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In honour of World Photography Day, we spotlight a few photographers on pages 14 through 15, while the movie review page gives an insight into Succession From the review, it sounds like seventies soap opera, Dallas, so I guess I have a new series to catch up on(when I find time). Until next week, enjoy your read. Onah Nwachukwu Editor, THEWILL @onahluciaaDOWNTOWN +2349088352246
AUGUST 21 - AUGUST 27, 2022 THEWILL NEWSPAPER www.thewillnigeria.com THEWILLNIGERIA THEWILLNG THEWILLNIGERIA IS WHOLLYNOWDIGITAL For The Love Of MusicAnd Photography Say Hello GrammytoAwardNominee RamadanHydratedToFruitsHelpYouStayThis THIS SOUND CONNOISSEUR WAS BORN FOR MUSIC AppearanceSpectrumAustismDisorder5EasyStepstoReduceTheofDarkCirclesDiscoverTheHealingPowerOfSoundBathsWhatYouShouldKnowAboutBye-ByeRacoonEyes Pressure?Under New Edition Available Every Sunday @ 6am Nigerian Time Scan the QR Code to Download current edition Scan The QR Code to Read on Website Or Visit www. thewilldowntown.com Scan The QR Code to Read on Issuu @insignamediaOshalusiKolaPhoto:Makeup:Zaron
Some of my fondest photography memories were when we'd play with my dad's Polaroid camera. I loved capturing images and watching them slide out from the camera. Years later, I didn't see the Polaroid camera anymore; my dad had bought a new camera and, at the slightest opportunity, would take out his Nikon and capture precious moments. He enjoyed photographing his kids. I remember one photo in particular of me when I was probably about eight–years–old, trying to use a chopstick. There I was, one hand holding it at the base while the other grabbed it at the top to try to pinch the meal. Hilarious! Moments like that are immortalised thanks to photography. Being photographed was one of my favourite things to do(apart from singing). I'd get so excited that almost every time we had a family photo taken, it was ruined because you could spot my grin from miles away. I guess you could say they captured my very essence. That's precisely what our cover personality, TY Bello does. With every subject she photographs, she tries to bring out his or her essence. Exposing their inner being to you, such that it often feels like you know the subject even though you might have never seen them before. And so it's safe to say she photographs from the heart, much like music, which also often comes from one's sincere feelings. No wonder she harmonises both art forms seamlessly. Another interesting similarity is that just like the process of putting a photo together before you click to capture is called composition, making music requires composing a song. Who would have thought such similarities existed between two art forms? This comprehensive interview discusses intricate details about photography, its business, and the creative space in general. You must read it. I promise you'll love it.
AUGUST 21 - AUGUST 27, 2022
AUGUST 21 - AUGUST 27, 2022 THEWILL NEWSPAPER • www.thewillnigeria.com PAGE 4 THEWILLNIGERIA THEWILLNG THEWILLNIGERIA
AUGUST 21 - AUGUST 27, 2022 THEWILL NEWSPAPER • www.thewillnigeria.com PAGE 5THEWILLNIGERIA THEWILLNG THEWILLNIGERIA Happy SeniorCitizen’s day From all of us at Zenith Bank Plc
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The second issue which is that of the group, deals with what is now commonly called the Wike Group (though there is also an Atiku group that does not flaunt its members publicly), which had maintained a hard stand in support of the Rivers governor after he was allegedly cheated out of the race for the VP slot.
Composed of many serving and ex-governors, exministers and other party stakeholders, the group has been depleting against the backdrop of several moves at reconciliation within the party. Thus, vocal members of the group like Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State had since publicly declared his support for Atiku’s presidential aspiration. Another strong
*Governor Wants Waziri Adamawa’s One-Term Commitment Formalised * Insists on Ayu’s Resignation as Chairman * Eyes PDP’s 2027 Presidential Ticket
The popular political dictum that politicians think of the next election always appears to be clogging the wheel of progress in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), ahead of preparations for the 2023 election. It is also proving to be a bitter pill for its leaders to swallow in the ongoing tiff between the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar and Governor Nyesom Wike of River State.
AUGUST 21 - AUGUST 27, 2022 THEWILL NEWSPAPER • www.thewillnigeria.com PAGE 7THEWILLNIGERIA THEWILLNG THEWILLNIGERIA BY AMOS ESELE COVER 2023: Atiku, Wike in Eyeball to Eyeball
THEWILL can authoritatively reveal that just as preparations for next year’s general elections gets underway, considerations for the 2027 general election are already playing out in the crisis within the opposition party. Reliable party sources say the raging issues, which had metamorphosed from that of the party to the group and then the personal, have continued to rear their heads and make reconciliation difficult. The first issue had to do with the zoning of the presidential ticket to the South, following popular public clamour, as a way of addressing a perceived unfairness and inequity against the backdrop of clannish and nepotistic tendencies on the part of the current Federal Government.
Although the issue appears to have been ‘resolved’ on the grounds that rotating the presidential ticket between the North and South was for a sitting President and not a candidate in an election, it still boils within the party and it is ready to be whipped up during negotiation.
Sensing moves by party leaders to create parallel party groups in the state, Wike alleged last week at the 74th birthday anniversary of former Governor Peter Odili that some elders of the party in the state, who had encouraged him to join the party’s presidential race, have become turncoats and now go to Abuja for meetings with the PDP National Executive Committee and Atiku. Some of these stakeholders, according to investigation, include serving and former senators and aggrieved party chieftains who lost out in the governorship primary in the state. They may turn out to be Atiku’s foot soldiers whose duty will be to rally the party in the state during the campaigns, if Wike continues to play hardball. It is this turn of events that has informed the plan by Atiku to give a major role to the grassroots in constituting his campaign council which would soon be unveiled publicly. Funding would be directly released to ward Chairmen, unlike in the past campaign plans when funding was released to henchmen and those considered leaders in the various zones and states.
member is Governor Umaru Fintiri of Adamawa State, with whom Wike and Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State once dictated the tune in the party before and immediately after the former National Chairman, Uche Secondus, was booted out.
With the victory of the party in the Osun governorship election, which the Wike Group boycotted, Makinde’s claim to the leadership of the party in the South-West was called to question. Thus, while the Wike Group is lacking in cohesion, the personal issue kicks in.
RECONCILIATION MEETING IN PORT HARCOURT
On the eve of the Friday meeting in Port Harcourt between the Rivers State Governor and the 14-member reconciliation committee constituted by Atiku Abubakar, Wike made a revealing statement.
he wants. The thinking now is that he does not care a hoot about 2023 and wants Atiku out so he can inherit the party’s structure,” a party leader said, asking not to be Senatoridentified.Dino Melaye, PDP presidential campaign spokesperson, did not respond to multiple calls to his Meanwhile,phone. the party, THEWILL has learnt, is considering a fall back option should the Wike/Atiku imbroglio continue into the electioneering period.
Reacting to the Atiku/Wike debacle, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Debo Ologunagba,told THEWILL, “The crisis you talked about is a creation of the media. That is not to say you are not doing your work. But as far as we are concerned, what you call crises are parts of disagreements that occur in an organisation and we have internal mechanisms to deal with them as they arise. Is there any organisation, even a home, that does not have disagreements? What happens in the end is that any time such disagreements occur, there are mechanisms to resolve them.”
Following his repeated assurances that he will remain in the PDP, though he may not support the aspirations of its presidential candidate, Wike, like any seasoned politician, knows that even one vote in any election is an advantage over a rival and he is flaunting the huge numbers in Rivers in the face of the party. The party is taking him seriously, though it is uncertain how far its leaders would bear his stand-off, particularly with the official kick-off of the campaign on September 22, “You2023.
...Atiku,
Former National Chairman of the party, Haliru Mohammed, agrees with Ologbondiyan. Mohammed who took over from Chief Nnia Nwodo as National Chairman at the party’s National Convention held in 2011 when the same argument about zoning came up because the National Chairman and President, Goodluck Jonathan, were from the South, said the Board of Trustees should have stepped in immediately to mediate in the VP candidacy crisis, following Wike’s grievance over Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa’s selection by Atiku, adding that he considers silence as his best contribution to the ongoing reconciliation efforts because speaking may be considered as an interference.
The one-time National Publicity Secretary, who spoke with this newspaper on Friday after the meeting in Port Harcourt, said: “What is important is for the party to go into the 2023 elections as one body. I think the committee will fulfil their mandate, from the outcome of the meeting on Friday.”
Faced with a second term election in his state, Fintiri has since fallen into the line with Atiku, his kith and kin and mentor. In Oyo, Makinde is still hanging on alongside new member Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, whose former Chief of Staff, Dr Cosmos Ndukwe and ex-Commissioner for Trade and Industry, recently sued the party and Atiku over the conduct and outcome of its May 28, 2022 presidential convention.
Several attempts to reach Kelvin Ebiri, Media spokesperson to Wike, were unsuccessful as he did not answer calls to his phone nor respond to text messages sent to him. Chairman of the PDP in Rivers State, Ambassador Desmond Akawor also did not respond to phone However,calls.after the reconciliation meeting, he issued a statement confirming what Governor Fintiri and exGovernor Mimiko said that discussions had begun to ensure reconciliation. A chieftain of the party, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, expressed confidence in the ability of the party’s reconciliation committee to fulfil its mandate.
Speaking during the flag-off of the 11th flyover project, which was performed by a former governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke, at the Rumuola- Ikwerre Road-Rumuokwuta Roundabout in the Obio Akpor Local Government Area of the state, Wike, who boasted that the state was too strategically important to the victory of Abubakar, considering the 3.6 million votes from the state, said: “If we were Father Christmas before, we won’t be Father Christmas again? You must tell me what is there for me if I should vote. So nobody should bother himself…”
The reconciliation meeting, as demanded by Governor Wike, was held in Government House in Port Harcourt last Friday. Although the spokespersons of the two groups, Governor Fintiri for Atiku and former Ondo Governor, Segun Mimiko, said talks were fruitful and would continue, this newspaper learnt that Wike was mollified that the party agreed to his demand to hold the meeting in Port Harcourt, a move he considered a political masterstroke to show he still controls the party in the state in the face of disaffection among party elders over his perceived foot dragging on the crisis.
According to sources, the personal issue that may become an impediment to proper reconciliation in the party is the matter of who owns or uses the platform for the 2027 election. “Atiku has promised to run for one-term only. Wike is waiting to see that promise cast in iron so that he can be sure to inherit the platform for his presidential ambition in 2027,” a party source said. Nevertheless, these three issues are like shifting sands in the course of negotiations with fresh issues cropping up as some are giving way. One of the fresh issues that has created a wedge between the feuding camps is the one that insists the current National Chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu, must resign because he comes from the same northern zone as the presidential candidate. The Atiku Abubakar group has rejected that demand on the ground that what the party said was that in the event the party wins the presidency in 2023, the National Chairman must quit. Even so, THEWILL learnt that using the party’s constitution to resolve this matter may yield nothing because if Ayu were to go, Ambassador Umar Iliya Damagun, Deputy National Chairman, North, will be the one to step in until a convention is held to properly constitute another exco, according to Section 45 (I and II) of the party’s constitution.
‘WIKE WILL NOT LEAVE PDP’
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can imagine that the election is around the corner and Wike continues to make these demands, which makes you ask whether he really cares about the party or not. At first, he said he was not interested in the post of VP. Now, he is clamouring for the National Chairman to go. Is his job now to make and unmake the Chairman? This makes us begin to wonder what You can imagine that the election is around the corner and Wike continues to make these demands, which makes you ask whether he really cares about the party or not. At first, he said he was not interested in the post of VP. Now, he is clamouring for the National Chairman to go. Is his job now to make and unmake the Chairman? This makes us begin to wonder what he wants “ Wike in Eyeball to Eyeball
Press Freedom Important For Good DevelopmentGovernance,–Diri
“Governor Ortom’s undying desire to mismanage local governments in Benue State and run them as his private ventures has made him to disregard every provision of the Constitution on Local Government administration,” the APC said. At a news conference held in Makurdi last Friday, the State Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr Dan Morgan Ihyomun, alleged that Ortom failed to conduct free and fair elections as required by Section 7 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended). He said, “Although, there are certain persons who are parading themselves as local government council chairmen in the state, in actual fact, no election was held. The PDP government dubiously hand picked loyalists and announced them as elected. This single act is unconstitutional and illegal. “Most questionable is the fact that, even although, Governor Ortom has inaugurated his so-called local government chairmen, he has failed to direct them to swear-in their deputies as well as the Councilors representing the various council wards in the state”.
“There is no government that can claim to be perfect no matter how hard you work. Yes, we are working very hard to deliver on various projects and empowerment schemes that we have embarked upon. But you will still find loopholes. And who are those that find the loopholes? It is still the press. “So, if we have a responsible press that is not sarcastic, that is not vindictive, I will like to continue working with that press that will keep the government on its toes at all times. “Radio Nigeria is a national pride. I believe it is indeed a voice of the people and an instrument of unity in this country.”
According to the party, the absence of councilors comprising the legislative arm of the local government areas will make it easier for members of the Samuel Ortom administration to embezzle funds meant for the running of the affected councils and to divert funds to their personal pockets. However, in his response to the allegation, the Special Adviser to Governor Ortom on Media and Publicity, Mr Terver Akase, said that he who accuses should provide proof. “We challenge APC to publish evidence to back their claim that the Governor has turned local governments to his private use and has been diverting funds meant for the councils. They should spare Benue people the stress of searching for proof.”
Diri stated that his administration also understands that partnering the media goes a long way rather than gagging it. While acknowledging the impact and contribution of Radio Nigeria to national development through quality broadcasting, he said his government holds the FRCN in high esteem, describing it as a national pride.
FROM KAJO MARTINS, MAKURDI
Benue APC Calls For TImpeachmentOrtom’s he Benue State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused Governor Samuel Ortom n of allegedly mismanaging and manipulating the local government system in the state to his advantage, even as government in a swift reaction described such as a mere distraction.
The governor noted that the media had the responsibility of keeping government on it toes, especially through balanced reportage and constructive criticism.
In a statement released on Friday, Akase noted that it was on record that in the last seven years, under the Ortom administration, three different local government elections were conducted and three sets of council chairmen duly “Theelected.APCshould be worried that it was unable to field candidates for the last local government election in Benue. How was Governor Ortom responsible for the party’s failure to present candidates for the council “Governorpolls?
FROM DAVID OWEI, YENAGOA
Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, has said there is an intricate link between a free press and good governance and development of any society. Diri stated this last Thursday at the Government House, Yenagoa, during the courtesy visit of the Director-General of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Dr. Mansur Liman. He stressed that in recognition of the important role of the media, his administration has ensured that the press in the state operated without interference.
The state’s helmsman said previous administrations in the state had a good relationship with the broadcast organisation over the years and noted that his government would not be different as it has contributed immensely to the positive image of the state. He said: “For us, the press is one place that does not need any government interference. We need an open, free and responsible press as that is the only way government can be kept on it toes and be able to hear the other side of what they might not want to hear.
He hinted that the University of Ibadan is situated in Oyo Central Senatorial zone, which is represented by Senator Teslim Kolawole Folarin, who serves as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Local Content and had supported the activities of the Board immensely. He described the event as a great opportunity to assess the Nigerian Content journey and the status of the 10-year strategic road map. He said the vocational school is expected to produce top-rated craftsmen, artisans and gifted workmen, who would help Nigeria change the narrative of dependence on imported goods and equipment to full reliance on Nigerianmade Notingproducts.thatthe University of Ibadan is Nigeria’s Premier University and renowned for academic success, the NCDMB boss challenged the centre to kick start the much-needed Nigerian industrial revolution. He added that “with the rapid advancement of technologies and skills required now and for the energy transition and the future of the oil and gas industry, and the call for help from African countries, for Nigeria to support their nascent oil and gas industry with her established technical capabilities, the commissioning of this vocational school is a clarion call to the University of Ibadan to lead in the establishment of the Nigerian competitive advantage once Theagain.scope of works executed at the center included construction of the main building consisting of three workshops and three classrooms, each for Mechanical, Electrical and Welding and Fabrication trades as well as offices for the centre’s director, admin staff and receptionist desk. The Board’s investment also included construction of a generator and gate houses, provision of a borehole and water storage facility, fencing and landscaping of the centre’s premises, provision and installation of 500KVA generator and training of technical teachers to use the installed equipment. Wabote advised the university community and stakeholders to ensure adequate maintenance of installed facilities, support in the sustainability, and appointment of high-quality personnel so that the huge investment will be justified, and the benefit will be maximized in the best interest of generations of youths from the area and beyond. The University of Ibadan Vocational School is the third vocational school the Board would be developing. The Board had previously upgraded the Government Vocational College, Amoli, Awgu, in Enugu state and completed and handed over the Government Technical College, Abak in Akwa Ibom State, which is considered as a state-of-the-art factory in the production of wood works, furniture, and armoured doors. In his remarks, Senator Folarin expressed delight that he facilitated the establishment of the multi-billion-naira hi-tech skills acquisition centre. He indicated that the facility was designed and constructed as a one-stop platform to train multitudes of Oyo State citizens in different skills across oil and gas and other sectors of the Nigerian economy. He maintained that one of the expectations of leadership is to focus on projects and programs that impact the day-to-day lives of the people. “I am excited about the numbers of Oyo state citizens that will be equipped and eventually get employed as a result of this huge facility,” he added.
Ortom has ensured that leaders of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, the Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT and several labour unions, as well as the association of local government councilors are members of the Joint Account Allocation Committee in Benue State. The unions know precisely how local government funds are administered. “Benue APC has every reason to be desperate, owing to the mass defection of its members into the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP as the 2023 elections draw closer. “A party which suffered a devastating defeat in 2019 and is now facing another defeat in 2023 has justification for distress. The pain of the impending defeat of APC is inevitably similar to circumcision. The cry of a baby does not stop it,” Akase said.
NCDMB Donates Vocational Centre to University of Ibadan
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) on Friday handed over the University of Ibadan Vocational School which it constructed in line with its capacity-building mandate and the Nigerian Content 10-year strategic Handingroadmap. over the facility to the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof Kayode Adebowale, the Executive Secretary of NCDMB, Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote described the completion and handing over of the facility as an important milestone in Nigerian content development, stressing that the strength of Nigeria’s economy and prosperity lies in the hands of craftsmen, artisans, and gifted workmen.
L-R: Senator Teslim Kolawole Folarin; Executive Secretary of Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Simbi Kesiye Wabote and Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Prof Kayode Adebowale at the handing over of University of Ibadan Vocational School constructed by the NCDMB.
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BY AYO ESAN Keyamo Melaye
This is as he clarified that despite tactics from opposition parties, the APC will stick to issues and run a clean campaign for next year’s Keyamo,election. who is also the Minister of State for Labour and Productivity, gave the assurance on his Twitter page in response to statements of the Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign Organization’s spokesperson, Dino Melaye, during a recent interview.
The three parties have been active in the media. In what looks like a dress rehearsal of what to expect when the window for campaign opens in September, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi and his numerous supporters – the OBidients – have been quite active on social media.
POLITICS
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“Many of the deceptive propaganda being sponsored by the opposition against APC is that the solution to the problem lies outside APC. Let nobody be deceived that APC is the problem. Yes, there are challenges that we are facing today which emerged while APC is in government. My pride is that our leaders are not in denial of those challenges unlike in the past. If you look at candidates of other parties, they are not coming up with recommendations, they are coming up with propaganda to shoot down APC and Nigerians should be smarter than that.”
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said the campaign for the presidential and National Assembly elections would commence on September 28, 2022, while that of governorship and State House of Assembly will commence on October 12, 2022 Begin Preparation For Election Campaign
“ APC, PDP, Others
former President Olusegun Obasanjo in Abeokuta last week, while Obi also received a heroic welcome penultimate week when he for the first time attended the Holy Ghost Convention of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) at its camp on LagosIbadan Expressway. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said the campaign for the presidential and National Assembly elections would commence on September 28, 2022, while that of governorship and State House of Assembly will commence on October 12, 2022.
The former Director-General of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) said that Tinubu was not an “election merchant,” unlike the
*Continue on Page 11
to him, APC will prepare the campaign in such a way that there will be solutions to the challenges which Nigerians can see and can commit themselves to. He noted, “I raised the point of the APC presidential candidate not being on the ballot since 2003 on a positive note so as to demonstrate that he is not one of those I called election merchants. The party’s presidential campaign spokesperson, Festus Keyamo, has also assured Nigerians that the ruling party would be committed to issue-based campaigns for the 2023 presidential election.
candidates of other opposition parties, just as he said the APC was ready to debate some of the issues with opposition parties when the 2023 campaigns begin. He said that for the APC to win in 2023, the party must review and look at what it promised Nigerians between 2015 and 2019, as well as the gaps that exist and what needs to be done in order to address the Accordinggaps.
The minister said the APC would refrain from calling opposition parties and their presidential candidates’ names, adding that an abusive campaign was a “sign of frustration”. He wrote, “We’ll run a clean campaign. We’ll not use abusive words on our opponents and their spokespersons. We’ll refrain from calling those who Nigerians think and say they look stupid with their gaffs as “Abusessuch. on a campaign trail are a sign of frustration. We will stick to the Theissues.”Tinubu Campaign Organization through its Director of Media and Communications, Bayo Onanuga had urged Peter Obi of the Labour Party to caution his supporters and allow the election circle to be about issues that will advance the growth, progress and stability of HeNigeria.alsoadmonished Obi to get his supporters to desist from spreading lies, malice and denigrating other candidates, especially Tinubu, saying fake news will not win the election in 2023.
Obi, the APC Candidate, Bola Tinubu and the PDP candidate, Atiku Abubakar have also been paying visits to key political power brokers in the Tinubucountry.visited
According to the time table released by the electoral umpire, the last day of campaigning by political parties for the presidential and National Assembly elections is at midnight of February 23, 2023, while that of governorship and State Assembly is at midnight of March 9, 2023. The APC has begun the preparation for its campaign as it has appointed the Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State as DirectorGeneral of the party’s campaign organisation, while its immediate past National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has been officially announced as the Deputy Director-General. The party retained Festus Keyamo as the Director of Publicity of the campaign organisation. Keyamo occupied the same position in 2019 as the spokesperson of APC Presidential Campaign Organisation during the campaign for the second term of the incumbent President, Muhammadu Buhari. APC has said it will be honest and open to a robust engagement in its campaign for the 2023 polls, instead of mere propaganda.
Speaking through the National Vice Chairman (North-west) of the party, Mallam Salihu Lukman, the party also described its presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, as more trustworthy than other major presidential candidates of the opposition parties. Lukman said the APC intended to campaign and convince Nigerians to vote its presidential candidate in 2023. He said, “Life is about challenges. Those challenges exist, no doubt about it. But I think my response to it is that we will be honest, and we will open ourselves to engagement because democracy is a two-thing.
With less than six weeks to the commencement of campaigns for the Presidential and National Assembly elections, three major political parties, the All ProgressivesCongress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) have intensified their preparation and appointed key officers to their respective campaign organisations.
The group declared its support to the joint ticket of the PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his running mate, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, as well as other elective positions being contested by PDP candidates in next year’s elections in the state.
Continued from page 10
Articulating its agenda in a communiqué issued at the end of its maiden meeting held on Wednesday at the residence of Hon. Osai Osai in Kwale, the group said it had decided to back Chief David Edevbie’s candidacy as the part’s governorship flagbearer, based on a subsisting court judgement recognising him as such.
“It is a call to higher duty which requires every sense of Sobriety, Justice, Equity, Commitment, Love for the party and the spirit of give and take. I therefore welcome you once again to this meeting and wish us fruitful deliberations”, he concluded. Sources who spoke to THEWILL said the Delta Unity Group is a new body that was set up to counter the influence of Delta Political Vanguard and Delta Mandate, two prominent groups promoted and backed by Governor Okowa and his caucus.
“Added to that is the privilege of having our dear Governor, His Excellency, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, as the Running Mate to His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar in the forthcoming Presidential Election”.
The Delta Unity Group said it took the decision to back Edevbie as an affirmation of its commitment to equity, justice and fairness.
“This is aside promoting mutual understanding and unity amongst ethnic groups and the three senatorial districts of Delta State.
all parties in the election next year should have at the back of their minds that the campaign must be issue-based.
“The birth of Delta Unity Group has therefore been necessitated by the need to support our party and our state to cross the bridge to usher our people into a glorious destiny driven by the Modernisation Agenda of our dear brother and leader, Olorogun David Edevbie, the PDP candidate for the elections next year.
“That leaders of Delta PDP at all levels should show greater commitment to the unity of the party and put its interest as paramount in all their interactions and activities. The Delta Unity Group also advised the State Chairman of the Party to always play the role of an impartial arbiter in the handling of all emerging disputes.
“While these two expectations are significant in the Destiny, Development and Growth of our dear state, they are therefore nonnegotiable, we recognise that nothing good comes easy and that our actions or inactions may make or mar our hopes as a people.
“The objective and focus of Delta Unity Group is primarily to promote unity and brotherliness within the party and ensure effective and cohesive grassroots mobilisation for the success of all candidates of the party at all levels. “After elaborate deliberations at its meeting of Wednesday, August 17, 2022 at Kwale, the Delta Unity Group resolved as follows: “That Delta Unity Group fully supports H.E .Abubakar Atiku/H.E. Ifeanyi Okowa “Rescue Nigeria” Presidential ticket of the PDP and resolves to work assiduously across Delta State, the Niger Delta and South South Zone to ensure the victory of the party in the 2023 Presidential Election.
The communique read in part: “Delta Unity Group is a convergence of long standing, prominent and emergent leaders of the Delta State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) drawn from all Senatorial Districts, Federal Constituencies, State Constituencies and Local Government Areas across Delta State.
“Specifically, the Delta Unity Group is geared to promote and protect the Structure, Image, Ideals, Ideology, Interest and integrity of our great party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) at all levels. “We are all witnesses to the difficulties our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party, is going through at this period of transition. As long-standing party faithfuls and leaders at various levels, we cannot stand and fold our hands to see the mother-goat suffering the pain of labour while tied to a stake.
“We will also rebuff all such ploys of deceit and calumny meant to create disaffection among Nigeria’s voting population, who desire credible leadership change”, Obi said. Earlier in his opening remark, the Protem Chairman of the body, Rt. Hon. Peter Onwusanya, noted that it’s now the responsibility of the party leaders and faithfuls to show direction on how things should be done appropriately, in order to ensure victory for the party in the forthcoming general elections.
“This call is in realisation that while our party the PDP is strong, the turf can be slippery and it requires all joining together and all hands on deck to navigate and steer our ship unto success.
The Peoplformer Vice President, Atiku Abubakar’s plan for the campaign is being halted by the current face-off between him and the Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State. Wike feels aggrieved for not being chosen as the vice presidential candidate to Atiku. Atiku, despite the confidence of Wike to pick the VP slot, decided to appoint the Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa. But, in spite of the crisis, Atiku has appointed Senator Dino Melaye and Dr. Daniel Bwala as the campaign spokespersons. Bwala, a former APC chieftain joined the PDP recently. Atiku’s Media Adviser, Paul Ibe, announced the appointments. Melaye is a politician and a member of the 8th Senate, who represented Kogi West Senatorial district. He hails from Ayetoro Gbede in Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi State. “Bwala, on the other hand, is a legal practitioner, politician and public affairs analyst. He hails from Borno State.”
“Delta Unity Group calls on all party members to restrain themselves from making negative and provocative statements about the Party’s candidates at all levels in order to ensure unity, peace and sanctity within the Delta PDP family, as we work towards the overwhelming victory of all our candidates in 2023”.
“It therefore behoves on us as party leaders and faithful to come together to provide direction and strong support in promoting the unity of members and to galvanise greater strength towards mobilising not just members but the electorate towards diligently discharging the great tasks ahead to ensure the success of our party and victory of all our candidates at all levels.
Ahead of the commencement of the 2023 campaign, Atiku Abubakar has also appointed three additional aides to his media team. They are Eta Uso, Abdulrashhed Shehu and Demola Olanrewaju.
AUGUST 21 - AUGUST 27, 2022 THEWILL NEWSPAPER • www.thewillnigeria.com PAGE 11THEWILLNIGERIA THEWILLNG THEWILLNIGERIA POLITICS 2023: Delta Unity Group Backs Edevbie’s Candidacy
BY BEN DUNNO
“That it encourages the National leadership of the party to show characteristic example in abiding by the Rule of Law and to promptly forward the nomination of Olorogun David Edevbie to the Independent National Electoral Commission in line with the subsisting order of court, unless and until there is a contrary order.
He said, “I consider it a great privilege and an act of divine providence that very distinguished political leaders across our dear Delta State are gathered here today to chart a way forward for our Party, the PDP and Delta State. “As you maybe all aware, the Delta Unity Group is an all inclusive and unifying force of all ethnic groups, political interest groups and component parts of Delta state, for the actualisation of a Peaceful, United, Modernised, Industrialised and Progressive Delta state.
Obi said, “As we approach the official kick off of the 2023 election campaign, it has become evident that the opposition has adopted a negative strategy of trolling and insinuating fake news and misinformation in the social media space. He lamented that the Labour Party presidential candidate and the party’s supporters are being blamed for the negativity and fake news spreading on social media.
Obi, however, said they will remain resolute in their commitment to an issue-based and clean campaign.
Edevbie
The statement announcing their appointment partly read, “Uso, an Amid uncertainty over the outcome of the Appeal Court judgement in the suit challenging the eligibility of the governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta State, Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, a group of party faithful, who believe in upholding the rule of law, have identified with the candidacy of Chief David Edevbie, in line with an Abuja High Court Makingruling.their position known under the auspices of ‘Delta Unity Group’, the PDP members made up of political heavyweights, including past and present federal and state lawmakers, commissioners, local government chairmen, women and youth leaders, as well as notable political aides, from various ethnic groups across the three Senatorial districts said that “without prejudice to the pending appeal over the candidacy of Delta PDP for the 2023 Governorship election,” they stand firmly with Olorogun David Edevbie as the lawful and authentic candidate of the party, in line with the unambiguous declarative judgement of the Federal High Court, Abuja, and commits to ensuring the total victory of the PDP in the 2023 Governorship election.
...APC, PDP, Others Begin Preparation For Election Campaigns alumnus of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a UKtrained Advanced Computing and Internet systems expert from the University of Wales, Bangor, is appointed as Special Assistant Digital Media. Atiku campaign strategy While urging PDP chieftains and members to firm up mobilisation at the grassroots, Atiku said the party’s campaign strategy will be polling unit-based, in line with the new electoral process. “As you know, our current electoral process is divided i nto the polling units. We don’t want you in Abuja. We don’t want you even in your state; we want you in your polling booths. Go and deliver it to us. Protect the votes and deliver it to us there,” he said. The ‘Operation Rescue Nigeria’ project, according to the PDP, is a strategy the party hopes to use to mobilise support for next year’s elections. Obi Warns opposition against Fake News, Misrepresentation As the official kick- off of the 2023 election campaign approaches, the Labour Party Presidential Candidate, Mr. Peter Obi has said that some opposition parties have adopted negative trends, fake news and Obimisinformation.madethisallegation in a statement, via his Twitter handle. He said “That without prejudice to the pending appeal over the candidacy of Delta PDP for the 2023 Governorship election, the Delta Unity Group stands firmly with Olorogun David Edevbie as the lawful and authentic candidate of the party in line with the unambiguous declarative judgement of the Federal High Court, Abuja, and commits to ensuring the total victory of the PDP in the 2023 Governorship “Thatelection.it urges all Deltans to embrace the Modernisation Agenda of Olorogun David Edevbie as the only sure manifesto for the sustainable socioeconomic development and growth of the state and the prosperity of all Deltans.
Obi who has commenced preparation for the open campaign by creating awareness through lectures and symposiums, is targeting the lifting of an open campaign by the INEC in September to start aggressive campaigns. His supporters are mainly active online for now.
INTERVIEW
What is your reaction to the emergence of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress Tinubu’s emergence as the APC presidential candidate is a good omen for the nation’s democracy. It is a welcome development and I believe it will usher in a new era of socio-economic development for the nation if he eventually wins the next year’s presidential polls.
POLITICS
Tinubu is not only qualified to deliver the goods but of all the candidates that are in the race, he is the one that I believe has the experience and the ability to deliver the dividends of democracy that Nigerians are yearning for. Nigeria is a blessed country, richly endowed with the natural resources that should have made the nation one of the most developed countries in the world but sadly this country has been unlucky to have the right leadership that would have harnessed these resources for the common good of all. Our problem over the years is that of not being blessed with good leadership, especially from the period when the military truncated democracy in 1966 up till now. I believe that if Tinubu emerges as the nation’s next leader, Nigeria will witness a refreshing new order. Talking about his chances of clinching the Presidency, I believe his chances are very bright. It is his opponents that should be getting worried. I’m also glad about his choice of running mate, that’s talking of former Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno state. It is the right choice. The two of them are a perfect combination to tackle a headlong series of challenges confronting the nation, especially in the area of insecurity. Shettima was there as governor while the insecurity challenge of Boko Haram was ravaging Borno state, and he was able to weather the storm. So there is nothing you want to talk about, that is strange to him. Then Tinubu with the way he was able to carry out socio-economic transformation in Lagos state when he was the state governor between 1999 and 2007, he has not only continued to generate accolades but it has also resulted in Lagos state being one of the most developed states in the country today. Tinubu laid the foundation upon which other successive governors have been building. He laid that foundation that has made Lagos state become a role model state in the country today. With Tinubu and Shettima, Nigeria is in safe hands. The combination of the two will raise the bar of governance in the country. But many people are raising eyebrows about the choice of Shettima as Tinubu’s running mate. They are saying it is a Muslim-Muslim ticket. Isn’t that dangerous for the country? To me, there should be no controversy over that. We should be very careful over this issue of religion. People should stop bringing religious sentiment into this matter. The issue of religion is one of those things that have been dragging us backward as a nation. I believe that we should be more concerned about competence. Competence is what we should be talking about. We should be talking about who can deliver. Religion will not take us anywhere. We are talking about who will be able to solve myriads of challenges facing Nigeria, and some people are talking about religion. Is it religion we should be talking about or how to find solutions to the insecurity, and other socioeconomic challenges facing the nation? Nigeria is in a serious crisis, especially the insecurity problem, and this is not a time to put those who are not tested in the art of governance in charge of power because of religious considerations. Religion has never been a factor whenever we are talking about having those to be entrusted with political power. Nigerians have always been talking about those who can deliver. It is now that some selfish politicians and some religious leaders are now bringing the issue of religion up. What should be uppermost in our mind is competence, otherwise, if you put somebody there in office just because of religious consideration, and not because of his competence, then you are not a patriot because, at the end of the day, it is the nation that will end up being worst for it if such an individual can’t perform. Then if some people are talking that having a Muslim-Muslim ticket is an aberration, then what will they say about having Atiku Abubakar, a Fulani man succeeding Buhari another Fulani as the new President in 2023? If Atiku wins the election but which I believe he won’t, will that not result in having another Fulani man succeeding Buhari also a Fulani man? Is that not even worse than having a MuslimMuslim ticket? Having another Fulani man like Buhari taking over power in 2023 is not the best for the country. That will mean Fulani being in power for 16 years, and this certainly will create some forms of discontent in the land. It means that power will remain in the North again contrary to the principle of power rotation between the North, and the South. This will be more insensitive than a Muslim-Muslim ticket and will be unacceptable to the majority of Nigerians. These are the things some Nigerians are not thinking about. Transferring power from Buhari, a Fulani man to Atiku another Fulani is worse than a Muslim-Muslim ticket. They should not use religion to confuse us. I’m a Christian, and I don’t care about all this noise about Muslim-Muslim ticket. What is paramount on my mind is competence, and the ability to deliver. These two important attributes I strongly believe Tinubu and Shettima possess in abundance. But there are still other contestants like Peter Obi of the Labour Party and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party. What is your assessment of them? So far, and from the look of things, I don’t see any of the two or any other presidential candidate measuring up to Tinubu or Atiku in terms of visibility, and structure. It is only APC, and PDP that have been tested by Nigerians. Labour Party and NNPP have not been tested. Then talking about structure, both Labour Party and NNPP are not yet there. I don’t see both parties going anywhere in 2023. Obi and Kwankwaso don’t have the structure to win the elections. I don’t see Obi in the picture at all in 2023, and neither does Kwankwaso. If the two have formed an alliance, I will say that they may be able to make an impact and that something great is about to happen in the country. But since they have not come together and have been working along separate lines, there is no way either of them can spring any surprise in 2023. If Obi and Kwankwaso have combined together, then they would have been able to give PDP, and APC a run for their money. Without having strong structures, it will be impossible for the Labour Party, and NNPP to defeat either APC or PDP. There is no harm in trying but I don’t see Obi or Kwankwaso creating an upset next year. So far, the only person I have been seeing in the Labour Party is Obi but a tree doesn’t make a forest. The same also applies to Kwankwaso. Take him out of NNPP, then there is no NNPP again. Politics is not a one-man show.
Ajomale Although the present insecurity situation is a source of concern, I believe that the situation is not insurmountable “
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As a former Chairman, Conference of APC States Chairmen, what’s your reaction to the crisis rocking many state chapters of the party across the country and what is your advice to the party’s National Working Committee on ways out of the crisis? I believe that before the general elections next year that all these crises will go down. There is no party in the country that doesn’t have one internal squabble or the other. It is all part of politics. APC will get over the crisis. This is not the first time that such a thing will happen. It happened in the past, and we were able to resolve all the issues threatening to cause harm to the party. We are going to do the same this time around, and even already the process of reconciliation is already underway. We will put our house in order before the elections so as to enable us to present a formidable team that will win the elections across all the levels in the country. A house divided against itself can never have any good showing in any election. Anywhere you have a crisis it will have boomerang effects as it will have negative consequences on the party. Some Nigerians believe that the general election scheduled for February 2023 may not hold due to insecurity. What is your take on this? I don’t think so because I believe that insecurity can’t be worse in 2023 than what we are experiencing now. My hope is that the situation will get better before then. Nigerians should be vigilant. They should co-operate with relevant security agencies in ensuring that we all work together to secure the nation. Although the present insecurity situation is a source of concern, I believe that the situation is not insurmountable. The President has given marching orders to security agencies once again to put the situation under control, and I believe this time around, those in charge of the nation’s security will be able to achieve concrete results. But my advice to them is that they should learn to be proactive instead of waiting for the terrorists to strike before they launch counter-attacks. Preparations for the elections should go on, and I believe that in spite of all these challenges we are going to have a successful poll.
A former Chairman of the Lagos State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress, Otunba Oladele Ajomale, speaks on his party’s chances of emerging victorious in the 2023 general election among other matters in this interview with AYO ESAN. Excerpts:
Insecurity Won’t Affect 2023 General Election – Ajomale
Like some funny Yoruba voters think Tinubu will give them Yoruba Nation, many excited Igbo voters think Obi is for Biafra and some Hausa - Fulani would vote for Atiku because he would protect Fulani. Well, dreams and nightmares are also part of our rights as human beings and such dreams are common during elections to massage the ego of these pro-capitalist anti-poor candidates who are still going to unleash the same harsh neo-liberal economic policies on the masses.
Bola Tinubu completely ran away from the Yoruba Nation agenda led by Sunday Igboho and abandoned their political group’s more than 30 years battle cry for restructuring, ethnic determination/nationalism the moment Buhari and APC came to Atikupower.Abubakar is a renowned soapbox ‘hush-hush’ nationalist. He has never carried the Fulani ethno-centrism openly on his head like Buhari and always shies away from taking a bold partisan position on Fulani interests. Although he may be a closet midnight defender of Fulani interests, he has never shown it. Peter Obi is Igbo, but he has never openly supported the recurring agitation for the actualisation of Biafra and resource control. The Labour Party’s candidate has been distancing himself from the Indigenous People of Biafra, just like Tinubu has not lent his voice to the agitation for a Yoruba Nation. Atiku has never embraced Miyetti Allah and Buhari’s search for imaginary grazing routes or courted Fulani bandits and territorial fundamentalists as ethnic solidarity. Since none of these candidates and others ever represented their ethnic interests but their personal, group, party and class interests, it would be foolish and fraudulent for their supporters, particularly their ethnic brothers, to project them as their representatives and campaign for them on that basis. It will be also dangerous for their opponents to profile them as ethnic irredentists and campaign against them on that basis. A united nation, if any at all, is lost in that process in the long run.
The 2023 general election is not an inter-ethnic power game. The power contest is between registered political parties with members and sympathisers across geo-ethnic and religious divides. I don’t know when Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo conducted a referendum to pick Tinubu, Atiku and Obi to represent them in the presidential election, respectively. None of these men’s political parties registered with INEC as ethnic parties. Why the fraudulent profiling of the three presidential candidates along ethnic lines? The three candidates have ethnic identities by birth and geography, but before they were chosen to represent their parties, none of them pushed for ethnic nationalism, regionalism, resource control or raised the banner of any germaine topical interest of their ethnic groups. None of them earned, stole, looted or acquired their huge yet publicly disclosed wealth on behalf of their ethnic region. They are all rabid “gunpoint” nationalists by conducting publicly all this while.
•Adeola Soetan is the National Coordinator of Democracy Vanguard
People elect leaders by their choices, not by God. So we must be ready for the good benefits or adverse consequences of our choices so that we don’t become kurukere kurukere prayer warriors after making bad choices. Voters are not telepathists or clairvoyants; make your free choice on what you see, hear and believe and not what you think your candidate would do when he gets to office, if he wins. What politicians promised to do they failed to do not to talk of what they did not promise but you think they would do.
What candidates do not say or campaign with should not be the basis for choosing a candidate to vote for because voters are not and should not be telepathic but factual.
POLITICS/VIEWPOINT
Tinubu Peter Obi is Igbo, but he has never openly supported the recurring agitation for the actualisation of Biafra and resource control. The Labour Party’s candidate has been distancing himself from the Indigenous People of Biafra, just like Tinubu has not lent his voice to the agitation for a Yoruba Nation
Public disclosure of assets and health status should be nonnegotiable, even in the university when candidates are given admission or when people are employed in high profile corporate organisations, health status must be disclosed not to talk of the president of a nation or governor of a state. Most states indeed asked their workers for Covid-19 clearance certificates, same with corporate organizations. Even individual partners do genotype tests to avoid AS getting married to AS so as not to produce sickle cell children.
Ethnic Profiling of Presidential Candidates Fraudulent, Dangerous BY ADEOLA SOETAN Obi Atiku
The most meaningful things to consider before voting candidates and parties are integrity, character, manifestos, vision, capacity, capability, educational background, and of course, health and physical ability to perform in office.
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“
I am not against political parties founded on ethnic, religious, even gender principles. If that is permissible and it is what the people want, why not? But it is dangerous and deceptive to have political parties campaign with tribalism and later after the election, the winner starts to nationalism in government. That farce won’t appeal to many people. The fault lines will be wider.
What candidates promised to do they failed to do it when they get to power not to talk of what they didn’t promise but many funny voters think they would do.
The first covenant between candidates and the electorate is their manifestos. None of these candidates for 2023 has campaigned on any popular ethnic agenda all this while. It would amount to voluntary victimhood on the part of the electorate to assume without basis or candidate’s manifesto that he would vote for his choice because he is going to favour his ethnic interest. How? The unstated interest that is often ambiguous and opaque, which many citizens and voters cannot even define? No reasonable voter assumes or goes into voluntary telepathy to decide his candidate on the basis of what his candidate did not promise to do. It is a sign of idiocy caused by undefined ethnic or tribal bigotry or even religious solidarity. Disappointment and regret awaits such citizens who go into voluntary victimhoto be scammed. The fact that educated people are also trapped in this kind of ethnic web for a better deal for their ethnic nationality makes it more ridiculous. They are gamblers with their fate. Thank goodness, social media now reveals how yesterday’s breed of lousy nationalists are somersaulting into ethnicism for political and personal reasons. We also have former ethnic political warlords now becoming latter day nationalists for political reasons. All of them are a bunch of unprincipled human commodities available for political patronage. They were double faced duplicitous moralists, gunpoint nationalists yesterday and unrepentant tribalists today, and vice versa.
It is unfair to require motorists to obtain certificates roadworthinessof before they can ply Lagos roads, even as it is clear to everyone, including the enforcers of the new ofroadspolicy,roadworthinessthatthesameareindireneedrehabilitation
It is an amendment to the old procedure of receiving a roadworthiness certificate in the state after paying a stipulated sum of money as fee. This time, motorists were required to present their vehicles for physical inspection and tests at numberingcomputeriseddesignatedcentres,27,acrossthe state to qualify for roadworthiness Accordingcertificates.to investigation, the first wave of inspection at the computerised centres in January 2022 witnessed a considerably large turnout. Out of 26,442 vehicles that were inspected, 15,998 passed while 10,444 failed the minimum safety standard tests. Following complaints from many motorists about the long hours spent at the inspection centres to get their vehicles inspected by officials of the state Vehicle Inspection Service (VIS) and the attendant pain and frustration experienced in the process, the government decided to introduce a booking system to stem the surge recorded at some vehicle inspection centres. Apart from ensuring that vehicle inspection is now based on scheduled appointments, the Ministry of Transportation extended the 30-day window for inspection to 60 days to reduce the panic surge observed in some of the inspection centres. Reacting to an insinuation that the policy might be targeted at only private vehicles, the ministry claimed that transport operators are not left behind in the new policy regime. They are having their vehicles inspected by Vehicle Inspection Officers at various motor parks in order to further reduce the convergence of vehicles at the inspection test centres, it explained.
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Earlier in January 2022, critics of the policy had described it as an exercise targeted at generating revenue for the state government, but the latter denied it.
The Director, Vehicle Inspection Service (VIS), Engr. Akin-George Fashola explained that the previous arrangement whereby Certificates of Roadworthiness were issued along with a referral note directing vehicle owners to visit the Lagos Computerised Vehicle Inspection Centre (LACVIS) for inspection was no longer applicable because vehicle owners had refused to bring their vehicles for Althoughinspection.reports indicate that the Lagos State Government reached a decision to increase the number of inspection centres across the state, the complaints have not abated. We believe that in a state with an estimated 6 million cars and over 200,000 commercial vehicles, the exercise will continue to be long-drawn and counter-productive, since vehicle owners are bound to spend longer hours waiting for their vehicles to be tested and awarded road worthiness Alsocertificates.itisunfair to require motorists to obtain certificates of roadworthiness before they can ply Lagos roads, even as it is clear to everyone, including the enforcers of the new roadworthiness policy, that the same roads are in dire need of Therehabilitation.roadswithin and around the Lagos Metropolis are so bad and barely motorable that even after passing a VIS test, most vehicles will still have to undergo more tests and inspection possibly on weekly Tobasis.keep their vehicles in top range, most people spend a lot of money on repairs. Added to this is the rising cost of spare parts, some of which are almost beyond the reach of the average vehicle owner. We urge the state government to consider fixing the roads as a matter of urgency and to adopt a more direct approach to confronting the monstrous challenge posed by road accidents in Lagos. It should cease all attempts to make motorists and other road users to bear the brunt of its failure to provide good motorable roads in the metropolis. Anything less is not acceptable.
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In January 2022, the Lagos claimedPolicy,RoadworthinessNooffGovernmentStatekickeditsmuch-vauntedInspection,Newaninitiativeitwasaimed at reforming the transportation system in the state. The new policy, the Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Dr Frederick Oladeinde, had explained at the time, was intended to help improve road safety across the Lagos Metropolis and to reduce the unprecedented surge in road accidents to the barest Accordingminimum. to the commissioner, the policy was also introduced to get rid of ramshackle vehicles, particularly trucks, which often break down on the roads and cause traffic congestions that sometimes last for several hours at a stretch.
EDITOR: Olaolu Olusina @OLUSINA [Letters/Opinions: opinion.letters@thewillnigeria.com]
Tough Times For Motorists in Lagos
EDITORIAL
This state of affairs, he lamented, is in sharp contrast with the Anambra State experience under the Peter Obi Administration that first funded and equipped the school with state-of-the art ICT learning facilities, provided school buses before he seamlessly handed over the school to the missions. As the author, what is undeniably my concern, in addition to the above awareness, is not the commentator’s admission that the decay in many schools (primary and secondary alike) did not start with the present administration, rather, it is his declaration that if the level of decay in previous administrations were considered a challenge, what is happening at present should be described as a crisis. To further consolidate on his position, he revealed that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s mother is a native of Abavo. For that reason, if the governor could abandon projects and neglect schools in the community where his mother hails from, that will give an insight to what is happening in other parts of the state. In May 2015, he added, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa assumed office without doing anything substantial to save these financially emasculated schools returned to the missionaries or serve the people; forgetting that governance is continuum. The Governor at the beginning of this year (2022) promised these mission schools some money, but such promises like many others have gone with political winds. We are particularly unhappy that Governor Okowa abandoned his people. He concluded.
OPINION
The school hostel previously reputed for housing over three hundred students is now a show of itself- infested with rodents and reptiles-these dangerous animals jostle for space with students. The environment is laced with dilapidated structures, falling windows and surrounded by overgrown bushes. Even the promises made by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) have not appreciably changed St. Anthony College’s misfortune or changed their narratives, he concluded.
•Continues online at www.thewillnigeria.com
Good as these provisions are , there are many impediments to the implementation of this proposal. For instance, in defending yourself, you are not to use a weapon that is higher than the type used by your attacker. The weapon of self- defence must be proportional to the weapon of the attacker. How do we ensure compliance with this? Also, the Firearms Act does not allow for the possession of arms by those not authorised to do so. Section 3 of the act states: “No person shall have in his possession or under his control any firearm of one of the categories specified in Part 1 of the Schedule to this Act (in this Act referred to as prohibited firearm ) except in accordance with a licence granted by the President acting in his discretion”. Section 4 of the act also says,”No person shall have in his possession or under his control any firearm of the categories specified in Part 11 of the Schedule to this Act( in this Act referred to as “ personal firearm) except in accordance with a licence granted in respect thereof by the Inspector General of Police, which licence shall be granted or refused in accordance with principles decided upon by the President”
Oyoko Primary School Saga: Matters Arising
The situation would have been different if we had state police under the control of the respective governors of the states in question. But this is not the case.
Besides, how many Nigerians are mature enough to handle arms for self-defence? Are we not going to be creating a Hobbesian state of nature where life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”? Insecurity is beyond arms bearing for self-defence. To tackle the challenge, we must look at its root causes. These include poverty , unemployment, illiteracy, nepotism, wide gap between the rich and the poor, corruption, injustice as well as lack of good governance. Most of the issues have already been tackled in Chapter II of our 1999 Constitution ( as amended) under Fundamental Objectives And Directive Principles of State Policy.
It is unfortunate that the ninth National Assembly did not deliberate on this issue. None of the 44 bills passed during the recent constitution amendment exercise dealt with the issue of insecurity, which is the most daunting challenge confronting the nation today.
Let’s assume the state government ignored St. Charles because it has been handed over to the mission and now not directly under the preview of the government. It will again necessitate the question as to how well has the government treated its own secondary schools under its Towatch?answer this perennial question, the findings by this study/research along with collaboration from many other investigations using different procedures, suggests that both government secondary schools and the recently handed over mission schools share ‘equal sorrows’, virtues and attributes. Similarity in structural deficiencies is a common denominator.Take as an il lustration, St Anthony’s College, Ubulu-Uku in Aniocha South Local Government Area of the state, is a wholly owned government Model school. But there is nothing model or modern about the school. The classes are far from being 21st century learning environment compliant. The few new structures found in the school are attributable to personal efforts of good spirited individuals and the School Old Boys Association.
Among those who have made this call are Katsina State Governor, Alhaji Aminu Bello Masari, Zamfara State Governor, Alhaji Bello Matawalle and their Benue State counterpart, Mr Samuel Ortom. The governors have reportedly requested the police commissioners in their respective states to issue licences to their citizens to bear arms. Also making a similar proposition are a former Chief of Army Staff and Defence Minister at different times, Lt Gen Theophilus Danjuma (retd), and the current Minister of Defence, Major-General Bashir Magashi Much(retd.) as this suggestion appears good on paper, its implementation will be difficult. Besides, the idea of bearing arms for self-defence by the generality of our citizens cannot be a solution to insecurity.
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There is insecurity everywhere in Nigeria. Apart from the period between 1967 and 1970 when the Nigerian Civil War raged, this country has never experienced anything close to the worsening Frominsecurity.theNorth to the South, terrorists are everywhere killing, maiming, kidnapping for ransom, burning and sacking whole villages. They are not relenting. Against this background, many ordinary and prominent Nigerians, including state governors and those with military background, have made suggestions on the way forward. Some have suggested that we bring in mercenaries to fight the terrorists. Others have called for self-defence by allowing Nigerians to bear arms. While Borno State Governor, Prof Babagana Zulum, wants the use of mercenaries to fight insecurity, some of his counterparts are proposing that citizens should be allowed to bear arms to defend themselves, since our security forces are not capable of defending us.
Both the Nigerian Criminal and Penal codes support the right of self -defence.
It is clear from these provisions that contrary to the advice from the state governors, state police Commissioners do not have the powers to authorise the use of firearms. This power belongs to the AnotherPresident.impediment to the implementation of selfThe reactions and commentaries that trailed the recently published and disturbing pictures that drew the attention of the Delta State Government to the distressed structures, dilapidated classrooms with fallen ceilings, windows and doors at Oyoko Primary School, Abavo in Ika South Local Government Area of the state, has again given credibility to the belief that a free press is not a privilege but an organic necessity in a great Forsociety.without reliable and intelligent reporting, the government cannot govern. And there is no adequate way in which it can keep itself informed about what the people of the country are thinking, doing and needing Despite this new awareness, what has given cause for concern among Deltans with critical interest, which also qualifies the development in the state’s education sector as a crisis, is the fact that before the dust raised by the ‘deplorable, inhuman and gory account of Oyoko school condition could settle, another was up. This time, it has to do with an eye witness account of the poor state of a secondary school in Abavo town, St Charles College. For clarity, St Charles College, he said, was originally built, owned and operated by the catholic mission in the state. The school has to its credit produced prominent citizens of Ika nation extraction and Nigeria as a whole. Also remarkable is the fact that the college was at a time the only secondary school within the Abavo clan that could boast of boarding facilities. Those were the good old days. The school, like other missionary schools in the state, were thereafter seized by past administrations in the state, mismanaged, starved of funds, stripped of learning convenience, ‘killed’ and the carcass finally returned to the original owners by the Emmanuel Uduaghan Administration in the state without any form of financial mitigation or infrastructural remediation. The commentator noted with nostalgia that ever since the government led its cold hands on St. Charles, the centre can no longer hold and things fall apart. Even the new owner (the mission) is currently in search of courage needed to tackle the degree of infrastructural decay in the school. The once celebrated hostel facility that previously housed students who are today not just prominent but great men in the society is presently without a roof, lying lonely, fallow and deserted. Same fate befell the school laboratory building until recently when the old boys of the school took it upon themselves and had the laboratory building roofed. But even with that feat, the science laboratory cannot boast a single test tube.
Certainly, there is in my view reason to believe that these commentators may not be alone in this line of belief.
BY MACK OGBAMOSA
BY JEROME-MARIO UTOMI Self-Defence Not Enough Reason to Tackle Insecurity
defence is that governors have no control over the police, Army and other security forces in their states. They do not have powers over the appointment of security forces like the police or the military. They do not have authority over their deployment for operational purposes. They are simply lame-duck chief security officers. Both the Constitution and the various acts setting up the agencies give the power of appointment and to authorise operational use of the forces to the President.
•Continues online at www.thewillnigeria.com
The Group recorded interest income of N226.35 billion during the review period as against N103.83 billion in the equivalent year, reflecting a 40.5 percent increase. Its net interest after impairment charges grew by 70.1 percent from N77.10 billion in HY 2021 to N131.20 billion in HY2022. Profit before tax was N65.72 billion against N45.23 billion showing an increase of 45.3 percent which reflected on the profit after tax of N56.60 billion compared with N38.05 billion in the preceding period, which is an increase of 48.8 percent. The balance sheet growth reflected on the Group’s robust assets performance during the period. Its total assets rose from N8.89 trillion as of December 31, 2021 to N9.48 trillion in the review period reflecting a growth of 6.63 percent. Loans and advances to customers grew from N2.88 billion in December 2021 to N3.38 billion in the review period. Deposit from customers, which reflect the customers’ confidence in the bank, rose to N6.3 billion from N5.84 billion, an increase of 7.8 percent.
made B C DA 0 10BN 50BN 100BN 500BN Net Interest Income Interest Income Net Int. Income After Impairment Profit Before Tax Profit After Tax E ABCDE (N’bn) Source; Group’s Report 1000BN 5000BN Total Assets Loans & AdvancesGF F G 10000BN Dep. CustomersFromFF 2022(N’bn) bn65.72 bn56.60 bn9,488.00 bn*8,894.00 bn3,381.00 bn*2,881.00 bn6,302.00 2021 December 2021 FBN HOLDINGS HY 2022 HIGHLIGHTS (N’bn) HY 2022: FBN Holdings Results Mirror Growth That Excites Shareholders PAGE 18 PAGE 18 MORE INSIDE onSAHCOShieldRecommendsFirstBankFamilyInsurancePolicyForBenueJournalistsBacksNDLEAFightAgainstDrugs Continues on page 17 Crisis Looms As Foreign Airlines Mull Pull-Out Over Blocked Funds There is an indication that if issues around foreign airlines’ trapped funds are not addressed in the coming days, more international carriers may be forced to suspend their flights to Nigeria. Some of the affected foreign airlines include: British Airways, Delta, United and Emirates, BA, Lufthansa, AWA, etc. Collectively these airlines make up about 80 percent of the trapped funds. This is because they have the biggest sales since most people travelling to Britain, the United States and United Arab Emirates BY ANTHONY AWUNOR Continues on page 18 PenCom Reiterates Commitment to Micro Pension Plan Adeduntan The National Pension Commission, PenCom, has reiterated commitment to drive the Micro Pension Plan (MPP) created for operators in the informal sector to take care of their retirement age. It said the MPP was introduced to curb old-age poverty by assisting the workers to contribute while working and build long-term savings to fall back on when they become old.Dahir-Umar
Looking at the Group’s FY 2021 result, largely as a result of recoveries on bad loans which grew by 1155.4 percent, the Group reported a 99 percent increase in after-tax profit to N151. 08 billion in the Full Year 2021 period. Profit before tax stood at N166.662 billion as against N83.703 billion in 2020, equally representing 99.11 percent growth. The profit was boosted by other operating income of N149.416 billion reported during the year as against N14.865 billion posted in 2020, accounting for an increase of 905.15percent. The other operating income includes other income of N8.467 billion largely comprising of income
AUGUST 21 - AUGUST 27, 2022 THEWILL NEWSPAPER • www.thewillnigeria.com PAGE 16 THEWILLNIGERIA THEWILLNG THEWILLNIGERIA AUGUST 21 - AUGUST 27, 2022 THEWILL NEWSPAPER • www.thewillnigeria.com VOL.2 NO.34 Continues on page 17 BY SAM DIALA FBN Holdings Plc posted impressive results for its half year 2022 operations which reflect a growth trajectory that will excite the shareholders. This is coming after a period of heavyfooted performance on huge non-performing loans. The Group’s HY 2022 performance is reflective of its resilience and underpins the strategy to generate sustainable value for its stakeholders.
AUGUST 21 - AUGUST 27, 2022 THEWILL NEWSPAPER • www.thewillnigeria.com PAGE 17THEWILLNIGERIA THEWILLNG THEWILLNIGERIA
“ HY 2022:
Industry experts are however, not pleased with the appalling handling of the accumulated foreign airline funds trapped in Nigeria banks, due to the non-allocation of forex to these airlines patronise Consequently,them.there is reduced capacity and air fares have become more expensive. This is due to the fear that Nigeria may devalue its currency, which will invariably put the airlines at a loss of a huge percentage of the money they intend to Already,repatriate.Emirates Airlines has announced that it will suspend all flights from Nigeria, effective from September 1, 2022. The airline stated that it has tried every avenue to address their ongoing challenges in repatriating funds from Nigeria, and that they have made considerable efforts to initiate dialogue with the relevant authorities for their urgent intervention to help find a viable solution but not with any Whilesuccess.Emirates took the painful decision to forestall the accumulation of debts owed them by the Nigerian Government, other airlines like British Airways, Lufthansa, Virgin Atlantic, and others are said to be monitoring the situation as efforts by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the clearing house for global airlines to help repatriate the funds are said to have yielded no fruits. IATA, on its own, has already expressed its disappointment on Nigeria’s continuing withholding of foreign airlines’ revenues. Reacting to the situation, Kamil Alawadhi, IATA’s Regional Vice President for Africa and the Middle East said “IATA is disappointed that the amount of airline money blocked from repatriation by the Nigerian government grew to $464 million in “ThisJuly.is airline money and its repatriation is protected by international agreements in which Nigeria participates. IATA’s warning that failure to restore timely repatriation will hurt Nigeria with reduced air connectivity is proving true with the withdrawal of Emirates from the market. Airlines cannot be expected to fly if they cannot realise the revenue from the sale of tickets. Loss of air connectivity harms the local economy, hurts investor confidence, impacts jobs and peoples livelihoods. It is time for the Government of Nigeria to prioritise the release of airline funds before more damage is done,” he said. Industry experts are, however, not pleased with the appalling handling of the accumulated foreign airline funds trapped in Nigeria banks, due to the non-allocation of forex to these airlines. In all Bilateral Air Services Agreement an Article in the agreement -- transfer of earnings, clearly states that “each designated airline shall have the right to convert and remit to its country on demand, local revenues in excess of sums locally disbursed. Conversion and remittance shall be permitted without delay in accordance with the prevailing foreign exchange regulations”. These experts, acting under the aegis of Aviation Round Table therefore, opined that international trade is bound by agreements, which are sacrosanct and respected, insisting that Nigeria cannot do otherwise if they crave the attention of investors in our industry. Part of what triggered the blocked funds, according to them, is caused by lack capacity to compete, which would have reduced the remittance volume.
*Continues online at www. thewillnigeria.com
Crisis Looms As Foreign Airlines Mull Pull-Out Over Blocked Funds AVIATION/FINANCE
“Highlighting revenue and profitability, the Group delivered a stellar performance growing gross revenue by 28.2 per cent to N757.3 billion and profit before tax by 99.1 per cent to N166.7 billion. The 30.0 per cent growth in loans and advances to N2.9 trillion and 16.2 percent growth in total asset to N8.9 trillion reaffirms our commitment to drive revenue and profitability as we complete the balance sheet clean-up.”
“We are happy with their performance. They are returning to their performingchunkmainlyexperienceofpositionleadershipafteryearschallengingduetohugeofnon-loans
Alawadhi
Continued from page 16 by the group from private banking services and gain on disposal of repossessed collateral. The major boost to both top-line and profit came from a mind-blowing surge in the amount of loan recovered, which ballooned by nearly twelvefold to N141 billion.
“ Continued
Sirika
on the Group’s FY 2021 result, the Group Managing Director, Nnamdi Okonkwo, said,“Our performance over the course of 2021 is reflective of the resilience of the Group and underpins our growth strategy to generate sustainable value for all our stakeholders. As a Group, we are acutely aware of the macroeconomic challenges facing businesses and remain focused on carefully navigating the environment through innovation and by putting our customers at the centre of our attention.”
The National Co-ordinator, Progressive Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Boniface Okezie, said the FBN Holdings HY 2022 has reassured shareholders that the foremost financial services institution is launching back to its leadership position in the industry. “We are happy with their performance. They are returning to their leadership position after years of challenging experience due mainly to huge chunk of nonperforming loans.” As observed by the Group, following years of strategic restructuring of the Bank’s balance sheet and operations, the Commercial Banking business is beginning to transition into a sustained growth phase delivering performance commensurate to the size of our business and capabilities of our people “This performance was driven by a relentless focus on the needs of customers and improving the competitiveness of our offerings. We have sharpened our ‘Go To Market’ approach to better leverage the opportunities which our large scale provides in addition to becoming more relevant to our clients by improving our value propositions. This performance is also in line with the Bank’s Quantum Profitability Leap agenda which seeks to ensure that we fully maximise the revenue generating capacity of our business to boost the bottom line and fulfil the expectations of all stakeholders in the business,” the bank said. FBN Holdings Results Mirror Growth That Excites Shareholders
FBN Holdings had highlighted the recovery of a written-off credit availed to Jide Omokore-backed Atlantic Energy Limited as the principal driver. The tier one bank had rapidly reduced the bank’s nonperforming loan portfolio in 2021, a development that had been a major boost in the bank’s quest to improve profitability and reinforce its leadership of the financial services industry in CommentingNigeria.
“It Is important to state that foreign airlines sold these tickets at the official IATA rate and cannot be expected to go the parallel market to source, convert and remit as opined in some quarters, the central bank should do the needful as enshrined in the BASA Theyagreements”.suggested that the funds should have been remitted at the official rate on date of Sale immediately the Airlines get clearance after paying all the local obligations including “Thetaxes.damage that our action has done to the Nigerian image as an investment friendly nation is far reaching, while the citizenry is faced with high fares, reduced capacity and limited travelling options, which will worsen if we continue on this trajectory”, they added. In his submission, Mr. Bankole Bernard, the Group Managing Director, Finchglow Holdings, said there should be a communiqué from the government, which will give them some assurances that the country is not planning to devalue and this won’t affect them and that they will repatriate their money as it were. from page 16
Officer of the Bank, Mr Chidi Anosike, who made the call when he paid an advocacy visit on the chairman of the Council, Comrade Vincent Nyinongu at NUJ House Makurdi, explained that the Family Shield policy is an annual renewable plan that provides cover for death and permanent disability of members.
BY ANTHONY AWUNOR BY ANTHONY AWUNOR
According to him, the policy will require each member who key into the policy to pay N10,000 annually so that his family will be paid the premium upon his death. He pointed out that given the hazardous work journalists do on daily basis, it was only important for them to seek insurance cover and appealed to the chairman to educate members on the need to embrace the scheme.
Skyway Aviation Handling Company PLC (SAHCO) has declared its continuous support to Nigeria’s fight against peddling of controlled substances.
The Managing Director/CEO of SAHCO, Basil Agboarumi stated that SAHCO boasts of welltrained staff that are equipped to know what to look out for according to world best practices before accepting Cargo and are also trained to be cooperative with Government’s agencies like The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) assigned to SAHCO’s Import and Export warehouses. Agboarumi also reiterated that SAHCO, which is a major gateway to Import and Export in Nigeria has one of the best warehouses in West Africa and these warehouses are Customs bonded. The warehouses which are built with the latest technology are constructed with the customers’ best interest at heart and also for the purpose of maintaining our clients’ trust by ensuring that clients of questionable businesses are not allowed to use SAHCO’s warehouses as gateways for their nefarious Heactivities.emphasised that SAHCO has a campaign titled, ‘See Something, Say Something, Do Something’ where all staff are trained to always call attention to unscrupulous activities and crooked acts. He stressed that SAHCO has a long-time commitment to support Government’s agencies that are stationed at every point where SAHCO conducts businesses by giving them unhindered access to every nook and crannies of both Import and Export Warehouses, providing the necessary scanning machines and other screening technologies to support NDLEA and other Government agencies operations. Arik Air has become the supporting sponsor and exclusive official airline partner of The Next Titan Nigeria Reality TV show Season Nine. An agreement to this effect was signed recently between the management of Arik Air and Bravopoints International, promoters of the The Next Titan Nigeria TV show.
L-R: Executive Secretary/CEO, Nigerian Shippers’ Council, Barrister Emmanuel Jime; Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Dr. Bashir Jamoh; Minister of Transportation, Mallam Muazu Sambo; Managing Director/CEO, Lekki Port, Mr. Du Ruogang; Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Transportation, Dr. Magdalene Ajani and Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority, Alhaji Mohammed Bello-Koko, during the first official visit of the Minister to Lekki Deep Sea Port in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos on August 14, 2022. Photo: Peace Udugba.
SAHCO Backs NDLEA on Fight Against Drugs Arik Air Partners ‘Next Titan Nigeria’ Reality TV Show
Comrade Nyinongu who lauded the initiative, however, urged First Bank to review the policy to enable subscribers benefit their savings while alive rather than waiting till after death for their relatives to be settled.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, the Chief Executive Officer of Bravopoints International, Mr Mide Akinlaja said the company is glad that Arik Air is identifying with the show for the first time. “It is so peculiar because Arik Air is identifying with us at a time when we need you most and we sincerely appreciate this”, Mr Akinlaja Theelaborated.Chief Executive Officer of Arik Air, Captain Roy Ilegbodu in his response said the airline is proud to be associated with the show, stressing that he has been following the show for quite a while. He commended Bravopoints for coming up with such a brilliant idea. “Such shows actually imbibe the spirit of encouragement and hope for the future because by supporting the young ones you are guaranteeing that we have future leaders for the country. We commend you and look forward to the commencement of Season Nine of the show”, Captain Roy stressed. The Next Titan is Nigeria’s foremost Business Reality TV Show, and has hosted several thousands of young entrepreneurs across the country through its auditions. The Next Titan in its 9th Season is scouting for intelligent, charismatic and audacious young people with inspiring, impactful, and scalable business ideas to battle it out on a 10-week reality TV show for a grand prize to start their business idea.
The Director-General of PenCom, Mrs. Aisha Dahir-Umar, stated this in her remarks at the annual Journalists’ Workshop organised by the Commission for Journalists covering the pension industry in Lagos. In the address read on her behalf by the Head of Corporate Communications, Abdulqadir Dahiru, the PenCom boss said the Commission had intensified the awareness campaign on the MPP to ensure it reaches the target population across the country. To create awareness of the Micro Pension Plan, she said that the Commission, in collaboration with the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria, was championing an Industry Media Campaign in major cities in the country’s six geopolitical zones. “Strategic efforts to drive the Micro Pension Plan (MPP) remain one of the significant areas of focus of the Commission. The MPP was conceptualized to expand pension coverage to the informal sector, including small-scale businesses, entertainers, professionals, petty traders, artisans, and entrepreneurs. “The MPP was implemented to curb old-age poverty by assisting the workers, as mentioned above, to contribute while working and build long-term savings to fall back on when they become old. To create awareness of the Micro Pension Plan, the Commission, in collaboration with the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria, is currently championing an Industry Media Campaign in major cities in the country’s six geopolitical zones,” she Dahir-Umarsaid.recalled that PenCom increased the minimum regulatory capital requirements for Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) to ensure adequate protection of the pension “Asassets.you know, PenCom increased the Minimum Regulatory Capital (Shareholders’ Fund) requirements of Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) from N1 billion to N5 billion last year. The recapitalization exercise had a 12-month transition from April 27 2021, to April 27 2022. As of the deadline, all Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) have complied with the Commission’s directive to increase the Minimum Regulatory Capital (Shareholders’ Fund) from N1 billion to N5 billion. The reason for the recapitalization exercise was to ramp up the capacity of the Pension Fund Administrators to manage the increasing number of registered contributors, and the value of pension fund assets under which I am pleased to inform you stood at 9,795,957million and N14.27 Trillion, respectively, as at June 30, 2022. it is expected that the exercise will bring about increased effectiveness and efficiency as well as improved service delivery in the industry.”
The chairman who made the commendation while addressing the monthly Congress of the chapel held at the State Secretariat of the Ministry of Information Makurdi, urged them not to waver until stability was achieved. He congratulated those that emerged at the by-election held during the congress meeting, promising that the State Council under his leadership was working with government to improve on it Internally Generated Revenue for the benefit of members.
FROM KAJO MARTINS, MAKURDI PenCom Reiterates Commitment to Micro Pension Plan
FirstBank Recommends Family Shield Insurance Policy For Benue Journalists FirstBank of Nigeria has called on Benue state Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) to key into the Insurance Family Shield Policy so as to leap it Thebenefits.Desk
Dahir-Umar said the workshop provides the Commission with a platform to interact with the media to discuss developments in the pension industry. “It is also an opportunity to present the achievements of PenCom and the challenges faced in implementing the Contributory Pension Scheme. To this end, the Commission hopes to sustain the existing cordial relationship with the media, which would translate to the general public being better informed about the pension industry,” she said. “The theme of this year’s workshop, ‘Increasing Informal Sector Participation in the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS): The case for Micro Pension Plan’, aligns with the Commission’s objective of expanding coverage of the CPS. The objective is to bring in to the CPS, Nigerians working in the Informal Sector and those who are Self-Employed through the Micro Pension Plan (MPP). Therefore, it is of utmost importance to educate the media on the MPP and enlist your support to make the Plan popular amongst informal sector workers and the self-employed. 16
Continued from page
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Responding, Comrade Nyinongu commended First Bank for finding NUJ worthy of partnership, promising to put forward the proposal before the State Working Committee (SWC), for deliberation and consideration.
Meanwhile, Comrade Nyinongu commended the State Information Chapel of the union for their orderliness and support during the union’s trying moment.
Specifically, the CBN said NNPC and its subsidiaries had not been remitting dollars to Nigeria’s foreign reserves, and this has caused shortage of foreign exchange in the domestic market. In a statement titled “The forex question in Nigeria: Fact sheet,” the CBN revealed that the NNPC’s remittance from crude oil accounts for over 80 percent of Nigeria’s foreign exchange (forex) earnings; so, failure to remit as usual was direct invitation to Thecrises.apex bank said further that it could not solely manage the Naira collapse with its monetary policies (since it doesn’t print foreign currencies) and so, the non-remittance of forex by the NNPC and its subsidiaries “significantly limit the availability of forex in the nation’s foreign reserves.” But no sooner this claim was made than the NNPC issued a comprehensive rebuttal— detailing its remittances to the appropriate coffers of the Federal Government during the period under reference. Indeed, NNPC’s rebuttal data showed that it remitted US$2.7 billion into its accounts with the CBN from January to June 2022. A breakdown of the remittances show that US$645 million was for dividend paid by the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Company Limited, while US$1.786 billion was from the NNPC’s operational activities.” The national oil company went further to give a month-by-month breakdown of the remittances.
The airline had earlier planned to cut down its flights in a letter it wrote to the Nigerian Minister of Aviation, dated July 22, 2020. The letter explained that as of July 2022, Emirates had US$85 million of funds awaiting repatriation “due to non-availability of dollars in Nigeria and this figure has been rising by more than US$10 million every month, as the ongoing operational costs of the airline’s eleven weekly flights to Lagos and five to Abuja continue to accumulate.”
Over the years, even before the multifarious local and global headwinds that are blowing against the Nigerian economy, the CBN had blamed a multitude of actors and issues for the weakening Naira. For instance, in 2018, the apex bank’s boss blamed the biting foreign exchange crisis at that time on the importation of items he said should have been manufactured in Nigeria, leading to the ban on forex allocation for 41 items. Last year, the CBN Governor shifted the blame for Naira slide to Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators, who he accused of illegal forex trading. He had specifically pointed fingers at ‘Aboki FX’, saying its activities were responsible for the Naira’s depreciation, thereby cutting allocation to BDCs. And ever since then, official forex allocations to BDCs had ceased. Earlier this year, the CBN blamed the lingering forex crisis on money laundering and activities of those allegedly funding terrorism, as well as politicians who do everything to ‘dollarize’ the Nigerian economy. And just a few days ago, August 3, 2022, the apex bank blamed the entire organised private sector (OPS) for the crashing local currency. The Head, Banking Services of the CBN, Egboagwu Ezulu, said the OPS have “a problem repatriating the foreign currencies, as they prefer to keep them abroad after transactions.”
As
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As the Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government enters the last lap of its tenure, Nigeria’s public sector space is getting saturated with issues ranging from the absurd to the ridiculous. The raging controversy between the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) over who (among the two) was responsible for the continuing paucity of US dollars and hence, the plummeting of the exchange rate of the naira, is one of such noisome features of Indeed,government.asthefiscal profile of the country gets drearier in the twilight of the Administration, almost all key actors on the fiscal and monetary authorities’ seats have literally come to their wits end and now easily resort to weird experimentations in the name of policy initiatives. Call it panic measures, and you will not be Forwrong!solong, key ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of the Government seemed to be working at cross-purposes or in ‘silos,’ such that outcomes of policy initiatives of some MDAs act as counterpoise to those of others. So, recently, as the value of the naira vis-à-vis the dollar was crashing almost irreversibly, the apex bank issued a statement, putting the blame squarely on the NNPC’s “refusal to remit dollar inflows to the CBN.”
In June, IATA had disclosed that Nigeria owed foreign airlines US$450 million, representing 25 per cent of the total amount of international carriers’ funds held back by central banks of many countries put at US$1.6 billion by end of April 2022. Current estimate puts airlines’ trapped funds in Nigeria at over US$500 million, as CBN is yet to allow the airlines to repatriate their Whilefunds.
In point of fact, huge sums belonging to many multinational organizations/companies that are meant for repatriation have been trapped in Nigeria due to paucity of forex. A few of such multinationals in the past couple of years have had to convert their accumulated dividends to more equity stakes in their (Nigerian) local units. Just last week, Middle East mega carrier, Emirates Airlines, announced the suspension of all flights to Nigeria from September 1, 2022 due to its failure to repatriate its revenue earned from ticket sales in Nigeria, now amounting to USD$85 million.
The airline said: “We simply cannot continue to operate at the current level in the face of mounting losses, especially in the challenging post-COVID-19 climate. Emirates did try to stem the losses by proposing to pay for fuel in Nigeria in naira, which would have at least reduced one element of our on-going costs, however this request was denied by the supplier. This means that not only are Emirates’ revenues accumulating, we also have to send hard currency into Nigeria to sustain our own operations. Meanwhile, our revenues are out of reach and not even earning credit Emiratesinterest.”Airline said it also sought solution to the forex debacle at the apex bank: “Indeed, we have made every effort to work with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to find a solution to this issue. Our Senior Vice-President met with the Deputy Governor of the CBN in May and followed up on the meeting by letter to the Governor himself the following months, however, no positive response was received. Meetings were also held with Emirates’ own bank in Nigeria and in collaboration with IATA (the International Air Transport Association) to discuss improving FX allocation, but with limited success.”
Ezulu, who spoke at a confab by the Association of Corporate Affairs Managers of Banks (ACAMB), blamed the nonrepatriation of forex by the OPS for the scarcity of dollars and fast depleting external reserves. Again, in the face of these blame games, it must be pointed out that the CBN-NNPC brouhaha over collapsing Naira is really a new height of the desperation over fast-depleting dollar reserves.
some of the airlines and other businesses are cutting down their operations in Nigeria due to the biting forex scarcity, at personal level, many Nigerians are finding it increasingly difficult to access the US dollar at the CBN’s official rate for eligible transactions. Nigerians who need to travel abroad now experience unusual delays in accessing Business Travel Allowance (BTA), Personal Travel Allowance (PTA) and monies to pay for medicals and others. Some banks are already resorting to extending the request period for PTA/BTA from two weeks to eight weeks—a reality that compels many individuals and corporate bodies to resort to the ‘parallel market’—the bureau de change (BDCs). And as the CBN’s ‘thick skin’ indicates, the end to the acute scarcity of forex is not in sight, owing to numerous encumbrances and bottlenecks to improved foreign exchange inflow to Nigeria.
•Okeke, is an economist, sustainability expert and business strategy consultant. We simply cannot continue to operate at the current level in the face of mounting losses, especially in the challenging post-COVID-19 climate
BY MARCEL OKEKE CBN, NNPC Tango Over Nigeria’s Dollars
Howbeit, rather than assuage or stem the slide of the Naira exchange rate against the dollar and other foreign currencies, the claims and counterclaims by the CBN and the NNPC exposed the lack of team spirit among the Federal institutions. It vividly reveals the lack of common agenda and absence of an overarching economic development roadmap—from which all functionaries ought to derive their goals.
ECONOMY
Photo Editor: Peace Udugba [08033050729]
SHOTS OF THE WEEK
L-R: Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Baba Alkali; Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State and others during the Commissioning of 10 APC Security Vehicles and other Gadgets, donated by the Governor to the NPF in Imo on August 16, 2022.
L-R: Program Manager, Jobberman Nigeria, Ahmed Alaga; General Manager, U-Connect HR Limited, Lanre Coleman; Senior Manager, Participant Engagement & Programs, United Nations Global Compact Network Nigeria,Tumi Onamade; Country HR Manager, Nestlé Nigeria PLC, Shakiru Lawal and Marketing Manager, Big Bottling Company Limited, Goke Olaleye, during Alliance for young Nigerians empowerment Programme held at Lagos Business School, Lagos on August 13, 2022.
L-R: On-Air Personality, Nedu; Media personality, Toke Makinwa; Ex-BBNaija housemate, Leo Dasilva and On-Air Personality, Taymi B during the set of the 4th episode of Showmax’s BBNaija S7 in Lagos on August 15, 2022.
L-R: Guest Speakers/Legal Practitioner, Jiti Ogunye; Human right activist. Femi Falana (SAN); Human rights lawyer, Femi Aborishade; Nigerian women’s rights activist, Dr Joe Okei Odumakin; Author of the Book, Basirat Fawehinmi Biobaku and Chairman of the Occasion, Dr. Okon Akiba, during the Mohammed Fawehinmi first annual lecture and book presentation, in Lagos on August 11, 2022.
L-R: Communications and Sustainability Manager, Unilever, Nigeria, Godfrey Adejumo; Director, Corporate Affairs and Sustainable Business, Unilever, West Africa, Soromidayo George; Category Manager, Homecare, Oladapo Oshuntoye; Brand Manager, Sunlight, Kolade Oluwapelumi, during the Sunlight Purpose media workshop held in Lagos on August 16, 2022.
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L-R; Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire; SGF/Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha; Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaibu; Country Coordinator (Nigeria), Africa CDC Saving Lives and Livelihoods Initiative, Dr. Bakary Sonko and Minister of State for Health, Ekunmankama Joseph Nkama, during the launching of the mass vaccination campaign ‘SCALES 3.0’ in Abuja on August 8, 2022.
AUGUST 21 - AUGUST 27, 2022 THEWILL NEWSPAPER • www.thewillnigeria.com PAGE 21THEWILLNIGERIA THEWILLNG THEWILLNIGERIA AUGUST 21 - AUGUST 27, 2022 THEWILL NEWSPAPER • www.thewillnigeria.com Lay•Omah Margret•Lola Daniel•Kizz •Cross •Tems Boy•Burna From JAIL To FAME PAGE 21-26
Despite the fact that the Nigerian singer rose to fame with some of his hit singles, Yebariba Samboribobo and Omoge, his Mike Okri assisted debut single, his imprisonment sank the ship of his musical career as he lost relevance in the Nigeria music scene thereafter.
SHADE WESLEY-METIBOGUN
ENTERTAINERSNIGERIAN WHO WERE DETAINED ABROAD writes on Nigerian entertainers who were once imprisoned in foreign countries.
Hardworking singer, Daniel Anidugbe, otherwise known as Kizz Daniel, earned the respect of music lovers for consistently unleashing chart-busting songs over the years. A few weeks ago, he wormed his way into the bad books of his fans in other parts of Africa when he failed to perform at a concert in Tanzania. The singer was scheduled to perform at Warehouse, Old Nextdoor Arena in Tanzania as part of his Afro Classic World Tour. He failed to show up for the show despite the fact that some fans paid as much as $5,000 for a table. It was rumoured that Kizz Daniel’s costume and a gold chain were missing after arriving in Tanzania. He was arrested by the police and detained at the Oyster Bay Police Station in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania after fans vandalised and disrupted the peace of the city. The singer might have built a good reputation over the years due to his talent and singing prowess, however, the recent drama in Tanzania almost cost him his years of hard work. He later revealed what transpired and stated that he waited for eight hours for a connecting flight to Dar es Salaam from Kampala. Even after he flew successfully to his destination, he was further delayed because of missing luggage. The father of two apologised to his Tanzanian fans and organised a free concert for them.
Oluwatobiloba Daniel Anidugbe
Stanley Omah Didia Temilade Openiyi
Akinbiyi Abiola Ahmed Babalola Falemi
Talented music act, Akinbiyi Abiola Ahmed, professionally known as Bella Shmurda was arrested, charged and jailed in Ghana in 2021. The artiste, who dropped out of school to pursue his music career a few years ago, had travelled to Ghana at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. While observing the normal protocol of testing foreign citizens arriving in the country, Bella Shmurda tested positive for COVID-19 and was quarantined at the Mplaza Hotel in Accra, Ghana. During the period he was in isolation and receiving treatment, the Cash App hit maker created a scene by attacking the doctor in charge with a fork and attempted to beat up another person who tried to intervene. He alleged that the COVID-19 test conducted on him was fake. He also demanded to be released the following day. He was arrested and charged to Adjabeng Circuit Court in Accra for verbal abuse and physical assault on a medical officer. He was fined 2,000 Ghana Cedi and banned from entering the country for three months.
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BfondlyFalemi,abalola called Sinzu or Sauce Kid, stained his good reputation after being arrested in the cardpolicearrested,AfterboardheBoisearrestedinTellerviawithdrewthecards,intobankencodedbankstolensaidentertainerfraud.KingdomUnitedforThewastohaveover15cards,thenumbersblankchangedpinsandcashAutomatedMachines2014.HewasattheAirportaswasabouttoaplanehewasthefoundaencodingdevice and more than $6,000 on him. He was charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, with eight counts each of bank fraud, aggravated identity theft, and possession of several fraudulent bank cards. The singer was later jailed for two years at the Ada County Jail, a medium security prison attached to the Idaho Sheriff’s department.
oncontinuedpopularitygoalstohasherdisruptionDespiteoncehadsomeGovernmentThereleasecampaignfansinhecounterpartmalewhenwasarrestedUganda,herstartedaforheronTwitter.Federalandcelebritiestostepinmore.theslightincareer,Temscontinuedfocusonherandherhastobetherise.
Stanley Omah Didia, also known as Omah Lay, joined the league of entertainers who have been arrested abroad in December 2020. The singer was detained in Uganda during his sold-out show concert in Kampala. Being a year that the world was combating the deadly coronavirus, he was arrested and charged for negligence and engaging in acts likely to spread the infectious corona virus, according to Section 171 of the Penal Code of Uganda. Music fans all over the world showed their support for the artiste by creating a hashtag, FreeOmahlay, which trended on Twitter for a long time. The Federal Government and some celebrities had to intervene in the matter and he was released.
Well-endowed singer, Temilade Openiyi, popularly known as Tems, has been on the rise since she made her debut in the music industry. One would say that providence had played a role in her steady rise to stardom. She was crowned as the first female artiste to clinch the Black Entertainment Television Award, BET, and often featured in some works by some of the best performing artistes in Nigeria and abroad. Her achievement however did not come on a silver platter as she has made some sacrifices o get to the enviable position that she is occupying at the Temsmoment.was once arrested and detained in Kampala, Uganda for flouting COVID-19 protocols in that country. The singer had gone to perform at a concert in the December 2020. At the end of the show, she was arrested and charged. Just like it happened in Oma Lay’s case, her
Lola Oladipupo
Grammy Award winning artiste and self-acclaimed Africa giant, Ebunoluwa Damini Ogulu, more popularly known as Burna Boy had a criminal record abroad before he found fame in the Nigeria music industry. Burna Boy was part of a criminal gang who stabbed a man to death in 2010 in the United Kingdom though he committed the act when he was a minor. The singer was arrested and charged to court as a minor. He was later tried and sent to jail. After serving a jail term of 11 months, he was released but put on two months parole with community service on the grounds of being of good behavior. However, the dancehall singer disobeyed police authorities and ran to Nigeria where he established his music career and signed a record deal with Aristocrat Records. His attempt at returning to the UK led to his deportation to Nigeria and subsequent ban from entering the UK for a period of 15 years. However, the ban was lifted after five years and he returned to the UK in 2016 where he had his first performance.
Rapper Nedu Godwin Nyan, also known as Godwon, had it rough while still active in the Nigeria music industry. He was arrested in the United States in 2009 for Theburglary.rapperallegedly burgled a house in the United States and stole some items which were later recovered in his car. His arrest was filed by LeaAnne Klentzman for burglary. Godwon was charged to court and found guilty. He served a three-year jail term at Fort Bend County. He regained his freedom in 2011 and returned to Nigeria to continue his music career. He signed a record deal with Serengeti Music and released some songs which were not well received by music fans. He faded out of the entertainment scene after his unsuccessful attempt at resuscitating his music career. Apparently, his imprisonment affected his image and music career.
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Boss of andwhereinarrestedthatitallegations.moneyEFCCCommission,FinancialthewasinmadeandtimesbeenThelikecourtsasotherwiseAdeshinaAzeezRecord,MarlianFashola,knownNairaMarley,controversyasecondskin.musicacthasarrestedseveralbothinNigeriaabroad.Heoncearevelation2019afterhereleasedbyEconomicandCrimesforfraudandlaunderingHemadeknowninavideohehadbeen124timestheUnitedStateshegrewupschooled.
Marlian record signee, Ilerioluwa Oladimeji Aloba, aka Mohbad, was also imprisoned abroad. The singer had earlier performed at a show in London with his fellow label record mate, Oniyide Azeez, also known as Zinoleesky. The event was a huge success and he headed to Cyrus for another show. Unfortunately, he was arrested at the airport by the police and kept in the Cyrus Airport Prison. He made the revelation on his Instagram page and many couldn’t come to terms with the news. Mohbad alleged that his show promoter was responsible for what led to his arrest in Cyrus. He was later released and he returned to Nigeria, however, reasons for his arrest were not made public.
Reality show star, releasedSiyabongaatothepolicewhiskedwhenknowforwas2022.footarrestedNaijainthewhoOkonkwoSundayIkechukwuakaCrosswasahousemateofbiggestrealityshowNigeria,BigBrotherseason6wasaftersteppinginSouthAfricainThesingerwhovisitingthecountrythefirsttimedidn’ttherewasacurfewhearrived.Hewasawaybytheforceforviolatingcurfew.HehadtoliethepolicethathehasSouthAfricanname,andwaslaterbythemenofthe
Nactress,igerian producerfilm and director, Lola Oladipupo aka Lola Margaret was arrested in America for wire fraud. This was shortly after Dammy Krane was arrested and detained on similar charges. The Yoruba speaking actress had suspicious amounts of money wired into her bank account which she constantly withdrew thereby drawing the attention of onlinemugshotwasinterrogations.herThedetectives.policetookinforfurtherItonlyafterhersurfacedthatword
Ikechukwu Sunday Okonkwo Azeez Adeshina Fashola
Johnson OyindamolaEbunoluwa Damini Ogulu
got out that she was picked up for alleged card fraud by the Atlanta police. The actress has since returned to Nigeria and is back to doing what she knows how to do best, acting. Her presence in movies has however reduced quite unlike how she dominated the industry before her arrest.
Johnson Oyindamola became an ex-convict in 2017 after he was released on bail. The singer who is also known as Dammy Krane was arrested in Miami, United States in 2017. He was arrested at the Miami-Okpa Locka Executive Airport and faced seven counts of credit card fraud and one count of fraudulent identification possession. As at the time of his arrest, seven credit cards, with three bearing his name, four bearing William Payton III and none in which the numbers on the fronts of the cards matched the numbers on the embossed strips, were found in his possession. He was accused of fraudulently using a fake American Express card to buy a charter flight. The singer was later jailed at the Miami Dade County Correctional Centre, but he was released after meeting his bail condition, set at $7,500. He also pleaded not guilty to the charges and demanded a trial by jury. In August 2017, the American Court struck out all the charges against him and he became a free man. However, he has not succeeded in resuscitating his music career since then.
law enforcement agency.
Nedu Godwin Nyan Ilerioluwa Oladimeji Aloba
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Makanjuola
About two weeks ago when Erelu Abiola Dosunmu threw a 2-in-1 party, her 75th birthday party and her installation as the Yeye Odua (Queen Mother of the House of Oduduwa), a title vested on her by the Ooni of Ife, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, many society, business and corporate bigwigs as well as traditional rulers attended the party. Besides the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu who did not attend the event, perhaps due to that fact that he was allegedly nursing an age-old grudge with Erelu Dosunmu, one other prominent person who did not attend was Princess Toyin Kolade, the-first Iyalaje Oodua. Many were surprised that she did not turn up at the event as she and Erelu Dosunmu both play very vital roles in the House of Oduduwa. Besides, both titles were bestowed on them by one and the same person. The reason for her absence may not be far-fetched. Back in August of 2021, a few weeks before her installation as Iyalaje Oodua, the wealthy businesswoman had sent out carefully curated invitation cards packaged in beautifully designed boxes to prominent individuals expected to grace her high profile event which took place at the Ooni’s palace. However, one thing that caught the eyes of those who received their invitation was the names of society matriarchs, Erelu Dosunmu and Senator Florence Ita-Giwa as RSVPs. This was surprising to many considering that the two women are prominent members of the elders club, being in their 70s and very much older than the celebrant. Thus listing their names as RSVPs was considered to be an anomaly. Besides, being elderly meant that they no longer have the energy of a younger woman say, in her 50s who would likely carry out such a task with vigour and fervor. But even more surprising is the fact that the two women are not friends or even closely acquainted with Kolade in any way. The bubble soon burst when Erelu Dosunmu in a strongly worded press release berated the celebrant for adding her name as one of the RSVPs without her consent and requested that it be removed. Ironically, while Ita-Giwa RSVP,acknowledgedneitherthenorattended the installation ceremony, Erelu attended,Dosunmumuch to the shock of many. So when it was the turn of Erelu Dosunmu’s party, many looked out for Kolade who was a no show. While some believe Erelu Dosunmu did not extend an invitation to her, others were of the opinion that Kolade was perhaps not readily available to attend the party.
SURGERYINTOHOSPITALREDDINGTONVEERSCOSMETIC
Between Princess Toyin Kolade And Erelu Abiola Dosunmu Dosumu Kolade
CAVERTON HELICOPTERS BACK FROM THE BRINK
The company took the initiative by looking inward to effect the necessary changes required of them, so they can return to their pride of place in the aviation sector. First the company appointed Captain Ibrahim Bello as the Managing Director. With over 34 years of continuous aviation experience in various sectors, spanning the Nigeria Air Force to serving in Nigeria’s Presidential Fleet, it was obvious that the company would before long, be out of the woods. Rotimi, the first son of Makanjuola, who was the Managing Director and realisedannouncedtakenleadershipNoChiefMakanjuola,Bode,OfficerGroupappointment,ManagerAccountabilitybeforeBello’sisnowtheChiefOperatingofthecompany.anothersonofremainstheExecutiveOfficer.soonerhadtherestructureplacethanitthatithasaprofit-aftertaxof N203 million in 2022. According to the company secretary, the amount is reportedly 22 per cent dip from the N18.07 billion in the same period of last year, adding that it was due to tremendous financial and operational headwinds in the first half of the year. Also, the company’s marine subsidiary, Caverton Marine, was repositioned for growth, with its diversification into local manufacturing of GRP boats. It recently launched a 40-seater GRP ferry prototype, which was locally built in accordance to the highest safety and quality standards under the guidance of government and safety agencies. It has applications in both oil and gas and commercial mass transitferry transportation. Without any doubt, things are looking up for the company. A few months ago, THEWILL had exclusively catalogued some of the challenges the company was passing through in a bid to stay afloat. The company had to deal with a series of crashes - from crash landing of one of their helicopters with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on board, to the crash of another helicopter in Cameroon, killing all passengers on board, including the pilot, Adzuayi Ewuga, who was the daughter of a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Solomon Ewuga. The company also lost its lucrative contract with Chevron Nigeria Limited to a rival company, Bristow Helicopters, allegedly due to the company’s poor maintenance culture. Ironically, the company had allegedly secured about $17 million to finance the Chevron contract. But like a phoenix, Caverton Helicopters, one of Nigeria’s leading providers of marine, aviation and logistics services to local and multinational oil and gas companies in the country, has risen from the ashes.
Caverton Helicopters owned by popular businessman and a patriarch of high society, Remi Makanjuola, seems to have come back from the brink of near collapse, following concerns about their alleged dwindling clout and fortune.
Ifezue, Eweniyi and Chibueze
The increasing awareness by both sexes on the need to have an outward appearance that is pleasing to the eyes, has given rise to the number of clinics in Nigeria offering cosmetic surgery. From Lagos to Abuja to Port Harcourt, men and women throng these cities that have over the years become booming destinations for cosmetic surgery clinics. But the case is different in Lagos. Almost every nook and cranny of the city of aquatic splendor is dotted with clinics offering women an opportunity to transform them to a Marylin Monroe look alike or the men to a Chinedu Okolie aka Flavour N’Abania look alike, with the abs. And they are all smiling to the bank. The Reddington Group , which has Duchess International Hospital, Ikeja in its conglomerate, has joined the fray with the establishment of Bodycare Plastic Surgery Clinic at the hospital in Victoria Island, Lagos. It is a collaboration between it and Abuja Plastics, a plastic surgery centre in Nigeria. According to the hospital, Bodycare Centre was borne out of the response to the yearnings of discerning members of the public for a professional, affordable, high quality and world class plastic surgery clinic in Nigeria and reduce the foreign exchange spent by Nigerians on medical tourism to India, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, among other countries. The venture will be run by Dr Stanley Okoro as the Medical Director. Okoro is also the Founder of Abuja Plastics, another plastic/cosmetics surgery clinic. He also owns a plastic surgery clinic in Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America. With extensive experience in all areas of plastic surgery and with many global awards in his kitty, Okoro promises clients of Bodycare Centre an experience they will not be in a hurry to forget. Besides the usual body enhancement surgeries such as face lifts, eyelid surgery, breast augmentation and reductions, buttock lifts, contouring and reduction, botox treatments, tummy tuck, waist reduction, etc. the clinic will also provide solutions for congenital defects such as cleft palate, dealing with the victims of burns injuries and providing other specialist plastic surgeries.
They are young, under 30, innovative and are go getters. They are Somto Ifezue, Odunayo Eweniyi and Joshua Chibueze, the faces behind PiggyVest, an online savings and investment platform that provides its predominantly millennial and Gen Z users across Nigeria, with access to savings and investment products that drive wealth creation and Inpreservation.alayman’s terms, it is an automated savings and investment platform that helps Nigerians put aside little sums of money daily, weekly or monthly towards a target and then present them with microinvestment opportunities that gives them competitive rates that they can use to then grow their funds. The mission of PiggyVest is to democratise and simplify financial services for the next generation and become the dominant savings and investment platform across the African continent and other emerging markets. For seven years since its inception, they have continued to deliver excellent services to their millions of users, helping them manage their finances, which is worth billions, with simplicity and PiggyVesttransparency.didnot become an overnight success. The co-founders, who began their entrepreneurial life as students of Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, had failed in eight other businesses before they became successful with PiggyVest. Despite their initial failure, they remained business partners afterwards. They established 500Dishes, 99Startups, FrontDESK, among many others fintechs, before they succeeded with PushCV, which aided their success with PiggyVest. The co-founders had equipped themselves with the experience of their failures and continued to dig and explore the Nigerian market until they struck gold with PushCV, a service that provides unlimited access to pre-screened and fully tested candidates for top organisations. With PushCV, the three finally found a problem they could solve without external factors deciding their fate. The failure of their other startups was caused by factors beyond their control, like offline transactions among merchants and customers that they couldn’t control. So it is safe to say, failure was the key to unlocking PiggyVest. It prepared Ifezue, the CEO, and Lead Product Engineer; Eweniyi, the Chief Operating Officer and Chibueze, the Chief Marketing Officer, for the success that the untapped savings culture Soembodied.whilethey continued with PushCV, building over a million users, it didn’t stop them from innovating a new idea now called PiggyVest. One of the co-founders, Chibueze, had seen a tweet talking about the local personal savings called Kolo, a box shaped plank or tin young adults use to save their money back in the days. That was when the idea to establish PiggyVest came alive. The trio leveraged on their millions of users, their technical know-how and right partnership to build a formidable business. Today, the company easily makes the list of Nigeria’s most valued fintech startups. Having caught the eye of the international community, they recently got selected into the Endeavor’s Global Network by a panel of global business leaders. As part of Endeavor’s network, they will gain access to comprehensive, strategic, global support services, including introductions to local and international business mentors, investors, and volunteers from Fortune 500 consulting firms who will help them address key needs. The three were selected to represent the growing expectation for exceptional entrepreneurs with big ambitions and the ability to execute at scale. But that is not all. PiggyVest via its parent company, Piggytech, acquired Abeg Technologies and renamed it Pocket. PiggyVest via Abeg, is the headline sponsor of the Big Brother Naija Reality TV show. Ironically, Abeg Technologies was one of the official sponsors of the reality show last year, where it pumped in a major sponsorship fee of 2 billion naira. But with the naira depreciation and increases in prices of goods and services, your guess is as good as mine as to how much Abeg Technologies invested in the on going reality show.
Meet The Founders of PiggyVest, Headline Sponsor of BBN Okoro
The ancient city of Ikere-Ekiti in Ogun State was agog last week as indigenes and visitors rejoiced at the celebration of the King’s Festival (Odun Oba). The week-long festival was done to take stock of the achievements of the sons and daughters of the land at home and abroad. One of the highlights of the event was the decoration of worthy citizens chosen by the royal father and kingmakers. Retired Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Tunde Ogunsakin, was one of the worthy indigenes who bagged a chieftaincy title during the occasion. His Royal Highness, Oba Samuel Adu Alagbado, the Agirilala II of Ikere-Ekiti kingdom bestowed the title, Bashorun of Ikere-Ekiti on the security expert. Ogunsakin was honoured for his contribution to the security and growth of Ikere-Ekiti and also for Thetown.Headquartersaestablishmentretirementprojectshisnation.criminalitycriminalscombatingandintheOneoflaundablebeforehiswastheofPoliceDivisionalintheeventwaswitnessed by lawmakers, traditional rulers, and top government officials. A reception was held after the chieftaincy ceremony at Hillmark Event and Conference Centre where guests were feted with the best delicacies on the menu list as King Sunny Ade thrilled guests to sweet melodies on the stage. Ogunsakin was the primary officer at the fore-front of tackling insurgency in the North-East region of Nigeria before his retirement. He was in charge of zone 12 police command which comprises Bauchi, Borno and Yobe State. He is also the managing director of First Security Information Limited, a company that specializes in strategic security of assets, events and personnel. Ogunsakin
Real Estate mogul, Dr Stephen Akintayo, the Chief Executive Officer of Gtext Holdings, one of the notable real estate companies in Nigeria has been honoured with a doctoral degree in Strategic Leadership and Management at Myles University, which has campuses in India and Benin AkintayoRepublic.was honoured because of his astuteness and the great impact his organisation is making in the business world, as well as his philanthropic gestures to Beforehumanity.hewas conferred with the degree at Myles University, Akintayo had earlier rejected three honorary degrees from three different universities because he wasn’t sure of their credibility. He later accepted Myles University offer based on the investmentofForbesdue.hisheOnabanjowasexaminationonceenviablebusinessandfromTheUniversity.hasrecommendationsvarioushereceivedabouttherealestatebossroseahumblebeginningwasabletobuildhisempiretoanheight.HewaschasedoutofanhallwhileheastudentattheOlabisiUniversitybecausecouldn’taffordtopaytuitionfeesasatwhenHeisamemberoftheCouncilandoneAfrica’smostinfluentialcoaches.
Akintayo
Akungba Akoko will soon experience peace as the kingship tussle, which lingered for many years, has finally been resolved. Prince Isiaka Adu, from Agure/Makun branch of the Ole ruling house in Akungba Akoko, Ondo State was chosen by kingmakers after the death of the traditional ruler, the Alale of Akungba Akoko, Oba Adekanye Omosowon, who passed on in Almost2003. two decades after his death, the traditional stool has witnessed many court cases. Adu was opposed by the Ajimoh lineage of the Ole ruling house in the community. Sunday Ajimoh took Adu to a High Court in Ikare -Akoko and challenged his emergence as the Oba elect of the community. According to him, it was not the turn of Adu to be crowned as king. The case lingered in court for ten years until the court upheld the kingmakers’ decision to crown Abu as the new traditional ruler. Not satisfied with the ruling, Ajimoh appealed the case in court in 2013 to challenge the verdict. After a back and forth in court, the Appeal Court affirmed the ruling of the High Court that Adu should be crowned as the king. Still not satisfied, Ajimoh went to the Supreme Court to seek another verdict that would favour him. While waiting for the Supreme Court judgment, the governor of Ondo State, Olusegun Mimiko pronounced Sunday Ajimoh as the Alale of Akungba of Akoko community against the wish of the court and that of the kingmakers in 2017 and a date was fixed for his coronation. However, another administration came to power in the state and Adu through his counsel, Mallam Gani Ashiru wrote to the state government about the crisis rocking the stool and how the former Governor did not wait for the Supreme Court’s verdict. Governor Akeredolu had to indefinitely suspend the installation ceremony of Ajimoh citing security reasons and the number of petitions he had received about him in 2018. The Adu family waited for the ruling of the Supreme Court which they prayed would be in their favour. A five-man panel at the Supreme Court, which was presided by Justice Mary Odili before her retirement in May 2022, struck out the appeal of Ajimoh for incompetence and upheld the verdict of the Appeal that Adu should take over the stool of the community.
Society WonsebolatanGaniyatwoman, has bagged the title of Yeye Bewaji Okin of New Jersey. The business woman was decorated for her efforts at promoting cultural heritage in the diaspora, especially with her African Cuisines which is fast becoming a menu item for most people in New Jersey and the fact that she celebrates and upholds Nigeria’s indigenous culture in the diaspora. She was decorated by Ewa Cultural NewmanagementherBolatanabroadSheatartistesNewbeforescenerockedEventisWonsebolataninbothrichthatOrganization,HeritageafirmpromotestheculturalheritageinNigeriaandthediaspora.whointoCateringandManagementthepartyinNigeriarelocatingtoJersey.MostFujisangherpraisehighsocietygigs.howeverrelocatedandestablishedGlobalConcept,cateringandeventoutfitinJersey.
Ganiyat Wonsebolatan Takes Chieftaincy Title in New Jersey
Honorary Doctoral Degree For Stephen Akintayo
STORIES BY SHADE WESLEY-METIBOGUN
Steve Babaeko’s X3M Celebrates 10 Years Anniversary
Isiaka Adu Chosen as Next King of Akungba-Akoko
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TITLECHIEFTAINCYBAGSOGUNSAKINTUNDE
Adu Wonsebolatan
Advertising expert, Steve Babaeko rolled out the drums in celebration of the ten years anniversary of his media outfit, X3M. The event was attended by the crème de la crème of Nigerian entertainment and advertising world. X3M started as a dream to make a difference in the media and advertising world. It has achieved that dream and it has also brands,communication,revolutionisedbuiltcreatedjobsand impacted Nigeria and the International world positively with its branches in five countries. The anniversary event was anchored by actor Deyemi Okanlawon while Chike Ezekpeazu also known as Chike thrilled guests to melodious tunes. Dj Ananyate Abedoh, otherwise known as DJ Nana was handy with various melodious tunes. With an African royalty theme, guests adhered strictly to the dress code as they looked elegant in their royalty attires.Babaeko
OkundayeTomomewo
OLU OF WARRI MARKS FIRST CORONATION ANNIVERSARY Emma Ogosi Clocks 80
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According to the constitution, it takes two-third of the 26 members of the assembly which is 18 members to impeach a governor. Since nine lawmakers backed out, the remaining six lawmakers had no veto power to implement the impeachment process. Tomomewo was one out of the nine lawmakers who supported the speaker. After that move, other members of the APC ganged up Tomomewoagainst and accused her of anti -party activities and suspended her from the party. The case was taken to an Ondo State High Court who ruled in her favour and quashed the suspension placed on Nother.satisfied, the APC lawmakers ran to the Appeal court to overrule the verdict of the High Court but the Court of Appeal also held the ruling of the High Court that Tomomewo should not be suspended from the party. Two years after the battle started, the APC lawmakers ignored the court rulings and wrote a letter to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, that Tomomewo’s seat was open to be filled by another candidate from the party. The Councilor representing Ogbia Ward 2 under the platform of the People’s Democratic Party in Bayelsa State, Honorable Onem Tyna Tina, otherwise known as Tynrated has concluded her tenure as a councillor in the ward after four years of meritorious service to her community. Onem became the candidate after she was given a free ticket by leaders of her political party. Her campaign was sponsored and she also got a free ticket. She became famous when she spent the N2.5 million meant for the purchase of an official car to build a link bridge known as the Miracle Bridge between two communities in her constituency. She rejected the GoFundMe raised for her to get her an official car by people who were impressed by her good works. She later signified interest in contesting for the Bayelsa State House of Assembly in 2023. However, her dream was cut short as a result of an accident which took place during the primary election. Onem penned down an emotional note while thanking her constituency for the love and support she received during her four years tenure as a councilor. She also highlighted some of her major achievements which includes, construction of concrete bridge known as Miracle Bridge, purchase of JAMB forms for over 100 youths, support of high flying constituents to register for admission into the higher institution, financial support for small businesses, distribution of textbooks and some other achievements. A special celebration was held in her honour on Sunday, August 21st in Otuokpoti town, Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
Nike ofAppointedOkundayeAmbassador2030WorldExpo Ogosi
The last has not been heard about the war which has been brewing in the Ondo State House of Assembly in the past two years. The seat of one of the lawmakers, Hon. Favour Tomomewo, representing IIaje II Constituency in Ondo State has been declared vacant in the house despite two court rulings. It all started in 2020 when Tomomewo was expelled from the All Progressives Congress (APC) for unruly behavior. He was said to have formed an alliance with the former Speaker of the State Assembly, Hon. Iroju Ogundeji, during his tenure to stop the impeachment of e Deputy Governor Agboola Ajayi in 2020. Ondo State lawmakers had attempted to impeach Ajayi after he defected from APC to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and later to Zenith Party where he signified interest to contest for the governorship seat. The angry lawmakers ganged up and wrote an impeachment letter against the Deputy Governor. However, things took a twist when nine lawmakers out of the 15 lawmakers seeking to impeach Ajayi backed out from the impeachment move and pitched their tentS with the embattled deputy governor.
His Royal Majesty, the Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atunwase III, Utieyinoritse Emiko, has commenced a five-day celebration of the first anniversary of his coronation. The monarch was crowned the 21st Olu of Warri on August 21st, 2021. To mark the first year anniversary, five days were set apart for the festivity starting from Wednesday, August 17 to culture,thecelebrationFestival,ThethefriendsindigeneswasofchurchplaceDayoffTheAugustSunday,21,2022.eventkickedwithaPraisewhichtookinthemainauditoriumthepalace.Itattendedbyandandfamilyoftraditionalruler.WarriFoodaofItsekirifoodfollowed.Differentfooditems and dishes were on display to the admiration of visitors who witnessed the occasion. Guests were also taught how to serve the varieties of food on display. There was also a Royal Games and Iwere Music Concert on the same day. The third day, which was a Friday, was dedicated to a medical outreach in the Koko Community of Warri Kingdom. Saturday’s event was shifted to Ode Itsekiri, headquarters of Warri Kingdom. Iteskiri’s in their large numbers paid homage to the avid sport lover, Ogiame Atunwase of Warri. Rich cultural displays of the people of Itsekiri , traditional dances, drumming, singing and exhibition of Iteskiri arts and history characterized the fourth day Somecelebration.Iteskiri nobles also showed off their family’s Heirloom, a valuable object that has belonged to a family for several generations. The festivities were wrapped up with the actual coronation anniversary of the king and a church thanksgiving service at the church of Aghofen, in the Palace of the Olu of Warri in Warri mainland. Before he ascended to the throne, Ogiame Atuwatse III was an officer at the Shell Nigeria Closed Pension Fund Administrator and later at Sahara Energy as Government Relations Officer.
Favour Tomomewo Battles Colleagues Over Constituency Seat ONEM OnemBOWSMIRACLETYNAOUTEmiko
Quintessential music artiste and producer, Emma Ogosi, is 80 years. One would have expected him to roll out the drums in celebration, but he had a quiet day with family and friends. Good wishes from fans all over the world, who appreciate his music and still remember the good old days, poured in on social media as they celebrated the legacies of the great Ogosiicon.was a former Air Force Cadet Officer for some years and performed with his band at his junior Babangida’sIbrahimofficer-friend,Badamasiwedding to Lady Maryam in 1969. Having paid his dues in the industry, he became one of the pioneers of music production with Midwest Television, now NTA AlthoughBenin.he studied Aircraft Engineering at the German Air Force Academy, his love for music made him venture into the entertainment industry and discovered one of the greatest talents, Evi-Edna Ogholi, who rocked the music scene with her reggae songs in the 1980s and 1990s. He was her producer for many years and the two eventually got married and welcomed two sons. However, their marriage hit the rock with Ogholi citing domestic violence as then reason for her marital woes. Ogholi later quit the music scene when the ovation was loudest and relocated to Paris, doing music and volunteer work with United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) in Paris, France.
Septuagenarian and foremost Batik and Adire Textile designer, Chief Nike Okundaye has been appointed as an ambassador of the World Expo, which will take place in Busan, South Korea in 2030. The Ambassador of the Republic of South-Korea to Nigeria, Mr Kim Young-Chae, broke news to the designer during a visit to the Nike Art TheGallery.World Expo is an international world fair scheduled to take place in 2030. The event will witness the presence of artists and designers from different parts of the world. It turned out to be a mini event as delegates from the embassy were in Okundayeattendance.has paid her dues in the design and art world, she uses Adire and Bakit textiles for visual themes taken from Yoruba history and mythology. Some of her visual themes are also inspired by her life experience and dreams. Folklore figures are used to express her concerts portraying the Goddess of Osun. She also communicates ideologies and social norms placed on the female with her designs. And she teaches techniques of indigo cloth dying to rural women at her workshop.
Revered British historian, Professor Hugh TrevorRoper insisted he wouldn’t “shed a tear if some British Muslims, deploring [Rushdie’s] manners, were to waylay him in a dark street and seek to improve them.”
Following Khomeini’s death sentence on Rushdie, thousands more took to the streets in support of the spiritual leader of Iran’s decree. One or two Muslim foundations added half a million dollars to the ransom money. As of the time the lone attacker surprised Rushdie on Friday August 12 at Chautauqua Centre in New York, the bounty placed on him had reached $3.5m.
Rushdie himself was bemused that his book had caused so much outrage worldwide. The Satanic Verses is basically about double-ness, of being an alien in other cultures of which Rushdie is a living example. He was born a Muslim in India where Muslims are considered outsiders. He immigrated to the UK at 13 with his father. There, he was also seen as an outsider, a wog as people from the Indian subcontinent are derogatorily referred to in the UK. So, when Muslims from that part of the world demonstrated against man and novel, Rushdie was somewhat disappointed. “This is, for me, the saddest irony of all,” Rushdie rued about the attack on his novel, “that after working for five years to give voice and fictional flesh to the immigrant culture of which I am myself a member, I should see my book burned, largely unread, by the people it’s about, people who might find some pleasure and much recognition in its pages.”
Though unborn at the time of the fatwa, it has taken three decades plus to finally track Rushdie down to a venue where the author always felt very much at home, a public reading in New York where he was with Henry Rees on stage. Just then, a lone male figure at the reading approached the stage, surprised a defenseless Rushdie, slashed his head, neck, arms and stomach and would have done more harm but for the prompt intervention of security and guests who wrestled him down rugby style. He succeeded in wounding Rushdie but not killing him. “I am surprised he survived,” Matar later said. His intention was to kill. A newspaper in Iran with close ties to the supreme leader Ali Khamenei, The Kayhan, reacted to the Rushdie attack thusly: “A thousand bravos should be bestowed on upon the brave and dutiful person who attacked the apostate and evil Salman Rushdie in New York.” But words of condemnation have been more, and from imams themselves. Former Prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, described the attack as “unjustifiable, sad and terrible.”
To be sure, major political upheavals took place around the world in 1989, from the man and tank confrontation in Tiananmen Square in Beijing to the fall of Berlin Wall and much else. But it was The Satanic Verses and its author who mostly dominated the front pages, made the headlines on paper and on screen. As Martin Amis, one of Rushdie’s colleague and close friend later put it, the author had “vanished into the front pages.”
“When a book leaves its author’s desk,” Sir Salman Rushdie once said, “it changes.” It would turn out to be exactly so following publication of The Satanic Verses in 1988. Never in the history of modern world literature has any one book generated so much scorn and admiration for an author all at once.
MICHAEL JIMOH
For now, Rushdie is alive and recuperating and certain to write about this latest experience in his memoir like he did with his years underground in Joseph Anton. As for Matar, spending the rest of his days in prison is as certain as his determination to kill in the name of religion.
Anatomy of a Plan By his own admission, that was what Rushdie’s attacker did prior to the infamous stabbing. Living in nearby New Jersey, Matar had watched his victim for years, watched him on Youtube, followed his itinerancy closely. He slept in an open field near the venue, probably praying to Allah for a successful job with his knife Describinghandy.
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Venerable British spy fiction writer, John le Carre thought Rushdie had taken too much liberties with another religion. “Nobody has a God-given right to insult a great religion,” he wrote in The Guardian, “and be published with impunity.” Rushdie’s fellow Indian immigrant but from T&T V. S. Naipaul put down the support by other writers as hypocrisy: “Certain causes are good, and then other causes become good. Now the good people are saying something else. I wish the good people were a little more consistent.”
Stalking Sir Salman Rushdie from the UK to India and Pakistan, Indonesia, South Africa and Iran, denouncing both book and author, going as far as burning the author in effigy and the book on the streets of London and Islamabad. In one instance, the 542-page hardcover defied the protesters spirited effort to incinerate it. A supervising Imam somewhere in Bradford later said the novel had to be doused with petrol to make it burn faster.
On the other divide were Rushdie’s supporters, the professional body of writers all over the world, PEN, then headed by Susan Sontag. There were others like Ian McEwan, Norman Mailer, Martin Amis, Christopher Hitchens late, Bill Buford, Andrew Wylie Rushdie’s literary agent and many more. Though an immigrant from the Indian subcontinent, Rushdie is as gifted a writer as any one of the Anglo-American writers, easily earning their respect and comradeship. Seven years before, Rushdie had published Midnight’s Children to rave reviews and wide reception. It got a Booker Prize soon after and the Booker of Bookers in 2007. Rushdie who was in Chicago during the award ceremony was represented by two of his sons, Zafar and Milan, while the author himself accepted the award through video. “I have to say this is just a marvellous moment for me and for Midnight’s Children,” Rushdie said at the time. “I’m slightly lost for words which usually I’m not. I think there’s something rather wonderful about my real children accepting a prize for my imaginary children.”
This is, for me, the saddest irony of all,” Rushdie rued about the attack on his novel, “that after working for five years to give voice and fictional flesh to the immigrant culture of which I am myself a member, I should see my book burned, largely unread, by the people it’s about, people who might find some pleasure and much recognition in its pages “
Children’s book author, Roald Dahl was more acerbic. Speaking of Rushdie writing and publishing The Satanic Verses, he observed that the author “has profound knowledge of the Muslim religion and its people and he must have been totally aware of the deep and violent feelings his book would stir up among devout Muslims. In other words, he knew exactly what he was doing and he cannot plead otherwise.”
It is true that Midnight’s Children rankled former Indian Prime minister, Indira Gandhi, who complained that her family was badly portrayed in the book. Rushdie settled out of court with the Gandhis and the offensive portrayal was excised from subsequent editions. But with the publication of The Satanic Verses, it was not just one family that complained. It was the entire Muslim world. The Satanic Verses, they fumed, was a desecration of the Prophet Muhammad and Islam. But to others, especially the publishing world, it was a literary masterpiece. Literary agents in Europe and America battled themselves for marketing rights. Publishers bowled over by the book jostled to have publishing rights to it. But millions of Muslims around the world thought little of the novel’s literary merit. It was, many of them concluded without ever reading the novel, a blasphemous publication. Like the author presciently predicted, his book had changed after leaving his desk. Rushdie’s life would change as well, but not in the way he ever imagined. In February 1989 on a day most people around the world shower gifts, love messages or some such niceties on one another (spouses, boyfriends or girlfriends) a day people recognize for love and nothing else, a day people startup new relationships or renew pledges to old ones, Rushdie got an unusual message from the Shah of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhuolla Khomeini. It was a fatwa commanding Muslims anywhere in the world to kill the author for his blasphemous publication. The ransom was a hefty $1.5m. At about the same time, thousands of Muslims everywhere staged public demonstrations
Rushdie as an enemy of Islam, Matar told an interviewer that he doesn’t like him. “I don’t like the person. I don’t think he’s a very good person, I don’t like him. I don’t like him very much. He’s someone who attacked Islam, he attacked their beliefs, their belief systems.”
True, Rushdie was the most talked about subject at the time but he was also rarely seen in public because of the fatwa Of course, the man had to go under, adopting a nickname at the time. Asked what name to call him by British undercover security agents assigned to him, he chose the first names of his two favourite authors – Joseph Conrad and Anton Chekhov thus Joseph Anton. He had pretty much lived underground for decades since then, toured the literary circuit in Europe and America, giving lectures, readings – either from his books or publications by others. On that day, Rushdie, also an American, was to give a lecture. Thus was he occupied on August 12 at Chaupauqua Centre when Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old American but born to Lebanese parents stormed the venue.
By presenting MOCONA, ARTSPLIT said it intends to raise the profile of these artists further and introduce them to a new set of diverse art collectors and investors, which would ultimately boost the status of both their works and the platform. Indeed, this is the new ART ECONOMY! ARTSPLIT is an art trading technology company driven by one common goal; enhancing the investment status of African art by allowing users to co-own rare and valuable artworks on a platform that guarantees price discovery and market liquidity. Its mission is to position African art & artists as the preferred alternative investment choice by developing the African art ecosystem through technology and co-ownership. We believe that in this way, we can make wealth accessible through alternative investments. The platform (ARTSPLIT mobile app) allows art lovers to own fractions (also known as Splits) of prestigious African artworks, which they can trade in real-time. ARTSPLIT also provides opportunities for owners of investment-grade African art to list their works and have them evaluated and sold to members of our community. ARTSPLIT also offers advisory and management services for art collectors, which are personalised to requirements to manage art portfolios online fully and on offline platforms.
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ARTSPLIT, the pioneering art trading platform for African art, closed its split and lease online auction
ARTSPLIT curated the MOCONA Auction to further put African art and artists at the forefront. ARTSPLIT highlights the importance and value of the works, and welcomes a global audience to the ARTSPLIT app, where users can experience, invest and earn from them. Each of the five artworks was divided into 100,000 units for auction. All works in the auction were fully subscribed to, and lease contracts on the works were taken up for the next 24 months. The artwork Euphoria by the artist El-Dragg Okwoju saw the most significant increase in value by 20%, with 100,000 units purchased under a Split contract, increasing the reserve price of 0.10 to 0.12, with a new value of $12,000. Market Day in Dalston, London by Edosa Ogiugo grew by 17% with a new value of $14,000; Rite of Passage by Oliver Enwonwu grew by 13% with a new value of $9,000; The Death of Honour by Duke Asidere grew by 10% with a new value of $11,000 and The Seeker (Portrait of a Beggar) by Abiodun Olaku grew by 10% with a new value of $100,000. The top markets by bid value are located in Nigeria, the UK and South Africa. The event follows the successful inaugural auction held in May, where Ben Enwonwu’s 1977 artwork ‘Agbogho Mmuo’ from the Ogolo series was valued at $105,000, as well as ARTSPLIT’s debut at the 59th Venice Biennale, where the platform partnered with The African Art in Venice Forum (AAVF) and the South African pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022.
Edosa Ogiugo, Market day, Oil on canvas, 2017.
Duke Asidere, The death of honour, Oil on canvas, 2022.
MOCONA - a Modern and Contemporary African Arts, Auction on Sunday, 31st of July, with a closing event and exhibition at Hourglass Gallery, attended by the key figures in the Lagos art scene and exhibiting artists Edosa Ogiugo, ElDragg Okwoju and Abiodun Olaku. The total value of bids placed was $57,000 for the five artworks, with an average growth value of 14 percent .
Artworks’ Value Grows 14% on Averageat ARTSPLIT’s MOCONA AuctionL-R,GMD/CEO,VFDGroup;
Rite of Passage by Oliver Enwonwu Portrait of a beggar Oil on canvas, 1994.
This first-of-its-kind auction, titled Ode to Mastery, took place from 15 - 31 July, and featured five prominent Nigerian artists who are key drivers of the contemporary art scene on the continent: Abiodun Olaku, Duke Asidere, Edosa Ogiugo, ElDragg Okwoju and Oliver Enwonwu. The ARTSPLIT app allows users to own fractions of prominent African artworks, also known as “Splits,” and keep or trade them on the app if they win the “Split Auction.” The Splits allow multiple people to co-own a single iconic piece of art, which no other art platform allows. Users can also participate in a ‘Lease Auction’ on the app to win physical custody of these split artworks for a set period.
Nonso Okpala, Popular Art Collector; Billy Osemwegie, Exhibiting Artists; Edosa Ogiugo & El Dragg Okwoju.
“If successive governments in Nigeria had made it mandatory even as I concede that health is on the Concurrent List, we would have achieved more than what we have today. After all, there are policies on the same concurrent list that have been forced down the throat of state governments. “So, my prescription is that we should emphasize healthcare financing through the community-based healthcare insurance scheme that will enable the people in the rural areas to have access to better healthcare.”
Bayelsa BFinancingHealthcareCommunity-basedAdvocatesModel
The Christian Aid UK in Nigeria, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) on Friday said an estimated 8.4 million women, men and children need humanitarian assistance in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe. Mr Temitope Fashola, Country Director of the group disclosed this at a news conference to mark the 2022 World Humanitarian Day in Abuja. The theme for this year’s celebration is: The Human Race; It Takes a Village”. According to Fashola, the conflict in North-East Nigeria has generated an alarming and large-scale humanitarian and protection crises, that show no sign of Heabating.saidthe group had been delivering humanitarian assistance to conflict and crisis-affected people across nine states of Adamawa, Anambra, Benue, Borno, Delta, Gombe, Kaduna, Kogi and Plateau. The country director noted that the organisation with its humanitarian response team of 60 staff and 38 volunteers, had been working in different locations to respond to the needs caused by floods, violent clashes and insurgency. He said that communities of intervention include: Biu, Bayo, Hawul, Mafa and Kwayo Kusar Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Borno, as well as in Michika and Madaggali LGAs in Adamawa. “In 2022 alone, an estimated 8.4 million women, men and children are in need of some form of humanitarian assistance in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe (BAY) states, with over 2.2 million displaced people. “According to the March 2022 Cadre Harmonise, there are 4.1 million people at risk of hunger this lean season, normally lasting from June to September. “Among them is an estimated 587.955 people, who are projected to be at emergency levels (phase4). This crisis is happening to a population that is already highly vulnerable, as millions of people have been pushed into survival mode.
The United States Coast Guard Cutter Mohawk (WMEC 913) on Thursday arrived at the Nigerian Naval Dockyard in Lagos for a scheduled port visit. During the visit, Mohawk officers will meet with Nigerian Navy leadership at the Western Navy Command Headquarters in Apapa, as well as host ship tours for Nigerian government and military officials. Following the port visit, Mohawk will conduct two days of at-sea engagements with the Nigerian Navy to promote maritime security cooperation.
According to him, Christian Aid will continue to advocate for governments in Nigeria at all levels, along with the private sector, to mobilise necessary resources to reach vulnerable populations.
FROM DAVID OWEI, YENAGOA
Delivering a keynote lecture on the theme: “Healthcare Financing in the Face of Rising Insecurity Challenges in Nigeria”, Professor Seiyefa Brisibe, noted that about 500 million people suffer from health crisis globally.
ayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, at the weekend, called on all tiers of government to implement extant health policies and programmes that would enable rural people to access improved healthcare This,services.according to the Governor, could be achieved through what he described as Community-based healthcare insurance scheme financing. Senator Diri stated this while declaring open the 2022 Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Bayelsa State Branch at the DSP Alamieyeseigha Memorial Banquet Hall in RepresentedYenagoa.byhis deputy, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, the Governor noted that the problem of Nigeria is not lack of know-how on healthcare financing but dearth of courage to implement existing policy frameworks. Underscoring the importance of health, he urged the Federal Government to make it mandatory for state and local governments to domesticate and implement the national health insurance scheme irrespective of the fact that health falls within the Concurrent Legislative List. Governor Diri added that lack of human resources occasioned by the brain drain syndrome constitutes serious insecurity to the health sector of the nation, and therefore, urged medical practitioners to join forces with other patriotic forces to build the health Hisindustry.words: “Healthcare Financing is not much of a challenge in Nigeria because there is clear evidence of the tendency and willingness to fund. What is lacking is the determination and the courage to do so. “And you know, that when people have determination without courage, they fail. And so, when you have determination, you must also have the courage. “We have some good healthcare funding arrangements in this country. For instance, the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) was decreed by the General Abdulsalami Abubakar Administration in 1999. It was operationalized in 2005. “But up till now, quite a good number of the states in this country are not taking it up. I’m not also aware of any local government that is operating the scheme. That is where the issue of courage comes in.
While welcoming the ship’s arrival, Consul General Will Stevens said: “The United States is committed to supporting the Nigerian Navy in its efforts to both secure its own territorial waters and those of the greater Gulf of Guinea. Cooperation and the ability to operate together in the maritime domain are necessary to enhance Nigeria’s capacity to counter piracy, oil bunkering, illegal fishing, and other sea-based illicit activities.”
United States Coast Guard Cutter Mohawk Arrives Lagos 8.4m People Need Humanitarian Assistance in N/East – Group
L-R Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun; Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila at the residence of the former President when the APC flag bearer went to consult him in Abeokuta, on August 17, 2022.
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Shortly after the ship’s arrival, Consul General Will Stevens and Commander Andrew Pate, Mohawk’s Commanding Officer, met with Rear Admiral Yakubu Wambai, the Flag Officer Commanding of Nigeria’s Western Naval Command, to discuss the United States and Nigeria’s shared commitment to a safe and secure Gulf of Guinea. The United States and Nigeria have a proud maritime partnership of promoting peace, stability, and security in Africa. Nigeria is a participant in exercise Obangame Express, the largest multinational annual maritime security exercise in West Africa, and will host the next iteration in January of 2023. Obangame Express encourages countries to work together to address transnational maritime challenges. The waters surrounding the African continent are crucial for Africa’s prosperity and access to global markets. The United States shares a common interest with African partners in ensuring security, safety, and freedom of navigation.
According to him, the security environment is volatile and unpredictable and includes threats to both humanitarian assets and personnel. Fashola noted that findings by the Aid Worker Security Database (AWSD),since 2015, had shown that 35 aid workers had been killed in the North-East, 22 wounded and 28 kidnapped, adding that so far, in 2022, six aid workers had been Hekidnapped.saidthe group therefore joined the rest of the world to honour and applaud the thousands of volunteers and professionals. He added that these persons risked their lives daily to deliver urgent healthcare, shelter, food, protection, water and much more, to crisis-affected and hard –toreach communities. “Just like it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a whole community to help people in need; in an emergency, the first people to respond are always crisis-affected people themselves. “The world may feel fractured right now, but this humanitarian action is evidence that unity and solidarity are still alive and strong, as individuals, our impact is limited, but together, we have tremendous power,’’ he stated. Fashola encouraged states to invest their own resources in assisting and protecting their citizens in disasters.
While giving an overview of models and constraints of healthcare financing, the Professor of Family Medicine, identified ineffective use of resources and inadequate funding as some of the challenges facing healthcare financing in Nigeria.
“Malnutrition is increasing and threatening the survival of more than a million highly vulnerable children, approximately 1.74 million children under five, are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition across the north-east in 2022. “Of these, over 300,000 are expected to suffer from sever acute malnutrition and are at high risk of death, if they do not receive urgent treatment,’’ he warned. Fashola further noted that about 80 per cent of people in need of humanitarian assistance across the North-East states are women and children. He explained that the development disproportionally affect women and girls, as they face increased risk of violence, such as abduction, rape and domestic Heabuse.said that humanitarians in the region work in extremely challenging circumstances, often risking their lives and safety to reach people in need.
SportsLive
For Another Class of U-20 Stars
BY JUDE OBAFEMI
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It is also important that the government recognises the importance of these age-range competitions especially the very clear case that Oshoala’s successes have made to continue to lead the way in supporting the grooming of young talents, many of whom are willing to dedicate themselves to a professional career in sports.
woman contest for the Ballon d’Or based on her contribution to England’s triumph at Work Euro 2022, Oshoala’s name could have made the list as well had she been able to play the WAFCON at the level she is known to However,perform. in the chase for a Ballon d’Or, it is on record, as visible on the information page of Oshoala on the Barca website, that she already has her name on one of the awards handed out in recognition of a footballer’s overall play and total contribution to a team’s success. She got the junior Ballon d’Or (the Golden Ball) at the 2014 U-20 World Cup, together with the Golden Shoe before she went on to top striking tables across Europe, Asia and at home in Africa. It all began on a large scale after her dominating run at the seventh edition of the U-20 World Cup, which took place from August 5–24, 2014 in Canada. From that highpoint, Oshoala has not looked back. She saw the reward of her hard work and the recognition that followed in front of the whole world and her dedication, discipline and determination has continued to lift her to every greater heights to the point of becoming a reference point to girls wishing to be just like her, or even more. That is why it is instructive to note that her latest accomplishment of being one of the nominees for the Ballon d’Or comes at a time when a fresh set of Super Falconets are currently representing Nigeria at the U-20 World Cup in Costa Rica and have put up an impressively sensational display throughout the group stage of the competition with a perfect record against some tough Theopponents.Super Falconets started their quest for lifting the Cup by defeating defending champions France 1-0 in the Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica, San José, in the early hours of Friday, August 12. In a player, who has the giftedness of Oshoala, the star of Christopher Danjuma’s girls was striker Flourish Sabastine. It was her 85th minute goal that gave Nigeria the victory. France had scored earlier but a VAR review determined that the Super Falconets’ goalkeeper Monle Oyono had been fouled before the goal and it was correctly overruled. Five minutes before time, Idoko took the opportunity of Oyono’s long ball and a through pass to score the winner. That gave them all the buoyancy they needed to top their group, having beaten the reigning champions to start off their Group C challenge. In the second game, the Super Falconets defeated South Korea’s Taegeuk Ladies 1-0 at the Estadio Alajuela Morera Soro with an outstanding goal from Esther Onyenezide, who was the hero of matchday two as Sabastine had been in the first tie. While goalkeeper Oyono’s reflexes continued to keep Nigeria in the game, Onyenezide, who had been dominant in midfield and had drawn a few fouls as a result, gave Nigeria the victory in the 83rd minute with a thundering long-range strike that South Korea goalkeeper Kim Kyeonghee was helpless to stop. The young ladies wrapped up the group stage with a more thorough win when Onyenezide added to her tally with a brace and Chioma Olise scored to see the Super Falconets overcome an early goal deficit and defeat the young ladies from Canada. As the Nigerian squad prepare for their quarter-final matchup against the Netherlands, which is billed for Sunday, August 21, there are already impressive names in the lineup, whose performances have been remarkable enough to keep Nigeria winning. Sabastine’s goal-scoring has never been in doubt and she is resilient against any defense she faces, always troubling, always probing and being more than a handful to keep in check. Onyenezide is another hot member to the U-20 squad and the three goals she has to her name in the first three games exactly amplifies her quality and reputation. The sharpness of the keeper, who so far has only let in a single goal throughout the group stage is another positive for the future of the women’s game in the country. These players must have seen the nomination of Oshoala got the Ballon d’Or in the news and realised that she began in the very same competition that they are now in. That is a very strong motivating factor for them to give everything they have to have the kind of record-setting recognition that Oshoala has made of her career.
Right from primary schools, the culture of Inter-House sports ought to be revived conjoined with a clear programme of nurturing blooming talents with government-backed, private sector participating events, which will all culminate in developing a pool of gifted Nigerians to represent the country, as many of our sports women have done recently (and the men as well), in bringing glory to the name of the country and theirs as well.
After winning the African Football Player of the Year award for the fifth and historic time on July 21 in Rabat, Morocco, Nigeria’s Asisat Oshoala once again wrote her name in gold when she became the first-ever African woman to be nominated for the Ballon d’Or on Thursday, August 11 at the unveiling of the shortlist of nominees for UEFA’s Best Players in the male and female categories. It was another pedestal of achievement for Africa’s most prolific female footballer and the pinnacle of a professional career in football, whose promise of glory was evident as far back as in 2014 when she championed Nigeria’s drive to the Under-20 World Cup second-place finish. The squad had lost to Germany by the slightest margin of a lone goal after extra time.
It is instructive that at a moment when Oshoala is bringing all this honour to her name and her country, there is another U-20 World Cup competition underway as if to open the eyes of the country to the very real possibility of grooming another generation of players that will take the torch from Oshoala and continue the drive to put Nigeria in the places of honour in world football in particular and global sports in general. Even though on Wednesday the news broke that Oshoala missed out in the race for the coveted Ballon d’Or trophy after UEFA named her Barcelona Femeni teammate, Alexia Putellas, Arsenal’s Beth Mead, Wolfsburg’s Lena Oberdorf as the top three finalists for the 2022 UEFA Women’s Player of the Year honour, it does nothing to remove from the fact that the 27-year-old has cut for herself a place in terms of recognition of her qualities, talents, abilities and drive towards excellence.
Oshoala’s Success And Opportunity
Oshoala It is also important that the government recognises the importance of these age-range competitions especially the very clear case that Oshoala’s successes have made “
For a long time, fans of the forward had wondered what it was going to take to give her the honour due to her performances at the level of UEFA in much the same way she had been duly recognised as home, on the continent and by FIFA. Even after she helped Barcelona lift the UEFA Champions League title two seasons ago, to become only the first African woman to do so, she was not deemed worthy of a nomination by France Football for the Ballon d’Or until this year. It is now on record that the Nigerian has been recognised as one of the top 20 best footballers in the highly competitive European football matrix. That this recognition comes after a season during which Oshoala missed no less than seven weeks on the sidelines while nursing a pair of lengthy injuries and in which she still finished as the Primera Ibedrola joint top-scorer makes it all the more significant.
She churned out 20 goals (the same number of goals as Real Madrid’s Geyse Ferreira) and three assists, in 27 games of the 30-game season, on the way to helping Barca’s run to the the Spanish Primera División de la Liga de Futbol Femenino title. Their near-perfect dominance of female football last season saw them score an eye-watering 158 goals while conceding just 11. They lifted all three domestic trophies, the Copa de la Reina, La Liga, and the Spanish Super Cup, without losing or drawing a single match, to cap off a fantastic season. Oshoala’s feat was recognised by FIFA in a tweet that congratulated her for the Pichichi Award. These accolades, preceding the TotalEnergies 2022 African Women’s Cup of Nations, raised expectations for another sterling showing by Oshoala for the Super Falcons, but unfortunately, the reality panned out differently. She was restricted to only playing a small part for the Super Falcons at the tournament in Morocco because of her perennial nemesis: injury. In the very first tie of the competition, a 2-1 loss to eventual winners Banyana Banyana of South Africa, she received a knock in the seventh minute but was left to play it out until late in the second half resulting in what is became a Grade 2 Medial Collateral Ligament Strain. It meant she was forced to leave the competition and could play no more roles in Nigeria’s faltering attempts at a 10th African title. Despite placing fourth, the Super Falcons were granted entry into the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, which will take place in Australia and New Zealand. There is every likelihood that, just as Mead is in the three-
On his part, Conte was quick to dismiss the need to dwell on the tussle between both managers after the game. He said: “In my opinion I think it’s better to talk about the game. I don’t want to comment because I think this isn’t the most important thing and if there is a problem, it’s between me and him and not the others.”
On Sunday, August 14, 2022 the English Premier League match between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur got fiery enough to bring managers of both clubs to fisticuffs but for the timely intervention of officials and team members.
The referee Taylor overlooked the incident and therefore did not give a foul. It was later revealed that the VAR official, Mike Dean, reneged on his responsibility as the one who ought to have requested that Taylor give the incident a more balanced look through the replays and angles on the pitch-side monitor so as to make a more informed decision about such a crucial time in the game. It was only when the game was done and nothing could be done to effect a change in the final result did Dean openly confess to have been wrong and directly admit that the refereeing team got the Cucurella-Romero call wrong. Accept culpability and indicating that mistakes were made, Dean wrote: “I asked referee Anthony Taylor to wait while I looked at the incident involving Tottenham’s Cristian Romero and Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella. I could not award a free-kick as VAR, but I could recommend to Taylor that he visit the referee review area to consider a possible red card. In the few seconds I had to study Romero pulling Cucurella’s hair, I didn’t deem it a violent act. I’ve since studied the footage, spoken to other referees and, upon reflection, I should have asked Taylor to visit his pitch-side monitor to take a look for himself. The referee on field always has the final say. It goes to show that no matter how experienced you are, and I’ve spent more than two decades as a Premier League official, you are always learning. It’s disappointing for me as this was one incident in an otherwise very good weekend from our officials. Decisions are debated – that’s the life of a referee.”
Tuchel said in a post-game interview that he was not pleased that Conte did not look at him when they shook hands, but he quickly clarified there was no animosity between them: “I thought when we shake hands you looked in each other’s eyes, he had a different opinion. It’s emotional, football. We don’t need to heat it up. You have emotional coaches on the touchline and that’s it. If we meet, we meet. If not, then not. Come on guys, it’s between two competitors and nothing bad happened.
The managers, who had had an incident at half time, were again at it after the final whistle that referee Anthony Taylor had to add to the yellow card he had previously given both by flashing a red card in front of the pair of managers.
To pepper the other, each manager made sure to celebrate in front of the other whenever their team scored a goal. For instance, when Reece James netted a late goal for Chelsea, Tuchel sprinted down the sidelines in jubilant exuberance, believing they had claimed full points but Kane’s late header gave Conte the last laugh as it was his turn to rub it in. This was the state of things until the game ended in a 2-all draw. After the final whistle, tempers naturally flared when both managers received their red cards for an incident that will go down in Premier League annals.
Reacting swiftly the England FA issued the following statement, charging both managers to provide a football response of their altercation as it was in breach of the existing rules of expected behaviour: “Thomas Tuchel and Antonio Conte have both been charged with a breach of FA Rule E3, following the Premier League fixture between Chelsea FC and Tottenham Hotspur FC on Sunday 14 August 2022. It is alleged that the behaviour of both managers was improper following the end of the fixture. Thomas Tuchel and Antonio Conte have until Thursday 18 August 2022 to provide their respective responses.”
One contentious part of the game that fed the squabble between the two managers came via an oversight from the match officials, as it became obvious in the days that followed that feisty Sunday brouhaha. Chelsea were furious that the last-gasp equalising goal was allowed to count. They were justifiably aggrieved that new Blues’ defender Marc Cucurella had his hair pulled by Spurs’ player Cristian Romero moments before the ball flew into the net off of Kane.
Lessons From Tussle Between Tuchel, Conte at EPL London Derby
“There is no hard feeling [with Conte]. I feel like it was a fair tackle from him and a fair tackle from me. We did not insult each other, we did not hit each other, we were fighting for our teams and from my side there is absolutely no hard feelings. I’m surprised that we both got a red card for that.”
At the conclusion of the game, Conte and Tuchel proceeded to shake hands as is standard practice in the EPL, but the interaction swiftly evolved into a near brawl. Tuchel appeared unwilling to release Conte’s grasp and the latter whirled around angrily to face him. There was a very brief exchange of angry words before referee Taylor arrived and the swift reaction of the coaching staff and players that intervened saved it from getting any worse.
This “mea culpa” that did nothing to the outcome of the game did not please either of the managers. Tuchel was direct in his reaction, expressly admitting to not being impressed: “Well hopefully I’m not too honest, but if the mistake is that big and that obvious, what’s the point of not admitting it if the whole world sees it? I struggle to be fully impressed by the statement. It’s so clear and obvious I cannot understand how a referee cannot make the right decision.”
In the end, it is hoped that the admission of both coaches that there is no bad blood between them and rather that the passion of the game got the better of them should be a lesson for football players, coaches and fans everywhere to learn to exercise full control of their passions so that they do not boil over and take attention away from the beauty of the game. Furthermore, the admission of the Dean that he could have allowed referee Taylor take another look at the infringment, which is the whole essence of the VAR, should be another lesson for match officials so as to remove all suspicions that teams and fans have about the bias that some match officials have against certain EPL teams and which errors like Dean’s only serve to make worse. These lessons, if imbibed by all, will be the best outcome of that feisty London Derby of Sunday, August 14 at Stamford Bridge.
The cause of their squabble, the role played by the video assistant referee and the position of the Football Association in response to their behaviour is a story of how feisty passions can get in football and how mistakes are still a factor in how matches end.
BY JUDE OBAFEMI
By Friday, after the expiration of the period allowed for the managers to respond to the charge of improper conduct by the FA, it handed down fines as penalties for their conduct. The FA statement about the resolution of the situation read: “An independent regulatory commission has today ordered that Thomas Tuchel be fined £35,000 and banned from the touchline for one match, and Antonio Conte be fined £15,000 after they respectively breached FA Rule E3. Thomas Tuchel and Antonio Conte admitted that their behaviour after the final whistle of the Premier League game between Chelsea FC and Tottenham Hotspur FC on Sunday, August 14, 2022, was improper, and both managers requested a paper hearing. These sanctions are subject to appeal, and Thomas Tuchel’s one-match touchline ban has been suspended temporarily pending the independent regulatory commission’s written reasons for its decision that will be made available in due course.”
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While the players for the Blues and Spurs both excelled on the field, with Harry Kane tying the score in the final seconds, Tuchel and Conte were the headline grabbers. For most of the game, the two managers yelled at each other from the sidelines, which resulted in an initial caution from the referee.
Those who are leading us neither understand the severity of the issue, they lack the knowledge to find solutions to the problems and are insensitive to the concerns of the common man
quently, the marked rise in inflation goes on unabated and the twin metrics of energy and food price continue to increase further strangulating attempts by the major ity of the country’s poverty-stricken population to slide further down in immiseration. It is even worse when the bloated deficit spending, massive borrowing, job losses, forex scarcity and high unemployment issues are factored into the mix. This is the situation we have found ourselves but, it was also not without warning. At different times over the past few years, various international bodies, from the International Monetary Fund to the World Trade Organisation, from the African Development Bank to stakeholders across the length and breadth of the country, have unceasingly warned the Nigerian government about arresting the economic slide with a comprehensive economic plan and disabuse the idea of attempting to solve every problem by seeking financial input from abroad because of the unsustain ability of excessive borrowing. These warnings reflect age-long warnings, which have also been overlooked. The late Afrobeat musician Fela Anikulapo Kuti himself, amidst the rhythmic sounds of his unmistakable style of music, warned of the crises the country is undergoing. His was one voice, amongst the loudest, among many, that sounded warnings so that the country could avoid this problem of today. Yet, here we Weare.have before us today a frightening and worsening case of brain drain that is disturbing and causing me to worry for the country’s future. Indeed, it is by no means a new problem. What has made it extremely worrisome now is the growing crop of top-to-medium level execu tives, experienced employees, career professionals in medicine and science and experts in specialised fields and technological innovators, who are dumping relative ly good paying jobs and the opportunities for promotions and elevation for the chance of a better life outside the shores of the country. The spate of resignations across board has numbed executives in medical and other in stitutions, companies, organisations and multinationals into the realisation that their long-term succession plans have been disturbed by this wave of departures. Outside the corporate world, the level of the problem is In November 2008, amid growing evidence that the worst international financial crisis in generations was taking a heavy toll on economies around the world, the then President of the United States of America, George W. Bush, told the leaders from the G20 countries, who were at a working dinner at the White House to discuss the challenges facing the globe, that the financial crisis will not be resolved “overnight”. He said, “This problem did not develop overnight and it will not be solved overnight but with continued coopera tion and determination it will be solved.”
The brazen nature of the exercise was possible because there is a growing population of Nigerians who, given the opportunity, will jump at any chance to leave these Nigerianshores. doctors and nurses in their thousands have migrated from the country in the last two decades to Canada, United States and England.
Nigeria’s human resources are the sources of the coun try’s wealth and losing potential discoverers, inventors, change-makers, technological innovations, experts in various fields cannot be good for any nation, how much more one that needs all the best minds it can boast of to boost its chances of breaking free from its myriad prob lems to craft a future that is bright and progressive. That such a threatening problem has not received the type of attention that it merits from federal and state governments is disheartening to witness. There is no ur gency on the part of the government because those who are leading us neither understand the severity of the is sue, lack the knowledge to find solutions to the problems and are insensitive to the concerns of the common man. Most of them are only interested in what they can make for themselves and for their families as quickly as they can, with every opportunity they can find. Therefore, we see that there is no plan, no structure and no data to apply to leverage and integrate into finding lasting solutions to the causes of these large-scale migrations. Yet, it is not rocket science. If Nigeria is conducive to live in, if the incessant security issues are taken care of, if the conditions of living improve, if the economy picks up, if the healthcare and the educational systems are func tional and people can find rewarding employment for their time and services, there will be a reversal of these Nigeriansmigrations.are not a people that are difficult to satisfy. They ask for just the basics that a government ought to provide as part of its social contract with citizens and they are willing to put in the work to make the ends meet for themselves. Yet, this has not been the case and the red lights are flashing now as there are large populations of Nigerians looking elsewhere for a better life. No one expects a complete reversal of this devastating brain drain overnight if policy makers begin to fix the issues but the consequences will be dire if the causes of these departures are not addressed urgently. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.
His counsel, alongside warnings from bank regulators, consumer advocates, and a handful of lawmakers, that these high-cost loans represented a systemic risk to the economy, went unheeded. Instead, the US Congress, the White House, and the Federal Reserve all dithered while the subprime disaster spread. Then, the bubble burst and not only did those loans bankrupt investors, they nearly took down the entire global banking system. In the aftermath of the crisis, evidence from Congres sional hearings and oversight reports, as well as inter views with former officials, revealed a troubling history of missed opportunities, thwarted regulations and lack of oversight. It did not happen overnight, but those with the capacity to act were negligent and but for remedial actions after the fact, the impact of the burst could have been worse. A crisis of monumental proportions, similar to the GFC in terms of national scale, is taking place in Nigeria at this very moment and it is leading Nigerians in their droves, particularly our highly skilled citizens, to seek greener pastures abroad. What the average Nigerian is enduring is threatening our natural ability to endure and adapt, especially with the consistent declining value of the Private-sectornaira. operating conditions are abysmal and coupled with further deterioration in the key oil sector, which has been the lifeblood of the country’s earnings, there is nothing to act like a defibrillator to shock the struggling economy or the naira back to life. Conse not any better. Those who want to exit the country are seeking offers to leave from wherever an opportunity presents itself and they often fall into the hands of un scrupulous elements, wishing to cash in on their sense of desperation. Their willingness to take the chance to go anyway is tearing apart the fabric of the society from the very basic unit: The family. With the threats to family unity posed by flight out of the country, there is an increase in the possibility of a proportional increase in dysfunctional families around the country. The very dire implication of this is that we will have a dysfunctional community, a dysfunctional local government, a dysfunctional state and definitely, a dysfunctional country. Given all the other problems bedevilling the country, adding all these dysfunctional segments will be a problem we can best avoid. For the country’s progress, there is no way a progressive nation can reach growth projections when their best are jumping ship at the rate these migrations out of the country are happening. It was before our eyes that no fewer than 500 Nigerian doctors turned up at a recruit ment meet organised by the Saudi Arabian Health Minis try to select Nigerian doctors for work in their country.
Danger of Mass Migration of Doctors, Nurses, Others
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Speaking up against what he knew were bad loans for borrowers and bad loans for the Wall Street investors buying up these shaky mortgages by the thousands, Brennan told members of the Senate Special Committee: “I think this house of cards may tumble some day and it will mean great losses for the investors who own stock in those companies.”
President Bush had a point. The crisis the world faced at the time had blown up the previous year when the US housing market went into reverse and took a turn for the worse in the month leading to that G20 meeting in AsWashington.banksinthe United States and Europe booked losses from their exposure to the US housing market, they stopped lending to each other, thereby sparking a credit crunch that effectively birthed the Global Finan cial Crisis (GFC) that marked the period as one of the most severe worldwide economic crises that occurred in the early 21st century and the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression of 1929. Yet, there were telltale signs of a looming crisis, which was mostly overlooked by those with the capacity to prevent its oc Ascurrence.farback as 1998, William Brennan, American Direc tor of the Home Defense Programme at the Atlanta Legal Aid Society, not only foresaw the financial collapse of 2008, but also had the brilliant foresight to identify sec tors that would be ineluctably scarred by the inevitable impact of the burst, when it happened, even as subprime lenders earned enormous profits making mortgages to people who clearly could not afford them.
