11th July 2016

NIGERIA’S MOST INFORMATIVE NEWSPAPER NO 16,542

MONDAY, 11 JULY, 2016

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Murdered Abuja female preacher

Her last moments

•She was crying 'blood of Jesus, somebody help me' before she died •Husband weeps •Osinbajo's wife visits family —P33

Extra Eid-el-fitri holiday

Manufacturers lost over N300bn to unstable —P12 economic policies —MAN

16 Christian groups tackle Federal Govt

•Accuse FG of taking instruction from Sultan of Sokoto —P3 •Say Muslims should expect one day holiday for next Eid-el-kabir Scale of corruption unimaginable —Dogara •Says billions of looted fund buried in Abuja farmland shocking

By Kunle Oderemi

General Overseer, the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, flanked by the Assistant General Overseer, Pastor J. A. Akindele (left) and the Regional Pastor, Region 21, Pastor Dele Balogun, at the dedication of RCCG Covenant Sanctuary, Region 21 Headquarters, opposite Zartech, Oluyole Estate, Ibadan, Oyo State, on Sunday. PHOTO: ALOLADE GANIYU

Nigeria's unity: ACF not

helping Buhari —ARG

—P10

SPEAKER of the House of Representatives, Honourable Yakubu Dogara, has described as unimaginable, the scale of corruption so far uncovered by anti-graft agencies.

At a meeting with newspaper editors in Abuja, on Saturday, Dogara said he was shocked by the monumental looting of the treasury in the past, citing the discovery of billions of looted fund buried in a farm in Abuja.

He explained that opera-

tives of anti-graft agencies had been busy moving the cash out of the farm.

Dogara said he had never heard of such impunity in which people “stole for the sake of stealing,” decrying the latest antics of suspected looters to bury their loot in farmland.

According to him, it was imperative to bring the full weight of the law on all those found to have looted the treasury, in order to serve as deterrent to others with similar intention in the future. continues pg4

Govs worried over Abia —P4 impasse —Yari

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Monday, 11 July, 2016

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Monday, 11 July, 2016

Extra Eid-el-Fitri holiday: 16 Christian groups tackle Federal Govt

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group of Christians in Nigeria, led by National Christian Elders Forum (NCEF), have condemned the extension of public holiday by the Federal Government over the non-sighting of the moon during the just concluded Eid-el-Fitri celebration.

The fasting came the full cycle of 30 days based on the instruction of the Sultan of Sokoto and the President-General of Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III. While insisting that the trend portends a dangerous precedent that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari was taking instructions from the Sultan, the coalition said the government and Islamic leaders should repay the country the extra day that was lost during the next Eid-el-Fitri “in which we expect that only one day should be approved as public holiday.”

NCEF has Solomon Asemota as chairman, with members being General Joshua Dogonyaro (retd), Professor Joseph Otubu, General Zamani Lekwot (retd), Dr Kate Okpareke, Dr Ayo Abifarin, Bishop Joseph Bagobiri, Archbishop Magnus Atilade, Elder Moses Ihonde, Elder Nat Okoro and Professor Vincent Anigbogu.

Others are General Ishaku Dikko (retd), Justice Kalajine Anigbogu (retd), Elder Shyngle Wigwe, DIG P. L. Dabup, Sir John W. Bagu, Dr Saleh Hussaini, Elder Mike Orobator, Chief Olaniwun Ajayi, Justice M. Ogebe (retd), Priscilla Kuye, Chief Debo Omotosho, Dr Musa Asake, Joseph Daramola and Pastor Olatunbosun Emmanuel as secretary.

The coalition, in a statement by Asemota, obtained

by Religious Affairs correspondents in Abuja, said it was obvious that the All Progressives Congress (APC), which promised Nigerians change from the lawlessness and impunity that seemed to characterise this country, was drifting the country to a wrong direction.

Apart from NCEF, other members of the coalition include Nigerian Christian Graduate Fellowship; Think Tank for the body of Christ; Christian Lawyers Fellowship of Nigeria; Association of Christian Schools in Nigeria; Students Christian Movement; Christian Professionals Forum; Intercessors for Nigeria and and International Prophetic Ministerial Association (Inc.) Worldwide College of Bishops and Ministers in Africa, UK and USA.

The coalition also has Intercessors Without Walls; Wailing Women International; Full Gospel Businessmen Fellowship; Nigerian Fellowship of Christian Students; Ministers Prayer Network; International Christian Embassy Jerusalem and University Joint Campus Christian Fellowship as members.

The statement by Asemota read: “As Nigerians, we congratulate the Muslims in the nation on

their successful completion of the Ramadan fast in 2016. However, we are disturbed by the apparent shoddiness and confusion the Federal Government brought into the declaration of the Public Holiday rounding up the Muslim religious exercise.

“The Federal Government had earlier declared Tuesday, 5th and Wednesday, 6th July public holiday, only to reverse itself and declare Wednesday, 6th and

Thursday, 7th July public holiday. If this was done before Tuesday was observed as public holiday, it would have been tolerable, but declaring Thursday, 7th as public holiday in addition to Tuesday and Wednesday, is a mark of institutional unseriousness. The implication now is that three days were work-free in the week.

“We are equally appalled that the Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazzau, based the decision to

declare Thursday as public holiday on the directive by the President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto, to the effect that the Ramadan fast continues today (last Tuesday) as a result of the non-sighting of the moon.

“We are not aware that Nigeria has transmuted into a religious theocratic state, in which the leader of a religious group issues directive

The Emir of Zazzau in Zaria, Kaduna State, Dr Shehu Idris (left), with the Kogi State governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, during the governor’s visit to the traditional ruler, recently.

Nigeria, other African govts must fund research to be globally competitive —Don LEADING African Development Economist and Vice Chancellor of University of Ghana, Legon, Professor Ernest Aryeetey, has said that Nigeria and Africa in general, will not have globally competitive economies without investing in university research.

He also noted that low

investment in research-focused universities accounts for why many African universities were ranked low and could not be globally competitive.

According to the seasoned Economist, Africa must develop research universities that would help in providing sound knowledge economy

for its transformation and positive change.

Professor Aryeetey made the disclosure while delivering the 67th Interdisciplinary Discourse of the Postgraduate School, University of Ibadan, under the Deanship of Professor Adeyinka Aderinto.

Speaking on the topic “De-

I’m not afraid of death —Fayose Bola Badmus -Lagos

EKITI State governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, has declared that he is not afraid of death, adding that his current travails notwithstanding, he would triumph at the end of the day.

Speaking at the weekend while speaking with journalists in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, Fayose said he would triumph again just as he did over his adversaries in the past, when he was hounded out of office over alleged corruption charges and, thereafter, returned to same office as governor for a second term.

“I am not afraid of death; I am not afraid of anything except God. I have gone through this road before.

“In 2006, I was charged to court by EFCC. The Falanas

of this world, the Ojudus of this world and all my adversaries on the other side, they were working with Nuhu Ribadu; when they were celebrating me negatively in the newspapers; Fayose is Going, Going, Gone!

“After all, they did it, I am back in the Government House now. I was incarcerated; I was in Ikoyi Prisons for almost 50 days. So when you do these things, you make me a better man.

“When you look at the book of James, it says, ‘Don’t be in a hurry to get out of trouble.’ When faith worketh patience in you, it makes you a better man.

Sometimes food is good, fasting is better. I am not a man scared of all these.

“Fighting corruption is a great thing. It is good, but anything that does not rep-

resent the truth is simply corruption. Anything that doesn’t represent justice is not good. Those who make peaceful change impossible would make violent change inevitable,” he said.

He expressed the fear that Nigeria might soon be without opposition, with the calibre of the people already arrested by government in the name of fighting corruption.

“My fear is that Nigeria would be a country without opposition; the rights of the people would be taken from them in the name of fighting corruption,” he said.

Fayose, therefore, charged President Muhammadu Buhari to “be the father of Nigeria and not the ruler of Nigeria,” adding that he had no personal grudge against him.

veloping Research Universities for Africa: Some New Approaches,” Professor Aryeetey noted that universities must specialise either in teaching or doing researches, noting that not all universities should be combining both teaching and researching.

He noted that African universities must collaborate, which he said would lead developing outputs that would solve Africa’s problems, adding that the formation African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) had this as one of its visions.

According to him, there was correlation between research outputs and economic growth adding that if Nigeria and African governments refused to fund research for the transformation of Africa, it will be difficult for the continent to experience transformation.

Vice chancellor, University of Ibadan, Professor Idowu Olayinka, who stated that education was the bedrock of development, however, lamented that the popular recognitions of the role of universities in national development still operated theoretically in Nigeria and in most countries in subSaharan Africa.

to the Federal Government.

If the President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs confirmed Wednesday and Thursday as public holiday for the Ramadan fasting, then, who advised the Federal Government to declare Tuesday a public holiday?

“As innocuous as some people may want to present this development, it is a dangerous signal confirming the worrisome direction of the party that promised Nigerians change from the lawlessness and impunity that seem to characterise this nation. Since the inception of the Buhari-led administration, it had left no one in doubt of its discriminatory leaning towards Islam as the preferred religion in Nigeria, in violation of Section 10 of the constitution.

“The Buhari-led administration needs to be reminded again that Nigeria is not an Islamic Theocratic State that receives “directive” from a Sultan. Nigeria is a democratic and secular nation and preferential treatment should not be accorded any section of the nation; all should be treated equally.

“If, indeed, a mistake was made in declaring Tuesday a public holiday that does not warrant declaring Thursday a public holiday. Both the Federal Government and leaders of Islam should have maintained the statutory two days public holiday and learnt a lesson on how to not to repeat the mistake in future.

“It is very embarrassing, the tardiness and shoddiness that the Buhari-led administration has brought into governance in Nigeria.

Decent and respectable people are ashamed at the flagrant acts of discrimination, nepotism, and impunity of the APC led government.

“We wish to state clearly that declaring Thursday an additional public holiday is not only wrong, but an insensitive approach to the management of the economy. The economic well-being of the nation should not be sacrificed on the altar of religious fervor.

“Nevertheless, having illegally appropriated an additional day as pubic holiday during the Eid-el-Fitri, the Federal Government and leaders of Islam should be prepared to repay the nation the extra day during the next Eid-el-Kabir in which we expect only one day should be approved as public holiday. Nigeria should not be turned into a lawless nation. The APCled government should call itself to order.”

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Monday, 11 July, 2016

Scale of corruption unimaginable —Dogara continued from frontpage

“But, if I am just arrested, charged to court and maybe some money recovered from me and, at the end of the day, nothing happens, a lot of people may not be deterred in the future from engaging in corrupt practices.

“If you look at the massive looting of the treasury (actually, I have been in government for quite some time), I never could have imagined the scale of corruption that we are witnessing right now, where people took lot of money running into billions and buried them in farms.

“As we are speaking now, they are recovering monies from someone’s farm somewhere around Abuja.

It is very unfortunate where people stole money just for the sake of stealing,” he said.

While acknowledging the criticism against the antigraft agencies on the pace of work, Dogara noted that the agencies appeared overwhelmed by the volume of challenges arising from the current war.

Nonetheless, he said the agencies should do the needful so as to remain on top of its game.

“If you were the one in charge of fighting corruption, you would have even been shocked by the scale of the problem. I guess part of the problem we have is that the scale of the problem far outweighs the anticipation of the agencies. So, if care is not taken, we may not get things right in the process.

They will have to keep their heads level to be able to be in charge of the fight and to do it effectively.”

The Speaker, who asserted that President Muhammadu Buhari remained committed to stemming corruption in the country, said the process of doing that had become a subject of concern to some people, especially concerning the operations of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

“If you look at what it has done so far, there is even a discussion as to whether or not they are proceeding in the right direction and whether or not it is not time for us to sit down and do an assessment of how the fight has been, in view of the fact that in the last one year, I do not think there has been any major conviction.

“It has always been a case of this person has been arrested and detained and some things have been done or he has been charged to court and then the story ends there. If we continue like this, only God knows if we will succeed in fighting

corruption.

“If the end is just to arrest people, charge them to court and thereafter nothing happens; no one is convicted; because conviction, even if you are not jailed, has a way of deterring people.

“The fact that you are carrying that negative appellation as a former convict has the potential to deter people from corruption in the future,” he added.

Dogara, however, faulted insinuations in some quarters that the government was engaging in a selective war against corruption, with major actors in the last administration as targets.

He cited two instances where those believed to be very close to the corridors of power came under serious scrutiny by the anti-graft agencies to buttress his argument that the present administration was altruistic in its war against corruption.

“If we are talking about corruption, naturally, it will relate to those that had opportunity to serve in government. You will recall that, especially that the PDP had

been in power for a number of years, more than a decade and if you were to weigh members of opposition that are in government now and had opportunity to serve, those that would have tendencies to engage in pilfering of resources, majority will come from PDP, except we are not being realistic.

“Though we can’t claim that all the members of APC are saints – you pointed out that APC spent money in the course of the campaign – where did this money come from? Because as it is, we haven’t really had any facts about government officials forwarding money to the cause of the campaign!

Majority of the money that was stolen was channeled towards the PDP campaign.

“You know the arms purchase monies, for instance, virtually everything was given for the prosecution of PDP campaign. I do not think a dime went to any member of the APC; we were all in government then. I can’t remember a discussion like that then. I knew when some of the funds were being

given to some of our friends as well but, I believe that no one that is of APC stock was given that money. The whole thing was scripted.

“I don’t think the fight has really been one-sided. If you recall, one of the closest aides to the president, I don’t want to name him, if you recall when he was picked up, everyone was shocked that the man could be picked up. He had been one of the most dutiful, yet he wasn’t spared when evidence was adduced that he benefitted from it and he had to refund the money.

“Recently, one of the closest people to the Villa was, as well, picked up. He has been detained and questioned; some recoveries were made from him. If the intention was that the fight should be one-sided, I can guarantee you that if it were to be a case that would have sacred cows, those two amply qualify as sacred cows that should not be touched,” Dogara added.

“The Speaker added that if there was anybody in the APC government that per-

Osun State governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, testing one of the laptops during the official commissioning of e-Library and lecture hall of the Osun State College of Education, Ila-Orangun, at the weekend.

petrated corruption and had not been dealt with, it could be that there was no evidence before the government, adding that “I know there will be more that will come under serious searchlight of the anti-graft agencies and it doesn’t matter where they are.”

On the forgery case against the Senate leadership, Dogara cautioned against castrating the legislative arm of government, which he described as the bastion of democracy.

He said he could not make a categorical statement on the forgery allegation since the matter was already in court, coupled with his claim that he did not have all necessary documents in relation to the case.

“I believe that the National Assembly in any country is the bastion of democracy.

Where you do not have an independent National Assembly, you definitely will have some kind of totalitarian tendencies in the government,” he added.

“Ours is a democracy that is still evolving; it is not as nascent as it used to be but, we still have a lot to learn.

If the goal is that they want to strangle the parliament, then definitely, we are going to run into serious problems and that will be an affront, a serious affront on democracy and that will be totally unacceptable.

“But since the matter is in court, it doesn’t mean that when allegations are made, that they are true. It doesn’t. A lot of people have been charged to courts before and at the end of the day, insufficient evidence is given. And in a case of forgery, it (forgery) is a criminal offence and the standard of proof, the burden of proof is beyond reasonable doubt.

“The Senate has spoken. It is an issue that all of us, including the Senate and the House of Representatives, will have to really sit down

Govs worried over Abia impasse —Yari CHAIRMAN of Nigeria Governors Forum and Zamfara State governor, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari, has said the 36 state governors are worried about the political logjam in Abia and are working behind the scene to ensure there is no breakdown of law and order in the state.

Speaking on Sunday when he addressed traditional rulers from Abia, who paid a condolence visit to Sokoto State over the death of Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi, Yari said it was of paramount importance that all sides claiming victory over the governor-

ship contest respect the courts and avoid acts that would lead to violence.

The royal fathers were led by the chairman of both the South East Council of Traditional Rulers and Abia State Traditional Rulers’ Council, Eze Eberechi N. Dick.

“As a forum, we are concerned about what is going on in Abia and we are working to ensure all sides respect the courts and uphold peace. Abia is known for peace, as such, we should not do acts that will disturb the peace of the state,” Yari added.

Earlier in his remarks, Sokoto State governor, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, had said Sokoto State had a long standing relationship with the people of the SouthEast, adding that the visit of the traditional rulers on a condolence had reaffirmed that relationship.

Tambuwal said rather than lay emphasis on things that divided the country, Nigerians must emphasise on those aspects that united the nation.

“We are all on a journey to unity, stability and progress of our dear country.

Abia State governor is a very good friend of mine, so I am praying for him to overcome the present challenges he’s facing as a public officer,” he added.

On Shinkafi, Tambuwal described him as a man of wisdom and integrity who enjoyed the respect and admiration of all Nigerians.

Speaking at the occasion, Eze Eberechi commended the Sokoto government for the warm relationship between indigenes and residents of other states, especially those from South-East living in Sokoto.

and analyse.

“As it is, I haven’t really seen the papers; I haven’t seen the charges. I don’t know whether they are grounded or not but I have asked, as a lawyer too, that I needed to see the nature of the evidence against the presiding officers that are being charged to court in a case of forgery. And if there is a compelling case, we won’t say he should be exempted because we are legislators,” he added.

The Speaker chided those advocating a mono-camera legislature for the country, accusing them of not acknowledging the essence of the existing two arms of the National Assembly.

Dogara also expressed concern on the parlous state of the economy and called for a stronger economic team to save the current situation.

“When you talk of the economy, it is something that we will have to look at closely. I sincerely believe we need a very strong team that will superintend our economy because as we are faced with dire challenges like this, we have to do something,” he said “When (President Barack) Obama came into government in the US, there was virtual collapse of the economy at that time. He had to look for serious-minded people who sat and charted a way out of that crisis. I sincerely believe that in Nigeria as well, we are rich in diverse ways.

“I don’t think under (former President Olusegun) Obasanjo, we had an oil boom; we were earning far less than what we did subsequently, but we were able to manage the meagre resources we had.

“So, I sincerely believe it is just a matter of management and if we are able to get the right people in place, we will be able to swim through these dangerous waters. But as it is, as they say, we are in the waters, and everything seems to be heading south.

Things seem to be defying the traditional ways of resolving this kind of problems. So, we need new methods. We need a strong team to really be in charge of the economy,” he stated.

The Speaker also commented on some members of the executive not honouring invitation by the National Assembly, saying “the provision of the constitution is manifestly and patently clear about powers in pursuance of a resolution published in a gazette.”

He also promised that the legislature would respect the collective will of Nigerians on the controversial grazing reserve bill.

5 news Negotiate with PENGASSAN, Labour advises FG

Monday, 11 July, 2016

Muhammad Sabiu -Kaduna

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he General Secretary of Textiles Workers Union and member of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr Issa Aremu,

has advised the Federal Government to enter into a serious negotiation with the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), with the view to bringing to an end the persistent crises facing the oil and gas industry.

This was contained in a statement he issued in Kaduna, on Sunday.

The statement noted that the crisis in the sector had resulted in low output, serial sabotage, attacks by militants, job losses.

It observed that “strikes will not abate unless the

Buhari-led administration initiated strong industrial policies as contained in the 2014 Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan to advance social, economic and environmental sustainability in the sector.

The statement then urged the Federal Government, in

the spirit of social dialogue, to intensify negotiation with PENGASSAN with a view of resolving the issues in dispute which led to the ongoing industrial action by the union.

Some of the issues in dispute included the lingering irregular joint

Kaduna has 900,000 girls within 10-19 age bracket —el-Rufai Says increased investment in health, education now necessary Muhammad Sabiu -Kaduna Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State has called for an urgent investment in teenage girls for sustainable development, even as he declared that from survey conducted the state had close to 900,000 girls within the 10-19 age bracket.

Governor el-Rufai, in a statement he personally signed and issued in Kaduna, on Sunday, to

mark this year’s 2016 World Population Day, said increased investments should be made in health and education for the benefit of the teenagers who were transiting from childhood to early adulthood.

The governor explained that in many parts of Nigeria, particularly in the North, a girl who had reached puberty might be deemed by her family and community as ready for

marriage, pregnancy and childbirth.

He added that his administration had ensured that issues concerning teenage girls were adequately captured in the state development plan (SDP).

He also noted further that the present administration, under his leadership, upheld the universal right of all persons, including teenage girls, to education,

Buhari won’t disappoint —Ajomale Lanre Adewole -Lagos CHAIRMAN, All Progressives Congress (APC), Lagos State chapter, Chief Henry Oladele Ajomale, has expressed his optimism that President Muhammadu Buhari will deliver the dividends of democracy desperately desired by Nigerians.

Speaking on the state of the nation, the diplomat turned politician said the ruling party had commenced the implementation of its masses-oriented programmes to alleviate the economy doldrums created in the past 16 years by the Peoples’ Democratic Party(PDP).

Chief Ajomale, who commended Nigerians for their patience, perseverance and strong belief in the Buhariled administration, said it was not easy to rebuild what

had been destroyed over the years in one year, adding that all hands were on deck to rectify the situation.

The party boss, however, appealed to Nigerians to be a little more patient with President Buhari, as things would start to take shape in all the sectors of the economy which would in turn bring smiles to the faces of the hitherto hopeless masses.

According to him, ‘’I strongly believe that President Muhammadu Buhari will perform to expectation by bringing Nigeria out of its present situation. As a disciplinarian, he has taken the right step in the right direction by first retrieving our stolen valuables.

“I appeal to my fellow Nigerians to be a little more patient and endure while lasting solutions are being

Pipeline bombings, killings in Niger Delta must stop — Satguru Maharaj Ji Leader of the One Love Family, Satguru Maharaj Ji, has called on the Niger Delta Avengers to let peace reign in that region, following the series of pipeline bombings carried out by the group.

According to Satguru Maharaji: “There is an urgent need for the ‘Avengers’ in the Niger Delta to go to the negotiating table to present their grievances for a peaceful resolution of the unnecessary lingering crisis. We cannot quench fire with fire and it does not matter how long it takes, dialogue and persuasion is what we require.

“We beg the militants to recognise the efforts being made by the Niger Delta leaders and other influential leaders and stakeholders

who are working day and night to broker peace before it gets out of control,” he said in a press release.

According to him, the Federal Government was in a position to change all the problems in the Niger Delta for good within few days and “all it takes is for all of us to educate each other to realise that war is not the answer in resolving family issues like what is on ground now.

“War is not the answer, especially when we have the blessings of the Almighty God showering every minute on Nigerians and the lands of Nigeria. This is heavy manipulation to block us from receiving and using the special grace that has touched Nigeria,” he said.

applied by the government.

As it is now, things have started improving,” the lawyer cum politician stated.

The former Commissioner for Special Duties during the tenure of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Lagos State said he was happy that Lagosians were already enjoying the dividends of democracy with the steady and impressive performance of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode.

health and freedom from violence.

The governor, however, said the voiceless, marginalised and the vulnerable were heard and given the opportunity to be included in all decisionmaking processes that affected them.

The statement read: “The Kaduna State government appreciates the importance of population issues as a key factor in sustainable development.

Therefore, we are delighted to mark the 2016 World Population Day.This is especially true of teenage girls who often faced more challenges than their male counterparts.

The World Population Day lecture, which has as its theme: “Investing in Teenage Girls,” focused on teenagers were transiting from childhood to early adulthood, and required that increased investments be made in health and education for the benefit of the young.

“With poor education, poor health, and with little or no control over her own body, her future can be derailed, and her potential may never be realised. The challenges and obstacles faced by a teenage girl tend to multiply if she is a member of an ethnic minority, lives in a village or is from a poor household. But when a teenage girl has the power, the means and the information to make her own decisions in life, she is more likely to realise her full potential and become a positive force for change in her home, community and the nation.

“Policies and investments in education and health that empower teenage girls and create economic conditions that lead to jobs are particularly important in countries with large, emerging youth populations such as Nigeria, and particularly, Kaduna State,” the statement added.

venture funding and cash call payments, lack of a clear cut direction on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), forceful co-option of government agencies in the industry into the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) and the spate of redundancy and retrenchment in the industry.

“It’s time Nigeria puts an end to endless crises in the petroleum sector just as other OPEC countries have done through sustainable industrial policy and effective implementation of labour standards in the sector that include promotion of collective bargaining, income adequacy for the workers, job security, promotion of dialogue between industry and trade unions and enforcement of labour laws that restrict precarious work.”

Also, the statement added that the “Buhariled administration’s commitment to diversification must not lead to abandonment of commitment in the extractive oil sector such as irregular joint venture funding and cash call payments.

“It is unacceptable that Nigeria exports limited crude oil and gas, and at the same time importing wholesale value-added petroleum-based products such as diesel, jet fuel, fuel oil, fertilisers, etc with attendant loss of scarce foreign exchange, loss of few jobs at home and even scandalous export of jobs,” it concluded.

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Monday, 11 July, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

Lagos

Edited by

Lanre Adewole

olanreade@yahoo.com

0811 695 4647

14 suspects, Ayomide Owonibi Odekanyin

The arraigned suspects

Ogun herbalist fortified me against gunshots —Ajah cult leader Olalekan Olabulo and Opeyemi Owoaseye

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HIRTY-FIVEYEAR-OLD Andrew Awalebi ,a leader of one of the cult groups in Ajah area of Lagos State has claimed that he was so fortified against gunshots penetrating his body.

Awalebi who was arrested over the weekend ,alongside five other members of his gang by operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS), boasted that no gun could penetrate his body. The cult leader was arrested around 8pm last Friday at a beer parlour in Jakande area of Ajah and his arrest led to the apprehension of two other members of his gang in Ikorodu area of the state.

Andrew confessed to the police that he was the leader of the Eiye Confraternity after another member of his gang Michael Thompson had opened up to the police.

Also arrested by the po-

lice are Kehinde Adebogun, Adegoke Adeleke, Koffi Kwame, Daniel Olayiwola and Yosin Isaac .

Lagos Metro, gathered that trouble started for the cult members, when Thompson was arrested by operatives of the RRS for a robbery at the National Stadium, Surulere.

Awalebi, the Ilaje Ondo State- born cult leader said

that he worked as a security man to a land speculator and that he protected himself against attack from other land grabbers. He told investigators that he has a gun – shot protective charm, specially prepared for him by an herbalist in Ijebu - Isiwo, Ogun State to save him from gunshots of land grabbers in Lekki.

The suspect stated “I was

initiated into Eiye Confraternity in 1996 by Banji Omisore. Later, in 1997 I was promoted as its topmost leader after the death of Omisore.

“We are an eight-member cult group and very early in the mornings or late at night.

I have been arrested by Special Anti – Robbery Squad sometimes ago when my cult group caused mayhem

in Jakande Estate, inflicting injuries on passers-by in the area”, he added.

The image maker in charge of the state police command, Dolapo Badmos confirmed the arrest of the suspects to Lagos Metro and added that they had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigations Department for further investigation and prosecution.

THE arraignment of 14 people and two companies, charged with N2.6 billion fraud has been adjourned till October 13.

The accused persons are: Chief C. S Sankey, Adekunle Oladosun, Okechi Egwu, Lulu Ndubuka, Oyowole Ariyo. Kabiru Bello, and J.E Eriagbon.

Others are: Samson Ebie, Steve Obodomechine, Mikky Dons Nig. Ltd, Mark Anaele, Peter Harris, Peter Oriade, Olusola Fagbure and Obianwa Chuba and Nigeria International Bank Ltd. They were charged on 20 counts bordering on conspiracy, intent to defraud, falsification of document, fraudulent alteration and diversion of over N2. 6 billion belonging to MicMerah International Agency Ltd before a Federal High Court.

It will be recalled that the arraignment of the accused had previously been stalled on Feb. 9, March 2 and April 11, following the inability of the prosecution to serve the accused with the criminal summons. In the charge, the accused were alleged to have conspired to induce MicMerah International Agency Limited, to deliver the said sum to them, to be used for offsetting a fraudulent import finance facility scheme.

They were also alleged to have falsified documents to fraudulently secure the release of four Volvo luxury buses and two 40-foot containers from the Nigeria

40-year-o Opeyemi Owoaseye

LAWMA street sweepers sitting on a truck loaded with waste. PHOTO: SYLVESTER OKORUWA.

A 40-year-old man, Idowu Oyegunle has been arraigned for an alleged N4,000,000 fraud, before an Ebute Metta magistrate court.

The defendant reportedly committed the alleged criminal act in Lekki area of Lagos State.

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Monday, 11 July, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

metro 2 firms charged over N2.6bn import fraud •To be docked Oct. 13 Custom Service.

The court charged them with obtaining property by

false pretence, as well as corruptly enriching themselves. The offence is said

to have contravened the provisions of sections 1(1) (a), 1 (3), and 8 (a), of the

Advanced Fee Fraud and Other Related offence Act, 2004.

The arrested miscreants

40 Oshodi ‘tenants’ arrested Olalekan Olabulo and Opeyemi Owoaseye

KAI Official forcing a man inside a Black Maria, for crossing the Ketu Expressway. PHOTO: SYLVESTER OKORUWA

KAI officials caught on tape extorting street traders

By Our Reporter OFFICIALS of Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) (names withheld), have been caught on tape extorting street traders who violated the law banning street hawking in Lagos State.

The two officers who conducted a raid around Alapere, Ketu, 7up, Ojota axis last Friday, were recorded on tape, demanding and receiving various sums of

money as bribe from street hawkers after arresting them for contravening the ban.

The audio-taped bribe drama happened metres away from the Alapere police station, Alapere, Lagos State. At the negotiation point, the officers eventually agreed to collect N4,000 from some traders and N2,500 from others, as the minimum negotiation bribe.

There were about 20 ar-

rested traders being negotiated with, by the unscrupulous officers, when the rowdy scene was captured.

The officials were recorded as calling the bribe monies “money for recharge card and phones.”

One of such “regular customers” told Lagos Metro that he didn’t know what to do about the sustained extortion, adding that he wasn’t also ready to quit hawking his ware. The

bribe is always meant to shield the offenders from prosecution by the mobile court.

Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, had recently placed a ban on street trading during a television broadcast.

As of press time, the agency’s Public Relations Officer, Mr Tunde Olusesi, had neither responded to calls made to his mobile phone nor to SMS sent him.

old in N4m alleged fraud Oyegunle was arrested by the police and taken to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, after the alleged incident.

He was said to have allegedly defrauded the complainant by collecting the sum of four million naira (4,000,000) from him, to maintain six trucks owned by the com-

plainant. He was also accused of using the trucks for haulage business.

It was learnt that he obtained six trucks with registration numbers (1) AKD 640 XB, (2) AKD 641 XB, (3) AKD 642 XB (4) AKD 643 XB and (5) XU 884 BDG valued at six million naira each.

The said offence is pun-

ishable under that criminal law of Lagos State thus he was charged on three counts.

The defendant however pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The defence counsel, Ibitayo Sadiku applied for bail for him on the basis that the surety would ensure he appears in court

whenever his attention is needed.

The Magistrate, Mrs Ajibade, granted the defendant a bail of N500,000 with two sureties who must be blood relations and responsible citizens with evidence of tax payment.

The case was adjourned till August 27 for mention.

OPERATIVES of Lagos State Task Force on Environmental Sanitation (LSTFES), have arrested 40 notorious miscreants at their different hide-outs in Oshodi.

The agency made this disclosure on Sunday in a statement made available by its Public Affairs Officer, Mr. Taofiq Adebayo, saying that the operation took place based on directives by the State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni to the Task Force Chairman, SP Olayinka Egbeyemi.

The agency said 39 males and one female were arrested during the operation led

by Egbeyemi, adding that Owoseni further directed that all those arrested should be charged to Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences (LSESSO) Court, Ogba, Lagos In the mean time, Owoseni, warned parents and guardians to

always monitor activities of their children particularly when they claimed to be coming to Lagos without any tangible job or relations.

One of the arrested miscreants, who identified himself as Tajudeen Adeboye (mechanic), said he was invited to Lagos by a friend, Jelili, adding that it was Jelili that lured him to picking pockets of innocent members of the public.

According to Adeboye, he and his gang made an average of between N10,000 and N20,000 daily, depending on what they found inside any bag they snatched, including telephones.

This was just as he said that all telephones and other properties snatched, were sold at cheap prices to their customers who came to them every night.

It will be recalled that Saturday Tribune, a sister paper to the Nigerian Tribune, few days ago featured the miscreants who paid their “landlords” to sleep under the bridge in Oshodi area of Lagos.

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Monday, 11 July, 2016

Nigeria’s unity: ACF not helping Buhari —ARG Lanre Adewole -Lagos

T

HE national question on whether the togetherness of Nigerian ethnic nationalities is negotiable is being answered in the affirmative by pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG).

In a statement issued on Sunday, the group upbraided its northern counterpart, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) for taking President Muhammadu Buhari’s back on his non-negotiable stance.

Apart from taking the side of Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, who called for unity negotiation, Afenifere vowed that the Yoruba race would not be anyone’s slave in the emerging political landscape, wherein the North had been heavily favoured

in political appointments

by Buhari.

The statement, signed by

its chairman, Honourable Wale Oshun read: “ARG condemns the public state-

ment made recently by the ACF, in which it expressed strong support for Presi-

dent Buhari’s position that Nigeria’s unity is non-negotiable.

Archbishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, cutting the tape, during the dedication of St Paul Catholic Church building, at Gwagwalada, Abuja, on Sunday. With him are Reverend Fathers and parishioners.

JAMB releases guideline for admission to varsities, others Clement Idoko -Abuja FOLLOWING the cancellation of the Post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) by the Federal Government, the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has released new admission guideline into universities, colleges of education and polytechnics in the country.

Head of Information of the Board, Dr Fabian Benjamin, in a statement on Sunday, said the guideline was arrived at, at a recent workshop convened by the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, on the modality for the 2016 admission into tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

According to him, first was the presentation of the list of candidates, who qualify for screening into individual institution based on the three stipulated criteria.

He noted that the 2016 admissions would be conducted purely on the three existing admission pillars of merit, catchment area and educational underdeveloped states through the following process.

Benjamin explained that the list of candidates for screening should not demand another test in any form, either written, oral or electronic, as they would have emerged successful from the UTME. He added that the candidates were expected to present their Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSSCE) results/Advanced Level (AL) results for verification and clearing purposes, saying WAEC, NECO and NBTE results or equivalent are acceptable as

matriculation requirements.

He said: “Each candidate is expected to have a minimum of five credits at SSSCE, including English, Mathematics and any other three relevant subjects to his or her discipline.

“The list of qualified candidates awaiting SSCE/AL results can be kept in view, pending the release of their results. Any candidate, who does not possess the requirements as listed above, is deemed to have failed the screening.

“Consideration of the recommended list as forwarded by JAMB should be completed within one month from the date of receipt of the list.

“Any institution that has a shortfall in the admitted candidates can make up for candidates from other departments on the institution’s list.

“Reasons for rejection of candidates on the list should be clearly stated, with proof provided alongside,” he stated.

The JAMB spokesman said the Federal Government approved the re-enforcement of admission guidelines recognised by law.

He clarified that this was not the point system widely circulated by media.

He said: “For the avoidance of doubt, the board wishes to state clearly that the point system is an illustration by the Registrar of JAMB of a few institutions that were using the point system to select candidates, while their colleagues were

subjecting candidates to written test.

“These examples are contained in a paper presented by the Registrar, which is placed on our website and was adopted by the media wrongly as the 2016 guideline.

“This is imperative so that the general public will note the correct process.

Be informed that government has directed that these guidelines should be strictly adhered to without any alterations,” he said.

Peace Corps relevant to curtailing youth restiveness, insecurity —FG Jacob Segun Olatunji -Abuja FEDERAL Government has acknowledged the relevance of the Peace Corps of Nigeria (PCN) in its efforts to curtail the rising menace of youths unemployment and restiveness in the country.

It also acknowledged the potential usefulness of the corps in intelligence gathering on the activities of insurgents across the country, as it intensified its efforts to find a lasting solution to the security challenges facing the country.

Minister for Youth and Sports Development,Solomon Dalong, who stated this at the weekend, in Abuja, during the 18th Anniversary/ founder’s Day Celebration of the corps, disclosed that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari was pleased with the activities of the organisation and would give it the necessary support to transform from a voluntary organisation to a fullfledged Federal Government outfit.

Dalong who appealed to the National Assembly to speedy up action in the passage of the Corps Bill seeking legal backing for the organisation, assured that President Buhari would assent the bill’s passage immediately based its relevance to government’s planned massive youths

empowerment in the country due to kick off nationwide soon.

He, however, appealed to other sister security agencies in the country to embrace the corps and not to see it as a rival Agency, but one on board to complement them in providing adequate security for the country.

The minister, commended the doggedness of the founder and the National Commandant of the Peace Corps,Ambassador Dickson Akoh for his foresightness in establishing it 18 years ago as a voluntary organisation aimed at Youths empowerment without government support.

Nigeria not ripe for restructuring —Lawmaker Hakeem Gbadamosi -Akure A lawmaker representing Ondo Central Senatorial District, Senator Tayo Alasoadura, at the weekend, said the country was not ripe for restructuring and not the way out of the present challenges confronting the nation.

Alasoadura, who stated this while speaking with journalists at his hometown, Iju, in Akure North Local Government Area of the state, said the country was not mature enough for restructuring.

He noted that the nation did not have the economic base

for the restructuring now.

“Restructuring is good, but my fear is this— there is no restructuring now, people cannot be paid their salaries. If you restructure and say the South-South, stay on your own, South-West, stay on your own, don’t you think some people will die within a year?

“We are not there yet. It is a good thing to do, but we are not there yet. We don’t have the economic power to get separated at this particular time. Remember that there was this cankerworm that ate tomatoes recently, we pay through the nose to have four fruits of tomatoes

today. God has created us to live together, to help each other,” he said.

The senator, however, said that the country should be preoccupied about how to find solution to the economic and other challenges facing the nation, so that the living condition of the people could be improved.

Speaking on the forthcoming governorship election in the state, Alasoadura, who is a governorship aspirant on the platform of the the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, said there was no plan to zone the governorship slot to any zone in the state.

“ARG asserts that neither President Buhari nor ACF loves Nigeria more than those advocating renegotiation of what bind us together as a country.

“ARG states unequivocally that the unity of Nigeria is only sustainable by voluntary acquiescence of components ethnic nationalities. In our view, the problem has more to do with President Buhari’s conducts – utterances and perceived lopsided appointments – which appear to portray him as a north-centric president instead of a pan-Nigeria president.

“Both the president and ACF need to take lessons on managing an all inclusive, pan-Nigerian government. We wonder on what consensus or authority the so termed non-negotiable unity of Nigeria stands. Is it based on government’s ability to silence all dissenters or the capability to manage a diverse society in a manner that makes every component proud?

“Nigeria was envisioned by its founding fathers as a federal republic, sadly its governance structure as dictated by its constitution is akin to that of a unitary state. Hence, the insistence of ACF and by extension the president to keep the provisions of Nigeria’s constitution from being renegotiated is a cause of many unsolvable agitations in the country.

“These agitations can only be managed successfully and sustainably when all Nigerians appreciate that they need one another to bequeath a strong country on the coming generations.

“Yoruba people will never agree to becoming slaves in their country and the peaceful agitation coming from their space on the restructuring of Nigeria, as against the violent agitations coming from other areas, is to carefully underscore our belief in peaceful change, the mantra under which the last election was won and lost.

“All who wish Nigeria well align with Professor Soyinka’s assertion that Nigeria’s unity is “bloody well negotiable and we had better negotiate it...not even at conferences, but everyday in our conduct....

“ARG, therefore, concludes that Nigeria’s unity and mode of governance are negotiable and the earlier we all start working towards this, the better for the development, peace and unity of the country.”

businessnews 3 days Eid-el-fitri break keeps Naira to Dollar exchange rate stable 11

Chima Nwokoji -Lagos

F

OLLOWING the shut-down of inter-bank foreign exchange (Forex) market as a result of a three-day Eid-el-Fitri holiday, the Naira exchange rate remained stable at Monday’s close of N282.02 to the dollar till Friday, July 8, 2016.

Similarly, the local currency at the Nigerian black market which traded randomly with no uniform rate throughout the holiday pe-

Monday, 11 July, 2016

riod, closed on Wednesday at N352 to the greenback, and remained stable at the same rate till the end of the break on Friday.

The holiday lasted from Tuesday 5, to Thursday 7, July 2016, grounding economic activities to a halt until skeletal resumption of activities on Friday.

However, the local currency, during the week lost N8.68 to the British Pounds as it traded for N366.1206 on Friday compared to Monday’s

close of N374.8062 to the Pounds Sterling. It also lost N2.4252 against the Euro as it traded for N311.9484 on Friday compared to Monday’s close of N314.3736 to the Euro at the interbank market.

Some operators in Lagos said the holiday could have contributed to the nation’s currency plummeting as Nigerians were unable to trade via banks, bonds and other monetary instruments.

“The rate has been far

from consistent and Nigerians could not trade as much as they would have wanted because of the Ramadan break. Some of us don’t even have to sell and Nigerians can barely buy,” one dealer said.

Meanwhile, analysts led by the Managing Director of Financial Derivatives Company (FDC) Limited, Mr Bismark Rewane said the market is still digesting the impact of the N1.3 trillion debits by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for

the $4.02 billion forward currency sale on June 20.

The bank auctioned $3.5 billion on the futures market to clear a backlog of currency demand after it lifted its 16-month-old peg to allow the Naira trade freely on the interbank market.

It sold $697 million in one-month futures, $1.22 billion in two-month contract and $1.57 billion due in three months.

“The Naira is still trying to find its true value in the transition from an imperfect towards a more efficient forex market. The apparent lack of liquidity in the spot market is hampering the effective development of a forward and

Nigerian Tribune

futures market. A 0.4 per cent of a decline in the rate of inflation will be exchange rate neutral.

“The market will be awaiting the outcome of the next monetary policy committee direction. It will also be looking forward to CBN’s willingness and ability to settle the 90-day forward contracts entered into on June 20; maturing on September 17. However, analysts will derive some comfort from a lower inflation rate because the Purchasing Power Parity value of the Naira will actually appreciate,” the FDC analysts stated in their recently released July Economic Bulletin.

Total commits N30.1bn to Nigerian economy Kehinde Akinseinde Jayeoba Lagos

From left, Executive Director, Market Operations and Technology, Nigeria Stock Exchange, Mr. Adeolu Bajomo; Chairman, Skye Bank Plc, Mr. Muhammad Ahmad; and the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Bank, Mr. Tokunbo Abiru, during the visit of reconstituted board of Skye Bank to the Nigeria Stock Exchange on Friday.

GCR affirms Sterling Bank’s BBB rating GLOBAL Credit Ratings (GCR), an international rating agency at the weekend, affirmed Sterling Bank Plc’s national long term and short term ratings of BBB (NG) and A3 (NG) respectively, with the outlook accorded as stable.

This rating which is valid until July 2017, comes after another global ratings agency, Moody’s Investors Service, affirmed the Bank’s local and foreign currency issuer ratings of B2 with stable outlook.

Moody’s had described Sterling Bank as a stable financial institution with solid asset quality, robust Information Technology and risk management processes, and high liquidity buffers. The Agency also assigned a Counterparty Risk Assessment (CRA) of B1(cr)/Not Prime(cr) to the Bank with stable outlook.

GCR in a report made available to newsmen by Sterling Bank in Lagos at the weekend attributed the Bank’s rating to its strong performance and resilience amidst challenging operating conditions.

Part of the GCR Report reads, “Sterling’s total assets amounted to N796.4 billion (representing a market share of 2.8 per cent) at FYE15. The bank’s capital base grew 12.2 per cent in FYE15, solely through internal capital generation, with

the risk weighted capital adequacy ratio (“RWCAR”) improving to 17.5 per cent at FYE15 (FYE14: 14.0 per cent). To further strengthen its capital base and support asset growth, the bank is in the process of raising up to N35 billion Tier II capital expected to be concluded in the third quarter of FYE 16”.

Notwithstanding the 100 basis points contraction recorded in net interest margin, Sterling Bank, according to the agency, reported a Net Profit After Tax (NPAT) of N10.3 billion for

FYE15, an improvement of 14.4 per cent over F14. “Performance was supported by non-interest income which grew 13.8 per cent to N29.3bn (buoyed by growth in trading securities). Further, total operating expense line declined 1.9 per cent to N49.7 billion, resulting in a reduction of the cost ratio to 72.2 per cent from 73.6 per cent in FYE14.” According to the Agency, the Bank’s gross NPL ratio ended at 4.8 per cent in F15, which was below peer average of 6.1 per cent and regulatory limit

of five per cent.

While commending Sterling Bank for composing its Board of Directors in line with the provisions of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Code of Corporate Governance for Banks in Nigeria and the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC), code for publicly quoted companies, GCR also lauded the Bank for maintaining a diversified funding base, consisting mainly of customer deposits (both retail and corporate).

Cargoes: Cotonou, Lome introduce THC, raises hope at Nigeria’s seaports Tola Adenubi - Lagos TWO of Nigeria’s seaport competitors in the West African coastline, Ports of Lome and Cotonou in Togo and Benin Republic respectively are set to introduce Terminal Handling Charges (THC) with effect from August 15, 2016.

It will be recalled that this two ports have successfully diverted cargoes away from Nigeria’s seaports following the introduction of the Auto policy and bulk cargoes restrictions by the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Added to this policies have been the fact that while Nigeria’s private operators running her sea-

ports charges THC, this two neighbouring ports does not, which further forced many importers to divert their cargoes from Nigeria’s seaports to these neighbouring ports.

According to a port worker who declined to have his name in print, “the move at the two neighbouring ports could affect the rush to these ports by Nigerian importers.”We just hope these new charges at Lome and Cotonu will discourage importers from diverting cargoes down there and bring them to Nigerian ports,” He stated.

In a notice sent to all stakeholders recently, shipping firm, CMA/CGM ex-

plained that THC will be applicable in addition to the ocean freight for import and export cargo and payable at Cotonou as follows:Dry Containers: EUR 95 per 20’ – EUR 135 per 40’, Reefer Containers, EUR 140 per 20’ – EUR 195 per 40’, Special Containers: EUR 145 per 20’ – EUR 205 per 40’.

CMA CGM also explained that, “As a common practice in the shipping industry worldwide and considering the challenging market environment with significant operational cost in Benin, CMA CGM wishes to inform its customers of the implementation of a Terminal Handling Charge (THC) in Cotonou.

DESPITE harsh operating environment and a sharp decline in global oil prices, Total Nigeria Plc, a major player in the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry in the country has said that it has contributed N30.1 billion to the Nigerian economy.

The company, which disclosed this in its Corporate Governance Report for the financial year ended December 31, 2015, said that it was part of its contribution towards the development of the country.

A breakdown of the figure, the report indicated, showed that local purchases and investments of about N16.2 billion were made in the period under review, a reflection of the

company’s commitment to Local content drive.

Again, Direct Wages in excess of N7.6 billion, taxes and duties of N5.6 billion where as N3.7 was paid as dividends to local shareholders.

“Moreover, it is worth noting that through its service providers, stations dealers, suppliers and transporters, Total provides employability to about 10,000 persons,” the company noted.

Also, the Managing Director of the company, Alexis Vovk added that it ensures strict adherence to policies and procedures especially in relation to Corporate Social Investment.

“The objective is to implement actions that will directly address the needs of our stakeholders and have positive impacts on our business,” he said.

Why Fidelity Pension is evolving interpersonal relationship with retirees Oluwole Ige -Osogbo THE General Manager, Operations, Mr Gboyega Ajekigbe of Fidelity Pension Managers Limited, Mr Olalekan Idowu has said the need to ensure effective service delivery prompted the organisation to evolve interpersonal relationship with retirees under its pension scheme.

He maintained that creating healthy relationship with the organisation’s clients had assisted in enhancing its services and also provided windows of opportunity in evaluating the welfare and individual condition of retirees, with a view to giving them sense of belonging in Fidelity Pension Managers Limited.

Ajekigbe made this disclosure during an interactive forum with retirees in Osogbo, Osun State said despite the current nation’s economic

downturn, retirees’ fund and investments in Fidelity Pension Managers Limited would not only remain intact, but also yield higher dividends for their benefits.

He said the essence of the interactive session was to achieve better service delivery, educate retirees on the benefits inherent in Fidelity Pension and also make research and evaluation on how the retirees were faring after retirement.

In his remark at the forum, the General Manager, Business Development and Strategy of the organisation, Mr Ibrahim Kaya described retirement as inevitable, saying it was imperative for workers to plan their retirement effectively, with a view to avoiding suffering, frustration and hunger after active service in public and private sector.

Nigerian Tribune Monday, 11 July, 2016 12 businessnews Manufacturers lost over N300 billion to unstable economic policies —MAN

By Ruth Olurounbi

T

HE Vice President of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Dr Stella Okoli, on Sunday, said local manufacturers had lost well over N300billion to unstable economic policies which had precipitated a distress in the economy.

Media reports have it that the local manufacturers have lost about N300 billion to the development, but Okoli insisted that the figure was much higher than what was being bandied about.

According to her, forex policies in the country, as well as high interest rate payment have constrained the manufacturing industry in the country, thus making it difficult for the industry to thrive.

Okoli, who is also the Managing Director of Emzor Pharmaceutical Industries Limited, said the country’s forex policy had negatively affected manufacturers, saying lack of access to forex had hampered manufacturing activities in the country.

“Last year, we bought dollars at between N170 and N200 but now we buy at N350. You can see how this is affecting the manufacturing industry negatively,” she said.

She explained that although manufacturers could bid at N282 at the interbank rates, “what I have discovered is that we don’t get what we bid for. We were told that if we had bidded at over N280, we would get all the money we wanted even if it is a billion dollars but those who bidded lower than N280 will have to wait till about three to four months to get the forex they need.

“Now, the problem here is that our monies are tied up with the bank, which means we don’t have access to our Naira or the forex that we have bidded for and this is affecting our business.”

Okoli, who lamented that many companies in the manufacturing industry are

closing down, while those still in operations are laying off staff, said new policies are needed to make the lo-

cal manufacturing industry competitive in the international community.

The Emzor Pharmaceu-

antiretroviral drugs at the instance of the government over three years ago was not encouraging the industry to

grow.

She therefore, called on the government to articulate policies that will protect the manufacturing industry, “because without manufacturing, we are dead. We need to fix our country.

“Government must formulate policies that would engender the growth of manufacturing, and regulatory agencies must work together to ensure smoother exports,” she counseled.

Divestment:

From left, Product Manager, OTC, Fidson Healthcare Plc, Mr Femi Ajala; Permanent Secretary, Education District 2, Representing the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Mrs Titilayo Solarin; Astymin School Programme Coordinator, Mrs Yetunde Adesola; Representative of Co-Corricular Department, SUBEB, Mrs Ismail Magareth Morenike; General Manager, Fidson Healthcare Plc, Mr Ola Ijimakin during the 5th Edition of Astymin Brilliance Reward Programme on Saturday in Lagos. PHOTO: SYLVESTER OKORUWA.

Expert decries delay of Brisin project THE delay by the Federal Government in implementing the Basic Registry and Information System in Nigeria, BRISIN, is holding back foreign investors and the European Union in confirming their participation in the scheme.

The Head of BRISIN International team from Italy, Professor Vincenzo Naso, at a stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja, told the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma, that the failure to expedite action on the project has denied Nigeria the benefit of efficient planning and rapid economic development. Prof. Naso and his team were in Nigeria for the flag off of the project which has been on the drawing board since 2007 when an agreement was signed with Dermo Impex, the solution providers.

They left for Italy with mixed feelings owing to lack of proper coordination between the Ministry and the National Bureau of Statistics.

“Delaying this project has

caused Nigeria some reasonable setback in credibility and proper economic planning. It has negatively affected internally generated revenue, fiscal policy and management, security control and migration monitor as well as provision of social welfare services.

“I have the strong opinion that the continued delay of this project is dangerous and your government cannot afford to allow other smaller African countries move ahead while you keep watching without taking the necessary steps developed countries took to get to where they are today,” Prof.

Naso told the minister.

He expressed regret that prospective investors may reconsider their participation in the project unless the federal government shows enough commitment by releasing funds for the pilot scheme in the federal capital territory.

“We are very enthusiastic and convinced on the viability of this project. Our presence at this meeting is to

Business communities in Kano, Kaduna call for urgent enactment of Competition Bill THE business communities in Kano and Kaduna have called on the National Assembly to hasten deliberations towards the passage of the Competition Bill into law.

The businessmen and women in the two states emphasised the importance of the bill in a joint statement released yesterday.

According to them, “the absence of Competition Law is causing too many irregularities in the market environment. In the statement, the business community noted some of the problems thriv-

tical boss also said the fact that the government owes the pharmaceutical industry for the production of

ing as a result of an absence of the Competition Bill.

Some of the issues they highlighted include price fixing by a dominant firm or by a group of firms in concert; allocation and restriction of markets along geographical or product lines; exclusion of particular dealers or suppliers; collusive tendering or bid rigging; forming and operating exclusive cartels to keep new entrants away from the market, and all other practices that seek to take advantage of the consumer.

The press statement noted

that there is currently no Legislation or Regulation dedicated solely to market competition issues in Nigeria. They drew attention to the fact that none of the numerous Bills before the National Assembly on the subject have been passed into Law. The release stated that with the current economic situation in the country, the Competition Bill will bring and enforce regulations that would greatly benefit the wobbling economy and re-engage the market systems to thrive.

fast-track the release of project funds and flag off so that we can activate numerous foreign investments and international financial participation that would increase employment opportunities and allow Nigerians to start benefitting from this great system,” Prof. Naso said.

Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma, described the project as very useful to proper planning and organised development.

He promised to ensure its prompt implementation as soon as he receives the report of the technical team

supervised by the Statistician-General of the Federation.

Head of BRISIN implementation in Nigeria, Dr Anthony Uwa, described the scheme as “one instrument that guarantees security, job creation, social services and welfare, justice and equity, economic monitoring and control, good fiscal policy and discipline, good governance and rapid democratic development. For me and Nigerians in Diaspora, BRISIN cannot be delayed even for one day if this government must make the change.”

Group set to provide over 600,000 jobs for Nigerian youths

By Adewale Oshodi WITH the high rate of unemployment in Nigeria, coupled with the risk of survival under the current economic situation, the Eagle Search and Rescue Foundation, a non-governmental and non-profit organisation has declared its intention to create 105,450 direct and 500,000 indirect job opportunities for Nigerian youths by the third quarter of 2016.

The group said the move became necessary because of the rate of crime in Nigeria especially among the youth as thousands of graduates pass out of Nigerian universities annually to join the saturated labour market.

Speaking recently in Lagos, the visioner of the foundation, Sunday Bamidele Ajanaku, an America-trained pilot, said with the cooperation of Nigerian government, corporate organisations and individuals, Nigeria will soon overcome the challenge of unemploy-

ment.

“This venture is billed to reduce crime and criminality in Nigeria and prepare them for resumption of duties in their respective state of resident/communities,” he said.

Ajanaku, who said his organisation has recruited 3302 youths from 10 states, appealed for Federal Government approval and assistance for the take-off of the project.

According to him, the content of the project includes urgent emergency rescue assistance and medical treatments to accident victims across the country and transmission of information on state of health, location of victims among others to their next-of-kin.

The group would also educate the general public on the importance of Passengers’ Manifests and the need to register while travelling and subscribing to any other data collating agencies aimed at assisting accident victims.

GSK shareholders approve 60 kobo special dividend Kehinde Akinseinde Jayeoba Lagos SHAREHOLDERS of Glaxosmithkline Consumer Nigeria Plc has approved a special dividend of 60 kobo for each share as a consolidation for the divestment of the drink business of the company to Suntory Beverage and Food Nigeria Limited.

At an Extra-Ordinary Meeting held in Lagos on Monday, board members proposed a special dividend of N716 million to be paid to shareholders on the completion of the transaction of the divestment.

In 2013, the parent company, Glaxosmithkline Group had divested Ribena and Lucozade brands to the Suntory Group but GSK Nigeria secured the rights to continue to manufacture and distribute the product in the country under a 10year arrangement.

However, in 2016, GSK Nigeria accepted a non -binding offer from Suntory for the acquisition of the company’s drinks brand for a headline prive of $79.2 million dollars.

Speaking at the EGM, chairman of GSK Nigeria, Mr Edmund Onuzo, explained that the proposed use of proceeds includes payment of taxes, cost of transaction, debts, dividends and investment to grow retained business.

He added that transaction would give the company an opportunity to focus on growing the GSK Consumer business in alignment with its parent company, while noting that the other rationale for the transaction include monetising the low margin products, securing employment for employees at the factory and addressing payment of foreign exchange dominated debt.

13

editorial

T

Monday, 11 July, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

The three-day holiday

HE recent, universally observed Ramadan fast finally culminated in Nigeria going on a public holiday spree. For the first time, the usual twoday break was unduly extended to three days on account of some sloppiness on the part of the Interior Ministry which handles such matters. Usually, the end of the Ramadan is determined by the religious rule of sighting the moon but once the fasting has lasted for 30 days, it automatically terminates irrespective of the vagaries of the elements. Somehow, this year, the moon did not hurry out to be sighted early enough to permit the usual variance experienced by the faithful at the end of the fasting period.

Without sighting any moon, the Interior Ministry declared Tuesday, July 5 and Wednesday, July 6 as holidays for the Eid-el-Fitri, only to later include Thursday, July 7, as the holidays progressed, thus giving a country in recession an official authority for undeserved sloth. We can wager a guess that the 8th July which happened to be a Friday also went as a public holiday, especially in the civil service that has a legendary reputation for malingering and sloth.

Across the country, the initial response to the development was total incredulity, as such a flagrant abuse of protocol had never been experienced before.

But it became official when a release to that effect from the Federal Government sealed it, and there have been effusive reactions from a public whose adroitness at concocting absurdities is almost beyond belief. One of such public reactions was its implication for the adherents of other faiths. It could, for instance, be expected that this official largesse will eventually be extended to Christian faithful during Christmas in the name of religious balancing, even though the Christian faith hardly ever depends on the elements to celebrate its festivals.

Any kind of official hesitation may not be justifiable without the administration betraying a bias in favour of one faith against the others. This is one fundamental reason for the condemnation of the tactlessness of the Interior Ministry in handling such a sensitive issue that could unnecessarily spark seething resentments against the Federal Government. We are therefore

unequivocal in condemning this lapse on the part of the Interior Ministry which has the bounden duty to advise the government properly.

But of course the larger picture is the country’s penchant for holidays in the face of the precipitous trajectory of its productivity level. Incidentally, this issue provided the background canvass for the recent lapse by the government in not exercising enough restraint in granting an extra day as a public holiday.

According to reports, the three-day holiday cost the country about N138 billion. This was because there were scheduled treasury bills auction estimated at N94 billion, as well as N44 billion treasury bills maturity for the week, which the unusual holidays put off.

Hindered by crude infrastructure, it is easy to see why the country’s GDP is not anywhere near the ideal considering the immense potential market promised by the critically underserved population. The country’s public sector may have the lackadaisical attitude to productivity but it has an untoward damaging and reverberating effect on the private sector that does not have to share in the effects of the attitude on productivity. This is, we think, a most unfortunate development. As corporate citizens, many private companies are constrained to conform to the dictates of their host community even when these are not wholesome to their economic survival in a globally competitive world. The offensive penchant, not to say craving, for indiscipline as the official attitude in Nigeria is once again in evidence.

As a country in recession, the three-day public holiday was an aberration and it gave the country up as irresponsible and recalcitrant, even to those who have a modicum of respect for it. Incidentally, the lingering pain being experienced by players in the economy is sourced from such attitudes as that which played out during the Eid-el Fitri break. It is impossible to reconcile the socio-economic dilemma which unemployment represents with the penchant for holidays at the drop of a hat. No effort must be spared to stop this crazy wave in the country’s tottering economy to save it from going under despite the promises it holds.

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15

opinion

Monday, 11 July, 2016

Lasisi Olagunju

W

Lasgunju@yahoo.com (08111813053)

E are truly the happiest people on earth. I always knew Nigerians could joke about anything- good or bad, fortune or misfortune.

And, if you doubted this, what followed the Federal Government’s unnecessary declaration of last Thursday as an additional sallah holiday should convince you nothing saddens us for long. Spontaneous, caustic, costly jokes immediately took over from the initial shock and disbelief that followed that governmental error. And, no one was spared. The most wicked of the jokes was: “The moon has been sighted tomorrow — Lai Mohammed.” Why would anyone do that to the amiable minister who we all knew was not Nostradamus, the man who saw tomorrow. I think it is even worse than you might think.

The adopted grammatical tense was as surreal and unprecedented as the novel holiday declaration. What was attributed to the minister was a declaration that the act of moon sighting had been done — “tomorrow.” Even Nostradamus never claimed living in “tomorrow,” he only saw it. That joke was a very wicked insinuation that our minister had an infinite capacity for imagining the impossible.

A friend asked how long the Information Minister laughed when he read his own share of the long list of the social media jokes that killed the disbelief of those three days of celebrations. Did he laugh? Or he shook his head as I did? Governments live on information management.

If you like, call it propaganda. I have the feeling it is not a picnic working as this government’s chief propagandist.

“Big lies”, Hitler says, help push change in the polity. The bigger the lie, the higher the possibility of its being believed. For Hitler, “everyone tells small lies but few have the guts to tell colossal lies. Because a big lie is so unlikely, people will come to accept it.” And that precisely is the tragedy of government information managers. They are distrusted and suffer mistrust. Because the people had seen bad times, listened to the real bad guys with big lies, when you try telling the truth, the enemy outside describes you as a “truthful liar.”

The politics of moon sighting is as local as it is global.

As a child, I remember seeing some funny elderly folks who would insist their special eyes had seen the moon on the 29th fasting day and would celebrate sallah the following day while we fasted. And, because they enjoyed enjoying life, their fast-forwarded celebration would be further extended to join our own day of sallah. We used to

‘The Moon Has Been Sighted Tomorrow’

ask why. The answer we got was the repeat of the experience the following year. That was the déjà vu I felt when our government jumped the gun and saw the moon five days before the rest of the world saw it and declared last Tuesday and Wednesday as public holidays. I felt it when the government took shame to the market on Tuesday evening, withdrawing that day’s (already spent) holiday and inserting Thursday as the new work-free day. I call it the ole, alainikanse choice.

Should all states even be railroaded into obeying misapplied federal directives such as this one? If all the federating nationalities do not have same attitude to salient issues such as when to work and when to enjoy life, can we take another look at the Public Holidays Act as we demand for a truly federal republic of Nigeria. America has several days as public holidays but only eight are federal holidays, even Boxing Day is observed as holiday in only seven states there. I do not know if we felt anything with the decision of the United States embassy in Nigeria to work on that Thursday. It should tell us something about how outsiders consider us and the way we run our public affairs.

When the Nigerian elite hear of holidays, what do they do? Even before holidays are declared, the elite who work in government offices, how many days of the week do they work? It is no one’s work and so, they must not lose their sweat doing it. The mindset of the working elite is the same as that of those in government. That was why no

one in power cautioned those who frittered away a whole week in the life of this nation, preparing to celebrate, celebrating and doing postmortem on Thursday. Are we really a lazy nation? I do not think so. When working for themselves, Nigerians do not like holidays, and, in fact, they do no go on leave. Nigerians of all nationalities are very hardworking people. I did my youth service in the old Sokoto State and I saw how an average Hausa man worked throughout the day to earn a living. The same is true of all other ethnic groups. Turning us into a workhating nation is an elite construct.

The Holy Books ask us to look at certain other creations, especially the ant, for guidance on how to order our ways. We do that in our private lives. But are the minders of our public affairs not looking at the opposite of this divine guidance? They appear taking after the owl monkeys. These ones sleep 17 hours during the day and are very active at night. They also derive inspiration from others such as slow-moving opossums for whom food, water and shelter are determinants of where they stay.

You all know our politicians are like Armadillos, active at night, snoring off all their day. There is another creation called koala which fits the character portraits of leaders who loathe work. Famed for “spending more than 80 percent of their entire lives in dreamland” koalas, are, indeed, blessed with the reputation of being the world’s laziest animal. But Nigerians are not lazy. The problem is the government with a very wrong work ethic.

A broke nation that burnt a whole week celebrating.

That was Buhari’s 2016 Nigeria. And because we joke about everything, someone said Nigeria lost billions to that wasted week and another countered, asking where the billions made in the weeks Nigeria worked were?

What kind of poverty does Nigeria suffer from and why is it poor? You do not have to look far for answers. If you played, as a youth, for so long that you forgot to work and get a life, you shouldn’t demand any respect for your grey hair at old age. There was the story of the slave who was happy that an early morning rain made a leveler of him and his owner - both relaxing, enjoying when he was supposed to have cleared acres of farmland. He sang. He whistled, throwing broadsides at the boss. His owner sang back assuring him that he was doomed to combining that day’s labour with the next day’s. Poor work ethics cannot lead to prosperity. A nation in the dark cannot see the light by sleeping in the cavernous alley of indolence.

Towards doing more for refugees

By Samantha Power

LET me begin with a fact with which you are all familiar: We are in the midst of the greatest refugee crisis since the Second World War. Just like the people at the heart of it, this crisis crosses borders, oceans, and continents. And because it is global in scale, anything less than a global response will fall short of addressing it. Yet rather than spur a united front, a united effort, the challenge of mass displacement has divided the international community – and even individual nations – leaving the lion’s share of the response to a small number of countries, stretching our humanitarian system to its breaking point, and putting millions of people in dire situations at even greater risk.

Today I will make the case for why we must do better. I will first describe the gap between the unprecedented scale of the crisis and the growing shortfalls in the international response. I will then take on some of the most common concerns one hears when it comes to admitting refugees, showing that, while there are, of course, genuine risks, these are often distorted; the actual threats can be mitigated. Our current approach of leaving a small number of nations to bear most of the costs, by contrast, carries hidden dangers, risking the lives of countless refugees, while also weakening our partners and strengthening violent extremists and organised crime. A global response is urgently needed, and the United States must help lead it.

At the end of 2015, more than 65 million people were displaced worldwide, over half of them children. That is the highest number on record since the UN’s Refugee Agency started collecting statistics. To help put that number in perspective, that’s the equivalent of one in every five Americans being displaced. Some 34,000 people will be displaced today alone.

Many rightly point to the role that the turmoil in Syria has played in this crisis. Roughly, half of Syria’s pre-war population of 23 million has been uprooted since the conflict began in 2011 – some six-and-half million within Syria’s borders, and five million to other countries. But the conflict in Syria is far from the only driver of this problem.

The wars forcing people from their homes are multiplying – with at least 15 conflicts erupting or reigniting since 2010.

And conflicts are lasting longer, meaning people have to wait longer before it is safe to return home. Roughly one in three refugees today is caught in what is called a “protracted refugee situation.” In 1993, the typical protracted refugee situation lasted nine years; today, the median duration is 26 years and counting.

People do not become refugees by choice, obviously; they flee because their lives are at risk – just as we would do if we found ourselves in such a situation. And most want to go home. So we recognise that the most effective way to curb the mass displacement of people is by addressing the conflicts, violence, and repression that they have fled in the first place, and that continues to make it unsafe for them to return home. Consider a survey of Syrian refugees carried out early this year in Gaziantep, along Turkey’s southern border. It found that 95 percent of the Syrians polled said that they would return home if the fighting stopped. In May, a study of Nigerian refugees in Cameroon – most of whom had fled Boko Haram – found that more than three in four wanted to return home. I met with refugees in both of these places, and when I posed the question of who wanted to go home to groups of refugees, all hands shot up in the air. Many of you have had similar experiences.

Even as we recognise the need to work toward the solutions that will reduce the drivers of mass displacement, we also

have to meet the vital needs of refugees in real time. And on that front we in the international community are coming up far short. For one, we are seeing record shortfalls in providing essential humanitarian assistance. In 2015, the UN requested approximately $20 billion to provide life-saving aid, only $11 billion of which was funded. This year, the $21 billion that the UN is seeking is less than one-quarter funded.

Not only are countries giving far too little support to meet refugees’ critical needs, few countries – and in particular, few wealthy countries – are stepping up to resettle more refugees.

As a result, a hugely disproportionate share of refugees are being housed by a small group of developing countries. At the end of 2015, 10 countries – with an average GDP per capita of around $3,700 – were hosting some 45 percent of the world’s refugees. The United States’ GDP per capita, by comparison, is approximately $54,600. Add in the dramatic cuts in humanitarian assistance, and you start to get a sense of the direness of the situation.

To be fair, it can take time for governments to lay the groundwork for admitting more refugees. We are dealing with this challenge right now in the United States, as we make the adjustments necessary to take in 10,000 Syrian refugees this year, out of a total of 85,000 refugees, a goal we, of course, intend to meet. Yet even as a country with experience admitting and resettling more than three million refugees in the last four decades, it has not been easy.

But the work required to scale up admissions is not what is preventing many countries from taking in more refugees.

Instead, even as the crisis continues to grow, many countries are making no effort at all to do their fair share.

•Power is the United States Ambassador to the United Nations.

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Monday, 11 July, 2016

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Monday, 11 July, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

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

analysis

entrepreneuership

markets

leadership & management

I want to see more chartered accountants go into business —ICAN president The newly appointed 52nd president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Deacon Titus Soetan, wants more chartered accountants as entrepreneurs, running their own businesses in order to reduce the level of unemployment in the country. This is because they are trained entrepreneurs, equipped with the skills to run successful businesses. In this interview with CHIMA NWOKOJI, the professional and astute manager talks about his plans for the institute, Nigeria’s new foreign exchange regime and how the institute’s activities impact on the economy.

Y

OU have just emerged as the 52nd president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), what are your major plans for the institute?

My plans for ICAN are to make sure we sustain and improve the brand. It is a good brand that we have inherited over the years.

Having the brand is not where it stops. We must ensure that the brand continues to make meaning and remain relevant. I will leverage on all our strength built over the years. I plan to do a lot of advocacy programmes and we are going to do that more vigorously beginning from this year. We have to let the public know our stand on certain burning issues of public interest that are begging for answers.

We are not a trade union no doubt but our voice is respected by many people in, and outside the country. We have programmes for our members that will improve their skills and make them render the kind of service they should render to the public. We want those of them in practice to practice their profession with ethics and professionalism in mind so that they don’t go against any legislation because if they do anything wrong, it impacts on all us.

We will be holding more talks and training programs for them. Those who want to specialize in certain areas other than audit, like forensic accounting, we have our certification programme them. We encourage them to get certified as Forensic Accountants which is an aspect of accountancy that is relevant in our clime.

Forensic Accounting seems not to be well known in this part of the world. Are you saying you will drive and deepen the learning of that aspect of accounting especially at this period of much talk about corruption?

You are right to say it is not well known.

But like I said, we have even commenced the certification programme so that our members can get special training and be recognised in that area. Of course they will be trained in fraud detection, but the issue of fraud is a different thing entirely. It depends on the environment and the organisation in question.

It bothers on whether such organisations even have experts that will assist forensic investigators. You know it is difficult to meddle into other people’s affairs. You cannot achieve desired result if you are not

would have imbibed the value of accuracy, integrity and ability to manage people’s money entrusted in their hands. You don’t dig into your employers’ money for your own benefit. That does not belong to you.

If you do, it becomes professional misconduct and under our processes, the penalties are heavy. If anybody is found guilty, he or she can be expelled from the institute and the person has no right to practise as a chartered accountant again.

That sounds severe enough.

Yes. Corruption has thrived very well in our clime because we don’t have that moral courage to take the right step. In other climes like China, there is corruption but once you are caught, you become a public example.

If people that are caught are given the right sentence, everyone will sit up because no one wants to be made a public show.

That is what we are lacking in this jurisdiction. Remember the president said if we don’t kill corruption, corruption will kill us.

When a case lingers for too long, its essence is lost because justice delayed is justice denied as they say. So, the Judiciary should help in speeding up justice so that we get result as fast as possible without compromising the procedure.

Soetan

Corruption has thrived very well in our clime because we don’t have that moral courage to take the right step. there and there is no one assisting you. I can come as an auditor after the event has taken place, but it will be good to have the kind of experts in ministries, departments and agencies that would be able to raise the alarm before any harm is done, rather than now when everyone has looted the treasury before we start to cry all over the place.

Is there a way ICAN can help Nigeria in its war against corruption?

It is not only ICAN; everybody should be involved. But for the institute as a body, it

is helping in several ways. We believe and hold tenaciously to our motor: ‘Accuracy and Integrity.’ That means that even though we are no saints, we must act above board in all given circumstances.

Members should not be unnecessarily tempted to betray the trust bestowed on them. When they are in position of trust and authority, it is first to benefit their organisation and the general public not themselves. These values are imbibed all through our training programmes and processes such that when they become qualified, they

Are you saying that when the Judiciary speeds up cases and with more professional accountants in various sectors of the economy, corruption will reduce?

Yes it will. But then we need a national orientation. What are our values as a people?

We need to develop that, right from the family level. In the past we talked about old politicians as being corrupt but are we having them today? No. We have young men as politicians today. They are our brothers and sisters. Some are even our children. What values did they get from home before getting to the public? It matters a lot. Everybody must espouse good moral values to their children because they are going to be the rulers of tomorrow. If good values are imbibed at the family level, when you become a leader or get to the position of authority you will not forget.

On the part of the government, it needs to promote accountability by its body language. A government cannot say it is fighting corruption whereas its body language does not show it.

Looking back to the days you first became a chartered accountant and now, what are the specific areas you have noticed changes?

The profession is not static. Many things have changed. With technology which has affected all areas of our lives, the processes Continues pg 27

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Monday, 11 July, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

with Kehinde Akinseyinde-Jayeoba m: 08057336640 e: kehinde_07@yahoo.com

We’ll make our stock market first in Africa —Dogara The Speaker of the Federal House of Representative, Yakubu Dogara, in company of the committee on capital market, was at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), in Lagos, last Friday, where he fielded questions on the just concluded capital market conference in Abuja. KEHINDE AKINSEINDE-JAYEOBA brings the interview.

H

OW sure are you about the Nigerian Capital Market, what is the government doing to boost investors’ confidence?

There is need for us to deepen the market, but firstly there is a need to create and sustain confidence in the market. For confidence to come back fully into the market, one of the issues to be addressed is the issue of sanctions.

People who commit infractions need to be dealt with. In the past that wasn’t the practice. If you recall, the crash in the market did not occasion any serious prosecution to those who perpetrated the fraud and lots of insider dealings, that I can say because I was a member of the committee that investigated what led to the crash in the market then, so I know some of these issues, but we were not able to deal with those who perpetrated the malpractices that led to the crash of the market.

What we are doing now is that we are ammending certain principle enactment with the IAST, ISA 2007, CAMA and some other legislations to ensure that regulators are on top of their jobs and they retain the legal tools and capacity to punish severely pepertrators of malpractices. We would start dealing with this and when our citizens see that there is a transparent line of authority as to when something happens it can be immediately dealt with then confidence will naturally come back.

I’m happy that the council is supporting us because of their engagements today, the development of a complaint process mechanism which got submitted through the executive of the Securities Exchange Commission and eventually make it to the National Assembly so that we can see what we can do about that, but for us to bring back the confidence of investors, people must see clearly that regulators are on top of their jobs. Then a lot of people will come into the market.

What is the government doing about recurrent issue of multinationals, oil and gas and telecoms listing on the NSE? We sincerely believe that for us to deepen the market, telecoms companies, oil and gas companies need to list, which must be the case.

It’s more unacceptable when they are listed in other countries and they are not listed here. The flow of resources from citizens to the companies is what makes them rich. And as a responsible government, a reasonable part of the profit made could be shared to Nigerians which is the way we can engender economic prosperity.

As part of the Bureau of Public Enterprises sales, there is a clause that companies that are successful should list part of their equities on the NSE, but so far that hasn’t been done.

Now that we have this information we shall look at some of the agreement with these companies and where there are clauses that require them to list on the market and they haven’t done so through the powers of oversight, we would ensure that that is done or that they are penalised in line with the agreement that they signed with the Bureau of Pub-

Dogara lic Enterprise.

But I want to make it very clear that as a responsible parliament and government, we cannot just sit down and say we would continue to do things the way we used to and expect a different outcome. Nigerian is the number one economy in Africa; our stock market must have a corresponding status as number one on the continent. For us to achieve this, even if it means inventing some kind of legislative tools to ensure that this is done, we shall do it.

Once a company is privatised and you are the successful bidder, you must list a reasonable part of your equities in the stock market. And we would follow through to ensure that this is done, we shall do it.

We want to ensure also that is done in respects of spectrums given out. The spectrums given out to telecoms companies before, gladly will elapse very soon, so we would ensure that that is a cardinal requirement, that they must register reasonable part of their equities.

If we do that, I sincerely believe that sooner than later, we would be able to achieve the goal of these companies making huge profit list on our market, and by that, we would deepen the market, and then have resources that we can channel from the market to addressing the critical shortfall that we have in terms of infrastructure. Candidly, without infrastructure, we cannot develop, and a better way of addressing our infrastructure deficit is through raising money from our capital market.

What is the National Assembly doing on the amendment of IST, CAMA and ensuring stakeholders imput?

In the past, there was no synergy between parliament and council, however, we have worked on that and there is a positive synergy between legislature and council. I believe that by utilising that, we can achieve a lot.

Now, we have had cause to craft a master plan, which I believe is commendable in all respect. The implementation

The spectrums given out to telecoms companies before, gladly will elapse very soon, so we would ensure that that is a cardinal requirement, that they must register reasonable part of their equities

of the capital master plan over a ten-year period which has been projected brings no doubt that it will result in the realisation of the full potential of this market.

In order to show how serious parliament is and to underpin the fact that the government places a lot of premium on this market. The Senate President and I, who personally attended a stakeholders’ summit held weeks ago, promised that we will implement the outcomes generated from the stakeholders summit.

We have noted the issues raised and I can tell you that we are addressing these issues through some of the bills before us.

Talking about stakeholders’ engagement, when addressing bills, as part of our process and rules, once a bill scales through second reading, the next process is for a public hearing to be held on it, and the reason why a public hearing is held is to throw the door open to all relevant stakeholders who have the expertise in the field to come and speak to us.

So, when we speak with relevant stakeholders, such dialogue will improve the quality of legislations that will come out from the National Assembly, which would help us to craft legislation that will speak to the yearnings of those sectors in the society.

How many capital market related bills are set before the parliament and what is the level of passage at present?

The truth is I cannot sit and count the amount of bills set before the parliament, but I can tell you that we are not only addressing the issue of the capital market, but we are after the wholistic business environment in Nigeria, and what we did was to constitute a committee of eminent jurors in Nigeria, some of who are senior advocates, so we constituted this team of experts who have been working for close to a year to look at the entire gamut of laws we have relating to business.

With the efforts of this committee, we have passed 85 billsthe highest in a year. We have also taken a total of 235 bills from that committee and if we are able to pass all these bills, we would have been able to clean our statute books and modernise them.

Those laws with ludicrous punishment will be fine-tuned not just on the capital market, but the entire business environment so that we do not continue to lose to our neighbouring countries. We are competing with frontier markets, and if care is not taken, companies will continue to run away from jurisdictions that do not offer a competitive edge and that is what has been happening before. So, that’s what we have been doing from the perspective of parliament and we are committed to doing away with that.

But for the capital market, there are other legislations that were raised today, and I am encouraging them to work on it. We have a duty to the moral compass of the nation to always highlight those areas that we believe that there are shortfalls.

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Monday, 11 July, 2016

Seinye Lulu Briggs, Executive ViceChairman, Moni Pulo Ltd

The 60-second

business coach page 24

page 24

Leaders’

forum page 24

Quote Leadership

Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great. —Nicolo Machiavelli

How leaders get the best out of team members

By Sulaimon Olanrewaju

O

ne of the major worries of leaders and managers is how to motivate their staff for optimum performance. The reason is not shrouded

in any mystery; the wellbeing of an organization (output, liquidity, stability and reputation) is consequent on the passion quotient of its workforce. A highly motivated and impassioned workforce will produce an out of this world result.

Conversely, the performance of a flat-footed workforce can only be pedestrian. Hence, leaders are never tired of devising means of motivating their workforce.

What holds the key to making an employee stop at nothing to get a

job done? What makes a worker go beyond the expectations of the employer? What is the motivation for a star performer? What is it that makes an employee brave all the odds to get his job done?

Continues on pg20

20

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Monday, 11 July, 2016

Bringing the best out of employees

BOOK

Continued from pg19

Is it more money, the environment, position or other considerations? As employers and leaders are interested in unraveling these puzzles, so are researchers.

Fallacy of power of money The general belief is that the rationale behind work is to earn money.

Corroborating this, Frederick Taylor, one of the earliest researchers on the power of money on employees, in 1911, described money as the most important factor in motivating the industrial workers to achieve greater productivity. But later studies found out that the motivational influence of money is transient. At a certain point, money is no longer a motivation for work. That was the finding of a study carried out in 2010 among workers in the United States of America by Timothy A. Judge, Ronald F. Piccolo, Nathan P. Podsakoff, John C. Shaw and Bruce L. Rich.

The study, entitled The Relationship Between Pay and Job Satisfaction: A Meta-Analysis of the Literature, reviewed 120 years of research and synthesized the findings from 92 quantitative studies, while studying over 15,000 individuals and 115 correlation coefficients.

The study found that there was no strong correlation between money and job satisfaction or level of performance. The researchers found that the correlation was .14, which meant that there was less than 2 per cent overlap between pay and job satisfaction levels.

The researchers went a step further to carry out group level comparison, reporting that “Employees earning salaries in the top half of our data range reported similar levels of job satisfaction to those employees earning salaries in the bottom-half of our data range.” The import of the study, which has been subjected to cross-cultural comparison, is that money is not a major source of motivation for most workers. While money may motivate shop floor staff, its influence wanes as employees move up the ladder.

Failure of fringe benefits A number of organisations have tried to motivate their employees by giving them fringe benefits. Provision of staff bus, medical allowance, free or subsidized launch, education allowance, Christmas bonus etc cannot keep the verve in staff for long because after a while they lose their motivational bite as employees fail to see them as benefits but rights.

A company that started a welfare scheme for members of staff will have a lot of explanation to do if all of a sudden it expresses the intention

Babs Omotowa, MD, Nigeria LNG to stop it because staff members will have come to view the scheme as a right, not a reward for exceptional accomplishments.

Challenging and friendly atmosphere All employees love to work in a friendly atmosphere; a place where they can be themselves, where the boss is not unnecessarily difficult, where colleagues show understanding and the system is fair. Workers always look forward to such places because they spend a good part of their lives at the workplace. So, if they do not feel happy about where they work and the people they work with, it will have a telling effect on their performance.

In the same vein, most workers love challenging environments, a place that can task their creativity and stretch their ability, a place where their best can come into manifestation.

However, after working in an environment for a while, all of these no longer matter because they are taken as normal. Instead of serving as motivation for top performance, they may at a point become a bore and turn out to be a disincentive because the human nature is always

Most workers love challenging environments, a place that can task their creativity and stretch their ability, a place where their best can come into manifestation

George Njenga, Distributed Power Leader, Sub-Sahara Africa GE yearning for something new. Therefore, the onus is always on employers to see to it that new things are always introduced in the work place to avoid creating a humdrum which can be a drawback on performance.

Promotion Moving staff to the next level is seen as a boon by many of them. It keeps them happy, motivated and loyal. It is seen as a recognition of their worth and contribution by the organization. Many workers appreciate promotion not just because of the additional money that comes with it but especially because it offers them an opportunity to do more for their organizations.

But promotion can never go round even among outstanding staff members. If there are four exceptional employees and there is a vacancy, it is a given that only one of them can get it. So, what happens to the rest? How will they be motivated to continue the work at their former pace? Then, the fact that an employee gains promotion at a point in his career does not mean that he will always be promoted because promotion is not just a function of performance; rather it is a product of a number of factors including a company’s policies, organizational chart and wages, among others.

In addition to that, there is the Peter’s Principle, which states that every employee rises to his level of incompetence. So, after promoting a staff up to a point how will the employer let him know that he is unsuitable for further promotion?

How will the loyalty of such staff be assured after confronting him with such fact?

How to consistently motivate employees Leaders often fail to motivate their

Ibukun Awosika, founder, Sokoa Chair Centre staff on a sustainable scale because they lump everyone together. No two persons are the same, so needs vary among employees. What motivates a staff member may not of necessity be a stimulus to another. Therefore, to effectively motivate staff so as to bring the best out of them, leaders must know each of them personally and find out what it is that matters more than any other thing to each of them.

Motivation has to be employee-specific to be effective.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs According to Abraham Maslow, human needs are categorized as physiological, safety, social, esteem and self-actualization. Of all these, the highest is self-actualization. This, according to him, is the highest aspiration of

Emeka Emuwa, Union Bank MD an individual. What managers and leaders are supposed to do is to help everyone who works or relate with them to accomplish this. They can only do this if at the outset they come to the understanding of what the highest aspiration of a staff member is.

Three categories of employees By taking time to understand what self-actualization means to every staff member, a leader will find out that there are three categories of employees. First is the category of staff whose self-actualization aligns with the company’s goals and visions. These are the employees who come to the organization with a view to building a career. They are in it for the long haul. So, they are not discomfited by temporary discomfort. They always see a silver

lining in the company’s cloud. They are not interested in jumping ship because they believe in the organization. Staff members in this category are self motivated. They do not wait for any prodding; they flow naturally with the company’s tide. Belonging to the organization is enough stimulus for them. Staff in this category go the extra mile to ensure that things run smoothly in the organization.

Since these employees are already motivated, the leader has no problem raising their level of motivation.

The second category of staff is those whose aspirations are completely at variance with the goals and visions of the organization. They are in the organization because that is all they can get at the moment. Employees in this category are the first to complain when things go awry. Since they do not share the vision of the company, they are usually unwilling to make any sacrifice. They are always looking outside the organization for openings and they step out at the earliest opportunity.

Such employees are usually the ones who cause disaffection in the organization; they spin rumours and spread toxin. They are quick to pick holes in the position of the company and are the loudest complainants.

They know that they have no strong attachment with the organization so they are not bothered whether it stays afloat or goes under.

Motivating employees in this category is a Herculean task. Once they are identified, the leader should not waste his time trying to make a corpse walk.

The third category of employees is made up of those without clear-cut aspirations. Because they are undecided, they are unstable. They do not know

whether to stay in the organization or quit; they blow hot and cold all the time until they are able to decide what their aspiration is and if it is in alignment with the organization’s goals and visions. This eventually determines how they conduct themselves.

To carry out a good work of motivation on this category of workers, the leader must first help them to find out where they belong.

Dealing with the categories of staff The best thing for a leader is to weed out those whose aspirations are not in tandem with his vision right from the outset. Instead of allowing such to get into the system and spread ill-feeling, it is best to stop them from gaining access into the system.

So, apart from having the recruitment agencies or the human resources department do the preliminary work of interviewing and selecting candidates, the leader must have a session with every intending employee to have an understanding of his perspective and what drives him. Doing this will save the organization a lot of man-hours that would later be expended on employees who are with the organization physically but have their spirits elsewhere.

This is one of the secrets of the success of Richard Branson, Virgin Group chairman. There is nobody of any significance who gets employed in Virgin Group in any part of the world who is not screened by Branson. With that, he has been able, to a large extent, to keep those with a different orientation away from his organization.

This is a strategy that never fails to work.

Purple Cow

By Seth Godin Seth Godin is a marketing guru, and the author of Permission Marketing, Unleashing the Ideavirus, and Survival is not Enough. He is a renowned public speaker, has started several successful companies, and is a contributing editor at Fast Company Magazine.

Now along comes his book, Purple Cow. It is an elaborate metaphor intended to define what is meant by being remarkable, which Godin sees as the sine qua non for success in today’s world.

Purple Cow comprises around 60 tiny chapters of 1-2 pages each.

After noting that the conventional wisdom in marketing is embodied in words beginning with the letter “P” such as product, pricing, promotion and so on, Godin suggests that the new P is Purple Cow. Cows, according to Godin, are boring.

They may be perfect cows, attractive cows, cows with great personalities, cows lit by beautiful light, but they’re still boring. But a Purple Cow, according to Godin, that would be interesting. The essence of the Purple Cow is that it must be remarkable.

The book, he says, is about the why, the what, and the how of being remarkable.

The book is thus a fiction in the sense that a purple cow is fictitious. Purple cows don’t exist in real life and Godin doesn’t pretend that they do. But he contends that there are some products and services that are as remarkable as purple cows. The entire book consists of real life

examples of products and services that are as remarkable as purple cows or not, and the consequences of that.

Godin argues that conventional marketing and advertising are dead, because no one is paying attention. The TV-industrial complex has died. In its place is the postTV world of remarkable products which are advertised to the early adopters (not to everyone) in short cycles and involving big changes. The exemplars of the new age are Starbucks, Linux, JetBlue and the New Beetle.

We are taken through many examples of products or services or ideas that were remarkable – elevators, detergents, Google, classical music, mobile phones, banks, hotels, cars, PDAs, drugstores, chairs and so on.

THE 60-SECOND business coach

10 big leadership weaknesses Sifting through many hours of notes, it’s clear to me the major leadership weaknesses boil down to 10 themes.

For each of these I’ve outlined the weakness, it’s impact, and added the “learning edge” which suggests that better, more developmental direction needed to make for a better world of leaders.

Here They Are

liked, likable, fit in, wanted, loved Good news is there’s lots of “nice” to go around. Bad news, such leaders often focus more on people than results.

Learning edge: to be more focused on achieving results, personal and leadership accountability, holding others accountable, courage when it comes to performance issues, being decisive, and making harder choices.

Distancing, being arrogant, or standing apart from those you lead In doing so, you disengage, sub-optimize, and ultimately shut your best people up, and shut them down.

Beyond that, arrogance often leads to over-promising and under-delivering.

Learning edge: to be more candid and ultimately more authentic / humble / and to some extent more vulnerable.

Leading by being autocratic, directive, perfectionist and/or hypercritical You get things done, but the cost to yourself and your team tends to lead to burnout and attrition, diminishing potential returns over time.

Learning edge: to be more collaborative, kind, trusting of your team, accepting of small failures, allowing for diversity of thought and action, letting go and delegating, understanding that good enough is often good enough.

Leading to please others, to be

Not delivering good results in a timely manner One of my CEO clients and I made up a term for his board: “HFN” which means “Hit your f&^king numbers.”

Good and great leaders need to guide the right people to deliver intended results within expected times and budgets.

Learning edge: focus more on accountability, tasks, processes, people, and outcomes than on other things, particularly when results are in jeopardy.

Leading through incongruity or hypocrisy; not doing what you say, or saying one thing and doing another Learning edge: to take your own advice before giving it; to find your own ability to walk your talk, and show the way by doing rather than saying. Being true to yourself and your values and being consistent about them with your people.

Tendency to be complacent, stop learning, over-invest in the status quo, or let yourself off the hook too often / too easily Learning edge: realizing that challenge and striving are good for the heart and soul, and not to be avoided. Seeing that perhaps you’ve gone to sleep in your work, and finding ways to awaken what you love or could love about your professional life — whether that’s a job or career change, a new / different role, or simply coming to terms with the fact that standing still is no longer enough.

Over-optimism about people, strategies, or tactics: Hanging on to lower-performing people and strategies for too long.

Learning edge: recognize the grace in realism - in seeing things accurately as they are versus how they “could” or “should” be.

Look at the meaning of “loyalty” to a cause

or person, and recognize the inherent limitations of loyalty when remaining “loyal” to someone or something is causing issues for others or your organization overall.

Over-pessimism about people, strategies or tactics Treating people like office furniture to be moved and discarded too easily.

Learning edge: Greater patience for people, strategies and tactics to unfold and come to into their own. Honoring the need to make tough choices when and if all reasonable efforts have been given, while recognizing the importance of fostering potential until then.

Lacking emotional intelligence Problems with access to a range of your own feelings, and letting those feelings lead you to important insights about yourself and others.

Learning edge: Do the introspection and mental and/or emotional healing

work needed to get yourself to access a greater range and balance in your own feelings.

Lacking clarity about impact on others, limiting abilities to influence, adapt to culture, and “fit in” organizationally and impersonally Somewhat related to emotional intelligence, this can come across as lack of atunement, or being seen as “tone deaf” or “failing to read the room.”

Learning edge: Understanding that your impact on others is as important as most other aspects of your work. Self-observe and self-correct in real time, by asking the question (and getting feedback from colleagues/others) - how am I coming across? When best to assert, listen, or inquire? What’s my role here? What’s needed here?

Tackling any or all of these, or helping others do so, can indeed make the world a better place.

22 leadership&management

Monday, 11 July, 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

Enhancing your leadership relevance - 1

Sometime last week in Ibadan, I tuned to a local TV station and was just in time for a panel discussion on the insurance industry in Nigeria. The panel of discussants comprised veterans in the industry. Every one of the three of them had either headed or is currently heading an insurance company in Nigeria. It was interesting hearing them talk about current challenges in the industry. For the most part, it seemed that all that two of them could do was to rue the present economic challenges and the negative impact on the industry.

They went down memory lane to the “good old days” or what could be termed the golden years of the industry. They spoke ad nauseam on how cut- throat competition was necessitating low premiums that impinged on bottom-line and seemed to be encouraging what they saw as ‘underhand’ practices in the industry.

But one of them was a refreshing difference! His approach brought a unique perspective to the issues in such a way that made me want to hug him if it had been possible on air. He had to remind his colleagues that insurance practice at the time their generation started it is completely different from what it is all over the world today. He gave graphic examples of certain practices that the industry in Nigeria still engaged in that could never positively affect the industry’s fortunes. In particular, he gave the example of an insurance company that he consulted for which had about 130 cars and had 103 three drivers on its payroll! In a world where organizations focus on their main concern and outsource a significant chunk of services, it is evident that this organization was soon going to be a dinosaur if its leaders did not do something fast! He won my heart when he made the statement that many of the last generation of leaders who still head the industry were yet to come to terms with the fact that the operating environment keeps evolving and they also need to correspondingly evolve if they want to remain relevant. While the others saw the problems as those of society or certain government policies that squeezed the funds supply, he simply identified it for what it actually is, the tragedy of a leadership that has largely refused to adapt to the reality of change in its operating environment. The consequence

is that they find themselves strangers in a future they were never prepared for but which arrived in spite of them.

The scenario is so deja vu. I hear the same story and see similar scenarios enacted all the time. It is easier to complain than transform. When people complain about a problem, it gives them an opportunity to amplify what is wrong and who made it so. And once the human mind can identify who or what to blame for a crisis, it helps to put the toga of responsibility on someone else while it exculpates itself of any “guilt” and the attendant need and contribution to fix it.

Great leaders think differently. Age is a number and the development of a man’s mind and its function have little or nothing to do with a calendar. Leaders that will lead their organizations successfully into the future would have to learn and master the use of certain trends that will help them and the people they lead to navigate the challenges of a constantly evolving marketplace.

The first trend is the rise of complex challenges. There is hardly any executive today who will not tell you that the challenges faced in his organization are more complex than what they were five or ten years ago! Some of those challenges are caused by internal changes happening within the organization. This is manifested in staff movements, production dynamics, leadership challenges, manpower development issues, etc. Other causes are market dynamics, advances in technology which affect internal processes in the organization. What was trendy last year may have become bad news today because of a more versatile, user-friendly and less costly alternative. We can add shortage of skilled talent into the mix. The demand that this mix places on the leader is a capacity to achieve more with less!

The second trend is the relentless innovation revolution.

Advances in technology only mean that the executive must constantly think on his toes. Just a few years ago, a 250-gigabyte hard drive with a 2GIG RAM on a laptop would have been considered top-of-the-range. Today, it can at best qualify as entry-grade for a rookie computer user! New ideas and inventions are rolling off the creative terrain faster than they can be optimally utilized. A few months ago, I bought a 4TB

external hard drive for less than I paid for a 250G external drive only a few years earlier. And the 250G is so bulky I cannot just tuck it into my bag. It also needs to be independently powered whereas the 4TB is plug and play and is so compact it fits into a small compartment in my laptop bag in an unobtrusive way! Everyone wants to be part of the next big thing.

But the question is ‘How?’ and ‘At what cost?’ To effectively profit from this trend, a leader must deliberately encourage innovation in his organization not just through a Research and Development department (which sometimes translates to other departments simply going to sleep when it comes to generating new possibilities). Beyond that, there should be deliberate brainstorming meetings where ideas are bandied around with the understanding that no idea, no matter how absurd, is useless! A lot has been accomplished through such ideation processes. If anything, it is the birthplace of many serendipitous breakthrough innovations.

Other ways of weighing in on this trend include deliberate recognition and reward of innovative talent contributions, team tasks on and off-site with a specific mandate that encourages solving familiar problems in very unconventional ways that are more cost-effective and gets more done in less time.

Innovation is not just about acquiring, updating or warehousing information just because this is the Information Age. It is about targeting such information towards problem-solving in very practical, innovative ways that not only ensure relevance but sustainability.

The challenge that faces any tabloid publication today for instance should not be how to increase print-run. It should be how to increase readership. To do that in a busy and more competitive world, you will have to make yourself visible on the platforms that your readers frequent and then make them notice your presence there.

Lengthy editorial board meetings and back-breaking deadlines would only worsen the situation unless they are geared towards doing less of the old to do more of the new!... continued Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!

How to develop into a servant leader

We need to understand in Nigeria that bossing around employees is so behind the times. Developing people, treating them with respect, encouraging their talents and input—these are trends that research has proven build strong companies and give them the competitive edge. Servant leadership—the philosophy of focusing first on the needs of employees and customers—has gained popularity in recent years.

“If you really listen to your colleagues and figure out how to get them what they need, they will perform at a higher level, which improves the customer experience, which affects business results,” says Kent Keith. The world is increasingly competitive, and the work required for companies to succeed is more knowledge-based and depends on employees being creative and making good judgments. It makes sense to invest in growing employees in order to grow the capacity of a company.

The essence of servant leadership—serves the employees first, and success with clients will follow—might appear to be the antithesis of modern business. The roots of the philosophy are thousands of years old, with examples dating back to the 4th century B.C. In contemporary practice, it means actively listening to employees, treating them as people with needs, interests and failings, and respecting their roles in the company and the world.

Southwest Airlines’ former CEO Herb Kelleher believed that his company’s flight attendants were the airline’s most important leaders because they had the biggest impact on the customer experience. Those who have flown the airline know that Southwest flight attendants are some of the happiest people in the air. The corporate culture is often identified as an example of servant leadership, says Hunter, and the company is one of the industry’s most profitable. “The test of true leadership is whether employees leave the company better than when they got there,” Hunter says. “You want everyone growing and changing and improving. That is the

only way your company will grow and change and improve.”

Unfortunately, the concept of servant leadership tends to evoke high-level philosophical meanderings with little practical application. However, advocates say that there are everyday habits leaders can incorporate into their management routines that can have powerful results.

As a leader, you should pay attention to how you interact in face-to-face conversations, large groups and meetings, Keith advises. How do you communicate with your peers, subordinates, vendors and customers? How much do you really hear what they are saying? Do you understand what they need?

Find meaningful ways to invite employee feedback and suggestions, like peer evaluations or an idea box.

Do you treat the assistant the same as the executive? The waiter the same as the banker? The leader sets the level of respect within the organization. Also, do you offer your employees the tools to become the best they can be? What do you provide in terms of training, new job development, book clubs or other personal growth tools? The emphasis should be on coaching as opposed to controlling.

“People already have power and energy. They can use it or not use it,” Keith says. “How can you help them develop it?” Focus on decentralizing as many decisions as possible so employees can use the power of their experience to help the company. Those with direct customer contact should be involved in customer service policy making, and those in operations should have a say over those decisions. “Everyone is already showing up and getting paid. Why wouldn’t you want each one to make the biggest contribution he or she can make?” Keith asks.

Over the years, I have spent some quality time researching the DNA of high-performing companies, and much to my surprise the leaders at most of those companies did not fit commonly espoused theories of leadership. You know many people believe that great leaders are charismatic, have a commanding presence, and are visionary and educated at elite

schools. But to my utmost surprise, almost all the leaders of the high-performing companies that I studied had none of those traits. Instead, they are what I call servant leaders.

I have come to conclude that high performing leaders do share common characteristics: One, they are servants in the best sense of the word. They are people-centric, valued service to others and believe they have a duty of stewardship.

They are humble and passionate leaders who are deeply involved in the details of the business. They do have long tenures in their organizations and they do not forget what it is like to be a line employee.

Two, they believe that every employee should be treated with respect and have the opportunity to do meaningful work. They lead by example, live the “Golden Rule,” and understand that good intentions are not enough — behaviours count. They serve the organization and its multiple stakeholders. They are servant leaders!

As a first-class leadership and management consultant, I have met with many people who think that a leader cannot be people-centric and maintain high standards, because employees will take advantage. This is another leadership myth.

The truth is; people-centric environments and high performance are not mutually exclusive. Employees in companies and organizations being led by servant leaders do usually have high emotional engagement, loyalty and productivity, and outperform the competition on a daily basis over long periods of time. In fact, the relationship between high performance, high employee engagement and how you treat employees is compelling.

Most people seek a leadership position because they want more pay, more prestige, more perks and more power. They seek and fall for the intoxicating powers of leadership. Servant leaders side step that failing. They are paid more, but very few ever make the highest-paid CEOs list. Instead, they fight elitism in themselves and their organisations.

See you where servant leaders are found!

23

Monday, 11 July 2016

With oil and gas discoveries in Africa, the continent has been described as one of the top hotspots in the industry.

With these discoveries come several challenges, which pose as opportunities for entrepreneurs looking to do business in the sector.

RUTH OLUROUNBI takes a look at potential business opportunities for African entrepreneurs in the oil and gas sector. Her report

W

ith over eight per cent of the global oil reserves belonging to Africa, the continent still remains one of the global oil and gas hostpots.

Africa currently supplies about 12 per cent of the world’s oil and boasts of significant untapped reserves estimated at over eight per cent of the world’s proven reserves. According to PwC, the world’s leading advisor to the energy industry, these reserves have increased in the last two decades from 5.8 per cent in 1991 and 7.6 per cent in 2001 and this trend is anticipated to continue.

According to PwC’s estimates, of the 132 billion barrels of

Nigerian Tribune

Oil & Gas: Top business opportunities for entrepreneurs

proven oil reserves, Africa produced nine million barrels of crude oil per day (bbl/d) in 2011, with 81 per cent of this oil production coming from Nigeria, Libya, Algeria, Egypt and Anogola.

Now, experts believe that thanks to significant gas finds in Africa and access to the lucrative Asian LNG market, these pose significant economic benefits for the East African region and could act as catalysts for meaningful economic development in the region.

Ghana’s jubilee field, hailed as the fastest ever deepwater development, taking just 24 months from development to production, has also served as

indicator to the demonstration of possibilities within Africa, to the world.

These developments, according to PwC, have opened up “many key opportunities within Africa due to: new exploration blocks being opened for competitive bidding, port development and management, pipeline engineering and construction (both subsea and onshore), onshore and offshore maintenance, LNG plant engineering and construction, CO2 reduction and gas-powered electricity generation, other gas monetisation projects for local use (methanol, fertilisers, urea), stability of supply and security of supply with a reduction in ex-

ports, foreign exchange inflows (before and after the oil price crisis), distribution of wealth – a benefit for all citizens, infrastructure development mega projects and new refinery development or upgrades.”

Despite these new opportunities, however, African oil and gas industry still faces diverse and numerous challenges, which include insecurity issues and illegal oil bunkering damages, among others. Some of these challenges are stifling growth and development in a number of countries around Africa.

But with investments in the sector, some of these challenges could be overcome.

Continues on p24

3 simple, effective ways to stop stabotaging yourself

Sell solutions, not commodities

24

Monday, 11 July 2016

Nigerian Tribune

Ruth Olurounbi

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

3 simple, effective ways to stop sabotaging yourself

Selling solutions, not commodities:

The Care Strategy Last week, we started this series with meeting customers’ actual needs and not what we as entrepreneurs think may be their needs. We established that customers want to connect with an entrepreneur’s brand/products/ service in an important way. Consequently, we examined personalisation as effective means to forge relationships between the customers and the brand. Thus, by proactively reaching out to them to inform about relevant promotions, follow-up calls to ensure satisfaction, etc, the entrepreneur begins to foster relationships with his or her customers.

Today, we will conclude by looking at few other ways to meet the custom-

ers’ needs.

Give them a compelling solution Geoffrey James, a contributing editor for Inc.com and an author, in his 10 Things Every Customer Wants, says that “solution selling is definitely not dead.” According to him, “customers want and expect you to have the basic selling skill of defining and proposing a workable solution.” This is particularly true in the world where customers are not without unlimited choices.

Listen and respond quickly While it is great and even important

to ask for feedback from your customers, what is even more important to your customers is that you do something with the feedback they are providing you.

Therefore, as an entrepreneur, you need to respond to feedback, as quickly as you can, act on it and let them know what’s been done to make their experience better. If you don’t, your customers will assume you’re not taking them seriously and will stop giving you feedback.

How else do you think you can care for your customer? Tell me by sending me an email through ruth.olurounbi@tribuneonlineng.com.

Lolly Daskal Have you ever said any of these sentences?

“I can’t do it!”

“That’s way too difficult!”

“If I try, I’ll probably fail anyway.” “ I always fail. Why bother?”

If you have, you’re far from alone.

Unfortunately, many of us sound like this at one time or another. It’s called negative self-talk, and it can do you great harm. After all, what can be worse than an enemy that lives inside your head?

If these thoughts and sentences start to come on a regular basis or more often than in the past, your inner saboteur is hard at

work. This destructive force can stop you from achieving your goals and deter you from being successful.

Suddenly you’re so worried and fearful about all the things that can go wrong that you don’t even give yourself a chance. The overthinking, the pausing, the uncertain stuck feeling? That’s the saboteur.

It tends to appear when you stretch outside your comfort zone. It’s drawn by fear, and the longer you let fear remain unresolved, the longer the saboteur will stick around.

Fear tries to tell you it is doing you a favor by holding you back where it’s safe--but you can’t linger in fear if you want to move

Oil & Gas: Top business opportunities for entrepreneurs Continued from p23

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) beleieves that with the investment opportunities which include domestic production and marketing of Liquefied Natural Gas (LPG), domestic manufacturing of LPG cylinders, valves and regulators, installation of filling plants, retail distribution and development of simple, flexible and less expensive gas burners to encourage the use of gas instead of wood, some of the challenges facing the sector can be minimised.

Those looking to do business in the sector can look into the following areas: establishment of processing plants and industries for the production of refined mineral oil, petroleum jelly and grease, bituminous based water/damp proof building materials e.g. roofing sheets,

floor tiles, tarpaulin, and building of asphalt storage, packaging and blending that may export these products.

There is also business opportunity in small-scale production of chemicals and solvents e.g. chlorinated methane, formaldehyde, acetylene etc. from natural gas, the NNPC added.

Although some people may say that these investments are potentially capital intensive with accelarated growth of technology in Africa, companies with the technology can undertake turn around maintenance of refineries.

A company in Nigeria, Haynes-Worth International Limited, is already helping oil and gas companies secure their investment through its RFID tracker.

According to Joseph Afenikhena Imonikhe, CEO of the company, RFID tracker is a solution for the offshore

oil and gas sector, effectively securing the pipelines and maintenance. “It also ensures cost-effective real-time visibility of assets, asset location, with the most minimal human efforts, he continued. He further stated that the device guarantees significantly less time to be spent on paperwork and manual data entry while accuracy has extremely improved,” he said.

Also, according to the NNPC, “there is a tremendous scope for small-scale joint venture manufacturing concerns with foreign technical partners,” thus, such ventures can start warehousing arrangements that will ensure continuity of supply at competitive prices.

Some other business opportunities include equipment leasing, oil farm/depot, fuel haulage and logistics, gas wholesaling and retailing, consultancy, diesel supply and kerosene business, among others.

25

forward.

Instead, you need to learn how to move around and through the saboteur and find ways to achieve success. Here are three basic principles: Start with awareness The first and most important key is recognizing your self-sabotaging behavior. Awareness is like the sun--when it shines on things, they cannot help being transformed. Awareness will allow you to get outside of yourself and observe how the saboteur keeps you stuck. We tend to see things as a reflection of our own state of mind, not as they are, so observation and awareness are the critical first steps toward overcoming.

Get your mojo back The second key is to get back your mojo--regain your confidence. the confidence where you believe in yourself, the self-esteem that will strengthen you to try new things and take bold risks. If you want to try great new things, start by thinking of all the positive outcomes that are possible. Try to maintain a positive mindset to conquer your fears. Then create a series of small steps, each of which will give you a small win. With each one, you’ll regain a little of your mojo. Don’t think of the things that can go wrong, but instead visualize all the glorious ways everything can go right.

Let go of perfection The third key, and in some ways the most important, is giving up the belief that you have to be perfect. It’s this mindset that invites fear to creep in--thoughts like What if I don’t do it right? I can’t.

Why can’t I be better? The negativity of perfection is the perfect environment for the saboteur. So turn off your ideas of having to be perfect.

Align yourself instead with positive beliefs about what you can accomplish and you will have the right mental, emotional, and physical states to do whatever you set your mind to.

Listen for the voice of the saboteur. And when you hear it, know you have more control over it than it has over you. Never let it keep you from the things you want to do.

Daskal, President and CEO, Lead From Within, wrote this article for inc.com

Monday, 11 July 2016

In the build up to the upcoming Global Entrepreneurship Congress 2017 in South Africa, RUTH OLUROUNBI engages Alesimo Mwanga, an economist and a Research Development Executive at SEA Africa, on the roles of the SEA in limiting the barriers in the South African entrepreneurship, as well as Africa in general.

According to a Gordons Institute for Business Science (GIBS) report on Entrepreneurship in South Africa, although entrepreneurial activity in the country is improving, it lags behind in comparison with other parts of the world. As an institute that links businesses to African markets, what do you make of this?

Through our work, we have noted that there has been an increase in discussions around intra-continental trade to expand market access opportunities for small businesses in countries considered ‘economically competitive’.

Despite the immense potential to realise the benefits attainable for trading continentally, entrepreneurs are faced with challenges such as: trade regulations between countries, limited knowledge on African markets, policies and diverse culture that play a critical role within cross border trade.

Further to this there are limited platforms available to address such barriers which potentially limit opportunities for small business cross trading on the continent. This is not to say there aren’t any activities happening but amidst the activities, there are further hurdles here and there. Areas we can continue to improve are: further platforms that encourage market exposure for African entrepreneurs’ within the continent and global markets, increased dialogue between role-players and seeking solutions from entrepreneurs within various African markets and using this dialogue to further guide or amend trade regulations, structure functional ecosystems, empower local state institutions that support entrepreneurship on a local level, explore non-financial support required, expose entrepreneurs to alternative financing options, increasing access to information regarding entrepreneurship on the continent and ensuring this information is penetrated within rural and urban areas.

What do you suppose are the real barriers in South African entrepreneurship?

There are many factors that create barriers in South Africa, as demonstrated by the 2015 GEM Report,

Nigerian Tribune

I was in Milan for GEC 2015 when it was first announced that SA would be hosting the GEC 2017. How ready do you think SA is in hosting this event next year?

We are pleased to share that South Africa is ready to host the GEC 2017.

We look forward to interacting with our fellow brothers and sisters from the continent and abroad. Preparations are underway and the Local Organising Committee (LOC) has made many strides in the various committees in Content, PR and Marketing, Logistics and Partnerships. We are preparing to showcase a taste of next year’s GEC event at the Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) in November 2016 in three host cities - Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.

The GEC taking place from 13 – 16 March 2017 will be a spectacle and we urge everyone to attend and engage thousands of entrepreneurs, investors, researchers, policymakers and other start up champions from more than 160 countries.

To be successful, entrepreneurs’ innovative solutions must meet market demands —SEA such as the education system, access to finance at various stages of entrepreneurship despite the availability of subsidies/grants/ development funding as well as limited access to markets. In South Africa there’s often a culture of risk aversion particularly for start-ups because of stigma of failure around entrepreneurship, policy and regulation contributes to the added frustration faced by entrepreneurs and doesn’t enable an environment for growing and new market entries.

With all these limitations and a volatile economy, entrepreneurs will continue to face barriers. However this is the right time to enter the entrepreneurship market, because as problems continue to arise and the global market continues to face constraints, innovative solutions borne through products and services that meet market demands are bound to be successful. The market demands and needs of consumers are changing and it seems small businesses are more inclined to serve this gap.

How specifically has SEA Africa helped grow African entrepreneurship space?

Through our key pillars of research and development, we are able to provide services that assist businesses to grow from one step to another and provide a platform for intra-continental trade. We provide

services such as market and industry research, which enables the entrepreneur to gain insight about local and continental markets; impact assessments and feasibility studies, which enable the entrepreneur to determine the viability of their decisions, and we also assist with product development, amongst other services. Furthermore, through our NGO called Centre for African Youth Entrepreneurship (CAYE), we are able to share and encourage an entrepreneurial mind-set amongst high school students across South Africa.

Congratulations to SA for hosting the GEC 2017. Going forward, what do you expect in terms of development, after the conference?

Thank you. We are hoping to create a platform for entrepreneurs and funders/ policy makers to engage and tackle issues post GEC. We also want this platform to foster an entrepreneurial mind-set particularly amongst the youth.SEA Africa is in the process of developing an ED Challenge with partners as a flagship programme to be showcased at the congress. We are encouraged by the measurable and tangible legacy that the GEC ED Challenge will leave behind not only in South Africa but on the continent after the conference.

This is the first time an African country will be hosting this event. I’m told that SEA Africa played an important part in securing the bid. If I may ask, what went into the successful bid to host this event?

The bid was a product of a partnership between the SEA Africa, the City of Johannesburg, Department of Small Business Development and ABSA Business Banking. The collective effort entailed private sector and public sector collaborating to ensure we do our best to secure the bid.

Tell me more about SEA Africa Sustainable Entrepreneur Accelerator (SEA) Africa (Pty) Ltd is a research and development firm that supports businesses in various African markets.

Our business model is built not only in offering clients the basic primary research but through the conceptual design research seek to perceive, substantiate and collate critical business knowledge for our clients.

Our company values (Innovation, Accountability, Diversity) was built on the principle that Africa is an OVUCA world (Opportunity, Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) hence acknowledging that our clients are great assets to us, we strive daily to ensure they are sustainably positioned in various strategic projects. The projects from clients are managed internally by our team of experts. We collaborate with key individuals who assist our team of experts on the ground. With over 20 years of combined industry experience; we are an energetic, talented, flexible and open-minded young team with various Masters qualifications, possessing credible track records and ready to ensure your sustainability in strategic business projects.

26

Nigerian Tribune

Monday, 11 July, 2016 CBN Exchange Rates

Government Securities

Currency US DOLLAR POUNDS STERLING EURO SWISS FRANC YEN CFA WAUA

Buying 281 364.8223 310.8422 286.4424 2.7969 0.4555 390.7838

Central (NGN) 281.5 365.4715 311.3953 286.9521 2.8018 0.4655 391.4792

Selling (NGN) 282 366.1206 311.9484 287.4618 2.8068 0.4755 392.1745

YUAN/RENMINBI RIYAL DANISH KRONA SDR

42.0084 74.8834 41.7614 391.2925

42.0836 75.0167 41.8357 391.9888

42.1588 75.1499 41.91 392.685

Auction Date

6/22/2016

Security Type

NTB

Tenor

NITTY as @ July 4, 2016 Tenor

Rate (%)

Change (%)

91 DAY

1M

7.4762

-0.24

Auction No

22-06-2016

2M

9.5410

1.59

Auction

Primary Market

Maturity Date

9/29/2016

3M

9.6909

-0.08

Total Subscription

20814.91

6M

9.9434

-0.36

Total Successful

18122

9M

12.5427

1.47

Range Bid

7.5000 - 13.0000

12M

12.5475

-0.83

Successful Bid Rates

7.5000 - 9.9948

Description

Issue

Rate

9.9948

True Yield

10.2502

Amount Offered (mn)

48122

Auction Date

9/3/2014

Security Type

NTB

Tenor

91

NIBOR as @ July 4, 2016 Tenor

Rate (%)

Change (%)

O/N

4.8750

0.46

1M

11.3108

0.49

3M

13.8258

0.21

6M

14.9702

-0.32

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

Money Market Review LAST week, the fixed income market traded only on Monday and Friday as a result of the national holiday declared by the federal government. Financial system liquidity opened the week at N330.0billion with Open Buy Back rate (OBB) rising 0.1per cent to close at 4.6per cent whilst Overnight Rate (O/N) closed flat at 5.0per cent on Monday.

Dealers said there was a Treasuery-bills auction on Friday where N28.0billion, N42.0billion and N120.0billion of the 91-Day, 182-Day and the 364-Day T-bills were auctioned at 9.98per cent, 12.24per cent and 14.99 per cent stop rates.

Dealers from Afrinvest West Africa Limited said the proposed allotment by the Apex Bank was 2.0x the offer amount, implying a significant liquidity mop-up from the system. Thus, OBB and O/N rose to 9.0per cent and 9.4per cent on Friday, up 4.5 per cent and 4.4per cent week on week (W-o-W).

In the T-bills market, average T-bills rate remained at last week’s 9.4 per cent as investors awaited the Central Bank’s T-bills auction. On the back of Friday’s primary market auction, average T-bills rate rose 0.6 per cent to close the week at 10.0 per cent, up 0.6 per cent W-o-W. Dealers expect money market rates to trend in line with liquidity dynamics this week dictated by OMO mop-ups by the Apex Bank and the debits for successful bids at the Debt Management Office’s bonds auction.

Foreign Exchange Review and Outlook Activities in the interbank foreign exchange market last week was quiete as liquidity concerns linger. The spot rate and 1-Year forward quote remained unchanged on both trading days of the week, closing at N282.02/US$1.00 and N317.82/U$1.00 respectively.

“We believe that the ability of the CBN to fulfil the $US3.5bn forward commitments in June will massively boost confidence levels in the Nigerian FX market,” stated Afrinvest in a note to investors.

The parallel market was also quiet as the Naira was stable, trading at N352.00/US$1.00 on all days of the week. The market is expected to stay soft in the week ahead in the absence of autonomous supplies and guided trading band in the new interbank market. “We also expect rate at the parallel market to trend circa current levelsid,” the dealers.

From left: Isaac Okorafor, Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); Mohammed Suleyman, Director of Financial System Strategy 2020, CBN; Chijioke Ugochukwu, Executive Director, Shared Services and Products, Fidelity Bank; Umma Dutse, Director, Consumer Protection Department, CBN and ‘Dipo Fatokun, Chairman of Nigeria eFraud Forum (NeFF) at the unveiling of NeFF annual report in Lagos, on Friday.

Bond Market Review and Outlook Activities in the bonds market were bearish as average yield on benchmark bonds declined on both trading sessions of the week. Penultimate week’s buying interest slowed amidst increased sell sentiment on Monday driving average yield 0.3per cent higher to close at 14.0per cent with increased activity observed on the MAR 2036 and JULY 2034 instruments. On Friday, average yield across benchmark bonds inched 0.1per cent higher to close the week at 14.1per cent, up 0.4per cent W-o-W.

All banks, companies’ forex-related trades to go through FMDQ, effective August 1

W

ITH effect from August 1, 2016, all foreign exchange trades (FX) by Authorised Dealers (Banks) and Companies in the Nigerian FX market must be executed through the platform provided by the Financial Market Dealers Quotes (FMDQ)-advised FX trading.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which gave this directive over the weekend in a circular signed by Dr Alvan E. Ikoku to all authorised dealers, wants all authorised dealers and corporate institutions operating in the Nigerian FX market to ensure compliance.

Authorised dealers as stipulated in the revised guidelines for the operation of Nigerian inter-bank forex market are licensed participants in the Inter-bank foreign exchange.

They include: authorised

buyers, oil companies, oil service companies, exporters, end-users and any other entity the apex bank may designate from time to time.

“Therefore all authorised dealers (banks) are to execute all FX trades among themselves and with their clients (i.e. corporate institutions) through the FMDQ-advised FX systems.

“The deployment of the FMDQ-advised FX systems will only be to those Corporates that have been screened and pre-approved by FMDQ in line with its on-boarding eligibility criteria,” the circular read in part.

It should be remembered that earlier guidelines for the floating FX regime had stipulated that all FX transactions by Authorised Dealers are to be reported to FMDQ via the FMDQ-advised FX Reporting System, which the CBN will have access to.

However, with this onboarding regime, analysts are divided on its implication to the Bureau De Change (BDC) segment of the FX mark. While a herd of analysts believe that since CBN has been holding talks with BDC operators to fashion out

modalities for their inclusion, this move could give the apex bank some positive direction on how to ‘onboard’ the BDCs; yet another group of analysts believe that forcing Companies in the Nigerian FX market to execute all trades through the plat-

form will make things more difficult for BDCs because some of the Corporates especially oil companies sometimes secretly sell FX to BDCs(autonomous sources). Therefore, this directive has put a stop to that window.

To improve the dynamics

of the market, CBN introduced FX Primary Dealers (FXPD) who are registered by the CBN to deal directly with the Bank for large trade sizes on a twoway quotes basis. These Primary Dealers operates with other dealers in the Inter-bank market.

South Africa, Ghana instruments overtake Nigerian sovereign bond returns COMPARED with eight per cent average year-to-date (YTD) return of the Nigerian sovereign bond instruments, the republic of South Africa and republic of Ghana instruments have overtaken the Nigerian sovereign bond instruments in the Eurobonds market with average YTD return of +12.6 per cent and +9.0 per cent respectively.

This is contrary to last month when the Nigerian sovereign bonds instruments commanded the highest year to date (YTD) return, investment bankers at Afrinvest West Africa Limited have revealed.

Finance experts frown at low or negative bond yield territory because it means that investors are so concerned about the economy that they are look-

ing for safety. It can also be a sign that investors are so worried about stagnation or recession that their primary focus is on the safe return of their capital—that is, making sure they can simply get it back—not even earning big returns on their invested money.

In the Eurobonds market, Nigerian Eurobonds continued to witness buy sentiment. Consequently, yields on the JUL 2023 and JAN 2021 Eurobonds declined 0.1 per cent apiece week-on-week (W-o-W) whilst the JULY 2018 instrument closed flat.

Meanwhile, the Debt Management Office (DMO) is scheduled to auction N40 billion of a new issue – JULY 2021 instrument - and N40 billion each of the JAN 2026 and MAR 2036

bond instruments at its monthly bonds auction on Wednesday. Trading sentiment in half year (H1):2016 was mostly guided by heightened inflationary pressure and foreign exchange risk factors; however, dealers expect the moderation in foreign exchange related risk to spur foreign investors’ interest in Nigerian assets in H2:2016 which could offset the tendency of domestic investors to pricein inflation risk.

Nonetheless, “the aggressive play of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in liquidity management after the return to a more market-friendly foreign exchange regime could anchor yields upward in the immediate term,” the company stated in a note to investors.

27

moneymarket

Monday, 11 July, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

Stanbic IBTC Bank partners Google to facilitate capacity building for SMEs Stories By Chima Nwokoji - Lagos

S

TANBIC IBTC Bank, a member of Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC, and technology company, Google, have sealed a collaboration that will enable the youth and operators in the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) sector in Nigeria acquire digital skills for economic advancement.

The thrust of the collaboration, according to the

parties, is to facilitate capacity building for SMEs in Nigeria, help entrepreneurs accelerate their businesses, support digital education initiatives geared towards job creation as well as address the key challenges that SMEs face in growing their businesses.

Specifically, participants will be trained on the benefits, skills and value of Digital Marketing.

By organizing the capacity building sessions in different parts of the country, the partners hope to build

a critical mass of businesses through increased adoption of digital technology and enhance their contribution to economic development. The training session is scheduled to kick-off in Lagos and Kaduna on July 19, 2016 and will subsequently hold in seven other states across the country. The initiative aims to digitally empower about one thousand SMEs in one year.

Head, SME Banking, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Obinnia Ukachukwu, stated that as

diversification of Nigeria’s economy returns to the front burner, it has become imperative to highlight the role of digital technology on empowering the youth and stimulating growth of SMEs. Ukachukwu said the collaboration fits into the institution’s goal of fostering economic empowerment through strategic interventions that enable individuals and businesses realize their aspirations. He said it was in pursuit of this objective that the Stanbic IBTC Bank

Rates to ease on N73bn matured bills, payment to govt contractors THERE are strong indications that interest rate should open this week around same level of 15 percent but could ease a little with the expectations of injection of about N73 billion in matured treasury bills and payment of debt to government contractors.

Nigeria’s interbank overnight lending rate rose sharply on Friday to an average of 15 percent from 5 percent penultimate week, after central bank debited commercial lenders for treasury bills purchases.

Traders said Nigeria sold a total of N190 billion ($670 million) in treasury bills on Friday with maturities ranging from three months to one year, with yields broadly flat.

Market liquidity had opened at N167.26 billion on Friday before last, but the money market went into repositioning after the central bank sold treasury bills which significantly reduced level of cash in the banking system, pushing up cost of borrowing among banks.

“The market was trading around 10 percent for overnight placement prior to the sale of treasury bills, but rose sharply to an average of 15 percent shortly after the result of the auction was announced,” one dealer said.

Nigeria’s financial market was closed for trading from Tuesday to Thursday for a public holiday, of which analysts estimate may have cost the country a whopping

N138 billion.

Analysis show that there were scheduled treasury bills auction estimated at N94 billion, as well as N44 billion treasury bills maturity for the week, which the unusual straight three-day have put off.

The monetary policy measures were expected to put liquidity into the system in the week, with the auction component helping to taper its effect on money market rates.

The treasury bills auctions and maturities are usually executed between Tuesdays and Thursdays, save for seeming special interventions on Fridays.

Finance experts reason that in the event the monetary policy measures are

implemented on Friday, the effect in the market rates would be minimal and driven by sentiments because the liquidity will not have trickled down to the market and volumes of interbank activities are usually moderate.

A national daily quoted a financial market operator as having said, “So, the week just ran like a closed economy. It is as if everyone was just sleeping and not waking up at all. That is exactly how gains and losses and value addition to the economy also remained standstill.

Friday’s transactions are usually cautious one due to speculations over the week ahead. The auctions on Friday will not make much meaning.”

organizes several capacity -building initiatives spanning various sectors of the economy, transport and logistics, trade and finance, in an ongoing basis to support individuals and businesses.

“The SME segment is pivotal to the economic growth and development of any nation and Nigeria should not be an exception. This belief underlines our conviction that the collaboration with Google will expose the youth and SME operators to modern and innovative marketing, financial, and management skills using digital technology, which will help them to achieve success in their endeavours,” Ukachukwu, said. He added, “We are quite pleased to partner with Google on this strategic initiative. Our ultimate goal is to cause, in the long term, an exponential growth in the digital technology space, knowing that this is the path to the future, with the youth and SMEs as the main anchors,” he stated.

Stanbic IBTC Bank’s commitment to the growth of the SME segment, Ukachukwu said, could be deciphered through the various digital banking products and support from the bank’s stable.

For instance, the bank had launched an internet banking offering specifically for SMEs as well as SME BizDirect, a personalized digital banking platform. “The

Nigeria needs more Forensic Accounting experts —ICAN president Continued from pg 17

have changed. The institute has incorporated the changes as much as possible into our programmes, especially into our syllabus so that the members we are churning out are not deficient when they get to the market place.

But our values have not changed. Our integrity which we hold dearly has not changed. Our disciplinary process has been the same.

Are you satisfied with the level of enrolment into the institute by prospective chartered accountants?

Yes. But there could always be improvements. Some people are scared maybe because of misgiving that the profession and its examination is too hard. I say misgiving because people will always find excuses for their failure. What I can say to such people is, if some people are passing the exam, why can’t you do the same. I believe that our enrolment is okay, although there is competition out there from local and foreign bodies.

Despite that, we have our good share of the market.

In the light of what you just said, where do you see the institute in the next five years?

Today we have about 40,000 members of the institute. In the next five years I would like to see that number increasing to about 50,000 members. That is not a small achievement. But most importantly, I want to see people empowered. I want to see more chattered accountants going into businesses

because by our training we are not just book keepers for people. We are trained in all aspects of businesses: entrepreneurship and many more.

I know there are a lot of challenges, if we have the courage and what it takes, we can still set up thriving businesses. That way, the rampant unemployment will be reduced. Our members in particular are well positioned to be entrepreneurs.

How would you assess the impact of ICAN on the Nigerian economy?

We have made impact but maybe not as much as one would have expected because many people think that once they get a job, they are okay. They may be okay but who says an accountant can’t combine the profession with agriculture. You can be an educationist or anything whatsoever.

The richest man in Africa today has his hands in so many areas: trading, manufacturing, oil and gas. How much of those has he gone for training? With his idea, he puts the right people there, have the right control and monitoring. That is what I want our members to strive to do.

Meanwhile, we have 40,000 members working in different sectors of the economy. Some are bankers, some are working in manufacturing and even ICT sectors and so on. It is our joy to see that our members are thriving and contributing their quota in the economy. But government has to create the enabling environment. There should be power supply, road and other infrastructure.

These things are achievable with sincerity of purpose. So, if a government that promised to provide all these things begins to give ex-

cuses, people will begin to doubt its ability to meet the aspirations of the people.

What advice do you have for young and aspiring accountants?

My advice to them is that if they have chosen accounting as a profession, they have chosen the right profession. They have chosen a profession of dignity. Although you may not become the richest man in Nigeria, but this is a profession that will put food on your table.

The society will place premium on your person. There is nothing that is difficult to achieve. What is needed is the right spirit.

Those aspiring to become chartered accountants should not be intimidated by fables.

Those fables have been there over the years and people are still passing. In fact, there are some universities whereby before students do their first degree; they will be qualified as chartered accountants. So, if it is possible with them, it is possible with everybody.

You only need to be dedicated and focused.

What are your views on the new CBN foreign exchange policy and the much talked about 41 items excluded from the official foreign exchange market The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has reasons for its actions. Whether or not we agree with their reasons is a different thing entirely. Concerning the 41 items, I think we should have capacity to produce them in this country.

Why do we have to import toothpick when we have wood and everything here? Why do we keep creating employment for oth-

SME BizDirect is a multichannel virtual business centre that avails the SME operator a personalized channel through which to engage the bank when the need arises. To help clients improve operations, we believe a migration to digital banking will reduce the challenges faced by customers and help them run more efficient businesses,” he added.

Head of Digital Education, Google Africa, Bunmi Banjo, said “We’re happy to be collaborating with Stanbic IBTC Bank to provide free digital trainings to local entrepreneurs. With over 97 million online subscribers, Nigeria continues to be one of the highest online populations in the world. And this presents big opportunities for the Small and Medium Business sector. We believe that when these SMEs have the right digital skills, they can better leverage the Internet to grow their businesses, create more jobs and boost economic growth in Nigeria.”

The collaboration also entails further trainings focused on general digital skills for proprietors of SMEs who are between 18 and 35 years of age. The curriculum will address such issues as e-payment and online banking; using digital platforms to grow businesses; and hiring and retaining third parties.

ers and remained consumers. Why can’t we give local manufacturers some protection to produce some of these things? If we get it from the perspective of protecting infant industries, we will not see it as punishing anybody. My only concern is that many times we have policies but we don’t sustain those policies. We should avoid policy summersault.

Concerning the newly introduced floating exchange rate regime, it is a step in the right direction. Many people have even said it should have come a year ago. But the president had insisted on non-devaluation of the naira because of its implication on Nigerians. I believe that they have considered the fact that defending the naira with dollars that you don’t have is an effort in futility.

One thing I think it is going to do is that it will boost the earnings of both federal and state levels of government. This is because the money that was being given to states in the federation account allocation used to be at the exchange rate of about N197 to the dollar. But now, if the exchange rate settles at N280 and above, the naira content will be more. They will have the quantum of money higher than what they used to have and so, many of them will be able to pay salaries. But there is a corollary to it.

That is the fact that many of the states are indebted overseas. They borrowed money in dollar terms. When they want to pay back in dollar terms, they need bigger quantity of naira to pay.

So, it is a double-edged sword. However, I believe that the policy will stop rent-seeking and round tripping. Having said that, I think it is a good policy from the CBN.

28

Monday, 11 July, 2016

Why we embark on autism campaign —GTBank The need to remove the social stigma associated with children suffering from autism disorder, through a thorough enlightenment of the public on the disorder, has been identified by Guaranty Trust Bank as the key reason for its annual Autism programme, usually marked with different enlightenment engagements in Nigeria.

Commenting on the fifth edition of the An-

nual Autism Seminar, held in Lagos, recently, the bank’s Managing Director, Mr Segun Agbaje, stated that children, if given the chance to cultivate their innate skills and maximize their potential, irrespective of developmental disorders, can rise to the highest levels in the pursuit of their dreams.

He added that the annual autism campaign was designed as one of such platforms that

brands &

would enable such children maximise their potential, while also changing the social stigma the society attached to the disorder.

Agbaje further stated that society on the other hand has a role to play in providing an atmosphere for children living with autism to thrive, adding that the bank would continue to provide support for parents, teachers and care givers of children living with Autism Spectrum

Nigerian Tribune

Disorder through its annual Autism program.

The initiative, which has just concluded its fifth consecutive edition, remains an advocacy program designed to create awareness and provide support for children with developmental disabilities, most especially the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), a disorder that affects one in every 150 children around the world.

with Akin Adewakun

mark ting m:08054683584 e:akadewakun@yahoo.co.uk

Street trading ban:

Top brands that may disappear from Lagos roads Stories By Akin Adewakun - Lagos

S

ince the Lagos State government pronounced the ban on street trading in Lagos and made its intention to commence its enforcement on July 1, this year known, residents of the state have been ruminating on the likely effects such policy would have on individuals and businesses within the metropolis, considered by many as the commercial nervecentre of the nation.

Besides the negative impact such policy is expected to have on those individuals, directly involved in the trade, market checks revealed that the policy, when eventually enforced, might affect the visibility and bottom-lines of some notable brands, that thrive best in this ‘peculiar’ market environment; a development that has been giving both manufacturers and consumers of such brands some sleepless nights since the policy pronouncement.

Such brands that have made their names and fortunes, meeting the needs of residents of the city, are being left with no other option than

StarTimes thrills subscribers with CSL Subscribers of digital TV entertaining company, StarTimes, will now have the opportunity to watch the Chinese Super League on the platform, as the company announced its media rights to cover exclusive matches of the Chinese Football Association Super League, popularly known as Chinese Super League, in Sub-Saharan Africa region.

According to the company, the two-year media rights, signed during the CSL media rights press conference in China, will give the African audiences, especially Nigerians, the opportunity to watch native football stars like Nigerian and Shanghai Greeanland Shenhua

forward, Obafemi Martins, Senegalese’s Demba Ba and Zambia’s Jacob Mulenga among others on their StarTimes channels.

The General Manager, Media Divisions, StarTimes Group, Mr. Michael Dearham, stated that the company is bringing the exclusive matches to its teeming subscribers in the Nigeria and Africa to further ignite their passion for the round leather game.

“We understand that football is like a religion in Africa. That is why we are bringing exclusive matches to the living room or offices of our teeming subscribers in Africa and Nigeria. Chinese Super League has excellent and amazing football

players with strong presence of African stars,’ he stated.

Dearham assured Nigerians that the company would help to popularise CSL in English, French, Portuguese and African native languages in next three years.

Aside the CSL, the Pay TV Company is playing more important role in StarTimes’ strategy.

In 2015, StarTimes signed an exclusive broadcasting contract with Bundesliga and the International Club Championship for successive five years in Sub-Saharan Africa region, and got the Africa wide rights to televise the French Ligue 1, the Italian Serie A for three consecutive years.

to re-strategise, to avert mitigate that the impact of such ban on their offerings.

For instance, one of such brands remains Gala Sausage Rolls. Besides providing a ready meal for Lagosians, trapped on the notorious Lagos traffic, not a few have attributed whatever equity the brand must have garnered over the years, to its constant interface with the street.

‘This is not a product that is meant for the inner closet of a shop.

It is meant to provide that ready meal for that hungry, impatient individual on the road. Gala and the residents of the city would miss each other, if the ban is eventually implemented,’ argued Ogunsakin, a consumer.

Perhaps other big brands in the nation’s soft drinks market that will be missed on the Lagos roads are Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola and the Big Cola, all in pet bottles.

While residents would miss Coca Cola and Pepsi, two soft drinks products that have gained the confidence of their consumers, through quality offerings over the decades, they would also miss the Big Cola, a relatively new soft drink, that brought the innovation of making consumers enjoy more value for the same old price.

Interestingly, the Orijin drink, both alcohol and non-alcoholic, from the stables of Guinness Nigeria plc would also be sorely missed, especially by Lagosians, who are beginning to familiarise themselves with the spectacle of seeing such drinks, from a top brand, hawked in traffic.

The La Casera is also another soft drink that may recline in the memories of Nigerians if the ban on street trading in Lagos is enforced.

The drink, which prides itself as that which brought the ‘pet bottle innovation’ into that market seg-

ment, actually made huge fortunes on the street because of this simple innovation that brought convenience and ease of disposal for consumers in this segment. Not a few believe that whatever fortunes and equity the brand must have made over the years may be reversed by this present law.

The Eva Water from the stable of UAC Foods remains another premium brand that may have its market share and growth stunted if the ban stays. Though a little bit elitist, the decision of the table water to play on the streets has, no doubt, enhanced its bottom-line and deepen its market visibility; since many still prefer the drink to any other in that market segment.

Though while it has the shops and other markets to fall back on, many definitely see going off the streets as a big minus for this brand, especially at this time.

30 lucky consumers win N7.5m in Life Beer Radio Show Life Continental Beer has rewarded 30 lucky consumers with N7.5 million, in its ongoing entrepreneurial talent hunt and mentoring radio programme, Progress Booster Show, targeted at innovative businessmen and women in the South-east.

The event, held recently in Enugu, had 20 winners selected for their business ideas during the monthly radio show, while ten more entrepreneurs who brought their business ideas to the event were given the opportunity to win N250,000 each through a live interview session by selected judges.

Portfolio Manager, Mainstream Lager and Stout Brands, NB Plc, Emmanuel Agu, explained that the need to assist people, with business ideas in that region, but no funds to run them, informed the introduction of the show.

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Nigerian Tribune

Nigeria’s advertising industry recorded N4.8b growth in 2015

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ignificant growth was recorded in the nation’s advertising sector in 2015, as the sector recorded N97.9 billion, as the total advertising spend during the period, representing a vast improvement of N4.8billion on the N93.1 billion documented in 2014.

This growth, according to a recently-released 2015 Mediafacts, a key media resource for marketing professionals in West and Central Africa, was informed by

the 2014/2015 electioneering campaigns and the successful change in government, among other factors.

The report also identified the telecommunications sector as retaining its lead position as the highest advertiser in Nigeria in 2015 with a combined total expenditure of N16.7 billion, a figure representing 17 per cent of the total advertising spend in Nigeria for the year under review.

The report also noted that Personal Paid (N12.2 billion),

corporate communications (N6.3 billion), banking & finance (N5.8 billion), lager beer (N4.6 billion), Public Service (N3.8 billion), soft drinks (N2.8 billion), Cable TV (N2.5 billion), milk & diary (N2.2 billion) and broadcast (N2.2 billion), formed part of other top advertising product categories that contributed to the total ad spend.

Others include: noodles (N2.1 billion), Cocoa beverages (2.0 billion), skin cleansing (N1.8 billion), nutritional drinks

(1.8 billion), dental care (N1.6 billion), seasonings (N1.5 billion), online mall/Education imparting knowledge & skill/ Malt (N1.4 billion), NSD Powder (N1.3 billion and others (N22.4 billion). Mediafacts stated that these are the top 20 advertising product categories in 2015.

“The top 10 advertisers in Communication and Telecommunications sector in 2015 include: Sundry Ad (other Inform. Service), N13.5 billion, MTN, N4.7 billion, Airtel, N4.1 billion, Etisalat, N3.7 billion and Globacom, N3.7 billion. Others are: Nigerian Breweies, N3.7 billion, The state government, N3.1 billion, Sundry Advertisers (Services), N3 billion, Reckit Benkiser Nigeria, N2.7 billion and Procter & Gamble, N2.1 billion,” the report says.

While the top 20 advertisers contributed 64 per cent of total spend, the top four telecom players, according to the report contributed 17 per cent of the

total spend in 2015.

“The 2014/2015 electioneering campaigns and the successful change in government may have positively impacted on the advertising spends in 2015 as it records a positive growth of about 4.8 per cent over 2014 total media spend,’ the report says.

While the television stations attracted the highest advertising expenditure of N39 billion in 2015, the report however put the advertising expenditure attracted by the print media, outdoor and radio stations at N23.7 billion, N20.1 billion and N15.1 billion; respectively.

The Report put the advertising expenditure in the first and second quarters of 2015 at N23 billion each, while it was N29.8 billion and N22.1 billion in the third and fourth quarters of the year.

“The highest spend for 2015 was recorded in Quarter 3 (N29.8 billion), which represents 30% of the total spend,” the report stated.

UACN flags-off new reality TV game show

From left, Managing Director/CEO, Lekki Gardens Limited, Mr Richard Young; Survivor, Elechi Chika and Board Chairman, Lekki Gardens Limited, Mr Arobo Kalango at the presentation of empowerment support to survivors of the building collapse, held at the company’s office, Lekki, Lagos, recently.

UACN Plc has announced the unveiling of a new TV game show, UAC Unscripted, a 30-minute reality show, aimed at celebrating family values in Nigeria.

Speaking at the unveiling, in Lagos, recently, the company’s Executive Director, Corporate Services, Mr Joe Dada, stated that the new reality TV game show remains part of the company’s plans to come up with strategies, broad enough to meet the varying

Chi Brand: Deepening market share through

innovation, consumer insight With today’s consumers, all over the globe, becoming increasingly sophisticated and their needs almost insatiable, no time is the common marketing axiom ‘innovate or die’ is most apt than these economic times.

Interestingly, with the competition getting keener and fiercer in the nation’s dairy market segment, a major player that seems to have imbibed this axiom and putting it to good use remains the Chi brand, whose exploits in the juice and dairy market segments, despite the presence of giants, such as Coca Cola and Dangote, in the juice market and FrieslandCampina WAMCO and Promasidor, in the dairy market, have continued to earn the company both local and global recognitions in recent times.

For instance, besides the company’s juice brand, Chivita, winning an award at the recently-held Marketing Edge Summit and Awards, its Hollandia Evaporated Milk, has also continued to challenge the dominant brands in that segment, as evidenced in its increasing popularity among

consumers in the country.

In its retail audit data, covering the last 12 quarters, AC Nielsen, a leading global information and measurement company, described the Hollandia Evap as a brand that ‘has consistently gained market share across the country’.

The brand, the measurement company argued, had increased its market share by 7.4 points, while its closest rival dropped market share by a whopping 7.9 points in the period under review.

Interestingly, not a few market watchers will give these very pleasant market runs to the ability of the company to study the market environment in which its brands operate before coming out with innovative offerings that will meet the need of such market.

For instance, one thing that is obvious is the fact that the company’s huge investment in consumer research and commitment to natural ingredients had helped grow its brands in the market.

Interestingly, its decision to democratise milk drink, through appropriate pricing and the tetra

pak innovation of its Hollandia Milk brand, many believe remains one of those factors that made the milk brand effectively challenge the super –players in that market segment that never gave it any chance of survival.

Prior to Hollandia’s entrance into that market, milk had remained the exclusive preserve of the affluent; since it was obvious that the existing players in that market then were only interested in enhancing their bottom-lines, even at a huge cost to their consumers.

As at the time this planning was

going on, competitions in the market were still living in fool’s paradise, thinking they could still continue to extort Nigerians.

Before they woke up from their slumbers, Chivita and Hollandia Milk had gained the substantial size of the market share.

Perhaps Chi’s staying power remains its brand promise of catering to the needs of discerning Nigerian customers, a promise it has not derailed from since made in 1982, as evidenced in the quality, healthy and refreshing values of its fruit juices and a range of dairy products.

communication needs of its business units, despite the diversified nature of their target audience.

“Attempting to meet their communication needs led us to identifying comedy as a veritable platform for reaching out”’ he stated.

He added that the company, in collaboration with HS Media, its content providers, had over the years, created a number of programmes starting from the Real Nigerian Show, UAC LA half Hour and UAC Soccer La half Lines, as a way of enhancing the entertainment experience of the average Nigerian.

Dada described the new TV show as a successor to the illustrious line up of television offerings that had combined to give the viewers quality entertainment on the television in the past eight years.

The programme, which will be anchored by popular comedian, Okey Bakassi, will feature weekly participation of the best of the nation’s celebrity couples.

In his remarks, the Chairman/ Chief Executive Officer, HS Media Group, Mr Taye Ige, explained that the new family TV game show would resonate well with the target publics since it is designed to celebrate family values.

TechPlus 2016: Government, business leaders converge on Lagos Leaders in public and private sectors of the nation’s economy have been announced as speakers at the forthcoming tech event, TechPlus2016, scheduled for the month of July, this year, in Lagos.

This year’s event, the second in the series, is expected to provide a robust tripartite tech experience through its conference, exhibition and gaming structures while also serving as a platform for knowl-

edge sharing, networking and marketplace for consumers and businesses, with its dedicated website.

It will also promote technology thought leadership where leaders in business and government will have the opportunity to exchange ideas and share expert insights on key technology issues.

Managing Director of Connect Marketing Limited, organisers of

TechPlus 2016, Tunji Adeyinka, explained that this year’s edition of the tech show will significantly improve on the successful pioneering edition held last year in Lagos.

“Drawn from diverse sectors and unique backgrounds, the speakers’ trail reflects the dynamics of technological evolution in the 21st century with a fine blend of both local and international experiences.” Adeyinka stated.

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102 petitions: Ekiti govt alleges planned invasion of state by police

Allegation false, absurd —Police Sam Nwaoko - Ado Ekiti

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HE Ekiti State government has raised the alarm over a planned invasion of the state by men of the Nigeria Police headquarters in Abuja, ostensibly to arrest some of its officials and leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party

(PDP) in the state.

The government, in a statement on Sunday, alleged that 20 policemen had already arrived in the state to begin an alleged “indiscriminate arrest of top officials of the government, leaders of the PDP as well as members of the state House of Assembly today (Monday).”

The government said in a statement by the Special Assistant to Governor Ayodele Fayose on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, the alleged planned arrests were “in connection with petitions allegedly orchestrated by the All Progressives Congress (APC) over

governorship election that the party lost on June 21, 2014.”

The government alleged that some APC leaders, including a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, a former senator and others were “coordinating the invasion in their desperation to destabilise the state because

From left, Mrs Bunmi Obafunso, Mrs Yemi Funso-Oke, Mr Femi Onipede, Mrs Funmilayo Abraham and Mr Gbenga Onipede, at the final burial ceremony of their father, Chief Gabriel Onipede, at Esa-Oke, Osun State, on Saturday. PHOTO: OYEBANJI PETER.

Kidnapped Ondo monarch rescued in Edo Hakeem Gbadamosi - Akure

AFTER six days in the captive of his abductors, the traditional ruler of Ode Iyansan in Irele Local Government Area of Ondo State, Oba Abiodun Oyewumi, on Saturday regained his freedom.

Confirming the release of the monarch, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Femi Joseph, said it took the intervention of his men and other security agencies in the state and Edo State to secure the freedom of the monarch.

He said that the traditional ruler, who was abducted at his palace last Monday by unknown gunmen, was rescued in the costal community of Gbelegun in Edo State without paying any ransom.

Joseph, however, said that his men were on the trail of the hoodlums who ran away when the security operatives discovered their hideout.

He, however, assured that the criminals will be brought to book very soon.

Meanwhile, the lawmaker representing Okitipupa / Irele Federal Constituency of Ondo State at the House of Representative, Honourable Mike Omogbehin,

has commended the nation’s security operatives especially the military, the police anti-kidnapping unit and Marine Police for rescuing the monarch.

Omogbehin who had earlier issued a press statement to condemn the act, described such incident as strange in his constituency and Yorubaland.

The lawmaker commend-

ed the timely intervention of the police and other security agencies.

He noted that the latest development had returned calmness and wiped out the tension as well as the state of uncertainty hitherto pervaded Iyasan, since Oba Oyewunmi was abducted.

Omogbehin also challenged government and

security agencies to give priority to the welfare of traditional rulers to enable them perform their critical roles of mobilising their subjects and stabilising the society for a better nation.

The lawmaker commended the people of Iyasan and other neighbouring communities for assisting the police with useful information that led to the rescue of Oba Oyewunmi.

Osun PDP factional chairman’s pleas for Omisore’s release not sincere —Odeyemi Oluwole Ige - Osogbo

THE Director of Media and Publicity of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Osun State chapter, Prince Diran Odeyemi, on Sunday, said the purported pleading by a factional chairman of the party in the state, Honourable Soji Adagunodo, for the intervention of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi, in the release of Senator Iyiola Omisore was not sincere.

Omisore is being detained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly receiving about N1.3billion

from the office of the former National Adviser on Security (NSA), Col. Sambo Dazuki (retd).

Adagunodo had led his state executive members to the palace of Ooni, in Ile-Ife, pleading for the monarch’s intervention in securing the release of Omisore.

But, reacting to the development in a press release yesterday, Odeyemi said “Adagunodo is obviously a faction that is against the leadership of Omisore in PDP. They are a splinter group, a break-away faction operating a parallel organisation from a rented apart-

ment in Osogbo.”

According to Odeyemi, “the group is not apologetic about their dislike for Senator Iyiola Omisore. When EFCC came after Omisore, it is logical to assume that Adagunodo group will be happy that their enemy is now out of the scene and away from their sight.

“It is also likely that the open display of sympathy and latter-day affection may not be genuine. How can we explain the sudden love for a man you so much hated while in freedom.

Their actions and utterances may amount to eye service,” he said.

of Governor Ayodele Fayose’s perceived opposition to the inhuman policies of the Federal Government.”

The statement read in part: “We have been reliably informed that the latest onslaught against the PDP government of Mr Ayodele Fayose is to begin on Monday (today), using the police to arrest top government officials, PDP leaders across the 16 local government areas and members of the House of Assembly.

“The ACP, who is to lead the over 20 policemen to carry out the operation is said to be a native of Isan Ekiti, hometown of the Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr Kayode Fayemi.

“The ACP will be accompanied by two CSPs, four Inspectors and others.”

The government said it would “resist all alleged attempts by the APC to return to power through the backdoor,” adding that “the party should rather prepare for 2018 instead of running from the Army to the DSS to EFCC and now to the police.”

It also cautioned the APC-led Federal Government “not to destroy democracy in the country, by muscling opposition,” and alerted the international community to take note of the danger facing democracy in the country.

However, in a reaction to the claim, the Public Relations Officer of the Ekiti police command, Mr Alberto Adeyemi, described the allegation as false and “absurd.”

Adeyemi said he was not aware of such plans since the command had not received such signal from the IGP. “I am not aware of that.

We are about 5,000 policemen in the command and for 20 policemen to come and invade Ekiti, I regard that as too absurd. We have nothing of such either from the Inspector-General or the Commissioner of Police. All we know is that we are on ground and doing our work as required by law,” he said.

Some APC chieftains in Ekiti State had reportedly written about 102 petitions to the new Inspector General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris, alleging manipulation of the June 2014 governorship election in the state and certificate forgery against some members of the state House of Assembly.

Nigerian Tribune

CAN: Motailatu expresses support for Ayokunle THE process that led to the emergence of Reverend Supo Ayokunle as president-elect of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) is flawless and incontestable, the Motailatu Church Cherubim and Seraphim Worldwide (MCCSW) has stated.

The church, which Elder Professor Joseph Otubu belongs to, said it has no objection or complaint with the process that led to the defeat of its General Evangelist at the poll.

Its Prelate and Supreme Head, Baba Aladura, Elder Israel Akinadewo, said the church is willing to work with Ayokunle to reposition CAN for greater impact.

The church said those allegedly working towards scuttling the inauguration of the new executives for the umbrella of Christian body should have a rethink.

In a statement by its General Secretary, Special Apostle Samuel Adekoya, MCCSW said: “In view of the recent matter emanating from the outcome of the Christian Association of Nigeria presidential election, the Prelate and Supreme Head of Motailatu Church Cherubim and Seraphim Worldwide (MCCSW), Baba Aladura, Elder Israel Akinadewo, restates the support and total acceptance of the process, which produced Reverend Supo Ayokunle and Elder (Professor) Joseph Otubu, as the President-elect and Vice President-elect respectively.”

Ogun judiciary partners mediators on multi-door court THE Ogun State Judiciary in collaboration with the Institute of Chartered Mediators and Conciliation (ICMC) have commenced the construction of a model for the state Multi-door Court House Project in Abeokuta in order to bring justice closer to the people.

Chief Judge of the state, Justice Olatokunbo Olopade who revealed this during the 7th Ogun State Bar and Bench workshop, held at the Cultural Centre, Abeokuta, said that the initiative which started few months back began with the construction of the first courthouse in the state in Abeokuta, which would soon be replicated in Ota and Ijebu axis of the state.

She said the multi-door courthouse initiative would afford people with civil cases easy access to justice without delay through alternative dispute resolution mechanism.

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Ikorodu killings: OPC has capacity to repel militants —Adams Bola Badmus - Lagos

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HE National Coordinator of Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), Gani Adams, has described recent killing of Yoruba inhabitants in Ikorodu area of Lagos and part of Ogun State by some Ijaw miscreants tagged militants as unfortunate, noting that the OPC has the capacity to repel them should such act continue.

Adams spoke in Lagos during an interactive session with newsmen, recall-

ing that this was not the first time criminals from Niger Delta would test the OPC’s capacity.

According to the OPC leader, when they tried it in Ajegunle Area of Lagos, OPC ruthlessly dealt with them, warning that it was high time every Nigerian living anywhere comport with the tradition and custom of the area.

“With what has happened now, we have realised that there is a lot of threat surrounding the South-West.

“We are still talking about

the menace of herdsmen and another people masquerading as kidnappers or militants started to kill our people to the extent that the Ogun State deputy governor came to the area and they chased her security and the police could not do anything.

“The law enforcement agents should tell the whole world how many of the criminals they have arrested after more than 50 people have been massacred,” Adams said.

Adams, while promis-

ing that the OPC would be ready to confront the attackers, however, demanded support of the entire Yorubas.

This, he said, was necessary because past experience had taught the organisation bitter lessons where they were maligned by some Yoruba leaders especially politicians.

He expressed shock that the attackers of the Yoruba inhabitants in Ikorodu were Ijaw people who he said in their struggle for better condition in their re-

gion had received the support of the Yoruba people.

“We never antagonised them, but push for their interest. Even at the last National Conference, we gave them more than enough backing and most of the people that come from the Niger Delta have the training in human rights activism from Lagos here. So, I am shock that they are now attacking the Yoruba people,” the OPC leader said.

Adams, who noted that the Yoruba had neglected the OPC for a long time, warned that the danger lurking around was not a matter of press conference but required serious planning.

“They have called us names especially after our peaceful protests against Professor Attahiru Jega’s bad preparation for the last elections, but here we are.”

You’re God’s representatives, cleric urges ordinands

By Taiwo Olanrewaju

From left, immediate past president of the Rotary Club Iyaganku Ibadan, Mr Mark Malik; President, Rotarian Oluseun Osuntokun and the Baale of Ekotedo in Ibadan, Dr Taye Ayorinde, during a lecture on the growth of Ibadan into prominence, organised by the club, at Ibadan Tennis Club, Iyaganku, on Saturday. PHOTO: D. ‘TOYIN.

Ibadan development progressing —Ayorinde

By Tolu Olamiriki

THE Baale Ekotedo, in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, Dr Taye Ayorinde, has said that the development of the state capital is progressing, saying Ibadan indigenes were largely acclaimed as great warriors in the olden days.

Chief Ayorinde made the submission on Saturday at a lecture tagged: ‘The growth of Ibadan into prominence’, organised by the Rotary Club of Iyaganku-Ibadan, District 9125, held at Ibadan Tennis Club, adding that Ibadan is a silent volcano but a warring city.

The Baale averred that the largest city in Africa was a military camp during the olden days, adding that promotion during the period was based on how strong and how many slaves a soldier was able to control, a major reason while Ibadan chieftaincy titles have military colouration.

He said that Ibadan expansion came up due to liberalism which has its merits and demerits.

The Baale Ekotedo said the advent of Ibadan ex-

pansion led to the fading away of its culture and tradition; adding that its growth commenced like bush fire.

He said that traditional value and culture were no more, saying that it is incumbent on all and sundry to embrace the culture of the land.

He commended Governor Abiola Ajimobi on the various development projects.

“He is at the verge of making impossibility possible. He has seen the importance of Ibadan city project for long. He has been anointed by God to execute it,” he said.

“I am not happy about

the situation in Ibadan currently. Nobody says you cannot go on strike but it has to be settled on a round table. I am not happy with the labour in the state for inciting school pupils against constituted authority. It is bad to call small children out of classrooms,” he said.

Over 4,000 Akure North APC members defect to PDP OVER 4,000 members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) members in Akure North Local Government Area of Ondo State on Sunday renounced their membership of the party to join the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The former members of the APC said they decided to pitch their tents with the PDP henceforth because of what they termed the bad reputation of the APC in the state and the hardship its leadership in the country has inflicted on the people.

Receiving the defectors, the state governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, thanked them for their decision to join hands with true progressives to ensure that the

state remains a model that it has been for other states in the country and the continent.

Represented by the states Commissioner for Information, Mr Kayode Akinmade, Mimiko said the APC is planning to privatise the state’s facilities provided by the PDP government to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor.

Mentioning the Mother and Child hospitals, Mega schools and Free Bus Shuttle programme as some already pencilled down for privatisation if elected to power, Mimiko said if allowed to happen, this would defeat the purpose of establishing them.

According to the leader

of the defectors from Ward 9 in the local government, Joseph Owolagba, “it has become glaring that it will be difficult for any party to meet or surpass the achievements of the PDP government in the state.”

According to him, “the hardship in the country is becoming unbearable,” adding that prices of commodities have soared beyond the reach of the common man.

He said the achievements of the Dr Olusegun Mimikoled PDP government were enough for any progressive minded person to identify with the party insisting that “there is no government in the state that has touched the lives of the people of the local government like the present government.”

THE Archdeacon and Vicar of Our Saviour’s Anglican Church, Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos, Venerable Dr Julius O. Oyediran, has urged some newly ordained priests to see themselves as God’s representatives to Nigeria.

Preaching during the Trinity Ordination of three deacons, four priests, an archdeacon and a female music director, Venerable Oyediran noted that as God’s representatives, the priests were to be intercessors for the nation, reflecting Christ in thoughts, words and deeds and should not partisan.

Venerable Oyediran, who spoke on the theme, “The Mission of the Church” at The Cathedral of St Paul, Gbongan, Osun State, on Sunday, said for a successful ministry, the newly ordained priests should seek the face of God, fortify themselves and be divinely empowered with fasting, prayer and the word of God as Jesus did at the beginning of his ministry.

Quoting from Matthew 28:18-20; 4:1-11; 3:16&17; 17:1; Acts 10:38 and 2nd Timothy 2: 19-21, the venerable urged the ordinands to be “under the leadership and tutelage of Jesus Christ.”

The Diocesan Bishop, The Rt Revd (Dr) Abraham Olaoluwa Akinlalu, urged the new ministers to always pray and listen to God’s directive before they take any action and fear God so that He would support their ministries.

Nigerian Tribune

Aregbesola urges Osun indigenes on development Oluwole Ige - Osogbo

GOVERNOR Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State has charged indigenes of the state to emulate Senator Olayinka Omilani by executing development projects in their communities, with a view to complement government efforts.

He gave the charge at Ode Omu, in Ayedaade Local Government Area of the state, at the weekend while commissioning an ultra modern library and multi purpose hall donated

by Senator Omilani to the community as part of the activities commemorating his 80th birthday ceremony.

Aregbesola maintained that sons and daughters of the various communities in Osun should come to the aid of the state government for it to realise its developmental goals.

Earlier, the celebrant and donor, Senator Omilani said the construction and donation of the facilities was borne out of his belief in giving back to his community.

Imam charges Olomi community on tolerance

By Gbenga Olumide

THE Chief Imam of Olomi Community Central Mosque, Alhaji Sulaimon Mudasiru Otiko, has enjoined Muslim ummah to make use of the gains of Ramadan in the remaining months of the year.

Alhaji Otiko, who made the call in his sermon at the last Eid-el-Fitri prayer held at Olunde praying ground, urged Muslims to embrace the virtues of honesty, humility, tolerance and perseverance as done during the fasting period. This, he said, would make them to be fully rewarded by Allah.

Speaking on the occasion, the former chairman of Oluyole Local Government Area of Oyo State, Alhaji Olasunkanmi Salami, lamented the current deplorable economic situation in the country, adding that all problems confronting humanity could be solved if the teachings of Ramadan could be adhered to.

He advised Muslims to continue to embrace the fear of Allah as done during the fasting exercise. “The essence of 30-day spiritual exercise is not only to abstain from food and drink alone but also to make us closer to our creator by submitting ourselves to His will and follow His commandments in accordance with Qur’an,” he counselled.

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Kogi denies spending N1bn on political appointees' cars As govt, organised labour bicker over strike Yinka Oladoyinbo - Lokoja

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OGI State government, on Sunday, debunked the allegation of frivolous and extravagant spending as it said the Yahaya Bello -led administration never spent N1 billion on the purchase of vehicles for political appointees in the state.

The government, however, accused the James Falekeled group in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of deliberately misinforming the people to destroy the image of the government.

An online news medium had,over the weekend, in one of its publications, alleged that the state governor had spent N1billion to purchase vehicles for political appointees in the state.

However, the special adviser to the governor on media and strategy, Abdulkarim Abdulmalik, in a statement, said the governor had not bought any vehicle for any political appointee as claimed in the publication.

"We felt it is proper to put the record straight by telling the public that the allegations stated in the write up were false and full of malicious contents. For the avoidance of doubt, Governor Bello has not bought any vehicle for political appointees as erroneously stated by the Audu/Feleke political organisation.

Meanwhile, the First City Monument Bank (FCMB), has dragged the state government before the Federal High Court sitting in Lokoja, over alleged breach of contractual agreement following the removal of salary accounts of government workers from the bank.

The bank claimed that the action of the state government had led to the loss of over N700 million in loans to workers.

According to the suit which has Kogi State government, the state Attorney General, Local Government Service Commission, Zenith Bank and Access Bank Plc, as defendants, the bank said it was wrong for government to have removed salary accounts of its workers after it had guaranteed loans to the workers.

It will be recalled that the state government had recently directed workers on its payroll to open salary accounts with the Zenith Bank and Access Bank, a development that has led to the ongoing strike in the state.

However, the FCMB in the originating summon claimed that the state government erred in removing the salary accounts of the workers to the fourth and fifth defendants in spite of undertakings it entered with

the FCMB for domiciliation of the salary accounts of beneficiaries of its consumer loan facilities.

The FCMB sought six reliefs of the court in the Writ of Summons issued by its counsel, A.Y. Mohammed, which include, “A declaration that the first defendant and her agents were bound by their several undertakings, commitments and assurances.”

However, when the case came up on Friday, counsel to Zenith Bank Plc, John Erame, filed a motion supported by a four-paragraph

affidavit for extension of time to enable counsels in the suit file their papers.

The trial judge, Justice Phoebe Ayua, granted the application and adjourned the case till October 5.

Also, as the strike embarked upon by the organised labour in the state enters the third week, the workers, on Sunday, accused the state government of employing propaganda and blackmail in order to cause disaffection and break the ranks of workers in the state.

The unions, who alleged that the move was targeted at their leaders, however, charged the workers to be resolute and ensure that they are liberated from the "anti-workers" policies of government.

A statement by the state secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Olakunle Faniyi, and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) secretary, James Kolawole, said government had been using faceless groups and various forms of inimidation to stampede

their members to back out of the strike.

However, the state government, in its reaction through the special adviser to the governor on media and strategy, Abdulkareem Abdulmalik, accused the labour leaders of insincerity as they had been praising the governor before.

He said their quick recourse to a "political industrial action" was not born out of good intention but to blackmail government over their selfish demands which government refused to accede to.

Senator Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa cutting his 85th birthday cake with his children, in-laws and grandchildren, supported by Right Reverend (Professor) M.A.A. Osunade (retd) (second left) and other bishops of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), at the thanksgiving service, held at Ogbomoso, on Sunday.

PHOTO: SEYI GESINDE.

THE pioneer Anglican Bishop of Ogbomoso Anglican Diocese, Right Reverend (Professor) M.A.A. Osunade, has described Senator Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa, who marked his 85th birthday, on Sunday, as an accomplished educator, a balanced and proactive individual, who is lovable and a detrabalised Ijesaman.

The cleric said this on Sunday, while speaking at the 85th birthday thanksgiving service of Senator Akinfenwa, held at the Chapel of Grace, LAUTECH, Ogbomoso.

Osunade beseeched God to elongate Akinfenwa’s years, being “a simple, humble, honest and a wholesome personality comfortable to work with.

He called Akinfenwa a “Christian and convinced Anglican activist with passion.”

Professor Osunade, also thanked Senator Akinfenwa for building the Chapel of Grace for Ogbomoso Anglican Diocese, which he said, is now a primary place of worship for Anglican Students

Fellowship (ASF).

Earlier in his ministration, the Bishop of Ogbomoso Anglican Diocese, Right Reverend (Dr) Titus Olayinka, presented Akinfenwa as someone whose life is worthy of emulation.

Bishop Olayinka charged the LAUTECH students who were present at thanksgiving service and others, to

ensure they commit themselves to excellence and be encouraged by Senator’s Akinfenwa’s vision for the youths, which is to serve God and be excellent in their studies.

Senator Akinfenwa, showing his appreciation to the congregation for the honour bestowed on him, gave gratitude to God for the opportu-

nity to serve Him and build a sanctuary for His worship.

Dignitaries present on the occasion included Akinla of Erin Ijesa, Oba Isaac Adeyeba Ayeni, Aale of OkeElerin, Oba Samuel Amoo, former governor of Oyo State, Retired Major General Oladayo Popoola (retd), Anglican bishops and others.

Dissolution of OAU council : Members petition Buhari Ayodele Adesanmi - Abuja THE dissolution of the governing council of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), lle-Ife, Osun State, has taken a new dimension as members have petitioned the visitor to the institution, President Muhammadu Buhari, saying: "as free citizens saddled with such high social responsibility, we deserve more."

It will be recalled that on July 1, the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, in a personally signed advertorial in one of the national dailies, had announced the dissolution of the governing council of OAU with immediate effect

and suspended the process of the appointment of the substantive vice chancellor of the institution.

The crisis which has led to the closure of the institution, was reported to have surrounded the appointment of a vice chancellor for the institution.

Interestingly, the new vice chancellor, Professor Ayobami Taofeek Salami, a former deputy vice chancellor (Academic), had since assumed duty to succeed Professor Bamitale Omole, whose tenure expired on June23, 2016.

Dissatisfied with the dissolution without prior notice nor any query, the six external members of the

Ebenezer Adurokiya - Warri IJAWS in the diaspora, particularly, the United States of America (USA), have urged the Federal Government to expedite the proposed dialogue process with aggrieved members of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) so that peace and economic prosperity can return to the country.

The Ijaws made the call at weekend in a statement signed by their coordinator, Dr David Ogula, a copy of which was made available to the Nigerian Tribune through kalahariinc@yahoo.com in Warri, Delta State.

Members of the Diaspora Ijaw community in the US, under the umbrella of Ozidi Forum, pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari to accelerate the proposed dialogue process with the agitators so as to address the concerns of the Niger Delta region as well as restore crude oil production.

The group observed that beside the bleeding economy of the country, the ordinary Niger Deltans are also bearing the brunt of the hostilities, calling on the Avengers and other militants to have a rethink.

IDPs: Probe alleged diversion of relief materials, grouptellsFG Olayinka Olukoya - Abeokuta

Anglican bishops extol Akinfenwa’s virtues at 85

By Seyi Gesinde

Ijaws in diaspora urgeFG to fast-track dialogue with Avengers

governing council, on July 8, in a petition sent to President Buhari, a copy which was obtained by the Nigerian Tribune, stated that "we were, however, astonished when we heard in the media, including advertorial in print media, that our council, together with that of the University of Port Harcourt, has been dissolved with immediate effect on July, 1."

The petition which was signed by Professor Rowland Ndoma-Egba, chairman of the council, on behalf of others added "we are also, unable to say why our council was also dissolved since the advertorial did not say so."

THE Christ Global Network (CGN), has called on the Federal Government, to probe the alleged diversion of relief materials meant for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), in troubled states.

Stating this was the CGN Apostolic Presbyter, Bishop Taiwo Akinola, at a news conference in Abeokuta, Ogun State, over the weekend, after the church's 2016 conference tagged: "New wine", adding that investigation into the issue would bring about sanity in the camps.

The CGN is an international, interdenominational and non-denominational fellowship of Christian gospel ministers.

He added that government should ensure that the welfare of the displaced persons in the camps was not compromised and that it should increase its efforts in the rehabilitation and resettlement of the IDPs. He urged the Federal Government to adopt a carrot and stick approach in solving the bombing of pipelines in the South- South by the militants.

news Murdered Abuja female preacher: Her last moments

33

Monday, 11 July, 2016

•She was crying ‘blood of Jesus, somebody help me’ before she died •Osinbajo’s wife visits family •Husband weeps Collins Nnabuife - Abuja

I

T was a sad Saturday for residents of Pipeline, Kubwa, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory, when a 42-year-old woman, Deaconess Eunice Olawale, was murdered in cold blood as she was observing her early morning preaching near her house.

The incident, which took place at the early hours of Saturday, July 9, left the entire neighbourhood speechless and confused.

Information gathered by Nigerian Tribune revealed that as she was being attacked, she was shouting and crying “blood of Jesus, somebody help me” until her voice was heard no more.

Some residents confirmed that they heard the voice of the woman as she was crying for help, but they couldn’t help because the perpetrators of the act were armed.

When Nigerian Tribune visited her residence on Sunday, in Kubwa, Abuja, hundreds of sympathisers, especially members of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), where until her death, she was a deaconess, were there to mourn with her family.

The wife of the Vice President, Mrs Dolapo Osinbajo, visited the family, sympathised with them and prayer session was held for the family.

Mrs Osinbajo also signed the condolence register as sympathisers were crying uncontrollably, and described the deceased as a very good and simple woman.

Speaking with her husband, Pastor Elisha Olawale, Nigerian Tribune gathered that deceased, who had seven children was very dedicated in preaching every morning in her neighbourhood.

According to him “She goes out every morning for morning cry, which means when you wake up in the morning, take megaphone and preach.

“My wife goes out to preach between 5a.m. and 6a.m. On Saturday, she went out the same time, around 6:30a.m., two of my children used to go out to play football at a field nearby, my children came back and told me that they heard some footballers saying that a woman preaching this morning was killed and her mega-

Wife of the Vice-President, Mrs Dolapo Osinbajo (right) with Pastor Elisha Olawale, husband of late Pastor Eunice Olawale and the children, during a visit by Mrs Osinbajo to the family, on Sunday. PHOTOS: SUNDAY OSUNRAYI.

Mrs Osinbajo consoling Pastor Olawale. phone was still there, they cut her head and her legs.

“I told my children it can’t be their mother, but they insisted we should go there and check, I wore my cloth and went there, when we got there, we didn’t see anybody, they have even covered her blood with sand.”

Pastor Olawale further said that on his way back from the scene, he saw a policeman who confirmed that such incident happened and the remains of the woman was taken to Phase 4 Police Station, Kubwa.

The junction where the deceased used to preach and where she was murdered.

“I immediately rushed to my house, drove to the police station with two of my children, as we were entering the police

Herdsmen attacks left 81 dead in 2 weeks in Benue –Survivors •Only 22 deaths were recorded –Police SURVIVORS and victims of herdsmen attacks in Logo and Ukum council areas in Benue State have been recounting how 81 persons were killed in the last two weeks in the area.

The traditional ruler of Logo, Chief Jimmy Meeme, who spoke to Channels Television on the invasion of rural communities, said 70 people were killed in six out of the 10 council wards in his domain.

He blamed the sustained attacks on his people by the herdsmen on territorial occupation campaign.

Eyewitnesses also claimed that Turan, Mbagber, Yonov and Tombo communi-

ties in Logo were attacked on the same day, while Varser in Ukum Local Government came under siege, leaving 53 persons dead.

A community leader, Terkura Suswam, also made a case for the internally displaced persons (IDPs).

In Anyiin community, the matron at a local clinic, Kpadoo Asema and the IDPs camp manager, John Imenger, spoke on the treatment and how the displaced persons were fairing in the face of lack and despair.

One of the IDPs in Anyiin camp, Aseer Yuam, grieved over the murder of her son by herdsmen in Tombo council ward while attempting to fetch

food for his family from the farm.

The state coordinator of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, Garus Gololo, promised to track down those responsible for the attacks in Logo and Ukum.

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, lamented the inability of the security agencies to arrest the perpetrators of the coordinated attacks.

In his reaction, spokesman of the state police command, Moses Yamu, dismissed allegations of neglect of duty by security personnel.

He insisted that only 22 deaths were recorded in Logo and Ukum local government areas.

gate, a pickup Van was coming out, and I saw my wife at the back of the pickup Van, at this point, I and my children burst into tears,” he added.

Some of the sympathisers lamented that similar incidents have been occurring in Kubwa where preachers were being attacked and molested by hoodlums.

When the Nigerian Tribune visited the Phase 4 Police Station, Kubwa, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) was not available, but was received by the Divisional Crime Office (DCO) who craved anonymity, saying that she was not competent to speak on the case because it had been transferred to FCT Command and therefore, referred to the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO).

The FCT Command spokesman, Anjuguri Manzah, who spoke on telephone, said that some arrests have been made and the investigation was inconclusive, that the media should wait for the outcome of the investigation.

He maintained that a formal statement would be issued by the police in respect of the investigation.

Edonews Edo civil servants now less than 2,000 —Ize-Iyamu 34

Monday, 11 July, 2016

•PDP reduced the number in 2002 —Information Commissioner Banji Aluko - Benin City

T

HE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirant in Edo State, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, has accused the state governor, Adams Oshiomhole, of decimating the state civil service from 13,000 that his government inherited, to less than 2,000 as of today.

The PDP candidate, who stated this during the Edo North flag off of his campaign, held at Auchi Sports Complex, Auchi, also noted that Governor Oshiomhole did not contribute a dime to his own campaign in 2007, adding that he along with other persons including Chief Tom Ikimi fought the

battle that made Oshiomhole governor.

Thousands of people thronged the venue of the flag off which had in attendance PDP leaders such as the Edo State chairman, Dan Orbih, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, Chief Tom Ikimi, Senator Yisa Braimah, Chief Mike Ogiadomhe and Alhaji Kashitu Ozeto, among others.

In his remark, Orbih, who accused Governor Oshiomhole of dividing Edo North, noted that the governor was guilty of picking out Etsako West Local Government Area for development among the six local government areas in the area, even as he added that in Etsako West council, the governor only focused on his na-

tive Iyamho Village, which he said, is just one of the 28 villages comprising the Uzaire clan.

Senator Braimah, who also spoke, said denying the PDP the usage of the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium for its campaign flag off, last week, amounted to abuse of office, affirming what Orbih said Governor Oshiomhole focused developmental projects in Iyamho, a community he said, was only one out of the eight villages that make up ward 10 in Etsako West Local Government Area.

He allayed fears and rumour doing the rounds that he would marginalise Edo North if elected governor, saying that he was in love

with the area and was instrumental to the election of Oshiomhole as the first executive governor of Edo State from the area.

In his address, Ize-Iyamu said, “I challenge any Edo APC leader who can say that they influenced the governorship seat to Edo North. Certainly none of them! I stand among the first three, who said it must be Edo North.

“Let me say that when Adams Oshiomhole came, after going to PDP, ANPP and the Labour Party, he came to us to say that we should allow him to become the first governor from the Edo North.

“After eight years, I see no functional hospital in Edo North. The only hospital

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) supporters, during the kick-off of the governorship election campaign, at Auchi Sports Complex, Auchi, Edo State, at the weekend.

Esans insist on APC running mate slot Banji Aluko - Benin City

AHEAD of the September 10 Edo State governorship election, leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Edo Central Senatorial district have insisted on producing running mate to the party’s governorship candidate, Godwin Obaseki.

As part of efforts to secure the deputy governorship’ slot, APC leaders in the area were said to have settled for a candidate from old Agbazilo axis (Esan North-East and Esan South-East local government areas of the Esan senatorial district to produce a candidate Chief Francis Inegbeneki, a party chieftain in the area, who spoke with journalists in Benin City, on the development, said he met with Governor

Adams Oshiomhole on the reasons Esanland should produce running mate to Obaseki adding and that the governor agreed to the arrangement ‘‘Any right-thinking politician will know that

it is not politically wise to give the deputy governor’s slot to a zone which has the outgoing governor.

“Edo North has the governor with the deputy from Edo South right now, so if Edo South has

the governor in the coming dispensation, Edo Central should have the deputy.”

The politician argued that it is fairness and equity that the Esan people gets the slot for APC deputy governor in 2016.

We are yet to pick running mate —APC Banji Aluko - Benin City

THE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State has denied rumours doing the rounds that the name of the lawmaker representing Etsako Federal Constituency, Honourable Phillip Shaibu, has been submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the running mate to its governorship standardbearer, Godwin Obaseki.

The party said it was still

in the process of nominating a running mate for Mr Obsseki for the September 10 governorship elections, adding that party leaders in the state would soon come up with an acceptable person.

Edo State chairman of the APC, Anselm Ojezua, in a chat with journalists on Sunday, described as ‘interesting’ rumours that the name of Shaibu had been submitted to INEC. Ojezua said the deputy governorship candidate

could emerge from the Edo North or Central senatorial zones, after a meeting of all stakeholders in the Edo APC. On reports that he was being asked to resign so that the Edo Central, where he came from could produce the deputy governorship candidate, Ojezua said the emergence of a deputy governor had nothing to do with his office.

It does not affect my position. We have not picked any name,” he said.

does not have an x-ray machine to even diagnose the nature of an ailment. The people have no drinking water. They have no industry despite being blessed with solid minerals,” he stated.

In reaction, however, the Edo State Commissioner for Information, Prince Kassim Afegbua, said it was

the PDP government that actually reduced the number of civil servants in the state in 2002.

He added that the Adams Oshiomhole administration has succeeded in getting rid of the ghost workers planted in the state civil service by the PDP and has recruited workers since 2009.

PPA set to take over Edo —candidate Banji Aluko- Benin City JOURNALIST and governorship candidate of the Progressive People Alliance (PPA) in the September 10 Edo State governorship election, Thomas Sadoh, has declared his readiness to snatch power from politicians and give to the masses in the state.

Sadoh said the political class has continually held on to power without putting premium on the people, adding “that a common man in the street, who believes in me will queue behind me to fight this.”

Sadoh spoke at the weekend, at the Benin Airport upon his arrival from Dubai, where he said, he consulted with Edo citizens on the need to support his aspiration in order to bridge the gap between the haves and the have nots.

He added that he was not in town when he won the ticket of his party, after the two other aspirants, who contested the PPA’s ticket stepped down for him.

Sadoh, who is from the same senatorial district as the outgoing Governor Adams Oshiomhole, said nothing was wrong in replacing his kinsman, pointing out that he did not believe in sacrificing meritocracy in the name of

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zoning.

He disclosed that he was taking a break from his position as a broadcaster with the Benin based Independent Television (ITV), in order to focus on his gubernatorial ambition, adding that as a journalist, who has practised the profession for many years, he knows the challenges facing Edo people more than any candidate in the race.

“We cannot continue to suffer while some people continue to milk us dry.

There is no greater commitment than this. I came out because I really want to do this and I know that my chances are brighter that you can ever think,” he said.

Asked if he was fronting for any other candidate in the race, he said he was not in the race to further the aspiration of any other candidate, saying it was sad that people raised political structure and later collapse them for other candidates.

“I’m here on my own volition and I have consulted before embarking on this.

These people are behind me to ensure that we take over Osadebey Avenue on November 12. I have presented my agenda to the people and I’m happy with the reception I have received so far,” he said.

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communitynews Monarch raises the alarm over looming disaster in N/Delta 36

ebenezer adurokiya-warri

F

OLLOWING unceasing deliberate economic sabotage being perpetrated by members of the Niger Delta

Olugbense ruling house protest against S/Court judgment on Olofa stool

Monday, 11 July, 2016

Avengers, a traditional ruler in Delta State has called on the militant group as well as the Federal Government to swiftly embrace dialogue to avert disaster in the Niger Delta.

Paramount ruler of Seimbiri kingdom, HRM Pere Charles Ayemi-Botu, warned that unless urgent steps were taken by the Federal Government, the prevailing crisis in the Niger

Delta could throw the country into untold hardship.

The royal father, who made the observation on Sunday, in Warri, noted that there is uneasy calm and looming disaster of possible monumental dimension in the region.

The former National Chairman of Traditional Rulers of the nine Oil and Gas Producing Communities of Nigeria from 2003 to

2007, advocated that both the Federal Government, the Niger Delta Avengers and other militant groups should, as a matter of urgency, embrace peace without further delay.

He said they should resort to dialogue in order to save Nigeria and Nigerians from avoidable crisis and unnecessary embarrassment that could make Nigerians objects of redicule in interna-

tional community.

He said the situation, if left unresolved, could also create an avenue for the developed world to market their weapons of mass destruction.

He further noted that the U.S. government is ready to collaborate with the Federal Government to find a peaceful resolution of the Niger Delta impasse.

The monarch pleaded

biola azeez-ilorin

SCORES of members of Olugbense ruling house in Offa, Offa Local Government Area of Kwara State, at the weekend, protested against the Supreme Court judgment on the Olofa of Offa stool.

The Supreme Court had on July 1, 2016, delivered a judgment affirming Oba Mufutau Gbadamosi of the Anilelerin ruling house as the substantive monarch of the ancient town.

This is just as Oba Gbadamosi called for the support of the people, saying: “Now that the contest is over, the sanctity and honour of the sacred throne of Olofa should be protected.

This should be of profound interest to all and sundry.

Providence and destiny have chosen me. I, therefore, crave for your continued support”.

However, members of the aggrieved ruling house carried placards that read: “God’s judgment is coming soon,” “Kwara State government should revisit this injustice,” “Stop selling our pride,” “No justice, no peace,” “ODU has failed us,” “Save the oppressed, Mr. President.”

The protesters also chanted anti-Supreme Court songs, stressing that the judgment empowered the female lineage to thedisadvantate of the male lineage.

Speaking with journalists, Prince to the throne from Olugbense ruling house, Alhaji AbdulRauf Keji, said the Supreme Court judgement was meant to re-write the history of Offa.

Prince Keji said the late Olofa Gangan, their father, established Offa town, adding that they would continue their fight to ensure justice prevails.

“It is not that we are fighting them or we at war with anybody. But we are after justice. Nobody can phase out Olugbense ruling house. They can’t. Our father founded this town over 600 years ago and they can’t re-write history by making female children superior to male children,” he said.

President of Ogunpa Indigenes Forum, Alhaji Ismaila Azeez (right), presenting an award to Honourable Ademola Ige. With them is the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Akanmu Adetunji.

with Buhari to come up with the committee he had promised to inaugurate to drive the peace process.

Group commends Saki West LG boss on development THE Caretaker Chairman of Saki West Local Government Area of Oyo State, Mr Kareem Adegoke, has been commended by the chairman of Saki Development Council, Alhaji Salaudeen Salami, for his resolve to ensure the growth of the council area, describing him as a good ambassador of the state governor.

The commendation was made when the group paid the council boss a courtesy visit in his office at the council secretariat in Saki.

Alhaji Salami lauded the council boss, saying that his administration within a few months had taken the dividends of democracy to the nooks and crannies of the local government area.

He listed some of the dividends of democracy as the construction of culverts, bridges and drainages across communities in the council area to control erosion and prevent flood.

Others are the resuscitation of Karra Market in Saki and Kinnikinni sport field.

Ogunpa Indigenes Forum honour Olubadan, lawmaker OGUNPA Indigenes Forum, a non political organisation comprising youths and Mogajis in Ogunpa community, Ibadan has conferred the Life Patron Award on the Olubadan of Ibadan land, Oba Saliu Akanmu Adetunji Ogunguniso I and a member of the Oyo State House of Assembly repre-

senting Ibadan South East Constituency II, Honourable Ademola Ige, as the “Politician of Integrity” in Oyo State.

The awards were conferred on the two eminent personalities at the third edition of the annual Ramadan lecture organised by the forum at Ifeleye Street, Ogunpa,

Ibadan. The lecture was delivered by an Islamic scholar, Alhaji Taofeek Akeugbagold.

Speaking at the well attended occasion, the President of Ogunpa Indigenes Forum, Alhaji Ismaila Azeez, disclosed that the forum, established in 2007, decided to make the Olubadan of

Ibadan land, its life patron because of the fatherly role he had playing in the lives of members of the community before he became the Olubadan, while Honourable Ige was honoured with the “Politician of Integrity award” in recognition of his moral and financial support for the people of Ogunpa

IBEDC staff electrocuted in Ilorin biola azeez-ilorin

A staff of Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) was reportedly killed while undertaking repair of faulty electricity equipment at a step down plant situated at Sawmill area, behind College of Education, Ilorin, at the weekend.

A competent source hinted that the deceased, Abdulrasheed Garna, a technician, was electrocuted while undertaking a major fault clearing exercise in the plant alongside two of his colleagues.

The source also revealed that a spiritual attack was suspected, saying it was uncommon for the control centre to power the system

without clearance from the fault clearing crew during such operations.

This is just as it was gathered that people of Unity/ Stadium road and some major areas in Ilorin, Kwara state would remain in darkness for sometime due to the calamity that befell the staff

of the power distribution company.

Meanwhile no member of the deceased’s family contacted was willing to speak on the development as the incident had thrown them into mourning ever since it happened.

Speaking on the develop-

ment, the Public Relations Officer of IBEDC in the area, Mr. Ayo Bada, confirmed the death, saying that only one person was electrocuted.

“It is an unfortunate incident. They were three effecting repairs when one of them was electrocuted,” he said.

Ogun to launch new health scheme OGUN State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, will today declare open a new health scheme christened “Araya Scale Up”.

The project is a Community Based Health Insurance Scheme (CBHS), meant to provide affordable healthcare service delivery to members of the public.

A release signed by the

state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Babatunde Ipaye, stated that the programme will be launched by the state governor at the June 12 Cultural Centre, Kuto, Abeokuta, by 12 p.m.

He enjoined all commissioners, special advisers, government functionaries and permanent secretaries of all ministries, depart-

ments and agencies to be seated by 10 a.m.

The release indicated that the scheme is also aimed at rendering good and qualitative healthcare services to the people of the state at reasonable cost that will avail them the opportunity to access healthcare services for the whole year.

community.

He further explained that the award followed a close observation of Honourable Ige by the forum, which found out that he is a disciplined, humane, accommodating and honest politician, who always makes himself available for assistance to any individual and matters affecting the generality of the people since he joined politics.

Presenting the award to Ige, Oba Adetunji wished him many more years of meritorious service to the people of his constituency, Ibadan land, Oyo State and Nigeria in general.

In his reaction, Ige said the award would encourage him to do more for the people of his constituency, Oyo State and Nigeria as a whole.

He noted that though he had received many awards since he became a lawmaker a year ago, he felt so honoured by the one presented to him by the forum because it was bestowed on him alongside his father, the Olubadan of Ibadan land.

He prayed God to grant the monarch long life, sound health, peace and prosperity in his quest to make Ibadan city great.

37

Monday, 11 July, 2016

foreig naffairs with seyi gesinde

08116954632 foreignnewseditor@gmail.com

US police shootings: Protests spread with dozens of arrests

Protesters in Minneapolis call for justice for Philando Castile. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES.

P

rotests continue to spread across United States cities against the killing of black men by police, following recent deaths in

Minnesota and Louisiana.

Roads were blocked and missiles thrown in Minnesota, while armed New Black Panther Party members confronted

Thousands cross from Venezuela to Colombia to buy food Thousands of people have crossed to Colombia after Venezuela opened their common border to allow its people to buy food and medicine, officials said on Sunday.

The frontier, closed by Venezuela last August as part of a crime crackdown, was to open for 12 hours.

Venezuela is going through a deep economic crisis and many say they struggle to feed their families.

Last week, about 500 Venezuelan women broke through the border

controls in search of food.

President Nicolas Maduro ordered the border closure because, he said, the area had been infiltrated by Colombian paramilitaries and gangs.

The measure also prevents subsidised goods from being smuggled from Venezuela into Colombia.

In the first two hours, some 6,000 people crossed the border between San Antonio del Tachira, in Venezuela, and Cucuta, in Colombia, an official told the BBC’s Natalio Cosoy, in Cucuta.

Venezuelans queue in Cucuta to exchange their money. PHOTO: BBC

police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Dozens of arrests have been made but the rallies were mostly peaceful.

The situation is also tense in Dallas, where five officers were killed by a black man during a protest rally.

Security levels were raised at the police HQ after anonymous threats were received but an all clear was given after a search of a car park for a “suspicious person”.

The protests against police killings were sparked by the deaths of Philando Castilein Minnesota and Alton Sterling in Louisiana.

BBC stated that in St Paul, Minnesota, overnight, fireworks, bottles and rocks were thrown at police as the demonstration closed a main interstate highway, causing gridlock.

This is the fifth night of protests in Baton Rouge where there is not just anger, there is rage.

Each night the gathering has intensified and police

have responded with officers in riot gear. The two sides faced each other, often blocking the main highway outside police

headquarters.

Occasionally the force would line up and rush into the crowd to make several arrests. Earlier, hundreds

marched to the Louisiana State Capitol and stood on the steps with clenched fists raised up high - a salute to black power.

272 dead in South Sudan as gunfire erupts again Fierce fighting has killed an estimated 272 people in recent days in South Sudan’s capital, Juba, as an increasingly tense security situation threatened to send the young country back to all-out civil war.

Al Jazeera reported from the city on Sunday that there was a loud booms, characteristic of heavy weapons, and gunfire coming from the area near the airport, which local sources said had closed.

In a post on Twitter, Kenya Airways said they had suspended flights to Juba “due to [the] uncertain security situation”.

Gunfire had earlier been heard in the capital’s south-west near an army barracks and a United Nations base.

Information Minister Michael Makuei Lueth said the government “is in full control of Juba right now except [the parts controlled by] the SPLM IO”, referring to the armed opposition group.

Violence from Thursday to Saturday killed mostly soldiers from different

armed factions, after gun battles broke out across Juba.

A witness told the Reuters news agency on Sunday that gunfire could be heard in the Gudele and Jebel suburbs, near a military barracks that hosts troops loyal to the country’s vice president Riek Machar.

Gunfire erupted shortly after Mr Machar (left) and Mr Kiir, met on Friday. PHOTO: AFP

Berlin riot: 123 police injured in anti-gentrification protest Police in Berlin, on Sunday said 123 officers were injured in clashes with leftist protesters over the redevelopment of a district in the east of the city.

About 3,500 protesters marched through Friedrichshain on Saturday.

Some were masked and threw missiles, police said.

The protest was the most violent in the past five years, they said.

BBC revealed that tensions have risen since moves began in June to evict squatters in the area. Friedrichshain has undergone rapid gentrification in recent years.

About 1,800 police were deployed at the protest, which began peacefully but escalated into violence.

Eighty-six people were arrested, police said.

Squatters are refusing to leave part of a block of

flats at 94 Rigaer Strasse.

Since June, squads of police have been monitoring the

building day and night, with helicopters circling overhead.

Thousands of protesters were deployed to forestall the protests in Berlin.

PHOTO: MAURIZIO GAMBARINI

otherNEWS Zambia suspends election campaigning over violence

President Edgar Lungu.

PHOTO: REUTERS

Political campaigning in Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, has been suspended for 10 days because of violent clashes ahead of next month’s national elections, the electoral commission said.

The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) announced on Sunday it was suspending Lusaka and campaigns in

Namwala, south of the capital, until July 18 when the situation would be reviewed.

“The electoral commission of Zambia has observed with dismay the rise in political violence in some districts which has regrettably resulted in injury, loss of life and property,” commission spokesman Cris Akufuna said in a statement.

No public rallies, meetings, processions or door-to-door campaigning would be allowed, Akufuna said.

The run-up to the election has been marred by skirmishes between supporters of the ruling Patriotic Front (PF) of President Edgar Lungu and the opposition United Party for National

Development (UPND) led by Hakainde Hichilema.

On Friday, police opened fire on UPND supporters, killing one, after the party refused to cancel a campaign meeting in Lusaka’s Chawama area.

The ECZ said all vehicles carrying political party campaign messages in the two areas should be parked.

Deaths as Indian troops open fire on Kashmir protesters There were scenes of mayhem in parts of southern Indianadministered Kashmir after Indian forces opened fire on thousands of protesters, killing at least 19 civilians and wounding scores of others during a mass funeral for a slain rebel fighter.

Police said a man was killed on Sunday as hundreds of people

clashed with troops in southern Pulwama town, while six civilians who had been injured after Indian troops fired on rockthrowing protesters on Saturday died overnight. Eight protesters were killed on Saturday.

Tens of thousands of people defied a curfew in parts of Kashmir on Saturday to pay homage to

Burhan Wani, the rebel fighter and so-called poster boy of the new Kashmiri resistance, resulting in clashes with police and paramilitary.

Wani was shot dead along with two other fighters by security forces and police in Bumdoora village on Friday, 85kilometres south of Srinagar, prompting

mass mourning across the valley.

According to officials, as news of the killing spread across the valley on Saturday, clashes erupted in several districts in southern Kashmir as thousands of residents hurled rocks at Indian troops, who responded by using live ammunition, pellet guns and tear Indian security agents carry one of the causalities of the mayhem. PHOTO: EPA gas.

38

Monday, 11 July, 2016 Editor: Ganiyu Salman tribunesporteditor@yahoo.com 08053789060

Lagos State to build more community sports centres Akin Adewakun-Lagos

Eder celebrating his goal against France in the final of EURO 2016

Murray wins second Wimbledon title B RITAIN’S Andy Murray became Wimbledon champion for the second time with a superb performance against Canadian sixth seed Milos Raonic in the final.

The Scot, 29, dismantled the Raonic serve in a 6-4 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-2) victory to repeat his triumph of 2013 and claim a third Grand Slam title.

Murray is the first British man to win multiple Wimbledon singles titles since Fred Perry in 1935.

“I’m proud to have my hands on the trophy again,” said Murray.

Murray gave a famously tearful speech after losing his first Wimbledon final against Roger Federer in 2012.

Murray

Twelve months later, he finally ended Britain’s 77-year wait for a male champion - and the chance to see him repeat the feat attracted huge attention.

Spectators queued overnight just to grab a spot on Henman Hill, while the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and former champions Bjorn Borg, Stefan Edberg and Boris Becker were among those

watching from the Royal Box. “This the most important tournament for me every year,” added an emotional Murray.

“I’ve had some great moments here, but also some tough losses. The wins feels extra special because of the tough losses.”

Murray was playing his 11th Grand Slam final and for the first time he was the favourite, having faced

either Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer in the previous 10 finals.

He appeared to relish the role, ignoring the magnitude of the occasion to claim a sixth successive win over Raonic.

The 25-year-old Canadian was making his Grand Slam final debut, helped along the way by John McEnroe, who was in the opposite coaching corner to his old rival Ivan Lendl.

Whatever insights those two legends were able to pass on, the final came down, as expected, to a contest between serve and return, with the latter coming out on top.

Raonic went into the match with 137 aces, but it took him five games to add a 138th as Murray dialled in early on the return, just as he had in winning their Queen’s Club final three weeks ago.

Izu’s header dims Nasarawa Utd

BY OLAWALE OLANIYAN

SUBSTITUTE Izu Joseph became the match hero on Sunday at the Lekan Salami Stadium, Ibadan, as his header gave Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) a 2-1 victory over visiting Nasarawa United.

Izu had replaced Olabisi Samuel in the 75th minute to beef up the defence of the Oluyole Warriors in the match day 26 fixture of the Nigeria Professional Football League, and his inclusion eventually made the difference.

The workaholic defender was on hand to connect a corner kick with a header which caught goalkeeper Suraju Ayeleso napping in

the dying minutes.

Abdulrahman Bashir had put the Solid Miners ahead in the 18th minute when he connected a cross from Tayo Fabiyi, a former 3SC striker with a jab which caught goalkeeper Charles Tembe helpless at close range.

The visitors maintained the lead till the second half before 3SC captain, Sylvanus Ebiaku converted a spot kick which was awarded to his side after Salau Ibrahim was axed in the box in the 62nd minute.

Coach Gbenga Ogunbote also introduced Afolabi Waheed and Sunday Adetunji as the match was heading for a stalemate before Izu eventually got the match winner during

added time.

Bashir had earlier missed what would have been the second goal by Nasarawa United coached

by Kabir Suleiman Dogo, as he wasted another cross from rampaging Fabiyi, who gave his former team a lot of stress in the defence.

Samson Gbadebo also wasted a gilt-edged chance before the final whistle as his scissors kick missed the target by an inch.

Speaking after the match, coach Kabir Dogo said he expected a tough game from the side tutored by coach Ogunbote, just as he lamented the loss.

“It was a good game, my players did their best and 3SC gave us a fight.

“I must confess to you that we really prepared for this match because we knew that any team from Coach Ogunbote is always a solid team. I commend my boys for the great work on the field, they played to instructions despite the defeat and we will continue to improve on our performance,” he said.

Also, 3SC handler, Ogunbote said it has never been easy playing against Nasarawa United. “This is one of the toughest opposition we got from any team and I thank God for this victory.

My players worked hard for it and we also appreciate the support of our fans who stood by us throughout the game,” the former Sunshine Stars handler said.

THE Lagos State government has disclosed plans to build more sporting centres in all the local government areas in the state, to enable the state effectively harness the huge sports talents that abound in the state.

Disclosing this in Lagos, during one of the nation’s premiership match involving the two clubs representing the state, the state governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, noted that despite the abundance of sporting talents in the state, the state had not been able to achieve its full potential, since some of such talents never had the opportunity to showcase their talents.

He stated that the new sporting centres would allow such talents exhibit those talents, while also positioning the state effectively among other states in the country.

Besides, he added, the state had also concluded plans to introduce a league competition, to be played among twenty clubs in the local communities, to enable it regain its past glory on the nation’s soccer scene.

‘We believe there is the need to harness the huge talents that abound throughout the nook and corners of the state by putting in place a sporting centre in each of the local governments in the state.

‘This is meant to empower those youths, with that abundant talent in sports, but with nowhere to showcase this,’ the governor stated.

Governor Ambode

39

tribunesport

Mourinho to offload eight players to bring Pogba in J OSE MOURINHO will axe eight players as he tries to land Juventus’ Paul Pogba.

The Manchester United boss wants to work with 22 core men.

But the squad will also be trimmed with loans and sales.

A United source said: “Jose has made it clear he wants to work with 22 key players.

“It means up to eight players heading out.”

Marcos Rojo, Morgan Schneiderlin and Bastian Schweinsteiger are most at risk after poor seasons.

Adnan Januzaj was loaned last season and there are doubts over Memphis Depay, Daley Blind and Juan Mata’s fu-

tures.

Mourinho will go headto-head with former club Real Madrid to try to sign Pogba.

United have already

Monday, 11 July, 2016

Doping: UK Anti-doping sends investigators to Kenya

done business with the France midfielder’s agent Mino Raiola this summer for Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

Pogba

National League side rejects Aiyegbeni BOREHAM Wood manager, Luke Garrard has played down the possibility of former Everton and Portsmouth striker Yakubu Ayegbeni joining the club after he played in Saturday’s 5-0 friendly loss to Reading.

The 33-year-old striker is a free agent after leaving Turkish Super Lig club Kayserispor and played an hour for Wood as they were comfortably beaten by the Royals.

“Realistically I think he has offers and ambitions

to play at the highest level available,” said Garrard. “I’ll never say never.”

The Nigerian international is the second-highest scoring African in Premier League history and has 96 goals to his name for Portsmouth, Everton, Middlesbrough and Blackburn Rovers.

Asked how the powerful forward came to link up with the Meadow Park club, Garrard said: “I spoke to a friend of mine who is friend with Yak and he said where he

was at.

“He’s back in the area, he lives about five minutes away from the club and he was available to come in for training sessions.

“In terms of today it was just nice to get him involved.

He is of a certain level and he is a model pro. He has been involved for the last two sessions and again today and we go from there.

“The influence he will have on the youngsters [is huge].

We had two on the bench

yesterday (vs Brentford) and four today. It’s a learning curve for them and it’s massive for them.

“He’s played at the top level on a consistent basis. He’s low-maintenance, never late and he’s been a pleasure.”

UK Anti-Doping has sent two investigators to Kenya following allegations of doping at a training camp that is used by British athletes.

An investigation by the Sunday Times and German broadcaster ARD/ WRD claims to have uncovered evidence of the use of banned blood-boosting drug EPO at the high altitude training camp in the town of Iten.

They have reported claims from Kenyan doctors that four unnamed British athletes received banned performance-enhancing drugs in the town, used as a winter base by British and other international athletes.

UKAD chief executive Nicole Sapstead said: ‘UK Anti-Doping has reviewed the evidence presented to us by the Sunday Times and it is of grave concern and of significant interest.

“We have opened an investigation and are taking the necessary steps to corroborate the evidence and investigate it further.

“Like all investigations we cannot disclose the exact details of what we are doing, as disclosing our tactics may undermine that investigation.

“However, I can confirm this evidence is being treated with the utmost importance and urgency, and two members of UKAD staff are currently in Kenya pursuing a number of lines of enquiry.”

AFCON Qualifier: Osimhen secures three points

for F/Eagles in Sudan VICTOR Osimhen snatched a later winner for Nigeria’s Flying Eagles to beat home team Sudan 2-1 Sunday in a 2017 U20 AFCON qualifier at the El Merriekh Stadium in Khartoum.

Sudan’s Young Falcons held their own for most part of this clash against a Flying Eagles side, who paraded several stars from Nigeria’s FIFA U17 World Cup triumph last year including Osimhen, who is bound for German Bundesliga side Wolfsburg.

The return leg will be played in Nigeria in a fortnight with the overall winners advancing to the U20 AFCON in Zambia in February.

The hosts took the lead through striker Mohamed after 27 minutes against the run of play.

However, Nigeria drew level in the 67th minute through Samuel Chukwueze.

Four minutes from time, Osimhen rose to the occasion to deal a crushing blow on the Falcons.

In stoppage time, the star striker then saw his effort saved at point-blank range.

Chukwueze, whose move to Arsenal fell through, had earlier come close to giving the Flying Eagles the winning goal in the 74th minute.

Sudan would have doubled their lead in the 56th minute, when Khalid was one-onone with Flying Eagles goalkeeper Akpan Udoh only for him to fire off target.

It was massive miss as Nigeria continued to chase the game before they were eventually rewarded.

The Nigerians coped well

with the boiling heat in Sudan and could have even gone ahead in the 22nd minute, but midfielder ‘Paul

Scholes’ Gavi Thompson failed to beat the Sudan goalkeeper Adam after going clear of the defence.

Blatter undergoes surgery for skin cancer FORMER FIFA president Sepp Blatter has undergone minor surgery to treat skin cancer.

Blatter’s spokesman, Thomas Renggli, told The Associated Press that he is at “home and fine” after a surgical procedure on his left ear.

The 80-year-old spent one night at a clinic before being discharged on Thursday, Renggli says.

Blatter spent several days in a hospital in Zurich last November after a stress-

related collapse while he was suspended from duty by the FIFA ethics committee and subjected to criminal proceedings by federal prosecutors in Switzerland.

Blatter’s appeal against his six-year ban from football will be heard on Aug. 25 at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Blatter’s 18-year stint as FIFA president ended in February when former UEFA official Gianni Infantino was elected.

Hulk

Hulk injured in goalscoring debut HULK saw his Shanghai SIPG debut cut short by injury just 12 minutes after he opened the scoring on Sunday.

The Brazil international, who joined the Chinese Super League side for a staggering €55.8million fee last month, took just nine minutes to make his mark on his first appearance against Henan

Jianye when he turned in Wu Lei’s cross.

However, the 29-yearold pulled up after stretching to control a high ball and went to ground, clutching his left knee.

Hulk was then carried from the pitch on a stretcher while a club medic held an ice pack to the injured joint.

SIDELINES

NO 16,542

MONDAY, 11 JULY, 2016

O

UR Super Eagles will soon be on the march again. Our Super Eagles will soon be campaigning for new laurels again. Our Super Eagles will soon be gunning for a spot for the 2018 World Cup which Russia is going to host. Yes without a doubt even though a Chris Giwa does not want this to happen. But regard this as a seeping thought which should not be given the slightest semplice consideration any longer in our heart of football music.

My absolute concern here is with the fortunes of our Super Eagles as Russia 2018 approaches. We don’t want further frustration, anguish and heartbrokenness. We agonizingly missed the last two editions of the Africa Cup of Nations. We don’t want a repeat of that agony in 2018. In fact, let me state and stress here that it must be our eternal wish to appear qualitatively in different football competitions within and outside Africa. And the eternal wish must be turned into eternal reality. To participate fully and highly qualitatively in FIFAorganized football fiestas and CAForganized contests must henceforth be our unfailing sempiternal duty for which we must always be efficiently prepared in the manner of a top football country that is semi-perparatus.

What do I mean? Clearly, you should understand that I simply mean that henceforth we should accept no halfmeasures from those running our football at whatever level. And our football administrators and our coaches must pay the prize(s) of semi-successes and of failures, full or semi-failures. The present NFF president and members (and future ones) who fail us must join all failed coaches to quit their posts - if they fail to give us deserved laurels.

Make no mistake about it: we have since passed the era of competing for the sake of competing. We must always compete to win henceforth; if not, moneys spent for preparations for this or that competition and for participating in this or that competition will merely go down the drain beginning from the pockets and purses of those administering our sports, especially football. Once the gentlemen and ladies in charge of this or that sports federation get this message

N150

The murder of a female preacher and mother of seven while preaching in the early hours of the day in Abuja is another example of man’s inhumanity to man and how man has made life brutish and short.

in&out with Tony Afejuku

08055213059

Give me Super Eagles they will sit up, sit down, sit forward, sit backward, sit sideways and sit properly to run our sports properly. And when I say they will run our sports properly I mean they will run them with the sole and right intention towin us laurels. If they don’t have the caliber of persons to give us laurels, of course, they won’t allow them to be entered for the respective competitions, including the Olympics. Also, if the right preparations are not in place before a competition begins they ought not to go for the competition.

Now everything said so far assists me to alight from my aero-plane of thoughts concerning our Super Eagles who should be handed to me urgently as coach, as manager – if we must go to Russia 2018.

You may not take me seriously. But you must.

For the World Cup play-offs, we are in what many football pundits call the “Group of Death” where Algeria, Cameroun and Zambia are. Wrong. We are in the Group of Life. The four top football countries including ours in this group have won the Africa Cup of Nations at different times. They are also World Cup veterans and Argonauts. The competition for the sole spot to come out of the group cannot but be highly fierce and qualitatively keen. But our Super Eagles will come out clear and clean as the sole spot winners if I am incharge – or if any Nigerian manager who has my

Do I have any coaching licence? No — but what I have is superior to the foremost licence.

keen foresight is in charge.

Today’s column should be taken as my formal application for the Super Eagles’ job that has been ingloriously declared vacant even though a tested Nigerian coach is already warming the post-albeit on a “temporary” basis for a reason, a questionable one, some people somewhere do not wantto make public.

And why really can the present occupier, a Nigerian, not have it on permanent basis? We will know the correct reason(s) when the chicken comes home to roost.

Now what are my credentials for the job? Did I play football to the highest level? No – but not because I could not.

In my time football, you know, was not what it is now. Some of my play-mates, seniors as well as juniors who did, today regret doing so. In any case, the

Portuguese Jose Mourinho and our own dear ShuaibuAmodu- who has departed – may Allah bless his football soul – did not play the game to the highest level, but they will forever be regarded as amazing successes as coaches.

Do I have any coaching licence? No – but what I have is far superior to the foremost licence. I can go on and on…. But I won’t. Let me just have the Super Eagles with these two simple conditions: pay me no salary until I take my team to Russia; grant me free, uninhibited access to President Buhari or our vice-president or both any time my football mind desires to meet them after necessary periods of football contemplation; and let me choose my players such as Victor Osimhen and co, and see if I won’t smash Clemens Westerhof’s World Cup record (when he was here as Super Eagles’ coach, the only coach so far in our football history who had free access to topmost power). I can go on and on, but I won’t until the day that is the day when this transcendental columnist shall speak again.

Meanwhile, we all must urge our powers that be in the presidency especially to compel those to be compelled to give me our Super Eagles. Or do I lobby for the post as we lobby for this or that post in Nigeria whether or not we are qualified for it? And who should I apply to as my political god-father and god-manager?

Phew!

Portugal rules Europe A 109-minute goal by Eder gave Portugal the victory to lift the Euro 2016 cup.

The game had ended goalless after the 90 minutes and it took both teams the extra time to determine the winner.

Earlier in the game, Cristiano Ronaldo was wheeled out after a foul on him by Payet.

The victory saw Ronaldo adding Euro victory to his many laurels.

Ronaldo departed the Euro 2016 final on a stretcher, shedding tears after suffering a knee injury, before being replaced in just the 24th minute.

The Portugal star came off second best in a challenge with West Ham’s Dimitri Payet in the seventh minute of the game at the Stade de France.

The Frenchman won the ball cleanly with a forceful tackle but caught Ronaldo with his trailing leg.

The Real Madrid man tried to continue and went off twice for treatment, the second time visibly in tears from the pain. The 31-year-old forward initially appeared fit enough to continue, albeit with his movement limited by the heavy strapping applied by the Portuguese medical team.

As the Portugal captain attempted to lead a counter-attack he pulled for a third time and despite his knee being heavily strapped was unable to continue, handing the captain’s armband to Nani.

Ronaldo’s participation officially ended in the 24th minute when he was carried off on a stretcher, with Portugal boss Fernando

Santos sending on former Chelsea man Ricardo Quaresma in his place.

On commentary, BBC’s Danny Murphy lamented the loss of Ronaldo as part of the final’s spectacle but defended Payet’s challenge.

‘He’s just tweaked something in his knee,whether it’s medial ligament or what, but you can’t carry on with it.’

The BBC pundits at half-time also defended the West Ham midfielder’s challenge.

Alan Shearer said: ‘I don’t think there’s any blame for Payet. It was a strong, hard challenge and rarely do you see Ronaldo getting hit by tackles.

‘Normally he jumps over them, but it’s just a hard, strong challenge and it’s unlucky, that’s all you can say about it.’

NPFL RESULTS 3SC

2

Nasarawa Utd

1

Ikorodu Utd 1

FC IfeanyiUbah

1

Plateau Utd 1

Akwa Utd

1

Warri Wolves 1

Wikki

1

Pillars

3

Lobi

0

Rivers Utd

1

Tormadoes

0

El-Kanemi

3

MFM FC

1

Heartland

1

Enyimba

0

Rangers

2

Abia Warriors

1

Printed and Published by the African Newspapers of Nigeria PLC, Imalefalafia Street, Oke-Ado, Ibadan. Telephone: 08165728976; 08073598322. 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. 11/07/2016.