29th August, 2016

NIGERIA’S MOST INFORMATIVE NEWSPAPER NO 16,577

MONDAY, 29 AUGUST, 2016 www.tribuneonlineng.com

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TODAY'S SPECIAL

Research shows links between obesity and 8 additional cancers WHILE obesity is often associated with a host of other health issues, including high blood pressure, stroke and heart attack, a new study is examining how the condition is also related to cancer risk.

A review of several studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine found new associations between obesity and the development of eight additional cancers, in addition to others previously known.

Researchers from the World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) looked at more than 1,000 epidemiological studies and

found that "excess body fatness" is also linked to the risk of developing gastric, liver, gallbladder, pancreatic, ovarian, thyroid, blood (multiple myeloma) and brain (meningioma) cancers.

"I think the main takeaway point is that your health and specifically your body fatness is an important factor for many types of cancer," Dr Richard Lee, Medical Director of the Integrative and Supportive Oncology Programme at the University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Centre, told ABC News.

Continues pg10

Lagos residents to exchange dead rats for money —P7

Buhari agrees to swap Chibok girls with Boko Haram detainees •Vows to deal with Niger Delta militants like Boko Haram

—P4

Avengers deny nominating Soyinka for talks with FG —P9

FG should heed ex-CBN govs' advice —Experts —P17

Submerged buildings around Ogijo area of Ogun State, on Sunday morning, aftermath of a twoday downpour in the area. PHOTO: SEYI SOKOYA.

Landslide may stall $3.2bn Mambilla Hydro-Power project —P12

Anxiety as Lagos records 17-hour downpour

•No life lost, properties worth millions destroyed —LASEMA

—P6

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FG ready to swap Boko Haram detainees with Chibok girls —Buhari Leon Usigbe - Nairobi

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HE Federal Government is willing to swap Boko Haram detainees with Chibok girls abducted by the terrorist group, as long as it is convinced that it is dealing with the right leaders of the group which has custody of the girls.

President Muhammadu Buhari gave this hint during an interview with reporters at the sidelines of the ongoing sixth Tokyo International Conference on Africa Development (TICAD VI) in Nairobi, Kenya.

He said government was ready to discuss the release of the Chibok girls kidnapped by Boko Haram terror group since April 2014.

While observing that there had been a split in the leadership of the insurgent group, Buhari advised that if the bona fide leaders of the group were

not comfortable with negotiating with government, they could search out a credible international Non-

Governmental Organisation (NGO) by themselves, which they could trust to work with.

He said: “I have made a couple of comments on the Chibok girls and it seems to me that much of it has been

politicised.

“What we said is that the government which I preside over is prepared to talk

President Muhammadu Buhari, with the chairman, Honeywell Group, Oba Otudeko, at the sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VI), in Nairobi, Kenya, on Sunday.

We’ll deal with Niger Delta militants like Boko Haram, Buhari insists

•Wants more Japanese participation in Nigerian economy •We will protect foreign investments, vote more resources for agriculture in 2017, he says Leon Usigbe - Nairobi with agency reports

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has reiterated his vow that his administration will deal with Niger Delta militants like it has done to Boko Haram terrorists, unless they agree to negotiate.

He made the remark at a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, on the sidelines of the sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), in Nairobi, Kenya, at the weekend.

He had previously given the same warning at a meeting with members of the Nigerian community resident in China, during his tour of the country in April.

The president assured existing and prospective foreign investors that their investments in Nigeria would be fully secured and protected.

Speaking on several steps taken by his administration to secure the country and ease doing business in Nigeria, he told the Japanese leader that with the defeat of the Boko Haram terrorists by the military, the attention of the administration was now focused on stopping the destruction of the country’s economic assets by militants in the Niger Delta region.

He said the militants must dialogue with the Federal Government or be dealt with in the same way like the Boko Haram.

According o him, “we are talking to some of their lead-

ers. We will deal with them as we dealt with Boko Haram, if they refuse to talk to us.

“As a government, we know our responsibility, which is to secure the environment. It is clear to us that lenders won’t fund projects in insecure environments.

“We realise that we have to secure the country before we can efficiently manage it.”

President Buhari told the Japanese Prime Minister that security in the Gulf of Guinea, which was greatly affected by piracy and robbery at sea, was a priority for the Nigerian government. ‘‘We have provided funds to our Navy to buy new platforms, train and effectively organise the personnel to protect the area. We are looking forward to support from developed nations for satellite surveillance covering the Gulf,’’ he added.

Recalling his audience with G7 leaders in Germany, which was attended by the Prime Minister, President Buhari thanked Japan for responding positively to the requests by Nigeria for the rehabilitation of victims of Boko Haram and rebuilding of infrastructure in the NorthEastern part of the country.

The president, however, said there was still more to do on education, health and other infrastructure to ensure quick and voluntary return of displaced persons to their native communities.

On the United Nations (UN) Security Council re-

form, Buhari agreed to work with Japan on the reforms, stressing that the case for a permanent seat for Africa on the council was a moral one.

He equally expressed Nigeria’s support for Japan in their bid for a UN resolution on the problems in East China and South China, as well as the “uncontrolled nuclear tests by North Korea.”

Buhari added: ‘‘The UN system is sufficient for the resolutions of all disputes and no nation should be above the UN. “This has to be made absolutely clear and I assure the Prime Minister that I will meet as many leaders as possible at the forthcoming UN General Assembly concerning the issues.”

Responding, Prime Minister Abe congratulated President Buhari “for courageously tackling Boko Haram terrorism.”

He said Nigeria and Japan must work together to improve the investment climate in view of the many

Japanese companies wishing to invest in Nigeria.

The Japanese leader reaffirmed Japan’s commitment to rapid development in Nigeria, through quality delivery of ongoing projects in the country, including Jebba hydro power scheme and the Lagos railway project.

Meanwhile, President Buhari has requested for increased participation of the Japanese government and the private sector in the Nigerian economy.

He said the Federal Government would sustain concrete measures to diversify the economy by devoting more resources to agriculture in the 2017 budget.

According to him, ‘‘this year, in Nigeria, we started an aggressive farming programme that entails organising farmers into cooperatives in the second and third tiers of government. ‘‘We intend to put more resources in our 2017 budget, especially in the procurement of machinery for

land clearing, fertilisers, pesticides and training of less educated farmers as farm extension instructors.

“We have already registered some success this year in a number of states; we identified some 13 states that will be self-sufficient in rice, wheat and grains before the end of 2018.

“We are very positive that soon, we will be able to export these food products.

“We are also lucky that the farming season in the northern part of the country has been very good and we are expecting a bumper harvest this year,” he said.

On his expectation for TICAD, the president said Japan’s story of rapid economic growth, hardwork and advanced technology should encourage Africans to strive harder and solve its development challenges.

He requested for increased participation of the Japanese government and the private sector in the Nigerian economy.

to bona fide leaders of Boko Haram.

“If they do not want to talk to us directly, let them pick an internationally recognised NGO, convince it that they are holding the girls and that they want Nigeria to release a number of Boko Haram leaders in detention, which they are supposed to know.

“If they do it through the ‘modified leadership’ of Boko Haram and they talk with an internationally recognised NGO, then Nigeria will be prepared to discuss for their release.”

President Buhari, however, warned that the Federal Government would not waste time and resources with “doubtful sources” claiming to know the whereabouts of the girls.

He further stated: “We want those girls out and safe. The faster we can recover them and hand them over to their parents, the better for us.”

The president maintained that the terror group, which pledged allegiance to ISIS, had been largely decimated by the gallant Nigerian military with the support of immediate neighbours from Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin.

According to him, “some of the information about the division in Boko Haram is already in the press and I have read in the papers about the conflict in their leadership.

“The person known in Nigeria as their leader, we understand was edged out and the Nigerian members of Boko Haram started turning themselves to the Nigerian military.

“We learnt that in an air strike by the Nigerian Air Force, he was wounded.

Indeed, their top hierarchy and lower cadre have a problem and we know this because when we came into power, they were holding 14 out of the 774 local governments in Nigeria.

“But now, they are not holding any territory and they have split to small groups, attacking soft targets.”

‘Nigeria will be among top 100 countries doing profitable business by 2019’ PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari, on Sunday, in Nairobi, Kenya, assured that Nigeria would be one of the most attractive and easiest places of doing business in the world by 2019.

The president, in a statement issued in Abuja, was speaking at a plenary session on “Dialogue with the Private Sector” at the sixth

Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD VI) in Nairobi.

According to him, his administration was implementing policies and measures to create right and enabling environment for business and investors in Nigeria.

Nigeria is presently ranked

169 out of 189 countries by the World Bank, according to the Bank’s 2016 Ease of Doing Business report.

President Buhari told the session, attended by several African leaders, Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe and international business executives, that his administration’s vision and objective was to make Nigeria

one of the top investment destinations in the world, within the shortest possible time.

The president maintained that his administration was committed to moving up Nigeria’s ranking of the World Bank’s ease of doing business index 20 places in first year and be in the top 100 within the next three years.

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Lagos Flooded Ikeja street after a downpour in Lagos, on Sunday. PHOTOS: SYLVESTER OKORUWA AND OVADJE ELLIOT. Akin Adewakun and Bola Badmus

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HERE were palpable fears among residents in Lagos, on Sunday, as the city witnessed more than 17 hours of rainfall, that almost marred social and economic activities.

The rain, which started as drizzles around 9.00p.m on Saturday, later became a downpour that lasted throughout the night and extended into the afternoon of the next day (Sunday).

Also, Bakare Street, Owoade street and other streets in the flow lane of the canal from Mile 12 area, through Ketu to Alapere were flooded and impassable.

Homes, schools and businesses were flooded. Property were damaged and people were held hostage at their homes by the flood. Cars were submerged too.

The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) members, Lagos Metro gathered could not assess their parish as the flood caused them off. They had to worship in the balcony of a flooded shop in the vicinity.

Causes of the flood, Lagos Metro gathered were a flagrant violation of building plans as people built in drainage passages, especially at Owoade. Indiscrimate disposal of refuse into gutters and blockage of the canals at the Alapere end. Residents warn authorities to act fast to prevent loss of lives, avert building collapse and an outbreak of epidemic.

As of the time of writing this report, it was still drizzling in different parts of the city.

Although no major incident had been recorded as of press time, the downpour, witnessed all over the

Flooded area at VGC.

Anxiety as Lagos records over 17-hour downpour

•No life lost, properties worth millions destroyed —LASEMA

metropolis, succeeded in slowing down movements around the town, especially for residents going to places of worship.

For instance, at the Adekunle Fajuyi area of the Government Reservation Area (GRA), very close to the Radio Nigeria Office, in Ikeja, motorists had to take their time to navigate the huge pool of water in the area to avoid getting stuck.

On the popular Agege Motor Road, the ever-busy Ikeja section of the road was divided into two, with a huge pool of water taking a significant part of the road.

Though Ikorodu Road was relatively free, same could not be said of the road facing the University of Lagos Road. The road was becoming almost impassable as of press time, due to flood, thereby causing a huge traffic snarl around the area, especially for motorists going towards the Yaba bridge.

Some residents had, therefore, expressed grave concerns about the downpour, praying that it should not be a repeat of the 2011 incident that resulted in loss of lives and properties.

“I’m very apprehensive about this downpour, it has not shown any sign of abating. It is fast looking like that of year 2011, where many lives and properties were lost.

“I almost lost my two kids in that incident, if not for the intervention of a good Samaritan,” a panic-stricken

Jimoh, who lives at Aboru, in Agbado Oke Odo Local Council Development Area of the state, told Lagos Metro.

Meanwhile, the Lagos State government has allayed the fears of residents over the torrential rainfall witnessed in the state on Sunday, saying necessary steps had been taken to avert any incidence of flood disaster in the state.

Commissioner for Environment, Dr Babatunde Adejare, gave the assurance in a statement, saying the state government had, in recent times, carried out intensive tour of some floodprone communities in the state to clear up blocked drainages and canals.

Adejare wondered why any right-thinking person would be dumping refuse on water courses and drainages created for free flow of storm water, saying the numerous campaigns against such practice was for the interest of the residents.

“Canal is a storm water channel for the conveyance of storm runoffs, they are God’s natural protection for holding water during massive flood and it is not a place for anybody to build a house or dump refuse.

Those in the habit of doing such must stop henceforth,” Adejare said.

Allaying fears of teeming Lagosians apprehensive of the rain, the commissioner said indiscriminate dumping of refuse in the gutters

had caused a lot of environmental disasters, warning that the government would no longer tolerate the building of illegal structures along channel right of ways in the state.

To this end, he said the government had since begun the demolition of illegal structures and shanties erected on the drains, especially in flood-prone areas.

He, however, urged residents living on wetlands and flood-prone areas to be cautious and careful, urging them to limit their movement if possible and

to move to higher ground if need be.

Adejare, who said it was the duty of the government to protect lives and property, however, appealed for the cooperation of all Lagosians in the government’s quest to avert any flood mishap in the state.

Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), reacting to the incident, said besides several properties worth miilons of naira that were damaged by the flooding, no life was lost in the incident.

A statement issued by the

agency stated that some streets in Oworoshoki, Ifako, Ikorodu, Lekki axis were seriously affected by the downpour, which started on Saturday at about 8.40 p.m.

The agency also confirmed that no case of building collapse was recorded as a result of the incident.

While ascribing the flood to “blockages of some of the major drainages in the affected areas,” its General Manager, Michael Akindele, however, advised residents to clear their drainages, to allow free flow of water.

Owners of illegal structures, Ikoyi, VI get ultimatum Bola Badmus THE Lagos State government, on Sunday, read the riot act to all owners of illegal structures, shanties, street hawkers and those who had converted walkways into trading points and food courts in Ikoyi, Victoria Island and the Lagoon Front of Lekki, giving them 14 days grace to remove such illegal structures.

In a press statement signed by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr Tunji Bello, the state government warned that if such illegal structures were not removed after the 14 days grace, the State Special Task

Force on the Clean Up of the areas would move in to enforce the laws.

“The owners of all the illegal structures, shanties, abandoned buildings and all those who have converted road median to commercial uses in Ikoyi, Victoria Island and Lekki have between today (Monday) and two weeks’ time to comply or have the State Special Task Force on the Clean Up of the areas to contend with,” the SSG said.

The statement added that owners of all abandoned buildings in different areas of Ikoyi, Lekki and Victoria Island, which were now harbouring prostitutes, miscre-

ants and unwanted elements must clear the structures of such undesirable elements immediately.

He specifically warned owners of properties on the Lagoon fronts of Lekki Phase 1, who had littered the whole areas with compactors and several other equipment to remove them outrightly.

Bello said the state government ‘’notes with concern the conversion of the frontages of properties and abandoned houses to kiosks and trading points by maids and guards, as well as the unregulated activities of horticulturists who have turned setbacks to hide-outs and selling points.’’

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Nigerian Tribune

Edited By Lanre Adewole 0811 695 4647

Residents asked to exchange dead rats for money Chukwuma Okparaocha LAGOS residents will soon start earning extra income by killing rats and mice, as part of efforts aimed at motivating residents to rid the state of rats.

The move, expected to help avert cases of Lassa fever and other diseases associated with rodents in Lagos State, is an initiative of a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Phosguard Fumigant Ltd, in partnership with the state government.

The project, tagged: “Kill rats, make money,” will have rodents multiplying ubiquitously across the state are to be exterminated from residential places and markets using hi-tech chemicals and equipment that will make their decomposing bodies non-infectious.

In a chat with the media, Oluwasegun Benson, the Chief Executive Officer of the company, said the idea would help to de-rat the state.

“As part of efforts to de-rat the state and prevent epidemic from Lassa fever and other diseases, a bounty has been placed on rats in the state.

“We will buy off at least 20 rats for a yet-to-be determined amount; in Lagos now it is operation kill rats and make money,” said Mr Benson, who said the project had the capacity to create about 200 or 300 jobs, par-

ticularly for youths.

“A rat has 28 days gestation period and in the past years, there has not

Lagos NURTW boss tasks drivers on vehicle road worthiness Bola Badmus CHAIRMAN, Lagos State chapter of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Alhaji Tajudeen Agbede, has urged commercial drivers in the state to make sure that their vehicles are in good condition to avoid being penalised heavily by men of the Vehicle Inspection Services (VIS) of the Lagos State Ministry of Transportation.

Agbede made the call on Sunday, against the backdrop of the new e-billing system rolled out by the VIO for various offences committed by motorists in the state, even as he lamented that N20,000 fine fixed for each of the traffic offences was on the high side.

According to him, a fine of 5,000 each should be enough considering the present economic reality in the country.

Under the new arrangement announced last Monday by the Agency, motorists caught will be made to pay N20,000 for each of the offences committed Such offences, according to the VIO, included driving

street hawkers in He reiterated the determination of the Akinwunmi Ambode-led administration to restore the original master plan of Ikoyi, Victoria Island and Lekki by checking the activities of roadside automobile repairers who had converted many dual carriage lanes to single lanes with indiscriminate parkings.

He said the state government would no longer tolerate unauthorised parking of vehicles, trucks, as well as the unsightly state of drainage infrastructure, adding that owners of such vehicles and properties with unkempt drainages would be prosecuted.

been any solid structure on ground to curb them from infecting humans with diseases.

Bello said it was totally unacceptable for people to stockpile and display wares such as bags of charcoal on major Roads like the Ahmadu Bello Way and Federal Secretariat Road, Ikoyi, stating that henceforth, such goods would be confiscated and the owners prosecuted.

“We are using this medium to sensitise members of the public and residents of the affected areas who are involved in these illegalities to immediately take right action and do the needful as the state government will take the necessary steps to enforce its environmental and sanitation laws forthwith.”

with fake/forged drivers license, cracked windscreen, broken head lamp, rear light, while vehicle papers like insurance certificate, Road worthiness, among others, must be up to date.

“We are already approaching an epidemic level which can lead to a pandemic level with Lassa Fever and we must be proactive and launch a more coordinated approach to control them.

“It is war against rodents and pests in Lagos State,’’ he said.

According to him, the company is also collaborating with the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) to either incinerate or bury the rats.

“Incineration is no longer in practice because of world climate control, however, we can incinerate one ton of waste at a time or bury.

“We bury with chemicals to ensure that the water from the dead rats does not sip into ground water that people drink.”

“Everything is going to be water-tight, as we are not just going to kill the rats, we are going to collect them using our trained and well-kitted personnel,”

Benson said.

Describing rats as destructive and hazardous to nature, the company’s CEO added, “we cannot completely eradicate rodents, but we can control it to a minimal and tolerable level.

“Although, the decomposing rats can also be important to the ecosystem, but not in urban areas, they are destructive nature. Rats had caused fire in offices and homes by eating electricity cables,’’ he added.

Lagos State governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, flanked by the Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Mr Ganiyu Johnson (right) and the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, Mr Ajibada Caster Bade-Adebowale (left), during the governor’s inspection of the ongoing construction of multifaceted expansion projects at Berger Bus Stop, on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, at the weekend.

Berger B/Stop expansion project: Ambode gives December deadline for delivery As Lagos completes 4th Lay-by in Oworonsoki LAGOS State governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, has ordered contractors working on the faceted expansion projects at the ever-busy Berger Bus Stop to work day and night on the projects to ensure completion by December 2016.

Governor Ambode gave the directive at the weekend, while carrying out an extensive inspection of ongoing projects across the state, saying the directive became imperative in view of the strategic importance of the axis, being the major gateway to the state.

The expansion projects at Berger include the construction of about 700 meters slip road through which traffic outward Lagos-Ibadan Expressway can connect Omole Phase Two, Magodo Phase One and Olowoora.

The road, which was designed with drainage channels, side walks and street

lights, is about six meters wide and can conveniently accommodate two vehicles at a time.

Apart from the pedestrian bridge which has been completed, there are also expanded lay-bys and reservation areas at both sides of the bus stop to facilitate easy pulling off of commercial and private vehicles from the main expressway, while massive road improvement, construction of lay-by and reservation projects are equally ongoing under the bridge.

Governor Ambode, accompanied by top officials of the state government, also ordered the construction of iron barricade under the newly-completed pedestrian bridge to compel usage so as to achieve its main purpose of saving lives and facilitating free flow of traffic.

Commissioner for Works

and Infrastructure, Mr Ganiyu Johnson, while briefing the governor on the work done so far on the Berger projects, said the projects, upon completion, would not only give Berger a new befitting look, but also ensure permanent removal of gridlock hitherto associated with the area.

“The idea is that we should have a reservation area for our commercial buses and also a reservation area on top. In the phase one of it, we have on both sides about 200 meters of reservation area.

“For instance, vehicles coming from upland and wanting to discharge passengers have been accommodated as we have cleared the road further down and we have about three to four base underneath the bridge.

“We have also improved Wakati Adura, Ijaye Road and Isheri Road in such a

way that there will not be any traffic gridlock anymore by the time we complete this project and there will be free flow of traffic around the whole place.

“We are also moving the Roundabout at PWC forward a little bit to Wakati Adura area and channelise the place just to improve traffic flow,” Johnson said.

Governor Ambode also inspected the newly-completed lay-by at Car Wash Bus Stop in Oworonsoki, which made it a total of four modern lay-bys constructed in Oworonsoki axis by his administration.

Besides, he inspected the ongoing construction of 1.65 kilometre slip road from Olopomeji in Oworonsoki to Ifako with under pass through which vehicles can make U-turn back to either Lagos Island or Oshodi through Gbagada, among other places.

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‘Kwara records 1,000 rape cases annually’ Biola Azeez -Ilorin

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WARA State government has said there are increasing cases of rape in the state, with a record of more than 1,000 rape cases every year.

Speaking while taking part in a “Walk Against Rape” event, organised by an Ilorin-based group, Saab Foundation, which advocat-

ed death penalty for rapists, an official of the state Ministry of Women Affairs, Hajia Bilkis Sidiq, lamented that rapes cases being recorded in the ministry featured more elderly people than young adults as perpetrators.

Bilkis, a director in the ministry, who represented the state Commissioner for Women Affairs, Alhaja Ayinke Saka, at the event, said

Benue gov laments increase in wage bill Johnson Babajide -Makurdi BENUE State governor, Samuel Ortom, has inaugurated a 10-member salary verification committee, with a charge to come out with a realistic wage bill for the state.

While inaugurating the committee, headed by a retired permanent secretary, Mr Tertessr Ikyabo, Ortom said the biometric verification exercise conducted earlier was not satisfactory, as the bloated wage bill continued to remain.

In a press statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mr Godwin Akor, the governor lamented increase in the wage bill, in spite of the last exercise, saying that “there cannot be ghost workers without syndicates backing them.”

The governor said even as

some ghost workers were discovered in some of the local governments during the payment of salary arrears with bailout funds, the administration wanted to know the actual number of workers, so as to plan well for the people.

Governor Ortom said the state pays over N7 billion monthly and described the amount as outrageous.

there was a booklet where such cases were recorded, adding that the number kept rising on the list.

Founder of Saab Foundation, Miss Bibire Sa’adat, a 21-year-old graduate of Mass Communication, expressed concern that there was no effective law yet against rape, saying that the police and society still stigmatised victims (survivors).

Bibire, who started the campaign against rape in January, said she had so far been involved with eight survivors, among them three young boys, one of who was raped repeatedly by the maid in their house.

The other two, she narrated, were raped by their uncles.

While commending the “walk against rape,” Hajia Bilkis said government remained committed to doing everything possible to stem the tide of rape in the state.

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Avengers deny nominating Soyinka for talks with FG Ebenezer Adurokiya - Warri

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EMBERS of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) have chided critics of Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, over his demand for restructuring and call for President Muhammadu Buhari to accede to their requests.

The group, in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Brigadier-General Mudoch Agbinibo and posted on its website late Saturday, also reiterated its readiness to dialogue with the Federal Government whenever it showed the green light.

“The High Command of the Niger Delta Avengers are bothered again about the insensitivity to the genuine plight of the Niger Delta agitation by every successive government of Nigeria and the present handlers of the All Progressives Congress (APC) government.

“We are amazed that Professor Soyinka has been taken on the jugular by enemies of the Niger Delta because of his belief that the government of the day should understand the need to restructure and listen to

the Niger Delta’s agitation positively.

“That if we, the NDA have named Professor Soyinka and some incredible names to advise and lead any group is the lie of the century.

“They say when a handshake goes beyond the elbow, it has turned to another thing; amazingly, the handwriting are so clear that our noble laureate’s name is going the infamous way, as he is being named an adviser with some unscrupulous characters as Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) dia-

logue team with the government of Nigeria,” the group averred.

The militant group slammed the splinter group, describing it as a product of the imagination of political hawks, which have been bought over to destroy and frustrate the Niger Delta struggle.

“Putting records straight, the name/names parading as factions of the Niger Delta Avengers are just the figment of some persons protecting their jobs and are hell-bent on derailing the

wheel of progress in the history of Nigeria and the Niger Delta agitation,” it opined.

The group denied having any consultation with Professor Soyinka, let alone asking him to represent it in the proposed dialogue with the Federal Government.

“Our strike teams and command structures have not, at anytime contacted these Nigerians at any time to advise or lead any contact with the government of Buhari on the Niger Delta agitation.

“We have shown our re-

spect and restraints to personalities that have been too fixated to impress Abuja in the name of the Niger Delta struggle since the beginning of “Operation Red Economy” ignorantly or willingly.

“The NDA cannot be teleguided by Mr Charles Okah and Henry Okah from their respective prison cells, using disorganised characters of the APC from the Niger Delta to impress Abuja.

“We are not unaware of the creations of the Nigerian Intelligentsia community and security apparatus

to sustain the Niger Delta struggle to bloat their pocket and credibility,” it disclosed.

Meanwhile, the group has reiterated its readiness for dialogue under the leadership of elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark and his stakeholders’ committee.

“The NDA have unequivocally given our tacit support to the Chief Clark, Niger Delta Elders and Stakeholders conference committee to lead the Pan Niger Delta Negotiations/Dialogue Team, whenever Nigeria shows readiness,” it stated.

Group to INEC: Suspend planned use of e-collation of results for Edo, Ondo guber polls COALITION in Defence of Nigerian Democracy and Constitution (CDNDC) has warned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to use e-collation of results in the forthcoming governorship elections in Edo and Ondo states.

The group, in a statement issued on Sunday, in Abuja by its co-convener, Mr Ariyo-Dare Atoye, said the planned use of the new platform was capable of being manipulated to undermine the integrity of the elections.

According to the group, “we

wish to urgently alert Nigerians and all stakeholders in our electoral process to the fact that the planned application of e-collation of results is not backed by the Electoral Act and that it has not been tested in smaller elections to ascertain its effectiveness.

“Consequently, we fear that it may be hijacked, manipulated and used to undermine the credibility of results in the forthcoming Edo and Ondo states governorship elections.”

The group recalled how the INEC had, against genuine

concerns, informed suspicions and well-known global best practices, deployed an untested Smart Card Readers (SCR) technology on a large scale for the conduct of the 2015 general election.

“It was an innovation never before tested in any local or smaller election to ascertain its efficiency and reliability. It was hurriedly deployed against the rule of science and technology and the end result for voters’ accreditation was a monumental failure,” it stated.

The group continued: “Al-

though the INEC has continued to conceal the data (performance of the card readers) from the public, we have it on good authority, including some information at our disposal that the failure rate of the SCR accreditation was well over 60 per cent.

“We sincerely urge the commission to publish the correct figures, should it consider our assertion to be wrong. For instance, we are aware that the SCR achieved less than 16 per cent success rate in Kano State for the 2015 governorship election.

“Consequently, we are worried by the current plan of INEC to consolidate and expand the function of the SCR for the purpose of electronic collation and electronic transmission of results, while ignoring previous constraints.

“This proposed e-platform is even the most sensitive aspect of any election and it is the stage at which elections are seriously manipulated. It is therefore curious that the INEC intends to introduce another ‘technological-expansion’ without considering the laws guiding this process.”

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news

Monday, 29 August, 2016

Research shows links between obesity and 8 additional cancers Continued from front page

“Patients should understand that they can decrease the risk for developing cancer and improving overall survivorship,” by keeping their weight below obesity thresholds, he said. This information can help doctors advising patients on cancer risk, he added.

Researchers in this study also attempted to quantify the risk for obese people to develop this variety of cancers. They found obese people had 1.8 times the risk for developing liver cancer, 4.8 times as high for esophageal adenocarcinoma, and 7.1

times as high for uterine cancer. They also confirmed that for some of these cancers, as the weight goes up, so does the risk.

People may not always connect being overweight to cancer risk in the manner they associate drinking or smoking with increased risk of cancer, Lee noted.

“The public hasn’t been educated enough that it is a significant risk factor,” he said.

“I see patients who are interested in ways they can reduce overall cancer [risk]. I always tell them the first place to start is nutrition and exercise and physical fitness.”

This is one of the most comprehensive studies on cancer and obesity to date,

according to Dr. Xiao Ou Shu, Associate Director for Global Health at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. He believes it could help educate the public that being overweight isn’t only about cardiac problems.

“I think that the public has been informed about the potential risk for cancer associated with obesity, but there has been much more information disseminated about cardiovascular disease risk than cancer risk,” Ou Shu told ABC News.

One positive discovery from this study the authors found is that obese people who lose weight appear to reduce their

cancer risk.

“Lifestyle factors such as eating a healthy diet, maintaining a healthy weight and exercising, in addition to not smoking, can have a significant impact on reducing cancer risk,” Graham Colditz, MD, Dr PH and deputy director of the School of Public Health at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, who chaired the IARC Working Group, said in a statement. “Public health efforts to combat cancer should focus on these things that people have some control over.”

Dr Kavita Vakharia, of the ABC News Medical Unit, contributed to this report.

NSCDC discovers 40 fake NGOs feeding on IDPs’ plight in Borno •Troops establish school in Bama IDP camp •IDPs take to businesses, no longer eager to go home Bodunrin Kayode, with Agency Reports

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HE Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has said it has discovered no fewer than 40 fake non-governmental organisations (NGOs) currently feeding fat on the plights of Internally Displasced Persons (IDPs) in Borno State.

Mr Ibrahim Abdullahi, the Commandant of the NSCDC in the state, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri, the state capital, on Sunday.

Abdullahi said the illegal NGOs were running nothing more than a certified scam by their actions.

“We discovered that many of them were only interested in posing with IDPs going through hardship to access funds from donors.

“We discovered that some of them, currently occupying most of the big hotels in town, are only interested in defrauding their donors by sending fake data, messages and pictures via internet so as to access fund.

“When we interrogated some of them, they said they just came into the town and were trying to figure out the problems to enable them to bring in their intervention.

“The command, therefore, urged the government to be wary of such elements parading themselves as NGOs, while the agency will go after all the bad elements,” said Abdullahi.

Meanwhile, to further assist the internally displaced persons and enhance civilmilitary relations, troops of 21 Brigade, 7 Division Nigerian Army, have established a temporary school for the children at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp located in Bama town, Bama Local Government Area of Borno State, using military tents.

The school comprised six military tents in which soldiers, not on essential duty, served as teachers.

In addition, some of the IDPs who were teachers before their displacement, also teach in the school.

Presently, the school has a population of over 3,000 children. The Brigade has also established a section

of adult education for women.

Impressed with the laudable initiative, the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) also assisted the Brigade with two additional tents and school bags for the pupils, while Borno State Urban Education deployed a principal to assist in the running of

the school.

The United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and the Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel, Mr Toby Lanzer, and Borno State government celebrated the recentlyheld World Humanitarian Day with the IDPs in the school and commended the efforts of the Nigerian

Army for establishing the school.

Similarly, an American non-governmental organisation (NGO), Empower54, was equally impressed with the fact that “despite the heavy responsibility of fighting off the terrorists daily, the soldiers are making time to teach the children.” It

From left, Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima; Senator Mohamed Ndume; Aliko Dangote and Paul Hewson of the UNHCR who was equally in Maiduguri, during the inspection of 6,000 Dangote housing units for IDPs, in Maiduguri, Borno State, on Sunday. PHOTO: BODUNRIN KAYODE

IDPs: Borno govt commends Dangote, names Baga road after him Borno State governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, has renamed the popular Baga road in Maiduguri Metropolis after the business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote.

The governor, who made this known during Alhaji Dangote’s visit to the Dalori IDP Camp in Maiduguri, which is currently being occupied by 37,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Bama Local Government Area of the state, said the renaming became imperative following Dangote’s immense contribution and support to victims of Boko Haram especially the over 1.6 million IDPs, spread across various resettle-

ment camps in the state.

“I want to seize this opportunity, on behalf of the good people of Borno State, to extend our appreciation to Dangote Foundation. In the last Ramadan season, 230 trucks of assorted food items were donated to our people by Dangote.

“Dangote Foundation has also donated the sum of N2 billion to our dear state for reconstruction and rehabilitation of our destroyed communities, in addition to N400 million donated to us by the same Foundation to assist our people.

“We in Borno are ever grateful and pray that Allah will continue to guide and protect Dangote and his family and that peace will

return to our dear state. We also want to call on well-todo individuals and corporate organisations to assist Borno in this our trying moment,” Shettima said.

The governor, during the visit, also took his visitors to Bakassi camp which had 152,000 IDPs from Nganzai, Monguno, Gwoza and other local government areas, after which, the visitors paid a sympathy visit to families of Boko Haram combatants that were rescued by troops and now taking refuge at a secular place in Maiduguri.

Addressing the rescued women and their children, both Dangote and the popular musician, BONO advised the families, especially the women

to support government policies and programmes, saying Dangote Foundation would do everything possible to ensure safe upbringing of their innocent children educationally.

Dangote also called on the rescued victims to continue to pray for Allah to grant peace not only in Borno, but the country as a whole.

“We are here in Maiduguri with this popular world musician to sympathise with you over the unfortunate crisis of Boko Haram, I came with this musician so that he can see things for himself and see how best he could do with his talent to tell the whole world your predicaments,” Dangote said.

appreciated the soldiers of 21 Brigade for their selfless effort by establishing the school.

Also, some Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Maiduguri, on Sunday, expressed unwillingness to return to their communities, saying they had found greener pastures in the Borno State capital.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that the desire to remain in Maiduguri was more with IDPs that had taken to some trades.

Mallam Kabir Musa, from Bama, said he had found a better life in Maiduguri with his cap-knitting business and was no longer wishing to go home.

Musa said he made at least N20,000 per week from the knitting business.

Another IDP, also from Bama, Ba’ana Ali, told NAN that there was nothing for him to do in the village.

“We have found a better source of income, better than farming; I have nothing to go back and do in Bama.

“I have made caps worth about N400,000; I have many customers who usually come to town to buy in large quantity.

“I have already rented an apartment where I and my family are now living. My wife is now selling Ankara and we are comfortable here,” he said.

Mr Alfred Sunday, a retiree from Gwoza, said he lost everything he had worked for to the Boko Haram insurgency.

“I invested my benefits on agriculture and a pure water production industry, but I have lost all to the Boko Haram.

“I am now living with my son in-law in the city and I do not want to go back to Gwoza, because I don’t even know where to start from,” he said.

However, Mallam Goni Zarami, an IDP from Baga, who expressed a different view, said he was eager to return home to continue his fishing business.

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businessnews

Monday, 29 August, 2016

July inflation may reach 17.3% —Analysts Chima Nwokoji-Lagos

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S the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) prepares to announce official data on the economy August 31, a herd of finance and economic analysts have predicted that imported food prices and depreciation of the local currency will push July inflation to over 17.3 per cent.

Economists frown at high inflation because it reduces not only the purchasing power of money but also the value of savings, just as people spend more on basic needs and have little to invest or save.

At First Security Discount House (FSDH) Group, analysts predicted that depreciation of the local currency will push July inflation to 17.35 per cent from 16.48 per cent recorded for the previous month.

Also, analysts at FSDH Merchant Bank, believes that inflation will rise to 17.35 per cent in July and they “expect the increase to come from the increase in the prices of food items and other non-food items as a result of the depreciation in the value of the naira.”

Their counterparts at Financial Derivatives Company Limited (FDC), said factors driving inflation include the lower than expected supply of forex, a weaker naira and sporadic supply shortages in the energy market.

Having risen to a sixyear high of 16.5 per cent in June, the analysts say they expect inflation rate for the month of July to rise further to 17.4 per cent which will be the highest in 11 years as low foreign ex-

change supply and energy shortage push costs higher.

“We expect the increase to come from the increase in the prices of food items and other non-food items as a result of the depreciation in the value of the naira.” Besides, the analysts stated, “Our analysis indi-

cates that the value of the naira depreciated at the inter-bank market and the parallel market by 11.89per cent and 6.63per cent respectively in July 2016.

Similarly, analysts at Afrinvest West Africa Limited believe July inflation will berth at 17.6 per cent.

CHAIRMAN of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Babatunde Fowler has observed that although N5,000 may seem so little to many, it is enough to save the life of a child suffering from malaria.

Fowler, who was speaking as a guest at the Annual Tax Conference of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, Ghana, (CITG) was also given an award as an Honourary Fellow of CITG for his contributions to the tax institute.

In a paper entitled strategies For Revenue Mobilisation, in Contemporary Times: Challenges in Tax Legislation, the FIRS boss said his success in establishing a connect between tax contribution of

(MM-o-M) Consumer Price Index (CPI) growth in July at 1.6 per cent moderation from 1.7% in June2016), implying a 17.6 per cent headline Inflation rate and 1.1 percentage points increase from June 2016,” wrote Afrinvest in a note to investors.

From left: Managing Director, DBB, Ikechi Odigbo; Deputy Managing Director, African Reinsurance Corporation, Ken Aghogbovbia and Regional Director, African Reinsurance Corporation, West Africa Regional Office, Sory Diomande, at the African Reinsurance awareness campaign press briefing held at the company’s head office, Victoria Island, on Friday. PHOTO: SYLVESTER OKORUWA.

Naira exchange rate heading to N415 to dollar at parallel market —Dealers Chima Nwokoji-Lagos

AGAINST the inability of eight out of nine banks banned from the interbank market to resolve issues with the apex bank and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), over the weekend, currency dealers have said the Naira may be heading to all time low of N415 to a dollar as against N412/$ exchanged on Friday.

The affected banks that

are said to be discussing with the central bank for possible solutions are: First Bank of Nigeria Plc, First City Monument Bank Plc, Diamond Bank Plc, Skye Bank Plc, Heritage Bank Limited, Keystone Bank Limited, Fidelity Bank Plc and Sterling Bank Plc. The Nigerian currency on Friday traded at N412 to a dollar as against N407 it recorded on Thursday at the parallel market. It also traded for N530 to

‘N5,000 tax’ enough to save child from malaria death —Fowler Sanya Adejokun-Abuja

“We expect a further rise in Inflation Rate from June 2016 driven mainly by increases in both the Food sub-index (on account of higher domestic and imported food prices) and the Core sub-index (driven by higher energy prices) within the period. As a result we forecast Month-on-Month

as little as N5000 and the life of a child who may die from malaria, touched the hearts of some taxpayers in Lagos who turned a new leaf and became compliant taxpayers.

He told tax practitioners and administrators, from Ghana, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Cote D’ivoire and other parts of the West African sub-region, that beyond deploying the law, enforcement, technology and mobilization, tax administrators must deploy a medley of psychology, persuasion and being firm to convince their fellow countrymen to pay tax and fund their country’s development.

“When you ask people to pay tax, they ask you: “Why? But when you tell them that a tax of N5000 is enough to save a child

from dying from malaria, their attitude about tax begin to change gradually.

As a tax administrator, you have to become a teacher to save the life of a child.

Pound Sterling and N455 against Euro, from N425 and N455, respectively on Thursday.

At the Bureau De Change (BDC) segment of the market, the naira exchanged at N407, N520 and N450 against N407, N525 and N450 it posted on Thursday, while its spot rate berthed at N314.95 against the dollar in contrast with N338.75 it recorded at the transaction on Thursday.

Currency traders said the market had remained unstable as the directives and counter-directives of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on foreign exchange sale was affecting liquidity flow.

Forex dealers, however, said that the renewed pressure on the Naira had more

to do with scarcity than the ban placed on some banks.

They also said many dealers and buyers were speculating that the apex bank was showing some desperation in controlling access to foreign exchange and weakening its intervention with supply of foreign exchange to the market, a situation which drove negative sentiments in the market.

Chief executives of the banks have been meeting with the apex bank since Wednesday but no solution was reached as it was learnt that CBN was insisting the banks should return the NNPC foreign exchange deposits to the Treasury Single Account (TSA), before they could be allowed to return to the market.

Systemspec harps on investment in ICT Chima Nwokoji and Kasali Qudus OluwasegunLagos

THOUGH worried that nonpayment of the company’s service charge by the Federal Government (FG) of Nigeria is hampering its services, software giant SystemSpecs has urged the federal government to refocus its attention on Information Communication Technology (ICT) for speedy economic growth in view of dwindling oil prices in the international

market.

The Nigerian Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), also wants the Federal Government of Nigeria to tap into the strength of ICT in its quest to stir the economy out of recession.

Speaking at a visit to Systemspecs, the Acting Director-General, NITDA, Dr. Vincent Olatunji said the importance of ICT cannot be overemphasized, stressing that if maximized optimally Nigeria’s current

economic downturn would be a thing of the past.

“The Importance of Information Communication Technology cannot be overemphasized especially this trying times confronting the country. With ICT, I believe that the Government would witness a positive turnaround in its revenue base more than Oil, and build human capacity which would contribute to our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) than Agriculture,” he said.

Nigerian Tribune

Gas has potential to transform African economies —Seplat chair •Says coy delivering 30% of gas power in Nigeria

ABC Orjiako, Chairman of Seplat Petroleum Development Company has noted that gas has the potential to transform African economies if harnessed properly.

Orjiako made the submission as a panelist at the recently concluded Africa/ Singapore Business Forum hosted by the International Enterprise (IE) in Singapore on August 24, 2016.

Speaking to the theme, “Africa Oil and Gas: Positioning for the future” which discussed the Africa oil and gas narrative from the perspective of a Nigerian independent playing in the global equity space, Orjiako and other panellists highlighted the challenges that exists not just in Nigeria but on the entire continent.

Orjiako stressed that the country’s current challenges with low oil prices, high exchange rate relative to the dollar and spiralling inflation all signal a wake-up call for Nigeria’s economic diversification.

According to him, “the good news is that Nigeria is taking the right steps in the right direction by the recent subsidy removal and the floating of the Naira. What is expected is that the right fiscal discipline to channel the associated savings to the real sector, particularly in infrastructure, manufacturing, agriculture will evolve. Gas is at the center of this transformation because in Africa, the power infrastructure gap is the biggest barrier to real growth. The huge deficiency in power presents a huge investment opportunity with good headroom for returns on investment.”

He noted that SEPLAT is leading business growth objective is to consolidate the company’s rapidly growing gas business stating that in the last two years the company has doubled its gas production to 300MMscf/ day, “by the commissioning of our 150MMscf/day Modular gas plant in OBEN, with plans underway to increase the processing capacity to 500MMscf/day by end of 2016.”

Seplat is currently delivering 30 per cent of gas for power in the Nigerian domestic gas market and “is well positioned to increase this exponentially in the coming years with ability to deliver to both the Nigerian market and the West African sub region.

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Monday, 29 August, 2016

Landslide may stall $3.2bn Mambilla hydro-power project

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HE over $3.2billion Mambilla Hydropower project with the capacity to generate 3050 megawatts is being threatened by several factors including massive landslide and bad roads.

The Mambilla hydroelectric power project in Taraba State was initiated in 1982 to serve as the largest single hydro-power station in Nigeria. The contract was awarded on May 28, 2007 at the sum of $3.2 billion to China Gezhouba Group Company Limited (CGGC) and another Chinese consortium, Sinohydro.

The current six biggest thermal stations in the country have a total capacity of 3030 mw which is still far less than Mambilla’s 3,050 megawatts.

The Economic Confidential gathered that the contract sum has increased to about $6billion due to inflationary trends as Chinese Firms are expected to provide 70 per cent of the sum while 30 per cent would be provided by the Federal Government of Nigeria. Due to various factors the project was suspended during the previous administrations.

In an effort to ensure the speedy completion of the project, President Muhammadu Buhari was in China this year to seek the assistance of Chinese government, the major financier for the power-station.

Recently some foreign engineers in company of government officials on an inspection visit to Taraba State refused to proceed further to Barup, the project site due to bad roads damaged by massive landslide. Other access roads are bushy that only bikes could ply while the rivers have no functional bridges.

All entreaties by officials and members of the local community were not heeded by the foreigners who insisted that they would not continue the journey on dangerous paths.

A source at the Federal Ministry of Work Power and Housing said the minister, Raji Fashola, has shown keen interest in ensuring the completion of the project because of its potential to add 3000MW to the grid through HydroElectric project rather than expensive gas plants.

The officer added that “the ministry is working towards assessing the condition of the roads for immediate solutions. We are all aware that the project

would provide employment opportunities and is expected to boost national economic growth.”

Also concerned about the development, former President Olusegun Obasanjo urged President Buhari to immediately complete the Hydro Power project to increase the energy potential of Nigeria and pave way for more development.

Obasanjo, who was speaking with journalists in Jalingo, Taraba State, said the project would be of great benefit to the region and to Nigeria and as such must be quickly

completed. He added that the cost of completing the project was rising by the day stressing that it would be better to complete it now than wait for when it would be more expensive.

A community leader and Chairman of Mambilla Plateau Legacies Forum (MPLF), Ibrahim Ismail Sadiq appealed to the Federal and state governments to take urgent measures at addressing the problems of the roads and open up the potentials of the plateau.

He said that the surrounding communities that are borders to Cameroon Re-

public are on the verge of being cut off from Nigeria as a result of the landslide that occurred on the only road linking Mambilla Plateau with Taraba state and Nigeria as a nation.

“Many foreign investors are reluctant to ply the dangerous roads that are dilapidated by landslides while the rivers could not be accessed by vehicle due to lack of functional bridges apart from the potential to generate power-supply, Mambilla Plateau offers attractive settings worth of massive investments than anywhere in Nigeria be-

cause of its unique physical and conducive climatic conditions for human settlement and cattle breeding,” he said.

The Mambilla Plateau is a high grassland with an average elevation of 2419m (5249ft) above sea level, making it the highest Plateau in Nigeria which occupies an area 9389km§.

It has cattle ranches, tea plantation and rolling glassy hills. It is a home to some rare species of birds and animals. The highland is also home to Nigeria and west Africa’s only highland tea plantation and production.

Nigerian Tribune

BATN wins MAN’s best kept industrial premises award By ’Wale Olapade

BRITISH American Tobacco Nigeria (BATN) has emerged winner of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) ‘Best Kept Industrial Premises’ award for 2016.

The award was the highlight of the 33rd Annual General Meeting of MAN, Southwest held on last week in Ibadan, Oyo State.

BATN, which was only making its first attempt in the competition, garnered 92 per cent score to place first. The announcement was made following the environmental assessment of the factory premises conducted by the association’s environmental committee.

MAN’s ‘Best Kept Industrial Premises’ award is open to manufacturing companies, including food and beverages manufacturers in the large scale, medium scale and small scale categories.

The top three spots among the first 10 positions were clinched by companies in the large scale manufacturing cadre, while the remaining seven were mostly drawn from the small scale manufacturing cadre.

Samsung partners C/ River on smart school programme From right: Chairman, Avon Healthcare Ltd, Dr Awele Vivien Elumelu; Executive Secretary of the NHIS, Professor Usman Yusuf and MD/CEO, Avon Healthcare Ltd, Adesimbo Ukiri, at the meeting held by the new Executive Secretary, NHIS and HMOs on NHIS sector reform, in Abuja.

Water and climate experts call for Green Water Initiative in Africa WATER and climate experts on Sunday called for a Green Water Initiative, as part of a Water Revolution in Africa, a necessity, they said, for alleviating hunger on the continent and meeting the Sustainable Development Goals.

At the onset of World Water Week, a group of world-renowned hydroclimate experts said that rainwater harvesting and other green water management methods, are key to alleviating hunger in subSaharan Africa and meeting the Sustainable Development Goals.

Green water is the part of the rain that infiltrates into, and is stored in, the soil.

“Large parts of the world are struggling to adapt to a drier reality, but challenges are especially dire in Africa’s dry lands. Af-

rica’s climate is its Achilles Heel”, said Professor Malin Falkenmark, Senior Scientific Advisor to Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI).

In the water-scarce regions of sub-Saharan Africa (mainly consisting of savannah), direct management of scarce rainfall must form an integral part of the development agenda, said the group, which includes Malin Falkenmark, Johan Rockström, Johan Kuylenstierna, Charles J. Vörösmarty, Torgny Holmgren, and Fred Boltz, during Sunday’s Malin Falkenmark Symposium at World Water Week.

The vast dry lands encircling the Congo Basin are home to some 750 million people, a number that is expected to increase to 1.6 billion in the next 35

years. Meanwhile, agricultural yields in this region are very low, on average around one tonne per hectare, as a result of frequent droughts.

The group said that to meet the Sustainable Development Goal 2 (End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture), Africa needs a Triple Green Revolution: green for productive use of green water, green for intensification and enhanced food production, and green for sustainability and building water resilience in watersheds.

Rain, the scientists said, is the ultimate water source in dry land agriculture, as the limited blue water (such as rivers and streams) will be needed for increased urban water sup-

ply, industry and energy production.

They suggest rainwater harvesting systems that can offer supplementary irrigation, harvested from slopes and valley bottoms and stored in ponds or dams for use during dry spells and drought periods.

To finance the initiative, the group proposed a Water Harvesting Innovation Fund for Africa, to build water resilience for food security and human wellbeing.

“Initiatives like the Green Water Initiative in Africa, within the framework of the 2030 Agenda is of great importance if we will have any chance of realizing the Sustainable Development Goals. I hope to see some concrete response to this call,” said SIWI’s Executive Director Torgny Holmgren.

By Bode Adewumi

SAMSUNG Electronics West Africa has commissioned the Samsung Smart School Project for teachers and students in Calabar, Cross River State.

The initiative, which is an integral part of Samsung’s ‘Smart School Rollout’ scheme, is aimed at digitising classrooms on the platform of mobile learning across unity schools in Nigeria. Samsung had opened similar Smart Schools in Abuja and Ogun state.

Launched across the country in partnership with the various state governments, the Samsung Smart School Project will ensure that secondary schools benefit from the Digital Classroom, which is equipped with mobile devices, electronic boards, thin client monitors, learning contents all from Samsung Electronics West Africa and her partner, Etiam Global, for more collaborative, engaging and interactive education.

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editorial

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Monday, 29 August, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

States and road parking policy

N their desperation to buoy their internally generated revenue, some states in the country have devised disingenuous and punitive means of fleecing their citizens for some nebulous breaches of the law. For instance, the past few weeks have seen a flurry of arrests in Oyo State where motorists on the Ring Road axis and elsewhere in the state capital have been reined in for parking their vehicles by the sides of the road and given relatively heavy fines. The situation is the same in many other states.

It is true that the pressure on the states’ finances arising from the reduced allocations from the Federation Account is now becoming quite burdensome. But whether this is enough to make their response quite hysterical is another matter entirely. All of a sudden, the establishment’s agents are out on the open streets, desperately baying for blood and hounding citizens. The state, no doubt, has a duty to collect taxes and fines from the citizens as required by the tenets of public finance. But it should not get hysterical or paranoid in accomplishing this statutory duty. Taxes and fines are the dues of a functional state that is visibly impacting on the lives of its citizens, not straws to be clutched at by financially distraught entities that are gasping for breath and seeking bailouts.

Some contemporary examples will suffice. In Ondo State where a similar law operates, the government had provided public facilities where motorists can, for a token, park their vehicles without fearing harassment from state agents. It was after the government had built the parks and sensitised the public that it started exacting fines from errant motorists. The situation is the same in Lagos State, where there are even private parks

which pay taxes to the government. It would seem as if this lesson is lost on some states which would rather prey on their citizens through punitive sanctions and without providing services that will prevent these inadvertent infractions.

States must devise functional relationships with their citizens by providing services and educating them with the goal of improving their lives. We do not believe that the states should see their citizens as vulnerable and then proceed to exploit them in order to keep government financially viable.

In certain circumstances, even strangers and visitors are not exempt from this state terrorism and exploitation.

Ideally, the goal of the state is to satisfy the yearnings of the citizens before demanding for payment for services rendered, not taking a whip across their bare backs and leaving them in excruciating pain. The pain has even been exacerbated by the current downturn and unemployment in the economy which have left the majority of citizens poorer. A defaulting state that exacts punitive fines from citizens cannot but look fascist to the people it claims to serve. Since this is not the raison d’être of government, its apparatchiks should slow down in the consistent and sustained efforts to misrepresent the ideals of a serious government.

In the desperate revenue drive, it is doubtful that any thought was spared for motorists with vehicles that have broken down through no faults of theirs. Are such motorists also liable to pay these heavy fines? It seems to us that there is something quite odd with a government that registers company premises without vehicle parking facilities, obtains taxes from them and then pursues the company’s customers, fleecing them for illegal parking!

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Monday, 29 August, 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.

Developing an export-driven economy

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PART from oil and metals, agricultural produce come next as Nigeria’s biggest exports to foreign countries. We export cocoa, palm oil, cassava, cashew nuts, among others. It is funny that due to the fact that we cannot process these commodities at home, we export them raw, and the European and Asian buyers process the raw produce we sell to

them, and they send it back to our country to sell.

If we look at it, these Europeans and Asians gain more through processing than what we gain when we export our raw agricultural produce. A good example is cocoa, which we sell its raw beans, but we import cocoa beverages.

Now, at a time when we are talking about diversification of the economy, we should start focusing on

adding value to our agricultural produce through processing instead of exporting them raw. For example, cocoa and cashew nuts can be made into final products, and one good thing is that we have the population to consume these products.

What we will gain refining our agricultural produce for local consumption, and even export, will be greater than what we

Nollywood movies aiding violence WATCHING Nigerian movies these days can be really distressing for parents who are still struggling to raise godly children. What we find in the movies are violence, sexual immorality, ritual kidnappings, among others.

A movie that shows the deadly reign of an armed robbery group will only teach our children the terrible lifestyles of criminals, and not the lessons when the armed robbers are caught. The reason for this is that our children will be infatuated with the actionpacked robbery scenes, and might be tempted to also give such a trial. That is why we find so many youths joining cult groups as soon as they gain admission into tertiary institutions.

It is no longer news that some of our youths also want to live life on the fast lane, and that is why some of them involve themselves in ritual killings. We have heard stories of tertiary institution students using fellow students for ritual purposes. These students have not started working, but they are already thinking of living big.

I believe seeds of immorality are being planted in our youths by what they see on screen, particularly in movies. This is where the video censors’ board comes in; it is the responsibility of this organisation to work harder in the area of classification of these movies. It is also important for parents to also be mindful of the classification of movies they buy so that their children won’t pick up bad habits, while

movie producers should also try as much as possible to reduce scenes that impact negatively in the lives of children. I don’t know what a sexual scene will achieve other than corrupting our children; if the director wants to make the viewing public know that a man and a woman had sex, it is not when the two

actors engage in raunchy sex scenes that the public will be able to interpret the intention of the director. Violence and immorality are on the rise in the country, and it is high time something was done about it. Everybody has a role to play in this regard.

•Dr Taju Alalade, Ilorin, Kwara State.

will gain exporting the raw materials. Our farmers will also make more money, as they will not be subjected to the global price of commodities which fluctuate every now and then.

In the case of cassava, which is our staple food, instead of exporting the commodity to China to be used to feed animals, we can make cassava flour for bread and garri from it.

Cassava is also being used to make beer in the country today.

The administrations of former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan worked extensively on using cassava to make bread, but the idea just didn’t fly among Nigerians due to the fact that we lack the technology to process cassava into flour in the country.

Achieving economic success is just a matter of right thinking, and what I am

discussing is something that can make our economy prosper. If the government can enforce the inclusion of cassava in making flour for bread production, then there will be market for our cassava farmers. The view that cassava farmers do not really make profit on their produce will also be a thing of the past.

Having said that, I want us to focus on another agricultural venture, which is pig production; only a tiny percentage of Nigerians eat pork, but this is a meat that the Chinese people cannot do without. In fact, the price of pork determines the economy of the average Chinese family.

The Nigerian government can capitalise on this by signing an agreement with the Chinese government for us to be producing pork for the country.

No matter how much pork we produce, the Chinese

will consume them all. So the government can use this to tackle unemployment in the country by introducing pork estates for Nigerian youths to produce and then sell pork to China. At a period when the trade balance between China and Nigeria is so lopsided in favour of the former, then the Chinese will be favourably disposed to such an idea.

What I am saying in essence is that we should stop exporting agricultural commodities that are being consumed in the country, while we produce in commercial quantities those that are not popular among Nigerians. As said earlier, to develop the economy only needs the right thinking, as well as the political will, and I hope the current economic managers in the country can look into my humble submission.

•Dr Aina Akinola, Ibadan, Oyo State.

Attention, Federal Ministry of Health SINCE the country was declared free of the deadly Ebola virus, the awareness about this disease has been on the decrease; the same thing also goes for Lassa fever. It is even now that we should step up the awareness among Nigerians so that such deadly diseases won’t find their way into our country again.

This is also an opportunity to encourage Nigerians to be clean, since one of the ways through which one can prevent diseases is through constant hand washing. Apart from the deadly diseases, frequent hand washing will also prevent diarrhoea, sore throat, and other mild ailments.

I hope the Ministry of Health will step up the campaign on how to avoid contracting deadly diseases like Ebola and Lassa fever, particularly by encourage hand washing among Nigerians.

•Nelson Ekwale, Benin, Edo State.

15

opinion

Monday, 29 August, 2016

Lasisi Olagunju Lasgunju@yahoo.com (08111813053) “DID you read that stuff yesterday?” I asked my friend, who answered slowly, head bowed, that she did. ‘It was our sad story.’ “Beeni,” I told her, and for almost one hour afterwards we went through the piece again. It was an expatriate, Tim Newman’s last line on his assignment in Nigeria. From the piece, the writer was obviously an engineer in the oil sector. He encountered corruption on a scale he had never seen in all his years working across countries of the world.

“The corruption, theft, and graft [in Nigeria] can take many forms,” he wrote with the rare insight of a genius. “... falsifying a CV (I don’t mean enhancing, I mean pretending you’re a Lead Piping Engineer of 12 years experience when actually, until yesterday, you were a fisherman); selling positions in a company; stealing diesel from the storage tanks you’re paid to protect.” – That one sounds very poetic, metaphoric. Look around you, how many day guards turn up at night to steal what they protected firmly in daytime? And I mean ‘guards’ as in ALL who have the nation’s nod to protect the general spring head from being poisoned.

Have they not ALL turned up to be bearers of hemlock?

My friend asked that we read again the white man’s piece: “... selling land which isn’t yours” (This one is common, where are the omo onile?). Now this: “... deliberately running down the country’s refining capacity in order to partake in the lucrative import of fuels; falsifying delivery notes of said refined fuels in order to receive greater government subsidies; deliberately restricting the country’s power generation capacity in order to benefit from the importation of generators (which must be run on imported fuel); theft of half-eaten sandwiches and opened drink containers from the office fridge; tinkering with fuel gauges at petrol stations to sell customers short; conspiring with company drivers to issue false receipts indicating more fuel was supplied than actually was; supplying counterfeit safety equipment; falsifying certificates related to professional competence (e.g. rope access work); paying employees less than stipulated in their contract (or not at all); cloning satellite TV cards, meaning the legitimate user gets their service cut off when the other card is in use (the cards are cloned by the same people who issue the genuine cards); the list is literally endless. There is no beginning or end to corruption in Nigeria, it is a perman-

Our leaders want to be God...

ent fixture.” Judgement from abroad! Very shameful.

Quite intriguing in the white man’s clinical analysis is the assertion that Nigeria’s super-rich wants even the crumbs for himself. Very tragically true.

‘It’s a curse,’ my friend said.

“Really? You think so.”

‘Yes. When an abominable trend is established, it becomes a curse.’

“So, that means the nation and its people need deliverance?

Abi? So, who does it and where...?” ‘Baaad boy!’ My friend fired back with a look suggesting she knew I was aiming a dart at our pastors and Imams who have turned religion over to the power class. My friend knew I had very deep disdain for these characters who think only the super-rich have NAFDAC stamps for deliverance unto the benevolent laps of the Creator. ‘Never mind. God Himself will visit soon to cleanse the land. The rich, the poor will die, the powerful will go, then God will prove to us that only He remains forever,’ my friend waxed philosophical. It has to be, she said, because like the white man noticed, Nigeria is the only country in the whole world where there is no social class; a queer, weird, classless society where everyone thinks alike, craves the same items, has same values, dream same dreams... Hear him: “I came to the conclusion about two years into my assignment that Nigeria is probably the only genuinely classless society I have seen. Class is very different from wealth.

Upper class people can be dirt poor (bankrupt dukes) and lower class people can be fabulously rich (Russian oligarchs).

Class is about behaviour and attitudes, not wealth (a point made very well in Kate Fox’s excellent book Watching the English). And insofar as behaviour goes, I didn’t see a shred of difference between the top politicians, down through the

officials in the national authorities, through the middle class professionals, through the service providers, right down to the area boys. The behaviour was identical across all strata: I want more money, and I will do absolutely anything to get it...”

Hmmm. ‘The guy is mad!’ My friend exclaimed at the razorsharp precision of the white man’s analysis of the nation.

Are we condemned to go on like this? When is that divine visitation? My people say God’s coming is not in 20 years? Before then, my friend added, ‘We all need to go through a process of rebirth. That process will be birthed by God Himself.’

Then, there shall be no more pain? I asked, but got no reply from my friend. She looked away, fiddling with the crime pages of the day’s newspapers.

I wrote the above in August 2013, exactly three years ago.

Apart from the 2015 change in the colour of the bottle, the brew has maintained its flavour. Nothing else has changed. The country has remained a wow experiment in impossibility. The journey to a perfect ‘classless’ enclave continues. Dreams still are the same. No matter the life positions or job schedules, we all want those things Dangote owns. And we all think all things are possible.

Foul is fair, contentment is nil. You were made a king yet you are trying your hand on money rituals. Do you want to become God? Imagine, presidents and kings, like the lucky fisherman, want control over everything, including holding the sun’s remote control, commanding its rising and the setting. Governors compete with presidents for absolute powers over everything. The law is an impediment, we want it suspended, they say. We dream big, even when awake doing nothing. Drivers of bank owners want ownership of the cars they drive. Gatemen want in their bed, that right type of women their bosses cuddle and smuggle in at midnight. We are a country of 170 million billionaires - in fact or in dreams. A nation of anything goes, everything is possible.

There is no fair, no foul. Like the secondary school girl who wonders why anyone would say she could be poor in life. “Why will I be poor?” She asks and adds with a determined smile “so what will I be doing with the hole between my legs?” It is the same mindset all through the rungs. Dire straits. So, is the situation absolutely irredeemable? I do not think so. We are a praying nation. We work hard too.

So, what is the problem? Where did we go wrong? Who did we offend? My people say when a man’s world is spinning out of control, he turns to God. Even when we are turning slowly to the Creator, He is taking charge - soon...And there will be no more pain.

HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria: Funding the fund

By Steve Aborisade ATINUKE recently completed her national youth service having graduated from a Federal university in 2014, where she studied Pharmacy. She was born HIV-positive in 1990.

Now 26, she has lived with the disease all her life. She had once coped with tuberculosis (TB) co-infection, but being the fighter she is, had beaten TB hands down. Both her father and mother are also HIV-positive, everyone is fine now, with undetectable viral loads, a clear indication of the progress in HIV/AIDS treatment.

Atinuke and her family represents a generation of Nigerians whose lives were shaped by HIV/AIDS in its entirety, and they come not in small numbers, with 3.4 million Nigerians projected to be living with HIV/AIDS. For Atinuke and others in her shoes, they got a second shot at life and are able to live productive lives because of the programmes being supported by the Global Fund, which provides treatment which also ensures they can have children who are free of the burden of the disease.

It is instructive to note that several others are not as lucky as Atinuke, lacking every access to the life saving treatment they require.

HIV/AIDS remain a major development crisis. Since the pandemic began, it has killed millions, separated families, and destroyed and impoverished communities. In some countries, life expectancy has fallen by more than 20 years.

The scale of the epidemic is causing informal social safety nets to collapse. Overall health care is under pressure as health services struggle with mounting demand. Workforces are being decimated, with severe consequences for investment, production, and per capita income while posing as a severe threat to global health, development, and security.

In retrospect, we have to appreciate the tremendous

progress that has also been made in the fight against the three diseases achieving life-saving impacts that were unthinkable at the turn of the millennium. In 2000, just 50,000 people were receiving antiretroviral (ART) therapy in sub-Saharan Africa, but by 2011, it had climbed to over 7 million. Now, more than 17 million lives have been saved.

Current projections show that more than 2 million lives are being saved each year. About 8.6 million people are receiving lifesaving antiretroviral therapy for HIV and 16 million people with HIV-TB co-infection have been treated. Nearly 3.3 million mothers have received treatment to prevent the transmission of HIV to their babies and 560 million people with malaria have been treated.

However, if global funding for HIV / AIDS and TB were to remain static as we are currently experiencing, some of the consequences would include: 2.6 million new HIV infections every year, of which 1.3 million could be averted through scale-up. In total 3.9 million new HIV infections was projected for the period 2014-2016 and $47 billion of costs throughout the lifetimes of those additional people infected. 3 million less people will be treated for TB and 1 million lives would be unnecessarily lost with uncontrollable multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) if we don’t treat TB now for as little as $30 per patient because MDR-TB can cost up to 1000 times more to treat.

It will also mean 196,000 lives lost to malaria per year and 430 million malaria cases that could have been prevented, according to Cost of Inaction, a report on how inadequate investment in the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria will affect millions of lives across the globe.

It is crucial to acknowledge that the fatigue in donor replenishment of the Global Fund is coming at a time that

experts have suggested offers the most hope in the fight against HIV, TB and malaria. It, therefore, goes to show that the Global Fund needs a robust infusion of pledges from traditional donor countries, most notably world economic powers such as Germany and China, to successfully hit, and hopefully exceed the fundraising target of $13 billion for the Fifth Replenishment Round.

It is in this regard that we must acknowledge the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) and its global partners on the launch of the Fund The Fund campaign targeting countries like Germany, Japan and China to act in the interest of humanity and increase their contributions to the Global Fund. Across AHF country programs, Nigeria inclusive, various activities have been launched, ranging from advocacy meetings with country reps at various embassies to staging press conferences to put the issue on the global agenda and highlight the sense of urgency.

In May of 2016, Japan announced a contribution of $800 million for the fifth replenishment of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria which shows AHF’s effort and messages is reverberating.

Nowhere else can the Global Fund’s impact be louder than Nigeria where the Fund has provided HIV care and treatment to 750,000 people, ensuring TB treatment to 310,000 as it provided 93.4 Million Mosquito nets to households to ward off malaria.

Nigeria also currently represents the Global Fund’s largest portfolio with a total of $1.1 billion allocated to fighting the three diseases from 2014-2016. Unfortunately, since 2010, the Global Fund has never achieved its targeted funding. Therefore, increasing and sustaining the funding to the Global Fund is imperative to sustaining the gains achieved over the last decade, and the last few years in particular.

•Aborisade is a public affairs analyst.

16

Monday, 29 August, 2016 Taiwo Adisa - 08072000046 Group Politics Editor taiadis@yahoo.com

Tinubu did not impose me on ACN in 2012 —Akeredolu A former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Chief Rotimi Akeredolu ( SAN), one of the All Progressives Congress (APC) aspirants for the party’s ticket in Ondo State in the November 26 governorship poll, speaks with HAKEEM GBADAMOSI on the crisis surrounding the choice of the party’s candidate, purported endorsement of another aspirant by APC national leader, and other issues. Excerpts:

W

HAT has informed your lack of confidence in the state chairman, Mr Isaac Kekemeke, something must have gone wrong or happened?

What informs my decision is very simple. I am of the opinion that the chairman deserves the right if he wants to support any aspirant of his choice. It is quite possible and he may say ‘as chairman, I want to hold the balance.’ It is still another possibility. But when you now choose to endorse a candidate, which I say he reserves the right to do, he cannot use the apparatus of the party for the support of the aspirant he chooses. So, what most people have found out is that because he’s the chairman, he now called all APC local government chairmen and told them that this is where they should go. This is wrong.

Again, he called the APC chairmen of the 203 wards in the state and said ‘this is where we want to go’ That will be unfair to others, though it is his right. But you will lose that leadership position immediately you make a choice and people will lose the confidence in you. That’s why they passed the vote of no confidence in him.

It is being alleged that the chairman claimed he was only acting the script of APC National Leader (Senator Bola Tinubu); that he should mobilise support for a particular aspirant?

I doubt that and if he had said so, he knows the full implication, and I’m sure that Kekemeke is not somebody that can be led by the nose. I want you to quote me on this. There is a Yoruba adage that says that when you are sent on an errand like a slave, when you get there to deliver the message, you pretend that you are a free born and everybody will still respect you and say it is not a slave that brought this message. This is the way to put it assuming it is true. I have been to the national leader you referred to; so many of us went to him and he gave his words to say that he was going to allow free and fair primaries and it is after the primary that he will come up to support whosoever emerges.

Now that he has gone ahead to en-

Akeredolu dorse one of you….

I must tell you that I’ve not heard him say it.

He has not denied it, even through the letter he wrote to Dr Tunji Abayomi?

He said in the letter written to Abayomi that he has a right, but he did not state (there) he is endorsing a particular candidate. It is not denial and it is also not for us to assume that he has endorsed him.

If he endorses a particular aspirant, it is his right. The national leader reserves the right to say that ‘I am endorsing a particular candidate.’ I don’t see anything wrong in it. But what I said is that the moment you did that, you have stepped into the arena; you have become partisan and cannot lay claim to leadership. It not that you’re not the leader of the party but for

I have been to the national leader you referred to; so many of us went to him and he gave his word that he was going to allow free and fair primaries.

this contest, you cannot say to me as an aspirant that you’re giving me order, more so that you know that I’m an aspirant and you’re taking side against me. To me, there’s no quarrel about this. If he decides to pursue that course to say ‘yes, I’m going to endorse a particular candidate’ and probably brings in money. He must accept that he will not expect all of us, who are on the other side, to now to agree to his decision. He has become a chief campaigner to one person. So, all of us too in our campaign, whatever comes out of it, he has to take it.

You said you were not imposed as the candidate of the then Action Congress of Nigeria in 2012, but the process of your emergence started from endorsement?

Let me start from 2012, I’ve said this over and over and try to explain to people that 2012 is different from what is happening now. We operated under ACN and that party in 2012 did not say it was going to conduct primary. In ACN then, nobody paid money for Expression of Interest but this time around, all aspirants have paid N2 million each except the lady among us who paid N1million. In ACN, nobody obtained form but here, all of us have paid N5.5million to obtain form to run this election except for the lady who got it free. When I say that I was not imposed by anybody in 2012, I stand by it. I know the operation and all of us who contested knew too. We attended meetings not once or twice or three or four times, and the leadership of the party then. That was the style in ACN. The leadership of the party formed a committee headed by Chief Bisi Akande

and it included all past governors like Bola Tinubu, Niyi Adebayo, Segun Osoba, and probably (late) Lam Adesina and the governors of the ACN then. The committee needed to reach a consensus candidate.

So, it was not one person that imposed the candidate. Tinubu couldn’t have imposed me; he couldn’t have endorsed me, because there was a process but this process was one that all of us submitted ourselves to. In an interview I said (in law), there’s a law that says that you cannot complain of an injury when you have voluntarily submitted yourself to the process. In that (2012) process, all along if not all the time, the committee usually asked us that, ‘are you all prepared to abide by whoever we chose among you?’And everybody would say yes. So, I know of a fact that in the meetings, because it’s not just one meeting, people argued for different aspirants.

If by consensus in that meeting I was endorsed or chosen to be the candidate, it was not one person choosing me as the candidate; so it is not one person imposing Akeredolu on others. I am sure if you ask Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, he would tell you that he did not impose Akeredolu on others. What I’m trying to get at is that after the meeting, the committee by consensus, agreed on me. As a predominant leader of the party then, Asiwaju engaged other aspirants and talked to them why the committee picked me and as the leader of the party then, he spent his fortunes to assist us in the election in the state and nobody takes that away from him. When anybody comes around and says that Akeredolu was imposed, I always take the pain to explain that I was not imposed. All of us, who contested, agreed to abide by the decision of the committee and not that Asiwaju said ‘this is the candidate.’

In this particular case, Asiwaju has told all of us to go and run, and he has now come out to say I am now endorsing a particular person, when all of us had taken money to obtain form and spent money preparing for primaries. There’s the difference people must try to understand, and many of us should be able to say the truth.

Asiwaju supported you as ACN candidate then, where is the parting point between two of you?

I will not say Asiwaju supported me; many people will think he will. I knew in 2012 that he mentioned to me that he was the one that asked (Dr Olusegun) Abraham to come and contest. In 2012 he brought Abraham who is his friend, because they are close and I don’t think I have to say more than that. I want to believe that Asiwaju must have been persuaded by our leaders. So, I went into the 2012 election with the belief that Abraham was his candidate but like I said, it was possible for him to have been persuaded at the meetings when the committee was taking the decision.

If the opinion of the committee weighed more on my side, there’s nothing anybody can do. We have leaders who can testify to this and it is not the issue of Tinubu imposing a candidate in 2012; it was the decision of a committee.

17

Monday, 29 August 2016

money

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

leadership

money

Last week two former governors of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) reviewed some of the policies of the government of the day scoring it low in currency management, creation of employment opportunities as well as expanding the production capacity of the economy.

SULAIMON OLANREWAJU and SANYA ADEJOKUN spoke with some experts on the assessment of the erstwhile apex bank helmsmen.

I

N what looked like a convocation of former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governors for the assessment of the nation’s economy, two immediate past heads of the apex bank gave their views on the performance of the economy last week returning damning verdicts.

First, it was the immediate past governor of the CBN and the current Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II, who on Wednesday in Kano, said the economy was headed for the doldrums unless the government retraced its steps. Sanusi, who spoke at the 15th meeting of the Joint Planning Board and National Council on Development Planning in Kano State, where he was chairman, opined that the failure of the government to provide employment

Nigerian Tribune

entrepreneurship

analysis

FG should heed ex-CBN govs’ advice —Experts

opportunities for the over 80 million youths in the country had made them to be favourably disposed to supporting terrorism.

In a speech entitled Nigeria in search of new growth model, the former CBN boss denounced some of the policies of the government as working against the interest of the generality of the people. He added that some of the policies, especially the foreign exchange policy, had made some people billionaires without investing anything.

He said the foreign exchange policy of the current administration was not different from the oil subsidy policy of the immediate past administration of Dr Goodluck Jonathan in that the two policies encouraged rent-seeking.

He said, “You don’t have to be an economist to know that any sys-

tem that allows you to sit in your garden, and with a telephone call, make one billion naira without investing a kobo, that system is wrong. It is unsustainable.

Lampooning the system operational in the country, which he described as discouraging manufacturing, Emir Sanusi said, “We are in a situation where we cannot process tomato. Tomato paste is being imported from China. It is sad.”

The erstwhile CBN governor said the way out of the present situation in the country was expanding the economy. According to him, “If we do not expand the economy through wise investment, we can end up in classical Malthusian situation.”

Also speaking on the need to expand the economy, Professor

Chukwuma Soludo, Sanusi’s immediate predecessor as CBN governor, said “Nigerian economy has been massively compressed by 50 per cent. GDP is being compressed to 50 per cent from $578 billion to $290 billion while per capita income has also dropped from $3,100 to $1,500.”

Soludo, who on Thursday was the guest speaker at the 4th Progressive Governance Lecture Series organized by the Progressive Governors Forum with the theme Building the Economy of States: Challenges of Developing Inclusively-Sustainable Growth, said “The transition to a Nigerian economy without oil cannot be sustainable by merely pumping money into the system. If the aggregate demand is on one side, we have other things on the other side to

consider in order to be able to sustain our economy.”

The former CBN governor added that the foreign exchange crisis had resulted in the shrinking of the nation’s economy by as much as 50 per cent.

Just like Sanusi pointed out that the present situation was not without its inherent opportunities in spite of the obvious challenges, Soludo also said, “Nigeria is facing unprecedented and tremendous political and economical challenges with global and local dynamics. Regardless of these challenges, opportunities and possibilities abound if we address some fundamental issues. The key to achieving this is to have a development plan that is anchored on realizing inclusive and sustainable growth.”

Continues on pg27

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Monday, 29 August, 2016

Banking industry bad loans enough to secure 25 intl. banking licences As CBN calls for credit information sharing to stem risks

By Chima Nwokoji

F

RESH facts have emerged that at N649.63 billion, the total amount of Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) in the banking industry is enough to obtain 12 international banking licenses and 25 national banking licences. The Financial Stability Report of the apex bank released recently showed that in May 2016, NPL in the banking system rose sharply by 78 per cent to N649.63 billion year–on-year basis.

Under the new regime that replaced universal banking, banks with N50 billion maximum capital base could operate internationally while national banks whose operations are confined to the country will be required to have N25 billion. On the other hand, regional banks which are allowed to operate in a minimum of five and a maximum of 10 contiguous states are required to have N15 billion.

In order to reduce the tide of the rising NPLs in the industry, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has called on individuals and corporate organisations to double efforts in credit information sharing.

Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria Mr Godwin Emefiele, who made the call at the third National Credit Reporting Conference in Lagos expressed worry that bad loans remain a major threat to financial stability in Nigeria.

The theme of the conference, “Credit Bureau and Access to Finance: Nigeria’s Success Story,” he stated, was carefully chosen by the Credit Bureaux Association of Nigeria.

According to the governor, the reform policies of the bank boosted by availability of credit information have been yielding the needed results.

“This means that efforts need to be doubled in the area of credit information sharing in order to stem this worrisome trend.

“In the same vein, we have made it mandatory for all financial institutions to have data exchange agreements with at least two credit bureaux. All banks are required to obtain credit report from at least two credit bureaus before granting any facility to their customers whilst quarterly portfolio checks must also be carried out to enable them determine borrowers’ current exposure to the financial system,” he said.

Represented by James Iyari, a top executive of CBN, the governor, noted that the credit bureaux have been recording steady increase in the number of registered borrowers.

He added that from a mere 78,189 in December 2010, the total number grew to 18,640,000 in June 2012. The number as at 30th June, 2016 stood at 33, 456, 922.

Commending credit bureau operators for this feat Emefiele charged them not to rest on their oars as “we still have more grounds to cover if we must have a robust credit reporting system in Nigeria.

Accordingly, the CBN has recently approved the payment of one-off sign on fees with Credit Bureaux for all the microfinance banks and other micro financial institutions licensed by the CBN in order to support effective use of the infrastructure provided by the private credit bureaux with a view to deepening the subsector.

Also, in her presentation, CBN Director of Banking Supervision Department, Mrs Tokunbo Martins, disclosed that promoter(s) seeking to operate a Credit Bureau in Nigeria shall apply in writing to the Governor of the CBN, adding that such application for a Credit Bureau licence shall be

accompanied with a non-refundable application fee of N250,000 made payable to the CBN, minimum capital requirement of N500,000,000 made payable to the CBN, 50 per cent of which will be released upon the grant of Approval-in-Principle, while the balance will be released upon the grant of Final Licence among others.

Represented by Mr Onyebuchi K. Ibedu, a Deputy Director in the Banking Supervision Department of CBN said the bank considered the development of an effective credit bureaux as cardinal to achieving its objective of ensuring that financial services are de-

livered at affordable cost to the disadvantaged and low-income segment of the society under its Financial Inclusion strategy. This, it hopes to achieve by looking towards replacing physical collateral with reputation collateral.

“It has long been established that a weak credit reporting regime constrains lending and poses a threat to the overall stability of the financial system.

“We have just concluded the Bank Verification Number project and when the BVN is made available to the credit bureaux, this will no doubt increase the quality of the credit reports,” the CBN’s director assured.

FG to boost capacity for production of 384,000 vehicles yearly Gbemi Solaja -Lagos THE Nigeria Automotive Council (NAC) has stated that it will continue to build capacity for local production of made in Nigeria vehicles.

While addressing journalists in Lagos, the Director-General of the council, Mr Aminu Jalal, decried that despite capacity to produce 384, 000 vehicles every year, the country managed to assemble only 25,000 last year, a trend that is very unwelcomed.

According to him, the Federal Government seeks to build the volume of assembly to a point

where foreign investments can be generated.

Represented by the Director-General, Policy and Planning, National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), Mr Luqman Mamudu, he noted that the development would enable Nigerians own brand new vehicles assembled in the country.

“As a matter of fact, component manufacturers are already coming to us. We are going through the process of surveying to see how we can marry them with the local ones. At present, we are building three laboratories which is gulping not less than three bil-

lion as we speak. We are preparing for the next stage of component development,” he said.

He noted that the council had also put in place programmes to curtail influx of second hand vehicles.

According to him, the council has continued to evolve strategies to curtail second hand vehicle without upsetting anybody On vehicle acquisition, he described the credit purchase scheme, which has been working for two years as an asset financing opportunity that would speed up vehicle acquisition in the country.

Nigerian Tribune

John Holt partners Nigerian Navy AS part of the current administration’s drive to better reposition the country, the Federal Government has contracted the manufacture of gun boats to Almarine, a division of John Holt Plc. Leading a delegation of the Board of Directors and Senior Management of John Holt Plc on a courtesy call to the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral IbotEte Ekwe Ibas, the Chairman of the company, Chief Christopher Ezeh (MFR), assured of John Holt’s competence to deliver on the contract.

“My presence today with my colleagues is to gratefully acknowledge the Navy’s contract to us for the manufacture of gun boats.

“As your senior officers sent on inspection of our facilities can confirm, we have sufficient expertise to successfully deliver this project and others such as Ambulance Boats, Mass Transit Boats and Patrol Boats which may be of need to the Navy,” he said.

Ezeh further commended the Chief of Naval Staff for his commitment towards equipping the Nigerian Navy for readiness in combating incidents of pipeline vandalism, piracy and other crimes on our waterways.

He assured of John Holt’s unrelenting support in the Navy’s fight against sabotage, which he stressed is a threat to Nigeria’s national security and has a negative impact on the economy.

FG should heed ex-CBN govs’ advice —Experts Continued from pg17

Soludo thus recommended that the economy should be steered towards being production-based rather than being consumptiondriven.

While commenting on the submissions of the two former CBN chiefs, a Professor of Economics at Austin University, Texas, Sulayman Marshal, said the two ex-CBN governors were right in their views that the economy could be better managed.

According to him, there are so many inconsistencies in the system. “For instance, the government claims that it wants to encourage local manufacturing but the policies we have are at variance with that assertion because the CBN seems to be working towards the reduction of import dependence especially if you consider the restriction of access to forex forced on the 41 items. While some of the items should be banned, there are many of them that should be given time before being eased out of access to forex. If that had been done the impact on the manufacturing sector would have been minimal and there would not have been a spike in unemployment rate. But because not much reflection went into the decision-making process, we have found ourselves at a point where in our bid to solve a problem we have created several others.”

The Professor also spoke about the gap in the official and parallel market rates of the foreign exchange. “For as long as there is a gap between the official and unofficial rates of the foreign exchange and some people, for whatever reason can have a cheaper rate, there would be corruption in the system for the simple reason that you cannot stop anyone who gets dollar at the official rate from selling at the parallel market rate. That needs to be corrected.”

In the view of Dr. Austin Nweze, a lecturer at the Lagos Business School, the major issue with the government is its inability to take required actions on time.

“In economic management, timing is very important. If you delay in taking action, you pay dearly for it. This government has not been taking required action at the appropriate time and we have been facing the consequences of this,” Nweze said.

He added, “The government constituted its cabinet a bit late and that meant that governance did not start until six months after the inauguration of the government.

Then the budget came quite late.

The decision to liberalise the fuel price market was late. So was the decision to free the currency. These four contributed in no mean way in putting the nation where it is currently. Going forward, the government should understand the im-

portance of speed in governance.

Delay is always dangerous.”

Nweze agreed with the former CBN helmsmen that the government needs to increase manufacturing capacity in the country as a way or energizing the economy.

“Until we take manufacturing seriously and accord it its rightful position, the army of our unemployed youths is not likely to reduce.”

An economist and the CEO of Emerald Associates, Ibadan, Mr Sanjo Aribatise, said Emir Sanusi was right about the danger posed by the nation’s unemployment situation. He said, “The government has to be creative about solving the problem, trying what we did in the past will only give us the result we had in the past. I am tempted to think that this government would be assessed by its ability to solve the unemployment crisis.”

He also spoke about the foreign exchange management, saying any system that allowed such a wide gap between the official and the parallel market exchange rates was not sustainable.

“The government itself knows that the system is wrong but it does not have the will to do what is right.

The need to correct the defective foreign exchange policy is strong and it should be done now. The promise at the outset of the policy was that it would result in a unified foreign exchange system but it has not. The Emir is right, the policy

pauperizes the majority and offers a platform for a negligible few to get stupendously rich at the expense of the majority,” Aribatise said.

Mr. Tope Fasua, an economist and Chief Executive Officer of Global Analytics Consulting Limited, said “We actually thought the era of dual exchange rates was over. What the recent policy promised was that everyone with a need for foreign exchange - legitimately - would approach a single market (the interbank market). The Central Bank is meant to intervene occasionally and unpredictably in that interbank market. What the former CBN and Emir of Kano has ‘revealed’ is that it is still very possible to game the system of large amounts of money, which is really an illegal arbitrage. It is saddening and it is a sign of worse things to come. As a former CBN Governor and a powerful monarch, I believe he knows what he is talking about.”

He added, “Dual exchange rate is certainly bad for the economy.

However, what we are seeing here is a triple exchange rate regime.

There is the N197 which we thought was dead (even though it recently resurrected in pilgrim funding and now being confirmed as alive and well by Emir Sanusi), there is the interbank, which has been fluctuating recently between N340 and N370 to the Dollar, and then there is the black market which is solidly around N412 to the Dollar.”

Monday, 29 August, 2016

By Sulaimon Olanrewaju

T

HE Director, Membership Service and Public Relations of the Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME), Mr. Nerus Ekezie, recently said that 65 per cent of new businesses in Nigeria die within the first three years of their existence.

According to Ekezie, the data was a product of some research conducted by the association on businessPAGE longevity rate in the 20 country.

Adekunle Sonola, Executive Director, Commercial Banking, Union Bank.

Corroborating the view of the NASME director about high mortality rate of Nigerian businesses, Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of FCMB, Mr. Ladi Balogun, said at a recent media parley that “One of the biggest challenges of businesses in Africa is succession, sustainability and the inability to continue to be relevant. Banking has one of the highest mortality rates in this country. I have been in banking for 22 years.

Continues on pg20

INSIDE

Building sustainable businesses PAGE 20

Leaders’

forum PAGE 21

The 60-second

business coach PAGE 20

20

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Monday, 29 August, 2016

Continued from pg19

In that period, over 140 Nigerian banks have disappeared.”

High mortality rate vs high return on interest Promoters of failed businesses in the country are wont to attribute the failure to issues such as poor infrastructure, epileptic power supply, high cost of funds, multiple taxation, security challenges and a number of other factors. However, many observers are of the opinion that these excuses fly in the face of the truth because in spite of these obvious hindrances, many companies still thrive in the country.

During a visit to Nigeria in June last year, Mr. Jean-Francois Van Boxmeer, the CEO of Heineken International, parent company of Nigerian Breweries Plc, observed that the country’s high rate of return on investment makes the country one of the most appealing destinations for investors globally.

According to him, Nigeria’s huge population and growing middle class are partly responsible for the high rate of return on investment.

He added that the high return on investment has been the rationale for the company’s increasing investment in the country. “We saw the analysis on Nigeria’s economic prospect, so we resolved to improve our presence in the country – hosting our second largest operations after Mexico.”

As a direct response to the country’s impressive return on investment, Heineken has over the past few years consolidated its hold on the industry with massive investments, building up a 64 per cent controlling interest in Nigerian Breweries Plc and also acquiring greater control in Consolidated Breweries and Sona Breweries.

Just as Heineken is increasing its investment in the country, so is Konga, a wholly-owned Nigerian company, that started with just seven employees and after three years has created 560 employment opportunities. According to Sim Shagaya, the pioneer CEO, in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune, “doing business in Nigeria is not a tea party but the opportunities are numerous here. So, as a business, we focus on

the opportunities while we get ready to tackle the obstacles that may come our way. That is why we have been investing in the business and it has kept growing bigger and stronger. The return on investment in this country is high.”

How leaders build sustainable businesses companies that they can trust, the government, regulators and civil society also appreciate and reward integrity in business. Above all, the customer, who businesses aim to please, values how a company conducts itself.”

So, corporate governance, nay integrity, is sine qua non to a business that wants to be sustainable.

Those that embark on short cuts are not sustainable on the long run.

Making a business sustainable Businesses are like trees which can live forever if provided the right nourishment and appropriate environment. However, if it is sited in a toxic location and denied the necessary support, it will wither and eventually go the way of the flesh.

To build a sustainable business requires the following.

Right leadership Management guru, Peter Drucker, differentiates between management and leadership thus; “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” So, for a business to stand the test of time it must have a visionary and focused leadership that is determined to do the right things.

Doing the right things does not come naturally to individuals or organizations because it involves taking hard decisions; agreeing to losing a battle to win a war as well as moving against old friends and relations to preserve the business, among others.

The right leadership will act in the best interest of the company at all times. Until it gets the right leadership in place, a business gets nowhere.

Right people Great organizations run on clearly defined corporate visions. But the visions are driven by people. So, if the vision is right but the people are not, the company will buckle and crumble because a company is only as good as its people.

How far a company will go is largely determined by how good the workforce is. A good tree will produce its like, ditto for bad ones.

So, in making people selection either for management cadre or other categories, it is important to get the right people.

Two factors are helpful in selecting the right people. One is skill, the other

Anselm Nsolo, MD/CEO, ACE Logistics & Locations LTd

Chidi Okoro, Managing Director UAC Foods Ltd

is attitude. Neither should be compromised if the desire is to build a sustainable business.

challenge. The immediate subordinates will also recruit those less competent than themselves and on it goes like that. This is what C. Northcote Parkinson calls Injelititis, the end product of which is the sinking of the business.

Right skill The skill is what is required to get the job done; whoever does not possess the right quantum of the required skill has no business being in the business. A team is like a chain and a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. To ensure that a business remains strong at all times, it is essential that it does not allow any weak link in its chain.

This is especially because the weak link will slow down the team and sap the rest of the team the required zest.

One very grievous fact about allowing incompetent people in a team is that they attract other incompetent people to the team.

An incompetent manager will recruit less competent subordinates so as to shield his own incompetence from any form of

BOOK

By Todd Wangsgard MR. Geoff Colvin’s primary message is that people are not born with all the natural talent and abilities that will make them great it life. He asserts that, aside from some physical attributes that may give an athlete an advantage in a particular sport, everyone can achieve world-class performance through “deliberate practice” in his or her chosen field - business, music, sports, etc.

In his opening chapter, Mr. Colvin proceeds to debunk the commonly held beliefs that Tiger Woods and Mozart were simply born with the

Right attitude The second factor to be considered in choosing people is attitude. If the attitude of an employee is wrong, nothing can be right about him. Any employee with a wrong attitude is a poison to the system; any company that plans to go far should have nothing to do with such. Every negative trend in an establishment is traceable to employees with the wrong attitude.

They are the ones who sow poison in the minds of others.

What determines attitude is the individual’s worldview, so a probe into the worldview of a prospective employee before being engaged will give an indication to his attitude.

Talent is overrated innate ability to excel at golf or music composition. Mr. Colvin argues that any of us may have been as great in either of these two fields, had we been born to Earl Woods or Leopold Mozart, their mentor fathers. He writes, “neither Tiger nor his father suggested that Tiger came into this world with a gift for golf.”

He goes on to quote Tiger Woods himself, “‘Golf for me was an apparent attempt to emulate the person I looked up to more than anyone: my father.’ Asked to explain Tiger’s phenomenal success, father and son always gave the same reason: hard work.”

The author explains, drawing several re-

Sijibomi Ogundele, MD, Sijumoto Group

Victor Banjo, Director General/CEO, Institute of Directors

Strong corporate governance A business that will go far must of necessity imbibe the principle of corporate governance. Corporate governance, according to businessdictionary.com, is the framework of rules and practices by which a board of directors ensures accountability, fairness, and transparency in a company’s relationship with its all stakeholders (financiers, customers, management, employees, government and the community).

However, it has been observed that corporate governance is very weak in Nigeria.

This, more than any other factor, has been responsible for the demise of about 70 per cent of companies that have collapsed in the country.

The collapse of Oceanic Bank Plc has been linked to the abuse of corporate governance as the former Group Managing Director, Mrs Cecilia Ibru, was said to have given out depositors’ funds worth over N150 billion as loans to friends and

search-based conclusions, that the secret – deliberate practice – is designed, can be repeated a lot, requires constant feedback, is highly demanding mentally, and isn’t much fun.

He goes on to say, “If it seems a bit depressing that the most important thing you can do to improve performance is no fun, take consolation in this fact: It must be so. If the activities that lead to greatness were easy and fun, then everyone would do them and they would not distinguish the best from the rest. The reality that deliberate practice is hard can even be seen as good news. It means that most people won’t do it. So your willingness to do it will distin-

relatives without collateral.

The trend was similar in most of the other companies that went down; the management engaged in insider abuse and that wrecked the organisations.

Speaking at the at the Second Annual Christopher Kolade Lecture on business integrity in Lagos last year, Ms Arunma Oteh, former Director General of the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), said, “Integrity is an enabler of sustainable profitability.

Businesses that act with integrity are long term sustainable businesses while those that do not – for the purpose of short term gains – will eventually run out of business.”

She added, “Integrity is valued by all categories of stakeholders of a business.

Shareholders clearly want their business to be properly governed, investors place a premium on companies that set and maintain the highest standards, the best talents want to work for ethically sound

guish you all the more.”

At this point in my reading I couldn’t get a famous quote by George Washington Carver out of my mind: “People who do the common things in this life uncommonly well will command the attention of the world!”

Mr. Colvin’s book quite simply supports the belief that everyone and every organization has the potential to achieve greatness. Each of us might feel compelled, therefore, to ask this question daily, “What have I done today that will bring me closer to greatness?” It proves to be within our reach.

Will you grasp it?

Connecting with the community To be sustainable, a business must impact on the community where it operates. It must go outside its primary area of operation to embark on programmes and projects that will help the development of the community.

At a parley organized by the FCMB on Sustainable Banking in Nigeria: The Role of the Media in Lagos, the CEO, Ladi Balogun, observed that, “Banks in Nigeria need to change their narrative. Over the years we have always talked about how profitable our banks are, how big we are and the new products we are bringing out.

The fact is that these things don’t interest the communities where we operate. We need to change the narrative and talk more about those things that interest the public. Banks should talk more about their impacts on their communities.

We need to talk about what we are doing to empower the people, we need to talk more about how we are helping small and medium enterprises, we need to talk more about financial inclusion, we need to talk about gender balancing.”

As it is for banks, so it is for other companies.

However, a number of companies have construed connecting with the community to merely mean embarking on corporate social responsibility which they vigorously pursue. But it is much more than that. To connect with the community means to desist from manufacturing harmful products or conducting business in ways that are injurious to the community. There is no way a community can buy into the vision of a company whose activities result in the pollution of the community’s source of water supply, for instance. So, to be sustainable and enjoy the support of the community where it operates, a company must ensure that its operation is not in any way injurious to the wellbeing of its host communities.

THE 60-SECOND business coach

Habits of exceptional leaders

By Patrick Allmond

1. Courage People will wait to see if a leader is courageous before they’re willing to follow his or her lead. People need courage in their leaders. They need someone who can make difficult decisions and watch over the good of the group. They need a leader who will stay the course when things get tough. People are far more likely to show courage themselves when their leaders do the same.

Leaders who lack courage simply toe the company line.

They follow the safest path— the path of least resistance— because they’d rather cover their backside than lead.

2. Effective Communication Communication is the real work of leadership. It’s a fundamental element of how leaders accomplish their goals each and every day. You simply can’t become a great leader until you are a great communicator.

Great communicators inspire people. They create a connection with their followers that is real, emotional, and personal, regardless of any physical distance between them. Great communicators forge this connection through an understanding of people and an ability to speak directly to their needs.

3. Generosity Great leaders are generous.

They share credit and offer enthusiastic praise. They’re as committed to their followers’ success as they are to their own. They want to inspire all of their employees to achieve their personal best— not just because it will make the team more successful, but because they care about each person as an individual.

4. Humility Great leaders are humble.

They don’t allow their position of authority to make them feel that they are better than anyone else. As such, they don’t hesitate to jump in and do the dirty work when needed, and they won’t ask their followers to do anything they wouldn’t be willing to do themselves.

5. Self-awareness Leaders’ gaps in self-awareness are rarely due to deceitful, Machiavellian motives, or severe character deficits. In most cases, leaders—like ev-

eryone else—view themselves in a more favorable light than other people do.

Self-awareness is the foundation of emotional intelligence, a skill that 90 per cent of top performing leaders possess in abundance. Great leaders’ high self-awareness means they have a clear and accurate image not just of their leadership style, but also of their own strengths and weaknesses. They know where they shine and where they’re weak, and they have effective strategies for leaning into their strengths and compensating for their weaknesses.

6. Adherence to the Golden Rule +1 The Golden Rule—treat others as you want to be treated— assumes that all people are the same. It assumes that, if you treat your followers the way you would want a leader to treat you, they’ll be happy.

Great leaders don’t treat people how they themselves want to be treated. Instead, they take the Golden Rule a step further and treat each person as he or she would like to be treated. Great leaders learn what makes people tick, recognize their needs in the moment, and adapt their leadership style accordingly.

7. Passion Passion and enthusiasm are contagious. So are boredom and apathy. No one wants to work for a boss that’s unexcited about his or her job, or even one who’s just going through the motions. Great leaders are passionate about what they do, and they strive to share that passion with everyone around them.

8. Infectiousness Great leaders know that having a clear vision isn’t enough.

You have to make that vision come alive so that your followers can see it just as clearly as you do. Great leaders do that by telling stories and painting verbal pictures so that everyone can understand not just where they’re going, but what it will look and feel like when they get there. This inspires others to internalize the vision and make it their own.

9. Authenticity Authenticity refers to being honest in all things -- not just what you say and do, but who you are. When you’re authentic, your words and actions align with who you claim to be.

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leadership&management

Monday, 29 August, 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

What is in the red bandana?

YOU could have heard a pin drop as he got up to speak. Everyone in the gathering waited with bated breath to hear Mr. Smith tell the story of his life. Almost everyone in the city knew him. He had affected the city in more ways than one. Chairman or Director on the board of almost all the big corporations in the city, his efforts had created more jobs for the citizens of the city than even the city council had. He had earned the honour that was being bestowed on him. He began.

“Friends, thank you all for this great honour. Thirty years ago when I walked a windy dusty road into this town, all I had for clothing was the suit on my back, and the shoes on my feet. Every other possession I had in the world then was wrapped in a red bandana which I tied to a stick and carried over my shoulder. Fast forward thirty years and today, I practically own the city bank and I am Chairman of its board. I have a chain of hotels, several apartments and office buildings. My three companies have branches in almost fifty cities across the nation. Currently I sit on the board of almost all the clubs in this city. Indeed dear friends, your city has been very kind to me” At the end of his story, the hall erupted in a standing ovation while many people were seen wiping tears from the corners of their eyes.

As soon as the festivities were over, a young man who wanted to be further instructed and mentored by this enigma’s “rag to riches” story mustered the courage to walk up to him and asked, “Sir, if it is not asking too much, could you please tell me what you had wrapped in that red bandana when you came into this city thirty years ago?”

The man calmly answered, “Well son, I think it must have been about half a million dollars in cash and about one million dollars in government bonds”!

To each one of us, God has given a “red bandana” containing the seed for our success. It is His plan for your life. The bandana contains your road map to success, the raw material for becoming ALL you were created to be. It is called potential, the exploitation or investment of which

constitutes the platform for our achievement of what we would love to be honoured or remembered for. In the journey of success, you must first know what is in your own “red bandana”. True success is not likely to happen without that knowledge because everything you need to succeed is wrapped in that bandana.

The secular world defines success simply as the achievement of set goals and the attendant acquisition of whatever one desires, as long as nobody’s rights are violated. In this context, self rules. As long as one can meet his needs and afford a few luxuries to boot, he is totally detached from feeling accountable to his environment or its people. The drive for recognition and accolades makes him so self-absorbed that he hardly thinks about anyone else needing a handsup!

But true success is never about accumulation of things at the expense of others even when their rights are not being flagrantly abused. True success is about the discovery and dogged pursuit of a vision or cause that creates or contributes significant value for humanity in a way that significantly enhances the lives of others. In this context, a leader becomes successful by helping others to solve problems or to become their best under God. The red bandana and its contents are a metaphor. It is the encoding of all that God has given to every man to succeed on his journey to and sojourn on planet earth. It is also known as potential. The difference between those who succeed and those who fail is in what each one does with the contents of his red bandana. While Mr. Smith travelled, I doubt if any robber or miscreant would have been attracted to the queer red bandana tied around a stick, even though it contained a fortune. Even the first few people he had an encounter with in the city would have despised him and treated him as a lone, forlorn traveller who needed help. In its raw, unexplored form, the contents of your “red bandana” hold no attraction to anyone for good or for evil.

So what does the red bandana contain? The first is ideas or what we sometimes call flashes of inspiration. We all have these flashes from time to time. About one thousand

thoughts go through our minds daily. Some of them, if acted upon, are capable of making us hugely successful because they connect us with others whose problems they were designed to solve. However, we often despise them and so they remain hidden treasures in the bandana, unable to attract or bless anyone. After all, what you despise can hardly confer appreciable benefits on you!

To profit from any idea, develop a gripping vision around it. Then set specific and motivating goals with detailed action plan on how you intend to see it achieved.

The next item in the bandana is capacity. God has empowered us all to unfold and invest the treasure in the bandana if only we can pay the price to stretch and go out on the limb, sometimes taking what many would regard as crazy risks. Capacity is encoded in materials, opportunities, networks, expertise, experiences and your persona. It is the real money that you need for all that you will ever accomplish!

Your capacity must be developed. But it demands a process. First you must wake up to the realization that you must succeed. Then you get up and dress up in preparation for embracing your destiny and its challenges. Next, look up.

You cannot succeed without God, the Source of the treasure.

There are also human mentors who have travelled that road before you. Seek them out and learn all you can from them. The road of destiny accommodates no excess luggage or weight. So you must give up some things and pleasures in order to shape up. On the road to destiny, life becomes a school where every experience is a learning opportunity. Develop yourself and your skills. To embrace destiny, you must be willing to grow up. Immaturity is a disservice to sustainable success. It’s a travesty when babies become kings.

Finally, if you intend to go up, you must sign up and commit yourself to follow through the course. Every letter gets to its destination because the stamp commits to the envelope. If you want the world to be kind to you, you dare not do less!

Have you unwrapped your bandana yet? If not, your time starts NOW! Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!

If it hasn’t been done yet, do it!

IN 2008, Keith R. McFarland wrote about his encounter with Peter Drucker one afternoon in 1994 on a tree-lined sidewalk at Claremont University.

Keith was in his mid-thirties at the time and had just been named Chairman of Collectech Systems—a twotime Inc.500 technology company based in Los Angeles.

At the time he ran into late Drucker that fateful afternoon, he was making the three-hour, round-trip drive to Claremont University’s Drucker Centre three times a week to take PhD classes from Drucker and his colleagues, hoping they could help him make sense of the difficult issues they were facing as a company. His frustration, however, was growing and he decided to ask the master for some help. “Why can’t I find the book that helps people like me solve the real problems of moving beyond the entrepreneurial stage of development?” he asked Drucker. After a moment of thought, he looked up and flashed his famous toothy, Zen master grin, “Because,” he granted in his thick Austrian accent, “you have not written it yet.”

Some years ago, I met with a young blood beyond the shores of Nigeria. We got talking on life generally and the nation we both passionately love. All of a sudden, he said and I quote verbatim, “there are too many things that are supposed to be in our country, but it is so sad that they are yet to be done by our leaders…” I looked into his eyes and said: “as long as you and I continue to think this way, Nigeria will never experience any genuine progress. Stop expecting others to lead and start leading. Whatever you think has not been done in Nigeria today, it is your job to do it.”

Once it comes to your mind that something is not well done or is not available, just know that it is your job to get the job done. Leaders do not wait for others to get the

job done; they accept responsibility and get the job done!

Each time I am home in my beautiful country, it is my tradition to always listen to some radio shows in the wee hours of the day. One thing that is common in Nigeria is that no one wants to accept responsibility for the greatness of Nigeria. The leaders are passing the buck to the citizenry while the led are also passing the buck to the leaders. This is a very faulty mindset! And this is one of the major reasons why we are still where we are today as a nation. One of the attributes of leaders who know their onions is that they take initiative to birth what is not in existence and rise to correct what is wrong.

Followers are always looking for who can get the job done, but leaders always rise to get the job done. Our country is full of many followers who are acting as leaders. And until we get true leaders to lead every facet of our national life, we would remain as we are.

Also, it is my job here (every week) to teach you how you can become a leader who knows his onions, so that you too can teach others. Leadership can be learnt. This is the reason you’d need to walk in shoe-leather everything you are being taught here every week, so we can make leaders out of many of our people. This is the only way we can change this nation.

The more I passionately run with the burning vision of raising leaders in Nigeria and beyond, the clearer I see that the African man knows little or nothing about leadership. And the truth is no nation shall rise above the collective quality of those in leadership. Fasting and prayer without raising first-rate leaders to effectively govern Nigeria will not make this nation progress beyond where we are as a people. Leaders laid the foundation of Nigeria, not professional politicians who are

in the corridors of power for what they can get, not what they can give.

In the same vein, stop complaining about what is not available in your community; it is your job to make it happen. Stop waiting in vain for someone else to lead your community. It will never happen. It is your responsibility to provide the leadership that your community needs. Remember, if it is yet to be done, it is your assignment to rise and get it done. If the book you are looking for is yet to be written, it is your assignment to write it.

The day I began to think this way, my life and leadership began to change and things that others are dying to get began to run after me and overtake me. Buddy, the day you start thinking that the future of Nigeria rests squarely on your shoulders, not on the shoulders of others, the brighter your leadership light shall begin to shine and the faster you’d start climbing the ladder of life.

About twenty-five years ago, I was taught by my mentor that each time I rise to solve a problem in my country that I am not only helping my country, he said that I am equally helping myself. Over the years, I have found this leadership counsel to be true. It was while I was solving a problem that I did know I was wired to solve that I began to find my own voice. Running with this counsel has transformed my life forever! Today, I do not wait for anyone to do what I am convinced that I have been sent on earth to do.

Lastly, look at one problem that you know you are able to solve in Nigeria and start solving it. After a few years of solving it, you shall find your own voice too as I found mine and your life will never remain the same again. Stop looking for others to lead and start leading.

See you where great leaders are found!

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Nigerian Tribune

GEW 2016

Female entrepreneurship, investments lead as themes W

A cross section of previous GEW participants

By Ruth Olurounbi

ITH less than three months into the Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) 2016, where nearly 10 million people will participate in a variety of activities, events and competitions intended to “inspire, connect and engage the next generation of entrepreneurs,” according to information from the Global Entrepreneurship Network, themes focus have begin to emerge.

Every November, specifically a week in the month, entrepreneurs, researchers, investors and policymakers gather to celebrate entrepreneurship in more than

160 countries, one of which is Nigeria.

The event is usually structured to celebrate and highlight high-growth, high-impact disruptors with the aim to encourage new companies to start and scale across the world.

Africa has been getting attention from the international community, especially the US Department of States, as well as other international partners, due to its emerging techpreneurs and disruptors.

It will be recalled that the DEMO Africa 2016 was just concluded last week.

With more than 30,000 events to be held around the world this year, Entrepreneurship+ learnt GEW will shine a spotlight on several key entrepreneurial

How to make millions from Bell Apple business

themes such as “women, youth, investors, cities and scale-ups through initiatives from local and national organisers that support entrepreneurship,” information on the GEW website states.

“During GEW, we will highlight powerful voices and ambassadors that promote the increase of women entrepreneurs; events, activities and competitions targeted toward women in entrepreneurship; and GEN’s partner organizations that are playing active roles in the space,” the information continues.

Part of the highlights for celebration, which will run from November 14 to 20, 2016, include “powerful voices and ambassadors that promote the increase

of young entrepreneurs; events, activities and competitions targeted toward youth in entrepreneurship; and GEN’s partner organizations that are playing active roles in the space; powerful voices and ambassadors that increase awareness of the importance of investors in start-up ecosystem dynamics; events, activities and competitions that engage investors; and GEN’s partner organizations that are playing active roles in the space,” the information continued.

It will be recalled that the GEW was launched in 2008 with 77 countries, and has since doubled in size to celebrate entrepreneurship in more than 160 countries this year.

Digitisation: How to diversify Nigeria’s econmy

24

Monday, 29 August 2016

Nigerian Tribune

How to make millions from bell apple business

Gbenga Akinyemi got attracted to a little known business in Nigeria - growing and selling bell apples. Bell apples in themselves are little know fruits in Nigeria, in fact, according to him, they were first discovered in Nigeria in 2005 and. The owner of Bell Apple Wealth Ventures, founded in 2010, considers himself a millionaire from profits in this business, prompting him to say in a recent interview prior to this one with RUTH OLUROUNBI, he said that:“I started with a tree in my family house at Okota. My aunt, now based in the United Kingdom, planted it. From that singular tree, I began to sell the fruits and make cool cash.”

Below are the excerpts from the conversation between the agripreneur and Entrepreneurship+.

Y

portunity here for those interested in preservation?

There is business opportunity for those in interested in preservation. I was in a country recently with some white apple farmers and they were amazed on seeing bell apples. We discussed on preservation among other issues concerning bell apple farming as a whole.

To be candid, a revolution has started concerning this amazing tropical apple variety ‘bell apple ‘ and the good news is that Nigeria would definitely be known as the Pioneer nation. I have researched online and little or no work has been done on it even by fruit scientists globally.

OU seem to have been in the bell apple business for a while. How long exactly have you been working in this field?

I started in 2008, beginning with a pioneering work on the business and investment concept. Take note, as a pioneering work, that is starting from the scratch. The journey has been has been wonderful and humbling.

How much is needed as capital (in terms of resources) to start this kind of business?

For production of 100 seedlings for three months, you will need N20,000.00 at N100.00 per seed. For plantation, you need about N150,000 to N200,000 for purchase of 160 seedlings per acre, excluding planting, manuring, lease/ purchase of land.

Is there even a ready market for it?

There is a ready market for the apples, seedlings, seeds, pre-germinated seeds etc.

Eight years now, the core issue is how many people know that it even exists?

The awareness is still very low globally, even in its native country, Malaysia.

Presently, a customer is on my neck to supply her 10,000 bell apples week, but where do l get that quantity for now. It is a signal to the amazing readiness of the market for this amazing tropical apple variety.

What are the revenue and profit potential in this kind of business?

For both the seedling production and plantation, you are assured of over 100 per cent return on investment after six months and three years respectively.

How long does it take before one starts to

I learnt that juices and concentrates could be made from bell apples too. How truth is this?

It is for real. Virtually juices and concentrates could be made from fruits.

We are currently working on producing concentrate from bell apples. It is possible.

Would you consider yourself a millionaire?

I consider myself more than a millionaire as regards the amazing money making potential in this relatively new fruit farming business and investment concept. For instance, 300 people paying a seminar fee of N5,000.00 each will give over one million naira within three hours.

One thousand seedlings at N1,500 will give you over one million naira in four to five months. And what’s more, the more l keep probing into this concept, the more these discoveries I make.

RE: CBN’S Collateral registry

Akinyemi reap the benefits?

For the seedling production, you start to reap benefits from three months or 12weeks, while the plantation, the benefits start coming in from the third year after planting.

What are the risks involved?

For now, birds and bats attack on the fruits. Also, inadequate rainfall will affect the size of the fruit production and theft of the fruits by man because it is amazingly attractive when fully mature and ripe.

How does someone mitigate these risks?

You can use nets for the

Bell Apple birds and adequate security against theft by man.

except core northern states like Borno and Sokoto.

What other business opportunities are there in this bell apple business and how can someone leverage on it?

Some other business opportunities include processing into valuable products like wine, juice, jam, marmalade, cider, etc and information marketing such as seminars, lectures, production of videos, etc.

What does someone going into this kind of business need to know before starting?

Aside one on one education, for short term, it is seedlings production, for mid-term, it is plantation and for long term, it is processing/value chain.

Apart from Lagos and Ogun states where your farms are, where else can these apples be cultivated in Nigeria?

All the states in Nigeria,

I see you have researched this field extensively. As you know, the apples begin to rot after three days in an open atmosphere, but refrigeration preserves it up to two weeks or so.

Is there a business op-

THANKS so much, ma, for your piece on this issue.

But I would really appreciate if you can go a step further to find out if MSMEs have really been benefiting from all the previous loan facilities.

I am an entrepreneur with a small milling business I opened this year. At the time I started, I discovered that maize which is our main product will increase so much in price this year. At the time I started, maize was sold for N7, 800 and I was told it would increase to maybe N12,000 then. Based on this information, I approached so many banks to get at least N2 million to buy bags of maize ahead of the increment.

They were all requesting for collateral I cannot provide and six months transaction with the bank. I told them the purpose of the funds and how urgently it is needed, but they will not listen to all my stories. In the course of this search, I wrote to BOI and they also gave their requirement that I am not sure anyone can meet. Right now a bag of maize is sold for N18000 which businesses like mine cannot afford to buy in much quantity.

Ma, I tell you that all that CBN is saying are just in papers because the commercial banks that are saddled with these responsibilities will create bottlenecks that will make the facilities inaccessible to MSMEs. I sincerely wish that CBN will take it upon itself to handle the programme without involving the commercial and microfinance banks.

Well, I wish this country the best.

25

Monday, 29 August 2016

Nigerian Tribune

4 business ideas requiring no capital times a week. While engaging with Entrepreneurship+ for the purpose of this article, the tutor said he coaches four children in a month, at N30,00 to N35,000 per child.

Event planning As you make more money from this busiOne of the event planning outfits in Ibadan ness and save, the tutor, who didn’t want started from the bedroom, the owner of the his name in print said you could build up outfit said in an interview. But the trick is to a business that includes hiring and paying know how to convince your clients to make several tutors covering a large area for you. a down-payment fee of their events, Tosin In other words, you can become a business Adegoke said. owner who has the capacity to employ According to her, when she started, she people. had help from her friends who knew about her organisational abilities while back in Writing business plan the university and called her if she would Most of business rendering services do be interested in planning an office event not require a large capital to start up. One for her. of such is writing business plans. With To pull off this kind of a business, she said many Micros, Small and Medium scale you must be willing to convince prospecEnterprises (MSMEs) seeking funding, tive clients to believe in you. One of the whether in form of grants or loan, there is ways to do this includes organising your an increase demand of top-notch business friends’ and families’ events and cataloproposals, known also as business plans. guing the experience in a book format to As someone interested in setting herself present to your prospective clients. apart, you could offer this service to include market research, the business plan narraTutoring tive and the financial statements. According As the summer was about to start, a child to Inioluwa Adebayo, who engages in this in Ologuneru area of Ibadan needed a pri- type of business in Lagos, all you have to do vate tutor. The tutor, who was also going is plan your fee around the main one that on a vacation charged a bill of N30,000 your client wants and offer the others as per month, at 90 minutes per day, three add-on services for other clients. much money as she did from a business she started with zero naira.

You too can start a cleaning service. It is easy to do if you think about it.

By Ruth Olurounbi AS Nigeria’s economy bites harder, many business owners have closed shops while others are looking for opportunity to start new businesses that require less capital to start up. Below are a few ideas that can scale, even with zero naira.

Cleaning services

When Ized Zegbua was going to start her cleaning service business in 2014, all she needed was an internet enabled mobile device and a Twitter account. Within months, he had to turn down many cleaning job offers, for lack of adequate hands to help manage the rapidly growing business.

As she told the story, she didn’t envisage that the business would grow so fast and neither did she think she would make as

Ruth Olurounbi

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

3 ways to diversify Nigeria’s economy through digitisation OFF the back of a disappointing Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) ministerial meeting back in June 2016, Cisco’s General Manager in Nigeria, Olakunle Oloruntimehin, proffered an alternative to oil dependence: to digitise their economy for sustainable growth.

According to him, OPEC countries’ failure to reach an agreement on oil production levels made it more crucial for oil-reliant countries like Nigeria to digitise their economies. “If Nigeria is to remain the largest economy on the continent, it will have to move to other modes of revenue generation and a viable one at this stage, is country digitisation,” he said.

Oloruntimehin believes that digitisation will not only diversify the economy and fast track the creation of jobs, it will also provide the platform for improved efficiency and transparency of government services by affording citizens engagement and visibility about what government is doing to improve services in a cost effective manner, drive innovative job creation, intelligent generate and distribute power, and ensure safety and security in the country, among others.

Country digitisation is the connection of everything that makes a country function optimally. It is connecting people, companies, devices, appliances, and homes by using digital technology to allow us to function optimally, smarter and more cost-effective.

“Nigeria could leverage technology to increase productivity and if it is to become a critical leader in the fourth industrial revolution, then the country will need to digitise,” Oloruntimehin said.

As it is, multiple stakeholders in Nigeria are not only accepting the idea of diversifying Nigeria’s economy through

country digitisation; they are actually banking on it. This may why the government, through the office of Vice President Yemi Osibajo, said recently that it was working with organisations such as Cisco to establish eight innovation hubs in Nigeria all sharing Cisco’s innovative digital and collaborative technology.

The innovation hubs will be spread across, Lagos, Abuja and six other geographical regions in the country. Prior to this, however, many private citizens as well as previous government had set up countless of innovation hubs with the idea of creating more business opportunities, employment as well as building larger capacity for career growth in the country.

The fact is, according to those in the business, one of them Tomi Davies, who has been in the digital/tech business for more than 20 years in Nigeria, digitisation helps improve efficiency and transparency in all sectors of the economy and fosters growth in terms of development and advancement.

Sunday Folayan, CEO of General Data Engineering Services (GDES) and Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) said digitisation would help create platforms that drive innovative job creation and provide a more suitable and innovative better buyer and seller format for the agriculture sector.

The issue though is that digital transformation in the public sector is particularly challenging, according to a McKinsey report, Public-sector digitization: The trillion-dollar challenge, however, by translating privatesector best practices into the public context, it is possible to achieve broader and deeper public-sector digitisation, the 2014 report said.

One of such ways is government-wide and agency-deep

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo commitment to specific digital targets. It is not enough for the government to say it will improve digitisation in Nigeria; it must actually do it and be committed to seeing it through.

Establishment of government-wide coordination of IT investments will also work, but the government must be ready to work with the private sectors and those with the adequate knowledge of making this work. A case of putting round pegs in square holes is one of the reasons Nigeria’s development growth has significantly slowed.

And this brings me to another point, the government must be ready to hire and nurture the right talent. As McKinsey puts it, “digital transformations call for specialised skills that are in high demand and therefore increasingly hard to come by.” Nigeria is home to a large number of people with specialised skills in Africa. Data from competitions such as DEMO Africa show this clearly and it is about time that the government reached out to these young talents and nurture them, provide incentives (the United Kingdom government for instance actively seeks to attract talented individuals from the private sector by offering fasttrack career opportunities for high performers according to McKinsey) to them as they collaborate with the government to diversify the economy.

26

Monday, 29 August, 2016 CBN Exchange Rates

Date

Currency

NITTY as @ August 25, 2016

Buying(NGN) Central(NGN) Selling(NGN)

8/26/2016 US DOLLAR

304

304.5

305

POUNDS STERLING

401.6752

402.3359

402.9965

EURO

343.4288

343.9937

344.5585

SWISS FRANC

314.1794

314.6962

315.2129

YEN

3.0285

3.0335

3.0385

CFA

0.5041

0.5141

0.5241

WAUA

426.2984

426.9996

427.7007

YUAN/RENMINBI

45.5374

45.6127

45.6881

RIYAL

81.058

81.1913

81.3247

DANISH KRONA

46.1123

46.1882

46.264

SDR

426.968

427.6703

428.3725

Government Securities

NIBOR as @ August 25, 2016

Tenor

Rate (%)

Change (%)

Tenor 1M

Rate (%) Change (%) 14.4332 0.02▲

2M

15.1358 0.23▲

3M

15.2408 -0.03▼

1M 16.4521 -0.05▼

6M

17.5623 -0.03▼

3M 17.7293 -0.06▼

9M

19.28

6M 20.2207 0.23▲

0.21▲

O/N 18.1583 -0.55▼

Auction Date 8/18/2016 Security Type OMO Tenor 315DAY Auction No 18-08-2016 Auction OMO Maturity Date 6/29/2017 Total Subscription 236118.05 Total Successful 236118.05 Range Bid 17.9800 - 18.5000 Successful Bid Rates 17.9800 - 18.5000 Description Issue Rate 18.5 True Yield 22.0148 Amount Offered (mn) 50000

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

Moderate rates expected on budget disbursal despite N212.85bn T-bills auction

E

XPECTATIONS are high in the money market that rates could become moderately low as expected budget disbursals hit the system.

This is in spite of Nigeria’s plans to offer N212.85 billion ($675 million) in Treasury bills maturing between 91-days and 1-year on Aug. 31, as revealed by the central bank on Friday.

The bank said it will sell 45.85 billion naira worth of the 91-day bills, N62 billion of the 182-day paper and N105 billion of the oneyear debt. Payment for the

purchase will be effected on Thursday, the bank said in a public notice.

Interbank rates should trade at the 16 per cent level by this week once July’s budget allocations enter the banking system, even as market liquidity stood at N62 billion on Friday, but expected to rise in the coming days after the budget disbursal, some traders said.

Nigeria’s naira interbank lending rate closed around the 20 per cent level on Friday, a range it has traded all week because of low liquidity and the central

bank’s cash withdrawal through treasury bills sales.

Nigeria, issues treasury bills to raise cash to fund the government budget deficit, help manage banking system liquidity and curb rising inflation.

The central bank sold N71.6 billion naira ($227.48 million) in 195-day open market operation (OMO) treasury bills at 18 per cent on Friday to reduce liquidity in the banking system in its bid to support the naira.

However, traders said that the expectation of the disbursal of July’s budgetary allocation to government

agencies helped to calm the market.

“The market traded in anticipation of the release of the July budget allocations to states and local government, which hopefully should hit the system by Monday,” one dealer said.

Nigeria, Africa’s top crude producer, distributes revenues from oil exports and taxes among its three tiers, federal, state and local, every month.

The portions for states and local governments pass through the banking system and boosts liquidity as they spend the money.

Skye Bank raises daily card spending limit for travellers AS part of its efforts to enhance travellers’ holiday experience and make financial transactions seamless, Skye Bank Plc., has increased customers’ daily international spend limit from $100 to $300 on MasterCard debit cards and $500 daily and $3,000 monthly for Platinum Master Card debit card users.

The upward review of the daily international spend limit on MasterCard is aimed at granting customers spending freedom and more purchasing choices while on holiday abroad.

A statement issued by the bank said

the positive development would not only provide convenience and comfort to its customers but will also ensure that Skye Bank customers on vacation or on a business trip outside the shores of the country do not easily run into difficulties on account of the limits of their financial transactions.

Skye Bank has won numerous awards through its investment in, and deployment of best in class information technology solutions which have delivered more value and satisfaction to their customers.

The Bank has developed and issued debit and credit cards both for domestic

and international use. It has also partnered with international card companies like MasterCard, Visa, amongst others, to make financial transactions convenient for its customers.

It would be recalled Skye Bank and Chams Mobile were both recently awarded the ‘Best Mobile money/Card combination in Nigeria’ for their joint development and activation of the Kegow Visa virtual card. The award was presented to the winning organisations at the Kalahari Awards 2016 during the 6th Remittance and Mobile Money Conference, which took place in Lagos.

Accounts receiving illicit forex risk being frozen, regulator warns THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has warned all the nation’s banks to henceforth freeze all accounts receiving illegal foreign exchange (forex) inflows into the country. This is just as the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Mr Godwin Emefiele has identified capacity deficits as a major challenge facing countries in the West African region.

The apex bank, in a circular entitled: “Illicit International Money remittances through the banking system”, signed by its acting Director, Trade and Exchange Department, WD Gotring, to all authorised dealers

and the general public, noted that some banks are operating accounts either as companies, or firms masquerading as individuals for the purpose of illegally receiving money transfer flow into those accounts for onward disbursements to recipients in Nigeria.

The apex bank then directed the banks to conduct Know Your Customs Business (KYCB) checks on all their customers to ensure that they do no transact illegal/ illicit flows.

Consequently, CBN wants the banks to identify and freeze accounts receiving

illicit flows and to submit the mandate and account details of the accounts held in naira or foreign currency to the CBN for onward reporting to the security agencies.

In the same vein, Emefiele at the 20th anniversary of the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM) in Lagos said the socioeconomic capacity deficits in West Africa had been a challenge in the region in spite of the efforts to achieve sustainable development.

Represented by the Deputy Governor, Economic Policy, Dr Sarah Alade, the Governor said, “Those

deficits continue to inhibit efforts in implementing their developmental strategies and policies and in achieving their desires development outcomes.”

According to him, weak capacity in its various dimensions has continued to be the problem of the continent. The governor said the member countries needed to continue to support the objectives of WAIFEM which had been established for the purpose of capacity building.

He stressed the need to ensure that WAIFEM becomes the training and capacity building institution of ECOWAS.

Nigerian Tribune

Money Market Review

SYSTEM liquidity opened with a balance of N22.3 billion on Monday last. Week. Thus, Open Buy Back (OBB) and Over Night (O/N) rates settled at 19 per cent and 21.8 per cent respectively on Monday. Rates declined on Tuesday as OBB fell to 17.5 per cent while O/N rate slid to 18.6 per cent following an improvement in liquidity levels which settled at about N25 billion.

The downtrend in rates lingered into Wednesday, with no major inflow or outflow from the system as OBB and O/N trended lower to 17 per cent and 18.1 per cent. However on Thursday rates rose, though at tight band, to settle at 16.3 per cent (OBB) and 17.9 per cent (O/N).

According to analysts from Afrinvest West Africa Limited, the uptrend was sustained on Friday given a liquidity balance of N62.8 billion as OBB and O/N rate rose to 18.2 per cent and 18.9 per cent following an open market operation (OMO) auction worth N100 billion of which only N74.6 billion was sold at 18 per cent by the CBN. Consequently, money market rates slid 4.8 per cent (OBB) and 6.7 per cent (O/N) W-o-W respectively.

The treasury bills market opened the week on a bearish note as average T-bills rates settled at 16.9 per cent, 1.2 per per cent lower than the previous Friday. Rates in the T-bills market further declined on Tuesday to eventually settle at 16.4 per cent on Wednesday.

By Thursday, the downtrend was reversed as average rates rose to 16.7 per cent and 16.9per cent on Thursday and Friday respectively. As a result, average T-bills rate declined 1.2 per cent W-o-W. Across the T-bills Afrinvest said term structure, nine months and 12 months tenors remain the most attractive with rates closing respectively at 17.8 per cent and 17.6 per cent on Friday.

Dealers expect rates to trend in line with liquidity dynamics in the coming week as interest in T-bills and OMO instruments currently trading at attractive rates strengthens.

Foreign Exchange The local unit opened the week stronger at the interbank market, as spot rates strengthened to N308.73/$1 on Monday from N316.55/$1 on Friday and further appreciated to N305.18/$1 on Tuesday. The naira however weakened to N316.84/$1 on Thursday before eventually settling at N314.95/$1 on Friday following the decision of the CBN to ban nine deposit money banks (DMBs) from the interbank market on Wednesday.

However, parallel market rates tumbled 3.6 per cent W-o-W as the greenback exchanged for the naira at N412/$1 on Friday (26/08/2016) relative to N397/$1 in the previous Friday. Overall performance of the domestic currency was pressured by volatility in the currency market which was triggered by the sanction imposed on nine DMBs by the Apex Bank due to alleged refusal to remit $2.3 billion to the TSA account.

In the futures market, the AUG 24 2016 contract with a notional value of $152.5 million at $/N310, matured and was settled on the FMDQ platform on the said maturity date. This was replaced by the CBN with a new 12-month contract (AUG 16 2017), with value of open contract offered at $41 billion at N244/$1. In addition, new rates were published for the existing one-month to 11-month contracts.

“We believe that the foreign exchange market will continue to be pressured in the interim, especially at the parallel market, as liquidity in the official market remains a concern,” Afrinvest analysts said.

Bond Market Consequent on the bearish sentiment that has persisted in the equities market, investors’ interest has turned towards the fixed income market. However, buying interest has remained on shorter tenor T-bills instruments given the current attractive yield environment and as a result, activities in the longer-dated bond market have remained relatively soft and this persisted last week.

Compared to penultimate Friday, average yields across benchmark instruments declined 0.9 per cent to 15.1 per cent on Monday. On Tuesday, as trading activity remained marginal, average yields across benchmark instruments slid 0.1 per cent to settle at 15 per cent. On Wednesday however, marginal sell pressure drove yields 2 basis points (bps) higher.

Yields on bonds closed flattish on Thursday but eventually rose to 15.1 per cent on Friday, lower by 0.9per cent W-o-W broadly due to the bullish sentiment on Monday.

Dealers expect investors to trade cautiously in opening trades this week ahead of July 2016 inflation data release.

Monday, 29 August, 2016 27 FCMB re-states commitment to supporting less privileged IN line with its commitment to continually empower and impact lives in all segments of the society, First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Limited has donated 15 Braille machines designed to aid the blind in reading and writing.

The bank made the presentation to the Federal Nigeria Society for the Blind (FNSB) at its Vocational Training Centre (VCT) located at Oshodi, Lagos state. The Braille machines (comparable to a typewriter) are designed to aid the blind in reading and writing, with a view to assisting them get sound education.

The donation of the machines forms part of the Bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives, which focuses on poverty alleviation,

economic empowerment and environmental sustainability.

A statement from the bank said the gesture is aimed at effectively supporting the efforts of the FNSB towards enhancing the standard of teaching, as well as learning of the blind, who are students of the VCT. The centre was established 60 years ago and so far, over 2,000 visually impaired men and women have benefited from the various training programmes at the centre.

Speaking at the presentation ceremony recently in Lagos, the Group Head, Corporate Affairs of FCMB, Mr. Diran Olojo, said that the Bank recognises the importance of every segment of the society. He added that, ‘’as

a corporate organization, we believe that it is necessary to constantly extend the hand of fellowship, support and love to the physically challenged and other less privileged groups through charity programmes like this. We will continue to support initiatives and programmes that empower people to fulfil their aspirations. We are committed to helping a wide spectrum of our stakeholders to ensure the emergence of a sustainably progressive society.”

Also speaking, the Divisional Head, Human Resources and Strategy of FCMB, Felicia Obozuwa, explained that, ‘’as an institution, we will do our best to help remove barriers, give new hope, provide resources

and expand possibilities, so that people with vision loss can achieve their full potential’’.

She urged the students not to see the physical challenge as an impediment to the attainment of their respective ambitions.

The Divisional Head further commended the Board and Management of the FNSB for sustaining the Society and the VCT over the years and for its contributions in alleviating the plight of the visually impaired.

In his response, the Chairman of Council, FNSB, Asiwaju Fola Osibo expressed, “profound gratitude to FCMB’’. He said, “We are determined to give the best support to the students of the Centre so that they can actualize their potential

Nigerian Tribune

and subsequently contribute to national development”.

Asiwaju Osibo appealed to the government, corporate bodies and well-meaning individuals to assist in providing support for the center.

First City Monument Bank (FCMB) Limited is a member of FCMB Group Plc, which is one of the leading financial services institutions in Nigeria with subsidiaries that are market leaders in their respective segments. Having successfully transformed to a retail and commercial banking-led group, FCMB expects to continue to distinguish itself by delivering exceptional customer experience, while empowering its customers to achieve their aspirations.

Governors laud Sterling Bank’s initiative on environment THE Executive Governors of Plateau, Bauchi and Gombe States, Simon Lalong, Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar and Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo respectively, have commended Sterling Bank Plc, for its role in checkmating desertification experienced in some Northern parts of the country through its tree planting initiative.

Desertification, according to them, has caused a lot of damage to the local economy as it has made farming impossible in affected areas leading to high cost of food items and poor standard of living for the people.

According to a statement from the lender, the governors made these remarks during the tree planting exercise organised by the bank in the three pilot states over the weekend.

They said the initiative would sustain the environment and checkmate the rising challenges posed by desertification as well as generate the much needed awareness on desertification at local, national and global levels.

The bank last week commenced the pilot stage of the tree planting initiative in three states in Northern Nigeria. The initiative, according to the Bank became imperative as one of the solutions to cushion the effects of desertification in the country, as Nigeria is faced with rapid desert encroachment affecting fifteen northern states with various degree of impact.

The Plateau State Governor who was represented by the state’s Commissioner for Agriculture, Mrs Lynda Shekinah Barau,

commended the bank for coming up with the initiative, which according to her, remains the most tested solution to stemming the tide of desertification and is in line with the United Nation’s Sustainable Developmental Goals for environmental preservation.

Similarly, Dr. Audu Bogoro, Bauchi State Commissioner for Power, Mines and Environment who represented the Bauchi State Governor at the tree planting exercise noted that the Bank, with the initiative, has raised the bar in Corporate Social Responsibility. He therefore called on other private institutions to support the initiative as desertification impacts negatively on all aspects of human life and the environment including the ecological, health, geochemical, hydrological and socio-economic facets.

In Gombe, the State Commissioner for Environment, Abubakar Usman who represented the Governor commended the Bank for coming up with the initiative to support state government’s effort to fight desertification.

He added that the state government would also continue to protect indigenous trees and shrub species considered as other veritable solutions.

Earlier in a statement, Sterling Bank’s Group Head, Strategy and Communications, Mr. Shina Atilola emphasised the need for the private sector to support the governments at all levels to checkmate the rising challenges posed by desertification in the country.

He disclosed that

from statistics a quarter of the earth’s surface was threatened by desertification and out of

the 909,890 km2 of the country’s land area, about 580,841 km2 accounting for 63.83 per cent of total

land was impinged on by desertification. He added that extensive cultivation, deforestation, overgrasing,

cultivation of marginal land and bush burning were identified as major causes of desertification.

From left, Michael Nwachukwu, Relationship Officer, North East, Sterling Bank Plc; Augustine Okwuagwu, Branch Manager Sterling Bank Plc Jos; Lynda Shekinah Barau, Plateau State Commissioner for Agriculture and Abbas Yerima, Business Executive, Commercial, North East Region, Sterling Bank Plc, at a tree planting exercise sponsored by the bank in Jos, Plateau State at the weekend.

FirstBank partners Chamber of Commerce to drive MSME growth FIRSTBANK of Nigeria Limited has partnered the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) to jointly host a Micro, Small & Medium Size Enterprises (MSME) workshop with the theme ‘Fundamentals of Building a Sustainable Business.’

The two-day workshop will take place on the 1st and 2nd of September, 2016 at the First Academy, Iganmu Lagos, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. daily.

The workshop is designed to boost participant’s capacity and creating value for MSMEs given the pivotal

role they play in modern economies in areas of job creation and significant contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

According to Mr Gbenga Shobo, Deputy Managing Director, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, “The SME market segment is one of FirstBank’s strategic platforms to stimulate economic development and we would continue to support activities geared towards the sustainable development of the segment even as it remains our business to foster the growth and development

of small and medium scale businesses in Nigeria in sync with our position as the nation’s Number one SME Bank in Nigeria.”

FirstBank has over the years, emphasised the fact that Africa’s economies cannot move forward if MSMEs and budding entrepreneurs are continuously starved of the right knowledge and skills set to grow their businesses.

The bank is intensifying support for MSMEs through a number of initiatives geared towards raising their level of competitiveness in a challenging business

environment.

Key areas of discourse at the workshop will include financial windows available to MSMEs and how to access them, strategy development and implementation for small businesses, sustainability opportunities for small businesses, and financial management for growing businesses among others.

FirstBank would also provide facilitators from senior members of staff who are proficient in the business of MSMEs to proffer practical solutions on business growth and development.

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Monday, 29 August, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

AfricaRe hints on insurance benefits in new campaign REGIONAL reinsurance institution, the African Reinsurance Corporation (Africa Re) has announced a new campaign, aimed at sensitising the public on the benefits of taking insurance policies.

Speaking on the campaign at the company’s head office in Lagos, the corporation’s Deputy Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, Mr Ken Aghog-

hovbia, stated that the awareness campaign had become very imperative since many Nigerians are still averse to taking insurance policy.

He argued that in spite of its very huge population, insurance penetration still remains very low in the country.

According to him, while insurance penetration rate remains at 0.3 per cent in Ni-

BRANDS &

geria, only 4.3 million out of about 12 million vehicles on the nation’s roads, could boast of genuine insurance certificates.

While reiterating the corporations’ resolve to foster the development of the insurance and reinsurance industry in Africa, Aghoghovbia, expressed the hope that the insurance campaign would go a long way in highlighting and educating

Nigerians on the immense benefits of taking insurance policies.

“The campaign aims at developing an integrated behavioural change to enhance the effort made by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) and the Nigerian Insurance Association to bridge the knowledge, experience and perception gaps in the nation’s insurance market.”

with Akin Adewakun

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

PR practitioners tasked on reputation management Stories By Akin Adewakun

E

XPERTS, in the nation’s public relations sector, have insisted on the need for practitioners to properly manage their reputations, to enable them successfully communicate their various messages value to the Nigerian public.

Speaking at the third edition of the Stakeholders’ Conference of the Lagos Chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Chairman/ Chief Executive Officer of the C&F Porter Novelli, Mr Nnemeka Maduegbuna, stated that it had become imperative for PR practitioners in the country to first earn a reputation before thinking of developing an appropriate communication that would attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) into the country.

Maduegbuna stated that Nigeria was fast losing its attractions as an investment destination, due to its inability to break government monopoly and engage in country marketing.

“It is so bad that we are no longer among the top five FDI destinations in Africa. It shows we are not really engaging in country marketing and creating the right environ-

McMedal

Why we introduced ‘Why Add More’ campaign —Amstel Malta NIGERIAN Breweries Plc has described the newly-introduced campaign, ‘Why Add More,’ for its malt drink, the Amstel Malta, as a way of reinforcing the brand’s positioning as the premium malt drink, with an original formulation that contains less sugar and is enriched with essential vitamins and minerals.

The new campaign, according to the company’s Corporate Affairs Adviser, Mr Kufre Ekanem, is designed to emphasise the fact that in spite of the low sugar essence of the malt brand, it contains vital nutrients, such as vitamins and

minerals that enhance the growth of the human system.

He explained that the Amstel Malta brand is positioned to meet the needs of the increasingly health -conscious Nigerians, who despite their desire to consume minimal sugar, would still want to avail themselves of other essential minerals.

Kufre argued that the new campaign, which is in response to the yearnings of the brand’s teeming consumers, uses metaphor and humour to drive home its ‘Why Add More’ message.

He stressed that contrary to in-

sinuations in some quarters about a drop in the brand’s market share, the malt brand, had over the years been experiencing growth, since it readily meets the needs of consumers, who are becoming increasingly health-conscious, especially in the area of their sugar intake, and are therefore looking in the direction of such low sugar malt brand.

The campaign, which is currently storming the airwaves and billboards across the country, leverages relatable metaphors and humor to portray the idea that adding more unnecessarily, could spoil the balance.

ment that would attract investors,” he argued.

Speaking on the need for government to engage marketing communication experts in to manage its communications, the Chief Executive Officer of CMC Connect, Mr Yomi Badejo, attributed the inability of some of those government communications to resonate with the public to non-involvement of professionals in the process.

The CMC Connect boss, who is also the president of the Africa Public Relations Association (APRA), cited the refusal of the government to constitute a council for the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), more than one year after the last council was dissolved, as an attestation to the fact that the industry was not

getting the type of attention if deserved.

Explaining the rationale behind this year’s theme, ‘Communication, Reputation and Sustainable Foreign Direct Investment in Nigeria,’ the Chairman, Lagos Chapter, NIPR, Mr Segun McMedal, explained that the conference was premised on the understanding that the state of economic development represents a function of the level of investments both from the public and private sectors.

“The present state of the economy has necessitated the need for diversification and increased foreign direct investment; hence, the need to situate government policy thrust to interpret and accentuate strategic direction to boost business confidence and profitability,” he stated.

OVER 2,500 delegated including top public servants, business leaders and CEOs of A-rated organisations will be in attendance when the 2016 edition of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management, kicks off in Abuja, later this year.

According to the institute, the rising unemployment rates in the country will form the thematic thrust of the conference, expected to feature dignitaries from the public service, including the nation’s Industries Minister, Dr Okechuckwu Enelamah.

“Most African countries today is alarming, and this is mainly because many have failed to evaluate priorities, let go of the things they don’t have, create a schedule structure that works best for them and plan for inspiration,” the institute stated.

Tagged ‘People, Potentials, Possibities,’ the 48th National Conference of the institute, scheduled for Abuja International Conference Centre from Tuesday, 18 October to Thursday, 20 October, 2016, according to the institute,

will seek ways of unlocking wasting potential in the country.

The institute’s annual national conference has pulled together an assemblage of thousands of practitioners from the private and public sectors of the Nigerian economy.

The conference will provide a platform for intellectual discourse on a theme of contemporary global and national importance.

In the same vein, the conference will exploit the opportunity for eliciting creative and strategic responses that would optimise the competence of the Human Resource Management practice in Nigeria.

The event will further present an atmosphere of learning, inspiration, networking, collaboration, and engagement and remains the best and biggest HR Conference in West Africa.

At previous conferences, delegates are inspired not just to keep pace with emerging trends in the HR world but are also able to benchmark their respect HR practices with others through networking and interactions.

Over 2,500 to converge for 2016 CIPM AGM

29 BRANDS & MARK

TING

Monday, 29 August, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

La Casera: claims about quality compromise, spurious —NAFDAC, SON

From left, Director General, NAFDAC, represented by the Special Assistant to the DG, Mr William Effiok; Managing Director, La Casera Company, Mr Roland Ebelt; Director, Product Certification, Standard Organisation Of Nigeria (SON), Mr Bayo Adigun and Acting Director General, Manufacturing Association Of Nigeria (MAN), Mr Segun Ajayi-Kadir, during the factory tour of the La Casera Company in Lagos.

Hollandia Milk: Using consumer-driven innovation to elicit market preference Stories By Akin Adewakun

T

HE term innovate or die, is no longer new in marketing parlance. Interestingly, the nation’s economic weather, which manufacturers and consumers are increasingly finding very unbearable, has made this term very apt in today’s survival battles among brands.

Presently, no market segment is this suitably demonstrated than the nation’s dairy market. For instance, since milk intake is fast becoming a luxury among Nigerians, despite its very significant benefits to the individual’s health, brands playing in this

market are being left with no other option than to either innovate and come up with new ideas of bonding their offerings with the consumers or simply ‘die.’

While innovation is key, since it creates excitement for products and triggers demand, brands such as Kodak and Nokia, are very examples of brands that have kissed the dust, for their refusal to move with time and, sometimes ahead of time.

The nation’s dairy market provides an intriguing scenario too. While a frontline brand in the market segment is relying of decades of heritage, as its key marketing message, an overwhelming testimonial, no

How DDB Lagos clinched Diageo’s spirits portfolio FACTS have emerged on how full-service marketing communication agency, DDB Lagos, emerged winners of the Diageo Nigeria Plc’s Spirits portfolio, which includes Baileys, Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker, Ciroc, McDowells and Gordons brands.

A source, privy to the pitch process, stated that the pitch which held on Friday, 26 February, on the invitation of the procurement unit of Diageo Nigeria Plc, included a debrief/clarification session, held at the Guinness Ikeja Office with all the invited agencies - DDB, Noah’s Ark (which eventually pulled out), STB McCann and LTC/JWT. The session, according to the source, afforded the various agencies an opportunity to clarify grey portions of the briefs which were for Johnnie Walker and McDowell’s respectively.

A team of young people led by the Business Development and Creative Directors respectively coordinated the ideation, strategy development and planning stages of the pitch process, which was eventually uploaded on the Guinness e-sourcing online platform on Thursday, 25 February, 2016, ahead of the presentation date, scheduled for the next day.

Few weeks after the presentation, held at their offices with brand managers of the different brands in attendance and which also saw the agencies fielding questions from the Diageo team, DDB Lagos was shortlisted for the second stage of the process which involved a visit to the agency, on Tuesday, 22 March, 2016.

The session, the source explained, helped the Diageo team familiarise themselves with DDB Lagos, its modus operandi, values, team and facility.

“It also served as an opportunity for further clarifications on the remuneration proposal amongst other things and was a good

meeting for both parties,” the source stated.

At the conclusion of further negotiations on the remuneration proposal, in the weeks that followed, DDB Lagos was formally appointed.

Giving a toast to the win, the agency’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr Ikechi Odigbo, described the development as a “testament of the hard work of the team.

“We are structured more like a mediumsized agency handling billings of a large agency. Being able to divert resources to pitch from existing accounts is a big challenge but we have stuck to our policy of having the highest billing ratio per executive because we want to be sure that whoever is working within DDB Lagos is outstanding.”

“We are not just bringing in bodies, bringing in numbers and at the end of the day diluting the quality. We are very happy with our new client and the entire credit goes to the team who worked directly on the pitch,” he stated.

Speaking on one of the fundamental elements of DDB’s success, Director of Business Development of DDB Lagos, Tunde Dosekun, stated that experiences garnered by the agency while working with big brands had been one of the secrets behind the successes of the agency.

“When you have the benefit of working for brands like MTN, Unilever, Interswitch and a host of other clients that we have had, I think it is almost only inevitable that you will achieve success because these are leading brands in their respective categories.

“The objective at DDB Lagos has never been to win awards but to help clients’ product and services to gain superior market share in the marketplace and to achieve their marketing objectives, whatever they may be,” he stated.

doubt, but few brands, in that segment too, such as Hollandia Evaporated Milk, are fast realising the power of innovation and the need to deliver, convenience and value for consumers’ hard-earned funds.

For instance, over the years, Hollandia Evaporated Milk has, through constant innovation, steadily built loyalty and affinity with millions of consumers.

One of such innovations is its decision to come up with a 65 grams, called Correct Wazo’ pack, a new offering that is actually 10 grams more milk than other brands in the same category, without a change in price.

Curiously, this is against the general practice by some brands to reduce product quantity and quality in order to retain the price, at these challenging times.

In his opinion of the nation’s dairy market, of late, a marketing communications expert, Bode Lawal, observed that the secret behind the exploits of the Hollandia Evaporated Milk of late has been the ability of its custodians to think out of the box.

“For instance, Hollandia Evaporated Milk is the only milk brand with convenient reseal-able pack that comes with a cap. I do not have to worry about storage as I can always reseal the pack, unlike other milk brands. It also offers more value for money for products on the same category. Interestingly, this has endeared the brand to consumers in the market, giving it a competitive advantage,” Lawal stated.

Interestingly, with milk widely available and affordable, there is no gainsaying the fact that hinging on innovation, the brand is not disguising its resolve to challenge the status quo and upturn the apples cart. And, not a few market watchers believe the brand is on its way to achieving this.

TWO top regulatory agencies in the country, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), have commended the La Casera Company Plc for maintaining high quality standard in the production of its beverages, while describing the allegation of quality compromise, leveled against the company as spurious.

Speaking during a tour of the company’s plant in Lagos recently, the Director General NAFDAC, Mrs Yetunde Oni, stated that the company had always complied fully with the agency’s regulations regarding food and beverage manufacturing processes since opening its door for business one and a half decades ago.

The DG, who was represented by a Special Assistant in the agency, Mr William Effiok, stated that when the agency got wind of the quality compromise allegation against the company, it embarked on a thorough investigation of some of the products, which involved taking samples from the markets, and those on the company’s production line, with a view to ascertaining the authenticity of the claim.

“After some period of investigation, which involved visits to the company’s plants and taking samples of the products from the open markets for tests in our laboratory, we discovered that the allegation was not only false, but baseless,” Effiok stated.

The DG expressed delight at the level of compliance and strict adherence to modern food and beverage production guidelines, while commending the company for investing in ultra-modern production line that operates under very hygienic conditions, with minimal human interference.

The Director, Product Certification, Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Mr Bayo Adigun, commended the company for having the courage to throw its gate open to the public for inspection.

“We appreciate the management team of the La Casera Company for hosting us on this visit and would like to state that this kind of partnership between regulators and manufacturers are aimed at supporting companies in making sure that they maintain their standard,” he added.

Expressing the company’s delight at the visit, the company’s Chief Executive, Mr Roland Ebelt, stated that such visit would give the company the platform to showcase its upgraded production lines, as well as assure the public of the company’s commitment to quality.

‘33’ Beer fetes consumers on World Friendship Day IN tune with its brand essence of being a friendship beer, ‘33’ Export Premium Lager Beer, rexently hosted friends across the country to an evening of games, food, good music and all-round fun.

Tagged ‘33’ Export Beer ‘Friendship Parties,’ the events, dedicated to friends all over Nigeria to celebrate the noble feeling of friendship, were held in 20 locations across five cities in Nigeria, with guests also winning prizes for themselves and their loved ones.

The brand joined friends all over the world to celebrate the World Friendship Day. Speaking on the event, the Brand Manager, ‘33’ Export Lager Beer, Mr Mfon Bassey, explained that the events were meant

to increase the bond between friends and loved ones.

“The World Friendship Day is a day that defines the special moments that bring the world together to acknowledge and foster the feeling of mutual understanding and solidarity. As a brand that celebrates the special bond between friends, the “33” friendship parties are about celebrating those wonderful moments and days in the lives of our wonderful customers,” he stated.

The parties held simultaneously in bars, restaurants and clubs in Uyo, Benin, Port Harcourt, Osogbo, Badagry, Calabar, Eket, Agbor, Surulere and other locations in Nigeria.

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Nigerian Tribune

Oyo LCDAs: Go to court, APC tells Accord, others

LCDAs creation ill-timed —SDP

By Tunde Ogunesan

T

HE All Progressives Congress (APC), Oyo State chapter, has challenged Accord Party, as well as other opposition elements against the implementation of the law creating Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) to seek redress in the court rather than resort to selfhelp or make any attempt to mislead the public over the issue.

The party made this known in a statement issued in Ibadan by its Director of Publicity and Strategy, Olawale Sadare, stating that “it was unfortunate that some individuals or groups would throw decorum into the winds and kick against a peopleoriented plan of action which implementation was long overdue after years of neglect.”

It will be recalled that the state government, last week, made public its readiness to implement the provision of a law passed by the state House of Assembly in August 2002, which legalised the creation of additional 35 Local Government Areas to the existing 33, but some opposition figures have kicked against the move describing it as unnecessary.

According to Sadare, “We are so much worried about the decision of some uninformed politicians to pour away the bath water with the baby in their bid to attract undue attention to themselves. This is so because most discerning minds are aware of the fact that the present Oyo State was short-changed in the scheme of things during the creation of new states and local government councils by the Babangida and Abacha military juntas.

“Now that another opportunity has presented itself with the present administration ready to do the needful, we expect everyone to support Senator Ajimobi on this as well as all his people-oriented programmes.

“However, we challenge those who may not be comfortable with the development to employ the legal option,” APC said.

Meanwhile, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Oyo State has described the resolve of Governor

Ajimobi-led government to create 35 LCDAs as Greek gift and ill-timed initiative.

In a release signed by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Akeem Azeez, the party said the move was confusing, at a time when the APC government claimed lack of fund as reason for irregular payment

of salary and pension.

The party, therefore, wondered where the state government intended to fund the newly created LCDAs and regarded the move as a misappropriation of priority.

“One is pressed to ask how many developmental projects have been completed in the 33 local gov-

meet up with his financial obligations to workers, contractors and citizens.

“This is a Greek gift by the APC-led government to hoodwink unsuspecting members of the public to regain its long lost positive image and credible perception. This should be discarded and disapproved by the good people of Oyo State.

ernment areas of the state in the last five years APC has been in government in the state.

“It is ill-timed due to the fact that the state is bleeding on account of nonpayment of salary to workers and pensioners. How would the newly created LCDAs get take-off grants from a state that cannot

“The APC-led government ought to look for ways out of the current financial entrapment it caused itself rather than starting what will further compound the financial woes of the state considering that the new LCDAs will need funds to cater for staff and other political appointees,” the statement read.

Power outage: Irate youths attack IBEDC officials in Osun Oluwole Ige - Osogbo

FOLLOWING three days of power outage in Esa Oke, a community in Obokun Local Government Area of Osun State, some irate youths in the area over the weekend attacked officials of Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) with cutlass, leading to severe injuries.

Nigerian Tribune

gathered that after chasing the officials out of their office in the town, the enraged youths, numbering over 40, later caught up with them near Owamiran of Esa Oke’s palace and beat them up, using dangerous weapons.

Similarly, the youths also allegedly broke into the company’s office in Esa Oke and vandalised it, carting away some personal

Nigeria (TCN).

It added that supply was restored after the maintenance work had been completed, just as it expressed displeasure over actions of the youths, which left three of its staff injured with bruises after machetes were used on them.

The statement reads in part, “We reiterate that the outage was due to the maintenance procedure by

properties of the IBEDC staff, including some service wires and cables.

However, while reacting to the development in a statement issued on Sunday, the IBEDC spokesperson for Osun region, Miss Kike Owoeye, condemned the attack, saying the outage was as a result of the routine maintenance of their 132KVA line by the Transmission Company of

10 die, 9 injured in Ibadan auto crash

By Tunde Ogunesan

TEN people lost their lives while nine others were seriously injured in an auto crash which occurred at Itose area of Oyo-Ibadan Express road on Saturday afternoon.

The Toyota Hiace bus, with registration number LSD191XK, involved in the accident, was said to have been coming from

Sango Ota, Ogun State axis, en route Ilorin/Ogbomoso.

The driver of the bus was said to have ran into a ditch unnoticed beside a filling station along the road.

An eyewitness informed the Nigerian Tribune that the driver, while trying to manoeuvre his way after sighting a team of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) at a nearby spot,

Ogun speaker commends Ado-Odo/Ota LG boss THE Speaker of Ogun State House of Assembly, Honourable Suraju Isola Adekunbi, has urged political officeholders to do their best to make life meaningful for the people of their constituents just as he commended the caretaker chairman of Ado-Odo/Ota council area.

The Speaker of Ogun State House of Assembly, Honourable Suraju Isola Adekunbi, gave this charge while inaugurating six projects executed by the present transition committee in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of the state.

Represented by the Chairman, House Committee on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Honourable Olusola Sonuga, the lawmaker urged the residents of the state to continue to cooperate with the Senator Ibikunle Amosun-led administration to make the government deliver more dividends of democracy to all the nooks and crannies of the state.

Honourable Sonuga commended the Ado-Odo/ Ota council boss for his outstanding performance as exemplified by the rapid transformation of the council area and equitable distribution of infrastructural facilities.

The chairman of the council area, Honourable Kayode Sodiq Idowu-Ojumo, commended the state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, for providing enabling environment for the local government to operate.

According to the Director of Information, Ado-Odo/ Ota Local Government, Mr Oloyede Oyeniyi, the six projects commissioned include: Ultra-Modern Car Wash at Ota, two boreholes at Ejila Awori and Ado-Odo, VIP toilets and bathrooms at Ota, grading of roads in all the 16 wards of the council, purchase of project vehicles and payment of over 200 ad-hoc staff of the local government on monthly basis.

lost control and ran into a big ditch.

But when contacted, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of FRSC, Oyo State Command, DRC Oluwaseun Onijala, confirmed the incident and affirmed that 10 people lost their lives with nine persons injured.

According to Onijala, the bus had 19 passengers on board.

He further informed that the injured are currently receiving treatment at the Akinlolu and St Patricks Hospitals.

He added that the remains of the 10 victims had been deposited at Adeoyo Hospital morgue, Ibadan.

the TCN in Osogbo which is not under the control of IBEDC as a distribution company.

“The company has various channels of communication with which the customers can lodge their complaints for speedy attention. Sadly, none of these channels was explored before these youths unleashed terror on our staff: the Service Manager, Customer Relations Officer and the Technical Service Supervisor.

“With this development, we have been forced to withdraw our services temporarily from Esa-Oke and its environs to prevent further damage to lives and property. We plead with all our esteemed customers in Osun State and across our franchise area for their understanding and cooperation.”

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Monday, 29 August, 2016

Ondo APC primaries: Presidency wades in Hakeem Gbadamosi - Akure

A

HEAD the next Saturday’s primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State, all the aspirants jostling for the party’s ticket in the forthcoming governorship election in the state have been summoned to Abuja by the presidency.

According to a source within the party, the summon might not be unconnected with the crisis within the party in the state over the endorsement of one of the aspirants by the leader of the party.

The leadership of the APC in the state has postponed the primaries twice.

The crisis led to the removal of the party chairman in the state, Isaac Kekemeke, who was subsequently returned by the national leadership of the party.

Twenty-four aspirants have paid the sum of N5.5million to obtain the party’s form to run for the election.

A source within the party explained that the aspirants were summoned by the presidency to ensure that the party has a good outing during the primaries and the election.

Aspirants contesting for the party’s ticket had kicked over the purported endorsement of one of the aspirants ahead the primaries.

All the aspirants had, last week, met with the national leadership of the party in Abuja, where they tabled their grievances over the endorsement of one of them by a party leader, but the national chairman of the party, Chief Odigie Oyegun, assured the aspirants that the party would create a level playing-field.

The crisis over imposition, which nearly consumed the state chairman of the party, led to the shifting of the dates of the primaries for the governorship election.

The party primaries was initially slated for August 27, but was shifted to August 31 with the party leadership citing logistic challenge before it was later postponed to Saturday, September 3, 2016.

The party’s Publicity Director, Steve Otaloro, said the national leadership of the party has communicated a new date to the members.

He, however, said that the primaries would hold at the Democracy Park in Akure.

The chairman of the party, Isaac Kekemeke, on Sunday, said the leadership and members had resolved to stay united ahead of the next Saturday’s primaries.

Kekemeke, who stated this after the meeting of the party leadership in the state with the league of local government chairmen, assured all

the aspirants that the party would conduct free and fair primaries.

Speaking on behalf of the chairmen after the meeting, the leader of the chairmen, Honourable Rasheed Badmus from Oke-Agbe of Akoko North-West, said they had resolved to work together with the state chairman and the national leadership of the party to achieve free and fair primaries.

He said the chairmen were

never against endorsement of aspirants by national leaders of the party, but that “What we were against is imposition, not an endorsement. We know that it is not strange to get endorsements in a political setting.

“We are united with our state chairman, Honourable Kekemeke and our national leadership, to conduct a free and fair election, where the delegates will together choose a candidate with the

most experience to solve the economic crisis in our state and make our party proud.”

He explained further, “Most of our members in the local governments also understand this fact that endorsement is not a problem.

They are even embracing this decision of our national leaders, but, they also know imposition is not good for the democratic values of our party, and that is why we stood against the rumour.”

The party chairman, Kekemeke said the chairmen were in order for expressing their fears and grievances over the rumours of imposition of an aspirant, but said the chairmen and the party leadership had resolved their differences.

No fewer than 3,000 delegates will participate in the APC primaries to pick the party’s candidate for the November 26 governorship election in the state.

From left, the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adejugbe Aladesanmi; Ekiti State governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose; his counterpart from Gombe State, Governor Ibrahim Dankwabo and the Ekiti State Commissioner for Works, Mrs Olufunmilayo Oguns, during the inauguration of ultra modern hall at Ewi’s palace, Ado-Ekiti, last week.

SEC approaches court to stop Kekemeke as chairman Hakeem Gbadamosi – Akure

THE State Executive Committee (SEC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State has approached the Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, to stop the state chairman of the party, Isaac Kekemeke, from parading himself as the chairman of the party in the state.

The suit, which was filed on Friday by the publicity secretary, youth leader and party chairman of the party in Akoko South-West, Mr Abayomi Adesanya, Olutayo Babalayo and Dawodu Bolakale, respectively on behalf of the SEC, prayed the court to remove Kekemeke as the party chairman, as he had been suspended.

In the suit No: FHC/ABJ/ CS/643/20, the plaintiff also sought an interlocutory injunction, restraining the national secretariat of the party, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), police and Directorate of State Security Service (DSS) from dealing with the embattled chairman.

The SEC members alleged that the embattled chairman, who was suspended by the SEC two weeks ago, was still parading himself as

the chairman of the party in the state.

Speaking on the development, the embattled chairman, Kekemeke, said he had not been served with the court order, saying he remained the chairman of the party.

He said, “I am a lawyer, I

have not been served any court order. If you have been sued, and there is no copy of the suit, how will you know you have been sued? I have not been served any court order, so, I am still the chairman of the party.

“No court has restrained me as the chairman of the

party, so the suit does not make any sense.”

Kekemeke was penultimate week sacked from office by the two-thirds majority of the SEC of the party and ordered the vice chairman, Mr Ade Adetimehin, to be the chairman in acting capacity.

PDP sues finance minister, others over Ogun LG election Olayinka Olukoya - Abeokuta

THE Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State under the leadership of Mr Bayo Dayo, on Sunday, said it has filed a suit against the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun; the State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Dr Olumide Ayeni and the State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC), over the forthcoming local government election slated for October 8.

Nigerian Tribune recalled that the electoral body, last Thursday, said it accepted the list of candidates submitted by the Honourable Sikirulai Ogundeleled group, allegedly backed by a member of the House of Representatives, Honourable Ladi Adebutu.

The Adebayo Dayo-led

faction allegedly had the support of Senator Buruji Kashamu, the lawmaker representing Ogun East Senatorial District.

In a copy of the suit obtained by the Nigerian Tribune, the party urged the Federal Government not to release fund to the Finance Minister and the Attorney General, who are first and second defendants, from the Federation Account and the Ogun State Joint Allocation Account, respectively, for the local government councils.

The party also prayed the court to declare the election null and void, “if the election is not conducted with the authentic and recognised nominated candidates of the party.”

Addressing journalists during an emergency stakeholders meeting, held at Omo Ilu Foundation, Ijebu-

Igbo, the factional chairman, Dayo, said the party would “fight till justice is done.”

He described the decision of the electoral body as an act of illegality and injustice, submitting that similar situation happened in the 2012 local government election.

“It was not the first time OGSIEC will be involved in this kind of illegality and injustice. It happened in 2012 and we dealt with them.

“OGSIEC’s action is a clear travesty of justice that won’t stand the test of time. We have submitted all the genuine, legally binding documents in our possession to OGSIEC. “However, it does not mean we are helpless or hopeless. We are going to fight this open travesty of justice and grave illegality until justice is done.”

Nigerian Tribune

Group urges Ondo APC delegates to vote for Abraham A socio cultural group, Ondo State Frontliners Group, has urged delegates to the All Progressives Congress (APC) primaries in Ondo State to vote for the emergence of Dr Segun Abraham as the gubernatorial candidate of the party.

The group, in a statement signed by its National President, Professor Adekaye Olomola, premised its support for the candidature of Abraham on the “consistency, humane, collaborative and participatory principles that Abraham had demonstrated over time, even before joining the governorship race.”

While urging delegates to wholly see to the emergence of Abraham as APC’s flagbearer in the forthcoming election, the group added that Abraham had proven himself as “a successful international private investor, industrialist, philanthropist, truthful person with the fear of God.” The statement further read, “Unlike some of the other contestants that have jumped from one political party to the other, Segun Abraham has remained with the party from foundation. It is such antecedents that are needed at this critical time to lead Ondo State.”

Afijio LG boss swears in secretary, caretaker committee members CARETAKER Chairman, Afijio Local Government Area, Oyo State, Honourable Anwo Lukumon Olasunkanmi, has urged the newly sworn in secretary and committee members to join hands with him in moving the council forward.

The council boss made this call at the swearing-in ceremony of the Secretary to the Local Government and members of the Caretaker Committee, which took place at the council’s Conference Hall, Jobele.

The council boss also expressed gratitude to the Almighty God and Governor Abiola Ajimobi for counting them worthy of their various positions.

The chairman of APC in the council, Alhaji Adeyefa Ganiyu, urged the committee members to cooperate with the council boss.

Responding, the newly sworn-in Secretary to the Local Government, Mr Oladele Oyediran Olarinde, on behalf of other committee members promised their support and cooperation to the present administration.

33

news

Monday, 29 August, 2016

Nigerian Tribune

Agriculture will drive Edo economy —Obaseki

A

S the campaign hots up in Edo State for the scheduled September 10, 2016 governorship election, the All Progressives Congress (APC) guber hopeful, Mr Godwin Obaseki, has expressed his determination to make agriculture drive the state economy if and when elected into office.

In a press release issued in Benin-City at the weekend by the Godwin Obaseki Campaign Organisation, Mr Obaseki said his administration is poised to make agriculture, the mainstay of the state economy as was the

case decades ago.

Our vision, he emphasised, is to strengthen the viability of the business of agriculture once again in Edo State, stressing that the state would leverage on its comparative advantage to become what he called the “agribusiness hub” in

Nigeria.

Obaseki further explained that the ultimate mission for willing to push agriculture on the frontburner was to create, after a successful take-off, a minimum of 200,000 job opportunities (conservative estimate) through ag-

riculture and agro-industries in the state over the next four years.

The APC candidate maintained that his strategy would be to focus on the key crops that are best adapted to the local environment for large-scale production.

“We have mapped Edo

State across key crop lines and will develop Crop Enterprise Zones (CEZ) in the different areas based on comparative advantages and availability of land,” he declared.

“We can no longer afford to accept the dubious statistics of lack of supply

of raw materials to food processing factories across Nigeria. In Edo State, we will not only work smart to ensure food and nutrition security for our people, we will ensure supply security for agribusiness investors in Edo State, and Nigeria at large.”

Edo: APC deceiving you with speakership, Ize-Iyamu tells Ekpon people Banji Aluko - Benin City

THE PDP governorship candidate in Edo State, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, at the weekend took his campaign to Ekpon, Igueben Local Government Area of the state, where he asked the

people of the area to reject the APC because of a plot to deceive them by making their son speaker of the state assembly.

He said the plot to deceive them into voting APC in the next month’s election

failed the moment it was conceived because Ekpon people and the entire Edo Central population were now familiar with the tactics and antics of the APC. Speaking at the palace of the Onogie of Ekpon, Zaiki

George Edobor II, Ize-Iyamu said the last minute decision of Governor Adams Oshiomhole was designed to give the impression that the APC values Edo Central or Esan people.

“The outgoing governor is

from Etsako in Edo North and decided that the next deputy governor must come from Etsako in the same way he picked the Edo North senator from Etsako. He said Edo Central had no one that could be a deputy governor.”

34

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Monday, 29 August, 2016 35 news Peace Corps, crucial in war against insurgency, kidnapping —Ambode Police kill 6

L

Bola Badmus - Lagos

AGOS State governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, said at the weekend, that the establishment of Peace Corps of Nigeria (PCN) as a legallybacked organisation by the Federal Government, will help to tackle the problem of insurgency, kidnapping and other sundry crimes rocking the country.

The governor said this at the 2016 passing out parade of over 2,800 Peace Corps cadets in Lagos State.

Governor Ambode, who was represented by his Senior Special Assistant on Community Affairs, Mr Tajudeen Quadri, said when PCN is legally established, it would provide alternative employment opportunity for the youth, community development services and nation building, besides ensuring peace in the country, The governor, while pointing out that only effective community policing could address the recent rise in communal clashes in the country, contended that the security of lives and property remained the primary objective of any sensitive administration, which he said, should be taken seriously at all times.

Ambode, who was also conferred with the title of the Commander of Peace, challenged the organisation to continue to champion the peace crusade, expressing optimism that the Peace Corps would surmount its present challenge as soon as the National Assembly gave a statutory backing to it.

“It is marvelous seeing

what has happened today, and looking at what had been touted that the Peace Corps is a dubious organisation; one can now see that in a genuine society such organisation is required to tackle crime. I am aware that it (PCN) is recognized by the United Nations Charter, before coming for recognition at the National Assembly.

“The Peace Corps of Nigeria Bill is now at the Third Reading in the Senate, and I believe by the time it is passed into law, it will alleviate some of the challenges they are having now,” he said.

Commandant General of Peace Corps of Nigeria, Dr Dickson Akoh, said earlier, in his address, that the youth

Former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Mohammed Bello Adoke, third from left on the second row, with his colleagues, during his graduation for the Advanced LLM in Public International Law, with specialisation in International Criminal Law, at Leiden Law School, Universitiet Leiden in The Netherlands, on Saturday.

Blasphemy: No Christian was killed in Zamfara —CAN Muhammad Sabiu - Kaduna

THE Northern chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has said none its members was among the eight persons roasted to death over an alleged blasphemy at Talata Mafara area of Zamfara State.

This was disclosed by the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Northern CAN, Reverend John Hayab, while speaking to newsmen in Kaduna, at the weekend.

While disclosing the outcome of the meeting held in Jos, the Plateau State capital, Hayab said: “Our peo-

ple on ground confirmed to us that none of our people was killed. We don’t need to mention those that were killed.”

Hayab, however, said the body of Christ frowned on any killing of any Nigerian under the cover of religion or whatever guise in any

part of the country.

Hayab, who declined further comments on those killed, said it has become necessary for CAN to let the world know the truth in order to stop the rumour making the rounds over the Zamfara killings.

The spokesman while

Nigeria must remain one —Justice Nasir Muhammad Sabiu - Kaduna

FORMER President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Mamman Nasir has said Nigeria must remain an indivisible country devoid of ethnic and religious sentiments.

He said the unity of Nigeria is not negotiable, adding that Nigerians must shun all devices aimed at disintegrating this country.

He made this known at the weekend, during the Eighth Engineer Mahmud Urwatu Armiya’u Public Lecture and presentation of awards organised by the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), themed: “Sustainable Infrastructural Development for Economic Growth”, Justice Nasir said Nigerians, particularly professionals must rise up to the present challenges facing the nation.

“Do not destroy the unity of this country. We have more things that bind us together than that which divides us.

‘So, I am appealing to you

that were commissioned into its staff officers’ cadre, were subjected to a fourweek intensive training and orientation.

According to him, the youth went through rigorous mental and physical training, deliberately aimed at putting them in a very good stead for their future responsibilities.

the professionals to stop accusing the government, but come together and advise the government. It does not matter whether your advice is taken 100 per cent or not.

“Think of what you can do to help the government succeed. You need to part-

ner with other professional bodies to help your nation,” Justice Nasir said.

In his speech, the Minister of State, Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika the guest speaker on the occasion, said the Fulani herdsmen clashes all over the country, was not a

security problem, but transportation and infrastructural problem.

“The cattle routes and grazing fields that we used to have no longer exist in this country. This is a huge transportation oversight,” he stressed.

PDP has no faction —BOT chairman Godwin Agwam - Lafia

THE chairman, Board of Trustees (BOT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senator Walid Jibrin, has said despite crises rocking the party, it has no faction.

The BOT chairman, who made this statement on Sunday, at the Nasarawa Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, while fielding questions from journalists, after a solidarity rally held in his honour.

He added that there were aggrieved members in the party, who would be reconciled back to the party.

Senator Jibrin said the

party BOT and its stakeholders were working hard to unite all the aggrieved members of the party, so as to make the party stronger ahead of the 2019 general election.

“Both Senator Makarfi and Senator Modu Sheriff are PDP members, as all members of the party are one and united.

“If Modu Sheriff is aggrieved, we are trying to listen, look at his issues and by God’s grace, we are going to address his issues or problem without fight and without quarrel.

“But I want to advise that all of us in PDP must know that, nobody is

above PDP, we must respect the law and constitution of PDP and we must all remove our cases from court and resolve our differences amicably,” he said.

The BOT chairman also postulated that the party would win Edo and Ondo gubernatorial elections with clear margin, urging party supporters not to be discouraged by the current challenges facing the party.

He said the party would provide a level playing ground to all candidates aspiring for positions in future elections in order to win all positions, saying the period of impunity was over in the party.

reeling out the outcome of the emergency meeting, said: “We met on Friday over the killings going on in Northern Nigeria. We clearly understood that those killed in Zamfara were not Christians. So, the erroneous story going on in the social media and other media claiming that those roasted were Christians should be corrected.

“But as an organisation, we frowned on the killing of human beings in whatsoever guise. Human beings are human beings. If they are criminals, there are the police.

“We should report them to the police to arrest them and not to burn them in the house. Our concern is that our nation is becoming barbaric,” he said.

The CAN leader noted that there was no justification whatsoever for the shedding of blood of any citizen.

He added that the killings of innocent souls continued unabated in the region as well as other parts of the country because government had failed to live up its responsibility to protect the lives and property of Nigerians.

According to the cleric, the lives of those roasted would have been saved if security operatives had acted swiftly to avert it, adding that people should not under any cover kill human beings for any reason.

robbery suspects in Rivers Dapo Falade-Port Harcourt

SIX suspects, said to be members of notorious robbery/kidnapping gang, were killed by the police, at the Ihuike axis of the East-West Road in Ahoada East Local Government Area of Rivers State, on Saturday night.

The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Nnamdi Omoni, made this known in a statement issued in Port Harcourt on Sunday, adding that the suspects were killed in a gun battle with the police, at the scene of a robbery incident, at around 8:40p.m.

According to him, the Ahoada Police Division, following a distress call, mobilised to the scene and the suspected armed robbers, on sighting the police patrol van, opened fire.

“While an 18-seater bus heading from Benin to Port Harcourt was under attack, the driver lost control and the bus somersaulted, while three persons were feared dead. Other passengers were rescued.

“In the ensuing gun battle, the police overpowered the armed robbers, six of the armed robbers died on their way to the hospital.

The robbers are the notorious gang of armed robbers/kidnappers who have been terrorising the EastWest Road.”

CBN Anchor Borrowers programme engages 100,000 Niger farmers Adelowo Oladipo - Minna

THE Niger State government has said it is engaging about 100,000 farmers across the state in the N220 billion Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) ‘Anchor Borrowers’ programme for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Fund.

He said the effort was meant to alleviate poverty, especially in rural areas, and to fight food insecurity in the state.

The State governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, stated this at the weekend, in an interview with newsmen shortly after the fourth Progressive Governance Lecture Series, organised by the Progressives Governors’ Forum in Kaduna State.

He stated that the programme was part of his administration’s plans to deliver to the people the dividends of democracy He also disclosed that his administration was also running a progressive government in line with the manifesto of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and in tune with the needs and aspirations of the people of the state.

36

news

Monday, 29 August, 2016

NOUN VC tasks Arewa Students Forum on access to tertiary education THE vice chancellor of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Professor AbdallaUbaAdamu, has urged members of the Arewa Students Forum (ASF), to assist in ensuring that access to tertiary education reaches the unreached in the country.

This, he said, would go a long way in the forum’s drive to contribute its quota to nation building and the ‘education for all’ agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations and the Federal Government .

Professor Adamu said this when he hosted members of ASF led by its president, Habib Ahmed, in Abuja, on Wednesday.

The vice- chancellor said that NOUN had already keyed into the mandate of the Education for All (EFA), as the management had already finalised talks with the World Bank to grant scholarship to 1,000 less privileged students from all the states of the federation .

He said all that was left is for states to key into the project as all the necessary machineries needed for the actualisation of the project had already been put in place .

He said the university was also targeting Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs),while married women, who had stopped their education are also among the university’s priorities.

Professor Adamu charged members of the forum to ensure that they spread the initiative of NOUN and ensure that students from the 19 northern states are registered in the university as part of the beneficiaries

of the World Bank/NOUN 1,000 scholarship initiative.

Earlier, Ahmed had commended the vice-chancellor for the initiative and urged him not to relent in his efforts at making NOUN a great citadel of learning.

He said the forum was

Rail construction: Ogembe commends FG, calls for early completion Ayodele Adesanmi - Abuja THE planned construction of rail line that would begin in Warri, Delta State and run through Ajaokuta, Eganyi,Baro, Kogi State to Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), by the Federal Government, has been commended.

The rail construction, which would ease the movement of goods and services within these communities, would provide employment and improve the standard of living of the habitants of the areas.

The senator representing Kogi State Central senatorial district, at the Nationasl Assembly, Senator Ahmed Ogembe, who made the commendation, said that the state would appreciate the early completion of the project as it would impact positively on the people of the state

KOGI State government has said its policy on appointing young people into political offices was not meant to relegate and forcefully retire the old people, but was aimed at injecting new blood that could drive the much needed change in the state The Chief of Staff (COS) to the governor, Edward Onoja, said this in Lokoja, the state capital, on Saturday, while speaking at a symposium tagged: "The past , the new direction and the political future of Kogi State," organised by the office of the special adviser to the state governor on political matters, to mark the 25th anniversary of the creation of the state.

Delivering a paper tagged "Youth governance prospects", he said Governor

"I want to appreciate and commend the Federal Government's plan to construct a central rail line that will run from Warri through Ajaokuta, Eganyi, Baro and Abuja. This project will cut across my district and I must say that our people are eager to see it coming into reality.

"I am overwhelmed by this gesture as it will alleviate the sufferings of my people and improve their standard of living".

He, however, pledged the support and cooperation of the people of Kogi Central senatorial district at ensuring the realisation and timely completion of the project.

The senator, therefore, appealed to the Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, to ensure the speedy implementation and optimum actualisation of the project for the benefit of the people.

Surveyors call for review of land policy NIGERIAN Institution of Surveyors, at the weekend, called on the Federal Government for a review of land administration policy, adding that the current policy is too rigid.

The chairman, African Planning Association, Alhaji Waheed Kadiri, said

We appoint young people to inject new blood into governance —Kogi govt Yinka Oladoyinbo - Lokoja

dedicated to enhancing human capital development as well as putting the plight of its members before the government.

He said access to education is a major problem in the society, adding that the emergence of NOUN was a right step in the right direction.

Yahaya Bello-led administration made it a policy to engage young and vibrant individuals that had the wherewithal to drive its "New direction" programme.

He said that the move was to further show that the youth can not only be used as political thugs or agents of crisis, but could positively direct their energy towards the development of the state.

He said the current administration was desirous of unifying the people, calling on elders in the state to maintain their role as relevant stakeholders .

Also, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Chief Samuel Aro, advised the governor to run an all -inclusive government to foster unity of purpose among the people of the state irrespective of political affiliation .

this at the investiture of the chairman of the Ogun State branch, Mr Nureni Ashaye and swearing in of new executives, at Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta.

Kadiri, who was the former president of the institution in Nigeria, said that by law, governors are to hold land in trust and the law added that by holding land in trust, they have no right to take undue advantage of the land and the policy.

'There must be a review of land administration policy. In Ogun State,there are 167.6million hectares of land, and we have 3.7million population, so it means individual would have access to 44 hectares per person,” he said.

Kadiri, who was the chairman on the occassion, also called on members of the institution, to limit themselves to level of competence, adding that as surveyors, they should not see themselves capable of doing town planners job.

Earlier, the immediate past chairman of the institute, Adetunji Adegunle, had said that the body was aware of the lack of clear land policy in the state, adding that most of the prime lands in the state are under acquisition.

Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT), Motailatu Organisation Worldwide, Senior Superintendent Gabriel Akinadewo (Omo Jesu II), with members, during the anniversary of Good Women Society of Restoration Parish, Motailatu Church of God, Akute, Ogun State, on Sunday.

Botched PDP national convention, a blessing in disguise —Adedoja Jacob Segun Olatunji - Abuja A leading contender in the last botched national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), for the office of the national chairman of the party,Professor Taoheed Adedoja, has said that the botched convention in Port-Harcourt ,Rivers State, was a blessing in disguise for the former ruling party, contrary to the fears being created in some quarters that it would further deepen the crisis rocking the party.

In a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja, on Sunday, on his message to his supporters nationwide, and other party members when the coordinators of his campaign team from the six geopolitical zones paid him a solidarity visit led by Mallam Ibrahim Mustapha, he advised them not to be disheartened over the cancellation of the exercise, which he said, would allow for further consultations on the final resolution of the crisis in the party.

Professor Adedoja expressed early resolution of the crisis in the party based on his interactions with relevant stakeholers of party across the states during his nationwide campaign tour.

Responding, the leader of the delegation., Mallam Mustapha, expressed satisfaction with the support enjoyed by Professor

We will re-position PDP —Prof Adeniran

By Tunde Ogunesan A national chairmanship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Professor Tunde Adeniran, has assured his supporters that he is still committed to the course of repositioning and the re-birth of the party.

Professor Adeniran also dismissed the report that he stepped down for another aspirant before the convention, describing it as the figment of the fertile imagination of those who did not mean well for the

Food sufficiency: Buhari, Ogbeh, others for AWDROP conference tomorrow

By Tunde Ogunesan

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari, Ministers of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh and other ministers are set to attend a day - conference organised by the Association of Waterwell Drilling Rig Owners and Practitioners (AWDROP), on how to attain food sufficiency and prevent failed borehole projects in the country.

The conference will take place at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, tomorrow (Tuesday), with the theme:"Role of borehole masters drillers in achieving food sufficiency and meeting the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

The national president of AWDROP, Michael Ale, said

Adedoja,particularly,in the 19 northern states in his aspiration at becoming the national chairman of PDP. In another development, Professor Adedoja ,has commended the Delta State State governor, Arthur Ifeanyi Okowa, for his vision on the rapid development of the state, particularly, his bridge-building approach to politics.

this in a statement issued in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital and made available to newsmen, on Sunday.

According to the statement:" AWDROP is organising this conference to act as a preventive measure to failed borehole projects in Nigeria.

Water projects are expected to have resulting impact of safe sustainable water and not just bored-hole.

Also, the role of groundwater in agriculture cannot be over stated in order to meet the food needs of the country and to attain the SDG's goal 6. The event will bring different speakers together from the Presidency, Ministry of Water Resources, agriculture and national planning.

party.

Adeniran, who said this in a statement made available by his media aide, Yemi Akinbode, to newsmen, commended his supporters and party loyalists who assisted him during the course of the build-up to the aborted election that was to climax the August 17 national convention in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

He said the unflinching support he got from relevant stakeholders and majority of the delegates across the country, was the main boost that kept him going through the process.

“I must sincerely commend my supporters across the country. With their support, encouragement and assistance , they have really shown that they want progress for the party and are determined to give PDP the best leadership it deserves at this critical time of nationhood.”

“The overwhelming support encouraged me to further commit myself to lead the process to reposition the party in order to reclaim its glory. It was clear that majority of our party members were ready to entrust me with the responsibility of being the national chairman in order to ensure its rebirth."

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Monday, 29 August, 2016

foreig naffairs

08116954632 with seyi gesinde foreignn ewseditor@gmail.com

Plane makes emergency landing in US after engine problem

A

plane in the US had to make an emergency landing after a major problem with one of its two engines.

The Southwest Airlines flight was travelling from New Orleans to Orlando when passengers noticed a problem with the engine.

Pictures posted online appear to show that part of the engine had blown apart.

A Southwest spokesperson said there was no explosion.

Stephanie Miller was onboard Flight 3472 and spoke to ABC News.

“We heard a loud boom at about 10,000 feet.

“Sounded like an 18 wheeler tire blowing and we started smelling smoke.”

Flight data showed that

Brazil President Dilma Rousseff

Brazil: Dilma Rousseff trial told she broke no laws A former economy minister of Brazil has testified that Dilma Rousseff, the country’s suspended president, did not break any laws justifying impeachment.

Rousseff, 68, is accused of taking illegal state loans to help bridge budget shortfalls and mask the true state of the economy during her 2014 re-election campaign.

Nelson Barbosa, the former minister, and Ricardo Lodi, a Rio State University law professor, were the final defence witnesses brought to testify on Saturday that Rousseff did not break the law or harm the economy, which is now in deep recession, Al Jazeera said.

“There is nothing remotely illegal,” Barbosa said. “You cannot act retroactively with a new interpretation of the law.”

Part of the damaged engine after emergency landing.

PHOTO: TWITTER

the plane descended from an altitude of 30,000 feet to

10,000 feet in just over eight minutes.

The flight was diverted to Pensacola in Florida where it landed safely.

None of the 99 passengers or five crew members on board were injured.

The aircraft has now been taken out of service.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board are now looking into what happened.

Airline consultant Michael Boyd said it’s rare for Southwest or any other major airline to have such serious engine trouble.

“It’s a one-off, almost unheard of.

“Southwest has an outstanding safety record because it spends a lot of money on maintenance.”

Turkish tanks returned from Syria on Saturday after operations over the border. PHOTO: EPA

Syria war: Turkey kills 25 people in latest round of air strikes AT least 25 people have been killed as Turkey continues to target Kurdishheld areas in Syria, near the border city of Jarablus.

The Turkish military said those killed in Sunday’s air strikes were Kurdish militants.

Separately, a monitoring group said at least 35 civilians and four militants

Trump spreads claim that Clinton’s ‘mentor’ was ‘KKK member’ DONALD Trump on Saturday pushed back against Hillary Clinton’s efforts to link him to the Ku Klux Klan.

The Republican nominee retweeted a supporter’s post that the Democratic nominee “said a KKK member was her mentor.”

And speaking later in Des Moines, Iowa, he dredged up Clinton’s use of the term “super predators” in the 1990s to argue that he, not Clinton, offered African-Americans the best choice for president.

Trump’s retweet and his latest appeals to black voters capped off a week of increasingly ugly and ra-

cially charged accusations between the two leading presidential candidates, during which Trump called Clinton a “bigot” and the Democratic nominee charged that Trump’s campaign was built on “prejudice and paranoia” while also tying him to the KKK. “@DiamondandSilk: Crooked Hillary getting desperate. On TV bashing Trump. @CNN, she forgot how she said a KKK member was her mentor,” Trump tweeted Saturday.

Lynette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson -better known as Diamond and Silk, two AfricanAmerican sisters support-

Donald Trump.

PHOTO: CNN

ing Trump who frequently speak at his rallies -- confirmed to CNN that the tweet referred to the late West Virginia Sen. Rob-

ert Byrd, a former KKK member whom Clinton mourned in 2010 as “a true American original, my friend and mentor.”

were killed by a wave of Turkish strikes in the same area.

It is not yet clear whether the two reports relate to the same incident, BBC stated.

The strikes came on the fifth day of Turkey’s military operation to target so-called Islamic State (IS) militants and Kurdish militia inside Syria, dubbed Operation Euphrates Shield.

Turkish tanks and troops backed by Syrian rebels have captured territory from IS and clashed with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia supported by the United States, which is itself fighting IS. Turkey’s coming into conflict with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) or their Arab allies could further complicate its military campaign.

Ankara wants to force the Kurds to withdraw to the east of Euphrates River, stopping short of establishing a corridor to link two Kurdish-led areas in north-western Syria.

otherNEWS

Police fire tear gas as anti-Mugabe protest rocks Zimbabwe

Police used batons to beat opposition protesters. PHOTO: AP

POLICE in Zimbabwe have fired tear gas and water cannon at opposition supporters who had gathered for a protest march in the capital, Harare.

They have also beaten up people wearing red T-shirts, the colour of the opposition Movement for Democratic

Change party (MDC), a BBC reporter at the scene says.

Protesters are calling for electoral reform ahead of polls in 2018.

President Robert Mugabe, 92, says he intends to stand again.

Leaders from 18 opposition political parties called for Zim-

babweans to march through Harare as part of a so-called “mega demonstration”.

The High Court ruled on Friday morning that the planned opposition march could go ahead, a day after police warned that unauthorised demonstrations would not be tolerated.

Germany’s Sigmar Gabriel defends middle finger gesture GERMANY’S economy minister and vice-chancellor has defended flicking the middle finger to a group of right-wing protesters earlier this month.

Sigmar Gabriel, who is Angela Merkel’s second-in-command, said his only mistake was not using both hands.

He said his critics should think

about what they would do if faced with 12 “young, aggressive, swearing and ready-for-violence Nazis”.

BBC reported that Mr Gabriel was confronted by the hecklers in northern Germany.

They called him a traitor of the people and mentioned his father’s Nazi past.

Mr Gabriel has spoken openly of

his father Walter, who he says was a supporter of Hitler’s Nazi party and denied the Holocaust until his death in 2012.

In a video released on social media of the incident, one of the protesters can be heard shouting: “Your father loved his country. And what are you doing? You’re ruining it.”

Mr Gabriel made the gesture after being confronted by a group of right-wing protesters. PHOTO: EPA

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communitynews

Monday, 29 August, 2016

Abule Taylor, Salolo residents bemoan deplorable link roads chukwuma okparaocha-lagos

R

ESIDENTS of some communities in Agbado area of Lagos State have again called on the government to rebuild the various roads leading to their communities, as the roads have continued to deteriorate.

The communities include those located at Abule Taylor/General; Salolo and Meiran, all in Agbado area of the LagosAbeokuta Expressway.

Community News visited some of the communities recently and noticed that though some of the roads, especially those linking Salolo to AsiwajuMeiran as well as parts of Area 1 Estate, at Adura, appeared to have been recently graded, other roads were observed to still be in a state of disrepair.

Community News also observed the palliative measures put in place by residents of the communities with a view to reducing the hardship experienced by road users, especially motorists, plying the roads in question.

Such palliatives included filling of bad portions with sand bags, blocking of gullies created by runoffs with stones and sand, as well as the quick fixes of bad or partially damaged drainages.

A resident of Church Street, Abule Taylor, Mr Sulaimon Idris, noted that it was only in dry season that residents enjoy driving on the road in the area, because during the rainy season, a huge section of the road, leading to his community often became unmotorable.

According to him, not only has the road turned into a nightmare for members of the community, appropriate authorities seem to have totally left the residents to sort things out for themselves.

Idris said: “The road is in such a bad state at the moment such that if it rains, residents can’t come out for hours. The road needs urgent repair in order to reduce the stress and suffering encountered by road users.

I want to use this medium to draw the attention of the Lagos State government to the deplorable condition of the roads in our community.”

On Meiran-Asiwaju Road (all the way to Powerline Street), huge undulating sections were spotted on the road.

In the community, it was discovered that not only was the road in a

total state of disrepair, thereby making it difficult for vehicles and even pedestrians to move on it, other routes leading to different parts of the community were equally in bad shape.

Various sections of the road were observed to have been taken over by huge ditches many of which it was gathered usually become filled with water whenever it rains.

A cross section of resi-

dents of the community who spoke with Community News revealed that for well over a year, none of them had seen any form of road maintenance or rehabilitation exercise being carried out on the road.

According to Ademola Ishola, a resident of Omo Olegede community of Meiran, the road had degenerated to its present state because it has been “totally abandoned and neglected” right from the

time the bad portions were just emerging.

“I cannot remember ever seeing government agency coming to do any repair work on the road. Rather it is individuals who fill up the potholes on the road with a view to alleviating the pains or those travelling on the road.”

Ishola’s view was also corroborated by yet another resident, who identified himself as Olaoluwa Iyanu, and who

claimed to have been living in the community for three years. He insisted that the terrible state of the road often led to massive gridlocks that usually lasted for hours.

He said: “I have been living in this community for about three years, and I can tell you that many of the bad portions on this road had been in existence before I moved here. Life has really been difficult, as evident in the amount

of valuable man-hour lost in traffic logjam that we always experience on the road.”

50 unemployed graduates, 120 others receive NDE training in Ekiti sam nwaoko-ado-ekiti

Bad portions on Church Street, Abule Taylor, Agbado, Lagos. PHOTO: CHUKWUMA OKPARAOCHA

Ire Akari community sends SOS to Gov Ajimobi, others by joseph ajayi

AN open letter from IreAkari Lanlords Association, on Odo-Ona Elewe/ Apata Expressway, Ibadan has petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari, Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mahmud Mohammed, Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi and Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris over the lock up of the estate by a group of people.

The ‘save our soul’ letter, a copy of which was made available to the Nigeria Tribune said, the group, on 10 June, 2016, claimed to have obtained a High Court judgment and a Warrant of Possession against one Mr Kola Olaseemo in a suit Olfrebmun 1/299/06.

They also locked-up a woman, the wife of one of the affected landlords, Mr Jude Ogbue, who was on a sick bed, for three days alongside her child before being rescued with the aid of a ladder placed on the fence after she was rushed to the hospital.

The letter claimed that Mr Kola Olaseemo, against whom the judgment and warrant of possession were obtained, neither sold any

portion of the land nor was known to any of the affected landlords in the estate.

The association viewed the exercise by the group as a wrongful execution, trespass and unnecessary frustration of the members of the estate who had been residing peacefully in their houses for the past 13 years.

The association listed Jewels Kiddies Palace School as well as 21 shops belonging to different artisans and traders as part of buildings locked-up by the group, thereby preventing them from obtaining their meager incomes which they lived on.

It said it was worrisome that since 2003 that some of its members had been residing in the area, no notice of litigation was served on them before the sudden lock-up of June 10, 2016 and that the perpetrators claimed and lied that the land in question was a virgin despite numerous structures existing for the past years.

“We have recently been informed that there is another subsisting judgment covering the entire IreAkari Estate apart from the one currently being reported. The implication is that we have two different

judgments on the same estate being secured by two different claimants which is highly astonishing in the face of equity and justice.

As at the time of this report, residents of the affected buildings are currently sleeping inside the community hall and a mosque, making life to be completely uncomfortable for them after almost 13 years of peaceful residence without disturbance,” the

letter further read.

The landlords, therefore, appealed to President Buhari, Senate President, Inspector General of Police, Chief Justice of Nigeria and Oyo State governor to intervene urgently in order to prevent a looming and perceived breakdown of law and order in the estate and environs as youths in the estate are swiftly running out of patience.

THE National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has embarked on the training of unemployed graduates drawn from all parts of Ekiti State.

A statement by the agency, in Ado-Ekiti, explained that the trainees applied voluntarily and that 50 of them were currently being trained in the scheme tagged: “Start and grow your business.”

The acting Director-General of the NDE, Mr. Kunle Obayan, in a message to the training, explained that the objectives were “to engender entrepreneurial spirit among participants and train them to properly conceptualise their businesses.”

Obayan added that after the training, participants would be able to write feasibility study reports of their proposed businesses and that the training would help participants “to be able to analyse their projects to identify the inherent risks and also provide mitigating factors to avert the identified risks.”

The acting director-general said the graduates would also learn skills that would help them to “manage their enterprises effectively and efficiently based on best practices.”

FG urges states to install flood warning systems in communities godwin agwam-lafia

THE Federal Government has called on states in the federation to install community-based automated flood warning systems to aid response to flood disaster.

The Minister of Environment, Amina Mohammed, made the call on Thursday, in Lafia, at the 10th National Council on Environment with the theme: “Environment And Sustainable Development Goals in Nigeria: Empowering People, Talking Climate Action And Protecting The Environment”.

The minister explained that early warning systems would be of great help to communities where they are installed by warning them of impending flood.

She said the Federal Government had installed 17 automated flood warning systems in some communities across the country.

She added that government had also installed automated flood warning systems in two river basins with a coordinating centre at the Federal Ministry of Environment headquarters in Abuja.

Also speaking at the

event, Nasarawa State governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, called on the Federal Government to include the state among those benefiting from the flood early warning systems.

He explained that due to the abundance of rivers in the state, the state is usually among the worst hit during flood devastations in the country.

He added that the state government was also doing its best to ensure that the flood disaster that ravaged the state and some parts of the country in 2012 did not recur.

39

Monday, 29 August, 2016 Editor: Ganiyu Salman tribunesporteditor@yahoo.com 08053789060

Kogi govt expresses readiness for CJN games

Aguero risks FA’s sanction after elbowing West Ham’s Reid City MANCHESTER striker, Sergio Aguero could face a ban from the Football Association after elbowing West Ham defender, Winston Reid.

Television replays showed the Argentina international aiming his arm towards the centre-back during Sunday’s Premier League clash at the Etihad Stadium, though referee Andre Marriner missed the incident.

And the FA could now look to suspend Aguero retrospectively once the evidence is reviewed from the match.

A suspension would see Aguero miss the derby with Manchester United on September 10, as well as potentially the Premier League clash with Bournemouth and the EFL Cup third round tie at Swansea City.

Yinka Oladoyinbo - Lokoja THE Kogi state government on Sunday said it was ready to host the Chief Justice of the Federation games to be hosted by the state.

The state commissioner for youth and sports, Gabriel Adoji Haruna, told newsmen in Lokoja, the state capital that no fewer than 1500 contingents, consisting of officials and participants are expected for the game which kicks off on September 1.

He said the state had put the venues to be used in proper shape for the elevenday event with registration for the games commencing today (Monday).

The commissioner explained that eleven games including football, volleyball, badminton would be competed for during the game.

Haruna said the state accepted to host the competition as it was a window of opportunity for it to showcase its capacity as a state, the hospitality of the people and the beauty of the environment.

He said the state was poise to stage the best CJN games in the history of the competition, assuring the participants of their safety during their stay in the state.

Super Eagles camp opens today ahead Tanzania clash

•Mikel arrives tomorrow

N

IGERIA’S senior men’s squad, Super Eagles begins camping in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital today for Saturday’s 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match against Tanzania, as team’s captain Mikel Obi arrive camp tomorrow.

NFF Deputy General

Secretary, Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme arrived in Uyo on Friday as a one-man advance party, ahead of the team’s assistant coaches and backroom staff who are due for arrival today.

Home –boys Emmanuel Daniel, Ikechukwu Ezenwa (goalkeepers) and Jamiu Alimi (defender) are also expected in Uyo on

3SC redeems image, spanks Pillars 4-0

By Olawale Olaniyan SHOOTING Stars Sports Club of Ibadan on Sunday recorded their biggest win of the season following a 4-0 spanking of Kano Pillars in a match day 33 game of the Nigeria Professional Football League played at the Lekan Salami Stadium, Ibadan.

The Oluyole Warriors were businesslike right from the blast of the whistle as they played to redeem their image after suffering a 0-6 loss to Pillars in the first round.

Ifeanyi Ojukwu open the scoring in the ninth minute of the game when he capitalised on Jamiu Alimi’s error in the defence line to shoot past goalkeeper Yusuf Mohammed Ajani Ibrahim made it 2-0 in the 29th minute with a grounder after the defence of Pillars

was caught flatfooted again.

Ojukwu’s penalty appeal was ignored by the centre referee before break as both sides retired to the dressing room.

The Oluyole Warriors continued with their impressive form in the second half and got the third goal through Sunday Adetunji in the 53rd minute.

Adetunji scored again in the 66th minute when he finished off a superb move

by Ojukwu for his 11th goal of the season.

Fans of 3SC were full of joy after the final whistle as they commended their players for redeeming their image with a 4-0 scoreline.

Meanwhile, head coach of 3SC, Gbenga Ogunbote told Tribunesport that he changed his gameplan against Pillars which worked out well.

“We devised a gameplan to avoid a repeat of what happened against ElKanemi Warriors and that was why we played attacking football all through. I commend the players for this wonderful result and it has boosted our morale that this team will not drop from the premier league,” the former Sunshine Stars sweat merchant said.

The assistant coach of Pillars, AbdulSalam Abubakar said their game strategy failed to work out hence the defeat.

“We were well-prepared for this match but that is football for you, everything worked against us today.

Our players did their best and we lost fairly,” he said.

The match was watched by the President of the Nigeria Referees Association (NRA), Mr Tade Azeez.

today alongside a number of overseas –based professionals, including defender William TroostEkong and forward Odion Ighalo.

Both the Super Eagles and Taifa Stars have little other than pride to battle for in Saturday’s game, as Egypt’s Pharaohs have already picked the lone ticket from the group to Gabon. But the Eagles and their new Technical Adviser Gernot Rohr will use the match as a rehearsal for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifying Series Matchday 1 clash with Zambia in Ndola on 8th October.

The result at the Akwa Ibom International Stadium on Saturday will not count, but the outcome of the encounter at the Levy Nwanawasa Stadium in Ndola five weeks later will set the tone for the Super Eagles’ World Cup qualifying campaign.

Team officials confirmed to thenff.com on Sunday that Franco-German Rohr, who keenly followed Nigeria’s campaign at the Rio 2016 Olympics and travelled to Spain to see the country’s domestic stars in a couple of friendly matches against Spanish La Liga sides, will also be in Uyo on today.

Mikel FULL LIST: Goalkeepers: Carl Ikeme (Wolverhampton Wanderers, England); Emmanuel Daniel (Enugu Rangers); Ikechukwu Ezenwa (FC IfeanyiUbah) Defenders: Leon Balogun (FSV Mainz 05, Germany); William TroostEkong (Haugesund FC, Norway); Chidozie Awaziem (FC Porto, Portugal); Jamiu Alimi (Kano Pillars); Abdullahi Shehu (Uniao da Madeira, Portugal); Musa Muhammed (Istanbul Basaksehir, Turkey); Elderson Echiejile (AS Monaco, France), Kingsley Madu (AS Trencin, Slovakia) Midfielders: Mikel John Obi (Chelsea FC, England); Ogenyi Onazi (Trabzonspor, Turkey); Wilfred Ndidi (KRC Genk, Belgium); Nosa Igiebor (Maccabi Tel Aviv, Israel) Forwards: Ahmed Musa (Leicester City, England); Kelechi Iheanacho (Manchester City, England); Moses Simon (KAA Gent, Belgium); Victor Moses (Chelsea FC, England); Imoh Ezekiel (Al-Arabi Sporting Club, Qatar), Odion Ighalo (Watford FC, England); Brown Ideye (Olympiacos FC, Greece); Victor Osimhen (Wolfsburg FC, Germany).

Flamingoes brace up for Jordan 2016 THE U-17 women national team, Flamingoes have shown a rich vein of form as preparations hit new gear for the 5th FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup starting in Jordan on 30th September.

Coach Bala Nikyu’s girls displayed ferocious form with three wins in three successive friendly matches in Abuja between Tuesday and Saturday.

On Tuesday, Sure Babes FC of Ilorin were the victims as Captain Rasheedat Ajibade, the team’s top scorer, hit two goals in a 4-0 win at the NFF/FIFA Goal Project pitch, in a match watched by NFF General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, NFF Technical Director, Mr. Bitrus Bewarang and Assistant Director (Technical), Siji Lagunju. Cynthia Aku and Patricia Innocent got the other goals.

On Thursday, the Flamingoes pipped Confluence Queens of Kogi 1-0 at the same venue, thanks to Cynthia Aku who slotted in after the Queens’ goaltender failed to deal appropriately with a fierce shot by Captain Ajibade.

SIDELINES

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MONDAY, 29 AUGUST, 2016

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E devoured our president’s pre-election promises and slogan with our eyes, ears and nostrils of belief. It was so easy for us to do this. After all, why not, when his predecessor disillusioned us with his style of governance that disarrayed us? More than a year after we have learnt a-new the meaning of political and economic disorientation. Perhaps we should say that well after one year since this president came on board our republic’s presidential ship, we have learnt a-new the true meaning of presidential realism and idealism that will not give us the promises we eagerly await to eat. We are learning to our chagrin that the mangopromises and apple-and-banana-slogan we un-churlishly awaited - and still await - to eat are after all illusions that belong to our president’s electoral and soldierly orbit of camouflages and camisades.

People like yours very sincerely and other chanterers who desired to compose melodious chanson-de-geste for this president in the manner of the French have since refrained from doing so. In fact, I have since kept in abeyance my “Chanson de Buhari.” But I am willing to compose and re-compose in my chanting heart a celebratory song of heroic deeds and exploits if and whenever this president discards his presidential camouflage and camisade, and begins in earnest to give us real presidential food to eat and digest.

Every member of the Nigerian masses and people generally wants urgently his digestive presidential philosophy in concrete terms. Every member of the Nigerian working class, North and South, wants to eat Buhari’s concrete food of belief in Nigeria under his presidency.

Every member of the Nigerian working class, South and North, wants to drink Buhari’s medicine of regeneration and new faith in Nigeria.

The attitude of everybody from different classes, ethnic groups and professions is simply that Buhari rode to the presidency through a cover, through a visor, through a camouflage and a camisade. I say this as a sincere columnist who gets calls and text messages ceaselessly on the mindset, among other things, of this president

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After an accomplished career in Europe and the senior national team, Joseph Yobo, former Eagles captain, has joined Nigeria Premier League giants, Kano Pillars. The late Rashidi Yekini also returned home to Gateway FC after a most distinguished career abroad. Truly, North or South, East or West, home is the best!

in&out with Tony Afejuku

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Our president’s camouflage and camisade since he has entered Aso Rock and the presidency as a tenant of the Nigerian people. Let me try to address/explain the situation by presenting some text messages relating to my previous article.

Text one: “I’m truly in love with the topic, “The republic of deception.” The hunger in the land is severely severe.

When will the relief come?”

Text two: “Where is transparency?

How do we know how much of the loot is recovered for us to judge whether it is fully and justifiably utilised? These are the questions on the sheets of this administration that may shoot all Buhari’s efforts in the leg.”

Text three: “We are all disturbed that Buhari who first talked of budget padding in far away London and promised to deal with whoever was involved chickened out when Jibrin implicated Dogara in the act. Dogara even had the guts to go for a personal meeting with the president.

Text 4: “Ours is the republic of deception where our leaders have their Ph.Ds in falsehood, where hunger wages war on its denizens. I’m fed up; in fact, I want to end it all.”

Text 5: You have succeeded in making every Monday my best day with your column despite my tedious Monday work. Thank you. Your pen will never go dry in Jesus’ name.... You are great. The Lord will give you more anointing to keep educating us. God bless.”

Text 6: “Your write-ups are

In any case, the Nigerian masses and voters did not vote for him to be tormented the way they have been tormented so far. commendable. More power to your elbow.”

I have not done what I have just done for a pretty long time. I am doing so now to show that I am patriotically conscious of my readers’ patriotic concern for our country despite this president’s seeming revolution against looters of our commonwealth and patrimonies.

I add my telephone conversations with numerous callers to the quoted text messages You all, including the president and his acolytes, will discover clearly that Buharism devoured and plundered us with eyes and tongues of deceit.

This clearly amounts to one reason why a Chibok leader, in great disappointment,

Nigeria names 23 athletes for Paralympics THE Paralympics Committee Nigeria in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Sports, has named 23 athletes and six coaches that will represent the country at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games scheduled to hold from September 7 to 18 in Brazil.

Media Officer of the PCN, Mr Patrick Ibeh who made the list available, said Nigeria would be competing in only three sports where she has comparative advantage at the Games.

The events are athletics, powerlifting and table-tennis.

Ibeh informed that six athletes made up of five females and one male would compete in athletics events while 14 athletes (seven males and seven females) are to take part in

powerlifiting events. Table-tennis has only three athletes (two males and one female).

Representing the country in athletics events are, Hannah Babalola, Eucharia Iyiazi, Lauritta Onye, Lovina Onyegbule, Flora Ugwunwa and Friday Aibangbe, the only male athlete while Patrick Aieto and Adekunle Adesoji are the two coaches.

The powerlifting team is made up of Nsini Ben, Lucy Ejike, Ndidi Nwosu, Bose Omolayo, Josephine Orji, Esther Onyema and Latifat Tijani all women while world record holder, Yakubu Adesokan, Roland Ezuruike, Abdulazeez Ibrahim, Nnamdi Innocent, Opeyemi Jegede, Paul Kehinde and Tolu-lope Taiwo are to compete in the men’s category.

Prince Are Feyisetan, Luke Ibeh and Patience Igbiti are the coaches attached to the team.

Faith Obiorah (female), Ahmed Koleosho (male) and Emmanuel Nick (male) will compete in table-tennis with Chinedu Njoku as coach of the team.

Secretary General of the Paralympics Committee Nigeria, Dr Frank Thorpe who departed to Rio last weekend ahead of the Games has ccommended the sports ministry for not neglecting the Paralympic athletes but provided a level playing field for them while the president of PCN, Monday Emoeghavwe is optimistic of the team Nigeria’s good outing at the Rio 2016 Paralympics.

pains and trauma, exclaimed recently: “We regret voting for Buhari” Whether or not he wants to hear it, Buhari’s rating today is low and low and low. This is mainly on account of his presidential proclamations and actions that are devoid of the power of ennobling humanity.

We did not bargain for this. Clearly, he lured and snared us to where we are now.

But he – with or without his camouflage and camisade of integrity and standing – will not have the last laugh. I count on our patriotic comrades and compatriots to force him to do solidly, concretely patriotic duties without further illusions.

He either toes the lines of our concrete humane ideals or is eaten by his own illusions and visor, camouflage and camisade of integrity and transformation of our republic. The choice is his. The victory or defeat is his – ultimately. He must walk his promises and slogan or he is devoured by his failure to do so – ultimately. And he must hear this because we collectively made him our president: A gentleman officer, in or out of uniform, must be alive to his words which he must keep. He also must know that out of uniform he no longer needs camouflages and camisades to be employed as weapons of war to annihilate the enemy. In any case, the Nigerian masses and voters did not vote for him to be tormented the way they have been tormented so far. And they are not his enemies.

NPFL RESULTS

Enyimba

2 Akwa United

1

FC IfeanyiUbah

1 Wikki Tourists

0

Rivers United

2 Plateau United

0

Shooting Stars

4 Kano Pillars

0

Nasarawa United 1 Rangers International 0 Niger Tornadoes

2 Lobi Stars

0

Ikorodu United

1 El-Kanemi Warriors

1

West Brom

0 Middlesbrough

0

West Ham

1

EPL RESULTS

Man City

3

Printed and Published by the African Newspapers of Nigeria PLC, Imalefalafia Street, Oke-Ado, Ibadan. E mail: editornigeriantribune@yahoo.com Website: www.tribuneonlineng.com MANAGING DIRECTOR / EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: EDWARD DICKSON. EDITOR: DEBO ABDULAI. All Correspondence to P.O. Box 78, Ibadan. ISSN 2712. ABC Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulation. 29/8/2016.