Thursday 21st April 2016 by THISDAY Newspapers Ltd

THURSDAY APRIL 21, 2016 T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY THURSDAY APRIL 21, 2016

THURSDAY APRIL 21, 2016 T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY • THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2016

NEWS

Passengers Stranded as Arik Suspends Operation over Picketing by Union Chinedu Eze Passengers were stranded yesterday when Nigeria’s largest airline, Arik Air, suspended flights owing to the picketing of its operations by the aviation workers’ union. The union early yesterday morning stopped the take off of the airline’s flights from its operational hub, the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, over its indebtedness to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), which the union put at N12.5 billion. A statement from Arik signed by its spokesman, Adebanji Ola confirmed that the FAAN workers’ union had stopped the operations of the airline at GAT, thereby leaving hundreds of passengers stranded, adding that the suspension of operations would continue until the agency and the airline resolved the debt issue. “Workers of the airline were prevented from gaining access to their duty posts, thereby disrupting the day’s operations. The action by the workers’ union is connected with the long-standing and unsubstantiated claim by FAAN alleging spurious indebtedness of the airline

to the agency, which is now a matter before a Federal High Court in Lagos at the instance of FAAN. “For several months, the managements of Arik Air and FAAN have been meeting to reconcile the accounts between the two institutions. The reconciliation process is still ongoing until the latest actions by the union,” he said. He said this was not the first time the FAAN workers’ union had taken the law into their hands by disrupting the operations of Arik Air. “The current situation is deeply out of control of Arik Air and the management of the airline has been compelled to suspend all domestic operations for today. This will remain in force until such a time that the unfortunate situation is resolved. “Arik Air sincerely apologises for the inconveniences the FAAN workers’ union’s action may have caused its esteemed passengers. We live to serve the needs of the people of the great nation, Nigeria. “We look forward to working collaboratively with FAAN and other aviation agencies to resolve the impasse and return to our core purpose of providing essential world class services

Arik airplane to the people of Nigeria,” the airline said. But the union’s leadership countered Arik’s explanation for the suspension of its operations, stating that it resorted to shutting down Arik after a year long negotiation was crippled by the airline, which feigned ignorance of its debt as well as refused to pay its outstanding liabilities. Realising that they might not travel as scheduled, hundreds of passengers became angry and confused at GAT. While some went and requested for a refund

of their ticket fares, others rushed out of the terminal to book other flights to their destinations. A passenger affected by the flight disruption said: “I have a meeting in Abuja and I have been here since 6 am for my flight and I’m still here. I’m devastated and I don’t know what next to do and even my boss thinks I’m back in Abuja. This is not about the refund because I will sue Arik if I lose my job,” the passenger said. The General Secretary of the National Union of Air Transport Employees

(NUATE) Mr. Olayinka Abioye, in a statement said: “We are engaged in the picketing exercise against Arik Air over its indebtedness to FAAN in the sum of N12.5 billion.” However, a top official of Arik deplored the method FAAN was using to recover the money owed it. “Is it now the responsibility of the union to seek payment of money owed aviation agencies? By doing that, the union has gone beyond its mandate. This is getting to lawlessness. “Even if Arik owes FAAN,

there is an official process through which the money can be collected. Unions do not have any right, according to the laws of the country, to disrupt the operations of a company because of debt. There is a proper channel through which such issues are resolved. “We have a letter from FAAN, which acknowledges that we have paid N11. 4 billion. This illegality cannot continue. We have to stop it. It is not the responsibility of the union to challenge Arik over its debt to FAAN,” the official said.

Wetkas: “There was nothing referring to American Express Bank.” But just as Saraki was asking the tribunal chairman to step down, the EFCC exonerated Umar of the allegation of N10 million bribe made by Mr. AbdulRashid Owolabi, in his petition to the commission. Owolabi, who was being tried by the CCT, had alleged that Umar had demanded the N10 million bribe from him. He claimed that part of the money was paid into the bank account of the personal assistant of the chairman, prompting him to write a petition against the chairman to the EFCC. However, whilst Umar’s personal assistant is standing trial for accepting the bribe from Owolabi, the EFCC, following in the footsteps of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) who said a few months ago that there was no evidence linking Umar to the bribe, has also exonerated the CCT chairman of wrongdoing. According to the commission, the letter exonerating Umar was addressed to the Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF) Engr. Babachir Lawal, captioned, “Re: Investigation Report: N10million Bribery Allegation against the Chairman Code of Conduct Tribunal, Abuja”, with

reference number EFCC/P/ NHRU/688/V.30/99 and had yesterday’s date. The letter which was signed by Emmanuel Adegboyega Aremo, secretary to the commission read: “Kindly recall our correspondence of March 5, 2015, (reference EFCC/ EC/SGF/03/56) with the above subject. “We would like to reiterate the commission’s position in regard to this matter as earlier communicated to you and stated that the allegations levelled against Justice Umar were mere suspicious and consequently insufficient to successfully prosecute the offence.” The letter was a follow up to a previous one sent on March 5, 2015 during Goodluck Jonathan's administration through the office of the SGF. But as the intrigues emanating from Saraki’s trial took another turn yesterday, the All Progressives Congress (APC), in a reversal of its statement last week, said that it would not allow the leadership of the Senate to slip into the hands of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) because it holds the majority in the upper chamber. Making this known, the National Chairman of the party, Chief John OdigieOyegun was reacting to a news report which quoted

him as stating that his party was ready to sacrifice the Senate presidency to the PDP if Saraki loses his trial at the CCT. Oyegun said the issue of losing the number three citizen’s job does not arise, as APC still holds the majority seats in the Senate. Oyegun, who addressed journalists in his office at APC’s national secretariat in Abuja, described the report as “misleading”, adding, “Under no circumstances will his party compromise the leadership of the senate.” “That misunderstanding is still on? Let me put it simply, there were basically two points that I was making: number one, as a party of change even as a party, we cannot interfere in a judicial process that is ongoing. That was clear. “And when they asked about the Senate, I said under no circumstances can we compromise on the leadership of the Senate. “We are the majority party and the issue doesn’t even really arise but unfortunately the way it was put, the misinterpretation has been a little bit too intense and that is clear. “It just doesn’t arise at all. The issue, the argument and the rest do not arise. If somebody wants to theorise and postulate, that’s a different matter, but it doesn’t arise,” he said.

SARAKI WANTS CCT CHAIR TO RECUSE SELF, EFCC CLEARS UMAR on the common law rule on the likelihood of bias and the rules of natural justice. The defendants, in the motion on notice are Umar and the second member of the Tribunal Mr. Agwadza Williams Atedze. In a 20-paragraph affidavit in support of the motion, it was averred that the applicant had sought to enforce his fundamental rights before a Federal High Court in Abuja on the ground that the independence and impartiality of the CCT could not be guaranteed while Umar presides over the trial of the applicant. It also averred that Saraki was being tried by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and that Umar, as chairman of CCT, is the object of investigation by the same EFCC on corrupt practices. The affidavit also claimed that by his conduct in the proceedings, the CCT boss had allegedly proved to be a willing tool in the hands of the executive arm of the government which was responsible for his appointment and particularly as he (Umar) was himself under investigation for corruption by EFCC. The affidavit deposed to by Mr. Paul Akase claimed that neither the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), nor the EFCC nor Umar has ever denied that the CCT boss was under

investigation. It also claimed that by the 1999 Constitution the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act, the power to investigate a complaint of breach of the code of conduct for public officers is the exclusive preserve of the CCB and not EFCC. The affidavit further stated that the EFCC’s usurpation of the CCB power had been admitted by the AGF in previous court action instituted by Saraki against the AGF, EFCC, Umar and other defendants. It therefore stated that the interest of justice would be served if Umar recuses or disqualifies himself from sitting on the panel of the tribunal to hear and determine the charges being prosecuted against the applicant. No date has been fixed for hearing of the motion. However, before Saraki filed his motion of notice, the witness for the prosecution had revealed yesterday that some of the bank documents used as evidence against the Senate president were burnt. Mr. Michael Wetkas, a detective of the EFCC, said some of the documents that would have provided evidence of transactions in the foreign account of Saraki were burnt. Wetkas, who was responding to a question from Paul Usoro (SAN), Saraki’s lawyer, on some

fund transfers from the Senate president’s Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) account to his alleged American Express bank account, said that in the course of his investigation, officials of GTB told him that some of the documents showing the transactions were burnt. “Several telexes from American Express Bank and facts are here from the bank (GTB),” Wetkas said. “All the transfer requests made by the investigating team to provide information was an offshoot of a debit transaction that was already consummated on that account, which showed the bank it carried out. “There is no doubt that the transaction was actually carried out with an American Express Bank. There were also police reports and an affidavit, which they (GTB) swore to, to show that some of the documents were burnt. There is an affidavit and I believe it was a fire outbreak.” When Usoro asked: “You did not investigate to find out if American Express Bank exists?” Wetkas responded: “My investigation was not on American Express Bank, but on the account.” The defence counsel also asked: “From that form (the telexes showing the alleged transactions) is there any relating to America Express Bank?”

T H I S D AY • THUSDAY APRIL 21, 2016

COMMENT

Editor, Editorial Page PETER ISHAKA Email peter.ishaka@thisdaylive.com

PDP, OPPOSITION POLITICS AND FAYOSE’S CHINA TRIP

Nnamdi Ebo argues Nigerians are being denied the benefits of a virile opposition party

he Opposition Party in the U.S. is a label with two different applications in Congressional history, first occurring as a plurality in Congress (c. 1854-1858), and as a third party in the South (c. 1858-1860). Modern opposition politics in the U.S. revolves around two of the major parties (Republican and Democratic parties) - whoever loses election falls into opposition. In Britain, opposition politics is suffused in Her Majesty’s Government as Her Majesty’s Official Opposition - i.e. the party/parties with the next highest votes to the winner after parliamentary elections. Opposition party in Nigeria is a different kettle of fish despite running the same system with the U.S. Over more than the last decade and a half (c. 1999-2016), opposition politics was non-existent (c. 1999-2015) as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ruled Nigeria with an iron fist mired in democratic dispositions unopposed but stopped in its tracts à la a former PDP National Chairman, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, who boasted in 2008 that PDP will rule Nigeria for 60 years. The phrase later became a maxim for the party members even in the last presidential election campaign. The PDP was unprepared for any opposition role based on Ogbulafor’s “surety” which lost its challenge as the All Progressives Congress (APC) swept the largest party in Africa out of Aso Rock. The functionality of competitive party politics in the democratisation process in Nigeria has never become a subject of debate because this country is yet to imbibe the tenets of true opposition politics. Before I sketch the contours of this treatise, I find it necessary to prepare the defining stage for the persistently unfolding drama taking place in Nigeria perennially and later in China - which suffices for opposition politics in Nigeria. While I agree that opposition parties are free to criticise the ruling party’s policies, ideas and programmes and offer alternatives to governance preparatory to either taking over power after the next election, if successful, or still remaining an opposition party in continuum, if unsuccessful, what is going on is not opposition politics but sheer opposition rascality of unimaginable proportions. In a democracy, opposition parties are supposed to perform several important functions. These include: interest aggregation; promotion of “national conversation”; maintaining touch with the voter-citizens; holding the government to account for its commissions or omissions; presenting a viable alternative to the incumbent government by designing alternative ideas, principles and policies for governing society; acting as a training ground for future leaders; strengthening the culture of democracy within the party and the political community in general; working with the electoral commission, the mass media and civil society organisations to monitor

IN A DEMOCRACY, OPPOSITION PARTIES ARE SUPPOSED TO PERFORM SEVERAL IMPORTANT FUNCTIONS. THESE INCLUDE: INTEREST AGGREGATION; PROMOTION OF “NATIONAL CONVERSATION”; MAINTAINING TOUCH WITH THE VOTER-CITIZENS; HOLDING THE GOVERNMENT TO ACCOUNT FOR ITS COMMISSIONS OR OMISSIONS

and improve the quality of voter registration, civic education and electoral transparency; and finally, opposition parties are the unpaid but dedicated principal researchers for the government in power. How has the PDP performed 10% of the above opposition chores in “democratic Nigeria”? Having sketched the contours of this treatise, I find it necessary to delve into the analysis of variance with democratic opposition politics at variance with the persistently unfolding drama taking place in Ekiti State perennially and later in China. With the ouster of Olisa Metuh as the de facto/bona fide mouthpiece of the PDP (since his struggle to oust himself from the corruption melee slowly trampling the PDP) and even with Metuh pretending to be speaking in opposition as he shuttled between Wadata House and Kuje Prison, a mouthpiece of sorts was bellowing in Ekiti State. After criticising President Muhammadu Buhari’s China trip, the Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose jetted out to China. Fayose wrote a letter to the Chinese government to stop the $2 billion trade loan to Nigeria. Under what heading will Fayoye place his opposition politics? In July 2013, Fayose’s idol, ex-President Goodluck Jonathan visited China seeking trade agreements like Buhari. It’s okay for Jonathan but a no-go for Buhari. The PDP has resolved to remain in self-denial and wallowing in self-pity since losing Aso Rock - instead of playing positive opposition politics. Fayose and PDP have unwittingly characterised their opposition politics as mundane and the party is living a humdrum existence. I am afraid that with these minuscule fragments of opposition politics propagated by the PDP, Fayose and other opposition elements within the major opposition party, the Nigerian people are denied high quality leadership from the federal government of the APC. Again, while the official sheriff of opposition in Nigeria is busy dishing out apolitical snippets of liliputian proportions, with childish enthusiasm, Nigeria is at risk of descending into crass democratic dictatorship, which ordinarily will be stopped in its tracks with virile opposition. In the absence of real opposition, Nigerians are denied the alternatives to good governance. In an interactive forum in Lagos on Sunday, April 3, 2016, Fayose revealed that his relentless criticism of Buhari flowed from his sense of responsibility as the most senior governor in Nigeria and not related to his purported aspiration to run for president in 2019. The PDP has apparently moved on from Olisa Metuh’s inconsistent, inchoately presumptive public relations and incipient media publicity. Therefore, the opposition party has resigned itself to guttersnipe-like opposition politics, wearisome constancy and routine politics fit for motor parks in Ado Ekiti. www.nnamdiebo.com

WHAT’S NEW IS OLD AGAIN (1)

few months ago I promised to restrain myself from any harsh criticism of the Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu and to wait till his one year anniversary in office. Even though on one or two occasions I have attempted to point out a few things I believed he should have done, I have to a large extent kept my word. But the grace period is now over and it is time to grade his performance in office after his first year and in my opinion, which I believe is shared by a majority of Abians, his, is a failing grade of a C-. In view of his poor performance and ineptitude, I find it rather perplexing and somewhat hilarious when his supporters and indeed most Nigerian politicians start talking about a second term barely half way through their first year in office. It is either they regard it as fait accompli that they will be re-elected by an unsuspecting and clueless electorate or that they are confident they will be able to rig themselves back to power. Whatever is the reason behind their crystal ball assumptions, the honest truth is that in a more civilised democracy most of them will not even be re-nominated by their political parties, let alone stand for re-election. With regard to the Abia State Governor, despite his less than stellar performance in the last one year, his supporters mostly from his ethnic community have not failed to bombard our tender political sensibilities with talk about a second term. The question therefore arises. Judging from his performance so far, does he deserve a second term? The answer is unequivocal no. Which brings to mind a popular saying, “You don’t need a second chance to make a first impression”. If our first impression of this governor is anything to go by there will not be a second chance. There may be those whose only excuse is that he needs more time. That may be true but in governance as in dating a girl, first impressions matter a great deal. If she

Nnanna Ijomah is unimpressed with Governor Ikpeazu’s performance in office

is not impressed or if the man fails to meet her expectations, there may never be a second chance after your first outing. A look at the governor’s performance in all areas of governance reveals a man who has no vision or any idea of what he hopes to achieve. There is not one area where he can be awarded a passing grade. In the area of road construction in Aba which is his one signature achievement, it has been a case of one flag off and photo op ceremony after another with the construction machinery removed the next day. Now that the rains have come, some Aba residents now wish their roads were left in their previous condition of disrepair instead of being turned into cesspools of mosquito infested ponds. A visionary governor as I once suggested should have started with the construction of the roads in Ariaria market and the provision of other social amenities which will improve economic activity and, in turn, generate increased revenue collection. The revenue would therefore be used after careful planning and budgeting to finance the construction of the major roads in Aba before the tertiary roads. I recently saw a picture of the governor inspecting a drainage system under construction and I was appalled by the quality of work being done. Again I watched the governor with no shame on his face announcing during his recent press conference how his administration started over 60 construction projects and have completed 27 and I began to wonder about the quality of these roads if the drainage system I saw was anything to go by. By the way, what is the essence of starting over 60 construction projects at the same time when you know you do not have the funds to completely execute all of them? It was really depressing watching the governor’s press briefing which revealed a total lack of policy and process dimensions, two key ingredients of good governance. He was as clueless as he was uninspiring and comical. Every sentence he made began with, “We shall, We would want to, We are

going to, We will and We will make,” so much so that I started wondering, what happened to the phrase ‘We have”? What we have are promises, promises, and more promises. Of course, what else did we expect from a man whose only reason for running for office was that it was their turn? His entire industrialisation policy has been to take pictures at a privately-owned glass factory in Aba and to promise the export of made-in-Aba shoes without proving the shoe artisans of the enabling environment to improve their trade. His agricultural programme consists of a poultry village, not farms and the increased production of cocoa and cassava, whereas what the farmers actually need are good roads to enable them to transport their farm products to distant markets. Studies have shown that more people will engage in farming if they have easy access to the markets where their goods will be sold. His smart idea about education is to train more teachers with the help of Australians when he has not been able to pay existing teachers their salaries and pensions. With regard to healthcare, what a bright idea to introduce free ambulances. Which begs the question, free ambulances to dilapidated hospitals that have no beds, modern medical equipment or the requisite personnel. Of course, he plans to revamp our healthcare system with the help of Abians in diaspora. What a joke. I live in diaspora and unlike Dr. Alex Otti who sought and cultivated the support of Abia professionals in diaspora and even promised to create a Department of Diaspora Affairs, Dr. Ikpeazu did nothing of the sort. All he did was to attend an Ngwa convention and I doubt if there are many Abia professionals here who will be willing to come to his assistance or be part of an administration that has no designated pathway to progress, vision or provisions for their safety, not with the resumption of kidnappings in Aba and other parts of the state since he became governor. I, therefore, would like to know what Abia diaspora

healthcare professionals he is talking about. Just read a piece by one Obed Asiegbu who calls himself a special assistant to the governor on strategy in which he blamed the governor’s poor performance on the declining federal allocation, last month of which he claimed was N1.9 billion. If that is the case, how can anyone justify the governor’s N5 million donation during his recent visit to Adamawa State to attend a wedding ceremony? Is the donation his personal money or that of the state? How is this prudent? My guess is that being the paid sycophant which he is, Mr. Asiegbu would not have any answers to these questions. Like a president, a governor‘s choice of advisers tells you about him. A deep bench of experienced advisers is essential for any good governor to provide policy guidance, a sounding board, intellectual ballast and eventually help in translating ideas into action. Instead, this governor filled his cabinet of 20 commissioners and dozens of assistants with people lacking in intellectual rigour and the ability to generate or entertain game- changing ideas. If I may borrow the words of Olusegun Adeniyi in a recent article in THISDAY, this is an administration very deficient in policy articulation and execution. A good case in point is his recent appointment of Ex- Senate leader Adolphus Wabara, as the pro-chancellor and Chairman Governing Council of Abia State University. I guess this was rewarding him for his ignoble acts during the campaign when he made a public caricature and nuisance of himself unbecoming of a former Senate president. When you look at most of his cabinet members and advisers, there is no escaping the fact that he has surrounded himself mostly with his kinsmen whose only qualification is their expertise in the act of election rigging. Square pegs in round holes. Mr. B .P Apugo recently described most of them as not fit to be office messengers. Ijomah is a New York- based Political Science lecturer

T H I S D AY THURSDAY APRIL 21, 2016

EDITORIAL QUESTIONABLE SEVERANCE PACKAGES

The retirement benefits of many public officers constitute a heavy financial burden on the states capital, Abuja while they are also entitled to furniture allowances and brand new cars every four years at the tax payers’ expense. Their cooks, chauffeurs and security men are also well provided for. And in order not to be accused of selfishness, the interests of all other former governors and deputies of the state, living or dead, are taken care of by the new law. Yet what is now egregious is that most of the beneficiaries of these laws are now senators of the federal republic who also draw salaries from the system.

he prevailing harsh economic environment is forcing many Nigerians to have a rethink of many things they had glossed over in recent years. That perhaps explains why criticism has grown over a group of public officers who are entitled by a law they themselves enacted to draw sumptuous severance benefits and salaries from the system all at the same time. As things stand today, many hard-pressed states across the country are paying billions of naira as pensions to some of their predecessors who are also drawing salaries from the public purse as serving senators and ministers. It hardly bodes well too that many retired civil servants and military officers to boot who are on pension, but later found themselves in government are also receiving hefty salaries running into millions monthly at a time of limited resources and when many states are attempting to negotiate downwards the minimum wage of N18,000. Since the return to civil rule in 1999, virtually all the states across the A NATION WITH SO nation have passed MANY CHALLENGES scandalous pension CANNOT SANCTION THE INDISCRIMINATE AWARDS laws aimed at making the governors and OF ITS RESOURCES TO their deputies live ALREADY WELL-HEELED a life to the fullest AND COMFORTABLE outside government CITIZENS house. From Benue to Zamfara States, Lagos to Rivers, the governors, with the aid of pliable Houses of Assembly, have been initiating and assenting to these dubious laws that confer on them the rights to appropriate public money outside office. In most cases, the governors and their deputies are entitled in retirement to 100 per cent of what the incumbent is earning, while in other states, the benefits could be as high as 300 per cent. Although this law differs from one state to another, the principles are the same: They provide for a former governor a befitting palace in both the state and nation’s

Letters to the Editor

T 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

here are many questions arising from this state of affairs: What should Nigeria do about the financial implications of former governors who are still in government, squeezing their vulnerable states and the federal government, all at the same time? Can the nation continue to bear this costly and self-inflicted burden? What should be done? At the last count, about 21 former governors, deputy governors and former ministers were still in government (either as senators or ministers), drawing double salaries monthly even though they are not ghosts. This is not to mention other countless administrators who are members of this insidious, but legitimate cartel, and this includes ministers who were heads of government agencies from where they collected hefty pay-outs before their new portfolios from which they now also draw huge sums from the treasury. “There is nothing wrong for a former governor, now serving as a senator or minister to be collecting pension,” said Adamu Aliero, former Kebbi State governor and now a serving senator. “It is consistent with the pension law and absolutely nothing is wrong.” In the eyes of the law which they helped to enact, Aliero is right. But it is also true that these retirement benefits constitute a heavy financial burden on the states and the nation at large. We feel strongly that a nation with so many challenges - from getting enough to eat to providing shelter and jobs for many of its citizens, and to stalling in payment of salaries - cannot sanction the indiscriminate awards of its resources to already wellheeled and comfortable citizens.

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.

AMBODE AND THE LIGHTS OF LAGOS

ccording to the creation story of Genesis 1, the first thing that God creates is light. This is to actually authenticate the place of light in human existence. Life and light are inextricably connected. We cannot imagine our life without light. From the first ray of Sun in the morning to the lamp in the night, light is part of our daily activities. Light is essential to life on earth. Without it, there would, probably, be no life. Like the African proverb that alludes to the indispensability of water to mankind, one can rightly affirms that light is life. As a result of diverse life’s necessities, through several scientific discoveries and breakthroughs, man has developed various concepts of light. One of such is the electric light which today is one of the daily conveniences that most positively affects our lives. Thomas Alva Edison, famous American inventor, is often credited with the invention of electric light because his version, which came into being in 1879, was able to outstrip the earlier versions because of a combination of factors. In our clime, one of the most fundamental ways that any government could actually touch the lives of the citizenry is through provision of basic light infrastructure. It is this realisation that prompted the Akinwunmi Ambode administration in Lagos State to embark on the Light up Lagos project. The project is conceived to light up major highways and streets in the Lagos metropolis with the ultimate goal of boosting commercial activities, enhancing security, improving the citizenry’s standard of living as well as boost the aesthetics of

the city-state. In accordance with the administration’s all inclusive governance philosophy, the light up exercise covers the five divisions in the state. Thus far, some of the areas that have been lit up include Maryland to Mile 12, Oworonshonki to Kara through Alapere, 7up Toll Gate and Berger, Martins Street/Ereko, Brook Street, Lagos Island, Olowookere street, Alimosho, Old Ota road, Alimosho, Cemetery road, Badagry, Ligali Ayorinde, Victoria island, Babatunde Anjous, Eti-Osa, Itire road, Surulere, Bode Thomas, Surulere, Coker street, Ilupeju, Apapa- Oshodi expressway, Gbagada by Charley Boy Bus stop Hakeem Balogun-Jobi Fele Way, CBD, Ikeja, Berger-Ogunwusi Road, Ojodu, Pen Cinema to Oba Akran, Ikotun to Egbe by Synagogue Church, Lagos-Ibadan expressway by Berger bus stop to Third Mainland Bridge among numerous others. The ultimate target of the project is the development of a Lagos that is safe and secured Lagos, that operates a 24/7 economy. In a bustling African mega city like Lagos, there are a number of benefits to be derived from highway/street lightning. For one, it promotes security as hoodlums and criminals who hitherto hide in the dark to perpetrate evil would no longer have the leeway to operate. Street lighting also improves safety for drivers, commuters, riders and pedestrians. It is a common knowledge that pedestrians and vulnerable road users suffer from decreased visibility at nights. For these reason, one sure way of reducing the risk to all road users during the night hours is to light up the highways and streets. Research has shown that driving outside of daylight hours is more danger-

ous as only very few people could actually drive well at nights. Though quite a few people are on the road at nights, yet it has been discovered that this period accounts for 30% of most fatal road crashes in our country. Presently in Lagos, highway/street lighting ensures safety to literally every resident by providing guidance and direction across the metropolis. Lagosians have now grown accustomed to driving through the streets, rural roads and busy urban thoroughfares, relying on improved visibility and safety afforded them by generous lighting conditions provided by several street light standards along the roadways. Similarly, the safety and ability to manoeuvre along walkways and sidewalks, in both congested and remote areas, is tremendously enhanced for commuters, pedestrians and other road users as a result of improved lighting. Improved night economy is one other major benefit of the Light up project. In most major cities of the world, socioeconomic activities take place 24 hours around the clock. This is especially true of developed countries where a 24 hour socio-economic system is in operation. A 24- hour economy is one in which socio-economic activities do not halt at night. New research from across the world has indicated that many cities, over the past two decades, have deliberately put in place a strategy to run a 24- hour economy. The hospitality and entertainment industries, in particular, thrive better in a 24/7 economy. Tayo Ogunbiyi, Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Lagos

T H I S D AY • THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2016

POLITICS

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

PERSONALITY INTERVIEW

Salaam: Osun Can’t Afford a Cabinet Now Osun State appears to be contending with different forces and challenges at the same time, chief of which is her deteriorating economy, compounded by her many industrial crises. But the State House of Assembly has since become the interface between the government and the public.InthisinterviewwithYinka Kolawole,Speakeroftheassembly,HonNajeemFolasayo Salaam, spoke on why the assembly has been interfacing and how its many interventions have been yielding results. Excerpts:

scale trade and so on. All those incentives cost huge money, and the cash is no longer forthcoming due to catastrophe in oil market, which is our sole economic mainstay. Therefore, it is a case of temporarily truncated dream. Let’s formulate questions for the cynics: should a governor be elected to manage poverty? Should a government be instituted to service the interest of the few with our collective resources? Should we encourage the government to borrow for consumption or life changing projects? Should we encourage utilitarian or mob rule? All these questions are the many tough choices a governor must contend with. But, we should not blame anyone until we are able to understand his or her state of mind.

sun is in a huge debt mess, which has depleted its allocation from the federation account considerably. What can you make of this? In the first place, the state is not in mess, but a victim of dialectics of production and history and I will explain. When the country was operating a loose federation, agriculture and taxation were the mainstay of the economy of all the regions with comparative advantage, and I read that Chief Obafemi Awolowo as the Premier of Western region was able to develop the region with sophisticated infrastructure and technology ahead of many countries. I learnt that the western region got its television before France and many countries called developed nations now. So, each region had its fate in its hand, but now we are practising unitary system couched in federalism. Suffice it to say that we are practising feeding bottle federalism, which dictates that the centre would be spoon-feeding the states from a common wallet, and if the same centre crashes, the states crashes too. So, the federal has crashed now in terms of fiscal responsibility, monetary policy and trade imbalance. Meanwhile, the military interregnum has not helped the matter because they got the oil boom, quick cash and negated taxation and agroeconomy. Unfortunately, the long neglect of agriculture has made our relations with land

Salaam...Osun is a victim of collective infractions

On a compassionate ground, this man (Aregbesola) should not be vilified on some things because he understands what it takes to maintain a Commissioner, and he knows clearly he does not have the luxury now. People should know that Aregbesola is compassionate and very rational on the way he does his things.

tedious, except a few, who have seen the future, and the previous governments failed to reinstitutionalise agriculture and the culture of taxation. So, now that the government is making conscious effort to rejig the two fundamentals of revenue generation, something appears strange to us. So, the state is only bearing the brunt of our collective infractions, because we would be guilty of verdict of posterity if we continue to cling with the past which I describe as micro-managing poverty. Yes, some people are complaining about the debt profile of the state of Osun, even though we found ourselves in this difficult financial meltdown because of debt; it takes anyone with deep mind to see the trickle-down effect of infrastructure renewal, and its link with assured future. Yet, the debt has its biting effect now, but the denial in limited liquid cash we are subjected today in the state would leverage for promising tomorrow. Workers claim they were getting half salaries, marketers are crying of low patronage and this financial difficulty seems to have lowered the morale of the citizens, who supported Governor Aregbesola at the last governorship election, and here you are talking about the promising tomorrow. How? Look, I am the Speaker of the state parliament, as the effect of hard time hits the people, it touches me double because it has a multiplier effect on personal and collective demands from our constituencies; it rubs on our political clout as leaders and it is not good for our rating in

the public. But one fact stands, governance is not about public opinion; it is about taking hard decisions. To the best of my knowledge, this government borrowed for capital projects, and we have seen some completed, some are still work-in-progress. So, what we owe now would be smaller if compared to the value obtainable from the projects tomorrow. Yes, our workers are enduring, and it is hurtful that our financial power has weakened terribly, but I still have to commend the workers and identify with them on their rare sacrifices and love for this state; for showing understanding about the matrix of our productive topsy-turvy and economic meltdown. However, let it sink that we are right now experiencing national economic crisis, and no arm or tier of government is spared. As we speak, I read that judges of federal courts have not been paid; I read that 26 states have not paid state stipends to their allocated youth corp members; salaries are not regularly paid in almost 29 states. Even, an oil state with 13 per cent derivative with just eight local governments is rolling policies that would cut off a lot of incentives for workers. So, it is a national experience. Speaking to your emotional outburst on how, I would tell you that the present situation has no deduction with the last governorship election won by Governor Aregbesola, though we can infer that people yearn for more development and incentives like free meal for their children in public schools, stipends for the aged, support for widows, micro credit facilities for their small

What can be done to remedy the Osun situation now? Osun as a state is not faring badly as projected by the critics and perceived by some elements. So, I think the questions we should ponder our mind on are some fundamentals before we cross-examine the superstructure. The fundamentals here start from causes of our challenges. Let’s begin from the architecture of our nationhood. Do we still need this compromised federal structure or we should reconfigure it. Are we ready to surrender measured independence to the federating units, for each state to source its revenue and negotiate with its workers, and design its own security architecture or do we resort to the regional government laced with parliamentary democracy of Pre and post-independence? These are the fundamental questions that could have compelled some people to insist on the outcome of the last Jonathan conference. Good as it sounds the conference was midwifed by compromised representation, and has no legal status. So, it was more or less a “committee of finding something for the leaders.” That rubbed on the deliberations of the conference. However, I am glad President Buhari subscribed to the calls for economic conference. Credible people, experts, budget historians, economists, and policy makers and policy executors were assembled, and who knows, some of the fundamental issues might have come out there. Having settled that, then we can now talk of what will become of individual state. As touching Osun, I can assure you that we are brainstorming on the way out of the woods. In the first place, we have agreed that our challenges could not be removed through oil money. So, we are working on agriculture as an alternative, but Governor Aregbesola disposes more to intellectual commodity, and it will soon pay off. Do not bother about it, because I would not expatiate on it. Certainly, Osun will soon be out of the woods. Is it true that the government has sacked hundreds of workers in the polytechnics and colleges of education and that the assembly had to intervene at a point? Aside from making laws and oversight functions, resolution of conflict has been added to our schedule ever since I have taken the mantle of leadership in the state parliament. Yes, there was conflict between some staff of these institutions and their governing boards plus managements, and some of the staff were right-sized, according to information available CONTINUED ON PAGE 17

T H I S D AY • THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2016

INTERVIEW SALAAM: OSUN CAN’T AFFORD A CABINET NOW

Salam and Governor Aregbesola, when the latter submitted an executive bill to the assembly on the creation of additional 27 new councils

to us, but because existence was attached to the struggle; we elected to mediate and files are being screened to know who did what, and by the time the committee ends its investigation, all parties would consider our position on the matter a fair deal. What about the striking doctors? We are intervening on it as well, and we are talking to the doctors to place the interest of the state above interest of the few. Yes, it is their inalienable right to demand for appropriate wage and other incentives to work, but all conflicts need a compromise. Our doctors are expected to reconsider their hard line stance, while we are ready to support them on their struggle based on the reality on the ground. It pains me that the situation is turning out like this, but I think it would be encouraging if they resume and come to the table according the demands of their employer. If that is done, we shall ready to check the two extremes: doctors’ interest and the position of the employer with a view to placing the justifications on the resources available. I trust our doctors, I have many of them as friends, and I can understand their plight, but they are part of us, the larger society. Therefore, they would certainly bear with us. Our mission now is to prevail on both sides to come to the table with justifiable points, not closed mindset. How come the governor has not constituted his cabinet for close to16 months now? Governor is the Chief executive, by constitution who has the power to hire and fire. Unfortunately, the constitution does not stipulate when a governor could constitute cabinet. Besides, he knows when and why his cabinet must be constituted; the core if it is that the business of the governance has not stopped, but I would not dabble into the issue, because I am the head of legislature, mine is to receive governor’s correspondences on how he is faring on his job, not to speak on his job description. If the business of governance is progressing as you rightly stated, how are decisions taken at the State Executive Council? Would it not

amount to illegality to be approving projects and taking other crucial decisions without a cabinet? Let it be known that we have Secretary to the State Government and Chief of Staff, Head of Service and Permanent Secretaries in place. Call it the defect of constitution, I have not read why the hiring or not of Commissioners would make any decision illegal, but I am confident the governor would soon make the list of his Commissioners available to me. More so, the

Look, I am not defending the governor, because he is capable of doing that himself, but we must not be faultfinders, the state of mind must tally with the state of affairs. So, I urge the cynics and critics to use their heads and dissect the material condition before formulating opinion on anyone

delay could be as a result of restructuring of ministries to cut cost. On a compassionate ground, this man (Aregbesola) should not be vilified on some things because he understands what it takes to maintain a Commissioner, and he knows clearly he does not have the luxury now. People should know that Aregbesola is compassionate and very rational on the way he does his things. Look, I am not defending the governor, because he is capable of doing that himself, but we must not be fault-finders, the state of mind must tally with the state of affairs. So, I urge the cynics and critics to use their heads and dissect the material condition before formulating opinion on anyone. Why have the local governments in the state not been democratically constituted in the last five years? Litigation and funding! Litigation in the sense that for many years, the state electoral body constituted by former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola’s government were thrown out for not being properly constituted, and they went to court to test the validity of the claim, and the matter was dragged up to the Supreme Court. By the time the governor constituted another OSSIEC, we had run into the economic bad weather, and election costs huge money. Can a state that owes salaries of workers prioritise election? So, it could not have been deliberate, it is an extenuating circumstance. Some critics believe that the local councils were not democratically constituted because the governor was using their funds for his projects, and that the assembly has been compromised by the selected councils’ officials? Trust me, I don’t play the critics’ ball because it is convenient to criticize anyone in power. I had been in opposition and I know that there is no way people in opposition could get the matrix of governance right. However, not to evade your question, I know for sure that nothing could be done with state and council funds without the knowledge of the parliament, and I have not found the governor wanting. But if anyone has a piece of evidence as

touching the allegation, let the fellow present it, and I promise you we will investigate. As for the compromise of the House of Assembly, those who think or had conceived that I could be compromised do not know me. In the place, I must have been the poorest Speaker among the 36 state Houses of Assembly, not because I do not need money, but because I have conquered my greed. Besides, I have a background that provides me the two sides of life. I was raised as an orphan from a humble background by God’s unmerited favour on me. I am comfortable now without swindling people or government, without abusing my office or deploying my influence for wealth acquisition, and I could say without equivocation that I am micro-distributing the little resources at my disposal. So, I don’t like acquiring wealth through dubious means; there is no integrity in that and by my faith, I know that an individual would account for his action before his Lord. From those premises, you can conclude that I would be difficult to compromise at the expense of the people, and I don’t compromise, so, who will compromise my colleagues? After all, the buck stops on my table at the parliament. So, what is the agenda of the sixth assembly under you? We have set our agenda already and we have hit the grounding now. Let me avail you our agenda, one we have set in motion, machinery that is deliberating on how our state would be rescued from the jaw of economic downturn, and this machinery would soon unfold feasibility study that would be forwarded to the executive for perusal. Two, we have stepped up our oversight functions which keep an eagle eye on all projects. Three, we are embarking on the overhauling of criminal codes of the state, because the one in place is deficient if compared to the hitech crime the non-conformists are committing. Four, we are working on democratising lawmaking, a process that would tap the opinions of the majority stakeholders, and we have elected to pick third party role in any conflict that could truncate the prevailing peace in the state.

T H I S D AY • THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2016

PERSPECTIVE

The Unspoken Reality It will be tragic if the change mission fails on the altar of tribalism and egotism, as the duo of President Muhammadu Buhari and Bola Tinubu will be held responsible, writes Goke Omisore

stitch in time saves nine! Time flies supersonically these days more than we all ever imagined. The nation was in a stupor, deflated to her withering economic effigy, strengthened by nothingness but the loud noise of drowning men; visionless but well-heeled on stolen wealth. The nation was crawling on her knees in the last years of PDP-President Goodluck Jonathan, but robustly kept alive, running feverishly, suspiciously on borrowed time and funds, or now that we all know, our massively, criminally depleted nation’s treasury. Any wonder PDP blundered and their ship of deluded hope crashed. A party packed full of enormous goodwill, and income spent on best of straw intentions, damned-up behind aggrandizement and braggadocios. The nation’s strength faltered on all alternatives but a subtle, solemn revisit of an old wine, repackaged in a seemingly holier bottle; proved a stroke of a genius. Subliminally packaged political messages of hope on: ‘The mantra of change’ was the key words to revive a nation belaboured in spirituality, political, economic and a roundly flawed image – a threateningly pined-down nation in a jihadist guerilla insurgency war. A Robin Hood fellow, stood up to the task, ruffled and muffled political and financial privileges, borrowed, misappropriated but delivered on missions in our common interest to dislodge the inept government in power. That was a worthy course in this clime. These facts drown the negative noise about the subject’s style and mode of operation or characters in question under academic forensic scrutiny. Please remember, saints and stars have long vanished our skies. He was at his best, at his wit’s thoroughly exhausted ends. He fought and crafted together odds, politically ambitious bed-mates that delivered on targets but are now faltering on mission – victory to be accomplished on the change mantra. Methinks he did all those to cart away as the Victor Ludorum, not just to be tagged with The Participatory Ribbon. The author of the vision’s hands is tied! Mark you, Nigerian political saints are dead and gone, long time buried and interred in their graves. Hence, the Bola Tinubu variant is a reluctant choice. Crooked, but I hazard a guess that it was acceptable amongst a plethora of political enterprises branded in vaulutin ambitions, cloaked in pony patriotism! But please, let the end justify the means; an option the citizenry has little or less hope on, but must be earned in dividends of democracy we all fought for and won. The unspoken political reality on the ground today needs to be put in perspective. Oh! You don’t think Tinubu fought on the dirty mud-slinging war front absorbing all the lethal darts and missiles to be apportioned and spited with a back seat role in the spoils of war? In the euphoric dance of victory, we are bound to step on each other’s toes but chain not, nor pindown no one as the race of progress on the change mantra begins to accelerate in view. Things need to be revisited and very gently caressed, then facts will reveal glaringly and reality will finally dawn on us all. The strained unity of purposes in APC victory, still haunting and must be back on course, on logical course in the greater interest of all. We ordered change jet PMB-BTA 2015, turbo-charged, not to be powered by host of Taiwan’s imitations of political neophytes backed by charlatans and renegades but proven resilience: turbo-charged, powered by Tinubu-Buhari engines – running full throttle in political and economic spheres.

Buhari and Tinubu...pondering the unseen future

In Saint Buhari we expected our vaults are stoutly guarded, enriched and gated! The General in shining armour of integrity, honour but appears has limited knowledge in economic matters nor the wherewithal in the thousand and one mine forest of Nigerian dirty politics, says Buhari’s credentials. I reasoned. There is nothing novel about this

This is one of the best political combinations of all times ever to be crafted in this nation’s best of interests – a heroic deed but full of indigestion and bad blood. It was built on hidden or misty ambitions, assumptions, blind trust and hope, rather the devil in the details should have been earlier settled. It will be most tragic if this great mission of change empties the tanks, wasted on the altar of tribalism and ego tripping on nonissues

arrangement in our beleaguered political archives, history and economic conundrum. In retrospect, some of us are old enough to know but are merely being clever by half. Gowon and Awolowo, a memorable pair in governance, “The best president Nigeria never had”, though miles apart in intellectual weight in silver, nuggets of gold and clear crystal blue diamond’s worth. The wisdom of the fate anointed young General Gowon and Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo bailed us out in a similar, in fact we were in identical situations in the very early seventies. Posterity crowned both of them heroes. Gowon’s image was never diminished; Awolowo’s image stood primed all times enhanced – no victor, no vanquished – solemn paradox, haunting us now, challenging our conscience today. Let the truth ring out loud and clear. In spite of all unprecedented privileges entrusted by fate upon the Fulani nation, she has yet not, worsted the Yoruba nation in anything significant. The Fulani’s claim of “born to rule” might be ego-soothing but may be effectively confined to the Sokoto Caliphate should President Buhari fail his people and the nation this time around. It is Messianic expectations from the wretched of the earth; the Talakawas deserve much more than just foot notes when history summation arises, when tomorrow dawns. This is one of the best political combinations of all times ever to be crafted in this nation’s best of interests – a heroic deed but full of indigestion and bad blood. It was built on hidden or misty ambitions, assumptions, blind trust and hope, rather the devil in the details should have been earlier settled. It will be most tragic if this great mission of change empties the tanks, wasted on the altar of tribalism and ego tripping on non-issues; a national calling is in the air! Tinubu is a reservoir of political exigencies and sagacity. Mark you, my take on our current boldness in eloping with the Chinese nation, is another master stroke but it will be fool hardy to expect our longtime allies – Americans and Europeans clinging glasses of champagne. We just ruptured their underbelly. Challenges lie ahead. Please, steady Tinubu for the cloudy skies ahead. Our nation’s

beleaguered political predicament will be limping for a long time to come and our economy writhing in continuous struggling mode. If this opportunity is mismanaged or vanished into inconsequential or heightened or hung on ego tripping modes! We must all be primed and alerted to the success of this republic. I have heard severally and variously how deep the minds of Fulani men are and how unforgiving they could be – avenging what? They honestly have themselves to blame for their people’s backwardness and predicament. They have been blessed much more than any other nation in this union, in national politics! But since my growing up years and now crowding my Biblical age, I have intensely watched the Fulani nation waste tremendous political credits in victories often earned or stolen. What they seemingly amassed aplenty in political sophistry, they fritter. They appear not capable to translate victories into economic blessings for their people, let alone the nation. They often burn it all to the detriment of their own people, coasting home always at all-time lows on intangibles, titles, privileged positions and frivolous wealth accumulation in wrong hands, negating the hope and plight of millions of their peoples, those who mattered most in their society living on pittance acceptable as the will of Allah? Save alone for a few “ranka dedes” who are very highly privileged but negligible few benefitting far less the Talakawas than they earned on vote or dominance in power by other means, the Talakawas simply serve the currency of political struggles, defend mandates and victories but disposable in the end. That critical mass in poverty needs to be rescued now. They deserve unfailing attention now, most especially in education and agriculture powered by steadied supply of generated power for all and sundry. I pray the second coming of Sai-Baba will address this ultimately. -Omisore wrote from Lagos NOTE: Interested readers should continue in the online edition on www.thisday.com

T H I S D AY • THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2016

FOR THE RECORD

Farewell to Election Petitions In this review, Itse Sagay posits that the Supreme Court ruling on the Rivers State governorship election petition was unfortunate

to introduce processes into the election process in order to enhance its accuracy, transparency and credibility.

n this summary, I make comment on the important issues raised by the Supreme Court in that case.

On Card Reader: The Supreme Court, in rejecting the use of the Card Reader adopted its earlier views on the matter in Okereke v. Umahi S.C. 1004/2015, that the use of the Card Reader would ‘dethrone’ and ‘depose’ the Voters’ Register “whose judicial roots are firmly embedded or entrenched in the selfsame Electoral Act from which it (Voters’ Register) directly derives its sustenance and currency” – per Nweze, JSC. The question may be asked, how does the Card Reader ‘depose’ or ‘dethrone’ the voter’s Register? After verification by the Card Reader, the voter’s name still has to be identified in the voters’ Register and ticked before he can vote. It must be noted that both the Tribunal and Court of Appeal emphasized that, the Card Reader was intended to and did strengthen the application and efficacy of the Electoral Act, by ensuring a credible election for the benefit of Nigerians. The Election Tribunal stated expressly that “the usage of the Card Reader was complementary to the usage of the voters’ register. In other words, the two work hand-in-hand towards ensuring credible elections. The voters’ Registers properly come to play, where a prospective voter has been screened by the Card Reader. The sum total of the role of the Card Reader is that it is complementary to the usage of the Voters’ Register.” So where in all this did Nweze, JSC, discover the ‘deposition’ and ‘dethronement’ of the Voters’ Register by the Card Reader?

The Wike v. Peterside Supreme Court decision constituted the most devastating judicial blow on Democracy, the Rule of Law and Free, Fair and Credible Elections this country has ever seen. Not only have incredibly high and insurmountable barriers against election petitions been erected by that decision, it also gives an indomitable rock like status to anyone, who by blood, mayhem, violence, massive irregularities, fights his way on to the governorship seat; indeed, any electoral office

CJN, Mahmud Mohammed...Rivers election as an albatross

Absolutely nowhere! What Nweze, JSC, had simply done was to give the Card Reader a bad name in order to subject it to judicial execution. Has the Card Reader eliminated the voters’ Register? No! Has it brought integrity and transparency to the voters’ Register and the whole electoral process? Yes! All the Card Reader does is to act as a gateman for the voters’ Register. There was no dethronement and deposition here. There was only a step forward towards free, fair and credible elections – a procedure for sanitizing our elections and for eliminating fraud, dishonesty and rigging from our electoral process. Should any Supreme Court anywhere in the world resist and reject such a beneficial development in the electoral process? No! The law as stated in Section 49 has not in any way been altered by the Card Reader. After being accredited through the Card Reader, the voter still has to have his name checked in the Voters’ Register, and to have it ticked before voting. Without the process of identification and recording by the Card Reader, the old system of free ticking of all names in the Voters’ Register followed by thumb imprinting in thousands to match the number ticked will continue and our elections will simply be fraud writ large. So all this talk of superseding and dethroning has no bearing whatsoever on Section 49 of the Electoral Act 2010? There is no provision of the Electoral Act banning or prohibiting the use of Card Readers. It is wrong of any one to assert that the use of Card Readers is electronic voting. It shows that such a person cannot distinguish between accreditation and voting. Section 15 of the Electoral Act clearly empowers the INEC to issue regulations, guidelines and manuals for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions of the Act and its administration thereof. Introduction of Card Readers is doing exactly that. By law, the guidelines thus issued are as potent as the permitting law, i.e., the Electoral Act itself. Ultimately, on the Card Reader issue, the only valid questions a Court of Justice ought to raise are as follows: (i) Was the voters’ Register instituted in the Electoral Act to promote and ensure free, fair and credible elections? (ii) If this is so (and it necessarily must

have been so) did the introduction of the Card Reader enhance the capacity of the Voters’ Register to produce clean, fair and credible elections? (iii) As all the Courts, even the Supreme Court, have admitted, the Card Reader has sanitised and brought transparency and integrity to the election accreditation process. The sum total of the usage of the Card Reader therefore is that it is complementary to the work of the Voters’ register. “The two work hand-in-hand to ensure a credible election” – (The Tribunal) It follows that if all the Card Reader does is to enhance, improve and promote the capacity of the Voters’ Register to ensure or guarantee, free, fair, credible and transparent elections, the Card Reader could NOT in any sense have ‘deposed’ or ‘dethroned’ the Voters’ Register as Nweze, JSC, wrongly asserted in Okereke v. Umahi. Helping and enhancing the Voters’ Register’s capacity and efficiency cannot be classified as ‘dethroning’ or ‘deposing’ it. It is still there as the ultimate source after the clean-up of the process by the Card Reader. The Voters’ Register could only be regarded as having been dethroned and deposed if its purpose in the Electoral Act was to promote fraud, rigging and massive irregularities. In other words, it is only when its role and purpose is in conflict with that of the Card Reader, that it can be said to have been dethroned and deposed by the Card Reader, because the two would then be working at cross-purposes with each other. But in the circumstances of this case, they were working together towards a common positive objective. It is really incredible that the Supreme Court threw in the towel to the existing and debilitating culture of election fraud, violence and rigging, when the Law and Justice were pointing in the opposite direction. Apart from all the above, the Electoral (Amendment) Act, 2015 specifically empowers the INEC to introduce innovations like Card Readers to promote the credibility and sanctity of an election. By Section 52 of the Act, “voting at an election shall be in accordance with the procedure determined by the Independent National Electoral Commission.” This gives INEC separate and extra powers

Substantial Non-compliance The Supreme Court also asserts wrongly that in order for an election to be nullified, the Petitioner has to establish that not only (i) was there a substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act, but additionally (ii) the Petitioner must show that the substantial non-compliance affected the result of the election. This is wrong. By Section 139(1) of the Electoral Act, 2010, “An election shall not be liable to be invalidated by reason of non-compliance with this Act if it appears to the Electoral Tribunal or Court that the election (i) was conducted substantially in accordance with the principles of this Act and (ii) that the non-compliance did not affect substantially the result of the election: It is clear that the provision on substantial compliance in section 146 of the Electoral Act 2006 is conjunctive in nature. For an election not to be invalidated, (i) it must comply substantially with the provisions of the Act and (ii) non-compliance, (whether substantial or insubstantial) must not affect substantially, the result of the elections. In other words, any election has to clear two hurdles in order to be valid; (i) it must comply substantially with the provisions of the Act; (ii) where there was any noncompliance, no matter how insignificant, it must not have substantial effect on the result. Therefore, a petitioner will succeed if he can establish either of the following: (a) Substantial non-compliance with the Act, only or (b) Substantial effect on the result by any degree of non-compliance, no matter how trivial. I repeat, the petitioner needs to only establish one of these two situations in order for the election to be invalid, namely 1. Substantial non-compliance with the electoral Act including the schedules and regulations. or 2. Substantial effect on the election result of any infraction of the Electoral Act, schedules, regulations etc no matter how trivial the infraction. Therefore, Kekere-Ekun, JSC, was absolutely wrong when she stated at page 67 of her judgment that in addition to establishing substantial non-compliance, the Petitioners were also obliged to also establish that the non-compliance also affected the result of the election. This is an error that some Justices of the Supreme Court have been repeating again and again in spite of corrections that have been offered several times. The authority on this issue is Morgan v. Simpson [1974] 3 All ER 722. This is what Lord Denning said in Morgan v. Simpson: “(1) If the election was conducted so badly that it was not substantially in accordance with the law as to elections, the election is vitiated, irrespective of whether the result was affected, or not. That is shown by the Hackney case[1], where two out of 19 polling stations were closed all day, and 5,000 out of 41,000 voters were unable to vote. Thus, once there is substantial noncompliance, the election is invalid Cadit Quaestio! There is NEVER any further enquiry whether or not the non-compliance affected the result of the election. It is only when the non-compliance is not substantial that its impact on the election is considered. -Sagay, a constitutional lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria wrote from Lagos NOTE: Interested readers should continue in the online edition on www.thisday.com

THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2016 • T H I S D AY

FEATURES

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

Showers of Blessings On a recent soggy afternoon, tears of gratitude flowed freely as hundreds of businesses and individuals were empowered at Abia’s Central Senatorial Zone, writes Solomon Elusoji

Orji presenting a wheelchair to one of the beneficiaries

mmanuel Uche, a partially disabled 10-year-old boy from Eziama-Nsulu community in Abia Central Senatorial zone, is seated patiently in the stands, his mother by his side. His limp hands are folded on his laps, and his eyes roam flittingly, waiting for the empowerment to begin. A supervisory councillor in his community, Ikechukwu Adieze, had brought him and his mother to the open field in Umuahia. Today, he hopes to get a new wheelchair, so he can continue to go to school, where he’s in Primary Three. Uche is not alone. There are hundreds of other people gathered on the field, their eyes sparkling with hope. Today is the day when Abia Central’s representative in the Senate arm of the National Assembly, Senator Theodore Ahamefule Orji, is set to empower those who voted for him in his constituency, through the distribution of certain empowering gift items. The gift items include 20 units of 2.5 megawatts generator, 20 units of home grinding machines, 20 units of sewing machines, 100 bags of fertilizer, 14 units of motorcycles, 10 units of tricycles, 15 units of wheelchairs, amongst other things. “I want to emphasise that only those that voted for me will receive these items and anywhere it stops, we continue until the items get to those that cast their votes for me,” Orji had said in March. The mood at the open field is upbeat. There had been a heavy downpour earlier, which had trickled down to showers. Since the people at the field were also expecting to be showered with good things, the rain was like a message from God.

“Today, the senator is having his constituency empowerment programme,” one

After serving as the Executive Governor of Abia for eight years, Ochendo, as Orji is fondly referred to, is widely loved by his people. This love, apparently, stems from the fact that Orji, throughout his political career, has been a leader who chose to mingle with the people and understand their problems. Today, his decision to empower hundreds, unleashing diverse creative entrepreneurs in the process, is another example pointing to the reason he is loved by all and sundry

of the coordinators of the programme, Engineer Emma Nwabuko, says. “And this empowerment covers the six local government zones in Abia Central. And to be fair, the committee that selected those who received the items were selected from the six zones.” However, for Nwabuko, “the most attractive item being given out today is the liquid fertiliser, which we have not used before, and which we are now trying to introduce. In the next six months, we want people to come up and attest to the effectiveness of the fertiliser.” “It is magnificent and wonderful to see this kind of thing,” a former Deputy Speaker of the Abia State Assembly, Hon. Chidiebere Nwoke, tells THISDAY, just before the programme kicks off. “Of all the 109 senators you have in the federal republic of Nigeria today, it’s only Senator T.A. Orji that has done this, within eight months of assuming office. We had something like this happen in Aba recently, but the magnitude was much less than what is happening today. So, it’s a thing of joy, and I believe that more are going to come, and the people are going to enjoy the dividends of democracy.” Soon, Senator Orji marches into the venue and ecstatic cries and chants fill the air. He is the man everyone had been waiting for. After serving as the Executive Governor of Abia for eight years, Ochendo, as Orji is fondly referred to, is widely loved by his people. This love, apparently, stems from the fact that Orji, throughout his political career, has been a leader who chose to mingle with the people and understand their problems. Today, his decision to

empower hundreds, unleashing diverse creative entrepreneurs in the process, is another example pointing to the reason he is loved by all and sundry. “Ochendo has done what nobody has done before,” a Deputy Chairman of the PDP in Abia, Chief Allen Nwachukwu, says, as he gives a short remark, describing Orji’s indelible efforts, both as Governor, and now as senator. “He has done what nobody has done.” Before long, Orji himself is called to give a short speech and officially kick-start the empowerment process. “Today’s rain is a shower of blessings,” he says. “I want these items to get to everybody. But those that don’t get now should be patient; it will eventually get to you.” Then the empowerment began, and it turns out to be a carnival of joy as men and women leap, whirl, dance, and sing songs of thanksgiving. “The senator has tried,” Samuel Emeribe from Isiala Ngwa South Local Government, who got a wheelchair, says. “He has the goodwill of his people in mind, and that shows that he’s representing us well. Also, he’s putting smiles on the faces of the less privileged. I ask God to continue to strengthen, guide and protect him.” Chuks Robert Onuigbo, who got a tricycle, tells THISDAY: “The senator is a man of God, a man of destiny; he is a man who likes to empower people, a man who likes the growth of people; I thank him, and may God bless him. I will use this to earn a living. I used to be a farmer, and this tricycle would be used to supplement my income.” Victor Onyebuchi, from Osisioma Local

• T H I S D AY THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2016

FEATURES The senator is a man of God, a man of destiny; he is a man who likes to empower people, a man who likes the growth of people; I thank him, and may God bless him. I will use this to earn a living. I used to be a farmer, and this tricycle would be used to supplement my income

Orji presenting keys of tricycle to one of the beneficiaries

Government, who got a generator, enthuses: “As you can see, I am very happy. I have a provision store, and this generator will help me to power it. Ochendo is a good man, I say thank you to him.” “I am not surprised; it is his nature; he has been doing it before now,” a member of Ochendo Women, Lady Doris Iboku, tells THISDAY. “And for him to have done this in less than a year of being senator, it means that he knows what he’s doing and why we sent him there. Even when he was governor of Abia State, he was awesome, so we are not surprised. We pray that God will increase him more.” “The former governor, now senator, who is much loved by the people of Abia, is continuing his good works by empowering his people,” a former PDP Chairman in Abia State and Chairman of the Day, Chief Uzodinma Okpara, tells THISDAY. “It’s a great thing for the people of Abia Central.” The state chairman, Joint National Association of Persons with Disability, Abia State chapter, Stanley Onyebuchi, was equally delighted at the empowerment programme. He says: “Ochendo, the former governor, has been a friend to persons with disability, so he’s a man that always thinks about us. That’s why you are seeing wheelchairs; besides, some of us will be given other items. In fact, this is the first time a senator or a honourable member is doing an empowerment programme in this state and you see items for persons with disability. So, that shows that he is a friend to us.” A resident of Abia Central, Ugochukwu Emezue, tells THISDAY that the empowerment programme was a great way of boosting Abia’s economic fortunes. “It is a good development, because what he’s doing is to give back to the people for supporting him,” he says. “He did an education empowerment three months ago, and today, he’s investing in entrepreneurial empowerment. It’s also a way of supporting Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, the governor of the state, because this will definitely have a positive impact on the economy of Abia State. The senator has done well. Of course, like Oliver Twist, we expect more from him, but I know he’s equal to the task.” A former Commissioner of Housing under T.A.Orji, Prince K.O. Mgbeahuru, who could not hide his joy said: “This is ‘jara’ for me. We are very proud of him. Within a short time, he has sponsored a lot of bills. He’s doing very well.” “I think this is wonderful,” says a former Commissioner for Works, Hon. Longman Nwachukwu on the empowerment programme, adding “It is an epitome of responsible representation. We have never had it this good before now. This is the first time a senator is doing something like this in Abia Central. The senator is rewriting what representation is all about. He is a leader par excellence and a game changer.”

Grinding machines, sewing machines and wheelchairs

Liquid fertiliser and motorcycles

IMAGES

L-R: Managing Director/CEO, FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange (FMDQ), Mr. Bola Onadele Koko; Chairman, Dr. (Mrs.) Sarah O. Alade; Vice-Chairman, Mr. Jibril Aku; and the Company’s Secretary, Mr. Ajibola Asolo, at the 4th Annual General Meeting of the company in Lagos...recently

L-R: Chief Accountant, Oludare Adanri; March star-winner of Astymin Get Alert Promo, Oladipo Ojeyinka; and Product Manager, OTC, Femi Ajala, during the cheque presentation to the March star-winner in Lagos... recently?

T H I S D AY • THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2016

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

L-R: Second Vice-President, Institute of Directors (IOD), Mr. Chris Okunowo; President/Chairman of Council, Mr. Yemi Akeju; Chairman, Ecobank Nigeria, Mr. John Aboh; and the Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria, Mr. Charles Kie, during the visit of IOD Team to Ecobank in Lagos...recently

L-R: National President, Federation of International Women Lawyers (FIDA), Mrs. Inima Aguma, and the Deputy Representative in Nigeria, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Mr. Samuel Momanji, during the presentation of information equipment donated by USAID to FIDA in Abuja...recently ENOCK REUBEN

L-R: Social Media Manager, Dufil Prima Food Plc, Mr. Kenneth Iruonugbe; Brand Manager, Indomie, Amber Yadav; winner, Dubai trip, Indomie Wrapper Redemption Promo, Afred Oginni; Group Public Relations/ Event Manager, Dufil Prima Food Plc, Mr. Tope Ashiwaju; and Head, Consumer Protection Council, Lagos Office, Mr. Nggala Joshua, during the prize presentation to the winners of Indomie wrapper redemption promo in Lagos...recently ETOP UKUTT

L-R: Registrar/CEO, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Mr. Rotimi Omotoso; the Auditor General of the Federation/Member, Governing Council (ICAN), Mr. Samuel Ukura; President (ICAN), Chief Olufemi Deru and member, Governing Council, Mr. Sunday Bammeke, at the ICAN Award of Accreditation / Recognition Certificates to Tertiary Institution and Tuition Centres, in Lagos...yesterday SUNDAY ADIGUN

-R: Head, Retail Banking, National Lottery Regulatory Commission, Nkolika Okoli; Deputy Manager, Onyemenam Ike Daniel; Area Manager, Greater Lagos 1, Skye Bank Plc., Taofiq Aminu; and Head, Strategic Brand Management, Skye Bank Plc, Nduneche Ezurike, at the bank’s “Reach For The Skye” reward draw in Ikotun Egbe, Lagos...recently

L-R: Partner/Managing Director, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Nigeria, Jaime Ruiz-Cabrero; Senior Partner/Managing Director (BCG) Africa, Pascal Cotte; Global Chairman ( BCG), Hans-Paul Buerkner; and Chairman BCG, Nigeria, Luís Gravito, at Boston Consulting Group launch of its Sustainable Economic Development Assessment (SEDA) report on Nigeria, in Lagos...recently

T H I S D AY •THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2016

BUSINESSWORLD

E-BUSINESS

Abiodun: Organisations Need Technology for Business Time Management The Chief Executive Officer, SB Telecoms & Devices, Mr. Afolabi Abiodun, spoke with select journalists on the challenges of insecurity and time theft in business and how organisations could tackle them through ICT solutions. Emma Okonji presents the excerpts: conscious. I got my time management culture from my mother who is a stickler for time. Growing up, my average wake up time was 5 o’clock and that 5 o’clock would not change because my mother would have gotten up from bed at 3 o’clock. By 5:30 am, we would have observed morning prayers and be off to school. When I was in primary school, I got to class before any other student. So, if a child is raised in a culture like this and the same process is continued in school, things would follow in the right sequence and turn out as expected. The very first time we spoke about having a time management summit, some of the people we engaged said there should be other serious things we could do. They felt that summits on agriculture, education or other pressing national issues would make better sense. People were not just seeing the importance of having a time management summit. The reason why an individual would be corrupt has to do with mismanagement of time because if you manage your time and use it judiciously, you won’t have a reason to be corrupt and lack of time management is actually what brings about what I refer to as mental poverty.

How will you describe the Nigerian economy today? Do you think it affords people the same level of opportunity to grow from a micro to a medium-scale enterprise? The Nigerian economy is fraught with challenges of various kinds, but I think what should be of utmost importance on the minds of people, especially technocrats and businessmen and women, is the entrepreneurial spirit. The challenges would always be there though they might vary from time to time. Power has always been a challenge, transportation has always been a challenge, political instability has always been a challenge but what is important for an entrepreneur is to be able to work within the environment and come up with solutions that stand out. Challenges should not serve as an excuse for ideas not to evolve. They should be seen as opportunity to evolve new products and services. How will you assess the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector of the Nigerian economy? The ICT industry is still evolving. We still have a long way to go. However, if you want to point to the leading start-ups today, majority of the celebrated ones are from the ICT industry. Some 10 years ago, nobody would talk about e-commerce, but today we have several successful e-commerce platforms. A revolution has happened in the last couple of years in the transport sector and traditional cab drivers, especially the ones at the airport, still can’t comprehend what is happening. They really don’t understand the cause of the dwindling patronage they are experiencing. The likes of Uber and e-Taxi which are products of e-commerce have gradually taken over the space. People are taking advantage of technology to reposition their lifestyles in the transport sector, by booking for their metro transportation online. Same revolution has happened in the hospitality sector. Traditionally, issues like ticketing and hotel booking are very difficult to handle but these days, with hotel.com and Wakanow. com, among others, a lot can happen within the twinkle of an eye and the comfort is not negotiable. In what ways can government enhance growth in the ICT sector? The minister in charge of communications has really shown a high level of commitment to the growth of the ICT industry but there is still a lot that the government would need to do. I would expect the government to support local content on virtually everything that requires ICT solution even if they are not as perfect as what you would get elsewhere. This is because government’s patronage can help us to get nearer to the perfection we desire. I will also like to see policies that can help to drive development. For instance, in the education sector, government should ensure that ICT becomes part of the curriculum for students from primary to tertiary level. Also, I believe that the most challenging thing that government needs to tackle is insecurity at all levels of business. Government can leverage on technology to establish the identity of every citizen and if centrally managed, they can easily verify and crosscheck information. The minute a child is born, it should be captured in the system automatically. The era of registration every 10 years which we call census should be eradicated. We should have a system that you can actually tell that this is the number of immigrants we have like you have elsewhere. Almost all our systems are so porous which is what has got us to the level we are today on security, but these are challenges that technology can solve locally. SB Telecoms & Devices, is a technology company that is planning to organise the Time

Abiodun

Attendance Management Summit (TAMS). How will the summit address most of the challenges facing the country? SB Telecoms & Devices is a home-grown ICT organisation, that develops local technology solutions that could address challenges confronting us as a country. The TAMS solution, which is a product of SB Telecoms & Devices, came out of the necessity to address the problem of time theft, absenteeism, ghost workers, among others, which are pervasive in all places of work both at government and private establishments. Government has a role to play from policy formulation to getting stakeholders together and ensuring that it is the first user of its proposition. We don’t want a situation whereby government is saying one thing and doing the opposite. We want local content but government is not patronising the local content apart from the media coverage that goes around it.

So, the TAMS time management summit is to awaken our minds to knowledge that the foundation for change and development is time management. The maiden edition is focusing on the importance of moving from African time to being on time. In future, we intend to start looking at specific issues that relates to infrastructure and how we can be more efficient it terms of time management. We want everybody to be conscious of time management. Interestingly, government is still the major culprit when it comes to time management. Almost on a daily basis we hear in the news that the government wants to put an end to time-theft and eradicate ghost workers syndrome within the civil service. Words alone are not enough. It has to be words backed with action, deploying technology that will drive efficiency and making it impossible for time-theft and ghost workers to exist at all.

What has been the growth trend of SB Telecoms & Devices, since inception? SB Telecoms & Devices started as a call business outlet, making phone calls and hawking recharge cards. We later transformed into a telecoms solutions brokerage firm and today, we are a full-fledged Information and Communications Technology support service company with competences in applications development, identity management and solutions as well as human resource application. We are the developer of the Time Attendance Management Summit (TAMS) application, which has become a household name in the human resource management industry.

What are the factors that gave rise to the African time syndrome? We can trace it back to colonisation and the fact that what we refer to as our history today was also written by our colonial masters. In the course of promoting time management and selling TAMS as a solution, I have engaged quite a lot of human resource management practitioners and I find it amazing to hear them say that punctuality has nothing to do with performance. But it is important for us, especially human resource practitioners, to keep emphasising the importance of time management which starts from punctuality. If we are to draw up a list of successful individuals in the world today including the Chairman of Microsoft Corporation, Bill Gates; the Co-founder of Apple Incorporation, Steve Jobs and the Nigerian business mogul, Aliko Dangote, they have all emphasised that taking action at the right time is partly responsible for their successes. African time is derogatory. It has everything to do with nonchalant attitude to being on time. Our budget should be ready before the 31st of December. I think it is achievable. Managing time is what guarantees success.

Tell us more about the inaugural edition of TAMS Summit? We came up with the TAMS solution because of the prevailing challenges that have bedeviled our nation Nigeria. Until we are ready to change our ways, it would be difficult for us to have that meaningful development that we crave for in Nigeria. All my life, Nigeria has been a developing country and I hope in my lifetime that the status can change to a developed country but that can only happen if we are ready to change the way we handle things. According to an article I once read in a journal, time management is missing in African culture but I disagree because if you look at human beings and life itself, you can see how timing is critical to success. So, if as a country, we are not ready to bring time management to the forefront, then solving the problem would take some time.

Why do you think that Nigerians are so entrenched with this African time syndrome? When you have a leaf attached to a soap for a very long time, that leaf eventually will end up to become a soap. The human brain is wired to copy in its learning process. If the consciousness of time could be ingrained in a child from birth, such a child would grow up to be time

So what are the highlights of the summit? This is the maiden edition and the choice of chairperson of the summit, Mrs. Bukky George, is also to make a statement. The choice of a successful woman is designed to call people’s attention to how she still has enough time to run and manage the most successful pharmaceutical business in Nigeria in spite of the workload on a woman by default. So, what she would be sharing with people at the summit is how she has been managing her time effectively in spite of the fact that she is a wife and a mother. We also have institutional partners. The value that Stanford SEED is bringing to the table is that they are in Africa for transformation. They believe that the transformation of Africa has to be through businesses scaling up because when businesses scale up, economies would prosper. It is also the same for the Enterprise Development Centre of the Pan-Atlantic University and the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPM). They are stakeholders in time management. Our focus for the summit, is centred on the private sector. The event will be attended by chief executives of multinationals and senior human resource executives from different organisations. A good example is the CEO of Wakanow, Mr. Obinna Ekezie. Time management is the business he sells. You want to book your flight, getting a good price is a function of planning ahead and for him, making a mistake is equal to losing money. So we want him to also share his wealth of experience. The CEO of Clean Ace, Mr. Eniibukun Adedayo, who has close to about 56 laundry dry-cleaning centres around the country, will also be there to share his experience on time management. These are people who understand the importance of time management which is why they have been so successful. Tell us more about the TAMS software When we started, it was seen as a child’s play. There are so many other organisations that offer human resource applications but our own choice was time management as the first module and we started from time management because it was clear to us that the foundation for development and efficiency is time management. Initially, we focused on government. From 2012 to 2013, we approached the 36 state governments and none of them engaged us because some people are making money from inefficiency. In fact, one local government paid for the service and we delivered the product but they did not use it for one day and every time we raised the issue of implementation, they told us that we were wasting our time.

T H I S D AY •THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2016

BUSINESSWORLD

E-BUSINESS

‘ICT Can Accelerate Sustainable Devt Goals’ Stories by Emma Okonji Ericsson has released its 23rd annual Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility (SCR) report for 2015, which highlighted the importance of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in accelerating sustainable development goals of a nation. The report also gave details of the company’s performance in responsible business such as energy, environment and climate change, as well as communications for all. The report highlighted how ICT could enable all 17 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and even has the potential to accelerate their achievements. President and CEO of Ericsson, Hans Vestberg, said: “The SDGs lay out a clear path to a more sustainable world, and ICT is a powerful lever to make that happen. We intend to build on our momentum from 2015 so everyone can benefit from the opportunities afforded by the Networked Society.” In the area of responsible business, the report explained that conducting business with integrity and transparency is at the heart of Ericsson’s commitment to sustainability and corporate responsibility. The report shows that 99 per cent of active Ericsson employees have acknowledged the company’s Code of Business Ethics. In 2015, the Ericsson Compliance Line, which enables

secure reporting of suspected violations, was reinforced to support industry anti-corruption best practices. Demonstrating its commitment to respecting human rights, Ericsson reported, according to the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights framework for the second year in a row. For energy, environment and climate change, the report said ICT solutions could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 15 per cent by 2030, more than the current carbon footprint of the EU and US combined. In 2015, Ericsson met the target to offset twice the amount of CO2 from its own carbon footprint with solutions such as smart grids and intelligent transport. For customers, hardware platforms like the Ericsson Radio System, new software and rural coverage solutions are all designed to help customers optimise energy performance. In the area of global communications, Ericsson estimated in its report that by the end of 2015, an estimated 20 million people would be directly impacted by ‘Ericsson’s Technology for Good’ initiatives. Mobile financial services can be a game changer for advancing financial and social inclusion, the report said. It explained that managed rural coverage is a new commercially viable business model that makes it possible to provide

mobile coverage to areas most in need of it, where people have to survive on less than two dollars a day. Through this solution, Ericsson enables operators provide mobile coverage for a set period according to service level agreements and defined key performance indicators. “In 2015, we joined mobile operator MTN to deploy

managed rural coverage to parts of central and northern Benin where there was none previously,” Vestberg said. Head of Region, Ericsson Sub-saharan Africa, Fredrik Jejdling, said: “The impact of our sustainable business practices and corporate responsibility initiatives is bearing fruit and we remain

sector and experienced policy makers from government, held its first inaugural meeting last week in Lagos. Members of the Work Group include the Vice Chancellor, Covenant University, Prof. Charles Ayo who is the Nigeria Chair Work Group; HOD, Computer Science Department, University of Lagos, Professor Charles Uwadia who is the Nigeria Co-Chair; Prof. Gloria Chukwudebe of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, who is also a Co-Chair; Prof. Oluwole Charles Akinyokun of Federal University of Technology, Akure, who is also another Co- Chair. Other members include the Director General, GhanaIndia Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT, Ghana, Ms. Dorothy K. Gordon; Director, Corporate Affairs, Nigerian Communications Commission, Tony Ojobo; Andria Schofeld of the Applied Research Unit /Joburg Centre for Software Engineering at WITS University; Acting Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Dr. Vincent Olatunji, among other Co-chairs from Egypt, Rwanda, Kenya, South Africa and Morocco. The 2016 IEEE 3rd World Forum on Internet of Things (WF-IoT), is a unique event for industry leaders, academics and decision making government officials.

sponsibility, Ericsson, Elaine Weidman-Grunewald, said: “By embedding sustainability and corporate responsibility into our business, we have a strong platform for progress and positive impacts. We will continue to work in public-private partnership and advocate ‘Technology for Good’ to drive change for the better.”

GOOGLE’S EMPOWERMENT STRATEGY

L-R: Member, Delivery Unit, Office of the Vice-President, Daniel Ikuenobe; Country Manager, Google Nigeria, Juliet Ehimuan-Chiazor; Country Marketing Manager, Google Nigeria, Affiong Osuchukwu and Head, Hardware Infrastructure and Services, Office for Nigerian Content Development in ICT, Seyi Ogunseye, at Google’s Digify Africa project announcement to empowered Africans, held in Lagos... recently

World Forum on Internet of Comptia, Babcock, Caleb Things Establishes Africa Varsities Collaborate on IT Work Group Skills Devt The Africa Chair for World Forum on Internet of Things (IoTs), Mr. Chris Uwaje has established the Africa IoT Work Group as a strategic platform to ensure that Africa’s technology position is registered and her voice heard with objective contribution at the forum, which holds in December this year in Washington DC, United States. The Theme of the Conference is: “Internet of Things: Smart Innovation for Vibrant Ecosystem” According to Uwaje, “The Internet of Things and Everything (IoTs/IoE) represents perhaps the last hope for Africa’s 21st Century knowledge, creativity and innovation renaissance.” As the world forum converges to explore and engage the challenges and opportunities presented by the IoTs, experts estimate that the IoT evolution will consist of almost 50 billion objects by 2010. “Africa stands a lot to gain from the World Forum on IoT with particular reference on National Broadband Plans and Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) for improving Africa’s digital space, which are strategic imperatives for access and affordable service delivery within the framework of IoTs,” Uwaje said. The Work Group, which is made up of eminent professors, scholars and researchers from African Universities, captains of industry from the technology

inspired to work with our stakeholders to create a positive impact in society. With fully leveraged connectivity, we connect the unconnected, improve livelihood, and help cities become more sustainable, creating value for the continent as a whole.” Vice President, Sustainability and Corporate Re-

The Senior Africa Executive, Comptia International, a global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) entrepreneurial skills to higher institutions and training institutions, Mr. Gareth Foulkes-Morris, will this week visit Babcock and Caleb Universities for collaboration on enhancing the technology skill-sets of undergraduates. The visit is part of Comptia’s collaborative strategies to help Africa achieve parity with Western and Asian universities and consequently enable university graduates be in a position to surmount the pervasive unemployment syndrome as well as become successful technopreneurs in diverse technology-related fields. Foulkes-Morris will use the occasion to hold executive sessions with the authorities of the universities. Also part of the benefits of the meeting will be a formal offer to license the institutions as Comptia academies with attendant free technical deliverables to the universities. Likewise, the engagements with the students will serve to further expose huge technology potentials, which are yet untapped by Africa and more importantly Nigerian youths. The visit will also prepare the students to develop skills that will make them highly sort after by employers.

In the same vein, the visit to Babcock University will help to extend the technology mentorship sensitisation programme to select secondary students from 40 secondary schools in the Lagos Zone. The students will be modeled and motivated to begin to dream of a bright future as wealth creators through leveraging readily available 21st Century technologies and become world great technopreneurs like, Bill Gates of Microsoft; Micheal Dell of Dell Computers; Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook; Nigerian Phillip Emegwalli that developed the fastest computer, among others. Comptia is the largest Information Technology certifier and the voice of the global information technology industry. As a non-profit trade association advancing global interests, Comptia focuses its programmes on four main areas, namely Education, Certification, Advocacy and Philanthropy. Managing Director and CEO of New Horizons Nigeria, Mr. Tim Akano, affirmed that the visits by Comptia International would be facilitated by New Horizons Nigeria as part of its corporate social responsibility initiatives for empowerment of Nigerian youths and that the visits by top executives from world technologies, are scheduled in phases.

Bitflux Begins Commercial Rollout of 2.3GHz Services Bitflux has announced its intention to roll out commercial services on the 2.3GHz spectrum frequency on a wholesale basis. The company, which was awarded the Wholesale Wireless Access Service License (“WWASL”) on the 2.3GHz spectrum licence in February 2014 by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), said it would offer the wholesale wireless broadband Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology service to its prospective partners especially major Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), major Internet Carriers (IC), Internet Service Providers (ISP), and Bandwidth Aggregators. The concept of Wholesale Wireless Access License was adopted by the NCC as a long term sustainable solution to the availability of broadband services and a key component toward achieving the Nigerian National Broadband Strategy. Managing Director of VDT Communications, who oversees Bitflux operations, Mr. Biodun Omoniyi, said the service would be provided using Bitflux’s 30MHz of the 2.3GHz spectrum on its LTE advance platform. “Our services are now available nationwide and the immediate focus is to put to rest the unnecessary use of unlicensed spectrum to deliver last mile access services. Our wholesale wireless broadband LTE service is designed for retail partners such as 4G LTE Broadband Service providers,

Enterprise Connect Partners, Bulk Corporate LTE customers, Wi-fi Bundle customers and Licensed frequency last mile service providers,” Omoniyi said in a statement. “The licence empowers Bitflux to construct, maintain, operate and use a network consisting of a Mobile Communication System, a Fixed Wireless Access Telecommunications System, or a combination of any of these systems deployed for the purpose of providing point to point or switched/ unswitched point to multipoint communications for the conveyance of voice, data, video or any kind of message. “Given the unique and novel nature of the wholesale license in Nigeria, and our desire to provide user experience that is unique to our environment, we engaged the services of KPMG locally, and two international Telecoms Consulting firms (Indiabased Fairwave Convergence International Pvt Ltd, and Dubai-based QTM International Ltd) with specialisation in the subject to undertake assignments market review and appraisal to determine need and the suitability of WWAS as a solution to the broadband penetration problem; design strategy for market segmentation and penetration; design product offerings and service packages for identified market segments; and set service standard benchmarks,” Omoniyi said.

T H I S D AY •THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2016

BUSINESSWORLD

CONSUMER

Revmatas: Understanding Customers’Needs Crucial to Market Growth The Nigerian smartphone market has consistently recorded growth, with many top brands competing aggressively. When Samsung Electronics West Africa, launched the Galaxy S7 Edge and S7 smartphones recently, its Director of Information and Mobility, EmmanouilRevmatas, told Raheem Akingbolu that the market is responding positively to innovation Introducing the new Samsung Galaxy S7 edge and S7 is our commitment to our customers to meet their ever-evolving technology needs in the fast-paced world we live in. Samsung did not just redefine these devices, but also re-imagined what they could do based on the feedback

The launch of Galaxy S7 edge and S7 is coming barely a year after Samsung unveiled Galaxy S6 edge and S6, is the introduction of the new devices a result of less-than-stellar performance of the preceding model in the market? Not at all; Samsung as a brand has become synonymous with innovation. Our Galaxy S range is also regarded as the premium smartphone. Introducing the new Samsung Galaxy S7 edge and S7 is our commitment to our customers to meet their ever-evolving technology needs in the fast-paced world we live in. Samsung did not just redefine these devices, but also re-imagined what they could do based on the feedback from the people who use them, and what they need most from the devices. Our customers are the inspiration for any innovation. The Galaxy S7 series are being positioned as stunning in both visual appeal and handling. Can you please highlight the major features that stand the new offerings out? The key differentiators for the S7 edge and S7 range from IP68 water and dust resistance feature, which allows for submersion in up to 1.5meters of water for 30 minutes at a time. The S7 comes with 3,000mAh battery, while the S7 edge has 3,600mAh batteries which are great improvements from the S6. They also come with 4GB of RAM for improved multitasking and 30 percent more powerful processors with “thermal spreader” water-cooling technology to avoid the phones overheating. Both devices have support for microSD cards augmenting their 32GB of internal storage. The microSD card space can also be used as a second SIM slot for those who want to use two SIM cards on their device. In the pre-sales promotion you have been conducting, Samsung is bundling a device, the Gear, with the S7 series. What is the Gear all about? The Gear VR is a virtual reality headset that allows you to clip in your Samsung device and transport yourself to another galaxy by either playing a virtual reality game or watching a fully immersive and interactive movie, or your own video that you have captured on your Gear 360 camera. Competition in the high end segment of the market for smartphones is very stiff. The phones are mainly running on the Android operating system except of course Apple’s iOS. Since all Android-based phones are basically running on the same platform, why should one be preferred to the other? Rather than answer this, I would prefer to say, let the consumer decide based on their own needs and wants. Still on the operating systems of smartphones, there is a widespread perception that Android-based phones consume far greater amount of data. Is this true and what can be done to minimise the amount users expend on data? Perception is not always reality. Perhaps, as research has shown, the ease of using Android-based phones means that consumers access the internet and do a lot more with their devices and therefore consume more data because of higher usage. There is the claim that the S7 series are water and dust resistant, that, in fact, they can survive being left in water for as long

Revmatas

as 30 minutes. Isn’t this a sales enhancing gimmick? An IP, which is “Ingress Protection” rating, can only be achieved after a rigorous assessment has been confirmed by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). The code is defined by the IEC who state that IP68, which the S7 is, can be immersed up to 1.5m for 30 minutes. Robustness of the devices brings me to the next question, which is on protecting the devices from accidental damage, which could occur at anytime. Considering the pricey nature of the smartphones, why is Samsung, being the leader in the smartphone market in Nigeria, not promoting insurance to reduce possible losses from buying these smart devices? As many know we were the initiators of this concept several years back, but now many retailers are offering this service in one form or another. The other question that relates to the previous question is after-sales support. These devices are complex. How easy is it to get help with fixing them when buyers experience glitches? Or do you simply replace them under warranty? Depending on the nature of the problem, when a customer has an issue and takes their device to our service centres, which are located across Nigeria, the Service Consultant will advise whether the glitch is in or out of warranty. As you also know, we continue to be the only brand that offers a 24-month warranty.

We have seen the huge growth that the smartphone market has witnessed in Nigeria, which is not too different from other markets around the globe. Indeed, a recent report ranked Nigeria 17th globally in smartphone usage. What could be responsible for the huge growth that we are experiencing in this market? In fact, approximately 70 percent of the market is still feature phone based even though there is a significant growth year-on-year of smartphones. The huge growth is being driven by availability of broadband. Nigeria often leapfrogs technologies evidenced by the fact that most people will never have a landline. Another factor driving adoption is investment in 3G, and more recently LTE, coverage and capacity. A third factor is that smartphones are becoming more affordable and in addition, the need for people to be connected is also driving growth. Nigeria ranks extremely high in terms of social media trends and activity. Without full broadband network in addition to the not-so-pleasant internet connectivity in Nigeria, do you think Nigerians are really optimising the benefits of smartphones like the Galaxy series? I think the experience of smartphone users in Nigeria is improving every day. Furthermore, many of the great features on the Galaxy do not always require internet connectivity With the world gradually moving into the era of Internet of Things, with virtually everything having connectivity to the internet, which role do you see the smartphone playing

in this milieu? The device allows seamless integration of various tools, apps, wearable devices as well as household products. Smartphones are loaded with all kinds of features, with some, like the S7 requiring biometric data to enhance the security of the device and the information stored therein. How safe are users’ data since the storage of such data are most likely cloud-based and outside the shores of this country? All our premium devices come pre-loaded with Knox – a new Android-based solution specifically designed to enhance security of the current open source Android platform. Knox has received superb reviews. The smartphone market is always evolving, churning out smarter and sleeker devices. The devices have evolved from being just phones to an infotainment platform and are currently being used as a payment tool. Where do you see smartphones headed in the next few years? Our personalised device can manage and connect to what, when and where we want. This could range from our TV or fridge to smart watches as such as the Gear S2 or virtual reality like the Gear VR, to gaming and now recording experiences using the brand new Samsung Gear 360 camera. After the launch of the S7 series devices that are packed with futuristic features, what is next for Samsung Galaxy series? You will have to wait and see, but you can be guaranteed that we will continue to innovate and shape the future!

T H I S D AY •THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2016

BUSINESSWORLD

CONSUMER

As BOSCH Moves to Unsettle the Home Appliances Market

With a new entrant into the home appliances market, Raheem Akingbolu contends that competition will take a new trend. The home appliances market, which is currently being dominated by Haier Thermocool, LG and a few others may witness a new dawn with the decision of Japan’s leading home appliances manufacturers, BOSCH, to explore the market. The Nigerian home appliances market has continued to soar in the last few years, especially since 1999, when the country started experiencing an uninterrupted civil rule, which liberalised the business community, thereby encouraged more investors to come in. Though the poor power supply still remains a big challenge, the population of the country and easy entry has boosted the electronic market as manufacturers of mobile telephoning devices and home appliances have since realised the potential of the Nigerian market. This explained why some old brands that had almost gone into extinction in the market suddenly reappeared, while many new ones have also found their ways into the market. Today, the players are all jostling for substantial shares of the market. However, each of the brands has strength in different areas. For instance, while Samsung and LG seem to be leading in the distribution of flat screen televisions, Panasonic maintains a convenient lead in air-conditioning while Haier Thermocool is showing its strength in the home appliances segment. In what looked like a fresh way to puncture the leadership of the existing players, Bosch home appliances, a German brand has announced its collaboration with Pedini Nigeria to explore the market. Though this is not the first time the brand name will be coming into the market, it is

The group has a turnover of about 13 billion Euros and our target is to get a good footprint in Africa. We have a good market share in S/Africa and Morocco and we are sure to have a good market share in Nigeria

L-R: Chief Operational Officer, Bosch Worldwide, Dr. Michael Schoellhorn, Chief Executive Officer, Pedini Nigeria, Mr. Chiedu Nwokolo, Head of Region for Middle East and Africa for Bosch, Mr. Norbert Klein and Managing Director, Sub Saharan Africa, Mr. Enrico Hoffmann, at the official opening of Bosch Centre in Lagos... recently

the first attempt to operate big in the home appliances segment. The marriage between the global kitchen manufacturing company with over 300 showrooms in 25 countries and a Nigerian company that understands the local terrain may be the strategy needed to control the entire market. At the opening of a showroom in Lagos recently, the promoters of BOSCH brand in Nigeria disclosed their plan to spread to all the major markets in Nigeria. Having used competitive price and technology to position its products globally for over a century, the company stated that the same tools will be deplored in Nigeria to connect relevant patrons. However, considering the population of the market and attitude of Nigerians toward high quality products, the new entrant is confident of success in the market. To this end, they have revealed their plan to open about 100 showrooms across Nigeria over the next three years. Speaking to newsmen after the inauguration of the Victoria Island, Lagos, showroom, recently, the Chief Executive Officer of Pedini Nigeria Limited, Mr. Chiedu Nwokolo expressed his willingness to work with the global company, which he pointed out, has the strongest brand names in the continent

in terms of durability and technology. Speaking on factors that will make it easy for the partners to compete well with the existing names in the market, Nwokolo referred to the fact that BOSCH has the right strategies in the area of pricing and quality offering. He also identified the growing middle class in the country as a factor that will help the brand growth. The CEO went further by pointing out that the new entrant would leverage after sales service to deliver value to its customers. “After sales are one of the cornerstones through which we will bond with our consumers. We intend to service the needs of our customers with any challenge within 24 hours of complaining. It is easy to sell a product but when it comes to after sales some don’t manage it well but we are here to change that culture. We will do our best, even if we lose money to ensure we satisfy our customers,” he said. Earlier, the Chief Executive Officer of Turkey and Head of Region for Middle East and Africa, Mr. Norbert Klein, had told newsmen that the promoters of the company believed in the market and would do everything humanly possible to satisfy their patrons. He said: “We see in Nigeria a sophisticated market with appreciative population and we found Pedini as a very good partner because

it is already in Kitchen business which fits perfectly with us because good quality kitchen will meet good home appliances.” “In the past we have tried as it is not easy to find a good partner. But now we are sure that this market will develop quite fast, he said describing Bosch Group as a worldwide and foremost in household appliances with many brands under the group. “The group has a turnover of about 13 billion Euros and our target is to get a good footprint in Africa. We have a good market share in S/Africa and Morocco and we are sure to have a good market share in Nigeria.” Another member of the board of management of Bosch, Michaell Schollhorn, who also spoke at the unveiling ceremony, explained that Bosch is a global company that employs about 400,000 people and makes about 70 billion euros in revenue and the company is globally active in 50 countries he said. “Our largest market is China that has surpassed Germany which traditionally used to our home market and now the number three is US in Africa we are expecting double digit growth plans in coming years. Nigeria has the big market size with large population. The country has much potential,” he said.

Microfinance Banks Get Boost with Vending Solution Emma Okonji AppZone, a home-grown software solutions for the financial services industry, developed recharge vending application for Micro Finance Banks (MFBs). The value added service has been described as having placed MFB customers on the same level as their peers who bank with commercial banks as it addresses the need for accessible and convenient

banking via electronic means. The service was rolled out recently on the ‘BankOne’ platform, which is the only platform offering the mobile banking service to MFBs in Nigeria. BankOne is a flagship product of AppZone Limited, a Nigerian software company that was established in 2008 and has grown to become a leading provider of homegrown software solutions for the financial services industry

in Africa. AppZone’s institutional shareholders include Inventgarde, a consortium of Nigerian investors and private equity funds, and South Africa’s foremost ICT Group, Telkom. AppZone creates disruptive solutions that expand the scope and competitiveness of institutions in the financial services industry and then delivers these solutions using agile technology and global best

practices AppZone’s Business Group Head for Retail Banking and Cloud, Mr. Adelana Adewuyi, said MFBs that signed up for the service, are assigned a unique code which can be dialed by their customers to get any denomination of airtime while the MFB, via AppZone’s BankOne platform, facilitates the automated deduction of the purchase amount from the customer’s account He added that for conve-

nience and easy adoption as well as for seamless customer experience, no registration app installation or configuration is required for customers to start using the mobile banking service rather. The service is available on any smartphone or feature phone currently in use. According to Adewuyi, “to enjoy the service and for security reasons, customers must use phone lines that have been registered by their MFB

to receive debit and credit alerts for transactions on their account. All that customer has to do is simply dial the specified code and the value of the top-up requested. The BankOne platform validates the customer’s number and verifies that the customer has a sufficient balance. After verification, the customer’s account is debited for the requested amount while his/ her phone line is topped up instantly.”

T H I S D AY •THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2016

BUSINESSWORLD

Fanta Restructures Campaign Characters Stories by Raheem Akingbolu Change has come to the globally recognisable Fanta cast of animated characters. Although the world has been a playground for Andy, Maude, Floyd, Todd, Tristan and Gigi since 2006, when they became a part of the brand’s communication landscape, things have stepped up for the crew in 2016 as a new phase of communication begins for the franchise. Reflecting the natural tide of life, the once pint-sized Fanta characters are now in their teens, with all the awkwardness that it connotes: from embarrassing moments to family tensions, the happy-go-lucky crew has to contend with all the misunderstandings that come with adolescence—just like teenagers everywhere. An example can be found in one of the Fanta television commercials, where guitarstrumming Andy gets a bad dose of stage-fright at his band’s first school performance, after catching a glimpse of his secret crush. With his vocal cords tightening and throat suddenly constricting, he can barely squawk out his first line until after he gets a hold of a delicious bottle of Fanta. Nevertheless, some things remain the same, as Marketing Director, Coca-Cola Nigeria, Patricia Jemibewon, observes. “The Fanta characters are pretty much the same. They have the same personality and

interests as they have always had. However, their feelings, emotions and interests are now more in line with teens their age. They are also more expressive and show their emotions through facial expressions, gestures, body language and speech.” “So, their playful, cheeky personalities come through as they show how they navigate through different teen tension moments and they never lose a chance to engage in their fun interests with their friends. They are just like teenagers everywhere” she adds. Gigi continues to lead the crew, striking a chord with teenagers, with her love of adventure, sense of loyalty and intelligence as she travels and parties it up. Confirmed cool-guy, Tristan, remains the style savant of the Fanta Crew. Dapper, selfconfident and suave, Tristan still cannot imagine the world without music, preferably blaring through his oversised headphones or flying off his DJ turntables at parties. With a healthy dose of the artistic temperament, purple-haired Maude is the creative genius who builds play out of all that is around her. While the Fanta Crew remain as excitable and fun-loving as ever, they’ve finally swapped the swings and slides of childhood for the barely controlled chaos that’s everyone’s teenage years and somehow, manage to remain cool.

CONSUMER

SKG Pharma Rewards Trade Partners Leading pharmaceutical company in Nigeria SKG Pharma Limited has hosted its trade partners from across the country in Lagos. The annual conference of distributors of the company’s products saw many go home with prizes ranges from cars, generators and others gifts that accompanied their award plaques. Distributors were honored along national and regional zones with Jonaco Pharmacy, Aba, Abia State, emerging as the national winner. The same company also lifted the winning cup last year. A manager from the

company, Mr. Chizoba Okeke received a brand new car on behalf of his company. Canez HealthCare Limited, Onitsha, also won a car which was received by the Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mrs. Tina Obiakor. The Managing Director of Audion Pharmacy Limited, Mrs. Edith Nwachukwu, who also received a car and other gifts at the event said the relationship between SKG Pharma and the distributors has been a profitable partnership as their businesses have grown over the years. Nwachukwu, a pharmacist, thanked SKG Pharma for

their innovative products, which she said has made the company one of the leading pharmaceutical manufacturing companies in Nigeria. Managing Director, SKG Pharma Limited, Mr. Okey Akpa thanked trade partners for years of patronage which has seen them and SKG grew consistently. According Mr. Akpa: “The pharmaceutical industry is going through a lot of challenges due to the economic situation the country but not enough to make us misplace our priority, which is manufacturing quality products that will benefit our partners and consumers from

across the country. “This year will be a great year and to equip us in making the right business decisions that will navigate us through this turbulent time, SKG Pharma is fortunate to have one of Nigeria’s great entrepreneurs, public speaker and international business consultant to speak during this conference.” The guest speaker at the event, who is also the founder of Savvi Advisory Services, Mr. Augustine Edet, spoke on how entrepreneurs can navigate and grow their businesses to profitability in a harsh economic environment.

Firm Unveils Code for Mobile Phone Credit Transfer A product that will accelerate the growth of mobile ecosystem in Africa has been unveiled by Credit Switch, a mobile top up company. According to the company, the new innovation will allow phone users to transfer credit irrespective of operators’ platform. The offering, which has been described by the Managing Director, Credit Switch, Mr. Tayo Adigun as the first of its kind in the market, is completed with the short code 931. “In a period where your mobile phone is the most trusted partner that you have, especially to stay connected in a digitally wired world, short code 931 is secured, convenient, easy, fast and proven. “A next –level product, coming out of Africa, 931, a dialling short code will motivate techie start-ups and encourage investments in mobile app development. It will prompt an entirely new awareness of the upward growth and development of the ICT/IT sector in Nigeria and Africa,” the MD said. On what informed the offering, Adigun pointed out that the idea was borne out of interest to make life easy for phone users. “The idea that you can’t share your credit except you are on the same operator platform has become very boring and even frustrating. For instance, you have two

phones, with two different GSM operators SIM cards and you have more than enough credit on a particular one, instead of buying more credit , you can always take out of the other that has more than enough” he explained Meanwhile, the innovation was said to have been adopted by two of the top players in the GSM market, Airtel and Glo. To this end, users of the networks can start enjoying the service. Speaking further, he said the novel offering is about convenience and bonding for families and friends. “Convenience to transfer air time when there is no other top up means, means a lot to millions of Nigerians. Also, the code application allows families and friends to share air time. Right now we are starting with Airtel and Glo, we know other operators will engage in little or no time” he added.

CELEBRATING ACHIEVERS

L-R: General Manager TNT Associates AMEA Region, Mr. Tim Steel, Managing Director, Courierplus Services Ltd, Mrs. Adetutu Sanni and President, Superflux Group, Mr. Tokunbo Talabi, at the 2015 Associates Sales Challenge Global award dinner held in Lagos... recently

Share a Feeling Campaign Excites GIGM.com Unveils New Mobile Consumers in Benin app The latest stop of the Coca-Cola ‘Share a Feeling’ campaign train was Benin City, where consumers got an opportunity to share in the fun of communicating their deepest feelings using personalised Coke cans. According to a statement issued by the promoters of the initiative, the campaign train which kicked off activation from New Benin also touched down Upper Sakemba, School of Health, Dumez as well as the University of Benin where hundreds of the students including staff turned up to customise Coke cans for themselves and loved ones. The Marketing Director, Coca-Cola Nigeria, Patricia Jemibewon, was quoted as saying that like in the other cities where the company had landed with the campaign, participation in the activation in Benin was remarkable. She said Coca Cola family was happy for helping people communicate their feelings better, by enabling them to

personalise their coke cans using their own words and choice smileys. Commending the campaign, Emeka Chike, a 300 level student of the university who customised a carton of Coke for his friends and family said he has been looking out for the opportunity since he heard about it. “Am happy that the booth finally came down here for us to also share in the excitement,” he said. On her part, Mrs. Joy Ukporbar, a staff of UNIBEN who also visited the customization booth, noted that the activation is refreshing as the school was just rounding off examination. “It feels good to have this to refresh us after the examinations. I can see a lot of my students excited to go home and present their loved ones with personalized coke cans. One even customized one for me. I love that the campaign encourages deep bonds among friends and loved ones,” she said.

A leading brand in the road transportation industry, God is Good Motors, now GIGM. com, has unveiled GIGM Mobile App, which will enable its patrons to book ahead on their mobile devices. Speaking at the event, Executive Chairman of The GiG Group (parent company of God is Good Motors), Mr. Chidi Ajaere, said that the new GIGM app was part of the company’s strategic investment in building a futuristic and tech-driven institution. He told excited stakeholders and industry watchers that the key to the company’s success rests on constant innovation in service delivery and huge investment in human capital. The app, he noted, will increase user experience, and create greater functionality while ensuring that all guests have a hub to book trips, see travel schedules, and also ensure interactivity with the organization. “The GIGM.com app is

designed to make traveling a very rewarding experience by ensuring the ease of booking road trips and reducing the time it takes to make travel reservations. It eliminates customer queues at the terminals and users can enjoy amazing discounts and more. “We are market leaders, and to remain number one we need innovations of the sort that we launched today to drive the industry and set the road map for Nigeria’s young entrepreneurs. “We are focused on creating exceptional value for our customers and we realise that this is all we need to consolidate our position as an industry leader. “Our business model gives abundant hope to the youths of Nigeria” Ajaere, one of Nigeria’s youngest entrepreneurs said. He added that the apps were now available on Android, iOS, Windows and Blackberry platforms.

T H I S D AY •THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2016

BUSINESSWORLD

PERSPECTIVE

A New Era of Tax Administration in Benue State Moses T. Anom In line with the mandate and vision of the Benue State Governor, Dr. Samuel Ortom to ramp up internal revenues so as to reduce dependency on Abuja allocations, the Chairman of the state’s tax agency, Mimi-Adzape Orubibi has in six months - since assuming office - implemented a series of bold, precise and targeted tax reforms that are fast redefining the structure of tax administration in Benue while remarkably raising prospects for enhanced internal revenue generation. Now, taxes are levied by states on their citizens and businesses to raise funds for the provision of public works and services. In Nigeria, each state has the potential to fund its budget from its internally generated revenues. Regrettably, Benue, like most states in Nigeria has over the years operated a very broken, lax and ineffective internal revenue generating that contributes less than ten percent to the annual state’s budget. Years of easy oil money from Abuja coupled with a succession of wasteful and visionless leaderships that lacked innovation and creativity did little to deepen and strengthen the state’s tax administration system. Today, the consequences of the years of waste, lack of planning for the future have come round to haunt the state and the administration of Governor Ortom. With no savings from the golden era of oil prices; burdened by a choking inherited debt profile of over 90billion and with the over 60 percent fall in federal allocation due to falling price of oil that accounts for over 90 percent of its revenues, Benue has found itself in an acutely strained financial situation where it is battling to meet recurrent expenditure, talk less of embarking on developmental projects. Although the challenges remain and will take some time to clear, Mrs. Mimi AdzapeOrubibi, the elegant and passionate first female boss of the state’s tax agency appears set to transform from potential to reality the capacity of the state’s tax administration system to contribute significantly to the revenue profile of Benue state. She has in her initial actions shown clarity of vision, a good understanding of what needs to be done and daily goes about her work with a passionate commitment to make a difference by reforming and repositioning the state’s tax system as a key alternative source of

Ortom

To lessen the burden of one-time payment for this group of small entrepreneurs’, Orubibi has introduced a convenient, pocketfriendly and innovative daily tax payment plan called ‘Pay Small-Small”. This plan allows tax payers to pay as low as N50/per day in staggered payments over an extended period of time

revenue. Determined to meet Governor Ortom’s target to raise internally generated revenues from an average of N230 million to N1.5billion, Orubibi has with the active support of the Governor introduced unprecedented tax reforms that have the potential to reset the revenue structure of the state. If sustained and deepened within the next three years of the Ortom-led administration, they would in the very least, balance, if not reverse the lopsided trend that is now in favor of federal allocation. Some of these reforms include the historic introduction of an electronic payment system to block systemic revenue leakages, boost transparency and accountability to the people. Under this new system, tax collection agents now use networked Point of Sale (PoS) machines to issue receipts for all taxes collected and all revenue generating points in the state. The payment system is intelligently designed to remotely track - using an embedded sim card that is connected to a telecom network - and record each transaction made on the device. This provision makes it near fool-proof to fraudulent manipulation by unscrupulous tax agents. Since its implementation in some pilot locations like Makurdi, the electronic payment system has helped to substantially close avenues for revenue leakages like cloning of tax receipts and non-declaration of taxes by revenue agents close. This bold move is very significant to the state’s plans to maintain a tight rein on monies

collected and is helping to significantly boost tax collection efforts in Benue. It is estimated by tax experts that the state was losing over seventy percent of collected revenues due to the systemic vulnerabilities of the previous manual system of tax collection. Commenting on this development, Mr. Tavershima Abutu, a tax consultant familiar with the challenges facing the Benue tax system said, “The new changes that the new Chairman of BIRS is implementing are very good for the Benue state government. They will close most of the loopholes that existed in the system and reduce cases of fraud that were so prevalent. If she is allowed to fully implement and consolidate, people will be surprised at how much she will be able to realize as internally generated revenue”. Furthermore, Orubibi has widened the tax bracket to include individuals and businesses in the informal sector. Those within this group include traders and market women, cab drivers, Okada Riders, Barber shops and other small businesses. To lessen the burden of one-time payment for this group of small entrepreneurs’, Orubibi has introduced a convenient, pocket-friendly and innovative daily tax payment plan called ‘Pay Small-Small”. This plan allows tax payers to pay as low as N50/per day in staggered payments over an extended period of time. The widening of the tax bracket to include the informal sector is very significant because the informal sector – although loose, scattered and not really organized – when put together

represents a very huge untapped source of revenues for the government. It is roughly estimated that over seventy percent of taxable individuals and businesses within the informal sector in Benue are currently not captured in the tax net. Before now, majority of revenues came from the formal sector through the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax system that is tied to workers’ salaries. The new focus on the informal sector is a good thing because the population of the business community, artisans, traders, small scale businesses within this category far outstrips that of workers. Relatedly, Orubibi in spite of strong opposition by vested political interests who profit from the disorder, pushed strongly and with the committed political support of Governor Ortom ensured the closure of all revenue accounts previously opened and arbitrarily maintained by Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in different banks across the state. Today, Benue state that had a multiplicity of over a hundred accounts with different banks, for the first time in decades maintains a single consolidated revenue account. This makes for better planning, monitoring and gives the Governor, and other relevant government staff a real time snapshot of its revenues. Also, it closes all the systemic loopholes that were exploited by unscrupulous government officials in the past to defraud the government. Orubibi’s aggressive tax reforms have not gone on unchallenged. There have been protests from sections of the informal sector like the Okada riders and sections of small businesses. And this is understandable. The laxity and corruption associated with past administrations has created a general state of lack of confidence in governance, ignorance and apathy towards paying taxes by citizens. Also Benue state’s economy is a largely driven by the civil service and delays in payment of salaries by Government has led to a general slowdown in economic activities. All these factors coupled with the fact that people generally are wired to resist change are probable reasons for the pockets of protests. However, as citizens get to see the results of the taxes they are paying, the protests and resistance are most likely going to fade away. With the series of reforms so far recorded by Orubibi, it is fair to say that she has put her best foot forward and no doubt done well. Ironically, many people did not give a long shot at success when the Governor Ortom saw her as a good fit to deliver on his vision for the agency and appointed her in September 2015. This was in spite of her job related academic qualifications which include a B. Sc in Economics from the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and an MBA in Finance from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi in addition to several years of hands-on multi departmental experience at the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). Rather than give into the initial apprehensions about her capacity, and experience in leading tax reforms, Orubibi took the criticism in her stride and has stayed focused on meeting her mandate which is to provide the financial cushion for Benue state as it rides the financial storms occasioned by the drastic reduction in federal allocation. Today, it is evident to even her critics that she does not only have the technical expertise and capacity to deliver on her mandate but that she has a workable plan and the right dose of courage and determination to make deep changes to the state’s tax system. She has also proven that she has the boldness to take on vested interest and also possess the political sagacity to successfully navigate the treacherous Benue political waters. To conclude, though one cannot say that all is done since she has been there for only six months, it is fair from Orubibi’s initial actions that she has taken off on a good note. To those like me, who have kept a close watch at the career of Orubibi and her stellar performance on the new job so far, it has been a confirmation of my confidence in her abilities to deliver on her mandate. - Anom, a Public Analyst based in Makurdi

T H I S D AY •THURSDA, APRIL 21, 2016

BUSINESSWORLD Lexcel Group Appoints Odesile Managing Director of Grand Oak The Chairman and Board of Directors of Lexcel Management/Nigeria Distilleries has appointed Fatai Odesile as acting Managing Director, Grand Oak Limited, effective March 28 2016. Odesile was the Commercial Director before his elevation to the position of Acting Managing Director of Grand Oak Limited (GOL), following the exit of the former occupant. Aare Odesile started his Working Career with 7up Bottling Company Plc in 1991and moved to NDL as a Research and Development Officer the following year. He rose rapidly to become the R&D Manager, before crossing over to Sales and Marketing, where he rose to become the pioneer Marketing Director of GOL in 2010 A second class upper graduate of Industrial Chemistry from the prestigious University

of Ibadan and MBA from the University of Lagos, Aare Odesile comes with over 25years cognate experience and has attended several courses at home and abroad, in institutions such as Cranfield school of Management UK, Witz Business school SA, MCE Brussels, Lagos Business School, etc. Aare Odesile has held various positions in the Nigeria Marketing communications industry including headship of Advertisers Association of Nigeria(ADVAN), past Council Member Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria(APCON), Advertising Sectoral Group(HASG). He is a fellow of National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (FNIMN), Chairman Board of Trustees of ADVAN and a member of the prestigious Ikeja Golf Club and Lagos Country Club. He is happily married with Children.

NEWS

NCC Shuts Down Enugu Multi-Million Internet Centre Christopher Isiguzo in Enugu An Enugu-based cyber cafe and business centre with facilities worth several millions of naira, LogOnNigeria has been shut down by the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) for allegedly operating an Internet Service Provider (ISP) without approval. Another facility situated near the Federal High Court complex at the Independence Layout, Enugu however escaped the NCC hammer as nobody was sighted at the complex when the officials from the enforcement Directorate of the NCC who came in the company of police officers stormed the place. The situation made most centres using the ISP to abruptly shut down in the

Coal City State apparently for fear of being sealed. Most of their customers were seen milling around different centres unattended to. The company reportedly operated the illegal ISP for about seven months. The Commission’s Head of Operation, Salisu Abdu led the team from Abuja who sealed of the entire LogOnNigeria company, which occupied the ground floor and the first floor of a complex at the New Haven area of the metropolis. Abdu, who later briefed journalists said the commission had written the company about three letters notifying its management that it was operating beyond the scope covered by the license granted it, but the company refused bluntly to reply, hence the

commission’s decision to seal the firm, after securing the necessary court warrant from the Federal High Court. He said the NCC as the regulatory body for the communication industry in the country has the power to issue licence to interested organisations as well as sanctioning erring companies. He said in the course of monitoring the operations of the industry in Enugu last year, it was discovered that some companies provided internet services to the public without licence, noting that LogonNigeria Ltd was among such companies. He recalled that in line with the commission’s enforcement process, “we have engaged LogonNigeria Ltd severally. We invited the company for a

meeting; we also have written to them to come and regularise their operations. Unfortunately, all the letters we have written to LogonNigeria Ltd has not received positive reply. We have no other alternative than to enforce our laws and regulations against the company. That is the reason we visited the company today.” Abdu said his team confiscated “the offending equipment being used to provide internet services,” adding, “we have also sealed their premises until when they will regularise their operations.” He explained that the regularisation process entailed that the company must obtain the requsite license, that is the internet service license to empower them to provide such service.

Sokoto Sets up Commodity Marketing Board, Distributes 1,000 Hand Tillers to Farmers Mohammed Aminu in Sokoto Sokoto State Governor, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, Tuesday said plans were underway to establish commodity marketing board to ease the burden of farmers in the state. He also said no fewer than 1,000 hand tillers would soon be distributed to farmers across the 23 local government areas of the state. Speaking at a one-day Stakeholders’ Forum organised by the State Technical Committee on Immediate Framework for Agricultural Development at the State Polytechnic, Sokoto, Tambuwal said the Board would purchase excess farm produce from farmers, adding that it would be used in stabilising prices of commodities in times of need. He said this would go a long way in mitigating losses witnessed by farmers at the end of harvest. “The establishment of the commodity board will reduce excesses and wastages being suffered by farmers which ultimately affects their overall income “This is to enable them get value for their investments and to encourage more people to engage in farming to produce food for local consumption and export,”Tambuwal said. The governor noted that the state was blessed with arable land for massive food production, pointing out that about 80 percent of the population live in rural areas and depend on farming for livelihood. He stated that the essence of the forum was to deliberate with stakeholders with a view to charting a road map for the revival of agriculture as a reliable business in the state. Tambuwal posited that it was in view of the emphasis laid by his administration on agriculture that the government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Erisco Food

Limited for the establishment of a tomatoe processing factory in the state. According to him, the tomatoe processing factory is expected to process 45,000 metric tons of tomatoe paste per week and expected to take off in two months. Tambuwal said that the distribution of the hand tillers which had since been bought by the state government was part of efforts to mechanise agriculture in the state, adding that the state government would also reinvigorate the Tractor Hiring Scheme in partnership with some agricultural firms in the country. He disclosed that his administration was currently working in consultation with stakeholders to address the fundamental problems of access to financial support and technical assistance to farmers in the state. “We are already in contact with the Central Bank of Nigeria to have accredited uptakers that will provide all what the farmer will need from plantation to harvest as a safeguard that will guarantee end benefits. “The government is working with the CBN to see how to modify the structure of the Anchor Borrowers Programme to suit the need of our farmers for full participation and benefit ,”he added. In a remark, Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar 111, said the era of depending on oil revenue was over, hence the need for governments particularly in the North to give priority to agriculture to improve their economy. He challenged farmers in the state to give emphasis on cultivation of cash crops such as cotton so as to earn huge income. The monarch said traditional leaders in the state would give the neccessary support required to ensure the attainment of the set objectives.

FOR BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP

L-R: Dean, Faculty of Science and Technology, Bayero University Kano, Prof. Ado Dan-Isa; President Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Prof Sola Aderounmu; Executive Vice Chairman, Nigeria Communications Commission, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta; Executive Director, Sidmach Technologies, Mr. Mike Olajide and Director, Sidmach Technologies, Mr. Chijeoke Eke, during the visit of NCS Executives to Danbatta in Abuja...recently

Nestle Opens N5.6bn Water Integrated Produce City Signs Factory, to Create Jobs MoU for 24-Hour Power Dele Ogbodo in Abuja Nestle Nigeria Plc, unveiled its new ultra modern waters factory built at the cost of N5.6 billion. At theopening ceremony in Abaji, an outskirt of Abuja, Federal Capital Capital Territory (FCT), the company’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Dharnesh Gordon, said the inauguration of the water plant in the North will create over 111 new jobs for Nigerians living within the FCT. He said the factory, which is the third in the country and the first in major in the north underpins its strong belief in the potential of the Nigerian economy in spite of the current volatile business environment. According to him, the commissioning also showed that Nigeria remains Africa’s investment destination of choice, adding: “We can look back on a long and successful history of Nestle in the country and we are proud to remain a major contributor to the food industry in the country. “Our company has been present in Nigeria for

55 years, and we are pleased that our operations are not only measurable in length of time, but more importantly, also by the positive impact it brings to the communities where we operate.” He said the company was committed to continue to bring significant value to society at large by sourcing locally, creating employment, and offering high quality, nutritious foods beverages with the aim of helping Nigeria develop further. In a remark, the Chairman of the board of directors, Mr. David Ifezulike, expressed gratitude to the Bank of Industry (BoI), through First City Monument Bank FCMB, for providing the company long term financial support to establish the Abaji factory, the first in the Northern part of the country. According to Ifezulike, Nestle Nigeria is proud to be the pioneering multinational company in Abaji, adding that experience from its Agbara and Flowergate factories in Ogun state as in other parts of the world shows that Nestle factories drive rural development.

A Memorandum of Understanding for the Generation and Distribution of Electricity at Integrated Produce City and other areas covered by Benin Electricity Distribution Company has just been signed in Lagos. The parties involved include: Paras Energy Limited that serves as the embedded power generator for Integrated Produce City and Benin Electricity Distribution Company via embedded generation; Integrated Produce City, the Landlord, power captive market provider, and initiator of the project; Benin Electricity Distribution Company: The power Distribution company covering Delta, Edo and Ondo that will distribute power in Integrated Produce City and evacuate the rest of the power for distribution in their network; and Vigeo Power: a power holding company that will provide power services outside the Benin Electricity Distribution Company mandate or as requested by Benin Electricity Distribution Company. The Integrated Produce City

(IPC) undertakes: Regional Wholesale Produce Market (hub for farmers in five states +more); Agro-Allied Industrial Park (50 local and International Processing Companies); Preservation Park (Silos and other Preservation systems); Export Hub; Implement, Agric Equipments, Seeds and Fertilizer Hub; Support Infrastructure such as: 24 Hours Electricity via Our gas Turbine (embedded Generation10mw), 24 Hours Water (International Industrial Standard). Treatment and Conversion Plants (effluent, waste water and other wastes) etc. The IPC Objective stands as a value chain solution center for agri-business, offering the farmer the following opportunities: Full disposal opportunity for all his produce with the patronage of wholesalers, processors from the industrial park, sun-driers at the preservation park and Exporters at the exporters’ hub; Profit opportunity; Opportunity to access credit; and Increased Production.

T H I S D AY •THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2016

BUSINESSWORLD

PERSPECTIVE

Credit Risk Management: An Islamic Finance Perspective Masur A. Alawusa Risk is a contemporary challenge in today’s financial climate. The global financial crisis of 2008 reinforced the importance of risk management in the financial industry. Risk isgenerally understood as a situation where there is an uncertainty of desired results and the likelihood that the undesirable consequences. It has simply been defined as a likelihood of loss. The etymology of the word risk can be traced to the Arabic word ‘rizqon’ meaning “everything given by God for livelihood”. From this definition, risk cannot be totally eliminated by mankind and man can only work to the best of his ability and hope for the good results. Risks faced by financial institutions (both conventional and Islamic financial institutions) in their operations are of different kinds: exchange rate risk, trade risk (or market risk), political risks, and risks that represent changes in the value of assets and goods, etc. Credit risk is deemed to be the most significant type of risk faced by financial institutions in their relationship with the owners of wealth. Credit risk relates to the debtor’s ability to repay the debt at the appointed time and in accordance with the conditions stipulated in the contract. The debtor’s inability to abide by his obligations will lead to a loss, therefore, becoming a risk for the institution. The existence of credit risk is not dependant on direct financing by the institution. The institution also faces this type of risk in guarantees and acceptance paper when the originator of the financial instruments owned by the institution is unable to meet his obligations (as in the case of bonds, sukuks). Such is the case in other indirect financing operations. Therefore, prudent management includes strict and detailed regulations specifically for credit risk with the purpose of assessing, managing and mitigating it to its barest minimum. Conventional financial institutions face credit risk in almost all their operations, because the relationship between the institutions and those who transact with them is often that of a debtor and a creditor in all cases. Islamic financial institutions also face this form of risk in most of the modes of financing that they utilize either directly or as a metamorphosis of another risk. In Nigeria, the Non-Interest Financial Institutions have an array of contracts for financing transactions but the mainly approved contracts by regulators are the Murabaha (cost plus financing) and Ijara (lease). These contracts often employ installment sales with delayed payment thus generating debts in the accounts of the institutions. The fundamental form of risk in all these contracts is credit risk as these directly involve a reliance on a counterparty to make repayments. Other prominent contracts like,Mudarabah (partnership) and Musharakah (joint venture) are contracts of participation, where the funds given by the institution to entrepreneurs are not classified as liabilities but as investments/equity. Yet, these two also

President Muhammadu Buhari

bear a credit risk in two ways. Firstly, in the case of tort or negligence, the entrepreneur is liable to guarantee the capital (from negligent misappropriation) which means a debt liability. Secondly, when the capital of Mudarabah (partnership)or Musharakah (joint venture) are employed in a deferred sale, the owner of capital (rabb al-mal), the institution in this case, bears an indirect credit risk. This risk pertains to the ability of the counter parties to repay. Risk management is the process by which managers identify key risks by obtaining consistent, understandable and operational risk measures, choosing which risks to reduce and establishing procedures to monitor the resulting risk position. While conventional and non-interest financial institutions may have the same credit risk, their risk management procedures differ. Conventional institutions have developed the control, structure and processes for risk management that enablethem choose a suitable level of risk that they are willing to bear. Their operations are based on the canon that money, risk and time are like goods that are bought and sold. It is possible for each manager to place a suitable limit for himself on each identified risk. He can dispose of those that he does not wish to hold and buy other risks that suit his aims and purposes. However, Islamic Financial Institutions regardthe trade of money, risk and time as impermissible as these financial elements are not commodities to be bought and sold. Money is treated as a means of exchange and not a store of value while the trade of risk involves excessive gharar (speculation) which is against the Shariah (Islamic law). In addition to have the same credit risk as conventional institutions there are some credit risks that are specific to Islamic financial transactions. In Murabaha (cost plus financing) transactions, institutions deliver assets to clients who in some cases fail to fulfill their contractual obligations on time. In Non-binding Murabaha transactions, clients may refuse delivery of the product purchased in accordance to their right based on thecontract. Credit risk

management in Islamic finance institutions has its peculiar challenges as these institutions are prohibited from charging interest and imposing penalties (although some Shari’ah advisers allow penalties on the condition that the penalties do not benefit the institution but are rather given in charity). Due to such delays, investments can become trapped and profits become eroded. The risks associated with Islamic credit transactions; their illiquid nature, lack of lender of last resort and inability to utilize short term money markets are some risks that do not exist for competing conventional financial intermediaries. Basel II is currently the internationally accepted framework for risk management in the evaluation of credit risk, operational risk and market risk. The Islamic financial system is based on a participatory and risksharing approach. Islamic financial institutions face many challenges in complying with international standards and guidelines for risk management. They face unique and somewhat extra risks, compared to conventional financial institutions. Basel II with certain modifications can be adopted subject to addressing the distinct nature of Islamic financial activities, with accommodating differences in liabilities. Islamic finance is a relatively new phenomenon in this part of the world. Though it has modeled its risk management practices on conventional finance, it retains its basic principles againstriba (interest), gharar (speculation) and maysir(gambling). It can be argued that Conventional and Islamic financial institutions take equally important risks with an exception of interest rates risk as the latter does not trade or give facilities on an interest basis. Loan recovery mechanisms are different between conventional financial institutions and Islamic financial institutions. Islamic financial institutions are more flexible as a major objective of Islamic finance is to positively impact the businesses of its debtors, therefore preferring to restructure transactions contrary to their conventional counterparts who prefer

to recoverthe principal and predetermined rate of return at whatever costs to the debtor. Also, Islamic financial institutions in Nigeria have not started offering unsecured financial products as they see it as risky investments which is a consequence of structural deficiencies in the domestic market; an example is the unavailability and/or inadequate data of creditors history by credit bureaus. While conventional and Islamic finance institutions differ in their operations, their creditrisk management practices have been found to be alike as listed below: a) Strict regulations for giving credit are based on the credit-worthiness of the client, his ability to abide by his obligations within the appointed time and the conditions agreed upon. Included in this is the financial reputation of the client and his credit history, financial standing, legal ability to raise loans from the institution, to negotiate either by himself or by delegation from his partners or his establishment, and his ability to generate income in future, because the repayment of the debt depends on his cash receipts and payments. b) Taking of collateral, personal and tangible securities along with an emphasis on the ability of the institution to redeem its claims from these. Credit, however, is not granted on the basis of the strength of collateral and guarantees, but on the ability of the client to pay. c) The economic circumstances in general and the special circumstances of the sector that generates the income of the client. The inclination and the ability of the client to abide by his obligations may be up to the desired level, but a change in the environment in which the client operates, may force him to default or to procrastinate due to reasons that are beyond his control. d) Institutions lay down strict regulations and policies for follow up and recovery, directly or through agents, collectors and law firms. The contracts of loans usually contain conditions that grant the institution the right to collect installments by any legal means, like authority over the other accounts of the client in the institution or even in other institutions if possible without an injunction from the court. Generally the operations and management of credit risk practices are qualitatively similar in both Islamic and conventional financial institutions but with few fundamental differences in the nature of products and methods used in appraising transactions and investments.A safeguard within the current framework revolves around transparency, accountability and corporate governance. These values are more permeable in the Islamic finance environmenttaking into account the restrictions placed by the rules of the Shariah pertaining to financial constraints and other peculiarities. Though some instruments used by conventional financial institutions for credit risk management are not permitted for use by Islamic financial institutions, the latter’s risk management process is as rigorous and efficient as their conventional counterparts. - Alawusa, wrote from Credit and Investment Risk Kord Capital Ltd

Loud Technology Will Transform Africa’s Business, Says Oracle Emma Okonji Oracle Corporation has identified cloud-based technologies as transformational and changing instrument for the business climate in Africa. Country Managing Director of Oracle Nigeria, Adebayo Sanni, made the remark at this year’s Oracle Day held in Lagos recently. During the event organised concurrently in 47 African countries, Sanni said cloud remains pivotal to changing business dynamics for chief executives and organisations faced with the present economic realities.

He reiterated that Cloud is driving digital trends in Africa such as downloads/uploads, web publishing, emails, amongst others, following infrastructural upgrade on the continent. According to Sanni, the seventeen undersea cables terrestrial transmission networks doubled in the last five years. E-commerce expansions, e-payments, and others, have been made possible by exponential growth in mobility, social networks, Big Data and analytics. Meanwhile, the International Data Corporation (IDC’s) prediction that by 2018, at least half of Information Technology (IT)

spending will be cloud-based, reaching 60 per cent of all IT infrastructure and 60-70 per cent of all software, services, and technology spending by 2020. To this, Sanni said that companies with clear-path to technological growth and open to cloud adoption will survive the daunting economic situation, competition and retain customers’ loyalty. He added that Oracle in the past 10 years has focused on re-writing its solutions from on-promise to the cloud, revealing that about 75 per cent companies that remain just on-premise environment are breached, even without

their knowledge. “Global adoption of Cloud has recorded 61 per cent year on year growth which is a significant increase and shows the dynamics cloud brings to businesses. In Africa, it is still in the early and experimental stage. However, the gains are enormous, from fighting crimes to smart city, smart metering, and eliminating some bottlenecks in the society,” Sanni said. “Why should businesses quickly adapt to this infrastructure? Of, course, customers’ expectations have changed. Companies need cloud based solutions to gather data, analyzing them for better service

offerings. To get started, you need to identify key business requirements such as reducing costs, mobile interaction with customers; then, align your business and IT strategy. Oracle is always ready to aid companies achieve these needs,” he said Principal Sales Consultant at Oracle Nigeria, Olusoji Adeyemo, said Oracle cloud is the place to be for both individual and corporate needs. While outlining three kinds of cloud customers can take advantage of, including private, public and hybrid, he explained that private, for instance, has accompanying

self-service, auto scaling, metering, charge back and capacity planning. On the public cloud, he said, it comes with specialised, shared and standard portfolio, hence the customer either individual or corporate core interest may not be on where the infrastructure is located as long as such customer has service. However, on the hybrid cloud, Adeyemo said, such customer would like to know where the data is located but on deployment strategy, hybrid has integrated Software-as-aService (SaaS) to one premise, functional and PSR test.

T H I S D AY • THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2016

BUSINESSWORLD

DEVELOPMENT

Kirikiri Road in Lagos, begging for attention

AKINWUNMI IBRAHIM

W’Bank Group, UNICEF Urge Stakeholders to Invest in Early Childhood Devt Funke Olaode in Washington DC Global and national leaders have been urged to step up and accelerate action and investments in nutrition and early childhood development (ECD) programmes as a critical foundation for equitable development and economic growth. The call was jointly made by the World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim and UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake at the recent World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings in Washington DC, United States. To follow up the suggestion, the two organisations announced the establishment of a new alliance that aims to make ECD a global policy, programming and public spending priority, to give all young children access to quality services that improve their health, nutrition, learning ability and emotional wellbeing. According to them, advances in neuroscience and recent economic studies show that early childhood experiences have a profound impact on brain development and on subsequent learning, health, and adult earnings. Children who are poorly nourished and nurtured, or those who do not receive early stimulation, are likely to learn less in school and earn less as adults. “Globally, millions of children under the age of five are at risk of never reaching their

full developmental potential. One out of four children under five (159 million) are stunted due to poor nutrition, with numbers significantly higher in parts of Africa and South Asia. “Nearly half of all 3 to 6-year-olds don’t have access to pre-primary education. In sub-Saharan Africa, 80 per cent are not enrolled in preprimary programmes. The time has come to treat childhood stunting as a development and an economic emergency,” said Jim Yong Kim. “How will countries compete in what will certainly be a more digitalised global economy in the future if a third or more of their children are stunted? Our failure to make the right investments in early childhood development is condemning millions of children to lives of exclusion. We can’t promise to equalise development outcomes, but we can insist on equalising opportunity.” Speaking further, he said emerging scientific evidence also shows that prolonged exposure to adversity - such as that experienced by children growing up in countries affected by conflict or households affected by domestic violence - can cause toxic stress, a condition that can also inhibit peak brain development in early childhood. Corroborating Kim, UNICEF executive director, Anthony Lake noted that “what we are learning about all the elements that affect the development of children’s brains - whether their bodies are well nourished,

whether their minds are stimulated, whether they are protected from violence - is already changing the way we think about early childhood development. Now it must change the way we act.” Through the new alliance, the World Bank Group and UNICEF are inviting governments, development partners, civil society, foundations and the private sector to make early childhood development a global and national development priority. The objective is to support country-led efforts to invest in nutrition, early stimulation and learning, and protection, and to engage with communities to drive demand for these high-quality ECD services for every child. The benefits of ECD programmes are particularly strong for poor and disadvantaged children. ECD is also an investment in economic growth. Evidence suggests that an additional dollar invested in quality ECD programmes yields a return of between $6 and $17. Recognising the growing understanding of ECD’s importance, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) include an ECD target – the first time ECD has been explicitly included in global development goals. SDG Target 4.2 aims to increase the percentage of children under five years of age who are developmentally on track in health, learning and psychosocial well-being. Although ECD falls under

the SDG for education, it provides a natural link to

other goals, too - including poverty reduction, health and

nutrition, women and girls’ equality, and ending violence.

Sokoto Plans Commodity Marketing Board, Distributes 1,000 Hand Tillers to Farmers Mohammed Aminu in Sokoto Sokoto State Governor, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, has said plans were underway to establish commodity marketing board to ease the burden of farmers in the state. He also said no fewer than 1,000 hand tillers would soon be distributed to farmers across the 23 local government areas of the state. Speaking at a one-day Stakeholders’ Forum organised by the State Technical Committee on Immediate Framework for Agricultural Development at the State Polytechnic, Sokoto, Tambuwal said the Board would purchase excess farm produce from farmers, adding that it would be used in stabilising prices of commodities in times of need. He said this would go a long way in mitigating losses witnessed by farmers at the end of harvest. “The establishment of the commodity board will reduce excesses and wastages being suffered by farmers which ultimately affects their overall income. This is to enable them get value for their investments and to encourage more people to engage in farming to produce food for local

consumption and export,” Tambuwal said. The governor noted that the state is blessed with arable land for massive food production, pointing out that about 80 per cent of the population live in rural areas and depend on farming for livelihood. He stated that the essence of the forum was to deliberate with stakeholders with a view to charting a road map for the revival of agriculture as a reliable business in the state. Tambuwal posited that it was in view of the emphasis laid by his administration on agriculture that the government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Erisco Food Limited for the establishment of a tomato processing factory in the state. According to him, the tomato processing factory is expected to process 45,000 metric tonnes of tomato paste per week and expected to take off in two months. Tambuwal said the distribution of the hand tillers which had since been bought by the state government was part of efforts to mechanise agriculture in the state, adding that the state government would also reinvigorate the Tractor Hiring Scheme in partnership with

some agricultural firms in the country. He disclosed that his administration was currently working in consultation with stakeholders to address the fundamental problems of access to financial support and technical assistance to farmers in the state. In a remark, Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, said the era of depending on oil revenue was over; hence the need for governments particularly in the North to give priority to agriculture to improve their economy. He challenged farmers in the state to give emphasis on cultivation of cash crops such as cotton so as to earn huge income. The monarch said traditional leaders in the state would give the necessary support required to ensure the attainment of the set objectives. The Chairman, State Committee for the Revitalisation of Agriculture, Alhaji Chiso Dattijo, said the stakeholders meeting was timely, as it would bring to the fore issues and problems of production, processing and breakdown of linkages between stakeholders that overtime affected the derivable benefits from agriculture.

T H I S D AY • THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2016

BUSINESSWORLD

DEVELOPMENT QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“EFCC has uncovered 37,395 ghost workers in the Federal Civil Service and investigation is still going on. Our investigations have so far revealed that the Federal Government has lost close to N1 billion to these ghost workers. The figure will definitely increase as we unravel more ghost workers buried deep in Federal Civil Service payrolls” - ACTING CHAIRMAN, ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRIMES COMMISSION (EFCC) IBRAHIM MAGU, SPEAKING IN ABUJA

Group to Train 18,000Youths on Vocations, Skills Acquisition Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

Finance Sustainable Devt for All, UN Enjoins World Leaders Abimbola Akosile The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has hailed 2015 as a year of “crucial milestones” for development, while opening the inaugural session of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Forum on Financing for Development Follow-up at the UN Headquarters in New York, USA. Ban also said world leaders must now meet the agreed financing targets to ensure implementation of the numerous landmark agreements on eradicating poverty, building resilient societies and addressing climate change in order to put the world on a sustainable development path. He said the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, together with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate change, are “triumphs of multilateralism”, in a release by the global body. “I urge each and every one of you to take action and show leadership,” Ban said. “We must all play our part in this global endeavour, from governments and international organisations, to financial and trade institutions, the private sector and civil society.” The Forum, which ran from Monday (April 18) to Wednesday (April 20) included the Special high-level meeting of the Council with the Bretton Woods institutions, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The inaugural session featured presentations by the heads of the major institutional stakeholders and of intergovernmental bodies of these institutions, followed by statements by Ministers and other high-level officials, with an interactive dialogue between UN delegations and senior officials from World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The ECOSOC Forum in New York

The Secretary-General recalled that this past July, world leaders gathered in Addis Ababa and adopted a comprehensive framework to mobilise and deliver the resources, technology and partnerships needed for sustainable development. He added that he looked forward to the signing ceremony for the Paris Agreement in New York later this week. “We have the collective responsibility to turn these landmark agreements into tangible actions,” Ban said. “The time for implementation is now.” Noting that the financing requirements to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are estimated to be in the order of trillions of dollars annually, Ban stressed that mobilising such resources would be a significant

UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe challenge, particularly at a time of continued economic uncertainty and financial constraints. The Addis Agenda contains more than 100 concrete policy commitments that draw on all sources of finance, technology, innovation, trade, debt and data to support the 2030 Agenda, he said. The Secretary-General also called for stronger commitment to humanitarian financing, which will be one focus of the first-ever World Humanitarian Summit that he is convening in Istanbul on 23 and 24 May. In opening remarks at the Forum, the President of ECOSOC, Oh Joon, highlighted that the launch of the forum marked a new chapter in the history of the financing for development process.

To help revive Nigeria’s dwindling economy occasioned by the fall in the price of crude oil, which had in turn forced many people into the labour market, the Multi-Net Group said it has devised a model to train 18,000 youths in order to make them self-sufficient. The Chairman of the company, Dr. Uzoma Obiyo gave the hint at a recent press conference in Abuja, where he stressed that vocational skills have the capacity to impact and resuscitate the ailing economy. According to him, “the private sector has a major role to play; that is where the MultiNet group falls in. When we say we drive the five major sectors of the economy that means we can in these areas create jobs, in the agricultural sector. In this sector we already have a model that has the capacity to create 15,000 jobs, within the first twelve months of this project, the minute we are able to do the ground breaking of our animal husbandry project, coming up in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture.” He noted that if the government could put a lot of effort into skills acquisition and vocational training, and said aside having the capacity to improve on the economy, it also has the capacity to ensure that more jobs are created for the teeming unemployed Nigerian youths. Obiyo lamented that in Nigeria University graduates are not skillful, saying; “you leave university and the next thing that occurs to you is that you need white-collar job; these white collar jobs are not available anymore in Nigeria. In civilised countries, you see such economies emerging because of skills acquisitions and vocational training, and this is what the governments of today are very passionate about.” “We have the manpower, we have all that are required to train Nigerian youths in a lot of areas, the artisan training, the mechatronics, the agricultural sector-poultry can create a lot of jobs for Nigerian youth. We are about to develop a model that has the capacity to take millions of Nigerian youths out of the job market, in poultry, crops and even animal husbandry that we are planning to embark on. “We have a structure in place for vocational training and skills acquisition which we have in the six geo-political zones of this country as Multi-Net Group. Our facility has the capacity to take in over 18,000 youths, which we have the capacity to train within a period of six months in different areas,” he revealed. The chairman revealed further that the company has the capacity to train the youths to become independent and entrepreneurs of their own in areas like agriculture engineering, project management, brick-laying, plumbing, carpentry, mechanical and electrical engineering. “The aim is to create more entrepreneurs in Nigeria, to begin to get our youths off the street, by getting them to see the possible ways of doing things on their own to make money, rather than relying on seeking employment in ministry,” Obiyo stressed.

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH UN MILLENNIUM CAMPAIGN / UN SDG ACTION CAMPAIGN

THURSDAY APRIL 21, 2016 T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY THURSDAY APRIL 21, 2016

THURSDAY APRIL 21, 2016 T H I S D AY

ADVERTORIAL

THURSDAY APRIL 21, 2016 • T H I S D AY

INTERNATIONAL

email:foreigndesk@thisdaylive.com

Breivik, Norway’s Murderer Wins Human Rights Case Norwegian mass murderer, Anders Behring Breivik, has won part of a human rights case against the Norwegian state. The court upheld his claim that some of his treatment amounted to “inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”. After the judgement, Breivik’s lawyer, Oystein Storrvik, called for his solitary confinement to be repealed. Breivik, a rightwing extremist, killed dozens of young centre-left political activists in an attack on the island of Utoya in July 2011. Earlier that day, he set off a car bomb in the capital, Oslo, killing eight people. In her ruling, judge Helen Andenaes Sekulic said the right not to be subjected to inhuman treatment represented “a fundamental value in a democratic society” and also applied to“terrorists and killers”. Breivik had challenged the government over his solitary confinement, which saw him kept alone in his cell for 22 to 23 hours a day, denied contact with other inmates and only communicating with prison staff through a thick glass barrier. His prison regime deviated so markedly from that enforced upon any other prisoner in Norway, regardless of the severity of their crimes, that it had to be considered an extra punishment, the judge said. However, article three of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) required

that prisoners be detained in conditions that did not exceed the unavoidable level of suffering inherent in detention, given the practical requirements of the particular case, she said. The prison authorities had also not done enough to counteract the damage he had suffered from being in isolation, she said. Judge Sekulic also noted that Breivik had been woken up every half hour at night over a long period of time and on some occasions subjected to strip searches with female officers present, which he found particularly difficult. “Taken together with the other stringent restrictions which he was subject, this was regarded as degrading treatment in the Convention sense,” said the judge, NRK reported. State lawyer Marius Emberland said the government was surprised by the verdict but had not decided whether to appeal. If neither side appeals against the judgement within four weeks, the prison is obliged to make Breivik’s prison regime more lenient in line with the judge’s remarks, NRK reported. The prison must work to bring in other prisoners and “facilitate a community”, the judge said. However, the judge ruled that strict controls on Breivik’s correspondence were justified and his right to a private and family life under article eight of the ECHR had not been violated.

South Sudan, Rebels Say Deal Reached for Machar’s Return South Sudan’s government and rebels said yesterday that a deal had been reached to let rebel leader Riek Machar return to the capital to form a unity government, resolving differences that led to a delay this week that had worried peace monitors. Rebel spokesman, James Gatdet Dak, told Reuters by telephone from Nairobi that Machar, who had been due to return early this week before the latest in a series of delays since last year’s peace deal, was now expected to fly into Juba yesterday. Machar and his rival, President Salva Kiir, signed an agreement in August to end a two-year conflict in which thousands of people have been killed and more than two million forced to flee their homes. But clashes have flared since then. The United States and the U.N. Security Council have both voiced concern over the latest delay to the return of Machar, who is due to take up the post of First Vice President next to Kiir as part of a power sharing deal. The body monitoring the peace deal, the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC), which includes Western powers, African representatives and others, also said it was worried. “I’m happy to announce to

you that we as a government have accepted that Riek should come with 195 (members of his) forces accompanying him and his chief of staff,”Peter Bashir Gbandi, acting foreign minister, told a news conference in Juba. A government official earlier said Machar was held up because he had wanted to bring equipment and troops into Juba in excess of what was agreed with Kiir’s camp. Machar told Al Jazeera television the government was creating “obstacles”. “We have given him clearance also for all the three planes that are coming with him,”Gbandi said, without giving a timing. Kiir’s sacking of Machar as his deputy in 2013 precipitated the crisis that led to a conflict in December 2013. Fighting has often run along ethnic lines, pitting Kiir’s dominant Dinka ethnic group against Machar’s Nuer. The conflict, which erupted barely two years after South Sudan’s independence in 2011, has hammered the economy and left swathes of the 11 million population without enough food. Oil production, South Sudan’s main source of revenue, has tumbled as oil fields have been cut off and global prices have dropped.

The court also ordered the Norwegian state to pay Breivik’s legal costs of 330,000 kroner

($40,000; £28,000). Bjorn Ihler, a survivor of Breivik’s massacre of young

activists on Utoya, tweeted that the judgement in Breivik’s favour showed Norway had a

“working court system, respecting human rights even under extreme conditions”.

ON GUARD

Members of forces loyal to Libya’s eastern government stand near to the Libyan cement factory after the army took control of the factory following clashes with the Shura Council of Libyan Revolutionaries IN Benghazi…recently

After New York Victories,Trump, Clinton Eye November Election

Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton began setting their sights on November’s general election, with a new poll showing Clinton would handily win such a matchup. Trump’s crushing defeat of Ted Cruz in Tuesday’s party nominating contests in New York tilted the energy in the Republican race back to the front-runner. Clinton’s win over Bernie Sanders, while narrower, broke a string of victories by the democratic socialist and gave her a much-needed lift. Trump’s win marked a rebound from his Wisconsin defeat two weeks ago and set him up for another big night on April 26, when Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, and Maryland will hold primaries. “Ted Cruz is mathematically out of winning the race,”Trump said yesterday on Twitter.“Now all he can do is be a spoiler, never a nice thing to do. I will beat Hillary!” Trump, 69, predicted some“amazing weeks”ahead for his campaign.

If he and Clinton do go on to secure their respective parties’ nomination for the Nov. 8 election, opinion polls show Clinton with a sizeable lead. A Reuters/Ipsos poll put the former secretary of state ahead by 10 percentage points in a matchup with the billionaire businessman. Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas, dismissed his rival’s victory in New York as a predictable win. “Upon winning his home state, Donald, with a characteristic display of humility, declared this race is over,”he said during a Pennsylvania campaign stop. Cruz, who has argued that Trump would lose the election for Republicans, added with scathing irony:“Manhattan has spoken, and if the rest of the voters would quietly go home now and allow him to give the general election to Hillary, all would be better.” Trump, a former reality TV star, has adapted a more measured tone in recent days and appears to be trying to heal wounds inflicted by a

campaign that has alarmed many in the Republican establishment. He has sent campaign advisers to a Republican National Committee meeting in Hollywood. Trump’s haul of most of New York’s 95 delegates moved him closer to the 1,237 needed to win the nomination outright. Anything short of that will lead to a contested convention when Republicans hold their national conclave July 18-21 in Cleveland. “There’s only two issues left for Republicans: Will Trump get 50 percent of the delegates prior to Cleveland, and if not, how close will he be? NewYork gives him a nice boost, but it will take weeks before we know the answer,”said Ari Fleischer, who was White House spokesman under President George W. Bush. Cruz, 45, came in third in New York. Ohio Governor John Kasich, 63, a long-shot candidate, sought to use his second-place showing in NewYork as proof he is emerging as Trump’s central challenger.

Trump won at least 89 delegates in New York, while Kasich got at least three, according to a count by the Associated Press. Cruz did not win any, prompting Trump adviser Sarah Huckabee Sanders to urge him Wednesday on CNN to“get out of the way” once the math of delegate counts makes it impossible for him to prevail. New York boosted Trump’s delegate tally to 845, while Cruz has 559 and Kasich 147, according to the AP. Next Tuesday’s contests offer 172 delegates for Republicans and more than 460 for Democrats. Clinton, 68, said on Tuesday night the race for the Democratic nomination is now in“the home stretch, and victory is in sight.” Her win made it nearly impossible for Sanders, 74, to overtake her commanding lead in delegates needed to win the nomination. Clinton clinched at least 175 out of 291 New York delegates, while Sanders won at least 106, according to the AP.

UNHCR: Up to 500 Migrants Might Have Drowned in Med Tragedy Up to 500 migrants might have drowned in the Mediterranean last week when human traffickers crammed people onto an already overcrowded ship, causing it to sink, the United Nations Refugee Agency said yesterday. Somalia’s government said on Monday about 200 or more Somalis may have died in the tragedy while trying to cross illegally to Europe. After talking to survivors, the UNHCR agency said the overall death toll might have been much higher.

“If confirmed, as many as 500 people may have lost their lives when a large ship went down in the Mediterranean Sea at an unknown location between Libya and Italy,” the UNHCR said. The agency said the survivors - 37 men, three women and a three-yearold child - were rescued by a merchant ship and taken to Greece on April 16. They recounted that they had been among 100 to 200 people who set sail from Libya last week headed for Italy. After several hours at sea,

the traffickers tried to move them onto a bigger ship that was already packed with migrants. This ship sank before the survivors could board it. They then drifted at sea for up to three days before being saved.The group was made up of 23 Somalis, 11 Ethiopians, six Egyptians and one Sudanese national. The Somali government said on Monday that the capsized boat had set sail from Egypt. News of the disaster emerged on the first anniversary of one of the worst

disasters in the Mediterranean in recent times, when an estimated 800 migrants drowned off the Libyan coast after the fishing boat they were sailing in collided with a mercantile vessel that had been attempting to rescue them. Some 150,000 migrants reached Italy by boat in 2015, the vast majority sailing from Libya. So far this year, about 25,000 migrants have arrived, an increase of 4.7 percent over the same period last year, according to Interior Ministry data.

T H I S D AY THURSDAY APRIL 21, 2016

THURSDAY APRIL 21, 2016 • T H I S D AY

NEWSEXTRA

2.4mbpd Oil Production Not Enough to Sustain Nigeria’s Economy, Says NAEE Chineme Okafor in Abuja The Nigerian Association of Energy Economics (NAEE) which is an affiliate of the International Association of Energy Economics (IAEE) yesterday said Nigeria’s currently fluctuating oil production level of 2.4 million barrels per day (mbpd) may not be enough to

guarantee any sustainable economic development for the country. The NAEE also asked the federal government to take advantage of the opening that the current dip in prices of crude oil in the international market presents to deregulate the country’s downstream oil sector as well as effectively diversify Nigeria’s

Ex-Council Chair Arraigned for Murder in Rivers Police arraign 37 for electoral offences Ernest Chinwo in Port Harcourt A Magistrate Court in Port Harcourt yesterday ordered that the former Caretaker Committee Chairman of Asari-Toru Local Government Council, Ojukaye Flag-Amachree, be remanded in prison over the alleged killing of one Smart Soberekon. Flag-Amachree was docked with a two count charge of murder of one Smart Soberokon in Buguma in Asari-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State by the police. Chief Magistrate I.OAgbeso, gave the order after taking arguments from the counsel. Counsel to Amachree, Ken Atswuete, had argued that the court does not have the jurisdiction to try the matter the accused is being charged with. Atsuweteaskedthecourttostrike-out the matter and refer the matter to a higher court. Theprosecutionaskedthecourtthat the accused person be remanded in Police custody until investigationsare concluded. TheChiefMagistrate,Agbeso,however adjourned ruling on the application of KenAtswuete till Friday. Tubotamuno Dick, who is the lawyer representing the deceased Soberekon, told journalists that he was satisfied with the decision of the court. Atswuete on his part faulted the decision of court to remand his

client in prison. “We frown at the decision of the court to remand my client in prison custody and we are going to take the appropriate legal steps to state our grievance on that. But nevertheless, we will await the full decision of the court tomorrow,” he said. The Rivers State Judiciary complex was fortified with security during the court session. Meanwhile, the state police command has said it has charged 37 persons to court for alleged electoral offences during the March 19 rerun state and national assembly elections in the state. The state Police Public Relations Officer(PPRO),AhmadMuhammad (DSP), said in a statement issued in Port Harcourt yesterday that the arraignment was contrary to rumours making the rounds that all suspects arrested by the police during the election had been released. Muhammad said: “To put the records straight, it is pertinent to state that 37 suspects comprising 35 males and two females were arrested from different parts of the state on the allegations of criminal or electoral offences or both. All suspects have been arraigned before magistrate courts 4 and 6, Port Harcourt on different days. In essence, none of the suspects was allowed to go free. The Command is presently in consultation with relevant agencies so as to diligently prosecute the cases that will ultimately lead to conviction of the suspects.”

PDP Moves to Resolve Disagreement on Zoning

Reschedules congresses Onyebuchi Ezigbo inAbuja The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has directed its committee on zoning of party national offices headed by Governor Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom State to put in more effort to arrive at an acceptable zoning format. Earlier, reports about the proposed zoning arrangement indicated that the committee had zoned the chairmanship position to the north along with the presidency which many party stakeholders especially from the south kicked against. To this end, the zoning committee of the party yesterday scheduled another meeting next week in an Uyo in attempt to resolve the crisis generally by the zoning arrangement it propsed.

The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh, who disclosed this yesterday however, said no date had been fixed for the meeting. He said the governors and National Assembly members were in consultations to ensure that the committee arrives at a zoning arrangement that will be acceptable and beneficial to all the six geopolitical zones. Meanwhile, the party has also shifted this weekend’s ward congress by one week. In a statement signed by Metuh yesterday, he said the ward congress will now hold on April 30 while he local government congress will hold on May 5. The date for the national convention still remains May 21.

economy horizontally. The president and chairman of NAEE governing council, Prof. Wumi Iledare, said this when he briefed journalists in Abuja on the programmes of the association’s forthcoming international conference. He stated that the conference will specifically concentrate on the roles that natural gas and renewable energy can play in energising the economies of developing countries like Nigeria. NAEE’s assertion is coming at a time Nigeria gave up her top oil producer status in Africa to Angola, having lost some production quantities lately. Latest data from the April Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) showed that Nigeria’s crude oil production fell by 67,000 barrels per day (bpd) in March from 1.744 million bpd 1.677mbpd, while Angola saw its oil output rise to 1.782mbpd within the same period. Iledare however said: “2.4 million barrels per day of crude oil production is not enough to take this economy to where the

government plans it to be.” He added that the situation hadbecome more complex and difficult for the country with the current drop in crude oil prices, and that the country had shown less concern about using her oil resources to develop her economic capacities. Iledare further stated on the impacts of the price drops to Nigeria and what it should be doing now: “Permit me to use this opportunity to reiterate some perspectives that we have offered or shared severally in the past, on the declining trend in crude oil prices and its implications on the economy of Nigeria. “Low oil prices should be viewed as an opportunity to diversify the economy of Nigeria and to do away with the ‘Gorilla’ called petroleum subsidy. “Also in our opinion, low oil prices offers Nigeria an opportunity to cut wastage in spending; set aside fiscal irresponsibility; reduce overdependence on oil; and get rid of bloated governance spending expenses,” he added. According to him: “With requisite political will, Nigeria needs to take advantage of the low global oil price

regime to allow the pump price of petrol in the Nigerian petroleum products market determine the prevailing market clearing price, or adopts petroleum products export parity pricing mechanism to set its price. He said: “This may facilitate bidding farewell to petroleum subsidies permanently in Nigeria, while offering a unique opportunity to deregulate the downstream oil and natural gas markets.” Iledare also picked holes at the current institutional governance structure of the country’s petroleum sector, saying it is amorphous, weak and confusing. “Over the years, the policy, regulatory and commercial institutions are indistinguishable and the delineation of roles remains elusive. The way forward is simple: agencies and parastatals responsible for the governance of resource sectors need to be autonomous and independent, with adequate funding for operations. “There should be an independent evolution of the sectors by legislations and its staff to facilitate efficiency, effectiveness and pragmatic guidelines. It is

welcome news that a governance institutional bill for the petroleum industry is in the offing at the eighth National Assembly,” he explained. While calling on the government and ruling class to make decisions that will be beneficial to the generations of Nigerians that will come after the current generation, Iledare said: “Finally, it should be borne in mind that petroleum resources are exhaustible. A barrel of oil equivalent produced now is no longer available for future generations. “It is therefore imperative for government to establish a foundation account or fund for the development of non-exhaustible projects including human capacity and infrastructure development. Finite resources such as petroleum come with generational issues and as such there is the need for accountability and transparency at all levels of government. “Energy by global consensus, is the bedrock for economic development of any nation. Thus, it is foolhardy to perpetually develop oil and gas resources primarily for cash or revenue rather than for energy to energise the economy,” he noted.

WAY FORWARD FOR THE YOUTHS

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh (middle); flanked by the Acting Managing Director, Bank of Industry (BoI), Mr. Waheed Olagunju (right); and Divisional Head, Large Enterprise, Mr. Joseph Babatunde, during a meeting between the minister and the bank in Abuja.....yesterday

SGF Inaugurates Reconstituted C’ttee on National Honours Jaiyeola Andrews in Abuja The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Babachir David Lawal, has inaugurated the newly reconstituted Committee on National Honours Award. At the inauguration held in his office, the SGF reminded members of the committee that the national award has two purposes, which are to recognise and honour citizens and friends of Nigeria who had distinguished themselves in their various endeavours and contributed immensely to the development of the nation.

Also, he said the recognition was intended to serve as motivation for all Nigerians to emulate the exemplary conduct and services of those being honoured and inspire them for such national recognition. Lawal reiterated that for the national award to retain the prestige that it is accorded, recipients who conduct themselvesinanydishonorablemanner wouldbestrippedofthenationalhonour. This, he added would be consistent with the stand of the present administration against all forms of corruption. He assured that the combined investiture ceremony for the 2015

and 2016 National Honours Award would be held this year. The Chairman of the newly inaugurated committee, former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Alfa Belgore, expressed the appreciation of all members of the committee for the honour of appointing them and pledged that the committee would not disappoint the nation. According to him, Nigeria is a great country and bestowing honour on any Nigerian in any grade must be acknowledged as a great national achievement. Belgore promised that the committee would strive at all times

to select the best for the national honours. Membership of the reconstituted committee included Justice Mohammed Alfa Belgore (rtd) (chairman), Justice Umaru Kalgo (rtd) (member), Justice Isaac Aluyi (rtd) member. Other members are Mrs. Bola Ogunriade, Nnema Josephine Ndukwu, Amb. Usman Gaji Galtimari, Chief Bassey Edem, Mr. Gabriel Afu, Amb. Nonye Udo, Mr. M. F. Abikoye, Mr. Y. M. Bichi, Mrs. Rasheedat Okoduwa, Mr. James A. Ibidapo, and Mr. Gabriel Loto who is the secretary.

THURSDAY APRIL 21, 2016 • T H I S D AY

NEWSEXTRA

House Summons FCT Minister for Breach of Revenue Collection Laws C’ttee invites Kachikwu over NNPC’s non-compliance with tax returns To probe misappropriation of pension funds by PTAD

Damilola Oyedele in Abuja The House of Representatives has summoned the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr. Muhammed Bello, over the breach of revenue collection laws of the FCT. The minister, the House at plenary yesterday noted, had signed an agreement with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to collect taxes on behalf of the FCT, despite the Act authorising the establishment of the Inland Revenue service to collect all forms of taxes

and levies for the FCT. Hon. Abdulrazak Namdas (Adamawa APC) in a motion sponsored as a matter of urgent public importance, recalled that the National Assembly passed the bill to establish the service during the sixth assembly. The bill received the assent of then President Goodluck Jonathan in February 2015. Namdas urged the House to mandate the minister to explain why he will not reverse the agreement with the FIRS, which is a clear breach of the law.

...To Investigate N18bn Police Funds for Insecurity, Recruitment Damilola Oyedele in Abuja The House of Representatives yesterday mandated its Committee on Police Affairs to investigate the utilisation of N10 billion released to the police to tackle insecurity, and another N8 billion released for the recruitment exercise of 10,000 personnel. The federal government needs to upgrade dilapidated police training colleges ahead of the planned recruitment of 10,000 personnel. The resolution of the House followed a motion sponsored as a matter of urgent public importance by Hon. Johnbull Shekarau (Plateau PDP) who lamented that crime remained on the increase in the country. This, he noted is despite

The minister is expected to appear before the Committees on FCT and Finance. Arguing in favour of the motion, Hon. Oluwole Oke (Osun PDP) said the status of the FCT as equivalent to a state is not in doubt. He therefore queried why the minister would not take advantage of the FCT inland revenue service to bring in more tax payers into the net. Presiding, the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, said the allegation is a serious one against the minister. “As members of the parliament, it is our responsibility to make sure the Executive operates within the law,” Dogara said. Meanwhile the House ad hoc

committee investigating accounting procedures of the FIRS has invited the Minister of State for petroleum, Mr. Ibe Kachikwu, over non compliance with the issue of tax returns by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). The Chairman of the committee, Hon. Michael Eyong Okon, at the continuation of the public hearing yesterday said the minister is expected to appear next week. The decision was taken after the Chairman of the FIRS, Mr. Babatunde Fowler, told the committee that oil trading businesses have not been remitting taxes in over a decade. He however explained that non compliance by the NNPC is due to ongoing audit exercises which

are yet to be resolved. The Deputy Superintendent of Customs, Mr. DB Oruagu, told the committee that the service acted on a presidential directive granting import tax waivers on petroleum products. He made this clarification in response to questions from the committee as to whether the indiscriminate granting of waivers can be partially blamed for the cash crunch being experienced in the country. “Based on the mandate given to customs to scrutinise all import making entries into Nigeria, and as far as customs is concerned, all petroleum products imported into this country is duty free. We do not have authorisation to collect

duty on them,”,he said. Meanwhile, the House also at plenary mandated its Committee on Pension to investigate the activities of the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD). The management of the PTAD is currently embroiled in a scandal bordering on misappropriation of pension funds, abuse of office, non payment of 33 per cent harmonised arrears, under payment/non payment of monthly pensions, unjustified salaries and allowances of staff. The House resolution followed a motion sponsored by Hon. Sergius Ogun (Edo PDP) who also called for the audit of pension offices existing before the Pension Reform Act, 2014.

claims by the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, that equipment which include surveillance cameras have been purchased and deployed across the country to check kidnapping and other violent crimes. He also noted that the despite the high publicity surrounding the 10,000 personnel recruitment exercise of the police, the training schools where the trainees would receive training, remain in a worrisome state. “The Police Training Colleges are still dilapidated and infested with rodents...the Police Service Commission whose jurisdiction it is to organise the recruitment have commenced the processes without corresponding preparations by the Nigeria Police Force,” Shekarau said.

We Have Capacity for 20m Data Subscribers, Says Glo Ghana The newly upgraded Glo Mobile Ghana network has the capacity to adequately accommodate 20 million data subscribers, said the new Head of Business of the company, Mr. Augustine Mamuro. According to him, the company had undertaken numerous network improvement projects designed to significantly enhance the network experience of its subscribers. Glo Mobile subscribers are promised an unmatched experience in terms of speed of download as Glo Mobile High Speed Packet Access Plus (HSPA+) network has been upgraded to make download speed much better than what it used to be. According to Mamuro, “We have in recent time been able to achieve a lot of improvements and built up capacity to accommodate over 20 million data subscribers on our network. Data is the future of telecoms and any focus in this regard will always serve the best interest of our subscribers.” Mamuro explained that Glo Mobile was well positioned to deliver excellent data services to its numerous subscribers in Ghana because of its robust backbone infrastructure which includes the 2.4 terabyte Glo-1 Submarine cable linking key West Africa countries to Europe with dedicated extension to the United States of America. “Several months ago, we began the process of overhaul, which

involves both the upgrade of all software, hardware and core network infrastructure. This will push up the data download speed from the current 7.2mbps up to 21mbps, which will also go up to 42mbps very soon. In layman language, this will enable our subscribers download songs within the twinking of the eye and movies in minutes.” The upgrade of the software has been completed while the hardware upgrade is nearing completion, he disclosed. Mamuro described this as a “giant leap into a totally new experience for our subscribers. Since data and internet are the future of telecoms, we have decided to always be a notch higher in terms of the reliability and speed of our services”. He disclosed that this shift, which is heavily backed by ample dedicated bandwidth infrastructure from Glo-1, will set new parameters in data user experience across the country and ensure that subscribers get excellent data speed and value for money. Mamuro said the network experience would eliminate buffering and empower Glo subscribers to enjoy smooth and super fast internet services on any data enabled devices. Glo Mobile recently launched four major products for the pleasure of the good people of Ghana.

THANKS FOR COMING

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike (right), presenting souvenir to the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on the Army, Hon. Rimamde Shawulu Kwewum, during the visit by the committee to the state on a fact finding mission on the killing of Ogoni people by the Army....yesterday

Kwara APC Tackles Oyegun over Comment on Saraki Hammed Shittu in Ilorin The Kwara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday replied the National Chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie Oyegun, over his comments on the ongoing trial of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT). In a statement issued by the APC in the state, signed by its Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Sulyman Buhari, the party condemned Oyegun’s stance on Saraki’s trial. The statement said it was rather “unfortunate that when Oyegun had opportunity to speak for the APC, he chose to speak for a cabal.” The statement read in part: “Having waited endlessly for Mr Chairman to deny comments credited to him that our party is ready to sacrifice Saraki and his office, it is necessary to make the underlisted observations and

declarations. “To be mild, the outburst of the chairman is unfortunate, shocking and regrettable. “If anyone is still in doubt about the propriety of our expressed opinion that the travails of the senate president was orchestrated by some forces within the APC, recent outbursts by Mr. Chairman have cleared such doubts. “When Mr. Chairman is expected to stand forthright and firm to protest the political persecution of his party member and leader of a critical arm of government, he portrays the image of an uncaring leader. “Obviously, those reckless outbursts were either the Chairman’s personal views or the agenda of the cabal he belongs. However, irrespective of what he says, the Chairman and his cabal can not play God on the fate of the senate president. “Even though it is needless

to remind chairman the unquantifiable contributions of the Senate President in the transformation of the APC from an opposition party to a ruling party, it is shocking and beyond imagination that a party chairman who is supposed to be father to all party members could make such reckless and divisive comments. “Therefore, we were right when

we raised the alarm that desperate politicians have hijacked the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT.” The party however declared, “We hereby restate our unconditional loyalty to the senate president. “We are proud of the senate president. We shall continue to stand by him. We shall continue to solidarise with him.”

Purbeni Hosts Hussey College Old Students Hussey College Warri Old Students Association (HCWOSA), Lagos branch will hold its monthly meeting on Sunday, April 24, 2016 at No.20, Wole Olateru Crescent, Lekki Phase-1, Lekki Pennisula. According to a statement signed by the Secretary of the association, Mr. Emmanuel Mok, the meeting

to be hosted by Rear Admiral Festus Porbeni (rtd), former Chief of Defence Administration and one-time Minister of Transport, will deliberate on the school’s 69th anniversary dinner/awards nights slated for Saturday, June 11, 2016 as well as ongoing HCWOSA projects in the institution.

THURSDAY APRIL 21, 2016 • T H I S D AY

NEWSEXTRA

Sharia Council Scribe: Shiites Pose Greater Threat than Boko Haram John Shiklam in Kaduna The Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Sharia in Nigeria (SCSN), Mallam Nafiu Baba Ahmed, has said the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), also known as Shiite poses greater danger to Nigeria than the Boko Haram terrorists. Ahmed stated this while testifying before the judicial commission of inquiry set up by the Kaduna State Government to investigate the December 12-14, 2015, clashes between the Nigerian Army and the Shiites in Zaria. He said the failure of the government to deal decisively with the alleged excesses of the Shi’ites may be catastrophic for the country. Ahmed also revealed that the late leader of Boko Haram, Mohammed Yusuf, had some relationship with the Shi’ites prior to forming his own group, adding that both Mohammed and the Shiite leader, Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky had similar attitudes in holding onto their respective doctrines which, according to him, are contrary to Islamic principles. He alleged that the Shi’ites had recently started adopting the Boko Haram strategy of intimidation and elimination of Ulamas who were opposed to their doctrines, saying that many have refrained from testifying before the commission for fear of the unknown. Ahmed, who lamented the initial government handling of Boko Haram, noted that small fires become huge conflagrations if not tackled in an effective and timely manner, urging the government to learn from its experience with Boko Haram by dealing decisively with the Shi’ites. “Failure to act will spell

catastrophe for Nigeria,” he added. The SCSN scribe also emphasised the need for the society to be involved in checkmating the Shi’ites, pointing out that government decisions are usually dictated by “political expediency” which may not always reflect the best interest of the people. According to him, the Shiite leader was attending Kaduna State Government Security Council meetings during the administration of former Governor Ahmed Makarfi because the former governor regarded El-Zakzaky’s participation as politically expedient due to his large followership. He attributed the alleged disregard for constituted authorities by the Shi’ites to the policy of “appeasement and complicity” adopted towards them by successive administrations in Kaduna State with the exception of Col. Hameed Ali (rtd) who, according to him, did not condone their activities. Ahmed further attributed the Zaria clash to “divine retribution” against the Shi’ites for their alleged blasphemous utterances, especially their insults on the companions of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Also in his testimony before the commission headed by Justice Muhammed Lawal Garba, Prof. Isa Mohammed Maishanu of the Usumanu Danfodio University Sokoto (UDUS) said the Shiite have a penchant for violence as their trade mark. According to him, the series of violent clashes between the Shi’ites and the majority mainstream Muslim population in Sokoto State was as a result of the group’s penchant for provoking

Mantu: Jonathan, PDP Lost Because North was Short-changed Bassey Inyang in Calabar Former Deputy Senate President, Alhaji Ibrahim Mantu, has stated that President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lost the 2015 presidential election because the north was short-changed. Aside from the alleged shortchanging of the north, Mantu said the culture of impunity which became the hallmark of the PDP in nominating candidates for elective positions in 2015 contributed immensely to their defeat at the polls. The former chairman of the National Reconciliation Committee of the PDP stated this while explaining the reason the party zoned it presidential ticket for the 2019 general election to the north. Speaking with journalists in Calabar on Tuesday night, the former deputy senate president said: “Like I keep on saying, PDP defeated PDP. Our people voted against PDP because of the impunity demonstrated by the PDP. People said look, you can force me in your primaries to impose people, but you cannot force me on voting. I will go and vote whoever I like. That is what happened. So, what you are saying

does not have a place at all. the truth is that the entire north felt short-changed because Jonathan took their slot.” Mantu said having served out the remaining years of former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua who died in office and a fresh four years mandate, Jonathan was expected by the north to have stepped aside for a northern candidate. Mantu said rather than the PDP fielding a candidate from the north, some members of the party who considered themselves to be too powerful imposed him on the party as its presidential candidate, a development he explained seriously angered the people of the north who voted against the PDP. He explained that the decision of the PDP to zone the presidential ticket to the north was not too early, but a demonstration of the fact that the party has seen reasons to correct the mistake it made in 2015. However, the former deputy senate president said the PDP has realised its mistake, hence the zoning of the presidential ticket to the north. Mantu said once the PDP gets its acts right, Nigerians whom he described as very forgiving, would give them the opportunity to lead the country again.

the sensitivities of the people in the seat of the Caliphate. He said based on the activities of the Shiite, it was obvious that they are not interested in peaceful

coexistence. Maishanu suggested the provision of separate institutions for the Shiite and other Muslims as practiced in Pakistan which also

has a high population of Shi’ites amidst other Muslims. He however urged that the “door for dialogue” should not be shut against the Shiite members

since they are Nigerians and have nowhere else to go as long as they are ready to avoid provocative attitude and respect the laws of the land.

AVIATION ROUNDTABLE

L-R: Regional Vice -President , Africa and Middle East, International Air Transport Association (IATA), Mr. Hussein Dabbas; Chief Executive Officer, Harold Demuren Consulting , Dr. Haroid Demuren; Director General, and Chief Executive Officer, Iata , Antony Tyler; and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo during a courtesy call on the vice-president by IATA executives at the Presidential Villa in Abuja...yesterday

APC Fails to Resolve Crisis in Bayelsa Chapter Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja The crisis rocking the Bayelsa State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has continued despite efforts to broker peace by the party’s national Chairman, Chief John Odigie Oyegun. Oyegun met with two warring factions in state along with their political leaders, former governor of the state, Timipre Sylva and APC deputy spokesperson, Comrade Timi Frank, at a closed door for hours yesterday but could not reach an agreement. Rather the matter took another dimension as ward chairmen in the state took a protest to the national secretariat of the party in Abuja, asking the leadership of the party to correct the alleged manipulation of political appointments by Sylva. The ward chairmen while staging a protest at the APC national secretariat also told Sylva not to retire from politics with all the political appointments meant for the APC members in the state. The protesters who were seen carrying placards with various inscriptions like” “Lokpobiri says APC is Boko Haram,” “Bayelsa APC says in Tiwei we trust,” “Lokpobiri must go,” among others, however, were not allow into the party’s secretariat. While addressing journalists, the APC chairman of the ward chairmen, Jephta Iyekuruwe, said: “We are here for a simple project, which is, we are not

here to fight our leader, APC governorship candidate in Bayelsa State. “Five executive chances were given to APC Bayelsa State in order to strengthen APC, because for now we don’t have a governor to take care of the party and by the special grace of God, Presidency through the national secretariat gave this five executive chances to Bayelsa State, but at the end of the day, our candidate, Sylva cornered all of them, used his own letter headed paper and sent five names without consulting the state executive led by Chief Timipa Tiwe. “So based on that, as ward chairmen of Bayelsa State APC, we have laboured from inception of the APC, we were tagged the Boko Haram party and supporters of Boko Haram party by some of the PDP people because the then President of Nigeria was from Bayelsa. “We were told that our candidate, Sylva said he is retiring from politics. If he is retiring from politics, he shouldn’t retired with our five chances, because we want to use this five chances to strengthen APC Bayelsa State to take us to the promise land of Bayelsa State.” Iyekuruwe, however, debunked the insinuations that Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, was sponsoring the crisis, saying, “there is nothing like Dickson sponsoring APC. I have rightly explained that five chances are given to the party and we don’t have a governor, nobody, care of the party.”

Court Awards N5m Fine against DSS for Akanni’s Detention Olakiitan Victor in Ado Ekiti

of Nigeria, as specified by the principles of the Rule of Law and The Federal High Court, Ado-Ekiti the African Charter on the Rights Division, yesterday declared the of Individuals, had been violated arrest and detention of a member by the DSS in illegally arresting of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, and continually detaining him Hon Afolabi Akanni for 18 days for 18 days.” The court also granted three out by Department of Sate Services (DSS) for undisclosed reasons as of the four reliefs sought by the illegal and flagrant violation of the applicant’s counsel which include : “whether the applicant’s unlawful 1999 constitution. To this end, the court ordered the arrest and detention is justified, DSS to pay a fine of N5 million to whether the said intimidation, the lawmaker for what it described torture and continued detention was as: “illegal arrest and continued not a violation of his fundamental detention for 18 harrowing, human rights and a violation of excruciating and brain cudgelling the Rule of Law, and whether days, without access to his lawyers the applicant’s is not entitled to damages. and family.” The counsel to the plaintiff, Akanni, representing Efon constituency, was on March 4, apologised for Akanni’s physical arrested within the premises of the absence and explained to the Ekiti State House of Assembly and presiding judge that the lawmaker whisked to Abuja by men of the was still in hospital outside the DSS, where he was detained for 18 state receiving treatment. Responding to the judgment, days before being let off the hook. Akanni’s lawyer, Obafemi Akanni’s counsel, Adewale, Adewale , had on March 11, described it as a courageous through an ex parte motion demonstration of the willingness sought for the enforcement of and readiness of the judiciary the fundamental human rights of to protect the sanctity of the guaranteed the detained lawmaker, adding that constitutionally the lawmaker should be brought fundamental rights of the citizens before the court to face trial instead. of this country. “This is not about Akanni, it is Delivering his judgement, Justice Taiwo Taiwo, noted that not about the Ekiti State House the Respondent, DSS, had all along of Assembly, and it is not about failed to either deny or defend the Governor Fayose. It is about the position, as well as the facts and ordinary man on the streets who allegations of the applicant, adding has this right but who is now facing that in the eyes of the law: “There is an apparent trend all over the no basis for the court to believe that federation of a gradual return to all that the applicant had alleged the days of impunity when security agencies trample relentlessly on against the DSS were not true.” It added further: “Akanni’s the rights of the citizens of this fundamental rights as a citizen country under various guises.”

THURSDAY APRIL 21, 2016 • T H I S D AY

CRIME&PUNISHMENT

Enugu Records 472 Rape Cases in Two Years as Father Defiles Three Children Christopher Isiguzo inEnugu No fewer than 471 cases of rape, defilement, sexual assaults as well as domestic violence have been recorded in Enugu State in the past 24 months, with cases involving

minors between the ages of eight months and 18 years accounting for 60 per cent of the cases. Of the number, the three councils within the metropolis, Enugu East, Enugu South and Enugu North witnessed 349 cases, while the

11 Fishermen Re-arraigned for

Vandalism

Eleven Fishermen yesterday re-appeared before a Federal High Court in Lagos for pipeline vandalism. The accused are: Sidi Egbayelo, 31, Sunday Shadrach, 41; Edem Okon, 32; Godwin Kofa, 30; Rosemon Neito, 32; Ejona Kpamkpam, 25; and Moses Victor, 30. Others are: Chris Sunday, 31; Peter Gay, 23; Remo Uchugwu, 25; and Mike Sabato, 31. They are standing trial on a four-count charge of conspiracy, vandalism, stealing, and unlawful possession of petroleum products. The accused were first arraigned on February 7, 2013 before Justice Musa Kurya and they had all pleaded not guilty to the charges. Justice Kurya had granted them bail in the sum of N2 million each with two sureties each in like sum. The court had then commenced trial of the accused. However, the accused were yesterday re-arraigned before a new judge, Justice Rabiu Shagari, following the transfer of Kurya from the Lagos division of the court.

They again, each pleaded not guilty to the charge. Justice Shagari in his ruling on their bail application, allowed the accused to continue with the earlier bail granted by Kurya. He subsequently adjourned the case to June 13 and June 14 for trial. In the charge, the accused were said to have committed the offences on December 21, 2012. The prosecutor, Mr. Justin Enang, said the accused were apprehended at 1.00 a.m. on the day at Atlas Cove in Lagos, where they allegedly engaged in unlawful extraction of petrol. According to Enang, about 220 drums of petrol were recovered from the accused, who allegedly obtained the product from a vandalised pipeline for illegal sale. He said that the product is valued at N5.3 million. The offences contravened the provisions of Sections 390 and 516 of the Criminal Code Act, 2004. It also contravened the provisions of Section 7(a), (b) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act, 2004

Navy Arrests 221 Suspects, 27 Vessels, Recovers 150,000 Litres of Stolen Petrol Chiemelie Ezeobi The Western Naval Command of the Nigerian Navy (NN) yesterday said it arrested 221 persons, 25 vessels and boats and recovered 150,000 litres of stolen petrol over the course of seven months. While the ships arrested by the command were of various makes and sizes, the 221 suspects were arrested for various offences including pipeline vandalism, piracy and illegal bunkering of petroleum products. The former Flag Officer Commanding, Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Raphael Osondu, made this disclosure yesterday at the handing over ceremony of the command. Speaking at the parade organised on his behalf in Lagos, Osondu, while giving account of his seven months stewardship at the command, said the achievements were fuelled by the vision of the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ette Ibas. He said: “In September 16, 2015, I was given this chance to serve as the FOC Western Naval Command and I decided it would be a shame to waste it on anything less than my best. “Within the past seven months, the command worked hard to meet the requirements of the

CNS Strategic Directive 2015-1 by discharging NN roles in its Area of Responsibility in line with global best practices. “To this extent, the command carefully analysed the prevailing contemporary security situation in the country and came up with robust policing duties and sustained internal security operations. “Also, prudent use of resources as well as improved welfare programmes. Other proactive measures included training and development of manpower and engraved cooperative engagements with relevant agencies. “In demonstration of its robust policing duties, the command arrested a number of vessels for various infractions on our waters. “These operations were greatly enhanced by the provisions of Regional Maritime Awareness Centre (RMAC) and FALCON EYE, two facilities that have reinforced NN’s presence at sea.” Earlier, his successor, Rear Admiral Ferguson Bobai said in his new capacity as the 36th FOC of the command, the navy would continually strive to achieve its core directives. He added: “The navy has a vision mapped out by the CMS, which is having a credible naval force that will ensure security of the maritime domain.”

remaining 14 councils experienced the rest, with Igboeze North experiencing only one rape cases within the period under review. Also, a case of a father (names withheld) who sexually molested his three daughters aged five, seven and nine years was reported to the police. It was gathered that the children in question told the police that their father usually makes loves with the eldest childs, while insisting that the other children face the wall as he fingers. The man is said to be presently detained at the Uwani police station, while efforts are being made to transfer the case to the State Criminal Investigation Department of the state police command. Speaking during a media

roundtable organised by the the Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC), Enugu on the activities of the SARC in the past two years, the Executive Director , Dr. Joy Ezeilo, said the agency which is a joint initiative of Women’s Aid Collective in collaboration with the Enugu State Government had made startling discoveries since its formation two years ago. She noted that the centre remained committed to providing high quality and confidential medical counselling and other support services for victims/survivors of sexual violence. While expressing sadness over the increasing cases of sexual assaults in the society, Ezeilo noted that from the statistics at their disposal, most of the victims

were raped by one perpetrator, while some were victims of gang rape. The breakdown showed that 375 victims were raped by one perpetrator, 89 were gang-raped by two or more, while seven victims could not remember the number of perpetrators that raped them. According to her, the outcome of such rapes showed that 15 victims became pregnant, two victims tested positive to HIV as a result of the rape because of their inability to have access to the post exposure prophylaxis, while other victims contacted sexually transmitted diseases. She noted that the SARC also discovered that out of the 472 cases treated, 354 persons knew their perpetrators while 118 did not.

Of the number, 52 perpetrators are family members. The Executive Director further disclosed that in the past two years, only one rale case was successfully prosecuted as the person was sentenced to 14 years in prison while five cases were discharged. Also, seven cases are presently at the prosecution stage, with 24 other cases awaiting trial. While identifying lack of funds to effectively prosecute the cases as a major challenge to the centre, Ezeilo also frowned at the continued reluctance of victims and family members to report rape. She therefore appealed to the state government to make funds available to the centre in order to checkmate incidences of rape and sexual violence.

NO WHERE TO HIDE

The two alleged fraudsters, Rilwanu Jamiu and Balogun Stanley Oyewole, arraigned by the Department of State Security (DSS) for cloning the mobile number of the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, at the Isolo Chief Magistrate Court in Lagos...yesterday

DSS Arraigns Two Artisans for Cloning Ambode’s Phone Number The Department of State Security (DSS)yesterdayarraigned two artisans before an Isolo Magistrate Court for allegedly cloning the mobile line of Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode. The suspects - Rilwanu Jamiu and Balogun Stanley Oyewole who claimed to be a cocoa dealer, were said to have attempted to perfect a N50 million transfer with the said mobile line. Prosecuting counsel from the DSS, Mr. Peter Okerinmodun, told Chief Magistrate Adeola Adedayo that the suspects were arrested after using the cloned mobile line of the governor to send a text message to the Accountant General of the State requesting for transfer of N50 million. He said the suspects conspired with others now at large to commit the crime on February 10, 2016. After the charges were read to the accused persons, they pleaded not guilty, while the prosecutor asked that they should be kept in protective custody pending the outcome of the legal advice of the Directorate

of Public Prosecution (DPP) in view of the fact that their lives could be endangered by other suspects who are on the run. But MagistrateAdedayo overruled Okerinmodun, saying the DSS ought to have kept them in custody judging by the fact that their lives could be in danger. She said since the offence for which the accused persons were charged was bailable and the fact that the Magistrate Court is a court of summary trial, she was inclined to grant bail to the accused persons. She, therefore, admitted them to bail in the sum of N1 million each and two sureties in like sum. Adedayoruledthatoneofthesureties mustbeareligiousorcommunityleader within the jurisdiction of the court, and that the accused persons must provide five years tax clearance certificates. She further ordered the accused persons to be remanded in Kirikiri Prison pending the perfection of the conditions attached to their bail, and adjourned the matter to May 10, 2016.

Police Dismiss Two Cops for Alleged Armed Robbery in Lagos Chiemelie Ezeobi The Lagos State Police Command has dismissed two ‘rogue’ cops for their alleged involvement in armed robbery, just as it paraded 15 other robbers and rapists arrested in different operations across the state. The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, who made this disclosure, said the command would continue to synergise with other security agencies to ensure that the state is safe for businesses to thrive. In a media parley to highlight the anti-crime exploits made by the command in the last few days, Owoseni said the policemen arrested for armed robbery have been handed over to the Ogun State Police Command. The ‘ex-policemen’ had recently allegedly trailed a heavy duty vehicle fully loaded with vehicle spare parts and carted away the goods worth N50million which they sold for N30million.

The commissioner said: “We did not deny the story. It was all over the media. Some bad fellows committed a crime and it is the stand of the Inspector General of Police (IG) that all bad eggs in the force be exposed and made to face the law like other ordinary criminals. “We arrested them and those who are on the run would be followed. Exhibits have been recovered. The crime was committed in Ogun State police command and we have handed the ex-policemen to that command to prosecute them in the court of law. “In the same vein, I want to state that we have not covered anyone of them. They would be tried in the court of law. The Nigeria Police would not spare those who are not worthy of wearing the police uniform.” Meanwhile, the command also arrested 15 other suspected armed robbers, cultists and rapists and were all paraded before journalists.

THURSDAY APRIL 21, 2016 T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY • THURSDAY APRIL 21, 2016

THURSDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor Duro Ikhazuagbe Email duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com

CA F C H A M P I O N S L E AG U E

Enyimba Survives Etoile in Shootout to Reach Group Stage Duro Ikhazuagbe with agency report Despite going down 3-0 to Etoile du Sahel last night in Sousse, Tunisia, Nigeria’s last team standing in continental campaign this year, Enyimba FC survived a nail-biting penalty shoot out to qualify 4-3 for the money spinning group stage of the CAF Champions League. In the second leg of the second round qualifying game at the Olympic Stadium in Sousse with over 20,000 fans rooting for the home team, Etoile canceled out Enyimba’s 3-0 advantage to end regulation time at 3-3 aggregate to drag the game into shoot-out. However, in the penalties, Enyimba triumphed 4-3 after the pennities went into sudden death. Enyimba’s goalkeeper, Theophilous Afelokhai was the hero of the match for the number of saves he chalked up to earn the People’s Elephant the ticket to the group stage. The shootout was a repeat of 12 years ago when Enyimba retained the Champions League by edging past the Tunisians on penalties after aggregate scores stood at 3-3. Enyimba defended

resolutely going into the return leg inside a packed stadium, but they offered very little going forward. The seven-time Nigeria champions held out until the 42nd minute, when a well-taken free kick by Hamza Lahmar flew over the defensive wall and beyond the impressive Afelokhai. Etoile continued to take the game to Enyimba after the interval and they were rewarded in the 62nd minute, when the Brazilian Diego Acosta headed home from close range. The Tunisia league leaders then completed a remarkable comeback on 71 minutes, when Acosta finished off another attack with a low shot from inside the box which beat Afelokhai hollow. The game therefore had to be decided on penalties and after Enyimba lost their first two kicks with substitute goalkeeper Jebali saving, Afelokhai then pulled off the saves that gave them hope to fight back and win 4-3 on penalties in sudden death. Etoile will now drop down to feature in the second-tier Confederation Cup, which they won last year.

I N T E R N AT I O N A L F R I E N D L I E S

Elsewhere on the night, TP Mazembe’s reign as kings of African club football ended

after they were eliminated by Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca. Mazembe, the Champions

League winners in 2015, were held to a 1-1 draw in Lubumbashi by Wydad in the return leg of

their cup tie, a result which saw the DR Congo giants suffer a 3-1 aggregate defeat overall.

Enyimba celebrating a previous win in the CAF Champions League

Super Eagles to Play Mali, Iwobi: Kanu’s Advice Helping Me at Arsenal Luxembourg in Europe Nigeria and Arsenal youngster the current English Premier at Arsenal, I did look up to him a player like him is crazy and Ahead of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers starting in October, the Super Eagles have been scheduled to play Mali and the national team of Luxembourg in two international friendly matches in Europe in the next FIFA window. The three-time African champions will take on Mali, ranked four places above them at 63, at the Stade Robert Diochon in Rouen, France on Friday, May 27, 2016. Mali finished as runner-up at the Africa Cup of Nations in 1972, and took bronze medals at the finals in 2012 and 2013. The Eagles of Mali have already qualified for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations finals, having garnered 10 points from their first four matches of the qualification series, in a Group C that also has Equatorial Guinea, Benin Republic and South Sudan. Nigeria Football Federation’s

FIFA Match Agent, Jairo Pachon, confirmed yesterday that the Super Eagles would then play Luxembourg in Luxembourg on Wednesday, June 1, 2016, at a venue to be finalised in a few days time. Meanwhile, Eagles’ Assistant Coach, Salisu Yusuf, is to lead the country for two friendlies against Mali and Luxembourg. The Technical Committee of the NFF rose from their meeting yesterday in Abuja and recommended Yusuf to lead the Eagles for the two matches. He will be assisted by two coaches from the Premier League. Yusuf, who recently visited Scotland to understudy the coach of Hearts FC, has been an assistant to Stephen Keshi, Sunday Oliseh and was also involved with the recent arrangement led by caretaker coach Samson Siasia. He has coached Enyimba and Kano Pillars.

Alex Iwobi, has revealed what Gunners legend, Nwankwo Kanu, told him regarding his rapid rise in the Gunners team. Iwobi was quoted by the club’s official website yesterday as saying that the former Nigerian international encouraged him to remain relaxed and keep on working hard. Arsene Wenger’s men started

League on a high, but have seen their title hopes slip away in recent weeks - the 19-year-old , though, has done himself justice with a string of impressive performances. Iwobi has scored two goals, assisting a further two in nine EPL games, having forced his way into the starting eleven in early March. “As a kid, especially playing

(Kanu). He was just a classy player and I have spoken to him a few times as well,”Iwobi told the club’s website. “We have had conversations about Nigeria, about myself and what I need to do. [He says] to just be relaxed and he congratulated me and told me I was doing well. “To hear that (praise) from such

I just have to prove him right. I don’t feel pressure, it is just a privilege to hear that.” Iwobi played 75 minutes as the north London club was held to a frustrating 1-1 draw by Crystal Palace at the Emirates on Sunday. He will be hoping to continue his run in the team when the Gunners host West Bromwich Albion this evening.

ITF Lists Nigeria’s U14 Boys for World Team Cup Qualifiers More rewards are coming to Nigeria’s tennis following the impressive outing of the country at the 2016 ITF/CAT Africa Junior Championship in Pretoria, South Africa as the ITF has listed the country’s Boys’& 14 under team for the World Team Cup African qualifiers. According to an e-mail sent to the Nigeria Tennis Federation (NTF) by the General Manager of the Confederation of African

Tennis (CAT), the qualifiers which is scheduled for June 3 through June 18 at the Clay Court of La Marsa Tunis, Tunisia will see Nigeria jostling alongside Seychelles, Mauritius and host Tunisia for the sole ticket of the main tournament billed for Spain later in the year. South Africa and Kenya are the alternate teams in order of priority. “The listing of our junior teams

is a reflection of the growth that Nigerian tennis has made at the junior level in recent years and we can only get better if all hands are on deck,”NTF President, Sani Ndanusa, said yesterday while appealing to corporate and individual support for tennis in Nigeria. The offer came after the country was listed as Africa’s first alternate ahead of Kenya for the Junior Davis Cup for the Boys’16& under

which was as a result of Nigeria’s best outing in the history of the tournament. South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Cote d’Ivoire, Mauritius and Tunisia are also listed for the qualifiers. Michael Osewa was Nigeria’s star performer at the 11-day tournament where he reached the final, losing the boys’ 14& under title match to Damien Laporte of Seychelles.

Barcelona Frees Neymar for RIO2016, No to Copa America Barcelona has confirmed that Neymar will represent Brazil at the Olympic Games but not the Copa America this summer. A club’s statement last night reads:“FC Barcelona thanks the Brazilian Football Confederation and its President, Marco Polo del Nero, for having accepted

the proposal the club made so that Neymar would only play the Olympic Games that take place between August 3 and 21. “As a result, Neymar Jr will be exempted from playing the Copa America that takes place in United States between June 3 and 26,” observed the

statement from the Catalan giants yesterday. Elsewhere, Akwa United forward, Ubong Ekpai, has continue his quest to make Nigeria’s final squad to the Rio Olympics football event with his proposed move to Israeli club Maccabi Haifa. Ekpai who scored the goal

which sunk Neymar’s Brazil team for the Olympic in a friendly last month believes he has what it takes to make the difference in Samson Siasia’s Dream Team VI. “I will work hard to make the final squad to the Olympics in Brazil,” he declared. However, the former Kano Pillars forward flew out to

Israel at the weekend to tidy the deal with Maccabi Haifa even as Akwa United officials are kicking against the manner the agent of Ekpai is going about the contract. “I will not complete the season with Akwa United because I will soon complete my move to Maccabi Haifa,”Ekpai

insisted even as Akwa United officials said at the weekend no deal has been reached yet. “It has always been my dream to play in Europe. Israel is just the take-off point of my career outside the shores of Nigeria,” concludes Ekpai with reporters before leaving the Olympic camp in Abuja.

T H I S D AY •THURSDAY APRIL 21, 2016

THURSDAYSPORTS

Giwa’s NFF Appoints Dead Referee to Officiate NPFL Game Rejects Dalung’s Reconciliation moves

Duro Ikhazuagbe In a clear case of absurdity, the Chris Giwa group laying claim to the leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) yesterday listed a Nigerian referee who died since January 22, 2016 as one of the arbiters to officiate a Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) this weekend.

The said late referee, Wale Akinsanya passed on during the mandatory FIFA Cooper Test for match officials in Ibadan. In a statement sent to the League Management Company (LMC) and signed by one Yahaya Adama, the late referee was listed to officiate as the centre referee of the clash between Warri Wolves and Giwa FC at the Warri City

Stadium this weekend. The late Ibadan-based referee was listed to be assisted by Tope .O from Osun State and Adeleke M of Oyo State in the game. Earlier yesterday, the Giwa group had rejected the peace move by Sports Minister, Solomon Dalung to end the crisis in the administration of the game in the country by setting

up a reconciliation Committee headed by former NFA President, Ibrahim Galadima. In a statement signed by the group’s self christened Chairman of Chairmen, Effiong Johnson, it urged Nigerians to disregard the action of the minister, as it was to hoodwink football followers. “In the first place, the minister is a party to the case in court as the

fourth defendant and when the court by an Order made on April 8 2016 restored all its previous orders, including the order which nullified and set aside the election which purportedly produced Amaju Pinnick et al. The minister betrayed his partisanship in the dispute by wasting no time to hold brief for the Amaju Pinnick group in his erroneous and flawed public statement that the group was entitled to 30 days to appeal against the ruling of the court. “The minister has thus lost the moral podium to midwife any settlement of the dispute. Secondly, the composition of the membership of the so-called reconciliation committee leaves no one in doubt that it was constituted only for a hatchet job for the Amaju Pinnick group,” he

said. Effiong added: “virtually all members of the committee are associates of the Amaju Pinnick group. For instance, Musa Amadu is not only a co-defendant with the minister in the case but is also the chairman of the Organising & Disciplinary Committee of the Amaju Pinnick group. Barrister Okey Obi has made statements in many fora on behalf of the Amaju Pinnick group and has also appeared in court as counsel to the defendants, while Paul Bassey is known to be an avowed supporter of the Amaju Pinnick group.” Dalung inaugurated the reconciliation committee at the conference room of the National Stadium in Abuja, and charged them with the mandate of restoring peace to the crisis ridden Nigeria Football Federation.

Omoluwa’s Plaudits for Out-going Captain of IBB Golf Club, Abbo

Lobi Stars’ Okpotu (right) is challenged for ball possession during a previous game in the ongoing NPFL season.

Tinubu Commends PwC Chess4change Grand Slam Organisers of the PwC Chess4Change Grand Slam Tournament which commenced in Lagos on Tuesday at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos has been roundly commended for sustaining the tempo of the two-year old competition. Speaking at the event, Special Adviser (Sports) to the Governor of Lagos State, Mr Ayodeji Tinubu, lauded the sponsor for choosing to put their

weight behind a value driven project capable of transforming lives noting that chess has the potential of putting Nigeria on the map of sporting greatness. A partner from PwC, Mr Daniel Isopekhai in his speech, emphasised the values chess teaches, stating further that playing chess forces you to think about your moves and also ensures efficient time management which is important in achieving success in life.

Similarly, Mrs Bisi Joseph, who represented the Lagos State Ministry of Education at the event, opined that playing chess is an effective way of developing mental awareness. Day one of the 3-day tournament concluded with Kings College in the lead after two rounds of play. The Grand Slam Tournament is the climax of the PwC Chess4Change season. The initiative was designed to use the game

of chess to improve strategic thinking and critical reasoning amongst secondary school students in Lagos State. Other personalities in attendance on the opening day include; Director General, Lagos State Sports Commission, Mr Ayo Agbesanwa; Chief Operating Officer, MediaVision Limited (Project Consultants), Mr Jimmy Sogbesan; students, principals and members of the press.

Special Adviser (Sports) to the Governor of Lagos State, Mr.Ayodeji Tinubu, (middle) with students and other officials at the event

Chairman Pinnacle Investments and indeed a member of the Board of Trustees of the IBB Golf and Country Club, Abuja, Sir Lucky Omoluwa, has said that the outgoing Captain of the club, Hamid Abbo, has proved to be a man of honour through his year of service at the foremost golf club in the capital city. Omoluwa, in an interview, also disclosed that Abbo, while he served the club equally proved to be a man of peace as he worked tirelessly to pave way for harmony within the club and also succeeded in ensuring that members relate together as brothers and sisters. “I can also mention to you that Hamid Abbo loves our club with passion” Omoluwa stated. “He is equally a man with great vision. I can remember he embarked on the gigantic effort of dredging our waterways at a point serious erosion was threatening the course. The Chairman of the Board of Trustees, General IBM Haruna (rtd) equally thinks highly of the good work of the captain and his executives. “I wish he will still be lending a hand of support even when not serving as captain. In fact, I believe Abbo will really help the club in near future…most importantly, I believe whoever is coming in as our next captain will equally work hard like Abbo did,’’ observed the retired army general. Abbo will be seen off with a Captain’s Day tourney at the IBB Golf Club on Saturday. Over

300 golfers from across the country will grace the event. A new captain for the club will be elected on Sunday

Omoluwa

T H I S D AY •THURSDAY APRIL 21, 2016

THURSDAYSPORTS

La Liga: Barcelona Hit Deportivo 8-0 to End Losing Run Liverpool, Man Utd win big in Premiership

Barcelona humiliated Deportivo La Coruna to end a three-match losing run. Luis Suarez scored four for the Spanish leaders, with the Uruguay striker bundling in the opener, then tucking in Lionel Messi’s pass. Barca scored six in the second half - Ivan Rakitic fired in, before Suarez slid in for his hat-trick and then tapped in Neymar ’s selfless pass. Messi rolled in, then Marc Bartra’s solo goal and Neymar simple finish from close range sealed the rout. In England, Jurgen Klopp’s first Merseyside derby ended in a comfortable victory as Liverpool beat 10-man Everton for their third consecutive Premier League win. Divock Origi and Mamadou Sakho headed in two goals in as many minutes at the end of the first half. Everton lost Ramiro Funes Mori for a nasty challenge on Origi, who had to be replaced by Daniel Sturridge. The substitute then drove in a third before Philippe

Coutinho’s curled finish completed an emphatic win. Everton have not won at Anfield since 1999 and, in truth, they never looked like getting anything from their latest visit. The Reds looked more organised from the outset, attacked with pace and in numbers, and only a couple of good saves from Joel Robles prevented the hosts from taking the lead much earlier than the 43rd minute. The sending-off of Funes Moris, after he stood on Origi’s ankle, arguably ended any hopes of an Everton fight-back but there had been little to suggest that was ever on the cards. Liverpool finished with 37 shots on goal, 13 of those on target, while all three of Everton’s efforts were wide. This was the 226th Merseyside derby and one of the most one-sided. Also last night, Manchester United moved one point behind fourth-placed Arsenal with four Premier League games remaining after a comfortable 2-0 win over

Mourinho Back in Dugout at Old Trafford Jose Mourinho’s next managerial role has been revealed with the Portuguese leading ‘England’ against Claudio Ranieri’s ‘Rest of the World’ side as the former Chelsea bosses clash at Old Trafford on June 5 in a charity match for UNICEF. Mourinho, who was sacked by Chelsea in December after a Premier League loss to Ranieri’s Leicester City, will have Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce in the dugout as his assistant. “I want to be the first one to win the Soccer Aid trophy for both teams,” said Mourinho, who led the ‘Rest of the World’ to a 4-2 victory in 2014.

“Sam and I will make a very good partnership and it will be a great feeling for Claudio to finally lose a match,” added the 53-yearold, who has been tipped in the British media to take over at either Manchester United or Paris St Germain. Meanwhile, Ranieri, who has led Leicester ’s unexpected title charge this campaign, is looking to inflict another loss for Mourinho. “It is a great honour that (singer and match organiser) Robbie Williams has asked me to manage the Rest of the World XI and I’m looking forward to helping them defend their title,” Ranieri said.

83 Teams Set for Federation Cup Competitions A total of 83 teams are slated to enter the pot at the National Draws for the men and women Federation Cup competitions scheduled for Thursday, May 5, 2016. Head of Federation Cup unit of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Emmanuel Adesanya, said in Abuja yesterday that a total of 61 teams would be involved in the men’s

version, while 22 teams would be involved in the women’s event. There are a total of 18 NPFL clubs, 19 Nigeria National League clubs, nine Nationwide League One clubs and 15 non-League clubs in the men’s draw, while 16 Premier League clubs, one Pro League and five amateur division teams would take part in the women’s competition.

Suarez (left) and Messi celebrating the 8-0 crushing of Deportivo last night. Crystal Palace. Damien Delaney set United on their way when he inadvertently turned

Matteo Darmian’s cross into his own net. Julian Speroni kept Palace in the game with a

series of fine saves before Darmian doub l e d t h e lead by lashing home from 20 yards.

Arsenal, who have a game in hand, e n t e r t a i n We s t B r o m this evening.

Neuer Seals Bayern Contract Extension Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer has signed a two-year contract extension that will keep him at the German champions until 2021, the club confirmed yesterday. The 30-year-old Germany No 1, who joined Bayern from Schalke 04 five years ago, has enjoyed a trophyladen spell in Bavaria that includes a Champions League triumph in 2013 as part of a treble-winning

season. “We are still in the running for all the titles and have the chance to win a lot this year,” Neuer said in a statement. “This is our short-term goal but also in the future.” Neuer, who won the 2014 World Cup with Germany in Brazil, has also won the Bundesliga three times and the German Cup twice in his five years at Bayern. The Bavarians can

clinch a record fourth consecutive Bundesliga title if results go their way on Saturday. Chasing another treble this season under Spaniard Pep Guardiola, Bayern are also through to the German Cup final and face Atletico Madrid in the Champions League last four next week. “He is the best goalkeeper in the world and we are completely satisfied with his performances,” Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge

said. “You can count on Manuel and we are happy that he decided to sign a new deal.” Bayern, have already extended deals for several other players to 2012, including Jerome Boateng, Thomas Mueller and David Alaba. “We have now tied all key players on long-term contracts to Bayern Munich. Fans should have no worries about the future,” Rummenigge added.

Dikko Opens CAF ‘A’ Licence Course in Abuja The Nigeria Football Federation yesterday declared open the firstever CAF A –Licence coaching course in Nigeria at the FIFA Technical Centre, Abuja. NFF 2nd Vice President who is also Chairman of the League Management Company, Shehu Dikko, said: “We are very happy that our country is holding this elite coaching course at last. The most recent performances of the Super Eagles may not be heartwarming, but just as Germany did when they were also at a very low ebb several years ago, we have decided to retreat, look earnestly inward and prepare hard to rise again.

“We are starting with capacity enhancement of our coaches, through this elite program, believing that this will definitely help the development of our game.” Dikko disclosed that as a result of the improvements being witnessed in the Nigeria Professional Football League, the leadership of Spanish top flight, La Liga, would be visiting Nigeria shortly. “Nigeria football is looking to collaborate with La Liga to develop our game, through exchange of ideas and other things.” Dikko represented NFF President, Amaju Pinnick,

at the event. Chairman of the NFF Technical and Development Committee, Christopher Green, charged Nigeria coaches to establish track record through starting from the lower league and rising to the top. “Henceforth, we would take seriously the issue of track record. This is why the NFF is delighted with this course. “We have seen a lot of improvements in our League in recent years. That makes us very happy, but we are determined to continue to enhance the capacity of our coaches in the interest of the Nigeria game,” concludes the

barrister at law. Also present at the opening ceremony were NFF Executive Committee member, Alh. Yusuf Ahmed Fresh, NFF Deputy General Secretary, Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme, National Technical Director Shaibu Amodu and former NFF Technical Director, Kashimawo Laloko (who is a resource person). There were also members of the NFF Technical Committee, including former Nigeria captains Christian Chukwu, Garba Lawal, Mutiu Adepoju and Victor Ikpeba and Chairman of Nasarawa FC, Isaac Danladi.