THEWILL MAR 13 - MAR 19 EDITION

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2023 Presidency: Nigerians Must Be Guided By Competence, Capability – Farounbi PAGE 10

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MARCH 13 - MARCH 19, 2022 • VOL . 2 NO. 11

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T H EWI LLNI GERI A

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STATE OF THE STATES

This special publication of THEWILL x-rays the potentials of the 36 states and the FCT to achieve a quantum leap in development through investment and job creation. The prevailing cash crunch in the country makes the project more compelling for policy-makers, investors and other stakeholders.

INEC Okays March 26 APC N/Convention Amid Confusion, Intrigues •VP Ticket Tears Buni, El-Rufai Apart •Bello, Abiodun, Uzodinma Fingered As 'Yahoo Yahoo' Governors •Plot Against Adamu Thickens

MARCH 13 - MARCH 19, 2022 T H E W I L L N E W S P A P E R • www.thewillnigeria.com

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COVER

INEC Okays March 26 APC N/Convention Amid Confusion, Intrigues •VP Ticket Tears Buni, El-Rufai Apart •Bello, Abiodun, Uzodinma Fingered As 'Yahoo Yahoo' Governors •Plot Against Adamu Thickens

BY AMOS ESELE

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he controversy surrounding the March 26 National Convention of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) may have worn off, following confirmation by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday that it actually received a letter to that effect from the Governor of Yobe State, Mallam Mai Buni, who is the Chairman of the Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC).

THEWILL gathered that the INEC letter, which threw a spanner in the wheels of the party’s planned National Executive Meeting, scheduled for March 17, 2022, nine days to its convention, alerted the leadership to the dangers ahead: The leadership change that saw Governor Sani Bello of Niger State take over from his Yobe counterpart, Mai Mala Buni, as acting National Chairman and the planned NEC meeting for March 17, 2022 are illegal, according to INEC.

INEC’s National Commissioner for Information and Voter Education, Mr Festus Okoye, confirmed to THEWILL that the Commission received a letter from Governor Buni notifying it of the March 26 date of the party’s forthcoming national convention. But he could not confirm that the Commission received a copy of Buni’s letter to Governor Sani Bello of Niger State to act on his behalf while he travelled to the United Arab Emirate on health grounds.

INEC said in the letter, “The Electoral Act 2022 in Article 82, (1) states that “every registered political party shall give the Commission at least 21 days’ notice of any convention, congress, conference or meeting convened for the purpose of “merger” and electing members of its executive committees, other governing bodies or nominating candidates for any of the offices specified under this Act.”

“Yes, when the party moved its convention date from February 26 to March 26, it informed the Commission,” Okoye said.

But, regarding the letter from Buni to Bello, he said: “I need to confirm from the Chairman if we received the letter from Governor Mai Buni to Governor Bello. The Chairman is not in the office now. You can call back later.”

When he could not be reached later, Mr. Rotimi Oyekanmi , the Spokesman of the INEC Chairman, was contacted. He asked to be allowed to contact the appropriate department. As at press time, he replied: “Still expecting a response from the dept.”

Okoye's confirmation of the March 26 National Convention date came on a day the embattled leadership of the governing APC started some form of crisis management to restore confidence among members who fear that it may yet again postpone its National Convention initially scheduled for March 26, 2022 and fail to meet the June 4, 2022 deadline set

by INEC for all political parties to submit the names of their presidential candidates for the 2023 general election.

The March 9, 2022 letter from INEC to the party did the magic.

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With the party becoming rudderless as tempers continue to flare, governors accusing their counterparts of sabotaging the party ahead of the convention and blame trading becoming the order of the day, the leadership quickly got together to restore some sanity. The first move, THEWILL learnt, was to give a semblance of order to the preceding confusion and growing web of intrigues.

The immediate outcome was an arranged meeting with the media, which was convened on Friday, March 11, 2022, by the spokesperson of the Bello-led CECPC, Malam Ismail Ahmed, at the Abuja National Secretariat.

According to Ahmed, the party had appointed officials into convention planning committees that would work round the clock to ensure the March 26 National Convention date holds. The convention committee, which comprised 1,700 members, had been streamlined. He blamed the social media for magnifying the crisis and urged journalists to utilise his open-door policy for verification of future stories.

He said, “The convention will be held on March 26. I am a lawyer and we have already served a notice to INEC since February 25, 2022. That is more than 21 days’ notice. If we have to make adjustments, it will not infringe the law.”

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On the Thursday, March 17 virtual NEC meeting of the party, Ahmed said the legal department of the party would sort things out and get in touch with INEC. Then he spoke on the sudden leadership change that threw the party into hostile camps and created confusion as to whether Buni properly handed over to Bello or not.

“Since June 2020 (when Governor Mai Buni-led CECPC took over from the elected Adams Oshiomhole National Working Committee of the party), Governor Sanni Bello has always acted whenever the Chairman was not around. And now, we have a current acting chairman. The Chairman (Buni) wrote a letter transmitting power. So there is no ambiguity.”

This admission of a letter from Buni to Bello, as against the prevailing trend in the party, THEWILL learnt, was part of the current reality meant to soften the considerable legal loophole that the INEC letter had pointed out, with the possibility of meeting the electoral umpire’s requirements of conformity with the law.

INEC COMPLICATES MATTERS FOR APC Apart from effectively putting a stop to the party’s planned March 17 NEC meeting, the electoral umpire also indirectly restored the Buni leadership to control of the party.

That March 9, 2022 letter under reference, signed by its Secretary, Rose Anthony and titled. ‘Re: Invitation to the emergency meeting of the National Executive Committee,’ was addressed to the National Chairman, APC CECPC, who is Mai Buni and not the acting Chairman, Sani Bello.

In the letter, INEC informed the CECPC that the letter of invitation to attend the NEC was not signed by the National Chairman and National Secretary of the CECPC, Mai Buni and Senator John Akpanudoedehe, respectively.

It said the APC invitation letter was contrary to the provision of Article 1.1.3 of the Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for Political Party Operations (2018).

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COVER

INEC Okays March 26 APC N/Convention As Confusion, Intrigues Continue INEC said in its letter; “Please refer to your letter Ref. APC/ NHDQ/ INEC/ N019 /022/32, dated 8th March 2022.

“The Commission draws your attention to the fact that the notice for the meeting was not signed by the National Chairman and National Secretary of the CECPC, contrary to the provision of the Article 1.1.3 of the Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for Political Party Operations (2018).

“Furthermore, the APC is reminded of the provision in Section 82(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, which requires ‘at least 21 days’ notice of any convention, congress, conference, or meeting convened for the purpose of ‘merger’ and electing members of its executive committees, other governing bodies or nominating candidates for any elective office.

“While hoping that these issues are noted for compliance, please accept the assurance of the Commission’s warm regards.”

An APC group, the Alliance Network, however, thinks the Commission is being unfair to the party at its moment of crisis.

It, in fact, accused INEC of interfering with the internal affairs of the ruling party.

The Director-General of the group, Joe Ozurumba, said on Friday evening that since Governor Bello has been a member of the CNCPC from inception and was acting, whatever he does is “still part and parcel of the committee’s mandate.”

“Since the said Caretaker Committee is still in place, INEC ought to have known that all correspondence between it and the caretaker committee remains valid,” he argued.

Still, while the leadership of the party is making moves to restore peace in the party, the leading players in the crisis are fighting back.

VP SLOT TEARS BUNI, EL-RUFAI APART Inside sources close to the party's leadership told THEWILL that the party's vice presidential slot is the main reason for the fight between Buni and Kaduna State governor, Nasir ElRufai. According to a source who craved anonymity, while Buni is scheming to become the running mate to whoever emerges as the APC presidential candidate among former President Goodluck Jonathan, Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi and Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, El-Rufai is also banking on the same arrangement.

For Buni, our source alleged that he was not actually interested in conducting just the national convention but to delay it and conduct it as a single event with the party's presidential primaries just to achieve his personal objectives.

CONCERNS OVER ELECTORAL ACT CLAUSE 84 The refusal of the National Assembly to delete the controversial Clause 84 of the new Electoral Amendment Act as earlier agreed with President Buhari before the signing of the Bill into Law, THEWILL also gathered, is still causing ripples in the party. The National Assembly, which had earlier promised Buhari that they would amend the clause by removing it to allow serving political appointees contest for office while still holding on to their positions, was to later renege on its promise thus leaving their ambitions in limbo as the race for the 2023 elections hots up.

'YAHOO YAHOO' GOVERNORS UNVEILED Our source also point accusing fingers at the Governors Yahaya Bello; Dapo Abiodun and Hope Uzodinma of Kogi, Ogun and Imo States, respectively, as the 'Yahoo, yahoo' governors the Ondo State governor, Rotimi Akeredolu was referring to as those supporting Buni to allegedly truncate the APC. BUNI FIGHTS BACK However, as the web of intrigues continues amid obvious confusion in the party, Governor Buni, who continues to insist that he is still the Chairman of the party against submissions by his Kaduna State and Ondo State counterparts, el-Rufai and Akeredolu, respectively, that he can only return to the party as Governor of Yobe State, is fighting back.

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He is said to have got the listening ears of the leader of the party, President Muhammadu Buhari, to whom he took his case in London last week and pleaded to be allowed to complete the work he and his team has been doing to reposition the party for almost the last two years.

It was unclear as at the time of going to press whether Buhari would grant Buni’s wish.

Indeed, Buhari’s London base for his two-week medical check-up has turned into a centre for political pilgrimage as those opposed to Buni have also headed there to ensure the governor goes for good.

BUNI’S ALLEGED SINS Although he is yet to speak on it, Buni and his co-conspirators are accused of obtaining a High Court injunction against the party to make sure the national convention and presidential primaries hold simultaneously. The aim was to make it possible for them to impose their preferred leaders and candidates on the party.

According to Governor el-Rufai last week, the Yobe governor was found to be working against the interest of the party and was sabotaging the national convention. Buni’s spokesman, Yusuf Ali, denied the allegation, stating that his boss would resume office soon.

The fact that the Buni-led caretaker committee had managed to stay for almost two years during which it got the President’s nod to postpone the national convention twice and outlived its initial six-month tenure, has attracted more litigation about its status and powers, as well as mounting opposition by members of the party.

Unfolding developments show that even if the party manages to hold its ground until the convention, there is no guarantee there will be an end to the crisis.

PLOT AGAINST ADAMU THICKENS According to sources in the party, the current crisis has polarised interest groups in the party with the plot against the choice of Senator Abdullahi Adamu as the preferred candidate for the National Chairman by President Buhari thickening.

Moreover, the uniting power of President Buhari appears to be lacking. As a senior lawmaker confided in this newspaper, big wigs in the party are already looking ahead for who leads the party after Buhari.

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Our source also point accusing fingers at the Governors Yahaya Bello; Dapo Abiodun and Hope Uzodinma of Kogi, Ogun and Imo States, respectively, as the 'Yahoo, yahoo' governors the Ondo State governor, Rotimi Akeredolu was referring to as those supporting Buni to allegedly truncate the APC

He said, “It is normal in politics that an outgoing leader may not command so much respect, if the stakes are high.

Many party chieftains are building alliances based on what is to come. For now, the party is polarised between the Buni loyalists and those lining behind Governor Bello, whether amongst the governors or members of the National Assembly.”

Presidential aspirants on the platform of the APC are said to be watching developments in the party with keen interest, while a growing number of fence sitters may defect if the current crisis is allowed to snowball.

“YAHOO, YAHOO GOVERNORS THREATENING PARTY UNITY” Governor Akeredolu’s reaction to the ongoing crisis in the party, whereby he described his counterparts who are supporting Buni as “yahoo, yahoo governors,” has understandably not gone down well with some leaders of the party. The party source, who confided in THEWILL, said the statement would only polarise the party further, especially when Akeredolu called on the so-called saboteurs to quit the party rather than working to scuttle efforts to hold a convention and name a presidential candidate.

Although Akeredolu did not identify the governors, THEWILL learnt that they are considered the arrowheads of Buni’s alleged machinations.

Two of them are first term governors, (Uzodinma and Abiodun) while the third, (Bello) is doing his second term.

To consolidate their hold on the party and direct it towards their planned goals, they were allocated strategic positions in the convention planning committee, which has since been dissolved.

WAY FORWARD An APC chieftain in Lagos State, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, thinks it is only President Buhari that cannot douse the inflamed situation in the party.

“The buck stops on his table,” he said last week. “He has to leave the party as solid as it was when it brought him to power by taking steps to intervene. He should have interest in determining his successor who will continue his projects.”

Furthermore, Ogunlewe added that the National Working Committee of the party should discuss INEC’s letter, properly appoint Governor Bello as National Chairman and ensure that further confusion is addressed by the setting up of a separate committee to plan and conduct the National Convention, as well as the presidential convention.

Ogunlewe also said that President Buhari needed to take a firm stand on the party’s crisis and take action to whip everybody into line.

For Senator Rochas Okorocha, party positions should be shared among the legacy parties that merged into APC “or else there will continue to be crises in the party,” even as he submitted that the party would overcome its current challenges.

Ahmed, spokesman of CECPC, maintains that there is no cause for alarm. The caretaker committee members will be working full-time to attend to all challenges towards the successful conduct of the National Convention and ensure the speedy conclusion of the various crises in the party, he said on Friday.

President Buhari is expected back in the country in the next one week, if his doctors adhere strictly to the timeline for his medical check-up.

With Buni still fighting to retain his seat and the INEC, in its letter, backing him, there is no telling for now when and how the confusion will end.

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NEWS Residents Lament Poor Sanitation in Taraba FROM CHRISTIANA BABAYO, JALINGO

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esidents of Jalingo, the capital of Taraba State, have lamented the poor sanitary condition of the state and the silence of the agencies involved in the exercise.

Jalingo in time past has practiced the sanitation culture religiously, making Jalingo one of the cleanest cities in the zone. This culture has however eroded.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo SAN, (left), with HRH, Oba Moshood Olalekan Ishola Balogun, The Alli Okunmade II, Olubadan of Ibadanland during the presentation of Staff of Office to the 42nd Olubadan of Ibadanland in Oyo State on March 11, 2022.

Ritual Killings: Ogun Vows To 2022 Census: Fish Out Quack Traditionalists NPC Seeks FROM SEGUN AYINDE, ABEOKUTA

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he Ogun State Government has concluded plans to set up a task force to fish out uncertified traditionalists who are in the habit of rendering evil services to perpetrators of ritual killings and other social vices.

It equally identified measures to end the menace to including re-orientation of practitioners, traditionalists and herbalists, as well as working with security agencies to assist the task force and fish out defaulters.

Chairman of Ogun State Alternate Medicine Board, Balogun Nurudeen Olaleye, who disclosed this during a meeting with members of the Board in Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, said that it was high time the spate of ritual killings in the state was nipped in the bud “I am saying the use of human beings or human parts for ritual is not in our value system and we will not accept such. The Board is strategic in curtailing the evil acts and we are deploying all means to track down the unscrupulous traditionalists whom the people believe

are the ones rendering the evil services,” he said.

Olaleye stated that findings had shown that the heinous acts were being perpetrated mostly by youths due to the moral decadences in the society and the ‘get rich quick syndrome'.

He noted that the agency would ensure that certified practitioners in the state abide by the operational rules and guidelines of the practice for human wellness.

The chairman urged members of the public to support the board in its determination to sanitise the sub-sector and get rid of quacks, saying the people should not hesitate to inform the security agencies of any strange movement or suspecting herbalist in your community.

One of the Board members, Alhaji Ajisope Aroyewun pointed out that 70 percent of all culprits arrested and interrogated by the police force had no connection with certified herbalists or traditionalists.

5,000 To Benefit From Empowerment Programme in A' Ibom

BY UDEME UTIP, UYO

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o fewer than 5,000 persons, including, men, women, youths and the physically challenged from the 31 local government areas of Akwa Ibom State and beyond, will benefit from an unprecedented empowerment programme to be organised by Apostle Elijah Jack, the General Overseer of His Redeemed World Ministry.

The cleric disclosed this shortly after he received a delegation from the Nigerian Christian Youths Organisation (NCYO) on a courtesy visit to his office saying that he was committed to serving mankind especially the youths to acquire skills and enterpreneurship for their development.

He disclosed that a total of 50 youths from each of the 31 local government areas THEWILLNIGERIA

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of the state will be selected for the said training just to ameliorate their suffering.

"I have started looking into youths empowerment as a mandate that I must carry out in the society not by compulsion but by doing it because it is important that I should affect lives positively," he said.

The NCYO listed programmes it has embarked upon, including the provision of assistance to the needy , apprenticeship programmes for the physically challenged, donation of exercise books to schools, as well as Christian books to school libraries in the state, youth enlightenment programmes on dangers of drug abuse, alcoholism, cultism, kidnapping and other social vices in the society .

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Stakeholders' Support FROM BASSEY ANIEKAN, CALABAR

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he National Population Commission is seeking the support of stakeholders to ensure the success of the upcoming national census in the country.

The Commissioner representing Cross River State in the National Population Commission, Navy Captain Charles Ogwa (retd.), made the appeal in Calabar as part of the Commission’s sensitisation for the exercise.

He assured Nigerians that the proposed population and housing census in 2022 will produce data that will not be contestable.

This, he said is so because the entire data collection, beginning with the enumeration area demarcation has already been digitalised by the Commission.

"Unlike in the past when data collection was manually done, the forthcoming exercise will be digital. Once information is received from a particular person or household, it is stringed to the local government, state and zonal headquarters of the Commission," he said.

The NPC Commissioner stressed that areas where the commission was unable to access during the routine enumeration area demarcation, due to conflict, will now be visited.

He said the enumeration area demarcation involves five local government areas, such as Bekwarra, Obudu, Ogoja, Ikom and Etung, in Cross River State.

He appealed to people of the state to assist the commission by providing accurate information concerning themselves, their families and houses whenever enumerators pay them a visit, adding that once the information has been stringed to any database it would be difficult to change.

THEWILL correspondent recently toured parts of the state capital and discovered that with refuse dumps littering most of the major roads and streets, the sanitary condition of Jalingo begs the urgent attention of the Taraba State Government.

Jalingo residents who spoke with THEWILL lamented the poor sanitation in the state capital. One of them, Mrs Sarah Mudwa, said, “No capital city should look this untidy, but here we are. I know it is not the job of the government alone, but we cannot do it on our own. When we tidy our environment, we expect that government agencies involved should make provision for the disposal refuse in other places different from residential areas. Also if the government sets aside a day for a general and compulsory sanitation exercise, as it is done in many other states, it will give people time to come out and clean their environment.”

Another resident, Mr Duamanang Peter, said it was the duty of the state government to draw up a plan for waste disposal in the state capital.

He said, “I agree that it is not the duty of the government alone to clean up the environment, but when we do our bit, where do we dispose the waste? This is where the government comes in. Government should make available sanitation trucks or set up agencies that will help us to evacuate and properly dispose refuse.”

A resident, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, noted: "A couple of years ago, some people were hired by the government to clean up Jalingo. Trash bins were deposited in strategic places and sanitation trucks moving around to evacuate refuse from residential houses and offices. This culture kept the city clean for a while before they stopped working. Nowadays nothing is being done about the sanitary condition of the city and refuse end up in places where they shouldn't be.

“Look at that area behind the roadblock park and that Mile 6 area that leads to the bypass, for example. These places shouldn't look the way they are looking right now.

Something needs to be done urgentl, if you ask me."

When contacted, the Ministry of Urban Development declined comment on the matter.

Meanwhile, in a telephone interview with THEWILL, the Senior Special Adviser to the Taraba state Governor, Mr Bala Dan Abu, said the state government was working towards maintaining proper sanitation in Jalingo.

“I do not agree with your observation that sanitation has stopped in Jalingo. We have the impression that Jalingo is one of the cleanest cities in the country. There are places for depositing rubbish, but if you move through the city, the major areas are clean.

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MARCH 13 - MARCH 19, 2022 T H E W I L L N E W S P A P E R • www.thewillnigeria.com

ARTS

Edi Lawani: The Road to Showbiz they saw a boy and they liked and wanted him to join their group – that was Faze. So I said you are 2face, Blackface, but what are we going to call the new boy? So they said Faze. And that was it.”

BY MICHAEL JIMOH

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n his final year in Class 5A at St Paul’s Anglican Grammar School Igarra in the then Bendel state round about 1981, Edi Lawani was one of the regular readers of prescribed literature text taught by Mrs. Ebiyemi S. Gadimoh. Others were Robert Omoyeni with his patrician voice even at that time, Kayode Sadare Apeji now known as Fred Apeji, Omeiza Adebola and myself.

Thus was Plantashun Boyz born and thus did Tuface’s career begin.

The rest, as they say, is history.

In his line of business, it is impossible to organize shows without something going awfully wrong, at least once, twice or more: a human error, say, a technical glitch or even a pie-eyed star after a cocktail of strong drinks and whiffs of pot. Of course, there have been, Edi told THEWILL. But the most memorable was a concert at TBS in 1998.

Gadimoh went beyond rote teaching for her wards. She made us read passages from textbooks aloud to the entire class – not only to understand the characters better but to also correct mispronunciations. She also organised discussion sessions of texts we studied.

Nothing scares events planners more than an unexpected downpour during a show. If it rains after the party, all well and good. But everyone from the organisers to the musicians and spectators may just be nearing a depressive state if the deluge comes before or during the party. So it was that day at TBS. As Edi recalled it, the cables were submerged in water which “reached our ankles.” But the crew worked round the clock despite the rain. Everyone behaved professionally that day, even the paying audience who never complained once. As they say, the show must go on. It did.

For drama there was Macbeth by almighty Shakespeare, Things Fall Apart and Mine Boy by Chinua Achebe and Peter Abraham, respectively, for prose and A Selection of African Poetry edited by K E. Senanu and Theo Vincent for poetry.

Like a stage director watching actors during rehearsals, Gadimoh alternated the characters for all of us. Thus, Edi could be Duncan this week, Omoyeni Banquo, Apeji Macbeth, Adebola Macduff and myself Malcolm and vice versa the following class and on and on. (It must be said however that we were not the only readers in the class but regular readers.)

The show has been going on for Edi himself these past years. Nothing suggests it’s going to stop anytime soon. Ask any Nigerian musician, actor, director, producer in Nollywood or any big name in the entertainment industry old and young who the most consistent manager/ promoter is and you’re likely to hear one name: Edi Lawani.

Just as we were irresistibly drawn to Literature in school, we were also repulsed from Mathematics classes because of an Indian teacher whose mispronounced words flew above our heads. There was likeable Mr. Thomas, for sure, a Ceylonese who scribbled confounding calculations on the board even as he puffed out clouds of smoke from his Benson & Hedges brand. Or was it John Player’s Gold Leaf?

But it was Raybadan – I hope I got the spelling right – a tiny Indian with thinning hair who encouraged our skiving during Maths periods. Apart from his bias for flogging erring students on the back of their palms with the edge and not the flat end of a ruler, he also mispronounced words serially. Instead of minus, for instance, we heard maiyunce.

And then, there were the frightening formulas and cranky calculations that could get you woozy in no time. So, during Mathematics classes, you will find four or many more vacant seats in 5A. At this very time, five of the occupants of the chairs would be ensconced in their beds in the hostel, most times in Oyebode aka Green House, passing James Hadley Chase pulp fictions from hand to hand like proscribed documents in censorious regimes.

Joseph Ebogen who was the fifth chap and alpha male in our group – on account of his being older and taller - provided some of the Chase novels. (Mark you, Edi and Kayode were not in boarding house.

Ebogen, Omeiza and I were.) But we were all united by a common interest, our devotion to literature which extended to pulp fictions and aversion for Mathematics in almost equal measure.

Most weekends, Ebogen, Omeiza and I will sneak out of the hostel straight to Edi’s house, a glancing distance from the school. This time, Edi will host us with fresh palm wine sold in his father’s shop. Of course, there would be talk about the characters we read: Poke Toholo the Seminole Indian who knew how to milk the rich through fear; Tom Lepski the police officer who never failed to bag some of the conmen or killers; Al Barney, the man with his ears to the ground; Malik and Mark Girland, two ace spies forever entangled in espionage missions for their fatherland – former Soviet Union and the USA; Jack Maurer and his nemesis Vito Ferrari; Herman Radnitz, the cigar-chomping, eccentric moneybag and financier of some of the continental chase between Malik and Girland and several other unforgettable characters.

There were the titles as well. No Orchids for Miss Blandish, the very first Chase novel published in 1939; This is for Real; Have this One on Me; Believed Violent; The Vulture is a Patient Bird; Knock, Knock Who Is There? Come Easy-Go Easy and so on. At the time, none of us knew Chase was not even an American, neither had he been to the US in person except a visit to Miami. He was an English man named Rene Lodge Brabazon Raymond who relied on maps, dictionary of American slangs and reference books of the American underworld.

We almost always had an audience of one in Edi’s pad, a lone figure sitting, listening to our conversation and watching us deplete his frothy supplies bottle after bottle after bottle, his legs exed at the ankles, his silver beards contrasting sharply with his dark visage – Chief Obondu Lawani, our host’s father.

It was no surprise Edi went on to study English & Literature by the time he gained admission to Bendel State University, Ekpoma now Ambrose Alli University. He was among the second set of 82 and, as a new campus, things were not happening, there was not much fun.

Edi himself recalled to an interviewer once that “because it was a new school, the hostel was in one end, classes were scattered all over town…Social life was very low especially for someone like me who

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was coming from Lagos to Ekpoma.”

Rather than wait and make nothing happen, the young undergraduate “got a few friends together and started organizing Sunday Jams. We would go to University of Benin and Auchi Polytechnic to get artistes who would come and mime on stage. After a while, we started putting pageants together. That was how I started. I saw a need, a void and I found a way to fill it.”

A remarkable talent spotter, Edi will fill a far more important void for someone who had no chance of ever hitching a ride on the entertainment train let alone become a superstar. The story has been told how two young men met Edi at his Ikeja office, a wing of the old PMAN headquarters that has now been gobbled up by Computer Village.

At the time, PMAN was the only place/ venue where budding artistes headed to for a breakthrough, demo tapes in hand. After all, there was nothing like Nigerian Idol or any such talent-spotting shows for aspiring musicians. Willie Walkman, a colleague, introduced the two lads to Edi. Both could sing and Edi was bowled over after they performed an Acapella for him in his office.

Months later, Edi had the duo as opening acts in a Rothmans Groove tour. They were not billed to perform, though. It is best to hear how the manager himself raised the guys from obscurity to limelight: “I was hired as artistic director/stage coordinator for the Rothmans Groove tour nationwide. Remedies had just made their first single and had been signed to go on the concert; 30 shows around the country which was big, but they needed younger artistes as opening acts. So, I suggested to the client that we can spread this opportunity to many more artistes and, luckily, the client agreed. I gave them a budget that would allow us to have two or three smaller artistes open the gigs.

“I did two auditions where the client and agency were represented at Ozone and we were able to choose the lead act to open the shows. I remembered these two guys that were brought to me and started looking for them because they didn’t have a demo but I wanted the team to hear their voices. I went to Willie to ask for them but he had no idea how to reach them. Those days there were no mobile phones, but we learnt that they lived in Festac. I gave somebody money to go and look for them. They found them after three days and I brought them to the audition and they did very well and were signed on as the sub-head headline acts to The Remedies.”

“By the time we took them nationwide and the show was over, I took them under my wings. They were able to go to the studio to start making their record from the money they made from the tour. Imagine how they got their break, going on a nationwide tour without a record. I was their unofficial manager for a bit because we never had a contract with them.

“My method was just to help in whatever way I could and let the artiste go. I always tell them once they make their record, my interest is in the person who wants to make their next record. So, in the process of making their record, they went out one day, came back and they said

From Sunny Ade to Femi Kuti, Remedies and Lt Shotgun, the hasbeens and wannabes in the entertainment industry in Nigeria, they all know him with his trade mark flowing beards long before it became faddish, almost always underdressed but one of the most reliable hands when it comes to organizing events, spotting talents, encouraging budding artistes or concert tours.

Now into ‘special events production,’ Edi has been many things in the past: teacher, broadcaster, journalist, music promoter and much else.

In a 2019 interview with Raphael Adeniran, he mused on how his career crossovers have sort of blended seamlessly to a whole.

“I have been different things over the years. From being a university undergraduate events promoter, organising beauty pageants and musical shows, a journalist, a teacher, an artiste manager and a music administrator with Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN). All that put together kind of guided me through to where I play in the industry right now: ‘special event production.”

Better still, Edi insists he is “a special event consultant – that makes me a specialist in event production and management. And with event production and management, the experience from the music background, artiste management, journalism, experience in radio and TV all come together in helping to create a vision of conceptualizing and creating ideas for events and seeing them through.”

At his quiet times or leisure moments – and there are not many of those in his very busy schedule week in week out round the year – Edi Lawani has more than enough books to read in his rich library, including all Puzo’s publications and even unpublished manuscripts of the eponymous author of The Godfather.

Those who know Edi closely talk of his humility and ordinariness of life which is a remarkable trait in someone who has made stars but does not want to be seen as one or even go around posing as one.

But just last month, the organisers of Afro Beat Hall of Fame took exception to that. Edi Lawani was the very first inductee of the first edition, like outing him from the backstage to the front this time to claim his reward. On that day in question, KSA smiled beside him on stage while receiving his award, and several other big name artistes.

Of the award itself, Edi told THEWILL thusly: “I feel honoured to be the first inductee into the Afro Beat Hall of Fame, considering the high-profile names on the list. There was KSA, Rex Jim Lawson and so on. The recognition is most welcome because it shows that people take notice after all, they know that one has been working quietly but consistently.”

His dedication was even more terse, less than a half second: “I will be dedicating this to everybody who works backstage, not expecting a reward, just do your bit to make the things you see upfront possible, people whose names you never get to read about but they play an important role in getting things done. This is for them.”

Vintage Edi Lawani, you’d say, not dedicated to any of the dozens of stars he made or helped along the way to stardom but to those you never get to see – the technicians, camera men, producers and managers like him.

What does all this tell us about our man Edi Lawani? Simply a cut above the rest.

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POLITICS

Adeleke

Babayemi

Osun 2022: PDP Still Swims In Confusion •As Two Candidates Remain Adamant

BY AYO ESAN

A array.

s the preparation towards the July 16, 2022 governorship election in Osun State gathers momentum, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) appears to be in dis-

Emerging feelers indicate that the party is divided into two opposing groups, with no sign of reconciliation in sight.

Signs of division in the party came into the open when two governorship candidates emerged from the parallel primaries held on Tuesday, March, 8, 2022 in Oshogbo, the state capital.

While Senator Demola Adeleke emerged winner of the primary election held at the Oshogbo Township Stadium, Prince Dotun Babayemi won the one organised by another faction of the party at the Women and Children Development Initiative Foundation (WOCDIF).

Political analysts realised that the primary that produced Senator Adeleke as the winner was the authentic one, after he was presented with a Certificate of Return by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party led by the National Chairman, Prof. Iyorchia Ayu last Thursday.

Babayemi however said " Presentation of certificate of return by the NWC is part of the electoral process. The process does not finish with this.

“It is an ongoing process. The electoral journey doesn’t end until a right candidate is sworn in. We have our party internal mechanism. Even though the NWC has taken this action, there is a NEC. This is not the end of journey.”

The organisers of the primary that produced Babayemi, who are eminent leaders of the party in the state, including members of the Board of Trustees, a former governor of the state and a former deputy governor, believe they will still triumph at the end of the day.

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While Senator Demola Adeleke emerged winner of the primary election held at the Oshogbo Township Stadium, Prince Dotun Babayemi won the one organised by another faction of the party at the Women and Children Development Initiative Foundation (WOCDIF)

Speaking during the primary at WOCDIF, a former Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Shuaibu Oyedokun, said, “We know what we are doing. What we are doing here is not against the law or constitution of the party. This is where all the leaders of the party are gathered. Those at the Osun State Stadium are there for money. We are for the people. It is a pity that the NWC of the party has refused to do the right thing.

Also speaking, a former governor of the state, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, said, “Let them say what they like. What we did at the primary that produced Dotun Babayemi as the governorship candidate of the party is legitimate. But we are not going to allow money to becloud our sense of reasoning. They have done their own, we have done ours. Let us know what will happen.”

Speaking during the primary election, Dele Adeleke said, “The law of the party is clear. Some people think they can use what they have to oppress the people. We are here for no other reason than to produce the best candidate for the people

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of Osun State. Our primary is in consonance with the law and the court has even validated what we did with all the judgements in our favour.”

In their reaction to victory, Babayemi described his election as a call to duty, while Adeleke said he was poised for victory.

At the primary held at the Oshogbo City Stadium under the supervision of Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, Senator Ademola Adeleke was declared winner.

According to Ewhrudjakpo, who announced the results of the election, Adeleke scored 1, 887 votes, while his closest rival Sanya Omirin, scored four votes. The primary was supervised by the PDP’s representatives from Abuja and officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

No representative of the party or INEC was present during the primary held at WOCDIF, Oshogbo, where Prince Dotun Babayemi was declared winner.

Ewhrudjakpo said that other aspirants, except Dele Adeleke who scored just one vote, got zero votes.

Ewhrudjakpo said that a total of 1,916 votes were recorded, while 24 votes were invalid.

“By the power conferred on me as the Chief Returning Officer of this gubernatorial primary, we, hereby collectively declared Adeleke Ademola Jackson, as the winner of this primary for 2022 governorship election in Osun,” he said.

Ewhrudjakpo urged all other aspirants to join hands with the winner to enable the party to win the July 16 governorship election in the state.

He also urged Adeleke to be magnanimous in victory.

Ewhrudjakpo said that there was no parallel congress in the state. According to him, any other congress, apart from the one he supervised will not be recognised by the party’s national working committee.

“The king is here and the crown is here. This is the authentic congress and any other one conducted in any other place will not be recognised,” he said.

•Continues on page 12

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POLITICS/INTERVIEW

2023 Presidency: Nigerians Must Be Guided By Competence, Capability – Farounbi Dr Yemi Farounbi is a veteran journalist, ace broadcaster and former Nigerian Ambassador to Philippines . In this interview with AYO ESAN, he speaks on the recently signed Electoral Act 2021, INEC’s preparation for the 2023 general election and the Russia-Ukraine war, among other issues. Excerpts:

How will the new law affect the forthcoming general election?

There are provisions that will enhance transparency in the conduct of the election. The Electoral Act allows for the use of electronic devices in the collation of results, should the INEC decide to do so. The Act formally approves the use of card readers. It ensures that the kind of situation witnessed during a governorship election in Kogi, where the candidate died and an outsider got the ticket, will be tidily resolved in the future. The Act has provided for a longer campaign period because of the time specified for political parties to nominate candidates. This may mean higher campaign costs. This early submission of names of candidates happily closed the doors against new political parties, including the ‘Third Force’ or ‘Mega Party’, unless such movements will adopt one of the existing 18 parties. This, of course, makes voting easier for the electorate. It should be easier for the electorate to make a choice out of 18 parties than making a choice out of the unwieldy 86 parties of 2019 Are you satisfied with INEC’s preparation for the 2023 general election so far? How do you see the new timetable which stipulates that political parties must produce the candidates for the general election latest on June 3, 2022?

The Electoral Act has just become law. The Act provides the ground-norm for INEC's operations. So the commission cannot be assessed yet.

As for the time table and the June 3 nomination deadline, INEC has complied with the provisions of the Act, which we all clamoured for.

The United States Government has urged Nigeria to ensure that there won’t be violence during the 2023 general election. What is your take on this?

The US Government’s statement is quite good. It would have been unnecessary if we didn't have a history of electoral violence. One of the pillars of democracy is free, fair and peaceful elections. We still recall with nostalgia the June 12, 1993 presidential election for being the fairest and freest election held in Nigeria. Recreating that peaceful scenario in 2023 is a worthy and desirable goal.

What is your advice to the electorate as we prepare for next year’s general election?

The 2023 general election offers Nigerians an opportunity to chart a new path of socio-economic growth and development of our country. The election will offer all Nigerians the opportunity to elect those who will be able to effectively tackle the security, economic, political and social challenges facing the country.

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The electorate must carefully screen the candidates on the basis of their vision for the country, their competence and character. The electorate must not be carried away by the sizes of bank accounts, the religious beliefs of the candidates or their ethnic nationality or language preferences. The electorate must be guided by objective criteria of competence, capability, performance, knowledge, mental horsepower, understanding of problems facing the nation and the appropriateness of the prescribed solutions.

What kind of person do you expect to emerge as the next president of Nigeria?

My position has always been that there's no one who is good and fit to be president all the time. The kind of person required to be president changes from time to time, depending on the pervading situation and problems in the country. That is why I believe the serial candidates who offer themselves ought to be ignored because they probably don't know the changing needs of the country.

The contemporary problems that need to be addressed and resolved by the incoming president include poor performing economy, poverty, hunger, security and challenges, including terrorism, kidnapping, banditry and of course, structural problems, including self determination demands and breakaway movements.

So the incoming president must be able to unite the people, offer them hope, peace, joy and economic growth and development. He must have clearly well defined road maps for solving these problems. His vision and goals must go beyond slogans. It must include specific measurable goals in terms of quality, quantity, time and cost.

The new president must be good enough to attract the best brains from all parts of the country. His world view must not be handicapped by ethnic, religious and partisan blinds.

What is your advice to President Muhammadu Buhari concerning the suffering of the average Nigerian?

President Muhammadu Buhari must carefully understand the root causes of these problems. Many Nigerians believe that overcentralisation of the country is a major limiting factor for our economy. Most Nigerians believe there is a need to restructure the country, to reduce the overconcentration of functions, responsibilities and resources in the centre, to make the federating units more capable and responsive to the yearnings and aspirations of the people at the grass roots.

To me, a great legacy that President Buhari can still leave is a restructured Nigeria that is well-positioned for growth and development What is your position on zoning of the presidency by political parties?

Ordinarily we should be looking for the best candidates on the basis of merit.

However because of the history of our country, our

Farounbi

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fter much delay, President Muhammadu Buhari finally signed the 2021 Electoral Act Amendment Bill into law. What is your reaction to this?

I am not sure that there was a delay. President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Electoral Amendment bill into law within the stipulated time allowed by the Constitution. So it was perfectly in order.

antecedents, the search for merit must be anchored in the need of all Nigerians to have equal access to the highest political position in the country. That is the genesis for the unwritten practice of rotation of positions between the South and the North. Inbuilt into this is the rotation between the major religious persuasions. It is the perception that the second term bid of former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan would disrupt this rotation principle that contributed to his defeat in 2015. Just as the rejection of a possible third term bid for Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was because it was seen as a violation of this unwritten rotation principle.

Perhaps when Nigeria reaches a level of political maturity, the search for merit will be the only guiding factor. Based on this convention, the Presidency must be zoned to the South against 2023 general election.

As a former diplomat, what is your reaction to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war?

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POLITICS Osun 2022: PDP Still Swims In Confusion •Continued from page 9

In his acceptance speech, Adeleke said that there was no victor, no vanquished in the primary election.

“We are all winners. Let us work together to rescue the people of the state from the All Progressives Congress-led government.

“By God’s grace, the PDP will win the July 16 governorship election by a landslide to claim our stolen mandate. Our manifesto will be released in few days time,” he said.

At the WOCDIF Centre, Mr. Adelani Ajanaku, the Returning Officer in the parallel primary election, said that Babayemi scored 1,781 votes, while his closet rival, Adeleke scored 32 votes.

Ajanaku said that Fatai Akinbade scored 28 votes, Ogunbiyi (23 votes) and Omirin polled 16 votes, respectively. He also said that 1,907 votes were recorded, with 27 voided.

In his acceptance speech, Babayemi expressed his gratitude to all his brothers and co-contestants, who voluntarily allowed him to fly the party’s flag.

He said, “Your sacrifice is appreciated. Let me assure you that I will not let you down as your representative. I am, indeed, grateful to everyone for the confidence reposed in me, while making a solemn promise never to disappoint you. Today, I promise not to be the candidate of few, but a governorship candidate of all.”

While speaking on the parallel primaries, a leader of the party in the state, who was present at the primary where Adeleke was declared winner, Hon. Wole Oke, representing Obokun/Oriade Federal Constituency of the state, said those that attended the WOCDIF primary are prominent leaders of the party, but he wondered why they behaved the way they did.

He said,“They have managed this process before. They have participated in this kind of process before. Is that the way and manner the primaries were conducted? Chief Oyinlola and Erelu Obada contested primary three times, two in Osun state and one in Abuja before they emerged as candidates of the party. . Was that the process they followed?

“The party published the names of delegates and sent officials from Abuja to conduct the primary and it took place in the stadium. Even a blind man can see which primary is authentic. I don’t even want to believe there was a parallel primary anywhere. We are operating a constitutional democracy, we have the constitution of the country and we have the constitution of the party. For God sake, some people should think of young Nigerians coming behind them

“

The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine represents the greatest threat to world peace, order, stability and perhaps, human existence since 1945.

So the incoming president must be able to unite the people, offer them hope, peace, joy and economic growth and development. He must have clearly well defined road maps for solving these problems THEWILLNIGERIA

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It represents the greatest threat to the continuing existence and survival of small independent nations, if the principle of might is right, as reflected in this war, becomes the rule. The matter between both countries must be handled carefully. The continuing isolation of Russia may push Putin into taking extreme action that may harm he thuman existence. It may be necessary to adopt the stick and carrot approach. The door for negotiation must be left open. It will be important to correctly assess and understand the mental and emotional profile of the Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Of course, the inviolability of the sovereignty of every independent nation, no matter how small or big, is also sacrosanct.

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“There is something you cannot run away from and that is the rule of law. We just have to be by the side of the law. For me, a lawmaker and lawyer by training, I will always stand by the side of the law. Ultimately, if our leaders cannot come together and solve this matter, we will go the legal way and we will end it at the Supreme Court.”

On how the crisis may affect the fortune of the party in the forthcoming governorship election, Oke said, “Four months to the election, nobody is campaigning because of this distraction. I am totally disappointed at the way things are going. You have a sitting governor that you want to confront and you are fighting each other. Is that how to go about it?”

He urged the members and leaders of the party to give chance to peace, saying, “A candidate has emerged, let us work together and see how we can confront the ruling party”.

Analysts have expressed the opinion that the issue may lead to a court case that may affect the fortune of the party in the coming election, if the leaders fail to resolve the crisis on time.

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POLITICS

'Akwa Ibom Needs An Entrepreneur As Governor'

The Coordinator of the National Media for Maintain Peace Movement (MPM), Anietie Usen, speaks on his appointment as Director of Campaign for Akwa Ibom State Governorship Aspirant, Pastor Umo Eno, in this interview with UDEME UTIP in Uyo. Excerpts:

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hat would you say about Pastor Umo Eno, who is seen as the preferred successor to the incumbent Governor Udom Emmanuel?

The man I represent is very marketable. Maintain Peace Movement, as you know, is a noble administrative tool to ensure that Akwa Ibom State remains as peaceful and serene as we all know it to be. I don't think there is any important attribute that can be given to the state other than its sense of serenity and peace that you find whenever you're here.

We are all witnesses to the fact that we are a very peaceful and pleasant people. If there is anything that Governor Udom Emmanuel has succeeded in sustaining, I think it is the people’s character as very peaceful and pleasant.

MPM was founded against the backdrop of tension in the state and a bit of insecurity, which was quite unlike Akwa Ibom. We had a little bit of kidnapping and some other challenging situations. If I were the the governor, I would have done what Udom did by looking for a machinery to maintain and sustain the peace that we are all enjoy in this state. It is our character and we won't apologise to anyone for that. We are gentlemen here in Akwa Ibom State. That is the rationale for MPM. Note that peace is a wonderful brand all over the world. Today we are talking about Ukraine and Russia, but men like Martin Luther King Junior, Mahatma Gandhi and Desmond Tutu became global brands because of peace. So we are very proud in Akwa Ibom to campaigning for peace so that the necessary environment can be created for the kind of progress that we want to make as a people.

We want to be known as a peaceful people and that is the justification for Maintain Peace Movement. I count myself lucky to represent a man like Pastor Umo Eno. Most people know that I'm a little bit of a loud Christian. I don't hide my Christian credentials at all. If you go to my Facebook wall, you will see that there is no day I don't post a scripture.

So to be requested to stand in for a pastor is something of joy to me.

I confess to you that as Christians, we have been praying for a time like this, when the Bible says that nobles and our Governors will come from our midst. And so it is so natural for me. I had a group called Liberty Network. It was a group for Christians in politics. This is our chance so to speak to see that Umo Eno is a man of dignity and integrity, a man of depth and insight, who is not only devoted to the Christian way of life, but also deeply involved in entrepreneurship and that thrills me.

This is a man who came to Akwa Ibom in 1997 from Lagos of all places. He resigned from the company he was working with because he had undertaken a sponsored feasibility study to diversify the economy of the company. He presented it to the board of the company and it was rejected. He tendered his resignation letter. He was happy. He took the feasibility study and implemented it in the hospitality industry. It is on record that since 1997 when he started the Royalty Group, the company has grown in leaps and bounds.

Imagine that someone who lived in Lagos all his life and speaks Yoruba like a Yoruba man could come to establish a company in Akwa Ibom and he has been consistent and persistent in building the business. Now, with six subsidiaries working for companies like ExxonMobil, Chevron, etc, it shows that he is also capable of introducing a dimension to administration and governance that is not yet in Akwa Ibom State.

Some politicians in Akwa Ibom see Eno as a political neophyte, just coming from nowhere to steal the show by becoming the preferred candidate of Governor Emmanuel. How do you intend to disabuse the voters of this notion?

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Usen

I arrived from Abuja yesterday. It was so toxic over there. Nobody could get fuel to move around. The transport fare from the airport to town, which used to be between N3,000 and N5,000 was N15, 000.

The queues are endless everywhere, but immediately I entered Uyo I started feeling at home again. There is not one of my friends that accompanied me to Akwa Ibom who did not say: "Ha Anietie, I wish I lived here."

The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. The Bible says so. It says even professors are very poor. In some translations it says that what matters is being at the right place at the right time. The Bible also says that it is not he that runneth, nor he that willeth, it is the Lord that showeth mercy. Realistically speaking, this is not new in most states of the federation. I believe that when God would have put something in your file one day, one way or the other, you will pull it out and you will be. It says whatsoever the Lord doeth shall be forever, it says nothing can be added to it and nothing can be taken from it. It says the Lord doeth it so that men will fear before him. Those kinds of things happen. How would Barrack Obama become the President of America and fulfill the prophecy of Martin Luther King: that a man should not be judged by the colour of his skin, but by the content of his character.

Let me tell you the truth, I have sat as Chief Executive of big organisations, at least one of it is in Akwa Ibom State. I was General Manager, CEO of Akwa Ibom Newspaper Corporation. I was 32 or 33 years-old at the time. I was Sole Administrator and nobody could hinder me. In the leadership capacity, even in the family, you always know who is who and of course, a leader is expected to do that. Jesus knew the capacity of his disciples. It would be entirely difficult for the governor to sit and know the capacities of his people and fail to do the needful. If you were the governor, you would do the same thing. Probably this person is better placed to continue. The issue of sustainability and policy summersault.

You speaks so well of Umo Eno and his ideas, but in Akwa Ibom, since the days of Obong Akpan Isemin; all our governors have been coming from the private sector. Yet this has not translated into the industrialisation or flourishing of SMEs in the state. How will you convince Akwa Ibom people that Umo Eno will be different?

It depends on the dimension that you are coming from. You know that all of them came from different dimensions. I won't go into details, so I don't step on toes but this is a practicing entrepreneur. You know him and you see him. His hotel in Ewet Housing Estate is one of the best and probably the most expensive. Apart from the five star hotel, he has similar projects all around the state, in Eket and beyond also. That shows that he is a practical person. He has a watermaking company. He has been doing it and that is what he has been doing all his life.

He is different from someone like me who will come out and say “I am from the private sector. We know those things in generics terms. He talks so much about connecting the doors he really understands it. To make the level of impact he has made in this state and to have all those people in his employ with monthly salary bill of over N26m, it is not an easy thing and there are others who succeed in doing it and there are others who only mouth it.

Game-Changing Second Niger Bridge And The Need For PPP Initiatives In Public Infrastructure

•Continued from Back Page

billion, according to Gambari. However, I am of the view that projects of this magnitude, with overarching benefits for a large population, should not be left to the government alone. A very obvious exemplification of a similar project that is modeled on the PPP formula is the proposed 4th Mainland Bridge in Lagos. The bridge, a 2x4 lane carriageway cross-sectional road with permission for BRT Lane, is a 37.4km long bridge project by the Lagos State Government, which will connect Lagos Island by way of Langbasa in Lekki by way of Baiyeku in Ikorodu across the Lagos Lagoon to Itamaga in Ikorodu.

For this, the government issued a Request for Qualification (RFQ) for bidders to apply in February. The number of concessionaires competing to build, manage and maintain the Lagos bridge has been reduced from 39 to three, according to the governor, and building will begin before June 30. The selection process for the project manager will be completed before March 31, but the completion of the paper work and other technicalities will push the kick-off date for the project to the second quarter of 2022, which is between April 1 and June 31. This apparent lag was actually a well intentioned selection process to ensure that only the best concessionaire to handle the project for the state made it through the rigorous process.

This is the recommended standard to avoid situations, such as what happened with the Second Niger Bridge that forced the full responsibility for such a key project on the shoulders of the government before the project even began. The Lagos example will share the responsibility and make for a more balanced ownership of the developmental process, while ensuring that the efficiency of the private sector reflects in the timely completion and high budget fidelity ratio of such significant projects.

I must therefore commend President Buhari, Fashola and the contractor, Julius Berger for the realisation of the Second Niger Bridge and also extend my support to Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu's plan for the 4th Mainland Bridge.

APC Is Buhari/Tinubu's Business Venture - Mutfwang

FROM UKANDI ODEY, JOS

A

top contender for the gubernatorial ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party in Plateau State, Hon Caleb Mutfwang, has dismissed the ruling All Progressives Congress as a political contraption, which is at best a "business venture between President Muhammadu Buhari and Ahmed Bola Tinubu".

Speaking at the Teachers' House in Mangu Local Government Area after his declaration to contest the governorship of the State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Mutfwang noted that the APC as a matter of fact is a contraption, pointing out that since it came into being as a "business venture between President Buhari and Tinubu", the only successful event held by it is the presidential convention that produced Buhari in 2014.

Hon Mutfwang who said his priorities if elected governor of Plateau State would be agriculture, security, mining, and promoting a business climate to enhance the people's economic well being, called on Nigerians to come out en masse in the opportunity of the next general elections and vote out the APC because the party has failed to boost the fortunes of Nigerians, but rather left it impoverished and the citizens devalued economically.

The former executive chairman of Mangu local government council said apart from repositioning the state security outfit, Operation Rainbow, to respond adequately to the yawning security challenges in the State, he will also favour the establishment of a State Police to enhance anti-crime surveillance of the State of elected governor in 2023.

Noting that he is "an apostle of peace", the gubernatorial aspirant said ultimately power comes from God, and called on all his supporters to eschew all forms of trouble during electioneering campaigns, and steer clear of politics of violence.

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SHOTS OF THE WEEK Photo Editor: Peace Udugba [08033050729]

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, (right) and Guest of honour, former President, Olusegun Obasanjo during the Anambra Vision 2070 Chairman, Prof Chukwuma Charles Soludo (right), after submitting the committee report to the Governor of Anambra state, Mr. Willie Obiano in Akwa on March 10, 2022.

Bible Society of Nigeria Christian Summit in Lagos on March 10, 2022.

L-R: President, National Association of Women Judges in Nigeria, (NAWJN), Hon. Jumah Sankay; Lagos State Chief Executive Officer, OVH Energy Marketing, Huub Stokman (right); Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu; his Deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat and NAWJN Vice President, Hon. Justice Toyin Timipre Sylva (left); Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mele Kyari (middle) and others at the 2022 Nigeria International Energy Summit in Abuja on March 8, 2022.

Oyekan-Abdulai during a courtesy visit at Lagos House, Marina, on March 9, 2022.

L-R: Oyo State Commissioner for Special Duties, Alhaja Fausat Sanni; Secretary to Oyo State Govt, Mrs Olubanwo Adeosun; National President, Medical Women's Association of Nigeria, (NWAN), Dr Adekemi Otolorin; Director, The Vale College, Mrs Funso Adegbola; former Deputy Vice Chancellor, Research and Innovation University of Ibadan, Prof Olanike Adeyemo and others at the International Women's Day celebration in Ibadan on March 8, 2022.

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L-R: Corridor Commander, Lagos/Ibadan Expressway, Federal Road Safety Corps, (FRSC), Ganiyi Hamzat; Head of Operations, FRSC, Olalekan Morakinyo; Sector Commander, Oyo State, Uche Chukwurah; Unit Commander, Iseyin, Margaret Adesola; Head of Administration, Titilayo Olayiwola; Head of Logistic, Tunde Adewale, during the Corps First Quarter Retreat on professionalism in the Corps operations in Ibadan on March 9, 2022.

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EDITORIAL

Revisiting Bills on Gender Equity

T

he Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has acted honourably by listening to the voices of dissent, particularly from the women folk, which greeted the passage of five controversial bills on gender equity by the National Assembly on Tuesday, March 1, 2022.

Exactly a week after the legislative fiasco over gender equity during voting on 68 bills in the reviewed Constitution, the House of Representatives tweeted on Tuesday, March 8 that the members would revisit three out of the five controversial bills immediately.

The identified bills for reconsideration are those on citizenship, indigeneship and affirmative action. The bill on reserved seats was left out. The bill on 20 per cent appointive positions for Ministers and Commissioners had already been passed.

Indeed, when both chambers of the National Assembly voted on the 68 harmonised proposed Constitution amendment bills, which will soon be transmitted to the 36 states’ Houses of Assembly for concurrence, four out of the five bills on women equality stood out like a sore thumb.

They were the bills on citizenship, indigeneship, reserved seats and affirmative action. Only the one on 20 per cent for ministerial and commissioner nominees sailed through.

The reaction was immediate.

Women groups actively supported by the First Lady, Mrs Aisha Buhari and wife of the Vice President, Mrs Dolapo Osinbajo, launched an immediate protest against the insensitive and pejorative posture of the lawmakers.

Women groups stormed the National Assembly and laid a siege there, affirming to hold on until their demands for a review of the disputed bills were addressed. Aisha Buhari even wrote a letter to the principal officers of the National Assembly, urging them to listen to the voices of the people and rethink their stand for possible reversal of the passed bills before transmitting the package to the State Houses of Assembly.

That the National Assembly has identified the bills to be revisited shows that they have realised where they goofed.

Against the background of the extant Constitutional provision, which allows a maximum of 20 years for non-indigenes who have resided in any state to contest and be voted for in elections, citizenship and indigeneship are so closely related that to uphold one and deny the other to any compatriot will amount to grave injustice.

The bill on indigeneship, which seeks to alter Section 31 and 38 (1) of the 1999 Constitution to allow a woman to become an indigene of her husband’s state after at least five years of marriage, was voted down by the lawmakers, just as the one on citizenship, which seeks to amend Section 26 of the Constitution that grants a foreign woman married to a Nigerian man the right to become a citizen while a Nigerian woman married to a

foreign man cannot enjoy such a right. Both rights are human rights and women cannot be denied such rights under any guise.

Above all, the need to revisit the bill on Affirmative Action bill, which seeks to amend Section 223 of the Constitution, provide for 35 per cent affirmative action to ensure that women occupy at least 35 per cent of party administrative and appointive seats across federal and state offices, is quite in order.

Affirmative action for women has been in the front burner for the past 25 years since the issue on gender equality came up at the World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China in 1995. Like many international instruments on women empowerment, Nigeria is a signatory to the global decision in Beijing to give women 35 per cent

That the National Assembly has identified the bills to be revisited shows that they have realised where they goofed

administrative and party positions.

Sadly, the country’s leadership has never implemented the decision.

Even its own derivative framework on women, the 2006 National Gender Policy, has never seen the light of the day, prompting women NGOs in 2020 to sue the Federal Government in the court of law.

It was in the light of this abysmal failure by government to honour the instruments it signed that warranted lawmakers like Rep Nkiruka Onyejeocha to moot the reserves seats bill, which was misconstrued as a subtle means to force women into governance.

As it turned out, the bill was meant to provide women with a platform and voice after a four-year election circle life span.

Ironically, the Federal Executive Council approved the revised National Gender Policy on Wednesday, March 2, 2022, a day after the lawmakers rejected the bills on gender equity!

The view that women have climbed the social ladder as bank and business executives, become heads of public offices and the judiciary misses the whole point of gender equity. The point is that women, like men, should be given equal access to positions of authority to make policies that affect their lives, more so when the national population figure is almost 50/50.

We think women should not be shackled in any way to make decisions and choices that affect their lives.

We hope that the National Assembly will not just revisit the controversial bills; we call on the lawmakers to reverse them.

Women should be given a chance.

Publisher/Editor-in-Chief

Austyn Ogannah Editor – Olaolu Olusina Deputy Editor – Amos Esele Politics Editor – Ayo Esan Business Editor – Sam Diala Copy Editor – Chux Ohai Cartoon Editor – Victor Asowata Entertainment/Society Editor – Ivory Ukonu Photo Editor – Peace Udugba Head, Graphics – Tosin Yusuph Circulation Manager – Victor Nwokoh Nigeria Bureau: 36AA Remi Fani-Kayode Street, GRA, Ikeja. Lagos, Nigeria. info@thewillnigeria.com / @ THEWILLNG, +234 810 345 2286, +234 913 333 3888.

EDITOR: Olaolu Olusina @OLUSINA [Letters/Opinions: opinion.letters@thewillnigeria.com]

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OPI N ION

As El-Rufai Takes The North on Another Tiger Ride

BY FELIX OBOAGWINA

F

ormer President Olusegun Obasanjo it was who dissected political Sharia from religious Sharia. He made the distinction in those maddening days of 1999 when Zamfara State led the way to unilaterally pronounce and enact Sharia law. The Zamfara move shocked and shook a great number of people. It frontally affronted the Nigerian Constitution. Romancing Sharia looked like an aberration for a Zamfara that formed part of the 36 states making up Nigeria, a country whose secular Constitution in Section 10 warned that, “The Government of the Federation or of a State shall not adopt any religion as State Religion.”

Zamfara belittled that proviso and bulldozed Islamic law into its statutes.

Tasked to lasso this bull in the china shop, Obasanjo kept his distance, saying that then-Zamfara State’s Governor Ahmad Sani Yerima was merely operating “political Sharia,” which would “fizzle out.” It did not. Soon, 11 other Northern states followed suit and adopted Sharia. Today 12 of the North’s 19 states continue to operate Sharia.

If it achieved nothing else, the implementation of the Islamic statute in those northern states quickly turned fundamentalists into Oliver Twists and they agitated for more milestones to shorten the distance to their Islamic Eldorado. It partly explains Boko Haram and the zealotry today gripping the North in a stranglehold of terrorism.

These theocratic Oliver Twists simply will not rest until they drown Nigeria’s secular Constitution in the waters of their parochialism. These fundamentalists' sacred mission to achieve an unadulterated Islamic system of government, like that of the Taliban, scares Nigeria’s moderate Muslims and other-faith citizens who fear the descent to Afghanistan.

Enter El-Rufai Now Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has upped the ante with a new policy that further tantalises the fanatics. The Governor of Kaduna State has fed the demons of fundamentalism with one more offering. His latest move is rooted in his personality makeup. El-Rufai, whatever plusses he has achieved in Kaduna, appears to have devoted his two terms as incumbent Governor to idolising two elements constituting his personality makeup –his Fulani heritage and his Islamic devotion.

In his “Fulaniism,” the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory has prioritised the dominance of the Fulani race above all others. Ask any Kaduna man. He will tell you that El-Rufai, as Governor, runs with an agenda that has idolised that ethnic stock. About 30 other ethnic groups, including the Minorities in Southern Kaduna and elsewhere in the state, have been systematically terrorised into silence by irredentist Fulani warriors pledging loyalty, dedication and devotion to the likes of El-Rufai. Some are foreign Fulani cousins from outside Nigeria. They hold no prisoners. In Christian-dominated Adara and Southern Kaduna, killings take place every cursed day. The Governor apparently props up the carnage by a policy to establish structures for strange, brand-new Fulani emirates where they never existed. The Adara king, Agom Adara III, His Royal Highness Maiwada Raphael Galadima, resisting the cantankerous move, paid

for the audacity with his life. He was abducted and killed in October 2018.

As if that were enough, for his second term, the Mallam embraced the bizarre. The governor, who won his first term on a Muslim-Christian ticket with Yusuf Barnabas Bala (a.k.a. Bala Bantex) as his Deputy Governor, this time around pushed a Muslim-Muslim ticket. He nominated a Muslim woman as his running mate and won. Guess whose ego that combination masturbated? Definitely not the minorities nor the Christians or the liberals, his formula terribly up-ended the delicate Muslim-Christian balancing of the Kaduna polity, where both religions have a virtual parity in population.

Since the First Republic, the Muslim-dominated North has seen Kaduna as its headquarters and the Muslims would not brook a Christian on its driving seat. Governor Patrick Yakowa’s ascendancy (2010–2012) was an aberration and the helicopter accident that killed him on December 15, 2012 always raised questions. Today, El-Rufai rules Kaduna with that insensitive, daredevil Muslim-Muslim configuration.

El-Rufai And His Four-Day Working Week For Fundamentalism For the first time in Nigeria’s history, a state governor is declaring a four-day working week in his state. Last November, the Ahmadu Bello University-trained Estate Surveyor announced that his state, from December 1, would commence a three-day weekend. Subsequently, Ran Juma'a, Friday, the Muslims’ day of worship, would become a day of rest in Kaduna. It marks the first time, since the Amalgamation of the Southern Protectorate and Northern Protectorate produced Nigeria in 1914, that any part of the country would observe a four-day working week.

The Mallam, no doubt, is pandering to ultra-religionists hankering for a work-free Friday. In fact, in some Muslimdominated states, after mosque prayers on Friday, markets and offices shut down. This case obtains in the Muslimdominated parts of the North, even up to Abuja and Ilorin in Kwara State.

Ironically, the Harvard-trained administrator excused the policy with the unconvincing words that, “This measure is designed to help boost productivity, improve work-life balance and enable workers to have more time for their families, for rest, and for agriculture.”

That less work would result in more productivity stands logic on its head clearly. For one, Kaduna suffers from pronounced financial and educational deficits, deficits worsened by the recent COVID-19 lockdown. In fact, Kaduna parents have already kicked at the four-working-day policy on the ground that it would further squash their children’s education. They have a point. The West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results for 2020 placed Kaduna 16th of 36 states, with 40 percent candidates from the state notching up to five credits inclusive of English and Mathematics. Abia State topped with 82.8 percent that year.

the laid-back indolence and entitlement mentality acquired by some states whose sustainability depends on offerings from the Monthly Federal Allocation. Kaduna State’s 2022 budget of N233 billion, the Governor announced, would be funded from internally generated revenue of N67.26 billion.

That means only 28.8 percent of Kaduna’s budget will be sourced internally, while the lion’s share of N165.74 billion will come from federal allocations (partly made up of N24.9 billion VAT). However, going by the recent litigations over the Value Added Tax, that source becomes dicey. It will depend on the Supreme Court’s final ruling on the case being pursued by key VAT generators like Lagos, Rivers and Ogun state who are fighting to have their VAT earnings excluded from the common purse. They want earners to be keepers. The 17 Southern governors support the move, while 19 Northern governors, including El-Rufai, have opposed it.

Meanwhile, the harsh VAT debate raises a fundamental question. What moral right would Northern states (whose Hisbah police hunt down and destroy beer bottles in the name of the Sharia law) have to share in VAT proceeds coming from states permitting alcohol production and consumption? Should tax from alcoholic drinks not be taboo too to those states making alcohol business a taboo? Does it not amount to robbing Peter to pay Paul? Under El-Rufai, the Hisbah police that enforce Sharia law have also been destroying places doing beer business.

Similar questions naturally trail Kaduna’s adoption of a four-day working week. Should a state that works four days and embraces leisure on the erstwhile fifth working day be entitled to revenue from others who put their shoulders to the plough for five days? Does it not amount to “Monkey dey work, baboon dey chop?”

El-Rufai’s three-day weekend has created a contradiction, a paradox, an incongruity, an absurdity that flies in the face of, not just global practice but, global “best” practice. All over the civilised world, the workweek runs from Monday through Friday, with the leisurely weekend fixed at Saturday and Sunday. Only an infinitesimal few do otherwise. Even God performed the work of creation in six days. On the seventh day, the Creator rested! That is one day of divine rest.

However, the lurking danger is that El-Rufai’s move could trigger off a domino effect. Like the case of Sharia, many Northern states may amplify this innovation into a bandwagon, and allow ethno-religious sentiments drown the commonsense demands of their socio-economic distresses.

With his instituting a four-day working week, Mallam ElRufai, as Governor Yari did with Zamfara’s Sharia, is taking Kaduna State, and indeed the North, on another ride on the back of the insatiable tiger of religious fundamentalism.

Today, Zamfara that started Sharia has lost its peace, convulsing under the deadly fever of terrorism.

Deficits In Revenue And Productivity

Before it ends up in the beast’s belly again, can the North be delivered from this misguided ride on El-Rufai’s tiger of ethno-religious fundamentalism?

That a state running on a budget deficit will adopt a fewer days’ working week bewilders sanity. For one, it underscores

•Oboagwina, an author and journalist, sent this piece from Lagos.

Struggles of Middle-Class Spell Doom For Nigeria

BY IFEDAYO BAKARE

B

ack in the day, many Nigerians were comfortable with becoming civil servants. It was the perfect job for a young Nigerian. Not too stressful, assured and filled with growth opportunities. Until the cold hands of corruption held that section tightly, it was bliss.

The gradual decline of the functionality of the civil service can be linked to a host of factors, with corruption and the dwindling quality of life at the top. As generations replaced one another, living as a Nigerian became more difficult. The salary civil servants were paid could have been very great many years ago, but a consistently struggling economy meant those salaries became peanuts. Then corruption crept in.

Corruption grew across board. Every public office became jamboree first, an opportunity to raise the poor man in your neighbourhood next, and the work last. Civil servants learned to steal and politicians institutionalised the concept of corruption.

To find Nigerians giving a bribe today is very normal. It has eaten deeply into the fabric of our existence and the new THEWILLNIGERIA

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school generations see it as a norm. That is the Nigeria that is being built.

Without cunning proceeds, it is extremely difficult for the average Nigerian to survive. Salaries finish before they land and the take-home of many people hardly take them home.

Businesses are struggling and the country is losing its radiance to the pains of struggles.

The common Nigerian finds it hard to afford three square meals (even two these days). Less than 5 million Nigerians earn $10 or above per day. It's staggering. And this reduction in the disposable income of the middle class is affecting the most local businesses.

Have you been to the market recently? Do you see the forlorn figure traders cut? Their incomes are reducing and civil servants bicker and whine. They only struggle to live by. To think of why they collect bribes will be a detachment from reality. Nigerians are happy people and without money, it's extremely difficult. This is not a subtle defense of crime. It's the stark yet painful reality.

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Recently many young Nigerians are seeing greener pastures abroad, especially in the United Kingdom. It is a declaration of our struggles. Nigerians don't fancy Nigeria. No human loves a struggling, unlawful and elitist society. Only the elite enjoy Nigeria and it is a step towards a societal dysfunction.

Should the middle class continue to find it difficult to survive, Nigeria will struggle to overcome its current travails. This is not about faith. It is about building a country to change the fate of its people. Electricity transformers don't need prayers. They need to be repaired or replaced. Poverty and lack has made Nigerians more religious.

University graduates now leave to found their own worship centres, from their school fellowships. It is a moving business.

The church is growing and Nigeria is sinking into a deplorable abyss. It's all about the struggling middle class. The centre is losing its grip, and the fulcrum can't bear the weight again.

The people and the government must rise to fix Nigeria, else Nigeria will fix us, and we may not like its approach.

•Bakare wrote in from Lagos.

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•

w w w.t hew illni g eri a. c om VOL .2 N O.1 1

Uzoka

MA R CH 13 - MA R C H 19, 2022 T H E W I L L N E W S P A P E R

UBA Subsidiaries Pool N1.1trn Revenue in 5 Years •As Total Assets Cross N8trn Mark

BY SAM DIALA

S

ubsidiaries of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc – the offshore operating segments of Africa’s Global Bank – collectively generated over N1trillion Revenue in five years (2017-2021), data from the bank’s annual reports have shown. The result which reflected a continued trend in the upward performance trajectory, revealed that the bank hauled N976.63 billion revenue in its African operating segments, except Nigeria, while N88.32 billion was earned from offshore locations in the rest of the world. This brings the subsidiaries’ total revenue haul to N1.1 trillion in the 5-year period.

Cumulatively, the subsidiaries’ component accounts for 38.8 percent of the lender’s overall N2.8 trillion revenue for the review period.

Further analysis of the data gleaned from the annual reports of the financial services firm showed that the subsidiaries’ total revenue rose from N163.35 billion in 2017 to N300 billion in 2021, reflecting a 55 percent growth.

Specifically, in 2017, the subsidiaries recorded a total revenue of N163.34 billion which rose to N166.15 billion or 1.73 percent in 2018; it climbed further to N184 billion reflecting a 10.74 percent rise in 2019. Notwithstanding the COVID-19 challenges, the subsidiaries’ total revenue grew 36.85 percent to N251.8 billion in 2020 against the N184 billion of 2019. For the 2021 financial year, the segments pooled a total revenue of N300 billion which represents a 20 percent jump from what was achieved in the preceding year.

On the Profit side, the subsidiaries’ total Profit Before Tax (PBT)

which recorded a mere N54 billion in 2017, shot up to N105.4 billion in 2021, representing 95 percent growth. Trending on the same growth trajectory, total Profit After Tax (PAT) for 2021 was N75.35 billion as against N40 billion in 2017 reflecting a growth of 88.25 percent. Furthermore, the total PAT of N266.5 billion generated by the subsidiaries during the 5-year period was 54.34 percent of total N473 billion for the period.

The bank’s Loans and Advances, a critical component of the balance sheet, recorded a tremendous growth both in 2021 FY and the 5-year review period. For the first time, the lender’s Total Assets crossed the 8 trillion mark to hit N8.54 trillion in 2021 against N7.7 trillion in the preceding year, representing 11 percent increase. For the 5-year period, UBA’s Total Assets rose from N4.1 trillion in 2017 to N8.54 trillion in 2021 – a significant growth of 108.3 percent.

Explaining the significance of strong asset base, Professor of Finance and Accounts at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Muhammad Mainoma, said it reflects the firm’s ability to act strategically.

According to Mainoma, business managers will continue to study the environment and take advantage to invest in areas that thrive.

“For a bank, there is no period that people will not need money.

So, once a business is focused and invests in areas that people always need, you will not lose at all. This explains the continuous growth despite difficult circumstances for the past five years,” the immediate past President, Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), told THEWILL in a note.

Continues on page 33

Removing Face Mask Mandate, Others For Air Travel

BY ANTHONY AWUNOR

I

n the last few weeks, there has been a dramatic shift by many governments around the world to ease or remove COVID-19-related travel restrictions and requirements as the disease enters its endemic phase.

As a follow up, the International Air Transport

PAGE 16

Association (IATA) has opined that such development should continue and even accelerate, to more quickly restore damaged global supply chains and enable people to resume their lives.

IATA, an international aviation Continues on page 33

MORE INSIDE Falling Reserves: Banks Cut Foreign Spending Limits On Naira Card PAGE 35

The Oak Holdings Launches 4 Firms Into Financial Market

‘Ogun Agro-Cargo Airport Will Create Wealth, Industrial Growth’ FROM SEGUN AYINDE, ABEOKUTA he Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has commended the Ogun State Government for the construction and quality of work carried out in the Ogun Agro-Cargo Airport project. NCAA's Assistant Director, Engr Olugbenga Taiwo, disclosed this during an assessment visit to the airport.

Taiwo said that with the quality of work

T

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Removing Face Mask Mandate, Others For Air Travel

UBA Subsidiaries Pool N1.1trn Revenue in 5 Years

Continued from page 16

Continued from page 16

body, represents some 290 airlines comprising 83 per cent of global air traffic.

to have a negative impact on travel, primarily among neighboring countries.

One step to encourage a return to normality, according to IATA, is to remove mask mandates for air travel. It added, "It makes no sense to continue to require masks on airplanes when they are no longer being required in shopping malls, theatres or offices."

"The Ukraine market accounted for 3.3 per cent of European passenger traffic and 0.8 per cent of global traffic in 2021".

Speaking on the issue, Director-General, IATA, Willie Walsh, said, “The recovery in air travel continued in January, despite hitting a speed bump called Omicron. Strengthened border controls did not stop the spread of the variant.

But where population immunity was strong, the public health systems were not overwhelmed.

"The Russian international market represented 5.7 per cent of European traffic (excluding Russia domestic market) and 1.3 per cent of global traffic in 2021".

"Airspace closures have led to rerouting or cancellations of flights on some routes".

"In addition to these disruptions, the sudden spike in fuel prices is putting pressure on airline costs," he said.

“ Many governments are now adjusting COVID-19 policies to align with those for other endemic viruses. This includes lifting travel restrictions that have had such a devastating impact on lives, economies and the freedom to travel."

In support of IATA, Secretary General of Association of Nigerian Aviation Professional (ANAP), Comrade Abdulrasaq Saidu commended IATA for such decision, stating that it is the right step in the right direction.

Emphasising the need to do away with face masks, Walsh added, "Aircraft are equipped with highly sophisticated hospital quality filtration systems and have much higher air flow and air exchange rates than most other indoor environments where mask mandates already have been removed."

Comrade Saidu pointed out that continuous restriction will further slow recovery of the industry.

The IATA DG was speaking following the latest analysis of demand for passenger air travel, based on data collected by region and worldwide during January 2022.

On the trend in the global traffic, he said that despite the strong traffic growth recorded in January 2022, compared to a year ago, passenger demand remains far below pre-COVID-19 levels. He informed that total Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs) in January were down 49.6 per cent, compared to January 2019. International traffic was down 62.4 per cent, with domestic traffic off by 26.5 per cent.

On the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Walsh pointed out that January traffic figures do not include any impact from the Russia-Ukraine conflict which began at the end of February. The resulting sanctions and airspace closures are expected

“

But Dr. Chichi Menakaya, an award winning UK based Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgeon has a different view.

According to Dr Menakaya, such step is coming too early considering the fact that the number of COVID-19 victims is still increasing.

Dr Menakaya who is also the CEO of Annomo Health, an international premium medical concierge added "I believe this is a little premature at the moment especially with covid-19 numbers continuing to rise exponentially. In the Uk in the past 24 hours, daily numbers still remain as high as 20,000 new cases a day".

Meanwhile, aviation stakeholders have opined that face masks on flights will be one of the last measures to be lifted

Many governments are now adjusting COVID-19 policies to align with those for other endemic viruses. This includes lifting travel restrictions that have had such a devastating impact on lives, economies and the freedom to travel THEWILLNIGERIA

He said. "I support what IATA has recommended.

It will help in easing air travels as quick as possible. You see people trooping to stadiums to watch soccer competitions without face masks and even without social distancing. They are not restricted. How come you restrict people that only want to fly. I support the Waiver of face masks".

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According to them, wearing face masks on flights will be one of the last COVID measures to be dropped globally and could be enforced for years.

According to a senior aviation source said: "Until there is a harmonised lifting of mask mandates on flights by governments worldwide it is simpler for airlines to keep the rules in place."

At the moment, most airlines are following guidelines from bodies including the European Union Aviation Safety Agency and the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

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Commenting on which factor contributed more to the impressive performance of the subsidiaries – quality of the bank’s corporate governance, or the operating environment, Mr Sam Ndata, Chief Dealer/COO at Hedge Securities and Investment Co. Ltd, attributed the results more to the overall corporate governance which cascades through its hierarchy.

“If the subsidiaries are doing well, it means that their parent company is really doing well because the child enjoys the good things coming from the parents,” the Doyen of the Stockbrokers added in a philosophical note.

UBA had announced an impressive performance in key financial parameters of its 2021 full year report for the period ended December 31, 2021. The Tier-1 bank said in its audited results submitted to the Nigerian Exchange that its profit before tax (PBT) rose 20.3 percent to N153.1 billion, compared to N127.3 billion at the end of the preceding year. Similarly, profit after tax (PAT) grew by 8.7 percent to N118.7 billion in 2021, compared to N109.2 billion recorded in 2020.

The bank had also explained that the impressive result was achieved amid huge challenging business and slow economic recovery in most of the countries of its (subsidiaries’) operations.

The lender’s gross earnings rose significantly to N660.2 billion representing an increase of 7 percent compared to N616.8 billion recorded at the end of the 2020 financial year.

Total assets also followed the growth trajectory, hitting an unprecedented N8.5 trillion or 11 percent rise to the year under review, up from N7.7 trillion in 2020.

This marks the first time the bank’s assets will cross the N8 trillion mark indicating sound management decisions in resource management and aggressive pursuit of customer deposit.

The report showed that net loans grew by 7.7 percent growth to N2.8 trillion, whilst customer deposits rose by 12.2 percent to N6.4 trillion, compared to N5.7 trillion in the corresponding period of 2020.

Commenting on the result, the Group Managing Director/CEO, Kennedy Uzoka, said that notwithstanding the tight and challenging operating environment, UBA continues to deliver significant performance, He said, “The year 2021 can best be described as a year of global recovery; economies around the world began to witness early-stage recoveries, as supply chains recover from the devastating disruptions suffered in 2020.”

“Consequently, UBA recorded a remarkable 7% growth in top line to N660 billion (USD1.56bn), and profit before tax (PBT) of N153.1 billion, up 20.3% from the prior year.

Net Loans and advances grew by 7.7% to N2.8 trillion with exposure mostly to resilient economic sectors including oil & gas, agriculture and manufacturing. Deposit from customers grew 12.2%, crossing the N6 trillion mark, to N6.4trillion.”

The GMD explained that the quality of UBA’s portfolio, as well as the strength of the bank’s credit

“

For a bank, there is no period that people will not need money. So, once a business is focused and invests in areas that people always need, you will not lose at all. This explains the continuous growth despite difficult circumstances for the past five years

risk management frameworks and policies, remain the bedrock of the positive results that the bank has been recording over the years, adding that the current performance highlights UBA’s relentless customer focus, and leverage on its key strategic levers – People, Process and Technology.

“Looking forward, I am particularly excited about our ongoing Enterprise Transformation Program which is designed to enhance the bank’s process agility, service delivery and customer experience. We are also making sizeable investments in cutting-edge technology and cyber security, to keep our innovative digital banking offerings above the curve, as we tool and re-tool our human resources to compete and win in a rapidly changing and evolving landscape. This will ensure the bank continues to achieve respectable top and bottom-line growth through the medium to long term,” the GMD stated.

UBA’s Group Chief Financial Official, Ugo Nwaghodoh, who corroborated the GMD’s comments, said, once again, the bank has shown resilience.

It achieved sizeable growth and strengthened its balance sheet despite the slow pace of economic recovery that characterised the year 2021.

Through active and diligent assets and liabilities management, the bank was able to protect its net interest margin and achieved a downward moderation of Cost of Funds (CoF) by 70 basis points to 2.2 per cent from 2.9 per cent in the prior year.

According to him, the group’s capital adequacy ratio at 24.9 per cent was well above the required regulatory minimum and reflects a strong capacity for business growth. “The Group’s non-performing loan ratio improved further to 3.6 per cent from 4.7 per cent at the end of 2020. This testifies to the quality of UBA’s loan portfolio even as the bank remains relentless in its resolve to drive down the Cost-to-Income ratio, which stood at 63.0 per cent at the end of the year.”

Nwaghodoh added that the bank achieved further strides in growing its business and gaining market share across its pan-African operations, with the region accounting for 63.2 per cent of the Group’s profitability, compared to 55.4 per cent in 2020; Loans and advances as well as Deposit in the region were also up 14.5 per cent and 27.3 per cent, respectively from a year earlier.

UBA has a large footprint across the globe, operating in 20 African countries, with banking operations in both the UK and the US. It maintains a representative office in Paris, France, and has been granted a licence to operate in Dubai, United Area Emirate.

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MARKETING

COVID-19 And New World of Marketing

BY HENRIETTA IGBEKEA

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he COVID-19 pandemic has altered the agelong platform on which marketing and business generally, is conducted. Since the emergence and spread of the disease with deadly impact seen all over the world, there have been changes to life as we know it.

Experience of unpleasantness in various forms, like social distancing, restricted travelling, decline in businesses, food shortage, border closure, and high mortality rate, to mention but a few, has been the order of the day.

Evidently, COVID-19 has triggered changes not only on how businesses are carried out, but also on how they grow and sustain their brands and consumer base, attract customers and promote their products and services. These changes have caused them to re-evaluate their approach to marketing campaigns to enable them to reach a wider audience while maintaining a steady stream of income.

At the mention of the coronavirus, thoughts stream towards the negative impact that the pandemic has wrought, with little reference to the evident benefits, especially in the marketing and promotion of businesses and their brands.

What benefits do you ask? Well, below are some of the positive sides to marketing in this era of the coronavirus.

Firstly, brands have been challenged to engage in strategic marketing. The pandemic has caused businesses to engage in innovative marketing campaigns to promote their brands, resulting in the creation of some of the most amazing campaigns.

A good example is the “Play inside, play for the world” marketing campaign by the athletic brand, Nike. The campaign encouraged consumers to observe social distancing during workout while attracting them to purchase and wear their products. Brands now consider and show a sense of community and health consciousness alongside profit making during this period.

Secondly, there is a considerable change in consumer behaviour. The effect precipitated by COVID-19 has caused people to redefine their priorities. Moving purchasing

power from the mundane to the essential. This has led to shifts in consumption between product categories and has given rise to new values and spending criteria. These shifts most likely will become the new norm. Family, self, and health are now areas where people are no longer reluctant to spend.

Lastly, while most brands have been forced to cut down their advertising spend, businesses and brands in health, self and family, have understandably increased their advertising budget as there has been a need to reach a wider audience with their products and service offering.

Increase in advertising spend is therefore a big win for marketing. Unilever in 2020 for instance, committed to investing about N7bn (£6bn) into marketing ahead of the coming year. This was to properly support its biggest

brands and confer it a Top of Mind (TOMA) in the face of rising inflation and price hike.

In the final analysis, things are yet to return to normal and I dare say they never will. Businesses and brands will have to find ways to adapt and function, as the future foretells market alteration, increased competition, and demand for creative and aggressive marketing practices.

In as much as COVID-19 has afforded businesses and brands these opportunities for marketing their products and services, worthy of note is that in the bid to thrive in these changing times, brands must keep their eye on sustainability and good business practices. Purposeful brands will likely go the long mile of customer preference even when COVID-19 may have been over.

New Face of Experiential Marketing

BY CHRISTINE ROSS

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uring a time of social distancing, clients challenged us to find ways to continue to create branded experiences for their audiences. The good news? It can be done.

CONNECT WITH CONSUMERS IN NEW EXPERIENTIAL WAYS The lack of face-to-face opportunities at large events like conferences and festivals doesn’t render experiential useless – it just renders the physical execution temporarily off limits.

This year, we’ve had to imagine how to connect with people in new, safe and meaningful ways.

Brands have continued to create successful branded experiences directly at home with their target audiences “Pre, during or post COVID-19, there remains an opportunity for brands to focus on elevating experiences, the combination of live and virtual being our best practice,” says Don Mayo, global managing partner of IMI, which has been tracking the impact of the pandemic on consumer behaviour. “As marketers, we’ve had decades to craft and hone the out-of-home experience and now we’re looking inward. Creating equally high-quality experiences for people while they’re at home is something that we believe will benefit the industry in the long run.”

EMBRACE AT-HOME EXPERIENCES Virtual conferences and events were something brands jumped on quickly after their consumers began staying at home, bringing the live event experience into attendees’ homes through their screens. iHeartRadio’s living room concert sponsored by Jackson Triggs in March and the Global Citizen One World event saw performances from some of the biggest stars on the planet. These events offered memorable, meaningful and intimate custom concert experiences right in consumers’ homes – all in the name of raising money for frontline workers fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

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BRING YOUR MARKETING TO CONSUMERS’ DOORSTEPS But there are ways to reach consumers at home that don’t involve them spending even more time in front of a screen.

Doorstep experiences can be a highly targeted way to have your brand interact with consumers, especially when leveraging other insight and data products to develop a comprehensive profile of groups and target them according to multiple data points.

Brands have partnered with existing home delivery services or even created their own solo programs, sending out custom sample packs with a more fulsome brand experience, including products, recipes, premiums and other elements of the brand to be enjoyed at home.

Direct-to-home sampling companies have traditionally offered request-based campaigns. But during the pandemic, brands have partnered with existing home delivery services or even created their own solo programs, sending out custom sample packs with a more fulsome brand experience, including products, recipes, premiums and other elements of the brand to be enjoyed at home. Some marketers have overlaid a CSR component and made donations for each box ordered, or delivered thank-you kits and sample packs to frontline health care workers. Including hashtags and encouraging social sharing ensures further amplification of these types of campaigns.

EMPOWER CUSTOMERS TO RECREATE BRAND EXPERIENCES AT HOME But outside of sampling and CSR, you can add comfort to your customers’ lives, especially during these stressful times, by providing the tools for them to recreate their favourite brand experiences at home.

Back in 2014, Heineken combined digital and live elements by rewarding consumers in New York who tweeted using the hashtag – #SparkMyParty – with party-enhancement

kits delivered right to their doorstep. In the U.K., Cyber Fest, the world’s first online beer festival, combined live tastings with a virtual, live-streamed festival experience in April. With limited tickets available, the event sold out quickly, and a second event was held in June.

Some brands are releasing recipes for beloved products, like DoubleTree by Hilton’s chocolate chip cookies, McDonald’s sausage and egg McMuffin and the churros from Disney’s theme parks.

The direct-to-home approach is not “mass,” but hypertargeted and therefore highly impactful. In addition, a branded experience at home is enjoyed on the individual’s own terms – when and how they want. That might not offer the mass reach of a large-scale event, but it is inherently more personal and memorable. With so many strong segmentation tools available, it’s more effective than ever to target the direct-to-home branded experience on demographics, psychographics, market and social values.

Direct connection through branded experiences is still possible without events. As we slowly adapt to a postpandemic world, expect the blending of virtual and live experiences to continue and grow more sophisticated.

BLEND VIRTUAL AND LIVE EXPERIENCES Direct connection through branded experiences is still possible without events. As we slowly adapt to a post-pandemic world, expect the blending of virtual and live experiences to continue and grow more sophisticated. What started as a slow trickle has been forced wide open and brands will only continue searching for innovative ways to create blended experiences across their ecosystems. Already, we’re seeing exciting new technology platforms crop up that promote a fully integrated, interactive and measurable virtual experience. Combined with elements of a live in-person experience, these hybrid solutions will become the new face of experiential marketing.

• Courtesy: BusinessMatters.

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BUSINESS NEWS Falling Reserves: Banks Cut Foreign Spending Limits On Naira Card

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bout 10 months after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) hinted that it would stop foreign exchange sales to deposit money banks (DMBs) amid steep dwindling forex inflow, the banks have stepped up measures to ration foreign currency sales to its customers, using their naira debit cards for overseas withdrawals.

This reflects prevailing economic realities that border on Nigeria’s revenue crisis as oil proceeds dwindle, putting pressure on the nation’s external reserves. The reserves fell further by $175 million in February to $39.9 billion, despite the upturn in the price of crude oil, the country’s main source of foreign exchange.

L-R; Business Executive Officer, Nestlé Waters, Rabie Issa; GM, WHEATBAKER, Paul Kavanagh and Marketing Manager, Nestlé Waters, Gloria Nwabuike at a Nestle event in Lagos on March 10, 2022.

‘Ogun Agro-Cargo Airport Will Create Wealth, Industrial Growth’ Continued from page 16

going on at the airport, he was sure that the project would generate employment, create wealth and aid industrial growth when completed.

The Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Engr Ade Akinsanya, said the project would boost Ogun’s economic status.

Noting that there was significant progress in the construction of the airport ahead of the delivery date in November, he said the runway, airflow, laying of asphalt and others would be nearing completion before the rainy season begins.

Akinsanya stressed that the completion of the project is geared toward fulfilling the current administration promises to complete all projects and deliver the dividends of democracy to residents of te state.

While inspecting the Ilishan-AgoIwoye Road, the commissioner described the road as strategic because it provides easy access to the Agro-Cargo Airport.

He added that the road would be completed in August to improve the socio-economic growth of the state.

FMDQ Exchange Admits Coleman’s Series 3&4 Commercial Papers

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MDQ Securities Exchange Limited has approved the quotation of the Coleman Technical Industries Limited N2.40 billion Series 3 and N3.65 billion Series 4 Commercial Papers (CPs) under its N20.00 billion CP Issuance Programme on its platform.

The successful quotation of these CPs is testament to the opportunities which the Nigerian debt capital market (DCM) avails to corporates in diverse business areas.

Coleman Technical Industries Limited is West Africa’s largest producer and distributor of electrical wires and cables.

The quotation of these CPs is sponsored by Coronation Merchant Bank Limited, Afrinvest Capital Limited, CardinalStone Partners Limited, FSDH Capital Limited and SFS Financial Services Limited - all Registration Member (Quotations) of FMDQ Exchange.

According to FMDQ, the transaction strategically positions CTIL to raise THEWILLNIGERIA

short-term finance easily and quickly from the Nigerian DCM. The CPs quoted on FMDQ Exchange benefit from the efficient CP quotation process, in addition to continuous provision of invaluable information and price formation as part of the Exchange’s commitment to organise, govern and enforce transparency in the Nigerian capital market space.

FMDQ Exchange said it will continue to lead the revolution in the development of the Nigerian DCM by providing credible market structures to corporate and commercial businesses with the opportunities to meet their short-term funding requirements, whilst building their profiles in the Nigerian DCM space. “FMDQ Exchange remains positive about the possibilities of the Nigerian DCM and will continue to implement, with the support of its stakeholders, initiatives that will improve and support economic growth and development for the benefit of the citizenry,” the Exchange said.

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The Oak Holdings Launches 4 Firms Into Financial Market

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he Oak Holdings, a hybrid financial institution group, has launched into the Nigerian financial industry with Oak Homes, The Oak Capital, The Oak Digital Bank and The Oak Asset Management to provide services to different clients in the financial services industry.

Speaking at the launching ceremony in Lagos over the weekend, Mr. Olukayode Olusanya, Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the group said, the company’s multi-asset strategy combines different types of assets, including equities, fixed income securities, private/mutual funds, indexing, money market instruments among others to create a more nimble, broadly diversified portfolio for its proprietary investment objectives.

Olusanya explained that Oak Homes is a leading real estate development company with its primary business in Lagos, Nigeria but it has recently made foray into the United Kingdom and the United States. He added that in addition to core real estate development, the company is also engaged in facility management, construction and infrastructure development and it is manned by an innovative and creative team with combined experience spanning more than four decades.

He described The Oak Capital as a venture capital firm with a bias for supporting underserved start-up founders creating lasting solutions to problems in the African continent by leveraging the use of technology to promote growth of their businesses.

According to the Founder, The Oak Capital seeks to back audacious, young entrepreneurs who are solving critical problems across different sectors in Africa, by providing preseed and seed stage funding.

Citing statistics from the Credit Bureau Association of Nigeria, Olusanya said limited funding remains a critical bottleneck to the growth of small businesses in Nigeria, as only about four percent have access to credit.

He remarked that while there has been significant funding for start-ups from foreign venture capital firms, such is concentrated on elite founders and at much later stages, a development which makes most indigent young founders struggle to raise funding at very early stage of their businesses.

While oil exports account for about 90 per cent of foreign-exchange earnings, higher prices have failed to boost foreign reserves for Nigeria, Africa’s largest crude producer, due to lower than normal output, even as part of the export barrels go to fund gasoline imports for local consumption at subsidised prices.

Nigeria’s largest DMB by market size, Zenith Bank Plc, has announced a review of the usage of its naira card for international transactions.

In a notice to its account holders, Zenith Bank disclosed that it had suspended the usage of its naira card for cash withdrawals on International Automated Teller Machine (ATM). It also halted point of sales (POS) transactions on the International Automated Teller Machine, stating that its latest management decision was due to economic reality.

Part of its board decision included reduction of the monthly spend limit for international web transaction by 80 percent, as Zenith Bank reviewed the card limit to $20 from $100. The Tier-1 lender directed account holders who need higher international spend limit to approach its branch, and “request for a foreign currency debit or prepaid card, which are available in US Dollar, Pounds and Euro variants.”

The notice reads: “Please be informed that we have temporarily suspended the use of Zenith Bank Naira cards for International Automated Teller Machine (ATM) cash withdrawals and POS transactions.

“Additionally, the monthly card International spend limit for web transactions has been reviewed from $100 to $20.

“This review is in response to today’s economic realities.

“If you have higher International spend requirements, visit any of our branches and request for a foreign currency debit or prepaid card, which are available in US Dollar, Pounds and Euro variants.

Nigerian DMBs are cutting the dollar spending limits on local currency cards to free more resources to fund imports after the apex bank had signaled it would stop foreign-exchange sales to banks.

The United Bank of Africa (UBA) had taken a similar move, lowering the international spending limit on its naira card from $100 to $20 a month. Guaranty Trust Bank has followed suit.

At a press conference addressed by the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, ealier in February the apex bank revealed that the Bankers Committee had introduced the 'RT200 FX' programme to enhance repatriation of non-oil export proceeds to boost liquidity in the market. The ‘RT200’ FX which stands for the ‘Race to $200 billion in Forex Repatriation’ constitutes blueprint that will enable Nigeria to attain the sky-high goal of $200 billion repatriation, exclusively from non-oil exports over the next three to five years.

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ADESUNMBO ADEOYE Helping Women 'Run Forward' PAGE 37-42 THEWILLNIGERIA

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In the spirit of the Women’s Month, Businesswoman Adesumbo Adeoye tells IVORY UKONU why she is passionate about bridging the gender gap by educating women for a purposeful and better future. Excerpts:

Adeoye

MY MANDATE IS TO EMPOWER WOMEN FOR PURPOSEFUL FUTURE – ADESUNMBO ADEOYE Y

Adeoye

ou recently released your memoir titled, Refurbished - Hope for a Fresh Start. Most people prefer to write theirs when they are much older. Why did you decide to write yours now?

It only covers a chapter of my life that I survived and it accurately captures a reflection of the last 20 years of my life. I wrote it and released it to the world on my 40th birthday because I believe a new chapter has begun and there is a burning need to help others who also desire a fresh start, see the possibility of a transformed life from an overwhelming heaviness into a place of peace, joy and wholeness. Through the pages of my memoir, you will not only read about my experiences, lessons and pain as a single mother, it will open your eyes to the different seasons young, vulnerable adults confront in life. It is my life lessons and through the transparency of sharing my personal experience. The book will definitely help people in the waiting room of life endure the season and enjoy it while making maximum use of their time. It covers the period before my single motherhood, during and life after the detour.

experience makes it extremely relatable and very practical.

And this is so that others like me can escape or come out of their “furnace of fire” situation without being burnt but refined as pure gold. It is available online on bit.ly/ refurbishedhope, in all leading book stores across Nigeria and on Amazon for those in the Diaspora.

Would you like to share one highlight of the memoir to get people to look forward to reading it?

My life coach, who also wrote the foreword, says, “this book is a necessary tool for restoration. It will guide and give you the ability to discern prisons that look like open doors, wolves that look like sheep and glittering metals that look like gold”. Get a cup of tea and be ready to read without interruption what I call the manual for those desiring a fresh start.

How long have you been running Esob Events and what is the most prominent event you have ever handled?

Esob Events is my brainchild of over a decade. It has been 11 years since we started running it as a structured events management business and my most prominent events would be those we executed successfully during our early days of humble beginnings. I think it will be better if I keep the names anonymous, but the ripple effect of that successful execution in the starting point has landed us the opportunity and privilege to serve in bigger capacities for high-profile clientele, high net worth individuals, government parastatals and companies from within and outside of Nigeria.

You also run Esob Foundation. What is it all about and

What are some of the things you expect readers to take away from the book?

Readers will definitely feel my heart beat reading this book. The transparency and gut to share my personal

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You were a thriving banker, but you left it for the business world. Why so?

After a little over a decade of active service in the banking industry, I wanted more. I wanted tougher challenges, better remuneration and a more fulfilling and rewarding future. So I decided to resign and chase after my desires to serve more in the area of events management and planning.

The goal was to become a successful business owner. After my resignation, I applied for a scholarship at the Lagos Business School, and I was awarded with a scholarship under the Goldmansachs 10,000 women initiative. I graduated with a certificate in entrepreneurial management in 2011. That experience did not only change my life, but it also improved how I run my business.

what are some of the works your foundation has done?

Esob Heroes is the foundation arm of our business at ESOB Events. It is a growing community of thousands of women all over the world. Our mandate is to empower women with skill sets, tools and knowledge for an equal and purposeful future with a focus on nation building. We achieve this through various platforms – Esob Academy, Inspiring Change Conference, Mentor Meets Mentee and several other outreaches that help to restore hope, educate the girl child deliberately and inspire women to not only recognise, but maximize their full potentials for a more rewarding future.

Esob must be a significant name. What does it mean?

Esob is simply my middle name “BOSE” in reverse. It was a nickname I fell in love with as a teenage girl and decided to adopt the same as my business name.

Inspiring Change is one of the platforms through which you empower women. You recently held the ninth edition of the Inspiring Change Conference. To those learning about it for the first time, what is it all about?

The Inspiring Change Conference like I earlier mentioned is an Esob Heroes initiative, borne out of the urge to impact women, inspire change and transform the lives of those striving to lead in their diverse professions. The conference holds annually in March in commemoration of the International Women’s Day and seeks to empower women of value, inspire the change that ensures the future of the girl-child is equal, safe and rewarding, while educating deliberately, those striving to take the lead in business, ministry and career with a focus on nation building.

You invite other speakers to the conference to share from their wealth of experience. What determines the kind of speakers you choose to speak at this annual event?

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Over the last eight years, the conference has hosted women who have been able to bridge gender gaps in their respective industries dominated by men. Such leading female entrepreneurs include Jumoke Adenowo, Ibukun Awosika, Pastor Nike Adeyemi, Hon. Abike Dabiri, Pastor Nomthi Odukoya and several others who have graced the platform to impact knowledge on our global audience.

Every year comes with its unique agenda, and this year’s focus was driven by the theme: RUN FORWARD, which is why we had a diverse line-up of speakers from both the public and private sectors from different parts of the world. Speakers for this year's conference were Tosin Olaseinde, the CEO of Money Africa; Oyindamola Ossai, a boardroom guru and HR professional; Bisola Adeniyi, a fashion entrepreneur; Ify Mogekwu, a lawyer and food blogger/influencer; Mary Akpobome, David Adeoye, Ini Abimbola, etc.

a man of great faith and courage to take the bold step he took despite the many confrontations and media outburst. I will forever celebrate him for this and many more. He is my hero.

What is married life like with Pastor Adeoye?

We have been married since 2013 and by July 2022 it would have been nine years of bliss. It is different when the one Abba gives to you fears Him. Pastor loves and honours me differently. He is very patient and extremely kind. He prioritises family and he is very gentle. With him I found the true definition of love (as written in the book of 1 Cor. 13:4-8).

You gave birth to your fourth child last year.

How would you describe motherhood?

Motherhood is a divine assignment. It is seeing my heart beat outside my body. A very sacrificial and beautiful journey that requires that you give your all as it necessitates per time. I count myself blessed to be a mother of both male and female children.

How would you assess the success of this year's conference vis-a-vis past editions?

The Inspiring Change Conference is one of a kind event and has been rated amongst one of the most inspiring conferences in the last seven years. It is one of the most anticipated annual conferences that seek to actively challenge stereotypes, fight bias, broaden perceptions, improve the lives and situation of SMES and of course celebrate the outstanding achievement of our women trail blazers. To the glory of God, the platform has recorded tremendous, life changing business and career success in the last nine years. The results of the impactful sessions in past editions and even this year's speak for itself. Many start-ups who were lost, confused or not sure about how to navigate their success journey in business and ministry have testified to gaining clarity and drawing strength from the life lessons shared on the platform of the inspiring change conference. This year's participants didn't return with the same mentality. They got fired up to 'Run Forward'. The conference was a no-holds-barred event and the energy that enveloped the atmosphere, especially during the “Girl Talk” session, got people shouting and screaming as they could not sit still. In fact, those who were second guessing or procrastinating their next move or searching for answers about the process of blossoming in business, ministry, career pivoting and growth, got the answers they sought. It was absolutely incredible.

What has been most challenging about hosting this conference over the years and how have you been able to overcome the challenge?

Being a free-for-all conference, access to partnership and support was one of our major challenges at the initial stage, but due to the notable nation building impact of the conference, we have since attracted support from not only private entities, but also from a few corporate bodies.

And we have also raised partners who support and take up the burden of hosting a seamless week-long event with a dedicated planning committee and committed group of volunteers working tirelessly to ensure the success of each edition.

You are a woman of many parts. You sit on the board of several companies and you are a pastor married to a church founder. How do you find the time to attend to these aspects of your life?

I am grateful for the gift of a supportive spouse, who I call my brainiest bride groom. By shared influence, constant mentorship and keenly observing his leadership qualities, I have been groomed into the woman I am today and still evolving to be more. I thank God every time for the blessing of a supportive family and competent hands who assist with roles I can delegate, while I focus on and prioritise those I can’t. It’s not a walk over.

Did you ever think you would end up as the wife of a church founder?

I may be who I am today by His Grace, but not even I could have thought I would end up as Pastor David Adeoye’s wife but look at God. His ways are not our ways and neither are His thoughts. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His ways higher than our ways and His thoughts than our thoughts. When he asked me to marry him, I was happy and nervous. My head spun and my heart raced. With time, things began to get clearer and I was so sure he was the one. Today I am eternally grateful for the gift of my husband. He is indeed God’s own choice for me.

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As one with experience on this aspect and having written a book on it, what would you say is the most important aspect of raising a child, especially in this era of social media?

In proverbs 22:6, the Bible says that we train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it. To train up a child requires some level of dedication and time. Giving your resources to grooming your child is good, but what is most important is time. Devote your time to nurturing, teaching, communing, loving and being there for them like I wrote in my first book titled, Parenting a Creative Child. It is in this time you discover the greatness that rests in their hearts.

What is the most important life lesson you have learnt so far?

One of my most important life lessons is that God has the first word, initiating the action in which we play our part for better or worse. So then, it does not depend on the person who wants it or the one who runs, but on God who shows mercy.

Adeoye

How did you meet Pastor Adeoye?

I met him in church. He was pastoring a large gathering of young people in my community and as a committed member of another church within the same vicinity, my singing group would usually go to minister in his church during their special meetings.

What kind of impression did he make on you that made you decide to want to spend the rest of your life with him?

I had asked God for a man after His heart, a father, a friend, a brother and a mentor whenever I prayed and Pastor Adeoye ticked the box. In fact, when I queried “why him” in prayers, the Holy Spirit reminded me of my prayers and said God gave me David (A man after His own heart) so why do I doubt my answer? He honestly didn’t need to make any impression, I simply recognised him as the answer to my requests and the divine compensation I prayerfully sought from God. Unlike most men who do not consider marriage with a single mother of two, what do you think made him accept you? This I ask for those in similar situations My pastor (Adeoye) had always preached the new creation reality. So when it was His turn to practise it, he didn’t need motivation. His decision was made from a place of personal conviction with God. I can still remember the convincing smile on his face and the voice of assurance the day he made his intention known to marry me. He had already made up his mind and not one he could have made in a hurry. Just like he is the answer to my prayers, he was convinced my children and I were his answer, too. It takes

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What would you say must have significantly shaped you to be who you are today?

The knowledge of the word of God has significantly transformed how I think and the application of these words has given birth to the obvious results that I now manifest as I simply keep asking. I keep seeking and keep knocking the word as I see myself through the lens of God, while taking my place in destiny.

As a co-labourer with your husband in the kingdom, who are some of the people you look up to for inspiration and why?

My late mentor, Pastor Nomthi Odukoya, is one of my great sources of inspiration. Her life, simplicity, love for God and people and knowledge of the word of God, which she breaks down with simplicity, inspires me greatly. All things work together for the good of those who trust in the Lord. So I am trusting God absolutely with everything. I look up to Him. He is my inspiration.

You are an ambassador of the Cheri Blair foundation.

What is that like and what exactly are your duties as an ambassador of such a prestigious organisation?

As a Cheri Blair foundation brand ambassador, I am saddled with the responsibility of using my platforms to advocate change on behalf of the foundation and the women entrepreneurs they support. This is a privileged position. This I achieve by impacting and influencing my community positively, pointing youths to the “Road To Growth” programmes and various growth opportunities and learning tools that will make them live a purposeful life in order to transform Africa’s economic empowerment landscape. I must say this privileged position gives me access to a wider network of growth opportunities for women in business in Nigeria and further strengthens my vision at the Inspiring change initiative.

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STORIES BY IVORY UKONU

Rift Between Tinubu, Osinbajo Worsens

SAM ADEYEMI, WIFE ABANDON A CHURCH, RELOCATE TO CANADA P

astor Sam Adeyemi and his wife, Nike, both founders of the Oregun, Lagos-based popular pentecostal church, Daystar Christian Centre, have allegedly abandoned their church and their flock for two years and relocated to Canada.

Sam and his wife were in Canada on vacation in 2020 when the Federal Government declared a lockdown across the country due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of the church members assumed that their general overseer and his wife probably got caught up in the panic ignited by the Corona Virus and the resulting lockdown. But when the lockdown was lifted and air travel allowed, the Adeyemis did not return to Nigeria.

Two years after, the couple is yet to set foot in Nigeria let alone mount the pulpit to preach. Adeyemi and his wife allegedly now shuttle between Canada and the United States where their children are schooling. Surprisingly, the cleric preaches to his congregation every Sunday via a pre recorded message that is played from a projector in the church. Although,

The Adeyemis there are pastors employed by his church to take charge and run programmes seamlessly, the continued absence of the Adeyemis' hasn't gone down well with members of the church who have been discussing the matter in hushed tones.

One won't be surprised if this becomes a trend among pentecostal pastors. Just last year, Pastor Paul Adefarasin, the

senior pastor of House on the Rock Church told members of his congregation that despite having faith like a Christian should, he also has a plan B. He had talked about the power of technology and how he could harness it to speak to his congregation from anywhere in the world. "Get yourself a plan B," he had said, while advising members of his church to have a plan B or exit plan from Nigeria.

secret relationship with the former CP. Sources revealed that Modupe is an old flame of Odumosu but took a break from the relationship when she began dating Oguntade.

Before hooking up with Oguntade, Modupe was previously married to Dr Jimi Okunola Aina, for whom she bore all her three children: Jimi, Ayodele and Folusho. She was with Oguntade for 17 years as his live-in-lover and took on his name, even though he never made the relationship formal in all the years they lived together.

Although one of the reasons

why Modupe was kicked out of Ogunatade's life was alleged infidelity, THEWILL cannot independently verify if she found time to sneak under the sheets with Odumosu while still with Oguntade.

But having been sent packing and now a free woman, Modupe allegedly found her way back into the arms of Odumosu, thus causing Folashade severe heart palpitation.

Even though she grieves behind closed doors, Folashade is only being calm on the surface, while desperately looking for a way to get Modupe's claws off her husband.

Recall that the 17-year-old relationship between Modupe and Oguntade ended in 2020. She was thrown out of the Lekki home she shared with the retired judge over allegations bordering on backbiting, distrust, stealing, extortion and infidelity. She was described

by Oguntade as debauched and decadent. With the end of their relationship also came an abrupt end to her envious friendship with Shade Okoya with whom she attended social events with always dressed in similar attires.

Shade ended the friendship on the instructions of her husband, wealthy industrialist, Chief Razak Okoya who is Oguntade’s best friend and who was shell shocked at the allegations against Modupe.

ll is obviously not well between Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the National leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), who is also a presidential aspirant under the same party. An indication that the relationship between both men might, indeed, be frosty, as rumoured, emerged as Osinbajo clocked 65 on Tuesday, March 8, 2022. Quite unlike him, Tinubu waited till the next day, which was Wednesday, to send birthday wishes to his friend and former Attorney-General of Lagos State.

Tinubu posted a terse message on his Twitter and Facebook accounts, suggesting that he was only doing so to 'fulfill all righteousness'. Rather than upload a photograph of the celebrant, he accompanied the message with a photograph of himself, Osinbajo and their wives cutting a huge cake. At a glance, one would think it was Osinbajo's birthday cake, but a closer look showed that it was the cake for Tinubu’s 67th birthday/colloquium celebration in 2019, which was designed with his signature cap and picture.

Tinubu made the birthday post all about himself rather than the person he pretended to be celebrating. Also, he did not bother to sponsor an

The Osinbajos and the Tinubus advertorial to celebrate Osinbajo on the pages of any daily newspaper or magazine, not even in his own newspaper. A cursory look at some of the newspapers published on that day showed that Osinbajo’s birthday was pointedly ignored by members of the APC across the country, who would have been falling over themselves to take out paid advertisements to wish the Vice President a happy birthday.

Those who call themselves ‘Tinubu's boys’ avoided doing this in order not to be seen as sympathetic or worse still, loyal to Osinbajo. Only a total of 12 pages of birthday wishes across four daily newspapers were paid for by four politicians and two businessmen. His in-law, wealthy businesswoman, Bola Shagaya was less concerned.

Although Osinbajo has not publicly made known his

intentions to take over from Buhari, his foot soldiers, have been flying the kite on his behalf. This speculation is one of the many reasons why the Vice President and Tinubu have become estranged. The idea is that Osinbajo should never have thought of joining the race for the Presidency in the first place, knowing that his alleged benefactor has been nursing such ambition for about eight years.

Osinbajo has said that at the right time, he will declare his stance on running for the Presidency.

Their acrimony has also extended to their wives, Senator Oluremi Tinubu and Dolapo Osinbajo, as their once enviable friendship is no longer assured. In addition to being members of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, the two used to be quite close, but that is no longer the case.

Hakeem Odumosu's Young Marriage For Eyeing Ogun Governorship, Modele Standing on Shaky Ground

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he immediate past Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu’s nearly two-year-old marriage to Folashade Omotade, the widow of Olaseni Omotade, a former permanent secretary who died in the Bellview plane crash of 2005, is allegedly having hiccups. Modupe Haastrup, the former partner of Justice Adesola Oguntade (retd.), a former Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, is alleged to have caused the problem in the marriage. THEWILL gathered that Modupe is alledgedly involved in a

The Odumosus

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Sarafa-Yusuf Gets Baptism of Fire

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ust a week after she announced her intention to contest in the Ogun State governorship election, seasoned broadcaster, Modele Sarafa-Yusuf, now knows what it means to join the murky waters of Nigerian politics. A few days after declaring her governorship ambition at the Adire/Kampala International Market, Asero, Ogun State, the Iyalojas (heads of market women), led by the Iyaloja of Egbaland, Alhaja Kemi

Sarafa-Yusuf

Oloyede and the Baba Ojas (heads of market men), were harassed for allowing her to use the venue for her declaration. While reacting to the despicable act, SarafaYusuf recounted a section of the Electoral Act of 2022, specifically section 91, which gives politicians and aspirants the freedom to campaign/declare their intentions anywhere they deem it fit.

"No registered political party in Nigeria, its aspirants or candidate shall be prevented from holding rallies, processions or meetings at any time for their constitutional political purposes, and the Police shall in a consultative manner, resolve any conflict of time and venue between and amongst parties where such arises," the Electoral Act states.

Also she claims that her political foes dug up an old interview she conducted with the immediate past governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun,

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where the then governor advised her to go into politics, in an apparent reference to a question she asked him. Sarafa-Yusuf also claimed that her political foes insinuated that she was being sponsored to run for political office, perhaps at the behest of her interviewee. Responding to them, she said someone once said that 60 per cent of the Nigerian population are critics and 30 per cent talkers, while the remaining 10 per cent are doers. She claims to have chosen to be part of the 10 per cent in order to do a better job than the incumbent Governor Dapo Abiodun is currently doing in Ogun and not because she is being sponsored as is being suggested. A former Special Adviser on Information to Governor Abiodun until she resigned to pursue her interest, Modele in a recent interview revealed that she was emboldened to throw her hat in the ring because her former boss had told her in confidence that he won't be contesting for a second term. Modele plans to make Ogun the state of choice for people to live, work and play in because of the educational, economic and cultural opportunities, safety, livability, vibrancy and connectedness.

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MARCH 13 - MARCH 19, 2022 T H E W I L L N E W S P A P E R • www.thewillnigeria.com

STORIES BY SHADE WESLEY-METIBOGUN

Abisoye Fagade Eyes Oyo Govt House Once Again

MEET EMMANUEL NJOKU, THE 19-YEAR-OLD DISRUPTING THE TECHNOLOGICAL SPACE WITH LAZERPAY

Njoku

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ith at least three out of every 10 Nigerian youths assumed to be potential geniuses, it is not out of place to infer that our educational system and curriculum, particularly in public schools, is stereotyped, especially in a technology driven world.

Without mincing words, the current curriculum hinders the development of these youths. Or how else does one explain the case of 19 year-old Emmanuel Njoku who rebelled against university education because the curriculum was too elementary for him. He subsequently had to drop out of the Enugu State University of Technology. Like any Nigerian parent, Emmanuel’s father tried everything possible to ensure his son remained in school, even seizing his laptop computer for “coding too much” and not facing his studies.

Today, the youth is one of the best blockchain engineers of his generation. He now runs his own startup Lazerpay, a crypto payment gateway which he cofounded in 2021 with Abdulfatai Suleiman and Prosper Ubi. You may wonder how he developed so much interest in coding.

At 13, Emmanuel and his brothers were casually introduced to computer programming by their aunt, who was a robotic engineer. Since then, he chose to write codes and never looked back. He dreamt of building an operating system like Bill Gates or a social media platform like Mark Zukerberg did. A mathematics wizard, he would pore through every readable THEWILLNIGERIA

material on computer programming that he came across. According to him, his father forbade him and his brothers from using a calculator to solve their mathematics homework. Every computation had to be done without it. With this, his problem-solving skill was already top-notch. In 2017, he wrote his final secondary school examination and scored A+ in Mathematics and Further Mathematics.

Emmanuel’s parents wanted him to become a medical doctor, just as his older brother, who was already studying medicine in Bulgaria. But he chose his own path. He got admission to study Electrical Engineering at ESUT. In the same year, 2018, he joined Quiva Games, a gaming company based in Enugu, as an intern. This he combined with school but, after a few classes in his first year, he realised that engineering wasn’t as tasking as he had anticipated. He considered the mathematics being taught at 100 level too elementary and thus, a waste of his time. He knew he wasn’t going to idle around for another five years and so concentrated on coding. His father somehow found out he was missing classes, invited him home and seized his laptop. Then COVID-19 came knocking. While everyone rued the lockdown, he stepped up his game and started coding 12 hours a day, learning as fast as he could. He got a remote job as a mobile application developer at Kwivar, for N70,000. Two months after, he got another offer as a THEWILLNG

blockchain developer at Project Hydro, a blockchain company based in the British Virgin Islands that paid $700 monthly.

Just as the pandemic was already easing up, Emmanuel got another offer with a Nigerian firm as a block chain engineer with a net salary of N150,000 a month and other allowances.

After a while, his salary jumped to N300,000. Then he told his father that he wasn't going back to school to graduate and earn half of that as he had found his pathway. His parents couldn’t do anything about it. He would later get an offer from MakerDAO, one of the biggest DeFi companies in the world. He was the first Nigerian engineer on the team.

He showed his parents his new offer and his mother couldn’t believe her dropout son could earn over $3,000 per month. But that was only the beginning.

After MakerDAO, the offers wouldn’t stop coming. He got a contract offer from Instadapp, a DeFi protocol company, for $90 per hour. And when he felt he was ready to make his mark on the global blockchain ecosystem, he relocated to Dubai. In Dubai, more job opportunities came.

He was on top of the world; he could now reject offers and travel around the world.

With so much money in his bank account, Emmanuel told his father to leave his brother’s medical school’s tuition to him.

He would later get a contract offer of $3,000 per week from Avarta, a blockchain security company based in Singapore.

He joined them and built their entire blockchain infrastructure.

Then he met Yele Bademosi, founder and CEO of Nestcoin.

Bademosi would later become one of Lazerpay’s early investors.

Bademosi reached out to him when he wanted to start Nestcoin.

Around this same time too, he began to nurse the idea of building Lazerpay. When he was convinced that was what he wanted to do, he dropped everything else he was doing to focus on Lazerpay.

Emmanuel left MakerDAO in December 2021 and rejected a doubled pay from Avarta. First it was $7,000 per month then later $15,000 per month, but Njoku was running with his new vision, which is to become a great founder and not just a great engineer. Today, his steadfastness has turned everybody around him into a believer. His parents have now begun nudging his youngest sibling to study software engineering. At 19, this can only be the beginning of Emmanuel Njoku’s journey.

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Iyiegbu

nly a few months ago, Abisoye Fagade was in the news for serving guests at his late mother's burial ceremony, wild reptiles prepared as sumptuous delicacies in the ancient city of Ibadan. Now he is in the news again, this time for unveiling his mission to oust Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State from Government House, Ibadan. He formally declared his governorship ambition during a lavish party organised to celebrate his 48th birthday at The Civic Centre on Wednesday, March 9, 2022. The birthday party, which had some traditional rulers, politicians, entertainers, businessmen and technocrats in attendance, was a black tie event. This is not the first time that Fagade has dreamed of becoming governor Fagade

of Oyo State. He once tested the waters under the Alliance For Democracy. He claims he didn't win then because people felt he was too young to seek such an elective position. A marketing communication expert, Abisoye is a youth mentor who has his business tentacles spread across the hospitality industry, oil and gas, media and advertising.

ollywood actress and movie producers Funke Akindele-Bello and her colleague, Kemi Afolabi, have both stopped fighting and gone back to being very good friends. THEWILL had exclusively reported that the two actresses, who used to be quite close, were for many years at loggerheads with each other for reasons best known to them. They began their friendship from their undergraduate days as law students at the University of Lagos until they both veered into the film industry. Not long after they both made their names in the industry, they suddenly drifted apart and both refused to talk about what had gone wrong. This continued until early this year when Funke reached out to Kemi after the latter revealed that she near lost her life

after being diagnosed with a terminal illness, prompting her to book a space at Ebony Vaults in preparation for her death.

Touched by the disclosure, Funke reached out to her with prayers, cash and other gift items and their friendship was rekindled. Shocked by this, Kemi, took to her social media, urging her followers to pray for and thank Funke on her behalf. Eulogising Funke as her first love from the university and the movie industry, Kemi thanked her for being the bigger person by reaching out to her, while also reiterating that she never stopped loving Funke despite their differences.

In recent time, Funke has been quietly reaching out to her colleagues, particularly from the Yoruba speaking part of Nollywood and rendering financial assistance to those having a rough time.

OBI CUBANA Funke Akindele-Bello, Kemi EXPANDS Afolabi Bury The Hatchet BUSINESS N EMPIRE N ot contented with resting on his oars, Obinna Iyiegbu otherwise known as Obi Cubana, has expanded his business empire by incorporating a hotel and launching his own brand of bitters, an alcoholic drink infused with herbs, spices, fruits, roots, tree bark and other botanicals. Although the hotel arm of his Cubana Group, known as Cubana Suites, was already in existence, it operated on a very low scale and did not have the luxury associated with his brand. He had to shut it down for two years, went back to the drawing board, re-strategised and just two days before St Valentine's Day, reopened it with a bang.

He plans to unveil the bitters, which he aptly named Odogwu Bitters, later this month. Recall that the THEWILL had exclusively reported that the nightlife entrepreneur, who recently ventured into the real estate business via his Casa Cubana home, also has his eyes set on inscribing the Cubana signature in the United Kingdom with a Cubana Club. The building of the club, which began in earnest last year was expected to have been completed and launched by February 2022. However, work is still ongoing on the building, which will also house a restaurant that will serve mostly Nigerian food.

Akindele-Bello & Afolabi

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STORIES BY SHADE WESLEY-METIBOGUN

Yinka Ayefele Set to Open Branch of Fresh FM in Lagos

NNENNA UKEJEELENDU LOSES PROPERTIES WORTH MILLIONS OF NAIRA TO INFERNO H

onourable Nnenna Ukeje-Elendu, a former member of the House of Representative representing Bende Federal Constituency of Abia State, has lost valuables worth millions of naira to inferno.

The lawmaker lost her cars and other valuables in a residential building housing her properties after hoodlums invaded the compound and set it ablaze. Many have labelled the attack as the work of her political detractors who are eager to tarnish her reputation. This conclusion came after a certain Frank Ejike, who is an aide to Honourable Benjamin Kalu, a member of the National Assembly currently representing the same constituency, had issued a threat to the former lawmaker

before the ugly incident took place.

Ejike accused UkejeElendu of attacking Kalu, her successor.

He alleged that the former lawmaker caged the destiny of Bende for the 12 years she spent in office. He promised to go after the former lawmaker with full force and strike her without blinking. Although they belong to the same party, Ejike claimed that he did not benefit from Ukeje-Elendu’s 12-year tenure in the lower chamber. He ensured his boss, Kalu, got the support of party members who voted him

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Damola allegedly enjoys showing off his handsome face, boasting and displaying in public without a care for the welfare of his family. Most of his responsibilities are allegedly being shouldered by Bukola, who has tried her best to ensure her husband changes for good but to no avail. THEWILL gathered that the couple’s relatives have allegedly

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ospel music artiste and the founder of Fresh 106.9 FM, Olayinka Joel Ayefele, popularly known as Yinka Ayefele, is set to open a branch of his radio station in Lagos State in a bid to expand the station’s reach across southwestern Nigeria. The music act is already making necessary preparations to unveil the new station. The singer who has been planning to launch the Lagos arm of the station for quite a while had some challenges that delayed the Lagos launch. One was the partial demolition of Music House, his building that housed the radio station in Ibadan. This was

Governor Makinde, Wife Bag Chieftaincy Titles

Ukeje-Elendu

for the PDP primary election that led to his eventual victory at the general poll in 2019. After the dare-devils invaded her premises, accusing fingers were pointed at Frank Ejike because of the threat he made on the former lawmaker.

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Damola Olatunji Accused of Being a Deadbeat Father

ollywood actor, producer and director, Damola Olatunji, has been accused of being a deadbeat husband. The handsome actor, who is married to his colleague, Bukola Awoyemi, also known as Bukola Arugba, has allegedly been shirking his financial obligations to the actress and her two children.

Olatunji

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tried to intervene, but their efforts have yielded little or no results.

One of the reasons the actor allegedly gives for his financial incapability is the fact that good movie roles have not been coming his way like before. Some of his wife’s friends have allegedly advised her to quit the marriage and move on for good, but the mother of two insists on staying. She has taken solace in God and the fact that things would turn around for her husband in no distant time.

One reason why she has remained adamant is the fact that she is not Damola’s first wife. She was once accused of snatching the actor from his former wife, Raliat who is based in the United Kingdom. Many frowned at their relationship when they started dating because Damola was already married to Raliat at that time. Although the marriage took place in 2013, the couple did not enjoy their marriage before things fell apart the following year after Bukola got pregnant with Damola's child. It was in the same year Damola and Bukola met. The two played a romantic role in a movie which kick started their relationship.

Their union is blessed with a set of twins, a boy and girl.

followed by the death of the General Manager of the Ado-Ekiti branch of the station, David Ajiboye.

The music maestro had to take a break from his expansion programme, but he has resumed his plans to invade Lagos. Still at the preparatory stage, the necessary gadgets that will kick start a smooth transmission have already been acquired. Founded in 2007 with its operation base in the ancient city of Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, Fresh FM airs its programmes in English and Yoruba languages.

In 2020, the music icon established the Ado Ekiti branch of the radio station, Ayefele Fresh 106.9 FM.

The Makindes

he number one citizen of Oyo State, Governor Seyi Makinde and his Rivers State-born wife, Tamunominini, have been honoured with traditional titles in Saki, Oyo State.

The governor and his wife were crowned Aare Atayese and Yeye Aare Atayese of Sakiland, Oke Ogun area of Oyo State. The traditional ruler of the town, the Okere of Sakiland, His Royal Highness, Oba Khalid Oyedepo, conferred the titles on the couple as part of the activities scheduled for the celebration of the 2022 Beere Festival in Saki, Oyo State. They were also

honoured for their immense contributions to the infrastructural development of Saki and many other towns in the Oke-Ogun area of Oyo State.

Governor Makinde was described as a visionary leader who has an unwavering commitment to repositioning Oke Ogun and the state in general, through the provision of roads and other amenities in the area since he took over the mantle of leadership of the state. The governor has since earned a place in the hearts of indigenes for the laudable works done within the area.

Gbemi Olateru-Olagbegi Joins TNC Africa

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opular radio presenter and founder of Gbemisoke Shoes, Gbemi Olateru-Olagbegi, is now a co-founder of TNC Africa, one of Africa’s most promising media and entertainment companies. Having worked with the company on various platforms from its inception in January 2021, the former presenter with Beat FM has taken on a new role of overseeing production at TNC. Gbemi has been part of TNC from its inception. She has hosted events and parties, featured in some of TNC web series such as Heaven Baby, Our Best Friend’s Wedding released from the stables of the reputable company. She is expected to lead operations at TNC and take charge of the company’s production.

TNC Africa is a film and TV production company committed to telling original African stories through drama. It was launched by Olawale Adetula and Daniel Aideyan in 2021. The company has since created over 300 hours of television and developed four original stories.

Olateru-Olagbegi THEWILLNIGERIA

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MARCH 13 - MARCH 19, 2022 T H E W I L L N E W S P A P E R • www.thewillnigeria.com

STATE OF THE STATES

BY SAM DIALA & OLAYEMI SHABA

Introduction:

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here are concerns that Nigeria’s worsening revenue challenge may escalate into a financial implosion, with the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (sub-nationals), being the worst hit. The situation is aggravated by the nation’s escalating public debt stock (now over #35 trillion). The debt stock comprises domestic and external loan obligations of the Federal Government and the sub-nationals.

With over 70 percent of the nation’s revenue committed to debt servicing annually, governments at all levels are struggling to survive. There is little left for capital budget, pay salaries and undertake other priorities to grow the economy. Moreover, there is a limit to which the people and corporates could be taxed. Yet, profligacy and waste take the

centre of our governance space while frugality assumes the back seat.

As such, the sub-nationals are hemorrhaging huge resources in paying salaries and other emoluments of a bloated bureaucracy. To survive, they are urged to diversify their revenue base, embark on aggressive internally generated revenue (IGR) and depend less on the shrinking federal allocations.

The purpose of State of the States project, is to present evidence-based alternatives. These include avenues for the sub-nationals to become more viable and less dependent on the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) – referred to as Abuja handout.

State of the States, a bi-weekly publication, features two states per edition. It endeavours to unearth hidden treasures in each state and ascertain, through consultations and evidence-based survey, areas of comparative advantages

ADAMAWA STATE

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damawa is a state in northeastern Nigeria. It was created from old Gongola State in August 1991. Its capital and major town is Yola.

and economies of scale. The publication will show-case, in no exaggerated terms, the socio-economic status of each state and highlight the opportunities and threats.

Furthermore, State of the States will examine existing realities that hinge on sector-specific areas of competitive advantage – Agriculture, Tourism, Transportation, Education and Skill Acquisition, Wellbeing and MSMEs. Ultimately, the project seeks to create the desired spotlight on the sub-nationals to motivate them to venture into something different for better results.

We have featured Lagos and Ogun, Kwara and Kogi, Anambra and Enugu, Benue and Taraba, Kebbi and Sokoto, Cross River and Akwa Ibom, Edo and Delta, Ekiti and Osun, Bauchi and Gombe, Rivers and Bayelsa, Kano and Jigawa, Imo and Abia Borno and Yobe, Nasarawa and Kaduna, Ondo and Oyo, Zamfara and Niger Plateau and Kastina.

This week periscopes Adamawa and Ebonyi - The last set.

The state lies between 8O0 N and 11N and longitude 11.50 and 13.50 E. The climate is of the Tropical Continental North characterised by the Sudan savannah zones and the tropical hinterland by the northern and southern Guinea zones. There are two distinct seasons: the wet season, which starts from April to October and the dry season from November to April.

The state is a mountainous land crossed by the large river valleys – Benue, Gongola and Yedsarem. The valleys of the Mount Cameroon, Mandara Mountains and Adamawa Plateau form part of the landscape.

Bordered by Borno State to the northwest, Gombe State to the west and Taraba State to the southwest, its eastern part forms the national eastern border with Cameroon.

As an agriculturally-based state, the major occupation of the people is farming. The state’s economy mainly relies on livestock and crops, such as cotton, groundnuts, millet, sugar cane, arabica, guinea corn, tea, kola nuts cassava, guinea corn, rice and yams.

Communities living on the banks of the rivers engage in fishing, while the Fulani are cattle rearers.

Furthermore, the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) has partnered the Adamawa State Government to boost wheat production in the country. To this effect, the authority has received land donations for wheat farming in Ribadu Village in the Fufore Local Government Area of the state.

Geographically, Adamawa is categorised into the sub-Sudan and the northern Guinea Savannah zones. The sub-Sudan is endowed by thick forest, tall trees and tall grasses commonly found in the southern part of the State especially in temperate areas of Banga Plateau and others.

Fintiri

Cash crops grown by the people include cotton, cowpea, Bambara nuts, tomatoes, onions, pepper, and sugarcane among others. Fruits produced in the State include pawpaw, guava, cashew, mango, banana and orange.

The people of Adamawa, are noted for their rich cultural heritage, which reflects in their history, dances, dress patterns, craftsmanship and music.

Tourist Sites The following tourist sites exist in Adamawa: The Mandara Mountains, The Sukur, Ruwan Zafi, Kiri Dam, Gumti Park, Sassa Waterfall, Yadim Waterfalls, Sella Negis Waterfalls, Makam Walls, Fombina Palace Museum, Gorobi Rock Formation, Elephant House.

Agriculture and Rural Development The Adamawa State Government has continued to develop agriculture through substantial budget allocations and support to farmers and their co-operative groups. The government voted the sum of N233 million for the purchase of agricultural inputs for the 2021/2022 farming season. Crops such as rice, maize and sorghum are on the priority list to benefit from the support for multiple cycle production.

The government said the measures were essential to boost agriculture and to attain food security. It added that the planned purchase of fertilisers, seedlings and herbicides will ultimately contribute to increased production, reduced food imports, increase in farmer access to the right inputs and enhanced food security across the country.

To ensure high quality of end-product, the government said inputs would be procured from reputable manufacturers and sold at subsidised rate to farmers for both wet and dry season farming.

Through this arrangement, small-holder farmers, who are the major food producers, will practically benefit from the scheme.

According to the state government, the targeted inputs were carefully selected because they will support such crops as rice, maize and sorghum for multiple cycle production.

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The Mandara Mountain

Natural Resources The minerals found in the state include marble, mercury, zinc, emerald, diamond, limestone, coal, tin, ruby, graphite, and others.

The government has also launched a N100 billion Agriculture Bond, which major feature is the use of technology and professional services to advance the sector. According to the Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, his administration is investing in agriculture with a lot of strategies lined up to spur productivity and enhance the living standard of farmers in the state.

At a retreat organised for farmers by the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Yola, the governor noted, “Without the understanding and buying of the use of modern and emerging technology like the Biotechnology and bio-safety regulations, efforts of the government to enhance Agricultural production through emerging technologies will bring vain.”

Fintiri said the government was giving the sector all that it takes because of the premium his administration placed on agriculture for which the N100 billion agriculture Bond was introduced as a practical move to ensure job creation and food availability.

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The efforts by NALDA to improve the production of wheat is expected to boost the growth of the agricultural sector, enhance food security, cut annual import bill of the commodity as well as improve the economic well-being of Nigerians.

The NALDA is expected to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the communities to perfect the modalities for an integrated farm estate to boost the agricultural sector. The intervention which would engage about 1,000 youths from the community in massive wheat farming is expected to assist in curbing the huge $2 billion wheat import bill the country incurs annually.

FACT-FILE: LGA: 21 Land Area: 14,254sqmi Registered businesses: 103 Public primary schools: 1,1890 circa Public secondary schools: 300 circa University (3): Federal - 1, state - 1, private - 1 College of Legal Studies: 1 Polytechnic (2): Federal - 1, state - 1 College of Agriculture: State - 1 Nursing School & Midwifery (2): Federal - 1, state - 1 College of Health Technology: State - 2 College of Education (2): Federal - 1, state - 1 Technical school: State - 4 Total Revenue: N56.27bn @ 2020 Total Tax: N6.68bn @ 2020 IGR: N6.32bn @ 2020 (14.80% of total revenue) FAAC: N47.94bn @ 2020 (85.20% of total revenue) Domestic Debt: N98.90bn @ 2020 External Debt: $109.42m @ 2020 Unemployment rate: 55.9% @ 2020 Airport: 1

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STATE OF THE STATES

Economic Development: Adamawa Embarks on Road Construction, Electrification T he Adamawa State Government has said that it constructed 347 km of rural roads across the state, thus creating an enabling environment for business and improved life for rural dwellers. In an effort to meet the need of rural dwellers and boost job creation, the government earlier commissioned road projects in the Southern and Northern Senatorial Districts, with the 3.5km Izala-Gweda MallamRafa-Wayam Road in Numan.

Governor Fintiri said the project was compelling due to the perennial flooding suffered by residents in the preceding years as such making it a priority pilot project.

poles have been erected to take the line from Toungo to Kirri.

While commissioning the electricity project in Toungo, Fintiri described the completion of the abandoned electrification of Toungo as a promise kept to the people in the area,

“On that day I made a promise not only to connect Toungo to the National Grid, but also to redefine politics and re-establish trust between the politician and the electorate in Adamawa State. For me, as always, politics must be defined in its purest form – a simple call to service where trust is sacred. As politicians, while seeking for votes, our words shall always be our bonds,” the governor said.

Governor Fintiri said it was the period of recuperation for Michika town and all the communities in the northern zone, because of the effect of the devastation caused by insurgency, “Which consumed our relatives, destroyed our infrastructure and even saw us fleeing our homes. The best way for the government to demonstrate sensitivity to the plight of the people is a commitment to fast track the recuperation process by rebuilding the infrastructure with the required speed,” he said.

The government said the projects were its modest way of encouraging people devastated and destabilized by the insurgency to return to their ancestral homes, reclaim them and their lives, as well as their livelihoods, while hoping that the project would serve as a catalyst for growth and development.

“I am aware that thousands of residents usually move out of this area during the rainy season only to return after the rains to pick up the pieces of their lives and livelihood. This is unacceptable to this Government, which puts immense value on the welfare of its citizens. It is for this reason that this road project was among the first Township roads along with Michika, to be selected outside the State capital,” Governor Fintiri said.

Having delivered the project as promised, within two years of his administration, the governor, who expressed his satisfaction, said “A promise is fulfilled, despite the harsh economic crunch characterised by the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

He promised to commission what he termed as “More of the life-changing projects that will have direct meaning and impact on our state and our people,” soonest.

“This, indeed, is one sure way to build community resilience, reconstruct faith and shame the deadly merchants of conflict and purveyors of mayhem,” said Governor Fintiri.

Furthermore, the government recently commissioned the 33Kv mainline Toungo Electrification Project. It is the first phase from the Ganye Tee junction to Toungo, and linked to the Yola Electricity Distribution Company Main Station with 11Kv Low Tension, in Gamu, with installed transformers and LT distribution lines in both Gamu and Toungo.

In Michika, Urban Roads flagged-off the distribution of grants to about 1,320 women from Madagali Local Government Area, was implemented.

The government however informed the people of more developmental project in progress one of which is the permanent site of the Adamawa State College of Health Technology, Michika, to commence academic activities before the end of the year.

Work is on-going for the conclusion and commissioning of the second phase of the electrification project, already 90% of the

The township roads with a complete drainage span of 7.8-kilometres form a part of the package for our Urban renewal campaign in the State, which the governor said was designed deliberately to bridge the infrastructural gap between the urban and semi-urban centres.

Challenging factors: Insecurity, communial clashes, poor road network, poor power supply, multiple taxes by revenue officials.

ENDOWMENT AND INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Groundnuts Farming

Fishing

Cotton Production

Ranching

Haulage Business

Yam And Cassava Production

Grains Production

Healthcare Business

Rice Production

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STATE OF THE STATES Oferekpe Beach, Noyo at Ekpelu Umuaka, Norwegian Water Reservoir at Amagu, Rocky Hills Formation in Amagu, Okpuitumo and Otagbara, Ogagbo Igbudu Beach at Ogagbo Igbudu.

Natural Resources Ebonyi has several solid mineral resources, such as local lead, zinc and limestone mining or quarrying. Others are crude oil and natural gas, as well as a few large-scale commercial mines.

Agricultural and Rural Development Despite being one of the highest rice producing states in the country with four million metric tonnes, based on a record from the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment, Ebonyi farmers are lagging in. The state government has stepped up measures to boost rice production in line with the Federal Government plan to transform agriculture into Nigeria’s economic mainstay.

The government has launched the Africa Rice on Zero Hunger Project in collaboration with the International Fund for Agricultural Development-Value Chain Development Programme (IFAD-VCDP) scheme, for rice farmers and extension agents. According to the Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Chief Moses Nomeh, the knowledge of good agronomic practices (GAP) is the most important foundation to productivity.

Nomeh has advised farmers in the state to pay attention to understanding the quality of what to produce to be competitive in the international market – starting from land preparation, transplanting, weeding, post-harvesting, packaging, storage and sale.

He observed that the state government had reached out to the farmers through input distribution every farming season

and expressed optimism that the beneficiaries would have bountiful harvests to achieve food security in Ebonyi and the entire country. For a far-reaching effect, beneficiaries were selected from the six participating local government areas: Abakaliki, Ikwo, Ezza North, Ohaozara, Ohaukwu and Onicha.

The Ebonyi State Ring Road Project is one of the initiatives of the government to achieve a significant level of development in the state. The project aims to provide improved and sustainable access to economic opportunities and social services, and to enhance the capacity of relevant government institutions to deliver development targets and subsequently, to enhance the socio-economic development of the State. The government said it would support economic and social development programmes of Ebonyi State and Nigeria as a whole through efficient and cost-effective movement of passengers and freight, especially agricultural produce.

The Project intends to rehabilitate 177.81 km of existing bituminous roads, comprising the four sections of the Ebonyi State Ring Road. The road will also contribute to reduction of poverty through support to agricultural growth and mining, as well as fostering regional integration between Nigeria and Cameroon. The Ebonyi State Ring Road Project comprises: Civil works for the rehabilitation to bitumen standard of sections of the Ebonyi State Ring Road.

The direct beneficiaries of the Project are therefore road users including the farming, mining and industrial communities which the road serves as it provides them with ready access to markets. Such users would benefit from travel time savings, vehicle operating cost savings, and accident cost reduction savings.

FACT FILE: LGA: 13 Land Area: 2,136sqmi Registered businesses: 184 Public primary schools: 1,140 circa Public secondary schools: 230 circa University (3): Federal - 1, state - 1, private - 1 Polytechnic (2): Federal -1, private -1 College of Agriculture: Federal - 1 Nursing School: State - 3 College of Health Technology: State - 2 College of Education (2): Federal -1, state -1 Technical School: Federal - 1 Total Revenue: N57.55bn @ 2020 Total Tax: N9.53bn @ 2020 IGR: N13.6bn @ 2020 (23.61% of total revenue) FAAC: N44bn @ 2020 (76.39% of total revenue) Domestic Debt: N44.21bn @ 2020 External Debt: $66m @ 2020 Unemployment rate: 25.1% @ 2020 Airport: -

Ebonyi Ring Road

Abakaliki Roundabout

Umahi

E

bonyi State is in Nigeria’s south-east region. It was created in 1996, carved out of both Enugu and Abia States with Abakaliki, the largest city, as the capital.

It is bordered by Benue State in the north and north-east, Enugu State to the west, Cross River State to the east and southeast, and Abia State to the south-west.

Ebonyi is primarily an agricultural state. It is a leading producer of rice and yam, predominantly cultivated in Edda.

Other crops produced in the state include potatoes, maize, beans and cassava.

Geographically, the state is divided between the CrossNiger transition forest in the far south and the drier Guinean forest–savanna mosaic in the rest of the state.

Ebonyi is known for its huge salt deposit at the Okposi and Uburu Salt Lakes, the reason it is called "The salt of the nation". To actualise this, the Ebonyi State Government has given several incentives to investors in the agro-allied sector to encourage production.

The other important geographical features are the Cross River and its tributary, the River Aloma, which flow along Ebonyi's southeastern and eastern borders, respectively, while fellow Cross River tributaries, the Abonyi (Aboine), Asu, and Eze Aku Rivers run through the state's interior.

Abakaliki, is a centre of agricultural trade featuring such products as yams, cassava, rice, palm oil and palm kernels, as well as kolanuts. The state government promotes both poultry and egg production. The huge incentives and tax holiday offered by the government to all major private investors have brought about a marked increase in new businesses in Abakaliki city.

Some of the natives engage in wood craft such as carved doors, stools, walking sticks, traditional flutes, wooden mortars and pestles.

A recent report by the European-American Journal which investigated the impact of National Fadama III Development Project Financing on the socio-economic growth of Ebonyi State, revealed that one of the major problems confronting Nigeria today is how to improve the quality of life in the rural areas, reduce the level of poverty and contribute to economic growth.

It was discovered that counterpart contribution by the state government has significant effect on the socioeconomic development of the state and that there is a long run correlation between counterpart contribution by local government areas in Ebonyi and the socio-economic development of the state.

“We concluded that introducing the principles of comparative advantage, by the provision of credit facilities to the comparative groups in Ebonyi State, only for those businesses that earned them the highest income, should be encouraged,” the report stated. The state government is investing massively on infrastructure on the premise that it has a far-reaching multiplier effect on the socio-economic advancement of the people.

Tourist Sites Ebonyi is close to nature and tourist sites dot the area. They include the National Museum, Okposi Salt Lake, Abakaliki Green Lake, Abakaliki Greater Rice Husks, Slave Market at Ezza North/South, Mkpuma Ekwa Oku Rocks, Isinweze Water-falls, MacGregor Hill, Achiogba Water Falls, EkoliEdda, Ugwu Elom Onele,, Amanchor Cave and Etiti-Edda, Etiti-edda, The Golden Sand Beaches, Unwana and Ndibe Sand Beach, Historic Ancient Stone Mortar, Pottery Works,

EBONYI STATE

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STATE OF THE STATES

NASENI, Ebonyi Sign MoU on Industrial, Agricultural Facilities

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he National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) and the Ebonyi State Government have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the establishment of industrial clusters and agricultural facilities in the state.

Speaking during the ceremony in April 2021 in Abuja, the executive Vice-Chairman of NASENI, Prof. Mohammed Sani Haruna, said the partnership would see the establishment of the Industrial Machinery Equipment Development Institute (IMEDI), Uburu, in Ebonyi State, to carry out its engineering and infrastructural development in the state with the aim of providing employment for Nigerian youths, skill acquisition, training and technical know-how for upcoming engineers and scientists.

The NASENI boss said the technology and infrastructural development and transformation that were going on in Ebonyi is so amazing that one could not but partner with the state governor whom he described as a developer and one who touches the lives of an ordinary men and women.

“While it is our duty to carry out technology and infrastructural development in the states, Ebonyi State has shown us how to strategise and develop infrastructure. So we are also learning from them. We are happy to identify with such a state. What is happening in Ebonyi is a thing of joy and today we are partnering with them in order to solidify the efforts of the state governor.

“We are happy to associate and be part of the development that is going on in the state. The state has made giant strides. The establishment of the institute in the state will help to carry out developmental projects for job and wealth creation for the nation,” he added.

In his response, the Ebonyi State governor, David Umahi, said the state was committed to the agreement, noting that the Governor was happy with Prof Haruna as he is the type of professor Nigeria should produce.

According to Science Report, Umahi, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr Kenneth Ugballa, said Mohammed had demonstrated tremendous passion in national development, using science innovation and technology as strategy.

“Ebonyi State is committed to the MoU signed today. We don’t commit ourselves to what we cannot do. We will make sure that the vision which NASENI and Ebonyi State share together will thrive.

Our government believes that work must be done to the best of our abilities and that we stand on,” he added.

In his vote of thanks, the Managing Director of the Scientific Equipment Development Institute (SEDI-Enugu), one of NASENI institutes, who is also the chairman of NASENI-Ebony State Joint Technical Committee, Dr. Samuel Ndubuisi, said the Ebonyi State governor had shown that he is dedicated to the technology and infrastructural development of the state.

In a similar development, the National Agricultural Lands Development Authority (NALDA) and the National Youth Service Corps on Wednesday partnered to develop 52 hectares of rice farm in Ebonyi State.

The partnership deal was sealed after the NALDA and NYSC signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, to activate the 52 hectares land owned by the NYSC in Ezillo Ishielu Local Government Area of the state for a massive production of rice, which the Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer, NALDA, Prince Paul Ikonne, signed on behalf of his organisation, while the Director-

General, NYSC, Brigadier General Shuaibu Ibrahim, signed for the corps.

According to Ikonne, with the NYSC’s youthful manpower, it was necessary for NALDA to tap into that resources to open up more hectares of farmland across the country, while NALDA provides the expertise in agribusiness to galvanise the youthful strength of the corps for productive ventures in agriculture that would make young graduates self-reliant, transformed into entrepreneurs, and also boost food security.

He also explained that rice is one of the commodities that NALDA has prioritised along with other agricultural commodities that will be embarked upon its, where he disclosed that Integrated Farm Estate would soon come on stream in partnership with the corps, which will make corps members go into food production and income generation.

He said: “NYSC has the foot soldiers and every year they churn them out, while NALDA has the land and the technical know-how.

This understanding is for the manpower and the technical knowhow to come together in order to produce the much needed job opportunity and food security that President Muhammadu Buhari has been advocating for the country.

“Nigeria is in dire need of creating job opportunities and this collaboration will contribute to the country’s GDP growth because when there are idle youths, you will have youth restiveness, but when they are engaged you wil see effectiveness. So our visit here today is to seal our understanding that we already have going forward.”

Challenging factors: Insecurity, communial clashes, poor road network, poor power supply, multiple taxes by revenue officials.

ENDOWMENT AND INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Rice Production And Processing

Haulage

Salt Factory

Mechanized Agriculture

Food Packaging

Yam Production And Processing

Agro-Allied Chemical Sales

Hotel/Guest House

Mobile Money/Banking

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SportsLive Tribute to Obazu-Ojeagbase, Lanipekun, Christopher It was Modele Sarafa-Yusuf, one of many who cut their teeth under Fabio Lanipekun's supervision, who was one of the first to announced his death. She did so via a tweet late Sunday, to which she attached a recent picture of herself and the sports journalism icon. Her tweet read: "I mourn the death of my former boss & mentor, Fabio Lanipekun who passed away today- 4 days after his 80th birthday. Fabio encouraged my move from NTA Ibadan to Lagos, burnished my skills and taught me hardwork & discipline. May God grant him peaceful repose & bless his family."

BY JUDE OBAFEMI

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ithin a few days, two remarkable personalities within the sporting firmament passed on to glory and their departure reverberated across the journalism community like earthquakes high on the Richter scale. While the iconic sports publisher, Emmanuel Sunny Obazu-Ojeagbase, died after a brief illness in the United States aged 71, the doyen of sports journalism, Fabio Lanipekun, died four days after his 80th birthday.

Take Obazu-Ojeagbase, the founder and Executive Chairman of Complete Communications Limited, which publishes Complete Sports newspapers, SuccessDigest, and other Internet publications, for instance. He was born in Uzebba, Iuleha, in Edo State's Owan West and, as a media entrepreneur, rose to prominence as the pioneer publisher of sports news in Nigeria when he founded Sports Souvenir weekly newspaper in 1984. Before he rose to the level of a multifaceted business mogul, he cut his entrepreneurial teeth quite early as he began engaging in activities that helped him nurture the skills that will come in handy in the future of multiple-business ownership.

At just 17, he already had experience working as an apprentice mechanic for two days, a trainee stenographer for six months and almost five years as a trainee printer.

The publisher, who was previously an enlisted soldier during the Nigerian Civil War, in what has been described as a desperate act to run away from poverty, could have derailed far from the path that his life led until his death if he had continued living his old life, which was characterised by an addiction to pool betting. It was his second pre-occupation in the military and was worsening as an addiction to the point of putting his focus at risk. Fortunately, he reached a turning point when he found God through his reading of the book, "The Seven Laws Of Success" by Herbert W. Armstrong, the founder of Worldwide Church of God. Obazu-Ojeagbase voluntarily discharged from the Army and having taken two correspondent courses in journalism at the age of 26, with a family to care for, he began his career in sports writing as a stringer for Daily Times newspapers in the mid-1970s. Ojeagbase rose fast through sheer talent, drive and hard work, to eventually being named Sports Editor of Sunday Concord Newspapers in 1980 and Sports Editor of The Guardian Newspapers in 1983.

In 1984, he left The Guardian to pursue his dream of becoming an entrepreneur with the measly sum of just N6,500 to his name, with which he started the successful Sports Souvenir newspaper. He was his own printer and vendor when he began, personally selling copies in front of the National Stadium in Lagos. Between 1984 and 1994, Ojeagbase launched more groundbreaking sports titles to the Nigerian sports market, including Complete Football magazine, Complete Football International(CFI), and International Soccer Review (ISR) all of which went on to become some of the most widely read newspapers, magazines and reviews in circulation. THEWILL recalls that Complete Football was the first all-colour monthly football magazine in Nigeria and Complete Sports, which he began publishing in 1995, was the first daily sports newspaper ever in the country as well.

In 1994, Obazu-Ojeagbase co-founded the Success Attitude Development Centre (SADC) with his wife, Pastor (Mrs) Esther Ojeagbase, whom he had met, courted and married within a period of two weeks. The Centre was conceived with the aim and objective of teaching young Nigerian entrepreneurs how to start, run, and succeed in their businesses.

Success Digest Magazine, one of the best-selling magazines THEWILLNIGERIA

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Ojeagbase

Sport fans had hardly recovered from the shock of both men’s passage than the death of a former footballer and ex-captain of the Flying Eagles, Justice Christopher was announced.

According to reports, the 40-year-old had slumped and could not be revived even after medical attention at the hospital to which he was rushed in a determined bid to save his life. It was a dark period of mourning, of memorialising their time in earth, of remembering their impacts, of commiserating with their friends and families and of continuing to make a difference in the world of sports in line with the difference they made with their own lives. And, what inspirational lives all three lived.

“

They lived inspirational lives and have left the stage for those of us following to keep the flame of sporting excellence alive and continue to fly Nigeria's sports flag high with pride, distinction and zeal in their memories and for the glory of the country

and Nigerians' number one life-changing magazine, debuted in 1995 under the auspices of this Centre. Today, national events including as the Success Digest Entrepreneurs Awards (a muchanticipated event for Nigerian entrepreneurs), the Success Digest Entrepreneurs Conference, the Success Digest Business Opportunity Expo, the Success Digest Leaders' Club, and the SO Wealth Library are held under SADC. The SADC went on to develop and inspire thousands of successful entrepreneurs, protégés who are now employers of labour themselves today.

In March 2003, Obazu-Ojeagbase was ordained as a pastor, and he proclaimed the gospel of God to everybody who came into contact with him, both in words and acts. He was a self-made hard working individual, who was passionate about learning, as seen by his large library stocked with books on business management, leadership, and other topics. The ex-soldier, business mogul, founder, pastor and inspirational speaker also authored several books like bestsellers such as "How to Make It in Nigeria – Building Your Wealth from Ground Floor Up", "How to Bullet Proof Yourself from Poverty, Ideas – The Starting Point of All True Riches" and similar titles. For young journalists and contemporaries alike, he established and facilitated groundbreaking chances and positions. His philanthropy and generosity were boundless. Despite being a Pastor, the detribalised sports pioneer was highly accepting and unbiased toward members of various faiths.

Within a week of the breaking of Obazu-Ojeagbase's death, the passing away of another pacesetter in sports journalism, Fabio Lanipekun, rocked the Nigerian sports community.

According to close family sources, the accomplished sports journalist transitioned to glory over the weekend, only four days after commemorating the 80th anniversary of his birth.

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Lanipekun was born Adesola Lanipekun before adopting the name 'Fabio' from a novel he read as a student at the Methodist Boys High School in Lagos, according to a recent expose by another seasoned journalist, Kunle Solaja. While he worked in the print media for a while, from the now-defunct Daily Express to Concord Press, where he climbed to become Group Sports Editor, most people remember him from his time at the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA). Lanipekun, whose work was influenced by David Coleman, a senior BBC commentator, belonged to a bygone age of sportscasters and was well-known for his football commentary. The legendary commentator, dubbed the "encyclopaedia of sports" remained a constant figure on NTA long after his retirement, analysing Super Eagles games and writing a column for ObazuComplete Ojeagbase's Sports. For many years, he was the head of sports at NTA headquarters, as well as the Nigeria Olympic Committee's (NOC) Public Relations Officer (PRO). He was well-known for his knowledge of Nigerian football history, having worked there since 1962, and he was known for his hard work and excellence while he was alive.

He was frequently hailed as a pioneer of sportscasting on Nigerian television while being a teacher and mentor of journalists, especially on the Sports beat. Before retiring, this doyen of professional sports journalism, whose glory days on television screens will be remembered forever, ascended to the post of Manager, Sports at NTA and will be missed by those whose lives he touched and those he inspired with his life and example.

With not enough time to fully these two icons of sports, the Nigerian sporting community was shocked to learn early on Wednesday last week, that former Flying Eagles captain Christopher had collapsed and died at his hotel complex in Jos, Plateau State. Christopher, who was a vital part of the Super Eagles side that competed in the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, was said to be suffering from moderate hypertension before suffering what is suspected to be cardiac arrest. The player was a defensive midfielder in his playing days, and according to Stephen Lokrit, who was with him all night, he was extremely lively on Tuesday as he felicitated and ate with his friends. As aforementioned, the 40-year-old was immediately taken to the hospital, where his death was confirmed, the third such confirmation in a two-week period of mournful times for the country.

Christopher was appointed Captain of the Nigerian Flying Eagles, the country's Under-20 national team, to the 2001 Africa Youth Championship in Egypt. The late Stephen Keshi was the team's coach and the team finished bottom of Group 2 and failed to make it past the group stage, drawing goalless with Mali before losing 4-1 to Ghana. Christopher made his Super Eagles debut in the same year, during the FIFA World Cup qualifying series, and went on to earn a total of 11 caps, including an Africa Cup of Nations appearance and a World Cup appearance, all in 2002. He was a late addition to that 2002 Africa Cup of Nations squad and appeared in only the third-place playoff against Mali.

Christopher, whose professional career began with Katsina United, went on to play for Sharks, and Bendel Insurance in Nigeria, before going abroad and playing in the colours of Antwerp FC (Belgium), Levski Sofia (Bulgaria), Trelleborgs FF (Sweden), Alania Vladikavkaz (Russia), and Herflge BK in Europe (Denmark) They lived inspirational lives and have left the stage for those of us following to keep the flame of sporting excellence alive and continue to fly Nigeria's sports flag high with pride, distinction and zeal in their memories and for the glory of the country.

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www.thewillnigeria.com MARCH 13-MARCH 19, 2022

Game-Changing Second Niger Bridge And The Need For PPP Initiatives In Public Infrastructure

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n March 8, a high-profile delegation of the Federal Government, comprising the Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Gambari; the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola and his Labour and Employment counterpart, Chris Ngige, which was on a mission to inspect the progress being made in the construction of the Second Niger Bridge, was received by representatives of the governments of Anambra and Delta States. The takeaway from the visit was overly positive, as over 85 per cent of the construction had been done and an April round off of the entire project was promised. Also promised was an expected October commissioning, well ahead of the holiday-time gridlock that had become a standard fare for the majority of travellers, who waste hours caught up in traffic jams inbound and outbound Onitsha.

Yet, as impactful as these details are about the realisation of a Second Niger Bridge, the reaction to the development was understandably tempered by mostly those who have waited these past decades with bated breaths to see the possibility of an alternative to the only link road across the River Nigeria without success until now. To fully grasp the cautious optimism with which the news relayed by the high-profile delegation was received, it is necessary to look beyond the teething problems that earmarked the recent kickoff of the project under the previous administration of Goodluck Jonathan and also beyond the initial promises of Fashola, who had promised a February commissioning, and go all the way back to the 1978/1979 political campaign of Shehu Shagari, the then presidential candidate of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). It boggles the mind to no end that already in the late 1970s, the original Niger Bridge was considered insufficient and in need of a complementary link between the South-East and southern Nigeria, on the one hand, and the rest of the country, on the other. Yet, only now is there a very real possibility of this alternative.

Back in the 1970s, the bearings of a political campaign tool were beginning to be obvious: to earn the confidence of the people to the East and South of Nigeria, a politician ought to wave the "Second Niger Bridge Construction" carrot and, like clockwork, the votes from the region will flow like the very waters of the River Niger.

It worked for Shagari but, as is obvious by now, no Niger Bridge materialised, with the NPN government in charge of the affairs of the country from 1979 to 1983.

Instead, most of the in-country movement southwards went through the solitary Niger Bridge, increasing the tension on the infrastructure beyond projected levels.

That was the state of affairs in the lifetime of the military juntas of Generals Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha, Abdulsalam Abubakar and through the democratically elected Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan administrations.

During Babangida's regime, the danger of the deterioration of the Niger Bridge was highlighted by the then Minister for Works and Housing, Abubakar Umar. In his reaction, Babangida challenged local engineers to come up with concepts for a Second Niger Bridge. The Nigerian Society of Engineers responded by incorporating a consulting firm called NSE PREMS Limited, which delivered a master plan for the execution of said bridge, but circumstances conspired to prevent it from going further, especially towards the end of the Babangida administration.

Yet, the warning about the Niger Bridge was factual. It was bearing the brunt of being the sole cross-Niger link to the South-East and South-South. As a route between Onitsha in Anambra State and Asaba in Delta State, the bridge was completed in December 1965 by the French construction giant, Dumez, following designs of Dutch engineering consultants. It had a total length of 4,606 feet (1,404m) and the entire construction took about a year as it began in 1964 and was ready for use in 1965, at a cost between £5 and £6 million, which comes to about N51 billion when adjusted for inflation. Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Nigeria’s Prime Minister at the time, commissioned the project on January 4, 1966, in what

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turned out to be his final public event outside Lagos as Prime Minister. On January 15, he was assassinated in a bloody coup and his body was discovered by the roadside near Lagos six days after.

As for the bridge, which had a steel centre-truss, three vehicular lanes with pedestrian walkways on both sides, it suffered severe damages after retreating Biafran soldiers exploded dynamite on the structure during the Nigerian Civil War of 1967–1970, in order to prevent the Nigerian military's assault on Onitsha. It was a manoeuvre that left the Nigerian Army on the Asaba side of the river stranded and unable to advance against the retreating horde. That damage rendered the bridge unusable until it was re-opened on Thursday, March 26, 1970, courtesy of a contribution of £116,000 from West Germany towards its reconstruction. For the intervening years, it was the only source of in-country movement southwards, with its attendant gridlock during periods of high traffic and related problems of access to and from Asaba and Onitsha. These placed an enormous strain on the structure, even as it impeded the

and the governments of Anambra and Delta States each contributing 10 per cent.

Then, Jonathan entered into the timeline with fresh promises to make the Second Niger Bridge a reality, especially given his status as a southerner. He pledged his word at a town hall meeting held on August 30, 2012, to see to its construction and commissioning. It turned out to be more of the same for those waiting to witness the reality of an extra route across the Niger. The Jonathan government continued the tradition of politicians that came before it as talk about the Second Niger Bridge left the front burners as issues of the security and welfare of the average Nigerian quickly seized the country's attention. The stalling on the project lasted until March 10, 2014, a full year before the 2015 general election, when the re-election campaign machinery swung into action for another round of eye-service. On that day in March, the groundbreaking ceremony for the bridge finally took place. By that time, attention had already shifted to the campaign season proper and it was only in the lifetime of the current administration did the real work towards this October commissioning truly begin.

That the 1.6-kilometre bridge that also entails the building of a 10.3-kilometre highway, an Owerri interchange,

A view of the Second Niger Bridge shot on Tuesday, March 8, 2022. CREDIT: Federal Ministry of Works & Housing, Abuja.

movement of goods and services along that section of what is known as the Trans-African Highway that traverses Lagos all the way to Mombasa in Kenya.

As desirably significant as an alternative bridge was the Ernest Shonekan-led Interim National Government, which lasted a brief 84 days, Abacha’s junta, in power for five dark years and the Abdulsalami Abubakar handover regime that lasted one month shy of a year paid scant attention at best and lip service, at worst, to the initiation of the construction. Promises for the building resurfaced during Obasanjo's rule, but eight years and two terms passed by with the only difference being that approximately five days before he left office, Obasanjo flagged off the N58.6 billion project and handed it over to his successor, Umaru Yar'Adua. Unfortunately, Yar'Adua was ill and was unable to engage in the project or complete his term, dying in office three years into his four-year term. The Obasanjo government's plan for a six lane, 1.8 km tolled bridge, which was to be completed in three-and-half years, stalled.

The bridge was to be funded through a publicprivate partnership (PPP), with the contractor, Gitto Group, providing 60 per cent of the fund, the Federal Government providing 20 per cent

and a toll station, will be delivered to assuage the cautious optimism of its beneficiaries is a critical piece of national infrastructure with significant socio-economic benefits for the surrounding states and the entire country. It is widely recognised as one of the most important infrastructure projects in Nigeria connecting the country's most economically active regions. While there is no official data on the volume of traffic on the original Niger Bridge, there are occasions when crossing the bridge takes more than three agonising hours, not to mention peak times like the holidays when some people have been known to spend the night on the bridge. That is an anomaly this alternative bridge should stop. It is expected to also improve the commercial viability of the immediate area and revitalise economic life therein. It will reduce traffic flow, improve road safety and generate more opportunities for local residents. The economic impact of such a significant infrastructure on the contiguous regions will be game-changing for the trajectory of growth and development that it will engender.

The funding for the project was initially based on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model with Gitto Group, the Federal Government and the states, but after the deal fell through the onus fell on the government, which solely financed the project to the tune of almost N400 •Continues on page 12

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