2023: www.thewillnigeria.com THEWILLNIGERIA THEWILLNG THEWILLNIGERIA PAGE 16 NCAA LicenceTransportAzman'sRenewsAir PAGE 16 *Chairman Assures on Credible Polls *Dismisses Allegations of Underage Voting in North *Says New Biometric ID System Prevents Identity Theft *Attitude of Politicians, Poverty, Major Headache to Conducting Successful Polls Isn’t Making Just Music Easy Guide to Remodelling Your Kitchen RRAOBEATSAOBEATS 8NailHacksDryYourPolishinaJiffy+ Price: N250 SEPTEMBER 18 - SEPTEMBER 24, 2022 • VOL . 2 NO. 38 INEC in Eye of The Storm Despite inGulpsOilRestrictions,ForexPalmImportationN28.16bn6Months BRANCHFEMI The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Intervention Fund, created in 1977 to stimulate growth in key sectors of the economy, has proved a success story among the states and the FCT, as Kwara and Nasarawa (in North Central) showcase in this edition … pages 20-21 45 Years of Impactful Scheme Swimming in Murky Waters of Politics PAGE 22
Until next week, enjoy your read.
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Tiwa Savage happens to have been blessed with a fruitful career. From many endorsements to now being the first woman of African descent to join the MAC Maker family. It is undoubtedly a significant stride for the content, and we couldn’t be more proud of her and us. As Dr Savage rightly said about Africans during the interview, we are blessed with the best features, from cheekbones to lips and eyes and have every skin tone you can imagine, from the darkest to the lightest. I couldn’t agree more.
each have our calling, which is, more often than not, the work of our hands —career— and it is expected to produce fruit. This fruit isn’t necessarily just monetary value(salary) for work well done. No. It’s more than that. It often entails recognition for your work, which leads to receiving other things and continues to multiply.
And not just that, Africa is rated among the highest spenders worldwide in the beauty and fashion industry; it’s about time they recognised us for what we represent in the beauty industry and for purchasing power. Kudos, Dr Tiwa Savage, on this. Here’s to many more firsts!
Speaking of firsts, we are all built differently in the way we handle the first time we do certain things. While for some people, it’s smooth sailing, for others, it can be nerve-wracking and so presents that feeling in different ways, including sleeptalking. This happens to be the story of our Downtown Confidential writer on two occasions. It’s a rather interesting and absolutely hilarious story. I won’t give away too much, but whatever you do, don’t miss page 7.
Onah Nwachukwu Editor, THEWILL @onahluciaaDOWNTOWN +2349088352246
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IS WHOLLYNOWDIGITAL
I start a journal this week. It’s my way of sharing a little bit of the magazine production process. This week, I discuss the events that transpired while producing the last issue. I’m sure you’ll enjoy reading it. See page 3. Our beauty page has the most insightful hacks to help you avoid smudging your freshly painted nails at home. They are worth giving a go. And finally, our movie review page praises Viola Davis’ movie The Woman King. I can’t wait to see this movie.
SEPTEMBER 18 - SEPTEMBER 24, 2022
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Responding to the mounting fear over INEC’s capacity to deliver a credible election in 2023, the Chairman of the commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, contextualised
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Before that date, on Tuesday, September 20, 2022, INEC will publish the final list of candidates for the presidential and national assembly elections, to be followed on October 4, 2022 by the list of candidates for the state assembly Inelection.anapparent dress-rehearsal as the D-day approaches,
Nigerians from many walks of life are knocking the Commission and calling to question its preparedness to deliver free, fair, transparent and verifiable polls in 2023.
Prof Yakubu, who was a guest at a media dialogue hosted by the Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE), expressed understanding about worries being expressed by Nigerians over INEC’s commitment, just as he elaborated on its preparations and challenges ahead of the upcoming elections.
*Chairman Assures on Credible Polls *Dismisses Allegations of Underage Voting in North * Says New Biometric ID System Prevents Identity Theft * Attitude of Politicians, Poverty, Major Headache to Conducting Successful Polls 2023:
BY AMOS ESELE
In the last few days, many Nigerians have been worried about certain governance and management issues, such as the possible hacking of the Commission’s server facilitated by ‘insiders’, the alleged inclusion of millions of fake voters on its register, political implication of appointing politicians from the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) as Resident Electoral Commissioners by President Muhammadu Buhari.
n 10 days, all eyes of the estimated 95 million voters in Nigeria, including 28 state governors and their deputies, 109 senatorial candidates, 230 House of Representatives candidates and 993 state assembly candidates, would focus on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after it might have officially announced the kickoff of electioneering campaigns on September 28, 2022.
INEC in Eye of The Storm
I
the worry on the role that elections play in the lives of “TheNigerians.importance of elections in Nigeria is not difficult to understand,” Prof Yakubu said last Friday in Lagos, adding, “The lives and livelihood of 200 million Nigerians will be impacted upon for better or for worse, and whether it is for better or for worse is a decision that will have to be made by Nigerians in 2023.”
But the Secretary-General of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties, Chief Will Ezugwu, stands on one end of the discussions.
Respondingpolls.
Yakubu is however optimistic about INEC’s capability to deliver a free poll.
WAY OUT?
Responding to these disturbing issues, the Executive Director of International Press Centre, Mr Lanre Arogundade, told THEWILL in a brief interview, “The willingness of politicians to abide with the rules of the game and the political will of the government of the day to allow for free and fair elections are some of the major challenges facing the commission as it prepares to conduct the 2023
He told this newspaper: “As long as the President appoints the INEC Chairman, just as he does with the Chief Justice of the Federation and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, there are grounds to be worried. When he goes ahead to appoint members of his party as Resident Electoral Commissioners, as he did recently, elections in Nigeria can never be free.”
Dismissing the social media clips indicating that PVCs were found dumped in gutters in some states as unfounded as investigation by Commission has found no such thing, he also said allegations of hacking into the Commission’s website were farfetched.
“INEC has consistently tried to improve the conduct of elections and with the use of technology, they will improve faster,“ Prof Ochefu said, adding “For those of us who understand technology a bit, they are yet to deliver as they ought to do. They have to do so. They have the opportunity to begin to do so during the 2023 election.”
“When I made a statement on hacking into the INEC website, I said so within a context. I said only when the system is consistently attacked that we can say it is threatened. But there are maintenance workers constantly fortifying the system. There were attempts by hackers but they failed. We have conducted 105 off –season elections so far using the website and it is safe,” the INEC boss said.
Prof Yakubu Ochefu, who is one of those commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to write a position paper on the electoral management body for the retired Chief Justice Mohammed Uwais Commission on Electoral Reforms in 2009, said the public fears over INEC’s capacity to deliver a free and fair poll has a historical root, right from 1955 when the first electoral commission was formed to the present.
INEC’s RESPONSE TO ALLEGATIONS AND CHALLENGES
On underage voting, particularly in the North as reported, Yakubu said the commission found the allegation baseless after investigation and urged whomever found such behavior, which violates sections of the Constitution and the Electoral Act, to report to INEC.
“Our view of the 2023 election is to conduct one of the best elections which is going to be free, fair, transparent and verifiable. People can see the voting online from the comfort of their homes. Once people see voting online, we would have taken a bold step,” he said.
WHAT ARE THE ISSUES?
“Finally,complaints.it
However,polls.Prof
The suit over BVAS has however been laid to rest though not after it had sowed doubts in the public mind. An Imobased lawyer, O.J Abazie, whose chamber was cited in the suit, has since disowned it. He disclosed during the weekend that his official stamp used in the authentication of the suit, was taken by his colleague named Blessing, under the pretext that she wanted to use it for one of her clients.
...INEC in Eye of The Storm
swiftly, INEC debunked the allegation and warned the group to desist from making statements that fan the embers of public mistrust.
Arogundade,polls.”whose centre has been working closely with INEC, for over five years, separately though, under the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria, EU-SDGN project, however, thinks that the electoral umpire and its Chairman, Yakubu, “is convincing enough in his promise to deliver one of the best elections, which is free, fair, credible and verifiable,” in 2023.
Listing the challenges facing the Commission to include environmental factors like poverty, political culture, communication-social media- and infrastructure like bad roads, he held that “election cannot be better than the environment in which it is conducted”, and blamed the attitude of politicians as a major headache in the successful conduct of election in Nigeria.
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For Arogundade, the government should ensure that INEC has enough resources and support to meet the huge logistics needs of conducting the general elections in 2023.
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THEWILL recalled that late President Umaru Musa Yar’ Ardua, who confessed that the 2007 election that he won was flawed, had set up the Justice Uwais Commission to make recommendations on a clean electoral system that would guarantee the future conduct of free, fair and credible
He nonetheless thinks that correct use of technology in the electoral process can bring in some transparency into the system and improve the conduct of elections.
Second was an attempt by a lawyer to institute a suit at the Federal High Court in Owerri, the Imo State capital. The suit, with No. HOW/OW/CS/144/2022, between Nwankwere Morale Chinwe Vs Independent National Electoral Commission and 1 ANOR, was to stop the defendants from deploying the Bimodal Voter Registration System, BVAS, AS in the conduct of the 2023 general election, in violation of section 50 (2), 60 and 62 of the Electoral Act, 2022.
CUPP alleged that the governing APC was planning to remove the INEC Chairman to pave the way to rig the 2023
Arguing that credible polls in the country will be achieved incrementally, he gave the assurance that Permanent Vote Cards (PVCs) would be ready for collection in October after the commission might have cleaned up the register of ineligible registrants, publishing the updated register for seven days for scrutiny by the public for objections and
Prof Ochefu supports his view about politicians’ attitude. “We found out from our research that changing the wrong mindset of political actors was more important than what happens in INEC.”
is only after the cleanup and claims and objections have been completed that the final register will be published. For distribution of PVCs, we have the emails and phone numbers of voters. For those who live in the rural areas, they will be reached by voice calls or text messages.”
The importance of elections in Nigeria is not difficult to understand.The lives and livelihood of 200 million Nigerians will be impacted upon for better or for worse, and whether it is for better or for worse is a decision that will have to be made by Nigerians in 2023
FEARS OF NIGERIANS
He said the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS), which carries the photograps of voters and their fingerprints for the purpose of authentication will prevent identity theft and ensure transparency in the voting process.
“I also think that from the point of view of the media there should be regular and proactive disclosure of information especially as we march towards 2023,” he said.
Prof Yakubu however agrees. “We have started with the BVAS which has been a great improvement on the card readers, which often malfunctioned and forced us to use incidence form. That is gone now. With biometric accreditation before voting, we would soon move from electronic transmission of results to electronic voting by which time we would have been able to get a biometric register and collapse everything into a portal for electronic voting machines.”
Ochefu told THEWILL last Friday, “From historical data at my disposal, there has not been any point in time when our electoral system did not have credibility questions because he who pays the piper dictates the tune. One of the consistent issues we found in our research was credibility problems. It was clear that our electoral management system was affected by how the officials were recruited. It is almost like what obtains with our state electoral system, where there is no independence and no transparency. That is why the opposition parties always express fears about credible polls because the electoral bodies are not independent as they claim. The officials owe allegiance to the powers that be.”
Two primary incidents occurred last week to give credence to some of these governance, legal and management allegations being made against INEC. First is the allegation by the Coalition of United Political Party, that the voter register for the 2023 polls is not authentic because fake names have been uploaded in the register.
Coupled with the appointments of the four ‘political RECs’, which further raised public doubts in the INEC impartiality, the commission found itself in the eye of the storm. Third is the continued fears expressed over the collection of Personal Voter Card, PVC, by new registrants said to be close to 10.48 million.
To Prof Yakubu, some of the allegations being made against the commission as well as fears over the credibility of the 2023 poll, are either unprovable or will be met with firm response and resolved when found to be genuine.
He said, “You cannot have a flourishing democracy without democrats. Imagine a situation when someone loses an election and then turns around to say his mandate has been stolen.”
He noted that the era of attaching sentiments to official duties were over, warning that primary healthcare workers who had formed the habit of absenting themselves from duty would be decisively dealt Ewhrudjakpowith.
He added that one of the best ways these connections are built, and mutual understanding is fostered, is through educational exchange.
Two days earlier, in Abuja, US Deputy Chief of Mission, David Greene, greeted students, parents, teachers and all 25 US university representatives, which included admissions officers from leading and diverse institutions, such as Howard University, Drexel University, Pace University, University of Oregon, Iowa State University, and University of Tennessee.
Reacting to the issue, the Yakurr Local Government Council chairman, Mr Ofem Nelson, said he was not around the council area when the incident happened.
“More than 80 per cent of our health workers are here in Yenagoa, therefore, henceforth, we are going to localise this employment. If we must employ nurses and pharmacists, they must be resident in that community. The first criterion is, where is your residence?
me to give them my car key, probably because they saw two aged women who approached me as I was about to purchase petrol.
T
According to him, the workshop was organised to encourage community ownership of healthcare facilities domiciled in their areas and to charge the State Local Government Service Commission and the Primary Healthcare Board to perform their supervisory roles more effectively.
"I tried to let both women to know that I was weary and tired and wouldn’t have time to start carrying people up and down on the guise of giving assistance to people.
T
“I also believe that our health workers need to change and when it comes to political interference, count me out. Go ask what I did to my own cousin.
housands of students attended the 21st Annual EducationUSA College and Career Fairs this week in Abuja and Lagos, underlining once again the tremendous and enduring interest in Nigeria for American higher education. Organized by the U.S. Mission and featuring visiting representatives from 25 universities and colleges from across the United States, the September 13 Fair in Abuja and the September 15 Fair in Lagos were augmented by talks by U.S. experts and Nigerian U.S. university alumni on college admissions and student visa application processes.
Declaring the college and career fair open in Lagos last Thursday, US Consul- General Will Stevens said that America remains a leading destination for international students, noting the United States offers students an unrivalled educational experience, flexibility and diversity.
L-R: Former Managing Director/ Editor in Chief, The Sun newspaper, Dr Tony Onyima; President, Nigerian Guild of Editors, Mustapha Isah; INEC Chairman, Prof Mamud Yakubu; INEC National Commissioner, Barrister Festus Okoye; INEC National Commissioner, Mohammed Haruna and Managing Editor Thisday newspaper, Mr Bolaji Adebiyi, during the Nigerian Guild of Editors forum with INEC CHAIRMAN in Lagos on September 16, Photo:2022. Peace Udugba
Opportunities Post-Pandemic,’ Stevens noted that the role of the US Mission in Nigeria is to facilitate and build connections between the United States and Nigeria.
Theproviders.deputy governor, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media to the Deputy Governor Mr Doubara Atasi, said the measure would help to check absenteeism and improve service delivery in the health sector.
Ojisi's statement was titled - "Ogoja Rice Factory: Ben Ayade And His End-time TheLies."statement
Governor Ayade recently posted pictures of the mill on his Facebook page and declared the project completed and However,functional. debunking the governor's claim, the Publicity Secretary of the PDP in the state, Mike Ojisi, said this is far from the reality.
A
he Cross River State Chapter of the People's Democratic Party has faulted the state governor, Prof Ben Ayade, on the status of the Ogoja Rice Mill.
25 US Universities Participate in Abuja And Lagos College Fairs
Port Harcourt based businessman, Mr Terrance Abang, has been physically assaulted by some officials of Yakurr Local Council Area of Cross River State.
Deputy Governor Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo gave the assurance last Thursday, at a oneday workshop on the status of primary healthcare services in the state held in EwhrudjakpoYenagoa.
"The women begged me to take them up to Ochong Community in Obubra Local Government Area in case I was heading to Ikom. I tried to explain to the them that I wasn't a transporter, but a car dealer.
"The taskforce guys clamped down on me and began to struggle for my car key with me. I resisted every attempt to seize the key from me because I didn't know who they were, in addition to the fact that they had nothing to be identified as officials of Yakurr Local Government Council," he said.
directed all heads of department in the state primary healthcare board to be alive to their responsibilities and be effective in addressing truancy by staff of their respective health centers.
Cross River PDP Faults Ayade on Ogoja Rice Mill
In his reaction, the Police Public Relations Officer (Cross River State Command), SP Irene Ugbo stated, "As we speak,the police is yet to get the full detail of what took place.
read in part, "As a party, we are not shocked by this particular lie because telling lies remain the only
He said: “We are going to do a review of what you have done. We are going to be strict, both the mobilisers and the health workers must come from their own communities and must be resident in those communities, otherwise we would be repeating ourselves in a circle of collusion.
To make the mockery worse, the real producers of Ogoja Rice have since dissociated themselves from the charade engineered by Ben Ayade and his never-do-well minions.
Speaking on the theme, ‘Exploring
“So I am advising everybody,especially HODs, to take responsibility. This idea of buck passing and ineffective leadership is unacceptable. We must take liabilities and not only the assets."
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he Bayelsa State Government has said that it will localise the employment of primary healthcare workers as part of measures to address challenges bedevilling the health sector.
thing that Governor Ben Ayade is very consistent in "Furthermore,doing.we make bold to state categorically that there is no form of production going on in the phantom Ogoja Rice factory, rather Ben Ayade had resorted to "bagging and rebranding" of imported rice, just to cajole the general public into buying into his lies."
FROM BASSEY ANIEKAN, CALABAR
Narrating what happened, he said, "I stopped over in Omilakwa Petrol Filling Station in Ugep Community on my way from Port Harcourt, heading towards Ikom Local Government Area. I had run short of fuel. To my greatest surprise, a group of young men surrounded my car just as I finished buying petrol and paid for the "Theyproduct.asked
He said that although funding was solely the responsibility of the local government system, the state government would continue to play its role of resource mobilisation and supervision to ensure the realisation of set objectives in healthcare delivery.
Bayelsa to
Port AssaultedBusinessmanHarcourt-BasedinC'River
FROM DAVID OWEI, YENAGOA
“We are happy to provide Nigerian students who wish to study in the United States a unique opportunity to learn about the diversity of the programs offered at various U.S. educational institutions,” Stevens said.
Abang stated that he was beaten blue black and pinned to the bonnet of his car by six men and got his back burnt in the process.
The victim, who is an Indigene of Boki LGA in Cross River State, said he had no choice other than to lodge a complaint at the nearest Police Station at Ugep.
The rice mill is one of the governor’s major projects aimed at harnessing the abundant rice produced in the state.
"For the records, Ogoja Rice is a registered trademark of the Yalaborn illustrious entrepreneur, Chief Paul Santos, who has established a thriving rice processing mill at Yala and is succeeding where the Ayade government has failed woefully due to unspeakable corruption and insincerity," Ojisi said.
said that government would first consider those who have been working as volunteer primary healthcare
“Recently, I directed that the salary of one of my cousins be suspended for three months alongside those who are working in the health centre in my community, Ofoni. Look, leadership that is set on sentiment and emotions is not leadership.
TEmploymentHealthcareLocaliseWorkers'
Abang was allegedly assaulted by officials of Yakurr Taskforce after he stopped at Omilakwa Petrol Filling Station in Ugep Community to refuel his vehicle.
Others were Senate President Ahmad Lawan; former Ogun State governor and serving senator, Ibikunle Amosun; a serving senator, Ajayi Boroffice; former Governor of Zamfara State, Ahmad Sani; former Imo State governor and serving senator, Rochas Okorocha; a former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole; Pastor Tunde Bakare; Pastor and businessman, Dr Nicolas Felix; former Information Minister, Ikeobasi Mokelu; Businessman, Tein Jack-Rich and the only female among them, Uju Ken-Ohanenye.
Speaking on the steps taken so far by his committee, Adighije, who is also the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of the Federal University, Lokoja, Kogi State, said the committee started by engaging stakeholders in the state to capture all shades of opinion.
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ith less than two weeks to the opening of the window for the Presidential and National Assembly Election campaign, the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) is yet to reconcile most of its aggrieved members and it is still searching for
It would be recalled that the crisis in the Osun State chapter of the APC led to its defeat in the July 16,2022 governorship election.
Speakingelection.during the ceremony, Governor Yahaya explained that the setting up of the committee becomes necessary in view of the seeming differences that ensued during the just concluded party primaries in the State.
The committee was headed by the former Abia Central Senator, Adighije. Other members of the committee included, Deputy Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha; Minister of State for Science, Technology and Innovation, Chief Henry Ikoh; Emeka Atuma; Martins Azubuike; former Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr. Emeka Wogu; APC National Welfare Secretary, Sir F.N. Nwosu and the state rival APC gubernatorial candidate, Chief Ikechi Emenike.
He said the opinions helped to shape the committee’s report, which were far-reaching to the extent that the committee recommended punitive measures against recalcitrant members, even as he pleaded with stakeholders and members of APC in the state to sheath their swords and give peace a chance.
“There is no way anyone will say that we have delivered when APC wins at the national level and lose at the states. It would be assumed that the Abia people did not contribute much to the victory at the centre. The reconciliation committee was, therefore, meant to strengthen the party and to bring about inclusion and unity.
Thepeace.aggrieved members include those who felt alienated during the wards, local government and state congresses of the party, as well as those who contested its presidential primary alongside the presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in July and are not happy with the intrigue and manipulations that took place during the election.
The incumbent governor and a factional leader in the crisis, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola, lost his re-election bid to the PDP candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke.
“We will sit and check ourselves. We must ask ourselves what is right and wrong and what needs to be corrected,” he said.
We lost the race not because we are incapable, but because of the crisis within. We had a massive gathering of supporters a few days before the election in Osogbo. No one could ever anticipate that we would lose the election
Adamu
The meeting was reportedly cancelled because of lack of commitment on the part of the aspirants, many of whom had indicated that they would not be available.
Five serving governors, namely Yahaya Bello (Kogi), Dave Umahi (Ebonyi), Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa), Ben Ayade (Cross River) and Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti) were also expected to attend.
Also, Governor Muhammadu Yahaya of Gombe State recently inaugurated a 21-man Reconciliation Committee to resolve all grievances that arose from the just concluded congresses and primaries of the APC in the state.
It was gathered that the aborted meeting sought to address a number of factors, such as a move to reconcile aggrieved members, challenges bedevilling the country, inclusive politics and adoption of winning campaign strategies to coast home to victory ahead of the 2023 general election.
According to the committee Chairman, Chris Adighije, the panel has concluded its task and it is ready to hand in the report, which, is expected to put paid to all contending issues.
As a way of facilitating peace and reconciliation, it would be recalled that a meeting of former presidential aspirants of the APC was scheduled for Abuja, but it could not take place.
APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, had charged the panel to do the needful and unite the state chapter to be able to prosecute the 2023 elections as a family “by lobbying and reconciling considering that politics is local.”
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BY AYO ESAN
The governor said, “in a contest such as the last APC primaries, it is practically impossible for all the yearnings and aspirations of every contestant to be met without some form of misgivings, reservations or grievances arising from the process”.
It would be recalled that on August 4, a reconciliatory committee was set up by the APC’s National Working Committee with the mandate to reconcile aggrieved stakeholders in Abia State, following the allegations of conflict over state congresses and primaries.
Committee (NWC) to address the crisis, Adighije said, “Having heard from all the parties to the misunderstanding, I am confident that APC will triumph in Abia in next year’s elections.”
POLITICS
In Abia State, there was an indication that the leadership crisis in the state chapter of the APC would be resolved as the reconciliation committee set up by the NWC expressed its readiness to submit the report of its assignment
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In the Kano State chapter of the APC, stakeholders have asked the party’s top echelon to initiate a strategic reconciliation mechanism to calm aggrieved members ahead of the 2023 polls.
APC Still Searching For Peace Ahead of Election Campaigns
The other factional group led by former governor of the state and current Minister of Interior, Engr Rauf Aregbesola, was said to have given support to the PDP candidate resulting in his victory at the poll.
The postponement of the meeting was announced a few hours before its commencement. Since then nothing has been heard of it.
Also, there are crises in many of the APC state chapters, with reconciliation efforts ongoing in some and futile in others.
The National Chairman of the APC, Abdullhai Adamu agreed with this when he said, “We lost the race not because we are incapable, but because of the crisis within. We had a massive gathering of supporters a few days before the election in Osogbo. No one could ever anticipate that we would lose the election.
Tinubu
How soon will the party leadership be able to reconcile the aggrieved members before the election is a question that cannot be answered immediately.
Recalling how the committee was set up by the National Working
A statement signed by Ismaila Uba Misilli, Director-General (Press Affairs), said the committee is headed by Deputy Governor Manassah Daniel Jatau and it is specifically charged with the responsibility of harmonising and uniting members of the party, ahead of the 2023 general
The stakeholders made the appeal recently when the North-West zonal officials of the party led by the APC National Vice-Chairman for the zone, Salihu Lukman, held a meeting with them during a factfinding tour.
Among those expected at the botched meeting were Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; former Science and Technology Minister, Ogbonnaya Onu; former Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba and former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio.
Since the primary, most of these aspirants have not been active in the party’s affairs and preparation for the 2023 presidential election as they were not included or given any role in the Campaign Council.
He was very hopeful that the party would however win the 2023 general election.
Surprisingly, since losing the election, no attempt has been made by the party’s leadership to reconcile the feuding groups.
expected to slug it out in a most transparent manner.
Although, during Peter Obi’s tenure as Governor of Anambra, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) was in charge in Anambra as the platform on which he held sway. APGA was a party to be reckoned with under his leadership. As the 2023 general election draws nearer, the presidential candidates of the various political parties are not resting on their oars. All the parties in Nigeria are making frantic efforts to make a breakthrough in the forthcoming Unfortunatelyelection.theImo
It would be recalled that immediately the PDP gave its presidential ticket to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi joined the LP and he was received with open arms. Truly speaking, the Labour Party is an unpopular platform in some parts of the country because the APC and the PDP appeared to overshadow other political parties.
The 2023 general election is going to wear a different look in Imo because the electorate have resolved to cast their votes for tested and trusted individuals who will not joke with the confidence reposed on them, as against the erstwhile practice of supporting parties with candidates whose lifestyles are questionable.
ometimes, we need to step aside from the track and observe what the race looks like. Experience remains the best teacher; desperation is never the best option.
BY SAMPSON UHUEGBU Obi Araraume
S
Peter Obi emerged the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party after Prof. Patrick Utomi, Faduri Joseph and Olubusola Emmanuel-Tella stepped down from the contest, making him the only aspirant in the presidential primary and the party projected him.
Regrettably, the Labour Party’s rejection of the nomination of Pauline Onyeka as the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Imo State does not necessarily require raising an eyebrow. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should look into the party's agitation and resolve the issue amicably.
It is on record that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ruled the country for 16 years and Imo State was governed by the party throughout that period. The governing All Progressives Congress (APC), which took over power from the PDP in 2015, is on the verge of completing a second term in office under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari.
chapter of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) built its home with strength and vigour, but regrettably pulled it down.
2023: Labour Party’s Chances in Imo
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi has made the political party very popular. He has not only done that, but also his approach cum political methodology has endeared him to people of all classes. The youth have organised solidarity marches for the former Anambra State Governor and thrown their weights behind him.
As we keep watching the political pendulum and trends of events in the country and Imo State, in particular, one should be mindful of the fact that the politics of 2023 has already started. It is just a matter of days.
Recently in a meeting, LP stated that the senator representing Owerri Senatorial District, Ezenwa Onyewuchi, is its highest political office holder in the state. The party has spoken. It is their internal decision. But the present Federal legislator who is seeking a re-election may not find it easy, considering the PDP flagbearer that is vying for the same seat, Barr. Uche Onyeagucha, is a strong contender.
The issue of zoning, as regards the governorship position, may also be waved away due to the zealousness exhibited by people of the state to get it right in future elections, even as the Hope Uzodimma Administration has performed excellently on roads rehabilitation, Youths' empowerment and other areas.
The Obinze-born former Secretary to the Government of Imo State is making efforts to ensure that he wins. Also, the Orlu and Okigwe zones' Senatorial candidates of the Labour Party, the ruling APC Candidate for Owerri; Prince Alex Mbata and their counterparts in other parties are
What we are expecting is to have peaceful coexistence among the various political parties - the LP, PDP, APC, APGA, Action Alliance (AA) and others in the that are going to participate in the 2023 general election.
Everyone has accepted the Labour Party with open arms because in outlook, it tends to be an umbrella that would accommodate all and sundry. But its members should eschew selfishness, which could externally and internally mar its progress
Everyone has accepted the Labour Party with open arms because in outlook, it tends to be an umbrella that would accommodate all and sundry. But its members should eschew selfishness, which could externally and internally mar its progress.
The Imo State chapter of Labour Party is visibly reeling under the burden of choosing its governorship candidate. Judging by his body language, Senator Ifeanyi Araraume from Okigwe Zone is eager to hoist the Labour party's flag in Imo as Governor. The problem is who will be handed the party’s ticket in the Imo governorship election, which is going to be a stand-alone exercise.
The people of Imo are expected to steer clear of unnecessary incitements that would not bring a positive change to the political system in the state. Security officers, the INEC and other stakeholders should work towards getting it right for the interest of Ndi Imo.
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On the part of the LP, Obi, who the party has deemed worthy of its presidential ticket, is considered to be a sellable candidate and of greater advantage for the Labour Party. It is the desire of Nigerians that those flying the party's flags now should not defect to a rival party after the 2023 general election. They should transform Labour Party into a formidable platform in Imo.
It is advisable to always learn from the downfall of groups that were incapable of managing challenges from various forces. The "highest-bidder-carries-it-all" syndrome has thrown many parties into the abyss of disorientation. It is the reason why there is disunity, bitterness, backbiting and rancour among party members.
S
The leaders of the PDP from the six states in the South-West, namely Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Ekiti, which make up the region, came with one purpose: To tell the party’s leadership and Atiku that they want inclusiveness in the party before the 2023 general election. Also, they want the incumbent National Chairman, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, to resign his appointment in order to pave the way for a southerner to take over the position.
He assured Atiku and Okowa of the support of Osun State in their quest to become the president and vice president of the country respectively.
They came with different banners to protest what they described as alienation from the top echelon of the party at the national level. They chorused that the northerners in the party are carrying on the affairs as if the southerners did not matter and they demanded a reverse of the trend.
The South-West PDP stakeholders and leaders said they had no problem with Atiku Abubakar as the presidential candidate of the party. In fact, the Forum of Former Governors, comprising former Governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Mimiko and former Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Ayodele Fayose, was led by former Governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, the National Assembly Caucus was led by Senator Biodun Olujimi from Ekiti State and so were the BoT members from the region and the youth group.
So, the message from the South-West is that there are few things you can do for us postelection. But before the election, the South-West PDP wants a situation whereby your message to Nigerians can resonate. The only way that can happen is if everything the PDP stands for, in terms of restructuring and national unity, must be reflected in the PDP’s movement towards the election
Speakingcrisis.
South-West“PDP, Atiku Differ on
Makinde Ayu POLITICS
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“Of course, I have seen people abuse me on social media, saying this issue is about Wike, Makinde, Ortom and Ugwuanyi, but the truth is we don’t have any issue either with our party or our presidential candidate. If there are challenges, we must bring them on the table so that we can address them to ensure that our journey is smooth and we can get to our destination. So, this is not about individuals.
“Your Excellency we will be behind you, we will support you. We will do everything within our power to ensure that come 2023 we shall rejoice together in the Peoples Democratic Party. We know you are a bridge builder and whatever you want to do, you will do well because you are a silent achiever. We asked that as we go on, you have to carry every one of us along so that in this onerous task of getting
“I see some people talk about what cropped up during the presidential convention when somebody was selected as vice-presidential candidate. Truth is, those are issues that are behind us. They have happened, but this is where we are. Are there issues coming out of those that we really need to address so we can be successful at the end of the day? The answer is yes and we will address them. Integrity and honour must be a part of our national psyche.
on behalf of the South-West PDP Stakeholders and leaders in Ibadan, Makinde said they did not have any issue with Atiku and the party.
Speaking on behalf of the Forum, Oyinlola said it was agreed that what they wanted to put across had been passed to the leader of the party in the region and Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State to present to Atiku and his entourage.
Also speaking, the Governor-elect of Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke, promised the presidential candidate that the state would give him their votes, saying that the people realised that Atiku is one of their sons, having married Titi Atiku who hails from Ilesha in Osun State.
He said, “I want to appreciate everyone for coming to this meeting and I think, at this point, we have to tell ourselves nothing but the truth. What we will do here is to speak the truth to ourselves. Yes, others have spoken here about the positive side of things, but we do have challenges and issues to address in our party. One good thing is that we have the capacity to address those issues.
“Your Excellency, you will remember I met you in Dubai and I told you that there are very few reasons why my colleagues and I will support you in this journey of becoming the President of Nigeria. I said, number one, that you rose from nowhere and that we know if you get there you will do well. Number two, I said you have been one of the very few people who were in the highest echelon in our body politics when the office of the Vice President was most useful and most prominent and you did well. You know about the problems of Nigeria and you will be able to handle the problems. Number three, I said you did not need the small money that … you have seen it all. And of course, Number Four, I said that you are a believer in this entity called Nigeria and you have traversed the length and breadth of the country.
takeholders in the South-West Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) last Wednesday held a town hall meeting in Ibadan, the political capital of the region, with the presidential candidate of the party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his running mate and Governor of Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, as well as other leaders of the party, in attendance.
Then it was the turn of the leader of the party in the region, Governor Makinde, to deliver the message of the region to Atiku and the leadership of the party and the tone of the message clearly showed that the party was far from resolving its
Those that accompanied Atiku and Okowa to the meeting include the Acting National Chairman of the party, who is also the Deputy National Chairman, (North) of the party, Umar Iliya Damagum; Chairman, PDP Governors Forum and Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Waziri Tambuwal; Senator Lyel Imoke; the Spokesman of the Campaign Council, Senator Dino Melaye and the Chairman DAAR Communication, Dr Raymond Dokpesi, among others.
He said it was Makinde’s duty to tell Atiku and his entourage what they want from him and the leadership of the party.
He said the PDP in the South wants Atiku to prevail on Ayu to step down in order to ensure inclusiveness.
“We have spoken about the movement, the youth and what they are looking for. Our people are in a state of hopelessness, which the APC brought upon us and it is the reality. But we are supposed to give hope to our people. We want them to
Speaking, Olujimi said she had earlier met Atiku in Dubai and told him four reasons why they would support his candidature as the party’s flagbearer in the 2023 presidential Sheelection.said:
BY AYO ESAN
back to government in Abuja, we will form a formidable team, the South-West will not lag behind.
“ POLITICS
Calls For Ayu’s Resignation
Former National Leader of the party, Chief Olabode George, said some people were saying that removing Ayu or asking him to step down was a constitutional matter. “In May this year, we elected our presidential candidate in the person of His Excellency, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, setting aside the principle of rotation as enshrined in the constitution of our party in the interest of peace and unity of our party. Today, we are in a situation in which our National Chairman is from the same zone as our presidential candidate.
“If you send thugs to steal ballot boxes, it will become an exercise in futility. So the era of snatching ballot boxes and writing results is over because we have improved the electoral process. The only thing is that if you have registered to vote, go and vote, then protect your votes at the polling units. If you want anything from the local government, state or federal level without bringing good and favourable results from your polling units, you are wasting your time. So let us all go back to our wards and our polling units and make sure that our votes count.
“So, the message from the South-West is that there are few things you can do for us post-election. But before the election, the South-West PDP wants a situation whereby your message to Nigerians can resonate. The only way that can happen is if everything the PDP stands for, in terms of restructuring and national unity, must be reflected in the PDP’s movement towards the election.
listen to us, to hear our message to them. In order to do that, we must lay a good example.
Responding, Alhaji Atiku said he was very happy to be in Ibadan to interact with the members of the party.
Atiku Oyinlola
“I recall that when I was Vice President between 1999 and 2003 and precisely the election of 2003 when I led the campaign of the PDP nationally; I took over the South-West states, except Lagos. I want to say that it is possible to take over Lagos State. More so, when our new Electoral Act has improved our electoral system, you can’t write election results any longer.
“Let the truth be told, there are remarkable differences in the scenario then and now. Then we had the leader of the party who was then a sitting president from the South and the candidate was from the North.
What Governor Makinde is calling for is achievable under our constitution, under our convention , under our regulations and under our procedures. It must come out from our constitution, our convention and procedure. Those institutions must guide our decision in whatever changes we make. That is why we cannot do anything outside the constitution unless our constitution is amended and our laws and rules are amended to what we wanted them to be
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“If we want to unify Nigeria, we must unify the PDP first. If we want a government of national unity, the faces in the PDP must reflect national unity. If we want to restructure Nigeria, we must be willing to do what is right to bring inclusivity into the PDP. Do we have the capacity? Do we have the candidate with the capacity? The answer is a resounding yes.
“Some people are insisting that there is nothing wrong with this present arrangement. Some have argued that this happened during Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, where the candidate and the national chairman were from the same zone.
Responding to Makinde’s demand, Atiku said, “What Governor Makinde is calling for is achievable under our constitution, under our convention , under our regulations and under our procedures. It must come out from our constitution, our convention and procedure. Those institutions must guide our decision in whatever changes we make. That is why we cannot do anything outside the constitution unless our constitution is amended and our laws and rules are amended to what we wanted them to be. So distinguished leaders and stakeholders of our party, we won’t say people should not have different views, but all views must go through
it grow to what it is today and I will still continue to be a member of this party. So distinguished leaders of our party in the South-West, I don’t want us to lose focus. Our focus is to win the next election. I want to assure you that it is doable, it is achievable and we have the capacity to do it. We have done it before. We have Oyo State now and we have Osun State. Soon we are going to have Lagos State. We are going to have Ogun State.”
“I have been a founding member of this party. I watched
“Your Excellency, the South-West PDP is asking that the National Working Committee of the PDP should be restructured. We must resolve what we have in the face of Nigeria by asking the National Chairman to step down so that the PDP in the southern part of the country will feel included in the top hierarchy of the party. So, that is the message, sir.”
The meeting was intended to resolve differences in the party, but it seems to have achieved nothing as all the party leaders from the South-West went home disappointed.
“We say we want to rescue Nigeria. Our candidate is a unifier and he will unify Nigeria. We want to restructure Nigeria. I have listened to our candidate both publicly and privately and we have had several interactions. Our party is talking about government of national unity because eight years of APC have left us badly divided. Well, the issue is, we must practice what we preach.
He said, “The most important event facing us today in the country is the 2023 general election. We are here to interact with you on how to win the election. I want to tell you from what I have seen in Lagos yesterday (last week Tuesday) and today (last Wednesday) in Ibadan, we can win the general election, if we want to.
our constitution, rules, regulations and practices, otherwise we cannot give this country the kind of leadership that the people want. We cannot.
Most of the party leaders who spoke with THEWILL insisted that the former Vice President had failed to address the issue and that what he said was just full of rhetoric.
“The PDP is the oldest party in Nigeria. Overtime it has developed its constitution, lots of processes, zoning, talk of anything which will bring about the unity of the party and the unity of the country. I am a foundation member of the party and I am not bothered and have no problem with where any member comes from.”
“In addition, the National Chairman, Dr Ahmadu Ali, was then on his way out. Today we have no sitting President from our party in Aso Villa so that argument falls flat. We need to stop playing games and being zombified.”
On this note, we wish to express support for the exemplary role the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offenses Commission, ICPC, is playing in this regard by looking into the books of defaulting MDAs in a bid to bring them to account.
SEPTEMBER 18 - SEPTEMBER 24, 2022 THEWILL NEWSPAPER • www.thewillnigeria.com PAGE 14 THEWILLNIGERIA THEWILLNG THEWILLNIGERIA Nigeria Bureau: 36AA Remi Fani-Kayode Street, GRA, Ikeja. Lagos, Nigeria. info@thewillnigeria.com / @ THEWILLNG, +234 810 345 2286, +234 913 333 3888. EDITOR: Olaolu Olusina @OLUSINA [Letters/Opinions: opinion.letters@thewillnigeria.com] Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Austyn Ogannah Editor – Olaolu Olusina Deputy Editor – Amos Esele Politics Editor – Ayo Esan Business Editor – Sam Diala Copy Editor – Chux Ohai Cartoon Editor – Victor Asowata Entertainment/Society Editor – Ivory Ukonu Photo Editor – Peace Udugba Head, Graphics – Tosin Yusuph Circulation Manager – Victor Nwokoh
EDITORIAL
So far, none of the officials involved in these clear cases of stealing of government revenue has been brought to book. Neither has the disgraceful trend stopped nor the agency blacklisted. The laxity in investigating these cases of daylight robbery by government officials with a bid to avoid recurrence proves the point if not claim that more of such abuses of office persists in government circles and may not end until some drastic action is
Plugging Revenue Leakages
The culprits should also be named and shamed to put them in the public spotlight as this method will go a long way to make them remorseful in this age of social media.
have shown how patently impervious to change Nigerians are and the high level of impunity in government. When animals are now held accountable for missing money in the coffers of the government, it is time to ask whether the average citizen can ever get used to proper data and record keeping, let alone accountability and due Onprocess.August 14, 2022, the nation was held spell bound by a disclosure by the Managing Director of Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), Dr. Michael Akabogu, that some termites entered the store room of the agency and ate up vouchers totaling N17.12 billion. This negligence happened during the tenure of his Akabogu,predecessor.who made the shocking revelation while appearing before the Senate Committee on Public Finance, told the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Matthew Uroghide, that the money was kept in a
authorities to take a serious look into this ugly trend, which not only leads to revenue leakages in government but creates and supports a system that mocks the anti-graft policy of the government.
that the trend has been going on for years while the government anti-graft agencies looked the other way. This is condemnable and should be discouraged.
We recommend imposition of stiff penalties to stop this ridiculous trend in looting the public treasury to the detriment of the general welfare of the citizenry.
container that was beaten by rain and then eaten up by termites. The documents represent tuneremitwerequarterrevealedOrderIndeedthetoMDAs,recurringrevenueOnmillion.mysteriouslyinstolenbelongingSaniForumtheremovedAbdullahiIninMatriculationofficeSenatecasesIntwolaughableThistocompaniesbelongingaccounttransferreddocumentsfromNSITFtobankaccountstoindividualsandfromJanuary1December2013.shamefulandconductwasyears-oldincoming.2018,twosuchcriminaltookplaceintheandintheaccountoftheJointAdmissionBoard,JAMBMakurdi,BenueState.theSenate,SenatorAdamuwasasChairmanofNorthernGovernorsafterSenatorShehuallegedthatN70billiontotheForumwasbymonkeys.ThenJAMB’soffice,asnakeswallowedN36topofthesefactsofleakagesarethecasesinvolvingwhicheveryyearfailremitunspentbudgetstotreasury.anNGO,PublicPapers,recentlythatforthefirstof2022someMDAsfoundtohavefailedtounspentbudgettotheofN3.6billion,adding
Wetaken.call on the relevant
Some expert had made the point that the recourse to burrowing at the least need of funds by the government would lessen, if not stop, when leakages are blocked in the treasuries of government agencies, just as the MDAs are punished for refusing to remit unspent budget to the public coffers.
reportsrending of revenuemissing in some agenciesgovernmentkey
T
On top of these facts of revenue leakages are the recurring cases involving MDAs, which every year fail to remit unspent budgets to the treasury
No alt text provided for this image
No alt text provided for this image
The import of the aforementioned references is to drive home the incontrovertible fact that Nigeria as we used to know it no longer exists. The grounds for her death were anchored on the expiration of the 100-year lapse of the so-called Amalgamation in 2014, and years before that date, Decree 34 of 1966 expunged the spirit and letter of the Federal Republic of Nigeria before Lieutenant Gowon affirmed later that year on July 29 that the basis of unity was non-existent. The last and equally cogent ground was the creation of Sharia States and Sharia Police force which constitutionally created ‘two countries in one’ as later confirmed by El-Rufai in one of his fiery statements.
We would be deceiving ourselves if we feign ignorance of the grand plan to impose Afghanistan on Nigeria, and worse, massacre as many as possible, and drive away all the indigenous peoples of Nigeria. It would be foolish to deny Buhari’s implicit involvement in all these and very active participation of the hounds he entrusted the security architecture to.
“Nigerians believe it or not; the game plan of the Fulani/ Islamic agenda is for Buhari to subtly give in to be kidnapped by the bandits who threatened to kidnap him and El Rufai. When they achieve this, they will go all the way to take over Aso Rock and establish a Caliphate.
Why the FGN disarmed all ethnic groups in Nigeria except the Fulani ethnic group who are heavily armed to the disadvantage of others?
Why the FGN is insisting on carrying on with the national population census?
BY TOLA ADENIYI
Why the FGN is giving foreigners from the Sahel Nigerian citizenship through the backdoor by registering and giving them National Identification Numbers (NIN)?
It will also help in fighting the cankerworm of corruption, while helping the government to plan adequately and
The answer to the above questions is the grand plan to take over Nigeria through, illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional means. Like the case of Afghanistan where the hypocritical. United States of America, European Union and United Nations stood by, so will the lot of Nigeria be if we fail to call for a referendum now.
National Identity is necessary for achieving implementation of social protection systems, particularly, in ensuring that the vulnerable in the society are not Bettermarginalized.identification, authentication, and targeting mechanisms can improve transparency, reduce waste, and streamline service delivery.
THE IMPORT
When implemented properly, identification systems have the potentials to assist countries achieve inclusive development, while enhancing security of lives and property, as nationwide use of reliable means of identification can help to combat crime and illegal
Theaccurately.benefits
of a unique identification system notwithstanding, poorly implemented identification systems could create certain risks for the society.
If the recommended Aburi meeting holds and fails to decide on de-amalgamation, or the simplest escape route, which is formation of Sovereign States in a Union, all the indigenous nationalities that wish to severe relations with the Nigerian carcass should unilaterally and immediately do so to ward off avoidable but imminent genocide, which is certain to soak the baboons of West Africa and the dogs the world over, in blood.
ost Nigerians must have read Dr Tim Akano’s patriotic suggestion calling on what he tagged Class of 1966 to urgently summon a National Emergency Elders Dialogue to be held in Aburi, Ghana. The main Agenda of the meeting is NIGERIAN QUESTION. The leaders he mentioned included Dr Yakubu Gowon, Dr Olusegun Obasanjo, Alhaji Ibrahim Babangida, Alhaji AbdulSalami Abubakar, Dr Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma, Alhaji Muhammadu Buhari, Ebitu Ukiwe, Alani Akinrinade, Alabi Isama and Aliyu Mohammed Gusau who, in his opinion, are the living principal actors that DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY brought Nigeria to the sorry state the dying country is in today.
Why the FGN is forcing Nigerians at all cost to register and obtain NIN?
Painfully they threatened to kidnap the sitting President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, without any squirm, the President nodded his head. Lastly they pushed and attacked Abuja to test-run their military prowess and still there is no counteraction.’’
that one can access without a NIN.
“Digital Identity is crucial for any digital economy. The NIN is therefore essential for its realization. In the United States, three main numbers work there. One is the telephone number. The second is the Zonal Improvement Plan (ZIP code). Every zone has a number attached to it. Then, they have their Social Security Number. Now that we have the NIN, we need to move to integrate the numbers for proper planning.”
Digital Identification helps detect fraud. It also reduces the need for physical presence. It enhances customer trust and helps to protect organisational reputation.
Why the FGN encourages the internalised, systematic and systemic genocide going on in Nigeria against the indigenous peoples of Nigeria by invaders from the Sahel with the help of their Nigerian cousins?
Director General, National Identity Management Commission, Engr. Aliyu Aziz, explained that “we adopted September 16 as National Identity Day in order to ensure that attention is drawn to the benefits and implications of citizens having a National Identity Number.”
Dr Akano suggested the inclusion of Dr Goodluck Jonathan, being a former President. When the meeting is to hold, which should be within a month from today, one non-partisan elder-statesman, one woman and one youth (below age 35) from each of the six geopolitical zones should make the list. These 23 Senior citizens plus the six youths, are to vigorously examine whether Nigeria should continue to exist or not, and under what strict terms and structure, principally to pre-empt the imminent violent collapse, disintegration and Afghanistanisation of the country with attendant irreversible anarchical consequences.
SMELL THE COFFEE
BY WALTER DURU
Have you bothered to ask why the terrorists, bandits and Fulani herdsmen are better armed than our police and army?
Identity Day, as a way of creating awareness on the benefits and implications of a legal means of identity, and in this case, the unique National Identity Number (NIN). The idea is that a National ID Day is an effective tool to sensitize the population and mobilize national resources around promoting identification.
The advantages are enormous. You must differentiate one from another. It is a form of differentiation. It also serves security purposes. That is what protects all developed nations, and it must be in a digital way so that it may be verified. The inconvenience is not as much as the benefits. Very soon, whatever the government wants to do with you in Nigeria, they will ask you for your NIN.”
Why the FGN has refused to expose and prosecute the sponsors and perpetrators of terrorism in Nigeria?
produce a unique, secure, and reliable form of identification for residents of a country provides numerous development benefits for individuals, from accessing government and business services, to establishing their right of residence and employment in a Ultimately,region.
Another concerned citizen Niyi Peters, shared a release on social media which carried the following posers in support of the cry to immediately address the looming Armageddon and consequent disaster it portends for each and every one of us particularly our women, children, the youths and the aged. In a direct call to the citizens with the refrain Fellow Nigerians, the writer wonders:
Digital Identity And The Verity of Nigeria’s September 16 Revolution
Speaking at the Conference, Executive Chairman of ID4Africa, Dr. Joseph Atick poured encomiums on Nigeria over her leadership role in promoting identification in HearAfrica.him:
“I like to update the call to recognize 16 September as Identity Day, in commemoration of SDG 16.9, which we had first made in 2018. Today, I would like to call on all the relevant African authorities to officially recognize this day as their Identity Day. Identity is a priority for Africa. Nigeria led the continent in this regard, and we applaud them for it. We would love to see the rest of the African countries doing the same.”
Why the FGN has refused to weed out terrorists in the government, armed forces and para-military?
Barrister Chief Malcolm Omirhobo, a foremost human rights lawyer, put it more succinctly in his interview published in the Guardian newspaper, where he categorically stated that Nigeria is five-minutes away from Afghanistan.
“These people hijacked and abducted all the travellers in a Federal Government owned train and nothing was done. They invaded Kuje Maximum Prison and freed all their men and other criminals and Government kept quiet.
Human Rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, recently reminded us that Buhari’s latter-day son-in-law Malami ‘refused to name the 400 financiers of terrorists the AGF announced in May 2021. Two weeks later in the same month, Malami also announced the arrest of 800 Boko Haram suspects. None of them has been put on trial.’
Identification is a right and an instrument of citizens’ protection. It opens the doors for access to government services, benefits, and opportunities. Little wonder in Nigeria today, there is hardly any government service
SEPTEMBER 18 - SEPTEMBER 24, 2022 THEWILL NEWSPAPER • www.thewillnigeria.com PAGE 15THEWILLNIGERIA THEWILLNG THEWILLNIGERIA OPINION
ust like many other members of the Nigerian delegation, I felt very proud to be a Nigerian, when, at the 2022 ID4Africa Conference in Marrakech, Morocco, my dearly beloved country was celebrated for leading the Identity revolution in Africa. The message was very clear; the ovation was loudest; many others present at the Conference must have wished that they were Nigerians at that very moment.
Nigeria received global commendation for leading identity reforms in Africa, by being the first country to introduce and celebrate a National Identity Day.
Why the FGN has encouraged Fulanis from all-over the world to come to Nigeria on the policy of visa on arrival?
Theimmigration.abilityto
•Continues online at www.thewillnigeria.com
“If you have a child, you give the child a name. It is applicable in this case. The NIN is like: how do I give my citizens unique names that the government will call them?
M
J
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Why the FGN forgives them and refuses to go after them or prosecute them?
No alt text provided for this image September 16 is celebrated yearly in Nigeria as National
I most earnestly recommend that readers should fetch Saturday August 6th copy of the Guardian or access the interview online via Google.
On the necessity of a unique identification for Nigerians, Director General of the National Identity Management Commission - NIMC, Engr. Aliyu Aziz explained that:
the price that we must pay for our silence in the face of the ongoing evil is that in no distant time there will be attacks like it is going on in Kaduna, Zamfara, Katsina, Plateau, Benue and Taraba states in Lagos , Ibadan, Warri, Benin , Calabar, Bayelsa and major cities in southern states of Nigeria.
Time to De-Amalgamate is Now
S
Thebillion.report
Consequent upon the fulfilment of all outstanding requirements, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has renewed the Air Transport Licence (ATL) of Azman Air, enabling the Airline to resume flight Directoroperations.General, NCAA, Captain Musa Nuhu confirm the renewal Friday in an official document made available to newsmen. With the new development, the airline has resumed it's normal operations.
published on the official Website of the nation’s statistical bureau further showed that palm oil importation in Q2 2022 was N14.64 billion against N13.52 billion in the previous quarter, representing an increase of 8.3 percent. The commodity which was classified as ‘Crude Palm Oil’ was imported mainly from West African and Asia.
reflecting an increase of 10 percent. Aside from palm oil, Nigeria imported Wheat totaling N131.54 billion in Q2 2022 against N130.60 billion in Q1 2022.
The country shipped in palm oil valued at N14.64 billion from Cote d’Ivoire in Q2 2022, while Malaysia and China supplied N13.50 billion and N0.02 billion of the commodity respectively in Q1 2022. In Q2 2021, Africa’s biggest economy imported N15.09 billion of palm oil from Singapore and N11.68 billion from India totaling N26.77 billion.
takeholders in the nation's insurance industry have called on the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to review the current regulation, which limits total insurance cover for aviation at the maximum of 5 per cent shareholding funds. As specified in the enabling law (NAICOM Act 1997), the commission has the mandate to establish standards for the conduct of insurance business in Nigeria; approve rates of insurance premiums to be paid
Data by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its ‘Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics Report’ for the second quarter of the year (Q2 2022) showed that the figure represents a 5.2 percent increase over the corresponding period of 2021 which recorded a value of N26.77
Palm Oil Importation Gulps N28.16bn in 6 Months PAGE 18 PAGE 19 MORE INSIDE MMA Ranks Fifth in Cargo Movement in Africa NCC, Civil Defence Corps, Align to Tackle Telecoms Crimes Continues on page 17
SEPTEMBER 18 - SEPTEMBER 24, 2022 THEWILL NEWSPAPER • www.thewillnigeria.com PAGE 16 THEWILLNIGERIA THEWILLNG THEWILLNIGERIA SEPTEMBER 18 - SEPTEMBER 24, 2022 THEWILL NEWSPAPER • www.thewillnigeria.com VOL.2 NO.38 Continues on page 17
B C DA 0 250 500 750 1000 In metric1000tons 20102009201120122013 E ABCDE Source; STATISTA trn3.39 trn6.16 trn7.52 trn8.63 1250 20142015GF F G trn12.31 trn13.42 H*14.27trn 20172016201820192020HIJKL 20212022MN J K L M N 1500 1750 trn10.21 PRODUCTION OF PALM OIL IN NIGERIA (2009-2022)
BY ANTHONY AWUNOR
Continues on page 18
BY SAM DIALA
N
igeria imported palm oil to the tune of N28.16 billion in the first six months of 2022, as the value of agricultural commodities shipped into the country maintained an upward trend. Palm oil falls under the nation’s foreign exchange restrictions; it is among the 41 import items banned by the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) for Forex Exchange. This implies that importers are to source their foreign exchange from alternative avenues such as the parallel market.
The Q2 2022 wheat importation comprised N70.67 billion and N60.87 billion from the US and Lithuania respectively. The N130.6 billion in Q1 2022 was made up of N71.56 billion from the US and N59.04 billion from Argentina as Nigeria sought alternative sources to Russia and Ukraine (its traditional suppliers) which have been engaged in a severe war since February, 2022.
The Q2 2021 wheat supplies totaling N218 billion came mainly from the US, Canada, Argentina and Lithuania. Frozen food items (blue whitings) were imported from Russia and The Netherlands in Q2 2022 to the tune of N13.39 billion and N7.31 billion respectively.
“Total imports of agricultural goods imported in Q2, 2022 stood at N454.45 billion or 8.55 percent of total imports in Q2, 2022. This shows an increase of 4.76 percent when compared to the value recorded in Q1, 2022 (N443.36 billion) and rose by 13.70 percent compared to the value recorded in Q2, 2021 (N408.49 billion)” the NBS stated in its report.
Palm oil is a highly sought commodity among manufacturing and processing firms which use it as raw material for the production of various consumer and industrial goods.
The CEO, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), Dr Muda Yusuf, said that the palm oil produced in Nigeria is grossly inadequate, adding that the users would pay any amount to bring in the commodity if it would boost their margins. “When
Despite Forex Restrictions,
Experts Seek Review of 5% Shareholding Funds in Aviation Insurance
BY ANTHONY AWUNOR
NCAA Renews Azman's Air Transport Licence
The NBS report further showed that Nigeria’s agricultural commodity importation accelerated during the periods – jumping from N1.094 trillion in HY 2021 to N1.105 trillion in HY 2022,
Nuhu Emefiele
Olorundare
Despite Forex Restrictions, Palm Oil Importation Gulps N28.16bn in 6 Months
Meanwhile, aviation insurance is critical to the smooth running of all aviation businesses. This type of insurance coverage is geared specifically to the operation of aircraft and the risks involved in aviation.
Topaddedproducers
In the early 1960s before the oil boom, Nigeria was exporting oil palm, but after that oil boom, we formsimporting,startedandallofoilpalm are finding their way to the Nigerian market
The players in the industry emphasised that, the review the of 5 per cent shareholding funds would spur growth in the Nigeria aviation industry, while also increasing economic activities in the country
In addition, it provides coverage for hull losses and liability for passenger injuries, environmental and third-party damage caused by aircraft accidents
Anotherfrom?”. insurance expert, Mr Shola Ajibade, called for frequent communication between aviation stakeholders and the insurance companies to discuss their challenges.
It is a huge business among the inland waterway transporters plying between Nigeria and the neighbouring countries. They are the real suppliers to the large manufacturing firms using the Thecommodity”.deputy director, department of agriculture in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Benard Okata, said Nigeria is spending about $500 million annually on oil palm importation in order to complement existing gaps in the sector.
Palm oil has numerous usage globally which include: Edible Oil, Bio-Diesel, Lubricants, Cosmetics, and other applications – household cooking, food and beverages, oleo Chemicals, personal care, animal feed and bio-fuel. Global production of palm oil has increased rapidly since the 1990s, with plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia supplying around 85 percent of the global trade.
“ Continued from page 16
He recalled that the governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele, had expressed sadness that Nigeria was still importing palm oil in spite of the sufficient arable land in the SouthSouth and South-East regions of the country to produce it.
products are expensive, it has a way of benefiting the producers because they will adjust their prices to maximize their profit”, Yusuf, immediate past director-general, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) told THEWILL in a telephone chat.
They made the call at an Aviation and Cargo Conference in Lagos with the theme: ‘The Role of Insurance Regulation in the Growing Aviation and Cargo Business in Nigeria’.
Two major quoted oil palm companies in Nigeria, Okomu Oil Palm Co. Plc and Presco Plc reported impressive performance in their FY 2021 annual reports. Okomu grew revenue from N23.41 billion in 2020 to N37.39 billion, while the profit after tax rose to N16.11 billion from N8.69 billion. Its assets jumped to N34 billion from N28.62 billion.
For effectiveness, Aviation insurance has been divided into several types of insurance coverage available. They include Public liability insurance, often referred to as third party liability which covers aircraft owners for damage that their aircraft does to third party property, such as houses, cars, crops, airport facilities and other aircraft struck in a collision.
Aviation insurance policies are however, distinctly different from those for other areas of transportation and tend to incorporate aviation terminology, as well as terminology, limits and clauses specific to aviation insurance.
“So, there is a gap,” he said. We import to make up for this gap, and Nigeria is spending about $500million annually for this importation up till now,”
The players in the industry emphasised that the review the of 5 per cent shareholding funds would spur growth in the Nigeria aviation industry, while also increasing economic activities in the country.
In their various presentations at the conference, the insurance experts said, the limited insurance cover for the sector as stipulated in the law should be given a second thought.
“But the reinsurance side is not domiciled in Nigeria. It is worldwide. You need to be part of those things and there has to be consultation, wide consultation of the
Others are Passenger Liability Insurance, Combined Single Limit (CSL), Ground Risk Hull Insurance Not In Motion, Ground Risk Hull Insurance In Motion and In-flight Insurance.
“We have some players in the industry who will you they don’t have the dollar to pay their premium and what they have is naira that is a challenge for the insurance industry, where do you source the dollar
Okata, who made this remark at the national workshop on oil palm organised by Solidaridad, an international non-governmental organisation in Abuja in November 2020, said that Nigeria’s current local requirement for palm oil generally is about three million metric tonnes, but that it is producing only about 1.02 metric tonnes of oil palm.
exporting oil palm, but after that oil boom, we started importing, and all forms of oil palm are finding their way to the Nigerian market,” he
It does not provide coverage for damage to the insured aircraft itself or coverage for passengers injured on the insured aircraft.
Continued from page 16
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of palm oil in Nigeria Nigerian States that are considered to be the largest producers of palm oil are Akwa-Ibom, Abia, Rivers, Edo, Imo, Ondo, Bayelsa, Cross River and Delta. But the state governments have not made significant efforts towards maximizing the potential of palm oil production in their areas.
Aviation insurance is considered as a special risk and the premium is said to be high because of the high risk associated with the business.
The Director, Policy and Regulation, National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Mr. Leo Aka, who represented the Chief Executive Officer of the Commission, Mr. Thomas Olorundare Sunday for more capital injection to enable more local retention and licensing of more local reinsurers to address some of the major challenges facing aviation insurance in Nigeria.
Experts Seek Review of 5% Shareholding Funds in Aviation Insurance INSURANCE/INDUSTRY
Also, a Senior Climate Specialist for Africa at Solidaridad, who doubles as Country Technical Lead, Nigeria, Sam Ogala, affirmed that Nigeria was not meeting its domestic demand for oil palm.
These he listed to include, sabotaging local content Act requirements, accusation of high premium rates, Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) and nature of reinsurance cover among others.
“We have had experience in the past where there were claims and the reinsurer abroad could not pay, we also prescribe how much you can take in aviation because of the risky nature. The highest you can take in terms of shareholders fund, you can’t take more than 5%, all these are to protect you”.
An operator of a mediumenterprise palm oil processing firm, Emmanuel Ebong said the NBS figures do not reflect the actual value of the commodity that is shipped into the country. “A large quantity of palm oil is smuggled across the borders, particularly from Cameroun and Benin Republic.
Presco Plc recorded a N41.11 billion revenue in 2021 from N23.89 billion in the preceding period. Post-tax profit increased to N19.82 billion in FY 2021from N5.26 billion while its assets rose from N31 billion to N48 billion. Both firms operate fullyintegrated agro-industrial facilities with a combined market capitsation of N322 billion.
“
Debunking the claim that the Asian countries came to pick the palm seeds from Nigeria, the agricultural specialist said the basic cultivation strategy of oil palm was developed in Africa, but Nigeria didn’t take advantage of it. He said the Asians took over, such that many think that they came to pick the seeds from here. “They didn’t,” he said, “rather they (Asians) made use of what they had and improved it.”
Thestakeholders”.organiser of the conference, Mr Ikechi Uko, said the event is meant to bring together airline operators and the Insurance companies to address the growing perception of exploitation of airlines by Nigerian insurance companies and the alleged use of the law to prevent them from using foreign insurers when they lack adequate capacity to insure a brand new aircraft but still charge high premium.
“This country is spending around $500m annually to import oil palm. That shows you the huge gap, and it’s because we are not meeting local demand. In the early 1960s before the oil boom, Nigeria was
in respect of all classes of insurance business; ensure adequate protection of strategic government assets and other properties amongst others.
The agriculture coordinator, Okomu Oil Palm Company, Billy Ghansah, had said at the occasion that for Nigeria to fill the existing gaps in its palm oil production, there is a need to plant about 100,000 hectares of oil palm.
The CBN has introduced several intervention schemes towards boosting agricultural produce for household and industrial consumptions as well as for export. These include the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme Fund, the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme, the N220 billion MSMEs Fund and the Agribusiness/Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS).
Managing Director of one of the insurance companies Mr. Edeki Isujeh raised the issue of access to the dollar for the payment of premium and called on the insurance regulator to liaise with the Central Bank of Nigeria for a special window.
He disclosed that Nigeria surpassed the African growth of 11.6% in 2021 with a fair margin, having recorded an increase of 52% within the same period.
W
He hinted that Nigeria with over 200 million population and the largest market in Africa will do
Managingbetter.Director of FAAN, Capt. Rabiu
InYaduduasimilar
The airlines are therefore urged to increase their capacity in domestic air cargo operations. I believe that if this is done and with the development of Aviacargo national guidelines and its deliberate implementation, we stand the opportunity of increasing the domestic freight by at least 30% year on year going
He further stated that within the same period in Africa, Ethiopian Airlines has just published its financial statement and shows that 59% of its revenue came from cargo, stressing that this shows the capacity of the market in Africa.
NCC, Civil Defence Corps Align to Tackle Telecoms Crimes
MMA Ranks Fifth in Cargo Movement in Africa
Azman ATL expired last year in 2021 and the airline made an appeal for 90 days extension which was granted followed by another 30 days which expired Wednesday 14th September, 2022.
All airlines indebted to the NCAA have been urged to sign a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU on the amount to be paid monthly to offset their debts but unfortunately, Azman air was yet to sign the MoU before the expiration of its last ATL.
Azman Air Services Limited is a Nigerian based domestic airline company.
Established in 2010 by businessman Abdulmunaf Yunusa Sarina, the airline operates scheduled domestic passenger services with its main base in Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano.
According to her, the hidden relationships between the industries and opportunities would be revealed for individual Nigerians to latch on for improvement in their investments in those industries.
“Throughservices.despicable
She said, the whole essence of the lecture was to bridge the gap between the finance, technology and tourism Nwanmaindustries.Ogidi, who is the publisher of Waka About Africa, said the lecture which will be the first of its kind in the country, will bring together policy makers, media groups, professionals and stakeholders in the ICT, finance, aviation, tourism and culture sectors would interact under one roof to share experiences and unlock opportunities.
The airline began operations in Nigeria with 2 Boeing 737-500 aircraft for its domestic
In the same year, about 39 tons of mails, Yadudu noted passed through Nigeria’s airports with total mails importation standing at 77%.
Danbatta declared that “These criminal activities include theft and vandalism of telecommunications infrastructure, the illegal use of fraudulently-registered Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards, operating without license, illegal call masking, and so on.”
SEPTEMBER 18 - SEPTEMBER 24, 2022 THEWILL NEWSPAPER • www.thewillnigeria.com PAGE 18 THEWILLNIGERIA THEWILLNG THEWILLNIGERIA BUSINESS NEWS
Waka About Africa: Danbatta, Prof Aje, Others FinTechTourForLectureO
ith 204, 649 tonnes of cargo, Nigeria’s Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, Nigeria has been ranked among the top five air cargo airports in Africa in 2001.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has teamed with the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to tackle some of the criminal activities bedeviling the telecom industry, such as telecom equipment vandalism and fraudulent registration of Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards among others.
it is quite obvious that the nation has the capacity to triple this volume if it gets its priorities right and do the needful.
Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, who addressed a gathering of senior management staff of NSCDC in the South West Zone, at an exclusive workshop organised by the Commission, hailed the Memorandum of Understanding sealed between the agency and the Commission, for which the gathering was to explore how the Corps will deploy enabling laws, subsidiary legislations, and extant guidelines to arrest any form of criminality in the sector.
vein, Yadudu stated that Nigeria imports more than she exports through air cargo, stressing that in 2017, about 168.7 tons of goods transited through the nation’s airports, with importation accounting for about 66% of this total, while export of goods accounted for the balance of 34%.
"The theme for the expo is "FinTechTour: Unlocking Opportunities For Nigerian Businesses", to hold at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industries (LCCI) Conference Centre, Ikeja, Lagos.
The statistics were made available by the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Capt Rabiu Yadudu at the second edition of the Aviation and Cargo Conference, tagged CHINET held in Lagos recently.
The FAAN boss however expressed disappointment that the nation still has a long way to go in the domestic air cargo facilitation, saying that it was his belief that it can do much better given the country’s population and agricultural capacity and “Itoutput.isnot news that many of our farm produce is transported by road and as such most of the produce got damaged and loose quality in transit. This calls for urgent aviacargo intervention as it is one of the major reasons for food scarcity and high prices in some parts of the country.
NCAA Renews Azman's Air Transport Licence
“If only we could bridge the gap, then we would confidently say that we will be ranked at the top of busiest cargo handling airport in Africa and compete favorably in the global aviation index. This should be our next task. The AviaCargo guideline should be the clear way to go”.
The domestic airline's Air Transport License (ATL) had earlier been suspended for owing the NCAA about N1.2 billion of unremitted Passenger Service Charge, PSC and Cargo Service Charge, CSC.
activities that are criminal and totally at variance with national security concerns of government, the deviant elements in our midst have been acting to undermine efforts put in place to consolidate the gains of the sector," the EVC said.
Danbatta said the NSCDC and other agencies have done very well with the assistance of security their personnel in carrying out raid exercises and mopping up fraudulently-registered SIM cards found in circulation, as well as in raising the banner of awareness on the need to protect critical national telecom infrastructure.
She said this was quite important to ensure that there was a seamless running of the industries in Nigeria and to ensure the industries operate at the optimal level.
L-R: Group Company Secretary, UBA, Mr. Bili Odum; Executive Director Finance and Risk Management, UBA, Mr Ugo Nwaghodoh; Divisional Head (DH), Business Support Services, Nigerian Exchange Limited, Mrs. Irene Robinson-Ayanwale; Deputy Managing Director, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Mr. Muyiwa Akinyemi; Director, Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Ltd , Erelu Angela Adebayo; Chief Executive Officer, NGX, Mr. Temi Popoola; Group Managing Director/ CEO, United Bank for Africa(UBA) Plc, Oliver Alawuba; Executive Director, North, UBA, Ms Emem Usoro and DH, Capital Markets, NGX, and Executive Director/ GCOO, UBA, Mr Alex Alozie and other during the visit of recently appointed UBA’s executive management and ceremonial strike of the closing gong at the floor of the Exchange in Lagos on September 15, 2022.
He said while the NSCDC officers have been of tremendous assistance, the objective of the workshop was to constantly engage and update them on new trends and existing regulations, requiring concerted efforts for their implementation towards enhancing sanity in the telecom sector.
rganiser of the of FinTechTour lecture, Nwanma Chinyere Ogidi has assured that all is set for the 2022 edition.
Yaduduforward.notedthat
His words, “We exported only 23% of the total. Although, the data shows a 52% increase in the total volume of goods and mails that passed through our airports in 2021 compared to 2020 data; It is not a piece of cheering news to say that we have not been able to reduce the deficits in our ability to export more through our airports”.
Continued from page 16
The PSC and CSC are collected in behalf of the NCAA by the airlines and expected to be remitted to the agency.
It began operations in 2014 with its first commercial flight to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, on 15 May 2014 from Kano.
According to Nwanma, who disclosed this in an interview with Journalists in Lagos said the lecture would hold Sept. 22, 2022.
Nigeria is behind Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Kenya with 363, 204 tonnes of cargo, Cairo International Airport, Egypt (333,536 tonnes), Oliver Reginald International Airport, South Africa (304, 018), and the Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, Ethiopia with 226, 417 tonnes of cargo that moved through the aerodromes according to the Airports Council International statistics.
Danbatta, who was represented at the workshop by the Director, Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement at the Commission, Ephraim Nwokonneya, said, for the years, the NCC has been working with relevant law enforcement agencies, and in particular the NSCDC, towards protecting telecom sector from all kinds of criminal behaviour.
Regional breakdowns of early education enrollment and school attendance rates give a clearer view of the issue. The Northern part of the country has very troubling school attendance rates,
with states like Bornu, Bauchi, Sokoto, Gombe, and others with out-of-school rates that hover between 48-60 per cent and early education enrollment rates that are between 3 per cent and 7 per
I
rates in the regions outside the North are much better with one-digit percentage figures being the norm but the poor early enrollment figures give cause for concern because it suggests that the primary school education process is not begun on time by most children in the country and this gets worrying when we consider the actual quality of the primary education being offered.
HUMAN
BY CHETA NWANZE
SEPTEMBER 18 - SEPTEMBER 24, 2022 THEWILL NEWSPAPER • www.thewillnigeria.com PAGE 19THEWILLNIGERIA THEWILLNG THEWILLNIGERIA
The out-of-school figures for female children in the core Northern regions are very troubling because they show that almost 60 per cent of girls in those areas are out-of-school and are being deprived of the education that would equip them with the tools required for optimal socioeconomic performance. Hopefully, the insecurity and the cultural barriers that help keep the girl child from education would soon be dealt with.
Thecent.out-of-school
These figure becomes even scarier when you take the data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2021 into account. 61% of six to 11 year-olds regularly attend primary school and only 35.6% of children aged 36-59 months receive early childhood education “ CAPITAL
The nine-year Basic Education Curriculum (BEC) covers ten subjects: Mathematics; Basic Science and Technology; English Studies; Religion and National Values; Cultural and Creative Arts; Business Studies; Nigerian Languages; Pre-vocational Studies; French; and Arabic.
In addition to technical skills, primary school education is also a vital component of the socialisation structure that looks to teach children socially acceptable norms, beliefs, values, and behaviours that they are expected to align with for successful integration into society.
With this in mind, it becomes easier to grasp the importance of the statistic pointing out that 20 per cent of the world’s out-ofschool children are in Nigeria. Primary education in Nigeria is compulsory and is officially free in public schools but UNICEF data says that close to 20 million Nigerian children between the ages of five and 14 years are out of school. These figure becomes even scarier when you take the data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2021 into account. 61 per cent of six to 11 year-olds regularly attend primary school and only 35.6 per cent of children aged 36-59 months receive early childhood education.
t has been well acknowledged that primary school education is the foundation of individual and national development. The skills learnt at that level are the base on which the capacity for future economic productivity is built.
This means that whenever children are deprived of quality primary school education, they are at risk of having a damaged foundation that exposes them to the likelihood of lifelong technical and social incompetence. This impairs their chances of achieving adequate integration into the family, workplace, and society as a whole. And, if a significant portion of a society’s children are deprived of proper primary school education, then the society itself is likely to eventually pay a high social and economic cost for this.
Quite disturbing, the South-East has poor early enrollment rates
Primary school education takes up the first six years of Nigeria’s nine-year Basic Education Curriculum, which seeks to give every child resident in the country an adequate foundation for a successful and productive life.
that are in the 6 per cent to 12 per cent range, with Anambra State having strikingly poor figures with over 20 per cent being out of school partly due to the insecurity related to the IPOB situation, while Ebonyi State shows growth with a 20 per cent early enrollment rate that is the highest in the country.
The socialisation role of primary school education deserves to be better appreciated and enhanced significantly in Nigeria, but especially in the troubled zones where locals are indulging in antisocial and destructive behaviour, which exists partly because people are not adequately conditioned by an effective socialisation process that would have been made available by a proper primary school education system.
•Cheta Nwanze is a partner at SBM Intelligence.
Nigeria’s Out-of-School-Children Burden
Name: TASCON Plastics Industries Nigeria Limited Intervention: RSSF/DCRR Sector: Manufacturing Location: Kwara State
T
The Unilorin/GGMAX farm is an integrated poultry farm established in February 2022 through the CBN Tertiary Institutions Poultry Revival Scheme (TIPReS). The university accessed a 600 million naira loan to build the farm which produces fresh eggs, whole broilers (live and dressed), chicken parts, poultry feeds and manures, and currently targets a production capacity of 40,000 broilers. Backward integration plans are also being implemented that include a 2,000 hectare land for Maize and Soya beans cultivation for the poultry, and the establishment of its own hatchery and an egg powder production facility.
at
K
OLAK ROOFING NIGERIA LIMITED Tertiary Institution Poultry Revival Scheme (TIPReS)
O
45 YEARS OF CBN INTERVENTION
Tascon Plastic Industries Nigeria Limited was established in 2013 for the production of PVC pipes of various sizes and thickness. Utilizing the funds accessed from the CBN intervention tailored for the real sector, the need for growth and development led the company to expand its production base from just 3 extruder pipe machines which produce at a capacity of about 3 metric tons per day to 16 extruder pipes making machines producing at a capacity of as much as 22 metric tons per day. The company has also established a new unit focused on production of PVC ceilings which currently has 6 machines and has further expanded into production of its own calcium carbonate (CaC03) used for pipe production.
to
SUPPORT FACILITY-DIFFERENCIATED CASH RESERVE REQUIRMENT
Sector: Agriculture
Name: Unilorin/Ggmax Poultry Integrated Commercial Poultry Farm
CBN INTERVENTIONS IN KWARA AND NASARAWA STATES
that access to finance is a key
In
Location: Kwara State
Name: OLAK Roofing Nigeria Limited Intervention: RSSF/DCRR Sector: Manufacturing Location: Kwara State
The mill processes locally grown paddy into premium parboiled long grain rice using a strategy that targets building an ecosystem which integrates government’s national food security goals and community development for producers and farmers. recognition limiting factor innovation development of the economy in Nigeria, the Central targeted priority sectors/segments which include: a Development Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). In Kwara and Nasarawa states, the CBN has financed about 13,334 and 13,241 projects respectively. Some of these projects in the two states are highlighted below.
LAK ROOFING NIGERIA LIMITED is a roofing sheet producing company situated in Ilorin, Kwara State that is mainly into production of aluminium accessories, building materials, and construction. The company accessed the CBN intervention fund for the real sector to finance its new production line and has a capacity of 2500 metric tons in a month with a large number of direct and indirect employees.
Location: Kwara State
SEPTEMBER 18 - SEPTEMBER 24, 2022 THEWILL NEWSPAPER • www.thewillnigeria.com PAGE 20 THEWILLNIGERIA THEWILLNG THEWILLNIGERIA
Sector: Agriculture
Name: Hillcrest Agro-Allied Industries Limited
Intervention: CACS
KWARA STATEREALSECTOR
•Export •Micro,
Bank of Nigerias’ key development finance interventions are
The farm provides direct employment to 60 staff and indirect employment to about 300 individuals.
he Central Bank of Nigeria established the Tertiary Institution Poultry Revival Scheme (TIPReS) to boost the local production and processing of poultry products by leveraging on the knowledge and experience of Nigerian tertiary institutions along the poultry value chain. It also seeks to enhance the institutions’ research & development capabilities with intent to foster local innovations. The intervention aims to build students’ and local communities’ capacities to engage with the poultry value chain in a profitable and sustainable manner.
Hillcrest Agro-Allied Industries Limited is a Nigerian based agro producer of premium quality parboiled rice sourced locally. The company first commenced operations in 2012, as a unit under Dayntee Farms Limited, initially just producing 54 bags of Rice which were mainly sold in Offa with the strength of 25 staff members. Having accessed funds under the Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme (CACS) of the CBN, the company has expanded in terms of human and output capacity from 6 metric tons per hour in 2015, to operating an expanding rice mill with current production capacity of 14 metric tons per hour (75, 000 MT per annum).
and
•Agriculture •Manufacturing •Infrastructure •HealthCare •Youth and
T
wara State is said to be the ninth largest state but the sixth least populous with an estimated population of about 3.2 million as of 2016 (NBS Data). Economically, the state is largely dependent on agriculture but have other key service industries. The Central Bank of Nigeria has financed about 13,334 projects across the state. Details of these projects include the following:
Intervention: TIPReS
he Real Sector Support Facility (RSSF) was set up with the objective of fast tracking the development of critical sectors of the economy e.g. manufacturing, agriculture value chain and the service sub-sectors of the Nigerian economy. It is aimed at increasing output, generating employment, diversifying the revenue base, increasing foreign exchange earnings and providing inputs for the industrial sector on a sustainable basis. Under this intervention programme, priority is accorded to projects with high local content, import substitution, foreign exchange earnings and potential for job creation.
Akanbi Taiwo Hassan applied for the Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) despite fear of being exploited. His plan was to expand his fish farming business located at Gora, Keffi Local Government Area of the state. He is happy that the intervention has been impactful and is appreciative of the efforts of the CBN.
Intervention: CACS Sector: Agriculture Location: Nasarawa State
Among the 36 states of Nigeria, Nasarawa is the fifteenth largest but the second least populous with an estimated population of about 2.5 million (NBS 2016 data). Nasarawa State has agriculture as the mainstay of its economy with the production of varieties of cash crops throughout the year. The Central Bank has financed about 13, 241 projects in the state and some of these projects are highlighted below.
Improved funding of the Agricultural sector will Increase output and foreign exchange earnings, generate employment, diversify the revenue base, and provide input for the industrial sector on a sustainable basis. Several projects with a high impact on the economy have been funded under the scheme.
n response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Central Bank of Nigeria granted loans to households and small businesses to cushion the effects of the pandemic across the country. The Targeted Credit Facility (TCF) supports households and small businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
s part of its developmental role, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) established the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS) to support commercial agricultural enterprises in Nigeria. The scheme is aimed at fast-tracking development in the agricultural sector and promoting food security through affordable credit facilities to commercial agricultural enterprises in the country.
I
45 YEARS OF CBN INTERVENTION
THE AGRI-BUSINESS SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES INVESTMENT SCHEME (AgSMEIS)
A
A
NASARAWA STATE
Name: Adejoh Monday Salami
COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE CREDIT SCHEME (CACS)
Name: OLAM Nigeria Limited Intervention: CACS Sector: Agriculture Location: Nasarawa State
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Intervention: AgSMEIS
n 2017 a team of young Nigerians started the Nigeria Farmers Group And Cooperative Society (NFGCS). They established a farm settlement Village in Ga’ate community, Kokona LGA Nasarawa State with structures on ground to support commercial agriculture like Irrigation system, employment of Agricultural Extension Officers and purchase of sophisticated Farm Machineries.
TARGETED CREDIT FACILITY (TCF)
Adejoh Monday Salami heard about the Agribusiness Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme, AgSMEIS and applied for a loan to purchase additional machines to expand his printing business. He accessed the loan and has grown his business including his staff strength which has increased from 3 to 7.
The farm settlement village is 3,000 hectares and agricultural activities including crop production, animal husbandry, rice processing and equipment fabrication are on-going in Large scale. The group accessed funds from the Central Bank of Nigeria under the Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme to purchase rice milling and parboiling machines with 30 tons per day and 15 tons per day capacity respectively. Part of the funds was used for the purchase of 5000 broilers and 5000 layers for poultry. 176 staff are now employed in the farm post intervention, an improvement to the 100 staff pre-intervention.
gribusiness Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AgSMEIS) was established to support the Federal Government’s efforts at promoting agricultural businesses of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as a vehicle for sustainable economic development and employment generation.
Name: Nigeria Group And Cooperative Society (NFGCS)
I
Sector: SME Location: Nasarawa State
Name: Akanbi Taiwo Hassan Intervention: TCF Sector: Agriculture Location: Nasarawa State
SEPTEMBER 18 - SEPTEMBER 24, 2022 THEWILL NEWSPAPER • www.thewillnigeria.com PAGE 22 THEWILLNIGERIA THEWILLNG THEWILLNIGERIA SEPTEMBER 18 - SEPTEMBER 24, 2022 THEWILL NEWSPAPER • www.thewillnigeria.com PAGE 22-27 BRANCHFEMI Swimming in Murky Waters of Politics
Judging by the calibre of people some of the political parties now go for, they also put some things into consideration. They aren't just looking for people who were popular, but people who also have some kind of reputation and relevance beyond their profession. They understand that we deal with every aspect of life. We deal with the high and the low. That is why when problems arise, people will attack the actors that are not speaking out. We are opinion molders. When an actor or an entertainer stands up to say something, people listen because we have a fan base that cuts across culture, tribe, language.
Some people say getting followers on social media is a different world entirely, but it cannot translate into votes. Do you agree with that?
There is so much we can achieve as a group. Everything may seem okay to them now. When they run into trouble, they will come back to the guild and expect it to come to their aid. Even the public will start blaming the guild and saying we didn't do this, we didn't do that, even though the person in question does not belong to the guild. There is so much the guild can do to help such people when they run into trouble because it will be unfair on those who are committed members when they see that it is helping those who are not members.
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I agree with you on that, but when it comes to actors, we have more credible followership. We didn't gain our popularity on
What challenges did you encounter when you were in charge of the guild in the South-West?
Nollywood actor and running mate to the governorship candidate of the National Rescue Movement, Chief Femi Branch, speaks with SHADE WESLEY-METIBOGUN about his involvement in politics, acting and sundry issues. Excerpts:
When some of our members were recently kidnapped, the guild was able to raise a ransom for them. I am very proud to say that the guild raised about 90 per cent of the ransom. This is as a result of the confidence that we were able to build in people about the guild. It wasn't like that before and it hasn't been like that for many years.
In the beginning, there was the Theatre Arts Movie Practitioners Association of Nigeria (TAMPAN). It comprises all practitioners. The actors' guild was operating under it, but later, it started functioning on its own. When the guild broke away, it had mostly English speaking practitioners. Later other associations also came up and there were different fractions. But now, we have Yoruba, Hausa, and English speaking practitioners who are now members of the guild and some of them still belong to the other associations as well. I believe they see the guild as the mother guild of movie practitioners. So, it is not just the English speaking genre practitioners that are in the guild. In spite of this, some people still feel that they are not well represented.
Why is it that the English speaking genre of the movie industry has more members in the guild than the Yoruba genre?
The actor may not be able to get all his followers to believe in his political aspirations, but you can be sure that he will get them to believe in him. Just for the love and the faith they have in him. It is a very good development, we have come a long way, despite how people see and perceive us, and we have been able to make something good of ourselves.
You recently relinquished your position as the Vice President of Actors Guild of Nigeria, South West region. What would you say were your achievements when you were in office?
Political parties now approach entertainers and pick their aspirants from the industry. What do you think is responsible for this?
I worked with the National President, Emeka Rollas, and we were able to achieve quite a lot. We were able to engender interest and confidence in our members, especially those who felt they didn't need the guild. We were able to convince them about the importance of working together to strengthen the guild. We made them understand that whether or not they want to identify with the guild. If anything happens to any of them, everybody will start attacking the guild.
The guild was in crisis when many of them came into the industry. The series of crises over the years led to divisions which gave birth to different factions. The situation did not give many actors the confidence to identify with the guild. There was no stability and so the guild couldn't perform its constitutional duties to many actors. As a result, they felt that there was no need to join the guild. But now, we have been able to stabilize the guild. All the factions have been merged into a single unit. The people who had issues with each other are now working together within the guild. Emeka Ike, a former president of the guild is even heading some committees now, which is what nobody has been able to achieve for years. The story has changed now. We thank God for that.
The same profession that nobody considered to be a serious one is what people are now looking up to. Acting is now more lucrative than the professions that they used to hold in high esteem. Most actors have been able to distinguish themselves beyond the movie industry. They have attained a level of social relevance beyond the boundaries of our profession. I think that is what political parties saw that spurred the interest in inviting movie practitioners to join politics. Actors have fame, they are well known to other members of the public, too.
It is a very beautiful development for our industry and our nation because entertainers, especially actors, were seen as unserious people in the past. A child couldn't tell his father that he wanted to become an actor in those days. You could only hear them say they want to be a doctor or lawyer. None of them would say they want to be an actor or actress. When a child came home in those days and says, I want to be an actor, everyone will laugh
at such a child. But the narrative has changed. The perception has changed. Those people who used to look down on us are now working with us. The doctors, lawyers, accountants are all working for us. Things have changed.
Branch
Branch
–TOWHENNOTENTERTAINERSROOKIESITCOMESPOLITICSFEMIBRANCH
Basically it is just what I have explained. When you have a guild and the practitioners, who are supposed to be part of the guild or those who are supposed to be serving in the guild, are not interested in identifying with it, it makes your work difficult. That is why I had to speak with some people about the guild. Whenever there was any problem, I used to tell them that if they were members of the guild, we would fight for them. I have had to convince them over and over again about what they stood to gain from becoming members of the guild. It was quite Resolvingchallenging.disputes between members was quite a difficult tough task, too. We also had some challenges when we tried to revive some chapters of the guild in the South-West because of personal grievances. Supervising a lot of people as a group and then as individuals was also a tough task. Most of them came with personal and joint issues that must be resolved. The time we were supposed to use to build was used in resolving issues and persuading people about the guild. It was a whole lot really. But I am happy that we were able to build a good foundation so that the person coming to take over can find the work easy.
Quite a lot of A-listers have validated their membership in the guild across the country. A lot of them are even working in committees and sub- committees in the guild. We have also been able to strengthen the membership in the South-West as well. It is still work in progress, which is just the little we have done.
Why did a lot of actors shy away from joining the guild in the first place?
For any party that wants to be seen as being sensitive to the needs of the people, one of the best decisions they can make is to work with an actor or entertainer. We know how to make people happy, we know what people need. We tell the story of virtually everyone, we have taken it upon ourselves to be a mirror of society. So choosing an actor to run for a political office is the wisest thing anybody can do. You can be sure that you are getting followership that is not based on sentiment.
Less than two months ago. I have never been a card-carrying member of any political party before then. I have been very vocal and critical of political parties. I don't mince words when I talk about them, because of that, I have no stake in any of the political Theparties.only politician I have ever supported in my life is Jimi Agabje. He is the only person I have ever come out publicly to canvass and campaign for. It was because I believed in him. We had an advocacy for him because we did our research and found out that he had a lot to offer Lagos State. Alex Okoroji and I spearheaded the project for new Lagos. We didn't go to him and request for money to fund the project, we used our own money. Many actors took part in the project. We worked just because we believed in the man. He didn't win at the end of the day. But it's alright, you can't win all the time. I don't believe in parties but individuals. Unfortunately, the individual cannot function without a party. If you want to serve people, you just have to join a political party. You have to compromise sometimes, it is only your value that you will not compromise.
Another thing to consider is the fact that entertainers work with politicians a lot. Some of us are card-carrying members of political parties. Many of us are politicians. Being an actor does not make you a novice in politics. The profession itself equips people to adapt to any situation. We should be happy that the narrative has changed for actors who were seen as beggars in the Apast.few years ago, during election campaigns, politicians would hire actors and comedians to go shout on the stage and that is all but now, we are their co-participants. I have always criticised those going to government houses or to a political aspirant to beg for favour. We are more than that! We are professionals in our own right. Our profession may not be paying us as much as we desire, but there is dignity in labour. We should hold our heads high and put a premium on ourselves now that we are being called to participate. Don't let your pocket rule you. That is exactly what is happening now. Definitely, we will learn a lot of new things but we will adapt.
Branch
God has blessed me with contentment. It is the greatest thing anyone can aspire to have in life. Once you have contentment, you can overcome any temptation. I was brought up with certain values that I cannot compromise. Otunba Bolade Osunkoya, my father was the personal Librarian to Chief Obafemi Awolowo. He taught me well
Branch
social media. We gained our popularity before social media came. We have our fan base all over the world, even local Yoruba actors have fans in Asia, America and Europe. People are dying for them all over the world. Most of these actors are treated like royalty when they travel abroad. You would be amazed at how they are held in high esteem abroad. So our followership does not come from social media. Social media just amplifies it. The credibility of the work we have done long before the advent of the social media is what brought us fame. You can argue favorably that the popularity of a skit maker cannot be compared to that of an actor because our own worth is on two platforms, it has more weight (let me use the word for lack of a better word). So, everything you are getting from them is authentic, it's the real thing you are getting from them.
What advice do you have for Nigerians as the general election fast approaches?
there for personal ambition. Anything you cannot achieve in four years means they don't plan to achieve such a goal. At least, touch every aspect in the life of the people.
What will happen to your career now that you are fully involved in politics?
It is the greatest thing anyone can aspire to have in life. Once you have contentment, you can overcome any temptation. I was brought up with certain values that I cannot compromise. Otunba Bolade Osunkoya, my father was the personal Librarian to Chief Obafemi Awolowo. He is also involved in partisan politics, he is an Awoist to the core and he has taught me well.
If you feel the party you are looking at is the only avenue to get to where you will effect a change, there is nothing wrong in joining the party. The only thing is that you don't compromise your ideal. It is not the party that gets you there that matters but what you do when you get there. I will advise people going into political office not to make the same mistake that the people who are there made. Don't think of a second term. By God's grace, if I get there, I am not thinking of a second term. That is what makes a lot of people mess up. So when they get there, they will first serve their political godfathers. The second term will be used to serve their needs. The best thing is to show people what good leadership is all about. If the people want good leadership, they will bring you back. Good leaders wouldn't go
What I will say is what I have been saying since. What happened in Osun State may not be possible in other states. For those who collected money to vote, the people giving money are now wise. They might stand there and watch you vote before they give money. Don't sell your conscience in 2023 just for peanuts. Let us make money politics fail. The only thing making those people to stay in politics is because of the money they syphon. Let us disgrace money in 2023. Not every revolution involves standing on the street. Let us have a political revolution in Nigeria.
I have to be very honest with you, money is the greatest challenge we are having right now. The governorship aspirant, Dr Tofunmi Ogunronbi and I are young people. He is even younger than I am, but he is quite accomplished and he has a heart to change things in Ogun State. There is a limit to which personal money can take you in politics. As a matter of fact, you are not supposed to spend your own money that is why you have campaign donations.
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How prepared do you think our entertainers are for the political task ahead?
When acting in a hospital scene, we will call doctors and ask questions because you have to respect the profession you want to portray. I had an encounter with a Police Public Relation Officer who complained about the way the police were presented in a movie. I had to apologise and state that there are some people that are not trained in our profession for what they do. They are the people who came through the back door.
When did you become a card carrying member of the National Rescue Movement?
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It will not be easy running both at the same time. By the time we get into office, I can't be running around as the deputy governor and still be on location. Definitively, I will put the acting on hold. I am also a producer. My production company will still be running, but I may not be able to act again. I am not going there to make a career out of politics. I am going there to serve. Acting is my profession. Once I am done with politics, I will return to my profession.
Politics involves a lot of money. How do you intend to cope with the financial pressure?
I will not lie and say that there are no temptations. I have been facing the temptation. I have been to places to canvas for funds and I have heard a lot. God has blessed me with contentment.
We have a lot of people who believe in our cause and they want us there. By God's grace, we will do our best. I have spoken to people for support and everyone has a complaint or the other. We had the opportunity to go through a godfather, but we decided not to. We know that if we did, a lot of things would come up. We will do our best and let the people realise that they have an Aalternative.lotofpeople have told us it is not yet our time. They told us to watch how it is done so that when our time comes, we will know how to go about it. These people groom people to take after them. They have groomed up to three generations to take after them. That is why Nigerians should wake up and be ready for 2023. People should be involved, they should come out and run, not just vote. That is when we will have a country of our dreams.
Let me speak solely for the actors because that is my profession. As an actor, you are trained to take up any role. When you are playing any character, you must do your research. You must do your due diligence especially when it bothers on a particular profession. The script writer would have done his part, too, but more work is left for the actor.
Hope you won't be tempted by the time you are exposed to the juicy things that come with power because power intoxicates?
Going back to your question, actors are not novices when it comes to politics. Some actors have played the roles of politicians in some Nollywood movies. All the things they portray in the movies are things happening in the political world. Within the short time that I have spent as a politician, I have seen some things and realised that we are not doing badly in MyNollywood.experience as an actor has helped me to adapt to some of those things that ordinarily should be new to me. I have played the part of a politician. I have played the part of a governorship aspirant before in films so I have a fairly good idea of what that sector is all about.
Elumelu
As far back as 2015, Elumelu was reportedly worth about $700 million, according to Forbes. The influential American journal rated him as the 31st richest man in Africa with a net worth of $700 million.
Gbadamosi Balogun
ony Onyemaechi Elumelu, may perhaps be the most visible Nigerian billionaire across three of the most active social media. The smooth operating business mogul who has almost a million followers on Instagram, 458,000 on Facebook and a little over a million followers on Twitter is intentional about curating and documenting his day-to-day activities on his social media pages.
Gbadamosi had been trying to take his pound of flesh by getting back at her after she kicked him out of her life and the business they both ran together. She alleged that the two connived and twisted
“Oblivious of the large-scale fraud ahead, our clients transferred, at various times the sum of Fifty Million Five Hundred Thousand Naira (N50,500,000) into the corporate accounts of FarmKonnect Agribusiness Nigeria Ltd. The proposed transaction was packaged and designed to yield fixed interests. However, upon expiration of the investment, the chief mastermind, Saheed stopped any form of communications with our clients and have since become evasive, switched off their phones and are currently unreachable," the petition read.
For someone who received an interim dividend of N476.2 million ($1.11 million) from his stake in UBA after the bank reported a profit of $164.6 million at the end of the first half of 2022, it is little wonder he can afford to live as much of the 'soft life' as he Elumelucan. owns 6.96 percent of the bank, or 2,380,941,756 ordinary shares. The dividend brought his total earnings from the bank this year to $4.7 million. But how did Tony become such a wealthy power broker to enable him have the kind of lifestyle that he projects which many yearn to have?
It added that the company would stop all profit accrual models and work towards refunding of all investments, within the shortest time possible whilst also noting that the CEO, that is Saheed will not be available on mobile phone and emails for the next 3 months on health reasons. However, after being declared wanted, 49-year-old Saheed has denied he is on the run. According to his attorney, Ajibola Lawal Esq, FarmKonnect is still viable despite going through some business crises. But that, quite unlike other businesses that have gone south and down the drain, efforts are being made to revive and stabilise FarmKonnect.
The last issue which they bickered about was Balogun accusing Gbadamosi of attempting to humiliate her and hang an alleged attempted murder case on her neck. The issue has now escalated to a petition to the Attorney-General of Lagos THEWILLState.recalls that a few months ago, Balogun who is the boss of Redbrick Homes International Limited, the parent company of AMEN Estate, accused Gbadamosi of conspiring to frame her up in a case involving threat to life. It all started after a certain Bidoun Abdul, a sibling to a certain Yinka Igbinoba who is a business partner to both Balogun and Gbadamosi, approached Hon Saheed Audullahi Mosaduluwa, the CEO of Harmony Gardens and Estate Development Limited to purchase a property. The said property was worth N120 million. Abdul committed herself to the purchase with N30 million down payment with a pledge to pay the balance within two weeks. But within 48 hours of the first payment, Abdul and Igbinoba began to demand a refund,claiming that the Certificate of Occupancy, which is the title of Mosaduluwa’s land, was forged and that the Lagos State Land Bureau informed them that the Certificate of Occupancy was about to be revoked.
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Shebusiness.saidthat
These activities range from business meetings, closing deals outside the country, family time with his wife and seven kids, attending events hosted by friends or even working out in one of his numerous gymnasiums, with the resultant effect of an Adonis body and aura which effortlessly draws to him, some of the finest species of womenfolk. All these he does with relatively little effort. His video posts are oftentimes accompanied with songs from the repertoire of Nigerian 21st century music makers, with the songs depicting most times, what the video is all Whileabout.it is common knowledge that Elumelu is an affluent man, the pictures and videos he shares on social media further breaks down the reality of his fame and fortune to the ordinary Nigerian. From riding in the latest editions of Maybachs or any top of the range luxury car, flying private, working out in gymnasiums located in high rises, vacationing in some of the most exotic places on earth, owning opulent homes and designer ensembles, it is easy to see that he lives and exudes the 'soft life' (a local slang for living a life of luxury).
Azeez
A few years ago, when Saheed floated FarmKonnect, many assumed it was a legitimate means to invest their hard-earned money, particularly because Saheed used his connection to get quite a number of prominent and respected personalities to endorse his investment Withscheme.delays in paying dividends, Farmkonnect explained it away, saying its business administration, operations, trade and communication were being handed over to third-party companies as part of its effort to restructure the business.
T
OLUWOLE INVESTORSFORDECLAREDAZEEZWANTEDFLEECING
STORIES BY IVORY UKONU
however, demanded that the EFCC investigate and also prosecute the false information.
her role in the peace keeping mission to that of someone trying to take Igbinoba’s life. She claimed her ex-husband saw an opportunity to malign her image which was why he collaborated with Igbinoba, to accuse her wrongly. She further revealed that Gbadamosi went as far as sending messages to her domestic staff boasting that Balogun would go to Balogunjail. alleged that her estranged husband created different Facebook accounts to bully her. It is worthy to note that Mosaduluwa became a director in Redbrick Homes International Limited after the company expunged Gbadamosi as its chairman. This allegedly led to the grudge that Gbadamosi holds against Balogun and Mosaduluwa and he allegedly began to incite public hatred against Balogun through defamatory publications, cyberstalking and cyberbullying on different social handles and media and the latest trumped-up charges. This latest trumped-up charges prompted Mosaduluwa to write a protest petition to the Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice and the Directorate of Public Prosecution over alleged victimisation on the allegation that he duped and attempted to murder AccordingIgbinoba. to the petition, the DPP has been misled on the instruction of the AG of Lagos State to charge Mosadoluwa for bodily harm and Balogun for breach of peace with concocted investigated report from the police force led by ACP Musa Ibraheem of IGP Monitoring Units. In the petition written through his lawyers, Yakubu Eleto Chambers, Mosaduluwa stated that two different, dictated, frivolous police investigation reports were written to the Lagos State AG and Commissioner for Justice by Musa in connivance with Gbadamosi, along with some police officers to indict him and Balogun. Mosaduluwa in his petition claimed that Gbadamosi engaged persons to help plant evidence in his estates for blackmail, but his plot got busted. The petition alleged that Gbadamosi used Igbinoba to trap and frame up Mosadoluwa and Balogun, adding that he deceived people handling the case with promises to dash them apartments in Amen Estate once he takes over from his ex-wife, after the courts must have ruled on their divorce case in his favour. In other words, rather than conduct a fair and unbiased investigation over the matter, some officers are determined to imprison Mosaduluwa and Balogun based on trumped up charges. Mosaduluwa is therefore seeking an annulment of the investigative report by the IGP Monitoring Team and a reassignment of the case involving Igbinoba, himself and Balogun, to another team without vested interest and for justice to be served.
S
ocialite and founder of FarmKonnect Agribusiness Nigeria Limited, Oluwole Azeez Saheed, has been declared wanted by the Police for investment fraud worth over N50 million. A special police gazette bulletin has been put out, following a warrant of arrest/ bench warrant issued by a Magistrate Court in Lagos. Saheed is wanted for criminal conspiracy, obtaining money by false pretence, fraud and stealing with social media space and medium advertising investment. The notice to declare him wanted followed a petition by Chive GPS, a security intelligence company that tracks evasive, fraudulent debtors all over the world in a bid to recover funds, to place him on Interpol global red notice for obtaining money by false pretence and investment fraud. Sometime in 2019, Azeez through FarmKonnect invaded the social media space and other medium advertising for investment and posed as an investment mogul that can manage the public’s funds in various agricultural enterprise in exchange for fixed return at a predetermined rate and duration.
And he didn’t catch the attention of Forbes magazine by lazying around, he faced the grind, kept his eyes on the ball and today, he is the better for it.
ENDLESS MUDSLINGING BETWEEN SADE BABATUNDE GBADAMOSI
University, and a Master of Science degree in Economics from the University of Lagos, Elumelu knew banking was the way for him to go and he started out early working for Allstates Trust Bank, which was owned by a onetime godfather in Nigeria's banking industry now a Bayelsa monarch, His Royal Majesty, Ebitimi Banigo. He proved his worth, which was why he was able to pull together a small group of investors in the late 1990s to take over a struggling Crystal Bank. The bank was later renamed Standard Trust Bank and he turned it profitable within a few years. In 2005, he led one of the largest mergers in the banking sector in Sub-Saharan Africa by acquiring United Bank for Africa (UBA). He was only 47 at the time. Today, the bank has branches in over 20 African countries including New York, London, France, UAE and is the only African bank with a commercial deposit-taking presence in the United States. The bank currently has assets estimated at more than $19 Elumelubillion. also chairs Nigeria’s largest quoted conglomerate, Transcorp, whose subsidiaries include Transcorp Power, one of the leading producers of electricity in Nigeria and Transcorp Hotels Plc, Nigeria’s foremost hospitality brand. Elumelu's assets include Nigerian oil block OML17, with a current production capacity of 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and 2P reserves of 1.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent, with an additional 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent resources of further exploration potential. He owns extensive real estate across Nigeria and a minority stake in mobile telecom firm MTN Nigeria, among other assets. Then there is HEIRS Holdings, an investment company committed to improving lives and transforming Africa through long-term investments and which maintains a portfolio of investments across several countries on the African continent. He also gives back from his wealth via his Tony Elumelu Foundation which nurtures and funds young African entrepreneurs.
BALOGUN,
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Why Tony Elumelu Can Afford to Live The 'Soft Life'
Despite bagging a second class lower in Economics from the Bendel State University, now Ambrose Alli
A few days later, they wrote a petition against Mosaduluwa to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), accusing him of fraud. According to Mosaduluwa, their supposed discovery about the originality of the C of O was strange to him because it was a false accusation. He nevertheless visited the EFCC to puncture Abdul's frivolous petition and false accusation and based on facts with evidence, he was released on self-recognition. He,
he last has obviously not been heard of the conflict involving former co-owners of AMEN Estate, Sade Balogun and her politician ex-husband, Babatunde Gbadamosi. From tussling for fair equity in the ownership of AMEN Estate which is originally owned by Balogun, via the courts, to a case of an alleged threat to life and character assassination, the issues surrounding the conflict are endless.
Not wanting any more drama from Abdul and her sister, Igbinoba, Mosaduluwa refunded N15 million out of the N30 million with an understanding that the frivolous petition at the EFCC would be withdrawn. At this point, both Mosaduluwa and Igbinoba approached Balogun to intervene in the matter. Balogun in good faith accepted to step in as an arbitrator between the two warring parties. Unfortunately, according to Mosaduluwa, he did not know that what Abdul and her sister, Igbinoba were doing was a well-rehearsed drama with Gbadamosi to set him and Balogun up. Things turned messy after Igbinoba got involved in an accident. Shortly after, he was invited to different police stations where he was accused of fraud and attempted murder. Igbinoba's mum accused him of being behind the accident, which shattered her daughter’s legs and led to her undergoing surgery. When he asked for evidence of the shattered legs and the surgery, he was told that it would be presented in court as evidence. It was then, according to him, their game plan dawned on Whilehim.Balogun tried to resolve their conflict, Igbinoba according to Mosaduluwa connived with Gbadamosi to write a petition to the Inspector-General of Police, the Attorney-General of the State and Commissioner for Justice, as well as the National Human Right Commission, claiming that both Balogun and Mosaduluwa were after her life and they should both be held responsible for any injustice committed against her. Balogun not only refuted Igbinoba’s accusation, she claimed that her ex-husband was behind Igbinoba’s petition against her and that he had been trying to ruin her image since she expelled him from their matrimonial home and real estate
Torhukerhijo
Why Success Torhukerhijo May Lose Seat In Ondo Assembly
he last has not been heard of the crisis rocking Awka, capital of Anambra State. It started five years ago when Obi Gibson Nwosu was accused by some kingmakers of violating the Traditional Rulers Amended Constitution for Awka (1986). He was also said to have violated the Code of Conduct that he signed when he was made a traditional ruler in 1999. He was dethroned and Chief Austin Ndigwe was installed in his place.
in support of Nwosu. Ndigwe was warned to desist from any act that might further jeopardise the peace of the community and he was stopped from observing his own Ofala Festival. Another crisis erupted last week after the two traditional rulers fixed the same date for the New Yam Festival (Otite Awka 2022). The two monarchs had invited guests and dignitaries for the festival, which they planned to stage on the same day but at a different venue. There was tension in the community as a result of the
He had to approach a High Court in Lokoja to compel INEC and the APC to upload his name as the duly elected House of Representative candidate
to step
positive reviews from industry giants. Isong started out as a script writer before going into movie production and later specialised in Ememdirecting.Isong wrote her first script in 1994 for the movie titled, Jezebel. Some of her movies have served as launch pads for some A-list actors, such as Stephanie OkerekeLinus, Dakore Egbuson among others. One of her movies, Emotional Crack was screened at the African Film Festival in New York in 2004. Her expertise in the movie industry resulted in her emergence as a speaker in the Afrinolly Master Class series and a judge for the MTN Afrinolly short film competition in 2013. Isong
The immediate past Governor of the state, Willie Obiano, had frowned at the development and warned Ndigwe from parading himself as king. However, Ndigwe ignored the warning and has been performing the duties of a traditional ruler in the community. Nwosu also ignored the kingmakers who dethroned him and continued ruling the affairs of Awka community, representing the kingdom in top government functions as he is the monarch
However, the Assembly ignored the court rulings and declared his seat vacant. They also wrote a letter to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to declare his seat vacant. The act made Torhukerhijo run back to court again for defence.
nonalcoholic drinks, but because of the financial strength involved, she ventured in table water business. Her company boasts of the latest equipment and technology in the beverage manufacturing business. Okolie was first tutored by her mother who was selling drinks at Tejuosho market in Lagos State. The business grew into a major supply of drinks at different locations in addition to staying with her mother's stall. Even after gaining admission to study at the Obafemi Awolowo University, she would run to Lagos during the weekend to cater for her clients in the party scene.Okolie
T
M
T
The book, was inspired by the fulfilling years that the author has spent in the movie industry as a scriptwriter and movie producer. It captures her journey through the industry, the challenges she encountered, the status of people who study Theatre Arts or Dramatic Arts, the tough choices she had to make and her successes in the film industry. The book has since received
Businesswoman and boss of Bonix, one of the most sought-after drink vendors in Nigeria, has expanded her business. The entrepreneur who has been in the drink business for 30 years has added the manufacturing of premium table water to her business Bonixempire.Second Cup, hit the market last week and it is gradually becoming a preferred
Earlier Kolawole had made his intention known to contest for the House of Representatives seat for Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu Federal Constituency on the platform of the APC in 2023. He contested in the party’s primary election in May 2023 and defeated other contestants in by a total of 69 votes.
Matthew Kolawole's Political Ambition Suffers Setback
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Bola Okolie Expands Business Frontiers
Emem Isong Unveils First Book
The court restrained the Assembly from suspending Torhukerhijo as a member of the house. It also mandated the Assembly to pay all his benefits and entitlements as the assembly had threatened to withhold his benefits and entitlements just to make sure he returns to the APC.
atthew Kolawole, the Speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly, who is also the lawmaker representing KabbaBunu/Ijumu Constituency on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, may have to forget about his ambition to become a lawmaker in the Federal House of Representatives in 2023.
Despite his victory at the primary in May, his name was missing
TheFestivalthetheseparateannouncedbothtwodatesforcelebrationofannualOfalainthecommunity.stategovernmenthad
actions of the two monarchs. The state government had to dispatch policemen to seal Ndigwe's palace, while guests were chased out of the place. A letter, signed by the Minister of Information, Sir Paul Nwosu, instructed Ndigwe to step down and stop parading himself as the traditional ruler of Akwa. It was stated in the letter that Nwosu is the only recognised king, according to Section 15 of the Traditional Rulers Law of Anambra State 2007. Ndigwe was told to be prepared to face the wrath of the law since he was not ready to comply with the state government's directive.
COMMUNITYINIGNITESTUSSLEKINGSHIPCRISISANAMBRA
Torhukerhijo started having a running battle with his colleagues after he defected to the PDP. The Assembly is made of 26 members. About 23 lawmakers are from the All Progressives Congress (APC) which constitute the majority. Two lawmakers are from the PDP and one lawmaker is from the Zenith Party. After thelawmakershehisanti-partyHefacereturnTheyTorhukerhijobecausemembersthedefectedTorhukerhijotothePDP,remainingAPCfeltbetrayedthepartymadealawmaker.warnedhimtotothepartyorthewrathofthelaw.wasalsoaccusedofactivitiesafterdefectionbecausewasoneofthesupportingdeputygovernorof
from the list of all candidates of political parties to contest in the 2023 general election as released on the portal of Independent National Electoral Commission. It happened after the expiration of the deadline for submission of names of candidates. Kolawole ran to INEC office to lodge a complaint about his missing name but was told that the uploading of names of candidates was done by the political parties themselves as INEC didn't interfere with the list.
for Kabba-Bunu /Ijumu Federal Constituency. After going back and forth in court, the court gave its ruling last week and stated that it cannot compel INEC to open its portal and accept Kolawole's candidacy.
Nwosu
withitsservingnursingdreamshasManufacturingbrand.ofbeveragesbeenoneofOkolie'sbigwhichshestartedafterherdrinkbusinessstoodonfeet.Shewantedtostartthemanufacturingof
the state, Agboola Ajayi, who was about to be impeached then. A committee was set up by the Assembly to investigate Torhukerhijo, so he ran to an Akure High Court for fear of being suspended like his colleague, Favour Tomomewo. A few months ago, Tomomewo was victimised by her party. She had clearly backed out of the plot to impeach Ajayi. The Assembly threw her out and declared her seat vacant.
easoned film maker, Emem Isong, is now an author. The Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Arts Academy, unveiled her first published work, a memoir titled Phoenix: Rising Out of the Ashes, last week. The date coincided with her birthday.
Kolawole
he lingering crisis rocking the Ondo State House of Assembly has not yet been resolved. Success Torhukerhijo, the member representing Ese Odo Constituency on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been caught in the web of the crisis. His seat has been declared vacant and it is about to be occupied by another lawmaker.
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recognised by the government. The two factional heads clashed in 2019 when they
Not satisfied with the response of the government, the four ruling houses took the matter to a High Court in Akure. The court, in its ruling, set aside the appointment of Abdulrazaq and restrained him from parading himself as a traditional ruler.
mbattled Chief Taiwo Abdulrazaq is currently enmeshed in a forgery scandal a few months after he was deposed as the traditional ruler of Awo in Osun State. Abdulrazaq became the Alawo of Awo town in Osun State in 2021 almost one year after the former traditional ruler, Oba Olatunbosun Adebayo passed on. He was appointed by the Adegboyega Oyetolal-ed administration through a unilateral Beforeappointment.hewas crowned, Abdulrazaq was a Councillor for Awo/Abudo Ward in Egbedore Local Government Area of Osun State. After he ascended the throne of Awo, a petition was written by four ruling houses in the community: Akinsilo, Okunji, Awojobi and Yebokun/Abioye, alleging that the new king has no royal blood flowing in his veins and shouldn't deprive those who rightfully own the throne the right to rule. They asked the Osun State Government to reconsider their decision and return the stool to the rightful heir.
Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to court over the CMO right and the registration of the name 'COSON' under the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC. In its verdict, the court ruled that COSON was illegally approved by CAC, so COSON cannot lay claims to the name. It was stated that MCSN was the first to reserve the name, COSON with the CAC before the Performing Mechanical Rights Society (PMRS) approached CAC for a change of name to COSON.
former member of the staff of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Williams Olanrewaju, has sued the Chairman of the agency, Brig-Gen Mohammed Marwa (retd.), for unlawful dismissal after he exposed some corrupt officers in the Olarenwajuagency.approached the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), claiming that his case was not well investigated before he was dismissed from the agency. He had worked with the
The Founder of the Logic Church Global, Pastor Flourish Peters, also bagged a doctorate degree in Divinity from the reputable university. Deola Art Alade, the better half of sonorous singer, Dare Alade also got a doctorate degree in Arts and
Entertainment. She was honoured for her contribution in show business in Nigeria. Nigerian disc jockey, Oluwaforijimi Amu, professionally known as DJ Jimmy Jatt, bagged a degree of Doctor of Music for his contributions as one of the pioneers of hip hop DJ in Nigeria.
The court also made it clear that PMRS's operation is restricted to musical rights so it cannot use COSON, which encompasses rights arising from literature, arts, music, drama, cinematography, broadcast and computer.
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A
The disgraced monarch went to the Appeal Court in Akure but the presiding judge, Justice Lokulo Sodipo, upheld the verdict of the High Court and declared the action of the state government in appointing Abdulrazaq as contempt of the court. He was thrown out of the palace and stripped of his title after the court Inverdict.anew development, the deposed traditional ruler has been accused of forging his selection documents. Abdulrazaq had forged the documents which were used in selecting him for the throne. A new petition was written to the Inspector- General of Police, Alkali Usman, calling for his arrest for forging the Alawo of Awo Chieftaincy Declaration document which is a criminal offence.
Oyedepo
E
BOLAJI OYEDEPO, OLANIKE AKANNI, GIVE MOM BEFITTING BURIAL Unending Dispute Between COSON And DismissedMCSNNLDEA Worker Drags MarwaMohammedtoCourt Benin Varsity Awards Honorary Degrees to Nigerian Celebrities AbdulrazaqSCANDALFORGERYALLEGEDOBADEPOSEDIN
Also,leadership.showbusiness executive and promoter, Obi Asika, bagged a Doctor of Arts as a result of his work as an ecosystem builder and pioneer in the digital, entertainment and creative industries over the past three decades. Seasoned actress Joke Silva was one of the dignitaries honoured by the university. She was awarded a doctorate degree in Arts and Entertainment for her contribution to the movie industry which spanned over two decades.
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The event started with a wake at the deceased’s compound in Iloro, Efon-Alaaye. It was followed with a church service at St Anglican Church, Idagba before her remains
lanike Afolabi Akanni, a former House of Assembly lawmaker in Ekiti-State and society woman, Bolaji Oyedepo, otherwise known as Mama Kofoshi, rolled out the drums in celebration of the burial of their aged mother, Chief Mrs Dorcas Akanni, a prominent community leader in EfonAlaaye, Ekiti State. Chief Akanni who was the Iyalaje of Efon-Alaaye died a few weeks ago at the age of 91 after an age related sickness.
warding honorary doctorate degrees to celebrities in Nigeria has become one of the pastimes of Myles Leadership University, Cotonou, Benin Republic. Some celebrities were rewarded by the institution for their notable accomplishments and generous contributions to their industry in the course of their respective careers. Some of those who were recently honoured include martial art expert and life coach, Henry Hendrix, who is a three-time world Kungfu champion in China, was awarded a Doctor of Martial Arts for the 23 years he has spent as a mixed martial art practitioner both in Nigeria and on the International scene. Relationship and marriage preacher, Pastor Kingsley Okonkwo, who is the founder of David Christian Centre, was awarded Doctor of Philosophy in Transformational
were interred. Fuji singer, Suleiman Atawewe was on the bandstand to thrill guests who traveled to Ekiti State to honour the lawmaker and her sister.
The dispute between Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) and Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria (MCSN) over the collection of royalties in Nigeria is yet to come to an end. The crisis has been brewing for some years now and there seems to be no end in sight Althoughyet. the draggedinthegrantedCOSONtheirtoinMCSNSheoperationstryingSheempowerment.suchthedoesBerniceManagerlastproclamation,NotFederationAct,accordancecontinueMCSN'sartistes.ofthatThedecision.isitsforManagementhasCommunicationNigeriaCommissiongrantedMCSNtheCollectiveOrganisationrighttheNigerianmusicindustry,rivalorganisation,COSONnotcomfortablewiththatCMOistheorganisationcollectsroyaltiesonbehalfrecordingandperformingTheNCCrecentlygrantedrenewedlicencetotooperateasaCMOinwiththeCopyrightCapC28LawsoftheofNigeria.pleasedwiththeCOSONrevealedweekthroughtheGeneraloftheorganisation,Ashibuogwu,thatNCCnothaveanypowerunderNigerianlawtomakeproclamationoraccusedtheNCCoftotakeovertheofCOSON.warnedthosepayingfortheuseofworkstheCOSONrepertoirecontinuetodosoatownrisk.wasthefirsttobepermissionbyNCCtooperateCMO2010,buttheMCSNthemandthe
Okoroji
sensitive Investigation Unit of the agency in Lekki, Lagos State for three years, though he joined the agency in 2011.
Despite a court ruling, COSON continued with its operation but its licence to operate CMO was revoked by NCC, following a lingering factional dispute in the governing board of the organiSation. The internal crisis within the organiSation led to some members revoking their membership and joining MCSn, the rival organisation.
MarwaPeterOkonkwoHendrixAladeAmuSilvaAsika
He claimed that he would have advanced in his career but for victimisation. According to him, his ordeal started after he discovered that his superiors were involved in bribery, tampering with seized items and refusing to arrest those in possession of hard drugs. When his superiors got to know that he was aware of their dubious ways, they allegedly started victimising him and he was eventually dismissed from work.
Leadership. He was honoured for his outstanding contribution in the area of youth development and spiritual
O
Mama Kofoshi, one of the children of the deceased dominated the social scene for almost three decades before relocating to Canada. She and her husband, Bode De Way were the king and queen of the social circle. Their names were always in the mouths of musicians who sing their praises to high heavens. One of the luxurious mansions owned by the couple in the Government Reservation Area of Lagos State is a haven where Nollywood actors shoot their movies.
Olanrewaju asked the court to restore his employment. He also requested his monthly salary to be paid from the time he was dismissed and demanded compensation from the NDLEA to the tune of N80 million for violating his fundamental rights as guaranteed by Section 34 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Constitution of 1999 as amended.
SHOTS OF THE WEEK
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila (1st right), and others, taking responses to his questions from the consultant about the ongoing renovation of the Chambers of the House, during his inspection tour of the ongoing National Assembly renovation project at the National Assembly complex on September 14,
L-R:2022.Executive
L-R: Project & Finance Manager of the Enterprise Development Center (EDC), Pan Atlantic University, Obianuju Okafor; Country HR Manager, Nestlé Nigeria PLC, Shakiru Lawal; Category and Marketing Manager Dairy, Nestlé Nigeria PLC, Ifeanyi Orabuche and Business Executive Officer, Nestlé Central and West Africa, Salome Azevedo, at Nestlé’s GOLDEN MORN programme in Lagos on September 16, 2022.
L-R; MD, FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited, Ms. Tumi Sekoni; CEO, Lagos Free Zone Company, Mr. Dinesh Rathi; CEO, FMDQ Group PLC, Mr. Bola Onadele Koko and CEO, Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC, Mr. Funso Akere, during the Listing Ceremony of the LFZC Funding in Lagos on September 11, 2022.
Photo Editor: Peace Udugba [08033050729]
L-R: Nigeria Film Actor, Director and Producer,Chinedu Ikedieze; Actress on DSTV, Ronya Man and Senior Vice President, TRACE, Sam Onyemelukwe at the MultiChoice Media Showcase 2022 in Lekki Phase1, Lagos on September 15, 2022.
Head, Marketing, MultiChoice Nigeria, Tope Oshunkeye; Academy Director, West Africa, MultiChoice Talent Factory, Atinuke Babatunde; Actress, Iretiola Doyle; Chief Executive Officer, MultiChoice Nigeria, John Ugbe; Executive Head, Content, MultiChoice Nigeria, Dr. Busola Tejumola; Actress, Mercy Eke and Chief Operating Officer, MultiChoice Nigeria, Ayo Ajala at the MultiChoice Media Showcase 2022 in Lekki Phase 1, Lagos on September 15, 2022.
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True to her word she was everywhere, from such remote corner places as Papua New Guinea to the creeks of Port Harcourt where riverine natives performed for her from flotillas in 1953, from Canada to Australia and India, down to Kenya and the Caribbean and many more countries where her authority held sway.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has responded to Anya’s tweet. "This is someone supposedly working to make the world better? I don’t think so. Wow.”
On one occasion, though, she it was who genuflected before another monarch when she called on Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopa in the nineteen thirties. She was seen in a b&w photograph back stepping from the emperor instead of turning her
Admitting that criticism has its own advantages, she went on: “There can be no doubt, of course, that criticism is good for people and institutions that are part of public life. No institution, city, monarchy, whatever, should expect to be free from the scrutiny of those who give it their loyalty and support, not to mention those who don’t. But we are all part of the same fabric of our national society and that scrutiny, by one part of another, can be just as effective if it is made with a touch of gentleness, good humour and understanding.”
If you are quarrelling with someone, Sogyal Rimpoche a Tibetan monk once said, “pretend that the person is dying and you may begin to love him.” In her last days, even her detractors prayed for her, hoped for the best for her and generally wished her well. But she succumbed to death in the end. Presidents and Prime Ministers have sent condolence messages, from Bill Clinton to Barak Obama, the newly sworn-in Truss, and many others.
S
The Passing of Queen Elizabeth II
The Guardian podcast, Sam Knight stated that the Queen suffered from great physical prostration accompanied by symptoms which caused much anxiety. On her death bed, the queen called up some of her close friends and gifted them with royal thoroughbreds. There was no word, though on the royal pooches – the many Corgis she spoon fed herself from silver dishes and cutleries.
The house was actually built atop a sturdy fig tree in the African jungle from which the royals climbed down to explore the vast savannah in the day time. Done with watching hippos frolicking in muddy rivers, hungry big cats taking down a buffalo, gazelle, wildebeest, a parliament of chimps swinging from tree to tree effortlessly outperforming the most professional of human gymnasts or just savoring the sunniness of the endless grassland, they clambered up once again. Philip and princess were atop the tree when news came from England that her father, King George V1, had died.
Down with a cold that November, her voice cracked as she spoke making her speech more solemn like a maternal aunt in severe pains. “I dare say that history will take a slightly more moderate view than that of some contemporary commentators. Distance is well-known to lend enchantment, even to the less attractive views. After all, it has the inestimable advantage of hindsight. But it can also lend an extra dimension to judgment, giving it a leavening of moderation and compassion, even of wisdom, that is sometimes lacking in the reaction of those whose task it is in life to offer instant opinions on all things great and small.”
FEATURES
Even so, there are a few who insist that, as the head of an institution responsible for colonization and slavery and economic exploitation, she stands condemned. Since gone viral on social media, a Nigerian professor in an American university fired the first salvo. “I heard the chief monarch of a thieving raping genocidal empire is finally dying. May her pain be excruciating,” Professor Uju Anya twitted. “If anyone expects me to express anything but disdain for the monarch who supervised a government that sponsored the genocide that massacred and displaced half my family and the consequences of which those alive are still trying to overcome, you can keep wishing upon a star.”
Fate had a hand in her becoming queen of the UK and sovereign of the Commonwealth. Her father, King George VI, was not heir apparent when his own father passed on in 1936. His elder brother, Edward, was next in line. But to the astonishment of Brits everywhere he declined to be king preferring, instead, the love of an American divorcee, Mrs. Wallis Simpson. For the besotted prince, abdication was the only option. He did, paving the way for his younger sibling, George to take up the royal mantle.
It was as if the queen was seeing her very life being tore apart bit by excruciating bit, her family and possession. Worst of all was the public criticism of her reign, as if she was the problem in all of those tribulations. True, again, she acknowledged that no one institution or community was completely perfect or fee from faults but asked for fairness from her subjects.
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her coronation on June 2 1953 at Westminster Abbey, Queen Elizabeth was both a mourner and successor. “By the sudden death of my dear father,” she solemnly pledged, “I am called to assume the duties and responsibilities of sovereignty. My heart is too full for me to say more to you today than I shall always work as my father did throughout his reign, to advance the happiness and prosperity of my peoples, spread as they are all the world over.”
Fate had a hand in her becoming queen of the UK and sovereign of the Commonwealth. Her father, King George VI, was not heir apparent when his own father passed on in 1936. His elder brother, Edward, was next in line. But to the astonishment of Brits everywhere he declined to be king preferring, instead, the love of an American divorcee, Mrs. Wallis Simpson
Duringnations.
rocky relationship with Diana; Elizabeth’s daughter Anne had divorced; the Duke and Duchess of York separated and then Windsor Castle caught fire.
“1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure,” she told a roomful of guests at Corporation of London Guildhall luncheon on November 24 1992. It was also her 40th anniversary as queen. “In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an ‘Annus Horribilis’. I suspect that I am not alone in thinking it so. Indeed I suspect that there are very few people or institutions unaffected by these last months of worldwide turmoil and uncertainty.”
SEPTEMBER 18 - SEPTEMBER 24, 2022 THEWILL NEWSPAPER • www.thewillnigeria.com PAGE 29THEWILLNIGERIA THEWILLNG THEWILLNIGERIA
There are not many women you can count on your fingers anywhere in the world who lived a coddled life as Queen Elizabeth 11. Presidents and Prime Ministers bowed before her. Their wives curtsied compulsorily and if she didn’t offer a handshake you dare not offer yours. School children in Commonwealth nations lined up major roads and streets when she came visiting. She was feted lavishly at state dinners in scores of countries around the world and generally treated like the royalty she was.
There is something paradoxical about an individual descending from such a lofty height down to earth to still rise higher in the royal ranks. That was exactly what happened. From that moment on, Princess Elizabeth had become Queen Elizabeth 11! She was 96 when she died on September 8, making her the longest reigning monarch of the United Kingdom and sovereign of some Commonwealth
he is the only woman in history to have gone up a tree as a princess and come down a queen. Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was enjoying a vacation with her husband Philip on a Treetop House in faraway Kenya. Urged by her father George VI, both left England in February 1952. They were to tour Africa, Australia and New Zealand, sort of getting to know her possessions around the world.
AccordingScotland.to
As first child of King George, Elizabeth was suitably placed to succeed her father – only if she lived long enough. She did, surprising her own subjects and the rest of the world by clocking almost a century when she died on September 8 at Balmoral Castle in
back on him. It would have been a sign of disrespect on her part.
Though a pampered progeny right from birth, Queen Elizabeth has had her share of misfortune, prompting her to rue sometime in 1992 that it was the year of Annus Horribilis, a Latin phrase meaning the horrible year. In that year, her husband Prince Philip had an accident with his Range Rover which flipped over near their Sandrigham estate; Prince Charles was living through a
Bashir Ahmed, aide to PMB, also called out the professor. “Don’t know that Uju Anya until I saw some of her tweets for the first time on my timeline this evening. Her tweets about the late Queen Elizabeth 11 were so unfortunately unnecessary.”
Long before her demise, another royal had taken a subtle dig at Queen Elizabeth, describing her unusual longevity on the throne as a punishment to long-suffering Prince Charles. Charles, King Juan Carlos of Spain mused when he abdicated that Charles was "suffering" and he wouldn’t want his own son to suffer the same fate. With Elizabeth’s death, Charles is at last King Charles. 111. All hail the king.
MICHAEL JIMOH
ational Identity Management Commission (NIMC) on Thursday said more than 89 million persons had been recorded in the ongoing nationwide National Identity Number (NIN) enrolment.
The consequence of such indisci pline is that we have to now spend more on debt servicing, fuel subsidy, white elephant projects, security bills and overheads on the presidency, state executives, the national assem bly than we do on capital projects, education, healthcare and infrastruc tural development that can uplift the quality of life, improve the economy, improve the security and welfare of the citizens and shore up the value of the Naira. Because our revenue sources are limited with oil thefts and sabotage at mining platforms, the country cannot continue to exhibit this level of fiscal irresponsi bility, rascality and insidious waste
Thatfulness.our
Aziz attributed the collapse of their data centres to the equipment upgrade and assured that the commission had acquired more equipment to improve on the enrolment exercise.
Igwe further stated that the claimant also filed on the same date an affidavit of facts in support of the referral sent by the Minister of Labour and Employment.
we introduced Tokenization to make the enrolment easier for people. This year we want to leverage traditional institutions to reach the grassroots. We started with people in the urban areas, remaining those in rural areas.”
Mr Femi Falana, SAN, counsel to ASUU in response acknowledged receiving process from the claimant and stated that they were already filing their reply in the court’s Falanaregistry.added
He also informed the court that ASUU would be meeting stakeholders in the House of Representative on Sept. 20 to ensure that the matter is resolved.
L-R: Deputy General Manager, NEM Insurance Plc, Mrs. Mojisola Teluwo; Reviewer, Dr. Biodun Adedipe; Host/Publisher, Business Journal Newspaper, Prince Z. Cookey; his wife, Mrs. Perpetua Cookey; Head, CorporateCommunication and Market Development, NIC, Mr. Salami Rasaq Obomeile; Head, Corporate Communication Management, Public Affairs Department, NCC, Mrs. Nnena Ukoha, and MD/CEO, New Horizons, Mr. Tim Akano, at the Public Presentation of Business Journal Newspaper/Award in Lagos on September 16, 2022.
as N6.72 trillion though next year. Imagine the positive effect that sum of money could have on the economy if spent on capital projects in a fiscal
he National Industrial Court on Friday fixed Sept. 19 to deliver ruling on Federal Government’s prayer asking the court to order the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to call off its seven months strike.
submitted that the defendant had been served with proof of service before the Thecourt.counsel said that however, as at the time the court was sitting, he had not received any response from ASUU.
Furthermore, the price of aviation fuel remains exorbitantly high and there is no Maintenance Repair and Overall (MRO) facility in the country that can do high-level of aircraft ser vicing like C-checks and D-checks. Even though Nigeria's local govern ment councils squandered about 16.4 trillion naira ($76 billion) in national petroleum and tax income between 2011 and 2021, they rarely offered any meaningful services to their constituents.
Igwe proceeded to urge the court to take the applications as it was ripe to be taken, stating that the matter is of national interest and urgent as million of students have been at home since Feb. 14.
He also averred that some questions were raised with a full complement of a written Headdress.also
He said the commission had increased its equipment upgrade from 1,000 to 29,000 nation wide, urging the new enrollees to always go with literate people to reduce errors in the process of their enrolment.
He added that the process had been served on the claimant on Thursday.
He added that the first one was motion on notice dated and filed Monday for an interlocutory injunction.
"We want to continue to grow the database by carrying the grassroots along, Since then, we have been growing the database at the average of two to three million monthly.
Aziz said Identity was a tool for empowerment and greater use of digital Identity can help bring development and coordination for better delivery of government services.
The Federal and state governments have resorted to reckless borrowings to run government, while this wast age has continued unabated.
Aziz said as part of activities to commemorate the day, the commission will be partnering with traditional institutions to reach out to the grassroots.
ASUU Strike: Court to Deliver Ruling in FG’s Prayer Sept. 19
The Director-General of NIMC, Mr Aliyu Aziz, disclosed this at a news conference ahead of the 4th National Identity Day scheduled for Friday in Abuja.
there is the wastefulness that has gone into the Nigeria Air project, which recently got its Air Transport License (ATL). It is billed to start op erations, as the Federal Government has approved a lease of three aircraft for its commencement. Although the exact sum of money expended on this project remains contentious since conception till date, I ask if this venture is even worth the while at a time the country has only four truly viable airports out of the 22 available.
Thecase.Minister
of Finance, whose responsibility it is to coordinate gov ernment income, must do more to improve revenue and block wastages and theft in the system that presently take a huge chunk of state resources.
Earlier Mr Ebuolu Adegoruwa SAN, counsel to Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), had raised the issue of joinder and consolidation of the suit, citing section 36 of the 1999 constitution to fair hearing.
Nigeria's Fiscal Headache And Catalogue of Wasteful Spending
WhenHamman.the matter came up, Mr J.U.K Igwe SAN informed the court that going by its directive on Monday that the claimant should file its process latest by Tuesday, that they had filed two processes.
The theme of this year’s celebration is: “Traditional Institutions as Critical Stakeholders for Citizens Mobilisation”.
In the same vein, state governments reportedly spend an estimated N93.5 billion ($245 million) annually on the administration of these wasteful local government councils. As usual, con tracts fraud, ghost workers, question able security votes, slush funds and embezzlements have combined to haemorrhage the state’s treasuries.
er than production, since we rarely produce anything, is another issue of very grave concern. A picturesque way to look at it is that as of last week, Nigeria's debts reached N45.25 trillion, meaning that every citizen would have to pay at least N214,454 if they were to be paid off individu ally. According to information made accessible by the Debt Management Office (DMO) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the nation's debts have climbed by an additional N4 trillion over the past five months.
Igwe in response objected to Adegoruwa’s application, stating that he was in receipt of the application he filed on Monday, that was served on them on Thursday by 5 p.m.
He said there was an addition of 82 million to the seven million he met when he assumed office in November, 2015.
Then,year.
only source of wealth was allowed to be so handicapped as to dry up to the point of requiring the government to borrow to pay salaries is a wake-up call for the need to ap proach governance with much more discipline than what is currently the
“In this year’s Identity Day, we are partnering with the traditional institutions and their leaders to create awareness on NIN
The matter which was first mentioned on Monday was adjourned until Friday for further mention before Justice Polycarp
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He proceeded to seek to withdraw an earlier filed process dated Monday and sought to replace it with the one served on Thursday.
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that the Minister of Labour and Employment lacked the power to ask the court in his referral to order the defendant to go back to work.
”The 89 million are the mainstream people so there are still remaining the local people in village, petty traders, market people and artisan in rural areas across the country. NIN is the right of everyone,” he said.
While there is no debt-free country and some others are even more indebted than Nigeria, our penchant for borrowing for consumption rath
SEPTEMBER 18 - SEPTEMBER 24, 2022 THEWILL NEWSPAPER • www.thewillnigeria.com PAGE 30 THEWILLNIGERIA THEWILLNG THEWILLNIGERIA NEWS XTRA
NIMC Enrols 89m Nigerians in Database N
He submitted that the court should invoke the cited section in SERAP’s favour to be joined in the suit as a defendant and urged the court to take his application to that effect before entertaining any other application in the Adegoruwasuit said relief 3 of their application is for stay of further proceeding for the court to determine whether or not they will be a party in the suit.
Continued from Back Page
While citing a January 20, 2012 case, when the Federal High Court via judgement in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/179/2010 declared the NPL to be illegally constituted, the LMC defended its own existence by further distancing itself from the accusation of operating as a private organisation claiming to be "a not-forprofit company duly formed by the NFF and the participating NPFL clubs in accordance with their powers as enshrined in the extant NFF Statutes." It went further to argue that the Apex court, by its judgement, acted to affirm "the legality of LMC as the only body recognised to operate and run the NPFL by ruling for LMC to be responsible for the judgement debt of the NFL Ltd" before including world football governing body FIFA with the statement that "the LMC Ltd structures was actually endorsed by FIFA which had reasons to invite the LMC to discuss the process with other jurisdictions."
Dissatisfied football owners have, through the auspices of their organisation, Club Owners Association of Nigeria, asked the Sports Ministry and the NFF to allow them run the League themselves and there are indications that the handling of the NPFL by the LMC for the past decade will be investigated. The stiff-necked stance of the LMC to the judgement and these issues from the fallout of the revocation of their license is indicative that this, long stretched legal tussle is anything but over.
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N244,000,000.00 (Two hundred and fifty four million naira) issued by Total Promotions Nigeria Limited which it took value in and subsequently transferred to Club owners.
“Of note is the fact that Okorowo’s judgement is not the dissolution order within the purview of the provisions of section 454 (1) of the company and allied matters act (CAMA). I must say straight away that there is a world of difference between the winding up of a company and the dissolution of a company. A company dies when a court orders the dissolution of the company. The revocation of a company and order of court winding up, some do not indicate its death. A company under winding up proceedings has not died. It is still alive but perhaps sick,” Justice Eko clarified before ordering the LMC to pay the sum of NGN 3m to the appellant, Emmanuel Oboh and Emmanuel Oboh & associates.
"It is curious that after the judgement of the lower court presided over by Justice Okorowo on the 24th of June 2016, the Nigeria Premier League Limited received bank drafts to the tune of
SEPTEMBER 18 - SEPTEMBER 24, 2022 THEWILL NEWSPAPER • www.thewillnigeria.com PAGE 31THEWILLNIGERIA THEWILLNG THEWILLNIGERIA
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In their reaction, the LMC immediately faulted the basis of the Supreme Court decision
BY JUDE OBAFEMI
which instructed that the NPL close shop.
reported last week, the decade-long existence of the LMC, the entity in charge of running the Nigeria Professional League, was abruptly cut when it was deemed as illegal by a Supreme Court judgement, about six months ago. It was a judgement that the Government was executing when it instructed the Sports Ministry to order the NFF to revoke the management company's operating licence. The need for police presence was possibly linked to the recalcitrant stance of the leadership of the company, who, contrary to the judgement of the Supreme Court, was vehemently insistent that they were neither illegal nor fraudulent and look prepped for more legal tussle with the NFF, the Sports Ministry and the Federal
It read: "In view of the several unpleasant incidents regarding the management of the Football League, specifically, the declaration of the National Football League (NFL) as an illegal body by the Court; the status of the League Management Company (LMC), the NFL’s successor-in-title, being outside the purview of the Statutes of the NFF, the Federal Government is constrained to withdraw its recognition of the LMC as the operator of the Nigeria Professional Football League, with immediate effect. This decision has become necessary because of the obvious aberration (which is at variance with our football statutes or the laws of the land) whereby a private company is GIFTED the mandate to manage or run the league indefinitely, without the full involvement of and leadership by the clubs, and devoid of any process to monitor the progress and development of the game.
SportsLive
The judgement of the Apex court upon which the Ministry acted was grounded on the circumstances leading to the establishment of the LMC and the legality of its existence. Prior to the LMC, the NPFL was run by the Nigeria Premier League Limited up until 2013, when the NFF created the LMC on the premise that there was a judgement delivered by Justice Okorowo of the Federal High Court in 2012 in suit No. FHC/AB/CS/179/2010,
of the ministry on the revocation extends beyond the illegality of the existence of the LMC. When Ismaila Abubakar, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, revealed the decision to revoke the company’s licence in a press statement issued two Fridays ago, the government clearly placed the blame squarely on the NFF, which it directly accused of fraudulently establishing the LMC. The statement that Abubakar signed established that the NFF created the LMC in order to avoid and evade prior debts and other obligations owed by the company the LMC succeeded, the Nigeria Premier League (NPL) Limited, which was originally mandated by law to run the country's domestic professional football league. In the eyes of the law, as the Supreme Court judgement made obvious, the LMC was an illegal body. The text of the Ministry's statement was unambiguous and finished on the authority of the decision of the Supreme Court.
Court opinion held that “the very adumbrated judgment of Justice Okorowo claimed by the respondents to have declared the incorporation of the 1st. respondent, (NFL) illegal and void was executory, as it clearly placed a further duty on a third party, the Corporate Affairs Commission to wind up the 1st. Respondent, NFL. There is no evidence that at all times material to the decision appealed, the winding up order had been carried out or duly execute. Fresh and additional evidence, the bundle of documents (comprising the various Union Bank of Nigeria Plc cheques) filed in this appeal by the appellants on the orders of this Court made on the 18th. December, 2020, clearly shows that in spite of the decision of Justice Okorowo and the order made in suit No: FHC/AB/CS/179/2010 on the 20th January, 2012 , the 1st. Respondent (NFL) was very much around and on ground transacting businesses as reflected by the 50 cheques which various sums of money were paid into its account no. 0321530771 held at the Union Bank of Nigeria Plc.
The incident, which took place as early as 5 am, was to ensure that the premises of 20 Osun Crescent, off IBB Way, Maitama, Abuja, where the LMC office is located, was not operational after the revocation of the company’s licence by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on the charge of the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sport Development as instructed by the Federal
arly on Thursday morning last week, reportedly acting on orders from the Federal Government, five truckloads of policemen sealed off the Abuja office of the disbanded League Management Company (LMC).
In their reaction, the LMC immediately faulted the basis of the Supreme Court decision. In defense of the legality of its existence, the company stated that "the LMC Ltd was duly and properly formed in 2013 with all due processes adhered to and in line with both Football laws/regulations and Nigeria’s Corporate Affairs Laws (Companies and Allied Matters, Act – CAC Act). The participating clubs of the NPFL were part and parcel of these processes in line with the stipulations of the NFF Statutes (article 18 of the NFF Statutes). The LMC Ltd Supplementary Regulations (Governance Structure) was agreed with the NPFL Clubs in accordance with the NFF Statutes on 6th September 2013, and duly filed at the CAC with CAC approval appropriately issued on 2nd June 2014
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LMC Licence Revocation: Origin, Details And Fallout
In the opinion of the Supreme Court delivered in March,2023 by the lead Judge, Justice Ejembi Eko, the process of winding down the NPL was not properly carried out and therefore the NPL was still in existence, albeit by name for the most part, when the LMC was created and began to function in place of the NPL to the point that there were two companies in existence tasked with the exact same responsibilities. This made the LMC an illegality in
“Subsequently, the NFF Executive Committees at its meeting of 8th October 2014 in Abuja and the NFF Congress (the Supreme Legislative body of the NFF) at its meeting of 23rd November 2014 in Lagos duly approved the LMC Supplementary Regulations/Governing Structure pursuant to the powers vested on the Congress under the NFF Statutes (article 18 and article 78 subsection 2 and 3) as well as FIFA Statutes (articles 17 and 18) to delegate the right to an independent/ subordinate body to manage/ organise its competitions (NPFL inclusive) and to make regulations and or approved regulations for the management of the domestic leagues."
"Sequel to the above, and in order to rescue our domestic football from total collapse, the Board Of The LMC and the LMC as a body would no longer be recognised by the Federal Government as operator of the nigerian professional football league. To avert further chaos in our domestic football, the NFF is advised to immediately withdraw the Licence given to the LMC and, in the meantime, set up an Interim Management Committee (IMC), to include the current Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer of the LMC to oversee the affairs of the League until a proper Professional League Board is constituted in accordance with the Statutes of the NFF."
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It is obvious that they cannot overturn the judgement of the Supreme Court but they appear ready to argue for their existence and the legality of their operation of the NPFL. The Interim Management Company, which will temporarily run football management in the company for the time being is yet to be constituted and it is certain that the last has not been heard of the issue given the widely positive responses from the domestic football scene that greeted the revocation of the LMC license.
There are billions of naira being paid out monthly in bogus oil pipelines surveillance and oil assets security contracts that have become avenues to siphon state funds.
Our penchant for borrowing for consumption rather than production, since we rarely produce anything, is another issue of very grave concern
A similar scenario as Nigeria's was concurrently playing out in another sub-Saharan OPEC country. Economic difficulty was brewing in Angola and the country’s currency, the Kwanza, was in a free fall. As of September 2015, the second-largest oil producer in Africa's currency, which was dwindling in value, continued to lag behind the US dollar, extending a pattern that began in mid-2014.
Instead, our oil production decreased to 972,000 barrels per day in August from roughly 1.1 million barrels per day in July, according to the Nigerian Oil Regulation Commission, allowing Angola to surpass Nigeria in terms of monthly oil output. The NNPC, the Ministry of Petroleum and our Navy must end this organised large-scale crude oil theft that is badly hurting the nation's revenue.
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This was the country's first annual contraction in 25 years. The repercussions were evident and in the second quarter of 2016, a global decline in the prices of crude oil that severely hurt OPEC mem ber's state finances in general and the value of the naira, in particular, sent Africa's largest economy into recession. It was an unavoidable consequence, given the reality of having as much as two thirds of government revenue sourced from the selling of crude, even after years of half-hearted preachments of diversification.
The unbelievable levels of waste are everywhere. From the N150 billion earmarked for the presi dency in the 2022 budget, including N135 million for meals and N2 billion for international trips to the N50 billion (about N180bn in today's rates) that Bashir Jamoh, the Director-General of the Nige rian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), claimed was expended on a floating dock that is yet to be used more than four years after arrival because of administrative delays. What ought to be a source of revenue is lying fallow and will require turn-around-maintenance costs before it can become fully operational due to the years that have passed.
As similar as that may sound to a Nigerian, the ex ample of Angola is very instructive to my focus here as we fast-forward to 2022. By April, it was obvious that the similarities between the two countries had vanished. The Kwanza had increased by 22.2 per cent since January, outperforming all other African currencies, helped by rising oil prices, due to the
and seriously engaging in economic diversification, the country has resorted to borrowing to arrest the shortfall in financials. The result is an unrestrained haemorrhaging of financial resources as the coun try bleeds more than it replaces what is lost.
It was a revealing case of riches-to-rags because Angola's "mini-golden age", as leading economist Alves da Rocha referred to the period between 2003 and 2008, was a period of bustling wealth created by oil. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese builders and Chinese construction firms arrived as a result of the credit-for-oil arrangements with Beijing and skyscrapers, malls, premium residences and elite development areas sprung up to accommodate the lifestyles of the country's nouveau riche population. Until the nosedive began by September 10, 2015, the Kwanza traded at an all-time low of 127 to the dollar. It continued into the following year.
Nigeria's Fiscal Headache And Catalogue of Wasteful Spending
While Angola is by no means Eldorado, her gov ernment ministries, departments and agencies are not in the business of frivolity that has become the standard pastime of governance in Nigeria. Where previously hundreds of millions of naira were siphoned from the country's treasury via dubious means that range from inflated contracts to white elephant projects, today's government officials are lining their pockets with corrupt enrichment to the tune of billions of naira.
That the budgeted costs of most of these projects are not in line with their usefulness or value tells the unfortunate story of why we have lost the com petitive edge in sub-Saharan Africa and why other better-run countries are taking our place.
Leaks and wastages of public funds abound every where in the public sector. Wasteful spending on poorly conceptualised projects to criminal duplica tion of projects and budget padding are some of the major factors draining state revenue.
In my previous writings in this column, I high lighted the extreme importance of removing the fraudulent and widely discredited fuel subsidy programme. Yet, this administration, which ac knowledged that it was a fraudulent programme before it assumed office in 2015, has sustained this bad policy that is now projected to gulp as much
Two events in September clearly demonstrated this recent difference between Angola and Nigeria. First, for the first time in more than two years, An gola's inflation rate fell below 20 per cent in August, which allowed the Central Bank to begin lower ing interest rates. Angola's statistics department confirmed that consumer prices were at 19.78 per cent, a drop to its lowest point since March 2020, and from the 26.09 per cent recorded in the same month last year.
The rainy season of the year brought litter and the overall unhygienic conditions led to a widespread outbreak of acute respiratory and diarrheal illness es, yellow fever, dengue fever and chikungunya. Due to lack of adequate medical personnel, elec tricity, supplies and equipment, hospital patients were dying at an alarming rate. Some did not even make it to the hospital.
Russian invasion of Ukraine and IMF payments. The Kwanza rose by 22.21 per cent versus the US dollar to register Africa's best performance, per a Bloomberg index that looked at 20 African curren cies. The index noted that the Central Bank had more foreign currency on hand than required by the country's commercial banks and that explained the Kwanza's performance. In addition, the coun try's foreign reserves increased as a result of IMF payments made under the context of its economic and financial agreement with Angola.
What this comparative sample has highlighted is the unfortunate consequence of Nigeria's culture of wastefulness and fiscal indiscipline. Instead of reining in expenditure, tightening wastefulness
By the end of the year, the Central Bank expects in flation to decline to below 18 per cent. Secondly, the numbers showed that Angola displaced Nigeria as Africa's leading oil producing country with Nigeria's production issues occurring just when oil prices were on the rise, in part due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and when Nigeria ought to be harvesting petro-dollars by the barrels.
The free fall was, as in Nigeria's case, a result of falling oil prices in the international market, which had an impact on Angola's main source of income, oil sales, as with Nigeria as well. The crucial public splashing of oil rents stopped. Soon businesses could not cope, employees were fired, and public services ceased. When the Angolan Government eliminated fuel subsidies, both private and public transportation became significantly more expen sive. The majority of Angola's young people had never gone through such a financial catastrophe and understandably most of them were fuelled with anger, which they focused on the government for having handled the economy poorly.
report in February 2017, painted a sordid picture of the Nigerian economy. Basing their findings on information sourced from the National Bureau of Statistics, it noted that Nigeria's economy shrank by 1.5 percent in 2016 as a result of lower oil prices and scarce foreign currency.
A similar situation applies with the four state-owned refineries. In Warri, Kaduna and Port Harcourt, these multimillion billion dollar complexes have been lying idle since 2019 without producing any thing, yet the government pays billions of naira to the idle civil servants at the facilities as salaries. But the Federal Executive Council had in March 2021 given approval for the rehabilitation of the refiner ies, instead of selling them. Rehabilitating the Port Harcourt refinery alone will gulp $1.5 billion. These idle refineries posted a loss of N63.3 billion between September 2020 and August 2021, according to data made available by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
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