Wednesday 16th March 2016

40

THURSDAY MARCH 16 2016 T H I S D AY

10

WEDNESDAY MARCH 16, 2016 • T H I S D AY

NEWS

News Editor Davidson Iriekpen Email davidson.iriekpen@thisdaylive.com, 08111813081

Cote d’Ivoire Terror Attack: We Were Prepared for It, Says President Ouattara

Okechukwu Uwaezuoke and Olawale Olaleye from Abidjan The Ivorian President, Alassane Ouattara, yesterday said at a joint news conference with his counterparts from Togo and Benin, Presidents Faure Gnassingbe and Yayi Boni respectively, that his government was prepared for Sunday’s attack on Grand Bassam, a beach town, about 41 kilometres from Abidjan, the capital city.

Responding to questions from THISDAY at the palace of the president, ¨if he saw the attacks coming in view of the recent attacks on Mali and Burkina Faso and the need for the regional cooperation to

review strategy in taming the menace of terrorism, President Ouattara said the extent of the preparation of the nation’s security forces was evident in the way they repelled the attacks and followed up.

The president, who spoke in French said confidently: ¨We were prepared in case an attack would happen and I think our reaction showed that we managed the situation quite well. We dismantled their attempts and we have also shown our ability to have good follow-up for such an event.

But there is no zero risk in this kind of thing. We think what was important was to react very quickly and I use

this opportunity to restate the pride of the security agencies in this regard.¨ On the need for ECOWAS to review regional strategy against terrorism, the Ivorian President said steps are already being taken in that regard, adding that there would start to be manifestations in that regard in the next few weeks as ECOWAS leaders are due to meet with its monitoring committee.

“On regional matters, we have at the ECOWAS level several security meetings of security

ministers, defence ministers and we’ve been planning in the next two weeks to have a meeting of the monitoring unit of the ministerial committee. So, the regional aspect is being well treated too,¨ the president said.

Speaking earlier, Presidents Gnassingbe and Boni commiserated with their Ivorian counterpart and condemned in very strong terms, such mindless killings of innocent lives in the name of terrorism or radicalism.

The two presidents, who also spoke in French, however,

declared support for President Ouattara in the collective war against terrorism and even promised to invest in Ivory Coast, dismissing the Sunday attack as incapable of stifling development and investment in the country, let alone the region.

The two presidents of Togo and Benin immediately left for the scenes of the attacks in Grand Bassam, where they signed the condolence register opened for victims of the attack before leaving for their respective countries.

Earlier in the day, President Ouattara had also received a French delegation, after an initial media briefing at the Palace of the President, led by the country’s Foreign and Interior Ministers, both of whom also visited the site of the attacks in Grand Bassam.

Today, in furtherance of the investigations and cleaning up of the mess of the attacks, a council of ministers is billed to be conducted round the scenes of the attacks, where another media briefing might be held.

NCC Has Resumed Regulatory Services Amid Fine Talks, Says MTN MTN Group Limited has alleged that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has lifted a suspension on services to the mobile phone company, an indication that relations between the two sides are thawing as they negotiate the payment of a record $3.9 billion fine.

NCC “has lifted the suspension on regulatory services to MTN Nigeria,” the Johannesburg-based company said in a statement yesterday. The move, according to Bloomberg, allows Africa’s biggest wireless operator to seek approvals for promotions and other plans to grow in the company’s biggest market, MTN said.

The NCC suspended services to MTN in October for a failure to meet phone-service quality standards.

That same month, the regulator imposed a $5.2 billion fine, later reduced to $3.9

billion, for missing a deadline to disconnect subscribers who weren’t properly registered in the country.

The lifting of the regulatory sanction may signal progress on the standoff between MTN and the government, according to a lawyer following the case.

“This is essentially another move in the tit-for-tat negotiation process,” Dominic Cull, a regulatory lawyer at Cape Town-based Ellipsis Regulatory Solutions, said.

“Lifting the regulatory hurdle is a positive step, and means a resolution to the fine might be around the corner,” he added.

MTN has offered to pay about $1.5 billion, made up of cash, bond purchases and access to its network.

The shares declined 4.1 per cent to 139.06 rand at the close in Johannesburg, valuing the company at 257 billion rand ($16 billion).

Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea Sign Agreement on Joint Security Patrols Tobi Soniyi inAbuja Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea yesterday in Malabo signed an agreement for the establishment of a combined maritime policing and security patrol committee.

A statement issued yesterday by the Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Garba Shehu, said the conclusion and signing of the agreement was expected to enhance security in the Gulf of Guinea and help in curbing maritime crimes such as piracy, crude oil theft, sabotage of oil rigs and arms smuggling.

According to a communique issued at the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to Malabo, both countries also agreed to discuss greater cooperation on oil and gas production and a bilateral trade agreement.

It was further agreed that the Nigeria-Equatorial Guinea Joint Commission would be revived

from its present state of dormancy and empowered to play its proper role in the strengthening of bilateral relations between both counries.

Buhari and President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo expressed satisfaction with the atmosphere of trust and solidarity that existed between their countries.

In their talks during the two-day visit, the two leaders discussed subregional, regional and international issues including terrorism, violent extremism and the state of the global economy, especially as it affected Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea.

They also discussed the crises in some African countries and efforts by the African Union to achieve peace, stability and progress across the continent.

Buhari who returned to Abuja yesterday, thanked Mbasogo and the people of Equatorial Guinea for the warm reception given to him and his delegation during the visit.

CONDOLENCE VISIT

L-R: Deputy National Chairman, South, All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Olusegun Oni; elder son of the late Minister of Labour and Employment, Mr. Aaron Ocholi; National Chairman, APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun; and daughter of the late minister, Miss. Ojone Ocholi, during a condolence visit by the party’s officials to the family of the late minister in Abuja

CBN to Resume Payment of N213bn Power Intervention Fund Fashola upbeat about fixing electricity sector Chineme Okafor in Abuja The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will resume disbursement of funds in its N213 billion worth Nigerian Electricity Market Stabilisation Facility (NEMSF) to operators –electricity distribution companies (Discos), generation companies (Gencos) and othersin the power sector, the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing has said.

A communique of the last meeting held by the operators in the sector which was superintended by the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, contained this development.

It was obtained from Fashola’s Senior Special Adviser on Communications, Mr. Hakeem Bello, yesterday in Abuja.

It explained that the CBN at the monthly meeting of the operators which the Enugu Disco hosted, gave

its commitment to resume disbursement of the fund upon finalising the structure and payment model with the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and other stakeholders.

Already, the CBN, before it stopped payments, had earlier paid out some parts of the fund to two Discos and three Gencos that were in the first batch of beneficiaries of the N 213 billion market stabilisation fund.

The communique also noted Fashola’s insistence that the challenges affecting the power sector could be overcome with pragmatic approaches.

He was quoted to have said: “My word to Nigerians is that this problem can be solved. It is a problem that has challenged us for a long time.

“Not only am I going around to understand what the problems are, I am at Ugwuaji now in Enugu State, I am going around to understand what I am supposed to manage. I

have been briefed on paper, in files and in memos, and I am going from power plant to another power plant, from one transmission site to transmission site. What I have seen convinces me that this problem can be solved.”

He further stated: “I am optimistic that it can be solved, it just needs for us as a people to understand the system better and how it works. I am going to dedicate some of my time to breaking down the technical issues that have sounded so complex over the decades, so that the average Nigerian can understand how the system works.”

Fashola explained actions often taken by some groups or individuals would have grave consequences on the society.

He said in this regards: “So if people break down pipelines, you know that you have weakened the system. No matter how angry you are, a broken pipeline is going to affect

you, because you won’t have power. If people feel that the best way to secure employment for their colleagues in the union is to shut down a gas or power plant, the truth is that you are going to hurt more people than the people you intend to protect.”

Speaking on some of the issues that were discussed at the meeting, Fashola said: “We have subjected our meetings to some of the stress tests and the result was a unanimous ‘Yes.’ So in terms of specifics, the meeting addressed problems of gas, it addressed problems of financial stability, the problem of volatility of foreign exchange in the sector as to how that affects the ability of the Gencos and the Discos to implement their foreign technical service agreements with their foreign partners and how to remit money and pay as well as the difficulty of pricing of local gas consumption in dollars instead of in naira.”

12

WEDNESDAY MARCH 16, 2016 • T H I S D AY

NEWS

S’West, N’East Set for Epic Clash over Chairmanship of APC BoT Bisi Akande likely to emerge Timi Frank faults Oyegun on spokesperson for the party Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja Ahead of next week’s crucial meeting of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the stakeholders in the party appear to have been torn apart over who will be crowned as the chairman of the board.

The National Chairman of APC, Chief John OdigieOyegun, had said the National Working Committee (NWC) had approved March 21 for the national caucus meeting, while the BoT and the National Executive Council (NEC) would take place on March 22 and 24 respectively.

Latest indications are that two zones, the South-west and Northeast, have emerged hot favourites to secure the leadership of the most respected organ of the party.

Also, the leading candidates from the zones who are in race are the former interim National Chairman of the APC, Chief Bisi Akande, and the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar.

The present calculations are that because of the envisaged elderly role that the BoT members are expected to play, the leadership must not be allowed to emerge under a polarised atmosphere.

A reliable party source told THISDAY that some northern leaders who are pushing for the emergence of the former vice president, had argued that it would not be right for the chairman of the BoT to come from the same South where the chairman is from.

He said they were of the view that the two most important party positions should not be held by one part of the country if balance and equity is to be guaranteed However, those pressing for the emergence of Akande who hails from Osun State in the South-west are of the view that BoT chairman should not

come from the North where President Muhammadu Buhari hails from.

From all indications, it seems the argument of the South-west leaders to secure backing for Akande is gaining ground and if they are able to convince key leaders in the North, Akande might emerge the pioneer chairman of the BoT of the party.

He said: “South-west is having upper hand because currently, the North-west produced the president, Northeast produced the speaker while the North-central has produced the Senate President.

It was also gathered that one of the national leaders of the party from the North-east who was nursing ambition of BoT chairman might have soft-pedalled if not dropped his ambition.

Meanwhile, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Comrade Timi Frank, has described as reckless, baseless and unwarranted the assertion by the party’s national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, that finding a replacement for Lai Mohammed is posing a challenge to the party.

Oyegun had told journalists at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja that the party was finding difficult nominate Mohammed’s replacement.

Until he was appointed the Minister of Information and Culture, Mohammed was the National Publicity Secretary of the party.

However, while reacting to the Oyegun’s statement, Frank faulted it, saying that the search for a replacement shouldn’t have arisen when there was a deputy who would step into the shoes of Mohammed.

He stated that the statement was malicious and was meant to discredit him and the party, stressing that there were many party men and women who can

The federal government yesterday officially announced the funeral programme of the late Minister of State for Labour and Employment, James Enojo Ocholi (SAN), his wife, Blessing, and son, Joshua, who died in a fatal road accident along Kaduna-Abuja highway on March 6, 2016.

According to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Babachir David Lawal, who is also the chairman of the burial planning committee, “The three-day funeral programme will commence on, March 16, 2016, with special court session at the National Industrial Court in Abuja, followed by a service of songs at National Christian Centre, Abuja, later in the evening.”

unwarranted.

“I am the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the party and as such can act in the absence of the national publicity secretary.

I am also qualified to act as a substantive publicity secretary

of the party.

“The statement is malicious, insulting and meant to discredit my person as well as the party by saying it is difficult to fill the office from the present caliber of party men and women we have.

“As a good party man, Oyegun aught to have informed the public about the next convention date to fill all vacancies but not to use the medium to discredit my person and the party,” he said.

N1.04tn Fine: House Committee Summons MTN CEO,Threatens Warrant of Arrest Damilola Oyedele in Abuja

The House of Representative Committee on Communications yesterday threatened to issue a bench warrant for the arrest of the Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria Communications Limited, Mr. Ferdinand Moolman, if he fails to appear before the committee on its next adjourned date.

The next adjourned date is however yet to be decided on.

The committee was peeved by the failure of Moolman to appear at yesterday meeting to which he had been invited to discuss the N1.04 trillion fine imposed on the telecommunications giant for failure to deactivate unregistered SIM cards as stipulated by regulations of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

Moolman, instead, sent a letter to the Chairman of the Hon. Saheed Fijabi, urging the committee to refer to the relevant government agencies which are already handling the ‘amicable settlement’.

He also sent a representative, who was asked to leave the meeting, as the committee would only take submissions from the CEO himself.

Moolman’s letter drew the ire of the members who could not hide their anger at what they said is an insult to the Nigerian National Assembly and the Nigerian people.

President Muhammadu Buhari, during the visit of the South African President, Mr. Jacob Zuma, last week, had harped on the security implication of MTN failing to Also, a statement from deactivate the unregistered SIM the Minister of Labour and cards, inadvertently contributing Employment signed by to the death of over 10,000 the Director of Press, Mr. by the activities of the Boko Samuel Olowookere, said: Haram sect.

The House committee last “The bodies will leave the National Hospital Abuja on week had also insisted that March 17, 2016, for another the N1.04 trillion fine must special court session at Kogi be paid in full, instead of the State High Court of Justice, N780 billion it was reduced to Lokoja, after which the after negotiations spearheaded remains will depart Lokoja by the office of the Attorney for Abocho, Dekina Local General of the Federation.

The committee also noted Government Area of Kogi State where Christian wake, that any form of negotiations tributes, praise, worship and must be handled by NCC, and testimonies will take place. not the AGF, Mr. Abubakar “The late minister, his wife, Malami, and the Chief of Staff Blessing and son, Joshua will to President Buhari, Mr. Abba lie in state at their country Kyari.

The governor of the Central home in Abocho on March 17, 2016, where funeral service Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. is also slated for 10a.m at Godwin Emefiele; Malami and the L.G.E.A. Primary School. Kyari who had all been invited “They will be buried to yesterday’s meeting were all immediately after the funeral absent. The committee refused service in their country home,” to take submissions from Emefiele’s representative also. the Olowookere stressed.

Ocholi, Wife, Son Burial Ceremonies Commence Today Paul Obi in Abuja

fill the vacant positions in the party.

“I disagree with Oyegun on his comment with regards to the replacement of Minister Lai Mohammed. The statement made by him is reckless, baseless and

Fijabi (Oyo APC) recalled that the last time Moolman appeared before the Committee, he had appealed that the sitting be adjourned as the matter was in court.

“We let him go because it was in court, now that the matter is out of court, he has refused to show up. Nigerians put us here, and we are empowered

by Section 88 and 89 of the constitution to invite anyone in the course of our investigations.

So if MTN believes it can now come up with an insulting letter, shame on him.

“We are summoning him, if he does not appear, then we would issue a bench warrant for the Inspector General of Police (IG) to produce him,” Fijabi added.

Hon. Ossai Nicholas Ossai (Delta PDP) took exception to the tone of the letter.

“MTN cannot direct this committee or this House on its procedure. No one is above the law, it is mandatory for the CEO of MTN to appear, and respect this body,” he insisted.

The sentiment was echoed by

Hon. Ehizowa Agbonayinma (Edo PDP) who described the letter as “the biggest insult to the National Assembly,” adding that MTN cannot dictate to the assembly.

“If a limited liability company is writing to the highest law making body in this country, referring us to go to other agencies...I am sure the MD of MTN, wherever he is from, cannot write such a letter to the highest law making body in his country,” he said.

The committee alleged that MTN is being protected by some powerful Nigerians, which is why it was taking the House for granted.

The letter from MTN titled: ‘Amicable Settlement Negotiations with the federal government,’ read: “We acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 9th March, 2016.

“We note your reference to the above mentioned subject matter. In this regard we wish to refer you to the appropriate government agencies, specifically the NCC, Offices of the Ministers

of Communications and the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, as well as the CBN which agencies are in a position to furnish your committee with relevant information on this issue.

“As you know, MTN is pursuing amicable settlement and negotiations with the federal government. We believe you will understand that processes of this kind require sensitivity and confidentiality on all sides. Accordingly we are unable to make any further comments about the process at this stage.

“We trust that we can call upon your sound judgment at all times and that this process be allowed to continue in order for the parties to be given the opportunity to reach a settlement as envisaged by the court when it adjourned the matter for that purpose on 22 January 2016.”

It was signed by the CEO, Ferdinand Moolman and the Human Resources/Corporate Services Executive, Amina Oyagbola.

WEDNESDAY MARCH 16, 2016 • T H I S D AY

49

NEWSEXTRA

Abacha Loot: Swiss Govt Has Returned $723m to Nigeria in 10 Years The Swiss Government has confirmed that it has so far

returned $723 million (about N142.43 billion) of stolen funds

Ganduje: I will Expose Kwankwaso’s Shoddy Deals in Kano Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano Kano State Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, has threatened to expose the alleged deals perpetrated by his predecessor, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, while in office.

Ganduje said: “Some works have been done with so many shoddy deals which I will soon expose for people to know the calibre of person my predecessor was.

“Kano people will always resist any attempt by anyone to short change them. Yes, we knew the genuine projects, including the shoddy ones, which I will not tolerate by exposing them for the people to judge your action.”

Speaking while inspecting Dakata-Bella road project in Nassarawa Local Government Area of the state, Ganduje lamented that Kwankwaso was in Kano to campaign for the position of President Muhammadu Buhari while such position is still occupied.

He said: “A lot of things have been happening now, including undermining our President Buhari with all sorts of acts. We will not

tolerate it again in Kano. We are tired of your atrocities. I will soon expose you before the people of the state for them to know your kind of person.

“Some people are sycophants.

They do not want Buhari to succeed. These people know themselves. When it gets to a stage, I will name them one after the other. I am not afraid of human beings.

“We are solidly behind President Buhari and his programmes. Kano people will not support anybody working against the president.”

Ganduje further warned: “It is unfortunate for the so-called politician who claimed to be a leader to hire hoodlums with dangerous weapons aimed at disrupting the peace of the state. Government and security agencies will not tolerate this attitude.”

He advised the people of the state to always watch out for those working against the unity and peace of the state, assuring that all measures have been put in place to restore the lost glory of the state.

seized from the family of the late former Head of State, General Sani Abacha, to the Nigerian Government over the last 10 years.

The amount excludes $321million (about N63.24 billion) which the Swiss authorities recently said was planning to repatriate to Nigeria.

These details are contained in the agreement signed on March 8, 2016, in Abuja by representatives of the Swiss Federal Council and the Nigerian Government.

The agreement, titled: ‘Letter of Intent on the restitution of illegally-acquired assets forfeited in Switzerland,’ was signed by Nigeria’s AttorneyGeneral and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, and the Swiss Head of Foreign Affairs Department, Didier Burkhalter.

The document, according to

Premium Times, revealed that $321 million acquired illicitly by the Abacha’s family, was initially deposited in Luxemburg before being confiscated by the Swiss Republic Judiciary and Canton of Geneva following a December 11, 2014, forfeiture order.

The agreement says funds to be returned to Nigeria would contribute to the implementation of social programmes for the benefit of the Nigerian people in “an efficient and accountable way, guaranteed by a monitoring by World Bank.”

Acknowledging the cooperation of Switzerland and Nigeria as an excellent opportunity to fight against corruption at domestic and international levels, the signatories to the agreement recalled the long partnership by their two countries in asset

recovery based the on principles of national interest, trust and mutual respect.

Considering Chapter V of the United Nations Convention against corruption, which is the international legal framework for asset recovery, the signatories also drew attention to Article 51 of the document that states afford each other measures of cooperation and assistance.

The agreement also emphasised the need for the process of repatriation of the stolen funds to be undertaken based on international best practices of transparency and accountability in a manner that satisfy the scrutiny of civil society and the international community.

The signatories affirmed, among others, their intention to maintain a fruitful cooperation based on trust and respect in order to enable transparent and

efficient use of the funds for the benefits of the Nigerian people.

They also agreed to ensure that the deployment of the funds was monitored by the World Bank in line with separate forfeiture orders issued by the Swiss Public Prosecutor and the Canton of Geneva on December 11, 2014.

The two countries pledged to maintain regular exchanges and constructive engagements towards the conclusion of the processes necessary for the final return of the looted funds to Nigeria, adding that the letter of intent, which does not impose any legally binding obligation, would continue to provide the basis for their cooperation.

“The implementation of the present letter of Intent between the signatories (Swiss and Nigerian Governments) is guided by the principle of ethics, mutual respect and cooperation,” the agreement stated.

Falae, SDP Deny Receiving N100m from CBN, Firm James Sowole inAkure The Social Democratic Party (SDP) yesterday stated that its National Chairman, Chief Olu Falae, and the party never had any business, dealing or transaction whatsoever with either the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) or any company.

The SDP’s clarification came against the backdrop of a report alleging that a sum of N100 million was transferred by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to Falae company’s account from the Central Bank/Joint Trust Dimension Nigeria Limited.

The party in a statement signed by the SDP Publicity Secretary for Ondo State, Mr. Remi Olayiwola, said the only transaction that existed between Falae and the PDP was the N100 million that was transferred by the PDP through its former Chairman, Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih to the SDP through him.

“On many occasions in recent time, Falae had reiterated that the sum of N100 million was transferred to the SDP through the former Chairman of the PDP, Board of Trustees (BoT), Chief Tony Anenih, to the SDP through him as the National Chairman of his own party.

“Anenih in his own statement has confirmed this transaction which was based on a written inter-party agreement which existed between the two parties before the last presidential election,”

Olayiwola said.

He said it was also a statement of fact that the national secretariat of the SDP had confirmed through a widely publicised conference held in Abuja that the N100 million was received in full by the party, having been remitted to the party’s account by Falae.

“We strongly believe that this new story is yet another attempt aimed at further embarrassing Falae and especially the SDP which the initiators now perceived to be towering the politics of Nigeria.

“The EFCC at one point said that the N100 million was from Dasuki, a lie which has now been effectively debunked. Now they are claiming that the money was from a company known as Joint Dimension Nigeria Limited, an entity totally unknown to Falae and the SDP. “We wish to inform the public that it is the same amount sent by the PDP to the SDP as a result of their inter-party agreement that is now being re-presented to the public through another dubious channel in order to portray Falae and SDP in bad light.

“It is falsehood. It has failed in the past and it will fail again no matter how many times our detractors attempt to smear our name obviously for political reasons,” Olayiwola said.

The party advised those concerned to desist henceforth from the campaign of calumny, character assassination and trial of the innocent on the pages of newspapers.

ON-THE-SPOT ASSESSMENT TOUR

R-L: Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode; Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Mr. Ganiyu Johnson and Special Adviser, Urban Development, Mrs. Yetunde Onabolu, during the governor’s inspection of the site of the collapsed building in Lekki Gardens at Ikusenla Road, Ikate Elegushi, Lagos...yesterday

Senate Throws out Bill on Gender Equality, Allocates N10bn for Resettlement of IDPs Omololu Ogunmade inAbuja A bill seeking to guarantee women’s equal rights with men was yesterday thrown out by the Senate as senators mainly from the North vehemently opposed the bill, describing its as anti-Islamic.

The sponsor of the bill, Senator Biodun Olujimi (Ekiti South), said enabling women to have equal rights with men in marriages had become compelling in view of increasing discrimination against women in education and employment.

The bill also sought to eliminate discrimination against any person irrespective of his gender on any ground.

According to Olujinmi, gender discrimination often makes women insecure, denies them meaningful employment and exposes them to discrimination and exploitation.

The bill also sought to address sexual violence against women.

“The fact that disparity of gendered pricing still exists within today’s society shows that women still continue to be disempowered in

many aspects of economic life. It is also important that price differentials will have differing effects on women different cultural backgrounds and social standing thus affecting the economic empowerment of women of in different ways.

“Equal rights for women in marriage, divorce and property and ownership and inheritance are essential for gender equality. The legal and social treatment of married women has been often discussed as a political issue from the 19th century onwards,” Olujinmi said.

While the bill was supported

by Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, Senators Ibn Na’allah (Kebbi South) and Ibrahim Gobir (Sokoto East), a number of other senators from the North rejected it, saying it was both anti-lslamic and unconstitutional.

Opponents of the bill said its provisions were antithetical to a provision of the constitution which they said had already taken care of the fears being raised by Olujinmi.

According to them, the Sharia Court of Appeal which is enshrined

in the constitution is empowered to address issues of discrimination against women as they insisted that initiating a new law to guarantee the equality of men and women would be a violation of the provision.

Some other senators also argued that attempting to grant women equal rights with men was in contradiction to both traditional and religious beliefs in Africa which stipulate that women should be submissive to men.

Efforts by the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, to save the bill failed as the bill was thrown out by majority of the senators through a voice vote.

The death of the bill yesterday marked the third time the bill would suffer such a cruel fate as it had been equally rejected by the sixth and seventh assemblies.

Also yesterday, the Senate directed its Committee on Appropriation to allocate N10 billion naira under service wide votes for the relocation and resettlement of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) returning home from IDP camps in Borno, Adamawa and

Yobe states.

The parliament also urged the federal government to release grains from the strategic grain reserves to affected states. It also urged the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) as well as the Refugees’ Commission to make special arrangement for the repatriation and resettlement of Nigerian refugees in Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

The Senate also directed the appropriate committees to write a letter of appreciation to the embassies of host countries where the refugees are accommodated just as he urged the Victim Support Fund to allocate a reasonable amount of money from the fund for the immediate relocation and resettlement of the IDPs in the short and medium terms.

Ndume said the decisions became necessary because the IDPs had lost all they had including properties and vehicles before seeking refuge in the camps adding that only concrete plans to resettle them could give them a relief.

50

WEDNESDAY MARCH 16, 2016 • T H I S D AY

NEWSEXTRA

Dasuki Drags FG to ECOWAS Court Alex Enumah inAbuja Former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), currently facing trial for an alleged diversion of funds for the procurement of arms to fight Boko Haram, has dragged the Federal Government of Nigeria before the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice in Abuja, seeking

the enforcement of his fundamental right to freedom.

Dasuki who was rearrested by the operatives of the Department of the State Service (DSS) shortly after perfecting the third bail granted him by the Nigerian Court, is asking the ECOWAS Court to enforce his fundamental rights as enshrined in the African Carter on the people and human rights and the Nigerian Constitution.

Tompolo Asks Court to Accelerate His Appeal against Warrant of Arrest A former Niger Delta militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo alias Tompolo, has urged the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal to give his appeal challenging warrant of arrest issued against him an accelerated hearing.

A Federal High Court judge, Justice Ibrahim Buba, had on January 14 issued an order for Tompolo’s arrest following his failure to honour summons issued on him in respect of the 40 counts of alleged N45.9billion fraud levelled against him and nine others by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Justice Buba had also in a ruling delivered on February 8, dismissed an application by Tompolo’s lawyers, Mr. Tayo Oyetibo (SAN) and Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, seeking to vacate the arrest warrant on the grounds that Tompolo was not properly served with the summons Dissatisfied, Tompolo, through his lawyers, appealed against the rulings, and urged the appellate court to set it aside.

However, in a statement issued yesterday by his lawyer, Tompolo

stated that he had filed his brief of argument in the appeal and same had been served on the EFCC. According to the statement, “In demonstration of his desire to have his matter heard and determined expeditiously, Tompolo has since compiled the Record of Appeal in the appeal and has forwarded same to the Registry of the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, Igbosere.”

The statement added that to show his commitment to the rule of law, Tompolo’s case is now before the Court of Appeal, with the concomitant effect that the trial Federal High Court will willingly cede jurisdiction over Tompolo’s case to the Court of Appeal, since the appeal has now been entered in the Court of Appeal.

In the notice of appeal, Tompolo is asking the court to hold that the trial court erred in law, in refusing to set aside the warrant of arrest issued against him, when there was no evidence to show that he had been notified of the summons and the criminal charge pending against him before the court.

In an application filed by his counsel, Mr. Robert Emukpoeruo, the former NSA is asking the ECOWAS Court to declare as unlawful, unconstitutional and breach of his fundamental right his arrest since last year without a lawful court order.

The applicant also prayed the court to declare as unlawful and violation of his right to dignity of human person, privacy and family life guaranteed and protected right under Section 34 and 37 of the Nigerian Constitution and Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Right and Article 12 of the Universal of Human Right, the action of the Federal Government of Nigeria for keeping him in a ‘dehumanising’ condition after he has been granted bail by courts of competent jurisdiction and after he had fulfilled bail conditions for his release.

He also asked the ECOWAS court to declare that the invasion of his privacy, home, and correspondence at No 13, John Kadiya Street, Asokoro, Abuja; Sultan Abubakar Road Sokoto and Sabon Birni Road Sokoto between July 16 and 17, 2015, and forceful and unlawful seizures of his property without any lawful order

or warrant of a court constituted a gross violation of his fundamental rights under Section 44 of the Nigerian Constitution and other relevant laws.

He therefore prayed for an order of the ECOWAS court compelling the federal government or its agents to forthwith release him and also to order the government to release to him all his unlawfully seized property during the invasion of his houses.

Besides, Dasuki also prayed for an order of injunction restraining the federal government and its agents from further harassing, threatening, intimidating or infringing or interfering with his fundamental rights as guaranteed under relevant national and international laws on human rights protection.

Apart from seeking his release to face adequately, the charges in court, Dasuki also demanded a compensatory damages of N500 million against the government for its egregious violations of his rights as guaranteed under the law.

Dasuki told the court that he was arrested specifically on December 29, 2015, and that since then, he has been kept in detention without access to his lawyers or

family members.

The ex-NSA who told the court that he is been held without any warrant of arrest or detention told the court that it is his inalienable right to be tried by law.

According to his counsel, Wale Balogun, who addressed the court, since his arrest (Dasuki), he has not been told of any offence and there is no court order permitting his continued detention without trial, and alleged that the act by the FG is a breach of his fundamental human rights.

However, opposing the application, the federal government, through its counsel, T.A Gazali, told the ECOWAS court that it lacks jurisdiction to entertain the matter on the ground that the court is a territorial court and does not have powers to hear criminal proceedings.

Gazali went further to tell the court that it cannot enforce judgment of the Nigerian court and neither can it sit as an appellate court to the Nigerian court.

He said all the reliefs been sought by the applicant relates to the Nigerian court which he said the applicant should have approached if he felt his fundamental rights were breached, adding that the applicant

on the alternative should have filed a case of contempt charge against the federal government.

He therefore urged the court to dismiss the application.

Responding, Dasuki’s counsel, while noting that the preliminary objection was misconceived, stated that what the applicant is asking for is the enforcement of his fundamental human rights as enshrined in the African Charter on people and human rights.

He said it was a fact not disputed by the Nigerian government that the applicant was charged before three courts in Nigeria for criminal matter. That it was equally a fact not in dispute that the applicant was granted bail by the three courts.

It is equally a fact that the DSS being an agent of the government which re-arrested the applicant since last year, and since then, kept him in detention without trial, without having access to his lawyers and without a lawful court order.

He said the action of the federal government constituted a breach of his client fundamental rights and as such, the ECOWAS court has jurisdiction, power and authority to determine a case of breach of fundamental rights of any citizen of the member state.

FG, Three Countries Initiate Bill to Stop Double Taxation Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja A new bill seeking to abolish Nigeria’s involvement in double taxation with South Korea, Spain and Sweden was yesterday sent to the Senate by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Specifically, the bill seeks to promote trade relations between Nigeria and any of the three countries by ensuring that any businessman and woman involved in trade relations within the countries will only be taxed in just one country.

Explaining the objective of the bill in a letter addressed to Senate President Bukola Saraki, Buhari said any businessman involved in business between Nigeria and Sweden for instance, could only be taxed in one of the two countries while he enjoys tax holiday in the other country.

He explained further that Nigeria entered into an agreement with the three countries between 2004 and 2009, noting that domesticating the agreement had become imperative if it must secure the force of law. He added that the bill would stimulate foreign direct investment in Nigeria.

The letter read: “The Senate is invited to note that agreements for the avoidance of double taxation between countries facilitate inter-states trade, economic and business activities as well as enable prospective investors to

know the income tax obligation in each country and tax incentives available. They also ensure stable and reliable tax regimes and improve the cooperation between tax authorities through exchange of information among others.

“Pursuant to the above, the Federal Government of Nigeria entered into agreement for the avoidance of double taxation with the Kingdom of Sweden, Republic of South Korea and Kingdom of Spain which were duly executed on November 18 2004, November 6, 2006 and June 23, 2009 respectively after series of negotiations between Nigeria and each of these countries.

“For the agreements to be enforceable in Nigeria, they must be domesticated in line with the provisions of section 12 (1) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) which states that no treaty between the federation and any other country shall have the force of law to the extent that such treaty has been enacted into law by the National Assembly.

“Bearing in mind the interest of Nigeria and each of the three countries to these agreements visa-vis the economic vision of this governmnt, the coming into the force of these agreements will no doubt facilitate the interchange of direct foreign investment.”

TOWARDS A BETTER ENVIRONMENT

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, flanked by the Minister of Environment, Mrs. Aminat Ibrahim (right) and the French Minister of Environment, Energy and Marine Affairs, Ségolène Royal, after a meeting on the just-concluded COP21 at the Presidential Villa in Abuja...yesterday Godwin Omoigui

Witness Reveals How Oronsaye Operated a Secret Bank Account Tobi Soniyi in Abuja A witness of the Economic and Financial Commission (EFCC), Ms. Ngunna Kakwagh, yesterday told an Abuja High Court sitting at Maitama that the former Head of Service of the Federation, Mr. Stephen Oronsaye, operated a ‘secret’ bank account for the Presidential Committee on the Financial Action Task Force in 2012.

Oronsaye was arraigned before Justice Olasunbo Goodluck on a fresh two-count charge bordering on fraud. He was however granted bail after pleading not guilty to the charges.

Before Oronsaye’s application for bail was heard, the case took a new dimension when the prosecution prayed the court for an adjournment so as to open its trial.

The prosecution asked the court to remand the accused person in prison custody pending trial.

Defence counsel, Joe Agi (SAN), opposed the application, stating that the Administration of Criminal Justice Act had provided that trial should start on the day of arraignment.

He prayed the court to order the prosecution to start its trial immediately.

The court dismissed the application for adjournment and consequently ordered the prosecution to commence trial.

The prosecution at that point prayed for a one-hour stand down to produce its first witness.

After about three hours, the prosecution witness, Ngunnan Kakwagh arrived and was led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, O. Uket.

Kakwagh told the court how the ex-Head of Service unilaterally operated an Access Bank account in the name of the presidential committee on FATF between 2012 and 2014 and received payments from the

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through the account without the knowledge of other members of the committee.

She added that the defendant received a total of N240million from the CBN through the account, and that he (Oronsaye) also made five structured payments of N9million each, making a total of N45million, into the account in one day in September 2013.

She further stated that from the total of N285million, of which a chunk of N240million was paid into the account by the CBN, Oronsaye invested N190million in fixed deposit and converted it along with the accrued interest into personal use.

Kakwagh, an EFCC operative and member of the anti-graft agency’s team that investigated the petition leading to the charges filed against Oronsaye, said the accused, as the sole-signatory to

the account, also issued a number cheques to various individuals and in his name to make withdrawals from the account.

However, under crossexamination by the lead defence counsel, Joe Agi, the witness said she did not make an enquiry from the office of the AGF if the bank account was known to it.

The cross-examination was however cut short in order to hear the bail application.

The court later adjourned further hearing till April 13 and 14.

The judge had, while ruling on the bail application, dismissed the objection raised by the prosecution.

Justice Goodluck however added that along with other bail conditions the two sureties to be produced must be resident in Abuja and must be serving or retired civil servant not less than a director in the Federal Civil Service or its agencies.

WEDNESDAY MARCH 16, 2016 • T H I S D AY

51

NEWSEXTRA

Army Debunks AI Allegations on Killing of 640 Boko Haram Suspects Says they have investigated the case Keeps mum on release of Dasuki’s aide Senator Iroegbu in Abuja The Nigerian Army has debunked the latest statement by Amnesty International (AI) that the Nigerian Army and federal government have failed to investigate various allegations of human rights violations in the country.

AI on Monday, accused the federal government of failing to conduct an effective, impartial and independent investigation into the killings of 640 recaptured detainees allegedly slaughtered by soldiers of the Nigerian Army two years ago.

However, the Chief of CivilMilitary Affairs (CCMA), Maj-Gen. Rogas Nicholas, in response to THISDAY inquiries, denied the allegations, saying that the issue was investigated extensively by the military authorities.

Nicholas said the army investigations revealed that most of the peopled who died during th Giwa barracks attack were killed by the Boko Haram terrorists during their daring attempt to free the detainees on March 14, 2014.

According to him, the Boko Haram terrorists, having overran the detention facilities, separated their members and killed those who “they felt were either not part of them or not willing to follow them again.”

“There was nothing like that as it was Boko Haram terrorists that killed these people. This is because when they overran those places, there was no military presence there. So they took their people and killed those they claimed were not their members, and refused and could not go with them.

“It was therefore , Boko Haram that took their own people as there was no military presence then, and killed those they feltwere not part of them. We have carried out our investigation into this and communicated back to the AI. That is the truth and there is therefore, no basis for their allegations,” he explained.

Nicholas recalled that the AI delegation led by the Director Research/Advocacy, Mr. Netsanet Belay, had last month met the army authorities where the issues was resolved.

He said that the documents presented by the army during the meeting clearly explained the extensive investigation carried out, which showed that it was rather

Boko Haram that perpetrated the dastardly acts.

THISDAY had last month after the meeting with the AI team at the Army Headquarters (AHQ) in Abuja sighted a copy of the document submitted by the army detailing their investigations into the various cases of human rights allegations in the North-east including the Giwa barracks attacks.

Speaking on the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and other related allegations of killings, Nicholas noted that the army has been in strict adherence to the Rules of Engagement (ROE).

However, the Nigerian Army has kept mum on the whereabouts of the military aide to former

National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Nicholas Ashinze, who has been in detention since December 23, 2015.

An Abuja High Court sitting at Jabi had on Monday ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and the Nigerian Army, to forthwith, release Ashinze.

Justice Yusuf Haliru, in a judgment directed the EFCC and army to immediately release the applicant on self-recognition, saying his detention for over three months without trial, was “illegal, wrongful, unlawful and constituted a blatant violation of the fundamental rights of the applicant.”

However various efforts to

get the official army response on the matter and to confirm if they have complied with the court directive proved abortive as both the Director of Army Public Relations (DAPR), Col. Sani Usman and Director of Public Relations, AHQ Garrison, Col. Aliyu Yusuf, refused to speak on the matter.

But as at the time of this report, the senior officer who is being detained at the AHQ Garrison is yet to be released, while unconfirmed information from the army revealed that their legal team is putting up a response.“The legal team is putting up a response on that and you will be communicated on the development,” a senior officer said.

FG to Save N4bn Annually from Travel Costs Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja The federal government said yesterday it would save about N4 billion annually from travel costs as the Efficiency Unit (E-UNIT) of the Ministry of Finance enters discussions with local and international airlines to secure travel discounts for government officials.

The discussions, the ministry said, in a statement, are yielding positive results.

According to the statement issued by the Special Adviser, Media to the Minister of Finance, Mr. Festus Akanbi, a review of government overhead expenditure between 2012 and 2014 showed that travel was the largest single expenditure item.

“A cumulative total of N248 billion, equivalent to about 18 per cent of total overhead expenditure, was spent on travel during the period. This translates to N83 billion per annum. At a conservative discount of five

per cent on ticket prices, the estimated savings per annum is approximately N4 billion,” the statement added.

The ministry explained that given the large amount spent on travel, and consequently the significant potential for savings, it was imperative that the E-UNIT prioritises travel as a key focus area for cost cutting and generation of savings.

“To this end, the Efficiency Unit has engaged in negotiation discussions with local and international airlines for discounts commensurate with the large number of ticket purchases made by government annually. The savings generated will increase funding available to the government for capital investment.

After a meeting with senior Arik Air officials on Tuesday, the ministry reiterated its commitment to cut costs and promote fiscal prudence.

EFCC Invites Haruna as Peterside Assumes Office at NIMASA Nosakhare Alekhuogie The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC) has invited the former Acting Director-General and Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Mr. Haruna Jauro, for questioning.

Although the agency did not make public the reason why he was invited, THISDAY findings revealed that his invitation might not be unconnected with the role he allegedly played as the Executive Director, Finance and Administration, during Mr. Patrick Ziakede Akpobolokemi administration.

Several billions of naira were allegedly siphoned under the watch of Haruna as no fund went by without his signature and approval.

Akpobolokemi who is standing trial for the fraudulent conversion

of funds meant for projects for NIMASA into personal use was sacked by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Meanwhile, the new DirectorGeneral of the agenncy, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, assumed office yesterday.

According to reports made available by his office, he confirmed his readiness to partner with the important stakeholders in the maritime sector in order to make a long-lasting impact on the Nigerian economy.

He was reported to have had closed door meetings with senior directors, board members and staff of the organisation.

Peterside noted that he was appointed to serve the nation and humanity as a whole and also, asked for the cooperation of the staff to reposition the agency for greater productivity.

COURTESY VISIT

Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki (left), in a handshake with the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Ambassador Yukiya Amano; during a courtesy visit by the agency to the Senate President in Abuja...yesterday. With them is the Senate Deputy Leader, Senator Bala Ibn Na’llah.

Aggrieved UTME Candidates Demand JAMB Registrar’s Sack Uchechukwu Nnaike and Femi Durojaiye

Some aggrieved candidates of the ongoing Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and have called for the sack of the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Dibu Ojerinde, for incompetence, awarding marks arbitrarily and corruption.

The candidates, in company of Computer Based Test (CBT) centre operators, under the aegis of the Association of Tutorial School Operators marched to the Lagos State House of Assembly to demand that the state assembly should convey to the National Assembly their request to sack Ojerinde and get an independent body to assess the exam and give students their real scores or re-conduct for those that are aggrieved.

The aggrieved candidates said the board had announced that the examination would commence on February 29 and that the system would be tested on February 27.

They alleged that JAMB commenced the exam on the 27th and used candidates to test run the system, adding that the candidates that sat for the examination on the first two days were later awarded 40 extra marks each.

They also accused the board of deducting 100 marks from the students that wrote the exam on subsequent days, as well as arbitrary award of marks, as most candidates were marked down, while others got results even before writing the examination. They claimed that some candidates whose data were captured before and after the examination were marked absent and got no result, while others saw a different score some days after getting their results.

The candidates also complained of what they described as ‘administrative log out’, which shows on the screen when the server would off during the examination, this they claimed lasted for about 10 minutes which is not regained. Some said they experienced the problem three times.

A leaflet distributed during the protest titled ‘Anti-change Agent:

Dibu Must Go’ and signed by concerned parents and education stakeholders read: “The professor of test and management has outlived his usefulness; he is marking down candidates to pave way for private universities; he adds and deducts candidates; scores at his own discretion; he added 40 marks in the first week and deducted 100 marks in the following week; candidates receive scores before writing the exam…incredible; Dibu is the richest public officer in Nigeria.”

“What is the meaning of ‘administrative log out, please explain; change of venue without proper notification (over 10,000 candidates missed the UTME exam); Dibu is selling change of institution and change of course e-card while the exam is in progress; total disobedience to the order of the senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

The National President of Tutorial School Operators, Oludotun Michael, who accused the registrar of deliberately making candidates fail the examination,

“there is marking error, JAMB was exchanging server from one centre to the other and the servers were failing and that was why students were getting results before they sit for the examination. Ojerinde cannot say the exam was conducted well; the questions were different from the answers.”

He stated that the registrar did not release the names of centres and examination date until four days to the examination, adding that most Lagos candidates sat for the examination in Kwara, Osun and other states.

The protesters also demanded that the issues be addressed within three days, adding that by Monday, March 21 there won’t be peace in the state if the registrar is not fired and the students given their real scores.

Responding on behalf of the Speaker, Hon Mudashiru Obasa, a member representing Ikorodu Constituency I, Hon. Sanai Agunbiade, said “nobody will steal your future, this house will look into your petition.”

T H I S D AY WEDNESDAY MARCH 16, 2016

3

T H I S D AY WEDNESDAY MARCH 16, 2016

5

T H I S D AY WEDNESDAY MARCH 16, 2016

7

T H I S D AY WEDNESDAY MARCH 16, 2016

9

T H I S D AY WEDNESDAY MARCH 16, 2016

11

T H I S D AY WEDNESDAY MARCH 16, 2016

13

T H I S D AY WEDNESDAY MARCH 16, 2016

41

T H I S D AY WEDNESDAY MARCH 16, 2016

45

T H I S D AY WEDNESDAY MARCH 16, 2016

53

16

T H I S D AY • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016

MIDWEEKPOLITICS

Group Politics Editor Olawale Olaleye Email wale.olaleye@thisdaylive.com 08116759819 SMS ONLY

THE NEWSMAKER

FromthePromiseofChangetoChangeofPromise There is apprehension in the land stemming from the fact that President Muhammadu Buhari’s promised change might be long in coming, writes Shola Oyeyipo

T

he immediate past administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan is one government that rode on the goodwill of Nigerians to attain governance, but the present government of President Muhammadu Buhari enjoyed greater patronage of Nigerians across virtually all the states and that was irrespective of religious or tribal affiliations.

The nature of the support that the All Progressives Congress (APC) got was in multiple phases. One was due to the perceived credibility of President Buhari. Two was because the APC offered a fresh platform; away from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which had ruled for 16 years without making any meaningful impact on the nation. The third was that the party, which is a conglomeration of so many left leaning political parties, promised Nigerians several far reaching reforms which the nation badly needed.

No doubt, like no other government in recent past, the President Buhari-led federal government has shown an unprecedented determination to fight corruption, which is the reason for Nigeria’s backwardness and standstill. But beyond that, the government is fast losing its goodwill among the people due to the way and manner it is reversing some of its campaign promises that made it attractive to voters.

In fact, despite the effort of the government at fighting corruption, the opposition has continued to claim that the government is engaging in sham and selective anti-graft war and has alleged that President Buhari as insincere in his anti-corruption drive on the grounds that if he is sincere he should also go after former APC governors, who have petitions against them for alleged corruption.

One very important electioneering campaign issue that the government is reversing and that is making a lot of people uneasy is the promise to pay N5, 000 to vulnerable and unemployed Nigerians.

In fact, shortly after the APC took over power, the PDP had said emphatically that the numerous promises made by the party before the last election, especially the payment of N5000 to 25 million poorest Nigerians, were unachievable.

While the APC says it is committed to the fulfillment of that promise and many others, opposition parties and groups have been doubtful of the sincerity of the party to keep these promises and finally, to lend credence to their accusation, President Buhari has said he would not pay the N5000 stipend.

As against his earlier promise, President Buhari said it was better to use the funds to put up infrastructures and empower the jobless youths through agriculture than to give out monies.

“This largesse (N5, 000) for the unemployed, I have got a slightly different priority. I would rather do the infrastructure, the school and correct them and empower agriculture, mining so that every able bodied person can go and get work instead of giving 5,000 to those who don’t work,” the president said recently during a visit to the Middle East.

The concern among the people is that the APC government is acting as if it is not taking inference from the likes of former Central Bank Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, who warned then that the resources available would not be enough to take care of their many promises.

In one of Soludo’s articles before the election titled: ‘Buhari vs. Jonathan: Beyond the Election’, he lamented that “even with all the loopholes

Buhari...jettisoning his electoral promises

and waste closed, with increased efficiency per dollar spent, there is still a binding budget constraint. To deliver an efficient national transport infrastructure alone will still cost tens of billions of dollars per annum even by corruption-free, cost-effective means!

“Did I hear that APC promises a welfare system that will pay between N5,000 and N10,000 per month to the poorest 25 million Nigerians? Just this programme alone will cost between N1.5 and N3 trillion per annum.

Add to this the cost of free primary education plus free meal plus some millions of public housing, I have tried to cost some of the promises by both the APC and the PDP, given alternative scenarios for public finance, the numbers don’t add up. Nigerians would be glad to know how both parties would fund their programmes.”

Though Soludo’s postulation captured both the APC and the PDP, the latter’s problem is minimal since it does not have the responsibility of fulfilling its own promises inasmuch as it did not win the election, but as germane as the president’s argument may be, it has rubbed off on some of the electorate who basically voted for him against the backdrop of the promise.

The indication that the government was not prepared to walk it’s talk became obvious when some APC senators shot down a motion by Mr. Phillip Aduda of the PDP urging Buhari’s administration to fulfill the campaign promise to pay N5,000 allowances to unemployed youths last year; and with the current stance of the president, those hoping to get the stipends had better kissed it goodbye.

The promise of payment of N5,000 stipends

to unemployed youth is not the only one not been fulfilled.

The government promised to shore up the exchange rate of the Naira to be at par with the US dollar, but today, reverse is the case.

There is also the promise to ensure the release of the Chibok girls in three months. But the yet to be debunked news from former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo is that the girls are not likely to ever return. The December 2015 timeline attached to the defeat of the Boko Haram insurgent in the north eastern part of the country has not been fulfilled either. It is one sore point that the government cannot wish away.

However, the government seems resolute on its promise to provide homegrown school feeding programme which is likely to commence in public primary schools later in 2016 as a way to provide adequate nutrition to students with its consequential ripple effects on agriculture.

Though the government is still implementing the budget of the Jonathan administration while waiting on the senate to approve the 2016 budget by the end of this month, the government will be marking its one year anniversary on the saddle and would have no excuses for not living up to its promises after 12 months in office.

Also, the fact that the administration did not meet up on its promises has opened it to criticisms from opposition parties, civil society organisations and youths who are seeing the action of the APC-led federal government as hoodwinking the people by making promises it never had any intention of fulfilling.

For instance, as early as November last

year, the Deputy Senate President, Chief Ike Ekweremadu had said during the rebranding conference of the PDP that the APC got into power on the wings of propaganda and had not fulfilled any of its campaign promises, warning that propaganda would not keep the party in power for long.

In the same vein, former National Secretary of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Kayode Ajulo, has persistently expressed doubt that the APC would honour its promise to Nigerians, saying it had so far shown a propensity to break promises.

To Ajulo, President Buhari’s claim that Nigeria was broke is a ploy by the administration to abandon its responsibilities, stressing that “the APC has sold Nigerians a dummy; the party deceived Nigerians. The party’s attitude is uncharitable. We should not believe that Nigeria is broke. The country is not broke in the sense that as of today, we are still selling our oil, though the price of the oil has gone down.

“The question is: what is the benchmark on which the country’s budget is based?

And how much is Nigeria selling the oil?

Secondly, paying the poorest of the poor was not the only promise made by Buhari and the APC. The President promised Nigerians many things, but it’s unfortunate that he has failed to fulfill them, which is why I said he is uncharitable to Nigerians.” Though as often said, government may have predicaments that may prevent it from achieving its set goals; particularly considering the claim that the previous administration mismanaged the economy, but promises made to the people should be held sacred at all times.

17

T H I S D AY • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016

ONTHEWATCH

MIDWEEKPOLITICS

Wike...set for an epic battle

Amaechi...sure of APC victory

Rivers Rerun Polls: A Do-or-Die Affair Next weekend’s rerun polls in Rivers State provide the gladiators in the state a fresh opportunity to settle scores. Ernest Chinwo writes

A

s political parties conclude their campaigns for Saturday’s re-run elections in Rivers State, there are fears that the exercise might be marred by violence, worsening the security situation in the state.

Issues of violence and military invasion of some communities had dominated political discourse in the run up to the elections.

The killing and beheading of people in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni local government area (ONELGA), the military action in Yeghe community of Gokana local government area, the killing and roasting of a young man, Mr. Ofirite Amachree, in Buguma, had been issues in the campaigns.

There had been accusations and counter accusations on who is responsible for the orgy of killings. While the police link the killings to cult war, a position that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) agrees with, the All Progressives Congress (APC) thinks otherwise.

The APC accuses the PDP of being responsible for the deaths.

The insistence of the leader of APC in the state and Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, on the deployment of the military for the election has become another major issue.

Amaechi said the deployment was necessary to stop the PDP from “Killing APC members,” but the PDP believes the move was a cover to rig the elections using federal might. Members of the PDP think the move was a cover for Amaechi and the APC to get through the back door what they failed to get from the Supreme Court.

Amaechi’s return to the state last weekend to beef up APC’s fledgling campaign has increased the tempo of politicking in the state with both side making effort to garner as much support as needed to win.

From a couple of interviews on radio and television, Amaechi insisted that Governor Nyesom Wike and the PDP were responsible for the killings. The former governor accused his successor of lacking the political will and

From a couple of interviews on radio and television, Amaechi insisted that Governor Nyesom Wike and the PDP were responsible for the killings. The former governor accused his successor of lacking the political will and capacity to govern Rivers State

capacity to govern Rivers State.

At an APC rally in Rumueme, Obio/Akpor local government area, Amaechi said, “Wike lacks capacity to govern. Somebody who just knows how to steal money is a bushman.

“Wike said, I am corrupt. He should bring evidence to show. I will bring evidence to show that Wike is corrupt. Wike did the Rukpokwu/ Eneka road during my tenure, he did not complete it. I gave Wike the contracts to do all the roads around Aristle House (a hotel in GRA) but he failed to do them. I gave him fourteen schools to give to Obio/Akpor people, he stole them. He lacks character”.

Also speaking on the security situation in the state, Amaechi said, “When I was the governor, one thing that I kept thinking of was how to chase these criminals away but under Nyesom Wike, he meets with them. If Wike does not secure you people, the federal government will secure you. If he doesn’t want to be ignored he should go and secure you people because federal government will no longer tolerate these killings in Rivers State.

Amaechi further told his supporters not to be intimidated by Wike’s threats and come out to vote APC at Saturday’s election.

“Saturday is your day, come out and vote.

They will no longer have the Police they had, they will no longer have the Army they had, we pray that INEC should be neutral, your job is to match out and vote for APC, we will not write results like Nyesom Wike, so go back to your wards and do door-to-door”.

Also, in Akuku/Toru local government area, Amaechi told his party supporters to

be courageous in exercising their franchise without fear of intimidation “You see, it is not enough to provide security because if there are no votes, we will lose.

The implication therefore is that all of you must come out and vote for APC so that we will win the election,” he said.

Amaechi had earlier paid condolence to the family of slain APC stalwart Mr. Ofirite Amachree who was killed and burnt beyond recognition by unknown gunmen in Buguma.

Amaechi pledged to assist families of slain APC members in Omoku, Onelga at the weekend when he visited families of late Frankline Obi and late Chukwuladi Adiela in Omoku, Rivers State.

The late Obi, the APC chairman of ward 4, was killed and beheaded by unknown gunmen alongside his pregnant wife and son. The late Adiela was an APC stalwart of ward 14.

Addressing the deceased families, Amaechi said: “The President is aware of the death of your son who was our party ward chairman.

I personally gave him the photograph of the beheaded body. Everybody must learn to give account of their action or inaction in Omoku.

We can’t have police and be experiencing this kind of thing. Internal security is the responsibility of the police so if we have police and keep experiencing this in Omoku it means the police in Rivers State has failed and the people that are been killed are mostly APC members”, he said.

Amaechi also told the bereaved families that the president was aware of the killings in CONT’D ON PAGE 18

18

T H I S D AY • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016

ONTHEWATCH

MIDWEEKPOLITICS Wike himself has taken the fight to Amaechi.

Discussing the issue, he once said, ‘Our army of voters will defeat the rigging army imported by Amaechi.’ He described Amaechi as a trader who has the spirit of selling everything in sight, vowing that the former governor would never be allowed to sell Rivers State

Yakubu...all eyes on INEC

Omoku and promised that full investigation will be carried out to unravel the killers.

“The President is fully aware of the situation.

I was the governor of this state and Omoku wasn’t this bad. The police can’t claim not to know who the people are because I was governor, the police worked with me, we knew where the criminals were and we went after them.”

Amaechi also assured the people that arrangements had been made to beef up security ahead of the state and national assembly re- run elections i.

“There will be enough security on the election day, there will be enough security to protect lives.

He continued his tirade against Wike, stating that the governor was not showing him enough respect.

“I benefitted from Dr. Peter Odili (former governor) and I never criticised or abused him because he is my benefactor. But Nyesom Wike abuses me. There will continue to be a recurring decimal until Nyesom Wike leaves,” he said on a radio interview.

He also said, “With Dakuku Peterside becoming the Director General of NIMASA, we will use both the Police and the Army to police the waterways to Kula and to Bonny. Our waterways must be clear to allow investment.

“I want to assure the people of the state that the waterways will be protected on the day of election. I am the leader of the APC in the state and I am here for the election. I want to see how Wike will shoot all of us.

We want him to carry out his threat.

“On the day of the election, let everybody come out and vote. I dare Wike and his boys to come out with guns. As at the time I left

Importantly, how the people of Ogoni handle the military killings in the area will determine the outcome of the election in the area

Arase...security, the issue

office, by the poll, I was 75 percent popular.

I am not worried now; the person that is worried is Wike. That day (election day), you will see security and you will be surprised.

“I am going from village to village from tomorrow to beg people to come out and vote, but Wike is killing them “Wike is not a governor; he is only there to take money. Go to the Ministry of Education (federal); I was shown document here. If you see the amount Wike has stolen you will be shocked.

“Wike should tell us what he has done.

By this time, when I was governor, I was commissioning roads. Some of the roads that Wike is working on now were awarded to him when I was the governor. Wike did not come in as an Ikwerre governor; he came in as governor because he was so desperate.”

To these allegations, the state government replied in a statement through the Commissioner for Information and Communication, Dr. Austin Tam-George that Amaechi is instigating anarchy in the state. The government described as “shameless and irresponsible” Amaechi’s remarks.

The statement said, “Mr Amaechi accused the state government and the Rivers State Police Command of abetting and supporting criminals, and blamed both for the recent killings in some areas in Rivers State.

“Throughout his rambling interviews during which he appeared mostly confused and inebriated, Mr Amaechi provided no shred of evidence to support his bizarre allegations.

“Governor Nyesom Wike has given unprecedented financial and logistical support to the police and other security agencies in the state since he assumed office eight months ago.

“Within two months in office, Governor Wike released over sixty security-fitted vehicles to the police in the state. He also released over 30 vehicles to the joint security forces.

“Investigations by the Rivers State police command have shown again and again that the killings witnessed in some areas of the state were the result of retributive attacks launched by rival cult gangs battling for supremacy.

And in each case, the Rivers State Police Command working with the state government, has made arrests, and obtained vital intelligence from gang leaders in custody.”

Tam-George listed some of those being prosecuted by the police for some of the killings.

He said, “There is a prosecutorial process already underway for those implicated in these criminal activities.

For example: Mr. Anthony Ugoh has been arrested, and is in police custody for the killing

of Mr. Frank Obi and two others in Omoku, Rivers State; Mr Ndubuisi Tochi is in custody for the killing of Amachree in Buguma; Mr. Luke Okimebi is in custody for the killing of Godstime Iforuiyala in Buguma.

He emphasised, “Mr. Amaechi’s open invitation to the military to invade homes and communities in Rivers State therefore has nothing to do with crime and criminality in the state.

“It is a devilish ploy by the APC to attempt to use the military to rig the forthcoming legislative polls in favour of the party. But the military recognise that their role is to protect democracy, not to undermine it.”

The commissioner said since assuming office eight months ago, Wike had de-politicised development and reconstructed roads and other projects abandoned by Amaechi.

“Over 100 kilometres of roads across the state, including roads in Borikiri and Origwe where Rotimi Amaechi once lived, have been completely revamped.

What were the state of the roads in Diobu and Okaki in Borikiri during Amaechi’s tenure? Today, those roads have been totally reconstructed by the Wike government.

“The school contracts and other projects with doubtful legality and value are being comprehensively reviewed by the Wike administration,” he said.

He also accused Amaechi of insulting former president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and justices of the Supreme Court.

“Amaechi is a victim of contradiction. He castigates respected justices of the Supreme Court, but was a political beneficiary of a Supreme Court judgment. He claims there were no elections in Rivers in 2015, yet there are members of the APC in the Rivers State House of Assembly who won their seats from last year’s elections. How did the APC members get into the House?” he queried.

Governor Wike himself has taken the fight to Amaechi. Discussing the issue, he once said, “Our army of voters will defeat the rigging army imported by Amaechi.”

He described Amaechi as a trader who has the spirit of selling everything in sight, vowing that the former governor would never be allowed to sell Rivers State.

Addressing the people of Rivers South-East senatorial district during the grand finale of the PDP campaign rally in Bori on Monday, Wike said the “APC’s reliance on soldiers for rigging would be defeated as the people will defend their hard-earned freedom”.

He said Amaechi’s technique of killing Ogoni people by tagging them as militants before the Army would be rewarded with electoral defeat on March 19.

According to him: “Why are the leaders of

the APC running away from election after their victory at the tribunal? They have refused to campaign. All they do is to boast that that they will flood the state with soldiers who will rig the elections.

“We have a mass movement of Rivers people who represent an army of voters. They will subdue the rigging Army imported by Amaechi “.

Speaking further, he said: “All those celebrating the killing of Ogoni people will face the wrath of the people during the re-run elections.”

He particularly berated Senator Magnus Abe for refusing to defend his Ogoni kinsmen because of his desperation for political power.

He said it was unfortunate that Abe joined Amaechi to describe the 28 Ogoni people murdered in cold blood as militants.

He advised President Buhari to watch the Minister of Transportation, Amaechi, closely as he has already started claiming the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

Former Minister of Trade and Investment, Chief Kenneth Kobani also said that Ogoni people would vote PDP candidates on Saturday.

He warned that no soldier would be allowed to rig elections in the area, no matter the intimidation.

Also speaking, Senator Lee Maeba said since 1999 Rivers South-east senatorial district has always voted PDP. He therefore said the March 19 elections will also be won by the PDP. Meanwhile, it has become obvious that one seat that would be highly contested is the Rivers South-east senatorial district seat where Senator Magnus Abe would be slugging it out with Olaka Nwogu of the PDP. While both have shown much visibility in campaigns, the military action in Ogoni which led to the death of about 15 persons and the implementation of the UNEP report on Ogoni had dominated the discourse.

While Nwogu and the PDP finger Abe for masterminding the military action, Abe himself points to his achievements in the development of the area and President Buhari’s implementation of the UNEP report.

However, apart from Abe, the APC had run a lackluster campaign until the arrival of Amaechi last weekend.

Given the performance of the Wike-led administration, especially in the area of infrastructural development and the Supreme Court judgment which acted as a morale booster, the PDP may have the upper hand in Rivers East and Rivers West senatorial districts. But the case of Rivers South-east remains dicey as Abe has a lot in his favour But importantly, how the people of Ogoni handle the military killings in the area will determine the outcome of the election in the area.

19

T H I S D AY • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016

PERSPECTIVE

MIDWEEKPOLITICS

Mr. Trump and Islam In spite of standing a good chance of winning the race to the White House, Republican frontrunner, Mr. Donald Trump’s position on Islam could be his undoing, reckons Femi Fani-Kayode

A

merican politics and politicians fascinate me in the same way that their history does.

From the days of their great men of faith and vision like the Pilgrim Fathers, the Founding Fathers and the Patriots right through to the times of deeply courageous men who were blessed with a powerful intellect and huge moral suasion like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison and Benjamin Franklin, this is indeed a blessed land with an extraordinary and rich heritage and history.

From the heady days of their struggle for independence from the British, right up to the tumultuous times of Abraham Lincoln and John Brown and their bitter struggle against slavery, the civil war and so much more, the American story is littered with heroes and heroic acts and presents us with compelling evidence of the fact that ultimately good always triumphs over evil.

From the beginning right up until modern times and indeed today, their history and their story, with all its twists and turns, is not only inspiring but also a great testimony to the power of the Living God. Yet today America is at a crossroads and in the next few weeks and months she will decide who President Barack Obama will pass the baton of leadership to.

That choice is critical because it will determine whether the self-styled “land of the free and home of the brave” will, once again, be transformed into a great and major power with the strength and immense moral authority that she once enjoyed on the world stage or whether she will gradually lose her mystique and prestige and recede into a divided, conflicted, pitiful, isolated, intellectually weak, economically crippled, greatly diminished and morally bankrupt spent force. All this in a world that is witnessing and experiencing the growing power and strength of an increasingly assertive Russia and China.

There is no gainsaying that the race for the White House this year is probably the most important in recent times because the consequences of the choice that the American people will eventually make will affect the entire world for either good or bad. Needless to say the stakes are high.

Given this, I am delighted that my preferred candidate and fellow evangelical Christian, the brilliant African American neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson, finally saw the writing on the wall and dropped out of the race for the Presidential nomination of the Republican Party. I am also thrilled that he has thrown his support behind Mr. Donald Trump who I believe is a simply remarkable man that is blessed with immense potential and promise.

Carson is the second Presidential candidate in the Republican party that has dropped out of the race and endorsed Mr. Trump, the first being Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey. These are indeed good times for the colorful billionaire. He has done exceptionally well regardless of the numerous conspiracies within the leadership of his own party to stop him and regardless of the controversies that appear to trail him. Yet Mr. Trump has had his own fair share of challenges, trials and tribulations. The ugly affair at his Chicago rally on March 11 being one of them. The disruption of that rally and the suppression of freedom of speech by a large crowd of violent and threatening anti-Trump protesters at the event was appalling and unacceptable and it shows us the level to which those that wish to oppose him are prepared to go.

This was an organised and premeditated effort to disrupt the rally and as Mr. Marco Rubio, another contender for the GOP

Trump…getting unpopular with his anti-Islam stance

presidential nomination told CNN, it was ‘’a clear violation of Mr. Trump’s first amendment rights”. The suppression of free speech for any reason is unacceptable and the protesters that shut down Mr. Trump’s rally were an utter disgrace.

The truth is that that sort of behavior will not deter Mr. Trump or his supporters and such lawlessness will only swell the ranks of those who believe in him and his cause. It will also embolden and enlarge his support base. I hope and believe that he will win the GOP presidential nomination comfortably and after that, despite his numerous eccentricities and idiosyncrasies, I believe that he will go on to give Secretary Hilary Clinton a damn good fight in the November presidential election.

The truth is that if any of the American presidential candidates energises and excites me it is Mr. Trump. This is because he is tough, fearless, strong and quick off the mark, sharp, charming, witty and refreshing.

He also offers a genuine hope of restoration and a safe return to traditional American conservative, and I daresay, Christian values.

For example he is against same-sex marriage and he is strongly pro-life. He also believes passionately in building up the American Armed Forces and renewing their strength and glory and in the implementation of a strong and virile foreign policy.

He is the only American presidential candidate that has publicly admitted that removing Sadam Hussein and Muammar Ghadaffi from power in Iraq and Libya respectively was a grave error which has led to nothing but chaos.

Unlike President Obama and Secretary Hilary Clinton and instead rather like President Putin and the Russians, he recognises evil for what it is and he is committed to fighting islamic fundamentalism and islamist terror with everything that he has got.

Consequently he has pledged to send 30,000 ground troops into Iraq and Syria to take on ISIL. That is like music to my ears.

He is pro-Israel and he seems to understand the dangers that the anti-secularist forces in the Middle East and the ethos and philosophiy of the salifists and wahhabists of Saudi Arabia pose to world peace far better than any other American politician.

Most important of all he is prepared to speak his mind and say what he believes about any issue no matter whose ox is gored. With Trump what you see is what you get.

That is a rare quality among politicians from anywhere in the world and it ought to be encouraged. By nature politicians have to compromise on everything otherwise they cannot get elected and they very rarely say what they mean or mean what they say.

They must always be seen to be politically correct. It is for this very reason that I do not regard myself as being a politician in the true sense of the word.

Unlike most, I will never compromise with what or who I consider to be incompetent, questionable, insincere, malicious, ill-motivated, bloodthirsty, bigoted or evil.

Like Mr. Trump I will always call a spade a spade. Like Mr. Trump I will never see darkness and call it light or see light and call it darkness. And like U.S. President Harry Truman said many years ago, “I never give them hell: I just speak the truth and they think that they are in hell”.

Yet despite my fondness and respect for Mr. Trump there is one area in which I believe that he is getting it badly wrong and that is in his expression of thoughts about members of the Muslim faith. He fired the first salvo a couple of weeks ago when he said that all Muslims should be banned from coming to the United States of America. This created a major storm all over the world coupled with a deep sense of fear, trepidation and outrage from millions of Muslims. Yet sadly he did not stop there.

During the course of the GOP Presidential candidates debate which was aired live

by CNN on 10th of March, he said “Islam hates us’’, meaning that ALL Muslims hate America and the rest of the non-Muslim world.

This assertion is divisive and deeply offensive. It is also blatantly false and I don’t have to be a Muslim to say or know it. It is true that radical Islam ‘’hates us’’. It is true that the Islamic fundamentalists ‘’hate us’’. It is true that the Islamist’s ‘’hate us’’. It is true that the Jihadists ‘’hate us’’ but it is NOT true that “Islam hates us”.

ISIL, Al Qaeda, Al Shabab, Hamas, Boko Haram, the Taliban, Islamic Jihad, the Fulani militants/herdsmen, the Al Nusra Front and all the other terrorists and terror groups in the world ‘’hate us’’ but the overwhelming majority of Muslims do not and neither do they indulge in acts of terror.

As pained and concerned as we are about what is going on in the world today and about the barbarous atrocities that the terrorists are committing on a daily basis,

we must learn to separate the wheat from the chaff. Simple logic alone does not allow Mr. Trump’s absurd assertion to withstand proper scrutiny. For example it is clear that Chancellor Adolf Hitler did not represent Christianity when he murdered 6 million Jews and caused a global war in which 50 million people were killed. Again it is clear that another great monster of human history, King Leopold 11 of Belgium, did not represent Christianity when he ordered the slaughter of no less than 10 million Africans in the Belgian Congo. Again Mr. Pol Pot of Cambodia and Mr. Josef Stalin of the old Soviet Union, both leaders of ruthless communist totalitarian states that did not recognize or believe in the existence of God, did not represent their fellow atheists when they murdered no less than 25 million and 30 million of their own people respectively.

It is in the same way that Osama Bin Ladin and Ayman Al Zawahiri of Al Qaeda, Abu Bakr Al- Baghdadi of the Islamic State In The Levant,(ISIL), Mohammed Yusuf and Abubakar Shekau of Boko Haram, Mullah Mohammed Omar and Aktar Mansoor of the Taliban, Ahmed Abdi Godan of Al Shabab, Ismael Haniye of Hamas, Abu Mohammed Al Julani of the Al Nusra Front and all the other salifist and Islamist leaders that are filled with hate, that have shed oceans of innocent blood and that have unleashed terror on defenseless citizens all over the world do not represent Islam or Muslims. That is the point that people like Mr. Trump fail to appreciate and are unable to grasp.

If we do not make this distinction very clear and emphasize the fact that not all Muslims are filled with hate and are terrorists, we run the risk of alienating millions of decent God-fearing Muslims from all over the world who hate the jihadists and terrorists just as much as we do and who also deplore their actions.

Let me bring this closer to home. There are millions of Muslims in the south-western part of Nigeria where I come from but, as far as I am aware, not one of them is a terrorist and very few of them are filled with hate.

There are many Muslims in both my mother’s paternal and maternal family, the Sa’id family of Ilesa and the Isa-Williams family of Isale Eko, and not one of them is hate-filled, is a terrorist or is an extremist.

Yoruba Muslims are not violent and they have never been Jihadists. This is because, unlike in the north, Islam was introduced to the south-west by the Turkish sea traders who were very tolerant and liberal in the practice of their faith and not by Jihad. Generally speaking we in the south-west preach and practice love, tolerance and unity among our people and this is particularly so between the adherents of the two great faiths of Christianity and Islam. Even the pagans among us are tolerated and honored.

This is a testimony to our high level of enlightenment and civilization as a people.

It is evidence of our deep sense of fair play, justice, compassion and humanity and our liberal and accommodating disposition.

I am very proud of that part of my heritage and it is confirmed by the fact that we often marry across religious lines. For example my father’s family are Christians and my mother’s family are Muslims. My Muslim name, which was given to me by my mother’s side of the family, is Abdul Latif. As a matter of fact I doubt that there is one family in south-western Nigeria today that does not have both Christians and Muslims within its ranks. · Fani-Kayode, a former Aviation Minister, writes from Abuja READ FULL TEXT ONLINE

22

IMAGES

Acting Managing Director, Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari (right), exchanging pleasantries with the Special Adviser to Edo State Governor, Lady Belinda Ogiefa, during a stage play Tittle: “Little Drops”, in commemoration to mark 2016 International Women’s day, in Benin, Edo State….recently

L-R: Managing Director, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Mr. Nicolaas Velvede; Distributor of the Year, Mr. Ken Maduakor; his wife Mrs. Maduakor and the Sales Director, Nigerian Breweries, Mr. Hubert Eze, during the distributors award night, in Lagos….recently PHOTO: Dan Ukana

L-R: Director, Power Generation, Africa, Cummins West Africa Limited, Mr. Alok Joshi; Facility Manager, Africa, Racheal Njoroge; Director, Cummins West Africa Limited, Mr. Kwame Gyan- Tawiah and the Director of Finance, Mr. Alfred Tallentyre, during the opening ceremony of Cummins, Lagos office….recently ETOP UKUTT

L-R: Transformation Director, Union Bank Plc, Mr. Joe Mbulu; HRH, Dr. Chimaeze Emetumah; Deputy Vice Chancellor ,Administration, Imo State University, Prof. Jerome Okonkwo; Executive Director, Corporate Banking,Union Bank Plc, Mr. Emeka Okonkwo, and Hon. Kennedy Ibe, at the unveiling of Union Bank branch, Douglas Road, Owerri, Imo State…..recently

T H I S D AY • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016

Photo Editor Abiodun Ajala Email abiodun.ajala@thisdaylive.com

L-R: Company Secretary, Heritage Bank Limited, Mrs. Oluwatomi Ojo; Divisional Head, Human Capital Management, Mrs. Nneka Okoro and the CEO, Poise Nigeria, Mavi Isibor, during the 2016 International Women Day Celebration by Heritage Bank, in Lagos…recently

L-R: Non Executive Director, Lafarge Africa Plc, Mrs. Nike Ogunlesi; Organization and human resources Director, Mrs. Fedelia Osime; Control Room operator, Deborah Danladi; Integration and Business TransformationDirector, Mr. Ola Ehinmoro; and the Director, Office of Education Quality Assurance Kosofe Zone, Mrs. Adesuwa Anwuri, during the International woman day celebration , by Lafarge Africa, held at protea hotel, Ikeja Lagos….recently SUNDAY ADIGUN

L-R: Former Deputy Governor of Lagos state, Otunba Femi Pedro; Former, Managing Director, Union Bank Plc, Dr. G.A.T Oboh; Past President, Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors, Mr. Agele Alufohai and the Captain, Golf Section. Ikoyi Club1938, Mr. Lanre Kalejaiye, during the launching of a book “Unquantifiable Grace’’ Leadership Memoirs, by Mr. Alufohai. in Lagos…..recently

L-R: Executive Secretary, MTN Foundation, Ms. Nonny Ugboma; Consultant ENT, Neck and Head Surgeon, National Hospital Abuja, Dr. Job Amodu and the Portfolio Manager, Economic Empowerment MTN Foundation, Ms. Foyinsola Oyebola, during an inspection of hearing aids provided by MTN Foundation, in Lagos…recently

24

T H I S D AY • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016

BUSINESSWORLD REPORT: ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING ACTIVITY AFFECTING REAL ESTATE MARKET stated that residential vacancy factor was up in Ikoyi to 32 per cent in February, from 25 per cent previous month. Also, in Victoria Island it was up 41 per cent in February, from 36 per cent the previous month.

However, Rewane stressed that “if headwinds persist, prices may decline.”

In his analysis on the aviation sector, Rewane noted that airlines now buy blended funds (parallel and official) as a form of hedging against forex devaluation According to the report, a case where airline buy forex from both the CBN and oil companies. This, he said affects capacity and frequency reduction.

It argued that airlines will continue to be exposed to currency volatility if devaluation does not occur, adding that airlines would have to find new ways to adapt to recent challenges.

The report added: “Ticket price to increase further with alternative forex sourcing.

Continued pressure on the exchange rate will reduce the aviation market in more ways than airline capacity. It will likely reduce the profitability of the airline industry. Substitute airlines like Arik, Qatar, Etihad and Kenya Airways will benefit from capacity reduction.”

FOREIGN INVESTORS DUMP NSE FOR NAIROBI, JOHANNESBURG EXCHANGES restructuring of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). We urge patience. Our expectation for the NSE for the year is a decline of 10.0 per cent,” they said.

The Director General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr. Mounir Gwarzo recently urged the federal government to help encourage multinational companies operating in the country to list on the floor of the NSE to give Nigerians opportunity to benefit from their investments.

He made the call while receiving members of the House of Representatives Committee on Capital Market.

Capital Market Can Enhance Financial Inclusion, Says SEC DG Goddy Egene The Director General of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mounir Gwarzo has said the Nigerian capital market has amazing potential to serve as a catalyst for financial inclusion.

Gwarzo stated this on Monday at the second Regional Roundtable on Non-Interest Capital Market in Sokoto.

According to him, while most people identify capital markets as important sources of medium-to-long term capital, few realise their amazing potential to serve as catalysts for financial inclusion.

“SEC is determined to unlock this potential of the Nigerian capital market. In particular, we are aware of the need to deepen the noninterest capital market space.

This is to enable millions of Nigerians and people of faith to invest savings ethically.

Investors worldwide are increasingly allocating their resources into Islamic finance products,’’ Gwarzo said.

The SEC boss disclosed that total assets under management in the global Islamic finance industry had surpassed $2 trillion (N394 trillion) by the end of 2014. He added that the global sukuk market continued to witness remarkable growth since after the 2008 global financial crisis with annual issuances growing from $15 billion in 2008 to almost $120 billion in 2014.

He noted that last year is widely considered a landmark year for Islamic finance, especially with debut sukuk issuances by countries such as the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Senegal, South Africa, and Luxemburg.

The year, he added, also witnessed continued strong interest from key markets of Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and emerging markets like Turkey and Indonesia. There is no doubt that the sukuk market is emerging on a global scale as a viable alternative source of funding.

Chika Amanze-Nwachuku Maritime Editor

John Iwori

AgriBusiness/Industry Editor

Crusoe Osagie

Comms/e-Business Editor

Emma Okonji

Capital Market Editor

Goddy Egene

Senior Correspondent

Raheem Akingbolu (Advertising) Correspondents

Chinedu Eze (Aviation) Linda Eroke (Labour) Eromosele Abiodun (Cap Mkt) Ejiofor Alike (Energy) James Emejo (Nation’s Capital) Obinna Chima (Money Mkt) Reporters

Nume Ekeghe (Money Market) Nosa Alekhuogie (AgricBusiness)

Gwarzo said in Nigeria, SEC has implemented a number of reforms aimed at deepening the non-interest capital market. For example, he said the Commission focused on the regulatory framework, reviewing the Rules and introducing new ones. “ In particular, we issued rules on Islamic Fund Management as well as rules on Sukuk issuance. These two legal frameworks have encouraged Islamic product innovation with the registration of five ethical/shariah compliant funds and the issuance of Nigeria’s first ever sub-national Ijara Sukuk by the Osun State government in 2013 which was oversubscribed. We are also considering modalities for

setting up a Sharia Advisory Council as a body of experts to advise SEC and the market on non-interest product and their applications,” he said.

The DG said that state governments could leverage on the Sukuk market to raise funds for developmental projects.

Going forward, he said the focus of the SEC would be on massive public enlightenment and also stronger capacity building initiatives, adding that is what informed the idea of hosting regional roundtable events such as the Roundtable “We are working closely with the Debt Management Office (DMO) to ensure Nigeria issues her first sovereign sukuk that will provide the needed

benchmark for other categories of issuers. We are hopeful there will be a significant progress on this front before the end of 2016. Once again, I thank you for your distinguished presence here while enjoining you to make the most of the opportunities this platform presents,” he said.

In his remarks, Gov. Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State said that the state government had since resolved to embrace Sukuk.

Represented by the Commissioner for Finance, Alhaji Sa’idu Umar, Tambuwal said that the Islamic capital system conformed with the religious and cultural beliefs of the people of the state.

The governor said that the

system provided alternative sources of funds, especially in view of the dwindling revenues occasioned by the falling global oil resources.

The Governor of Zamfara, Alhaji Abdulazeez Yari, represented by Alhaji Shehu Baraya, the Acting AccountantGeneral of the state, urged Nigerians to embrace Islamic capital for meaningful national development.

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, represented by the Emir of Gwandu, Alhaji Ilyasu Bashar, commended the commission for organising the roundtable.

Abubakar said that ‘`Sukuk’’ provided alternative sources of funds for the development of the nation.

REWARD FOR EXCELLENCE

L-R: Head of Market Development, sub-Saharan Africa, MasterCard, Ngozi Megwa; Head, Physical Channels, E-Business Group, FirstBank, Adebayo Olarewaju; Group Head, E-Business, FirstBank, Chuma Ezirim; Head, Sponsorship and Events, FirstBank, Bridget Oyefeso-Odusami; and Head, Acceptance Business, Mastercard Nigeria, Kamil Olufowobi, at the presentation of the MasterCard Award for Cashless Cross Border Champion, PoS transactions to FirstBank...recently

PTAD Strategises for Better Lagos Pays N11.55Billion to Retirees Service to Pensioners Obinna Chima

Group Business Editor

NEWS

The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) recently held a three-day organisational strategy planning session in Abuja to set the direction for the agency’s medium to long term objectives.

Over the last two years of its existence, PTAD had focused on consolidating the pension payment of the Police, Customs, Immigration and Prisons, Civil Service and Parastatals Pensions, which it inherited from legacy schemes and has been cleaning up the payrolls of these groups.

A statement from the Head Corporate Communications, PTAD, Theodora Amechi explained that the clean-up of the payrolls had seen PTAD embark on the on-going verification exercise which has enable the agency identify unqualified pensioners, areas of overpayment and underpayment

and the update of records of Next of Kin (NOK) of deceased pensioners.

“With the sanitisation of the payroll under way, the agency thought it timely to set a new agenda for improving and sustaining the excellent service delivery it has come to be known for, to pensioners under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS).

“The three-day strategy session, reviewed the agency’s mandate as contained in the 2014 Pension Reform Act (PRA), which created the agency, and reassessed the vision, mission and core values that would guide the operations of the agency in the medium to long term,” she said.

While speaking at the event, the Director General/ES of the Agency, Mrs. Nellie Mayshak, was quoted to have expressed delight at the progress the agency has made thus far.

Ebere Nwoji The Lagos State Government has said it paid a total of N 11.55 billion to retirees between August 2015 and February, 2016.

According to the state government, the above figure was paid to 2,652 retirees in the state.

Lagos State Pension Commission’s (LASPEC’s) spokesperson, Ajoke Lawal said out of the above figure, N904 million was paid to 243 retirees in February 2016, while the rest was paid between August, 2015 and January, 2016.

She said the N904 million was paid to retirees from the state’s Mainstream Civil Service, Local Governments, State Universal Basic Education, Teachers Establishment and Pension office and other Parastatals of the sate.

At the presentation of the 24th Retirement Benefit Bond Certificates, by the state government, the Director- General, LASPEC, Mrs. Folashade Onanuga cautioned the pensioners against “unscrupulous elements,” who might want to deprive them of their entitlements through lofty business ideas.

She also used the medium to appeal to the beneficiaries,to be wary of fraudsters, who put calls through to retirees, informing them of alleged short payments in their entitlements.

She added that the fraudsters request for token payments into specified bank accounts so that the short fall amount can be paid by National Pension Commission (PENCOM) in Abuja.

She said that no retiree in Lagos State service, has accrued rights to collect from the

federal government therefore, “any one requesting to help them process an entitlement that is non existent is just a scammer.”

She also said her office, has taken step to sensitise the State’s employees on the activities of the Pension fraudsters and that government was also investigating the reports received from some retirees on the matter.

She reiterated that in Lagos State Pension Commission, terminal entitlements are processed strictly on merit based on time and nature of exit, adding that anyone, who offers inducement to any of the commission’s staff for quick processing of entitlements, is just wasting the resources available to him/her.

The retirees, who were very happy, thanked the state governor for his commitment to their welfare.

28

T H I S D AY • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2016

BUSINESSWORLD

INTERVIEW

David-West: FG Will Make More With More People in Financial System Academic Director at both the Lagos Business School and Pan-Atlantic University, Dr. Olayinka David-West, who also has over two decades experience in the ICT sector, spoke to Obinna Chima on the benefits of having more Nigerians in the financial system. Excerpts: According to a recent report by a multinational communication technology and services company, 53 per cent of Nigerians are in the banking system. Is that an indication that the country’s financial inclusion strategy is yielding results?

Yes, the findings actually tally with what the Enhancing Financial Innovation & Access (EFInA) report is also saying, where at the moment; we have 60 per cent in the financial system. However, how do we now increase that number is actually the issue we are trying to address. When they say financial included, it is not just the banks, there is also the informal and other sectors.

It is growing, but don’t forget also that our population size is also growing by the year.

So, we need to continue engaging people so that we would continue to grow it.

where there are business. If we put agents in areas where there are not going to make money from the business, they may quit. So, we have to ensure that we are locating agents in strategic locations where there is business and where there is traffic. That means we need to understand the flow of money in every location so that we can deploy the services to enhance those flows.

Access to finance for women has been topical in recent times. What do you think are the barriers to access to finance by women?

One of the biggest barriers is identity. In some culture and some cases women are denied access to identity. Even in some homes, women are not allowed to own mobile phones. They have access to one, but they don’t own mobile phones. So, all these things are inhibitors because the woman would still need to go to her husband or whoever is the head of the family or the household to access finance. What has been tested and proven empirically in Africa is the fact that when you empower a woman, the money is invested in the family. But when you empower a man, the money might not be invested in the family. Sometimes, the man might also decide to go into polygamy and that also impoverishes the family because you are using few resources to feed more people.

That also creates tension. But the woman’s role is to invest in the family and women are better in repayment because they keep a track history and they are more diligent in the repayment process and in ensuring that they meet their obligation because they always want to go back for more. So, that is the difference between men and women.

A major component of Nigeria’s population is its informal sector and there are data to adequately capture economic activities in that sector. How do you think financial inclusion can support these vast individuals who run micro and small businesses across the country?

The way it can support them is to have them use mobile money services to accept payments. So, rather than accepting cash, they can be accepting payments through mobile money. This would also ensure that they can see their monies coming in. It would also help them maintain their monies better because sometimes when you have cash, unplanned exigencies come, family matters come and you are spending out of that cash when you are supposed to be investing in your business. And you might find out that when you now need a business investment, you are going to third parties or expensive loans credit sources, when you had actually earned some monies that you ought to have used in your business. So, if we can have systems in place where micro SMEs and individuals can also receive remittances and payments, then

David-West

What has been tested and proven empirically in Africa is the fact that when you empower a woman, the money is invested in the family. But when you empower a man, the money might not be invested in the family. Sometimes, the man might also decide to go into polygamy and that also impoverishes the family because you are using few resources to feed more people. That also creates tension

that would also help and it would increase the amount of cash flow that we can account for and see.

In order to attract the informal sector, the CBN has introduced agency banking and recently licensed some super-agents, how do you view that?

To be honest with you, that is the only way.

If we want to get inclusion done, we need to take it to people’s door steps. Right now, that is the biggest burden they have today, in the sense that access to financial services either by paying a lot of transport money, inconvenience, etc. So, if there are agents in every location, then we are easing access to finance. That is a similar concept to what is called Land Mile in telecoms because you want a service to be available to people at their point of need, not that they have to travel to it. When you look at poor people already, if you look at the cost that they have to incur to get to the location of the financial service, they would choose an alternative and the alternative is something that they can resolve within their village area. So, when you look at various rural areas, sometimes, the nearest service point is in the town. Yet, there is a cost to get to the town. So, they would rather take an alternative that is more expensive. So, we have to ensure that every

rural area has service points that can meet the needs of those people. And this should be service points that can do cash-in-cash-out.

When you look at Kenya for example, the country has about one service point for 350 people, but in Nigeria, the number is one to 2500. So, we are disadvantaged in that area.

When you look at some highly populated areas in Lagos for example Obalende, Ajah, do you see any mobile service point? So, when you don’t see something, how do you know how to use it? So, if a young person has a job, he would rather collect cash because of the absence of mobile service points. So, we need to use it across streams.

How best do you think the agents can take these financial services products to the rural areas?

It is about how they want to deploy the agency banking. There are different models and different ways. Sometimes what people do is that they have a hub and spook model which they use to disperse their services. Don’t forget that these agents need to deposit and access cash. So, they still need proximity to a banking system that helps them do that.

We have a lot of geographical systems today and so we can map a lot of these things visually. So, we have strategically look at these things and make we put agents in areas

Despite all these good qualities you have identified in women, why is it that a lot of banks still deny women loans for their businesses?

It is also the issue of documentation and access to collateral. You will find out that a lot of women don’t have anything in their name.

They don’t have landed property, etc, and even if you want to put up your car up for a loan, you may find out that the documents of the car are not in your name. So, you find out that women don’t have assets that they could put down. So, it is unfortunate.

Again, we live in a male dominated society and we have to accept. But it is getting better, although not in all classes of our society. I was reporting in a report on somewhere in India where teenage girls are not allowed to have telephones. So, it is not just in Nigeria, but it is different cultures. So, cultural issues and beliefs are part of the factors inhibiting financial inclusion.

In terms of mobile money, why is it that the rate of penetration in Nigeria has remained very low while other channels are growing?

There are several factors responsible for that.

For example, Nigeria has 21 licensed mobile money operators, which is more than anywhere in the world, yet we have less than a million active accounts. Now, the challenge for that is multiple. First of all it is the lands mile, how do I know where to use my money?

This is because if I have money in this system and I want to cash it out, who do I go to and where do I go to? Secondly, there is the issue of reliability and trust. Reliability and trust because we have all used the ATMs and electronic banking, yet we know that those systems still give problem. I know many people who have lost money through nondispense of cash by ATMs. You spend money Continued on page 31

T H I S D AY • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2016

29

BUSINESSWORLD

ANALYSIS

Fast-tracking Dispute Resolution in the Capital Market Implementing decisions reached at the recent judges workshop on resolutions in the capital market will go a long way in protecting investors and restoring confidence in the market, writes Goddy Egene The low patronage of the Nigerian stock market has been attributed to many reasons. Prominent among the factors is the ugly experience by many investors in the hands of fraudulent operators. Some investors, who invested most of their savings in the market in the past, lost their money to stockbrokers. Such investors are scared to return to the market.

In some cases, individuals who took their stockbrokers to court, gave up after long wait.

Hence, some decided to stay away from the market because of the delayed resolution of cases in the market.

That was why it was a very encouraging development when Mr. Tajudeen Folaji, a former stockbroker with First Allstate Securities Limited, was sentenced to seven years imprisonment by the Lagos State High Court presided over

by Justice Kudirat Jose. The court found him guilty of unauthorized sale of shares and stealing for fraudulently converting 31,886,200 units of IPWA Plc shares worth N331,297,618 belonging to an investor on 3rd April, 2008. In addition to the imprisonment, the court has directed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to trace and liquidate properties belonging to the convict in order to restitute the investor while imposing a N20 million fine on First Allstate Securities Limited where he was the Managing Director and dealing clerk.

According to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the successful conviction is a testament to the excellent collaboration between the commission and the EFCC to advance the goal of investor protection.

“Following complaints against Folaji by the affected investor, the Commission launched a detailed investigation that revealed evidences of the infractions committed. The Commission consequently suspended the license of his firm on 6th April 2010 and transferred the case to the EFCC to prosecute the criminal element of the case,” SEC had said.

Although it is good that the broker has been convicted, the conviction came eight years after the fraud was committed. It is possible that some of the victims must have given up on the cases. Market stakeholders, who, however hailed the conviction of the broker, said the judiciary and market regulators should work closely to ensure speedy determination of cases so as to encourage patronage by investors.

Judges’ Workshop This is why the 2016 SEC Judges’ workshop has been seen as very timely. The workshop, with the theme: “Effective Dispute Resolution-A Panacea for Transformation of the Nigerian Capital Market,” held in Abuja from February 24 to 25.

The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Mahmud Mohammed, declared the workshop open through his Lordship, Hon. Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad.

Several distinguished personalities from the legal profession, the capital market, the legislature and top government functionaries attended the workshop.

Notable amongst them were: the former Chief justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Dahiru Musdapher, Professor Dalvinder Singh Sangha (a Professor of Law from the University of Warwick, United Kingdom), Senator Isiaka Adeleke (Chairman, Senate Committee on Capital Market), Hon. Tajudeen Ayo Yusuf (Chairman, House Committee on Capital Market), Justices of the Court of Appeal, Chief Judges of States and Honourable Judges of the Federal High Court.

Participants’ Views Delivering the special paper titled: “Contextual Approach to Enforcement Strategy and Sanctions, Sangha posited that a regulatory-enforcement strategy needs to be built around a relationship

Mohammed

between the regulator and regulated where enforcement through legal channels of rules is not necessarily its first response. He advocated for the application of both a compliance and a deterrence based approach to enforcement, stressing that there was need for the existence of both approaches to deal with the variety of enforcement issues a regulator will confront during its day to day oversight of the financial system. Speaking on the topic: “The Nigerian Securities Market and Regulation: Industry Challenges and Expectations from the Judiciary” Professor Konyinsola Ajayi, of Olaniwun Ajayi explained the important role of the capital market to the development of an economy.

The learned SAN, who was represented by Mr. Muyiwa Balogun of Olaniwun Ajayi LP, noted that an efficient and effective capital market is the foundation of any meaningful and sustainable economic growth.

He added that the efficiency and effectiveness of the capital market, however, depends on the robustness of its legal and regulatory framework. He stated that the provisions of the Investment and Securities Act 2007 (ISA) and the Rules and Regulations of the SEC as well as the other capital market related rules prevalent in Nigeria cannot, in themselves, achieve investor protection.

“The courts have a critical role to play in applying the relevant laws and rules in order to foster effective regulation of the capital market, achieve investor protection and legal certainty.

This would enable investors and capital market operators understand the laws and rules applicable to them, predicate the consequences of their actions and properly order their affairs,” he said.

He added that the ongoing jurisdictional controversy between the Federal High Court and the IST, would have a negative impact on the capital market and the nation’s economic growth.

In his presentation, on “Dispute Resolution in the Capital market: A Review of Administrative and Judicial Mechanisms,” Chief Anthony Idigbe, SAN, of Punuka Attorneys, advocated for deference to the decisions of both the Administrative Proceedings Committee (APC) of the Commission and the IST by the Nigerian Courts.

He urged the courts to act in this regard giving consideration to the level of expertise and special knowledge applied by the assessors of both bodies in adjudicating over capital market disputes.

DG, SEC, Mounir Gwarzo

Idigbe submitted that challenges to decisions of these bodies should be subjected to judicial reviews, rather than a jurisdictional conflict as it exists today. According to him, there was need for the courts to adhere strictly to the principles applicable for the administration of judicial reviews, which would reduce the rate at which the decisions of these bodies would be overturned by the courts.

Also speaking, Chairperson of IST, Dr. Ngozi Chianakwalam, outlined the importance of the Tribunal and also elucidated on some of the judgments delivered by it and their impact on investors’ confidence.

Justice Abdul Kafarati of the Federal High Court, shared his thoughts on the controversies surrounding the jurisdiction of the IST vis a vis the powers of the Federal High Court as provided in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Participants at the workshop agreed that the jurisdictional controversy around adjudication on capital market related matters between the IST and the Federal High Court was a constitutional one that could permanently be cured by a constitutional amendment.

In this regard, Senator Adeleke, assured the forum that the National Assembly was willing to assist the Commission in advocating for legislative amendments to laws which would enhance the development of the capital market.

The Communiqué Having deliberated exhaustively on the issues raised, participants adopted a communiqué at the end of the workshop. According to the communiqué, in the quest to develop a vibrant capital market, the central role of the Judiciary in the maintenance of market integrity cannot be overlooked.

“Without fair, prompt and effective dispensation of justice, the Nigerian capital market cannot achieve its aspiration of becoming a world class capital market that catalyzes Nigeria’s emergence as a major global economy. The current market wide reforms by the SEC, which is part of the full implementation of the 10-year Master plan (2015-2025), such as the electronic-dividend initiative, full dematerialisation, direct cash settlement and the complaints management framework, are ground breaking initiatives that would revolutionize the Nigerian capital market. However, a robust framework for National capacity building, continuing education and enlightenment in the market is central to consolidating the gains of these reforms,” the

communiqué added.

Other communiqué stressed that issues surrounding the Judicial review of decisions of SEC’s APC by the IST and the Federal High Court need to be decisively addressed to preserve and enhance the integrity of the dispute resolution mechanism in the capital market.

“A comprehensive reform agenda for the IST needs to be urgently instituted. This would address issues pertaining to the Jurisdiction, funding and constitution of members of the Tribunal. In the interim, the IST should be supported by all stakeholders to continue performing its responsibilities under the ISA 2007,” it said. The participants also agreed that SEC should promote Securities Arbitration and other Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms to facilitate expeditious dispensation of justice in the capital market.

“Judicial pronouncements and decisions on capital market issues should be progressive, taking into consideration the overriding well-being of the market and the protection of investors. Injunctive reliefs that inhibit the statutory powers of the Regulator to sanction erring capital market operators should only be granted after a careful analysis of the impact such orders have on market integrity and investor confidence. The adoption of the doctrine of judicial deference in capital market matters should be encouraged. This connotes the acknowledgment by the Courts (in their adjudication of capital market disputes) of the specialized (technical) knowledge and expertise of the SEC and other market Regulators,” they said.

The communiqué noted that the entire gamut of regulation in the capital market is the protection of investors and the hallmark of investor protection is dispute resolution.

“However, the investor protection and dispute resolution mechanism in the market must be supported by an equally robust enforcement framework. The controversies and conflicting Judicial decisions with respect to the jurisdiction of the IST vis a vis the Federal High Court on capital market matters need to be conclusively tackled via a Constitutional amendment. The capital market should present a position in this regard to the National Assembly, which may be accomplished either by streamlining constitutional the powers of the Federal High Court in respect of capital market matters or bringing the IST under the appellate purview of a specialised division of the Federal High Court,” it was resolved.

30

T H I S D AY • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016

BUSINESSWORLD

INSURANCE

Unlocking the Potential in Micro-Insurance Micro-insurance is one market segment in the insurance sector that is grossly underdeveloped though it holds the key to premium income growth for the industry. Ebere Nwoji writes on the current efforts to harness its potential

The bid, to reposition and rebrand insurance industry with the aim of bringing more Nigerians into insurance net and boost the industry’s premium income prompted the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to embark on review of capitalisation of micro insurance operations.

The commission, also said to expand the scope of micro insurance and ensure extension of insurance services to Nigerians at the grass root at lower costs, it plans to grade micro insurance operators into unit, state, regional and national operators and assign to each operator, new capital base suitable for the grade he operates and market he serves.

The Commissioner for insurance, Mohammed Kari,who disclosed this recently in Lagos, said his target was to win more patronage for the industry and make every Nigerian enjoy benefit of insurance in his day to day life.

The move by the commission, is commendable, considering the huge premium trapped in the underdeveloped micro insurance segment.

Economy experts and insurance managers, said about N60 billion annual premium, was trapped in the undeveloped micro insurance segment in Nigeria.

This is so, whereas in other African countries like Gambia and Morocco, micro insurance is the mainstay of their insurance industries’ premium income. Against this backdrop, both NAICOM and industry operators, have since the launch of the medium term plan for the development of the industry in 2009, tagged Market Development and Restructuring Initiative (MDRI), been experimenting on how best to unlock this trapped huge premium.

The commission, under Kari’s immediate past

predecessor, Mr Fola Daniel, had commenced the journey towards unlocking this trapped industry’s premium through the release of micro insurance guideline. But the guideline has some pitfalls.

Prominent among these, is the huge capital base spelt out by the guideline for micro insurance operators.

This, retrogressed the efforts towards developing the segment because the minimum capital base was so high that not all intending operators could afford it. This has left the business in the hands of conventional insurance underwriters. The guideline put the capital base for micro insurance at N350 million, N200 million and N150 million respectively for intending composite, General and Life Micro Insurance operators .

This in the opinion of the general public, is

Also, the development of micro insurance, will serve as a van to carry insurance services to the door step of average Nigerian

on the high side and can hardly be afforded by the main people that are supposed to drive micro insurance business.

During Daniel’s regime, there were calls for a re- think on the capital base but to no effect. Although the present commissioner is yet to disclose in specific terms, what the minimum new capital base of each operator will be, from what he said, the new micro insurance capital base, will be such that will open up opportunities for those who are eager to sell insurance but who do not have requisite capital as stipulated by Daniel’s administration, to find their feet in the market.

According to him, each of the four grades of operators will have different capital base with the unit licensed operators having the lowest capital. He said with the unit operators, the industry hopes to reach market men and women even in the local markets across the country. Explaining their method of operation Kari said: “Once you are licensed,you can decide to have an office without chairs and air condition because if you have a unit license set up in Ajegunle, you don’t need to have a branch office as long as you will be there for the consumer to walk in on daily basis and receive your services.

“If you have a license to operate near a market,all you need is to stay close to the market where consumers will deal with you on daily basis and if they have issues, you will be there always to attend to them.So you don’t need the kind of capital a conventional company will need to operate from Victoria Island.”

According to him, in the exercise, the unit operators, will have lowest capital, followed

by state operators, regional operators while the national operators will have highest capital.

He also said there will be difference in their structure. Also, he said the unit licence operator,will have only one operational branch, the state operator will have minimum number of local governments to cover,the regional also minimum number of states to cover in the region ,while national operators will also have minimum number of states around the country to cover. Insurance operators, who spoke on this said, it will guarantee equitable distribution of insurance services to both the rich and poor in Nigeria. Micro insurance,is a type of insurance that is characterised by low premiums and low coverage. It is typically provided to individuals who cannot afford conventional insurance plans . It provides the poor and low income citizens of a country with insurance coverage.

But despite poverty level in the country, Nigerians are still alien to this particular line of business and this has added to the problem of undeveloped nature of insurance in the country as we as its poor contributions to the Gross Domestic product (GDP).

Currently, insurance contributions to the Nation’s GDP is less than one per cent. This is one of the reasons that compelled NAICOM to embark on the long journey of implementation of its two phased Market Development and Restructuring Initiative (MDRI).

MDRI, is a medium term plan spanning across 2009 and 2012.It is meant to grow the insurance industry’s premium income to N1 trillion initially by the end of 2012, but now Continued on page 31

T H I S D AY • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016

31

BUSINESSWORLD

NEWS

DAVID-WEST: FG WILL MAKE MORE WITH MORE PEOPLE IN FINANCIAL SYSTEM for weeks going to reclaim your money at the bank. Now, the poor people don’t have that luxury. So, we realised that we need to fix the technology and have the right infrastructure to ensure that these things can work reliably all the time. We must remember that mobile payments are small value payments. We are still complaining of quality of service by the telecoms, yet we are still relying on the same infrastructure we are putting more on the same infrastructure that can’t meet the basic service demand that it was created for.

So, are we going to start building financial services infrastructure separate from data and voice infrastructure? This is because if you want to send N5,000 to your mother in the village, you want to be sure that within some minutes, she will get it. Again, the level of awareness is so low.

People know what a phone can do, but they don’t realise that there is opportunity for doing more with the phone. But awareness is very difficult to build because when you are advertising, you are also advertising for the competition and people are not willing to do that. So, we need to also look at this as a global collective problem. That is where I feel institutions like the Central Bank of Nigeria would drive the process of collective advertisement.

There is need to for stakeholders to collectively sensitive everybody. This is because if they put all the advertisement money together and put it in a pool, they would be able to reach more people instead everybody advertising separately because we need to sensitise the whole environment to bring more people to the system. We need to bring merchants into the system; we need to bring utility payment to the system, and so on. So, we all have a lot of work to do because there are lots of opportunities in the system. And that is what our research project is looking at. What are the opportunities in these things? Don’t forget that in every problem, there is a solution and the solution is an opportunity. So, with the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, we are looking at several things. We are looking at the networks and the distribution structure.

When you think about Coca-Cola, Panadol, and so many other products, they get to very far areas. So how do they do it? You know what, they are moving physical products and they get to their destinations. Yet, under financial inclusion, we are not moving physical products

David- West

and we are still not there yet. So, how have they been doing it? So, I think there is a lot of learning to be done across various industries.

Unfortunately, financial services providers that are providing mobile money services are not good at indirect services. They have always done direct services. A bank want to spread its relationship, it opens a branch. So, indirect channels are not what the banks are used to.

This is what the fast moving consumer goods are used to. So, there is need for a mind-set shift. Again, the banks are worried about their brand.

They have spent a lot of monies developing these brands and some body would go and put it in one hut in a village. So, we need to help them realise that going into this model of banking is not about their high net worth, but about meeting a need. When we talk about meeting a need, it is about meeting social needs as well. Don’t forget that in the world we live today, we are talking about sustainability banking. How can we be sustainable if we are only serving one per cent of the population? So, banks need to start looking more critical about

their approach to these things. Whether we like it or not, I think the people at the bottom of the pyramid do more transactions than any one of us. They buy food; they pay for transportation, etc; and so we need to recruit more merchants and have people provide the service. So, we need to incentivise growth.

If there is no incentive in the form of a discount, then you are not offering me any benefit to cash and with that there is no incentive for me to change my behaviour. And if we don’t begin to adjust to that, that means we are not considering those consumers in our market place. So, it is about us coming down to create goods and services which people can use.

So, what is the future of financial inclusion in Nigeria?

I have to be optimistic, the future has to be bright otherwise we would all have failed. This is because when you look at the benefits, they are astronomical. Imagine all the markets in Lagos alone and the markets from those informal sectors coming into a

structured system every day. That would be phenomenal. So, when we talk about access to credit and growing the system, all those things are dependent on our ability for us to include those that had been excluded from the banking system.

So, we need to look at everything cohesively as one system. So, what we are trying to do in our project is to understand the different players in the industry, their motivations and incentives. This is because without an incentive, there is nothing keeping somebody there.

So, the incentives must meet all their own business obligations as well as their social obligations. And if you don’t understand that, you won’t know what lever to pull.

For example, with the stamp duty policy, people are running away again. So, with these policies while we are trying to bring in people into the banking system, they are also chasing people away because it is as if we are working at cross purposes.

We can make more money when we have more people in the financial system.

So, the opportunities are abound. There is the opportunity for economic development, social development because people would have more monies for savings. With monies being digital, we can now build additional credits and services.

How can you get credit if you don’t have a credit history? That is why a lot of people resort to expensive lenders because there is no trail. In Kenya for example, there is a product that has been built on top of MPesa, it is a savings a credit product. What they do is to build your credit history. The more you lend and the more you repay on time, the access to credit you have. So, we need to be looking at these things more holistically.

Those are some of the things we want to do.

We are looking at the data to know who the consumers are, what they spend on and how we can advise people to develop better products and services to meet those needs. The CBN is now licensing more super-agents, which is good, but again is it more super-agents we need or more agents? Again, when we have more super-agents, we are going to have another problem of interoperability.

Interoperability is very important and we need to start dealing with those issues today otherwise we are going to create a future problem that could break the entire system.

UNLOCKING THE POTENTIAL IN MICRO-INSURANCE by the year 2017 from N160 billion margin it was before the MDRI launch.

The initiative is also expected to help create about 50,000 fresh jobs through the Agency Network System while raising the contribution of the industry to the nation’s GDP significantly.

The project, according to NAICOM, focuses on four key areas including enforcement of compulsory insurances, sanitisation and modernisation of the insurance agency system, wiping out of fake insurance institutions and introduction of risk-based supervision.

Also, the development of micro insurance, which will serves as a van to carry insurance services to the door steps of average Nigerian.

Seven years after the official launch of the initiative, it is still far from growing the premium income of the industry, which is its main target mainly because of inability to develop the micro insurance segment.

Since the launch of the MDRI, it appears NAICOM has been alone in the effort to develop the micro insurance segment while operators and their intermediaries were more interested in their usual culture of chasing government and corporate businesses.

It was after some years that few companies like Mutual Benefit Assurance joined the regulator in developing the segment.

But in recent times, precisely since two years back,more and more insurance firms are beginning to embrace the micro insurance segment but many are still at the experimental stage of developing their micro insurance products. With the grading of operators and their capital as planned by NAICOM, it is hoped that the insurance industry will witness a major boom that will change its fortunes.

While insurance industry stake holders and operators are waiting for NAICOM’s pronouncement on the new capital base,

Managing Director Risk Guard Africa, Chief Yemi Sholadoye, had suggested that the capital base for micro insurance operators be split into four categories of N90 million for those operating at national level, N40 million for those operating at state level, N10 million for those at local government level,N5 million for unit level operators.

He also advised that the existing insurance agents should be transformed to underwriters of micro insurance at grass root level.

Also, a member of the Association of Registered Insurance Agents (ARIEN), who does not want his name in print said NAICOM should endeavour to make the new capital as low as possible . He said some existing insurance agents may be interested in becoming micro insurance underwriters but that with the huge capital attached, their interest will be doused.

Soladoye observed that there is a big gap in micro insurance delivery in the country, adding that major challenges to the micro insurance business in Nigeria are usage, contract and trust. In the delivery problem, Soladoye suggested that experienced private individuals with little capital should be allowed to participate in the micro insurance business.

He noted that the insurance industry needs a treat from without, stressing that the treat would come when NAICOM, appreciates the fact that insurance should not be distributed only through the traditional channels.

He noted that micro-insurance practice which entails retail strategy would boost the industry’s premium income calling for a refocus of the industry, adding that the industry can never develop through the use of a single marketing channel.

“There must be a trigger from within or a treat from without in the industry. The trigger

from within will happen when one insurance company decides to change the market by providing improved customer service that will change the focus of the industry. A treat from without is when NAICOM appreciates the fact that insurance should not be distributed only through the traditional distribution channel.

“In other nations, places like shoprite, cooperative societies and megaplaza distribute insurance. When NAICOM is confidence enough to open the door for retail marketing,there would be tremendous growth in the industry.

NAICOM would always say it does not have the capacity to monitor such, but it should start from somewhere. If NAICOM opens the doors, what it gets from the N200 billion that is generated now by operators will be multiplied by five”, he suggested.

Insurance firms, which have gone fully into the micro insurance business,said it yields more premium than even government business which is characterised by indebtedness and unhealthy competition among the operators.

Speaking on his company’s experience in the business, Group Managing Director, Mutual Benefit Assurance Plc, Mr. Akin Ogunbiyi said his company is currently making impressive business outing with the micro insurance business. According to him, Mutual Benefit, has surmounted the initial challenges associated with doing micro insurance business and is now reaping the rewards from the venture.

He explained that Mutual Micro Finance Bank, which is into micro-insurance,has designed products and services that the common people in Nigerian can buy.

He added that products that cost as low as N50 have been designed to encourage mass participation in micro insurance business in Nigeria.

Disclosing how the company made its initial

triumphant entry, Ogunbiyi said, “We approached a group of people who are selling jotters and brought them together in a cooperative unit; we empowered and encouraged them. Today they are accessing up to N10 million from the micro finance bank and they are paying back. “The same applies to those selling textbooks and pure water.

“These are some of the things that we have done to use insurance to create value, empower people to be able to buy our products and services. The beauty of this is that the informal sector is the symbol of integrity, there is no single default in repayment,” Ogunbiyi added.

Just two years back, Mutual Benefit signed the first insurance distribution franchise in Nigeria in which it gathered both retired and disengaged finance workers, including bankers and engage them in distribution of the company’s products with their own workforce whom they pay from the commission made from the distribution business. Mutual Benefit Assurance,under its retail insurance distribution strategy also recently signed an MOU with Cool Word, a subsidiary of PZ Industries,to provide authomatic insurance cover for its products sold in Nigeria.

The products in question include kitchen appliances, Haier Thermocool, Lifemate, Sony, Tefal, Kenwood among others.

Another insurance firm, Guinea insurance said it is coming out with a new model of micro insurance distribution channel which may not depend much on the use of agents but IT based distribution channel.

All these, show that Nigerian insurance industry, has commenced journey towards harnessing opportunities in the micro insurance market like its counterparts in developed countries like UK and African countries like Gambia.

32

T H I S D AY • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016

BUSINESSWORLD

NEWS

IITA’s Cassava Weed Management Study Reveals Gaps in Nigeria’s Extension System Crusoe Osagie A study on the Training Needs Assessment of extension agents in Nigeria has revealed several gaps and constraints that have hitherto limited the effectiveness of extension service in the country.

Findings from the study, which was recently presented in a paper titled: ‘The Capacity of Extension Staff in Managing Weeds in Cassava Systems in Nigeria’ in Nanning, China, during the World Congress on Root and Tuber Crops’ revealed that unless extension workers have the capacity to transfer improved knowledge on weed control in cassava, farmers will not be able to maximise the benefits of improved weed management technologies.

A Communication and Knowledge Exchange expert at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Nigeria, Godwin Atser, who presented the paper, also noted that the current farmer-extension ratio of one extension worker to 3011 farm families was a major constraint limiting the effectiveness of extension system in Nigeria.

“The ratio of one extension worker to over 3,000 farmers drastically fell short of the

target of the Nigerian government to have one agricultural extension worker attached to 800 farmers, posing a serious challenge to the agricultural transformation agenda of the government,” he explained.

Atser said that apart from the grossly inadequate number of extension workers, his study indicated that the existing workers were older, lacked capacity development as a result of underfunding and basic requirements, causing inefficiency. The study, which was funded by the IITA Cassava Weed Management Project specifically, investigated the capabilities of extension staff of Agricultural Development Programmes (ADPs) in weed management in cassava systems in Nigeria.

“The findings of the study,” Atser said, “showed that more than 80 per cent of extension staff have not had training that specifically targets weed management in cassava.

“There is knowledge gap on weed identification, types of herbicides, cassava varietal identification, and computer skills among extension staff.

“Furthermore, the extension system in Nigeria is male dominated and majority are 50 years and above. Radio, telephone

Firm Partners Kaduna State on Tomato Production Springfield Agro Limited, a subsidiary of Kewalram Chanrai Group has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Kaduna State government to boost production of tomatoes in the country.

The Group Deputy Managing Director, Kewalram Chanrai Group, Mr. Victor Eburajolo, explained that the MoU was expected to reduce the country’s food imports, by boosting local production of the commodity and also create about 100 direct jobs for the rural community with a spinoff that will create other indirect numerous jobs to the residents with and around the community Eburajolo, said the MoU is also coming on the heels of resuscitation of the Ikara tomato processing plant in Kaduna currently being managed by Springfield Agro Limited, which he said had been moribund for decades.

“With the ban on tomato paste importation, everybody is looking inwards. The Ikara tomato processing plant has been there for over twenty years but only operated for two years before it was abandoned. We got a ten year lease to run the factory. The factory is situated at the tomato belt area of the state. With this, Springfield Agro would be able to address the issue of wastage in the tomato value chain,” he said.

He said according to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), Nigeria is the 13th largest producer of tomato in the world and the second

after Egypt in Africa, saying that Nigeria has a domestic demand for tomatoes put at 2.3 million tonnes, while it produces only 1.8 million tonnes annually.

He noted that about 45 per cent of tomato produce is wasted due to lack storage facility, poor handling practice and poor transportation network across the country, stressing that the situation has resulted in an import bill of N16 billion annually in the importation of tomato paste to make up for the shortfall in local production.

Also speaking at the event, Managing Director Springfield Agro Limited, Mr. Tarun Das, said the company see a business opportunity by helping the farmers to grow more tomato and also help to reduce the country’s importation of tomato concentrate.

According to Das, “We would bring farmers under our out-growers scheme where we give them good seedling to improve their farm yields.

There is also going to be a demonstration farm where we demonstrate to farmers how to apply best practices.”

As a take-off investment, a total of N200 million was spent by Springfield Agro in the refurbishment and installation of modern processing equipments and machineries at the Ikara tomato processing plant in Kaduna, The company acquired 6oo hectares of land for its out-growers scheme.

The company is expected to have six tomato processing plants in other states of the federation.

and group discussion were the most used communication channels for technology transfer to farmers by extension staff.”

He recommended training of extension staff on

sustainable management of weeds in cassava systems with specific emphasis on weed identification, herbicides use and application, cassava varietal identification, gender

and computer skills.

Atser concluded by calling for recruitment of young, educated and upwardly mobile agricultural extension workers in Nigeria, with intensive

capacity development to meet up with the need for effective dissemination of information to farmers on new technologies, varieties and market opportunities.

OUR STORY

L-R: Executive Director, AMCON, Eberechukwu Uneze; MD/CEO AMCON, Mr Ahmed Kuru; Executive Director, AMCON, Mr Aminu Ismail and AMCON’s Legal Consultant Mr Oluseye Opasanya (SAN), at a Public Hearing organised by Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions on a Bill for an Act to repeal the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act 2016 to make provisions for Corporate and Individual Insolvency held yesterday in Abuja...recently JULIUS ATOI

Guinness Nigeria Repositions for Sustained Growth Eromosele Abiodun Guinness Nigeria has announced that it has begun the process of reviewing its organisational structure and design in order to enable it build a more effective and efficient business for sustained, long term growth.

Managing Director/CEO, Guinness Nigeria, Peter Ndegwa in a statement, said that the company needed to reposition in order to achieve its objectives and response to an increasingly volatile operational environment.

“It is our performance ambition to be the best performing, most trusted and respected consumer products company in Nigeria. With a challenging market economy and slowing GDP growth, increasing inflation, oil price crisis, amongst others, we feel that this is a good opportunity for us to look at our structures, processes and culture and see how we may build a simpler, more agile and performanceoriented organisation in order to achieve that ambition and respond with speed to enable us to win in the market,” he said.

Ndegwa said while work is on-going to determine the full extent of these changes, they know that headcount will be impacted but their focus is to take a broader look at the organisational

design to enable them build a more effective and efficient organisation.

He said: “These changes are required because we are determined to create the right conditions for our people, our brands and our business to succeed. Africa is the fastest growing region for Diageo in the world and Nigeria is an important market for Diageo in Africa. We are committed to the Nigerian market; we have been here for 66 years and expect to be here for many more years.

We feel that these changes will help transform our business and put us in the best shape to grow our business today and for the future.”

He added that the company is very excited about its consumers and some of the great innovation that have launched recently and others coming in the pipeline as well.

“A great example is the Guinness Africa Special that we launched late last year – the first major innovation on the Guinness brand in 10 years.

We also continue to invest in the spirits end of our total beverage alcohol (TBA) portfolio. In addition, we are looking to increase our local raw materials sourcing to over 70 per cent - all of this demonstrates our commitment to Nigeria and Nigerians,” he stated.

Cummins Floods Nigerian Market with Low Emission Generators Ejiofor Alike As part of the global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and noise pollution, Cummins West Africa Limited (CWAL) said it had flooded the Nigerian market with low emission and noise compliant generators.

Speaking during a recent opening of the company’s new sales office in Victoria Island area of Lagos, the Director Cummins West Africa, Kwame Gyan-Tawiah said the generators were designed to cut fuel consumption by up to 20 per cent, adding that the company’s products pass through rigorous quality check and conformfully to Nigeria’s environmental standards.

Gyan-Tawiah said the new office was opened in order to facilitate better customer engagement and service delivery by Cummins West Africa, which is part of Cummins Diesel Distribution Business in Nigeria.

According to Cummins Director, the new sales office would showcase power generation products, filtration and also provide round the clock after-sales service to the company’s teeming customers.

The director noted that the strategic location of the sales office provides opportunity to reach many customers across different market demographics

“Cummins has over the years invested in building in-house capability to design and build projects on turnkey basis, thus the opening of this showroom will help aid delivery of the different power solution products offered by Cummins and provide the necessary support before and after delivery of products” Gyan-Tawiah said.

“Cummins as a customer centric brand is experimenting with different marketing approaches for different consumer segments and this showroom gives us the opportunity to reach many of these marketing demographics as the busy location means better visibility and ease of access to existing and prospective customers,” Gyan-Tawiah explained.

According to the director, Cummins generators are low emissions and noise complaint generators designed to cut fuel consumption by up to 20 per cent, stressing that all the company’s products pass through rigorous quality check and conform fully to Nigeria’s environmental standards.

“This new showroom would be the 5th in Nigeria and 2nd In Lagos.

However there are numerous dealers and shop-fronts that distribute Cummins products across the country,” Gyan-Tawiah added.

33

T H I S D AY • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016

EDUCATION ‘500,000 New Teachers Must be Equipped with Modern Teaching Approaches’ In this interview with Funmi Ogundare, the Director of Meadow Hall Group, Mrs. Kehinde Nwani, stressed that the 500,000 teachers to be employed by the federal government must be exposed to good quality, effective training on 21st century best practices and modern approaches to teaching, among other issues. Excerpts: the development of the school. For example, we constructed a perimeter fence and gate because they were always harassed by street urchins who would come in and vandalise the school’s facilities.

Even more importantly we have been able to provide additional support for the teaching and learning at Ilasan, ensuring that it aligns with international best practices and adequately prepares the children for the 21st century market place.

When was Meadow Hall established and why?

Meadow Hall started in July 2002 as a summer school in Lekki Phase One with 24 children.

By September of the same year, the first academic session commenced with 60 children, six well-experienced teachers and six teaching assistants. In January 2007, the school moved to its permanent site at Lekki-Epe Expressway.

We also have another site in Ikoyi.

I have a passion for children and education; I love to learn and teach people. My passion for education was the driving force for starting the school. By the grace of God, the school has grown over the years and evolved into an educational group with five subsidiaries: Meadow Hall Education, Spring Meadow Edutainment, Meadow Hall Consult, Meadow Hall Branchise and Meadow Hall Foundation.

Our focus is to groom children who will fulfil their highest potential in life by exposing them to 21st century best practices, and challenging them to be critical thinkers.

How often do you train your teachers?

Our teachers are trained regularly and in various ways. We have weekly inset meetings where training takes place, they also meet in collaborative sets periodically to discuss and find solutions to real time challenges they are facing through learning and reflection.

In addition, teachers also take part in our robust mentoring and coaching programme.

When I started the school about 15 years ago, I realised that a lot of teachers did not fully appreciate the importance of continuous professional development. Many were satisfied with their initial teacher training and failed to understand the importance of updating their knowledge and keeping abreast of 21st century best practice. They did not realise that the 21st century definition of a professional is not ‘an expert’ but ‘a learner’ - someone ready to learn, unlearn and relearn. The process of learning is without any foreseeable end. It is ongoing and lifelong.

In order to bridge this gap we started our education consulting firm- Meadow Hall Consult which caters to the training needs of heads of schools, teachers and administrators. We also have a finishing school for Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs).

What challenges do you encounter as a school?

Getting new staff to understand and run with the vision is usually a challenge, though it can be overcome by constantly sharing and casting the vision. However, it is something that anyone who wants to set-up a school is likely to encounter. Quality of graduates would be another challenge but again training and re-training can fix that to a very large extent.

Managing people (we have 350 members of staff) can also be daunting though I choose to see it as a blessing as in some way I am doing something to help the nation I love so much. I deeply appreciate my staff because they play a pivotal role in the fulfilment of the vision.

An individual is called but you cannot do the work alone. So it is important to maintain a healthy and pleasant work environment and appreciate your workers. Other challenges include multiple taxes and high interest rate on loans.

Nwani

private sector, the important thing is that teachers must continually update their knowledge and engage in continuous professional development.

What has been the impact of the training on the school and the education sector?

Meadow Hall is a learning organisation where everyone is constantly learning and improving their practice. For instance, we have action learning sets, a form of ‘problem-based learning’ which helps teachers collaborate and develop strategies to solve various work challenges they encounter. This encourages teaching practitioners find tailor-made solutions to the issues relating to their practice. In effect their leadership skills are being developed and they take charge of situations instead of sitting back, waiting to be told what to do.

Most of our teachers also facilitate courses at our consult, which has a positive impact on their practice. Most of our teachers have become seasoned trainers through this avenue. When you know something and you teach it, you become better at it. Indeed by training teachers across the nation, we are better positioned to positively influence the education system. We are also guaranteed to reach out to more children with every teacher trained through our consult.

What programmes do you have in your school to inspire creativity in the children?

At Meadow Hall, creativity is one of our core values and we recognise that children are intelligent in different ways. The truth is that not all children are going to be mathematicians and physicists. Some of them have been blessed with skills in football, athletics, music, art etc.

We realised that two or three days of extracurricular activities were not sufficient in honing the skills of the children. This inspired the establishment of Spring Meadow Edutainment (SME) which focuses on non-academic areas such as music, arts, sports and technology. SME is an edutainment company designed to inspire and nurture creativity in children as well as create avenues where they can have fun, while still learning. Children develop lifelong skills in their various areas of interest (talents) as well as build social and interpersonal skills.

There are nine centres under Spring Meadow Edutainment; music academy, language school where they can learn Nigerian languages, as well as French and Mandarin. We also have a book cafe which helps create reading culture in the children and encourage them to be authors. The learning centre and dance school, arts centre, special education needs centre which is for children who have learning or medical challenges such as autism, Down’s syndrome, attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) etc.

We also have a skills acquisition centre where skills such as gardening, cooking, sewing etc are taught. In addition, we organise fairs, camps excursions, trips and tours for students. All these have far-reaching effects on the children that go beyond the knowledge of core subjects.

(Maths, English and Science).

Are you of the view that public school teachers are better than those in private schools?

I do not believe that is correct and indeed there is no competition. Whether in the public or

What efforts have you made to ensure that the children imbibe Nigerian culture?

I am very passionate about Nigeria and I believe that our children should be encouraged to share

in that passion. If they go abroad to further their education, they should be encouraged to come back home and contribute their quota to the development of this country. In any case if our educational standard is high and the children have access to 21st century best practices, they wouldn’t have to go abroad.

Culture is very important to me. At Meadow Hall we are raising ‘glocal’ children, children who know who they are, are proud of the culture and reflect the culture (are respectful and have values). These children should be able to go anywhere in the world and hold their own, be innovative and creative without losing the essence of who they are. This is something we are very particular about.

How does the school give back to the society?

We run various CSR initiatives through our foundation. A lot of our children at Meadow Hall are privileged and are being prepared for leadership in Nigeria through the quality of education they are receiving in our school, such as our unequivocal focus on developing leadership, entrepreneurship and technology skills. But the question is what happens to the children in public schools who do not have these opportunities?

We must remember that the children from our public schools are equally future leaders.

The irony is that the children of the elite who travel abroad to school often don’t want to come back home. So then you will find that the children in our public schools who have not been properly educated are the ones that will grow up and become the president or senators in this country.

That was why we set up the foundation. We cater for the education needs of less-privileged children and teachers too in the public schools.

We have a school adoption programme which is focused on partnering the government to upgrade public schools; teaching them 21st century best practices, providing teaching aids and resources and other necessary infrastructure.

In 2014 we adopted Ilasan Primary School and have been able to contribute significantly to

What is your outlook for education in 2016?

I must commend the federal government, I can see a government that is passionate about education and understands the significant role it plays in societal development. The initiative to employ 500,000 teachers is laudable in addition to a larger budgetary allocation being given to education compared to previous budgets.

However, we must implement the idea of employing 500,000 teachers with great care.

I am of the opinion that the teachers should enroll for postgraduate courses in education (for the non-education graduates). In addition, there must be a plan for ‘effective’ continuous professional development and mentoring programme for all of them. They should be exposed to a series of good quality, effective training on 21st century best practices and modern approaches to teaching before they are allowed into the classroom. This must then be followed up with continuous professional development and mentoring programmes.

The security of the children in the public schools to which these teachers will be deployed must also be considered carefully. It is of utmost importance. In developed countries, there is what is called Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), you must get a clearance from them before you can work with children, but we don’t have that in Nigeria. So if we employ 500,000 graduates, how do we ensure the safety of our children?

It goes beyond just increasing the workforce, what kind of checks will the government put in place? How are they going to sieve out the bad eggs? There are paedophiles and people who molest children in every society. The safety of the children must be paramount. Another point to be considered is how we get the best brains to work in the education sector. We must remember that these teachers are grooming the future leaders of the nation. Are we employing 500,000 people who are merely using education as a stop gap? Are they intelligent enough to be teachers? Teachers are highly intelligent people.

We need first class brains in the education sector.

We are already off to a good start but we need to implement this initiative properly to ensure that the end will justify the means.

37

T H I S D AY • WEDNESDAY MARCH 16, 2016

PERSPECTIVE

Nigerian Universities: Global Ranking and Critical Reform Issues Tunji Olaopa The idea of the global ranking of universities has become a veritable means by which we assess the performance of various universities across the continent. It is no longer news that most African universities struggle to make some visible showing in the forefronts of the ranking.

For instance, in the Times Higher Education 2014-2015 world university ranking, European, Asian and mostly United States’ universities occupied the first 100 slots. Africa made its first appearance through the University of Cape Town, South Africa at number 124, followed by the University of Witwatersrand, another South African institution at slot 251. Out of 400 universities, no Nigerian university, federal, state and private made the list. In the January 2016 edition of the Webometric ranking of universities, University of Ibadan was first in Nigeria, 16th in Africa and 1,296th in the world. Obafemi Awolowo came in at 35th in Africa and 2,119th in the world.

We often mostly deride the ranking as being unrepresentative and loaded against African institutions.

The argument usually goes that such global assessments for instance, Transparency International’s Corruption Index, fails to take into consideration the contextual realities on ground in the issues at stake. Thus, ranking African universities does more harm than good because these institutions are made to compete on academic standards that fail the text of comparative adequacy. However, any improvement in positioning is often celebrated and flashed across multiple media spaces.

The University of Ibadan website celebrates this webometric ranking as the first in Nigeria.

No one, however can grudge the premier university its celebratory moment.

Ranking of all kinds measures specific performance metrics that statistically outline how a university is perceived as a centre of learning and research.

There are several lessons to learn from what we see and where we are on the ranking lists.

The first such lesson is essentially symbolic.

And it symbolises national degradation. In other words, we learn through these rankings the value we place, as a state on educational matter, compared to, say, the United States, which conspicuously dominates the rankings, whatever the standards of assessment.

Apart from the national economy, education constitutes a significant component of national development which no nation can ever hope to toy with without dire consequences that goes beyond a mere downgrading on any ranking framework. It is in this sense that Nigeria needs to look beyond lamenting or celebrating any ranking improvement or slump.

Noel Castree once remarked, “Education is political.”

What is seriously missing from that fundamental statement is a huge and bold exclamation mark to press home the significance of, in this case, higher education to the national development of any state. In fact, the human condition, as far as I am concerned, is made more palatable because human beings have over the years, developed a learning trajectory that imposes knowledge on human limitations. It is in this sense that universities, for instance, constitute one of the most important discoveries of mankind.

If higher education constitutes a serious phenomenon that ensures human survival, at the level of the nation-state, it fundamentally becomes an institutional representation of national discovery of knowledge, and its utilization for development and progress. We can hypothesize that the extent to which a nation-state can function in developmental terms is conditional on its significant human capital (SHC) which is determined by the state of its higher education. There is therefore no nation that can assuredly rise above the quality of its own SHC or its higher education objective. In the third world, and especially in Africa and particularly in Nigeria, the truth of the disconnection between the SHC and national development is brought home forcefully and unfortunately.

For instance, demographic data demonstrates that Nigerians all around the globe constitute

Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu

one of the highest achieving immigrant groups in the world, and the achievements cut across all areas of human endeavours-space technology, education, science, art, healthcare, politics, etc. Yet, this high feat of optimization and productive innovation has not been transplanted to the Nigerian development dynamics as instigation for national progress. Nigerian universities can hardly be regarded as sites of optimization and productive innovation.

In actual fact, they represent one sad index of our underdevelopment, especially in terms of governance, research outputs and relevant curricular dynamics. It is doubtful that Nigeria will ever produce another Nobel Laureate, groomed within the Nigerian university environment. is because while the universities that produce the Nobel Laureates do so in the context of cutting-edge research that are defined by the capacity to transform national developmental dynamics, Nigerian universities are grievously dissociated from Nigeria’s developmental efforts.

While the global community is vast transforming into a knowledge society, Nigeria appears to be standing right at the margin of significant happenings in academic context. Francis Bacon gave the world the fundamental thought that knowledge equals power. And that power translates into the capacity higher education has to induce development. Education is a badge of development.

Higher education particularly represents a nation’s window into the global flow of ideas, dynamics, strategies, paradigms and best practices.

Higher educational institutions facilitate the process by which insights are adopted, adapted, domesticated and calibrated for optimal national rejuvenation. But, at the conceptual level, it seems that Nigeria’s educational system is defined more as ‘tertiary’ than as ‘higher’ education.

Tertiary education is distinguished by certification as a meal ticket; higher education is defined by research, discovery and innovation. And these three indices, in all truth, cannot be said to define any Nigerian university today. I doubt this should raise any eyebrow, except from sentimental patriots.

But not even a sentimental patriot can deny our educational deficits: (i) Widespread indiscipline among both lectures and students; (ii) Declining research productivity and pedagogy; (iii) Lack of technical skills and knowledge of curriculum development and innovation and among lecturers across disciplines; (iv) Falling academic and moral standards; (v) Lack of institutional mechanism

to deal effectively with the quantitative and qualitative dimension of knowledge and to sustain relevant reforms within exponential explosion of knowledge; (vi) Corruption, arrogance and abuse of power among the leadership and governance of university; (vii) Underfunding of the university; (viii) Irrelevant and obsolete curricula; (ix) Governance deficit and disconnect among major stakeholder and university authority. This dampening list can be multiplied ad nauseam. A critical peep into the 2006 Educational Sector Analysis will somehow leave a perspective reader deeply depressed.

Essentially, Nigeria’s tertiary education system measures transformatory knowledge by the number of certificates a person is able to amass.

This debilitating but ingrained culture ensures that we have quite a number of PhDs and educated people who lack the competences that a developmental state requires to move beyond development rhetoric. Let me reiterate this with a terrible joke I received sometimes ago on my WhatsApp: A group of Nigerian lecturers were on a trip. Immediately they boarded the plane, the captain announced that the plane they will be flying is a product of their students.

At this announcement, many of them grew very frightened and disembarked immediately, except one. When asked why he remained seated, he said: “I have no reason to fear the plane crashing out of the sky. If what we taught the students is anything to go by, this plane will not even leave the ground.” If the existing critical mass of capacities in Nigeria cannot fly a plane, make pencils, build bridges or process early warning systems in case of disaster management, then how far away are we from achieving a knowledge society?

With these deficits, it is certain Nigeria is not ready to create a university of the future that rides on the knowledge revolution to facilitate qualitative development dynamics. Those who hold the future, I dare say, are those who are willing to take the risk of researching it.

Over five decades since independence and it seems we have hardly moved forward to any point of radical rehabilitation.

On the contrary, we seem to be compounding our own human capital deficit. But then, lamentation does not solve any problem; reform does. And Nigeria’s salvage point rests on unequivocal institutional reform.

There are three focal points which assiduously undermine our educational effort today- governance framework, curricular dynamics and research philosophy. And these three also, fortunately constitute critical reform frameworks for ensuring a radical transition from tertiary

to higher education.

Governance, it seems to me, is key here.

It is the steering mechanism that calibrates curricular and research directions. Governance issues range from the excessive oversight of tertiary education that ensures that the delivery of education is terribly fragmented beyond measure, to the mute issue of corruption in university governance across Nigeria. To quote an erstwhile Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Professor Olufemi Bamiro, governance, as a reform locus, would actuate the following reform questions: (a) How can the institution build the best leadership team? (b) What are the vision and mission statements, and what are the specific goals that the university is seeking to achieve? (c) In what niches(s) will it pursue excellence in teaching and research? (d) What is the likely cost of the proposed qualitative leap, and how is it giving to be funded? (g) How will success be measured? What monitoring systems, outcome indicators, and accountability mechanisms will be used?

Apart from ensuring institutional stability in the midst of global and national multiplicity of contested ideological, economic cultural and political contexts from where the university must derive its objectives and direction, the responsibility of a morally responsible, administratively competent and intellectually savvy governance team in any Nigerian university is to facilitate networks in terms of research and teaching. This will be a network of different universities in Nigeria conjoined by research similarities.

For instance, universities in the North could be associated with a research initiative that studies Islam, nomadic education, Sahel agriculture and desertification. Universities in the South could network around the oil economy, militancy, ethnic minorities issues, ecological issues like erosion, industrial studies, agriculture, mineral resources, urbanisation, and many other issues.

What, for instance, makes the California Institute of Technology (CALTECH) the best school in the world in terms of global ranking?

It is the combination of all these factors. But most especially, there is an academic-industry institutionalised partnership which ensures that research is backed by solid intelligence that grounds it in real developmental issues.

The MIT-Silicon Valley experiment provides a template of the way for the universities of the future to go. The Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy becomes, in this regard, a timely framework which can serve as a fulcrum for public-private research initiative that could jumpstart the research networks collaborations of the future.

To arrive at this point of global reckoning requires paying significant attention to four reform exigencies: (a) Rethinking the idea of university autonomy away from a policing and micro-managing to a facilitative approach that significantly enables university governance and regulatory system; (b) the need for due care and sophistication in the quality of people appointed by governments into university governing councils; (c) the urgent need for a theory-practice mix in university staffing of faculties; and (d) designation of universities as centres of excellence based on strategic consideration of their comparative advantage.

Higher education, through the harnessing of the significant human capital (SHC), constitutes Nigeria’s optimisation window into global and national relevance. It is the engine room for socioeconomic fast tracking. But the first condition for such a rapid progress is to ensure that the fish does not get rotten from the head.

Governance becomes our litmus reform test.

The issue of the global ranking of Nigerian universities would really be a foregone conclusion once these universities are serving the developmental purposes Nigeria requires of them. In other words, rather than agitating about the ranking, let us declare a state of emergency on our universities.

Dr. Olaopa is the Executive Vice-Chairman Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy (ISGPP), Ibadan tolaopa@ibsgpp.com tolaopa2003@gmail.com tolaopa2003@yahoo.com

38

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016 • T H I S D AY

CITYSTRINGS

Acting Features Editor: Charles Ajunwa Email charles.ajunwa@thisdaylive.com

A Survivor's Tale But for providence, Tunde Busari, a construction worker, would have joined the body count of 34 casualties in the recent collapse of a five-storey building, owned by Lekki Gardens. Chiemelie Ezeobi reports I was buried under the collapsed building. I almost gave up hope but I kept hearing the sound of the machine and I knew they have not forgotten me. I don't know what else to say. It's God that saved my life because I was on the ground floor

The collapsed Lekki Gardens five-storey building

"

I was buried under the collapsed building. I almost gave up hope but I kept hearing the sound of the machine and I knew they have not forgotten me. I don't know what else to say. It's God that saved my life because I was on the ground floor," those were the words of 27-year-old Tunde Busari, a construction worker.

Busari was one of the 13 survivors of the collapsed five-storey building belonging to Lekki Gardens, at Chisco Bus stop, opposite Oando Filling Station, at the Ikate Elegushi area of Lekki, Lagos. He was not only a survivor, he was the last survivor to be brought out from the rubble.

His rescue was nothing short of the miraculous because he was rescued at a point when rescue operations were winding up for the day. It was around 5.56pm on Tuesday, March 8, 2016, when he was rescued by rescue workers at the site, who had at that time undertaken 14 hours of laborious work trying to excavate and rescue construction workers and their families who were buried under the rubble of the collapsed structure. As at 5pm, they had already rescued 12 people and recovered 18 bodies.

Suddenly, the excavating machines stopped and in the silence that ensued, a voice was heard calling for help. It was the voice of 27-year-old Tunde Busari crying for help.

It was a miracle. He was buried under the rubble for over 14 hours and as fate would have it, the last person to be brought out alive.

He was quickly rushed to the standby ambulance belonging to the Lagos State Government where he was given initial first aid treatment whilst they ran a quick check on him. After he was sedated, the 27-yearold welder from Ibadan, was diagnosed with spinal cord injuries. Still lucid albeit weak, he gave THISDAY an insight of what happened. According to him, they were all sleeping when the building collapsed and fell on them. He said they ordinarily would sleep outside because of the heat but that fateful Monday night, they were all forced

to go indoors because it rained heavily. That decision proved fatal.

But Busari said the building would not have collapsed if the proper thing was done.

According to him, when they noticed that the building was faulty three months ago, they had drawn the attention of the engineer simply identified as Taiwo to try bent beams.

He said the engineer had fixed the bent beams by double piling it and they had gone back to work without further hassles until the building collapsed.

Like Busari, like scores of other survivors of the collapse, were brought out from the rubble, some with minor bruises and others with major ones necessitating movement to the hospital. One of the rescued was Hassan, an indigene of Kaduna State, was heard shouting 'God is Great' when he was finally dug out.

One of the survivors, Frank Ogoli, an iron bender, said, "We usually sleep outside but that day, we all went inside because it rained heavily. We sleep in the building because they hardly pay us."

One of the survivors who was simply identified as Femi said, "They are still owing me for the job I did for them. When I came to the site on Monday, it was with the hope of getting my money. Initially when we started the work, we were paid N3,000 daily but later it was changed to N3,500 weekly. Now I didn't just get my money, I also have a wound on the head to show for it."

The construction of the five-storey building, which is one of the two buildings undergoing construction in the same compound, started about four months and had 30 flats each.

THISDAY gathered that the building collapsed at about 4.30am following a heavy thunderstorm, accompanied by a heavy downpour that brought down the building, burying scores underneath.

A Devastating Collapse Like a pile of baldly stacked cards, the fivestorey building belonging to Lekki Gardens fell on Tuesday, and that day, no fewer than

18 persons including a mother, her baby and 16 adults were killed.

While 12 persons were rescued alive, they had sustained varying degree of injuries, even as scores were still feared trapped under the debris of the Horizon 1 Estate, Lekki Gardens.

That same Tuesday afternoon, the casualty rate was 15, which was the total figure of deceased persons brought out from the debris of the collapsed building as at 4.41pm.

Immediately news of the incident filtered out, emergency responders drawn from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Federal and State Fire Service, the Police stormed the area. The emergency workers with the help of local rescue team, were at first able to reduced one body and rescued four survivors from the debris as at 7.30am.

By 7.49am, two more bodies were brought out dead, even as the figure for survivors remained at four. As at 8.08am, another dead body was brought out and another rescued, increasing the casualty and survivors rate to four and five respectively. Another survivor was rescued at about 8.48am and at about 1.11am, the total figure of casualties and survivors remained at seven each.

The figure later stood at eight survivors and seven dead as at 1.20pm and later rose to nine survivors and seven dead at 2.27am before it again rose to 10 casualties at 3.11pm.

At about 3.40pm, the death toll had risen to 11 persons and as at 4pm, the body of a middle aged woman clutching her infant son was brought out amidst tears by onlookers.

At exactly 4.30pm, two other persons were brought out alive but before they could be taken to the standby ambulance, they breathed their last.

In an interview with THISDAY, NEMA South-west spokesperson, Mr. Ibrahim Farinloye, had said rescue operations would continue the next day until they get to the ground floor.

He said, "Those rescued alive were first treated by medical personnel attached to the

Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS) before they were moved to Lagos General Hospital. The bodies of the dead ones have since been deposited at the mortuary."

Speaking on those still trapped underneath the building, the leader of the Hausa community in the area, Babangida Bello, said they have been able to identify those that are still trapped. He said, "I was informed that the building my brother works in collapsed and so I rushed to the scene. We have been able to identify the names and number of those that were trapped under the rubble. They are Umar, Ado, Alu, Muhammed, Jemilu, Sabiu and Saminu."

While the injured persons were taken to the Lagos State General Hospital, where they are currently being treated, policemen from Ajah were deployed to ensure security of lives and property at the site. Also at the scene was the Commander, Rapid Response Squad (RRS), Tunde Disu, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, who alongside his men provided security. They were assisted by other security personnel drawn from the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC), Lagos State Traffic Management Authority( LASTMA) and the neighbourhood watch.

Also, LASEMA General Manager, Michael Akindele, said the deceased persons were taken away by the State Environmental Health Monitoring Unit (SEHMU) to the mortuary.

He said rescue operation will continue with the three excavators still being deployed as well as other search and rescue equipment.

This is just as health workers from the Lagos State Ministry of Health carried away the bodies of the deceased to the morgue, where they will be kept until they are identified by relations.

That same Wednesday, rescue operations ended at 7:20pm with a joint press conference from LASEMA, NEMA, Police and NSCDC. LASEMA's boss, Michael Akindele said that 95 per cent of the victims are foreigners, adding that their greatest challenge was in calming their relatives down on Tuesday.

He said, "As we speak now, the time is

39

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016 • T H I S D AY

CITYSTRINGS 7:20pm. Search and rescue exercise on the collapsed five-storey building of 12 blocks of flats is hereby concluded and the physical record we have is 13 lives rescued and 34 dead bodies. We had full complement of all responders on board to ensure smooth response and recovery. It is a sad story, but notwithstanding, our job as responders is to ensure that we mitigate such that all necessary actions and sanctions shall be taking by the state government.

"The greatest challenge we had was on Tuesday and it was because the families of the deceased and those rescued, 95 per cent of them are aliens. We have people from the North and East, but majorly, those that we saw in this complex were not Nigerians.

Some are Togolese and others Beninnois.

Hence, the understanding and the emotions carried over, as if they can do better, which they will not do. The state government will address the public on the situation of the foreign victims. Today (Wednesday), we had a very smooth operation. I must commend the Nigeria Police, RRS, Civil Defence, Red Cross, NEMA, LASAMBUS and all others for a diligent job."

In his remark, NEMA South West Director, Yakubu Sulaimon said rescuers were initially denied access on Tuesday morning but security operatives brought the situation under control, adding that while they do not have a list of occupants in the building, the state government will take appropriate action on the other buildings marked.

As at now, some of the relatives of the victims are still making efforts to identify their dead bodies, because autopsy is yet to be conducted.

Lagos State Government Reacts In a preliminary report, the Lagos State Government said it had duly served the owners of the building a contravention notice for exceeding the approved floors.

Thus, the state government asked the owner of the building, Messrs. Lekki Worldwide Estate Limited, to suspend the construction of Lekki Gardens and report to the State Police Command within 24 hours.

The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, who disclosed this in a statement said, "It has been discovered that in a brazen act of defiance and impunity the owner of the building criminally unsealed the property and continued building beyond the approved floors until the unfortunate incident of Tuesday which has led to loss of lives.”

He said the state government would no longer tolerate the action of unscrupulous owners and builders who challenge its supervisory control thereby endangering the lives of Lagosians, adding that the state government "has consequently directed the suspension of work at the site and ordered the Lagos State Police Command to cordon it off as it is now a crime scene.

"The state government directed integrity tests to be carried out on every other construction project which has or is currently being handled

by Messrs Lekki Worldwide Estate Limited in the interest of public safety.

It has been discovered that in a brazen act of defiance and impunity the owner of the building criminally unsealed the property and continued building beyond the approved floors until the unfortunate incident of Tuesday which has led to loss of lives

Tunde Busari, the last survivor brought out from the rubble

Richard Nyong and Taiwo Odofin, contractor and MD Lekki Gardens arriving the court

L-R: NEMA South-west Spokesperson, Ibrahim Farinloye, NEMA Director, Yakubu Sulaimon, LASEMA DG, Michael Akindele and other emergency workers at the end of the rescue operations

Meanwhile, the Eti-Osa Local Government Area Executive Secretary, Hon. Alaba Ajayi and the Special Adviser to the Lagos State Government on Transportation, Prince Olarenwaju Elegushi, said all machineries of government were deployed to fast track the rescue work.

Police Finally Arrest Contractor, MD Also, the Lagos State Police had on Wednesday arrested the major contractor in charge of the said structure. The contractor who was identified as Taiwo Odofin was arrested based on the confessions and statement of the construction workers, who testified that they alerted him about the structural defects but he chose to simply double pile the beams.

When contacted, the Lagos State Public Relations Officer, Dolapo Badmus, a Superintendent of Police, had confirmed the arrest.

She said, "Yes we have arrested the major contractor. He was arrested and taken into custody. The owner of the building ran away but we are also on his trail."

Their manhunt for the MD yielded result the next day as he was arrested following the directive by the Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode. He was identified as Mr. Richard Nyong. Although details of his arrest was still sketchy, THISDAY gathered that he was arrested on Thursday evening.

Before the MD's arrest, the police had earlier declared the 34-year-old wanted as he was said to have fled to evade arrest.

Confirming the arrest, SP Badmus said, "Yes, I confirm that Mr. Richard Nyong, the 34-year-old Managing Director of Lekki Gardens of 167 kushenla Road, Ikate Elegushi, has been arrested. He is in custody and will soon be charged to court."

A Day in Court

True to their word, the police arraigned the duo at the Ebute-Metta Chief Magistrate Court on Friday and they were kept in custody pending the conclusion of on-going investigation. The court also ordered that they be kept in police custody at the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Panti, Yaba, for the next 30 days.

Magistrate Folashade Botoku, who granted the remand order, held that same was in the interest of justice and public safety, after police prosecutor, Godwin Osuji informed Magistrate Botoku of an ex-parte application seeking to remand the defendants beyond the constitutionally prescribed period, saying the application was brought in the interest of justice, public safety, public order and morality.

He said, "In view of the circumstances of this matter, it will be impracticable for us to conclude investigation in two days as there are so many agencies involved and so we have come to court in order not to run foul of the law.”

Responding, counsel to the defendants, Bode Olanipekun orally applied for the bail of his clients, urging the court to order that the police should release his clients but that they should make themselves available to police when needed.

But Osuji, who argued otherwise said an application for bail could only be filed after the defendants must have been arraigned on a criminal charge, adding that at the moment, the police was yet to file any charge against the defendants and as such the application for bail was not yet ripe.

In her ruling, Magistrate Botoku ruled that under Section 264 (1) of the Lagos State Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2011, she was empowered to order the remand of

a defendant as in the instant case, but that the major consideration is the justification of such application, before she consequently adjourned to April 12.

SON, LASBCA, Safety Commission's Intervention Meanwhile, the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) stormed the site to collect material samples of the collapsed building, which as gathered would be subjected to tests.

THISDAY gathered that the Director, Inspector and Compliance, Mr. Bebe Obayi, who led a team from the organisation ordered that some of the building materials be collected for inspection. He said, "They will be subjected to material testing. This is to ascertain if the engineers adhered to the proper building standards."

Also speaking on the cause of the collapse, the General Manager Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), Mr.Shola Adeigbe blamed it on structural defect. He said, "I learned that there was an approval for the building from the district officer. The materials used for the construction was poor materials.

It was a foundation failure because it sank before collapsing. We will subject the entire building to structural stability test. The only thing for us is to ensure that they construct with quality materials."

After LASBCA's Adeigbe left, the agency and the Lagos State Safety Commission marked all other uncompleted buildings round the collapsed structure. The agency not just marked the building, they pasted a 'stop work' notice, as well as demolition notice on two other five-storey uncompleted buildings. The notice by the safety commission read, "Sealed. This premises has been sealed following the breach of safety law. This seal must not be broken."

43

WEDNESDAY MARCH 16, 2016 • T H I S D AY

INTERNATIONAL

email:foreigndesk@thisdaylive.com

Cote d’Ivoire Attack Was Revenge against France, Says Al Qaeda Al Qaeda’s North African branch said its attack on a beach resort in Cote d’Ivoire on Sunday that killed 18 people was revenge for a France’s offensive against Islamist militants in the Sahel region, calling for its forces to withdraw.

French Foreign Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve arrived on Tuesday to reassure the large French community and boost the investigation into the attack in Grand Bassam, in which four French citizens died.

Somali Militants Seize Small Port in Puntland Region Somali al Shabaab fighters have seized a small port in the semiautonomous Puntland region, the latest sign of a resurgence in activity by the Islamist militants in the Horn of Africa nation.

A series of offensives last year by the African Union force AMISOM and the Somali National Army had driven al Shabaab out of major strongholds in the southern region of Somalia.

At the time, officials said some al Shabaab fighters had moved north to the Puntland region, beyond AMISOM’s area of operation. In recent weeks, al Shabaab has also retaken smaller towns and launched deadly attacks in the southern region.

“Al Shabaab fighters with several boats captured Garad town,” Hassan Mohamed, governor for Mudug region of Puntland told Reuters, adding that the attack took place on Monday. “We do not want to say publicly how we will react.”

The head of the local authority in the port town of Garad,

Abdinur Abdullahi, told Reuters by telephone that al Shabaab with foreign fighters had met local elders, saying they would “capture many places and fight non-Muslims.”

“Most of the residents have fled,” he said, adding al Shabaab had been building up forces in the Galgala Hills, echoing comments previously made by officials in Puntland.There was not immediate comment from al Shabaab. Garad is a former haven for pirates, who had used the natural port to mount raids on commercial ships passing along nearby shipping lanes leading to and from the Red Sea. An international naval effort has largely driven the Somali pirates away. There have been only a few reports of hijackings in the past two or three years, mostly involving fishing boats not the major tankers or commercial vessels targeted before.“Without any gunfire, we were surprised to see al Shabaab fighters here,” said resident Mohamed Abdullahi by phone, before phone lines were shut off.

Three Ivorian special forces personnel were killed and three of the attackers were also among the dead. The statement by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb was posted on the group’s social media accounts on Monday.

“We repeat our call to all countries involved in the French invasion of Mali to withdraw,”

it said, naming the attackers but giving no further details of their identities. France launched Operation Serval to oust militants from northern Mali and replaced it in 2014 with Operation Barkhane which targets militants across the Sahel region.

Ayrault and Cazeneuve met President Alassane Ouattara

and were due to visit the site of the attack and meet representatives of the French community. It was the first such militant raid in the country but the third high profile attack in the region since November, after 20 people were killed at a hotel in Mali and 30 died in an attack on a cafe and hotel in Burkina Faso in January.

Islamic State, which is based in Syria and Iraq, has also singled out France as a target and claimed responsibility for the attack in Paris in November in which 130 people were killed.

“It is our way of life that is being questioned, our will to succeed, our development, democracy and liberty,”Ayrault told journalists.

FOR BETTER SECURITY

Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Perry Calderwood (c), with a cross section of participants at the security training of police officers in crimes investigations and management in Abuja...recently

Zuma Govt Loses Appeal over Failure to Arrest Bashir South Africa’s Supreme Court yesterday rejected an appeal by the government against a ruling that the state had made an error in letting Sudanese President, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, leave the country despite a court order barring him from doing so.

Bashir, who was in South Africa for an African Union summit last June, was allowed to go even though the court had issued an order banning him from leaving until the end of a hearing on whether he should be detained under a global arrest warrant.

The court said he should have been arrested to face genocide charges at the International Criminal

Court (ICC) because as an ICC signatory, Pretoria is obliged to implement arrest warrants. The ICC has issued a warrant for Bashir on charges of masterminding genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region. Bashir denies the charges.

The government had asked the court to overturn the ruling, with its lawyers arguing that a gazzette notice granted diplomatic immunity to all delegates at the summit. In its ruling, the Supreme Court said the government’s failure to arrest Bashir“was inconsistent with South Africa’s obligations in terms of the Rome Statute...and unlawful”.

A rights group that had demanded the arrest of Bashir

argued during the appeal that South Africa could not grant immunity to someone wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity. “South Africa should not be treated as a safe haven for suspected perpetrators of egregious crimes,”Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh, executive director of the Southern Africa Litigation Centre, which took the government to court, said in a statement.

Justice department spokesman, Mthunzi Mhaga, said the government was studying the ruling and had not yet decided whether it would challenge it at the constitutional court, the highest court in the land.

The ruling means that Bashir and others facing global arrest warrants for crimes against humanity would be arrested if they set foot in South Africa. In addition, the High Court had said previously that the National Prosecuting Authority should consider whether to take action against the government for letting Bashir leave the country.

In the aftermath of the initial court ruling, the governing African National Congress party said South Africa should withdraw from the ICC, which African states have accused of bias against the continent.

Judges at the ICC have also asked South African authorities to explain why they failed to arrest Bashir.

8

T H I S D AY • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016

NEWS

Integrity Test: LASG Orders Lekki Gardens Occupants to Vacate Estate Asks developer to take responsibility for their relocation Akpabio denies he owns estate Gboyega Akinsanmi The Lagos State Government has ordered residents in all buildings constructed by Lekki Gardens to vacate their apartments pending the conclusion of the integrity test that would be carried out on the buildings to ascertain their fitness.

The state governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, explained that the developer of the estate in which a five-storey semiconstructed building collapsed last week and resulted in the deaths of 34 persons, was in contravention of the state’s approved building development law and therefore should take responsibility for the relocation of the occupants of the buildings that would be evacuated.

Ambode gave the directive yesterday when he visited the site of the collapsed building and others inside Lekki Gardens Estate that were built by the same developer.

During the inspection, the governor ordered the conduct of integrity tests on all buildings already developed by Messrs Lekki Worldwide Estate Limited, the owners of the estate, to ascertain their fitness, adding that the developer should take responsibility for the relocation of occupants of the buildings as government would not wait for another building to come crashing down and kill other people before taking proactive action.

He explained the significance

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode (second right) inspecting buildings at Lekki Gardens Estate in Lagos... yesterday of ordering the structural stability test, noting that his administration is built on safety and the security of lives and properties in all parts of the state.

He said: “The state government will undertake a stability test on all other buildings constructed by the developer in the state, whether occupied or not, to ascertain their structural stability. The developer will pay the cost of the tests. Any building found to be defective would be demolished.

“For those that pass the integrity test, the developer will pay a penalty for any

overdevelopment on the site.

Further to the above, the state government intends to carry out an audit of all structures in Lagos to ascertain those with or without planning approvals and evaluate the physical developments vis-avis the approved building plans.

“The details of this initiative are being finalised and you will be briefed in due course. Let me reiterate that Lagos is open to business for those who must comply with the state’s laws and regulations in order to prosper.

“Our main concern is to continue to improve on the ease of doing business and uphold

the rule of law at all times. Those who choose non-compliance and defiance will henceforth face the full weight of the law without fear or favour.”

He also commiserated with the families of persons who lost their lives and others that were injured, noting that the responsibility of any government is “to ensure the safety of lives and property of its citizens and that his government was determined not to fail in that duty”.

He stated that since the tragedy, his administration had taken certain steps by ordering the immediate sealing off of the

construction site and cessation of further construction; ensured the coordinated emergency rescue of all injured victims and treatment at its hospitals; and ordered the owners of the collapsed building to submit themselves to the police, which they did.

“In addition, some government officials have been relieved of their duties. I want to assure you that there will be no sacred cows.

If there is failure of duty, there will be sanctions,” he warned.

Ambode said the state government had established a five-man committee under the Chairmanship of Dr. Olubunmi

Ajayi, a past President of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners and Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria to examine the Urban and Regional Planning Law of the state as it affects the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA).

The governor also tasked the committee to examine the operations of LASBCA and make recommendations for changes (if necessary) for effective service delivery.

Meanwhile, the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, yesterday denied that he owns the Lekki estate.

A statement by his media aide, Anietie Ekong, said: “The attention of the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has been drawn to a malicious twitter flash by Sahara Reporters which claimed that the former Governor of Akwa Ibom State has been linked to the ownership of Lagos Lekki Gardens.

“We want to state categorically that Senator Akpabio is not the owner of Lagos Lekki Gardens nor has he any form of relationship whatsoever with the said company.

“While we condole with the families of those who lost their loved ones in the unfortunate building collapse, we are saddened that Sahara Reporters chose to play politics with such a tragic incident as the death of Nigerians and chose to drag in the name of Senator Akpabio.”

Police Invade Lagos Hotel, Arrest Three More Babington Kidnapping Suspects Chiemelie Ezeobi Police operatives attached to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) have arrested three more suspects involved in the kidnapping of three female students of Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary (BMJS) in Ikorodu, Lagos State.

The female students, Timilehin Olosa, Tofunmi Popoolaniyan and Deborah Akinayo, were kidnapped by a 12-man armed gang from their school on the night of February 29, 2016 but were rescued on March 2.

The arrest has brought the total number of suspects in police custody to six, as the state police

command in conjunction with the Special Intelligence Response Team (SIRT) had earlier arrested three other suspects.

Those arrested almost two weeks ago were the kingpin of the kidnapping and armed robbery syndicate, Emmanuel Arigidi, James Henry and Akanju Oluwasegun.

THISDAY gathered that the second batch of kidnapping suspects were tracked through their phone lines with the assistance of telecom network providers, following which the police stormed a hotel in Lagos and arrested three of them at the weekend.

A police source said: “Three

more suspects were arrested at the weekend in their different hotel rooms. We tracked them through the network providers and they have confessed that they were the ones who cooked for the girls and ensured that they did not escape.

“They told us that they fed the girls with Indomie noodles. The

suspects also informed us that they had attempted to kidnap the girls twice but succeeded in their third attempt.”

Although the command was yet to confirm the arrests, THISDAY gathered that the manhunt for other members of the gang was still ongoing.

us. The house will call for the police,” he said.

The former governor also took a swipe at the police, but added that military deployment in the state would bridge the gap.

“The Commissioner of Police in Rivers State has failed. So anywhere you see the military on Saturday, know that the police have failed,” he said.

On his part, Wike said yesterday that he had uncovered an illegal plot by Amaechi and the INEC National Commissioner, Mrs. Amina Zakari, to swap the authentic results from the polling units with fake results on Saturday.

Also, the governor declared that any attempt by the former governor to move around polling booths on election day would be vehemently resisted by the people who would

publicly disgrace Amaechi for violating the electoral guidelines.

Speaking during the grand finale of the Rivers East Senatorial District campaign rally of the PDP at Elele in Ikwerre LGA, Wike said: “All those who plan to swap result sheets, may their souls rest in peace. Nobody will rig in Rivers State.

“Anybody who thinks Amaechi will give them result sheets to swap should be ready to swap their dead bodies. I have told the REC, you were here before, you can’t play games with me.”

The governor said it is his responsibility to take steps to stop politicians plotting to rig elections in the state with the connivance of Zakari.

He said that the University

of Port Harcourt vice-chancellor was forced by Amaechi and the APC leadership to draw up a list of INEC ad hoc staff dominated by former APC caretaker committee chairmen and confirmed APC members to organise the rerun elections and revealed the names of the APC members on the list.

He disclosed that he had written a formal letter with proof and details to INEC national chairman, complaining of the issue.

The governor said Buhari should not allow Amaechi to trigger a crisis in the state because of his personal interest.

In his remarks, the National Chairman of the PDP, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, stated that Rivers State is a PDP state and its people are satisfied with the performance of the governor.

means, I agree with him.

“The auditor-general has raised some queries. It is not an indictment. So when he raises his queries, the essence is that the Public Accounts Committee will invite those parties involved in the query and through the instruments of their own work, investigate all the issues by seeking clarification and at the end of the day, where there were infractions or infringements on certain procedures, they would mete out appropriate sanctions as stipulated by the extant rules and regulations

to those responsible.

“When there is a process and someone has done one part, until we conclusively finish that process, it will be unfair to accuse anyone of wrongdoing. These are administrative procedures and the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has made it clear that we would take oversight functions far more seriously than what it used to be in the past.

“If oversight functions are carried out properly, some of these queries that we talk about will begin to reduce

because the essence is to see infractions before they happen.

“We as lawmakers will stop them before another institution discovers the anomalies and brings them to our notice.

These are the powers of the National Assembly through oversight functions.

“We are committed to ensuring that a thorough job is done this time. We have demonstrated our capacity to match our words with actions. Wait and see, it’s a promise and we have four years to prove that we mean business”.

BUHARI ORDERS SECURITY SERVICES TO STOP VIOLENCE IN RIVERS STATE the apparent relaxed mode of the APC leaders and candidates not to carry out any serious campaigns in the state was a confirmation of their plot to rig the elections with the aid of the military, armed youths in camouflage military uniforms and fake results.

The party also noted that the arrival of the APC acting National Chairman, Chief Segun Oni, in the state was part of the grand plot to rig the elections, ignite a crisis in the state, adding that APC had resolved not to leave anything to chance.

The PDP warned all APC leaders and members to have a rethink of their plan to rig or manipulate the elections, stating that such efforts would be futile.

The party reiterated its commitment to free and fair elections, warning that any

attempt to rig the polls would be resisted by the electorate.

It further called on the security agencies, particularly the police, to be on alert and to checkmate the activities of the APC in the state.

However, Amaechi has said he will monitor Saturday’s elections in Wike’s ward to prove that the governor has no powers to stop anybody from partaking in the elections.

Addressing the APC faithful in Etche and Gokana Local Government Areas, Amaechi said he has enough security to counter any threat that Wike would muster, adding that he was looking forward to an encounter between the forces.

“On Saturday, I will be in his (Wike’s ) local government area. Let me see how he will kill me with this kind of security

that I have. I don’t need to be in Ubima, my hometown. I know Ubima will vote APC,” he said at Berra, home of the APC candidate for the Rivers South East Senatorial District, Magnus Abe. He said the mission of the APC was to ensure that the party wins majority seats in the state House of Assembly and to stop Wike from implementing programmes that would be inimical to the interest of the people.

“On Saturday, remove shame from my eyes by voting APC. The House of Assembly will stop Wike from killing people.

If we have 22 members of the House of Assembly, we will keep Wike in check. If he kills any person, he knows that it is an impeachable offence. He will not have the power to overrule

SENATE TO PROBE NON-REMITTANCE OF N3.3TN BY NNPC, OTHER MDAS Committee on Public Accounts would investigate the allegations and ensure that any indicted official is duly sanctioned.

However, he disagreed with the notion that the report had indicted the government agencies or their officials, pointing out that the audit report had only raised queries that could not be deemed an indictment yet until they are proven after the probe.

He said: “The Eighth Senate has chosen to be different in line with what we have stated severally since we came on

board. For that reason, we came up with our legislative agenda to make us different from the past because we are in the season and period of change and we want to seriously key into that.

“Along that line, you could see the courage that we have shown to make a difference from what obtained in the past and on this note, we have passed the reports of some committees like the one on the TSA (Treasury Single Account), which is a classic example.

“Through that exercise, we

were able to save the country N7 billion. There are similar works that have been done.

We want to say that since we have chosen to be different, we urge Nigerians to wait and see what we will make out of the investigation.

“Without holding fort for the past assemblies, I want to say that it is not as if they had not been doing anything about the past audit reports.

But perhaps they did take their action to the level that would have made a meaningful impact. If that is what the auditor-general

14

T H I S D AY • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016

COMMENT

Editor, Editorial Page PETER ISHAKA Email peter.ishaka@thisdaylive.com

STILL ON THE WORSENING LIVING CONDITION

W

Political power entails rendering service to the people, argues Sonnie Ekwowusi

e cannot get tired of repeating ad nauseam that the real crisis afflicting Nigeria, which is as pervasive as the political leadership crisis, is the human development crisis. The elimination of avoidable human miseries is a goal which challenges our government. For example, many wasted almost the whole of last week queuing up at the different filling stations just to buy fuel. After spending uncountable hours, these fuel scramblers end up in the office exhausted and unable to do a day’s job. Besides, patients in many public hospitals are suffocating to death due to lack of electricity supply to power electric fans. It is so hot these days and you need to see how these poor patients are gasping for breath at the hospitals. A doctor friend says that most patients in Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Lagos, that is currently on strike lack access to water. The paradox is that these human calamities are hardly reported in the news. The media is elitist. It is accustomed to reporting news that affects big men. When something happens to a big man, it immediately makes the headlines. But when a tragedy befalls a poor man it is hardly reported.

A change of attitude is needed. We are all members of the same humanity. Every human being, irrespective of his or her ethnic origin or socio-cultural circumstances, whether rich or poor, young or old, tall or short, enjoys inalienable rights worth protecting. Article 25 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights stipulates that “everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right and security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.” In the piece entitled: Our Miserable Living Condition (THISDAY, Wednesday, March 2, 2016) we regretted that the satisfaction of the basic human needs such as electricity supply, potable water, shelter, primary health, and so forth is still a gargartum task in Nigeria in the 21st Century. And today we are returning to the same vexed subject matter. Since the publication of the aforesaid piece, I have been receiving endless complaints, or, better put, endless grudges on the worsening living condition in Nigeria. Just recently, a young man who lost his job five years ago and now planning for the funeral of his late mother confided in me that he and his family has not been having a good night rest. Why? No electricity supply in his neigbourhood in Lagos in the last four months. Consequently he has been unable to power his air conditioners or his electric fans at night to cool the living rooms.

Even though I am not a medical doctor I have overheard many

POLITICAL ENTERPRISE IS NOT AN END IN ITSELF: IT IS ONLY A MEANS TO ACHIEVING THE REAL END WHICH IS THE WELL BEING OF THE CITIZENRY

medical doctors traced the cause of the rampant new-age illnesses such as high blood pressure, hypertension, diabetes, prostate cancer, kidney failure, heart attack and so on to the topsy-turvy modern lifestyle. This is understandable. A citizen who probably spends three hours at the petrol station, two hours in road traffic and endless sleepless night everyday cannot boast of having a good health.

Therefore the Buhari government should focus more on ameliorating the worsening living condition in Nigeria at the moment. Oftentimes the government gets engrossed in irrelevant things forgetting that the only thing that matters is giving the people access to the basic necessities of life. The political enterprise is not an end in itself: it is only a means to achieving the real end which is the well being of the citizenry. The primary objective of all types of developments - economic, social, cultural and political - is to promote sustainable human development. And the generally-accepted criteria for measuring a country’s human development include electricity supply, potable water, primary health care, and so forth. Unfortunately rampant power cuts have exacerbated the harsh living conditions in Nigeria. The Buhari government has apologised quite alright for the power failure, but beyond apology the government should ensure that important public institutions in Nigeria such as hospitals enjoy an appreciable electricity supply everyday.

Wife of the President, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, recently complained that women and children do not have access to primary health services.

What about the men? Besides, many Nigerians do not have access to good hygiene. I think, generally, government needs to tackle the growing malnutrition rate; poor environmental degradation; poor waste disposal system; poor sanitation; littering the streets and stuffing the gutters with “pure-water” sachets; urinating and defecating in the public, etc. Legislators in particular should carry out small-scale projects in their respective constituencies or senatorial districts in order to improve the living condition of the people languishing in those constituencies or senatorial districts. If the legislators derived their mandate from these poor people it is reasonably expected that they should promote the poor people’s well-being in the exercise of their law-making functions. I was impressed last January arriving in Nkwerre, Imo State, and seeing some major streets lit up at night powered with solar energy. I was told that the street lightening was a personal project of one of the big politicians from the area.

This is the true of meaning of democracy. Politics and activities of government cannot, in the words of French political economist and philosopher Federic Bastiat, become legalised plunders. Political power entails rendering service to the people. In short, the role of government is to improve the living condition of the people.

A TIME FOR RIGHTEOUS ANGER

M

arch 6, 2016, was another bad day in Nigeria for road users and the nation’s leadership. Indeed, it will remain a vital day that Nigeria citizens ought to ask its leadership to conscientiously examine its concern for their safety on the roads.

The referenced day, best described as a Black Sunday recorded the dreadful loss of Mr James Ocholi, SAN, and erstwhile Minister of State for Labour, alongside his wife, Blessing and son on the Kaduna-Abuja Highway. The late James Ocholi was a major player in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party, but he humbly exemplified the traits and values of a patriotic Nigerian by abandoning his personal political ambition of being a potential first citizen of his state and many lucrative commercial interests to honour the call to national duty as minister. Perhaps, as a reciprocation of God’s blessings upon him, he dedicated his special passion and unique talents to serving his God and expressing generosity to many people. By reasonable coincidence, it is on record that the late James Ocholi, one of Kogi State’s highly respected and influential politicians died on his way back from a thanksgiving service. What the Ocholis may have thought was a short trip to appreciate God turned out to be an eternal journey. May their souls rest in peace and may God’s mercy be upon them.

For now, there has been an outpouring of grief.

Even some key opposition members in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that had publicly claimed that the leadership of Ocholi’s ruling party is vindictively thrusting them into prison, found time and space in their hearts to remark commendably on the Ocholi. In the words of the Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, a top notch of the PDP, “the incident, which bleeds the heart, is not only a grievous loss to the Ocholi family, Mr. President and the APC, but also to the nation in its entirety”.

Also, the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Capt. Idris Wada, though from a rival political camp, in commiserating with the people of their state remarked that “the death of Ocholi is a big loss to the Igala nation in particular and humanity in general”. Without a doubt, the demise of the Ocholis

Phrank Shaibu pays tribute to James Ocholi, minister of state for labour

has come with various expressions of shock, grief and deep sympathy from arcross board. The high and mighty have remarked, colleagues, friends and the less privileged persons have commented but they all reflect a long list of profound sorrow on a highly preventable death. James Ocholi was full of potential and promise but sadly ended his dreams and journey of life through a road crash.

In fact, about three months ago when I decided to take a temporary break from active politics, one area that attracted my attention was the worrisome and unnecessary road crashes. As a media person and politician, regular use of Nigerian roads was a pre occupation. In my road trips, I have witnessed firsthand road crashes and near miss incidents. In all, the truth is that in as much as I have always recognised in my past articles that on the many bad roads of Nigeria, every road user is a potential victim, the manner the Ocholi’s died remains an incomprehensible tragedy.

As preparations are on going for the burial of the Ocholis, condolence messages and tributes have been pouring in. Nigerians are generous with condolences but after the burial they quickly get consumed with their personal struggles and the exchange rate.

In my experience, if nothing is done to immortalise the Ocholis, our memories of them and the lessons learnt from the unfortunate road accident will fade within a short period. Thereafter, they will just be part of the ever mounting statistics on road traffic accidents. So, before we fall back to our usual attitude of forgetting the contributions of the dead, it is important that we initiate appropriate actions that will enable us to fully understand what happened and how we can prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future. Otherwise, our sympathies for the Ocholis will be shallow. The Ocholis loss is a national tragedy and a good reason for a continued discussion on road safety.

Though every road crash has its own macabre signature, the manner of the exit of the three Ocholis is heartbreaking that should remind Nigerians that we are all vulnerable if we do not confront the real reasons. Specifically, the loss of James Ocholi is another painful death that has exposed the lingering

delusion of the Nigerian government’s efforts on road safety development. This is why we must move past grief to righteous anger in confronting this collective neglect.

It is good that the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has provided the result of its preliminary investigation and associated the reason of the crash to overspeeding. But the real cause of death remains disputable with no significant evidence because some people that had been involved in more severe road crashes survived. Thus, so much uncertainty still lingers on the presumptions of over speeding and we must not forget the fact that there are many other issues that require thorough investigation. According to eye witness accounts, the new SUV car which the Ocholi’s travelled in though on top speed, lost control, veered off the road and somersaulted severally.

It is possible the victims had multiple injuries and died because help was late in coming? There were no first responders with knowledge of what to do.

The first callers at the spot of the crash, most likely other road users including his convoy members, were helpless. The only effort of bystanders was the capturing of the accident scenes and victims with phone -fitted cameras without necessarily thinking of what to do that could have kept the victims alive until medical help arrived.

Unfortunately, even those that accompanied the late Ocholis on the ill-fated trip may have had their guns to protect him from insecurity but there was no indication that any of them had simple knowledge of first aid administration. In fact, aside the FRSC’s assumptions, the truth is that no one can actually state the final cause of their deaths; whether it was heart attack after or during the incident, expired tyre or possible epileptic condition of the driver. In fact, nobody has investigated the driver’s phone to confirm if he was making a call or even checked his blood for alcohol especially for a person coming back from a social event. But what is certain is that the Ocholis did not have appropriate and timely medical assistance. Which is not the fault of the FRSC. If the truth be told even if the FRSC had arrived at the scene in a timely manner, to what extent are their rescue vehicles equipped to handle such seeming

complex situations? FRSC is neither in need of ideas, quality staff nor vibrant management but it lacks proper attention and funding to meet the growing needs of road users. This is why the death of the Ocholis demands a public conversation that will appropriately help us reflect our national failure on the hundred of victims that have gone the same way of the Ocholis. On the converse, If indeed, the FRSC was in any way right that the SUV was speeding beyond limits as confirmed by some other road users, the death of the Ocholis should have a disturbing effect on the non- implementation of the FRSC speed limiter initiative which ought to have commenced since 2014.

This is hoping that the death of the Ocholis will prompt improved public education of road users, enhanced rescue efforts and proper accident investigation that must be aggressively pursued by the FRSC with better funding from the government. However as a mark of respect and acknowledgement of our pains, in particular for James Ocholi’s contributions to the nation, there is great need to express our grief for the Ocholis in a positive manner. Specifically, the offer of scholarship and job for the children of the Ocholi’s are commendable but largely insufficient and less relevant especially given that in life, James Ocholi’s achievements obviously showed that he was a man that had already overcome such struggles of paying school fees for his children or getting them employment in public service. With all sense of modesty, what the federal government has promised the children was what James Ocholi whilst alive in his private capacity offered to over 200 persons in both his native Kogi and beyond. It is true that the young Ocholi’s are now orphans having lost both parents but they are no ordinary people that school fees will be their immediate challenge. In fact, no amount of financial compensation can ever replace their loss of both parents and a brother. Most times, people in such circumstances get better relief when they know that their lost loved ones lived a life of service to people.

Shaibu, a Public Communication Consultant and African Safe Communities Advocate, wrote from Abuja

15

T H I S D AY • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016

EDITORIAL HOPE FOR THE PHYSICALLY CHALLENGED

N

Samuel Ankeli’s appointment as special assistant to the president is a wake-up call

ot a few Nigerians were pleasantly surprised when President Muhammadu Buhari recently appointed Dr. Samuel Inalegwu Ode Ankeli, a visually impaired man, as one of his special advisers. Those who applauded the appointment saw it as a positive sign; that by giving the physically challenged community representation in his government, the president has made a strong statement on inclusiveness. We agree with that summation.

For a long as can be remembered, discrimination against physically challenged persons in Nigeria has been widespread. In work places and the larger society, those with disabilities are derisively regarded as sub-human and are most often treated as such. This is notwithstanding the rare feats performed by some physically challenged persons over the years in various areas of human endeavour including sports, the academia, art, music, business and even philanthropy. For instance, some physically challenged persons like Cosmas Okoli have over the years become ANKELI HAS TO JUSTIFY HIS APPOINTMENT BY NOT established businessmen who have risen ONLY ADDING VALUE TO far above the plain of THE ADMINISTRATION, pity and helplessness to BUT ALSO IN PUSHING becoming major players FOR LEGISLATIONS in the private sector.

THAT CAN INTEGRATE It is in light of PERSONS WITH PHYSICAL appreciating and DISABILITY INTO THE tapping into the innate MAINSTREAM OF THE potential of handiNIGERIAN SOCIETY capped persons that we join in applauding President Buhari’s thoughtfulness in appointing Dr. Ankeli as his special adviser on disability matters, even though it could be seen as a reward for his efforts. For those who may not be aware, Ankeli, despite being visually impaired, was the Director of Mobilisation Forum for the All Progressives Congress (APC) and was thus visibly active in mobilising persons with disability for Candidate Muhammadu Buhari in the run up to last

Letters to the Editor

year’s presidential election.

Ankeli’s appointment scores a high mark for the president who, by the gesture, has sent out a positive signal that his is an all-inclusive government for all segments of the country. Again, the profile of Ankeli is a tribute to courage and determination aside the fact that he has become a role model for many young Nigerians who will see in his story the fact there is no excuse for failure. For a man to have climbed over such fundamental challenge as blindness to undergo the mental and physical strain associated with becoming a veterinary doctor speaks volumes of the discipline and determination of the president’s adviser to overcome his disability.

A

T H I S DAY

EDITOR IJEOMA NWOGWUGWU DEPUTY EDITOR BOlAJI ADEBIYI MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOlA BEllO DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR KAYODE KOMOlAfE CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OlUSEGUN ADENIYI EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN

T H I S DAY N E W S PA P E R S L I M I T E D

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/CHAIRMAN NDUKA OBAIGBENA GROUP EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS ENIOlA BEllO, KAYODE KOMOlAfE, ISRAEl IWEGBU, EMMANUEl EfENI, IJEOMA NWOGWUGWU GROUP FINANCE DIRECTOR OlUfEMI ABOROWA DIVISIONAL DIRECTORS PETER IWEGBU, fIDElIS ElEMA, MBAYIlAN ANDOAKA, ANTHONY OGEDENGBE DEPUTY DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR OJOGUN VICTOR DANBOYI SNR. ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR ERIC OJEH ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS HENRY NWACHOKOR, SAHEED ADEYEMO CONTROLLERS ABIMBOlA TAIWO, UCHENNA DIBIAGWU, NDUKA MOSERI GENERAL MANAGER PATRICK EIMIUHI GROUP HEAD fEMI TOlUfASHE ART DIRECTOR OCHI OGBUAKU II DIRECTOR, PRINTING PRODUCTION CHUKS ONWUDINJO TO SEND EMAIL: first name.surname@thisdaylive.com

TO OUR READERS Letters in response to specific publications in THISDAY should be brief (150-200 words) and straight to the point. Interested readers may send such letters along with their contact details to opinion@thisdaylive.com. We also welcome comments and opinions on topical local, national and international issues provided they are well-written and should also not be longer than (9501000 words). They should be sent to opinion@thisdaylive.com along with the email address and phone numbers of the writer.

THE CHOICE BEFORE OGUN WORKERS

T

he press statement of the Ogun State Government to striking workers that “No work, No pay”, which was widely publicised in the papers last Saturday and the defiant attitude of labour imply that those in the private sector, who ‘mind their own business’, may have to wait a little longer to conclude their transactions with the state government.

My former colleague lamented on phone that he travelled from Lagos to Abeokuta last week on two occasions but returned empty-handed as he could not confirm the stage of his file at the secretariat.

I have read much about the strike and my conclusion is that the workers are not yet ready to face the realities of these times in Nigeria.

From the press statement, it is evident that Governor Ibikunle Amosun is resisting pressure from some quarters to reduce the number of its workforce or in the alternative reduce the heavy monthly wage bill, that is, reduce the salaries of workers.

Like someone remarked, Ogun civil servants are still getting salaries and they are going on strike, what about states that can’t pay salaries at all?

By choosing the option of strike, the workers are not just complicating things for themselves but for those of us who are not government workers but need government’s attention in our businesses.

How will government pay you if you are not in

nkeli, a graduate of Veterinary Medicine from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, worked with the Benue State Government before resigning to devote more time to organising and leading persons with disability. We believe that his ability to study various types of animals and knowing how to treat them and eventually qualifying as a veterinary doctor will enable him to perform in his new task. After all, he has the confidence and full knowledge of the issues concerning his fellow physically challenged members, a group he had led before now.

However, the task before Ankeli goes beyond the sentiment of mere constituency representation. Like all others, he has to justify his appointment by not only adding value to the Buhari administration in significant ways, but also in pushing for legislations that can ultimately integrate all persons with physical disability into the mainstream of the Nigerian society and thereby changing their narrative from that of helplessness.

All things considered, the appointment of Ankeli bodes well for both the Buhari administration as well as the community of the physically challenged. It is also a positive development for the country. We urge the authorities in the states to take a cue from this worthy example set by the president which has a clear message: there is ability in disability. We extend our congratulations to Ankeli and wish him all the best in his new assignment.

your offices to generate income, especially now that there is virtually nothing coming to the states from Abuja? I know how much my friend’s company ought to pay into the government coffers and imagine how much the state would have lost to the industrial action. If workers are not ready to know that there are economic problems in Nigeria, now worsened by the slump in oil income, should the Ogun State government face the realities and reduce the size of its workforce or reduce salaries?

And if it chooses the latter option, will anyone complain since the state has been paying above the national wage, paying workers salaries more than even the richest state in Nigeria? Why should the Amosun administration pay the highest salaries in Nigeria, and has been paying this without default since 2011, up to February this year? Is it not because he cherishes the workers more than anything?

So the workers have to think twice so that they do not push the government to the limit. It would have been a different thing if the government in the statement said it would not meet the demands of the labour. But it said it would meet them once the economic situation in the country became better. I would have been the first to castigate the government if it had said it would never meet those demands.

Let them call off the strike and sit at the round table with the government to see the way forward.

Johnson Adetunji, Lagos

THE AGATUS AND THE FULANI HERDSMEN

I

must begin by condemning the killing of Benue people by some Fulani herdsmen.

Even if the herdsmen have been offended by the Agatu people, are they (Fulani herdsmen) supposed to take the law into their hands and embarked on mass killing in Agatu? If everybody begins to take the law into his or her hand can there be peace, unity and progress in this country? Even though the country is not experiencing the expected peace but the fact still remains there is relative peace in this country when happenings in other countries like Libya, Sudan, Syria, etc., are taken into consideration. Notwithstanding, there is a need to do more to maintain the peace, unity and progress in Nigeria.

However, the first time Fulani herdsmen invaded Benue State and killed thousands of Tiv people, the Idomas and Igbos in the state were happy. According to the Idomas, Tiv people have marginalised them, taking all the vital positions, both at the state and federal levels, for themselves. For Idomas, Fulani herdsmen were doing the right thing by helping them to reduce the population of the Tivs so that they will one day marginalise the Tivs. Nevertheless, the Igbo people who are doing business in the state were also happy due to the fact that during the Biafra’s war, the Tivs refused to join forces with

them against the Nigerian army.

I have engaged in a serious debate with some Igbos and the Idomas, who were happy about the killings of the Tivs by the Fulani herdsmen.

I tried to educate them by changing their mentality but all my efforts proved abortive.

However, the Fulani herdsmen are now killing the Idomas in the state more than the Tivs and the same herdsmen have invaded some states in Ibo-speaking areas of the country and sexually harassed their women. Their activities were reported in most of the national dailies. The Idomas and the Igbos, who were jubilating over the massacre of the Tivs by the herdsmen, are now the victims of Fulani’s massacre.

I must state here clearly as I have been emphasizing that Fulani herdsmen are after everybody, Igbo, Yoruba, Tiv, Idoma, Igede, and so on. If you are not with them (Fulanis), you are their enemy and they cannot spare you when they come for the attack. Only the Fulani herdsmen know what they are after, it is now obvious that their reason for killing people anywhere they go is beyond just seeking grazing land for their cows.

There is need for collective effort to fight against the ungodly mission of the Fulani herdsmen.

Awunah Pius Terwase, Mpape, Abuja

44

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016 • T H I S D AY

INTERNATIONAL

North Korea Set to Test Nuclear Warhead

North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, said his country would soon test a nuclear warhead and ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, the North’s KCNA news agency reported, in what would be a direct violation of U.N. resolutions which have the backing of the North’s chief ally, China.

Kim made the comments as he supervised a successful simulated test of atmospheric re-entry of a ballistic missile that measured the “thermodynamic structural stability of newly developed heat-resisting materials”, KCNA said.

“Declaring that a nuclear warhead explosion test and a test-fire of several kinds of ballistic rockets able to carry nuclear warheads will be conducted in a short time to further enhance the reliance of nuclear attack capability, he (Kim) instructed the relevant section to make prearrangement for them to the last detail,” the agency said.

South Korea’s defense ministry said there were no indications of activities at the North’s nuclear test site or its long-range rocket station, but that North Korea continues to maintain readiness to conduct nuclear tests. South Korean President Park Geun-hye said the North would lead itself to self-destruction if it did not change and continued the confrontation with the international community.

The North’s report comes amid heightened tension on the Korean peninsula as South Korean and

U.S. troops stage annual military exercises that Seoul has described as the largest ever.

In the apparent re-entry simulation, the official newspaper of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party carried pictures on Tuesday of a dome-shaped object placed under what appeared to be a rocket engine and being blasted with flaming exhaust. In separate images, Kim observed the object described by KCNA as a warhead tip.

The North has issued belligerent statements almost daily since coming under a new U.N. resolution adopted this month to tighten sanctions against it after a nuclear test in January and the launch of a long-range rocket last month.

In 1962, the United States launched a ballistic missile with a live warhead in what was known as the Frigate Bird test. China conducted a similar test in 1966.

“What would be terrible is if the DPRK (North Korea) re-enacted Operation Frigate Bird or the fourth Chinese nuclear test and did a two-in-one,”said Jeffrey Lewis of the California-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies.

“For now, though, it looks like a nuclear test and several missile tests in close succession.” South Korea’s defense ministry said after the North’s report that it still does not believe the North has acquired missile re-entry technology. U.S. and South

Korean experts have said the general consensus is that North Korea has not yet successfully miniaturized a nuclear warhead to be mounted on an intercontinental ballistic missile.

More crucially, the consensus is that there have been no tests to prove it has mastered the reentry technology needed to bring a payload back into the atmosphere.

Kim said last week his country had miniaturized a nuclear warhead.

The North, which has conducted four nuclear tests, also claims that its January nuclear test was of a hydrogen bomb, although most experts said the blast was too small for it to have been from a full-fledged hydrogen bomb.

The North also says the satellites it has launched into orbit are functioning successfully, although that has not been verified independently.

North Korea rejects criticism of its nuclear and missile programs, even from old ally China, saying it has a sovereign right to defend itself from threats and to run a space program putting satellites into orbit.

China’s Foreign Ministry also urged prudence.“We urge all the relevant sides to conscientiously carry out what is required by the U.N. Security Council, speak and act cautiously, and all relevant sides must not take any action that would exacerbate tensions on the Korean peninsula,” said ministry spokesman Lu Kang at a regular briefing.

54

T H I S D AY • WEDNESDAY MARCH 16, 2016

WEDNESDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor Duro Ikhazuagbe Email duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com

Oliseh Refutes NFF’s Claim of Remitting N20m Salary

NFF: We are not owing Oliseh any salary, even his disengagement letter indicates so

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja Former Super Eagles Coach Sunday Oliseh has in a latest outburst disputed the claim by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) that he was paid N20 million as his backlog of salaries shortly before he resigned on February 25 in the middle of Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign.

Oliseh, who was due to appear before the House of Representatives Sports Committee on Sports tomorrow, has also written the House and the NFF that he would not be available for the parley.

But bank details obtained

by THISDAY indicate that the NFF authorized its bankers to transfer N18.5million into Oliseh’s bank account with one of the top banks in the country.

The payments were in three tranches of N9million, N4,5million and N5million.

“Even Sunday Oliseh did not indicate in his letter to the NFF that we are owing him salaries for December, January and February. What he is asking are allowances, medical bills, ticket refund and payments for feeding of the team during the training camp in Pretoria, South Africa,” observed the source at the federation.

The source declared that NFF would pay the bonuses and

allowances but the ticket refund and hospital bill he incurred in Belgium were at his own expense.

“Our medical team at the training camp in Pretoria insisted that the food was qualitative enough for our players before he went ahead to incur the expenses without approval.

Secondly, when he fell ill in Port Harcourt, we promised to take him to a top hospital here in Nigeria for treatment but he refused, insisting only in returning to Belgium for what he called proper care. I wonder if top Nigerian officials don’t attend hospitals here in Nigeria,”revealed the NFF official who did not want to be quoted.

However, Oliseh added a new twist to the saga yesterday on his blog, sundayoliseh.tv, where he described as a tissue of lies and misleading the ‘Glass House’ claim that the salary payment was made into his account domiciled with a Nigerian bank.

Oliseh, posted his current statement of account from February 1 to 29, which showed that at no point was the account credited with the three months salaries as claimed by the federation.

He had earlier sued NFF for defamation but asked his lawyers to withdraw the lawsuit after well- meaning Nigerians intervened.

Oliseh’s last letter to the NFF

expires today after which he intends to take the matter to both FIFA and Court for Sports Arbitration (CAS) in Zurich, Switzerland.

The ex international insisted that he threw in the towel because some certain vested interest in NFF put self interest above national interest.

“I also feel in order not to let Nigerians get the true picture, they are hell-bent on tarnishing my credibility. And that is why they have come up with this story like they have paid me and then I left.

“I have attached underneath here since I am no longer going ahead with the lawsuit, the statement of my account, of the bank which the NFF deals with in the few occasions that I have been paid.

“I have attached it underneath here and you can see that there is no payment that was made by the NFF to me. Up till the time I resigned on the 25th and even after that, up to the 29th that the month ended, you can see that,” Oliseh said in his post on YouTube.

The former international midfielder, also attached vouchers to support his claim that he fed the team with his money when the team camped in Pretoria, South Africa for the African Nations Championship (CHAN) in Rwanda.

NFF dismissed this claim as totally false as the buffet provided by the hotel Eagles stayed during the pre-Rwanda 2016 was certified good for the team. Oliseh said he incurred

55, 000 Rand for the purpose.

Oliseh warned that the because of the vested interest, whoever stepped in as the Super Eagles chief coach and decided to put Nigeria first will always face hitches.

“I also believe that Nigerians deserve to know the truth. I feel that it is important to know that my position as regards Nigeria coming first was a hindrance to the personal interest of certain vested interest in the NFF… Now, this also explains why important or very necessary expenditures that are important for the progression of our country, like wages of the players, the coaches are always placed secondary. Whereas other expenditures that have very little bearing to the progression of our country will always be catered

for first.”

He lashed the Technical Committee of the NFF for not equipping him with information on Egypt who Nigeria meets on March 25, though he requested for materials way back in July 2015.

The former Eagles coach also accused the committee of trying to influence who plays for Nigeria, who gets invited, who would play, saying he refused to yield to such request because they are not coaches.

Oliseh insisted that he considered the option of resigning via a simple email when NFF failed to respond to his ultimatum on February 16 in respect of all his demands. He also claimed he contacted Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung, before he took his decision.

Former Nigerian Star, John Ene Okon, is Dead

Bassey InyanginCalabar

The death has been reported of a former Nigeria international and the Coach of Unicem Rovers Football Club of Calabar, John Ene Okon.

According to the Chairman of the Cross River State Sports Commission, Chief Orok Duke, Ene died in the early hours of yesterday at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH) after a protracted ailment.

Until his death, he was the chief coach of the Unicem Rovers Football Club of Calabar jointly owned by the Lafarge Cement outfit, and the Cross River Government.

While alive, Ene or “Akpakpan” as he was fondly called by fans and spectators hit limelight in his football career when he featured for the University of Calabar (Unical) football team which won the now rested Pepsi-cola Football Cup competition in 1986, as well as the soccer event of the Nigerian University Games (NUGA).

He was part of the Flying Eagles team to the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Chile in 1987 with the likes of

Etim Esin, Adekola Adeolu, Jonathan Akpoborie, Ladi Babalola, etc. Late Coach Chris Udemezue led the team tagged as favourites for the title to a disastrous adventure.

THISDAY learnt in Calabar that hours before Ene’s demise, the state’s sport commission boss had announced that Governor Ben Ayade had directed that all necessary resources should be mobilised to ensure his recovery.

Duke further hinted that he had led other commissioners in the state’s Sports Commission to visit the deceased on his hospital bed after he had undergone a Computerised Tomography (CT) Scan.

Diminutive Ene played for the then Acada United Football Club of Unical, Rovers of Calabar, BCC Lions of Gboko, Akwa United FC of Uyo As well as the Super Eagles.

He was, perhaps, the most decorated footballer from Cross River State. The former midfielder was a member of the Super Eagles squad to the 1992 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations in Senegal where Nigeria won bronze.

L-R: General Manager, South Eastern Nigeria, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Chuks Okobi; MD, Tolmann Allied Services Co. Ltd., Emmanuel Onyekwena; winner of the raffle draw, Tunde Jackson, and Captain Port Harcourt Club 1928 Golf Section & MD Gasstocks Ltd, Emmanuel Okene at the presentation of Business class ticket to Europe courtesy of Lufthansa Airlines to Jackson at the Tolmann sponsored Oil & Gas Deepwater Safety Training Golf Tournament 2016 ... recently

Sampson Wins Oil & Gas Deepwater Safety Golf Tourney Aba-based Onumajuru Sampson, returned the best nett score of 67 (-3) to emerge the winner of the maiden edition of Oil & Gas Deepwater Safety Training Golf Tournament held at Port Harcourt Club 1928 Golf Section.

Sampson, who plays off handicap 11, shot the best round of the tournament and was equally

rewarded with the Category 2 best prize.

The keenly competed tournament, sponsored by Tolmann Allied Services, paraded a large field of 140 golfers, who defied the heavy rainfall to participate in the 18-hole tournament.

The second best nett prize was won by Barry Whyte G, from Port

NPFL: Akwa Utd, Ikorodu FC in Rescheduled Mid-week Clash The belief that Akwa United FC will underrate Ikorodu United FC in today’s rescheduled Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) match at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo has been debunked.

Chairman of Akwa United Football Club, Mr Paul Bassey, warned the Promise Keepers after their last training session yesterday that they should underrate Ikorodu

at their own peril. “ News of their lack of motivation and even thrashing at the hands of IfeanyiUbah FC has nothing to do with us.

You should come out tomorrow determined to win and win well,” Bassey told the players.

He further told them that the Governor of the State, Mr Udom Emmanuel, is delighted with the progress the team is making so far.

“We have to continue to keep him happy. So far, he has given us all we need to succeed and we have to play our part and reciprocate his fatherly gesture,” observed the CAF/FIFA match commissioner.

Captain of the Akwa United FC, Otobong Effiong, promised to live up to expectations.

Coach Maurice Cooreman whose last port of call was

Ikorodu United when he led them to the elite division is relishing the challenge of playing against his former wards.

Apart from a slight knee knock suffered by Emmanuel Chigozie and a fever condition reported

by Kufre Ebong, the team is fit and raring to go.

Akwa’s next match will be against Rangers International in Enugu over the week end.

Harcourt Club Golf Section with handicap 5. Whyte submitted 68 (-2) to win the 1st prize for category 1 golfers.

Other winners include, John Nnanna, from Air Assault Golf Club, playing off handicap 18.

He lifted the 1st prize for category 3 golfers after returning a course par of 70 net, while Francis Oriakhi, a 22 handicapper from Port Harcourt Club Golf Section, won the 1st prize for category 4 golfers, returning a nett score of 72 (+2).

Susan Cole- Kotas shot a course par 70 to win the Women category. Cole-Kotas beat Eunice Ogan by one shot, while Judith Obomanu- Assis trailed for third with a 73.

Napolean Aya shot 75 to beat A. Shitta-Bey by three shots for the senior veteran prize, while John Nnnana and Gloria Wallace won the men

and women subsidiary prizes of nearest to the pin.

Co-sponsored by Lufthansa Airlines and Air France, two golfers emerged as lucky winners for the raffle draw with a return ticket to Europe.

The lead sponsor, Tolmann Allied Services Ltd, represented by the Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Emmanuel Onyekwena, expressed his delight and satisfaction for the successful hosting of the tournament, while thanking golfers for turning up for the event, and promised that the next edition for 2017 will be bigger and better.

Captain of the Golf Section of Port Harcourt Club, Sir Emmanuel Okene, equally thanked the sponsors for living up to expectation and putting up a great show for the event while charging all golfers to be ready for the next edition next year.

55

T H I S D AY •wedneSDAY MARCH 16, 2016

WEDNESDAYSPORTS U E FA C H A M P I O N S L E AG U E

Vermaelen Warns Barca of Surprises from Gunners

FC Barcelona defender, Thomas Vermaelen has warned his colleagues not to underestimate his former Arsenal when they meet this evening in their Champions League last-16 tie at Camp Nou. Holders Barcelona secured a 2-0 advantage during the closing stages of a keenly contested match at Emirates Stadium three weeks ago, with Lionel Messi netting a late brace.

Luis Enrique’s men are chasing their 10th consecutive home win in Europe’s premier competition but, despite the fact Arsenal appear to be on course to once again miss out on a quarter-final berth they were last able to claim in 2010, Vermaelen is taking nothing for granted.

“It won’t be an easy game at all,” the Belgium defender, who swapped north London for Catalonia in August 2014, told Barcelona’s official website.

“Although we have a small lead, you can never say that they are out. They have very quick players and that makes them dangerous.

We’ll need to concentrate.

“It is two different team (who are) very similar in the way they play. They look to play a passing game and keep the ball on the ground. They don’t go for long balls.

“It would be incredible to win (the Champions League) again but there’s still a long way to go. There are lots of games left and we’ll have to work hard if we want to do it.”

While Barcelona are sitting pretty at the top of La Liga, Arsenal’s Premier League title challenge has floundered on the back of three winless outings.

The pressure on long-serving manager Arsene Wenger was further increased by a shock FA Cup quarter-final defeat to Watford last Sunday.

Per Mertesacker underlined the fine margins Arsenal must hit yesterday - bemoaning a tension that undermined their work against Watford before warning that there is no margin for error at Camp Nou. “We were not relaxed against Watford. Even in the box we played and always found good positions, with the man in the right position but we lacked that relaxation even to hit the

target,” the centre-back told his club’s official website. “We did not do that sometimes. We missed it too often.

“We cannot afford to concede against Barcelona. We have to go there and try to attack, no matter what, that is the only possibility we have. We can be fortunate to have such big game in front of us.

“They are the ultimate team at the minute, so we are straight

suspended from “any planned activities while the investigation continues,” said the United Nations Development Programme.

She has held the role since 2007 and a UNDP spokesperson added it “remains grateful for her support of our work”.

According to the UNDP

Suarez’s expected return to the Barcelona starting line-up - the Uruguay striker having rested as his colleagues routed Getafe 6-0 on Saturday.

Danny Welbeck and Theo Walcott provide options for Wenger to bolster his attack with pace in search of the goals required, the former having come off the bench to net a late consolation as Watford held on for a 2-1 win.

Bayern, Juventus Set for Night of Drama at the Arena It looks set to be a dramatic night at the Allianz Arena today as Bayern host Juventus in their last 16 second-leg tie.

After a 2-2 draw in Turin both teams will still feel they can reach the quarter-finals.

It was all going so well for Pep Guardiola’s Bayern

team at the J Stadium threeweeks ago, when goals from Thomas Muller and Arjen Robben put the Bavarians into a commanding position in the tie.

A frenetic last quarter however, saw the Italians draw level and whilst the

Sharapova Suspended as UN Ambassador Maria Sharapova has been suspended as a Goodwill Ambassador by the United Nations after her failed drugs test.

The Russian, 28, tested positive for meldonium in January and has been provisionally suspended from 12 March.

Sharapova has been

away under pressure and we have to go away from home.

I think the confidence is there, we are just missing something.

“The season is not over.

We play in a confident way, we maybe lack that bit at the end. The desire to play together and to be good as a team is there, you can feel that.”

The task for Mertesacker and his defensive colleagues will be made more difficult by Luis

website, the organisation “works in some 170 countries and territories, helping to achieve the eradication of poverty, and the reduction of inequalities and exclusion”.

The former world number one said she has been taking meldonium for health reasons for the past 10 years.

The drug was added to the

World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) banned list on 1 January and Sharapova provided a positive test at the Australian Open later in the month.

Sportswear company Nike, Swiss watchmaker Tag Heuer and German car maker Porsche had already halted their relationships with Sharapova.

five-time champions of Europe will remain favourites to progress to the last eight, they will write Juventus off at their peril.

After two matches without a win, Guardiola’s side got back to winning ways domestically on Saturday, easily dispatching Werder Bremen at the Allianz Arena to put their title defence back on track.

Now comes an all-together different test against last season’s finalists where the Bavarians will be looking to continue their devastating Champions League form at home, having scored 14 and only conceded one in the group phase.

Last Friday’s 1-0 win over Sassuolo was Juve’s 18th in their last 19 league outings and with goalkeeper Gianluigi

Buffon not having been beaten for 10 matches domestically, a fifth straight title now seems imminent.

The Champions League is a different matter however, and coach Massimo Allegri, whilst not becoming obsessed with going one better than runner-up last season, knows that this is the competition where his team’s strength will be truly assessed.

History tells us that the Old Lady can upset the odds this evening; having only failed to win one of their seven European ties where they have drawn the first-leg at home.

In striker Mario Mandzukic, they also have a player desperate to put in a top level display on his old stamping ground.

20

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016 • T H I S D AY

FEATURES

Acting Features Editor Charles Ajunwa Email charles.ajunwa@thisdaylive.com

The Attractions of Badagry Charles Ajunwa and Solomon Elusoji took a trip to Badagry, one of the darkest and most fascinating historical landmarks in Nigeria, and write about the town’s golden offerings

T

welve-year-old Happiness Anya, a student of Royal Christian College, Lagos, looked curiously at the rusty chains before her. She had probably never seen anything like it before this class excursion to Badagry. But, as she listened to the tour guide, clarity emerged in her eyes. “We had read about Badagry before,” she would later say. “So I know about the history of slave trade. But today, I have felt the real impact of what really happened. I saw the chains they used; it was harsh. It showed the white men didn’t have any conscience.”

Located at the extreme edge of Nigeria’s border in the South-west and resting beside a lagoon in the Gulf of Guinea that feeds of the Atlantic, Badagry is an idyllic town.

Till today, it is not difficult to see why the Europeans decided to conduct their illicit slave of trades from this axis. It was the perfect gateway into the mainland, and courtesy of the serene lagoon, it provided an ideal base for the Europeans, who would never have survived the hot climate of the hinterlands.

The Atlantic Slave Trade began in the 15th century, but Badagry’s active involvement would commence the next century, when the Vlekete Slave Market was built in 1502 by the Portuguese. The Badagry Slave Port would follow in 1510, ushering in a mass exodus of African men and women, as slaves, into the New World. Historians who have studied the slave trade usually conclude that it was a vicious exercise conducted in the most inhumane of ways. The brutalities perpetrated by the trade, one historian concluded, could only be explained “by the assumption that blacks were seen as no better than inanimate pieces of equipment, to be used up and replaced as needed, or as fuel to be consumed in the fires.”

Today, thousands of people, schools and organisations visit Badagry just to see what’s remained of the slave trade’s history. “History is very important,” Mrs. Anya Bethel, an English teacher at Royal Christian College, told THISDAY. “We brought the children so that they could see the reality of what they read in books.”

Unfortunately, there’s not much left to

The Atlantic Slave Trade began in the 15th century, but Badagry’s active involvement would commence the next century, when the Vlekete Slave Market was built in 1502 by the Portuguese. The Badagry Slave Port would follow in 1510, ushering in a mass exodus of African men and women, as slaves, into the New World

Gberefu Beach close to the Atlantic Ocean from where slaves were exported to different parts of the world

Inside the Mobee Royal Family Original Slave Trade Relics Museum, Badagry

see. In 1852, when the Slave Trade Abolition Treaty was signed by Badagry chiefs, there was a clause in the agreement that stated that all the implements used during the trade be destroyed. That was when the Slave Port and Slave Market in Badagry were pulled down, canoes were buried, baracoon (prison) were shut down. “All this was done in order to wipe off the record of slave trade from Badagry,” a tourism officer with the Lagos State Ministry of Tourism who works in Badagry, Peter Mesewaku, told THISDAY. However, not all was destroyed. Some Badagry families had actively participated in the trade, and some of them preserved some items. One of such families is the Mobee family. During the golden days of slave trade, the High Chief of Mobee was one of its major facilitators in Badagry. The Mobee family items preserved would morph

into the Mobee Slave Relic Museum, one of the oldest private museums in Nigeria which is still standing today, harbouring some of Badagry’s most original relics from the dark trade.

The museum is divided into nine galleries and arranged sequentially to tell the story of slave trade. The Introduction Gallery gives an insight into how slavery actually started.

Then, there is the Capture Gallery, where you have some chains (some are replicas) used during the Slave Trade. There is the Facilitators Gallery, which include both the Africans and Europeans, who helped the trade to thrive. Among the European facilitators displayed in the Mobee Museum is John Hopkins, who was the first British slave trader.

Immediately the protestant broke away from the Catholics, John Hopkins led a group of 23 British Slave traders to West Africa, and

he personally went back to England with 300 slaves. And because of that feat, he was knighted by the Queen of England.

The museum also has the Equipments Gallery, where there are replicas of the slave drinking pots and prototypes of the slave ship and how the slaves were packed like sardines inside the lower deck. Then there is the Resistant and Punishment Gallery, where tourists can see images of how the slaves resisted and were punished. There is also the Industry Gallery, which shows the different categories of slaves, as determined by the Europeans.

The Mubee museum is only a small part of what attracts people to Badagry. The physical historical landmarks are numerous. One of such landmarks is the Brazilian Baracoon, a 40-room prison where slaves were kept in terrible conditions, chained from head to toe.

21

• T H I S D AY WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016

FEATURES It is also noteworthy to state that the Western architectural revolution in Nigeria started in Badagry, where you have the first storey building.

Built in 1845 under the supervision of Rev. C.A. Gollemer, it took almost three years to build

Apart from that, there is the Point of No Return. This is the last point of call for the slaves. When the slaves arrive Badagry, they are transported via the lagoon to an Island, where they commence a 2.5kilometre walk to the Atlantic. Although the island is called Gberefu Beach, it is popularly referred to as the Point of No Return. Why? Before the slaves get to the Atlantic, there is a well dug beside the road to provide water for the slaves, who are tired and thirsty from walking with chains. But, ironically, the water from the well was said to have been charmed by the local people. It was meant to make the slaves less aggressive, more submissive, and, at times, even wipe off their memory.

The belief is that when that water is tasted, the hope of returning no longer exists. The well stands there till today, although covered with grime.

There is also the Badagry Heritage Museum.

Although the building was converted into a museum, it used to be the District Officers office, during the colonial era, which was built in 1863. This museum, like the Mubee Museum, also carries a large collection of slave trade artefacts.

The Vlekete Slave Market is another fascinating historical landmark in Badagry.

At least 18,000 slaves are said to have been sold at this market, which brought together the Europeans and slave hunters and middlemen from the hinterland. At this Slave Market sits the Vlekete Shrine, which is famous for settling disputes and trying accused individuals during the trade. A British explorer, Richard Lander, was tried at the shrine in 1885. After the abolition of slave trade, Richard Lander and some other British explorers were sent to Africa to propagate legitimate trade. They arrived Badagry in 1825. Unfortunately, Richard Lander discovered that the Portuguese still continued with slave trade, after it had been declared illegal in Europe. When the Portuguese saw them, they were not feeling too comfortable, because they felt Richard Lander could report their activities to their government in Lisbon. The only way out was to have Richard Lander terminated. So, they went to the then king and deceived him to believe that Richard Lander was a British spy. Because of that, the British explorers were arrested, but they pleaded not guilty.

In order not shed innocent blood, Lander was given a public trial. He was given a traditional medicine to swallow at the Vlekete Shrine, to prove his innocence. He took the medicine and survived, meaning that he was actually innocent of that charge. And that was how the abolition struggle started in Badagry, although it was achieved 27 years later, in 1852.

Then there is the Agiya Monument, the spot where Christianity was first preached. The monument used to be a massive Agiya tree that sat at the heart of Badagry. It served as a shelter and a town square for both secular and religious activities.

When some returnees (freed slaves) from Sierra Leone arrived Badagry around 1839, one of them called James Ferguson wrote to the Methodist Commission in England, saying that they were in a place of darkness. Just like

Students on excursion to the Original Spot Slaves Spirit Attenuation Well along the famous 'Point of No Return' on the Gberefu Island

Nigeria's first story building in Badagry

every other African community then, Badagry people were traditional worshippers, and the Europeans believed traditional religions belonged to the darkness. So that was why Ferguson referred to Badagry as a place of darkness, where there is no light. Christianity was seen as the light. So, Ferguson requested that they should send them a missionary who would help them preach the gospel to the people. That was how Rev. Thomas Birch Freeman was redeployed from his base in Gold Coast to Badagry. He arrived Badagry in 1842 and was received by the few returnees from Sierra Leone.

Naturally, the Agiya tree was the only place where they could meet the number of people that a missionary would require to preach the gospel. So he was taken there and he preached the first ever Christian gospel in Nigeria, sowing the seeds of Christianity. That same year, a young Anglican Missionary, Henry Townsend, arrived Badagry, and together with Birch Freeman, they observed the first Christmas service in Nigeria, under the same Agiya tree. Henry Townsend later left for Abeokuta to preach Christianity. The tree fell around 1958 and 1959, after it was blown away by a heavy wind, and a cenotaph was erected at the spot, because of the importance attached to it. That’s why the place is now

called the Agiya Monument.

It is also noteworthy to state that the Western architectural revolution in Nigeria started in Badagry, where you have the first storey building. Built in 1845 under the supervision of Rev. C.A. Gollemer, it took almost three years to build.

The first primary school is also situated in Badagry. It was established by the Wesleyan Mission of the Methodist Church and named Nursery of Infant Church, which later became known as St. Thomas’ Anglican Nursery and Primary School. It started in 1843, was relocated to its original spot in 1845, and it stands up to this moment in Badagry.

Still, the present state of these historical landmarks is nothing to write home about. It is true that thousands of people visit Badagry yearly, but these numbers could be in their millions if the right structures are put in place.

According to the tourism coordinator in the area, Mesewaku, the government was not doing enough to encourage tourism in Badagry. “Although tourism is private sector driven,” he said, “for it to thrive, it needs the involvement of the government, because they form the policies. We have some policies on ground presently, but they are in the cooler; they are inactive and are not being enforced at all.

“Here, the little success we have witnessed has always been private sector driven. The Mobee Museum is privately owned, the first story building is owned by the Anglican, the Agiya Monument is owned by the Christian Association of Nigeria, Badagry Chapter.

For now, it is only the Badagry Heritage Museum that is owned by the Lagos State government.”

Still, according to Mesewaku, the past government of Lagos State, headed by Babatunde Fashola, really invested in tourism. “They started the reclamation of the Badagry Marina, and there is the upgrading of the slave route. They also constructed the Vlekete Market museum and built a Tourism Information Centre. The DO Residence was also restored and there were plans of building an amphitheatre in Badagry. Still, a lot needs to be done by this administration.”

A major cause of concern should be the roads leading into Badagry, which are currently in a very deplorable state. These reporters spent hours on the road trying to gain access into Badagry.

There is an ongoing ten-lane road project that aims to connect Badagry with mainland Lagos. The success of this project will determine the seriousness of the present government, in terms of improving tourism in the state.

48

T H I S D AY • TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 2016

MARKET NEWS

Zenith Bank Declares N1.55 Final Dividend as ETI Expects Lower Earnings Goddy Egene and Eromosele Abiodun The directors of Zenith Bank Plc yesterday announced a final dividend of N1.55 per share for the year ended December 31, 2015, following a profit after tax of N105.663 billion recorded the year.

The final dividend is in addition to the N0.25 dividend

already paid to bring total return for the year to N1.80 per share. Zenith Bank Plc had paid N1.75 dividend per share in the previous year. The audited results made available to stock market operators by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday showed that Zenith Bank Plc recorded gross earnings of 432.535 billion in 2015, up by 7.2 per cent in 2014.

Net interest income grew by 8.8

T H E MAIN BOARD

DEALS

MARKET PRICE

per cent from N206.503 billion to N224.582 billion. However, impairment charges rose by 20 per cent from N13 billion to N15.6 billion. Consequently, profit before tax recorded a growth of 4.9 per cent to be at N125.61 billion, compared with N119.7 billion. Profit after tax rose marginally by 1.2 per cent to N105.66 billion, from N103.275 billion in 2014.

Based on the performance,

N I G E R I A N QUANTITY TRADED

STO C K

VALUE TRADED ( N )

Daily Summary as of 15/03/2016 Printed 15/03/2016 14:36:17.017 Daily Summary (Bonds) No Debt Trading Activity Daily Summary (Equities) Activity Summary on Board EQTY AGRICULTURE Crop Production OKOMU OIL PALM PLC. PRESCO PLC Crop Production Totals Livestock/Animal Specialties LIVESTOCK FEEDS PLC. Livestock/Animal Specialties Totals AGRICULTURE Totals CONGLOMERATES Diversified Industries A.G. LEVENTIS NIGERIA PLC. TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATION OF NIGERIA PLC U A C N PLC. Diversified Industries Totals CONGLOMERATES Totals CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE Building Structure/Completion/Other COSTAIN (W A) PLC. Building Structure/Completion/Other Totals Infrastructure/Heavy Construction JULIUS BERGER NIG. PLC. Infrastructure/Heavy Construction Totals Real Estate Development UACN PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT CO. LIMITED Real Estate Development Totals Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) UPDC REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) Totals CONSTRUCTION/REAL ESTATE Totals CONSUMER GOODS Beverages--Brewers/Distillers CHAMPION BREW. PLC. GUINNESS NIG PLC INTERNATIONAL BREWERIES PLC. NIGERIAN BREW. PLC. Beverages--Brewers/Distillers Totals Beverages--Non-Alcoholic 7-UP BOTTLING COMP. PLC. Beverages--Non-Alcoholic Totals Food Products DANGOTE SUGAR REFINERY PLC FLOUR MILLS NIG. PLC. HONEYWELL FLOUR MILL PLC NASCON ALLIED INDUSTRIES PLC TIGER BRANDED CONSUMER GOODS PLC UNION DICON SALT PLC. Food Products Totals Food Products--Diversified CADBURY NIGERIA PLC. NESTLE NIGERIA PLC. Food Products--Diversified Totals Household Durables VITAFOAM NIG PLC. Household Durables Totals Personal/Household Products P Z CUSSONS NIGERIA PLC. UNILEVER NIGERIA PLC. Personal/Household Products Totals CONSUMER GOODS Totals FINANCIAL SERVICES Banking ACCESS BANK PLC. DIAMOND BANK PLC ECOBANK TRANSNATIONAL INCORPORATED FIDELITY BANK PLC GUARANTY TRUST BANK PLC. SKYE BANK PLC STERLING BANK PLC. UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA PLC UNION BANK NIG.PLC. UNITY BANK PLC WEMA BANK PLC. Banking Totals Insurance Carriers, Brokers and Services AIICO INSURANCE PLC. CONTINENTAL REINSURANCE PLC CORNERSTONE INSURANCE COMPANY PLC. INTERNATIONAL ENERGY INSURANCE COMPANY PLC LASACO ASSURANCE PLC. AXAMANSARD INSURANCE PLC N.E.M INSURANCE CO (NIG) PLC. SOVEREIGN TRUST INSURANCE PLC STANDARD ALLIANCE INSURANCE PLC. WAPIC INSURANCE PLC Insurance Carriers, Brokers and Services Totals Micro-Finance Banks NPF MICROFINANCE BANK PLC Micro-Finance Banks Totals Mortgage Carriers, Brokers and Services ABBEY MORTGAGE BANK PLC Mortgage Carriers, Brokers and Services Totals Other Financial Institutions AFRICA PRUDENTIAL REGISTRARS PLC CUSTODIAN AND ALLIED PLC FCMB GROUP PLC. ROYAL EXCHANGE PLC. STANBIC IBTC HOLDINGS PLC UNITED CAPITAL PLC Other Financial Institutions Totals FINANCIAL SERVICES Totals HEALTHCARE

the directors recommended a final dividend of N1.55 to shareholders. The dividend will be paid on April 6, 2016 after the approval by shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting in Lagos.

Meanwhile, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), parent company of the Ecobank Group has informed market operators that it will report materially lower profit

19 5 24

33.07 34.25

116,531 10,700 127,231

3,841,928.14 384,772.00 4,226,700.14

12 12 36

1.22

851,138 851,138 978,369

1,044,028.36 1,044,028.36 5,270,728.50

1 184 28 213 213

0.76 1.14 20.95

240 24,090,695 82,460 24,173,395 24,173,395

180.00 27,641,625.48 1,699,248.06 29,341,053.54 29,341,053.54

1 1

0.50

50,000 50,000

25,000.00 25,000.00

14 14

41.50

92,917 92,917

4,113,798.00 4,113,798.00

9 9

5.10

41,627 41,627

216,923.46 216,923.46

1 1 25

10.00

15 15 184,559

150.00 150.00 4,355,871.46

9 47 10 109 175

3.00 112.79 18.50 93.00

186,330 56,810 38,825 910,268 1,192,233

546,898.50 6,260,194.48 687,308.64 86,403,248.71 93,897,650.33

34 34

154.00

175,349 175,349

26,907,869.08 26,907,869.08

31 35 30 20 189 1 306

6.01 19.29 1.64 8.00 3.04 11.25

226,918 201,814 905,530 151,351 15,627,864 1,282 17,114,759

1,336,423.28 3,895,080.32 1,492,087.65 1,185,227.30 47,491,930.79 13,704.58 55,414,453.92

15 49 64

17.20 690.00

15,705 22,562 38,267

262,529.44 15,371,795.58 15,634,325.02

4 4

4.30

3,949 3,949

16,151.41 16,151.41

22 24 46 629

25.00 28.05

130,500 107,357 237,857 18,762,414

3,100,335.48 3,067,966.81 6,168,302.29 198,038,752.05

230 30 26 135 460 57 366 553 37 17 34 1,945

4.58 1.35 16.26 1.20 16.20 0.99 1.65 3.74 5.71 0.64 0.83

13,454,556 3,849,052 319,603 12,616,743 16,476,426 3,971,581 2,583,895 71,981,533 632,510 615,732 1,508,719 128,010,350

63,541,837.77 5,228,335.10 5,359,956.99 15,258,417.75 273,236,491.23 3,932,566.39 4,263,864.13 269,169,272.92 3,619,529.94 394,068.48 1,256,638.76 645,260,979.46

12 16 1

0.81 0.91 0.50

166,176 7,966,000 450,000

131,718.23 7,260,650.00 225,000.00

1

0.50

598,888

299,444.00

4 5 9 2 1 14 65

0.50 2.14 0.75 0.50 0.50 0.50

1,500,000 63,000 418,199 250,000 1,000 3,383,010 14,796,273

750,000.00 139,386.17 317,306.24 125,000.00 500.00 1,691,505.00 10,940,509.64

7 7

1.07

162,085 162,085

172,360.10 172,360.10

1 1

1.25

250 250

297.50 297.50

160 4 132 1 16 159 472 2,490

3.20 3.81 0.86 0.50 15.30 1.75

7,068,868 177,095 11,539,007 10,000 297,321 15,166,381 34,258,672 177,227,630

23,028,383.26 669,657.55 10,000,439.45 5,000.00 4,489,324.44 26,376,256.46 64,569,061.16 720,943,207.86

for the year ended 2015 as a result of some factors.

“The macroeconomic challenges faced by most African economies, lower crude oil prices, depreciating currencies, monetary and fiscal bottlenecks, due to global developments, negatively impacted expected revenue growth. Thus, revenue growth for 2015 will be below our target guidance,” the bank said.

It added that higher impairment losses on loans were recognised in the last quarter of 2015 across its loan portfolio.

“Key actions have been implemented to strengthen our credit risk management processes. As a result, our revised growth targets communicated during our third quarter 2015 analysts and investor conference call for deposits and loans will not be achieved.

E XC H A N G E

MAIN BOARD

DEALS

Pharmaceuticals FIDSON HEALTHCARE PLC 5 GLAXO SMITHKLINE CONSUMER NIG. PLC. 9 MAY & BAKER NIGERIA PLC. 13 NEIMETH INTERNATIONAL PHARMACEUTICALS PLC 1 Pharmaceuticals Totals 28 HEALTHCARE Totals 28 ICT Processing Systems E-TRANZACT INTERNATIONAL PLC 1 Processing Systems Totals 1 ICT Totals 1 INDUSTRIAL GOODS Building Materials ASHAKA CEM PLC 11 BERGER PAINTS PLC 4 CAP PLC 8 CEMENT CO. OF NORTH.NIG. PLC 12 DN MEYER PLC. 1 LAFARGE AFRICA PLC. 86 Building Materials Totals 122 Electronic and Electrical Products CUTIX PLC. 8 Electronic and Electrical Products Totals 8 Packaging/Containers BETA GLASS CO PLC. 3 Packaging/Containers Totals 3 INDUSTRIAL GOODS Totals 133 NATURAL RESOURCES Chemicals B.O.C. GASES PLC. 1 Chemicals Totals 1 NATURAL RESOURCES Totals 1 OIL AND GAS Integrated Oil and Gas Services OANDO PLC 112 Integrated Oil and Gas Services Totals 112 Petroleum and Petroleum Products Distributors CONOIL PLC 54 ETERNA PLC. 5 FORTE OIL PLC. 11 MOBIL OIL NIG PLC. 3 MRS OIL NIGERIA PLC. 1 TOTAL NIGERIA PLC. 8 Petroleum and Petroleum Products Distributors Totals 82 Exploration and Production SEPLAT PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LTD 24 Exploration and Production Totals 24 OIL AND GAS Totals 218 SERVICES Apparel Retailers LENNARDS (NIG) PLC. 1 Apparel Retailers Totals 1 Automobile/Auto Part Retailers R T BRISCOE PLC. 1 Automobile/Auto Part Retailers Totals 1 Courier/Freight/Delivery RED STAR EXPRESS PLC 2 TRANS-NATIONWIDE EXPRESS PLC. 3 Courier/Freight/Delivery Totals 5 Hotels/Lodging IKEJA HOTEL PLC 3 TRANSCORP HOTELS PLC 1 Hotels/Lodging Totals 4 Media/Entertainment DAAR COMMUNICATIONS PLC 4 Media/Entertainment Totals 4 Printing/Publishing ACADEMY PRESS PLC. 4 LEARN AFRICA PLC 5 Printing/Publishing Totals 9 Road Transportation ASSOCIATED BUS COMPANY PLC 1 Road Transportation Totals 1 Transport-Related Services AIRLINE SERVICES AND LOGISTICS PLC 1 NIGERIAN AVIATION HANDLING COMPANY PLC 10 Transport-Related Services Totals 11 Support and Logistics C & I LEASING PLC. 1 Support and Logistics Totals 1 SERVICES Totals 37 EQTY Board Totals 3,811 Daily Summary (Equities) Activity Summary on Board PREMIUM FINANCIAL SERVICES Banking ZENITH INTERNATIONAL BANK PLC 425 Banking Totals 425 Other Financial Institutions FBN HOLDINGS PLC 265 Other Financial Institutions Totals 265 FINANCIAL SERVICES Totals 690 INDUSTRIAL GOODS Building Materials No. of Deals DANGOTE CEMENT PLC 60 Building Materials Totals 60 INDUSTRIAL GOODS Totals 60 PREMIUM Board Totals 750 Equity Activity Totals 4,561

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

2.70 24.98 0.91 0.72

120,557 18,477 507,725 9,000 655,759 655,759

309,846.49 442,241.10 465,638.71 6,750.00 1,224,476.30 1,224,476.30

3.00

60,000 60,000 60,000

180,000.00 180,000.00 180,000.00

24.00 9.42 38.50 8.60 0.70 84.00

30,185 2,394 60,465 3,541,915 1,000 12,060,208 15,696,167

727,173.05 22,264.20 2,243,736.00 30,462,346.00 670.00 1,002,849,990.28 1,036,306,179.53

1.58

72,500 72,500

115,310.00 115,310.00

45.50

17,169 17,169 15,785,836

742,387.56 742,387.56 1,037,163,877.09

3.95

66 66 66

248.16 248.16 248.16

4.82

1,757,769 1,757,769

8,473,384.08 8,473,384.08

20.10 1.80 293.23 171.00 47.18 150.00

342,445 90,000 5,223 357 150 9,000 447,175

6,767,782.21 162,315.00 1,454,971.11 57,994.65 6,724.50 1,338,064.00 9,787,851.47

350.00

202,644 202,644 2,407,588

70,931,581.10 70,931,581.10 89,192,816.65

3.00

15,000 15,000

42,750.00 42,750.00

0.50

10,000 10,000

5,000.00 5,000.00

4.00 1.18

154,695 2,562 157,257

618,780.00 3,151.26 621,931.26

2.47 5.51

97,060 500 97,560

239,747.20 2,620.00 242,367.20

0.50

111,000 111,000

55,500.00 55,500.00

0.57 0.86

65,000 68,575 133,575

37,000.00 58,439.50 95,439.50

0.50

10,000 10,000

5,000.00 5,000.00

2.20 3.91

3,000 211,963 214,963

6,930.00 828,703.07 835,633.07

0.50

11,111 11,111 760,466 240,996,082

5,555.50 5,555.50 1,909,176.53 2,087,620,208.14

12.83

31,187,922 31,187,922

403,549,637.99 403,549,637.99

3.73

14,091,156 14,091,156 45,279,078

53,063,627.44 53,063,627.44 456,613,265.43

Current Price 164.00

Quantity Traded 762,374 762,374 762,374 46,041,452 287,037,534

Value Traded 124,340,537.50 124,340,537.50 124,340,537.50 580,953,802.93 2,668,574,011.07

8.47 2.44 5.92 11.59 20.01

269,790 5 980 5 2,080 272,860 272,860 272,860

2,277,329.70 12.20 5,801.60 57.95 41,620.80 2,324,822.25 2,324,822.25 2,324,822.25

Daily Summary (ETP) Exchange Traded Fund Name LOTUS HALAL EQUITY ETF VETIVA BANKING ETF VETIVA CONSUMER GOODS ETF VETIVA GRIFFIN 30 ETF VETIVA INDUSTRIAL ETF Exchange Traded Fund Totals ETF Board Totals ETP Activity Totals

6 1 1 1 1 10 10 10