THEWILL OCT. 17 - OCT 23 EDITION

INSIDE:

Exclusive interview with the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria 2021, Oluchi Madubuike

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VOL 1 NO.36 • OCTOBER

17 – OCTOBER 23,

2021

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Ayu: PDP Faces Another Huddle

The deafening silence lingers

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eNaira: CBN, FinTechs Chart Course for Digital Currency

Chinwe OmoakaGodwin: Committed to Fighting Cancer – PAGE 37

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T H EWI LLNI GERI A

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2023 PRESIDENCY:

Osinbajo, Tinubu Part Ways?

● Who Blinks First! ● Buhari’s Silence

On Preferred Successor Keeps Leaders Guessing ● As Ameachi, Amosun, Fayemi, Others Sustain Ambition

2022 BUDGET: SINKING DEEP IN MIRY CLAY

OCTOBER 17 - OCTOBER 23, 2021 T H E W I L L N E W S P A P E R • www.thewillnigeria.com

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OCTOBER 17 - OCTOBER 23, 2021 T H E W I L L N E W S P A P E R • www.thewillnigeria.com

COVER

2023 Presidency: Osinbajo, Tinubu Part Ways?

BY AYO ESAN

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ice President Yemi Osinbajo and the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, have come a long way together and worked at close quarters for common purposes to warrant any suggestion of conflict or battle for supremacy between them.

From their public aspirations, it is obvious they still share the same goals devoted to impacting the lives of their countrymen positively as they started out in the administration of Lagos State more than half a decade ago, when the VP served as Attorney General of the State and Commissioner for Justice and continued to offer legal and constitutional advice until his new role at the presidency upgraded his schedule to the national level.

Recent developments, however, show that though they still share the same goals, they may be differing on the platform to achieve them and thereby give the impression that they are at each other’s throat.

For Osinbajo, the journey to that point of departure from his political mentor and Lagos strongman started at his birthday in March 2020 when, according to Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State, who said he was asked by the APC Progressives Governors Forum to deliver an address on their behalf.

Abdullahi, who spoke on the need for the party to consolidate on its achievements after President Muhammadu Buhari leaves office, just managed to leave a hint that the VP’s feet may fit the presidential shoes when the time comes.

Shortly thereafter, a group that improved on Abdullahi’s birthday hint emerged. Called Progressive Coalition Group (PCG), it’s sole purpose is political: To campaign for Osinbajo to become president in 2023.

Osinbajo has not expressed his interest in running for political office in 2023 nor has he rejected the group.

In fact, on September 20, 2021, the group launched its ambition in a big way. It paid a visit to the same Governor Sule at Government House in Lafia, capital of Nasarawa State. While receiving the group, Sule restated his earlier position that Osinbajo has all it takes to run and win the 2023 presidential election.

The group, which also visited the Nasarawa State House of Assembly and the Palace of the Emir of Lafia and Chairman of the Nasarawa State Council of Traditional Rulers, Justice Sidi Bage (retd}, to solicit support for Osinbajo as Buhari’s successor, was led by its National Chairman, Rabiu Aliyu Kurfi.

Sule told the group, “Not every product is sellable, but Vice President Osinbajo is a sellable product. You are speaking about continuation, which is what we believe here in Nasarawa State. You have been speaking about consolidation and we know the challenges of consolidation and continuation of our party. This is a political party that is lucky or unlucky to be built around one man. And for us, the progressive governors are seeing at how we sustain the party beyond the one man.

“Then you want more details to be talking about Prof Osinbajo, a man of God, professional lawyer, family man; a man that I have come to respect because I was even given the opportunity to speak on his last birthday on behalf of the governors.”

Continuing, Sule claimed he knew the vice president very well and had come to respect him.

“We have the opportunity of having a gentleman that is a total party person loyal to Mr President. And I believe you are selling him earlier than he is selling himself, which is the way it is supposed to be,” he added.

Almost a month later, on October 10, the PCG moved a notch higher in imaging and messaging. It secured the

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recognition of the leadership of the ruling party.

In a move that will stir some political dust, the APC gave recognition to the Progressives Consolidation Group, canvassing support for Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to emerge as presidential candidate in 2023.

The APC national secretariat approved the group in a letter signed by its Director of Administration, Alhaji Abubakar Suleiman.

In the letter to the group, Suleiman said the approval had the blessing of the National Chairman of the party’s Caretaker Committee, Governor Mai Mala Buni.

“We write to inform you that the National Chairman, His Excellency, Mai Mala Buni, has approved your recognition as a support group of the party,” Suleiman wrote, according to a news report.

It was the first support group to be accorded such recognition by the party in this election cycle. In 2015, another group, The National Youth Assembly was recognised by APC National Headquarters. This may signal a plan by the party top guns to shut out other contestants in the race.

THE MESSAGE GETS HOME Pressing its advantage after getting the party’s endorsement, the group immediately took its campaign to the South-West.

That was on October 10, 2021 when members of the group met with the leader of the South-West caucus of the Coalition of APC Support Groups working for the actualisation of the ruling party’s mandates in Nigeria, Comrade Yahaya Majeed, and welcomed him into their fold. He expressed the hope that the group “will promote and add value to already existing progressive philosophy of the umbrella body of registered and recognised APC Support Group by the National Headquarters of our great party, the APC,” THEWILLNIGERIA

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COVER The Coalition of APC Support Group is the national umbrella of all registered and recognised support groups by the APC National Headquarters.

This move was too close to comfort, according to a source within the South-West Agenda for Asiwaju (SWAGA). He said, on the condition of anonymity, that the recognition conferred on the group by the National Secretariat of the party shows, “they can no longer hide their opposition to the National Leader.”

He disclosed that coming a few days after the group was successfully launched in Lagos on Thursday, October 7 and two days after Tinubu arrived the country from a threemonth UK medical trip, was doubly “inciting.”

Attempts to reach Senator Dayo Adeyeye, National Coordinator of SWAGA, who inaugurated the group in the South-West states of Osun, Ondo, Ogun, Oyo and Ekiti, with Oyo as capital, failed as he did not acknowledge repeated calls made to his phone.

A chieftain of SWAGA in Lagos State, Senator Adeseye Ogunleye, also failed to answer a call to his phone.

UNDERGROUND MOVES The parting of ways over the presidential bid of Osinbajo and Tinubu is being fuelled by the current dynamics within the party, THEWILL can authoritatively reveal.

With the rising clamour for a southern President in 2023 and the prevailing insecurity in the South-East, the South-West aspirants appear to have an early start ahead of the Igbos in the South-South and South-East but that could change when these aspirants launch their support groups and intensify their campaign.

Already the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, THEWILL learnt, may soon adopt the heard-all-keepmum style of Tinubu and Osinbajo in their attitude toward campaign groups championing their ambition. Support groups are said to be getting ready to launch their public appearance in support of his ambition. In the same fashion, former Ogun State governor, Ibikunle Amosun and Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State are said to be ready to unveil their interest in the presidency soon.

As the journey towards the 2023 general election gets nearer, these events unfolding daily are bringing in a lot of permutations. Unless something really dramatic happens, what is clear is that the Vice President will lock horns with his former boss and political godfather, Tinubu, in the race to Aso Rock in 2023.

A source close to Tinubu confided in this newspaper that the absence of the VP at the reception hosted in honour of the man popularly called ‘Jagaban’, following his return from a three-month medical trip to the United Kingdom, was in bad taste.

“He did not pay him a visit in London and failed to attend the welcome party hosted by Governor Babajide SanwoOlu. If the UK was too far, Lagos was too near,” the source told THEWILL, craving anonymity.

Indeed, what made the VP’s absence on both occasions look like an unkind political cut was that for the three months that Tinubu stayed in the UK recuperating from a surgery, the VP, alongside other former Tinubu loyalists, now classified as ‘Abuja politicians’, to indicate their break with the former Lagos governor over the race to 2023, namely Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola and the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, were noticeably not among dozens of party chieftains, supporters and loyalists who visited him.

Media aide to Osinbajo, Laolu Akande, could not be reached for comments because he refused to pick many calls made to his phone. National Secretary of the APC, Senator John Akpanudoedehe, asked for a message request but declined to revert to THEWILL. Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, in a statement thinks reports and views on the issue are attempts to cause conflict between Tinubu and Osinbajo in the forthcoming 2023 presidential election, which he said “will fail.”

Ojudu, who is a Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Office of the Vice-President, said Osinbajo and Tinubu are members of the ruling party and both men THEWILLNIGERIA

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welcome politics without bitterness and divisiveness.

He also inferred that there is no conflict of political interests between the two politicians.

The statement titled, ‘2023 Presidential Election: No to divisive politics. Attempts to foist a crack between Osinbajo and Tinubu will fail’, read in part; “It is incumbent on me to state emphatically that neither the Vice President nor his office is aware of this or endorse this kind of a divisive engagement and news reports. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo are members of the same party. Osinbajo regards Tinubu as a respected leader of a political family to which he belongs and will therefore not for any reason endorse an endeavour that seeks to pitch them against each other.

“We are not unaware of some people who may want to foist a crack among our leaders. Such an attempt is abortive.

Osinbajo and Tinubu’s relationship dates way back and it shall continue to wax strong.

“Let me, therefore, call on individuals and media houses engaged in this act to desist from doing so. The APC remains one single, indivisible party and Osinbajo remains a loyal member of the party who respects both the party structure as well as its leadership.

“Moreover, the Independent National Electoral Commission has not given its approval to politicking towards 2023. As a law-abiding citizen, Osinbajo will not commence any act in this regard until the Commission blows the whistle.

In any case, the VP has not indicated interest in the 2023 elections.’’

Ojudu however acknowledged the obvious, saying, “While appreciating individuals who are clamouring for him (Osinbajo) to contest, we however want to plead that they should not draw him or allow themselves into an unnecessary and precipitous controversy.”

Ojudu also welcomed Tinubu back to Nigeria after a threemonth medical trip to the United Kingdom, wishing him “good health, long life and prosperity.”

As Tinubu arrived in the country, penultimate weekend, two days after his support group, SWAGA, was also launched with fanfare in Lagos, the pro – Osinbajo group, Progressive Consolidation Group, has also intensified its campaign towards dragging Osinbajo into the race.

Political analysts believe the only obstacle against the group working full throttle for an Osinbajo presidency is the Vice President himself.

Osinbajo like other perceived Igbo aspirants is yet to

“

A source close to Tinubu confided in this newspaper that the absence of the VP at the reception hosted in honour of the man popularly called ‘Jagaban’, following his return from a three-month medical trip to the United Kingdom, was in bad taste

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formally declare interest in the job and has in the past denounced all attempts to drag his name into the race.

A spokesman for the support group acknowledged the obstacle and the group has appealed to the Vice President to yield to the public demand to declare his interest in the election.

According to Kurfi, “The continuity of the good values already set by APC, especially by the President by himself, if political mentoring is anything to go by and I think it should, then political mentoring of President Buhari has already got a scion in Osinbajo. That if political continuity should be the prevalent thing, then obviously by getting Osinbajo, Nigeria will be better for it.”

A source within the APC said it was not a coincidence that it was the week that Tinubu returned to the country from UK, that the campaign for Osinbajo also got a huge boost.

The source, who pleaded anonymity, said many members of the APC’s top hierarchy in the North are currently routing for Osinbajo and they are mounting pressure on President Buhari to back him for the top job, come 2023.

“Those top northerners that are routing for Osinbajo are citing his loyalty to President Buhari and they feel the only way to pay him back is to ensure that he succeeds his principal and continue the good work already started”, the source told THEWILL. Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, has also boosted the morale of those backing Osinbajo for presidency when he described Osinbajo as ‘an honest man.”

“Whatever he tells you, please take it seriously. You can even take it to the bank, as it is a cheque that will never bounce”, Adesina said of Osinbajo.

TINUBU’S WELCOME PARTY AND OSINBAJO’S ABSENCE Osinbajo, who was the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of Lagos under Tinubu and who Tinubu ensured emerged as Buhari’s running mate in 2015 when many party leaders told him that he should shelve his ambition to become the Vice President because of the controversy a Muslim-Muslim ticket could cause, as at the time of filing this report late Friday had not seen Tinubu nor paid him a solidarity visit.

Penultimate Sunday, Tinubu reunited with his political associates and protégés at a welcome-back event and prayer hosted by Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, at the State House in Marina.

Those who attended the event were Governor Sanwo-Olu and his Deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat and Chief of Staff, Mr Tayo Ayinde. The event was attended by all elected office holders and political appointees in Lagos, including the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, and Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa.

Members of the State Executive Council, Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC) and council chairmen were present as well as Senator Olamilekan Adeola, but Osinbajo was conspicuously absent.

BUHARI KEEPS MUM Since he disclosed in a recent TV interview that he would allow the party to determine his successor, President Buhari has kept silent about any talk of a likely future successor, betraying neither emotion nor giving any sign. This diplomatic posture has continued to keep the leaders of the party guessing and pursuing their ambition discreetly.

WHO BLINKS FIRST? Although both Osinbajo and Tinubu are yet to publicly declare their interest in the 2023 presidential race though THEWILL can authoritatively report that they have indicated their interest privately to their close associates and their body language is suggestive that they are aspiring for the country’s topmost job.

As it becomes increasingly clear that the South may become the battleground for the contest to choose Buhari’s successor in 2023 at least in the ruling APC, the shadow groups fronting for the VP and Tinubu may determine who blinks first.

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OCTOBER 17 - OCTOBER 23, 2021 T H E W I L L N E W S P A P E R • www.thewillnigeria.com

NEWS

Okonjo-Iweala, Peterside, Others For WIMBIZ 20th Anniversary

BY AYO ESAN

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L-R: Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu; Minister of State for Science, Technology and Innovation, Alhaji Mohammed Abdullahi, and APC Caretaker Chairman, in Nasarawa, Dr John Mamman, during the inauguration of Governing Boards and Council of 12 Agencies and Institutes under the supervision of the ministry, in Abuja on 14/10/21.

Budget: Anambra To Spend N141.9bn in 2022

NSPRI Introduces Kogi Farmers to New Technologies

FROM CHARLES OKEKE, AWKA,

FROM JOSEPH AMEDU, LOKOJA

T

he Anambra State Government has said that it will spend the sum of N141.9 billion in the 2022 fiscal year. The funds are to be sourced from federal allocations, grants and internally generated revenue.

This development was announced last Thursday by Governor Willie Obiano during the presentation of the annual budget for 2022.

Governor Obiano described the budget as a “budget of continuity, sustainability and development of a new Anambra” during a special plenary held by members of the Anambra State House of Assembly at the Assembly complex in Awka.

The budget, which is the last one to be presented by the governor in his eight years in office, comprised the sum of N60.9 billion for recurrent expenditures, representing 43 percent of the total budget cost, while N81 billion is meant for capital expenditure, representing 57 percent of the overall budget cost.

Another major component of the budget is to the effect that the projected revenue to be generated from the internal

revenue sources stands at N3.35 billion monthly and N40.36 billion for 2022.

It should also be noted that capital receipts, including grants and other FAAC transfers are estimated at N23.38 billion,while personnel costs are expected to take N1.8 billion monthly and N21.67 billion for the year, representing an increase in the figures for 2021.

Obiano had during the budget presentation listed some projects, which were described as legacy projects.

They include the Anambra State International Cargo and Passenger Airport in Umueri, which is scheduled to begin operation later this month, the International Conference Centre, designed to accommodate 10,000 persons at a time and the Awka City Stadium project.

With the conclusion of the budget presentation, the entire estimates were submitted to the House Speaker for scrutiny by the House of Assembly members at the end of which an approved version will be sent to the governor for his assent, to give it validity.

Osun Fraudster Bags Jail Term in Kwara

BY SAM DIALA

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ustice Mahmud Abdulgafar of the Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin on Friday, October 15, 2021 sentenced a 24-year-old man from Ilesha in Atakumosa Local Government Area of Osun State, Akingbolagbe Olaleye Samuel, to a one-year jail term for offences bordering on cybercrime, contrary to and punishable under Section 319(a) of the Penal Code.

Akingbolagbe, a student of the Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin, was prosecuted on one count by the Ilorin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

He allegedly engaged in picking cash totaling N40 million for Internet

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fraudsters. He was also said to have personally benefited the sum of N7, 062,500.00 (Seven Million, Sixty-Two Thousand, Five Hundred Naira Only) from the unlawful activities.

Upon arraignment today, the defendant pleaded guilty to the charge.

Following his plea, the counsel to the EFCC, Andrew Akoja, through an operative of the Commission reviewed the facts of the case.

Akoja urged the court to take notice of the extra-judicial statements and the plea entered by the defendant, as well as the evidence tendered before it to convict the defendant in line with the plea bargain agreement dated September 16, 2021.

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he Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI) has introduced newly-invented and technologybased storage equipment to farmers in Kogi State, as part of its effort to reduce postharvest losses and ensure the availability of quality farm produce in the state.

THEWILL reports that the equipment comprised airtight hermetic steel drums for the storage of grains, smoking kilns for smoking of fish and iced fish boxes for preservation of fresh fish over a long period.

The Commissioner for Agriculture, David Apeh, performed the commissioning and distribution of the equipment to nine multipurpose cooperative groups at the state Agricultural Development Project (ADP) premises in Lokoja at the weekend.

Apeh, represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Malam Sani Abdulganiyu, said that post harvest losses had over the years posed a great challenge to the agriculture sector, culminating in food insecurity.

He commended NSPRI for introducing Kogi farmers to technology-based devices, saying that the state, through the ADP, was already in partnership with the institute.

He added that whatever would be done to enable more farmers to benefit from the technological inventions, especially the facilities, would be handled by the ADP with the full support of the state government.

Speaking earlier, the NSPRI Team Lead, Dr Olaleye Oladimeji, said the inventions were aimed at alleviating post-harvest losses often associated with agricultural produce.

Oladimeji said that the beneficiaries comprised farmers, handlers and marketers of agricultural produce identified through collaboration with the state ADP “because they (ADP) know the people in agribusiness and where they are.”

“The government as we know has been doing much in promoting agricultural production, but we find out that when you produce after sometime because of poor handling and inadequate knowledge to preserve the produce most of them get lost.

he Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Economist and Founder, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, Atedo Peterside, CON; former Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria, Ibukun Awosika, as well as the founder, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (now GTCo) and FATE Foundation, Fola Adeola, will grace the 20th anniversary of Women in Management, Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ) which will take place in Lagos between November 4 and 5, 2021.

Speaking with journalists, the Chairperson of the Executive Council, WIMBIZ, Ngover Ihyembe-Nwankwo, said the 20th WIMBIZ Anniversary and Annual Conference would tell the stories of pacesetters and celebrate women who have shattered ceilings, overcome adversity, broken stereotypes, enabled empowerment and created opportunities.

She said the 2021 conference, aptly themed “Celebrating Legacy”, had an interesting line-up of iconic events and legendary personalities to grace the week-long celebrations specially curated to spotlight the non-profit organisation’s 20-year contribution to elevating the status of women in Nigeria and Africa.

“For the first time in the history of WIMBIZ, five pre-conference events will be rolled out to commemorate his 20th anniversary. They are legends ball, art and fashion exhibition, Golf Tournament, Virtual Masterclasses and a special edition of its Big Sister (a corporate social responsibility programme),she said.

She also said that chairpersons for the main conference billed for November 4 and 5, 2021 are Chief Folake Solanke, CON- Nigeria’s first female Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and the Chairman/Publisher of The Guardian Newspapers, Lady Maiden Alex-Ibru, MFR. She said, “We are excited to reflect on the WIMBIZ story and our journey thus far. It has been an awesome run, but where do we go from here? We are still very challenged. When we look at the numbers of representation, particularly in politics, we are still significantly underrepresented. So, on the one hand, we are celebrating progress. On the other hand, there is still a lot to be done.

We encourage everyone to join us so that we can work as a collective to build a new narrative for women. The power is in our hands.”

Speaking on the WIMBIZ legacy and its impact on the wider community, the Executive Director, WIMBIZ, Hansatu Adegbite, said, “WIMBIZ is focused on nation building. One person or group can’t build a nation. We all have a role to play in the development of our nation, especially as it concerns gender parity and inclusivity.”

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OCTOBER 17 - OCTOBER 23, 2021 T H E W I L L N E W S P A P E R • www.thewillnigeria.com

PERISCOPE

2022 Budget: Sinking Deep in Miry Clay STICKING TO CONTRADICTION The government has stubbornly maintained that revenue, not debt, is the kernel of Nigeria’s fiscal challenge. Despite the facts from credible sources and informed opinions to the contrary, the government refuses to yield.

At the public presentation and breakdown of the highlights of the 2022 Appropriation Bill in Abuja on October 8, 2021, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, disclosed that the Federal Government spent N2.89 trillion on debt servicing between January and August 2021.

According to the Minister, in the first seven months of the year, total expenditure made by the government stood at N8.14 trillion out of which N2.88 trillion was utilised for debt servicing, N2.75 trillion was spent on overhead cost, while N1.75 trillion was expended on capital projects.

With a debt servicing cost of N2.89 trillion and total revenue of N3.9 trillion, the Federal Government spent about 74 per cent of its revenue on debt servicing within the review period.

Zainab said, “For the 2021 performance, between January and August, revenue generated was N3.93 trillion, which was 73 per cent of the prorated target.

With a debt servicing cost of N2.89 trillion and total revenue of N3.9 trillion, the Federal Government spent about N74 per cent of its revenue on debt servicing within the review period Zainab said, “For the 2021 performance, between January and August, revenue generated was N3.93 trillion which was 73 per cent of the prorated target.

President of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has cautioned against Nigeria’s mounting debt stock, warning that it must decisively tackle its debt challenges.

Adesina, who spoke at the Mid-Term Ministerial Performance Review Retreat at the Presidential Villa in Abuja this month (October), strongly disagreed with the Federal Government’s view that revenue, not debt, is at the centre of its fiscal challenge, pointing out that debt-service-to revenue ratio of 73 percent was high and unsustainable.

He said, “Nigeria must decisively tackle its debt challenges.

The issue is not about debt-to-GDP ratio, as Nigeria’s debtto-GDP ratio at 35 percent is still moderate. The big issue is how to service the debt and what that means for resources for domestic investments needed to spur faster economic growth

BY SAM DIALA

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nation’s budget should inspire hope and stimulate expectations as it provides the avenue to foster development, boost human capital and raise the people’s standard of living. As a channel for achieving economic growth, it is a tool for decision making that allows the leaders to exercise authority in a manner that makes authoritative allocation of resources meaningful. It is a veritable tool for planning.

In the last six years, since 2016, Nigeria has been operating a national budget that yields less of the dividends of leadership that the instrument provides. Instead, it has remained an exercise in guesswork, under-achievement, low performance and progress in retrogression. It hardly yields the expected results. The budget figures have increased exponentially, without a corresponding evidence of positive performance.

This is why the 2020 Appropriation Bill now undergoing legislative process at the National Assembly is more of a concern than hope. Nigerians express worry on a daily basis that the budget may end up expanding the frontier for profligacy, waste, misplaced priorities and, above all, pushing the country deeper into the miry clay of debt. They are worried that the leadership of the country is determined to maintain its drive on the expressway of Debt Avenue. overlooking the caution and warning signs. Instead, it chooses the direction to go, even when those familiar with the route advise otherwise.

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President Muhammadu Buhari presented a budget estimate of N16.39 trillion for the 2022 appropriation year. This represents an increase of 19.7 per cent compared to the budget of 13.6 trillion for 2021. It is the largest in the nation’s history.

The budget has an aggregate revenue of N10.13 trillion. The sum of N3.16 trillion or 34.9 percent is from oil sources with the balance of N6.97 trillion, representing 65.1 percent, from non-oil sources. It has a deficit of N6.25 trillion, which is the equivalent of 3.39 percent of GDP. The debt will be funded by fresh borrowing to the tune of N5 trillion, which will be from both domestic and foreign sources.

This deficit is in excess of three percent of the GDP, which is the threshold indicated by the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007. The President explained that we need to spend to resuscitate the economy following the slowdown imposed by the pandemic, provided the expenditure is in areas such as essential infrastructure which has the potential to grow the economy.

Data from the Debt Management Office (DMO) shows that Nigeria’s debt stock as of Jun 30, 2021 was N35.47 trillion.

Well-informed opinions have raised the alarm over the nation’s mounting debt stock without corresponding revenue inflow. As a matter of fact, while the debt stock mounts, revenue targets continue to ebb, without an indication that a sliver lining is imminent at the end of the dark tunnel.

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“The debt-service-to revenue ratio of Nigeria is high at 73 percent. Things will improve as oil prices recover, but the situation has revealed the vulnerability of Nigeria’s economy.

To have economic resurgence, we need to fix the structure of the economy and address some fundamentals.

“Nigeria’s challenge is revenue concentration, as the oil sector accounts for 75.4 percent of export revenue and 50 percent of all government revenue.”

He further stated that what was needed for sustained growth and economic resurgence is to remove the structural bottlenecks that limit the productivity and the revenue earning potential of the huge non-oil sectors.

“Nigeria should significantly boost productivity and revenues from its non-oil sector, with appropriate fiscal and macroeconomic policies, especially flexible exchange rates that will enhance international competitiveness,” he said .

PAINFUL FLASHBACK Since 2016, the Nigerian government has not achieved its revenue budgets, while recurrent expenditure is fully executed as a matter of ritual. Based on the 2017 Budget Implementation Report by the Budget Office, for instance, out of N5.084 trillion projection of Federal Government retained revenue, only N2.37 trillion was realised, representing 46.75 percent performance. *Continues on Page 8

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PERISCOPE

2022 Budget: Sinking Deep in Miry Clay

*Continued from Page 7

On the expenditure side, the combined executed personnel and debt servicing budgets amounting to N3.50 trillion exceeds the overall realised revenue by a whopping N844.88 billion.

This implies that Nigeria used borrowed funds amounting to N844.88 billion to pay salaries and service debts. This is part of the overall N2.5 trillion borrowed to fund the 2017 budget (made up of N1.3 trillion from domestic and N1.2 trillion from external markets, respectively).

Further analysis revealed that the overall borrowed sum of N2.5 trillion was more than the net increase in lending to the private sector in 2017 by the deposit money banks. In the final analysis, the government carried a debt burden of N1.3 trillion it could not resolve in 2017. The quagmire arose from the fact that the N2.5 trillion it borrowed from banks to finance the budget was short of clearing the N3.8 trillion arising from expenditure that overshot revenue.

This is an example of Nigeria’s fiscal challenge that has dovetailed into a high debt profile which now consumes about 80 percent of revenue annually for debt servicing. The consequence is that the capital expenditure which should drive the economy through viable infrastructure development is abandoned. This creates negative macroeconomic circumstances such as rise in unemployment, inflation, misery index, insecurity and drop in standard of living.

Former Anambra State Governor, Mr Peter Obi, at a recent webinar organised by the Association of Securities Houses of Nigeria (ASHON) earlier this year, stressed that the government’s borrowings should be targeted at development of the productive base of the economy, rather than supporting or supplementing consumptive tendency.

The limited economic linkage of the huge project compared to the benefit of investing the resources in power generating plants, for instance, can be imagined. A shock in oil price in the international market will result in economic upheaval that will trigger disruption in productive activities, job losses, drop in tax revenue and high inflation; but debt obligations must be met.

The DMO has blamed COVID-19 for the recent rise in government borrowings. Government recently disclosed that it would convert the N10 trillion loans it owes the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) into a 30-year bond. The ‘indebtedness’ to the CBN was largely by Ways and Means advances.

CULTURE OF MISAPPLICATION Of great concern is that the nation’s non-debt recurrent expenditure continues to rise amid declining revenue. Cost of governance shows no signs of abating.

President Buhari had revealed plans to spend as much as N6.83 trillion on non-debt recurrent expenditure, which includes personnel costs and overhead which constitute 41.7 percent of the total 2022 budget. Analysis of the budget revealed that this is also higher than the N5.35 trillion budget for capital expenditure and N3.61 trillion provision for debt service.

Data from the Budget Office showed that Nigeria spent N6.17 trillion more than it earned in 2020 which resulted in a fiscal deficit of 4 percent of GDP – the highest in 21 years.

The alarming rate of waste in our public finance management is unprecedented. The government revenue generating agencies have turned into avenues of waste, mismanagement and outright stealing of public funds. Experts believe there is no way the budget can make a meaningful impact with such an alarming rate of mismanagement.

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For the 2021 performance, between January and August, revenue generated was N3.93 trillion, which was 73 per cent of the prorated target. With a revenue target of 73 percent and 74 percent of revenue used for debt servicing, it requires no guesswork that the country is sinking deeper into the miry clay of debt

“NNPC has been making losses. From 2015/16 to 2020, they made accumulated losses of over N800 billion. Now, all of a sudden, in 2020 when the world was on lockdown, it made such a humongous profit. Did NNPC operate in a different world? Look at the balance sheets of other nations’ oil and gas corporations: Saudi Arabia’s Aramco declared over $110 billion profit in 2018. In 2019 they declared $83 billion profit. In 2020, when COVID-19 was ravaging the world, they declared $42 billion profit which is about half of the 2019 figure.

“Look at Petrobras of Brazil, it declared over $10 billion profit in 2019. In 2020, because of COVID-19, it achieved a little over $1 billion.

Similarly, Petronas of Malaysia made a profit of about $21 billion in 2019. In 2020, they made a loss because of COVID-19. Check, Emirate Oil and other nations’ oil and gas firms, there is no corporation or oil and gas industry operator that declared bumper profit in 2020. All of a sudden, NNPC is declaring over 2,000 percent profit. Profit from where?

And people are clapping away. What they (NNPC) simply did was move numbers from one place to another. It is financial engineering,” Managing Director/CEO, Taurus Capital & Advisory, Dr Nnaemeka Obiaraeri, told THEWILL. Commenting further, Obiaraeri said, “Where have you seen a company going into a full limited liability status that will still be creating avenues for losses? If NNPC is like any of the major oil and gas companies, will it still be talking about subsidies, yet carrying refineries that make losses? If you have any entity in your portfolio that is not making profit, you spin it off. NNPC is talking about implementing the PIA in six months’ time and they are not talking about privatising the refineries, they are not talking about removing subsidies.

Subsidy has no timeline. I have never seen a country that is so confused.”

An Economist and Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics, Dr Olu Fasan, blames poor leadership for the poor execution of the nation’s budget, noting that the input of such leaders will not augur well for the economy.

He said leadership and the quality of those holding political and public offices in Nigeria is imperative in managing the resources of the country.

“To be honest, the quality of leadership and public-office holding in Nigeria is extremely poor. That’s partly because the right people are not being elected or appointed into public offices and partly because of the lack of accountability and checks and balances. The citizens need to be educated and told about the principle of “garbage-in, garbage-out”, that is, if you elect the wrong people to power, you get the wrong kind of governance.

“Secondly, we need to create the right accountability mechanism and incentive structure that generates good performance from elected and appointed office holders. There must be an effective system of holding people accountable for poor performance and, of course, of rewarding outstanding performance.

“In short, Nigeria needs radical transformation, it needs root-and-branch reform. It won’t make progress unless it is properly restructured,” Fasan told THEWILL. Commenting on the 2022 budget proposal, renowned Economist and CEO, BIC Consultancy Services, Dr Boniface Chizea, said, “Petroleum subsidy amounted to 714 billion Naira as at the end of August, 2021. The nonfunctional refineries spent 8.33bn during the period up to August, 2021.

It is estimated that the total expenditure on the refineries will be up to 66.6 bn. for the year.

“These expenditures are not sustainable against the backdrop of inactivity but it is interesting to note that there has been no provision in budget 2022 for such expenditure heads.

Therefore the days ahead portend to be very interesting. The President has promised during his presentation to safeguard revenues from oil and gas; really plug leakages.

“That is a battle which Nigeria has to win if we are desirous of rapid development as it is often proclaimed that corruption fights back if you gear up to take it on.”

Nigeria’s total budget deficit since 2016 has hit N20 trillion.

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POLITICS Mixed Reactions as NASS Adopts Direct Primaries increasing the costs of nomination procedures, thereby surrendering the processes to money bags against the wishes and aspirations of Nigerians.

“Our party makes bold to state that with the exception of the APC, which intends to deploy looted funds in future elections, hardly will there be any political party that will be able to raise the cost of conducting internal elections under a direct primary process. This is why the decision of the Senate has elicited widespread rejection from Nigerians across board.

“The PDP therefore urges the Senate to immediately deploy its appropriate legislative instruments to reverse itself on the direct primary as it is not operable and does not reflect the wishes and aspiration of majority of Nigerians.”

On its part, the All Progressives Congress (APC) says it is committed to and supports constitutionally-permitted innovations that will improve transparency and credibility of the country’s electioneering processes and internal democracy.

Sen. John Akpanudoedehe, National Secretary, APC Caretaker and Extra-ordinary Convention Planning Committee, gave the assurance in a statement.

This, according to him, is specifically with regards to the nomination of candidates of political parties.

Lawan

“Accordingly, the sound bites from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should be ignored in its entirety. PDP is only pretending to be an opposition political party.

“Meanwhile, the patriotic disposition of the multi-partisan 9th National Assembly should be commended.

BY AYO ESAN

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s the amendment to the Electoral Act is ongoing at the National Assembly, last Tuesday’s amendment of the Senate’s earlier clause, where it gave political parties the option of direct and indirect primaries as a mode of selecting candidates for general elections, is already generating agitation among political parties and leaders across the country.

The amendment by the Red Chamber has jettisoned indirect primary and restricted political parties to only direct primary.

The amended Clause 87 on nomination of candidates by parties, now Clause 87. (1), reads, “A political party seeking to nominate candidates for elections under this Bill shall hold direct primaries for aspirants to all elective positions, which shall be monitored by the Commission.”

It should also be noted that the House of Representatives had earlier adopted the direct primary as a method for the emergence of candidates for general elections.

The Conference Committee set up by both chambers is expected to harmonise the resolutions of both chambers of parliament.

This decision to adopt the direct primary for political parties in selecting their candidates for elections has generated mixed reactions from not only the lawmakers, but also different political parties and leaders of thoughts who spoke with THEWILL. The direct primary, which was adopted by the Lagos State Chapter of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in electing its gubernatorial candidate in the build-up to the 2019 general election, is a system in which all the registered members of a political party participate in the primary election to choose candidates for election. This is as opposed to indirect primary or the collegiate system in which voters choose delegates, who in turn choose the party’s candidates at a convention.

The indirect primary has been the most used system in Nigeria’s political history. However, criticism has trailed this system as it has always resulted in the highest bidder emerging as candidates for election.

Perhaps this was why the APC in 2018 gave its state chapters the option of using the direct or indirect primaries in choosing their candidates.

The adoption of both modes of primaries was what was also in THEWILLNIGERIA

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the statutory book until the Senate and House of Representatives’ current decision to allow only the direct primary in choosing candidates for elections by political parties.

“It is the right thing for the National Assembly to aggregate and consider the clamour by civil societies, interested stakeholders and indeed all Nigerians on all matters requiring legislation,” he said.

The implication of this new development is that if President Muhammadu Buhari assented to this clause, then political parties will have no choice other than to abide by the usage of the direct primary.

Akpanudoedehe added that in line with the party’s progressive mantra, the credibility of elections had continued to improve under the President Buhari-led APC government.

Analysts are quick to point out that most political parties may find this option very difficult because, except for the two major parties, PDP and APC, most other parties don’t even have registers of their members.

Another disadvantage, political analysts pointed out, is that the option of direct primaries, which will require elections in all wards, may require the kind of financial resources that most political parties may not be able to afford.

However, advocates of internal democracy believe the direct primary will afford every member of a political party the choosing to choose who will represent them in the election.

Speaking with THE WILL, a former presidential candidate of KOWA Party, Prof Remi Sonaiya, said “I am not sure that it is the Senate’s responsibility to determine how each political party will run its internal affairs. That should normally be the decision of the members.

“However, I believe that parties should have direct primaries, with each member’s vote counting. My party, KOWA Party, has always conducted its affairs in a democratic and transparent manner. Every member has an equal say in determining who the party’s candidate will be”.

According to the APC scribe, valid votes now count and past practices of electoral fraud inflicted on Nigerians are fast becoming a thing of the past.

He said that at party level, the APC CECPC, under the leadership of Governor Mai Mala Buni, had entrenched internal democracy.

This, he said, was especially in its nomination processes as recorded in recent and successful nationwide congresses conducted by the party.

He assured that the APC as a party and government would continue to stand for and support free, fair, transparent and credible elections across the country.

But despite what the senators described as their genuine intention to enthrone internal democracy, former Nigerian Ambassador, Dr Yemi Farounbi, in a chat with THE WILL, maintained that political parties should be allowed to decide on which method to use for electing their candidates.

“I believe that ordinarily, political parties should be left alone to decide on which method to use for selecting/electing candidates.

“This tendency to standardise and unifirmise political processes can stifle domestic and local initiative.

Reacting, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) described the Senate’s adoption of direct primary for the nomination of candidates for election in all political parties “as a retrogressive provision that seeks to wipe off all the gains achieved in our electoral practice since 1999.”

“It must be noted that even in the USA, the nomination processes vary from states to states. Some states use direct primary. Others use indirect primary.

The party said, in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, that the decision by the APCcontrolled Senate is “a humongous blow to the development of democratic norms and a plot to introduce anarchy during internal party elections as currently obtainable in the APC.”

“It will also be recalled that in the early days of the old SDP and NRC, direct primaries were used and abandoned. It was found to be expensive and its organisation complex and cumbersome.

The statement read, “The PDP holds that the provision is aimed at

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There is no standardisation and uniformity.

“I recall that in 2018, a party used the direct primaries for electing its governorship candidate. The winning candidate had about *Continues on Page 11

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POLITICS/INTERVIEW

2023: Nigeria Needs President With Contemporary Worldview – Adeogun

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I really think what we need at this stage is a President with a contemporary worldview, who can unite all segments of the nation and bring all the citizens together, irrespective of ethnicity, religion economic class, age or sex, to share in one common vision of unity and prosperity

In this interview with AYO ESAN, The Vice Chairman of House of Representatives Committee on National Security, Adejoro Adeogun, speaks on the security challenges facing the country, the anti-open grazing laws in some southern states, the ongoing debate on where President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor should come from and other issues affecting Nigeria at 61. Excerpts:

Most governors of the southern states have banned open grazing of cattle in their respective states. Do you think this is a solution to the persistent clashes between armed herdsmen and farmers in the region?

The ban on open grazing is a necessity, given the violence attributed to the activities of armed herdsmen across the country. The measure is being adopted to safeguard the lives and properties of farmers and other law abiding citizens. I am of the opinion that the states should support those engaged in the cattle business. I think the state governors should take steps to provide ranches, which are alternatives to open grazing.

The Southern Governors Forum has demanded that the South produce the next President in 2023, while the North is insisting that he should come from the region. What is your take on this?

The hullabaloo over where the next President should come from is the outcome of the distrust between the different ethnic groups in Nigeria. The fear that some groups dominate political leadership, while others are perceived as being marginalised is at the root of the clamour for the zoning of political offices. Sadly, the focus on these things that divide us takes us very far away from what should be our main focus.

Which geo-political zone do you think should produce the next President, if the presidency is zoned to the South?

As an individual, I am more concerned about good governance and national integration than where the next President comes from. However, given the prevailing distrust in the nation, I think the most appropriate thing to do is to reach out to the zones that feel most marginalised.

For the sake of restoring broader confidence in the entity called Nigeria, the political class must deliberately take actions that are geared toward a lasting national integration.

The Peoples Democratic Party has announced that its National Chairman will come from the North.

This is being construed as a signal that the party’s presidential candidate will come from the South. Do

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you think that the ruling All Progressives Congress should do the same thing?

The ruling party and an opposition party should not be expected to toe the same path, except where interests align. My advice is that you should not misconstrue the zoning of the National Chairman of a party with the presidential candidate. Please, look beyond media theatrics and read between the lines. It is a political game and the politicians themselves know it. I expect the ruling party to pursue a policy of fairness, not necessarily zoning.

Do you think the Federal Government is handling ongoing agitations for self-determination the right way?

Most of the agitations masquerading as separatist agitations are merely ways of expressing the displeasure with some aspects of governance. Most of these agitations arise from two issues: first, perceived political marginalisation and secondly, economic inadequacy. If we manage to address these two challenges, we will be moving towards eliminating the issues you described as self-determination. Although the Federal Government is handling the security aspect of these challenges, a lot more is desired to regain the confidence and trust of every Nigerian.

What is your assessment of Nigeria at 61?

Nigeria is like an elephant that has chosen to keep the company of antelopes. It will never achieve its potential until it occupies its proper place in the jungle. To do that, it must first understand that it is an elephant and not an antelope. Then it must rise up to take its proper place among mammoths, rather than animals of lesser potentials.

What are the solutions to the challenges facing the country?

The solutions to the challenges are good governance, a shared vision, a collective desire to live together in harmony and a shift in economic focus from being consumer based to production based.

Many believe the dearth of leadership is the problem of Nigeria, while others believe the followership is also to blame. What is your take on this?

Our leadership deficiency can be viewed from the perspective of cause and effect: bad followers beget bad leadership and bad leadership attracts bad followers. It’s like two different sides of the same coin.

Do you have any fear about 2023?

Adeogun

W

hat steps should be taken to tackle the worsening insecurity in the country?

The steps to be taken are multi-dimensional.

First, we need to address the root causes of our security challenges, which include poverty, unemployment and slow judicial administration. We must take urgent steps to build the capacity of our law enforcement agencies to address insecurity.

I absolutely have no fear at all. 2023 will come and contrary to the expectation of doomsday prophets, Nigerians will once more show the world that it has ingenious and peculiar ways of solving its own problems.

What is your view on the growing clamour for a generational shift in the leadership of Nigeria?

Should age really be a yardstick for leadership attainment? Should a potentially good leader be excluded on the basis of age? I really think what we need at this stage is a President with a contemporary worldview, who can unite all segments of the nation and bring all the citizens together, irrespective of ethnicity, religion economic class, age or sex, to share in one common THEWILLNIGERIA

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POLITICS/INTERVIEW Mixed Reactions as NASS Adopts Direct Primaries *Continued from Page 9

28,000 votes. But in the general election conducted by INEC, the candidate didn’t have up to 1,000 votes. One wondered where the party members who voted during the direct primary were. This is to say that the direct primary can be open to manipulation by party executives.

“My view is that the political parties should have the right to adopt whichever process they want. Yes. There’s need for internal democracy within the parties. Internal democracy cannot be enforced, but it must be encouraged to grow”.

Also speaking with THE WILL, the National Chairman of the National Conscience Party (NCP), Dr Tanko Yunusa, said the Senate was wrong in taking the decision.

“It should be left for the party to decide. All parties have no equal strength. You cannot direct all parties to adopt direct primary. Some of us have little resources.

“Indirect primary will be better for us. It is an infringement on the party’s rights. The Senate and House of Reps should have left it open and given parties the right to decide on the best of the two methods. This is an imposition by an APC- dominated National Assembly,” he said.

The National Coordinator of Democracy Vanguard, an organisation that promotes the principle of one person-one vote, Comrade Adeola Soetan, while speaking with THEWILL on the development, said he disagreed with the position of the Senate on the imposition of the direct primary on political parties.

He said, “The Senate can’t write law for political parties. I don’t agree with the Senate on this. It overreached itself by proclaiming that political parties should choose their candidates by direct primary only. This is an undemocratic and illegal control of political parties freely formed by citizens who have democratic rights to make the rules of engagement and conduct their primaries, according to the constitution of their parties, agreed and popularly adopted by the congress of the parties or any of their organs in line with the constitution of the parties.

“It is the duty of an election management bodies like the Independent National Electoral Commission, not the Senate to regulate and monitor how political parties conduct their primaries in line with their constitution.

Continuing, he said “The Senate, by this action, is indirectly writing the constitution of political parties, which is unacceptable. Democracy is a culture that evolves with experience and practice. The participation of members to collectively elect their candidates should not be decreed by undemocratic law.

That is usurping the democratic rights to association and organisation of the members of the party.

“On the surface, the decision by the Senate looks good in view of the undemocratic and criminal practices of political godfathers and moneybags to own the party, imposed their candidates by manipulating party’s constitutional options of choosing candidates by direct primary or by delegates, which has been a threat to party’s internal democracy by bribing and imposing their hangers-on the party as delegates.

vision of unity and prosperity. Age, like ethnicity, should not be the overwhelming prerequisite. Rather we should be seeking a President with a pan-Nigeria vision, who is imbued with the capability to bring out the best out of our citizens, have an excellent understanding of macroeconomic principles and understands the aspirations of the younger generation.

You seem to be one of the most visible members of the House of Representatives. What actually prepared you for your performance, considering your background before your foray into politics?

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activities, which served as part of my political learning curve. Perhaps the greatest preparation was the fact that I got involved in partisan politics to fulfill a divine purpose.

Would you say that you have fulfilled your campaign promises to the people of Akoko South East/West federal constituency?

Where I come from, it is said that a masquerade does not see its back. So I’ll leave the assessment of my performance to my constituents, who gave me their mandate. But if what the majority of the constituents say is to be believed, then I must have done excellently well.

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“But it is dangerous to use undemocratic laws to fight undemocratic practices by those notorious political bandit leaders who corrupt the democratic processes of their parties. You don’t straightjacket people into a cul de sac in multi-party democracy because of the undemocratic ownership and control of political parties like commercial parastatal.

“We should allow democratic culture to evolve for party members to confront their criminal leaders and moneybags. Some of these godfathers and paymasters are already facing such rebellion by their aggrieved members even from their imposed beneficiary godsons and daughters including many Senators who were imposed by godfathers.

“These criminal godfathers get away with the manipulation of party primaries because they control the leadership of these parties. Will the Senate make law against that too?”

Despite dissenting opinions, President Muhammadu Buhari will serve as final arbiter when he assents to the clause or refuse to assent to it.

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POLITICS the APC combined in the 2019 gubernatorial election.

Critics accuse PLASIEC of allocating votes and rigging the election to create a false impression that the APC is well entrenched as a political party in Plateau.

Lalong

In Jos North for instance, the usual enthusiasm and long queues were absent. Rather, in areas like Rukuba Road, Jenta, Dogon Agogo, Tafawa Balewa, Masalacci Juma’a, Ali Kazaure, Angwa Rogo, Dilimi and Gangare, youths, who expressed outright disgust with the process and the absence of options in the exercise, waited around polling units menacingly to deal with anyone who would dare to queue up to cast votes. Thus, most of the polling units in Jos North, Jos South, Bassa, Riyom, and Barkin Ladi LGAs recorded massive boycotts.

Plateau’s Hollow Ritual of LG Polls

Lack of contest and unprecedented voter apathy leading to a low turnout ensured that last week’s local government election in Plateau State was at best a walkover and a critical miscarriage of democracy, writes UKANDI ODEY

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t was, indeed, the morning after and a typical day after an intriguing night of long knives. While for some it was a long road to a home so near, it was a winding and cursive course of booby traps for others, for whom everything about the ‘elections’ was democracy deferred and still a long road to justice.

Reacting to the outcome of the ‘elections’ last Monday, the Plateau State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party described the exercise as “the worst local government elections in the history of Nigeria.” On the same day, during the inauguration of the ‘elected’ chairmen in Government House, Rayfield, Governor Simon Lalong said, “We have every reason to thank God for the successful transition from one local government tenure to another, after the successful elections that took place on October 9.”

Lalong also used the occasion to commend “the people of Plateau State for their exemplary conduct, resilience, and patriotism throughout the exercise” and joined the Plateau State Electoral Commission (PLASIEC) in the commendation “for conducting one of the best elections in the history of the State.”

However, the governor, whose speech during the inauguration of local government chairmen has been criticised as full of lies, faulty suppositions and contraptions of logic, more than agreed with his critics that the ‘elections’ and their process were haunted by odds and oddities when he told a delegation from the British High Commission that “the heavens did not fall” after the ‘elections’ were conducted.

PLASIEC was dutiful in the ‘collation’ and announcement of the results, this time less than 24 hours after voting ended (in 2018 it had announced results and declared winners while voting was still going on!). The ‘results’ were announced at about 8 am Sunday, with the winners of 17 chairmanship seats and 325 councilors declared before a sparse media representation. The results, as announced by the PLASIEC chairman, Fabian Ntung Ari, showed the ‘winners’, both chairmen and councilors, posting high numbers of votes scored, in sharp contrast with the

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The election did not fail only as a result of the exclusion of the PDP, PLASIEC was haunted by its own bad and biased conscience to the effect that it did not carry out sufficient enlightenment and mass mobilisation to enlist the support, cooperation and participation of the electorate.

For instance, on the eve of the elections, the commission could not as much as brief the press on its preparedness and deployment of logistics. A state-wide broadcast by Governor Lalong on Thursday, October 7, only succeeded in worsening the atmosphere of suspicion and anger of the citizens, especially as the broadcast proceeded insensitively to declare Friday, October 8, the eve of the ‘election’, as a work-free day. Not many agreed with the governor that the holiday was necessary to enable people travel to their respective local government areas to cast their votes the next day. The holiday was popularly received and viewed as a desperate enactment conceived to frustrate a menacing and determined opposition that looked good to possibly secure injunction from the Appeal Court on that Friday and stop the ‘elections’ from proceeding as scheduled.

At the Court of Appeal, it was like the unstoppable had come face to face with the irrepressible in a seeming handshake of a lion with a tiger. Lalong’s ‘public holiday’ could not stop the Court from sitting, meaning danger was more prolonged than averted. The PDP legal team led by Edward G Pwajok, SAN, was in full gloves against the PLASIEC legal team spear-headed by Garba Pwul, SAN. News of the Appeal Court hearing application for injunction against the election spread like spirit fire, with many becoming interested in what the court would dispense at the end of the day.

low turnout due to voter apathy and citizens’ anger that the Simon Lalong Administration had thoroughly skewed the process and used the PLASIEC to orchestrate the elimination of vibrant opposition from participating in the election.

As the court session dragged, uncertainty percolated and loomed over the prospect of the exercise. After three stand-downs, the longest court session and grueling legal exercise in the recent history of advocacy came to a close at about 11pm. Verdict: Elections will go ahead!

Although the PLASIEC claimed that six political parties participated in the exercise, most of them were unable to purchase forms for the chairmanship position, except in Barkin Ladi and Pankshin LGAs where acrimony and dissatisfaction with the disputed All Progressives Congress congresses saw to the emergence of a strong opposition and contenders on the platform of the Youth Progressive Party ( YPP).

However, too little, quite late - the court sitting had taken a toll on the psyche of the electorate and their willingness to participate waned irredeemably.

From Bassa and Jos North LGAs at the northernmost tip of Plateau North, to Wase Qua’an Pan in Southern Plateau, it was a miserable turnout of voters. Analysts say this was due to a background of checkered issues that include, fundamentally and sentimentally, the exclusion of the PDP, which is the most acceptable political party among Plateau people, from the exercise. In all the 17 local government areas of the state, only Kanke in Plateau Central and Jos North in Plateau North could boast of a summary turnout of between 5,000 and 10,000 voters, respectively.

In some polling units visited, there was no voter anywhere, while some officials waited for election materials.

According to the results announced by PLASIEC, in Jos North and Jos South LGAs, both of them in Plateau North Senatorial District, the APC ‘won’ by 161, 857 and 51,342 votes, respectively; while in Kanam and Mangu LGAs in Plateau Central Senatorial District, the ‘winners’ polled 78,768 and 119,467, respectively.

In Plateau South Senatorial District, the ‘winner’ in Lalong’s home local government of Shendam polled 93, 865 votes, while in Langtang North, Lalong’s former commissioner, who is facing a case of double jeopardy, ‘emerged’ with 49,290 votes and was returned ‘elected’.

The ballot summary indicates that 1, 098, 742 votes were scored, well above the total votes polled by the PDP and

In Langtang North, shared apathy and general disgust was worsened by the outcry against an injustice and a peculiarity. The tenure of the elected chairman on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party was brutishly truncated with a year to go for the APC to take over.

With a radio station being established and launched into operation by the same ousted chairman, with Langtang North making history as the first local government area to own a frequency modulated radio station in the country, conducting last week’s ‘election’ in the area did not really excite the people or impress on them as moving to the next level of development and welfare.

What many have not given sufficient review as responsible for the voter apathy and protest is the lack of internal democracy, injustice, anger, bitterness, disillusionment and factions threatening the soul and inner workings of the APC in Plateau. The party congresses that produced candidates for the exercise under review threw up more problems than ensuring internal cohesion and the way forward. One, the power play and clash of interests, which brought the tenure of Letep Dabang as the state chairman of the party to a turbulent end, has cracked and unsettled the party’s original chassis. Secondly, there are litigations arising from the Congresses that are still subsisting with both potential and propensity to grate on the Party’s electoral amiability as the tapes roll on the footages of 2023.

For many reasons, the grounds are uncertain, the coin is spinning, anything can happen, for what took place was a farce and a farcical exercise imbued possibly with the fate of futility.

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POLITICS

Ayu: PDP Faces Another Huddle once produced the president as well as the national chairman.

That was during the tenure of former President Goodluck Jonathan, when Chief Okwesilieze Nwodo in 2010 succeeded Mr Vincent Ogbulafor who had emerged during late President Umaru’ Yar’Adua administration, but was forced to resign his position following an alleged fraud while serving as a minister.

The court later cleared him of any wrongdoing in 2014. Both Nwodo and Ogbulafor hail from the South-East.

Again, Ayu’s emergence would have meant that the NorthCentral was out of the race for the presidency, leaving the five geo-political zones to vie for the position. But after his choice, the party reverted to the Mohammed’s Committee recommendation.

Even so, there is no telling what will happen next with the current dynamics playing out in the party.

Ayu

Initially, former Osun State governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, was unanimously anointed by all the groups in the party as the next National Chairman of the party, as exclusively reported by this newspaper in its September 12 edition. The increasingly divisive personality of Secondus, following his insistence on contesting his unceremonious exit, had forced the hands of the leadership to shop for an immediate replacement as a means to restore peace to the party and calm frayed nerves. At that time, all the factions in the party buried their differences and ‘anointed’ Oyinlola. His background as a former military governor of Lagos State and a former elected governor of Osun State on the platform of the party, qualified him for the job.

BY AMOS ESELE he emergence of former Senate President, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, as the consensus candidate of the North for the National Chairmanship of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has closed one chapter of the party’s politicking ahead of the 2023 general elections and opened another.

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Between October 30 and 31, 2021, the date for the National Convention of the party, he will be ratified as National Chairman. Then the jostle for the presidency will take centre stage.

The horse-trading behind the scenes, which led to his emergence, indicates how presidential aspirants are deploying their arsenals. After the marathon Tuesday meeting of leaders of the North-Central zone at the Asokoro, Abuja, lodge of Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State where homeboy, Ayu, was adopted as their zonal candidate, another round of meeting held at the Asokoro lodge of Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State where leaders from the 19 northern states picked Ayu as a consensus candidate.

That arrangement would ordinarily leave the North-West and North-East out of the three zones in the North, free of any party position for now. Leaving out the two zones, THEWILL can confirm, was a temporal strategy. Two formidable presidential aspirants, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Governor Aminu Tambuwal, hail from the North- East and North-West zones, respectively and they pulled all the stops to ensure their zones did not pick the chairmanship slot, leaving them free to contest the presidency.

In the straw election that was held for the chairmanship position prior to Ayu’s emergence, three candidates were cleared to slog it out for the position. From the North-West, former Katsina State Governor, Ibrahim Shema, defeated other aspirants to emerge victorious. Shema got 6 out of 7 states from his zone, leaving his closest challenger, former Kaduna State Governor, Ahmed Makarfi, with one vote from Kaduna, his home state.

Senator Suleiman Nazif from Bauchi State, who is the current PDP Deputy National Chairman (North), emerged as the sole candidate from the North-East and Ayu from Benue State, was chosen as sole candidate by the North-Central. Nazif, on his part, had no challenger and emerged the sole candidate from his region.

By the time the negotiations started at Governor Mohammed Abuja home, Nazif had been prevailed upon to step down, while Shema was faced with a no-contest situation as all the THEWILLNIGERIA

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The unrelenting drive of the APC to raid the PDP, having taken three of the opposition party’s governors, 21 representatives and four senators through defection, has dealt a big blow to the image and membership strength of the rival party 19 states voted for Ayu. There was also an agreement that Ayu had the qualities to hold the party together, following the crisis that engulfed it before Uche Secondus’ exit.

As a former Senate President, ex-Minister and National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Ayu stands head and shoulder above other contenders with the confidence to run the party fairly.

But where does Ayu’s emergence leave the North on the controversial presidential ticket of the party in the forthcoming 2023 general election?

Ordinarily, the party’s zoning arrangement would ensure the plum position goes to the South. But that may not be as straightforward as it seems. Atiku and Tambuwal want to run for president, just like Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and his Delta and Oyo counterparts, Ifeanyi Okowa and Seyi Makinde, respectively, from the South. So too does former President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki. That was the import of ex-National Chairman Baraje’s statement that the north central zone would contest the presidency of the party.

To keep these emerging tendencies united, the National Executive of the Party at its last meeting in September shelved the Governor Bala Mohammed-led committee’s recommendation that the presidential ticket of the party be thrown open to all aspirants. Those who subscribe to that recommendation are hanging to it now that the chairmanship position has been settled.

A strand of their argument is that in the party’s past, a zone

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But the Southern Governors Forum’s demand that the presidency be zoned to the South, coupled with the pressure mounted by nine out of the 14 PDP governors from the South, who voted under the Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi-led Zoning Committee for the zoning of the national chairmanship to the North, turned the tide.

With an eye to the intrigue that faced the party during the 2019 election when some governors of the party agreed to the demand of the ruling All Progressives Congress to secure 25 percent of votes cast in their zone for President Muhammadu Buhari, the party is wary of allowing such mischief this time round.

The unrelenting drive of the APC to raid the PDP, having taken three of the opposition party’s governors, 21 representatives and four senators through defection, has dealt a big blow to the image and membership strength of the rival party. THEWILL reliably learnt that some PDP governors, particularly those who feel strongly about the zoning arrangement, may be ready to work for the APC if the ruling party chooses a presidential candidate from the South in the 2023 polls. In its readiness to checkmate such desperation, sources say, the PDP leadership is willing to satisfy demands from various zones and its big wigs. This openness may put the party under more pressure after the national chairmanship position has been ratified in October and the presidential aspirants take their campaigns to power centres around the country to sell their candidature.

Already, Ayu is being tagged ‘Atiku man’ after his emergence as consensus candidate. It is part of the game. He was head of campaign to elect the former Vice-President as presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria in the 2007 polls.

Both of them have a deep political past as members of the People’s Democratic Movement founded by late Major General Musa Yar’ Ardua and later members of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), on whose platform Ayu served as Senate President in the diarchy under former military President Ibrahim Babangida.

Moreover, Atiku holds a big traditional title in Tivland, called Zege Mule U Tiv, meaning the ‘biggest shade of the Tiv people.’

Perhaps to reassure party members after his selection on Thursday, Ayu said that under his leadership, no one would use money to influence him and no single person would claim ownership of the party, adding that he would run a purposeful party.

How these pan out in the days ahead will be interesting as the party harmonises the contending forces within towards the 2023 general election.

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EDITORIAL

Nigeria’s Foreign Exchange Conundrum V

ice President Yemi Osinbajo stirred up a hornet’s nest recently with his public comment on the rapid fall of the naira, which impacts on the unstable, high exchange rate that is ravaging the economy.

Speaking during the midterm retreat of President Muhammadu Buhari’s second tenure in office on Monday, October 11 2021, amidst ministers, captains of industries, diplomats and civil servants, Prof Osinbajo noted that the ruling-rate of our foreign exchange market is artificial.

He did not mince words when he said that the Central Bank’s demand-management strategy of the foreign exchange market needs a rethink as the rates do not reflect true market realities.

“As for the exchange rate, I think we need to move our rates to (be) as reflective of the market as possible. This, in my own view, is the only way to improve supply.

“We can’t get new dollars into the system, where the exchange rate is artificially low. And everyone knows how much our reserve can grow. I’m convinced that the demand management strategy currently being adopted by the CBN needs a rethink and that is just my view,” Osinbajo said.

The Naira currently trades at N414 per US dollar at the official market against N570 per dollar at the parallel market, a gap of N156 or 37.69 percent, which promotes arbitrage.

Prof Osinbajo later issued a clarification on the statement, stating categorically that he does not endorse the devaluation of the Nira.

While we do not wish to join the debate that the Vice President’s statement has generated, we must reiterate our stand that the strength of a nation’s currency is a function of the health of the economy. Foreign exchange, as a commodity, is earned through production of export goods and services.

Strong currencies stem from healthy and productive economies embedded in a conducive, operating environment that promotes wealth-creating and value-added enterprises.

The major factor that determines the value of any currency is how productive its economy is: What is it producing? What are the investment, consumption and export levels? This is because when a nation exports a diversified range of valueadded products, it earns foreign exchange in different ways and meets its foreign exchange demands sufficiently.

Generally, the main sources of foreign exchange supply to a country include foreign currency receipts from exports of goods and services, monetary gifts, inflows of capital from abroad, such as loans, investments and Diaspora remittances. These are the backbone of the nation’s foreign reserves.

Incidentally, these do not rub-off positively on our economy at the moment.

Nigeria, whose currency is not convertible or serves as international currency, must necessarily earn foreign exchange through high productivity and export of goods and services.

This will boost foreign reserves, which ensures the stability of the exchange rate while low levels will weaken the naira.

Therefore, the fundamental challenge to our nation is how to tackle an unproductive economy. Nigeria’s economy is not productive; it is adding little value and creating little wealth.

It is a mono-product export economy that is predominantly based on oil whose price is also beyond our control at the international markets. When there is a price shock, the domestic economy crumbles.

While it is the role of the Central Bank to manage the nation’s foreign exchange and maintain price stability, the bank does not produce foreign exchange. Usually, it is what is earned by the country that the bank strives to manage and use to stabilise the exchange rate. The various policy and monetary interventions conducted by the apex bank are aimed at achieving a stable exchange rate.

As it stands, the exchange rate is necessarily high because the quantity of foreign exchange available in that market is very small in relation to the demand of the desperate economic agents that want to buy the commdity at any cost. This is why the parallel market, which feeds on the arbitrage fueled by unrepentant speculators, thrives. In all, foreign exchange

is a commodity that is subject to the market forces of demand and supply.

In order to improve supply, stabilise the foreign exchange market and reduce the pressure on the Naira, there is a strong need to move away from the country’s flawed pattern of economic management. The country must focus on export diversification, which emphasises value-added manufactured goods that are competitively produced in the country, traded in the international market and bring foreign exchange back into the country.

Government should prioritise investment in infrastructure, mainly power, roads, railway and the seaports. With Nigeria’s power sector generating less than 5,000 megawatts of electricity for about 200 million people, no meaningful industrialisation can be contemplated.

The flawed power sector reform, which now generates more cash than electricity, is a misnomer and should be revisited urgently. Government should embrace private sector partnership to boost infrastructure and reduce the high debt burden being plunged into non-revenue generating infrastructure.

Government should build a robust private sector, which is the engine of every economy, through vibrant micro, small and medium enterprises. The key privatised enterprises that are strategic to industrialisation need to be revisited, especially in the areas of iron and steel, which are the bedrock of industrialisation.

The ease-of-doing business parameters should be re-assessed and strengthened. This will help to reduce the high cost of doing business which Nigeria has become notorious for. It is counter-productive to be mouthing diversification when the environment is not conducive for investment.

Therefore, achieving an adequate amount of foreign exchange earnings and stabilising the exchange rate require developed domestic production structures, a diversified economy and export-driven economy that is supported by an effective trade policy, as well as a conducive macroeconomic environment.

AUSTYN OGANNAH

Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Editor – Olaolu Olusina Deputy Editor – Amos Esele Politics Editor – Ayo Esan Business Editor – Sam Diala News Editor (Online) – Felix Oboagwina Copy Editor – Chux Ohai Cartoon Editor – Victor Asowata Entertainment/Society Editor – Ivory Ukonu Photo Editor – Peace Udugba Head, Graphics – Tosin Yusuph Circulation Manager – Victor Nwokoh Nigeria Bureau: 36AA Remi Fani-Kayode Street, GRA, Ikeja. Lagos, Nigeria. info@thewillnigeria.com / @THEWILLNG +234 810 345 2286, +234 913 333 3888. EDITOR: Olaolu Olusina @OLUSINA [Letters/Opinions: opinion.letters@thewillnigeria.com] PAGE 14

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OPINION Re Ararume: Buhari’s Deft Masterstroke

BY SAM DIALA

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he misleading narratives conveyed in the opinion article entitled, ‘Ararume: Buhari’s Deft Masterstroke,’ published in the October 10, 2021 edition of this medium, need to be corrected. Indeed, the author, Erasmus Ikhide, is at liberty to advertise his acquaintance with praise-singing and imagelaundering. However, the dexterity with which he set out to adorn the personality of Senator Ifeanyichukwu Godwin Ararume in borrowed robes deserves no applause.

First, the author’s assertion that “Senator Ifeanyi Ararume’s appointment as the pioneer Chairman of the new Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has been applauded as one of the best by President Muhammadu Buhari since he assumed office over six years ago,” is manifold fallacy.

Similarly, the author’s claim that “Ararume has robust experience in both the private and public sector, which will rub off positively on the altered NNPC,” is record-breaking delusion.

The appointment of Senator Ararume to chair the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited is purely political. While political appointments yield positive results in sane climes, ours is the opposite. Here, political appointments are dividends of politics. They are extended to party loyalists for their positive or negative roles in enthroning a leader or a party to power. It is hardly based on merit, experience, competence and capability. It is also a proactive step towards intended benefits, even at the expense of the appointee’s community. So, only President Buhari knows the purpose of this eventide appointment.

What is “the best’’ in appointing a man from Imo state in the South-East geo-political zone that the President has, without pretence, shown hatred and disregarded, to chair the board of the new NNPC? What executive powers does the chairman wield?

From the inception of his administration in 2015, President Bu-

BY ANOKWURU RICHARD ANYAMELE

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ver time, germs, seeds and eggs evolved into organic life forms. Some adopted metamorphosis and some, stereotypical progression.

At birth, goats, cows and human beings bear their parents’ main features more or less, hence people could say the new born is a goat, a cow or a human being. Same applies to birds whereby the eggs hatch and the young resemble their parents.

Creatures with three developmental stages have incomplete metamorphosis. Those with four stages have complete metamorphosis.

Humans observing the step by step order keenly can help the evolutionary processes. Otherwise, they hinder them. Thus some children open a cocoon and regret the mess in their hands.

At maturity, creatures produce their kinds, but some species serve as couriers and then go extinct. Creatures with full metamorphosis devour recklessly at pupae/caterpillar stage in readiness to reproduce and ensure their species continuity.

Cowry was the first form of money, followed by brass, copper, silver and gold. The last four are called commodity money because they are commodities that can be traded on their own. Following the gold standard are fiat currencies.

In spite of holding the largest gold stocks, the United States of America did not have enough to meet her economic potential by the late 1960s. Either discard the gold standard or be stuck with its limitations, hence dethronement was inevitable. Some developed nations hated the US move, but sensing that fiat currency is the way forward, they followed suit.

Cowry, the starting point of money, represents egg. Commodity money is larvae, while fiat currencies signify pupae stage at which governments more or less went to town: currencies depreciation.

Now enter digital money signaled by cryptocurrencies. Fourth in the money evolution process that marks a complete metamorphosis, the moment of decision also comes: reproduce each of its kinds or risk extinction.

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hari has deliberately excluded the South-East from the real benefits of his government in terms of appointment and authoritative allocation of resources. He has maintained his stand that those whose votes constituted a mere five percent of his electoral victory must not expect any good from him. Imo is in that disdainful basket. The skewed executive appointments at NNPC, which extremely favour only a section of the country to the exclusion of others, even those with oil and gas bearing communities, is a demonstration of multi-volume civilian dictatorship.

So, what is “the best” here? Is it the appointment of a ceremonial chairman of NNPC without any residue of executive powers or the person of Senator Ararume?

Beyond having the enhanced portrait of Ararume decorating the walls of the NNPC boardroom, what powers can the NNPC chairman exercise to run the parastatal profitably and justly? Has Ararume the powers to question the skewed allocation of resources and appointments against his or any region in NNPC? Will he go beyond merely endorsing the decisions of executive management in keeping with the policy guidelines of the organisation?

What is this Ararume’s robust experience in both the private and public sector that will rub off positively on the altered NNPC? What powers has Ararume to alter the corporate governance structure where it is obviously against the interest of the generality of Nigerians and contrary to the federal character principle?

According to the author, “Now that the NNPC will be transiting from a government-owned agency into a profit-driven organisation, it needs someone at the helm to provide direction and uncommon leadership in order for it to meet its goals.” This lies in the author’s imagination.

Agreed, as a limited liability company, the NNPC will be owned by diverse shareholders whose powers over the executive management are practically limited. What can Ararume do in an organisation where he is not the chief executive and the one respon-

sible for the day-to-day decision making? In line with corporate governance practice, what will Ararume do differently?

Is Ararume’s appointment the best way to “compensate” the South-East in general and Imo state in particular, at the twilight of the Buhari administration, or is it a ploy for the All Progressives Congress (APC) to gain an inroad into Imo where the party has remained unwanted?

The author’s claim that a “flawed electoral system” cost Ararume the chance of becoming governor of Imo State in 2007 is not true.

Ararume had an axe to grind with former President Olusegun Obasanjo, which bordered on the fall-out of Obasanjo’s failed third-term bid. The party instead chose to run Charles Ugwu in his place, perhaps, on the belief that Ararume’s candidacy could be a costly political mistake.

Ararume protested this decision and secured a Supreme Court ruling in his favour. The party expelled him and chose not to field a candidate, leaving the field open for Ikedi Ohakim of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), who later defected to the PDP. Personal actions cannot be regarded as a flawed electoral system because it is the same system that produced Ararume as a twoterm senator.

About 12 years later, Ararume emerged the APC senatorial candidate for the 2019 elections in a controversial manner, alongside Chukwuma Ibezim, who was eventually fielded by the APC but later disqualified for issues related to discrepancies in his certificate.

Ararume eventually secured a court verdict which ordered INEC to issue him the certificate of return in an election he did not contest. He was, by that fact, imposed on APC and the people of his senatorial zone after many years that Hope Uzodimna blocked his bid to return to the Senate. It is the same electoral system.

The Metamorphosis of Money Money must have intrinsic value or it is worthless. The cowry’s value is based on decoration/beautification items and commodity monies have their inherent/internal values.

Cowries didn’t have uniform value, just as commodity monies.

The South African, Ghanaian, Brazilian or Russian gold don’t have the same values. Fiat currencies, likewise, do not have uniform value, be it the dollar, Pound sterling, Euro, etc. Genuine money has intrinsic value.

Poverty is politics, not economics.

For millennia, some people undermine others, including persons dear to them while claiming they have their best interests at heart.

Men looked down on women, including their mothers out of conceit, deceit and depravity.

For centuries, people have sidelined others maliciously and purposely. Apartheid is dead or is it?

Where do cryptocurrencies base or derive their values from? Sorry, Cryptos have no intrinsic value. None.

COVID-19 has shown one thing among others: borders do not separate people as such, but something separates humanity for real: money!

Money has life and has been growing for ages. Now at maturity and set to produce its kinds, where would they derive values from or otherwise turn worthless and toxic?

Money is a human creation. Scientific money making is an integral part and the last stage which is basic to UBI. The founders of money knew the stages down to the end.

Hundreds of millions of people have no value because they have no money, yet the greatest assets on earth are humans and the most efficient means of exchange. Human beings have intrinsic values and can, indeed, add value to themselves and others if given the opportunity.

The universal sharing of part of the GDP is based on producers and consumers joining hands in national wealth creation. Every child, youth, woman and man who helped to produce the commonwealth is therefore heir to the GDP.

Money reproducing each its kind bases on and derives value from citizens. No two nations or people have the same value. The basic values of Americans, Germans, Nigerians or Chinese are not the same, but no person/citizen of a nation is worthless. A minimum value is fundamental and imperative.

Money belongs to the people and their value depends on the people. Mechanisms to effect minimum value for citizens - liberty from servitude, which fiat money should engender, were unavailable.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is national productivity and consumption. Both are together. Producers without consumers are wasted labour. If the doctrine of consumerism is true, the greater contributors to GDP are consumers.

Value separates citizens from slaves, but slaves have no value except what their owners give them.

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For millennia, the making of money has been a speculative business, but science must come into play to make the difference: end poverty.

Patent application for scientific making of money has been on hold for two years, but the elements, algorithm and principles are solid.

Why everyone needs money and deserves a simple answer: ‘Money is necessary; so, it must be available, affordable, accessible and safe being characteristics of necessities.’ Food, shelter, water, etc. are necessary. Without science, however, humanity would suffer severe deficiencies.

Necessity is the mother of invention and everything has time and season. When the time for the masses to have the Bible came, it happened despite bitter obstructions and when the time for vehicles, telephone, computers, etc. for everyone came, they became reality against great odds.

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Emefiele

O CTO B ER 17 – OCTOBE R 23, 2021 w w w.t hewillnigeria. c om VOL .1 N O.3 6

eNaira: CBN, FinTechs Chart Course for Digital Currency

BY SAM DIALA

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he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Financial Technology (FinTech) experts and key players in the digital ecosystem are discussing the operational modalities and regulatory frameworks for the novel Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), the e-Naira, awaiting imminent inauguration. Their aim is to identify and smoothen any rough edges to get the best of the evolving technology, as the ‘new money’ sets to disrupt the age-long traditional means of exchange.

The CBDC, a product of the digital age, is emerging as many Nigerians embrace the ‘mystery money’, crypto-currency, which has gained dominance in most parts of the world. A crypto-currency is a form of digital asset based on a network that is distributed across a large number of computers.

According to experts, there are between 12 and 13 thousand crypto-currencies in the world today. Many of them are decentralised networks based on block-chain technology – a distributed ledger enforced by a disparate network of computers.

A defining feature of crypto-currencies is that they are generally not issued by any central authority, rendering them theoretically immune to government interference or manipulation. It is this decentralised structure that allows them to exist outside the

X-raying Implications of Vaccine Passport For Air Travel ANTHONY AWUNOR examines the imposition of vaccine passports and how it will affect the African region, which is yet to receive enough vaccines

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s governments roll out vaccines and the COVID-19 pandemic begins to ease in some parts of the world, tentative plans to reopen international travel have begun. Central to these

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plans is the ongoing discussion on the need to have a kind of digital document to prove that individuals are vaccinated – that is, a ‘vaccine passport.’

Continued Next Page

control of government and central authorities. Hence, they are believed to be used for illegal activities such as money laundering, financing of terrorism and to cause exchange rate volatility.

The Nigerian government and the monetary policy authorities had over time cautioned against embracing crypto-currencies as a means of exchange. Reports have shown that Nigeria is Africa’s largest crypto-currency market place and second only to the United States in Bitcoin trading volume in the world. In February 2021, the CBN specifically issued a ruling, instructing all financial institutions to stop the facilitation of all transactions involving crypto-currencies.

ENTER CBDC Over the past 14 years, the Nigerian payment system has evolved significantly with extensive technological development backed by deliberate enabling regulations by the CBN. This has accelerated the development of novel financial products, services and channels all of which have placed Nigeria at the fore of the financial technological innovation race. It has also boosted the CBN financial inclusion programme.

According to the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, “our robust Continued Next Page

MORE INSIDE Unity Bank Boosts Capacity Building on Blue Economy PAGE 35

ICAO, Emirates Sign MoU On Ground Handling PAGE 35

NGX Group Announces Successful Listing on NGX

BY SAM DIALA

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igerian Exchange Group Plc has announced the successful listing of its shares on the Main Board of the Nigerian Exchange Limited.

Having satisfied the requirements of The Exchange and obtained relevant regulatory approvals, NGX Group is now listed in the Financial Services and Capital Market Continued Next Page 35

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AVIATION/MONEY MARKET X-raying Implications of Vaccine Passport For Air Travel Continued from previous page

eNaira: CBN, FinTechs Chart Course for Digital Currency Continued from previous page

payments system has continued to evolve towards meeting the needs of households and businesses in Nigeria. The high level of confidence in our payment system, between 2015 and 2020, has attracted the investment of about $500m in firms run by Nigerian founders”.

Emefiele, who spoke at the 31st Seminar for Finance Correspondents and Business Editors held in Enugu, with the theme, ‘Trends in Nigerian payments system: Regulating the Fintech digital playing field,”noted that financial traffic to digital platforms increased significantly in 2020 due to the lockdowns associated with the management of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Officials checking passengers’ documents in the airport.

A vaccine passport is proof that one has tested negative for or protected against certain infections.

It can be digital, like a phone app or physical, in the form of a small paper card.

Already, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has warned of potential airport chaos unless governments move quickly to adopt digital processes to manage travel health credentials (COVID-19 testing and vaccine certificates) and other COVID-19 measures.

The Director-General, IATA, Willie Walsh, has also emphasised that without an automated solution for COVID-19 checks, we can see the potential for significant airport disruptions on the horizon.

“Already, average passenger processing and waiting times have doubled from what they were pre-crisis during peak time—reaching an unacceptable three hours. And that is with many airports deploying precrisis level staffing for a small fraction of pre-crisis volumes,” Walsh said.

However, African ministers of aviation have a different view. Recently, the ministers described the much-touted proposal to impose vaccine passports on air travelers as unacceptable as it is tantamount to discrimination against certain groups of population, especially in Africa, which still has a considerable number of its citizens who are yet to receive the COVID-19 vaccines.

They also described the proposal as going against the intent of the Chicago Convention on the need to preserve friendship and understanding, reduce threat to general security and establish international air transport, based on equal opportunity, operated soundly and economically.

The African Ministers Delegation’s position was made known recently, in a presentation to the ongoing International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) High Level Conference on COVID-19 by Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika.

Rather than impose vaccine passports, the African delegation recommended that states that were parties to the convention on international civil aviation should continue to minimise the risks during travel by ensuring compliance with existing multinational treaties, international frameworks, guidelines and recommendations.

Sirika, on their behalf, also recommended that Human rights, regional/continental/global health security, economic growth, social cohesion, and good international relations, and use of innovation and technology worldwide to harmonise requirements should be promoted, while transmission of critical information across borders related to public health issues, such as COVID-19, and coordination among THEWILLNIGERIA

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key players should also be considered.

He also stated that African nations frowned at states imposing unilateral measures of global nature related to public health and asked such states to refrain from such practices and instead, take measures that would facilitate the reopening and reconnection of the world.

“There is a clear onus on both public and private stakeholders to take full measure of the dire circumstances now facing the air transport sector and to ensure sufficient operational sustainability.

These actions are critical to make sure that the world is adequately reconnected, as aviation plays a critical role in the global economic recovery and achieve the realisation of the goals of both AU Agenda 2063 and UN Agenda 2030 for sustainable development,” he said.

On the general strategies for recovery, Sirika said, “The global distribution of emergency and humanitarian supplies including the vaccines will no doubt depend on an economically viable aviation system. Aviation is also capable of stimulating recovery and growth of the global economy by acting as an enabler and multiplier of economic activity.

“Considering that the global aviation industry operates as an interconnected ecosystem, it is therefore imperative that all the States of the world implement the ICAO Council Aviation Recovery Taskforce (CART) recommendations and guidance, which are based on the latest development of the COVID-19. ICAO, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, is required to bring to maturity in short term a consensual modality for establishment and deployment of a global health passport as well as the specification of infrastructure (soft/hard) and training of professionals.

“As well captured by the Preamble of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention, 1944), there is an important need to develop international civil aviation to preserve friendship and understanding, reduce threat to general security and establish international air transport based on equal opportunity, operated soundly and economically.

“It is worth noting that the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation (SAGE) Roadmap for Prioritising use of COVID-19 Vaccines in the Context of Limited Supply acknowledges that there is still a limited supply of vaccines and puts forward seven key assumptions regarding vaccines.

This further strengthens the fact that vaccines are still not widely available to all world regions, particularly Africa.

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“Expectedly, discussions have increased around the issue of the digital economy just as more opportunities have come up for financial institutions and other players within the payment ecosystem to innovate and provide more efficient options for payments and settlements.

“The Central Bank of Nigeria decided to introduce a central bank digital currency (CBDC), the eNaira, which would help in attaining our goals of fostering greater inclusion using digital channels, supporting cross border payments for businesses and firms as well as providing a reliable channel for remittances inflows into the country.”

Digital currency is a digital representation of value that can be transferred between peer-topeer, stored, exchanged or traded digitally across borders without the need for intermediaries. The CBDC is a digital representation of sovereign money.

Digital currency is a function of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) – a technological infrastructure and protocols that enable simultaneous access, validation and update of records.

Digital currencies can broadly be categorized into two, depending on the issuer: Central Bank Digital currencies, and private digital currencies (Cryptocurrencies) A ‘retail’ CBDC would be used like a digital extension of cash, whereas a ‘wholesale’ CBDC could be used only by permitted institutions as a settlement asset in the interbank market.

The marked difference between CBDC and crypto-currencies include Issuance, Legislation and Liability. While CBDC is issued by a monetary authority like the Central Bank who decides the rules, private digital currency has no central authority. Similarly, CBDC is backed by law and recognised as legal tender. The cryptocurrency is not a legal tender.

In terms of liability, CBDC is a direct liability of the Central bank unlike the private currency which is not.

“

A defining feature of cryptocurrencies is that they are generally not issued by any central authority, rendering them theoretically immune to government interference or manipulation. It is this decentralised structure that allows them to exist outside the control of government and central authorities.

Hence, they are believed to be used for illegal activities such as money laundering, financing of terrorism and to cause exchange rate volatility

It can therefore be argued that crypto-currencies remain a free market commodity that anyone can engage in without regulatory control or restraint. This exposes it to huge risk.

By introducing the CBDC, Nigeria is basically following an irreversible global trend as overwhelming majority of Central Banks across the world have started to consider issuing digital currencies in order to cater for businesses and households seeking faster, safer, easier and cheaper means of payments. In fact, a handful of countries including China, Bahamas, and Cambodia have already issued their own Digital Currencies This can be regarded as an underlying factor for the defined imperatives of CBDC which include the facts that the use of cash is declining both locally and globally.

Secondly, Digital payments are rising very significantly, and private monies (Cryptocurrencies) seem to be filling a gap that Central Banks may have ignored. Consequently, it is therefore not surprising that 86 per cent of Central Banks are now considering CBDCs. The introduction of CBDC hinges mainly on the following reasons: •Macroeconomic Management and Growth •Financial Inclusion •Monetary Policy Effectiveness’ • Improved Payments Efficiency •Revenue and Tax Collection •Remittances Improvement •Targeted Social Interventions Despite the benefits, issues of regulation, security and privacy, financial losses, and operational lapses remained challenging, to virtually all stakeholders of the payment ecosystem, especially the Regulators. *Continues online at www. thewillnigeria.com

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MONEY MARKET

Naira Exchange Rate: Separating Facts from Fiction

BY BONIFACE CHIZEA

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here are some basic and incontrovertible facts about the exchange rate of the naira that must not be overlooked as the debate on the troubled foreign exchange market rages. It is the safest thing to wedge a bet on the progressive fall in the rate of exchange of the naira, but this calls for caution. This rate since 1986 has maintained a steady fall. This was when Nigeria introduced the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) aimed at achieving a diversified productive base of the domestic economy.

The aim was to reduce the unwholesome dependence on oil for foreign exchange inflows and to enthrone market forces for the allocation of resources, thereby achieving the elimination of all subsidies. These measures did not halt the trend in the steady fall of the local currency value. We recall that the rate was N22 at the official window and N86 at the alternative in1986! This trend is not likely going to change very soon.

We recall that when the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration came into office in May 2015, the exchange rate was around N160 to the dollar. Today at the official window the rate is above N400 to the dollar. This is the equivalent of over 150 per cent loss in the value. Critics of the government would, expectedly, use this metric to taunt it as evidence of the extent to which the economy has been mismanaged under its watch.

Yes, we must all factor in the pandemic experience. However, part of the loss in value arose from the attempt by the Central Bank of Nigeria to answer the criticisms by multilateral financial institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund, to allow the market to determine the rate of exchange in line with the views of many.

The truth is this: There is no market for dollars in Nigeria and that is the unadulterated fact. And regardless of what is being said now, the fact is that on a number of occasions in the past the Central Bank served notice of its intention to withdraw from the market to play the role of swing supplier of foreign exchange. But there were no alternative sources and the naira continued to progressively lose value only for the Central Bank to return to the market to continue

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with its demand management approach.

As a matter of fact, all this talk about devaluing the naira to release dollars held by individuals and to attract investors would only have one predictable consequential result; further loss in value in the rate of exchange, which will only exacerbate the misery index in the land. I don’t know to what extent many of us are in tune with the inflationary pressures today in Nigeria. It is alarming and we might confront unrest, if the scenario of worsening rate of exchange becomes an existential reality.

The rate of exchange of the naira today is a clear-cut case of gross undervaluation as it were and there are no two ways to that. One sure measure we could adopt to buttress this fact is to do Purchasing Power Parity. The highest cost of having a haircut today in Nigeria is N500 and that is for some highbrow areas. In fact, in most places in this country today you could get a haircut for much less. What is the cost of a haircut in America today? There is a video making the rounds of a Nigerian who went to get a haircut somewhere in America and he was asked to pay one hundred dollars!

He shouted blue murder as that is the equivalent of N50,000!

The problem of the Nigerian economy has been well advertised and it is known by all informed compatriots. It is simply a chronic case of lack of productive base, which, as should be expected, has been associated with an insatiable appetite to consume what we do

“

The problem of the Nigerian economy has been well advertised and is known by all informed compatriots. It is simply a chronic case of lack of productive base which, as should be expected, has been associated with an insatiable appetite to consume what we do not produce

not produce. We have over the years made lots of wrong fiscal policy choices, such as the continued importation of refined petroleum products with the associated payment of corruption infested subsidy. In fact, it is argued that we spend more on importation of refined products than we earn from the export of crude petroleum.

We have maintained a bloated workforce, which has made it difficult to correct the negative imbalance between the capital and recurrent expenditure. This is despite the Stephen Oronsaye report which recommended that we pare down the agencies and departments; but instead, we rather watched as they increased. We have endured a worse case of revenue inflow as our tax-to-GDP ratio of around eight per cent has been adjudged the lowest in the subTHEWILLNIGERIA

region. We are also assailed by a case of unconscionable leakage to the treasury by way of unbridled corruption laced with impunity.

Therefore, realistically, it is not reasonable to expect a robust and stable rnaira exchange rate. The rate we have today is because the Central Bank has gone out of its way to stem a free fall in the value of the naira by all manner of creative manipulations despite a not so robust reserve situation. The bottom line is that there is no experiment that has not been tried for the attainment of a stable exchange rate. But just as you cannot make an omelet without breaking eggs, so it is difficult to expect the rate to appreciate as it is being bandied around by simply allowing the market to determine the exchange rate.

What is even of more concern is that devaluation on its own is a strategy for boosting exports. But Nigeria has no exports worth its name.

Therefore, devaluation will only lead to imported price increases which will in turn compound the misery index in the land. And this explains why we roundly commended this government when at inception it rightly repudiated devaluation as an economic strategy for unassailable reasons.

We agree with the view that the component sections of the government should operate in a co-operative manner to ensure that they do not work at wasteful cross-purposes, particularly in the areas of policy articulation.

But we must bear in mind that the Central Bank has attached to its mandate responsibility to catalyse the development of the Nigerian economy.

Most commentators have accused the Central Bank that it crossed into the territory of the Ministry of Trade and Investments when it denied official allocation of foreign exchange for the importation of some items. The apex bank, for crying out loud, did not stop the importation of these items.

However, it took a decision which is believed to be within its remit as the authority that has responsibility for the maintenance of the external value of the naira to manage the demand pressure by refusing to allocate official foreign exchange.

Let us not allow the chorus to float the naira to get to us. All that has been tried before and it has had one predictable outcome; otherwise we would not be where we are today.

We must also bear in mind that what precipitated the current crises was the decision to deny official foreign exchange to bureau de change. In the interim, what should be done to stem the crisis will be to devise some ingenious ways to increase liquidity to the parallel market to stem the current free fall.

•Dr Boniface Chizea is an Economist and CEO, BIC Consultancy Services.

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BUSINESS NEWS ICAO, Emirates Sign MoU On Ground Handling

BY ANTHONY AWUNOR

E

mirates Group Security has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), which will see both organisations work closely on capacity building for the industry by providing ICAOrecognised diploma programmes at EGS and Edith Cowan University (ECU).

The Ground Handling Diploma programme is the first initiative that ICAO and Emirates are collaborating on.

L-R: Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki; Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo (SAN); Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai; Ekiti State Governor/Host, Dr Kayode Fayemi, and Moderator, Senator Olubunmi Adetunbi, at the panel session of the first Ekiti State Economic Development and Investment Summit in Ado-Ekiti on 14/10/2021.

Aviation professionals, who complete the industry-based Ground Handling Diploma programme jointly provided by Emirates Group Security and ECU, will receive a certificate of succession completion bearing both Emirates and ICAO emblems.

NGX Group Announces Successful Listing on NGX

The MoU was signed by His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive Emirates Airline and Group and Mr. Juan Carlos Salazar, Secretary-General of the International Civil Aviation Organisation, at the opening ceremony of the AVSEC Global Symposium 2021.

Unity Bank Boosts Capacity Building on Blue Economy

Continued from page 16 Infrastructure sector of The Exchange, with the ticker “NGXGROUP”.

A total of 1,964,115,918 shares were admitted to trading, representing the issued share capital of the group as of October 15, 2021..

Commenting on the listing, the Group Chairman, Nigerian Exchange Group Plc, Otunba Abimbola Ogunbanjo, said, “Today’s listing of NGX Group on NGX is another milestone attained pursuant to the group’s 2018 – 2021 corporate strategy.

“Our shareholder base has more than doubled since our demutualisation in March 2021 and our valued shareholders will benefit from the enhanced liquidity that listing on The Exchange will facilitate.

This listing will also enable a much wider universe of potential investors and market participants to share in our growth journey.

“As a board, we embrace the letter and spirit of the listing requirements and we are committed to transparent disclosure, proactive stakeholder engagement and exemplary corporate governance.”

The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, NGX Group, Mr Oscar N. Onyema, OON, stated, “Today’s listing of NGX Group on the nation’s premier

Exchange, NGX, will enable institutional investors globally as well as the Nigerian public to invest in Nigerian Exchange Group Plc. “With strengthening market dynamics, serving the largest economy in Africa, NGX Group’s listing allows us to expand in key capital market infrastructure verticals and look beyond Nigeria’s borders, as we deliver on our growth plans to become Africa’s leading capital market infrastructure group.”

The Chief Executive Officer, NGX, Mr Temi Popoola, CFA, commented on the milestone listing stating, “We are excited to welcome NGX Group to the main board of The Exchange and we congratulate the Board and Management first on a successful demutualisation and on its subsequent listing. This move is particularly exciting, as it will position NGX Group to provide liquidity to members while stimulating the capital market ecosystem to grow at the same pace as the economy. Today, we reiterate our commitment to being a trusted partner to NGX Group and other listed companies as we continue to build a platform that allows our listed companies, investors and other stakeholders to maximise value in our market.”

CBN Revises Regulatory Framework For BVN Operations

BY SAM DIALA

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he Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued a Revised Regulatory Framework for Bank Verification Number (BVN) Operations and Watch-List for the Nigerian banking industry. It said the move is in line with its objective of promoting financial system stability.

It has also issued guidelines on disposal of non-permissible income.

In a circular dated October 12, 2021 and

signed by the Director, Payments System Management Department, Musa Jimoh, the apex bank said the framework would enhance the effectiveness of customer due diligence and Know Your Customer processes as part of the overall strategy for promoting a Safe and efficient banking and payment system, adding that it would continue to monitor industry developments and issue further guidance as may be appropriate.

•Continues online at www.thewillnigeria.com

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BY SAM DIALA

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o fewer than 3,000 female students drawn from Senior Secondary Schools across Nigeria have benefitted from a three-day capacity building initiative on maritime commerce and National Virtual Maritime Quiz powered

by Unity Bank Plc. The initiative, which focused on Information Communication Technology maritime transportation and logistics ecosystem, was hosted by Ocean Ambassadors Foundation to promote the participation of the indigent girl-child in maritime commerce.

Unity Bank partnered the programme as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives targeted at the education sector and to draw attention to the imperatives of training the girl-child to participate actively in the relevant sectors of the economy.

This is coming against the backdrop of the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the education sector, which has affected millions of girls across Nigeria, resulting in “many girls being unable to return to schools and many others becoming child brides,” according to a recent report by the Economist.

The programme coincided with the International Day of the Girl-Child, which was marked to highlight how “the pandemic has accelerated digital platforms for learning, earning and connecting, while also highlighting girls’ diverse digital realities.”

The Managing Director/CEO of Unity Bank, Mrs Tomi Somefun, represented by the Chief Customer Service Officer, Mrs Titilayo Abraham, officially opened the event.

She said, “Unity Bank has maintained its commitment to supporting the girl-child by supporting several advocacy initiatives and investing in the education sector.

“The National Maritime Quiz is yet another opportunity to contribute to the movement to encourage, educate and empower the girlchild to participate in the economy, while driving access to education.

•Continues online at www.thewillnigeria.com

Sheikh Al Maktoum said, “Emirates Group Security is committed to providing educational programmes that meet the highest international standards. The new partnership between ICAO and Emirates Group Security will provide a platform for diploma programmes to be benchmarked against internationally recognised frameworks and help to strengthen capabilities within the UAE’s aviation industry.”

Salazar said, “As aviation continues on its course to global recovery, it is through education that we can assure a skilled and sustainable aviation workforce capable of adapting to and meeting the challenges of a rapidly evolving industry. This novel agreement between ICAO Global Aviation Training and Emirates is an excellent example of the innovative approaches to capacity building that ICAO is exploring and implementing in partnership with operators.”

Also the Divisional Senior Vice President of Emirates Group Security, Dr Abdullah Al Hashimi, said, “The partnership with ICAO provides significant added value to ground handling professionals in the industry who not only gain from having a first-class education from the Diploma Programme but also have the extra incentive of being recognized by ICAO.” As part of this partnership, the leading AVSEC service provider, Emirates Group Security and ICAO, will consider jointly developing and delivering other training and academic courses under the ICAO TrainAir Plus programme. Both parties will also identify training needs, determine how to effectively use existing training resources, develop new course materials, integrate new technologies and evaluate the effectiveness of using post-training evaluation methodologies.

The EGS-ECU Ground Handling Diploma programme offers industry-focused subjects on ground handling operations and management, contemporary aviation issues, safeguarding the aviation industry, aviation logistics and passenger handling services.

•Continues online at www.thewillnigeria.com

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OCTOBER 17 - OCTOBER 23, 2021 T H E W I L L N E W S P A P E R • www.thewillnigeria.com

SHOTS OF THE WEEK PHOTO EDITOR: PEACE UDUGBA [08033050729]

L-R: Head of Marketing, AFP Julius Berger, Uchenna Uzoewulu; Representative of MTN, Osaze Ebueku; CEO, Interstyle Ceramics, Hassan Yazbeck; Chief Executive Officer, AD consulting, Arc. Jumoke Adenowo; President, International Federation of Interior Architects and Designers Founder, Titi Ogufere; Chairman, Board of Trustees, IDAN,Ekua Abudu; CEO, Bang & Olufsen, Adeyanju Adelakun, and Michael Loeye, Master Dealer WestAfrica, during a press conference to herald Designer Week Lagos 2021 in Lagos on 14/10/2021. Photo: Peace Udugba.

L-R: Committee Chair, Tech sub-committee, Conference Planning Group (CPG), Women in Management, Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ), Molade Adeniyi; Executive Director, WIMBIZ, Hansatu Adegbite; Chairperson, Executive Council, WIMBIZ, Ngover Ihyembe-Nwankwo; Committee Chair, Communications and Publicity, CPG, WIMBIZ, Tosin Adefeko, and Executive Council Member, WIMBIZ , Awuneba Ajumogobia, at the press conference to announce the 2021 WIMBIZ Annual Conference and celebrate its 20th anniversary of impacting women in Lagos on 14/10/2021.

L-R: Engr. Olalekan Olabode, Chairman Lagos State Chapter of Nigeria institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; Engr. Ajibade Oke, National Vice President, Association for Consulting Engineering in Nigeria; Charles Iyo, Regional Manager, Eaton West Africa, and Mr. Semiu Adeshina, Commandant, Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, at the Eaton Safety Roundtable Session held in Lagos 12/10/2021.

Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma, flanked by his Deputy, Prof Placid Njoku (left), and Chairman, L–R: Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Bank of Industry (BoI), Mr. Olukayode Pitan, and CFA, Nigerian Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Eng. Elias Mbano (right), at the Zonal Public Hearing on Exchange Limited, Mr. Temi Popoola, during a courtesy visit to BoI in Lagos on 9/10/2021. the Review of the current Revenue Allocation Formula held in Owerri on 13/10/2021.

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OCTOBER 17 17 - - OCTOBER OCTOBER 23, 23,2021 2021 OCTOBER T H E W I L L N E W S P A PER T H E W I L L N E W S P A P E R • www.thewillnigeria.com • www.thewillnigeria.com

CHINWE OMOAKA-GODWIN

COMMITTED TO FIGHTING CANCER THEWILLNIGERIA

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In commemoration of Breast Cancer Awareness Month this October, lawyer and breast cancer survivor, Chinwe OmoakaGodwin, speaks on her experience and why more women should be informed about the deadly disease, in this interview with IVORY UKONU. Excerpts:

Omoaka-God

win

RAISING AWARENESS OF BREAST CANCER IS PARAMOUNT TO FIGHTING IT – SURVIVOR H

ow did you discover that you had breast cancer?

I discovered I had breast cancer through normal routine checks. It wasn’t like I was ill or something.

No, I wasn’t. In fact, a very close friend requested that I accompany her to a good radiologist to have her breast checked and I did. While we were there, I decided to get mine checked, although I had done a breast ultrasound and mammogram four months earlier in a different facility and no lump was detected. This time, a suspicious lump was discovered. Further examination confirmed the lump was cancerous.

What was your first reaction on making this discovery, did you panic?

As I always say, being diagnosed with breast cancer is usually a huge shock and extremely hard to digest, especially when there is no history of breast cancer in one’s family. It was like a dream to me on that day the suspicious lump was discovered.

A biopsy was conducted and it was confirmed that I had cancer. My head was immediately filled with uncountable questions that searched endlessly for answers. After sometime, while still at the diagnostic centre, I suddenly gained inexplicable strength and I said to myself, “life has thrown another challenge at you and you must handle it. You just have to”. That was how I passed through that initial shock.

At what stage was the lump?

I didn’t know the exact stage and the type of breast cancer I had until I travelled to the United Kingdom for treatment. I left for the UK within a week after my diagnosis. The only thing I was sure of was that it was at the early stage. I had surgery at The London Clinic. The histologic result came out a week after the surgery and my prognosis was fantastic. The day I went to see my doctor for my histology result, which was a

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Omoaka-Godwin

week after the surgery, I sat in front of him, waiting to hear the stage and the type of cancer I had so we could commence chemotherapy immediately and perhaps, radiotherapy later.

To my greatest amazement and to the glory of God, my doctor said: “Chinwe, I have good news for you. Your histology result is out and your prognosis is very good”. Then, I hadn’t known much about breast cancer and I asked myself, what could be good news about breast cancer? He continued, “You had a very early disease which was in stage zero, all your lymph nodes were clear, it hadn’t spread to any part of your body. Hence, you wouldn’t need any chemotherapy or radiotherapy. You are cured. God loves you and your family”. That was when I found out that breast cancer is not a death sentence. That was when I knew that one could have breast cancer and not go through all those harsh treatments for breast cancer. That was when I also found out that early detection could save you.

How long was this journey, between the time you made the discovery and when your treatment ended?

One month, precisely. My treatment journey was very easy because the disease was detected in its very early stage. My treatment ended immediately and I recovered from my surgery, as I didn’t go through chemotherapy and radiotherapy. I am currently on a drug known as Tamoxifen just to prevent a recurrence.

Who were your support system and how did they support you?

God was and still is my first support system any day. Aside God, my family was of tremendous support. My husband supported me and was there for me all the way. He paid all my medical bills from start to finish. He continued to pay the bills for my yearly check up in the UK until his office enrolled us with BUPA Global Health Insurance, which I currently use for my yearly check-up abroad and in Nigeria. My mum and my

siblings never relented in their prayers for me. I also had the support and prayers of very close friends who I told about my diagnosis. The show of love left me speechless, but it gave me the strength I needed at that time.

At the time you were diagnosed, did you ever think you wouldn’t survive it?

No. I never thought I wouldn’t survive it. Besides, I wasn’t ill. This is the reason I advocate regular breast screening.

Unfortunately, many people don’t know the importance of yearly breast screening until breast cancer hits them. It may be too late by then. But we will keep doing our best to raise awareness through the Worthy Wellness Initiative, a foundation I run, while we hope for positive results.

What is the foundation all about?

After my journey with breast cancer, I realised that breast cancer is completely treatable if detected early and the patient will still have a good quality life. I use myself as a reference. If I didn’t speak up about my experience, no one will ever know I went through it. I live a completely normal life because the disease was detected early and treatment was easy. I am fine. I decided to create an avenue to raise awareness of the disease and help women, particularly the low-income women, with breast screening and awareness campaigns. We advocate regular screening and also ensure that women who are diagnosed with the disease have access to treatment and after care. It is our desire to help women diagnosed with breast cancer with funding for treatment, but this hasn’t been achieved due to the fact that we are relatively new and still in search of sponsors. Nevertheless, we still support with the little fund we can muster and ensure they have access to good medical advice and treatment. That was how Worthy Wellness Initiative was born.

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cancer may include changes in the size of the breasts or nipple, lump in the breast, pain in the breast that doesn’t go away, discharge from the nipple, swelling or lump around the collarbone or under the arm, unexplained redness, itching or skin irritation on the breast. These symptoms vary in individuals, hence it is important we do regular selfexamination while we pay attention to any unusual change in our breasts.

Unknown to many, men can also have breast cancer.

How is this so?

They do because they have breast tissues too. The only difference is that women have more breast tissues than men; hence women are more prone to breast cancer than men.

Do they also undergo mastectomy like women?

Yes they do. They undergo mastectomy to prevent the cancer from spreading to other parts of the body.

Omoaka-Godwin

You say you are on medication to prevent a recurrence of the disease. How can there be a recurrence, if one is already given a clean bill of health?

A recurrence does occur. I haven’t experienced it and will not. A recurrence of breast cancer happens when cells that were part of the original breast cancer break away from the original tumour and hide nearby in the breast or in another part of the body. These cells begin to grow later and multiply causing a recurrence. The cancer may come back in the same place as the original cancer (local recurrence) or it may spread to other areas of the body (distant recurrence). This is why regular checkup after cancer treatment is advised.

What branch of law do you practise or are you just a general counsel?

I am into corporate and commercial law practice. I work basically for corporate organisations as an external solicitor.

Omo a

ka - God

win

Omoaka-Godwin October is generally known all over the world as breast cancer awareness month. What is your foundation doing this month to raise awareness about breast cancer?

We have resolved to organise a free breast cancer screening and awareness campaign every October to mark breast cancer awareness month. We are collaborating with BM Empire Multi-Specialist Hospital and Psych.wellnessng in Surulere to achieve this. Our free breast cancer screening for this month is slated for October 30, 2021 at the aforementioned hospital, which is our screening centre. We are still shortlisting women for this exercise. We have consultants in various fields of medicine to attend to them. We have the general surgeons, the radiologists, the pathologists and the mental health care consultant to attend to these women. The pathologist, who will perform biopsy on the lumps will further examine women that lumps will be found in their breasts. They will be educated by the general surgeons on how to examine their breasts to check for any abnormality and lots more.

Besides what you do through your foundation, do you think there is enough awareness about breast cancer?

Obviously there is not enough awareness. Awareness is the first step in the fight against breast cancer. You cannot fight what you are not aware exists. Hence, raising awareness of breast cancer is paramount to fighting it. Studies have shown that the breast cancer mortality rate is higher in developing countries like Nigeria than the advanced countries. This is simply because they have more support than we do here. We just need more support from government, corporate bodies and even individuals to achieve enough awareness. Our theme for last year’s breast cancer month was “Everyone can help save someone.” Everyone can help in any little way to raise the needed awareness.

What about accurate diagnosis, do we have enough hospitals that conduct proper mammograms?

Misdiagnosis can happen anywhere in the world. The only difference is that it is commonplace in Nigeria. Perhaps, it could be as a result of obsolete medical equipment or lack of adequate training of some of our doctors. For instance, I had a mammogram and ultrasound four months before my diagnosis, but no lump was detected. However, a cancerous THEWILLNIGERIA

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lump was detected four months later. The radiologist that detected the cancerous lump had to request my previous result, which I provided and he was perplexed that the lump was not detected four months ago both in the mammogram and the breast ultrasound. As you may be aware, an ultrasound examination is operator dependent. If the radiologist does not have adequate training, he is most likely to be missing cancerous lumps. So the government can get involved by ensuring that our general hospitals have current and functional medical equipment and that sound professionals train our doctors.

What exactly is the root cause of breast cancer?

Breast cancer occurs when some breast cells begin to grow abnormally. These abnormal cells then begin to divide more rapidly than the cells and continue to accumulate, forming a lump. The cells may metastasise through the breast to lymph nodes or to other parts of the body. Although no one can say accurately what causes breast cancer, researchers have identified hormonal, lifestyle and environmental factors as those which may increase the risk of breast cancer. So it is important for one to generally live a healthy lifestyle to minimise the risk of developing breast cancer or any type of cancer. Having said that, it is still unclear why some people who have no risk factors develop breast cancer and other people with risk factors never do. In all of these, we look up to God for answers.

What is it like being married to Mr Godwin Omoaka who is also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria?

We were already married before he became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, although I was a junior lawyer at the time I met him. He was also a junior lawyer then, but my senior at the bar. There is really no difference marrying a fellow legal person. The only thing is that being made a SAN has made him popular in the legal field and it also helps me in a sense that some people want to give me legal jobs to do, knowing that I have a SAN beside me to help me out in case I am stuck with any legal issues.

What was the attraction?

I met him in court actually. My husband is a very intelligent person and I have a serious likeness for intelligent people.

My husband has law at his fingertips. He knows so much about law that he taught me most of the things I know today about the legal profession. Those are the things I use today in dealing with clients, staff.

I am sure you aspire to be like him one day Like I always say, just be ready for anything that life throws at you. If it is becoming a SAN and going to the bench, just be prepared. I however aspire to go to the bench and if that is what life throws at me, fine.

How are you able to juggle your work with the foundation and ensure that all is well on the home front?

The secret to succeeding in this situation is simply having a very good structure in place and being consistent. My work, my family and the foundation are all being taken care of because there is a consistent structure in place. I will not fail to mention that we have an amazing team at the foundation. They make work so seamless.

What kind of healthy lifestyles should women lead to avoid breast cancer?

You can’t completely avoid being a victim of breast cancer.

You can try, but you can never be too sure. However, as much as we cannot change our family history, we can modify certain traits to help lower the risk of developing breast cancer. Some of these healthy lifestyles are limiting alcohol consumption, watching your weight, eating a healthy diet, regular exercise, breastfeeding and many more, can help lower the risk of developing breast cancer.

What do you consider to be your greatest achievement in life so far?

You know the life of a woman is very interesting, yet very demanding. Being responsible could entail having a career, raising a family or both. I am doing both in addition to the foundation. And I am grateful I have been able to give back to society in the way I am doing at the moment. If I have the opportunity, I will do more. I am also grateful that I have been able to combine raising a family, my career as a legal practitioner and this foundation well. No side is lacking. And I am glad I have been able to do that. I see that as an achievement, although I am still a work in progress.

What are the early signs of breast cancer?

Breast cancer generally shows no symptoms in the early stage. As I have said earlier, timely detection can turn a story of breast cancer into a survivor’s tale. Early signs of breast

What is your greatest challenge?

My only challenge is funding for the foundation. But we are not discouraged anyway. Nothing good comes easy, you know.

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STORIES BY IVORY UKONU

ROSEMARY OSULA BACK WITH DOCTORATE C

ontroversial socialite and businesswoman, Rosemary Osula, who has been absent from the social circles for a while, is back with a doctorate degree from Crescent University, Abeokuta, Ogun State.

Osula, who now wishes to be addressed as Princess Hadessah Osula Mku-Atu, was conferred with a Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) in Business Administration by the institution during its combined 12th and 13th convocation held on Saturday October 16, 2021, in recognition of her contributions to education, healthcare and social service through the Rosula Foundation, a non-governmental organisation she founded.

Rosula, as she is fondly called, not only dominated the social scene, her massive office complex situated on Adeniran Ogunsanya Road in

the Surulere area of Lagos was always a beehive of activities with many going there to see her for one favour or another.

But somewhere along the line, her businesses began to decline after she failed to service a N1.9 billion loan, which she took from Union Bank and the defunct Intercontinental bank to enable her purchase pre-paid meters for Power Holding Company of Nigeria. Her office, by court order, remained under lock and key for many years before a commercial bank finally took possession of it.

After ending her marriage to a Benue State-born politician, Rosula married the late Ogun State-born politician, Senator Buruji Kashamu. The marriage ended after he instituted an alleged child-trafficking case against her. She had deceived Buruji into thinking that he

Ehi Ogbebor Tackles New Lover’s Ex-Wife B

Osula impregnated her and she gave birth to a set of twins.

Unfortunately, the bubble burst.

It turned out she sourced the children from different towns.

Devastated, Kashamu forced her to vomit all the resources he invested in the pregnancy. The shame was too much for her to bear, forcing her to relocate from Lagos to Abuja.

Now in her third marriage, this time to a younger man, Rosula seems to have bounced back in the business world, going by how much money she dispenses via her foundation.

She now plays big in the real estate sector via her Nehemiah Grace Limited, Sharon Properties Ltd and Jezreel Grace Villa and Apartment Ltd. Her tentacles also spread to the financial services sector, telecommunications, manufacturing and tourism.

arely four months after Musiliu Akinsanya, otherwise known as MC Oluomo, the Lagos chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Worker, dumped Ehi Ogbebor, interior decorator and boss of Sayaveth Interiors and added a US-based divorced mother of three to his harem, Ehi in a surprise move, has quickly healed from the heart break and is in another sizzling relationship.

Her new man is a fairly comfortable US-based businessman named Dennis Osifo. Like Ehi, he is from Edo State, Benin City to be precise.

Dennis, who runs a string of businesses, is the President of Dnice Global LLC incorporated in New Jersey. Before meeting Ehi, he used to be married to a Jamaican in the United States.

The marriage packed up over irreconcilable differences and he quickly remarried, to a certain Cynthia whom he met in Benin City when he came to Nigeria on a working/social visit. The marriage produced three children, in addition to Cynthia’s child from a previous relationship that went sour. Unfortunately, their union ended in 2018 due to alleged infidelity on the part of Cynthia.

Last weekend, Dennis threw himself a lavish 50th birthday party at his base in New Jersey and it was an opportunity for him to flaunt Ehi as his new love interest and equally for Ehi to announce stylishly to MC Oluomo that she had equally moved on. Her subtle announcement however drew the ire of many, especially after Cynthia went to town with tales of Ehi snatching Dennis from her.

Osifo & Ogbebor

Cynthia claimed she was still married to Dennis traditionally and not divorced from him. Ehi denied this saying she only started dating Dennis four months ago, at about the time her relationship with MC Oluomo ended.

Cynthia also claimed that Ehi was a friend of her family and they had known each other for some years.

Ehi refuted her claim, insisting that they only had mutual friends and that she had only seen Cynthia about three times in her entire life.

Ehi said that despite being divorced, she and Dennis are madly in love with each other and anyone thinking otherwise should provide evidence of this or forever hold their peace.

She also warned Cynthia not to push her into exposing her secrets, including the things she did while still married to Dennis.

Ehi has been married twice, first in her 20s. The union produced three children before it packed up. Her second marriage was to wealthy Warri-born businessman, Kenneth Bramor in 2017. Their lavish wedding is still being talked about because of the humongous resources expended on the ceremony. Unfortunately that marriage packed up, too, barely a year to their first anniversary, with Ehi accusing him of being fetish.

Ehi had earlier said that she would give marriage another chance if the right man comes along.

Perhaps Dennis is the right man since they are both madly in love.

Time will tell.

BBNaija Star’s Baby Daddy Unveiled Uduaghan’s Daughter Appointed SSA to Gov Okowa O O

rode, daughter of former Governor of Delta State, Emmanuel Uduaghan, has been appointed as Senior Special Assistant to the incumbent Governor Ifeanyi Okowa on Small and Medium Enterprises Development. Having been out of the spotlight for several years, her latest appointment will, no doubt, launch her into the scheme of things.

In her capacity as SSA, Orode will ensure that SME’s in Delta State get the needed support for sustainability and growth by creating access to funding and capacity building. As an entrepreneur and a SME owner, who is into film production, runs her Pink Pearl Foundation that helps women with breast cancer, as well as a mentorship and coaching programme via her YouTube channel, Orode is a perfect fit for the appointment. She is a round peg in a round hole, as the saying goes.

Orode’s appointment obviously means that all is now well between

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Uduaghan the Uduaghans and the Okowas and that the appointment is Okowa’s own way of saying he has forgiven his predecessor. The duo have always had an unhealthy relationship. Their rivalry dates back to 2007, particularly during the PDP primaries when Okowa was Health

Commissioner and Uduaghan, was Secretary to the State Government (SSG). Even during the primaries of 2015 that saw Okowa emerging the party flagbearer, Uduagahn refused to support his candidacy for reasons best known to him and was known to speak against him in public fora.

f the 22 housemates in the just concluded Big Brother Naija Reality show, Shine Ya Eye edition, Jackie Bent, otherwise known as Jackie B, was the only one who was a single mother.

While the reality TV show lasted, she avoided getting sexually entangled with her love interest and fellow housemate, Michael Chukwuebuka Ngene, anywhere the camera may likely capture her.

Her reasons were mostly centered around her nine year-old son.

Jackie B, who is the daughter of Senator Grace Bent, would always remind Michael each time he made an amorous move at her, that she has a son who may likely be watching her every move on television and would not want him to see her in that light. What the interior decorator/wedding planner failed to divulge all through her stay in the house was the identity of her son’s father.

Well, it turned out that her baby daddy is an Abuja-based young man named Hafeez Yarosoon. A polo buff who is the captain of a polo team, Abuja Almat, named after Almat Farms, which belongs to his family.

Bent & Yarosoon Almat is one of the biggest and most sought after resort and farms located in Kuje near Abuja.

Yarosoon and Jackie B met and after a very brief courtship, had their son at about the time Senator Bent was rounding up her tenure as a member of the National Assembly representing Adamawa

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South Senatorial District in May 2011.

Yarosoon moved on shortly afterwards. He is currently in an ‘entanglement’ with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s daughter, Konyinsola. It is an off-and-on relationship fueled by his philandering nature.

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OCTOBER 17 - OCTOBER 23, 2021 T H E W I L L N E W S P A P E R • www.thewillnigeria.com

STORIES BY SHADE METIBOGUN

Omokri & Akpoti

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atasha Apoti, the 2019 governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party in Kogi State, and Reno Omokri, a former aide to exPresident Goodluck Jonathan, have been at loggerheads with each other for a couple of days now. The war between the two started after a Facebook user, Ahuoyiza Blizzcute, casually made advances at Omokri on Facebook. The lady wrote on his Facebook wall, “Hello handsome, can you be my sugar daddy?”

The post didn’t go down well with Omokri who responded by saying that he could not leave his beautiful wife, whom he likened to an iPhone 13, for the lady who he alluded to being an iPhone 3. He then explained how he declared his undying love for his ‘wife’ at a church in Lalibela, Ethophia.

Reno added that leaving iPhone 13 for iPhone 3 was not “sugar daddyism” but “bitter cola daddy”. According to him, he is enjoying a good life because God gave him a good ‘wife.’

Hence, he wouldn’t allow a sheet of paper come between himself and his wife. He went ahead to pray for the lady, that God would give her a man who would love her as he loves his ‘wife.’

Disappointed by his response, Ahuoyiza made another post where she stated that she made the remark jokingly. Despite Ahuoyiza’s explanation, Apoti slammed Reno and reminded him of how he made advances at her during a State House event in 2014. According to the light skinned mother of three, the former presidential aide tried to seek her affection during a state banquet organised in honour of Kenya’s President, Uhuru Kenyatta, when Jonathan was still in office. She added that Omokri was living a boring and bitter life in the United States because he was in asylum and he had no access to his numerous iPhone 2 girlfriends, most of whom he got into Sure P, a social measure established by the Goodluck Jonathan administration to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal.

Omokri denied this, insisting THEWILLNIGERIA

that she was making up stories.

He insisted that he was out of the country on the said date and could not have been the one who made passes at her. In a back-and-forth argument, they both began to exchange words as they tried to buttress their claims.

Omokri was the first to respond.

He posted screen shots of immigration stamps on his international passports to show that he was not in Nigeria during the period as claimed by Apoti.

According to him, he took his annual leave before the banquet and he returned to Nigeria after the event had taken place. He also stressed again that he has an ‘iPhone 13’ at home and wouldn’t be running after ‘Nokia 3310.’

Apoti also responded to his claims by sending him to the gallows. She explained that his response reeked of “selective dementia, deceit and misogynistic prejudice”.

She noted that his post shows great inconsistency. She further insisted that Omokri was in Nigeria at the said date, but traveled a month and two weeks after the event. She accused him of failing to prove his innocence and that he lied in his publications about his absence just the way he lied about not making passes at her during the State House event.

Lauretta Onochie, one of President Muhammadu Buhari’s aides, also rose in Apoti’s defence, equally accusing Omokri of inconsistency. She said he stated that his departure date (SOD) was June 23, 2014, but got to the United States on April, 2014. He returned to the country on (SOA) July 23, 2014, which was after President Kenyatta’s visit. The claims were countered by Onochie.

She stated that Omokri left the country after Kenyatta’s visit.

As he couldn’t have been seen leaving Nigeria on June 23, 2014 and got to the United States of America on April 24, 2014 which shows that he was counting backwards.

Perhaps at a crossroads, Omokri said he intentionally withheld a third page of his passport on the THEWILLNG

RENO OMOKRI AND NATASHA AKPOTI IN SHOW OF SHAME

advice of his lawyer so that Apoti would walk into their “trap”. He provided more screenshots of his passport stamp showing when he arrived at San Francisco on April 28, 2014 and the stamp on his return to Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja after his visit abroad.

He got back to Nigeria on May, 10, 2014. He added his British Airways itinerary number, which was I4TMLO and the reservation he made on April 22, 2014 and the time the e-ticket was issued on April 25, 2014. He further added that one Olatunji Buhari was his travel agent. He gave details of the agent and how he can be contacted for verification. He added that he left Nigeria via British Airways on Sunday, April 27, 2014 and landed at London Heathrow Airport. He boarded another flight going to San Francisco and landed on April 28, 2014. He returned to Nigeria on Sunday, May 10, 2014 as provided in the screen shot of his international passport.

The former presidential aide accused the former governorship candidate of being an agent of the Muhammadu Buhari administration sent to blackmail him. According to him, the presidential aide had personally promised the President that she would cage him (Omokri) before the 2023 election.

On Friday, Natasha Apoti released a series of videos on her Facebook page where she continued to pick holes at Omokri’s defence. She would later delete the videos, perhaps after some prominent clerics appealed and admonished her to do so. Omokri would later claim that the same clerics equally appealed to him to sheathe his sword.

The question on the lips of many who have followed this back and forth is if truly Omokri made advances at Apoti. If he didn’t, why would she make up stories against him? And if he did make passes at her, why would he, a married man, do so or is this his stock-intrade, ignoring his women and chasing after other women, just as he abandoned his legally married wife, Tuokpe Omokri and his three children in America and moved in with an Ethiopian woman, named Hana, in London as exclusively reported by THEWILL?

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Mixed Reactions as Toke Makinwa Emerges Host of GUS

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Jacobs

WHO WANTS OLU JACOBS DEAD?

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t seems some naysayers are not happy that legendary actor, Oluwadotun Baiyewu Jacobs, professionally known as Olu Jacobs, is hale and hearty. About two weeks ago, it was rumoured online that he died. But those close to the seasoned actor debunked the rumour, stating that the elder statesman is still alive and well.

It was not the first time that a death rumour had trailed the actor. In May 2020, the Internet was abuzz with a similar tale until members of his family quickly reacted against it, describing it as false and depressing. One begins to wonder who the veteran actor has offended so much that they wish him dead. Why would anyone wish he was gone? The actor may have lost some weight and now looks frail, but he is still strong enough to move around. He paid a visit to his wife on location a few weeks ago and was also spotted in a video during his wife’s 60th birthday celebration to further dispel the death rumour.

Olu Jacobs is one of the most respected and influential actors in Nigeria with more than 40 years of acting experience.

n Saturday, October 9, 2021, media personality, Toke Makinwa, was unveiled as the host of popular TV reality show, Gulder Ultimate Search, Season 12, tagged ‘The Age of Craftsmanship.’

Earlier, the organisers of the show had announced Nollywood actor, Kunle Remi, who is also a past winner, as the task master, but they kept fans guessing who the host might be before unveiling Makinwa. However, her appointment as the host has generated a lot of mixed reactions, with many wondering why she was chosen for the task.

To some critics, the likes of Nollywood actors, Chidi Mokeme and Bob ManuelUdokwu, both of who had anchored the reality show in the past would have been more preferable. Others believe actress and fitness enthusiast, Kate Henshaw, would fit in perfectly since GUS depicts character and strength, which she stands for.

Henshaw, they argue, has the energy, drive and strength to survive jungle life.

Some people are also of the opinion that the last girl standing in one of the previous editions of GUS could have been considered to host the show. But Makinwa’s fans gave the organisers thumbs up for choosing her. According to

them, she has paid her dues in the entertainment industry.

They stated that some Nigerians disapprove of the organisers’ choice because of their personal dislike for her.

However, amid the mixed reactions that trailed her selection, Makinwa narrated how she dreamt of hosting the show eight years ago.

She revealed that she dreamt of anchoring the show after interviewing some of its past winners. She had pushed aside the thought because she felt it was an impossible thing to attain.

Makinwa is amazed that eight years after dreaming about it, she has been chosen as the anchor of the show.

The Gulder Ultimate Search started in 2004 and was aired for 11 seasons before it was rested for some time.

It became one of the most watched reality shows with winners carting home millions of naira. The grand prize for the first edition in 2014 was the sum of N3 million. But the grand prize rose in subsequent editions to N5 million with a Sport Utility Vehicle to boot. It was increased in Season 11, with the winner taking home N10 million and a Ford Explorer. This year’s edition will premiere on October 16, 2021 and end on December, 19, 2021. The grand prize for this year’s edition is N50 million.

Makinwa

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OCTOBER 17 - OCTOBER 23, 2021 T H E W I L L N E W S P A P E R • www.thewillnigeria.com

STORIES BY IVORY UKONU

SALMA PHILIP’S DOCUMENTARY FILM WINS AT VENICE FILM AWARDS

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Much Ado About Tiwa Savage’s Sex Tape

A Philips

o doubt, this is Salma Philips’ season as the talk show host, film and documentary producer has recently been getting international recognition and accolades for her documentary film, Shadow Girls, which uncovers the fate of the girl child and women in northern Nigeria. First, it was UNICEF making her an education ambassador so she can use her voice, her

platform to raise awareness for girls, not just in northern Nigeria but in West Africa.

Then on Sunday, October 10, 2021 Shadow Girls won Best Documentary Award at the Venice Shorts Film Awards.

The documentary has also been officially selected by two Academy Awards qualifying film festivals for the incredible job done highlighting the plight of the voiceless in northern Nigeria. The

international film festivals are Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival and the Philadelphia Film Festival.

A detribalised Nigerian, Salma’s passion for film and television began in 2015 and at some point, almost gave up for feeling unappreciated.

This prompted her to look inwards and not seek validation. Today, her hard work speaks for itself.

ast week, Obinna Iyiegbu, popularly known as Obi Cubana and boss of Cubana Group, was voted the 2021 Man of the Year by Nigerians both at home and in the Diaspora.

The voting, conducted via some online platforms, was organised by a popular online news platform during their 14-day Leadership Excellence Awards. The award recognises and honours outstanding impact of leaders across the public and private sectors in Nigeria.

Obi Cubana defeated Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Tony

Elumelu, Chairman UBA Group and Abdul Rabiu, Chairman and founder of BUA Group, to clinch the position. The philanthropist and entertainment entrepreneur emerged winner with 2,667,845 votes just as the other nominees secured 1,015,224, 848,652 and 819,562 votes respectively.

Despite the results being made public ahead of the actual award, which is scheduled to take place on November 2, with many of Obi’s friends, associates and family members sending him congratulatory messages, Mike Eze Nwalie Nwogu, otherwise

known as Pretty Mike, is yet to congratulate him.

You may wonder what business the controversial night club owner has with Obi. Well, following the departure of Pascal Okechukwu, aka Cubana Chief Priest, one of Obi Cubana’s trusted aides whose effort made Cubana Night Club what it is today, Pretty Mike, who runs Club Uno, formerly known as Q Club, decided to have a joint partnership with Cubana Night Clubs. His job was to help boost patronage and visibility of Cubana Club, more like a consultancy of sorts. Besides, during the lavish burial ceremony of Obi Cubana’s mother in Anambra months ago, Pretty Mike featured prominently at the ceremony, which spanned four days.

Although he didn’t display wads of naira and foreign currencies like most of Obi’s friends did at the ceremony, he nonetheless provided both moral and social support to Obi who he likes to hail in the comment section of his social media page. Rather than congratulate Obi, Pretty Mike has kept busy making lewd posts on his social media handle. Hopefully they will resolve whatever issues that might have arisen between them.

What is Up Between Obi Cubana And Pretty Mike?

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Iyiegbu & Nwogu

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bout a week ago, Tiwa Savage went to town with a story about being blackmailed with a sex tape she made with her current lover. While absolving her closest friends or associates of blame, the divorced mother of one revealed that her lover mistakenly posted the video on the social media platform, Snapchat, but deleted it within seconds. The singer also said that the blackmailer sent the sex video to her team, demanding money.

After trying to initially stall the blackmailer, she claimed, she decided to simply own her narrative, since they are both grown-ups who aren’t cheating on each other.

Her revelation expectedly drew mixed reactions from Nigerians. While some felt that she was lying, others wondered how someone, who referred to herself as a grown-up woman, a mother and a role model could make a sex tape and publicise it, even if it was just for one second.

This set of people pointed out that during the interview where she made the revelation, her countenance was far from that of a person under pressure from a blackmailer. So they concluded that she was playing on people’s intelligence with what they believed was a publicity stunt.

Some other people, who are sympathetic to the Tiwa Savage brand, either believed her or were at a loss as to what to make of the story. Still, many were more interested in the identity of the supposed lover, since her well- known lover, Habeeb Uthman, otherwise known as Obama DMW, who was a personal assistant to singer Davido, had died of heart failure about three months ago.

A few others took advantage of the situation by circulating a sex video of a lady who many believe is Tiwa.

First, the video in circulation is as fake as they come because the actors look nothing like Tiwa and her current lover, who is a young man named Abolo Beckham.

Bolo Beckham of Warri, as he is fondly called, is a Nigerian who lives in Ghana. Tiwa allegedly began to date him almost immediately after Obama DMW’s demise.

While the male in the video in circulation is quite slim

Savage and of average height, Bolo isn’t slim and he is much taller. The lady in the video only has a slight resemblance to Tiwa and that is where it stops. She is voluptuous, while Tiwa isn’t.

Secondly, Bolo is currently not on social media. He deleted all of his social media handles, specifically Instagram and Snapchat about three years ago, save for a few footprints which are old posts made of him by others.

This makes one wonder which snapchat Tiwa claimed her lover posted the said video on and deleted almost immediately.

Third, Tiwa’s latest body of work, Water and Garri, which was released in August, isn’t doing as well as anticipated. Except for the single, Somebody’s Son, in which she featured American artist, Brandy, many can’t even tell off-hand the other songs in the Extended Play (EP). Also, having allegedly collected her signup fee upfront when she signed a global recording deal with Universal Music Group (UMG), the world leader in music-based entertainment, Tiwa needed to prove that she has what it takes to compete favourably with American music icons and that UMG didn’t make a mistake

THEWILLNIGERIA

going into partnership with her. Her management/publicity team headed by Vanessa AmadiOgbonna, who also manages some Nigerian music artists like Davido and is supposedly a guru at her job, came up with the publicity stunt of a non-existing sex tape.

The whole idea, which was obviously meant to sway public sympathy in Tiwa’s favour and help to boost the sales of her EP, unfortunately backfired as Nigerians didn’t believe her tale.

Finally, assuming there is actually an existing sex tape, why isn’t it out there? Why hasn’t the blackmailer released it yet? While Tiwa didn’t give a timeline for when the sex tape was made or when the blackmail began, blackmailers have been known never to back down and would carry out their threats unless the long arm of the law catches up with them before they carry out their threat.

So did Tiwa actually make a sex tape? If she did, which is her prerogative, did she or her lover really put it out there by mistake? And is she really being blackmailed for it? Your guess is as good as mine.

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OCTOBER 17 - OCTOBER 23, 2021 T H E W I L L N E W S P A P E R • www.thewillnigeria.com

Mama Roz’s Chronicles

by ROZ A MECH I

Homeless In Abuja (1)

VICTORIA’S STORY

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Victoria and her parents relocated to Abuja from their village when she was five years-old.

The family lived together in Suleija, but her parents separated a few years later, with her mother leaving her father to raise little Victoria all by himself.

When Victoria was in SS2, she met and fell in love with an older man, Eze, from Abia State whose wife and five children lived in the village in the South-East. Soon enough Victoria’s dalliance with Eze resulted in pregnancy and her angry father promptly threw her out of his home sending her to live with “the man who had impregnated her.”

Eze lived in a rented apartment in Suleija and on a meagre salary, he now had Victoria and her baby to cater for in addition to his family of five children back home. It wasn’t easy financially, but Victoria was in love and lived happily with her ‘man’. In the next few years, they produced three more children. Eze got a job driving a long-distance bus to the East, which meant that he was away for a few days each week.

However, Victoria could not imagine a life in the village and decided that her fortune lay in Abuja, the city of opportunities.

Young and beautiful, she

“

“The Wuse Market task force put an end to the street hair plaiting trade. There was a designated area for hair plaiters inside the market and they were expected to stay there and wait for any customers looking to have their hair plaited. “

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Victoria was happy. After so many years, Lady Luck had finally smiled on her. The final icing on the cake was meeting a man who owned a nearby empty fenced compound where she went regularly to take her bath, away from the prying eyes of other street beggars and passers-by.

The man found her in his compound when he visited unexpectedly and asked her who she was and why she was there.

It turned out that the man was also from Akwa Ibom and took pity on her. He said she could stay inside the compound, which was safer than being on the street.

So, every night Victoria had a secure place to sleep, even though it was still outside. Sometimes when it is raining, the guard lets her into his small room to sleep since she now has Oga’s permission to be on the premises.

was convinced that despite not having any qualifications since she dropped out of school in SS2, she could make her way in Abuja and without the encumbrance of four small children, she could even find a new man and remarry. So, she left the children with her mother, promising to send money for their upkeep and indeed to return soon and collect them once she could secure accommodation for them.

That was 12 years ago and her eldest child is now 19 years old but Victoria still lives on the streets of Abuja.

When she returned to Abuja, she joined some women who stood daily in front of Wuse Market to advertise their hair plaiting skills. She made a living from plaiting hair during the day and slept on the road near the market at night.

Sometimes men would come to her, promising to liberate her, but all they did was use and leave her. Sometimes they were violent, hence her many scars and sometimes they would give her a little money enough for a meal, but none of them took her off the streets.

The Wuse Market task force put an end to the street hair plaiting trade. There was a designated area for hair plaiters inside the market and they were expected to stay there and wait for any customers looking to have their hair plaited. But that space was jealously guarded by the tougher women plaiters. According to Victoria, if you are not well versed in ‘jazz’ (juju), “you no go fit stay there”. She didn’t last two days in that space; she fell out with some of the women and they threw her out and warned her not to return.

After that Victoria met a friend on the streets who took her on rounds of

In his absence, Victoria spent the time looking

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Victoria was that she caught the eye of a former minister’s wife who attended the chapel on PJP street and decided to help her. The minister’s wife asked Victoria how much she would need to start a business that would enable her to pick herself up and get off the streets, and having done all her calculations, she asked for forty thousand naira (N40,000).

To her delight, her request was granted and she bought kerosene and started her business of selling to neighbours, such as the woman who sold akara nearby and other people who lived in the boysquarters of the big houses on that street.

Eze had promised for years to marry her and even though no formal ceremonies had been carried out, she considered herself his second wife and therefore, his family’s responsibility. But with Eze dead and his surviving relatives equally poor and incapable of helping her, Victoria found herself quite alone and unable to pay the rent or feed her four children.

Victoria’s mother had by this time relocated to Akwa Ibom and was farming and selling her produce in the markets in her village. Victoria had no choice but to take the children to Akwa Ibom to live with her mother, who welcomed them all with open arms.

ictoria was born in 1982 in a village in Akwa Ibom State. Scarred from endless skirmishes with men and fellow women, who had fallen into a similar life pattern of violence and survival, she appears to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders. She lives in a brutal world in which only the fittest survive.

The streets, her home for the past 12 years, have been unkind, especially at night as danger lurks constantly from strange men seeking their own personal comfort at the expense of such ‘fallen’ women and from co-travellers trying to survive this battle called life. Small achievements attract envy along with a vicious urge to dispossess you of any new acquisitions. It’s a tough world that she has spent the past 19 years trying fruitlessly to navigate while also trying to keep her head above water.

after the children and looking forward to his return, which was always joyously celebrated. One day, Eze did not come home on the expected day nor the day after. For two weeks Victoria could not contact him and she had no idea what had happened to him until his relative visited to inform her that he had died in a tragic motor accident on his way back to Abuja.

Victoria was devastated; he had left her with four children, a rented home and no savings to speak of.

Victoria

Every morning on the streets of Abuja, an increasing number of women and children rise from their makeshift “beds” to start a daily hustle of mostly begging or for the more fortunate, petty trading.

Homelessness is a global social problem caused by a myriad of reasons such as insurgency, bad choices, financial difficulties and breakdown of family structure. The Borgen Project report estimates that 24.4million people are homeless in Nigeria, which means they have no permanent or stable accommodation.

They include people living on the streets, in temporary shelters or with friends and family.

Tracing the lives of three mothers currently facing this predicament, this three-part series exposes the underbelly of homelessness in Abuja and looks at some of the causes, outcomes and potential solutions as it affects these vulnerable groups; women and children.

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house-to-house begging for food, money and clothes. She was moving further and further away from realising her goal of finding a house, starting a business and relocating her children to live with her.

Years passed and Victoria continued to live on the streets. She slept under trees when it was raining and out on the streets during the dry season with just a wrapper to protect her from the cold, mosquitoes and any other animals that came out at night.

She found a regular “space” by Pope John Paul (PJP) Street, Maitama where other beggars also converged and slept on the streets offering a little protection just from their numbers. However, every now and again, arguments would erupt and Victoria and other less protected women like herself would take a beating from one of the stronger women who have grown sons and daughters to help them fight. Staying alive is the name of the game and the only hope of getting out of this hell hole is to find a kind donor who would give you enough money to start a business and get off the streets.

In time, Victoria’s savings grew and she had N350,000. Her plan was to grow her business further by buying larger quantities of kerosene and perhaps also diversifying into trading food items.

The false sense of security provided by the fenced area she slept in, led her to consider accommodation less of a priority at this point. This turned out to be a huge error in judgement.

One day, while she was out, Aisha came to visit and told the security guard that Victoria had asked her to bring her goods and her all things to Gishiri. Aisha took everything including her money and disappeared. By the time she found Aisha, all the money had been spent and the goods had been sold. She returned some of Victoria’s clothes and other items but could not offer more than an undertaking, which she signed, that she would pay her back in due course.

Victoria, broken and devastated, is back to square one, with no goods to sell and no money with which to secure accommodation. Just when she thought the worst was finally behind her, Aisha had launched a debilitating attack determined to show that she and only she remained the successful ‘Queen’ of the PJP street who managed to escape homelessness.

Two things happened to Victoria in this new space, PJP Street. First, she met and was befriended by Aisha Abdullahi, a Sierra Leonian refugee who had married a man from Maidugri and fled when Boko Haram ransacked their village and killed her husband. Aisha had since lived on the streets in Maitama and was one of the leading women who “owned” the space in PJP Street. She had made a lot of money begging for alms with her six children and now lived in Gishiri but still maintained her space and control of PJP Street.

Victoria’s only hope now is to meet another kind person who will restore her losses and help her to escape the cycle of poverty and homelessness that she now finds herself back in. Staying in the secure compound, whilst better than being on the streets is not a permanent and sustainable solution. I asked her why she didn’t return to Akwa Ibom and assist her mother with the business and raising of her children, she looked at me, totally defeated and in a very small voice asked, “How can I go back empty-handed?”

The second thing that happened to

•To be continued

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ARTS

JP Clark: One Year After

BY MICHAEL JIMOH

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of Lagos, the nearly three-hour remembrance had other eloquent speakers have their say on the man JP, his works, life and legacies.

f there were a proper burial ceremony for Professor John Pepper Bekederemo Clark after he died a year ago this October, there would have been a gathering of the Who is Who in Nigerian Literature.

Leading a phalanx of literary big-foots would have been his close friend, rival and contemporary, Professor Wole Soyinka, delivering a funeral oration that would have got literary ears pricking.

Speaking from Carleton University Ottawa, Canada, Associate Professor of African Studies, Nduka Otiono, tackled very brilliantly “Discussing JP Clark and Poetic Expeditions in Mortality.” JP’s early life at Ibadan, Otiono averred, “was marked by intellectual and cultural activism.” JP always liked to shock, Otiono said, citing an instance when the dramatist slaughtered a live goat on stage during the performance of his play Song of A Goat. Venue was Courtyard Hall of the institution. The action “had tongues wagging for weeks after the production.”

Many more scholars, especially from the Department of English and Literature from the universities of Ibadan and Lagos, would have been around (in Lagos where he lived the twilight of his years or even Kiagbodo where he was born.) Before his sudden demise, the poet, dramatist, essayist and distinguished scholar had written something of a last testament, asking to be buried in his natal littoral place. His family obliged him.

If anything has to be said about the lectures, it is that all of them, men and women did justice to the various presentations. For one, they are university teachers.

Two, they are all familiar with the works of the late professor. Thus, Professors Mabel Evwierhoma and Saint Gbilekaa both of the Department of Theatre Arts, University of Abuja, were plainly at home with “Discussing JP Clark: Towards and Agenda for Femocracy” and “An Ecocritical Discourse of JP Clark’s ALL for Oil and Women’s Revolt respectively.”

So, there was no crowd-pulling, colourful, ceremonial send-off for JP. It was simple, low-key and a solitary departure for the poet who was set forth upon the waters of Kiabgodo for his final journey to the great beyond.

One year after, more than a dozen professors, twice as many doctors, the literati and admirers had a chance to do what they could not a year ago.

Besides his last commandment to his family concerning his burial, COVID-19 pandemic ensured that people kept their distance and so could not meet physically for a proper celebration of JP. For three days last week, starting from Monday, October 11, through Tuesday to Wednesday 13, participants at the first commemoration of the late poet kept their distance but got together via zoom to celebrate the late poet who meant so many things to different people.

Professor Femi Osofisan, one of the moderators of the event, set the tone right by declaring that, one year after JP’s demise, “it is just appropriate that we come to look at the legacies that JP Clark left behind.”

For obvious reasons, Mrs. Jegede Head of Department of English, University of Ibadan, made the opening remarks.

UI, along with the University of Lagos, are co-hosts of the memorial. It was at UI that JP began his university education and also honed his skill as a writer, writing and publishing some of his poems and plays.

Mrs Jegede told participants what they already knew, to wit: “To celebrate our great Nigerian and literary icon… to honour our father, teacher, colleague, elder statesman, hero and idol.”

Jegede’s counterpart from Unilag, Shalysha Oleoreore, also made her opening remarks representing an institution where JP was one of the founding fathers of the Department of English. According to her, the school “started celebrating JP while alive when we organized a lecture and a conference in his honour. He looked healthy then and we didn’t know that he was going to be away from us so soon.”

How true! With the possible exception of Soyinka, very few people knew of the health challenges JP faced until his untimely death.

Given the privilege of speaking first, and despite initial technical glitches in the recording, Soyinka held his audience spellbound in a speech titled “JP: An Absence Still in Denial.”

With his piratical good looks despite his advanced years

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I get that feeling that JP is looking over my shoulder to see if I have already re-gifted that present in my own way. You would be right to assess it a virtue the like of which renders society fragile and contentious, an obstacle to its perceived existential harmony

the Nobel laureate began by describing the “unique gift” he received from “our JP, poet of unlimited surprises. I received a unique gift at the hand of our JP. That gift, we share poetry, its dimensions… the nature of that gift, alas, is one that is insufficiently acknowledged, insufficiently embraced, shared and propagated an underrated request that replenishes my own humanity. It is also a burden…the challenges it places upon one’s shoulders…Often, indeed, I get that feeling that JP is looking over my shoulder to see if I have already re-gifted that present in my own way.

You would be right to assess it a virtue the like of which renders society fragile and contentious, an obstacle to its perceived existential harmony.”

Concluding, Soyinka insists he remains “eternally grateful to JP for being the medium of such gift.”

Tagged “The First JP Clark Memorial” and moderated by two professors, Osofisan and Hope Eghagha of University

You must give the organisers credit for not focusing on university dons alone. An old boy of JP’s alma mater Government College Ughelli, had something to say from their school days. For him, all old boys become mariners automatically even though GCU is not located by any shore. JP, he said, is one of the most prominent and acknowledged students of the school whom they will remain proud of.

Professors Godini Darah and Tanure Ojaide can both be called students and younger proteges of JP. In talking about “Voyager of Our Folkways,” Darah recalled the rich traditional imagery and allusions in most of JP’s works, citing some of his popular plays like the Ozidi Saga, Song of a Goat, The Raft, etc. Ojaide’s “What we Don’t Know Yet About Clark’s Writings was equally revelatory.

The second day had medics talking about the ravaging disease cancer. There were two of them on hand, Dr. Olatunbosun A. Oke and Kene Chudy-Onwugaje. Their topic of discussion focused on cancer of the colon and how to detect and prevent it. At the time he died, there was speculation about what really got the dramatist. With the two doctors in the house, one was left feeling whether it was the debilitating disease that got the poet.

The final day of the memorial for JP was a production of his play The Wives Revolt. As you might have guessed, it was online like the previous meetings.

The memorial wouldn’t have been complete without family member from the Clarks. His wife, Professor Ebun Clark lent her majestic presence to the event. She pointedly recalled how her spouse was “elected to be a London Underground Poet. London Underground has this habit of carrying poems from different nations to then tube stations and inside the tubes as well. He was a London Underground Poet in 2012 when his poem, Ibadan, went round the whole of London Underground System and other poets like Chaucer, Yeats and so forth.”

His daughter Pastor Egedeh gave the vote of thanks.

A first memorial for JP Clark presupposes there would be follow-ups in the coming years. For literature students and lovers of creative writing, there can’t be a better and worthier way to get to know the man JP Clark, his works and lifetime more and more.

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TOURISM Nigeria’s Tourism: Another Path To Economy Growth ensure accessibility and develop the capacity of the locals.

“We do not need big hotels. Sometimes when you go to France and Spain, it is the royal household that creates one or two extra rooms within their home and host guests.”

Another stakeholder, the Chairman of Akwa Ibom State Hotels Management and Tourism Board, Mr Ini Akpabio, noted that there is a need to reposition Nigeria’s brands to benefit the citizens, as tourism touches each and everyone economically.

As we normally say, tourism is life. More so, all the states and communities that embrace tourism after the COVID-19 pandemic ends will ensure that their communities, their states and their countries will quickly bounce back to previous economic prosperity, which they enjoyed prevuiously.

The President of the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN), Nkereuwem Onung, explained that the new normal has revealed the need for a strategic action plan that will bring tourism stakeholders together and create mutually beneficial projects.

“I must commend the resilience and doggedness of the private sector for the rebound of the sector after COVID-19 regulations ambushed its growth and also without help coming from anywhere.

In this piece, JANEFRANCES CHIBUZOR reports that Nigeria as a multi-cultural nation has a rich tourism potential awaiting development

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he global economic recession has posed new challenges to the world, in addition to challenges from global warming, which have affected the economies of many countries across the world.

The Nigerian economy depends mostly on proceeds from crude oil exportation and this has been the bane of the country. Until the Federal Government begins to look inwards and diversify the economy, the country cannot make any headway.

It is time for Nigeria to spread the tentacles of her economic prowess to other service sectors, such as tourism, for growing the economy across the states.

Tourism is the most promising driver of sustainable and inclusive growth.

Compared with other nations across the globe, Nigeria is unique; her weather and rich tourism facilities are appealing enough to woo foreign investors. Stakeholders advocate the development and exploitation of these resources for job and wealth creation.

The Commissioner for Culture and Tourism in Enugu State, Mr Ugonna Ibe, said the basic requirement of any government was to provide basic infrastructure, which include good roads, electricity and security, as well as to create a conducive environment for business. Tourism cannot thrive in an insecure atmosphere, no doubt.

Some other countries the world are reaping the rewards of tourism development. This is because their governments did what they were supposed to do by building good roads and ensuring adequate electricity supply, among other basic infrastructure.

Ibe, who spoke with THEWILL recently, noted, “Tourism is all about movement of people from their places of abode to other places for the purpose of a sight-seeing, leisure and recreation.

“We can attest that we have many things and each of the states in Nigeria has so much tourism potential, endowments and different types of weather that makes it attractive for tourism destinations or sites to thrive.

“The private sector is part of the whole process because it will be affected positively. If the tourism business is booming and making waves in the country, the hospitality industry and transportation, as well as other businesses in the rural communities, would make profits and grow the GDP of a nation like Nigeria. The private sector should be part of the entire tourism development project. There should be THEWILLNIGERIA

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laid down rules and regulations to that effect.

“But then, government on its part has a duty to ensure that those people that come in to develop the industry should be given a soft landing. Someone investing on a particular venture should be able to get returns on investment and so in the area of taxation. Government should be able to grant him tax holiday for a period of time.”

Ibe said the private sector could leverage such tax holidays for a period of five or 10 years without paying anything and that would make it attractive for the private sector to come in and invest in tourism. According to him, it is a two-way thing and the private sector has to see tourism as a viable business that can be exploited.

Also, the Project Manager, Lekki Conservation Centre, one of the eco- tourism sites in Lagos, Adedamola Ogunsesan, pointed out, “We need to improve security around those places, we need to create accessibility. We could use this to develop the rural economy. It is a strong means of improving livelihood and infrastructure, as well as reducing unemployment and social vices in our rural communities.

“It is also a strong means of reducing rural and urban migration because they provide the necessary platform for young people living in the hinterland to create an alternative means of livelihood. But we need to improve on the security situation in the country. We need to

Commenting, the General Manager of Jaiye’s Place Luxury Hotels and Resorts, Mr Gibson Ngoka, “What people come to appreciate is the way we live and do things differently. Tourists troop to Kenya, especially in the Maasai area because of their peculiar culture and way of life. The bottom line is the quest to learn news things and appreciate humanity in their diverse forms and disposition.

“Now talking of Nigeria and tourism, we have robbed ourselves of opportunities to generate tons of foreign exchange by not looking inwards. There are many scenes that will pep up any adventurous tourist’s desire to look closer to know what we are offering. Over concentration on short term gains have made it difficult for us to sit and develop our values.

“We need to start a process of appreciating ourselves in order to attract other people to see us. Our history with the corona virus should even be a reason for people to come and see why we, despite scientific predictions, survived the scourge more than more technologically advanced Nations. What constitute our menu and the rich herbal deposits we have that can ward off any ailment.

“The tourism equity of Nigeria is very high and it is yet to be tapped.

Lovers of wild life will be surprised to know that there are elephant colonies in Ogun State. That is just a speck of what the nation has in store. Perhaps, the major threat is the security situation in the country.

Sites like the Yankari Game Reserve and other scenic sites in Plateau State are no-go areas because of security. If security is tackled, tourism may as well be the next oil in Nigeria’s economy, “he noted.

Ogun State Dazzles At International Arts, Crafts Expo

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he Ogun State contingent put up a dazzling Cultural show of force last Thursday night at the ongoing International Arts and Crafts Expo in Abuja.

The contingent pulled all strings, showcasing its rich Ankara and Batik fabric economy, spiced with a display of tasty dishes and delicacies from Ogun to the delight of participants and invited dignitaries.

The Permanent Secretary, Ogun State Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Olusegun Olaotan, took to the podium to address guests on the diversity of the state rich cultural endowment, natural resources, rich flora and fauna and culinary offerings.

In what appeared as a strategic effort aimed at enthroning a sustainable cultural tourism economy by the Dapo Abiodun administration in Ogun State, a food court clearly set out to gain the endorsement and buy-in of the participants, was on showcase with enough delicious culinary offerings, particularly cooked Ofada rice garnished with pepper stew served free to participants and guests at the Sheraton Hotel venue of the expo, which came to an end on Friday.

In his address, the Director-General of the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), Otunba Segun Runsewe, praised Governor

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Dapo Abiodun for his determination and passion to create a cultural tourism economy for Ogun State.

He said, “What we saw at the Ogun State Night is a clear reflection of a governor, a leader who is determined to leave the state better than he met it. And through the local Adire fabric economy, jobs are created and an industry sustained. “Governor Abiodun has even brought in the culinary offerings, a perfect hold for the Ogun people, noted for its unique Ofada rice variant, which is very healthy and good for export.”

The NCAC boss who also doubles as President, Africa Region, World Craft Council ( WCC), reiterated the urgent need for all state governors to wake up to the reality of the power of culture in transforming dormant economies, adding that oil business is no longer in vogue but the networking and marketing of Culture and to which the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria, have in abundant diversity, not excluding gastronomic offerings.

Otunba Segun Runsewe, also commended the 12 states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT), which despite the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy, braced all odds to showcase their cultural tourism endowments to the world.

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NEWS EXTRA Reconstruction: Lagos to divert traffic on Apapa/Oworonsoki Expressway

BY ANTHONY AWUNOR

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he Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Dr Frederic Oladeinde, has said that there would be diversion of traffic on the Apapa/Oworonshoki Expressway from Monday due to reconstruction work.

Oladeinde made this known in a statement issued in Lagos, noting that the diversion was in reference to the notification received from the Federal Ministry of Works on the reconstruction of the expressway.

He said the Federal Government had released the diversion plan on reconstruction of Apapa/ Oworonshoki Expressway for a duration of four months commencing from Monday.

The commissioner said the construction schedule contained in the notification showed that each day traffic would be diverted at the Gbagada/Berger end of the expressway for recycling and asphalt work at night between 10pm and 5am.

He said, “A section of the chosen lane for construction (inbound or outbound) would be left free for motorists to utilise and minimise inconvenience.

“The State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) would be on ground to coordinate movement.

“I want to assure that signage with information on traffic directions will be hoisted by the Federal Government on the outbound carriageway to Ibadan and inbound carriageway to Lagos.

“This is to guide motorists on movement during the construction period.”

Oladeinde expressed his gratitude to the citizenry for their understanding and patience in spite of the several construction projects ongoing within the state.

The commissioner appealed that the posture of the people towards these projects should remain positive as the Smart City dream is achieved.

Representative of the Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Mr Iro Ukpai; representative of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr Salawu Zubair; Vice President, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), Mr Samuel Agbeluyi; Executive Chairman of the FCT Internal Revenue Service, Alhaji Abdullahi Attah and Chairman, CITN, Abuja and District Society, Mrs Clara Nnachi, during the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria 2021 Tax Week in Abuja on Thursday (14/10/21).

World Bank Group Commits $157bn to Protect The Poor

BY SAM DIALA

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he World Bank Group (WBG) has disclosed that it committed $157 billion to protect the poor and vulnerable as its response to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis in the 2021 fiscal year.

It said the measure has helped to expand social protection, support businesses, preserve and create jobs and help over 100 countries on emergency health response, as well as strengthening health systems.

These disclosures were contained in the communique of the Group’s Development Committee meeting held on October 15, 2021 and made available to THEWILL. The Group said it took an extensive review of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy, especially on the severe impact on low-income countries and the stress on the middle-income countries’ efforts to return to growth.

It noted that their economies remain below pre-pandemic GDP levels and are falling further behind as the Group intensifies efforts to push vaccines into the global space to ameliorate the

Ekiti Governorship Poll: PDP Further Extends Sale of Forms

unhealthy situation.

“The global economy is experiencing an uneven recovery, with uncertainty about the path of the pandemic. Lowincome countries (LICs) and middleincome countries (MICs) continue to see high COVID-19 caseloads, risks of new variants, vaccine supply bottlenecks, and obstacles to vaccination.

“Their economies remain below prepandemic GDP levels and are falling further behind. Volatile commodity prices, supply chain disruptions, inflationary pressures, and constraints on fiscal space have further complicated policy options,” the group said in a 16-point communiqué issued on Friday.

It commended the World Bank Group (WBG) for its largest crisis response in history, stating that the World Bank Group (WBG) committed $157 billion to protect the poor and vulnerable.

“Through fiscal year 2021, the WBG committed $157 billion to protect the poor and vulnerable, expand social protection, support businesses, and preserve and create jobs, while helping over 100 countries on emergency health response and strengthening health systems.

BY AYO ESAN

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he Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has approved a further extension of the closing date for the sale of nomination forms for the Ekiti State Governorship Election from Thursday, October 14, 2021, which was earlier announced, to Friday October 22, 2021.

In a release issued by the party and signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, the party said the last date for the submission of duly completed forms has also been extended from Friday, October 15, 2021 to Friday, October 29, 2021.

It said the screening of aspirants for the governorship election primary has been scheduled to hold on Monday, November 8, 2021 at the National Secretariat of the party in Abuja, while the screening appeals has been slated for Monday, November 29, 2021.

The PDP urged all aspirants, critical stakeholders and teeming members of the party, particularly in Ekiti State, to be guided accordingly.

FG Declares Tuesday Public Holiday To Mark Eid el-Mawlid

‘FG Ready To Partner Professional Bodies For Capacity Development’

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he Federal Government has declared Tuesday October 19, 2021 as a public holiday to mark this year’s Eid-el-Mawlid celebration in commemoration of the birth of the Holy Prophet Muhammad.

The Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, who made this declaration on behalf of the Federal Government, congratulated all Muslim faithful both at home and in the Diaspora for witnessing this year’s occasion.

He admonished all Nigerians to imbibe the spirit of love, patience and perseverance, which were the virtues of the Holy Prophet), adding that doing so would guarantee peace and security in

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the country.

Aregbesola enjoined Nigerians, particularly Muslims, to refrain from violence, lawlessness and other acts of criminality.

While calling for an end to all divisive tendencies across the country, the minister urged all Nigerians and the youth in particular, to embrace the virtues of hard work and peaceful disposition to fellow humans, irrespective of faith, ideology, social class and ethnicity and cooperate with President Muhammadu Buhari Administration in its effort to build a progressive and enviable nation that all citizens would be proud of.

he Federal Government has expressed its readiness to collaborate with well-established bodies and professionals to enhance capacity building in the area of service delivery.

Speaking when he received members of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPM) led by its President, Mr Olusegun Mojeed in State House, Abuja, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina said, “I am very delighted about your offer to partner with this administration in the area of Capacity Development.

He recounted that at the just concluded THEWILLNIGERIA

two-day Mid-term Ministerial Performance Review Retreat, the President had directed all ministers and permanent secretaries to promote a robust performance culture in their areas of jurisdiction.

He added, “The President had equally directed the Head of Service to, urgently, invest in strengthening the capacity of the MDAs in order to achieve government’s set targets on human and infrastructure development.”

Earlier, the CIPM President, who was accompanied by members of the Executive Council, had expressed the willingness of the Institute to collaborate with the Federal Government on human capacity development.

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SportsLive

Nigeria’s Anti-doping Compliance: The WADA Angle shall be ineligible to hold any WADA office or any position as a member of any WADA board or committee or other body (including but not limited to membership of WADA’s Foundation Board, the Executive Committee, any standing committee and any other committee).

BY JUDE OBAFEMI

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he avowed determination of the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development to right the vessel of Sports governance in the country was given a boost in early October when THEWILL reported on that following its examination of the National Anti-Doping Committee’s (NADC) continuous monitoring programme, corrective action plan and efforts to resolve the same, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) had signed off on all outstanding critical and high priority corrective actions required of Nigeria.

The Nigerian NADC shall be ineligible to host any event hosted or organised or co-hosted or co-organised by WADA. The Nigerian NADC Representatives shall be ineligible to participate in any WADA Independent Observer Program or WADA Outreach Program or other WADA activities. Worse still, part of the implications was that the Nigerian NADC shall not receive any WADA funding (either directly or indirectly) relating to the development of specific activities or participation in specific programs.

This most recent update, which demonstrated the herculean efforts to address the negligence of the past with a determination to keep to the standards expected for participation in clean competitions in the field of athletics, was relayed to Nigeria in two separate letters addressed to the NADC, dated August 2 and 4, 2021 and bearing the cheering news of reinstatement within the establishment of conforming and participating nations.

(b) All of the Nigerian NADC’s activities related to testing will be subject to Supervision by an Approved Third Party, at the NADC’s expense, including up to six site visits a year, with all costs to be paid in advance (where known) (according to ISCCS Art B.3.1 (b)). (c) Should the outstanding requirements not be satisfied in full by May 2019, all of the Nigerian NADC’s activities related to testing will be subject to Takeover by an Approved Third Party, at the Nigerian NADC’s expense, including up to six site visits a year, with all costs to be paid in advance (where known) (following ISCCS Art B.3.1 (b)).

The most significant portion of the update was contained in the second letter, which was specifically addressed to Dr Fadekemi Fadeyibi, the head of NADC. It also read, in part, “Following the latest developments, we have signed off in the CCC the remaining critical corrective action. Therefore the relevant compliance procedure has now been closed.”

Although WADA restored Nigeria soon after acknowledging the initial steps taken by NADC, the implementation of these corrective activities was judged incomplete until WADA recently acknowledged that they had been carried out satisfactorily. Nigeria has, by implication, adequately remedied all of the non-conformities found with its national anti-doping programme and code compliance that led to the country’s delisting by WADA on December 6, 2018.

However, to completely appreciate the import of WADA’s update, it is important to query how Nigeria came to be designated a non-compliant code signatory.

WADA, the international independent agency established in 1999 and which is composed and funded equally by the sport movement and governments of the world, examined NADC’s national anti-doping programme of Sports governance in Nigeria in November 2018 and discovered inadequacies which were considered antithetical to the compliance standards. Immediately, it ordered the Nigerian NADC to take immediate corrective actions.

By December, WADA announced that the Nigerian NADC was officially non-compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code. It made this declaration following its meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan in December, where WADA’s Executive Committee (ExCo) agreed to follow the recommendation of the Agency’s independent Compliance Review Committee (CRC) to assert the Nigerian National AntiDoping Committee as non-compliant with the Code due to outstanding non-conformities related to the implementation of its testing programme.

According to the Agency, under Article 10.3.1 of the International Standard for Code Compliance by Signatories (ISCCS), the Nigerian National Anti-Doping Committee had 21 days following the date of receipt of the formal notice of non-compliance (14 November 2018) to dispute WADA’s assertion of non-compliance, as well as the proposed consequences and/or the reinstatement conditions THEWILLNIGERIA

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Dare

In the text of the first letter, WADA concluded that the NADC had taken steps to address critical concerns as was necessary for reinstatement. It read, in part, “Following the review of your continuous monitoring programme, corrective action plan and your responses to address the required critical and high priority corrective actions, we are pleased to inform you that WADA has concluded that your organisation has appropriately addressed all critical corrective actions.”

“

Although WADA restored Nigeria soon after acknowledging the initial steps taken by NADC, the implementation of these corrective activities was judged incomplete until WADA recently acknowledged that they had been carried out satisfactorily

proposed by the Agency.

However, because the Nigerian NADC did nothing of consequence to dispute WADA’s assertion of noncompliance nor the consequences of non-compliance and/ or the reinstatement conditions proposed by WADA within 21 days from the date of the formal notice, the assertion of non-compliance was deemed admitted. By implication, the consequences of non-compliance and the reinstatement conditions proposed by WADA in the formal notice were also deemed accepted, and the formal notice in December of 2018 became a final decision.

The Nigeria NADC was therefore officially non-compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code.

In their meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, WADA’s exco decided that the consequences applied to the case, in accordance with Article 11 and Annex B.3.1 of the ISCCS, were as follows: (a) The Nigerian NADC will lose its WADA privileges until reinstatement (according to ISCCS Art B.3.1(a)), meaning that in accordance with the relevant provisions of WADA’s statutes, the Nigerian NADC’s representatives

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(d) The Nigerian NADC’s Representatives shall be ineligible to sit as members of the boards or committees or other bodies of any Signatory (or its members) or association of Signatories for a period of one year or until the Nigerian NADC is reinstated (whichever is longer) (according to ISCCS Art B.3.1 (c)).

The reinstatement by WADA was a demonstration of the Agency’s continued determination to provide guidance and support to the Nigerian NADC, as it promised to assist in the resolution of all aspects of the Nigerian NADC’s non-conformities. By stating in its letter reinstating the country as compliant with the World Anti-doping Code, that “your organisation has appropriately addressed all critical corrective actions,” WADA was acknowledging the work-in-progress nature of the process of bringing some standardisation to sports governance in Nigeria.

Already, the House of Representatives Committee on Sports has begun to exercise their own oversight responsibilities to address the non-eligibility of ten Nigerian athletes to compete in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in July and August, which the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) of World Athletics determined was necessary due to Nigeria’s non-compliance with the standard, minimum testing requirements, it is expected that legislative support for the process of righting the sports ship could not have come at a better time to end the embarrassment of Nigerian athletes being barred from competing in continental and global sports fiestas.

WADA’s reinstatement of Nigeria’s compliance carries the further implication that the anti-doping administration within Nigeria, when conjoined with the correct legislation and responsible sports governance, can compete with significant national anti-doping organisations (NADOs) that have consistently demonstrated stiff regulations in the African region, such as the South African and Kenyan NADOs, a fact reflected in the continued excellence of athletes from these nations in the athletics meets on the continent and beyond.

The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) will now have to ensure that a qualified Anti-doping Officer sees to it that this merited reinstatement from WADA remains within the positive bracket by establishing the maintenance of required standards with the assistance of a national Anti-doping Committee that will oversee Nigeria’s compliance with required standards further down the road to purposefully avoid any other WADA hammer in future.

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