Wednesday January 31 Edition

What is a cattle colony?

THE ORACLE TODAY SPECIAL REPORT

C

attle Colony is one of the neighbourhoods of Bin Qasim Town in Karachi, Sindh,

The

• Buhari

VOX POPULI SACRUM

Cattle Colony is the dairy products shopping and supply centre of Karachi. There are also many abattoirs and meat warehouses

Pakistan. This neighbourhood of Karachi is the centre of cattle and meat trade in Karachi. The

racle Contd on page 2

• Ortom

www.oraclenews.ng

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 31, 2018

ISSN: 2545-5869

Today Today

VOL.3 No. 4 N200

PDP in more trouble • No agreement on presidential candidate • Legislators want to return unopposed • Govs have their agenda • Party leadership not divided

M

• Special reception for Gov Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State by communities in Obingwa

My re-election campaign will be tsunami – Umahi P8 Page 13

ORE troubles are on the way for the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, over the primaries for the 2019 elections.

Interested parties are pulling from all directions. This time, however, it is not likely to come in the form any major leadership crisis: at least, there is no particular group at the moment threatening fire and brimstone against the popularly elected Prince Uche Secondus National Executive Committee, NEC. Rather, trouble might emanate from what has been described by sources as the ‘vaulting’ ambition of the National Assembly Caucus of the former ruling party at the centre, whose members, The Oracle Today learnt, are putting pressure on the Secondus executive to grant them automatic return tickets for 2019. It is a testy situation.

Indeed, a very reliable National Assembly source told The Oracle Today in Abuja that some members of the Caucus emerged from a meeting with the leadership of the PDP beaming with smiles “after extracting a commitment from the party leadership that they would be given automatic tickets.” It was longer before the news filtered to the States, where some of the legislators were not in good terms with their constituents.

The source also said although the party leadership and the legislators had apparently sealed the deal, there is one hurdle to cross: getting

the powerful PDP governors’ consent. Just like their constituents, some of the governors were waiting for election time to tell the legislators who were in charge.

“Each legislator has a different issue to deal with in every constituency,” a governor’s aide told The Oracle Today. “Some of them have done three terms, we are talking of 12 years, some 16 years, and they still want to go back. Some are in very bad terms with their people.

“Others may be in PDP, but we know they are ready to cross to another party when they win. Then there are those who know their local politics, reached agreements about the number of tenures they should do; now they are telling us stories. Those are the issues.”

The governor’s aide said many governors were under pressure to hand the ticket to other candidates.

The governors would not want to Contd on page 2

Fuel scarcity: Two large vessels land

• NIPCO, AITEO intensify loading from Apapa depots From SOPURUCHI ONWUKA, Lagos

T

few filling stations that opened to customers in Lagos and neighbouring States.

Survey of the situation by The Oracle Today showed that very few major marketers were open to customers at the weekend while fewer independent marketers attended to desperate customers.

Even the filling stations that opened to customers at the weekend sold with very limited dispensing pumps for all customers including motorists, cyclists and small business operators that thronged the outlets with plastic

HE crippling fuel scarcity that beset Lagos and other States of the Federation might be temporary if arrangements between government and private players in the domestic market yield the desired objectives of rapidly plugging supply gaps.

The scarcity, which went acute at the weekend when motorists and sundry fuel consumers in the country were looking forward to return of normal supply created panic that caused rowdy scramble for fuel at Contd on page 2

Don’t kill to support me – Wike

2

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

NEWS Fuel scarcity

PDP

Continued from Pg 1 containers and drums.

The situation worsened Monday morning as more motorists made their way to the filling stations, causing long queues that tailed into major roads and cause traffic impasse. Most retail outlets operated

by NNPC and her franchise partners did not open on Monday despite assurances from the corporation that it was pushing out more fuel to address scarcity.

One of the spokesmen of the corporation told The Oracle Today that NNPC stepped up fuel load out at its depots nationwide to 250 trucks per day, translating to 8.25 million litres per day.

The corporation puts average national fuel demand at about 32 million litres per day.

Our source said arrangement was on ground for major and independent petroleum products marketers to also supply products from the Corporation’s imports to match up additional supply from their various storage facilities.

Depot sources confirmed yesterday that partners have been asked to enhance supply to retail operators in order to ease access to products.

At NIPICO, one of the country’s biggest downstream players, The Oracle Today learnt of plans for allnight leading operations for this week. Same plans were also at work at Aiteo depot.

Our source also disclosed that two vessels arrived at Lagos quays with large volume petrol cargoes waiting for discharge at designated jetties.

He said the new cargoes would sustain steady supplies in the western axis while traditional supply channels normalise.

Meanwhile, the NNPC Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru, who inaugurated a new board for the Corporation’s retail subsidiary in Abuja challenged NNPC Retail Limited to build more storage facilities in the country in addition to the corporation’s existing 23 depots nationwide in order to ease products supply and distribution in the country.

He also charged the company to increase its market share from 13 to 30 per cent by building more depots and acquiring dormant ones in the country. He blamed marketers for the fuel scarcity in the country and tasked NNPC Retail to seize advantage of the supply gaps in the market to grab more share of the customer blocs and also explore regional markets.

To be serialised in The Oracle Today soon

Read about the great Rangers story from next edition

• Fuel scarcity persists, NNPC promises end to the challenges

What is a cattle colony?

Continued from Pg 1

located in the Cattle Colony. – Wikipedia IT is clearly different from what the Federal Government is proposing as the solution to the conflicts between Fulani herdsmen and farmers across Nigeria, following thousands of lives that have been lost over the years in the perennial attacks that have seen villages razed, people macheted, shot, killed in some of the most gruesome manners by Fulani herdsmen look for pastures for their cattle. The latest killings in Benue State in the first week of January 2018 have resulted in a series of new questions about the interest of the Federal Government in these conflicts.

The Federal Government has been accused of always siding with the Fulani herdsmen, who have threatened more attacks in Benue State unless its anti-grazing law is repealed.

A grazing bill in the National Assembly is still being considered, but the Federal Government is going ahead with the Cattle Colony, which it intends to build in each State for the Fulani herdsmen, but protests are mounting against such move.

The Federal Government says it would go on with the policy.

Sixteen States - Kogi and Plateau are reportedly the most enthusiastic - have signed up for the cattle colonies project although opposition is reportedly mounting in those States too.

Taraba State, Abia, Benue, Ekiti, Enugu, Oyo, Osun were some of the States that have openly rejected the Federal Government proposal on cattle colony.

Mr. Yusufu Akirikwen, the Taraba Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, said that the State had no land for cattle colonies as proposed by the Federal Government.

The Attorney General said the State government had enacted a law for the establishment of ranches, which would come into effect on Jan 24.

He called on the Federal Government to support the State in implementing the law, describing Taraba as the best place for cattle rearing globally.

Akirikwen said the Taraba State Government created the implementation mechanism for the law, stressing that what the State required was the Federal Government’s deployment of adequate security for hitch-free implementation of the law.

“The truth of the matter is that the idea of cattle colony is still not very clear for most Nigerians. Where would the Federal Government get land for cattle colonies? Would they sit there in Abuja and acquire land across the States of the Federation for cattle colonies?” he queried.

“We have enacted a law for ranching here in Taraba, but we are not acquiring land for people, herdsmen and cattle owners are going to buy land and do their ranching business,’’ Mr. Akirikwen added.

In Kogi State, Prince Alhassan Ejike, a community leader, has warned Governor Yahaya Bello not to be involved in the establishment of cattle colonies in any part of the State.

He said Kogi State does not belong to the governor, adding that Governor Bello should avoid an open invitation to herdsmen.

James Faleke, Member, Hose of Representatives, the Igala

Project, and the people of Dekina Local Government, have opposed the project.

They cited the killings and destructions that the Fulani herdsmen had wrecked on them as their reason.

It is a well-known fact that lands are in the hands of communities by practice. Governments acquire them for public interest. In other instances, governments pay compensation for acquiring land. “Would governments acquire land from communities that hardly have enough for the benefit of Fulani herdsmen? Who else would be allowed to participate in their business?,” one of The Oracle Today consulted, asked.

Lagos lawyer, Femi Falana in a statement sought clarity about the Federal Government policy, seeking to know when the transition from the establishment of ranches to cattle colonies took place.

“In a determined bid to solve the perennial clashes between farmers and herdsmen in the various parts of the country, the Buhari administration had embarked on a vigorous campaign for the establishment of ranches in the country. Over a year ago, Ogbeh announced that 11 State Governments and the Federal Capital Territory Administration had made available 55 hectares of land for the establishment of ranches,” Falana’s statement read.

The reference was to the earlier stages of the Minister’s appointment, when he spoke extensively of his plans to import grass from Brazil to feed the ranched cattle.

“He also announced that the Federal Government had concluded plans to engage the Continued on Pg 44

play with their own chances at the elections by taking unpopular decisions on representations.

The matter is not at the National Assembly only, but at the State assemblies too.”

Some of the National Assembly members, following the meeting, were believed to have asked their legislative assistants to start preparing their performance brochures, which they will use to canvass support for their re-election bids. They did not reckon with the position of the governors.

It was, however, not clear whether the automatic tickets would also be given to legislators who had spent more than two terms in the National Assembly. It was also not clear whether the automatic ticket would mean there would be no primaries, or that the party would have favoured candidates at the primaries.

But another reliable source close to the party leadership told The Oracle Today that giving automatic ticket to anybody or set of people is not in the leadership’s cards at all, as that, according to him, would spell doom for the party, which is yet to fully recover from the crisis which such “impunity brought upon the once vibrant ruling party.”

“What I know the Chairman has said is that there will be a level playing field for all elective office aspirants on the platform of the PDP,” the source said. “The automatic ticket thing was what the legislators threw up during the Chairman’s election campaign.

But, nobody promised them such favour. The party can’t even afford to do that. Don’t forget that that was exactly what caused a lot of the problems that were to threaten the very foundation of the party in the first place. So, that is a no-brainer. It will disastrous for the party to tow that same deleterious line again.”

It was learnt that many of the legislators are pushing for automatic tickets because they were not in good terms with their governors who control the real levers of power in the party and are in a position to influence who gets what in the party and or in their states, tickets et al. So, getting the party leadership to grant them automatic ticket is the only way the legislators hope to seek re-election knowing full well that their governors might deny them return tickets.

The Oracle Today learnt that instead of granting the legislators their request, what the Secondus executive plans to do is to seek ways to reconcile some of them with their governors to smoothen their participation in level-field party primaries to elect candidates for various elective offices.

“Some of them are scared stiff of their governors. The best that the Chairman can do for such lawmakers is to try and reconcile them with their governors so they could have their governors’ support for their re-election bids, at least to allow them to participate in a credible primary process. But, for them to be given automatic tickets is something that might just be untenable, to say the least,” the source close to the office of the Chairman said.

In one of the South East States,

Cont’d on page 44

3

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

NEWS ACROSS THE NATION Disease control: WHO donates 853 motorcycles to Nigeria

T

HE World Health Organisation in collaboration with other donor agencies has donated 853 motorcycles to the Federal Government to strengthen diseases surveillance across the country.

WHO Country Representative in Nigeria, Dr Wondi Alemu, while presenting the motorcycles to the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Ade-

wole, in Abuja, Monday, said that surveillance was critical to disease control, elimination and eradication.

According to him, surveillance enhances the monitoring and assessment of the impact of strategies and activities which are aimed at reducing the burden of diseases.

“Surveillance helps in tracking

progress in disease control and serves as an early warning system for impending public health emergencies. This donation aims to build a highly sensitive and robust system to rapidly detect and respond to diseases of epidemic potential.

“Diseases Surveillance and Notification Officers (DSNOs) play a major role in active surveillance at the

field level through visits to communities and health facilities, as well as in linking with key community informants.

“They also facilitate timely investigation and response to outbreaks where they occur; this group of professionals deserves to be provided with the most appropriate logistics to enhance their mobility,’’ he said.

Alemu urged the minister to ensure that the motorcycles were properly maintained and put to good use.

Remarking, the minister commended the WHO country representative for the gesture and acknowledged that disease surveillance was critical for public health maintenance.

“When we are able to detect and respond appropriately, we will be able to curtail the spread of diseases and maintain good health across the nation. The 853 motorcycles that have been donated will certainly be used by DSNOs in appropriate manner.

“They will also be utilised effectively to help detect disease outbreaks. It is important for us to know and detect outbreaks promptly because when we do not know on time, diseases will spread.

“So, with good and early notification, we will investigate and make appropriate diagnosis and be able to respond accordingly,’’ Adewole said.

INEC creates 10 additional centres in Bayelsa

T

(From left): Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) and Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, Akwa Ibom State Governor, Emmanuel Udom and Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano, at a meeting in Abuja.

NAPTIP refutes Obaseki’s allegation of non-cooperation From VICTOR NZE

T

HE National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has moved to refute recent allegations of non-cooperation leveled

against it by the Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, over the treatment of Libya returnees to the country.

In a statement issued by the agency, and signed by Josiah Emerole, Head, Press and Public

Bayelsa revenue board seals NDDC’s Yenagoa office

T

HE Bayelsa Board of Internal Revenue (BIR) has again sealed off the office of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in Yenagoa, the state capital, over alleged nonremittance of N168 million Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax liability.

The building was earlier sealed off in June 2017 when the liability was N336 million, with the NDDC paying half of the sum leaving the balance unpaid.

Director of Compliance, Mr Robert Lokoson, who led the enforcement team, Monday, said the government was compelled to act following the failure of the NDDC to keep to the agreement to offset the debt in two instalments.

“Sometime in June 2017, the

board was forced to levy a warrant of distrain ( Order of court to compel payment) on NDDC in view of a tax debt for 2008-2014 totalling N336 million.

“Following the intervention by stakeholders and a meeting between the board and the NDDC, we graciously suspended destrain with provision that the liability will be cleared in two tranches of N168 million within two months.

“Sadly after the first tranche was paid in July 2017, the NDDC has refused to clear the last tranche of N168 million five months later.

It is this intransigent attitude that has compelled the board to re-levy the distrain and recover the outstanding N168 million,” Lokoson said.

Relations on behalf of NAPTIP, the agency described the allegations as ‘are far from the truth.’

It would be recalled that Edo State Governor, Obaseki had accused the agency of not cooperating with his government in the fight against human trafficking especially with the on-going evacuation and reintegration of returnees from Libya.

The reports also quoted the Governor as accusing the agency of not properly guiding the Federal Government on packages for evacuated victims from Libya,

and alluding to the fact that the batches evacuated by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) were given one hundred Euros each.

“It is important to state clearly that allegations by the Edo State Government are far from the truth as the Agency which was established pursuant to the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law Enforcement and Administration Act 2003 has never in any way shown a lack of cooperation to the Government and good people of Edo State.

HE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has created 10 additional centres in Bayela State to ensure that many residents of the state participate in the ongoing voters’ registration.

INEC’s Administrative Secretary in the state, Mr Clement Oha, said, Monday, in Yenagoa that the state now has 29 centres with the creation of the new ones, adding that there were now more registration centres in the coastal communities.

He said that the centres were shared according to population density, terrains and distance to the already existing ones.

Oha advised those who had not been registered to take part in the ongoing nationwide Continuous Voters’ Registration (CVR) to enable them secure their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs). “I urge the residents that have not been registered to secure their voting rights ahead of the 2019 general elections. Those who had registered before the 2015 general elections should to go to INEC’s office in the various local government secretariats or other designated centres in their areas to collect their PVCs,” Oha said.

Lagos Govt partners NYSC on entrepreneurship development From VICTOR NZE

L

AGOS State Government has announced a partnering with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) which would see Corps members posted to the state to sharpen their entrepreneurial skills in order to be self-reliant.

State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, who stated this at the opening of the orientation course for the Year 2017 Batch B, Stream II, noted that while government is making efforts to bridge the unemployment gap, it has provided a platform for entrepreneurs to develop their skills, while also making available, start-up capital to help put them in business.

The Governor, represented by the Commissioner for Special Duties and Intergovernmental Relations, Mr. Oluseye Oladejo, added that the State government plans to support young people to become job and wealth creators by providing them with startup capital through the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund.

While urging corps members to be diligent, dedicated and law-abiding in the discharge of their duties, Ambode also advised them to exhibit qualities like tolerance, patriotism, honesty and perseverance during the orientation course.

“I have no doubt that this orientation course will adequately prepare you for the next phase of your serv-

ice year in which you are expected to exhibit good qualities like tolerance, patriotism, honesty, diligence and perseverance in your various place of primary assignment”, he said.

Earlier in his welcome address, the State Coordinator of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Prince Mohammed Momoh stated that a total of 2, 279 Corps members comprising of 992 male and 1,287 female have been registered to participate in the orientation course.

The Coordinator said that since the commencement of the orientation course, the Corps members have been well behaved and responding to the training schedule while exhibiting a high sense of commitment that will make the orientation course a hitch-free exercise.

3

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

NEWS ACROSS THE NATION Disease control: WHO donates 853 motorcycles to Nigeria

T

HE World Health Organisation in collaboration with other donor agencies has donated 853 motorcycles to the Federal Government to strengthen diseases surveillance across the country.

WHO Country Representative in Nigeria, Dr Wondi Alemu, while presenting the motorcycles to the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Ade-

wole, in Abuja, Monday, said that surveillance was critical to disease control, elimination and eradication.

According to him, surveillance enhances the monitoring and assessment of the impact of strategies and activities which are aimed at reducing the burden of diseases.

“Surveillance helps in tracking

progress in disease control and serves as an early warning system for impending public health emergencies. This donation aims to build a highly sensitive and robust system to rapidly detect and respond to diseases of epidemic potential.

“Diseases Surveillance and Notification Officers (DSNOs) play a major role in active surveillance at the

field level through visits to communities and health facilities, as well as in linking with key community informants.

“They also facilitate timely investigation and response to outbreaks where they occur; this group of professionals deserves to be provided with the most appropriate logistics to enhance their mobility,’’ he said.

Alemu urged the minister to ensure that the motorcycles were properly maintained and put to good use.

Remarking, the minister commended the WHO country representative for the gesture and acknowledged that disease surveillance was critical for public health maintenance.

“When we are able to detect and respond appropriately, we will be able to curtail the spread of diseases and maintain good health across the nation. The 853 motorcycles that have been donated will certainly be used by DSNOs in appropriate manner.

“They will also be utilised effectively to help detect disease outbreaks. It is important for us to know and detect outbreaks promptly because when we do not know on time, diseases will spread.

“So, with good and early notification, we will investigate and make appropriate diagnosis and be able to respond accordingly,’’ Adewole said.

INEC creates 10 additional centres in Bayelsa

T

(From left): Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) and Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, Akwa Ibom State Governor, Emmanuel Udom and Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano, at a meeting in Abuja.

NAPTIP refutes Obaseki’s allegation of non-cooperation From VICTOR NZE

T

HE National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has moved to refute recent allegations of non-cooperation leveled

against it by the Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, over the treatment of Libya returnees to the country.

In a statement issued by the agency, and signed by Josiah Emerole, Head, Press and Public

Bayelsa revenue board seals NDDC’s Yenagoa office

T

HE Bayelsa Board of Internal Revenue (BIR) has again sealed off the office of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in Yenagoa, the state capital, over alleged nonremittance of N168 million Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax liability.

The building was earlier sealed off in June 2017 when the liability was N336 million, with the NDDC paying half of the sum leaving the balance unpaid.

Director of Compliance, Mr Robert Lokoson, who led the enforcement team, Monday, said the government was compelled to act following the failure of the NDDC to keep to the agreement to offset the debt in two instalments.

“Sometime in June 2017, the

board was forced to levy a warrant of distrain ( Order of court to compel payment) on NDDC in view of a tax debt for 2008-2014 totalling N336 million.

“Following the intervention by stakeholders and a meeting between the board and the NDDC, we graciously suspended destrain with provision that the liability will be cleared in two tranches of N168 million within two months.

“Sadly after the first tranche was paid in July 2017, the NDDC has refused to clear the last tranche of N168 million five months later.

It is this intransigent attitude that has compelled the board to re-levy the distrain and recover the outstanding N168 million,” Lokoson said.

Relations on behalf of NAPTIP, the agency described the allegations as ‘are far from the truth.’

It would be recalled that Edo State Governor, Obaseki had accused the agency of not cooperating with his government in the fight against human trafficking especially with the on-going evacuation and reintegration of returnees from Libya.

The reports also quoted the Governor as accusing the agency of not properly guiding the Federal Government on packages for evacuated victims from Libya,

and alluding to the fact that the batches evacuated by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) were given one hundred Euros each.

“It is important to state clearly that allegations by the Edo State Government are far from the truth as the Agency which was established pursuant to the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law Enforcement and Administration Act 2003 has never in any way shown a lack of cooperation to the Government and good people of Edo State.

HE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has created 10 additional centres in Bayela State to ensure that many residents of the state participate in the ongoing voters’ registration.

INEC’s Administrative Secretary in the state, Mr Clement Oha, said, Monday, in Yenagoa that the state now has 29 centres with the creation of the new ones, adding that there were now more registration centres in the coastal communities.

He said that the centres were shared according to population density, terrains and distance to the already existing ones.

Oha advised those who had not been registered to take part in the ongoing nationwide Continuous Voters’ Registration (CVR) to enable them secure their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs). “I urge the residents that have not been registered to secure their voting rights ahead of the 2019 general elections. Those who had registered before the 2015 general elections should to go to INEC’s office in the various local government secretariats or other designated centres in their areas to collect their PVCs,” Oha said.

Lagos Govt partners NYSC on entrepreneurship development From VICTOR NZE

L

AGOS State Government has announced a partnering with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) which would see Corps members posted to the state to sharpen their entrepreneurial skills in order to be self-reliant.

State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, who stated this at the opening of the orientation course for the Year 2017 Batch B, Stream II, noted that while government is making efforts to bridge the unemployment gap, it has provided a platform for entrepreneurs to develop their skills, while also making available, start-up capital to help put them in business.

The Governor, represented by the Commissioner for Special Duties and Intergovernmental Relations, Mr. Oluseye Oladejo, added that the State government plans to support young people to become job and wealth creators by providing them with startup capital through the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund.

While urging corps members to be diligent, dedicated and law-abiding in the discharge of their duties, Ambode also advised them to exhibit qualities like tolerance, patriotism, honesty and perseverance during the orientation course.

“I have no doubt that this orientation course will adequately prepare you for the next phase of your serv-

ice year in which you are expected to exhibit good qualities like tolerance, patriotism, honesty, diligence and perseverance in your various place of primary assignment”, he said.

Earlier in his welcome address, the State Coordinator of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Prince Mohammed Momoh stated that a total of 2, 279 Corps members comprising of 992 male and 1,287 female have been registered to participate in the orientation course.

The Coordinator said that since the commencement of the orientation course, the Corps members have been well behaved and responding to the training schedule while exhibiting a high sense of commitment that will make the orientation course a hitch-free exercise.

5

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

LEKKI ROSE GARDEN IBEJU LEKKI Lekki Rose Garden is positioned around the new economic centre of Lagos State where massive projects is currently going on.

LOCATION: Oshoroko, 5 minutes drives from Dangote Refinery, along Lekki Free Trade Zone, Ibeju Lekki Lagos TITLE: Global C of O SIZE: 600sqm PRICE: NGN 5,000,000 ESTATE FEATURES • Good road network • Street light • Gated & Secured environment • Sports Corridors • Landscaping • Shopping centers WHY YOU MUST BUY INTO LEKKI ROYAL GARDEN • The estate is strategically located 5 minutes drives from the Dangote Refinery • This estate will appreciate very fast * Excellent prime location • Excellent facilities • Good title (C of O) • Free from any known Government acquisition.

NEIGHBOURHOOD: • Lekki Free Trade Zone • Dangote Refinery • Lekki Deep Sea Port • New International Airport • Several Gated estates.

For more details please contact PREMIUM PARTNERS +234 (803) 887 2988, +234 (803) 300 7069 25 Remi Fani Kayode Street G.R.A Ikeja, Lagos State

6

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

NEWS Killer herdsmen are the terrorists, not IPOB – Obosi monarch

By IBE NWACHUKWU

T

RADITIONAL ruler of Obosi community in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State, Igwe Chidubem Iweka has told the Federal Government to deploy the Army to monitor the cattle herders with a view to preventing further bloodshed.

According to Igwe Iweka, who expressed worry by the incessant killings of farmers in various parts of the country by some suspected Fulani herdsmen, by so doing, government would been seen to be providing adequate security to the farmers and at the same time and ‘at the same time calling the nomadic herdsmen to order.’

Speaking to newsmen from his Obosi Palace, weekend, Igwe Iweka warned that if their activities of the are not checkmated, the herdsmen who had already conquered farmers in Benue, Taraba, Ekiti, Delta and Adamawa states, would spread their tentacles to other states of the federation and continue in their killing spree.

He described as very unfortunate, a situation where the herdsmen always invade people’s farm lands and spoil their crops in the name of grazing their cattle, adding: “Nobody is against grazing their cattle but rather people are against tampering with farm lands as if these herdsmen placed more priority on their cattle than on people’s lives

and farm lands.”

“Federal government should send the Army to go after the herdsmen and defeat them because they have declared war on innocent citizens and ought to be defeated,” said Igwe Iweka.

On the recent ruling by an Abuja High court that the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) is a terrorist group and as such should be proscribed, Igwe Iweka described the court verdict as very bias. ”IPOB is not known for carrying cudgels, axes, knives or exhibiting violence in their operations. The judge that gave such a ruling should be checked because even the international society knows that IPOB is not violent,” stressed the monarch.

Ayade presents relief materials to southern Cameroon asylum seekers From ANIEKAN ANIEKAN, Calabar

S

From left: DG Osita Okechukwu, another APC chieftain, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, Chris Ngige Minister of Labour and Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onuy during APC-South East Leaders meeting with President Buhari at Aso Villa.

Herdsmen: Clergy condemns attacks, calls for unity From EMMANUEL OGOIGBE, Warri

F

ounder of the Faith Assembly Prophetic Ministry Incorporated, Bishop Onyeke Onyeke, has condemned recent killings across the country by suspected Fulani herdsmen.

Onyeke who spoke to Oracle Today Newspapers in Warri, weekend, said the killings by Fulani herdsmen was on the rise because Christians were not united, adding that ‘it was only unity that can solve these problems.’

He also advised the Federal Government to match words with action, insisting that that until people started seeing concrete evidence that the government was serious in tackling these Fulani herdsmen killings, ‘Nigerians will continue to loss trust in the government.’

While also reacting to killing of Christians in the northern region of the country, Onyeke said: “I want to condemn the killings going on in some parts of the country because it is not good to kill another human being.

“On herdsmen attacks across the country, I see that if Christians can come together as one and united, it will be very difficult for our enemies to conquer us.

The reason why things are like this is because Christians do not love themselves. We are all praying in different directions forgetting that we are serving one God. We have different churches today and one pastor will preach against another pastor. How do we fight against our enemies like this?

“For us to come out of this quagmire Christians must learn to love and forgive each other and

serve one God. Today some Christians think that when you attend Faith Assembly Prophetic Ministry you do not know God. So the only way we can fight back is when we work together as one united family. A house that is divided against itself cannot stand,” Onyeke said.

Onyeke who was sometime rumoured to be dead, said his death rumour did not sound as a sur-

prise to him because he believed that God was using that period to try and test his faith.

“I was very ill at one point and people thought I was dead and they went around spreading rumour that I was dead. Some say I cannot survive the illness. But today I thank God that I am alive and kicking because it was not the will of God that I should die,” said the cleric.

uccour has come the way of thousands of southern Cameroon migrants and asylum seekers presently scattered across the villages and community centers in Cross River State as the State Governor, Professor Ben Ayade has presented relief to them.

The beneficiaries, mostly those camping at Ikom Local Government Area received food items and toiletries including; rice, plantain, beans, yam, garri, palm oil, soaps, tissue papers, and many others.

Speaking during the presentation, the Governor who was represented by the Managing Director, Cross River Food Bank Commission, Mrs. Mercy Akpama, disclosed that he is not ignorant of the plight of the plight of the refugees who have been chased out of their ancestral homes.

“I am aware of your pains and I am not relenting in my contacts with our President, Muhammadu Buhari and the international community to know that what is happening to you is not good before God and humanity.

Enugu group tackles lawmaker over third term ambition

By THEO RAYS

A

HEAD of the 2019 general election, a youth body known as EgaluUmunano has warned the Member Representing Igboeze North Constituency 2 at the Enugu State House of Assembly Hon.Tony Ogidi, against nursing any third term ambition.

Ogidi, who was accused by the youth group of ineptitude and poor performance, is already at the end of his two term tenure.

The youth group gave the warning in a statement following its general meeting in Enugu-Ezike, weekend, and signed by executive members drawn from the

quarters that make up Umunano who include; Hon Samuel Enyanwuma, Mr Christopher Ossai, Hon Augustine Alachi, Mr Obinna Eze and Eke Fidelis.

The youth body accused the lawmaker of being a lame duck with nothing to show for his near eight years in the House, a sharp contrast to the enviable record that the state Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has set in only two years in office.

“The attention of this body has been drawn to reports making the rounds in Umunano that the member representing us in the Enugu State House of Assembly who is on his second missionary journey with nothing to show for

it, is nursing 3rd tenure.

“Ordinarily, the issue of 3rd term is no longer acceptable in the system of political leadership in Nigeria and coupled with his poor performance. He has no business thinking about 3rd term, since 2011 when he went to the House he cannot point to a single thing done as constituency project. He doesn’t even call the constituents for a meeting; he has no constituency office outside the Assembly complex in Enugu. So let him forget about it.

“The state governor is constructing all the roads in Igboeze North in his first tenure among others things he has done for us, but our Lawmakers has nothing

to show for his second term in office.

Consequently, he has to forget third term and prepare to leave when his term expires in 2019,” the Statement read in parts.

However, reacting to the group’s warning, the lawmaker, Ogidi when contacted, dismissed it by declaring that ‘it is only God that can stop’ him, since, according to him, a former president also attempted the move.

“There is nothing wrong in plotting a 3rd term. After all, former President, Olusegun Obasanjo tried it though he didn’t succeed.

Even if I’m plotting it, its mere ambition but I don’t want to join issues with them.” he said.

7

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

NEWS Lawyer lambasts FG over herdmen’s ‘menace’ •Says it’s ‘unfortunate’ manifestation of failure or complicity of FG, security agencies

By IBE NWACHUKWU

A

legal practitioner in Onitsha, Anambra state and former Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Idemili Branch, Sylvester Eze has described the menace from Fulani herdsmen as a very unfortunate manifestation of the failure or complicity of the federal government and security agencies.

He regretted that the herdsmen again and again choose the places they would strike with impunity and murder defenceless civilian men, women and children, after their cattles had ravaged the farmlands of these victimized farmers.

He told newsmen in his law firm at Onitsha during the week that government’s failure to arrest a single herdsman so far is a serious indictment on the ability of government to secure the country and the citizenry.

Instead of dealing with the menance, he lamented that government is always quick to arrest and detain the people when they take steps to form themselves into a militia group for their defence.

Said the legal luminary: “It is clear that all the sophisticated arms and weapons that the herdsmen brazenly carry about and use and the enabling environment under which they operate would not have been possible without the backing of the top echelon of the federal government and security agencies.

“This has confirmed the fears expressed by some analysts regarding the lopsidedness in the composition of all the security agencies of Nigeria. For example, in Nigeria today, the head of the Army, the Police, the Navy, the Airforce, Civil Defence, Customs, Prisons, NDLEA, NIA and others are all northerners and Muslims.

“And it is clear that the government of the day has an Islamization agenda and herdsmen themselves are veritable tools they are using to promote and propagate this agenda. Then this is why all hands must be on deck especially the Middle Belt and Southerner states of Nigeria to stoutly oppose and resist the obnoxious policy of cattle colony which the federal Ministry of Agriculture is sponsoring.”

Eze described the Cattle Colony policy as nothing more than “an agenda to spread the hegemony of the Fulanis and their culture, their religion and their domination all over Nigeria with the federal government paying the bills and at the same time, forcibly expropriating an annexure communal land holdings of the local people in favour of the Fulani Jihadists.”

“Let nobody be deceived if the cattle colony is established in any part of Nigeria, in 10 years time, mass of Fulani immigrants will flood the area and overrun it and outnumber the local populace, take over the local administration and forcibly impose their culture, religion and way of life in the area,” he stressed.

“So, the so-called cattle colony is a time bomb and it will carry in the wake of its explosion, crises of unimaginable proportion that will make the present ones a child’s play.”

Bayelsa govt to close down sub-standard schools

From CLEM ONYEMAECHI, Yenagoa

O

ver 250 private primary and secondary schools are set to be closed down by the Bayelsa State Government for not measuring up to standards.

Commissioner for Education, Mr. Jonathan Obuebite, who disclosed this, weekend during an interaction with journalists in Yenagoa, the state capital, disclosed that his ministry had gone round the schools, investigated them and compiled the list of all unqualified private schools.

He said that in no distant time, the affected private schools would be made public to enable the people of Bayelsa to take precautionary measures.

Obuebite further said that most of those schools would be denied accreditation/approval to take West Africa Examinations Council (JSS) and other national examinations done in the state.

“We have a problem of proliferation of private schools. Some private schools operate in one-bed roomed flat and some in a single room. We have gone round; we have investigated and we have compiled all the schools that are not qualified in the private schools sub-sector in this state.

“They (unqualified private schools) will all be published in due course. We do not want our pupils to be pitied because most of these schools I am going to deny them accreditation to write junior WAEC or any other national examinations we do in this state.

“We have over 500 private schools and more than half of them are going. We have looked at the infrastructure; we have

looked at the teachers’ needs, the environment, all those parameters we have put them together. However, we will encourage some of them to improve, looking

•Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (m) flanked by members of the newly-inaugurated National Sanction Committee, including the Central Bank Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele (second right), who were sworn in, Friday, at the State House in Abuja.

Court ruling on IPOB a disgrace -- NBA chieftain

By IBE NWACHUKWU

T

op member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Nnewi Branch, Prince Austin Oguejiofor has described last week’s judgement of an Abuja High court which reaffirmed its earlier decision that the Indigenous People of Biafra,

IPOB is a terrorist organization, as a disgrace to the Nigerian judiciary and a complete betrayal of what judiciary is expected to be.

He said that Nigerians are in trouble with this compromise on the part of the judiciary, adding, “It does appear that the Judge does not understand the meaning of terrorism and

Uke Day cultural fiesta: Anambra community honours 59 indigenes

By IBE NWACHUKWU

I

t was a celebration of unity, peace and progress by the entire people of Uke community in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State as the community conferred various awards on indigenes who had contributed towards the development and growth of peace in the area.

Tagged: “Uke-Day” celebration, the ceremony which was organized by the Uke Development Union (UDU), commenced with an inter-demominational service conducted by indigenous priests and pastors of the community and directed by the Onitsha chapter President of the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship International, Brother Gibson Chukwujindu, also witnessed the launching of their mini stadium complex and reunion.

The categories of the awards included Star Platinum award to five persons, Star Diamond award to 12 persons, Star Gold award to 23 persons, the Star Progressive award to three persons, Star patriarch award to three persons, the Star Noble Friends award to three persons, the Star Prestigious award to one person and the Star

at what they have and the location they are. But I tell you more than half of those schools are going to be closed down.

Posthumous award to five persons.

Among the five illustrious sons who received the Star Platinum award were Surveyor Chukwuemeka Donatus Enendu, immediate past President-General of UDU and Dr. Edwin Emegoako, Medical Director of Crown hospital, Nkpor, while Sir Victor Agubisi, the incumbent Chairman of Police Community Relations Committee, PCRC, Onitsha Police Area Command Unit and Barrister S.N.S. Eze, former Chairman of Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Idemili branch were among the 23 personalities that received the Star Gold Award.

Also the posthumours award was given to five indigenes of the area, among whom was the late Bishop Vincent Ezeonyia of the Aba Catholic Diocese.

President-General of Uke Development Union, UDU, Hon. Ikedi Obi noted that the essence of the ceremony was to recognize those who contributed to the growth and development of the community, adding that he was happy that peace and unity has finally returned in the area, after several years of Igweship crisis in the area.

In their separate speeches, the chairman of Uke Day Planning

Committee, Hon. Anayochukwu Emmanuel; the Chairman of Uke Day Celebration, Dr. Okafor Ejike Echesiogu and immediate past President-General of UDU, Chief Chukwuemeka Donatus Enendu, noted that the award would spur all the awardees to assist in moving the community forward.

Appreciating their awards, the PCRC boss, Agubisi and the former NBA boss, Eze, said that the award would definitely spur them to do more good things for the community, adding that they were specifically impressed by the award because it is coming from their home town, unlike other numerous national and international awards they had received from other organizations and communities in the past.

The traditional ruler of Uke, Igwe Charles Agbala, in his brief remarks, insisted that peace has come to stay in the community, even as he warned that at no time would the people compromise the unity and development of the area throughout his reign on the throne.

Highlight of the occasion included the display of cultural dances by various masquerades including the Ijele, Ugo (Eagle) and Odum (Tiger) masquerades.

how it is operated”.

Speaking to newsmen at Obosi, Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra state, Oguejiofor who is also the Legal Adviser to the Obosi Royal Palace, asked rhetorically: “What evidence does the court has to arrive at that decision when there was no violence act perpetrated by the IPOB members to warrant their declaration as terrorist organization”?

Continuing, Obosi said: “It is brazen rascality on the part of the Judge to have proscribed IPOB as a terrorist group while Fulani herdsmen who have been carrying out violence and pogrom or ethnic cleansing have not been declared terrorist group.

“It is a direct indication of the failure of the federal government to live up to its responsibilities, adding, who amongst the herdsmen has ever been arrested for all the killings they have been perpetrating to the nation?

“The federal government is clearly suffering from selective amnesia seeing what they want and closing their eyes on that they don’t want.

How else does one explain federal government’s apathy to the killings of innocent Nigerians and whoever speaks out against the federal government’s abomination is arrested.

In any case, that is the change President Muhammadu Buhari promised us during his campaigns.

“It is an assault on the psyche of Nigerians for us to see an image like Buhari in 2019 contesting for a second tenure. He may come out to contest because he has recorded many achievements like fuel selling at N350 per liter during the Christmas, while his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan maintained a stable fuel pump price of N87 per liter during his own tenure. Buhari also achieved much by allowing his regime to become the bloodiest”.

8

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

NEWS

Compensate victims of herdsmen attacks – Igbo leader tells FG

By IBE NWACHUKWU

T

HE Ogirishi of Igbo land, Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka has charged the Federal Government to pay adequate compensation to the families of the killed or injured by Fulani herdsmen in the course of trying to protect their farm lands from the menace of cattle.

The monarch also called for the arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators to serve as a deterrent to others who have little or no value for human lives.

Speaking to newsmen shortly after a meeting with members of the Ogirishi Igbo Foundation at his residence at Oba, Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra state, Ezeonwuka described herdsmen’s menace as ‘worse than plane crash,’ even as he added that the only good aspect of the attacks was that it has helped to create a red alert that terrorists are living among us.

He, however, blamed the people of Benue state for allowing themselves to be used by the Fulanis to kill Ndigbo in their numbers during the Nigerian/Biafra civil war, adding

that it could be the reaction of Karma that has visited them this time around.

Also speaking, the chairman of Ogirishi Igbo Foundation, Dr. Linus Uchay decried the ‘nonchallant’ attitude of the Federal Government towards the killings, adding that ‘some bigots are busy talking about Buhari’s re-election when corpses of the slain farmers in some parts of the country are lying here and there.’

Also speaking, other members of the foundation, Barrister Ugo Anazodo; chairman of Rojenny Stadium Management Committee, Chief John Udeagbala and Chairman of Aborji-Akanano Union, Nze Dozie Nweke, described the killings as genocide, adding that it is a case of cattle herders versus Nigeria.

According to Anazodo, Udeagbala and Nweke: “The security agencies have fallen victims of being sympathetic and giving protection to the herdsmen, irrespective of the level of atrocities involved. It is madness for individuals to use their cows to destroy people’s farm lands, in as much as there is a Land Use Act in place”.

Pix shows Chief Johnson Onuigbo, Chairman, Abia PDP and other EXCO members during a function.

My re-election campaign‘ll be tsunami –Umahi From CHINEDU NWAFOR, Abakaliki

G

OVERNOR of Ebonyi State, Chief Dave Umahi has disclosed that his re-election campaign which would fully commence by January 2019 going to be a tsunami and a kind of political campaign never witnessed by the people.

He maintained that there was no need for opposition parties in the state to make needless efforts trying to challenge him as there was no vacancy state’s governorship seat in 2019.

He insisted that his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was on ground and would win the next general elections in the state convincingly.

He disclosed that 29 political parties had already adopted him in Abuja as their sole candidate for the 2019 general election and would be in the state next month to formalize the adoption.

Umahi spoke at Obiozara headquarters of Ohaozara local government area of Ebonyi state where he was adopted by the people of Ohaozara, Onicha and Ivo federal constituency otherwise known as OHANIVO as a sole candidate for the 2019 governorship election in the state.

The event was attended by a mammoth crowd.

He challenged those eyeing his seat to show their achievements boasting that he had transformed the state, hence, he had received various adoptions by the people of the state.

He said the state has been a PDP state and urged the people not to be deceived by few op-

position elements scheming to unseat.

“We have accepted to continue with this divine call. Anybody who tries by any means to terminate it will not succeed because God will contain those who contain with us.

“I will give attention to politics in Ebonyi on 1st of January 2019 and it is going to be Tsunami, it is going to be divine manifestation.

You will see what you will what you never saw before and it is not by my might.

“No party can take Ebonyi state because God has already taken Ebonyi under PDP. When they tell you they have plans, ask them to go and organize rally and show what they have. Let them show what they have because if you want the votes of Ebonyi state you will come and talk with the Ebonyi people.

“For now, Ebonyi is 100 per cent PDP. Let nobody deceive you at the centre because no human being other than PDP are on ground. They are deceiving you to take your money, let them not take your money. Let them organize rally, let them bring as usual people from the neighbouring states.

“By April, we will organize one million mega rally and it is a rally that will challenge every other state in this country with the number of people that will come,” Umahi stated.

On his earlier position that that both national and state lawmakers should be allowed to continue in office, the governor said: “Those that we have adopted are irrevocably adopted but this adoption gets condition. You have to go back to your constitu-

ency and empower registration of voters, you have to go and take care of the women, youths, support the Governor, support the widows. If you are not doing this, we will collectively review our support.

“Already, there are some people that I am reviewing my support for them. If you think that you will be causing trouble for us

because you have been adopted, we will first stop projects in your area and say you stopped it and your people will tackle you. We have to go and work very hard, though we have done very well.

“When you want to challenge us, are you going to tell people about our concrete roads? Will you tell us about empowerment of our youths? Will you tell us

about taking care of the widows?

Will you tell us about electricity?

Will you tell us about flyovers?

Will you tell us about the peace in the state?

“Let me announced to you that already, 29 political parties in Abuja have adopted me as their sole candidate. By February, they are coming to do the adoption in Ebonyi state.”

Court defers judgment in IGP’s rights suit against Senate

T

he Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Jabi, Monday, deferre its judgment on the suit of enforcement rights filed by Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Ibrahim Idris against the Senate.

Justice Abba-Bello Muhammad deferred its decision following an application by the respondent Counsel, Mr Abdul Mohammed against the proceeding.

Mohammed in the application argued that the applicant had failed to serve the respondents with the originating summons and other relevant processes in the suit.

The respondents are the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, Senators Isah Misau, Francis Alimikhena, Binta Garba and Suleiman Hunkuyi. Others include: Senators Duro Samuel, Ogba Obinna, Nelson Effiong, Abdulaziz Nyako.

The 4th to the 10th respondents were members of the ad-hoc committee that sat on the complaint of financial misappropriation in the police made by the third respondent, Misau.

Giving ruling, the judge held that the submission made by the respondents’ counsel was appropriate.

“The essence of service is to bring a person on notice to a matter pending in court, but where a party has been able to show that service has not been made, the court is left with no option than to ensure service is made.

“The pending judgment is hereby deferred to enable the court hear all parties listed in the matter in the interest of justice,’’ the judge said.

Muhammad therefore adjourned the matter until Feb. 1 for the continuation of the case.

IG Idris had approached the court seeking a declaration that the investigative activities of the Senate Ad-Hoc Committee breached his rights as the Head of the Police Force.

He is also seeking for a declaration that his invitation to appear before the ad-hoc committee based on Misau’s petition was also a violation of his rights and disregard to justice.

It would be recalled that the court had last December 4, 2017 fixed January 22 to deliver judgment on Idris’ suit.

The court had on November 16, 2017 ruled that service of the originating summon and other papers on the respondents could be done by substituted means.

Mohammed had earlier told the court that without proper service on the respondents, the court would have lost the jurisdiction to entertain the suit, adding that the argument by Counsel to the I-G, Mr Alex Izinyon (SAN) that the court should not entertain the application to halt the judgment was ill-motivated.

“Our application is competent to the adjudication of the court, without proper service in a suit, the court lacks jurisdiction to entertain suit. Cases abound where this kind of situation has shown forth, so it is not an abuse of the law as canvassed by Izinyon.

“Once the issue of service is raised, an affidavit must be filed countering the service of the suit before a ruling can be made,’’ Mohammed said.

9

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

POLITICS

APGA should not be carried ‘Nigeria passing away by Obiano, Umeh’s through APC-inflicted victories terrible period’ Pg 10

Pg 11

Niger Delta: Don Waney, Karowei as metaphors for induced societal violence CLEM ONYEMAECHI, in Yenagoa, writes that the frequent emergence of elements like Johnson Igwedibia, a.k.a Don Waney, and Oyawerikumor Peregbabofa, a.k.a Gen. Karowei, on the crime scene says a lot about how the ‘unjust’ Nigerian system regenerates itself in the oil-bearing and producing Niger Delta region through the production of bitter, angry and vicious characters for whom violence becomes a means to an ‘Eldorado’, which the oil wealth of the region represents, but which they believe the state systematically denies them access.

• Don Waney

F

or some time now, the two sister States of Rivers and Bayelsa have been in the news for the wrong reason: the very volatility of their societies. Which shouldn’t be so, in point of fact. Rather, those two and others in the Niger Delta region should, as, indeed, they are, be the hub of oil and gas production in Nigeria, where indigenes, and residents alike, enjoy the best that life can possibly offer.

That prospect is, however, looking like a pipe dream, no thanks to a system that has denied the people their due, and to politicians whose reason for seeking or being in power would appear not to be to serve the people but simply to oil and satisfy their greed.

It can be strongly argued that it is the inter-play of the unjust society in which the people live and the inordinate ambitions or desires of political leaders that created and nurtured the likes of the two men who dominated headlines in the media lately in Rivers and Bayelsa: Johnson Igwedibia, aka Don Waney and Oyawerikumor Peregbabofa, also known as Gen. Karowei.

The two men operated separately in Rivers and Bayelsa States, snuffing life out of people with careless abandon. Their names evoked eerie feelings and death. They were the twin brothers of the devil!

While Don Waney masterminded the massacre of church attendees in Omoku, Rivers State on the eve of the New Year, Karowei masterminded the killing of five soldiers at Toru Ndoro in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. There are other atrocities the two men might have committed,

• Karowei

• Gov Wike

• Amaechi

when political leaders who swore on oath to protect lives and property, which, incidentally, is the primary function of government, begin to trade blames over sponsorship of violence, it exposes them as callous and irresponsible. Of course, it is said that when one finger is pointing at, and accusing another person, the rest of the fingers are pointing at and, perhaps, accusing one equally. but the two incidents highlighted above ultimately became their Waterloo.

Yet, while the duo must be condemned as criminals who deserved their violent end, in line with the biblical admonition that “he who kills by the sword shall die by the sword,” it is pertinent to look at how the society itself might have helped to create the two monsters.

Someone has described Nigeria as a paradox—a place where someone who prepared a very sumptuous meal is made to taste only but a morsel of it--willy-nilly! Nothing can breed more frustrating than such a situation. That is exactly the situation in the Niger Delta.

By any stretch of the imagination, criminality is abhorrent, to be sure. But, it is also true that government, in trying to ameliorate the injustice in the region, wittingly or unwittingly created a reward system that seemed to favour the brave and violent more than those who lived and operated by the law.

Today in the Niger Delta, among the peo-

ple who own and live in posh buildings and drive the latest cars, as well as flaunt wealth, for instance, are the ex-militants. Every door opens by the mere mention of their names.

They see the governors and men in power without prior appointments.

The security agents are also at their beck and call. Sometime in 2012, about 10 police officers were killed along the Bayelsa creek while escorting an ex-militant leader home for a burial.

The Nigerian system seems to patronizes violence while shutting out the humble, the loyal and hardworking members of the society who eke out a living legitimately. That is why the Don Waneys and Karoweis of this world may continue to “bestride our narrow world like a colossus”.

And come to think of it, the exchanges that ensued between political leaders in Rivers and Bayelsa over the escapades of Don Waney and Karowei didn’t help matters either. Indeed, the seeming sponsorship of criminals by politicians who use those crimi-

nal elements to do their dirty deals, only worsens the tenuous security situation in the oil producing Niger Delta.

In the last 11 years, all that is good or bad in Rivers State would appear to result largely from the actions and or inactions of both former Governor Chibuike Amaechi and his successor, Nyesom Wike. And the same can be said of former Governor Timipre Sylva and incumbent Governor Seriake Dickson both of who have also held sway in Bayelsa State in the last 11 years.

So, when political leaders who swore on oath to protect lives and property, which, incidentally, is the primary function of government, begin to trade blames over sponsorship of violence, it exposes them as callous and irresponsible. Of course, it is said that when one finger is pointing at, and accusing another person, the rest of the fingers are pointing at and, perhaps, accusing one equally.

The political leaders who danced naked Cont’d on page 12

10

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

POLITICS There has been bloodbath in the Middle Belt, particularly in Benue State by Fulani herdsmen and the President seems indifferent to the complaints of Nigerians about the activities of these herdsmen, making Nigerians believe that he is tacitly backing the herdsmen. Against this backdrop, How would you assess the administration of President Buhari in the last three years?

Immediately they pronounced Mohammed Buhari President of Nigeria, God showed me he is going to whip Nigeria and I announced it. And it came to pass. About 95 percent of citizens of this country are not enjoying this administration. And looking at the present administration, this year 2018 is going to be the toughest year of this administration on the side of the people. Nigerians should expect more people to die this year because politicians are ready to let life go to maintain the status quo. So, Nigerians should not expect anything better because what you are going to see is a more mirage, shadow and those who are truthful should be ready to sacrifice because if you don’t join their bandwagon, you will be brutalized, even if you are a political office holder. God allows this so that Christians can unite again.

APGA should not be carried away

by Obiano, Umeh’s victories – Gen. Overseer

Rev Jerry Nwachukwu is the General Overseer, Bible Base Miracle Assembly. He recently bared his mind to our Correspondent, GABRIEL EJIOFOR on a wide range of national issues such as the Fulani herdsmen’s killings in Benue State, sufferings

by Nigerians under the administration of President Muhammed Buhari, selfishness of the political class and lack of leadership in Igbo land, among other issues. we must know what we believe in. Whoever does not believe in our agenda should not earn our votes. Igbo politicians should know what we need, what we want and should know what to do to get them.

Coming to idolatry, the highest mountain in this life is ignorance. So, anyone who has tested Christ and went back is an embodiment of ignorance. Idol worship is one of the major reasons why Biafran war flopped.

They went consulting native doctors and they lost the war. Another problem is that anybody who serves idol has poverty mentality because idolatory does not give but takes. Anytime Israelites turned against God, they lost a war. Idolatry has been the major problem the Igbo man that needs to be addressed. No generation has embraced God and failed.

In the area of ministry, our major challenge has been lack of followership. We are known to be proud people and a proud man cannot serve or be a good follower.

As a pastor, there should be somebody you need to tap your back and say it shall be well with you so that you will get to the place of dignity of honour in the Ministry. In the days of old, Samuel served Eli, Elisha served Elijah, Joshua served Moses. Today, there are ministries without mentors and that is why many of us are not succeeding. Fathers are ladders to the top. With a father, the journey becomes easy and tells you the secret of their success. And any pastor who is not answerable to any man is also not answerable to God because there is nobody to oversee what you are doing and then you live a rascal life. And rascality destroys faster than any time bomb. And if you lack character, you lack moral value and in the Ministry, if you lack character, you miss all because character is the foundation of the Ministry.

What is the way out?

The way out is that our knees must be on the ground. We should abolish denominational beliefs and differences and stand as one entity. That is the only way out to reposition the country. God told me that I should tell Christians that what will determine our success in 2019 is if we can form a common front and say no to the nonsense and avoid private political visits by our Christian leaders. Our choice should not be ethnic and denominational beliefs but on the ability and personally of the aspirants. Somebody who has no administrative capacity should not earn our votes. What do I mean? Somebody who has not succeeded as a leader should not earn our votes.

With the nefarious and unabated activities of Fulani herdsmen and the seemingly tacit support of President Buhari, don’t you think he would attempt islamisation of Nigeria if he wins in 2019?

Well, it is not an attempt; we are already experiencing indirect islamisation of Nigeria.

Buhari’s second coming will usher in full-scale islamisation of the country. So, personally, as a person not as a man of God now, I prefer to die fighting against any form of islamisation than to be seated and die as a failure.

People should stand up in self-defense, which is their fundamental right and selfdefense is not retaliation. The people whom they are shedding their blood are either not human or something is wrong because there is no sign that their people are feeling it. Egyptians are men. Egyptians and their horses are men not spirits. So, the people who are suffering should wake up. They are not only sleeping, they are, in fact, in coma because what you don’t protest against, you accept. Why are they still going to market?

They are supposed to be on the streets. The governor of Benue State is afraid of state of emergency. It is better to lose his position than to be seated as a puppet. If the people around me are being killed and I will be the only person living, then I am not ready to be a leader. Leaders are expected to lay down their lives for the sake of their people. What are Benue leaders going to Aso Rock to do?

So, any leader, who is not ready to make sacrifice to the extent of losing his life should not earn our votes in 2019. If I were the governor of Benue State, I would be in charge of local vigilante. What is the governor doing at Govt. House?

The federal government told us that we have exited recession but we are yet to see the reality on the ground. Do you believe that we have actually exited recession?

That we have exited reception is mere paper work. There is nothing on the ground to indicate that we have exited recession. You can disown your son. That can be legally right

•

• Pereotubo Oweilaemi Roland

Rev Jerry Nwachukwu

but DNA test will still show that he is still your son. We have not come out of recession. In fact, we are going into depression. For the past three years, there has been no meaningful infrastructure on the ground . State governments are reducing work force, workers hardly receive their salaries, and pensioners don’t receive their pensions. People are committing suicide. There is increased hunger and poverty in the land. Nigeria is being sustained by God. Saying we are out of recession is like saying you have a new car without fuel.

As a man of God, are you not bothered that Ndigbo who are supposed to be God-fear-

ing people are fast returning to idolatory?

The Igbo as a race have no leader and any race without leader has no headway. A nation which has no leader has no direction. In the area of politics, if you are not ready to be in opposition to suffer, you cannot be in politics. We always want to be with the party in power. We have political lepers in Igbo land, a leper has no feeling. Our politicians are so selfish, self-centered, ignorant and indifferent to the people’s needs. They play politics because of what they can benefit. If we want to have a place in Nigerian politics, we must sacrifice today for tomorrow by allowing ourselves to face the hardship of being in opposition even if it means going to prison but

What is your advice to Governor Willie Obiano as he plans to be inaugurated for his second tenure?

APGA should not be carried away by their latest victories, because their victory is a child of circumstance. That Obiano won is not a guarantee that they will win in 2021. So, they should be up and doing. The imposition of PDP candidate led to Obiano’s victory for Peter Obi to know that he was never there as he thought. They should tell Governor Rochas Okorocha that if he refuses to retrace his steps, he will weep after 2019.

And l am advising all South East governors to be focused and have listening ears to the yearnings of the people and avoid idolatry and embrace God in their hearts and outwards.

From March 23-25 this year, Rev (Dr.) Uma Ukpai will be in Anambra State, precisely Okpoko in Ogbaru Local Government Area of the State, for the emancipation of that place.

So, people should keep a date with this great man of God for the ministration of the word, miracle, healing and deliverance. God is already doing something in Anambra State and we in Bible Base Miracle Assembly are the conveners.

11

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

POLITICS

‘Nigeria passing through APCinflicted terrible period’ Chairman of Abia State chapter of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Johnson Onuigbo, wants Nigerians to flush out the All Progressives Congress (APC) for inflicting hardship on Nigerians, and bring back PDP to fix the nation. He spoke at a get-together the party organized for journalists in the state. BONIFACE OKORO was there and now reports:

C

hief Johnson Onuigbo, chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State is not a happy man. He is wearing a gloomy face by reason of the harsh economic realities and insecurity plaguing Nigeria. And he blames the suffering Nigerians were experiencing on the misrule of the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led federal government.

“The other day, I gave my wife N500 to buy a basket of tomato. She rejected it. I asked why? She said the price now is N5, 000. I was shocked and exclaimed ‘has it gotten to that extent,’ because I thought we were still in the PDP era when the economy was buoyant. Today, there is hardship, people are hungry. Hunger is ravaging the country,” Onuigbo rued.

The Abia PDP chief was speaking at a New Year get-together the party organized for journalists in the state last week at his Umuahia country home. He used the opportunity to review the performance of APC-led federal government, as well as plans by PDP to bounce back to Aso Rock Presidential Villa in 2019.

Pronouncing a verdict of non-performance against the APC, Onuigbo articulated reasons Nigerians should sack the ruling party in the general elections of 2019.

He noted that Nigeria is currently passing through tribulations, adding that it is to be expected since, according to him, Nigerians were apprised of the antecedents of President Muhammadu Buhari but they insisted on ‘change’.

“This country is passing through a very terrible period in the hands of APC. We were warned and antecedents of President Buhari were displayed everywhere in the country for the people to see. That was to tell us what would be our lot if eventually we allowed the change. We were warned about the impending doom,” he lamented.

“But in our nature, we wanted change, just like the biblical Israelites when they rejected Samuel and asked him to give them a king.

Samuel cried and went to God. God told Samuel that the people had not rejected him Samuel but Him God. ‘Give them a king’, God ordered Samuel. ‘Let them become slaves to the king.

That is exactly where we are today,” Onuigbo stressed.

Apart from the economic hardship unleashed on Nigerians, Onuigbo decried the spate of insecurity in Nigeria under APC government, describing it as “frightening.”

He expressed disgust at the federal government’s handling of the Benue, Taraba, Kaduna killings by suspected Fulani herdsmen who have wasted lives of innocent Nigerians, as well as farm lands and crops. He saw the mayhems in the aforementioned states as “grave incidents” that have threatened the security of Nigeria, alleging that crises dot APC-controlled states where, for instance in Kaduna, over 21,000 teachers have been sacked and where Christians in Southern Kaduna are being exterminated According to the former chairman of Odida Anyanwu Local Government Area (now Umuahia North), it is unbelievable that none of the AK 47-wielding herdsmen has been brought to book since they took to orgy of bloodletting.

“When we were small, we used to see the herdsmen use sticks to drive their cows; now they are using AK 47 and none has been arrested and prosecuted,” he noted. “Will you support the party that is encouraging killings?

Look at Southern Kaduna, what is going on there? Look at Benue, nobody is talking. All these are happening in APC government and in APC states. Why can’t APC states have crises because once the head is sick, the whole system will be sick.”

He also alleged that the APC government is stealthily pursuing the islamisation of Nigeria, which is why the federal government looks the other way while the Fulani herdsmen cause mayhem. “There is a grand plan to islamise Nigeria. That is why the herdsmen have surrounded us. In the South East, they are everywhere,” he said.

He recalls that when APC was campaigning, it promised restructuring Nigeria but regretted that to date, nothing of that nature has happened, neither is there hope that it is going to happen soon.

“What the President keeps saying is that Nigeria’s unity is not negotiable. I know, we all believe in one Nigeria. But we insist that if we have to be one Nigeria, there must be restructuring. Some states have 17 local governments, some have 42 local governments, some have eight and revenue is shared based on number of local governments. Who is cheating who? If you want us to stay as one Nigeria, we agree, but let’s talk. It will stun you to hear that oil producing areas enjoy 13 per cent oil derivation. Kaduna is among. What is the basis? There is need to restructure,” he stressed.

“So, there are many reasons we should fight and remove this monster that is honestly ravaging the country, otherwise, our existence is threatened. There was nothing Nigerians were not told to reject APC, but they insisted on change and the change has come. Are we happy?

“The change has changed everybody. But, we have the capacity to change this change.

The time to reject APC is now. So, we have to remove this administration and bring back PDP that understands what governance is all about, that understands the problem of the people and how to solve it,” Onuigbo submitted.

He explained that “PDP wants to change the bad change, to bring back the price of rice from N25, 000 to N8, 000 again, to ensure that there is security in this country because the insecurity we have now, we have never had it before, in the history of Nigeria.”

Onuigbo told all that cared to listen that PDP has been born anew and would not do things the old way again.

• Chief Johnson Onuigbo “PDP believes in the principle of internal democracy. We want to return PDP back to the owners - the masses. We want to ensure that we maintain the principle of internal democracy. We want to say goodbye to imposition and impunity providing level playing ground for all the participants: there is nothing like return, return; there is nothing like automatic ticket in PDP. That is what has kept us where we are today. We have learnt our lessons. So we are going to make sure that we right the wrongs,” he said.

Exuding optimism about PDP’s victory in 2019, the Abia PDP boss said: “Tell Abians that

“The change has changed everybody.

But, we have the capacity to change this change. The time to reject APC is now.

So, we have to remove this administration and bring back PDP that understands what governance is all about, that understands the problem of the people and how to solve it,”

PDP have learnt their lessons and that we want to turn a new leaf. By the time PDP will go to the federal, our lives will change because they have the magic wand to turn things around.”

He used the opportunity to commend Governor Okezie Ikpeazu for paying full salaries of workers, unlike some APC governors whom he accused of inventing all manner of formulae to shortchange workers in the name of paying them salaries.

“In Abia State, we talk of non-payment of salary. Abia is the only state that is paying full salaries. In some APC states, the governors run the states the way they like. No staff of any Ministry in Abia will say that the state government is owing him or her. I know that teachers are owed, local government workers are owed and the state government is making efforts to pay them. So, the PDP government is a very sensitive government; it has a human face,” he said.

In a final appeal for support for PDP and returning the party to power come 2019, Onuigbo reminded Nigerians that INEC has released its time table, making 2018 and 2019 “years of serious decision making.” He urged Nigerians to obtain their Permanent Voter Cards with which they would flush APC out of power and vote in PDP, promising that the party would work hard to reshape the economy and give Nigerians peace and tranquility.

“Let us not enslave ourselves again,” he warned.

12

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

POLITICS Cont’d from page 9

in the market place over Don Waney and Karowei demonstrated how little the people count before them. Instead of burying their heads in shame for failing in their core responsibilities, they turned the scenario into a drama.

In Rivers State, it was the usual brickbat between Amaechi and Wike that greeted the gruesome killing of about 27 persons who were returning from crossover church service on the eve of the New Year. It was sickening that even at such solemn moment, they could not set politics aside to see how the people could be helped.

At the other end in Bayelsa, Governor Dickson opened the Pandora’s Box when he pointedly accused former Governor Sylva and current Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, of sponsoring violence and instability in Bayelsa State.

Dickson frontally accused Lokpobiri of allegedly bankrolling the criminal activities of the militant leader, Oyawerikumor Peregbabofa, also known as Gen. Karowei who was alleged to have masterminded the killing and beheading of a security officer in Toru Ndoro in Ekeremor Local Government Area of the State.

Said Dickson: “I want to call on political leaders of Bayelsa; they should stop destabilizing the security of this state. They should stop playing politics with law and order in our communities. They should stop what they are doing by arming criminals and terrorists. I had issued statements before calling on the President of the Federal Republic to call his party leaders in this state to order, especially his Minister of State, Senator Lokpobiri who is the one that has armed and equipped the Karowei that has now killed soldiers and killed military people and subjected innocent communities to these problems.

“I have evidence that by 2nd or 3rd of this month (January 2018), this Karowei and his killers were in Ekeremor celebrating with Lokpobiri and that is Mr. President’s Minister of State!

“And Timipre Sylva! The President should call to order his two so-called party leaders who, as far as I am concerned, are common criminals and terrorists.

“Political leaders work for stability. You play your politics when election comes. You don’t need to arm young boys, give them cocaine, give them other drugs, give them weapons and then use the president’s name and the name of your party to intimidate law enforcement agencies.

“Now let me make it clear--whether Lokpobiri and Sylva like it or not, I and the people of this state will never allow bloodbath in Bayelsa State as is the case in other States.”

Dickson further alleged that for five years that Sylva was governor of the state, all he could do was infest the state with criminality and cultism.

“He was governor here for five years. All he left behind was criminality and cultism, and blood flowing on the streets of this state,” the governor alleged. “But let me tell you Bayelsans, if not the grace of God that is leading this state and leading this government and our type of persons, these characters would have destroyed the peace and stability of this state in the name of politics.”

Of course, Sylva was not expected to keep quiet, so he too roared: “As always, Dickson has provided zero facts to support his irresponsibly frivolous claims that Sylva and Lokpobiri are providing cover for alleged cultists and other criminals.

“Sylva’s Media Office recalls that we have had cause in the past to accuse Governor Dickson of paranoia. Our response to this latest falsehood, especially the governor’s attempt to link Sylva with the outlaw that killed five soldiers in Ekeremor Local Government, is that Dickson needs urgent help. He is sick.

“No amount of falsehood against Sylva will pay workers’ salaries in Bayelsa State.

No amount of falsehood against Sylva will cover Dickson’s incompetence and cluelessness. No amount of falsehood against Sylva will protect lives and property in Bayelsa State, where Governor Dickson has elevated the ignoble act of arming and using law-

• Gov Dickson less elements to intimidate the people to win elections, to state policy, as the whole world saw in the last governorship polls in the State.

“And no amount of falsehood against Sylva will cleanse the blood of innocent Bayelsans on Dickson’s hands before God or erase the history of political violence institutionalized by Dickson before men,” the statement issued by Sylva’s Media Adviser read in part.

Lokpobiri too reacted and washed his hands off Dickson’s allegations.

But that was still not enough. The two leading political parties in Bayelsa, PDP and APC also joined the fray, and sought to defend their members, PDP for Dickson and APC for Sylva and Lokpobiri.

And that was all they had to offer, excuses, accusations and blame game. In saner climes, political leaders seek the common good. They use their vantage positions to bring succour to the people. But in the Nigerian system, they would rather compound the challenges of the people in their quest for self-preservation.

Now the crucial question- Is it likely that Niger Delta has seen the end of the Don Waneys and Karoweis of this world with the demise of the two outlaws? Not likely.

As the nation gears up for another electioneering period for 2019, there are fears that the political space may have to contend with even deadlier Don Waneys and Karoweis as political leaders seek to use such elements again to put themselves in power come 2019.

But, even as the political leaders trade blames over the violence and criminality in the society over which they were elected to superintend, one Bayelsan who sees things differently is Dr Konrad Ekiyor Welson, former Chief Press Secretary to then Governor Goodluck Jonathan and now Philosophy teacher at Niger Delta University.

In a chat with The Oracle Today in Yenagoa, Welson agonised that Bayelsans are caught between the Scylla of Dickson and the Charybdis of Sylva, alleging that the two are the architects of violence in Bayelsa.

“Dickson is a very violent man; Sylva is a very violent man,” Welson declared. “Now you have two major parties in Bayelsa State, you have APC led by Sylva, a very violent man. And PDP led by Dickson, another violent man. And two of them are not democrats. They are basically some despots and very dictatorial in their ways. APC in Bayelsa is controlled by one man—Sylva and PDP is controlled by one man--Dickson. Weigh them intellectually and you will discover they have no ideology!

“PDP has no ideology in this state and APC has no ideology. So, if you ask a simple question, ‘what is the difference between

• Sylva

• Lokpobiri

• Bro Felix Obua

• IGP, Ibrahim

APC and PDP’, it will just be that one is in power, the other one is out of power.”

But Ekiyor who is the Executive Director of Campaign for Development and Democracy in Bayelsa (CDDB) believes Bayelsans have had enough of the violence engineered by political leaders for their selfish ends.

According to him, CDDB has conscientized Bayelsans enough to resist being used in 2019 to unleash mayhem on one another.

“What we are working on now can create a difference in that we will bring in somebody that is non-violent, but people-friendly so that the people themselves are going to be there themselves to stop the violence.

You know normally, people allow things to happen. You are in a community and people enter that community with bad intention; it’s either you allow them or you tell them to leave,” Welson told The Oracle Today.

“Now, in a situation where the people don’t care, they allow the violent people to stay. Most, times they come from outside the community. But, in this our task now, we are mobilizing our people to reject every form of violence. Therefore, all the violent people that may want to infiltrate communi-

ties are going to be stopped.

“Bayelsa people are going to be vigilantes in their own communities. Every election night, Bayelsa people will not sleep so as to make sure no gun enters your community, no money enters your community, and no bad boy enters your community.

“We will take the fight to the bad boys themselves not to come near because it is going to be something that will not favour them. So, these are some of the measures we are putting in place and it all centres around the people knowing what they want. If the people do not want violence, they will not choose a man that is going to be violent.

“The people of Bayelsa slept and PDP produced a violent man, APC produced a violent man and we had no other choice. But this time around, the people of Bayelsa are not sleeping. Let APC produce a violent man, let PDP produce a violent man, Bayelsa people will produce a non-violent man and that non-violent man will create a non-violent atmosphere, which will be supported by the government, the federal government.”

13

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

BOLD n BLUNT

Wike: No one must kill to demonstrate support for me…

A

• Gov. Wike You told Christian leaders in the state, amongst whom were Bishops, who visited you at government house, on Friday, January 19, to thank you for what you have been doing for the Church, that President Mohammadu Buhari told you during a private meeting at the Presidential Villa, in Abuja, that he was being pressured to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State. Did the president actually tell you that? And who are those who were putting pressure on the President to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State?

After the legislative re-run election in Rivers State in 2016, the National Executive Committee (NEC of the APC met in Abuja and the issue of declaring a state of emergency in the state was proposed. The leaders of the APC in Rivers State were making public statements that a state of emergency would soon be declared in Rivers. But, I never took it serious until I had a private conversation with the president at his office in Abuja who told me that he was under pressure to declare a state of emergency in the state because of the killings and beheadings in Rivers State.

So, I did not need to ask the president those who were putting pressure on him to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State.

However, the leaders of the APC in Rivers State were openly discussing the possibility of a state of emergency being declared in the state. It was all over the newspapers. Rivers State was not the only state in the country where people were being killed. At that time, commissioners of Police were being changed frequently. About five commissioners of Police were deployed to Rivers State in quick succession, bringing the average to a commissioner of Police spending just about five months before being redeployed from the state which, of course, had affected the security architecture of the state. I remember writing to the then Inspector-General of Police that considering the peculiar nature of Rivers State, he should consider deploying a

special task force to the state to specifically handle the thorny issue of insecurity in the state; and that Rivers State would fund the logistics, but nothing was done.

Killings were also going on at that time in Kogi State; kidnappings and killings were also going on in Kaduna State and herdsmen were also killing farmers and innocent people in Benue State. Cultists had taken over some parts of Lagos and Ogun State, killing and beheading people, so it became impossible to declare a state of emergency only in Rivers State. It was public knowledge that I complained but the Police High Command did nothing.

What this means is that if you declare a state of emergency in Rivers State, then, you will also have to declare a state of emergency in the APC States like Kogi, Benue, Kaduna, Ogun and Lagos States where kidnappings, killings and beheadings were also taking place. For me, it was the work of God because killings became rampant in different states in the country. A few days ago, two Americans and two Canadians were kidnapped in Kaduna State and their security aides were killed.

If there is insecurity in any state in the country, it is the duty of the federal government,

fter the killing of notorious cultist, dreaded kidnapper and illegal oil bunkering kingpin, Johnson Igwedibia, alias Don Waney, by a combined team of soldiers from the 82nd Division Enugu and operatives from the Rivers State Command of the Department of State Security Services (DSS), on Saturday, January 6, a blame game ensued between the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), and the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), in Rivers State, on insecurity in the State.

While residents of Aligu, Omoku and other communities in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area (ONELGA), expressed relief and publicly applauded the effort of the security agencies and, even more so, the political will demonstrated by Governor Nyesom Wike in pledging a N200m ransom to anyone with useful information leading to the arrest of Don Waney, the APC, while commending the security agencies for a job well done, alleged in press statements that Don Waney was a creation of political maneuverings by politicians who wanted to win elections through violence and intimidation.

The APC stated that it would have been delighted if Don Waney was captured alive and made to go through the due process of justice so that he would have the opportunity to name his supposed sponsors.

It was against this backdrop that Governor Wike participated in a phone-in programme, on Rhythm 93.7 FM, in Port Harcourt, to speak on the security situation in Rivers State. NATH OMAME, Jr., recorded the interview for The Oracle Today. which controls the security apparatus and the state governments to work in synergy to combat such insecurity. But the issue of insecurity was politicized because Rivers State is a PDP State. My thinking is that they refused to cooperate with us so that the security challenge would fester so the governor of Rivers State would not be able to concentrate and focus on governing the state. Security is the responsibility of everybody and so should not be politicized.

Do you think the issue of insecurity in Rivers State is being politicized? Former governor and Minister of Transportation Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi while reacting to the New Year killings at Aligu and Omoku, in ONELGA, when he visited relatives of those who were killed by Don Waney and members of

On December 14, 2014, 32 people were killed and beheaded in Omoku in ONELGA. I was not the governor of the state, then. He was the governor of the state. Don Waney had been terrorizing the state for about 10 years.

He was governor of the state, so, why did he not bring Don Waney to justice?

his gang, alleged that you are playing politics of witchcraft because all that have been happening in ONELGA is because of the desire to advance your political clout and attain your electoral ambition?

That is not correct. As I have always said, people forget easily. We knew what happened in the state when the current minister of transportation was the governor of the state. Let me refresh the memory of Nigerians because it is so easy for people to forget what happened yesterday only to talk about what happened today. Let me tell you some of the things that happened in this state when he was the governor, so that you will have that at the back of your mind.

Now on December 14, 2014, 32 people were killed and beheaded in Omoku in ONELGA. I was not the governor of the state, then. He was the governor of the state. Don Waney had been terrorizing the state for about 10 years. He was governor of the state, so, why did he not bring Don Waney to justice?

November 19, 2009, Charles Usiegbe who was his close ally was killed. July 16, 2014, Mr. Josiah Precious Dabee, Justice Tobarimi Alabiye Dabire were murdered at Trans-Amadi, in Port Harcourt. September 12, 2014, Mr. Silvanus Orlu was assassinated in Ubima which is his village. July 11, 2008, armed men killed four soldiers and injured two Julius Berger staff along the East-West Road which made Julius Berger relocate and not to come back to Rivers State, until I brought them back two years ago.

Cont’d on page 14

14

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

BOLD n BLUNT Cont’d from page 13

August 2008, four Ireland nationals were kidnapped at Buguma in Asari-Toru Local Government Area; September 6, 2013, most Reverend Ignatius Kattey, the Archbishop of the Niger Delta Anglican Diocese was kidnapped at Eletu Town in Eleme Local Government Area under his watch as the governor of Rivers State. On January 14, 2009, Rev. Fr. Pius Keyii, a Catholic priest and erudite scholar was kidnapped in Port Harcourt. On February 3, 2008, Mrs. Senyi Lulu-Briggs was kidnapped from her home, a distance of less than two minutes from Government House.

Well, is it true that all these occurred, but the former governor has also said that he fought these cultists and criminals and most of them relocated from the state, but that you are encouraging them by giving them appointments and opportunities to participate in government...

It is good to be specific. I have just told you that on December 14, 2014, 32 people were murdered and beheaded in Omoku; this is just about six months before he left office.

If he fought cultists and criminals and they actually relocated from the state, then, how come 32 people were killed and beheaded by Don Waney and members of his deadly gang in Omoku? The issue of security is complex; even as the governor of the state, remember that I do not control the security apparatus in the state. He did not fund the security agencies nine months before he left office.

Are you certain of this?

What are you saying? When I came in I paid for it You mean you had a backlog?

Yes, I paid for it. It was very clear. The army, the DSS, the Police will attest to this fact. And so it is not true that we have not been taking any measure since we came to power to address the issue of insecurity. I was told at one of our state Security Council meetings that I should consider granting amnesty to some of these criminals. The counsel came from the then commander of the 6 Brigade in Port Harcourt who has since been redeployed. He suggested we grant theme amnesty so that we can go after those who refused to embrace the amnesty programme. Even though the director of the DSS did not support the granting of amnesty, at the end of the day, the Security Council agreed that we grant them amnesty.

Efforts were made to politicize the Rivers State amnesty programme. There were moves to make sure that the Police and DSS did not cooperate with us. The army gave us full support. Later, the Police and the DSS came out to support the amnesty programme. We recorded some achievement in our amnesty programme because for some time everywhere became quiet. `The next issue was how to rehabilitate those who embraced amnesty. Some of them genuinely accepted amnesty; while some of them accepted and went back to crime.

And that is what brought Don Waney down today. Don Waney was under the radar so we were monitoring him. We got a security report at one of our Security Council meetings that Don Waney had not fully embraced amnesty. Some of the oil companies, particularly Agip and Total came to complain that their assets were being vandalized by Don Waney and members of his group. The security agencies kept trailing Don Waney without letting anybody know what was going on within the security community.

When it was time, there was nothing you can do about it. When Don Waney struck on January 1, I knew that the time had come and that he could not escape any longer. So, we met and I told the security operatives that something must be fundamentally wrong.

You cannot keep telling me that each time you go after this young man that he has escaped. But there must be sabotage among us. So, we devised another strategy: this time, the planning was handled by the army and the DSS. Two of our agents knew where he was. In

• 82 Division Commander, Gen Abubakar

• DSS DG, Daura

Even in societies where most basic amenities are provided you still have crimes.

Even if you provide everything, there will still be crime in the society. At times when I read the comments some people make concerning the issue of security, I just laugh because they are not well informed. fact, on Friday, January 5, somebody came to tell me that he could talk to these boys… but I told him I was no longer interested in hearing about any leeway of any kind. We gave amnesty and these boys broke the agreement they had with us, so I was not prepared to listen to anything about Don Waney and his group. If he wanted to destroy the entire state, no problem but I said he is end had come. On Friday, January 5, I discussed with the director of DSS and he told me he believed that by Saturday, January 6, they would get Don Waney. On Saturday, he called later to say “This guy is now with us”.

What you are saying is strange to us. Until now, we heard Don Waney was killed on the insistence of President Mohammadu Buhari?

Why did they not insist all along that Don Waney should be killed? The problem we have here is that when you have recorded an achievement some people would not want to give you credit. Today, President Buhari is there and we thank God that Don Waney is no longer there. Why is it that he ordered that Don Waney be killed on this occasion?

It’s all propaganda. Who funded the logistics?

Who funded the operation? Was it President Buhari that funded the operation? The Rivers State government funded the operation. It is very funny. It will be unfair for anybody to say that the operation was funded by the federal government. Yes, the security agencies are under the control of the commander-in-chief, so it is correct to say that the president encouraged and supported us. However, the operation was funded by the Rivers State government.

During the 2015 governorship debate you said you would provide logistics for the security agencies to do their job, but that you will not go out of your way to interfere with the way they carry out their job. But, it appears you have now gone out of your way to intervene in the operational modality of the security agencies. Is that not so? It appears the former strategy wasn’t working so you

changed tactics?

Whether you believe it or not, Don Waney and his group are the ones behind most of the violence in the state. Whether you agree or not, I can tell you authoritatively that the person that had championed most of these killings and kidnappings in the state was Don Waney. The killings in Rumueme at Agip were masterminded by this same Don Waney. So, now that Don Waney has been taken out, you can see the relative peace in the state.

So many people feared that Don Waney had a charm that made it impossible for him to be killed. And this also emboldened some members of his gang. Some members of his group felt their leader was untouchable. Today, they have seen that it is not the case. Nobody can claim that he is untouchable.

Don Waney and his group had been operating from Awara Forest in Imo State, very close to ONELGA in Rivers State. As I speak to you, many operations have taken place at the Awara Forest. As I speak to you today, most members of his group have been killed by the security agencies. And to tell those that we gave amnesty to say enough is enough. When we granted amnesty to Don Waney and members of his group, we believed that they had fully accepted the state amnesty only to find out that they were using the amnesty as a ploy to commit more mayhem. And when we got the security report, we all agreed that we could not let this boy continue to waste innocent lives in the state.

If you knew the scale of mayhem that this boy and his group had wanted to unleash in his second attack: they planned to kill more than 200 people in Omoku and you know what that would have meant and the security agencies did what they were expected to do, and today Don Waney has been brought to justice by the state. You can’t just wake up in the morning and start talking about security issues when you do not have the facts.

When these events unfolded, I invited the heads of the security agencies and charged them they must have the names of these criminals and their locations and that it was high they went after them. These people

• Rivers CP, Ahmed have been in our radar. So, they gave me their names and we made their names public.

Are you saying that the security agencies gave you the names of cultists and criminals that you declared wanted in your state broadcast?

Of course, yes! Some people thought I just woke up one morning and announced the names of cultists and criminals. The security agencies gave us the list that we announced.

If you do not have information on security issues, then, you keep quiet and listen attentively to those who have such sensitive information. It is wrong to politicize the issue of insecurity. They were saying that I announced the names of those who are not supporting me. If you are my supporter or supporter, does that mean you should go and start killing people because you are supporting me or because you are not supporting me? Do you have to commit mayhem in the society to demonstrate your support for somebody?

Do you have to go into crime and criminality to demonstrate your support for anyone?

That is absolute nonsense and nobody will take that.

Following the death of Don Waney, you announced death penalty for those involved in killings and kidnapping. But some people feel that that won’t act as a deterrent because politicians would always find a way to shield their supporters who are involved in perpetuating violence during electioneering period? Why not address the root cause of the problem?

Even in societies where most basic amenities are provided you still have crimes. Even if you provide everything, there will still be crime in the society. At times when I read the comments some people make concerning the issue of security, I just laugh because they are not well informed. There is nowhere today you don’t have crime and criminality, no matter how much you try. The idea is to keep crime and criminality to the barest minimum. It happened in Las Vegas where people were seated in a concert, a man had gone to a hotel, paid for a room only to aim and shot at people who had come to enjoy with their families. At times people will go to a bar to drink and someone will come and shoot indiscriminately at them. These things happen.

Does that mean that things are not working in America? Some terrorists went to Paris and killed innocent people; does that mean that things are not working in France?

What we can do is to always provide logistics for the security agencies to enable them reduce crime. The difference between us and the more advanced countries is that when a crime is committed, you can be 99 per cent sure that the culprits will be caught and brought to justice, unlike our own sysCont’d on page 15

15

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

POLITICS Cont’d from page 14

tem here. Most of it depends on their training, equipment and commitment to the job.

Even if it takes 20 years, the security agencies will trail you. But here, it will take two months before investigation commences and in another six months nobody will talk about the matter again which is wrong. But in the more advanced countries, it does not matter how much money they spend the system will make sure the culprit is arrested and made to pay for his crime.

One of the young men named in your broadcast said he is not a militant but he did special jobs for you to win your governorship election?

If you supported me to win election, does that guarantee you to go and kill innocent people? He is not a militant but he claims to do special jobs for me. So, let him come out.

It is so easy to say, now let him come out. I tell anybody the way it is: if you supported me to win election; if you mobilized people for me to win election, does that entail you going to take people’s life for Christ sake?

Have you ever empowered any young man in the course of electioneering campaign by buying guns for them to enable them secure votes for you? We ask because the opposition has accused you of dancing on the graves of those killed in Omoku. Is it true?

By their steps, you will know them. First, I went to the University of Port Harcourt where I earned a degree in Political Science.

After my graduation I went for my youth service in the then Gongola State. Second, when I came back I went to the then Rivers State University of Science and Technology where I read law. People know me very well. I never schooled overseas for people to say we don’t know what he did there. I don’t belong to any cult group. Ask those who were with me in Uniport, or UST, as it then was if I ever joined or belong to any cult group. I have never joined any cult group. Never! I contested

In the last administration, I worked for the enthronement of that government. I did not buy guns for anybody to attain our electoral victory. I worked with you and you did not see me buy guns for people, now, suddenly, I am in power and I am buying guns for people. It doesn’t make sense unless you are telling people that I bought guns in order to put you in power. elections as local government chairman; let anybody who is sure of what he is saying come forward to testify if I bought weapon for him to assist me to win any election. I did not buy guns as local government chairman, then, why now that I am governor?

In the last administration, I worked for the enthronement of that government. I did not buy guns for anybody to attain our electoral victory. I worked with you and you did not see me buy guns for people, now, suddenly, I am in power and I am buying guns for people. It doesn’t make sense unless you are telling people that I bought guns in order to put you in power. People should read between the lines. Did I buy guns for people to win election for him when I was the director-general of his governorship campaign in 2011? My people say that you don’t learn how to use your left hand in old age.

For those who are complaining that they were declared wanted after working for me at 2015 governorship election, why can they go to the Commissioner of Police and say, oh, I am innocent I have never committed any crime. Why must anyone speak for them? Why must anyone defend them? Can’t they defend themselves? To say that their names were mentioned because they are not supporting the governor is neither here nor there. If you support the governor, or you don’t support the governor if you commit crime, then, you must answer for it. It is enough to say I worked for Mr. Wike: you worked for Mr. Wike as what? Did Mr. Wike ask you to go and kill anybody? If I am contesting an election and you say you are going to support me, does that warrant you to go

and kill people? You go and take life simply because you are supporting Wike? That is unacceptable.

Why have you allocated N22 billion for security when you complain of not getting the cooperation of the security agencies?

For the records, I have never said that the security agencies are not working. All I keep saying is that we should not politicize the issue of security. If a person is arrested for committing crime, don’t come to the public and say they have arrested a member of our party. If a member of party A or B, or a person that does not belong to any political party commits a crime, let him or her answer for the crime he or she has committed. What I complained about is anyone trying to use the security agencies to assist in unduly influencing the outcome of the elections. The security agencies in the state are working. If they were not working, then you can imagine how the state would have been. If there was no synergy between the security agencies and the state government, how do you think we could have gotten Don Waney, the man who masterminded the killings of over 20 people in Omoku on January 1, and his close lieutenants? You expect me to go there and arrest Don Wane? Certainly not!

Whether I like it or not, it is incumbent on me to support the security agencies with logistics so that they can function effectively.

But, I will come to the public and shout and let the public know what is happening if they are not playing their part effectively. So, it is wrong for anyone to say that I said security agencies are not performing their duties. No,

that is wrong.

Part of the N22 billion is to build the additional six area commands and eight divisional stations that have been approved by the Police High Commands. We cannot wait for the federal government to come and build the Police stations for us. When you hear monies that are budgeted for security, most people think of monies earmarked for intelligence, but security entails far more than that. Security entails equipment, vehicles, logistics, building of physical structures and their maintenance and much more. I can beat my chest and say without equivocation that I do my very best in supporting the security agencies.

The state government has already awarded contracts for the building of some area commands and Police stations. We are building Police stations at Kpor in Gokana local government; Egbeda in Emohua local government; Agip in Ugborshimini and another Police State beside the flyover at Mile 1, in Port Harcourt Local Government. We are building area commands at Eleme; Elele; Choba and Rumuokoro Roundabout.

You are supporting the establishment of the neighbourhood watch in the 23 local government areas. Will this project not become political arm of your party?

No, the neighbourhood Watch will not be politicized. I would not have been able to push for its establishment without the support of the Security Council. This matter has been on for over one year. They will not carry AK-47. They will not be carrying any sophisticated weapons. Their duty is to support the security agencies with information and intelligence to enable them effectively police the areas. Their duty is to support the military and Police that will be patrolling their areas.

The neighbourhood Watch does not have powers to prosecute anyone. I enjoin Rivers people to be receptive to fresh ideas. The neighbourhood Watch is not conceived to witch-hunt anyone or any political party.

16

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

NEWS

ECOWAS commends Liberia on successful poll

T

HE Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) Network of Electoral Commissions (ECONEC), the umbrella body of Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) in West Africa has congratulated the National Elections Commission (NEC) of Liberia for delivering successful and credible elections and paving way for the peaceful transfer of political power in the country.

The elections marked the first time since the end of Liberia’s civil war that Liberian authorities were wholly in charge of the electoral process, without the support of the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), which has been maintaining peace in the country for the past 14 years.

President of ECONEC Governing Board and Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Nigeria, Prof.

Mahmood Yakubu, delivered the commendations, in Abuja, Monday, adding that: “There are no easy elections, and for NEC Liberia, the October/ December 2017 elections were a critical moment in the country’s political history.”

Yakubu noted that there were useful lessons for EMBs from the

George Weah taking his oath of office at a ceremony in Monrovia, Monday. electoral success in Liberia and urged NEC Liberia and other stakeholders to consolidate the gains of the elections.

Senator George Weah, who emerged victorious in the polls, was inaugurated as Liberia’s 25th

President in Monrovia on Monday.

Yakubu had led an ECONEC delegation on Needs Assessment and Solidarity Missions to Sierra Leone and Liberia in July 2017, in line with the mandate of the Net-

Weah sworn becomes Liberia’s president, vows to end corruption

F

ORMER footballer star, George Opong Weah, who won the presidency of Liberia last month, has been officially sworn-in as President of the country, Monday, with a promise to crackdown on endemic corruption.

Thousands of exuberant supporters and regional presidents and dignitaries crammed into a stadium in the capital Monrovia to watch as Weah, who rose from the city’s slums to become one of Africa’s greatest footballers, took the oath of office.

As a former AC Milan and Paris St Germain striker and 1995 World Player of the Year, “King George” as his fans call him was no stranger to having crowds cheering him on in packed stadiums.

However, he was also aware of the huge hurdles ahead as he replaced Nobel Peace Prize winner Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in Liberia’s first peaceful change of power for seven decades.

“It will be my task to lead this nation from division to unity. I will not let you down,” Weah told the crowd.

Weah, 51, rode to a landslide run-off victory last month on the back of heavy support from young people and the poor.

Making his speech in flowing white African robes, he promised to deliver on his key campaign promises, especially tackling the malfeasance that his predecessor is widely seen as having failed to do during her 12 years in office.

“It is my belief that the most effective way to directly impact the

poor, and to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor is to make sure that public resources do not end up in the pockets government officials,” he said.

Founded by freed American slaves, Liberia is Africa’s oldest modern republic. But it has been plagued by years of unrest and bloodshed, including two civil wars in the 1980s and 90s that were notorious for their brutality and use of child soldiers.

Johnson Sirleaf was credited with shoring up peace after that war, but criticised for failing to tackle elite graft or do much to lift Liberians out of poverty.

And in a nod to his opponents, Weah sought to turn the page on what was a bitter election battle, delayed for months by legal wrangling but which despite hot

tempers on all sides did not descend into bloodshed.

“We must not allow political loyalties prevent us from collaborating in the national interest,” he said. “Blood should never be the price tag for democracy. ...

This transition was achieved by ... (the) democratic will of the Liberian people.”

“Today is a great day for me and my country. I expect job creation and development,” said Agnes Echoing, deputy director of Liberia’s lottery authority, seated in a wheel chair.

“We will (also) need empowerment for people with disabilities,” she said. “I am excited.”

The ceremony was attended by the presidents of Gabon, Ghana, Togo, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Congo Republic, Senegal, Mali and Burkina Faso.

work to assist members with capacity building, peer-review and experience sharing, towards delivering elections with integrity and strengthening of democracy in the region.

He also led a delegation of

ECONEC and INEC officials as part of international observation groups that observed the 10 October elections in Liberia.

Following the disputation over the register of voters in the aftermath of the first round elections, the ECONEC President facilitated the deployment of INEC personnel for the ECOWAS Technical Team that assisted NEC Liberia in cleaning up the voter’s Register.

The Technical Team made crucial recommendations, the implementation of which enabled the conduct of the presidential runoff vote of 26 December 2017.

Yakubu stressed that EMBs require the support and cooperation of all stakeholders to succeed, adding that the Network will continue to work with stakeholders to promote credible elections in the ECOWAS region.

Accordingly, ECONEC will continue to encourage its members to share information and experiences on best practices, pool resources and build their capacities.

He also reiterated the commitment of the Network to its members in delivering on their mandate towards advancing democratic governance in the ECOWAS region.

Ebonyi blasts health ministry over poor hygiene From CHINEDU NWAFOR, Abakaliki

G

overnor David Umahi of Ebonyi state, Monday, berated the state Ministry of Health over poor sanitation.

The unscheduled visit to the Ministry by Governor Umahi was part of his campaign against dirty environment as a measure to end the intermittent outbreak of Lassa fever in the state.

The governor while inspecting the Ministry of Health premises at the Centenary city, Abakaliki expressed displeasure over the condition of the ministry and warned that his next visit would attract severe punishment of health workers could not maintain serene environment.

He said his administration will no longer condone unnecessary

lackadaisical attitude to work, adding, “I take this first visit as a warning, the next time I shall visit again, It will be action. It will be action because it is not funny to see the environment of the Ministry of Health dirty.”

Continuing, Umahi said: “At the moment we are battling with outbreak of Lassa fever, the Ministry of Health should be the leading example in our drive to maintain a healthy environment.

I am surprised to see that your staircase and other parts of the building have been covered by cobweb and I make bold to say that this is unacceptable. Health workers who recieve CONHESS and CONMESS should be able to be dedicated to work.”

He further disclosed that any worker who absents him or herself from duty would be greeted with instant dismissal.

Ebonyi monarch, family die in mysterious fire From CHINEDU NWAFOR, Abakaliki

T

he Village Head of Omege Community, Iboko in Izzi Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, Michael Ogada, his pregnant wife, Peace Ogada and four children have died in a fire incident that occurred in the monarch house.

This is just as the tragedy has thrown the entire village into mourning.

The village head was said to be in deep sleep with his now deceased pregnant wife, Peace and their children when the house was allegedly set ablaze by a

suspected hoodlum at about 2:30am.

The names of the four children who were burnt beyond recognition by the fire were given as Lambert Ogada, 7yrs, Abigail 5yrs, Beatrice,3yrs, and Festus, 1yr. First wife of Mr. Ogada, Angela Ogada was said to have woken up by mid night to see the family house engulfed by fire.

On noticing the fire, she was said to have tried to immediately push the living room door between her own apartment and her co-wife but it was locked.

She ran outside and raised alarm but before she could do that it was already late as the whole

building had been over taken by the fire.

The incident however left the entire village dumb-founded and in serious mourning mood.

It was learned that the village head had a land dispute with one of the villagers whom pointing accusing fingers now point as the arsonist responsible for the blaze.

It was gathered that the deceased village head had threatened to arrest him if he failed to hands off the land.

When contacted, the Ebonyi State Police Public Pelations Officer, ASP Loveth Odah confirmed the incident, as she dis-

closed that 14 persons, 12 males and 2 female including Mrs. Angela, the first wife of the village head had been arrested and that investigation was ongoing.

She expressed sadness over the development and assured the public that the police would soon unravel the cause of the fire.

Odah explained that the matter was reported to Izzi Police Division and had been transferred to the state police headquarters, as she appealed to the general public to ‘always oblige the police with useful information when a crime is committed to help police protect the lives of the citizens.’

The Oracle Today

17

Wednesday January 31, 2018

BU$IN£SS •

•

Energy

Finance

•

Stock

•

Insurance

•

Aviation

2019: Election activities cast shadows over capital market’s performance

By SAMSON AKINTARO

Energy

Oil, agriculture rule Nigeria’s economy in 2018

E

NDING the year 2017 as the third best performing capital market in the world and starting 2018 even on a brighter note, the hope of a bullish Nigerian capital market still hangs in the balance for the rest of the year as the 2019 elections approach.

Concerns over the impact of political campaign intrigues on corporate enterprises has created air of uncertainty around the current bullish trend in the market as stakeholders anticipates movement of funds from the market towards electioneering activities that will kick-off in few months to come.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr Oscar Onyema also gave thought to this feeling during his presentation of 2017 review and 2018 outlook of the capital market recently. According to him, while the market shows huge prospects for the year, the coming elections may bring setbacks to the market. “Indeed, to some extent, political activities and currency movements will have some effect on the market” he said.

It is believed that during election year, high net worth investors in the capital market usually pull out their funds to invest in political candidates. In another dimension, foreign investors, who, according to NSE data, contributed over 60 per cent to the market’s growth in 2017, are known to exercise restraints and hold their funds whenever election is approaching due to uncertainties and the possibilities of emergence of new government with new policies.

However, Onyema said the market will be banking on the financial performance of the quoted companies to sustain interest and confidence in the market. “We

P20

Aviation

Passenger traffic drops by 26% – NCAA

P27

TRAVEL • Nigerian Stock Exchange trading floor. expect that such impacts will be short lived and the performance of the underlying business activities will ultimately determine market performance” he said.

While noting that the market has appositive outlook for the year giving the positive outlook of the nation’s economy in 2018, the NSE CEO noted that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had forecast that Nigeria’s economy would grow by 1.9 percent in the year, driven by a stronger global economy, higher global oil prices and output, FX market stability and fiscal stimulus. “Amidst a stable economic backdrop, higher growth and investment-friendly policies, prospects for the Nigerian capital market in 2018 are encouraging” he said.

On its part, Onyema said the NSE is on track to become a more agile

CBN EXCHANGE RATES JAN. 22, 2018 Currency

Buying(NGN)

POUNDS STERLING 422.8931 EURO 373.6231 SWISS FRANC 317.8262 YEN 2.7512 CFA 0.5493 WAUA 438.2268 YUAN/RENMINBI 47.5453 RIYAL 81.2468 SOUTH AFRICAN RAND 25.0135 DANISH KRONA 50.1671 SDR 438.9204

Central (NGN) Selling(NGN)

423.5871 374.2362 318.3478 2.7558 0.5593 438.9459 47.6238 81.3802 25.0546 50.2494 439.6406

424.281 374.8493 318.8693 2.7603 0.5693 439.665 47.7023 81.5135 25.0956 50.3318 440.3609

and flexible demutualized securities exchange. “We are hopeful that the Demutualization Bill will be signed into law in 2018, and are working assiduously with our Advisers to fine-tune outstanding aspects of the demutualization project as well as providing clarity and transparency on the process via regular engagement with all our valued stakeholders”. “In 2018, NSE will launch Exchange Traded Derivative instruments and continue to engage with the government on privatization and listing of state owned enterprises in collaboration with the private sector. We also plan to maintain our role as an advocate for the adoption and implementation of market friendly policies”.

The Nigerian capital market last year recovered from the macroeconomic overhang of the commodity down cycle to be-

come the third best performing market in 2017 globally, with a 42 percent return in the NSE All Share Index.

The recovery, according to Onyema, was in part, a result of the Central Bank’s monetary policies that resulted in increased liquidity in the foreign exchange market. He added that the equity market activity skyrocketed from 2016 levels, as market turnover increased by 121 per cent to N1.27 trillion from N0.58 trillion.

He stated that “IPO activity in the year remained mute, however, there were several other positive indicators including the revival of supplementary listings and the return of new issuances. The value of supplementary listings increased by 27 percent, bringing the total value of equity issues in 2017 to N408 billion”.

Nigerian passport ranks 89 in 2018 Index P26

Stock Market Highlights As At 22nd JANUARY, 2018

Summary

DEALS VOLUME VALUE EQUITY CAP BOND CAP Most Traded S/N Coy (By Volume) TRANSCORP DIAMONDBNK FCMB FIDELITYBK FBNH GUARANTY

8,572.00 4,436,823,922.00 N15,927,636,530.36 N16,089,856,337,068.49 N7,907,950,422,196.84 Volume 3,861,499,559 85,767,340 76,657,810 69,045,004 57,729,592 13,333,156

Value(N) 9,339,340,934.75 N297,935,573.70 N267,059,671.50 N266,043,978.39 N785,719,892.60 573,209,043.26

5 Top Gainers Company BETAGLAS PZ INTBREW CADBURY NB

Last Close Current N56.56 N59.38 2.82 N22 N23.1 1.1 N63 N64 1 N15.06 N15.99 0.93 N142.19 N143 0.81

Top Losers Company NESTLE UNILEVER FO GUARANTY UACN UBN

Last Close N1500 N1470 N47 N44.2 N51.78 N50 N54.71 N53.51 N17.49 N17.1 5.47 5.3

Current -30 -2.8 -1.78 -1.2 -0.39 -0.17

Change 4.99% 5.00% 1.59% 6.18% 0.57% Change -2.00% -5.96% -3.44% -2.19% -2.23% -0.32

The Oracle Today

18

Wednesday January 31, 2018

BUSINESS

7.53m Nigerians jobless in Q3, 2017 – NBS

By VICTOR NZE

T

HE National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has disclosed that a total of 77.55 million people were engaged in economic activities out of a labour force of 85.08 million in the third quarter of 2017, which leaves a shortfall of 7.53 million Nigerians without work in the period under review.

The NBS disclosed this in a “Labour Force Statistics Volume 2: Employment by Sector report for Third Quarter of 2017’’ released by the bureau, last Monday in Abuja.

According to the bureau, the 77.55 million are engaged in some sort of economic activities for at least an hour a week, just as the bureau, however, noted that 8.46 million were engaged between one to 19 hours weekly; 18.02 million 20 to 39 hours; 51.06 million above 40 hours), while 7.53 million were doing absolutely nothing.

The bureau explained that it classified those working less than 20 hours a week and those doing absolutely nothing as unemployed. It also stated that it classified those working 20 to 39 hours or doing jobs not commensurate with their qualifications and skills as underemployed.

The bureau, however, stated that out of 8.46 million persons that worked within 1 to19 hours a week, 1.83 million or 21.67 per cent work for pay/ wage.

It stated that the 5.84 million or 69.03 per cent were self-employed working in agriculture (4.18 million or 49.44 per cent) and non-agriculture related activities (1.65 million or 19.58 per cent).

In addition, it stated that 83,978 or 0.99 per cent were paid apprentice and 703,240 or 8.31 per cent were

D

irector General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Alex A. Okoh has assured the Board and Management of Nigerdock Nigeria Plc that the bureau is committed to the full realization of the potential of the integrated engineering and fabrication Company.

Receiving a report of the BPE/ Nigerdock Joint Committee on the resolution of outstanding issues in the company in Abuja, last Wednesday, Okoh expressed worry over the present comatose state of Nigerdock, adding that this informed the decision to set up the joint committee to look into the issues militating against its operations.

He regretted that the company which was capable of employing about 6,000 Nigerians off the labour market and boosting the Nigerian local content policy, had only about 500 employees thus; negating the core essence of privatization.

Okoh said that the necessary frame work would be put in place to ensure that the company is patronized locally since it has the capability to deliver on its mandate.

“We shall look closely at all

K

ogi Government has partnered with Synergos Nigeria to evolve a Cassava Value Chain policy as part of efforts to reposition the agriculture sector in line with the Federal Government’s policy.

Synergos Nigeria’s Field Manager for Kogi, Benue and Kaduna states, implementing the State Partnership for Agriculture (SPA), Mr Victor Adejoh, disclosed this in Lokoja, Monday, adding that the government has also concluded arrangements to organise a Mini Summit on Cassava from where the policy would evolve.

He said that aside evolving a policy on cassava value chain, the summit was also aimed at promoting the Agriculture sector towards eventual diversification of the economy.

According to him, the summit, a brainchild of the Agricultural Vision Group (AVG) and Agricultural Innovation Group (AIG) of the SPA, will also help reposition the state on the world map in Cassava Value Chain.

“The mini-summit will through a participatory and inclusive panelist • Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Alex A. Okoh, General Counsel of Niger- engagement, elicit inclusive steps dock, Mr. Adewale Dosunmu, and director of Nigerdock, General IBM Haruna (rtd) in a group photograph to evolve a Cassava Value Chain with other members of the flanked by other members of the BPE/Nigerdock Joint Committee during the Policy to position Kogi on the world map in the Cassava Value Chain”, presentation of the report on the ship building company. he said.

Adejoh said that the summit It stated that the absolute unpaid house workers. per cent were self-employed workwould be chaired and co-chaired by number of male full-time workIt stated that under the working ing in agriculture (6.62million or the state Commissioner for Agriculhours’ category, Agriculture sector 36.72 per cent) and non-agriculture ers (34.85 million) was more than ture, Mr Kehinde Oloruntoba and twice the number of female fullwith 59.02 per cent or 5.01 million related activities (4.98 million or time workers (16.21 million) in the the All Farmers Association of Nipersons dominated, followed by 27.64 per cent). geria (AFAN) President in the state, Trade (9.7 per cent), Professional, In addition, it stated that 231,671 third quarter of 2017.

Mrs Rabi Emaiku respectively.

The report also stated that a largScientific and Technical Services (7.0 or 1.28 per cent were paid apprener percentage of males to females per cent). tice and 2.41 million or 13.39 per were self-employed in farming/ The bureau further stated that out cent were unpaid house workers. of 18.02 million persons that worked Meanwhile, the report stated that agriculture work, while a larger perwithin 20 to 39 hours a week and more males worked full-time than centage of females were self-emclassified as underemployed, 3.77 female, while a higher percentage ployed in non-farming/agriculture million or 20.96 per cent work for of female worked part-time be- work. pay/wage. tween 20 to 39 hours and below 20 The NBS stated that agriculture dominated both female and male It stated that 11.60 million or 64.36 hours per week. labour markets.

BPE commits to reviving Nigerdock

By VICTOR NZE

Kogi Govt. to evolve Cassava Value Chain Policy

the issues militating against the smooth operation of Nigerdock.

Patronage should not be denied the company because it has the capability to deliver. We should do everything possible to ensure that the company assumes its pride of place”, he stressed.

The Director-General stated that the report would be carefully studied and its recommendations escalated to the appropriate authorities for action.

Earlier, a director of the company, General IBM Haruna (rtd) had pledged the commitment of the Board to collaborate with the Bureau to ensure that the company survives and realizes its potentials.

He said the company apart from its core functions, was capable of conducting research for the Navy and Army if fully supported by the government. The director expressed the hope that with the synergy with the BPE, that was achievable and called for openness, integrity and transparency.

Presenting the report, the General Counsel of Nigerdock, Mr. Adewale Dosunmu said it was in two parts. He said it proffered short-term and long term solutions to move the company forward.

Customer service: Access Bank upgrades ‘Ombudsman’

By VICTOR NZE

A

ccess Bank Plc has upgraded its customer service platform, Ombudsman, for the purpose of resolving service issues between the bank and its customers.

The Ombudsman is an Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) platform wherein an aggrieved customer of the Bank may lodge complaints or grievances over the telephone to the Ombudsman and get an amicable and final resolution of the complaint within the shortest possible time.

Access Bank established the Ombudsman desk in order to boost its dispute resolution mechanism. However, the Bank has reviewed the function of the Ombudsman to include immediate resolution of customer’s complaints alongside the primary function which are Arbitration and other ADR mechanisms such as Conciliation and Mediation A statement from the Bank indicated that the aim and objective of the Ombudsman initiative was to resolve all customer complaints and issues on the same day irrespective of where the

complaint is issued from or the officer responsible for resolution.

The primary function of the Bank’s Ombudsman will be to investigate and resolve customer complaints relating to credit issues and broader service issues.

The additional focus will be on immediate resolution of customers’ complaints with the Ombudsman being empowered to directly engage customers and ensure complaints are attended to immediately.

By SAMSON AKINTARO

tors who have passed their certification test, while adding that presentation of awards and certificates to Chairs of companies and directors being celebrated will hold in February 2018.

The CGRS was introduced into the Nigerian Capital Market in 2012 and launched in 2014 after it was successfully piloted with a number of volunteer companies, including those now listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange’s Premium Board.

The process comprises three segments: an independently verified, self-assessment by the company; a certification of director awareness of their fiduciary duties; and, a corporate integrity assessment where perceptions of actual company behaviour are sought from internal and external stakeholders.

33 firms, 435 directors pass CGRS rating test

T

he Steering Board of the Corporate Governance Rating System (CGRS) has disclosed that 25 companies quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) have passed its rating test, having scored the required pass mark of 70 percent while 87 others are at various stages of completion of the process.

According to the board, these 25 successful companies, which include Access Bank Plc, Dangote Cement Plc, Diamond Bank Plc, among others, join 8 companies that retained their rating from the CGRS pilot in 2014, bringing the total number of companies rated as of today to 33. The board also congratulated the 435 direc-

The Oracle Today

19

Wednesday January 31, 2018

BUSINESS

Fasttrack industrialisation to boost job creation – Adesina urges Nigeria, others P RESIDENT of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, has made a compelling case for accelerating Africa’s industrialization in order to create jobs, reduce poverty and promote inclusive economic growth.

Citing data from the Bank’s 2018 African Economic Outlook launched in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, last Wednesday, Adesina said infrastructure projects were among the most profitable investments any society can make as they “significantly contribute to, propel, and sustain a country’s economic growth. Infrastructure, when well managed, provides the financial resources to do everything else.”

Noting that economic diversification remains key to resolving

many of the continent’s difficulties, he urged African governments to encourage a shift toward labourintensive industries, especially in rural areas where 70 percent of the continent’s population resides.

“Agriculture must be at the forefront of Africa’s industrialization,” he said, adding that integrated power and adequate transport infrastructure would facilitate economic integration, support agricultural value chain development and economies of scale which drive industrialization.

Adesina also highlighted the relatively unknown win-win situation that Africa’s industrialization can generate within the developed world, citing data from the report,

which notes that “increasing the share of manufacturing in GDP in Africa (and other Less Developing Countries) could boost investment in the G20 by about US $485 billion and household consumption by about US $1.4 trillion.”

The Bank President highlighted various innovative ways in which African countries can generate capital for infrastructure development and what the Bank is doing through its ambitious High 5 development agenda to address the issues raised in the report.

He announced that the Bank would organise the Africa Investment Forum on November 7-8, this year in Johannesburg, South Africa, to mobilise funds for infrastructure development, to bridge an estimat-

ed funding gap of $130-$170 billion a year, up from previous estimates of US $100 billion per year.

The African Economic Outlook which bridges a critical knowledge gap on the diverse socio-economic realities of African economies through regular, rigorous, and comparative analysis, also provides short-to-medium term forecasts on the evolution of key macro-economic indicators for all 54 regional member countries, as well as analysis on the state of socio-economic challenges and progress made in each country.

It presents the AfDB staff economists’ analyses of African economic development during the previous year and near term. It has become the main flagship report for the Af-

Cashew producers decry losses over Apapa gridlock

By VICTOR NZE

C

ASHEW producers, farmers, processors and exporters, under the aegis of the Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN) have told the federal Government to find a lasting solution to the Apapa gridlock, which they claim is causing untold losses in their businesses, in addition to its negative impact on export of the produce.

Making their demands known during a courtesy visit to the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Hajia Aisha Abubakar, in Abuja, the NCAN delegation which was led by the President of the Association, Mr. Tola Fasheru, also urged the federal government to immediately halt foreign nationals’ encroachment into farm gates of Nigerian Cashew farmers, as well as its intervention at resolving some challenges confronting cashew initiatives.

According to Fasheru, his group would also like the government provide 2,600, 000 Jutebags to pack cashew nut harvest for 2108, as well as assurances to attend the group’s forthcoming Cashew Summit.

Other members of the delegation included: First Vice-president, Mr. Steven Ahiaba, Vice President (West), Mr. Saliu Alasa; Vice President (East), CJ Kanu; Vice President (North), Mr. John Olonta.

N

Embrace emerging opportunities -- Fidelity Bank urges entrepreneurs

M

Federal Government delegation represented by the top officials of the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, including the minister, Mr Kayode Fayemi (l) and the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) at the signing a Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) with Messrs United Company RUSAL PLC of Russia for the Aluminum Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON) Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom State.

The National Executives of NCAN not only used the opportunity of the visit to present their score cards but also to seek the intervention of Government at resolving some challenges confronting cashew initiatives in the country.

Other requests of the NCAN include N20 billion to finance 2018 cashew export which the asso-

ciation says it already has a contract value N122 billion for, and proactive involvement of FPIS in the less than 10 per cent Cashew Moisture Protocol in the farm gates across the country.

The group further highlighted its achievements to include being the 4th largest producer of cashew in the world’s production of 2, 100, 000 tons by producing 220,

Job creation: NESG official makes case for inclusive growth igerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) has made a case for inclusive growth to provide employment opportunities and lift millions of Nigerians out of poverty.

Chief Executive Officer of the body, Mr `Laoye Jaiyeola, said this in NESG 2018 Macroeconomic Outlook “Will Nigeria’s growth be inclusive in 2018 and beyond?’’ posted on the group’s website.

The official said in spite of the fact that the country came out of economic recession in 2017, some key socio-economic indicators did not fare well.

“For instance, the latest report of the National Bureau of Statistics

rican Development Bank, as well as reference material for those interested in Africa’s development, including researchers, investors, civil society organizations, and development partners.

The January release will provide a rigorous and comprehensive analysis of the state of African economy, country profiles with key recent developments and prospects for each country, while a set of Regional Economic Outlooks for Africa’s five sub regions will be soon.

These self-contained, independent reports, will focus on priority areas of concern for each sub region and provide analysis of the economic and social landscape.

(NBS) showed that unemployment and underemployment rate rose from 35.2 per cent in 2016 fourth quarter to 40 per cent as at third quarter, 2017.

“This implies that over four million Nigerians lost their jobs in the same period.

“Likewise, over 85 million Nigerians lived below the national poverty line, even as Nigeria remains in the category of countries with low Human Development Indicators (HDI), according to the World Bank’s HDI Report.’’

According to him, the Nigerian economy recovered from its recessionary trend as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth bounced

back into the positive territory in 2017.

He said the GDP bounced back into positive territory from -0.9 per cent in the first quarter to 0.72 per cent and 1.4 per cent in the second and third quarters, respectively.

“The year also saw improvements, albeit modest in key economic indicators such as inflation, which closed the year at 16 per cent from 18.6 per cent in December 2016. Also, the year saw improvement in the external reserves, which rose to over 38 billion dollars and exchange rate, which remained relatively stable during the year.’’

000 metric tonnes in 2017 and exporting 120, 000 metric tonnes of cashew nuts in 2017.

The NCAN disclosed further that its contribution to national export earnings from cashew has been on the steady rise since 2015 when their export earnings rose from US$152,000,000 (in 2015) to US$259,000,000 in 2016 and US$402,050,000 in 2017.

NCAN further disclosed trading partnership with the Vietnam Cashew Association (Vinacas), business alliances with the African Cashew Alliance (ACA), USAID/NEXTT and a collaboration with Cashew Export Promotion Council of India (CEPCI).

Responding, Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Hajia Aisha Abubakar reiterated the commitment of the Ministry to support the Association for the fact that Cashew Association is one of the most-focused commodity associations.

She also commended the contribution NCAN to the huge improvements in cashew farming, processing and production and further, to the growth of the national economy in the areas of job creation and boosting foreign exchange earnings.

anaging Director, Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr Nnamdi Okonkwo, has urged entrepreneurs in Nigeria to take advantage of emerging opportunities and grow their businesses.

Okonkwo who said this at the Business Entrepreneurship Empowerment and Professionalism (BEEP) conference organised by the Fidelity Bank in conjunction with Flame Consulting Ltd in Lagos, urged entrepreneurs to take advantage of evolving business environment to grow their business.

Okonkwo, who was represented by Mr Ken Opara, the Regional Head, Ikeja Bank, said that entrepreneurs should embrace collaboration and take advantage of shared services and offerings.

The managing director said that renting a space for business was not necessary, as an entrepreneur could start small and grow in bounds later.

“You don’t need to rent a building before you start a business, take advantage of shared services and offerings’’, Okonkwo said.

He said that talent was the major thing in entrepreneurship and not emphasis on funding, noting that an entrepreneur with great talent would grow.

Okonkwo also stressed the need for a good business plan in place, rather than starting a business because of sentiments.

“A business plan is not about having a consultant, you must know why you want to enter a business’’, he added.

Okonkwo who described a business plan as a road map for a successful business, said that the bank would assist entrepreneurs with sustainable business with funding.

According to him, the bank will launch an Enterprise Development Fund in March for businesses with high sustainability.

The Oracle Today

20

Wednesday January 31, 2018

ENERGY

Oil, agriculture rule Nigeria’s economy in 2018

• Oil explortion and agriculture in Nigeria

By SOPURUCHI ONWUKA

C

UMULATIVE revenue and non revenue economic benefits from Petroleum industry operations and agriculture for the basis for performance of the Nigerian economy in 2018, according to report released weekend by the African Development Bank (AfDB).

The bank which plans to mobilise annual $130-$170 billion infrastructure development fund by last quarter of the year also points at the need to accelerate Africa’s industrial development and crash poverty rates across countries in the continent.

President of the bank, Nigeria’s Akinwumi Adesina, stated at events marking the first report on Africa’s economic outlook that programmes need to be evolved by governments of the continent to create jobs, reduce poverty and promote inclusive economic growth.

The report which was released weekend recognized that the nation’s economy has continued to show signs of recovery from the 2016 recession with gross domestic product (GDP) estimated at 0.8% in 2017, up from –1.5% in 2016.

AfDB said Nigeria’s GDP outlook from this year, anchored in higher oil prices and production, as well as stronger agricultural performance, is positive, with growth projected at 2.1% in 2018 and 2.5% in 2019.

In analysing economic indices that underpin projections for the Nigerian economy, the bank pointed at trends in the movement of

commodity prices with a note that Brent crude oil prices rebounded to an average of $52 per barrel in 2017 and are projected to reach $54 in 2018, up from $43 per barrel in 2016.

The Oracle Today reports that crude oil prices actually touched a region above $70 per barrel in January 2018 following glut burst by key world producers that collaborate on balancing of market forces.

AfDB also noted that Nigeria’s oil production increased from 1.45 million barrels per day (mbd) in the first quarter of 2017 to 2.03 mbd in the third quarter of 2017 following de-escalation of hostilities in the delta region. The bank’s analysts noted that output levels are expected to remain at the same level in 2018 and 2019, following restrictions by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Macroeconomic indicators, according to the bank, pointed at expansionary fiscal policy across 2016 and 2017, even though total spending as a percentage of GDP declined from 13% in 2014 to 10.3% in 2017. The bank noted that revenues declined more sharply, from 11.4% to 5.6%.

The bank which presented economic outlook for countries of the continent projected that Nigeria’s budget deficit would continue to maintain a declining trend from 4.8% in 2017 to 4.3% in 2018 and 4.1% in 2019 as revenue performance improves.

At 14%, unemployment remained high in 2017, the same as in 2016, and is expected to decline only slightly in 2018, to 13.5%, as recov-

ery eases production constraints in manufacturing and agriculture.

Monetary policy rate which has been kept at 14% since July 2016 to support the naira and control inflation, according to AfDB, “will continued to be contractionary in 2017 and is expected to remain so in 2018;” while inflation is projected to ease to 13.7% in 2018 and 12% in 2019 after remaining stubbornly high in the double digits from 15.6% in 2016 to an estimated 16.2% in 2017.

The bank stated that administrative measures introduced by Central Bank of Nigeria since early 2017 including trading window for portfolio investors at market-determined rates and the introduction of the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Rate Fixing, which allowed commercial banks to quote forex rates that are close to parallel market rates, improved foreign currency liquidity in the economy.

It added that the Naira remained stable for most of 2017 and is expected to strengthen slightly as the economy continues to recover.

AfDB said the recovery in oil prices and production volumes are expected to help drive growth and provide fiscal space as the government pursues important structural reforms to diversify the economy.

It added that faithful implementation of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (2017–20) holds the promise of weaning the country off its dependence on oil. The plan focuses on six priority sectors: agriculture; manufacturing; solid minerals, including iron, gold, and coal; services, including informa-

tion and communication technology, financial services, tourism, and creative industries; construction and real estate; and oil and gas.

On the headwinds confronting the economy, AfDB stated that Nigeria still faced significant challenges, including foreign exchange shortages, disruptions in fuel supply, power shortages, and insecurity in some parts of the country.

It added that revenue mobilization efforts are insufficient; at 5%, value added tax rates are among the lowest in the world, and revenue administration is inefficient.

“Poverty is unacceptably high; nearly 80% of Nigeria’s 190 million people live on less than $2 a day.”

In the 2018 outlook, AfDB strongly canvassed for Africa’s industrialization through development and growth of critical economic infrastructure that would provide the crucial foundation for vibrancy in the industrial sector.

Meanwhile yhe bank plans an investment forum in last quarter of the year to mobilise funds for infrastructure development and bridge an estimated funding gap of $130-$170 billion a year.

Mr. Akinwumi Adesina a compelling case for accelerating Africa’s industrialization in order to create jobs, reduce poverty and promote inclusive economic growth.

Citing data from the Bank’s 2018 African Economic Outlook launched in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, he said infrastructure development remains critical sustainable economic growth.

He urged African governments to encourage a shift toward labour-intensive industries as a

means of generating employment, especially in rural areas where 70 percent of the continent’s population resides.

“Agriculture must be at the forefront of Africa’s industrialization,” he said, adding that integrated power and adequate transport infrastructure would facilitate economic integration, support agricultural value chain development and economies of scale which drive industrialization.

He pointed out that economic diversification through industrialization with tangible investment in human capital will enable the continent’s rapidly growing youth population to successfully transition to productive technologybased sectors. citing data from the outlook, Mr. Adesina also restated that increasing the share of manufacturing in GDP in Africa and other Less Developing Countries could boost investment in the G20 by about US $485 billion and household consumption by about US $1.4 trillion through win-win situation between Africa and the developed world.

In his remarks, the Bank’s Chief Economist and Vice-President for Economic Governance and Knowledge Management, Célestin Monga, said the African Economic Outlook has become the flagship report for the African Development Bank, providing data and reference material on Africa’s development that are of interest to researchers, investors, civil society organizations, development partners and the media.

The Oracle Today

21

Wednesday January 31, 2018

ENERGY

Elcrest retains Oando rig in Opuama Field Stories by SOPURUCHI ONWUKA

I

NDIGENOUS independent oil firm, Elcrest Exploration and Production Nigeria, is stretching drilling campaign in Opuama field, onshore Niger Delta with retention of OES Teamwork swamp rig for a second consecutive well.

The company, according to its partner, Eland Oil & Gas, is moving OES Teamwork to the location of Opuama-9 well after successfully competing Opuama-8 well.

Production target from the two wells is estimated at 13,000 barrels per day gross to boost cumulative output from the field to about 21, 000 barrels per day (bpd).

According to mandatory declarations by Eland Oil and Gas, the Opuama-8 well has been successfully drilled, completed and handed over to the Opuama field production team.

The Opuama-8 well is now expected to flow test into the pro-

duction facilities and on to export.

Under the regulatory guidelines, the Opuama production team will conduct a Maximum Efficient Test (MER Test) incrementally testing the well at increasing choke sizes.

“It is expected that, following completion of the MER Test, initial production from Opuama-8 will be in line with previous guidance, at between 5,000 and 7,000bpd (gross).

Following the successful completion of the Opuama-8 infill well, we gathered, the OES Teamwork Rig was mobilized to the next well location and spud the Opuama-9 well.

Drilling is expected to be completed in February, with first oil from Opuama-9 of between 4,000 and 6,000bpd (gross) expected in Q1 2018.

“The Opuama-9 well is intended to produce the D1000 reservoir, with possible secondary pro-

From left: GMD NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru (2nd left) posing, in company with some NNPC top Management and PENGASSAN executives at the PENGASSAN event Thursday in Abuja. The NNPC top Management with him are: Chief Operating Officer, Corporate Services, Mr. Isa Inuwa (1st left) and Group General Manager, Human Resources, Mrs. Oyeyemi Ladipo. The PENGASSAN executives are: PENGASSAN National President, Comrade Francis Johnson (2nd left) and NNPC Corporate Headquartres Branch Chairman, Comrade Mathew Duru.

duction targets in the D2000 and D5000 reservoirs. In addition, the well will determine if the shallow ‘C’ sands contain oil in a crestal

location and will be deepened to appraise the E2000 reservoir.

“Production performance from Opuama field is strong, with gross

Shoreline in $350m finance deal with Vitol

A

CCORDING to secondary sources, deep pocket trading company, Vitol, is handing indigenous producer, Shoreline, a cash advance of $350 million for a lifting right on 50,000 barrels per day output from Oil Mining Lease (OML) 30.

Consortium of local banks and syndicate managers including Ecobank, Fidelity Bank, Union Bank, FCMB and Farallon Capital Management are said to be working with Vitol to deliver the bullion boxes to Shoreline.

The field is joint venture asset between Shoreline and government represented by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) which had earlier declared a new funding strategy involving prepayment deals to rake up to $5.0 billion with commodity traders for upstream oil and projects, The field is one of the assets divested by Shell to desperate indigenous companies at neck breaking prices that left the new

owners occupied with debt management.

With the new deal, Vitol would be providing Shoreline with a lifeline to drive oilfield activities expected to boost production from the prized asset where output is currently below reserves profile.

Vitol reached a deal with Shoreline to finance an oilfield in exchange for access to equity production from the 50,000 bpd of

oil production. The deal falls in line with the British company’s reputation of tracking petroleum commodity to field reservoirs. It has similar arrangements in some Middle East and Asian countries including Kazakhstan and Iran.

It was gathered weekend that Shoreline is in the deal to shop non-debt funds to refinance existing debt and drive development programmes in the billion

barrel field where it has 45 percent state acquired from Shell, Total and Eni during the partners’ divestments from vulnerable onshore assets in the Niger Delta.

Shoreline chairman, Kola Karim, is quoted in statements as saying that the deal would enable the company step up gross production to as much as 100,000 bpd over the next year.

said that a total of 60 local boats used to transport stolen crude were also destroyed.

According to the commandant the 60 local boats captured and destroyed along the waterways were with over 50 million liters of suspected adulterated petroleum products.

“In 2017, we uncovered and destroyed over 500 oil cooking camps; we also destroyed a total of 60 local boats in Bayelsa. To-

wards the end of the 2017, two tankers conveying illegally refined Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), also known as diesel, were arrested and handed over to us by the men of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF), Operation Delta Safe.

“Yes, it was two trucks involving about nine persons and they have been prosecuted according to the law. The general public should steer clear of illegal oil activities not only in Bayelsa but Niger Delta region and Nigeria at large, because NSCDC will not relent on its efforts to clamp down on such criminal act.

“Pipeline vandalism or illegal oil bunkering is not a good business because lives are always at risk. We are committed to bringing down illegal oil activities to a zero point in Bayelsa and nation at large in 2018,” he said.

500 illegal refineries destroyed in 2017

N

igeria destroyed a total of 500 illegal refineries over 2017, according to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps. (NSCDC), Bayelsa Command.

The total number of refineries destroyed was announced during an interview between Godwin Nwachukwu, the State Commandant of the agency and the News Agency of Nigeria.

In the interview, Nwachukwu

Price recovery to boost exploration investments in 2018 T

he successful arrest of crude oil prices from crash through concerted efforts at controlling market forces by key resource dependent economies led by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia is achieving a major objective of reactivating exploration investments.

According to analysts at BMI Research, exploration activity is expected to increase in 2018 despite prevailing concerns over market uncertainty and high debt levels at the upstream end of the industry.

The BMI analysts stated in a current report that oil price recovery would boost spending will of exploration and production (E&P) and improve asset growth.

The sector is benefiting from a resurgence in cash flow amid higher

oil prices and E&P companies are preparing to ramp up activity this year to expand their portfolio, targeting a number of new frontier markets, according to BMI. Despite increasing confidence, however, E&P companies will continue seeking a balance between increasing spending on new projects, reducing leverage and increasing shareholder distributions, BMI analysts said in a brief research note sent to Rigzone.

“We believe that spending caution will prevail over the coming months as companies maintain financial discipline,” the analysts stated.

BMI’s prediction follows news that global conventional discoveries hit a record low in 2017, coming in at less than seven billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe), according to Rys-

tad Energy.

This was the lowest figure since at least 2012, Rystad highlighted, when 30 billion boe was discovered around the globe. The total volume of global conventional discoveries stood at 16 billion boe in 2013, 15 billion boe in both 2014 and 2015, and eight billion boe in 2016.

“We haven’t seen anything like this since the 1940s,” a senior analyst at Rystad Energy, said in an organization statement in December 2017.

“The discovered volumes averaged at [around] 550 million barrels of oil equivalent per month. The most worrisome is the fact that the reserve replacement ratio in the current year reached only 11 percent (for oil and gas combined), compared to over 50 percent in 2012,” Passos added.

production from Opuama-1, -3 and -7 wells being approximately 18,000 bpd,” the partners stated.

NNPC Retail inaugurates new board of directors ...To build new depots

N

igerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has constituted a new Board of Directors for its retail subsidiary, NNPC Retail.

According to a statement by the spokesman of the corporation, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, the new board has the Chief Operating Officer (COO), Gas and Power at the corporation, Engr.

Saidu Mohammed, as Chairman; while the Chief Operating Officer (COO), Downstream, Engineer Henry Ikem Obih, is alternate Chairman.

Mr. Yemi Adetunji is Managing Director of the Company, Company Secretary and Legal Adviser, NNPC Retail, Mrs. Obioma Agbambo, who serves as Secretary to the board.

Other members of the board, according to the statement are: COO in charge of Refineries, Engr. Anibo Kragha; Group General Manager (GGM) in charge of Shipping, Hajia Aisha Ahmadu Katagun; and Mr. Yemi Adetunji.

Other members of the company’s management staff complete the number, Mr Ugahamadu stated.

The statement has it that new team has responsibility to develop new faciltities to enhance products handling capacity of the company which operates a chain of filling stations across key urban centers in the country. more specifically, the company is required to build more depots across the country.

NNPC Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru who inaugurated new board in Abuja challenged NNPC Retail limited to build more storage facilities in the country in addition to the corporation’s existing 23 depots nationwide in order to ease products supply and distribution in the country.

22

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

PEOPLE

The system is responsible for Nigerians’ aggressiveness – Chaplain General, Nwanne DICCI is the Divine Institute of Chaplaincy Corps International with offshoots in Ghana, South Africa, Zambia, Togo, Dubai, United Kingdom. In this chat with KELECHI NZE, the Chaplain General, Dr Chris Nwanne (CFM) talks about his mission, vision for the chaplaincy in Nigeria, and further makes a case for the Federal Government to engage the chaplaincy towards assisting Ministeries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in conflict resolutions matters and dialogues with the Nigerian citizenry.

How did the chaplaincy evolve?

D

ICCI is simply Divine Institute of Chaplaincy Corps International. I have had passion for service to God and humanity every before I was called into the ministry. I have had this passion to wipe away tears from the faces of people. The vision has been to reach out to the governmental departments both neglected and non-neglected and also the dying souls in the society just to wipe away their tears.

Initially the move began like a foundation, a charity outreach before I became a child of God and before I completely went into the ministry as a pastor. When I became a pastor, and as an evangelist, the Lord laid it strongly in my heart opening my eyes to the uniform departments to reach out not just with the gospel but also to take care of them, their wives, children that are abandoned and so on.

Hence, giving birth to the word; “Don’t Let Them Cry”.

As a pastor while I was in the North on a missionary assignment under the Christian Pentecostal Mission (CPM), I was on 90 days praying and fasting on a particular mountain which is known today as The Solution Mountain, and God began to give me some series of revelations, information and instructions that have to do with my latter days in life and God laid more emphasis on chaplaincy. I had different kinds of encounters being commissioned in the dream of night wearing police uniforms and chains of different uniforms.

So, I thought as a prayer warrior that the Lord Has promoted me spiritually with some dangerous spiritual rankings. But the Lord spoke to me clearly and said that through you chaplaincy will become chaplaincy corps in this nation and the entire nations of the world and it shall be called (DICCI). It took 2 years after the revelations for things to begin to unfold to what we have as at today. Today, in different nations of the world DICCI is running as a legal institution for charity activities and chaplaincy functions. DICCI has chaplaincy faculties established in about five grade ‘A’ universities internationally where people can study professionally and have accredited certificates as chaplains so that they can further

www.dicci-corps.org

Email: info@dicci-corps.org Official week days line

08021292969

Signed my CPRO Chaplain ME.Fynary

their education in any university around the world and also work and get paid salaries as chaplains. This is to a large extent the DICCI has developed and it is no longer seen or being considered as a professional chaplaincy body or a foundation as the case may be but also as an institution running chaplaincy faculties on behalf of some universities around the nations of the world. One of such faculties has been brought to Nigeria, The Metropolitan School of Business Management Anambra State. We have other faculties of such running currently in the United Kingdom, Dubai where people can study chaplaincy under the DICCI through those institutions and get accredited certificates up to doctorate.

Since you started this organization, have you been your experiences at different levels?

It has been all challenging at different levels of course you know there is no divine drive or agenda that devil is not interested in to fight it and to bring it to a halt. There are systems that have been programmed to frustrate the emergence of new things or certain things so that they neither sell nor succeed. These systems make things difficult for you at the initial stage so that the demand for you to be recognized in certain agencies would be challenging but as long as God is involved with persistence you are sure of breaking forth.

We had a very difficult time trying to register the organization because they said there is no other corps that will be registered, so we started out by running DICCI as an association. We began to empower, function, train people and deploy them without salaries over the years.

DICCI was registered in 2005 and it has been a drive and we have done a lot of things from the eastern zonal command, that is, workshops, empowerments, and also worked with the police in some stations in the East. In 2005 and 2006 we had over 2000 officers in Nigeria and we held the first world chaplain convention at the Presidential Hotel, Enugu.

I shut down everything I was doing and my resources to make sure that the world was hosted on April 8, 2006 in Enugu. It was all road leading to Nigeria and Enugu precisely, we had so much crowd filled with people from different walks of life including people in leadership but what amazed me

was that I never envisioned that the pastoral association has gathered such a crowd that I witnessed in the Presidential Hotel, Enugu and I don’t know when such encounter will repeat itself again. That encounter opened us up to 2nd phase of raising officers and there was a massive growth of the DICCI under a very short period of time. DICCI was recognized

by The United Chaplaincy State of New York as the fastest growing chaplaincy body in history. We commenced partnership and membership with The United Chaplaincy State of New York and we got the diplomatic title to represent them in Africa and the demand was that South Africa will be the regional office for accessibility. Nigeria remains the mother chaplain corps of the DICCI but while South Africa has the administrative headquarters for the whole region covering Asia, Europe, Africa and the Gulf, Nigeria remains the operational office.

Now, as the mother chaplain corps of DICCI, we decided that whatever that is happening abroad should be brought home after 10 years. After 10 years of accreditations, proper licensing and recognitions across the globe, we began to raise officers here in Nigeria and they began to minister to people in awaiting trial and for over 1 year now we have been reaching out to people in colleges, prison and so on and we are trusting God that this year we will expand operations.

There have been challenges financially to provide adequate relief materials for outreach because we refused to take money from government and philanthropists so that God will prove Himself if it is divinely orchestrated. In South Africa alone, we are privileged to use over 5 million rand to do charity in just a year.

We refused to collect money from government and we still achieved what we could have done with government, strapping our pockets, doing everything within and still account to the same government. That makes it easier for anybody to invest just as we are about to set up a chaplain academy as an institution running professionally in this nation as a university and people can invest without fears knowing we have been self-sponsored over the years and that their money will be accounted for.

Would you at any point seek government assistance?

Yes. At this point because these people are into selfless service at least security insurance, health insurance, life insurance and their utility bills should be at least should been taken care of. And if any agency can assist us with that we will appreciate because these people are being deployed voluntarily for these services they need to be indemnified even if they are not paid salaries. If any government or government agency would look through our ledger after one and half decades of operation without seeking for help from anyone would assist us knowing that we will make this nation a better place to dwell in if we are being aided.

We are not seeking for salaries for the officers but we want their health insurance, life insurance and utility bills to be taken care of. There is also need to provide means of transportation, that is, buses, and Hilux trucks to enable the officers to reach out. We are currently reaching out to schools, hospitals, praying for the sick, those ones in prison and police custody. These are the areas we need encouragement mostly in the area of providing relief materials for the students, charity homes, people in prisons and police custody. These are the areas we need assistance because God Has been helping us to take care of our officers inwardly. It is also a welcome idea if there is anyone who wants to financially encourage these officers who have laid down their lives for service to humanity, then we will submit their names to them and they can pay directly into their account.

How can the chaplaincy corps assist the teeming unemployed youth, especially in the area of capacity?

The chaplaincy corps can be used to sensitize and engage the unemployed youth to volunteer themselves to be trained and be deployed for HIV/STD campaign, human and child trafficking campaign and so on so that the government can pay them and the crime rate can be checked and reduced. These assignments are supposed to be carried out all over the nation but we can only reach out to few states due to limited funds. And I know that if these campaigns such as crime prevention campaign, HIV/STD campaign and the Don’t Let Them Cry outreach will be taken to all of the states and local councils the society will become a more interesting place for people to live in.

What is unique about the DICCI? A chaplain is a chaplain. The fact remains that chaplains have been trained over the years to carry out certain assignments. Many chaplain bodies are carrying out these assignments but the reason they are not paid is because of accreditation. If you go to a bible school and come out you are given a certificate and a ministry can employ you. Then when you go to school to study chaplaincy concepts and functions a certificate will be given to you. But you will discover that there is no agency according to the objectives of chaplaincy that will employ such a chaplain because the certificate is not accredited. This has led millions of chaplains to be hovering around wearing uniforms without attachment to service or duty.

Right now we have a chaplaincy faculty running through the Metropolitan School of Business Management in Anambra state. The primary reason is for those chaplains from different chaplaincy to come and study chaplaincy and have certified certificates that they can work with and fulfill the purpose of chaplaincy in different agencies in Nigeria and anywhere in the world. Over the years, people could not go abroad to study so we brought the faculty to Nigeria so that people can easily enroll and get certified certificates.

This is a major milestone that we have covered recently and after studying professionally, they

Continues on P46

23

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

PEOPLE

Chidume, Krisoral Group boss is new Igwe of Omor • Anambra community gets Monarch after 10 years after former ruler’s death

By IBE NWACHUKWU

I

T was all excitement and celebration galore for the entire people of Omor community in Ayamelum Local Government Area of Anambra state as they watched Governor Willie Obiano issue a Certificate of Recognition to their illustrious son and Igwe-elect, His Royal Highness, Igwe Chris Oranu Chidume.

The Igweship throne which had remained vacant for about 10 years, following the demise of Igwe P. N. Udemezue in 2007, fell on Chidume, an Onitsha-based industrial giant.

The late Igwe Udemezue hailed from Aturia village, the third youngest.

The final selection of His Royal Highness, Igwe Chris Oranu Chidume, a few months ago, followed the recommendation of a committee set up by the state government to select a popular candidate who will be acceptable by the vast majority in the area to fill the vacant throne.

The state government had set up the committee made up of credible personalities to assess the popularity of all the Igweship contestants, select the popular choice of the people and recommend same for the issuance of the certificate.

The committee which had its members as Dr. Tim Menakaya, Chief Paul Odenigbo, former SSG, Igwe Rowland Odegbo of Nteje, Igwe Christopher Idigo of Aguleri the state commissioner for local government and chieftaincy matters, Chief Greg Obi, after a thorough job, recommended that Chidume was the choice of the entire populace.

•Chidi Ume receiving his staff of office The state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Hon. Greg Obi, flanked by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Hon. Ikechukwu Onyeabo confirmed that it was based on the committee’s recommendation which Obiano adopted, that Chidume was selected as the Igwe-elect and was entitled to receive the certificate and staff of office.

Obi therefore urged Chidume to unify the people and rule them with love and care.

The certificate and staff of office was issued to Chidume barely 24 hours before he was crowned as the Eze Ana-Ukwu, Eze Igulube of Omor, by the entire community, having been selected from the youngest Amikwe village whose turn it is to produce the traditional ruler this time around.

Three other villages, Orenja, Akanator and

Aturia in the order of seniority had at one time or the other produced Igwe, before it became the turn of Amikwe, the youngest.

In a brief ceremony held at the Governor’s Lodge, Amawbia, Obiano declared that he was issuing the certificate and staff of office to Chidume, based on the power conferred on him as the Chief Executive of the state, under Section 7 of the Traditional Rulers law of 1981, which is an indication that Chidume has transformed from Igwe-elect of Omor to a substantive Igwe of Omor.

The governor noted that he was impressed with the maturity and peaceful processes with which Omor people selected Chidume, among other contestants, as their new monarch and urged other communities in the state which have not selected their own royal fathers to emulate the gesture.

The traditional ruler of Mbaukwu, Igwe Peter Anugwu who spoke on behalf of other traditional rulers at the ceremony, advised Chidume to regard everybody, including his opponents as his subjects since according to him, royal stool is meant to be contested for and not given to someone on a platter of gold, adding that it is not even advisable for anybody to accept a traditional stool given to him on a platter of gold.

Igwe Anugwu noted that the right interpretation of the prefix: ‘21 over 21’ added to Governor Obiano’s name was not necessarily that he scored the highest votes in all the 21 local government areas of the state during the November 18 governorship election in the state, but that he is also ready to take APGA’s winning spree to other states in the South East

region and beyond in 2019.

Responding, the new monarch declared: “I will go back to Omor and make them live in peace and harmony and I will channel government’s interest towards having a closer look at agriculture and industries which will in turn create employment opportunities for our teeming youths in Omor”.

24 hours later, four eldest persons from the four villages and two others each from Igwe Chidume’s paternal and maternal homes coronated him as the traditional ruler of the community amidst pomp and pageantry.

In their separate speeches, the PresidentGeneral of Omor town union, Chief Chukwuma Nebeife and the Public Relations Officer, Chiamogu Ikechukwu commended Igwe Chidume for his selection and coronation, adding that as a philanthropist, they have confidence that he would take the community to a higher height in terms of quality leadership and developments.

They therefore urged every indigene of the community to support the new monarch, even as they wished him long life and progress as he mounted the throne.

Igwe’s younger brothers, Anthony and Chiadi, expressed satisfaction that the monarch has 99 percent support from the populace, adding that even though some other people showed interest to contest the throne, the majority chose him as a beacon of peace and symbol of love.

In his speech, Igwe Chidume expressed excitement and happiness to have received the certificate and staff of office from the government, adding that he would first of all make everybody to come together and at the same time bring about a harmonious co-existence.

‘The system is responsible for Nigerians’ aggressiveness’ have worked on them psychologically by reforming and changing their mindset. You have different kinds of conflict such as emotional conflict, mental conflict, social conflict, environmental conflict, and political conflict and we have professionals who have been trained to carry out these functions.

• Members of DICCI Continued from Pg ???

can be redeployed to different military departments to fulfill their calling as chaplains and also as officers to carry out the functions of a chaplain. The roles of a chaplain includes to manage crisis, to prevent crimes, to minister, to mediate, to counsel on religious matters and other matters that may arise which unprofessional people may not be able to handle. There are few trained counselors in Nigeria and you find out that every minister and pastor goes into counseling without being trained professionally. These ministers/ pastors indulge in counseling without professional license therefore mixing up the whole thing and multiplying and increasing the problem without resolving it. We have a platform whereby people will study and

get certified and if you can prove that you are a chaplain already then you go through a scratch course and get a certification that can enable stand anywhere in the world, work in any agency across the world and also receive salary as a chaplain.

Within our code of conduct in the chaplaincy as professional counselors we get into conflict resolution or mediation on invitation or on consultation. Some agencies can invite us either to teach on that, speak to their people and to operate in their midst. It is just like helping the police force in some state commands we have written to and got approval to address the awaiting detainees. There are people we can address and get their freedom on bail and they return to the society as better people and not as criminals after we might

How best do you engage the citizens in your line of work?

There is one thing you must understand and that is that we are living in a very stubborn environment; an environment that the system has made people to be stubborn and aggressive.

Nigerians are survivors, and what I discovered in my years at home and abroad is that where ever you find Nigerians they are aggressive.

They talk aggressively and they operate as if there is no tomorrow and I know that all of these aggressions are from their background.

If Nigerians can behave the same way abroad then there is something that has made them aggressive from where they come from. And if the police do not follow them accordingly they may not be able to carry out their duties of providing security for the masses appropriately. We do not blame the police force so much because of the aggressive nature of Nigerians. From my working experience across the nations with different high commissions mediating and managing crisis at different trouble spots, it has been gathered and there is a report to prove that Nigerians have 95% aggressiveness in them. Migrating from home to abroad, they leave aggressively with a mindset to make it under any circumstance. The Nigerian police have done very well in crisis management and crime prevention. Abroad, Nigerians use manual systems to decode automated machines and systems and it is very difficult to manage them with all their machineries whereas the Nigerian police would use manual systems to intelligently handle them here at home. But the only thing we advise is that they become friendlier as the saying that police is your friend.

Where do you see the chaplaincy body in future?

Until all chaplains are accredited and can work with their certificates and get paid by the government and agencies across the nation, the drive continues and that is the assignment God gave to me. The institution allows you to enroll whether you are Muslim, Hindus or Christian not limited to any religion alone. A Muslim who becomes a certified chaplain after studying professionally would return back to the Muslim commission who employs and pays he/she salary as deemed appropriate for the services he/she renders to them.

What are you grateful to God for all this past 10 years?

I’m grateful to God that the revelation He gave has become a seed and has germinated from this nation to Ghana, South Africa, Zambia, Togo, Dubai, United Kingdom and different countries of the world and that seed is still bearing fruit till date. During the gala nite at Four Point by Sheraton we held on the 3rd of December, 2017, everything was just at its best: the presentation, the platform and so on and we were thanking God for where He single handedly Has brought us to and for taking the DICCI to the nations of the world and legally accepted.

The bullet that we released in Nigeria has scattered around the nations of the world through South Africa and that is what we are grateful to God for. When we took over the activities in John Foster and other stations in South African police command, during the memorial service we discovered that over 100 people committed suicide and died carelessly among the officers and after 1 year it was reduced to 20 and today it is almost at zero point. The suicidal rate among the officers has reduced to nothing. So we enjoin the Nigerian Police Force and the government to also allow this global operation access to step into their agencies, their workers, help their officers and help those in custody so that Nigeria can be a better place to live in.

24

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

ISSN: 2545-5869

VOX POPULI SACRUM

www.oraclenews.ng

EDITORIAL

Nigeria totters... everyone talks 2019 THE year 2018 does not exist in the thinking of the leaders of Nigeria. It is an obfuscation to a future that they see very clearly: 2019, the year of elections. If it were possible they would abolish 2018 and take themselves straight to the renewal of their mandates.

NIGERIA has been reduced to the seasonal jostling for power. A grip on power, control of resources, a stake on the management of the lives of millions of people are obviously more important than listening on what people are saying today, about today.

A NOTION that Nigerians do not plan should be amended to exclude the politicians. They plan. They have plans for 2019 and 2023 as extension of their 2019 programmes. The elaborate plans have huge provisions for exclusion of perceived enemies. The list of the ‘appointed’ for ‘elective’ offices is more dynamic than the speed with which politicians change political affiliation.

CHANGE is real and it starts with the politician exploring new facilities for propagating his stay in power. Performance is such a fluid word that it can accommodate all manners of results. Debates on the performances of governments lead to more debates. The usual justification for poor performances, where it is admitted, is that the incumbent deserves a second term to conclude “the good work”.

GOVERNANCE has taken a back seat long ago. The timetable of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for the 2019 states that party primaries would hold by August. It is a matter of months. Politicians, more than others, know the importance of elections, especially winning them.

THE people are poorer, hungrier, less secured, unhealthier, but these are not the concerns of government. The formation of the next government in 29 May 2019 is more than all these put together. The only covenant that the government wants to establish with the people is

to have their votes again; hopefully government would reward them with better performances in 2019 WHAT are the bases for the hopes when the imminent challenges that Nigerians face are treated with levity? What attention is government giving to the issues that hurt Nigerians daily?

CATTLE RATTLE US GOVERNMENT obsession with the security of Fulani herdsmen and their cattle is generating more tension than any issue currently. Outside attacks that are taking hundreds of lives, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, the association of Fulanis herdsmen, admitted executing the attacks in some Guma and Logo local governments of Benue State, in which more than 74 people were killed. They are threatening more attacks, unless the Benue State anti-grazing law was repelled DENIALS ON ALL FRONTS Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore takes responsibility for the attacks and warns that there would be more. Government denies their involvement in the attacks, accuses militia groups of being responsible for the attacks, calls it communal clashes, and at other times blames enemies of the President who are blackmailing him. The Department of State Services, DSS, blamed the attacks on a foreign terrorist group. These denials are the first indications that government would not do anything about the attacks.

FOOD CRISIS COMING IF Fulani herdsmen keep destroying farms, killing farmers and scaring farm owners, it is a matter of time before a food crisis hits the country. The extent of the destructions by the Fulani herdsmen is under stated.

PETROL SCARCITY AS Minister of Petroleum, the President’s response to the fuel crisis that has persisted for more than a month is typical of how he has managed Nigeria.

“Unfortunately, I am saddened to acknowledge that for many, this Christmas and New Year holidays have been anything but merry and happy. Instead of showing love, companionship and charity, some of our compatriots chose this period to inflict severe hardship on us all by creating unnecessary fuel scarcity across the country,” he said in a 1 January broadcast, more than two weeks after the country had battled with fuel scarcity.

“The consequence was that not many could travel and the few who did had to pay exorbitant transport fares.”

WAS limiting the impact of the scarcity to inconveniences of travellers, the President’s scope of understanding of how fuel scarcity affects the economy? Was it part of the denial that the government hit the people and the economy in the past three weeks with a devastation that could take money to repair?

“This is unacceptable given that NNPC had taken measures to ensure availability at all depots. I am determined to get to the root of this collective blackmail of all Nigerians and ensure that whichever groups are behind this manipulated hardship will be prevented from doing so again,” the President underlined his seriousness about dealing with those who delight in hurting our people?

Strictures on Nigeria RESTRUCTURING is not an option or alternative to whatever Nigerian leadership is doing now. It imperative – and the most

developed countries still adopt to do things better. The befuddlements that have been heaped on it are unnecessary interruptions to injecting life to an ailing patient called Nigeria.

HOW restructuring will work is what Nigerians should be discussing now. The immediacy of the matter does not grant us the luxury of the delays that some patriots insist on throwing in the discussions. The patient, Nigeria, is in the intensive care unit, and treatments for what ails it, must be dressed with emergency attitudes that reflect the seriousness.

THE “non-negotiable Nigeria” is a military imposition that stripped us of our freedoms, our rights to be open with our fears and doubts about the country, and offering these concerns on national platforms that would have attended to them. Nigeria is run as pretence; it is no longer sustainable.

WHAT are the benefits of restructuring, some would ask?

When Nigeria restructures, Nigerians would have the freedoms to think, to talk, to engage in alliances and associations that would create wealth across various platforms of our existence, engender trust, generate relationships that celebrate competences of our various parts, and rejuvenate a competiveness that would see individuals, organisations and governments engaging each other in worthy pursuits away from the constricting structures of Abuja deciding everything.

NIGERIANS, many of them, are busy trying to convince themselves that the challenge Nigeria faces is Nnamdi Kanu and his kinsmen, who cannot stand the idea of Muhammadu Buhari being President of Nigeria. If Kanu would be quiet, or silenced, Nigeria would continue as the land of prosperity of their dreams.

DID we notice how several sections of Nigeria have appropriated the agitations for regional governments? Is there no sense in the agitations that most parts of Nigeria are adopting to press their cases for a better country?

What has happened? Since 15 September 2017, when the military invaded Kanu’s home and nothing has been heard about, has the country known more peace? Have the agitations for restructuring stopped?

WITH these burdens on Nigeria, its leaders are more concerned about another election, not the lives of Nigerians, who they expect to vote in 2019. How leaders manage not to see that Nigeria is tottering – so that they can do something about it – is the biggest pretence top leading Nigeria.

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 January 31, 2018

OPINION Of climate change and herdsmen crisis in Nigeria

By CHIAGOZIE UDEH

C

limate change is not ranked among the five top causes of conflict in Nigeria, namely, tribalism, resource control, religion, land and trade. But, that reality has been altered. The past 36 months have been fiercely violent for several Nigerian States, which came under the killing machetes, bows and arrows and guns of rampaging Fulani herdsmen in face-offs with subsistent farmers defending their farms from grazing herds.

Variants of causative factors have been proffered for the visceral violence, but not the nexus between herdsmen’s migration southwards and the effects of climate change. Herdsmen for whom cattle is a source of livelihood and wealth, have killed approximately 1000 Nigerians. Myetti Allah (the umbrella body of the herdsmen) in characterizing the violence as self-defense seems to justify the killings. Analysts can’t help but ask: is the government really tackling the problem?

Having lived in Southeastern Nigeria in the past two decades, I must say I have never witnessed a more turbulent time than the past three years. This is not to suggest that life had always been smooth, but we had hitherto enjoyed relative peace. Now, our farms are under attack, with our children and women the most vulnerable to attacks

by Fulani herdsmen, who would rather kill humans than risk losing their cattle to hunger.

The Fulani herdsmen are nomadic and habitually migratory. They move from north to south annually with their cattle in search of grazing fields. The movement is seasonal.

Now, with climate change, the movement pattern has been markedly altered. Due to expansive desertification, drought and unchecked deforestation in northern Nigeria, the herdsmen naturally seek greener pas-

ture southward. As the resultant migration has intensified, so too have violent clashes over grazing lands between local farmers in the south and the pastoral herdsmen, whom the former accuse of wanton destruction of their crops and forceful appropriation of their lands in the course of grazing their cattle. The emerging conflict is further compounded by the shrinking of Lake Chad from 45,000km2 to 3000km2 in less than three decades. The consequence, according to the United Nations, is the displacement of about 10.5 million people. It’s a combination of these factors that has pushed herders from north-eastern Nigeria, the region closest to Lake Chad, to the southern parts of the country.

Paradoxically, the spiraling rise in killings by the Fulani herdsmen coincided with the assumption of office by President Muhammadu Buhari- also a Fulani- who may be standing for re-election in 2019. In the two and half years that the Buhari administration has been in power, over 50 per cent of the casualties recorded has been in the southeast and north-central geographical regions.

Farming communities in Benue, Kogi, Taraba and Nassarawa in north-central and Enugu, Abia and Anambra in the south-east have incurred the highest casualties. It’s confounding that government’s response has ignored climate change, as the source of the exacerbation in conflict between the herdsmen and farmers in rural Nigeria.

Historically, indeed, since the existence of Nigeria, the Fulani herdsmen have grazed their herds customarily in the north and intermittently in other areas. But incremental drought with resultant desert encroachment forced them to regularly look southwards for greener grazing areas. As Mary Ikande observed in an article published on naij.com, “with regard to precipitation at the coastline, the eastern part records 430cm,

the western region records 180cm, the center of Nigeria records 130cm, the upper north is the driest zone and records only about 50cm”. These statistics, which merely confirm pre-existing academic research on rainfall patterns in Nigeria, point to the underlying problem. According to an International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) publication released in November 2017, “over 80% of Nigeria’s population depends on rain-fed agriculture leading to a high risk of food production system being adversely affected by the variability in timing and amount of rainfall.”

With the rising attacks, several States in Nigeria have enacted anti-grazing laws that make grazing in open field or farms a punishable offense. Whereas such measures have doused the tension in some affected States, in places like Benue State, they have failed.

The 2018 New Year Day attack by herdsmen resulted in the gruesome murder of 73 people in rural Benue communities. The attack occurred despite the extant anti-grazing law Benue State government had enacted which prohibited indiscriminate and open-field grazing. The herdsmen had vowed not to obey the law.

They made good their vow and there was no one to restrain them. The Federal Government’s response has been lethargic at best. Its reactions, if any, have always been to deploy security operatives to troubled spots. There has been no serious effort by the government to tackle the effects of climate change as ancillary to the crisis. In developed and some developing countries, cattle herds are ranched with provisions made for growing their choice species of grasses. Nigeria can ill-afford not to do the same. Ranching has been widely recognized as a solution, but entrepreneurs are reluctant to take advantage of this. The onus is on the government to take the first

step and introduce policies that will make ranching attractive such as effective ban on open grazing, easy access to land, improved species of grasses and compulsory interstate transportation of cows by trucks. This will also create thousands of green jobs for unemployed youths.

Intensifying the pace of the Great Green Wall project (a reforestation plan for subsaharan Africa to fight desertification by planting trees at desert prone areas), in the 11 northern pilot States, where it is meant to take place, is now imperative. Implementation of that project will help return green vegetation to the north.

Nigeria also needs to quicken her adaptation measures on climate change (plans to tackle the effects of climate change) from vision to actions. It is distressing that Nigeria is not yet a member of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), a 43-nation group of most vulnerable countries that negotiate as a bloc at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It speaks to the lethargy that characterizes such issues of great importance. Joining the CVF will give Nigeria the opportunity for knowledgesharing with countries facing similar challenges. Benefits from what the group is able to negotiate, will be bonus.

Nigeria can’t escape or ignore the impact of the climate change cause-and-effect relations to the herdsmen crisis without risking a worsening situation. The best way to tackle climate change problems is to approach them with the aim to explore the opportunities they present to empower people. In a country with terrifying unemployment numbers, this moment should be seized to avert a nature-induced crisis becoming politically explosive.

• Udeh is a Climate Change policy research associate at Selonnes Consult Ltd.

That PDP showcase of Delta, Ekiti council polls R

By EHICHIOYA EZOMON

ecent conduct of council polls in several states, particularly that of Delta on January 6, has evoked memories of the war-like zone the 2015 general elections, and re-runs thereafter assumed in some states.

It appears the governors are using the elections as “combat rehearsals” for the main contests in 2019.

But as legendary Fela Anikulapo-Kuti would say, “trouble sleep, yanga go wake am...,” the spokesman of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, Kola Ologbondiyan, praised the Delta and Ekiti elections as reflecting the loss of goodwill by the All Progressives Congress since 2015, and challenged the party to “conduct free and fair council polls, in states it controls, in order to test its popularity.” So, Delta and Ekiti polls were “free and fair?” Wonders!

Before Mr. Ologbondiyan’s labeling of the APC as “mortally afraid of going into any election, particularly at the grassroots” sinks, let’s remind him that winning council elections in Nigeria has nothing to do with “the goodwill of the people” or popularity; it’s all about who controls the levers of power, who appoints the election umpire, and how far the incumbent authority wants to deploy that power to its advantage.

And especially in the run-up to the 2019 general elections, there’s desperation by state governors, across the political divide, to capture the grassroots, in hope of using same to fight their re-election (as is the case in Delta, Enugu and Akwa Ibom in 2019) or the election of their successors (in Ekiti (2018) and Kwara (2019)).

An article, “As PDP overruns APC at Delta LG polls,” in the Delta State-owned The Pointer of Tuesday, January 13, summed up

the above assumption thus: “The winning streak showed itself in Lagos, Kano and Cross River states and it would have been an aberration for Delta State to concede any councilorship seat to the opposing parties.

It is a dog eat dog scenario. It has nothing to do with being a gentleman. You either crush or get crushed in the political battlefield.”

Perhaps, fearing such a mindset, former Speaker of the Delta House of Assembly, Mr. Victor Ochei of the APC, challenged the PDPled administration to “use the election as a test, and see how they are on the ground in Delta, by allowing materials for the election get to the field, elections held, results counted and let’s see how many seats PDP would clinch come Saturday.”

And his word for the Delta State Independent Electoral Commission (DSIEC): “If they know they want to write results, they shouldn’t waste tax payers’ money in organizing an election.” This admonition came two days to the election. But what did we see on Election Day, as gleaned from “live updates” by the media? Unimaginable mayhem that culminated in bloodshed, and destruction of electoral materials and property. Check the headings below: * Delta Council poll: PDP boasts, vows to sweep all LGAs * Delta: Early violence, irregularities mar council polls (8.57 am) * Breaking News: Gunmen attack Ughelli DSIEC secretariat, set building ablaze, fire shots sporadically (9.09 am) * Returning officer for Delta LG election missing in Ayakoromo community (1.00 pm) * Delta LG Election latest: Hoodlums batter presiding officer in Burutu (2.02 pm) * Delta LG Election update: Election materials yet to arrive Riverine areas (2.45 pm) * Delta LG polls: Tragedy as DSIEC ad hoc staff killed (4.16 pm).

However, a major complaint was alleged

absence of “genuine,” but availability of “fake” result sheets. In a situation like this, what did Mr. Ologbondiyan expect from the election? It’s what the DSIEC announced: “Moon-slide victory” for the PDP. As results were trickling in, the APC slammed the election as a “sham” and called for its cancellation, and a re-run.

The sore point in Delta was the failure to take Mr. Ochei’s bait and allow free, fair, and credible election. Prior to voting, the PDP had a head start of 57 unopposed councilorship seats. And with its incumbency factor, the party could still have got a “landslide” triumph without the violent bravado that characterized the poll.

In Ekiti, given Governor Ayodele Fayose’s electoral theory of “100% of 100” (PDP must win all seats), the APC tactically avoided being rubbished by boycotting the EKSIECorganized exercise. And the final result was a PDP roller coaster (100% of 100) over other parties.

The council elections in Enugu and Akwa Ibom States did not fair better except in minimized violence. In Enugu, after the ENSIEC, exercising “illegal powers,” initially disqualified 73 APC candidates, but reinstated them on the eve of the election, the PDP scored “100% of 100,” with the APC crying foul. And in Akwa Ibom, the APC had to “withdraw” midway into the balloting “due to its flawed process.” Unprecedentedly, the AKISIEC announced the results through a three-paragraph statement, with the PDP clearing all seats.

The shenanigans in council polls are not limited to the PDP, as the ruling APC in Kwara State secured 100 per cent chairmanship seats in the contest the KWASIEC organized, even as the PDP denounced the conclusion.

As for the APC “deluding itself that it can

still win elections in the country, as it did in 2015,” according to Mr. Ologbondiyan, how many of the elections conducted by the INEC did PDP, which has “gained Nigerians’ goodwill,” win in Edo, Ondo and Anambra States?

He needs his memory refreshed: that the APC won Edo and Ondo, and came second to the APGA in Anambra. That’s the actual test of popularity!

•

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 Abuja Bureau Chief Tony Ailemen Head, Graphics & Designs Nnamdi Alex Chukwu Advert Manager Andrew Udeh Circulation Manager Felix Oti

The Oracle Today

26

Wednesday January 31, 2018

Travel & Hospitality Int’l tourist arrivals up 7% at 1.3bn

A

CCORDING to the latest United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) World Tourism Barometer international tourist arrivals grew by a remarkable seven per cent in 2017 to reach a total of 1.3 billion.

It was above the sustained and consistent trend of four per cent or higher growth since 2010 and represented the strongest results in seven years.

It was revealed that Asia-Pacific recorded six per cent growth with 324 million international tourist arrivals in 2017. The arrivals in South Asia grew 10 per cent, South-east Asia saw eight per cent , Oceania had seven per cent and three per cent in North-east Asia.

It was revealed that International travel saw strongest growth in seven years.

Most destinations showed positive results it was seven per cent for South America, and four per cent for Central America and the Caribbean.

There was more than two percent growth in North America, Mexico and Canada’s robust results contrasted with a decrease in the United States.

Middle East recorded five per cent growth with 58 million international tourist arrivals in 2017.

Lagos Tourism set to target global audience

N

ewly appointed Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, has stated that the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode led administration remains keen on marketing the tourism values of the state to business and leisure travellers across the globe through an initiative to be driven by his ministry.

Ayorinde, who disclosed this at a reception organised by the management and staff, last Monday, when he officially assumed office, noted that the Ministry of Tourism and its management under his watch will work with other State institutions and agencies to deliver a top-notch economically beneficial tourism marketing strategy built on attractions and exposure of Lagos to the global tourism audience.

While imploring the staff to be focused and committed to meeting the set goals and objectives of the Ministry, he posited that the Lagos economy in 2018 will be largely driven by tourism activities laced with socio-economic values.

Earlier, in her welcome speech, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Arts and Culture, Mrs. Aramide Giwanson applauded the appointment of Mr. Ayorinde as the new Commissioner, saying that he is an experienced professional in journalism who is determined to ensure that the desire of the State government to make Lagos a preferred tourism destination in Africa is actualized.

Nigerian passport ranks 89th in 2018 Index Stories by VICTOR NZE

T

he Nigerian passport has been ranked 89 in the recently released Henley Passport Index, with Germany holding on to first spot for the fifth year running, as its citizens enjoy visafree access to 177 countries in total, up from 176 countries in 2017.

The raking is informed by the number visa-free destinations a country’s international passport can gain access to in a year under consideration.

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 ranks 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.

Ranking jointly 4th on the index, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and

Spain all provide visa-free access to 174 countries.

The Seychelles is the highestperforming African country in 2018, ranking 27th on the index and moving 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, ranked 89 with Cameroon and Congo. With access to 32 countries, Somalia, ranked 100th, remained static compared with 2017.

The United States is among the countries holding 5th place on the 2018 edition of the index, improving its visa-free score from 172 in 2017 to 173 in 2018. The Russian Federation, meanwhile, climbed three places to 48th position. China has shown the most growth in North Asia over the past year, moving up 10 places compared to 2017 and now ranking 75th globally.

For the second year in a row, Pakistan, Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan sit at the bottom of the Henley Passport Index, each able to access 30 or fewer countries visa-free.

“Across the economic spectrum, individuals want to transcend the constraints imposed on them by their country of origin and access business, financial, career, and lifestyle opportunities on a global scale. The Henley Passport Index shows individuals where they lie on the spectrum of global mobility, revealing the strength that their passport has in relation to other passports,” Dr. Christian H. Kälin, Group Chairman of Henley & Partners, said, noting that the need for visafree access is greater than ever.

Of the 199 countries featured on the index, 143 improved their rank over the past year and 41 countries maintained their position.

In terms of visa-free access, only seven countries saw their level of access reduced over the past year: Azerbaijan, New Zealand, Antigua and Barbuda, Algeria, Laos, North Korea, and Syria all lost visa-free access to a single country. By contrast, 18 countries maintained their level of access year-on-year, and Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Tarzan Marine Services Limited, Ganiyu Tarzan Balogun, flanked the remainder of countries (174 in by travel writers during the boat cruise on the Lagos inland waterways, weekend. total) saw an improvement in their level of access compared to 2017.

Tarzan to launch rebranded ferry service, beach house

M

anaging Director/Chief Executive Officer, Tarzan Marine Services Limited, Ganiyu Tarzan Balogun, has disclosed plan by his company to unveil a special ferry service to more recreation grounds within and around Lagos, as well commission a new and remodeled beach house at its main Lekki Jetty, in Lagos.

Balogun stated this when he hosted a team of travel writers under the aegis of the Association of Nigerian Journalists and Writers of Tourism (ANJET) to a boat cruise on the Lagos inland waterways, weekend.

The boat operator who hailed the writers for their efforts geared towards driving agenda for the industry, said the travel writers’ body ‘remains the only credible group that can help Nigeria and also all tourism operators to join hands together to move tourism forward in Nigeria.’

“This type of gathering has always been the face and corporate feature of Tarzan boats, not just to appreciate the tourism press but to also help encourage ANJET as an association to remain strong as tourism advocates in Nigeria.

“Indeed, the tourism media remains the only credible group that can help Nigeria and also all tourism operators to join hands together to move tourism forward in Nigeria. Therefore, I salute your courage and tenacity in the face of avoidable challenges, particularly the seeming lack of sustainable support from the organized tourism private sector.

“At Tarzan, we shall continue to work with ANJET and at all times remember your invaluable support to us without any kind of pressure or expectations. Your call is an exemplary sacrificial service to mankind and to the Nigerian tourism in particular.

“Soon, our famous beach house will be renovated and rebranded with a special ferry service to other beach recreation grounds within and around Lagos. We also want to appreciate the federal government through National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and the Lagos Inland Waterways Authority (LASWA) for creating for me the enabling environment for the growth or water transportation,” said Balogun.

Describing the outgone year as challenging, the boat opera-

tor said he remains upbeat about 2018 even as he commended the travel writers for contributing to the growth of his firm, and the vibrancy of the industry.

“There is no doubt that 2017 was very tasking in a lot of ways for the tourism business in Nigeria and consequently, it must also have been difficult for the reporting sector.

“Though 2017 was very tough for the Tarzan Group, we still managed to remain focused, putting in place new jetties and other operational facilities than can help both transportation and outdoor water based recreation.

“There is no doubt that ANJET has contributed to the success of my organization on various fronts, particularly when we are faced challenges of growth and in helping to explain our overall intention and aspiration to government,” he said.

The three-hour boat cruise covered the West to the East ends of the Lagos inland waterways, beginning from the Lekki waterfront of the Tarzan Jetty to Egbin and Ikorordu on the East, to Apapa, Mile 2 on the West of Lagos.

Edo Govt opens tourism desks at Benin airport

E

do State Ministry of Arts, Culture, Tourism and Diaspora Affairs, in partnership with Viko Nigeria, has unveiled tourism and information desks at the Benin Airport to boost tourism.

Speaking at the unveiling ceremony at the arrival and departure wings of the airport, Wednesday, State Governor, Godwin Obaseki said that the desks would provide investors and visitors opportunities to know about the tourism potential of the state.

The governor, represented by the Chief of Staff, Mr Taiwo Akerele, said that the aim was to make the state a tourism destination of the country and boost the economy.

Earlier, the state Commissioner for Tourism, Mr Osaze Osemwengie, said that the information desks would form part of the road-map toward the development of the state’s vast tourism potential. He said that the idea was conceived by the governor in his quest to boost investment and employment opportunities in the state.

The Oracle Today

27

Wednesday January 31, 2018

AVIATION

Passenger traffic drops by 26% – NCAA Stories by VICTOR NZE

N

o fewer than 11,221,608 air travellers went through Nigeria’s airports in 2017, according to figures released, Thursday by the Consumer Protection Directorate of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).

The figure is, however, a drop by 26 per cent compared to the 15,232,597 passengers recorded between January and December 2016.

According to the document, the 30 airlines on the international routes operated a total of 13,503 flights and carried 3,575,542 passengers during the period under review.

The eight domestic airlines operated a total of 48,319 flights and airlifted 7,646,600 passengers across the country.

Thus, airlines on the domestic routes accounted for 68 per cent of the passenger traffic, while the international route recorded 32 per cent.

Commenting on the develop-

ment, General Manager, Public Relations, NCAA, Mr Sam Adurogboye, said the drop was due to various factors on both the domestic and international routes.

Adurogboye explained that the six weeks closure of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja for the repair of its runway affected flight operations in the country.

“The foreign airlines, except Ethiopian Airways, refused to operate flights to Kaduna Airport, which served as the alternate airport during the period. So, this obviously limited the frequency of flights into the country,” he said.

The NCAA spokesperson noted that on the domestic front, the perennial scarcity of aviation fuel and adverse weather during some months of the year also affected flight operations.

“We had a period when aviation fuel was scarce and the airlines could not operate their flights as scheduled. Also, during the harmattan period, there were flight delays and cancellations due to bad weather, ” Adurogboye said.

He maintained that aviation remains the safest, fastest and most convenient means of transportation, stressing that there was need for the airlines to tap into the huge market in the country.

“It is not the duty of the NCAA to do marketing for airlines. The airlines know that Nigeria has a large population and they need to attract more people into the flying public.

“People should be sensitised about how to buy cheap tickets through online booking on both local and foreign routes,” Adurogboye said.

vided by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the local law.

According to him, the union will like to see a situation where employers in the industry will respect trade unions decision in the interest of employees and allow unions to partner with them.

Abioye said that this would improve productivity and safety because a disgruntled worker is an accident waiting to happen.

The union scribe also advised the Federal Government to review the frequencies being allocated to the foreign airlines into the country.

He noted that the frequencies to the foreign airlines were hindering the progress of the local

airlines.

Abioye also advised domestic airlines to consider going into merger and code sharing arrangement in order to reduce their operating cost.

“We will also like to see government advising the local airlines that are not doing badly in their airline businesses to go into mergers and acquisitions. They must support themselves in the areas of skills sharing, maintenance and spares and then compete at the level of commercial, ticket sales.

“This is not to forget that re-establishment of a national carrier should also be on their topmost agenda,” he said.

Union demands improved performance for industry

T

he National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) has called for improved performance from various operators in the aviation sector this year.

General Secretary of the union, Mr Olayinka Abioye, who made the call in Lagos, noted that the aviation industry in the previous year recorded zero accident flight operations, adding that such positive results should be replicated in 2018.

He urged employers of labour in the industry to partner with the union by having and engaging in collective bargaining as pro-

AMCON drums support for MRO facility

M

(From left to right): Executive Director Operations, Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Mr. Aminu Ismail; Commissioner/CEO, Accident Investigation Bureau, Mr. Akin Olateru; Aero Chief Executive Officer, Capt. Ado Sanusi and Dr. Harold Olusegun Demuren at the formal roll out ceremony of the first successfully conducted Boeing 737-500 C-check at Aero MRO facility in Lagos, Friday.

anaging Director/Chief Executive Officer of Asset Management Corporation of Niger (AMCON), Mr. Ahmed Kuru has called on aviation industry practitioners to patronise Aero Contractors’ MRO facility in Ikeja Lagos State, which made history as the first ever carrier in Nigeria to conduct an aircraft C-check in the whole of West and Central Africa.

The C-check, which was carried out on a Boeing 737-500 aircraft, was marked by a high-profile roll out ceremony, which held at Aero Headquarters at the local wing of the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Ikeja. It was attended by crème-dela-crème of aviation industry in the country.

Kuru, who was represented at

NAMA remains focused on safety –Akinkuotu

M

anaging Director, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Capt. Fola Akinkuotu, has said the agency would continue to work assiduously toward building upon the current safety profile of the nation’s airspace.

Akinkuotu who disclosed this in a statement issued in Lagos to mark his first anniversary as the Managing Director/Chief Executive of NAMA, said the focus of his administration was to continue to propel the agency to provide its customers and clients with the best service at all times and making sure that flights depart and land safely even in adverse weather conditions.

According to him, it also includes maintaining a well-trained and wellmotivated workforce, and doing everything to sustain and improve upon the safety record of the Nigerian airspace. He, therefore, solicited the cooperation of all stakehold-

ers in the aviation sector toward achieving these objectives.

Akinkuotu said despite the several challenges the agency faced in the past year, it had recorded remarkable achievements and significant progress in certain critical

areas such as the replacement of Instrument Landing Systems (ILS) in two strategic airports in the country. He listed other achievements to include an increase in staff training and improvement in staff welfare.

“Many of our colleagues received their long-awaited promotions across the line all the way to General Manager Grade level, and it was particularly pleasing to see three elevated to the position of substantive directors in the agency,” Akinkuotu said.

BA to upgrade long-haul economy inflight meals

B

ritish Airways (BA), the largest Britain-based airline has announced that it would be introducing an expanded menu that would be taking place from January 17 onwards.

The multi-million pound investment in this new menu is expected to provide more quality and quantity to both means and the snacking options.

The options are inclusive of a four-course meal comprising chicken casserole with ale sauce, seasonal vegetables, colcannon

mash or a vegetarian tomato, farfalle and vegetable dish, pretzels, Magnum ice creams and much more.

Director, Brand and Consumer Experience, British Airways, Carolina Martinoli explained that the inflight experience goes a long way in driving customer satisfaction.

Of late many other airlines have been attempting to offer an enriching and improved inflight meals experience for long-haul economy passengers.

Last year a notable news media has reported that many air carriers have also been upgrading their alcohol as well. These airlines are Turkish Airlines, Swiss, Delta, Air France, Eva Air and Singapore Airlines.

Previously, the long-haul economy passengers who would travel with British Airways would be offered a complimentary snack, three-course meal or a light meal depending on the time and length of their flight and also a complimentary bar service of hot and cold drinks.

the event by Mr. Aminu Ismail, the Executive Director in charge of Operations at the Corporation also called on other airline operators in the country to see the rare facility as credible alternative and a strategic way of stopping the huge capital flight that leaves the shores of Nigeria anytime Nigerians take their aircraft to other countries for C-checks.

“I would like to solicit the support for Aero MRO by all stakeholders, particularly the relevant aviation regulatory bodies, towards ensuring that this seed that has been planted is allowed to grow, in our collective interest as Nigeria and Nigerians.

“We cannot continue to allow capital flight of our scarce foreign exchange towards paying for services that are available in Nigeria and would provide a source of employment for our people. To this end a directive to other airlines towards the use of this facility at least to the extent of its capabilities and certifications, would go a long way towards ensuring the growth of the Aero MRO into being certified for other Aircrafts types,” Kuru pleaded.

He stated that the success Aero has achieved with the facility could be replicated across other industries in Nigeria.

“I strongly believe that more can be done if we imbibe good corporate governance, hold management accountable, and have responsive regulators. What we witnessed here today, which is the Roll Out of the First Successful Conduct of a Boeing 737-500 series C-check in the country justifies AMCON’s resolve and commitment towards the development and stabilisation of our challenged aviation sector.

We are all living witnesses to the controversies that have trailed AMCONs intervention in the Aviation sector.”

The Oracle Today

28

Wednesday January 31, 2018

INSURANCE & PENSION UK Insurance, finance frauds hit 15yr high of $2.9bn

F

raud in the United Kingdom rose to 2 $2.9 billion, the most in 15 years, as the police commander in charge of fighting the crime said the amount of evidence was setting back investigations.

The value of finance and insurance fraud rose more than tripled to 900 million pounds in the past year, according to a report by accounting firm BDO, which analyzed fraud reports of 50,000 pounds and above. BDO attributed at least part of the increase to higher numbers being reported due to greater confidence in police work.

However, David Clark, the police officer who heads the U.K.’s anti-fraud response, last week told lawmakers that an overload of documentary evidence was setting investigations back.

There is “a problem of large volumes of data faced by investigators and prosecutors,” said Jessica Parker, a lawyer at Corker Binning in London. “The problem is pervasive and will only be resolved by resources and transparency starting at the very outset of an investigation right through to trial.”

Pension verification now seamless – PTAD

Stories by VICTOR NZE

E

XECUTIVE Secretary, Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), Mrs Sharon Ikeazor, has declared that pension verification was now seamless in the country due to the deployment of technology by his agency.

Ikeazor made this known, Wednesday, when he officially declared open the verification NITEL and MTEL pensioners in Enugu.

PTAD has deployed 45 functional laptops, 20 scanners, 20 webcam cameras, 20 thumb-print capturing machines and five printers.

The PTAD boss said the directorate was fully automated, adding that PTAD staff had been wellschooled and vast on how to oper-

ate the new devices.

“As I speak to you, we have our internet server here and all its necessary attachment to ensure seamless exercise and to key- in information instantly. The directorate had over the years invested heavily on modern technology that will make our work and service to the people very seamless and real-time,’’ she said.

The executive secretary said that through the help of technology PTAD was now doing mobile verification for sick and incapacitated pensioners.

“We have collected the phone numbers of sick pensioners and their contacts; and our staff will do mobile verification for them by going to where they are to capture

them electronically,’’ she said.

PTAD is verifying 22,000 pensioners of NITEL and MTEL in seven centres across the nationwide and at each of the centre, it will take eight days to conduct the exercise.

Meanwhile, some retirees of the defunct Nigerian Telecommunication Limited (NITEL) have expressed happiness over ongoing verification by the Federal Government aimed at restoring their pension benefits.

The NITEL retirees residing within the South-South geopolitical zone are undertaking the exercise handled by the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) at the Port Harcourt data centre.

The exercise brought some hundreds of NITEL retirees together at

NUP urges FG to clear 33% pension arrears

T

he Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) has appealed to the Federal Government to offset the backlog of the 33 per cent increment in pension owed pensioners.

Chairman, (Federal Branch) Lagos of NUP, Mr Joseph Dele, who made the appeal in Lagos, weekend, further disclosed that the pensioners were being owed 12 months arrears of the 33 per cent increment in pension.

The 33 per cent backlog is from pension increment for civil service, police and parastatal pensioners to enhance their welfare.

He commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his determination to settle the backlog and other entitlements owed pensioners.

“This determination could also guarantee the pensioners support for the President in 2019,” he said.

Dele expressed regrets that the arrears were being paid in piecemeal through the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) to the pensioners under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS).

“We still have 12 months outstanding and some parastatals still have as high as 36 months backlogs outstanding. Moreover, it was 54.3 per cent increment that they promised us but was later slashed to 33 per cent which we accepted without grudge, “he said.

Dele who appealed to the Federal government to release fund to clear the backlog through PTAD, further urged the Federal Government not to exclude pensioners from the ongoing minimum wage review.

“The Federal Government promised to review the minimum wage over five years. We plead that they should consider pensioners also by increasing the percentage of their monthly allowance. Our monthly pension is too small and it can’t feed us,’’ he added.

the centre.

Chairman, NITEL Retirees Association in Edo, Mr Samuel Isireaojie, said that the move to create a pension data base for the retirees was a welcome development.

“It is to us, very cheering news, that after a long time, we have been remembered. It shows that efforts are now in place to ensure we are paid. Like we all say, every labourer is entitled to their reward; as retirees, we are entitled to our pensions. We commend the government for this step,’’ he said.

Also speaking, Mr Samuel Oriri, who retired as NITEL’s South-East Zonal General Manager thanked the federal government for the initiative.

“This has rekindled our hope, a lot of us who felt abandoned after service, now think differently. This verification is a good omen,’’ he said.

Oriri commended officials of PTAD for the orderliness with which they undertook the exercise, saying “it shows that things can work in Nigeria’’.

A PTAD officer, who pleaded anonymity, said that the verification was in three stages such as document review, digitisation and quality assurance.

The exercise, which targets about 22,000 persons nationwide, is for former NITEL staff who retired before June 2007.

AMA announces 5th African Actuarial Congress

• (From left to right): Speaker, House of Representative, Hon. Yakubu Dogara (left); Minister of Defense Brig.-Gen Mansur Dan-Ali (rtd); Chief of Army Staff, Major General Tukur Buratai (background); and Chairman Mutual Benefits Group, Dr. Akin Ogunbiyi, at the Armed Forces international Polo Tournament in Abuja sponsored by Underwriting firm, Mutual Benefits Assurance, in Abuja, weekend.

Pay our arrears – Pensioners appeal to Niger, C/River Govts

C

hairman, Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Niger State Council, Alhaji Saidu Anache has appealed to the Niger Government to pay up the 34 per cent increment owed pensioners.

Anache who made the appeal in in Minna , last weekend, said that the Niger Government only paid 20 per cent out of the 54 per cent of the harmonised pension increase.

“We are appealing to Niger Government to see us as their parents and pay the remaining 34 per cent to enable us cope. Some of us are still receiving N4, 000 monthly and this cannot pay our bills in this crucial time” he stressed.

He decried that there was nothing meaningful N4, 000 could do for pensioners and urged Niger Government to pay up the money owed them.

Similarly, Mr Emmanuel Jiya, Assistant Secretary, NUP, Niger Council, called on the govern-

ment not to make promises they cannot keep.

“When government assure pensioners they should keep it, this will help us to live longer. When the government says they will pay, let them pay. Make good your promise and do not dash our hope. Government fulfilling their part of the agreement will help us to live better and longer to contributing our quota to the development of the state,” he noted.

He appealed to the government to respect the Pension Act and harmonise their pension as and when due, saying that it will go a long away in assuaging for pensioners.

In a related development, Local government retirees in Cross River have vowed to occupy all government offices in the state if the State Government fails to pay them N9 billion arrears of gratuities and pension.

State Chairman, Association of

Local Government Pensioners, Mr Bassey Okosin, who dropped the hint at news briefing, Tuesday in Calabar, said the debt had been owed for 11 years now.

Okosin said the Governor Ben Ayade-led administration had been given one month within which it must begin to pay the gratuity and pension arrears owed them from 2007 to 2018.

She expressed displeasure over the neglect of local government retirees in the state and emphasised that they would embark on a protest on or after Feb. 16.

“Our state governor has received one part of the bailout fund and two tranches of the Paris Club refund, yet, no single local government retirees has been paid. We heard that the Federal Government had released the funds for the primary purpose of clearing all outstanding salaries, pensions and gratuities; why then are we not paid?

T

he International Actuarial Association, in collaboration with the Moroccan Association of Actuaries (AMA), has concluded plans to host the 5th African Actuarial Congress, to be held in Casablanca on March 15 to 16, 2018 at the Hotel Sofitel Tour Blanche.

This is also as AMA unveiled Mr. Karel Van Hulle, former Director General of the European Commission and considered the founder of Solvency II, as Keynote Speaker.

Another highlight of the meeting will be the presence of the President of the International Actuarial Association (IAA), M. Masaaki Yoshimura.

The theme of this congress is; “Financial Development in Africa: Expertise and Public Interest”.

The event follows the international congress in November 2016 in Cape Town, South Africa, which brought together over 160 participants from 15 African countries and other regions of the world.

“As a recurring engagement of the actuarial profession, this congress aims to put the dynamics of the constantly evolving insurance, social security and banking sectors in Africa into perspective, through the lens of the actuarial profession.

“In this regard, the Moroccan Association of Actuaries is pleased to announce that registration is currently open on the AAC platform, developed on its website www. ama.ma and accessible directly at: www.aac2018.ama.ma,” said AMA.

The Oracle Today

29

Wednesday January 31, 2018

INSURANCE & PENSION UN appoints Adeosun into pension fund investment committee

U

• Members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Lagos Mainland and District Society, led by the 23rd Chairman, Mrs. Blessing Ngozi Osakwe-Ogo, on a courtesy visit to the office of the Lagos State Commissioner for Finance Mr. Akinyemi Ashade, recently.

NAICOM approves rates for compulsory classes of insurance

I

NSURANCE industry regulator, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has released approved rates for compulsory classes of insurance to the operators.

The commission which announced the move, Monday, said this was geared towards curbing the increasing challenge of rate cutting in the industry.

The approved rates for compulsory classes of insurance were announced in a statement by the commission’s Head of Corporate Affairs, Mr Rasaaq Salam, signed by the Acting Director, Authorisation and Policies, Mr Leonard Akah.

The statement which said every operator should be guided by these rates in their various transactions, further stated that Insurance operators are directed to adhere and comply with existing approved premium rates for all compulsory classes of Insurance.

“Every operator should be guided by the rates in their various transactions. Going forward, the NAICOM will strictly monitor and enforce compliance,’’ it said.

The statement said the discount rates cover compulsory classes of

insurance like Statutory Life Insurance, Builders’ Liability Insurance, and Occupiers (Public Buildings) Liability Insurance.

“Others are: Healthcare Professional Indemnity and Motor Third Party Insurance,’’ the statement said.

It quoted the approved rates on Occupiers (Public Buildings) Liability Insurance from N1,500 to N15,000.00, depending on the space the insurance policy covers.

For example, the approved rate per room in a hotel is N1,500.

“The approved rates per floor in recreation centers or cinemas is N15, 000. The approved rate on a plot of land is N5,000 while that of the single occupier residential building is N5, 000.00, while the single occupier office building is also N10,000.00.

“On Healthcare Professional Indemnity insurance, the approved rate is based on the number of rooms. For structures with 20 rooms and below, the discount rate is N10,000,000.00, while those with 500 rooms and above are discounted for N100,000,000.00. For those with between 51 and 100 rooms, the discount rate charged

should be N40,000,000.00,’’ the statement added.

Meanwhile, the commission has also reviewed the Micro-insurance Guidelines of 2013 and released the revised edition.

The revised guidelines were released on Tuesday in Abuja and became effective from January 1, 2018, a statement by the commission’s Head of Corporate Affairs, Mr Rasak Salami, said.

Salami said that the guidelines were reviewed to accomodate the underserved and excluded segment of the population.

Investopedia defines Micro-insurance as a mechanism to protect low-income people against risk, such as accident, illness, and natural disasters.

This is in exchange for insurance premium payments tailored to their needs, income and level of risk.

The spokesman said that the guidelines were aimed at moving insurance penetration from 0.6 per cent to two per cent and increasing the premium income of the industry to one trillion naira by year 2020.

He said the approved rates in the

Argo renews Harambee Re sidecar reinsurer for 2018

A

RGO Group International Holdings Limited, the international underwriter of specialty insurance and reinsurance products, announced the renewal of Harambee Re Limited as Argo Group’s sidecar reinsurer for 2018.

Launched in 2013, the sidecar continues with the company’s “successful track record of building relationships with third-party capital providers to support the company’s growing insurance

and reinsurance portfolios,” said the Bermuda-based company in a statement.

“Harambee Re enables us to materially increase underwriting capacity for key business units and provide a more valuable product offering to the market,” said Argo Group CEO Mark E. Watson III. “This renewal ultimately positions us to more aggressively pursue our mission to help businesses stay in business by providing innovative re/insurance solutions that meet

and exceed expectations.”

Harambee Re provides Argo with additional catastrophe capacity for specific property portfolios underwritten by Argo’s reinsurance unit Ariel Re, which has operated as Argo’s reinsurance platform since its acquisition in the first quarter of 2017.

GC Securities acted as sole structuring and placement agent on the transaction. Willkie Farr & Gallagher (UK) LLP acted as legal counsel to Argo Group.

guidelines for life insurance and non-life insurance policy were five per cent and 15 per cent, respectively.

“The approved rates for non-life insurance stands at 15 per cent according to the guidelines. All operators are mandated to comply with the Code of Good Corporate Governance. The operational license of any operator that refuses to conduct business according to micro-insurance principles will be withdrawn,’’ Salami quoted the document as specifying.

He said that all micro-insurance products were to be presented to consumers in simplified marketing and technical procedures which would be different from conventional insurance.

This, he said, was to ensure that micro-insurance terms, coverage, delivery mechanism and services were unambiguous and universally clearly understood.

According to the spokesman, the capital base for unit operations are now N40 million, state operations N100 million and national N600 million.

He said that the document specified that a national insurer who sought composite micro-insurance license was expected to be capitalised to the tune of N600 million.

“A unit micro-insurer must have N25 million for general business and N15 million for life, with operation in one location within a local community. At the national level, N400 million minimum capital is needed for a general micro-insurer and N200 million for a life operator. At state level, the minimum capital base is pegged at NI00 million, broken into N60 million for general and N40 million for life operators.’’ It said.

Salami said that national operators were allowed to have presence in at least six states within the three geopolitical zones of the federation.

NITED Nations has appointed Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun into the Investments Committee of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF).

In a statement signed by the Adeosun’s Special Adviser, Media and Communication, Mr Oluyinka Akintunde, on Sunday in Abuja, the minister would serve a oneyear term effective from January 1, 2018.

According to the statement, UN Under-Secretary-General, Jan Beagle, in a letter said the appointment was ratified at the 55th plenary meeting of the 77th session of the General Assembly.

“The General Assembly decided to appoint you as an ad-hoc member of the Investment Committee for a one-year term of office, beginning from 1st January, 2018.

“I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on your appointment and wish you success in your work,” he said.

Also, the representative of the UN Secretary-General on the Investments Committee, Ms Carolyn Boykin, congratulated the minister on her appointment and welcomed her to the committee.

Boykin said that the purpose of the investments was to secure the pension entitlements of the international civil servants participating in the Fund.

“The fiduciary responsibility is to all parties concerned and it is the responsibility of the Secretary-General to ensure that those investments are managed to preserve the capital of the Fund.

“And to also obtain a long-term real rate of investment return that is in line with the actuarial assumptions, without jeopardising the capital of the Fund by taking excessive risks,” she said.

The UNJSPF provides pension, death, disability and the other related benefits for staff of the United Nations and other organizations admitted to membership in the Fund. It is a multiple employer defined benefit plan governed by the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Board, the Staff Pension Committee for each member organization, and a secretariat.

The Fund was established through UN General Assembly resolution 248 (III), passed in December 1948 and came into effect on January 23, 1949 as a permanent retirement scheme.

It currently serves 23 member organizations, with 128, 262 active participants and approximately 75,000 retirees in nearly 200 countries.

According to the statement, Adeosun has accepted her appointment into the UN committee.

30

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

Crime

Labourer attacks supervisor abscond with workers’ salaries A Stories by XAVIER NDAH

labourer in a rice plantation has been arrested by the police Ogun state in an attempt to kill his supervisor and escape with workers’ salaries.

The suspect identified as Jacob Monday was arrested for attacking the supervisor of the farm one Monday Ale Dare when he went to pay salary of the workers at the farm situated at Alabata village in Obafemi Owode local government area.

The case was reported by one of the workers by name Kamoru Akanbi who complained at Owode egba Division that their supervisor, Monday Ale Dare came to the farm to pay workers salary, but the practice

is for him to inspect each worker’s portion before payment.

According to him, after inspecting the portion of Jacob and paid him, the said Jacob suddenly hit him with a club on the head consequence upon which the man lost consciousness, not satisfied with that, he further stabbed him severally with cutlass and the supervisor became unconscious due to the loss of blood.

The suspect he said then forcefully disposed him of the money meant for workers and escape.

It was gathered that having waited for the supervisor to come and inspect other workers portions endlessly, the workers went to check on him at Jacob’s portion where they met the supervisor in the pool

of his own blood.

On the strength of the report, the DPO Owode Egba Division CSP Sheu Alao detailed detectives to the scene where the victim was quickly rushed to a hospital for medical attention.

The suspect was later trailed and tracked down to Kabba in Kogi state where he was arrested and brought down to Owode egba Division.

Meanwhile,the commissioner of police CP Ahmed Iliyasu has ordered the immediate transfer of the suspect to Federal special anti- robbery squad (FSARS) for discreet investigation and prosecution.

• Monday

Employee arrested for selling company’s vehicles

O

• The suspected hijackers

Robbers hijack truck load of rice with toy gun P olice in Ogun state have arrested three suspects who robbed and hijacked a truck loaded with 203 bags of rice in Ijebu ode.

The three suspects, Animasaun Lekan, 26, Omotayo Sogo 34, and Olayemi kehinde 48, were arrested on the 9th of January following a complaint by one Izah Ekene of no 6 Mabogunde Street, Oju ore ota.

The complainant reported at Igbeba Division that he hired a truck to convey 203 bags of rice valued at N2.024 million to kwale in Delta state, but on getting to Ijebu ode, the truck driver and Lekan Animasaun brought out a gun, pointed it

at him, pushed him out of the truck and diverted the rice to an unknown destination.

The complainant further alleged that the suspects equally took away his bag containing the sum of N50, 000 and ATM card.

Spokesperson of the command Assistant Superintendent of Police Abimbola Oyeyemi said based on the reportt, the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, Igbeba Division Chief Superintendent of Police, CSP, Adebiyi Ademola detailed his men at the anti- robbery detectives who go after the hoodlums. “Their efforts paid off on the 11th of January when

peratives of the Special AntiRobbery Squad (FSARS) of the Police Oyo State Command have arrested a syndicate gang that stole and sold six trucks belonging to an Ibadan-based Chinese company.

An employee of the company, George Investment Company, Ibadan was arrested along with others who connived to sell the six SINO trucks.

Dependable police source disclosed that the trucks, belonging to George Investment Company, were kept in the care of a 27-year old Olarombi Saheed, who connives with one Abdulkareem Yusuf, 35, to abscond with the six trucks and a Toyota Camry car.

It was gathered that following the sudden disappearance of the vehicles, the Chief Executive Officer of the company, Wang Shou Bo, a Chinese, petitioned the state Commissioner of Police, CP Odude, who mandated the FSARS to carry out discreet investigation with a view to arresting the suspects and recovering the stolen vehicles.

Working on that mandate, operatives of the special unit began intensive investigation which eventually led to the arrest of the two partnersin-crime, as well as the receiver, Ibrahim Babankulu, 48.

While Abdulkareem was apprehended in Edo, Babankulu was tracked down in Abuja.

According to CP Abiodun Odude, who paraded the suspects before journalists at the state police command, Eleiyele in Ibadan, the state capital, “The six trucks were sold to

the duo of Lekan Animasaun and Sogo Omotayo were apprehended through technical intelligence. Their arrest led to the arrest of the receiver Olayemi kehinde and the recovery of the truck.

“Also recovered from them are bag containing the victim’s ATM card, Cash sum of N19,000 and a toy gun with which they robbed their victim”.

Meanwhile, the commissioner of police, CP, Ahmed Iliyasu has ordered the immediate transfer of the suspects to the Federal Anti- robbery squad for discreet investigation and prosecution.

• the trucks and the suspects

a criminal receiver in Kaduna at the rate of N20m while the Toyota Camry was given to a yet- to- be identified pastor in Abuja.

“As a result of diligent investigation by the SARS, all the trucks and two other cars were recovered, even as the criminal receiver was arrested, the police boss stated.

The recovered trucks were with the following registration numbers: LKJ 56 XU; LKJ 674 XU;LKJ 499 XU; LKJ 66 XU; LKJ 675 XU; and LKJ 984 XU, while the company’s Toyota Corolla, also recovered, was marked “XB 918 LSD”.

One Toyota Carina-E car with Reg. No. BC 714 MKA was in the list of vehicles recovered from the suspects.

The police boss, in a self-appraisal of his command said, “The year, 2017, had been very peaceful. However, the peace currently being enjoyed in the state would have been elusive but for the uncommon leadership acumen of the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim K. Idris, support of the governor and good people of Oyo State, cooperation of other sister agencies, and more importantly the understanding and unflinching support of the media.

“It is on account of this that we express our sincere appreciation to those who are in one way or the other part of our success story. Though policing the state has not been without its challenges, nonetheless with our strong will, uncommon resilience displayed by our supportive management team, the uncommon dedication of officers and men of the command.

31

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

Crime

Telecom cable vandals arrested Stories by XAVIER NDAH

I

n its effort to rid the state of criminality and make the state a safer place for all, the Police Lagos Command have arrested five suspected cable vandals and 15 suspected armed robbers in the state.

The State Commissioner of Police, CP, Imohimi Edgal, said the group of five men were intercepted by operatives of the Command on the 11th of January at Fatai Atere Street Mushin, Lagos in possession of one unregistered Mack truck containing fifteen pieces of cables and a mercury villager Space Wagon with registration number RSH-686-AJ containing two heavy duty batteries and three jack chains.

The suspects when quiz by officers during investigation own up to have belong to a syndicate which specializes in the vandaliz-

• the suspected cable vandals

ing NITEL and PHCN cables located in Lagos and Abeokuta Ogun State respectively.

Also in same vein, the Police boss paraded about 15 suspected armed robbers who have been terrorizing Surulere, Idimu, Egbeda, Akowonjo, Iyana-Ipaja, Mile 12, area of the State. The robbers confessed to have been responsible for various robbery operations in these areas.

Recovered from the suspects are; seven locally made double barrel gun, two pump action rifles, 23 live cartridges, one blue Volkswagen car with registration • THE SUSPECTS who were caught with gun number KRD-845-EC. The CP however warned other criminal elements in the State to stay off as the command won’t tolerate any form of lawlessness within the state and ready to fetch the last of them and bring them to book if they refuse to change for the better. suspect arrested by the opera“I got it because of rival cult memtives of Rapid Response Squad bers who were disturbing me on the (RRS) Police Lagos Command street. They knew I belonged to Aiye for supplying gun to three robbery Confraternity and yet they want me suspects has disclosed to the po- to be one of them. I bought the gun lice that he bought the gun to scare in September, 2017. away cult members who were dis“Because my friend, Seyi Ayetoba turbing his cult group in Ajah area of knew that I had a gun at home, he Lagos State but not for robbery. came to collect it. He afterwards The suspect, Omole Ridwan, 21, requested that I follow him out on was arrested in his parents’ house in operation’.

Ajah area of Lagos by the police af“I asked him the nature of the ter the arrest of three robbery gang business and he told me robbery members in Somolu, Lagos. and okada snatching. I told him, I The robbery gang, comprising of can’t do such business. “Whenever Taiwo Lawal 23, Kabiru Ajiboye 24 he borrowed the gun and went out and Seyi Ayetoba 27 were arrested on operation, he came back home to at night in Somolu while trying to give me some money. dispossess a motor cyclist a of his “On three occasions, he had given motorbike. me money after returning home It was gathered that the victim and in Ajah. First, he gave me N10, 000. a passenger whom the gang waylaid Second, it was N10, 000 and an Anhad outsmarted them before rais- droid phone. The third was N2, 000 ing alarm, which drew the attention because the operation wasn’t so of the patrol team of the RRS who smooth”, he added. were on patrol. The robbers were On his side leader of the robbery chased and arrested with the assis- gang, Seyi Ayetoba from whom the tance of community members. gun was recovered said ‘I was initiOmole, who confessed to be an ated into robbery by Tunde.

Aiye cult member,said he bought “He was the leader of my previous the gun from a secondary school gang and arrested sometime last mate for N9,000. year. I met Tunde in Mushin. What-

I bought gun to protect myself – suspect A

Three policemen dismissed for reckless shooting

T

he police Lagos Command have dismissed three policemen for indiscriminate shooting Making this known was the Police Lagos Command spokesperson, Superintendent of Police, SP, Chike Oti who said before their dismissal the three policemen were attached to Amukoko Division.

He gave their names and service numbers as 25759 Sgt. Osaseri Saturday, 35 9075 Sgt. Segun Okun, 496833 Cpl. Adekunle Oluwarotimi whom he said were tried and dismissed from the Nigeria Police for breaching the rules of engagement to wit reckless application of firearms.

According to him, the men had disproportionately responded with bullets fired from their weapons at some youths alleged

to have hurled some non-ballistic missiles at them such as stones, sticks and bottles leading to the death of one of the youths and injury on another at Ifelodun street, Amukoko, area of the Lagos.

The Oracle Today gathered that the sacked policemen were arrested, detained and tried immediately on the orders of the Commissioner of Police, Lagos state, CP Edgal Imohimi.

“The guilty verdict was passed on them by the Adjudicating officer who considered that the officers did not appreciate the situation critically and ought not to have applied the maximum force on the unruly youths. “Meanwhile, the officers will be charged to court next week, while a duplicate copy of the Case file would be sent to the Directorate of Pub-

ever we stole, we sell it in Mushin. It was Tunde who taught me all kinds of tricks I deployed during operation.

“The day he was arrested, I didn’t go out with him. I formed my own gang with Taiwo and Kabiru. I took the gun from Ridwan and each time we went on operation, I pay him for hiring the gun from him’.

‘I live in the same street and we belonged to the same confraternity.

“The areas we have operated were ‘Ajah, Costain, Onipanu, Yaba and National Stadium. We sell okada for between N60,000 to N30,000 depending on its condition’.

Recovered from the gang was a locally made short pistol with a 9mm A - K47 live cartridge and a Jack Knife.

Confirming the development, Police spokesman Lagos,SP Chike Oti stated that the gang is cooperating with the police, adding that Commissioner of Police, Mr Imohimi Edgal has lauded community members participation in the arrest of the suspects.

The case has been transferred to FSARS for further investigation.

• dismissed policemen

lic Prosecution( DPP) for legal advice.

“Sequel to the above occurrence, the Commissioner of Police has directed all the Area Com-

manders and DPOs in Lagos state by the Rules of Engagement ( to warn their men against misap- ROE) as stipulated in Force Order plication of force” Oti warned.

237.

Oti said the CP has further warned that officers must abide

33

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

Love and Living

...With Ireto Temofeh

MODEL OF THE WEEK

LOVE NEWS

Will this be Harry’s flower girl?

• Daughter of Meghan’s best friend who flew in for a dress fitting is tipped for a big role at the royal wedding.

F

ollowing their starring roles at Pippa Middleton’s wedding, Prince George and Princess Charlotte are expected to act as flower girl and pageboy at their uncle Prince Harry’s wedding to Meghan Markle in May. However, it seems that they will not be alone with Meghan expected to enlist a second flower girl.

According to Hello! the bride-tobe is tipped to ask the daughter of her best friend Jessica Mulroney to follow her down the aisle.

Four-year-old Ivy is Jessica’s youngest child and can often be seen posing for photos on her mother’s Instagram account.

Before closing her Instagram account Meghan has previously shared photos of the toddler on her Instagram account.

Prince Harry is also thought to have a strong connection with the Mulroney’s having spent plenty of time with the family when visiting Meghan in Toronto.

In October a source told E!: ‘Harry’s become close with their children Brian, John and Ivy. Ivy especially is a big fan.

‘She, of course, has no idea that he’s a prince though - he’s just auntie Meghan’s special friend Harry, who sometimes comes over with fun presents!’

MailOnline has contacted Kensington Palace for a comment. If Ivy does join the wedding party it

Name: Oluchi Tel: 08164007657.

is likely she will walk alongside Harry’s niece and nephew Charlotte and George.

According to The Sunday Times the royal siblings have been confirmed as bridesmaid and pageboy for the nuptials of their Uncle Harry to Meghan Markle in May. George, 4, and Charlotte, 2, will join their aunt-to-be’s wedding party, following her up the aisle at St George’s Chapel in Windsor in the Spring.

Meanwhile it is thought that Meghan’s best pal Jessica has made a pre-wedding visit to help with a dress fitting.

According to Good Morning America Meghan flew her Canadian friend to London where she is reported to have stayed at the couple’s cottage at Kensington Palace.

Royal reporter Omid Scobie said the bride ‘attended a top secret fitting at Kensington Palace with a designer’.

As well as providing services as a friend, Jessica also acts as Meghan’s stylist and is believed to have been employed three years ago to make sure her pal is perfectly preened for her public appearances.

Jessica is also thought to have helped Meghan select several outfits for upcoming engagements ahead of the wedding on May 19.

•

If you want to be our next ORACLE GIRL, e-mail or forward your photos/data to ireto007@yahoo.com. Call 07031028714.

ODD NEWS

Man becomes first in the world to get SECOND face transplant • His body rejected the first and he has lived for two months without a face

A

man who received his first face transplant seven years ago has been given a second donor face after living for two months without one.

The face graft proved that re-transplantation is possible according to Olivier Bastien from France’s biomedicine agency.

This is the first time that doctors have replaced one donor face with another after the unnamed 40-year-old’s body rejected his first transplant.

The man who has now received his second face graft after went under the knife for an entire day at a Paris hospital on Monday.

His original graft was removed

in an operation in November and he was kept on life support in an induced coma until the follow-up procedure could be completed.

It will take weeks for doctors

to be able to tell whether the second transplant has taken to his body.

The procedure is still referred to as high-risk despite the first graft being completed in 1994.

Romantic Joke HER SISTER’S HOUSE My friend asked me, “Why are you getting a divorce?” I responded, “My wife wasn’t home the entire night and in the morning she said she spent the night at her sister’s house.” He said, “So?” And I responded, “She’s lying. I spent the night at her sister’s house!”

34

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

True Confession

‘We broke up because of his weakness in bed’

I

t was a fairy tale beginning. I was a bridesmaid at my cousin’s bachelor’s eve in Port Harcourt while Chike was one of the groomsmen.

The moment we set eyes on each other, we were instantly attracted, and spent the day getting to know each other and the night in each other’s arms on the dance floor.

I didn’t hesitate in giving him my number at the end of the evening, even with the knowledge that my boyfriend, Benjamin, was living in the same Rivers State.

Things weren’t going well with Benjamin my boyfriend. To say the least, his business was not moving and our relationship had gradually degenerated from that of intimate love and friendship to sex mates.

It was only in the bedroom where our quarrels, frustrations, harsh words and angry tears were replaced with passion and romantic fireworks.

We had been together for four years, on and off, and during the off times when I would start dating someone else, Benjamin would go to great lengths to get me back, and it didn’t take much persuading to get me back into bed with him.

The guilt that followed meant an immediate end to many fledgling romances with other men.

My family didn’t like Benjamin, and were always encouraging me to take a break and give myself the opportunity of seeing what was out there.

I could see the pleased looks on their faces at the wedding when they noticed the attraction Chike and I shared, and on the way home, my mother was full of praise for him and his wealthy family.

Chike sent me romantic text messages at work the following day, and picked me up from my office in the evening so that I didn’t need to walk in the rain to catch a cab or bus home.

He took me to a restaurant where we had dinner and then left me on my doorstep with a sweet kiss on the lips.

That weekend, Benjamin told me to come over to his place. And although I was quite tired of my affair with him, I decided to go so that it wouldn’t look as if we were quarreling again.

I got there to find Benjamin snoring in front of the television, and several beer bottles scattered on the floor around him.

The disgust I felt towards him and his regular evening drinking ritual, especially after my dream evening with Chike, was enough for me to tell him there and then that I was quitting the relationship.

Two weeks later, I couldn’t hold myself anymore. I simply called Benjamin and told him that it was over between us. This time, I meant it, and

no amount of persuasion from him would bring me back.

My love for Chike blossomed, and I made every effort to avoid Benjamin.

I changed my phone number and even changed my job to avoid the risk of bumping into him in the city.

Benjamin finally got the message and didn’t bother me again with his usual tricks.

Meanwhile, Chike and I settled into a comfortable and happy life together. Because Chike had money, he showered me with gifts and weekends away.

He even took me to Abuja and proposed to me at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel.

I was happy but a little bit hesitant.

The reason was that Chike was perfect in every way, except I craved for him to be more like Benjamin in the bedroom.

Every time we talked about setting a wedding date, I had a reason to put it off.

The reason for my hesitation was that, after returning from Abuja, I came face to face with Benjamin my former boyfriend.

As much as I tried to resist him, we ended up back at his place and made love. This time I vowed to be strong and make it the last time.

Every time I looked down at my

hand and saw my engagement ring, I was reminded of the love Chike and I shared.

But it wasn’t enough for me to turn my back on Benjamin. The fact was that Benjamin gave me sexual satisfaction in bed, but Chike didn’t.

Despite this, I still set a wedding date with Chike, made all the preparations, and ordered my designer wedding gown from London.

The wedding was fast approaching, and the tension I was feeling was building. I wanted a life with Chike, but I realised that I would never be finished with Benjamin.

Each time I made the decision to end it, my resolve crumbled.

In the end the decision was taken out of my hands. The day before we were due to be married, Chike came to see me.

The look on his face said it all. He told me he wanted to hear from me whether I could leave the past in the past and be his wife, and only his.

I told him about Benjamin, and that as much as I loved him, I could never be rid of Benjamin. Chike spent several hours, along with my parents, begging me to reconsider.

In the end, the wedding was cancelled and I felt that Chike was better off being set free, instead of getting married to a woman like me who

would never be happy or derive satisfaction from his performance in bed.

I think that if I had gone ahead to marry Chike, there was no way I wasn’t going to cheat on him with Benjamin. So it was better I didn’t marry him in the first instance.

Chike always found it difficult getting an erection, and even when he did, he just couldn’t make me reach orgasm.

Besides, he didn’t seem to want sex as much as I did, and it drove me crazy. I had to cancel my wedding because of my fiancé’s poor sex drive or libido.

At least one of us is free. Benjamin still continues to toy with my emotions and I don’t know what I’m going to do next.

My life is now a miserable mess. I hear from my cousin that Chike has moved out of Port Harcourt in order not to set eyes on me again.

I feel stupid to have lost my fiancé because of lack of sexual satisfaction, but still I think I took the best decision.

• Call or text your reactions to this story to 07031028714.

Email:ireto007@yahoo.com

35

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

Relationships and Love Advice

‘My love for him is controversial’

Love Search Women seeking relationship/ marriage Joy, 29, a caterer in Lagos, from Delta Igbo, needs a responsible, matured, working man based in Lagos for marriage and job support. 08158522286.

Ijeoma, 39, graduate, HIV positive, seeks a hardworking and God fearing man for a life partner.

Age 40-50 years. 07089059144.

Joyce, 26, in Lagos, romantic, wants a caring sugar daddy who can also help her get a job.

08050572880.

Sarah from Jos needs a HIV positive man of 35-40 years for marriage. 08090925014.

Victoria, 30, from Akwa-Ibom, in Lagos, tall, big, single mother, wants a tall, responsible, working or business man for marriage.08153598363.

Busola, 43, tall, chocolate, with big breasts, living in Lagos, wants a mature-minded man for a relationship with benefits. 09090517882.

Dear Love Doctor, Hello, my name is Idowu and I am from Oyo state. I am dating a guy from the East and he has proposed. I’ve accepted his proposal, but the problem is that my family members object to our getting married since my boyfriend is not from the same tribe with me. Right now, my love for him is controversial among my family members, because it is causing a lot of arguments and quarrels. We are not from the same place, but still I love this Igbo guy. What should I do?

From Idowu.

Love Doctor’s Advice: Dear Idowu,

L

ove knows no limit. Love knows no boundaries, tribe or nation. It is a thing of the heart. Therefore you need to hold on to what you feel and in the end they will you be. It’s not right for any person or group of persons to try to make you feel bad or ashamed of falling in love with a man from a tribe other than yours.

It is also unacceptable for your family members to promote tribalism or ethnicity as a barrier to true love and/or marriage. If they have any logical reason to disapprove of your getting married to that man, they ought to tell you, rather than rejecting your suitor based on his ethnic background. It is indefensible to reject a man who truly loves you and wants to marry you, on the basis of ethnicity, language or religion.

Trying to limit your desire for true love or trying to keep your roman-

tic feelings within the limits of race, ethnicity or religion is a recipe for unhappiness in life. However, your happiness should be the most important thing to consider in this situation. Their rejection of your suitor is probably based on common misconceptions and prejudices that exist between African tribes/ethnic groups.

Tribalism is a local form of racism in Africa. Education and enlightenment ought to change such a mindset.

However, ethnicity should not be used to separate two people who love each other. Ethnicity/tribalism should not be a barrier to true love and marriage. Ethnicity has been used as a divisive factor for a very long time in Nigeria and is partly responsible for the poor political, social and economic state of the

country.

Inter-tribal marriages ought to be a welcome development since it helps unite diverse ethnic groups and promotes greater understanding and friendship among members of different ethnic groups. Basically, the two most important requirements for marriage are love and the mutual consent of both parties involved. Therefore, you are the only one to take the decision to get married to him or not.

However, you must search your heart to know if you truly love that man and want to spend the rest of your life with him. If you truly love him, listen to your heart. Go ahead and marry him. Stand firm on this true love you believe in, and with time your family members will back down and/or support you, and the controversy will go away

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!

Note: If you have fertility problems like childlessness, inability to conceive or get pregnant, miscarriages, fibroid, low sperm count, STDs, or need a male child or female? Call 07031028714, 08131161840.. Love Doctor can help you succeed in your marriage/ relationship.

Comfort, tall, dark, big, with a heavy backside and good in bed, living in Lagos, wants a man that can take good care of her. 08062720819.

Faith, 35, works and lives in Port Harcourt, needs a decent guy of 36-40 years. 09037846643.

Call Love Doctor: 07031028714, 08131161840, 08077821830 for Counseling, infertility & Direct Hookup.

Men seeking relationship/ marriage Sam, a senior citizen, needs a lady from Ebira land, Kogi State. Tall, not fat, busty. Age: 45 years and above. Should be comfortable financially.

07066070500.

Ephraim, a pastor, not buoyant, needs a buoyant girl of 20-30 years with big hips and big bust for marriage. Email: ugochukwuodor@yahoo.com David wants a beautiful, mature, working class lady for friendship. 07038485483, 08094063208

Kenneth, 40, wants a responsible woman for marriage. 08143002139.

36

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

It happened to me:

‘I exposed my boyfriend as gay’

I

was thrilled when my best friend Nduka got a job with the same company as my long-term boyfriend or fiancé, Henry. The two of them got on well and thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company.

Henry, my boyfriend, was never threatened by the closeness of my friendship with Nduka.

When Henry’s hours started getting longer and longer and he began coming home later and later, I confided my suspicions of an affair to Nduka. I was worried Henry was cheating on me with his new and attractive female colleague at the office.

Nduka assured me that he had his finger on the pulse with office gossip and that I had nothing to worry about. He insisted that Henry never even looked twice at the new girl on the block, and that he was just working harder than ever.

I still had my reservations. Call it women’s intuition, but something wasn’t quite right. If he wasn’t at the office, he was on the phone, if he wasn’t on the phone, he was on the computer. He was becoming distant and I couldn’t get through to him.

Henry called one night to tell me he would be working late and that I should go ahead and eat dinner without him. This was becoming an everyday thing, but he sounded exhausted and genuinely sorry. I felt guilty for suspecting he was doing anything else but working and decided to pack his dinner and take it to his office.

In hindsight, perhaps it was instinct driving me to see for myself that everything was okay, that he wasn’t cheating on me. I called Nduka to see if he wanted to come with me but he didn’t pick his call.

When I got there, I was let upstairs by the doorman and found my way to Henry’s office easily.

A small beam of light shone beneath the partially drawn curtains. I moved to push open the door but decided to peep through the keyhole first.

As I peeped through the keyhole, I had to stop myself from crying out at what I saw. I saw Nduka and Henry together. My heart stopped. This couldn’t be happening. My boyfriend and my best friend were both having a gay relationship? How could I have had no idea about it?

I decided not to walk in and confront them. I couldn’t face them in that position. Instead, humiliated and hurting, I went

As I peeped through the keyhole, I had to stop myself from crying out at what I saw. I saw Nduka and Henry together. My heart stopped. This couldn’t be happening. My boyfriend and my best friend were both having a gay relationship? How could I have had no idea about it? back home, threw Henry’s dinner in the bin and started planning.

I was burning with anger. I had been betrayed by the two people closest to me. My boyfriend was not who I thought he was and my best friend too had hidden his homosexual identity from me. I had never felt so alone.

I lay in wait for the next opportunity and it came when Henry called again, a few days later, to say he’d be home late. I told him I’d be in bed when he came home.

But instead of that, I dressed up and went out to his office again.

This time, I simply walked to the window, looked through the gap and snapped a picture of them together with my mobile phone.

After that, I went straight back

home and secretly opened his e-mail It was easy for me because his password was always my name. I clicked ‘Send to all’ in his contacts, attached the picture, titled the e-mail, “There is something you all should know”, took a deep breath and clicked ‘Send’.

He came home the next day with the news he had lost the promotion he’d been campaigning for. I tried to comfort him, but couldn’t bring myself to actually do it. Then he broke down and told me about Nduka.

He blamed his PA for letting it leak to the company and to this day believes she sabotaged his career because he was immune to her sexual advances. Henry became depressed and quit his job,

unable to deal with the workplace ramifications of his affair and his sexuality.

I traveled out of Lagos soon after it all happened. The memory of the pain he had caused me and the guilt of the pain I had caused him was too fresh on my mind. I can just imagine that this is a man I could have married!

However, he will never know it was me who exposed him to his entire office and cost him his promotion and his job in the end.

• Do you have a story or comment about this confession?

Call 07031028714.

37

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

Love & Living

Why you should improve your business NOW

T

HERE is no better time than now to take your business to the next phase. The beginning of the year is such that hopes and expectation spike naturally. Optimism in business reaches its peak and there’s no better time to innovate for greater productivity. It’s a new year after all, so refined approaches and refreshed strategies are in order.

Just incase you are still taking it by ear, I will provide you several strong reasons why you should in fact make it top priority to improve your business.

Business owners and executives often devise ways of making things work better but usually pay little attention to those who do the actual work, the employees. While making strategies and plans for the business year, keep in mind that maintaining stability in the business environment is fundamental.

To a great extent, the degree of stability determines how well the process of strategising and actual strategies work.

Being actively and passively attentive to employees may not be totally effective for ensuring stability but it surely gives you a strong edge. You can predict what they are up to and even guess employees that may quit soon, that knowledge puts you in a good place to improve your business and further preserve your investment.

It pays hugely to constantly keep tabs with those working with you, checking to see how they fare on and off the job.

Constantly undermining or overlooking

Ify ARONU ifyaronu@gmail.com

employees makes it harder to make your business better. Beyond maintaining good employer-employee rapport, the social media now makes seamless and unobtrusive employee monitoring possible. Be attentive to quickly spot warning signs too, for instance, most employees that aren’t available to start work at the beginning of the year never return.

And employees that keep asking for some time off work, giving excuses may already have one foot out the door.

There are huge benefits in keeping good employees when you can, but letting them go at the point when they want to take a bow could also be in your best interest. In fact, if you discover an employee really is intent on quitting, asking them to leave sooner than later

may be the best option. This will allow you to minimize conflict, plan for their replacement, ensure stability and improve your business. The harder part is when an A-list and trusted employee leaves you in the woods by suddenly leaving without a hint whatsoever. There aren’t many things that devastate an employer as much. It is even more heart breaking when they go joining your competitor or starting their own parallel businesses.

While it is OK for an employee to seek better opportunities for career development, the manner in which they do that greatly matters. Before I resigned from my previous job, I initiated a session with my employer just to thank him for the opportunity to work and earn at his company, then informed him that I was leav-

ing, it wasn’t easy but he let me be when it was clear that I really wanted to do it, I had his blessings. It wasn’t the same for a colleague who left some months after because unlike me she never had a word with him nor gave an official notice.

One fateful day she went visiting and he almost had her arrested for daring to show her face around there. To the employee, she sought a better life but to the employer, it was stark disloyalty and a huge sell out.

Great business executives do all that’s possible to make employees at home in order to maintain a stable working environment for business to thrive, but the greatest business owners know that no one employee is the life of the business.

The key is to hold the highest stakes by being the major actor and strong influencer. Always be ahead thinking of new ways to improve your business; never let an employee take the lead in your business. In that way, you hold the centre no matter who leaves.

You can still deploy fresh plans and strategies for the year; it does not matter if a super employee just left your business. Aim to steadily improve your business to the point that those leaving would wish they stayed. And that’s one strong reason to improve your business now.

Please send your comments to ifyaronu@gmail.com

On titles, acknowledgements H e& AVE you seen someone being introduced as Pastor Doctor So So and so? How did you feel?

What did you think about the person, even without meeting him? Have you met someone who adds PhD to his name after all the titles that exist in this world, then goes ahead to include Mr.?

Have you ever been berated for leaving out one of someone’s title during an introduction of the personality?

You could have felt that the titles were too many, or that the audience was already applauding and you could save everyone’s time by leaving out some of the titles?

No, have you faced the embarrassment of reeling out so many of the titles, and the personality, though in the audience, refuses to acknowledge the introduction? Did you find out later that the personality was angry because you did not arrange the titles in his acceptable order of importance?

His preference had been for the honorifics to commence with an honourary doctorate, you place his PhD last, and more belittlingly, you told the gathering that was it was honourary. Did you have any idea how hard earned the PhD was? Many say behind him that it was hardly earned.

These may sound funny, but they are annoying. They are part of the reality of the Nigerian. So many titles signifying their accomplishments and you wonder what the accomplishments are.

It is a rather sad reality that we live in. We have more people who are title crazy.

We are obsessed with titles and it is

M

ore

Maureen Alikor maureenalikor@gmail.com

Some, if they had the chance, would skin you alive for not attaching their titles to their names as though they would not exist without the titles. alarming. We have become hostages to the wishes of the titled.

Some, if they had the chance, would skin you alive for not attaching their titles to their names as though they would not exist without the titles.

Some have accumulated more than one degree and each degree has its own title and they wish to be addressed with all of them.

This always gets me wondering, are they nothing without the degrees?

What would become of them if and when they are stripped of all those degrees? What is the gain of attaching

all of them? You can only incur more anger if you ask them.

A very common trend among the various professions is, each field now has a title attached to the degree or certificate awarded. Architecture, Engineering, Teaching, Medicine, Pastoring, Linguistics, each of them comes is shortened form, these have compounded the matter, as they are included in the degree, in addition to the name of the university. Some insist on the year of acquisition being added.

The titled are on a mission to im-

press audience, wherever they find them.

I often catch myself pondering over this matter, and my conclusion is that most people have their self-esteem tied to their titles. I have added reactions to titles by audiences and the titles as one of the segments of events to pay special attention. I have not been disappointed with the differences in the intensity of the absurdities.

Also, we have another trend in our culture that is not helping matters, chieftaincy titles. This is common in Igbo speaking tribe of Nigeria. A chieftaincy title is expected to be rendered in its full length, translations follow, where possible.

When a person attains a particular statue in the society, he or she is honoured, appreciated and given a title; this is a good thing, but then, it became a nuisance when you find a name and so many titles alongside with the name.

From my end, I am forced to believe that there is a tinge of insecurity on the part of these persons who cannot seem to let go of these so many titles.

Some are acquiring more. There may be a competition among some people over If that is not the case, then maybe someone has to make it very clear to me why the craze for titles and such acknowledgements are so rampant.

In your own words, why do you think people are title crazy?

Please send you comments to maureenalikor@gmail.com

38

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

The Law and You

With Barr. Ken Akpom 08162016410

Killings and offences of murder: A critical review of the Criminal Code, Laws of the Federation S ince the inception of this present administration, there have been series of killings and murders of innocent citizens of this great nation and it appears that the law enforcement agents and the government find it extremely difficult to discourage and stop these barbaric acts. No culprit or culprits have been significantly arraigned, charged, successfully prosecuted and convicted for all these atrocities against the lives and properties of the innocent citizens by the authorities concerned. The recent and the most disturbing one is the uncontrolled killings, in fact massacres of innocent citizens by the Fulani herdsmen in so many states of the federation without any knowledge of how the herders possess the sophisticated weapons being used by them and who trained them, illiterates for that matter, on the use of such sophisticated weapons.

At any point of their killing or committing murder the defence usually given is that it was done on self-defence to the crime as if they are above the Law of the Federation and cannot make reports of any threats to their lives to the appropriate authorities concerned. The government and authorities concerned after each incident pay visits to the venues of the crimes and setup administrative enquires to investigate the causes, while the Law Enforcement Agents which ought to fish out the sponsors and the perpetuators of such crimes fail in their duties to put an end to such constant occurrences.

Next is the aspect of embarking on the rehabilitation and feeding of the dependents of the dead with government funds which ought to have been earlier put in place to avoid a repeat of these acts. The truth to my understanding is that honesty, sincerity of purpose and sentiments in such matters is the cause of its continuous occurrences.

There are other instances of such crimes like the killings and cutting off the head and some parts of human beings for rituals and others purposes as has been reported in some media recently. It is in the light of all these and more that I decided to critically highlight the Criminal Code of the Laws of the Federation with a view to make it known that there had been an existing law guiding these offences and actions ought to be taken according to these sections of the code by the law enforcement agents through Courts of competent jurisdiction to assist in ending such things. Also, the judiciary should be well equipped and ready to assist the government and these law enforcement agents to curb these problems in this country with great speed.

I take them section by section and hope you will enjoy your reading.

another under any of the following circumstances, that is to say;1. If the offender intends to cause the death of the person killed, or that of some other person;2. If the offender intends to do to the person killed or to some other person some grievous harm;3. If death is caused by means of an act done in the prosecution of an unlawful purpose, which act is of such a nature as to be likely to endanger human life;4. If the offender intends to do grievous harm to some person for the purpose of facilitating the commission of an offence which is such that the offender may be arrested without warrant, or for the purpose of facilitating the flight of an offender who has committed or attempted to commit any such offence;5. If death is caused by administering any stupefying or overpowering things for either of the purposes last aforesaid;6. If death is caused by willfully stopping the breath of any person for either of such purposes;Is guilty of murderIn the second case it is immaterial that the offender did not intend to hurt the particular person who is killed.In the third case it is immaterial that the offender did intend to hurt any person.In the three last cases it is immaterial that the offender did not intend to cause death or did not know that death was likely to result.

Section 317 A person who unlawfully kills another in such circumstances as not to constitute murder is guilty of manslaughter.

Chapter 27; Section 306 It is unlawful to kill any person unless such killing is authorized Section 318 When a person who unlawfully kills another in circumstances orjustified or excused by law. which, but for the provisions of this section, would constitute murder, does the act which causes death in the heat of passion Section 310 A person who, by threats or intimidation or by deceit, causes caused by grave and sudden provocation, and before there is another person to do an act or make an omission which results time for his passion to cool, he is guilty of manslaughter only. in the death of that person, is deemed to have killed him.

Section 319 (1) Subject to the provision of this section any person who comSection 311 A person who does any act or makes any omission which has- mits the offence of murder shall be sentenced to death. tens the death of another person who, when the act is done (2) Where an offender who in the opinion of the court had not or the omission is made, is laboring under some disorder or dis- attained the age of seventeen years at the time the offence ease arising from another cause, is deemed to have killed that was committed has been found guilty of murder such offender shall not be sentenced to death but shall be ordered to be other person. detained during the pleasure of the president and upon such an order being made the provisions of Part 44 of the Criminal Section 312 When a person causes a bodily injury to another from which Procedure Act shall apply. death results, it is immaterial that the injury might have been (3) Where a woman who has been convicted of murder a alavoided by proper precaution on the part of the person injured, leges she is pregnant or where the judge before whom she is convicted considers it advisable to have inquiries made as to or that his death from that injury. whether or not she be pregnant the procedure laid down in Section 376 of the Criminal Procedure Act shall first be comSection 313 When a person does grievous harm to another, and such other plied with. person has recourse to surgical or medical treatment, and death results either from the injury or the treatment, he is deemed to Section 320 have killed that other person, although the immediate cause of A person who -(1) Attempts unlawfully to kill another; or (2) death was the surgical or medical treatment, provided that the With intent unlawfully to kill another does not act, or omits to treatment was reasonably proper under the circumstances, and do any act which it is his duty to do, such act or omission nature as to be likely to endanger human life, is guilty of a felony, and was applied in good faith. is liable to imprisonment for life.

Section 315 Any person who unlawfully kills another is guilty of an offence Section 322 which is called murder or manslaughter, according to the cir- Any person who becomes an accessory after the fact to murder is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for life. cumstances of the case.

Section 323 Section 316 Except as hereinafter set forth, a person who unlawfully kills Any person who, knowing the content; thereof, directly or indi-

rectly causes any person to receive any writing threatening to kill any person is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.

Section 324 Any person who conspires with any other person to kill any person, whether such person is in Nigeria or elsewhere, is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for fourteen years.

Section 325 Any person who commits the offence of manslaughter is liable to imprisonment for life.

Section 326 Any person who –(1) Procedure another to kill himself; or (2) Counsels another to kill himself and thereby induces him to do so; or (3) Aids another in killing himself;Is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for life.

Section 327 Any person who attempts to kill himself is guilty of misdemeanor, and is liable to imprisonment for one year.

Section 327A Where a woman by any willful act or omission causes the death of her child under the age of twelve months, but at the time of the act or omission the balance of her mind was disturbed by reason of her not having fully recovered from the effect of giving birth to the child or by reason of the effect of lactation consequent upon the birth of the child, the woman, notwithstanding that the circumstances were such that but for this section the offence would have amounted to murder, she shall be guilty of felony, to wit of infanticide, and may for such offence be dealt with and punished as if she had been guilty of the offence of manslaughter of the child.

Section 328 Any person who, when a woman is about to be delivered of a child, prevents the child from being born alive by an act or omission of such a nature that, if the child had been born alive and had then died, he would be deemed to have unlawfully killed the child, is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for life.

Section 329A (1) Any person who receives or has in his possession a human head or skull within six months of the same having been separated from the body or skeleton with the intention that such dead or skull shall be possessed by himself as a trophy, juju or charm or transferred by him to any other person as a trophy, juju or charm, is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for five years.

(2) Where in any prosecution under this section it is proved that the person charged received or had in his possession a human head or skull within six months of the same having been separated from the body or skeleton it shall be presumed that the person charged received or had in his possession such head or skull with the intention specified in the preceding subsection unless the contrary is proved.

(3) A prosecution for an offence under this section shall not beinstituted except by or with the consent of a law’s officers.

• 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

39

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

ENTERTAINMENT

With Douglas Omoyooma

Real reason I never remarried – Gloria Doyle Singer, actress and mother of three, Gloria Doyle has opened up on the real reason she never re-marrried after her divorce almost two decades ago. In a chat with The Oracle Today, Gloria who recently dropped two gospel singles stated that it was because of her children.

“I walked out of it with my children alive and faced the challenges, stigma and relegation of being a single mother. I took the bull by the horn for my children sake and never got remarried for my children sake and I am all good about it,” Doyle revealed.

What is her advice for women going through domestic violence and at what point should one leave an abusive relationship?

“When a relationship gets to the point of verbal abuse which leads to physical abuse, if care is not taken, anything could happen so I strongly advice, walk out in peace and not in pieces. I have seen many young women lose their lives because they were unable to let go their abusive husband especially where they depended on their husbands for everything.

“Women feel very uncomfortable walking out of such relationship because of the stig stigma attached to being a single mother. I am talking about things like oh, she is a single mother, she separated from her husband, she is a divorcee,” she added.

Today her kids are grown. How did she cope with the challenges of single-motherhood?

“It could be quite tough and rough. The op opposite sex will see you as a sex thing and people won’t take you serious and then you become both mother and father to your chil children which is a very tedious task to play. In fact, it will take God’s mercy to have a good relationship because everybody wants to see you as mistress material or side chick.”

New project For so long she has been off the radar and indeed a lot is new about Gloria Doyle. She radiates with enthusiasm as she continues” “I was doing a lot of travelling and concen concentrating on my kids. The new thing about Glo Gloria Doyle is that I am coming out bigger and stronger. I just dropped two new singles and I am working on a full album and starting a TV Program christened Unbroken Wings, which I am seriously working on right now.

“I am actually in the studio working to towards the release of my new album after a long break of about 12 years. I have dropped two single and video a entitled Baba Na You. The full album will be dropping middle of next year and it is entitled New Level, and then there is the TV Talk show, U with Gloria Doyle which will kick off next year as well and I might likely go back into acting.”

Happiest moments “That was watching my children graduating without falling by the way side despite the odds. For now, my kids are all independently on their own. So, I have all the time for my music career.”

40

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

Entertainment Reekado’s manager reportedly in police net over contractual breach

A

ccording to reports, Reekado Banks’s manager, is held at a Police Station in Lagos due to a disagreement over the singer’s failure to show up at a wedding reception.

Linda Ikeji reports that Reeky’s manager and brother, Solomon Temioluwa Seth, popularly known as Temi, is at the Ogba Police Area Command in Lagos, after being ‘dragged’ there by an aggrieved client.

• Reekado Banks

Advanced Performance Fee Disagreement According to the report, Reekado Banks, via his manager, Temi, received Two Million Naira as an advanced performance fee for a wedding in Benin City.

But he failed to show up.

The report further says that after the wedding, Uwa Idahosa (an OAP and comedian) who contracted Reekado Banks to perform at the wedding on behalf of the couple demanded a refund but the singer through his manager, Temi said they could only refund N800,000 saying they incurred logistics costs as well.

This led to the involvement of the police, as Uwa Idahosa, Reekado Banks’ manager (Temi) and relatives of the couple are at the police station to demand a full refund. At the time of the report, they are still at the station waiting for the Area Commander to settle the dispute.

Working Relationship Temi and Reekado Banks have had a long working relationship that precedes their time at Mavin Records. Temi began to manage and support Reekado Banks while the singer was in University of Lagos, and bore the name ‘Spice’. He is regarded as a huge influence on Reekado’s career, supervising strategy, growth and business for his brother. In April 2017, Temi got married to his long-time sweetheart.

Aside from Reekado Banks, he’s also the manager of Marvtunes, Awanjo and Parcel.

Pulse has reached out to Temi Solomon, but at the time of this report, there has been no response.

How COSON General Assembly restored Tony Okorji as COSON chairman

D

etails are beginning to emerge of how Tony Okoroji was reinstated as COSON Chairman.

According to a video which has gone viral, Okoroji was reinstated by he General Assembly of COSON which was held in late November 2017 a week after Efe Omogbe’s coup.

Indeed, the EGM of December 21 2017 was a rowdy session as the General Assembly upon being informed that Tony Okoroji had been sacked reacted angrily calling for the reinstatement of Okoroji. Led by Victor Uwaifo among a host of others, the General Assembly unanimously voted for the reinstatement of Okoroji whom they described as a man who has achieved so much for the creative industry.

The climax of the meeting was when Chinedu Chukwuji, the MD of COSON had introduced Omorogbe as new COSON chairman. However, as Efe made to make his speech, angry members snatched the microphone from him and insisted that Okoroji be reinstated.

Aware of the impact of the action

of the General Assembly, the MD had called Okoroji on phone after which he turned up and was reinstated.

Speaking, Okoroji who broke down in tears said: “I have dedicated all my life to this struggle and I am ready to lay my life for all of you here today.”

Meanwhile, in a show of defiance, Tony Okoroji, has continued his oneman indefinite protest in front of the Federal High Court, Lagos.

Okoroji said he would continue till necessary action is taken as the objective of the protest is to draw the attention of the world to what he described as a new and dangerous attempt to destroy the Nigerian judicial system.

Okoroji is asking all lawyers and judges in the Nigerian legal system to insist that the case filed in Suit No FHC/L/ CS/1259/2017, which he alleged was taken away from Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court, Lagos, just as he was about to deliver judgment in the suit, be returned to the judge so that he can deliver his judgment and any of the parties dissatisfied with the judgment can proceed to the Court of

Murder of Nigerian/British model: Two men charged to court

Appeal.

According to Chief Okoroji: “The key question Justice Buba was scheduled to answer in his judgment is this: Under Nigerian law, is the syndicate known as Musical Copyright Society Nigeria (MCSN) truly an approved collecting society and authorised to collect money on behalf of innocent Nigerian musicians? Some people desperately do not want that question answered hence the muscling of Justice Ibrahim Buba and the failed machinations to remove Okoroji himself as Chairman of COSON.” Meanwhile, COSON General Assembly has met in Lagos and condemned in very strong terms what it termed the brazen actions of the Attorney-General of the Federation & Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami in ordering the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), despite the Commission’s strong protestations, to blatantly go against Nigerian law and approve MCSN to collect copyright royalties on behalf of Nigerian musicians.

• The late Harry Uzoka

L

ast week, the devastating news that British-Nigerian model Harry Uzoka was stabbed to death in a robbery hit the internet, leaving many sad and heartbroken as Uzoka was widely known to inspire others to achieve their dreams..

24-year-old model George Koh, who has worked for Louis Vuitton and Paul Smith and his friend Jonathan Okigbo of Kentish Town have been arrested and charged with the murder.

Koh is also facing charges of possessing an offensive weapon.

Previously, a 27-year-old man was arrested on the day of the incident and has since been released after the investigation.

A 28-year-old man – also arrested that day – has been released with no further action to be taken, police said.

According to Dailymail, the pair appeared in the dock in grey prison issue tracksuits, speaking only to confirm their personal details.They were remanded in custody and will next appear at Old Bailey on this Thursday.

One Loud Silence is all about domestic violence – Chris Nwenze

F

ast rising moviemaker, Chris Nwenze has revealed that One Loud Silence, a movie he shot a while ago is all about empowering women in abusive relationships.

In a chat with The Oracle Today Weekend he said: “Domestic violence is one issue that has been treated in a deplorable and disheartening way especially in Nigeria.

And this is not just particular to the women as victims, men also suffer the same fate. I have seen a lot of victims and they will not just want to speak out.

“I decided to help speak out on their behalf and that was what brought about One Loud Silence. Even in their silence, acts of domestic violence are loud. So, basically, it is not just about creating an awareness but also educating people on the dangerous effects it could have on a children.”

“To further buttress the point, I produced a film, One Loud silence, where one of the characters, Femi, tell his story as a witness to domestic violence and the consequences thereafter. My team and I have also been involved in going to places and meet some persons to talk about it and we have also gotten lots of encouragement from people.”

I never said I can’t date younger men – Empress Njamah

A

• Chief Tony Okoroji, COSON Director, protesting in-front a court premises

ctress Empress Njamah has distanced herself from reports in the media credited to her stating that she feels disgusted when men in their 20s make advances at her.

Njamah called out the reporter who writes for a popular newspaper in Lagos whom she said chased her for days before she granted the interview, where she allegedly made the statement. According to her, she only talked about her charity works and beauty tips in the interview.

Reacting to the report on her Instagram page, the actress described it as defamation of character and challenged the national daily to produce proof that she made the statement or apologise for putting her out in a bad light.

41

The Oracle Today Wednesday January, 31 2018

CHANGE OF NAME I formerly known as ANYAKAORA IFEANYI MATHEW. Now wish to be known as ANYAKAORA IFEANYI MICHAEL. All former documents remain valid,Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as OGBUONUM ADAEZE FAVOUR. Now wish to be known as ADAEZE FAVOUR ILECHUKWU. All former documents remain valid, Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as EZEORIZU NGOZI. Now wish to be known as EZEORIZU NGOZI EUCHARIA. All former documents remain valid, Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as ASIEGBU CHIBOY VINCENT now wish to be known as ASIEGBU CHIKWADO VINCENT. All former documents remain valid. Banks and general public take note

I formerly known as EZE CHISOM HELEN now wish to be known as EZUORA HELEN CHISOM. All former documents remain valid.Banks and general public take note

I formerly known as SUNDAY IWEGBUNAM ONUORAH now wish to be known as SUNDAY IKECHUKWU ONUORAH. All former documents remain valid. Banks and general public take note

I formerly known as Miss OKOYE OKWUCHUKWU BLESSING now wish to be known as Mrs NWEKE OKWUCHUKWU BLESSING. All former documents remain valid. Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as Miss OKOYE CHINENYE OLUCHUKWU now wish to be known as Mrs AKPONISI CHINENYE OLUCHUKWU. All former documents remain valid. Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as OSAKWE STANLEY CHUKWUKELUE now wish to be known as OSAKWE CHUKWUKELUE UGONNA. All former documents remain valid.

Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as OKECHUKWU DESTINY NIMO. Now wish to be known as NIMO CLETUS OKECHUKWU. All former documents remain valid,Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as Miss ANAKOR CHINYERE LOVETH now wish to be known as Mrs EZEONYE CHINYERE LOVETH. All former documents remain valid. Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as BIALA LOVETH NONYE Now wish to be known as ORJIAKOR ANGELA LOVETH NONYE. All former documents remain valid. Banks and general public take note

This is to confirm that ANTHONY MATTHEW EBUKA, ANEFOH EBUKA ANTHONY and ANEFOH CHUKWUEBUKA ANTHONY refer one and the same person. I now wish to be known as ANEFOH CHUKWUEBUKA ANTHONY. All former documents remain valid. Banks and general public, take note

I formerly known as OVUTA OBIORA PRINCE Now wish to be known as EZE PRINCE OBIORA. All former documents remain valid, Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as NWANGWU ROSEMARY UKAMAKA. Now wish to be known as EZEH ROSEMARY UKAMAKA. All former documents remain valid,Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as OGBUNEBE CHISOM MARYANN. Now wish to be known as OGBUNEBE CHISOM STELLA. All former documents remain valid,Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as MISS EZENECHUKWU JACINTA IFE now wish to be known as MRS ELOCHUKWU JACINTA IFEOMA. All former documents remain valid. Banks and general public take note

I formerly known as NWAFOR ONYEBUCHI RAYMOND now wish to be known as ECHEZONA ONYEBUCHI RAYMOND. All former documents remain valid. Banks and general public take note

I formerly known as MEWENANG FAGUEM LAURENCE Now wish to be known as FOGUEM LAURENCE. All former documents remain valid,Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as UGWUEGBE IFEOMA ANTHONIA . Now wish to be known as ORJI IFEOMA ANTHONIA. All former documents remain valid,Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as OGUNFUYI OLUWASEUN BINTU now wish to be known as OLASUNKANMI OLUWASEUN BINTU-FATIMOH. All former documents remain valid. Banks and general public take note

• Parts of the burnt office of Imo State Deputy Governor

Fire guts Imo Deputy Governor’s office From COLLINS UGHALAA Owerri

ire fighters on Thursday had hectic time stopping the fire that gutted the Imo State Deputy Governor’s, Prince Eze Madumere’s, Lodge in Owerri.

The fire burnt down some valuables in the building but no life was lost.

But in a press statement

by Uche Onwuchekwa, the Special Assistant on Media to the Deputy Governor, the Deputy Governor regretted the ugly incident and expressed gratitude to God that no life was lost.

He called for further investigation into the immediate and remote causes of the incident so as to prevent future occurrence.

The fire which was also

said to have been caused by a nearby bush fire also destroyed a bus stationed within the premises.

The fire spread to the visitors waiting room first and spread to the building.

The quick intervention of fire fighters and staff of he Deputy Governor’s office stopped the raging fire from speeding to the main building.

I formerly known as OKPARA NKECHI ELIZABETH Now wish to be known as EZEUDE NKECHI ELIZABETH. All former documents remain valid,Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as OBI CHIOMA ROSEMARY. Now wish to be known as ONWUGBENE ROSEMARY CHIOMA. All former documents remain valid,Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as OGAMBA IJEOMA ANTHONIA. Now wish to be known as OZULUMBA IJEOMA ANTHONIA. All former documents remain valid,Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as MILLICENT CHINWE IBE Now wish to be known as ONYEMACHI CHINWE MILLICENT. All former documents remain valid,Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as ILECHUKWU NKEONYE ELIZABETH. Now wish to be known as ILECHUKWU NKEM ELIZABETH. All former documents remain valid,Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as EZEGAM USAMALI. Now wish to be known as EZEGAM USAMALI UTUWIZI. All former documents remain valid,Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as TANIMU ZAINAB DOGARA. Now wish to be known as ATIKU ZAINAB DOGARA. All former documents remain valid,Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as ANYADIKE CHIDOZIE IFEANYI. Now wish to be known as CHIDOZIE DANIEL ANYADIKE. All former documents remain valid,Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as ONWE AMAECHI. Now wish to be known as ONWE AMARACHI MARYFRANCESS. All former documents remain valid,Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as ANTHONY UCHE DARLINE now wish to be known as MBAKWE UCHE DARLINE. All former documents remain valid.

Banks and general public take note

I formerly known as KOLADE OLUWABUKOLA MARGARET now wish to be known as AKANDE OLUWABUKOLA MARGARET. All former documents remain valid. Banks and general public take note

This is to certify that my name was wrongly written as ADEBAYO ADETUNJI ONIBAAYO instead of ONIBAYO ADEBAYO ADETUNJI. Now wish to be known as ONIBAYO ADEBAYO ADETUNJI. All former documents remain valid. Banks and general public take note

I formerly known as CHRISTIAN NWOSU IJEOMA NNENNA now wish to be known as NWOSU IJEOMA NNENNA . All former documents remain valid. Banks and general public take note.

This is to certify that OBIORA STELLA; OBIORA UCHECHI STELLA and OGOCHUKWU UCHECHI STELLA is one and same person now wish to be known as OGOCHUKWU UCHECHI STELLA. All former documents remain valid.

Banks and general public take note.

I formerly known as miss UCHE HOPE UKAMAKA and UCHE HOPE AMAKA now wish to be known as mrs ORAEKWUTE HOPE UKAMAKA. All former documents remain valid Banks and general public take note

I formerly known as CHUKWU AMECHI CHRISTY now wish to be known as NDIVE CHRISTIANA AMAECHI. All former documents remain valid,Banks and General public take note

I formerly known as ABUCHI NNEBE PETER now wish to be known as UDEH PETER MMADUABUCHI. All Former documents remain valid.

Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as AMAOBI UKAMAKA. Now wish to be known as UDOBI HELEN UKAMAKA. All former documents remain valid,Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as ROBERT MARY-ESTHER SOCHIMA now wish to be known as ROBERT MARY-ESTHER. All former documents remain valid,Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as NWEKE OZOEMENA AGBANA now wish to be known as NWEKE OZOEMENA MOSES. All former documents remain valid,Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as PAUL ECHENG now wish to be known as MBOTOR PAUL ECHENG. All former documents remain valid,Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as ONWUGHALU CHIGOZIE DARLINGTON now wish to be known as OBINNA CHIGOZIE DARLINGTON. All former documents remain valid,Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as EGBO NKOLIKA BRIDGET now wish to be known as AGUOMA NKOLIKA BRIDGET. All former documents remain valid,Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as ODII AJALA now wish to be known as OBASI EMMANUEL ODII. All former documents remain valid, Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as CHUKWU JOSHUA ONUOHA now wish to be known as UFO JONAS. All former documents remain valid, Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as MUO DONATUS OBIENYEM now wish to be known as MUOMEGHA DONATUS OBIENYEM. My correct date of birth Is 27th November,1952 Not 12th May, 1952. All former documents remain valid, Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as MISS CHUKWUJAMA CHIDERA SOMTOCHUKWU now wish to be known as MRS OBINNA CHIDERA SOMTOCHUKWU. All former documents remain valid,Banks and General public take note.

FOR SALE

I formerly known as ODIARI OGOCHUKWU SUSSAN now wish to be known as OKAFOR OGOCHUKWU SUSSAN. All Former documents remain valid. Banks and general public take note.

I formerly known as AUGUSTINE EKE now wish to be known as EKE EJIKE AUGUSTINE. All former documents remain valid.

Banks and general public take note

I formerly known as ONWUGHALU CATHERINE AMAKA now wish to be known as PRINCESS NWAMAKA CATHERINE ILONZE. All former documents remain valid . Banks and general public take note.

I formerly known as IFEANYI ANAGOR now wish to be known as UDEKWE IFEANYI SAMSON. All Former documents remain valid. Banks and general public take note.

I formerly known as OKOLO OZIOMA now wish to be known as NWACHUKWU OZIOMA. All Former documents remain valid. Banks and general public take note.

F

For your change of Names, Public Notice & Announcements Please call: 08037029702, 08036682255, 09078310060 Or Visit our office at: 116 Awka Road, Onitsha. Lagos Office: 25 Remi Fani-Kayode Street, GRA Ikeja. Abuja Office: 1st Floor, Plateau House, Central Business District, Abuja, FCT. Email: oracletoday2016@yahoo.com

42

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

UPTOWN COURTS IBEJU LEKKI Uptown court is an estate with unique facilities couple with the ongoing modern infrastructures in the neighbourhood of the Lekki free trade zone, Ibeju Lekki.

LOCATION: Oshoroko, Ibeju Lekki. 7mins from the LFTZ/ Dangote’s refinery TITLE: Global C of O SIZE: 600sqm PRICE: NGN5,000,000 (Uptown Courts Extension) NGN 4,500,000 ESTATE FEATURES • Good road network • Street light • Gated & Secured environment • Sports Corridors - Landscaping • Shopping centers.

WHY YOU MUST BUY INTO UPTOWN COURTS • The estate is strategically located 7 minutes drives from the Dangote Refinery • This estate will appreciate very fast * Excellent prime location • Excellent facilities • Good title (C of O) • Free from any known Government acquisition.

NEIGHBOURHOOD: • Lekki Free Trade Zone • Dangote Refinery • Lekki Deep Sea Port • New International Airport • Golf Course • Several Gated estates.

For more details please contact PREMIUM PARTNERS +234 (803) 887 2988, +234 (803) 300 7069 25 Remi Fani Kayode Street G.R.A Ikeja, Lagos State

43

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

FOR THE RECORD SCRIPTURAL TEXTS: JEREMIAH 8:20-22; 9:1-9.

Introduction For today’s State of the Nation broadcast, I have chosen as a theme: “It is Time to Renegotiate our Union,” and for the texts of Scripture, please turn your Bible with me to Jeremiah 8:20-22 & 9:1-9.

Fellow Nigerians: Happy 2018 once again. This year promises to be an unusual one and a turning point in the history of our nation. In conveying my optimistic salutations, I am not unmindful of the unpleasant circumstances that characterised the turn of the year, including the fact that the first “Merry Christmas” uttered by many Nigerians was to their fellow compatriots in fuel queues at petrol stations. I am also saddened by the terror attacks on places of worship during the festive season. My heartfelt condolences go to the families and communities in Guma and Logo Local Government Areas in Benue State who began the year in grief because of the murderous activities of heartless criminals. I pray that they, and every hurting Nigerian, will experience the comforting hand of God and find the fortitude to hope for a happy and joyous year in 2018.

Tomorrow, the fifteenth of January, is Armed Forces Remembrance Day; a day set aside to remember Nigeria’s fallen heroes, those who fought in the First and Second World Wars, as well as those who laid down their lives during the Nigerian Civil War to keep Nigeria one. I salute these heroes and every member of our Armed Forces still fighting in various missions in the world and, in particular, those in the theatre of the prolonged war against Boko Haram.

I am also mindful that tomorrow will mark fifty-two years since the shots were first fired that eventually destroyed the federal foundations upon which our union was originally constructed. We remember the fathers of our nation who lost their lives in the process, the likes of Sir Ahmadu Bello and Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. We celebrate the legacies of these heroes past, together with those of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and we reaffirm that their labours shall never be in vain.

I stand here today as I have done in previous years to constructively examine the state of the nation, to evaluate our progress, to appraise our governmental systems and structures against the backdrop of our national purpose and promise, and to awaken leadership to the solemn call to dispense good governance. Very importantly, I stand today to prick the conscience of a nation that has turned the other eye in deliberate sinful silence of a conspiratorial magnitude while Nigerians are being murdered in various parts of the country by marauding herdsmen. I will proffer structural solutions to these and other challenges facing our nation in the course of this address, but first I will clarify issues arising from my public statements regarding my role in the future of our nation.

Setting the Record Straight On the first day of the year, I shared twelve prophecies regarding the nature of the year 2018 as I had received from God. For instance, the tenth prophecy indicated that there will be an upsurge in the price of mineral resources as well as oil and gas in 2018. Barely had these statements been made when the price of oil topped $68 for the first time since 2015.

However, the twelfth prophecy has become the theme of myriad speculative interpretations and enquiries. While it has brought excitement to some, it has brought anxiety to others. I have since been inundated with messages from politicians and journalists as well as friends and well-wishers seeking clarification or offering advice based on their understanding of those declarations.

I did say that, while waiting on God, the Spirit of God said to me: “Politics is not over for you. There is still one thing left for you to do: Run for President…I will work it out Myself and make it happen in due course.”

I went ahead to put this in context as I appealed for prayers. I hereby further clarify the twelfth prophecy with the following ten points: 1. The declaration was not a presidential campaign announcement; it was an invitation to prayers sent out to fellow labourers initiated in our corporate destiny as nation builders; 2. To the uninitiated, that declaration was news, but to my partners in destiny, to whom indeed the request for prayers was extended, my journey and trajectory in the call to nation building is well known. It began on April 10, 1967 when, as a thirteen-year-old, I saw myself in a vision discussing the future of the nation

It is time to renegotiate our union – Tunde Bakare Being text of speech by Pastor ‘Tunde Bakare at the state of the nation broadcast on Sunday, January 14, 2018 at The Latter Rain Assembly, End-Time Church, Ogba, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria

• President Buhari and Pastor Tunde Bakare in a handshake

with two Nigerian leaders, General Yakubu Gowon and Chief Obafemi Awolowo. That vision changed my life; it sustained me as a teenager and propelled me into student politics at the University of Lagos as I ran for the post of Student Union President; it took me into active politics as I stood on the platform with the elders the day the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) was launched in Lagos; that vision shaped my uncompromising non-conformist value system in legal practice, business, ministry, and politics.

The subject of the twelfth prophecy is therefore not new; 3. Nowhere in that declaration did I mention running for election. It is, however, not surprising that politicians and the politically-minded have interpreted it as such. Their narrow interpretation reminds me of Joshua’s description of the sound from the Israeli camp while Moses was away on the mountain with God. Whereas the Israelites were making merry, to Joshua, a man of war, every sound from the camp was a sound of war. In like manner, every time the word “run” is used in a statement, the politician thinks of elections, while a statesman thinks of the next generation. I am, by God’s grace, a nation builder propelled by the dream of a New Nigeria and hopefully will become a statesman someday 4. I am indeed running, but not for elections; it is a race of destiny and the destination is certain.

The certainty of this destination is reminiscent of the statement Jesus made before Pilate: John 18:37 (NKJV): 37 Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then? “Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

In like manner, to everyone asking what the twelfth prophecy actually means, my unequivocal response remains, “To this end I was born, and for this purpose I came into the world: To lead Nigeria into her prophetic destiny.” It will happen in due course, in God’s way, and in God’s time 5. Some may ask, “How then can it happen, if not by elections?” My simple response is that there are biblical precedents, including the stories of Joseph, David, Nehemiah and Daniel; there are also historical precedents, including

the case of George Washington whose unanimous election was merely an endorsement, and Gerald Ford who, under the terms of the 25th Amendment, took the oath as Vice President on December 6, 1973, and, following the resignation of President Richard Nixon, was inaugurated as the 38th President of the United States on August 9, 1974, without a single election; 6. Furthermore, as Jesus said when Nicodemus came to Him by night to make enquiries: “…The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

If God leads me to serve my nation by election into political office, I state boldly that I will accept it with all my heart. In the year 2011, when the opportunity came to be running mate to then General Muhammadu Buhari, God said to me, “You are walking on a path that I have mapped out for you.” In His wisdom, God knew that phase of His plan was not going to lead to election victory, but it was a crucial phase of His plan, and I dare say that the dress rehearsal was worth it. As God unfolds the next phase, my response to Him is simply, “Here I am. Send me.”

7. The important point to note is that it is my destiny to shepherd this nation into her prophetic destiny, and the time is at hand. The method by which God intends to do it is up to Him; I am neither flagging off an election campaign nor building political alliances. Like David, I will continue to shepherd God’s flock and, in His time and manner, I will shepherd the nation according to the integrity of my heart and the skillfulness of my hands 8. For the cynics who query the authority and audacity by which I speak of my assignment to Nigeria, let me remind them of the statement

by Papa Chief Obafemi Awolowo before the High Court on September 11, 1963, just before he was sentenced to prison for treasonable felony: “It is, therefore, with a brave heart, with confident hope, and with faith in my unalterable destiny, that I go from this twilight into the darkness, unshaken in my trust in the Providence of God that a glorious dawn will come on the morrow…I…will not die in prison…I am confident that the ideals of social justice and individual liberty which I hold dear will continue to be projected beyond the prison walls and

bars until they are realized in our lifetime.”

History later justified these bold claims. Shortly after his release from prison, he became the Federal Commissioner for Finance and Vice Chairman of the Federal Executive Council in the Gowon administration (today’s equivalent of Vice President and Minister of Finance rolled into one). In this capacity, Chief Awolowo helped Nigeria prosecute the Civil War without borrowing a dime, to the extent that General Yakubu Gowon, in a tribute to Chief Awolowo, acknowledged that the late sage helped save Nigeria from breaking up. My question to the cynics is therefore: How did Papa Chief Obafemi Awolowo know that he would not die in prison but would be released to serve Nigeria? If they cannot answer this question, then neither will I tell them by what authority I make these audacious declarations 9. Having established the fact that I am ready to follow God’s leading in the service of my nation, let me reiterate that what Nigeria needs now is not another election but a return to the drawing board to renegotiate our union. You will recall that, in 2015, I made a similar declaration in the message titled “The Gathering Storm and Avoidable Shipwreck: How to Avoid Catastrophic Euroclydon”. In that address, I called for restructuring when others were clamouring for elections. Three years later, the majority that was wrong has become the minority, and the minority that was right is becoming the majority, even as restructuring has become the buzzword in our nation; 10. Finally, I am reminded of David’s response to his brothers’ spiteful cynicism when he accepted Goliath’s challenge. This is recorded for our learning in I Samuel 17:28 & 29 (NKJV): 28 Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger was aroused against David, and he said, “Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.” 29 And David said, “What have I done now? Is there not a cause?”

Fellow Nigerians, given the state of our nation, is there not a cause? Therefore, rather than waste time on cynical critics, we draw strength from the words our ears have heard: The LORD of hosts has sworn, saying, “Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, And as I have purposed, so it shall stand…”

The State of the Nation Some measure of progress has been made within the first thirty-one months of this administration. However, as was the case with previous administrations, the current government appears to be merely patching the cracks on the wall. This administration anchored its policy outlook on three main thrusts, including security, job creation through diversification, and anti-corruption, yet all around us are signs of retrogression.

As at June 2015, the unemployment rate was 8.2% of a labour force of 74 million, meaning that about 6 million Nigerians were unemployed.

By September 2017, despite such efforts as NPower and a range of policies aimed at improving enterprise development and facilitating job creation, the unemployment rate had risen to 18.8% of a labour force of 85.1 million, indicating that between 2015 and 2017, the number of unemployed Nigerians rose from about 6 million to almost 16 million.

On diversification, despite ongoing efforts, reports indicate that oil continues to significantly dominate Nigeria’s exports revenue, leading to the shortfall in foreign currency in the first half of this administration. In essence, we have been unable to export much beyond crude, as oil still accounts for over 90% of total exports revenue.

• Read full statement on www.oraclenews.ng

44

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 31, 2018

NEWS

What is a cattle colony?

Continued from Pg 2

services of 3,000 young men and women to guard the proposed ranches. But for reasons best known to the Federal Government, the plan to set up the ranches was jettisoned to the detriment of peace and stability of the nation,” Falana observed.

Why were the plans not implemented? Why wait after loss of lives and properties and the attendant tension?

“While this belated decision is a welcome development, Ogbeh should be restrained from causing confusion by giving the misleading impression that the Federal Government intends to allow owners of cattle to colonise the States that have donated land for the establishment of ranches. In other words, Ogbeh should not be allowed to sabotage the establishment of the ranches with his pet project of “cattle colonies,” he warned.

As Falana observed, most

of the confusion comes from Innocent Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, who speaks as if he would be a co-owner or co-operator of the proposed cattle colonies.

“Once the colonies begin, we are also going into large scale artificial insemination to improve the breed of cattle so that the yield of milk can increase,” he said.

“As at today, our cows deliver just about one beer bottle which is a litre of milk a day but in East Africa, cows do 15 litres of milk, and in Europe, they do averagely 50 litres of milk a day.

“Somebody said to me in a text, very angry at this policy, that the word colony means that we are trying to use the Fulani to colonise their State, and that it reminds them of colonialism. Well, we don’t really want to take anybody’s land to give anybody.”

The Oracle Today tried to get answers to some of the most

frequently asked questions about the cattle colonies.

Ogbeh spoke extensively on the cattle colonies during a visit to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, on inspection of its agricultural schools. He would be providing some of the answers to the pressing questions about the cattle colonies.

Is there a law establishing the cattle colonies?

There is none. What is in the works is the Grazing Bill. It is before the National Assembly.

It is not a law. “Though we chose the creation of cattle colony in our policy, we cannot force any State to adopt it,” Ogbeh said

What happens when the present cattle colonies are outgrown?

It is not a consideration at the moment. The Federal Government would get to that bridge and cross. The most important thing is to create the cattle

• FG’s plans for Fulani herdsmen cattle colonies run into heavy oppositions

PDP in more trouble Continued from Pg 2 the governor and members of the National Assembly were meeting on Monday on the contentious issues. The meeting was testy as the contention of most of the constituents is that the two Senators and most Members of the House of Representatives from the State should not return.

“Where legislators get the nod of their governors, they may still be rejected by their constituents, some of whom were blackmailing them with decamping to another political party,” a source at the meeting said.

PDP is said to be having more challenges in States where it did not produce the governors. Almost everyone holding an elective position claims to have attained the position by personal efforts. “The biggest challenge is in organising the party

in those place,” said a source at the PDP national headquarters.

Similarly, the PDP is also said not to be considering the issue of consensus presidential candidate.

According to a source, the party was determined to throw its door open to all presidential aspirants in a transparent, free and fair primary electoral process that would eventually produce a credible, generally acceptable presidential candidate who will fly the party’s flag in the 2019 election.

“We will never repeat our mistake,” vowed a party source. “No matter what has happened, PDP remains the most democratic political organisation in Nigeria and we plan to demonstrate that in the internal electoral processes we would be organizing from now on, which, as you can see, has started well with the way and manner our Nation-

al Chairman was elected in a very transparent national of the party.”

A former Minister told The Oracle Today, “Series of meeting are going on, that is why we seem to be doing nothing at the moment. Our party is weighing all the options. We would like to have primaries with a lot of understanding.

“We do not have time on our side. We would like to have primaries that would unite the party. We would want to leave the venue of the convention a stronger PDP so that we can face the elections,” he said.

After the reconciliations that produced the Secondus leadership, the presidential ticket of PDP looks attractive once more. A source told The Oracle Today that more candidates are showing interest in contesting for the ticket.

colonies.

What is the purpose of the cattle colonies?

“The thinking behind the creation of cattle colonies by the government is to help relocate nomads to the most secure and environmentally conducive environment for them and their livestock, as well as to keep them away from rustlers,” Ogbeh said.

Who owns the cattle colonies?

Ogbeh said, “Many States have shown interest in the creation of the colonies and we shall work with them.” He was silent on the ownership of the cattle colonies. The colonies belong the owners of the cattle.

Who owes the land?

“The land belongs to the States and the law gives them powers to decide on it.” - Ogbeh Who will fund the cattle colonies?

“The Federal Government will fund the project and those wishing to benefit from it will pay some fees.” – Ogbeh “It is a Federal Government initiative and the Federal Government will fund the project, but we will need to contribute our quota to this laudable initiative at the state level by making land available for the project in Kogi State and ensuring proper implementation to ensure the goal is achieved.” – Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State What will the cattle colonies do?

“We want a situation where the cattle will feed well unimpeded, without any quarrel between farmer and herdsman, just as what is done elsewhere,” Ogbeh said.

“Government is determined at both the state and federal levels to end the crisis not only to bring peace but also to improve the lives of the herdsmen.’’

Are state, local government or federal laws to operate in the cattle colonies?

It is not certain what law would operate in the cattle colonies. It is particularly so as there are no laws settling them up. The appropriate thing would have been a law stating what the cattle colonies are.

Would the colonies pay taxers like other businesses?

Nobody knows, as there is no law saying what it is. There however speculations that they would operate like special business zones with exemption from taxes.

Can non-herdsmen have access to the colonies?

No, one legal expert said.

Once it is so designated, the operations would be based on businesses that are cattle rearing-related?

How would membership of the cattle colonies be decided?

Definitely a law is required to establish that, otherwise anyone could claim to be a member, get into the business, whether he is a Fulani herdsmen or not, and demand a stake in the business and the colonies.

How would neighbours relate to herdsmen in their colonies?

Again, said our experts, only a law can establish most of these issues. No matter how self-sustaining the colonies are they would have some interactions with neighbours.

Who maintains law and order in the cattle colonies?

It may have to operate with federal laws. It would be necessary that the establishing the colonies state these matters, our experts advised.

Ogbeh challenges critics According to the Minister, the Jonathan administration gave States N100 billion to deal with Fulani herdsmen and farmers conflicts. “In 2014, President Goodluck Jonathan gave N100 billion to State Governors to solve the farmers/herdsmen crisis once and for all. Though, I don’t have the details, it doesn’t appear anything was done.

If the money went to the States and they have done nothing, what do you expect?

“Let me ask: We have three tiers of government, why does everybody blame Buhari at the centre all the time? Why don’t we ask our State Governments questions?”

The conclusion of the experts that we spoke to was that a law was required for the Federal Government to be involved in this project.

Would the Minister expended money on this project without appropriation? Which year’s budget captured this project? Is the Federal Government investing public money in private business? Will this precedent be only for Fulani herdsmen?

45

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 17, 2018

SPORTS NFF rewards Rohr with 2 year contract extension

• As FIFA give Federation clean bill of health on finances

Stories by MADUABUCHI KALU

T

he Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) last Wednesday rewarded Super Eagles’ gaffer, Gernot Rohr with a two year contract extension for the wonderful job he has done with the national team, the Super Eagles.

The Franco-German football tactician, who in conjunction with his team of able assistants ensured that Eagles qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup without any problems unlike what obtains in the past where every Nigerian football loving fan used to be on the edge of their seats as permutation used to be the order of the day.

It is recalled that Eagles were the first to qualify for the Mundial on the continent even with a game to spare.

Even when the country was penalized by world football ruling body FIFA for fielding ineligible player by awarding their final game against the Desert Foxes of Algeria and a point deducted from the team and the NFF fined $6000, yet the three time African champions qualified with 13 points to their closest rival’s Chipolopolo of Zambia’s 8points.

According to NFF 1st Vice President, Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi, Rohr was initially taken on board in July 2016, deserved the extension after qualifying the Super Eagles for the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals, even with a match to spare.

“He has done a very good job and when someone does a good job, he gets a reward. We are proud to have taken Mr. Rohr on board and we are delighted to be signing this contract extension with him.”

Rohr, who played as a defender and has coached Burkina Faso, Niger Republic and Gabon national teams before landing in Nigeria, expressed joy at the extension of the relationship while insisting that the Super Eagles players and officials must remain level –headed and focused going forward.

Meanwhile, world football governing body, FIFA have handed the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) clean bill of health on their finances,

following diligent application of best practices in their management.

The NFF 2nd Vice President/Chairman of Strategic Studies Committee, Shehu Dikko announced this in Lagos last Wednesday.

“This further justifies our decision, on coming on board, to have Financial Derivatives as our financial consultants and PriceWaterHouse Coopers as our auditors. They have worked hard to straighten us on the path of

best practices and we have also done well to conform to those tenets.

“This makes us very proud. Transparency and accountability have been our watchwords right from inception and we are happy to be, in a sense, certificated on this. Even the money from the sponsorship agreement with Coca-Cola will go Financial Derivatives and its application monitored by our auditors, PWC.”

Ighalo’s purported EPL return ‘fake news,’ – Club

By MADUABUCHI KALU

C

hangchun Yatai Fc of China have dismissed the purported possible return of Nigerian prolific striker who is currently plying his football trade in China to the English Premier Leagues saying the story is everything but “fake news”.

The Nigerian International who was deadly goal scorer in the first half of his spell at English side Watford before moving to the Chinese Super League (CSL) with Changchun a year ago for a reported 20.9 million pounds ($29 million).

The 28-year-old 15 goals in 27 CSL games, is what is sparking speculation in European media that he could return to England’s top flight, with West Brom reportedly among those interested in him but his Chinese outfit has come out to rubbish the rumoured move back to England just as the Edo-State born striker never told anybody that he was returning to England.

Reacting to the news report about the possible return of Ighalo to England, Changchun Yatai Chairman, Liu Yuming has angrily quashed those claims, saying in quotes published on the club’s website: “I’m here to offer a piece of advice to whoever has bad intentions toward Yatai — we will take legal action when it is necessary and we will pursue their legal responsibilities for making up fake news.”

“We have excellent forwards such as Ighalo, is there any need to bring in another forward? Even if we do get someone in, it will be a midfielder,” Liu added, also denying that the CSL club are in for CSKA Sofia’s Brazilian striker Fernando Karanga.

“We don’t even know his name, let alone be interested,” said Liu.

Amaju, Kojo disagree over WAGS for Eagles’ camp

By MADUABUCHI KALU

N

igeria Football Federation President, Amaju Melvin Pinnick and the former Nigeria Football Association (NFA) Chairman, Kojo Williams have disagreed over the recent decision of the national team Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr to allow Wives and Girls friends of Super Ea-

gles players’ free access to the team’s Abuja camp when it opens in May. According to Pinnick, Rohr has all the rights to determine whether or not Wives and Girls friends of the Super Eagles will be allowed to the team’s World Cup training camp in Abuja come May, 2018.

But the former Nigerian Football governing egghead, Kojo Williams

thinks otherwise saying the Federation should not allow the players enjoy conjugal visits during their time at the Mundial which starts on June 14.

Clearing his position, Williams explained that despite the fact that there is nothing absolutely wrong with Wives and Girlfriends of the players visiting them in Russia but what should not be allowed or tol-

erated are conjugal visits because it is likely to affect the performance of the team which invariably will lead to the team not going far at the tournament.

Williams explained that not allowing Wives and Girlfriends (WAGS) of Eagles’ players visits will help the players psychologically and at the same time keep them focused for the

NFF unveil Eagles’ World Cup programme

N

igeria’s football governing body, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) last Wednesday in Lagos made public its 2018 FIFA World Cup program for the Super Eagles, revealing venues and dates for six pre-World Cup friendly matches, kit launch, camping programmes and venues, the team base camp, sponsors’ event and how the team will travel during the World Cup finals proper.

NFF President, Amaju Pinnick unfolded the entire programmes at the Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island,

immediately after the contract signing with soft drink giants, Coca-Cola.

The program explained that the national team, the Super Eagles will play Poland, Serbia, Democratic Republic of Congo, England, Czech Republic and a yet-to-be-named South American team on the way to the World Cup finals in Russia.

On 7th February in London, kit sponsors NIKE will unveil the official kit the Eagles will use at the World Cup finals, while a Sponsors/Partners event will hold also in London hours after the friendly with England’s

Three Lions at Wembley on 2nd June.

The team’s first phase camping will hold in Abuja or Uyo between 22nd and 30th May, while the second phase camping will hold at a health resort in Austria 3rd – 11th June.

The close camp at the Eagles’ official World Cup team base camp is at Yessentuki, Stavropol Territory in Russia’s southern region, starting 11th June.

The team’s important dates are: (a) 7th February: NIKE to launch official kit in London (b) 23rd March: Friendly Vs Poland

in Wroclaw (c) 27th March: Friendly Vs Serbia in London (d) 22nd May – 30th May: First Phase Camping in Abuja/Uyo (e) 28th May: Friendly Vs DR Congo in Abuja/ Uyo (f) 2nd June: Friendly Vs England in London. (Same night, Sponsors/ Partners event in London) (g) 3rd – 11th June: Second Phase camping in Austria (h) 6th June: Friendly Vs Czech Republic in Austria (i) 9th June: Friendly Vs TBC in Austria. From 11th June: Close camp at team base camp in Yessentuki

task before them.

The former NFA boss expressed his view while responding to the decision of the Eagles’ gaffer to allow Wives and Girlfriends (WAGS) of Super Eagles players visit them during their camping exercise before the Mundial.

“There is nothing wrong with allowing WAGS to visit the players in Russia but what should not be allowed or tolerated are conjugal visits because if that should happen, then I am afraid we are going nowhere in the tournament.

“And even if we are to allow wives into the camp of the team, the aspect of the girlfriends must be addressed because no player should be allowed to bring two girlfriends into the camp.

“The federation must monitor these visits to ensure that no player is using his energy at a time that the utmost concentration is required.

We must closely monitor what goes on inside the rooms, in order not to have tired legs on the field of play,” William warned.

46

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 17, 2018

SPORTS FIFA gives reason for banning Ghanaian for life

By MADUABUCHI KALU with agency report

F

ederation of International Football Federation (FIFA) has disclosed the reason it dished out life ban on Ghanaian referee, Joseph Lamptey.

According to the world football governing body, Lamptey was banned for life after he took decisions during a 2018 World Cup tie ‘to make certain bets successful.’

Lamptey was sanctioned after notable errors in South Africa’s 2-1 World Cup qualifying win over Senegal in 2016.

“He (took) intentional decisions with the sole purpose of facilitating a minimum number of goals to make certain bets successful,” said FIFA. FIFA believes the bets related to the game featuring at least two goals. Football’s world governing body has never given extensive details of the case before but says it decided to do so because of ‘its complex nature and various misconceptions.’

The game in Polokwane featured a contentious penalty converted by South Africa after 43 minutes when a Senegalese defender was adjudged to have handled the ball, despite replays showing it had hit Kalidou Koulibaly’s knee.

FIFA also believes Lamptey was at fault for South Africa’s second goal just two minutes later, stating that the Ghanaian ‘clearly took two wrong decisions, which led to two goals being scored by South Africa.’

“Suspicious betting activities reached their climax precisely when Lamptey took the incorrect refereeing decision between the 40th minute and the end of the first half,” added the Zurich-based organisation in a statement.

FIFA said it was alerted to possible match manipulation by five different betting monitoring companies who ‘independently and simultaneously reported’ that irregular betting activities had taken place.

Lamptey appealed his ban to the Court of Arbitration for Sport which ruled – in August 2017 – that FIFA’s sanction was appropriate prior to notifying the various parties of its decision last month.

• Joseph Lamptey

Joshua laughs over Parker’s ‘king of steroids’ claim

By MADUABUCHI KALU

N

igerian-born British boxer, Anthony Joshua has rubbished the statement created to his heavyweight unification opponent, Joseph Parker who called him “king of steroids” even as he resisted the lure to launch a verbal attack on his rival champion during their first press conference prior to their fight on 10 March.

Joshua will face New Zealander Joseph Parker in a world heavyweight title unification clash at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, on March 31.

World Boxing Organisation

(WBO) heavyweight titleholder, Parker (24-0, 18 KOs), 26, told a New Zealand radio programme, “I call him (Joshua) the king of steroids.”

Parker added: “I am not accusing him of using steroids, but I am saying it is a possibility.”

The first prefight news conference between Anthony Joshua and Joshua Parker passed was without incident even as Joshua said he has forgiven Parker for calling him names but assured the New Zealander that he would beat him on the appointed day.

For all the posturing, verbal jousting and thinly veiled insults thrown

in Joshua’s direction from Parker’s camp, there was a line drawn in the sand.

Joshua branded Parker’s criticism as ‘fake news’.

Anthony Joshua dismissed criticism from Joseph Parker’s team about his punch resistance, describing it as “fake news”.

IBF-WBF champion Joshua (20-0, 20 KOs), 28, insists he is regularly drug tested and was prepared to hit back with some trash talk of his own.

“I sign up three months in advance every time and I have to give them two slots in the day where I definitely will be, so they are able

to drug test me,” Joshua told reporters during his London news conference.

“It used to happen to (Wladimir) Klitschko a lot. When I used to watch him, they used to disrespect him a lot of the time about his style and performance. They used to say other things about him.

“I didn’t know how to take the (Parker) camp, but they were respectful and I’m going to keep the respect and ambassadorial side of the sport. Hopefully after we can shake hands and move forward,” Joshua said.

Access Bank Lagos City Marathon holds Feb 10 • As top runner confirm participation

By MADUABUCHI KALU

T

his year’s annual Access Bank Lagos City Marathon is to take place on the 10th of next month according to the organisers of the event.

This is year’s edition will be the 3rd edition of the annual event that attract top marathoners from all over the globe particularly top continental long race runners from East Africa such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda etc.

The interest shown in the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon is growing with each edition and this is evident in the number of top runners from across the world seeking participation in the one-day event.

According to the General Manager for the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon, Yusuf Alli, over 100 top runners from various part of the world are expected to compete for honours in Lagos.

In his words: “Across the world, we should have a minimum of 100 top-class runners though we originally pencilled down 84,” Alli said.

Alli revealed that entries for the 2018 Access Bank Lagos City Marathon from both home and abroad has been overwhelming especially in the newly-introduced 10km Family Race.

Despite the huge interest coming

from runners across the world, Alli was unequivocal that it is not a free for all as only the best and those capable of adding value will be officially invited.

“We have raised our game and we are only bringing the best from

all over the world, the first criteria we have set is that any athlete that would be invited or given any form of appearance fee should be doing below 2:10mins,” he said.

Alli, however, assured that any elite from any part of the world was still welcomed to feel the vibe of the Lagos Marathon.

“We have people coming from as far as Finland, France and other parts of the world, we expect a spectacular race this year,” the former African Record holder in Long Jump event said.

Alli also expressed optimism that Nigerian athletes should be able to give their counterparts from across the world a run for their money especially with the improved incentives by the organisers.

“I am aware our home groom athletes have been training well, we expect them to improve on what that they did in the first two editions. As for the organizers, we have increased their prize monies, so we hope that will spur them to better performance,” Alli added.

47

The Oracle Today Wednesday January 17, 2018

SPORTS

Iheanacho makes history with VAR goal • Just as Puel says the Nigerian is not going anywhere

By MADUABUCHI KALU

N

igeria and Leicester striker, Kelechi Iheanacho on Tuesday made history as English football’s first beneficiaries of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system after the replay technology was used to award Leicester’s second goal in a FA Cup scored by striker last Tuesday.

The match ended 2-0 in favour of The Foxes against Fleetwood and it was the Nigeria who scored the two goals.

The goal was initially ruled out for offside after the assistant referee flagged down Iheanacho who ran onto a Riyad Mahrez pass to slot home in the 77th minute of the third round replay but after the VAR assistant referee, Mike Jones called for a review, the referee pointed to the center circle for a goal.

The goal was awarded after it was discovered that Iheanacho was just onside – and referee, Jon Moss has no choice than to award the goal to the Nigerian striker.

The VAR system was first used in England earlier this month for Brighton’s FA Cup third round tie against Crystal Palace and the League Cup semifinal first leg between Chelsea and Arsenal.

However, this was the first time it had actually been needed to reverse a decision.

Reacting to the history making goal, the 2013 FIFA Under-17 Most Valuable Player said: “I didn’t know if I was onside or offside, but I agree

• AS Lalong throws weight behind team

totally now that I was onside,” Iheanacho said.

“I was concentrating on the goal, I didn’t think if I was onside or offside but Riyad told me that I was onside.”

Former Manchester City youngster Iheanacho had already put Leicester ahead in the 43rd minute at the King Power Stadium, running onto Islam Slimani’s pass and firing home.

Leicester’s reward for a comfortable win against their third tier opponents is a trip to Peterborough, also of League One, in the fourth round.

Meanwhile, following the directive issue to Kelechi iheanacho and Ahmed Musa to for their ways out of Leicester City by Super Eagles’ handler, German Gernot Rohr to enable them have playing times in order to be ready for selection for the Mundial, Leicester Manager, Claude Puel has come out to say that Iheanacho is not moving an inch.

However, report coming out of England has it that Ahmed Musa is heading back to CSK Moscow as the former club have indicated interest in having him back in their squad.

While Iheanacho has proven to have been working hard to remain in Leicester with his five-star performance against Fleetwood, the same cannot be said of his compatriot, Ahmed Musa who was hit with marriage crisis last year culminating in his marrying second wife.

By MADUABUCHI KALU

B

Nigeria needs N43m for Winter Olympics

By MADUABUCHI KALU with agency report

T

he Nigerian trio of Seun Adigun, Ngozi Onwumere and Akuoma Omeoga who are set to fly the country’s flag for the first time at the Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, will need the nothing less than the sum of $120,000 (about N43 million) to compete for medals, according to the President of the Nigerian Bobsled Federation, Chief Solomon Ogba.

This year’s Winter Olympics will hold between February 9-25, and the Nigerian women’s bobsleigh team will be making history as the first African sled

to compete at the Games.

Former sprinter, Seun Adigun, Ngozi Onwumere and Akuoma Omeoga qualified for the bobsled event last year, while Simidele Adeagbo also made the team in the women’s skeleton.

The trio of Adigun, Onwumere and Omeoga were once track and field athletes before switching to bobsled, winter sports. Adigun actually represented Nigeria in the 100m hurdles at the London 2012 Olympics.

Speaking to sportswriters last week, the immediate President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Evangelist Solomon disclosed that the money would be used to take care of

financial needs of the athletes, adding that the federal government, through the sports ministry had promised to assist them.

The former Delta Sports Commissioner Ogba revealed that the team just finished its last phrase of camping at Lake Placid, New York, and that the athletes are expected to hit Lagos at the end of month for an elaborate send forth before their final departure to Pyeongchang.

Adigun will pilot the Nigerian sled in South Korea with either Onwumere or Omeoga to be selected as brake-woman.

The fourth competitor, Adeagbo, 36, only took up skeleton four months

ago. She finished third in her two races at the North American Cup in Lake Placid, New York to pick her qualification ticket for the Games.

The Canadian-born slider – a former triple and long jumper – first expressed an interest in bobsleigh but was encouraged to try skeleton instead.

Africa was first represented at the Winter Olympics at Sarajevo 1984 by Senegalese alpine skier, Lamine Gueye.

At Sochi 2014, Togo and Zimbabwe were the only nations from the continent to send athletes to the Winter Olympics and a Ghanaian athlete had also represented Africa at the winter Games.

CHAN Eagles not best of NPFL Esin insists

By MADUABUCHI KALU Etim Esin, former national team midfield maestro, is not a happy man following CHAN Eagles inability to beat Rwanda in their opening game of this year’s African Nations Championship which took place on Monday in the city of Rabat, Morocco.

According to the disappointed former Eagles’ star, the players he saw that represented the three time African champions could not be said to the best the Nigerian Professional Football League could offer.

Speaking in the wake of the embarrassing 0-0 score line against Rwanda in their opening game

at the on-going African Nations Championship (CHAN) in Morocco, the Akwa Ibom born former Eagles’ midfielder expressed disappointment over the poor performance of the team particularly the attackers.

Speaking further, Esin, called on football-loving Nigerians not to write off the CHAN Eagles yet, saying that the team still had the chance to excel in the Africa tourney, just as he challenged the players and their handlers to work hard to win their next game as it will go a long way in instilling more confidence on the players.

“CHAN Eagles lack creative players that can stand out in a game.

This championship is a develop-

Our target is to retain NPFL title – Boboye

mental tournament, which is a platform for the domestic players to prove themselves. In the game against Rwanda, there was no spark of individual brilliance from our players. The strikers were not on top of their game. But at this point in time, people should not write off the team yet. I think they will improve in their next game. The coaches would have given enough pep-talk to the players,” he said.

The former Super Eagles midfielder disagreed with the views of some Nigerians who said that the performance of the CHAN Eagles in their opening game on Monday is a reflection of lack of quality players in the domestic league.

He reasoned that if the NFF have

a standard and organised scouting department to monitor players, the Eagles’ coaches would have gotten better players that would have made a remarkable difference in Morocco.

“It is not fair to say the level of performance of the CHAN players is a reflection of the Nigerian League.

The players in Morocco are not the best legs in the league. The coaches are left to use the players of their choice because the NFF do not have an organised scouting department that have a pool of quality players the coaches to select from. Over the years, the league had produced players that have travelled abroad to collect shirt from big players in their clubs,” he said.

asking in the euphoria of winning the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) last season for the very first time, the Coach of Plateau United Fc, Kennedy Boboye, has boldly disclosed it is their goal to retain the trophy they won on the last day of the 2016/17 season.

Boboye whose charges made statement of intent in their first game of the season by beating Nasarawa United FC in Lafia stated their resolve to retain the trophy while speaking to npfl.ng.

According to the former Enyimba and Sunshine Stars trainer having kept about 80 per cent of the players that helped them win the league last year and at the same time signing some of the best legs in the country, their aim is go all out for the title again. “We have put the title-winning season behind us.

It was a great feeling and I must say we have danced, celebrated and enjoyed all the glory that comes with winning the title, now it is time to get back to work,” Boboye began.

“So, we have made up our minds and psyched up ourselves to believe it’s a fresh start and new title chase. We intend to fight like we have not won the trophy before,” the Ondo-born coach stated.

Boboye, who recently returned from Cameroon after a spy mission of CAF Champions League first round opponents, Eding Sport Club, is optimistic of his team’s chances in all three competitions they will be involved in this season.

Meanwhile, Plateau State Governor Simeon Lalong has thrown his weight behind the Nigerian League champions urging them to not only retain the trophy they won for the first time but also to ensure that represent the country well on the continent.

As if the challenge thrown to the team has sunk in, the Plateau State financed club started their 2017/18 League season on a very bright note, winning their first game on the road to Nasarawa United in Lafia and in their second game against River United in Jos, the Solid Miners as the club are known went home with the maximum points after handing the Nyesom Wike boys a lone goal defeat to sound a note of warning to their rivals that they are dead serious with their desire to retain the trophy they won last year.

WEDNESDAY January 31, 2018

The

www.oraclenews.ng

racle Today

VOX POPULI SACRUM

ISSN: 2545-5869

Buhari is a very angry man

P

RESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari is angry over the Benue killings. Benue leader Paul Unongo is angrier over the matter. Both are angry over the same issue for the wrong reasons, expectedly, for they are far removed from the people who are bearing the brunt of the killings.

What annoys the President is the manner of the Benue mourning, not the manner or the intensity of the issues around the killings. Mallam Garba Shehu, presidential Senior Special Assistant (Media and Publicity) captured the President’s anger succinctly.

“The conflict has been there since the existence of the country. The difference here is that this is the first time someone has openly put coffins on display in articulated vehicles, accompanied by weeping women and children and conducted the funeral at the IBB Square, Makurdi. The President is opposed to the drama around the loss of precious human lives,” Mallam Shehu said.

The mourning in such manner confirmed to the world that the killings were not fiction.

Left to Mallam Shehu, Benue people should have obtained permission from the President on how to mourn their dead with every detail on how “the drama around the loss of precious human lives” would be acted out.

With vetted morning procedure, the President would be assured that those who would gather for the mourning would be those opposed to the President’s position on the mayhem, which is that the atrocities notwithstanding, Benue people should still find a way to accommodate the Fulani herdsmen.

It is a great lesson for other people. If Fulani herdsmen kill your people, bury them quietly. The noise of wailing women and children, who Mallam Garba fortunately did not suggest were hired to sustain the enormity of the losses, does not please the President. And everybody knows that Nigerians have invested so much since May 2015 in pleasing President Buhari.

When early in his administration

48

he told foreign audiences that Nigerians were thieves, we were told that when a man of integrity is in charge, he calls things by their names. In almost three years, he has not found the thieves. Where traces of supposed loots are made, they are lost the more in the conundrums of politics and patronage.

Then Unongo at the funeral went into a long diatribe about the role of the Tivs in the civil war. The Tivs saved Nigeria; it is time for Nigerians to pay back. It is a correct narrative that could alienate the Tivs from parts of Nigeria they hurt saving Nigeria.

What was Unongo driving at?

He was making the point that Tivs were entitled to special treatment for the roles they have played in ensuring Nigerian unity.

Special treatment is what the Tivs are getting from the Fulani herdsmen. It is not the type of treatment that they expect. Unongo thinks that he is a special; the Tivs are special. If they are protected in Nigeria, the country is well. But, of course, there will not be special protection for Tivs. Many have suggested that restructuring bears the answers to all parts of the country being productively engaged in wielding the country together.

The biggest applauses for Unongo came when he stated that the Tivs would raise a million-man army in two weeks to defend themselves, if the killings continued. He repeated the threat over and over and earned more applauds.

If the Tivs raise their army, it would escalate the conflict. If Nigerian security agencies defend the Tivs, it would have changed the issues around the conduct of the Fulani herdsmen.

More questions arise from the Tivs and the killings. Would the Federal Government only curb the excesses of Fulani herdsmen in Tiv land? What is the meaning of the cattle colonies and how that sits in the security plans, as Unongo also swore that no colony would be in any part of Tiv land?

Who are the troublemakers at this time that Nigerians desire peace? Who are disturbing the President’s great plans to make the country better? What is their motive? Why do they not want a better Nigeria?

Mallam Shehu again knows them, even if the President does not, or does, but is still considering what he would do with them.

However, things are never as simple as the anger of these two big men, whose ego is at the centre of their reactions. Mallam Shehu, our guide thinks that the Tiv matters, and others that require the President’s attention have been tackled as aptly, Buhari-like, if you prefer. There are obstacles to the President’s vision for Nigeria, obstacles that have left him complaining.

“The President has handled security issues in the country as best as anyone can handle them.

He is being blackmailed on security issues by the beneficiaries of a rotten old order, who are the real losers in an environment in

which corruption, impunity and theft are being fought. Those who stole N2 trillion from oil subsidies every year; those who stole crude oil, sold it abroad and pocketed the proceedings, powerful men and women who stole N200 billion from the federal pensions and salaries; these are the enemies of the people,” Shehu said.

We never knew that the powers of these looters are so sweeping. Why would they stop our President for his envisioned Nigeria? Do they not know that another four years of the President is imminent?

“They are just blackmailing the President. Their pain is that they have been deprived of what they are used to. The message they are sending is ‘we are already starving, how can we survive four more years of Buhari’s government?’ Nigeria is not in danger of a civil war. It is in the throes of the larceny and the insatiable greed of political elite that has fed on a previous economy that rewarded laziness and theft.”

Mallam Shehu could have misread the signals. There is a war raging in the areas that he listed.

It was once called the anti-corruption war of the Buhari administration. Has the war failed? Has the war stalled? Or was Mr. Shehu announcing its suspension?

For many Nigerians, there would hardly be a difference in the targeted attacks that had been unleashed on people who are not from the President’s party. It is interesting that among the looters who are blackmailing the President are pension funds thieves. The matter is lying and pending on several desks.

Mallam Shehu has at least mentioned one specific platform of the blackmailers.

What would the President do?

What is between him and these looters that they are successfully blackmailing him? Is there something we can do? Should we pull out our whistles?

An angry Buhari tells me that the President has emotions. The anger should be properly directed at his security agencies, which behave as if their entire duty is to protect the Fulani herdsmen, by looking away while they devastate others’ existence.

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.