instance, Ethiopian Airlines on its own made $200 million profit, but if you take their profit, plus the losses of other airlines, you get a bigger loss.

Education: University of Ghana Business School B.Sc Administration 1989 – 1991 Henley Management College MBA 2002 – 2004 Kuuchi

is a voluntary programme. We put this programme out there to help our member airlines improve their safety. However, it is not compulsory for airlines unless you want to become an IATA member. For membership, it is a pre-condition; you must be IOSA before you become an IATA member. However, if you don’t want to become an IATA member and your state does not mandate that you become IOSA, then you might choose not to be. In some countries, we are seeing a trend towards ensuring that all airlines become IOSA member. Nigeria is a good example, even though there are no clear cut timeline; all airlines are encouraged to take up IOSA to improve their safety. One of the issues that dominated discourse at this AGM was the disclosure by the DirectorGeneral of IATA about 230 taxes imposed on tickets. Some African countries see taxes as another form of revenue rather than developing infrastructure. What is IATA’s plan in talking with governments to ensure that aviation is not seen as a luxury but a mode of transportation? Is there a synergy between African governments and IATA? Let me start this way. It is actually to let governments realise that aviation is not a preserve of the rich or famous or those who can afford, it is for that reason that two years ago in 2014, we did the study on the benefits of aviation. We did a study on the benefit of aviation in Africa and we selected 12 countries, three from Southern African region. The outcome of that study, which indicated 155,000 jobs would be created and $1.3 billion will be added to the Gross Domestic Products of the 12 countries’ economies. Five million passengers who currently are not able to travel by air will be able to because of increased competition, as it would bring down fares by up to 35 per cent. This was a significant diversion from the previous mentality that air travel is for those who can afford it. Governments will see the benefits in terms of employment generation, in terms of GDP contribution and in terms of business facilitation. We use this as a tool to engage with governments by asking them ‘why are you over taxing aviation instead of making it more competitive and have people moving around, you can use that to leverage on creating better economies of scale for other sectors of the economy.’ On the taxes and charges, we have been engaging with

Our projection was that from 2017, ...African airlines will be back to profitability

governments, especially in countries where taxes are higher. Today, fuel prices globally average per 1.3 dollar. In Africa, it ranges between $2 and $3.77. In some places, more than twice what it is globally. On the average, we notice that fuel price is 21 per cent more expensive in Africa than the world average. In addition to that, we brought these taxes together. Africa is not a rich continent and we ask, why must we be paying the most? If you look at the high fuel taxes in Africa, the victims are actually oil producers. In most of the oil producing countries, aviation fuel is mostly expensive. That is what we cannot understand. Governments try to raise revenues. In other countries, governments try to build new airports and make a choice to raise the tax on existing passengers to raise revenue to pay airport and our question has always been, ‘why should a passenger flying today pay for an airport tomorrow, which he might never use?’ The principle is if you want to build an airport, an airport is a business, go look for a loan, put up the infrastructure and once the airport starts running, the users will pay for it. Why are you pre-taxing people to pay? We are asking governments to review these taxes. During the time of President Chirac of France, he introduced this tax to fight HIV, AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis in Africa. Immediately he did that, 12 African countries, the Francophone countries, also introduced that. It is called solidarity tax. Today, they still collect that money. Nobody knows where that goes. You never heard that they use the money to initiate programme to fight these things. Just like you know, if any revenue gets into government’s financial systems, to get it out, they need an alternative unless you can tell them this is how to get this money. We are using the economic argument that if you focus on these small monies, you are denying the economy bigger gains. That brings me to what Tony Tyler said that what accrues to Britain is £18 billion annually from aviation taxes. He said if they reduce their taxes, they are capable of making more money. How feasible is that? If you reduce, one, you tend to attract a lot more traffic. Many more airlines would find it more competitive to come. In the case of Africa, I always tell the airport operators. One thing we do is that we forget airports next door are competing against each order. If Johannesburg airport becomes too expensive,

How many airlines in Africa are profitable? I don’t have the figure and, in many cases, many of these airlines are government owned. They don’t publish their results. So, it is actually difficult to tell whether they are making money or not, but overall, a few of them are making money and the majority are actually struggling. I will be surprised that more than 10 are really making money. What trend are you seeing in low cost airlines in Africa like South Africa? What do you think will be the ultimate role these low-cost airlines can play on the continent? Low cost airlines, wherever they exist, play a very critical role contrary to thinking by some legacy carriers that low cost carriers have come to take over their market. Low cost carriers have a tendency to stimulate additional demand and come up with a new market segment that in most cases has not been seen before. Unfortunately, in Africa, you are seeing a concentration of low cost carrier still in a few markets. This is because the low cost business is based on low price and high volumes and, in many markets in Africa, we don’t have the volumes. There are volumes in South Africa domestic market. To some extent, Nigeria might eventually come up with low cost model in the future. You see that in North Africa, we have low cost model in Egyptian market, in Morocco because of the volumes there. Within Africa, it is a huge challenge because the volumes are not there. The second limitation in the growth of the low cost carriers is the existing limited Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA). I am sure; some of you have been reading the issue of Fastjet and its efforts to get into neighbouring countries and the challenges it is having. Those limitations are crippling and we are not likely to see a lot of them coming up any time soon. However, in the future, if the market is liberalised, if these 22 countries that signed a declaration open up their markets, we could see many more. Let’s look at insurance. I don’t know if IATA plays any role in insurance. In Africa, many airlines don’t do proper insurance. We don’t oversee the implementation or validity of insurance programme. What we do and encourage airlines to do is that we know that in Africa, the insurance scheme is much higher than elsewhere, so insurance premiums are much higher for African operators. Once you become IOSA airline, you are given certain consideration because your risk exposure is lesser.

BUSINESS | MONEYLINE

DIVERGENCE Policy could trigger rise in NPLs Tony Chukwunyem

ith implementation of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s new forex policy set to commence today, analysts have expressed divergent views on the likely impact of the reforms on the banking industry. While some argue that the policy could lead to an increase in the banking industry’s Non Performing Loans (NPLs) thereby eroding profitability, others believe that impact on lenders will be muted. CBN had last Wednesday, issued revised guidelines for a single “market-driven” inter-bank FX market, open to authorised dealers and other entities. The move was widely welcomed by financial advisory firms who had argued that the CBN’s previous policy of restricting access to the official FX market and supporting the naira, rather than risk the inflationary impact of devaluation, has been hurting economic growth. Reacting to the new policy in a note issued last Friday, global credit rating agency, Fitch Ratings, said: “Our base case for Nigerian banks is that regulatory total capital ratios will not decline significantly under the new regime. Strong profitability and high levels of internal capital generation will still offset any impact. The new FX regime

MONDAY, june 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Forex reforms: Analysts predict mixed impact on banks crucially also provides access to US dollars for the banks to meet their internal and external obligations.” Also in their reaction, analysts at FSDH Group stated: “We expect companies with US Dollar receivables to benefit from this development. Meanwhile, companies with naira receivables but with dollar denominated financial obligations without any hedging strategy in place will record exchange rate losses. Some of the companies operating in the power sector

may fall into this category. “They may require additional bailout very soon if they have to improve power generation and distribution in the country. In addition, the impact of this may be transferred to the banking sector in the form of increase in the non-performing loans. The CBN had earlier warned Nigerian banks about Dollar – Naira mismatch. However, banks may require higher earnings retention to boost their Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR).”

Quality service delivery: Sterling Bank concludes IT upgrade

n line with its mandate to enrich the lives of its customers through efficient and prompt delivery of quality banking services, Sterling Bank plc has announced the conclusion of the upgrade of its information technology infrastructure. About 24 months back, the bank commenced the upgrade of its core and subsidiary systems, transiting to more robust, agile and flexible platforms that are more adaptable to the dynamic banking needs of customers and position the Bank for long term sustainable growth.

The lender in a statement said the decision to upgrade its IT infrastructure was informed by the need to improve the service delivery of the onecustomer bank, adding that the upgrades would see the bank improving customer experience. It also stated that the upgrade was in line with the Bank’s mission to enhance stakeholders’ value as a financial institution of choice, stated that the upgrade, which gained traction two weeks ago, had become necessary in view of the need to meet customers’ expectations.

Economic Indicators As at M2* CPS* INF MPR 91-day NTB Bonny Light Ext Res**

N19,142,526.05m N18,579,219.49m 15.6 12 10.77 US$47.61 US$26,443,785,537

Mar, 2015 Mar, 2015 May, 2016 23/03/2016 Mar 2015 17/6/2016 16/6/2016

Source:CBN

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

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 ▼

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)

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

Offer Yield 10.24 10.45 11.51 11.38 12.22 12.34 12.39 12.44

Change (%) 1.12 ▲ -0.27 ▼ -0.17 ▼ -0.11 ▼ 0.03 ▲ 0.42 ▲

Money Market

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 ▼

Spot($/N)

Bid 199.14

Offer 199.24

Change (%) 0.57 ▲

NIFEX

Spot($/N)

Bid 199.0000

CBN Clearing Rates of January 7, 2016 Spot($/N)

196.00

197.00

0.00 ↔

Offer 199.1000

Change (%) -1.75 ▼ -2.08 ▼

Change (%) 0.00 ↔

The FSDH analysts further stated that opening of the foreign exchange inter-bank market and the futures market would create additional activities in the inter-bank market, with banks earning additional income, adding that this will also promote trade finance businesses. However, in a note issued before the apex bank unveiled details of the policy, analysts at Financial Derivatives Company (FDC) Limited said it would significantly impact

the economy in various ways including triggering fresh layoffs in the banking industry as well as in other sectors. The analysts stated that the impact of the new forex regime could mean, “Sectors that are labour intensive like construction will be hit by minimum wage review; massive consolidation in the downstream sector;… banking sector Non Performing Loans (NPLs) will increase and impairments will eat into profitability (and) more layoffs in the banking sector.”

CreditRegistry partners banks on CDT capacity devt

reditRegistry Services “CR Services (Credit Bureau) Plc,” has completed the third batch of Common Data Template (CDT) capacity development training for Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) in Nigeria. The firm explained in a statement that the training is to position the banks for smooth take-off of the template adoption with a June 30, 2016 deadline prescribed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The training aligns with CR Services objective to not just be regulatory compliant at all times, but to support subscribing institutions and industry operators to achieve the same. The training, which held at CR Services Multipurpose Hall, had representatives of several banks including; Zenith Bank, Keystone Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Wema Bank, GT Bank and Sterling Bank amongst others. The new Common Data Template for submitting loan records to credit bureaus in Nigeria, being promoted by the Central Bank of Nigeria, has the following features:

Individual Borrower Template, Corporate Borrower Template, Principle Officers’ Template, Credit Information Template, Guarantors’ Information Template and Catalogue Values. In a chat with our correspondent, some of the participants who lauded CR Services for this insightful initiative noted that they were impressed by the content of the training, noting that it has prepared their institutions for the CDT activation, which is expected to improve credit bureaus data quality and uniformity in data uploaded to credit bureaus by credit providers. Speaking on this capacity development initiative, CR Services Executive Director Sales & Business Development, Mr. Godfrey Ebetaleye said, “As industry leader in Nigeria providing Credit Bureau services to wide ranging spectrum of subscribers, we make sure to keep our subscribers abreast of latest developments to improve their business performance and quality, working with our technical partner CreditRegistry Corporation of USA.”

Skye Bank commences travel summer campaign

kye Bank Plc has concluded arrangements to flag off its annual Priority Banking Summer campaign under the tag line: “Priority Banking for High Fliers”. The summer campaign ,according to a statement, is targeted at the upper-middle level managers, professionals and business owners who earn a monthly income of N750,000 and above and love their personal comfort. The lender explained that those who take advantage of the summer campaign to sign on to its Priority Banking offering as well as existing Priority clients will enjoy increased earnings via interest on their credit balances, discounted interest

rates on personal loans as well as free membership of Priority Pass International (the world’s largest private airport VIP lounge operator). Other benefits derivable by the patrons of the Bank’s priority banking anchor product, The Skye Select account, are increased daily spend limit on the Mastercard platinum debit card (issued for free) and the ability to make unlimited withdrawals from their accounts. Lifestyle benefits include exclusive discounts offered by the bank’s discount partners such as Hilton Hotel Abuja, Intercontinental Hotel Lagos, Bodyline Gymn Lagos, etc.

NEWS 37

MONday, JUNE 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

SGF, AGF planning to destabilise my govt –Fayose lEkiti people will decide your fate – Lawal

Onyekachi Eze ABUJA

kiti State governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has raised the alarm over plan by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to implicate him in the June 21, 2014 governorship election in the state. At a press conference yesterday in Abuja, Fayose alleged that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Babachir Lawal and the At-

torney General of Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) were coordinating moves for his impeachment. "Activities of these elements that are obviously afraid of facing another electoral defeat in 2018 are being coordinated through the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Babachir Lawal, and the Attorney General of the Federation. "Certain top functionaries of the Ekiti State

government and some important members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State, and some associates of mine, have now been pencilled down for arrest and indefinite detention by the EFCC under the guise of investigating the funds spent by the PDP on the June 21, 2014 governorship election and the presidential election," the governor stated. The SGF, however, denied the allegation and said only Ekiti people can decide Fayose’s fate. "It has never crossed

my mind that he should be impeached. That is for the people of Ekiti State to decide," he said in a text message to New Telegraph. The Federal Government has launched inquest into the campaign funds of the 2014 Ekiti State governorship election. The military authorities have, two weeks ago, sacked some army generals over their involvement in the conduct of the election. Fayose trounced the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, who was the incumbent governor, in the

L-R: Chief, Corporate Services, Smile Communications, Tobe Okigbo; Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar G. Danbatta and Managing Director, Smile Communications, Godfrey Efeurhobo, during a visit to the commission, in Abuja... recently CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

continue with the existing ones. Bayelsa, Ekiti, Abia, Osun, Ogun, Nassarawa and Kogi had started ambitious projects of building aerodromes in their states for ease of transportation and bringing economic development to their areas. Some of the sites for these projects have been overtaken by weeds, signifying that after the groundbreaking ceremonies, there is nothing on ground to show that work would progress. In others, there is just an erection of what promises to be the control tower. They had reasoned that the projects are located for reasons beyond economic factors, stressing that the localisation of airports should be seen from other social factors other than from ‘‘balance sheet.” The zeal at which the states started the projects a few years ago, gave stakeholders the impression that the airports would be completed in record time, but sources close to some of the state government said airport projects are the least on the minds of state governments considering the dire financial situation they find themselves, occasioned by dwindling revenue. The sources said the

election. Fayose alleged that some politicians from Ekiti State, including an Ekiti-born human rights activist, and agents of the Federal Government, are involved in the plot to bring down his administration. He said the game plan was to make those to be arrested get detained indefinitely, force them to make statements incriminating him, while at the same time feeding the public with orchestrated fake reports, using their usual media organs. According to him, this was coming after their failure to use the Department of State Services (DSS) to coerce members of the state House of Assembly to buy into the impeachment plot against him with a view to silencing him as major voice of the opposition. The governor disclosed that the plot was to arrest

98.9%

The percentage of the urban population of Qatar in 2012. Source: Un.org

27.62

The average age of football players in Italy in the 2009-2010 season. Source: Football-observatory.com

and detain indefinitely his Chief of Staff, Chief Dipo Anisulowo and four members of the state House of Assembly for treason. "To achieve this sinister plot against the government and people of Ekiti State, we have been informed that some of their trusted allies in the EFCC have been mobilised to move to Ekiti any moment from now," he said. Fayose, however, advised them to keep their gunpowder dry and wait till the end of his tenure in 2018, and assured that he would be available to answer any of their questions against him. He said: "While we are not afraid of persecution from anyone or government agency, including the EFCC and DSS, I wish to state that the level at which the Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government is taking political vendetta and muzzling of opposition both in the PDP and within the APC, is dangerous to the survival of democracy in the country. "Most importantly, Nigerians must begin to ask the EFCC what has happened to the several petitions against APC leaders and financiers of President Buhari’s election, including former governors. "

Economic woes: N150bn state airports in jeopardy governments, which find it very difficult to pay salaries running into five to eight months, are thinking less of the projects they started, which are said to be capital intensive. In the face of the precarious state of the Nigerian economy, especially unpaid salaries, the Federal Government, last week announced another loan package of N90 billion bond for states. This is coming months after over N500 billion was dispensed as financial bailout to 27 states facing financial challenges. The Federal Government had, last year, disclosed plans to construct five domestic airports in the capital cities of Bayelsa, Kebbi, Kogi, Nasarawa and Ogun states. Virtually all the airports, including the one in Abuja, run on generators, as they are not connected to the national grid. Besides, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) is said not to be comfortable with some of the projects that are handed over to them shortly after completion, as it lacks enough manpower to man them. A source told New Telegraph that most of the airports, including the one

in Dutse, built by Jigawa State, are a big drain on the budget of the aviation agency, adding that there is no point building facilities that do not have direct impact on the people. Presently, FAAN manages 22 airports nationwide of which only four – Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos; Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja; Port Harcourt International Airport and Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) – are said to be commercially viable. The others can barely sustain themselves. The former Governor of Jigawa State, Alhaji Sule Lamido, spent N15.5 billion to build the airport in the state, which was inaugurated in October 2014. Lamido reportedly sourced funds to build the airport, standing on the arrangement that the Federal Government would pay back once the project is completed. Since the airport was inaugurated, only Overland airline operated to the airport as scheduled domestic flight before it ceased operations, except for charter operations and during the airlifting of pilgrims for Hajj. The MAKIA is a hub of aviation for the zone,

as virtually all the airlines operate to Kano, not Dutse, which is about one-andhalf hours from Kano by road. According to experts, the Dutse airport is not viable, as it does not generate enough revenue to pay workers maintaining the facilities. There are also fears that the ongoing Bayelsa airport project may go the way of that of Dutse. The state governor, Seriake Dickson, was reported to be shopping for N40 billion facility from commercial banks to complete the construction of its cargo airport project located near Amassoma in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state. Although the total cost of the airport project could not be ascertained, sources said the loan facility would attract a total interest of N32 billion to be serviced within eight years, bringing total repayment to N72 billion. The governor had explained that the proposed project was designed for the largest cargo and commercial aircraft to land. It is yet unknown how viable the aerodrome would be after construction, but the proximity of Port Harcourt airport may

affect the viability of the airport. Amagwa, where the Port Harcourt airport is located, is about one hour drive to Yenagoa. For the Asaba airport, the Delta State Government reportedly spent N27.7 billion on the project; Abia State is proposing N20 billion for an airport in Umuahia while Ekiti is to spend about N17 billion on its own. The cost for Kebbi airport is unknown. There are indications that it could be in the region of N20 billion, while that of Kogi could also gulp over N20 billion. Speaking on the rate at which airports are being constructed by states, former President, Aviation Round Table (ART), Captain Dele Ore, said airports should be sited for commercial reasons after undergoing thorough study of viability. He said: “Only very few airports are viable in Nigeria and what do we do about the ones that are unviable?” Aviation security consultant, Group Capt. John Ojikutu (rtd), said it would not be economical to have another airport in the South-West as Akure and Ibadan airports have been ‘‘dormant” for a long time.

According to him, only two out of 25 airports in the country are viable, adding that the government could adopt the privatisation strategy for other airports to make them viable. “We have about 25 airports in the country; seven of them are owned by state governments. But these airports cannot boast of more than 500,000 passengers each year,” Ojikutu told New Telegraph. To build an airport, he said traffic and money must be available, adding that apart from Lagos and Abuja, there is no airport that is viable to sustain itself. “You need money for landing and parking. You need money to pay for services and salaries. So, why building airports that will not be viable? FAAN and Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) are using money they generate from the two viable airports in Lagos and Abuja to sustain other airports. “The unviable airports cannot even pay their workers. FAAN is managing the airports in terms of security and NAMA is also helping them. They take money made in Lagos and Abuja airports to run these airports that are not viable,” Ojikutu stressed.

NEWS | national

monday, june 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Tompolo seeks transfer of suit against FG, others to Appeal Court Akeem Nafiu

former Niger Delta militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, a. k. a Tompolo, has asked Justice Mojisola Olatoregun-Ishola of the Federal High Court in Lagos to refer his case against the Federal Government to the Court of Appeal, for its opinion on certain questions of law. In the suit, Tompolo is seeking for an interpretation and nullification of certain sections of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, which he stated affected his constitutional rights. At the last hearing of the matter, Tompolo, through his lawyer, EbunOlu Adegboruwa, argued that since the points of law raised in the main originating motion of the applicant were very substantial, it would be better to refer them to the Court of Appeal for its opinion. After taking arguments from Adegboruwa, the Judge adjourned the case to July 8, for the reply of the Federal Government and the EFCC. Apart from the Fed-

eral Government, other respondents in the suit are: the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Inspector-General of Police, the Chief of Army Staff, the Chief of Naval Staff and the Chief of Air Staff. Tompolo is contending that sections 221 and 306 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act are invalid and unconstitu-

tional, in so far as they seek to prevent the court from exercising its jurisdiction to entertain any objection to a criminal charge and an application for a stay of proceedings pending appeal. He is thus asking the Court to stop his further trial until the determination of these issues. However, both the Federal Government and the EFCC had in separate notices of preliminary ob-

jections asked the court to dismiss the suit for being an abuse of process and an attempt to shield Tompolo from his trial. The EFCC, in its objection said the suit was of no use since Tompolo has exercised his constitutional right of appeal against the order of court for his arrest. The substantial questions of law for which the Tompolo seeks the Court’s reference to the Court of

single mother with a job has a higher risk of heart disease and stroke than their married peers. Researchers have similarly revealed that they were also more likely to smoke than married women - a known risk factor of the disease. This is the findings of a study, published in the ‘American Journal of Public Health’. Losing the support of a partner - and a partner's income – “may cause stress and result in unhealthy behaviours,” they said. A single parent is an uncoupled individual who shoulders most or all of the day-to-day responsibilities for raising a child or children. A mother is more often the primary caregiver in a single-par-

Yekeen Nurudeen Abuja

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar (left), being received by the Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, at the Maiduguri International Airport, during a condolence visit to his associate, Alhaji Jamilu Jibrin (Chokalin Adamawa), who lost his mother…at the weekend

ent family structure that has arisen due to death of the partner, divorce or unplanned pregnancy. In Nigeria, there are numerous cases of single working mothers which arise from unplanned pregnancies, high incidence of divorce cases, among other reasons. The research team, from Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam, Netherlands examined data on health, work and marital status for almost 11,000 women in Europe and 6,000 women in the United States (U.S) who were born between 1935 and 1956. Compared with married mothers who worked, single mothers with jobs were 40 per cent more likely to have heart disease and 74 per cent more likely to have a stroke. They were also 77 per

cent more likely to smoke, the study found. Quoting the study's author, Dr. Frank van Lenthe, from Erasmus University Medical Centre, the mailonline reported, “Work and marriage offer, or at least increase, the possibility of financial and social security.” “Losing support from a partner, or the security of a job, may cause stress and result in unhealthy behaviours.” The other groups, researchers studied, were single working women without children; stay-athome married mothers and married mothers with jobs.

The total number of goals scored by Spain at Brazil 2014 World Cup. Source: Fifa.com

NSCDC discovers Boko Haram's 'spiritual book'

he Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Borno yesterday said it had discovered a ``spiritual book`` suspected to be used by Boko Haram to hypnotize their victims. The Commandant of the NSCDC in the state, Mr Ibrahim Abdullahi, disclosed this in Maiduguri in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004. "Whether sections 221 and 306 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, do not constitute flagrant violations of the constitutional right of the Applicant, guaranteed under section 36 of the Constitution the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and Article 7 (1) (d) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.”

MDAs risk deduction over N9b AEPB debt

Single motherhood raises risk of heart disease Appolonia Adeyemi

Appeal are as follows: "Whether sections 221 and 306 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, are in consonance with sections 4 (8) 6 and 36 of the Constitution the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999. "Whether sections 221 and 306 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, are in consonance with Article 7 (1) (d) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’

Abdullahi said that the book, written in Arabic, was discovered during an operation by men of the command at an abandoned house in Dikwa Local Government Area of the state. ``It is sad that many innocent souls had been dragged into submitting to Boko Haram through spiritual indoctrination. ``The book, named``Guduma`, was

used by the insurgents as a powerful charm to indoctrinate followers into submitting to the dictates of leaders of the sect. "Our findings revealed that the book was also used in deceiving victims and members of the sect into believing that it could make them invisible and also offer protection against bullet shots and bombs."

In general, the researchers found what other studies have also concluded - that women who were consistently working, married and had children were the healthiest of all. Even though being a single mother was linked with worse heart health, researchers didn't find any evidence that this association was stronger for women in the U.S. than in Europe. The study team adjusted the data for U.S. women to make their marital, work and parental status match the distribution for women in Europe. When they did this, the U.S. women's risk of stroke went down by one percentage point and their risk of high blood pressure fell two percentage points. This indicates the differences in 'work-life trajec-

tories' between European and U.S. women don't fully explain why American women have much higher rates of heart disease and stroke according to the researchers. One limitation of the study is its reliance on women to accurately report medical problems and whether they are employed at several points in time. The researchers also lacked information on the number of children women had, family support, relationships that didn't involve marriage and the hours or type of work done by employed women. It is possible that financial factors influence the odds of cardiovascular disease, said Margot Witvliet, a researcher at Norwegian University of Science and Technology who wasn't involved in the study.

ead of Service of the Federation, Ms. Winifred Ekanem OyoIta, has said government institutions indebted to the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) risk having a chunk of their overhead expenditure deducted from the first line charge. That is if they fail to settle their outstanding debts to the Board. The Head of Service gave this assurance when the Chairman, Ministerial Task Team on the recovery of N9 billion owed the AEPB, Baba Shehu Lawan, led members of the Task Team to her office in Abuja, Friday. She noted that MDAs have no business owing the AEPB, stressing that the expenses ought to have been fully catered for in their annual overhead budgetary expenditures. Oyo-Ita, who disclosed that her office has similar understanding with the PHCN or the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company to deduct at first line charge all indebtedness by government institutions to the company, said it would have no option than to write the Budget Office to authorize this arrangement, if the affected MDAs failed to defray their indebtedness to the AEPB.

NDPHC employees pledge support for management S taff of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), have said that they would resist any move to change the management in the organization. They pledged their loyalty and support to the acting Managing Director. The workers at a Town Hall meeting held to welcome the Managing Director Mr.Chiedu

Ugbo, pledged their total support for the effective delivery of NIPP projects, thereby boosting power supply stability in the country. The workers also stated that NIPP has played a vital role in the power infrastructure development across the country and assured the new Managing Director that they were ready to raise the bar so that all

on-going NIPP projects would be delivered within the schedule and look forward to kick start the phase II projects of the company. Acting Executive Directors and Senior Managers, who spoke on behalf of the workers, told the new Managing Director that NDPHC relates like a family and urged him to sustain the family ties in the company.

south-west | news

monday, june 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Lagos adopts citizen journalism

Muritala Ayinla

agos State Government yesterday said that it would henceforth utilise citizens journalism strategy to further communicate the numerous people oriented programmes embarked upon by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to the people of the state. Arising from a two-day retreat for the second stream of Public Information Managers in the state, Public Affairs Officers , the government also resolved to use Information Technology tool to further disseminate the state government's programmes to the people of the state due to its immediacy and diverse publics at the local and international levels. According to a communique issued at the end of the two-day retreat held over the weekend the government said that its Public Affairs Officers would henceforth use this communication model largely to disseminate information to the generality of Lagosians located in the grassroots, who have been complaining of in-

adequate information on government programmes and projects. Speaking on the development, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information and Strategy, Mr. Folarin Adeyemi, noted that the strategy evolved to complement the governor's policy of inclusiveness where no one would be left behind. He added that as a result of the novel economic policies provided by this administration, coupled with the promotion of 24/7 economy, it has become imperative for the state's Public Affairs officers to largely use Information Communication Technology (ICT) in the discharge of their duties to the citizens of the state like their counterparts in the developed nations of the world. The permanent secretary stressed that "Public Sector Information Management in Challenging Times" was deliberately chosen as the theme of the retreat to equip officers with needed skills and strategy of communicating government activities to the diverse residents of the state.

CONFIRMATION/change OF NAME

Samaila

I, formerly known as Ismaila Yakubu, wish to be known as Samaila Yakubu. All former documents remain valid. General public should take note.

Ogbonna

Rahmon

I, Onikede Abdulramon Olatunbosun is the same and one person as Onikede Rahmon. All former documents remain valid. First Bank Plc and general public take note.

Ayedun

I, Ogbonna Antnonia Akachi,Onyeneke Julia Chidimma and Mrs. Ogbonna Julia Antnonia Akachi Chidimma now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ogbonna Julia Antnonia Akachi Chidimma. All former documents remain valid.Gtbank, Fidelity Bank and general public should take note.

I, formerly known as Kasali Afolake Abosede, now wish to be known and addressed as Ayedun Afolake Abosede All former documents remain valid. General public should take note.

Oniha

Igbokwe

I, formerly known as Godwin Gloria Anoye now wish to be known and addressed as Oniha Gloria Anoye. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

Oladimeji

I formerly known as Sanusi Folashade Mojidat now wish to be known and addressed as Sanusi Folashade Oladimeji. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

Dominic

I, formerly known as Okon Bassey Sam now wish to be known and addressed as Dominic Bassey Sam. All former documents remain valid. FSLC, WAEC, Authorities concerned and general public take note.

Saniyo

I, formerly known as Okoro Lucky now wish to be known and addressed as Saniyo Lucky Generioborue. All former documents remain valid. Zenith bank Plc and the general public should please take note.

Ejenayowi

I, formerly known as Okeh Doris now wish to be known and addressed as Doris Christopher Ejenayowi. All former documents remain valid. Ecobank Plc and the general public should please take note.

I formerly known as Miss Odinkemere Ebenezer Confidence Nkechinyerem now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Igbokwe Confidence Nkechinyerem. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

Nneli

I, Mr Nneli Marcel Chukwuweike, a native of Ugbene Village, Umueje, Ayamelum LGA of Anambra State, wish to inform the General public that I am known and addressed as Nneli Marcel Chukwunwike as my median name. That I wish to be known and addressed as Nneli Marcel Chukwunwike as also was written in Eco bank. That the said Nneli Marcel Chukwuwike is the same person and all my documents bearing Nneli Marcel Chike remains valid. General public note.

Imonikhe

I, formerly known as Jiezogbow Charles Maxwell now wish to be known and addressed as Jiezogbow Charles Imonikhe. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

George

I, formerly known as Miss Sampson Bumieghaye now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Bumieghaye Rose George. All former documents remain valid. National Youth Service Corps and the general public should please take note.

Ayedun

I, formerly known as Kasali Afolake Abosede, now wish to be known and addressed as Ayedun Afolake Abosede. All former documents remain valid. General public should take note.

L-R: Leader, All Progressives Congress (APC), Lagos Central Senatorial District, Alhaji Tajudeen Olusi; Chairman, Ikoyi Obalende Local Government Area, Mr. Goke Olawale and Senator Oluremi Tinubu, during the presentation of GCE Forms to APC Chairman for the People at his LGA, at the 18th Town Hall meeting, Organized by Senator Oluremi Tinubu, in Lagos… at the wekend. PHOTO: NAN

Hijab crisis: PDP charges security agencies to monitor Aregbesola’s actions Adeolu Adeyemo OSOGBO

sun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday accused Governor Rauf Aregbesola, of using the hijab issue "as a diversionary tactic to cover up his mismanagement of the state's human and material resources". The party made the accusation in a statement made available to newsmen by its Director of Publicity, Prince Diran Odeyemi, in Osogbo. "PDP is particularly happy that the issue of hijab has exposed to the entire country, the character of Osun State gov-

ernor and his divide and rule tactics of diverting people's attention against his inadequate knowledge of governance and total mismanagement of the state," it stated. The party, however, charged all security agencies, Interpol, the Presidency and the United Nations to dispassionately monitor activities of Governor Rauf Aregbesola, which the party claimed can cause religious crisis in the country. It further premised its call on what it tagged "embarrassment and the insincerity of Governor Aregbesola over the hijab issue which is a diversionary tactic to cover up his mismanagement of the state human and material

resources". The party also said that even at the peak of Boko Haram activities, when churches and mosques were under severe attacks by the insurgents, Christians and Muslims in the country were not divided and they still cohabit in all the states of the federation. "But since hijab became an issue under Aregbesola's administration in Osun, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs have taken different positions, and this portends great danger for the harmonious co-existence of people of different faith and denominations in the country. "PDP is particularly

happy that the issue of hijab has exposed to the entire country the character of Osun State governor and his divide and rule system of diverting people's attention against his inadequate knowledge of governance and total mismanagement of the state," the party said. It then called on all the stakeholders in the affairs of the country not to allow petty politics dominate commonsense in handling the festering issue of hijab in Osun public schools, adding that, "if the issue is not well managed, Aregbesola's confusion may spread to other states just like he created the payment of half salary to workers which has now spread to other states."

Government Primary School, Oke-Ishagun/ Ikola, Alimosho LGEA, Community Primary School, Abule-Eko, Ikorodu LGEA and Tsangaya Primary School, Orofun, Ibeju-Lekki, LGEA. With the approval, New Telegraph gathered that, the total number of public primary schools spread across the 20 Local Government Education Areas in the state is 1,010. Speaking on the devel-

opment, the Executive Chairman of the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board, Dr. Ganiyu Oluremi Sopeyin, noted that this is in line with the present administration’s vision to make qualitative and quantitative basic education available in all parts of the state. He reiterated government's commitment to free qualitative and quantitative basic education in the state, adding that

the governor of the state, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode would leave no stone unturned in making sure that public primary schools are more competitive than their counterparts. He urged public school teachers in the state not to collect any money in form of any levy from any pupil or their parents as any public school teacher and head-teacher violating the directive would face disciplinary action of the board.

Lagos' primary schools hit 1,010 as Ambode approves 3 more

Muritala Ayinla

ublic primary schools in Lagos State have hit 1,010 as the state government has approved the establishment and listing of three new public primary schools in the state. According to a memo from the School Support Services Department dated 13th June 2016, the three schools are Local

Oyo conducts LG election nine Father’s Day: Mimiko pleads with striking workers years after

he newly-inaugurated Oyo State Independent Electoral Commission will conduct local government election in September; almost nine years after such election took place in the state. Governor, Abiola Ajimobi, gave the assurance while inaugurating OYSIEC members at the Executive Council Chamber of the Governor’s Office, Ibadan, at the weekend. He said that the election would be conducted three months after the electoral umpire was put in place in line with the provision of

the constitution. Ajimobi also pledged to support the commission to ensure that they conducted transparent, free, fair and credible election in order to build the confidence of the people in the sanctity of balloting. The new OYSIEC Chairman, Mr. Ajeigbe Olajide, a native of Itesiwaju, Oke-Ogun area of the state, was a former Head of Department, Operations and later Training at the Oyo State office of the Independent National Electoral Commission.

ndo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, has challenged the striking workers in the state to join hands with him to find a lasting solution to the challenge confronting the state, even as he appealed to the workers to return to work in the interest of the people. Speaking at the Father’s Day celebration service held at the Government House chapel, Akure, yesterday, Mimiko said it is indeed trying times in the country and the state, but appealed to the people not to give up

but "confront our challenges by reaching out to the depth of our creativity and say, how do we move forward?" Registering his sympathy for the people over the harsh economic climate, Mimiko said his heart goes to families that are finding it difficult to feed, "families where their children are ill and there is nothing in their pocket to seek medical help, those women that go into labour pain at night and there is nowhere to seek help, my heart goes to everybody that suffers in this land".

News|SOUTH-EAST

monDAY, JUNE 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Niger Delta Avengers fighting for Biafra, not amnesty–IPOB

Steve Uzoechi and Charles Onyekwere

he Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has said that the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) are fighting for the actualization of the Biafra nation and not for amnesty as the Federal Government wants the whole world to believe. A release from the group jointly signed by Mr. Emma Mmezu and Dr. Clifford Iroanya, said IPOB had not compromised its agitation for the realization of the Biafra nation, saying it was solidly behind the Niger Delta group’s liberation struggle. The statement read in part, “NDA have consistently stated that the release of IPOB leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, is a precondition for any discussion with Nigeria. Unfortunately the Nigerian Government

lGroup threatens to join NDA has swept this demand under the carpet while magnifying the notion of amnesty payments and resource control as reasons for the NDA‘s actions. For the avoidance of doubt, the NDA is fighting for the freedom of the people of Biafra and not for amnesty payment or for resource control as some commentators would like to believe. When Biafra is finally liberated from the bondage called Nigeria, resources shall

be controlled by the owners of the land where those resources are located. The Nigerian Gover nment should stop deceiving the entire world into believing that what the NDA are demanding is resource control.” According to the release, the NDA is fighting against what they described as ‘Islamic enslavement’ and should be supported by all especially the proBiafra agitators. “IPOB under the

leadership of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, hereby state that we support our kith and kin – the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), who are fighting for the freedom of our people from the enslaving Islamic Republic of Nigerian Government. We want to place on record that IPOB has no connection with groups claiming on the pages of Nigerian newspapers that they do not support our fellow freedom fighters – the NDA. “We make reference

to a particular group which is a well-known tur ncoat and their leader, who has been bribed with oil blocks allocation. This same group is known to have started the ugly incidence of kidnapping in Biafraland and their members often used as thugs and hired killers for politicians in Nigeria. “As far as IPOB is concerned, NDA is doing the right thing by demanding the freedom of our people from the perpetually repressive Nigerian state. Unlike some groups pretending

Cross-Section of Members of the Association of Heads of Federal Establishments Enugu State Chapter, during a road walk to round-up the Association’s Health Week, in Enugu… yesterday.

The total number of matches played by Spain at Brazil 2014 World Cup. Source: Fifa.com

The number of fatalities in terrorists’ violence involving security force personnel in 2008. Source: Satp.org

PHOTO: NAN

to be Biafran freedom fighters, the NDA and IPOB have a common ideology and objective which is the absolute liberation of the nation of Biafra from the British-contraption.’’

Don’t move about alone, DG tells corps members Uchenna Inya ABAKALIKI

irector-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier General Suleiman Kazaure, at the weekend urged corps members to ensure that they move about in groups rather than going out individually. He gave the advice when he visited the 2016 Batch A (Stream II) corps members undergoing orientation at Macgregor Orientation Camp in Afikpo North Local Government Area of Ebonyi State. Kazaure said the essence of the scheme was to ensure national integration, which would bring about the desired unity which the country earnestly desires. The Ebonyi State Coordinator of the scheme, Mrs. Gladys Mbachi, said the corps members posted to the state for the one year mandatory service are 1, 346 males and 586 females.

Rice production: Ebonyi pays N87.1m counterpart fund Lawmaker donates vehicles, tractors to constituents Uchenna Inya ABAKALIKI

bonyi State Government has paid N87.1million as counterpart funding to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) towards boosting rice production and other crops in the state. The state’s Programme Coordinator (SPC) of the organization, Sunday Ituma, disclosed this in Abakaliki when the IFAD team visited the state to assess its activities.

Pamela Eboh Awka

embers of Nawfia community have protested against government acquisition of their land along the Enugu/Onitsha Expressway by the Anambra State government for the construction of a housing estate for retired military officers of Anambra origin. The community is demand-

Ituma, who commended Governor Umahi, for the prompt release of the fund, assured the state of the organisation’s effectivepartnership to achieve enhanced rice production and other agricultural produce in the state. He told the visiting team that the state office had intensified its drive to reduce poverty in the state, increase food security and accelerate economic growth on a sustainable basis. The coordinator also remarked that the programme targets smallholder farmers engaged

in rice and cassava value chains in the council areas, noting that the office would improve on the achievements recorded so far. He noted that adequate enhancement would be made in creating more awareness of IFAD’s intervention to farmers, especially on requirements needed of them and the time frame of the intervention. Ituma led the IFAD team to assess rice clusters at Ikwo, Izzi, Nkalagu and Ezillo clusters in Ishiellu LGA, alongside the Abakaliki Rice Mill Company.

Pamela Eboh Awka

he member representing Awka North and Awka South federal constituency in the House of Representatives, Chief Anayo Nebe, yesterday donated gifts valued at millions of naira to the people of his constituency. The items include: two tractors for the farming communities in Awka North, 20 motorcycles, 40 sewing machines, grinding machines, a brand

new bus donated to Nise women group and a brand new pick up vehicle donated to Umuokpu Vigilante group, among others. Nnebe’s gesture marked the first empowerment programme by a lawmaker since his electoral victory into the National Assembly last year. In his remarks at the ceremony, the lawmaker said it was a way of thanking the people, saying that another empowerment porogramme would take place later in the year.

He assured the people that their interest would be protected in the distribution of constituency projects, adding that he had already embarked on a programme to identify the needs of the various communities in the area. Speaking at the occasion, the National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Caretaker Committee, Senator Ndii Obi, hailed the lawmaker for doing so much for the people in a short period as a member of the House of Representatives.

Community, govt agency clash over land for Army estate ing payment of compensation for the land . They are also claiming compensation for their damaged crops destroyed in the process of clearing the land. They called on the state government to pay them compensation in the interest of justice and fair play as the issue was causing disquiet be-

tween some people from Nawfia community, the donor community, and the state Housing Development Corporation. However, the Managing Director of Anambra State Housing Development Corporation, Mr. Patrick Obianwu, who showed documents of the 138.686 hectares of the controversial

land, including the survey plans and payments made to the community, explained at the weekend that the land was acquired by the state government, for a housing estate as part of the development of Awka Capital Territory. He added that the notice of acquisition was signed after an agree-

ment was reached with the community, adding that during the administration of the immediate past governor of the state, Mr. Peter Obi, 29 hectares were ceded to the Army under the military post housing services scheme. According to Obianwu, Nawfia community had in 2007 nominated

an attorney, Gilbert Nwana and Partners, to administer its compensatory sum, adding that all compensation to the community was passed through the attorney as directed by Nawfia community and all payments were supervised by the traditional ruler of Nawfia and other leaders in the community.

monDAY, JUNE 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

We’ll sink PDP on Sept 10 –Oshiomhole

Cajetan Mmuta BENIN

overnor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State said yesterday that the All Progressives Congress (APC) would bury the remains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the September 10 governorship election in the state. Besides, he said the ruling party would focus on how to battle other political parties in the state and not the PDP which he said had further been torn apart by several crises at the national level. Oshiomhole stated this while speaking shortly af-

ter the APC governorship primaries held in Benin, the state capital at the weekend which produced Mr. Godwin Obaseki as the party‘s flag bearer for the gubernatorial poll. He pointed out that the APC, would commence campaigns for the election soon with the emergence of the party’s candidate. According to him, I will not lose sleep over PDP’s boast of winning the state. “Our delegates have spoken. Now the party will

2,839

The total number of subscribers of IPNX (fixed/fixed wireless) as at June 2015. Ncc.gov.ng

hit the ground running. There is no PDP in Edo State. Which of the factions. We have one body several heads, even when they were in the centre we defeated them with all their federal might. So there is no PDP as long as I am concerned.” Oshiomhole said: “For me they are lighter than a loaf of bread. But we will go to the election; there are other parties in the state. PDP is not an issue; I don’t think Edo people

382

The number of fatalities in terrorists’ violence involving terrorists in 2008. Source: Satp.org

will forget the crime of PDP in a hurry. Not for the next 20 years in this state. Even when you ask young boys and girls in the state, who is responsible for this bad school they will say PDP.” “Who is responsible for this bad hospital, they say PDP. Who is responsible for this bad road PDP, who is responsible for this good road, APC; even children know that. By the time they become 18 they will continue to vote APC and vote against PDP. We have no fear at all. In fact, we will do better in the next election and kick them out of existence,” he declared.

All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship Aspirant, Mr. Godwin Obaseki (left), and other executive members arriving at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, for the Edo APC Primaries…on Saturday. PHOTO: NAN

Emmanuel to sack LG caretaker chairmen Tony Anichebe Uyo

overnor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State is expected to dissolve the present Local Government Transition Committees whose tenure expires next month and

replace them with another committee, ahead of the conduct of election for new local government chairmen in the state. Emmanuel had announced his intention to conduct fresh council poll during the June edition of monthly prayer meeting held at Latter

House Chapel, Governors Lodge, Uyo. The governor premised the proposed dissolution on the need to align with the constitutional provisions regulating local government administration in the state and said that the new committee would

Rivers: Schools guards threaten strike over salary arrears Emmanuel Masha Port Harcourt

ecurity guards in the 250 Model Primary Schools in Rivers State have issued a three-day ultimatum to the state government to pay their four months salary arrears or risk strike to be embarked upon by them. They said that despite their complaints over the unpaid salaries, and the effort they put to guard

the primary schools, the state government had acted as if everything was fine. The spokesman of the guards, who were stationed in the state’s 23 local government areas, Godswil Nwoke, lamented that the situation was demoralising to the guards, who he noted had continued to put in their best, but warned that they would embark on strike, if they were not paid within three days.

The guards also complained that some deductions were made from their previous salaries by Pentagon, the consultant the state government used to employ them. The 250 Model Primary Schools across the state, were built during the Amaechi administration, and were equipped with lCT facilities, modern libraries, science laboratories, football fields, basketball and volleyball pitches.

comprise of men of requisite pedigree and proven integrity, who would be selected from various zones in their respective area councils to avoid acrimony. He dispelled as mere rumour the purported reshufflement of the state executive council, being peddled by a section of the media and called on those serving in that capacity to carry out their duties with renewed zeal and diligence. Emmanuel informed the people that despite the reduction in the fiscal allocation accruing to the state, his administration would continue to ensure that the welfare of its work force was given priority and that he would deploy his expertise to ensure that workers’ salaries were paid and that projects earmarked for execution were carried out for the benefit of the people.

News|south-south

41 Police warn against violence as PDP delegates elect guber candidate Cajetan Mmuta BENIN

head of the governorship primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to elect its candidate for the governorship election in Edo State today, the police has warned party loyalist against any form of violence. The three aspirants of the party, which include Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, Chief Solomon Edebiri and Hon. Matthew Iduoyenkemwen have been screened and cleared for the primary election slated for the Samuel Ogbemudia stadium in the ancient capital town today. A total of 751 delegates from the 192 wards, 18 local government areas and three senatorial districts are expected to cast their votes to elect the party’s

candidate ahead of the September 10, governorship poll in the state. The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Chris Ezike, had during a press conference in Benin, the state capital, assured residents of a hitch free exercise with the deployment of about 1, 200 police officers and men to strategic areas within and outside the stadium to compliment the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC). Ezike, said out of the total number of policemen, 200 drawn from the anti-riot mobile sqauds would be deployed from neigbouring states. He, however, warned politicians and thugs to stay away from the venue of the governorship polls adding that even security details attached to any of the aspirants or public figures would also not be allowed into the venue.

Militancy: Delta monarchs send SOS to Buhari Dominic Adewole ASABA

he Delta State Traditional Rulers’ Council has appealed to the Federal Government to employ diplomacy to end the wanton destruction of the nation’s assets by the renewed militancy in the Niger Delta region. The monarchs rose from an emergency meeting in Asaba, appealing to the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) to lay down their arms and embrace the peace being offered by the Federal Government. The acting state Chairman of the Council, Dr. Emmanuel Efiezomor II, the Obi of Owa Kingdom, who sued for peace between the militia group and the Federal Government. acknowledged the efforts of governors of states in the

Niger Delta Region to end the crisis. The monarchs were particularly concerned about the tensed situation in Ijaw axis of the region, which they said had put several homes in disarray since the military occupation of the area. Briefing journalists after the meeting, he emphasized the need for a more collaborative effort by all stakeholders towards ensuring an enduring solution to the Niger Delta question. The council cautioned against the conferment of titles on persons of dubious characters, which they said could trigger violent reactions among the youths, set up two different committees to visit members with health challenges with a view to taking proactive measures to address their health concerns.

Stakeholders urged to revamp education sector and entrepreneurial spirit

Tony Anichebe Uyo

takeholders in the education sector across the country have been called upon to assist in the revamping of the sector to standardize quality by strengthening the institutional frame work to enhance productivity in the sector. Governor Udom Emmanuel made the call during the first matriculation ceremony of the Ritman University, a private tertiary institution at Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area of the state at the weekend. The governor commended the creativity, ingenuity

of the founder of the Institution, Senator Emmanuel Ibok Essien, saying the vision of the founder represents the true Akwa Ibom sprit of hard work, dedication and excellence which form the bedrock of the citadel of learning. Earlier, the Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Celestine Ntuen, said that a total of thirty two students were matriculated into various academic programmes of the institution and expressed appreciation to the Governor, his wife, Martha and other dignitaries for being part of the event.

News|north

Group kicks against grazing reserves bill in Plateau

Musa Pam Jos

cultural group operating under the auspices of Yendel O Tarok in Plateau State, has kicked against the proposed national grazing reserve bill, saying no inch of Tarok land in Langtang Local Gover nment Area of Plateau State would be given for the purported grazing reserve. Addressing newsmen at the weekend in Jos, spokesperson of the group, Miss Tabitha Goselle, said they reject the bill in its entirety for the purpose of peace, unity and progress. “We have consulted members of the Plateau State House of Assembly, leaders, stakeholders and custodians of the land in Langtang North and Langtang South and by extension, Plateau State, but they are shocked at the listing

of Plateau State as one of the 11 states and the FCT mentioned by the Cephas Iorhemen Minister of Agricul- MAKURDI ture, Audu Ogbe, as here were indicaready to provide graztions at the weekend ing reserves. that the embattled “But our members member of the were blunt that no inch House of Representatives of the state’s land will be representing Gwer/Gwer surrendered for any graz- West from Benue State, Hon. ing reserve. They rather Mark Gbillah, who is batare expecting an apology tling to save his name over from the governor.” allegation of dual scandal The group called on from the United States, may all well-meaning Nige- be recalled. rians, devoid of party Gbillah, who alongside lines, to come out en two of his colleagues, Momass to force members hammed Gololo (APC Bauof the National Assem- chi State) that was accused bly to reject in totality, of allegedly grabbing a hotel the National Grazing Re- maid and soliciting sex and serve Commission Bill. Samuel Ikon (PDP-Akwa “ We t h e Ta ro k youths and people are behind our leaders in the state who are against the grazing Chairman, Plateau reserve and will do State Universal everything possible Basic Education to stop it and Plateau Board (SUBEB), youths will be mobilProf. Matthew ised en masse for an Sule (left) and anti-grazing sit out Chairman, until the policy is rePankshin Local versed,” the g roup Government said.

Alleged fraud: Ortom directs prosecution of Suswam, others Cephas Iorhemen MAKURDI

enue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, at the weekend, announced that he has directed the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mike Gusah, to commence the prosecution of those indicted by the Justice Kpojime Commission for looting N107 billion from the coffers of the state. He made the disclosure at the presentation of the book, “Footprints... Leaving Lasting Legacies,” written by Dr. James Zasha, at the Precious Conference Centre, Makurdi, the state capital, stressing that the process would commence this week. The governor stated that even though the state government has forwarded the commission’s report and white paper to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), he had also directed the independent prosecution of the 52 indicted persons. According to him, his administration needed to recover the looted funds to enable it clear

Sex scandal: Benue lawmaker may be recalled

salary arrears and discharge other financial responsibilities as the current federal allocation to the state as well as the internally generated revenue have not been enough to tackle the challenges. He described Zasha as an upright man, who had earned his respect and that of others through committed public service and integrity and urged other people to emulate his exemplary character. Ortom added that one of the ways to leave a lasting legacy behind was through books and commended the author and his wife for their sacrifices in putting together the book which took 24 years to write. Chairman of the occasion, Justice James Ogebe, a retired Supreme Court judge said only righteousness could exalt a nation while sin was a reproach to any people.

0.54%

The capital importation percentage share of Trading of Nigeria in 2008. Source: National Bureau of Statistics

The total number of goals scored by Portugal at Brazil 2014 World Cup. Source: Fifa.com

Ibom) accused of allegedly requesting a car park attendant to help them arrange the services of prostitutes during a visit to Cleveland, United States, is now facing serious heat from his constituents if he, Gbillah, fails to prove the allegation against him. Investigation by New Telegraph at the weekend revealed that a move towards actualising the plot was been put together by critical stakeholders from the area, who were also reported to be holding meetings to that effect. The people, according to a reliable source, were angry with their son’s involvement

in the alleged sex scandal, which they described as a ‘total embarrassment and disappointment as well as a slap in the face of the entire constituency.’ Even though, Gbillah has since dispelled the allegation as ‘false and a calculated attempt to rubbish the National Assembly’, the heat appears to be on him. Speaking with New Telegraph on the matter, Deputy Chairman of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, Dr. Tsetim Ayargwer, who is also a son of Gwer East, described the allegation as unfortunate. Ayargwer, a former member of the state House

monDAY, JUNE 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

of Assembly, said he was perturbed that a man of high morality like Gbillah was named in such a sordid act, considering the fact that he is a responsibly married man. On the plan by the constituents to recall the lawmaker, Ayargwer said stakeholders would think about it ‘when the dust settles.’ “We are not thinking of that for now, we want to wait because its accusations and counter-accusations, but when the dust settles, we will know what to do with him,” said the ex-lawmaker. Also reacting, a prominent member of the PDP in Gwer West Local Government Area, who did not want his name in print, said ‘the people will not delay recalling the man in case the allegation of sex scam leveled against him finally nails him.’

Area (LGA) in Plateau State, Mr. Stephen Jing, during the inspection of school instructional materials for distribution to LGA’s in Jos… yesterday. PHOTO: NAN

Two APC factions clash in Kogi Muhammad Bashir Lokoja

here was pandemonium in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, at the weekend, when two factions of the All Progressives Congress (APC) engaged in a heated argument over the control of the state party secretariat. Seven out of the 36 members of the party’s state executives, were said to be loyal to the incumbent governor, Yahaya Bello, while 29 other executives, including the state Chair-

man, Alhaji Haddy Ametuo, were not in support of the governor. Tension has of recent heightened in the state, following the passing of vote of no confidence on Governor Yahaya Bello, by the leadership of the party, with the members of the State Working Committee, accusing the governor of appointing non-card carrying members to top positions. Seven members of the state executives of the party loyal to Governor Bello, who went to hold a meeting at the party’s secretariat,

were stopped from assessing the secretariat by members of the state executives, who are simply refer to as ‘anti-Bello.’ The confrontation heightened tension in the state, thereby compelling the men of the state police command to wade into the problem to forestall the breakdown of law and order. Despite the argument by the anti-Bello group that the six members of the state working committee do not have the power to summon a meeting, the state Commissioner of Po-

lice, Yakubu Usman, was said to have given the minority group the go-ahead to hold their meeting. Confirming the development, Secretary to the party in the state, Salem Adejoh, described the invasion of the secretariat as most unfortunate, insisting that the six members of the executives do not have the power to summon a meeting. Meanwhile, the proBello executives in their meeting, berated the party leadership in the state for fanning the embers of crisis, urging them to leave the governor alone to concentrate on the issues of governance.

Gov: Bauchi received N82.737bn from federation account, IGR, VAT Nankpah Bwakan Bauchi

auchi State Governor, Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar, said that his administration from June 2015 to date has only received N82.737 billion from the federation allocation, the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and the Value Added Tax (VAT). He said out of the N82.737 billion, the 20 Local Govern-

ment Areas in the state got N35.023 billion through the Ministry for Local Government Affairs. Governor Abubakar was reacting to an online publication alleging that he has received N72 billion as federal allocation from the federation account from June 2015 to May 2016, without commensurate development projects being provided in the state within the period under review. The governor’s media

aide, Abubakar Al-Sadique, in a statement, said the writers failed to disclose that the said amount include the share of the 20 council areas and that part of it was used for repaying the loans, which are usually deducted at source before the money goes into government accounts. According to the statement, “But the truth is that the revenue that accrued to Bauchi State Government and the 20 local government

councils, including statutory allocations from the federation accounts, VAT and internally generated revenue from June 2015. The statement added: “A further breakdown of the revenue that accrued to the state shows that in the month of June 2015, for both the state and local government councils N9.66 billion was realized, which increased to N13.4 billion in July 2015 and dropped to N7.26 billion in August 2015.”

MONday, JUNE 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

News

WORLD \ NEWS

Kalu welcomes Buhari, seeks cooperation

ormer Governor of Abia State and eminent businessman, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, yesterday congratulated President Muhammadu Buhari on his return to the country after his vacation in London. Kalu, who said that the president deserved his break, said that having returned, now was the time for the president to put in more energy and vigour to delivering Nigeria to

his desired destination. He also asked Nigerians to move in the direction of the president. He said: “I believe that the president has recharged and renewed himself, having worked so hard in the past one year to re-direct the course of Nigeria. Having returned now, I believe very strongly that the president is renewed and refreshed enough to tackle the ills of the country, which he has been dealing with

since last year. “Now is the time for the president to be more focused on his anti-corruption fight, the economy and most importantly, the fight against pockets of discontent all over the country, manifest in such areas as pipeline vandalism, agitations for selfrule, Boko Haram, kidnapping and other vices.” Kalu said he was optimistic that the president would do better in his second year in office.

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

EU referendum: Campaigns resume with new warning

eaving the EU would be a “oneway door to a much more uncertain world”, Chancellor George Osborne has said. He said he thought the hit to the economy if Britain votes to leave on Thursday might be worse than forecast. As campaigning resumes after a break following the killing of MP Jo Cox, Mr Osborne told

ITV: “Brexit may be for the very rich but it is not for the working people of this country.” Vote Leave said the UK could deal with “whatever the world throws at us”. With just four days to go before Britain votes on whether to remain in the EU, the opinion polls suggest the referendum will be close, with many voters still undecided. UKIP leader Nigel Farage said

the Leave campaign may still be on course for victory but that the death of Mrs Cox, who was killed in her West Yorkshire constituency on Thursday, had affected the campaign. “We did have momentum until this terrible tragedy,” he told Robert Peston, adding that “when you take on the establishment you need to have momentum”.

Militancy: I’ll mediate for any credible group, says Ita-Giwa

ormer Presidential Adviser on National Assembly Matters, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa, yesterday reiterated her earlier stand that she would only consider mediating only with credible groups in the Niger Delta with the aim of ending the vandalisation of oil installations and the restiveness in the region. Ita-Giwa said she has no affiliation with any of the groups apart from being the leader of the Bakassi people under the

auspices of the Bakassi General Assembly, a body fighting with other stakeholders. In a statement signed in Lagos yesterday, Ita-Giwa added that inasmuch as she is interested in any move aimed at restoring peace and development in the region, she will consider serving if the Federal Government is willing to engage in discussion with credible Nigerians who have genuine interest and sympathy for the people of the region. The statement reads in

part: My position is still the same and that is that I will accept to mediate for any credible group and it is important to note that I do not have affiliation with any of these groups apart from my position as the political leader of the Bakassi people, struggling along with other Bakassi people to ensure proper resettlement of my people. “Again, I will serve in order to put in place a lasting solution to the hostility, thereby bringing succour to the people of the region.

Nurses, midwives to embark on nationwide strike Flora Onwudiwe

urses and midwives in the health sector are warming up for the mother of all strikes aimed at fighting discrimination and poor remuneration in the last 30 years in the sector. President of the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), AbdulRafiu Adeniji, made this known during a media parley with stakeholders. He insisted that the strike would go ahead after fruitless efforts to make the Federal Government meet the de-

mands of nurses after a 21day strike notice issued to the government. The media parley, which focused on the ideal status of nurses in Nigeria, was organised by the Inspired Nurses Network, Africa (INNA) which was held at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba last week. Adeniji said: “The issue has been dragging for years; nurses with all the degrees for promotion are denied their rights. For instance a nurse that was due for promotion to Level 12 would be relegated to Level 09. The nurses and midwives are embarking

on a nationwide strike after we had given them seven days, 14 and 21 days warning strike to no avail. “It is only in the nursing profession that you will see members suffering while others in the other professions are not suffering. For everything that the nursing council has done, the government in power has not assisted to resolve the issue. The profession is being discriminated against; even when you struggle to become a registered nurse, you are still denied of something tangible; meanwhile, nurses are the most rated people in other parts of the world.

Protesters carrying placards

Thousands protest US bases on Okinawa after Japan woman’s murder

ens of thousands of people gathered in sweltering heat on Japan’s Okinawa Island yesterday in one of the biggest demonstrations in two decades against US military bases, following the arrest of an American suspected of murdering a local woman. The protest marked a new low for the United States and Japanese

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in their relations with the island and threatens plans to move the US Marines Futenma air station to a less populous part of the island. Organizers said 65,000 people attended the rally at a park in central Naha. “Japan is part of Japan and when you hurt your little finger the whole body feels pain. I want Abe to feel Okinawa’s

pain,” said Shigenori Tsuhako, 70, who came to the event because his granddaughter is the same age as the 20-year-old murdered woman, Rina Shimabukuro. The United States and Japan agreed in 1996 to close Futenma, located in a residential area, after the rape of a 12-year-old Japanese schoolgirl by three US military personnel spurred mass demonstrations.

Investigators analyzing EgyptAir flight recorders

gypt’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Committee started analyzing the parts of the black box flight recorders from the crashed EgyptAir plane Saturday with representatives from

France and the United States in attendance, it said yesterday. The memory units from both the Cockpit Voice Recorder and the Flight Data Recorder were extracted from the devices and were dried

in a military facility for eight hours, the committee said in a statement. The committee is now conducting electrical tests on both memory units which are the step before the start of data extraction, it said.

Certificate: Presidency threatens to sue lawyer Rome set to elect first female mayor Anule Emmanuel Abuja

he Presidency yesterday warned Mr. Nnamdi Nwokocha, a lawyer over his public comments on a pending suit on President Muhammadu Buhari’s certificate. Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in an interview in Abuja, on behalf of the presidency, warned the lawyer that if he did not stop his “unfair and professionally inappropriate

abuse of free speech”, the President’s lawyers would use the instrumentality of the law in dealing with his unethical actions, Garba faulted a recent interview Nwokocha granted a national newspaper saying it was unfair for a lawyer who is a litigant in a case pending in court to hijack the power of a judge by declaring the President guilty of what he is accused of on the pages of newspapers. According to the presidential aide, “Newspaper pages are not alternative courts where a lawyer can declare anybody guilty of

anything when the court has not formally given a definitive judgment on an issue before it,” Garba noted that “the two-page interview published on Saturday, June 11 breaches lawyers’ ethical code and we hope that the court and the Nigerian Bar Association will take notice of this.” He said any lawyer that sincerely believes in judicial process and the rights of other parties to a case would not have engaged in what he called “the inappropriate and unprofessional practice of trial by media.”

ome is set to elect its first female mayor in a runoff vote in municipal elections. Virginia Raggi, from the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, is seen as the favourite against Roberto Giachetti of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD). Her victory would be a blow to Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. His PD party may also lose in Italy’s financial capital, Milan, and faces tough battles in Turin and Bologna.

Ms Raggi, a 37-year-old lawyer, won 35 per cent of the vote in the first round two weeks ago, against 24 per cent for Mr. Giachetti. Correspondents say a victory in Rome would give anti-globalist Five Star a platform for parliamentary elections due in 2018. The next mayor of Rome will find a city mired in debts of more than €13bn (£10bn; $15bn) - twice its annual budget. Romans are frustrated by potholes,

piles of rubbish and serious deficiencies in public transport and housing, the BBC’s James Reynolds in reports from the Italian capital. Founded by comedian Beppe Grillo in 2009, Five Star has been campaigning against the corruption that has plagued Italian politics for years. PD’s Ignazio Marino resigned as mayor of Rome in October over an expenses scandal. The city has been without a mayor since then.

MONDAY, JUNE 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

Shooting beat MFM in Lagos

Charles Ogundiya

Sport

t took the intervention of the security operatives and the president of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick, to resolve what would have been a full-fledged crisis at the Agege Stadium on Sunday when Shooting Stars defeated MFM 1-0.

Ebitimi Ago gu scored the only goal of the game in the 82nd minute to end MFM’s unbeaten home record since gaining promotion to the premier league at the beginning of the season. The fans however in-

vaded the pitch after the goal claiming the referee failed to give a penalty to the home team when Stephen Odey was fouled in the box allowing the game to continue leading to Shooting’s goal. The game later continued after normalcy was

returned by the security agency. It was another drama in Bauchi as league leader, Wikki Tourists, came from a goal down to defeat Kano Pillars 3-1 with the former champions ending the game with eight men after Ja-

RESULTS EURO FIXTURES Russia

Wales 8pm

Slovakia

England 8pm

COPA AMERICA RESULTS Argentina

4-1

Venezuela

Mexico

0-7

Chile

NPFL RESULTS MFM

0-1

Shooting

Akwa

2-0

El-Kanemi

Tornadoes

1-1

Rangers

IfeanyiUbah

2-0

Rivers Utd

Abia Warriors

1-0

Heartland

Wikki

3-1

Kano Pillars

NFF battles against time over Eagles’ coach T Moses Simon (right)

Adekunle Salami

Salisu in pole position

Adekunle Salami Group Sport Editor

Emmanuel Tobi Assistant Sport Editor

Ajibade Olusesan Sport Correspondent

Charles Ogundiya Sport Correspondent

he Nigeria Football Federation is frantically making efforts to get a substantive coach for the senior national team, the Super Eagles, but this has not yielded results. Amaju Pinnick and

the board of the federation resolved to engage a foreign Manager for the team to enable Nigeria to get the best results but sponsorship of the expatriate coach remains a major issue. The NFF was at the verge of sealing a good deal with an oil company before the current leader-

DStv Basketball: Final 8 dunks off today T

he 2016 season for the DStv Premier Basketball League will be rounded off with the Final 8 Championship taking place at the Indoor Hall of the National Stadium in Lagos from Monday June 20 to June 25. According to the Secretary General of the Nigeria Basketball Federation, NBBF, Patrick Okeke, the eight teams which qualified from both the Atlantic and Savannah Conferences are expected to ar rive La gos today, early enough for the technical meeting which precedes the g ames holding later in the day. The eight teams, four each from the two conferences have been drawn

into two groups. Group A has Kwara Falcons, Plateau Rocks, Nigeria Customs and Niger Potters while Kano Pillars, Royal Hoopers, Gombe Bulls and Oluyole Warriors make up Group B Plateau Rocks and the Nigeria Customs take to the courts first at midday, with Royal Hoopers taking on Gombe Bulls, Niger Potters versus Kwara Falcons and Oluyole Warriors battling Kano Pillars in that order for Day 1. The top two teams from each group qualify for the semifinals holding on Thursday while the third place and final games on Saturday, signaling the close of the 2016 season.

ship crisis involving club owner, Chris Giwa, threw spanner into the works of the federation. Between then and now, it has been difficult for the NFF to get another sponsor as the body also narrowed the choice of the foreign coach to a Serbian. Pinnick stated earlier in the month that the target of the NFF was to get a substantive coach before the World Cup draw scheduled for June 24, just four days time. Our source said: “It has been tough. The recent spate of tragedies might have affected the federation because there is no sponsor yet and that is the first step. “So far, no Serbian coach in sight and there is need to get the team rolling and so there is so much tension and confusion on the next line of action. “Getting a foreign coach is not a popular decision while the choice of Salisu ( Yusuf) is not embraced by the entire board members. We are in for a crucial week because the board wants a coach named before the draw.” Only last week Yusuf told newsmen that it was either the Head Coach job of the Super Eagles or nothing because he had served as assistant coach of the team for a long period. New Telegraph learnt authoritatively that Salisu is now in pole position to land the job based on the situation the federation found itself. He will be assisted by Emmanuel Amunike and Alloy Agu while the NFF will also strengthen the technical department of the federation to be a strong back up for the technical crew especially with the recent sudden death of the head, Shaibu Amodu.

SPORTS

MONDAY, JUNE 20 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

CAF Champions League

Zamalek shock Enyimba 1-0 Charles Ogundiya

igeria Professional Football Lea gue champions, Enyimba, started their CAF Champions League group stage on a poor note yerterday as they lost 1-0 at home to Zamalek of Egypt. The game almost suffered a postponement after heavy downpour in Port Harcourt

Enyimba striker Mfom Udoh

Why D’Tigress didn’t qualify for Rio Olympics –Kalu Emmanuel Tobi

’Tigress forward, Ezinne Kalu, has explained the rationale behind the team’s failure to qualify for the Rio Olympics basketball event as the team crashed out of the Women’s Olympics Qualifying Tournament in France after placing last in its group that included Belarus and Korea. D’Tigress lost their opening game 71-60 to Belarus and beat Korea 70-69. Belarus needed to beat Korea for Nigeria to qualify for the quarterfinals, but Korea beat Belarus 66-65 to qualify ahead of Nigeria. Kalu, whose threepoint shot secured Nigeria a 70-69-point win over South Korea in the second match of the group, took to her facebook page to thank Nigerians

and indeed all that supported the team in their failed bid. “We (Nigeria) lost to Belarus by 11pts, that put us at -11 on the Point Scale and Belarus at +11 on the point scale. “When we beat Korea by 1 point last night (7069), that put us at -10 on the point scale and Korea at -1 on the point scale. “Now, in order for us (Nigeria) to make it to the quarter-finals, Belarus must beat Korea or Korea must beat Belarus by at least 22pts. If Korea beats Belarus by anything less than 22pts, we (Nigeria) will not move on to the quarterfinal round to qualify for the Olympics in Rio. “Unfortunately, Korea has beaten Belarus by 1 point; that puts Korea at 0 on the point scale (-1 + 1), and Nigeria still at -10 on the point scale, therefore our journey has come to an end."

the trip to Holland has now made my case double joy. The organisers have done well.” Ejeh however said winning a ticket to Holland for training was a compensation for him since his team lost in the final match. “We did everything to win the trophy but no luck. I thank NNPC/Shell for this initiative. It is a compensation for me personally. I am so happy because we are going to gain exposure abroad,” he said.

team to get a goal proved abortive as Zamalek defended strongly to return home with three points. The victory put Zamalek joint top in Group B alongside Sundown of South Africa who also socked El Setif of Algeria 2-0 on Saturday. Enyimba will be away to Sundown in their second game while Zamalek will welcome El-Setif to Egypt.

Amusan wins Conference USA track athlete of the year Charles Ogundiya

reshmen sensation Tobi Amusan was at the weekend voted by C-USA track and field head coaches from around the league as the 2016 Conference USA Track Athlete of the Year. “It has been a privilege to see how this young lady has opened up her career her at UTEP,” head coach Mika Laaksonen said. “Tobi is not only a great athlete, but an excellent student as well. We couldn’t have really asked for much more from a freshman student-athlete.” Amusan becomes only the second athlete for UTEP since it joined C-USA in 2006 to win this prestigious award

(Blessing Okagbare/2010). She capped off her spectacular freshman campaign last weekend in Eugene, Oregon at the NCAA Championships with a second-place showing in the 100m hurdles with a wind-aided time of 12.79. “During the recruiting process, we were told that she is the ‘next Blessing Okagbare,”, Laaksonen mentioned. “When this skinny little girl arrived at UTEP this January, it was kind of difficult to visualize her dominating her competitors the way Blessing did. Now, after her first season here, she has definitely made me a believer.” Overall, she won nine events as a freshman between the long jump, 100m hurdles and the

Amusan

4x100m relay. Amusan is now getting prepped for the IAAF U-20 Championships, which will be held in Bydgoszcz, Poland on July 19-24.

Eagles rock Lagos for Onazi, bride

NNPC/Shell: Trip to Holland excites Amadi, Ejeh olland-bound Kelvin Amadi and Joseph Ejeh have expressed delight after emerging the two most outstanding players at the just concluded 18th NNPC/Shell Cup football competition. The event organized for all the secondary schools in the 36 states of the federation ended last Thursday in Lagos with Excel Education Centre, Port Harcourt clinching the trophy with a 3-2 victory over FOSLA Academy, Abuja. The prize money is a total of N8.2million – N3.5m for the 1st position; N2.3m for the 2nd position; N1.3m and N1.1 for the 3rd and the 4th positions respectively. Amadi of Excel school and Ejeh of Fosla were selected by the coaching crew from Feyenoord Academy, as the two best players of the 2016 tournament and would be sponsored for a training tour to The Netherlands. An elated Amadi said: “This is a big surprise to me and I am so happy. I was only playing to enjoy myself but never knew I will win any prize. The trophy my school won is a big deal to me while

nearly rendered the Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium unplayable, but the referee gave the go ahead for the game to be played. With the waterlogged pitch making passing impossible, the visitors took the lead with just seven minutes into the game, a goal they defended till the end. All efforts by the home

Onazi and his wife dancing

L - R ; Mr Segun Agbaje, MD/CEO, GTBank; Elvis Onyeze, Captain, Greensprings School Lagos; Mr Amaju Pinnick, President, Nigerian Football Federation and Alhaja Riskat Yussuf, Chairman, Lagos First Generation Heritage Colleges Association during the presentation of the 2016 GTBank Masters trophy at Onikan Stadium in Lagos on Friday.

he nation’s economic capital, Lagos, was at its most vivacious on Saturday as the Nigeria football fraternity celebrated with Super Eagles and SS Lazio of Italy midfielder Ogenyi Onazi, who got married to Sandra Osagioduwa Ogunsuyi. About a dozen Super Eagles’ players attended the impressive ceremony at the Faith Tabernacle in Lekki, with NFF President Amaju Pinnick, NFF 1st Vice President Seyi Akinwunmi and Chairman of Technical Committee, Chris Green, also in attendance. The Special Assistant (Sports) to Lagos State Governor Ambode, Mr. Adeyinka Adeboye, NFF’s Director of Communications Ademola Olajire, Super Eagles’ administrator Dayo Enebi, Eagles’ media officer Toyin Ibitoye and Eagles’ equipment manager Godfirst Chike also graced the occasion. The Super Eagles’ line–up included assistant Captain Ahmed Musa, Odion Ighalo, Kenneth

Omeruo, John Ogu, Moses Simon, Brown Ideye, Anthony Ujah, Raheem Lawal, Obinna Nsofor and Sunday Mba. The reception at the Ruby Gardens was preceded by a one– hour church service at Faith Tabernacle, at which the couple was charged to show love and understanding to one another at all times. Pinnick had earlier in the day, alongside Sports Minister Solomon Dalung, NFF Deputy General Secretary Emmanuel Ikpeme, Director of Finance Dadid Atabo and assistant technical directors Abdulrafiu Yusuf and Siji Lagunju, attended the eighth day fidau prayer for departed NFF Technical Director, Coach Shuaibu Amodu, in Surulere, Lagos. At Lekki, the NFF boss charged Onazi to always provide for, project and protect his wife at all times, as he supervised the cutting of the cake. He had also attended Thursday’s traditional marriage of Eddy and Sandra in Benin City.

Pinnick, Akinwunmi and the Super Eagles with the couple.

MONday, JUNE 20, 2016 NEW TELEGRAPH

On Marble

There is no true act of giving that does not affect us with a sense of loss: but the benefit of sowing the good seeds always repays us with gainful anticipation.

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The National Road Traffic Act was enacted on 1st January, 1949 during the colonial era. This Act is available in the Road Traffic Act Chapter 548, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990. It is this Act (1949) that gave birth to Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO).

Public arena T he column you write

Community-based institutions and local governance Tunji Olaopa

ome few days ago, a reception was put together by the Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy (ISGPP) in honour of the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Alfred Achebe. The event was part of the Obi’s busy itinerary to Ibadan at the instance of the Alumni Association of the University of Ibadan. The reception for the Igwe at ISGPP became seminal because it served as the unique platform for two simultaneously unfolding events. I was recently invited to the Centre for Values in Leadership (CVL) 33rd lecture in commemoration of the 75th birthday of the Obi of Onitsha. The theme of the occasion was tellingly apt as the status of the celebrant himself: Modern Traditional Rulers as Development Catalysts. This was not a discourse I am a stranger to. In fact, one of the flagship programmes at the ISGPP is anchored on the critical relevance of local governance in the entire architecture of development in Nigeria. My meeting with the Obi of Onitsha was therefore more providential than coincidental! There is presently a glaring disequilibrium in Nigeria’s governance framework even with the ongoing dynamics of change. This imbalance speaks to the difficulty of sustaining a solid development paradigm that could backstop good governance in Nigeria. And the role of traditional rulers and institutions have been marginal in this regard, to say the least. This is for a reason. The status of traditional rulers in Nigeria’s political and development dynamics is at best precarious. Any talk about traditional rulers is met by a solid wall of disdain and disregard by most Nigerians. The feeling is that of pure irreverence deriving from a perception of irrelevance. Traditional rulers seem to become obsolete by the day; a relic of a time gone by. It is as if most people take Roberto Goizueta’s statement too serious, especially with regard to the status of traditional rulers: “It is extremely important that you show some insensitivity to your past in order to show the proper respect for the future.” But Goizueta is only partly right about the status of the past in any consideration of the future. The conception of modernity was built on the false foundation of an acute disregard for the past; and that conception has failed by that fact. For instance, religion is considered by modernization theorists as a feature of a primitive past that would essentially fade away with the onslaught of modernity. On the contrary, religion has not only resurged, but its fundamentalist dimension has constituted the most daunting challenge for the understanding of modernity. But there is another dimension of traditional dynamics which modernists would neglect to their own peril. The significance of the traditional constitutes a veritable tool for crafting a democratic governance framework that would effec-

Igwe Achebe

tively break down development imperatives to their grassroots dividends for the betterment of the people. If democracy needs the grassroots to survive, then there is a need to link traditional institutions to the viability and success of any local governance initiatives. Why is this linkage important in the democratic experiment of the Nigerian state? Local governance is one of the most veritable sources of answering the social question of how the citizens can make sense of their lives through the infrastructural provisions of the state. And a critical plank in this local governance framework is a viable architecture of responsive traditional institutions that have been sufficiently reinvigorated, in a manner consistent with the strategy of the Obi of Onitsha, to carry the burden of modern development demands. Francis Fukuyama is right: “Modern liberal political and economic institutions not only coexist with religion and other traditional elements of culture, but many actually work better in conjunction with them.” To achieve this conjunction requires two significant rethinking of the status and roles of traditional institutions. The first is that traditional institutions must be divorced conceptually from traditional rulers. While tradi-

The first is that traditional institutions must be divorced conceptually from traditional rulers

tional rulers are noted as significant custodians of traditional institutions, there has been an unfolding evidence of how these institutions can function outside of their custody. In recent times, we are daily treated to terrible tales of royal absurdities, excesses, and criminalities. But the traditional institutions still stay intact despite the discordant behaviour of their custodians. And their significance is essentially that they serve as a counterpoint to what Peter Ekeh calls the migrated structures; those institutions that crossed the Atlantic with colonialism but are essentially defective because they lack the originating ethos and values that ground them in their societies. A deliberate and developmental emphasis on traditional institutions therefore recognises their potential to mobilise the people around some governance objectives that elevate democracy and the betterment of the citizens especially at the local level. Ruth Benedict, the American anthropologist, provides the insight: “No man ever looks at the world with pristine eyes. He sees it edited by a definite set of customs and institutions and ways of thinking.” Local governance and the traditional institutions that uphold it constitute a unique means by which democratic governance is delivered in profitable bits to the people. And this leads to the second issue— how to harness the potentials of traditional institutions for development purposes and local governance. Traditional institutions constitute the basis for a vibrant local self-help and service delivery dynamics which cater to people’s expectations far above the capacities and capabilities of the apparatuses of the state. Communities call upon the traditional institutional framework, values and processes to cater to their many legitimate needs: ground their security networks in the form of the vigilante and neighbourhood watch groups; organise their health delivery systems;manage road construction and maintenance efforts; and initiate economic empowerment. For instance, the esusu microfinance scheme has become a veritable feature of modern financial assistance. All these constitute definite means through which the people attend to the search for developmental meaning for themselves and others. The danger is that usually, especially within the context of the Nigerian state, this search for meaning is usually carried out outside of the reach of the state, as a concrete performance of the people’s collective rejection of the state. This is a dangerous incidence the explosion of which is just waiting to happen. For instance, left this way, the Nigerian government can forget the possibility of ever achieving nationhood through national integration. Outside of the continuing efforts at welding the various constituent parts of the Nigerian state together, one fundamental strategy is to leverage the traditional institutions as the fulcrum for answering the social infrastruc-

tural question. It is to this traditional dimension of democratic provision that scholars like Prof. Akin Mabogunje have dedicated their intellectual efforts for years. The OPTICOM project of Mabogunje still remains a defining paradigm of local governance, and unfortunately still closed to government collaboration. The tragedy of local governance in Nigeria is further magnified by the lamentable demise of the government MAMSER/DFRRI programmes foregrounded on community and rural development. The challenge therefore is that of how to align all these traditional institutional efforts with government civic structures and processes for a coherent and pragmatic involvement. The alignment would have ensured that MAMSER/DFRRI become the veritable means by which the government can consistently touch the lives of Nigerian through an enlivening of local governance outreaches that involve both traditional institutions and, fortunately, traditional monarchs. All form of democratic governance is local governance, and if the Nigerian democratic experiment is to ever succeed, it is high time the Nigerian policymakers began taking serious traditional institutions and the genuine grassroots efforts of noble monarchs like Nnemeka Alfred Achebe, the Obi of Onitsha. So, if according to Pierre Gaston de Levis, “nobility has its own obligations,” then it is time to find a democratic obligation not only for our traditional monarchs but also for the traditional institutions they are the custodians of. The relationship between traditional institutions and democratic governance ought to constitute more than a marginal research focus in Nigeria’s democratic framework. •Dr. Olaopa (tolaopa2003@gmail.com) is the Executive Vice Chairman, Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy (ISGPP), Ibadan.

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