Wednesday October 24, 2018 Edition

As Executive Order 6 comes into ‘full force’…

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few days ago, the federal government announced it had banned some 50 high-profile Nigerians from travelling abroad. This followed the implementation of Executive Order 6 signed by President Muhammadu Buhari.

In a statement issued on Saturday last week, Senior Special As-

The Oracle Today Comment

sistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu said the 50 prominent personalities, whose names were not immediately given, had been placed on a watch-list and were, therefore,

The

restricted from leaving the country pending the determination of their cases.

President Buhari had on July 5 this year signed Executive Order (6), which is meant to prevent any

can neither sell off such assets nor transact any other business using them.

On Friday last week, a Federal government official from engag- High Court in Abuja upheld the ing in corrupt practices. constitutionality of the Order.

The order also seeks to restrain That means that by that Order, owners of assets under investiga- the President has powers to order tion from carrying out any further Cont’d on page 24 transaction on such assets: they

racle www.oraclenews.ng

Today

Obi: Reactions rattle South East Leaders VOX POPULI SACRUM

From NATH OMAME, Port Harcourt; BONIFACE OKORO, Umuahia and CHUKS EZE, Enugu

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attled by the strident reactions to their obviously unpopular stand on the choice of former governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi as

Cont’d on page 2

WEDNESDAY October 24, 2018

ISSN: 2545-5869 VOL.3 No.42 N200

•Embark on damage control •Protest, bid to reassert relevance •Miscalculation dogs preparations for primary •How Obi trumped Soludo •Jonathan Ohanaeze urge Support

Geometric commissions Aba captive power Q1 2019

By SOPURUCHI ONWUKA

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ndustrial and commercial concerns that hold supply agreement with Geometric Power Limited will start enjoying uninterrupted electricity consumption in the next six months when the company is slated to kick off full commercial operations.

Chairman of Geometric Power Limited, Professor Barth Nnaji, told The Oracle Today in Lagos that processes are on to switch on the company’s 141 megawatt power station dedicated for delineated customer groups in Aba,

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Abia State.

According to him, commissioning of the station will not exceed first quarter of 2019.

The captive market held by the company covers key industrial and commercial locations in Owerrinta, Osisioma, Port Harcourt Road, Factory Road and other proximate business clusters currently suffering high cost of self power generation.

Geometric Power Limited has a $530 million power plant in Osisioma area of Aba, Abia State. The plant which was built in 2013 has

Cont’d on page 2

•Atiku

•Obi

APC stakeholders call for sanctions on Usani

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The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

NEWS

Obi: Reactions rattle South East Leaders Continued from Pg 1

running to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, PDP presidential candidate, South East PDP leaders may have begun moves to control the damage their initial opposition to Obi may have done to their image as leaders in the zone.

They have consequently asked both party faithful and ordinary citizens alike to support the PDP presidential ticket of Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi. It would be recalled that a few days ago, shortly after Alhaji Abubakar announced Obi as his running mate, PDP leaders in the South East took umbrage at their presidential candidate’s choice of a running mate, saying they were not consulted before he made that choice.

Indeed, the leaders maintained that they were shocked at the manner in which former Vice President selected former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, as his running mate, insisting that they were ignored in the process.

National Vice Chairman of PDP, South East, Austin Umahi, who briefed journalists after an emergency meeting of the leaders in Enugu over the matter, said it was “embarrassing” that key stakeholders of the geopolitical zone would hear about such a major decision as a rumour on social media, adding that they were never consulted by the former VP. Governors of Enugu, Abia and Ebonyi States were present at the star-studded session that also had National Assembly members and other high-calibre politicians in the zone in attendance.

The meeting, which took place at the residence of the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, was convened by the leaders to brainstorm over Atiku’s decision, which they said breached an earlier resolution that key leaders of the zone would meet to jointly nominate individuals that would occupy positions that would be zoned to the South East ahead of 2019.

Said Umahi: “We have met because of what we saw in the social media over the issue of vice-presidential candidate,” while lamenting that they were not carried along.

“We were shocked because we were not consulted. While we were meeting, Atiku sent a message across that he had travelled out of the country and promised to come down and meet with South East leaders upon his return.

“Peter Obi is our son, and he is from South East; we are not rejecting or accepting him but we are saying that we are not aware. You cannot shave a man in his absence.

“We have met because of what we saw on social media over the issue of vice-presidential candidate.

“In as much as we will never be against anybody chosen from the South East to be the presidential running mate to our PDP candidate, we are shocked and surprised that social media started carrying such insinuation that the leaders of South East are not aware that our presidential candidate has chosen a running mate.

“If there is any truth in the social media assertion, the leaders of the South East were never consulted neither are we aware.”

However, the leaders’ opposition to Obi attracted a deluge of

criticisms from members of the public who saw their action as selfish and against the political interest of the zone and its people.

Many others also pointed out that under normal circumstances, it is the prerogative of the presidential candidate to choose his running without recourse to anybody, unless he so desires.

For his part, former President Goodluck Jonathan, in a release by his media assistant, Ikechukwu Eze, urged the leaders to support the Atiku/Obi ticket.

In the statement addressed to party members, which he personally signed, the former President counseled against insisting on obtaining a zonal endorsement for a vice presidential nomination, adding that it is the prerogative of the Presidential candidate to select the candidate he believes will help him to achieve his vision and goals for the nation.

The statement quoted Dr. Jonathan as saying: “I therefore want to directly appeal to my brothers and sisters from the South East zone who are members of our party to reconsider their position and allow the presidential candidate of the PDP to select a candidate he thinks he can work with to be able to achieve the party’s development goals.

“Since Atiku has already nominated Mr. Peter Obi as his running mate, I am pleading with my party members from the zone to accept his choice.”

“I affirm that consultation is a key ingredient in every political process. Nonetheless, in the selection of a vice presidential candidate, a presidential candidate is allowed reasonable freedom to select his running mate based on loyalty, trust, experience, temperament and capacity to perform the responsibilities of the office.

Anything other than this could create tension and acrimony between the presidential candidate and his running mate, even before the inauguration of the government,” the former president stressed.

The Oracle Today gathered that the leaders shot themselves in the foot from the very beginning with the kinds of their alliances they formed going into the presidential primary.

Such alliances, it was gathered, made them vulnerable to manipulations by the victorious camp once the voting pattern became obvious. The victorious side wanted to satisfy the interests of its supporters first, of course.

Last week, shortly after Abubakar’s victory in the primary election, a PDP stalwart and Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly, Rt. Honourable Chikwendu Kalu had told The Oracle Today in an interview in Umuahia that the caucus meeting of the South East PDP narrowed down the likely winners in the presidential primary to three aspirants “who have all it takes to change the political narrative of this country.”

“So, we narrowed it down to Atiku Abubakar as the first person, seconded by Bukola Saraki and Aminu Tambuwal. We were now saying, whatever happens, these were the people that we may go ahead and support,” he disclosed.

What that boiled down to was that the South East splintered its votes, unsure of whom exactly to throw its full weight behind.

Sources who spoke with The Oracle Today in Port Harcourt said that it was this philosophy of narrowing the contestants to three possible winners and sharing votes accordingly that made the South East almost lose out entirely in the calculation and jostle for Abubakar’s running mate “because they alsmost didn’t vote for the victorious side.”

“I can tell you that only Anambra delegates led by former Governor Peter Obi voted for Atiku ‘completely’. The rest of the South East delegates were actually divided among Tambuwal, Saraki and Atiku in that order,” sources told The Oracle Today in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

“The protest by the South East leaders was just a way of reasserting their relevance in the political process after they miscalculated big time in the primary election,” another dependable source told our Correspondent in Umuahia.

“Although they had their own calculations, like pairing former CBN Governor, Professor Chukwu Soludo and Atiku, they did not back such calculations up with any concrete action plan. They appeared

•Ekweremadu

to be more interested in a Saraki/ Ekweremadu ticket.”

Why they did not calculate Obi into the equation In Anambra, Peter Obi and Soludo are fierce political competitors.

Soludo once wanted to unseat Obi as governor when the former cerebral CBN governor vied for Anambra governorship on the platform of the PDP in 2009. He, however, found Obi too strong to beat.

Since then, both men have engaged in different public activities marketing themselves to the Nigerian public one way or the other.

While Soludo has worked more closely with the South East business and political establishments, churning out ideas on how to bring about South East economic emancipation through restructuring, Obi, on the other hand, has since he left office as governor in 2015, engaged the larger Nigerian and global audiences more.

His TV interviews and other forms of appearance and lectures had dwelt essentially on his governance style and how he transformed Anambra as governor, all right noises that have come to

resonate with Nigerians across the political, geographical and even cultural divides.

So, apart from his watertight mobilization for Atiku in the runup to the primary, the PDP presidential candidate had also to choose between two great men who had different levels of appeal to the larger Nigerian audience.

The lot fell on Obi. According to sources, although there are discussions going on between Atiku and the South East caucus, there is not likely to be a change in the choice of Obi as running mate.

Apparently advised on Obi’s choice as Atiku’s running mate as a fait accompli, the South East party leaders have begun moves to reconcile with the Atiku Camp with a viewing to keying into the Campaign to enhance PDP’s chances in next year’s presidential election the zone.

Already, both Ohanaeze Ndigbo and Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu have thrown their weights behind the Atiku/Obi ticket, urging the South East and, indeed, the rest of the country, to support them.

•Ikpeazu

Geometric commissions Aba captive power Q1 2019 Continued from Pg 1

a generation capacity of 141 megawatts of electricity meant for dedicated supply to ring fenced consumer clusters in the state.

The commercial model pioneers captive market of industrial, commercial and residential electricity consumers under a mini-grid arrangement under which Geometric Power secured a deal to take over the distribution networks covering the area from defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).

Unfortunately, the project was caught up in the power sector reforms and subsequent privatization of PHCN assets by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) which failed to excise the captive concession from the Enugu Distribution Zone of PHCN before selling the distribution assets in a bid process.

Expectedly, Interstate Electric Limited which bought Enugu Distribution Zone and Geometric Power Limited clashed over their interests in the lucrative Aba network, leading to interventions that led to financial settlement in favour of Insterstate.

The protracted dispute had stalled commissioning of the Geometric’s power plants and required the company to send them back to original equipment manufacturers for integrity checks and guarantee before reinstallation and commissioning.

Since last quarter of 2017, commissioning of the plants has been severally postponed, leading to anxiety over the success of the captive market investment which is expected to provide model for similar investments following commercial failure in the government’s gas-to-power programme.

However, at an event in Lagos, Professor Nnaji told The Oracle Today that all the commercial disputes between Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC) and Geometric Power have been resolved and that the latter has paid the former agreed fees to operate the concession.

He did not disclose the financial value of the settlements for reasons he said border on confidentiality. He also attributed the delays in streaming the plants to technical hitches that grew on privatization glitches.

Professor Nnaji gave assurances that the consumers in Geomteric’s Aba captive market would be the first set of Nigerians to witness uninterrupted power supply, enhanced business returns and improved social and domestic electricity consumption at minimum cost.

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The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

NEWS ACROSS THE NATION

Video exposes Ganduje in dollar bribery scandal

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STAUNCH supporter of President Muhammadu Buhari for re-election in 2019 and Governor of Kano State, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, has appeared in a video allegedly receiving bribe amounting to about $5 million from contractors in the state.

The video which was released by online investigative media, Daily Nigerian was a sting operation that captured the governor on camera collecting the bribery at different occasions.

Meanwhile, it was also gathered that security and forensic experts have screened and verified the authenticity of a trove of video clips of the bribery before the online media decided to release it to the public on Sunday.

Multiple contractors who spoke with Daily Nigerian on the condition of anonymity said the governor personally received from 15 to 25 per cent kickbacks for every project executed in the state.

The publisher of Daily Nigerian, Mr. Jaafar Jaafar, who had gone

underground due to a threat to his life, said the sting operation to capture the governor on camera began two years ago when one of the contractors agreed to a request by the media outfit to plant spy camera on his kaftan lapel while offering the bribes.

The publisher said: “During about 10 months efforts to capture the bribe giving/taking scenes, the governor’s face and body were clearly captured in nine clips, while six others did not clearly reveal the governor’s face.

About $5m dollars were delivered to the governor during the sting operation.

“One of the contractors who preferred not to be named said the reason he collaborated with the newspapers was to expose corruption and bring sanity to the country.

“The contractor stated that if his aim was to blackmail or extort the governor, he would have used the videos to get over a billion settlement or force the governor to pay the hundreds of millions of naira

Lagos assures on sustenance of ‘RSW’ initiative

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PECIAL Adviser to Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode on Education, Mr Obafela BankOlemoh, says he is optimistic that the ‘ReadySetWork’ (RSW) initiative will continue in Lagos beyond the present administration.

Bank-Olemoh told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos that the next All Progressives Congress (APC) administration would build on the gains of the present one by continuing with projects that aid human capital development.

“APC, as a government in Lagos State, is committed to human capital development. Regardless of the fact that Gov. Ambode’s tenure will finish in May, we rest assured that the new administration will definitely continue in his steps in this regard.

“We have no fear at all that RSW will continue in the next administration because we believe Lagos State is an APC government.”

Bank-Olemoh said that the RSW programme had impacted positively on the students by giving them the opportunity of “real work experience”.

He was hopeful that those who passed through the programme, since 2016, would continue to exert positive influence in the state and the country at large.

“We believe that the RSW has impacted the lives of thousands of final year students. We are excited that the Ministry of Education has been able to deliver on the mandate given by the governor of Lagos.

“With this, we are convinced that we have produced the best graduates in the Federal Republic of Nigeria that will impact the local economy and the nation at

the state was owing to his company or force him to pay back all the money he paid as kickbacks.

“We believe if public office holders are exposed, there will be sanity in the system.”

In its response to the video,

the Kano State government has claimed that the video was cloned.

“We wish to state that there is no iota of truth to these allegations and if indeed there is any such alleged video, it is at best cloned,” the Kano State commissioner for Information, Muhammad Garba,

said in a statement.

“The government of Kano State is taking this matter seriously, and will exploit every appropriate and legal avenue to ensure that it gets to the root of the matter and the perpetrators are brought to book,” he added.

•(From left): Chief Judge of Lagos State, Hon Justice Opeyemi Oke, State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode and

Diocesan Bishop of Lagos, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Rt Rev Humphrey Olumakaiye, during the large.

“My advice to the participants Special Service held at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Marina, on Monday, to mark the official commencement of is to make the best of the op- 2018/2019 Legal Year of Lagos State Judiciary. portunity given because we have taught them that there are no excuses for failure,” he said.

NAN reports that over 5,000 final year students from eight terNITED Nations Secretary- and over 350,000 need immedi- ernment and people of Nigeria tiary institutions participated in General António Guterres ate help - especially temporary and wished the injured a speedy the 2018 RSW programme. said on Thursday he is shelter, food, safe drinking wa- recovery, stressing that the UN The best students across the three training centres were se- “deeply saddened”, as the Gov- ter, household items and medical stands in solidarity with the country during this difficult time and lected to participate in a compe- ernment of Nigeria announced care. that some 200 people have died, In addition, more than 150,000 “ready to support as required”. tition which held on Saturday. a further 1,310 injured, due to hectares of farmland are entirely According to the UN Office for Students who took part at the and flooding across a dozen states. inundated which raises serious the Coordination of HumanitarLagos State University (LASU) Overall, around two million have medium-term food security conian Affairs (OCHA), activities concentre came first, while those been affected. cerns, as to how farmers will be ducted so far by the United Nawho took part at the University Nigeria’s two main rivers, the able to replant vital crops. tions include: food distributions of Lagos centre came second.

Niger and the Benue, burst their Close to 80,000 houses were by the World Food Programme The third place went to stu- banks after heavy rains began in damaged including 18,000 comdents that took part at the Lagos August, and the country has been pletely destroyed, and more than (WFP); the provision of emergency medical care as well as disease State Polytechnic centre. experiencing large-scale floods 320 roads and bridges are impassNAN also reports that ‘Ready ever since. A state of national able. In the most affected areas, control for cholera and malaria, Set Work’ is an initiative of the disaster has been declared in the children have not been able to go by the World Health Organization (WHO); and distributions Lagos State Ministry of Educa- four most-affected states of Kogi, to school for weeks. of hygiene or “dignity” kits, for tion, facilitated by the Office of Niger, Anambra and Delta.

The Secretary-General extend- women and girls by the UN sexual the Special Adviser on Education.

More than 561,000 people are ed his condolences to the families It is aimed at equipping stu- internally displaced as a result of the victims and to the Gov- and reproductive health agency (UNFPA). dents with employability and entrepreneurship skills needed after graduation.

Oluwaseyi Hassan, a particiNDEPENDENT National Electoral Local Governments of the state and “Indeed, security is key to the conpant from Lagos State UniverCommission (INEC) in Lagos State Olumekun agreed that security is duct of credible elections. INEC in Lasity, told NAN that the skills acsaid 6, 609, 115 residents were eligi- key to holding a successful election. gos is truly proud of partnering with quired had become a part of him, ble to vote in the 2019 General Elec“6, 609, 115 eligible Nigerians regis- NPP at this most auspicious time in and thanked the Lagos State tions in the state. tered to vote during the 2019 general the electoral cycle, ” Olumekun said.

Government for the initiative.

Resident Electoral Commissioner, elections in the state.

The INEC commissioner commend“The competition has been an Mr. Sam Olumekun, disclosed this at ”I am profoundly grateful to NPP ed the NPP and hoped that the workeye opener for me, because prior a workshop on Lagos State Election for organising this very important shop would give the commission the to this, I have not been paying at- Security Strategic Plan for 2019 Elec- and timely workshop on elections opportunity to review, reflect, braintention to details, current affairs. tions. security considering the role of good storm, and re-engineer its security “I am a student of Public AdThe workshop was organised by security structure in the conducting a structure and strategy. ministration, and reading about Nigeria Policing Programme (NPP) peaceful and successful general elecHe added that the commission’s science and technology, current in collaboration with INEC in Lagos tions in 2019. proactiveness on security, had inaffairs, entertainment, arts and State. ”It is crucial to say that with 91 po- formed regular meeting of the InterAdministrative Secretary of the litical parties and about 74 million Agency Consultative Committee on so on has given me an insight as to what is happening all over the commission, Prince Adelani Asade, voters geared to take informed deci- Election security where matters conworld,” Hassan, who was also delivered Olumekun’s speech at the sion and action at the general elec- cerning security before, during and tions in 2019, the security of election after elections were discussed. one of the winners of the RSW workshop.

Olumekun said INEC would imLagos state has 245 Registration officials, materials, and the electorglobal challenge competition Areas (Wards), 8,462 polling units, ate is of utmost importance to the prove on the conduct of elections in said.

2019. and 3669 voting points across the 20 commission.

UN ‘deeply saddened’ by flooding in Nigeria

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6m Lagosians eligible to vote in 2019 – INEC

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The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

NEWS ACROSS THE NATION

Falana, Ozekhome, PDP flay FG’s travel ban •We have not issued any list – Presidency

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IVIL rights lawyers in the country as well as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have joined a host of opposition to the travel ban announced by the Federal Government, Saturday, on 50 prominent Nigerians as contained in the Executive Order 6 signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Federal Government has placed a foreign travel ban on no fewer than 50 high profile persons directly affected by Executive Order 6 (EO6).

The affected persons are already on the watch-list and are restricted from leaving the country pending the determination of their cases.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, who confirmed this development in Abuja, Saturday, said this development followed the instant judicial affirmation of the constitutionality and legality of the EO6.

He said already President Muhammadu Buhari had mandated the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to implement the Order in full force.

“To this end, a number of enforcement procedures are currently in place by which the Nigeria Immigration Service and other security agencies have placed no fewer than 50 high profile persons directly affected by EO6 on watchlist and restricted them from leaving the county pending the determination of their cases.

“Also, the financial transactions of these persons of interest are being monitored by the relevant agencies to ensure that the assets are not dissipated and such persons do not interfere with, nor howsoever corrupt the investigation and litigation processes.

“It is instructive to note that EO6 was specifically directed to relevant law enforcement agencies to ensure that all assets within a minimum value of N50 million or equivalent, subject to investigation or litigation are protected from dissipation by employing all available lawful means, pending the final determination of any corruptionrelated matter,’’ he added.

However, reacting to the development, Monday, human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria Femi Falana frowned at the decision of the Federal Government to ban 50 high-profile Nigerians from travelling out of the country.

A statement released by Falana called for the immediate withdrawal of the ban, arguing that the move by the government is reminiscent of the days of military rule.

“For the umpteenth time, I am compelled to caution the Buhari administration to wage the war against the menace of corruption within the ambit of the rule of law,” he said.

“Since the 50 high-profile criminal suspects covered by EO6 (Executive Order 6) have been placed on watch list while their passports have been seized by either the antigraft agencies or the courts, the travel ban slammed on them by President Buhari ought to be withdrawn without any delay.”

Falana noted that the move by the Federal government was uncalled for.

“Sadly, the travel ban is a sad reminder of the reckless placement of political opponents on security watch list and seizure of their passports by the defunct military junta.”

Similarly, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rejected in its entirety, attempt by the Buhari Presidency to foist a full-blown fascism on our country, beginning with the placement of illegal travel restrictions on Nigerians.

The party said this draconian step is clearly targeted at members of the opposition parties, perceived political enemies of President Muhammadu Buhari, well-meaning Nigerians, including members of the business community, religious leaders, former political leaders and traditional rulers, who are perceived to be averse to President Buhari’s re-election bid.

The PDP further notes that this “decree” is a direct clampdown on our democratic order and an overthrow of rights of our citizenry as guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

A statement by PDP spokesperson, Kola Ologbodiyan, says “hope this is not a ploy to harm certain eminent Nigerians on the claims of resisting travel restrictions.

“The whole world can now see how fascism is fast taking over our democracy and judicial system and how the Buhari administration, by fiat, has directly ordered that citizens be secretly trailed, their movements and financial transactions restricted by government agencies, without recourse to due process of the law.

“While the PDP notes that the Buhari Presidency has gone into panic mode since the popular emergence of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as PDP Presidential candidate and the spontaneous jubilation his emergence has evoked across the country, the party maintains that the resort to total clamp down on the opposition and our supporters will be totally unacceptable.

“What this means is that all Nigerians, particularly, opposition members, members of the business community and religious leaders, have become endangered and stand the risk of state violence under the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration.

“The PDP, therefore, alerts the international community to hold the Buhari Presidency responsible should any harm befall any opposition leader, key members of the business community and religious leaders across the country as we march towards the 2019 general elections.

“Finally, the repositioned PDP invites all to note how the APC and the Buhari Presidency are pushing our nation to the brinks but restates that no amount of intimidation, harassment and foisting of fascism will deter Nigerians from their determination to rally on the platform of the PDP to oust the incompetent, anti-people and repressive APC administration, come 2019.”

Also, constitutional lawyer and human rights activist, By Dr Mike Ozekhome, SAN, described the re-

•Executive Director, Asset management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) Mr. Aminu Ismail (2nd left) presenting the NSITF compliance awards to AMCON Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Ahmed Kuru (2nd right); with them are AMCON Company Secretary/Legal Adviser, Mr. Saidu Jallo (right) and AMCON Group Head, Resolution, Mr. Jushua Ikioda (left) when the AMCON boss received the award in Abuja.

cent announcement of the government’s ban on certain Nigerians as ‘an extreme panicky measure of desperation and obvious descent into totalitarianism, absolutism and fascism.’

“It is highly condemnable for being absolutely unconstitutional, illegal, wrongful, immoral, vindictive, dictatorial, panicky and presumptuous of the victims’ guilt, without any trial or conviction. The order shows a government wallowing in narcissistic, self-righteousness, brazen glorification and a false sense of redemptive messianism.

“It will surely boomerang on the government in this electioneering campaign period and strip the government bare of any pretensions towards democratic credentials.

Presumably anchored on Executive Order 6, it made earlier in July, 2018, the recent clamp down on opposition elements and persons suspected to be against the desperate attempt by this government to cling to power at all cost is nothing but a draconian Decree, a piece of legislative enactment without a NASS and an unconstitutional judicial pronouncement outside the orbit of a court of competent jurisdiction. It is a vile coup against Nigerians, democracy and constitutionalism.

“The government by the order turned itself into a court of law to trail citizens, deprive of their freedom of movement and monitor and seize their accounts by fiat, without a valid court lose.

“The right to freedom of movement is guaranteed by section 41 of the 1999 Constitution, and same is not subject to derogation from by any Executive Order outside the pronouncement of a court of law.

It dresses the Executive branch of government with the despotic garbs of arbitrariness, whimsicality and capriciousness, to determine which citizens should be prevented from traveling and have their accounts and properties attached.

“The Supreme Court of Nigeria, in Director of SSS v Olisa Agbakoba (1999) 3 NWLR (or 595) 340, quoted with approval, the Indian case of Meneka Ghandi v Union of India

(1978) AIR 597, (1978) SCC (1) 248, where the Indian Supreme Court held, on Ghandi’s passport being seized, and he filing a writ of petition under Articles 21 and 32 of the Indian Constitution, that: It would be recalled that government had on Saturday announcement that 50 prominent Nigerians had been placed on a watchlist and restricted from leaving the country based on Executive Order 6, which was issued by President Muhammadu Buhari in July, “pending the determination of their cases”.

A Federal High Court had in Abuja, Friday upheld the order, which, among other things, allows for the interim seizure of assets linked to investigation, ongoing criminal trials, and other related offences.

The Executive Order also empowers the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), in liaison with relevant investigative agencies, to temporarily seize properties linked with corruption, to prevent the dissipation of such assets.

Meanwhile, the Presidency has clarified that the Executive Order 6 (EO 6) is not a political weapon against opposition but part of revolutionary efforts to rid Nigeria of the menace of corruption.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, stated this in a statement in Abuja on Sunday.

The presidential aide was reacting to cross sections of divergence views on the commencement of the implementation of the EO6 by the federal government.

According to him, in the history of independent Nigeria, this is the first time any government is taking such a key decision to fight corruption.

Shehu dismissed the insinuation in some quarters that the activation of the EO 6 was targetted at some individuals or politicians in the country.

“EO 6 is not only revolutionary to the efforts to rid Nigeria of corruption but a manifestation of systemic changes that are required to make necessary adjustments as we carry on with the war against corruption.

“The very essence of the order is

to make for speedy trials and conclusion of graft cases. The order is not politics and there is political gain behind its activation. These high profile cases we are talking about have been ongoing for between seven to 10 years with no end in sight. These cases were mostly originated by administrations other than this one.

“What is clear is that the access to these resources by the suspects has enabled them to be in a composition to sometime compromise investigation, prosecution and trial.’’

He further explained that, in most of the cases, the courts were held in a helpless position by legal acrobatics paid for from corrupt enrichment by the suspects.

He, therefore, expressed the hope that the new measures put in place would compel everyone involved to make for a speedy conclusion of these cases.

“If it is your money, you have it back. If it belongs to the public, it goes back to the treasury,’’ he said.

Shehu added that the question of the constitutionality of the restriction order had been answered by the fact that “a court of the land has given government a clean sheet.’’

“The Executive Order is legal and constitutional and therefore implementable. One of the cardinal objectives of the government under our constitution is to fight corruption. Fighting corruption is a responsibility and obligation upon the government,’’ he further maintained.

On the so-called list of those affected by the EO 6, the presidential aide said: “I want to confirm to you that we have not issued any list and we are not doing so.

These cases that are well known and to say this or that name is on it will open the door to further accusations, including trial by media.

The Immigration Service and other security agencies have the mandate of the President to carry out enforcement and they will do so giving due respects to individual rights, in line with the constitution.’’

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The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

News

2019: A’Ibom Govt warns promoters of insecurity From INI BILLIE, Uyo

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HE Akwa Ibom State government has warned people promoting insecurity in the state by reporting imaginary issues bordering on assassination attempts to desist from the act.

Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Charles Udoh on Monday in Uyo described the people peddling such reports as enemies of the state and warned them against heating the polity as the 2019 general elections draw close.

He said the state government would resist any attempt by the opposition to apply such antics as a political tool, adding that the practice might scare away investors and bring down the economy of the state.

He mentioned that in the past three years of Governor Udom Emmanuel’s administration, the people of the state have enjoyed security as compared to the previous administration where assassinations and violence prevailed.

The Commissioner said the government in collaboration with difference security agencies: the Police, Directorate of State Secu-

rity (DSS) and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) were working to properly rehabilitate repentant hoodlums.

He further challenged members of the APC who claimed to have been attacked to present convincing evidences of such attacks to Akwa Ibom people.

“We are determined not to allow some divisive elements who are trying to orchestrate violence situation for personal gains to thrive.

Today we can proudly say that the efforts of government in ensuring there is peace and security in the state is yielding result.

“A few days ago, over 200 young people who before now had constituted themselves into a terror group terrorising parts of this state voluntary came out and laid down their arms and said ‘we would not have more of this violence we want to be meaningfully employed’.

“That is a pointer that government is succeeding in curbing insecurity. And if you compare that to other parts of this country where you have insurgency all over the place, you would agree that this is a landmark thing for the Akwa Ibom state government to be able

to connect and bring out these terrors, militants and cultists for rehabilitation.

“The APC as we know, if there was anything close to that, they would have shown us pictures especially where the bullets hit. We have not seen video clips of those things. Knowing them, they would have flooded the internet with

those pictures but I will not preempt what they police will say.

“As the governor had said, the police have been given the mandate to go ahead and find out; if it is found to be false, the law would take its full course. The good thing is that Akwa Ibom people have experienced peace, tranquillity, harmony. Akwa Ibom people will not

allow themselves to be dragged back to the dark days and ugly situation anymore.

“The Governor’s re-election is one thing that any group who wants the progress of the state should take seriously. His re-election should also transient personal interest, ethnic and beyond party lines,” he said.

Anambra monarch backs Atiku on choice of Obi as VP

By IBE NWACHUKWU

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EMBER of the Anambra State Traditional Rulers’ Council, Igwe Elder Dr. Elias Nneli has thrown his weight behind the joint Atiku Abubakar/ Peter Obi ticket in the forthcoming general election saying that the economic prowess and antecedents of the duo will be beneficial to the majority off Nigerians who he said are wallowing in penury and want.

Speaking to newsmen in Nnewi while reacting to the choice of the former governor of Anambra State, Chief Obi as the running mate to Atiku as the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Igwe Nneli stated that the duo have the capacity and experience to revive Nigeria’s ailing economy.

Igwe Nneli’s statement came on the heels of his popular contribution to the issue of the State of the Nation Council during the October 2018 monthly meeting of the Anambra State Traditional Rulers’ Forum presided by its Chairman, Obi Alfed Achebe of Onitsha a week ago in which he canvassed for a South-east zone running mate to the PDP candidate.

According to Igwe Nneli who is one of the ten longest reigning traditional rulers in Igboland, Atiku remains the most qualified presidential material among the army of candidates being paraded by other parties to succeed the present administration, having served as a former Vice President and predicted victory for PDP, even as he expressed hope that Atiku will keep to his promises.

He emphasized that Nigeria is in dire need of a presidential candidate who is de-tribalized, understands the workings of the economy locally and internationally and commands and has the unity of the country uppermost in his mind, stressing that Atiku fits into the template.

Igwe Nneli who is 41 years on the throne as the traditional ruler of Umueje hinted that Atiku’s choice of Chief Obi is a masterstroke that will give victory to PDP, adding under Obi’s watch as governor, Anambra State witnessed holistic development through the Anamba State Integrated Development Strategy (ANIDS) which success story he said is being replicated by the present administration in the state.

He disclosed that the traditional rulership institution in Anambra State was given a human face by the Obi administration which he said increased the monthly stipends of the traditional rulers and provided jeep vehicles to all the traditional rulers in the state.

The Anambra monarch urged Nigerians to take ownership of governance by voting the candidate of their choice who in their thinking has the magic wand to bring the economy on the rebound and improve the fortunes of the citizens.

•(From right): PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike and others at the Government House Port Harcourt venue of a Special Thanksgiving Service for the successful hosting of 2018 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Convention, on Sunday.

Buhari’s anti-corruption, fight against insurgency earned him maximum respect from world leaders - Pasali, BCO boss

By IBE NWACHUKWU

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HE breakthrough recorded

by President Muhammadu Buhari in the war against anticorruption and insurgency, over the past three years he mounted the saddle, has earned him maximum respect and accolade from the world leaders.

National Coordinator of Buhari Campaign Organization (BCO), Alhaji Danladi Garba Pasali who made this remark at the weekend, while commissioning Anambra state Headquarters of BCO and Data Collation Center in Onitsha, said the reception being accorded to the president by the world leaders like America, Britain, Germany, Turkey , among others was a clear indication that Nigeria now has a direction and visionary leadership.

On the 2019 presidential election, he noted that no Presidential candidate would match President Muhammed Buhari during the election because of his records of achievements , adding that the election would be a work over for Buhari.

He disclosed that Buhari’s administration has awarded the Enugu-Onitsha expressway which he noted is currently in 75 percent completion stage, while the second Niger Bridge protect was going on speedily and would be completed before the president leaves office.

He said that the emergence of President Buhari as sole candidate

for All Progressive Congress (APC) where the party faithful gave him over 4.5 million votes to affirm his candidacy was evidence that he would win the 2019 presidential election overwhelmingly due to his track records and numerous achievements in the last three years of the administration.

“On the emergence of Buhari as sole candidate. The people and party believed in the president, they believe in his integrity, honesty, his sincerity not only in Nigeria but in Africa are seeing the president as the champion of anti corruption.

You see “We are opening our offices in preparation of general election and we are strategizing on how to give Buhari bulk vote from this part of the country.

The reason we have our office in Onitsha instead of Awka the state capital is that Onitsha is a business area and we have a programme by Mr. President that concerns market men and women. This office in Onitsha will handle the commercial aspect of the programmes. The office is not only the campaign issue but for the empowerment and Onithsa is where the population and traders are, to start from”.

“We have e-power programme that can be accessed through the office, Anchor Borrower programme, which is into agriculture such as fishery, poultry etc. You can access the office to enroll in one of the programmes”.

“So, within the commercial centre of Igbo land, Onitsha is very strategic. We have market-money programme where young traders and women are assisted in small scale businesses. You can apply as a groundnut seller or Akara seller depending on the type of business you do, you can be given N10, 000, N20, 000 or N50, 000 depending on the type of the business”.

“Like in Ancour borrower programme you can access like N 1 million, N10 million and above depending on the business and that is why we say that Onitsha is the best area for this so that many people would be enlightened on that, because there are so many people that doesn’t know that such empowerment exists that is why we are in Onitsha to ensure that the traders will benefit from these programmes”, Pasali stated.

The Senior Special Adviser of BCO Anambra Affairs and former House of Reps member between 2003 and 2007, Chief Gozie Agbakoba in a remark described President Buhari as unbeatable in next year’s election due to his achievement especially in the fight against corruption and stabilizing the country’s economy.

Agbakoba, a veteran journalist and former Chairman of NUJ, in the old Anambra state, declared: “On the political front, we have no cause in the Southeast in the Igbo region to think or believe that the Southeast is not in the political calculus for greater Nigeria”.

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The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

NEWS

Group raises alarm over hospitals’ insensitivity, high bills From Chuks Collins, Awka

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non-governmental group under the aegis of People Living with Sickle Cell Disorder (PLSD) has lamented the rising cases of detention of indigent patients especially their members by hospitals across Anambra State over inability or failure to clear their medical bills.

The bills that is often very heavy incurred as a result of their health condition and or related challenges was bitterly condemned, describing their detention as illegal, inhuman and very wicked of the hospital management.

According to the National Coordinator of the group, Mrs Aisha Edward, seven of its members were currently being detained in various hospitals across the state over inability to pay their bills.

She lamented that some of the patients have been detained by the hospitals for as much as six months, while the longest serving of them, a girl has been kept in detention for one year and four months, and has been given strict warning not to try escaping as the consequences would be severe.

Mrs Edward, in an interview at Nanka, said that many unpatriotic, heartless and wicked citizens, especially hospitals have taken undue advantage of people living with sickle cell anaemia for too long, and “we will not tolerate this latest discovery.

“I visited a hospital here in Aguata area to check on one of our member who was on admission there and found out that three of them were being detained against their will because of huge hospital bills they incurred.

“I am surprised that this could be happening in Anambra, and this has made me ask more questions and discovered that another hospital in Onitsha has as much as four of our members who were being detained. This are just the ones we know, and there may be many of our members who are still being held in other hospitals.”

Falling short of naming the particular doctors and hospitals, Mrs Edward said she was more pained that the hospitals were mission hospitals.

“We are giving them from now till December 1st to immediately discharge the patients, else we will publish their names and take up a case against them. I am surprised why a trained medical doctor would not discharge a patient after managing him and wait for payment latter.

“The church has also been infiltrated by corrupt minded people who now use people’s health condition to defraud other people, and we will not let this happen because the church, not judiciary is the last hope of the common man.”

She disclosed to the alarmed audience that one of the affected patients who sneaked out of her hospital bill to her was charged N1.2million, abandoned by her family and was ever since detained by the hospital due to her inability to pay.

Edward added that, “The patient told me in confidence that she was told by the management of the hospital that she was being detained in the hope that in December, a known philanthropist who goes from hospital to hospital paying bills of patients would visit the hospital to clear her debt.

“You can imagine the mindset of the so called mission hospital? It is even possible that they may have inflated the bill, in wait for a philanthropist. So what happens if the philanthropist fails to come? The patient would be held in the hospital forever, is it?”

She contended that the hospital environment was not the best place to stay as the patient may at the end contact more diseases.

She said most of the patients being detained were also orphans.

Activists insist on Igbo as VP

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outh-East pro-democracy and rights activists have insisted on the selection of ex-governor, Peter Obi as running mate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Candidate for the 2019 elections, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, insisting that Ndigbo deserve the position.

Their warning, contained in a statement issued on Friday in Onitsha by the South-East Based Coalition of Human Rights & Good Governance Organizations (SBCHROs), came amidst unconfirmed reports that Atiku may dump Obi and go pick his running mate from the South-West and that Yoruba leaders had shortlisted candidates for his consideration.

However, denying Ndigbo of the position could provoke problems, warned SBCHROs, a coalition of over seventeen human rights, pro-democracy and good governance groups based in the Southeast Region of Nigeria or Igbo heartland.

Among the groups that make up SBCHROs are Int’l Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law; Civil Liberties Organization, Southeast Zone; Centre for Human Rights & Peace Advocacy; Human Rights Organization of Nigeria; Society Watch & Advocacy Project; Anambra Human Rights Forum; Southeast Good Governance Forum; Int’l Solidarity for Peace & Human Rights Initiative; Igbo Ekunie Initiative; Civil Liberties Organization, Anambra State Branch; Foundation for Environmental Rights Advocacy & Dev; Society for Economic Rights & Social Justice; Initiative for Ideal Dev & Emancipatory Leadership in Nigeria; Igbo National Council; Forum for Promotion of National Ethos & Values; Easy Life Initiative for Rural Youths; and Voice of the Voiceless Int’l.

“Nigeria must also avoid allowing aggrieved

region (s) to use violence (uprising or armed resistance) or encourage the use of same as the only means by any aggrieved region to get what rightly belongs to it in the country especially the plum seat of presidency and vice presidency or strategic inclusion into the country’s security establishments and compositions. The country must regionally do what is right and appropriate and at the right time and circumstances and avoid allowing room for resort to “Niger Delta method” before giving any aggrieved region its due right or place in Nigeria,” SBCHROs said in the joint statement, reads in part: “This joint statement of ours is sequel to strong rumors making the rounds that “Southwest leaders have successfully brought pressure to bear on Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to pick a Southwest citizen as his running mate, leading to short listing of five indigenes of the Region last night for the PDP Presidential Candidate to pick one of them as his running mate”. If these rumors turned out to be true, then it is the height of political suicide and another round of orchestrated, calculated and decades-long political repression and exclusion against the People of the Region in Nigeria.

“Giving vice presidency to the Southeast is viewed not enough by the People of the Region considering the decades-long personal, cultural and structural violence unleashed on them over the years, but giving same to another Region especially the same Region that has consistently taken a shots to the country’s two plum offices is the height of collective injustice and slavery which will never augur well with Nigeria. Vice Presidency of the country ought to be a non-negotiable gift

•President Muhammadu Buhari (l) meeting with (from right) Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammed Saad, Catholic Archbishop of Nigeria, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, former Head of State, Gen. Abubakar Abdulsalami (rtd) during the conference by the Interfaith Initiative for Peace, which held in Abuja, Saturday,with the theme, “Religious Harmony in Nigeria: Towards the 2019 General Election”

to people of the Southeast or Igbo heartland in preparation for the Region producing the presidency of the country in 2023.

“Therefore, there must be an end to monopolization of Nigeria’s presidential and vice presidential seats by the Southwest and Northwest Regions of Nigeria. The decadeslong claims, deceitful and consistent occupation of the two covet seats by the two regions as if they are their “birth right” must be discontinued and equity allowed, inculcated and entrenched into same whereby the regions marginalized for several decades must be allowed to take their turns if truly there is one united, indivisible and indissoluble Nigeria.

“With the recent sad experience in Syria with 2012 estimated population of 22.5m people where political repression and exclusion led to eruption of country-wide civil strife in March 2011, leading to death of over 300,000 and displacement of half of the population as refugees and IDPs and ruination of the entire country as well as fleeing of 5,000 people per day; Nigeria with estimated population of over 180m people cannot survive widespread civil strife of Syrian category if political repression and exclusion are allowed to continue.

“Any eruption of ‘complex humanitarian emergencies’ in Nigeria over continued political repression and exclusion can never be contained by the combined forces and efforts of sub regional, regional and international political blocs such as ECOWAS, AU and UN owing to explosive population of the country and unmitigated humanitarian crises that will follow. If the world cannot handle or contain the crisis in Syria with mere pre civil war population of less than 23m people, how much Nigeria with explosive population of over 180m people? “We have carefully followed and analyzed the ongoing political situation in Nigeria particularly since the commencement of its electioneering weeks ago and are particularly appalled and dismayed over the role of the mainstream registered political parties and their leaders in selecting candidates who will contest for the available 1,681 elective positions at Federal and State levels in Nigeria, out of total of 1,695 elective seats or polls at the country’s Federal and State tiers of government legally conducted by INEC. “The vice presidential seat of the federal opposition PDP in the 2019 presidential poll should not only go to the Southeast Region or Igbo heartland but there shall also be a concrete arrangement to placate the Region and restore its sense of belongingness in Nigeria by allowing and supporting the Region to produce the president of the country in 2023; after which the North-central will take its turn before it returns to Southwest and South-south respectively; in order of precedence and records. Any arrangement short of the above is a clear invitation to anarchy including possible eruption of serious or intractable socio-political crises and fragmentation of the country.”

‘Ndigbo need equity in resource control, not VP slot’ From Charles Maduka, USA

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United States-based legal practitioner and chieftain of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Charles Maduka has opposed the choice of a Vice Presidential running mate to Atiku Abubakar, or anyone else.

Maduka who was a founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) defected to APGA few months ago in his Amichi, Nnewi South council Ward of Anambra state.

In a well laid out letter, copy of which was sent to journalists in Awka, Maduka noted; “Here we go again, always thinking second is better than third or fourth. I am reminded of how meat was shared while we were growing up.

“The greediest person who was not watching when the meat is being cut and subsequently shared would 99% of the time grab the biggest-looking portion only to discover that the biggest bone was hidden underneath. We can do better in this age.

“Except on selfish ground, any home grown person who has paid any attention to Nigerian politics should know that we are being set up again.

“Already we are falling for it. Anybody or group clamoring for Atiku to pick someone from South East to be his VP does not care for the Igbo. Such calls are purely selfish and have no anchor in what is in the best interest of NdiIgbo.

“Osibanjo is visible simply because of the incapacity of the President, and even at that, he is still being piloted by the President’s men.

Besides, he is from the South West with a king maker backup. Tell these groups that a well vetted activist based in the United States wholly disagrees with the wanting a South East VP to Atiku. What NdiIgbo need is equity in resource control, six states for the zone like others, infrastructure and federal presence.

“Your activists have to be careful what they ask for because the VP position is a toothless bull dog position. What SE needs is a tested person to lead the charge for restructuring the country in the Senate, in the position of President of the Senate.

“That person constitutionally controls the agenda for what we need in the country, particularly the SE. Ike Ekweremadu is a true Igbo son who has worked well with Saraki and understands the Igbo cause. What hap-

pened in the past when we had the Senate leadership should not arise today because times have changed and the person who may win the Presidency supports the Igbo cause.

“Furthermore the next President of the Senate would have been tested and popular which Ike enjoys. Stop fronting these selfish groups that are being sponsored by people who don’t have the best interest of NdiIgbo at heart. They are selfish and corrupt, using aggrandized money to powder their resume with worthless self-sponsored certificates and awards.

“We don’t need the VP, not even the Presidency. Equity first before anything else. If Atiku wins, he is going to be a strong President and the VP does nothing. He can be rendered powerless except to attend functions like Deputy Governors do. Being number two does not work in Nigeria and cannot definitely work for the Igbo man.

“The VP can only be assigned functions at the pleasure of the President. If you ever complain, the answer will be, “well we gave you VP. Say no, to this knee jerk reaction.

When do we learn to make the right call or choose right?”

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The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

NEWS

Ojukwu: BIM/MASSOB dumps APGA, Obiano

By IBE NWACHUKWU The denial of Anambra South Senatorial ticket to the former Nigerian Ambassador to Spain, Iyom Bianca Ojukwu, by the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), during the recently concluded party primaries may have pitched the party and its national leader, Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra state against the Biafra Independence Movement/ Movement for Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra, BIM/MASSOB. This followed a vote-of-no confidence passed on Obiano and APGA leadership by the leader of BIM/MASSOB, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike.

Uwazuruike, who was visibly disappointed by the inability of APGA and Obiano to consider Bianca eligible for the Senatorial ticket, gave glowing account of Late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu and insisted that Ikemba remained the symbol of the Igbo whether living or dead.

He added that if Ojukwu was disgraced by Chief Willie Obiano led APGA of Anambra state, Ndigbo have been disgraced describing the disgrace that was meted out to Iyom

Bianca Ojukwu as embarrassing and abomination.

According to Uwazuruike who frowned that it was only in Igbo land that somebody like Dim Ojukwu would receive such a disgraceful party primaries from APGA party which he struggled hard to build, “as far as BIM-MASSOB members were concerned, having deprived Iyom Bianca Ojukwu of the senatorial ticket for Anambra South zone, that little party called APGA is dead”.

“As far as APGA political party and its leaders have no respect for DIM Ojukwu, APGA is dead and seizes to be Igbo party from today, Uwazuruike insisted, adding, APGA is now an accursed party, shame to APGA, shame to Governor Willie Obiano and shame to the new cabals”.

“Any BIM/MASSOB member who would vote APGA after today must die” and there was a thunderous Amen from the members in support of the pronouncement”.

In a press statement issued after the group’s meeting at Ojukwu memorial library, new Owerri, the Imo state capital and signed by the Biafra Director of information, Mazi Chris

Anierobi Mocha, Uwazuruike also banned the small party the use of Ojukwu’s picture for political rallies or campaigns in Imo, Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu, Anambra, Rivers, Delta, Edo and any other states where APGA has political structures.

“If you will vote for party during any election don’t vote APGA, Uwazurulike directed his followers, insisting that BIM-MASSOB still believed in Ojukwu and what he stood for, even years after his glorious death”.

The New Biafran leader however lamented that the same cabals who dictated how the Nigerian state was being run to short – change Ndigbo in the scheme of things in Nigera have hijacked APGA, but appealed to Obiano and his party faithful to allow Ojukwu’s gentle soul rest in perfect peace.

On this premise, Uwazuruike has given all APGA candidates using the picture of Late Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu seven working days ultimatum from the date of this publication to remove such banners, posters, Bill boards, and campaign vehicles.

“If after the deadline to APGA ex-

pires, defaulters would incur the wrath of BIM/MASSOB, adding that though, we are not politicians but we have soft spot for APGA because of Ojukwu”, Uwazuruike stated.

Uwazuruike recalled that the former Head of state of the Defunct Biafra republic, DIM Ojukwu in what seemed like a renewed call for the actualization of the Biafra ideals, once said that the Igbo people of south Eastern Nigeria had more reason than ever before to seek independence from Nigeria.

Ojukwu who told the BBC, on the 40th anniversary of the start of the Biafra war, in which more than one million people died, that Ndigbo were still marginalized the very core reason for which they went to war.

Ojukwu said the marginalization became more manifest in the course of the 2007 general election in Nigeria, when the about 14 million people resident in south East were denied the right to vote and choose their leaders of their own choice.

Uwazuruike said Ojukwu, who was, presidential candidate of the All Progressives grand Alliance (APGA) in the polls, came sixth with 155, 000 votes,

according to official results.

The said elections, won by the Peoples Democratic party (PDP) candidate, Umar Yar, Adua were condemned by observers as “not credible”.

Ikemba who did a detailed appraisal of the station of the Igbo in the Nigeria of today and told the BBC on 6th July 2007 “that the only alternative is a separate existence” even as he maintained that it was still possible for Nigeria to remain united.

“Give us a free and fair electionallow us to be fully part of Nigeria” Uwazurike quoted Ojukwu as having said, adding that “what upsets the Igbo population was, we are not equally Nigerians as the others”.

Ojukwu said it was this practice of unfair treatment of Ndigbo that led to the declaration of Biafra’s independence on 30 May, 1967. Five weeks later, the first shots were fired in the Thirty-month war, in which more than one million people were believed to have died.

Uwazuruike said though, Ojukwu regretted the war and the deaths, but maintained that Ojukwu was proud that his people had fought back.

Flood: Navy escorts Obiano to ravaged Anambra communities with gun-boats

By IBE NWACHUKWU

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ollowing the consistent ravaging of various communities in Anambra state by flood, men of the Nigerian Navy attached to Odekpe Naval Outpost, Ogbaru near Onitsha at the weekend deployed three of its Epenal gun-boats for tour of the affected communities that were devastated by the current flooding in some parts of Ogbaru Local Government Area of the state.

The journey which started from Marine Police terminal, Marine Road, Onitsha witnessed Governor Willie Obiano, some top state government functionaries and the Navy personnel led by its Ogbaru Outpost Commander, Captain Mohammed taking the lead.

The two-hour maritime journey which afforded Obiano an ample opportunity to have an on-the-spot assessment of the level of devastation in the area which is known as one of the food baskets of the state, the personnel of the Nigerian Navy provided maritime security with three of its gun-boats as they toured Idemili, Okoti, Ogbakuba and other riverine communities in the area that were devastated by the natural disaster.

The journey, however, ended at Central School, Odekpe, one of the Internally Displaced Person’s (IDP) camps where Obiano addressed the victims in their large numbers.

The school compound, now IDP camp, also houses St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, Odekpe but the compound of the Parish House was also submerged by the flood.

Gov. Obiano during the tour of the communities had instructed the villagers who are mainly dependent on farming to relocate to IDP camps scattered in the area as government was doing everything possible to provide their needs, including feeding and other basic necessities of life.

The governor was later led to the naval base through the water to ascertain the level of flooding in the premises of Odekpe Naval Base as the road leading to the base from Atani Road was also covered by the rampaging flood.

Obiano while interacting with the

Navy Commander, Odekpe Naval Base, Captain Mohammed, pleaded with the officers and men to render more assistance to the flood victims and promised to donate more gunboats to the naval base for its maritime operations.

Responding, Captain Mohammed disclosed that men of the Odekpe Naval base have been rendering security assistance to flood victims camped at Central School, Odekpe which is adjacent to the naval base.

The Naval officer who addressed the victims promised to beef-up security at the camp with his men. Some officials of the Nigerian Red Cross Society, NRCSW who spoke to newsmen, however, complained of Police absence in the camp.

The President-General , Odekpe Community, Hon. Vincent Okei who exchanged pleasantries with the Naval officer at the camp while interacting with the victims pleaded for more assistance from both the Federal and State Governments, stressing that the victims were in dire need of assistance in the camps at St. James Anglican Church Iyiowa-Odekpe, Central School, Odekpe and the Council Secretariat in Atani.

From left): Wife of Rivers State Governor, Justice Eberechi Suzzette Nyesom-Wike with Deputy Governor Ipalibo Harry Banigo during the Governor Wike’s Widows Outreach programme for the 23 local government areas in Rivers state on Friday in Port Harcourt

Umahi, Uba mount pressure on Atiku to drop Obi as VP

clique in Igbo land led by GoverA nor Dave Umahi and Chief Chris Uba has started mounting pressure

on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to drop former Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, who emerged as the Vice Presidential Candidate for the 2019 polls.

Sources close to the Atiku/Peter campaign network said that Umahi, Chairman of the South-East Governors Forum and who is well known for his closeness to President Muhammadu Buhari, allege that Atiku did not consult them before settling for Obi as his choice. This is despite the fact that the choice of Obi has elicited widespread acceptance across the country.

“As part of the rejection, Gov. Umahi with a few others working

behind the scene, has called the meetings of Igbos in Enugu today to formally reject Mr. Peter Obi as the Vice Presidential candidate,” one of the sources said.

For Chris Uba, another PDP chieftain, his opposition to Obi is believed to be informed by economic considerations, as Obi had running battles with him during his days as Governor for refusing to continue illegal payments made to him as the then political godfather of the state.

Meanwhile, the Yorubas have expressed readiness to take the Vice Presidential slot with or without consultations. A Lagos-based lawyer, Barr. Wale Agosu, captured the thinking of the Yoruba when he wrote on Facebook: “I have never seen a more terrible, wicked and brainless people. Imagine, after all

the pressure that HE. Abubakar Atiku should choose his running mate from the West, he still went for an Igbo man.

“Did you notice that since the emergence of Mr. Peter Obi, Nigerians are united in commending the choice because of its quality? I think from what my friends from Anambra State tells me, Obi is an epitome of good governance and Nigerians rejoice because they see in him a man whose expertise will be of great value to the re-building of our over bastardised country.

“Instead of embracing their own and working with him, some Igbo people are saying they were not consulted. What a people! Is this how they are going to achieve Igbo Presidency? The stand of these people means in clear terms that they

are rejecting the offer.

“We Yorubas are therefore begging HE Abubakar Atiku to come and pick one of us. We do not even need consultations; just pick one of us because there is no time to waste. Let me ask again: Is this how this people will achieve Igbo presidency?”

On his part, another Yoruba lawyer, Barr. Sona Sat, perhaps exasperated by the bickering among the Igbo political elite, wrote in his own Facebook post: “Igbos do not know when to close ranks. I heard Ike Ekweremadu and others have vowed that Atiku must drop Mr. Peter Obi as his running mate. When Osinbajo was nominated, did we hear such infighting among the Yorubas? Please come and reason with me!”

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The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

NEWS

2019: Atiku, Obi union ideal for Nigeria – Ezeemo

By Theo Rays, Onitsha

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Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain in Anambra State, Chief Godwin Ezeemo has described the Abubakar Atiku and Peter Obi union ahead of the Presidential Election year as ideal for Nigeria.

The endorsement follows protests from Southeast Governors and other chieftains of the PDP over the choice of the former Governor of Anambra State, Obi as the Vice Presidential candidate to the flagbearer and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar for the 2019 general election.

Speaking to The Oracle Today at a function in his country home of Umuchu, Ezeemo who is a twotime governorship candidate of a political party in Anambra said that going by the level of political experience and exposure being paraded by the duo, there are enough reasons to make every Nigerian believe that a combination of Atiku and Obi will move Nigeria to the next level if given the mandate to pilot the affairs of the country.

“Mere looking at Atiku and Obi, I see hope because I believe that they have the capacity to move Ni-

…Ticket portends good tides for Nigeria, Ndigbo – Prof Okunna

geria to another phase and make things work better for the desired development and progress of our country, so I believe that PDP as a political party that meant well for the country has done a good job by fielding Atiku and Obi and hopefully Nigerians will give them their mandate at the polls come 2019.”

The Umuchu born politician, businessman and philanthropist who stood for governorship elections in Anambra twice in 2013 and 2017 under the platform of People Progressive Party (PPA) expressed the hope that Atiku will win the Presidential election convincingly because of his knowledge on national leadership and his wide popularity across the length and breadth of the country noting that the PDP Presidential candidate has a lot to offer considering his experience in the affairs of the country.

“The former Vice President is one man that has been at the centre of the national scene all along. He is one man that has no boundary as far as Nigeria is concerned. From the East, West, North and South Atiku has something that connects him with the people every part of

the country, I see his Presidency as an opportunity to give back to this country in appreciation of what the country has given him. He will his presidency to appreciate the country has made him to be.

“Similarly, Peter Obi has proven to be a champion of good governance and he is prepared to give his best if given the opportunity to serve, so what I am saying is that Atiku and Obi have no reason to fail, they have no reason not to give Nigerians the kind of leadership we are yearning for and Nigerians too have no reason not to give them our mandate in 2019.

On his opinion about the clamour for Restructuring of the country, the former governorship candidate said that Nigerians will continue to seek for what they feel is good or even better for them and which can bring some kind of changes in the system adding that people will continue to agitate for the Restructuring of the country hence they feel that it is going to make things get better for them.

“The clamour for Restructuring is not out of place and a large section of Nigerians support the idea

because it has to do with change.

It is all about bringing new things to improve on the system and making things get better for the interest of the people. That is what we are yearning for. People need to see change, they want to see new things aimed at making their lives better and they believe that Restructuring is the ideal for that change.

“So to me the issue of Restructuring has to be put into consideration because we cannot continue to do the same way over and over, year in and out and expect change.

There have to be programs aimed at given rooms for new development and I think that is what the agitation for Restructuring represents.

Meanwhile, the Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences, Nnamdi Azkiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka, Anambra State, Professor Chinyere Okunna, has described as wonderful decision, the ceding of VicePresidential slot to the South East by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential flagbearer, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

Speaking to our correspondent via a telephone interview, the don also asserted that the choice of former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, was a great move considering the former governor’s pedigree, antecedent and wide experience both in governance and financial management.

According to her, Atiku/Obi ticket portends good tiding for Nigeria and the South East, adding that Obi as vice President of Nigeria, would assist President Atiku to slash the cost of running government remarkably and as well ensure adequate management of the nation’s resources and boosting of her foreign reserves.

“Peter Obi will assist Atiku to slash the cost of governance and save a lot of money for the country.

He is a financial guru, an expert in financial management. With him,

there would be no problem about managing the nation’s economy because he will assist Mr. President to plug all loopholes,” she said.

Okunna, who served under Obi’s administration at various periods as Chief of Staff, Commissioner for Information, Commissioner for Budget and Planning as well as the Coordinator of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), among others, further described the former governor as a very diligent, wellfocused administrator, with clean track records.

Stressing further, she said that, “they are a formidable and excellent pair. PDP made the best choice in choosing Atiku, and Atiku equally made an excellent choice in choosing Obi as his VP. All that Nigerians need to do is to seat back after the 2019 general election and watch how Atiku/Obi Presidency would achieve wonders for the country.

“I am certain that they will blend very well. Atiku is a very wise man.

He is intelligent, very calculative, experienced, knowledgeable. He is a man with self-confidence. On the other hand, Obi has a charming humility, a very laidback individual devoid of pride and ostentatious lifestyle, she stated.

While urging Ndigbo to support Obi’s nomination, Okunna, who is the first female Professor of Mass Communication in the country, also described Obi as an expert in prudence, wealth creation and management and who is as well good in attracting foreign investors and development partners, which according to her, were the former governor’s watchwords as Anambra governor.

So, to me, giving the VP slot to Ndigbo will serve as a form of partial compensation for all the marginalization that we have suffered in this country, and we should be grateful to Atiku taking first step in the right direction,” she said.

Osisioma: NNPC challenges host communities on pipeline fires

N Some of the winners of the explore Nigeria campaign displaying their Dana Air business class return ticket

Feghabor ranks Ebonyi highest in physical development

By CHINEDU NWAFOR, Abakaliki

F

ormer military Administrator of Ebonyi State, Navy Captain Walter Aye Feghabor (Retired ) has ranked Ebonyi first in physical infrastructure among the 6 states created in 1996 by the Former Head of State, late General Sani Abacha.

Feghabor made this assertion in his goodwill message to Ebonyi people during the Independence Day Celebration and the 22nd Anniversary of Ebonyi State in Abakaliki.

The former Administrator said he was always elated to be identified with the rapid infrastructural development that had taken place in Ebonyi State each time he visited Abakaliki.

He said he left in 1998 after spending 22 months as a Military Administrator of the state but noted that the level of physical development in the capital City had remained unparalleled.

According to Feghabor, Ebonyi has surpassed 5 other states includ-

ing his own home state, Bayelsa in structural and Super structural development under 22 years even with the least allocation.

He advised other states to visit Ebonyi and understudy Governor Umahi in his art of governance to know what he is doing differently.

Feghabor said the era of development on the pages of Newspaper, Facebook or other social media platforms was over saying that people want physical development on ground as it is in Ebonyi State.

igerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has urged host communities to create avenues to avoid continuous destruction of oil pipelines by bad elements in their midst.

The Group Managing Director, Dr Maikanti Baru made the call following an oil pipeline fire outbreak along the Osisioma axis near Aba Depot in its System 2E pipeline network on Friday.

A statement by the NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division, Mr Ndu Ughamadu, confirmed fatalities and loss of properties in the inferno.

He said Baru expressed shock at the wanton destruction of lives and properties occasioned by the incident.

“The GMD prayed that God reposes the souls of the innocent ones that perished in the incident,” he quoted Baru to have said He warned members of the public against tampering with oil and gas facilities many of which were flammable.

Commenting on the cause of the incident, Ughamadu said the

incident might have been caused by suspected oil thieves who had hacked into the line to intercept flow of petrol from Port Harcourt to Aba. He said the corporation’s safety experts, along with men of the Abia State Fire Service, had swung into action to contain the situation.

He assured that updates on the situation would be provided as events unfold.

Meanwhile, the Abia command of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has confirmed the death of 19 persons, following the explosion in two villages in Osisioma Local Government Area of the state.

The state Commander of the organisation, Mr Benito Eze, told newsmen on Friday in Umuahia that 16 persons, including one woman, died in the explosion that occurred around 2.47 a.m at Umuaduru Village in Umueze Autonomous Community.

He also said that three others died in the fire that occurred at about 3 a.m in a private residence at Umuimo Village in the area.

POLITICS

9

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

•Mike Ozekhome

•President Buhari

Nigerians will chase Ex-President Jonathan to Buhari’s govt. out in 2019 South East: Accept Atiku’s – Archbishop Chukwuma choice of running mate Pg 12

Pg 10

•Abubakar Malami

Travel ban is desperate, panicky measure –Ozekhome

In this piece, Dr MIKE OZEKHOME, SAN, constitutional lawyer and human rights activist, argues that the Executive Order 6 put into “full force” by President Muhammadu Buhari when he recently banned 50 “high-profile” Nigerians from travelling abroad, came as an extremely panicky, desperate and totalitarian measure that ought not to be in a democracy.

T

he recent announcement of government’s ban on certain Nigerians (yet publicly unnamed) is an extremely panicky measure of desperation and obvious descent into totalitarianism, absolutism and fascism. It is highly condemnable for being absolutely unconstitutional, illegal, wrongful, immoral, vindictive, dictatorial, panicky and presumptuous of the victims’ guilt, without any trial or conviction. The order shows a government wallowing in narcissistic self-righteousness, brazen self-glorification and a false sense of redemptive messianism. It will surely boomerang on the government in this electioneering campaign period and strip the government bare of any pretensions towards democratic credentials.

Presumably anchored on Executive Order 6, it made earlier in July this year, the recent clamp down on opposition elements and persons suspected to be against the desperate attempt by this government to cling to power at all cost is nothing but a draconian Decree, a piece of legislative enactment without a NASS and an unconstitutional judicial pronouncement outside the orbit of a court of competent jurisdiction. It is a vile coup against Nigerians, democracy and constitutionalism. The government by the order turned itself into

a court of law to trail citizens, deprive of their freedom of movement and monitor and seize their accounts by fiat, without a valid court lose. The right to freedom of movement is guaranteed by section 41 of the 1999 Constitution, and same is not subject to derogation by any Executive Order outside the pronouncement of a court of law. It dresses the Executive branch of government with the despotic garbs of arbitrariness, whimsicality and capriciousness, to determine which citizens should be prevented from traveling and have their accounts and properties attached.

The Supreme Court of Nigeria, in Director of SSS v Olisa Agbakoba (1999) 3 NWLR (or 595) 340, quoted with approval, the Indian case of Meneka Ghandi v Union of India (1978) AIR 597, (1978) SCC (1) 248, where the Indian Supreme Court held, on Ghandi’s passport being seized, and he filing a writ of petition under Articles 21 and 32 of the Indian Constitution, that: “The Indian Constitution safeguards the right to go abroad against executive interference, which is not supported by law; law here means enacted law or state law…thus, no person can be deprived of his right to go abroad unless there is law made by the state prescribing the procedure for so depriving him and the depriva-

tion is effected strictly in accordance with such procedure”.

Neither the Executive Order no 6 nor the new travel ban and accounts monitoring and property attachment constitute any such law, by any stretch of the imagination, or constitutional imprimatur. In Agbakoba’s case, the apex court made it clear that ownership of a travelling passport was part and parcel of and concomitant to the freedom of movement. Thus, Executive Order no 6 cannot even enjoy the derogation qualification granted under section 45 of the Constitution, which permits restriction and derogation from the observance of section 41 under a law “reasonably justifiable in a democratic society in the interest of defence, public safety, public order, public morality, or public health, or for the purpose of protecting the rights and freedom of other persons.

This is because it is not a law and, but a mere executive order. Nothing more.

Those affected should head for the courts immediately and get it struck down.

Executive Order no 6 violates the doctrine of separation of powers ably propounded in 1778 (sections 4,5,6 of the 1999 Constitution), by Baron de Montesquie, the rule of law as espoused by Prof A.V Dicey and ALL tenets of constitutional

democracy. It is high-handed, obnoxious, barbaric, pristine, capricious, whimsical and arbitrary. It violently erodes hallowed fundamental rights that are inalienable and God-given. It seeks to strike terror and fear in the minds of Nigerians, especially the opposition and critical voices. It usurps the functions of a court of law and the NASS that has already promulgated the EFCC, ICPC and Money Laundering Acts, all of which allow for interim forfeiture and attachment of citizens’ money and properties, but with an ORDER of a court of law. That was what Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu said in her judgement. She made it clear that although Executive Order no 6 was not itself wrong, the Attorney General of the Federation must, however, first obtain an order of court under section 174 of the Constitution and that the enforcement of the order must never derogate from the rule of law or derogate from the doctrine of separation of powers, or the fundamental rights of Nigerians.

No one has ever doubted the legality of Executive Orders, which are regularly issued by American presidents, wherefrom we borrowed our presidential system, but same must conform with laid-down procedure, due process, citizens’ rights and rule of law. That is the way to go.

10

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

Bold ‘N’ Blunt

Nigerians will chase Buhari’s govt. out in 2019 – Archbishop Chukwuma What can you say about the emergence of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as the unopposed 2019 PDP governorship candidate in Enugu State?

It is a welcome development. Within the three and half years that the governor has been in office, Enugu has enjoyed peace, security, people-oriented governance and humility in leadership.

The governor is God-chosen and he deserves all support to consolidate his achievements in his second term. He is a very quiet performer, and since the governorship slot has been zoned in the state and being the turn of Enugu North, it was a commendable move that PDP returned him as its 2019 flagbearer, without contest or rancour. There is no political rancour in the state because Ugwuanyi is the friend of everybody both PDP, APC and the rest. That is why you see him mobilizing PDP members to welcome Mr. President or the Vice President whenever they are visiting Enugu. Even in Aso Rock, it is known that the governor is a very receptive, humble and respectful individual, who has high regards for constituted authority, elders, leaders and ordinary citizens alike. I have tested him and I am convinced that he deserves a second term. He has good plans for the poor, widows and the less privileged.

What are your thoughts about the fastapproaching 2019 genersl elections?

2019 is year that some of us prayerfully believe would be a year of deliverance – deliverance from the shackles of insensitivity to human life and to the economic challenges of Nigeria. We are looking forward to 2019 as a year that God will raise a messiah that will deliver Nigeria since the change that we had asked for, and which has been the main slogan of the present administration, has remained eloquently elusive. All that we have witnessed in the last three and half years of the Buhari administration have been negative changes that have made life more difficult for Nigerians. So, all well-meaning citizens must pray harder that God will raise a Messiah that would not cause more hardships for the country but rather make the nation better than what we have today. We are still in the wilderness. But we are expecting a Joshua who will lead us to the promised land.

Do you spot any ‘Joshua’ among the Presidential candidates that have emerged from various political platforms?

Only God sees the inside of every human being. But as far as I am concerned, (President) Muhammadu Buhari, who purported to have intended to bring change, has failed to show us the change and life has become harder for all of us.

Most of the programmes that he has pursued so far have been more or less vindictive; and I have not seen any project that he has started and completed since he came on board over three and half years ago, even after borrowing about N12 trillion. There is no youth in his cabinet, nobody has been charged to court over budget padding, and all that we have had is noisemaking and policy summersault. Also, no killer or criminal herdsman has been arrested and prosecuted to clearly demonstrate that the present federal government is not supporting and shielding the so-called killer-

•Archbishop Chukwuma

•Says Obasanjo/Atiku peace parley sign of public rejection of Buhari •Describes Ugwuanyi as “a popular leader liked even in the Presidency” •Insists attack on Ekweremadu designed to tame his “soaring political career” The Anglican Archbishop of Enugu Ecclesiastical Province, Most Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Chukwuma, has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to start packing his personal effects in Aso Rock ahead of the 2019 general election, adding that the president’s tenancy at the villa would seize at the presidential polls. Chukwuma, in this interview with CHUKS EZE, in Enugu, however endorsed the candidacy of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, and wrote off Buhari administration as failed, corrupt and vindictive. The vocal prelate also described the emergence of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State as un-opposed PDP guber candidate as a good omen, and warned architects of alleged, gang-up and harassment of DSP Ekweremadu to desist forthwith or face both physical and spiritual retaliation.

There is a lot of discrimination and corruption around President Buhari, and he is shielding corrupt people both in his government and his party, the APC, while victimizing those in other parties.

“

herdsmen who have wasted precious lives and properties of hundreds of innocent Nigerians across the country. The Buhari administration has also failed to officially establish the true owners of the $43 million that was discovered at Ikoyi

Osborne Towers. What about the grasscutting saga of the former Secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, and the invasion of the National Assembly (NASS) by the recently ousted Director-General of DSS, Mam-

man Daura and his men, among several others alleged frauds. All these are happenings under the present administration that claims to be fighting corruption, but yet, it looks the other way whenever its officials and members of the ruling APC are involved in (alleged) criminality, fraud or misconduct. That is corruption!

If the expected change has remained elusive under Buhari, is there any sign that Nigerians would get a better deal under any of the rest Presidential candidates?

The question is: Would Nigerians want to continue with a system where someone criminally invades the National Assembly NASS and goes scot-free? Would Nigerians, especially people of the South East, want to continue with a system where they are denied representation

11

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

Bold ‘N’ Blunt

•Buhari

in the National Security Council? Never in this country has the federal character been so abused like under the present administration, which is a constitutional violation. None of the other candidates is likely to indulge in repeated flagrant disobedience of court orders, which has been the order of the day under the Buhari administration. Look at the long incarceration of the Shi’ites leader as well at the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki.

So, Nigerians would choose whether to continue with a system where the President unilaterally declares that the unity of the country is non-negotiable, where the country becomes more divided like never before; where appointment into positions is made the exclusive preserve of the President’s family members, cronies and a small part of the country; where people are teargassed, manhandled, arrested and murdered for embarking on peaceful rally or demonstration; or to to choose to embrace a new system that will respect human dignity, fundamental human right, and absolute respect and obedience to the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria.

Nigerians would want to know to what extent that Mr President has fulfilled his campaign promises – his promises about exterminating Boko Haram, reducing pump price of petroleum products, crashing the exchange rates, massive employment generation and several others. He had promised to reduce the official pomp price of petrol to N40.

But when he assumed office, rather than even retaining the N87 official pomp price that he met, his administration jerked it up to all-time high of N143/ N145 and even more, in some states.

Shall Nigerians continue with a promiseand-fail system? AK-47 guns are officially designated to be used by the Nigerian armed forces and authorized security agencies, but we find the lethal device freely in the hands of herdsmen. How do they get the guns and what has the government done about it? Who has been arrested and prosecuted for illegal possession of such dangerous firearms, under this dispensation?

So, if handlers of the present administration feel that they have any credibility to continue, let them mention any palliative measure that they put in place to cushion the direct effects of astronomi-

•Atiku

cal increase of dollar to naira exchange from N197 that they inherited from the Jonathan administration to over N500 that it earlier shot to and the present N360 rate. What is the change for pensioners most of who depend on imported drugs for their daily care and upkeep?

The government needs to make a lot of explanations and clarifications to convince citizens that they are qualified for re-election. They need to prove beyond doubts that they are not corrupt, and even more corrupt than the past government.

When you declared, in 2015, in an interview that Mr President was corrupt, his supporters did not take it lightly with you …?

(Cuts in) … Yes, I said so, I still stand by that and I now feel very much vindicated about my earlier declaration that Buhari is corrupt. With some of the issues that I have enumerated, he should prove that he is not corrupt. There is a lot of discrimination and corruption around President Buhari, and he is shielding corrupt people both in his government and his party, the APC, while victimizing those in other parties. Whoever that jumps into APC from another part, no matter how corrupt he was, he becomes a saint, thereby turning the ruling party into a bundle of corrupt, fraudulent individual, who run into it to shield themselves. Many of the people around the President have turned themselves into small gods, perpetrating evil with reckless abandon.

The Service chiefs are long due for retirement, yet he is still keeping them even when younger officers are being retired.

What would you call that if not hidden agenda, corruption? But we will pray all of them out; Nigerians must be ready to pray away this government. Buhari is my friend, I know him very well.

He may be good on his own, but since he allowed those around him to overwhelm him and destroy his government, he should pack and go, along with the so-called cabals and self-professed small gods so that citizens can have some freshness. I am not talking about political party now but personality. It is a question of what you have achieved in the past and what you are likely to put on the table.

That is the present focus of people in Nigeria because electorates are becoming

•Obasanjo

more enlightened. It is now a question of the antecedents, pedigree and integrity of candidates across board.

Look at how they handled the NYSC forgery saga of the immediate-past Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun. It is a shame that the woman was allowed to sneak out of the country and the matter have been killed.

That is corruption. And for that, if Mr President says that he wants to recontest for Presidency, he has to properly tender his WAEC certificate. The matter was killed last time, but this time, Nigerians are waiting to know whether he truly attended secondary school and duly obtained verifiable WAEC results and certificate.

I have nothing against the person of Mr President, but all I am asking is that he should be seen to be sincerely fighting corruption, which was his core campaign promise. So, is that it is time for the Buhari-led government to exterminate. We are yearning for a leader who can transform our economy, create jobs and as well create an atmosphere where people would be free to express themselves rather that the incessant witch-hunting, harassment, arrest and detention of citizens through the EFCC, to realize apparent personal vendetta.

Do you spot such qualities in former vice President, Atiku Abubakar?

When you look at Atiku, with respect to other very credible candidates such as Donald Duke, Oby Ezekwesili and the rest, you find that the former VP possesses more experience in governance and politics. The present situation requires somebody with absolute maturity, clout and best experience of federal governance. He was deputized (former) President Obasanjo for eight years and he has created and effectively managed several businesses.

He is a typical Wazobia citizen; he is also married to both Igbo and Yoruba daughters, with his tentacles spread all over Nigeria. So, as far as I am concerned, there is no doubt that he will be a better president than Buhari, because, I know that he does not have a wicked heart, he is not a die-hearted Muslim because he has mixed with Nigerians from all sections of the country.

He is a successful businessman and to me, our economy will not suffer under

his care. He is approachable and runs one of the best private universities in Nigeria. So, going by his credentials and those of his running mate, (former governor) Peter Obi, I am certain that Nigeria would have a nice outing on the other side of 2019. Since PDP has made Atiku their preferred candidate, let us give him a chance and support him. That is my submission. It is also a good omen that Obasanjo has reconciled with him and endorsed him. I support that peace meeting irrespective of what some people say.

Obasanjo’s endorsement of Atiku speaks volume, and Buhari should realise that it was in the same manner that former President had abandoned Jonathan and endorsed him in 2015 that he has this time, also chosen to abandon Buhari to endorse Atiku. It is his right, after all, both Buhari and Atiku had served under Obasanjo. Buhari cannot claim to be a saint.

The people around him have ruined him and virtually all Nigerians are disappointed in him, and I would advise him to start picking his belongings gradually to vacate the State house at the expiration of his present tenure. There have been more killings, hatred, economic woes among others, under the present dispensation than ever in this country.

So, I believe that Atiku has what it takes to change the ‘change’, with him, it is believed that things would get much better. He is not likely to engage in guess work which the present administration seems to be doing since it came onboard.

The presidency described the Obasanjo/Atiku peace meeting as a gang-up against the present administration; do you view it as such?

I view it as a welcome development, and the quality and spread of the personalities that were involved in the peace meeting showed the extent to which Nigerians have hated and rejected the Buhari administration. Whoever that is calling the parley a gangup does not want to tell himself the truth. It is like a protest against the federal government, that citizens are tied of the present system, and that they want to unite to institute a fresh system that would bring about good governance.

12

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

POLITICS

Ex-President Jonathan to South East: Accept Atiku’s choice of running mate

•Jonathan

F

ormer President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has appealed to the leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the South East zone to support the party’s presidential candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in his choice of Mr. Peter Obi as his running mate, to ensure victory for PDP in next year’s general elections.

The former President’s appeal follows a statement issued on Saturday by leaders of the party in the zone stating that they were not properly consulted before Obi’s nomination was made public. In a statement addressed to party members which he personally signed, the former President counseled against insisting on obtaining a zonal endorsement for a vice presidential nomination, adding that it is the prerogative of the Presidential candidate to select the candidate he believes will help him to achieve his vision and goals for the nation.

A statement issued by Mr. Ikechukwu Eze, the former President’s spokesman quoted Dr. Jonathan thus: “I therefore want to directly appeal to my brothers and sisters from the South East zone who are members of our party to reconsider their position and allow the presidential candidate of the PDP to select a candidate he thinks he can work with to be able to achieve the party’s devel-

•Atiku opment goals.

Since Atiku has already nominated Mr. Peter Obi as his running mate, I am pleading with my party members from the zone to accept his choice.”

Below is the full statement issued by Dr. Jonathan: “I thank members of our great party for the successful conduct of the primaries for the various elective positions ahead of the 2019 general elections. By holding transparent, peaceful and rancor-free convention and primaries across the country, our party has once more, taken the nation’s democratic exercise a notch higher, in line with our well-established tradition of deepening the growth of democracy in our nation.

“I again congratulate all our candidates for various positions, including Alhaji Atiku Abubakar who was overwhelmingly elected by our delegates as the flag bearer of our party in the 2019 presidential election. The popularity and positive reviews of the exercise across the country is a clear demonstration of national endorsement for the choices we made, going into the 2019 elections.

“The task before us is to build on this firm foundation and momentum by pulling in one direction and working assiduously for the victory of these candidates at the polls.

•Umahi It is against this backdrop that I appeal for calm and understanding in the South East where my attention has been drawn to the fact that some leaders of our party are openly expressing their discomfort with the reported nomination of former Governor of Anambra State Peter Obi as Atiku’s running mate. I am told that some of our leaders in the zone have raised issues with the process of consultation that produced the Vice Presidential candidate.

“I affirm that consultation is a key ingredient in every political process. Nonetheless, in the selection of a vice presidential candidate, a presidential candidate is allowed reasonable freedom to select his running mate based on loyalty, trust, experience, temperament and capacity to perform the responsibilities of the office. Anything other than this could create tension and acrimony between the presidential candidate and his running mate, even before the inauguration of the government.

My plea is for Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to be given a free hand to choose who he wants to work with as his Vice President without putting him through undue pressure. In this regard, only minimal consultation is required which doesn’t necessarily have to involve full regional review and approval.

“We have to be careful not to give the impression that the process of selecting a Vice Presidential candidate cannot progress until a regional stamp of approval is formally procured. The system we are used to right from the First Republic is one that places the choice of a running mate at the behest of the candidate, based on his own convictions on capacity and compatibility.

“From my political history beginning from Deputy Governor to President, I can say that this is the tradition and standard practice in countries where either the President and his Vice or Governor and his Deputy contest election on a common slate. In such instance, once a candidate emerges, he or she is given a free hand to select the person who understands his vision and plans for the country, as his running mate.

I therefore want to directly appeal to my brothers and sisters from the South East zone who are members of our party to reconsider their position and allow the presidential candidate of our party to select a candidate he thinks he can work with to be able to achieve the party’s development goals. Since Atiku has nominated Mr. Peter Obi as his running mate, I am pleading with my party members from the zone to accept his choice.”

APC stakeholders call for sanctions on Usani

From ANIEKAN ANIEKAN, Calabar

A

s the controversy over the recently conducted primaries of the APC festers, stakeholders of the party from the 18 council areas of the state have called on the national executive of the party to sanction the minister of Niger Delta Affairs, pastor Usani Uguru Usani.

The stakeholders who spoke after a stakeholders meeting today in Calabar said the minister has lately been acting like a bull in the China shop.

Odigha Odigha, the spokesman of the group said “based on the unrestrained, unabated and unrepentant posture of pastor Usani Usani against the party, which has marked him out clearly as unfit for public office on the platform of our party, we request our national chairman to show him the way out of the party to enable us to market the APC”, he said.

The stakeholders maintained that Cross River State is a low hanging fruit for the APC in next year’s general elections and the actions of the minister, if not checked will undermine the party’s march to victory in the state.

Emmanuel repositioning Akwa Ibom youth

for greater future – Commissioner The numerous youth-empowerment programmes embarked upon by Governor Udom Emmanuel is targeted at repositioning Akwa Ibom youth to meet the prevailing socio-economic challenges of the contemporary world.

Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Charles Udoh stated this during an interactive session he held in his office with members of the National Defence College Course 27 currently on Study tour of the State.

Charles Udoh said, conscious of the fact that, contemporary developed economic are entrepreneural and business-oriented, Governor Udom Emmanuel has vigourously embarked on entrepreneurial development in the stste to equip the youths to meet the prevailing economic trends.

This the Governor has done by opening up business opportunities for the youths in the numerous industries operating in the state and listed them to include the largest Syringe manufacturing factory, the first Digital Electric Metering factory, the Fertilizer Blending Plant, the Rice Processing Mill and the Coconut Re-

finery.

Others are the Peacock Paints that was reactivated within the first 100 days in office of the Governor, the Pencils and Toothpick factory, the Bamboo pulp, Plastic factory, Hydro form Block moulding factory and the Woodwork factory, among others.

He said these and other youth empowerment programmes in other sectors like ICT, Sports, Agriculture and Agro-based enterprises put in place by government are to reoriented the youths from the Civil Service orientation that was the order of the day in Akwa Ibom for so many year.

The Information Boss who spoke on the theme of the study tour, “Management of the Youth and National Security; the Akwa Ibom State experience, said as the vibrant sector of the society, youths play a vital role in National Security as their activities impact greatly on Law and Order as well as on the peaceful atmosphere necessary for development.

He said, it is in realization of this, that Governor Udom Emmanuel has ensured that youths receive priority in government development plans adding that government has

also banned Cultism and other nefarious activities in the state to keep Akwa Ibom youths safe and positively engaged for the challenges ahead.

Reiterating that the future is bright for youths in the State with all the Youth-friendly policies put in place by government, Udoh acknowledged with pride that over 200 warring youths have surrendered their arms and embrace peace and development which has greatly boosted State and National security.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Engr Effiong Efiakedoho in his welcome remarks said Akwa Ibom is of the most peceful stte in the Niger Delta with warm and friendly people and urged the visitors to take a tour of the rich tourism heritage of the state.

On his part, the leader of the team AVM DL Sandi said the tour was to enable participants gather information that will assist them in the final project presentation at the end of the National Defence Course 27 Study Tour of States of the Federation.

Highlight of the event was the presentation of publications of the Ministry to the team by the Commissioner at the event witnessed by Directors in the Ministry.

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The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

NEWS

Ebonyi: Old Ohaozara teachers protest marginalization

By CHINEDU NWAFOR, Abakaliki

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eachers numbering over fifty from Ohaozara, Onicha and Ivo Local Government Areas of Ebonyi State, otherwise known as Old Ohaozara, have protested over alleged plot to deny them of their turn to produce the chairman of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), in the state.

The teachers who protested under the auspices of Forum of Concerned Teachers of Ohanivo, stormed Government House Abakaliki to register their dissatisfaction.

Comrade Orji Wilfred who spoke on behalf of the protesters explained that Ebonyi is made up of three senatorial zones and that the position of chairmanship of NUT is rotated among the various zones and political bloc of the state; adding that only old Ohaozara bloc was yet to produce the chairmanship of the Union and equity demands they are allowed to pro-

duce the next chairman.

Orji further explained that hijackers within the Ebonyi state wing of NUT were plotting to displace them from contesting and occupying the position of the state chairmanship which they said had been allotted to their zone.

“May we inform you Sir, that Ebonyi state comprises of three senatorial zones namely; Ebonyi North, Central and South, of which we belong to the latter. May we also inform you that our zone, Ebonyi South, is made up of five LGAs namely; Afikpo North, Afikpo South, Ohaozara, Onicha and Ivo. “The five LGAs constitute the two political blocs of Ebonyi South.

Afikpo North and Afikpo South as Afikpo bloc and Ohaozara, Onicha and Ivo as Old Ohaozara bloc.

“It is pertinent to state at this juncture that elective positions in Ebonyi state wing of NUT, State Chairman in particular, are routinely rotated among the various senatorial zones and political blocs”, he

explained.

He added that Afikpo North, Ezza South, Ohaukwu, and Ikwo had all produced the chairman of the Union in the past and it was the time of Old Ohaozara to produce the chairman but “on the contrary, some LGAs branch chairmen constituted themselves into a kangaroo screening committee, purportedly stage-managed by a bigwig in the NUT national office.

“The so-called screening committee went into action and, to the chagrin of all Ebonyi South teachers, and indeed the entire teachers of Ebonyi state, the kangaroo committee dropped the four contestants of old Ohaozara bloc for no just reason. “The committee instead came up with the adoption of somebody whom they labelled as their ‘consensus candidate’ in the person of Egwu Francis of the same Afikpo North LGA that produced the pioneer chairman of the Union for six years in the past.

“We have been equally been

reliably informed that the Ebonyi State wing of NUT Secretary colluded with the kangaroo committee and secretly issued nomination forms to their favoured ones, without the prior knowledge of the State Wing of Executive Committee (SWEC), members.

Comrade Orji urged prayed the state government to use its powers to put on hold the proposed Ebonyi State Wing of Conference of Delegates scheduled for 11th October, 2018, until due process was followed.

Addressing the protesters, Chief Emmanuel Offor Okorie, the Chief of Staff, government house Abakaliki, thanked them for the peaceful manner they conducted themselves during the protest and urged them to also return to their destination peacefully.

Okorie assured them that their grievances would be addressed as he would let the Governor know of their complaints with immediate alacrity.

Atiku/Obi ticket: Igbo group pledges support for PDP

By CHINEDU NWAFOR, Abakaliki

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resident Ndigbo Unity Assembly, Dede Uzor A. Uzor, has described as a welcome development the choice of former Governor of Anambra state,Mr. Peter Obi, by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, as his running mate.

Uzor who stated this while reacting to the news, thanked entire stakeholders of the party for making what he termed a right choice.

He noted that Obi’s choice was in line with their earlier advice to the PDP that it should not make a mistake of not choosing a credible Igbo man as the party’s VP from the zone “Before the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, chose former Governor Peter Obi as his running mate, we had issued a press statement saying that the PDP should not make the mistake of not choosing a credible Igbo man as the Vice-President.

It will show that Ndigbo play a very vital role in the political development of this nation. Now that they have appointed former Governor Peter Obi, it is a welcome development. We the Ndigbo Unity Assembly congratulate PDP and thank the entire stakeholders of the party for making the right choice. We want to commend the PDP for making a popular decision of appointing a credible Igbo man in the person of the former Governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi, as Atiku’s running mate in the 2019 general election. He said all Igbo votes would be channelled to the PDP come 2019.

“Ndigbo is solidly behind Mr Peter Obi. And we will vote massively for the PDP because of Peter Obi. All Igbo votes are going to be channelled to the PDP. And Ndigbo Unity Assembly and other stakeholders are going to mobilize Ndigbo both at home and abroad to support Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi. “There will never be a leadership that Nigerians will be happy than the incoming PDP government as far as Peter Obi is concerned. We know him”, he said.

•Principal of the Bishop Crowther Memorial Secondary School, Diocese of Evo Anglican Communion, in Port Harcourt, Rev. Cannon Chimaobi Chieme with the Deputy Governor of Rivers State, Deputy Dr. (Mrs) Ipalibo Harry Banigo, during the dedication of a New Administrative Library and Laboratories Complex at the school, Thursday

Umuahia Catholic Diocese bans awards, burial brochures From BONIFACE OKORO, Umuahia

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atholic Diocese of Umuahia has banned its parishes and groups from organizing award ceremonies ostensibly to raise funds.

Similarly, in a move to cut huge spending, the diocese has banned production of brochures for burial programmes.

These were contained in a 25-point communiqué (Synodal Act) issued at the just concluded 4th Diocesan Synod of the church held at Mater Dei Cathedral, Umuahia.

“Awards to raise funds must be abolished throughout the diocese henceforth,” the communiqué read in part, adding that burial brochures should equally be abolished.

The Church encouraged its parishes and stations to make profit-yielding investments, and in doing so, should endeavor to employ the services of experts and committees put in place for such purposes by the diocese.

The Diocese also insisted that marriage courses must last for three

months before a couple is wedded in its jurisdiction while the burial of a Catholic faithful must not exceed one month. Any extension, the communiqué stressed, must be approved by the appropriate authorities. The theme of the synod held every 10 years was “Evangelisation: Call to Discipleship and Mission.”

In his keynote address, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Umuahia, Most Rev. Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, tasked every Christian to take on the task of evangelization with the goal of winning new converts, bring back slacking Christians and deepen the faith of those who have accepted Christ. Bishop Ugorji noted that the impact of evangelization could be measured by the extent of transformation of the political, social, economic and cultural sectors by the Spirit of the Gospel.

According to him, a baseline survey of the social challenges to evangelization in Nigeria revealed that the political sector was characterised by violence, resulting in mindless killings;

as well as corruption which have impacted negatively on the economic sector, thereby plunging the citizenry into poverty. In the religious sector, he decried the emergence of “miracle hawkers” and preachers of prosperity gospel masquerading as modern day prophets and prophetesses.

Goaded by greed for sordid money, these fake and self-proclaimed ministers mutilate and betray the Gospel of Christ, reduce God’s blessings simply to material prosperity and mislead weak Christians with their spurious dreams, deceptive revelations and false predictions,” the Bishop observed. He also noted that new secularist ideologies have exposed people to unwholesome media contents which are compounding the task of evangelization.

Speaking on the topic: “Reviewing Our Evangelization Strategies in the Light of the Social Challenges in Nigeria,” Bishop Ugorji advocated “formation programmes” in the forms of Bible study sessions, lectures, seminars and retreats, among others.

Umahi sets up endowmentfor children of deceased journalist

By CHINEDU NWAFOR, Abakaliki

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overnor David Umahi of Ebonyi state has set up a N3 million endowments for the education of the three children of the late Ebonyi Vice Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Comrade Samuel Nweke.

Umahi who was saddened by the ugly event also pledged to appoint the wife as one of his Technical Assistants to enable her sustain the family after the burial of her husband.

The Governor also made a donation of N1 million to the wife to start up any business of her choice to add up for the continued upkeep of the family.

The Governor made the announcement this on Monday in Abakaliki when he paid a condolence visit to the slained journalist’s residential home in Abakaliki.

Late Samuel Nweke died during an encounter with Armed Robbers along Abakaliki/Enugu highway penultimate week on their way back from NUJ 6 triennial conference held in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

The Governor further directed the State Commissioner for Works and Transport, Engr. Fidelis Nweze, to take over, on behalf of Government,the payment of their residential rent immediately as well as make plans to procure a Toyota Sienna Car for the use of the family.

He further directed the Secretary to the State Government to immediately articulate for payment the total gratuity benefit of the retired father of the late Journalist while he also made a donation of N500, 000 each to his two aged parents.

He described the death of the Journalist as a State tragedy and prayed God to grant both the state, the NUJ and the immediate family of the deceased the fortitude to bear the loss.

“After the husband’s burial, we will appoint the wife as a Technical Assistant to take care of the children. We will find her N1million to start business with..We will give N500,000 to the father and N500,000 to the mother. And we will use N3 million to set up education foundation for the three children to make sure that they continue with their education.

He said the State would takeover the cost of the burial of the deceased journalist as soon as the family concludes arrangements and furthermore, directed the Ministry of Work to note the request for the construction of the road leading to the journalist’ s village compound enroute Onueke in Ezza South local government area of the State.

The Governor finally commended the Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, Senator Emmanuel Onwe for shutting down the State radio and Television stations for 24 hours as a mark of honour to the departed journalist who incidentally was a staff of the Ebonyi State Broadcasting Corporation.

Responding, deceased’s father while thanking the Governor for the gesture, described the untimely death of his son as heart breaking.

He lamented that his late son had remained the bread winner of the family since he retired from service in 2011. The Governor had visited the Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki where the injured journalists, including the State correspondent of Vanguard Newspaper, Peter Okutu and the State Secretary of NUJ, Tony Nwizi were receiving treatment.

Apart from undertaking to write off their medical bills, the Governor made some cash donations for their upkeep in the hospital.

14

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

NEWS

Reps member donates health centres to Church From Chuks Collins, Awka

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principal officer of the Federal House of Representatives, Prince Chukwuka Onyema, representing Ogbaru Federal Constituency has handed over all health Centres renovated and equipped in his constituency to the church, saying that it is the only way to ensure proper, effective and efficient management of the centers.

The lawmaker who spoke at the hand-over of one such health centres recently to the Anglican Diocese, Ogbaru at St Luke Anglican Church, Okpoko, expressed delight in the gesture.

“It has been the case that all the establishments given to the local government system get mismanaged and goes moribund. It was the Anambra State government that initiated the practice of handing over schools and hospitals to churches and one can attest to the fact that these institutions have experienced a radical improvement since the development.

“I realized that when the state partnered with the church in schools and hospitals, they picked up. Normally, health centres are handed over to local governments and most times you find out that when those hospitals are handed over to the local government, the hospital facilities and vehicles end up being run down.

“So, I decided to toe the line when I attracted rehabilitation and equipping of the moribund primary health centres in my constituency. I went to the church and discussed with them and they agreed they would judiciously manage the health centres and ambulance. So, we are here to hand over the ambulance we bought and the renovated and equipped primary health centre to the church.”

Onyema said.

The lawmaker also disclosed that one other primary health centre has been rehabilitated and handed over to another Anglican church inside Onitsha as well as in a Catholic church which has also been given an ambulance.

While receiving the key to the ambulance, Rt. Revd Prosper Amah, bishop of Ogbaru Diocese said he will make available a mobile phone number that every people in Okpoko can call whenever they need the services of the ambulance.

He warned the hospital administrator not to use the ambulance for any purpose for which it is not meant.

“It should remain stand by for responding to emergency health cases,” the bishop said.

He also announced that the ambulance will not charge any patient it conveys and blessed Chief Medical Director of the primary health centre, Dr Ejikeme Okonkwo, stated that the primary healthcare centre was in a deplorable state before the “intervention of Hon Chukwuka Onyema.”

Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youths applaud Atiku for choice of Obi

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hanaeze Ndigbo Youths (Worldwide) has commended the PDP and former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, for choosing an Igbo son as the vice presidential candidate for the 2019 general elections.

The commendation was given through a statement issued in Owerri on Sunday by its Acting National President, Dr Kingsley Dozie and Emeka Odom, its Assistant National Legal Adviser.

It said that assistance of Igbo youths would be made available to the PDP having chosen Dr Peter Obi as its presidential running mate.

The group said it had already started discussing and liasing with youths of other ethnic nationalities on how to have a productive and people oriented election.

“To restructure Nigeria is our priority now and we’ll get it right this time. The choice of the former gov-

ªFrom left: Former General Manager, Nigeria Airways, Mr. Chris Aligbe; Former Director General, Institute of Directors, Mr. Victor Danjo; Chairman of the Occasion, Prof. Anthony Kila; President Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative (ASRTI), Mr. Gbenga Olowo; Former Managing Director, Aero contractors, Mr. Dapo Olumide and Director of Air Transport Regulation, NCAA, Group Capt. Edem Oyo-Ita, during the Q4 2018 Quarterly Business Breakfast Meeting on Short Life Span of Nigerian Airline the Importance of Corporate Governance in Lagos

T

he Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Placid Mmaduabuchi Emmanuel, has promised to pursue only projects that would move the unity and development of the nation forward, ‘not persons with supremacist and selfish primordial and clannish aims.’

According to him, most of those presently grandstanding as messiahs to the myriad of problems bedeviling the nation were actually the architects, hence, cannot be

lieve, is based on his outstanding performance as governor of Anambra state,” it said.

The group said that as a successful businessman, it expected Obi to translate his wealth of experience into good governance for the nation.

They expressed optimism that he would not disappoint Ndigbo in particular and Nigeria at large.

The group had earlier commended the PDP for electing Abubakar as its presidential candidate in the 2019 elections.

Its leader, Dr Kingsley Dozie, described Abubakar as an apostle of restructuring, further promising that his group would liaise with its parent body, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, alongside “our brothers after our consultations and get it right this time.”

“The party’ s primary was free and fair and the most credible presidential primaries. Igbo youths are pleased with the party’s style of leadership and particularly the restructuring agenda of its candidate which placed him first in the race.

“Consequently, the leadership of igbo youths, led by Kingsley Dozie, shall mobilize all igbo youths, home and abroad, to ensure that a better candidate who places our interest as a priority and who will genuinely restructure Nigeria emerged as the president of Nigeria come 2019,” he said.

Dozie said that Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Wing was now out to protect, preserve and promote the welfare of ndigbo through massive mobilization of the youths to vote for a preferred, detribilized and someone who would put smiles on the faces of people in the forthcoming presidential election.

He urged the youths to ensure they had their PVCs, saying that was the surest way to electing credible candidates.

15 denounce cultism in Enugu community N

o fewer than 15 cultists belonging to different cult groups have openly denounced their membership of cultism in Diogbe community, Igbo Etiti Local Government Area of Enugu State.

The cultists, whose ages range between 18 and 25 years, before now had engaged in various crimes and vices within the community and its neighbourhoods.

Administering an oath of denunciation and undertaking on the cultists on Sunday in the community, the state’s Commissioner of Police, Mr Mohammed Danmallam, urged the repentant cultists to shun acts capable of bringing them in conflict with the law.

Danmallam, who, was represented

by the Police Public Relations Officers, SP Ebere Amaraizu, urged the community members to accept their misguided sons wholeheartedly; adding that the police would not accept people stigmatizing them for any reason.

“This is part of the Command’s Police Public Relations Department outreach called Police Campaign Against Cultism and Other Vices (POCACOV) programme meant in countering narratives of cultism and social vices amongst youths by turning them to be better citizens.

“Our youths must resist temptation of yielding to negative influences of friends and peer groups if they will become champions tomorrow.

“Also, I will enjoin you to know

LP Presidential candidate assures 15m jobs From Chuks Collins, Awka

ernor, Peter Obi is great. He was not wasteful in the management of resources while serving as governor.

“Peter Obi is a good choice. He will bring business intelligence into governance.He is not corrupt and as a governor, he was not wasteful. Igbo youths are very happy.

Obi’s success story as a businessman would help in reviving the nation’s economy if elected in 2019.

“The decision to pick him, we be-

sincere in their hearts.

Describing LP as the only party with human face/theme, Mr Emmanuel appealed to citizens, especially the voters to choose to do things differently this time and see the way things would transform positively for all. That he would create 15-million jobs in the first 18months of his administration.

The Nnewi-born Onitsha-based business executive wondered how the nation’s leaders sleep daily when they know some children are out of school and on the streets,

some in captivity, some have become kidnappers, criminals and purveyors of anti-social acts not as a choice but because of and circumstances made possible by their misrule.

He said that what he saw during his nationwide consultation with the citizens made his heart ache after seeing the squalor and deprivation citizens of a well-endowed nation like Nigeria have been contending with while the privileged so-called leaders swim in immoral opulence and frivolity.

who your friends are and the kind of life they live to avoid getting involved as well,’’ he advised.

Danmallam described cultism as an envelope containing many crimes such as armed robbery, murder, kidnapping, rape, drug related crime; while advising youths to always reflect on the positive sides of their future.

Earlier, the Traditional Ruler of the community, Igwe Uchenna Anikwe, said that he and his cabinet members had been battling cultism in the last five years in the community and had spent a lot of resources on security.

“Before five years ago when we started to fight this monster called cultism, the community witnessed all sorts of evil and this negative development discouraged our illustrious sons and daughters not coming home then.

“However, today, we thank God that our effort is being crowned by these our misguided sons coming out willingly to denounce cultism and its accompanying evils and be good and peaceful indigenes of the community,’’ Anikwe said.

According to him, for any indigene of the community in any form of cult group, there will be no hiding place for the person or persons any longer in the community.

Chairman of Post Primary School Management Board, Mr Nestor Ezema, said that the state government

was fully out to kick-out all forms of cultism and unruly behaviours among students in the state.

Ezema, who was represented by Mrs Nkechi Ngwu, urged everybody especially parents to rise up against unruly behaviours among children and start monitoring the type of friends they keep in school and at home. Rev. Fr. Victor Ozioko, a Catholic Priest in the community, admonished the repentant cultists to draw closer to God and learn how to make it in life through the grace of God. “The Church is here to support you in all positive ramifications and draw you closer to God; while for those of you who are willing to learn a trade, craft and skills, the Church will support you.

“I must thank the traditional ruler and others for ensuring that peace and security return to Diogbe and these number of youths are salvaged from destruction,’’ Ozioko, who is incharge of St. Charles Parish,” Diogbe said.

A resident of the community, Mama Veronica Ugwu, noted that the community had been filled with great joy for their repentant children as well as answer to their prayers for youths to end cultism and other deviant behaviours.

One of the repentant cultists, Kingsley Nwafor, advised youths to avoid evil friends and all forms of “worthless wickedness’’; while being focused in their pursuit in life.

15

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

NEWS

2019 polls: Osinbajo, Okowa call for coverage From JONATHAN AWANYAI, Asaba

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ice President Yemi Osinbajo and the Governor of Delta State, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa has urged the media to retain its credibility as an unbiased umpire.

They made the call at the 14th edition of All Nigeria Editors Conference (ANEC) held in Asaba, Delta State.

According to Prof. Osinbajo, “the journalism profession has always been at a greater risk than other professions; freedom of expression has always given people the right to use any information, but, there was some actions by some regulatory parliaments that created obstacles for all newcomers except for renowned professionals and this created some restrictions; but today, all that is gone and who is to blame for the death of this profession?”

“The first culprit is technology; its inheritable evil also has the capacity for overwhelming good as we need technology in every aspect of our livelihood; the second and most important culprit is the professional

Benin Disco signs MoU to boost electricity in rural communities

himself,” he said, observing, “over time, we have lost the trust of the public, because, what do people want? People want the truth, objectivity - they want clear analysis of events.”

He continued, “there was a time when someone would say, ‘I read it in the Times’ because, whatever was written then was absolutely meant to be the truth but today, skeptics will ask you “who sponsored this story?’ Most of the investigative reports are reported by the social media such as blogs, television channels and so forth; The Guild, as we all agree, is a society of gate-keepers to whom belongs the responsibility of defining the efforts, the norms, the ethics of this profession; upon you is also the burden of setting the acceptable rules, the conventions and practices of the profession; this gathering is made greater in a society where corruption is the order of the day and where there is constant fight, and the burden of The Guild is to ensure that your rules and regulations are enforced and kept as it is a self-regulatory profession.”

Governor Okowa had in an address, observed that the independence, objectivity and credibility of the media is being undermined by media practitioners engaging in public relations consultancy services to politicians, dearth of investigative journalism and inadequate remuneration for journalists in their places of work.

“Media practitioners who are known to be engaged as Public Relations Consultants to politicians/ public office holders compromises the editorial independence, fairness and objectivity of the press; by the time a professional journalist goes on social media to be advocating for or defending a particular candidate/ public figure, he cannot be trusted to report fairly and impartially on matters concerning that person; this is a clear and present danger to the journalism profession and one that this body should strive to contain as quickly as possible, especially as we approach the 2019 general elections,” the governor said, adding, “I must point out that there is still too

much hear-say reporting; too often, reporters base their stories on what people say or allege without bothering to crosscheck the facts; as a result, politicians/political office holders are forced to defend themselves against sometimes very wild, outlandish allegations; reputations have been ruined, careers destroyed and families torn apart because of such reporting.”

Governor Okowa who described the Nigerian press as one of the freest in the world with a rich, enviable history of crusading against corruption, bad governance and despotic leadership, noted that “a situation where a reporter is unsure of his next pay cheque does not augur well for the growth of the profession as it exposes them to undue influences from politicians and public office holders; survival is a basic instinct of man and a person whose survival is threatened could care less about integrity and fairness.”

He asserted, “we need our journalists to report the truth no matter whose ox is gored but they cannot

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enin Electricity and Distribution Company (BEDC), has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mountain Institute (RMI), Colorado, U.S.A and Rubitec Nigeria Limited to boost electricity supply to rural communities.

The MoU signed Thursday would ensure deployment of Mini-grid electricity in its franchise area as a bold step to connect rural communities without electricity supply.

The tripartite MoU was signed by the Managing Director, BEDC, Mrs Funke Osibodu, Rubitec boss, Mr Bolade Soremekun and RMI Manager, Mr James Sherwood.

Osibodu said it was part of the move by BEDC to boost power availability to customers in rural communities within its franchise area of Edo, Delta Ekiti and Ondo.

She said based on this, BEDC was expected to facilitate the choosing of locations for mini-grid solar power.

The BEDC boss said while Rubitec would construct solar mini-grid facilities, RMI would provide expertise in developing renewable electrical solutions and advise implementation of a pilot mini-grid in the chosen location.

Osibodu said the initiative was aimed at bridging the service gaps for areas within the company’s network with an existing but poorly supplied or non-functional distribution system or those without an existing distribution system.

While expressing delight at the partners based on their pedigree, she said the mini-grid initiative was also necessitated by the need to reduce dependency for power supply to customers through the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).

Osibodu said one community in Edo would be used as a pilot for the project before it would be extended to other locations.

According to her, the project will entail an interconnected mini-grid, using BEDC distribution lines in the selected locations to distribute solar power to the residents in the communities “who are also expected to sign contract agreement with the suppliers.

do that with boldness, confidence and assurance if their welfare is in jeopardy. “ Governor Okowa stated that the theme for the conference, ‘Credible Elections, Sustainable Democracy and the Role of the Media,’ was “relevant at this point in time, especially in the light of the recently concluded party primaries; indeed, the choice of the theme aptly reflects the concern of all Nigerians for a free, fair, transparent and credible 2019 elections for sustainable democracy.”

“Democracy requires the exercise of political power to promote the public good or welfare of the people, accountability and transparency in governance and the existence of viable opposition parties for it to be sustainable,” he observed, disclosing, “one of the biggest steps we took towards ensuring sustainable democracy in Nigeria was when in 2015 the ruling PDP at the federal level conducted an election, lost and handed over to the opposition APC; this was a scenario previously thought impossible but when that happened, to the chagrin of critics and naysayers, a solid foundation was laid for sustainable democracy in Nigeria. “ He emphasized, “the current APCled Federal Government must build on this foundation and resist the temptation to repress the opposition and militarise the electoral process; to do otherwise would have terrible repercussions on this democracy that many have fought and died for.”

Earlier, the chairman of the occasion, Mr Tonie Iredia had in a welcome speech, urged the media to make everyone accountable for what he does, stating, “as journalists, we should stand in the forefront and do what the journalists are supposed to do – setting the agenda, we should engage in developmental journalism.”

President, Nigerian Guild of Editors, Mrs Funke Egbemode welcomed participants stating that all Nigerians must be actively involved in making the right choice about those who will lead the country in 2019.

Delta IGR hits N51b – Okowa Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, Friday, said that the state’s annual Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) has hit N51 billion.

The governor stated this at the (From left): Vice President Yemi Osinbajo with the Governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa at the 14th edition of All 14th All Nigeria Editors Conference Nigeria Editors Conference (ANEC) held in Asaba, Delta State in Asaba.

According to him, the IGR was as low as N30 billion in 2016 and following some re-engineering, From ANIEKAN ANIEKAN, Calabar participants will address some of deine and tramadol had surpassed his administration was able to inthese challenges and also try to en- the usage of marijuana and cocaine crease it to N51 billion annually.

He noted that government was consultant psychiatrist, Dr Bas- sure that proper statistics on mental in our society. sey has decried the dearth of health is properly collected across In her presentation, the Commis- able to increase its revenue by trained psychiatrists in the country medical centres. sioner of Health Cross River Dr In- making sure that all target groups stressing that Nigeria has less than “The psychiatric hospitals are un- yang Asibong said the state govern- including the market women were 300 trained psychiatrist in the coun- der-staffed, this is because we don’t ment is out to address the challenges captured in the tax system. try to cater for the mental health of take our mental health as a public of mental health in the state and has “We were able to collect taxes the over 180 million Nigerians. created youth-friendly centres in the from the market women not just health issue.

Bassey made this known in Calabar “In the database of the Ministry of hospitals and primary health care as tax but also as premium for the during a series of events embarked Health, there is no provision for data centres in the state. state health insurance scheme, upon to commemorate the World collection at the Primary Health Care Besides this, the staff in the cen- which they benefit from by paying Mental Health Day. Centers on mental health issues, tres is trained to handle young peo- their taxes,” he said.

The consultant maintained that these are some of the issues we are ple coming in with mental health The governor, however, disthe challenges of mental health in trying to look into in this event. disorders. closed that the state government the country does not match the “A month ago, I was the chairman deploys about N1 billion to payHe stressed the importance of available personnel to cater for the statistics and data collection on of the state drug control committee patients as psychiatric hospitals mental health maintaining that data where we went round Secondary ment of pensions monthly and around the country are grossly un- obtained by a psychiatrist in Ibadan Schools to talk to youths on the dan- about N7 billion for salaries of the der-staffed and served. showed that 28 per cent of young gers of drug abuse and the availabil- workers in the state.

According to the governor, the He stressed that the problem of people in the country had thought ity of youth-friendly centres where mental health is not appropriately of committing suicide at some point. they can be attended to if they have state workforce stands at about 50,000. addressed and in this year’s event, He added that the usage of co- issues”, she said.

Expert decries dearth of trained psychiatrists in Nigeria

A

16

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

NEWS

Army to Nigerians: Let’s Join hands to end Boko Haram From ANIEKAN ANIEKAN, Calabar

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he Nigerian Army has admonished Nigerians to change the narratives and perception of Boko Haram as well as other security challenges across the nation and join hands with all security agencies in the country to reverse the trend.

This charge was given by the Acting Director of Defence Information and Chairman of the Forum for spokespersons on Security/response agencies Brigadier General John Agim in Calabar during a twoday seminar for spokespersons of security and response agencies.

The forum which had as theme: Global Terrorism and crisis of narratives: The challenges of Nigeria security spokespersons attracted participants from major security and response agencies in the country.

He contended that the Nigerian Army is fighting the Islamic sect on behalf of the country and as such deserves the continuous cooperation and understanding of all Nigerians in order to defeat the sect.

“We are fighting insurgency in the northeast and we are having serious security challenges all over the country. People usually say what are these security people doing and even when we want to tell them what we are doing; the feeling is that it is their job and we are saying that is wrong.

“The military does not have any problem of their own concerning the insurgents; the problem was there until they said the military, go and confront this problem. So if we are doing it, then we are doing it on behalf of the country, if this is so then we all should be part of it and not isolate ourselves and make it look as if it is just the military problem.

“All along now, people look at it as a military problem, from our environment, some of us find it difficult to give information to the security agencies”, he said.

He said there has never been any time in history when Nigeria has been confronted than now and said the forum is necessary so as to ensure that the spokespersons acquire the skills necessary in order to carry the populace along.

“There has never been a time that Nigeria has been more confronted with security challenges than now, it, therefore, behoves on security and response agencies and persons to acquire skills on how to manage information so that the citizens can be carried along.

“The seminar is capacity building seminar where we can look at how we can do our job better. We are the ones that give information about our respective organizations and if we are unable to communicate effectively, we are unlikely going to understand what all these security agencies are doing and it will be difficult for the public to understand what we are doing and how to partner with the public”, he said He disclosed that the forum was established by the office of the National Security Adviser to ensure synergy among security agencies in the country and thus far, it has helped to stem the tide of rivalry among security agencies.

Nigeria’s political class wicked, greedy-- Bishop Isong From ANIEKAN ANIEKAN, Calabar

P

ublicity Secretary of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Bishop Emmah Isong says the political class in the country is guilty of wickedness and greed as exhibited in its actions, eve as he called for a reversal of the status quo as we look ahead to the general elections.

Bishop Isong who is also the General Overseer of the Christian Central Chapel International made this known at the Faith Mansion Centre, Ikot Enebong while speaking on the

state of the nation and other topical issues According to him, our leaders need to go back to God because it is the absence of this that has made it possible for the political class to exhibit such high level of wickedness and have scant regard for the common man they were elected to serve.

“We need to give our lives to Jesus. Our leaders need to be born again. They need to have Jesus in their lives because it is the lack of God in their lives that makes them naturally wicked and greedy. Our

leaders are wicked and greedy, why does money come out during elections but three years before elections money is scarce.

“They said there was no money, now candidates are paying – do you know how much a form is collected for governorship and presidency. So if a country has no money where will an individual get forty-something million to buy one form. This is just to tell you that our political class disappointed us.

“So where does money hide. So we should find out. They say the economy is hard and we are in a

depression but the politicians are having big-time spending money especially during nominations, somebody is cheating somebody. One per cent of the Nigerian population has hijacked the national cake and so that’s where we have found ourselves”, he said.

The PFN Spokesman also decried the politicization of religion in the country stressing that it is now being used as a means of oppressing the people by the political class and charged the electorate to be proactive and elect leaders with the fear of God.

Rivers Governor’s wife advocates education for the girl-child

W

Acting Director of Defence Information and Chairman of the Forum for Spokespersons on Security/Response Agencies, Brigadier General John Agim (m) flanked by other security spokespersons during the just-concluded two-day seminar for spokespersons of security and response agencies which held in Calabar

Okowa begs FG, organised private sector to assist flood victims From JONATHAN AWANYAI, Asaba

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elta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa has called for relief materials from the Federal Government, organised private sector and individuals to assist the victims of the flood who continue to move into Holding Camps established by the State Government. Governor Okowa made the call recently when he visited the Holding Camps in Patani local government area to personally ascertain how the people were coping.

While disclosing that adequate manpower have been deployed to the Holding Camps, the governor observed that welfare package for the victims is unpredictably on the increase as people continue to seek refuge at the Holding Camps.

“We have been to several camps and you can see that members of the flood committee are working round the clock; in this camp, we have more than 1, 500 people and there are several camps set up in this area because, out of the 16 communities, 11 are under water which is a sad situation,” Governor Okowa said.

He continued: “Every other town that I have visited, the Holding Camps are in one school or the other but the schools in this area have been submerged; the water may take time to recede, I just hope the Federal Government will urgently intervene to complement what we are doing as a state.”

“I must thank all Deltans who are touched and have donated one relief material or the other to assist the

victims of the flood and I call on the organised private sector and individuals to please, if you have an extra, come to the aide of these victims,” he appealed. The governor commended the people of Patani local government area for their cooperation and unity of purpose in ensuring that despite the fact that their communities have been submerged, they were assisting in constructing temporal structures at the Holding Camps while their prominent sons and daughters were also, coming to their aides.

“I am impressed with the level of organisation in this camp, it is neat and despite the sad development,

the people are facing the reality of the fact that they may not get to their communities for some time; certainly, we will continue to do our best for them to be comfortable, the medical team is okay and with the registration of individual families, we shall work out how best to get them resettled when the flood water recedes, this is a time we should be our brother’s keepers,” he said.

Commissioner, Bureau for Special Duties, Barr. Ernest Ogwezzy took the governor round the camp explaining that the population of people in different camps is on the increase as the water level continues to submerge communities.

Nigerian Army confirms killing of soldier by unknown persons in Edo

O

peration Delta Safe of the Nigerian Army has confirmed the killing of a soldier by yet to be identified persons at Ajakurama community, Ovia South West Local Government Area, in Edo. Maj. Ibrahim Abdullahi, Spokesperson of the troop confirmed the incident in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Benin on Sunday. Abdullahi, who said the name and rank of the soldier cannot be disclosed yet, said the soldier was killed last Friday.

He also confirmed that the troop had deployed men to the community to carry out surgical operations with a view to arresting the

culprits and handing them over to relevant security agencies for prosecution.

“Yes we have deployed some officers to Ajakurama community where one of our soldiers was killed by yet to be identified persons.

“The aim is for the soldiers to carry out a surgical operation to isolate the culprits so that they can be arrested and handed over to relevant security agencies and be prosecuted,’’ he said.

He, however, urged the villagers not to be afraid of the presence of military men in their midst but to go about their normal duties.

ife of Rivers State Governor, Justice Eberechi Suzzette Nyesom-Wike has called for the proper education of the girl-child to empower them to face the challenges of life.

Speaking during the Governor Wike’s Widows Outreach programme for the 23 LGAs in Rivers state on Friday in Port Harcourt, Justice Nyesom-Wike said that trained women have the capacity to withstand the pressures of widowhood.

“If the girls are trained, they will have the capacity to face widowhood, if unfortunately it comes ,” she said.

Mrs Wike, therefore, urged mothers to train their sons in ways that they will have respect for women.

She advised widows not to allow the unfortunate circumstance to destroy their future, as they can still contribute to the growth of the state.

“That you have lost your husbands does not mean that you cannot rise above the unfortunate situation. I urge you to move ahead and contribute to the development of the state “, she said. The Wife of the Rivers State Governor noted that the administration of Governor Wike will continue to fashion out ways to improve the living condition of women and widows.

She called on women to support fellow women and widows, so as to protect them from harmful societal practices.

Justice Nyesom-Wike said that the fact that the Governor Wike’s Widows Reach out programme is domiciled in the office of the Deputy Governor means that it will be successful. In her address, Deputy Governor Ipalibo Harry Banigo thanked Governor Wike for approving the programme which will improve the living standards of widows.

She noted that the Governor Wike Widows Reach Out programme will touch the lives of widows from the 23 Local Government Areas of the state.

The Deputy Governor Ipalibo Harry Banigo said Governor Wike is a caring administrator who believes in the welfare of women.

“Since the inception of this administration, Governor Wike has shown that he is gender friendly. This can be seen from his appointments of women into his cabinet and the political space he created for the election of Vice Chairmen in all the 23 Local Government Areas of the state “, she said.

17

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

BU$IN£SS

•Energy •Finance

•Stock

•Insurance

•Aviation

•e-Platform

N2.52tr fuel import budget spurs refining race

By SOPURUCHI ONWUKA

C

•Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachukwu year.

Chairman of Integrated Oil Limited, Capt. Emmanuel Iheanacho, whose company is also driving modular refinery project, had told The Oracle Today that the sheer size of the nation’s domestic market is enough incentive to venture crude oil processing.

Despite doubts about the import bills advanced by Dr. Kachikwu, the strong demand incentive presented by the domestic fuel market had commanded investment pull from both downstream and upstream players to stake funds midstream processing.

Apart from the overhyped 650,000 barrels per day Dangote refinery project currently creeping through project stages and saddled with local content policy compliance issues, there are other investment moves by some multinational oil majors, independent oil companies and government

CBN EXCHANGE RATES OCTOBER 15TH, 2018 Currency

Buying(NGN)

Central (NGN) Selling(NGN)

US DOLLAR 305.45 POUNDS STERLING 403.53 EURO 353.6195 SWISS FRANC 308.1929 YEN 2.7192 CFA 0.5199 WAUA 425.8589 YUAN/RENMINBI 44.1546 RIYAL 81.4338 S/A RAND 21.1573

305.95 404.1905 354.1983 308.6974 2.7237 0.5299 426.556 44.2273 81.5671 21.1919

306.45 404.8511 354.7772 309.2019 2.7281 0.5399 427.2531 44.3 81.7004 21.2266

to drive various refinery developments in the country.

Dr. Kachikwu who listed the expected investments in a speech he delivered at ceremony in Imo State, pointed at the Dangote Refinery a the biggest single source of new refining capacity, adding that the local affiliate of Italian Eni, Agip, has also committed to 150,000 barrels per day refinery development.

He also counted the private 150,000 refinery slated for in Mashi, Katsina State.

The Oracle Today reports that Dr. Kachikwu and the Minister of Energy of Niger Republic, Mr. Foumakaye Gado had earlier signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the construction of the refinery. The refinery is part of a parallel plan to develop a crude oil feedstock from Niger Republic to the NNPC operated refinery in Kaduna.

The Minister also listed plans to

OMBINATION of operations challenges in the upstream petroleum industry and strong market incentives in the domestic fuel supply channels has sparked a new race for local refinery investments that fit into government’s dormant policy programmes.

Our study showed that the local refinery investments gathered steam after it was disclosed that the government, through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) spends over $7.0 billion or N2.52 trillion annually to import petroleum products.

The huge import bill at a time the nation is facing acute cash squeeze has also forced government to floats a set of fresh programmes to recover and grow local refining capacity through promotion of public and private investments in local refining.

Again, with regular hits at pipelines that channel production from onshore, swamp and shallow water fields to export terminals, small producers that flow their output through trunk lines operated by third party producers are now left with the option of building onsite processing plants to sustain operations.

In the domestic market, attention has recently focused on the huge lumps of cash taken by NNPC as annual subsidy on supply of petrol. And investors including the Dangote Group are in a race to displace the huge volumes of petrol imported by the corporation with locally refined products. The move also seeks to take commercial opportunities in feeding the domestic and regional fuel markets.

NNPC had in the second quarter of the year declared that it withholds whopping N1.4 trillion from the federation account to recover shortfalls in cost of supplying petrol to the economy under a capped market retail price.

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, had explained that petrol constituted about 70 percent of total national fuel demand. Thus, total import bill if all other products including diesel, aviation fuel, domestic kerosene, cooking gas and gas oil are factored into consideration would be far in excess of N2.0 trillion per

relocate foreign brownfield refineries into the country to form cluster capacity around NNPC’s refineries in Warri and Port Harcourt. He said the refinery domiciliation programme which has been criticized by experts as ‘junkyard development’ would yield significant addition to local refining capacity.

According to him, about 10 of the 38 investors who were awarded licenses for modular refineries have advanced to project stages.

Dr. Kachikwu said the new projects would develop some 1.5 million barrels of additional refining capacity for the country and transform the nation from a net petroleum products importer to major exporter.

The official refinery capacity growth programme, it was gathered, followed the prevailing dispute between NNPC and stakeholders in the federation account over N1.4 trillion or some $4.0 billion annual fuel subsidy deductions from the federation account.

The deductions, according to clarifications from the corporation, did not reflect the country’s full fuel import bill but just a small fraction that covers retail under-recovery the corporation suffers for keeping official retail price cap in the market.

The country’s full fuel import bill, experts say, could approximate $8.0 billion (N2.9 trillion), a third of the nation’s annual budget.

Following the volume of cash in contention and the attraction it presents to stranded upstream production operations in the Niger Delta, the emerging commercial incentives in supplying the local fuel market is spurring parallel wave of investments in local refining, with government driving processes that would diversify crude processing models.

From large scale green field private refinery by the Dangote Group, rehabilitation of existing medium scale brownfield refineries operated by NNPC, relocation of foreign brownfield refineries to local clusters and official support for a swarm of scalable modular refineries, new race has blasted off to capture commercial opportunities in crude oil processing.

The emerging competition, The Oracle Today reports, would pitch the different refining models in competition for commercial viability and process optimization.

Cont’d on Page 19

•Tourism

Energy

Science Prize: NLNG evolves solutions, presents businessP20 e-Platform

NCC reads riot act to illegal AVT operators P22

Travel

Nigeria drops further in 2018 Passport Index ranking P26

Insurance

Recapitalisation: Unions call for review P28 Equity & Capital Market

Foreign reserves drop to $43bn P30 Money Market

Fidelity Bank unveils ‘GAIM Season 3,’ new online savings initiative P31

Stock Market Highlights As At 15th october, 2018

Summary

ASI DEALS VOLUME VALUE EQUITY CAP BOND CAP ETF CAP S/N UBA FCMB FIDELITYBK GUARANTY HONYFLOUR

32,413.48 2,529.00 91,405,750.00 N960,906,549.72 N11,833,422,036,631.50 N10,121,802,848,471.90 N5,899,148,606.11

Coy (By Volume) 14,613,285 11,869,434 6,907,830 5,922,420 4,373,716

Value(N) N118,384,545.35 N19,385,715.21 N13,106,329.77 N216,930,788.85 N5,582,151.60

5 Top Gainers

Symbols Last Close FO N20.25 NASCON N18.5 GUARANTY N36.5 FLOURMILL N20.8 DANGSUGAR N14.7

Current Change N22.25 N19.9 N36.9 N21.2 N15

%Change 2 9.88% 1.4 7.57% 0.4 1.10% 0.4 1.92% 0.3 2.04%

N41.2 N86 N21.5 N5.4 N78.5

-2.3 -2 -1.5 -0.6 -0.5

Five Tope Losers UNILEVER NB WAPCO FIDSON GUINNESS

N43.5 N88 N23 N6 N79

-5.29% -2.27% -6.52% -10.00% -0.63%

18

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

BUSINESS

Exchange rate stability best option for Nigeria – CBN gov

• As SEC allays fears over market performance ahead 2019 elections

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ENTRAL Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, says maintaining stable exchange rate to avoid depreciation of the Naira is better than building foreign reserve buffers.

This is also the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) assured investors in the capital market over worries on the performance of the market as the 2019 General Election nears.

Emefiele told newsmen on Sunday that this was part of the outcome of the Nigerian delegation’s meetings with investors and institutions at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group (WBG) Annual Meetings in Bali.

He said that all frontiers and developing markets have suffered not just depreciation, but had also lost reserves.

“We are very conscious of the need to build buffers but unfortunately I must say that we are in the period where it will be difficult to talk about building reserve buffers. We can only build reserve buffers if we want to hold on to the reserve and then allow the currency to go, and wherever it goes is something else.

“So it is a choice we have to make and at this time the choice for Nigeria is to maintain a stable exchange rate so that businesses can plan and we do not create problems in the banking system assets.”

According to him, like other emerging markets nations, Nigeria has also lost reserves but only marginally because it had managed to sustain stability in its foreign exchange market.

The CBN governor said that the IMF and the World Bank advised that nations should build country specific policies and fiscal and structural reforms that would boost economic growth.

Also speaking, Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, said the World Bank’s Human Capital Development Index (HCI) ranking, which placed Nigeria low at 44 per cent on stunting, was disheartening and depressing.

She, however, said that the Federal Government saw the rating as a wake-up call.

“We admit that this pervasive action was due to long years of underinvestment in human capital, which we have before now realised and for which we have been addressing. Apart from major policy actions, some decisive actions are being taken to address the situation.”

According to her, the delegation

held meetings with the two rating agencies-Fitch and Moody’s and presented to them the summary and synopsis of the recent economic and financial developments in Nigeria.

She added that it was an opportunity for the rating agencies to be able to objectively evaluate Nigeria’s credit.

Ahmed disclosed that she also met the IMF Managing Director, Ms Christine Lagarde and discussed Nigeria’s economy in view of the 2019 general elections, just as she assured the IMF boss that the election year would not pose any threat to the nation’s economic prospects.

On his part, Minister of Budget and National Planning, Mr Udoma Udo Udoma, said that to improve HCI, the nation had improved budgetary allocation to health and education, adding that allocation to education moved from N22.5 billion in 2015 to N102.9 billion in 2018.

He added that allocation to health was reviewed from N26.6 billion in 2015 to N86.49 billion in 2018.

He said also that N55.19 billion had been added to the health budget in 2018 through the National Health Act. The 2018 Annual Meetings of the IMF/WBG which began on October 8 ended, Sunday, 14th.

Meanwhile, Acting Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Ms. Mary Uduk has assured investors in the Capital Market that there is nothing to fear on the performance of the market as the 2019 election approaches.

Uduk spoke while responding to questions from journalists on the sidelines of the just concluded World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings in Bali, Indonesia.

She said the upcoming election might have made some investors to hold back their investments and sell or adopt a wait and see strategy until after the elections, but added that it is nothing to worry about.

The SEC boss explained that the major contributory factor to the current downward trend of the market is the outflow of foreign investment which has led to sell pressure accumulating into depressed prices. This she said is one of the reasons why the Commission is mapping out strategies to build confidence in the market and encourage more retail investors.

According to her “We understand the importance of foreign investors for market efficiency, liquidity and transparency. However it is also important for us to develop local investors by building their confidence and

encouraging their participation.

“We have made a lot of progress in that direction like risk based supervision, zero tolerance to infractions in the market, complaint Management Framework among others. If you don’t tolerate infractions, investors will know that somebody is watching their back. We have other initiatives like e-dividend, Direct Cash Settlement which are all geared towards encouraging investors in the Nigerian capital market”.

Uduk said the SEC is exploring avenues to deepen the market, through

By VICTOR NZE

Dangote said Africans must patronize African markets which is why the free trade agreements by African nations is the direction to go to strengthen African markets.

Citing an instance of his own experience, the president of Dangote group referred to the case of neighbouring Benin Republic where the country continues to import cement from China while his Nigerian factory is only 35 miles away from the border.

“We need to trade with ourselves”, Dangote stated as he spoke glowingly about the prospect of African economy, the free trade agreement and the availability of huge raw materials to attract investors.

Asked about when the much touted listing of Dangote Cement on the London Stock Exchange, he told his audience comprising investors, business magnates, captains of Industry and

African Heads of Government which included President Akufo-Addo of Ghana and Ali Bongo of Gabon, that the listing might happen in 2019.

According to him, all hands are on deck to complete the process of listing, the development which he said is being looked towards for by the business community.

Prompted by the Editor of the Newspaper, Lionel Barber to speak about difficult markets like Tanzania and Ethiopia, Dangote dismissed the issue difficulty and re-affirmed “our aim is to always provide jobs and worth. As an African investor I don’t want any investor anywhere in Africa to have a bad experience.”

Dangote repeated his central mantra for African growth urging the reduction of exports of raw materials to other continent but create greater wealth within African economies.

B

brace technology and have minimum technological standards and encourage new innovators, especially FinTech.

“Fintech companies offering capital market products and improved processes are expected to collaborate with the Commission through some of our existing arrangement like the Regulatory Sandbox that we are currently working towards implementing”.

Uduk added that with all these efforts and several others, the Nigerian Capital Market can manage some of these risks, become deeper and realise its potentials.

•(From left): Executive Director, Corporate Communications, DAAR communications, Johnson Onime; President, GPBN, Chris Kehinde Nwandu; and Head External Relations, UBA, Nasir Ramon Olanrewaju at the Guild Of Professional Bloggers Of Nigeria (GPBN)’s inaugural Annual Lecture On Combating Fake News in the Cyberspace, which held at the Radisson Blu Ikeja, Lagos.

NB, FRSC kick-off 2018 ‘Don’t Drink and Drive’ campaign

By VICTOR NZE

T

HE 2018 edition of the Don’t Drink and Drive campaign aimed at creating safety awareness on Nigerian roads has commenced.

The initiative which is organised

by Nigerian Breweries (NB) Plc with the backing of the Federal Road

Listing of Dangote Cement on London bourse ‘might’ happen in 2019 – Dangote

USINESSMAN, Aliko Dangote, has disclosed that the much anticipated listing of Dangote Cement on the London Stock Exchange might eventually happen in 2019.

This is just as the entrepreneur called for conscious efforts at deepening African regional market by African investors and governments to aid rapid growth and development of the Continent’s economy.

Speaking during the “One to One Conversation” at the on-going 5th annual Financial Times African Summit, in London, the Nigerian entrepreneur said the key to Africa’s economic growth and strength is in the development of the regional market, saying “Regional markets in Africa must work.”

the introduction of different products like derivatives, non interest capital market products and commodities and finalising rules on derivatives as well as have a standing Committee in developing a vibrant Commodity Ecosystem.

She also disclosed that the SEC is embracing technology innovation which is a major theme of this IMF/ World Bank meeting.

She said: “In terms of what we have done, we are working on automating a number of our operations, we are encouraging those we regulate to em-

Safety Corps (FRSC), is geared towards checking the dangers of drink-driving on Nigerian roads.

The campaign, the 11th in the series, was formally flagged off at press conference held at Nigerian Breweries complex in Iganmu, Lagos, last Tuesday.

Speaking at the event, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Breweries Plc, Mr Jordi Borrut Bel, said the Don’t Drink and Drive campaign is a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative designed to improve safety on Nigerian roads by discouraging the habit of drink driving especially among commercial drivers, motorcycle riders and private car owners.

He said the campaign involves enlightenment rallies for drivers in various cities, deployment of print and electronic media messages, fliers, free medical checks such as blood pressure and eye tests for drivers during the rallies.

Bel explained that since the start of the initiative, the company has held enlightenment rallies in motor parks and other locations in 42 cities and towns across the country.

“In the process, we have directly engaged over 20,000 drivers, other road users and a higher number of people through media messages,” he stated.

He added that there will be mega

rallies this year in Eket, Akwa Ibom state, Ojota in Lagos and Minna in Niger state.

According to him, some behavioural changes have been recorded among drivers from evaluations conducted by research experts.

Remarking, Corps Marshall and Chief Executive of FRSC, Mr Boboye Oyeyemi, commended the Nigerian Breweries for the laudable campaign which he said is worth emulating by other organisations. He said the campaign’s impact on road users, especially commercial drivers, has been high, since the Corps signed a memorandum of understanding with the leading brewing company.

He affirmed that in order to promote responsible drinking, the FRSC has acquired digital alcoylser to test the level of alcohol in drivers.

“If the alcoholic content exceeds 0.05mm in a driver, then it is considered abnormal and not good for driving,” Oyeyemi said.

The mega rallies for this year’s edition has been expanded to include the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), Tanker Drivers, Luxury Bus Drivers, Keke and Okada Riders, Non-Governmental Organisations and members of the National Youth Service Corps, among others.

19

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

BUSINESS

W’Africa moves to interlink payment system

T

O make trading between African countries easier, West African countries have joined forces to interlink their payment system.

Director-General, West African Monetary Institute (WAMI), Mrs Ngozi Egbuna made this known, Sunday, in on the sideline of the IMF/WB Annual Meetings in Bali.

She revealed that with funding from the African Export-Import Bank, the Institute was currently working to link the payment system of Gambia, Guinea, Ghana, Liberia and Nigeria.

She said that once the linkage was done, West African States would be closer to achieving their dream of migrating to a single currency, known as the ECO. Egbuna said that the linkage was the second phase of the Institute’s payment systems infrastructure project in the region.

She recalled that between 2012 and 2016, the African Development Bank funded the creation of payment systems in Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia and Gambia, who at the time, did not have.

“The West Africa Monitoring Zone which is made out of six countries; The Gambia, Guinea, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone will be used to pilot the Payment Systems Infrastructure.

Interlinking our payment systems will make it possible for us to quote and trade in our local currencies. ”So if you have Naira and you want to buy in Guinea or any of these countries you can buy and settle in Naira. We are working in conjunction with the Central Banks as co-settlement and payment institutions, not that Central Banks will bring their money, but they will only oversee the trading platforms,” she said.

Egbuna said that the success of the West African linked payment system would also convince countries that were still cautions of the single currency plan, of its importance in boosting intra-trade.

The Director-General gave reasons why for so many years, West Africa was still unable to have a convergence of its Monetary indices, which is a core criteria for the establishment of a single currency

in the region.

“Since the convergence criteria was set up, each of our countries sometimes meet or miss some, but we have not been able to meet them consistently on a sustainable basis. ”But before the global financial crisis, we met them and then the crisis came and the second round effect of it which is the fall in commodity prices hit all of us.

“As we were about to get settled, the Ebola hit almost all the countries except for Ghana and for about three years the world was shut out of all our countries.

“Nothing was moving and there was no economic activity. As if that wasn’t enough, in August 2017 we had the flooding in Sierra Leone.

“So you see a series of shocks have made it impossible to meet those criteria.”

On the fiscal side, she said that the habit of over spending during election was having negative impact on the West African states.

“On the fiscal side, we have not been able to meet it on a sustainable basis. This is mainly because most of our countries over-spend when on election. We just had an election in Sierra Leone and Liberia and the Nigerian election is on the way.”

•(From left): Corps Marshall and Chief Executive of FRSC, Mr Boboye Oyeyemi with Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Breweries Plc, Mr Jordi Borrut Bel at the press briefing to kick-off the 2018 Don’t Drink and Drive campaign, the 11th in the series, which held at the Nigerian Breweries complex in Iganmu, Lagos.

NCC appoints Nwokike as new spokesman

T

HE Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has appointed Mr Nnamdi Nwokike as Director, Public Affairs, following the retirement of Mr Tony Ojobo.

A statement, Sunday in Abuja by Mr Sonny Aragba-Akpore, NCC Assistant Director Public Affairs, said Nwokike’s appointment took effect from Oct. 8.

According to Aragba-Akpore, prior to his new position, Nwokike was the Director, Corporate Strategy Planning and Risk Management of the NCC. Nwokike became the NCC’s Deputy Director and pioneer Head, Consumer Affairs Department, a department he started and renamed Consumer Affairs Bureau (CAB).

“At CAB, he created the Consum-

er Parliament, Consumer Outreach Programmes, Consumer Bill of Rights and Consumer Factsheets.

“These organs remained veritable channels for handling consumer complaints, consumer education and general dissonance in the market.”

In 2004, he was transferred to Business Development Unit, a department vested with the responsibilities of developing new business vistas.

With his team in the unit, he worked with consultants from World Bank and USAID towards the setting up of the Universal Service Provision Fund in the Commission.

“In 2007, Nigeria through the NCC, supported the candidature of Nnamdi Nwokike for the Execu-

tive Secretary position to head the West Africa Telecommunications Regulatory Assembly (WATRA). He contested and won the election.

“Nwokike served as Executive Secretary of WATRA for two terms of three-year tenure from 2007 to 2013.

WATRA consists of Independent National Regulatory Authority (NRAs) and departments for regulation of Telecommunications services established by governments of member states in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) sub-region and Mauritania.

He returned to NCC in early 2013 and traversed the commission’s Project and Strategy canvass as Director, Projects Department.

petrol and diesel for the local market. They are considered to be less efficient until more modules are added for more complex processing. And scalability from mini to medium sizes form major attraction of the model.

The advantage of modular refineries is they can often be put together 12 months faster than a conventional one, said John Simley, a spokesman for Honeywell UOP, a refinery contractor.

Managing Director of VFuels, a Houston-based company, said the company is working on five small refineries at various stages of development throughout West Africa, including the 5,000 barrel-a-day plant for Waltersmith Petroeman for onsite operations at its Ibigwe oilfield in the Niger Delta.

Besides, funding incentives are available to modular refiners through the $200 million Nigerian Content Intervention Fund (NCIF) carved from the billion dollar Nige-

rian Content Development Fund (NCDF) pooled by participating upstream operators that mainly feature in the government’s modular refining programme.

Bank of Industry (BoI), which administers the NCIF on behalf of Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) stated that its also secured a separate $500 million loan from China in September for lending to local modular refiners as part of government’s policy support.

Former Chairman of Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), Mr. Emeka Ene, an eminent engineer, had strongly advocated the modular refining model before it was adopted by government as regulated industry cluster approach to displacing the illegal refineries that thrive on stolen crude, aid pipeline attacks, devastate the environment, expose the operators to death and churn out adulterated products to the mar-

ket.

Dr. Kachikwu said the government’s modular refinery programme would not only displace the illegal refineries but would also transform and absorb their workforce for more regulated modular refineries designed for the Niger Delta region.

Managing Director of Waltersmith, Mr. Abdulrasaq Isa, said during the groundbreaking ceremony for the refinery that the company considered modular refinery operations to process its production after output evacuation through the Trans-Niger Pipeline proved increasingly irregular and fraught with losses.

Indigenous independent oil company, Seplat Petroleum, and a hoard of other smaller producers that flow their production to third party operated export terminals have regularly fallen victim of pipeline attacks that target companies like Shell and Agip in the Niger

N2.52tr fuel import budget spurs refining race •Cont’d from Pg 17

Experts point out that whereas the large scale refineries would lead in optimization, process economics and sundry economics of scale, the medium ones would have flexibility of commercial operations by quickly adjusting to demand-supply dynamic, while the scalable plants would have the advantage of quick win project models and growth projections that are driven by market returns.

Modular refinery is actually automated, skid-mounted oil distillation units for processing 1,000 to 6,000 barrels/day of crude petroleum. The model is really gaining acceptance because they are cheaper and easier to mount and do not need the number of years required to build and install a conventional large scale refinery.

Small refineries also operate in other parts of the world, including in China and Iraq, producing

Delta, forcing them to shut down operations for protracted periods.

Seplat had also invested in internal crude pipeline to the Warri Refinery in a swap arrangement with the NNPC, but the refinery’s activity level could not support the investment, leaving the company and many others exposed to huge production losses and downtimes associated with attacks on export pipelines.

The Oracle Today reports that evolution of robust refining base in the country would address most of the issues in the operating environment as traders would evolving a combination of crude evacuation strategies to flow feedstock and refiners; producers would suffer less disruptions while the market will be well supplied at all times.

Besides, export of refined products would open more channels of foreign exchange earnings for the country while dollar demand for fuel importation would be a thing of the past.

20

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

ENERGY

Science Prize: NLNG evolves solutions, presents business prospects

By SOPURUCHI ONWUKA

I

NNOVATIVE solutions to key health, social and economic problems of Nigeria form the greatest value in the research efforts and ultimate products that result from the hot contest for the science prize sponsored by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited.

Corporate spokesman, Mr. Andy Odeh, who spoke with The Oracle Today during the declaration of the winner for this year’s prize in Lagos, said the idea behind the contest is to primarily seek out a pressing national problem and provide a strong incentive for inventors to evolve solutions.

The Oracle Today reports that the Advisory Board of the Nigeria Prize for Science had in Lagos declared a work by Dr. Peter Ngene the winning work for 2018 Nigeria Prize for Science.

The research endeavour recommended “Nanostructured metal hydrides for the storage of electric power from renewable energy sources and for explosion prevention in high voltage power transformers.”

According to experts at the event, the invention is a new type of energy storage with implications on renewable energy development.

Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Science Prize and a science prize laureate, Prof. Akpoveta Susu, who announced the winner at a media event in Lagos, said the work provides efficiency in renewable energy system and enhances safety in conventional power distribution networks.

According to explanations of the values delivered by the research outcome, the nanostructured metal hydrides is a new type of storage in the emerging green energy industry which could be deployed in conventional distribution grid networks in Nigeria to reduce or prevent chances of transformer blow-outs.

The work sets solutions for “surmounting challenges in Nigeria around power transformers explosions due to degradation of insulators in the transformers.”

The Oracle Today reports that

emerging green energy industry including solar, wind and kinetic tiles rely on storage systems to serve power after sundown and activity downtime. While the kinetic energy uses underground tiles to capture energy from movement of people and animals, the solar panels capture energy from sunlight, and both store captured energy in systems for prolonged usage.

At Power Nigeria conference and exhibition hosted by Informa Exhibitions, over 90 percent of exhibitors displayed renewable energy systems, notably solar, wind and storage batteries and inverters.

The second most popular industry equipment displayed by technology developers including Schneider and General Electric were transformers.

The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) which made presentation on licensing of mini-grid licenses in Nigeria emphasized that the future of electricity business in the country resides in green energy, adding that advancement in storage systems hold advantage for investors.

Besides, recent report by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and US-based Rocky Mountain Institute, it was concluded that Nigerian renewable mini-grids hold potential for a $20 billion industry that could save individuals and businesses some $6.0 billion per year, electrify an estimated 14% of the population and generate annual returns of $3bn for investors by 2023.

Thus, the 2018 NLNG science prize captures the trends in the industry and lays agenda for investors seeking fresh commercial niches to occupy.

While the winner of the contest walks home with a $100, 000 cash prize and recognition among eminent inventors, NLNG beats its chest with accomplishment that key solution to a major national problem has been resolved for Nigeria and its citizens.

My Odeh who is the Manager, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Department at NLNG, said “With each passing year, our belief grows stronger that there is a place for The Nigeria Prize for Science in the quest to develop our country

through science research and technology. “ “The current reality in today’s energy world is a trilemma. The world population is growing very fast that it is projected to increase by an extra 2 billion by 2050. It is like adding a new China and India to the world’s population. On the back of this increase in population and improving fortune of people globally is a corresponding increase in energy demand. Where will this energy come from? Also on the back of allthese growth is the increasing clamour for clean energy as a result of climate change.

“Aside from gas being a significant player in the future’s energy mix, renewable energy will take up a big part of the energy mix in the future.

We are already seeing this in some European countries planning to eliminate carbon emissions. Countries like the United Kingdom, Sweden and Norway and many other countries are making moves to significantly reduce their carbon footprints. Take for example India, which aims for 40% renewable energy by 2030. UK has joined France to ban fossil-fuel cars by 2040. Norway aims for all new passenger cars and vans sold in 2025 to be zero-emission vehicles while Sweden has committed to 100% renewable energy by 2040.

“We can see the direction the world is moving. This work by Ngene can be one of the keys to the renewable energy jigsaw. Webelieve this is an opportunity to secure a niche market in Nigeria forenergy storage, riding on the back on this new type of batteries developed from the synthesis of nanostructured composite materials used as solidstateelectrolyte. The implications on solar and wind energy and onthe use in long driving range electric vehicles are evident. This awardshowshow NLNG is helping to build a better Nigeria,” Odeh added.

According to ProfessorSusu, “This winning work is evolutionary. Nigerians are beginning to see a clear link between their research works and problem solving, which was the ideabehind using science to manage our challenges. For instance, explosions in transformers are common

experiences in the country. If we are serious, through this prize, this situation can be a thing of the past. I call on the private sector and the government to takeup thischallenge.”

He also announced “Climate change: Erosion, drought and desertification” as the themefor the 2019 prize.

According to the judges’ report on the work “storage is a major challenge in conversion applications for intermittent energysources as solar.

“Most current batteries have low storage capacity, are expensive and have safety issues due to occasional explosion caused by liquid electrolytesin these batteries. A major contribution of Dr. Ngene’s work is the development of atechnique for the synthesis of nanostructured composite materials used as solid state electrolyte in batteries.

“These materials have enabled the development of anew type of battery with potential to meet all requirements for storing electricalenergy from solar panels and for use in long driving range electric vehicles.

Also, solar and wind energy can be used through electrolysis of water to producehydrogen for use in hydrogen fuel-cells.”

The report also stated further that: “Power transformers explosions due to degradation of insulators in the transformersare a major cause of power outages in Nigeria. These lead to the release of gasessuch as hydrogen and oxygen. Traditional sensors are not appropriate for sensingthese gases in transformer oils because they contain electrical components that canlead to explosions in the presence of hydrogen.

“Another major contribution of the winning work is the development of a potent and inexpensive optical fibre remote hydrogen sensor that can precisely measure hydrogen concentration in transformer oils without the need of an electrical readout.”

The winner, Ngene, is an assistant professor in the Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis group of the Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University in The Netherlands.

He is the recipient of the prestigious The Royal Dutch Chemical Asso-

ciation (KNCV) Van Arkel best PhD thesis (2012/2013) award, and the chair of the 2013 GRS (Gordon Research Seminar) on Metal-Hydrogen system in Italy. He was also recently recognised as one of African leading young scientists by the award of the prestigious Next Einstein Forum (NEF) fellowship by the Chairman of the African Union, President Paul Kagame.

The number of entries forthe 2018 Nigeria Prize for Sciencebroke entry records with total entry number of 84, exceedingthe 2017 and 2016 entry numbers of 27 and 15 respectively.

The decision on the winning entry of The Nigeria Prize for Science was reached by a panel of judges, led by Professor Francis Oluwole, a professor of Physics with a wealth of experience in atomic and nuclear energy.

Other members of the panel are Professors Onyemaechi Ekechukwu and Abubakar Sani Sambo.

On the prize’s Advisory Board are Professor Barth Nnaji, renowned scientist and former Minister of Power; Professor Michael Adikwu; Professor Elijah Mshelia; and Chief Dr. Nike Akande.

While there have been six winners of the science prize, the contest have seen a flood of research works that offer relevance to resolving key social and economic problems of Nigeria, from healthcare to education, electricity and many more.

Mr. Odeh told The Oracle Today that the next objective would be to spur investors into commercialization the invented solutions through efficient production processes that deliver market returns while addressing problems that hold the country down.

He said NLNG would assist in exposing the inventors and their works through public presentation and road shows to create awareness of the solutions and sensitize investors of the business opportunities inherent in the annual science prize.

More importantly, he said, the biggest prize is the company’s success in galvanising global scientific expertise in creating peculiar solutions for Nigeria.

21

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

ENERGY

Baru calls for early agreement on PIB

By SOPURUCHI ONWUKA

N

IGERIAN National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has called on stakeholders in the petroleum industry to quickly resolve their differences and reach a common ground on the final provisions of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, who delivered a presentation at 4th Quadrennial Delegates’ Conference of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) stated that agreement on the lingering PIB has become necessary for the industry to move forward.

The Oracle Today reports that the PIB which was introduced to the National Assembly since 2008 has suffered legislative impasse over vehement disagreement between government and commercial investors in the industry on fiscal proposals in the document.

The investors gathered under the aegis of Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS) of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LACCI) have since scaled down exploration and development activities in the country as they wait for the final outcome of the bill.

Efforts by the past administration of the federal government to resolve the disputes and apply sovereign fiat in determining the fiscal templates for profit sharing were stoutly resisted by the big multinational oil firms in the country who insisted on sanctity of existing contracts.

The bill actually proposed a wide range of reforms, including new institutional, regulatory and fiscal arrangements. The massive changes made the bill too nebulous and complicated for simple legislative processes. And following advice from the industry, government has since broken the PIB into four separate bills to address primary segments of the reforms.

None of the four bills has been passed. But whereas progress has been made in the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB), no significant advancement has been registered with the Petroleum Industry Administration Bill (PIAB),

the Petroleum Host Community Bill (PHCB) and the most contentious Petroleum Industry Fiscal Bill (PIFB).

The PIFB which holds the key to unlocking greater exploration and development investments has remained the source of anxiety in the industry over the shape of new fiscal terms that would rule commercial operations in the industry.

However, with the PIGB and the PIAB which border on internal administrative and institutional restructuring currently controlling attention, workers in the industry have also shown concern on the implication of the changes on the security of employment.

Since last year, a wave of labour dispute has swept across the industry, starting from the service sector through indigenous companies to major multinational companies.

In addressing the issues raised by the labour protests across the industry, Dr. Baru ”, stressed that early agreement by the relevant arms of government on the PIB would impact greatly on the activities of the sector.

He commended the foresight of the union leaders on the choice of the conference theme, “Living with Change – PIGB and the Aftermath for the Oil and Gas Sector Workers He also commended the leadership of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) for their roles in the prompt resolution of the recent labour crisis in the industry.

Dr. Baru said the averted national strike by the workers helped the corporation ensure steady and uninterrupted supply of petroleum products across the country. ‘’I wish to register my appreciation to the present Executives of NUPENG. Together with the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), you have collectively created an atmosphere of industrial harmony in NNPC and by extension, the entire Oil and Gas industry.

You have shown great understanding at the critical moments in the course of our operations. I thank

NNPC Blames Aba pipeline blast on oil thieves

T

HE Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) blamed the pipeline fire which claimed lives and property in Aba, Abia State, on thieves that thrive in taping petroleum products from live pipelines.

The practice described as hot tapping has been the major cause of pipeline explosions in the country with heavy human tolls.

Grou General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of NNPC, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, the incident occurred on the corporation’s System 2E pipeline network along the Osisioma axis, near Aba Depot.

The corporation said the incident might have been caused by suspected oil thieves who had hacked into the line to intercept flow of petrol from Port Harcourt

to Aba. Mr. Ughamadu also confirmed fatalities and loss of properties in the ensuing inferno, saying the corporation’s safety experts, along with men of the Abia State Fire Service, had made efforts to contain the situation.

NNPC Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, expressed shock at the wanton wilful destruction of lives and properties occasioned by the incident.

The GMD prayed that God reposes the souls of the innocent ones that perished in the incident, even as he warned members of the public against tempering with oil and gas facilities many of which he said were inflammable.

Dr. Baru called on host communities to create avenues to moderate criminal tendencies of a few bad eggs living among them.

•L-R: Prof Onyemaechi Ezechukwu, member panel of judges, 2018 The Nigeria Prize for Science; Prof Michael Adikwu, Prize Advisory Board member; Andy Odeh, NLNG’s Manager Corporate Communications and Public Affairs; Professor Alfred Susu, Chairman Prize Advisory Board; and Prof Barth Nnaji, Prize Advisory Board Member during the announcement of the 2018 winner of the prize, Dr. Dr. Peter Ngene, for his work “Nanostructured metal hydrides for the storage of electric power from renewable energy sources and for explosion prevention in high voltage power transformers” in Lagos…recently. you for the cordial relationship that has defined our association”, he said.

Speaking on the topic: “NNPC NUPENG Branch: Redefining the Trajectory of Trade Unionism,” the NNPC Boss expressed satisfaction that unionism at the NNPC has moved away from confrontation, strikes and threats of industrial actions to pragmatic consultations.

He commended the foresight of the union leaders on the choice of the conference theme, “Living with Change – PIGB and the Aftermath for the Oil and Gas Sector Workers”, stressing that early agreement by the relevant arms of government on PIB would impact greatly on the activities of the Oil and Gas Sector.

The NNPC GMD praised the oil

workers for their courage to embrace change, a phenomenon which he described as a difficult endeavour for a leader to undertake.

Earlier in his speech, the NUPENG National President, Prince Williams Akporeha said the union had embarked on a number of reforms geared towards rebranding itself for efficiency.

nah’s discoveries to date, and in line with offset wells and the depth/API trend observed across the basin.

Oil samples have been taken and returned to surface using wireline testing equipment.

The well, according to a statement from Savannah, was drilled by the GW 215 Rig to a total measured depth of 2,499meters, and encountered the main objective targets at, or near, their prognosed depths.

“The well took a total of 20 days to reach target depth, and all operations are expected to be completed within 28 days of spud. This compares with a pre-drill expectation of 22 days to reach target depth and 30 – 35 days to complete all drilling operations. No significant geological or drilling hazards were encountered.

“Following the successful results of the five exploration wells drilled to date, Savannah elected to commission Pre-Stack Depth Migration (PSDM) processing of the R3 East 3D seismic dataset.

PSDM processing is intended to provide the company with a significantly enhanced definition of the oil pay zones at the crests of each of the discoveries and significantly assist in full “field scale” evaluations and associated development well planning.

“PSDM is also anticipated to significantly enhance the 3D imaging of the as yet un-drilled deeper Cretaceous aged Yogou and Donga exploration targets identified on

the existing data set (including potentially significant structures underlying Savanah Niger’s Amdigh, Bushiya and Eridal discoveries).”

Separately, Savannah said it has recently received an additional 400 kilometres of 2D seismic data on the R3 Central area. The company is currently in the process of incorporating this data into its R3 Central area subsurface model and expects to conclude this process shortly.

Preliminary work conducted to date has served to revalidate many of the previously identified exploration targets on the area as well as identifying several new targets, it said.

“Given the importance of these workstreams for the next phase of drilling activity in the R3 East and R3 Central areas, Savannah decided to conclude its maiden exploration campaign following the completion of operations at Zomo-1. A new drilling campaign is expected to commence in early 2019, initially focusing on the R3 East and R3 Central areas, before likely proceeding to the R1 Dinga 3D area and, potentially, the R2 Dinga Ridge area.

“Savannah Niger continues to expect to perform a well test on Amdigh-1 in December 2018, and preparations for this are underway. It is anticipated that following completion of the well test, production from Savannah’s planned Early Production System will commence in early 2019.”

Savannah delivers record exploration hits for Niger

N

IGERIA’S northern neighbour, Niger Republic, may no longer rely on Nigeria to meet her medium to long term energy needs following indications that the country would soon emerge a major petroleum exporter following fresh discoveries by independent explorer, Savannah Petroleum.

The company reported a fifth consecutive oil discovery in one Nigerien block with its Zomo-1 exploration well, drawing attention to the landlocked country as prolific exploration zone.

Savannah Petroleum drilled Zomo-1 exploration well on the R3 portion of the R3/R4 PSC Area before encountering oil discovery which marks the company’s fifth consecutive discovery in its exploration campaign on the R3 portion of the PSC. Preliminary results based on the interpretation of the available data set which includes wireline logs, fluid sampling and pressure data indicate that the well encountered a total estimated 5.4 meters of net oil-bearing reservoir sandstones in the E1 reservoir unit within the primary Eocene Sokor Alternances objective.

Additional pay is thought to potentially exist in the well but will require further technical evaluation and/or testing to confirm.

Wireline logs indicate the reservoir properties to be good quality and the available data indicates light oil consistent with Savan-

22

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

e-Platform

N

IGERIAN Communications Commission (NCC) has now threatened to invoke sanctions against illegal automated vehicular tracking (AVT) operators in the country.

Enugu Zonal Controller of the Commission, Emilia Nwokoro, who said, Friday, added that it was illegal for people to operate vehicular tracking services without registering with the commission, stressing that registration would help regulate their services.

Speaking during the unsealing of the D-Tech Multi Services, she stated that the commission’s enforcement procedures empowered it to seal off AVT services

NCC reads riot act to illegal AVT operators operating without license, explaining that D-Tech Multi Services was sealed off on October 31, last, following the refusal of its managers to regularize their operations with the commission.

She explained that the aim of registering the operators was to enhance security of services and ensure that vehicle owners deal with genuine auto- trackers in the state and called on members of the public to furnish her office with information concerning illegal operators in the state.

MTN Nigeria wins big at 2018 ATCON Awards

M

TN Nigeria was the biggest winner of the night at the 2nd edition of the Nigeria Tech Innovation & Telecom Awards (NTITA), 2018, held by the Instinct Wave and Association of Telecom Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) at the Oriental Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos, Friday, 11th of October, 2018.

The ICT firm carted away five awards including: Telecom Company of the year, Social Impact Award, Digital Transformation Award, Customer Experience Award and Telcom CEO of the year awards.

Corporate Relations Executive, MTN Nigeria, Tobechukwu Okigbo, who was one of the executives present for the company, received the awards and expressed the organization’s gratitude to the organizers and the independent judges.

“We are honored to not only receive these but to have been considered nominees in such lofty categories. MTN Nigeria has always and will continue to strive for excellence in all frontiers. Recognition for the work that thousands of us come together for every day is incentive to do more, create more and be more.”

The Group Chief Executive Officer of Instinct Wave, Akin Naphtal, explained, that the prestigious award has quickly

become the benchmark for outstanding performance and a symbol of excellence in leadership in the highly competitive technology industry.

The award which is in its 2nd edition, has judges formed from an independent panel of industry experts recognizes organizational performances products and services, innovations, executives, etc.

Airtel, Coverage Broadband announce 3flix Mobile TV service in Nigeria

A

IRTEL Nigeria has announced a strategic partnership with Coverage Broadband, a subsidiary of Phase 3 Telecom, to launch 3flix mobile TV service in Nigeria.

With this partnership, customers who subscribe to a special bundled data plan on Airtel will now enjoy unfettered access to 3flix live television channels covering music, movies, sports, fashion, entertainment, news, documentary, cartoon, comedy and lifestyle, amongst others.

The 3flix TV app is designed for smart phones and it provides premium television content to Nigerians across the country. Airtel customers are required to dial *2424# to activate the 3flix mobile TV service or they can log on to 3flix.tv to access the service.

The 3flix mobile TV app can also be downloaded directly from Google play store (Android). The tariff for

Siyavula, 9mobile launch ‘Aspire Maths’

S

IYAVULA, online education platform, is set to delight young scholars in mathematics with the launch of a new e-learning service called Aspire Maths.

The launch, which took place last Monday, is being done with the support of 9mobile, awardwinning telecommunications company and leader in youth development According to Siyavula’s management, Aspire Maths is designed to make learning and understanding Mathematics fun for millions of Nigerian students, by delivering unlimited practice questions within the JSS 1 – SSS 3 curriculum directly to their mobile phones, immediately marking their answers and providing detailed explanatory solutions.

The intelligence of the service automatically adapts the type and difficulty level of each question to meet the needs of each individual student.

This service, which aligns with the commitment of both organisations to the advancement of mathematics education in Niger-

(From left): Managing Director, United Capital Investment Banking, Babatunde Obaniyi; MD/CEO , United Capital Securities Limited, Jude Chiemeka; Group CEO, United Capital Plc, Peter Ashade; MD/CEO, United Capital Trustees Limited, Tokunbo Ajayi ; and MD/CEO, United Capital Asset Management, Sunny Anene, during the launch of United Capital investnow online platform in Lagos.

ia, is easy to access on any internet-connected device and can be enjoyed with just a token amount payable to Siyavula Education via 9mobile’s 9pay payment solution.

Speaking on this innovative service, the Head of Digital Media, 9mobile, Bolanle Afuye, said “Aspire Maths is a learning service which focuses on increasing the interest of students in mathematics”.

“Science and technology have never been more important to our national development than

the service is pegged at N20 for daily subscription and N75 for weekly subscription.

Commenting on the launch of 3flix, Dinesh Balsingh, acting chief commercial officer, Airtel Nigeria, said the telco is committed to creating and supporting innovative value offerings that will excite, delight and empower more telecoms consumers across the country.

Airtel is positioned as the mobile Internet service provider of first choice for Nigerians and currently, we have the largest 4G network in the country.

We are excited with the partnership with 3flix as we will enable more telecoms consumers to enjoy all the fun mobile TV provides; keep abreast with latest news; follow-up with celebrities and watch their favorite sports team on the go, regardless of location,” he said.

they are today. Countries are taking giant strides into the future riding on the back of breakthroughs in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.

This is why at 9mobile, we are passionate about developing the capacity of our youths to lead the revolution in science and technology for Nigeria.

The launch of Aspire Maths in partnership with Siyavula Education, an international leader in Math and science education, affirms our commitment to continue to innovate with solutions that will build the ability of Nigerian youth to effectively assume this role.”

AXA Mansard, Paystack partner on payment solution

A

N insurance and asset management company, AXA Mansard Plc, has partnered Paystack, an online payment platform, to make transactions on its website seamless.

The Chief Digital Officer, AXA Mansard, Bayo Adesanya, said the company is committed to providing innovative customer solutions through the development of a highly functional digital payment ecosystem that

simplifies payments for our customers.

The process of initiating and receiving payments with Paystack is easy, seamless and real-time, giving customers yet another way to make payments directly from the AXA Mansard website.

“Our online payment system is configured to enhance our analytical capabilities, giving us the opportunity to better understand our customers.

Also commenting on the partnership, Mr. Stanley Jegede, chief executive officer of Phase3 Telecom said, Phase3’s foresight to focus on the opportunities in emerging markets led to the creation of Coverage Broadband, and the subsequent partnership with Airtel Nigeria, to offer subscribers a distinctive mobile TV viewing service, which requires minimal data consumption.

“While 3flix mobile TV would continue to expand its library of great content, we are particularly excited that the product is designed to adapt in features, technology, and aggregation just as the viewing and immersive experience of consumers continue to evolve,” he said.

Vikram Bhatnagar, executive director of Coverage Broadband commented: “The entire team is armed

with the required expertise to see 3flix take the lead in the world of bringing affordable, ingenious, and quality digital content which subscribers can watch everywhere on their preferred mobile device.”

Coverage Broadband is a subsidiary of Phase3 Telecom, and has been issued a mobile TV/OTT broadcast license from National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), and a VAS license from Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

Hence, the creation of its flagship product – 3flix to offer made-formobile TV channels, which was built in collaboration with foremost technology, and media partners. The product boast exciting content that is affordable, and runs on ease-of-use features for subscribers to stream live TV on the go.

Cyber threats to mobile devices in Nigeria rise, hit 35%

T

HREATS, especially through cyber vulnerabilities to mobile devices are on the rise in Nigeria and other sub-Saharan African countries.

This is because the region is increasingly becoming a choice target for cybercriminals, owing to improved regional growth and major investments.

CheckPoint Software Technologies, a cyber-security firm, which disclosed this, noted that though the continent’s Internet penetration was only 35.2 per cent in December 2017, 19.2 per cent behind the world average, cybercrime is a serious threat to countries in Africa.

It informed that between January and August, threat to mobile devices in Nigeria averaged 20 per cent to 35 per cent higher, with users becoming highly vulnerable.

CheckPoint said this should not to be taken lightly.

The firm observed that one of the main challenges that the security industry in Nigeria and indeed Africa, with extension to the rest of the globe, continuously fight against was mobile security.

It’s hardly surprising given that sub-Saharan Africa alone currently has a unique mobile subscriber

penetration of 44 per cent, expected to hit 52 per cent in 2025.

Giving more insight, Regional Director, Africa at Check Point, Rick Rogers, said the sheer economy of scale offered by mobile devices is incredibly appealing to cybercriminals, as such, they are using every available opportunity to attack individuals and organisations through their mobile devices, including Apps, particularly because these devices are so popular and people usually do not take as strict precautions when it comes to securing them as they would with their laptops for example.

Check Point has discovered two major vulnerabilities related to mobile devices over the past month alone – Man-in-the-Diskwhich its researchers discovered a new attack surface for Android apps exploiting a shortcoming in the way that Android apps use storage resources and FakesApp which researchers discovered a vulnerability in WhatsApp that allows a threat actor to intercept and manipulate messages sent by those in a group or private conversation.

The enterprise security firm said it is no surprise that mobile attacks are having a major impact on organisations in Nigeria.

23

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

e-Platform

Gates Foundation backs self-checkup app’s expansion in Africa A

FREE app that lets patients do quick health checkups on themselves is the centerpiece of a Gates Foundationbacked project to bring better care to poor regions of Africa and eastern Europe.

The medical app will be the first of its kind available in Swahili, and will also be offered free in Romania, tech startup Ada Health GmbH said on Wednesday in a statement.

The project, also receiving funding from the Swiss-based Fondation Botnar, will open up Ada’s artificialintelligence-enabled health advice to some 2 million people in areas with little access to hospitals and providers.

Poor countries around the globe are suffering from severe shortages of health-care workers, according to the World Health Organisation, with the most severe challenges in Africa, where the unmet need is forecast to rise most sharply.

Ada’s software is designed to help patients determine whether they need care and put them in touch with nearby services when they’re required, relieving pressure on health systems.

“It helps you get a better idea of

the medical condition that’s causing symptoms, and then helps you make an informed decision about next steps,” said Daniel Nathrath, Berlin-based Ada’s co-founder and chief executive officer. “In Tanzania, often the best option will be to find out where the closest community health worker is.”

The Seattle-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the world’s richest charity, with $51bn in endowment assets as of the end of 2017. While it didn’t give the size of the foundations’ support, Ada said it will use funding from Gates and Botnar to hire staff for the new projects.

Ada will also research how selfcheckups powered by AI can support health care in developing countries, with an emphasis on preventing potentially deadly epidemics. The software will be customised for certain countries by collecting data on the prevalence of diseases, like malaria, that are more common in the developing world than in the West, Nathrath said.

Founded in 2011, Ada offers a mobile-phone app that walks people through symptoms, provides probable causes and advises them what

First Bank holds FinTech Summit, Wednesday

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NE of the leading financial institutions in the country, First Bank Nigeria, will on Wednesday, October 17, 2018, hold a Financial Technology (FinTech) summit in Lagos, the nation’s commercial hub.

The event is in line with its corporate strategy to drive transformation through its products, processes and services.

One of its sole aims is to increase technological support and collaboration with the tech community whilst deepening the bank’s technological inclusion framework to improve its product offerings and services delivery experience.

Last week, the bank held a twoday pre-summit ahead of the main event, which was a coding

competition tagged Hackathon held on October 11 and 12, 2018.

The Hackathon focused on Artificial Intelligence and Big Data and 10 teams contested for the grand prize of N3 million, showcasing their technological and artificial intelligence capabilities with the second and third best teams carting away the sum of N1.5 million and N750,000 respectively.

Business Post reports that this Wednesday’s summit is themed The Future of Banking – the Role of AI and Big Data and over 700 FinTech players and stakeholders are expected to attend.

Also, the 10 teams that participated in the Hackathon competition will showcase their solutions at this week’s programme.

to do - whether that’s to take an aspirin or call an ambulance. Currently available in English, German, Spanish, Portuguese and French, it’s been downloaded by about 5 million people in more than 130 countries.

Ada has received almost $70m in funding, including a $46m investment round in October 2017 that was led by Access Technol-

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conversations in one place. Other features include full media support and more that will provide its users a polished and enjoyable experience.

Commenting on the launch, Rishit Jhunjhunwala, VP Product at Truecaller, said: “As a one-stop communication platform, our IM service will help our users connect and also

Google+ shut down over massive security flaw

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OOGLE exposed the data of hundreds thousands of Google+ users due to a faulty API, according to a report

by The Wall Street Journal. As part of reparations, the company is permanently shutting down Google+.

The API in question, allowed developers access to the public data of the users who signed up to use the app that used that API. The bug in the API allowed the developers to not just access the private, non-public data of the users who signed up as well

collaborate to combat the issue of spam. We’re confident that this foundation stone will help build a strong spam-free community.”

By providing a messaging service with capabilities to tackle fake links, Truecaller is taking a big step towards curbing the problems caused by spam and false information going viral.

as people they are connected to.

Google found up to 438 apps that used this API and 496,951 users may have been affected by this bug.

The data being stolen includes full names, email addresses, birth dates, gender, profile photos, places lived, occupation and relationship status. There were no phone numbers, email messages, timeline posts, direct messages or any other type of communication data.

This issue has existed 2015 until Google found out about it in March 2018 and decided to fix it. Google then had a choice to inform its users but chose not to because it wasn’t legally required to and secondly, because it would draw regulatory attention towards itself. Google was afraid it, too, would become the center of attention following Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal, and as such chose not

Samsung unveils world’s first quad camera smartphone

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AMSUNG is introducing the world’s first phone with a quad camera on the back – the Galaxy A9 (2018). It comes shortly after Samsung’s first triple camera phone, the Galaxy A7 (2018), and builds on it with the addition of a telephoto camera.

Between it and the ultra-wide angle camera, you can choose to focus on a detail or capture more of the scene.

The tele camera offers 2x optical zoom over the main camera and captures 10MP images. The main camera is a 24MP shooter with a bright f/1.7 lens, suitable for daylight and nighttime shots.

tiveness of such apps remains uncertain by traditional scientific standards. Harvard Medical School researchers who conducted a head-to-head study in 2016 found that doctors were twice as good as symptom-checking apps at diagnosing patients based on their descriptions of symptoms and basic medical history.

• The newly-unveiled Samsung Galaxy A9

Truecaller tackles fake news with new chat feature RUECALLER has launched its instant messaging (IM) platform called Truecaller Chat aimed to make communication safer to prevent fake news from circulating.

The IM platform will allow users to report links, ensuring that fake news is not circulated unchecked by users.

Truecaller has helped erode spam calls faced by users through Caller ID and also strengthened SMS inboxes by filtering unwanted messages. As a step to curb the spread of erroneous information, Truecaller, with help from its community, has launched this service as a shield against viral messages sent on its instant messaging platform.

Users will be able to mark website links as spam if they suspect them to have incorrect information, which will then help chatters make a more informed decision about what information is false. With time, Truecaller also plans to apply machine learning and use the aggregated spam reports to predict any upcoming viral trends.

Additionally, Truecaller Chat is bundled with interesting features such as, auto-switch between SMS and Chat, which will help users keep

ogy Ventures, a New York venture capital firm. Competitors include London-based Your.MD AS, Kry of Stockholm and WebMD Health in the US Another British rival, Babylon Healthcare Services, has an initiative with the government of Rwanda in which its app has been used to treat more than 2 million people.

Critics charge that the effec-

The 120° ultra-wide angle camera sports an 8MP sensor. The Intelligent Scene Optimizer is an AI that automatically adjusts the camera settings based on the scene. Finally, there’s a 5MP depth sensor for shots with artificial bokeh.

The Galaxy A9 has a large Super AMOLED screen – 6.3” in diagonal. It has 1,080 x 2,220px resolution and is notch free. There’s a 24MP selfie camera (f/2.0) above that screen. This brings the camera count to 5 total.

You can store many photos and videos, which to enjoy on the roomy screen. Both versions of the A9 come with 128GB of storage (plus a microSD slot for up to

512GB more), all you have to decide is whether you want 6GB of RAM or 8GB. Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) in Lemonade Blue Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) in Lemonade Blue Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) in Lemonade Blue Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) in Bubblegum Pink Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) in Bubblegum Pink Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) in Bubblegum Pink Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) in Caviar Black Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) in Caviar Black Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) in Caviar Black Samsung Galaxy A9 (2018) in Lemonade Blue, Bubblegum Pink and Caviar Black.

to disclose the information to its users.

Google’s excuse is that it found no evidence of any of the data being misused, however, it also has no way of being sure of that. The company did not check up with any of the developers of the aforementioned 438 apps.

Google also said the consumer version of Google+ had low usage and engagement and 90% of user sessions are less than five seconds long, essentially trashing its own product to cover up. The company is henceforth shutting down Google+ to consumers.

Google is also said to working on improving security elsewhere, including restricting developer access to things such as SMS, call logs, and contact data on Android and add-ons for Gmail.

A few takeaways: The security flaw existed for three years; When Google found out about it, it quietly fixed it to avoid legalities and investigation by authorities; When people found out about it, it decided to shut down Google+ in a knee-jerk reaction; and Android data access is being restricted to app developers. Gmail add-ons access will also be limited.

24

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

ISSN: 2545-5869

EDITORIAL

www.oraclenews.ng

VOX POPULI SACRUM

As Executive Order 6 comes into ‘full force’…

Cont’d front page 1 interim seizure of assets linked to investigations, ongoing criminal trials and other related offences.

Apparently following the court order, the President mandated the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Minister of Justice to implement the Order in “full force”, hence the release of the travel ban list barely two days after the High Court order.

Delivering her judgment Thursday last week, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu held that it was within the powers of the President to issue such executive orders as long as they do not offend the doctrine of separation of powers.

Justice Ojukwu further said the powers given to the AGF under the Executive Order 6 must be exercised in accordance with the provisions of the constitution, stressing that the AGF must, at all times, obtain a court order before seizing any asset and such application for the court’s permission could be made ex-parte.

When this Order was issued in July this year, we had cause to warn that Nigeria was wittingly or unwittingly investing its President Buhari with overarching powers that he did not need to successfully rule over the country or prosecute the war on corruption. We were convinced that with EFCC, ICPC and other institutional anti-graft agencies in place and doing their work, Nigeria does not have any need to gift the President with a wider latitude to exercise power and authority in a country where the statutory powers of the President are so enormous that a Nigerian President is reputed as easily the most powerful President on earth. As such, we were of the view that Order 6 was, therefore, a superfluous law

that should be kept in the cooler.

But as usual, our voice was smothered by the cacophonous din blaring from government spokesmen, and ordinary apologists alike, who vigorously rationalised the nefarious Executive Order 6. Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed insisted at the time that there was nothing ambiguous about the Order except that “corrupt persons and their allies are (now) mortally afraid because it will ensure that justice is done, and done expeditiously.”

Now, the chickens have come home to roost. With the release of the list of “50 high-profile” Nigerians the President, on the advice of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has banned from travelling abroad, it is obvious to whoever cares to know that the Executive Order 6 is a pervasive instrument of oppression in the hands of a president who just can’t seem to have enough opportunity to show his meanness to Nigerians, especially those perceived to be corrupt.

If anyone had doubts about Executive Order 6 being nothing more than a superfluous law, an instrument of coercion, harassment, intimidation and abuse of rule of law in the hands of the President, such doubts would have been erased by the simple act of enforcing the Order. With a dead man on the list of those banned from travelling, what the government is saying is that it just has scant regard for important details in matters of statecraft and that this whole things is not really about catching the thieves but about using every auspicious moment to flex muscles and intimidate ‘enemies’ of government. And by including on the list former Governor Chimaroke Nnamani who had in February this year been discharged and acquitted of corruption charges, President Buhari once again demonstrated his widely- advertised disregard for the rule of law and why this Executive Order 6 is patently an obnoxious law. Why would he ban Nnamani who no longer has any corruption charges pending against him in any court of law, from travelling outside the country?

Is there any doubt any longer as to how we have handed the President the power to usurp the authority of the courts and act as he deems fit? For, Executive Order 6, as enforced by the President, clearly usurps the functions of a court of law and those of the National Assembly, which has already promulgated the EFCC, ICPC and Money Laundering Acts, all of which allow for interim forfeiture and attachment of citizens’ money and properties, but with an order of a court of law. Indeed, Constitutional authorities have argued that the right to freedom of movement, which is guaranteed by section 41 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is not subject to derogation by any Executive Order outside the pronouncement of a court of law.

Taking umbrage at the Executive Order 6 or its enforcement by the President, constitutional lawyer and human rights activist, Dr. Mike Ozekhome, SAN, had this to say in a recent article: “The Supreme Court of Nigeria, in Director of SSS v Olisa Agbakoba (1999) 3 NWLR (or 595) 340, quoted with approval, the Indian case of Meneka Ghandi v Union of India (1978) AIR 597, (1978) SCC (1) 248, where the Indian Supreme Court held, on Ghandi’s passport being seized, and he filing a writ of petition under Articles 21 and 32 of the Indian Constitution, that ‘the Indian Constitution safeguards the

right to go abroad against executive interference, which is not supported by law; law here means enacted law or state law…thus, no person can be deprived of his right to go abroad unless there is law made by the state prescribing the procedure for so depriving him and the deprivation is effected strictly in accordance with such procedure…’

“Neither the Executive Order no 6 nor the new travel ban and accounts monitoring and property attachment constitute any such law, by any stretch of the imagination, or constitutional imprimatur. In Agbakoba’s case, the apex court made it clear that ownership of a travelling passport was part and parcel of and concomitant to the freedom of movement…,” he further argued.

The question, then, is: how many orders of court did the President obtain before banning 50 Nigerians from travelling outside the country?

In any case, we have got used to the President shoving this anti-corruption bogey in our face each time his handlers suspect that his popularity is sagging. We are not unmindful of the fact that the recent hitchfree presidential primary held by the opposition PDP and from which a seeming popular candidate in the person of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar emerged may have inspired the President and his team to do something to take attention away from Atiku and his equally popular running mate Mr. Peter Obi. It is possible that the trending controversial list was drawn earlier than now but had to be kept aside for release at a time considered auspicious enough for such attention-drawing step to be taken. Unfortunately for the government, this would appear to be one PR stunt that has fallen flat on its face.

We do not know the intention behind the hurried release of that damnable list under Executive Order 6. But, what we do know is that that Order should have no place in the body of Nigerian laws. It is a superfluous law that serves no useful purpose except to invest the President with more powers than he needs to function optimally as President. Therefore, it should be done away with, if not now, then, certainly, in the next dispensation.

Our Vision TO BE among the top five newspapers in Nigeria and, in due course, the Numero Uno; to be a newspaper of records that effectively caters to the information needs of all segments and sections of the Nigerian society as well as all social classes and cultures. Essentially, we want to be a responsible corporate citizen, a commercially viable, properly organised media business, which meets its obligations to society, government and the workforce.

Mission WE INTEND to contribute to the development of an inclusive Nigerian society, with a view to getting rid of the dark sides of our national life (slothfulness, greed, corruption, nepotism, totalitarianism, etc); to continually engender and sustain national debates that would ultimately lead to the enthronement of healthy national values-hard-work, justice, equity and fairplay, transparency, good governance, resulting, in themselves, the egalitarian Nigerian society of our dream. We will give voice to the voiceless and at all times, strive to be balanced, objective, honest, truthful and fair to all sides; so that through The Oracle Today, our people, the Nigerian people can see a bright light at the end of what has been a very dark tunnel. And we shall do all this in absolute trust in God who blesses good intentions.

25

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

OPINION

The essential Peter Obi

By JOSEPH CHUKWUMA IKUNNA

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have known Peter Obi since 1989 when he lived on Church Street in Willesden and I lived in Harlsden and worked in Cricklewoon before working in Shepherds Bush and eventually Nottingham.

By 1997, we were both trading independently in food and beverages at the famous OKE ARIN market on Lagos Island, where we competed over a few brands and many times shared suppliers. I’m sure Mike Parnell would remember. Peter was always ahead of me because he had been in the business before me and had much more capital. Sometimes I would take over one of his brands, which he had lost interest in as he moved higher and higher. I earned his respect in business because I was able to make money out of some products he thought were no longer worth it (my overheads were lower). He earned my respect too and till date, we both have mutual respect for each other. Whenever we meet at occasions, it is always hugs and kisses.

In 2002, he decided to go into politics, promising to bring change to Anambra State and he did. When he was rigged out in the 2003 election, we thought it was all over but Peter did not think so. He took the matter to court at a time when most of us had lost confidence in the Nigerian courts. As God would have it, Ngige reneged on a promise he had made to Chris Ubah, the reigning godfather in An-

ambra politics at that time, and lost the protection of former President Olusegun Obasanjo who supported Ubah, hence the courts were ‘allowed’ to do the right thing and judge the case on its merits.

The case took almost three years and some of us would snigger behind Peter’s back, each time he told us he would win the case, but I remember sitting with him one Thursday afternoon in March 2006 in his Apapa office, where I had gone to see him in his capacity as Chairman of Fidelity bank. (As we sat discussing) Peter told me that by tomorrow, being a Friday, he would get judgment and move on to become the governor of Anambra State.

I did not believe him but that was exactly what happened. Peter got judgment the next day and by afternoon of that Friday, he had moved into Government House Akwa, just as Ngige was forced to leave.

Throughout Peter’s almost eight years as governor of Anambra State, I never bothered him because I knew it would be a waste of time. He does not believe in cronyism. No one around Peter made much money, because he ran an efficient government in which the people of Anambra State were the sole beneficiaries.

Politics did not change Peter Obi one bit, instead he changed politics. He kept to his values of honesty, efficiency and humility, along with his understanding that everything in life is vanity. He understands from our days of trading that one must stick strictly to agreements and

Throughout Peter’s almost eight years as governor of Anambra State, I never bothered him because I knew it would be a waste of time. He does not believe in cronyism. No one around Peter made much money, because he ran an efficient government in which the people of Anambra State were the sole beneficiaries.

”

that the more you pay back your debts, the more credit you will get from suppliers, hence his 100% honesty in life and all that he does, just like myself. He is fearless and cannot be bought over.

Atiku Abubakar, therefore, has chosen the best Nigerian possible to work with him to rescue Nigeria (from the current muddle in which it finds itself). Peter is the best Nigerian for the job of Vice President by miles. By not consulting with Igbo leaders, the PDP presidential can-

didate may well have made it clear that he was not appointing an Igbo man but a Nigerian man as his running mate. And it was perfectly within his rights to do so, as he is the one with the presidential ticket and not the Igbo leaders. Peter Obi is de-tribalized, does not take bribes and is a non-conformist. It is no wonder those Igbo leaders would not be happy with Atiku’s choice. ,By choosing Peter Obi, it is 100% Clear that Atiku wants to rescue Nigeria. The fact that Peter Obi is of Igbo extraction has no bearing on Atiku’s choice. In fact those Igbos that are against it should all go and bury their heads in the sand.

Those Igbos rejoicing about his appointment will soon find out that he is a full Nigerian and will in no way advance any Igbo or Igbo cause that is not in line with total service to, and security of, Nigeria.

That’s the man Atiku has chosen.

It would appear that at last Nigeria is doing away with tribal politics and doing the right thing. All credit for this appointment should go to Atiku, and is a sign of things to come. It is a sign that Atiku is bent on changing this country for the good of all. Peter is youthful in mind and thinks deeply about the prospects of our teeming youth. I hope that by next year, I will be able to justify my faith in Nigeria when Peter becomes the Vice President.

I am and remain •Chief IKUNNA wrote in from Lagos

2019 polls and Obasanjo’s about turn on Atiku

By Ehichioya Ezomon

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ince Thursday, the camp of former Vice President and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has been popping champagne in jubilation, as he received the most important endorsement yet - some would say more significant than the nomination of the candidate - for his presidential bid in 2019.

The revellers were in ‘Cloud 9’ on Friday when Atiku picked former Anambra State governor, Mr. Peter Obi, as his running mate. It’s as if he had won the prized trophy: the Presidency, because the ringing affirmation came from an unlikely and unimaginable quarters: former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Without a public support, “The Atiku People” would blame Obasanjo should Atiku lose his lifetime presidential pursuit.

Why? Besides elements that want the country to divide and disintegrate, Obasanjo has held Atiku as Nigeria’s “public enemy number one,” largely on account of his perception of his former deputy as a heavily “tainted character.”

For over a decade and half, the former Head of State would not let an opportune moment slip by without regurgitating the bad side of Atiku’s persona. And he recorded such characterisation in his famous book, My Watch.

Below are two paragraphs he wrote in Volume 2, at pages 31 and 32 of the book, on why it would have been a “sin against God” were he to “foist Atiku on Nigeria” as president, to succeed him in 2007: “What I did not know, which came out glaringly later, was his parental background which was somewhat shadowy, his propensity to corruption, his tendency to disloyalty, his inability to say and stick to the truth all the time, a propensity for poor

judgement, his belief and reliance on marabouts, his lack of transparency, his trust in money to buy his way out on all issues and his readiness to sacrifice morality, integrity, propriety truth and national interest for self and selfish interest.

“I took him at face value. However, if his appointment was an error, I fully accepted responsibility for the genuine mistake.

And knowing all that I discovered about him, what would have been an unpardonable mistake and sin against God would have been to foist him on Nigeria.”

Outside of this categorisation, Obasanjo had repeatedly vowed that Atiku would only be president of Nigeria “over his dead body.” He upped the ante lately, swearing,

by God’s name, not to intentionally support Atiku’s presidential run.

In the wake of his acerbic public statement against the re-election ambition of President Muhammadu Buhari, Obasanjo told PREMIUM TIMES last August: “How can I be on the same side with Atiku? To do what? If I support Atiku for anything, God will not forgive me. If I do not know, yes.

But once I know, Atiku can never enjoy my support.”

Why Obasanjo’s sudden change of mind, and heart about Atiku and his presidential aspiration? The immediate reason is that Atiku, in just a few hours, was able to “atone” for his “sins” of over 15 years.

Obasanjo’s words: “From what transpired in the last couple of hours or so, you have shown remorse; you have asked for forgiveness and you have indicated that you have learnt some good lessons and you will mend fences and make amends as necessary and as desirable.

“Whenever or wherever you might have offended me, as a Christian who asks for God’s forgiveness of my sins and inadequacies on a daily basis, I forgive and I sincerely advise you to learn from the past

and do what is right and it will be well with you.”

The remote reason Obasanjo, and the “Never Buhari” campaigners are supportIng Atiku is their desire to stop Buhari’s second term bid, and change his government in 2019. Obasanjo inspired the Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM) for this “change,” which “possibility” he located in an Atiku candidacy.

The issue of Atiku going to beg Obasanjo has consistently dominated discussions.

But on each occasion, he had met with a rebuff from Obasanjo, who’s been “playing God” over Nigerians and the country.

In my December 4, 2017, article, “Atiku, 2019 and Obasanjo’s political hegemony,” I queried if Obasanjo was now God “that has the power to forgive sins?” It’s in the wake of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s assertion that the only hindrance to Atiku’s ambition was Obasanjo, whom he needed to “go and beg for forgiveness.”

According to Jonathan, “Our boss, Baba OBJ, the boss of all bosses,” must be appeased because, “we’ve all learnt at different times that you ignore OBJ at your own peril. OBJ has the magic wand, respected at home and abroad.”

I had noted then that, “Dr. Jonathan’s admonition reflects the level politics and politicians have sunk in Nigeria: That man, and not God, as the teachings of the Holy Books indicate (Romans 13:1; Daniel 2:2022; Proverbs 5:15-16; 1 Samuel 2:7-8), is the ultimate ‘Kingmaker.’”

I rested my case by advising that although the decision was Atiku’s to make, “as politicians see possibilities in impossibilities,” he should stick with his claimed “consultation with God” before leaving the APC, “and not to set much store by man, who cannot play God, such as Obasanjo is being held up by Jonathan and others.”

My adumbration was that Atiku could win without Obasanjo, and he could lose because of his backing. Interestingly, Obasanjo agreed, during Thursday’s visit, that Atiku has the wherewithal to contest successfully on his own.

Now that Atiku has “converted on his way to Abeokuta,” and “all his sins forgiven,” will Obasanjo, too, make contrition, and restitution for “deliberately” supporting the PDP candidate? One of the grievous sins against God, as listed in the Ten Commandments, is to use His name in vain (Exodus 20:7) or swear falsely by, “and so profane the name of your God.” (Leviticus 19:12) This seems the Ebora Owu’s pastime!

• Mr. Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.

THE GROUP Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief Ikeddy Isiguzo Editor Felix Oguejiofor Abugu Deputy Editor/Head, Lagos Bureau Sopuruchi Onwuka Head, Graphics & Designs Nnamdi Alex Chukwu Circulation Manager Felix Oti

26

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

Travel & Hospitality Nigeria drops further in 2018 Passport Index ranking Stories by VICTOR NZE

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IGERIA has dropped further down in the global passport index, falling five spots to occupy the 94th position in the world, according to the Henley Passport Index.

The Nigerian passport ranked 94 in the world with 47 destinations, visa-free access in this year’s ranking.

Last year, the Nigerian passport was ranked 89th.

The Henley Passport Index is a ranking of all the passports of the world according to the number of countries their holders can travel to visa-free. The ranking is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which maintains the world’s largest and most accurate database of travel information, and is enhanced by extensive in-house research.

The index is updated in real-time, as and when visa-policy changes come into effect.

According to 2018 Henley Passport Index, the Japanese passport is now the strongest in the world. It has surpassed Singapore, placing Germany, South Korea and France in the third position.

Travel for Japanese citizens to 190 countries is possible without visa or they can gain visa on arrival. While Singapore passport allows travel to 189 destinations without a prior visa,

it earlier gained visa-free access to Myanmar.

The citizens of Germany, South Korea and France can enter 188 countries without a prior visa. After gaining visa-free access to Uzbekistan and Myanmar respectively France and South Korea jumped to the third place.

In this year’s ranking the UK and US both having 186 destination open to their citizens moved from fourth to fifth place. Since the start of 2018 both the countries can’t access a new country without a visa. However, in 2015, the UK and US passports were the most powerful.

Iraq and Afghanistan took the bottom spot (106th position)as citizens of both countries can only access 30 destinations without getting a visa first.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) was the most powerful passport in the Middle east at 21st place. This was up from 62nd place in 2006.

Russia and China remained in the similar position, Russia went down from 46th to 47th place and saw a short-term in September after Taiwan announced of visa waiver programme for its nationals which will be valid until next July.

Although China’s citizen could gain entry to St Lucia and Myanmar without a prior visa, it fell two places to 71.

Last year, Germany held on to first

Six states, NCAC, Turkish Airlines, others for Abuja NTIFE 2018

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IX states including: Plateau, Imo, Abia, Enugu, Delta and Ogun, as well as the National Council of Arts and Culture (NCAC), the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) and Turkish Airlines have all indicated their willingness to be part of the 2018 Nigeria Tourism Investors’ Forum and Exhibition (NTIFE 2018) holding next month in Abuja. NTIFE, a national exhibition and conference organized by the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN), will take place at Sheraton Abuja Hotel and Towers on Wednesday 21 and Thursday 22 of next month.

Other corporate organizations, parastatals and agencies that have registered to be part of this year’s NTIFE include: telecommunication giant, MTN; Eko Hotel and Suites; Nigerian Institute of Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR) and many others.

Speaking the event, FTAN President, Alhaji Saleh Rabo said NTIFE is dedicated to the promotion of domestic tourism and create a forum for the various associations and players in the industry to interact and network as well as showcase their products and services. He said this year’s edition will be enriching and fulfilling.

To this end, he said a Local Organising Committee (LOC) with him as the chairman has since swung into action with the setting up of different sub – committees which are already working round the clock to deliver world-class event. The sub – committees, which are headed by members of the federation with different core competences and expertise, include fund raising and marketing, media and publicity, event and

management and secretariat.

Rabo revealed that this year’s event would be a notched higher and different from the past editions as it would built on the gains so far garnered by it and introduced new and refreshing aspects to the two days event, with the aim of making it diverse, vibrant and colourful as well as embracing for all sectors in the industry and allied sectors.

According to FTAN president, NTIFE is a strong brand created by FTAN deployed towards the development and promotion of Nigeria tourism and that this can only be achieved through the effective participation of both the public and private sector active involvement. Therefore, he appealed to government at all levels, especially state and local governments and corporate Nigerians to also join and part of the event, next month.

spot for the fifth year running, as its citizens enjoy visa-free access to 177 countries in total, up from 176 countries in 2017.

The Henley Passport Index is widely acknowledged as the original and most authoritative passport index, with historical data spanning 13 years. The global ranking is the only one of its kind that is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which maintains the world’s largest and

most accurate database of travel information.

Singapore ranked 2nd globally on the 2018 edition of the index, with visa-free access to 176 countries, while eight countries — Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Japan, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, share 3rd place, offering passport-holders access to 175 countries.

The Seychelles was the highestperforming African country in 2018, ranking 27th on the index and mov-

•Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike officially unveiling the mascot and theme song for the 2018 National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFEST) at the Government House Port Harcourt, as State Commissioner of Culture and Tourism, Mrs Tonye Oniyide (l) watches.

Int’l tourist arrivals grow by 6% H1, 2018 – UNWTO A CCORDING to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)’s latest barometer, international tourist arrivals grew 6 per cent in the first six months of 2018 after a record year of growth in 2017.

All world regions enjoyed robust growth in tourist arrivals in January-June 2018. The increase was fueled by strong demand from major source markets, supported by an upswing in the global economy.

It comes after record year-round growth of 7 per cent in 2017.

“Today’s release of international tourism data for the first half of 2018 serves as further proof of the

sector’s resilience and relentless growth trajectory. We continue to work with our many partners to translate this growth into better jobs, more benefits to societies, and more opportunities for sustainable livelihoods and destinations,” said UNWTO SecretaryGeneral Zurab Pololikashvili.

By region, Europe and Asia and the Pacific led growth with a 7 per cent increase in arrivals each.

Southern Mediterranean Europe and South-East Asia had the strongest results in these regions, both welcoming 9 per cent more international tourists.

chises a broad portfolio of hotels and resorts.

Founded by Conrad Hilton in 1919, the corporation is now led by Christopher Nassetta. He said Hilton has its brands across the globe which includes, Europe, Middle East and Africa. He disclosed due to high service demand in Nigeria, the company had opened a hotel at Lagos

airport, Hilton’s 500th hotel.

Nassetta said it was part of strategy to connect guests to key cities and airport locations across the world, adding that eight hotels will be opened across Africa this year.

Nasseťta restated the commitment of the company to create more job opportunities in Nigeria and other parts of Africa.

The Middle East and Africa also recorded sound results with arrivals growing at 5 per cent and 4 per cent, respectively, according to still-limited information available for destinations in these regions. The Americas saw 3 per cent growth in arrivals over the six-month period, driven by South America (+7 per cent) and North America (+5 per cent). The United States continued to fuel much growth in the region and beyond.

On the demand side, France, the United Kingdom and the Russian Federation all reported doubledigit increases in outbound spending in Europe. India and the Republic of Korea drove growth in Asia and the Pacific, while the world’s top source market China reported similar spending as in the same period last year.

According to the UNWTO report, the first half of the year accounts for about 45 per cent of annual international tourist arrivals. The second half represents 55 per cent as it is three days longer and includes the Northern Hemisphere high-season months of July and August.

Port Harcourt, Governor Wike said the ceremony signifies the beginning of activities for NAFEST 2018.

“It is a pleasure that the State is hosting the entire country once again. This shall provide the platform for the entire country to witness first-hand the culture and tradi-

tion of our people. This festival will further emphasise that Rivers State is peaceful and the best destination for investments in the country. It is also the best destination for tourism “. He urged all stakeholders to work together to ensure the success of NAFEST 2018.

Nigeria biggest hospitality market in Africa – Hilton CEO

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IGERIA is one of the biggest markets in the hospitality industry in Africa, Mr Christopher Nassetta, the CEO of Hilton Worldwide Holding Inc., has said.

Nassetta said as a result the huge market, the company would build more hotels across the country. “`We want to be the leading and the most acceptable brands and products in Nigeria and in Africa at large.

“Nigeria is one of our target market because of its huge market demands and population, ” he said in Lagos on Saturday. Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., formerly Hilton Hotels Corporation, is an American multinational hospitality company that manages and fran-

ing up two places from 2017; the Seychellois passport provides visafree access to 141 countries. Mauritius, ranking 2nd in the region and 32nd globally, has visa-free access to 134 countries. South Africa is ranked 3rd overall in the region and 52nd globally, with visa-free access to 100 countries.

Nigeria Passport, however, came 89rd with Cameroon and Congo.

With access to 32 countries, Somalia, ranked 100th, remained static compared with 2017.

Wike unveils NAFEST 2018 mascot, theme song

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IVERS State Governor, Nyesom Wike has officially unveiled the mascot and theme song for the 2018 National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFEST) holding in Port Harcourt, this October Unveiling the Mascot and Theme Song at the Government House

27

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

AVIATION Africa continues drop as global freight capacity grows by 2.3% Stories by VICTOR NZE

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HE International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released data for global air freight markets showing that demand, measured in freight tonne kilometers (FTKs), rose 2.3 per cent in August 2018, compared to the same period the year before.

This pace of growth was unchanged from the previous month but was less than half the five-year average growth rate of 5.1 per cent.

All regions reported year-on-year demand growth in August 2018, except Africa which contracted.

All regions reported that capacity growth exceeded growth in de-

mand.

African carriers saw freight demand contract by 7.1 per cent in August 2018, compared to the same month last year.

This was the fifth time in six months that demand contracted.

Capacity increased by 6.0 per cent year-on-year. After a peak in demand at the end of 2017, seasonally-adjusted international freight volumes have stopped declining in recent months.

However, they remain 8 per cent lower than the November 2017 peak. Demand conditions on all key markets to/ from Africa remain weak.

Globally, freight capacity, measured in available freight tonne kil-

ometers (AFTKs), grew by 4.5 per cent year-on-year in August 2018.

This was the sixth month in a row that capacity growth outstripped demand growth. Yields, however, appear to be holding up.

Growth is being supported by a number of factors, including buoyant consumer confidence, an upturn in the global investment cycle and growing international ecommerce. However, demand is being negatively impacted by three factors: “August demand for air cargo grew at 2.3%, unchanged from the previous month. Buoyant consumer confidence, the growth of international e-commerce and the

broad-based global economic upturn are behind the growth. But there are downside risks. Order books are weakening and supply delivery times are lengthening. And the growing trade tensions are a specter over the industry. The early focus of tariffs was not on products typically carried by air. But as the list of tariffs grows so does the air cargo industry’s vulnerability. And, we can expect souring trading relations to eventually impact business travel. There are no winners in trade wars,” said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO. FG begins payment of N22.6bn to defunct Nigeria Airways workers,

Monday The Federal Government will on Monday, October 15, 2018 begin the final verification and payment of entitlements to former workers of the defunct Nigeria Airways.

According to a statement by Paul Abechi, the special adviser on media and communications to the finance minister, the payment will last one week simultaneously across Lagos, Kano and Enugu states.

The exercise will take place at Sky-Power Catering, Ikeja, Lagos; ABC (former Nigeria Airways Office), Bank Road, Kano; and Villa Toscana Hotel, Independent Layout, Enugu.

Dana loses N100m to labour/BASL dispute

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NE of the airlines operating from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Domestic Terminal 2 (MMIA2), Dana Air, has already declared a loss of N100 million in the justended industrial action by aviation unions against the facility’s operator, Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL).

The airline who disclosed this in a statement issued by the Media/ Communication, Mr Kingsley Ezenwa , also apologized to its passengers, who missed their flights as a result of the dispute between aviation unions and BASL. “For now, we have lost over N100m to the ongoing action and losing such money in an industry where airlines are still grappling with a myriad of challenges is unacceptable and disappointing to say the least. We do not know how the situation will be in the coming days and we might have no other option that to downsize if the action stretches for too long. While we respect the rights of both parties to engage each other based on extant laws, we call on all concerned to intervene and save the industry from further crises,” the statement said.

Continuing, Dana said: “At the moment, MMA2 remains the terminal that provides guests the best in terms of facilitation and we wish to thank our guests for their constant support and understanding. We wish to also reassure our guests of our commitment to continue to offer the best of service at all times.”

The airline, however expressed fears that the General Aviation Terminal (GAT), also known as terminal 1 may not be able to handle the number of passengers when there is a coincidence of flight schedule Meanwhile, the airline has resumed operations at the terminal following the agreement reached between Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL), and the Aviation Unions to end the 2-day strike action.

The airline in a statement signed by its Media and Communications Manager, Kingsley Ezenwa said: “We have resumed flights from MMA2 following the agreement reached by MMA2 and the Aviation Unions today.

‘We thank the Management of Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited BASL, operators of MMA2 for considering the economic implications and for putting national interest first in resolving the industrial action.

“We also wish to thank our teeming guests for their total understanding and cooperation in the course of our temporary relocation to the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) and we hope to continue offering the best of our services which we have come to be known for.”

Ezenwa noted that as a result of Dana Air’s core values of improving customer experience, and knack for customer-centric innovations, the airline has also introduced a ‘Cash Top-Up’ concept for members of its loyalty and reward program Dana Miles.

According to him, ‘the Cash Topup allows our Dana Miles members to top-up their miles with little cash to enjoy the hospitality of our economy or business Class cabin. Our interested Dana Miles members are advised to visit our website: www.flydanaair.com or do an email toDanamiles@flydanaair.com, 72 hours before their preferred flight.’’

‘We are committed to always improving guests’ experience and exceeding their aspirations. We will continue to provide superior and convenient options to all our guests particularly, our Dana Miles guests, to ensure that they get much more value for flying with us.’’ He added.

Similarly, management of the BASL has accepted demands of the three unions which shut down terminal’s operations as contending parties have reportedly signed the agreement effectively ending the two-day strike action.

In a letter signed by the Group Executive Director, Roger Whittle and Group Head a Human Resources, Ola Azeez, addressed to the unions titled: Re:15-Day Ultimatum to Recall and Reinstate Workers the management of Bi-Courtney agreed to the unions’ demands as follows: “Staff of BASL are free (as they have always been) to exercise their right of association by indicating their willingness to join any of the aviation unions. The management shall deduct and remit check off dues as required below.”

“The 27 members of the union who were laid off shall be recalled without loss of pay or service and deployed to where their services are required within the ResortGroup. Thereafter the company intends to declare them redundant and is willing to discuss their redundancy benefits with the unions in accordance with the Section 20 of the Labour Act.”

Managing Director of the Skyway Aviation Handling Company Ltd, (SAHCOL), Basil Agboarumi, receiving the IoD certificate from Chief Chris Okunowo while Mr Samuel Akeju looks on.

Delta Govt plans int’l operations for Asaba Airport

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ROJECT Manager of Asaba Airport, Mr Austine Ayemidejor, has said that it has fully resumed operations after its downgrade by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) in 2014.

Ayemidejor stated this in Thursday in Asaba, added that efforts were on to ensure that the airport was upgraded from its current category, six, to category eight or nine, to enable it to engage in international flights.

“The airport is on category six now, we hope to go to category

eight or nine in the next couple of weeks. Most international airports in the country operate on category nine and it is important to know that the Asaba airport runway can receive any type of aircraft.

“So, the airport is set to go on to the next level to receive Boeing 737 and eventually categories of Boeing 777. We can go international as soon as we get approval from the regulatory authority,” he said.

Ayemidejor said that since the rehabilitation work on the run-

Our men contained Overland aircraft fire from spreading – FAAN

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EDERAL Airports of Nigeria (FAAN) has stated that officers of the Aerodrome Rescue and Fire Fighting Services (ARFFS) contained the fire that engulfed Overland Airways ATR airplane with registration number 5N-BPE Friday at the airline’s hangar at the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) of the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos.

An online issued by the General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu informed

that in what could have resulted into a major fire disaster, officers of the ARFFS put out a fire that almost consumed an aircraft belonging to Overland Air. She added that the incident, which occurred on October 12, 2018, at the airline’s maintenance hangar, was prevented from spreading to other parked aircraft and facilities.

She stated that though no life was lost as a result of the incident and investigation into the cause of the incident has already begun.

way and other ancillary facilities as directed by the regulatory, activities at the airport had greatly increased.

The project manager lamented the huge loss of revenue during the period the airport was not in operation due to the downgrading.

He expressed joy that the facility had fully resumed operation with three flights from Lagos and Abuja to Asaba on daily basis.

“We have lots of activities going on here. We have three flights – the Air Peace, Ero Contractor and Overland – and the volume of traffic is high.

“I am quite happy that the runway has been fully rehabilitated.

The State Government has done well in this regard and the perimeter fencing project is ongoing.

Ayemidejor noted that Asaba airport was a gateway to eastern Nigeria and with proximity to Onitsha and Nnewi markets, it would be easily accessible to many users.

The project manager said the airport authority was discussing with the three airlines now plying the route to see the possibilities of connecting from Asaba to Port Harcourt, Calabar, Uyo and others.

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The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

INSURANCE & PENSION Recapitalisation: Unions call for review L Stories by VICTOR NZE

ABOUR unions in the insurance industry in the country have called on the National Insurance Corporation (NAICOM) to give more time to operating firms to meet with the recapitalization directive, just as they also urged the agency to soft-pedal of the planned implementation on the tier-based solvency capital for underwriters.

The October 1, 2018 deadline for recapitalisation for insurance firms in the country has already elapsed, as it had been backdated from its original January 1, 2019 date by NAICOM. NAICOM had announced an increase in the minimum capital base for composite insurance (life and non-underwriters) that wanted licence to underwrite all risks in the country from N5 billion to N15 billion. The agency also raised the minimum capital requirement of life insurance companies that want to underwrite all forms of life insurance from N2 billion to N6 billion.

The minimum capital base for non-life insurance companies is also being raised from N3 billion to N9 billion.

In separate positions on the issue, the Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions (ASSBIFI), and the National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institutions Employees (NUBIFIE), last week, sought for a review of the directive by NAICOM to insurance firms in the country, insisting that the timing was not proper.

In its statement, ASSBIFI asked NAICOM for a one year extension for implementation on the tierbased solvency capital for underwriters to ensure total compliance among companies.

The financial union, which posited that it was not against restructuring of the insurance industry, argued that extending the period of enforcement will also to allow for genuine consultation with appropriate stakeholders.

National President of ASSBIFI, Oyinkan Olasanoye, at a news conference, said NAICOM’s posi-

tion that under the new policy the insurance companies do not need to inject new capital is not realistic, noting that all operators should be given equal opportunity and enough time to determine the tier they wished to operate.

She appealed that NAICOM should rather do more in the area of enforcement of existing policies on compulsory insurance, to enable the sector contribute more appropriately to the national gross domestic product (GDP).

“The process where you expect a firm to move from N5 billion to N15 billion just within 33 working days; August 25 to October 1, 2018, with the recession in Nigeria, and election year approaching, whereby investors are looking at the risks associated with elections, it is not something we believe is achievable.

“We are not against recapitalisation, but they should be given a fair play and opportunity, even if they would not need money to be recapitalised; there may be mergers, there may be association and private placement. All these that could take place during NAICOM’s grace period may not be feasible within 33 working days.”

On its part, NUBIFIE, Thursday, urged NAICOM to review its recapitalisation policy directives to boost the industry.

Out-going President of NUBIFIE, Mr Danjuma Musa, who spoke at a news conference in Lagos while handing over to the in-coming President, Mr Anthony Abakpa, said the recapitalisation policy is

discriminatory, restrictive of choice and capable of driving aground many insurance companies.

“This is not good for under insured economy like Nigeria. Many Nigerians prefer to buy third party insurance than others. We call on NAICOM to review it and address our concerns and apprehensions.

“NAICOM should also extend the time of compliance because some groups are planning to buy over companies that are not able to capitalise before the October dead-

IGERIA Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) paid N11.50 billion to depositors and other creditors of failed financial institutions in the country last year.

Managing Director and Chief Executive, Umaru Ibrahim, stated this dur-

ing the NDIC Special Day at the Abuja International Trade Fair with the theme ‘Enhancing SMEs in Agribusiness through Innovative Technology’, in partnership with the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), yesterday.

Represented by the Director of Enterprise Risk Management, NDIC, Peter Hyelamzha, he said that the corporation had made a full and final liquidation of dividends to depositors of the defunct Eagle and Financial Merchant Banks (in-liquidation), which increased the number of banks for which a final dividend of 100 per cent had been declared to 16 in 2017.

He stated that the corporation, in

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spearheaded by Lydia Asini, celebrated the week long activity with games, giveaways and customer interactive forum aimed at recognizing and appreciating customers while also generating feedback for better service.

The theme for the year, “Excellence Happens Here” is an appropriate representation of the service delivery we strive to maintain” said Edwin Igbiti, MD/CEO, AIICO Insurance Plc.

FBNInsurance appoints Izevbizua as ED

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OLLOWING the confirmation by the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), FBNInsurance has announced the appointment of Mr. Festus Izevbizua as Executive Director, Finance and Administration.

Izevbizua’s illustrious career started at the prestigious Deloitte Akintola Williams and Co. in 1991 where he was exposed to the basics of Accounting, Auditing and Risk Management.

After a five-year stint at Deloitte Akintola Williams, he joined the

tive objectively and provide them enabling environment to perform their duty.

NUBIFIE’s General Secretary, Mr Muhammed Sheikh, also faulted the policy, saying it restricted free participation in the insurance policy.

Sheikh said that the capitalisation policy, if not looked into, would make the public to discriminate against some companies and undermine the goal of making insurance to the people.

•Mr. Shola Ajibade, General Manager (Operations), Continental Reinsurance; Mr. Sonnie Ayere, Non-Executive Director, AIICO Insurance Plc; Mrs. Yetunde Ilori, Director-General, Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA); Mr. Babajide Arowosafe, Executive Director, Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL); Mr. Bukola Oluwadiya, Chairman, AIICO Insurance Plc; Mr. Edwin Igbiti, MD/CEO, AIICO Insurance Plc; Lady Isioma Chukwuma, MD/CEO, Nigeria Reinsurance Corporation; Mr. Ken Aghoghovbia, Deputy Managing Director/Chief Operating Officer, Africa Reinsurance Corporation; Mr. Yen Choi, Chairman, Ignitia - Tropical Weather Forecast; Mr. Femi Hassan, President, Institute of Loss Adjusters of Nigeria (ILAN); as well as Mr. Adewale Kadri, Executive Director (Technical), AIICO Insurance Plc; during the official launch of AIICO Insurance Plc.’s Agriculture Insurance product which held last Thursday October , in Lagos.

NDIC paid N11.5b to creditors of failed banks in 2017 – MD N

AIICO Insurance concludes Customer Services Week IICO Insurance Plc, has concluded its celebration of 2018 Customer Service Week.

A statement, Monday, by Head, Strategic Marketing & Communications, AIICO Insurance Plc., Atinuke Jose, said the week-long event is a yearly global celebration of service excellence and is held on the first full week in October. AIICONTACT, AIICO Insurance’s customer service center,

line,’’ he said.

The out-going president said it was regrettable that the prolonged crisis in the union had hampered its ability to pursue the cause of the union and the industry.

Musa said that with the resolution of the crisis and with new executive members in place to run the union, the interest and welfare of the members would be taken care of.

He urged the members to support and criticise the new execu-

banking industry and went on to have a glowing career for over 18 years spanning leading banks including Diamond Bank, United Bank for Africa and Standard Chartered Bank where he was Finance Operational Risk Manager and later Financial Controller before joining FBNInsurance as Chief Financial Officer in 2014.

Festus has almost three decades’ experience in Banking, Operational Risk Management, Oil and Gas, Accounting, Tax Matters and International Finance.

collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), conducted an onsite and off-site supervision of 25 Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and one Non-Interest Bank (NIB).

The supervision, he said, was extended to 1,008 Micro-finance Banks (MfBs) and 38 Primary Mortgage Banks (PMBs) using the Risk-Based Supervision (RBS) approach and Consolidated Risk Based Examination (CRBE) of three banks with holding companies, in a bid to ensure financial system stability in the country.

He added: “The corporation continued to make strenuous efforts in its debt recovery drive, even in the face of all odds.

Total recoveries from debtors

of failed banks by the NDIC in 2017 amounted to N368.43 million, which brought cumulative recovery from debtors to N28.84 billion.”

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to accountants in the country to assist the government in the fight against corruption and related vices in Nigeria.

He made the appeal while addressing the recently-concluded 48th Annual Accountants’ Conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), in Abuja.

Represented by the Minister of National Planning and Budget, Senator Udo Udoma, the president underscored the need for the accountants’ collaboration in the fight.

mentality of Insurance, which is the transfer of risks, like other nations of the world to stem poverty growth and give room for holistic grassroots development.

Tinubu regretted the government’s attitude towards insurance, stressing that at a time like this, one of the practical ways to tackle poverty headlong was to engage and encourage insurance as a vehicle for risk management and wealth creation.

In order to give vent to the place of insurance in combating poverty, the Council would be rallying professionals at its 2018 National Insurance Brokers Conference and Exhibition to address the theme: “Insurance Industry: Survive, Thrive” and Grassroots Development and Poverty Alle-

viation: Insurance as an Alternative”.

The Conference which is billed to hold in Lagos on Thursday is one of the largest gathering of Insurance professionals in Nigeria and will be preceded by the Annual General Meeting of the Council which is strictly exclusive to members of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB).

Managing Director, Infrastructure Bank Plc, Mr. Adekunle Oyinloye will deliver the theme paper titled: “Insurance Industry: Survive, Thrive”, while the sub theme: “Grassroots Development and Poverty Alleviation: Insurance Alternative”, will be delivered by the President of National Association of Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Iyalode Alaba Lawson.

Engage insurance firms to stem poverty growth – NCRIB urges FG

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ITH almost 87 million Nigerians reportedly living in extreme poverty, the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) has advocated Insurance as a veritable antidote to the spread of poverty and enhancer of grassroots development.

President of the Council, Mr. Shola Tinubu, in a statement made available to Journalists recently, expressed displeasure at the recent report by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), which expressed doubts that the mission of ending poverty in the country 2030 was doubtful.

According to him, the SDG report was a wakeup call to the Nigerian government to engage the instru-

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The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

INSURANCE & PENSION

Only 6% of Nigerians consult insurance brokers before taking policy – NIA Stories by VICTOR NZE

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IRECTOR-GENERAL, Nigeria Insurers Association (NIA), Mrs Yetunde Ilori, has advised Nigerians to always seek advice from professional insurance brokers before purchasing insurance policies.

Ilori said, Thursday in Lagos that only six per cent of insurance policy holders sourced their policies from insurance brokers.

According her, this group lacked concise advice on insurance policies they purchased, saying the terms and conditions attached to the policies also remained vague to them.

“Nigerians are advised to always get expert counseling from professional insurance brokers before they decide on the policies they want to take. This is also responsible for wrong perspectives being spread about insurance in the country,’’ Ilori said.

She said about 34 per cent of the

policy holders sourced insurance through their employers.

“27 per cent got policies through family members; 16 per cent through agents and 13 per cent through banks and four per cent through other means,’’ she explained.

Ilori, however, appealed to the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) to ensure the spread of insurance brokers across the country.

“Efforts should be made to get to every nook and cranny of the country to enable more Nigerians to get appropriate advice on insurance.”

Ilori noted that out of the total adult population of 96.4 million, 59.6 million representing 61.9 per cent live in rural areas.

“Insurance brokers and underwriters should therefore take insurance crusade to these category of people,’’ she said.

Ilori also called for mass education and enlightenment to make insurance a household commodity in the country before 2025.

‘Natural disasters in September bring costliest damages to date for 2018’

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URRICANE, flood, and earthquake damages made September the costliest month for natural catastrophes in 2018, according to a report from Aon’s Impact Forecasting team.

September is typically the busiest month for tropical cyclone activity around the globe – and 2018 proved to follow that norm with multiple landfalls in the Northern Hemisphere during the month, said the report, titled “Global Catastrophe Recap – September 2018.”

The United States saw two September landfalls: Tropical Storm Gordon and the costlier Hurricane Florence, which made landfall in North Carolina as a Category 1 hurricane. Florence will create more than US$10 billion in economic losses, although insured losses are expected to be in the low-digit billions due to low flood insurance penetration, added Impact Forecasting.

In Japan, Typhoon Jebi caused widespread wind and flood damage, bringing total economic losses that are expected to reach well into the billions of dollars. The General Insurance Association of Japan (GIAJ) said nearly 486,000 insurance claims had been filed, with the expectation of a multibillion-dollar payout, said the report.

Super Typhoon Mangkhut caused widespread damage in the Philippines, Hong Kong and China as a Category 5 storm, which killed at least 102 people and damaged more than 210,000 homes in the Philippines alone. Total combined economic damage and net

loss business interruption was expected to reach into the billions of dollars, while the local insurance industry in China and Hong Kong forecast payouts approaching or exceeding US$1 billion.

A 7.5 magnitude earthquake and tsunami caused catastrophic damage across Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island on Sept. 28, killing more than 2,000, with many more missing. Total economic damage was expected to approach or exceed US$1 billion.

Another strong earthquake struck the Japanese island of Hokkaido on Sept. 6, killing 41 people and injuring 680 others, said the report quoting the GIAJ, which said that 12,279 insurance claims had been filed.

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Cryptocurrency theft reaches $927m in first 9mnths of 2018 – Report

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HEFT of cryptocurrencies through hacking of exchanges and trading platforms soared to $927 million in the first nine months of the year, up nearly 250 percent from the level seen in 2017, according to a report from U.S.-based cyber security firm CipherTrace released on Wednesday [Oct. 10].

The report, which looks at criminal activity and money laundering in the digital currency market, also showed a steadily growing number of smaller thefts in the $20-60 million range, totaling $173 million in the third quarter.

Digital currencies stolen from exchanges in 2017 totaled just $266 million, according to a previous report from CipherTrace.

Bitcoin’s popularity and the emer-

gence of more than 1,600 other digital coins or tokens have drawn more hackers into the cryptocurrency space, expanding opportunities for crime and fraud.

“The regulators are still a couple of years behind because there are only a few countries that have really applied strong anti-money laundering laws,” Dave Jevans, chief executive officer of CipherTrace, told Reuters in an interview.

Jevans is also the chairman of the Anti-Phishing Working Group, a global organization that aims to help solve cyber crime.

He said there are likely 50 percent more criminal transactions than those that were traced for this report. For instance, CipherTrace is aware of more than $60 million in

Anambra to begin remittance of contribution to PFAs, as Imo, Ebonyi default

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NAMBRA Government says it is set to implement the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) at the state level with the payment of its contributions to Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs).

This is also as South East states of Abia, Ebonyi and Imo have been enlisted among poor performing and non-compliant sub-nationals on the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), currently at N8.2 trillion.

Head of Service (HoS) in the state, Mr Harry Udu, who said this in Awka, Wednesday, added that the scheme had effectively taken off at the local government level but was delayed at the state level due to issues to be addressed.

Labour in Anambra alleged that government was not remitting its

Africa’s largest insurer acquires Moroccan firm

ANLAM Ltd., Africa’s largest insurer by market value, said it fulfilled all the conditions for the $1.1 billion purchase of the shares it doesn’t already own in Morocco’s Saham Finances SA after regulators approved the deal.

The Cape Town-firm’s biggest acquisition yet deepens Sanlam’s presence in 33 markets across North Africa, the Middle East, southern, East and West Africa. Sanlam’s acquisition of the remaining 53.37 percent of Saham Finances, announced in March, brings its total investment in the

•(From left): Non-Executive Director, Africa Prudential Plc, Mr. Peter Elumelu; Regional Director/CEO, International Cooperative Alliance – Africa, Dr. Chiyoge Sifa; Chairman, Africa Prudential Plc, Chief (Mrs.) Eniola Fadayomi; and Managing Director/CEO, Africa Prudential Plc, Mr. Obong Idiong at the 12th African Ministerial Co-operative Conference held in Abuja recently.

company to almost $1.7 billion since February 2016.

“The African presence of the combined group is unparalleled in the industry,” Junior Ngulube, chief executive officer of Sanlam Emerging Markets, said in an emailed statement. “With expertise across life, general and specialist insurance and investment management in Africa, we now have significant opportunities for cross-selling and diversification.” Sanlam now owns 90 percent of Saham Finances, while its property and casualty insurer, Santam Ltd.,

share of the fund while it continued to deduct from workers’ salaries.

Chairman Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Mr Jerry Nnubia, who addressed newsmen on October 8, called for refund of workers’ contribution and scrapping of the scheme.

But the HoS said the call was uninformed as the reason for non-take off was known to stakeholders and that the committee set up to address them had submitted its report.

He said that it would have taken off in July 2017 but blamed the delay on agitation by labour which led Gov. Willie Obiano to suspend it to enable him to address the issues.

“It is not true that there are irregularities in the Anambra CPS; the law was enacted in 2014 and pursuance will hold the balance. Nadia Fettah will remain CEO of Saham Finances and together with deputy CEO, Emmanuel Brule, will join the Sanlam Emerging Markets executive committee, the company said.

Flush with excess cash, Sanlam has been on an acquisition spree across emerging markets and Africa at a time when its main South African rival, Old Mutual Ltd., returns to its roots on the continent after splitting off its U.S. and U.K. businesses.

Saham Finances, a Casablanca-based arm of the Saham Group founded by Moulay Hafid Elalamy in 1995, is the largest insurer on the continent outside of South Africa.

to that law, two amendments have been made in furtherance of its implementation.

“The local government system has religiously been deducting both at the employer and the employee sides but there were challenges at the state level which was acknowledged by all.

“But some challenges are being addressed to the knowledge of labour leaders; the issues were referred to the Special Committee on Labour which is headed by the deputy governor.

That committee looked at it and made recommendations with inputs from pension fund administrators, Pension Commission and labour and government.

The governor will make pronouncement on the recommendations made soon and I can assure you that the money for the employer component of the fund is ready.

“The Accountant General has addressed the issue of identification number of contributors and he has assured me that by Monday, October 15, the alerts will begin to hit the various accounts.

Their fears or allegation of fraud is unfounded, they predicated the call to scrap it on something but those processes are on, so it does not arise, I don’t know where the anxiety comes from,” he said.

Udu said CPS was the best option that guaranteed the payment of ben-

cryptocurrency that was stolen but not reported.

The data also showed that the world’s top cryptocurrency exchanges from countries with weak anti-money laundering regulations (AML) have been used to launder $2.5 billion worth of bitcoins since 2009. The top 20 virtual currency exchanges in terms of volume were analyzed for the report.

The CipherTrace report declined to name those exchanges.

These money-laundered funds represent transactions that CipherTrace was able to directly monitor and designate as criminal or highly suspect.

In estimating the $2.5 billion, CipherTrace looked at about 350 million transactions from the 20 exchanges and found 100 million of those with counterparties. From there, the firm was able to crosscheck the 100 million transactions with its own data on criminal activity.

Health Insurance: 6 states to benefit from Basic Healthcare Fund

M

INISTER of Health, Prof.

Isaac Adewole, Friday said only states with established and valid approved State Health Insurance Scheme would benefit from the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund.

Adewole made the assertion while addressing newsmen at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Ebute Meta in Lagos, shortly after his visit of facilities in the hospital.

He said plans were underway to ensure that states have insurance schemes, adding that some states were already implementing health insurance as contributing schemes.

“We are working with states and many of the states are implementing State Health Insurance as contributing schemes and that will feed into the national scheme.

So, hopefully in the next couple of months, all states should have insurance scheme.

“In fact, no state can benefit from the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund without a validly approved state health insurance scheme. Half of the N55.1 billion will be channelled through the NHIS so that we can pay for services; so people do not have to pay, in case of delivery that will be covered by the NHIS component of the scheme.

30

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

EQUITY & Capital Market T

HE local currency put up a weak performance at the foreign exchange (forex) market last week amid declining external reserves that fell further by 1.30 percent to $43.35 billion as at Thursday, October 11, 2018.

The loss recorded by the Naira was almost across all segments of the forex market.

Specifically, the Naira/Dollar rate depreciated at the Investors & Exporters (I&E) forex segment by 0.08 percent to close at N364.12/$.

Also, the local currency lost 0.33 percent week-on-week (wo-w) at the interbank foreign exchange market to quote at N362.52/$ despite the weekly injections of $210 million by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) into the market via the Secondary Market Intervention Sales (SMIS).

A breakdown of the intervention showed that $100 million was allocated to Wholesale SMIS, $55 million was allocated to Small

Foreign reserves drop to $43b and Medium Scale Enterprises and $55 million was sold for invisibles.

The exchange rate also depreciated at both the Bureau De Change (BDC) segment and the parallel market by 0.28 percent each to close at N359/$ and N362/$ respectively despite CBN’s sustained weekly intervention.

Meanwhile, according to Cowry Asset, most dated foreign exchange rate forward contracts at the interbank over-the-counter (OTC) segment depreciated.

Specifically, the 1 month, 2 months and 3 months contracts lost 0.08 percent, 0.06 percent and 0.02 percent to close N367.71/$, N371.26/$ and N374.73/$ respectively.

However, the 6-month contracts gained by 0.02 percent to close for the week at N386.21/$.

Eterna Plc share price unmoved despite N10bn capital issue

F

OLLOWING the public announcement of the proposed issuance of a N10 billion, 270-day Commercial Paper

by Eterna Plc (an integrated oil & energy company); its share price has remained flat in the last three (3) trading days.

The company had represented that the proceeds of the N10bn Commercial Paper would be used for working capital and general corporate purposes.

That is to be expected and believed but for the information available to high-end investors who posit that the fund raising is for the purchase of the shares of an equally listed entity in the downstream oil and energy sector.

That notwithstanding, the nonmovement of the stock reflects a far much more statement on the sector’s fortunes and we will continue to monitor developments in that market space.

To date (YTD), the share price of EternaPlc has moved up by +52.71% as against -15.23% YTD loss recorded by the NSEASI (outperformed the NSEASI by +37.5%).

A cursory review of the Q2 2018 results of the company represented that revenue moved up by +117.2% from N79.64bn in Q2 2017 to N172.98bn in Q2 2018; while its Profit After Tax (PAT) dropped by 8% from N1.05bn in Q2 2017 to N965.3mln in Q2 2018.

•British Deputy High Commissioner Laure Beaufils, Acting Director General, Securities Exchange Commission, Mary Uduk, Director, Capital Markets Development FSD Africa, Evans Osano and Senior Private Sector Adviser, UK Department for International Development (DFID) Mr Richard Sandall during signing of an agreement between SEC Nigeria and FSDAfrica in Lagos, last weekend.

Cornerstone insurance promises policyholders better ROI

C

ORNERSTONE Insurance Plc has paid about N6.3 billion claims to policyholders who suffered insured risks in its 2017 financial year, as it further assured improved return on investment (ROI).

Speaking at the 2017 yearly general meeting in Lagos, Friday, the company’s Chairman, Segun Adebanji, said the claims paid was

Invest in capital market – SEC charges Nigerians

S

ECURITIES and Exchange Commission (SEC) last Thursday charged Nigerians to key into the financial system and invest in the capital market.

Director-General, Ms Mary Uduk, stated this while sensitising residents of Gwagwalada on the need for financial inclusive at a forum to mark the World Investors Week in Gwagwalada, FCT. Uduk, represented by Mr Francis Okafor, Head of SEC Investment Education, urged Nigerians to invest their money wisely instead of keeping them in unsafe places.

She assured that the SEC had put measures in place to ensure that dividends of investors’ were received without problems.

Uduk said SEC was also partnering with other financial bodies to ensure the financial inclusion of all Nigerians.

However, Okafor, in his paper “Financial Inclusion,’’ said it was important for everyone to be financially included.

He advised the audience to invest in financial market as against participating in ponzi schemes.

He said that SEC had an investment protection fund which the commission had set aside to pay investors in case of failure of their investment in the capital market.

In her remark, Mrs Obiangeli

Okosi, Micro Pension Department, National Pension Commission, urged all Nigerians to key into the micro pension scheme.

She said the scheme was designed to accommodate all Nigerians including businessmen, women and artisans.

Okosi said the scheme did not require the contributor to pay a fixed amount monthly like the contributory pension and it was open to Nigerians from 18 years of age.

She said after the age of 50 the contributor could start to access the fund, depending on his or her need.

“Every month, you are expected to pay in something into the account, depending on your capability. You must not get the funds after you retire, you can even access part of it for immediate pressing needs such as paying school fees, feeding and the like. And the rest of the fund is set aside, invested and you can access the funds and interest upon retirement.”

On how to participate in the scheme, Okosi said it was through the various Pension Fund Administrators.

She said: “They will register you, take your bio-metrics and generate a Retirement Savings Account (RSA) number for you. This number will enable you do your transactions including paying into the

account and paying for goods and services.

In his remark, the representative of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Mr Abubakar Nasidi, assured the audience of the safety of their funds in the banks.

Nasidi said the NDIC was positioned to ensure customers do not looe their funds in case of failure or closure of a financial institution.

He reiterated the mandate of the NDIC aimed at ensuring deposit guarantee, supervision of banks against excessive risk, distress resolution and liquidation of assets among others.

N2.9 billion higher than N3.4 billion claims paid in the 2016 financial year.

Claims recovery, according to him, was N1.4 billion, against N1.2 billion in 2016, noting that a sharp increase in claims expenses led to an underwriting loss of N2 billion, compared to N696 million in 2016.

The net claims ratio for 2017, he stated, stood at 117 per cent, against 73 per cent for the previous year.

Also, the largest contributors to the claims figure were the oil and gas and motor insurance revenue accounts, which recorded net claims ratios of 536 per cent and 104 per cent respectively, mainly due to adverse development on certain claims and reserve strengthening.

As a result of management costcutting strategy, he said, operating expenses for the group remained flat at N3.5 billion.

Stating that the company’s Gross Premium Written(GPW) for the year under review was N7.9 billion, which was almost the same figure with the previous year, he stressed that the company tightened its risk acceptance parameters, as com-

petitive pressures drove premium rates to uneconomic levels, even as certain regulatory bottlenecks have hampered the implementation of the company’s expansion plans in the retail and mass market segments.

Promising that necessary actions have been taken to realign the company’s risk portfolio away from the unprofitable accounts that led to heavy losses, he added that: “Where repricing has not been possible, we exited or reduced our exposure significantly.”Notwithstanding the significant regulatory bottlenecks, he disclosed that the insurer will continue to intensify its efforts to increase the proportion of its revenue sourced from retail segments which have traditionally been more profitable.

“The construction of our Head Office building is progressing satisfactorily and is due for completion before the end of 2018. While this has been a non-earning asset on our books for some time now, it is expected to start yielding income when the lettable spaces become available for rent upon completion,” he added.

Unilever shelves HQ move to Netherlands

U

NILEVER on Friday scrapped plans to move its headquarters to the Netherlands in the face of a British shareholder revolt, keeping one of the country’s most valuable companies in London ahead of Brexit.

The climb down comes three weeks ahead of a vote on the plan and is a significant victory for UK shareholders, big and small, who opposed the move, which would have kicked the maker of Dove soap and Ben and Jerry’s ice cream out of the benchmark index.

“We are pleased they have abandoned the plan to ‘go Dutch’,” said GAM portfolio manager Ali Miremadi, who was planning to vote against the move.

“Now the company can put its focus into the core job – driving longterm shareholder value,” he said.

Shareholders representing about 12 per cent of Unilever had publicly opposed the move, concerned about the effective forced selling of their shares with no premium, uncertainty around the future tax treatment of Dutch dividends and a perception that the move was partly aimed at securing greater takeover protection under Dutch law.

Unilever decided to collapse its Anglo-Dutch structure following a deep business review sparked by last year’s failed $143 billion takeover approach by Kraft-Heinz.

The stated aim was to make it more efficient and agile in a consumer market that is changing fast.

But on Friday Unilever said it recognised that the proposal had not received support from a significant group of shareholders and therefore it was appropriate to withdraw it.

“The board will now consider its next steps and will continue to engage with our shareholders,” Chairman Marijn Dekkers said.

He added that the company would proceed with the plan to cancel its Dutch preference shares.

Earlier this week, influential proxy advisory firm, PIRC, recommended shareholders vote against the move.

31

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

MONEY Market

Fidelity Bank unveils ‘GAIM Season 3,’ new online savings initiative

Stories by VICTOR NZE

F

IDELITY Bank Plc has unveiled a new account opening initiative, which enables customers to open online savings accounts through a Quick Response (QR) code.

The initiative, according to the bank, allows customers to open online savings accounts by scanning the bank’s QR codes found on promotional materials such as roll up banners, fliers, posters and newspaper adverts.

According to the bank, this innovation is expected to significantly ease the process of enrollment of new accounts and deepen the penetration of a new savings promo tagged; Get Alert in Millions Season 3 (GAIM Season 3), which the bank also launched same day, which seeks to drive financial inclusion.

Speaking at the launch and the official flag-off of GAIM Season 3, which held recently at the bank’s head office in Lagos, Chief Executive Officer, Fidelity Bank, Nnamdi Okonkwo, said that the bank was motivated to continue to incentivize their customers for their patronage.

He said that it was imperative to acknowledge the contributions of customers to the growing fortunes of the bank, noting that the bank’s impressive half-year results, attests to customers support and continual patronage.

“As a customer-centric bank, Fidelity would continue to leverage on technology, in line with our digital retail strategy, to better serve customers, through in-

novative products, services and solutions.

“Our online banking solution enables you to transfer foreign exchange seamlessly, just as we are the first to introduce a chat banking solution known as Flashkey which enables you to effect monetary transfers whilst on any social media platform,” he said.

In her remarks, Executive Director, Shared Services and Products, Fidelity Bank, Chijioke Ugochukwu, noted that the new savings promo was motivated by the drive to continue empowering customers and at the same time promote their savings culture, in line with the financial inclusion drive of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

“GAIM Season 3 is expected to run for 9 months till June 2019 and within this period, we will give out over N120 million in cash and consolation prizes, which includes weekly airtime rewards.”

Speaking on how to participate in the promo, Head, Retail Banking, Fidelity Bank, Richard Madiebo said customers can open new savings account and grow it to N20, 000 or top up an existing account with N10, 000 or more to qualify for the monthly draws to win N1million or N2 million.

“To qualify for the star prize of N3m, customers are expected to grow their account balances

by N50, 000 monthly whilst accounts that maintain a minimum of N200,000 qualify for the grand prize of a whooping N10 million.

“As a bank with branches across the country, the draws ceremonies will be done to ensure that

Sterling Bank upbeat on debt recovery

S

TERLING Bank Plc has assured its shareholders that its debt recovery efforts would be felt in the 2018 financial year results.

This assurance was given by the bank’s Group Head, Credit Collection and Recovery, Mr Abiodun Aderoju, who said strategies such as restructuring for accelerated payoffs and possible foreclosure or disposal of pledged assets of defaulting debtors will ensure a progressive drop in the bank’s Non-Performing Loan (NPL) ratio which has decreased significantly year on year since 2016.

“Sterling Bank witnessed a 383 percent increase in recoveries between 2016 and 2017. This resulted in a significant improvement in asset quality as reflected in the reduction in non-performing loan ratio by 370 basis points to 6.2 percent in 2017 from 9.9 percent in 2016.

“We are building aggressively on this momentum to ensure that defaulting customers meet their debt obligations to the bank,” Mr Aderoju said.

He added that the bank continues to maintain a disciplined and prudent approach to loan growth in line with its risk management framework.

“The impact of our recovery efforts would be felt by the end of the financial year because it will result in a further drop in our Non-Performing Loan portfolio.

“We are keen on achieving this despite the antics of debtors who take their obligations lightly,” the top banker was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the lender.

According to him, although Ster-

ling Bank’s gross loans and advances in 2017 increased by 29.5 percent to N617.6 billion and net loans and advances by 27.7 percent to N598.1 billion, the bulk of the increase was primarily driven by cash-backed facilities with limited credit risks.

He noted that net loans and advances between 2013 and 2017 increased at a compound annual growth rate of 16.6 percent, adding that loans to corporate entities and organisations increased by 31.1 percent and accounted for 97.6 percent of overall loans disbursed.

Aderoju further said in line with the strategic focus of the bank, agriculture and transportation benefitted from the growth in loans as part of the priority sectors of the bank.

It is becoming common for debtors to exasperate lenders by their resort to subtle blackmail, unfounded allegations and other underhand tactics which include frivolous litigations to delay or avoid meeting their loan obligations, but financial institutions have adopted effective strategies to counter this ploy and recover on the debts owed.

everybody, irrespective of where their accounts are domiciled, stand equal chances of winning,” he said.

He also outlined the following as the criteria and rewards from the promo; New customers are to grow their Fidelity bank account to N20,000 while existing

customers are to top up account with N10,000 or more to qualify for monthly draws to win N2m, 1m & consolation prizes.

They also include: Topping up a Fidelity bank account with N50,000 or more qualifies one for Bi-monthly draws to win N3m; A N200,000 balance or more quali-

•(From left): Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele; Acting Director-General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms Mary Uduk and Director General, Debt Management Office (DMO), Ms. Patience Oniha at the just-concluded World Bank/IMF Meetings in Bali, Indonesia, Monday.

United Capital gets new online investment platform

U

NITED Capital Plc, a leading financial services group has launched its new, improved online investment platform, InvestNow. The event held in the Group’s Lagos office.

The platform was first released in 2014 as a securities trading platform but has gone through series of upgrades and improvements.

Some of the new, unique products and features include the direct debit functionality which helps make saving and investment easy for the customer by allowing for direct transfer from the customer’s bank account to their investment account; the online wills, which allows users to create a will online; and zero account balance which allows customers to

open an account without funding their account. In addition to these unique features, the Group also launched a mobile app which will make investing even much easier and more accessible for the user.

“We are extremely excited about this new upgrade. We are always thinking about how to make the customer experience better and InvestNow.ng really speaks to that. Our customers can now invest in our different products on the platform either through the website or with the App. You can buy mutual funds online, trade on the equities market, set up a trust and even write a will,” said Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Peter Ashade.

Speaking further about the portal, Group Chief Information Of-

CBN injects $334m into SMIS

F

URTHER to its commitment to ensure stability in the interbank foreign exchange market, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has intervened in the Retail Secondary Market Sales (SMIS) to the tune of $334,146,393.84.

A breakdown of the forex intervention figures obtained from the Bank indicates that the Bank also injected the sum of CNY

52,106,614.35 into the inter-bank forex market.

The Bank’s Director in charge of Corporate Communications, Mr. Isaac Okorafor, said the Bank continued to intervene in the inter-bank sector in order to ensure adequate liquidity in the market as well as to meet its obligation in the Bi-lateral Currency Swap Agreement with the Peoples’ Bank of

ing to the Head, Consumer Banking, Karimot Tukur, “Our customers told us that they want more travel benefits, greater peace of mind and something a lot more rewarding than they get from an everyday current account.

“With the Diamond Visa Signature Debit card, together with Xclusive Plus, customers get access to over 800 airport lounges around

the world, VIP treatment at top hotels and complimentary worldwide travel insurance for trips paid for on the card. “The insurance is even valid for foreign visa applications.

Our customers also get great entertainment benefits closer to home – including complementary event tickets through the year and free cinema tickets.”Tukur said.

Diamond Bank launches visa signature card

D

IAMOND Bank Plc has announced the launch of its Visa Signature Debit Card designed to provide exceptional spending opportunities and exclusive privileges to customers.

The new debit card, according to the bank, gives affluent customers the opportunity to have wider and richer experiences when they relax or travel, home and abroad.Accord-

fiers one for the Grand draw to win N10m.

An estimated N110m has been earmarked for the promo and the draws will be held across the six geo-political zones.

Highlight of the media parley was a demonstration on how the QR code works for customers.

ficer, Mr. Joseph Onyema, said: “A big selling point for us is that everything can be done with a single app. You don’t have to download several apps just to trade on the Stock Exchange, to buy mutual funds or to create a will. With InvestNow.Ng, you can have all your investments at a single point”.

United Capital is committed to consistently creating value for its stakeholders and has expressed hopes that the new, improved platform will help drive financial inclusion by ensuring that more people have finance and investment solutions at their fingertips.

United Capital is an integrated financial services group operating in four core business areas: Investment Banking; Asset Management; Trustee Services; and Securities Brokerage Services.

China (PBoC).

According to him, the dollar-denominated interventions were to meet forex requests for agricultural and machinery needs, while the Yuan denominated intervention were for spots and short-tenored forwards.

He said the CBN Management was pleased with the performance of the naira against the United States dollar and other major currencies around the world, given the fact that currencies of many other emerging economies were struggling against the US dollar.

Okorafor expressed satisfaction that the Bank’s intervention had largely eased pressure on the country’s foreign reserve, just as he underscored the determination of the CBN to sustain stability in the forex market through continued monitoring of authorised dealers in order to check incidences of sharp practices.

32

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33

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

Love and Living

...With Ireto Temofeh

MODEL OF THE WEEK

LOVE NEWS ‘I never wanted an open marriage,’ says Husband who let his wife have sex with STRANGERS

W

Name: Nkechinyere Tel: 08177193564 • If you want to be our next ORACLE GIRL, e-mail or forward your photos/data to ireto007@yahoo.com. Call 07031028714.

ODD NEWS

Georgian woman is caught trying to smuggle herself into Turkey in a small suitcase

T

urkish police detained two Georgian nationals after a woman was caught trying to smuggle herself into the country curled up inside a tiny suitcase.

Customs officials working at the Sarpi border crossing, close to the city of Artvin, ordered officers to inspect a suitcase belonging to a 25-year-old man after he was spotted acted suspiciously.

Upon opening the luggage officers were shocked to discover a 22-year-old woman curled up inside.

She later told officers that she tried to smuggle herself in to the country because a previous conviction in the country meant she had been banned from travelling there.

Turkish police detained the pair after customs officials made the discovery on Monday, but they were both later released, sent back to Georgia and ordered not to return.

The woman told investigators that she had an outstanding ban on her travelling to Turkey after being convicted of an unspecified offence.

It was not immediately clear what had attracted customs officials to the 25-year-old Georgian man, but the suitcase in which the woman was hidden was barely large enough to hold a human body.

The tight squeeze forced her to curl up into an uncomfortable-looking fetal position.

The border crossing where the couple had tried to smuggle themselves in Turkey lies near Sarp - a tiny town on the Black Sea, around 50 miles north of the city of Artvin.

Although Sarp is home to just 212 people, it is one of only three official border crossings along the 170-mile long Turkey-Georgia border.

The Sarp border crossing, in the

District of Hopa, Artvin Province, opened in the late 1980s, when Georgia was still part of the Soviet Union.

After independence in 1991, post-communist Georgia suffered from civil unrest and economic crisis for most of the 1990s.

Georgia covers a territory of 26,911 square miles, and its population is almost five million.

Courtesy: Daily Mail.

ROMANTIC JOKE ADAM AND EVE

Existence was so tranquil and peaceful for the young couple Adam and Eve, like straight out of a story book, until one unfortunate day when Adam showed up one hour late for supper. By the time Adam finally came home Eve was a nervous wreck, and her imagination was working overtime. “Honey, what happened?

Why are you home so late?” Questioned Eve. “Oh I’m sorry! Adam responded with a wave of his hand, “I just lost track of the time.”

Now Eve didn’t have a Mother or girlfriend around to calm her fears, after all it was just her and her Husband and despite Adam’s convincing act her overactive imagination could not be calmed.

That night after two hours of restlessly turning in her bed, enough was enough. “WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING!” Hollered Adam jumping out of bed. “YOU KNOW DARN WELL WHAT I’M DOING” Screamed Eve right back, “NOW YOU BETTER LAY STILL RIGHT NOW, AND LET ME FINISH COUNTING THOSE RIBS

hen Robin Rinaldi revealed the intimate details of her 5:2 marriage she drew gasps from married couples and staunch monogamists.

For the author of The Wild Oats Project described how, for a year, she would spend weekdays sleeping with strangers and weekends with her husband of 17 years, Scott Mansfield.

At the time, the dramatic move was a bid to save their relationship after Scott had a vasectomy, but now he’s spoken out to say that he never wanted to see other people.

While Robin has widely discussed their free-wheeling year, and explores it in a new book, The Wild Oats Project, Scott has kept quiet on the matter - until now, revealing that if he’d had his way the couple would never have entered into the ‘5:2’ marriage in the first place.

‘It wasn’t something I wanted to do,’ the brewer and wine-maker told The Times.

‘I didn’t like the idea of opening up our marriage. But if I didn’t do it, I felt we were heading for divorce, so I thought why not take the chance and maybe we can come out the other side?’

His premonition was correct a ultimately the decision led to the end of their marriage and Robin getting together with one of her lovers.

Scott says that while he understood his wife’s desire to experience sexual relationships with other people - he himself had enjoyed a promiscuous youth - he had always felt it might spell trouble for their marriage.

And it seems the question of whether or not to have children had always been an issue for the couple with Scott being firmly against the idea.

However, he defends himself in the new interview, revealing that he had always been honest with Robin about his desires and intentions.

‘Is it cruel to not change your mind about something you believe in?’ he said of fatherhood, ‘I don’t think Robin ever thought I was being cruel.

At any point she could have left me and found somebody else to have a child with or I could have left her and found somebody who wasn’t going to bother me about it.’

During the course of the year-long experiment he revealed that he dated a handful of women, however, he

only slept with one of them.

They had a six month relationship before he eventually called it off. And Scott says it was flattering to get attention from other women.

He said: ‘I enjoyed the feeling of being attracted to other women and getting good feedback. I had a couple of women who said to me: ‘I can’t believe your wife would risk losing you, you’re such an awesome guy,’ so when you hear that, you know, it makes you feel pretty good.’

Today he’s in a long term relationship with his girlfriend Renee Alexander, who he lives with and the former couple consider themselves at peace.

In Robin’s book she declares, ‘I refuse to go to my grave with no children and only four lovers.’

But during her year of promiscuity in 2008, she made up for lost time, sleeping with ten men and two women.

Appearing on ITV’s This Morning, Robin opened up about her unorthodox decision, which she says was triggered by her husband’s vasectomy.

‘I would say before the year I was in a somewhat inhibited but satisfied, normal loving relationship.

‘But when I got into my early 40s my husband got a vasectomy and I knew the discussion of having a baby was over, which kick-started this experience.’

‘I looked forward to my death bed and thought. “What will I have?” I won’t have children and grandchildren. Will I at least have lived fully?”’

‘If I couldn’t have one I wanted the other,’ she explained. ‘Like a lot of women at that age I was hitting my confidence and sexual peak and suddenly realised very dramatically that I wasn’t going to have children. It was the perfect storm.

‘I have had lots of people telling me I should have travelled the world, tried painting classes or cooking – but I already know how to cook!’

She also said having ‘very little sexual variety’ in her youth was a motivating factor, as the fact that she was living in San Francisco, which she described as ‘a very liberal city’.

‘I was also at a marital crisis and was thinking about trying a partial separation, ‘ she said.

‘So I thought OK while we do that I need to sow some wild oats and let him do the same.’

34

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

True Confession

M

y name is Azuka and my story is quite interesting but pathetic at the same time.

Three years ago after my youth service, I decided to travel home to my village in the East to see some of my relations which I hadn’t seen for a very long time, and also to rest because my service year had been a very challenging one.

I didn’t like taking night buses but because I hadn’t packed my bags in time, I had to take the night bus. So I boarded a night bus at the Mazamaza area of Lagos and the man sitting next to me on the bus appeared to be very interested in me.

He introduced himself by saying: ‘Hello sweetheart, my name is Jerry and I must confess that you’re the sweetest thing ever to walk the face of the earth.”

He disarmed me with his charming manner and I suddenly found myself laying down my guard and responding warmly to him.

Inside the bus that night, Jerry and I got up close and personal with each other. Jerry told me many things about himself and about his family. I did the same thing too.

He even told me all about his past relationships and how they had failed one after the other. Jerry really opened up to me and it looked as if we had known each other for years.

I felt so happy and relaxed being with him. And from the smile on his face and the look in his eyes, I could tell that he felt the same thing too.

Inside of me, I knew that Jerry was my soul mate, the missing rib that I had been looking for, for so many years.

From the way he talked and stared at me, it was clear that he adored me and that I was the only woman he wanted to be with.

From the look in his eyes, I could taste the love he felt for me, even without kissing him.

The driver and the bus attendant were unable to fix the engine of the bus which had broken down that night, so they advised all the passengers to either spend the night on their seats in the bus or in nearby hotels.

In fact, though I feel ashamed to admit it, I was actually happy that the bus would not be able to continue its journey that night. This was therefore, an opportunity for Jerry and I to get more intimate.

For the first time in my life, I made love with a man I met on a bus. For the first time in my life, I let my passion take control of me and I gave in to Jerry right there on the bus. And he made me experience heaven with so much passion!

Of course, since we were on the bus, we couldn’t afford to take our clothes off! So we did it in the best way we could in such a situation, because we both knew that it wouldn’t be nice if we let other passengers notice what we were doing.

From that night onwards, Jerry and I started dating and became best of friends and lovers. Later, I found out I was pregnant and informed my man about it. Jerry was overjoyed to hear that I had conceived and he promised to marry me. told him to go and see my parents in the village to officially ask for my hand in marriage and he promised to do so the following week. Jerry kept to his promise and travelled to my village the following weekend to see my parents.

My parents were glad to see the man whom I loved and they received him with open arms. However, they advised him to pay my bride price as soon as possible before my pregnancy begins to

I contracted HIV after having sex inside a bus

show, because it would be embarrassing for people to see that their daughter is pregnant outside marriage.

Jerry went ahead and informed his family members too and they met with members of my own family and collectively set a date for our traditional marriage. They decided that it would be better we did the traditional marriage in December since many people usually return home during Christmas.

My traditional marriage took place during the Christmas period and it was absolutely fantastic. After our traditional marriage, I moved into Jerry’s home and my life as a wife began.

However, because I was pregnant, I had to register for ante-natal at the local hospital in the area. One of the requirements at the hospital was that they would conduct HIV tests on every pregnant woman.

I agreed for them to take my blood sample for the HIV and other required tests. After my blood sample had been taken, I was told to go home and come back the following day for the result.

The following morning, I went back to

the hospital but when the matron saw me she looked so sober and didn’t say a word. The auxiliary nurse simply told me to wait and see the doctor.

When I walked into the doctor’s office, he quietly asked me to sit. Then he said the words I can never forget. The doctor said to me: ‘My dear Mrs Azuka, you are HIV positive.”

I felt really devastated on hearing the news and I might have died right there on the chair if the doctor hadn’t started trying to comfort and counsel me. It was as though my world had crashed. I just can’t describe the way I felt.

The doctor said that I needed to bring my husband to the hospital for a HIV test too. I went home but I didn’t tell my husband that I had tested positive for HIV. I just told him that the doctor wanted to see him at the hospital the following day.

My husband went to the hospital with me the following day and the doctor conducted the HIV test on him. My husband tested positive for HIV too, and it was discovered that I acquired the virus recently through my husband who had impregnated me.

My husband confessed that he didn’t know he was HIV positive before getting married to me, and he begged for my forgiveness. Initially, I found it so difficult to forgive Jerry my husband for infecting me with the HIV virus but he continued begging me to forgive him until I had to forgive him and accept my fate as the will of God. Sometimes I feel like crying but I try to control myself. Sometimes I blame myself for having sex with a man I met on a night bus and getting married to him only to discover that he infected me with the HIV virus.

I feel like a walking corpse. Every morning when I wake up, I pray for God to take my life. But my parish priest keeps encouraging me and telling me to put all my hope and trust in God. I know that I will not die of AIDS because it is not my portion. Instead of dying, I will live to praise God. I pray for my healing every single day and I believe that in the end God will make a way where there seems to be no way.

Your say: Call 07031028714.

35

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

Relationships and Love Advice

He wants to marry me, but his business is not stable

Love Search Women seeking relationship/ marriage Funke, 44, needs a man (widower or divorcée) of 50-55 years for a serious relationship. 08185083988.

Ngozi, 28, fat, jovial, fair, in Onitsha, Anambra state, needs a God-fearing and buoyant man of 45 years and above to take good care of her. 08022792682.

Busayo, 33, single mother from Ogun, needs a hardworking Yoruba man between 34-40 years for marriage. 09096187179.

Uchechi, 36, a graduate, tall, fair, needs a tall, fair, graduate, Igbo evangelist, pastor or God fearing Igbo man for marriage.

08052366993.

Jenny, 38, Big, Busty, Needs An Igbo Or South - South Man Above 50 Years In Lagos Who Is Romantic And Caring. 08117340383.

Joy, 38, HIV positive, graduate, needs a young widower or single man from 43 years and above with the same status, for a loving and caring husband. 08184889175.

Lora, graduate, works, HIV Positive, based in Jos, wants a HIV positive man of 35-40 years for marriage. 08090925014.

Dear Love Doctor, There is this guy that I dated for some time, after which we went our separate ways. Now, he has come back proposing marriage to me. I care about him but his business is not stabilized.

He is still under somebody because he has problems with his business. I’m still a student and I have several needs that require money, and he complains about not having cash if I demand for money. I’m just confused. I need a man who has money to spend on the woman he loves.

Please what should I do?

From Maryjane

Announcements

Love Doctor’s Advice: Dear Maryjane,

S

ince you say you are a student, I believe your parents are taking care of your education. So you should try your best to manage the little resources you have, and don’t see your man as a meal ticket or as somebody who should sponsor

your education. However, true love, not money, should be the foundation of marriage. Therefore, you need to first ask yourself if you actually love this guy, before thinking of his business. If you actually love him, there is nothing wrong in agreeing

If your birthday is in the month of October, send your beautiful birthday pictures and let’s celebrate you! Send your birthday pictures now to ireto007 @yahoo.com

to marry him. But because his business isn’t stable at the moment, you can give him time to stabilize his business and organize his affairs before the marriage, so that everything would work well.

Do you have advice on this problem? Please share your thoughts. Call 07031028714 or 08131161840. Email: ireto007@yahoo.com Do you have a marriage/wedding, birthday, anniversary or club or town meeting announcement to make? Call 07031028714 now!

E-Mail: ireto007@yahoo.com Go to foodstuffs.com.ng. Call Love Doctor: 07031028714, 08131161840.

Men seeking relationship/ marriage Ugochukwu Raphael, 26, needs a rich sugar mummy who will help him financially.

08087720682, 07059911437.

A man in Lagos wants a mature working woman who loves receiving oral sex or likes a man going down on her. 08077821830.

John, an undergraduate in Akure, Ondo state, needs a lonely and sexually unsatisfied woman residing around the SouthSouth or South-West regions to care for.

08106969227.

Emeka, 54, in Lagos, needs an educated woman between 32-35 years for a wife.

08118482541.

Ogbonna, 40, from Ebonyi, in Abuja, business man, needs a working class lady between 3040 years for marriage. 09069054706.

Bukky, 32, employed, good looking, needs an employed/business woman of 40-65 years in Abuja. 07057749475.

36

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

It happened to me:

I

began my first and only round of in vitro fertilization in the very house in Atlanta where my mother had died of cancer just a few months earlier. The bureau in the guest bedroom that was once covered with my mom’s cancer meds was now blanketed with the syringes, medicine vials, and alcohol wipes I would need for my fertility treatments.

Starting IVF so soon after losing my mother probably wasn’t the sanest choice. But I’d learned around the same time I found out my mom was suffering from terminal cancer that I had the severest form of a disease called endometriosis. Surgery confirmed the only way I would be able to become pregnant was through in vitro fertilization.

My mom was still alive when my husband Alex and I decided we would go ahead with IVF. Her doctors in California had originally told her she had about a year left to live, and when I moved my mother out to Atlanta, Mom and I both anticipated we would be able to share my pregnancy, and that she would meet her grandchild before she died.

But the cancer had a mind of its own, and my mom died just six weeks after she moved to Atlanta. I didn’t have a lot of time to grieve before I had to make a tough decision. My reproductive endocrinologist made it clear that the scar tissue created by my endometriosis was growing so quickly, soon IVF would no longer be an option.

And, if I’m completely honest with myself, I had another, more tenuous motive, in choosing to undergo IVF so soon after losing my mother. As irrational as it now seems, I was looking for a sign. That she wasn’t gone forever.

That part of her still remained close by, watching over me, wanting to make my dreams come true.

I went through the physically exhausting process of injecting hormones three times a day into my belly, getting blood drawn each morning at the doctor’s office along with regular ultrasounds, and afternoon phone calls from my nurse telling me about my hormone levels.

At the end of the first two weeks, my doctor harvested enough follicles to be able to later transfer two embryos into my uterus, ironically on the two-month anniversary of my mom’s death.

A week later, I took a pregnancy test (even though the clinic told me not to, false negatives and all that), and for the first time in my life, I saw two lines on the stick.

I was pregnant.

A phone call from my nurse a few days later confirmed the miracle. From that moment, the most complete form of bliss imaginable enveloped me. Every morning before he left for work, and at night when he returned home, Alex would talk to my belly (even though the creature growing inside me was only the size of a sesame seed) and kiss my stomach, and say “I love you” to what we thought would one day be our child.

But my womb wasn’t built right, not for carrying babies at least, and the rosebush planted in the sand soon died.

My nurse called me to say my pregnancy hormone levels were dropping, and I would miscarry within days.

Whereas the past few weeks had been in euphoric soft focus, now suddenly everything was real and sharp and painful. My baby was gone, and my mother was gone. Forever. Mom wasn’t behind the scenes, orchestrating happy events for the rest of my life. I lost the pregnancy, and with it all the hope I had in the world.

Soon after my miscarriage, Alex and

I thought IVF was selfish, until I found out that I couldn’t get pregnant without it I moved back home to San Diego, the city where we had met and fell in love years earlier. Out of the crucible of pain Atlanta seemed to represent, we had more time to reflect. We didn’t want to try again to get pregnant. I was emotionally wasted. I didn’t think I could survive another loss.

What might surprise you (because it sure surprises me) is how positive I feel about the whole medical wonder that is in vitro fertilization. I’d been trying unsuccessfully to conceive for two years when I underwent IVF, and the process allowed me to take back control of my fertility. With each injection, I was actively preparing my body for pregnancy. I finally felt I had some power and order in a world that, at the time, seemed so chaotic and random.

Word gets around when you’ve had IVF, and I often get asked for advice from friends, and friends of friends, whether in vitro is really worth it – worth the steep price tag, the physical pain, the emotional roller coaster. Despite my less than ideal experience with IVF, I tell these women it is their opportunity to take control of their bodies and their desire for a family.

I cringe at the thought of how judg-

mental I used to be toward women who had their children through IVF. In my 20s, I viewed celebrities as terribly selfish to undergo expensive fertility treatments when (I believed) there were so many adoptable babies who needed homes.

But there are no guarantees with adoption. A birth mother can change her mind. With international adoption (an avenue we pursued for a year) timetables change and foreign governments can alter the rules in the middle of the process. There’s also the completely natural desire to have a child that carries on your family’s traits. I often dreamed that my baby would have my mother’s warm, cat-shaped brown eyes, or my husband’s fierce intellect.

Ultimately, Alex and I decided to change how we viewed what our family should look like. Now, ours is a family of two adults. My husband and I have a relationship of smudged boundaries, where one of us does not feel whole and complete unless the other is present.

Our connection brings me enough comfort and peace to be content with what we have, instead of focusing on what’s missing.

Recently Alex and I went to dinner on a Friday evening with our friends Susanna

and David, recent transplants to San Diego from the East Coast. Alex and David had grown up together in New Jersey.

And in a case of synchronicity, Susanna is a fertility doctor.

As we discussed our weekend plans, Susanna mentioned she had a birthday party to attend for a two-year-old. I asked if it was for the friend of one of her two young sons.

“Actually, no,” she answered. “It’s for the child of one of my patients.”

It took me a moment to realize what she was saying. “Your patients invite you to the birthday parties of the children you helped create?”

She smiled with humility. “I don’t really think of it that way.” But the answer was yes.

And there it was. IVF helps create families that once did not exist. Just because IVF didn’t work for me, that doesn’t mean it can’t make other women’s dreams come true. The word family can mean so many different things to different people. If medical advances can bring you the kind of bliss I once experienced, it’s a risk worth taking.

• Do you have a story or comment about this confession? Call 07031028714.

37

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

The Law and You

With Barr. Ken Akpom 08162016410

Different kinds of void and voidable marriage A lady approached me with the complaint that a man impregnated her out of wedlock with a promise of marriage and she believed him honestly but did not actually understand that he was already married and that his real intention was just to have a baby boy through her.

Luckily for that man, the girl gave birth to a bouncing and handsome baby boy to the gladness of the man. The man told the lady to keep the matter secret to people that he is the rightful father because his wife, which he now disclosed to her, would kill him.

However, the man rented an apartment for the lady and the child and kept on maintaining them. On one occasion, the parent of the lady complained that the man should perfect the marriage which he did not, instead he arranged with two of his friends in company of the lady to visit her parent at home.

He went with some drinks and when the bride price and marriage item list were presented to him, he promised to pay another visit but he was generous in giving them some amount of money before he left. He never went back; rather he started deceiving them.

The man now stopped taking care of the lady but was maintaining the child. He wanted to take away the child from the lady to overseas for another person to be taking care of the child for him as his son. And he told the lady that she is free to marry another person.

The lady refused and took the child away and the man started threatening her to return his lawful child. However, the lady refused to give him her child on the ground that she never performed any of those types of marriage we discussed in our last publication before this.

Ladies are also not left out of this illegitimate self intentioned marriage. Once a man has what it takes, like good cars and a decent home, most of those ladies run to him. Funny

enough. Most of them know or were informed by the man that he is married yet they deliberately want to “hook” the man by getting pregnant for him and the consequent result is that the man will not like to break his matrimonial home because of some one he may tag a crook that wants to reap where she doesn’t sow.

The lady will now be disturbing the man as if she is the wife.

The question is, is that man her husband? The answer is ‘No’ simply because it is a friendship, void marriage abinitio (i.e. from the on set).

This issue necessitates our topic for this week on void and violable marriage.

When in law, we talk on void and violable marriage, we are saying that an invalid marriage may be either of the two, but we shall distinguish between the two because of its great important in marriage.

A void marriage is one that never was in existence, like the one we highlighted earlier, because it is wrong or void abinitio (i.e. from the start) and the two persons involved have never acquired the status of husband and wife in either statutory or customary forms of marriage.

A voidable marriage is one that was good while it began but may be annulled by any of the parties due to some certain defects.

In this form of marriage (a voidable marriage), one cannot simply bring it to an end. Rather, it can only be annulled by a court of competent jurisdiction. It should be noted that in void marriage there is no necessity to obtain a court decree unlike in voidable marriage.

One of the parties involved may end the relationship because there is no law binding the parties since there was no marriage rite of any type of marriage performed.

sons: 1. When there is in existence a lawful marriage before 2. A prohibited degree of affinity or consanguinity, i.e. marriage between two blood related persons 3. Illegal place of celebration of the marriage. A legally unauthorized place or even using false name/s or the issuance of genuine license without marriage registration certificate, etc; could void a marriage 4. When there is no real connection by the parties to a marriage. Where there is a fraud or duress in the marriage, such marriage is said to be void.

5. Certain mistakes can void a marriage 6. Insanity – where a party is mentally incapable of understanding the nature of the marriage contract, it can void a marriage 7. Underage - Where one of the parties is not of marriageable age can as well void a marriage On the other hand, marriage can be voidable on the following grounds: 1. When there is no ordinary and complete sexual intercourse as to consummate the marriage. If a party is impotent as to have full penetration of the female organ can lead to a marriage being voidable. Also, willful and continuous refusal for sexual intercourse by any of the parties in the marriage can be ground for voidable marriage 2. Venereal Diseases when in existence at the time of celebration of the marriage can be ground for voidable marriage 3. Unsound mind, mental disorder and epilepsy.

4. Pregnancy of the wife by a person other than the husband 5. Reason of consanguinity or affinity

Marriage could be said to be void for the following rea-

CASE 1

CASE 2

I refused to marry him, because he deceived I want to divorce my husband because me with a fake picture of himself he can’t satisfy me sexually

Dear lawyer,

Dear lawyer,

A relation of mine connected me through photograph to a man living in Lagos for marriage.

I liked the build and stature of the man, so I accepted him for marriage. Also, he lavished me with gifts. However, on the actual day of the marriage ceremony, I saw a different looking person and I refused to marry him. My relatives kept pressuring me to marry him since he is rich, but I refused and I still stand by my refusal to marry him. However, the man insists that I must marry him since I received his gifts. What should I do?

My husband is a trader in Aba, Abia state. I got married to him in court in December, 2016 and we have been sleeping on the same bed in the same room every night. However, the problem is that whenever I want him to have sexual intercourse with me, he always turn me down. I am a very decent and beautiful lady, and before our marriage, men always got attracted to me for sex. I’m tired of my husband’s inability to satisfy my sexual needs and I want to seek for divorce. What should I do?

From Anthonia, Lagos

From Theresa, Abia.

ANSWER:

ANSWER:

In the first place there was no existing marriage, hence the marriage is void abinitio. Secondly, your kind of acceptance of the marriage proposal made earlier was done out of mistake of identity of the other party who deceived you through false photos. Hence, you were right to reject the marriage since it was not a voluntary agreement by you to the marriage. Don’t forget that one of the grounds to void a marriage is lack of real connection by both parties in the marriage. Therefore you have the right to reject him.

One of the grounds on which a marriage can be dissolved is the incapacity of any of the parties to consummate the marriage. This incapacity to consummate the marriage is characterized by persistent refusal by any of the parties for a long time to have sexual intercourse with the other. In your own case, it is just only about four months ago that you got married and if before this marriage, as you never informed me, you were having sexual intercourse until you actually got married now, then the case may be different. Give him some time and find out medically the true position of things and get back to me or any lawyer around you to handle your matter.

• Do you have questions or seek legal clarification on issues concerning your marriage, probate, property, etc? Call or send a text message to Barr. Ken: 08162016410, 08075763840. Email: kenakpom@yahoo.com

38

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

With Douglas Omoyooma ENTERTAINMENT I was shocked I won -- Alice Duke, Miss BAIP 2018 Winner of the 12th edition of Beauty of Africa International I Pageant (BAIP) 2018, Miss Alice Duke has revealed that she n a chat with Oracle Today after she was crowned winner at Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos, the graduate of English Literature & Literary Studies gushed excitedly.

“Wow! Friday night was my happiest ever, the climax was the crowning; it’s been my happiest moment ever! Well, I never believed I could win the crown. I actually had eyes for some of the other sub crowns like the Miss Charity Queen. I was confident that worst case scenario, if I didn’t take the crown home, I could smile home with the Miss Charity Crown. And then, when I was announced as overall winner, it was really shocking and surprising! Inside me I was excited and overwhelmed. I just had to swallow the shock. I was happy I was amazed. I was really excited.”

Why was she so shocked by her victory: “My first week in camp was so exciting I was brimming with confidence that I would sail through because of the energy I brought from home with everybody telling me ‘Alice, yes, you can do it. you are smart young and good to go. So that propelled me through the first week but going into the second week, the stress came down on me. Camp activities were overwhelming and somehow I ended up breaking down and I stated losing focus.

“Then we had this girl in the house, Miss Abuja, who had so much energy she was up and going; she just kept going. I mean, she had boundless energy. Inside of me I felt intimidated and I just said ‘okay, she is doing great, I have met someone more active than I, she is intelligent and pretty so if I don’t get the crown and she does, well she deserves it. I actually felt that Miss Abuja was better than I was and I also felt Miss Bayelsa was a bomb! However, I wasn’t surprised when I made the Top 10 because from online voting, I scoredhighest so I was already guaranteed a Top 10 slot. Beyond the votes, I just knew I was going to make it to the top 10 but winning the ultimate crown just blew me out of my mind!

“When my name was announced I tried to cry but the tears were not coming. I was so excited and happy. I did not know what to do at that moment. I looked around and said to myself ‘is this me? could this be me?’ And I just found out I wasn’t in dreamland; it was happening in real time.”

Has it always been her dream to be a beauty queen? “Right from when I was a child I have always participated in pageantry and I always won. And growing up and until recently, I have been in the movie industry in Cross Rivers State though not very pronounced. I have done a lot stage performances and stage plays and I have been in a couple of short films as well. I also did a pageant in 2017 but I did not emerge winner but third runners up which earned me the position of Cross Rivers State Ambassador and that gave me a lot of courage and boldness going into BAIP and I am glad it was a success.”

Growing up “I would say I am from an average middle class family. We are not poor, neither are we rich but we are okay. Was I born with a silver spoon? I think I am a lucky child and a very blessed one indeed with the kind of family I come from. My parents always tried their best to provide for me and my siblings at all times by giving us all that we needed growing up. I never lacked anything, clothes, food and above all love. I wasn’t a spoilt kid though and I was the first child and only daughter. My dad was very strict. I never received flogging from my parents but what I got was verbal ‘koboko’ and my mum and dad gave it to me in large doses and it has helped in making me who I am today.”

Which of your parents would she say has played a more prominent role in shaping her into the woman that you are today? “My mum because she thinks that as a child, you should be able to have your way in most of the things you aspire to be because it is only what you have passion for that you will excel in.

never believed she could win the ultimate prize hence she was shocked when the organisers announced her as winner.

• Alice Duke “She believes that if you allow people push you into doing things you don’t want to do, you might not turn out well. So, anything I tell her I want to do and she feels that it is on the good side, she is always there to stand by me.

She has always given me good advice and has moulded me into the woman I am today and I am grateful to God for giving me such a loving mother.”

Pet project Having won the crown, Duke is ready to hit the road with her pet project she opens up: “It is all about Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in rural communities. I want to embark on an awareness campaign. It is a practice that should not be condoned. The objective is to create awareness so that we can eventually scrap it.

“Based on my research, it is still a very common practice in rural communities especially and most people engage in it for religious reasons but it is detrimental to the girl child. I believe the girl child is the rock of the nation.

She has a right to be happy and live healthy.

With her the world is a better and safer place.

That is the reason why I think I should concentrate on the girl child; the girl child must be protected.

Advice Now that she is a queen, she has a word for wannabes. Hear her: “Continue pushing and don’t ever give up because it is not an easy road at all. Most times you go to pageants and you are not crowned but that does not mean you should relent; that is not the end of the would. Keep moving, keep fighting and

keep motivating yourself.

Dreams Duke says she wants to be an actress and she looks up to the likes of Genevieve Nnaji and Beverley Naya. She says: “I love Beverley Naya. She has a wonderful accent and her attitude is great. I also love Genevieve Nnaji, she is like a mother to us all in the industry.

She has been doing great. Her recent international deal with Netflix is awesome! She is a pioneer. I have a lot of passion for acting and I see myself going very far in the industry.

“In the next five years I would have achieved greater heights, become one of the big super models globally and also be a great actress and of course, I would be a damn good entrepreneur.”

39

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

NEWS

We shall support Atiku to victory in 2019 -- Wike R ivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike has declared that he will wholeheartedly support the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to electoral victory in 2019.

Speaking at the Government House Port Harcourt, Sunday during a Special Thanksgiving Service for the successful hosting of 2018 PDP National Convention, Governor Wike declared that at the convention he promoted the candidature of Sokoto State Governor, Rt Hon Aminu Tambuwal , but accepts the choice of the party as the way forward.

“I supported the Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal fully. I have no regrets for my support for Tambuwal. But the party has made a choice and as a loyal party man,

I stand by the choice of the party.

I will support His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar to victory in 2019. That is what is called party loyalty “.

Governor Wike stated that APC is a hopeless that has failed Nigeria, pointing out that the all Nigerians must work diligently towards sacking the Buhari administration.

“We must put our heads together to ensure that this bad government is sacked. We must ensure that this bad government goes in 2019.

“If this same government returns in 2019, then Nigerians are digging their graves. The suffering now will be a child’s play. That is why we must work for the good of our people”, he said.

He said after the Special Thanksgiving Service, all Nigerians must head to the fields to work for the victory of the PDP in 2019.

The governor noted that the PDP will win in Rivers State despite the evil machinations of the APC Federal Government. He said that he will complete his mission in Rivers State through a resounding victory in 2019.

On the successful hosting of the National Convention, Governor Wike noted that he stood his ground because of the economy of Rivers State and the fact that Rivers State remains the home of PDP since 1999.

“Rivers State has made PDP proud and we shall continue to make PDP proud. God lives in Rivers State “, he said.

He reiterated that PDP is alive today because of the kind of National Chairman that emerged in the person of Prince Uche Secondus.

PDP National Chairman, Prince

Uche Secondus called on Nigerians to work towards taking back the country from the brink of destruction.

He said: “Let us take back our country from destruction. Everything about this country has collapsed “.

He noted that after the National Convention, the party leadership has been involved in fence mending to bring all groups to platform to work for the victory of the PDP in 2019.

He said that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is the best candidate to drive the country to growth and prosperity.

“APC will be finally buried in February 2019”, he said.

Secondus thanked the Government and people of Rivers State for hosting the most successful

convention in the history of Nigerian Party politics.

He charged the security agencies and INEC to work towards free and fair elections in 2019, saying that the plot by the APC Federal Government to rig will be resisted.

In a sermon, Apostle Zilly Aggrey said that the PDP is right to thank God for the successful hosting of the National Convention, noting that it is a platform for greater success.

Rivers State PDP Chairman, Bro Felix Obuah said despite the obstacles, God ensured that the National Convention is the best ever.

The Thanksgiving Service attracted PDP faithful from the 23 Local Government Areas of the state.

Leading gospel artistes; Preye Odede, Mercy Chinwo, Felix Ndukwe, Sensational Dele and selected choirs performed at the event.

We are proud of our governors –Secondus, PDP Chairman

Managing Director/ CEO of AIICO Insurance flanked by members of the Customer Engagement Team of the company during the just-concluded Customer Week of the company

More road projects will be completed

by December in A’Ibom -- Commissioner From Ini Billie, Uyo kwa Ibom State Commissioner for Works in the state, Mr. A Ephraim Inyang-Eyen, has said

more road projects will be completed by December in the state.

He said aside the 1,700 kilometre roads that had been completed and commissioned by the governor, the government is focusing road construction projects in council areas that did not benefit from road construction by past governments.

He stated that the two previous administration in the state had neglected construction of roads in Obot Akara, Ikot Ekpene, Ika, Ini, Oruk Anam, Ukanafun, Oron, Eket, Esit Eket, Udung Uko, and Uruan among others.

Inyang-Eyen said the government’s systematic approach to road construction would enable it construct and commission more roads across the 31 local government areas of the state.

He noted that compensation will be paid on Uyo-Ikot Ekpene

road as soon as funds come in to enable government continue with the road projects, adding that government will only hire contractors who have equipment and money to execute its projects to avoid abandonment.

He explained that Governor Udom Emmanuel was not interested in initiating gigantic projects that would have no direct impact on the people, adding that many gigantic projects initiated by the previous administration gulped huge sums of money but ended up as uncompleted projects that the state government is still battling with.

He said, “We are taking it in systematic manner, there is no way we can take all the roads at the same time. What the governor told me to do on the major project is to decongest four projects for him to commission, and take up one or two more.

“It will be irresponsible to gather all the roads and we are not delivering them. I have listed close to seven roads that will be completed by December. If by

December, I can load two other roads or three, it will include roads in Ibeno and Ikot-Abasi local government areas.

“In a federal constituency, if we tackle two or three local government areas effectively, the other LGA can be excused. We are not looking to scoring 100 per cent, if we stay at 95 per cent, it is an A plus. Any student who gets 90 per cent is an A star student.

“Which one is real, signature projects that are not delivered or projects that impact lives? If you call Four points Sheraton, Ikot Ekpene, a signature project, was it delivered? You call Tropicana Entertainment Centre, Uyo, a signature project, in valuating, the cost to complete it is three times what has been embedded into it; about 93 per cent have been put there.

“The govenor is dealing with things that impact life, that is more truthful than creating gigantic structures that never come to fruition. Name one of the signature projects that was completed in the state, is it Etebi

Ewang road, Use Ikot Amama road that was in the news, the e-library that is not functional; they said we can link up to about 2,000 sites, that is not true, those were propaganda.

“Are you going to talk about Uyo-Ikot Ekpene road that we are battling today? If you talk to me about Eket-Ikot Ekpene road, what was achieved? This government came without noise and have finished Eket-Ikot Ekpene road and people are using it.

Nothing was started on EtinanEket road, this government started every inch of that road. I am the one the governor has given funding to do it.

“I respect signature projects and I am not out to criticize anybody but if you ask me, a revolution does not consist on jumbo projects and what people discuss but the totality of the same things. That to my mind impact our lives more. Show me the impact signature projects have added to our lives, the value, and the employment ratio of those signature projects”.

National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says the party is proud of its governors and the achievements recorded in their various states.

Secondus made the expression in his remarks at the send-off ceremony organised by the PDP Governors Forum for the outgoing Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose, Sunday night in Abuja Secondus said that Fayose and every other PDP governors had performed credibly in transforming their states.

“Ekiti State is not the same anymore. If you go to Ekiti now you can see the best of the roads, one of the longest bridges, buildings infrastructure and development in all facets “We are proud of you as PDP governor. We are also proud of other governors of PDP. In fact, for this country, the PDP governors have set the pace for development all over our states. I am proud to say that all over our states around the country, you can see great achievements of our government.’’

Secondus added that the party was also proud of the choice of the former Governor of Anambra, Peter Obi as the running mate to the PDP presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

“We are also proud of one of our leaders that had been chosen as our presidential candidate’s running mate, every other thing will be discussed. I believe that my responsibility as the National Chairman is to ensure that the house is coming together and by the grace of God we will be on one page for the Nigerian project.

The PDP national chairman advised the anti-graft agencies to follow the rules of law and the constitution in trying Fayose after leaving office.

“Let me say here there are threat of intimidation and frameup waiting for our brother who has performed very well in Ekiti state.

The world is watching, international communities are also watching what will happen to this gentleman that has performed well in Ekiti.

“So when you invite him and he honours it, he is not a coward. If you tamper with his Human Rights and you detain him the whole world will cry out.’.

40

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

NEWS

PDP stakeholders in Anambra endorse Atiku/Obi ticket

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takeholders of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in Orumba Federal Constituency, Anambra, have endorsed the presidential ticket of the party with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Chief Peter Obi as presidential and vice-presidential candidates.

The stakeholders endorsed their ticket in a communiqué issued at the end of their meeting in Awka on Monday.

The communiqué was signed by Chief Okechukwu Enekwe, Chairman, Chief Sopuluchukwu Nwafor, Secretary, Dr Rose Nwankwor woman leader and other leaders of the party in the Federal Constituency.

They described the choice of Obi as the running mate as well informed and called on party faithful across the country to lend their full support for their victory.

“We accept this as the best action for the best choice and agree that nothing would have been better than the Atiku/Obi ticket.

“It is a case of square pegs in square holes; Obi is a distinguished Nigerian who is eminently qualified for the position.

“He also has the capacity to mobilise all the votes required in the South-East Nigeria and beyond, to give victory to PDP in the 2019 Presidential elections.

“We, therefore, thanked Alhaji Atiku Abubakar for picking Obi who we know as man of uncommon integrity and ability,” they said.

The PDP stakeholders assured the party and its candidates of their massive support for their victories at the polls.

They applauded the national and state leadership of the party for conducting credible and acceptable primary elections.

They added that they accepted the outcome of all the primary elections in the constituency and promised to work for the victory of the candidates in the general elections.

“Having fully reviewed the justconcluded primary elections of the PDP from the State House of Assembly to the Presidential Primaries held in Port-Harcourt.

“After detailed analysis of the processes, conducts and results of the primary elections, we in one voice, accept all the primary elections.

“In our assessment, they were the best so far in the country; there was high level transparency, fairness and total due process.

“We congratulate the local government executives, the state leadership led by Chief Ndubuisi Nwobu and the national executives under the chairmanship of Prince Uche Secondus for job well done,” the communiqué said.

• Obi

Osisioma pipeline explosion: Ikpeazu orders commission of inquiry ..As NEMA blames lack of routine maintenance From BONIFACE OKORO, Umuahia

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hocked by the pipeline explosion disaster which hit Osisoma local government area of Abia State last Friday, the governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, has directed the Commissioner for Petroleum Resources, Hon. Chizurum Kanu, to immediately inaugurate a Commission of Inquiry to unravel the immediate and remote causes of the explosion.

The pipeline explosion affected

two communities and claimed scores of lives, according to latest figures from the Police.

This is just as the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has attributed the October 12 pipeline explosion in some communities in the council to lack of routine pipeline maintenance.

Ikpeazu, gave the directive after visiting Umuaduru and Umuimo villages in Osisioma Ngwa where the tragic incident occurred.

Chief Press Secretary to the gov-

ernor, Enyinnaya Appolos, said in a statement released in Umuahia that the Governor directed the Commissioner for Petroleum Resources, Hon. Chizurum Kanu, to immediately inaugurate a Commission of Inquiry to unravel the immediate and remote causes of the pipeline explosion.

Ikpeazu also directed the Commissioner for Heath, Dr. John Ahukannah, and the Chairman of Osisioma LGA, Chief Ihenyinna Mgbeahuru, to visit the surviving victims of the ex-

• (From right): Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Charles Udoh, in an interactive session with members of the National Defence College Course 27 currently on Study tour of the State.

Ugwuanyi second to none in workers’ welfare – Ngige, TUC

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inister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige and the National President of Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Comrade (Dr.) Bobboi Bala Kaigama, have commended Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State for his sterling performance in office and outstanding commitment to the welfare of the state’s workers.

The duo made the commendations in their separate speeches during the ground breaking of 100 Housing Units for Nigerian workers by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) in collaboration with Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress Nigeria (TUC), and Nigeria Employer’s Consultative Association (NECA), held at Ede-Oballa, Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State.

Speaking at the epoch making event, the TUC National President stated that his leadership was proud of Gov. Ugwuanyi for not only paying workers’ salaries regularly but also for ensuring that they “have decent working environment”.

Comrade Kaigama, who disclosed that Gov. Ugwuanyi is second to none in the provision of workers’ welfare in the South East geo-political zone, added that the governor has set the pace for other states to emulate.

Describing Gov. Ugwuanyi as “a performer”, the labour leader told the governor that “Enugu State is working under your leadership and that is not only because you are a performer, but you exhibit the sense of performance with humility”.

He maintained that the governor is “very humble and caring” and listens

when it comes to challenges confronting the workers and the entire people of Enugu, saying: “If there is any governor that Nigerian workers can come up and work for his success particularly for his second term, we are proud to say that our members will work for you”.

According to him, “we would say it anywhere because you have done it and you are doing it. We assure that the working class not only in Enugu State but also in the entire nation is supporting you on your efforts to deliver the dividends of democracy”.

Appreciating Gov. Ugwuanyi for his efforts to give succor to the state workforce through provision of affordable accommodation, the TUC President urged Enugu workers to “reciprocate this gesture by ensuring that we continue to have a harmonious working relationship with your good government”.

In his remark, the labour and employment minister, who described Ugwuanyi as “a governor who is paying workers’ salaries as at when due”, expressed delight at the massive infrastructural development in Enugu State, saying: “Thanks to the Gburugburu magic”.

Ngige lauded the initiative of the FMBN in partnership with the state government and other concerned bodies to provide affordable housings for the workers as a welcome development, pointing out that the project is in line with tripartite policy of the federal government.

Other speakers at the event such as the Managing Director of FMBN, Arc. Ahmed Musa Dangiwa, the Director General of NECA, Olusegun Oshinowo, and the Managing Di-

rector of Multidev Nigeria Ltd, Rev. Ugochukwu Chime, also applauded Gov. Ugwuanyi for promptly facilitating the provision of land for the project and ensuring its cost reduction, which they said make the houses more affordable for the state’s civil servants.

In his address, Gov. Ugwuanyi, who welcomed the dignitaries to the state, stated that the project was in line with his administration’s promise to transform the socio-economic fortunes of the state and “to deploy government resources and services to create fair and equal opportunity for every willing citizen to make a living, create wealth and enjoy life in a peaceful and secure environment”.

The governor added that “it also underscores our commitment to improving the welfare of the workers of Enugu State and to the provision of affordable housing for all citizens of the state”.

He emphasized that the programme is a further testimony to the usefulness of synergy and cooperation between government, public institutions and the organized labour in the quest to improve the living standard of the people through rapid development of all sectors of the state’s economy.

While thanking the FMBN for choosing Enugu State particularly Nsukka as one of the locations for the project, Gov. Ugwuanyi noted that the initiative was a welcome complement to the other efforts of his administration in developing the University town of Nsukka – “the second largest urban area in Enugu State and a University town founded over half a century ago”.

plosion at the various hospitals and ensure that government provided them with adequate medicare as well as pay their medical bills.

The Governor described the incident as disheartening and unfortunate and commiserated with the families of those who lost their lives as a result of the pipeline explosion, while praying God to give them the fortitude to bear the loss, according to the statement.

Commander of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Abia State, Dr Benito Eze, confirmed on Friday that 19 people lost their lives in the explosion but the Commissioner of Police, Anthony Ogbizi, told newsmen Saturday that the death toll has risen to 24.

Ogbizi disclosed this shortly after visiting the scenes of the explosion.

He said the explosion occurred due to spillage from a pipeline used to pump petrol from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) depot in Aba. “According to the information from the NNPC Depot Manager in Aba, the spillage occurred from a pipeline that was undergoing maintenance.

“He said they were instructed to test run the pipeline to ascertain its level of functionality. When we visited the two communities, we were informed that 14 people were reported dead at Umuimo village, while 10 died at Umuduru community,” the Commissioner of Police said.

Meanwhile, NEMA has attributed the explosion in some communities in Osissioma Local Government Area of Abia, to lack of routine pipeline maintenance.

NEMA Coordinator Imo/Abia Operations Office, Mr Evans Ugoh, who apportioned the blame in Owerri on Monday after visiting the scene, confirmed that 60 people died in the explosion, just as he also blamed the injured victims for not raising alarm when they noticed the pipeline leakage, but chose to scoop fuel from the ruptured pipeline.

He said that the raptured Nigeria National Population Corporation (NNPC)’s pipeline needed maintenance before the incident but that was not done.

“My team has visited the scene of the explosion and we discovered that victims of the incident took advantage of the pipeline leakage and were scooping the oil before fire caught on them.

“I also blamed the victims who noticed the leakage but rather than raising alarm, decided to steal the fuel which eventually led to their death,” he said.

Ugoh said there should be a routine maintenance of all pipelines and also urged NNPC to beef up security in oil pipelines.

He suggested a uniform disaster management strategy by oil companies and NNPC and to come up with best practices on disaster management.

He said oil stakeholders should engage the services of professionals and to sponsor research for disaster management strategies for oil pipeline.

41

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

NEWS Standard of education in Nigeria not falling – Ex-NUC boss

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ormer, Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Peter Okebukola, Monday, said that the standard of the nation’s education system was not falling but enhanced daily by the commission.

Okebukola who made the assertion while speaking on the sidelines of the 8th Convocation and honorary award of doctorate degree of Caleb University, Imota, Lagos, said the current NUC Executive Secretary, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, was on a revatilisation mission to improve the quality in the university system and enhance standards.

According to him, the standards turned out yearly by the commission are richer and higher in terms of scope than the previous year.

“Standards are the furnishing that should be in the classroom relating to the population of students, proportion of professors, senior lecturers and other lecturers that will teach the courses.

“Every university is expected to subject its student to the standard as outlined by NUC,” he said.

Okebukola said that while the commission laid down the expected standards, coverage of the content of the standards varies from one university to the other.

The former NUC boss noted that the content may not be covered as expected in the various public and private universities due to some militating factors.

He listed the major factor affecting the full implementation of standards as resource handicap which affected provision of needed laboratory equipment for practicals and interruption to academic calendar for the training period.

“At the point of students graduation, you will expect graduates from

any of the public or private universities to produce the same result but on account of the militating variables, it is impossible.

“For example, if it is expected to be a four-year programme but there is a strike in between, the lecturer after resumption may decide that a 13-week semester be held in three weeks.

“So, the content of the standards are not yet covered for the graduates.

“For our private universities, it is a lot better due to their stable academic calendar, better student teacher ratio and stiffer staff discipline unlike the public universities,” he said.

Okebukola said there were islands of examples where the private universities were doing better in terms of production of quality graduates than the public universities.

He, however, noted that the proportion of more experienced Professors in the public university compared to the private university was relatively higher.

According to him, the Professors are usually ready to teach the students and train them to be better graduates, regardless of all the constraints.

Earlier at the Convocation, Okebukola charged the graduands to maximise their entrepreneurial spirit in helping the nation and their family.

He said that while the university had invested so much in training the students, it was time for them to invest their creative energies in solving the problems of the society.

“Stick to the noble ideas of Caleb University which include Godliness, innovation, service, integrity, teamwork, excellence and creativity. I join everyone present to wish you well in the journey of life,” he said.

•President of ACI (Airports Council International) Africa, and Director General of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Engr.Saleh Dunoma (second left) presiding over the 60th meeting of the Board in Abijan,Cote D’Ivoire flanked by other ACI Board Committee Members

Enugu indigenes in Kogi transfer voters’ cards for Ugwunayi’s re-election

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housands of Enugu State indigenes, who reside and registered with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Kogi State, have transferred their voter’s cards to Enugu to enable them vote for Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi in the forthcoming governorship election.

The elated indigenes of Enugu State, who paid a solidarity visit to Gov. Ugwuanyi at the Government House, Enugu, disclosed that their decision was in recognition of the governor’s “exceptional performance in office” and the need to give him the opportunity to complete the good works he has started in the tate.

They promised not only to return home during the forthcoming elections to vote massively for Gov. Ugwuanyi, but also to mobilize their relations and other dependants to equally vote for the governor, expressing delight that he has attracted development to their various communities.

Presenting their stance, the leader of the delegation and President of the He mentioned that the autonomy Association of Enugu Sate Indigenes granted would obliterate the harass- in Kogi State, Chief JosephAnikwe, ment Justices suffer in the hands of governors who often arrange magistrates on rows to present car keys to them from the money meant for the judiciary.

He revealed that the Federal Government has approved Court of Apajor Oil Marketers Association peal, Uyo Judicial Division for the state of Nigeria (MOMAN) has apand it would soon commence sittings. pealed to the Federal Govern“If and when funds for the Judiciary ment to expedite action on the prompt are statutorily transferred to the Judiciary, the Legislature and their related payment of the N130.7 billion outstandbodies as done at the federal level, ing subsidy debts owed members.

Chairman of MOMAN, Mr Andrew each such arm can plan and face the growth and development of her insti- Gbodume, madxe the appeal while tution. When her funds are exhaust- briefing Energy Correspondents in LaMonday. ed, she will live with same pending the gos, MOMAN is a downstream oil and gas following year’s budget. group made up of six major marketers “As early as 1993, when I was in which include 11Plc (formerly Mobil Oil the pioneer Akwa Ibom State House Nigeria), Conoil, OVH Energy Marketof Assembly, I, with Hon. Uwem Eka- ing Limited, Forte Oil, MRS and Total.. nem, and other members worked and Gbodume said that inability of the passed the AKS Judiciary Self Account- Federal Government to pay the debts ing Bill and it was pending Assent by had affected the mutual relationship of the Governor when the Military dis- members of the association with their solved the democratic structures on banks in sourcing for loans.

Nov. 17, 1993,” he said.

He urged the government to effect Also speaking, Chairman for the payment of the outstanding debts on Public Lecture, Justice Idongesit subsidy since audit and agreement had Ntem-Isua (retd) said the theme was been carried out since July. apt as the federal government was According to him, delayed in the concerned in the strengthening of the payment of the debts has affected judiciary in the country.

MOMAN members negatively.

Ntem-Isua, who was the former “Since inception, MOMAN has proChief Judge of Akwa Ibom said the gressively gained a reputation in the judiciary’s autonomy should not be Nigerian petroleum industry as a key abused but transparency and account- player. But, one of the major challengability should be the watch word. es the downstream petroleum sector She mentioned that the judiciary’s is still facing is the non-payment of the independent and autonomy of judici- long outstanding fuel subsidy to oil ary and the legislature would ensure marketers.

Autonomy for judiciary will promote justice delivery - Enang From Ini Billie, Uyo

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he Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Ita Enang has said autonomy of the judiciary in the states would enhance justice delivery and integrity.

The Presidential aide said on Monday in Uyo during the 2018/2019 legal year at a public lecture on “Strengthening the Judiciary for Effective Justice Delivery”, that with financial autonomy states’ judiciary will be able to dispense justice without interference from the executive arm of government.

Speaking on a paper titled, “Implementation of Financial Autonomy for Judicial and Legislative Arms of Government at the States tier of Government”, Enang explained that the autonomy of the judiciary in the states should not be discussed in isolation but with the legislative autonomy to ensure that they do not relie on the governors for funds.

He stated that the judicial and legislative autonomy would boost restructuring in governance as allowed by the constitution, adding that the Presidency has been working in this regard and would soon unveil modalities for the implementation of autonomy for the judiciary and the legislature.

He explained that the autonomy entails that the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the state shall be paid directly to the said bodies respectively; in the case of Judiciary, such amount shall be paid directly to the heads of the courts concerned.

stated that members of the group were impressed with “the prevailing atmosphere of peace, tranquility and progress in our dear Enugu State”.

They added that they were also satisfied and proud that the governor serves God faithfully and cares for the people, especially the less privileged “through various people-oriented programmes and laudable development projects equitably spread across the wards, communities, local government areas and senatorial districts of the state”.

The Enugu indigenes equally commended Gov. Ugwuanyi for effective and efficient management of the state’s meager resources to undertake massive infrastructural development in every nook and cranny of the state.

They stressed that the governor has transformed the education sector; maintained peace and security; improved the civil servants’ welfarethrough regular payment of salaries and retirees’ pensions including the 13th month salary; provided good healthcare delivery, andmaintained a very cordial relationship with

various leaders in thestate, through inclusive governance, among others.

While expressing their “firm support and unalloyed loyalty” to the governor’s “dynamic, purposeful and grassroots oriented administration”, the Enugu indigenes, unanimously endorsed him for a second term in office, saying that “this visit is to add our voice to the clamour for you to return for a second term”.

“Your Excellency, it is in view of all the above that we have paid this visit, not only to declare our full support for your second term in office, but also to carry the good message to our various domains to ensure that we cast our votes for you during the forthcoming elections, for the people to continue to enjoy the dividends ofdemocracy under your good leadership”, they declared.

Gov. Ugwuanyi, who thanked the state’s indigenes for the solidarity visit and support, described them as worthy ambassadors of Enugu State and urged them to continue to pray for the success of the state and his administration.

Major marketers demand quick payment of N130.7bn outstanding subsidy debts

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“We appreciate the efforts of the National Assembly, but the non-payment creates a significantly negative impact on the operational efficiency of the downstream sector of the oil industry.

“It has, thereby placed severe strain on its efforts to continually invest in the infrastructure and raise industry standards.

“We hope that the debts will be paid in full to the oil marketers as soon as possible,” the chairman of MOMAN said.

Gbodume, who puts the debt owed MOMAN members at N130.7 billion as at August 2018, stated that once reconciliation has been done and particular figure was agreed as debt, he could not understand why settlements have not been made.

He stressed that marketers are working tirelessly with the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC) to ensure fuel availability and prevent fuel scarcity that rocked the nation in December 2017.

“We need to move away from the present arrangement because downstream sector needs investment. The banks are not willing to lend to downstream sector because of the present arrangement,” he said.

Gbodume said that currently, only NNPC was importing 100 per cent petroleum products, while members of

the association were collecting products from NNPC and pay within two weeks.

“No MOMAN members are importing petroleum products, because no bank is ready to loan us due to our inability to pay the outstanding debts owed by marketers,” he said.

The MOMAN chairman, however, commended the PPMC for its efforts over the years in ensuring consistent product supplies.

“We cannot, but acknowledge and appreciate the efforts of the PPMC over the last few months in ensuring consistent supply of petroleum products within the country.

“PPMC has demonstrated its resolve to guaranteeing a non-repeat of the scarcity, which the nation experienced at the end of 2017, and quite frankly has done well so far,” he said.

The chairman said that the association was currently engaging petroleum drivers and transporters to ensure the use of the truck loading bay provided to ease free flow of traffic at Apapa Bridge.

He said that MOMAN has established a committee to self-regulate its members by collaborating with the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to improve minimum transportation standard.

42

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

NEWS

Nigerian Navy hosts 22 countries in Lagos

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or the 15th Eastern Atlantic Hydrographic Conference on better service delivery to mariners.e News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that he Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Adm. Ibok Ibas, flagged off the five-day conference themed, “Regional Awareness on Maritime Geospatial Knowledge”.

In his remark, Ibas said that Nigeria had completed the development of National Charting Scheme and commenced requisite training and compilation of data for production of nautical charts.

“Currently, Nigeria produces train-

ing charts at the Nigerian Navy Hydrographic Office which are used in many maritime institutions across the country for training purposes.

“I have no doubt in my mind that this five-day event would improve the already existing cooperation among stakeholders in Nigeria.

“It would also afford Nigeria’s hydrographic community the opportunity of improving their knowledge in hydrographic practices, through the experiences of the professionals, who have come from all over the world for this occasion,” he said.

Ibas said that the maritime en-

vironment had been of immense importance both as a precursor for global trade as well as a source of livelihood and wealth creation.

“Apart from being a medium for transporting goods and services, the maritime domain also generates income from other sources and even moderates the climate.

“Today, there is a growing concern for the future of the marine environment, particularly as it relates to its safety, security, cleanliness and the protection of its biodiversity for the purpose of exploration and exploitation of resources for the

benefit of mankind.

“These concerns can only be assuaged with the provision of effective and efficient hydrographic services in form of nautical charts and Maritime Safety Information (MSI) among others, to facilitate safe and efficient use of the seas, oceans and waterways by operators,” he said.

Earlier in his opening remark, the Hydrographer of the Navy, Cdre Chukwu-Emeka Okafor, said that the primary purpose of hydrography was to protect human lives at sea by facilitating safe navigation.

“Also, far beyond this, hydrogra-

Oshimili council chairman empowers 30 petty traders in Asaba

FMBN spends N2.8 bn on 985 housing units in Enugu

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anaging Director, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), Mr Ahmed Dangiwa, says the firm has so far expended N2.8 billion on construction of 985 housing units in Enugu State.

Dangiwa said this on Monday in Nsukka, Enugu State during the ground-breaking ceremony of the National Affordable Housing Project at Nsukka.

He said that the housing units were located in five housing estates spread across the state.

According to him, the bank has advanced the sum of N123.62 million to 183 National Housing Fund (NHF) contributors under the FMBN Home Renovation Loan.

Dangiwa said that the bank was innovating to extend the frontiers of home ownership because it believed everyone deserved a home.

He said that what the bank had been able to achieve in spite of challenges was to call for retrospection from states and organisations that had yet to enroll into the NHF scheme.

“The only way to enjoy these benefits is to participate in the NHF scheme.

We appeal to every Nigerian to embrace and participate in the scheme.

“The scheme remains the only sure and affordable route to home ownership,’’ he said.

Dangiwa said that the current effort to provide houses to Nigerians was the first of its kind involving all labour stakeholders and the FMBN. “This is the commencement of collaborative housing project for Nigerian workers who are enrollees of the NHF under the National Affordable Housing Delivery Programme (NAHDEP).

“The bank will through this project deliver 100 units of houses in each state of the federation in a mix of 3, 2, 1 bedroom semi-detached bungalows and blocks of flats,” he said.

The managing director said that the programme was designed to be implemented in phases.

“What we are witnessing today is part of the first phase to be run as a pilot to deliver 1,400 housing units across the six geopolitical zones in the country.

“Each zone will have 200 houses with 100 units in two selected states,”Dangiwa said.

Meanwhile, the Director General, Nigeria Employer’s Consultative Association (NECA), Mr Olusegun Oshinowo, said that the event was one of the most remarkable events in the mass housing delivery for workers.

Oshinowo said that they were happy that the housing challenges of workers were gradually being addressed.

He appealed to employers to ensure that their workers got enrolled into the NHF to for

phy contributes directly to the efficiency of maritime transport by allowing voyages to be shortened.

“Hydrography supports the delimitation of maritime boundaries and blue economy. It underlines the forecasting of the likely spread and track of oil slicks as part of oil spill response plan.

“With all these benefits and more, it is safe to say that hydrography is a force multiplier to the economic prosperity of a littoral nation and the quality of life of its citizens,” he said.

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• President Muhammadu Buhari (l) receiving Eze Abdulfatah Emetumah III (m), the Offor of Umuofor Kingdom, inn Oguta local government area of Imo State, last Thursday

2019: I’m candidate of the people — Ezekwesili

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residential candidate of the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Mrs Oby Ezekwesili, Monday, said the endorsement of all Nigerians, including former President Olusegun Obasanjo was needed for her to lead the country in 2019.

Ezekwesili, a former Minister of Education, told newsmen in Lagos that it was impossible for her to realise her ambition of becoming Nigeria’s first female president without the collective endorsement of all Nigerians, including Obasanjo.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that she was reacting to a question by one of the journalists on whether she would need the endorsement of Obasanjo, under whom she served as minister, to realise her ambition.

NAN reports the former president had, on Thursday, openly endorsed the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, after a reconciliation meeting in Abeokuta.

Ezekwesili said that democracy was all about popular choice, and she would not leave anyone out of the journey to become the president in 2019.

“I need the endorsement of everyone. I need the endorsement of the youths, the old and the oldest segment of this country who look at the country and ask ‘What happened’?

“I need the endorsement of everyone. I am not leaving anyone out because I am the candidate of the people, so every Nigerian is my electorate.

“There is no power greater than the power of the people. It is a collective.

I am the person with the right understanding of governance. I am the

people’s choice and I am in the race to win,” she said.

The presidential candidate said the country was faced with serious economic, security and other challenges which required a leader with the right capacity to fix.

Ezekwesili, a former Vice-President of the World Bank, said she had the vision, experience and passion to reposition the country, promising that Nigeria would witness massive turnaround if she was elected.

The candidate said the country’s economy was experiencing what she called ‘fiscal crisis’.

She said there was the need to pursue vigorous sectoral and structural reforms to achieve real economic growth and promote the prosperity of the country.

The candidate said her economic vision for the country was an economy that thrived on diversification and one in which the cost of government was drastically reduced for development.

“We need to get our fiscal crisis sorted out. Fiscal crisis in the sense that the 2017 budget performance report that was released by the Federal Government shows we are in a state of fiscal imbalance.

“The oil revenue is not sufficient to cover the personnel cost of government, and when you think that we are about 186 million people and about two million people in the civil service consume the entire revenue, that tells you we are in post-oil times and we have not yet shown an understanding of the situation. So, there has to be a drastic set of measures.

“On the expenditure side, we have to look at the cost of government.

The cost of government was already

put on the agenda in the Oronsanye Report. What happened to the implementation?

“We need to update the report and be determined to implement the recommendations therein,” she said.

On the revenue side, Ezekwesili said the country needed to explore an economic strategy to open diverse sources of revenue.

The presidential candidate said there was the need to develop the human capital to drive productivity and competitiveness in the economy.

Ezekwesili said she would drive the prosperity of the country through investment in human capital, if elected.

She decried the precarious security situation in the country, saying creative solutions were needed to address the problem.

The ACPN candidate said she would deploy the right cutting -edge technology and invest massively in security institutions to address the problem, if elected.

She said critical areas like education, health and environment would receive the desired attention, to improve livelihoods and life expectancy.

Ezekwesili said the idea of restructuring was being variously defined by politicians to suit their agenda and gain cheap popularity.

The candidate said the only form of restructuring that she would pursue, if elected, was one that would guarantee prosperity, equality, opportunities and other things expected of a working nation.

She said her quest for presidency was gaining momentum by the day with many people volunteering support, and expressed the optimism that she would win.

o fewer than 30 petty traders in Asaba were on Monday empowered by Mr Uche Osadebe, the Chairman of Oshimili South Local Government in Delta.

Osadebe, who spoke in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Asaba, said that he chose to empower the petty traders at the point of their businesses to be sure that the right people received the funds.

According to him, 10 traders each in all the 11 wards in the council area will be empowered.

“Today, we have started the empowerment process in three wards; that is wards 7, 8 and 9 out of the 11 wards and each trader will receive N10, 000 to beef up their businesses.

“We shall continue the empowerment next week in the remaining wards.

“I don’t believe in jamborees and I don’t want the essence to be defeated by making fanfares and gathering people for empowerment as other people do.

“This is why I chose to go down directly to meet the traders at the point of their business to be sure that the right person received the empowerment,” he said.

He said that the traders would be monitored to ensure that they utilised the funds to improve their businesses, adding that if they utilised it well, they would receive more support.

Two of the beneficiaries; Mrs Victoria Ashikordi and Mrs Ifeyinwa Ogbo, told NAN that the empowerment was a surprise package, promising that the funds would be judiciously utilised.

“We thank the chairman for the gesture and we are promising to effectively and efficiently utilise the funds to improve our businesses,” Ashikordi said.

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The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

NEWS 2019: Buhari deserves South-East support - Nwankpa

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bia State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Donatus Nwamkpa, says President Muhammadu Buhari had addressed critical challenges in the SouthEast to deserve the zone’s support in 2019.

Nwankpa said this on Monday at a news briefing in Umuahia while reacting to alleged media report that SouthEast would not vote for Buhari in 2019.

He said that Buhari had addressed issues affecting the zone, including infrastructure deficit and the second Niger Bridge within in his first tenure.

Nwamkpa also said president’s performance in the zone, in his first tenure, surpassed what the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) did in the zone for 16 years.

“The devastation and deterioration of infrastructure in the South-East started in 1999 and lingered for 16 years. Today, the zone has become much better and we cannot be vulnerable elements to be used by somebody in 2019,” he said.

The state chairman warned the people not drag the zone into unnecessary crisis with the presidency.

Nwankpa said that the state of road infrastructure in the South-East, SouthSouth and South-West had improved tremendously with an attendant ease in transportation.

He, therefore, dismissed the alleged media report as baseless and inconsequential.

“South-East has benefitted so much from the APC administration and will reward the party with massive support in 2019. The zone does not belong to PDP.” Nwankpa said the emergence of former Vice President Abubakar Atiku as PDP flag bearer would not enhance PDP chances in 2019 election.

“Atiku’s emergence will not boost the PDP’s electoral fortunes. There is nothing spectacular about Atiku, he does not have the magic wand to win elections.”

On the choice of former Gov. Peter Obi as Atiku’s running mate, Nwanpka said Obi did not enjoy wide popularity in the zone as presumed.

The party chairman described APC as the fastest growing party in the SouthEast, saying that it would take over the zone in 2019.

Speaking on the party’s governorship primaries, Nwankpa said that efforts were being made to assuage the feelings of members who were aggrieved with the outcome of the exercise.

He said that the party could not zone the governorship to Abia south, in line with the agitation that the zone should be allowed to complete its second tenure after Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu’s first tenure.

He said that what was paramount to the party was to elect a candidate that had the capacity to wrestle power from“ the lackluster Ikpeazu-led administration.“ Nwankpa said that the party had presented a candidate with a transformational agenda to liberate Abia and take it to higher height.

“Abia’s problem has gone beyond clannish consideration and administrative governance.”

He appealed to those who were not satisfied with the outcome of the primaries to bury their sentiments so that the party would form a common front, ahead of 2019 general elections.

Nwankpa allayed the fear that APC was banking on federal might to take over Abia in 2019, saying that the party believed in one man, one vote.

“We believe the people’s votes will count. We have no plans to rig the polls but we will not allow any party to rig us out.”

Ambode berates delay in justice delivery

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agos State Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode has tasked the judiciary to come up with innovative models to vigorously tackle delay in justice delivery, saying it was time for all stakeholders to engender speedy and efficient administration of justice system in the country.

Governor Ambode, who spoke at a Special Service held at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Marina, on Monday, to mark the official commencement of 2018/2019 Legal Year of Lagos State Judiciary, said the issue of delay in justice delivery was still a major concern, and that it was

time for all hands to be on deck to enhance confidence in the legal system.

He said Lagos, being the economic hub of Africa, must be at the vanguard of judicial reforms, adding that the State’s justice sector must be sound, fair and effective.

“As our State remains the cynosure of excellence and the economic hub of Africa, our judiciary must continue to be at the forefront of judicial reforms to meet the expectations of the modern day justice sector. My lords, we bear the responsibility of 24million people who look up to you and I to protect them

with the law. Our justice system must remain sound, fair and effective.

“The plague of delay in justice delivery is still of major concern.

All stakeholders in the sector must ensure that the issue of delay is tackled vigorously by creating innovative models for achieving speedy and efficient justice delivery system which can be replicated more broadly across the country.

“The fact is this; the expectation of the citizens is huge and it requires all stakeholders to work continuously to enhance confidence in the legal system, promote the rule of

• Vice President Yemi Osinbajo speaking at the Oxford University, London where he inaugurated the International Advisory Board of the university’s African Studies Centre

Listen to Fela’s music, Falana advises Atiku, others

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ctivist lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), on Monday advised Nigerian presidential candidates seeking office in 2019 to listen to the late legendary musician, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s music, to get solutions proffered to the nation’s problems.

Falana gave the advice during the 2018 Felabration tagged Fela @ 80: Overtaking Overtake, at the Fela debates titled: “African Leadership in the Millennium” in Lagos.

He said that the late Fela had seen Nigeria’s problems, as he gave warning and proffered solutions to such problems in his music before his death.

Fela, who was born on Oct. 15, 1938 and died on Aug. 2, 1997, was the pioneer of the Afrobeat music genre and a human rights activist.

He composed many songs on societal ills in Nigeria and the African continent, and had many brushes

with several Nigerian governments which he often criticised in his songs.

Some of such popular songs include ‘Suffering and Smiling’, ‘Authority Stealing’, ‘Zombie’, ‘Water No Get Enemy’ and ‘Lady’.

Falana said: ”I want most of these presidential aspirants to listen to Fela’s music very well where they can find solutions to most of our problems. ”Our country is rich as Fela sang in his music, but our people are still hungry and poor; you must understand our society before you can lead us.”

Falana urged young Nigerians to get organised so that the sky would be their starting point.

He said that if Nigeria could get it right, the black man all over Africa would be happy.

Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, Mr Omoyele

CAN commiserates with flood disasters victims

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eadership of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has commiserated with victims of recent flood disasters and wanton killings across the country.

President of the association, Rev. Samson Ayokunle, expressed the concern in a statement by Pastor Adebayo Oladeji, his Special Assistant on Media & Communications, on Monday in Abuja.

Ayokunle also tasked government at all levels and relevant agencies to wake up to their responsibilities of ensuring safe environment for citizens.

“Rising from the National Executive Committee (NEC), the Christian umbrella body expressed its disappointment, worries, shocks and grief over the loss of lives in the country in recent years due to some unavoidable factors.

“We urge government at all levels and security agencies to revive their intelligence-gathering mechanism,’’ he said.

On missing Maj.-Gen. Idris Alkali, Ayokunle wondered who was safe and secured if an Army general could be attacked and be missing for weeks now.

He, however, charged security operatives to wake up to their responsibilities and protect lives and property of all.

On the flood disasters, the CAN President warned the populace against violating environmental laws.

He called on National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA) and National Orientation Agency (NOA) to intensify efforts in educating people on how to prevent flood in the nation.

Sowore, who also spoke at the event, advised Nigerians to take charge of their destinies by voting rightly, come 2019.

Sowore said that History was important for the school curriculum, as the negative influences of the nation’s bad past leaders should be known to the younger generation.

He urged Nigerian youths who feel capable of occupying public office to indicate interest and ensure novices are not given the opportunity to rule.

Politician and legal practitioner, Eunice Atu-Ejide, who also spoke at the event, urged Nigerians to look out for virtues such as sincerity, honesty, positive character and integrity, rather than age, in choosing leaders.

“We must stop inciting violence and hatred, but focus on choosing rightly. Age is not a determinant if a presidential candidate will do well in the office, but the character and integrity should be considered,” she said.

NAN reports that the 2018 Felabration, which commenced on Monday, will run through the week with performances by artists from Togo, France and Nigeria, dance competitions, among others.

Felabration is an annual festival of music and arts commemorating the life and times of Nigeria’s foremost musical icon, the late Fela Anikulakpo Kuti.

The idea and concept of Felabration as an annual celebration of Fela’s music, life and times, originated from his eldest child Yeni who conceived it in 1998.

Currently, Felabration organised by the Felabration Organising Committee has grown into a mega week-long musical event in Nigeria, attracting thousands of visitors annually to the New Africa Shrine from all over the world.

law, and guarantee the protection of lives and property,” Governor Ambode said.

He said since the commencement of his administration, conscious efforts and initiatives have been put in place to enhance justice delivery, as well as respect the constitutionally roles of the three arms of government.

“Our administration recognizes the separate but interwoven roles of the three arms of government and part of our own commitment to a lawful and orderly society is to respect the limits of those constitutional roles which we have always done.

“One of the cardinal policies of our government has been the enthronement of law and order and today, I stand a happy man knowing we have delivered on those promises,” he said.

Speaking on some of the initiatives of his administration in the justice sector, the Governor said due to the increased work load and number of cases in the courts, more judges and magistrates were appointed, as well as construction of more court houses and renovation of existing courts to befit the judiciary, together with improved welfare for judicial officers in the State.

He added: “The introduction of the Lagos State DNA and Forensic Centre further enhanced the quality of justice delivery in the State and we have also developed policies and legislations that will aid speedy dispensation of justice.”

While congratulating members of judiciary on the commencement of the New Legal Year and wishing them fruitful deliberations, the Governor equally assured of his continued support and partnership to further enhance justice delivery in the State.

In his sermon at the service, Diocesan Bishop of Lagos, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Rt Rev Humphrey Olumakaiye commended judges for the role they have been playing in national development but admonished them to dispense justice without fear or favour and always uphold justice.

He said judges, being distinguished and eminent people in the society, must know that it was God’s blessings that enriches, and as such, they should eschew injustice which he said could lead to chaos, disaster and maladministration, among others.

“Righteousness exalts a nation but since is the reproach. To be successful, judges must do the right thing moment by moment and day by day. The only thing that can sustain you at the top is godly character and integrity.

“Justice must not only be done, it must be seen to have been done.

Justice must be dispensed without fear or favour. Let justice be done though heavens fall. We all must know that we shall give account of our stewardship on the day of reckoning,” Olumakaiye said.

On 2019 elections, the clergyman prayed for God’s will to be done in Nigeria, just as he said the nation needs strong moral foundation at all levels.

“Let us go back to the path of honesty, love, sincerity, dignity of labour, righteousness, discipline, integrity, hard work, excellence, zeal for result, among others,” he said.

Besides, Olumakaiye commended Governor Ambode for the good work being done in the State, saying the Church was proud of the sterling performance and would continue to support and pray for him.

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The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

NEWS

Ugwaunyi second to none in workers’ welfare – Ngige, TUC

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inister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige and the National President of Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Comrade (Dr.) Bobboi Bala Kaigama, have commended Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State for his sterling performance in office and outstanding commitment to the welfare of the state’s workers.

The duo made the commendations in their separate speeches during the ground breaking of 100 Housing Units for Nigerian workers by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) in collaboration with Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress Nigeria (TUC), and Nigeria Employer’s Consultative Association (NECA), held at Ede-Oballa, Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State.

Speaking at the epoch making event, the TUC National President stated that his leadership was proud of Gov. Ugwuanyi for not only paying workers’ salaries regularly but also for ensuring that they “have decent working environment”.

Comrade Kaigama, who disclosed that Gov. Ugwuanyi is second to none in the provision of workers’ welfare in the South East geo-political zone, added that the governor has set the pace for other states to emulate.

Describing Gov. Ugwuanyi as “a performer”, the labour leader told the governor that “Enugu State is working under your leadership and that is not only because you are a performer, but you exhibit the sense of performance with humility”.

He maintained that the governor is “very humble and caring” and listens when it comes to challenges confronting the workers and the entire people of Enugu, saying: “If there is any governor that Nigerian workers can come up and work for his success particularly for his second term, we are proud to say that our members will work for you”.

According to him, “we would say it anywhere because you have done it and you are doing it. We assure that the working class not only in Enugu State but also in the entire nation is supporting you on your efforts to deliver the dividends of democracy”.

Appreciating Gov. Ugwuanyi for his efforts to give succor to the state workforce through provision of affordable accommodation, the TUC President urged Enugu workers to “reciprocate this gesture by ensuring that we continue to have a harmonious working relation-

ship with your good government”.

In his remark, the labour and employment minister, who described Ugwuanyi as “a governor who is paying workers’ salaries as at when due”, expressed delight at the massive infrastructural development in Enugu State, saying: “Thanks to the Gburugburu magic”.

Ngige lauded the initiative of the FMBN in partnership with the state government and other concerned bodies to provide affordable housings for the workers as a welcome development, pointing out that the project is in line with tripartite policy of the federal government.

Other speakers at the event such as the Managing Director of FMBN, Arc. Ahmed Musa Dangiwa, the Director General of NECA, Olusegun Oshinowo, and the Managing Director of Multidev Nigeria Ltd, Rev. Ugochukwu Chime, also applauded Gov. Ugwuanyi for promptly facilitating the provision of land for the project and ensuring its cost reduction, which they said make the houses more affordable for the state’s civil servants.

In his address, Gov. Ugwuanyi, who welcomed the dignitaries to the state, stated that the project was in line with his administration’s promise to transform the socio-economic fortunes of the state and “to deploy government resources and services to create fair and equal opportunity for every willing citizen to make a living, create wealth and enjoy life in a peaceful and secure environment”.

The governor added that “it also underscores our commitment to improving the welfare of the workers of Enugu State and to the provision of affordable housing for all citizens of the state”.

He emphasized that the programme is a further testimony to the usefulness of synergy and cooperation between government, public institutions and the organized labour in the quest to improve the living standard of the people through rapid development of all sectors of the state’s economy.

While thanking the FMBN for choosing Enugu State particularly Nsukka as one of the locations for the project, Gov. Ugwuanyi noted that the initiative was a welcome complement to the other efforts of his administration in developing the University town of Nsukka – “the second largest urban area in Enugu State and a University town founded over half a century ago”.

THE ORACLE BUSINESS ARENA

• Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel, and some members of the State Executive Council today Saturday 13th October 2018, were among the worshippers at the Day 4 of a 5 - Day Open Air Crusade tagged “Dry Bones Shall Live” (Ezekiel 37 verse 5) organised by The Apostolic Church Nigeria at the Uyo Townshp Stadium, Uyo

CHANGE OF NAME & PUBLIC NOTICE I formerly known as ONAH CHINYERE JUAN now wish to be known as ISABELLA CHARLES CHINYERE. All former documents remain valid.

Banks and General public take note I formerly known as MISS NWOYE IFEOMA MARY, Now wish to be known as MRS ONYENAOBI IFEOMA MARY, All former documents remain valid, Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as OBI KELECHI PRECIOUS now wish to be known as IHEJI PRECIOUS KELECHI. All former documents remain valid. Banks and general public take note I formerly known as ONUGWU JOY UCHENNA now wish to be known as Mrs ONAH JOY UCHENNA . All former documents remain valid. Banks and general public take note

CAVEAT EMPTOR This is to inform the general public that the land situated and being at No. 40 IGWE ORIZU ROAD, OTOLO NNEWI. ANAMBRA STATE is a family property and IS NOT FOR SALE. And there is a suit pending at High Court, 2 Nnewi in respect of the said land. In suit No. HN/206/2017.BTW : EPHRAIM NWIKE AND 4 ORS VS GODWIN NWIKE. Anyone who buys the said land is doing so at his or her own risk.

Signed :Family We formerly known as (1) EJIDE FAITH NGOZI (2) NNAEMEKA EMMANUEL OLAJA (3) CHIMAOBI JANE OLAJA (4) CHINAGOROM LINDA OLAJA (5)UKAMAKA CYNTHIA OLAJA now wish to be known as (1) MRS OKPALOR FAITH NGOZI. (2)NNAEMEKA EMMANUEL OKPALOR (3) CHIMAOBI JANE OKPALOR (4) CHINAGOROM LINDA OKPALOR (5) UKAMAKA CYNTHIA OKPALOR. All former documents remain valid. Banks, ministry of Education and General public take note.

formerly known as Miss UDEOZO CHRISTIANA NGOZI now wish to be known as Mrs ADIMBA-COLLINS CHRISTIANA NGOZI. All former documents remain valid. Banks and general public take note

I formerly known as EZEIGWE EBERE ANGELA now wish to be known as EZEIGWE-AZUKA EBERE ANGELA. All former documents remain valid. Banks and general public take note

I formerly known as EZEAMAMA EKPEREAMAKA now wish to be known as OBIANO EKPEREAMAKA JOHNBOSCO. All former documents remain valid. Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as ASOGWA UCHENNA now wish to be known as ASOGWA UCHENNA CORNELIUS. All former documents remain valid.Banks and General public take note.

This is to confirm that the names: IZUCHUKWU NWOKO PAUL and NWOKO IZUCHUKWU PAUL refer to one and same person, now wish to be known as NWOKO IZUCHUKWU PAUL. All former documents remain valid. Banks and general public, take note.

I formerly known as IZUNDU ARINZE ROMANUS now wish to be known as CHIBUEZE ARINZE ROMANUS. All former documents remain valid.Banks and General public take note.

45

The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

SPORTS

Rohr charges Eagles to complete job in Tunisia •Says Ogu’ll get Eagles’ chance soon

Real Madrid sue Portuguese newspaper over Ronaldo rape allegations

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• Super Eagles of Nigeria

Stories by MADUABUCHI KALU

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UPER Eagles’ Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr, has charged his boys ensure that they complete the job against the Mediterranean Knights of Libya by doing a double over them.

The Franco-German football tactician used the opportunity to express his happiness with the performance of Changchyn Yatai of China striker, Odion Ighalo, in the team’s 4-0 defeat of Libya in an African Cup of Nations qualifier at the weekend in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

The German, however, charged the Edo State born goal poacher to go ahead and complete the job in the other encounter between both sides on Tuesday in Tunisia.

“Hope he can continue with this in the second leg in Tunisia. The match is the most crucial because we have to put the qualification chances beyond the Libyans,” Rohr said. He, however, noted that the entire team would have to step up to win again in the second encounter in Tunisia.

“We still have a crucial 90 minutes ahead of us and we must be ready for it,” he added.

Ighalo was the hero for the team after scoring a hat – trick in the game with Samuel Kalu scoring the fourth goal late into the game.

Rohr said he was happy that the striker has put his critics to shame after he came under several attacks from Nigerians over his goals return for the team. Despite his goals return for his club, he has been finding it difficult to get the goals for Nigeria even though he has been ever present in the starting lineup. “People keep asking me why I kept faith with Ighalo,” Rohr said. “I am sure he has answered his critics with the goals he scored.

He has been putting in the efforts in training and also on the field of play. “Despite all what he went through recently especially the attack from the fans, he has not allowed it to get to him.

“He gave us the push at the final third of the pitch and we were able to get the goals that gave us the victory. He was able to commit the goalkeeper for the first goal and

also took the other two goals well which confirmed his rating in the team.”

Meanwhile, the Eagles’ gaffer has thrown his weight behind midfielder John Ogu who continued to get frustrated on the Eagles’ bench.

It has been difficult for the Israelbased star who has find it difficult to get a playing time in the team despite the absence of players like

Man U offers De Gea £375,000 weekly

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ANCHESTER United have offered star goalkeeper David De Gea a new £375,000 per week contract to keep the Spaniard at the club, according to The Sun. The former Atletico Madrid stopper is widely acknowledged as one of the best in his position in world football and has been a key man for the Red Devils in recent seasons.

Speculation linking De Gea with a United exit has been in the press over recent years, with Real Madrid consistently named as a suitor.

However, with the Spaniards opting to sign Thibaut Courtois over the summer, pressure has been removed on the Red Devils.

The latest report suggests United are ready to make De Gea the club’s HELSEA have offered N’Golo second-highest earner after Alexis Kante a new contract in an Sanchez, with a new deal paying £375,000 per week.

Kante in new Chelsea deal

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•N’Golo Kante in action for Chelsea

Mikel Obi and Ogenyi Onazi in the team that thrashed Libya 4-0. According to Rohr, Ogu remained one of his most trusted players and will get his time with the team soon.

He added: “I like Ogu too much and his time with the team will surely come. However, our options were limited because of the forced substitution due to Shehu Abdullahi injury.”

effort to fend off interest from PSG, according to the Mirror.

The French midfielder has three years remaining on his current deal at Stamford Bridge but the Blues are attempting to lock him down for a long-term deal.

The 27-year-old has played the full 90 minutes in all eight Premier League games so far this season, with Maurizio Sarri’s side level on points with Manchester City and Liverpool at the top of • David De Gea the table.

EAL Madrid on Thursday said they were taking legal action against Correio da Manha after the newspaper in Portugal published a story alleging that the Spanish Primera Division club obligated Cristiano Ronaldo to pay off Kathryn Mayorga after an alleged assault inside a suite at the Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas in 2009.

The Portuguese daily, citing unnamed sources, alleges that Real Madrid, who Ronaldo was in the process of joining from Manchester United in June 2009, pressured their star forward to reach the out-of-court financial settlement agreed with Mayorga the following January.

On Wednesday, Ronaldo’s Las Vegas-based attorney said his client “vehemently denies all of the allegations” made in a lawsuit filed last month, and he described the encounter in June 2009 as “consensual in nature.”

“Real Madrid C. F. can today ( last week Thursday) announce that the club have taken legal action against the Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manhã for publishing categorically false information in an effort to seriously damage the image of this club,” Real Madrid said “Real Madrid have absolutely no knowledge of any of the information that the newspaper published with regard to the player Cristiano Ronaldo, and therefore, the club were unable to take action on a matter of which it had no knowledge. Real Madrid have demanded total rectification of the situation from the aforementioned newspaper.”

Jose Mourinho’s men have had a tough start to the new season, with the Spanish goalkeeper one of only a handful of players that can hold their heads high in 2018-19.

Keeping De Gea at Old Trafford seems essential if United are to get back to their former glories, with the star clearly a leader and star performer for the Manchester club.

•Cristiano Ronaldo

Abdullahi out of Eagles’ 2nd leg clash against Libya

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ERNOT Rohr has confirmed the unavailability of Shehu Abdullahi for the return leg of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Libya on Tuesday in Sfax as a result of the injury he copped on Saturday, Shehu was substituted in the 18th minute of the game and was replaced by Ola Aina as the Super Eagles cruised to a 4-0 win.

Rohr disclosed that he does not expect the injury to rule the Bursaspor man out for a long time but he would need a lot of rest to ensure that he recovers quickly and as a result of that he has been excused from the Afcon qualifier against the Mediterranean Knights on Tuesday.

“Shehu cannot play on Tuesday and we already, we lost Onazi to inflammation of the Achilles and he won’t be available for the game

with Libya in Tunisia also,” Rohr told the media.

“We have 22 players now ready for the game on Tuesday. We will stick with these players and are hopeful of a good result in Tunisia because it is a neutral ground for both nations.”

However, the Super Eagles boss confirmed that there won’t be fresh call-ups as he hopes to stick with the remaining players for the crucial encounter in Sfax.

•Shehu Abdullahi

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The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

SPORTS

NBBF plans fabulous reception for D’Tigress

Stories by MADUAUCHI KALU

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OR doing what no other African country has ever done at the Federation of International Basketball Association (FIBA) World Cup, the game’s governing body the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) led by Musa Kida are planning something big for the gallant Nigerian ladies who did the country and the continent proud in Tenerife, Spain in the recently ended FIBA World Cup. According to the Federation they are planning big reception for D’Tigress for surpassing every expectation at the FIBA World Cup

where they ruffled feathers as they shocked bookmakers and pundits at the tournament.

The Nigerian women were able to achieve what no African team have been able to do. They were the first African team to have won a match at the FIBA World Cup. It is not only that they won a match; they won matches against well-known basketball playing nations.

One thing that was striking the heroics of the Nigerian women at the FIBA World Cup was their ability to rise from their initial setback as they were beaten by Australia in their first game only to bounce back to defeat Turkey in their second group game which shocked the world because

Turkey happen to be one of superpowers of Women basketball.

As if that feat was not enough, the Nigerian Women avenged Super Eagles’ defeat at the World Cup by Argentina as they defeated Argentina to set the stage in the quarterfinals against Greece and they equally triumph over the Europeans.

However, they were defeated in the semifinal by defending champions, the United States of America.

Even with the defeat they suffered in the semifinal against the American ladies, the Nigerian women had since surpassed the expectations of millions of Nigerians who expressed satisfactions with their gallant performance at the global champion-

ship in Tenerife, Spain.

It is in recognition of their excellent performance that the Musa Kida led Nigeria Basketball Federation said they are going to receive D’Tigress in a special way. It is also expected that President Muhammadu Buhari, who was following the progress of the women while in the United States of America on official visit ought to equally receive them as a way of encouraging them to do more for the country.

Meanwhile, Musa Kida has disclosed that his focus is on the development of the game in the country hence, he is going to lay more emphasis on the grassroots development

Oyo SWAN rejects Sirawo’s caretaker committee

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YO state chapter of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) on Thursday rose from an emergency congress and rejected the dissolution of the state executive members of the union as proposed by the national body as against the constitution of the association as propounded by the Honour Sirawo led national body, and reiterated that the state chapter remain an indivisible group.

The call was made known in a communiqué issued at the end of an emergency congress following the pronouncement of dissolution of the state executive committee of the union in a memo titled “NEC appoints caretaker for SWAN Oyo chapter” and signed by the administrative secretary, Martins Mejabi on 8th October, 2018.

Oyo SWAN in a communiqué signed by a committee comprise of Adewale Tijani, Samson Akindele, Ayo Ademokoya and Tunde Ogunesan condemned the dictatorial role of the national President of the association, Mr. Honour Sirawoo, and stated that the decision is unconstitutional and unbecoming of the person of the president whose dictatorial tendency is currently blowing wind of crises throughout

the length and breadth of the association across the country.

It also called on the members who were appointed as caretaker members of the association to either accept or renounce their membership of the caretaker committee at the shortest notice of time or face the wrath of the association.

The statement reads: “The Oyo SWAN Congress condemned the dictatorial style of the SWAN National President Honour Sirawoo.

The congress rejected the illegal dissolution of the Oyo SWAN Executive.

“The Congress maintained that the National President, Honour Sirawoo, has no constitutional power to replace a duly elected Oyo Executive with an illegally appointed Caretaker Committee.

“Oyo rejected the Caretaker Committee created by Mr. Honour Sirawoo and declared it illegal, unacceptable and anti – progress.

“The Congress gave Oyo SWAN members, appointed into the unacceptable Caretaker Committee, 24 hours to publicly dissociate themselves from the illegality, called caretaker committee or risk being severely sanctioned according to constitution of SWAN. “The Congress warned the ille-

gal Caretakers to stay away from SWAN office and any of its property or face the wrath of the Association.

“The Congress passed a vote of no-confidence on the SWAN National President, Honour Sirawoo and the NEC, and also declared Mr. Honour Sirawoo and his NEC members persona non grata.

“Oyo SWAN similarly condemned the forced resignation of Mr. Wale Alabi as SWAN Secretary General and the illegal suspension of the SWAN Assistant Secretary General, Mr. Wale Joseph.

“The Congress expressed their total support for Mr. Niyi Alebiosu -led Oyo SWAN Executive Council in their opposition to SWAN NEC over the arbitrary and illegal removal of the two national officers from SWAN NEC as the Congress backed the position of South West SWAN over the issue.

“The Congress expressed their displeasure at the roles played by the Vice President South West zone, Mr. Boye Ajayi in the removal of the two national officers.

“The Congress called for the establishment of a three man committee to investigate the allegations raised against Mr. Boye Ajayi which included non-performance,

incompetence, poor representation, sabotage and betrayal of the zone.

The Congress further frowned at Mr. Ajayi’s anti – Oyo SWAN activities, warning him to note that the Congress have the power to recall him as he should also be reminded that he rode on the back of Oyo SWAN to become the SWAN Vice President in the South West.

“The Congress enjoined the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Oyo State Chapter, as the parent body of SWAN, to make its position on the crisis known to the public.

“Finally, the Congress affirmed that “Oyo SWAN remains a united, undivided and indivisible entity under the constitutions of SWAN and NUJ and that we shall resist any attempt to employ divide and rule gimmicks to take control of our collective psyche under any guise.”

Lagos Tennis Open’ll receive more govt. support – Ambode

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AGOS State governor, Akinwunnmi Ambode has pledged more support for the annual Lagos Open Tennis Championship, which came to a pulsating end at the weekend, following two phases of frenetic action at Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Onikan.

Although Akinwunmi has not been elected to contest for a second term by his party for next year’s elections, he was full of excitement and delight at the 2018 Lagos Open on Saturday, during which he also spoke about plans in the pipeline to float a lawn tennis academy.

Ambode reckoned that having a tennis academy in the state would make the Lagos Open International Tennis Championship attract global attention.

Ambode spoke after taking part in a demonstration match, in which he played against Lagos Lawn Tennis Club’s captain..

Afterward, the governor further said government has held talks with Lagos State Lawn Tennis Association to open up an academy with state-of-the-art facilities that would attract world class players in future competitions.

Ambode said: “This is the beginning of the support that Lagos State will continue to give to Lagos Open.

“The whole idea is for us to be able to move away from this particular location and set up a Lawn Tennis Academy that can actually have an upgrade of a world class competition. They have actually spoken to us that we need to open an academy.

“What we have here on this ground is just seven courts, but if you want it to be globally attended and we want this Lagos Open to be globally competitive, we need an academy that would have like 16 courts and have other facilities to attract world class players.

“That is why Lagos State is ready to partner with the association and because we want the name Lagos on the world map, Lagos State Government has to support the idea of a lawn tennis academy and that is where we are going.

“I want to clearly say that I have enjoyed this particular tournament and I don’t think I have actually sat down somewhere for three hours in a long while.

Vidal ‘lacked respect’ for team mates – Barca Director

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ARCELONA midfielder Arturo Vidal “lacked respect” for his teammates by complaining on social media about not playing enough, the club’s sporting director Pep Segura said on Thursday.

Chilean international Vidal has started only two games for the Catalan giants since his summer move to the Nou Camp from Bayern Munich.

The former Juventus man is up against Croatia’s Ivan Rakitic and Brazilian trio Philippe Coutinho, Arthur and Rafinha for places in a quality-packed Barca midfield.

He recently took his frustration out by posting messages on his Instagram account featuring angry or frustrated emojis, notably following Barca’s 4-2 Champions League win over Tottenham.

Segura, speaking to the Catalan Daily Sport, said: “A professional has to show respect for his teammates, for the dressing room and for the coach even if the decisions that are taken are not always the ones he expects.”

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The Oracle Today Wednesday October 24, 2018

NEWS Extra Listen to Fela’s music, Falana advises Atiku, others

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ctivist lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), on Monday advised Nigerian presidential candidates seeking office in 2019 to listen to the late legendary musician, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s music, to get solutions proffered to the nation’s problems.

Falana gave the advice during the 2018 Felabration tagged Fela @ 80: Overtaking Overtake, at the Fela debates titled: “African Leadership in the Millennium” in Lagos.

He said that the late Fela had seen Nigeria’s problems, as he gave warning and proffered solutions to such problems in his music before his death.

Fela, who was born on Oct. 15, 1938 and died on Aug. 2, 1997, was the pioneer of the Afrobeat music genre and a human rights activist.

He composed many songs on societal ills in Nigeria and the African continent, and had many brushes with several Nigerian governments which he often criticised in his songs.

Some of such popular songs include ‘Suffering and Smiling’, ‘Authority Stealing’, ‘Zombie’, ‘Water No Get Enemy’ and ‘Lady’.

Falana said: ”I want most of these presidential aspirants to listen to Fela’s music very well where they can find solutions to most of our problems. ”Our country is rich as Fela sang in his music, but our people are still hungry and poor; you must understand our society before you can lead us.”

Falana urged young Nigerians to get organised so that the sky would be their starting point.

He said that if Nigeria could get it right, the black man all over Africa would be happy.

Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, Mr Omoyele Sowore, who also spoke at the event, advised Nigerians to take charge of their destinies by voting rightly, come 2019.

Sowore said that History was important for the school curriculum, as the negative influences of the nation’s bad past leaders should be known to the younger generation.

He urged Nigerian youths who feel capable of occupying public office to indicate interest and ensure novices are not given the opportunity to rule.

Politician and legal practitioner, Eunice Atu-Ejide, who also spoke at the event, urged Nigerians to look out for virtues such as sincerity, honesty, positive character and integrity, rather than age, in choosing leaders.

“We must stop inciting violence and hatred, but focus on choosing rightly. Age is not a determinant if a presidential candidate will do well in the office, but the character and integrity should be considered,” she said.

NAN reports that the 2018 Felabration, which commenced on Monday, will run through the week with performances by artists from Togo, France and Nigeria, dance competitions, among others.

Felabration is an annual festival of music and arts commemorating the life and times of Nigeria’s foremost musical icon, the late Fela Anikulakpo Kuti.

The idea and concept of Felabration as an annual celebration of Fela’s music, life and times, originated from his eldest child Yeni who conceived it in 1998.

Currently, Felabration organised by the Felabration Organising Committee has grown into a mega weeklong musical event in Nigeria, attracting thousands of visitors annually to the New Africa Shrine from all over the world.

Ebonyi govt to support 300 ITF trainees with empowerment grants Ebonyi government has pledged to support the 300 Industrial Training Fund (ITF) trainees in the state with empowerment grants to establish their business ventures.

Commissioner for Empowerment and Job creation, Mr Uchenna Orji, disclosed this on Monday in Abaklaiki during an assessment visit to the various ITF empowerment training centres in Abakaliki.

Orji said that at the end of the training he would make effective representation to the governor for the trainees to adequately utilise the opportunities provided within the three months training period.

“You will be issued certificates at the end of the training and the certificate will generate funds for you to establish your various businesses ventures.

“The state government’s support will complement that from the ITF

after the training to ensure that you become business entrepreneurs in your various business fields.

“You also have the chance of expanding your businesses by accessing the state government’s N4billion empowerment fund which will develop your business to the level you desire,” he said.

The commissioner commended the ITF for training no fewer than 300 Ebonyi citizens in different vocations such as catering services and events management, metal fabrication, tiling, among others.

“Ebonyi is one of the fastest economically-growing states in the country and its people are embracing the message of self-employment and wealth creation.

“ITF has become a household name in Ebonyi and has performed exceptionally well under the present government in the state which

places empowerment and job creation among its cardinal policies.

“The ITF has demonstrated its unbridled love for Ebonyi by inaugurating its South East zonal office in the state with the governor determined to raise the income level of its citizens to an appreciable height,” he said.

He noted that the state government’s favourable disposition to the federal government was yielding fruits as all the latter’s empowerment schemes were being implemented in the state.

Earlier, Mrs Ifeyinwa Osagie, ITF Area Manager in Abakaliki, said that the programme had designated five centres for catering and events management across Abaklaiki among other centres for other vocations.

“The programme which commenced on Aug.8, would last for

three months with the aim of imparting entrepreneurship skills in the trainees to start their businesses.

“We are also happy to announce that trainees in the metal and fabrication centre are developing rapidly with most of them already delivering related services to the public,” she said.

Catering and Events Management Trainer, Mrs Chika Aluu, noted that the trainees were rapidly grasping the tutorials being offered them which had made her job easy.

“It is my wish that after the training they would not depend on their families for sustenance and also be able to effectively manage their respective homes,” she said.

One of the trainees, Miss Lilian Odii, said that she learnt the complexities in cooking and related catering requirements and could prepare several local and foreign delicacies.

Onyema’s Air Peace receives 5th Embraer jet

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• (Manager, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, NLNG, Mr. Andy Odeh (r) receiving Special Recognition Award from outgoing President of Nigerian Gas Association (NGA), Engr. Dada Thomas, during leadership dinner at Transcorp Hilton, Abuja.

Enugu guber: APC accuses PDP of destabilisation plots

By IZUNNA EZENWA

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head of the 2019 general elections, the Enugu State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, on Sunday, accused the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, of engaging in failed desperate attempts to destabilize the party.

This followed a claim by a faction of the APC in the State led by Deacon Okey Ogbodo that Senator Ayogu Eze is not the party’s guber candidate for the 2019 general elections.

Ogbodo had said that “for the avoidance of doubts, the APC flag bearer in Enugu State is Barrister George Tagbo Ogara.”

But in a swift reaction, chairman of the APC in the State, Barr. Ben Nwoye, in a statement, said the PDP, which was afraid of failure, had resorted to a last minute attempt to confuse the electorates in the State.

He said, “The attention of the Enugu State APC has been drawn to a media report indicating that one Barr.

George Ogara has emerged as the gubernatorial candidate of the APC for the upcoming election.

“The report itself is not only ridiculous but out of the imagination of some persons parading themselves around in Enugu. While we admit that Barr. George Ogara is an Enugu State APC member, but it should be noted

that he introduced thuggery during the party’s last primary election. Several people were injured and properties were destroyed by hundreds of thugs he introduced and a disciplinary committee has been set up to look into his activities. He did not only lose in the election on the day he introduced thuggery, where he scored one vote, he also lost woefully, he came out last during the just concluded primary election and that election result was announced by Prof. Momoh, where Barr. Ogara placed distant last.

“Okey Ogbodo’s macabre dance is being bit by the PDP as they failed to distort the election to their favour. The winner of the election as announced by Prof. Momoh was and still remains Senator Ayogu Eze and his emergence has united APC Enugu State more than ever and the popularity of APC in Enugu State has continued to soar as goodwill of Distinguished Senator Ayogu Eze has attracted both new members from PDP; they are joining forces to ensure that power is wrestled from the PDP in 2019.

“The report by Okey Ogbodo, who is claiming to be chairman of APC, that report has already been put to rest.

Distinguished Senator Ayogu Eze has been given forms by the NWC, both for him and his running mate, which they will be submitting to INEC this

week.”

“For the avoidance of doubt, was Barr. Ogara mentioned anywhere by the NWC or has he form of any nature, as even an aspirant who is close to winning, let alone emerging as a candidate?

“Our teeming supporters should henceforth disregard statements from Okey Ogbodo and his associates, regarding the governorship.

We know that Okey Ogbodo was sponsored by the PDP to take over the leadership of APC, which failed, as it was repelled. He has remained in court, his court cases have come to nothing.

“At the last concluded election, the primaries from the State House of Assembly up to the governorship was conducted by the leadership of APC, led by Dr. Ben Nwoye. So, PDP should look for other means and prepare for election; they should prepare for election come 2019. Using surrogates to misinform the public is not an election strategy in the 21st Century.

“We are advising our teeming supporters to totally and permanently disregard any statement issued by Okey Ogbodo or George Ogara as those type of statements are nothing but part of exercise engaged by those who have ascribed to them authorities they don’t possess,” Nwoye concluded.

igerian carrier, Air Peace, owned by Chief Allen Onyema, has taken delivery of its fifth Embraer jet ahead of the airline’s plan to re-launch its flights to Sokoto and start its Katsina service.

A statement signed by Air Peace Corporate Communications Manager, Mr Chris Iwarah, Monday disclosed that the aircraft landed at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos at about 6.30pm on Sunday.

Iwarah said: ”We have now received a total of five of the six Embaer 145 aircraft we recently acquired as part of our fleet expansion project.

“We are delighted that with the arrival of the aircraft, we will relaunch our Sokoto operations and start our Katsina service in the next two weeks.

“Air Peace is committed to our nocity-left-behind project under our subsidiary, Air Peace Hopper.

“We are honoured that our involvement in the aviation industry is fulfilling our goal of uniting Nigeria through air transport, creating thousands of direct and indirect job opportunities and lifting Nigeria’s economy.”

According to him, the airline will continue to deliver exceptional flight services and create massive employment opportunities for the people with its domestic, regional and international operations.

Iwarah said that the new aircraft, with registration number 5N-BUX and named Udoka Ozor (Nee Onyema), would be deployed on the Sokoto and Katsina routes soon.

WEDNESDAY October 24, 2018

The

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Executive Order 6: Too little too late

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obody is rattled by Executive Order 6 or President Buhari’s directive that it be implemented “in full force”. The order, which bans 50 Nigerians suspected to be corrupt from travelling abroad or selling their assets until their cases are determined in the courts, seems as weak as the government making a noise about it.

The administration’s lifelessness has been betrayed yet again by the inclusion of dead people’s names on the list of suspects made public so far.

Some have since escaped to Europe or America. Shouldn’t we stop pretending about anti-corruption fight? Were the incumbent administration sincere, it would have started the fight on May 29, 2015. What we have now is a lame-duck government grappling with primaries, campaigns and elections. It has no force to take on even chicken thieves.

When I was prescribing radical steps a president could take to restructure Nigeria, some eight or nine years ago, I was told that only a military dictator could take such steps, as the law would prevent an elected president.

The witches and wizards that “elect” our leaders well in advance of voting day, I was told, have built a prison for every Nigerian leader: on inauguration you take an oath to obey a fraudulent constitution made in their coven. So from where does “executive order” come? In spite of its defects, the Nigerian constitution grants the president enormous powers.

A president truly dedicated to reforms could make good use of executive orders and work harmoniously with other arms of government to change Nigeria. I thought Buhari was the man for the job in 2015. As everyone soon found out, he was not. And I’ve since apologised to those I had misled. All he could do was talk about “kwaruption” and issue threats that were never carried out. Which thief is so stupid that they couldn’t put their affairs in order after three years? It’s too late now – no one has been waiting for Buhari’s EO6 of October 13, 2018.

Just 50 Nigerians are on the radar.

Where are perhaps one million others? If only 50 Nigerians had assets suspected to be proceeds of corruption, then, we’d be doing very well as a country. But who is fooling whom? Houses in Asokoro alone built or bought with stolen public funds could be counted in hundreds of thousands. Civil servants whose legitimate earnings in 35 years can’t buy a decent bungalow own estates in Maitama and Wuse. So do retired generals and politicians. Some own properties in several other countries, just as all their children school abroad.

Any leader desirous of unearthing stolen funds could simply probe into the contracts awarded at all levels of government. Auditors, internal and external, dot every nook and cranny but are incapable of arresting numerous cases of theft through overinflated contracts, non-existent contracts, and direct transfer of money from the public treasury. Crooks are known to have

GUEST COLUMNIST

ANIEBO

NWAMU

•Buhari

The administration’s lifelessness has been betrayed yet again by the inclusion of dead people’s names on the list of suspects made public so far. Some have since escaped to Europe or America. Shouldn’t we stop pretending about anti-corruption fight?

“

infiltrated the legislature, the police, the customs and other paramilitary agencies. But the situation became troubling when I heard that even many EFCC and ICPC officials have been caught with their fingers on the same soup-pots they were employed to watch.

My recommendation has been for an impartial leader to seize all assets whose sources cannot be explained,

at least until their owners show us the trees in their compounds that grow naira, dollar or pound bills. Chikena! If there is no enabling law, it won’t take rocket science to put one in place. We all have been complaining about the jumbo salaries and allowances enjoyed by officeholders, especially lawmakers who do nothing other than shout “aye” or “nay” twice a month. Why can’t

a president whisper an order to the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC, so that a senator gets less than N1m per month and no more? Today, fewer than 17, 000 officeholders take more than N2trillion – that is, about one-third of what the rest of us 200million Nigerians share – per year. Can’t an honest president do away with overinflated contracts, personal ownership of oil blocks, constituency allowances/projects, and security votes that are not accounted for? What happened to executive orders?

When a weak leader fails, he blames his failure on the limitations placed by the courts. How could EFCC operatives have broken into judges’ homes in the dead of night but weren’t sent to jail? It’s easy to manufacture excuses. But we can easily identify a serious corruption fighter – a leader like Murtala Muhammed who, first, gave up his own assets and forced others to follow suit.

What Buhari calls “corruption” is the lifeblood of the country’s economy.

Government money sustains almost all private businesses here; seizing it means killing businesses that create jobs. Before implementing the TSA, or blocking “loopholes”, the government ought to have created an alternative – a better way of dispensing money to feed genuine businesses – until a new culture takes root. Now, many are dying of hunger and yearn for a return to “corruption” – it’s better to live with thieves than with murderers.

Crimes such as terrorism, kidnapping for ransom, armed robbery, and internet fraud (419) should not be expected to vanish anytime soon. Whether there is oil boom or oil bust, most Nigerians will continue to live in misery – without jobs, food, electric power, clean water, good roads, and security. Those displaced by the system will always find ways to circumvent the law, for survival is the first law of nature.

Since Buhari claims he has been fighting corruption all these years, it’s safe to assume that corruption has won. In the twilight of his tenure, he is still talking about placing 50 Nigerians under watch.

Who will continue to watch them later?

Rather than strengthen institutions that would fight corruption at all times, his regime has made the existing ones weaker. The first time he clamped down on “looters”, in1984, he failed to demonstrate competence until he was overthrown. A new regime released the “looters”, returned their loot, and even apologised to them.

History is repeating itself. The wealthy class Buhari often accuses of corruption has since overpowered him and made him lie helplessly. He can’t survive their onslaught, as events of the next few months will show. EO6 or whatever emergency steps he takes now won’t make any difference.

•NWAMU, a seasoned journalist and columnist is editor-in-chief of eyeway.ng.

He wrote this article originally for the online platform.

The Oracle Today is published by The Oracle Newspapers Limited. Head Office: 116 Awka Road, Onitsha. Lagos Office: 25 Remi Fani-Kayode Street, GRA Ikeja. Abuja Office: 1st Floor, Plateau House, Central Business District, Abuja, FCT. ISSN: 2545-5869 Email: oracletoday2016@yahoo.com, Twitter: @oraclenews.ng Facebook: oraclenews.ng@facebook.com Website: www.oraclenews.ng Advert hot lines: 09078310060, 09061836916. Editor: FELIX OGUEJIOFOR ABUGU.