16th May 2016

NIGERIA’S MOST INFORMATIVE NEWSPAPER NO 16,501

MONDAY, 16 MAY, 2016

Naira exchanges for N370/dollar at parallel market —P11

www.tribuneonlineng.com

Nigerian Tribune

@nigeriantribune

New party may emerge from PDP

•Modu Sheriff apologises to aggrieved party members —P4

TribuneOnline

Nigerian Tribune

N150

I never collected N25m for Jonathan's campaign —Shekarau —P4

•Money Market —Pg 26 •Leadership & Management —Pg19 •Entrepreneurship —Pg23 •Brands & Marketing —Pg28

Nationwide strike

FG, labour meet today •Intense mobilisation at its peak —NLC secretary —P2,3 •Nigerians divided over strike •Marketers begin hoarding of fuel

Agwabi village attack: Tiv youths stole 800 cows from us—Fulani •Await autopsy report spokesman Egbedakilling:Police analyseRonke Shonde'scalllogs, textmessages —P7

From left, Minister of Science and Technology, Mr Ogbonnaya Onu; Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed; Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Mahmud Mohammed; Director-General, National Gallery Art, Mr Abdullahi Muku and others, inspecting photographs of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and other founding fathers of Nigeria, during a photo exhibition of political development from 1960 till date, in Abuja, on Saturday. PHOTO: SUNDAY OSUNRAYI

Discos embark on mass —P11 disconnection of historic debtors

—P4

2 news

Monday, 16 May, 2016

Fuel price hike: Nigerians divided over nationwide strike From Seyi Gesinde, Bola Badmus, Muhammadu Sabiu, Olayinka Olukoya, Clement Idoko, Abiodun Awolaja, Adelowo Oladipo, Ademola Adegbite and Ayodele Adesanmi

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OLLOWING the decision by the organised labour to mobilise for mass industrial action from Wednesday, Nigerians have taken the social media to express their views for and against the call to shut Nigeria consequent upon the recent increase in petrol pump price.

Forming into two prominent groups on the social media, the “I Stand for Buhari” and “Occupy Nigeria,” advocates of both groups have drawn battle lines against each other, and as separate entities, both claim to be representing the government and masses’ interests.

While the “I Stand for Buhari” group projects itself as a die-hard fan of the government advancing its ideals and justifying its decision on fuel price increase, the “Occupying Nigeria” force, vituperating fire and condemning government’s decision, has thrown its weight behind Labour to shut Nigeria.

Other Nigerians who play along are of the opinion that the planned strike is not necessary, while some others believe it is the only way to force the Federal Government to reduce the fuel price.

The government had, while announcing the new price through the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, said the development would reduce hoarding, smuggling and diversion of the product.

Group mobilises support for govt

Corroborating him, a group, under the aegis of Arewa Defence League (ADL), has called on Nigerians to understand with the present administration over the recent increase in petrol, saying the increase is not meant to increase the sufferings of the masses, but aimed at ensuring availability and sustainability of the product.

In a statement issued to newsmen in Kaduna, on Sunday, and jointly signed by the president of the ADL Murtala Abubakar and the secretary, Joint Action Committee of the Northern Youths Association (JACOM), Moses Onoja, noted that, “the recent change in the price of petrol from N87:00k, N86.50k to N145.00k was greeted with mixed feelings.

However, the statement noted ‘‘we wish to, as a body, add our voices to those who are of the view that the increase was meant for the good of Nigeria and Nigeri-

ans.

“Arewa Defence league, in conjunction with the joint action committee of all the northern youth associations, wish to call on well meaning individuals to understand with the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari in its efforts to fix the damages caused on the oil sector over the years by the previous administrations.

“We noted with satisfaction the position of PENGASAN and NUPENG which expressed support to this historic step , as we call on NLC to cue on this direction.

“We equally wish to declare our support to the President over the increase of fuel as long as it will guarantee regular and sustainable availability of the product.

“To cushion the effect of the increase on the masses, we call on the Federal Government to provide palliative within the shortest possible time” the group stated.

APC leader calls for calm

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Ogun State, Prince Bayo Ogunmeno, urged Nigerians to defy call for protest by the organised labour in the country, over the recent hike of petroleum product by the Federal Government from N86.50 to N145 per litre.

He contended that those calling for protest over government’s decision “need to grow up.”

“News is circulating that Nigerian so-called labour “leaders” and some so-called “social” activists such and Senator Melaye Dino, Femi Falana, even literary icon, Wole Soyinka, have joined the call for strike and protest.

“The claimed reason for the strike and protest was the recent government deregulation of petrol distribution and sales. They claim Nigerians were not consulted before the deregulation went into effect. These labour “leaders” and “activists” need to grow up. But, petrol subsidy was not included in the 2016 budget passed by the National Assembly.

“Nigerian workers should defy the call for strike,” the group stated.

Igede Pathfinders cautions NLC

A group, Igede Pathfinders, also called on the labour to stop misleading and deceiving Nigerians into believing that the action of the government was anti-people.

Igede Pathfinders’ President, Mr Obo Ero, in a statement made available to newsmen on Sunday, in Abuja, strongly condemned labour for planning to em-

bark on an industrial action beginning from Wednesday, saying any strike at this time would inflict more pains and hardship on Nigerians.

Ero argued that what President Buhari-led administration had done was a genuine attempt to free the country from few oil magnates that had held the nation by the jugular for decades.

He noted that it was in the public domain before the coming of President Buhariled administration that fuel subsidy was a huge scam that had milked the nation dry.

The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) has warned Nigerians not be deceived again, ahead of the planned industrial action by the organised labour over the increase in pump price of petrol.

CNPP mobilises against planned strike

CNPP equally urged Nigerians not to trust the labour unions, alleging that they had been compromised.

CNPP said the planned strike slated for Wednesday wouldn’t last beyond Friday, as the labour unions were using the strike as a ploy to scuttle genuine actions against the increase in pump price as they did in 2012.

The umbrella body of political parties in Nigeria said this in a statement jointly signed on Sunday, by its National Chairman, Alhaji Balarabe Musa and the Secretary General, Chief Willy Ezugwu.

According to the CNPP, “What the labour unions are doing now by calling for a strike action was what they did in 2012 during the Occupy Nigeria protests in response to similar increase in the pump price of petrol under former President Goodluck Jonathan.

“The labour unions later scuttled the action by purportedly entering into an agreement with the then government on behalf of Nigerians and ended up fixing the pump price of petrol at N97.00 per littre.”

“Nigerians must beware that the planned strike action scheduled for Wednesday won’t last beyond Friday as the labour leaders have been compromised and are using the call as a ploy to deceive the masses.

“We have it on good authority that the labour leaders have compromised. Recall that the labour leaders were at a meeting where the decision to inflict more and more pains on the already impoverished Nigerian people by increasing the pump price was taken and never protested against it. Why the

sudden U-turn by the same labour leaders?

“The ever increasing hardship enthroned on Nigerians by the current government cannot be tolerated. The Federal Government and its labour collaborators must be told that the CNPP, the masses and the civil society shall occupy Nigeria until the reversal of the pump price of petrol. Enough of more and more suffering under the guise of fuel subsidy removal,” the statement read.

Fuel price increase not affecting us -DPR

The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) also said the increase in the pump price of petroleum did not affect any of the mandate establishing organisation, rather, it said it would ensure concentration on the core functions of DPR like licenses processing, as well as ensuring measurement specification.

Niger State Controller of DPR, Mr Abdullahi Jankara, stated this at the weekend, in an interview in Minna, warning major and independent marketers that it would not tolerate under delivery of the products to the general public.

Jankara further assured that cheating in terms of delivery would not be accepted, just as he said the DPR would watch out for such sharp practices by petroleum marketers who were fond of perpetuating these acts.

Ex-Venezuellan minister hails govt decision

In same vein, former Venezuelan Minister of Mines and Energy, Dr Alirio Parra, on Sunday, hailed the Federal Government’s decision to remove fuel subsidy, saying such step would liberalise the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry.

Dr Parra, who described the action as historic and smart on the part of government, said the opening of the market would, in no time, encourage more players to bring in petrol which would eventually lead to a new era of competitive pricing.

He, however, endorsed the nomination of former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo, by the Federal government as Nigeria’s candidate for the Secretary General of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Negotiate with govt, PDP chieftain tells labour

Also, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Akintayo AkinDeko, have appealed to organised labour and civil rights group to rather negotiate than planning nationwide street protests.

Akin-Deko, in a release to the Nigeria Tribune, explained that the organised labour nationwide street protests against the Federal Government’s recent increase in petroleum pump prices and devaluation of the Naira was not the time for strikes and public protest, but a time to put our house together.

According to Akin-Deko, “Many development economists welcome deregulation and a freely floating Naira as the much-needed panacea for eradicating corruption and stimulating free enterprise in Nigeria.

Akin-Deko appealed to labour and civil rights leaders not to call people out, adding that this was not the time for strikes and public protest, but a time to help negotiate for effective palliatives for Nigerians.

Lagos Chief Whip commends FG

The Chief Whip of Lagos State House of Assembly, Honourable Rotimi Abiru, also commended the Federal Government for taking what he described as a bold step that would address the problem of persistent scarcity in the country.

Abiru, representing Shomolu Constituency II in the House, said this at the weekend, in his reaction, noting that the timing of the removal was appropriate.

According to him, “It is indeed a bold move by the Federal Government, this has been long overdue. No doubt the effect of the subsidy removal may be harsh in the first instance, but it will eventually come to stabilise and possibly result in a drop in the price of PMS because of the competition it will create.”

Besides, the lawmaker said the step would also lead to increased product availability and encourage investments in refineries and other parts of the downstream sector in the country.

Govt should revert to old petrol price —NNSG

However, some Nigerian have challenged government’s decision on the new petrol price, hence have pulled their weight behind the NLC planned nationwide workers’ strike and protest.

A group Nigeria National Summit Group (NNSG), who condemned the increase in

the price of premium motor spirit (PMS) by the Federal Government from N86.50 per litre to N145 per litre, called on it to quickly revert to the old price, even as it also urged all Nigerians to come out en-masse against the decision.

The group made the call after rising from an emergency meeting in Lagos, at the weekend, saying the increase ran contrary to all acceptable tenets of human existence.

Addressing newsmen after the meeting, the Executive Secretary of the group, Mr Tony Uranta, said it was unfathomable that a government that came in with promises to make life better for the people had now worsened the alleged woes.

“Nigerians are over burdened by the current economic situation and adding the increase in fuel pump price may cripple the nation, especially small businesses that are the bedrock of any nation’s economy,” Uranta said.

Uranta said it smacked crass insensitivity and absolute disregard for the wellbeing of Nigerians on the part of the Federal Government, to increase fuel price at this point when most states had not even paid their workers for months.

He said the group condemned the increase in its entirety, urging the Federal Government to find better ways to sort out issues in the petroleum sector.

‘New fuel price is increasing suffering of Nigerians’

Mr Ayo Sogunro, a lawyer, writer and human rights, who is one of the opposing voices of the planned protest on Twitter, berated the All Peoples’ Congress (APC) loyalists supporting the petrol pump price increase, saying, “the way some APC boys act like government subsidising commodities is criminal.”

He said their words against the fuel subsidy during the Occupy Nigeria protests under the past administration now contradict the present situation being promoted in the country. Hence, he put his weight behind the planned protest.

Another, Mr Stanley, who retweeted Zahrah Musa’s comment, agreed with the opinion that the fuel price increase is an “example of how most Buharists now spread the ‘suffering is our portion’ message.”Reno Omokri, who seemed sarcastic in his approach said “whether you are a hailer or a wailer, the fact is that you bought petrol at N87 per litre on May 29, 2015 and today it is N145 per litre.”

3 news

Monday, 16 May, 2016

Fuel price increase: FG meets Labour today to forestall nationwide strike Soji-Eze Fagbemi -Abuja

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HE Federal Government will hold a crucial meeting with the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and their civil society allies today, to forestall the looming nationwide strike and street protest over the increase in the price of petrol.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, had invited Labour to the meeting via a text message received on Sunday evening.

However, the invitation was received by the leadership of Labour with a pinch of salt, as intense mobilisation was already going on at the highest level to ensure the success of the nationwide strike and street protest.

All the prominent Labour leaders, who spoke with Nigerian Tribune on Sunday confirmed the meeting, but insisted on immediate and total reversal of the fuel price, failure of which the protest and the nationwide strike would commence Wednesday morning.

According to them, “there is no going back on the nationwide strike, expect there is total and immediate reversal to the previous price before 12noon, on Wednesday morning.”

Already, all the state chairmen of NLC and TUC, as well

as their affiliates, have commenced high level mobilisation to ensure effectiveness of the strike.

Specifically, the two labour centres have sent a circular to all the affiliate unions and the state chairmen, to mobilise in their respective states and unions.

Besides, the state chairmen were also directed to set up monitoring committee that would monitor the process and ensure the success of the struggle.

The General Secretary of NLC, Comrade Peter OsoEson, told the Nigerian Tribune that the issue in question was now beyond discussion, adding that “Nigerians should not be deceived but come out en masse to protest the fuel price hike and embark on strike from Wednesday.”

Comrade Oso-Eson said: “Yes, we do have a text message from the SGF for a meeting tomorrow. But our mobilisation is going as expected and the message to Nigerians is that we didn’t call the strike because of discussion but for action, so let nobody be deceived as the mobilisation is going on. As you call me now, we are going into a meeting.”

The TUC president, Comrade Bobboi Kaigama, said: “I received a text message, we have a meeting tomorrow (today), we will meet them tomorrow.”

Asked about the level of mobilisation, Kaigama said

as a solder preparing for battle, it is a bad move to reveal the battle strategy, adding that “the issue is that we have given our deadline, you wait for that.”

NLC Deputy President, Comrade Peters Adeyemi, said: “The preparation is at the peak, our people, our state chairmen are mobilising. By tomorrow, we are

Sam Nwaoko -Ado Ekiti

is only marginal.

“The negative impact of the price of petrol going up goes beyond pushing up the transport cost. It is also expected to raise the cost of producing goods and servic-

Marketers begin hoarding ahead NLC strike Olatunde Dodondawa -Lagos FOLLOWING threats by the organised labour unions to embark on an indefinite nationwide strike, there are strong indications that some fuel marketers may have begun hoarding of premium motor spirit (PMS), otherwise called petrol.

Investigation by the Nigerian Tribune revealed that no sooner than the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) threatened to embark on nationwide protests on Wednesday, if the Federal Government refused to revert to old pump

es, in particular, the prices of goods, clothing and other necessities of life will go up and this will affect the poor Nigerians, of which Nigerian students constitute over 80 per cent.

“We are going to shutdown the campuses all over the federation and reenact the Occupy Nigeria Protest against the removal of subsidy from petroleum products next week.”

Suspected militants arrested by military are Chevron staff —Community chief Ebenezer Adurokiya -Warri THE five arrested suspected militants said to be members of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) are not members of the new group, but Chevron staff, Nigerian Tribune gathered late Sunday.

The affected staffers were said to be on a routine patrol of oil platforms on Utunama Flow Station in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State when they were picked up by the Joint Task Force (JTF).

Scores of members of the JTF were deployed in the creeks to smoke out members of the dreaded group in the wake of the claim that they were responsible for the serial bombings of oil facilities.

government today, he said, “we have an invite; the information at our disposal is that it is a meeting with the Federal Government. It is from the SGF.”

From left, Assistant Corps Marshal, Mr Kayode Olagunju; Deputy Corps Marshal, Mr Adei Abu; Head, Media, Mr Bisi Kazeem and the Corps Marshal, Mr Boboye Oyeyemi, during the closing of capacity workshop for zonal and sector heads of operations of Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), in Enugu, on Sunday. PHOTO: NAN

NANS set to shut down tertiary institutions in Ekiti tomorrow THE National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Ekiti State chapter, has said its members will shut down all tertiary institutions in the state tomorrow (Tuesday), to protest the hike in the price of petrol by the Federal Government.

A statement on Sunday, by the leader of the Ekiti chapter of NANS, Mr Shina Awopeju, said the “astronomical increase of the pump price of petrol from N87 to N145 by President Muhammadu Buhari’s government is cruel, wicked, insensitive and brazenly oppressive.”

According to Awopeju, “all the tertiary institutions in the state, both private and public, will be shut down on Tuesday, May 17, in protest if President Buhari refuses to reverse the policy,”which he described as “ill-timed and obnoxious.”

He said: “Everybody appreciates the fact that when the price of petrol goes up, the transport cost will go higher. This has been the case even when the increase

having meeting with the market women, the students and other groups. I can assure you that mobilisation is at the highest level.”

On the meeting with the

The arrested Chevron staffers, as gathered, were eventually dragged to the 19 Battalion, Nigerian Army base at Koko, in Warri North Local Government Area of the state.

A top military source, however, denied the arrest of any member of the new militant group on Saturday.

Spokesman of Gbaramatu kingdom, Chief Godspower Gbenekama, confirmed the identities of the arrested persons.

He said those arrested were not militants as being bandied around by the military in the media.

Chief Gbenekama alleged that the soldiers arrested the suspects even when they saw the inscriptions of Pipeline and Facilities Surveillance Programme (PFSP) and Chevron’s logo on their

speedboats.

Also, sources from Chevron said those arrested and being alleged to be members of the NDA were not militants, but casual workers on the pay roll of Chevron.

Three of the workers were from Omadino, an Itsekiri village in Warri North, while the two others are from Kokodiagbene, an Ijaw community and host to Utunana flow station in Gbaramatu kingdom.

Commander of Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS DELTA), Warri Naval Base, Commodore Raimi Mohammed, could not be reached as he was said to be on patrol of the creeks as of the time of filing this report, just as the state Police Public Relations Officer, Celestina Kalu, said the alleged arrest was a military affair.

price of N86.50 per litre, some filling stations suddenly ran out of fuel stock.

In an attempt to deregulate the downstream sector, the Federal Government had, on Wednesday, announced the new pump price of petrol to be N145 per litre.

The announcement resulted into immediate compliance by all marketers who adjusted their pump to the new price while those that claimed they didn’t have the products suddenly opened their stations to motorists.

However, when the government announced price reduction adjustments of N0.50k recently, the marketers refused to comply claiming they had old stock which they must exhaust before complying with the new price.

Moreover, when the Nigerian Tribune visited some filling stations in some parts of Lagos and its environs on Saturday and Sunday, it was discovered that many filling stations were under lock and keys.

The few ones that opened to customers closed earlier than normal on Saturday and they claimed they did that because there was no product to dispense.

Forte Oil station near under bridge, Ikeja, closed on Saturday, at about 6.00p.m but was opened to customers on Sunday when visited around 12noon.

Conoil, MRS, Forte Oil, Oando, Petcostars and En-

ergy stations, all situated on Lagos-Abeokuta expressway, were not dispensing as of the time of filing this report.

However, most filling stations on Lagos-Ibadan expressway were dispensing to motorists at N145 per litre.

They included Mobil, Oando, Capital Oil, Matrix, MRS and World Oil. Also, Total filling station near Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, was dispensing, including Conoil, Oando and Mobil stations at Maryland, in Lagos.

However, some motorists urged the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to ensure that marketers do not short-change Nigerians during this period.

According to Mr Chiemeka Okafor, a motorist waiting patiently to buy fuel at Mobil station in Ikeja, “the government agency that supervises these marketers should make sure they don’t hoard because if they do, it may force the price above N145 per litre and it is the ‘common-man’ that will be affected.”

On his part, Mr Seyi Adepitan expressed concerns over under-dispensing by some marketers.

“When the problem of deregulation is finally addressed by both government and the labour, I want DPR to beam its search light on marketers with poor pumps who will sell less than what we are paying for. It will be unfair if they (marketers) are allowed to do this,” he said.

4 news

Monday, 16 May, 2016

New party may emerge from PDP

Modu-Sheriff apologises to aggrieved party members

By Kunle Oderemi

A

new political party may emerge from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presently enmeshed in a leadership crisis, according to feelers within the party.

The idea of the new party is among a number of options being considered by aggrieved PDP forces which have coalesced into a formidable opposition against the Ali Modu-Sheriff-led National Executive Committee (NEC) of the PDP. The possibility of the new party was accentuated by the rigid stance of ModuSheriff, who became PDP acting national chairman on the festering crisis in the party which had polarised the party in virtually all the state chapters.

The crisis within the party was further compounded on Saturday, following discordant tunes over the conduct of zonal congresses designed to elect a new set of zonal officers across the six geopolitical zones.

The exercise held in Akure, the Ondo State capital, despite a court order obtained by a faction of the party in the South-West zone, halting the zonal congress.

Concerned PDP stakeholders, drawn from all the geopolitical zones, are consolidating on the parallel leadership structure they set up last week, to run the affairs of the party.

“We are not ruling out the possibility of founding another formidable and broadbased political party alongside like-minded people,” sources in the coalition told the Nigerian Tribune.

However, Modu-Sheriff is fighting back in his capacity as the acting national chairman, as he has scheduled a NEC meeting in Abuja today, after declaring he was not acceded to the demand that he should resign.

In addition, he said the national convention of PDP, scheduled for next Saturday, in Port Harcourt, would hold, regardless of the rising opposition against his leadership of the party.

It was learnt that while a case had been instituted by the aggrieved party elders to sack the present party leadership and stop next Saturday’s convention, as the Modu-Sheriff camp decided to convene the NEC meeting to save him and other members of his team, whose tenure lapses on May 21.

Last Thursday, the elders and founding fathers had expressed loss of confidence

in the NEC under his leadership and constituted the 51man committee to assume the responsibility of organising the national convention of the party.

The elders, under the coalition, Concerned PDP Stakeholders Steering Committee, comprise former governors, ministers, members of the National Assembly elected on the platform of the party, as well as former ministers and the members of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the PDP.

The former governors include Attahiru Bafarawa (Sokoto), Mahmood Shinkafi (Zamfara), Abdulkaldir Kure (Niger), Mohammed Makarfi (Kaduna), Achike Udenwa (Imo), Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Okwesilieze Nwodo (Anambra) and Gbenga Daniel (Ogun), Lucky Igbinedion (Edo), Bonnie Haruna (Adamawa), Ibrahim Shema (Katsina), Donald Duke (Cross River).

The ministers in the group consist of Ojo Maduekwe (Transportation), Professor

ABC Nwosu (Health), Dubem of the coalition comprise a Onyia (Foreign Affairs), Bala former deputy Senate PresiMohammed (FCT), John dent, Alhaji Ibrahim Mantu, Odey (Environment), Profes- Dr Doyin Okupe, Ambassasor Tunde Adeniran (Educa- dor Nkoyo Toyo, Shehu Gation), Inna Ciroma (Women bam, Chief Raymond DokAffairs), Adamu Maina Wa- pesi, Rabi Ibrahim, Mairo ziri (Police Affairs), Professor Habib, Ambassador WilberJerry Gana (Information), Dr force Juta, Ibrahim Bunu, Abubakar Suleiman (Nation- Senator Joseph Akaagerger, al Planning), Tanimu Turaki Senator Zigo Azeez, Senator (Special Duties), Ishola Sara- Ben Obi, Chief (Mrs) Remi fa (Solid Minirals), Zainab Adiukwu, Dr. Bolere Ketebu, Maina (Women Affairs), Professor Sam Oyovbaire, Joseph Anenin (Women Af- Senator Florence Ita-Giwa, fairs).

Shittu Mohammed Kabiru, The other arrowheads John Dara, Sen. Folashade

Lagos State governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode (middle); his wife, Bolanle (right); deputy governor, Dr Oluranti Adebule (left) and the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr Tunji Bello (behind), during the 2016 International Day of Families, at the Lagos House, Ikeja, on Sunday.

Agwabi village attack: Tiv youths stole 800 cows from us —Fulani spokesman Johnson Babajide - Makurdi BENUE State coordinator of Myetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Garus Gololo, has advanced reason for the Friday night attack on the Tiv people of Agwabi village, in Binev Council Ward of Buruku Local Government Area of the state, which led to the death of many.

Nigerian Tribune had reported the sacking of Agwabi community and killing of many people as a result of renewed crisis between herdsmen and farmers in the local government on Friday night.

However, the state police command confirmed five people killed by suspected Fulani herdsmen, who invaded the affected community, Friday night.

Gololo said information gathered from his kinsmen in the troubled Buruku area alleged that trouble started when youths from the affected village, on Thursday, cart-

ed away 800 cows belonging to the resident herdsmen.

According to him, “the herders traced the missing cows the following day to that village and that was how trouble started.

“This is highly regrettable, because they should have notified the security apparatus already put in place by the state government, who could have handled the matter.

They did not report the matter even to us (MACBAN).

“It is painful that while the state government is doing everything to resolve the crisis, some others are taking law into their hands; but those found wanting in this matter would surely be handed over to the security agencies,” he said.

Gololo urged both farmers and the herdsmen to ap-

preciate government’s effort in bringing about peace, by reporting offences to the right quarters instead of embarking on violence, stressing that while the trouble was going on in Buruku, he got another report of a Fulani man, whose corpse was found mutilated in a village at Guma Local Government Area, where Governor Samuel Ortom hails from.

I never collected N25m for Jonathan’s campaign —Shekarau FORMER governor of Kano State and Education Minister, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, has denied receiving N25 million from the alleged N950 million campaign fund shared at his residence in Kano before the 2015 general election.

Mallam Shekarau, who spoke to newsmen after his release from the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Kano, said he was ready to defend himself before any judicial

body or court of law.

He explained that somebody mentioned his name among top members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who were given N25 million each to campaign for the former President Goodluck Jonathan.

He said he challenged the person who indicted him before the EFCC operatives to prove the allegation that he collected the money.

He said: “I told the EFCC that even if it is one naira that I was accused of col-

lecting, I will not pay until it is proven. Whoever gave me the money should come out and explain where, when and how he gave it to me and anything short of that, I am ready to stay with the EFCC for years until the allegation is proven.”

He said the operatives had searched his house and could not find anything incriminating against him, adding that they had collected his account number for further investigation. continues pg5

Grace Bent, Awwal Tukur, Dr Doyin Okupe, Dr Patrick Okomiso, Senator Anietie Okon, Alhaji Aminu Yakudima and Mr Nichola Msheliza.

Former presidential spokesman, Dr Okupe, was quoted to have said members of the concerned PDP leaders would hold a meeting next week to its officers.

The meeting will be a follow-up to the one held in Abuja, last Thursday, where the concerned stakeholders announced the setting up of the 51-member steering committee to direct the affairs of the PDP. They had also resolved to work closely with members of the BoT till proper lawfully organised national convention of the party would be held and new authentic leadership of the party emerge.

Meanwhile, more revelations have emerged from the opposition of the concerned leaders against the leadership of Ali Modu-Sheriff.

One of them was what one of the leaders said was the seeming pervasive state of insecurity in the SouthSouth, where the ModuSheriff-led PDP leadership planned to hold the national convention.

There were claims that it would be difficult to categorically guarantee the safety of delegates expected to traverse the South-East and parts of South-South to the Port Harcourt venue of the convention.

The other grouse of the elders was that it would be politically-tragic for the PDP to have a substantive chairman, who would be expected to resign about six months to the 2019 general election, to pave the way for a northern presidential candidate for PDP, while the chairmanship would go to the South.

In another development, Senator Ali Modu-Sheriff, has apologised to aggrieved stakeholders of the party over statements credited to him by his personal aides and associates.

Modu-Sheriff, who gave the apology at a media briefing in Jalingo, on Sunday, said “as a well cultured and astute politician, I would never make any comment that would ridicule the party.”

He added that it was not in his character to join issues with highly respected elders of the party, noting that he never authorised any of his aides or political associates to react to issues raised by aggrieved PDP elders.

5 news

Monday, 16 May, 2016

Scholars to attend Ofeimun’s book launch in UI

F

ORMER Minister of Education, Tunde Adeniran; Professor Bolanle Awe and Professor M.K Yahaya are among the scholars that will converge on the International Conference Centre of the University of Ibadan (UI) for the book launch of Odia Ofeimun, foremost poet and gubernatorial aspirant in Edo State.

The event is scheduled to hold at 2.00 p.m. on Monday.

Ofeimun will read the book entitled: “Taking Nigeria seriously” at the event.

The 679-page publication is a compendium of analyses of issues of contemporary society that have the tendencies of limiting the nation’s growth and representation among the comity of nations.

The critical dissection of the book, put together by the Readers’ Club of the Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy (ISGPP), according to the school, was its maiden effort at contributing to the knowledge industry in Nigeria.

The book reading will also have in attendance members of the Club, which include Olabode Lucas, a former Dean of Postgraduate School, UI; Adesola Ogunniyi, an eminent education scholar; Pai Obaiya, founder of Lead City University and Professor Jide Owoeye.

Others are Professor Remi Raji-Oyelade; Bookcraft Publishers’ Bankole Olayebi; newspaper columnist and professor, Ayo Olukotun and Stephen Lawani.

According to Ofeimun,

it was certain that even in the midst of her challenges and problems of existence, many Nigerians would wish that their country was taken seriously.

“Not just for the sake of a continent whose leaders may not be invited to world summits, where farreaching decisions that affect their people are taken, nor for any super power ambitions. The argument is straightforward— Nigeria needs to be taken seriously, first by her unionised nationalities and ethnic fractions, whose struggle to catch up with, halt or destroy the advantages of the other have roped themselves into a tragic bind from which they seem to be waiting for or drifting into a second colonialism,” he said.

I never collected N25m for Jonathan’s campaign —Shekarau continued from pg4

Shekarau said he was ever-ready for any investigation and would not mind if the EFCC could trace his financial transactions of 20 years back.

He said he was not above mistake, but he was ready to face any investigation and where found wanting, would defend himself.

He said as a politician, the development would turn to blessing to him and his fol-

lowers, saying this was not a new thing in politics.

The former governor, therefore, called on his followers to remain calm, noting that as a believer, he must accept destiny, be it good or bad.

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Edited by

Lanre Adewole

olanreade@yahoo.com

0811 695 4647

Lagos

Waste everywhere!

Unemployed CCTV stealing

Ayomide Owonibi Odekanyin

A

Waste dump on Oworonsoki Expressway, Ogudu.

Nigerian Tribune

22-year-old unemployed man, Innocent Ali, has been sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for stealing a woman’s handbag in a church.

Innocent had pleaded guilty to the theft before an Ikeja Magistrate’s Court.

According to the Police prosecutor, Inspector Clifford Ogu, Innocent committed the offence on July 5, 2015, at Christ Royal Family International Church, located at 2, Adegbola Street, Ikeja. Ogu said the accused stole a woman’s handbag in the church and ran away.

“The accused was sitting beside a woman, one Mrs Ekundayo Oyenuga, in the church, and after the service, the woman left her bag to meet with the Pastor, but on her return, the bag had disappeared. It was the CCTV camera that revealed the suspect,” the prosecutor told the court.

“The items in the bag are a Blackberry phone valued at N45,000 cash of N10, 000, a driver’s licence, ATM card, car key, international passport and an Ipad,” Ogu said.

Ogu stated that the police was able to arrest the convict through the account number he gave the

...Another snatches biscuits from trader in broad daylight

Heap of waste in front of food restaurants at Adejo Street, Mende, Maryland.

MEANWHILE, a 29-yearold unemployed man, Bisoye Akinteju, has been accused of snatching two cartons of biscuit from a trader.

The complainant, Blessing Ukwo a petty trader at Mowo Bus Stop in Badagry, had accused Akinteju of suddenly grabbing two cartons of biscuit and trying to escape.

“The complainant said the accused just came out of nowhere, snatched two cartons of biscuits and started running away. Onlookers who saw what happened ran after him and helped to

apprehend him,’’ the police claimed.

Akinteju was arraigned before a Badagry Chief Magistrates’ Court for allegedly stealing the cartons of biscuit.

He however, pleaded not guilty to the charge and his counsel, Mr Frank Nwadiuke, pleaded with the court to grant him bail on liberal terms.

The Magistrate, Mr Abiodun Etti, granted bail to the accused in the sum of N50, 000 and a surety in the like sum and adjourned the case till June 24 for further hearing.

Lagos AG asks IGP to Ayomide Owonibi Odekanyin Heap of waste at Lagos High Court, Igbosere, Lagos Island.

Heap of waste at an Okada garage at Sand Field Bus Stop, Lekki.

EIGHT months after the death of the Managing Director of Lekki Free Trade Zone, Tajudeen Disu, the Lagos State government has requested that Inspector General of Police (IGP), Solomon Arase, take over the investigation of the killing.

The state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Adeniji Kazeem who disclosed this, said the decision was the core of the White Paper of the five-man Tribunal of Inquiry headed

by Justice Olasuyi Olateru-Olagbegi, that looked into the cause of the October 12, 2015 civil disturbances in the

area during.

In a related development, the Attorney General, disclosed that the Citizens Mediation Centre (CMC) established to encourage Lagosians to embrace mediation as opposed to litigation recovered N783,310,670 on behalf of parties while it meditated on 21,941 cases and resolved 20,994 out of 36,105 matters referred to it within the last one year.

He said that the Office of the Public Defender (OPD) also facilitated the collection of N98 million as compensation on behalf of complainants it attended to in the last one year.

According to him, the OPD

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youth caught by in church jailed 12yrs

complainant to pay in N15, 000 before he would release other documents in the bag to her. He added that when the accused was arrested,

he had already spent the money and sold the mobile phone.

Mrs Taiwo Akanni, the Chief Magistrate, who sen-

tenced the accused to 12 years imprisonment, without an option of fine, said the punishment will serve as a deterrent to others.

Egbeda killing: Police analyse deceased

wife’s call logs, text messages •Awaits autopsy report Olalekan Olabulo THE police are currently analysing the call logs of the deceased Ronke Shonde, who was allegedly killed by her husband, Lekan Shonde in Egbeda area of the state.

Detectives from the state police command were as of Sunday evening still in possession of the deceased woman’s phone.

Lagos Metro gathered that the mobile phone was retrieved from her hus-

Fake Army Captain remanded in prison Bola Badmus

Edem

LAGOS State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences Unit (Task Force) said it had charged to court a fake Army Captain, Gorge Edem, it apprehended early this month, while trying to secure the release of an Okada, which the Agency’s men impounded from its owner.

Chairman of the Task Force, Olayinka Egbeyemi, disclosed this while speaking with newsmen in his office, saying the man came for the release of the seized motorcycle, claiming to be a Captain.

Thereafter, it was discovered he was not a Captain, and had since been charged to court and remanded in prison custody.

Edem had since been charged to court and is currently facing trial for impersonation.

It would be recalled that on May 3, 2016, Edem, who posed as a Army Captain and claimed to be residing at Flat 11, Block 2, Intelligent Quarters, Ni-

gerian Army Cantonment, Ojo area of the state, was arrested at Alausa headquarters of the Task Force, and paraded by the Agency’s chairman, SP Egbeyemi.

The announcement of the arrest was contained in a statement issued by the Public Affairs Officer of the Agency, Mr Taofik Adebayo.

Adebayo stated that, “Mr Edem who doesn’t know the Agency policy not to release any impounded motorcycles came for the release of a Boxer motorcycle with chassis No MD2A18AZ3FMWStatehX that was impounded to have contravened the Lagos State Road Traffic Laws of 2012 at Oshodi, Lagos.” Adebayo said it was discovered that Edem had on him a fake identity card with Nigerian Army Cantonment, Ojo, Lagos.

“When questioned on why he impersonated as an Army Captain, Edem said he has been parading himself as an Army Cap-

take over investigation into killing of LFTZ boss handled 5,322 matters on behalf of indigent Lagosisians and represented them in 2,467 cases on their behalf in various courts.

He said the Directorate for Citizens Rights successfully treated 1,965 human rights cases and recovered N16, 248,400 on behalf of numer-

ous complainants.

In line with its resolve to fight crime, he said the state government has commenced the process of establishing a

state owned DNA Forensic Laboratory adding that when completed, it will not only resolve crime matters but also health issues.

Govt sets up task force, prohibits Omo Oniles Ayomide Owonibi Odekanyin THE Lagos State government has reiterated its commitment to deal with land grabbers, known as Omo Oniles, causing unrest in the state.

The Lagos Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Adeniji Kazeem disclosed that the State Government has set up a task

Nigerian Tribune

Monday, 16 May, 2016

force on the prohibition of land grabbers.

The Attorney-General added that the State would no longer tolerate the illegal activities of land grabbers, as anyone found using such to disturb public peace and illegally dispossessing people of their property would be prosecuted in accordance with relevant criminal laws.

Speaking on the establish-

ment of Special Offences Court, the AG said the Mobile Court has prosecuted 1,107 traffic and environmental offenders arrested by the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences Unit (Task Force) since inception in February, 2016.

Giving other statistics, Kazeem said that 2,073 offenders have been sentenced to community service for various

offences in the last one year.

He said the offenders got non-custodial punishments such as cleaning public buildings and sweeping, among others.

“In addition, it allows offenders to service their sentences in the community and out of jail or prisons, and this was part of the strategies to decongest the prisons,” he noted.

tain for over eight years out of poverty and collecting money from innocent people who had cases with Nigeria Police and Nigerian Customs, and that he had deceived many Divisional Police Officers in Lagos State on different cases where he had collected millions of naira,” Adebayo said.

The Agency’s image maker said the State Commissioner of Police, Mr Fatai Owoseni, had been briefed about the matter and had since directed that the suspect be charge to court Meanwhile, the Lagos State Task Force has enjoined members of the public to be wary of fake security personnel who are operating illegally, perpetuating evil and duping innocent citizens of their hard-earned resources.

band, who had allegedly denied being in possession of his wife’s phone.

A source at the Lagos State police command, who spoke with Lagos Metro, under the condition of anonymity said, “yes the phone is still with us and we have not released it to the family, because we are still using it for investigation.”

He also cautioned the public, saying that “the mere fact that we have her husband with us does not mean that we have concluded that he was responsible for the death.”

The police source added that, “we are looking beyond just the man. We are still waiting for the report of the autopsy, before we decide on the next line of action and hopefully the autopsy report should be out in the next few days.”

Lagos Metro also gathered that the police in Lagos are studying and analysing the phone calls and text messages on the deceased woman’s mobile phone.

Sources at the homicide section of the State Criminal Investigations Department told Lagos Metro that the husband had insisted that he did not kill his wife and that his wife was having an affair with her late brother’s friend.

Queen’s College rape: Old Girls’ probe chair disagrees with FG Naza Okoli

A member of the Queen’s College’s Old Girls Association, and head of an investigative panel earlier set up by the Association to investigate the matter of a Biology teacher, Mr Olaseni Osifala, who was accused of molesting a Junior Secondary School student, but had been exonerated by a Federal Government Panel, Mrs Laila St Matthew-Daniel, at the weekend described Federal Government’s judgement as unsatisfactory.

St Matthew-Daniels, who spoke with Lagos Metro said, “The panel may have cleared Mr Osifala, in the absence of any evidence of wrongdoing due to fact that the Chinenye Okoye didn’t appear but does that foreclose any possible incident?

“Whether there was a Chinenye Okoye or not, there were other findings beyond her that made up the petition to call for investigation by the Old Girls.”

“One is the information given by the Principal that Oshifala had been accused five times before and this was the sixth time. In other societies, it just takes one accusation for a serious investigation to take place. To either clear the person or to vindicate, premium is put on the girl-child. Should we not also put a premium on ours?,” she asked.

She queried further that, “Is he the only male teacher in Queens College? Why is the fact about former accusations kept silent? Who are the people he suspects as out for his reputation and why?”

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Nigerian Tribune Monday, 16 May, 2016 10 businessnews Emefiele donates Independent marketers urge FG on downstream 400 bags of rice liberalisation to Borno IDPs OlatundeDodondawa-Lagos

S

OME independent marketers under the aegis of Odu’a Petrol Station Owners and Dealers Association of Nigeria (OPSODAN) have urged the Federal Government to liberalise the downstream sector and allow full participation of all marketers who have the capacity to import and distribute petroleum products effectively.

Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune on Sunday in Lagos, the National President, OPSODAN, who also doubles as the Vice Chairman, Lagos Private Depot Operators, Dr Kolawole Adewoyin, commended the steps taken by the government to deregulate the downstream sector.

According to him, “it is a welcome development.

With time, prices of premium motor spirit (PMS) otherwise called petrol will come down just like diesel. We believe that if the sector is liberalised, every competent marketer will be able to import and sell the product. This can only happen under liberalization policy.

“When liberalised, government won’t have to fix pump price of petrol because it is not its business.

The government should only ensure effective supervision and regulatory framework to ensure Nigerians are not cheated during the process.”

Furthermore, he also stated that “the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) should live up to its responsibility by ensuring effective regulation of the sector to avoid sharp practices, under-dis-

pensing and hoarding.”

He stated further that the government should also provide some incentives for small and indigenous marketers, through waivers on import duties, to compete favourably with the majors.

“By so doing, participa-

tion of indigenous marketers in product importation will be promoted,” he said.

Moreover, he urged the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to allow his members to lift products based on old rate because they have collected over N50 billion

It would be recalled that the federal government have been receiving knocks from labour unions and other stakeholders for fixing pump price of petrol at N145 per litre from N86.5 per litre, after it claimed it has deregulated the sector.

From left, Chief Operating Officer, Royal FrieslandCampina, The Netherlands, Mr Gregory Sklikas; Chairman Board of Directors, FrieslandCampina WAMCO, Mr Moyo Ajekigbe; Managing Director, Mr Rahul Colaco and Director, Mrs Oyinkan Ade-Ajayi at the 43rd Annual General Meeting of the company held in Lagos, recently. PHOTO: SYLVESTER OKORUWA

‘Nigeria needs $40bn to grow oil and gas logistics’ Tola Adenubi-lagos

THE Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics base (LADOL) has revealed that Nigeria needs $20 billion per year of private money just to maintain status quo in her oil and gas logistics sector; and an additional $15 to 20 billion to grow the market.

Disclosing this in a statement issued by the firms media consultant, Alex Akao, the firm’s Managing Director, Dr Amy Jadesimi revealed that in 2007, when oil prices first began

to rise, the decision by the NNPC and NAPIMS that all logistics had to be done from Onne at prices that were the most expensive in the world cost the nations billions in investment to neighbouring countries and brought exploration to a halt.

According to her, “going forward, the industry requires a huge private investment of about $20 billion per year of private money just to maintain status quo and an additional $15 to 20 billion to grow the market. This

BoI loan portfolio to Katsina entrepreneurs hit N11.4bn THE Bank of Industry (BoI) loan portfolio to industrialists in Katsina State is now N11,4 billion as the state government and the development finance institution sign a N2 billion Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for financial assistance to indigenous entrepreneurs in the state.

The financing deal came just as the Governor of Katsina State, Aminu Masari commissioned the bank’s state office.

Speaking during the signing of the MoU between both parties, BoI’s Acting Managing Director, Mr Waheed Olagunju put the bank’s loan exposure to the state’s industrialists

from us for 20,000 tickets but we are yet to load for over three months when we have made the payment. I think it will be unfair on our part to pay the additional money they are demanding for in order to reflect this new rate.”

at N11.4 billion.

He noted that the financing model of fund-matching with states had become imperative if the bank must meet its financial obligations to the nation’s numerous industrialists.

Olagunju, unveiling the content of the agreement noted that the Katsina State government would provide N1bn which would in-turn be matched in equal sum by the bank for onward lending to Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises in the state with bankable business plans.

“The Bank of Industry decided to open its Katsina State Office so as to sustain the institution’s continued efforts at serving Katsina

State better and vastly improve on the turnaround time (TAT) for processing transactions.

means Nigeria has to become more competitive, we have to become the hub and premier investment destination for the oil and gas sector in West Africa.

“Altogether the industry is targeting production levels of three million barrels of oil and 10 million scf of gas per day.

Fortunately, the fundamentals of the Nigeria petroleum sector are very strong, with many acreages being self-funding, when in production with strong operational and cost controls in place.

“With this huge market potential and strong fundamentals, Nigeria should naturally be the most attractive oil and gas investment destination in the world, she said.

The LADOL boss further pointed out that beyond these potentials that abound in the country, “governance and macroeconomic factors are also in Nigeria’s favour. From an investment perspective, our current government and the low oil price have created a perfect window of opportunity at precisely the right moment in the life of our industry.

“Therefore, the time has now come for public and private stakeholders to come together and quickly overcome the issues that might derail our otherwise bright future. These issues are well known and easily identifiable – which means that if we want to fix them we can do so immediately.”

Sanya Adejokun-Abuja

GOVERNOR of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, has donated 400 bags of locally produced rice and other relief materials to the internally displaced persons (IDPs), in Maiduguri, Borno State.

The relief materials according to the CBN governor were gifts received by the family from friends and well-wishers during their mother’s recent burial ceremonies, which he promised to donate to the IDPs to alleviate their suffering.

During the presentation ceremony, Emefiele, who was represented by the Controller, CBN Borno branch, Alhaji Isyaku Ibrahim said that, the relief materials were to compliment the efforts of both the federal and state governments in bringing succour to those displaced by insurgency.

He commended the efforts of the military, and the state governor, Kashim Shettima, in bringing peace to Borno State and the North East sub-region of the country.

The state, according to Emefiele, looks set to revive its economy ruined by the insurgence.

The CBN governor noted that with the restoration of peace in the North East, Borno State is set to benefits from some of the CBN development initiatives to move the state forward.

In his response, the state governor thanked the philanthropist and his family, for their kind support and good gesture to the people of the state, and urged other privileged Nigerians and corporate bodies to emulate the CBN boss to assist the government in overcoming the challenges of resettling those displaced by the insurgence.

Fidelity Bank appoints Balarabe DMD •As Nnamdi Okonkwo resumes FOLLOWING the resumption of the Managing Director of Fidelity Bank, Mr Nnamdi Okonkwo, Alhaji Mohammed Lawal Balarabe who held forte in the absence of Okonkwo, has been appointed as the Deputy Managing Director of the Bank, subject to regulatory approval.

The bank, in a statement revealed that Balarabe is an erudite banker with

over 24 years’ experience in corporate, commercial and retail banking. He has worked in various capacities in Nigeria’s financial services industry where he acquired strong strategic management, leadership and people skills.

Balarabe holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and Finance from Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom (UK), as well as Master

of Science (M.Sc.) in Finance from the University of Lagos (UNILAG). He has attended several executive education programs at the Columbia University Business School, INSEAD; Said Business School, University of Oxford; and Kellogg School of Management, amongst others.

A licensed member of the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) since 1992, Balar-

abe also served as Executive Director of Oceanic Bank Plc, pursuant to an appointment by the Central of Nigeria (CBN).

He was also a General Manager in United Bank for Africa (UBA) and had been the General Manager & Chief Executive of Newdevco Finance Services Company Limited before his appointment to the Board of Fidelity Bank in April 2012.

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Nigerian Tribune

Naira exchanges for N370/dollar at parallel market Chima Nwokoji-lagos

P

RESSURE on Naira persisted over the weekend as the parallel market exchange rate rose to N370 per dollar, just as dealers speculated that the local currency might depreciate to February levels of N400 per dollar.

Nigerian Tribune investigation revealed that the sharp depreciation was driven by two factors: increased demand for dollars and hoarding in anticipation of further depreciation of the naira.

According to a BDC operator who spoke to Nigerian Tribune on condition of anonymity, “With the exchange rate going up, those who have dollars don’t want to sell, expecting the rate to rise further to February levels, so as to maximise their returns.”

It should be remembered that the Naira depreciated to N400 per dollar in February at the parallel market before retreating to N320 by the end of the month due to declining demand by importers.

Oil firms had been told last week to seek foreign exchange from the secondary market triggering an increased pressure on the currency at the parallel market.

The Naira which had maintained some level of stability in recent time declined in value from N321 to N360 within three days, on Friday.

Oil marketers had last week bought $13.854,387 million from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through eight commercial banks at N197.5 and their demand for foreign exchange is expected to increase the pressure on the

naira at the parallel market.

President of the Association of Bureau de Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe told Nigerian Tribune that the pressure on the Naira would continue to be strong, but the value is expected to be relatively stable as the market awaits the decision of the apex bank in the next mon-

etary policy meeting.

Gwadabe explained that those who had bought dollars when the rate was high and used it to import were having difficulty selling their goods, hence those who are still importing have reduced. But the deregulation announcement has changed the whole thing.

He, however said expectations were that the apex

bank would devalue the currency as, according to him, there is a lot of pressure from investors and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and also the dwindling level of the external reserves and low commodity prices.

The reserves have continuously been depleted standing at $26.78 billion as at May 12, 2016, according to data on the website

From left, President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI),Chief (Dr.) Mrs. Nike Akande; Speaker, Lagos House of Assembly, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa presenting the best Merger and acquisition deal of the year Award to Regional Director,Lagos and Ikeja Region,Skye Bank Plc,Mr. Ndubuisi Osakwe, while Head,Priority Banking,Skye Bank, Mrs Uzor Onumajuru and Head,Strategic Brand Management,Skye Bank Plc, Mr. Nduneche Ezurike both watch during the LCCI 2016 commerce and Industry Awards presentation in Lagos on Saturday. PHOTO: SYLVESTER OKORUWA.

Discos embark on mass disconnection of historic debtors

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HE nation’s power sector crisis deepened weekend following the mass disconnection of historic debtors by all the electricity distribution companies, Discos to protest the huge unpaid electricity bills by this class of consumers.

For now, all historic debtors, including residential, commercial, Industrial and government establishments across the three tiers

of government would have to find alternative means of electricity supply until this debt issue is resolved.

As at last calculation, government establishments, including the military and security agencies alone owe the Discos some ?93 billion. The figure comprises ?39.1 billion preprivatisation of electricity assets and ?39.5 post-privatisation. Also thrown into the debt calculation is

the outstanding interest of ?15 billion, which the Bulk Trader charges Discos for late payment of their electricity bills, a situation that occurred as a result of nonsettlement of electricity bills as at when due.

Two weeks ago, all the Discos took pages in national newspapers where all historic debtors were given deadlines within which to pay their debts or have their electricity sup-

Reps advocate more powers for DMO THE House of Representatives’ Committee on Aids, Loans and Debt Management has advocated for more powers for the Debt Management Office (DMO), Nigeria.

The House Committee said that the mandate of the DMO should be strengthened to include monitoring the implementation of all projects of government that is financed with borrowed funds.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Aid, Loans and Debt Management, Honourable Adeyinka Ajayi, advocated for this position alongside other members of the Committee at a three-day retreat for member of the committee in Owerri, Imo State, over the weekend.

Hon Ajayi, in his keynote address at the retreat organ-

of the CBN. Gwadabe assured that the parallel market is capable to meet the needs of the oil marketers saying “when the 41 items were banned there was pressure but then it reduced so the parallel market is capable of meeting the needs of the oil marketers. The Nigerian parallel market is huge, even thou it is 15 per cent, but its activities

ised by the Debt Management Office, Nigeria, noted that it has become imperative for the DMO to be empowered to monitor the implementation of all projects financed with borrowed funds.

He argued that since it was the duty of the DMO to raise funds to finance budget deficit, “the body should as be saddled with the responsibility of monitoring implementation”, noting that this would ensure compliance, transparency and accountability.

The committee praised the DMO management for coming up with the retreat, whose theme was Debt Sustainability and the Challenge of Financing Economic Recovery, saying that the retreat was timely, coming at a time the nation was facing some economic challenges.

Hon Ajayi said the work-

shop is coming on the heels of concerns expressed by some Nigerians over the rising debt profile of the nation. While acknowledging the prevailing economic challenges, the House Committee Chairman said the committee will work with the Debt Management Office to ensure effective implementation of the 2016 budget.

Other members of the House Committee on Aid, Loans and Debt Management emphasised the need for the diversification of the economy especially in the areas of Agriculture, Solid Minerals and Manufacturing.

Earlier in his presentation, the Director-General of the Debt Management Office Nigeria DMO, Dr Abraham Nwankwo, had restated government’s commitment to

financing capital projects aimed at addressing Nigeria’s huge infrastructural deficit and repositioning the economy The DMO boss, who spoke against the backdrop of the agency’s role in the implementation of the 2016 budget, said the nation’s long term debt financing of sustainable economic recovery and growth is feasible given its abundant ideal economic capacity.

Dr Nwankwo told members of the Committee that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has taken a bold step to stimulate the economy by making sure that the nation’s huge infrastructure gap was quickly closed through efficient and effective application of all borrowed funds into capital projects.

ply disconnected.

Mr Sunday Oduntan, Executive Director, Association of Nigeria Electricity Distributors, ANED, said weekend his membercompanies had to carry out its threat when it became “obvious that there is nothing on the table.”

“Although we appreciate the efforts of the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo and the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, but the stark reality is that there is nothing concrete to hold on to.

No allowance for MDAs debt to Discos in the budget, even though we started discussion before the budget was passed.

The indebtedness has become so huge that we are truly troubled about how the government would resolve this without a budgetary allocation. ” Barrister Oduntan however made it clear that the current mass disconnection protest embarked upon by Discos is not an exercise targeted at MDAs, but all historic debtors.”

“Our position is that this indebtedness is killing us; it is seriously impacting negatively on the entire value chain in the power sector equation. Don’t forget that only 25 per cent of this debt actually belongs to Discos.

represent a huge volume.”

Meanwhile, the CBN denied a report that it planned to devalue the naira, while the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reiterated that Nigeria would benefit from a more flexible exchange rate, but said no request for funds had been made.

“The rumour that the naira is going to be devalued is false,” CBN spokesman, Isaac Okoroafor, said late on Saturday when asked about the report.

Reuters quoted an IMF spokesperson as saying that Nigeria had not approached the fund for funds but reiterated that a more flexible exchange rate would support “the competitiveness of the economy”.

“And so, there are no negotiations going on,” the spokesperson said. “However, as we have said before, the Fund continues to have a productive dialogue with the authorities and we stand ready to help should the country make a request.”

Diversification: Lagos commissioner wants FG to invest in new mobile technologies Chima Nwokoji-lagos

COMMISSIONER for Finance Lagos State Dr. Mustapha Abiodun Akinkunmi, has called on the Federal government of Nigeria to continue investing in new mobile technologies, health care and education in its quest to diversify the economy.

At the graduation ceremony of the class of 2016, American University, Adamawa over the weekend, Akinkunmi further said the government can equally invest in exporting creativity; music, movies and the written word, including trade and industry rather than relying on oil.

According to Akinkunmi, reliable power, security and a strong health system,is essential for rapid growth, adding that human capital is the hope for the future of the Nigeria and Africa region.

He further disclosed that Nigeria contributed almost half (48.5%) of the total Community Levy payments of Units of Account (UA) made to ECOWAS in 2015,stressing that Nigeria can leapfrog from manufacturing to servicing… ”simply because the output from manufacturing has increased and human resources for manufacturing has decrease due to automation.”

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Nigerian Tribune

Varsities: The VC appointment crises

HERE is a spectre of succession crises in many public universities across the country. It is particularly visible when the tenure of a vice chancellor is due and a process of appointment of a new one begins. In the last one year, internal upheavals have occurred in a number of federal and state-owned universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, among which are Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka; University of Maiduguri, Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Riverse State University, and the University of Abuja, to name a few.

Currently, the process of appointment of a vice chancellor has been suspended at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Osun State, where the process has been entangled in a court case and threat of violence, leading to the closure of the institution. The Federal High Court, Osogbo, granted an order halting the process. The order was sought by the institution’s Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) which have been at loggerheads with the university’s governing council over alleged ‘compromise of due process’ in the entire exercise. The unions had also claimed that the council took a pre-emptive move to award marks and rank candidates without the constitution of the joint council and Senate selection board, the statutory organ empowered to rank the candidates. Thus, the appointment of the heads of higher institutions, especially vice chancellors, has become very challenging and disruptive of academic life in the universities.

There are several factors that account for the situation of things. The first is that the office of vice chancellors has been politicised. In addition, the universities run significant budgets.

Thus, the resources of the universities, including employment opportunities, have become objects of patronage. The office of vice chancellor provides the visibility that some academics need to enhance their political ambitions. Thus, many professors who want to get ahead regardless of their competitive academic standing have mobilised to get selected. For instance, when the University of Abuja announced the vacancy for that office last year, over 100 professors applied. The appointment eventually made was challenged in the National Industrial Court.

Competition for that office has become very keen indeed.

The second factor arises from the first. The perception of the office of vice chancellor as a political position guaranteeing access to patronage has generated interest in groups and individuals outside the university system in the selection process. These include a motley of groups in the local communities, including youth groups, social clubs and ethnic associations. A few years

ago, Nyesom Wike, then the Supervising Minister of Education, met with the heads of tertiary institutions and Chairmen of their Governing Councils in Abuja where he condemned the localisation of appointments of heads of tertiary institutions by host communities. For these communities, university positions, of which the office of the vice chancellor is the highest, are a part of the national cake to be shared on the basis of state or locality of origin. Professors who want to be vice chancellors must go to universities in their state or locality of origin as the case may be to become vice chancellor. Thus, ethnic identity is increasingly mobilised to influence the council decision and foreclose the chances of non-indigene professors.

Thirdly, because of the keen competition into that office, the appointment of vice chancellors has become a do or die. Thus, the process has been inundated with controversies, including claims of corruption, disregard for the due process and predetermined outcome. There are allegations that council members have transformed the process into a means of selfenrichment. They are often accused of being compromised.

Thus, merit and competence have become less and less visible as central factors for the appointment of vice chancellors in public universities. The localizing of appointments of heads of higher institutions will hinder the quest of Nigerians to have quality education for the development of the country. This is because it is through meritorious appointment of qualified candidates to such positions, regardless of where they are coming from, that the process can be depoliticised and capable hands selected.

We call on the government to be wary of who it appoints to university councils. Only individuals with the requisite experience and capacity to contribute to the growth and development of the university system should be appointed into the councils.

We also call on the heads of councils and vice chancellors to ensure that they work together with host communities to ensure peace, harmony and progress in the universities. Governing councils should ensure that they observe the due process in the selection process. While local unions may be interested in the appointment of vice chancellors in their universities, they must not intervene to compromise the process or create a crisis in the universities.

The appointment of vice chancellors should not be characterised by bitterness and desperation among contestants. Professors should not resort to blackmail, ethnicity or tribalism or even religious war to get into office, like politicians in the larger society do. The university must be a beacon of light in a society where elections and selection processes are notoriously riddled with malpractices, violence and disruptive failures.

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14

Monday, 16 May, 2016

LETTERS TO THE

editor

Letters to the editor should be sent to letterstribune@yahoo.com or by sms to 08054005323. It MUST be accompanied by the full name and address of the writer.

New fuel price: Let’s give govt a chance

L

ET me first say that buying fuel for N145 per litre will definitely make things difficult for the majority of Nigerians, but this is the pain we need to bear at this point in time if we truly want a better country.

Despite being an oil producing country, is it not shocking that we lack the capacity to refine fuel for local consumption? Our refineries are just drain pipes

for government funds, as they have refused to work despite all the billions of dollars spent on them in Turn Around Maintenance (TAM). The only option left was for government to subsidise fuel marketers to import the product. However, we are all aware of the fuel subsidy fraud where Nigerians got to know that many of these importers got money to import fuel but they

never did.

Many became overnight billionaires, doing nothing, other than lying that they are fuel importers. The truth is that the subsidy regime has made more lazy and privileged Nigerians richer. Anyone who had the connection could get a license to import fuel, and thus get his subsidy claims.

Today, however, is different; the Federal Government is not making as

...It will make Nigerians poorer NIGERIANS have already been burdened by the economic situation in the country; the price of foodstuff is going up astronomically, as well as other basic items. Very soon, the price of rents, transportation fare, among others will also go up. Now, this new fuel regime will only add to the suffering of Nigerians.

Some people may be saying that sooner than later, the pump price of fuel will crash, but this is Nigeria, where nothing ever goes down. Now, why do I believe the price of fuel will only continue to increase? We are having a shortage of forex at the moment, and government has said that oil marketers should access the secondary market for their forex needs; this new pressure will make the naira fall further against the dollar, and in the end, marketers will have no choice than to increase the price of fuel at the pump again.

Oil marketers have formed an anti-people cabal and they dictate what suits them. Even when government said they should sell fuel for N87, none of them complied; they just kept their stations under lock, and government was helpless. So what will government do again when they raise it to N200?

We should not forget that just a couple of months ago, we were in this same situation, when fuel was sold for N200 and above in some states; the government apparently did not do anything, or it lacked

the will to adequately monitor the marketers.

By giving oil marketers the power to determine their price, government has exposed Nigerians to more suffering. I know that government will soon apologise for this mistake, while returning the subsidy regime, which is the only benefit Nigerians are deriving from government. If there was massive fraud in the subsidy claims

payment, then it was the fault of government and not that of the common man on the street.

I hope the Federal Government will allow reason to prevail. Nigerians voted for this government in order for it to serve our interests, and not to make us suffer with painful policies.

•Femi Aladesanmi, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State.

much as it used to, and if it continues paying for the subsidy, then it is a matter of time before the country runs bankrupt. With this new fuel regime, importers will source for their forex elsewhere, particularly at the parallel market, and with time, they will realise that it is not profitable to import fuel, and they will have no other option than look for technical partners and construct their refineries if they want to remain in business.

When this happens, the price of fuel will crash in the country. However, we just need to be patient with the Federal Government, and in the end, everything will work out well for us in the country.

As a result of this, I want to call on the leadership of labour unions to shelve their upcoming strike action against the new fuel price. We can’t continue to allow fraudulent oil importers make more money at the expense of the peo-

ple. Today, as the competition in the oil industry begins, only the tough will survive it. In the past, once one had connection at the appropriate quarters, one could get a license to import fuel and, therefore, be entitled to subsidy claims.

Now, anybody can import fuel into the country

so far he complies with government’s N145 price ceiling. Even some people will begin to sell at N130 or N120 in order to attract customers.

There is definitely the way out of our problems.

•Nelson Ekwale, Benin, Edo State.

Appeal to Buhari on bailout for pensioners I want to call on President Muhammadu Buhari to reconsider the Federal Government’s stance that it would not provide further bailout for states again. I hope the Federal Government can assist state governments in paying the gratuities of pensioners.

Most of the states in the South West, and I believe across the country, have not paid pensioners who retired over 10 years ago their gratuities.

When President Buhari approved the bailout for

states last year, we felt that the fund would be used to pay the gratuities, but after paying a couple of months’ pension arrears, the governors came out to inform us that the bailout had been exhausted.

Most of the governors diverted the bailout for other purposes, and I hope the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) can investigate how the governors mismanaged the bailout.

In the mean time, should the president approve another bailout, I want the Federal Government to set up a committee that will monitor the disbursement of the money to retirees.

•Supo Oladele, aexxy_life@gmail. com

On Niger Delta Avengers LEADERS of the new militant group in the Niger Delta, the Niger Delta Avengers, should think twice with the bombings they have started on oil installations in the region.

They should look at the pain they will put the people of the region to when Federal troops begin their crackdown.

Now, if the militants are claiming that the Niger Delta environment is polluted, will the spill resulting from the destroyed oil pipelines clean the environment or add more to the suffering of the people?

•Tuope Henry, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

15

opinion

Monday, 16 May, 2016

Lasisi Olagunju

F

Lasgunju@yahoo.com (08111813053)

OR the passengers, the take-off is smooth. Animated discussions everywhere in the cabin. A lively little girl darts along the aisle. She enjoys every bit of the enclosure. The flight is quite without incident.

Midway into the 55 minutes journey, the pilot’s voice interrupts the peace: “This is your pilot speaking. The weather is reasonably okay. However, there is a slight to medium turbulence ahead but it is nothing to worry about.”

Passengers exchange glances. Some stop talking. Some continue chatting.

Seven minutes after the pilot’s voice, everywhere outside goes pitch dark. A passenger checks his wristwatch.

Time is 5.30 p.m. Estimated arrival time is 5.55 p.m. Everywhere inside goes quiet. What is going on? Even the lively little girl is no longer visible. Then, like the arrival of an expected audacious thief, a major storm descends on the plane. It shakes the Airbus so violently. The plane moves awkwardly sideways. There is a struggle, then a surrender - suddenly it goes down. It bounces back, stabilises. Then again, it dances very violently. The invading storm appears determined to make maximum impacts.

It struggles to wrench control of the plane from the pilot.

There is no word from the cockpit.

Muslims intone subhanalahi. Christians hug blood of Jesus. The untied voice of reassurance for terrified passengers is the determined balancing of terror between the plane’s captain and the invading force.

A passenger remembers great wrestling bouts of the 80s. A wry smile on his face. Passengers are badly shaken. “All will be well” is a passenger’s self-consolatory soliloquy. The plane loses altitude again. Every passenger grabs the next person or material available as the plane moves down, and down. Then, quiet. Is it over?

The pilot’s voice again: “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your pilot. Sorry about that turbulence...the only other option we had was to turn back which we thought was unnecessary so we had to get our way round it. But we are out of it now...We should land 20 minutes from now...”

The movement round the storm has extended the arrival time. Nothing spoil.

Sighs of relief on every face. Silence for some minutes.

Some chatting across some seats. Some shaken faces

Pilot to passengers: I have sad news for you

shake off the reassurance. The flight continues. A passenger checks his watch again. It is 5.50 p.m. The colour of the outside is the colour of 8 p.m. “It is night already here or the invading force is still not done with us?” a passenger asks himself. He looks out again and then watches his wristwatch as if his eyes will fast-forward time to the pilot’s promised arrival time.

“We are almost there,” a passenger tells another.

Then, the pilot’s voice again: “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. We are six minutes to dash down but we have two other aircraft ahead of us. We are number three. We will land after those two. So, we have to hover for a while.”

Silence.

Five minutes later, the pilot’s voice again: “Ladies and gentlemen. There is a broken down plane on the runway.

They are trying to tow it. So, we remain here a little more.”

Wow! Again?

Passengers exchange fearful glances. Silence.

Five minutes later, the pilot’s voice again: “Ladies and gentlemen, I have bad news for you. The second plane had a burst tyre on landing so there are efforts to push it off the active runway. So, just sit back and continue to enjoy our hospitality.” The pilot has changed the word “tow” to “push.”

A loud murmur reverberates round the cabin. Some repeat the word “push.”

“Push a plane?! Nigeria!” one passenger says to no one in particular. Others look away.

There is no word again from the cockpit. A passenger checks his wristwatch again. It is 6.30 p.m.

The plane has been hovering around the airport area for 40 minutes. Is there enough fuel for this merry-go-round?

The passenger tries to take his mind off the thought of a hovering plane that runs out of fuel.

An air hostess’ voice pierces the silence. She informs the passengers of a decision to switch off all lights in the cabin.

“It is standard procedure,” she claims. Lights out. Silence. Silent prayers everywhere.

Then, a descent. Breaths are held. Plane lands; screeches to a halt; moves and makes a sharp turn to safety.

Stops. Everyone claps.

Outside, a large crowd has formed. Relations hug. Two kids hug their mum as she steps into the arrival hall.

Quick calls to whomever by almost everyone.

A day after, 10 of the passengers have a chance meeting in a public place. Recognitions. Recollections. Information sharing.

“Did you know our plane was declared lost yesterday? It went out of radar.”

“Really?”

“Ah! It was a bad one. There was panic everywhere.

There were frantic searches for it until the pilot of one international flights reported sighting it. Very bad.”

“Wow!” “And, did you know the pilot landed the plane in defiance of the control tower?”

Other passengers listen.

“He had to land it because he had only 15 minutes fuel remaining. So, even with the other plane on the runway, he took that decision. He landed from the opposite direction and on the middle of the runway. It was a short landing. You heard the brake as he landed?”

“Wow.” “And all firefighters in the state capital had been mobilised to the airport.”

“Enh.” “It was a miracle. That pilot was excellent. That was why the entire control tower hugged him and celebrated him.”

“So, that plane with burst tyre was still on the runway when we landed?”

“Yes. They said they were looking for a towing vehicle to remove it. It slept there.”

“We circled the airport for about 50 minutes.”

“Yes. Well, thank God we survived it.”

Dateline was Wednesday, 11 May, 2016. I was there.

Education: Need for a new approach

By Nike Badejo ONE of the values which exalt a nation is education. It is the only legacy a parent can bequeath to a child, which will continue to be with the child forever. Education is one sector that contributes greatly to the development of a nation.

The socio-political and economic development of a nation is in many ways determined by the quality and level of educational attainment of its citizens. Indeed, education is the bedrock of modern civilisation. However, over the years, successive administrations in the country have only been paying lip service to the education sector.

A recent report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) revealed that Nigeria has 10.5 million out-of-school children. Based on this figure, it is clear that at 55, Nigeria has not made the desired progress in providing qualitative education to quite a good number of its citizens.

It is unfortunate that education has not really been accorded the priority it deserves despite the fact that Section 18 of the 1999 Constitution stipulates that government should direct its policy towards ensuring that there is equal and adequate educational opportunities at all levels.

It also stipulates that govenment should promote science and technology, and strive to eradicate illiteracy. The constitution also further stipulates that when practicable, government should provide free, compulsory and universal primary education, free university education and free adult literacy programme for the people.

Unfortunately, public schools are not what they used to be;

during the time of Chief Obafemi Awolowo in the First Republic, he introduced the free primary education system in the old Western Region. In 1979 and 1983, Chief Awolowo’s Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) was denied the mandate it sought to introduce free education at all levels throughout the country. Unlike his contemporaries, Awolowo was the only political leader who had a blueprint on what he wanted to do with education in Nigeria.

In fact, when his political opponents challenged the promise of the UPN in 1979 to implement free education at all levels if elected into office, Awolowo revealed the millions of naira which the government was spending on irrelevant things like feeding politicians and civil servants, among others. Awolowo argued that if government had the political will to stop wasteful expenses, there would be enough resources to fund free education at all levels in Nigeria.

Chief Awolowo had earlier demonstrated that he was a leader with a vision and political will when he was the Premier of the Western Region. His free primary education scheme was an expensive project which could scare away any political leader, but

he was never deterred; instead, the education sector during his administration claimed the largest share of the recurrent budget, rarely falling below 30 per cent, and in many years, standing at roughly or above 40 per cent between 1960 and 1966. Primary education alone consumed nearly 76 per cent of the total expenditure on education every year.

The success of the free primary education programme of the Western Region government led to the emergence of the highlytrained Nigerians from the Western part of the country. The first set of professionals, be it in law, medicine, teaching, nursing, accountancy, surveying, architecture, among others, had emerged mostly from the then Western Region where Chief Awolowo and his party were in control of government in the 1950s and 1960s.

Today, we have the challenge of inadequate manpower; we have fewer teachers in the schools, which has resulted in a situation whereby some subjects are not taken entirely by students.

The most recent manifestation of this, therefore, is the low performance in the final examination by secondary school students.

Even in the tertiary institutions, lecturers are not encouraged by government, and the only ‘weapon’ the government respects is strike. That is why tertiary institutions’ lecturers can go on strike for several months in a bid to getting the attention of government.

There are many things wrong with our education sector, but it is hoped that the Muhammadu Buhari administration will approach the sector from a fresh perspective, different from the attitudes of all former administrations.

•Badejo can be reached on oluyehnco33@gmail.com

16

Monday, 16 May, 2016 Taiwo Adisa - 08072000046 Group Politics Editor taiadis@yahoo.com

L

AST week, President Muhammadu Buhari publicly admitted that Nigeria was going through the worst time in recent years. The economy is tottering. The political front is slippery and unpredictable. Social services have crumbled, just as public utilities have almost become grounded, as the power sector is increasingly becoming ‘powerless.’

Hitherto, top government officials had given a legion of reasons for these critical national challenges. The reasons have ranged from the serious to the mundane coupled with the ludicrous. Suffice to say that most of the ‘justifications’ have been traced to ‘inherited rot and inadequacies’ of the preceding administration. Coupled with this is the endemic culture of corruption in high places and, the last but not the least reason is the excuse that the seeming all motion and no movement of the last 12 months was the fact that the government ran on the budget prepared by the last administration.

The incumbent administration now has a veritable opportunity to prove that those explanations were justified by turning stone to bread via the federal budget.

Buhari has the duty to meet the terms of the social contract he signed with not just the more than 15 million Nigerians that voted for him during the election but the more than 180 million human population, as the president has the entire country as his constituency.

Having been able to scale the hurdle of inherited budget, the president should be preoccupied with translating his preelection promise to herald a new dawn in Africa’s largest democracy. In fact, he had reawakened such optimism in the people through his budget speech entitled, The Budget of Change, which he delivered to the joint session of the National Assembly in December last year. “We are here to serve. And indeed, Nigerians will get the service they have longed for and which they rightly deserve,” he stated.

That speech served as a reminder of his inaugural address when he took the oath of office on May 29, 2015. In it, he decried the precarious state of the Nigerian state and saw his return to power via the soap box as a call to duty. His words: “The Federal Executive under my watch will not seek to encroach on the duties and functions of the Legislative and Judicial arms of government. The law enforcing authorities will be charged to operate within the Constitution. We shall rebuild and reform the public service to become more effective and more serviceable. We shall charge them to apply themselves with integrity to stabilize the system.”

The post-election proclamation by the president swelled his promises which included that the country urgently needed fundamental political reform and improvement in governance so as to make it more transparency and accountable; initiate action to amend the Constitution amend the Constitution to remove immunity from prosecution for elected officers in criminal cases, as well as with a view to devolving powers, duties, and responsibilities to states in order to entrench true Federalism and the Federal spirit.

Others were to strengthen INEC to re-

Budget 2016 and Buhari’s pact with Nigerians With the prevailing socio-economic conditions in the country, Nigerians are eagerly awaiting the faithful implementation of the federal budget, KUNLE ODEREMI writes.

duce, if possible, eliminate electoral malpractices in Nigerian’s political life; prevent the abuse and misuse of executive, legislative and public offices, through greater accountability, transparency, strict, and implementable anti-corruption laws, through strengthening and sanitising the EFCC and ICPC as independent entities; and amend the Constitution to require Local governments to publish their meeting minutes, service performance data, and items of spending over N10 million.

The president also promised to consult and amend the Constitution to enable states and local governments to create city, local government and state policing systems, based on the resources available

How the president fulfills most of the pre-election promises as the budget begins to run will also have implications for the governing All Progressives Congress (APC).

at each levels, to address the peculiar needs of each community. He also promised to liaise with the National Assembly to set and revise, when needed, the boundaries of operations for federal, state, and local government policing units, through new criminal justice legislation to replace the Criminal Code, the Penal Code and the Police Act. In addition, he promised to create an additional middle-class of at least 4 million new home owners by 2019 by enacting a national mortgage single digit interest rates for purchase of owner occupier houses as well as review the collateral qualification to make funding for home ownership easier, with a 15 to 30 year mortgage terms.

These promises, which constitute less than one-fifth of the campaign pledges by the president, were designed to strengthen and enhance confidence in the polity. Successes in those areas were to complement the achievements that would be recorded in other critical sectors thereby giving fillip to the seemingly comatose giant of Africa.

The administration has picked, among others, economic reforms, infrastructure, social development, security, the environment and regional development, as pivotal to the delivery of promises by the president. And three of his ministers: Alhaji Lai Mohammed (Information and culture); Mrs Kemi Adeosun (finance) and Udoma Udo Udoma of the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, have assured Nigerians that the budget would be faithfully implemented. According to Udoma, “Henceforth, MDAs are to produce monthly implementation reports to the Ministry of Budget and National Planning and will be collated and published on

a quarterly basis on the ministry’s website.

The essence of this is to ensure transparency and monitor implementation.”

An economist, Henry Boyo, who appraised some issues that surrounded the budget, remarked that the expectation of many was that it would instantly bring about a new life. He warned: “In reality, the determinant of economic progress and the possibility of saving people from poverty will not be based on signing the budget but it will be based on the indices of monetary policy.”

A legal practitioner, Mr Monday Onyekachi Ubani, was on his part, optimistic that “The time lost can be regained if there is integrity on the part of the government.

Funds can be disbursed quickly for capital projects to be carried out and by December we would have covered a lot of lost grounds in this regard.”

Change mantra The change mantra of the APC created the current huge public expectations for the Buhari administration. So, there will be an engaging interest by voters on the implementation of the budget by the president, which might douse the emerging furore over the ‘removal’ of subsidy from petrol. How the president fulfills most of the pre-election promises as the budget begins to run will also have implications for the governing All Progressives Congress (APC), notwithstanding the raging war of attrition going on in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a party that ought to play a leading role of main opposition by acting as checks and balances in the political behaviour of the ruling APC.

17

Monday, 16 May, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

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

analysis

entrepreneuership

markets

leadership & management

Sanya Adejokun -Abuja

O

N Friday, 13 May, 2016, Nigeria’s online media world went into frenzy about an alleged secret devaluation of the naira by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Upon many enquiries however, Nigerian Tribune concluded that the information was false. A late press release issued by the CBN’s Acting Director of Communications, Mr Isaac Okoroafor, finally put the matter to rest at least temporarily.

The statement read “The Central Bank of Nigeria has denied recent publications to the effect that the naira has been devalued. Those spreading the rumour were doing that for their selfish interest.”

Mr Okoroafor then appealed to Nigerians to disregard such baseless stories and rely on the bank for correct statement on policies. The acting director reaffirmed the bank’s commitment to always work for the best interest of Nigerians and the nation’s economy.

No smoke without fire Devaluation occurs in a fixed exchange rate. It occurs in a floating exchange rate system. Both mean a fall in the value of the currency.

The subject of naira valuation has plagued Nigeria, especially the presidency and CBN since shortly after the calamitous fall in the price of crude oil, which accounts for over 90 per cent of foreign exchange. From around $115/barrel, the price fell to below $28/barrel before it began its current slow ascent few months ago. As a result, CBN was forced to rationalise foreign exchange demand and at a point, it became difficult for foreign investors to repatriate their profit and even capital through the official window. The initial pressure came from JP Morgan, which threatened to remove the country from its Bond Index. This eventually happened towards the end of 2015.

Despite this, President Muhammadu Buhari refused to allow for a devaluation of the currency even though it had already depreciated in the parallel market such that while CBN continues to hold its official rate at N197/$, traders and business people were already paying N380/$ until it suddenly crashed to N320/$, which it traded until late last week. According to Buhari who has a history of rigidly holding to artificial value of the currency when he was military head of state in 1984/85, “further devaluation of naira would kill the currency” and that it was one decision he was not ready to take at the moment.

Speaking in January, the president said he was not also ready to inflict more hardship on the poor citizens of Nigeria who have already had doses of penury. He stressed that while export-driven economies could benefit from devaluation of their currencies, naira devaluation will only result in further inflation and hardship for the poor and middle classes in Nigeria’s import-dependent economy. Buhari said he was yet to be convinced by the proponents of devaluation that ordinary Nigerians would benefit from the policy.

“We will use our foreign exchange for industry, spare parts and the development of needed infrastructure. We don’t have the dollars to give to the BDCs. Let them go and get it from wherever they can, other than the Central Bank,” he said.

However, tremendous pressure has been mounted on Buhari and CBN by members of the Organised Private Sector (OPS) including their foreign counterparts and media for the outlawing of some 41 items from official foreign exchange window to be reviewed. The items, now widened to include school fees are rice, cement, margarine, palm kernel/palm oil products/vegetables oils, meat and processed meat products, vegetables and processed vegetable products, poultry chicken, eggs, turkey, private airplanes/jets, Indian incense, tinned fish in sauce (Geisha)/sardines, cold rolled steel sheets, galvanised steel sheets, roofing sheets, wheelbarrows, head pans, metal boxes and containers, enamelware,

Naira devaluation:

Can CBN hold out much longer? steel drums, steel pipes and wire rods(deformed and not deformed).

Others include iron rods, wire mesh, steel nails, security and razor wine, wood particle boards and panels, wood fibre boards and panels, plywood boards and panels, wooden doors, toothpicks, glass and glassware, kitchen utensils, tableware, tiles-vitrified and ceramic, textiles, woven fabrics, clothes, plastic and rubber products, polypropylene granules, cellophane wrappers, soap and cosmetics, tomatoes/tomato pastes and eurobond/ foreign currency bond/ share.

At a meeting with the OPS, Buhari directed that the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, to set up a meeting with the business community to look at the list again and remove those items that are considered as secondary raw materials.

Capital flight Meanwhile, acute scarcity of foreign exchange leading to rationing by the CBN has been driving foreign capital away from the country. For instance, by the beginning of 2015, Nigeria was the number one investment destination for Africa, but by the first quarter of 2016, the country had fallen to number four on the list with Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya and Tanzania overtaking in that order.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), total value of capital imported into Nigeria in the first

quarter of 2016 was $710.97 million, the lowest level since 2007. This represents a decline of 54.34 per cent since the final quarter of 2015, and a year on year decline of 73.79 per cent.

Both the quarterly and year on year declines were also the lowest recorded since 2007. As a result of these changes, total capital importation has fallen by 89.13 per cent since its peak level in the third quarter of 2014.

“The scale of the decline in capital importation in the first quarter of 2016 is symptomatic of the difficult period that the Nigerian economy is going through. Although there are a number of reasons why the amount of capital imported in recent years may have been higher than usual (such as the inclusion of Nigerian in the JP Morgan Bond Index, and globally low interest rates triggering a search for higher yields over this period) the fact that the amount of capital imported has dropped to a record low suggests that there are further reasons why Nigeria has attracted less foreign investment in recent quarters.

Investors may be concerned about whether or not they will be able to repatriate the earnings from their investments, given the current controls on the exchange rate. In addition, as growth has slowed in recent quarters, there may be concerns about the profitability of such investments,” NBS declared.

Why devalue?

A country may decide to devalue its currency to boost exports; to shrink trade deficits and; to reduce sovereign debt burdens.

Continues on pg27

18

Monday, 16 May, 2016

N145/litre:

Price modulation or deregulation?

Olatunde Dodondawa -Lagos

T

HE recent event in the country’s downstream sector has left many Nigerians confused. On Wednesday, May 11, 2016, the Federal Government capped fuel price at N145 per litre, leading to speculations that the controversial subsidy has been removed.

Reacting to this, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo explained that “at $40 a barrel there isn’t much of a subsidy to remove,” adding that the “pricing regime” was borne out of “foreign exchange problem.” The pricing regime would, according to the VP, increase competitiveness in the market, However, a school of thought assumes that the pricing regime, according to the Federal Government, was tantamount to deregulation, which many view as ill advised at this time, given the state of the economy.

Deregulation Vs Price Modulation Investopedia, the world’s leading source of financial content on the web, explains deregulation as “the reduction or elimination of government power in a particular industry, usually enacted to create more competition within the industry.”

In December 2015, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, the Minister of State for Petroleum, said the Federal Government would focus on price modulation of petroleum products to ensure efficiency and provision of the products, and not subsidy removal. According to him, the price modulation had nothing to do with the removal or existence of subsidy.

Moving forward, he said, the NNPC would review the template of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) and achieve reduction in the cost for clearing goods.

The recent price hike of fuel thus begs the question, what actually is going on in the Nigeria’s downstream sector?

As the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) announced a new pump price for petrol for N145 per litre, in accordance with new pricing template which it reviewed, the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) declared their support, saying: “For us, our position is that the deregulation of the sector and opening of the market is a welcome development.”

Francis Olabode Johnson, the NUPENG Chairman said: “Deregulation of the sector is what we have been agitating for the past eight years or more. But each time we want to react, Nigerians want to live on the bedrock of lies and that has been our problem.”

However, economists believe that in deregulated market, forces of demand and supply dictate the prices at which commodities are sold. The government has no business interfering with the prices. And as such, Kachickwu’s assumption of the roles of a regulator and an operator by fixing the price shows that government lacks direction and the political will to deregulate the sector.

Where did government get it wrong?

Prior to discovery of crude oil in Nigeria in

Kachikwu 1958, the oil sector was completely deregulated because prices were determined by market forces. As it is being practiced in advanced countries today, Shell D’archy built the first refinery in Nigeria, where crude oil was bought, processed and sold to citizens at different prices.

During the period, petroleum products did not have uniform pricing as commodity prices varied from one location to another. For instance, it was discovered that prices in Lagos was different from prices in Kano, varied from prices in Maiduguri and so on. There was never a time when scarcity was experienced and the refinery was operating optimally and profitably.

However, the influence of communist and socialist ideologies in the 1960s affected the policy of the government at that time not forgetting the impact of the Nigerian civil war between 1967 and 1970. Welfarism ideology took over from efficiency and productivity and the government began to determine the rewards of factors of production.

The government suddenly realised that some people in certain region of the country were paying so much more for the commodity when compared with their counterparts from other regions without due recourse to the proximity of the refinery to this region, thus, the government decided to take ownership of the refinery and started to subsidise its operations and outputs, thereby resulting into declaration of losses from its operations.

Nigerians began to witness long queues as the country witnessed rapid population growth. Meanwhile, marketers too began to define how best to maximise their gains by allegedly sabotaging government’s efforts to ensure adequate availability of products.

Clamours for deregulation Executive Secretary, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Femi Olawore, said deregulation would be in the best interest of the country.

According to him, the elimination of deregulation in the country was the reason for recurrent acute scarcity in the country.

“There was deregulation in this country.

The elimination of deregulation is the cause of the problem we are facing today. When we had deregulation, we were never faced with this kind of problem because we had only one refinery that was able to produce enough for those that needed fuel in this country,” he explained.

According to him, the elimination of deregulation was responsible for fuel scarcity, which began in 1970s. “In 1973, government started uniform pricing through enactment of Petroleum Equalization Fund (PEF) Act. When Government took over the refinery, the initiatives died,” he said.

He explained that as fuel scarcity began,

Nigerian Tribune

government also began to build more refineries and invested in pipelines, but afterwards, government could no longer maintain the refineries and the pipelines.

“Today, almost none of the 22 government depots is working. The refineries are not working. It is those businessmen that go to the banks, secure a loan and import on behalf of government with an agreement that you should not sell above certain price.

The government promised to reimburse whatever the difference between the cost and the recommended selling prices is. This is what is called subsidy,” he stated.

Professor Adeola Adenikinju, of Centre for Petroleum, Energy Economics and Law (CPEEL), University of Ibadan (UI), said deregulation would be in order. According to him, “deregulation is a good thing. This is because the downstream sector has been suffering due to government control. This has also affected private investors who are major players in the sector. Right now, we are the largest importer of refined products in Africa.

“So, I will say deregulation is good and we also need to work more on liberalisation which will promote free entry and free exit policy. This will create competition and the government must also promote open access to infrastructure. If this is not done, small importers may be denied access to storage facilities. There must be a law that protects small importers and producers.

Liberalisation will lead to setting up of refineries. Liberalisation will open market, we will import, we will refine and the market will be saturated.”

Head of Research, Afrinvest Limited, Ayodeji Ebo, said “the need for regulation at this time is to ensure quality of products and adequate pricing so that Nigerians will not be cheated and marketers will not form oligopoly.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) should introduce some liberalisation and remove all restrictions so that we can have single dollar market. If this is done, in the long run and as activities improve, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) will hands off and allow market forces to determine prices,” he said.

Monday, 16 May, 2016

Leaders and business reforms

By Sulaimon Olanrewaju

O

NE of the denominators of great leadership is the ability to see the invisible. A leader sees a need before it arises; sees opportunities before they become obvious, sees problems and gets the solution before they arrest everybody’s attention. He travels to the future ahead of his people and charts ways to take the people to the envisioned future.

Without vision, leadership will be a disaster. Really, visionless leadership is an affliction on the people and the system. The worst tragedy that can befall an organization or a people is to be saddled with visionless leadership. It is akin to a blind person leading a group of blind people; their predictable end is not enviable.

A major responsibility of anyone in leadership position is keeping an eye on the trend so as to be able to know what the future portends. To lose sight of the trend is to be a laggard.

Quote LEADERSHIP

“Believe it can be done. When you believe something can be done, really believe, your mind will find the ways to do it. Believing a solution paves the way to solution.”

—David J. Schwartz

Continues on pg20

INSIDE PAGE 20

The 60-second

business coach PAGE 20

Leaders’

forum PAGE 20

Greg Ogbeifun, Chairman/CEO, Starzs Investments Group

20

21

Monday, 16 May, 2016

How leaders reform business entities Continues from pg19

The test of leadership, more often than not, is in the ability to effectively predict the trend of event in an industry or a sphere of life at any point. This is important because the only thing that does not change is change. Needs of the market will never remain the same, they will keep changing. It behooves on the leadership of an organization to see what the market will need ahead of time so that it can decide on the product that will address such needs.

Being ahead of the market in identifying needs helps an organization to know how it is doing and what changes will also be required of it ahead of time so that it can remain relevant. It is important to do this because the only real measure of business leadership is performance.

Amazon.com In 1994, Jeffery Bezos was employed as a Vice President at D.E. Shaw & Company, a Wall Street firm, when he stumbled on a piece of information that the use of internet was growing at 2,300 per cent. The information hit him like thunderbolt because he realized that with the right business ideas, he could leverage on the growth of internet to change the course of history and transform his own life in the process. As he noted later, “Things just don’t grow that fast. It’s highly unusual, and that started me thinking about the kind of business that might make sense in the context of that growth.”

He generated a list of 20 products he thought could be sold on the internet but later picked on books “because of their low cost and universal demand.”

Thus began Amazon.com, the first and currently biggest online bookstore in the world. The business which took off in the garage of the then 30-year old Bezos hit $20,000 per week within 30 days of operation. Two months after commencement of business, Amazon. com got orders from every part of the United States as well as 45 other countries. The growth has been phenomenal ever since.

BOOK

THE 60-SECOND business coach

Coaching skills every leader should master

Despite the instant success recorded

by Amazon.com, Bezos never got tired of refining and retuning the business.

He expanded its scope to the extent that today, Amazon.com’s operation is not limited to the sale of books as the company sells virtually everything. Besides that, the 22-year old business, which is worth over $40billion, has leveraged on the success of its online bookstore to acquire many other companies.

Amazon.com’s secret Amazon.com’s success as a business entity is rooted in its incessant reforms.

Bezos realized that once success was recorded in a line of business others would join and this would affect market share, so he embarked on a continuous reformation of the business to retain its edge and make it competitive and profitable. Although at the moment there are so many outfits involved in online sale of books, Amazon.com still remains the “world’s largest bookstore.”

Omatek’s rise to greatness Omatek Group, owned by Mrs Florence Seriki, started as a training outfit.

The company which came into existence during Seriki’s NYSC days was set up to offer computer training services to corporate executives. This was before computer training programme became the in-thing in the country. But she knew that she could not retain her edge if she stayed rooted in training alone. So, she ventured into other things.

According to Mrs Seriki, “As I was training executives, I realised that many companies did not have enough computers, I saw this as an opportunity to start selling computers. So, I started initially by buying foreign brands and selling to my customers. As a result of the excellent sales performance achieved by Omatek Ventures, we were appointed as a premium partner of Microsoft. By this time, we had annual sales revenue of over $1million.”

From merchandising, Omatek veered into manufacturing computer sets. The company also moved into the production of television sets and other house-

1. Showing empathy Someone in a leadership role who does not have the ability to empathize will never be a leader. Empathy is about connecting with others without judgment or personal agenda. By growing this skill, leaders can make difficult or even unpopular decisions that their teams will support because they are trusted for their ability to lead to greater destinations for the common good.

Akinwumi Adesina, President, African Development Bank

Anda Maqanda, founder, AM Group

hold items. The company is currently leveraging on the energy challenges in the country to produce solar hybrid alternative power solutions with the deployment of LED bulbs for domestic and industrial use.

The Omatek Group CEO explained that the company’s venture into this line of business started following an insight she got after a meeting with a former Minister of Power.

She said, “I was at a meeting with the Minister of Power where he stated the efforts of the government to increase power generation. Then, it occurred to me that while the efforts to increase power generation should continue, it is also important that we bring down the rate of power consumption. I realized that most of the bulbs in use in the country are power guzzlers. It was at that point we decided to go into this line of business. If we reduce power consumption by using energy saving bulbs, we shall free up power for industrial use.”

She explained that the use of solar/LED solution could result in significant operational and maintenance cost savings for schools, public offices, hospitals, hotels, street lighting implementation, rural electrification and rural water system.

When to reform The undoing of many businesses is the be-

Nimi Akinkugbe, CEO, Bestman Games

lief of the leadership in the saying, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” For as long as the business is doing well in the estimation of such leaders, there is no need to improve on it. After all, they reason, what is the point in changing a winning formula? So, they keep doing the same thing year after year and do nothing to retune the business. It is only when the company runs into crisis that they think of change.

Any company that leaves reforms until it is heading south may never be able to get out of it. As a going concern, a business must always be subjected to reforms and retuning to stay fit and proper. The reforms could be yearly or every other year but it must be a consistent and continuous exercise to benefit the organization.

How to reform A company’s raison d’être is to satisfy the customer. This, therefore, means that a company that wants to stay relevant must be customer-centric; it must be in tune with what the market wants. Many companies underplay this and, as a result, underrate the market. Customers’ crave for out of this world product is incomprehensible but it is an ever present yearning. Thus, it is the responsibility of a company that wants to stay relevant to find out what the next craze will be and make

it available to its customers.

This is where research comes in. A company does not just foist on the market what it thinks the market needs, it must find out what it needs and make it a point of duty to provide this.

Be abreast of technological development Technology is the driver of change in the times we are in. Understanding this is important because the customer is always looking

A company does not just foist on the market what it thinks the market needs, it must find out what it needs and make it a point of duty to provide this.

The Leadership Capital Index: Realizing the Market Value of Leadership

By Dave Ulrich THE book, Leadership Capital Index, draws on a useful metaphor for how to include, conceive, and audit leadership in the assessment of firm value. A leadership capital index is like a financial confidence index—Moody’s or Standard & Poor’s. It offers a more thorough way to assess leadership. Most acknowledge that leaders affect an organization’s value, but they use simplistic and intuitive approaches to

apply that insight.

A leadership ratings index would have two dimensions— individual and organizational.

Individual refers to the personal qualities (competencies, traits, characteristics) of the key leaders in the organization.

Organization refers to the systems (often called human capital) these leaders create to manage leadership throughout the organization and the application of organization systems to specific business conditions.

Five leadership factors define the individual domain of a leadership ratings index: Personal proficiency: To what extent does the leadership demonstrate the personal qualities required of an effective leader?

Strategist: To what extent does the leadership articulate a point of view about the future and strategic positioning?

Executor: To what extent does the leadership make things happen and deliver as promised?

Dr Richard Munang, UNEP Africa Regional Coordinator

People manager: To what extent does the leadership build competence, commitment, and contribution of their people today and tomorrow?

Leadership differentiator: To what extent does leadership behave consistent with customer expectations?

To build future leaders, leaders create organization cultures and invest in human resource practices (often called human capital) in five domains: Culture capability: To what

extent has the leadership created a customer-focused cultural capability that is shared throughout the organization?

Talent: To what extent has the leadership invested in practices that manage the flow of talent into, through, and out of the organization?

Performance accountability: To what extent has the leadership created performance management practices (compensation, for example) that reinforce the right behaviors?

for an easier way of doing things which is made possible through the deployment of appropriate technology. So, to be on constant reform, a company must embrace technology that can improve its service delivery.

Not too long ago, for any air traveler to buy a ticket, he had to be physically present at the ticketing office or the airport.

But that is no longer the case as a passenger can now buy his ticket and effect payment online. He can even check in online days ahead of the flight. This has been facilitated by technology and it has made life a lot easier for the customer. Any airline that insists on subjecting its customers to checking in physically all the time will lose a huge chunk of patronage.

Right people Reforms in organizations are not restricted to processes but should also be extended to the people. So, it is important for a company that wants to be sustainable to inculcate in its people the right culture, especially as it affects customer service.

Every layer of the workforce should be engaged in training and retraining on delivering excellent services to customers.

A business that has excellent customer service will easily turn its customers to its freelancing sales people.

Pioneer change Many companies are afraid of championing change in their industry because the market may not respond quite well and all the resources invested in developing the product would have gone to waste. While it is true that it is not every new product that is embraced by the market, the fact is that the market is always hungry for new products. What must be done is to ensure that the product solves a problem.

Customers don’t spend their resources on a product because they like the manufacturer; they do so because they are looking for a solution to their need. So, if a new product addresses a need in the lives of the customers, they will embrace it.

2. Remaining curious Remember Curious George?

I like to think that curious little monkey is a great leader today. Curiosity is the difference between knowing and discovering. Curiosity keeps judgment at bay and encourages consideration and inclusion. We are born naturally curious and learn to suppress our curiosity in favor of efficiency.

3. Being able to recognize strengths A great leader and coach will help their people find their light and brighten it.

The conventional way of leading, which tells us we must find and fix our weaknesses, is outdated and disengaging.

Today’s leaders must embrace and capitalize on the uniqueness and strengths of each of their team members in order to ensure that they not only succeed wildly at work, but also succeed as leaders of their lives.

4. Knowing how to partner Like a great coach, a great leader is in the front pulling for their team members’ success. Great leaders are not directing but partnering for success. Leading is about creating an environment where individuals get heard, experience is valued and validated, and difficult decisions by the leader

are then embraced by the team. They know the leader is their partner in having them win, too.

5.

Asking open-ended questions Too often, leaders approach interactions from a problem-solving mindset.

Asking open-ended questions can create openings for new action because they literally take people out of the problem. Try this one on for size: “If there were no constraints and anything was possible, what action would you take now?”

6. Practicing involved detachment Asking for feedback can trigger our inner critic and prompt emotionally charged responses. This can deny us the opportunity to develop as a leader and break the bond of trust between us and our employees.

appointments

Odu’a appoints two top management staff THE Board of Odu’a Investment Company Limited has approved the appointment of two top management staff into the Group.

They are Dr Morakinyo Kunle Oloyede, who has been appointed Head, Group Human Resources; and Mr Olasupo Solomon Falana who is the new Managing Director for Glanvills Enthoven & Co. Nigeria, a subsidiary of Odu’a.

The appointments are in line with the Group’s five-year strategic plan to grow its revenue base by more than 300% by 2019.

Dr Oloyede emerged through a thorough competitive and transparent selective process carried out by KPMG Advisory Services.

Dr Oloyede is expected to drive Human Resources with bespoke shared services initiatives within the group focusing on effective job analysis, evaluation and grading, organizational structure, talent management & succession planning, learning & development, industrial relations, performance management, reward, compensation & benefits.

Dr Oloyede, who joined the Group from First Bank of Nigeria Plc is a seasoned HR practitioner with extensive experience from the hospitality and banking sectors. He holds a first degree in Guidance & Counselling, a master degree in Personnel Psychology and a PhD in

Falana Applied Psychology from the Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye.

Mr Falana’s appointment is to reposition the insurance broking firm into its enviable place in the top echelon of the insurance broking business in the country.

Mr Falana will be bringing his 25 years of professional experience in top-class rated insurance institutions including Goldlink Insurance Plc and Law Union & Rock Insurance where he was the Chief Technical and Business Officer to lead the management team of Glanvills Enthoven.

He is a proactive seasoned insurance executive versed at delivering appropriate technical opera-

Oloyede tions, marketing solutions aligned with corporate strategy and business goals.

He obtained his Higher Diploma (HND) in Insurance with Distinction from the Lagos State Polytechnic and Master in Business Administration from University of Ado-Ekiti. He was the best overall National Diploma Student in Insurance from the Polytechnic Ibadan and the Best All-round HND Graduate at the Lagos State Polytechnic, winning the coveted Academic Board Prize for the Best Insurance graduating student. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institution of Nigeria (FCIIN).

Both of them have since resumed duties.

22

leadership&management

Monday, 16 May, 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

Who calls you a leader?

Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How would you advise me to answer these people?” he asked. They replied, “If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.” ... Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.”

- 1 Kings 12:6-15 NIV “A leader without followers is a man simply taking a stroll” - John Maxwell

SO much has been written and taught about the science and the art of leadership in recent years. Some of the concepts are very educating but suffice it to say that quite a number of them are also obfuscating. I recently met a group of young people who prefix their names with the title ‘Leader’. Even though I tried to convince them that leadership is not a title but a disposition and a function, I am not sure I succeeded.

I do not intend to add to the unending polemics on whether leadership is a science, art or both. I simply want to look at leadership from a perspective that few often consider.

Leadership is an innate attribute of every man or woman.

Your leadership is that distinct thing about you that defines the essence of your being and the platform of your contribution to the human project. Leader is what people call you as your function in relation to them may indicate. The title ‘leader’ therefore must be an outflow of the discovery and display of the innate qualities and values that drive the individual’s function. The implication of that is that a titular position only helps to amplify the manifestation of innate leadership rather than produce it.

You may hold a title, a position or an enhanced social status

that gives you control over some people. That being the case, you could be regarded as their leader. But in reality, do they see you as such? This gives rise to the question, “Who calls you leader?” Several people can call you leader by virtue of your position and the authority that that confers on you in relation to them. The question however is, how many of them really see you as their leader in the real sense of the word?

If people around you call you leader, why do they? How many of such really follow you? If by any chance you leave the position that confers the added advantage of control over them, what would change in the relationship?

Or are you called leader by the organization? This makes you a titular head with enhanced perks and the paraphernalia of office. In that case, people only defer to your office, not your person. If your subordinates call you leader only by virtue of your supervisory role over them, the question remains, will they call you leader if their salary, promotion and deployment did not depend on you?

Is ‘Father’ or ‘Mother’ what biology makes you to your children or they call you that because that is what you actually are to them by the quality of responsibility exercised in that capacity? Are you a husband or wife because you signed the dotted lines or because your spouse can confidently boast of your functions in that role?

True functional leadership therefore is not a pursuit. It is what others give to you. Training, skill development, talent, persuasiveness and continuous learning are essential ingredients of leadership development. As germane as these are to effective leadership function, they are not the determining factors for the acknowledgement and acceptance of your leadership. You are not a leader until the group you lead says so even behind your back especially when they have no evident reason to sing your praise.

Sycophancy is not an acceptance of your leadership. It is simply an attempt to massage your ego to procure personal advantage. The concern of a sycophant is himself and not you. Those who run others down around you to curry your fa-

vour will run you down before others from whom they intend to benefit at your expense.

Leadership is bestowed on you by those who subscribe to your vision and values and CHOOSE to follow you. Simply put, followers actually hold the final power to determine who leads them. Interestingly enough, what makes you a leader to some is the same thing that makes you a villain to others.

Leadership is earned by authentic relationships and integrity-based character. Leadership may be assigned to you as a role but it is not sustainable until it is accepted by a followership. The right that the group gives you to lead it is the very platform of your leadership. A leader has been described as someone that his followers would follow blindfolded. When he asks his followers to jump, they only ask, “How high?”

The story is told of Emperor Napoleon going to battle. Surrounded and seemingly overwhelmed by enemy troops, he led his men to the edge of a cliff and shouted to the enemy on the other side, “Surrender now!” His demand sounded very preposterous. Seeing that the enemy was not going to give in easily, he told one of his men to move to the tip of the cliff. Then he gave the order, “Jump!” The young officer wasted no time in jumping to his death. Again he shouted to the enemy troops, “Surrender!” They did not oblige him. He called another soldier and gave the same instruction given to the first one. “Jump!” The response was instant. Seeing that even when seemingly outnumbered, Napoleon’s men had no qualms about dying at the instance of their leader, the enemy troop promptly surrendered.

What is the critical factor that bridges assigned leadership and accepted leadership? It is TRUST and SERVICE. People only yield leadership to those they can trust. When you give people quality service and they can trust you, you can lead from any level. At that point, people defer to you, not because of a title or position but because of who you have proved to be to them over time, trustworthy and absolutely reliable. That being the case, when people call you leader, they actually mean it!

Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!

Kick fear out of your leadership!

IN a speech given in 1933, American president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, addressing a nation mired in a depression and on the verge of a world war, famously stated, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” During the first century A.D., Epictetus said, “It is not death or pain that is to be dreaded, but the fear of pain or death.” And in the 1600s, Francis Bacon remarked that, “Nothing is terrible except fear itself.”

Fear is not limited to Nigeria, it is universal. It crosses all boundaries of race, culture, religion and generation.

We all feel fear. So why do some people appear to be fearless, doing battle with enemies that others cower before?

Because they recognize that the greatest enemy they face is the fear itself. The first battle every leader faces is against fear and its weapons of destruction.

So how should we deal with fear? Avoiding it never really makes it go away; we either become paralyzed or defeated. Frantically searching for a quick fix usually just results in unfocused and wasted effort.

The only way to deal with fear is to face it and overcome it. Dale Carnegie explained it this way: “Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit at home and think about it. Go out and get busy.”

The fact is that most fear is not based on fact. Much of what we fear is based on a feeling. According to an old saying, “Fear and worry are interest paid in advance on something you may never own.” And Aristotle explained, “Fear is pain arising from anticipation of evil.” When you acknowledge that the majority of fear is unfounded, you can begin to release yourself from its power. American General George Patton understood this. He said, “I learned very early in life not to take counsel of my fears.”

Businessman Allen Neuharth saw his worst fears come

true, only to realize that they were not as big as he’d imagined: “I quit being afraid when my first venture failed and the sky didn’t fall down.”

One of our biggest misconceptions is that courage equals a lack of fear. In actuality, the opposite is true.

Mark Twain explained, “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.” By admitting our fear, we can then challenge its accuracy. That is how General Patton dealt with it: “The time to take counsel of your fears is before you make an important battle decision,” he said. “That’s the time to listen to every fear you can imagine! When you have collected all the facts about fears and made your decision, turn off all of your fears and go ahead!”

Sometimes our greatest fears are founded on reality.

For example, we are all going to die sometime. There’s no denying that. Likewise, life will often be hard and painful.

Those things are completely out of our control. By accepting their reality, we can then focus on the things we actually can control. I love what Gertrude Stein wrote about fear: “Considering how dangerous everything is, nothing is really frightening.”

“As long as I continue to push out into the world,” said Susan Jeffers, “as long as I continue to stretch my capabilities, as long as I continue to take risks in making my dreams come true, I am going to experience fear.” To do anything of value, we have to take risks. And with risk comes fear. If we accept it as the price of progress, then we can take appropriate risks that yield great reward.

Sometimes the best way to fight fear is to focus on our reason for confronting it. Is our goal bigger than the fear?

The firefighter runs into a burning building not because he is fearless, but because he has a calling that is more important than the fear. The person afraid of flying de-

cides to confront it not because the fear has vanished, but because a meeting with a new grandchild waits at the end of the flight.

We cannot control the length of our lives; we can’t control many of the circumstances that we face. Accepting those facts allows us to focus on what we can control.

Like American basketball coach John Wooden said, “Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” As a leader, I often have to deal with the wrong attitudes and actions of the people who follow me. So a long time ago, I decided that, I can control my attitude, but not others’ actions. I can control my calendar, but not others’ circumstances. And it’s not what happens to me, but what happens in me.

Fear tries to make us look at all of our problems at once: those from yesterday, today, and tomorrow. To be courageous, you have to focus only on today. Why? Because it is the only thing you have any control over. I love what a wise man once said about an ocean liner: If an ocean liner could think and feel, it would never leave its dock; it would be afraid of the thousands of huge waves it would encounter. It would fear all of its dangers at once, even though it had to meet them only one wave at a time. By focusing only on what’s right in front of us, we can manage tremendous risk because we know we’ll only have to deal with it one wave at a time.

Lastly, just like fear tends to breed more fear, courage leads to more courage. According to Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” Rise and kick fear out of your leadership!

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Monday, 16 May, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

S-West SMEs get N24m loans from CBN-EDC

By Paul Omorogbe

T

WENTY-TWO persons trained at the Central Bank of Nigeria Entrepreneurship Development Centre (CBN-EDC), South-West zone, have accessed a total of N24.8 millions as loans for the expansion of their existing businesses from the Oyo State government, drawn from the MSME Development Fund via the CBN, while another 16 trainees got a total of N18.62 million from family members and personal savings to either start or expand their businesses in this quarter.

These were part of the achievements recorded by the African Leadership Forum (ALF), headed by Dr Olumide Ajayi, as contained in the centre’s Technical Report for its fifth quarter covering January to March 2016.

According to the report, a total of 507 persons were trained in this quarter, with 119 jobs being created by 54 businesses in the Agriculture, Service, Trading and Manufacturing sectors.

The EDC has set a target of 600 trainees for in the next quarter, between April and June, this year, even as it expects the Oyo State Government “to fulfil its obligations under the tripartite agreement, which includes the release of an 18-seater bus, state sponsored trainees, awareness creation and the supply/upgrade of various training facilities” for a successful sixth quarter.

It will be recalled that the South-West CBN-EDC, located in Ibadan, Oyo State, is implemented by the ALF in partnership with the CBN, and covers Oyo, Osun,

Pitching? 2 top ways to act confident PAGE 24

Investing: Finding value in financial reports & balance sheets

Entrepreneurship, way out of economic depression

PAGE 24 PAGE 25

24

Monday, 16 May, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

Entrepreneurship, way out of economic depression — Omonibeke In view of the economic quandary in Nigeria, David Omonibeke, Executive Director, Marine and Operations of the Nigeria Port Authority, shared insights on the need to build and grow entrepreneurs to redress unemployment, outlaw poverty and create wealth to move the nation forward in this interview with AUSTIN EBIPADE in Yenagoa.

A

GAINST the backdrop of the present economic instability in the country, where do the entrepreneurs come in?

Quite frankly, if we must break even from the present position we found ourselves, we must grow our entrepreneurs that would in turn stimulate our economy to usher in the needed growth and development in the country.

The entrepreneur has what it takes to move Nigeria out of its economic quagmire, it is no gainsaying that when young adults are taught entrepreneurial skills it would assuage unemployment problems in our country, and poverty would be redressed effectively.

An entrepreneur is one that has imbibed the skills to create wealth not just for himself, but the larger society, and with this requisite knowledge of how to generate wealth it would outlaw the dark cloud of poverty from our nation, therefore building entrepreneurial skills is the right thing to do to move this nation to greater height.

Funding has been the general complain bedevilling the growth of entrepreneurial skills, do you share this view?

The challenge that funding posses cannot be downplayed, but it is not the first thing to give priority in building an entrepreneur, because when the foundation is faulty the building would collapse, any would be entrepreneur that places priority of money would definitely fail in business.

The most important ingredient in growing entrepreneurs is acquisition of skills, ideas, creativity and innovation, young adults must have a change of mindset, do a lot of thinking and evolve idea that is germane to resolve the economic quagmire faced by society.

I dare to say that it is only a creative mind that would be able to generate and effectively manage wealth to grow their businesses and in turn the nation through remission of revenue to government, as well as solving the problem of unemployment and consumption/service needs.

To this end, entrepreneurs can also pull strength and ideas to float a joint business and in the near future, each business could stand on their own, on this note, our institutions should be restructured to teach under-graduates on how to use their hands and not just their head if we must salvage our nation from under-development.

Giving economic challenges in Nigeria, how can entrepreneurs not quit when facing risk in their enterprise?

I want to say here that risk is part of business and there no business that not faced risk, therefore an entrepreneur from the classroom should be trained not just to be a risk bearer

It is no gainsaying that when young adults are taught entrepreneurial skills it would assuage unemployment problems in our country, and poverty would be redressed effectively.

but a risk taker as well, because of the unknown aspects of setting up a business.

Going forward, if the business fails, it is not the end of the world, you must try to redesign and re-appraise the model to make to make it work, in line with the general axiom that it is better to take a risk than to remain in fear.

However, I want to say explicitly that a thorough breed entrepreneur does not quit when faced by business risk, rather it spur them task their brain and introduce better ideas and innovation that would launch the business into the next phase with greater productivity and profits.

Who are social entrepreneurs?

Social entrepreneurs are more performs voluntary service, that is, they look at challenges in society and trying to solve them in order to accelerate growth and development in a state or country. The social entrepreneurs get rewarded in a special manner, particularly from beneficiaries of services that they have rendered, their service to society is not driven by profit but as a businessman he is more concerned about rendering help and support services to build society/people.

The social entrepreneur raises fund through voluntary services, and provide services, some of such services are funding of brilliant undergraduates who had little or no means to access higher education in tertiary institutions within and outside the country, funding other entrepreneurs with talent but lack the needed finance to start a business amongst others.

With these experiences, do your run an enterprise?

A good instructor must be one that practices what he teaches, or else I would be a hypocrite. I am an entrepreneur and I have an enterprise named Dock Engineering Services in Bayelsa State. The enterprise is approved by National Board of Technical Education (NBTE) and we are training youths on craftsmanship such as typing, plumbing among other vocational skills that would enable them grow their enterprise upon graduation.

As I speak with you, the students are studious and by June they would be writing their examination, and thereafter they apply for advance studies and later proceed for Ordinary National Diploma (OND) in their chosen craft.

We have turned our products and today they are doing fantastically in their businesses, because they were thoroughly groomed with special skills to provide services to society.

Amidst recession some still have their hope is in white collar jobs and the government, what advise do you have for them?

Well my advice to them is to look around them and understand that at lot of persons that graduated before them are still unemployed and the earlier they come out of their cocoons and think outside the box; there case may even be worse and incurably bad.

Frankly, that is why people should develop entrepreneurial skills to set up business and quit the fantasy of hoping to key into the crowded and limited space of white collar job, on this note I advice them to imbibe ideas, creativity and innovation to be their own boss by setting up setting up small enterprise with limitless potential grow it into a conglomerate.

To this end, emphatically I want to say this though it may be bitter, the government at all levels cannot do everything in society, our economy is bleeding, we have a lot of social needs, a lot of people try to break even but yet they are unable to succeed, therefore, entrepreneurship is the answer to the present situation we have found ourselves, private sector/enterprise driven economy is the remedy to re-invigorate and develop the nation’s economy.

25

Monday, 16 May, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

Investing: Finding value in financial reports & balance sheets

By Amy Fontinelle THERE is plenty of information about a company that you’ll want to know as a value investor, but that you can’t get from a casual glance at a stock quote or from reading most stock market commentary. In this section, we’ll tell you where to find that information and what to look for.

Financial Reports Financial reports are a company’s annual and

Pitching? 2 top ways to act confident

By Tom Ewer AH confidence – that magic thing. If we could sell it by the pound, we’d be rich.

Plenty of us would love to buy it! And yet it’s the one thing that tends to desert us in the face of an important interview or a new client.

Do you need it? Surely everyone will love you for the shy, retiring person that you are, and rush to seal the deal even if you’re making your pitch from beneath the table?

Well, no. If there’s one quality freelancers need in abundance, it’s confidence.

Clients feel reassured by it.

It’s also something many of us lack, despite our experience and qualifications. We fail in many ways to sing our own praises – yet to get work, we must.

As they say – introverts of the world unite, separately, in your own homes! And here’s a guide we can all read under that table to help us at least appear confident even if we’re really anything but. Let’s go!

1. Give the Right Verbal Cues When you’re speaking to someone, whether in person or on the phone, you tell them a great deal about yourself even if you’ve managed to dodge a face to face meeting on Skype.

One basic tip is to slow down. I know that when I’m nervous I’m prone to ramble, and if there’s one thing

to completely give away your fear, that’s it. So pause for a second or two. Not only does it give you time to collect your wits, but it gives you a chance to consider your answer.

Try to answer questions with just one coherent thought, and then stop. It’s better to be brief than wander into irrelevance.

Another vocal tip is to pitch your voice slightly deeper than usual – not alarmingly so, clients might freak if they heard a booming bass coming from the phone!

However, a lower pitch is associated with testosterone and suggests qualities such as bravery. It’s a cultural stereotype, but one that can be used to your advantage, whatever your sex.

2. Give the Right Physical Cues People are amazingly good at picking up on physical cues – a second or two is all it takes for someone to figure out whether you’re confident or not.

What does someone who looks unconfident appear like, physically? They may hunch their shoulders, keep their head low, avoid eye contact, and look generally as if they’re trying to back far, far away.

People who appear confident have the opposite characteristics. They put their shoulders back so their posture opens up, they don’t slouch, they sit upright, and

lean back into their chair rather than perching on the edge. They make eye contact, they smile, and they stand still rather than shifting about from foot to foot. They take up the space around them.

Don’t fidget, and don’t fiddle with your hands, which are critical to how you express yourself. Try keeping them together behind your back, on the table, or in your lap. Use occasional, controlled hand gestures with an open, relaxed hand – rigid hand gestures are very dominant and can appear aggressive.

This article first appeared on blog.bidsketch.com

quarterly performance results. The annual report is SEC form 10-K and the quarterly report is SEC form 10-Q. Companies are required to file these reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). You can find them at the SEC website or at the company’s corporate or investor relations website.

You can learn a lot from a company’s annual report. It will explain what products and/or services the company sells and give you an

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From left: CEO, Multimix Limited, Dr Obiora Madu; Deputy Director, South-West Region, SON, M.B Kehinde; Divisional Head, Managed SMEs, Fidelity Bank Plc, Ken Opara; Assistant Comptroller General, Nigerian Customs Service, M. P. Binga; Regional Co-ordinator, Nigeria Export Promotion Council at the two-Day Export Master class Workshop organised by Fidelity Bank, in conjunction with the NEPC, in Ibadan.

idea of how the company sees itself. For example, most people think of books when they think of Amazon. com. However, Amazon’s annual report says, “We seek to be Earth’s most customer-centric company for three primary customer sets: consumers, sellers, and enterprises. In addition, we generate revenue through other marketing and promotional services, such as online advertising, and co-branded credit card agreements.” This statement tells investors that the company has a much broader focus than books. A company’s financial reports will also describe its recent major accomplishments, changes in leadership, risk factors, intellectual property, any regulatory changes that affect the company and more.

If you’re interested in investing in a company but you’re not sure you understand its business model, try reading the annual report – it might be eye-opening. For example, you might not think of yourself as someone who would invest in a pharmaceutical company, but when you read its annual report and learn about what its major drugs are, why people need them and how they work, you might discover that you understand more than you expected to. However, if you’re still lost after doing this research, you should probably pass on the stock.

Of course, financial reports also provide the financial data that investors want to analyze, such as revenues, operating expenses, net income, total assets, total debt and more. Financial reports also make it easy to compare these numbers across time by providing historical data along with current data. For example, a look at Amazon’s 2010 10-K shows that Amazon’s net sales have increased every year for the last five years, from $10,711 million in 2006 to $34,204 million in 2010. If you want to go back further in time, you can also look up older annual reports.

Historical data should be analyzed to determine the effectiveness of growth prospects and to create forecasts.

26 Date of Auction Security Type Tenor Maturing On 11/13/2003 2/20/2003 11/21/2002 9/19/2002 Amount Offered (N mn) Subscriptions (N mn) Tot. Successful (N mn) Net Sales (N mn) Range of Bid Rates

Monday, 16 May, 2016 5/15/2003 CBN Certificate 204.7868 91 180 180 180 20 Year 82227 37767

CBN Bills

17019

2/25/2002 CBN Certificate 205.4112 170.7672 1.4001 0.3028 240.1376 26.7946 15000 4161

11/26/2001 CBN Certificate 206.0355 171.2862 1.4044 0.3128 240.8675 26.8765 5000 2740

4161

2740

9/24/2001 CBN Certificate

1155 1155

Successful Bid Rates Marginal Rate True Yield

0

20.5

20.5

19.5

Date of Auction Security Type Tenor Maturing On 2/13/2020 2/13/2020 1/22/2026 1/22/2026 3/18/2036 3/18/2036 2/13/2020 2/13/2020 Amount Offered (N mn) Subscriptions (N mn) Tot. Successful (N mn) Net Sales (N mn)

4/13/2016 FGN Bonds 204.7868 5 Year 180 10 Year 180 20 Year 82227 5 Year

FG Bonds

17019 20 58.53 20.00

4/13/2016 FGN Bonds 205.4112 170.7672 1.4001 0.3028 240.1376 26.7946 15000 4161

4/13/2016 FGN Bonds 206.0355 171.2862 1.4044 0.3128 240.8675 26.8765 5000 2740

4161 40 78.59 40.00

2740 40 69.61 40.00

3/16/2016 FGN Bonds

1155 1155

20 72.56 20.00

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

Rates to flow along moderate system liquidity on net N110.9bn T-bills maturity

M

ONEY market rates will continue to move in line with system liquidity of about N381 billion as at Monday last week as a net T-bills maturity of N110.9 billion is expected to hit the system on Thursday.

Dealers said a rollover of the same amount will also be conducted in an auction and this should counter-poise the impact of the inflow on system liquidity levels.

“In the week ahead, we expect money market rates to continue to move in line with system liquidity,” one dealer said.

Nigeria plans to sell N110.93 billion ($558.00 million) of Treasury bills with maturities ranging between three months and a year on May 18, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The bank will offer N32.43 billion of three-month debt, N22.82 billion in the sixmonth paper and N55.68 billion of one-year bills in a Dutch auction.

“Each bid must be in multiple of N1,000 subject to a minimum of N10,000,” the bank said in a public notice.

Allotment letters are to be issued to successful bids on May 19.

Meanwhile, Primary Market Auction (PMA) was oversubscribed by 170.1 per cent on the average, though only 77.8 per cent on the average were allotted, as the Debt Management Office (DMO) issued N7.5 billion of FEB2020, N20.0 billion of JAN 2026 and N25.0 billion of MAR2036 at marginal rates of 13.2 per cent, 13.7 per cent and 13.9 per cent respectively, as against N15.0 billion, N40.0 billion and N50.0 billion offered.

The spread between the amount allotted and the

amount offered was a result of the range of bids (10.99 per cent-18.00 per cent on FEB2020, 11.0 per cent -18.0 per cent on JAN2026 and MAR2036) by investors which were generally higher than the expected issuing rates by the DMO. Dealers believe the bids range reflects investors’ ex-

pectation of a higher future interest rate environment amidst the rising inflationary pressures (which has resulted into negative real return).

Average yield across benchmark bonds rose 0.4 per cent to close at 13.7 per cent in the secondary market on Wednesday. Yields

further rose 0.1 per cent on Thursday, eventually settling at 13.9 per cent on Friday, up 0.8 per cent W-o-W. In the week ahead, dealers expect the bearish sentiments to remain in the short term whilst investors factor in expectations of a rate hike into their pricing of bond instruments.

From left: Ogun State Commissioner for Special Duties, Mr Adeleke Adewole; former President of Colombia, Mr Cesar Augusto Gaviria Trugillo and Business Executive, South West, Sterling Bank Plc, Mr Rasaq Aboyeji, at the Ogun State Investors’ Forum, held in Abeokuta last week.

Nigerian Tribune

Money Market Review

THE financial system liquidity opened at about N381billion on Monday last week. Open Buy Back (OBB) and Over Night (O/N) rates declined 0.4 per cent and 0.3 per cent from Friday’s closing rates to close at 3.2 per cent and 3.8 per cent at the end of the first trading session of the week.

On Tuesday, OBB and O/N rates inched 1.1 per cent and 1.0 per cent higher to settle at 4.3 per cent and 4.8 per cent on the back of the Open Market operation (OMO) auction floated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) where N43.0 billion was mopped up from the system.

Dealers at an investment banking and research company, Afrinvest West Africa Limited said OBB and O/N rates continued northwards on Wednesday, settling at 4.8 per cent and 6.2 per cent. Though the CBN refunded Deposit Money Banks for unfulfilled bids at previous week’s auction, the impact of this on liquidity levels was however off-set by Deposit Money Banks’ (DMBs) provisions for last week’s foreign exchange (FX) intervention auction.

OBB and O/N rates rose further to 6.1 per cent and 6.9 per cent on Thursday, eventually settling at 7.4 per cent and 8.0 per cent on Friday, up 3.8 per cent and 3.9 per cent week on week (W-o-W).

In the Treasury bills market, average rates trended similar to OBB and O/N rates. Average rates closed at 8.1 per cent at the end of Monday’s trading session. By midweek, average T-bills rate had risen up to 8.4 per cent on the back of DMB’s provisioning for FX and open market operations (OMO) mop-ups by the Apex Bank. Average T-bills rate rose 1basis points (bps) to close at 8.4 per cent on Thursday, eventually settling at 8.5 per cent on Friday, up 0.4 per cent W-o-W. Foreign Exchange Review The foreign exchange parallel market bowed to demand pressure last week, ending weeks of stability in the currency market as the Federal Government’s decision to deregulate the downstream oil & gas sector drove rates southwards.

Parallel market rates traded at N323/$1.00 on Monday and Tuesday but reacted sharply to Federal Government’s (FG’s) announcement on subsidy removal and petrol importation on Thursday and Friday, depreciating to N335.00/$1.00 and further to N350.00/$1.00 amidst expectations of increased dollar demand by petroleum marketers.

However, official market rate remained at N197.00/$1.00 all week, whilst the interbank rate steadied at N199.10/$1.00. At the Bureau-De-Change segment, the Naira traded at N321.00/$1 from Monday till Thursday.

“We see the recent pronouncement by the NNPC as a technical endorsement of the FX parallel market rate for petroleum product importation given the assumed N285.00/1.00$ exchange rate in the pricing template. In addition, demand by oil marketers which constitute a huge proportion of currency market transactions is expected to pressure the unofficial market rates significantly and further widen the official vs. unofficial market spread, thus having an overall impact on prices,” analysts at Afrinvest said.

Consequently, it is suspected that the CBN may be forced to adjust the current peg on the official market rate or find creative way to adopt a more flexible exchange rate policy.

Bond Market Review The Bonds market remained largely bearish last week as average yields across benchmark bonds continued northwards. At the end of Monday’s trading session, average yields across benchmark bonds settled at 13.3 per cent ahead of Debt management office’s (DMO’s) Bonds Auction scheduled for Wednesday. Average yield inched 8bps higher on Tuesday as a result of sell-offs by investors trying to reposition for the bonds auction amidst expectation of higher rates at the primary market auction (PMA).

Rising cost of living: Heritage Bank moves to enhance family income IN recognition of rising cost of living in Nigeria, Heritage Bank Limited has moved to boost disposable incomes for families by introducing a banking scheme called ‘BankMyFamily.’

Designed to reduce the cost and risks associated with running family expenses, while enhancing efficiency and savings, ‘BankMyFamily’ is a scheme that offers families a bouquet of Heritage Bank products, comprising HB Plus, HB SaveSmart and HB Bud. Managing Director/Chief Executive, Heritage Bank, Mr Ifie Sekibo,

said that ‘BankMyFamily’ was born out of the bank’s efforts to develop innovative services to help its customers create, preserve and transfer wealth.

“The essence is to enhance the ability of families to save by reducing money spent on family related transactions. In addition, ‘BankMyFamily’ will also help facilitate savings’ culture and encourage younger ones to imbibe banking habits,” he said.

Families enrolled on the ‘BankMyFamily’ scheme enjoy a host of benefits, including easy transfer of funds within the family at no cost

with the bank’s e-products; access to the bank’s bouquet of retail loans to fund lifestyle needs; attractive interest rate; opportunity for target savings towards a child’s school fees or needs and access to participate in the bank’s seasonal promos.

The benefits also include access to financial literacy and parenting tips; customised notepads for kiddies and teens; access to education loans; access to financial literacy tips for children.

The ‘BankMyFamily’ scheme, according to the bank, offers to the husband/father the HB Plus ac-

count, which is a savings account that offers the benefits of a current account. It allows the husband issue cheques to his wife to run family expenses. The husband can pay business cheques and dividend warrants into the HB Plus account, while he is not charged for any transactions under the scheme.

To the wife/mother, ‘BankMyFamily’ offers the HB SaveSmart account, which allows access to internet and mobile banking, as well as interest on credit balances, without being charged for any transaction through the account.

27

Monday, 16 May, 2016

Devaluation: Speculation heightens pressure on naira

T

HERE has been renewed pressure on the naira occasioned by speculation, deregulation of the downstream oil sector and lobbying by the business community and multilateral agencies.

The naira, which closed at N323 on Wednesday, shed 5.6 per cent of its value to sell at N341 at the close of business on Friday, even as dealers believe it is likely to further weaken this week as the pressure and impact of government pronouncements hit the market.

Analysts believe that since domestic prices reflect impacts of exchange rate and crude oil price movements, fixed landing cost and distribution margin set in the current pricing template of petroleum products may be regarded as an endorsement of devaluation.

They say that the approval granted to marketers to source foreign exchange (FX) at secondary markets could pressure exchange rate further at the parallel market. “We see the recent pronouncement by the NNPC as a technical endorsement of the FX parallel market rate for petroleum product importation given the assumed N285.00 to a dollar exchange rate in the pricing

template,” analysts at Afrinvest concluded.

They further explained that demand by oil marketers which constitute a huge proportion of currency market transactions is expected to pressure the unofficial market rates significantly and further widen the official vs. unofficial market spread, thus having an overall impact on prices.

“Consequently, we suspect that the CBN may be forced to adjust the current peg on

the official market rate or find creative way to adopt a more flexible exchange rate policy,” the analysts said.

Other stakeholders believe that the recent effort should be complimented with an exchange rate liberalisation policy.

Also there have been widespread speculations that after months of insisting that he had no plans to devalue the naira, President Muhammadu Buhari has agreed to demands by

the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that he significantly devalues the Nigerian currency. The speculation is heightened by reports from an online media which indicated that the naira would be pegged at N290 to one dollar above the current official rate of N199 to a dollar.

The report claimed that president Buhari and his economic team took the decision to accept the IMF’s terms for funds that the Ni-

gerian government wants to access to bridge a critical shortfall in revenue occasioned by a drastic decline in oil revenues.

It quoted an administration insider as having said that Nigeria could receive as much as $3 billion in credit facilities from the IMF, adding that administration officials took the decision to devalue the naira without the input of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele.

CBN warns bank customers against scam e-mails, SMS on ATM cards •Releases guideline on NIMFB THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has advised customers of Deposit Money Banks to stop responding to unsolicited e-mails and short messages requiring personal information such as account/debit card details.

This is even as the apex bank also released new guidelines for the operation of Non Interest (Islamic) Financial Institution (NIFI) means a bank.

It said it again, “wishes to caution bank customers against falling prey to the activities of unscrupulous individuals who demand for the details of their debit

(ATM) cards, as well as their Personal Identification Numbers (PIN), under the pretext of being customer care representatives of the CBN. In a press statement titled: “Beware of Fraudulent SMS on ATM cards” and signed by Isaac Okorafor, Acting Director, Corporate Communications, CBN, the apex bank said those messages and calls are intended to lure bank account holders to reveal their personal details which the fraudsters could use to defraud them.

“The public is therefore warned, yet again, that neither the Central Bank of

Nigeria and deposit money banks nor their employees or agents would ever call bank customers or send e-mail/text messages requesting for passwords, card details or personal identification numbers (PIN).

“Bank customers are therefore advised to personally visit their banks for any issue requiring disclosure of personal bank details,” the statement read in part.

Meanwhile, the bank in the guidelines stated that a Non-interest Micro Finance Bank (NIMFB) may be established by individ-

uals, group of individuals, community development associations, private corporate entities, foreign investors, as well as local and state governments.

“No individual, group of individuals, their proxies or corporate entities and/or their subsidiaries shall own controlling interest in more than one NIMFB, except as approved by the CBN. A bank holding company that intends to set up any categories of MFBs as subsidiaries shall be required to meet the prescribed capital and other requirements stipulated in this guidelines,” it stated.

Can CBN hold out much longer?

Continued from pg17

Goods from one country must compete globally with those from all other countries that is Dangote Cement must necessarily compete with cement makers in China and Europe and Asia. And so, if the value of naira decreases against the dollar, Yuan or others, the price of Dangote Cement in China or Ghana in Cedi will be effectively less expensive than they were before. On the other hand, a more valuable currency makes exports relatively more expensive for purchase in foreign markets.

In other words, exporters become more competitive in a global market. Exports are encouraged while imports are discouraged.

Conversely, imports will be more

expensive and this will reduce demand for imports.

Devaluation may also lead to increased aggregate demand or higher economic growth. Higher exports and lower imports should increase aggregate demand and hence higher Real GDP and inflation.

On the trade deficit side, exports will increase and imports will decrease due to exports becoming cheaper and imports more expensive. This favours an improved balance of payments as exports increase and imports decrease, shrinking trade deficits.

And devaluation is used to reduce sovereign debt burdens if it a country has a lot of government issued sover-

eign debt to service on a regular basis. If debt payments are fixed, a weaker currency makes these payments effectively less expensive over time.

In essence, currency devaluations can be used by countries to achieve economic policy because having a weaker currency relative to the rest of the world can help boost exports, shrink trade deficits and reduce the cost of interest payments on its outstanding government debts.

On the other hand, devaluations create uncertainty in global markets that can cause asset markets to fall or spur recessions. Also, other countries in a bid to counter such tactic, might be tempted to enter a tit for tat currency war, devaluing their own currency back and forth in a race to the bottom.

President Buhari obviously has been afraid to devalue the naira because Nigeria is more of an importing than an exporting nation and further devaluing the currency will make goods and services much more expensive.

A rethink While attending a Lagos business conference last week, Vice President, Yemi Oshinbajo, who is also the chairman of the Economic Management Team (EMT) of the Buhari administration, said there is need for a substantial revaluation of its foreign exchange policies, expressing the hope that he would be able to persuade the CBN to change some policies to improve foreign exchange supplies.

“We believe there must be some substantial revaluation for the foreign exchange policy. This would help boost foreign exchange supply, encourage capital importation and a free flow of remittances,” he stated.

Competent sources at the CBN told Nigerian Tribune that already, Oshinbajo had directed Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, to write Emefiele on ways to relax current stringent control on foreign exchange. It was gathered that a CBN committee is already working assiduously on the suggestions.

Also last week, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, announced a surprise deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum sector.

In the announcement, however, importers of premium motor spirit are expected to source their foreign exchange from the parallel market calculated at about N285/$. This was the reason for the speculation at the weekend that CBN had decided to devalue the currency to N285/$.

Nigerian Tribune

System upgrade keeps Stanbic IBTC channels unavailable for transactions ALL Stanbic IBTC banking channels were not unavailable for transactions over the weekend (Saturday and Sunday) as the bank engaged in upgrade of its core banking platform to enhance its information technology (IT) infrastructure and operational efficiency.

A statement from Stanbic IBTC Bank, a member of Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC, disclosed that the upgraded core banking system will go live on May 16, 2016.

It started on Saturday, May 14, 2016 and ended by noon on Sunday May 15, 2016.

Meanwhile the Stanbic IBTC Customer Service hotline remained available to assist customers resolve any issues at any time.

Chief Executive, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Yinka Sanni, stated that the systems upgrade is in conformity with the customer value proposition of the bank, which is to provide exceptional financial solutions to its customers.

“We will continue to focus on meeting the diverse needs of our customers in a timely and efficient manner; by availing them of a wide array of products and services that enable them to realise their personal and business goals,” he added.

In providing these leading edge products and services, he said the bank will continue to work closely with its customers and potential customers, while it consistently invests in its people and employ leading edge technology.

The new system, Mr Sanni stated, comes with enhanced functionalities and faster turnaround time.

Whilst thanking its customers for their continued support, he also apologised for the inconveniences this may cause.

Mr Sanni advised that the bank does not require any information or action from its customers for this upgrade.

Stanbic IBTC Bank is a member of Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC, a full service financial services group with a clear focus on three main business pillars: Corporate and Investment Banking, Personal and Business Banking and Wealth Management.

Stanbic IBTC belongs to the Standard Bank Group, the largest African financial institution by assets and earnings. It is rooted in Africa with strategic representation in 21 countries on the African continent.

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Monday, 16 May, 2016

‘Government should check its brand equity with the citizens’ FORMER President of the Advertising Agencies Association of Nigeria (AAAN) and Chief Executive Officer, 141 Worldwide, Mrs Bunmi Oke has advised the present government to demonstrate its brand equity with the people by effectively marketing its policies to them.

Speaking over the weekend in Lagos at the Marketers’ Conference organised by the Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN), the former AAAN boss, one of the panellists at the event, stressed the need for government to properly communicate with the citizens to enable

them understand the rationale behind every of its policies.

Oke argued that to enable the citizens fully buy into any of its policies, government should at every point take the pains to explain some of those factors that informed such decisions.

with Akin Adewakun

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

OAAN Poster Award: Outdoor in search of excellence despite economic downturns

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EW days ago, officials of Outdoor Advertisers Association of Nigeria (OAAN), the umbrella body of the outdoor advertising practitioners in the country, converged on the association’s secretariat, located at Amuwo Odofin in Lagos, to announce the commencement of the process leading to this year’s Poster Awards, an industry initiative, designed to celebrate creativity.

Led by the President, Mr Babatunde Adedoyin, the association had assured that the Award, scheduled to hold in Lagos, on June 30, this year, would, as usual, live up to the industry’s expectations, despite the challenging times practitioners are going through.

The Media View boss must have read the minds of the stakeholders present, especially those who are conversant with the financial status of member companies, occasioned by the crippling N1.2 billion debt being owed by the Ambode/Buhari campaign organisation.

For instance, besides the regular harassments outdoor practitioners have continued to suffer in the hands of individuals, it is an open secret that the last electioneering campaign in the state, which should have been a financial blessing to many of these practitioners, has actually brought them financial woes.

Up till now, about N1.2 billion is being owed the practitioners that carried out the jobs. While a negligible few had been partially paid more than 70 companies still remain unattended to till date.

But the association seems to be ready to put that behind it in its avowed commitment to celebrate creativity among members. This year’s edition of the Award, it stated, would be self-funded; since no sponsor, as at the time of flagging off the Award, was yet identify with the initiative.

While speaking on the plans for this year’s outing, the event’s committee chairman, Mr Ladi Sole described the Poster Awards as the pride of the Association.

‘This is because it not only shows the Association’s appreciation of creativity in the industry, but creates a forum where stakeholders in marketing communications and other works of life meet to interact in an atmosphere of relaxation, beauty and splendor,’ he had stated excitedly.

According to him, the categories for the Awards’ consideration had not changed,

Babatunde Adedoyin, President, OAAN as he called on the creative and other agencies to seize the opportunity to participate in competition.

One of the highlights of this year’s edition is the introduction of a new category, the Regulatory Agency of the year.

This, he explained, is to show appreciation for the role the government

agencies play in the industry, stating that the panel of judges, drawn from the various sectoral bodies and institutions to give credence to the exercise, would be inaugurated on Wednesday, May 18, 2016. continues pg28

Nigerian Tribune

While proffering solutions for brands’ survival, especially at difficult economic times, Mrs Oke advised that rather than cut down on marketing spend, brands should find a way to innovate and reinvent so as to sustain their relevance with their customers.

SERAS to extend search beyond Nigeria TRUCONTACT, organisers of the Social Enterprise Report and Awards (SERAs), an initiative that focuses on corporate social responsibility and sustainability, has announced its intention to extend the frontiers of the award to incorporate other companies plying their trades in Africa.

This, according to the organisers, is one of the innovations being introduced into the one-decade old awards, whose focus had hitherto been restricted to corporate social responsibilities profile of companies plying their trade in Nigeria.

While calling for entries from corporate organisations from Nigeria and other African countries, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of TruContact, Dr Ken Egbas, assures that the 2016 edition of the awards will be more exciting, going by the different innovations that would go into the process of selecting the winners.

Tagged Sustainable Development Goals and The Future of Africa: Organisations as The Game Changers, assessments and categorisations, he explained, would be based on the recent globally launched seventeen sustainable development goals.

“The theme is based on the launch of an ambitious global mission by the world leaders to reduce poverty and enhance human development.

“Africa and Nigeria was only able to attain a little under 15 per cent of expected target impacts. But with the take-off of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) by the United Nations, businesses have been urged to take the driver’s seat in actualizing this huge agenda’ he stated.

The SDGs also provide immense platforms for companies to develop sustainable solutions, including inclusive business models that avails low-income population access to goods and services and also improves their livelihoods.

Explaining the rationale behind extending the frontiers of the Award to include other African countries, Egbas stated ‘When we commenced the awards in 2007, we had short, medium and long term goals.

“We expected by the tenth or eleventh year to make the awards accessible to all of Africa, that is after we must have proven our mettle in Nigeria which of course is not only one of the largest markets in Africa, but also at the moment Nigeria rates as number two in the continent in terms of CSR and sustainability investment and related activities,’ he added.

According to him, entries for this year’s awards are expected to close on June 10, 2016.

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Monday, 16 May, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

StarTimes boosts entertainment profile •Launches ST Yoruba

From left; Marketing Director, Reckitt Benckiser, West Africa, Mr Oguzhan Silivrili, National Stadium Manager, Mr Alanamu Abolore and Managing Director, Reckitt Benckiser, West Africa, Mr Rahul Murgai at the grand finale of Dettol clean Naija campaign held at the National Stadium, in Lagos, recently. PHOTO: SYLVESTER OKORUWA

91 % of Nigerians yet to embrace online shopping —adiba.com boss

D

ESPITE tbe increasing popularity of online shopping among the Nigerian shoppers, only a negligible few have actually embraced the online shopping platform.

Making this disclosure at the commissioning of the adiba.com office in Lekki Phase 1, Lagos, the Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr Chris Udeji noted that though access to the internet on mobile phone had created massive awareness, with players taking advantage of the platform to launch out several sales platforms to Nigerians, only nine per cent of Nigerians do their shopping online.

Udeji who insisted that though future of shopping remains online, the company decided to create a physical store to create convenience for its customers; since most Nigerians still prefer to touch and feel their goods before purchasing them, “‘We found out that a lot of people have no facility to shop online. Only nine per cent of Nigerians are really shopping online. As a result, you cannot rule out the traditional shoppers and that is why we are giving our online shopping customers the opportunity to interface and know where adiba.com comes from.

“Since online really does not address the issue of customer complaints, adiba.com has provided a channel. Customers of the ecommerce platform can now lodge their complaints of whatever form at the physical stores, which would be set up in Ikorodu, Ikeja, and Ikota to complement the Lekki’s pilot store,” he stated.

He explained that the offline stores would be used as collection centres for the customers in those locations, without the customers going too far before his needs are attended to.

For instance a customer who lives in Ikorodu but works on the island does not need to shop on the island. “A customer can play order in any of the stores then indicates the store of collection. It is simple, ease and

convenience,” he said.

Commenting on the business and the competitive edge it has over others the adiba.com boss stated that “Right from the onset, we knew what we were coming to do. We started by understanding the market, growing our customer base, growing our demography of people, understanding the needs and the gap, and we also have a listening hear.”

THE entertainment profile of digital television platform, StarTimes, was recently boosted as the pay tv platform announced its introduction of ST Yoruba, a new, premium indigenous entertainment channel, with rich cultural Yoruba and African themes, to widen its array of choices for its movie enthusiasts.

ST Yoruba, a 24-hour general entertainment channel, which is already available since the beginning of the month of May, this year, according to the pay tv, the digital platform is designed to showcase the rich cultural heritage of the Yoruba nation, following the success of ST Dadin Kowa enjoyed by the Hausa viewers.

“We are very excited to announce the arrival of its new Yoruba movie channel. It has been in our plans to give more to our movieloving subscribers. They deserve a glamorous channel that gives maximum satisfaction. And with this, they will be thrilled, stated StarTimes Marketing Director, Dare Kafar.

According to him, “the channel is designed to build cohesive family viewing with a fine blend of classic and contemporary Yoruba movies, cultural, historical shows and celebrity news. Also, behind the scene programs, celebration of movie icons and other lifestyle programs.”

Kafar stated that ST Yoruba, as a lifestyle channel, will include fiction-based social family dramas, fun-filled chat shows, highvoltage action reality shows, and blockbuster Yoruba movies, with local producers empowered to produce top rated contemporary contents that will be of high cultural value to the viewership.

Airtel, Facebook bring internet services to less privileged Nigerians TELECOM service provider, Bharti Airtel Africa, has announced the launch of Free Basics in Nigeria in partnership with Facebook.

With the new offering, Nigerians with an Airtel mobile connection will be able to access all the services that are available through Free Basics without paying extra for data charges or rental.

According to the Network, Free Basics provides basic mobile websites and services for free to people around the world, demonstrating the value the internet can provide, with more than 85 free services dedicated to health, education, jobs, and finance.

To date, Facebook estimates that its connectivity efforts, which include Free Basics, have brought more than 25 million people online who would not be otherwise.

Airtel Africa will also be offering Facebook Flex in Nigeria, which allows people to access a version of Facebook without data charges. This initiative is part of Facebook’s

commitment to bringing people online and reducing affordability barriers.

“We’re pleased to take this big step forward in our partnership with Facebook, bringing more people online in Africa’s most populous country and helping to further narrow the digital divide,” MD and

CEO, Airtel Africa, Christian de Faria said, According to him, “the new offering builds on the Network’s vision of using its widespread 3G network to help improve lives and communities by empowering them with access to digital content and services, tailored to their needs.”

Dettol ends Clean Naija campaign in Lagos IN line with its vision of creating a healthier and better living, Reckitt Benckiser has introduced the Dettol Multi Surface Cleaner in Nigeria, a revolutionary product, with a national Dettol Clean Naija campaign, which was initiated as a public awareness campaign to attract the attention of Nigerians to the problem of germs and best hygiene practices.

Since its introduction, Dettol Clean Naija campaign team, had visited various towns and cities in the country, cleaning key national establishments chosen via digital voting by Nigerians.

For instance, some of the establishments the team had cleaned up in the past few months, include; The Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital in Port Harcourt, Mapo Hall in Ibadan, the National Library in Abuja, Rumfa College in Kano and the National Stadium in Lagos.

Speaking at the final cleaning event at the National Stadium, Lagos, the General Manager, RB West Africa, Mr Rahul Murgai stated that the decision to introduce the campaign team was informed by the need to provide healthy lives to Nigerians through complete protection against germs.

OAAN in search of excellence despite economic downturns continued from pg27

He added that the 2016 edition of the awards had been designed to give great prominence to the business session, where renowned players in various sectors that affect the advertising subsector would be in attendance, with the keynote expected to be delivered by the doyen of the marketing communication industry, Mr Biodun Shobanjo.

Besides, he stated, the nation’s Minis-

ter for Information and Culture, Chief Lai Mohammed would grace the occasion as the event’s chairman.

Commending the association for still clinging on to the Poster Award, despite the economic doldrums, a marketing communications practitioner, Tolu Ajayi, noted that this had become necessary, especially at a time when there is a paucity of such awards in the industry.

“In the nation’s advertising industry today, we have few of such Awards, organ-

ised by the industry and that is why I think one must still commend the efforts of the association for clinging on to the Awards.

“Besides the fact that the Awards has been made an annual Award in the past few editions deserves commendation from the association,” Ajayi stated.

He would however want the organisers to continue to innovate and refresh the awards so as to command the respect of stakeholders.

Interestingly, as the association counts

down to this year’s awards, one thing stakeholders would want to see is how it would make the event turn around the fortune of members.

“We have to be in business before we can belong to an association. I think the leadership of the association should take cognisance of this by using the awards to drive the sector, because it is obvious is in dire straits,” argued a member, who would not want his name in print.

30 south-westnews German govt to spend 3 million Euros on construction, agric sectors in Ogun OlayinkaOlukoya-Abeokuta

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sum of three million euros will be spent by the German government in the area of construction and agriculture through a demand-oriented vocational training programme.

This was disclosed by Programme Head, Mr Horst Bauernfeind, at a press conference held over the weekend that the programme was part of a bilateral agreement between Nigeria and Germany, which was signed in 1974.

Bauernfeind said the programme would be supervised by the GIZ, a German agency, for a period of two years, and that

the programme would concurrently run in Ogun and Plateau states respectively.

He said the programme was already at the pilot stage in the two areas and that the objective of the programme was to enhance the employability of young Nigerians through skill acquisition made possible by demand-oriented vocational training.

Bauernfeind said German government had been involved in technical training development in some African countries such as South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, among others.

The GIZ official who said that the programme would start with the construction sector explained that

it would offer trainings in vocations like bricklaying, plumbing, welding, carpentry and electrical installations.

“My team had already embarked on an assessment tour of vocational centres and technical colleges in this state to identify possible gaps and areas of needs.

“We have also organised a workshop on vocational skills development for the construction industry to aggregate the demands of the stakeholders and develop a programme strategy,” he added.

Bauernfeind said the programme would focus on improving the personnel and professional capacities of selected training providers to design and

implement labour market relevant vocational training.

He added that they also intended to strengthen the role of the private sector in the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET).

“We also aim at improving the quality of in-company training and learning at the work places of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs),” he said.

The National coordinator of TVET, Mr Ibrahim Aliyu, said that GIZ would provide soft tools but that other major equipment would have to be provided by the host state.

He called for support from the government, the private sector and the members of the public,

Monday, 16 May, 2016

saying that “the project is a joint task.”

Mrs Hafsat Abiola-Castelo, the Special Assistant to Governor Ibikunle Amosun on Trade and Investment, pledged government support for the programme.

She noted that most Nigerian states had for long focused on formal education at the expense of skilled vocational training, which she said that the country needed to grow its economy.

“There is a gap between what we need and what is available.

“The jobs are there, but we lack the requisite skill to fill the vacancies and that is why we import labour from other countries every year while our young ones waste away.”

Oluyole LG chairman vows to curb multiple taxation

From left, Director of The Vale College, Ibadan, Mrs Funso Adegbola; Mrs Fadipe (second left) and Mr Muyiwa Ige (second right), in group photograph with winners of third Chief Bola Ige Scholarship and fourth Justice Atinuke Ige Scholarship, held at The Vale College, Ibadan, on Saturday.

PHOTO: YEMI FUNSO-OKE

IGR: Ondo govt realises N2.3bn in 3 months MR Akin Akinsehinwa, the Chairman, Ondo State Board of Internal Revenue, said on Sunday that the state generated N2.3 billion as Internally Generated Revenue between January and March.

Akinsehinwa disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Akure.

He said the agency realised the amount within three months because it shifted focus from individual tax payers to corporate organisations.

The chairman said the shift in focus was a result of the harsh economic realities in the state which had been worsened by the dwindling resources from the Federation Account.

“Things are tough nowadays and we do not want to add more burdens to our people. Therefore, we have to shift our focus to corporate organisations.

“We are also very careful in dealing with the corporate organisations because

we do not want to kill the geese that lay the golden eggs.

“We are aware that they too are being affected by the harsh economic weather,” he said.

Akinsehinwa, however, reminded individuals and corporate bodies in the state that payment of taxes

was their civic obligation and government needed the resources to develop the state.

The chairman warned tax defaulters in the state to change their attitude because the state government would prosecute any individual or company evading tax.

“We have tried some people in court and the premises of some companies have been sealed for defaulting. Tax payment is compulsory and it is a criminal offence not pay.

“We will continue on that path if any individual or company is caught in the act of tax evasion,” he said.

Area police commander assures Ekotedo residents of peace

By Tunde Ogunesan

THE new Area Commander, Iyaganku, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Amos Markus, has promised residents of Ekotedo area, Ibadan, of sustaining the current peace being enjoyed in the area, while promising that all other loopholes in terms of securing the area would be catered for.

Markus made this known at the weekend, when he paid a courtesy call on the

Baale Ekotedo, Elder Taiwo Ayorinde at his Ekotedo office, Ibadan.

Markus, who also had on his entourage, the new Divisional Police Officer (DPO) Mokola division, CSP Ayodele Sonubi, assured residents of the area, notably business class that they should be assured of adequate security from the police.

His words “I will continue to ensure peace reigns within this vicinity as my predecessor did. I will en-

sure that we maintain that tempo, put in our effort to surpass it and ensure that residents live and operate their businesses in a secure environment.”

Earlier in his welcome address, Baale Ekotedo, Elder Ayorinde, informed the new Area Commander that Ekotedo is one of the commercial hubs in South West, especially in Ibadan, urging him to complement the good policing service currently on ground.

CHAIRMAN of Oluyole Local Government, Oyo State, Mr Kolawole Orelope, has vowed to curb multiple taxation in his council area in order to enable the companies there render their corporate social responsibility to the community.

Orelope made the promise while interacting with various chief executive officers and personnel of industries and business organisations situated in Oluyole Local Council Area during an official working tour of the companies.

The chairman, who was accompanied by some departmental directors in the local government, visited many companies and organisations which included Blackhorse Plastic Industry, My Joy Loaves Company and Hitech Engineering, among others, where he solicited their support in synergy with the chairman’s drive for rapid development of the local government area.

He charged them to cooperate and partner with the council in the areas of employment for the teeming youths in the local government area, provision of infrastructure and learning materials to schools in the community, beautification of environment and provision of social amenities to the area among other needs of the council, noted that government alone could not shoulder the responsibility and task of social demand and challenges facing the council.

Ibarapa Central LG boss promises enduring legacy

By Tunde Oguensan

THE Caretaker Chairman of Ibarapa Central Local Government, Honourable Rufai Oladejo, has promised to take his local government to an eviable height by leaving enduring legacies on the sand of time.

Oladejo stated this while speaking with newsmen at Igbo-Ora, the headquarters of the local government while flagging off the grading of road of the abattoir at Oja Oba. He stated that the slaughter slab had been abandoned for several years and promised that the abattoir would be put into use in the next few weeks.

“The road is being graded to provide easy access to enable vehicular movement in and out of the premises. The butchers abandoned the place because of its deplorable condition. Besides the bad condition of the road, the building housing the abattoir is also in bad shape.”

Prince Ajayi emerges INLG PDP chairman A former acting Chairman of Ijebu North Local Government, Prince Dele Ajayi, has emerged as the Chairman of Ijebu North Local Government Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), at the congress of the party, held in Ijebu Igbo, recently.

Other members of the newly elected executives are: Mr Alowonle Igbalaiye, vice chairman; Mr Oladimeji Olusanya, an engineer, secretary; Alhaji Sheu Abdul, assistant secretary; Mr Ade Sulaiman, treasurer; Prince Tele Towolawi, youth leader; Mrs Alaba Odusipe, women leader; Mr Tunde Olukoya, financial secretary; Mr Kolawole Damilare, organising secretary; Mr Kunle Sobowale, legal adviser; Mr Tajudeen Alimi, auditor; Mr Komolafe, public relations officer; Hon Nurudeen Adebanjo, assistant public relations officer; Mr AKinbode Ademolu, exofficio; Mr Kazeen Ademefun, ex-officio; Mr Mukaila Agaru, ex-officio; Mr Biodun Ogundipe, ex-officio and Mr Tope Badekale, exofficio.

Participants at the congress included all the ward executives, the 11 chairmen and secretaries of the local government, and three delegates from each of the wards in the local government.

31 news APC’s somersaults will ensure PDP’s victory in 2019 —S/South chairman

Monday, 16 May, 2016

Dapo Falade -Port Harcourt

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HE newly elected chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South-South zone, Elder Emmanuel Ogidi, has declared that the party would win back the presidential seat in 2019, due to what he said are the ineptitude and somersaults of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

He made the declaration while speaking with newsmen shortly after his election at the PDP SouthSouth zonal congress, held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Saturday.

According to him, the ruling party at the centre was not anticipating victory in the 2015 presidential election hence, it did not plan for governance and this, he said, was accountable for the myriad of problems facing the country.

“I can tell you categorically that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is winning the election in 2019. In 2019, we are taking over [because] APC has failed,” he said.

When confronted with the fact that the ruling party has been in power for barely one year, Elder Ogidi retorted, “Just tell me one thing they have done since they came to power in May 2015. Did they look like people who have plans?

“They don’t have one; they

have been somersaulting in all their plans. In the first instance, they were not even sure that they were going to win in 2015 and so they did not plan.” Ogidi, who was the Delta State PDP chair-

had been looked into adding that the party was repositioning to come back into reckoning ahead the next elections.

“But again, this period (when PDP was no longer

in power at the centre) has enabled us to look at ourselves. Those mistakes we made in life, we are going to correct them. But it is God that gives power.” he said.

From left, member representing Otukpo/Ohimini federal constituency in Benue, Honourable Ezekiel Adaji; former Senate president, Senator David Mark and a former governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam, after the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) North Central zonal congress, in Abuja, at the weekend. PHOTO: NAN.

2019: Reclaim North Central states for PDP, Mark urges new zonal executive Jacob Segun Olatunji, Ayodele Adesanmi and Leon Usigbe -Abuja AHEAD the 2019 general election, former Senate President, Senator David Mark, has charged the newly elected executives of the

Play down politics, focus on governance, Mimiko tasks APC ONDO State governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, has urged the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to play down on its politics and focus more on governance, even as he urged the Federal Government to check the arbitrary billing for power consumption in the country.

Governor Mimiko, who made the charge in Akure, during the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) South West Congress, at the weekend, said the ruling party APC would have realised by now that rhetoric which it is noted for is a different ball game in terms of governance.

He condemned in strong terms what he described as the “arbitrary billing system by the Discos, which he said had made electricity bills gone haywire,” saying he had thus urged the Federal Government to “firm up its regulatory mechanism in this direction.”

Mimiko, who called for the implementation of the 2014 National Conference report,

man from 2005 to 2008, however, acknowledged that the party made some mistakes which led to its defeat in the 2015 general election.

The mistakes, he said,

posited that the country is not likely to move forward with its present system of operation, insisting that anything short of true federalism would leave the country moving in snail speed.

Stressing that the deregulation of the oil sector would only add to the hardship in the land, Mimiko said it was high time the needful was done and ensuring that Federalism is practiced in its true form, submitted that “the system of government we run cannot work.”

The Governor maintained that “we must decentralise to succeed in this country.

All the challenges confronting us as a nation can only be taken care of only if we practice true federalism.”

Governor Mimiko, who called for unity among all members of the PDP, said the future of the country is in the hands of the party, adding that the PDP would determine the future of the country, going by the current situation.

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the North Central zone to reclaim the zone for the party at the polls.

Senator Mark, who stated this on Saturday, at the party’s North Central zonal congress, held in Abuja, pleaded with stakeholders in the party in the zone to be ready to sacrifice individual interest and work in unity to lead PDP in the North Central and other zones to victory in future elections.

According to him, “the North Central used to be the hub and centre of PDP, unfortunately in the 2015 elections we lost and there is no PDP governor in the zone as we speak. We have realised our mistakes and we will correct them. Once those mistakes are corrected we will win all our elections.”

“So far all the rerun that

have been done PDP has won them. I think this is a track record and the only thing left is that we need to work a little more. The party must now stand united. Our strength is in our unity and our weakness will be if we divide ourselves and we will not be divided,” he declared.

“We must subject our individual interest to party’s interest within the zone. That is the only way we can make progress,’’he added.

While stating that all hope was not lost in the ability to regain its lost glory, Mark said “what gives me joy is that anytime PDP gathers there is so much enthusiasm, interest and desires.”

He said Nigerians now realised that “PDP is the right party to be in government.

We will exercise patient in any election that is done

now and in the next three years. I can assure you that PDP will win convincingly.’’

Among some of the new zonal executives elected by consensus were Mr Theophilus Shan (zonal chairman), Mr Mourice Tsar (zonal secretary) and Mr Joel Adagadzu (zonal organising secretary).

Also speaking with newsmen at the venue of the congress, Senator Philip Aduda, the Senator representing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), declared that it was commendable that the party was able to arrive at consensus on all the elected offices.

The PDP National Legal Adviser, Mr Victor Kwon, who administered oath of office on the newly elected officials of the zone, expressed satisfaction with the peaceful conduct of the congress.

PDP lawmakers meet today over state of party LAWMAKERS of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) extraction in the Senate and the Federal House of Representatives will meet today, to deliberate on the crisis rocking the party which has threatened the forthcoming national convention of the party.

A release jointly signed by the Minority Leader of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio and his counterpart in the House

of Representatives, Honourable Leo Ogor, disclosed that the joint meeting of the lawmakers would hold at the House of Representatives’ complex, Abuja.

According to the conveners of the joint session, the sole agenda the meeting is to review the state of the party against the backdrop of the forthcoming national convention of the party, while stressing that

attendance is mandatory.

Sources, however, disclosed that the lawmakers might also deliberate on the recent fuel price hike, and take a position that would reflect their collective stance on the issue of the fuel subsidy.

The House of Representatives will reconvene today, to deliberate on the recent deregulation of the petroleum downstream sector in Nigeria.

Chemistry essential in nation building —Bowen VC

By Kehinde Adio THE Vice Chancellor, Bowen University, Iwo, Professor Matthews Ojo, has described Chemistry as an essential knowledge in nation building process.

Professor Ojo made the assertion at the 13th Open Day of the Chemistry Department of the institution, held recently.

The vice chancellor, who was represented by his deputy, Professor John Akande, on the occasion, stated that Chemistry remains the essential foundation of science that must not be held with levity in the funding process for research purposes, adding that students of Chemistry must give the subject the deserved attention and interest.

According to him, the knowledge of Chemistry would make graduates of the discipline self-sufficient in the economy, as well as making them reliance in nation building.

Nigeria scouts to embark on food for life programme AS part of efforts aimed at creating a better society through its Diversity, Inclusion and Scout Impact Strategic priorities, the Scout Association of Nigeria is to mobilise and empower scouts across the country in its food for life programme.

The Assistant Chief Commissioner and Head of Department of Diversity, Inclusion and Social Impact, Apostle Tola Adenekan disclosed this at the end of a three-day National leadership Awareness workshop, held at the Oba Akenzua International Scout Camp, Benin City, Edo State.

According to him, the food for life programme will involve the enlistment of 15 scouts each in all 774 local governments of the country, to cultivate land for crop production, Animal husbandry, poultry as well as tree planning and other Agro allied activities.

Assistant Chief Commissioner, Tola Adenekan observed that apart from creating employment opportunities and income generation for the youth, the food for life programme would support the National Food Security initiative and agricultural programme of government.

Monday, 16 May, 2016 32 news inaugurates Why N\West has competitive advantage in agric —Tambuwal Buhari new operational Muhammad Sabiu-Kaduna

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O V E R N O R Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State has said the North West has competitive advantage in agriculture, adding that the governors in the zone will seek to exploit this advantage for the development of the region and its people.

He said closer collaboration among all stakeholders and regional integration are key ingredients for the expansion and sustenance of agricultural activities in the North West geopolitical zone He said this during a meeting of the governors of the region on agriculture action plan in Kaduna, on Sunday.

Tambuwal said the governors would work together to ensure access to finance and improvement of infrastructure that will support the sector.

The meeting, coordinated by the Usman Bugajeled Arewa Research and Development Project (ARDP), had presentations from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture, Sassakawa Global 2000 and the Nigerian Export and Import Bank.

“In Sokoto, we have advantage with cash crops like wheat, rice, tomato and onions while others have such advantages with crops like ginger, cotton. maize and

other cereal crops.

“So, when we tap all these resources together, pool investment and promote avenues of access to finance, the sector will be transformed

and its real value will come to the fore,” he said, Governors Tambuwal, Aminu Masari of Katsina, Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State, Abubakar Badaru

of Jigawa State, Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State, Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State and the deputy governor of Zamfara State, Ibrahim Wakkala, at-

From right, Governors Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, (Sokoto); Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano); Aminu Masari (Kastina) and the Nasir el-Rufai (Kaduna), during a meeting on agriculture action plan for the North West geo political zone, in Kaduna, on Sunday.

Adamawa to strengthen primary healthcare facilities THE Adamawa State government, on Sunday, reiterated its determination to strengthen its primary healthcare delivery system, to effectively cater for the people.

It said that it would tackle the factors hampering ef-

fectiveness of the process in the state.

The deputy governor of the state, Mr Martins Babale, gave the assurance at the commencement of SubNational Immunisation plus Days, at Fufore, Fufore Local Government Area of

the state.

Babale said that the state government was making efforts to standardise operations in the health sector for effective service delivery.

He said the government had built more health centres, rehabilitated and up-

NMC DG decries dearth of Maths teachers in Nigeria Clement Idoko-Abuja Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the National Mathematical Centre (NMC), Abuja, Professor Adewale Solarin, has decried shortage of mathematical science teachers at various levels of education in Nigeria.

Solarin, who noted that the dearth of teachers to teach mathematics-related subjects, was partly responsible for the phobia and poor performance of students in mathematics in public examinations, called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on mathematics He said this at a world news conference on Sunday, in Abuja, to announce the international symposium on “Current trends in mathematical science and applications”, organised by the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) and African Mathematical Union (AMU), holding tomorrow ( Tuesday) in Abuja.

tended the meeting.

They were joined by their commissioners of agriculture, permanent secretaries and directors of agricultural services.

The NMCboss, who is also the President of African Academy of Sciences, noted with concern that African mathematical scientists, resident in Africa, were gradually becoming endangered species because the number of such scientists have been dwindling over the years in quality.

Solarin said: “To compound matters, many African countries, including

Nigeria, have witnessed an unprecedented proliferation of universities and other tertiary institutions with inadequate matching funds.

“Before you call somebody a mathematician at the level we are talking about, that person must have a Ph.D. but if you check the number of universities we have today, such people are few.

He, however, noted that Africans, including Nigeri-

ans, have made tremendous contributions to progress in mathematics.

He said that the symposium provided cost-effective way of training mathematics teachers, who are teaching in various institutions across the country.

He disclosed that over 100 Nigerians had participated in the pre-symposium school or workshop, where they were trained extensively for two weeks.

Al-makura reduces own salary by 50% Godwin Agwam-Lafia NASARAWA State governor, Umaru Tanko Almakura, has announced a 50 per cent deduction in his own salary, as a result of the economic downturn bedevilling the state and the country at large.

The governor said this on Thursday, at the Government House, Lafia, while signing into law, N79.3 billion appropriation bill, passed by the state House of Assembly.

According to Al-makura, “the deduction would also affect other political appointees as there would be 20 per cent deduction from their salaries and 30 per cent would be deducted from the deputy governor”.

He said that the move is to set examples for everyone under the state government to reduce their expenditures in view of the current economic trend in the country.

The governor also said that the “2016 budget of

pragmatism”, would only focused on projects that has direct impact on the lives of inhabitants of the state.

Al-Makura affirmed that his administration would accord priority to the completion of all ongoing projects in the state, saying the state government would not embark on white elephant projects.

The governor said that the budget will focus on infrastructure, education, health, agriculture among others.

graded existing ones “to centres of excellence’’ and training of staff as some of the interventions to strengthen the sector.

“Our government will continue to support the laudable efforts of the Federal Government and other partners towards achieving the sustainable development of primary healthcare goals.

“We are ready to work closely with health officials in order to identify critical areas for quick intervention,’’ he said.

He stated that collaboration with various partners was necessary to enable the government to overcome health challenges confronting the state.

Earlier, the Commissioner for Health, Dr Fatima Atiku, said that government was determined to eradicate polio and other child-killer diseases in the state.

Atiku appealed to the public to support the government in realising its objective in the sector.

In his remark, the chairman, Healthcare Development Agency in the state, Mr Abdullahi Belel, called on mothers to ensure that their children participated in the vaccination.

“Every child from zero to five years, has the right to be immunised against polio and other children’s killerdiseases,” he said.

vehicles for FRSC today Clement Idoko-Abuja

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari, will today formally inaugurate some operational vehicles acquired by the Federal Government to strengthen operations of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) A statement in Abuja by the Corps Head of Media Relations and Strategy, Mr Bisi Kazeem, said the vehicles would be inaugurated at the Peace Park, International Conference Centre, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

He said this was in line with the corps’ renewed determination towards creating safer motoring environment across the country.

Kazeem, said the inauguration of the vehicles by President Buhari, would further provide impetus for FRSC to achieve its 2016 corporate strategic goals, which seeks to reduce road traffic crashes by 15 per cent and fatalities by 25 per cent.

He quoted FRSC Corps Marshal and Chief ExecutiveOfficer, Mr Boboye Oyeyemi, as saying that the occasion “will symbolise the sustained intent of the Federal Government to raise the bar on road safety management and collective dedication to the task of exploring innovative and resourceful ways of funding the road safety intervention in the road sector.”

Aisha Buhari calls for improved health care delivery for women Johnson Babajide- Makurdi WIFE of the president, Hajia Aisha Buhari , has reiterated the need for an improved health care delivery service for women in Nigeria.

The president’s wife, who spoke in Makurdi, Benue State, on Saturday, at the unveiling of the pet project of the wife of the state governor, Dr (Mrs) Eunice Ortom, tagged,’ Eunice Spring of Life Foundation (ESPLF), stressed the importance of women in society as those bringing forth life.

The president’s wife, who was represented by the wife of the Speaker of House of Representatives, Mrs Gimbia Dogara, commended the initiator of the project and assured her of her unflinching support at bringing health care delivery service to all the nooks and crannies of the country.

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Monday, 16 May, 2016

34

south-westnews

Monday, 16 May, 2016

Oyo Assembly moves to resuscitate moribund state-owned companies

By Wale Akinselure

T

HE Oyo State House of Assembly on Thursday activated the process of resuscitating moribund government owned companies in the state.

Giving instances of moribund industries like Oyo State Paper Mill Limited Oluyole, Ibadan; Cashew Nut Processing Industry Limited, Eleyele, Ibadan; Conpole Nigeria Limited, Moniya, Ibadan; Asphalt Plant, Ijaye; Pace Setter Fruit Canning Industry, Ikoyi Ile; Red Brick Industry, Egbeda, the Assembly bemoaned that such industries which hitherto aided the socioeconomic development of the state had been abandoned.

The Assembly, deliberating on a motion advanced by the Speaker, Honourable Micheal Adeyemo, Majority Leader, Honourable Kehinde Subair, and member representing Irepo/Olorunsogo constituency, Honourable Oseni Abdulganiyu, noted that the resuscitation of moribund companies in the state would provide employment opportunities and boost the Internally Generated Revenue of the state.

Oseni, who presented

the motion further, noted the relevance of a vibrant industrial sector in wealth creation, increased gross National Product (GNP), employment provision, increasing revenue, taxes, profit earning to entrepreneurs.

Forwarding the assessment of the situation to the Committee on Commerce and Cooperatives, the Assembly also urged the executive to seek for technical partners cum private investors with the requisite expertise and desire to partner with government in this regard.

Also, Adeyemo, while speaking at the 2016 Annual National Delegates’ Conference of the National Conference of the Association of Hansard/ Verbatim Reporters and Editors of Nigeria, has urged the writers of hansard at national and state legislatures to remain committed to their duty of ensuring the preservation of the ethics of legislative practice, especially accurate legislative documentations.

He harped of the importance of the hansard in the harmonisation of the records of proceedings for the present and future generations, assuring that the critical role would be met with due recognition at all times.

National President of the association, Mrs Folasade Bejide, noted the relevance

NATIONAL Auditor of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Adewole Adeyanju, has described the conduct of the party’s South-west Zonal congress last Saturday, as illegal and an exercise in futility.

In a statement made available to news men in Abuja, Alhaji Adeyanju decried what he called the show of impunity by those who convened the congress, noting that the party would not tolerate such actions as a law abiding party.

Justice Ibrahim Buba of a Federal High Court in Lagos, had on Thursday, granted a restraining order against the party’s conduct of South west zonal congress.

Adeyanju and National Secretary of the party, Professor Wale Oladipo, being the two highest ranking party officers in the zone, had on Friday, in Abuja, admitted receipt of the court order and declared that the party would comply accordingly.

According to Alhaji Adeyanju, “It is the height of indiscipline and political ras-

cality for any PDP member to claim ignorance of the Order or participate in such futile exercise.”

“Why would they encourage such impunity in our party? If the party has abided by the court order there is no reason why some persons should still go ahead with such exercise. The party has no hand in it,” he stated.

“Those that went ahead

OYO State government has warned traders at the Temidire market to shed their recalcitrant posture and relocate to the new site provided for them immediately, instead of engaging in ‘misdirected, fruitless and stage-managed’ protests.

The government’s position was conveyed by the Special Adviser, Communication and Strategy to

the governor, Mr Yomi Layinka, in reaction to the protests that have trailed the relocation order, on Saturday.

He said, “Our reaction to the stage-managed protest at the Temidire Market this morning (Saturday) is that it is misdirected and unfortunate.

“This project is only one among many of the ongoing statewide market

AHEAD of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primaries in Ondo State, no fewer than 1,500 delegates of the party have frowned against zoning the governorship slot of the party to any of the senatorial districts in the state.

The delegates who met under the auspices of Sunshine Crusader, headed by Hon Bola Ilori in Ondo, in Ondo West local government area of the state on Sunday, also kicked against the conduct of any congress to elect new delegates for the party before the conduct of the party primaries.

redevelopment activities, and cannot therefore be sabotaged by any private interests purporting to represent some stakeholders.

“What we seek to do in Temidire plank market is to redesign and modernise it with infrastructural facilities for the benefit of all stakeholders, including the neighbouring communities who have

Okeya, in-law to Jonathan’s Chief of Staff, dumps PDP for APC in Ekiti Sam Nwaoko-Ado Ekiti

THE All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State celebrated at the weekend, when a prominent Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain in the state, Chief Dele Okeya, defected to the APC along with his supporters, in his native Emure-Ekiti community.

Chief Okeya, who served as a commissioner during the first tenure of Governor Ayo Fayose, formally defected to the APC at a rally attended by chieftains of the APC in the state, where he led thousands of his supporters from the 10 wards in the local govern-

with the exercise despite the court order will have to answer to the court when the time comes.

We confirmed to them that we have received the court order at the national leadership and we communicated to them to stop the exercise. We are a law abiding party and we will not condone the disobedience of a court order,” he declared.

ment out of the PDP. Okeya, who is an in-law to former President Goodluck Jonathan’s Chief of Staff, Chief Mike Ogiadomhe, said he could no longer continue with the PDP as, according to him, “the party has lost focus and there is no regard for rules and constituted authority both at the state and national levels of the party.”

According to him, “the disenchantment I had with PDP is that it has lost focus and direction. We built PDP from scratch and by the grace of God we made it an election-winning platform but the leadership got lost in the euphoria and the party lost direction. There is lack of internal democracy in the party especially in Ekiti State and it has become a one-man show. They have willingly subverted the constitution of the party, abandoned its manifesto and that type of party cannot produce good governance.”

Okeya said “I had thought those who would leave with me were in the neighbourhood of 2,500 but you can see the crowd that is joining APC with me, we are over 5,000 and more are still coming. With me in

Ondo 2016: Group opposes zoning in APC Hakeem Gbadamosi-Akure

a legislature, thereby urging practitioners not to relent but strive to make sure

that they perform their job accordingly.

Oyo govt warns plank market traders against confrontation

South-West PDP zonal congress illegal —National auditor JacobSegunOlatunji-Abuja

of the hansard as a legal and authentic document containing transactions in

The meeting, attended by party delegates across the three senatorial districts of the state, commended the steadfastness of the party leadership and its members across the state for their loyalty in the face of daunting challenges.

The delegates however, called on the party’s leadership to guide against crisis over the conduct of party primaries towards the next governorship election in the state.

The communiqué read by Mrs Lydia Adejoro, woman leader, Ose Local Government Area in Ondo North Senatorial district, said the group resolved unequivocally to vote for candidate that would deliver for the

party.

The communiqué read “ It is our firm conviction that only an aspirant that has what it takes to challenge and win Dr Mimiko’s candidate of the PDP at the general election will get the backing of this group for the APC ticket.

“We shall be against any aspirant who goes about slandering or promoting violence against other aspirants. We say NO TO VIOLENCE.” The group also passed a vote of confidence in the executive of the party as presently constituted across the state and endorsed their usage as delegates for the gubernatorial primaries.

APC now, PDP cannot win any election here again.”

He was received by leaders of the APC, including Chief Kayode Babade, the Ekiti South Senatorial chairman of the party, who said “we were together in PDP but I left two years ago and I’m now enjoying true democracy and freedom and good governance.”

endlessly complained against the environmental hazard that they’ve had to live with for a very long time.

“This is quite apart from the very important need to forestall the large scale fire incidences usually associated with plank markets located within builtup environments.”

The government said it was not unaware of the manipulation of some vested interests bent on seizing the opportunity to foment trouble and frustrate its urban renewal and market development efforts.

For the avoidance of doubts, Layinka insisted that the Temidire market development project was a task that must be accomplished; no matter the machinations of those he called ‘misdirected few.’

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly Iyabo Amusat now BANKOLE IYABO AWERO. All former documents remain valid.

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AFFIRMATION OF NAME I, Fagoriola Dele Adeyemi am the same person bearing Fagoriola Dele. Henceforth, I wish to be known as FAGORIOLA DELE ADEYEMI. All documents bearing these names remain valid.

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TESCOM and general public take note.

35 CONFIRMATION OF NAME

I, Adejimi Lateef Adewuyi am the same person bearing Olatunji Adeola. Henceforth, I wish to be known as ADEJIMI LATEEF ADEWUYI. My date of birth is 10th of October, 1989. All documents bearing these names remain valid.

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Monday, 16 May, 2016 CHANGE OF NAME

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I, Sulaimon Arimiyahu Ajibade am the same person bearing Arimayahu Ajibade Adebayo. Henceforth, I wish to be known as SULAIMON ARIMIYAHU AJIBADE. All documents bearing these names valid. First Bank Plc, GTBank Plc and general public take note.

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CORRECTION OF NAME

I, Ridwanullah Muhammad Alhadi, my name was erroneously written as Muhammad Alhadi Ridwanullah.

Henceforth, I wish to be known and addressed as RIDWANULLAH MUHAMMAD ALHADI. All documents bearing these names remain valid. Stanbic Bank Plc, GTBank Plc on BVN and general public take note.

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I, Eyelah Ebimi-Ere Elizabeth am the same person as Company Moses Ohkwerin, Eyelah Ebimi-Ere Elizabe and Eyelah Ebimieere Elizabeth.

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CHANGE OF NAME I,formerly Omiyinka Temitayo Eunice now MRS AWE TEMITAYO EUNICE. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly Abudulahi Olapeju Ajagbe now ABUDULAHI OLATUNJI. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly Miss Oje Adetomilola Adejoke now MRS SANUSI A D E T O M I L O L A ADEJOKE. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly Raphael Onuche Samson now ELAIGWU ONUCHE SAMSON. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

I,formerly Miss Fakoya Omolola Caroline now MRS ADETORO OMOLOLA CAROLINE. All former documents remain valid.

OAUTHC, Ile-Ife and general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CORRECTION OF NAME

I, formerly Miss Onasanya Kehinde Oluwabukunola now MRS AKINPELU KEHINDE OLUWABUKUNOLA. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly Miss Oyedeji Emiloye Boyede now MRS MUSTAPHA EMILOYE BOYEDE. All former documents remain valid. Skye Bank Plc and general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly Oguntayo Oladeji Olusola now OLUTAYO OLADEJI OLUSOLA. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly Miss Adeleye Abiodun Olubunmi now MRS OLUWADARE ABIODUN OLUBUNMI. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly Miss Adenuga Mojisola Florence now MRS ADEGBITE MOJISOLA FLORENCE. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly Mr. Obawemimo Oladele Anthony now MR OBAWEMIMO OLADELE DANIEL. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly Adegboye Hammed Adewale now ADEGBOYEGA HAMMED OLALEKAN. My correct date of birth is 28th January, 1985 not 23rd January, 1989. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly Mr Hosea Maigarma now MR HOSEA DABO. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

I, formerly Miss Nwachukwu Nkechinyere Justina now MRS OLAJIDE JUSTINA NKECHINYERE. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly Miss Popoola Yetunde Adeoti now MRS KEHINDE YETUNDE ADEOTI. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly Olasupo Salami Omitade now OLASUPO SALAMI OLUTADE. All former documents remain valid. Skye Bank Plc and general public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME

I, formerly Miss Adesanya Abiodun Adebimpe now MRS FADAYOMI ABIODUN ADEBIMPE. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly Miss Oguekusi Ifeyinwa Joy now MRS ANTHONY IFEYINWA JOY. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly Kelly Ptimberly now AKINTOLA OLADIPUPO FATAI. All former documents remain valid. General public take note.

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly Miss Amoka Bola Oyedara now MRS AKINKUNMI BOLA OYEDARA. All former documents remain valid.

General public take note.

36

communitynews

Monday, 16 May, 2016

‘Community policing best way to fight crime’

T

HE Vigilante Service in Ogun State, on Thursday, called on state governments to strengthen community policing, saying it was the best method to help rid the nation of crime.

Mr Ayankoya Marcus, the Ijebu Zonal Commander, Ogun State Vigilante Service, made the call while speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ijebu-Ode. He said the dwindling

Ikoyi-Osun decries blackout, marginalisation by gbenga olumide

RESIDENTS of Ikoyi-Osun in Isokan South Local Government Area of Osun State and environs have appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari over marginalisation of the area, the manifestation of which they claimed, is the nine-month total blackout in the area.

The Olukoyi of Ikoyi land, Oba Yisau Bantale Oyetunji Otunla-Kodaolu 1, in a press statement issued and made available to Community News, lamented the hardship the ancient communities are passing through due to lack of power supply, saying the situation had paralysed economic activities and forced many residents to relocate from the area.

The traditional ruler said series of letters of appeal had been written in conjunction with other affected traditional rulers in the area but all to no avail.

He noted that the last one was addressed to the Chief Executive Officer of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), where they requested for a 132KVA injection substation.

He further stated: “We have suffered lack of power supply due to the bad condition of the old 33KVA feeder station that has become incapable of serving the communities that are daily expanding.

“The affected communities have provided five acres of land for the injection substation along Ikire-Iwo Road.

We believe that with the substation, the problem of electricity will become a thing of the past in the area.”

Oba Otunla, who enjoined residents of the area to bear with the authorities concerned over the issue, said the president’s intervention was of great importance.

He, however, commended the president for his reforms in the power sector.

confidence of the people on the efficiency of the Nigeria Police to nip crime in the bud had made more residents to look up to the vigilante service for security.

Ayankoya further explained that the vigilante had better access to information because the people could identify with them as fellow indigenes than the police.

He said the vigilante in Ogun State had achieved much, despite the lack of resources, to stem the spate of robbery and kidnapping based on intelligence gathering from community policing.

He, however, commended the attitude of the Ogun State government towards the provision of security which he said had been positive.

“The Ogun State government has given adequate support to security outfits in the state to be successful in the discharge of their duties.

“The feedback in the fight against crime in the state has been positive as security personnel continue to intensify their efforts to rid the state of all atrocities.

“The vigilante service in Ogun is a non-profit organisation working with the police to stem crime at the local or community level.

“As such, our major challenge has always been adequate logistics and funding to enable us to be effective enough. The manpower is already available.

“We are the ones closer

to the people so we have reliable intelligence about who the hoodlums are and where they can be found if the need to act arises.

“This is why we cannot continue to ignore the call for State Police Force because the essentials needed to liberate the state of crime lies with the people.

“The closer you are to the people, the higher your efficiency level in intelligence

gathering, management and eventually, discharge of justice,” Ayankoya said.

The vigilante boss urged the state lawmakers to expedite action in signing into law the proposed Vigilante Bill, which had since passed the first reading at the state House of Assembly.

“If the bill to institutionalise the vigilante service is eventually passed, I can

for the people.

“We have for too long relied on resources from stakeholders to run the vigilante service and that has hindered our development and capacity.

“By institutionalising the vigilante body, government can subsequently aid our capacity to fight crime through funding and the provision of incentives,” Ayankoya said.

The transformer yet to be fully installed.

Oyo: Bamigbelu, Itesiwaju communities appeal to IBEDC over transformer installation RESIDENTS of Bamigbelu and Itesiwaju communities in Egbeda Local Government Area of Oyo State have appealed to the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC)

to complete the installation of the 200KVA transformer donated to the communities since November, 2014 in order to end load-shedding in the area.

The appeal was contained

Bosun Oladele empowers 400 in Oke Ogun ABOUT 400 indigenes of Irepo, Orelope and Olorunsogo federal constituency in Oke Ogun area of Oyo state have benefited from the first phase of poverty alleviation and empowerment scheme of Honourable Bosun Oladele who represents the areas in the House of Representatives.

The programme, which took place at Tafoo Park and Event Centre, Igbeti was attended by members and leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the three local government areas.

Addressing members of the party and the beneficiaries at the programme, the legislator, who was also Commissioner for Information during the first term of Governor Abiola Ajimobi in the state, said the empowerment programme was in fulfillment of his electioneering campaign promises, adding that this would make the people self reliant.

According to him, the

assure you that crime rate, especially at the community level, will drastically drop.

“There is as much the police can do aside the resources accrued to them but their is more to be achieved if the people are empowered to liberate themselves by law.

“The vigilante should be seen as the democracy of security; security by the people, of the people and

development would go a long way in addressing some deficiencies in the economic life of the people of the area who are predominantly farmers and artisans.

Honourable Oladele, who told journalists that the scheme cost him about N35 million, assured the people that the second phase of the scheme would soon come up. He urged those who have not ben-

efitted to be patient.

He said the reason motorcycle formed major of the items was to enhance the farming activities of the people of the area.

Caretaker Chairman of Irepo Local Government Area, who was among key speakers at the event, Yekeen Popoola, commended Oladele for fufilling his promises to his people.

in a statement issued by the communities, a copy of which was made available to Community News.

The communities disclosed that the current supply of electricity to residents is from the 300KVA transformer sited in one of the zones, whose voltage they claimed, is not enough to supply power to the over 4,000 inhabitants of the area.

According to the statement, the inadequacy of the 300KVA transformer to generate the needed electricity prompted the IBEDC to adopt the system of loadshedding in order to prevent overloading of the transformer.

It stated further that the system of load-shedding

had been on for the past two years, adding that the system had been depriving consumers in the area the opportunity of enjoying optimal power supply.

It added that electricity consumers in the area were being treated like those in areas where there is no load-shedding in the billing by IBEDC. The statement revealed that the communities had purchased and donated some electrical materials to IBEDC management to hasten the installation of the 200KVA transformer, saying that an Amour Cable and DFuse are the required materials to be provided by IBEDC to complete the installation of the transformer.

Agbado-Ijaye residents laud Ambode’s ‘light-up’ Lagos project chukwuma okparaocha-lagos

THE ongoing “light-up” Lagos project embarked upon by the Lagos State government appears to have brought a new lease of life to residents of Agbado-Ijaiye and Oke- Odo areas of the state, as residents have continued to laud the development.

Spurred by the remarks recently made by some commuters about the project which has lightened up various sections of the La-

gos-Abeokuta Expressway, that were once described as “dangerous spots” at night, Community News spoke with a few residents with a view to learning what the new experience had brought to their various communities.

Community News in this regard, spoke with residents of General, Abule Taylor, Ahmadiyya and Awori, all situated at the Agbado area of the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.

Though interviewed

separately, the residents unanimously commended the state government for erecting street lights on the ever busy expressway, saying the project would also help provide security not just on the road but also in their respective neighbourhoods.

A resident and landlord at Dada Olowu Street area of General, Mr Hakeem Opeifa, said that the lighting had helped create a new form of life in his community, especially at night.

A trader at Oja Oba area of Abule-Egba, Mr Olusoga Demola, noted that the lighting had reduced the activities of social miscreants popularly referred to as area boys along the axis.

Similar views were shared by a cross section of residents in other communities including Ahmadiyya, Abule Taylor and Awori, all of who attested to the fact that even the beauty of the expressway at night had been brought out by the street lights.

37

Monday, 16 May, 2016

foreig naffairs

08116954632 with seyi gesinde foreignn ewseditor@gmail.com

IMF boss, French ministers decry sexual harassment in politics

S

EVENTEEN women who have served as ministers in France have said they will no longer be silent about sexual harassment in politics.

Among them is Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund and France’s former finance minister.

All 17 signatories to the declaration are current or former ministers.

Last Monday, the deputy speaker of the National Assembly, Denis Baupin, resigned over sexual harassment claims, which he denies.

In the declaration, the women call for a toughening of the law against sexual harassment, as well as specialist desks set up in police stations to deal with such com-

Former French Culture Minister Fleur Pellerin was one of the signatories.

PHOTO: AFP

plaints.

Examples of some of the sexual harassment suffered by the women are also given in the article.

It explains that Fleur Pel-

lerin, who was culture minister in Francois Hollande’s Socialist government from 2014 until this February this year, rarely suffered harassment until she was appointed

to office.

After her first appointment in government, she was asked by a male journalist if she was given the job “because you are a beautiful woman.”

US seeks Saudi support for Syrian cease-fire UNITED States Secretary of State John Kerry sought Saudi Arabia’s support on Sunday in strengthening a “cessation of hostilities” agreement between Syrian government forces and

rebels ahead of broader talks on regional crises later this week.

Kerry, trying to shore up support for the shaky cease-fire in Syria, met with Saudi King Salman,

US Secretary of State John Kerry (left) meets with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud. PHOTO: AFP

whose country has been a key supporter of rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The top U.S. diplomat and his Saudi counterpart, Adel al-Jubeir, discussed developments in Syria, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

Later, the top U.S. diplomat will fly to Vienna where he and Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni will cohost a ministerial meeting on security and support for Libya’s new government.

Western powers hope Libya’s Government of National Accord can unite the

otherNEWS

country, which has been in a state of chaos since leader Moammar Gadhafi was toppled and killed in 2011.

On Tuesday, the 17-nation International Syria Support Group (ISSG) will convene in Vienna to discuss the stalled political talks, difficulties in maintaining the February ceasefire and the U.N.’s uneven results in delivering humanitarian aid.

However, the Syrian government’s recent military advances may diminish the ability to restart political talks seen as the best hope for ending the war.

Yemen conflict: IS suicide attack kills 25 police recruits

A suicide attack claimed by the so-called Islamic State group has killed at least 25 people in southern Yemen.

Officials say the bomber detonated his explosives outside a police base in the port city of Mukalla, killing recruits as they queued up outside the building.

Islamic State’s jihadist rival, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), was forced out of Mukalla last month by a Saudi-led military coalition.

The conflict in Yemen has displaced 2m people since 2011.

Hospitals in Mukalla were also treating at least 25 people wounded in the attack, reports said.

The bombing is the second such attack in Mukalla claimed by so-called Islamic State (IS) since AQAP’s withdrawal from the city.

The group claimed a suicide car bomb attack on soldiers last week.

The port city of 500,000 people had been held for more than a year by AQAP, which has taken advantage of Yemen’s civil war to seize territory, weapons and money.

WHEN an Iraqi soldier heard a buzzing sound overhead last month in Iraq’s Anbar province, he took aim and shot down what looked like a bird-sized model plane.

After studying the device, Iraq’s Ministry of Defence said it was a surveillance drone available for purchase on the Internet for less than $1,000 that was being flown by the Islamic State (IS) group.

“The brave warrior ... was able to hit a spying plane belonging to the gangs of IS,” the ministry said in a Facebook post.

Such incidents are becoming increasingly common in both Iraq and Syria. Drones from at least seven nations – and several militias and military forces including IS – are crowding the skies above Iraq, Syria and Turkey, according to interviews with analysts and officials in the region.

“Drones [have] opened new aspects to the wars and changed the shape of the battlefields, making the confrontations more complicated and more sophisticated,” said retired U.S. Army Col. Robert Cassidy, who is studying their proliferation.

Military drones flood war skies over Syria, Iraq

U.S. Defence Secretary Ash Carter, addresses the U.S. troops as he stands in front of a drone at the Incirlik Air Base near Adana, Turkey. PHOTO: AP

Drought, floods hit Ethiopia’s economy FLOODS in Ethiopia, which come on the heels of the worst drought in 50 years, have already claimed the lives of dozens of people and displaced thousands more.

The economic toll will also be particularly severe because three-quarters of Ethiopia’s population lives off the land.

The country’s economy is expected to significantly slow down in 2016, according to the IMF’s World Economic Outlook forecast.

The drought, plus a decline in commodity prices, has resulted in a 4.5 per cent GDP growth estimate. The figure, while above the Sub-Saharan

Africa average, is a steep decline from nearly a decade of near double-digit growth in Ethiopia.

Aid organisations anticipate continued flooding will displace about 200,000 people and affect the lives of 485,000 people.

“People can be affected in

Nelson Mandela: CIA tip-off led to 1962 Durban arrest

Nelson Mandela

NELSON Mandela’s arrest in 1962 came as a result of a tip-off from an agent of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), a report says.

The revelations, made in the Sunday Times newspaper, are based on an interview with ex-CIA agent Donald Rickard shortly before he died.

Mr Mandela served 27 years in jail for resisting white minority rule before being released in 1990.

different ways. They can have damaged crops, they can lose their livestock, and in the more extreme cases lose their entire households and go quite really destitute,” said Paul Handley, with the United Nation’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)’s in Ethiopia.

He was subsequently elected as South Africa’s first black president.

The interview appears to confirm long-held suspicions that Mr Mandela was being trailed by the CIA, says the BBC’s Karen Allen in Johannesburg.

It is expected to put pressure on the CIA to release documents about its involvement in Mr Mandela’s arrest and support for the apartheid government, although it has resisted

Internally displaced people receive assistance from African Muslim Agency near Adbuqadir town of Awdal region, Somaliland. PHOTO: REUTERS.

previous calls for their disclosure.

Mr Rickard, who died earlier this year, was never formally associated with the CIA but worked as a diplomat in South Africa before retiring in the late 70s.

The interview was conducted

by British film director John Irvin, who has made a film, Mandela’s Gun, about his brief career as an armed rebel, the Sunday Times said.

The future president led the armed resistance movement of the banned African National Congress (ANC), and was one of the most wanted men in South Africa at the time of his arrest.

Mr Mandela was at the time considered a dangerous communist and a threat to the West, our correspondent says, although he always denied ever being a member of the communist party.

38

Monday, 16 May, 2016

Editor: Ganiyu Salman tribunesporteditor@yahoo.com 08053789060

Fans outside Old Trafford after the game was called off because of a suspicious package found on the ground.

Inset is a sniffer dog and a steward searching the West Stand after stands were evacuated.

PHOTO:DAILYMAIL

Man Utd/Bournemouth:

Explosion averted at Old Trafford

A

controlled explosion has been carried out at Old Trafford after a suspect package was found before Manchester United’s match against Bournemouth.

Greater Manchester Police described the device as “incredibly lifelike” but confirmed it “wasn’t viable”.

The Sir Alex Ferguson Stand and the Stretford End were evacuated before the game and sniffer dogs brought in.

Kick-off, due at 15:00 BST, was delayed and shortly afterwards the match was abandoned on police advice.

A bomb disposal team carried out the explosion at about 16:30 BST. Just under two hours earlier, an “operation red code” alert had been heard over the public address system, and the players who were warming up had left the field.

Fans were then advised that, because of “the dis-

covery of a suspect package in the north-west quadrant of the ground, the match has been abandoned for today on police advice”.

Supporters who were still in the ground were advised to stay in their seats while the forecourt was cleared of fans who had been in the two stands that were evacuated.

While the evacuation was occurring, Manchester United executive vicechairman Ed Woodward spoke to Premier League

chairman Richard Scudamore about the game being called off, BBC Sport’s football correspondent Phil McNulty revealed.

The Premier League has announced it is looking to rearrange the match as soon as possible.

“The game will definitely need to be played but there are logistical issues that need to be resolved,” a statement read.

“However, they cannot even start to begin discussing them until the police have done what they need

2016 NNPC/Shell Cup enters zonal preliminaries stage THE 18th edition of the All Nigeria Secondary Schools Football Championship for the NNPC/Shell Cup has entered the zonal preliminary stage.

37 schools will converge on 9 centres across the country to compete for the quarter final slots. At the end of the series of matches, 10 teams are expected to emerge for the quarter finals that will come up in Ijebu-Ode from May 21st, 2016.

Beginning from Tuesday May 10, 2016 matches will be played in Katsina, Minna, Jalingo, Ilorin, Uyo, Owerri, Ughelli, Akure and Osogbo. The following are the groupings: KATSINA – Jigawa, Kano, Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara MINNA – Nasarawa, Katsina, Kaduna, FCT. JALINGO – Yobe, Gombe, Adamawa, Borno ILORIN – Niger, Bauchi, Taraba, Plateau UYO – Abia, Ebonyi, Rivers, Benue OWERRI – Enugu, Akwa-Ibom, Delta, C/Rivers UGHELLI – Anambra. Imo, Kogi, Bayelsa.

OSOGBO – Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti, Lagos.

AKURE – Oyo, Osun, Kwara, Edo. The Nigeria Schools Sports Federation has reiterated that states that parade mercenaries in their teams would be severely dealt with as adequate measures have been put in place to detect non-bonafide students and punish any school that falls fowl of this rule.

Meanwhile, winners of the last edition, Rochas Foundation College, Ogboko, Imo State have been knocked out of the state preliminaries as Holy Ghost College, Owerri will represent Imo state at the zonal preliminaries.

Lagos state will be represented by Muslim College who defeated Cardoso secondary school, Orile 3-0 in a recently concluded final at the Teslim Balogun stadium.

to do here [at Old Trafford].”

Speaking before the controlled explosion was carried out, assistant chief constable John O’Hare of Greater Manchester Police said their priority “was to ensure the safety of everyone in the stadium and surrounding area”.

He said “military colleagues” were assisting with the incident, adding: “We don’t make these decisions lightly and we have done this today [abandoned the match] to ensure the safety of all those attending.”

United players were seen leaving the ground shortly after 16:30 BST. BBC commentator Conor McNamara said he saw Bournemouth players and staff boarding their team bus outside Old Trafford around an hour later.

Nigerian referees, instructors, assessors set for FIFA elite programme EXCITED at the various capacity –enhancing programmes of the present NFF administration led

by Amaju Melvin Pinnick, particularly for referees, world football –governing body, FIFA, has approved another elite programme for the country.

More than 230 Nigerian referees, instructors and assessors will be involved in this year’s FIFA Member Association Elite programme taking place between today and Friday 20th May 2016 in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

Chairman of the NFF Referees Committee, Alhaji Yusuf Ahmed Fresh, confirmed to thenff.com at the weekend that all arrangements have been concluded for the international program that will involve Nigeria’s 20 men and women FIFA referees, 17 elite national referees, 95 national referee assessors, 65 national physical fitness instructors and 35 non – FIFA women referees.

Head of the NFF Referees Unit and Secretary of the NFF Referees Committee, Sani Zubair, explained that the team of four FIFA instructors will be led by the Regional Development Officer, Carlos Henriques.

The FIFA instructors will be supported by highly –respected Nigerian instructors Linus Mba, Calistus Chukwujekwu, Felicia Okonji, Aminu Mohammed, Abraham Zakowi, Emmanuel Imiere, Dr. Oladipo and Emmanuel Obafemi.

Bolt begins season with win USAIN Bolt recorded his third lowest career time on Saturday – but still managed to claim an easy victory in the 100 metres at the Cayman Invitational.

Starting in lane four, the six-time Olympic gold medallist had a moderate start in his season-opening race before moving away

from the field in the last 60 metres and cruising to the finishing line.

Bolt, the current world 100 metres and 200 metres record holder, declared himself satisfied with his first test since last year’s World Championships in Beijing, despite posting a time of 10.05.

Bolt

39 tribunesport

Monday, 16 May, 2016

ttenham to Arsenal leapfrogs To L table finish second on EP ing in Mikel Arteta’s

Barcelona players celebrate their La Liga title on Saturday. PHOTO: FCBARCELONA.CAT

More A-list players for Yobo testimonial match A Super Eagles/Luxembourg clash now May 31

By Niyi Alebiosu

S the day for the Former Super Eagles captain, Joseph Yobo testimonial match slated for Port Harcourt draws nearer, more notable players have signified their intention to be part of the ceremony scheduled for Friday, May 27.

According to Waidi Akanni, the project Coordinator while speaking with Tribunesport by phone on Sunday, two South African national team players will be in Nigeria for the ceremony.

The players according to Akanni, are former Bafana Bafana, captain; Aaron Mokoena and Siphiwe Tshabalala.

He explained that they do not want it to look as if all

the players invited are from Europe knowing fully well that Yobo cut across all sections and has friends all over the world.

“The players were so excited to be part of the ceremonial match for Yobo in Port Harcourt and not Uyo

THE international friendly match between the Super Eagles and the National Team of Luxembourg has been brought forward by 24 hours.

A letter to the NFF by the Football Association of Luxembourg on Friday explained that the match, earlier scheduled for 1st June, had to be moved forward by a day as a result of the Tour de France cycling competition, with Luxembourg much involved.

“The change in date will not in any way affect our

program. The entire contingent will move to Luxembourg from Rouen in France, where we will play Mali on 27th May. We will still have three days to train for the match against Luxembourg,” Eagles’ Team Administrator, Enebi Achor, told thenff.com.

The match in Luxembourg will take place at 7pm on Tuesday, 31st May, at the Josy Barthel Stadium in that country’s capital city.

Achor also confirmed to thenff.com that a number of technical and adminis-

Leicester City gets guard of honour at Stamford Bridge ALMOST 12 years since Chelsea fired him, Claudio Ranieri returned to Stamford Bridge as an unlikely Premier League champion with Leicester City on Sunday and the Blues paid their visitors and former manager due respect.

The Italian coach shook hands with his former employer Roman Abramovich inside the stadium as the two sides met in the final game of the season.

As the players emerged from the tunnel, last season’s title winners gave the

newly crowned champions a guard of honour, which Ranieri strolled through on his own with a big smile.

The 64-year-old was also presented with commemorative plate in front of the crowd in a classy pre-match tribute.

second divert ARSENAL finished ot, added furue for ricocheted sh ag Le in the Premier the scoreline.

2005 as ther gloss to e win the first time since pr The com ehensiv d Aston leapl na they beat relegate se Ar d er Gi- ensure ivi Ol an to ks an ttenth To Villa frogged faltering only rs de roud hat-trick. en nt senal ham - title co er aft o Giroud headed Ar ag s ek e hosts a few we rivals on ahead early on but th nd Lo rth no until he their played nervously ainst Newcaseeping fell apart ag sw , struck again s after tle. again,” home from six yard “It’s happened il.

Oz ut es M by rk good wo s fans at the s then sang Gunner wa n ma ch finen Fr e Th as been speculated in some as they celebrated

by Hector Bel- end h the ug r ro fo th s t ur pu Sp quarters, and they will arishing above third. . his on for as in se ler ive ut ec rive Nigeria a day before the goal, 21st cons Mark Bunn’s own event, Akanni said.

trative officials have now been issued Schengen visas, enabling them to enter the two countries for the matches. The NFF has also submitted fresh applica-

tions for those who were earlier denied.

The Super Eagles play Mali’s Les Aiglons in Rouen on 27th May and play Luxembourg in that

country on 31st May, as part of preparations for the first matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying series to be played later this year.

Spurs’ Harry Kane wins EPL Golden Boot HARRY Kane has won the Premier League’s Golden Boot award after topping the division’s scoring charts despite failing to score on the final day of the Premier League season.

The race to be crowned top scorer saw Kane, Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy and Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero all go head-to-head on Sunday, with just one goal separating the trio.

But despite plenty of build-up, all three players failed to net on the final day of the season, meaning Kane’s tally of 25 goals was enough to seal the award.

The 22-year-old has now hit over 20 goals in two consecutive seasons and is the first Englishman to top the division’s scoring charts since Sunderland’s Kevin Philipps in 1999-2000.

Kane is unlikely to be in a celebratory mood, though, with Tottenham having lost 5-1 to Newcastle – their biggest defeat of the season

– and slipping below rivals Arsenal in the league table.

Kane

EPL TOP SCORERS

Harry Kane

Totteham Hotspur

25

Jamie Vardy

Leicester City

24

Sergio Aguero

Manchester City

24

Romelo Lukaku

Everton

18

Riyad Mahrez

Leicester City

17

SIDELINES

NO 16,501

MONDAY, 16 MAY, 2016

A

most remarkable individual I knew passed on to the great beyond recently. He actually went to his Maker at the tail end of March this year. But it was on Friday, May 06, 2016 that his body was housed six feet below the earth of his Ibusa, Delta State home-town and home-state. Because of the vagaries of our crooked times his friends, who included several members of the Nigerian literati could not be at his final journey from this earth-plane. Even the literary reading held in his honour was not as it was expected to be although the attendance was a remarkably qualitative one: his former students were at the event, so also were others like Nnimmo Bassey who were positively touched by the wonderful personage who has gone.

Of course, I am talking about John Agetua, a great teacher of literature and languages – who loved teaching the subjects to the young until the end of his apportioned time here. There was hardly a member of the Nigerian literary academe that John Agetua did not know.

Indeed, members ranging from Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe and beyond to Kole Omotoso and from Osofisan and beyond in the grove(s) of the Nigerian Academe were known reasonably well by John Agetua who has just gone without waving us good-bye.

Clearly, my main interest here now is to announce the tributes coined to celebrate his name and his quiet exit from us. I am not, however, announcing all the tributes. I am also not offering everything contained in some of the selected tributes I am offering here.

My selection process is representative enough.

From Wole Soyinka (who “gave” me the title I am using now) I haven’t seen John in years, but it seemed as if we were together only yesterday the moment I heard news of his departure. Our most meaningful interaction was during the Gowon era where he took the well argued and balanced non-partisan position that I found very instructive, given the volatile demands of that era. And this is what

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in&out with Tony Afejuku 08055213059

For John Agetua distinguished him from many of us.

He rose stoutly to the defence of the Freedom of Expression.

Consistency was his hallmark.

I have no doubts that that wherever he is now, he continues his mission of independent thought, analytical of developments, unafraid to disseminate ideas no matter the risks. He exhibited the qualities of a true teacher and the commitment of a sincere and dedicated humanist, over and above the banal sounds of a patriotism.”

Another unassuming exemplar for youthful thinkers lost to the nation.

From Adetokunbo Abiola (Journalist and novelist) I’m filled with sadness, with the demise of my master, the man who first welcomed me into the literary world, friend, a mentor, a man who is arguably Nigeria’s greatest literary pamphleteer.

Mr. John Agetua has many legacies.

First, he is the father of literary pamphleteering in the country; he is the first to publish literary materials through pamphlets to the masses. He was the first who made the Nigerian public aware of lesser known giants among the first generation of Nigerian writers, through interviews in the Nigerian Observer and other sources.

He was the man who made the Nigerian public become aware of the activities of

Agetua positively touched the lives of many writers.

Wole Soyinka, of The Man Died. In fact, Agetua, using his personal resources, travelled to Ghana to interview Soyinka, a move that would forever link both personalities.

From Wale Okediran (Novelist and a past president of Association of Nigerian Authors) As a fledging writer who was making that unsure and highly risky decision to combine the “two strange bed fellows” of Medicine and Literature in the 1980s, my confidence was buoyed by many writers who had gone ahead of me to become literary icons and later my friends. Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka…

John Agetua….

FIFA President to visit Nigeria

FOLLOWING robust and illuminating sessions with the leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation at the 66th FIFA

Infatino

Ahead of the fuel subsidy protests, Labour has asked Nigerians to stock enough food at home. But is it not those who have enough money that can stock enough food?

Congress in Mexico City, the president of football’s world governing body, Gianni Infantino, has promised to visit Nigeria in a few weeks.

NFF President Amaju Pinnick told thenff.com at the weekend that during the visit, which date will be communicated in a number of days, the world’s number one football administrator will pay a courtesy call on His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR), attend the finals of the NFF/ZENITH Bank Future Eagles Championship, have an evening with Corporate Nigeria and also have an interactive session with a horde of African FA Presidents who will also be in Nigeria to receive him.

Pinnick said: “The FIFA President says Nigeria is a big country and a massive footballing nation that should help with the new FIFA leadership’s drive to truly develop the game. He is excited about

our various capacity –building and youth development programs and that is why he is coming to watch the NFF/ZENITH Bank Championship finals.

“He sees a lot of potentials and dynamism in the current NFF leadership and says he would love to work with the NFF for the general development of the game.”

Infantino took office at the head of world football after winning election at an extraordinary general congress in Zurich on 26th February 2016. The 46 year –old Italian’s motto is “bringing football back to FIFA and FIFA back to football.”

At the recently –ended FIFA Congress in Mexico City, the world body appointed Senegalese Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura, 54, as its first –ever woman Secretary General. The multi –lingual Samoura, who spent 21 years working for the United Nations, will take office next month.

Rather than feel threatened by a medical doctor who was making a foray’ into the Literary Profession, I was warmly welcomed by many of these established writers. In addition, John Agetua’s popular interviews with some famous writers such as Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Kalu Uka and Ola Rotimi among others in the 70’s and 80’s were additional tonic for a new writer to consider making a life in writing….

John Agetua …. positively touched the lives of many writers who remain today, the proud legatees of his prodigious industry and humanity. He was an architect of a unique experiment which has been described as “facilitating the moulding of characters without neutralizing individual personalities”….

JOA [was] a friend, teacher and compassionate recorder of men and history.

From Tony Afejuku (yours truly) John Agetua: A wonderful mind, a wonderful man, a wonderful being. His love for literature, for humanity, for mankind was immense. He touched many hearts greatly through his teachings and books and pamphlets.

At the appointed time our Bendel ANA years and times shall be told, O friend of friends, who played more than a magical role in our founding of our dear, dear ANA!

RESULTS Arsenal Chelsea Everton

4 1 3

Newcastle Southampton

EPL

Aston Villa Leicester City Norwich

0 1 0

5

Tottenham

1

4

Crystal Palace 1

Stoke City Swansea

2 1

West Ham Man City

1 1

Watford

2

Sunderland

2

West Brom

1

Liverpool

1

NPFL

Pillars

0

Heartland

0

Plateau Utd

1

El-Kanemi

1

Rangers

4

Ikorodu Utd

1

Warri Wolves

2

Sunshine Stars 0

Wikki

4

3SC

0

Abia Warriors

1

Rivers Utd

0

Akwa Utd

1

Nasarawa Utd 0

Lobi Stars

2

Giwa FC

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