Wednesday March 27, 2019 Edition

‘I lost my child to Biafra struggle’

By IBE NWACHUKWU

M

rs Anih Priscilla Evelyn, mother of a member of the Bi-

afra Independence Movement (BIM), Anih Okwy Kinsley has lamented that the struggle for actualization of the Sovereign

State of a Biafra, has caused her the life of her son, Anih Okwy Kinsley.

She told newsmen in Onitsha, Anambra State

The

VOX POPULI SACRUM

that her son, Okwy might have either died during security raid on BIM members in a rally or fled from the shores of Nigeria to avoid

being killed by the Federal Government as a member of a ‘terrorist’ group.

Narrating her agony to sympathizers and neigh-

borhood, Mrs. Anih hinted further that her son had gone through hell just for belonging to BIM, adding

racle www.oraclenews.ng

Will Appeal Court stop Buhari ?

WEDNESDAY March 27, 2019

ISSN: 2545-5869

Cont’d on page 28

Today

VOL.4 No.11 N200

Okorocha versus Ihedioha: When it’s not all about law but karma!•P13

•P2

•History not on Atiku’s side •Courts have never cancelled a presidential election •Top lawyers skeptical of outcome

Fury in Enugu as gunman shoots woman at shrine

By THEO RAYS

R

esidents of Obollo Afor in Udenu Local Government Area of Enugu State have reacted with fury to the untimely death of one Mrs Chinenye Eze, a mother of two, who

Page 11

was shot to death at close range by a gunman at a shrine where the woman was said to have gone to settle a marriage issue with her husband, Mr Ik Eze. Accordingly, they have called on the relevant authorities to ensure that the master-

mind(s) of the dastardly killing are expeditiously brought to book.

According to a resident who explained to The Oracle Today how Chinenye was killed, the mother of two had a quarrel with her husband following which they consulted a native

Import of Buhari’s fiat on Ogoni oil fields •P19

doctor in the neighbourhood who recommended that both of them go to a local shrine to settle it.

The resident who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the husband demanded divorce as a result of the

Cont’d on page 2

Anambra Reps candidate arraigned for forgery

2

The Oracle Today Wednesday March 27, 2019

NEWS

Will Appeal Court stop Buhari?

By PAMELA EBOH

A

s everyone knows, Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who finally filed a petition on Tuesday seeking to upturn President Muhammadu Buhari’s election will take his case all the way to Supreme Court.

Buhari has raised a team of silk, led by Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, to defend his case. Abubakar’s team is led by Dr. Livy Uzoukwu, SAN. The Presidential Elections Tribunal led by Justice Abdu Aboki began sitting even before Abubakar filed his petition. Justices Aboki, Emmanuel Agim and Peter Ige, granted Abubakar’s team access to all documents used by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) for the conduct of the presidential elections. The order followed an ex-parte motion at the Court of Appeal in Abuja.

On the surface, it seems a good start, but as everyone knows, election tribunals in Nigeria do not follow any known logic. But it is safe to bet on the court not over turning the elections.

Abubakar and Buhari, themselves no strangers to the petition process, know full well that overturning the result of an election is mission impossible. Abubakar challenged the outcome of the 2007 presidential elections, while Buhari challenged the results of 2003, 2007 and 2011 presidential elections. Both have bitter stories to tell.

Indeed, no presidential elections, however flawed the process, has ever been upturned or cancelled in Nigeria. Even the 2007 elections, which the winner, President Umaru Yar’Adua admitted was rigged, was upheld by the courts.

The ongoing process offers little hope for any remedy. However, the intrinsic value of the legal drama may be in its ability to serve as a diversion until tempers are sufficiently cooled and post-election violence averted.

Even the actors do not seem hopeful about the legal process.

Olanipekun last month told panelists at the Nigeria in Transition Workshop organised by The African Studies Centre, Oxford School of Global Studies, University of Oxford that the 1999 constitution stipulates the election process, how officials are elected, relevant qualifications, how resources should be channelled and conditions for parties to challenge results through the courts and specifically, National Assembly tribunals.

It makes elaborate provisions for adjudicatory bodies in terms of courts and tribunals in resolving election disputes and imposed time limits when actions must be filed and resolved.

However, the country, he said, is noted for a tendency to challenge results, citing the fact that all governorship elections have been challenged with 730 appeals brought to tribunals even though there were only 36 states.

Nigerians, Olanipekun, a veteran of the political election petition process, who previously defended two presidents – Yar’Adua and Buhari – noted that lawyers tend to take advantage of the minutia of

the political process not just as a shield but as a sword.

The main reason for this situation he said was because politics was the most lucrative profession in the country, allowing elected officials huge opportunities to channel resources as they see fit often for their personal benefit and those of family and friends.

Chief Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association urged Abubakar not to challenge the election in court, saying he would lose.

Agbakoba said that it would be difficult for the PDP to prove that the votes in the South-East were reduced and to identify whether INEC or APC was responsible.

“I feel that going to court will not necessarily prove that the election was marred by massive irregularities.

“I feel that the stage Abubakar Atiku has attained now is a national one. And having garnered 12 million votes, I feel that, against all odds, the side of irregularities that came out of the election predicts more to the weak electoral processes that we have.

“There’s a lot Atiku can do even though he is not the President.

“At 74, 73 or 72 years of age, I feel that this should be his last chance.

And more so, what will the peti-

tion’s outcome be? Petitions are based on two types of issues. One is the electoral malpractice.

“The other is a tactical issue.

From what I can see, the petition will be based on electoral malpractice. This is an extremely difficult thing to say. How do you prove that the votes in the South-East were reduced and who is responsible? INEC? APC? “And given the fact that it is not as strong as it should, I think Atiku should play a very strong role to build a political structure that will solve issues.

“Even the whole party, PDP, needs to reform, rebrand and reposition for 2023, so that a young vibrant President from the North or South or from anywhere in the country can be promoted.

“I think that should be Atiku’s legacy, and not to contest the outcome of the election in court”, Agbakoba said.

Chief Mike Ahamba (SAN), lead counsel for Buhari at the 2007 Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal, once described the judgement of the court as “judicial ambush!”

According to Ahamba, the justices who had assured him that depositions would suffice for the trial later ruled that allegations of corrupt practices were not backed

up with testimony of witnesses.

Ahamba had on two occasions sought to bring oral testimony of witnesses to the court but the tribunal ruled that documentary evidence would suffice, upon which he insisted that the court’s positions be recorded, and they were indeed recorded.

“This judgment is overtly perverse in the sense that it was agreed by all parties in chambers in the lower court that depositions would be accepted without oral testimony. For the courts to now turn around and conclude that there was no evidence is squalid in the extreme,” said Buhari, then the presidential candidate of ANPP after the Supreme Court, in a split verdict of 4-3, turned down his petition.

Recalling the case in his book Yar’Adua vs Buhari: Facing the future, Opeyemi Soyombo noted that Section 45(2) of the Electoral Act, 2006 states expressly that, “The ballot papers shall be bound in booklets and numbered serially with differentiating colours for each office being contested.

Curiously, the then Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Maurice Iwu, used ballot papers that were neither serialised nor bound in booklets, in brazen defiance of the law.

The word “shall’’ is mandatory.

Buhari succeeded in proving this substantial non-compliance at the Court of Appeal. Interestingly, INEC did not appeal that ruling at the Supreme Court, hence it remains a decision of the court till date.

The violation was serious and fundamental. Justice George Oguntade (rtd), in the lead dissenting judgment of the apex court of December 12, 2008, held that “the ballot paper is the live wire, the heartbeat and the engine room of any election. Without ballot papers being serialised and bound in booklets, as required by Section 45(2), it becomes possible to print fake ballot papers which can then be introduced into the ballot boxes fraudulently.”

An extract from Buhari’s petition, in paragraph 9(B)(ii)(a), read: “…Your petitioners state that on 21st April, 2007, the 1st and 2nd respondents, in conjunction and collusion with the 3rd and 4th respondents, conducted the presidential election without compliance with section 45(2) of the Act, and in the process, assigned more than 24 million unverified and unverifiable votes to the 5th respondent, in that there are no booklet counter-foils to show the number of ballot pa-

Cont’d on page 28

•Anambra State Commissioner for Agriculture Hon Afam Mbanefo flanked from (Right) Chief Chika Okpala (Zebrudaya alias 4.30). Flanked second from (Left) Mr Ikenna Offor (International Director for Africa) and other dignitaries at the inauguration of the Farmers Support Initiative (FSI) a UK based NGO at the Tourist Garden Hotels Ltd Aguleri in the Anambra East Local Government Area Anambra State Photo Oliver Udeogu

... Gunman shoots woman at shrine Cont’d from page 1 quarrel but Chineye refused on the grounds that she could not take care of their two kids and was not prepared to leave them in the custody of her husband, preferring instead to rough it out in the marriage.

The resident said the argument lasted until they consulted the native doctor but unfortunately for Chinenye, she didn’t know that her husband didn’t make proper arrangements prior to their visit to the shrine because the chief priest of the shrine was not aware

of their coming.

He said on arrival at the shrine, a gunman on sighting Chinenye who was carrying one of her kids along brought out a gun and shot her at close range and ran away, leaving the woman in the pool of her own blood while her baby cried endlessly before the incident was noticed by people in the neighbourhood who then rushed to the scene and tried to save the woman’s life but she had died instantly from the gunshot.

He said that prior to the visit to the shrine, the woman’s husband,

Mr. Ik Eze was caught making some suspicious phone calls and to make the matter worse, he did not do the proper thing to inform the chief priest of the shrine that he was coming to the shrine with his wife.

He added: “Normally, the chief priest must be in the know that people are coming to the shrine, but the man didn’t bother to notify the chief priest, so he just asked his wife to go there that he was on his way and on arrival she was shot dead by a gunman.

Meanwhile Police operatives

have arrested Mr. Eze who is suspected to have a hand in the gruesome murder incident of his wife.

Enugu State Police Public Relation Officer Supol Ebere Amaraizu who confirmed the incident to The Oracle Today explained that the Police had commenced full scale investigation into the case.

Reacting to the incident, a community leader at Obollo Afor Prince Matthew Agu called on the Police Command in Enugu to do everything within their powers to bring anybody behind Chineye’s death to face the full weight of the law.

3

The Oracle Today Wednesday March 27, 2019

NEWS ACROSS THE NATION T

HE French Embassy in Nigeria on Tuesday said the country was set to host the biggest French dinner in Nigeria.

The Press Officer/ Attaché of the French Embassy in Nigeria, Ms Damilola Ayodeji, said in a statement that the dinner, scheduled to hold on Thursday, was part activities to celebrate the 2019 International Francophone Week.

This year’s celebration is holding from March 18 to March 23 with the theme: “French Language, Connecting for Action.

“Goût de France / Good France, the key event showcasing France gastronomy has taken a greener approach in 2019 aimed at better respecting the planet’s resources.

“On March 21, six Chefs from Abuja will be hosted at the Institut Francais in Nigeria, to present style dinner inspired by French region Province with focus on more responsible cuisine.

“The Institut Francais in Nigeria will host a six-course banquet for

France to host biggest dinner in Nigeria 100 people.

“The Institut Francais will transform its courtyard to create a cross between live cooking show and tasty banquet, to host the biggest French dinner in Nigeria and maybe worldwide.”

She said that the event would showcase inspired dishes while culinary experts would give critique of the food.

She, however, said that participation at the event would be strictly on invitation.

NAN reports that the week is often celebrated globally by the International Organisation of Francophone countries.

The organisation, also known as Francophonie, consists of 88 member states and governments, accounting for population of 300 million French speakers globally.

Kwara Govt. clears air on state’s debt profile

K

WARA State Government has moved to clarify that, contrary to public speculation, the state’s current debt portfolio stands at N30,203,632,608.29 with a monthly repayment of N496,367,109.08.

According to the State Commissioner for Finance, Alhaji Demola Banu, the debt stood at N31,481,082,712.95 in 2017 and N30,751,665,421.83 at the end of 2018, contrary to social media speculation of N50.2billion.

Giving a breakdown of the current indebtedness, Banu explained that the N30.2b includes N15,325,541,483.03 as the balance of the Federal Government restructured loan, N4,002,948,667.07 as salary bail out, excess crude account loan outstanding of N9,324,613,607.52 and vehicle loan balance of N128,916,612.87.

Others are the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS) and Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) Agriculture Scheme with respective balances of N646,213,285.03 and N679,233,857.13 as well as Interna-

tional Aviation College loan balance of N96,165,095.64.

While clarifying that the repayment of N496,367,109.08 is deducted from the state’s monthly federal allocation, Banu added that the figure includes a monthly deduction of N39,632,016.56 as repayment for foreign loans obtained by the government in the 1970s.

Giving a further breakdown, Alhaji Banu explained that the federal government restructured the state government’s short- and long-term bank loans to reduce monthly repayment, while the state also benefitted from a N5b salary bailout loan in 2015.

Additionally, the commissioner stated that the excess crude account loans were federal government-backed bank facilities which served as seed money for the Kwara State Infrastructure Development Fund (IF-K) and payment for ongoing projects in the state while CACS and ABP are state-government guaranteed Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) loans to farmers in the state.

•President Muhammadu Buhari welcoming All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftains Chief Bisi Akande (m) and National Leader, Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu (l), at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Tuesday.

NASS Polls: 16 candidates file petitions at Oyo election tribunal

S

IXTEEN candidates from various political parties have filed petitions at the National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal sitting at the State High Court, Iyaganku Ibadan, Oyo State, following the Feb. 23 elections.

A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) who visited the venue of the sitting, on Tuesday reports that the petitions received so far included four from Senatorial and 12 from House of Representatives candidates.

Among the grounds for the petitions are unlawful exclusion by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), corrupt practices and non- compliance with electoral law.

The petitioners are praying the tribunal to nullify the elections where they were not declared winners, among other prayers.

NAN also reports that Sen. Moncrease was one of the areas being surat Sumonu of the African Demlooked at by FIRS to meet its 2019 revenue generation target of N8 trillion.

The officials appeared before OUSE of Representatives, the committee to give details of Tuesday, condemned the inthe 2019-2021 Medium Term Excessant attacks and killings penditure Framework and Fiscal by bandits in Kajuru area of Kaduna Strategy Paper.

Fowler’s announcement came state and resolved to investigate shortly after the Senate passed the crisis.

This was sequel to a motion unthe National Minimum Wage Act (Amendment) Bill in which it ap- der matters of urgent national improved N30, 000 as the new mini- portance, moved by Rep. Yakubu mum wage for the workers in the Barde (Kaduna-PDP) at plenary.

Moving the motion, Barde stated country. that recently, the activities of the

Fowler to Nigerians: Brace up for VAT increase

F

EDERAL Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), on Tuesday, urged Nigerians to brace for an increase in Value Added Tax (VAT) by between 35 and 50 per cent in 2019.

This will raise the VAT from the current five per cent to between 6.75 and 7.25 per cent.

The Chairman of FIRS, Mr Babatunde Fowler, dropped the hint when he appeared alongside other top officials in the Federal Ministry of Finance before the Senate Committee on Finance in Abuja.

He said the impending VAT in-

J

Among others who filed petitions for the House of Representatives are: Isaac Adeboye of the Providence People’s Party, (PPP) challenging Stanley Olajide of PDP for (Ibadan North West/South West).

Ademola Omotosho of PDP, also petitioned against APC candidate, Olajide Akinremi, who won the election into the Ibadan North Federal Constituency seat.

Saheed Fijabi (Ibadan North West/ South West) is challenging Mr Stanley Olajide of PDP, winner of the election, in a suit no EPT/IY/HR/08/2019.

Fijabi is claiming that Olajide was not duly elected by the majority of the lawful votes cast at the election.

The Secretary of the Tribunal, Mr Ibrahim Kala, told NAN that the tribunal was still open to receive petitions.

Kala disclosed that Justice DS Igyuse headed the 3-man tribunal to hear all petitions relating to the national assembly elections in Oyo State.

Reps to probe Kaduna killings

H

Lagos CBT centres ready to conduct UTME – JAMB OINT Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) says the 78 accredited Computer Based Test (CBT) centres in Lagos are fully ready to conduct the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) starting from April 11.

Mr Babatunde Bamisaye, Coordinator JAMB Lagos office, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Tuesday.

ocratic Congress (ADC), with suit no : EPT/OY/SEN/16/2019, is challenging the winner of Oyo Central Senatorial District Election, Sen. Teslim Folarin of the All Progressives Congress(APC).

Also, Chief Lukman Ilaka, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Oyo Central Senatorial District, petitioned the tribunal with suit no: EPT/OY/SEN/12/2019, against Sen. Teslim Folarin.

Mrs Mulikat Akande, PDP candidate for the Oyo North Senatorial District, filed a petition with suit no: EPT/OY/SEN/09/2019, against the winner of the election, Sen. Busari AbdulFatai.

The fourth petition in the senatorial elections was filed by the APC against Chief Kola Balogun, PDP candidate who was declared winner by INEC for the Oyo South Senatorial District.

Joined in APC’s petition are INEC and PDP.

He spoke on the sideline of the matriculation of newly admitted students at the Federal College of Education (Technical), Akoka, Yaba, for the 2018/2019 academic session.

According to him, as far as Lagos state is concerned, as at today, we have 78 accredited centres and all of them are fully ready with their personnel on ground.

“The board had visited the centres and certified them technically fit to

conduct the examination.

“The Lagos office of the board had also been able to resolve complaints brought before it by intending candidates as the Servicom and Public Relations division of the board was dedicated to treat such cases.

“We have been solving their problems and maybe one or two problems we are unable to solve locally, we refer it online to the head office for necessary attention,” he said.

bandits had taken a strange dimension becaming a major concern to the various communities in kajuru area.

He said between February and March, over hundreds of lives had been lost with property, worth millions of naira destroyed as well as several families displaced and rendered homeless.

The legislator expressed worry that the attacks and killings had become daily activity.

Barde said that in spite of the outcry of the people, no significant effort had been made to bring the situation under control, adding that pockets of killings were still going on in the area.

“It will surprise you to know that up to this moment as I speak, no arrest of these killers has been made by the security agents.

“Rather, over 59 armless youths and opinion leaders of Adara extraction are being remanded in

prison without due process of the law for over a month now,” barde said.

Contributing to the motion, Rep. Nicholas Sarkin-Noma (KadunaPDP), said that the killings had resulted in impunity by the government and security agencies, saying that the government needed to be proactive about it.

The lawmaker, therefore, appealed to the House to look into the issue as the 8th National Assembly winds up.

The House, however, mandated security agencies to intensify efforts in stemming the tide of the attacks and killings and ensure that peace and normalcy returned to the area.

The House called on the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to quickly move to the affected communities with relief materials to alleviate the suffering of the displaced families.

4

The Oracle Today Wednesday March 27, 2019

NEWS ACROSS THE NATION

No plans to sell Lagos Trade Fair Complex – FG

T

HE Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) Tuesday, dismissed reports of plans by the Federal Government to sell the Lagos Trade Fair Complex.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the Bureau states that the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) does not intend to sell the Complex, rather the facility would be concessioned through a competitive transaction process,” BPE spokesman Amina Tukur Othman said in a statement.

Prior to the Othman’s statement, traders at the complex protested a rumoured sale of the complex by the government to a private company.

The Bureau on August 23, 2017, had announced that the government had terminated of its lease agreement with Aulic Nigeria Limited in some national dallies with effect from August 23, 2017.

However, Othman said the complex had not been sold, instead, the government plans to concession the facilities through a private firm- Messrs Feedback Infrastruc-

ture Services.

He explained that the government had “met with the entire traders’ associations to explain the essence of the planned concession.”

Othman cautioned traders not to transact with anyone on “any purported allotment, buying, selling, letting, leasing, charging, and subdivision, construction upon or dealings in connection with the said property and parcels of land in any other manner howsoever without the written permission of the FGN represented by the BPE is unlawful, illegal, fraudulent and amounts to trespass.”

It further warned that any person(s) interfering with the said parcels of land “stand to lose their money as the FGN through the BPE will neither honour agreements, contracts or arrangements entered into – to transact the property and or parcels of land whether.

•Deputy Governor-elect Dr. Hadiza Sabuwa Balarabe (m) inaugurating the Kaduna State Transition CommitThe BPE spokesman added that tee, assigned with the task of preparing for the next phase of government, beginning 29 May 2019. government will not refund any monies paid in respect of such transactions.

Gbenga Daniel mulls defection to APC

B

ARELY 24 hours after he announced he was quitting partisan politics, former governor of Ogun, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, on Sunday said that he was considering joining the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC).

Daniel told newsmen shortly after meeting with his political loyalists at his private residence at the Aseludero Court in Sagamu, Ogun.

Daniel had on Saturday resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying he was quitting politics.

The former governor had in a March 14 letter to the PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus, announced his decision to quit partisan politics.

Daniel who had served as the Director-General of the campaign team of Atiku Abubakar, the flagbearer of the PDP in the February 23 presidential election, had hinged his decision on “personal” reasons.

He had also supported the Ogun APC governorship candidate, Dapo Abiodun, in the March 9 governorship election in the state.

Daniel’s loyalists at a meeting with him on Sunday, however, kicked against his decision to quit politics.

Led by his Special Assistant on Youth, Ifedayo Kayode, the supporters had asked him to lead them to the APC instead of quitting politics, hinging their request on the fact that they had worked towards the emergence of Abiodun as the

Ogun governor-elect.

Earlier, Daniel at the meeting had officially announced to his supporters that he had completed his assignment regarding Ogun and Nigerian politics and had decided to quit “when the ovation is loudest’.

In his reaction after the meeting, Daniel told newsmen that his people have spoken and that he had nothing else to say.

“Basically, they said I could resign from PDP. They said I must lead them to APC and also said I cannot retire from politics, that is the summary of what I heard,” he said.

When asked on the next line of action, Daniel said; “now, I have to take a look at it. What else can I say? My people have spoken,” he said.

Fidelity Bank supports financial inclusion with N13m

F

IDELITY Bank Plc., on Tuesday splashed 12 of its loyal customers with N13 million at the fifth draw of Get Alerts in Millions (GAIM) season three.

The promotion was designed to enrich customers and encourage savings culture.

The bank’s Managing Director, Mr Nnamdi Okonkwo, said at the fifth draw in Lagos that the reason for the initiative was to drive financial inclusion, thereby reaching out to unbanked Nigerians.

Okonkwo, represented by Mrs Chinwe Iloghalu, Regional Bank Head, Victoria Island, said that the promo was to promote savings culture and to reward customers’ loyalty.

He said that it was one of the ways to encourage flow of money into the banking sector by getting

people to bring their money into the bank and also appreciate the bank’s customers.

Okonkwo said that the initiative was in line with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s directives for financial inclusion, noting that about 60 per cent of Nigerians were still unbanked.

“We are also using this medium to appreciate our customers because there is no institution that will thrive without a customer base.

“We love our customers and we are giving back to them to show them that they are special and they mean a lot to us,” he said.

The managing director said that the bank would continue to attract more customers through various digital transformation channels.

He, however, called on customers to continue to save with the bank

Abjua as China that used to be one of the ‘poorest’ countries in the world suddenly skyrocketed to an enviable economy,” the governor said.

He thanked the ambassador for the visit, noting that he was the first public officer to visit him since his reelection.

Earlier in his remark, Pinjian projected that abject poverty would be eliminated in China by 2020 due to the sustained, rapid transformation of its economy.

Pingjian noted that by Oct. 1, 1949 when China was formed and up to 1978 during its acclaimed reforms, the country was one of the most

backward countries in the world.

“Ninety-eight out of 100 Chinese then lived on the poverty line but I assure you that by the end of next 2020, abject poverty will be eliminated in China due to the rapid economic transformation witnessed since then.

“In the past four decades, according to world bank figures, China has lifted over 740 million people out of poverty and has an annual growth rate of 9.5 per cent,” he said.

The ambassador said that for the past 40 years since its 1978 reforms, China has attracted over $2 trillion in Direct Foreign Investments (DFI).

“The DFI keeps pouring, attracting over $138 billion in 2018 and is the largest from any developing country of the world.

“The country’s outbound investments have also attracted over $100 billion and we intend to grow with our friends such as Ebonyi, Nigeria and Africa,” he said.

He noted that the National Peoples Congress (Chinese legislature) recently passed the important Foreign Investment Law which entails China opening its doors for investment from the outside world.

“We believe that openness brings progress as some industries, especially the labour intensive ones, are relocating fast to neighbouring countries and outside world.”

14 Chinese companies worth $3.7 bn operate in Ebonyi – Umahi

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OV. David Umahi of Ebonyi has said that about 14 Chinese companies with a trade volume of about $3.7 billion were operating in the state.

Umahi made the disclosure in Abakaliki when the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr Zhou Pingjian, paid him a courtesy call.

Represented by his Deputy, Dr Kelechi Igwe, Umahi said that Ebonyi have several agreements and protocols with the China in its bid to become one of the best economies in the country.

“The desire to achieve this aim made the governor to visit you in

Secondus calls for transparent supplementary elections

N

ATIONAL Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus, has enjoined the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), security agencies and other stakeholders to ensure that the forthcoming supplementary elections are transparent.

Secondus made the call in Sokoto on Tuesday, while addressing newsmen after consultation with Gov. Aminu Tambuwal and other party chieftains.

He said that the process should not be militarised, in order not to intimidate and terrify people at the polls.

The chairman said that such allegations made across the country made the army hierarchy to investigate its officers and men’s involvement, stressing that election security should be mainly a police responsibility.

“I appeal to security operatives and the electoral body to remain apolitical and respect their laws of engagement, as their neutrality will always accord them dignified respect,” he said.

Secondus urged the electorate and participating parties to play by the rules of the game, and expressed

optimism that Tambuwal would win the election in Sokoto.

“PDP has confidence in Nigerian laws, and I have confidence Tambuwal, being in the lead, will be declared winner in the March 23 election,” he said.

Responding, Tambuwal commended Secondus for PDP’s performance in the elections, and urged security agencies to ensure neutrality in election processes.

He said intimidation always denied the people freedom and composure to elect candidates of their choice, and urged those involved in such acts to desist from it.

for their future endeavours.

“Savings will transform your life and people must learn to keep something for the rainy day,” Okonkwo said.

Also speaking, the Promo Manager, Mrs Janet Nnabuko, said that the promo was for both old and new customers and consists of monthly draws and bi-monthly draws.

“To be eligible participate in the monthly draws, you should have an existing savings account and top it up with N10, 000 every month and for the bi-monthly draws, you have to maintain a minimum of N50, 000 every month to participate”.

11 customers of the bank won one million naira each, while one customer won the star prize of two million naira.

Some other customers were rewarded with consolidation prizes, comprising generators, refrigerators and television sets.

Some of the cash prize winners were Ms Chinyere Chima, Mr Chukwudi Obi, Mr Roberts Oronne and Mr Ale Samuel who won one million each, while Mr Ifeanyi Chiedozie won the star prize of two million naira.

Senate approves N30,000 as new minimum wage

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HE Senate on Tuesday approved a new new National Minimum Wage of N30,000 in concurrence with the House of Representatives which okayed the same amount in January.

This is N3,000 higher than the N27,000 proposed by President Muhammadu Buhari in the National Minimum Wage Act (Amendment) Bill he submitted to the National Assembly in January.

The passage of the bill followed the adoption of the report of the ad hoc committee on the New National Minimum Wage.

In the report presented by its acting chairman, Sen. Francis Alimekhina, the committee recommended a fine of N75,000 for defaulting employers of labour.

The committee also recommended urgent review of the Revenue Sharing Formula to enable states and local governments to cope with the attendant financial burden.

5

The Oracle Today Wednesday March 27, 2019

NEWS

Comply with 35% affirmative action on appointments -Ex-legislator urges Buhari

By CHINEDU NWAFOR Abakaliki

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rincess Ann Agom-Eze, a Senatorial aspirant of Ebonyi South senatorial zone in the 2019 general elections on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to give 35 percent slot to women in his new administration.

Agom Eze, a retired Permanent Secretary in Ebonyi state, argued that women voted massively for Buhari during the presidential election which she said led to his victory and appealed to him to increase the number of women who would be part of his new cabinet as reward for their contributions to his victory.

She made the appeal at a press briefing in Abakaliki.

Agom Eze while congratulating President Buhari for his victory at the polls said, he deserved it, considering his achievements.

She expressed optimism that President Buhari would consider the support given to him by women and as such grant their requests.

“The next stage will be the assemblage of men and women of good character who really shares the vision of our President, Muhammadu Buhari. We need visionary, hardworking individuals that will help the President on this journey to the next level.

“I know that President Muhammadu Buhari will deliver on his promises to Nigerians. I believe the policies will be right and vigorously executed on time.

“As we celebrate Your Excellency on your victory at the polls please remember the women in politics who were lobbied out at the primaries thereby decreasing the number of women at the National Assembly.

“It is my prayer that Your Excellency will reward the women more especially those who participated at the primaries with appointments. We women are asking for 35% in the appointive positions.

We all worked hard during the elections realizing your promises to us”, she appealed.

Group donates to motherless babies in Abia From BONIFACE OKORO, Umuahia

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he Knights of St. Mulumba (KSM), Mater Amabilis Sub-council of Umuahia Diocese, has donated various items, including food items to Compassionate Home in Ahiaeke, Umuahia, Abia State capital.

Items donated to the Home include: Rice, Indomie noddles, biscuits, toiletries, soap, tomatoes, detergents, condiments, groundnut oil and clothes.

The group made the donation when its members visited the Compassionate Home which houses motherless babies during its apostolic visit to the facility.

The Grand Knight of KSM, Sir Augustine Ajuzie, while presenting the items, harped the need to assist indigents and the needy, saying that such almsgiving to the poor provides a point of contact for evangelism.

Ajuzie, therefore, called on fellow Catholics and other Nigerians to always assist the poor and needy around them, adding that such gestures attract huge blessings from God. Ajuzie, who is also the Liaison Grand Knight of KSM Umuahia Diocese, informed the head of the Home, Rev. Mother Mary Angeleen Umezuruike, that such charity visit was a yearly obligation of the Order of KSM designed to put smiles on the faces of the needy.

“It is the turn of Ahiaeke motherless Babies Home this first quarter of the year,” Ajuzie, said.

Illegal revenue agents: Anambra needs new face -- Ezeonwuka

By Oge Onyeanusi, Nnewi

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hieftain of the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Rommy Ezeonwuka (Ogilisi Igbo) has made a strong case for a new face of Anambra State free from the nefarious activities of illegal revenue agents who unleash hoodlums on residents and visitors, as well extorting private motorists, commercial drivers, petty traders, market women.

Speaking on his expectations from the victory of his party over other political parties in the just concluded State House of Assembly election which it took home 24 seat out of the 30 seats in the state House of Assembly, Chief Ezeonwuka said that he expects effective measures from Government House in Awka against illegal revenue agents.

The Ogilisi Igbo who is a member of the Board of Trustees (BoT)

of APGA noted that the victory of APGA in the State Assembly polls has put the incumbent administration in a stronger position to consolidate on good performance of Governor Willie Obiano adding that it is time for Obiano to wield the big stick against the cabals who are stealing the revenue of the State to build hotels, petrol stations, housing estate and plazas among other things.

“These cabals have continued to

soak away the resources of Anambra State untouched using hoodlums and tout to extort money from the members of the public.

The worst is that they work for those calling themselves relation to the authorities. And have wide links with security operatives who always ensure that agents working for them regain freedom shortly after arresting them. Sometimes they resist arrest by making phone calls.

Imo guber poll: Wait for your turn, Ejiogu advises losers BONIFACE OKORO, Umuahia

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• (From left): Jude Modilim, Executive Director, Technical Operations, Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc, Mr. Peter Aghedo and Kayode Adigun, General Manager/Divisional Head, Finance & Corporate Services, Sovereign Trust Insurance plc during the presentation of the prize to the winner of the radio trivia question tagged “Stay Safe With STI at the Corporate Head Office in Lagos

MASSOB hails newly-elected S’East, S’South governors, lawmakers

By CHINEDU NWAFOR Abakaliki

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ovement for Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) has congratulated Governors of South East and South on their victory in the just concluded governorship election in the state.

The group also congratulated former Abia Governor Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, Ifeanyi Uba, Enyinnaya Abaribe, Theodore Orji, Ike Ekweremadu and others for their victories during the National Assembly elections.

In a statement issued in Abakaliki by its National Director of Information, MASSOB charged the newly elected Igbo leaders to unite for Igbo course.

The agitators reminded the Igbo leaders that the unity of Ndigbo was not negotiable and called on them to place the people above personal interest.

“MASSOB congratulate the people of Biafra for harkening unto our directives in supporting and voting for the candidates we presented to pilots

the political space of Biafra land. We congratulate Governors Dave Umahi, Okezie Ikpeazu, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Ifeanyi Okowa, Emmanuel Udom, Nyesom Nwike, Ben Ayade of Ebonyi, Abia, Enugu, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Cross River, Imo States and Senators Orji Uzor Kalu, Ifeanyi Uba, Enyinnaya Abaribe, Theodore Orji, Ike Ekweremadu and others. We also salute the igboistic spirit of no surrender no retreat of Ndigbo in Lagos in eloquently voting for the candidate of their choice in Lagos gubernatorial election.

“MASSOB charged the new elected Igbo political office holders to unite in projecting and promoting the general Igbo in interest in Nigeria political, economic, social, academic, religious and cultural space of Nigeria irrespective of their political platforms”, MASSOB said.

The group, however, condemned incessant killings of Christians in some parts of the country by herdsmen immediately after the presidential elec-

tion, describing the killings as unfortunate and ethnic cleansing.

“MASSOB reminds the citizens that prior to the presidential election mostly within the campaign periods, the terrorist activities of Fulani herdsmen suddenly reduced because Mohammed Buhari and his Fulani cabals controlling Nigeria Federal government does not want to refresh the damaging effects of the activities of Fulani herdsmen in the consciousness of the people because of their votes.

“It is very disheartening that overwhelming evidences abounds on the incessant, systematic and well coordinated attacks, killings and ethnic cleansing of Christian dominated villages of Kaduna, Taraba, Benue, Plateau and Ebonyi States recently after presidential election that was executed by Fulani herdsmen. Then security agents in their bid to deceive the international communities will label the attackers as gunmen instead of the real culprits.

ment of the area, adding that they have set up machinery to deal with the phenomenon.

The statement read: “We want to thank Ndigbo immensely for adhering to our plea of ensuring that our performing Southeast Governors are re-elected to continue the good work they started four Years ago in Abia, Ebonyi and Enugu as there was no need to change a winning team in the Southeast.

“We Congratulate the Governors Elect, Okezie Ikpeazu, David Umahi, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Emeka Ihedioha on their victories at the polls. This is a new challenge for them to collectively re position Southeast through collective collaboration, partnership and mutual understanding which should yield adequate dividends of democ-

racy by positively partnering with federal government.

“We hope to see the revamp Enugu Coal Mine closed for 46 years now, we expect more Job opportunities in Enyimba Economic City , we expect Sam Mbakwe Airport upgraded to full International airport in Owerri and commencement of Nkalagu cement factory in full operation/ establishment of Salt factory in Uburu Ebonyi state.

“Ohanaeze Youths will reach out to other governorship candidates in various States that contested with the Governors-elect in Southeast to mellow down and accept the peoples verdict as the wish of Almighty God. There’s no need to waste resources in Litigation to disrupt governance In Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states during the next four years.”

Partner with FG, Ohanaeze youths urge S’East Govs

By CHINEDU NWAFOR, Abakaliki

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eadership of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, Tuesday, urged the Governors in the zone to partner with the federal government to develop the region.

This was contained in a statement issued in Abakaliki by its PresidentGeneral Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro and Deputy Secretary General Engr.

Odera Udutchay, to congratulate the Governors on their victories at the just concluded governorship elections.

He urged the new Governors to consider youths for various political positions in their administrations and avoid recycling old politicians.

The Ohanaeze youths warned the new Governors against godfatherism which they said has affected develop-

former Secretary of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Abia State chapter, Dr. Emma Ejiogu, has advised those who failed to secure the Douglas House seat in Owerri, Imo State, to wait for their turn if they have the Imo agenda in mind.

Comrade Ejiogu told The Oracle Today in Umuahia that challenging the victory of Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha who won the Imo State governorship election “was like trying to provoke God.” Expressing happiness that his nephew, Philip Ejiogu, secured victory to represent Owerri North State constituency in the Imo State House of Assembly, the veteran journalist equally offered a recipe for credible and peaceful elections in future.

Calling on those who contested with Ihedioha for the coveted Imo governorship seat to sheath their sword and forget about unnecessary litigations, Ejiogu said: “Those who contested the Douglas House seat with Ihedioha should sheath their swords and avoid unnecessary litigations.

“They should not waste their time, energy and resources at the law courts if they truly believe that Imo is in the hands of God and they have Imo agenda in mind.

“The message is clear and obvious, one with God is majority. When God takes a position, you cannot lobby Him. So, it is good to always listen to the voice of the people and the voice of God. God spoke and the masses heard the voice of God. Going to court to challenge Ihedioha’s victory is like trying to provoke God. “It is God that won the election and you cannot compete with God. The losers should go back and patiently wait for their turn.”

Ejiogu who hails from Owerri further advised that for future elections in Imo to be less acrimonious, politicians should keep to equity and fulfill the yearnings of the electorate.

Thanking God for His benevolence towards the Ejiogu’s family and the Owerri zone where the governorelect comes from, he exclaimed that Philips’ father Sir Ambrose Ejiogu, a powerful power broker in Imo, has been rewarded.

“All the Ejiogu’s in Nigeria and the Diaspora are happy with the outcome of the elections. Without going to a diviner, every other Imolite is happy, especially with the outcome of the governorship election in the state. It is the Lord’s doing. He has always come for the poor masses when the need arises.

“Also, we are happy for Sir Ambrose Ejiogu. He is a mentor of many politicians that have passed through Imo state and beyond. So, there was joy all over, following the emergence of Philip Ejiogu, last son of Sir Ambrose Ejiogu as a legislator-elect, representing Owerri North State Constituency.

This simply translates to a kingmaker finally and divinely getting a king now.”

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The Oracle Today Wednesday March 27, 2019

NEWS INEC fair to all parties in Ebonyi, says Ebonyi PDP Rep-elect

By CHINEDU NWAFOR, Abakaliki

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ouse of Representatives member elect for Ohaozara, Onicha and Ivo Federal Constitutency, Ebonyi State, Engr Livinus Makwe has lauded the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for the smooth conduct of elections in Ebonyi state.

Makwe who was among those issued the Certificate of Return for the election by the electoral body said the Commission was fair to all political parties in the state during the election.

Makwe had defeated candidates of other parties to emerge victorious during last month’s Presidential and National Assembly elections.

He also congratulated the State Governor, David Umahi on his victory during the Governorship and State House of Assembly elections in the state.

Makwe said the governor’s election was not surprising as he has performed beyond expectation by executing developmental projects in all the 13 local government areas in the state.

“There is no part of the state that has not felt the impact of the governor in one form or the other. The governor’s infrastructural Transformation in the areas of road construction, education, health, agriculture,

electricity, human empowerment and capacity building, etc is second to none in the country today”.

“The governor’s achievement is more remarkable when one considers the fact that the state receives one of the least allocations from the federal treasury. So, Ebonyi people had no choice but to use their votes to tell him to continue the transformation of the state”, he said.

He noted that the total victory recorded by the PDP in Ebonyi state, by winning all the National and State House of Assembly seats declared so far is a testament to the governor’s political sagacity and prowess and the acceptance of PDP as the only relevant political party in the state He also promised to cooperate fully with the governor in moving the state forward.

Makwe was full of thanks to his constituents for electing him with landslide votes and promised not to disappoint them.

“I promised during the campaign to attract more federal presence to the area and that I will pursue with doggedness once I am sworn in”.

“I will also work assiduously to ensure that my constituency is no longer marginalised in employment into federal government Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs as has been the case in the past”, he added.

Police confirm arrest of officers in Ebonyi over incompetence

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bonyi Police Command has confirmed the arrest of six of its officers over incompetence.

It said the police officers were arrested for not tackling the hoodlums that allegedly set fire to an Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Registration Area Centre (RAC) in the Ebonyi.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that hoodlums set the INEC RAC at Umuoghara, Ezza North Local Government Area (LGA) of the state ablaze during the just-concluded gubernatorial poll, destroying electoral materials and the primary school which housed the facility.

ASP Loveth Odah, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) told NAN on Tuesday in Abakaliki that the affected officers were supposed to guard the facility.

“We are not only appalled that the officers were supposed to guard the facility but that they did not offer any form of resistance to the hoodlums.

“We didn’t hear them shoot, wound or arrest any of the hoodlums and for such act to be perpetuated without resistance from our officers is unacceptable. The Nigerian Police is a highly disciplined, effective organisation and its officers should be ready to deliver optimum results at all times,” she said.

The PPRO said that the command had interrogated the affected officers in the spirit of fair hearing which was one of its core values.

“They explained that the hoodlums switched-off the generator which supplied power to the RAC as electricity supply to the area could not be guaranteed. The situation, according to them, threw the entire area into darkness and they did not want to shoot to avoid

harming unintended targets (innocent citizens).

“We are still not satisfied with their explanations because of the negative effects of the dastardly act on the electoral process in the area,” she said.

She said the command was expecting a report from INEC over the incident as it would determine its next line of action.

“The INEC report will confirm whether the hoodlums tampered with the generator to cause darkness in the area or not and such will guide us appropriately in our next action.

“I appeal to the residents not to see elections as a do or die affair as pupils of the affected school reported the following Monday only to discover that there are no longer classrooms,” she said.

• Lagos State Consumer Protection Agency (LASCOPA) Board Chairman, Mrs. Funmi Falana, and General Manager, Mrs. Kemi Olugbode meeting with traders in Computer Village, Ikeja and its environs during a campaign to encourage them to shun the manufacture and sale of unwholesome Smart products, as part of activities scheduled by LASCOPA to celebrate the 2019 Consumer Rights Day, themed; “Trusted Smart Products” and held on 15th of March annually

Communal, cult wars claim lives in C’River communities From ANIEKAN ANIEKAN, Calabar

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t least six lives have been lost in a couple of violent clashes that erupted in two communities in in Cross River State.

The crisis occurred at Egbor, Ipene and Abanwan communities in Biase local government Area on one hand, and also at Bakoko (Nasarawa) a Fulani dominated community in Calabar Municipality.

At Biase, Oracle Today learnt that gunmen invaded Egbor as early as 4 am on Sunday and after killing two people there, razed the community down.

They later moved to the nearby community, Ipene and not seeing anybody, razed it down before going for their target, Abanwan where they also killed two people before setting fire on the village.

A source, who pleaded not to be named, said the people of Ipene heard gunshots suspected to be machine guns early on Sunday and left the community before the gunmen arrived.

Narrating the incident, he said “As I am talking to you now, all of us are in the bush. We started hearing gunshots at about 4am in the neighboring village, Egbor, and we suspected that something was wrong.

“You know that immediately Orugbam community was burnt down last year, they moved to Unwana, Afikpo and the surrounding communities. We did not know that they were planning to use them to

attack us until this morning. Egbor has been completely burnt down with two people killed.

“By the time they arrived Ipene, because we heard the gunshots, our people had moved into the bush so they came and did not meet anybody. What they did was to raze down every building standing in Ipene before moving to their main target, Abanwan where they killed two people and also burnt the place,” the source explained.

He said the crisis in the community is as a result of an oil palm plantation in Egbor where several interests have been at loggerheads over it.

Meanwhile, at Nasarawa (Bakoko), two persons were confirmed killed following a clash between two cult groups, Skylo and Scorpion.

An unnamed eyewitness said there was a misunderstanding between the cult groups which degenerated into violence and in the process, someone was killed.

“I don’t know the cause of the disagreement but it led to the death of one person. After the police got to know about it, they came and made some arrests.

“After the arrest, there was a reprisal attack which led to the death of another person. But the perpetrators were arrested at a police checkpoint on the highway while they were fleeing Calabar,” the eyewitness said.

The Chief of Nassarawa-Bacoco, Alhaji Sanni Baba Gombe, who con-

firmed the incident said “we are getting to the root of the matter with the ‘Anti-Cultism and Kidnapping Squad’ in Calabar. I cannot speak further on it for now.”

The Special Adviser to Governor Ben Ayade on Security (South), Ani Esin while confirming the invasion in Biase said the military and regular Policemen have taken over the place and normalcy restored.

“Yes, we have information that there is a crisis there but the soldiers are on the ground and they are top of the situation,” he assured.

The Police Public Relations Officer of the state command, DSP Irene Ugbo, also confirmed both incidents to our correspondent.

On the crisis in Biase, she said “Our men, both the Mobile policemen and the regular policemen are on the ground now and while I cannot confirm the casualty figure right away, I learnt houses have been burnt,” she said.

On the Bakoko crisis, she said: “it was a clash between two cult groups, Scorpion and Skylo and two people have been confirmed dead”.

She said two suspects had been arrested in connection with the cult clash at Bakoko (Nasarawa) as they were trying to escape from Calabar after the incident, adding that investigation was ongoing.

She said security operatives including the military were already on the ground to bring the situation under control.

Back Ikpeazu, group urges defeated candidates From BONIFACE OKORO, Umuahia

• Gov. Umahi

Abia State Association of Non-Governmental Organization (ASANGO) has counselled governorship candidates who lost to Governor Okezie Ikpeazu at the polls against resorting to legal battles.

The group rather appealed to the losers to exhibit the spirit of sportsmanship by joining hands with the governor to develop the state for the good of the people and the state itself.

The Oracle Today gathered that over 30 governorship candidates slugged it out in the March 9, 2019 governorship contest in Abia in which the incumbent, Ikpeazu, emerged victorious.

Shortly after the announcement of the result, the candidates of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Dr. Uche Ogah, and his All Progressives

Gramd Alliance (APGA) counterpart, Dr. Alex Otti, rejected the governorship result, saying the contest was marred by irregularities.

Both at a joint Press Conference in Umuahia hours after the result was announced, served notice of the intentions to challenge the outcome of the guber election in court.

However, ASANGO maintains that such is not the way to go, if Abia is to move forward.

“We call on other candidates that contested with him for the governorship seat to shun going to tribunal and rally round the governor to move Abia forward, for the good of Abians,” said Chairman of ASANGO, Rev. Leonard Romanus, in a statement made available to newsmen in Umuahia while congratulating Ikpeazu on his resounding victory at the poll.

Romanus seized the opportunity

to pledge that ASANGO under him would work in synergy with the Ikpeazu administration, security agencies, communities, Ministries and Parastatals in the state for the good of the association and Abia people in general.

“As the state Chairman of ASANGO, I will continue to build on the organization’s history and accomplishments, encouraging innovations and cross-sector relationships and strengthening our collective voice as integral to Abia States economy and communities.

“ASANGO must continue to provide exceptional services for nonprofit/non-governmental organizations to be successful. Affordable access to timely information and relevant training is critical to staying up-to-date on the trends and best practices in the field,” the ASANGO leader in Abia said.

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The Oracle Today Wednesday March 27, 2019

NEWS Election: I won’t go to tribunal --- C/River SDP candidate pledges

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ross River Governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Mr Eyo Ekpo, has pledged not to contest the result of the gubernatorial poll in the state at the election tribunal.

Ekpo, who described the March 9 governorship election in Cross River as an auction, said he would rather pray that Gov. Ben Ayade’s second tenure would be better for the people of the state.

In a statement issued in Calabar on Tuesday, the SDP candidate Ekpo, described the governorship poll in the state as a bidding war and an auction in which funds were deployed for inordinate political ambition.

He said that any unbiased follower of his campaign would testify that residents of Cross River bought into his “Recover and Restore Programme” but the popular will was intimidated and subverted.

“Sadly, the popular will was intimidated, subverted and cast aside by vote buying, multiple thumb printing, violence and malpractices. This was compounded by some SDP officers in the state who became traitors before and during the election, selling us out for a paltry mess of pottage.

“Nevertheless, I will not provide cannon fodder for lawyers and rumour mongers by going to an election tribunal.

“Instead, I will look to the future and join to pray that Gov. Ben Ayade’s second tenure will be much better than the first,” he said.

According to Ekpo, his manifesto and execution plan in a document titled: “Getting the Job Done,” was on the internet and the governor could look at it if indeed he is focused on serving the people.

He, however, thanked his campaign team and supporters, saying

C’River guber contest went to highest bidder – Eyo Ekpo

Anambra Assembly poll: NRM mobilises 15 lawyers to challenge APGA’s victory

From ANIEKAN ANIEKAN, Calabar

By Oge Onyeanusi, Nnewi

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former Attorney General of Cross River State, Eyo Ekpo has faulted the conduct of the gubernatorial elections in Cross River State stressing that it went to the highest bidder.

Eyo Ekpo who flew the Social Democratic Party (SDP) ticket during the contest said state funds were deployed for the exercise to the detriment of the people of Cross River State.

He accused officials of his party particularly the state chairman for being compromised and selling the party out for a “paltry mess of porridge”.

He made this known in Calabar while reviewing the gubernatorial contest in the state stressing that despite his displeasure, he has no intention of seeking legal redress.

“The events of Saturday, 9th March, in Cross River State cannot in any way be described as an election.

They were in reality, an auction; a bidding war in which public funds were deployed not for the benefit of the citizenry but to satisfy bloated egos and inordinate political ambitions.

“Sadly, the popular will was intimidated, subverted and cast aside by vote buying, multiple thumb printing, violence, intimidation and enough malpractices to make a voluminous text, all with election officials looking on helplessly, or in many cases actively collaborating.

“This was compounded by some of my own Party officers, particularly the State Party Chairman, Chief Eni Ikpi Ibor, who became traitors and betrayers before and on election day, selling us out for such a miserable and paltry mess of pottage.”

He said that he has resolved to look to the future and pray for the success of the Ayade administration in the state so as to ensure that the state is once again placed on the path of steady growth and development.

“Nevertheless, I will not provide cannon fodder for lawyers and rumour mongers by going to an election tribunal. Instead, I will look to the future and join to pray that Governor Ben Ayade’s second tenure will be much better than the first; so that sooner rather than later, our beloved State shall be firmly placed once again on the path of steady growth and development in an atmosphere of highquality governance and well-secured, lasting peace,” Ekpo said.

God had blessed Cross River with human and material resources.

He prayed for leadership with love and capacity to harness the resources of the state for the benefit of the people.

Ekpo noted that on the eve of the March 9 governorship election, some party officers of the SDP in the state allegedly endorsed the incumbent governor sparking off a division in the party in the state

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• (From right): Chairman, Transcorp Hotels Plc, Mr. Emanuel Nnorom; Managing Director/CEO, Mrs Owen Omogiafo; and Executive Director, Ms Okaima Ohizua; at the 5th Annual General Meeting of the company held at Transcorp Hilton Hotels Abuja on Friday

Delta Govt suspends Head Teacher for collecting illegal fees

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elta State Government has frowned at the unauthorised levies and fees unilaterally imposed on pupils by Schools vis a vis sending children away from school with the added threat of being flogged for inability to pay ‘school’ fees.

Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Mr Chiedu Ebie gave this position in an interview with journalists during an inspection visit to Okotie-Eboh Primary School 1 & II, Sapele in Sapele Local Government Area, Delta state on the basis of the video of one Miss Success of Okotie Eboh Primary School, Sapele who was sent home over her inability to pay school fees.

According to Mr Ebie, “Since the video of Miss Success of Okotie Eboh Primary School, Sapele broke and went viral last Friday, I have been inundated with messages and calls.”

“By virtue of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act, Education at the Basic Education Level is FREE. However in Delta State that provision is also extended to Senior Secondary Level with the resultant effect being that Basic and Secondary Education (primary, junior and secondary) in Delta State is and still remains free.

“It therefore means that the Head Teacher of the School had no right to impose any levy or fees on the pupils of her School. In my brief encounter with the Head Teacher this morning, there appeared to be numerous inconsistencies in her response on this issue as she was un-

able to categorically state who authorized her to impose the levies or fees which is in clear breach of the extant rules.

“Consequently I have directed the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) to suspend the Head Teacher pending the outcome of a formal enquiry into the issue of unauthorized levies/and fees imposed by her in the School” the education Commissioner stated.

The Commissioner said that the suspension of the head teacher was to enable the state government commence a full scale investigation into the reported case of illegal collection of fees in the school.

“I have conducted a preliminary investigation into the matter; so, I have some information but in the interim, we are suspending her as the head teacher of the school pending the outcome of the investigation of the committee that would be constituted.

According to him, there is right to fair hearing, adding that it was for this reason that a committee would be set up by the Ministry to examine the allegation of illegal collection in the school.

“We are suspending her with immediate effect because obviously, there are contradictions in her story; everybody heard when she initially talked about school fees and for the fact that little Miss Success was sent home from school for her parents’ inability to pay the supposed school fees for 2018/2019 levy.

“We have continuously reminded heads of Primary and Secondary

Schools in the state that they do not have the right to impose levies on their pupils and students; that is why, at the beginning of every session, we circulate what we refer to as permissible levies to all schools through the Chief Inspectors of Education (CIEs) but a lot of them tend to abuse it for their own selfish interesst,” he added.

While saying that the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act made Primary and Basic Education free in Nigeria, the Commissioner, however, noted that it is not unusual that levies are paid even in Unity Schools “but such levies must be specific and must also be minimal so that parents can pay.”

On the state of the infrastructure in the school, Mr Ebie stated that it is important to clarify that Okotie Eboh Primary Schools I and II, Sapele exist in two locations in the same neighbourhood and within a minute’s walk of each other and having discovered the dilapidated state of the infrastructure in the Schools, steps were immediately taken by the State Government, through the Ministry of Basic & Secondary Education, to carry out a phased renovation and upgrade of the infrastructural facilities beginning with Okotie Eboh Primary School II. Present at the inspection were Chief Paulinus Akpeki, the Chairman, Sapele Local Government Area, Mr Eugene Onoaghan, the Permanent Secretary in his ministry, Comrade Samuel Dietake; his SA, Dr Godwin Edozie and other Directors in the ministry.

he National Rescue Movement (NRM), one of the political parties that participated in the March 9, 2019 House of Assembly elections in Anambra State, said it has mobilised 15 lawyers to challenge the declaration of candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, as winner of the Idemili North State Constituency election in the state.

Rising from a joint meeting of the state and local government executive committee of the party held in Ogidi, headquarters of Idemili North on Thursday, the candidate of the party for the state constituency election in Idemili North Constituency, Barr Onyeka Martin Chukwuemeka, described the election as a fraud.

“I cannot call what took place in Idemili North on March 9 as an election, because, there were many irregularities that went contrary to the electoral law. From what we gathered from polling booths and agents that worked for our party in all the polling units, we realized that people were bullied to vote against their will.

“In Nkpor, for instance, we gathered that some thugs employed by APGA, went from polling unit to polling unit beating people up; and forcing them to vote against their conscience. After the election, some of our agents, who refused to pen their signatures to the result sheets were beaten and forced to do so. This is unacceptable.

“In Umuoji, about 15 boys or more believed to have been employed

by APGA brought in already thumb printed ballot papers, and changed the one that was already cast by voters; in order to give APGA candidate undue advantage.

“In many areas in Idemili North, INEC official in collusion with APGA resorted to manual voting as against the use of card readers. The essence of introducing the card reader is to check malpractices. If, therefore, the card reader is not working, then, electoral system is faulty. This is not right in a democratic setting. This is why we are calling on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and the Federal Government, FG, to look into the case and declare us winner of the election.

“People of Idemili North deserve the best, they know the kind of representative they want; and that is the reason they voted us in large numbers. We won the election but our party was short-changed with the collusion of INEC officials and APGA mercenaries; and placed us at the second position. So, after our joint meeting today, we felt that we cannot afford to disappoint our teeming supporters, who came out in great numbers to vote for us.

8

The Oracle Today Wednesday March 27, 2019

NEWS

Catholic lawyers warn against defending unrepentant criminals in court

By Oge onyeanusi, Nnewi

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egal practitioners under the aegis, Catholic Lawyers Association, Onitsha Catholic Archdiocese have commenced a two day prayer retreat aimed at preparing themselves spiritually in this Lenten season.

The prayer retreat which was scheduled to take place at the Madonna Retreat Centre, Nkpor near Onitsha between Friday, 15th March this year and Saturday would be rounded off with a Church service at the same venue.

The exercise which is an annual event is to enable lawyers under the association seek spiritual cleansing both in their private and public life.

After the exercise, participants are expected to be equipped spiritually as defendants of the truth while performing their duties in and outside the court premises.

The Chairman, Catholic Lawyers Association, Archdiocese of Onitsha Barr. P.U.P Onuorah in an interaction with our correspondent in Onitsha said that the current Lenten season has provided the ample opportunity for lawyers in the Archdiocese to examine their lives in and out of courts as well as seek holiness in their lives for a better administration of justice.

Barr. Onuorah, a former NBA Chairman in Onitsha noted that most lawyers just like other professionals seem unaware of life of mortality and carry out their lives as if it has no end.

Anambra Govt. to check indiscriminate citing of gas plants

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nambra State Government on Monday said it would commence checks on indiscrimination citing of gas stations across the state to save lives and properties of the citizens.

Anambra Commissioner for Lands, Mr Nnamdi Onukwuba disclosed this Monday in Awka.

According to him, part of the enforcement will be separation of gas plants from petrol stations to reduce explosion.

“The indiscriminate sitting of gas plant in petrol stations in the state is on the increase. This need to be checked to reduce the rate of explosions in filling stations across the state,” he said.

Onukwuba said that the Governor, Chief Willie Obiano was particularly worried over the rate at which gas plants and filling stations co-exist in the state.

He said that citing of gas plants inside filling stations could pose a great danger of fire out breaks.

He, therefore, urged all filling station proprietors to adhere to the directive or face the full wrath of the law.

The commissioner also called on some property developers who had encroached into government reserved areas, to stop forthwith as the Ministry of Lands would continue to sanction defaulters.

On solid waste disposal, he said the state government had transformed the State Waste Management Agency to work effectively, saying that before the end of Gov. Obiano’s second term, all slums in the state would have been upgraded with infrastructure.

Sylvester not Ikemba’s first son --- Ojukwu Family clarifies From Pamela Eboh, Awka

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he family of late Biafran warlord, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu has again denied having any relationship with late Sylvester Dede Ojukwu who before his demise laid claim to being the first son of Ojukwu.

Sylvester Ojukwu died of a yet to be disclosed ailment in December, 2018.

Following his death, the media was awash with the news of the death of late Ojukwu’s first son.

However, addressing journalists on Tuesday in Nnewi, the spokesman of the Ojukwu dynasty Mr Ifeukwu Ojukwu described late Sylvester Ojukwu as an imposter saying

that ‘the man’s real name before he changed it was Mr Sylvester Udeh.”

He maintained that the funeral of Sylvester is not their business as is being peddlex in some quaters, but entirely the affair of his family.

Ifeukwu said: “He was born Sylvester Udeh. He later changed his name to Ojukwu at the age of 21 years. Ikemba never accepted him as his child. Even now, his Will where he listed all his children, his name is not there.

“Members of the Ojukwu family have not been notified of his death and they are not aware of the burial.

This man that was claimed in the obituary poster as the first son of Ikemba, had his family buying a land where they buried him.

“How can Ikemba’s first son buy a land where he would be buried?

Ikemba never accepted him even in his death. He said it is the father that knows the son not the other way round. If Ikemba was a poor man, will Sylvester be coming out to claim him? He was just trying to force himself on him. So these are the questions that we should be asking.

“How can you claim to be the first son of Ikemba and there is no provision for where you will be buried?

How can you change your name and the document you went to school with? He was answering Sylvester Udeh in the secondary school at Federal Government College Umuahia. People that went to school with him know him as Sylvester Udeh.

• Air Peace Corporate Communications Manager, Mr Chris Iwarah flanked by the Assistant Customer Relations Manager, Mrs. Patricia Ebilah (right) and Jumia Travel Head of Sales, Central Africa, Ms. Chimezie Nwigwe receiving the carrier’s ‘Best Local Airline of the Year’ award at Nigeria Travel Awards organised by Jumia Travel in Lagos on Monday

Obi of Onitsha calls for revival of reading culture

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raditional Ruler of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Achebe, has called on parents, teachers and caregivers to assist in reviving reading culture among Nigerian students.

Achebe made the plea when Ms Nkechi Udeze, the Director, Anambra State Library Board, paid courtesy call on traditional rulers at the Government House, Awka, on Monday.

Achebe, the Chairman of Anambra State Traditional Rulers Council, advised students make good use of libraries, saying it would go a long way in making them secure their future.

He noted that it was regrettable that the use of internet might have led to abandoning the use of libraries.

The traditional ruler urged them to retrace their steps and shun use of internet for pornography and other social vices.

The royal father, then, appealed to government to re-equip libraries with books and make them accessible for studies.

He said the suggestion would help address issues of poor reading culture and non-usage of libraries.

Also speaking, the Traditional Ruler of Enugwu Ukwu, Igwe Ralph Ekpe, harped on the need

for students to improve their reading culture by reading at least three local novels in a year.

Ekpe also expressed misgivings at parents and guardians who bully their children for speaking their local dialects.

Earlier, the director praised efforts of the royal fathers in championing the promotion of reading culture and reviving Igbo language and culture.

She appealed for documentation of their culture and ways of life of their various communities in the state and make them available to students.

From Pamela Eboh, Awka

presidential election results were announced.

He insisted that INEC’s refusal to make the election materials public creates room for doubts and speculations.

Obaze said, “Whatever the encumbrances, INEC must defend its statutory position as an unbiased umpire by releasing election materials for public scrutiny and complying with court orders where applicable.

‘By its conduct, INEC have created room for speculation and imaginations to roam freely. Indeed,

Nigerians now wonder what INEC is hiding from them.”

The former governorship candidate of the PDP in the 2017 governorship election in the state argued that polling unit results are not INEC property but that of Nigerian voters and the legacy of dozens that tragically lost their lives while trying to defend their votes.

He urged the electoral umpire to stop dithering but rather acquit itself and prove to the world that it is neutral by releasing the Nigerian presidential election polling unit results.

2019 presidential election: Release polling unit results now - Obaze to INEC

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hairman of Atiku-Obi Presidential Campaign Organization, Anambra State, Mr. Oseloka H. Obaze has called on INEC to publicise polling unit results as well as other materials used for the purpose of 2019 presidential election.

Obaze who made the call in a statement made available to journalists in Awka described as intriguing, INEC’s continued hold of polling unit results and other election materials, long after the

That is why he can’t bring his Birth Certificate” While explaining that in Nnewi culture, when somebody dies, the kinsmen would be called with kola nut and drink to formally make the announcement, he said nothing like that has happened so, the family has nothing to do with the burial”.

Responding to question on whether Barr, Debe Ojukwu should have put in more efforts while Dim Ojukwu was alive to press home the point of his sonship, he replied: “It’s just that we don’t consider him as one of the sons of Ikemba. After the burial of Ikemba, he sued the family, but he lost the case. Justice Abba told him that the onus is on him to be prove his paternity through DNA.” “Ikemba brought Emeka to Nnewi and introduced him to his Umunna as his first son. He did it when he was alive. When somebody writes his Will and list all his children and says anybody that is not here is the not my child, it should be taken that way.”

“Sylvester Udeh which I call him is a complete conman. If you ask him, he will tell you that his mother was Ikemba’s first wife. His mother never married Ikemba. So how can he say his mother is Ikemba’s first wife?

“I can tell you who Ikemba’s first wife is. The first wife was a Nurse, but she did not have a child for Ikemba. The second wife was Emeka Jnr’s mother. Bianca is the fourth wife because he also married Stella Onyeador from Arodinzuogu.

“Sylvester was a DSP In the police and Ikemba called former Nigerian head of state, General Ibrahim Babangida and told him that there is an imposter using his name. They later transferred him to Sokoto and few months later he was forced to resign from the Police. After his resignation, the family became sympathetic. If someone says you are not his son, it can affect you psychologically but if i wete him, I would have just gone my way. So the family became sympathetic and asked him to go and collect rent and manage the family Estate on the basis of 30%. He was supposed to remit 70% to the family. This is unheard of.

This guy collected the rent 100% and did not remit a dime. It is part of the reason why this happened. This case was dragged to court and judgment was given against him. It is rumored that the judgment affected him and he died of heart attack”.

On whether the family should soft pedal and cooperate with others to give the late man a befitting burial, he replied: “In my opinion, when you say someone is not your son, there is nothing you can do about it. The bottom line is that if he had done most of the things he was supposed to do then, when the man was alive, maybe the result would have been different.”

He further observed that late Ikemba did not raise him in anyway neither did he pay his school fees and up keep adding, “Sylvester met Ikemba when he was an adult. Ikemba claimed the daughter of an Hausa woman as his child, so there must be a reason best known to him why he should disown Sylvester.”

9

The Oracle Today Wednesday March 27, 2019

NEWS Extra

Probe Ogbuoji for diverting campaign funds – Ebonyi APC aspirants demand

By CHINEDU NWAFOR, Abakaliki

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ggrieved Aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ebonyi state in the just conducted 2019 general elections have called on the national leadership of the party under the chairmanship of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and the Presidency to probe the Ebonyi state Governorship candidate of the party, Senator Sonni Ogbuoji over alleged diversion and anti-party activities.

Speaking on behalf of the aggrieved Aspirants, Mazi Ogbonnia Onu, a House of Representatives aspirant for Ohaozara/Onicha/Ivo federal constituency described Senator Ogbuoji as a badluck and “killer of APC” in Ebonyi.

Onu said rather than use the campaign fund to mobilize members for the just concluded elections in the state, he allegedly diverted it, coupled with the nonchalant attitude he displayed throughout the whole exercise.

He alleged that the failure of APC in the state during the presidential and other elections was because Ogbuoji never mobilized or campaigned sufficiently for votes as he abadoned his campaign and APC supporters to their fate.

The aggrieved Aspirants noted that the Senator only stayed in Abuja and appeared around 6:30pm on the eve of the Governorship election claiming that the Presidency had directed INEC to declare him winner.

Onu also accused Ogbuoji of substituting validly elected candidates with his cronies who later defected to the PDP at the eve of the Governorship election which indicated his romance with the PDP in the state.

“During the primaries, Ogbuoji was not popular candidate for the Governorship seat but he circumvented the process which caused infractions between party leaders and other aspirants. Ogbuoji also changed all popular candidates that won their primaries in the state”.

“Most worrisome is the fact that some of his cronies that he used to replace the validly elected candidates of the party decamped to the PDP at the eve of the Governorship election.

This posits that Ogbuoji is a mole in our great party, APC”.

“This, no doubt, showed that all Senator Sonni Ogbuoji was looking for was Election Support Fund from the party, having not campaigned anywhere or displayed any seriousness that he was actually running any election as he could not deliver his ward to the President or other candidates of APC in the election”.

“It is worthy to note that some stakeholders of the party donated huge sum of money to Ogbuoji campaign council including the minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu who equally donated some amount of money and also shared reasonable amounts of money to all National and state House of Assembly

candidates in Ebonyi state”, they said.

The group urged President Muhammadu Buhari and the leadership of APC to discountenance all the antics of Senator Ogbuoji as his new antics was to discredit other stakeholders and members just to lobby for ministerial position.

As the group urged the teeming supporters of APC to keep hopes alive on the party, the Aggrieved Aspirants recommended immediate probe of Ogbuoji over alleged diversion of the election funds and anti-party activities that led to the defeat of APC in the just conducted general elections in the state.

Meanwhile, a group known as Ebonyi APC Youths Vanguard, Tuesday,said the All Progressives Congress failed in the just concluded 2019 general elections in Ebonyi state because the governorship candidate of the party, Senator Sonni Ogbuoji created factions that saw the defeat of the party in the state.

The group said Ogbuoji not only disagreed with all the party stakeholders but ran the APC Governorship campaign as a personal enterprise.

Briefing newsmen in Abakaliki, the President of the group, Comrade Chuks Obeh recalled that the group had raised an alarm over the suspicious activities of the Senator prior the elections.

He added that the group had cautioned the National leadership of APC that Senator Ogbuoji was not only a

bad influence but a destructive element that shouldn’t be given any chance if the party must survive in the state.

Obeh explained that the Senator’s activities since he won the Party’s nomination as the Governorship candidate of the party clearly showed that he was not in the race to win but to destroy the party and use the Governorship ticket to shop for a ministerial position.

He added that they were not unware of the fact that since after the general elections, Senator Ogbuoji had engaged in publicity bliss claiming to have generated over 90,000 votes for President Muhammadu Buhari when he lost his ward, local government and Zone in the presidential election.

“For instance, in Ebonyi Central Senatorial zone, President Buhari scored as announced by INEC 37,655 votes, which was a product and hardwork of our national Assembly candidates. In Ebonyi North, President Buhari scored 34,249 votes whereas in Ebonyi South Senatorial zone where Senator Ogbuoji is not only a serving Senator representing the zone but also the Governorship candidate of the APC, President Buhari scored only 18,722 votes as announced by INEC which is less than half of the votes Mr President scored in Ebonyi Central Zone”.

He said the APC campaign council in the state led by Senator Anthony Agbo had raised the alarm as to the

Tribunal receives 11 petitions against NASS poll in C’River

From ANIEKAN ANIEKAN, Calabar

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he Election Petition Tribunal for Cross River State has so far received eleven petitions challenging the outcome of the last national assembly elections in the Cross River State.

The petitions received so far are only for the National Assembly elections held on February 23rd, 2019.

The PDP won all the three senatorial seats in Cross River State as well as seven Federal House of Representatives seats while the APC snatched one seat.

The APC candidates including former Senate Leader Victor Ndoma Egba are challenging the outcome of the elections while the PDP is challenging APC’s lone victory in the Abi/Yakurr federal constituency.

According to the Secretary of the Election Petition Tribunal in the state, Mrs. Josephine Ekperobe the time frame to file a petition for the National Assembly elections elapsed on the 17th of march.

However, she said the time is still open for the filing of any petition pertaining to the Governorship and State Assembly elections.

Mrs. Ekperobe also disclosed that formal inauguration of the tribunal will be done soon. “We will inform the media and sitting will commence shortly after” she added.

For the governorship and state house elections, the tribunal is yet to receive any petition from the contestants particularly from the main opposition party, the APC.

• Delta State Commissioner for Basic & Secondary Education, Hon. Chiedu Ebie (third left) who led senior management staff of his ministry to the controversial Okotie Eboh Primary Schools I and II, Sapele over unauthorized levies/and fees imposed by the Head Teacher as well as planned renovation of the dilapidated infrastructure

Anambra Govt completes 80 roads in five years- Commissioner

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nambra Government says it has completed construction of 80 roads of the 200 road sites across the three senatorial districts in the five years of Gov Willie Obiano’s administration.

Anambra State Commissioner for Work, Mr Marcel Ifejiofor, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Awka.

The works Commissioner who reviewed road construction since five years of Gov. Willie Obiano’s Government said the state had more than 200 active road sites across the three senatorial districts. ”Anambra currently have more than 200 active road construction sites and as we are completing and commissioning some, we are doing more.

”’At Central Senatorial District; we are working on Orumba/Achala Road, Adazi Ani road, NTA-Nawgu-Ukwulu Road, and Nimo/Abagana road. ”For the South; Oluoghoha road in Ihiala, Umuabuchi road in Uli, Orsumuohu road, Jerome Udorji road Ozubulu, Ezira/Umuomaku, Achina road, St. Peter University/Onneh, and Isuofia road etc. ”In the North; we are doing Ogbaru, Ogwuanaocha/Ihiala road with connecting bridge, Ogwuikpere road, Mmiata/Nzam, Aguleri Uno/Aguleri Otu with 280 metre long bridge and rehabilitation of Aguleri Junction/ Anakwu road”, among others.

Ifejiofor explained that 280 metres bridge on Aguleri Uno/Aguleri Otu when completed would be the longest in Anambra.

The commissioner said that the state had sunk in enormous amount of its resources on road construction. ”Due to the waterlog nature of some communities in Ogbaru, Anambra East and West, we spent more than N25 billion in the construction of a road like Aguleri Uno/Aguleri Otu, he said. ”In spite the challenges in the provision of quality roads Gov. Obiano’s administration will complete all the roads in the four Urban towns of Awka, Nnewi, Onitsha and Ekwulobia before the end of his eight years tenure,” he said.

The Commissioner said Anambra presently has the best network of roads in the South-East zone, and hope to sustain the lead through opening of more roads.

inadequacy of fund but Ogbuoji allegedly admonished them not to worry that the Presidency had purportedly directed INEC to write result and declare him the winner of the Governorship election in the state.

He explained further that the failure of APC in Ebonyi state started when Ogbuoji allegedly did not allow the National and State House of Assembly primaries to hold in his Ebonyi South zone but singlehandedly handpicked his cronies while other candidates who won their primaries in Ebonyi Central and North were shortchanged and replaced unilaterally.

The House of Representatives candidate for Ishielu/Ezza North federal constituency, Hon. Peter Edeh was replaced by the APC Governorship candidate, Senator Ogbuoji, according to Obey.

“The House of Representatives aspirant for Ohaozara/Onicha/Ivo federal constituency, Mazi Ogbonnia Onu was excluded from primary. All the nine state House of Assembly constituencies in the entire South zone were also excluded. In Ebonyi Central with seven constituencies, all the candidates who won their primaries were replaced by the Governorship candidate, Senator Ogbuoji who unilaterally sent strange names to INEC as candidates of the party”.

“Those who won their primaries but were replaced by the Governorship candidate are: the candidates of Ishielu North, Mr Freeman Aliedema; Ishielu South, Mr Sunday Omoha; Ezza North East ( inconclusive primary but Ogbuoji unilaterally chose one person even as the party was preparing for a rerun); Ezza North, Barr. Chukwudi Nomeh; Ezza South, Mr Samuel Onyia; Ikwo South, Mrs Magareth Igwe and the candidate of Ikwo North, Mr Ifeanyi Nwakpu”.

“In Ebonyi North, two candidates who won their primaries but were shortchanged are the candidates of Ohaukwu South, Prince Uchenna Aliega and Ebonyi North (Mr Emeka Nwobia). Unfortunately, two of those cronies chosen by Ogbuoji decamped and joined the PDP a day to the Governorship election. The two cronies are Amechi Nweke ( Ezza South constituency) and Mr Amechi Odaah ( Ishielu South constituency). The duo personally wrote to INEC withdrawing their candidatures and participations in the election. INEC records are there to prove us right”.

“Surprisingly, Ogbuoji absconded from the state three weeks before the governorship and State House of Assembly elections. He only resurfaced about 6:30pm on Friday, March 22, 2019 when he mysteriously appeared with Two million and five hundred thousand naira (N2.5m) to the state campaign council. One wonders what N2.5m will do in the state that has 171 wards, amounting to N14,700 per electoral ward”.

He further noted that the subversion of the democratic process to entreach his cronies by the Governorship candidate led to the litany of 22 court cases still pending against the party in the state which had also created several factions in the party and consequently depleted APC electoral fortunes in the state.

Obeh therefore renewed their call for the suspension of Ogbuoji, cautioning that anybody who is dealing with him is encouraging division and to further dampen the spirit of APC members in the state.

The group however, called on the national leadership of the APC and all people of Goodwill in the Presidency to distance themselves from Senator Ogbuoji, who he accused of being a mole bent on destroying APC in Ebonyi state.

10

The Oracle Today Wednesday March 27, 2019

NEWS Extra Alleged loitering on election day: MASSOB chieftain, 5 others docked in Anambra, granted bail

By IBE NWACHUKWU

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chieftain of Biafra Independence Movement/Movement for Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (BIM/MASSOB) and five others arraigned for loitering without lawful excuse during the March 9 Anambra state House of Assembly election were yesterday arraigned before an Ogidi Magistrate court presided over by M. O. Kanu and granted bail.

The accused persons had been arrested by the police at Obosi town in Idemili North Local government Area of the state during the March 9 House of Assembly election in the state and detained at the State Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Awka before their arraignment yesterday.

In the charge No. MID/123c/2019, the accused persons, Onovo Chidozie (52), Kalu Justus (45), Paul Okereke (42), Chidiebere Okorie (42), Ifeanyi Eziukwu (25) and Arinze Igbani (42), according to the Prosecuting Police Officer, C. C. Ugwu Esq., had on March 9 at Obosi within Idemili North Magisterial District, did loiter without lawful excuse, thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 129 (i) and punishable under Section 129 (3) of the Electoral Act. 2010, as amended.

When the charge was read before the court, all the accused persons pleaded not guilty to the charge as the defence counsel, Charles Ugo and Pat Okafor made an oral application for their bail.

The defence counsel also pleaded with the court to allow only one or two sureties take all the accused persons on bail at once.

However, the prosecution did not object to their bail application because according to him, the offence was a bailable one.

In his ruling, while adjourning the matter to June 19, this year for hearing, the trial Magistrate, Kanu granted them bail in the sum of N50,000 each with one surety each in the like sum, adding that each of the sureties must produce three year tax receipt, two recent passport photographs each and an affidavit of means.

Speaking to newsmen shortly after the court session, Igbani who is the BIM/MASSOB Regional Administrator for Awka South, as well as a member of Biafra National Council of Elders, said he was driving with other accused persons from Awada area of Obosi where he resides to Okpoko area of Onitsha where his polling unit is located to cast their votes as directed by the BIM/MASSOB leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike and they were intercepted by a team of policemen near Obosi Police station who arrested them.

Igbani noted that when they were taken to the State CID, Awka later in the day, from Obosi police station for detention, one of the Assistant Commissioners of Police queried the Divisional police Officer at Obosi over the rationale behind their arrest, adding that it is regrettable that some overzealous policemen have formed the habit of harassing and extorting their members unduly in the state.

Also speaking, the Regional Administrator for Anambra South, John Nwodo (a.k.a. Governor), called on Anambra State Commissioner of Police to release two of their members still in police custody with immediate effect, warning that security agencies should not mistake BIM/MASSOB’s non-violence posture as a sign of weakness and capitalize on it to harass their members indiscriminately.

Why Bayelsa salary bill increased - Deputy Gov. From CLEM ONYEMAECHI, Yenagoa

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he Bayelsa State Government on Monday attributed the increase on the salary bill of civil servants in the state to the payment of salaries of the 1000 newly employed civil servants.

The Deputy Governor, Rear Admiral Gboribiogha John Jonah (Retd) gave the explanation during the state monthly transparency briefing for the months of January and February 2019 in Government House, Yenagoa.

He said the state government spent N2.82billion in the payment of civil servants salaries for last month as against N2.72 billion in January this year.

Rear Admiral John Jonah also explained that the difference of N3.7billion in capital payments within the period was as a result of more work done on various ongoing capital projects in the state.

The Deputy Governor, who announced N2.7billion as capital payment for January, and N6.4billion for February, noted that payment

for such projects are usually determined by the extent of work carried out on them.

His words, “Yes, there is an increase or a difference between the capital expenditure of January and February 2019. If you put your mind to the number of projects we are doing, the difference is actually small money.

“And for any person that has a fair knowledge of project management, you know that payments are done based on certificates presented to you on the extent of work carried out.

“As you all know, we are working on the Ekeremor Road. And for the fact that we drove to Ekeremor, doesn’t mean we’ve paid to that extent. We are also on the Central Senatorial Road going to Oporoma.

We are also trying to complete the Onopa Bridge.

“All these are outstanding jobs that we regularly pay. But you don’t expect the work rate to be the same every month. So, it is the amount paid. It doesn’t follow any linear arrangement.”

Rear Admiral John Jonah who acknowledged the receipt of N16.11 billion from the Paris Club Refund between January and March this year, said out of the amount N1.25billion was released to local government councils.

He disclosed that the state had a gross inflow of N12.3billion from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) for January while that of last month stood at N13.2billion.

The deputy governor however explained that Net FAAC inflow dipped to N10.7billion for January as against N11.6billion in February after first line FAAC deductions of N1.54bn were made for each month.

He also announced N968million as internally generated revenue (IGR) for December 2018 while that of January this year was put at N1.09billion.

Earlier in his remarks, the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr Daniel Iworiso-Markson, urged media practitioners to show more sense of responsibility and re-

• Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa (l) receiving the Chairman, Presidential Committee on Prison Reforms, Justice I. U. Bello who led members of his committee on a courtesy visit to the state Government House in Asaba, Tuesday

Okorocha’s wife pulled him down – TOE Ekechi

By Collins Ughalaa

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r. T.O.E Ekechi, Governor Okorocha’s former Commissioner for Information and Strategy, who later became the Convener of the APC Coalition Group that produced the famous Imerienwe Declaration against the emergence of Governor Okorocha’s son inlaw, Uche Nwosu, has revealed that Governor Okorocha’s wife’s ambition contributed immensely ‘to her husband’s downfall.’

Ekechi disclosed this in an interview with a national daily on Tuesday and called on the Governor-Elect, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, to recover all that the Governor and his family had allegedly stolen from the state.

According to him, Okorocha’s problem was that he had a wife that

was more ambitious than himself, stressing that it was surprising how the governor’s wife acquired so much wealth to build estates that some states cannot build.

He said: “But more importantly, I’m very confident that Ihedioha is not going to go the way of Okorocha because one problem Rochas has is that he had a wife that was more ambitious than himself.

“So, Imo people spoke overwhelmingly that there is no room for impunity or rascality in Igbo land and there is no room for irresponsibility in Igbo land. Okorocha and his family particularly his wife represents impunity and rascality,” Sun quoted him as saying.

“Any new government particularly the incoming one that fails to probe Okorocha would have set the agen-

da for its down fall because when you are voted into government, your actions should be a reflection of what the people expect.

“I don’t think there is any common man on the street of Nigeria today who would not expect Imo people to recover substantially the lands that have been fraudulently acquired in Owerri and in other urban areas.

“I don’t think there is any Imo person who would not want to know how a full-time housewife acquired so much wealth to build estates that some states cannot build.

“I don’t think there is any Imo person who would not want to know how a land that was originally allocated and earmarked for a state university in Ogboko suddenly became a private university.”

sponsiveness in fighting against the ills of society through their reports.

In an emotion-laden voice, the Commissioner lamented the brutal murder of the Government House Photographer, Mr Reginald Dei, and other victims of the onslaught allegedly perpetrated by military personnel in the last general elections.

Mr. Iworiso-Markson stressed the need for newsmen to posthumously demonstrate their solidarity with their slain colleague by covering and effectively reporting proceedings of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry on the violence and killings that marred the elections in some parts of the state.

Build Teaching Hospital for Ebonyi, doctors urge Umahi

By CHINEDU NWAFOR Abakaliki

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he Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Ebonyi state chapter has urged the State Governor, David Umahi to build a new state teaching hospital.

This was contained in the NMA congratulatory message to the governor on his re-election and signed by the State Chairman, John Egede and Secretary, Chukwuemeka Nwoye.

The call for the establishment of a new teaching hospital became necessary because the Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, FETHA is becoming overburdened, according to the NMA. He said there was the need for the governor to also complete the ongoing rehabilitation of the general hospitals.

“We strongly hope that under your second tenure in office, a new teaching hospital will emerge as the subsisting one is gradually becoming overwhelmed serving as the only tertiary /referral health institution within the state”.

“We also believe that our general hospitals will become fully operational and functional to enormously tackle the health needs of the masses. We requested for that unemployment be improved and that the state insurance scheme become functional”.

The NMA also requested that the governor should step down the National Health Act (2014) to the state.

The Association described the governor’s re-election as reward for excellence and work well done in his first term.

“We are delighted that your numerous life changing projects within the state including those in the health sector will definitely stand chances of being completed and put to use”.

“The NMA is a pleased to note that Ebonyi is increasingly becoming the yardstick for giant developmental strides for many states of the country” “We firmly believe that our state will continue to develop dynamic, mutually beneficial programmes and projects and that the joint initiative in the fields of health, security, economy, agriculture and science will be strengthened under your second tenure in office”, NMA said.

Recall that part of FETHA was originally known as Ebonyi State University Teaching Hospital, before it was handed over to the Federal government by the Martin Elechi government.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan administration merged the hospital with the Federal Medical Centre Abakaliki to become FETHA.

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The Oracle Today Wednesday March 27, 2019

NEWS Ndigbo cannot wait another 4yrs for Presidency – Obaze From PAMELA EBOH, Awka

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hairman, Anambra State Chapter of Atiku-Obi Presidential Campaign Council, Mr. Oseloka Obaze, weekend, said that over 40 million Igbo people cannot afford to wait another 4years to realize the “so called” promise of being handed over to by the APC government.

He said that with Obi as the Vice President, it will provide emotional and spiritual exhilaration for the Igbo people who have been feeling neglected, marginalized and excluded in the running of Nigeria.

Obaze called on Ndigbo to come out en masse and vote for the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in the February 16 polls saying, “cogent reasons exist for Ndigbo to come out en masse and vote for PDP’s Atiku/Obi.” He explained any vote for Atiku Abubakar is also a vote for Peter Obi, who would be saddled with managing the economic responsibilities of the country.

Obaze who was the party’s governorship candidate in 2017 governorship election stressed that Igbos who are predominantly business-minded people, as well as Nigerians in general, stand to benefit maximally from topnotch conceptual and empirical knowledge the Atiku/Obi team will offer.

He said, “Atiku has executive democratic and political experience, just like his running mate, Peter Obi who he described as “a working and resourceful match.

With the duo in office, Igbos and Nigerians will rejoice and relish a new political and economic paradigm.”

“Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and Babatunde Fashola, both potential 2023 presidential candidates, have said publicly and without any apologies that President Buhari will hand over to the Southwest in 2023. Their permutation does not feature Ndigbo.”

“Beyond deploying his reach and office to chart a new vision and mission for the Igbo and Nigerians, Peter Obi also fits well into the bill of strategic succession planning.”

“Moreover, Atiku is a son-in-law of the Igbo people, by virtue of one of his wives from Onitsha. He is an Igbo son by our customary law of marriage and he has chosen our natural son, Peter Obi as his running mate — this is a double chance, if not obligatory reason for the Igbo people to vote for PDP.” The retired Diplomat observed that Atiku as a human being has his shortcomings like every other human or other presidential candidate adding that Nigeria will be far better off with Atiku-Obi than what currently obtains in the system.

Anambra: House of Reps candidate arrested, arraigned for forgery, falsification of election results in Anambra

By IBE NWACHUKWU

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he candidate of Accord Party in Orumba North/South federal constituency in the just concluded National Assembly elections, Mr. Sopuluchukwu Ezeonwuka has been arrested by the operatives of Anambra state Police Criminal Investigative Department, Awka for alleged forgery and falsification of election results.

Ezeonwuka was arrested following a petition written against him by the legal adviser of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Mr. Ifebuche Sylvester Ezeokenwa in the state over the alleged connivance with some INEC officials now at large to doctor the results of some polling units of the already announced result of the election to pave way for him in the tribunal.

It was gathered that Ezeonwuka, a

lawyer who finished 5th with about 500 votes in the house of representatives elections held on February 23, 2019 for Orumba north/south federal constituency as announced and declared by INEC on February 24, 2019 allegedly connived with some INEC officials and doctored over 60 polling units results in Orumba north which he intended to submit to the election petition tribunal as evidence in his quest to upturn the election of Chief Okwudili Ezenwankwo of APGA who actually won the election in the area.

In the petition, Ezeokenwa recalled that the suspect had in the same manner, allegedly forged and falsified some documents to steal the mandate of Hon. Ben Nwankwo in 2015 thus denying Ben Nwankwo the incumbent House of Representatives member the opportunity of representing Orumba North and South Federal Constituency for almost two

years.

It was also gathered that it took the intervention of the apex court to restore the mandate of Hon. Ben. Nwankwo in 2017. He (Ezeonwuka) was asked by the apex court to refund all salary and allowances paid to him during his stay at the green Chambers.

Luck ran out of Ezeonwuka and his cohorts within INEC when the house of representatives member elect for Orumba north/south federal constituency, Chief Okwudili Ezenwankwo of APGA applied to INEC for the certified true copy of the result that was announced in his favour and along the line, it was discovered that the results of over 60 polling units in Orumba north were nowhere to be found and this got the member elect apprehensive which prompted him to file a petition to the INEC chairman through the APGA party legal advis-

er, Ezeokenwa.

It was later discovered upon careful, secret and discreet investigations that the suspect Ezeonwuka of Accord party with the help of some INEC officials who are at large now doctored the original results of over 60 polling units in Orumba north.

A petition was written by the APGA legal adviser to the Anambra state commissioner of police who issued a warrant for the arrest of Ezeonwuka and consequently, he was arrested at Awka.

He was arraigned yesterday in the Ajali Magistrate Court within Orumba North Magisterial district.

The presiding Magistrate, F. N Nweke-Onuchukwu granted the suspected bail and adjourned the matter to May 25, 2019 for hearing.

Re-election: College of Permanent Secretaries congratulates Ayade

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• President Muhammadu Buhari welcoming APC Chieftain, Chief Bisi Akande and National Leader, Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu, during their visit to the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Tuesday.

NIPAC absolves Obiano’s commissioner from fraudulent allegation

By IBE NWACHUKWU

T

he National Interest Political Action Committee (NIPAC) has absolved Anambra State Commissioner for Commerce, Industry, Trade, Market and wealth Creation, Dr. Christian Madubuko from fraudulent allegations being levied against him by those they identified as faceless group that call themselves Integrity Traders Group.

They contended that Madubuko be allowed to do his job without undue interference from any quarters, adding that even the officials of Amalgamated Traders Association of Anambra State (AMATAS) should equally stay away from meddling into the commissioner’s official duties.

The Integrity Traders Group had in a recent petition to Governor Willie Obiano, demanded that Madubuko be sacked from office for trying to plunge the markets in the state into monumental crisis.

In their petition to Obiano jointly signed by their chairman and secretary, Emmanuel Okoli and Chika Anyanwu, the Integrity Group also accused Madubuko of indiscriminate removal of market leaders and replacing them with his stooges who

will be giving him returns.

But in their counter-petition to Obiano, jointly signed on their behalf

by Comrade Francis Nwosu, Martin Ekechi and Donatus Orjika, NIPAC described the Integrity’s petition for the removal of Madubuko as a mere campaign of calumny, falsehood and falsification of facts, adding that it should be disregarded as ranting of challattans, selfish and troubleshooting market politicians out to smear the quality performance of the commissioner, as they did to his predecessors.

NIPAC insisted that these individuals who call themselves the Integrity Group and their cohorts have held the state to ransom for decades without challenges by appropriating market revenues meant for the development of the state into their own private pockets, until the appointment of Madubuko as commissioner who uncovered their antics.

They also demanded that the Integrity Group and their sponsors, collaborators, allied and supporters be fished out, disciplined by AMATAS disciplinary committee and other relevant security agents, banished from markets in the state and consequently prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to others like them,

adding, “we make bold to say that most of them are not from Anambra state, hence their determination to destroy the state”.

They stated that prior to the appointment of madubuko as commissioner, markets in the state generate a paltry sum less than N7 million monthly to the government coffers, thus creating an impression that there is no money in the state, but on assumption of office, Madubuko generated over N400 million monthly for the government from the 63 markets between June and December, 2018.

They therefore commended Obiano for appointing such a hard working man with proven integrity like Madubuko to head the ministry which has led to the exposition of these individuals that masquerade themselves as traders to siphon money meant for the development of the state into their private pockets.

“Ironically, it is these same individuals that are the first to accuse any government of the day of non performance, whereas they are the ones that appropriated government revenues which was supposed to be used for the development of the state into their private pockets”.

he College of Permanent Secretaries in Cross River state has congratulated the state governor, Professor Ben Ayade on his reelection last Saturday.

A press statement signed by Head of Service, Barrister Ekpenyong Henshaw on behalf of the College described Professor Ayade’s victory as resounding and well deserved.

“Your superlative, resounding and well deserved victory was a reflection of the people’s confidence in your developmental strides which have re- defined the political economy of Cross River state”, the College said.

The statement also quoted the College as lauding the governor’s industrialization and welfarist efforts in his first term.

“Within your first term, your industrialization drive and welfare of the citizens were exceptional...for the entire workforce, your re-election is a reflection of their wishes and aspirations,considering the high premium you have consistently placed on payment of salaries in spite of challenging fiscal environment “, the College stated in the statement.

While pledging their unalloyed and rouboust administrative support “for the effective service to our people”, the College expressed optimism that Professor Ayade’s second coming will lead to consolidation of his key signature projects conceived to grow the economy of Cross River.

• Gov. Ayade

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The Oracle Today Wednesday March 27, 2019

NEWS KSM donates to motherless Babies From BONIFACE OKORO, Umuahia

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he Knights of St. Mulumba (KSM), Mater Amabilis Subcouncil of Umuahia Diocese, has donated various items, including food items to Compassionate Home in Ahiaeke, Umuahia, Abia State capital.

Items donated to the Home include: Rice, Indomie noddles, biscuits, toiletries, soap, tomatoes, detergents, condiments, groundnut oil and clothes.

The group made the donation when its members visited the Compassionate Home which houses motherless babies during its apostolic visit to the facility.

The Grand Knight of KSM, Sir Augustine Ajuzie, while presenting the items, harped the need to assist indigents and the needy, saying that such almsgiving to the poor provides a point of contact for evangelism.

Ajuzie, therefore, called on fellow Catholics and other Nigerians to always assist the poor and needy around them, adding that such gestures attract huge blessings from God.

Ajuzie, who is also the Liaison Grand Knight of KSM Umuahia Diocese, informed the head of the Home, Rev. Mother Mary Angeleen Umezuruike, that such charity visit was a yearly obligation of the Order of KSM designed to put smiles on the faces of the needy.

“It is the turn of Ahiaeke motherless Babies Home this first quarter of the year,” Ajuzie, said.

“I am rest assured that the benefactors of this charity will reawaken the hearts of those who will receive the gifts to know that they are still remembered by fellow Christians and so will in turn pray for them (benefactors),” he added.

Receiving the gift items, Rev. Mother-in-charge of the Home, Mother Umezuruike, expressed gratitude to the sub-council for its love and care.

The Lady’s President of the subcouncil, Lady Blessing Umegbulem, the Chancellor, Sir Azuruonwu, Lady Juliana Atuloma, Anna Okorie, Sir Ejiogu Emmanuel, including Lady Kanu Catherine, among others, were part of the apostolic visitation.

PUBLIC NOTICE The family of ADEBANJI ADEBISI JAMES, ADEBANJI ABIMBOLA OLAWUMI and their daughters ADEBANJI RACHAEL SIMISOLA and ADEBANJI MARY ENIOLA hereby draw the attention of the public to the continous intimidation, harassment and life threatening messages coming from the traditional sects in OKEMESI, EKITI WEST LGA in EKITI STATE in the wake of a family chietancy title he had been mandatorily summoned to ascend the throne as next “OLORI AWO” “HEAD OF THE INNER CULTS” within a stipulated time and prior to the installation of d chieftancy ceremony all traditional rites that includes circumcision of all female children and twenty-one traditional tribal marks to inscribed on their shaved heads of which failure to comply shall be graviously faced with consequences from ancestral law of the community.

This was communicated to him on the 19th day of December 2018 when he was summoned for a meeting by the Kingmakers, Council of Chiefs and Diety protector.

After-which he was told to ensured that all traditional requirements are met 7days before the day of ceremony and he was given 100days as from 19th of December,2018.

Although the matter had been reported to the police for investigations, but no arrest had been made so far.

The family is therefore notifying the general public to take note.

CHANGE OF NAME I formerly known as Miss JULIANA NONYE AGBALUM now wish to be known as MRS JULIANA NONYE OKAFOR. former documents remain valid. banks and general public take note

I formerly known as ONUCHUKWU PERPETUAL UCHE MARIANDER now wish to be known as NWOGU MEMORABLE MYSTERY. Born on 17/07/1980 .former documents remain valid. Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as ROBERT BERNARD JOHN now wish to be known as OGBUEFI BERNARD SUNDAY. former documents remain valid. Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as IFEOMA CHIBUOKE now wish to be known as IFEOMA OBODOUGO. former documents remain valid. Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as OKAFOR STELLAMARIS NKECHI now wish to be known as UZOCHUKWU STELLAMARIS NKECHI. former documents remain valid. Banks and General public take note.

I formerly known as ORJI CHIAMAKA LYNDA.A. now wish to be known as MRS. IBEMERE CHIAMAKA LAURA former documents remain valid. Banks and General public take note.

• Enugu State governor, Hon Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi welcomed by School principals during the victory rally for Gov. Ugwuanyi’s reelection by the Principals and Vice Principals in Enugu State under the Post Primary Schools Management Board (PPSMB)

Tension as Anambra community sacks youth wing over alleged land speculation, embezzlement • They’re jokers, I’m still the youth chairman - Obi

By IBE NWACHUKWU

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alpable tension is now pervading the people of Umuorabem Umumpama Oba community, Idemili South Local Government Area, Anambra State, following the purported dissolution of the youth wing of the community led by Chukwumeucheya Obi, over alleged involvement in land speculation, embezzlement of over N6.7 million, threat to life, wielding of charms and offensive weapons.

The tension heightened yesterday when Chukwumeucheya Obi following a petition to that effect by Pastor Emekpo Nelson C, Chairman of Umunwanagu kindred and Nze Basil Uzor, Chairman of Umuilealo kindred, on behalf of the entire people of Umuorabem Umumpama Oba Community.

In the two-page petition written on their behalf, by their legal counsel, I. J. Okonkwo and forwarded to Obi, Pastor Emekpo and Nze Uzor insisted that the Obi-led youth wing has been dissolved for the alleged embezzlement of community funds and use of violence, adding that consequently, an election would soon be conducted to produce a new youth wing that will succeed the sacked youth wing.

The petition read in part: “that ever since the said appointment of Obi to lead the youth wing, the youths have been collecting the monies and appropriating same to themselves without bringing any money whatsoever into the communal purse for community development and other items” “You conspired with Chidinma Obi,Onyebuchi Chibuzor and Izunna Obi to hijack and usurp the power and chased every other person away, wielding and brandishing many dangerous and deadly weapons, to the extent of even using a diabolical means of threatening everybody who dare confront you and your group that heads will roll if anybody comes close or tries to stop you and your cohorts” The petition further revealed that these monies never get to the community purse, adding, “we were informed that you and your group took oath and went into covenant that nobody will ever lead in Umuorabem safely from your group members” The community therefore warned developers especially one Mr Peter Onuma from Arondizuogu, and others in the area that whatever land deal they transact with the youth

wing without the consent of the mother union is at the developer’s risk.

Copies of the petition was sent to the Divisional police officer, DPO in-charg of the area and the Department of State Services, DSS Idemili South council area.

But in a swift reaction when contacted, the youth wing chairman, Chukwumeucheya Obi, denied the allegation stating that he remains the chairman of the youth wing until a general meeting is convened and the discrepancies thrashed out .

“They can not just wake up and say they have sacked us. There has to be a round table discussion where we have to stay and resolve this issue” “They should call for meeting where we are to give account of of our leadership and then due process followed in dissolving our executive if need be because the actual fact is that we did not embezzle any money”.

“I am not against election but due process has to be followed because the people writing this petition are those who are embezzling the money we generate for the community”, he maintained.

teaching hospital will emerge as the subsisting one is gradually becoming overwhelmed serving as the only tertiary /referral health institution within the state”.

“We also believe that our general hospitals will become fully operational and functional to enormously tackle the health needs of the masses. We requested for that unemployment be improved and that the state insurance scheme become functional”.

The NMA also requested that the governor should step down the National Health Act (2014) to the state.

The Association described the governor’s re-election as reward for excellence and work well done in his first term.

“We are delighted that your numerous life changing projects within the state including those in the health sector will definitely stand chances of being completed and put

to use”. “ The NMA is a pleased to note that Ebonyi is increasingly becoming the yardstick for giant developmental strides for many states of the country” “We firmly believe that our state will continue to develop dynamic, mutually beneficial programmes and projects and that the joint initiative in the fields of health, security, economy, agriculture and science will be strengthened under your second tenure in office”, NMA said.

Recall that part of FETHA was originally known as Ebonyi State University Teaching Hospital, before it was handed over to the Federal government by the Martin Elechi government.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan administration merged the hospital with the Federal Medical Centre Abakaliki to become FETHA.

Build Teaching Hospital for Ebonyi, NMA urges Umahi

By CHINEDU NWAFOR Abakaliki

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he Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, Ebonyi state chapter has urged the State Governor, David Umahi to build a new state teaching hospital.

This was contained in the NMA congratulatory message to the governor on his re-election and signed by the State Chairman, John Egede and Secretary, Chukwuemeka Nwoye.

The call for the establishment of a new teaching hospital became necessary because the Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, FETHA is becoming overburdened, according to the NMA. He said there was the need for the governor to also complete the ongoing rehabilitation of the general hospitals.

“We strongly hope that under your second tenure in office, a new

POLITICS

13

The Oracle Today Wednesday March 27, 2019

Enugu guber: Crime has taken over Litigation ‘ll Onitsha again drag Enugu backwards –Dede Uzor Pg 14

Pg 18

Okorocha versus Ihedioha: When it’s not all about law but karma! “…For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return” Luke 6:38.

“God will repay each person according to what they have done--” Romans 6:8. “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done-” Rev 22:12.

There is a popular saying among the Igbo people, that anyone who sees a hen scattering excreta with its toes and eating same, he should pursue it away because no one knows who would eat the toes and the peek.

Since Thursday, March 14, when governor-elect, Rt. Hon Emeka Ihedioha, made his first press conference, all hell has been let loose, with everyone that knows anything about the law and governance quarrelling over the report in the media that the governor-elect had asked the financial institutions in the state to stop further dealings with the outgoing government. While freezing the account of the state seems to be on the lips of many people due to what they call retributive justice and the tendency of the government to indulge in last-minute smart dealings, the question of whether Ihedioha has the power under the laws of the country to do so has also been on the lips of many.

For instance, legal practitioner, Ebun-olu Adegboruwa, in a statement on Friday said that as Governor-Elect, Ihedioha could not be giving instructions to financial institutions in the state. He said, “Let’s quit party politics and do the right thing. Hon. Ihedioha, being a governor-elect, cannot in law be doling out directives to banks and giving marching orders against a sitting government. Hon Ihedioha should wait till he has been sworn in.

As it is now, he can only monitor events from the sidelines till May 29.”

Governor Okorocha has also thrown his hat in the ring of the debate of the propriety or otherwise of the said order, saying that Ihedioha “does not have the right or locus yet, to harass or give directives to the financial institutions in the state over their dealings with the state government”. The Governor, responding through his Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwuemeodo, on Friday, described the purported instruction from Ihedioha to the commercial banks as “a sign of ugly things to come”.

While accusing Iherdioha of eyeing government treasury, the Governor called on the commercial banks to ignore the said instruction. “There is a government in place and until May 29, 2019, that government should continue to work in the interest of the state and her people and also continue to carry out programmes and policies for the same purpose, until the end of its approved life span. To begin to harass or give directives to financial institutions in the state is an act of hostility and he should know that.

“The financial institutions in the state should disregard such directive and continue to do the right thing and take the right action since the best he can do is to confront the outgoing government when he takes over on any financial transaction he has reservations at”.

A careful look at what the Governor said, that commercial banks should continue to do the right things, would show that what Ihedioha said was not different or improper.

The Governor also said the truth that Ihedioha could only act when he takes over. I think Ihedioha implied that much when he said that the banks would be engaging in illegal transactions at their own peril (when he takes over). But while the interrogation of the legality of Ihedioha’s purported directive may continue, we must also not lose sight of the fact that he who comes to equity must

From Owerri, COLLINS UGHALAA writes on the spat between Owelle Rochas Okorocha of Imo State and governor-elect Hon. Emeka Ihedioha over the propriety, even legality, or otherwise of the latter ordering banks in which State has accounts not to open their doors to Okorocha any longer.

•Okorocha

•Ihedioha

do so with clean hands.

Nevertheless, we cannot blink in the dark. There is the need to know whether Ihedioha instructed the financial institutions in the state not to transact with the state government any more or not. This may guide our responses and at same time reduce the tension that is building up again.

From what is in the public domain, it is obvious that what the Governor-Elect said has been misinterpreted, misreported and thus misunderstood. The extant of what Ihedioha said at the press conference does not in any way suggest asking financial institutions not to transact with the government further. I therefore wonder why the government is chasing after the wind by its quick response to what obviously does not exist.

For emphasis, this is what the GovernorElect said: “Finally, may I also use this opportunity to warn all those who may be tempted to do illegal last-minute transaction with the outgoing government, particularly financial institutions, which may result in further burdening the state with unsustainable liabilities that they will be doing so at their own peril”.

The Governor-Elect means that the financial institutions in the state are free to transact with the outgoing government, but any of such transactions that is illegal will be at their own risk. Put differently, he raised the red flag, that his government will not honour any illegal transactions with the outgoing government.

For instance, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had few years ago raised the red flag

that Imo State had reached the ceiling of its commercial borrowing. If a commercial bank after knowing this fact goes ahead to lend money to the Okorocha’s administration, is that not illegal transaction? Would that bank not be doing so at its own peril?

With this in mind, one may want to ask why the state government is afraid, and why they were responding to what does not exist. The answer is not far-fetched, though. A popular saying amongst Christians says that a sinner runs away even when no one is chasing after him. The outgoing government is obviously afraid that it could be served in its own cup.

If you recall, few days after he was announced winner of the governorship election in 2011, Okorocha set up the Office of the Governor-Elect from which he sent a letter to commercial banks in the state asking them to stop further transactions with the then outgoing Ohakim government.

Reporting under the heading, “Okorocha freezes Imo accounts” Daily Sun of Friday, May 13, 2011, said that “the campaign office of the state Governor-Elect, Chief Rochas Okorocha, has frozen all the state government accounts with banks in the state”.

The newspaper added that their “Investigations reveal that Chief Okorocha’s Chief of Staff, Prince Eze Madumere, wrote a letter to all the banks dealing with the state government placing embargo on the accounts until the governor-elect is sworn in on May 29, 2011.

“Investigations further reveal that this

move, which many analysts have described as an illegality is wrecking havoc in the state especially as civil servants in the state are yet to receive their April salaries. Sources close to some of the banks in Owerri reveal that cheques issued by the state government for the payment of workers salaries were dishonoured by the banks”.

Despite the fact that Okorocha’s action in 2011 was an illegality, he did not listen to anyone who tried to call him to order. Not even the advice from the Attorney General of the Federation could persuade him to change his mind. He was not perturbed either with the fact that the workers and pensioners suffered the consequences of his illegal action. Nothing touched his heart. No one could call him to order.

I recall interviewing the Director General of Okorocha’s campaign organization, Prof A.G. Anwuka, at the Rochas Foundation building, opposite Rockview Hotel, few days after the report emerged. I had asked him why the Governor-Elect would do that.

I reminded him that none of the appointees of the Governor-Elect were signatories to the said government accounts and that the law did not allow such a move that had the potentials of grounding the state or indeed jeopardizing his own swearing in ceremonies.

He answered that the Governor-Elect was doing so to stop the outgoing government from last-minute looting. He did not comment on the implications of the action on the civil servants and pensioners, but he spoke on the swearing in ceremony, saying that the Governor-Elect, Okorocha, did not need government money for the swearing in ceremony. He said that as a matter of fact Okorocha had requested the government to allow him fund the swearing in ceremony.

A lot has changed since 2011, much with the mess Imo State has become in recent time. In the bid, therefore, to recover our state, and considering the humongous debt profile of the state, the new government must look at the processes that led to most transactions. If anyone did not follow due process, the financial institution involved should be made to know that they entered into the transaction at their own peril. A responsible government should not honour illegal transactions, and if the financial institutions are cajoled into any form of illegal transactions, it should be the duty of the government to stand firm and distance itself from the illegality.

From what we know of the outgoing government, there is need to protect the remaining resources of the state from being frittered away in the name of government transactions. A state that is burdened on all fronts should rather be meticulous in its transactions and be able to set its priorities aright too. Allowing the outgoing government to even spend money on frivolities such as roofing the streets is great disservice by the incoming government.

This is more so considering that the Accountant General of the state was recently arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the allegation that he withdrew N17bn from government account few days to the governorship election.

It is therefore proper that the incoming government makes its position known on “illegal transaction” with the outgoing government, so that the financial institutions will be well guided. Imo needs both a firm and compassionate leader.

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The Oracle Today Wednesday March 27, 2019

POLITICS As two-term legislator in Enugu State House of Assembly, how would you describe your outing as a politician and representative of your people?

It has been a successful outing and I give due glory to God for His mercies. Considering my poor background and looking back to all that I went through growing up, I have every course to be eternally grateful to God, the good people of Igbo-Eze South, our leader, the governor of Enugu State, Rt Hon Ifeeanyi Ugwuanyi, and the Peoples democratic Party (PDP) for giving me the opportunity to serve and for standing by me through and through.

What can you state as your impact in the last eight years?

Our hands have been consistently on the deck and by the grace of God, we have as well achieved a lot. However, achievements of the house are greatly enhanced by the disposition of the governor. And on that note, I also ascribed our present achievements to the friendly disposition and noninterference stance of the state governor, Rt. Hon Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi. However, during my first tenure at the State House of Assembly, I served as the Committee Chairman on Commerce and Industry, and in partnership with the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry at the time, Jude Akubuilo, we took that sector to both local and international limelight by seeing to the establishment of one-stop shop investment. The investment creates a platform for people to shop via the internet anywhere in the world, on economic activities of Enugu state government. All you need do is to do is google about Enugu state and the economic viability and commercial activities of the state will pop up within the one stop shop. We achieved over 50 per cent completion of the project before the expiration of that administration. But happily, I am in contact with the present commissioner for Commerce and Industry and he is making conscious efforts to complete all phases of the project.

In the current, outgoing regime, I am the House Committee Chairman on Education, Science and Technology and we have achieved a lot so far. Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi is exceptionally education-friendly and a lot of transformation has taken place in that sector since the present administration came on board. For instance, we amended the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT) law to empower the institution to transform into a Degree-awarding institution affiliated to the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN). Today, IMT is running degree courses, with a plan to transform into a stand-alone university in in near future. We also looked at the Enugu State Education Law, cap 37, and amended it, while separating the activities of Enugu state Universal Basic Education Board, (ENSUBEB), and Post Primary School Management Board (PPSMB). We noticed that an aspect of the law was still talking about ENSUBEB managing Junior Secondary Schools, whereas the PPSMB has already been with the secondary school since the 80’s. So, we separated it but still allowed ENSUBEB to manage only the basic infrastructure of JSS1 to JSS3 because the National law is talking about basic education, while PPSMB manages the aspect of basic infrastructure of SS1 to 3.

I am also pleased to state that in partnership with the House Committee on education, science and technology, the executive adopted some of the committee’s recommendations which we came up with during our oversight functions to ensure adherence to the education policy of the present administration in state. It our recommendations after inspecting various secondary schools during oversight functions that led to equipping over 206 secondary schools in the state with computers sets, internet facilities and standby generator sets. The development has not only made the beneficiary-students computer literates but it has also brought them at par with their counterparts in private schools and as well enabled them to compete favourably during computer-based national examinations such

Enugu guber: Litigation ‘ll drag Enugu backwards Politician and philanthropist, Rt. Hon. Matthew Elochukwu Ugwueze represents Igbo-Eze South Constituency in Enugu State House of Assembly. He is the current House Committee Chairman on Education, Science and Technology, and as well served as the Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi 2019 reelection Coordinator for Igbo-Eze South council area. In this interview with CHUKS EZE in Enugu, the lawmaker hails Governor Ugwuanyi for his election victory and appeals to candidates who lost the contest to accept the outcome of the exercise and close ranks with the governor. According to him, subjecting the guber result to litigation would amount to distraction on the incoming government, economic loss and dragging the state backwards. Excerpts…

•Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as UTME. So, the Governor Ugwuanyi-led administration deserves kudos for that feat because students of government schools now have access to facilities that hitherto seemed as exclusive rights of urban dwellers.

ple further, but then the position is not my birthright. So, I give God the glory for allowing me, son of a poor farmer, the opportunity to serve as a legislator in Enugu state.

However, as a human being, I would not pretend that I did not feel bad at the time.

Which bill to your credit do you hold dear to heart?

There are a host of them but to address the question succinctly, it would be the amendment of education law cap 37 of Enugu State, which had been grossly outdated.

We had inherited the bill the then Eastern Regional Government, when the education policy stipulated that all that was to be paid by a private school was N20:00. You can imagine how obsolete such law had become.

So, we worked on the law for to bring it to the realities of the present-day Nigeria.

Then you were later compensated with appointment as Coordinator of Gburugburu reelection Campaign Organisation for IgboEze South…?

No, no no! the fact was that they found me worthy to serve in that capacity and not that I lost out at the primary election. Was I the only one that did not triumph at our party’s primaries? But to be honest, that engagement enabled me to put issues that were associated with the primaries behind me faster. I threw myself into the assignment and that was why till now, many people are still congratulating me for winning the election ignorant of the fact that I was not the candidate after all. So, I never showed any sign of anger because, like I said, someone must leave for someone to emerge. So, I would continue to work for PDP, to support our hardworking governor and my people, while leaving tomorrow firmly in God’s hand

After you lost reelection bid at the primaries and it became obvious that you would not be part of the 9th Assembly in Enugu, it was surprising that you did not revolt as is synonymous with the average Nigerian politician; why did you chose to work for your party instead?

The slogan of our state under the current administration is that Enugu is in the hand of God. That implies that everything about the state and in the state is in God’s hands.

Therefore, my present and political future are in God’s hand. So, there was no need to revolt because, to me, it was the will of God. I came here with full realization that I would not be a House member forever. So, inasmuch as I had desired to serve my peo-

Result of the 2019 election showed that Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area, recorded highest votes ever in her history, and incidentally, that happened under your leadership as campaign coordinator; how did you achieve that?

We ascribe all our successes to God who gives strength and wisdom. However, we did not achieve that feat via a one-man

show but through collective efforts of our stakeholders, especially the Chairman of the council area, Hon. Fidelis Odo, who gave us a lot of support, encouragement and partnership. We did not supper any sort of interference form him. Our NASS members Senator Chuka Utazi and Rt Hon Patrick Asadu as well as Chief Ikeje Asogwa and many others were also tremendous in their support to us. There was unity of purpose, mutual respect and collective hard work throughout the process, and that earned us over 38,000 votes, to become third in Enugu state vote rating, the highest ever in the council area, like you rightly noted. So, as the campaign coordinator, it is a thing to cheer about. But more importantly, we are grateful to candidate Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi for making campaign job easy for us through his superlative governance. We did not have to ruffle feathers to mobilise our people because the governor had already become a household name before the election. That was the case in the rest of the LGAs. Gburugburu is beyond name, it is an institution. It is like a grace-filed nomenclature that seems to endow the bearer special favour and edge in all his endeavours. It was a sellable name in fact, a self-selling name at that. So, I use this medium to appeal to our people to continue to pray for and support the governor. Let our people calm down and partner with the governor to take our state to the next level of peace, development, inclusive and people-oriented governance. I appeal to those that lost in the election not to distract the government with litigation. We can only have one governor at a time and future belongs to God. The governor’s first tenure was subjected to an unending litigation which was later settled at the Supreme Court after over three and half years. That was almost four years of distraction to the government with attendant colossal economic loss and deprivation to the state and her citizens. Let us not waste our time and resources by subjecting the results of the guber election to litigation. This is the first time a governor is developing both rural areas and the city at the same time. Ugwuanyi has touched all the 17 local government areas in terms of infrastructure development, just as he is touching all the communities in the state via VEC. All traditional rulers in the state have been given first N5m tranche each to fund choice development project in their various communities with some already assessing the second tranche of N5 million to complete their projects. The governor and his team need our support.

Since you are not returning to the House, would your education foundation end with your current tenure?

No, it will not. The foundation has nothing to do with politics. We shall continue to look for money to keep the foundation alive. After what I went through to fund my education, I cannot afford to watch any brilliant less-privileged fellow to miss going to school. By the grace of God, we shall continue to do our best within the limits of our resources.

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The Oracle Today Wednesday March 27, 2019

POLITICS

Calm down Nigerians; it’s only four years!

Early on Wednesday, February 27, 2019, by 4.40 am and four days after the presidential election held in Nigeria on Saturday, February 23, the Chairman of the ‘Independent’ National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu, announced that Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had been re-elected Nigeria’s president. What this means is that, if the legal challenge being undertaken by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, comes out unfruitful, the next four years will see Gen Buhari piloting the affairs this country. How will that play out? UGOCHUKWU EJINKEONYE reports

P

resident Buhari has already warned Nigerians to expect four years of excruciating hardship. He, reportedly, called it “tough times” which he said would be far worse than what Nigerians experienced in his first term, and I have no reason to doubt him. Obviously, he does not want to once again mesmerize us with tantalizing promises, which would only end up advertising his inability to redeem them. He is telling us exactly what to expect so we can brace up for this really tough journey through the wilderness.

I must hasten to congratulate Prof Yakubu and his gaggle of blundering associates at INEC for the award they truly deserve for successfully elevating shoddiness to unimaginable heights and giving it a new, outlandish definition in the history of elections in Nigeria. INEC had more than enough time to adequately prepare for the elections, yet about 2. 43 am on February 16, Mr. Yakubu crept out of his hole in Abuja, convoked a press conference, and proclaimed that the presidential and national assembly elections scheduled to hold later that day had been shifted to February 13.

Nobody does this kind of thing in a civilized society. You don’t just wake up one morning and disorganize the lives and programmes of people just because you were asked to organize elections – a job you could have declined if you knew you lacked the ability to even offer an average performance.

Because each time there are general elections in Nigeria, the country is on lockdown, people always plan their lives in advance to fit into that anomaly. Indeed, many had concluded plans to hold diverse events on February 23 like weddings, conferences and so many other things; quite a number of them had secured venues and other logistics and their guests from different parts of the world had even obtained leaves of absence from their various places of work and finished their travel arrangements, but with just one announcement under the cover of darkness, Mr. Yakubu scattered all their plans and transferred the confusion that had engulfed him and his INEC to many lives and organizations across Nigeria. He is lucky that he is operating in a place like Nigeria where people have little or no patience for legal processes, else, the legal actions that would have been instituted against him for the debilitating disorganization he recklessly threw into many lives would have effectively put him, his INEC and their institutionalized incompetence out of business to the relief of everybody.

Did it occur to Mr. Yakubu that by that infamous postponement, he laboured so hard to give fillip to the already growing impression that conducting a free and fair elections was not one of his major priorities? Why, for the sake of all that is good and decent, should it take a grown, educated man just a few hours to an event he started preparing for more than three years ago to suddenly realize he was not fully prepared to perform despite all assurances he had been throwing on the heads of Nigerians? What exactly happened at that moment to cause his sudden change of mind?

Yes, despite all the years Yakubu’s INEC had to prepare for the elections since his appointment on October 21, 2015 and the extra one week he awarded to himself at grave costs to many lives and organizations, the commission still did very little

•Buhari

in its execution of the presidential and national assembly elections to demonstrate that it had appreciable grasp of the very strategic assignment it was saddled with.

While little or no evidence was shown that INEC had overcome the old problems, it was seen sweating over new, startling ones. Officials and materials still arrived very late at many places after some prospective voters may have got frustrated and left the polling centres. Yakubu had insisted that on no account should anyone be allowed to vote unless the person was subjected to the card-reader identification process, but this was brazenly ignored by his workers who, by do doing, probably facilitated irregularities, including underage voting. The rigging was so ridiculously and unintelligently done that in many cases, the number of votes cast far outnumbered the number of registered voters. And despite these, Yakubu accepted those results and brazenly announced them to the nation and the world.

Voters were targeted by thugs at some areas and prevented from casting their votes because of the assumption that they might vote for candidates of another political party. Even after some people had stood out all day under the sun to cast their votes, some hoodlums arrived, snatched the ballot boxes and either stuffed them with thumb-printed papers or destroyed them. What were Yakubu’s plans to ensure these did not happen?

Why would it take all of four days to gather and announce election results which were variously announced at all the polling units where voting took place across the country on Saturday? Yakubu’s INEC seems to derive peculiar animation from opening itself to allegations of having the intention to pervert the process.

And by so doing, the INEC chairman and

•Yakubu

his people significantly eroded the credibility of INEC as an impartial umpire and created huge doubts about the result he announced.

The only wonderful thing about Buhari’s “re-election” is that it immediately removed tension from the polity. People were not afraid any more to return to their normal lives. His usually rambunctious supporters had no reason again to take to the streets to vent their anger on anyone. There were, however, reports that some of them celebrating his victory in Abuja and a Lagos suburb went into some extremities that claimed a few lives.

This also happened in 2015, although, the casualties then were more.

The country should have been celebrating the re-election of a president, but what has been largely reported is the coldness that has descended on many hearts. Why? Perhaps, people are wondering whether the security problems that had plagued the country, like the menace of the Fulani herdsmen, Boko Haram, and the bandits creating nightmares in Zamfara, Katsina and now, Sokoto, would further degenerate due to continued shoddy handling.

What of the country’s economy, which the Buhari government has shown clearly that it neither fully understands nor has the ability to navigate out of the woods?

We now have a seriously fractured and polarized country because the old faultlines have been unduly emphasized due to what seems the determination of the Buhari regime to elevate nepotism to a state policy. Will the president take sincere measures to unite and heal the country this time around or pursue a programme of vindictiveness against those who had vehemently rejected him at the polls as is widely believed? Will it also take him another six months to appoint a new, but

still poorly performing cabinet or will he retain the old, blundering one that Nigerians have become tired of asking him to sack?

Well, despite the widespread mourning, a few people out there are celebrating – that should be expected. But one stark, haunting truth is that both the revelers and mourners probably live in this same country and would continue to shop in the same markets and share in the same prevailing hardship. They are all trapped together in this leaking ship stubbornly heading towards a huge, clearly identified iceberg despite an avalanche of warnings.

I have a word for those Nigerians who are genuinely worried about the fate of the country. They should cheer up. Four years is not forty years. Even the worst nightmare ends before you knew it.

So, brace up, give your minds adequate preparation since you have already been warned by the captain of the ship himself that it is going to be a very rough sail. My people have this saying that a war whose commencement date had earlier been announced does not consume even the cripple.

Is it possible to entertain any hope with this thick, palpable bleakness enveloping the landscape? Well, yes! It is my hope that Buhari should at least have one sober, sincere friend who should be able to pause awhile from their on-going bacchanals and get him to realize that this may, perhaps, be his last opportunity to decide his place in history. He can only seize or squander it.

•Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye, a Nigerian writer and journalist, is the author of the new, highly acclaimed book, NIGERIA: Why Looting May Not Stop (scruples2006@yahoo.com)

The Oracle Today Wednesday March 27, 2019

ISSN: 2545-5869

The

EDITORIAL

racle www.oraclenews.ng

Today

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VOX POPULI SACRUM

Towards true federalism: South-East, South-South can work together A bill for a new minimum wage has just been passed by both chambers of the National Assembly. President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to sign the bill into law anytime soon. When the law takes effect, employers of labour would compulsorily be required to pay their workers a minimum of N30, 000 per month. What does this portend for the 36 State governments and 774 local governments in the country?

Private companies may succeed in paying some of their unskilled workers less, but any government that fails to pay the new minimum wage risks a protracted struggle with organised labour. Yet, we know that many state governments have yet to start paying N18, 000 as minimum wage, eight years after the law took effect.

This is the time for Nigeria to seek true fiscal federalism. A new revenue allocation formula may take a long time before it comes, for obvious reasons. Every state now has to look inwards for the resources it needs to provide the good life for its people.

While it is widely believed that only three or four states will be able to pay the new wage, we beg to disagree. Every state has enough resources to cater to the needs of its people; what is lacking is political will or ability to envision the endless possibilities and work towards their realisations. It is a mark of laziness – every month finance commissioners converge on the Federal Capital Territory Abuja to share the proceeds of mainly

crude oil harvested from under the soil of however, there are individuals in the two zones nine oil-producing states. The feeding bottle who can mobilise billions of dollars for the promentality of state governors and other elected jects within a short time. And once the projects representatives should end. Rather than rely are completed, they will certainly become cash on cake sharing, they should learn to rely on cows for the two zones. Their sons and daughcake baking. ters who have been running helter-skelter in all If 36 States are not viable, nothing stops Nigeria corners of the globe will be attracted to return from collapsing them into six or seven. Alhome and make their investments. ready, six geopolitical zones have been recModern markets, technology hubs, housing and ognised: they are perhaps an improvement industrial estates would inevitably follow. on the original three regions upon which the New cities would develop overnight, and busiNigerian federation was founded at independnesses would boom throughout the length ence in 1960. Every zone should start putting and breadth of the south-east and south-south. its house in order, in preparation for the counThere would emerge tens of thousands of try’s political and economic reforms. new entrepreneurs who would need millions To the governments and the peoples of the of workers. There would be jobs for almost south-east and south-south, we have a few everyone. suggestions to give.

Were there visionaries among the political leaders Now that the two zones have achieved unity of the two zones since the return of democonce more – this is discernible from their racy in 1999, this dream would have since been voting patterns over the years – they should achieved. There would have been no agitation start collaborating on the economic front. for a separate state, as currently voiced by Seaports abound in Port Harcourt, Warri and groups such as IPOB, MASSOB and Niger Delta Calabar. With a little dredging of the River militants. It is a lack of opportunities for busiNiger, Onitsha, Asaba, Oguta and two or three ness and employment that often causes youth other towns in the two zones would also have disturbance as well as crimes like armed robseaports. A functional airport near Onitsha is bery, kidnapping for ransom, cyber fraud or 419 imperative. A rail line connecting all the curthat have brought shame upon many families rent 11 state capitals is also necessary. Regular today. power supply will be achievable when the scientists from the two zones go to work.

The funds needed for the execution of the above Our Vision TO BE among the top five newspapers in Niprojects are not beyond what 11 state governgeria and, in due course, the Numero Uno; to ments can afford. Regardless of public funds,

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.

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The Oracle Today Wednesday March 27, 2019

OPINION The state of being Nigerian

By OWEI LAKEMFA

N

igeria is blessed with very intelligent and even religious people. Thus, in our National Anthem, we pray God to help us build a nation where peace and justice shall reign. But at critical times, such as the 2019 elections, many abandoned their intelligence and switched to the mode of the stupid; peeled off the clothes of the informed and donned the toga of the ill-informed.

Some Pan-Africanists that I know became ethnic jingoists and experts in ethnic profiling. That was when they wanted to make uninformed arguments on who owns what portion of the country, or made outrageous claims that were not backed by any shred of evidence or historical fact. They distort history and claim that a racist like Lord Lugard who left Nigeria in 1919 and died in 1945, is their witness.

Yet this set of Nigerians who pollute the country with their false claims, would go to church claiming to be Christ-like, lay claims to being their brother’s keeper and loving their neigbour as themselves. Who told them the brother praying beside them in church who happens to come from a different part of the country is not their brother or neigbour?

Some of them will go to the Mosque claiming to be Muslims, yet will not abide by the saying that to be a Muslim, you must treat other people, the way you would love to be treated. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) said in the hadith: “None of you (truly) believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.”

Our traditional religions say, first cut yourself the same measure you want to inflict on

another person to know how it feels.

I know there are those who will attack me that I am preaching morals when the issue is politics. True, but what is a human being without morals? How can we be humans if we do not have values and ethics that can differentiate us from animals?

The philosophy of ‘Every man for himself, God for us all’ is a bankrupt one. It is a dogeat-dog philosophy, which as human beings, we should have out-grown.

All Nigerians I know endorse Martin Luther King Jr.’s words: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character.” But if I paraphrase it and say: “I have a dream that Nigerian children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by their ethnic origins but by the content of their character,” there will be sharp disagreements.

Yet the reality is that no Nigerian chose his ethnic origin himself; he was simply born into it. So, how do you seek to punish a human being for what he had no hand in deciding?

Why should a person be guilty of his ethnic origin? I argued somewhere else that while a Nigerian can change his name, religion, trade, profession, abode, friends or political party, he cannot change his origins. While he can even change his nationality or claim to originate from Israel, Atlantis or Mars, that would not change his ethnic origins.

Hunger and an uncertain future is why many involve themselves in such demeaning campaigns. Tragically for us, those who sit at the table feeding fat on our common resources promise the hate campaigners some

crumbs and feed them fears of a bleak future.

Parochial or selfish interest is why amongst a large section our leadership, the concept of what is right or wrong depends on who is involved or who benefits. Many of our men of truth yesterday are today’s liars. A man yesterday makes a forceful, brilliant and intelligent argument and today completely contradicts his argument; you point out the contradiction and he says ‘You don’t understand.’

Of course, I don’t. Or how do I understand a human being that abandons all principles?

There is enough for the needs of all Nigerians but not for the greed of all. The rich cannot continue to get richer at the country’s expense while the poor get poorer. Yet, as Nigerians, we can collectively ensure that “the economic system is not operated in such a manner as to permit the concentration of wealth or the means of production and exchange in the hands of a few individuals or of a group.” Nigerians can guarantee a country where ”the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose and responsibility of government.” This will be in contrast to the abandonment of the people and the wholesale slaughter we witness across the country.

Collectively, we can ensure that “discrimination on grounds of place of origin, circumstance of birth, sex, religion, status, ethnic or linguistic association” is a thing of the past.

We can collectively build a new nation where there will be no right to hunger, where everybody will have a right to shelter, work and healthcare and the children, a right to education.

As I indicated by using quotes, these are not my original quotes or ideas; these are

contained in our constitution. So, all we need do is push a different narrative and agenda, not those of elites whose interest is to keep Nigerians divided so they can monopolize our collective wealth.

When Nigeria hosted the Second Black and Arts Festival (FESTAC) in 1977, we adopted the 1937 poem “For My People” by the African-American, Margaret Walker as the festival theme song. It runs: “Let a new earth rise. Let another world be born. Let a bloody peace be written in the sky…Let the martial songs be written, let the dirges disappear.

Let a race of men now rise and take control.” It is time to actualize this song. The Nigerian people need to rise and take control in line with our constitution, which states that “sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from whom government through this Constitution derives all its powers and authority.”

Yes, we can call those professional politicians who exploit us and mortgage our collective future and that of our children, to order. We can change our narrative from one in which the voters queue, the thugs stuff the ballot box and our professors announce the results, to one in which the will of the people always prevails.

We do not need to be entrapped in the old, dilapidated structures where people deceive people and all promises are cancelled.

This is the time for us all to begin building a new movement with a new song for a New Nigeria.

•LAKEMFA, a journalist and human rights activist posted this article on The Oracle Today group online.

Gov. Rochas, I told you this before

By COLLINS UGHALAA

T

oday and in view of the concluded guber election, I wish to remind Gov. Rochas that his failure to listen to the voice of reason has brought his downfall.

Today in Imo state, so many people are rejoicing due to the total defeat of Gov. Okorocha in the just concluded APC ward congress. I noticed that so many people celebrated the assumed defeat of Chief Rochas Okorocha. I am truly convinced that it is not the end of the road in the political history of the Lion of the tribe of Ogboko.

He is still up to something. We are yet to see the best of Owelle Rochas Okorocha in his bead to make his son-in-law succeed him the Douglas House in 2019. I wish to admonish Gov. Rochas to endeavour to re-strategize in so far as there is no body in Owerri or Okigwe zone that should be trusted. However, it is not out of place for a sitting governor to plan to either install his brother, sister and even his son-in-law as a successor. In the political history of Imo state, this is the first time a sitting chief executive of Imo is insisting on installing a successor. It goes to show that Gov. Okorocha is indeed a visionary leader whose stock in trade is to retire strong political leaders in Imo state.

Unfortunately, those he claimed to have retired, or better still, those he is intending to retire, have strongly dislodged him politically hence he is presently running hitter-scatter in order to find his political feet. Sometimes, it is not good to be too loquacious and politically garrulous. It could be responsible for the woes Owelle has suffered, but ask me if I am sympathizing with him, my direct answer is NO! Yes, my humble answer is simply no because I warned him of all these and also warned Imolites in 2010/ 2011 to beware of Rochas Okorocha’s schemes.

Today, all my predictions concerning this administration have all come to pass.

Gov. Rochas wants to be seen and noticed even in his failure. He refused to listen to logical voice of reason. I am sure he will still ignore this great and resonating advice that will assist him achieve his “noble objective” of making his son in law a governor. There is always a shortcut to achieving things my governor should be very conversant with this.

It is in the nature of Mr. Okorocha to think he

is more than everyone. Today, almost all his political allies have forsaken him. It happened so late because Imo people know how to be patience with their leaders. What Rochas Okorocha is known for is today haunting him in return because those who know the game better than he does have all outsmarted him. But there is a way out for Gov. Rochas, only if you could listen to this simple advice. Ugumba my brother, who also is your son in law, can be the governor of Imo state before 2019 election. If you love him so much and wish to sacrifice all that you have, in order to make him your successor, it is very simple.

I am here to give you the direction to follow.

But before I continue, I wish to inform you here of the experience of King Corsoe who met an old peasant who was planting a palm tree. Seeing this he asked in surprise, “old man, do you hope to eat the dates from this tree? Why, when the dates have grown, you would long since dead!” “O king,” the peasant said, “How we eat what others have planted. I plant for those who will come after me.” The king was struck by the reply and rewarded the peasant with gold coins for his wisdom. The peasant then said, “O king, see how this palm tree has already produced fruits.” Again the king was struck with the peasant’s words and rewarded him this time with a thousand gold coins.

Following the above, my governor has worked and worked to the extent that his successor will have no more work to do. I am sure this may have informed the need to insist on his son in law as his successor. Yes, Gov. Rochas is working so hard to install his son in law because of the capacity he found in him which is not in any other person in his camp. But let me ask Chief Rochas Okorocha, are you sure of the seed you have planted, or are you insisting on your son in law as the best option because you have diverted the money meant for the development of Imo State to your personal use? Are you afraid that Imo people or your successor (if not your son in law) will imprison you as a result of not obeying the rule of law in your administration? Are you truly interested in the affairs of Imo people or your private pocket?

It was St. Augustine who says that “pride changed angels into devils; humility makes men into angel.” I am afraid that the way you are go-

ing, you may make a serious mistake hence I am via this medium imploring you to listen to the voice of reason by pushing further to impeach your Deputy Prince Eze Madumere. Mr. Rochas, listen to me and don’t apply pride (that turned angels into devils) to this simple admonition; it will help you so much.

Try to impeach the Deputy Governor by using your “boys” at Imo House of Assembly. You are in control of the Imo House of Assembly.

They have been starved financially and now you can use all the monies you have diverted to influence them to impeach Eze Madumere.

The good news for you sir, is that the Speaker of Imo House of Assembly can do your beading very well. Rumours had it last week that they rejected the offer that was made to them for this purpose. I wish to encourage you to do more… everyone has a price and I am sure that part of the Paris club fund can do the magic. I do not mean the one lifted by air Ambulance early this year; I know it is not within reach now. But as an executive governor, you can use two months of Imo Federal Allocation to do the magic. Imo workers cannot do any harm; yes, they can be very patience with you sir.

Gov. Rochas, kindly do the magic by allowing your Deputy to be impeached. I am aware that Imo Deputy Governor has committed impeachable offence by aligning with the camp that is not associated with ndi agburu anyi. Let him be impeached now and let Ugumba Uche Nwosu be brought in as the Deputy Governor of Imo state-heavens will not fall. A philosopher once said, “No matter how far you have travelled in a wrong direction always be courageous to turn back. It is not how far that matters but how well.” My governor, you know that your Deputy has served you for a long time but today, your camp is divided and he has joined those opposing your mission. Impeach him!

If the Imo Deputy Governor has truly done this let him be impeached and let Ugumba Uche Nwosu take over his place. I am certain that if Ugumba takes over as the Deputy Governor, Chief Rochas Okorocha can resign his office as the state chief executive and Ugumba Uche Nwosu can take over as the state chief executive of Imo state and then use his office as the governor of Imo state to run in any political party of his choice for 2019 Imo governorship elec-

tion. My governor, this is a sure way to victory for your ambition in making sure that Ugumba succeeds you.

The whole of this advice is necessary but don’t forget the lesson from a particular Sufi who was approached by his disciple with a purse containing five hundred gold pieces. “Have you any more money than this?” asked the Sufi. “Yes, I have.” Replied the disciple. “Do you desire more?” “Yes, I do.” “Then you keep it, for you are more in need than I; for I have nothing and desire nothing. You have a great deal and still want more.” This is where Gov. Rochas finds himself; we need to pity him!

•UGHALAA is on the staff of The Oracle Today. This article, first written under the headline ‘The easiest way of making Ugwumba Imo governor’ is republished under a new headline.

THE GROUP Managing Editor/COO Felix Oguejiofor Abugu Deputy Managing Editor/COO Sopuruchi Onwuka Chairman Editorial Board Igwebike Mbanefo SE/SS Editor Odogwu Emeka Odogwu Acting BDM Kelechi Nze Head, Graphics & Designs Nnamdi Alex Chukwu Circulation Manager Felix Oti

The Oracle Today Wednesday March 27, 2019

POLITICS Y Crime has taken over ou have been resident in Onitsha in the past 22 years. How would you describe the present administration in the State in terms of development compared to the past administrations?

Well, I will say that since the inception of Governor Willie Obiano’s administration in Anambra State, the people of the State, particularly Onitsha residents and its environs are yet to see the real democracy dividends of government. Anyone that tells you otherwise may not be truthful to himself, I may say. From the issue of insecurity to infrastructural development, one has been unable to see much facelift in these areas.

Worse still, Onitsha has become a huge source of worry for its inhabitants, as a result of spike in criminal activities what with people being robbed in broad daylight by miscreants, a situation that has made residents of the area apprehensive at the slightest move by the miscreants.

There is no more nightlife today in Onitsha as people rush home immediately it is 6pm, to avoid being victims of these incidents. One cannot walk on the streets of Upper Iweka freely any longer as these criminal elements harass and rob people of their valuables. That is an eyesore to say the least. Onitsha, which has the main market reputed as the biggest market in West Africa where people from across the West Africa sub-region come daily for business transactions, needs to have a formidable security arrangement in place. Unfortunately, this has not been so what with some of these visiting customers being attacked and robbed leading persistently, to a decline in patronage from our West African neighbours.

Again there is a high rate of extortion occasioned driven on the wings of thuggery within Onitsha and its environs. In all honesty, Onitsha needs a facelift, which, unfortunately, has not been done by the present government in the State.

Do you think there is high crime rate in the State now than before?

Yes, crime rate in Onitsha has increased to nearly 100 per cent. One cannot walk through Upper Iweka say from 6 to 10 pm without that person being molested by criminals. Just recently at the Borromew junction, I was in a hold-up and a young man snatched somebody’s hand set and ran towards the Toronto hospital. This has been occurring unabated thereby making a mess of the entire city.

Again cultism has taken over Onitsha, which was not so before as it was usually limited to Obosi and Nkpor such that Onitsha was not known as a city associated with cult activities. Note that the State government votes about N1.5 billion annually for security. When you compare the amount with what is obtained security-wise in the State, you will observe the State has not done much in security matters. The primary objective of government is to protect lives and properties of the citizens for Christ sakes! Anything short of this can be termed a misplacement of priority.

Is this insecurity matter prevalent in Onitsha only or the State at large?

The development now in the State capital Awka is such that it has been turned into a den of cultists. Recently, cultists killed three persons in the city metropolis. Some of these things happen most times in broad daylight and nobody asks questions about them, which is most unfortunate. Cultists are having a field day, terrorizing the citizens in Awka unchallenged. In Onitsha, the law enforcement agents cannot be said to be doing enough to nip these bad incidents in the city.

It seems their primary concern is the money they will make, even when they see people carrying illegal goods. Not too long ago, I went to a hospital in Onitsha here and met a woman whose finger was chopped off by these criminals. She refused to release money for them and they injured her and robbed her in the process. The perpetrators of this heinous act were not arrested nor brought to book as they went scot-free.

Now, tell me, would the woman ever come to Onitsha to buy things again? The answer

18

Onitsha again –Dede Uzor

Comrade Dede Uzor. Uzor is the BoT Chairman, Human Rights, Liberty Access and Defenders Foundation (HURIJE) and National Publicity Secretary, Campaign for Democracy (CD). In this interview with The Oracle Today team at the Head office in Onitsha and anchored by OLIVER UDEOGU, Dede Uzor speaks on a wide range of issues including the burgeoning crime rate in Onitsha, extortion and sundry issues. Excerpts: usually off at night. The infrastructural decay in Onitsha calls for concern as there are no good roads, not to talk of pipe-borne water.

Again, there are no jobs that can accommodate these criminals thereby reducing the crime rate in the city. How many of these youths have benefited from the so-called State government youth employment scheme? This is unlike the past administration of Peter Obi that constructed roads with drainages in Onitsha and as such did some facelift in the city.

Apart from security issues, has the government fared well in infrastructural provisions?

Apart from the 5 to 8kms of roads that were done in the Fegge axis of the city, the current government has not done much in road construction. The government generates money from the Onitsha Main Market and other markets in the city but has not used the revenues so generated to provide infrastructures for the people in order to make the city habitable. They promise building and decongesting the parks but much has not been done in this regard.

You cannot compare what was obtainable in the State in terms of infrastructural development in the last five years, to what we have now on ground. In all honesty, I do not think the government is doing the needful in the area of provision of basic infrastructure for the people. The government’s propaganda of growing and exporting rice and fluted pumpkin and other cash crops to overseas for foreign exchange makes one wonder where these farms are located in the State. This is really unfortunate to say the least. If government claims that these farms are real then thousands of youths in the state would have been off the labour market by now, with crime rate reduced drastically in the State. Why this huge propaganda?

•Dede Uzor is an emphatic no because she has developed some fear in her.

The security situation in Onitsha is such that you don’t carry bag and be walking along on the road any more or else you have a bitter tale afterwards. That is the situation the residents have found themselves in. Extortions and thuggery in Onitsha have made life a nightmare for traders. Imagine one buying his wares and being made to pay a huge percentage tax from those thugs and at the end of the day, he sells without profit.

The State government needs to have a unified ticket in the sense that wherever one obtains such ticket, it could take the person to other parts of the state without molestation. Government should keep to their promises compared to the achievements of other governments that have come in the past.

That alone would scare such persons from Onitsha. Take, for instance, the one that happened on Bida Road when a young man was attacked by these criminals and was taken to hospital. I called the Chief Security Officer of the area on learning about

the incident and the culprits were not arrested as has always been the case. The law enforcement agents I may say are not helping matters because perpetrators of these acts are often ignored by these security-men.

With the ban of commercial motorcyclists in Onitsha can you say that crime rate has decreased?

Crime rate has not decreased a bit because they now use the tricycle known as the Keke Napep to rob people. There have been incidents of ‘one chance’ in Onitsha.

One was caught the other day and was about to be lynched by irate mobs but my timely intervention saved his life when I put a phone call across and policemen came to the scene and I handed him over to them.

Nightlife is completely dead in Onitsha as the fear of these criminals has made everyone rush home in panic after the day’s business. The essence of the street lights, which are usually put off in Onitsha, is to boost nightlife in any city but that has not been effectively managed by the government as one can observe that these streetlights are

What is your reaction to Mr President’s directive to the military, to shoot anyone that snatched the ballot box during the recently concluded general elections?

The President ought to have realized that we are in a civilian regime and as such must not have given such order. I think the international community and the International Court of justice are taking note of this and he could be tried for crime against humanity at the end of his tenure in office as president. We are going to champion his arrest when he retires because one day, he will retire from office. I think we still have a long way to go as a nation. The masses do not know what their basic rights are. There is civil disobedience everywhere. Take, for instance, the anomaly when people are in traffic: they no longer obey traffic rules as everyone seems to be in a hurry to break the rules and this often results in accidents and loss of lives in some cases.

What was the economic impact of the postponement of the presidential election on the nation?

Well, according to financial experts, the nation lost about N200 billion as a result of the postponed election. They money used in procuring these election materials was wasted as a result of that. I urge the INEC Chairman to conduct a credible election.

19

The Oracle Today Wednesday March 27, 2019

BU$IN£SS

•Energy •Finance

•Stock

•Insurance

•Aviation

•e-Platform

Import of Buhari’s fiat on Ogoni oil fields

By SOPURUCHI ONWUKA

T

•President Muhammadu Buhari lease agreement for the commercial investors.

The Oracle Today reports that OML 11 is part of several onshore oil producing licenses operated under a joint venture (JV) and Joint Operating Agreements (JOA) between NNPC on the one hand and Shell, Total and Eni on the other hand. Shell operates the JV with 30 percent, Total holds 10 percent while Eni holds 5 percent stakes in the venture. NNPC holds the overriding 55 percent interest in the NNPC/Shell/Total/Agip JV. Under the JOA governing the role of partners in the JV, NNPC takes over operatorship of the assets if should Shell exit the partnership.

Besides, Petroleum Act of 1969 empowers the Minister of Petroleum Resources to review the operating status of players in the Nigerian oil and gas industry, especially when there are breaches in operating conduct, asset acquisition and other regulations.

In the present circumstances, President Muhammadu Buhari remains the substantive Minister of Petroleum Resources, even

CBN Exchange Rates March 19th, 2019 Currency

Buying(NGN)

Central (NGN) Selling(NGN)

US DOLLAR 305.95 POUNDS STERLING 405.9957 EURO 347.4674 SWISS FRANC 305.7665 YEN 2.7435 CFA 0.5083 WAUA 425.2986 YUAN/RENMINBI 45.5694 RIYAL 81.578 S/A RAND 21.27

306.45 406.6592 348.0353 306.2662 2.7479 0.5183 425.9937 45.6443 81.7113 21.3048

306.95 407.3227 348.6031 306.7659 2.7524 0.5283 426.6887 45.7193 81.8446 21.3395

though most of his roles have been hitherto delegated to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, whose influence in the ministry appears to have diminished after attempts at probing his activities by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

A fellow of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) who spoke on the OML 11 developments stated that there was nothing unusual in the president’s action, adding that Shell had in the past transferred operatorship of divested assets to new buyers or the NNPC. The corporation’s exploration and production arm, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), Aiteo, Seplat and others had in the past assumed operatorship of assets divested by Shell, Chevron, Total and Eni. The move by government to secure operatorship of the Ogoni fields for NNPC might be directly connected to another asset divestment plan by Shell and partners on the fields hosted in OMLs 11 and 17, issues arising from license renew-

HE scramble for takeover of key onshore oil and gas producing fields located in Ogoni land, Rivers State, ended last weekend with a letter from the office of the president directing the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to assume operatorship of Oil Mining Lease (OML) 11.

The acreage which Shell claims has been lying fallow since 1993 contains Yorla, Bodo and Bomu fields in OML 11 which lies in the southeastern Niger Delta and contains 33 oil and gas fields eight of which in uninhabited areas were still in production, according to secondary sources.

There are varying reports about the status of the renewal process on the operating license for OML 11, which has been under works by the nation’s petroleum mining acreage administrator, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) which is also the technical regulator of the industry.

Official sources have it that DPR was working to decimate the massive oil block and carve out additional two in line with new size templates in the industry. While some people said the license was renewed along with 14 other operated by Shell onshore Niger Delta, others said the renewal of OML 11 was caught in the exercise of official discretion.

In a letter with reference number SH/COS/24/A/8540, dated Matrch 1, 2019, the Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Mr. Abba Kyari, informed the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, of a presidential directive requiring the corporation to recover operatorship of the OML 11 lincese areas from Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Limited.

The letter also stated a presidential directive on NNPC to activate a smooth re-entry of the assets “given the delicate situation in Ogoniland” by April 30, and confirm assumption of operatorship

by May 2.

The directive had sparked misleading media interpretation of official takeover of private interests in the assets as exercised by Shell on behalf of Total and Egip.

There were also reports that government had refused to renew the

al, and huge environmental remediation liabilities that stakeholders point as the major reason why Shell is formally exiting the assets.

The Oracle had in an article in “Election Panic: Oil investors resume profit taking” reported that Shell was in talks to Sell $2.0 billion Nigeria oil assets hosted in OML 11 to Tony Elumelu’s Heirs Holdings as the company moved to exit blocks in the hostile Ogoniland.

We had earlier reported in May 2017 that Shell was holding secret talks to sell its collective stake to NPDC despite agitations from community interest groups in the area.

Discussions with Heirs Holdings involved divestment of the collective 45 percent interest belonging to Shell, Total and Eni in OMLs 11 and 17 for $2.0 billion. Included in the bargain was a natural gas-fired power plant that would be managed by Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc. However, it was gathered that mustering the bullion proved difficult for Heirs Holdings especially after OML 11 license area was reduced to 33.3 of the original size during licence renewal. The development, it was gathered, cleared the way for NPDC to exercise its preferential rights to take control of the assets.

Local community interests also weighed in.

The Ken Saro-Wiwa Associates has petitioned government to stop moves by SPDC from transferring its interest in OML 11 to NPDC without carrying the host communities along in the deal.

National Coordinator of the group, Chief Gani Toba, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately set up a committee to midwife the interest transfer to NPDC. The agitation over the asset operatorship transfer appears to inform the directive on NNPC to ensure “smooth re-entry given the delicate situation in Ogoniland.”

The situation is also envisaged to make it difficult for any private firm to successfully gain safe entry into fields.

Detailed investigations by The Oracle Today showed that another key reason for government had only moved in to apply state powers in reactivating oil production operations in the area given

•Tourism

Energy Cloud thaws on Zababa field development P21 Insurance

NIA canvasses enforcement of penalties for insurance defaulters Travel

P23

‘Africa now world’s second largest growing tourism region’ P24

e-Platform

Masanawa visits NCC, seeks partnership, business collaboration P25 Equity & Capital Market

CMC set to brainstorm on 10-yr master plan, economy in Lagos P26

Cont’d on Page 22

Stock Market Highlights As At 19TH march, 2019

Summary

ASI DEALS VOLUME VALUE EQUITY CAP BOND CAP S/N ACCESS UBA ZENITHBANK GUARANTY CHAMS

31,082.32 3,924.00 286,899,334.00 N3,094,602,426.39 N11,591,079,710,627.75 N10,713,776,041,489.50

Coy (By Volume)

Value(N)

84,673,147 N500,042,585.80 40,905,453 N307,882,639.35 22,153,865 N482,911,653.35 22,064,978 N796,956,791.45 20,050,600 N4,010,120.00

5 Top Gainers

Symbols Last Close MOBIL N166 GUARANTY N35.4 ETI N13.5 FCMB N1.8 ACCESS N5.85

Current Change %Change N170 4 2.41% N36.85 1.45 4.10% N13.8 0.3 2.22% N1.92 0.12 6.67% N5.95 0.1 1.71%

5 Top Losers NESTLE N PRESCO NB GLAXOSMITH DANGCEM

1545 N75 N75 N11.55 N189.9

N1526.6 -18.4 N68 -7 N70 -5 N10.5 -1.05 N189.4 -0.5

-1.19% -9.33% -6.67% -9.09% -0.26%

20

The Oracle Today Wednesday March 27, 2019

BUSINESS

Technology deepening int’l trade as global multilateral leadership shifts East Stories by K AYODE OGUNWALE

U

NDERSCORED by the United States’ trade war with China, the continued fragmentation and shift of global soft power from the developed West to Asia tends to dominate global headlines. Closer to home emerging market debt looms large in financial media conversations. Less visible amongst these larger geopolitical concerns, however, are the far more significant technological disruptions reshaping world trade and, in fact, driving deeper global integration.

“New technologies that manage information and risk more effectively are quietly enabling the participation of a much broader set of players in global trade. These less visible developments point to the steady emergence of a much more integrated and multilaterally inclined global trading system than current headlines predict,” says Vinod Madhavan, Head of Trade at Standard Bank.

At the macro level global growth is slowing. Having sustained growth at an average of 3.8 percent from 2010 to 2017, global growth dropped to 3.7 percent in 2018. This is expected to drop further, to 3.5 percent, in 2019, increasing to 3.6 percent in 2020. Over the same timeframe developing country growth dropped from an average of 5.3 percent between 2010 to 2017, and to 4.6 percent in 2018. Developing country growth is expected to average 4.5% in 2019, and 4.9 percent by 2020.

Brexit, United States-China, and trade talks between the United States and its traditional European Union allies get a lot of attention, pointing to a potential fragmentation of the post-World War II multilateral order.

Other geopolitical shifts, like deeper integration in Africa, evidenced by 44 African countries signing of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement in 2018, and the hosting of the ICC Banking Commission’s centenary in Beijing in April this year, however, paint another narrative.

Despite the headlines, and growing

division and unilateralism in the developed West, in the developing world, and especially in Africa, “integration is actually deepening - with China emerging as champion of multilateralism in a new global configuration,” says Mr Madhavan.

Within these new shifts, new opportunities are emerging – especially for Africa.

“Every corporate and every country needs to be aware of changing geopolitical realities and the opportunities that these present for new partnerships and growth,” says Mr Madhavan.

For example, the United States–China trade war has already seen China, the world’s largest consumer of soya beans, halt imports from the United States. This presented a huge opportunity for countries like South Africa.

While Australia, in the end, was the main beneficiary of this shift, other opportunities are likely to arise for Africa.

Similar opportunities are also likely to emerge with both the United Kingdom and the European Union following Brexit. “African businesses and governments would do well to begin positioning themselves to leverage these opportunities,” advises Mr Madhavan.

Viewed in this light, even emerging market credit stress presents opportunities. This is especially so for financial services organisations able to help corporates distribute risk across both their own balance sheets while also broadening distribution to other development and trade finance institutions.

Standard Bank for example, uses its South African balance sheet as credit risk intermediary for trade across the continent. “Beyond its balance sheet the bank is also able to broaden distribution by working with multilaterals such as the African Export-Import Bank, African Development Bank or the International Finance Corporation,” explains Mr Madhavan.

Emerging market credit stress also presents an opportunity to re-configure lending and risk distribution relationships within the developing world.

The signing of the AfCFTA agreement

•Abiodun Adeniran, Executive Director, Vetiva Securities; Patrick Ilodianya, Managing Director, SFS Capital; Jude Chiemeka, Divisional Head, Trading Business Division, The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE); Pai Gamde, Chief Human Resource Officer, NSE and Adewunmi Senbanyo, Investment Manager, AIICO Pensions during the Compliance Officers and Operations Officers workshop on Derivatives organised by the NSE. increases the opportunity for the continent to significantly increase intraAfrican lending and risk distribution.

Botswana’s recently announced USD 600 million Zimbabwe loan provides an example of how, post-AfCFTA, local African markets will more likely be even better positioned to understand and manage African debt and risk.

“When one overlays these developments with technology, even more of what we currently consider risks could, in fact, become opportunities,” says Mr Madhavan.

Developments like blockchain, artificial intelligence and optical character recognition hold the potential to neutralise the effects of global fragmentation. These technologies also hold the potential to drive positive integration by making trade and other transactions more visible, quicker and less risky while also expanding the global reach and capability of previously marginalised countries and companies.

For example, Standard Bank in part-

Access Bank records 58% profit growth in 2018

A

CCESS Bank Plc has reported an impressive performance in its audited financial results for the full year ended December 31, 2018 showing an increase of 58 percent in Profit after Tax (PAT) to N95 billion from N60.1 billion in the corresponding period of 2017.

The Bank’s audited results which was released to The Nigerian Stock Exchange on Friday also showed that Gross Earnings rose 15 percent to N528.7 billion in full year 2018, compared to N459.1 billion in 2017, with interest and non-interest income contributing 72 percent and 26 percent respectively. Profit before Tax (PBT) for the period was N103.2 billion, showing 32 percent growth from N78.2 billion in 2017 while Return on Average Equity (ROAE) stood at 19.0 percent with a Return on Asset of 2.1 percent in full year 2018. The Bank has proposed a final dividend of 25 kobo per share bringing total dividend for the year to 50 kobo per share.

The asset base of the Bank remained strong and diversified with growth of 21 percent year till date in total assets to N4.95 trillion in December 2018 from N4.10 trillion in December 2017. Loans and Advances totaled N2.14 trillion as at December 2018 (December 2017: N2.06 trillion). Customer deposits increased by 14 percent to N2.57 trillion in December 2018, from N2.25 trillion in December 2017. Capital Adequacy (CAR) remained adequate at 20.8

percent, taking into consideration the regulatory transitional arrangement of IFRS 9 implementation. On a full impact basis, CAR stood at 19.9 percent. Similarly, Liquidity ratios of 50.9 percent (December 2017: 47.2 percent), remained well above regulatory requirements.

Commenting on the Bank’s performance during the period, Group Managing Director/CEO, Herbert Wigwe said, “2018 marked a significant year of progress for the Bank amidst an unfavourable macro climate. We made solid progress throughout 2018 in line with our 2018-2022 five-year strategy, and we remain committed to the achievement of our strategic imperatives going forward; as we continue to invest in our people and technology in order to improve operational effi-

ciency and service touch points with earnings growth in 2019.”

According to him, the contribution of the Bank’s subsidiaries to Group profits grew 116 percent to N27.9 billion, underlined by the effective implementation of overall strategy.

“In pursuit of our vision to be one of the leading Banks in Nigeria, we took accelerated strides in the last quarter of the year towards achieving our overall retail strategy. The merger with Diamond Bank will enable us to fully entrench ourselves in the retail market with a view to lowering our funding cost. This transaction is anticipated to be completed

by April 2019, resulting in the creation of an enlarged, efficient and digitally led tier 1 retail banking franchise” he stated.

nership with other banks is working with the Voltron consortium to put the letter of credit (LC) process on a blockchain. Once operational all the efficiency and risk management benefits from having LCs visible on a distributed ledger will become available for all participants to view and manage in real time, including all banking counterparties. “This will be transformational for trade in Africa and between Africa and the world,” says Mr Madhavan.

Standard Bank is also working with the banking industry in South Africa, investigating how to put domestic guarantees on blockchain. Having large corporate guarantee beneficiaries, banks, and guarantee applicants on a distributed ledger with the appropriate data visible to all parties involved, “will not only speed up the process and reduce paperwork, but it will also eliminate the fraud often associated with the issuance of paper-based domestic guarantees,” says Mr Madhavan.

Trade Club, operated by a consortium of 16 global banks in which Standard Bank is the only African member, is another technology effectively doing away with borders. The platform offers curated content covering over 200 000 businesses globally. This enables banks to assist their clients, whether buyers or sellers, for example, to find appropriate trade counterparts anywhere in the world. Trade Club also includes the ability to validate and asses the credentials, ability, probity and reputation of potential business partners globally.

Tiden is a similar platform that allows sellers in Africa, for example, to credit check potential buyers in China. Tiden has the added advantage of covering up to 50 percent of a users’ losses in the event that a receiver - that Tiden has confirmed as valid - fails to pay.

Other developments, like Singaporebased fintech, CCRM, allows banks and investors to buy and sell trade assets and contingents digitally. This will increase the ability of banks to distribute risk as, instead of, for example, only

•As UBA declares N78.6bn profit, N494bn gross earnings in 2018

F

OR the 2018 financial year, the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc has declared Profit After Tax of N78.6billion, an increase of 1.4 per cent when compared to N77.5 billion recorded in 2017.

According to the 2018 financials already filed at the Nigerian Stock Exchange, the bank’s gross earnings grew by 7.0 percent to N494.0 billion, compared to N461.6 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2017. The bank’s total assets also grew significantly by 19.7 percent to an unprecedented N4.9 trillion for

the year under review.

These results, according to financial analysts largely demonstrates the benefits of the group’s PanAfrican footprints with continued growth in market share in key countries of operation across Africa. The contributions of ex-Nigeria subsidiaries at 40 per cent, again confirms the strong footing of the group’s franchise in Africa.

Despite the challenging business environments in Nigeria and across key markets in Africa, the bank’s Profit Before Tax was quite impres-

sive at N106.8 billion, a 2.4 per cent growth, compared to N104.2 billion in 2017 financial year. In the same vein, the Profit After Tax rose by 1.4 per cent to N78.6 billion, compared to N77.5 billion recorded in 2017. Due to lower foreign exchange trading income, Operating Expenses grew by 4.1 per cent to N197.3 billion, compared to N189.7 billion in 2017 Reflecting the modest appetite of the bank in the year under review as well as impact of IFRS 9 implementation, net loans recorded a prudent 3.9 per cent growth to N1.72 trillion

being able to support trade for USD 1 billion in a market, CCRM’s digital discovery mechanism allows the instant distribution of exposure. CCRM will enable banks to, potentially, support double the volumes of business. Importantly, all of this can be done moreor-less instantly, “without having to spend weeks or months researching and investigating potential risk takers, doing due diligence, or travelling or calling people around the world to negotiate terms,” explains Mr Madhavan.

While each of these developments are exciting in their own right, from a trade and banking perspective they also – cumulatively - increase the availability of information, “enabling transparency on an unprecedented scale,” adds Mr Madhavan. This not only speeds up trade processes and makes them less costly, but it also dramatically reduces risk.

“At the global level these technological developments collectively drive integration and, more than ever, motivate and support the maintenance and extension of an integrated and mutually supportive multilateral international order,” says Mr Madhavan.

From this perspective, “it is our belief that current headlines highlighting increasing bilateralism in the developed West are a regional and temporary phenomenon,” says Mr Madhavan.

Though global disintegration grabs headlines, technology is, in fact, relentlessly and ubiquitously driving global integration, by deepening pluri-lateralism. China, broader Asia and the developing world, including Africa’s largely small emerging economies, recognise that maintaining and deepening global integration via an accessible, transparent and rules-based system is the only guarantor of general growth and increased prosperity. Fortunately for Africa, says Mr Madhavan, “the technology is upon us that will make greater global integration and coordination not a choice, but an historical inevitability.” while Customer Deposits increased by a remarkable 22.5 per cent to N3.3 trillion, compared to N2.7 trillion recorded in the corresponding period of 2017, reflecting increased customer confidence and enhanced service channels. Furthermore, Shareholders’ Funds decreased marginally by 4.8 per cent to N502.6 billion, reflecting the impact of International Financial Reporting Standards 9 (IFRS 9) implementation.

Commenting on the result, the Group Managing Director/CEO, Kennedy Uzoka, noted that the year 2018 was important for the group, as it gained further market share in many countries of operation.

21

The Oracle Today Wednesday March 27, 2019

ENERGY

Cloud thaws on Zababa field development •As witness Reneges on Testimony in OPL 245 Trial

By SOPURUCHI ONWUKA

T

HE veil of uncertainty has started falling off the investment decision in the $12 billion Zabazaba deepwater oilfield development in Nigeria as a key witness in the graft allegation against the development partners backtracks.

Mr. Richard Granier-Deferre who is listed as a prime witness in the case made a volte face this week when he changed his statement and claimed he never met or got in contact with the two companies and their officials over the matter.

The witness’s cold feet begins to thaw the thick cloud that have veiled the prospect of developing the field which industry experts estimate to hold over 6.0 billion barrels of light crude oil reserves in the block the scramble for which is now the subject of investigations.

The Nigerian deepwater affiliates of Shell and Eni are partners in the asset, and both companies have been under investigation in home countries over allegations of feeding corruption in the Africa’s biggest oil producing nation with the highest number of poor people in the world.

Whereas Eni has been indicted in a related judicial investigation in Italy for complicity in making payments that enrich the private accounts of public officials, Shell stated penultimate weekend that Dutch prosecutors were priming cases against it.

With the developments, final investment decision (FID) from two European multinational oil companies on the development of Nigeria’s ultradeep offshore oilfield was pushed back by early outcomes from Italian courts over allegations of shady deals in acquisition of the oil block A official of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) which is the concessionaire of the field stated at an event in Lagos that the criminal investigation of the two key investors had stalled processes for the FID on Zabazaba field hosted in Oil Mining Lease (OML) 245 deep offshore Niger Delta.

Experts say that with over 9.0 billion barrels of proven and probable oil reserves in place, the Zabazaba deepwater oilfield would be the

nation’s biggest source of new production and development might envisage the longest deepwater production life ever in the West African waters.

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, had boasted that government would attract some $12 billion in foreign direct investment from the two oil companies when the investment decisions for the field development would be reached.

Dr. Kachikwu had at an industry forum in Abuja declared that Zabazaba and other field development projects represented the next tranche of foreign direct investments expected to re-inject vibrancy in the nation’s upstream petroleum industry, boost activity in the oilfield service sector and brighten hopes of meeting the key targets of the Nigerian Content Policy.

The minister counted the $12 billion Zabazaba deepwater field development to be operated by Eni’s Agip Energy Resources (AER) as key investment prospect and source of new oil for the country.

Zabazaba, when commissioned, comes with nameplate production capacity for 250,000 barrels of light sweet crude oil per day. But industry observers are worried that the unexplained delay in approval processes that would lead Eni to FID on the project might be linked to the corruption trials which might bring the two companies under sanctions and pressure to forfeit the asset.

The Oracle Today reports that the project has scaled all regulatory approvals including the Nigerian Content job package audit as well as technical and quality audits by Department of Petroleum Resources which regulates the industry.

The Chief Executive Officer of Eni, Mr. Claudio Descalzi , and Dr. Kachikwu had in Rome reached agreement on the company’s continuing investment in Nigeria despite lingering investigations over the company’s acquisition of the Zabazaba field with Shell.

However, whereas Zabazaba flaunts huge investment funds for Nigeria, the asset transfer deals involving Shell and Eni remain subject of investigation and court appear-

NPDC targets 500,000bpd oil production in 2020

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HE Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says its subsidiary, Nigerian Petroleum Development company (NPDC) is targeting oil production of 500,000 barrel per day by 2020.

According to a report by News Agency of Nigeria, NPDC recently had average weekly production of 332,000 bpd which was the main driver of the positive outlook for the corporation.

“NNPC posted trading surplus of N12.13 billion in December last year, a leap from recent past performances.

“This is due to the positive swing to higher revenue numbers posted by the corporation’s upstream subsidiary, the NPDC. “The NPDC targets 500,000 bpd production in 2020,” it said.

It said that as at December 2018, vandals pushed pipeline breaches across the country by 34 percentage point.

It noted that within the period, 257 pipeline points were vandalised, out of which one pipeline point failed to be welded and six points were ruptured.

“NNPC recorded 197 breaches on

its pipelines in November last year.

“Ibadan-Ilorin, Mosimi-Ibadan and Atlas Cove-Mosimi network accounted for 90, 69 and 57 compromised points, approximately 34 per cent, 26 per cent and 22 per cent of the vandalised points.

“Aba-Enugu pipeline link accounted for seven per cent, with other locations accounting for the remaining 11 per cent of the pipeline breaks,” the report revealed.

It noted that in spite of the activities of the pipeline marauders, the corporation continued to diligently monitor the daily stock of petrol, to achieve smooth distribution of petroleum products and zero fuel queue across the Nation.

The report disclosed that 1.80 billion litres of PMS, translating to 58.17m litres/day were supplied for the month under review.

“Overall, during the month under review, 1.96 billion litres of white products were distributed and sold

by NNPC Downstream subsidiary, Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), compared with 1.09 billion litres in the market in the November 2018.

ances. Top executives of both Shell and Eni have been standing trials since early this year over the roles in processes leading to acquisition of OPL 245.

Investigations are wound around $1.3 billion acquisition fee brokered by the government, and prosecutors in Italy contend that the two firms paid nearly $1.1 billion into an escrow account for the government, from which $800 million was later transferred to a company connected to a former dictator to be distributed as payoffs.

The sentence of Messrs Emeka Obi and Gianluca Di Nardoin Italy over

graft issues in a matter related to the OPL 245 deals had rekindled fire in the parallel case involving Eni and Shell; and analysts say that the convictions post a signal to the direction of the main cases involving Shell and Eni. In the main trial against Eni and Shell some 13 people including Etete, Eni boss Claudio Descalzi and his predecessor, Paolo Scaroni face charges in the scandal. And if found guilty in the case, the company officials that stand trial risk possible jail terms for bribery, while the corporate entities would be liable to pay huge fines.

However, Shell and ENI saw a bit of luck in the legal battle relating to acquisition of OPL 245 as one of the witnesses has reversed his statements in

the case.

A retired Swiss oil executive who previously said he had knowledge of illicit dealings over the Nigerian oil block reversed his statements saying, “I’ve never had contact with Shell,” ex-executive Richard Granier-Deferre said. “I’ve never had relations with people from ENI in my entire career.”

Granier-Deferre said his previous statements were made under pressure and he knew of no illegal payments made by the companies.

As the luck sparked in Italy, Shell still faced criminal charges in The Netherlands over the block. But legal experts tracking the case said the withdrawal of Mr. Richard Granier-Deferre from the witness role os a major swing in the case.

•DSC-5349: Chairman of the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), Mazi Bank Anthony Okoroafor (left), in a chat with the NNPC GMD, Dr. Maikanti Baru, during a courtesy call on the GMD at the NNPC Towers, Abuja …Tuesday.

Baru hints of progress in Drilling at Kolmani River-II Well

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HE Kolmani River-II Well which spud-in was flagged off last month by President Muhammadu Buhari is progressing satisfactorily, with drilling so far of 6,700 feet, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, has said.

A release today in Abuja by NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs, Mr. Ndu Ughamadu, stated that Dr. Baru let out this development on the drilling of Kolmani River-II Well while receiving an Award presented to him by the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN) Executive for his landmark achievement in the development of Inland basins in the country, especially the drilling of the Kolmani River-II Well and his efforts in Deep Water operations.

The release disclosed that Dr. Baru explained that the target was 14,200 feet, although the depth could be longer depending on findings, even as he explained to the visiting PETAN Executive that President Muhammadu Buhari should be commended on the progress being made on the drilling of the well.

Prospecting for oil and gas in Kolmani River-II Well is one of the recent foray of the government into inland exploration in parts of the country.

The release stated that the NNPC GMD also disclosed during the visit of the PETAN Executive that in furtherance of its African integration drive, the NNPC was considering extending the ongoing Ajaokuta-Kaduna – Kano (AKK) gas pipeline system

across the Sahara to Algeria in North Africa.

Dr. Baru who reaffirmed the Federal government’s plan to also extend the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP) to Morocco, commended PETAN for its contribution to the development of the Nigerian Petroleum Industry.

He pledged support for the association, saying: “My pride in PETAN is that, today, we have the capacity and expertise as Nigerians to carry out any job in the Industry that was hitherto done by foreigners. As a champion of Nigerian content, we will continue to support you in whatever way we can”.

Speaking earlier, Chairman of PETAN, Mazi Bank Anthony Okoroafor, commended Dr. Baru for engineering transformation in every aspect of the Petroleum Industry since his assumption of office.

He cited the resumption of exploration in the inland basins and the flag-off of Bonga South–west project which has been in the shelf for more than 10 years as fruits of the GMD’s visionary leadership and doggedness.

The PETAN Chairman stated that in recognition of Dr. Baru’s sterling performance and as a mark of appreciation to him, the association had decided to honour him with its “Visionary Leadership Award”.

He said Dr. Baru would also officially open the Nigerian Pavilion at the forthcoming Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) and serve as keynote speaker on the theme: “Nigeria’s Deepwater: The Journey So Far” at the conference.

He said the GMD would also serve as chairman of the technical session.

The PETAN Chairman explained that the association was committed to the realization of the nation’s 4million barrels per day production and 40billion barrels reserve targets, adding that with Dr. Baru’s commitment, the targets would be achieved.

Kachikwu to speak at oil industry opportunity Fair

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HE Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu is scheduled to lead discussions on the available and emerging investment opportunities in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry, at the forthcoming Nigerian Oil and Gas Opportunity Fair (NOGOF).

The Minster’s participation was confirmed on Friday by the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote. The event is scheduled to hold on April 4-5 2019, at the new 17 storey headquarters building of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State Wabote also disclosed that the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru and chief executives of the international operating companies are also expected at the event.

According to him, NOGOF would for a forum an toshate information about available opportunities to investors who had established fabrication yards, engineering houses, pipe mills, pipe coating yards, cable manufacturing.

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The Oracle Today Wednesday March 27, 2019

ENERGY

SSA still locks 41 Bbbls undiscovered petroleum •NNPC targets 400 bcf with Kolmani River-II Well

By SOPURUCHI ONWUKA

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UB-SAHARAN Africa stills holds over 41 billion barrels of crude oil and over 319 trillion cubic feet of natural gas resources, leading the world in new exploration prospects that command global investment pull.

Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, declared at forum in the United States that the African global crude oil and gas outlook remained positive while the West

Africa remains bright for deep offshore exploration.

Dr. Baru called on foreign investors to explore Nigeria’s largely untested ultra-deep water terrains, pointing out that NNPC was currently targeting about 400 billion cubic feet of gas (Bcf) with the Kolmani River-II Well in the Benue Trough.

He also made a case for the domestication of oil and gas technologies within the African continent, saying: “It is my belief that domesticating these cutting-edge technologies will

develop the capacity of our people, improve our economies and emplace our national oil and gas companies on the path of sustainable growth and development.”

According to him, African countries must react positively to the new reality by deploying new pol-

icies and stabilize their business environment to attract meaningful investments.

He said the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB) is expected to usher in a new legislation that would not only enhance the investment climate in the coun-

try, but also positively change the fortunes of the nation’s oil and gas business.

He peace initiatives in the Niger Delta communities has seen the country hitting very high oil and gas production figures in recent years.

Oil prices reach new levels as producers shut in more prosuction

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IL closed at its highest yet this year as OPEC and its partners committed to continuing production cuts until at least June, when they will meet to discuss an extension, according to a Reuters report.

Futures advanced 1 percent in New York on Monday. The group known as OPEC+ closed a weekend meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, having reaffirmed an intent to continue output cuts. At the same time, production in Venezuela and Iran is expected to continue declining.

The short-term assurances of continued cuts are likely to keep U.S. crude trading between $50/ bbl and $65/bbl for the next few months amid a “fairly balanced” market, said Kyle Cooper, a consultant at Ion Energy Group.

“I think OPEC is probably OK with that and I think the markets and consumers are probably comfortable with that,” said Cooper.

Oil in New York has rallied 30% this year as OPEC+ worked to offset a glut fed by surging U.S. shale production. Meanwhile, the fears of a global slowdown that sent oil prices crashing at the end of 2018 have receded and steady growth in equities markets has allayed

concerns of a demand drop.

“We keep hearing talk of a slowdown here, there and everywhere but oil demand globally hasn’t really slowed down all that much,” said Phil Flynn, a senior market analyst at Price Futures Group Inc. in Chicago. “We might never get the big demand drop everyone is talking about and it really hasn’t happened yet.”

West Texas Intermediate for April delivery gained 57 cents to settle at $59.09/bbl in New York.

Brent for May settlement gained 38 cents to end the session at $67.54 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The global benchmark crude settled at an $8.16 premium to WTI for the same month.

As OPEC+’s Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee met Monday, Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said the group remains committed to curbing output during the supply glut.

There was less evident support for extending the curbs from Russia and Iraq, the coalition’s other two biggest suppliers.

They suggested the group should monitor the market until May or June before making a decision, as developments in Venezuela and Iran may impact supply.

•L-R: Chairman/MD, CNL, Jeff Ewing; MD/CEO, GACN, Engr. Morgan Okwoche; Head, Gas Monitoring & Regulation, DPR, Sanya Bajomo; and GED, Strategy, Capital Projects & Portfolio Dev., Dangote Industries Limited, Devakumar Edwin, at the signing of the GSAA on Monday, February 25, 2019.

Oilserv commissions office complex

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ILSERV Group has commissioned a new corporate office complex sited in the premises of the registered base in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. The magnificent edifice, which was officially commissioned for business by Rev. Timothy Agbai, is a four storey building sitting on a 500sqm area with a capacity of housing about 150 workstations, two thirty men state of the art conference rooms and two six men ancillary conference rooms.

The complex is supported by a

spacious car park, Jetty, messing facility and a base clinic all as part of the surrounding 34,000 sqm.

Speaking at the ceremony, the Chairman/CEO, Oilserv Group; Engr. Emeka Okwuosa said “I am excited about the commissioning of the new office complex because it is a project we have worked on for many years and today, it is a reality that cuts across time, form and age. The complex will play a significant role in enhancing our corporate culture and best business practices while creating an

Import of Buhari’s fiat on Ogoni oil fields

Continued from P 19

obvious fears that a private firm might find it very difficult to resume oil production operations in the area where Shell has injured host community relations with the oil industry.

Shell was forced to suspend operations in the area in 1993 following execution of nine community leaders including Ken Saro Wiwa, playwright and environmental activist, for protesting heavy footprints of the company’s operations in the area.

A recent report by the United Nations Environment Programme holds that Shell is culpable for huge environmental degradation in Ogoniland, warning that the damage could be deeper and far reaching that it could take up to 30 years to completely address.

UNEP states that the job to wipe of the footprints of Shell operations in the Niger Delta could carry a budget of $3.0 billion in the short term,

but the 2013 report is yet to receive adequate funding for takeoff.

Anger associated with Shell’s operations in the Niger Delta sparked off militancy against the oil industry in the Niger Delta, and agitation in Ogoniland has attained the status of resource nationalism, leading to demand by the community to participate in determining who operates in the area. This has made divestment of OML 11 very delicate for commercial investors and government respectively.

A reliable source at the NNPC told The Oracle Tuesday that “all the things we hear about the President’s directives on OML 11 is misleading. If NNPC fails to take over operatorship of the fields, which other company will find it smooth to enter the area?”

He explained that recovery of operatorship follows clear indications that Shell and it partners are working to exit their interests in the assets following years of inactivity

and missed market opportunities.

Our source stated that the commercial investors still hold their interests in the fields, and are working to divest their collective 45 stake as soon as they close deals with new buyers. It is not however clear whether government is exercising right of first refusal on the block.

If Shell had reached a deal on divestment to private party, it should have informed the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) which statutorily regulates the industry.

But sources in DPR are also in the dark.

Technocrats at DPR told our reporters that Shell did not approach the agency before the transfer of operatorship was declared by government.

In all, the government’s fiat on Ogoni fields addressed a lingering host community relations stalemate that defied intervention of time. Shell had waited for over 20 years in vain to see if time would

wipe the scars of its operations rascality in the once peaceful riverine fishing community whose leaders were murdered for its natural resources.

The president’s intervention also provides the opportunity for the local communities to have direct relationship with government and hold its agencies responsible for either benefits or adverse impacts of petroleum exploitation in the area.

Again, it paves way for fast tracking of environmental remediation of the impacted communities as Shell and her partners that took proxy responsibility have been finally dismantled.

Ultimately, the resolution of the Ogoni-Shell impasse now forms reference point for other oil operating companies in the country for inevitability of the peoples will. Shell would now leave the area with a sour memory of how its disdain for its hosts have created a monster out of once peaceful people taken for granted for their simplicity.

enabling environment to improve the level of collaboration and effectiveness amongst staff. This attests to what Oilserv stands for; working together to achieve a purpose.”

Reacting to the development, The Group Head, Operations Support, Engr. Cheta Okwuosa said “With the completion of this project, our dream of an integrated and efficient approach to our operations as a group of companies has been realized to a large extent as we run majority of our corporate operations from a spot. This implies that our clients would soon attest to more efficient services from us”.

The Corporate Communications Lead, Chioma Orji stated that the development of the modern structure is a monumental progress and a testimony of good leadership and foresightedness geared towards improving operational efficiency.

Oilserv Group is a consortium of Pan African Oil & Gas, Agriculture and Mining Companies. The Group provides services across diverse sector value chains in the Sub-Saharan African region and expertise includes upstream exploration and production, midstream storage and distribution, downstream sales and marketing (liquids, solids, gases, natural gas derivatives) as well as turnkey engineering, procurement & construction (EPC) services.

Oilserv Group has played and continues to play a prominent role in the Industrialization story of Nigeria. Headquartered in Rivers State, Nigeria though offering services beyond the shores of Nigeria; with a strong presence in the Republic of Benin, Uganda and Ghana.

23

The Oracle Today Wednesday March 27, 2019

INSURANCE & PENSION

NIA canvasses enforcement of penalties for insurance defaulters Stories by VICTOR NZE

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IGERIAN Insurance Association (NIA) has called for a complete enforcement of penalties for insurance defaulters, especially, those who violate the Builders’ Liability Insurance and the Occupiers’ Liability Insurance.

Director-General (D-G) of NIA, Mrs Yetunde Ilori, who disclosed this in Lagos on Sunday, was reacting to the buildings that collapsed at Ita-Faaji on Lagos Island last Wednesday, March 13 and in Ibadan, Oyo-state, on Friday, March 15 respectively.

According to Ilori, penalising de-

faulters who subscribe to the two classes of insurances will send a strong warning to stakeholders in the construction sector.

The D-G also said that the action would enhance sanity in the sector as the contractors would be required to purchase the policy cover and guide against unforeseen occurrences or risk being jailed .

The D-G said, ” Under the laws of the Federal and the Lagos State Governments , failure to purchase the Builders’ Liability Insurance policy attracts a penalty of N250,000 in addition to three years’ imprisonment, sealing and demolition of the affected build-

ing.

“This cover must be taken by owners or contractors of structures and buildings under construction of more than two floors and the policy responds only during the collapse of the building,” Ilori said that a maximum fine of

N100,000 or one year imprisonment or both is the punishment for defaulters in the Occupiers’ Liability Insurance.

“Also sealing-off or demolition of the affected building is the sanction under the National Insurance Act 2003 and the Lagos State Build-

ing Control Law 2010 for Occupiers’ Liability Insurance,” she said.

Ilori said that a strict enforcement of the penalties by state governments would bring about sanity into the construction sector and serve as detterent to offenders and evaders.

Leadway introduces digital will writing platform

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N order to make writing will easier and better, Leadway Capital and Trusts Limited has unveiled a website to make this a reality.

The company’s Head, Private Trusts, Ms Morenike AkinwandeTomori, while speaking at the launch of the new initiative, stated that the platform makes it simpler to wrote a will against the traditional and more expensive way of going to a lawyer to have a will written.

“It is easier, faster and you can do it at the convenience of your home or office, from your phone or laptops. You don’t have to visit our office, just log on to our website www.leadwaycapital.com.

“We have two packages the Simple Will and Simple Will Plus. They are options provided for subscription depending on the nature of assets an individual possesses and both have complimentary insurance covers. The service is affordable, it is less than N50,000.00 to have a will written in Nigeria now.

“The world is becoming a global image, we are using technology to solve issues and that is why we have come up with this solution.

Estate planning and writing a will does not mean you are going to die any time soon, it’s just a way to put structures in place and provide for those you really love,” Ms Akinwande-Tomori said.

On his part, Managing Director of Leadway Capital, Mr Ayo Wuraola, said, “An important point to note in life is that an estate plan is for everybody: single, married, divorced, with or without children, young adults and the elderly.”

He explained that the platform was designed as part of the company’s effort to educate the public on the need for every person to have a will or, a structured estate plan in place.

He said the brand offers a quick and convenient way to write a will either online or through their representatives who are trained professionals equipped with information to assist customers complete the process of writing their Wills easily and quickly.

“With a written will, you ensure your loved ones are provided for and the distribution of your properties as you deem fit are validly documented thus promoting easy succession,” he said.

•Nigerian Insurance Association (NIA) chairman, Mr. Tope Smart (standing), Deputy Commissioner for Insurance (Technical) Mr. Olorundare Sunday Thomas (3rd left) Deputy Chairman of the Association, Mr. Ganiyu Musa (left) and Director General Mrs. Yetunde Ilori during the chairman’s opening address at the NIA 2019 CEOs’ Retreat held at Park Inn by Radisson Blu, Abeokuta, Ogun state recently.

African Alliance to boost insurance penetration through technology

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FRICAn Alliance Insurance Plc, has disclosed its plan to drive growth in the insurance industry and deepen insurance penetration through the launch of innovative products and the use of technology.

According to the company, there was need for it to redress innovation and drive its products with emerging technology, while building effective communication to serve its customers effectively.

Speaking at the unveiling of the company’s new brand identity recently in Lagos, Non-Executive Direc-

NAICOM tasks insurance operators on capital requirement, others

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PERATORS in the nation’s insurance industry may have to take the issue of capital requirement to top their business strategy as the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) has determined to beam its searchlight on risk-based capital and supervision as areas of focus for the commission this year.

This was disclosed by the Deputy Commissioner for Insurance, Sunday Thomas, who delivered a paper tagged: “The Role of the Regulator in Shaping Insurance Industry Performance in 2019”, at just concluded 2019 Business Outlook, organised by the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN).

According to him, optimal development of the insurance market would be to facilitate financial inclusion initiatives and promote policy that would facilitate public access to insurance services nationwide.

Other areas, according to the commission, include monitoring of asset and liability management practices; enforcement of code of corporate governance; sustained surveillance on opera-

tors activities, especially those with issues of regulatory concern; attention to financial reporting practices by holding board and external auditors responsible; and preparing for implementation of International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 9 and IFRS 17.

The key areas of regulatory concerns in the sector, he said, are corporate governance failure; inadequacy and poor quality of capital and asset structure;

delays in the settlement of reported insurance claims and reduction in the market capacity to underwrite special risks.

He said they are also concerned about the inadequate risk assessment and pricing among insurance operators, inadequate deployment of technology in the industry; insufficient support to market development initiatives; challenges in financial reporting practices and deficiency in human capital needs.

tor and Interim Chairman of Board of Directors, African Alliance, Anthony Okocha, said the drive was going to impact positively on the fortunes of the company.

He noted that part of the strategies the company had set down was the launch of a new brand identity, which would add value and set a new direction for the company to drive its cooperate society.

He said: “We feel highly elated as this is a very important day in our lives and a very important day for the life insurance industry in general.

“As highlighted, this company is the first life insurance company in Nigeria and this is the first major attempt to rebrand this company in almost 60 years of its existence and so I think this is a mile stone.

“The first major thing we are trying to do is to bring to the public consciousness the new identity for the company and encompassed under this new identity are those things that has been lined up to ensure that it impacts the growth of the industry.

“We are going to redress innovation, drive our product with technology and there would be effective communication, as we would speak in the language people would understand.

AXA renews commitment to Africa’s market growth

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XA, a subsidiary of AXA Mansard Plc has revealed plans to increase growth in African market, with Nigeria as top priority, to boost its market share across the continent’s economies.

The Chief Executive Officer, International and New Market at AXA, Benoit Claveranne, on his first visit to Nigeria and tour of the local subsidiary, said the company had strong conviction that the emerging markets have the ability to leapfrog on many existing technologies for market development.

Claveranne said that AXA is trying

to bring in the knowledge and the expertise that would transform the key strategic decisions, combine it with global best practices, including being first for growth, innovation and popularity in emerging markets.

“We have the idea that if we combine these strategies well, we will have a bright future in those markets, including Nigeria,” he said.

According to him, there is huge believe in the fundamentals of the Nigerian market because it is a longterm business and not short-term and when you look at the fundamentals of the Nigerian economy,

like population, strong GDP, strong growth in the middle class, that calls more and more protection.

“Hence, if you want to be relevant in Africa, you need to have a presence in the largest country of the continent and that is why the company is collaborating with other stakeholders in the insurance market to improve adoption or uptake of insurance product through public enlightenment.

“We believe it is the first market in Africa, and we are making sure we invest in the development of local technical capacity.”

We believe that all these added together with the various products we have is going to impact so much on our growth and that of the industry.

“Today you may sit at home and buy policies without even knowing where the insurance company is located and that is the impact of technology today.”

He noted that the company is becoming penetrative as its products are now being designed in a manner that would enable life policy lenders to enjoy some benefits even before their demise.

In her remarks, Managing Director, African Alliance, Funmi Omo, said the launch of the new brand identity by the company was an idea to better position itself to increase awareness of the brand in the minds of all Nigerians.

She said: “It is our hope, that this will help us to project the image of the company and make us more relevant in the lives of our people. At every point in time, one needs to take a good review.” “In the life of a company, it must also from time to time look for ways to reinvent itself and one of the ways to achieve that is through brand unveil to refresh the minds of the organisation and the people.

“The whole idea is to increase brand awareness, which will bring brand loyalty. We will support it with a lot of what we have already done which we will continue to do and that is deploy infrastructure, improve technology and we are going digital.

“We have been in the online space and we intend to intensify that strategy and to ensure that we continue to sustain it and we hope that all these strategies that we are deploying will improve the brand image and will gain traction to the youth because that’s where the market is,” she said She noted that the company would use this strategy to deepen penetration and as it is sure that it would deepen penetration particularly with the youth as research has shown that 60 per cent of the population are youths.

The Oracle Today Wednesday March 27, 2019

Travel & Hospitality

24

‘Africa now world’s second largest growing tourism region’ Stories by VICTOR NZE

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CCORDING to the tourism’s biggest private sector umbrella body the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), the industry in Nigeria and rest of the continent is booming, as it grew 5.6 per cent in 2018 compared to the global average of 3.9 per cent and the broader African economy rate of 3.2 per cent.

The growth, the group posited, places Africa as the secondfastest growing tourism region behind only Asia-Pacific, as it further claimed that such growth is partly explained by North Africa’s rebound from security crises as well as the development and implementation of policies that promote travel facilitation.

“For over 25 years, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), which represents the global private sector of Travel & Tourism, has produced the authoritative research on the economic contri-

U

el economy.

“We commend the tourism leaders in Africa who are helping to boost connectivity, promote travel facilitation and ensure traveller safety – all of these measures make for supreme growth; the kind of growth that we are now witnessing across the continent and that provides millions of good jobs.”

gional transport hub and to recent visa relaxation policies.

“Then, Egypt’s tourism sector has demonstrated considerable resilience, growing by 16.5 per cent last year with international visitor spending accounting for 27.3 per cent of exports. This follows huge safety improvements in the country and in key destinations such as Sharm El-Sheikh,

metaphysical things which truly attested to the myth that Ife was the cradle of mankind. ”We have too many discoveries in Ife that defy science; and which will blow the minds of tourists.

Most of these mysterious discoveries are what we need to sell to the world because we cannot continue to shroud them in secrecy, which is the reason I decided to rebrand our heritage sites in Ife. “This is a very ancient palace of more than 10,000 years; I have buildings of 300, 400 to 500 years within the palace and they have all become monuments which many people come from around the world to see.

“As a trained real estate developer, I have blended tradition and modernity in terms of design and concept of the palace,’ he said.

The monarch called on Nigerians to stop depending on the government to groom tourism, but to rather tap into the tourism potentials at the grassroots.

He said this would create massive employment opportunities for the teeming unemployed youths and reduce crime in the society.

“We all must stop blaming government on the state of the tourism sector in Nigeria, let us take advantage of the huge tourism money spinners around us,” Ogunwusi advised.

The NATOP Executive members were given a sample of The Heritage Sites in Ife. The 2018 edition of NATOP AGM was hosted in Jos by the Plateau State Government, while the 2017 AGM held in Lagos and was attended by the Minister of Information Culture and Tourism Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

The 2016 Edition of The AGM was held in Calabar Cross River State in the South South Region of Nigeria.

Speaking on the body’s AG, the President of NATOP, Hajia Bilikisu said: “As a National Association we use our AGM to expose our members to the huge tourism potentials and resources available in

•From left): President. National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA), Mr Bernard Bankole; Pioneer Chairman, Agency Investigation Panel, Mrs Fatima Gorbati; MD/CEO, Med-View Airline, Alhaji Muneer Bankole, and Chairman of the Occasion; Dr Gabriel Olowo, President, Aviation Round Table, ART; Captain Benoni Briggs, former Minister of Aviation and Mrs Adetutu Otuyalo, Manager, Corporate Sales, British Airways at the 2019 Quarterly Business Breakfast meeting of Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative held in Lagos on Thursday.

Ooni of Ife to host NATOP 2019 AGM MBRELLA body of tour operators in the country, the Nigerian Association of Tour Operators (NATOP) has disclosed that the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II would host the association’s 2019 Annual General Meeting (AGM) scheduled to hold in Ile Ife, Osun State in April.

This was revealed when the President of the Association Hajia Bilikisu Abdul led Executive Members of NATOP on a courtesy visit to the Palace of the Ooni.

The Ooni of Ife thanked the association and promised to showcase the huge tourism assets of Ife the source of Yoruba civilisation during the AGM. The Ooni said that another waterfall, set to be unveiled, had been discovered at the Ife Grand Resort, Ile-Ife, adding that the land on which the resort was built, was home to wild animals.

He explained that the animals had, however, been appeased and had moved further into the bush to make the area safe for operations and tourism.

According to him, in his quest to beautify the place and transform it to a world class tourist site, a waterfall that beats human imagination was discovered and remodeled.

“This is a mysterious waterfall that has just been discovered. It elicits about seven colours of water including red, blue, green and so on. We are still doing some work on the site, and when the project is complete, the whole world will marvel; and this is one of the things that will sell our country internationally.

“The resort has been under construction for two years now; and when we are done, there will be nothing like it in the world,” he said.

According to Ogunwusi, since he assumed the throne of his ancestors, he has made many discoveries that were beyond human imagination and beats world science.

He described the discoveries as

helping to entice international tourists back to the northern coast,” the group said.

WTTC President & CEO Gloria Guevara commented, “In 2018, the World Travel & Tourism Council hosted its first ever Africa Leaders Forum in Stellenbosch, South Africa, recognising the increasing significance and power of this great region’s trav-

bution of the sector. Our research also shows that in 2018: “Travel & Tourism contributed $194.2 billion to the region’s economy, representing 8.5 per cent of the continent’s GDP. The sector contributed 24.3 million African jobs, or 6.7 per cent of total employment; 71 per cent of tourism spending across Africa was leisure-driven and 29 per cent business; Domestic spending accounted for 56 per cent of the tourism economy versus 44 per cent for international; International tourism spending comprised 9.6 per cent of the region’s total exports, worth $58.5bn.

“Ethiopia stands out not only as Africa’s fastest growing travel economy but indeed the world’s, growing by 48.6 per cent last year to be worth $7.4bn. Notably, international Travel & Tourism spending made up a massive 61.0 per cent of exports in the country. This stunning growth can be attributed, in part, to Ethiopia’s improved connectivity as a re-

Sheraton unveils new Logo marking Transformation Milestone

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ARRIOTT International’s Sheraton Hotels & Resorts has now unveiled a new logo that pays homage to its past and depicts its vision for the future.

The new design reflects the brand’s holistic vision for the future, making Sheraton the central gathering place of communities around the world, welcoming guests and locals into a public space that embodies the modern town square vibe.

“The logo’s evolution reflects the renewed energy and firm commitment we are making to our owners and guests to the resurgence of this iconic brand. More than a logo, this is a symbolic statement of Sheraton’s vision for our new guest experience,” said Mara Hannula, Vice President, Global Brand Marketing, Classic Premium Brands, adding: “This was the final piece of the redesign puzzle and offers a modernized look and feel to match our reimagined spaces while

maintaining the powerful equity and recognition of the original logo.”

The new Sheraton experience will be available to guests later this year in Phoenix. The transformed 1,000room Sheraton Grand Phoenix hotel which the company purchased in 2018 will bring to life the first of Sheraton’s full on-strategy hotel along with other exciting innovations. The hotel will serve as a living and breathing lab, showcasing design and activations, using new technology and insights that bring a unique community vibe to the space.

“We are excited to introduce the new direction of the brand’s iconic symbol in the Middle East and Africa, where Sheraton has nurtured longstanding relationships with guests, owners and communities for over 50 years. In line with the transformation of the brand, we are excited to showcase our early adopter properties soon, the Sheraton Jeddah Hotel

and Sheraton Grand Hotel, Dubai,” said Sandra Schulze-Potgieter, Vice President Premium & Select Brands, Marriott International Middle East and Africa.

The new logo has been redesigned to signal an eye to the future while also hearkening back to Sheraton’s history. The new logo reimagines the signature laurel as movement from the world and the energy of gathering, which point to the modernized Sheraton “S” redrawn at the center.

Guests will start to see the new logo on collateral and websites starting in April.

In celebration of this moment for the brand, Sheraton associates across the world are kicking off on March 13 internal rallies to commemorate this milestone and the new Sheraton service and culture strategy, recommitting themselves to the brand and to reestablishing its place at the heart of the global community.

Dubai Tourism to host multi-city road show across W/Africa

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S part of its efforts to promote the city’s ever-evolving tourism proposition to African tourists, Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism), will be kicking off a road show across key cities in Ghana and Nigeria.

On the heels of a record growth rates and a successful 2018, Dubai Tourism is looking to further strengthen relationships with key industry stakeholders in the region.

With a record 28 Dubai-based partners participating, Dubai Tourism will begin the road show in Accra, Ghana on March 15; followed by Abuja, Nigeria on March 18, Port Harcourt on March 20 and Lagos on March 22.

The roadshow will highlight Dubai’s affordable experiences and diversity of offerings to key travel partners in the West African region; spanning

across travel, accommodation, entertainment and events in the city, with a focus on family travel. Special showcasing during the event will include breakout network sessions, partner presentations, one-to-one meetings, an education session and Dubai Expert certifications and a briefing update on Expo 2020.

Speaking about the investment Dubai Tourism makes in Africa, Salim Ali Mohamed Dahman, Head of Campaigns – Africa at Dubai Tourism said: “We will continue to invest in Africa, and this road show is just another way for us to reach our partners in the market. Further evidenced by the record number of participants travelling with us on this trip, the West African market is very appealing and a priority for our Dubai-based partners.”

He went on to say: “With Nigeria be-

ing one of our top source markets, we have an all-star team of seasoned representatives from Dubai Tourism to welcome the attendees and conduct meetings and networking opportunities where substantial business deals are made between our partners. This is why will continue to be present throughout the year and aim to steadily increase the number of partners we bring with us each year.”

Dubai Tourism will be joined by partners: Atlantis The Palm Hotel & Resort, Dubai Parks and Resorts, Emirates Airlines, Excite Tourism, Expo 2020, Flora Creek Hotel Apartments, Four Seasons Hotel DIFC, Golden Sands Hotel Apartments, Golden Treasure Tourism, Groups Travel Tourism, Jebel Ali Golf Resort & Spa, Jumeirah Group, Kempinski Hotel, Le Meridien Hotel and Conference Centre, etc.

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The Oracle Today Wednesday March 27, 2019

e-Platform

Masanawa visits NCC, seeks partnership, business collaboration

Stories by MADUABUCHI KALU

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HE Executive Vice Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission (EVC, NCC), Professor Umar Danbatta, Monday, received a delegation of top management of the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting (NSPM) Plc led by its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Abbas Masanawa to explore ways to revive earlier business collaboration between the two agencies.

Masanawa, who led the delegation, stated that the purpose of the visit, which is long overdue, is to commend NCC for its obvious strides in regulating the country’s telecommunication sector in line with world-class standard. Mr. Masanawa emphasised the imperative for the two agencies to forge a stronger business partnership that is sustainable and mutually beneficial.

Prof. Danbatta while responding, thanked the CEO of NSPM company (now a public limited concern) for the visit and noted that as the government agency entrusted with the production of the country’s currency and other security documents, the NSPM company is better placed to do far better pro-

duction of printed items and associated tasks for the NCC than any other entity that operates in the printing sector.

The EVC stated that the Commission will have no reservation in entrusting sensitive materials to NSPM Company to handle for it because of the confidence NCC has in the ability of the Company to execute such tasks diligently. Danbatta expressed readiness to work towards the actualization of the proposed partnership.

“Reviving the collaboration with the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting company is consistent with item 5 of the Commission’s 8-Point Agenda which speaks to exploring strategic collaboration and partnership with our numerous stakeholders, particularly agencies of government, and we believe that with what has transpired today we are now poised to take the relationship to a new level” the EVC stated.

The Director of Public Affairs, Nnamdi Nwokike, who gave the closing remark, thanked the delegation for the visit. He said the NCC considers the visit as significant and fruitful, and therefore looks forward very enthusiastically to the collaboration.

Glo explains support for 2019 Africa CEO Forum

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IGERIA 2nd national carrier Globacom, has explained the reason behind its support for the 2019 Africa CEO Forum holding in Kigali, Rwanda, in two weeks’ time was informed by the potentiality of the medium to accelerate the continent’s economic prosperity.

Africa’s digital transformation leader, Globacom stated that with the event providing a huge platform for chief executives of African businesses to interact with other international investors and policy makers, it could not but throw its weight behind a forum meant to address the challenges facing regional development.

The 2019 Africa CEO Forum is expected to champion private sector-led growth for the continent’s economy and transform the business outlook of the region, as the two-day event will feature over 40 panel discussions, public-private workshops and case studies by business leaders, shareholders, investors, heads of state and ministers. They will discuss key challenges facing Africa’s private sector, including the “representation of top women executives in the boardroom and the modernization of family business governance”.

“We share Africa CEO Forum’s objective of using regional integration to drive private sector growth and create more African champions,” Globacom said in a statement issued in Lagos on Thursday.

As the2019 apex diamond partner of the event, Globacom’s Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), Mrs. Bella Disu, will play a key role at the forum as she chairs the ‘Women in Business Initiative’ session.

“This is part of our efforts to empower African businesses and spur economic growth in the region. Since we started operations in 2003, we have been in the forefront of promoting economic growth. We have continuously invested heavily in building reliable communication infrastructure to support economic freedom,” the company declared.

“We became the first company to single-handedly build an international submarine cable, Glo 1, to provide sufficient bandwidth to drive internet penetration,” the company said, adding that, “the 9,800-km-long cable has landing points in Lagos, Nigeria; Accra, Ghana; Dakar, Senegal; Nouakchott, Mauritania; Casablanca, Morocco; Sesimbra, Portugal; Vigo, Spain, and Bude in England.”

•From L, Abbas Masanawa, MDCEO, Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc and Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman, NCC.

MTN investment in network expansion in Nigeria hits N2.5trn

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HE Chief Executive Officer (CEO), MTN Nigeria, Ferdi Moolman, last Wednesday put the total value of investment made by the telecommunication giants since its entrance into the Nigerian market at N2.5 trillion.

Moolman, disclosed this during an interactive session with journalists in Lagos last week. He disclosed that the telecom company invested N184 billion on network expansion in 2018 alone.

“You can’t achieve growth if you don’t invest in network. So, from inception to date, we have invested close to N2.5 trillion in network and last year alone, we invested N184 billion in network. Majority of these investments go into our network and new technology.

“A large part of our success is that we kept on investing in network, even when the naira was devalued.

And you need to understand the impact of that devaluation on our network because the electronic equipment we use are imported,” he said.

He, however, reiterated his company’s plan to list on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) before the end of third quarter of 2019.

According to Moolman, save for the disagreement MTN Nigeria had with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) last year, the company would have gone ahead with its listing plan.

He explained: “There was a lot of work that we did on the listing and our target was to list in 2018. We are a private company at the moment and we need to change to a public com-

We must collaborate to rid Nigeria of electronic waste – Danbatta

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HE Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive (EVC/ CEO) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof.

Umar Garba Danbatta, has called on all stakeholders in the telecom and tangential sectors, including operatives of agencies in the security governance sector to collaborate and rid Nigeria of electronic waste (eWaste) which includes irreparable and obsolete devices.

Citing a recent report by the World Economic Forum, Danbatta affirms that electronic waste is now the fastest-growing waste stream

in the world - and because that genre of waste is non-biodegradable (like polythene of packaged water, popular called pure water) - it is time stakeholders took concrete implementable actions to arrest the proliferation of electronic wastes.

Danbatta made the appeal this morning while declaring open a Public Inquiry on Regulations for Electronic Waste and Guidelines for Disaster Recovery which held at head office of the NCC. The need for coordinated programmes and action to address the rise in tempo and incidents of explo-

sion of e-waste is particularly underscored by the speed of innovations in telecoms industry, defined by the rapid advances in technology which makes it easier and convenient to change malfunctioning gadgets than to repair them.

The EVC/CEO therefore urged participants to make frank and useful suggestions to deepen the renewed governmental intervention in e-waste management and disaster recovery. He noted that disaster constitute a major disruption with widespread impact on humans, materials and the environment.

pany before we can list.

“We need to send our directors for training to comply with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Nigerian Stock Exchange requirements to be able to list and a lot of work went on at the backend on the listing. Then, the CBN issue happened.

“The truth be told, if we had listed while the CBN issue was on, we would have been negligent. That is because we would have gone to offer our shares to the public when we had an issue at hand with the CBN that was substantial. If I remind you, they (CBN) were talking about $8 billion. “So, I can’t go and list and offer my shares to the public if I have this thing hanging over my neck. We thank God we were able to resolve this on 24th of December. “So, we are working towards the listing and we plan to do the listing before the end of first half 2019 or probably before the end of quarter three.

“So, there is a clear drive in doing the listing. It is something we have always wanted to do.”

He, however, pointed that 20 per cent of MTN Nigeria shares are currently owned by Nigerians today.

“It is just that it is not publicly traded. We trade over the counter, which is a process that Stanbic IBTC manages for us, where about 10 per cent of our shares are traded. So, it is our target to do the listing,” he said.

Moolman, disclosed that MTN Nigeria’s ‘revenue generating’ subscribers is currently at 58 million.

“If you go to the Nigerian Communications Commission website, you might see 68 million. But when we look at subscribers, we are looking at those that can generate revenue for us.

“We are not interest in subscribers that are only receiving text messages and nothing else. That is, they don’t make calls, they don’t receive calls, but just receive text messages,” he explained.

Presently, MTN Nigeria covers about 154 million Nigerians on its 3G network and 57 million persons on its 4G.

9mobile offers subscribers free Whatsapp service

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N a bid to deepen engagement with consumers and improve brand experience, 9mobile has announced that it is offering Nigerians the opportunity to use WhatsApp chat free of charge on its network.

With this unique offer, customers upon purchase of their preferred data bundles using the code *200*3*1# will be able to use their data plans for other purposes while enjoying WhatsApp chat free of charge.

The offer is the first-of-its-kind in Nigeria’s telecom market and it is available to 9mobile subscribers on both prepaid and postpaid/hybrid packages. With the 9mobile free WhatsApp offer, customers can connect more with family and friends; businesses are also not left out as business customers can also benefit from the offer to connect with colleagues and clients. 9mobile free WhatsApp offer includes text, images, video and other multimedia content sharing, excluding voice calls, video calls and status updates.

Speaking on the offer, Vice President, Marketing, 9mobile, Adebisi Idowu, said the free WhatsApp offer affirms the telecommunications’

unwavering commitment to rewarding its customers for their loyalty and providing them greater access to platforms that help foster closer relationships with their loved ones.

He said, “You will recall that in our 2018 end-of-year message, our Acting Managing Director, Stephane Beuvelet, made some promises to our customers including the deployment of an array of innovative brand loyalty reward programmes this year.

This is one of such initiatives to appreciate our customers and to reinforce the fact that we are a caring brand that is always on the lookout for our customer’s well-being.”

Idowu added that “The WhatsApp offer is certainly a novel one as it allows our customers to put their data to other users while they enjoy chatting and bonding with friends and loved ones on WhatsApp for free.

The offer also empowers customers to promote their businesses using WhatsApp as data which would have been used up on WhatsApp can now be used for other things with the free WhatsApp offer by 9mobile.

This gives customers more value for their money.

26

The Oracle Today Wednesday March 27, 2019

EQUITY & Capital Market CMC set to brainstorm on 10-yr master plan, economy in Lagos Stories By JEROME USHAKANG

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HE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has concluded arrangement to hold its first Capital Market Committee (CMC) meeting this year from Thursday March 21, to Friday March 22, 2019 at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The Commission in a statement said members of the CMC will during the meeting, deliberate on issues bordering on implementation of the ‘Ten Year’ Capital Market Master Plan as well as others relating to the capital market and the economy.

It added that a communiqué or the outcome of their discussions would be made known to the media. The CMC is an industry-wide committee comprising of members of the commission, representatives of capital market operators and trade groups and other stakeholders. The Committee meets every quarter to deliberate on various issues affecting the market and other policy matters.

The ten-year master plan for the Nigerian capital market which is expected to refocus the market and help double its size over time and grow the economy was unveiled in November 2014.

Since then, the Commission has vigorously implemented some initiatives in the Master Plan with the aim of attracting more investors to the market. Some of the initiatives, include direct cash settlement, dematerialization and e-Dividend

Registration, as they promote transparency, protect and enhance investors’ confidence in the capital market.

The SEC, therefore enjoins all shareholders to take advantage of the initiatives introduced in the capital market aimed, primarily, at strengthening the market and accelerating economic development.

This, SEC said is in consonance with the present administration’s economic strategy focused on deepening the capital market as a vehicle for encouraging a private sector-led economy with enhanced productivity.

The SEC therefore enjoins all shareholders to take advantage of the initiatives introduced in the capital market aimed, primarily, at strengthening the market and accelerating economic development.

This, SEC said is in consonance with the present administration’s economic strategy focused on deepening the capital market as a vehicle for encouraging a private sector-led economy with enhanced productivity.

However, while the key stakeholders in the capital market will meet on March 21, members of the media would be briefed on March 22 on the outcome of the meeting.

According to the SEC, those who have been invited to attend the expanded session are Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of all registered capital market firms (i.e Broker Dealer, Capital Market Solicitors, Custodians, Fund Managers, Issuing Houses, Rating Agencies, Registrars, Reporting Accountants, Trustees, and

•Mary Uduk & Onyema Consultants, etc.); Others are Chief Executive Officers of The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), The Financial Markets Dealers Quotations (FMDQ), Africa Exchange Holdings (AFEX), Nigeria Commodity Exchange (NCX), Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS), Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS); as well as representatives of relevant Financial Services’ Agencies, among others.

The Commission said, , “Attendance to both events is strictly by in-

vitation. Invited participants are expected to come with their identity cards to be admitted into the venue and all invited participants are expected to be seated by 9.45am,” It stressed that admission into the venue would be upon presentation of the CMC Identity Card and strictly by invitation.

The CMC was mainly established to serve as a medium for exchange of ideas among market stakeholders as well as for feedback to SEC on how to continuously improve the market activities and regulation.

Court reaffirms SEC’s Regulatory oversight over public companies in Nigeria

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HE Court of Appeal has reinforced the Securities and Exchange Commission’s powers to intervene in the management and control of any public company which is considered to have failed, is failing or is in crises.

The Court of Appeal stated that the SEC is statutorily mandated as the apex regulator of the Nigerian capital market to ensure the protection of investors and maintain a fair, efficient and transparent market.

The Commission in 2008, conducted an investigation on Big Treat Plc ,a public listed company (first respondent) and its directors which revealed several infractions of the Investments and Securities Act (ISA) 2007 such as inadequate internal control systems and a breakdown of corporate governance in the company.

Based on the foregoing, and pursuant to the provisions of Section 13 (v) of the ISA 2007, the Commission in 2010 approached the Federal High Court seeking a number of reliefs against Big Treat Plc (first respondent), three of its directors – Pamela Wu, Harries Wu, Steve Wu – and two entities owned by them – New Frontier Engineering and Construction Company Limited and Skyone Group of Companies Limited with a view to preserving the assets of the first respondent.

In the course of the proceedings, the Commission applied for and was granted an ex-parte order of interim injunction restraining the second– sixth respondents, their agents, servants or privies from obstructing the Commission in the exercise of its statutory oversight responsibilities to the first respondent including the appointment of an

interim management to take charge of the day to day administration of the first respondent with a view to preserving its assets in the interest of its stakeholders pending the determination of the Motion on Notice already filed in this suit.

However, the ex-parte order was subsequently vacated on the grounds that the first respondent (Big Treat Plc) “was not a capital market operator amenable to the control and management of the appellant in times of financial distress”.

The Commission appealed against the decision of the Federal High Court and the sole issue for determination as raised by the Commission before the Court of Appeal was

“whether the lower court was right when it held that the first respondent (Big Treat PLC) is not a capital market operator because it does not play any specific role in the capital market and as such, not register able or subject to the control of the Appellant (the Commission)”.

Meantime, the Court of Appeal in a judgment delivered on January 31, 2019, held thus;“That the first respondent, an issuer of securities, having been duly registered with the Appellants and was at all material times performing the specific function of issuing securities in the capital market was subject to the intervention of the statutory powers of the Appellant as the pinnacle regulatory authority for the Nigerian

capital market whose sole purpose is to ensure the protection of investors and to maintain fair, efficient and transparent capital market as well as reduction of systemic risk as stated in the preamble of the ISAthe beacon light to the powers of the Appellant under the ISA.” The Court of Appeal further held that; “In conclusion, I most respectfully hold that the court below should not have vacated the interim preservative order made by it to protect the imminent collapse of the 1stRespondent but the Appellant who at all material times was exercising statutory powers under the ISA to stem the tide of decay in the internal management of the first respondent”.

At the moment, CPMI and IOSCO jointly released updated information on the progress through the level one assessments online tracker, which is accessible on the CPMI and IOSCO websites.

The online tracker does not require the publication of a level one assessment report, thereby permitting jurisdictions to update their information more quickly.

The current update shows that further progress has been made among some participating jurisdictions that had not completely adopted their implementation measures at the time of the fifth update to level one assessment report, published in July 2018.

Notably, Korea and South Africa have completed the process of adopting measures that will enable them to implement the PFMI for

all FMI types. Argentina, Chile and Indonesia have also reported progress in adopting measures that will facilitate their implementation of the PFMI, although additional progress is needed to achieve the highest rating for all FMI types.

Thus, 23 of the 28 jurisdictions that participated in the implementation monitoring programme have adopted measures for all FMI types.

The CPMI and IOSCO encourage jurisdictions to continue to adopt measures that will enable them to implement the PFMI. To support future progress, the two bodies will continue to update the information on the level one assessment through the online tracker, based on progress reported by participating jurisdictions.

Jurisdictions move towards implementing standards for payment systems

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HE Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), jurisdictions are making progress on implementing international standards for payment systems, central securities depositories, securities settlement systems, central counterparties and trade repositories.

This was revealed by a recent update to the level one information made available by CPMI and IOSCO. The level one implementation monitoring is based on selfassessments by individual jurisdictions of how they have adopted measures to implement the 24 Principles for financial market infrastructures (PFMI) and four of the five responsibilities for authorities that are included in the PFMI.

NSE trains workforce on Derivatives

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HE Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday organized a derivatives Workshop for members of its staff at the Stock Exchange House in Lagos.

The NSE in a statement said that the workshop is targeted at Compliance Officers and Operations Officers of Dealing Member firms, and is designed to provide participants with insights into the structure and operating requirements of the NSE Derivatives Market.

According to the Exchange, the training workshop will also provide them with an understanding of the potential of the market, as well as risk management and return enhancement benefits.

A derivative is a contract between two or more parties whose value is based on an agreed-upon underlying financial asset (like a security) or set of assets (like an index). Common underlying instruments include bonds, commodities, currencies, interest rates, market indexes and stocks.

NITDA D-G tasks stakeholders on contributions of ICT to GDP

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R. Isa Ali Pantami, Director-General of Nigerian Information and Technology Development Agency (NITDA) says Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is a significant contributor to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Pantami made this known during the NOTAP/NITDA Stakeholders’ Roundtable Discussion on the Use of Nigerian Software in the Financial Banking Services Sector.

According to him, the GDP stands at 11. 81 per cent as at the third quarter of 2018.

Pantami was represented by Mr Chris Okeke, Director, Lagos Zonal office of NITDA. He said that notably, local and foreign investors invested about N38 billion into Nigerian start-ups in the second and third quarters of 2018, of which 75 per cent of the funds went into Nigerian FinTech.

“The growth underscored the upward trajectory of ICT as a significant contributor to Nigeria’s GDP, currently at about 11.81 per cent as at the third quarter of 2018,’’ Pantami said.

27

The Oracle Today Wednesday March 27, 2019

HEALTH

Breast cancer: Physical signs, examinations and diagnosis – BSE, CBE & MG in top check

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reast carcinoma arises after puberty, but is rare before the age of 20 years. The incidence rises steadily with increasing age, and the recent rise in cancer of the breast globally is been seen in premenopausal and postmenopausal women. The diagnosis of breast cancer relies on an accurate history and physical examination. Since the 1980s, mammography has become an increasingly important tool in the diagnosis of breast cancer, because it is able to detect an increasing number of clinically occult and earlier stage lesions (injury). Yet breast self examination is important.

Pertinent history is important and should include information about symptoms of the primary breast lesion, risk factors for breast cancer, an overall assessment of the patients’ medical condition and a review of systems that may influence subsequent workup and treatment. Symptoms of a primary lesion include the following: (I) Breast mass discernible to the patient (usually non-painful) including duration and change in size. (ii) Bloody nipple discharge (iii) Eczematous nipple/areola. (iv) Breast skin ulceration. (v) Erythema/oedema of the breast.

Risk factors for breast cancer include the following (i) Patient age. (ii) Family history. (iii) Age at menarche. (iv) Number of pregnancies. (v) Age at first pregnancy. (vi)Age at menopause (physiologic or surgically induced) (vii) Hormonal treatment (duration and type) Note: Prior breast cancer, prior breast cyst aspirations and prior breast biopsy for benign disease; there is the likelihood of metastatic disease that can be assessed from the review of systems. Look for a recent onset and crescendo nature of the following: Headache or other neurologic symptoms that may suggest central nervous system metastases; Chest pain, cough, dyspnea suggesting lung mediastinal or pleural metastases, skeletal pain, suggesting bone metastases, abdominal pain/jaundice, suggesting liver metastases.

Physical examinations are crucial in making accurate diagnosis of breast cancer as well as in determining subsequent workup and treatment. Examination in a patient with suspected breast and chest were as the axillary, supraclavicular and cervical nodal areas. Physical signs in a patient with breast cancer include one or several of the following: (1) Breast mass: The most common physical finding in a patient with breast cancer is a palpable mass within the breast. Although, this is a straight forward concept, in actual practice, normal breast tissue may appear to be quite nodular and firm, therefore, experience is necessary in distinguishing a distinct mass of the breast. Occasionally, breast cancer will not coalesce into a discrete mass but will grow in a more diffuse fashion throughout part or all of the breast. In this

case, only an area of thickening or asymmetry may be present on palpation, a high index of suspicion is necessary to make the diagnosis. Certain characteristics of the palpable mass should be sought, including size of the mass (in centimeters), location within the breast, and mobility or fixation to the chest wall.

(2) Skin Dimpling and Nipple Retraction: The skin dimpling and nipple retraction arise when there is a foreshortening in the suspensory ligaments of the breast by a focus of scar or inflammation.

Normally, the breast is surrounded by a layer of connective tissues extending from the dermis (inside) of the skin anteriorly to the pectoral fascia posteriosly.

Suspensory ligaments composed of the same connective tissues extend through the breast from the pectoral fascia to the dermis, and are arranged in a radial fashion within the breast. Should an area of scarring or inflammation involve these ligaments, foreshortening of the ligaments may occur, producing fraction and dimpling at the skin or nipple surface. This finding is elicited best by having the patient stand while placing her arms above her head because this will put maximum tension on these ligaments and accentuate and dimpling that may be present. Dimpling is found much more commonly with a malignancy than with other benign lesions (injury) of which fat necrosis is the most common. Its presence should not influence resectability of the cancer because the overlying skin and under lying chest wall usually are not involved with the tumour.

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(3) Erythema and oedema: The erythema and oedema, referred to as “Orange peel” appearance of the skin of the breasts are commonly associated with inflammatory breast cancer.

The physical finding also may be present in benign conditions such as postpartum mastitis (disease) associated with diabetes. However, in the absence of these conditions, inflammatory breast cancer should be considered strongly.

The condition may involve a focal area, a quadrant, or the entire breast.

(4) Skin Ulceration: The skin ulceration may occur with underlying bacterial abscess, tuberculosis, or fungal infection. However, breast cancer should be considered strongly as the cause in an otherwise healthy individual.

(5) Nipple Discharge: The nipple discharge during any time but the postpartum period usually represents duct ectasia or

fibrocystic changes. Factors that would suggest an underlying breast malignancy include unilateral discharge, bloody discharge and spontaneous release of material from nipple, not requiring compression (6) Metastic Disease: Uncommon patients with breast cancer will present with signs of metastatic disease such as paraspinal tenderness from vertebral lesions or a pleural effusion intrathoracic metastatics (chest problem). These and other physical findings suggestive of metastatic disease (pathologic fracture or hepatomegaly) however, should be sought even if a primary breast cancer is detected.

Metastatic disease most likely will change the treatment approach to the patient from one of local therapy to initial use of systemic therapy.

(7) Before a biopsy of any palpable breast mass is done,

a mammogram should be performed in any woman over the age of 30 years. In this case, the mammogram will: (i) Assess the extent of the known palpable lesion. (ii) Determine the presence of the other suspicious lesions in the ipsilateral or contralateral breast that also may require further scrutiny or biopsy. Selective use of mammography in a patient younger than 30 years of age with palpable mass is warranted and should be performed before biopsy when: (i) A discrete cluster of micro calcifications, usually five or more with a 1cm area is available. (ii) A discrete nodule within the breast, most commonly stellate in appearance or one within distinct margins is observed. (iii) Breast parenclrymal asymmetry is seen. (iv) Thickening or dimpling of the skin overlying a mass within the breast is noticed. (v) A combination of the above findings.

A patient presenting with axillary adenopatty as the only manifestation of cancer should have an aspirate taken of the palpable axillary node. The result of this examination may suggest a carcinoma and further attention to the breast check (mammography) and repeated physical examination especially in a woman of such is warranted. Patients presenting with breast skin ulceration, eczema of the nipple, areola or oedema and erythema of the breast should have biopsy of the pathologic areas performed, including any underlying masses.

Furthermore, in thorough breast cancer screening, the goal of the programme is to reduce mortality or morbidity of a particular disease by surveying all asymptomatic patients in a population at risk and implementing treatment at an earlier stage of the disease. Any examination, diagnosis or screening programme will be effective if the following conditions below exist: (I) The disease in question has a high mortality rate. (ii) The disease in question is prevalent in the population at risk. (iii) A reliable method to detect earlier stage disease is available. Screening for the breast cancer is a worthwhile goal, given its already high prevalence in the world and West African sub-region as well as in Nigeria; rising incidence and its high mortality and morbidity rate require urgent attention. Several examination and screening methods for breast cancer such as, “Breast Self examination” (BSE)” Clinical Breast Examination “(CBE)” and Mammography(MG) have been proposed, but none except mammograpy has proved effective in reducing the disease’s mortality. This is costly for the low and middle-income earners.

Government intervention is drawn to subsidies the screening costs in both private and government facilities.

•Dr. John Nwabueze Calls only: +234-8127227226, Email: ogudoben@gmail.com

28

The Oracle Today Wednesday March 27, 2019

NEWS

I lost my child to Biafra struggle, mother of missing BIM member cries out Cont’d from page 1

that “it is still vivid in my mind how my son, Anih Okwy Kinsley, who is to be the heir apparent since my husband is no more (died also in this struggle). It all happened in a BIM rally held in May 22nd 2017 at Enugu”.

“I was told by my younger son, Anih Uchenna, who also is a member of BIM, that as the BIM members that included that my son, Anih Okwy Kinsley, were having a rally on the way forward towards achieving a Biafra State, that fate-

ful day at Enugu, a Federal Government security task-force that have been searching for Biafra agitators, that included the police, military and other security operatives, stormed the scene, shooting and maiming them”.

My son who escaped unhurt, probably because of his tender age, told me scores sustained various degrees of bullet wounds and that the unlucky ones were killed or arrested which my son, Anih Okwy Kinsley, was among those arrested but was surprised to

hear from him, his elder brother, that he escaped the arrest and for fear of being killed, he has left Nigeria for his dear life” He added that by the time it downed on the security operatives who intensified search for the agitators, that some of those in their custody had escaped, about June to July, same year, they embarked on severe manhunt for him and others.

“It is based on this that I refused to believe him that my son is still alive and could not see me since

that day of the rally till now.I still maintain that my precious son, the heir apparent of this family, in Amagunze, Nkanu West Local Government Area, Enugu state, Anih Okwy Kinsley, is no more, unless they prove to me otherwise” she cried.

“I now live in penury because my husband is late and my first son Kinsley is nowhere to be found because he ran out for his life and his siblings are still tender to fend for themselves and family,” she lamented further.

•Atiku

•Buhari

Will Appeal Court stop Buhari?

Cont’d from page 2 pers actually printed by the 1st respondent or that were actually used at the purported election.

“Ballot papers are always printed with counter-foils and serial numbers, which are features usually included to establish an audit trail. This fact is well known to the respondents…”

Upon encountering this paragraph from Buhari’s petition, their Lordships should have raised their eyebrows, expressing horror, and asking rhetorically in unison: “How can we verify ballot papers that were not serialised?”

Coker (JSC) in Swen v. Dzungwe (1966) said at page 303 of his verdict: “…It follows clearly, therefore, that if at the end of the case of the petitioner, a case of non-compliance is established which may or may not affect the result of the election and it is impossible for the tribunal to say whether or not the results were affected by the non-compliance established, unless there be evidence on behalf of the respondent that such non-compliance could

not and did not, in fact, affect the results of the election, then the petition is entitled to succeed on the single grounds that civil cases are proved by a preponderance of accepted evidence.”

In other words, when a non-compliance is established by the petitioner (as Buhari did), the onus of satisfying the tribunal that the proven non-compliance did not affect the results of the election is on the respondent – INEC. Yes, the onus should rest with INEC to satisfy the court that the non-compliance so established by the petitioner did not affect the outcome of the election as to warrant its nullification. And Justice Niki Tobi stressed this position before he later somersaulted and contradicted himself in the same judgement. Hear him: “In view of the fact that a tribunal or court of law in our adversary system, cannot go out in search of evidence to satisfy itself that the election was conducted substantially with the principles of the Electoral Act, the respondent comes in. He has to bring exculpatory evidence that non-compliance with the provi-

sions of the Electoral Act did not affect substantially the result of the election.

“With the evidence placed before the tribunal or court by the petitioner, vide Section 145(1) of the Electoral Act and the one placed by the respondent, vide Section 146(1) of the Act, the tribunal or court concurrently evaluates the evidence and gives judgment to one of the parties.”

Quite shockingly and unabashedly, by the close of Niki Tobi’s submissions on page 94, the same Section 146(1) which, he said on page 25, placed a burden of proof on the respondent had become “a friend of a respondent, a real friend which the respondent finds most useful at the greatest hour of need. And so the 4th and 5th respondents and by extension, all the respondents find in Section 146(1) the greatest friendship in this appeal.”

As a matter of fact, Justice Tobi opined three times on page 25 that the onus of proving Section 146(1) rested with the respondent (INEC). And if there is any iota of doubt as to the definitiveness of

his opinion on this page, lines 24, 25, 26 and 27 remove completely that doubt: “With the evidence placed before the tribunal or court by the petitioner, vide Section 145(1) of the Electoral Act and the one placed by the respondent, vide Section 146(1) of the Act, the tribunal or court concurrently evaluates the evidence and gives judgment to one of the parties.”

In the end, Justice Tobi placed on the petitioner, Buhari, the burdens of proving Section 145(1) and Section 146(1) of the Electoral Act, 2006 in brazen violation of his own words in the same judgement. This was a clear-cut aberration and miscarriage of justice writ large!

This colossal double-speak by the lead judgement of the Supreme Court later prepared the grounds for the violence that trailed the 2011 presidential poll.

When people lose faith in the justice system, they resort to selfhelp, which is fatal to any society.

It is hoped that no future elections will be rigged in Nigeria and that the judiciary will never, either by design or default, endorse electoral robbery.

N1.2bn Tax Assessment: FIRS apologises to Tax Appeal Tribunal for late process filing

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he Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) on Tuesday apologised to the Tax Appeal Tribunal sitting in Abuja for the delay in serving processes on an appellant, Mr Joseph Daudu (SAN), in the case of alleged N1.2 billion error in taxation.

Daudu said he was dissatisfied with the FIRS assessments of his Withholding Tax (WHT), Personal Income Tax and Value Added Tax (VAT) for the period from 2010 to 2017.

Specifically, he expressed dissatisfaction with the decision to assess him with respect to WHT and VAT in the sum of N 1. 2 billion.

He, therefore, prayed the tribunal to restrain FIRS. At the resumed sitting, Mr Abedayo Adedeji, counsel for Dauda, told the Tribunal that FIRS served them a witness statement on oaths only this morning.

He said that on the face of it, it necessitated a response from them, ( the appellant) according to him “we have not been properly served. ” In his response, Prof. Taiwo Osipitan SAN, counsel for FIRS apologised for the delay in serving the appellant as the respondent was trying to get all the processes served which did not work out as planned.

He told the tribunal that they however have other processes to serve on the appellant but had served only one this morning and would serve the remaining before the next adjourned date.

The tribunal, which was presided over by Mrs Alice Iriogbe, adjourned sitting until April 16, for parties to be served and reply before the next adjourned date NAN reports that Daudu, claimed that it was a misnomer for the appellant, who operates a law firm as a legal practitioner and does not deal in primary goods, to be assessed on Withholding Tax (WHT).

“It is unheard of for a legal practitioner to pay Withholding Tax, the respondent acted in error when it assessed the appellant on individual Income Tax from 2010 to 2017 in the sum of N977. 5 million,” he said.

Responding, FIRS noted that its assessments were not in error and that it was discovered that the appellant did not deduct and remit WHT on some of the expenses and payment made under the period in review.

FIRS, therefore, prayed the Tribunal to declare that the notices of assessments issued on the appellant for 2010- 2017 assessment was right.

It also urged the tribunal for an order mandating the appellant to pay the total sum of N1.2 billion being the appellant’s liability for WHT, Personal income tax and VAT for 2010 to 2017 years of assessment.

FIRS stated that it rightly assessed the appellant; acting in accordance with the law and by collaborating with the Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC) on non declaration of income as well as tax evasion. (NAN).

29

The Oracle Today Wednesday March 27, 2019

SPORTS •Gianni Infantino

Nwosu wants high target set for Rohr •Says ‘his romance with NFF should be over’ Stories by MADUABUCHI KALU

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ORMER Nigeria international, Henry Nwosu, believes the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) should set a high target for Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr ahead of the forthcoming African Cup of Nations in Egypt.

According to the former Heartland FC of Owerri coach, after the Franco-German football tactician has been in the saddle for more than two years, the romance with the federation should be over and high target set for him say by now the former Bayern Munich defender should be delivering results.

In his word: “As far as the upcoming Nations Cup in Egypt is concerned, Nigeria should aim for the title and this is the reason why the NFF should not shy away from setting a very high target for Gernot Rohr),” Nwosu began.

Responding whether such high standard that he was advocating for will not put pressure on the manager and his charges, the former international such high target will rather galvanize both the manager and the team to success.

“We have the players as well as the pedigree to win the Nations Cup; we can psyche the players and the coaches up by telling them to go all out for the title. That is what an average Nigerian fan wants from the team,” he explained.

It is noted here that Rohr had during the week declared that Nigerian fans should not expect much from the team in their up-

coming duels with Seychelles and Egypt in Asaba pointing that the Stephen Keshi Stadium does not allow for robust football due to its size but Nwosu faulted the 65-year-old coach’s submission.

“The coach should not hide under the guise of the pitch’s size as the reason why his team should not perform.

The Egyptians are the ones that should be complaining being the visiting team. If the surface is playable then he should be able to give us good football that a giant like Nigeria deserves,” he said Nwosu, noted that Rohr getting a bumper salary package which should be reflecting on his job delivery.

“We are not talking about the World Cup which is quite difficult to win because the fact that no African team, have reached the semifinals means it’s not an easy tournament to succeed.

“However, he can’t tell us that it’s difficult for him to target the Nations Cup trophy, after all the late Stephen Keshi, an indigenous coach, won it for Nigeria in our last appearance.

“This is one tournament that we have missed the last two editions but are we making a return to go and play in the quarterfinal and come back home? “Rohr is having one of the best contracts as far as Nigerian football coaching is concerned. So, he should come up with a plan and all what is needed to be done is for the NFF to give him the total monetary, moral and technical support.”

Zidane returns with bang

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HREE-TIME World Footballer of the Year and World Cup winner, Zinedine Zidane who made history just last season as the only coach to have won the EUFA Champions League back to back for three consecutive times, started his return to Spanish capital club with victory over Celtic Vigo.

The Frenchman performed the magic by bringing in the club’s outcasts in from the cold and they repaid him with a win over Celta Vigo on Saturday but La Liga’s title race could well be over after Atletico Madrid were beaten by Athletic Bilbao.

Isco and Gareth Bale each scored in Madrid’s 2-0 victory over Celta before Atletico lost 2-0 at San Mames, giving Barcelona the chance to go 10 points clear on Sunday.

Barca’s superiority has been clear for some time, but Zidane’s new era is up and running. Isco, who had not started a single league game under Santiago Solari, gave Real the lead shortly after the hour and Bale got the goal his own committed display deserved to put sorry Celta out of sight.

Bale was teed up by Marcelo, who was also dropped by Solari but recalled, while Keylor Navas pulled off a superb save in the first half, having been brought back in ahead of Thibaut Courtois.

“Nobody can erase what these

players have done,” Zidane about those players he recalled. “I will count on everyone.”

The victory ends a run of four consecutive home defeats for Madrid and means they are now two points behind Atletico, nine back on Barca.

That deficit will surely prove too big to close but Zidane’s job was to restore morale in the 11 league games that are left and to find out what, and who, needs changing in the summer.

“My team-talk was really simple,” Zidane said. “I told them to have fun, to play, to run together and to be united when we don’t have the ball. When we have it, let’s have fun, and that’s what we did.”

At times, it felt like a pre-season fixture, not just because of the baking hot sun but the relaxed atmosphere and the sense this is now a team on trial.

Bale, whose relationship with Zidane deteriorated to breaking point last season, was arguably the biggest winner, his performance proving there could yet be a place for him in what the club’s president Florentino Perez has dubbed “the glorious new era”.

Marcelo impressed too, while Courtois might well wonder what his next couple of months hold, given Navas, an old favourite of Zidane, looks to be back in favour.

•Super Eagles of Nigeria.

How Everton compound Chelsea top-four woes

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HERE is no gain saying that this is not the best of times for West London Club Chelsea, as Coach Maurizio Sarri side have continued to endure a frustrating

“There are 10 games left, today Keylor played, on another day it could be Thibaut,” Zidane said.

“Real Madrid needs two or three great goalkeepers. We’ll see what happens next year.”

time as the former EUFA Champions League winner suffered 2-0 defeat in the hands of their opponents, Everton last Sunday in the afternoon to further compound their hope of top-four finish that will give them the opportunity of Champions League football next season.

The English Premiership side managed by Maurizio Sarri collapsed in the second of the encounter which resulted in 2-0 defeat by at mid-table Everton, hence putting their EUFA Champions League ambition for next season in disarray.

It was the duo of Richarlison and Gylfi Sigurdsson who compounded Chelsea’s woes on Sunday as both players scored the two goals that ensured that Chelsea’s Europe hope of elite club championship next year is in disarray.

Brazilian Richarlison struck in the 49th minute, after Sigurdsson’s

right-wing corner had been met by a powerful header from Dominic Calvert-Lewin which Kepa Arrizabalaga saved well on his goal-line.

But the Everton forward reacted first to force the rebound over the line from close range, a goal that came largely against the run of play.

Arrizabalaga had saved a good effort from Andre Gomes seconds earlier and did likewise in keeping out Sigurdsson’s 71st-minute penalty, awarded after Marcos Alonso stood on the foot of Richarlison.

But the Iceland international kept his composure from the rebound, completing the routine task of tapping the ball into the open goal.

It was a major turnaround following a first half of almost complete Chelsea domination.

Eden Hazard was unfortunate not to give the visitors an early lead in a dominant opening 45 minutes against an Everton side who have

ing to the club.

About 20,000 runners competed in the St. Patrick’s Day race which passed through New York’s Times Square.

Each dog ran between three-tofive miles and Panek’s pace averaged 10.5 minutes per mile, the club reported.

Panek lost his sight in his early 20s, CNN News and other media reported. He had previously finished about 20 races with the help of human guides.

“When I lost my sight I was too scared to run,” he told CBS News, which added that after he adjusted to being blind, he ran again, but only with a fellow runner.

“Although many people run with

running clubs, at the end of the day you’re running your own race,” he

Blind runner, dogs make history at NYC Half Marathon

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BLIND runner, assisted by a relay team of three guide dogs, Sunday made history by completing the 2019 United Airlines New York City Half Marathon without any human help.

Thomas Panek, 48, ran along with three Labrador retrievers, Waffles, Westley and Gus, according to the Guiding Eyes For The Blind’s website, a charity that trains dogs for the visually impaired.

Panek became the first blind runner to complete the race led by dogs instead of other runners, according to the charity and also the website of the running club, New York Runners.

He finished the 13.1-mile race just under two-and-a-half hours, accord-

•Thomas Panek and his dogs

30

The Oracle Today Wednesday March 27, 2019

SPORTS

How Lobi, Rangers crashed out of continental competitions Stories by MADUABUCHI KALU

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ATURDAY and Sunday will go down in annals of Nigerian Football as one weekend that Nigerian football fans would like to forget in a hurry following the crashing out of the two Nigerian continental representatives Enugu Rangers and Lobi Stars of Makurdi despite Lobi winning 2-0 against ASEC Mimosas of Ivory Coast.

Enugu Rangers hope of advancing in the 2019 CAF Confederation Cup was laid to rest on Sunday with a 0-1 defeat in Enugu by Club Sportive Sfaxien of Tunisia their compatriots, Lobi were humiliated 3-0 by South African club, Mamelodi Sundowns to end the hope the two Nigerian flag bearers in playing any further part in the two CAF club competitions.

Enugu Rangers paid for their wastefulness in front of the goal when Nassim Hnid of Sfaxien scored the only goal of the match in the 73rd minute.

The Flying Antelopes missed a lot of chances in the first half and continued from where they stopped in the second 45 minutes.

With the result, CS Sfaxien of Tunisia qualified with their neighbor, Etoile du Sahel also of Tunisia, with 12 and 10 points respectively.

Rangers FC and Salitas FC of Burkina-Faso crashed out on five and four points respectively as Salitas lost their last match in the group by the same margin to Etoile in Tunisia.

Speaking after the match, Rangers Coach, Olugbenga Ogunbote,

said that his team lost to lack of concentration.

“We have been having upper hand in an attempt to score and pushed them to their half; only to lose concentration on the free kick which gave them the victory.

“It is unfortunate that we lost the match and we are going home to do more work as this showed us that we still have a lot of work to do.

“Rangers have no other option at the moment than to accept defeat and go back to the league to fight for continental spot,” Ogunbote said.

Sfaxien’s Coach, Ruud Krol, said that they knew from the beginning of the league that the road to success was difficult but that they have surmounted the group stage.

“Today we played on Astro Turf and the temperature was high, however, I felt happy that we won and qualified to the next stage.

“We knew that it was going to be difficult and the fact that we won Rangers at home did not mean that the match was not tough.

“Rangers made it tough for us and I am happy that we came, saw and conquered. From here now, we are going to work hard for the quarter-final stage.”

Meanwhile, Lobi Stars unlike Enugu Rangers ended their continental campaign on high with a 2-0 victory over visiting ASEC Mimosas of Cote d’Ivoire. With the victory, Lobi ended up lifting themselves from the bottom to the third position just like Rangers ended their campaign in third place.

•Lobi Stars FC

Moses Simon in superb form for Levante

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IGERIA international winger, Moses Simon is currently enjoying his football in his club Levante, just as he says he is pleased to be contributing to Levante’s push for Spanish La Liga survival after his lack of game time during the first half of the season. Moses has started five of Levante’s last six games and he is in superb form for the La Liga side.

The Nigerian joined Levante on a five-year deal from Belgian club, Gent in August, but failed to start a league game for The Frogs until the start of November.

The 23-year-old, who feared his club struggles could cost him at interna-

tional level, has seen turn around in career having featured in five of the last six games and says he is just happy to be involved in the game.

“Ideally, everyone wants to play but you just have to patiently wait for your time,” Simon told BBC Sport.

“After starting five games in a row, I’m just glad to be on the pitch and helping my club.

“To get a chance helps personally and contributing on a regular basis is all I want to keep doing at Levante.”

It is recalled that Simon played a key role and scored once as the Super Eagles sealed their 2018 World Cup qualification, but a thigh injury ruled him

out of the tournament in Russia.

The fit-again former AS Trencin star has been included in Nigeria’s 23-man squad for their final 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier with Seychelles on 22 March and a friendly against Egypt four days later.

Simon has welcomed the tough competition for a place in the side ahead of the tournament in Egypt this summer.

“Everyone wants to play for the country and everyone’s fighting hard to make it to the Nations Cup. It’s going to be interesting and it will only bring the best of out of the team,” he said. “I haven’t had the opportunity to play for the Super Eagles in a major tournament, I can only focus on myself and make strong impacts to get there.”

battle with Virgil Van Dijk promises to be epic, and it could have a huge say in the title race.

Burnley v. Cardiff City – April 13 Not one for the purists this, but it is likely to be an enthralling encounter between two committed teams who sit just one place from each other in the table. Cardiff are in 18th place and in the final relegation spot, but they are just two points behind Burnley who are really struggling after an upturn in results around the New Year’s period.

Sean Dyche and Neil Warnock have built hard-working teams on limited resources, and Cardiff have nothing to lose in many regards as everyone expected them to be relegated this season. The new boys have a chance with eight games to go, and this is a massive chance to gain ground on a team around them.

Liverpool v. Chelsea – April 14 Memories of April 2014 will come flooding back to Liverpool fans, as Steven Gerrard‘s costly slip against Chelsea handed the Premier League title to Manchester City. Surely lightning won’t strike twice as Liverpool host Chelsea at Anfield late in the season once again…

Klopp’s side must negotiate the home games against Spurs and Chelsea, but Anfield is a fortress and they haven’t lost at home all season in the Premier League. However, the only team to win at Anfield in any competition this season was Chelsea, as Eden Hazard inspired a League Cup victory way back in September. This will be Liverpool’s last major hurdle in the title race.

Man City v. Tottenham – April 20 This game will be played in the middle of three games between City and Spurs after they were drawn against one another in the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals. That should complicate things, as the two sets of players will be

so used to the tactics of the other and it will be a lot tighter than most expect.

City beat Spurs 1-0 at Wembley earlier this season, and have only lost one of their last eight home games against Tottenham. Pep Guardiola has more options than Mauricio Pochettino to rotate his team, and that could be key with three matches between these PL clubs in just 11 days.

Man United v. Man City – April 24 A Manchester Derby that will surely decide the season for both clubs. If City win, they will take a big step towards the title. If United win they will not only scupper City’s title chance but also significantly boost their top four hopes.

If everything goes to plan between now and late April for both clubs, they could also be in the midst of being in the Champions League semifinals too. United will sit back and soak up pressure and then try to launch devastating counters.

That worked very well against PSG, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham, but City are a different beast. What an atmosphere it should be inside Old Trafford for this one.

Man United v. Chelsea – April 28 Both teams should be bang in the top four battle going into the final two weeks of the season, and this game will be massive in deciding who will qualify for the UEFA Champions League. Just one point separates the two teams right now, with United in fifth and Chelsea in sixth. United have already knocked Chelsea out of the FA Cup this season and pushed them all the way in a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge when Jose Mourinho was boss. The clash of styles sets up an intriguing tactical battle. United’s counter attacks and direct style is totally opposite to Sarri-ball. Both teams will have expected to be in the title battle at the start of the season, and this game may well present itself as their final chance to shore up a spot in the top four. It is unlikely both will finish in the top four this season. Something has to give.

We need tours to prepare for Olympics qualifiers – Super Sand Eagles Games to determine English Premiership League

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UPER Sand Eagles’ captain, Victor Tale, said the teams’ was working towards qualifying for the All African Beach Soccer qualifying Tournament in Cape Verde for the 2019 Tokyo Olympics Games.

The captain made this known in an interview in Lagos.

He added that going for training tours would help the players to ensure that the team qualifies for the Olympics Games for the first time.

“We will be playing against the best in the qualifiers, so we need to ensure that we train well enough for this tournament. We need training tours early enough, so that we can have a successful outing at the tournament.

“Since we qualified at the CAF beach soccer tournament in Egypt, we knew what our next challenge

•Super Sand Eagles

is and that’s our main focus for now.

“Ensuring that we qualify for the Olympics is important, it will be our first time, and we want to see how that goes, that will further boost our confidence at the World Cup in Paraguay.”

The qualifier would kick off sometime in April.

Tale said that it had been difficulty preparing for the CAF Beach Soccer championship in Egypt with the absence of COPA Lagos Beach Soccer Tournament.

COPA Lagos is an international tournament organised by Kinetic Sports since its inception in 2011.

Super Sand Eagles had always looked forward to the tournament, being the only tournament in the country that prepares the players for CAF Beach Soccer Tournament.

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ITH just seven games left for the majority of Premier League teams, crunch time has arrived in the 2018-19 season.

Clubs across the PL are readying themselves for a crucial final few weeks of the season, with so much still on the line. It is tough to know what to focus on, right?

Of course, you’ll be soaking up every single Premier League game you can, but now seems like a good time to help you focus on the games you simply cannot miss between now and the end of the season on May 12.

Below we take a look at eight clashes which will have a huge say in deciding the title race, the top four battle and the scrap against relegation.

Brighton v. Southampton – March 30 A South Coast derby with just three points separating the two teams. Brighton and Saints have had many battles in the lower leagues in recent seasons, and there is a genuine rivalry bubbling up here. Saints are almost better away from home than they are at home under Ralph Hasenhuttl, and their fast breaks will cause Brighton problems. Expect a tight, tense game as both teams are desperate to pull further clear of Cardiff City who occupy the final relegation place.

Liverpool v. Tottenham – March 31 A few weeks ago this seemed like being a battle between two teams who were battling for the title. How quickly things change. Spurs’ dismal recent run has seen them drop out of the title race, and now they need the points to stay in the top four hunt. Liverpool need the points to keep their title bid going, and this is the toughest game remaining (on paper) for Jurgen Klopp‘s side to negotiate. The fiery 2-2 draw between these two teams last season was a classic, and Harry Kane has been in thorn in Liverpool’s side in recent seasons. Kane’s

31 The Oracle Today Wednesday March 27, 2019

2019 Poll Rigging and our Professors faux pas (1)

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he ‘baddest’ boy in certificate scandal in Nigeria is the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Salisu Buhari who claimed he was 36 years old in 1999, when, indeed, he was born in 1970. According to the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, the minimum age to be a lawmaker in the House is 30.

He claimed he attended University of Toronto in Canada and graduated with a degree in Business Administration.

Unfortunately for him, the university denied him. Was everything about Salisu falsified?

How many Salisus are out there presiding over our common patrimony either in our colleges, tertiary institutions, hospitals or national security, among others?

Contrite Salisu had said: “I apologise to you. I apologise to the nation. I apologise to my family and friends for all the distress I have caused them. I was misled in error by my zeal to serve the nation. I hope the nation will forgive me and give me the opportunity to serve again”. Where is Salisu now?

Let me not go into President Muhammadu Buhari’s certificate saga, Kemi Adeosun’s NYSC scandal, Dino Melaye Harvard saga and the EFCC Boss , Ibrahim Magu’s Integrity saga as well as Prof Maurice Iwu’s certificate squabbles because certificate falsification and exam malpractice is in vogue today and nobody is doing anything in that regard. The scenario is hopeless and laden with mines!

National Human Rights Commission last year recommended that Professor Maurice Iwu who was INEC’s Chairman between 2005 and 2010 be prosecuted for conducting what international observers perceived as one of the most bizarre elections ever held in the world. Is the situation still same after this 2019 General Election presided over by Prof Mahmood Yakubu, so-called acclaimed Nigerian academic, guerrilla warfare expert, and professor of political history and international studies at the Nigerian Defence Academy? What a shame!

Professor of his standing being bribed by illiterates and people below his standard to rig elections!

Was Prof Attahiru Muhammadu Jega, another academic and former Vice-Chancellor of Bayero University, Kano who presided over the 2015 General election as INEC Chairman better than Prof Yakubu with his famous inflated figures and registering of underage voters in the North? Two of a kind!

You can imagine former President Goodluck Jonathan accusing Prof Attahiru Muhammadu Jega-led INEC of conspiracy that cost him his re-election in 2015. Jonathan in his new book accused INEC’s biased distribution of voting materials to the electorate as precipitating his defeat at the March 28, 2015 general elections.

Jonathan said: “For some inexplicable reason, the INEC had been able to achieve near 100% distribution of Permanent Voter Cards in the North, including the North East, which was under siege with Boko Haram insurgency but failed to record a similar level of distribution in the South which was relatively more peaceful.’’ You can’t beat that!

We all witnessed the infamous comment by President

In

CORNUCOPIA

By Odogwu Emeka Odogwu Telephone number: 08060750240

E-mail : odogwuchampionawka@yahoo.co.uk Muhammadu Buhari that dogs and baboons would be “soaked in blood” if 2015 elections did not go the way he desired. He was declared winner and nobody whined and giggled. He received congratulations across board but in 2019, he unleashed army and security agents on Nigerians, depriving the people of their choice with INEC collusion. What a shame! Where are the International Observers? Have they been bought? Or were they this time around bought over by the ruling party or was it that the people parading now as International observers were pre-arranged by INEC or APC or both?

Prof Iwu gave us staggering of governorship elections because of fraud tinted election results.

Bayelsa, Edo, Ondo, Ekiti, Osun and Kogi states election are now different from others. Anambra too is a unique case of stolen mandate in 2003 by Dr Chris Ngige before Mr Peter Obi recovered it.

That election conducted by Sir Abel Guobadia after Ephraim Omorose Ibukun Akpata died in active service was something else.

Election rigging, examination and forgery of certificates are in same category and the bane of societal growth and development. We all know of Christian Abah, a member of the House of Representatives representing Ado/Okpokwu/ Ogbadigbo Federal Constituency of Benue State, who was kicked out of the legislative chamber by an Abuja Federal High Court in 2016 for submitting a forged certificate of academic qualification to INEC. He had forged the Ordinary National Diploma certificate purportedly issued to him in 1985 by the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi, Adamawa State. Has he not worked in several places before his aspiration to be a member of House of Representatives? So many of us in high positions of Authority as Officers in Nigerian Army, Police and other security agencies have not only forged certificate but state of origin and local government of origin. Some others in tertiary institutions as Lecturers, PROs, non-academic staff, even technicians and drivers parade one form of forged certificate or the other. Journalists in high places of authority are not left out, yet we profess Christ for Christianity and Mohammed for Islam.

You know somebody who is a local government chairman claiming a certificate he has not acquired, same goes to a PRO in an institution of higher learning, a House of Assembly Member, a medical doctor, a journalist, a student, National Assembly Member-elect, just name it. Yet, we continue in spiral of silence to be seen as good friends while the

•Man running away with election ballot box society decays.

Why should we continue to allow criminals of academic qualification forgery thrive in criminality and certificate forgery to the detriment of those who have worked hard to earn such qualifications? That’s why we have not progressed because those who ordinarily should not preside over our affairs are leading, contaminating the spirit of hard work, discipline and honesty. This culture of reckless impunity must stop. Let’s take action against quacks enjoying privileged positions by exposing and shaming them.

Engaging in forging National Diploma (ND) certificate to gain admission for a Higher National Diploma (HND) certificate and other unscrupulous acts of certificate forgery Nigerians indulge in just to obtain or secure job or attain public office has assumed a frightening dimension.

The 16-man committee set up to screen the over 40,000 degree certificates obtained by Nigerians from some foreign countries to ascertain their authenticity by Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu is apt but the screening should as well zero in on the staff of all the Tertiary institutions and other organizations in Nigeria.

Then, prominent office holders especially those already with petitions hanging on their heads

should be investigated. Why shy away from this by organisations, Ministries, security agencies and the Judiciary?

People should be encouraged to write petitions even anonymous petitions against those they know are with fake certificates because it has become very rampant due to craze for paper qualifications in Nigeria.

Have you heard that the UK, Higher Education Degree Datacheck (HEDD), an agency set up to investigate issue of fake degree, closed about 40 websites awarding fake degrees to UK students following a crackdown?

Nigerians are their greatest victims because of craze for paper qualifications and the inordinate desire to cut corners. Today, so many people parade with pride and arrogance PhD’s bought from websites and others with degrees concocted at a business center.

Mediocrity has taken the center stage. People are not interested in acquiring requisite skills and knowledge required for a position but certificate to grant them access and thereby engage in all forms of malpractice to continue to be in the system. People with questionable certificates are today calling the shots in our tertiary institutions, ministries, agencies and parastatals at states and the federal levels as well as private organizations even

when we know all these.

Imagine when an employee got into his or her job placement with fake academic credentials, is the person not going to encourage all forms of fraud in that office as far as his or her bread is buttered?

Can we emulate what happened in Tanzania recently when the country’s civil service sacked over 10,000 civil servants for having fake education certificates? This is because they are criminals setting the hands of clock in the nation backward by encouraging other forgeries. Hard work must pay!

Section 118 of the Criminal Code said about perjury which those with forged certificates are committing especially under oath: “Any person who commits perjury is liable to imprisonment for 14 years. If the offender commits the offence in order to procure the conviction of another person for an offence punishable with death or with imprisonment for life, he is liable to imprisonment for life.”

On forgery, Section 465, of the Criminal Code Act, says: “A person who makes a false document or writing knowing it to be false, and with intent that it may in any way be used or acted upon as genuine, whether in the state or elsewhere, to the prejudice of any person or with intent that any person may, in the belief that it is genuine, be induced to do or refrain from doing any act, whether in the state or elsewhere is said to forge the document or writing.”

What are we not saying? Can’t culprits of perjury and forgery be punished under the laws of Nigeria?

EVIL, SHAME OF VOTE.BUYING Fast forward to 2019: The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room categorically stated that the shortcomings of the 2019 general election was glaring, agonising that it cost the nation 58 lives.

Yes! Votes were bought in Adamawa, Sokoto, Lagos, Delta, Enugu, Ekiti, Bauchi, Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau, Kwara, Zamfara, Kebbi, Oyo, Kano and Osun States to mention but a few between N500 and N5,000.

Imo State Resident Electoral Commissioner Prof Francis Emeka Ezeonu laid the blames of violence, thuggery and vote buying on the footsteps of Nigerian politicians.

Prof Ezeonu, a Professor of Environmental Biochemistry and Toxicology from Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka who has stood out with Dr. Mike Igini (REC of Akwa Ibom) among all Resident Electoral Commissioners in Nigeria lamented how top politicians in the state allegedly hijacked electoral officers to work against the electoral processes.

He confirmed the arrest of 105 men with fake army and police uniforms and branded vehicles of the security Agencies. What a mess! Ezeonu appealed to Nigerian Politicians to jettison desperation, which leads to shortcomings, greed and everything negative and be committed to patriotism, for a greater future.

•Odogwu Emeka Odogwu is a known Journalist, Editor and famous Blogger, as well as Social Media Entrepreneur, publisher and Conversationalist @ www. odogwublog.com among others.

Phone Number: 08060750240 E-mail : odogwuchampionawka@ yahoo.co.ukOdogwu

WEDNESDAY March 27, 2019

The

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Basic education for Nigeria’s poor

S

uddenly, attention is shifting to Okotie-Eboh Primary School in Delta State. A video that has gone viral on social media shows little Miss Success Adebor protesting that her school sent her home because her parents failed to pay her exam fees. “Oh poor girl! Even the school is dilapidated!” And emergency “philanthropists” are sending in cash to enable her pay the fees.

I don’t begrudge Miss Adebor for becoming the poster girl for Nigerian kids who cannot pay their school fees.

But the hypocrisy of some Nigerians has many colours. While we’ve been shouting ourselves hoarse over the state of schools and education in the country, some have been pretending to have never seen a poor school pupil or a public school in ruins.

Well, let’s keep talking and keep reminding the pretenders of Nigeria’s new status as the world’s poverty capital, which finds expression in the number of children who cannot go to school. About 44.2% of the country’s population (or 87million people), according to the World Poverty Clock, lives in extreme poverty.

It means that parents who fall within this stratum cannot afford good education for their children. Currently, it is estimated that the number of out-of-school-children in the country exceeds 13.3 million.

This state of affairs is a warning sign to those who run Nigeria, for ignorance is much more expensive than education.

Is it any wonder the country has been contending with several social upheavals in recent times? Boko Haram [“western education is forbidden”] obviously appeals to unschooled kids, just as militancy in the Niger Delta soaks up millions of frustrated youth who have received little or no education.

The Nigerian authorities should know that the clock is ticking – and the timebomb that is youth restiveness will spare no one. A way must be made for children from poor backgrounds before they mature into adults in just a few years.

UNESCO prescribes that a minimum of 25% of each nation’s budget should be reserved for education. Nigeria may not meet that target in the foreseeable future, but it should gradually improve on its current 4—7% for education in order to avoid a catastrophe.

Quality basic education is the minimum requirement for the wellbeing of children, as it arms them with reading, writing, speaking, and numeracy skills that make them eligible to access and use information in a knowledge-based world.

Strict implementation of the federal government’s Universal Basic Education (UBE), a programme “aimed at ensuring an uninterrupted access to nine-year formal education by providing free and compulsory basic education for every child of school-going age”, is a point to start. For UBE to go beyond a policy on paper to a working policy that makes quality education accessible to indigent

GUEST COLUMNIST Aniebo

Nwamu

•Education Minister: Malam Adamu Adamu

children, there is need for adequate funding – and mechanisms to ensure the funds are judiciously used.

Educational planners of today have lessons to pick from the missionaries of the 1840s who brought western education to Nigeria. Those early missionaries provided free basic education, and that was the saving grace for both the children of the rich and the poor. Had missionary schools placed high fees on education, only an insignificant number of Nigerians would have received any education then.

Likewise, the people of western Nigeria owe their headway today to the free primary education policy of their first premier, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, in the 1950s.

Two other African countries that have put their right foot forward are Liberia and Rwanda. President George Weah has just announced free tuition for Liberians from primary through secondary to tertiary

level. Rwanda, a country that picked itself from the ruins of war, invested hugely in children education; it thoroughly funded and implemented a basic education policy that was a remarkable success: 97% primary school enrolment. Consequently, private schools are closing down in Rwanda as parents now enroll their children in public schools.

Improving the public school education, as Rwanda has done, is not an impossible mission. An upward review of the nation’s education budget would go a long way in making education accessible to more Nigerians. Giving poor children access to education is the best strategy to help them break free from the vicious circle of poverty. Child Fund, an international organization promoting the well-being of children, captures it thus: “Poverty and education are inextricably linked, because people living in poverty may stop going to school so they can work, which leaves

them without literacy and numeracy skills they need to further their careers. Their children, in turn, are in a similar situation years later, with little income and few options but to leave school and work.”

Education is the launch pad of development. The development of a nation is directly proportional to the education of its citizens – no nation develops better than the education it affords its citizens.

Children who have access to quality basic education have the tendency to grow into economically productive citizens. And the more economically productive citizens a country has, the more its economic growth. Good basic education prepares good and reliable workforce for a country.

The nation has been tortured enough by its vulnerable citizens. It is time to fund the basic education of indigent children so that the rich could sleep with their eyes closed. No society achieves much in a state of unrest and instability that lack of education often triggers.

It must be the right kind of education, however. Not the faulty education that breeds joblessness: we’re churning out more than a million mis-educated young people each year without preparing them for employment. Shouldn’t we stop deceiving ourselves by deemphasizing certificates?

Sometime in February 2018, I read that the minister of education, Mr Adamu Adamu, had hinted of a major education reform by the second quarter of 2018.

Adamu was a columnist before he was appointed education minister and he too had occasionally lamented the state of education in our country. I wished he would achieve something tangible this time. However, the second quarter of another year is beginning soon, yet I’ve not heard any pronouncement on the way forward. Except that I’ve recently read where Adamu said they’re considering jailing parents who refuse to send their children to school.

Adamu and the government he represents should, first, build many prisons then. And if they could provide free food for their prisoners, many would be willing to surrender themselves for the punishment even before committing the crime!

There will be many mutations of Boko Haram, so long as schools ignore the core message of the original Boko Haram.

Many Lake Chads have dried up or are drying up for millions of school leavers in most of Africa and some poor nations of Asia and Latin America, as industries that should absorb them have closed or are closing. Schools that are pumping out millions of young people every year without preparing them for the workplace or assuring they would have a place to stand are setting the stage for more wars: struggles for opportunities are inevitable.

•Nwamu, a book editor, is the CEO of Eyeway.ng. +234-8054100220 (SMS/WhatsApp only)

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.