Monday 6th February 2017 by THISDAY Newspapers Ltd

FBN, GTB, Zenith, Access, UBA Among Top 500 Global Banks Obinna Chima

Five Nigerian banks – First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Zenith Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank), United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc and Access Bank Plc – have been named among the top 500 global banking brands. The Banker magazine of the Financial Times and Brand

Finance, London, said this in a statement yesterday. FirstBank was named as the most valuable banking brand in Nigeria in the report. According to the country representative of The Banker magazine, Mr. Kunle Ogedengbe, FirstBank led four other Nigerian banks in the global ranking. With a $301 million brand

value, FirstBank ranked 357, followed by GTBank, which was ranked 395 with a brand value of $258 million. Zenith Bank was ranked 414 with a brand value of $247 million, Access Bank was in 476th place with a brand value of $182 million while UBA with a brand value of $172 million ranked 487 in the world. According to the chief

executive of Brand Finance, David Haigh, the brand value is the amount a third party will need to pay in using the brand name. Explaining the methodology for the ranking, the editor of The Banker, Brian Caplen said: “Brand Finance employs a discounted cashflow technique to discount estimated future royalties at an appropriate

rate to arrive at a net present value of a bank’s trademark and associated intellectual property - its brand value.” Caplen stressed that the process involved five steps of obtaining brand-specific financial and revenue data; modeling the market to identify market demand and the position of individual banks in the context of all

other market competitors; establishing the royalty rate for each bank; calculating the discounted rate specific to each bank, taking account of its size, geographical presence, reputation, gearing and brand rating; and discounting future royalty stream (explicit forecast and perpetuity periods) to a Continued on page 10

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Buhari Extends Medical Leave Indefinitely, Nigerians React He’s not in a London hospital, says presidency

Tobi Soniyi, Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja and Chiemelie Ezeobi in Lagos The social media went into overdrive yesterday once got word got out that President Muhammadu Buhari had written yet another letter to the National Assembly notifying it that he was extending his leave in the United Kingdom in order to complete and get the results of the medical tests recommended by his

physicians. From his well wishers and “prayer warriors” to the downright wacky commentators and conspiracy theorists, the satirists and his critics, several Nigerians had something to say about the extension of Buhari’s vacation in the UK. A statement yesterday from the president’s spokesman Mr. Femi Adesina confirmed the extension of Buhari’s leave and Continued on page 10

…Uncertainty as Justice Onnoghen’s Tenure Lapses, All Eyes on Osinbajo Davidson Iriekpen Following President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to extend his medical vacation indefinitely in the United Kingdom, an air of uncertainty has fallen over the judiciary and the country at large over the fate of the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, whose tenure in an acting capacity will expire on Friday. Despite the recommendation

of the National Judicial Commission (NJC) to the president that he be appointed the substantive CJN after Justice Mahmoud Mohammed’s retirement in last November, his position as the most senior justice of the Supreme Court and by convention next in line, Buhari ignored the recommendation and appointed Justice Onnoghen as the acting CJN Continued on page 10

150TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS KICK OFF FOR CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF CHRIST, MARINA... Grand Patron of the Cathedral Church of Christ, Marina, Lagos, Chief Subomi Balogun, represented by his sons, Jide (left), Bolaji (second right) and Ladi (right), at the launch of the church's 150th anniversary logo in Lagos… yesterday

T H I S D AY MONDAY FEBRUARY 6, 2017

â&#x20AC;¢Continued on page 51

T H I S D AY MONDAY FEBRUARY 6, 2017

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2017 • T H I S D AY

PAGE TEN BUHARI EXTENDS MEDICAL LEAVE INDEFINITELY, NIGERIANS REACT Nigerians’ worst fears that all may not be well with their president. It was not helped by the fact that Adesina’s statement did not indicate when the president would return to the country, or the number of days by which his stay abroad had been extended. Adesina said the president had planned to return to Abuja Sunday evening, but was advised to complete the tests before returning. He said the notice has since been dispatched to the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives. Adesina said the president expressed his sincere gratitude to Nigerians for their concerns, prayers and kind wishes. In addition the president’s second media aide, Mr. Garba Shehu clarified that Buhari was not in any serious condition and not in any hospital in London. While shedding more light on the president’s decision to extend his vacation, Shehu said the president was residing at the Nigerian High Commission in London. He said: “I just spoke to the president’s personal doctor, and he told me President Buhari is not in any serious condition to worry about. “He is not in hospital. He is in the residence at the Nigerian High Commission.” He explained that the president was ready to return home as scheduled but for the arrival of his medial test results which indicated he needed further tests. “He and his delegation were ready to come home today but for the delayed test results which came in today and necessitated that he delays his return. “There is nothing to worry about as far as his condition is concerned,” Shehu said. Also yesterday, the presidency alerted Senate President Bukola Saraki that it shall be sending the letter notifying the National Assembly of the extension of Buhari’s vacation in Britain. THISDAY learnt last night that though the letter was

yet to be received by Saraki, he had been told through a phone conversation that he might receive the letter either last night or first thing this morning unfailingly. Buhari left Nigeria for the UK on vacation on January 19 and was slated to return yesterday, preparatory to resumption of work today. While in the UK, the president was also to undergo a routine medical check up, the presidency had said before his departure. However, while in the UK, speculation was rife over his health. Some online media outlets went as far as reporting fake news on the president death while others speculated that he was in a critical condition. Many Nigerians at the time had demanded that the president address the country from wherever he was to reassure the nation. However, that never happened. In order to douse fears over his well being, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed and Buhari’s media aides issued a number of statements allaying concerns over is health. These were followed by the release of photographs to substantiate the claim that the president was alive and well. The first photograph showed the Ogun State governor, Ibikunle Amosun and Senator Daisy Danjuma visiting the president in London. Another showed the president having either lunch or dinner with Amosun, while the two others showed the president’s wife Aisha sitting and standing beside him. Some, however, doubted the authenticity of the photographs demanding that the president himself should address the nation. Last Monday, a statement was also issued by the vicepresident’s media aide, Mr. Laolu Akande claiming that the president had personally called the Minister of Youth Development and Sports, Mr. Solomon Lalung to commiserate with him on the death of his wife, Briskila.

But as the nation waited with bated breath yesterday for the president’s jet to touch down at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, the information minister issued a statement denying a report attributed to him saying that all the presidential jets were undergoing repairs and none was available to fly the president back to Nigeria. His spokesman Mr. Segun Adeyemi said: “Our attention has been drawn to a report quoting the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, as saying that the president’s return to Nigeria may be hampered by a faulty aircraft. “The minister has not spoken to anyone on the issue of the president’s return, hence this report is another from the stable of the purveyors of fake news and should be disregarded.”

Nigerians React But as the news spread that the president was not going to return to Nigeria yesterday as scheduled, the news pitted

Nigerians against one another. While some received it in good faith and sent their well wishes, many others described the scenario as a possible re-enactment of the 2009 situation when the late President Umaru Yar’Adua departed the country on a medical trip to Saudi Arabia, leaving the country in a state of uncertainly over his health. Even when his comatose body was returned to the country under the cloak of darkness, his close aides and wife embarked on a huge cover up and lied to the public about his capacity to lead until his eventual death in May 2010. Reacting on social media yesterday, one Odita Udemagu said: “The truth is that President Muhammadu Buhari is very sick. I think he needs our prayers and I wish him a quick recovery.” Also toeing the same line was Adeniyi Adeagbo who wrote: “God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria. God bless President Buhari and may he get well soon to finish his job of making Nigeria great again.”

While there were several messages that wished the president well, they were many who expressed outrage at his handlers for shrouding the nature of his sickness from Nigerians. One of such was General Número Uno who tweeting from @Utioh wrote: “Governor Ayodele Fayose warned us that President Buhari is not fit. Now, where is our missing president? “Indefinite leave? President Buhari enjoy your stay. Yemi Osibanjo (Acting President), can you now forward the name of Onnoghen for confirmation?” Illoy Atiku tweeting from @Iloydatiku said: “President Buhari should help himself... resign now.” On Facebook, one Yemi Badejo was sarcastic, when he wrote: “It’s a lie. General Muhammadu Buhari (GMB) will land today oooo. Shebi some people shared his pictures where he was chopping rice and chicken during the week! “We are still waiting for him to land oooo. Where is my watch make I dey go airport

go wait for GMB. “The lie and propaganda of this government deserves recognition in the Guinness Book of Records! His supporters should roll out the drums too. Continue!” Nollywood Director, Charles Novia was among those that alluded that this present scenario could be likened to the mystery surrounding the sickness and eventual demise of Yar’Adua. He said: “And President Buhari has extended his vacation indefinitely. Vacation turns sick leave and the nation is on tenterhooks. 2009 all over.” There was even the downright bizarre from Sunny Bridge who wrote: “I am not saying President Buhari is dead o, but I don't think he is still on this planet.” Nwaegede Onyebuchi wrote: “From the missing Chibok girls to missing certificate and to missing budget and now President Buhari is missing too.” Ekeru Kingsley said: “NYSC corpers (sic) have not been paid and President Buhari is extending his holiday.”

PROMOTING TRADE...

L-R: Chairman, UN/CEFACT, Dr. Lance Thompson; Executive Director/CEO, Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Mr. Olusegun Awolowo; Trade Adviser and Chief Negotiator, Federal Ministry of Trade, Industry and Investment Amb. Chiedu Osakwe; and Under Secretary, Economic and Consular Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mrs. Regina Edzuwah, at the National Sensitisation Workshop on Trade Facilitation in Abuja... weekend enock reuben

…UNCERTAINTY AS JUSTICE ONNOGHEN’S TENURE LAPSES, ALL EYES ON OSINBAJO for a tenure of three months. Should the president fail to send his name to the Senate for confirmation as the substantive CJN before his tenure in an acting capacity lapses on Friday, Justice Onnoghen from Cross Rivers State and the first southerner to become eligible for the position in 30 years, will become ineligible. Accordingly, all eyes will be on acting President Yemi Osinbajo in the next five days to decide whether Justice Onnoghen’s name should be sent to the Senate as the substantive CJN, or allow it to lapse. Reacting to the development, a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Olisa Agbakoba

(SAN), said the problem surrounding Justice Onnoghen’s appointment stemmed from the NJC, which has been emasculated and has not fully exercised its constitutional powers. Speaking to THISDAY, he said the process of appointing a CJN starts with the Federal Judicial Commission (FJC), which draws up a shortlist of three justices for consideration for the post in order of seniority and sends the list to the NJC. “Once the NJC gets the list, it makes its recommendation to the president, and constitutionally, the president can either accept or reject the person that has been recommended to him as

the CJN. “He cannot make the person recommended by the NJC the acting CJN because there is no provision in the constitution for that. “The only time the president can appoint an acting CJN is in the event the substantive CJN becomes incapacitated, or is forced to step down before the end of his tenure for charges of corruption or misdemeanor. “So he had no powers to appoint Justice Onnoghen the acting CJN, as the constitution only allows him to accept or reject the recommendation of the NJC.” Agbakoba blamed the situation that has arisen on the erosion of powers of

the NJC resulting from its indecisiveness and red tape over the corruption allegations against some Supreme Court justices and other members of the bench. “Due to the corruption charges which have tainted the judiciary, the NJC has lost its voice; it is completely timid and has allowed its constitutional authority to be eroded,” he said. Agbakoba cautioned that should Osinbajo allow Justice Onnoghen’s tenure to lapse without sending his name to the Senate for confirmation as the substantive CJN, the issue of who will become the next CJN would become a matter of conjecture. However, another past

President of the NBA, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) was of the view that Osinbajo as the acting president has the full powers to either send the name of Justice Onnoghen to the Senate or re-appoint him in an acting capacity. Olanipejun said under the law, anybody acting as the president, has the full powers of the president to carry out the functions of the president. He said since it was Osinbajo that sent the name of the acting EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Magu to the Senate for confirmation last July, he could equally send the name of Justice Onnoghen to the senate on Buhari’s behalf. “He has the full powers under the law to send the

The other eight banks in the top ten were China Construction Bank, JP Morgan Chase & Co., Bank of China, Bank of America, Agricultural Bank of China, Citibank (USA), HSBC (UK), and Satander (Spain). Of the top 50 countries in the world, only four

African countries made the list. These are South Africa (26), Nigeria (42), Egypt (46) and Morocco (47). FirstBank was the only Nigerian bank in the top 10 banking brands in Africa along with nine others banks from South Africa, Egypt and Morocco.

FBN, GTB, ZENITH, ACCESS, UBA AMONG TOP 500 GLOBAL BANKS net present value – the brand value. He said the approach was used for two reasons: “It is favoured by the tax authorities and the courts because it calculates brand value by reference to documented thirdparty transactions and

it can be done based on publicly available financial information.” Globally, deputy editor of the magazine, Joy Macknight said the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China was number one with a brand value of $47.832 billion followed by

Wells Fargo of the United States with a brand value of $41.618 million. The top ten banking brands in the world were shared by four countries, China and the U.S. with four each while the United Kingdom and Spain got one each.

Justice Onnoghen’s name to the Senate or re-nominate him for another three months. Don’t forget that it was in Buhari’s absence that Magu’s name was sent to the Senate. If he could do that then, he can do same for Onnoghen,” he said.

TOP GAINERS NGN NGN GUINNESS 2.97 66.50 NPFMFB 0.05 1.13 STERLBANK 0.03 0.75 ETI 0.15 10.30 UNITEDCAPITAL 0.05 3.55 TOP LOSERS NGN NGN AXAMANSARD 0.08 1.52 UPDC 0.13 2.48 UACN 0.79 15.20 CUSTODIAN 0.17 3.33 UNITYBANK 0.17 0.80 HPE Nestle Nig Plc N680.00 Volume: 144.626 million shares Value: N1.224 billion Deals: 2,350 As at yesterday 3/02/17 See details on Page 35

% 4.6 4.6 4.1 1.4 1.4 % 5.0 4.9 4.9 4.8 4.7

T H I S D AY MONDAY FEBRUARY 6, 2017

T H I S D AY • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2017

NEWS

Modupe Ozolua Donates $3m Relief Materials to IDPs in Borno Michael Olugbode in Maiduguri Over a million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Borno State are to benefit from the food and food supplements, drugs and clothes donated to them by a not-for-profit organisation headed by Ms. Modupe Ozolua, Empower 54. Speaking at the flag off of the distribution of the relief materials in Maiduguri, the state capital at the weekend, Ozolua said she was particularly moved to be back in Borno State with the materials for the IDPs, having been motivated by the rising cases of malnutrition in Bama last year. She disclosed that the container loaded with items brought for distribution in Borno State was worth $3 million, and part of her organisation’s goal to distribute six more containers with goods valued at $18 million on the African continent. She said the relief materials excluded food supplements given to her to distribute to IDPs in Borno by one of her sponsors. She revealed that she will be distributing the items during the week all over Borno State in conjunction with the state government. Ozolua, a Benin indigene of royal birth, commended the Borno State governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima for providing creditable

Modupe Ozolua distributing relief materials in Maiduguri leadership in these trying times. She said but for the efforts made by the governor, scores of children would have died of malnutrition in the state. Responding, the governor pleaded for more support for the state, insisting that the needs were just too massive and many more

needed to get involved in the humanitarian efforts in the state. Ozolua is an NigerianAmerican philanthropist and entrepreneur. She is also the CEO of Body Enhancement Limited which pioneered cosmetic surgery in Nigeria in 2001 and aesthetic laser treatment in 2007.

She is the Founder and President of Empower 54 Project Initiatives (Empower 54), formerly known as Body Enhancement Annual Reconstructive Surgery (BEARS) Foundation. In 2003, she founded the non-profit organisation, Empower 54, which also offers humanitarian

programmes to underprivileged women and refugees. Her dedication to humanity has earned her great recognition, with the Nigerian media giving her the title “Angel of Mercy” which was also endorsed by His Emeritus, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, while the

IDPs in North-east Nigeria call her “Sarauniyar Alheri”, meaning the “Princess of Goodness”. In 2016, Elle Magazine, South Africa recognised Ozolua’s impact on the African continent as one of The Incredible: 50 African Women who shape the African continent.

Nigeria’s Art of Flowery Language In a series of letters from African journalists, novelist and writer Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani considers the art of Nigerian verbosity My friends in the international media are perplexed by the flowery language often used in press releases from Nigerian officials. The pretentious diction, dying metaphors and padded sentences would make George Orwell somersault in his grave. Take, for example, this paragraph from a press release by the Nigerian parliament: “The seminar is aimed at making good the promise of the National Assembly that we are on the same page with the President Buhari led administration and in line with the legislative agenda, that there is a synergy between the National Assembly and the Presidency in the fight against corruption. “It is to reaffirm the point that you cannot clap with one hand. It is our way of saying that there must be a legislative strength to back the anti-corruption stance of the present administration.” Here is another example, this time a paragraph from a Nigerian military press release: “The Nigerian Army in synergy with other security agencies under its constitutional mandates... acted responsively in order to de-escalate the deteriorating security scenario

in-situ. “Instructively, the military and other security agencies exercised maximum restraints (sic) against the odds of provocative and inexplicable violence that were employed against them... “It is rather inconceivable for any individual or group to have decided to inundate the general public with an anecdote of unverified narratives in order to discredit the Nigerian Army in the course of carrying out its constitutional duties despite the inexplicable premeditated and unprovoked attacks...” Such long-winded passages can also be found in the local press, which commonly use expressions such as “the remains of the deceased have been deposited in the mortuary”, “men of the underworld”, “hoodlums” and “tantamount to insubordination”. Foreigners wonder why Nigerian government officials do not opt for simpler language. Are they intentionally trying to confuse the public or to conceal information? Well, these press releases are simply following an age-old Nigerian tradition of verbal ornamentation. For us, important information has always been best conveyed with

grandiloquence.

Writing a Love Letter Back in my teenage years, long before the era of texting and sexting, there was only one way for a Nigerian boy to prove his sincere feelings for a girl: By writing a love letter. Any boy serious about catching the attention of the girl he fancied knew better than to do it in simple English. He had to find the right big words. If his vocabulary was lacking, there was always that nerdish classmate of his who, for a fee in cash or kind, could take on the role of scribe plenipotentiary. Either that or the boy could copy verbatim from a love letter already written by someone else. And so, the typical love letter that many of us Nigerian girls received went something like this: “My dearest, sweetest, most magnificent, paragon of beauty, I hope this letter finds you in a current state of sound body and mind. “My principal reason for writing this epistle is to gravitate your mind towards an issue that has been troubling my soul. “Even as I put pen to paper,

my adrenalin is ascending on the Richter scale, my temperature is rising, the mirror in my eyes have only your divine reflection, the wind vane of my mind is pointing north, south and east at the same time. “Indeed, when I sleep, you are the only thought in my medulla oblongata and I dream about you...” If these sweet nothings were from a boy in whom you had absolutely no interest, the thing to do was to set his letter ablaze, enclose the ashes in an envelope and promptly return to sender. Nigeria’s notorious advanced fees fraudsters also dubbed 419 internet scammers adopted this same tradition of using high-sounding words. Persuading gullible foreigners to part with millions of dollars and pounds is serious business, definitely not a task for everyday words and simple sentences. A typical excerpt from a 419 scam letter reads something like this: “Dear Sir, “I do not come to you by chance. “Upon my quest for a trusted and reliable foreign businessman, I was given your contact by the Nigerian

Chamber of Commerce and Industry. I hope that you can be trusted to handle a transaction of this magnitude. “It is risk-free, as all modalities have been put in place for a smooth and successful conclusion. “Thus, I crave your distinguished indulgence and honest cooperation to guarantee that this mutual transaction will be executed under a legitimate agreement that will benefit you and lend credence to my humble belief in your honesty and trustworthiness.” Like the 419 scammers and the love-struck lads, many Nigerian government officials choose the path of verbosity, expansiveness and repetition in their press releases. Of course, it is tempting to, as usual, blame the British for all this, for bringing us their English language and their pen and paper. But then, communication was not any less complicated in the days before Nigerians learnt to write press releases in English.

‘Wear out Your Listeners’ As veteran Nigerian journalist and author Peter Enahoro noted in his 1966 classic, How to be a Nigerian, the power

of Nigerian oratory is measured by the strength of the speaker’s legs - and what better way to ensure that your speech never ends than to punctuate every sentence with a proverb or parable about the tortoise or the monkey. According to Enahoro: “A sprinkling of logical conclusions is permissible but not vital... If there are two ways of making a point, one short, the other long, plug for the longer route... The idea is to wear out your listeners, because the power of your oratory will be determined by the strength of your endurance. “If your listeners save their sanity and survive you, then you have made a poor speech.” Despite modern technology, the general rules of Nigerian communication have obviously not changed much since Enahoro’s observations. Many still hold on to the ancient belief that complexity of message is proof of power, intellect and influence. That supposed proof is probably more important to the Nigerian government official than whether or not you understand what he is trying to say. • Culled from the BBC

T H I S D AY MONDAY FEBRUARY 6, 2017

T H I S D AY WEDNESDAY,FEBRUARY 1, 2017

COMMENT

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

EVERYBODY IS TIRED

Nigerians are living in difficult times, writes Sonnie Ekwowusi

verybody is tired. What a life on the wings of despairs! What a troubling country. Things are so bad that virtually all across the divides-APC, PDP, Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Christians, Muslims, politicians, non-politicians and others - are agreed that the Buhari government has lost steam and therefore needs urgent redemption. By now the Emir of Kano and former Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi must be tired of complaining that President Muhammadu Buhari is not getting many things right. Recently he advised that hate speeches should not be preached in the Mosques because they are capable of igniting religious violence in the country. Even Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has consistently shown his displeasure for President Buhari’s lack-lustre performance. Last week, Tinubu called on the Buhari government to quickly review its monetary policies in order to curb the present economic hardship in Nigeria. Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo is tired too. He is now beating the drum of Igbo Presidency. On their part, the members of civil society from different walks of life are staging different peaceful rallies across the country in protest against the failed leadership in Nigeria. One of their notices inviting the public to attend one of the rallies reads: “A call for nationwide protests as we say No to the Executive, No to the Legislature, No to the Judiciary…You have failed us. We the people are tired. We can no longer continue with all of you. All your excuses and mistakes are not funny…” We are really living in perilous times. Last year, Nigerians were bemoaning the economic recession, power failure, unemployment, spiral inflation and all that. But today the problems are severe. It has shifted from economic woes, unemployment, power failure and all that to incessant unleashing of violence on the citizenry, incessant killings by Fulani-herdsmen, incessant shedding of human blood, clampdown on journalists, violation of religious freedom, state interference in the internal affairs of Christian churches, arrest of pastors kicking against the Islamisation of Nigeria and so forth. We are already in February and the name of acting Chief Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen has not been sent to the Senate for confirmation pursuant to the provisions of section 231(2) of the 1999 Constitution. By February 10, Onnoghen’s three months tenure as acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) would have elapsed. Which means that in the event of the failure or refusal of President Buhari to send Onnoghen’s name to the Senate for confirmation and upon the failure of the National Judicial Council (NJC) to re-recommend him as required by section 231(5) of the Constitution on or before February 10, Justice Onnoghen would have lost out. The questions are: why the foot-dragging in sending Onnoghen’s name to the Senate? Why play dirty partisan politics with such a sensitive thing as the appointment of the CJN? But Nigeria’s greatest woe at the moment is the incessant violence and spilling of blood across Nigeria. There is no civil war in Nigeria at the moment but the increasing bloody violence and the shedding of innocent blood across Nigeria in the last four months depict Nigeria as a country engulfed in internecine war. For example, on January 17 about

LAST YEAR, NIGERIANS WERE BEMOANING THE ECONOMIC RECESSION, POWER FAILURE, UNEMPLOYMENT, SPIRAL INFLATION. TODAY THE PROBLEMS ARE MORE

236 persons including some social workers and members of the Red Cross and para-medical personnel were killed after the Nigerian Air Force aircraft allegedly accidentally bombed the internally displaced persons, (IDPs), camp in Rann, headquarters of Kala Balge Local Government Area of Borno State. Till date, most Nigerians are still labouring to understand how the air force mistook the IDPs camp for a Boko a Haram camp and accidentally bombed it. Prior to the bombing, foodstuffs and relief materials meant for the IDPs were reportedly stolen. So, the IDPs camp is enmeshed in one calamity after another: from stealing the foodstuffs meant for them to their bombed to death. Then the blood of the Christian martyrs of Southern Kaduna is still crying out for justice. Circulating on WhatsApp is the chilling photographs of the charred bodies of the massacred Christians there with the caption: “Nigerian Christians burnt alive…Share please. I know it is awful to see but if they didn’t share it people would not believe what happened.…” I have just finished listening to the first-hand eyewitness narrative of how the Fulani herdsmen murdered uncountable citizens in the 22 communities of Southern Kaduna. The narrator is convinced that the killings were sponsored because the killers were fully armed with sophisticated weapons. He says that the killers kill mostly at night; that they operate from nearby hills well known to the security operatives; that after every night operation the killers would retreat and hide in the hills; that security operatives simply refused to stop the killings on the ground that they had not received any orders from above to stop the killings. The narrator also said that even when the youths from the villages gathered and decided to repel the aggression with crude instruments the security operatives came out and thwarted their effort. Now, the paradox is that on January 20 the same security operatives who refused to stop the Fulani herdsmen from killing some indigenes of Southern Kaduna swung into action and killed and wounded some members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) who had staged a pro-Trump peaceful rally in Port Harcourt. One may ask, what is wrong with holding a pro-Trump peaceful rally? If the right to peaceful assembly and right to freedom of thoughts are guaranteed in our 1999 Constitution, why shoot and kill defenceless civilians holding a peaceful rally? It was in the midst of these bloodlettings that President Buhari went for a medical vacation abroad. A few days after his departure, rumuors were rife that he was dead. But President Buhari is alive. How can anybody be spreading rumours that he is dead? Nobody should wish our President death. Having said this, President Buhari and his handlers should be reminded again that Nigeria under his administration has so badly deteriorated that most Nigerians foresee nothing but a bleak future for themselves and their families. Being a president of a country is not an end in itself: it is only a means to achieving the real end. The elimination of avoidable human miseries and sorrows is an end which challenges the Buhari government to re-position itself for a more purposeful and rewarding governance.

WOLE SOYINKA, EL-RUFAI AND SOUTHERN KADUNA (1)

Saheed Ahmad Rufai argues that the Southern Kaduna crisis is everything, but religious

igeria’s highly revered Nobel Laureate in Literature, Prof. Wole Soyinka erroneously characterised the Southern Kaduna crisis as religious in orientation and I got incredibly perturbed! Similarly was I perturbed by the performance so far – in connection with the crisis- of the intellectually endowed technocrat who currently governs Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai. A scholar owes it a duty to his country, state or community, the subjection to an illuminating light of any deliberately distorted, whimsically manipulated or inaccurately articulated facts or figures of national interest especially where the inaccuracies involved have the potential to set a relatively peaceful geopolitical entity on fire. I hasten to state that the duo rank high in my estimation that their names feature prominently on the list of my champions! I blissfully identify myself as a full-time fan of the pride of the African Continent, Wole Soyinka! As regards El-Rufai, I publicly underscored to him face-to-face, while moderating a national discourse where he was guest speaker at the University of Lagos Auditorium in 2014, the need for him to return to the academic world where, I reckoned, he truly belongs owing to his impressive academic record. Nigerians and citizens of various countries of the world woke up on Friday, January 13, 2017 assailed with both local and foreign media reports on Prof. Wole Soyinka’s proposal of the taming of religion to prevent it from killing Nigeria. “If we don’t tame religion, it’ll kill Nigeria”, our revered Laureate was reported to have stated. He advanced a lengthy justification for the destructive nature of religion which may not be of direct relevance to this discourse. What concerns the present article bowever is his statement that, “In this very nation, in Southern Kaduna, 800 souls were brutally extinguished

suddenly while the issue of grazing land versus farming is unquestionably part of the conflict. It is equally undeniable that religious differences have played crucial role in the conflict”. Prof. Soyinka added that, the Kaduna State Governor admitted sending funds to those who were responsible for the killing, saying “What astonished me was not the admission by the governor but the astonishment of others at such governmental response to atrocity. There was nothing new about it. Has appeasement to religious forces not become a Nigerian face of justice and equity; first lethargy and then appeasement? Wasn’t Boko Haram’s Muhammed Yusuf a beneficiary of appeasement in a similar fashion?” Soyinka remarked. The crisis which my hero defined as “religious” and likened to Boko Haramism has been put in a different perspective by the Punch Editorial of Thursday, January 26, 2017 in the following words: “Fulani herdsmen, enslaved to centuries-old nomadic pastoralism and confronted with desertification in the upper parts of the Sahel and Savannah, moved southwards to other parts of the country to graze their livestock. The problem is that the owners of the land are farmers, settled in villages and towns in the North-Central and Southern regions. Cattle, goats and sheep destroy crops and farmland. Since the Fulani bizarrely believe that all land is theirs, clashes inevitably occur”…According to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) 204 persons have died in recent violence in Southern Kaduna, which is populated by minority ethnic nationalities….” Threats of retaliation rent the air and voices ominously urging the faithful to “defend themselves” are issuing forth from Christian community once remarkable for preaching “turning the other cheek.” Rival threats and narratives also come from Fulani and Northern groups that belie the occasional calls for peace from those camps. It

should be noted that the accuracy of this perspective has been put to question in a number of interventions on the crisis chief among them being the piece entitled “Understanding the Southern Kaduna Crisis” (Thisday January 4, 2017) by Uba Sani who is the political adviser to the Governor of Kaduna State. The heart of Sani’s argument was expectedly that his principal was quoted out of context concerning his alleged compensation of the herdsmen. I venture to engage critically here the implications of the perspective and counter-perspective, drawing on the growing but sophisticated scholarship of ethnic and security studies. Any uncritical reading of religious terrorism into communal clashes and ethnic violence may further heighten tension and should therefore be systematically corrected without delay, in the interest of national security, without necessarily distorting any salient fact or suppressing a bitter truth. Will it be rational to characterise the Palestinian/Israeli conflict which was unarguably politically motivated, as religious in nature all because the Palestinians are pre-dominantly Muslim and the Israelis, preponderantly Jews? Will it also be accurate to associate with religion the attacks and counterattacks that were recorded and the numerous attempts by insurgents to rebel against Great Britain during the breakdown of colonial rule, as the modern state of Israel were being negotiated? Palestinian Zionists, the Yishuv, launched a decisive insurgency in the late 1940s which led to the bombing of buildings, and paved way for bloody conflicts as violence erupted incessantly before the imposition of martial law by the British in Tel Aviv. Will it be correct to associate such clashes with “religious forces”? It may also be pertinent to illustrate with the experience of Native American ethnic communities in North America during the American Indian Wars. Munroe and Mugaddam describe the wars

which lasted from 1865 and 1891 as a slow process of minor battles between westward moving Whites (predominantly American citizens of European descent) and Native American Indians defending their territory. Native Americans in the late 1800s witnessed a threat to their way of life as White soldiers and traders were ruthlessly killing buffalo herds that supported Native Americans and also encroached upon the territory occupied by Native Americans and the encounter between the two communities or native groups culminated in a bloody armed conflict. Yet no notable scholar, analyst or researcher read religion into the deadly attacks - which also involved herdsmen - that Native Americans launched on American Whites for it was politically motivated violence intended to imbue feelings of terror and instil some sense of insecurity as a tactic to demanding a cessation of injustice. Communal clashes, insurgencies and counterinsurgencies of similar nature recorded in Kenya, Malaya, the Middle East, Ireland and various other parts of the world at the end of British colonial rule were never given a religious colouring. Of particular importance to this line of argument is the fact that the operations of the Irish Republican Army which, according to J. Bowyer Bell in his submission barely two decades ago, “was generally made up of devout North Irish Catholic Nationalists, were not tagged in any credible source in literature as armed struggle by “religious forces”. Heusmann and Heusmann have noted that sometimes analysts fail to resist the temptation to infer that violence is motivated by religion without even examining the nature or root causes of the violence involved. It should be known to any careful observer or conscious analyst that the two sides of a conflict (or each party or people on each side) belong to different religious persuasions. Dr Rufai is Acting Dean, Faculty of Education, Sokoto State University

T H I S D AY • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2017

EDITORIAL BURDEN OF PENSIONS TO EX-GOVERNORS

There is urgent need to review pension laws as they affect former state executives

he cost of scandalous pension paid by 21 states to some 47 former governors in the last four years has been estimated at over N37 billion. And this is coming at a time when ordinary pensioners in most of these states and at the federal level have not been paid their meagre entitlements regularly for over five years. Moreover, a good number of these ex-governors are either in the Senate or are occupying other high public offices where they draw huge remunerations, thus raising a serious question about the propriety of this naked rape of the treasury. There are also questions, which remain unanswered, as to whether any official can draw two or more remunerations from the public treasuries at the same time. It is indeed all the more unfortunate that at a period when Nigeria needs men of moral courage in government whose actions are motivated by the public good, we have now found ourselves in a situation where many of our officials are stretching the purse of their IN A TREND THAT STARTED states for their own IN LAGOS IN 2007, good. To worsen PRACTICALLY ALL FORMER the situation, it is GOVERNORS HAVE a perfect scam in COMMITTED THEIR STATES that these former TO WRITE LAWS WHICH governors successfully railroaded ENTITLE THEM TO LIVES their states houses OF LUXURY OUTSIDE of assembly into OFFICE AS WELL AS OPULENT BURIALS WHEN passing legislations for the scandalous THEY DIE pensions they enjoy at the expense of the ordinary citizens. It is to say the least condemnable that many of the states with several pressing challenges – from inability to provide shelter and jobs for many of their residents to stalling in payment of pensions to retired teachers for years – can still sanction the indiscriminate awards of its resources to already

Letters to the Editor

T H I S DAY

EDITOR IJEOMA NWOGWUGWU DEPUTY EDITORS BOLAJI ADEBIYI, JOSEPH USHIGIALE 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

well-heeled and comfortable citizens. But many of the current governors do not care because they also plan to enjoy such benefits after leaving office. In a trend that started in Lagos in 2007, practically all former governors (the only known exception being Mr Peter Obi, the former Governor of Anambra State who turned down the idea) have committed their states to write laws which entitle them to lives of luxury outside office as well as opulent burials when they die. Huge mansions were also constructed for them at public expense since the law provides for the governor a befitting palace in the state capital or in the nation’s capital, Abuja, while the deputy governor is entitled to an accommodation allowance equal to 300 per cent of his annual basic salary. In most of the states, after office, a former governor and his spouse would be entitled to free medical services anywhere at a sum ranging from N100 million to N200 million per annum while the deputy governor will pocket N50 million for same purpose. Both would also be entitled to their current salary for life, which is in excess of N25 million each per annum. In addition 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 – people who will further lighten their burden - are also well provided for. Since what these governors take in a most cynical manner is public money which further impoverishes the majority of their people, one would ordinarily expect the labour unions to challenge these obnoxious laws and those who implement them. Sadly, we cannot recall any intervention from labour on this issue. This mindless plunder of scarce resources has lasted long enough and has to be stopped or reviewed. If we must develop as a nation, we have to revive those long cherished culture, values and behaviour that once made us so proud to be Nigerians. But it has to start at the top by reducing the intoxicating spoils of high office in Nigeria.

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.

WOLE SOYINKA, EL-RUFAI AND SOUTHERN KADUNA

he imbalance in the economy had on several occasions culminated in violent agitations such as the riots staged between 1946 and 1966 by the Kalaf and other related peoples in southern Zaria over certain injustices suffered under the leadership of the settlers. Earlier in 1942, there had been political protests among the Kaje group of the Zango Katab district over perceived discrimination by the Native Authority administration against the people of Southern Zaria. Such protests marked the beginning of what was to become a continuous agitation over political representation and economic participation by Southern Zaria, in the state. The specific demands made in some of those agitations included increased autonomy and control over local matters, the indigenisation of all district head appointments in southern Zaria, establishment of independent chiefdoms for all the southern Zaria tribes, the cessation of the proliferation of village heads as a strategy of divide-and-rule by the officials among the settlers, cessation of discrimination by Native Authority administration against the southern Zaria people, the establishment of a Customary Court of Appeal for non-Muslim groups to complement the existing Sharia Court of Appeal, the subdivision of Kaduna into one or two new states in order to put an end to the minority status of the southern Zaria people. Rotimi Suberu has described official responses to these demands and protests as varied, from outright repudiation and denunciation of the claims of the southern Zaria communities in that regard. Suberu adds that despite the dismissal of the Native Authority of the agitations by the southern Zaria population as the work

of a “few vocal malcontents and missionaries”, the regional or state governments have attempted to implement some repressive programmes which included “the prohibition of discriminatory acts by Native Authority officials against the southern Zaria population, the promotion of political de-centralisation through the establishment of village and district councils, the establishment of an Outer Court in order to facilitate the participation of southern Zaria groups in official matters, the employment of Native Authority departments and welfare projects in southern Zaria and the transfer of the independent districts of Moroa, Kagoro and Kwoi from the Zaria Province to Jema’a Division.” Suberu is of the opinion although such policies as implemented by the government did not put a total stop to the ethnic agitations in southern Kaduna, two notable goals were achieved through them namely, that the policies prevented a total polarisation of the state and ameliorated the fears and grievances of the southern Zaria people, even though the state thereafter witnessed three crises that were ethno-religious in nature namely, the Kafachan Crisis of March 1987, the Zangon Katab Riots of February 1992, and the Zangon Katab Riots of May 1992. To investigate and address the causes of these and other crises of similar nature, successive administrations in Kaduna State and the country at large had set up different tribunals, committees or commissions such as the one headed by Mrs. Hansine Donli (1987), the one established by the federal government and chaired by Justice A.G. Karibi-Whyte (1987), the one led by Justice Rahida H. Cudjoe (1992), the one chaired by Alhaji Isa Aliyu Shika( 1992). It is not out of place to add to the government’s response

to the virtually incessant ethnic clashes in Southern Kaduna, the subdivision of the state into Kaduna and Katsina by the Babangida Administration in 1987. Yet, there has not ceased to be a clamour in some quarters for further subdivision of Kaduna State into Zazzau and Jema’a or Gurar (Southern Zaria) in consonance with the existing ethnic configuration in the state namely, the Hausa/ Fulani-non-Hausa minorities’ divide. In the face of these facts and figures the insensitivity allegedly demonstrated by the State Governor through what the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU) recently described (as published in notable Nigerian dailies on January 21 - 22, 2017 as his “use of hate speech to distort history over endless killings in the area”. Such a condemnable attitude coupled with the governor’s widely publicised claim to have “paid the killers of Southern Kaduna people to stop the carnage,” spurred Nigeria’s revered Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka into commenting publicly on the crisis which he erroneously characterised as “religious” rather than ethnic in nature, as he incorrectly described the ethnic agitators as “religious forces,” like Boko Haram’s Muhammad Yusuf. It may interest the governor to learn that there is no need for witchhunting in the name of prosecution. Rather, there is need to launch a virtually panoramic investigation into the various issues raised in this discourse with a view to getting to the roots of the matter and addressing the issues once and for all. And the federal government must not remain silent and passive in this regard. Dr.Saheed Ahmad Rufai, Acting Dean, Faculty of Education, Sokoto State University

MONDAY FEBRUARY 6, 2017 T H I S D AY NEWSPAPER ADVERTISEMENT Head Office: Lagos Office: 417, Tigris Crescent, 67, Marina Street Off Aguiyi Ironsi, Maitama, Lagos Island Abuja, FCT, Nigeria Lagos, Nigeria. (Beside Corporate Affairs Commission) Tel: 01-2773100-299 Tel: 09-8761892-3, 09-8122820, 8122822, 8122824

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SIGNED: The Secretary, Asset Sale & Negotiation Committee Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria 67, Marina Street Lagos Island, Lagos This publication and process neither creates any commitment nor establishes any binding or legal obligation on the seller. All costs incurred by prospective buyers as a result of responding to this advertisement and any subsequent request for information shall be on the prospective buyer’s account.

T H I S D AY • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2017

POLITICS

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

T H E M O N D AY D I S C O U R S E

The Exodus

The pace of defection by opposition politicians to the ruling All Progressives Congress is a cause for concern, write Shola Oyeyipo and Segun James

L-R Segun Oni, John Oyegun, Orji Kalu and Olagunsoye Oyinlola joined the APC...is this their change?

he crisis that rocked the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) before and after the 2015 presidential election, when President Muhammadu Buhari defeated former president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan had laid the foundation for the gale of defections the party is currently witnessing. Immediately after PDP’s waterloo, stories started coming from various states on how PDP members had begun to dump their party for the APC, typical of aligning with the ruling party essentially for survival. For instance, after the last election, the APC reportedly received 5,000 PDP defectors from across five local government areas of the Northern Senatorial District of Kaduna State, which include Zaria, Giwa, Soba, Kubau and Ikara. The APC vice-chairman in the state, Alhaji Abubakar Rilwanu, who received the defectors, said the party was still expecting about 5000 more. “Defection to APC has now become a routine affair. As I am talking to you, we have so far received more than 5,000 defectors spread across the senatorial districts, who surrendered their PDP membership cards. APC expects to receive more than 10, 000 people, mainly from PDP before the forthcoming elections,” Rilwanu said assuredly. In May 2016, over 5, 000 PDP members, led by a former Commissioner in Ekiti State, Chief Dele Okeya, also reportedly joined the APC at a rally in Emure-Ekiti. When they were being received by APC Chairman in the state, Chief Jide Awe, Okeya, an in-law to the former Chief of Staff to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe, said he had to leave the PDP because the umbrella party has

been taken over by those he described as “criminals, crooks, rogues and ragamuffins”. Such were the stories emanating from various states across the country – though it wasn’t common in South-east states then, however, reports of PDP members defecting to APC were rampant from Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Kwara, Benue, Plateau, Nassarawa, Kano and most other states. But the current trend is different and it could be costlier. It is the fact that notable individuals, who ordinarily could help revive the party, a majority of them from the South-east, are now dumping the PDP for the APC and for familiar reasons. A founding member of the PDP and former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, last week, joined the APC. He recently registered as a member of the APC in Amechi-Uwani, Enugu South Local Government Area of Enugu State, on Sunday. Nnamani said he joined APC after intense pressure from his constituents. “All politics is local. I have to do what my constituents demanded by joining the APC at ward level,” Nnamani’s defection came shortly after former Abia State governor, Dr. Orji Kalu also joined the ruling party. His decision, according to him, was due to pressure from his family, friends and well-wishers, whom he said are in the APC. Other prominent PDP chieftains that have left the party include former National Assembly member that represented Kogi West senatorial district, Senator Smart Adeyemi. The close ally of former president Jonathan left the party, allegedly after pressure from his supporters, who felt he was being persecuted by the PDP in Kogi State. The National Assembly member

representing Akwa-Ibom South senatorial district, Senator Nelson Effiong has also left the PDP. He cited crisis within the party when he announced his defection. The Senator from Ondo South, Omoyele Omogunwa, defected from the PDP to the APC November last year. Former spokesman to former president, Jonathan, when he was vice president, Olorogun Ima Niboro also officially joined the APC in Delta State. When the APC

From a critical standpoint, it is an unsavoury development for the country and her democracy. Technically, there is a gradual ‘mercy killing’ being administered on the opposition parties in the country, the consequences of which the ruling party too will be unable to manage. While the choice of which party to belong to by any politician is not contestable, it is clear why there is a sudden exodus from the PDP and also, given the timing

leadership – ward chairmen and executive members in Ughelli South local government area led by Hon. Brighton Obiokor paid him a courtesy visit at his country home in Ovwian, Udu local government area, Niboro said he joined the APC to bring development to Ughelli South, Delta State and Nigeria. The party also recently lost another notable personality among its own, Senator Andy Uba of Anambra State, to the APC. The Anambra State governorship election comes up November this year and to watchers of the state’s politics, the lawmaker considers his new platform as veritable in pursuing his ambition to govern the state. However, Uba did not say he joined the APC to contest governorship election. He said he joined the APC because it has ideology and focus he wishes to tap into, so as to give quality representation to his constituents. He also envies the party because according to him, it has personalities with sound ideas. In the same vein, foundation member and chieftain of PDP, Chief Longers Anyanwu, too has led a group of leaders of his own caucus to APC. Anyanwu, a frontline politician from Imo State, who founded and became the national chairman of the Accord Party in 2006, is a former Commissioner for Agric and Natural Resources in the state from 2007 to 2011. The politician, who also ran for the national publicity Secretary of the PDP in 2013 against Chief Olisa Metu, is generally seen as a strategist and mobilizer. He has held such offices as adviser to former senate president, NDDC and former chairman of SureP. A fearless politician with a keen network as well as a believer in the survival of Nigeria CONT’D ON NEXT PAGE

T H I S D AY • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2017

POLITICS/ THE MONDAY DISCOURSE THE EXODUS

Nnamani

Uba

Adeyemi

Anyanwu

and democracy, Anyanwu defected to the APC with all the LGA officials of the PDP, some state exco members and other heavy weight politicians like Chief Tony Chukwu and Dr. Uzoma Obiyo. The list of opposition defectors to the APC is growing by the day and the quality of persons involved is a big challenge. Not only that, the list of individuals believed to be on the waiting list is equally frightening to genuine members of the PDP. Over all, it is leaving debilitating effects on the nation’s plural democracy. The negative effect of the defections of some PDP members in Plateau State could be seen in the party last year October, when about a month after the Plateau Central senatorial district, Joshua Dariye, left the PDP, for the APC, the deputy Speaker, Plateau State House of Assembly, Hon. Yusuf Gagdi also joined the APC and member representing Mikang constituency, Daniel Nanlong, followed suit. Prior to the two lawmakers’ defection, the APC had 13 members, while the PDP had 10 out of the 24 constituencies that make up the House. They attributed their decision to the current leadership tussle rocking the party and the implication is that APC now

has a clear majority of 13 to eight in the Plateau State House of Assembly. The Growing Concerns… A cross-section of Nigerians believe that most of the politicians jumping ship are greedy as they want to keep their stolen wealth and at the same time, save themselves from prosecution and embarrassments that come with exposure as looters of the collective wealth of the people. Besides, they want to be politically relevant, having realised that the PDP may be effectively dead and may be unable to give the ruling APC a run for its money. “Prison is not a place for people, who are used to so much affluence,” said Mr. Abass Adeseetan. He opined that most politicians just want to be relevant no matter the situation. “Check most politicians, who lost their positions in 2015, most of them are no longer relevant. Those leaving the PDP just want to be in the eyes of the public.” This position was corroborated by Alhaji Bashiru Ashamu. But he added that the action was for self-preservation. “Since the President is not exposing the looters in his party and cabinet, those defecting just wanted to capitalise on it to save themselves

If this is not about economic reasons, it is certainly for want of security, relevance, power or influence – all personal and selfish – but nothing to side with the plight of the ordinary Nigerians. There is no doubting the fact that the alleged harassment of the opposition by the Buhari government must have further amplified their reasons for quitting the PDP. There is, however, a larger picture of the implications that would ultimately consume all, the onlookers inclusive.

from the embarrassment of being exposed as common thieves.” According to Mr. Samson Adeleke, “Our politicians have no principles. They will soon regret their move. President Buhari will soon show his hands. They will be doubly embarrassed and regret their actions when the time comes.” Also, Mr. Ifeanyi Chukwuma, said “Prison is where they will end up. Let them run to APC as they like. They will all be jailed. The nation is heading for a revolution. They want to hide in the APC to escape the evil that have sowed. Their cup will be full soon.” On the whole and from a critical standpoint, it is an unsavoury development for the country and her democracy. Technically, there is a gradual ‘mercy killing’ being administered on the opposition parties in the country, the consequences of which the ruling party too will be unable to manage. While the choice of which party to belong to by any politician is not contestable, it is clear why there is a sudden exodus from the PDP and also, given the timing. If this is not about economic reasons, it is certainly for want of security, relevance, CONT’D ON NEXT PAGE

T H I S D AY • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2017

PERSPECTIVE

As TuBaba Strays into the Arena Today’s protest march by a popular musician, Innocent ‘TuBaba’ Idibia, to highlight the prevailing economic crisis in the country, may be politically motivated, argues Tanimu Ahmed

any years ago, a popular Fuji music crooner, Obesere, sang a song entitled “Egungun Be Careful.” He sang: “Egungun be careful, na express you dey go. Motor go jam you.” Egungun among the Yoruba is masquerade, which is seen as the representative of their ancestors from the spirit world. To that extent it is invincible and is held in awe by the people. But Obesere in the song called upon the masquerade to face the reality of the fact that it is in the land of the living and should not exaggerate its perceived invincibility by crossing the expressway without due caution. Put simply, the Fuji act of note preached caution to those prone to crossing the line. Since January 25, 2017, when multiple award-winning singing sensation, Innocent Idibia a.k.a. Tuface or TuBaba, announced on his Instagram page his intention to lead a protest much against what he called the mishandling of the economy of Nigeria, opinion has been divided over the propriety of his proposed action. While some have hailed him as an emerging champion of the masses, others have cautioned that he needs to be careful not to stray into the political arena, where he could be bloodied. Those hailing him hold the view that at times like these there must be someone of note who will step forward to call attention to the sufferings of the people. This, they say, is what TuBaba is doing. The antagonists of the march opine that the musician may well have a point but that his method and choice of words suggest a voice-of-Esau-hand-ofJacob situation. For them, TuBaba is a mere tool in the hands of opposition politicians’ intent on embarrassing the Muhammadu Buhari administration. No doubt TuBaba’s mission statement and company are essentially political, exposing him to the charge of fronting for politicians, who seek to make governance uncomfortable for President Muhammadu Buhari. “A call for good governance; a call for urgent explanation into the reckless economic downturn nationwide; a call for nationwide protests as we say No to the Executive, No to legislature, No to judiciary…. You have all failed us,” TuBaba said, about his mission, adding: “there is a need for Nigerians to rise against what is happening in this country having waited patiently for the legislatures that were elected to represent the people all to no avail.” In much later posts, the musician gave further justification for his new endeavour: “The people have hoped for a better Nigeria since 1999 but things are not getting any better for the majority. We are still where we are – poor and desperate. I will no longer be quiet.” No one can begrudge TuBaba for choosing to speak, after all, this is a democratic

TuFace ... heeded the voice of reason?

society. But we sure can challenge the motif of his action. For his critique of the prevailing situation is not only commonplace, but also largely dishonest. Everyone is aware that the economy slipped into recession at the beginning of the second quarter of last year. The consequence of that is what the musician is complaining about. The dishonesty of his agitation is, however, exposed by his abject failure to interrogate the causes of the economic challenge that has imposed on the people the current hardships. Had he done that, he would have found that a number of factors, entirely not the fault of President Buhari, conspired to foist the embarrassing situation on Nigerians. He would have found that the president inherited an economy that was already on its knees with as many as about 29 states unable to pay salaries even as the federal government was borrowing to pay its bloated work force. And as the president explained, the situation was compounded by the free fall of the price of oil, massive looting of the treasury and lack of saving by the past administration and the dearth of infrastructure in spite of the huge earnings the Goodluck Jonathan administration made during the oil boom. Not a few have argued that TuBaba actually lacks the intellectual capacity and clarity to be at the head of a protest march he threatens to unleash on the nation. Born in Jos, Plateau State, TuBaba went to Saint Gabriela Secondary School, Makurdi in

Benue State. After his secondary education, he proceeded to the Institute of Technology (IMT), Enugu for a pre-diploma course in Business Administration and Management. Not a particularly brilliant student, TuBaba was known more in school as a singer and entertainer. He eventually dropped out of school to pursue a career in music, performing shows at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and Enugu State

No one can begrudge TuBaba for choosing to speak, after all, this is a democratic society. But we sure can challenge the motif of his action. For his critique of the prevailing situation is not only commonplace, but also largely dishonest. Everyone is aware that the economy slipped into recession at the beginning of the second quarter of last year. The consequence of that is what the musician is complaining about

University of Science and Technology, Enugu. Whatever the Idoma born lacked in intellect, he made up for in music, rising to stardom in relatively short time with his hit song “African Queen” and claiming several local and international awards: MTV Europe Music Award; one World Music Award; five Headies Awards (Hip-hop award); four Channel O Music Video Awards; one BET award; four MTV Africa Music Awards; one MOBO Award; one KORA Award and numerous additional nominations. None of his songs, which brought him these acclamations and fortune suggests any concern for the social conditions of the people. Nor is he known to have empathised with victims of poverty or social strife even in his Benue State homestead, where fights over farmland have rendered many people homeless. Besides, Nigeria has witnessed many political struggles, including the fight for democracy against military aristocrats of the 1990s as well the more recent campaigns to strengthen democracy in the country, Save Nigeria (2010) and Occupy Nigeria (2012) to which many Nigerian musicians and artists lent their weight. TuBaba is not known to have participated in any of them as he concentrated more on his music career which has no doubt brought him fortune. No wander his sudden interest has drawn widespread suspicion and cynicism. Perhaps aware that he had opened his flanks, he offered a clarification: “The protest is not a platform for politicians of any party to manipulate. I know you will still spin it but for one second, leave your battles aside and just listen to people without trying to score cheap political points against one another. It is not a point scoring exercise. It is certainly not personal.” Yet his clarification cannot convince even the most naïve politically exposed person as the company he keeps and the circumstances of his protest march remain hugely suspect. On his side is that enfant terrible, Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State, who has issued his endorsement with flourish. “If they could sponsor a rally against President Goodluck Jonathan, why can’t this one hold?” he asked in justification of TuBaba’s political moves. Meanwhile, the event which was supposed to hold on Sunday was dramatically shifted by 24 hours to coincide with the arrival of President Buhari from the United Kingdom, where he had gone to enjoy a deserved rest. Who is still arguing that TuBaba has not strayed into the political arena? The point, however, is whether he is acting alone or in concert with the president’s political foes. He needs to tread with caution as the political terrain is a completely different ball game from the business of singing and dancing to melodious beats that lured him out of school decades ago! It could be messy going forward. • hmed u l ff r l t r te from du

THE EXODUS power or influence – all personal and selfish – but nothing to side with the plight of the ordinary Nigerians. There is no doubting the fact that the alleged harassment of the opposition by the Buhari government must have further amplified their reasons for quitting the PDP. There is, however, a larger picture of the implications that would ultimately consume all, the onlookers

inclusive. It is bad enough that the nation is in dire need of an effective leadership, with the capacity to deliver quality governance. Where the opposition is meant to provide alternative positions with a view to keeping the ruling party in check and also standing in as partners, where necessary in collective interest, the crude option by the ruling

party of beating down the opposition is systematically closing the space and the aftermath of such an unrefined option cannot be fully analysed in a single shot. Particularly worrisome is the fact that these are the same people that the APC campaigned against and called many names for allegedly destroying the country and yet, they are the ones the party is now welcoming

into its fold to help put its house in order. It is clearer now that the APC is grossly lacking in essential ideology and is more of stranger bedfellows than the PDP ever was. It is yet to be seen, therefore, how this development will help the internal politics of the APC, its pretentious democratic credentials, its change agenda as well as the future of the country.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY ,

FEATURES

• T H I S D AY

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

Ending the Carnage in Southern Kaduna John Shiklam writes that normalcy seem to be gradually returning to crisis-ridden parts of Southern Kaduna, as prominent Nigerians proffer solutions to end the killings

fter years of bloodshed and destruction of property in the Southern part of Kaduna State, peace seems to be gradually returning to the area, ravaged by invading suspected Fulani

herdsmen. The attacks started after the 2011 post election violence that led to the deaths of many people in the North. Since then peace has eluded the area as armed bandits unleashed terror on rural communities, particularly in Kaura, Sanga, Jama’a and Zangon Kataf Local Government Areas of the state. The Catholic Diocese of Kafanchan, in recent statistics released, revealed that 808 people, mostly women and children were killed while property worth billions of naira were destroyed. The Inspector General of Police, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris, has disputed this figure, promising to investigate the killings, but the Vicar General of the Diocese, Rt. Rev. Fr. Ibrahim Yakubu, insisted that the church has evidence to prove its claim and challenged those disputing the figures to produce their evidence. He said the killings spanned from the time the attacks started in 2011 to the end of 2016. However the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) the umbrella union for the herdsmen, claimed its members were being unjustly accused of perpetrating the crisis in Southern Kaduna. Assistant Secretary General of the association, Dr. Ibrhahim Abdullahi, at a news conference in Kaduna maintained that allegations against the herdsmen were merely fictitious. According to him, herdsmen and their cows were also being killed by the Southern Kaduna people. He said the herdsmen are being accused and maligned unjustly and “we think that it is time for us to make our stand and set the records straight for posterity.” Abdullahi said the 2011 post election violence affected not only the indigenous

Fulani in Southern part of Kaduna State but also herdsmen coming from other areas. He called on the people of Southern Kaduna to forgive what had happened, noting that the crisis will never end unless both parties learn to forgive. Some people have attributed reprisal attacks as one of the major reasons for the prolonged killings, however, a former Commissioner of Justice in Kaduna State, Mr. Mark Jacob dismissed such arguments saying that those making such claims were shying away from the truth. Although security has been reinforced to the affected local governments areas and feelers from some communities in the area indicate that normalcy is gradually returning. But it was learnt that in some communities, especially in Godogodo axis, people are still scared of being attacked as the herdsmen are believed to be in their hideouts in the bushes. THISDAY gathered that combined efforts of the state and federal governments as well as prominent Nigerians went a long way in arresting the situation, although observers

We need a body of arbitrators composed of both sides of the divide that the people can have confidence in to try to stem the tide, broker some peace and listen to all sides and come up with ways and manners that we can re-establish stability and lasting peace in that area. It is something that requires collective efforts

L-R: Former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III and Governor Nasir el-Rufai, during a meeting to proffer solutions to the Southern Kaduna killings have continued to wonder why the authorities had allowed the carnage to last this long since 2011. Among prominent Nigerians that have been in the forefront in ensuring peace in the four local four local governments areas affected by the crisis are former Head of State, General Abdusalami Abubakar, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Rt. Rev Matthew Kukah who comes from Southern Kaduna and the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III (members of the National Peace Committee chaired by Abubakar), two former governors of Kaduna, Alhaji Balarabe Musa and Senator Ahmed Makarfi as well as the Primate of the Methodist Church in Nigeria, Dr. Samuel Chukwuemeka Kanu, among several others. Abubakar, Kukah and the Sultan, during their visits to Governor Nasir el-Rufai, expressed deep concerns about the crisis and appealed for peace. Abubakar noted that the clashes and killings were not only limited to Kaduna State, but it is something that is engulfing the country. “We want to make sure that peace reigns in Nigeria; to make sure that people know that we are together. We have to live in peace with each other. “There is no religion on earth or anywhere that preaches violence.... “One of the points that the governor drew our attention to is the way people take laws into their hands and they go scot free. This impunity must be checked,” the former Head of State said. He promised to visit the affected areas to have meetings with traditional rulers and religious leaders from the area. Also commenting, Bishop Kukah said the mission of the team was to try to bring peace. “I convened the peace committee and what we are doing now is to try to bring about peace. We are looking at how we can achieve peace and stability. “I think what the people of Kaduna State, including the government should be doing now is looking into how we can achieve

peace and development and I think that is the reason why we have democracy,” the clergy man said. He said “the killings are a very sad phase in our history, but I believe that we can get over it and we will get over it and come out much more stronger and committed to peace.” But the Second Republic governor of the state, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, while condemning the crisis, said the crisis were caused by poverty, ignorance and failure on the part of elites from both the Southern and Northern parts of the state to work towards improving the condition of the people. According to him, Southern part of the state consists of eight local government areas, but there is not a single industry in the area to provide employment opportunity for the youths. “The industries that were established in the area during the Second Republic when I was governor were destroyed by the elites in Southern Kaduna in collaboration with their counterparts in Northern part of the state. So, with this situation, what do you expect? “Secondly, the level of enlightenment in the Southern part of the state is much lower and therefore, it is very easy to manipulate people and engage them in self destruction,” he said. He implored the “Southern Kaduna people to resist incitements from people from other parts of the country and join hands with some of the honest people they can identify in Kaduna North and Central parts of the state to end the crisis. Let’s come together as one and deal with those criminals,” Musa added. Also, two-term governor of the state, Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi while appealing for peace, warned against politicising the crisis. Makarfi whose eight years reign experienced bloody ethno religious crises urged the people to come together and proffer solutions to the lingering crisis instead of imputing political motives to the violence. “It is a serious criminal issue and of course there may be matters that have to do with other

T H I S D AY • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2017

FEATURES

El-Rufai (right) and Bishop Matthew Kukah, during a meeting to find lasting peace to the Southern Kaduna killings

Governor el-Rufai (middle) being briefed by the Kaduna State Police Commissioner, Mr. Agyole Abeh (1st right) things that may not be seen as criminality. “Government must never politicise this; the people must never politicise this, irrespective of religious and ethnic background. “Even those outside the state must never politicise this crisis, because if we attempt to politicise it, then the crisis will spread beyond Kaduna and that would be a disaster,” he said. He commended the manner leaders and other stakeholders who stood up to handle the problem. “We need a body of arbitrators composed of both sides of the divide that the people can have confidence in to try to stem the tide, broker some peace and listen to all sides and come up with ways and manners that we can re-establish stability and lasting peace in that area. It is something that requires collective efforts. “I don’t want to look at it from PDP point of view, but I have been speaking with a lot of people from the area, both the ethnic groups, not minding whether they are of this tribe or that, this religion or that. They are all concerned about what is going on and nobody mentioned politics to me. “I believe that some of them are also talking among themselves to see how they can be partners in restoring peace in the area. Because it is a terrible situation that must never be allowed.I believe that the solution should be community-based and with the support of the centre, the state government and other leaders, the problem should be brought to an end very soon,” the former governor said. Also proffering solution to the crisis, the Primate of the Methodist Church in Nigeria, Dr. Kanu, urged religious leaders to be in the forefront for promoting peace in Southern Kaduna. Speaking in an interview shortly after he paid a courtesy visit to el-Rufai at the Government House, he regretted the utterances of some religious leaders, saying that such utterances will not bring about peace. He maintained that the killings were callous, adding that it is dastardly for anybody to take human life.

“Everybody must learn to live together as Nigerians irrespective of our religion, tribe or ethnicity. “We should avoid religious bigotry, we should avoid chauvinism and casting slur on others as if they are inferior. This nation is our common inheritance and we should promote love,” he emphasised. He stressed that no development and growth can take place without peace. “The Bible says you shall not kill and I know that Quran says the same so why should we kill? Why should we destroy property? I believe those misguided elements in the society are using religion to achieve their selfish goals. “We pray that God should expose these people no matter who they are and no matter how highly placed they are. If we can fish them out and confine them somewhere, Nigeria will move on. “My message to the people is that peace is more rewarding than crisis. Crisis is destructive, crisis is like tsunami, it’s like wild wind that does nobody good and affects everybody. So we can do well in an atmosphere of peace devoid of bitterness and rancour, that is what I advocate for,” the clergy man said. El-Rufai’s neighbour in Plateau State,

We are determined to end the killings in Kaduna. Henceforth, the law will fully apply without fear or favour. We have made some arrests and you will be shocked to see the calibre of perpetrators that we are going to arrest and prosecute

Governor Simon Lalong in a condolence letter to el-Rufai over the killings, urged stakeholders in the state to join hands and bring an end to the killings. In the letter dated January 17, 2017, Lalong advocated for a partnership between the two states to ensure peace and stability. Lalong whose state had also experienced series of bloody ethno religious clashes that led to massive killings and destruction of property advocated for the arrest and prosecution of those behind the crisis as a panacea for sustaining peace. He expressed confidence that a partnership between Plateau and Kaduna, “giving our common resolve to ensure peaceful coexistence and a secure environment for all our citizens within our borders, will be attained sooner than later.” He noted that “The loss of scores of people and the retrogression that the violence has occasioned in the various communities bring very sorry and painful memories of the decade of blood on the Plateau, which we have now overcome with the collective resolve of the people.” Lalong said he was optimistic that Kaduna State will bounce back stronger as it has always come out of crises in the past to become the cosmopolitan hub of peaceful coexistence. He appealed to all leaders to take a stand to become part of the solution and avail their goodwill, experience, and wisdom as vehicles for the speedy resolution of the conflicts. According to Lalong, “violent crisis everywhere in the world return to the table of dialogue to be resolved and the people of Southern Kaduna must therefore tow this path of humanity in resolving their disputes.” According to el-Rufai, since 1980 about 20, 000 people were reported killed in series of ethno religious crises that had rocked Kaduna State. Regrettably, he said nobody was arrested and prosecuted for the dastardly acts. Speaking when the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association paid him a courtesy visit, the governor declared that the solution to killings

with impunity in the state is the enforcement of the law and prosecution of perpetrators. He noted that apart from the Justice Benedict Okadigbo Tribunal on the ZangoKataf Religious Crisis, no government had prosecuted anybody over their involvements in the various crises. The governor vowed that all those found to be behind the recent killings in Jema’a, Zangon Kataf and Kaura Local Government Areas of the state would be fished out and prosecuted, adding that a number of arrests had been made with more to be arrested soon. He also foreclosed the possibility of setting up any commission of inquiry on the Southern Kaduna crisis, saying there was no need for it. “We need to enforce the rule of law in the state. I read all the reports which recommended the way out but there is no single person ever prosecuted to the later. “We are determined to end the killings in Kaduna. Henceforth, the law will fully apply without fear or favour. We have made some arrests and you will be shocked to see the calibre of perpetrators that we are going to arrest and prosecute. “No matter how highly the person is, we will bring him or her to face the full wrath of the law to serve as deterrent to others who may want to sponsor crisis. “Some of the things you are hearing are not true. Some people have made up their minds to spread hatred and falsehood, especially in the media. “Let me correct this impression, it is not the entire Southern Kaduna that is under attacks, we have problem in three local government areas now under control,” the governor said. Southern Kaduna is blessed with abundant agricultural resources, sadly the killings have stunted economic and social activities in the area. It was learnt that imminent hunger is looming in some of the communities as their farm produce were said to have been burnt. The people have suffered for too long and the time had come to stop the attacks and let peace reign.

IMAGES

L-R; General Overseer, Christ Healing Evangelical Church, Pastor Samuel Babatunde Ogunfowokan, Mr Michael Yinka CEO, Yinka Bodyline Ltd, Mrs. Oluyemi Yinka at Inaugural breakfast service of the Church, iin Lagos...recently

T H I S D AY •

AY, FEBURARY ,

Photo Editor A

L-R; CEO, Service City, Olufemi Ogunseinde; General Manager, Enterprise Business, Airtel Nigeria, Bukola Akande and Director, Public Sector, Microsoft, Hakeem Adeniji-Adele during the Lagos State government partnership workshop on Digital Literacy for Artisans in Lagos...recently

L-R: President, Kansai Plascon Paint Ltd, Mr. Hirashi Ishino; Japanese Ambassador to Nigeria, Saclanobu Kusaoke; Director, Kansai Plascon Nigeria, Chief Sylvester Ocholi; Brand Ambassador/ Ex French International, Lious Saha; and Representative of the Minister of Trade, Commerce and Industry, Mr. Ibikunle Adams,, at the official opening of Kansai Plascon in Lagos recently ETOP UKUTT

L-R;Chairman, DAAR Communication, Mr. Raymond Dokpesi Jnr; Group Managing Director, DAAR Com. Mr. Tony Akiotu; Chairperson, The Most Valuable Governorís Wife Awards (MVGWA) Organizing Team, Dr. Bilkisu Magoro; Executive Member, Award Team, Mrs. Pauline Kadiya-Daze and Team Leader/Chief Executive Officer (MVGWA), Mr. Tom Obulu , during the official presentation of the 2017 MVGWA award sculpture to the DAAR Communicatiion chairman in Abuja...recently ENOCK REUBEN

L-R; Director, Chattel Realty and Investment Limited, Mrs. Nwamaka Okafor; MD/CEO,Chattel Realty and Investment, Mr. Ifeanyi Okafor, and the Company’s Brand Ambassador, Mr. Segun Arinze, at the Housing Empowerment and LandLord Opportunity Media Launch, in Lagos..recently DAN UKANA

Kwara State Governor, Dr. Abdulfatah Ahmed (sitting), staff of Rubitech Power Ltd., Riccofortezza A. Steven Energy Ltd and KP3 during the signing of Technical agreement on Light -up Kwara project at Government House, Ilorin...recently

L-R; Chief Marketing Officer, Union Bank, Ughelli branch, Ngozi Amadikwa; Hiis Royal Majesty, Ovie OgoniOghoro I, Ohworode of Olomu Kingdom, Ughelli and Union Bank’s team during the monarchís 100th year birthday celebration in Delta State.... recently

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Quick Takes Paperworld Trade Holds in Dubai

The seventh edition of Paperworld Middle East InternationalTrade Fair for stationery, papers and office supplies will hold in Dubai from March 14 to 16, 2017. The three-day event, expected to host 6,774 visitors from over 100 countries and about 305 exhibitors from 36 exhibiting countries, will present business enterprises with the ample opportunities to network and collaborate with exhibitors from many different segments of the industry. “The fair will parade an array of unique products such as office supplies, comprising office equipment, paper shredders, engraving machines, presentation aids and organizational aids. Others are school articles which include writing utensils, drawing materials, exercise book, blocks folders, school bags cases and educational toys,” the organisers said in a statement. ”The fair will also showcase sheet solutions for every office need in inkjet, laser, copy paper, letter paper, envelopes, transparency paper, books, calendars and packaging; household paper, from absorbent to the alluring printer, computers & multimedia, colourful impressions and technological solutions for laser and inkjet printers, scanners, copiers, inks, toners, ribbons, labels, software, data storage products computer accessories, 3D printers and scanners; creative materials, where inspiration takes flight in decorative crafts, graphic and artists’ requisites, handcrafts textile design and hobby and crafts,” they said.

COURTESY VISIT

R-L: Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State; Chairman, Sterling Bank Plc, Asue Ighodalo; MD/CEO, Sterling Bank Plc, Yemi Adeola and Executive Director, Sterling Bank Plc, Lanre Adesanya during a courtesy visit to the governor … recently

Report: Economic Recovery Will Be Slow, Painful Obinna Chima As Nigeria continues to search for the right policy prescriptions to lift her economy out of recession, the Chief Executive Officer, Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Mr. Bismarck Rewane has stated that economic recovery in the country would be slow and painful. Rewane stated this in the February 2017 edition of the Lagos Business School’s executive breakfast session titled: “Economic Reform: Resist Now and Regret Later,” obtained at the weekend. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently predicted a slim rise in Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to 0.8 per cent in 2017. The IMF was more bullish in its 2018 economic growth expectation

ECONOMY from Nigeria as it predicted a 2.3 per GDP growth for the country. On the other hand, the World Bank predicted a one per cent GDP growth for Nigeria in 2017. Although Nigeria’s fourth quarter 2016 GDP estimate is expected to be released this month, the country’s third quarter 2016 GDP had contracted by 2.26 per cent from -2.06 per cent in the second quarter of this year, and -0.36 per cent in the first quarter. But Rewane, in the report, pointed out that “Nigeria will be more prone to inflation than recession. Economic recovery will be slow and painful, driven by low oil production and government revenue.” He opined that the economy

was strangulated by pricing distortions in the forex market, which was exacerbated by delayed and inadequate policy decisions, inconsistency and political interference in monetary policy environment of investor confidence and dwindling capital inflows. The report showed that the corporate profitability of top 10 listed companies declined by 17.4 per cent in 2016 and their turnover was affected by: increasing finance costs - average finance cost of top companies has increased by 45 per cent; distribution and logistic costs have grown by 28.6 per cent; forex costs and exchange rate losses; as well as alternative power costs -diesel price up 22 per cent since January 2016. The report predicted that in 2017, there may be further forex market liberalisation, accommodative interest rate

stance, minimum wage revision, concession of four international airports, refinery project, and Lagos-Ibadan rail project. In addition, the report anticipated that a supplementary budget could be introduced if revenue projections fall below expectations, that government may explore sale and repurchase agreements on selected assets, seek funds from multilaterals, export credit agencies & launch concession programmes, increase VAT rate from five per cent to 7.5 per cent, improve compliance and effectiveness of revenue collecting agencies and also broaden the tax base. In the World Commodity Outlook, it also predicted that: “spending to surge, but not in Nigeria. Capital spending in North America expected to grow by 27 Continued on page 24

Share Scam: Victims Call on Regulators to Protect their Investments Goddy Egene Some investors, who are clients of Partnership Securities Limited(PSL), which Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Victor Ogiemwonyi, is currently facing litigation over a share scam of about N10 billion, have called on market regulators to protect their interests so as to retain investor confidence in the market. Ogiemwonyi is currently in the custody of Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) and facing criminal and civil charges for misappropriating money of some of his

ECONOMY clients. Besides, his companies face the risk of liquidation as a result of a court judgment obtained by one of his clients and a former Chief Executive Officer of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), Mr. Arnold Ekpe. The broker was alleged to have sold the shares of Ekpe worth N1.24 billion but failed to remit the money to him. However, more investors, who used PSL as their stockbroking firm, have cried out saying Ogeimwonyi is also indebted to them.

For instance, Mr. Sola Alabi, Mr. Godwin Anono, Chief Samuel Solasi have over N230 million trapped in PSL. The investors told THISDAY as clients of PSL, Ogiemwonyi introduced a product, called Partnership Securities Deposit Account (PSDA), which involved investors keeping their securities with the company for a return annually. According to them, the company did not only default in paying the interest promised and but also did not return their securities to them before Ogiemwonyi was arrested. Narrating his ordeal, Alabi

said: “Mr. Ogiemwonyi called me to say that since I have some shares that are not being traded over the years that it would be good for me if his company could manage those shares and generate 10 per cent returns and that this would be paid to me twice a year. When I looked at the proposal it was reasonable and the man involved is a prominent Council member of the NSE, I trusted him. I did not enter the deal with an unregistered operator and it was not that he offered me a fantastic return, but a reasonable return. Continued on page 24

NIMN Sets Up Investiture C’ttee

The National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN) has inaugurated the investiture committee towards the formal enthronement of Mr. Tony Agenmonmen as the President of the Institute. Agenmonmen was elected President in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital at its last annual general meeting that experienced an unprecedented attendance and endorsement of its members. The investiture event is billed to hold at the Eko Hotel and Suites in Victoria Island Lagos on the 17th of February, 2017. The high profile event, expected to draw the private and public sector drivers of the Nigerian economy, will among other activities include a lecture, special induction, and the conferment of honorary fellowship on people that have supported the growth of the marketing profession. Shortly after the election of the new president, key stakeholders in the industry including old members, academia and marketing organizations who had lost interest in the administration of marketing across the country began to express their support. Among those selected as members of the investiture committee are Tokunbo Modupe, Chairman TPT International, Kufre Ekanem, Public Affairs Adviser Nigerian Breweries Plc., John Ajayi, Publisher Marketing Edge, Adekunle Ayeni, CEO Black House Media. Tony Agenmonmen takes over the mantle of leadership from Aare Ganiyu Koledoye, popular among marketing professionals as the unification general. Tony is a celebrated marketing professional, he retired recently as Nigerian Breweries’ Senor Strategy Manager. By the time he retired, he had put in a cumulative 32 years in the services of the brewing giant and has held numerous positions in which he performed varying duties. He is a man of excellence and strives for excellence and a book has written on the subject of excellence. He started his career with NB in February, 1984 as Marketing Assistant, becoming Brand Manager in 1988 and Senior Brand Manager in 1993.

Shell Australia Appoints New Chairman

Shell Australia has announced that Zoe Yujnovich will succeed Andrew Smith as chairman of the Shell companies in Australia from April 1, 2017. Smith will take up the position of Executive Vice President Trading & Supply from May this year. As a result, Yujnovich will relocate to Shell’s Australian headquarters in Perth to assume both Smith’s Executive Vice President Australia & New Zealand position and responsibility as Country Chair. Yujnovich is currently Executive Vice President Oil Sands, based in Calgary. Prior to joining Shell in 2014, she held frontline and management roles in mining across three continents. She joined Rio Tinto in 1996, after obtaining an engineering degree from the University of Western Australia, where she held roles including company president in Brazil and CEO of the Iron Ore Company of Canada.

“Nigeria is a developing economy and there are so many things we haven’t done to ensure that our people have a standard of living that engenders employment” The National Senior Partner, KPMG in Nigeria and Chairman, KPMG West Africa,

Mr. Kunle Elebute

T H I S D AY • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2017

BUSINESSWORLD REPORT: ECONOMIC RECOVERY WILL BE SLOW, PAINFUL

per cent according to Barclays. Barclays’ assumptions of investment growth were based on oil price of $50pb. Citi Bank’s assumption for 2017 is $55pb. Raymond James is more bullish and sees $65pb in first quarter of 2017.” “Nigeria is now the fourth largest exporter of LNG; contributes 14 per cent to Nigeria’s major exports. South-east Asia will be a key region of growth in LNG imports. Low domestic prices will encourage LNG usage in China. The EU will absorb much of the new supply in 2017-18. Africa’s production will rise in 2017-18.” Furthermore, it forecast that the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) fund would increase in 2017 as uptick in disbursements signals the recovery ahead. This prediction was based on higher oil prices “Production also increased by 8.7 per cent. Forcardos to reopen in the second quarter of 2017. But N400 billion is still a far cry from 1-year high of N559 billion. Recent slash of import duties will spur demand for inputs. “ Illiquid foreign exchange market remains an impediment to full recovery in shipping position. London is the city with the highest spending visitors globally. In 2015, Nigerians were the sixth highest spending visitors in London, UK. Despite the downturn, data shows Nigerians spend an average of £1,626 (N1.02m) per visit,” it added.

SHARE SCAM: VICTIMS CALL ON REGULATORS TO PROTECT THEIR INVESTMENTS

The deal was such that I can back out at any time I wish. When in 2014 the returns were not forth coming, Ogiemwonyi started giving one excuse or the other; that the returns are being reinvested, it was then I realised that he was playing me, hence demanded for my shares which could not be returned to me.” Alabi and other victims of the share scam are therefore calling on the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and liquidator of companies under the Partnership Investment Group to protect their interests and get their money back.

Group Business Editor

Chika Amanze-Nwachuku AgriBusiness/Industry Editor

Crusoe Osagie

Comms/e-Business Editor

Emma Okonji

Capital Market Editor

Goddy Egene

Senior Correspondent

Raheem Akingbolu (Advertising) Correspondents

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

Nume Ekeghe (Money Market) Nosa Alekhuogie (AgriBusiness)

NEWS

NAICOM: Defaulting Insurance Firms Paid over N5bn Claims in 2016 Ebere Nwoji In its deliberate effort to protect the interest of the insuring public and safeguard the image of insurance sector, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) last year compelled some operating firms to settle a total of N5 billion worth of claims to the members of the insuring public. The claims were paid following the resolution of 218 cases of complaints filed against some insurance firms by policy holders at the NAICOM’s complaint bureau office. NAICOM during the period under review, received a total of 413 complaints from aggrieved policy holders and resolved 218 cases, which resulted in the settlement of claims worth N5,475,174,716.63 to the aggrieved policy holders by the insurance companies. NAICOM’s head, Corporate Affairs, Rasaaq Salami, said in a statement that in resolving the disputes, the Commission held adjudication meetings and had direct contacts with all the parties involved, adding that NAICOM is at the verge of resolving a total of 650 ongoing cases from 2014.

He assured the insurance public that NAICOM would continue to strive hard to ensure protection of policyholders, beneficiaries and third parties of insurance contracts. Giving break down of how the cases were resolved, Salami, said that not all resolu-

tions were in favour of the complainants as in some cases, the underwritters were right in repudiating claims. “A case was withdrawn because it was found to be fraudulent, five cases were referred to Pension Transition Administration (PTAD) over

at by the Complaint Bureau Unit in the Commission.” The Commission urged aggrieved members of the public to send their insurance complaints to it through email on: contact@naicom.gov.ng.

SEEKING BUSINESS COLLABORATION

L-R: Chief Operating Officer, CISCO, Mr. Harold Overman; Managing Director/CEO, ProvidusBank Limited, Mr. Walter Akpani; CISCO’s Chief Financial Officer, Africa, Mr. Neil Pattni; and Executive Director, ProvidusBank, Mr. Kingsley Aigbokhaevbo, during a visit by the CISCO team to the bank in Lagos...recently

Satellite Launch: PIN Warns FG against Privacy Invasion Emma Okonji Following the planned launch of two communications satellites by the federal government, with one of them having the eavesdropping capabilities that would allow it monitor the conversation and activities of people via mobile mobile phone and the internet, Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN) has warned that such development would amount to invading into people’s privacy without authorisation. PIN has therefore submitted a letter to the Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, on the alleged eavesdropping capabilities of one of the two satellites that Nigeria plans to build and launch. It was reported that inside sources at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had revealed that one of the proposed satellites has eavesdropping capabilities. Worried about the development, the Programme Assistant at PIN Tomiwa Ilori, said: “As an organisation at the forefront of ensuring digital rights and that human rights are respected when new technologies are being used in Nigeria and by extension in Africa, we are keen on conversations that involve freedom of expression, internet interference, data privacy and security and most importantly, surveillance and transparency.”

non payment of pension while another one was transferred to National Pension Commission (Pencom). “While cases that are found to be subjudice were not treated but left to the courts to do the needful, cases not resolved are still being looked

NIMASA Seeks TETFUND’s Partnership to Grow Maritime Capacity Eromosele Abiodun

Also, the Director of Programs at PIN, Tope Ogundipe, said: “It is in achieving these objectives that we call on the Federal Ministry of Communications to provide all the details involved in the building and launching of the two new satellites for the Nigerian government. As we have stated in the freedom of information request sent to the Ministry on February 2, 2017, the scaling up of the number of satellites in space may be noble but in order to ensure that this is done with utmost regard to digital rights of every Nigerian, every stakeholder, including the Ministry, must all act as watchdogs for our digital rights.” According to Ogundipe, “Even though there have been insinuations that these satellites are capable of eavesdropping on the communications of most Nigerian citizens when finally launched, we believe that the ministry understands this to be an erosion on the fundamental human rights guaranteed by

Section 37 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended. Program Manager at PIN, Boye Adegoke, also said: “In light of the report, and possible implications on digital rights in Nigeria, we ask the ministry to honour our Freedom of Information (FoI) request within time stipulated by law and provide us with every information as regards the launch of the satellites and their intended use so that the general public can be aware that not only are the eavesdropping allegations untrue but also that the ministry and every other agency of government will continue to respect human rights, and in particular, digital rights.” Paradigm Initiative says it will continue to monitor this development for new updates and ensure that a logical conclusion is reached on the matter. In the past four years, the organisation has used litigation to follow up on FoI requests that were not responded to.

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) is to collaborate with the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) to develop human capacity in the maritime sector. The Director General of the Agency, Dr. Dakuku Peterside stated this during a meeting with stakeholders and Vice Chancellors of the Nigerian Universities where the NIMASA sponsored Institutes of Maritime studies are domiciled in Abuja. Peterside who chaired the meeting restated the Agency’s commitment towards growing capacity in the maritime sector and urged Universities in the country to include maritime related courses in their curriculum, in order to expand the job potentials of Nigerian youths to help grow the economy, as maritime is a global business with vast opportunities. The NIMASA boss said that a virile maritime trade is an economic asset to any nation and therefore urged the institutes to continuously improve on their maritime curriculum for economic benefits of Nigeria. He also called on public and private organisations to partner with the Agency in ensuring adequate funding of these institutes, stating that it would not be out of place for TETFUND to partner with NIMASA or intervene where

necessary in funding them as NIMASA cannot go it all alone. Specifically he said, “More than ever, we are open to partnership in order to ensure that our maritime sector continues to thrive and impact positively on the Nigerian economy in the long run” In his address, the Executive Secretary of TETFUND Dr. Abdulahi Bichi Baffa, commended NIMASA for the robust and brilliant initiative in establishing the Institutes of Maritime studies in these universities, while announcing that TETFUND will look into areas of intervention. Present at the meeting were Vice Chancellors of the Universities who attended with the Directors of the maritime institutes of the various universities amongst who are; Prof. Rahamon Bello, Vice Chancellor(VC), University of Lagos, Prof. Muhammad Maiturare, VC, Ibrahim Babangida University, Lapai, Niger State, Prof. Humphrey Ogoni, VC, Niger Delta University, Bayelsa State as well as Prof. Alhassan M. Gani, VC, Federal University Kashere, Gombe State and Prof. James Ogbonna, Deputy VC, University of Nigeria, Nsukka,. NIMASA had established Maritime Institutes in Six (6) Nigerian Universities with the expectations that the Institutes will help grow the needed technical manpower which were hitherto only obtainable from institutes outside the country.

T H I S D AY • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2017

BUSINESSWORLD

MARKET REPORT

Equities Market Sheds 2% on Negative Investor Sentiment Goddy Egene and Nosa Alekhuogie

Bank and Zenith Bank bolstered trading to close in green. Performance across sector was broadly bullish as all indices closed in the green save for the NSE Oil & Gas Index which declined 1.6 per cent as losses in Forte Oil Plc (-9.7 per cent) and Seplat (-0.03 per cent) more than offset gains in Oando (+4.8 per cent), while the NSE Industrial Goods Index closed flat. The NSE Banking Index gained the most, rising by 0.9 per cent on account of buying interest in UBA (+2.9 per cent) and Zenith (+1.4 per cent). Similarly, the NSE Insurance and NSE Consumer Goods indices closed 0.6 per cent and 0.02 per cent.

The positive performance recorded by the Nigerian stock market the previous week could not be sustained last week as investors’ confidence weakened following poor results by some companies. The market had rebounded the previous week as investors were optimistic companies would soon begin to declare dividends for the 2016 financial year. As a result, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index (NSE ASI) had appreciated by 0.40 per cent. However, the market returned to the red zone last week with the NSE ASI declining by 2.0 per cent to close at 25,802.54, while market capitalisation ended at N8.892 trillion. Many investors got high disappointed that Forte Oil Plc, which was the first firm to declare 2016 full year results, posted a decline of 50 per cent in profit after tax and neither recommended a dividend nor bonus issue. Similarly, leading soft drink bottling firm, Seven-Up Bottling Company Plc recorded a loss of N2.9 billion for the nine months to December 31, 2016. The market was bearish for four days and recorded an appreciation only one day. At the end of week, the index shed 2.0 per cent. Similarly, all other Indices finished lower during the week with the exception of the NSE Premium Index and NSE Industrial Goods Indices that appreciated by 0.15 per cent and 4.37 per cent respectively, while the NSE ASem Index closed flat. The NSE Oil & Gas Index led the losers with a decline of 5.0 per cent. Daily Market performance The market opened for the week on a bearish note as investors’ sentiments remained weak. The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index fell by 0.42 per cent to close at 26,217.18. Market capitalisation shed same margin to close lower at N9.02 trillion. The depreciation recorded in the share prices of Oando, GTBank, Zenith Bank, Dangote Cement and Access Bank were mainly responsible for the loss recorded on Monday. Investors traded 143.52 million shares worth N2.19 billion in 2,139 deals. The first five stocks that drove volume included AIICO (56.8 million), Transcorp (16.0 million), UBA (7.75 million), FBN Holdings (7.64 million) and Fidelity Bank (7.4 million). Analysts at SCM Capital Limited said they expected the market to exhibit another depressed mood the following day. “We expect market to exhibit another depressed mood at tomorrow`s session due to weak volume. However, the current valuation presents an attractive entry opportunities for risk tolerant investors to position ahead of the earnings season,” they had said. In line with the negative outlook, the equity market slumped further on Tuesday with the NSE ASI, depreciating by 0.69 per cent to close at 26,036.24. Losses by Nestle, GTBank, Guinness, Nigerian Breweries and Access Bank accounted for the decline. Consequently, the market closed the first month of 2017 with a decline of 3.12 per cent. The total value of stocks traded on Tuesday N2.76 billion up by 265.5 per cent from N755.89 million of the previous day, while total

volume of stocks traded was 205.77 million in 2,914 deals. The market prolonged the bearish mood on Wednesday with the NSE ASI declining below the 26,000 psychological mark. Specifically, the index closed lower at 25,903.55. Investors’ sentiments remained dampened by weak corporate earnings by some companies. Market operators said investors were being cautious as they await more corporate results for 2016 full year and quarterly performance. Already, Guinness Nigeria Plc, a leading brewing firm had announced a loss of over N4.6 billion for the half year to December 31, 2016. Similarly, Seven-Up Bottling Company Plc, declared a loss of N4.8 billion for the nine months ended December 31, 2016. Forte Oil Plc, which announced its full year results ended December 2016, posted a drop of 50 per cent in profit after tax and did not declare a dividend for the year. “These results are serious concerns for shareholders who are not enthusiastic about increasing demand for stocks for now until positive results begin to come in to the market,” a stock dealer said. In all, only nine stocks appreciated while 25 stocks depreciated on Wednesday led by Forte Oil with 5.0 per cent to close at N67.66 per share. Guinness Nigeria Plc and Unilever Nigeria Plc trailed with a decline of 4.9 per cent apiece. Forte had posted a revenue of N148.6 billion in 2016, up by 19.3 per cent from N124.6 billion

in 2015. However, profit before tax fell by 24 per cent to N5.3 billion, from N7.0 billion, while profit after tax declined by 50 per cent to N2.9 billion, compared with N5.8 billion recorded in 2015.

TOP TEN BROKERS(BY VALUE)

The market gained for the first time on Thursday as the index appreciated by 0.13 to close at 25,936.24 as bargain hunting in banking stocks drove the index northwards. Gains recorded by UBA, GTBank, Guinness, Access

AS AT LAST FRIDAY

BROKER

VALUE % VALUE

STANBIC IBTC STOCKBROKERS LIMITED

2,982,359,879.72

18.92

BESTWORTH ASSETS & TRUST LTD - BRD

1,966,208,572.50

12.47

RENCAPSECURITIES(NIG)LIMITED CHAPEL HILL DENHAM SECURITIES LTD - BRD

1,712,753,787.76 1,041,143,619.42

10.87 6.60

CORDROSSECURITIESLIMITED-BRD

859,798,873.82

5.45

717,848,552.11

4.55

CSL STOCKBROKERS LIMITED A.R.M SECURITIES LIMITED - BRD

584,795,031.06

3.71

EFCP LIMITED

546,893,753.04

3.47

CARDINALSTONESECURITIESLIMITED READINGS INVESTMENTS LIMITED - BDR

TOP TEN BROKERS

(BY VOLUME)

411,438,858.40

2.61

399,254,523.34 11,222,495,451.17

2.53 71.19

AS LAST FRIDAY VOLUME

%VOLUME

CORDROS SECURITIES LIMITED - BRD

412,941,306

17.90

STANBIC IBTC STOCKBROKERS LIMITED

192,590,002

8.35

BROKER

TRUST YIELDS SECURITIES LTD

158,491,304

6.87

IMPERIAL ASSET MANAGERS LIMITED -BRD RENCAP SECURITIES (NIG) LIMITED

148,867,572 129,892,904

6.45 5.63

A.R.MSECURITIESLIMITED-BRD

105,739,186

4.58

MERISTEM STOCKBROKERS LIMITED

104,220,332

4.52

CARDINALSTONE SECURITIES LIMITED

90,063,083

3.90

APT SECURITIES AND FUNDS - BRD

81,550,963

3.54

FUNDVINE CAPITAL & SECURITIES LIMITED

66,391,778

2.88

1,490,748,430

64.62

Market turnover Meanwhile, market turnover stood at total turnover of 1.153 billion shares worth N8.032 billion in 12,783 deals, compared with a total of 990.584 million shares valued at N18.823 billion that exchanged hands the previous week in 14,917 deals. But the Financial Services Industry maintained the number position on the activity chart with 841.221 million shares valued at N3.065 billion traded in 7,102 deals; thus contributing 72.93 per cent and 38.16 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The Services Industry followed with 91.826 million shares worth N139.497 million in 265 deals. The third place was occupied by Industrial Goods Industry with a turnover of 67.010 million shares worth N247.141 million in 510 deals. Trading in the top three equities namely – Continental Reinsurance Plc, FBN Holdings Plc and Med-View Airline Plc accounted for 381.262 million shares worth N788.588 million in 1,008 deals, contributing 33.05 per cent and 9.82 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. Price gainers and losers The price movement chart showed that 23 equities appreciated in price last week, lower than 29 equities of the previous week. Conversely, 37 equities depreciated in price, compared with 30 equities of the previous week, while one 115 equities remained unchanged lower than 116 equities recorded in the preceding week. Caverton led the price gainers with 15.9 per cent, trailed by Lafarge Africa Plc with a gain of 9.8 per cent. Unity Bank Plc appreciated by 8.1 per cent, just as Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc and Seven-Up Bottling Company Plc garnered 4.3 per cent and 3.8 per cent in that order. Other top price gainers included: United Capital Plc (3.2 per cent); May & Baker Nigeria Plc (3.0 per cent); Sterling Bank Plc (2.7 per cent) and Guinness Nigeria Plc (2.4 per cent). Conversely, Forte Oil Plc led the price losers with 15.1 per cent, followed by Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc with 15.0 per cent. UACN Property Development Company Plc went down by 13.8 per cent, while Total Nigeria Plc and Diamond Bank Plc dipped by 10.3 per cent and 10.1 per cent in that order. Nestle Nigeria Plc, Wema Bank Plc and Continental Reinsurance Plc shed 9.3 per cent and 9.0 per cent respectively. Custodian and Allied Plc and UAC of Nigeria closed the week 7.5 per cent and 7.3 per cent lower in that order.

T H I S D AY • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2017

BUSINESSWORLD

INSIDE BROAD STREET

A view of Lagos financial district

AKINWUNMI IBRAHIM

CBN Mops up N391bn through TB Sales Obinna Chima The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sold about N391 billion treasury bills on Friday, lifting the interbank lending rate up to 12 percent. The central bank sold N82 billion in 181-day treasury bills at 18 per cent and N309 billion at 18.6 percent, mopping up liquidity from the money market and pushing up the cost of borrowing among commercial lenders. “We have some major placers quoting about 20 per cent for overnight placement, but most takers are not willing to borrow at that rate,” one dealer told Reuters, adding that the rate eventually settled around between 10 percent and 12 percent. Markets had opened on Thursday with a surplus liquidity of about N467 billion due to an injection of matured treasury bills until the central bank later debited banks for the purchases of N302.4 billion in primary market treasury bills. Traders said the central bank on Friday further moved to reduce liquidity with the sale of open market operations bills, which fetched returns above the inflation rate. The government had raised N302.4 billion at Wednesday’s treasury bills auction, more than the N242 billion planned due to strong demand for the one-year debt, while payment for the purchased was debited from commercial lenders’ accounts on Friday. The naira traded flat at both official interbank window, but parallel market traders quoting the naira at N500 to the dollar. Commercial lenders quoted the currency at 305.25 a dollar, about the level it has traded since August. Forwards Auction The CBN last week sold $660 million in three- and five- month currency forwards at an auction aimed at clearing a backlog of dollar demand. The central bank had at the preceding Wednesday asked commercial lenders to bid in a special currency auction targeted at clearing backlog of dollar obligations of manufacturing, airlines, agriculture and petroleum sector. The results of the auction were announced last Tuesday while payment for the dollar sales was due last Wednesday. This was the first major dollar sales to the key sector by the central bank this year in a bid to spur growth and revive the economy which slipped into recession last year due to currency crisis necessitated by drop in global oil prices. $1 Billion Eurobond The federal government last week met

MARKET INDICATOR investors for its first Eurobond sale in more than three years as Africa’s most populous nation battles an economic contraction and the worst dollar squeeze in almost a decade. This was just as Standard & Poor’s (S&P), a global financial services and ratings company assigned the proposed $1 billion Eurobonds a ‘B’ issue ratings. The agency stated this in a note on the debt issue. Officials last Friday commenced roadshows in London and the U.S. before the proposed issue of 15-year bonds, the country’s longest-maturity dollar notes yet, according to a person familiar with the matter, who is not authorised to speak publicly told Bloomberg. Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun and the central bank’s Deputy Governor Sarah Alade led the meetings, to be organised by Citigroup Inc. and Standard Chartered Plc. The delegation also included Udo Udoma, the budget minister, and Abraham Nwankwo, head of the Debt Management Office. The dates for the roadshow are: London: February 3, Los Angeles: February 6, Boston: February 7 and New York: February 8. Four Skye Bank’s EDs Resign Skye Bank Plc on Friday announced the voluntary resignation of four of its Executive Directors from the services of the bank. The directors who resigned were Mr. Idris Yakubu, Mrs. Markie Idowu, Mrs. Abimbola Izu and Mr. Bayo Sanni. The Directors had served in Executive Management capacity for nearly two years and had been part of the new Board of the Bank, which came into being following the intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria on July 4 2016. In a notification to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) the Group Managing Director of the bank, Mr. Tokunbo Abiru thanked the Executive Directors for their service to the comercial bank, noting that they had contributed immensely to the successful leadership transition which commenced last year. The bank has also announced that “the new development does not in any way affect the smooth running of the bank as it continues to deliver services to its customers across the country. The portfolios of the directors have been assigned to some General Managers to ensure a seamless transition.” Manufacturing Index Declines in January The Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) stood at 48.2 index points in January

2017, indicating a decline in the manufacturing sector during the review period. The index averaged 45.2 in the last twelve months, and had grown in December 2016 after recording declines for 11 consecutive months. The PMI is an indicator of the economic health of the manufacturing sector. The January 2017 PMI report released last week by the central bank showed that 10 of the 16 sub-sectors surveyed recorded decline in the review month in the following order: primary metal; transportation equipment; paper products; electrical equipment; fabricated metal products; printing & related support activities; cement; furniture & related products; plastics & rubber products; and chemical & pharmaceutical products. The remaining six sub-sectors were expected to expand in the order: petroleum & coal products; appliances & components; nonmetallic mineral products; food, beverage & tobacco products; textile, apparel, leather & footwear; and computer & electronic products. Transactions Settlement The CBN last week warned that any authorised dealer that defaults in the settlement of any auction or 2-way quote with the CBN in the financial market would be duly punished. The punishment includes suspension from all auctions as well as from its discount window. The central bank stated this in a circular to all authorised dealers titled: “Amendment of S4 Business Rules and Guidelines,” dated February 1, 2017, that was signed by its Director, Financial Markets Departments, Dr. Alvan Ikoku. Specifically, the amendment was with reference to Section 10.1 of the S4 Business Rules and Guidelines. The directive was with immediate effect. It stated: “Any auction of 2-way quote with the CBN must be settled. If it is on queue, it shall be given highest priority and when it fails to settle, the system shall generate an automatic Intra-day Liquidity Facility (ILF) backed by collateral to settle the transaction. Where there are no securities, the allotment shall be cancelled and the defaulter suspended from all auctions for eight weeks from the date of default. “ILF shall be bought back or converted to Standing Lending Facilities (SLF) by the participant by the close of business day, failing which it shall be automatically converted to SLF at the prevailing SLF rate plus 500 basis points. “If any SLF is not repurchased by the participant bank by the next business day, such participants shall not be eligible to access the discount window until such outstanding obligation is settled in accordance with Section 27 of the Guidelines for the Conduct of Repurchase

Transactions under the CBN Standing Facilities.” Governance and Equitable Growth A new World Bank policy report last week urged developing countries and international development agencies to rethink their approach to governance, as a key to overcoming challenges related to security, growth, and equity. The 2017 World Development Report titled: “Governance and the Law,” explored how unequal distribution of power in a society interferes with policies’ effectiveness. Power asymmetries helped explain, for example, why model anti-corruption laws and agencies often fail to curb corruption, why decentralisation does not always improve municipal services; or why well-crafted fiscal policies may not reduce volatility and generate long-term savings. The report noted that when policies and technical solutions fail to achieve intended outcomes, institutions often take the blame. However, it found that countries and donors need to think more broadly to improve governance so that policies succeed. It defined better governance as the process through which state and non-state groups interact to design and implement policies, working within a set of formal and informal rules that are shaped by power. “As demand for effective service delivery, good infrastructure, and fair institutions continues to rise, it is vital that governments use scarce resources as efficiently and transparently as possible,” World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said. Diaspora Bond The federal government last week asked Goldman Sachs and Stanbic IBTC Bank to advise it on the planned sale of a debut “diaspora bond” targeted at Nigerians living abroad. Africa’s biggest economy first announced plans to sell bonds targeting Nigerian nationals abroad in 2013 to raise about $300 million. Goldman Sachs and Stanbic were due to manage the sale at the time, but the government did not appoint any bookrunners ahead of the election in 2015 that brought President Muhammadu Buhari to power. United Bank for Africa last Monday said the lender had been appointed as one of the bookrunners on the diaspora bond deal. First Bank and Standard Bank were also appointed, a local newspaper reported, quoting the debt office. Nigeria is the world’s fifth-biggest destination for international remittances after China, India, the Philippines and Mexico, with five million Nigerians living abroad sending money back to relatives, according to Western Union. Remittances make up the second-largest source of foreign exchange receipts in Nigeria, after oil revenues.

T H I S D AY • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2017

BUSINESSWORLD

APPOINTMENT / AWARDS

Danbatta Inducted into Oduduwa Students’ Hall of Fame The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Prof Umar Garba Danbatta, has received a merit award of the Icon of Integrity, by the National Association of Oduduwa Students, while the commission got Agent of Communication Development prize. The NCC boss, who was also inducted into the association’s hall of fame, received the awards in his office during a courtesy call by the national leadership of the association in Abuja. Speaking at ceremony, the

president of the association, Comrade Adekunle Michael Adeniyi, said the NCC boss was recognised because of his numerous accomplishment since his appointment as the NCC’s Chief Executive Officer by President Muhammadu Buhari. “You are indeed a golden fish with no hiding place. Your impeccable records, your visionary leadership and qualities are rarely found amidst other public holders in Nigeria,” Adeniyi said. According to him, human capacity and infrastructure

development, deepening broadband penetration, raising the bar of stakeholder engagement, consumer satisfaction policies, especially the introduction of Do Not Disturb option for opting out of unsolicited text messages, among others were stand out achievements of the EVC. Responding, Danbatta who expressed profound appreciation to the association for the recognition, said the awards would motivate the staff of the commission to do more for Nigerians. “The recognition will spur

us on to do more to ensure we deliver on the mandate given to the NCC by the Federal Government as well as satisfying the needs and expectations of Nigerians who subscribe to telecommunications services,” Danbatta observed. Danbatta who said that he was proud to be associated with the name, Oduduwa, the founding father of Yoruba Nation, however, urged the students to pay attention to their studies in order to graduate with flying colours and serve Nigeria in various capacities.

ENHANCING HUMAN CAPACITY

R-L: Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside; Executive Director, Finance & Administration, NIMASA, Mr. Bashir Jamoh and the Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), Dr. Abdulahi Bichi Baffa; during a human capacity development partnership meeting in Abuja...recently

Uyo Wins Coca-Cola, World Economic Forum Global Award The Coca-Cola Company and the World Economic Forum have picked Uyo, capital of Akwa Ibom State, as a 2016 Winner of the Coca-Cola Shaping a Better Future Grant Challenge-a competition that awards acceleration funding to sustain and expand initiatives led by members of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Community. The Uyo Hub of the Global Shapers Community will receive a $10,000 grant for their project, “Education for Sustainable Development”. Their funding from Coca-Cola will accelerate the project’s work to build libraries and educational infrastructure for underprivileged students in Nigeria. Through this project, the Global Shapers seek to correct the negative educational impact on student caused by dilapidated school buildings,

overcrowded classrooms, inadequate instruction, insufficient teacher training, and a shortage of textbooks. To date, the “Education for Sustainable Development” project has increased access to educational materials, resources and facilities for nearly 24,000 students in Nigeria. With their funding from The Coca-Cola Company, the Global Shapers will build three additional libraries. Mmanti Umoh of the Uyo Global Shapers Hub in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, said, “Our hunger for better education in this state should never stop. We need to be focused on enabling Akwa Ibom students to pursue their right to education by eliminating the barriers they face and ensuring that activities and programs are innovative, evidence-based and sustainable. This is the foundation of what

will make Akwa Ibom great and the key ingredient for global competition. Education in Akwa Ibom needs to become better to meet the demands of the global marketplace. We must support our government schools to offer the opportunity to foster innovative environments that allow teachers and students to interact in ways that prepare them for jobs and skills that will be relevant in the future. The students are the stakeholders for a better future, and helping provide them quality education is our collective responsibility.” President, Coca-Cola West Africa,Peter Njonjo, said: “It is exciting to see young people demonstrate active interest and resourcefulness in developing innovative solutions for many of the challenges faced by our communities in Africa. This growing trend of social entrepreneurship

is supported by The Coca-Cola Company in many ways, and I am particularly proud that two Global Shapers Hub in West Africa – Ho, Ghana and Uyo, Nigeria – were selected as 2016 Winners of the Coca-Cola Shaping a Better Future Grant Challenge”.” The Uyo, Nigeria Global Shaper project “Education for Sustainable Development” won the popular vote of members of the Global Shapers Community as a Shaping a Better Future finalist, and was selected as a Winner by a high-level panel of judges comprised of leaders from the public and private sectors. The Coca-Cola Shaping a Better Future Grant Challenge received over 100 project submissions this year from Global Shapers Hubs around the world.

Overland Gets IATA Membership, IOSA Certificates Overland Airways, Nigeria’s frontline airline, has been presented with the Certificate of its Membership of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), and the Certificate of International Air Transport Association (IATA) Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) Registration by IATA. The international aviation organisation lauded Overland Airways’ safety commitment and identified the airline as big league in global airline safety. Overland Airways said it is committed to enhancing customer service and economic development. Overland Airways became a Member of IATA in July 2016, and has since been listed among 268 global airlines that control about 83 percent of global air passenger traffic. Overland Airways said it successfully achieved the IOSA Registration in June 2016 after the rigorous audit process, which further endorsed the airline’s excellent operational safety standards over the past 15 years of its existence. The presentation, which took place recently involved key regional officials of IATA in West Africa and the executives and personnel of Overland Airways. The Accountable Executive and Chief Executive Officer of Overland Airways, Capt. Edward Boyo received the certificates on behalf of Overland Airways from Dr. Samson Fatokun, the Area Manager, South West Africa of IATA. “The joy of a leader is the success of his team. It is a joyful day for us as we are here to receive our IOSA Certificate and IATA membership certificate. The successful audit of our operational safety gives our passengers the assurance that Overland Airways is doing the right thing, which we are more than ever now committed to,”

Boyo said. On the attainment of IATA membership by Overland Airways, Boyo remarked, “We are very proud and pleased to be associated with IATA. Membership of IATA brings further confidence to our customers. We celebrate being a member of IATA, and our goal is to maintain the membership and make an impact in that group. We have to make constant effort as an organisation to grow. To maintain our membership requires working hard, which is one of our core values. The enhanced IOSA is coming up and we have to work hard to achieve that. Membership of IATA is related to IOSA. We have to continue and the sky is not even our limit.” Fatokun states that IOSA is a rigorous requirement for airlines. When an airline passes the IOSA audit, it can be said that it has attained a high level of safety and does not require any other safety audit. IOSA is also in line with (EASA), the European Aviation Safety Agency safety benchmark, and other global safety standards for airlines. He commended Overland Airways’ determination to successfully undergo the audit, which has the same requirements for the world’s biggest airlines, noting that some other airlines which started the process of IOSA audit before Overland Airways, were yet to close gaps identified. “IATA certificate is another milestone that puts you in the premier league of airlines. You should be proud of this achievement,” he said. Fatokun also noted that the IOSA programme undergoes continuous improvement, hence, it requires a lot of work; remarking, however, that when safety becomes a culture sustaining the IOSA standard can be easily achieved.

iSON Group Wins Distinguished Achievement in IT & ITES Recently, iSON Group won the ‘Distinguished Achievement in IT & ITES’ award for the second time consecutively in a star studded corporate award ceremony which held at Le Meridien, New Delhi. Founder and Chairman of iSON Group, Ramesh Awtaney was also conferred with the ‘Entrepreneur of The Year’ award in the individual category during the India-Africa Trade and Investment Forum 2016” organised by ASSOCHAM India Africa in Biz Awards 2016. The award ceremony consisted of a special session “A Spotlight on the emerging opportunities in various regions of Africa” which witnessed two addresses namely “Africa: harnessing the business potential” and “West Africa: capitalising the land of diverse opportunities” delivered by H.E. Mr. Ernest Rwamucyo, High Commissioner, Rwanda High Commission and H.E. Mr. Niankoro Samake, Ambassador, Embassy of the Republic of Mali respectively. The highlight of the ceremony was its valedictory session which was graced by the presence of Shri Ram Kripal Yadav, Minister of State for

Rural Development and Land Resources, Government of India. ASSOCHAM has emerged as the fountain head of knowledge for the Indian ICT industry set to redefine the dynamics of growth and development in this technology driven cyber age. ASSOCHAM is regarded as a forceful, proactive, forward looking institution equipping itself to meet the aspirations of corporate India in the new world of business. The Entrepreneur of The Year’ award is given yearly to an individual who has distinguished himself through outstanding achievements in his field in Africa. This year’s award is iSON’s second consecutive win in recognition of its role in bridging the digital divide across Africa while positioning “Africa” as an on shoring destination. Commenting on the award, Awtaney said, “We are deeply honored to receive both awards. iSON is passionate about driving and expanding the IT industry not just in India but all across our footprints around the world. To be recognized by one of the most influential institutions in India is a rewarding achievement to us.”

T H I S D AY MONDAY FEBRUARY 6, 2017

T H I S D AY • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2017

BUSINESSWORLD

NEWS

Arms Seizure: Bala Usman Applauds Customs, Pledges Collaboration Eromosele Abiodun The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Ms. Hadiza Bala Usman has commended the Comptroller General of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Col Hameed Ali (rtd.), officers and men of the service for arresting three men identified as Mr. Oscar Okafor, Mahmud Hassan and Sadique Mustapha who unlawfully importation of 49 boxes containing a total number of 661 pieces of pump action rifles concealed in a container of steel doors and other merchandise goods. She said Ali has, since his appointment as the Comptroller General of the NCS, proven that professionalism and accountability can be brought to bear in any government institution. Bala Usman called on all Nigerians to join hands with the federal government and its agencies towards ensuring

that the nation’s borders are well policed to avoid the influx of arms that will end up in the hands of terrorists, armed robbers and kidnappers. She urged the public to volunteer useful information that will lead to the arrest and prosecution of importers who wants to abuse the system and import harmful products into the country. The NPA boss added that she is committed to her pledged to collaborate with the NCS to introduce the much-awaited Single Window (SW) platform at the ports. Balla Usman said the two agencies have embarked on the establishment of SW through an intense automation and introduction of Standard Operative Procedure (SOP) at ports. According to her, the adoption of SW would make Nigeria’s ports competitive in the international trade network

and boost the trade facilitation programme of the government. She added that the synergy on SW would boost government revenue and promote Public Private Participation (PPP) through the attraction of local and foreign direct investment (FDI). Government, she also said, was aware of its responsibilities to create the enabling business environment to realise the objective. The federal government, Usman added, was determined to make the ports efficient, safe, secure, productive and Ecofriendly practices of its operations be it logistic or financial base. NPA and customs, she said, were the two arrow head agencies driving the logistic and financial portals on behalf of the government and that the duo have the responsibility to synergise and build up a common industry culture around the ports to achieving the right

Ambode Commends Glo’s Support for One Lagos Fiesta Emma Okonji

level in trade facilitation. “The goal of trade facilitation is to help trade across borders, import and export faster, cheaper and more predictable while ensuring its safety and security. Trade facilitation focuses on simplifying and harmonizing formalities, procedures and the related exchange of information and documents between the various partners in a supply chain. Transparency, simplification, harmonization and standardisation of port operations, she added, could only be achieved by embarking on the establishment of a well articulated single window system,” she said. She added: “I would therefore, urge us not to lose track as well as relentless commitment as to meet the target of Nigeria joining 20 other countries to be in the forefront of implementing an efficient, effective and sustainable single window in 2020.”

Globacom’s support for the One Lagos Fiesta for the second straight year has earned the commendation of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s of Lagos State. Globacom was the exclusive telecommunications partner of the event, which was held from December 24 to 31, 2016. The government said in a letter to the company signed by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Lagos, Jamiu Adewale Ashimi, that it appreciated the telecom company for lending its support to the innovative programme. “We are happy to report, based on the feedback received so far, that the fiesta has been a remarkable success with wide acceptance amongst the populace. The fiesta also attracted visitors from neighbouring states and countries,” the state government said. It expressed the hope that

Globacom would continue to be a leader in the nation’s telecommunications space. “Once again, we thank you immensely for believing in this programme and getting involved with your time and resources and we hope the programme will continue to offer you the platform to amplify, brand and leverage on subsequent editions to the fullest”, the letter concluded. Apart from sponsoring the Fiesta, Globacom ensured it was a fun-filled event through erection of colourful stands at all the five centres, including Victoria Island, Agege, Ikorodu, Epe and Badagry, and equipping them with various recreation facilities for the enjoyment of thousands of entertainment lovers. The grand finale at Bar Beach, Lagos, featured many of Nigeria’s foremost musicians including popular rapper and Globacom brand ambassador, MI.

Brazil - Based Firm, Partners Nigerian Company to Provide Air Shuttle to OICs Chinedu Eze Despite the present lull in oil and gas sector, providers of air services to the industry see a growing market in the near future and this has attracted Brazil - based Omni Helicopters International S.A. into Nigeria. Omni, which is the parent of Brazil’s leading offshore aviation specialist Omin Taxi Aereo S.A. (OTA) is partnering the Nigerian firm, Omni Blu Aviation Ltd, the independent provider of aviation services in Nigeria and they have announced alliance to launch, promote and develop Omni Helicopters Nigeria, (OHN). According to the Managing Director of Omni Blu Aviation, Captain Sunny Adegbuyi, OHN will make use of OHI’s technical expertise, access to aircraft and track record in safety and operating performance, as well as Omni Blu’s local capabilities and strong service reputation. Adegbuyi said the joint venture crafted to meet the more demanding OGP standards in offshore aviation as well as local content requirements in Nigeria, aims to create a solid source of

safe and reliable service for the Nigerian oil and gas market. He said the strategic alliance between OHI and Omi-Blu would help requalify Nigerian offshore aviation by accessing resources that would lead to the introduction of new aircraft technologies and safety systems that would boost investments, training and formation. This is expected to benefit the broader Nigerian aviation sector and impact the overall economy by elevating the local capabilities and promoting increased employment, professional development and sustainable competition. Adegbuyi said: “The alliance is great news for Nigeria and a welcome development for our economy, the aviation sector and the oil and gas sectors. “At least 70percent of the company’s workforce will be Nigerians. At the time when aviation companies are divesting and pulling out of the industry, OHI has demonstrated its faith and confidence in the aviation policy of the present administration, carefully crafted and piloted by Hadi Sirika, the Minister of State,

Aviation and endorsed by the president. “We are delighted to partner with one of the world’s best helicopter operators at a critical time for Nigerian offshore aviation. We aim to meet the rising demands of this market with unique balance of operational strengths and local content,” Adegbuyi added. “We are excited to join forces with Omni Blu in the development of safe and reliable offshore aviation market in Nigeria. The current situation in Nigeria is similar to the environment we found in Brazil in 2006, when tightening regulations and substantially upgraded demands from oil and gas clients offered opportunities to new entrants. “We succeeded by transferring know-how, granting access to assets and empowering local excellence. We are familiar with Nigeria, having operated there in the past, and understand the standards of oil and gas clients, having services many of these clients in Brazil already,” Rui Almeida, founder of OHI said.

Valentine’s Day: Air Peace Slashes Fares to N16,000 Air Peace has announced a discount scheme for its customers to travel with tickets as low as N16, 532 on all routes. A statement signed by its Corporate Communications Manager, Mr. Chris Iwarah said the cut in airfare was the carrier’s Valentine’s Day special gift to its customers and other air travellers. The tickets, Air Peace added, were valid for all its domestic routes and for travelling throughout February. The airline said: “We greatly value our loyal customers who have continued to demonstrate absolute belief in our capacity to

deliver the best flight experience in Nigeria and beyond. Our esteemed customers have been there all the way and we are thrilled to be the beneficiaries of such a great show of love and trust. “Over the last two years of our operations, our valued customers’ support has been the biggest enabler of our massive growth, success and vision to be the world’s best airline out of Africa and deliver nothing but the best in comfort, safety and affordability. “For our part, we will continue to look out for ways to compensate our wonderful

customers for their generous show of love, which has seen us expand with surprising speed. And we thought Valentine’s Day was one of the greatest opportunities to express how appreciative we are of the sincere love we have continued to receive from our esteemed customers. The airline assured that throughout this Valentine’s season, all its customers would have the opportunity of flying with the airline for fares as low as N16,532. “The one-way tickets are valid for use throughout February,” the airline also said.

RC:

NOTICE

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639

MEETING

3302

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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2017 • T H I S D AY

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

Rice Grower Steps Up Production as Local Demand Grows Obinna Chima If there were still doubts about the fact that there has been a significant increase in the volume of rice produced in the country in recent years, the impressive number of bags of made-in-Nigeria rice that were in the market during the last Yuletide season would certainly have dispelled them. This was due to increased demand for the commodity by Nigerians. The demand was said to be fuelled by growing awareness among Nigerians that the locally-produced rice is much more nutritious than the imported variety especially given that many of the country’s leading rice millers now process paddy rice as proficiently as their foreign counterparts. Also, the development, according to a statement, was attributed to massive investment in the production of the staple food by Olam Nigeria Limited, one of the leading agri-business firm. Another factor driving local demand, the report also pointed out was the campaign by the federal government, through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as well as the state governments, to encourage local production in the face of dwindling oil revenue. “Although there are several companies now involved in rice production in the country, there is no doubt that Olam’s pioneering role in this aspect of the agric sector is responsible for

the impressive volume of rice currently produced in Nigeria. Specifically, the company set up a multi-million dollar integrated rice mill in Nasarawa State, North-central Nigeria, fitted with the capacity to produce about 65,000 metric tonnes of milled rice per annum,” the statement added. Olam’s Managing Director for Africa and Middle East, Venkataramani Srivathsan, had Olam planned to increase acreage in Nasarawa to 10,000 hectares. “This will bring Olam’s total investment in the integrated farm and milling facility to over $111 million,” he said. He also noted that the mill demonstrated how large-scale commercial farms can work hand in hand with small-holders to boost Nigeria’s agric sector, generating rural prosperity through local processing. Also in his remarks, Olam Nigeria Country Head, Mukul Mathur expressed the company’s pride to have been part of Nigeria’s development of its export chains, noting that the Singapore-headquartered firm was the first to export sesame from Nigeria. “…we hope that the success of our rice model will kick-start domestic production in a similar manner, unlocking the opportunity for businesses and smallholders alike, and reducing Nigeria’s need to import 1.9 million tonnes of rice each year,” Mathur said. Olam, which was one of

the few big global players that saw the opportunity in the Nigerian rice market, had developed an innovative approach to rice production. Its model, according to the report, combines a commercial farm with a programme that works with nearby farmers, called out-growers, allowing Olam greater control over its product while still leaving room to foster and train local small-scale farmers in rice production. “With the use of aircraft to plant rice, apply fertiliser, insecticides, herbicides and bird control, together with nine giant tractors for land preparation and 11 combined harvesters for harvesting and threshing rice, the company is currently developing a 10,000-hectare, fully-mechanised and irrigated paddy farm at Rukubi, Doma Local Government Area of Nasarawa State. “ The farm is expected to yield 10 metric tonnes per hectare (average yield of local farmers is 2 – 4MT) in two annual crop cycles, based on four varieties of high-yield rice tested with the West African Rice Development Association, which are FARO 44, FARO 52, L34 and L19, all developed and released by Africa Rice. 4,400 hectares are already under cultivation, with a further 2,000 hectares on target for 2018, recording, for now, six tonnes per hectare. Up to 1,000 workers are employed on the farm depending on the season.

FCMB Raises N5.1bn Via Bond Sales First City Monument Bank Limited (FCMB) has sold N5.1 billion bonds, less than it originally planned to raise, at an interest rate coupon of 17.25 percent, its advisers said on Friday. The seven-year bond was issued by way of a book-building with Standard Chartered Bank, local investment bank Chapel Hill Denham and FCMB Capital Markets as book runners. The offer was fully subscribed, they said in a statement. Several Nigerian lenders will likely raise fresh capital this year or sell some assets to boost capital ratios, after low oil prices created dollar shortages and weakened the naira leading to a pile-up of

non-performing loans, Reuters stated. Last November FCMB said it wanted to raise funds to strengthen its capital base but it halved the amount it planned to raise to 7.5 billion naira in debt after announcing a bond sale of up to 15 billion naira three months earlier. Last year the lender closed some branches and slowed loan growth to conserve its capital, which was close to the regulatory limit of 15 percent of assets at mid-year. Chief Executive Ladi Balogun said then it was undertaking the capital raising to provide an additional cushion. He had said the bank was also slowing down loan growth,

adding that a rate of increase of 14.8 per cent in the first half was largely due to the drop in the value of the naira against the dollar since the dollar exchange rate peg was removed in June last year. Otherwise loans declined by 1.9 per cent, said Balogun. He said the cash raised would be targeted at retail because “we feel that the rates from institutions will be high.” “We have interest from some depositors who want higher yields.” Balogun had also said the bank would also retain profits in addition to the bond sale to boost capital and tap into buffers at its holding company, if necessary.

Fidelity Bank Promotes Export Businesses Fidelity Bank Plc has restated its commitment to promote and catalyse export businesses in Nigeria with the fourth stream of the Export Management Programme (EMP) scheduled to hold at the Lagos Business School (LBS) this month. The Export Management Program (EMP) is the off-shoot of the collaborative efforts between the bank, LBS and the Mr. Segun Awolowo - led Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC). It was designed to provide impactful, training needed to improve the competitiveness of Nigerian enterprises, particular exportoriented businesses and the associated value players in the global market. Three streams, according to a

statement at the weekend, have held since August 2016 when the program was launched. Speaking about the EMP, Fidelity Bank CEO, Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo said: “We are doing the tough job of financing SMEs in Nigeria. A sizeable number have export potentials. It was therefore a natural fit for us to partner with the LBS and the NEPC to make this capacity building initiative happen. A well-diversified Nigerian economy is germane to economic growth and development. When the economy grows, businesses flourish and banking thrives better. It’s a win-win for all.” Recent developments in the global energy market and local oil and gas industry have

heightened the need for Nigeria to diversify its economy away from crude oil. Exporting of non-oil commodities and finished products will not only improve Nigeria’s foreign exchange revenue profile but will also help drive employment generation, sustainable poverty reduction and internally generated revenue both at the state and federal levels. Given the above scenario it is imperative for an exporter or intending one to understand that the rudiments and intricacies of export businesses are getting more challenging, especially given that global competition has become more intensified in terms of quality, price, supply chain management and dependability of delivery systems.

Rice farm

MARKET INDICATORS MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

(MILLION NAIRA)

OCTOBER 2016 Broad Money (M2)

22,275,512.54

-- Narrow Money (M1)

10,023,616.69

---- Currency Outside Banks

1,521,797.77

---- Demand Deposits

8,501,818.92

-- Quasi Money

12,251,895.85

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

7,612,243.68

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

14,654,268.86

-- Net Domestic Credit (NDC)

26,774,684.47

---- Credit to Government (Net)

3,705,049.41

---- Memo: Credit to Govt. (Net) less FMA

6,242,932.95

---- Memo: Fed. and Mirror Accounts (FMA)

-2,537,883.55

---- Credit to Private Sector (CPS)

23,069,635.07

--Other Assets Net

-12,120,415.62

Reserve Money (Base Money)

6,580,594.55

--Currency in Circulation

1,825,664.51

--Banks Reserves

4,415,126.62 •

MANAGED FUNDS Month

December 2016

Inter-Bank Call Rate

10.39

Minimum Rediscount Rate (MRR) Monetary Policy Rate (MPR)

14.00

Treasury Bill Rate

13.96

Savings Deposit Rate

4.18

1 Month Deposit Rate

8.53

3 Months Deposit Rate

8.80

6 Months Deposit Rate

10.23

12 Months Deposit Rate

10.76

Prime Lending rate

17.09

Maximum Lending Rate

28.55 •

OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE AS AT 2 FEBRUARY 2017 The price of OPEC basket of thirteen crudes stood at $53.92 a barrel on Thursday, compared with $52.76 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations. The new OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Oriente (Ecuador), Rabi Light (Gabon), Minas (Indonesia), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Qatar Marine (Qatar), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela). SOURCE: OPEC headquarters, Vienna

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2017 • T H I S D AY

MARKET NEWS

Neimeth Returns to Profitability, Recommends Bonus Issue Goddy Egene and Nosa Alekhuogie Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc has bounced back to profitability, recording a profit after tax of N65 million for the year ended September 30, 2016, compared with a loss of N335.684 million in 2015. Neimeth has had a rough patch in recent times follow-

ing the challenging operating environment. However, the Chairman of the company, Dr. ABC Orjiako, had at the company’s last annual general meeting (AGM),announced plans to overhaul the corporate structure of the company in such a way that it will refocus it for a meaningful and sustainable growth. Going by the 2016 perfor-

T H E

mance of the company, the restructuring efforts have started to yield fruits as the company has returned to profitability for the full year. Turnover rose from N1.461 billion in 2015 to N2.002 billion in 2016, showing an increase of 36 per cent. Gross profit grew from N684.6 million to N1.225 billion, while administrative expenses reduced from N600

N I G E R I A N

million to N527 million. The company also reduced finance costs from N92 million to N89.6 million in 2016. The company ended with profit of N95.361 million compared with N315.77 million lost in 2015. Explaining the impressive performance, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Ebere Igboko-Ekpunobi, who is the first female CEO of the

STO C K

company, said it is a fallout from the company’s three strategic imperatives anchoring on a short term transformation, cost reduction and optimising efficiency. According to her, the company employed three strategic imperatives to anchor its transformation in short -term. They are: revitalise sales and generate more revenue,

E XC H A N G E

reduce costs and optinmise efficiency and transform the organisational culture towards a new Neimeth. She said cost of sale was 38 per cent of sales, enabling a 62 per cent production margin, which exceed the budget expectation of 56 per cent as a proportion of sales and last year’s performance of 47 per cent production margin.

AY, FEBRUARY 6, 2017 • T H I S D AY

MARKET NEWS

InfoTech Empowers Brokerage Industry, Holds Seminar on MARLIN Goddy Egene Operators in the Nigerian capital markets will soon experience improvement in their business efficiency as InfoTech Group, a globally renowned company for wide range of software solutions for financial markets introduces its latest product called MARLIN to the market. Info Tech Group tomorrow, February 7, 2017, host an informative seminar on MARLIN for Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE)’s member

dealers between 2.30 pm and 4.30 pm at the NSE premises in Lagos. MARLIN is a brokerage industry-specific Cloud platform, which has been architected to provide rapid provisioning of high end financial applications for emerging economies to boost their business efficiency. It enables brokerage houses to improve business efficiency by levering on fully managed technology service. The company said MARLIN is an innovative and feature rich application that automate the

A Mutual fund (Unit Trust) is an investment vehicle managed by a SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) registered Fund Manager. Investors with similar objectives buy units of the Fund so that the Fund Manager can buy securities that willl generate their desired return. An ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) is a type of fund which owns the assets (shares of stock, bonds, oil futures, gold bars, foreign currency, etc.) and divides ownership of those assets into shares. Investors can buy these ‘shares’ on the

entire process and workflow of all brokerage firms. “Regarding the seminar, our aim is to address complex professional needs immediately with cutting edge technology that is relevant to addressing end user concerns and help improve efficiency and transparency,” a representative of the company said in a statement. The company said that it intends to make recommendations to brokerage firms based on its vast working experience in African markets. They expect decision makers,

floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange. A REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) is an investment vehicle that allows both small and large investors to part-own real estate ventures (eg. Offices, Houses, Hospitals) in proportion to their investments. The assets are divided into shares that are traded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. GUIDE TO DATA: Date: All fund prices are quoted in Naira as at 02-Feb-2017, unless otherwise stated.

technology leaders and custodian to be at the seminar. The company’s global presence in multiple continents – Asia, Africa, Europe, and Middle East– empowers it for strong delivery channels and post implementation support regionally. “Our solutions for financial markets provide a unique blend of technology, domain, and methodology expertise to deliver cutting edge results at rapid speed and low delivery risk. We exploit our financial understanding to create tangible value for customers

in terms of strategy as well as implementation. We specialise in designing solutions for financial markets by leveraging technology of award winning MARLIN and Capizar,” the representative said. The company has solutions for brokers and traders in the capital markets ecosytem The company’s aim is to allow operators to concentrate on their core business strategies and processes, while leaving it to handle the technological front. For instance, InfoTech Group’s order management system is a

multi-channel and multi-currency system for brokers. It extends direct market access to institutional and retail investment community through innovative channels with a great degree of control through embedded pre-trade risk management systems. Also, its back office system automates the entire business process and workflows of brokerage firms. It offers numerous business advantages such as increased efficiency, better risk management, low cost and ability to manage trade cycle from order to settlement through one system.

Offer price: The price at which units of a trust or ETF are bought by investors. Bid Price: The price at which Investors redeem (sell) units of a trust or ETF. Yield/Total Return: Denotes the total return an investor would have earned on his investment. Money Market Funds report Yield while others report Year- to-date Total Return. NAV: Is value per share of the real estate assets held by a REIT on a specific date.

DAILY PRICE LIST FOR MUTUAL FUNDS, REITS and ETFS MUTUAL FUNDS / UNIT TRUSTS AFRINVEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD aaml@afrinvest.com Web: www.afrinvest.com; Tel: +234 1 270 1680 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Afrinvest Equity Fund 128.03 128.10 0.64% Nigeria International Debt Fund 218.09 218.23 1.19% ALTERNATIVE CAPITAL PARTNERS LTD info@acapng.com Web: www.acapng.com, Tel: +234 1 291 2406, +234 1 291 2868 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ACAP Canary Growth Fund 0.69 0.70 -0.91% AIICO CAPITAL LTD ammf@aiicocapital.com Web: www.aiicocapital.com, Tel: +234-1-2792974 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AIICO Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 17.60% ARM INVESTMENT MANAGERS LTD enquiries@arminvestmentcenter.com Web: www.arm.com.ng; Tel: 0700 CALLARM (0700 225 5276) Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn ARM Aggressive Growth Fund 12.31 12.68 -0.29% ARM Discovery Fund 287.15 295.80 -0.01% ARM Ethical Fund 22.16 22.83 -0.81% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 17.12% AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED investmentcare@axamansard.com Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund 106.29 107.04 1.15% AXA Mansard Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 16.97% CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Nigeria Global Investment Fund 2.15 2.21 -0.91% Paramount Equity Fund 9.40 9.64 0.42% Women's Investment Fund 84.78 86.95 0.22% CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web: www.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 18.32% FBN CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD invest@fbnquest.com Web: www.fbnquest.com; Tel: +234-81 0082 0082 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn FBN Fixed Income Fund 1,101.18 1,102.40 0.99% FBN Heritage Fund 110.59 111.34 -0.89% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 15.60% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Institutional $104.12 $104.36 -0.14% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail $104.90 $105.13 1.29% FBN Nigeria Smart Beta Equity Fund 113.13 114.59 0.40% FIRST CITY ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD fcamhelpdesk@fcmb.com Web: www.fcamltd.com; Tel: +234 1 462 2596 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Legacy Equity Fund 0.95 0.96 1.60% Legacy Short Maturity (NGN) Fund 2.60 2.60 1.29% FSDH ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD coralfunds@fsdhgroup.com Web: www.fsdhaml.com; Tel: 01-270 4884-5; 01-280 9740-1 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coral Growth Fund 2,193.12 2,218.60 -0.73% Coral Income Fund 2,138.90 2,138.90 1.65% INVESTMENT ONE FUNDS MANAGEMENT LTD enquiries@investment-one.com Web: www.investment-one.com; Tel: +234 812 992 1045,+234 1 448 8888 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Abacus Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 16.55% Vantage Balanced Fund 1.69 1.70 0.37% Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 15.55%

LOTUS CAPITAL LTD fincon@lotuscapitallimited.com Web: www.lotuscapitallimited.com; Tel: +234 1-291 4626 / +234 1-291 4624 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Lotus Halal Investment Fund 1.00 1.02 0.61% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,021.39 1,021.39 0.97% MERISTEM WEALTH MANAGEMENT LTD info@meristemwealth.com Web: www.meristemwealth.com ; Tel: +234 1-4488260 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Meristem Equity Market Fund 9.67 9.75 0.07% Meristem Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 14.70% PAC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD info@pacassetmanagement.com Web: www.pacassetmanagement.com/mutualfunds; Tel: +234 1 271 8632 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn PACAM Balanced Fund 1.06 1.08 0.66% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 10.40 10.43 -0.10% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 16.21% SCM CAPITAL LIMITED info@scmcapitalng.com Web: www.scmcapitalng.com; Tel: +234 1-280 2226,+234 1- 280 2227 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SCM Capital Frontier Fund 110.92 111.81 2.49% SFS CAPITAL NIGERIA LTD investments@sfsnigeria.com Web: www.sfsnigeria.com, Tel: +234 (01) 2801400 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn SFS Fixed Income Fund 1.26 1.26 0.88% STANBIC IBTC ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD assetmanagement@stanbicibtc.com Web: www.stanbicibtcassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 280 1266; 0700 MUTUALFUNDS Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Stanbic IBTC Balanced Fund 1,813.52 1,822.90 -0.99% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 152.56 152.56 -0.91% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 0.76 0.77 -0.65% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 188.06 188.06 0.63% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 129.44 131.18 -0.28% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 17.48% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 7,356.28 7,447.63 -2.96% UNITED CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD unitedcapitalplcgroup.com Web: www.unitedcapitalplcgroup.com; Tel: +234 803 306 2887 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn United Capital Balanced Fund 1.14 1.15 8.23% United Capital Bond Fund 1.24 1.24 14.93% United Capital Equity Fund 0.66 0.67 4.21% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 13.00% ZENITH ASSETS MANAGEMENT LTD info@zenith-funds.com Web: www.zenith-funds.com; Tel: +234 1-2784219 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Zenith Equity Fund 9.78 9.95 1.56% Zenith Ethical Fund 11.20 11.31 2.64% Zenith Income Fund 16.95 16.95 2.58%

REITS

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

11.41 124.10

1.01% 0.10%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

8.13 72.94

8.23 74.31

-7.36% -3.75%

Fund Name FSDH UPDC Real Estate Investment Fund SFS Skye Shelter Fund

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS

Fund Name Lotus Halal Equity Exchange Traded Fund Stanbic IBTC ETF 30 Fund

VETIVA FUND MANAGERS LTD Web: www.vetiva.com; Tel: +234 1 453 0697

Fund Name Vetiva Banking Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva Consumer Goods Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva Griffin 30 Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva Industrial Goods Exchange Traded Fund Vetiva S&P Nigeria Sovereign Bond Exchange Traded Fund

funds@vetiva.com Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

2.40 5.36 11.57 14.44 125.86

2.44 5.44 11.67 14.64 127.86

-12.50% -23.62% -3.52% -9.41% -3.07%

The value of investments and the income from them may fall as well as rise. Past performance is a guide and not an indication of future returns. Fund prices published in this edition are also available on each fund manager’s website and FMAN’s website at www.fman.com.ng. Fund prices are supplied by the operator of the relevant fund and are published for information purposes only.

T H I S D AY MONDAY FEBRUARY 6, 2017

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2017 • T H I S D AY

CITYSTRINGS

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

Creating Wealth from Waste Kuni Tyessi looks at some of the ways Nigerians can convert waste to wealth, as practised in the American University of Nigeria

Products produced from waste at the American University of Nigeria

ost foreigners have complained that after so much talk, especially in the media that Nigeria is the giant of Africa and the most populous black nation on earth, it is most unfortunate that the first monumental thing they observe is the heap of refuse and filth that seem to surround the whole place. This invariably changes the notion already given and many a visitor begins to wonder how the status of being giant came into place. Besides, the population which has risen over the years to approximately 170 million today, it is said to be one of the countries whose population doubles every 15 years. Arguably, Nigeria in the next 15 years will be the fifth most populous nation in the world after China, India, America and Indonesia. While there is strength in numbers, how it is used and where it is channeled to, is of paramount importance. However, physical and numerical strength will not achieve so much if the people’s creative and mental strength to transform their wastes into useful and valuable resources are lacking. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has always come to the rescue in assisting developing countries in areas of sanitation, waste disposal and many others. It has this time around made a clarion call to NGOs in the areas of disposing e-waste as it poses great dangers to the health of not just those close by but also those far away as it is known to diffuse into the atmosphere. An excursion to American University Nigeria (AUN), one of Africa’s fast growing institutions will prove that Nigeria is the most blessed of all the world’s countries. For while the country has almost everything to move forward, it is lacking in the drive and will-power to get things done.

Who could have thought that plastics, sand and laterite can produce a bullet-proof wall with durability of 200 years? Who could have thought that a polythene bag should not be discarded which is the usual practice, as it can be washed, dried, cut into shreds to serve as threads and later used to make key-holders, mats, bags, baskets, artworks and many others with the use of gifted hands, powerful imagination and creativity and crochet? How many companies and industries have thought of converting the residue of palm oil and other kitchen oils into fuel which can be used by so many machines? The list is just endless with what Nigerians stand to achieve when the culture of recycling is properly put into place and with enabling laws to bring it to fruition. It will not be too much if incentives are given at the initial stage in order to serve as encouragement, as the typical Nigerian believes in things that are free. A weekend at the AUN was inspiring after coming in contact with women who used to be full-time house wives with no means of livelihood, even in the form of petty-trading. Coming to AUN to learn the art of knitting

Whenever my husband or anyone brings things to the house, I quickly remove the items from the polythene bags and wash and dry them after which I knit them and make my money

with the use of polythene bags did not only liberate them from the shackles of poverty. It doubled their value in the home-front and in the sight of a class-filled society. One of the beneficiaries of the training and also an expert in the recycling of polythene bags, Amina Yahaya, said “The trade captivated me after I saw it and how it is made and because of that, I decided to learn. When I make anything from the materials, the school helps in selling them for me and I get my money. I will encourage women who are full time house wives to come and learn the craft. They shouldn’t think we are coming here to waste our time. No, we are learning a lot and making something good out of our lives. Sometimes I make N4,000 or N5,000 and sometimes I make as much as N9,000 or even N10,000. It helps a lot and so I’m calling on fellow women who have nothing to do to come out in their numbers and learn trades. Let us make use of our hands to improve ourselves and the conditions of our families. Honestly, I have learnt so much. The materials include polythene bags,and they can be of different colours and a crochet. “For the materials, we can get some of them in markets and sometime we pick them from the ground as there is nothing that can be called waste. You can even send little children to pick them for you, thereby engaging their minds and energies into useful adventures.” "After gathering them, we wash them with Omo detergent or any kind of detergent so that they can be clean and fit for use. After washing, they are dried on cloth lines and pegged so that they don’t fly away. “At this juncture, it is important to note that the women are emphasising that nothing is useless as there is always something a supposedly useless object or material can be used for.

“Whenever my husband or anyone brings things to the house, I quickly remove the items from the polythene bags and wash and dry them after which I knit them and make my money. “Money is not needed as capital in this form of business as you can even tell your neighbours to gather their used polythene bags for you. Creativity and time takes the place of finance and can be referred to as using what you have to get what you want: which is money. “I expect that as a woman, when your fellow woman is always asking you for polythene bags, you should come close to see what she uses them for. Ask questions and crave the desire to learn. For the ones that have been taught, cultivate the habit of coming close to them and learn also. “Everybody in this vicinity knows about this recycling and or handwork and I’m so thankful to God Almighty for the opportunity to learn the trade and I’m equally praying for long life so that I can do more. We have stopped fighting with our husbands. These days we buy meat, soups and other items for home use. The trade has lessened the upheavals in our families. “I remember when we started, we will walk some distance to get to AUN and at that time, our children and grand children were laughing at us. It seemed like a useless venture but it is paying us today. “You don’t have to be educated to learn a trade as not all of us can go to school and this is by divine providence. With enlightenment and the knowledge to use your hands and time wisely, you will be able to eat and will also be able to cater for your basic needs.” THISDAY also discovered that even waste from the shops of tailors can be converted into making beautiful carpets and centre rugs as well as art works that can be placed on walls, dinning and centre tables and shawls.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2017 • T H I S D AY

PERSPECTIVE

Lagos and the Open Graves No One is Talking About Philip Amiola writes that the Lagos State Government should pay more attention to issues pertaining to health, safety and environment

A typical street gutter in Lagos

s a dewy-eyed boy growing up in the tranquil town of Ile-Ife, Osun state, I felt nothing but pity for the people who have willfully subjected themselves to the throes of living in a big city like Lagos when they could have had a much better quality of life in their village or perhaps a nearby town. Why would anyone endure the notorious gridlocks, high population density and other challenges that are peculiar to Lagos? I simply couldn’t understand. “I can’t live in Lagos,” I would often say, without even thinking about it. I could live in Ibadan, Jos or even Kaduna but Lagos? No way! Then came National Youth Service and I was posted to Anambra State where in the course of my primary assignment I stumbled upon my dream job at the time and alas, the company was in Lagos! After an unsuccessful attempt to initiate a remote work arrangement so I could work as a freelancer from Ile-Ife, I took up full-time employment with the company and relocated to Lagos. That was in September 2012. It didn’t take me long to realise that Lagos is not just a centre of excellence; it is the centre of excellence. In a way that no other city or state does, Lagos

represents the broad spectrum of the multifaceted entity called Nigeria. Little wonder the state is bursting at the seams with a continuous influx of people from everywhere. Lagos has remained ever attractive to job seekers, businesspeople, foreign investors and virtually all ambitious Nigerians seeking to improve their lot. Among other impressive things about Lagos, I am especially delighted at the speed with which the state’s emergency service responds to distress calls from ordinary people. I have had to make a few such calls, the latest being on December 1, 2016 when my brother and his fiancée (as she was then) were involved in a fatal road accident just outside Lagos. By the time we got to the scene of the incident around OPIC, after Berger, not less than four agencies were already on ground to rescue the victims and take them to the well-equipped Accident and Emergency Centre between Alausa and Ojota. That might not be a big deal in saner climes but in a nation like ours where very few states have a functional emergency response system, Lagos should be commended for setting the pace. Coupled with the impetus provided by a forward-thinking and responsive

government, one factor that has facilitated the development of Lagos is a prevailing attitude that does not put the entire burden of growth on the central administration at the state or local government levels but shares it with the body politic through private sector partnership and community development associations (CDAs). It is not unusual to see communities building their own roads, providing streetlights and executing capital/ labour intensive projects towards improving their living conditions. What baffles me however is how government and CDAs pay attention to apparently huge problems while totally losing sight of seemingly small, yet very important issues especially as regards health, safety and environment. One that I want to particularly highlight in this piece is the menace of uncovered drains and gutters. On December 17, 2015, my colleague and I were returning from a business meeting in Ikeja GRA when we saw a motorcyclist lose consciousness and plunged into the wide drain that ran alongside the road. Apart from the physical impact which is enough to knock out anyone, the microbial load in that gutter is lethal. Good Samaritans gathered to get the victim out and give

him the little help they could while my colleague and I called 767. The Lagos State Emergency Service responded swiftly but whether the man survived is left to be determined. And that's only one of several such instances. I have personally witnessed for which could have turned fatal to various degrees. The very first one would have been tragic for me as I jogged excitedly to the e-branch of Guaranty Trust Bank along CMD Road to withdraw my transitional stipend so I could take care of basic needs before receiving my first salary. The JJC that I was, little did I know that the pavement on which I was running was actually a huge drain that was only partly covered. It was late in the evening and no one would have discovered me if I had not been providentially held back right at the edge of the last concrete slab that separated me from certain death. I still tremble each time I remember the incident. But not everyone would be so fortunate; hence my decision to write this piece in the hope of getting the message across to the right quarters. It's a terrible thing to have people die needlessly or suffer permanent disability simply because we are not careful to keep our environment reasonably safe. .Amiola wrote from Lagos

T H I S D AY MONDAY FEBRUARY 6, 2017

MONDAY FEBRUARY 6 , 2017 T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY MONDAY FEBRUARY 6, 2017

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T H I S D AY MONDAY FEBRUARY 6, 2017

MONDAY FEBRUARY 6 2017 • T H I S D AY

INTERNATIONAL

email:foreigndesk@thisdaylive.com

Travellers Rush to Board US Flights While Trump Ban Blocked Travellers from seven mainly Muslim countries affected by the initial immigration order by President Donald Trump have started rushing to board U.S. flights, Reuters report Sunday. This is sequel to a U.S. Appeal Court judgment which halted the execution of the order from President Donald Trump barring citizens from those countries and temporarily banning refugees. The court ruling dealt a further setback to Trump, who has denounced the judge in the state of Washington who blocked his executive order on Friday. In tweets and comments to reporters, the president had insisted he would get the ban reinstated. Trump had said the 90-day travel ban on citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, and a 120day bar on all refugees, were necessary. He said this was to protect the U.S. from Islamist militants but critics said the measures are unjustified and discriminatory. The judge’s order and the appeal ruling have created what may be a short-lived opportunity for travellers from the seven affected countries to get into the United States while the legal uncertainty continues. “This is the first time I try to

travel to America. We were booked to travel next week but decided to bring it forward after we heard,” said a Yemeni woman. The woman who was recently married to a U.S. citizen, boarded a plane from Cairo to Turkey on Sunday to connect with a U.S. bound flight. She declined to be named for fear it could complicate her entry into the United States. In a brief order, the U.S. Appeal Court said the government’s request for an immediate administrative stay on the Washington judge’s decision had been denied. It was awaiting further submissions from Washington and Minnesota states on Sunday, and from the government on Monday. The U.S. State Department and Department of Homeland Security said they were complying with the directive and many visitors are expected to start arriving on Sunday government has said it expected to begin admitting refugees again on Monday. Reuters reports that Iraqi Fuad Sharef, his wife and three children spent two years obtaining U.S. visas. They had packed up to move to America last week, but were turned back to Iraq after a failed attempt to board a U.S.-bound

flight from Cairo. On Sunday, the family checked in for a Turkish Airlines flight to New York from Istanbul. “Yeah, we are very excited. We are very happy,” Sharef told Reuters. “Finally, we have been cleared. We are allowed to enter the U.S,” he said. Rana Shamasha, 32, an Iraqi refugee in Lebanon, was due to travel to the United States with her two sisters and mother on Feb. 1 to join relatives in Detroit until their trip was cancelled as a result of the travel ban. She is now waiting to hear from U.N. officials overseeing their case. “If they tell me there is a plane tomorrow morning, I will go. “If they tell me there is one in an hour, I will go,” she told Reuters by telephone in Beirut, saying their bags were still packed. “I no longer have a house here, work, or anything,” she said. An official at Beirut airport said three Syrian families had left for the United States via Europe on Sunday morning. “Airline sources in Cairo said that 33 people from the seven affected countries had been allowed to board U.S.-bound flights since Saturday.

T H I S D AY •

AY FEBRUARY ,

Nigeria’s top 50 stocks based on market fundamentals

3-Feb-17

2-Feb-17

% Change

Capitalisation

EPS

P/E

P/S

Div. Yld

Price/ Book Value

01 Dangote Cement Plc

168.00

0.00%

2,862,805,244,040.00

9.20

18.25

5.04

4.76%

3.83

02 Nigerian Breweries Plc

133.11

134.54

-1.06%

1,055,442,619,201.68

4.03

32.99

3.50

2.70%

6.44

03 Guaranty Trust Bank Plc

23.02

23.60

-2.46%

677,505,745,736.48

4.90

4.70

1.69

7.69%

1.38

680.00

699.99

-2.86%

539,006,251,360.00

8.81

77.17

3.12

4.26%

17.08

15.56

15.60

-0.26%

488,529,443,310.16

3.91

3.98

1.03

11.57%

0.70

370.00

0.00%

204,724,815,810.00 -44.58

-8.30

2.64

4.30%

0.52

07 Lafarge Africa Plc

44.40

0.00%

202,237,640,364.00

-9.39

-4.73

0.95

6.76%

1.00

08 Access Bank Plc

6.80

6.82

-0.29%

196,710,207,090.80

2.59

2.63

0.56

8.09%

0.44

10.30

10.15

1.48%

189,000,377,514.50

0.68

15.23

0.32

6.02%

0.30

10 United Bank for Africa Plc

5.00

5.02

-0.40%

181,397,631,610.00

1.75

2.86

0.54

12.00%

0.42

11 Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc

17.80

0.00%

178,000,000,000.00

2.04

8.74

1.27

0.56%

1.51

12 Presco Plc

44.12

44.20

-0.18%

175,177,447,225.40

0.03

1,508.90

2.46

2.95%

4.19

13 Unilever Nigeria Plc

34.00

0.00%

128,632,072,500.00

0.69

49.12

1.94

0.15%

13.71

14 FBN Holdings Plc

3.50

3.53

-0.85%

125,633,524,772.00

0.21

16.87

0.24

4.29%

0.20

15 Guinness Nig Plc

66.50

63.53

4.67%

100,141,564,502.00

-3.06

-21.75

0.97

4.81%

2.54

16 Mobil Oil Nig Plc

275.99

0.00%

99,520,686,359.38

19.32

14.28

1.10

2.61%

5.38

17 Total Nigeria Plc

268.00

0.00%

90,991,852,316.00

38.02

7.05

0.34

5.22%

3.99

61.00

61.07

-0.11%

79,451,347,283.00

3.31

18.45

0.52

5.66%

1.84

6.01

6.17

-2.59%

72,120,000,000.00

1.03

5.86

0.50

8.32%

1.16

112.10

0.00%

71,810,179,692.30

-0.05 -2,454.29

0.77

1.96%

3.23

4.80

4.78

0.42%

57,766,170,691.20

-3.15

-1.52

0.23

15.63%

0.36

22 International Breweries Plc

16.99

0.00%

55,969,295,267.20

0.02

754.04

2.10

1.47%

5.10

23 Flour Mills Nig. Plc

18.00

0.00%

47,236,269,366.00

-1.19

-15.09

0.11

11.11%

0.47

24 Julius Berger Nig. Plc

34.83

0.00%

45,975,600,000.00

-2.95

-11.82

0.39

4.31%

2.42

25 Okomu Oil Palm Plc

44.18

0.00%

42,143,743,800.00

4.82

9.16

6.41

0.23%

2.61

0.76

0.00%

29,427,958,043.00

-0.47

-1.63

0.56

0.00%

0.40

15.20

15.99

-4.94%

29,197,138,682.40

3.37

4.51

0.39

6.58%

0.39

28 Fidelity Bank Plc

0.89

0.88

1.14%

25,776,701,265.88

0.39

2.30

0.17

17.98%

0.14

29 FCMB Group Plc

1.30

1.31

-0.76%

25,743,524,015.30

0.61

2.12

0.16

7.69%

0.14

32.00

0.00%

22,400,000,000.00

2.28

14.01

3.36

3.59%

13.09

31 Sterling Bank Plc

0.75

0.72

4.17%

21,592,813,594.50

0.29

2.61

0.20

12.00%

0.26

32 National Salt Co. Nig. Plc

7.90

0.00%

20,930,563,186.20

0.85

9.30

1.11

6.96%

2.83

33 Diamond Bank Plc

0.89

0.92

-3.26%

20,612,746,181.52

-0.29

-3.03

0.10

0.00%

0.09

34 Custodian And Allied Insurance Plc

3.33

3.50

-4.86%

19,586,607,769.35

0.76

4.36

0.54

4.20%

0.68

35 Wema Bank Plc

0.50

0.00%

19,287,233,040.50

0.06

8.39

0.38

0.00%

0.41

15.00

0.00%

17,938,147,320.00

-2.98

-5.03

0.64

2.00%

2.04

37 Cadbury Nigeria Plc

9.20

9.45

-2.65%

17,279,458,768.00

0.50

18.43

0.62

14.13%

1.69

38 Mansard Insurance Plc

1.52

1.60

-5.00%

15,960,000,000.00

0.28

5.46

0.80

3.29%

0.76

39 PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc

13.54

0.00%

13,540,000,000.00

5.69

2.38

0.94

0.74%

0.36

40 Continental Reinsurance Plc

1.11

0.00%

11,513,746,186.32

0.42

2.64

0.52

10.81%

0.62

41 Unity Bank Plc

0.80

0.84

-4.76%

9,351,470,353.60

-0.10

-7.80

0.14

0.00%

0.11

42 Honeywell Flour Mill Plc

1.10

0.00%

8,723,217,423.80

-0.40

-2.72

0.18

14.55%

0.26

43 Skye Bank Plc

0.50

0.00%

6,940,150,705.00

-2.93

-0.17

0.04

60.00%

0.07

44 Wapic Insurance Plc

0.51

0.00%

6,825,196,508.52

0.18

2.83

0.87

5.88%

0.41

45 Resort Savings & Loans Plc

0.50

0.00%

5,664,866,202.00

0.03

17.71

3.72

0.00%

1.94

46 Cement Co. Of North.Nig. Plc

4.50

0.00%

5,655,049,947.00

0.22

20.56

0.51

2.22%

0.53

47 Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc

2.70

0.00%

4,385,390,625.00

0.15

17.87

0.54

7.41%

0.73

48 UACN Property Development Co. Limited

2.48

2.61

-4.98%

4,262,499,987.60

0.30

8.29

1.01

28.23%

0.12

49 AIICO Insurance Plc

0.58

0.60

-3.33%

4,019,518,598.40

0.22

2.60

0.14

8.62%

0.39

50 Fidson Healthcare Plc

1.14

0.00%

1,710,000,000.00

0.24

4.84

0.26

4.39%

0.27

04 Nestle Nigeria Plc 05 Zenith Bank Plc 06 Seplat Petroleum Dev. Co. Ltd

09 Ecobank Transnational Incorporated

18 Forte Oil Plc. 19 Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc 20 7-Up Bottling Comp. Plc 21 Oando Plc

26 Transnational Corporation Of Nigeria Plc 27 U A C N Plc

30 Cap Plc

36 Glaxo Smithkline Consumer Nig. Plc

TOTAL

8,336,253,728,215.99

TOTAL MARKET CAP

8,892,445,823,706.65

% OF MARKET CAP Annotation - MA* = Simple Moving Average

93.75%

Table 1 Market Statistics Mkt Indicators

Open 2-Feb-17

NSE All Share Index NSE Market Cap (N'Trillion)

25,936.24 8.94

25,802.54 8.89

-0.52 -0.52

107.67 8.38

107.06 8.34

-0.56 -0.56

Close 3-Feb-17

Change %

Thisday BGL 50 Index Thisday BGL 50 Market Cap (N'Trillion)

Close 3-Feb-17

Change %

Table 3 Top 5 Gainers Stock

Open 2-Feb-17

Guinness Nig Plc Sterling Bank Plc Ecobank Transnational Incorporated Fidelity Bank Plc Oando Plc

63.53 0.72 10.15

66.50 0.75 10.30

4.67 4.17 1.48

0.88 4.78

0.89 4.80

1.14 0.42

Table 4 Top 5 Losers Stock

Open 2-Feb-17

Mansard Insurance Plc UACN Property Development Co. Limited U A C N Plc Custodian And Allied Insurance Plc Unity Bank Plc

Close 3-Feb-17

Change %

1.60 2.61

1.52 2.48

-5.00 -4.98

15.99 3.50 0.84

15.20 3.33 0.80

-4.94 -4.86 -4.76

Market dips further by 0.52% Market pulse on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) today – Friday, February 3rd, 2017 ended on a negative note as the stock market closed red due to economic uncertainties which wanes investors’ risk appetite. This was further highlighted by negative performance from the NSE Subsectors: Banking, Insurance and Consumer Goods (Save Oil & Gas). Trading activities decreased in volume as 144.63m shares worth of N1.72 billion in 2,350 deals exchanged hands today. This is an increase from the 354.50m shares worth of N1.22 billion in 2,760 deals which exchanged hands on Thursday. Topping in volume terms are: FBN Holdings Plc, Standard Trust Assurance Plc and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, while Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and Presco Plc ended trading as the most active stocks in value terms. Brent crude oil settles at US$56.69 per barrel. The All Share Index (NSEASI) closed negative with 0.52% (-133.70) decrease to close at 25,802.54 from 25,936.24 the previous trading day. Market capitalization appreciated in tandem to N8.89 trillion from N8.94 trillion of prior trading day. Correspondingly, the Thisday BGL 50 Index followed suit with similar decrease of 0.56% to close at 107.06 from 107.06 recorded at the end of the previous trading day, while its market capitalization stood at N8.34 trillion from N8.38 trillion of the previous trading day. Market breath closed positive as 8 stocks gained on the bourse today while 23 stocks declined, leaving 60 stocks unchanged. Guinness Nig. Plc topped the Thisday BGL 50 Index gainers’ list as it emerged as the day’s toast of investors with a gain of 4.67% to close at N66.50 per share. It was followed by Sterling Bank Plc with a gain of 4.17% to close at N0.75 per share. Others on the gainers list include: Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, Fidelity Bank Plc and Oando Plc; while on the decliners’ list, Mansard Insurance Plc again lead the pack with a loss of 5.00% to close at N1.52 per share. It was followed closely by UACN Property Development Co. Limited with a loss of 4.98% to close at N2.48 per share. Others on the decliners list include: UACN Plc, Custodian And Allied Insurance Plc and Unity Bank Plc. REQUIRED DISCLOSURE This report has been prepared by BGL Plc. BGL Plc does and seeks to do business with companies covered in its research reports. As a result, the firm may have a conflict of interest that could affect the objectivity of this report. Investors should use this report as one of many other factors in making their investment decisions.

For more details go to www.thisdaylive.com

T H I S D AY MONDAY FEBRUARY 6, 2017

MONDAY FEBRUARY 6 2017 • T H I S D AY

NEWS

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

Windfall Amidst Recession: States, LGs Shared N2.6tn in 2016 Lagos got N178bn, Akwa-Ibom N150bn Gombe and Ebonyi N46bn each

A new report has disclosed that the 36 states and the 774 local government councils in Nigeria shared a total sum of N2.6 trillion from the Federation Account in 2016 in spite of the prevailing economic recession. In an elaborate investigation by the Economic Confidential, an intelligence economic magazine, the total figure was payment made

to the two tiers of government between January and December 2016 at the monthly meeting of the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC). In the report, Lagos State is ranked first as the highest recipient of gross allocation with a total sum of N178billion in the 12 months. It is followed by Akwa Ibom State N150billion, Rivers State

N134billion, Delta State N126billion and Kano State N111billion. The five states cornered a quarter (25 per cent) of the total allocation for the states and local government councils in Nigeria Among the 10 highest recipients fromtheFederationAccountareBayelsa

State which got N99 billion; followed by Katsina State N83 billion, Oyo State N80 billion;Kaduna State N78 billion and Borno State N73 billion. ThelowestrecipientsareGombeand Ebonyi States which got N46 billion each followed by Ekiti and Nasarawa States N47 billion each and Kwara

State N49 billion. The report further disclosed that Edo and Ondo which are oil-producing states got N59 billion and N70 billion respectively while another state in the South-south, Cross River State, merely received N55 billion.

It was gathered that the factors that influence allocations to states and local government councils from the FederationAccount include: population, derivation, landmass, terrain, revenue effort, school enrolments, health facilities, water supply and equality of the beneficiaries.

NCAA Fines First Nation Airways, Pilot N33.5m for Violation of Safety Regulations Chinedu Eze The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has said it has penalised First Nation Airways and one of its pilots as well as fined them the sum of N33.5 million for violation of safety regulations. It said the fine must be paid within seven days. The aviation sector regulator said the pilot failed to present his medical report to officials of NCAA who were on ramp inspection and that there was no indication that the pilot had a current medical certificate when he was to operate a flight as the Pilot in Command (PIC). The authority said it ordered the airline to pay N32million and the pilot N1.5 million, totaling N33.5 million. NCAA said in a letter it wrote to the airline, “During a ramp inspection on your Airbus A319 Aircraft with registration mark 5N-FNE at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), it was discovered that the PIC was not in personal possession of a current medical certificate neither was it readily accessible.” In response to this development, NCAA said it sent a Letter of Investigation (LOI) to the airline and the pilot. “However, in their response, the pilot admitted violating Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations (NCARs)

while the airline demonstrated lack of thorough knowledge of the requirements of the regulations. “Therefore, the airline has contravened the regulations by allowing a flight crew member to be rostered to operate a total of 16 scheduled flights on the 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8 2016. “These operations were carried out while his medical certificate had expired since on the November 1, 2016, thereby rendering his Pilot Licence subsequently invalid from that date,” NCAA noted. In a statement signed by its spokesman, Sam Adurogboye, the regulatory authority said in the light of these revelations, the airline was “hereby sanctioned in accordance with IS 1.3.3 (14) while the pilot suffered similar fate in line with IS 1.3.3(11) (15) (e), in lieu of suspension under IS 1.3.3(11)(15) (a) of the Nig.CARs 2015. “On this strength, the airline is required to pay a total sum of N32,000,000 only while the pilot will pay N1.5 million only, being moderate civil penalty for the violation. The fine must however be paid within seven days of receipt of the letter from the authority.” NCAA therefore advised all airline operators to acquaint themselves properly with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations (NCARs) to guide their operations.

IBB Returns from Medical Vacation Former military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (rtd), has returned to Nigeria after a seven-week medical vacation in the Switzerland. He arrived at the Minna International Airport last Saturday evening at 6.45 p.m. Alighting from the aircraft, Babangida expressed gratitude for prayers and goodwill messages from different quarters during his vacation. He said: “I am feeling stronger and better now. I must thank Nigerians immensely for the prayers and concerns over my health. I must use this opportunity to also call on Nigerians to continue to pray for the leaders and the country to move forward in positive direction.

“We should remain united and work collectively towards the progress of our nation by thinking positively about the leaders and providing constructive criticisms and solutions to any challenge we may face.” On the situation in the country, he said the current economic recession is not peculiar to Nigeria. “I am aware that other countries face different political, social and economic challenges. I believe the current government is working assiduously towards addressing some of the issues. “We need to support all arms and tiers of government in their efforts to ensure economic recovery and political stability,” the former leader concluded. Babangida left the country for medical vacation in Europe on December 18, 2016.

Ibori Meets with Okowa, Uduaghan, Others Frenzied reactions trail ex-governor’s Twitter account Sylvester Idowu in Warri A new phase of politics in Delta State and the Niger Delta region as whole may be unfolding as the former governor of Delta State, Chief James Onanefe Ibori yesterday held closed-door meetings with several politicians from within and outside Delta State. Amongst the prominent politicians that met with Ibori at his country home in Oghara included the incumbent governor of Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa and his predecessor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan. THISDAY also learnt that Ibori met with several prominent politicians, mostly Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) executives in the South-south, who paid him a solidarity visit. Journalists were denied access to the ex-governor’s palatial residence, after a thanksgiving service was held in his honour by his kinsmen. Having served out his prison sentence for money laundering in the United Kingdom, Ibori returned to the country on Saturday through Abuja, where he had a brief meeting with the Director General of the Department of State Service (DSS), Mr. Lawal Daura before proceeding to his home state into the waiting arms of relations, kinsmen and political associates. Oghara, the capital of

Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State, was electrified on Saturday as his convoy approached the town at Oghara junction along the Warri-Benin expressway where hordes of associates were waiting. THISDAY observed that well wishers continued to besieged his Oghara residence yesterday where a reception was organised by his kinsmen last night. There were musicians and musical stands at different locations to entertain the people. It was a carnival-like atmosphere in Oghara also, as men, women and youths danced round the town and sang praises in his honour. A chieftain of PDP in the state, Chief Sunny Onuesoke told THISDAY that his clansmen were happy over the “return of one of their own”. “We are happy that Ibori is back, people are jubilating, the crowd you are seeing here, the enthusiasm that has been displayed today showed that we really missed him. “This is the only way for us to appreciate that our leader who left us long ago is back. His coming is the beginning of so many good things to come; by his presence I am sure we are gaining back all we have lost. “Ibori remains in the Peoples

Democratic Party, but it is not time to discuss politics, all his followers around are members of PDP,” he said. Meanwhile, barely 24 hours after his return to Nigeria, Ibori yesterday took to Twitter yesterday morning with his first tweet from his @ChiefIbori account, saying, “Good morning Nigerians. #myfirstTweet.” At 9.32am, he went on to post a 44 second video of the mammoth crowd that came to welcome him on Saturday as he alighted from his car. Ascribed under the video was “I’m excited to reunite with my people. The strength of any politician lies in hands of his followers. “The energy yesterday was electrifying and intimidating. I’m grateful”. At press time, the video has had 67 retweets and 24 likes, while over 555 persons were following him at 5.27 p.m. Ibori, who was yet to follow any individual on Twitter, has his bio-data as “politician, former Governor of Delta State (1999-2007), dad, philanthropist and business man”. As expected, his presence on the social media platform threw many Nigerian Twitter users into a frenzy and elicited mixed reactions from his supporters and traducers. It was an interesting mix of

people who commented on his page. While some welcomed him back heartily, others did not mince words when they told him to quit Twitter and show remorse. One Akpesiri Akatugba while responding to Ibori’s traducers wrote: “You just tweeted like an unintelligent individual. Chief Ibori, welcome back joor.” Kunle Onitiri wrote, “@ ChiefIbori welcome home”, while one Donald tweeting from @ItzDking wrote, “@ ChiefIbori leader I greet you and remain loyal.” Ronald Edwin wrote, “Baba don join Twitter. The next thing is to join the All Progressives Congress (APC).” Adeboyega Adedeji said, “@ChiefIbori Welcome back home. You are the son of the soil. Nothing do you. Thank God for your life.” One of his critics, one Vincent Igwebuike wrote, “@ChiefIbori I suggest you add ex-convict to your profile sir.” Another tweet from African Experience said, “@ChiefIbori You are a criminal shame on you! Hope you took the time in prison to reflect on how you hurt your people by stealing from them.” Omoyemi Tilewa wrote, “@ChiefIbori Kindly seek for forgiveness for stealing your state money and don’t be proud of stealing. The bible also kicks against it.”

MONDAY FEBRUARY 6 2017 • T H I S D AY

NEWSEXTRA

Okorocha Demands Apology from Obiano Amby Uneze in Owerri The war of words between Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, and his Anambra State counterpart, Willie Obiano, has not only degenerated to name calling but also created room for unwanted insults and lack of statesmanship on the part of both leaders. Following what may be regarded as final withdrawal, Obiano, on February 3, 2017, was quoted as saying that he was “so busy with issues of governance, providing qualitative service and abundant

democracy dividends, and that he has no spare time for unnecessary politically motivated distractions.” To this end, Okorocha has demanded that Obiano should render an apology to him for dragging him to public condemnation that was unwarranted, insisting that for Obiano to tactically withdraw the verbal attack which he initiated, he should apologise to him. Okorocha whose latest reaction was contained in a statement signed his Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwuemeodo, said: “Obiano

Fashola: FG to Address Power Problems with 2017 Census David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has said the 2017 sector-specific census will help the federal government to address the shortage of electricity supply in the country. Fashola who spoke with journalists in Awka, Anambra State, yesterday said his ministry had mapped out a three-pronged strategy to deal with power problems in the country, saying the strategy has been divided into short, medium and long term strategies. The minister said the census which would help to properly enumerate power usage and allocation in the country would be part of the medium term plan, while increasing power in the grid in the short term plan. He said: “We are here to get the job done and get life better for the people of Anambra State and the South-east region. Our work on power is three pronged-short term, medium term and long term. In the short term, we want to achieve incremental power, the power we have now is not enough. “Unfortunately as we are gaining power in some places, expanding power in some transmission and the transmission grid can now take 7,000 megawatts, but we are losing power generation to gas shortages and vandalism. “Today, we can evacuate 7,000, but we don’t have the gas to fire those turbines, that is why the vice president visited Niger Delta to speak with them. Now the price of oil has gone up to $56, so we

should take the opportunity to produce more, more fuel means more gas, and more gas means more power. “We have lost about 3,000 megawatts, and we are currently working towards getting another 4,000 and you can imagine what would have happened if our brothers (militants) from the Niger Delta who are angry with us could sheath their sword, we would have had about 7,000 now, and you know what that means.” The medium term plan, he said, is when the census will be done. He urged Nigerians to ensure that they stay in their towns or states of residence when the census would be conducted as it would help to ensure proper evacuation of power. “Stay where you live, don’t move to the village. We have to know where you need power; people must stay where they live and not go to their villages, because that is where they need power. These are the strategies going further,” he added. He also assured Nigerians that his ministry was working hard to tackle the problem of estimated billing system with the distribution companies (discos). He said it may take some time for everyone to own a meter, but soon, the problem would be overcome. The minister said a proper billing system is also being worked out that would help the discos know what category each consumer belonged, as failure to do so would always result in consumers paying the wrong bill which could either cheat the discos or be cheating the consumer.

NEMA Calls on Traders to Observe Minimum Safety Requirements Michael Olugbode in Maiduguri In order to prevent instances of fire disaster in our markets, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), has called on traders to always observe the minimum safety measures. The Director General of the agency, Muhammad Sani Sidi, gave this advice at the weekend while presenting food items and building materials to victims of fire disaster at a market in Nguru, Yobe State. He said NEMA will continue to live up to its responsibilities by partnering with state governments to come to the aid of traders affected by fire incidents. This he said is necessary in order to show the federal government’s concern for its citizens. Sani Sidi said market fire was

among the major disasters in the country which causes incalculable losses, stressing that all hands must be on deck to put in place a robust disaster risk reduction programme that will be geared towards disaster prevention and mitigation in our environment. Senate leader, Ahmed Lawal, who was present at the occasion sympathised with affected persons saying the relief assistance was meant to ameliorate the suffering of the victims and to assist them to resume their businesses. Items which were directly presented to the market leaders included 600 bundles of roofing sheet, 3000 piece of ceiling boards, 100 bags of 3” nails and 100 packets of zinc nails. Others were 100 cartons of milk, 100 cartons of spaghetti, 100 bags of beans, 100 cartons of tinned tomato and 100 bags of guinea corn.

came up with this volte-face after he had launched unprovoked media attacks against Okorocha. And allowing Obiano to tactically withdraw from an unwarranted media war he declared, without apologising to Okorocha and publishing his achievements as the governor of Anambra State for almost four years to show good leadership is totally unacceptable to us. “And we make bold to ask for an unreserved apology from him because with the way he reacted to such an innocent comment, one could see that he was harbouring malice against Okorocha.” Okorocha who had appreciated the concern of some Igbo leaders and groups that called for truce between them, maintained that such Igbo leaders should also “reason with us that it calls for concern when someone unreasonably declares war against you.” He expressed surprises that Obiano who took up “arms” against

him over an interesting claim he made that three governors in the South-east would soon join APC is the one now talking about being “so busy with issues of governance and providing qualitative service and has no spare time again for unnecessary politically motivated distractions.” According to him, Obiano must have also forgotten that he was the one who initiated the so-called “politically motivated distractions.” And that also goes a long way to confirm our allusion that Obiano was not the one saying all that was credited to him, but it was alcohol that was talking. “It is also difficult to explain why a governor that has governed a state with high IGR for almost four years and with lean workforce is finding it difficult to publish his achievements at least to show that he is a good leader of his people and on that basis, he would be asking for second term. “The common logic is that

if Obiano fails to publish his achievements, it means he has nothing to display and the interpretation of that development is that he has lost the moral justification to ask for a second tenure. And Anambra people should take cognizance of that. “For Okorocha, he is in a hurry to use the challenge thrown up by the Anambra State Governor to show-case to Nigerians and the world at large about two thousand verifiable projects executed by his administration in various parts of the state including the new city of Owerri. And we know that all Obiano has done in his state for almost four years now cannot be equated with two flyovers built by Okorocha. “The Imo State governor would also want to while publishing his achievements, showcase his profile to the world that either Obiano didn’t know him or he was not truthfully briefed about him or he was austere with the facts.

“The profiles of the two governors would have shown that while Obiano has first degree in Accountancy and Master Degree in Business Administration of the University of Lagos, Okorocha has bachelor’s degree in Law of the University of Jos, Master degree in Law also of University of Jos, Post Graduate Diploma in Management from the Benue State University, Advanced Diploma in Law, Security and Conflict Management. So in terms of education, Okorocha is more educated than Obiano. And as a responsible government, we had restricted ourselves from talking about his personal life.” Okorocha also revealed that he established the Rochas Foundation Colleges and students in the Colleges do not pay a dime, stating that till date, there are Rochas Foundation Colleges in Jos, Ibadan, Owerri, Ogboko, Kano with more than 15,000 students and with the ones in Kaduna and Sokoto States about to take off.

DELIBERATING TOGETHER

L-R: Minister of Communication, Mr. Abdulrahim Adebayo Shittu; Kwara State Governor, Dr. Abdulfatah Ahmed and Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu Gambari, during the 31st National Qur’an Recitation Competition at Metropolitan Square, Ilorin...Friday

VP, SGF Yet to Comply with Directive on Reinstatement of NDPHC GM More than three months after President Muhammadu Buhari gave approval for the reinstatement of General Manager (Audit and Compliance) of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company Nigeria Limited (NDPHC), Mrs. Maryam Danna Mohammed; the Offices of the Vice President, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chief of Staff (COS) to the President are yet to comply with the directive. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is the Chairman of the board of NDPHC which is incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act as a private limited liability company. Members of the board include six governors of the six geo-political zones in the country and four ministers-Finance, Power, Petroleum and Justice. The female general manager from Borno State was wrongly sacked with the former Managing Director and Executive Directors of NDPHC on June 10, 2016, via a letter by the SGF, Babachir David

Lawal. While an aide to the vice president replaced the former Managing Director, only Mrs. Mohammed, was singled out for disengagement out of the 13 general managers in the agency. Following a June 28, 2016, letter of appeal, President Muhammad Buhari had asked the AttorneyGeneral of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mallam Abubakar Malami (SAN), to look into the case, the law establishing NDPHC and provide a legal opinion. The AGF discovered that the disengagement of Mrs. Mohammed was in error because she was a career public officer and not a political appointee or contract staff. The president thereafter approved the reinstatement of the GM, who was erroneously included in the sack list for “being a strict auditor.” The AGF’s letter to the SGF said in part: “Please refer to your letter, reference No. SH/COS/03/1/A/15,

and our response ref. No. MJ/ DSD/SH/22/Vol.1/38 dated September 7 on the above subject matter. “In this connection, I wish to convey to you the president’s approval vide a meeting with the AGF on October 12, 2016, for the reinstatement of the staff (petitioner), Mrs. Maryam Danna Mohammed. Please accept the assurances of my highest esteem.” The reinstatement letter was sent to the Chief of Staff to the president and copied to the SGF. Findings by the economic confidential, however, confirmed that another officer had replaced the disengaged general manager even when she was never found wanting. The last paragraph of the Letter of her disengagement even commended and appreciated her service to the nation. Mrs. Mohammed is a Chartered Account from Borno State and had risen from the position of Auditor at the defunct National Electric Power Authority (NEPA)

in 1992 to General Manager, Audit and Compliance at NDPHC in 2011. She has various professional qualifications including membership of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (FCIT) among others. Meanwhile, it is suspected that Mrs. Mohammed who is widely known as a due process advocate and disciplinarian, might have been persecuted by some persons close to powerful officials in government who might have felt aggrieved with some of her tough decisions while she was the auditor in the office. It is gathered that the Special Adviser to the Vice-President who was appointed Managing Director of the company was at one time a staff of one of the contractors to NDPHC. Similarly, there is also a case of a former Executive Director in NDPHC who never served in NYSC programme but is currently serving as a permanent secretary in a powerful federal ministry with supervisory role on NDPHC.

MONDAY FEBRUARY 6 2017 • T H I S D AY

NEWSEXTRA

Tuface Pulls out of Nationwide Protest, Coalition Vows to Proceed Soyinka blasts FG for threatening to arrest organisers of public demonstrations Ejiofor Alike and Chiemelie Ezeobi Barely 24 hours to the proposed nationwide protest against bad governance, one of its foremost promoters, Innocent Idibia, has cancelled the march to the utmost shock of his followers and supporters. However, despite his stand, the co-conveners of the protest, ‘Enough is Enough (EiE)’ coalition, yesterday said the protests must go on as planned even though Idibia had opted out. From all indications, Idibia was determined to lead the protest as he had reiterated on different occasions when rumours surfaced that he was being pressurised to drop out. However, the game changer was the meeting with the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, who explained the security implications of protesting on the same day with the proBuhari campaign group. Giving in to reason, the popular musician called off the protest in a short video, where he explained that the protest is under serious threat of hijack by interests not aligned with their ideals. Despite the reasons he gave for pulling out, some people were still not satisfied and they took to several social media platforms to condemn his move. One of such groups of persons was the EiE group which said the planned protests scheduled to hold in Lagos and Abuja on February 6 will still hold. Also reacting to Idibia’s action, the National Publicity Secretary of Nigerian Wailers, Ibrahim Sani Ringim, said it was false and just the wishful thinking of the anti-Nigeria dark minded people. In a statement made available to THISDAY, they said: “Our attention has been drawn to the news making the round that the planned nationwide protest slated for February 6 has been called off. “For the avoidance of doubt, Innocent Idibia popularly known as Tuface was never the initiator of the planned #IstandWithNigeria, #RescueNigeria protest, he is one of the Nigerians who showed interest to take a leading stage in the march and was accorded such role because of his person. “The Nigerian people appreciated his effort for doing so but the video he released depicting cancelation is false and totally untrue.

“Idibia lacks the powers to cancel the protest because he was never the initiator, his actions have betrayed the expectations of millions of other Nigerians who held him in high esteem because one would have expected that if he wanted to exit the protest, he should have done so personally without speaking for millions of other Nigerians by causing misinformation. “Therefore, we call on Nigerians to come out today in greater numbers from every states as scheduled to protest against everything you don’t want because it is your fundamental human rights as enshrined in the constitution.” Also, prolific Nollywood producer, Chico Ejiro, said: “I am disappointed in Tuface, he is a coward. I am advising him not to start a struggle that he cannot sustain. How can you pull out 24 hours to the protest? ‘If you can’t see it through, next time keep your mouth shut, because right now, the struggle is bigger than you. God bless Nigeria! Its only God Almighty that can fight our battle.” Another Nollywood director, Charles Novia, who had already volunteered to join the protest because of the Idibia’s passion for change, expressed his displeasure. He said: “It’s a disappointment really that Tuface was stared down over this February 6 demonstration. He’s done more harm to his brand than good.” Legal counsel and rights activist, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, also joined the call for Nigerians to turn out en masse for the protest, urging them not to be deceived or intimidated because the right to protest is a constitutional right. Quoting Section 39 of 1999 Constitution he said, “Every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas.” Meanwhile, Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has condemned the federal government for giving orders to stifle the rights to freedom of expression by threatening to arrest the organisers of the demonstration planned for today. In a statement issued yesterday, Soyinka argued that the attempt by the Inspector General of Police to halt today’s planned public demonstration amounts to reversing the hands of the democratic clock. Soyinka stated that the military and civilian administrations of Buhari, Babangida, Obasanjo and

Army Chief Lays Foundation for Southern Kaduna Military Formations The Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai, has laid the foundation stone for the building of a military barracks in Kafanchan in Jema’a Local Government Area of Kaduna State at the weekend. The event was in fulfillment of the federal government’s promise to establish two military formations in Southern Kaduna to ensure security in the area. Buratai said the setting up of military formation in the area would consolidate the peace process that had already started in the area. The General Officer

Commanding, 1 Mechanised Division, Major General Adeniyi Oyebade, in his remarks, said since the presidential approval for the setting up of military formations, the army has been looking for a suitable land to establish a battalion in Kafanchan. Also speaking at the occasion, Kaduna State Governor, Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, said the state government would process and provide the land title for army, saying he was determined to give the army a structure to start their operations before the completion of the barracks.

Jonathan had also in the past stifled the rights to freedom of expression. He said the efforts by the present Buhari’s administration to stifle the rights to freedom of expression would always be resisted, adding that freedom of expression is a moral issue that has been settled in other parts of the world. According to him, Nigeria cannot be an exception, not as long as her citizens refuse to accept the designation of second, even thirdrate citizens. He said the action of the Nigeria Police was even “more appalling at a time when open demonstrations are taking place all over the world against the policies of a recently elected president of the United States, whose democratic formula this nation allegedly serves as Nigeria’s adopted model”. “Across numerous states of

that federated nation, ongoing at this very moment, is the public expression of rejection of a president’s policy that has also pitted the Executive against the judiciary. We have heard of no preventive action by the police, nor arrests of demonstrators,” he added. Soyinka described the action of the IG as a huge disappointment, and a disservice to the cause of democracy, tolerance of dissent, and principle of inclusive governance. “An unnecessary but important reminder: the battle for the right of lawful assembly of citizens in any cause, conducted peacefully, has been fought and won several times over. It is time that this contest is gracefully conceded. It must be consolidated by its routineness as a choice of action at the front of any people’s democratic participation.

This battle has been won legally, constitutionally, and even morally. It enjoys near global acceptance as one of the means of actualizing the protocols of a people’s Fundamental Human Rights,” Soyinka explained. He further argued that the action of the police is “a deep embarrassment, and a national shame that this latest attempt at denial of these protocols rears its head at a time when one of the largest gatherings of humanity is taking place in one of the former totalitarian states of Eastern Europe – Romania.” Soyinka revealed that he had sent a message to the IG, through the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, urging them to respect and safeguard the constitutional rights of the people. “I hope that, even at this eleventh hour, legality and the democratic

imperative will prevail. Finally, I shall be less than honest if I do not add the following, mostly directed as warning to the very polity on whose behalf the democratic war is joined, again and again,” he added: “Minus a minuscule but highly voluble minority, mostly of pitiably retarded polluters of the common zones of public interventions, I do not know of any citizens of civilised community who do not subscribe to the fundamental Right of the Freedom of Expression in any form, as long as it is peaceful, and non-injurious to humanity. I would hate to conclude that the security agencies, or the government they serve, at this stage of national development and recent history, would choose to align themselves with such an unteachable minority,” Soyinka explained.

EXPANDING FRONTIERS

R-L: First female Vice Chancellor of the Oxford University, Professor Louise Richardson; former Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi; and his wife, Margaret, at the Oxford Said Business School Alumuni dinner in Middle Temple, London.....weekend.

SERAP Writes Trump, Demands Return of Nigeria’s Stolen Assets Ugo Aliogo

A civil society group, SocioEconomic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has sent an open letter to the President of the United State, Mr. Donald Trump, urging him to release to Nigeria some $500 million worth of US-based proceeds of corruption traced to the late military Head of State, General Sani Abacha. The organisation said the proceeds are separate from the $480 million of Abacha-origin funds that were forfeited to the US under an August 2014 US federal district court order. It said its request is fully consistent with the UN Convention Against Corruption, which both the US and Nigeria have ratified.” SERAP in the letter dated February 3, 2017, and signed by the organisation’s US Volunteer Counsel Professor Alexander W. Sierck and Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, told Trump: “The US Department of Justice must promptly initiate civil asset

forfeiture proceedings against these proceeds so as to fulfill several noncontroversial commitments by the US to assist Nigeria in recovering assets looted by former Nigerian government officials. The letter, a copy of which was sent to the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Stuart Symington, and Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, read in part: “SERAP urges your new administration to initiate discussions with the Nigerian government to fulfill these objectives within an agreed framework and timeline. simultaneously, the Administration should instruct the Justice Department to initiate civil asset forfeiture proceedings in regard to the above-referenced $500 million in assets described above. “Any bilateral discussions between the US and Nigeria concerning these assets should include clear acknowledgement of the significant role that civil society plays in asset recovery matters. “To that end, the respective governments ought to commit to promptly sharing information with

relevant civil society organisations on stolen assets of Nigerian origin located in the US or otherwise subject to US jurisdiction. This proposed commitment is similar to one between the US and Kenya as well as consistent with Articles 46(4) and 56 of the UN Convention Against Corruption. “SERAP notes that Article 51 of the UN Convention against Corruption provides for the return of “corrupt” assets to countries of origin as a fundamental principle. Article 43 provides likewise. Similarly, under Articles 47(3) (a) and (b) states parties have an obligation to return forfeited or confiscated assets in cases of public corruption, as here, or when the requesting party reasonably establishes either prior ownership or damages to the states. “In SERAP’s judgment, some or all of these requirements have been met with respect to the $500 million in proceeds described above. A resolution adopted by the Conference of States Parties to the UN Convention Against

Corruption in Panama in November 2013 reaffirms this obligation, by requiring state to make “every effort” to return such proceeds. to the victim state. “Nigeria’s Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption has recently informed SERAP that the US Government has identified another $500 million or so proceeds of Nigerian corruption subject to US jurisdiction.” Last month, the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Professor Itse Sagay, had raised the alarm that Nigeria risked losing another $550million recovered from the Abacha family to the government of US. Sagay said the amount represented a separate tranche from the earlier $480 million forfeited to the US following a court judgment. According to him, “Nigeria presently stands to lose another $550 million recovered from the Abacha family to the US, contrary to the earlier promise by the US to return same to Nigeria.”

MONDAY FEBRUARY 6 2017 • T H I S D AY

CRIME&PUNISHMENT

NAFDAC Seals Largest Karu Supermarket over Fake Bread, Others Kuni Tyessi in Abuja The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control

(NAFDAC) has sealed one of the largest supermarkets in the Karu area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Fort Mart Supermarket, for

Lagos Task Force Arrests Man for Brutalising LASTMA Official Chiemelie Ezeobi The operatives of the Lagos State Task Force has arrested who attacked and brutalised a Lagos State Transport Management Agency (LASTMA), official, one Mr. Omomoyesan Olumide, while on official duty around Lekki-Ajah area. According to the taskforce, the suspect who was identified as 20-year-old Benjamin Archibong, had been charged to court for due prosecution. Confirming the incident, the taskforce Public Relations Officers, Adebayo Toafiq, said the suspect had attacked and obstructed a Team (B) LASTMAofficials, Zone 14, Lekki-Ajah axis from impounding a commercial Volkswagen bus. He said the driver of the said bus with registration number FKJ 688 XV, had resisted arrest after he was picked up for dropping passengers at unauthorised place around Lekki-Ajah area of Lagos. Thus he was arrested and charged for assault, obstruction and conduct likely to cause breach of peace before Magistrate Adepeju Odusanya of Court 15 Samuel Ilori Magistrate Courts, Ogba, Lagos.

Prosecuting counsel, Adedoyin Odukoya, disclosed that the suspect pleaded ‘Not Guilty’ and was granted bail of N100,000 with two sureties in like sum. While the matter was adjourned to February 28, 2017 for further hearing, the magistrate emphasised that the two sureties must be residents of the state. Also, the Chairman of the taskforce, Olayinka Egbeyemi, said the suspect was charged to court based on the directive of the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni. Egbeyemi said the operatives of the agency also rescued the wounded LASTMA official from the suspect, adding that charges against the suspect would served as a deterrent to the general public not to obstruct any security or government officials while discharging their legitimate duties. Meanwhile, he said the operatives of the taskforce has commenced the enforcement of the directive of Ambode to arrest any local government and Local Council Development Area officials or touts who claim to be enforcing the Lagos State Road Traffic Law of 2012.

the production of fake bread and sales of harmful salt. The supermarket was found to be operating an unregistered bread factory within its premises and was also found to be selling industrial salt which is injurious to human health. The manager of the supermarket was also arrested by a team of security men attached to the NAFDAC officials. While sealing the supermarket at the weekend, the FCT Coordinator of NAFDAC, Mrs. Clementina Anyakora, disclosed that the unholy practices perpetrated by the operators of the supermarket were detected during a routine inspection by a team of inspectors from the agency. She revealed that the agency earlier sealed the supermarket premises but regretted that the operators forcefully reopen it and continue the production of the bread, Fort Mart Loaf, which, according to her, did not go

through process of registration and licensing by NAFDAC. “We came on our routine inspection and discovered they have unregistered product. We invited them to the office and they did not come. We repeated a visit early January and saw them still baking and reported to the office and they gave us the directive to place the bakery on hold which we did. But they removed the hold label and continue to bake and to sell fake bread. “Two times we placed our on hold label but they ignored and continued baking and selling unregistered product. “To NAFDAC we don’t know what this bread contains and we want to be sure that there are no harmful substances in the product,” Anyakora further said. She explained: “Also during our last visit we found out that they have this big bag of industrial salt which they sell and also use in making popcorn which is not supposed to be

sold here. The industrial salt is only meant for industrial use because of the ionisation. “Yes this is a serious offence punishable by law and there are several sanctions we give to people that violate the NAFDAC Act. We start first with warning-we give warning and then also we have what is called administrative charge. In this there are certain fee you pay for violation. “But wherein you refused to comply with all of the above we seal up the place as we are doing today. We are putting the bakery on hold and sealing the entire supermarket(closing down the supermarket) until further notice when they must have complied with the requirement of the law because what we are doing is in line with the law. We are closing the shop because the bakery belong to the management of the supermarket. And since they have been recalcitrant they have refused to come forward and do the right thing we want to shot

the whole place” Anyakora warned bakers engaging in such act to eschew from doing so. According to her the process of registration of bread is less than one month and one would register products with NAFDAC and continue their normal business without molestation. Also speaking, the FCT NAFDAC Regulatory Officer, Deputy Director Olubukola Olawale, warned all dealers of food and drug items to avoid any act that would incur the wrath of NAFDAC and adhere strictly to the code of conduct because one could register and still be sanctioned if found wanting during the agency’s routine inspection. According to her “after the registration the agency is always on routine inspection to check for good manufacturing practice, good hygienic practice and good storage practice and if these qualities are not met then come sanction.”

Flush out Cultists,Vandals from Bayelsa, Dickson Tells New Police Boss Bayelsa State Governor, Henry Seriake Dickson, has called on the Nigeria Police Force to set up a motorcycle patrol unit in a bid to extend its dragnet to all the nooks and crannies of the state. The advice, he said, became necessary to make Bayelsa State the safest state in the country. Dickson spoke while receiving the new Commissioner of Police, Mr. Asuquo Amba and his entourage in Government House, Yenagoa. While assuring Amba of his administration’s total support in his efforts to make the state crime-free, the governor called on the police to “flush out criminals, including kidnappers, pipeline vandals, cultists and their sponsors.” He also cautioned against the politicisation of security related issues in the state, stressing that, the matters of security should be treated strictly as such without any political undertones. Dickson urged the state police command to collaborate with other security agencies in the state towards sustaining the existing peace, as a peaceful and stable atmosphere is paramount to attracting investments and development. He said: “You have a crop of dedicated and well-meaning officers

and men in this command and we are proud of the work they do. So you have our support. “The only thing I always say, when police commissioners come, is that in Bayelsa we don’t condone politicization of crime. Crime is crime; crime has no colour, no creed and crime has no political affliation. And that is the golden rule we want to see observed.” Speaking earlier, Amba pointed out that the state government’s policy of zero tolerance for crime and violence was in sync with the Inspector General of Police (IG) directive to all the commands in the country. While expressing his preparedness to intensify policing in the state, the CP highlighted some of his achievements within two weeks of his posting to Bayelsa. According to him, the police had apprehended a syndicate comprising two ex-soldiers specialised in stealing parked vehicles, using master keys and five persons suspected of vandalising the state-owned gas turbine. The police commissioner, who also announced the arrest of a suspected kidnapper, said 10 vehicles have so far been recovered from the syndicate, while investigations are on-going in all the cases.

FOR PEACE IN THE NIGER DELTA

L-R: Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Economic Council, Mr. Donald Wokoma; Deputy Governor, Bayelsa State, Rear Admiral Gboribiogha Jonah John; Governor Seriake Dickson; Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brigadier-General Paul Boroh (rtd); and Chairman, Innoson Group of Companies, Chief Innocent Chukwuma, when they visited the state....weekend

Police Arrest Scam Suspect in Lagos Chiemelie Ezeobi The Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Lagos State Police Command, yesterday arrested one Ajibola Alao, a member of a three-man gang of fraudsters, who specialise in carrying unsuspecting persons in their commercial bus and fleecing them. With successful operations under his belt, luck however ran out on the 29-year-old at Oshodi after dispossessing their lone passenger of his two phones and the sum on N61,000. The suspect, in company of the driver and conductor of their operational bus, a Volkswagen Transporter, with the registration number: APP 820 XE, had picked up their passenger, Asotie Benedict, at Ladipo with agreed plan to drop him at Oshodi Under Bridge. But instead, Alao and his

accomplices, armed with an alternative plan, did not stop at Oshodi Under bridge for him to alight. Rather, citing the presence of LASTMA at that bus stop, they pretended to ascend the bridge towards Oshodi Oke and it was at that point they dispossessed him before forcing him to alight while the vehicle was in motion. According to Asotie, “After throwing me out in motion, they threw N100 fare beside me on the road, perhaps, for me to find my way back home. But, I didn’t give up, I chased the bus. “Fortunately, I sighted RRS vehicle, Response 091 and I quickly alerted them and they chased the vehicle to a halt. They arrested Alao, who took all I had on me but the driver and the conductor abandoned their vehicle and escaped.

“All they took from me were found on him and some additional phones, which he disclosed to the police they took from previous victims of their one chance operations.” Alao, in his confessional statement, disclosed to be part of a three-man one chance gang, adding that the two additional phones in his possession belonged to two previous victims of their operation in Oshodi. He said: “I have been in the business of one chance since 2015. At a point, I stopped and began pick-pocketing, joining buses to Sango, Agege, Oshodi, Apapa and disembarking whenever I have fleeced commuters of their phones and money. “At a time, I was arrested in Mushin Olosa Police station and my mother pleaded with the officers

and secured my bail. She warned me repeatedly never to take other people’s sweat. “I did it then because I needed N140,000 to pay my house rent. At this time, I got more than that from a week operation but I didn’t stop then. Now, I went back into it to help raise funds for my siblings so that they won’t follow the same path. “Most of my colleagues in the business were arrested by RRS last year. The few who were not arrested relocated to other states.” Confirming the arrest, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Dolapo Badmos, said the command would not rest on its oars in nipping in the bud criminal activities in the state. The suspect had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Yaba, for further investigations.

T H I S D AY MONDAY FEBRUARY 6, 2017

T H I S D AY • MONDAY FEBRUARY 6, 2017

MONDAYSPORTS A F C O N

2 0 1 7

F I N A L

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

M A T C H

Cameroon Edges Egypt to Win Fifth AFCON

Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, during the cup presentation last night Vincent Aboubakar was the hero of the night with a brilliant late goal, firing Cameroon to a dramatic 2-1 victory over Egypt in Libreville and their fifth Africa Cup of Nations title. Aboubakar replaced Robert Ndip Tambe at half-time, with Hugo Broos’ side a goal down, and went on to secure the Indomitable Lions’ first championship since 2002 with a brilliant individual effort in the 88th minute. The triumph will be made all the sweeter after seven players,

including Liverpool and West Brom defenders Joel Matip and Allan Nyom, snubbed the chance to represent their country in Gabon. Egypt took the lead in the first half when Mohamed Elneny, back in the starting line-up after missing the last two matches with a calf injury, was the beneficiary of some woeful goalkeeping from Fabrice Ondoa. However, Cameroon showed renewed vigour after the restart and they were rewarded when substitute Nicolas N’Koulou

Lagos Rocks as Arsenal, MTN Seal Partnership On the evening Arsenal FC may not have done too well against table topping Chelsea FC but in Lagos the tables turned as the creme de la creme were introduced to what Chairman, MTN Nigeria, Paschal Dozie called ‘a relationship that has come to stay’. It was the formal launch of the partnership between one of the greatest club sides in world football, Arsenal FC and MTN Nigeria, the nation’s largest Telecom’s service provider last Saturday. It was not an event for usual suspects but there was Austin Jay Jay Okocha, Chelsea Great, Celestine Babayaro and who else but arguably Africa’s most decorated footballer alongside Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o, Nwankwo Kanu. He was there with his younger

sibling, Ogbonna, and what an evening it turned to be. From Corporate Nigeria, Chief Executive officer of the Nigeria Stock Exchange, Oscar Onyeama led a pack that included MD Metropolitan Motors, Olutoyin Okeowo, Beat FM boss, Chris Ubosi, Lagos socialite, Gabby Yadua not to mention MTN directors, Tunde Folawiyo and Gbenga Oyebode. Both sides presented heavyweights at the occasion held at the highbrow IMAX cinema in Lekki Phase 1. MTN had Chief Operating Officer, Muhammad Ziaullah Siddiqui in attendance alongside GM, Marketing, Richard Iweanoge, while the Gunners team was led by its Chief of Head Partner Services., Gordon Tannock.

headed home in the 59th minute. Broos’ men continued to push and Aboubakar popped up with the winner in the 88th minute, ending seven-time champions Egypt’s 24-match unbeaten AFCON run and securing Cameroon a place at the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia. Egypt took less than two minutes to get in behind the Cameroon defence, but Abdallah El Said fired Mohamed Salah’s cushioned pass too close to Ondoa.

Sebastien Siani sent a tame effort at Egypt’s veteran goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary from 20 yards, and the breakthrough came at the other end in the 22nd minute. Salah found Elneny unmarked on the right-hand side of the box and he guided a shot beyond Ondoa, who seemed to duck out the way at his near post. Cameroon suffered another blow when central defender Adolphe Teikeu was forced off through injury, N’Koulou replacing him in the 31st

minute. Broos sent experienced striker Aboubakar on in place of Tambe for the second half and Cameroon were far more positive as a result. Their improved attacking efforts were rewarded in the 59th minute when N’Koulou towered over Ahmed Hegazy to head Benjamin Moukandjo’s cross into the back of the net. Cameroon continued to push for a winner but captain Moukandjo wasted a great opportunity when he blazed Christian Bassogog’s pass over

the crossbar from just inside the box. However, Broos’ side snatched a late lead when Aboubakar brought down Siani’s long pass on his chest, looped the ball over Ali Gabr and fired a volley into the bottom-right corner. Elneny was unable to force extra time when he sent a wild free-kick off target in the 93rd minute, easing Cameroon’s route to becoming the second most successful nation in the competition’s history, behind their beaten opponents.

NFPL: MFM Shocks Sunshine, Plateau Stays Top Plateau United and MFM FC continue to set the pace early in the season in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) as both teams posted good results yesterday night. Table-topping Plateau United played out a scoreless draw at Nasarawa United in a Middle Belt derby at the Lafia City Stadium though the host team will be pained by the fact that they failed to take their scoring chances.

Hassan Adamu, Thomas Zenke, Buhari Jafar and Douglas Achiv were all guilty of missing good opportunities to breach Plateau United’s backline. MFM FC, on the other hand, defeated Sunshine Stars 1-0 at the Akure Stadium through Stephen Odey’s second-half strike. The win at Sunshine Stars means MFM, who now have 13 points, have closed the

gap on Plateau United at the top to one point. It was, however, a matchday that produced a slow start in all 10 games as just two goals were scored in the 45 minutes, both in the game between 3SC and Rivers United. Ibadan club 3SC brought the unbeaten run of Rivers United to an end with a 2-1 win. Sunday Faleye scored one and provided the other

for Jide Apena while Lukman Mohammed’s goal for Rivers United sandwiched those of the Oluyole Warriors. Kano Pillars had to wait till stoppage time before they could break a resilient ABS FC. Adamu Mohammed came off the bench to score the winner from Rabiu Ali’s assist in the third minute of added time of the second half. ABS have never beaten Pillars in a league game.

Navy Water Sports Competition Begins in Lagos Chiemelie Ezeobi The Nigerian Navy (NN), weekend said its commitment to enhance the growth of water sports and other calibre of sporting exercises in the country was in top gear, even as it’s water sports

competition kicks off today. The Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Ibok Ette-Ibas, made this disclosure at a press briefing to kick off the annual 11th Nigerian Navy Games, of which the first arm the water sports competition

will kick off first. The CNS, who was represented by the Chief of Administration, Rear Admiral Henry Babalola, said the main games would hold from February 26, to March 11, 2017 in Uyo, while the water events of the competition

would hold from February 6, to February 11, in Lagos. Babalola, who is also the Chairman, Orgnising Committee for the Games, said that four water sports — swimming, rowing, sailing and boat-handling would be featured.

Monday February 6, 2017

UT H

& RE A S O

Price: N250

MISSILE Onnoghen to Campaigners

“Justice Onnoghen believes the president does not need any threat or ultimatum to perform his constitutional duties and therefore dissociates himself from those individuals and groups making such demands on the president” –Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen admonishing those clamouring for him to be made substantive Chief Justice of Nigeria to allow President Muhammadu Buhari carry out his statutory functions without being stampeded into a decision.

EDDIEIROH Nyesom Wike and Mission ‘Impossible’ INTERVENTION

eddie.iroh@thisdaylive.com

hose who know me and my antecedents in public affairs can vouch for one thing: I am not a praise singer. They will also attest that I belong to only one political party – FRN: The Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is from this non-partisan standpoint that I have been able to look at Nigerian issues and affairs objectively and comment on them quite dispassionately over the years. It is against this backdrop that I took my reporter’s notebook, a physician’s stethoscope, and a laboratory technician’s microscope to examine why so many people and institutions across the usually bitterly divided Nigerian political spectrum are pouring encomiums on Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State. And this is at a time when few governors can claim to be popular; most are unable to meet their constitutional and statutory obligations like paying workers’ salaries and contractors’ debts; indeed at a time when recession has taken a huge bite off the fabled national cake, and has become a ready excuse for explaining these failures, let alone have extra resources for infrastructure and other capital development projects. First there is Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari, the APC governor of Zamfara State, an unlikely admirer of a PDP rival in a Nigeria where political bitterness and rivalry are synonymous with enmity, doing the unthinkable. Yari who is also the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) crossed ethnic, zonal, geographical and party lines, indeed “crossed carpet”, to pay fulsome compliments to Wike. On a visit to Rivers State and after seeing things for himself Yari had this to say: “It is quite commendable that Governor Wike has managed to come up with some programmes for the betterment of the people of Rivers State.” Yari continued: “This is in spite of the economic crisis in our hands which we are all trying to manage.” At other times in Nigeria’s often volatile political climate, Yari might have been suspended by his party or even expelled for what will be termed “anti-party activities”, for crossing into the camp of the “enemy” and even commending the achievements of a governor from an opposition political party! What sacrilege! If Yari is a politician and may be accused, even if unfairly, of being diplomatic with his host, you cannot say the same about the gatekeepers of the Nigerian Fourth Estate. On an earlier occasion the Nigerian Guild of Editors, a body of top media chieftains, highlighted Wike’s accomplishments in the areas of not just economic development but most importantly security, without which any form of development in any society would be almost impossible. Indeed, kidnapping and armed robbery were rampant fare in pre-Wike Rivers State, such that Ms. Donu Kogbara, arguably the most famous journalist from the state, was kidnapped and held hostage for one week by an armed gang which also terrorised her 79-year-old mother. In a communique issued by the guild at the end of their executive committee meeting in Port Harcourt the state capital, the NGE commended Wike for the steps he has taken to improve the state of security in Rivers. With the improved state of affairs, Port Harcourt, which those of us who grew up there fondly

Wike nicknamed Pitakwa, “The Garden City” has once again become a conference and retreat destination for various organisations like the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and Rotary International. Among the myriad bodies and groups that have praised Wike are the River State Elders Consultative Council and a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Austin Opara. Some may suggest that these are indigenes of the state and have vested interests. But when two national newspapers with disparate ideologies and editorial outlook unanimously but independently elected to honour Wike for his achievements then it is only fit and

Late U.S. President John F Kennedy once defined courage as “grace under pressure”. Wike’s achievements in less than two years in the teeth of rival opposition, pressure and prejudice, seemed like mission impossible. But time has proved his record as a testament to remarkable personal ability and political courage. As Nigerians will say, his is an honour well deserved

proper that we take note and raise the question of whether there are lessons that other state governors can learn and implement in their own situation for the betterment of their states in particular and Nigeria in general. For in an interdependent federation like Nigeria, where resources by and large depend on federal largesse, the country is as strong as its weakest link. First, The Sun Media Group chose Wike as their Sun Man of the Year 2016. Then The Independent newspaper chose Wike as The Best Nigerian Governor in 2016, for defying the recession and breaking new grounds in infrastructure and human resources development in Rivers State. From the USA, Asia and other parts of the world, a coalition of Rivers State indigenes weighed in and joined the chorus of applause for Wike for fulfilling the legitimate expectations of his people, citing road and agricultural projects that have had direct impact on the populace. The probing, begging question here is: what factors account for Wike’s success in an economic environment of reduced revenue intake and depressed national economic outlook? What accounts for the success of Rivers State when many other states in the federation are barely managing to keep body and soul together, to keep their heads above water even after federal bailout? To be absolutely fair, it is important to note and to keep matters in perspective that Rivers State, as one of the half a dozen or so states that comprise the oil-rich Niger Delta region that accounts for 80 per cent of the Nigerian treasury. Thus Rivers, like other states in the region, receives a commensurate percentage of federal oil revenue following the principle of derivation. One can rightly also argue that even in a situation of falling oil prices and disruption of local production caused by militancy in the Niger Delta region, and consequently diminished federal oil revenue and allocation to the states, River State’s share is still much higher than those of the non-oil producing states. But that is only half the story. Wike has proved that his state cannot live by revenue from crude oil alone. He has proved that there can conceivably be life after crude oil. Wike did what many Nigerian leaders rarely pay attention to – income tax collection and other forms of internal revenue generation. In less than two years in office he more than doubled the internally generated revenue of the state from N4 billion to N9 billion. Of course one can have all the money in the world and still miss the boat. We know of some governors in the same Niger Delta who got massive oil revenue and ploughed it into their personal treasuries and invested it in choice properties abroad and personal luxuries. Still money alone cannot achieve development. The decisive factor in statecraft is the human element, in this case leadership. I believe this is where Nyesom Wike has considerable advantage. Unlike many leaders in Nigeria over the years who found themselves in positions of power by some fluke of faith, or had power thrust upon them, Wike is no accidental public servant. As we would say in local journalistic parlance, Wike has paid his dues. The man is a living example of the value

of apprenticeship in politics, something not quite common in Nigeria where hardly any Nigerian governor has allowed his deputy, a person who had under-studied him for eight years, to succeed him. Wike went about his political career via the grassroots of local government administration. Yes, Wike is a lawyer which is more than enough qualification to propel him from his law chambers to bid for governorship of his state. But he chose the route of local government administration and eventually became chairman of his local government council in Obio Akpor for eight years, and rose to become President of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON). It was from here that his then political godfather, Rotimi Amaechi poached Wike, first as his chief of staff, and subsequently to mastermind his gubernatorial campaign in 2011. His successes in these endeavours catapulted him to the federal level, where he was a minister for four years. Wike’s successes in these various positions afforded him priceless experience and valuable insights into the challenges of governance at the local, state and federal levels, and provided him the tools he brought with him to tackle similar challenges in Rivers State. By the time he made a bid for the governorship of the state in 2015, Wike was well equipped, ready, willing and able. Wike left us another lesson here, namely that in politics things do not just happen; people in power make them happen. The final point to consider here in understanding the nationwide applause being accorded Wike is the political and legal hurdles that he has had to surmount even as he was tackling the challenges of statecraft in Rivers State. As often happens in Nigerian politics, the relationship between the two erstwhile political allies, Amaechi and Wike, deteriorated quite dramatically as they found themselves in two opposing political camps, the All Peoples Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), respectively. In more tolerant political climes, the two erstwhile buddies could have separated their personal comradeship from heir political differences. But in the do-or-die political atmosphere of Nigeria, it was all out war and no holds were barred when Wike contested the governorship on the platform of the PDP which had ruled the state since 1999 even under Amaechi. Wike had faced a herculean task because Amaechi, now a chieftain of the APC, was under pressure to deliver his state to his new party. Wike’s eventual victory was challenged by the APC in court where his victory was reaffirmed. But the tension and the rancour did not disappear immediately. Irrespective, Wike has soldiered on to achieve the remarkable success for which he is being applauded and honoured by his peers as well as his subjects, and honoured by two media houses. Late U.S. President John F Kennedy once defined courage as “grace under pressure”. Wike’s achievements in less than two years in the teeth of rival opposition, pressure and prejudice, seemed like mission impossible. But time has proved his record as a testament to remarkable personal ability and political courage. As Nigerians will say, his is an honour well deserved.

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