7th November 2016

NIGERIA’S MOST INFORMATIVE NEWSPAPER NO 16,627 MONDAY, 7 NOVEMBER, 2016 www.tribuneonlineng.com

TODAY'S SPECIAL

Choosing between brown and white bread

By Sade Oguntola IF you approach the bread shelf at the supermarket, you’ll find a variety of bread, some of them made from whole wheat flour. If you are health conscious, chances are that you would prefer buying brown bread, believing that it is made from whole grains like wheat and barley.

Whole wheat brown bread has a “nutritional advantage” over white bread. This is because brown bread, made Continues pg3

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1,500 workers to lose Oyo releases job as tomato paste white paper on factory quits Nigeria education governing board for Kenya, others —P11 •Establishes —P6 for public schools

2017 budget: We won't be stampeded into a shoddy job —NASS

—P3

Why Nigeria needs $30bn external loan —DMO •Says foreign loans much cheaper than domestic loans —P2

Sterling Bank, 6 others get Moody's ratings —P11

Troops clear Boko Haram insurgents at Lake Chad fringes, rescue 85 —P30

Some of the Boko Haram victims rescued by the troops during a clearance operation in Lake Chad fringes. PHOTO: PRNIGERIA.

Ambode to turn Lagos Presidential Lodge to Heritage Centre —P4

Ondo poll: Injustice against Jegede won't stand, Mimiko insists —P38

•Akeredolu promises to reinstate sacked varsity lecturers

2 news Why Nigeria needs $30bn external loans —DMO

Monday, 7 November, 2016

Says foreign loans cheaper than domestic loans Sanya Adejokun -Abuja

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HILE it is true that Nigerians should be concerned about mounting public debts, they should take solace in the fact that such debts are being used to catalyse economic growth and development, which will, in turn, lead to increased production that would eventually be used to offset the loans.

Director-General of Debt Management Office (DMO), Abraham Nwankwo, said in Abuja, at the weekend, that during a period of recession, there was the need for government to borrow to finance infrastructure and that foreign loans were much cheaper than borrowing from domestic sources.

“The two things to say is, first, there is no doubt that Nigerians are right in asking questions and getting concerned about value for money and about how we get proceeds from what we use.

“The concerns are valid, correct and appropriate,

nobody should doubt that and the important thing to say is that in every system where there is a failure, there are people responsible for tracking why there is failure and for doing the monitoring for effective and appropriate sanctions if there are needs for

sanctions.”

According to him, Nigerians should look back at the needed infrastructure that have been financed by recent loans obtained both locally and internationally.

“Over the past four or five years, the Abuja Airport road was expanded from

four to 10 lanes and same with Abuja-Kubwa-Kaduna road. These two projects were actually funded with money borrowed domestically.

You are aware that the Nigerian rail lines are being resuscitated with new locomotives purchased,

and Lagos, Ibadan, Kano rail lines have been fully resuscitated. These were done with external borrowing. These are some of the examples, on routine basis and on a permanent basis.

“You are aware of the various agricultural

From left, wife of the Senate President, Toyin Saraki; Dr Bukola Saraki; Ogun State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun; the Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi; the couple, Mr and Mrs Olarenwaju Oladiran and the Awujale of Ijebuland, who is also the father of the bride, Oba (Dr) Sikiru Adetona, during the Nikkah, at the Central Mosque Hall, Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, at the weekend.

Anti-corruption: CSOs push for Magu’s confirmation as EFCC chair Christian Okeke -Abuja FOLLOWING his impressive performance in the fight against corruption, a group of anticorruption groups in the country have called on the leadership of the Senate to expedite action on the confirmation of Ibrahim Magu as the substantive chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

They said the confirmation would give the ongoing anticorruption crusade of the present administration a boost.

The groups, in a communiqué issued in Abuja, on Sunday, at the end of their national conference on the role of the legislature in the fight against corruption, noted that since the Senate had since reconvened, screened and confirmed justices of the Supreme Court and Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) forwarded to it long after the submission of Magu’s name for confirmation as the EFCC’s chairman by President Muhammadu Buhari, there was need to expedite Magu’s confirmation process.

They expressed belief

that Magu, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, met and exceeded the requirement and deserved confirmation as the substantive EFCC chairman without further delay.

The groups lamented that fighting corruption without

security of tenure for the head of the anti-corruption agency had become the trend in the recent past in the country.

They described the situation as one of the major limitations to the fight against corruption.

“The guarantee of

security of tenure of anticorruption agencies’ officials is at the root of independence, effective functioning and freedom from undue influence of anti-corruption agencies as prescribed by article 6(2) of the UN Convention Against Corruption

(UNCAC) of which Nigeria is a signatory.

“Anything short of such a guarantee renders the fight against corruption ineffectual, susceptible to political manipulation and compromises the independence of the anticorruption agencies.

Buhari’s anti-corruption fight not selective —Adesina Olayinka Olukoya -Abeokuta SPECIAL Adviser, Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, Mr Femi Adesina, has said the anti-corruption fight embarked upon by the present administration is not selective in any way.

This was just as he added that the chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and political appointees were not being prosecuted because no evidence had indicted them.

He said this while featuring on a private

radio station in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, on Saturday.

The Special Adviser noted that the recent raid on some judges was basically a raid on corruption and not the judiciary arm of government.

He said: “The onus lies

Call on Buhari by PDP to sack Amaechi, Onu frivolous, mischievous —APC THE Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has taken notice of a press release by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to ask the Minister of Transportation, Honourable Rotimi Amaechi and the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, to step aside, because some

Justices accused and being investigated of corruption had curiously described their investigation as act of persecution by the Buhari-led administration for not favouring the APC in election matters arising from the 2015 general election in some states.

The call by the PDP flies in the face of reason, fairness, common sense and cause of justice.

The APC, in a statement signed by its chairman, Chief Davies Ikanga,

said “it is a known fact that embattled Justices Sylvester Ngwuta and John Inyang Okoro of the Supreme Court, who are currently under DSS investigation for serious corruption charges, only resorted to the cheap, convenient, everyday reaction of people caught red-handed committing crimes in order to divert attention away from the grave reality confronting them, especially when faced with sufficient evidence.”

on he who was alleged to prove his or her innocence.

The fact that any PDP member crosses to the APC does not provide automatic shield. Whoever is indicted will be prosecuted.

“Mr President has said it all. No one is out to intimidate the judiciary.

DSS raid was a raid on corruption not judiciary.”

The president’s spokesman insisted that a ban on rice importation through land borders was placed so as to curtail smuggling and ensure revenue generation from rice importation.

“Importation of rice through our sea borders remain legal,” he declared.

Adesina equally said he would have done all he could to stop his appointment as the president’s media aide, if he had a hint about the possibility of his appointment.

projects, some are mainly funded by the World Bank and some of them in some areas are called FADAMA and some of them are still existing in all parts of the country. All those projects are funded with borrowed money.

“You are aware of the polio eradication programmes, those are funded with borrowed money from IDA in particular, that is the concessional window of the World Bank. You are aware of the various rural water supplies; these are funded with money borrowed from the multilateral sources.

These are some of the major popular projects funded from borrowings,” Nwankwo said while citing examples.

He also gave the assurance that generally, however, all the monies borrowed from external sources were projects tied and explained that the World Bank, for instance, did not give loans without supervising it themselves.

“They must supervise it themselves and they must have people working with the Nigerian team to monitor the project from the beginning to the end.

They don’t just disburse the money and walk away, they disburse the money as the work progresses. So, even when Nigeria seeks for a loan and it is approved, the disbursement of the loan is done according to the schedule of the work itself,” he explained.

He described the current N16 trillion debt profile of Nigerian governments as still within manageable limits, saying it was just 12.24 per cent of the gross domestic product.

“We are very comfortable, but we also accept that we have a challenge with our domestic debt service because of the high cost of fund domestically.

“This is one of the reasons why there is need for us to see that if we must borrow, as we must borrow, it is necessary for us to see how much we can conveniently borrow from external source since that will help reduce the domestic cost of funds, because when the demand from the domestic market by government drops, it means whatever resources are available, it is there for the private sector.

“And because the demand pressure is lower, the cost will be lower too. That’s one of the strategy of government and that’s one of the reasons why borrowing from the external source is encouraged.”

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Choosing between brown and white bread Continued from front page

from whole wheat, usually contains more fibre than white bread, as well as greater amounts of important nutrients such as vitamins B-6 and Vitamin-E, magnesium, folic acid, copper, zinc and Manganese.

Slice for slice, wholemeal bread contains almost four times as much fibre, over three times as much zinc, and almost twice as much iron as white bread.

But this is not always the case. It is dependent on the brand and other constituents added to it, like vitamins and fibre.

Also, its colour cannot be used as yardstick in determining whether it is healthier eating brown or white bread.

“Some brown bread is no better than white ones. For instance, if the bread is not 100 per cent whole wheat or 100 per cent mixed grains, it is probably as bad as white bread, irrespective of its colour,” Dr Funmi Akinyele, Chief Executive Officer, Food Basket Foundation, Ibadan, said.

Also, the constituents of the bread determine the best option. Many white bread brands come fortified with vitamins and fibre. Also, white bread usually contains more calcium than brown bread.

In ensuring that one is buying the most nutritious

bread option, she said individuals should read the label and check to see if it is either whole wheat or “whole meal” flour.

“If the label reads ‘enriched’, the flour is the same as that for white bread. Also, the presence of caramel as an ingredient often indicates bread colouring to darken white bread to brown,” she added.

When it comes to food, the thumb rule is to opt for naturally brown or dark coloured food, because of richness in nutrients, antioxidants and phytochemicals, which help the body to deal with cell damaging free radicals.

Although brown and white bread have similar amounts of calories and carbohydrates, the main differences lie in processing and nutritional content.

Brown bread is made up of the entire wheat grain, which is high in vitamins, minerals and proteins, whereas white bread is made up of only the endosperm (the central part of the grain) which is rich in proteins and carbohydrates.

Hence, brown bread is considered healthier than white bread.

But the carbohydrates in wholemeal bread are digested more slowly than those in the more refined white bread, and so keep you going for longer time.

As part of the manufacturing process, white bread is bleached with chemicals and fortified with vitamins and minerals through an artificial process, unlike brown bread. Also, in terms of taste and texture, white bread is softer and tastier.

Nevertheless, whether it is the white or brown bread, checking out its best before date is also important.

“If preservatives are added, it will not spoil quickly. The shelf life of bread depends on a variety of factors, such as the best buy date, the preparation method and how it was stored. Howbeit, bread is better eaten before it starts to go stale and loses its nutritional value.

“Even its length of storage in the freezer before consumption is also important. Due to unstable electricity supply, the best nutritional values cannot be derived from a bread that one freezes and defreezes,” she stated.

So what should you do the next time you’re facing the bread shelf? Don’t let the “wheat” or “whole wheat” label mislead you. Read the list of contents on the label and choose bread that contains 100 per cent whole grain or “sprouted whole grains”.

Also, always make sure that the bread contains the fewest ingredients possible to ensure that you are buying the healthiest one.

2017 budget: We won’t be stampeded into a shoddy job —NASS •Says exchange rate unrealistic; revenue sources abstract •MTEF prepared after wide consultations—Budget ministry Sanya Adejokun -Abuja

E

VEN before it is submitted, the 2017 budget appears doomed to long bickering and controversy, as the National Assembly on Sunday, fired a warning shot at their counterpart in the executive, as well as Nigerians, not to expect early passage due to alleged unrealistic projections.

President Muhammadu Buhari, on October 4, sent the 2017-2019 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP) upon which budgets for the three years would be based.

In the letter accompanying the documents, the president said “2017-2019 MTEF and FSP articulates the Federal Government’s economic, social and developmental objectives, as well as the strategies for achieving these defined objectives and priorities.”

In all, he projected a total spending of N6.847 trillion, 33 per cent of revenue from oil-based and crude production of 2.2 million barrels per day and an exchange rate of N290/ US$.

In addition, a deficit N2.22 trillion is envisaged while oil benchmark is $42.50 per barrel.

Already, government has been having difficulties funding the 2016 budget because of difficulties in sourcing enough funds from projected sources as a result of such projections.

The N1.8 trillion initial deficit projection has since widened because of vandalism of oil facilities, inability to meet tax projections and inability to source envisaged foreign loans.

However, investigations

at the National Assembly revealed that legislators regarded the documents as scanty and shoddily packaged and that the assumptions were greatly unrealistic.

Legislators are complaining that the MTEF document, as presented, was a sham, as it did not take the $30 billion loans being planned by the country into consideration.

They also said the exchange rate pegged at N290/$ was unrealistic; sources of revenue abstract; while unrelenting militant activities in Niger Delta rendered crude oil production forecast unrealistic.

“What magic wand does President Buhari intends to wave to stop militants from suddenly blowing up oil and gas facilities?,” a member

wondered in an interview.

Assembly men, who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune, also slammed the executive for the “total absence of diversification into new areas like agriculture and solid minerals, which would have reduced the economic weight of oil.”

In the estimation of the executive, the MTEF should have been passed since the

end of October, while budget estimates were to have been submitted early this month.

However, a member of the National Assembly told the Nigerian Tribune, at the the weekend that “We have started preliminary legislative work on the 2017 MTEF, but I must tell you from my own personal opinion that the document is highly deficient.

“No realistic predictions

From left, Managing Director, Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority, Umana Okon Umana; Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Simbi Wabote; Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu and the Chairman, House Committee on Local Content, Honourable Emmanuel Ekon, during the meeting of stakeholders in the oil and gas industry, organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Local Content, in Abuja, on Friday.

Rivers rerun: PDP raises the alarm over plot to rig Jacob Segun Olatunji -Abuja THE leadership of the Peoples Democratic party (PDP), on Sunday, raised the alarm over the arrest of some persons in PortHarcourt, Rivers State, at the weekend by the police and the

discovery of a printing press, where result sheets and other electoral materials were being printed ahead the December rerun in the state.

In a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja by its national

publicity secretary, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, it declared that the latest development was the confirmation of the alleged rigging machine and plans to truncate the nation’s nascent democracy.

While condemning the incident, the party called

on President Muhammadu Buhari to order an immediate investigation into the matter and ensure that everyone involved in the dastardly plot to subvert the will of the Nigerian people was brought to book, no matter how highly placed.

or assumptions. But we will reshape it and redirect it to make it work. We will not rush on it as the executive will always make us do. No matter the blackmail in the name of delays, we will not be cowed. We shall take our time to diligently work on it.”

Chairman of House Committee on Legislative Budget, the primary group saddled with the responsibility of analysing budgetary documents before forwarding them to the Appropriation Committee, Golu Timothy, cited the example of the almost $30 billion loans being proposed

by President Buhari and said it was not included in the MTEF. “Look at the issue of the proposed $29 billion loan, it’s not contained in the budget. How can you forecast such an economic plan without a projection?

What is the purpose of MTEF? But we shall finetune it for the interest of the nation,” he declared.

He explained that it was the consensus of most members of the National Assembly that Nigeria currently “needs a comprehensive economic master plan and financial blueprint to overcome recession. Nigeria is equal to the task. We can do it even now. We made serious mistakes in the past, but we can arrest and address them now.”

In a reaction, the Ministry of Budget and National Planning insisted that the vexatious MTEF was a product of comprehensive efforts of financial and economic experts, the private sector and civil society.

James Akpandem, who is the Media Adviser to the Minister, said, on Sunday, that there were ongoing engagements on the documents.

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Ambode to turn Lagos Presidential Lodge to Heritage Centre Bola Badmus - Lagos

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AGOS State governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, has unveiled plans to turn the erstwhile Presidential Lodge to Heritage Centre for Leadership.

This followed the approval of the handover of the Presidential Lodge, Marina to Lagos State by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The president’s approval was communicated in a letter signed by his Chief of Staff, Mallam Abba Kyari.

President Buhari’s gesture followed a request by Governor Ambode to have the Presidential Lodge released to the state government in its bid to transform the Marina-Onikan axis into a world-class arts and tourism hub.

In a statement signed by the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Steve Ayorinde, on Sunday, Governor Ambode expressed gratitude to President Buhari, for approving the handover of the Presidential Lodge in Marina to the state government.

He thanked President Buhari for his kind gesture and magnanimity, adding that the president’s large heart demonstrated his “keen admiration for Lagos State as the Centre of Excellence that is well suited to becoming Africa’s foremost hub for arts, entertainment and tourism.”

The statement said with the presidential approval, Governor Ambode had consequently, unveiled plans to turn the erstwhile lodge to ‘The Heritage Centre for Leadership.’

It said this would subsequently be redesigned and equipped as a landmark re-

search and tourist arena that would be open to local and international visitors.

“On behalf of the government and people of Lagos State, I wish to express our heartfelt gratitude to President Buhari for the handover of the Presidential Lodge in Marina to the state government.

“This, in my opinion, demonstrates the president’s special interest in Lagos State,

which is in line with the promise he made in Lagos during his campaign that the interest of Lagos people will always be paramount in his heart,” he said.

It added that President Buhari’s approval had come at a time that the old Lagos State House in Marina, which is next door to the Presidential Lodge, was also being prepared for a transformation to ‘The Lagos

History Centre,’ as a mark of honour to and celebration of all former governors of the state.

It will be recalled that the state executive council had already approved the Lagos House Marina to be turned into Lagos History Centre for tourism purposes.

“With the handing over of the Presidential Lodge to Lagos State, the state government will begin a pro-

From left, representative of Managing Director, Guinness PLC, Mr Sesan Sobowale; Director of Legal Services, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Ahmed Ibrahim; representative of the Director-General of NYSC, Rhoda Kauki and the director, Planning, Research and Statistics, Chief Anthony Anih, during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), between Guinness Nigeria Plc and NYSC, in Abuja, on Friday. PHOTO: NAN.

NYSC moves to curb irresponsible drinking among corps members Partners Guinness Nigeria Adetola Bademosi - Abuja IN an effort to encourage responsible drinking among corps members in the country, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), has partnered Nigeria’s alcoholic beverage company, Guinness Nigeria Plc. This, it said, would be de-

livered through the Guinness DRINKIQ programme, which involves training of its officials and corps members.

The NYSC said this at the weekend during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the NYSC and Guinness Nigeria Plc, in Abuja.

The Director- General,

NYSC, Brigadier- General Sule Kazaure, who was represented by the director, Community Development Service and Special Projects, Mrs Rhoda Kaka Kwaki, described the partnership as a clear demonstration of the company’s positive disposition towards the welfare and development of Nigerians,

No going back on enforcement of ban on expired tyres —FRSC Takes ember month’s campaign to churches

By Dare Adekanmbi

THE Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has said, it will not back down on its enforcement of ban on expired tyres, because it is for the safety of motorists and travellers.

The Head of Operations, FRSC, Ogere Remo, Ogun State Unit, CRC Akinwunmi Olaluwoye, stated when he and his team took the ember months’ campaign to Christ Anglican Church, Ogere Remo, on Sunday.

He explained that it was in order to reduce the avoidable carnage on the roads, that FRSC made the theme of its road safety campaign “Crash the Crashes; Speed Kills.”

Olaluwoye advised motorists to ensure they buy new tyres, and properly check the manufacture

cess that will transform the whole area into a cultural zone in the next two years that every Lagosian will be proud of.

“These two buildings will be nurtured as world-class monuments by the Lagos State government to compliment the ongoing larger plan that aims to transform the Marina-Onikan axis into a multi-sectorial cultural zone,” he said.

date and year on such tyres.

According to him, the first two digits on a new tyre show the week of manufacture, while the last two digits indicate the year of production.

Responding to a question of obtaining and renewing driver’s licence, he said, the days when driver’s licence would be delivered to people in their homes had gone for good.

He said any applicant for a new driver’s licence or renewal of expired one would only get genuine licence if they had their fingerprint captured, at designated FRSC offices.

On the incessant traffic gridlock on Lagos-Ibadan Highway, he identified the state of disrepair of the road as a major cause, as well as broken down trucks which he said are always quickly

towed by FRSC, to ensure free flow of vehicular traffic.

He explained that the resolve of the Corps, to contribute meaningfully

to the revenue drive of the Federal Government, was responsible for the perception of officers and men of the corps, as people who turn down pleas.

Bridget Agbahime’s murder: Enugu CAN condemns release of suspects Jude Ossai - Enugu THE Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Enugu State, on Sunday, described the release of the five suspects, who were remanded in prison custody over the killing of one Mrs Bridget Agbahime, in Kano State, over alleged blasphemy, as an invitation to chaos across the country.

The group, therefore, called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the SouthEast governors to rise up to the occasion in order not to jeopardise the life of Ndigbo and other Christians resi-

dent in the North.

The CAN said this during its executive committee meeting in Enugu, during which it also commended Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, for the way he had handled the issues of security of lives and property as well as the inauguration of developmental projects across the 17 local government areas of the state.

The secretary of CAN in the state, Dr Joseph Ajujungwa, who said this in a statement after the meeting, said the action of the Kano State government over the killing of Mrs Agbahime, would further embolden religious fanatics.

particularly, the youth.

“This DRINKiQ campaign, a form of giving back to the society to be implemented by the Community Development Service and Special Projects, is bound to impact positively on the entire society and it is my sincere hope that what we have sown today will blossom into enduring and sustainable entity for the benefit of our communities and environs,” he said.

The managing director, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Mr Peter Ndegwa, who was represented by the company’s Corporate Relations Director, Mr Sesan Sobowale, said the initiative was directed with a view to curbing the irresponsible use of alcohol in society.

Tunde Samuel wins African education personality leadership award

By Laolu Harolds CHAIRMAN Governing Council of the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education (AOCOED), Oto-Ijanikin, Lagos State, Professor Tunde Samuel, has been conferred with the 2016 African Education Personality Leadership Award.

The award was conferred on him, at the Ladi Kwali Conference Centre, Sheraton Hotel, Abuja, last week, by the African Institute for Leadership Excellence, organisers of the annual African Prize for Leadership Excellence.

A distinguished scholar, Professor Samuel was the pioneer Provost of the Michael Otedola College of Primary Education (MOCPED), Noforija, Epe, Lagos State, between 1994 and 2002.

He was the Special Adviser on Education, during the administration of former Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu; a member of the 2014 National Conference; a retired Professor of Economics Education, at the Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, and a consultant to the Federal Government, UNICEF and the World Bank.

Abandoned baby

A day-old-baby was abandoned at Yemetu Area, Ibadan, on September 26, 2016.

Anybody with useful information, should please, contact the Principal Social Welfare Officer, Ibadan Zonal Social Office, Iyaganku, Ibadan or the nearest police station.

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Nigerian Tribune

Oyo releases White Paper on Education, establishes SGB for public schools

By Yejide Gbenga-Ogundare

O

YO State government, at the weekend, released the White Paper on the report of a Committee on Participatory Management of Schools, just as it announced the creation of School’s Governing Board (SGB) that will provide management functions for

each secondary school in the state and meet performance targets.

According to a statement signed by the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Toye Arulogun, the government was releasing the white paper after weeks of careful and indepth analysis of the report.

He added that the recommendations therein would

serve as the strategic framework to improve quality and performance in the state’s education sector, adding that the government adopted most of the recommendations of the committee but with variations either in nomenclature or scope.

The major highlight of the white paper included the introduction of a new model of school management

called School’s Governing Board (SGB).

The state government said that the SGB model would be in two categories with membership drawn from accredited representatives of Parent-Teacher Association, Old Students’ Association, community leaders and the Head Boy/Head Girl of the school, School Principal to serve as Secre-

Ekiti State governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose (left) with former governor, Segun Oni, during Fayose’s visit to Oni, at his Ifaki-Ekiti residence, on Sunday.

Fayose pays unscheduled visit to Oni Says ‘it’s just a courtesy visit to Ekiti leader’ Sam Nwaoko - Ado Ekiti GOVERNOR Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State on Sunday paid a surprise visit to a former governor of the state and the Deputy National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Segun Oni, at his home in Ifaki-Ekiti.

Fayose, who visited Oni at about 2:30p.m., had his Chief of Staff, Chief Dipo Anisulowo, in tow.

Explaining the visit of the governor, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr Idowu Adelusi, said “he and Segun Oni had a useful discussion in which Governor Fayose said that a governor is the leader of all.”

According to Adelusi, Fayose had said “there is a difference between leadership and politics. To me, Ekiti comes first and every leader willing to make Ekiti first, I will visit him.

I am the governor of the state and everybody is my subject.”

He said: “My visit to Segun Oni has nothing to do with politics. When it comes to how to move Ekiti forward, we must firstly remove our political garments.”

Oni had said that he was “overwhelmed with the visit”, which he said was brotherly.

“It is a brotherly visit.

I am happy for that. It is a welcome development and good for Ekiti State.

We are both leaders of the

state,” Oni had said.

Shortly after he was swornin as governor in October 2014, Fayose had restored the portrait of former Gov-

ernor Oni at the governor’s office, which had earlier been removed by former Governor Kayode Fayemi’s administration.

OYSCATECH management advises unions to respect peace pact

By Tunde Ogunesan THE Management of Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology (OYSCATECH), Igboora, Oyo State, has called on the three staff unions in the school to respect the peace pact signed with the institution on November 2, 2016.

This was contained in a press release signed by the Registrar, Mr Niyi Fehin-

tola.

Mr Fehintola disclosed that the management is committed to the peace pact and welfare of staff, especially on the payment of backlog of salaries.

He called on the unions to toe the line of honour and appreciate the efforts of the management to make life meaningful in the face of daunting economic situation in the state.

Ajalorun of Ijebu Ife loses wife OLORI Yeyeluwa Olayinka Ruphina Oguntayo (Nee Okunowo), wife of Oba Adesesan Afolorunso Oguntayo, Ajalorun of Ijebu Ife, has died. She died on October 30, aged 77.

The burial arrangements, as announced by the royal family, will commence on November 17 with a wake keep while funeral service will come up on November 18 and the outing service on Sunday, November 20.

She was the Iya Ijo of the Christ Anglican Church, Iwade Ijebu Ife and sur-

vived by her husband, Oba Adesesan Afolorunso Oguntayo, Ajalorun of Ijebu Ife, children and grandchildren.

Olori Olayinka Oguntayo

According to the statement, “while some stateowned institutions paid 25 per cent of salary, the college augmented the 25per cent subvention received to 50 per cent to pay staff salary on Friday, November 4.

“The management had, on Wednesday, November 2, signed an agreement with the three unions in the college on how the salaries would be paid.

“As part of activities to boost the college’s internally generated revenue, the college has opened up 32 hectares of land and had cultivated 25 hectares in the first instance for cassava production, while plans are under way to cultivate more and also stock the poultry house with 10,000 birds.”

With this development, Fehintola stated that “The management of OYSCATECH, Igboora is calling on the staff of the college to shun all forms of protest as the issue of backlog of salaries is not peculiar to OYSCATECH, Igboora but affects other tertiary institutions in the state.”

tary, the Local Inspector of Education (LIE), representative of Local Government Area/LCDA and identified philanthropists as members.

It stressed that the SGB membership/leadership and scope would be determined by the government and not entitled to any form of remuneration from government.

In both categories of SGB, government will be responsible for payment of salaries of teaching and nonteaching staff, curriculum development and quality control, and each SGB will be mandated to meet once a month.

The white paper stated that functions of the SGB shall include: improving the quality of school programmes and efficiency of teachers thereby raising students’ achievement level; provision of adequate teaching and learning resources; full participation of stakeholders in effective management of schools among others.

Besides, the state government, in the white paper, also resolved to expedite action on the implementation of the Education Trust Fund recently signed into law in order to boost the revenue base of the state and to support the development of the education sector.

The government agreed with the recommendation of the committee that it should be opened to support from other sources, both local and international, for total or partial adoption of schools.

The white paper further revealed the new categorisation of schools, lower and upper limits, in terms of students enrolment, teachers posting and other resources, saying that schools will be categorised as Urban Schools with a population of

1,000 and above, Semi-Urban Schools with between 250 – 999 students’ population and Rural Schools with a population of 60 – 249, taking into consideration the Universal Basic Education Commission standard, infrastructure, current enrolment and availability of teachers.

On the discrepancies in the data submitted by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) and the Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM), the government directed restructuring of all agencies in the sector in such a manner that will ensure effective communication and interaction between them.

While agreeing on the continued payment of N1,000 levy by each parent per student, per term, the government directed that each school’s SGB retains the levy collected for infrastructural development.

It also noted the observation of the committee that there had been gross neglect of technical and vocational education and recommended the structuring of science and technical education in the state in such a way that there would be linkage between the existing Technical Colleges, the Polytechnics and the Universities of Technology, adding that it concurred that efforts be put in place to introduce shortterm in-service training for artisans at well-equipped technical and vocational colleges.

It will be recalled that Governor Abiola Ajimobi had, on Tuesday, July 12, 2016, through the Deputy Governor, Chief Moses Adeyemo, inaugurated a 19-member committee on Participatory Management of Schools in the state, headed by the Vice-Chancellor of Ladoke Akintola University, Professor Adeniyi Gbadegesin.

Atiba LG boss orders relocation of NURTW, RTEAN CHAIRMAN of Atiba Local Government Area of Oyo State, Mr Isiaka Okeniyi, has ordered the relocation of members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) from the popular Sabo market, Oyo, to Better Life market.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the new market, Mr Okeniyi said the step was in quick response to the ugly incident that led to the death of some students of the Federal Government Girls’ College, Oyo. Mr Okeniyi, who lamented the death of the students, stated that the relocation of the two transport unions would ease traffic conges-

tion in the market and allow free flow of traffic to Ibadan/ Oyo/Ogbomoso expressway.

The council boss sympathised with the parents, teachers and students of the school over the incident and assured them that his administration would ensure that the road is safer for them and other road users in future.

In their responses, the chairman, NURTW, Alhaji Wahab Marunnborun and that of the RTEAN, Alhaji Mujaheed Alao, expressed sadness over the death of the students.

They also commended the authorities of the local government for quick and positive response while pledging to operate from the new market for free flow of traffic.

7

Nigerian Tribune

Monday, 7 November, 2016

Metro...

crime, security, court

Edited By Oluwatoyin Malik 08116954633, 08078891950

e-mail: tribunecrimedesk@gmail.com

NSCDC rescue 3 from kidnappers, ritualist in Abia Celestine Ihejirika - Umuahia

Teenage robbers arrested by Rapid Response Squad (RRS) under Oshodi bridge

My kidnappers demanded N20m ransom —Freed Ekiti INEC secretary Oluwole Ige - Osogbo

T

HE Administrative Secretary, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Ekiti State, Mr Muslim Omoleke, who regained his freedom Friday night after spending a day in kidnappers’ den on Sunday, said his abductors demanded for a N20 million ransom.

Omoleke, who shared his experience with family members and some journalists at his residence in IleIfe, Osun State, said he told the kidnappers that there was no way his family could raise N20 million because they were poor.

He disclosed that his abduction was a coincidence because he was not the target of the kidnappers, saying he was taken hostage by some unemployed youths.

Omoleke, however, described his ordeal as traumatic, lamenting that the 24 hours he spent in the kidnappers’ den was characterised by fear of being killed by his abductors.

According to him, “I was on my way from Akure to Ile-Ife. We stopped on the road at Iwaraja to offload my daughter’s luggage when they (kidnappers) came to us. Initially, they were two, later they became about

seven and many of them were armed.

“They released my daughter and my driver, but took me to an unknown place inside the bush. I was not maltreated. It is only the movement from one place to another that was stressful.

“I want to use this opportunity to thank the Nigeria Police for the wonderful job they did. I didn’t pay any ransom before I was released. They demanded 20 million, but I told them we are poor in my family and I am a civil servant.

“I was the only person there. I think the pressure was too much on them; they said they were not comfortable keeping me. The first day, there was nothing, but the second day, they gave me rice and water which I could not eat,” Omoleke remarked.

THE Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Abia State command, has rescued three children (two female and one male of ages between 10 and 11 years), from the hands of kidnappers and ritualist in the state.

According to the command, it followed a tip-off and rescued the victims around Aba and Obingwa axis of the state, pointing out that the criminal elements came into the state through neighbouring states of Rivers, Akwa-Ibom and Cross River with their collaborators in Abia State, disguising as scavengers.

The state commandant, Walter Akubiro Chika, who spoke through the Corps’ Public Relations Officer, Uchenwa Oliver, said it was gathered that the criminals usually stationed themselves as scavengers at various refuse dump sites at Aba and Obi-Ngwa areas of the state and mesmerised teenagers coming to dump

refuse in the areas, tie them with iron binders in an uncompleted building within the areas in anticipation of ransoms and their would-be buyers.

The state commandant, in view of the ugly trend in the state and warned the general public, particularly parents, to be wary of the activities of these criminal elements as they send their children and wards on errands.

In a similar vein, the command has urged parents and guardians to show commitment to the upkeep of their children and wards.

The state commandant, who made the disclosure while parading an abandoned baby girl before newsmen in Umuahia, enjoined officers of social welfare department, Umuahia South Local Government Area of the state and traditional ruler of Avodim community, where the baby was picked up to ensure that proper legal processes for handover of the baby was done to ensure her safety.

Court sets alleged killers of 74-yr-old woman free Kola Oyelere - Kano KANO State Ministry of Justice has ordered the release of five persons who were allegedly said to have been arrested and standing trial before a Chief Magistrates’ Court over the alleged murder of 74-yearold Mrs Bridget Agbahime, who was killed over blasphemy of Prophet Mohammed.

It will be recalled that the alleged killers of the late Igbo woman who were arrested were Dauda Ahmed, Abdulmumeen Mustafa, Zubairu Abubakar, Abdullahi Abubakar and Musa Abdullahi and were arraigned before a Chief Magistrates’ Court No 20 sitting at Audu Bako court complex on a four-count charge.

The trial of the accused persons which lasted six months was terminated on the advice which em-

anated from the office of the Director Public Prosecution, Kano State Ministry of Justice, which stated that the state had no case against the accused persons and they were discharged accordingly.

However, the state prosecution counsel, Rabiu Yusuf, informed the court that the state was withdrawing the matter, saying “we received the case diary from the police on June 8 and having gone through it, the Attorney- General of Kano State evaluated the facts in accordance with sections 130 and 150 of the criminal procedure code. ‘’The legal advice presented to the court, dated June 24, stated that there was no case to answer as the suspects were all innocent and ordered the court to discharge all the accused persons.”

The five suspected alleged killers of Bridget arraigned

before the court denied the allegations slammed against them, stating that all contained in the FIR were not true.

Subsequently, the case diary was forwarded to the Director Public Prosecution for legal advice; police investigation into the matter was still in progress, the prosecution informed the court.

However, the spokesman, Kano State High Court of Justice, Mohammed Baba Jibo, confirmed the development, noting that the discharged persons were laid off the hook owing to a legal advise emanating from the office of the Director Public Prosecution.

According to him, the police and other relevant

agencies had been served copies of the directive that contained the legal advice from the state Ministry of Justice.

In his reaction, counsel for the suspects, Mr Abdulsalam Gambo, hailed the courage and wisdom exhibited by the office of the Director Public Prosecution, describing the verdict as judicious.

Prophet impregnates secondary school student in Ogun Olayinka Olukoya - Abeokuta

A prophet identified as Dr Michael (surname withheld) has been arrested for allegedly impregnating a 15-year-old senior secondary school student (names withheld) in Ogun State.

The accused person was said to be the shepherd-incharge of a Celestial Church of Christ parish in

Abeokuta.

He was arrested by the police when the mother of the victim whom was said to be his lover reported the matter to the police.

The victim, upon interrogation, informed the police that the suspect lured her into his car on the day she celebrated her birthday and forcefully had carnal knowledge of her.

The state Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Iliyasu, had ordered the transfer of the case to anti-human trafficking and child labour unit of the state Criminal Investigation and Intelligent Department for further investigation.

The suspect, Metro gathered, would be charged to court as soon as the investigation was concluded.

8

Monday, 7 November, 2016

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Monday, 7 November, 2016

10

Monday, 7 November, 2016

UNIVERSITY PRESS RC.25783 PLC UNAUDITED STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME FOR THE SECOND QUARTER ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER, 2016 SEPT. 2016 N’000 1,273,637 (520,146)

SEPT. 2015 N’000 1,140,355 (493,204)

753,491 709

647,151 1,173

Marketing and distribution expenses Administrative expenses

(188,980) (237,705)

(190,633) (192,244)

Profit from continuing operations

327,515

265,447

6,132

8,393

Profit before taxation Taxation expense Profit after tax from continuing operations

333,647 (100,928) 232,719

273,840 (82,328) 191,512

Total comprehensive income attributable to owners of the entity Basic earnings per 50k share Diluted earnings per 50k share

232,719 53.94k 53.94k

191,512 44.39k 44.39k

Revenue Cost of sales Gross profit Other operating income

Finance income

UNIVERSITY PRESS PLC UNAUDITED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION AS AT 30 SEPTEMBER 2016 SEPT. 2016 N’000

SEPT. 2015 N’000

1,319,860 22,520 36,741 1,379,121

1,365,108 22,520 36,741 1,424,369

1,254,637 678,255 84,030 475,923 2,492,845

1,159,557 85,613 55,171 414,474 1,714,815

3,871,966

3,139,184

468,915 524,474 116,214 100,928 1,210,531

187,148 379,310 99,221 23,219 688,898

90,481 90,481

90,481 90,481

Total Liabilities

1,301,012

779,379

Net Assets

2,570,954

2,359,805

215,705 149,397 1,442 971,621 15,174 1,217,615 2,570,954

215,705 149,397 1,442 971,621 15,174 1,006,466 2,359,805

Assets Non-current assets Property, plant and equipment Deferred tax asset Retirement Benefits Current assets Inventories and work-in-progress Trade receivables Other receivables and prepayments Cash and cash equivalents Total current assets Total assets Equity and Liabilities Current liabilities Trade payables Other payables and accruals Unclaimed dividends Current income tax liability Non-Current Liabilities Deferred taxation

Equity attributable to owners of the entity Share capital Share premium Capital reserve Revaluation reserves Reserve on Actuarial valuation of gratuity Revenue reserve

Mr. S. Kolawole

Mr. G. A. Adebayo

Managing Director Executive Director(Finance) FRC/2013/ICSAN/00000003248 FRC/2013/ICAN/00000003250

O.A. Binitie Aboyade-Cole

Company Secretary/Legal Adviser FRC/2014/NBA/00000008468

Three Crowns Building, Jericho, Ibadan. www.universitypressplc.com

...the foremost publishers

11

businessnews

Monday, 7 November, 2016

Delta Ports Concessionaires owe FG N27bn —NPA Collects N11bn in 10 years Tola Adenubi - Lagos

T

HE Federal Government of Nigeria is currently being owed N27 billion

by Delta Ports Complex, one of the four ports under the Eastern ports.

The debt, which covers a period between January 2006, to August 2016, is part of the revenue that is supposed to have accrued into the coffers of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) from the various concessionaires operating the Delta ports on behalf of government.

According to a presentation made by the General Manager, Eastern Ports of the NPA, Abdullahi Goje, when the Senate Committee on Marine Transport visited the Eastern ports on oversight function over the weekend; the NPA has only been able to collect N11, 925, 467, 088 into government coffers from the various ports concessionaires from January 2006 to August 2016.

The presentation, which was obtained exclusively by the Nigerian Tribune, revealed that the Delta Ports Complex amassed a total of $635, 784, 102.02 between January 2006 to August 2016 as revenue generated.

The port also generated N9, 469, 923, 782.30 as part of revenue generated in local currency between the period under review (January 2006-August 2016).

However, the NPA has only been able to collect $126, 805, 128.15 from the total revenue generated in between the periods under review, while also collecting just N6, 029, 028, 638.38 out of the total revenue generated in local currency.

Available statistics revealed that the NPA is currently being owed $508, 978, 974 by the various ports concessionaires operating at the Delta ports, while debt in local currency stands at N3, 440, 895, 146 all for the period under review.

So far, the total sum of revenue collected into government coffers by the NPA is N11, 925, 467, 088, a figure that represents the summation of the $126, 805, 128.15 and N6, 029, 028, 638.38 revenue collected.

It will be recalled that in 2006, the Federal Government concessioned

the Delta Ports Complex alongside other ports in the country as part of the port reform exercise.

The ports concessionaires that took over the running of the Delta Ports Complex are Integrated Logistics Services (INTELS) Nigeria Limited.

The terminal operator con-

terminal C inside the Old Warri port with a total area of 6773.1m square.

The third port concessionaire at the Delta Ports Complex is Associated Maritime Services. The terminal operator controls the terminal A of the new Warri port with a total area of 40,500m square.

From left, Managing Director, NNPC Shipping, Abdulkadri Saidu; Group Executive Director/COO, NNPC Downstream, Henry Ikem-Obih; former Executive Secretary, PPPRA/Chairman of the occasion, Mr Reginald Stanley; MD, EMADEB Energy Services Ltd, Mr Adebowale Olujimi; Manager, EMADEB retail outlet, Mrs Olugbesoye Olujimi, and acting Executive Secretary, PPPRA, Mrs Sotonye Iyoyo, at the commissioning of Emadeb Energy Services Ltd retail outlet, onFriday, in Abuja.

1,500 workers to lose job as tomato paste factory quits Nigeria for Kenya, others NO fewer than 1,500 workers may lose their job as Africa’s top tomato paste maker, Chief Eric Umeofia, is set to move his operation out of Nigeria to Kenya, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire and Ethiopia.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) learnt that the venture into four other African countries is a fallout from Umeofia’s decision to close shop in Nigeria.

Umeofia, who confirmed the development in an interview with NAN correspondents in Lagos on Sunday said that his goal was also to have dominant tomato paste manufacturing presence in at least 20 African countries in the near future.

He said that ease of doing business was his attraction in opening shops in the African

countries, following his plans to move out of Nigeria because of “the harsh realities of doing business in the country.’’

Umeofia had recently announced that he was relocating his key manufacturing plant to China, following what he described as policy inconsistencies now crippling his Nigeria operations.

According to him, undue favouritism to Lebanese, Indian and Chinese busi-

deposit ratings to Sterling Bank. These ratings were underpinned by a standalone baseline credit assessment (BCA) of b3 and one notch of government support uplift, which results in a global scale long-term issuer and deposit rating of B2. Moody’s also assigned A2.ng/NG-1 national scale foreign currency deposit ratings to Sterling Bank.

According to Moody’s, “the A1.ng rating is the second highest of three national scale ratings categories corresponding to the bank’s local currency deposit global scale ratings.

nessmen in the allocation of foreign exchange to import tomato pastes and other items, including frozen fish, has dealt serious blow to his company, Erisco Foods Ltd. and also to other Nigerian companies involved in manufacturing.

Erisco Foods, which has had dominant presence in Liberia and Angola over the years, is listed as Africa’s top tomato paste manufac-

turer, and the company is the fourth largest of its type in the world, according to records.

But policy inconsistencies and alleged connivance of officials of some key government agencies to deny foreign exchange allocation to indigenous companies in preference for foreigners have left many Nigerian companies struggling or closing shops in recent times.

Q4 currency revaluation gains may shrink as naira holds steady Chima Nwokoji - Lagos WITH naira maintaining relative stability in recent weeks due to improved supply and support by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) especially at the interbank

Sterling Bank, 6 others get Moody’s national scale ratings MOODY’S Investors Services has assigned national scale ratings (NSRs) to Sterling Bank Plc and six other Nigerian banks. This rating action, according to a statement from Moody’s, follows the publication of new national scale rating maps for Nigeria, Kenya and Morocco which provide a measure of relative creditworthiness within a single country; and are derived from global scale ratings using country-specific maps.

The global rating agency assigned A1.ng/NG-1 national scale local currency

trols the Old Warri Port terminal A with a total area of 70,866.3m square and the New Warri Port terminal B with a total area of 59,507.5m square.

Another port concessionaire at the Delta Ports Complex is Julius Berger Nigeria Services. The terminal operator controls the

Other banks that national scale local currency deposit ratings were assigned to included Zenith Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank), Access Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA), First Bank of Nigeria Limited and the Bank of Industry (BOI).

“Sterling Bank’s national scale ratings capture the bank’s solid asset quality metrics (reported non-performing loans ratio of 2.8 per cent as at end-June 2016 versus 11.7 per cent for the banking system), provision coverage and solid deposit funding base.

foreign exchange (FX) market, finance experts have predicted that Quarter 4 currency revaluation gains may be on the decline for Nigerian Banks.

Experts from Financial Derivatives Company (FDC) revealed that CBN in a bid to support the local currency had sold $500million of 60 and 90 day forwards, one week after selling $313 million of 75-day forwards with all settlements to be in early 2017, will still sell $500 million of two-and threemonth currency forwards and that “ the immediate impact will be low liquidity in the money market according.”

In the just concluded week, Nigerian Naira appreciated against the greenback at the interbank foreign exchange market by 0.04 per cent to N318/USD. Available records show

that Nigeria’s banks fared better in the past quater, helped by gains from foreign exchange. While mid-tier lenders Skye Bank Plc and Diamond Bank Plc made losses during the quarter, all of the others were profitable. Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, the biggest lender by market value, made net income of N42 billion, up 94 per cent from a year earlier.

Zenith Bank Plc, the second biggest lender, generated profit of N55 billion.

Some of them benefited from the devaluation because they had more dollar-denominated assets than liabilities, allowing them to book gains, according to Ronak Gadhia, an equity analyst at London-based Exotix Partners LLP. They may find the last part of the year tougher, especially if Nigeria continues to hold the naira, he said.

Nigerian Tribune

We have never engaged in contraband importation, Nigerite Insists Nigerite, a building manufacturing company, has restated its dedication to the development of only legitimate business in the country insisting that it never engaged in the importation of any contraband items.

This follows an announcement by the Nigeria Customs Service that a substance suspected to be cocaine was found in one of the containers in which its imported raw materials were recently shipped from New Zealand to Lagos.

In a statement signed by its Marketing Communications and Research Manager, Victor Jolaoso, the company categorically stated that it was not involved in the packing and containerisation of the goods, and had absolutely nothing to do with the trafficking of cocaine, which is neither a raw material requirement for its operations nor part of its production processes.

Nigerite, however, expressed its readiness to cooperate fully with the police and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (“NDLEA”) in investigating the case, asking the media to let the Police and NDLEA conduct their investigations, while expressing confidence that the outcome of the investigation will completely vindicate it.

The company noted that it had kept the leadership in the Nigerian market as the largest organisation in West Africa engaged in manufacturing, marketing and installation of Kalsi Building boards and other fibre-cement ceiling and roofing products.

The release stressed that Nigerite, a highly compliant and respected company, has been operating in Nigeria for over 57 years during which it had complied strictly with Nigerian laws and regulations.

According to the company, “we maintain the highest standards in the industry not only for our products and solutions but also for other stakeholders.

Our employees, distributors and other stakeholders are committed to following the best Safety, Health and Environment practices while handling, transporting, storing and installing Nigerite products in order to avoid any accident and ensure that our activities do not negatively affect the environment.

12

businessnews

Monday, 7 November, 2016

LAGOS INTERNATIONAL TRADE FAIR

Condolence visit to Sir Olaniwun Ajayi’s residence at Isara Remo, Ogun State

From left, Chief (Mrs) Bola Obasanjo; Dr Ola Ajayi and Chief Tolu Odebiyi.

A musician entertaining children and guests at the Lagos International Trade Fair, on Sunday.

Stories Qudus Kasali and Akin Adewakun

M

AJOR Nigerian brands, such as First Bank, Dangote, Lafarge, Dstv, StarTimes and others are leaving no one in doubt of their intention to make maximum advantage of the fair.

For instance, while the presence of these brands are already being felt at the Fair, some of them are still not ready to give competition any ‘breathing space’ as they embark on one form of activation or the other to attract visitors to their stands.

These activations range from product sampling to music, a strategy that seem to be working as evidenced

in the huge crowd seen at some of these stands where such activations take place.

Besides some of these banks are seen working beyond the regular hours in order to position themselves at the ongoing fair.

Large turn-out as fair enters day 3 TAFAWA Balewa Square, one of the three venues of this year’s Lagos International Trade Fair was a beehive of activities on Sunday, as Lagosians used the occasion of the weekend, being work-free for majority of them, to attend the Fair and shop for items, whose prices are cheaper at the Fair, compared with what obtain at

Echoes of recession FOR those who simply want to wish the word ‘recession’ away, it seems they will have to wait for some time more.

A visit to some of these shops, especially those housing popular electronics and home appliances brands, revealed that the prices of most of these commodities are almost twice the pre-recession prices.

For instance, the price of a particular design of a home theater of a popular brand that used to hover

For instance, the correspondent observed that the officials of First Bank, were on hand, despite the fact that it was a Sunday to offer services to their customers, as well as poach for new ones.

between N50,000 and N55,000, during the prerecession era, now goes for N105,000, a development officials at the shop attributed to the present economic recession and the dwindling fortune of the nation’s currency.

“It is high because of recession and the value of the naira compared with that of the dollars. We ourselves are not comfortable with these prices, but what do we do? We have to survive,” the official said.

the regular market.

Some of those who spoke with the correspondent stated that they had to seize the opportunity of the weekend, to visit the Fair since they would be at work between Monday and Friday.

“I even believe the best time to visit this type of place is during the weekend, that is why you are seeing this type of crowd,” argued Mrs. Lawal, civil servant, who had come all the way from Egbeda, in Alimosho Local Government Area of the state, to attend the Fair.

For Mr. Ajibola, his choice of a Sunday to visit the Fair was simply due to convenience.

“Unlike any other day in the week, there are always less traffic within this area on Sundays, and this has really informed my choice of a Sunday,” he stated.

He however expressed the belief that this year’s Fair would live up to expectations of Lagosians, in spite of the economic recession in the country.

Eldest son of Sir Olaniwun Ajayi, Dr Olamijulo Ajayi (left), with Honourable Oladipupo Adebutu.

Children of Sir Olaniwun Ajeyi with Remo traditional council members.

From left, Mr Adebari Ajayi; Sir Babatunde Runsewe; Dr Ola Ajayi; Very Reverend S.O. Ogundiya and Reverend (Dr) Simi Bahwo

Hawkers defy organisers warning IN apparent contravention of the organisers’ warning, asking hawkers of any commodity to steer clear of the venue of the Fair, hawkers were seen taking advantage of the day being Sunday to quickly make brisk

business by hawking their wares ranging from drinks to ladies’ make-up, from one point to the other.

One of the law enforcement agents at the Fair, who would not want to be quoted, explained that the hawkers

were only taking advantage of the day as a weekend.

“Hawking is not allowed.

Anybody caught doing this will be sanctioned. I just hope they won’t push their luck too far by doing this on a week day,” he added.

From left, Dr Olamijulo Ajayi; Mr Biodun Shobanjo and Mr Foluso Philips.

13

editorial

S

Monday, 7 November, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

The exit of Olaniwun Ajayi

IR Olaniwun Ajayi, elder statesman, author, frontline lawyer and one of the most outstanding lieutenants of the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, joined his ancestors in Lagos on Friday, November 4. He was aged 91. Naturally for a statesman of his stature who had lived virtually all of his adult life in pursuit of a better nation, a federalist Nigeria where each component unit would harness and develop its God-given abilities, tributes poured in from across the country, detailing several aspects of his persona. President Muhammadu Buhari, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, paid tribute to Ajayi’s inspirational and dedicated work to entrench and strengthen democracy in Nigeria through his passionate engagements in Afenifere, the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), and the Patriots. He noted: “The late revered Yoruba leader effectively combined his sharp commentary on the state of affairs in Nigeria with uncommon patriotism while working tenaciously to further unity, development, and prosperity in the nation.”

In the same vein, Lagos State governor, Akinwumi Ambode, lauded Ajayi’s consistent advocacy for the dreams of Nigeria’s founding fathers, while his Ogun State counterpart, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, described the late Ajayi as one of the icons of Ogun State and one of the architects of modern Nigeria.

The tributes have continued, but many of his co-travellers in the struggle who overcame the tyranny of military rule and continued to prod the conscience of leaders as democracy finally returned in 1999, are understandably still in shock, battling to come to terms with the fact that the great Olaniwun is no more. And many of the younger generations will treasure fond memories of the Afenifere titan. For not only was he outspoken during the terrible years of military dictatorship, he continued to offer suggestions for better governance right into his last hours on mortal plane, expressing fears about the nation’s downward course.

Olaniwun Ajayi certainly ranks as one of the most outstanding disciples of Awolowo and one of the most committed advocates for federalism. Noted for his strident calls for a return to the regional system of governance, Ajayi was a revered participant at the 2014 National Conference where, with patriots and kindred spirits, he strove to forge a positive direction for the nation. Those who never encountered him in flesh and blood can still embrace his genius in the literature he left behind, including This House

of Oduduwa Must not Fall (2005), Lady Adunola Ajayi in Retrospect (2008), Nigeria: Africa’s Failed Asset (2009), Lest We Forget: A Memoir (2011); Isara: Afotamodi, My Jerusalem (2011); and Nigeria: Political Power Imbalance (2015), where the political is personal, and the personal is political.

Ajayi was firm, forthright, profoundly intellectual, and gifted with the gift of the garb, qualities which he demonstrated with uncanny astuteness even as a nonagenarian. He it was who, looking back over the decades, delivered Afenifere’s oration at HID Awolowo’s obsequies, detailing the many struggles to give present and future generations Awolowo’s Life More Abundant. Ajayi, for the better part of six decades, never shied away from engaging the Nigerian question in public forums, books and newspaper interviews. His voice was loud and clear, his language sublime, and his narrative devoid of guile. A former Commissioner for Education and later Health in the defunct Western Region, Ajayi qualified as a Chartered Secretary in 1959 and later enrolled for a degree in Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science, following which he was called to the English Bar at Lincoln’s Inn in 1962. In November of the same year, he founded the Olaniwun Ajayi & Co, later Olaniwun Ajayi LP, one of the leading law firms in the country.

One remarkable feature of Olaniwun’s life, his passion for Yoruba unity, cannot escape mention. As pointed out by Chief Bola Tinubu, national leader of the All Progressives Congress, the late Olaniwun Ajayi as a true Awoist taught many of the younger generations of politicians the doctrines of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. As Tinubu revealed: “Chief Olaniwun Ajayi was part of the entire leadership of Afenifere who honoured me with a visit recently in Lagos, where they renewed their call for unity and understanding among the Yoruba race and the entrenchment of progressive ideology in the country.”

And the passion for politics never robbed him of his duties as a family man. As pointed out by Dr Ola Ajayi, one of his four children, “As a Methodist, he made us imbibe the culture of praying and being close to God. He disciplined us not to tell lies. He taught us to be kind to our neighbours and people around us. Generally, I learnt from him to be God-fearing, loving, to speak the truth, stand for what one believes in and show integrity in whatever one does.’’

May his soul rest in sweet repose.

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14 LETTERS TO THE

Monday, 7 November, 2016

editor

Letters to the editor should be sent to letters@tribune.com.ng or by sms to 08053412982.

It MUST be accompanied by the full name and address of the writer.

Stop wasting money on search for oil in the North

T

HE financial resources being used to prospect for oil in the Northern part of the country is just so huge, and the project should be suspended for now. While I am not saying that it is not the North’s right for oil to be discovered in commercial quantities in the region, the huge sum being expended on the project at this period in time is just so staggering, especially at a time when we are experiencing recession in the country.

Instead of prospecting for oil in the North, which we know is a game of luck, why is the Federal Government not developing the huge mineral resources, which can catapult the region from its backwardness to economic prosperity?

Even if the oil is found, will it benefit the ordinary

citizens in the region? The answer to this question can only be arrived at if we look at the situation in the Niger Delta. We can, therefore, ask if the oil in the Niger Delta has benefited the people, and the answer to this is ‘no.’ Only the political leaders in the region have enjoyed what is supposed to be for the citizens.

Therefore, there is every possibility that the same thing will happen if the North discovers oil.

Now, I understand that the North is the most mineral resource blessed region in the country, with many resources located there.

In fact, it is being said by geologists that the country can survive only on the resources in Nasarawa State alone, not to talk of the whole Northern region. So why is the Federal Government not focusing on this,

instead of the renewed push for the discovery of oil in the region?

What I hope the Federal Government will do now is for it to focus on developing the North’s agriculture and its mineral resources, which will definitely return the region on the part of economic growth.

This will also create sustainable jobs for the

region’s youths who have moved to other regions, begging for alms, while some are engaged in security work and Okada riding business.

All these jobs are not sustainable, but a well developed agricultural programme, and a booming mineral sector will create jobs for the youth.

I also want the govern-

ment to focus on reviving the ailing textile industry in the North, as this will help create more jobs for the youth.

Therefore, the government can divert the money being used in prospecting for oil in the region to all these projects, which, I know, will bring immediate benefits to the people.

I hope the Federal Gov-

ernment can order the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which is handling the search for oil in the region, to suspend the exercise, while the budgeted funds for the project can be diverted to other purposes in the region.

•Zainab Hassan, Gwagwalada, Abuja.

FG, tackle rising insecurity in Nigeria INSECURITY is rising faster than expected in Nigeria, and it is high time the Federal Government and security agencies tackled it squarely.

Nobody seems to be safe in the country any longer, and I believe it is due to the economic situation in the country that the crime rate is rising every day.

Over the years, our leaders mismanaged our oil

wealth, thereby leaving nothing for the citizens to survive on when things become tough. What is happening in Nigeria today can be applied to individuals’ lives; an individual who does not have any savings will suffer when he becomes broke financially.

After years of high oil prices, our leaders did not deem it fit to diversify our sources of income, as any-

thing could happen in the oil sector. Did they even think the Western nations who were buying the oil at high prices were comfortable with it. According to information, the United States started developing the shale oil over two decades ago when it was not comfortable with the high price it was paying for crude, as well as the politics tied to it in the international political arena.

Today, the shale oil is partly responsible for the fall in the price of crude, as well as the discovery of oil in more countries of the world, thus making more countries oil producers.

The truth is that oil is no longer valuable as it used to be.

Now, the inability of our past leaders to envision and work towards a bright future for the country is

the reason we are experiencing this economic challenges, and this can be linked to the insecurity we are experiencing as well.

While I am blaming our past leaders for the woes we are experiencing at the moment, I want to charge the security agencies to nip in the bud the rising insecurity in the country. One of the ways to reposition the country economically is through foreign direct investments, but no investor will come to invest in the country if the environment is not conducive.

Therefore, if we really hope to get out of the economic mess we have found ourselves, then it is important that the country is safe for doing business.

•Dr Taju Alalade, Ilorin, Kwara State.

Lagos deserves special status I am surprised that the Senate can deny Lagos State a special status, which would have enabled the Centre of Excellence to be generating extra revenue from the Federal Government. The truth is that Lagos is the most cosmopolitan state in the country. You find indigenes of other states, as well as other African countries well established in the state. In truth, some people now refer to Lagos as a ‘No Man’s Land.’ Even, I can say half of our legislators have business with Lagos, so I was surprised why these same people would now denied the state this great opportunity.

I am happy with the

manner in which Lagosians have taken the whole thing; this shows the maturity of the people, but it is important for our legislators to revisit this issue so that the Centre of Excellence can be given a special status.

There is virtually nobody in the country who would say that he does not know anybody in Lagos. This is how cosmopolitan the state is, and I hope something can be done as soon as possible to give the state the special status it deserves.

•Felix Adeyanju, Ikorodu Road, Jibowu, Lagos.

15

opinion

Monday, 7 November, 2016

Lasisi Olagunju

I

Lasgunju@yahoo.com (08111813053)

t was Jon Stewart who got me thinking at the weekend as I encountered his one line bomb: “If con is the opposite of pro, then isn’t Congress the opposite of Progress?” I wonder if those who founded the All Progressives Congress would not start wondering whether Stewart, in saying this, was not being used by the venal spirit of the dead opposition in Nigeria. Is the contradiction we see around us in its essence or just in its name?

Or is Stewart’s thesis an explanation for the institutional contradictions and the inertia the polity has been blessed with by a political class that packed so much hope into its message of change just two years ago?

For 16 years, the PDP staged its dance of spirits, gnomes and demons and the people watched with helpless interest. There were moments you would call great.

There were equally moments of utter disappointments.

The disappointments were a direct result of that party’s bad head which made it to think it could do whatever it liked with the people and get away with it. The bad behaviour of the power-drunk PDP ultimately gave it the grace of burying itself. What misfortune can be worse than its decking itself with the dubious reputation of being the first ruling party in Nigeria to be disgraced out of office by the sheer power of people’s votes? The PDP actually did not start out as an organisation carrying a bad head on its neck. It held a lot of promise before the ugly spirit of unwell afflicted its leaders with bad behaviour. When your destiny (or head or chi) is good and you wilfully decide to do bad, that bad behaviour will soon cancel out your good fortune. That, precisely, is what happened to the PDP. Now, so soon after the PDP experience, the APC appears determined to die the same death.

I once warned the APC against opening its doors to the spirit of arrogance in victory. I forgot to warn too that there are other evil spirits anywhere victory is. The APC has become the new PDP in its ways and manners. It has its Lagos division. There are also at least two divisions in Abuja. These are well heeled war camps headed by battle-tested lords who would insist that all is well with their multi-storey political edifice even when the cracks are widening by the minute. But the chairman of the APC governors’ forum, Rochas Okorocha, is a man of lan-

Okorocha and the barrel bomb called APC

guage, poise and charm. He has drama too. All these he has deployed in talking about salvaging the APC’s own House of Commotion. Okorocha made some interesting moves last week, dashing from the Villa to the Senate, to the House of Reps, to the APC secretariat. His message was urgent, soothing and alarming. The APC was fractured and failing, he cried. He wanted a peaceful, united APC once again. Okorocha literally pronounced the party a disaster at infancy, an army throwing bombs at itself?

He believed it was not too late to attempt reinventing that ship of change that brought today’s beautiful government of Muhammadu Buhari.

“One wonders then what went wrong. Where did we get it wrong? And after these troubles and after the much hope we have given to Nigerians, we still cannot work together as a party, as a family. It seems to me like there is no more platform for us to chant those old songs which we used to sing in the days of struggle for change. One wonders, was this what we were asking for or was this the change we were asking for? I think Nigerians expect so much from us and at the end of it all. We noticed and we know that we are a party in majority at the National Assembly and we are a party with majority in the number of governors — state houses of assembly — but we notice

there is no cordial relationship between the governors, the executive and the legislature,” Okorocha lamented.

I share in Okorocha’s concern and grief. The APC in its present splintered form is a danger to itself and the polity. It is a barrel bomb. “We used to watch horror movies. Now we are living them,” a Syrian man who witnessed the effect of barrel bombs recently told the BBC. A former US State Department spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, once described barrel bombs as “vicious things indiscriminately launched ... at targets without any concern about civilians.” Now, if you know that barrel bombs are actually large containers “packed with gasoline, nails and chunks of steel “you would understand how destiny-killing a ruling party could be when splintered along unedifying, deadly lines at a time of great expectations.

Nobody ever feels safe anywhere politicians fight over power. Do these people know that as they bicker and fight openly and secretly, the people are jobless, cashless, hopeless and hungry and even dying?

If you accept that Stewart’s con and pro thesis as true about what is happening to the ruling party in Nigeria and you still go to the newsstand every morning arguing, against lamentations of motion without progress, shouldn’t one tell you that you need spiritual cleansing and deliverance? This is not about being cynical about the progress promised by the party, it is about why the party and its leaders have refused to see the horror in the eyes of the voter who now feels abandoned by a people of change who campaigned with “a banner without stain.”

Success is very difficult to manage. That bit rings true of every human being and every organisation, including political parties. The truly successful ones are those who understand victory in battle as a means to something greater in value than war. The party should not be like the forgetful fisherman who was an exemplar in poverty but now sleeps in riches through sheer smile of luck. His wealth has become so much that sleeping in a palace of gilt, gold, tapestry and damask makes him think he is the greatest. He soon loses all like others like him. That is my little gift to the APC. It must wake up, learn and change.

Power, like riches, is the buffeting waves of the ocean. It comes and goes.

Remembering my surrogate father, Sir Olaniwun Ajayi

By Tolu Odebiyi

ON Friday morning, at about 5:30am, I was woken up by the clinging sound of my Whatsapp message notifying me of the arrival of a new message. Barely awake, I noticed it was a message from Dara, informing me of the sudden death of Papa Olaniwun Ajayi. Suddenly, my lethargy was overwhelmed with shock, grief and emotions. I could not console myself. How can! What happened! My call to Ola, my “ONLY” brother, was unavailable, so was to Koyin. Suddenly she called back, giving me details of his last moments, and I lost it.

Papa was my dad, I mean my dad!!! He was the pillar that stood with us when my father died and came daily to Iboro. Yes, they were friends, but he went beyond the duties of a friend. He immediately filled the vacuum and adopted me as his son, my family as his children too.

The bond was magical, vacuum filled, historical discussions revived and political interest reinvigorated.

He prodded me to come into the fold of Afenifere, chided my aloofness and lack of interest in politics, encouraged me to build on the legacy of my late father and put a group together in Yewa. This I did and more.....

My political interest began to heighten, put a sociopolitical group together as advised, started showing interest in the yearnings and sufferings of my people.

And so it was that I became politically active. He called me to consider being deputy governor on the platform of Democratic Peoples Alliance (DPA) in Ogun State,

drafted me to represent Yewa at the 2014 National constitutional conference organised by the last administration. He wanted so much for me politically.

Unfortunately, I had to decline all with love. My political inclinations and interests were more aligned with the All Progressives Congress (APC), which I belong. I was inspired by my Governor, His Excellency, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, to join him to rebuild Ogun State.

Papa was supportive, though disappointed, encouraging but critical of our party. I argued voraciously with

him to be patient with us as we were learning, but he couldn’t; he was eager to see Nigeria transformed into his dreams just as if he knew time was beckoning.

Our last conversation at The Cardiac Consultants in Ikoyi was quite revealing. Ola and I went to visit him and Papa Adebanjo joined us; what was to be a get well visit, became a political lecture and dress down. I was chastised and accused of abandoning my legacy and pedigree by the political companies I kept. I stood firm and explained in vain, pleaded with them to be less rigid and more understanding.

These were the last of a grateful generation. They were well-schooled par excellence, principled, full of integrity and dignified in nature. How I wished I was born amongst them. We have lost a whole lot in this country, most importantly, our beacons of hope and moral compass. Papa was such and shall be greatly missed.

He was truly loved, cared for, gentle, disciplined, regal and polished. He was a man of style, loved to look good and did it with class. He abhorred mediocrity and wanted the best for the country and Yoruba race. I thank him, and shall hold on to his words and memory for as long as I live.

Papa adieu! I promise I shall live up to your political expectations and not abandon the ideals of service you and my late father stood for. Thank you for looking out for me and taking interest in my political footsteps. By His grace, I shall not disappoint. Shalom!

•Chief Odebiyi sent in this tribute via tolsonline@gmail.com

16

communitynews

Monday, 7 November, 2016

PIAOGECO elects new officers

Osun State Coordinator of the National Environmental Standard and Regulation Enforcement Agency (NESREA), Mr Muhammad Maike (second left) and officials of NESREA, during the peace meeting with Lapeleke community members of Owode-Ede.

Lagos: Oke-Afa residents lament shops demolition Chukwuma Okparaocha -Lagos

R

esidents of OkeAfa Estate Area of Isolo, Lagos have lamented the demolition of their shops by the Lagos State government.

Their lamentation came after the government reportedly refused to listen to their plea not to go ahead with the demolition exercise with a protest march made to the Lagos State House of Assembly hours earlier.

Condemning the demolition exercise, a resident of the area, Chinelo Ubago, revealed that the government had “many other issues to contend with in the community,” and wondered why setting up of shops close to people’s apartments by the owners of such apartments would be the number one problem to the government.

Chinelo posited that on a scale of 1-100, the existence of those shops would rank last among the challenges and problems faced by residents of the community.

“I don’t own a shop in the estate neither do I have a relative who does, but I am speaking as a human being who has human feelings concerning the plights of others. I am still at a loss on how the government would leave countless other problems facing the community and focus on the most insignificant of them all. As we speak, the roads in the community are in a total state of disrepair; we hardly have electricity for more than 30 minutes every day, among other problems. I wonder why government is not looking for a way of fixing

the dilapidated roads, but would rather opt to demolish shops where pensioners were struggling to make ends meet, under the pretense that the shops were illegally sited. I consider this as nothing more than callousness on the part of the government,” she added.

Similarly, one of those affected by the demolition exercise, Mrs Adediwura Adeaga, in a telephone conversation with the Nigerian Tribune, lamented the fact that as a result of the demolition, she had lost a major source of income, especially bearing in mind the fact that she had retired from civil service.

“I invested a large chunk of my pension in setting up the shop that was among those demolished. I don’t know what to do for now.

Despite our pleading the state government still went ahead with demolition exercise. It is a shame that all entreaties eventually fell on deaf ears. This gov-

ernment promised to be a government for all classes of people, but with this latest action, I can say that promise was a ruse. This is because we heard it on the grapevine that the demolition was carried out because the spaces now made available by the demolition have been earmarked for some powerful people to make use of in the future,” she noted.

It will be recalled that some residents of the OkeAfa Estate had earlier in the week staged a protest march to the Lagos State House of Assembly to protest against the then planned demolition of their shops by officers of the Lagos State Building Investment Company, who they said had given them a notice of less than seven days, asking them to vacate the shops in question.

But the protesters had maintained that the development would lead to loss of livelihood for the shop owners who they said were

predominantly pensioners.

The leader of the protesters, Chief Olawale Osanyinpeju, had notably stated that the estate was constructed by former governor, Alhaji Lateef Jakande in the 80s, adding that the residents built shops on spaces around their houses.

“We cannot allow grasses to grow in the spaces, so we decided to build shops on the spaces. Since then, we have been making use of the place. We cannot leave them and go to the market,” Osanyinpeju had stated.

“LBIC initially came to demolish the stalls, but we invited them and we discussed. I am the Chairman of Kiosks and Containers Committee. They inspected what we have done and they were pleased with it.

“They came during the tenure of former Governor Babatunde Fashola and said we would be paying ground rent of N1,000 for containers and N500 for small shops and we complied,” he had added.

Landlords and Landladies Association of the nine zones in Podo community which comprise Podo 1, Podo 2, Ifesowapo, Alaadorin, Oriire, Golden Gate, Eleja, Cele, Onipon (PIAOGECO) has elected Pastor Michael Alakiu as the General Chairman.

The interim committee was set up under the chairmanship of Mr Ojoge Agboworin after the expiration of tenure of the past executive members with a mandate to conduct another election within three months.

It was gathered that all the contestants were elected unopposed except the position of General Chairman which was contested between Pastor Alakiu and Alhaji Adewolu.

The outcome of the elec-

Kwara assembly urges government to provide transformers in rural areas Biola Azeez -Ilorin The Kwara State House of Assembly has urged the state government to include the installation of 105 transformers that had been distributed to communities across the state in the 2017 budget.

The assembly said this would allow more communities in the state to enjoy electricity supply.

This was part of resolutions of the assembly following a Matter of General Public lmportance, raised by a member representing Kaiama/Wajibe/Kamanji Constituency, Honourable Ahmed Mohammed.

The Deputy Speaker, Elder Matthew Okedare, who presided over Tuesday’s sitting said the state government should make it a matter of priority to include installation of the transformers in 2017 budget before procuring another set, to ensure that more communities have access to electricity supply.

Others members, who spoke on the matter com-

Okun leaders to hold summit on community development LEADERS of the Okun people in the six Yoruba speaking local government areas of Kogi State will hold a summit to chart the way forward for the people.

The summit, with the theme: “Breaking the bonds of underdevelopment in Okunland” holds in Kabba, Kogi State between November 24 and 26, 2016.

The programme which would dwell on security, unity and development in Okunland would be attended by traditional rulers, academics, media executives, political and community leaders, business execu-

tives and Okun indigenes in the public sector.

The summit, being jointly organised by the sociocultural bodies in the area, Okun Development Association (ODA) and a development advocacy group, the Okun Development Initiative (ODI) would deliberate on new political and administrative strategies for Okunland, security of life and property, agricultural revolution as well as the preservation and protection of the environment in the area.

Other issues to be deliberated upon are reengi-

neering the educational system for academic and cultural revival, industrialisation of Okunland, effective leadership as a panacea for development, women empowerment and youth development, among others.

Prominent Okun indigenes expected to deliver papers at the summit include former Minister of Industry, Chief Kola Jamodu, Ambassador J. I. Lewu, Chief Benjamin Olowodola, Prince Olushola Akanmode, President, Nigerian Academy of Letters, Professor Olu Obafemi,

tion which was supervised

by Mrs Yemisi Aisida had Pastor Alakiu as the winner with 33 votes as against Alhaji Adewolu who poled 11 votes.

The new officers will run the affairs of the communities for two years.

In his acceptance speech, the new chairman pledged the support of every member of the communities and promised to facilitate more social infrastructure to the entire PIAOGECO. He said: “I thank everyone of you for the trust you have in me by giving me your mandate. I promise that I will not let you down. I’m also using this opportunity to appeal to you to give me and my team your support so as to achieve success for the entire communities.

retired Executive Director, First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Mr.Oladele Oyelola, Professor Michael Ikupolati, Mr. Babatunde Irukera and the Special Adviser to the Kogi State Governor on Security, Commander Duro Jerry Omodara (retd).

Others expected at the summit are past national presidents, Okun Development Association, Chief E. O Otitoju, Major General Julius Oshanupin (retd) and former Assistant Inspector-General of Police Raphael Osanaiye (retd), among others.

mended the state government for the intervention, but insisted that the state government should henceforth consider installation alongside the procurement to ensure that the genuiue purpose of expending the state’s scarce resources on the project is realised.

Dialogue: Community leader hails Buhari Ebenezer Adurokiya -Warri Chairman of Kokodiagbene community, Gbaramatu Kingdom in Warri SouthWest Local Government Area of Delta State, Comrade Sheriff Mulade, has lauded President Muhammadu Buhari for engaging Pan Niger Delta Forum in a dialogue aimed at bringing back peace to the embattled region.

It will be recalled that President Buhari had, on Tuesday, engaged stakeholders from Niger Delta region in a dialogue in Abuja where the leaders presented a 16-point demand to him.

Comrade Mulade, in a statement in Warri, on behalf of chairmen of the communities in Gbaramatu Kingdom, praised the president for the personal engagement he had with the Niger Delta leaders.

According to him, the direct interaction of the president with the Niger Delta leaders was an indication that was determined to address the age-long problems of the region.

“I want to commend the President for personally engaging Niger Delta leaders in a dialogue expected to bring lasting peace to the area,” Mulade noted.

17

Monday, 7 November 2016

BUSIN£$S

Nigerian Tribune

TRIBUNE

Group Business Editor Sulaimon Olanrewaju | 08055001708 | lanresulaimon@yahoo.com | @lanresulaimon

money

leadership

entrepreneurship

analysis

Foreign loans are three times cheaper —DMO boss

Senators recently rejected a plan by President Buhari to borrow about $30 billion. In this interview, Director-General of Debt Management Office (DMO), Abraham Nwankwo, spoke with select journalists on the benefits derivable from the proposed loans, but insisting that government is open to other suggestions on how to urgently mobilise adequate resources to fund infrastructure, which will in turn diversify the economy, create jobs, eliminate poverty and develop the economy once and for all. According to him, borrowing externally has dual advantage of being cheap and allowing for the private sector to access funds. SANYA ADEJOKUN brings excerpts

S

OME financial experts are worried that the money you want to borrow is a way of luring us into a debt trap. How do you react to this, and what’s the rationale behind it?

The first thing to note is that this, borrowing is normal. Normal in the sense that in the past two decades, there is no year we have not borrowed. And so, interpreting the proposal submitted to the National Assembly by president for a three year borrowing programme to be an indirect way of trapping the country does not seem to be logical because Nigeria has always borrowed every year. Every year there is a budget and if you check the budgets many years back, you will see that we have been borrowing both external and domestic so there is nothing new about this.

Let me also emphasise that since we exited from the Paris and London club debt in 2005-2006 we have always borrowed almost from all these sources we want to borrow from now.

It was the Chinese loan that financed NIGCOMSAT more than seven years ago. This is to show that Nigeria has always been borrowing on an annual basis. It is nothing unusual. The medium term external borrowing programme is also not new. Am sure that by next year, it would be represented because 2016 would have been exhausted completely and a new rolling plan will come in.

That’s why it is called a rolling programme. It is part and parcel of the total fiscal framework because fiscal framework includes the medium term expenditure framework, which explains how you will fund the expenditure over the medium term and one of the items for funding expenditure over the medium term would be the financing item which is the borrowing and that has always been there.

Based on what you have just explained, I want you to use

the instance of NIGCOMSAT as a launch pad and tell us what we have actually benefited from all these borrowings we have had over the years?

NIGCOMSAT is too abstract for the man on the street, so I won’t want to use that because it is about satellite imaging and ordinary Nigerians cannot appreciate it. I would rather talk about something more straight forward. You are aware for example that the Nigerian airports are being remodeled, new terminals are being built in almost all parts of the country, these are being done with borrowed money.

Over the past four or five years, the Abuja Airport road was expanded from four lanes to ten lanes and same with Abuja-Kubwa-Kaduna road.

These two projects were actually funded with money borrowed domestically; you are aware that the Nigerian rail lines are being resuscitated with new locomotives purchased, and Lagos, Ibadan, Kano rail line has been fully resuscitated.

These were done with external borrowing. These are some of the example and on routine basis and on a permanent basis. You are aware of the various agricultural projects some mainly funded by the World Bank and some of them in some areas are called FADAMA and some of them are still existing in all parts of the country.

All those projects are funded with borrowed money. You are aware of the polio eradication programmes, those are funded with borrowed money from IDA in particular, that is the concessional window of the World Bank. Generally, however, all the moneys borrowed from external sources are projects tied.

Let’s use a good example of the World Bank; you are aware that the World Bank cannot give you a loan without supervising it themselves, that is the system. They must supervise it themselves and they must have people working

project or a satellite, you know those responsible. That is the truth and so we should be concerned about the present and the future.

However, it is also appropriate to recognize that we have an opportunity that is very different in that we have a government, a president whose administration is founded on transparency, accountability and anti-corruption, which means we have a greater chance and we should have more confidence that resources- revenues as well as loan proceeds will be more efficiently, accountably used and will not be siphoned through corruption.

Having said that, we should make sure that all the various apparatus available for monitoring, for making sure that resources are well used should be put into effect. We cannot afford this time around to experience wastage so the government agrees with the Nigerian people that we cannot afford to continue wasting resources. with the Nigerian team to monitor the project from the beginning to the end. They don’t just disburse the money and walk away, they disburse the money as the work progresses. So, even when Nigeria seeks for a loan and it is approved, the disbursement of the loan is done according to the schedule of the work itself.

That question stemmed from public pessimism. People are afraid that these loans may end up being mismanaged. You have mentioned laudable ones but the Abuja CCTV contract for instance is moribund and nobody talks about it anymore. We ask questions but nobody answers yet it is funded by a loan. It is not working and there are no efforts made.

What is going on?

Very good observation! The two things to say about that is, first, there is no doubt that Nigerians are right in asking questions and

getting concerned about value for money and about how we get proceeds from what we use. The concerns are valid, correct and appropriate, nobody should doubt that and the important thing to say that in every system where there is a failure, there are people responsible for tracking why there is failure and for doing the monitoring for effective and appropriate sanctions if there are needs for sanctions. That is what I can say about that. I am not going to say everything has been perfect. If everything has been perfect, Nigerians wouldn’t be concerned.

Nigerians are reacting based on the experience of many years and they are right to be concerned and also right to ask questions and indeed every Nigerian including the journalist should feel free to confront relevant agencies and MDAs responsible for such projects because every project has an MDA that is responsible for it.

Whether it is a road, hospital or university building, airport, farm

Despite all these, shouldn’t the government be worried about the huge amount required to service these debts?

Why not? The government is worried but what you should be asking is if we are managing the debts properly. The essence of managing our debt is to know if we service the debt and that is why we do debt sustainability analysis which we have done for 2016 and for every year previously.

It is because we are concerned about our debt that we do debt sustainability analysis and make the result available to the public and everything government is doing is within the scope and recommendations of that analysis. Certainly every government and debt manager is interested in knowing whether it is in a position to service what it borrows. From analysis we know we can service our debt.

Ever since we exited from Paris and London clubs’ debts, we have Continues on pg18

18

Monday, 7 November 2016

Nigerian Tribune

Nigeria’s debt profile now N16 trillion Continued from pg 17

never defaulted in servicing our debts whether external or domestic. We have managed our debts prudently but that doesn’t mean we are not in a position to improve.

There is no country that has any system that is not improving, even the best systems in the world- US, UK, Germany- they’re all still improving. So we are not saying that we have arrived at the peak; we are still improving. But you should also give us the credit that Nigeria’s public debt service management is among the most respected in the world in terms of what they do and how they do it.

I assure that the proposal, which Mr. President has put before the National Assembly for external borrowing has taken into account Nigeria’s ability to service the debt taking into account that those external borrowings are at very affordable interest rates with most of them below three per annum and all of them range between 15 and 30 years in tenure and their moratorium ranging between five and 10 years so those loans are at relatively concessional terms.

Talking of debt service, one of the reasons why they tilt to external borrowing is because compared to domestic borrowing, they are much cheaper. They are at least seven percent cheaper than domestic borrowing, which means when you look at their tenure and the interest rate, their impact on debt service will be minimal per annum so they are even more serviceable.

If you borrow the same amount from the domestic source, you will find out that the impact of the domestic one will be at least three times higher than the impact of the external one. In terms of debt servicing, remember that sometimes in August DMO presented through the Minister of Finance to the Federal Executive Council the debt management strategy, which proposed that in the medium to long term, the mix between our domestic and external debts should be changed from the current 82 percent domestic and 18 percent external as at today to about 40 percent external and 60 percent domestic in the medium term and it was approved.

It is, therefore, a strategy that Nigeria has adopted and the medium term external borrowing programme is working in the context of that programme which is consistent with the programme that we have accepted as the appropriate strategy to follow in the medium term.

What would you say about the unexplained $6 billion in the $29.6 billion loans plan described as others? What is others?

The details of the $6 billion others I am sure will be for infrastructure.

I don’t think I have noticed that.

You know that the aggregation of the borrowing plan is produced by the ministry of finance, the International Economic Department of the Ministry of Finance. This is not to say that it is their problem, it is not my problem, no I am not saying that. Am sure they have the

details but I can assure you there is no way the Federal Government of Nigeria will go and borrow billions of dollars on nothing. It must go to a project because even the person lending it will have to lend it for a project. The World Bank for example, cannot give you the money in full at once. They have to supervise their project. It is as the project progresses that they continue disbursing and at the end of the project, they sign off because they also have to go and report to the board of the Bank to show that the project has been completed. I can assure you that every money borrowed will be used well particularly under this administration.

Let’s also use the example of ChinaExim that does not monitor because it is export credit that it deals in. ChinaExim doesn’t give you cash so they don’t need to monitor. It is for projects that you want to install with particularly design so it is we Nigerians that will supervise to make sure that the design that was agreed is what is on ground because they’re not giving you cash.

Have you appointed a consultant for the Eurobond being proposed as part of the borrowing plan?

We are in the process. We are undergoing due process because everything we do must follow due process.

How has Nigerian bonds fared in the market since JP Morgan and Barclays backed out?

JP Morgan and Barclays backed out more than two years ago and we have been doing well. If we have not been doing well, we would not be doing auctions every month. If you go through the 2016 budget, there is a provision for domestic borrowing. Has anybody complained that when it is due to fund the budget that there is no money to do so? That Barclays and JP Morgan left has not impacted negatively on our bonds and I emphasized when they left that they did not develop the market for us, we developed the market ourselves. It

was when they saw that the market was good that they came to identify with it and so if they leave that’s their own business because it is an indigenous market. The market is performing and supporting the growth and development of the economy. You can go and check to see how many corporates aside governments that are borrowing from the market to support economic development. The market is strong, the domestic bond market, which we developed for Nigeria is strong and thriving in spite of the global challenges. It is strong because we have strong players, strong private sector players, in the capital market, strong regulators like the SEC, strong facilitators like NSE and strong supervisor in the Federal Ministry of Finance.

It is not just enough to say that our domestic debt is high without mentioning the benefits inherent in depending on the domestic bond market. Government’s borrowing from the domestic bond market helped to develop the bond market which has given it some stability in terms of some alternative source of funding not only for the government but also for the private sector.

Some analysts have argued that instead of borrowing to finance infrastructure government should allow the private sector do that by giving them sovereign notes to build infrastructure. How do you react to that?

Our position is that government should develop infrastructure and government is exploring all options in doing that. In order to fund infrastructure, government is encouraging the private sector through Public Private Partnerships, through concessioning, through Build Operate and Transfer, through guarantees but that doesn’t mean that there is any country where all the infrastructure will be funded by the private sector. There must be some component of infrastructure that must be funded by the government because the private sector does not find it attractive at that point in

time. Government is not excluding the private sector from participating in infrastructure funding.

Rather, it is encouraging them but government also appreciates that there must be part of the infrastructure, which it must fund at least at this point in time.

How much exactly is our debt profile?

Our total debt stock as the end of June 2016 is N16 trillion, which is 12.24 percent of our GDP and so we will continue to emphasize that relative to our GDP, we are very comfortable but we also accept that we have a challenge with our domestic debt service because of the high cost of fund domestically.

This is one of the reasons why there is need if we must borrow, as we must borrow, it is necessary for us to see how much we can conveniently borrow from external source since that will help reduce the domestic cost of funds because when the demand from the domestic market by government drops it means whatever resources are available is there for the private sector. And because the demand pressure is lower, the cost will be lower too. That’s one of the strategies of government and that’s one of the reasons why borrowing from the external source is encouraged.

With sliding exchange rate, how easy would it be for government to service and repay external loans?

You are borrowing to turn around the economy, to have efficient rail and road transportation, efficient and reliable power supply, that’s why we’re borrowing. We are not borrowing for borrowing sake. You want to transform the economy by covering the infrastructure deficit and if you do that, the cost of production in the economy will fall, so beyond inflation and all those issues like infrastructure deficiency we will deal with them.

Moreover, if you have sufficient infrastructure, it helps to diversify both export and domestic supplies.

We import most of our goods some of which we produce locally but the imported ones are cheaper but if

the cost of production falls because of reliable and efficient infrastructure, the cost of production falls so the final products from Nigerian factories will be low so Nigerians can now buy the cheaper ones and that boosts the economy.

On the other hand, the fact that you are producing competitively at cheap cost here means you can even export beyond West Africa because you can now compete just as China is producing at cheap prices and bringing them here, we can also produce at cheap prices and sell to other countries.

When you start exporting to other countries, of course you will start earning more foreign exchange. If you’re exporting five or seven export products and in addition you are exporting maybe three, four or five solid minerals, which belong essentially to government.

With that type of diversification, all of exports from the private sector export of solid minerals in addition to oil and gas, if we build infrastructure in the next five to seven years before those loans mature in 15 to 30 years, we should be in a position to service our debt and you would have turned around the economy.

But you can’t fold your hands and remain where you are if you want to move forward. But if there is a way anybody can propose we mobilize revenue that is enough to cover the infrastructure deficit in the next five to seven years, that would be fine but the important thing is that we need to mobilise revenue from whatever appropriate source to solve the infrastructure deficit to turn around the economy, to exit recession, to make sure that once and for all we are no more a mono cultural economy, to ensure that the country is exporting five to 10 different products. Whether there is a shock globally or not, Nigeria will be stable and we will not be crying about exchange rate reserve because we are well diversified.

That is the whole idea and that is what government wants to achieve.

Remember that the bottom line of all these is poverty reduction and employment generation because when you invest in infrastructure continuously for the next five to seven years, you are creating employment. In addition, because you have provided infrastructure, the real sector will boom because what is holding down agriculture and Agric-processing, small scale enterprises are insufficiency of infrastructure.

So you can imagine if all of us work together, look for appropriate sources of revenue, equity, direct investment or debt and we solve this problem in the next five to seven years, which means in the next 10 years we will be operating at real capacity, the economy will be steaming full blast and that’s what we need. It’s this change that the government is looking at. Whatever any Nigerian can contribute for us to achieve this change to transform the economy so that we reduce poverty, we generate employment such that in the next seven to 10 years we will not be complaining of mass unemployment for the youth, that’s the whole idea.

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Monday, 7 November, 2016

Nigerian Tribune Mr Ifie Sekibo, MD, Heritage Bank

leadership &

management with Sulaimon Olanrewaju

m:08055001708 e:lanresulaimon@yahoo.com t:@lanresulaimon

Quote LEADERSHIP

“When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.” ― Dalai Lama

The 60-second

business coach PAGE 24

XIV PAGE 22

Leaders’

forum PAGE 22

Leaders and information management

By Sulaimon Olanrewaju

O

n Thursday, November 3, 2016, Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg lost $2.5billion of his fortunes as the shares of the company plummeted by 8 per cent. This plunge was sequel to an announcement by Facebook’s Chief Financial Officer, David Wehner, that the social media giant’s advertising revenue

growth would slow down meaningfully in mid-2017, as the company planned to put a lid on the number of advertisements that could be shown in its news feed. The investing public responded swiftly by offloading Facebook shares.

Although the stock later gained a measure of stability, the scenario was anti-climatic because the company just reported a heart-warming third quarter result of $6.8billion revenue and a $2.4billion profit, which was a 166 per cent

improvement on the profit posted in the same period of 2015. The investing public was shocked by the news of a possible future decline in the company’s revenue and, by extension, profit. Hence, in spite of the company’s current wowing performance, investors resolved to cut their possible losses by scaling down their investment in the company.

Continues on pg20

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Monday, 7 November, 2016

MANAGEMENT

How leaders manage information

Oftentimes leaders get carried away by various things and give more information than is necessary. This could be counterproductive because such information could be used against them later.

This is why some leaders are wont to say that they are quoted out of context when indeed the truth is that they got a bit too verbose. The wise thing to do is to say just what is required and nothing more. If you are pressed to say more and you are not sure of the facts, promise to get back to the inquirer later. It is difficult to quote silence out of context.

Continued from pg19

Similarly, it has been argued that the current recession which Nigeria is battling with is not as much a result of the decline in petro-dollar revenue accruing to the country as it is a consequence of statements by the President shortly after his election and inauguration. Some people believe that President Muhammadu Buhari had given the impression that most Nigerians are corrupt and would be sent to jail. Those who hold this opinion said the President’s statements created a sense of instability for foreign investors who sold off their investments and changed their money to dollars, thus piling pressure on the local currency.

They also readily cite the example of the statement made by former British Prime Minister, David Cameron, that Nigeria is a fantastically corrupt country. According to them, rather than the President frowning at the former premier’s diplomatic gaffe, he expressed his agreement with Cameron’s statement. Not a few are of the view that the utterances of the President on the level of corruption in the country constitute an albatross to the nation’s economy.

Information is critical Life is information-driven; living is information-dependent. The quality of life an individual enjoys is a function of the quality of information he has access to.

Without information, life loses its essence. Life is valued or debased as a result of available information. Information is the livewire of thriving organizations; hence they treasure and protect their reputation with all their might knowing that any untoward information about their organization can send it crashing immediately.

All actions are a function of information, therefore information is power. The difference between the rich and the poor is a factor of information at their disposal and what they do with it. Problems cannot be solved without information; this is why diagnosis of ailments precedes the treatment of patients. Advancement cannot be recorded without information; the most informed countries are the most advanced. This explains the rationale behind the huge resources that organizations put in research and development, looking for information that can give them an edge in their operations.

Information must be processed Effective leaders know that they are

Great leaders never end their speech on a sad or bad note.

This is deliberate. only as strong, wise or precise as the quality of information at their disposal.

Therefore they have, over the years, devised diverse ways of accessing up-todate information so that they can act right at all times. A leader who has access to a wrong piece of information or just a shade of the information is likely to make wrong decisions that will impact negatively on the organization or nation he leads. Consequently, many leaders don’t act on raw information but process the information, distil the truth from it and even measure the distilled truth against certain standards before acting on the information. Oftentimes leaders don’t have the luxury of time before acting on information they have. This is why it is critical for a leader to be able to think on his feet and make decisions. Leaders must also learn to be dispassionate and not given to mood swings so that they can act right at all times.

One of the questions leaders ask in assessing a piece of information is about the credibility of the source. If the source is not credible they put a question mark on the information. Another question is if the information is consistent with what is known about the subject matter. If there is marked disparity between the new information and what is known about the subject matter, they subject the information to further scrutiny.

The killing of 140 in Yemen Saturday, October 8, 2016, was a sad day in Yemen as a funeral hall, filled to capacity with mourners in Sanaa, the capital city, was bombed by a Saudi Arabia-led coalition, killing 140 people and injuring over 600 others. Although the coalition initially denied any link with the airstrike, it later came out to say it was wrongly informed that there was a gathering of armed Houthi leaders in Sanaa and it decided to strike immediately. The source of the information had mistaken the assemblage of mourners for the gath-

Mrs Olwepo Sogo, CEO, HBPN Plc

Mustapha Lusty, MD, Kontz Engineering

Don’t give information that could be misinterpreted Leaders must be sure of the information they release to the public. They should not give room for misinterpretation.

They should say exactly what they mean.

The way to go about this is to put whatever information is being given in context and take the pain to explain exactly what is meant to avoid unnecessary extrapolation. Instead of saying that the organisation’s revenue may head south in the ensuing year, the leader should paint the picture of the situation in the larger society, adding that though this may affect the industry as a whole, plans are underway to mitigate its effect on the organization.

With that, it is difficult to single out the company as the sole victim of the inclement operational environment.

It is important for leaders to note that even when the situation is terribly bad and they have to communicate this to all kinds

of audience, the last words should not be on how bad the situation is but on what the leadership is doing to remedy it. Part of the calling of leaders is to give hope to the people and transform bad situations, not to lament or emphasize the badness of the situation. Great leaders never end their speech on a sad or bad note. This is deliberate.

Don’t give unripe information Leaders must always guard against giving information before the right time.

There is a time to speak out; there is a time to keep quiet. Wisdom and discretion, which are critical to effective leadership, determine this. A piece of information that is given before the right time could abort a process with the organization paying dearly for it. Right information at the wrong time could produce catastrophic result. So, in spite of obvious elation or the urge to carry people along, a leader must be cautious about volunteering information before it becomes absolutely necessary.

Don’t give information that cannot be properly handled One of the functions of leadership is followership assessment. A leader must know his people well enough to be apt about their capacity. Before volunteering a piece of information, a leader must be sure of the ability of his audience to handle such information. Right information in wrong hands will produce wrong result.

BOOK

Tribal leadership

By Dave Logan, John King and Halee Fischer-Wright TRIBAL Leadership is a new perspective on company culture consisting of a series of “stages”.

This theory requires no immediate organizational overhaul and instead concentrates on a behavioural hierarchy where companies “level up” their individual employees. In short, and refreshingly, the project tools do not change; instead, the way of looking at employees within each Stage becomes the focus.

The strange thing about leveling up through Tribal Leadership’s Stages is that it’s best to keep this unspoken. While it’s easy to categorize employees into particular Stages, the point here is that each individual is not a “Stage Two” personality, but rather motivated by a particular “mood” or malleable life philosophy. The idea is to empower individuals to transition through the levels of a healthier work life.

Here is an outline of those levels.

The stages of culture Stage One Culture: Here employees operate under the model that life in general is a series of disappointments. People in this stage alienate themselves from

THE 60-SECOND business coach

10 mistakes leaders make when giving performance feedback

Olayinka Adedayo, CEO, Tasty Fried Chicken ering or armed men. This resulted in the airstrike that cut short the lives of 140 people and left several hundreds maimed.

The difference between living and dying could be just a piece of information.

Leaders and information management Just as it is important for a leader to process information made available to him before acting on it, so is it vital to manage effectively the information he gives out in order to avoid bringing down his organization or subjecting people to avoidable grief and hardship. The world is in the information age, so information travels at the speed of light. Once a piece of information is out, it takes a life of its own and can no longer be controlled by the source.

It is for this reason that every leader must be schooled in the art and science of information management and dissemination. Facebook’s David Wehner meant well when he gave out the information about the likelihood of a slide

Sunday Folayan, President, NiRA in advertisement revenue in 2017. But he did not bargain for what he got later. Despite having good intentions, leaders must learn to manage information to avert attracting unintended disasters.

These are some of the steps a leader can take to manage information.

Choose your words deliberately When giving information about the nation or organization he leads, a leader must choose his words carefully and deliberately, especially when he has an opportunity of a prepared speech. Every speech has both intended and unintended meanings. So, a leader should be conscious of the fact that everything he says could be given all manner of interpretation.

Knowing this will help him in guarding against speaking words that could hurt him or the organization he represents later.

Don’t volunteer more than is required

PERFORMANCE feedback is something everyone gets nervous about — leaders and team members alike. Often, this is because leaders don’t communicate well enough or put enough time or energy into making the review useful to everyone.

However, the process doesn’t have to be uncomfortable. Providing feedback to others is a skill that requires tact and finesse. Leaders can make the process useful to everyone by avoiding the most common mistakes.

1. Being self-referential A prior manager I had could turn any performance review conversation into a diatribe about how he would do things. Don’t make this mistake, as it only serves to alienate employees. I will never be you, nor will anyone else.

Tell me how I can leverage my skills, strengths and talents to be successful, not how I should be your clone. Otherwise, disappointment and disengagement will reign.

2. Criticizing employee for taking risks Never peg a person as a misfit or someone who can’t learn from a mistake. Great managers know that the best way to encourage creativity and innovation is to let people try different approaches to solving a problem. Reward those who dare to fail. Mistakes are often the springboard for new ideas, so never tell a person that mistakes are unacceptable.

3. Not taking care of yourself If you’re low on sleep, eating crappy, fighting with your spouse, hungover, over-caffeinating, or trying to power through the day, your capacity for empathy, leadership and compassion will all be compromised. Make sure you’ve taken care of yourself so you can take care of

your team. Angry people make people angry.

Make sure your self-care game is on point so you don’t come across as a douche.

4. “Winging it” Many leaders dread reviews. Hence, they don’t make it a priority or take the time to sufficiently prepare. Don’t “wing it” or reschedule the review because something “important” came up. Rather, write a thoughtful review, plan what you would like to discuss, and have the meeting when you said you would. This communicates that the employee is important and valued.

5. Leaving employees feeling forlorn I’ve heard so many managers say they think it is their job to do all the talking in the review.

Employees often don’t know how to participate. Lead them through a Q&A so they can reflect on their performance. By the end, the two of you should have collaboratively come up with a plan to improve, with you expressing encouragement. My motto for this is: “Always leave them with hope and action.”

6. Talking only about what’s not working A spoonful of sugar makes the “needs improvement” pill go down easier. Even if you are a fair boss, unless you really are Mary Poppins, your employees probably don’t look forward to performance reviews. The best way to make an evaluation go well is to first lead with the positive. Tell them what they have done right and then move into areas for improvement. When addressing needs, be sure to help them create an action plan so they feel elated instead of berated.

7. Making comparisons to other em-

ployees It is important that an employee be recognized for their unique skill set and what they bring to your organization. A major faux pas is making direct comparisons of other employees. It creates an underlying tension and feelings of resentment amongst employees and their leader.

8. Using the number system A lot of performance feedback is based on a number system, e.g., 1-10. This is the quickest way to demean an employee as well as put you in a position to debate on every single item that is being checked. You may think they are a 6, they believe they are an 8, and yes, they have examples of why you are wrong. No one walks out feeling good. Drop the number ratings.

9. Using the feedback sandwich model We were once taught to “sandwich” negative feedback: praise, criticism, praise. Let’s permanently ditch that approach; it’s ineffective, dilutes the message, and makes positive feedback suspicious (employees get used to waiting for the “but…” followed by criticism). Offer praise and criticism independently of one another. This is more respectful of the employee and builds trust between you.

10. Talking too much Typically a manager approaches a feedback conversation as a soliloquy and not a conversation. Don’t talk at your employees; talk with them. People buy into their own ideas more than anyone else’s. If you want the feedback conversation to create action, take these three steps: talk less, ask more questions and collaborate on an approach. Empower your employees and see the feedback become impact.

productive members of the company and fall into destructive behaviour simply because they’ve hit rock bottom and feel as if they’ve got nothing to lose.

It’s basically the point at which people steal, embezzle or “go postal” and outlier groups at this stage are often seen as “gangs.” When an employee is in this mindset it’s best to encourage them to socialize with others outside of the destructive gang and to offer ways in which life in general is not simply suffering.

Stage Two Culture: The employees in this stage don’t operate under the “life sucks” mantra so much as they operate under the “my life sucks” mantra. They feel like victims of circumstance and want the company to change but feel powerless to enact it. They form sparse dyadic (two-person) relationships lamenting their lot in life. As employees find ways to improve this situation they begin to see how their efforts matter, they reach out to mentors, and they own success in their projects.

Stage Three Culture: This level of employee takes pride in their work but is seen as a “lone wolf” overcoming obstacles on solo missions. Stage Three employees believe, “I’m great – and you’re not.”

Similar to Stage Two, these individuals form a series of dyadic relationships but here, rather than complaining together, relationships are based on co-conspiracies.

These relationships are competitive and information is withheld to create self-benefiting outcomes. These employees value their own contributions above those of the team. Members of academic institutions often show these tendencies. To level up through this stage, leaders focus on assigning larger group projects, emphasize the value of networks and encourage transparency for the good of the larger collective.

Stage Four Culture: As employees move from a Stage Three to Stage Four mindset, they must have the epiphany that their contributions to a tribe-wide objective mean more than their personal successes.

Stage Four employees believe “We’re great – and they’re not.” It’s the point at which your team rallies to defeat a common enemy. At this stage, team members recognize each other’s strengths and form triadic (three-person) relationships while partnering to reach shared outcomes. Here trust is not earned, but rather becomes a given. Team members become the embodiment of core values. Most functional organizations operate at this level, but in order to level up leaders encourage networking and “triading” to expand the breadth of resources and knowledge.

Stage Five Culture: This group works on the “life is great” mantra in which the culture is devoid of competitors. These organizations align with a greater “noble cause” and tribal elders are seen as “brokering treaties” with other like-minded tribes. While individuals can regress into any of the earlier cultural stages, this stage is the end goal for those looking to elevate their team to a level of peak performance.

Happiness is key to productivity The goal of “Tribal Leadership” is to help leaders move as many employees through the levels of culture as they possibly can in order to increase job performance. Job performance is based on job satisfaction and happiness in general. Through continual assessment of priorities, creation of networks and mentorship programs, leaders can increase happiness and productivity without forcing disruptions to the day-today operations.

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leadership&management

Monday, 7 November, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

TOPE POPOOLA is a Human Capital developement Consultant and Pastor. Please feel free to send questions, feedback comments on this column to

topheritage@yahoo.com or visit http//turbochargedforsuccess.blogspot.com

How to effectively influence decision makers (1)

“The great majority of people tend to focus downward. They are occupied with efforts rather than results. They worry over what the organization and their superiors ‘owe’ and should do for them.

And they are conscious above all of the authority ‘they should have’. As a result, they render themselves ineffectual.” —Peter Drucker

WHENEVER I conduct training for Middle level managers of corporate organizations, I hear the same story almost all the time.

“The things you have taught us are very good. But how can you get our bosses to know the same thing? It would make our job easier!”

“We know these things are good but you don’t know the kind of bosses we have here.”

“What you have taught us is what we have been trying to get management to see for so long but they hardly listen! Maybe you need to talk to them.”

One great challenge common to every working environment is dealing with the expectations of people who are very skilled and knowledgeable in their field, especially when they have the feeling that they have a knowledge or skill advantage over their superiors. Peter Drucker defines such people as knowledge workers. They are well educated and well trained for the positions they occupy. The only snag is that when it comes to influencing their superiors and key decision makers, they are highly deficient. Consequently, they feel slighted, sidelined and frustrated by what they consider ‘insensitive’ or ‘unprogressive’ leadership that is not ‘receptive’ to new things. If you belong to this category of worker, you must know the feeling.

More often than not, however, the knowledge worker is unwilling to admit that the problem could actually be him and his need to be properly trained on an essential dimension of emotional intelligence that deals with how to turn ideas into reality by influencing decision makers.

In influencing decision makers, the first thing you need to realize is the fact that life is not always fair. What this means is that the best and highest positions don’t always go to the

most knowledgeable or most academically qualified or most skilled. So it is not unusual for a Harvard University graduate to be subordinate to someone who never attended any university! Decisions in any organization are made by people who are given to power to make them. It is as simple as that.

Get used to that because no matter how inferior in knowledge you think they are to you, they have the position, not you!

When you get used to that fact and are able to give yourself peace over it, you will feel happier and better positioned to influence them for the common good. Many years ago, I was a pioneer member of a new chapter of a Christian Fellowship that I belonged to. There was an older man who had accepted Christ at an outreach of our mother Chapter almost two years earlier. It was my privilege to lead him in prayers and thereafter follow him up until he was fully established in the Christian faith. When the new chapter was to be formed, he was nominated to be the President. I did not even get elected into the Executive Council of the new chapter! But I gave him and his team the maximum co-operation and made myself available if he needed my counsel on anything. Not once did I undermine his authority or felt that he was ‘subordinate’ to me in the faith. This made him respect me so much that he hardly took any major decision without running it by me.

In fact, he publicly referred to me as his spiritual father even though he was my President! He it was who on his own initiative literally appointed me as a Board Member to ensure that I had an input into decision making. God helped us to run a highly successful chapter which endures almost twenty five years after! To effectively influence decision makers, send your ego on a vacation!

Imagine a salesman coming to you and shoving a product in your face with these words, “You need to buy this product now. In fact I would like you to buy some for your friends because I have a target to meet and I must sell a certain number to meet it”. Unless the salesman is your son or spouse, I don’t need to ask what your reaction would be! We make buying decisions in relation to the value proposition and its relevance to our needs. Even with impulse buying, we buy on a perceived need for the value offered, even if we later

discover that we made a hasty decision. When influencing decision makers therefore, it is like you are making a sales pitch. You must target the impact of what you are proposing to specifically address a need of the decision maker and, by extension, the organization. Decision makers do not like being taken advantage of and they by no means want their position or influence undermined. So, shift the focus away from you and what you know and focus on what your knowledge would do for him and the collective. Help him to make the necessary connections between what you are proposing and the collective goals and expected outcomes. Until they make the connections, decision makers, especially if they are the insecure type, usually look at any idea that challenges their present paradigms or knowledge level with suspicion! Not necessarily because they do not see the value of the proposition but because they question the motive behind it.

Influencing decision makers often entails a ‘challenging’ of the system. Your proposition may be revolutionary in nature in a way that totally upsets the status quo. Its implementation may require additional expenditure, staff or even processes that may impinge on the bottom-line even if only temporarily. What this may translate to is a reticence on the part of the decision maker who needs time to be convinced. Initially, he may actually greet you with an outright rejection of the idea. Before you literally ‘challenge’ the system, therefore, do a proper analysis of your proposition. Rehearse it very well, putting yourself in the shoes of the decision maker. Study extensively. Write down the highlights in a way that makes it presentable and worthy of a second look. Be winning to lose some and win some. Do not concentrate energies on winning arguments over trivia. Save your gunpowder for the big battles. Do not waste precious time on arguing with the decision maker over which football team is the best or which restaurant has the best food in town. You may win the argument but you might have come across as overbearing, boorish and self-opinionated, traits that most decision makers hardly tolerate. Better to lose an argument than lose a friend.... continued Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!

Handling the 21st Century ‘Eliabs’ HAVE you ever met with those who think they know you, but in point of fact do not have an inkling about who you truly are, what you stand for and the reason why you are on earth? Over the years, I have met with this class of folks and it can be so attention-grabbing meeting with them. I call them the 21st century ‘Eliabs’. They are everywhere, including the work-place!

The ‘Eliabs’ of this world exude an air of confidence on who they think you are, what you stand for and the reason you are here on earth, but the truth is, they are a bunch of uninformed folks. They do not know, but they do not know that they do not know. ‘Eliabs’ speak with confidence, but the ground on which they are usually standing is unawareness.

It is very painless to teach someone who knows that he or she does not know, but it is almost impossible to teach and coach someone who does not know a hoot but believes he knows more than everyone else. A few years ago, I was teaching at a conference beyond the shores of Nigeria. I was to speak twice at the 3-day conference. After my first session, amongst those under the sound of my voice, a young man rose to speak on an area that he did not know two hoots on. I magnanimously allowed him speak for a few minutes. After that, I humbly showed him many holes in what he said, to which he disagreed with, even when other participants were trying to help him see my stance on some of the unsubstantiated issues he raised. Was I trying to show him that I was more informed than him? No. I was just trying to help him see that he did not know that he did not know what he thought he knew. This is the major reason why many folks are not moving to the fore in life.

The workplace in the 21st century is a theater of some

sort. A friend of mine who owns a thriving company shared an experience with me on an executive staff of his who made the company in question lose some millions of naira. A junior staff was on his team who was supposed to handle a particular project that was given to the company I am talking about, but because the team leader did not know that he did not know his capacity, he gave the project to another person that he thought he knew his capacity, but in the real sense of it, he did not know the capacity of the staff in question at all. Consequent upon this leadership slip-up and booboo, the project was poorly delivered.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Are there people in your life today who you think you know, but who, in the real sense, you do not know? This is what I call—‘disguised-ignorance’. Ignorance is bad, but ‘disguised-ignorance’ is worse! It is terrible for one to think he knows either who or what he does not know. Buddy, when you do not know that you do not know, to learn becomes almost impossible. To be able to learn, you’d need to first of all admit that you do not know. Does this sound like you?

Eliab in the good book was on the team of a passing and fading leader. He was following a leader, who was first on the cutting-edge of what God was doing in the midst of the earth, but later he became an obsolete leader. When his leadership edge was intact, he was a star performer, whose influence covered the entire planet earth, but when he lost his leadership edge, those who used to follow him exited his sphere of influence. When he lost his leadership edge, confidence and competence gave way to fear and mediocrity. Buddy, please understand me that it is dangerous to follow a leader, who is now a shadow of what he used to be.

When you assess and appraise people from afar and you are speaking with confidence that you do know them, the truth is: the ground on which you are standing is ignorance. When you bridge the gap between you and those you are assessing from far afield, you’d realize that you are completely wrong. Over the years, I have found out that people usually detest and dislike intensely those who they are supposed to love and love those who they are supposed to distance themselves from, all because of the wrong assessment of folks. When you do not truly know folks, you’d lose true destiny relationships and it will impact negatively on everything about your life, leadership and business.

Back to the issue I earlier raised on the man Eliab in the good book. Eliab said and I quote to the letter: “Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.” Eliab said: “I know”, when he actually did not have a clue on who David was and what he came to do. David came on purpose; he did not come to “see the battle” as Eliab wrongly said. And his driving force was not pride, but passion and purpose. Have you ever thought that some folks were proud when they actually were not proud? Before you judge the next person, make sure you understand who he is and what he is passionate about.

Lastly, how do you handle the ‘Eliabs’ of this day and time? Turn away from them and face the reason why you are on earth and make sure you finish it before you move to the land of the silent ones! You do not need to argue with those who faultily think they know you. Move on with your life and prove them wrong by delivering the future.

See you where great leaders are found!

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By Terri Scott

H

ERE’S a couple of themes that you read about often as a business owner: customer service, and branding.

These are often presented as two separate disciplines, but in fact, they complement each other by allowing business owners like you the ability to build an unstoppable foundation for your company.

And since the foundation is the most important component of any structure, it makes sense that you’d learn how to structure yours by following the examples of companies who have learned how to get things right.

Here’s the best part: You don’t have to operate

Monday, 7 November 2016

How to build an unstoppable service business

as a major conglomerate or even, operate like a company listed in Fortune magazine.

Combining excellent customer service and branding strategies that generate customer retention in the future are things that even solo creatives can implement, now!

Never take your clients/customers for granted In the course managing day-to-day operations, especially if you’re a solo-entrepreneur, it’s all too easy

to lose sight of core values.

It’s far too easy to believe that your business exists to send out invoices. But if your customers or clients aren’t happy, then you can forget about generating money, right?

Smart businesses realise that’s it’s all about the people who buy into the company’s products or services.

Sure, there are times when the customer/client isn’t always right, but at the end of the day, your business exists to serve others.

Imagine if your newly-built house had a coffee

bar area, a cocktail bar inside of your gameroom, and a snack bar inside of your entertainment room.

Now, imagine if the walls inside of your house were decorated with fine Picasso prints, and contemporary chandelier lighting? Oh yeah, imagine if you had a cook eager to serve you a fresh omelette or waffles every morning?

You’d probably have all of your friends finding reasons to visit, and you’d be hard-pressed to hang out anywhere else!

Empowered employees are a sign of strong management Sometimes, a sign of great management and business structure isn’t only apparent when everything’s going right, but it also becomes apparent when things go wrong.

Simon Sinek was quoted in the Houston Chronicle’s Small Business section as saying: Empowered employees have the power to make decisions without a supervisor. They are entitled to go off script, bend the rules,

Nigerian Tribune

do what they see fit if they believe it is the right thing to do for the customer.

More than any other kind of employee, the empowered employee is able to create a feeling of true customer service that ultimately yields much greater customer loyalty Companies that give employees the freedom to make decisions on the spur of the moment often find that service to internal and external customers is improved.

And Randi Busse, author of the book Turning Rants Into Raves talks about the following four business drivers that result from employee (or contractor) empowerment: Revenue: Will a decision I’m making for the customer cost the company extra money? Most of the time, the correct answer is no. That said, sometimes it’s okay for it to cost extra. The employee needs to know how far they can go.

Retention: Will a decision I’m making for the customer cause them to want to continue to do business with us? Obviously, the correct answer is yes.

Reputation: Will a decision I’m making for the customer enhance the reputation of the company? The answer is yes.

Referrals: Will a decision I’m making for the customer make them want to refer the company? I hope so! Of course the answer should be yes.

As managers, it’s easy to see our role as resident problem solver. (But)what it does not mean is that it’s your job to solve all of your employees’ problems.

Once a staff person starts seeing you as the person they can dump their problem on and walk away knowing it will be handled, guess what will happen the moment that person runs into another roadblock?

Employees (or contractors) learn with astonishing rapidity that they only need to make a mention of some annoyance, and, voila – it’s your problem now.

For busy managers on the receiving end of these issues, it can be entirely too easy to rely on your power Continues on p24

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Monday, 7 November 2016

Nigerian Tribune

5 reason 80% of businesses fail the maddeningly defiant inmate named Luke. “What we have here is a failure to communicate…”, upon which Newman is shot in the neck and on his way to exsanguination (aka bleeding to death).

Many entrepreneurs work hard to discover a point of differentiation then blow it because they do not communicate their message in a clear, concise and compelling manner. I watch many entrepreneurs bleed to death through their failure to communicate.

Your Solution: It’s pretty simple. Learn how to communicate better. Again, I reference point #1 above.

If an entrepreneur is truly engaged in conversation (read: dialogue, not monologue), then you’ll learn the language of your customer.

By Eric T. Wagner ACCORDING to Bloomberg, 8 out of 10 entrepreneurs who start businesses fail within the first 18 months. A whopping 80 per cent crash and burn.

But why? What can we learn from the colossal amount of failure with small business that we can apply to our own business aspirations?

In my 30 plus years as a serial (yes – hate that word too) entrepreneur, and through my exposure to thousands of entrepreneurs via my company Mighty Wise Media, I have seen plenty. And yes, at surface level the primary reason businesses fail is they simply run out of cash.

But trust me — the cracks in the foundation start well before the brutal day of financial collapse. Thus I give you five reasons for failure and more importantly, what you can do to avoid it happening to you: Reason #1: Not really in touch with customers through deep dialogue.

An amazing thing happens when an entrepreneur sees a potential opportunity in the market, or dreams up a

new idea for a product/service: they retreat to a cave. In my experience, this is the worst move an entrepreneur can make because complete understanding of your customer is imperative to your success. Listen — in my mind entrepreneurs must walk 1,000 miles in the shoes of their customers. Not 10. Not 100. One thousand.

Your customer holds the key to your success deep in their pain, behavior, dreams, values and the jobs they are trying to accomplish. Your Solution: In 1999, four smart guys wrote a book called ‘The Cluetrain Manifesto’. Although the book is a tough read in my opinion, there is one silver bullet piece of wisdom shouting from the pages.

for those without uniqueness fighting for the bottom scraps.

Most times this is a slow killer of businesses. Barely hanging on, entrepreneurs with some customers and some revenue skimp along for months or even years. Every painful inch wondering to themselves if this is all there really is.

Your Solution: First, agree with me right now this is a core element which must be addressed. Entrepreneurs who take this lightly end up in trouble. Grab a tool like Alex Osterwalder’s ‘Value Proposition Canvas’, stick it on your wall and work it. Dig in.

Figure out the true value you bring to the table which is unique and different than others in the marketplace.

Reason #2: No real differentiation in the market (read: lack of unique value propositions) Entrepreneur.com just put out a story entitled “Why Everyone Will Have To Become An Entrepreneur”.

If this holds true (and I think it will), instead of your competition being 5,000 other Tom, Dick and Harrys, it will soon be 50,000 of these guys.

Meaning? Plenty of noise and chaos

Reason #3: Failure to communicate value propositions in clear, concise and compelling fashion.

Next up is the debilitating disease called ‘failure to communicate’.

For those old enough to remember the classic 1967 Paul Newman movie ‘Cool Hand Luke’, seared on the brain is a key line spoken by the prison warden to Newman who plays

Reason #4: Leadership breakdown at the top (yes — founder dysfunction).

You see it all the time in the media. Right off the deep end goes another athlete with unbelievable talent. Painful to watch the self-sabotage of the likes of a Lance Armstrong, Mike Tyson or Aaron Hernandez, all of which fell short from truly remarkable success because of their poor decisions.

Now startup entrepreneurs who go down hard might not have their names splashed across the headlines of tomorrow’s New York Post, but I submit to you their reason for failure is sometimes the same.

Self-sabotage through extremely poor decision making and weak leadership skills.

Your Solution: Wake up to realize it’s your baby. You’re the founder. Which makes you the leader. Matters not

if you’re a business of one, or 1,000. Lack the ability to strongly relate with people?

Gain the skills necessary to do so. Struggle with anger issues? Solve it with anger management. Entrepreneurs who succeed spend time with personal development. I have never once met an angel or venture capital investor who doesn’t investigate the character of a founder and his/her team before whipping out their checkbook. It still amazes me how many business owners who actually have good ideas with the ability to execute them — crash and burn because of their own dysfunction.

Please don’t be one of them.

Reason #5: Inability to nail a profitable business model with proven revenue streams.

In the end, this is the sum total. Fail to accurately achieve product/market fit where money gets made, and you’re sunk. Entrepreneurs can actually have each of the four above reasons solved, but still miss the business model boat.

Twitter is a perfect example of this (although 2013 may be the year they finally turn black in the profit/loss column).

Your Solution: Startups need to move swiftly without spending tons of cash to figure out their secret sauce. Using tools and methodologies such as Minimum Viable Products, Lean Marketing and Experimentation is critical.

Wagner, a contributor for Forbes, writes about the secrets of startups and entrepreneurs. This particular article of his first appeared on forbes.com.

Customer care: Secret to unstoppable business Continues on p23

and authority to continually put out the fires.

If you’ve found yourself the recipient of more than a few of these ‘fly by’ complaints, or are hearing employees sounding powerless when they bring you their problems, it can be far more beneficial to both of you to help them help

themselves.

Big-picture focus Again, it’s easy to lose sight of what’s important when you’re bogged down with daily tasks. But what I witnessed during my stay at the La Copa Inn property and during my interactions with other business owners/service provid-

ers in South Padre Island was insight into the big picture.

Customers know companies that provide great customer service and expect it from all of their suppliers.

And, they use social media like Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin or crowd sourcing applications like Yelp and Tripadvisor to tell their friends, family, and strangers

when they have excellent customer service or bad customer service.

And while your company might not generate positive reviews on sites like Trip Advisor, you can believe that your prospects are checking you out sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

Your previous clients and customers are leaving online reviews for

others to consider, too. Don’t you want the foundation for your brand to check out favorably?

Scott is a content marketing storyteller and strategist, who teaches marketing and entrepreneurship through stories for marketers of all stripes, wrote this for blog.

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Monday, 7 November 2016

Nigerian Tribune

AfDB, TEF partner to empower 2,000 entrepreneurs

Adesina Akinwumi, President, AfDB

LEVERAGING on a soon to be signed partnership with the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Tony Elumelu Foundation will, through its Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP), soon start to train 2,000 entrepreneurs in Africa.

Chairman, Heirs Holdings and United Bank for Africa (UBA) Group, Tony Elumelu disclosed this at the recently concluded forum which celebrated the 2016 cohort of his $100 million empowerment programme.

Elumelu, who announced partnerships with other regional institutions such as ECOWAS, and others including Coca Cola, the International Trade Centre, Nigerian Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism and Côte d’Ivoire Ministry of Entrepreneurship, said his foundation is in talks with the AfDB to meet it half-way in selecting 1,000 more African entrepreneurs for empowerment in the subsequent editions.

Although he did not disclose the financials in terms of what the AfDB is bringing to the table, Elumelu did say he is happy at the prospects that more entrepreneurs

may access such opportunities given to previous cohorts.

This potential partnership is based on Elumelu’s quest to provide “as much opportunities” as possible for African entrepreneurs to help develop the continent.

“As excited as I am about the 2,000 entrepreneurs that we have selected to benefit from the program in its first two years, this gathering is in some ways bittersweet for me. Because my heart still carries with me the entrepreneurs behind the 63,000 ideas we couldn’t select,” he said.

He then called on other billionaires and philanthropists, friends of Africa and other development agencies as well as African governments to collaborate with him in empowering African entrepreneurs because, as he put it “we can’t just wait for the luck to send us the calibre of political leaders as we’ve seen on stage today.”

Earlier, Elumelu said Microsoft was providing $300 million worth of business software to help the TEF entrepreneurs manage their businesses in a systematic and

sustainable way.

He added that the Nigerian government has accepted the TEF challenge and was committed to working “with us to improve the enabling environment for entrepreneurs in the much-neglected, yet growing, creative industries.

According to him, the government of Cote D’Ivoire has adopted the TEF model to identify, train mentor and seed thousands more aspiring Ivorien entrepreneurs.

“ECOWAS will partner with the Foundation to develop a regional strategy to promote entrepreneurship and Africapitalism in the West African region. The International Trade Center in Geneva and the Nigerian Export Promotion Council will work with us to achieve their goal of helping to connect one million female entrepreneurs to global markets.

“I am overwhelmed by the level of response, by what is possible when you are taken seriously and it is clear that, with the success of our entrepreneurship programme, policymakers and key stakeholders take us seriously!” he said.

Ruth Olurounbi

0811 695 4637 (sms only) e:ruth.olurounbi@tribune.com.ng t:@Olurounbi

Answering the ‘why’ question WHILE on an assignment to Milan, Italy last year, at the Global Entrepreneurship Congress, a friend and I chatted for a few minutes and she said, “Ruth, I want to start a business. I want to do this entrepreneurship thing you keep talking about.” Sensing that she was serious about this, I asked her “why”? I went further to explain “I mean, why do you want to go into business? Why now?”

After detailing her impressive reasons, I knew without a moment’s doubt why she was getting into business and why she thought the moment was right for her.

While relaying the conversation to our other friend, my friend in Milan told the story and concluded with, “can you believe my investor asked me why I was going into business at this time? Thank God Ruth had asked me. It wasn’t that I didn’t know, but she helped me articulate my thoughts and helped me see my vision clearly.” Needless to say, she got the investor to commit.

So, why am I telling this story this morning? I think it is important for those planning to start a business to first understand that one critical question (perhaps one of the most critical questions) to ask is “why?” Your “why?” answers the “how?” and “what?” questions and every other questions.

Your “why?” is your purpose. It is the foundation on which every success you will ever make is built. Your “why?”

influences your customer loyalty and in a very big way, your business success. Your “why?” influences who you hire on your team, who you choose as your supplier, who you go into partnerships with, and a whole lot of business decisions you will ever make. Like I said, the “why?” plays a significant role in your business success.

Let me ask you this, why do you think 250,000 people walked thousands of miles to listen to Dr Luther Kings’ “I

Have a Dream” speech on that day of August 28, 1963? Or why do you think that his speech, decades after his assassination, still resonates with us today?

Was it because he was assassinated? Or does it go deeper than that? It wasn’t as if Dr King was the only one who fought for civil rights at the time; neither is it that no one has taken up the fight even after his death. I think it has something to do with his belief – his purpose if you

will – and how he was able to project this to us. Dr King was not just fighting the oppression, he was fighting for a future he believed in and in some major ways, and he made the world to believe in him and in that future.

This is what influences customer loyalty. Customers don’t buy what you are sell, they buy why you sell. Your “why” influences your ad placements, it informs your vision and mission statements. Take a look at The Coca-Cola Company for instance. Do you know what its mission is? It is: “To refresh the world in mind, body and spirit. To inspire moments of optimism and happiness through our brands and actions.”

Tell me any of Coca-Cola’s ads that have not truly inspired you.

Steve Jobs is another example. His vision of a “computer for the rest of us” sparked the PC revolution and made Apple an icon of American business.

That explains why hundreds of people line up every year in the hot American sun (I know, I’ve been in the sun) to buy his technology.

As Volker Ballueder, sales director, author and digital consultant said, “if you want to be successful, and your purpose defines how you define YOUR success, then the way forward is to identify your purpose. Your WHY in life. The inner drive that puts you on the map and makes you tick.”

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Monday, 7 November, 2016

with Chima Nwokoji m:08032637535 e:chimatitus@yahoo.com

New Moody’s rates for Nigerian banks

M

OODY’S Investors Service, (“Moody’s”) over the weekend assigned national scale ratings (NSRs) to seven Nigerian banks.

NSRs provide a measure of relative creditworthiness within a single country, and are derived from global scale ratings (GSRs) using country-specific maps Among these, national scale local currency deposit ratings were assigned to Zenith Bank Plc (Zenith), at Aaa.ng/NG-1; Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank) at Aa1.ng/NG-1; Access Bank Plc (Access) at Aa2.ng/NG1; United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) at Aa2.ng/NG-1; Sterling Bank Plc (Sterling) at A1.ng/NG-1; and First Bank of Nigeria Limited (FBN) at A2.ng/NG-1.

For Bank of Industry (BOI), a national scale local currency issuer rating was assigned at Aa1.ng/NG-1.

Zenith Bank Nigeria Plc According to the agency, Zenith Bank’s national scale ratings capture the bank’s (1) robust capital buffers, which provide a relatively thick cushion to withstand asset quality deterioration; (2) low stock of NPLs, accounting for around 1.6 per cent of gross loans (Moody’s adjusted) as of June 2016 (against a system average of around 11.7 per cent ); (3) high liquidity buffers, complimenting a predominantly deposit funded balance sheet; and (4) a strong and well-established franchise, which allows the bank to attract inexpensive deposits and to lend to high credit quality borrowers (relative to other Nigerian banks), and resulting in relatively low NPLs and credit costs.

Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank) Moody’s assigned Aa1.ng/ NG-1 national scale local currency deposit ratings to Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank) which is the second highest of three NSR categories corresponding to the bank’s local currency deposit GSR. It captures the bank’s (1) resilient earnings generating capacity and robust capital buffers, which

From left, Cecilia Akintomide, Non-Executive Director, FBN Holdings Plc; His Excellency, John Mahama, President of Ghana; and Group Chairman, FBN Holdings Plc, Oba Otudeko CFR during a courtesy visit by FBNHoldings to the President of Ghana on Thursday. together provide a relatively end-June 2016, was just 2.4 ity metrics, with NPLs acthick cushion to withstand per cent versus 11.7 per cent counting for around 23 per asset quality deterioration for the banking system); cent of gross loans as of June compared with domestic and (2) predominantly de- 2016 (against a system averpeers; (2) high liquidity buf- posit funded balance sheet, age of around 11.7 per cent), fers and a predominantly which is supported by a solid reflecting historically weak deposit funded balance pan-African franchise. underwriting standards and “The bank also exhibits the currently challenging sheet; and (3) early adoption of electronic banking plat- amongst the lowest NPLs in operating domestic environforms, which has allowed it the banking system, a reflec- ment as well as modest capito establish a robust retail tion of the bank’s relatively talisation buffers. rigorous underwriting stanfranchise. dards,” it further stated.

Bank of Industry Acess Bank Nigeria Plc Moody’s assigned Aa1.ng/ Sterling Bank Plc Access Bank’s national NG-1 national scale local According to the agency, and foreign currency issuer scale ratings capture the bank’s (1) strong asset qual- Sterling’s national scale rat- ratings to BOI. These ratings ity metrics with NPLs of ings capture the bank’s (1) are underpinned by a stanjust 2.9 per cent (Moody’s solid asset quality metrics dalone credit assessment of adjusted) as of June 2016 (reported NPL ratio of 2.8 b2 and one notch of govern(against a system average of per cent as of end-June 2016 ment support uplift, which around 11.7 per cent); and versus 11.7 per cent for the results in a global scale long(2) robust liquidity buffers banking system) and provi- term issuer rating of B1. The and stable liability structure sion coverage; and (2) solid Aa1.ng rating is the second predominantly funded with deposit funding base. highest of three NSR categodeposits.

It says these strengths are ries corresponding to BOI’s Access Bank according to balanced against (3) low GSR. Moody’s exhibits a relatively foreign currency liquidity BoI’s national scale ratings strong foreign currency li- buffers, which underpin capture the bank’s (1) robust quidity position, a factor the lower national scale for- capital buffers, with an eqrecently supported by the eign currency deposit rating uity to assets ratio of 30 per closing of its third Eurobond compared with its local cur- cent as of Dec 2015; (2) statransaction of €300 million. rency deposit national scale ble liability structure made “We view Access Bank as be- rating among others. up of long-term funding at ing well placed to navigate concessional rates; and (3) the increasingly challenging First Bank of Nigeria tangible improvements to foreign currency liquidity en- Limited governance and risk posivironment in Nigeria relative FBN’s national scale rat- tioning in recent years. to peers,” the agency said.

With fewer than 20 funings according to Moody’s capture the bank’s (1) high damental issuers in Nigeria United Bank for Africa and resilient pre-provi- rated by Moody’s, the NSR Plc sion profitability, with the map has been designed usMoody’s assigned Aa2.ng/ half year (H1) 2016 annua- ing Moody’s standard apNG-1 national scale local lised pre-provision profits proach, whereby the map currency deposit ratings to amounting to around 4.7 design is selected from a United Bank for Africa Plc per cent of total assets; and set of standard maps based (UBA), capturing the bank’s (2) stable, deposit-based upon the anchor point, or (1) resilient asset quality funding structure and high the lowest GSR that can map profile, which is more geo- liquidity buffers in local cur- to a Aaa.ng. As per the stangraphically diversified than rency. These strengths are dard approach, Nigeria’s anmost of its peers (Moody’s balanced against the bank’s chor point is set at B1, on par adjusted NPL ratio as of (3) deteriorating asset qual- with the sovereign rating.

Nigerian Tribune

Money Market Review

MONEY market rates rose last week as liquidity remained tight due to several primary market issuances by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and debit of Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) for the US$500.0 million Foreign Exchange (FX) forwards sale. The CBN conducted two Open Market Operations (OMO) auctions in addition to a scheduled T-Bills auction mid-week to mop-up liquidity and guide interbank rates to target level.

Consequently, Open Buy Back (OBB) and Overnight (O/N) rates rose to 13.0 per cent and 13.5 per cent on Friday, up 3.4 percentage points apiece week on week (W-o-W) (from 9.7 per cent and 10.3 per cent recorded the previous Friday).

Afrinvest West Africa Limited, in a note to investors, said the OBB and O/N rates inched 5.8 and 6.5 percentage points higher to 15.5 per cent and 16.8 per cent respectively at the start of the week due to expectation of a debit for the US$500.00m FX forwards sale. Rates dropped slightly by an average of 100 basis points (bps) on Tuesday as the CBN deferred debiting banks for the FX auction and despite a N50.8 billiion OMO auction for the 198-day and 345-day tenors issued at stop rates of 18.0 per cent and 18.5 per cent respectively.

Rates held steady on Wednesday as N123.0 billion worth T-bills matured while N87.4 billion was rolled over. On Thursday, maturing OMO bills worth N138.8 billion bolstered liquidity; hence OBB and O/N rates dipped 4.5 and 5.0 percentage points to settle at 10.0per cent and 10.9per cent respectively.

The CBN responded by floating another OMO auction (N117.4bn) on Thursday where the 196- and 364-day papers were sold at 18.0per cent and 18.5per cent respectively. Rates inched higher slightly to close the week at 13.0 per cent and 13.5 per cent, respectively on Friday.

Sentiments in the Treasury Bills market, was largely bullish, as T-bills rate (on average) trended downwards on four of five sessions. Average T-bills rate opened the week 32bps higher to close Monday’s session at 17.9 per cent on the back of bearish sentiments in the market attributable to tight liquidity and expectation of FX forwards sale debit.

According to dealers, the next 3 sessions saw Average T-bills rate trend lower (especially for shorter dated instruments) amid a T-bills maturity of N122.9 billion and a rollover of N87.5 billion – implying a net credit of N35.5 billion. The CBN allotted N22.1 billion of the 91-day, N18.7 billion of the 182-day and N46.8 billion of the 364-day T-bills instruments at stop rates of 14.0 per cent, 17.5 per cent and 18.5 per cent respectively.

Average rate settled at 17.3 per cent on Friday, 29bps lower W-o-W. The investment research company said it expects the Central Bank to continue mopping up liquidity through OMO auctions and thus expect money market rates to revolve around liquidity dynamics this week with a floor of 10.0 per cent. October Inflation report should also drive sentiment in the T-bills market.

Foreign Exchange Contrary to recent trend, the naira weakened against the greenback at the Interbank market but closed flat on W-o-W basis at the parallel segment. At the Interbank market, the local unit weakened to N308.81/US$1.00 at the start of the week (from N304.5/US$1.00 on Friday) before making a comeback on Tuesday, appreciating to N304.75/US$1.00 and remained stable till Friday when it dropped to N328.00/US$1.00, implying a 7.1per cent W-o-W depreciation. The parallel market was relatively stable, trading within a band of N465.00/US$1.00 – N470.00/US$1.00. The naira appreciated N5.00 on Tuesday to N465.0/US$1.00 but weakened on Wednesday to settle at N470.0/US$1.00.

The CBN intervened in the interbank market with daily spot sales of US$1.5 million and major US$500.0 million forward sales at the Special Secondary Market Intervention Retail Sales (SMIS) window. According to the CBN, manufacturers, airlines and agro-allied industries were given preference at the forward retail sales to be settled in 60 and 90 days.

In the Futures market, the value of open contracts stood at US$3.6billion (from the previous value of US$3.5 billion recorded last Friday). During the week, the 20 SEP 2017 instrument witnessed increased subscription with an addition of US$85.7 million. The 26 APRIL 2017 Instrument remains the most subscribed with a value of US$794.4 million while the recently listed 27 OCT 2017 contract is the least subscribed at US$26.7 million.

According to Afrinvest, in the interim, “we expect the exchange rate at the parallel market to remain pressured due to restricted access to official windows and surge in dollar demand associated with the festive season. The CBN is yet to guide to a metric that would trigger a shift from its current peg; thus, we expect FX rate at the official market to remain stable whilst the CBN intervenes via spot/forward sales of the greenback.”

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Former Speaker seeks listing of big corporations on NSE A former Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Honourable Dimeji Bankole, has joined the league of eminent Nigerians calling for the listing of big corporations operating in Nigeria on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

He made the call at the Gala Night for the 20th Annual Conference of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS) in Lagos.

Dimeji Bankole, who was the guest speaker, spoke on the theme ‘Building New Pillars, Creating New Values for Sustainable Development. According to him, at present the Nigerian Capital Market cannot serve as a true barometer for the economy because several big corporations operating in Nigeria are not publicly quoted.

He explained that the problem is endemic and not just limited to one sector, in the same way that the Nigerian economy is in

need of complexity, the stock market is also in need of a broader variety of stock options.

“Examples of the corporations not reflected in the capital market, include major companies in the telecoms sector like MTN, GLOBACOM, AIRTEL, DISCOS and GENCOS in the Electric Power Sector; NNPC, LNG, Petrochemicals, Shell and major upstream energy companies.”

The former speaker noted that the absence of these entities from the capital market, has constrained the scope and depth of the market and by so doing the market’s capacity to serve as credible investment outlet.

In his words, “this needs to be changed, shallowness of the Capital Market was a major reason for the asset bubble in 2007/2008 that caused the near collapse of the market.

The asset bubble arose from over concentration of financial assets in few viable equities,

amidst an unprecedented credit boom in the economy.”

He suggested, that to develop a sound capital market with high absorptive capacity as seen across developed economies, we must deepen the Nigerian Capital Market.

“We need economic complexity, this means that the government and economic regulators need to compel all major enterprises in the economy to list their shares in the capital market. These major companies make a lot of revenue from the labour of Nigerians who are unable to hold stake and share in their wealth.”

Adding that without the checks and balances inherent in the capital market system, there are increased opportunities for corruption and socially irresponsible behaviour.

“In 2008, Nigerians, willingly borrowed money from banks to invest in the stock

market and when the market bust, innocent Nigerians were left to pick up the pieces and there’s very little that can be said today to convince them to bring their hard-earned wages to Capital Market, that in their eyes failed to protect them as the banks made profits at their expense. How can we grow a capital market that we as Nigerians have no confidence in?”

Bankole pointed out that, the Nigerian stock market cannot thrive without the backing and support of the Nigerian people.

“And to renew the confidence of Nigerians in the stock market the regulatory agency must ensure its own visibility and transparency within the market. It must be seen as a credible authority with legitimacy and power to act. Boosting domestic investor confidence will send signals to the market that will attract foreign investors”, he said.

Conoil: Delivering value in a tough marketplace Stories by Kehinde AkinseindeJayeoba

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HAT the Nigerian oil and gas industry is in a dire strait is not in doubt. With the slump in global oil prices and declining oil output, Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, until a few months ago, slipped into recession after the country’s economy shrank by 2.06 per cent in the second quarter of 2016, following a 0.36 per cent contraction in the first quarter, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The recession has hit the downstream petroleum sector of the economy hard, with rising cost of funds, liquidity squeeze and scarce foreign exchange combining to stifle operation and reduce the profitability level of many of the petroleum marketing companies.

The result is the gale of divestment by investors from the sector, following the exits of ExxonMobil, the world’s largest oil company by market value, which sold its 60 per cent stake in Mobil Oil Nigeria, as well as Oando, which transferred its 60 per cent economic interest to Helios Investment Partners and Vitol group.

However, amid the plethora of challenges, Conoil Plc, a prominent player in fuel marketing in the country, insists it is prepared and adequately equipped to weather the storm, to meet the energy needs of Nigerians as well as put smiles on the faces of its teeming shareholders with guaranteed returns on investments.

Analysis of Conoil’s performance over the past 20 months, shows that the company’s optimism is not in doubt. Its glowing performance in 2015 and the first nine months of the current year indeed, sets the oil marketing giant out as a company with focus.

During 2015, when most companies in the downstream petroleum struggled to stay afloat, in the face of downturn in the country’s economy, Conoil bucked the trend with profits soaring by 125 per cent to N3.45 billion, from N1.53 billion in the preceding year.

The foremost oil marketing company, also, consistently posted remarkable results in the first nine months of 2016, where profit before

A cross section of shareholders at Conoil 46th Annual General Meeting held in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. Insert: Dr Mike Adenuga, Chairman, Conoil Plc. tax rose by 54 per cent to N2.72 billion over the N1.76 billion recorded in the corresponding period last year. Also, the profit after tax witnessed a similar trend with a sharp rise from N1.2 billion in 2015 to N1.81 billion this year.

In tune with its dividend payment history, Conoil paid its shareholders a dividend of N3.00 on every 50 kobo ordinary share for the 2015 financial year, compared to N1.00 paid the previous year, which industry watchers described as a promise kept by the company’ board to pursue strategies that will deliver growth in earnings and dividend to shareholders.

From the performance, so far this year, analysts are of the opinion that the company’s shareholders will reap bountifully in the 2016.

It would be recalled that the Chairman of Conoil Plc, Dr Mike Adenuga, while addressing shareholders at the company’s 46th Annual General Meeting (AGM), held on October 28, 2016, assured investors of consistent annual returns on investment.

“We would consolidate and ensure greater returns on the significant investments we made in 2015. In 2016, we would strive to maintain and improve the momentum, focusing more on delivery and growth.”

The management of Conoil attributed the strong performance in 2015 and in the

first three quarters of this year to efficient management of resources, effective cost control policy as well as gains from its huge investment in the expansion and upgrade of its facilities.

“For us, the downstream sector remains fundamentally attractive and viable today and in the future. With our clarity of direction and focus, our company’s longterm success is assured. We will sustain this improved performance and vigorously pursue our aspiration to remain the nation’s leading petroleum products marketer and one of the most profitable quoted companies,” the company stated.

Indeed, Conoil’s state of the art facilities at its depots in Lagos and Port Harcourt give it unparalleled leverage in storage and blending of products, in conformity with the world’s best practice. The depots ensure availability and prompt delivery of products and services to customers nationwide.

In Port Harcourt, the company regularly augments its storage capacity for different products to meet the demands of customers in the South-South, South-East and the Northern regional markets. This has improved throughput at Port Harcourt and also saved transportation time and cost of moving products from Lagos to these areas. Similarly, a new full-fledged depot in Calabar is under way, which would have

storage tanks for Aviation Turbine Fuel, Automotive Gas Oil and Premium Motor Spirit. The depot would also have hi-tech loading gantries with allied facilities of international standard.

As part of efforts to boost its bottom-line, Conoil has also repositioned its lubricants business, building two additional state-ofthe-art oil blending plants in Lagos and another one in Port Harcourt, all of which the management said had pushed up its production capacity significantly.

The company has also consolidated its stronghold on the aviation fuel marketing business in terms of spread, storage capacity and maintenance support. Major airlines plying the Nigerian airspace have been flocking to the company to take full advantage of their unique services. Its impressive storage facilities give the company unmatched capacity to meet the needs of local and international customers. Its hi-tech bowsers as well as quality product and service delivery, which are of essence in the industry, are some of the reasons the company continues to attract the best of clientele in that sector.

There have also been massive investments in the retail segment. The company is currently upgrading about 400 filling stations across the country; while plans are on to acquire another 250 stations that would significantly boost its retail network. Besides the ongoing project of building one mega station in each state capital, it has sustained its special university campus scheme, under which retail outlets are being located on the campuses of designated universities and polytechnics across the country.

For Conoil’s shareholders, the times may be hard, but they would, at the same time, be rest assured that their investments in Conoil is safe and would continue to be rewarding. For as declared by Adenuga, “With clarity of direction and focus, Conoil’s long term success is assured. We would sustain our improved performance and realise our aspiration to become the leading petroleum products marketer and one of the most profitable quoted companies in the country.”

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Nigerian Tribune

Gr8jobsng launches Project Employ

From left, Board Member, Ovie Brume Foundation, Mrs Iwalola Akin-Jimoh; winners of the third Lafarge Africa Plc National Literacy Competition, from North Central Region, Aunde Selchang Samuel and Sharon Marcus of Olusegun Obasanjo Model Nursery and Primary School, Hwolshe, Plateau State and Area Manager, Lafarge Ready-Mix, Abuja, Bestow Akeze at the third edition of the Competition, held in Abuja, recently.

Create more sensation around mobile money, media practitioners urged Stories By Akin Adewakun- Lagos

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HE need for the media to create more enlightenment around the issue of mobile money and sensitise the public on what it entails, was again brought to the fore at this year’s edition of the annual Brands and Marketing Conference, organised by the Brands Journalists Association of Nigeria (BJAN), over the weekend, in Lagos.

Making this charge at the event, the Chief Executive Officer of eMaginations, Mr Sola Fanawopo argued that despite the immense benefits of the mobile money initiative to the people, the culture has not made an inroad in the country; it had not enjoyed the support of the media.

He noted that since the focus of mobile money is geared towards financial inclusion, the focus of the media, therefore, should be how such initiative would be communicated to the mass market which the initiative is designed for.

“Unlike in Kenya, where mobile money is hugely popular, the media in Nigeria have not really taken in the essence of mobile money. The media that should have driven the initiative don’t seem to know much about it and this is one of the reasons it is still highly unpopular in the country despite its immense benefits. For mobile money to

enjoy that much-needed popularity, the media must be actively involved,” he argued.

In his paper titled ‘Mobile Money: Nexus Between Technology and Financial Institutions, the Head, Mobile and Acquiring Channels, Stanbic IBTC, Mr Francis Nwoboshi, expressed the bank’s commitment to championing the cause of mobile in the country, because of its immense benefits to the unbanked.

He explained that the essence of mobile money is to reduce financial exclusion by making available an easy channel that neither requires the customer to visit the banking hall nor hold a bank account.

Nwoboshi, however, expressed the bank’s

determination to embark on aggressive marketing and leverage on technology to be able to provide the mobile money services to the unbanked in the country.

In his remarks, the Chairman of BJAN, Mr Goddie Ofose, described the association’s decision to adopt mobile money as the focus of this year’s conference, as a fulfilment of its advocacy role of bringing issues that would impact positively on the society to the front burner.

He added that the main objective of the conference was to raise issues, concerning mobile money in Nigeria and seek ways on how to enhance mobile money culture among Nigerians.

Our aim is to harness marketing potential from the cradle —NIMN boss THE President and Chairman of Council, National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN), Chief Ganiyu Koledoye, has explained that the decision of the institute to introduce the Best Marketing Student award was informed by the need to secure the future of marketing practice in the country.

Speaking at this year’s edition of the award, held recently, in Lagos, Koledoye noted that for the future of the practice to be guaranteed, it had become imperative for the institute to look beyond the industry, and

beam its searchlight on the academic environment, where budding marketing talents could be discovered and harnessed.

He explained that the award, which enjoys the support of Unilever Plc, required the participation of all marketing students in the nation’s higher institutions, at the end of which five students are expected to emerge as winners.

While reiterating the institution’s commitment to continue to uphold the standards of the practice in the country, the NIMN boss,

Investcorp Medicare announces name-change Reiterates commitment to improved offerings AS part of its re-branding moves aimed at ensuring better service delivery to its teeming clients, the management of one of the nation’s frontline national health maintenance organisations, Invescorp Medicare Ltd, has announced a change in the company’s name to Wellness Health Management Services Limited.

Announcing the name-change at a media briefing, held at the company’s head office, in Lagos, the Executive Director, Wellness Health Management Services limited, Mrs Adetutu Afolabi, explained that the exercise had become imperative to enable the

GR8JOBSNG, a frontline recruitment organization, has announced the launch of Project Employ, an initiative, aimed at boosting employment in Nigeria, by assisting companies and organisations recruit staff at no cost.

According to the company, since the successful launch of the platform few months ago, it has lived up to the purpose for which it was set up, by providing top-notch human resources services to jobseekers, employers and professional training institutions registered on the platform.

The platform, the company added, is also designed to make jobs easily available and accessible to jobseekers.

The Chief Executive Officer, Gr8jobsng, Mrs Omomene Odike, described the new initiative as specifically tailored and directed at the employer group, which includes SMEs, large organisations, multinationals and international companies, with particular emphasis on the SME group.

“Aptly named Project Employ, the initiative offers employers the unique opportunity to have their official roles (vacancies) from Intern/Entry level senior management filled at no cost, by Gr8jobsng.

“This is part of our contributions to help boost employment in Nigeria and give jobseekers and professionals a great opportunity to get hired,” she stated.

The company’s Chief executive believes the initiative has become imperative, since it gives job seekers and professionals, that much-needed opportunity to source for jobs, especially with the official announcement of recession in August and the numerous job cuts that followed the recession.

“With the experience of having run a HR consulting firm, U-Connect for 12 years, I fully understand the recruitment process and how highly important it is to employers to get the right employee, the pain of the recession and what this means for so many Nigerians.

“We hope to promote employment in Nigeria by offering our recruitment expertise for free to companies and organisations for a few months,” she said.

company properly reposition and excel in the role of providing quality healthcare solution, which had been its trademark since opening for business in the country years ago.

She further noted that the organisation’s new name is accompanied with a widerange of improved healthcare services, designed to meet the needs of every client.

“We work with our corporate partners through the development of innovation and high quality healthcare solution that offer them superior service experience, more convenience and flexible offerings which

ensure that they drive maximum value for their money.

“As an innovative Health Insurance organisation, we offer our customers a world of unique benefits because we know that our clients deserve only the best even beyond the basic healthcare cover,” she stated.

She added with the successful change of name, the company is more than ever ready to offer sustainable delivery of expert health care service, easily accessible whenever and wherever the client may be.

however appealed to marketing practitioners, both in the industry and the academia to be more involved in the activities of the institute.

“We need everybody’s involvement. We need collaboration between the town and the gown. We notice that while our members in the industry have not been actively involved in the activities of the institute, most of our colleagues in the academia do not even know what is going on in the institute.

“But there is the need for that collaboration, if we are to move forward. Nothing stops a member in the academia from observing his sabbatical leave in any of these corporate organisations and vice versa.

This, I believe, is the only way we can have a thorough knowledge of the profession,” he stated.

He explained that the five students, Akintobi Elizabeth, Azubuike Chidiebere, Eze Nelson, Nsofor Obioma and Momodu Oshiole, from University of Ilorin, Federal Polytechnic, Nekede-Owerri, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (Enugu Campus), University of Port Harcourt and Auchi Polytechnic respectively, were being recognised after scaling the institute’s rigorous written and oral tests.

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MRS FLORENCE AJIMOBI’S FOOD BANK PROJECT IN OKE OGUN, IBARAPA

Wife of the Oyo State governor, Mrs Florence Ajimobi giving out food items in Iwajowa local government.

Mrs Ajimobi being assisted by the wife of Senator Soji Akanbi, Folake (right) in distributing food items in Ibarapa North local government.

Mrs Ajimobi hands over food items to an elderly woman in Itesiwaju local government.

Mrs Ajimobi addressing the crowd shortly before distribution of food.

Mrs Ajimobi presents food items to a beneficiary in Iwajowa local government.

Mrs Ajimobi presenting food items to the physically challenged in Iseyin local government.

Mrs Ajimobi being assisted by the wife of Itesiwaju local government caretaker chairman to present food items.

A cross section of food items that were distributed at Igboora, Ibarapa Central local government.

A cross section of women that benefitted from the Ajumose Food Bank programme in Ayete.

Women happily leaving the venue of distribution at Kajola local government.

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Troops clear Boko Haram insurgents at Lake Chad fringes, rescue 85 Chris Agbambu - Abuja

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ROOPS of the 7 Division of the Nigerian Army, Operation Lafiya Dole, led by the General Officer Commanding of the Division, Brigadier-General Victor Ezugwu, have conducted a decisive clearance operation on the remnants of Boko Haram strategic hub town of Chukungudu on the southern fringes of the Lake Chad Region, northern part of Borno State, at the weekend.

The troops also rescued 85 people comprising mostly women and children held hostage by insurgents.

The maneuvering Brigade led by the 3 Battalion of 22 Brigade, the Nigerian Tribune gathered, had successfully cleared Geram, Bulankassa and Chukungudu, believed to be Boko Haram terrorists’ strongholds.

They also killed five Boko Haram terrorist fighters in a fierce encounter that compelled several of the terrorists to escape into the Lake Chad waters.

The troops the Nigerian Tribune learnt, also recovered four rounds of Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG)

bombs, one Double Barrel Gun, 349 packets containing various rounds of ammunition, three magazines, a link belt of machine gun ammunition and one AK-47 rifle magazine.

During the clearance operations, according to our source, the troops made spectacular discovery of an Improvised Explosive De-

vice (IED) factory at Geram, where they found several primed suicide bombers’ vests, as well as wellequipped motor vehicles and motorcycles workshop, and spare parts at Chukungudu Village.

It was learnt that the troops recovered three vehicles and several newly acquired motorcycles.

Sani Usman the Acting Director, Army Public Relations, who confirmed this, said a soldier died during the encounter.

Meanwhile, in continuation of the ongoing clearance operation against Boko Haram terrorists, troops of the 27 Task Force Brigade, Nigerian Army have embarked on a joint operation

code-named “Operation Karya Gwuiwa.”

The formation, it was gathered, had carried out clearance operations on suspected Boko Haram terrorists’ hideouts at Ajigin, Golgore, Njibulla, Doksa 1, 2 and 3 villages located at the southern part of Borno State.

During the operation, ac-

cording to our source, the formation killed 37 Boko Haram terrorists at Ajigin and recovered three AK-47 rifles, but a vigilante group member lost his life while five soldiers were wounded during the clearance operation.

The remains of the late vigilante and the wounded soldiers, it was learnt, had been evacuated.

Sexual abuse: Police deploy 100 female personnel in Borno IDP camps THE Borno Police Command, on Sunday, said it had deployed 100 policewomen to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in the state following allegation of abuse of women by camp officials.

The Human Rights Watch, a non-governmental organisation, had alleged mass abuse of girls and women by camp officials in its latest report.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Damian Chukwu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri, that his command was taking steps to ensure the protection of IDPs. He said he had also con-

stituted a high-powered committee to oversee the running of the camps.

“I have constituted a committee, led by the Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), with Divisional Police Officers (DPO) and other senior officers, to take over the daily running of the camps.

“It is interesting to say that most members of the committee are females,” he said.

“I have also mobilised over 100 women police from different divisions, including mobile policewomen, to handle day-to-day interaction in the camps.

“The male officers will be limited to handling of the territorial coverage and patrol within the camps,” he said.

He said the objective was to further secure the camps

and give confidence to the thousands of women in the IDP camps.

“The deployment of women police is also to dig out true happenings in the camps regarding the allega-

tion.

“We feel that the victims might not want to talk freely to men, but they will be encouraged to open up to policewomen if the allegation is true,” Chukwu said.

Boko Haram: Kogi people mourn Lt-Col Abu Ali GOVERNOR Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has expressed shock and sadness over the death of Lieutenant-Colonel Abu Ali, an indigene of the state, who was killed in an ambush by Boko Haram insurgents in Borno, on Friday.

In a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mrs Petra Akinti-Onyegbule, on Sunday in Lokoja,

the governor described the death of Ali as “ unfortunate and a monumental loss to Kogi and Nigeria. ” He commiserated with his father , the Etsu Bassa Nge Kingdom, Brigadier-General Abu Ali, and prayed God to give him and the entire people of Bassa the fortitude to bear the loss.

Late Ali died at about 10:p.m on Friday, when

suspected Boko Haram terrorists attacked 119 Battalion, Nigerian Army location at Mallam Fatori area of Borno.

The governor commended Ali’s gallantry as an officer , saying he served the nation with dedication and commitment, and paid the supreme price by laying down his life for the peace of the country.

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You’ve done well, Ogbemudia tells Oshiomhole

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WO-time governor of the defunct Midwest region and Bendel State, Dr Samuel Ogbemudia, has given kudos to Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, saying the outgoing governor has done well in eight years and his achievements unquantifiable.

Speaking, during a thank you and farewell visit to the governor in his office, last week, the elder statesman said he would spend a full day, if allowed, to talk about the good records of the outgoing governor.

“If there is anything to be done, and we are expecting that he should complete everything, then the constitution should be amended to allow him to continue, but fortunately, the constitution of Nigeria does not allow a governor or head of state, to stay for more than two tenures. And those two tenures he has completed creditably,” he said.

Responding, Governor Oshiomhole thanked Dr Ogbemudia for the honour accorded him and his deputy.

“I want to thank you for the honour, on behalf of Pius and I. We are humbled by your very kind words, and

for all the support that you have generously extended to us since we assumed office,” he said.

“Even when you were still active and in the other political party, there was never a barrier in our relationship.”

Employment, scholarship await first Class graduates at Bowen University —VC

By Kehinde Adio

VICE Chancellor, Bowen University, Iwo, Professor, Matthews Ojo has said that, immediate employment and full scholarship for Post Graduate studies awaits graduates, who finished with First degree honour in the institution.

He gave this information on Friday, at a press conference, held heralding the 11th convocation ceremony of the institution, slated for this week’s Saturday.

According to him, successful candidates will be given graduate Assistant lecturer, with a salary of N40,000 and full scholarship, for his or her Master’s programmes in the university, which he said would last for two years, during which he or she would have completed the master’s programmes.

He added that for any one of them, who wishes to pursue his or her doctorates degree overseas, would still enjoy the N40,000

salary to support him, and would be fully absorbed, as full academic staff of the institution after the programme.

He said, the gesture formed part of the university’s academic vision, to promote excellence among scholars in the country, and also to promote production of more qualified lecturers, for teaching profession, in research and academic cycles especially in Nigeria.

Speaking further, he said: “On Saturday, the university will present not less than 993 students, drawn from the six Faculties and College, for first degree awards of the institution, 37 candidates for Masters’ programmes award and one candidate for doctorate degree award.”

The university management under my watch, shall continue to do our best, to promote and sustain this health tradition, even as we toil within limits of resources, to Bowen University to higher grounds,” .

ADETUNJI

I, formerly Adetunji Olanrewaju Adekanbi now ADEKANBI ADEBIMPE ADETUNJI. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

MORAKINYO

CONFIRMATION OF NAME: I, Morakinyo Folashade Ikeola am the same person as Morakinyo Folashade Ikeo. Henceforth, I want to be known and addressed as MORAKINYO FOLASHADE IKEOLA. All documents bearing these names remain valid.

General public take note.

ADEYEMI

I, formerly Adeyemi Adebola Raliat now MRS FASUGBA ADEBOLA RALIAT. All former documents remain valid. Heritage Bank and general public take note.

FAGBULE

I, formerly Miss Fagbule Kikelomo Omolola now MRS OLUPAYIMO KIKELOMO OMOLOLA. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

OMOTAYO

I, formerly Miss Omotayo Esther now MRS OMOTAYO ESTHER ADELAKUN. All former documents remain valid. Ekiti State Hospital Management Board and general public take note.

SAMUEL

I, formerly Samuel Monday Oghromreh now SAMUEL OMOGHENE DANIEL. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

AKINSELI

CONFIRMATION OF NAME: I, Akinseli Omojola Dideolu am the same person as Akinseli Olamidotun Henry.

Henceforth, I want to be known and addressed as AKINSELI OMOJOLA DIDEOLU. All documents bearing these names remain valid. General public take note.

ADAMU

CONFIRMATION OF NAME: I, Adamu Kehinde Lydia am the same person as Adams Kehinde Mobiola.

Henceforth, I want to be known and addressed as ADAMU KEHINDE LYDIA. All documents bearing these names remain valid. General public take note.

GRACE

I, formerly Grace Oni now ELIJAH GANIYU FOLASADE. All former documents remain valid.

EcoBank Plc and general public take note.

RASAK

CONFIRMATION OF NAME: I, Rasak Iyanuoluwa Oluwasegun am the same person as RASAK IYANU OLUWASEGUN. Henceforth, I want to be known and addressed as RASAK IYANUOLUWA OLUWASEGUN. All documents bearing these names remain valid. General public take note.

AKINWANDE

CONFIRMATION OF NAME: I, Miss Akinwande Feyikemi Mary am the same person as Miss Akiwande Oluwafeyikemi Mary. Henceforth, I want to be known and addressed as MISS AKINWANDE FEYIKEMI MARY. All documents bearing these names remain valid. First Bank Plc and general public take note.

HELEN

I, formerly Miss Helen Adetoro Arowosafe now MRS HELEN ADETORO KOMOLAFE. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

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Monday,7 November, 2016 YETUNDE

I, formerly Miss Yetunde Bose Kabiru now MRS AKANO BOSE RUTH. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

DEBORAH

I, formerly Miss Deborah Oluwatoyin Akinyemi now MRS DEBORAH OLUWATOYIN ADEYEMO. All former documents remain valid. Ogun State Government, ICAN and general public take note.

ADAMS

I, formerly Miss Adams Sekinat Iyabo now MRS SULAIMON SEKINAT IYABO. All former documents remain valid. NASENI, PEDI, Ilesha, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, Wema Bank and general public take note.

ONI

I, formerly Miss Oni Omolola Julianah now MRS ADEWUMI OMOLOLA JULIANAH. All former documents remain valid.TEPO, State of Osun and general public take note.

SALAMI

I, formerly Miss Salami Olushola Monsurat now MRS ALEMEDE OLUSHOLA MONSURAT. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

ODEWUMI

I, formerly Miss Odewumi Susan Kikelomo now MRS ADEDIJI SUSAN KIKELOMO. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

KWEZELI

DAUDA

I, formerly Miss Odubela Deborah Oluyomi now MRS. BALOGUN DEBORAH OLUYOMI. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I, formerly Miss Ogunjimi Omolade Omowunmi now MRS ANJORIN OMOLADE OMOWUNMI. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I, formerly Miss Famusanmi Olayinka Hellen now MRS. JONAH OLAYINKA HELLEN. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

OGUNJIMI

AZEEM I, formerly Azeem Dasola Omolara now GBOLARUMI DASOLA FAIZAT. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

OLUOKUN

ALOH

I, formerly Mr. Aloh Wilfred Ogeja now MR. ALOH WILFRED NWAFOR. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

FADEYI

FAWEHINMI

OYEBAMJI

YAKUBU

I, formerly Yakubu Jacob now YAKUBU JACOB ISRAEL. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

SUBAIR

OLUSANJO

I, formerly Miss Olusanjo Christianah Toyin now MRS. OYEDIRAN TOYIN CHRISTIANAH. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

SUNDAY

I, formerly Sunday Daniel now ALUKO-ADEDAYO SUNDAY DANIEL. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

SALAU

I, formerly Salau Lateef now SALAWU LATIFU OLABODE. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

ASIRU

I, formerly Miss Subair Basirat Ololade now MRS OLASINDE BASIRAT OLOLADE. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

I, formerly Asiru Aminat Folasade now ISMAHEEL AMINAT FOLASADE. All former documents remain valid. General Public take note.

I, formerly Miss Gbolarumi Damilola Abeebat now MRS AWO L E Y E - G B O L A RU M I ABEEBAT DAMILOLA. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

I, formerly Miss Ayodele Toyin Folake now MRS OLUDIPE TOYIN FOLAKE. All former documents remain valid.

SUBEB and general public take note.

KILANI I, formerly Kilani Muyideen now KILANI MUYIDEEN OYEROGBA. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

OLUBAYO

I, formerly Abdul-Hammed Odunola Alimot now ABDUL-HAMMED ALIMOT ODUNOLA. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

OLUDELE

AYODELE

I, formerly Ofeke Anuoluwapo Precious now OGUNFEYITIMI A N U O L U W A P O OMOLORO. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I, formerly Miss Babayemi Titilayo Omowumi now MRS. IRABOR TITILAYO OMOWUMI. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I, Confort Oyeyinka Goncalves, formerly known, called and addressed as Olaiya Oyeyinka now CONFORT OYEYINKA GONCALVES. All documents bearing my former name remain valid.

General public take note.

I, formerly Temitope Ogundiran now TEMITOPE ADEBOWALE OGUNDIRAN. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I, formerly Yahanna Gajere now MICHAEL GODWIN YOHANNA. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I, formerly Miss Muinat Adeola Adio now MRS MUINAT ADEOLA OLADIPO. All former documents remain valid. WAEC, LAUTECH, National Teacher’s Institute, University of Ibadan and general public take note.

SARAT

ABDUL-HAMMED

LAWAL

ADISA

OLAYIWOLA

CONFORT

YAHANNA

IKADE

I, formerly Olayiwola Micheal Tobi now OLAYIWOLA MICHEAL TOBA. All former documents remain valid.

Access Bank, Eco Bank, GT Bank, First Bank and general public take note.

I, formerly Ikade Emmanuel Oli now OCHIM DESTINY IKONG. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I, formerly Miss Tina Ajoke Iyiola now MRS. TINA AJOKE VINCENT. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I, formerly Miss Ugwunna Ogechi Vivian now MRS. ANYANWU OGECHI VIVIAN. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

TINA

ABU

I, formerly Miss Abu Ruth now MRS. OLOPHA RUTH EBUN. All former documents remain valid. General Public take note.

OKEOWO

UGWUNNA

TOKI

CONFIRMATION OF NAME: I, Toki Kayode John am the same person bearing Odetoki Kayode John.

Henceforth, I wish to be known and addressed as TOKI KAYODE JOHN. All documents bearing these names remain valid. First Bank Plc., UBA Plc., and general public take note.

FASOOTO

I, formerly Miss Fasooto Esther Oluwaseun now MRS. IYANDA ESTHER OLUWASEUN. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I, formerly Oyelola Dauda now OYELOLA DAUDA OPEYEMI. All former documents remain valid.

Union Bank Plc., Diamond Bank and general public take note.

I, formerly Miss Liadi Fatimah now MRS. FATIMAH LIADI ABDUL AZEEZ. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I, formerly Miss Ayinde Olarike Biola now MRS OLOFA OLARIKE BIOLA. All former documents remain valid. British Embassy and general public take note.

I, formerly Asimiyu Iyabo now EGUNJOBI IYABO. All former documents remain valid. First Bank Plc., and general public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME: I, Omotayo Owolabi am the same person bearing Oriade Serifat. Henceforth, I wish to be known and addressed as OMOTAYO OWOLABI. All documents bearing these names remain valid. First Bank Plc., and general public take note.

ASIMIYU

SALAWU

CORRECTION OF NAME: I hereby declared that my correct names are Ogundeji Timothy Olatunji and not Bolaji Ogundeji Olatunji. Now, I wish to be known and addressed as OGUNDEJI TIMOTHY OLATUNJI. All documents bearing these names remain valid. General public take note.

I, formerly Miss Salawu Alirat Kemisola now MRS. ADEDIJI MARY KEMISOLA. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

I, formerly Miss Ojeleye Abiodun Abosede now MRS OLAGBAJU ABIODUN ABOSEDE. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I, formerly Turtoe Hilda Erhuvwu now OYETUNJI HILDA ERHUVWU. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OJELEYE

JOSEPH

OFEKE

I, formerly Okeowo Adesola Sarah now ADEMIJU ADESOLA SARAH. All former documents remain valid. First Bank and general public take note.

OYELOLA

TURTOE

JALLOW

I, formerly Sarat Morenike Adelabu now ADELABU SARATU ANIKE. All former documents remain valid.

Banks, Registrars and general public take note.

I, formerly Adisa Deborah Titilayo now AKANDE DEBORAH RISIKAT. All former documents remain valid. TESCOM and general public take note.

FAYANJUOLA

ADEBISI

ANIMASHAUN

I, formerly Animashaun Tajudeen Lanrewaju now ANIMASHAUN TAJUDEEN ALAGBE. All former documents remain valid. First Bank of Nigeria and general public take note.

I, formerly Miss Adebisi Jumoke Janet now MRS. ADISA JUMOKE JANET ADEBISI. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I, formerly Miss Fayanjuola Ruth Oluwakemi now MRS. AJAYI RUTH OLUWAKEMI FAYANJUOLA. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

OGUNLUMADE

CORRECTION OF NAME: I, hereby declare that my correct names are Ogunlumade Johnson Ojo and not Titus Ojo Ogunlumade. Now, I wish to be known as OGUNLUMADE JOHNSON OJO and my correct date of birth is 15th of May, 1985 and not 19th of May, 1985.

All documents bearing these names remain valid. General public take note.

OGUNDELE

I, formerly Tunde Majeed Oduola now TUNDE OLATUNDE ODUOLA. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

I, formerly Oludele Anthony Okedepo now DELE BAMIDELE OKEDEPO. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OLADAPO

MUSTAPHA

OPADOTUN

I, formerly Miss Opadotun Omobolanle Opeyemi now MRS. OLUWANIYI OMOBOLANLE OPEYEMI. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

I, formerly Miss Oladapo Alaba Olayemi now MRS KING ALABA OLAYEMI. All former documents remain valid. General Public take note.

I, formerly Joseph Olukayode Ogundele now JOSEPH OLUKAYODE OLUDELE. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

I, formerly Mrs Oyebamji Titilayo Mopelola now MRS OYEBANJI TITILAYO MOPELOLA. All former documents remain valid.

Oyo State Government, First Bank and general public take note.

I, formerly Mrs Olubayo Adenike Morufat now MISS ADEBIMPE ADENIKE OMOLABAKE. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I, formerly Ishola Mustapha now ALHAJI MUSTAPHA ADEBOLA. All former documents remain valid. UBA Plc., and general public take note.

ADEYEMI

I, formerly Miss Ogundele Florence Olufisayo now MRS. BAMIGBOWU FLORENCE OLUFISAYO. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

RUTH I, formerly Ruth Yussuf now SAMURAT RUTH YUSSUF. All former documents remain valid.

Stanbic Bank Plc and general public take note.

KAREGBONLA

GBOLARUMI

I, formerly Adeyemi Thaofeekhat Adebimpe now ALIYU TAOFIKAT ADEBIMPE. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I, formerly Oluwayemisi Kehinde Popoola now OLUWAYEMISI KEHINDE LIADI. All former documents remain valid. GTBank, INEC and general public take note.

OLUWAYEMISI

TIJANI

I, formerly Miss Tijani Mariam Adenike now MRS. TIJANI MARIAM ADENIKE. All former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME: I, Fadeyi Damilola am the same person bearing Fadeyi Oyindamola Damilola.

Henceforth, I wish to be known and addressed as FADEYI OYINDAMOLA DAMILOLA. All documents bearing these names remain valid. General public take note.

I, formerly Fawehinmi Victoria Ademidun now AREGBESOLA VICTORIA ADEMIDUN. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

TUNDE

FAMUSANMI

OYEJOBI

I, formerly Oyejobi Damilola Christianah now AKINODE DAMILOLA CHRISTIANAH. All former documents remain valid. Diamond Bank, Skye Bank, NYSC and general public take note.

CORRECTION OF NAME: I, my name was wrongly written as Oluokun Tajudeen Oluwatoyin and Oluokun Oluwatoyin. Henceforth, I wish to be known and addressed as OLUOKUN TAJUDEEN MUHAMMED. All documents bearing these names remain valid. EcoBank and general public take note.

I, formerly Kwezeli Jennifer Onyinye now OYIBOKA CYNTHIA BLESSING. All former documents remain valid. GTBank and general public take note.

I, formerly Mr Karegbonla Kabir now MR SIKIRU KABIRU. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

ODUBELA

I, formerly Dauda Adebowale Akanji now ADEGBITE DAUDA ADEBOWALE. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

LIADI

OMOTAYO

JOHN

AYINDE

ADEGBENRO

I, formerly Miss Adegbenro Muinat Adeyoola now MRS OJO MUINAT ADEYOOLA. All former documents remain valid. SUBEB and general Public take note.

LADAPO

CONFIRMATION OF NAME: I, John Anyamele Nwagboso am the same person bearing John Nwagboso. Henceforth, I wish to be known and addressed as JOHN ANYAMELE NWAGBOSO. All documents bearing these names remain valid. General public take note.

I, formerly Miss Ladapo Adebola Stella now MRS EBI ADEBOLA STELLA. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

I, formerly Miss Oyebade Morufat Abosede now MRS AKINFOSILE ABOSEDE. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CONFIRMATION OF NAME: I, Awolola Tolulope Olushayo am the same person bearing Folarin Tolulope Kazeem and Olotu Tolulope Olusayo.

Henceforth, I wish to be known and addressed as AWOLOLA TOLULOPE OLUSHAYO. All documents bearing these names remain valid. Skye Bank, EcoBank and general public take note.

OYEBADE

AWOLOLA

I, Jallow Sukurat Abosede, formerly known, called and addressed as Olaide Sukurat Abosede now JALLOW SUKURAT ABOSEDE. All documents bearing my former name remain valid. General public take note.

BABAYEMI

TEMITOPE

MUINAT

TAIWO

I, formerly Miss Taiwo Ibironke Becky now MRS. SOKUNBI IBIRONKE BECKY. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ADERIBIGBE

I, formerly Miss Aderibigbe Rhoda Adenike now MRS. OSHOBUKOLA RHODA ADENIKE. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

OJO

I, formerly Miss Ojo Nike now OYEPOYIN ESTHER OMONIKE. All former documents remain valid.

Access Bank, First Bank and general Public take note.

BOLAJI

I, formerly Bolaji Oyekunle now LAMIDI BOLAJI OYEKUNLE. All former documents remain valid. First Bank Plc., and general public take note.

ADAMEJI

I, formerly Miss Adameji Oluwapelumi Victoria now MRS. BOLUWAJI OLUWAPELUMI VICTORIA. All former documents remain valid. Federal University, Oye-Ekiti and general public take note.

OYEWOLE

I, formerly Oyewole Lanre now OYEWOLE OLANREWAJU AKIN. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

ADETUNJI

I, formerly Adetunji Fehintola Mary now ADEUSI FEHINTOLA MARY. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

OLUWATOSIN

I, formerly Miss Oluwatosin Tolulope Oluwagbemi now MRS OLUWATOSIN TOLULOPE OBADEMI. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

38

politicsnews

Monday, 7 November, 2016

PoliticsNews Ondo poll: Injustice against Jegede won’t stand, Mimiko insists Hakeem Gbadamosi-Akure

O

NDO state governor , Dr Olusegun Mimiko, has assured that the injustice done with the substitution of the name of the Peoples Democratic Party's candidate in the November 26 gubernatorial election, Mr Eyitayo Jegede, would not stand.

Speaking with journalists at the Government House in Akure, on Sunday, he said what happened with the substitution was a contrived conspiracy because the decision of INEC would not find comfort in justice, in principle, in law, and in morality.

He said redress had been sought by Jegede, PDP and major stakeholders, assuring that justice would be done "because the impunity will not stand".

Mimiko observed that the contraption remains a bizarre development in the nation's politics and particularly in the body polity of the state. It is something bizarre, abnormal and without precedent in polity, he said.

The governor, however, thanked the people of the state for their matured action and attitude of not resulting to self help and violence even in the face of the unwarranted provocation unleashed through the back door.

“You have comported yourselves in a very commendable way.

Your peaceful but rugged and persistent resistance in the last three and half weeks would go down in the record of the new Ondo state,” Mimiko said.

He debunked insinuations that he went to see President Muhammadu Buhari, as a prelude to crossing over to the APC or any other political party.

According to him, he had to see the president in his capacity as the Chief Security Officer of the country on the need to allow Justice to prevail. He said Mr President gave his word that he would ensure that justice is done, stressing: I have no cause to doubt him" Meanwhile, a group, the Coalition for Stable Democracy (CSD), has expressed concern over what it called the “suspicious silence” of the pro-democracy movement and right groups on the controversial reversal of

the candidature of Jegede as PDP standard bearer in the Nov 4 election.

The group said it had become necessary for all lov-

ers of democracy to speak out against the injustice melted out by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)

on Jegede by replacing his name with that of Mr Jimoh Ibrahim, in various circumstance.

In a statement by its na-

tional secretary, Abdulahi Sanni, issued in Kaduna , the group said all men of good conscience should speak in condemnation of

the act, especially considering the allegations that the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) was behind the Ondo PDP crisis.

us, we should be leading and be a shining example to others in Nigeria.

"We have in abundance the largest rich human resources in terms of natural resources, human resources, agriculture resources; whatever resources you can imagine that would help the development of a State, they are all there but we are not doing well.

" I believe that given the opportunity to be the governor of Ondo State, I can start to re-direct the development of the state.

And the starting point will be to examine what is on ground. I already have the database on what is on ground to utilize what we have to solve the problems confronting us."

Oke pledged to revamp all the abandoned industries and build new ones to generate employment for the teeming youths and restore confidence of the people once again, He said that he was offering the people a real change based on their demands, stating: “What Ondo State needs now is a man who has vision; who has idea; who has the fear of God; who they know and who knows them well and these descriptions fit me.

“I have traversed the entire length and breadth of Ondo State six times, I know all the nooks and crannies; I know their sufferings, I am part of them, for in my entire existence up till now, I have been in this geographical definition of Ondo State without an exit for six months and so I am conversant with their suffering.

“I share their pains and joy, their aspirations and hope and I believe that I have service to render to the people of Ondo State and I will be failing in my responsibilities at this time if I maintain culpable complacency when I can do something.

Oke pledges rapid development in Ondo Hakeem Gbadamosi - Akure

THE governorship candidates of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the forthcoming governorship election in Ondo State, Chief Olusola Oke, on Sunday, expressed his readiness to turn around the state positively, with policies and strategies that would fast track rapid de-

velopment in the state.

Oke, spoke through the chairman, media and publicity of his campaign organisation, Mr Kolawole Olabisi, gave this assurance during his campaign tour to Oniparaga community in Odigbo local government area of the state. He said the state was endowed with natural and human resources, and

pledged to turn around the fortunes of the state within a short period of time.

His words: "What I am promising you, dear good people of Ondo is a real turnaround of our economy if you give me the mandate to govern this beautiful state of ours. Ondo State is a state generously loved by God. If we look at the resources available to

Governorship candidate of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the Ondo election, Chief Olusola Oke, acknowledging cheers from supporters, at Idoani, Ose Local Government Area of the state, during his campaign to the area.

Akeredolu promises to reinstate sacked varsity lecturers THE candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for November 26 governorship election, Mr Rotimi Akeredoluu has promised to reinstate 60 lecturers of the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA) whose appointments were terminated by the management of the institution in year 2012.

The Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) said this, on Saturday, when his campaign train stormed Akungba Akoko in Akoko South West Local Government Area of the state.

Akeredolu, also promised to establish AAUA College of Medicine if elected.

“I am here today first and foremost to thank you for your usual support for me" Akeredolu declared amidst thunderous applause from over 5000 supporters of the APC at the event.

“I want to assure you again that I remain committed to

the development of Akungba land. The only way I can immortalize our father, Adefarati is to develop Akungba."

Adefarati was the governor of Ondo State from 1999 to 2003. He hailed from Akungba Akoko.

Speaking further, Akeredolu said: "By God grace, if you vote for me and I am

returned elected, I will establish AAUA College of Medicine. The 60 lecturers sacked from our university for exercising their legitimate rights shall be reinstated with all deserving benefits fully paid.

"The roads around Akungba metropolis shall be given a sanctimonious attention.

I can assure you that you

won't have any cause to regret if you send me to Alagbaka", he assured.

Responding on behalf of the people of Akungba, the president of Akungba Development Union, Rev. Femi Ekundayo assured Akeredolu that the people of the town would not betray Adefarati by voting for those who sent him into an early grave.

APC, INEC bicker over ad-hoc staff training Hakeem Gbadamosi - Akure

THE All Progressives Congress in Ondo State has alleged the training of ad-hoc staff for the forthcoming governorship election in the state by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in Lagos state.

This was contained in a statement issued by the state publicity secretary, Abayomi Adesanya, who queried the rationale behind the training of the ad hoc

staff for the election outside the state.

Adesanya alleged: “We have it on good authority, that INEC is recruiting ad hoc staff from Ojokoro LCDA, which was created out of Alimosho Local Government Area in Lagos, and we know that, the elements working with some INEC officials are closely linked to some of Olusola Oke’s supporters in Lagos and Osun State.”

“We know that, ad hoc

staff are usually officials of Federal Government agencies in the state, neighbouring states and youth corp members. But we could not imagine why Lagos State is being used for surreptitious recruitments by INEC.” The party called on the leadership of INEC to reverse its decision to train the staff in Lagos.

“As we have said before, we have lost confidence in the leadership of INEC in Ondo State, and our petition

has been sent to the appropriate authorities,” it said.

Reacting to the allegation, the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr Olusegun Agbaje said the allegation was not only false but that it was designed to stir controversy in the state.

He said: “This is reckless accusation how can somebody just sit down in the corner of his room and come out with such allegation just to cause problem.

There is nothing like that.”

39

Monday, 7 November, 2016 Editor: Wale Emosu tribunesporteditor@yahoo.com 08111813054

Nigeria versus Algeria

Agent stopped Ebuehi —Rohr

N

IGERIA coach, Gernot Rohr has revealed Tyronne Ebuehi will honour another invitation after he first rejected a chance to play against Algeria so as to focus at his Dutch club.

Rohr specially opened up that the 20-year-old ADO Den Haag defender as well as his parents had accepted he should honour the call-up for the Algeria match, but the player’s agent blocked the move.

“He’s a very good, young player, a right back.

His agent did not want him to come yet because he is still very young, he has only played four, five games for the first team of Den Haag,” Rohr narrated.

“His agent believes that it’s too early for him to play for Nigeria, that he should first

stablise at his club.

“But the player wants to come and next time, he will come.

“He said yes he will play for Nigeria at first, but then the agent came into the picture and made some observations.

I also spoke to his parents and they also wanted him to come too.”

NFF pledges bonus for Eagles over Zambia win SUPER Eagles will get their win bonus of $5,000-a-man for the victory in Zambia last month, while coach Gernot Rohr will finally get his salary for two months’ this week.

The leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) had promised the Eagles they would be paid their win bonus for the World Cup qualifier in Ndola before the match against Algeria.

An official informed: ”The

Eagles bonus for the win in Zambia is ready and they will be paid before Saturday’s match against Algeria.”

It was further gathered that the secrecy that has shrouded Rohr’s $47,000-amonth salary will be partly put to rest this week when he is paid for his first two months of work.

The Franco-German coach deflected a question regarding the payment of his salary

Eagles are in right mood —Iloanusi Saliu Gbadamosi - Abuja

Simon Moses, Eagles winger

FORMER Super Eagles defender, Chikelue Iloanusi, is confident that the senior national team will pick the sole ticket from the Group B of the African qualifying series Of the Russia 2018 World Cup. Speaking in Abuja, Iloanusi, who featured for the Eagles in the early 2000s, stated that with the calibre of players currently in the national team coupled with the technical crew of the team, the Eagles looked sure to hoist the country’s flag in Russia.

“I believe the team can do it with

Gunners, Spurs share derby honour WITH 73 minutes gone, Harry Kane left the field to predictable opprobrium from the home support. That is five goals in four games against Arsenal for Kane, tying with Gareth Bale in the Premier League era. What with the row over whether he is one of Tottenham’s own or an Arsenal deserter, no wonder he divides opinion like no other in north London.

Kane has been missing for six weeks and Tottenham have suffered accordingly. This was a return for him, and them – a performance more like the Tottenham of last season, even if

it did not bring a victory. When a Christian Erikssen free-kick pitched once in the area, eluded Petr Cech and hit the far post, the visitors thought they had sneaked one.

The draw was the fair result, though, even if it will leave both sides frustrated. Arsenal missed out on a chance to go top, Tottenham lost ground on the top four. No-one suffers the Monday morning embarrassment at work, but nobody got the spoils either.

Kane’s penalty, Tottenham’s equaliser, looked soft. Mousa Dembele appeared to be already

Rohr

off balance and ready to tumble when Laurent Koscielny stuck out a leg in the 50th minute.

Had he kept out of it the Tottenham man may have fallen anyway. This made it look like a trip.

Mark Clattenburg had a good view, though, and decided: foul.

Kane waited for Cech to choose a side and stuck it straight down the middle.

Arsene Wenger made a string of attacking substitutions, but none could deliver the match. Hugo Lloris saved at the feet of Mesut Ozil, and tipped an Alex Iwobi cross around when Granit Xhaka couldn’t get a touch.

the caliber of players and the technical bench,” he declared.

He stated that the Eagles ought to leverage their away win to Zambia to consolidate on their lead on the group, widely regarded as a “Group of Death”, saying that they now have the needed confidence.

Iloanusi, who is the SA Security Matters to the President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), declared that he expected nothing but an outright win against the Fennecs of Algeria on Match Day 2 in Uyo. “First, we need to beat Algeria on Saturday and wait for the decisive back-to-back legs with Cameroun next year.

“Honestly, I expect nothing but victory against Algeria. We have started well and I believe that we seem to have everything well put together. The players are key, as long as they play to instruction, I believe the team will secure all the point it requires,” he said.

He added that, “that good thing is that they beat Zambia away. That will give them the confidence they need to forge ahead. And they need to key into that; they should not lose focus.”

Iloanusi, however, warned the Eagles to be committed and give their all to ensure qualification for the next Mundial.

“My only advice to them is to make sure they give more than 100 per cent and ensure they get the World Cup ticket. The players should show more commitment as they do at their various clubs in Europe and across the world,” he admonished.

during a press conference last month in Abuja before the match in Zambia.

The former Gabon and Niger coach simply said it has never been in his place to discuss finances in public.

Niger approves N425m for new sports centre Adelowo Oladipo - Minna THE Niger state government has approved N425million for the construction of a new sports centre in Minna, the state capital eve as the renovation works at the Late Bako Kontagora township stadium, Minna is said to have been abandoned by the contractor due to inadequate funds.

Worried by the deplorable condition of the Minna township stadium, the state awarded contract for its renovation at the cost of N38million to an indigenous contractor, Minkom Nigeria Limited.

Only N8million of the mobilisation fee was paid to the contractor and work has since then been abandoned due to lack of funds.

The state’s team, the Niger Tornadoes Football Club which could not play its home matches at the stadium spent over N60million playing its home matches in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital in the just concluded season.

The Commissioner for Sports and Youths Development, Alhaji Mamman Musa Bosso stated last month that fixing the Bako Kontagora stadium remained a top priority adding, “I know what it is for the team to get home support while playing its matches”.

SIDELINES

NO 16,627

N150

MONDAY, 7 NOVEMBER, 2016

NIGERIA VS ALGERIA

Eagles begin training today —Yusuf

I feel no pressure

Saliu Gbadamosi -Abuja

SUPER Eagles coach Salisu Yusuf has hinted the team will hold first training session today ahead of Saturday’s 2018 World Cup qualifying series in Uyo The coach told sportswriters in Abuja that said all the Super Eagles players are expected to be in camp latest this morning and hopefully they can start serious training by evening.

“The players are expected in camp on Sunday evening or latest Monday morning and hopefully we can start a serious training on Monday evening or Tuesday morning,” he disclosed.

He rated Algeria as one of the top teams in Africa but observes they have weak points which Nigeria will exploit to win.

“We know the Algeria are one of the best in Africa based on FIFA ranking.

They are very good, but they are still beatable,” said Yusuf.

“We know their weak point and we are going to exploit it.

“We are very confident the Super Eagles will carry the day.”

He further maintained that the Eagles strongest point is in the attack, just like the Algerians.

“We have good players in the attack line just like the Algeria. They are scoring for their various clubs in Europe,” he said.

RESULTS

Arsenal Hull City Liverpool Leicester Swansea

1 2 6 1 1

Tottenham Southampton Watford West Brom Man Utd

—Rohr

Niyi Alebiosu - Lagos

N Al Arabi Soudani, Algeria’s striker

1 1 1 2 3

IGERIA’S head coach, Gernot Rohr, says he is looking forward to this weekend World Cup qualifier against Algeria and fears no negative outcome of the game.

Rohr told sportswriters in Lagos that he had done his homework leaving others to complete the job.

‘It is left to those we know to do the rest of the job.

As far as I am concerned, the technical crew has got a blueprint some three weeks ago. We are banking on what the players attitude will be, the situation with the FA, the condition at the Uyo stadium and the passion from the crowd. We have to feel at home if we are playing at home.’

Rohr explained to sportswriters that it was immaterial if he knew the Algerians inside-out or not.

‘Now, it is our duty to plan well for the match. If you ask me how well do I know the Algerians, I would say it is not important now.

If you look at their game against Cameroon, you are likely to see the same players in Uyo but the approach and intensity would be different. When a national team plays away, they find trouble for the home people and there is a way to play that kind of game. We are in an exciting situation.”

Nigeria tops Group 2 of the African qualifiers for Russia 2018 World Cup and host the Desert Fennecs of Algeria on Saturday in Uyo. The Algerians are joint second with Cameroon after both settled for a 1-1 draw on Day One of the qualifiers.

Ogenyi Onazi, Nigeria’s midfielder

Mazembe claims 6th African title

FC Ifeanyi Ubah wins Federation Cup

By Ganiyu Salman

FC Ifeanyi Ubah on Sunday in Lagos won the 2016 Federation Cup title after beating hard-fighting Nasarawa United on 5-4 penalty shootout.

Both teams, playing their first final in the history of Nigerian football, failed to find the net after regular and extra time.

Seun Sogbeso, the player whose spot kick took Nasarawa to the final as they beat former continental champions, Enyimba 1-0 in one of the semi final matches, was the villian as he was the only player who missed from the spot of all the well-taken penalties of the day.

A girl, Precious John, was saved by the Oyo state command of the Nigeria Police, after being locked up for three days by her father. Which vicious father could visit such malicious brute on a kid he so named? Mr John needs some explanations not only to law enforcers but to all those who are celebrated on Father’s Day.

Ifeanyi Ubah players celebrating By this feat, FC Ifeanyi Ubah, now has the right to fly Nigeria’s flag in the 2017 CAF Conderations Cup. Head coach of the team, Everton Rafael, said his boys had made up for the disappointment of the Nigeria Professional League, which they failed to win.

“We have been rewarded by this victory but I assure you we shall be better next year and do Nigeria proud on the continent.”

“I thank my players, the supporting staff, the fans and

our directors. This is for all of us. We worked hard for it “We were gallant in defeat, we gave everything but we were just unlucky,” said Bature Yaro of Nasarawa United.

The two teams began this cup final rather cautiously and it was not until the 16th minute, when Nasarawa carved out the first big chance as striker Abdulraham Bashir headed for goal only to be thwarted by intelligent goalkeeper Uche Okafor.

A brace from Rainford Kalaba inspired TP Mazembe to a 4-1 (5-2 on aggregate) win over MO Béjaïa in the second-leg of the 2016 Caf Confederations Cup final at the Stade TP Mazembe on Sunday afternoon.

The Democratic Republic of Congo giants claimed their first Caf Confederations Cup crown, adding to the five CAF Champions League titles in their trophy cabinet.

Following a 1-1 stalemate

in Blida a week ago, Mazembe were always going to be favourites to do the job in Lubumbashi and the Ravens didn’t disappoint as they achieved more success in continental club football.

Mazembe scored as early as the seventh minute with Merveille Bope latching onto a free-kick at the back post Kalaba’s thunderous on 43 minutes made it two as completed his brace in the 62nd minute resulting in his eighth goal of the

tournament.

MO Bejaia finally had something to cheer as Sofiane Khadir pulled a goal back in the 75th minute but the joy was short lived as Jonathan Bolingi restored parity two minutes later to secure their first title following their defeat in the 2013 showpiece to CS Sfaxien.

Mazembe will as a result face Caf Champions League holders Mamelodi Sundowns in the Caf Super Cup next year.

Jubilant TP Mazembe players

Printed and Published by the African Newspapers of Nigeria PLC, Imalefalafia Street, Oke-Ado, Ibadan. E mail: editornigeriantribune@yahoo.com Website: www.tribuneonlineng.com MANAGING DIRECTOR / EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: EDWARD DICKSON. EDITOR: DEBO ABDULAI. All Correspondence to P.O. Box 78, Ibadan. ISSN 2712. ABC Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulation. 7/11/2016.