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FG Considers Further Review of Petrol Pricing Template Hints on transfer of PEF’s bridging function to oil marketers Chineme Okafor in Abuja The Federal Government has said it would further review its pricing template for petrol with the aim of removing several multi-layered charges and costs that affect the pump price of

petrol at service stations across the country. The government also said it would continue to work with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to find ways of providing subsidised foreign exchange interventions for oil

marketers in the country. The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, stated this yesterday in a podcast he shared in his social media accounts. The podcast, obtained by THISDAY, was centred on the challenges

of the country’s downstream petroleum sector and the government’s plans to overcome them. Kachikwu stated in the podcast that, at the moment, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)

was importing almost all the petrol used in the country, a responsibility he stated the corporation was undertaking at a huge cost. According to him, marketers in the country were no longer importing petroleum products

because of the unfavourable business fundamentals which had been influenced by the rising prices of crude oil. “Downstream continues to be an area that has numerous Continued on page 8

British-Nigerian Joshua Knocks Out Klitschko, Remains Undefeated Heavyweight Champion ...Page 84 Sunday 30 April, 2017 Vol 22. No 8046

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Jonathan: The Whole Truth About 2015 Poll Yet To Be Told Says existing narratives by key players distorted Northern CAN: those who stopped Muslim-Muslim ticket should be hailed, not castigated

Vincent Obia, Tobi Soniyi, and Gboyega Akinsanmi in Lagos, and John Shiklam in Kaduna Former President Goodluck Jonathan said yesterday that the true story of the 2015 presidential election was yet to be told. He said he will come out with his own account of what transpired in the election, which he had lost to incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari and

became the first sitting president in Nigeria to lose an election. Jonathan was reacting to revelations in a new book, Against the Run of Play, written by the Chairman of THISDAY Editorial Board, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, which was launched on Friday in Lagos. The book catalogues events that led to Jonathan’s defeat at the poll, based on the personal accounts

of key actors. Some of the former president’s allies interviewed in the book said he and his wife, Patience, were to blame for the unfavourable poll outcome. But in a series of tweets yesterday, Jonathan said the book contained distorted claims about the 2015 electrions by the respondents. In a related development, a member of the Northern

Elders Forum, a group within the Christian Association of Nigeria, Rev. Bitrus Dangiwa, said yesterday that the ruling All Progressives Congress would have lost the 2015 presidential election if it presented a Muslim - Muslim ticket. Dangiwa, a former president of the youth wing of CAN, said this in response to a recent allegations by the APC national leader, Bola

Tinubu, that he was prevented from becoming the running mate to Buhari in 2015 by Senate President Bukola Saraki and Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai. Buhari and Tinubu are Muslims. Dangiwa said their emergence as presidential and vice presidential candidates, respectively, of APC would have spelled doom for the party. He said, “We thank the

senate president, Senator Bukola Saraki, and others for deciding against Muslim-Muslim ticket presidency. The truth is that the Nigeria of today is not the Nigeria of yesterday where religious differences don’t matter much. "I commend the senate president for being sensitive Continued on page 8

Obasanjo Narrates How Ribadu’s Threat to Arrest Tafa Balogun in Aso Rock Led to Ex-IG’s Sack Segun James

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Friday night went down the memory lane to shed light on circumstances surrounding the removal of former Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun from office. Now 12 years after Obasanjo forced Balogun to tender his resignation letter as police chief, the former president disclosed that a threat by former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Mallam Nuhu Ribadu to arrest Balogun during an encounter at the presidential villa made him to demand his immediate resignation. Speaking on the allegations against Balogun, he said two

independent security reports indicted the former police chief of massive corruption unbecoming of anyone in that position. Obasanjo said, a first report by the State Security Service (SSS) had shown that Balogun was involved in corruption. The former president, who spoke at the 80th birthday dinner organised in his honour by his former appointees under the aegis of the, “Political Children of Obasanjo” in Lagos, said he was so alarmed that he called the police chief to the State House and warned him about the indicting reports of his activities Continued on page 8

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HEARTY CONGRATULATIONS L-R: Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the groom, Personal Assistant to the President, Mr Sabiu 'Tunde' Yusuf; and Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, during the wedding reception of Yusuf and his bride, Fatima, in Kaduna …weekend

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Shittu: NIPOST to Set up Own Bank, Other Commercial Services Says Nigeria'll acquire additional satellites soon ÖËáËÖÏ ÖËÖÏãÏ The Minister of Communication, Alhaji Adebayo Shittu, has said the Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) is on the concluding stage of setting up its own bank to be known as NIPOST Bank, which will be offering some basic banking services as well as other commercial activities as part of the reform package of the ministry to enable it shore up its financial base. Shittu, who spoke in an exclusive interview with THISDAY, also hinted at the ministry’s plan to acquire two additional satellites in the orbit in order to encourage investors in the nation’s ICT sector. In the same stride, the minister said he would inaugurate on Tuesday, May 2, the implementation committee of the ICT University, an effort he said was conceived to help close the skills gap amongst the Nigerian youths in the

development of ICT. The minister said on assumption of office, the first thing he reckoned was the need to reposition NIPOST, but that he first asked himself: “What are we going to do by reforming NIPOST? Number one, we discovered that Nigeria, with 774 local governments, most of these local governments don’t have banks available there and they are completely cut off from financial services. So, we felt that contrary to banks, post offices are in 1500 locations across the country. “It means you can use post office agencies as vehicles to undertake banking or financial services. So, for these we are trying to come up with what will be called NIPOST Bank. Similar things exist in China and a few other countries. Many of the things that are fundamental which banks do for you, post offices will be doing.”

In specifics, the minister said, “You want to save money; you will take your money to the post office. Remember, in those days, we used to have money order, postal order and all that. That was not deep enough but now we will have something to provide basic banking services so that people in the rural areas will also be able to benefit from this sort of banking.” Apart from operating banking services, the minister also hinted at other commercial activities that NIPOST under his watch would undertake to include e-commerce. “We are looking at a situation, where we will have NIPOST Transport Property and Development Services. If you look around, particularly in Lagos, you will find a lot of NIPOST facilities having excess land. These lands are wasting and you know land is a valuable asset. “The fourth thing is we

want to also introduce NIPOST Transport and Logistic Services. Already, NIPOST depends on vehicles to carry postal material from one place to the other. As they are carrying these postal materials, we should be able to commercialise these NIPOST transport services so that they can also carry passengers. If NIPOST is taking postal material from Lagos to Ibadan, it should be able to also carry passengers or merchandise. “Another service that we are looking forward to introducing in our NIPOST reform package is e-government services in all post offices and I will give you an example of what I mean. For example, everybody needs international passport and passport offices are found only in state capitals. These services, Shittu said would be applicable to all government service providing agencies, saying “not just passport alone: driver’s license and

virtually everything that you would want to procure from government – you should be able to do it through NIPOST. It is being done in several other African countries, so, why don’t we do it? Doing most of these things will certainly bring a lot of ease and convenience for Nigerians, he said. On the issue of satellite acquisition, he said the Nigerian Satellite Communication Company currently has one satellite in orbit. But this situation, he said was not too good for any serious country seeking to excel in ICT. “Having one satellite in orbit for a satellite company can be likened to a transport company, which moves from Lagos to Ibadan on a vehicle without a spare tyre. If you don’t have a spare tyre and a potential passenger knows that this car does not have a spare tyre, nobody will want to travel with you. In the same vein,

having one satellite in orbit, a lot of people, who should be patronising you, will think, ‘if we put all our eggs in one basket and something happens, we would lose all our data”. As a result of this palpable but remediable deficiency, he said a lot of Nigerian ministries, departments and agencies, including many universities preferred to deal with foreign satellite companies, which meant a lot of foreign exchange was being lost by Nigeria. “So, we think the way to go is to try to acquire two additional satellites in orbit. Once we have that sufficiency, capability and confidence, we will then be able, even if by legislation, put a stop to Nigerian agencies, companies and ministries patronising foreign satellite companies to the disadvantage of Nigerian companies.” See full interview on pages 73 - 75

State governor added, “the presidential campaign was mismanaged by those who thought that stigmatising others would win votes for an incumbent." Giving his own account of the events, however, the then Senate President David Mark blamed Jonathan for his defeat, saying he never approached the poll with the kind of dedication with which he fought the 2011 election. “I was part of the 2011 presidential campaign. And to a large extent, I was also involved in the 2015 presidential election. From my reading of the situation, President Jonathan was a bit tentative, almost as if he was not certain about running,” Mark said in the book. “He did not seek the presidency with the kind of single-minded with which he pursued the ambition in 2011. It was almost as if President Jonathan could not make up his mind as to whether or not to run. So, it came as no surprise to me that he lost.” Mark said he “could see the conspiracy and gang-up

building up in the North against the aspiration of Jonathan, but my voice was drown out by those who took it for granted that a sitting president, and one from the PDP, could not lose.” The former senate president said Jonathan’s vice, Namadi

Sambo also saw the conspiracy against Jonathan by his fellow northerners, “but I do not know how much influence he had on the campaign. Why Jonathan could not see it until it was too late is what I find difficult to understand.”

JONATHAN: THE WHOLE TRUTH ABOUT 2015 POLL YET TO BE TOLD to the feelings of Christians in Nigeria.” Though, Jonathan had conceded defeat in the 2015 election, he later became so distraught by the outcome that he began to blame his allies for his failure and accuse them of betrayal. He has also accused former U.S. President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande, former British Prime Minister David Cameron of masterminding his ouster. Some of Jonathan’s allies who gave personal accounts of what transpired at the poll in Against the Run of Play saw it as an opportunity set the record straight. But the former president tweeted yesterday, “I have just read Segun Adeniyi's new book, 'Against the Run of Play' which has so far enjoyed tremendous reviews in the media. “My take on it is that the book as presented contains many distorted claims on the 2015 presidential election by many of the respondents. “There will obviously be more books like that on this subject by concerned Nigerians.

“However, I believe that at the right time, the main characters in the elections, including myself, will come out with a true account of what transpired either in major interviews or books." In his views as contained in the book, Jonathan blamed his defeat on a conspiracy by the security agents, especially in the North, and the then opposition APC to produce false results against him. Jonathan was quoted as saying, “I felt really betrayed by the results coming from some northern states. Perhaps, for ethnic purposes, even security agents colluded with the opposition to come up with spurious results against me. You saw the way the InspectorGeneral, a man I appointed, suddenly turned himself into the ADC to President Muhammadu Buhari immediately after the election.” Unlike the 2011 presidential election that he won convincingly, Jonathan said he “could not yet fathom what happened in some states in 2015. How could we have lost Ondo,

Benue and Plateau States if our people were committed to the cause? “If you examine the results, you will see a pattern: in places where ordinarily we were strong, our supporters did not show enough commitment to mobilise voters.” Jonathan accused the former national chairman of his Peoples Democratic Party, Adamu Mu'azu, of being part of the conspiracy. “Take for instance, the PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu'azu. I believe he joined in the conspiracy against me. For reasons best known to him, he helped to sabotage the election in favour of the opposition." But responding in the book, Mu'azu said Jonathan was hurt by the mismanagement of the campaign by his own campaign managers. “In the build-up to the election, some people decided to introduce religion and ethnicity into the campaign in such a manner that not only hurt the PDP in the North but was actually helping to mobilise our opponents against us,” he stated. The former Bauchi

FG CONSIDERS FURTHER REVIEW OF PETROL PRICING TEMPLATE challenges, that is why throwing ideas on them will continue to be something that any minister or chief executive of NNPC will continue to focus on,” said Kachikwu. He further stated: “The environment has since changed, when we did all these, pricing for crude was more in the $25 to $30 per barrel, today it is in excess of $54, which is fantastic because it means that our revenue stream is improving. “But, it is a twin window, whenever the price of crude goes up, obviously the price of refined petrol goes up and we begin to have systemic challenge in terms of the pricing on the local base, so that gap has begun to return and today what you find is that the NNPC continues to import massively on behalf of the Federal Government. It has gone back to about 90-95 per cent for the whole country and therefore its books are absorbing some of the cost implications of this.” According to him: “The

second is that once this happens the marketers begin to shift backwards, participation by individual marketers to help us continue the normal business and marketing cycle that should be what you expect is no longer existing. Most of them are not importing.” Speaking on plans to stem the development, Kachikwu stated: “One of the things we are doing is that we are looking at our existing templating position, and what we are doing with that is first addressing some of the soft end of things that affect pricing. “We are removing too many multi-layered charges on importation, we are working with the ministry of transport to reduce those to what was initially approve by the president, and as such, we should take away a good chunk of the expenses. We are working to see how the CBN can provide us with a fairly subsidised FX for products priced in dollars.” Though he did not expressly

disclose this, the minister however, hinted that the government might begin to wind down the operations of the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) and transfer its bridging responsibilities to oil marketers. According to him, “We are trying to see how over a period of time, marketers will take over the PEF responsibilities of funding trucking and keeping prices stable across the country.” He said in the long run, the NNPC would have to reduce its presence in the country’s petroleum downstream sector because of the cost on its books. The corporation, he noted, would have to begin to operate as a profit entity. Speaking on product availability in the country, Kachikwu assured that, “There isn't fuel scarcity, we are not short of products, but yet the downstream and midstream sectors continue to remain challenged. And what we are going to do is to analyse what we have done so far and begin

to throw solutions to some of these challenges.” He also explained that since the introduction of pricing modulation, the country has been able to drop its daily products consumption from about 50 million litres to 37 million litres. “We had issues of pricing efficiency and governance, for at that time the prices we were selling at were so ridiculously below what the sustainable prices are. And you find a situation where basically marketers disappeared from the industry. So, we had massive shortages, queues and everything seem to be breaking down. We've since come out from that. “First we've moved from a fully subsidy-based sector to a partially liberalised sector. I say partially because we haven't quite achieved the template to have a fully liberalised sector. What that has done for us is that it had reduced consumption from 50 million litres to 37 million litres a day,” he stated.

OBASANJO NARRATES HOW RIBADU’S THREAT TO ARREST TAFA BALOGUN IN ASO ROCK LED but not surprisingly, Balogun denied it and continued in his ways. The former leader added that, few months later, another report, this time by the EFCC not only detailed the corrupt activities of the former IG but also revealed that he continued unabated in the fraud, without any form of care. “I called him and said, Tafa, why do you have to destroy your name and career even though you will forever enjoy your privilege and salary as a former IGP for life?” Obasanjo revealed that, on a particular day, Balogun was at the Aso Villa to see him and the chairman of the EFCC, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, was around and threatened to arrest him. He said that was when he (Obasanjo) decided to ask for the former IG’s resignation, effective immediately. While he asked the EFCC not to arrest him in the Villa, Ribadu threatened to arrest Balogun outside the presidential mansion, the former president added. According to him, it was at this point he asked Balogun to immediately tender his resignation or be fired. “I had a hunch that Nuhu may leak the report to the press as he was close to them. I immediately called Balogun to give his letter of resignation. I told him if I don’t get the letter in 30 minutes, I will dismiss you.” Obasanjo, who was so happy to see the gathering of his former “boys”, asked everyone to be less formal and have fun as the gathering was a reunion of some sort and an opportunity to reminisce on old times. He asked those who he stepped on their toes while working with them to tell him, so that he could promptly apologise, if it was true, but if not, he said,“I will step on it further and even hard.”

The former president, who was full of praises for his ‘political children’ which included Akin Osuntokun, Dr. Doyin Okupe, Tonye Cole, Nuhu Ribadu, Uba Sani, Osita Chidoka, former governor of Osun State, Prince Oyinlola Olagunsoye; former governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel; Senator Kola Bajomo, and former Head of Service, Malam Yayale Ahmed, among others, said he was proud of them and was also proud to call them his political children. Uba Sani, who eulogised Obasanjo for being the most detribalised leader that the country has ever had, noted that he never surrounded himself with people from his ethnic nationality like other leaders do. Sani, however, stated that Obasanjo was equally the most misunderstood leader even though he ended up being the most constructive Nigerian leader ever. Speaking in the same vein, Dr. Doyin Okupe disclosed that at every opportunity, Obasanjo is always having good intention for the country. He, however, pointed out that even though the former president was the oldest member of his team, he was the most energetic even as the younger men were struggling to meet up with his schedules. An enthusiastic Okupe told the former president: “History is going to be positive on you for what you have done for Nigeria and Africa.” Also speaking, Ribadu admitted that whatever he achieved was possible because of Obasanjo’s support. “I would not have been what I am today without Baba,” he stressed. He stated that the gathering was to thank Obasanjo for what he had done for his “children”, while also pledging continued loyalty to him.

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SUNDAY COMMENT

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

THE SUPREME COURT VERDICT ON FORGERY It is a judgment well made

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he rate at which public office holders in Nigeria indulge in forgery and falsification has assumed a frightening dimension. A day hardly passes without news of a new discovery relating to either certificate, age or tax falsification involving individuals seeking or occupying very sensitive positions in the land. Yet, these ordinarily are people who should be leading by example. More unfortunate is the fact that some of these offenders wait for their accusers in court, relying on either delay, technicalities or outright corruption to stall justice. This is a challenge that should task the authorities. Recently, a five-man panel of the Supreme Court of Nigeria sacked a federal legislator from Benue State for certificate forgery. Justice Sidi Bage, who read the lead judgment spoke a soothing language of hope: “Allowing criminality and certificate forgery to continue to percolate into the streams, waters and oceans of our national polity will only mean that our waters are and will remain dangerously contaminated. The purification efforts must start now and be sustained as we seek, as a nation, to now change from our old culture of reckless impunity “. Bage went further: “The Nigerian constitution is supreme. It desires that no one who has ever presented a forged certificate to INEC should contest election into the Nigerian National Assembly. This is clear and sacrosanct.” Unfortunately, the situation is not that clear in our country today. In ministries, agencies and parastatals, individuals with fake certificates are holding sway and desecrating institutions that should be sacrosanct, even when competent and qualified persons abound. The message being sent by such fraudsters is that it doesn’t really matter whether or not one works hard to earn genuine certificates, since forged ones are acceptable. A state chief executive who came to power presenting fake academic credentials wouldn’t have the passion for

academic excellence and the desire to build virile academic institutions. Also a state or federal chief executive who came to power forging his tax papers to meet the urgent need for political power after dodging payment of tax for years wouldn’t have any problem plundering the tax payers’ money which they, in the first place, lack the moral authority to spend.

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We are bound to continue to fail as a nation if we do not sanitise our political institutions by fearlessly getting rid of those individuals whose actions have become our development albatross

Letters to the Editor

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S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R EDITOR TOKUNBO ADEDOJA DEPUTY EDITORS VINCENT OBIA, OLAWALE OLALEYE 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, IJEOMA NWOGWUGWU GROUP FINANCE DIRECTOR OLUFEMI ABOROWA DIVISIONAL DIRECTORS PETER IWEGBU, FIDELIS ELEMA, 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

nowing that the political institutions most times decide the effectiveness or otherwise of other institutions including the economic institutions, many nations usually put in enormous energy in ensuring that its political process is not tainted with the emergence of people with doubtful moral and academic pedigree. Just last week, the President of Tanzania, Mr John Magufuli said that more than 10,000 civil servants were recently sacked in his country for having fake education certificates. “These people occupied government positions but had no qualifications... they robbed us just like other common criminals,” Magufuli said, urging officials to “name and shame” offenders.”We have been working hard to create new jobs while there are people in government who hold fake degrees,” he said. However, in Nigeria, once you attain a certain status, you can be elevated above the law. Lionel Messi, easily the most talented and decorated footballer in the history of football is presently appealing a two-year jail sentence slammed on him by a Spanish court recently for failing to remit accurate tax returns. If his face, fame and humble mien could not stop the Spanish judges from applying the law, then our courts shouldn’t entertain any fear in meting out appropriate punishments against questionable persons retarding our development. The message is simple: We are bound to continue to fail as a nation if we do not sanitise our political institutions by fearlessly getting rid of those individuals whose actions have become our development albatross. However, the faith of many Nigerians has been strengthened by the firm declaration and reassurance of the highest court of the land that has now come down hard on those consciously slowing down our development through forgery, falsification and other related offences. We commend the Supreme Court for that timely judgment.

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 (950- 1000 words). They should be sent to opinion@thisdaylive.com along with the email address and phone numbers of the writer.

IN DEFENCE OF MUHAMMADU SANUSI II

he Emir of Kano, Mallam Muhammadu Sanusi II, has been in the news for a while now. To his admirers, for the right reasons, and to his critics for the wrong reasons—depending on the prism one is looking at it. Most of us who have followed the antecedent of Emir Sanusi have known him as a progressive-minded crusader who is not afraid to speak truth to power; no matter how it hurts. The recent unravelling, reformist and progressive postulations made by the emir as regards development of the North, has made him a subject of attack by conservative and regressive forces which see his view as anti-establishment cum elite. Within just a week, I have read several articles and statements targeted at Emir Sanusi in other to discredit him or possibly silence him. It is obvious that a well-conscripted media onslaught has been unleashed on his royal highness, simply because he chose to identity with girl-child,

women, Almajiris, and the talakawas on the streets of the North. The train of provoking thoughts racing through the minds of discerning Nigerians are: what are the “sins” of Mohammadu Sanusi II? When has it become a crime for one to advocate for an improved standard of living for his subjects? Who is afraid of the reforms being canvassed by his eminence? Who is benefitting from underdevelopment and ravaging poverty in the North? Who is defending the status quo of penury in the region? These are few of the questions begging for answers. Mallam Sanusi II recently stirred nerves by promoting girl-child education in the North. He was quoted as saying that: “educating the girl-child was more important than building mosques”. He recommended conversion of mosques to schools. He also suggested strict marriage laws that would ensure that poor men could only marry as many wives they would be able to take care of. Part of

his reformist postulations was that family planning should be enforced to curtail ugly menace of millions of homeless and out-of-school children roaming the streets of the North. He also berated conservative Northern leaders who are still employing the deceptive veil of religion to keep impoverishing their people. Emir Sanusi captured the forces militating against the development of the North as: “a complete failure of social policy”. As usual, those who chose (or were employed) to respond to Emir Sanusi’s reformist postulations, instead of proffering superior ideas to what he suggested decided to attack his personality in the media. These are the real enemies of the North. Coincidently, most of the writers of anti-Sanusi’s write-ups are from the North—going by their names. What they failed (or refused) to understand is that Northern Nigerian—especially North-West and North-East geo-political zones, where Emir Sanusi rated as the poorest parts

of the world have become a huge clog on the wheels of progress of Nigeria. The gross underdevelopment of these most populated regions has turned out to be liability to the nation’s economic prosperity. The same set of individuals, who want to crucify Emir Sanusi for championing the course of girl-child education in the region, will fight with their last blood to oppose restructuring of Nigeria and demand for the head of anyone who dare agitate for Biafra, yet they do not want the children of the average Northerner to get western education, in other to catch up with his Southern contemporaries. They are the same people who are defending status quo of federal character which promotes mediocrity in the system. Emir Sanusi may seem like a lone voice in the wilderness now, very soon entire Southern Nigeria will rise up in unionism to demand for restructured Nigeria that will provide level playing ground for every region to make-do with what they have.

Religious irredentists, who are throwing jabs at Emir Sanusi for advocating for more schools in the place of mosques, are the same elements justifying Federal Unity School lopsided admission benchmark, where a pupil from Anambra State will study hard to score 139 points in the entrance examination just to secure the same admission while his counterpart from Yobe State will need only four points to get. What an irony! Emir Sanusi’s critics are the retrogressive Northern elite who are not ashamed that 90% of educationally disadvantaged states are located in the North. Most of the state governments in the North who spend hundreds of millions of naira marrying off women in mass weddings cannot boast of functional primary schools. Emir Sanusi’s truth may hurt for a little while, but the lie and deceptive approach of Northern elite in handling development of the region will hurt them for forever. ––Nwobodo Chidiebere, Abuja.

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t Suspects arrested, arms, operational vehicle recovered Abimbola Akosile

Fifteendaysaftersomegunmen attemptedtoassassinateSenator Dino Melaye at his residence at Iyala, Ijumu LGA in Kogi State, the Police yesterday named the Chairman of the same Ijumu Local Government, 54-year-old TaofiqIsaastheprincipalsuspect and mastermind of the attack. Isa was arrested and paraded alongside five other suspects including his police orderly, exSergeantEdeJames,bythePolice attheForceHeadquarters,Abuja, accordingtotheForcePublicRelationsOfficer,CSP,JimohMoshood. Other suspects included Ade Obage ‘M’ 29 years; Abdullahi Isaha.k.aEko‘M’32years;Ahmed Ajayi ‘M’ 45 years, and Michael Bamidele ‘M’ 26 years. Amongtheexhibitsrecovered fromthesuspectsintheattackon Melaye,whoisChairman,Senate Committee on Federal Capital Territory, were: one Ambulance Hyundai Bus; five AK 47 rifles; one Berreta pistol; two locally made single barrel shotgun; 25 expended shells of 7.62 mm ammunition; 13 expended shells of 9mm ammunition, and twelve expended shells of gauge cartridge. While addressing women of KogiWestSenatorialDistrictwho embarked on peaceful protest at Aiyetoro-Gbede, his country home on April 22, Melaye had accused Kogi State Governor YahayaBelloandtheIjumuLGA Chairman, Isa of a plot to assassinate him because of his stand

ontheplightofKogiworkersand pensioners in the state. ThePoliceFPROsaidthearrests of the six suspects was based on the directive of the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim K. Idris, who swiftly deployed a PoliceSpecialTacticalSquad(STS) teamtounravelthecircumstances surroundingtheattackandbring the perpetrators to justice. Moshood said, “Consequent on the attack by unknown gun men on Senator Dino Melaye at hisresidenceatIyala,IjumuLGA in Kogi State on 15th April, 2017, at about 0030hrs, the Inspector General of Police, IGP Ibrahim K. Idris swiftly deployed Police SpecialTacticalSquad(STS)team tounravelthecircumstancessurroundingtheattackandbringthe perpetrators to justice. “The six suspects include TaofiqIsah‘M’54yearsprincipal suspect (Chairman Ijumu LGA Kogi State); Ade Obage ‘M’ 29 years; Abdullahi Isah a.k.a Eko ‘M’32years;AhmedAjayi‘M’45 years; Michael Bamidele ‘M’ 26 years, and Ex- Sgt Ede James ‘M’ 35years(OrderlytoChairmanof ijumuLGAKogiStateatthetime of the attack). “Exhibits include One (1) AmbulanceHyundaiBus;five(5) AK47rifles;one(1)Berretapistol; two(2)locallymadesinglebarrel shotgun; Twenty (25) expended shells of 7.62 mm ammunition; thirteen (13) expended shells of 9mmammunition,andtwelve(12) expendedshellsgaugecartridge. The firearms have been sent for Ballistic expert examination, test

andanalysisattheForceCriminal Intelligence and Investigation Department in Lagos. “IncompliancewiththeInspectorGeneralofPolice’sdirectiveon the attack and attempted assassination/murderofSenatorDino Melayecarriedouton15/04/2017, at Iyala, Ijumu LGA in Kogi state, the operatives of the IGP Special TacticalSquadswungintoaction andaftertendaysofpainstaking surveillancebetween16/04/2017 and 25/04/2017, successfully arrestedsixmembersofthevicious and notorious hired assassins gang responsible for the attack and attempted assassination / murder of Senator Dino Melaye carriedouton15/04/2017,atIyala, IjumuLGAinKogistatenamely: “TaofiqIsah(ChairmanIjumu LGA Kogi state) according to the investigation so far, he is the mastermind of the executed attempted assassination/murder of Senator Dino Melaye. He was alleged to have directed one Abdulmumini a.k.a Iron, now at large (who was said to be his Personal Assistant) and who in turn recruited other members of the vicious and notorious hired assassinsgangmentionedabove. “Ade Obage ‘M’ 29 years: He voluntarily informed the Police that he has the knowledge and informationabouttheattempted assassination/murder attack of Senator Dino Melaye after the attackwascarriedout.Hefurther informedtheinvestigatorsthathe wascontactedtojointhegangby AbdullahiEkoaprincipalsuspect now in Police custody.

Details Emerge on Why Oba Akiolu ‘Snubbed’ Ooni in Public

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Police: LG Boss Masterminded Assassination Attempt on Melaye

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Olawale Olaleye inLagosand Yinka Kolawole inOsogbo

Some interesting details on why the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu,mighthave‘snubbed’the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, at a public function recently, have emerged days after conflicting reasons were churned out by both the palace andconcernedindividualsseeking an effective management of the situation. A source, who is a close friend and business associate of the Ooni, told THISDAY last night that the incident involving the two traditional rulers may not be unconnected to past business encounter between the two of them. The sources told THISDAY that there was an unpleasant engagement between the Ooni andObaAkiolu,beforehebecame the Ife monarch. As a businessman and property developer, the source said, Oonihadboughtalargeexpanse of land on the Island for a certain project, a deal said to have been sealed and delivered with those concerned, including all the financialcommitmentsresolved. Oba Akiolu was said to have gotten wind of the deal later and

allegedly stopped the development even when Ooni had invested hugely in it. But as one withroyalupbringing,Ooniwas saidtohavesoughtaudiencewith theLagosObaandpleadedwith him, reeling out details of how far he had come with the project. But the Oba of Lagos, the source further said, declined all entreatiesandinsistedthatforany development to continue on the property, Oonimustpayroyalty, whichwassaidtoberunninginto several millions of naira. “Itwasalotofmoney,thateven theOoniwasshockedObaAkiolu could demand of him,� sources alleged. Unfortunately, for the Ooni, it was said to be a large sum at that time for him because he had put insomuchintotheverydevelopmentandfounditdifficulttoraise the money. He therefore sought Oba Akiolu’s understanding and pleaded for a reduction, which Akioluallegedlydeclinedtogrant, insisting he either pays the sum orforgetsaboutthedevelopment. Thus, the Ooni, the source said, quickly rallied some of his dependablefriendsforassistance before he came up with the money.Butasfatewouldhaveit,a few months after this encounter,

OgunwusibecametheOoniofIfe. “That is the truth of this bitterness, at least, what we can link this to. The Oba of Lagos hasn’t completely gotten over the emergence of ‘Yeye and against the backdrop of how he treated him‌ “We were always atthe palace in Idugaran nearly every day, prostratingforAkioluwith‘Yeye, just for him to relax his stand a bit, but he was adamant as if his sole aim was to jeopardise the project. ‘Yeye was at the palace formanydays, onlygoingtobeg andpleadwiththeObatoreduce what he was asking for and not to dissuade him from asking for what was due to him. But all fell on deaf ears. “’Yeye was forced to raise that moneybecausealotwasatstake. Buteven if ‘Yeyehadnotbecome Ooni, he still has his respect for ageandthethroneasachildborn into royalty, who was also raised withstrictadherencetotradition. Imean,apartfromthat,‘Yeyehas neverhadanyuntowardinteractionwithObaAkioluthatwould warrant snubbing him in public the way he did.â€? EffortsbyTHISDAYlastnight to get the palace of the Oba of Lagos to react to the allegation were futile.

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ͱͮ˜ Ͱͮͯ͵ ˾ THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER

OPINION Is Open University Back to Dark Ages? The removal of the iLEARN platform strips NOUN of its ICT components, writes Ahmed Abdullahi

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trend in all human species and societies is a constant desire for change – change from bad to good, and good to better. It is a desire that has fuelled decades of development and propelled advancements in science, medicine, technology, arts, etc. Change, however, is not always progressive. There exists the propensity for change from good to bad due to leadership challenges. And it breaks the heart that the change currently being experienced at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) is one that threatens to undo years of progressive developments at the institution. The federal government in February 2016 rejigged the leadership of the nation’s flagship open and distance learning institution by appointing Professor Abdalla Uba Adamu as Vice-Chancellor, taking over from Professor Vincent Ado Tenebe. This was immediately challenged by a civil society organisation, alleging that the move ran contrary to the National Open University Act (2004), which mandates the federal government to consult with the University Council before removing or appointing a vice-chancellor. The NOUN was established formally in 2002 as the flagship tertiary institution for Open and Distance Learning in Nigeria. Since its establishment, the institution has engaged the services of NOUN iLEARN, a harmonised learning management portal that allows for online instructional delivery through the combination of audio, video and text mediums. Without the iLEARN platform, the relationship and synergy that exists between the students and the knowledge bank as provided by the university management through the lecturers are shattered. And this transcends academics. Other aspects of the university operations made possible through the iLEARN technology are condemned to stone-age realities. Unfortunately, this is what currently obtains at NOUN as decisions taken by the VC have plunged the school into an operational chaos that is having a devastating impact on the students. The iLEARN platform serves as the digital soul for the smooth running of an ICT-compliant National Open University. Without it, students are subjected to long trips to and from the school to physically do things that should be done remotely. The workload of support staff and admin officers are tripled as they have to attend to long queues and manually fill forms and file

papers. Removal of the iLEARN platform basically strips NOUN of all its ICT components and that is what the leadership of Professor Abdalla Adamu has done. Apart from operations, iLEARN provides NOUN students with dedicated support lines and staff who answer student’s questions on all matters of interest from admission to graduation. The service ensures students can reach to the school via multiple social and digital media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, BBM, blogs, all coordinated and linked to a dedicated call centre with five personnel per time. Before the questionable decision to stop the service, students called in from all part of the world to make enquiries on NOUN through iLEARN. Now students must visit the institution to make enquiries. Without the synergy and connectivity that iLEARN provides, students no longer have valuable and immediate feedback on issues affecting them and the management is left winking in the dark as well. It gets even worse.

The iLEARN service ensures students can reach to the school via multiple social and digital media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, BBM, blogs, all coordinated and linked to a dedicated call centre with five personnel per time

Professor Abdalla’s insistence of doing things his own way even when all available metrics point to better solutions has left NOUN with a broken student-tutor interaction system. Due to the VC’s decision to strip the school of ICT framework provided by the iLEARN platform, students now rely more on selflearning and have been cut out of interacting with tutors where they could ask questions and get guidance on studies. Currently, there are no engagements or interactions of any sort between students and tutors. In the bid to help themselves, they must constantly source for tutors to tutor them face to face – which is against the vision and spirit behind the establishment of the institution. It doesn’t end there. In the catalogue of retrogressive actions taken by the current VC to undo 15 years of development at NOUN is the decentralisation of the university portal. Before now, nou.edu. ng served as NOUN’s only website and a centralised portal that guided students’ and visitors alike for correct information while providing the school the benefit of being well placed according to webometrics ranking. This has since changed under the new VC. NOUN now operates multiple websites with portals that have barely worked for 48 hours, leaving students stranded at different stages of their payment and registration processes. This has also opened students and the institution to security challenges as sensitive information is entered into different websites in a world of cyber and information attacks. The cost of operating multiple websites also raises the question of whether the VC’s decision makes any economic sense. These and more are what students of the National Open University are currently dealing with. Learning has been made cumbersome, and even basic processes such as payment of fees, registration and taking exams have become so stressful that a lot of students have been demoralised and frustrated. Things may yet get worse if the current trend is not checked. A fully functional and operational NOUN is in the best interest of Nigeria’s human capital development. As such the relevant authorities must come to the aid of the labouring students of the school by compelling the VC to reverse the damaging policies so instituted. ––Abdullahi wrote from Lagos

Can We Rouse Healthcare in Nigeria? Simbo Olorunfemi argues that the country could do much more “No nation can succeed or become strong without a strong healthcare system” - Dr Ama Adadevoh

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eports of yet another Meningitis outbreak in Nigeria is unfortunately a reflection of the state of healthcare in the country. Daunting as the task of providing adequate healthcare might be, still grappling with the basic primary healthcare in the manner we have seen is simply not good enough. As I write, more than 800 deaths have been reported due to the meningitis epidemic. It is well-known that Nigeria is within the Meningitis belt and even though outbreaks over the years were caused mostly by Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A (NmA), the claims out there is not wholly true that the outbreak of the C strain was only a recent development as “two sequential, localised outbreaks of meningitis …caused by a new strain of Neisseria meningitidis Serogroup C (NmC)” were reported in 2013 and 2014 in some states in the Northern Nigeria. It is a surprise that given that experience and a suggestion in a scientific report that “a vaccination campaign against NmC with a long-lasting conjugate vaccine should be considered in the region,” we have to wait from 2014 till now for another massive outbreak and deaths of more than 800 people to first respond with reactive vaccination and hopefully the conjugate vaccine to prevent outbreaks of this nature, in the future. That we have to wait for a disaster that we could have prevented before taking action, is sadly a true reflection of who we are as a people, our attitude to life and virtually everything else and an advertisement for the state of healthcare in the country. We will rather leave things to chance, fate or God even when we have what it will take to address the problems. The evidence out there establishing a clear correlation between the state of health of the people and the state of health of the nation is clear. “Better health improves economic outcomes. Health correlates positively with happiness, productivity, and an improved sense of personal well-being,” we are told. According to a report quoted by the World Health Organisation, “better health enables more people to participate in the economy … [such that] reducing the costs of lost productivity by only 10–20% could add billions of dollars to the economy.” It also finds that “improved health conditions are also beneficial for social cohesion, especially in terms of equity. As societies with better and more equitable health systems

are more stable, and function more effectively. Conversely, poor morbidity and mortality of a large proportion of children under health imposes large economic costs on the affected society. five in Nigeria, as it accounts for more than 50 per cent of deaths Diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, HIV/AIDS, severe acute within this age bracket. It also says that the death of new-born barespiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome bies in Nigeria represents a quarter of the total number of deaths (MERS), Zika, and Ebola can afflict large numbers of people in a of children under-five. The majority of these occur within the first short period of time. Large-scale outbreaks can lead to losses in week of life, mainly due to complications during pregnancy and economic activity as great as $60 billion, according the Coalition for delivery, reflecting the intimate link between newborn survival Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.” and the quality of maternal care. Yet to cater for the health needs So is it that we are yet to connect the dots that apart from the of Nigerians, only four per cent of the federal budget is devoted to human costs, the economic costs of diseases also matter? Several health, N257.3 billion in the 2016 Budget. studies attest to the positive correlation between improved health So, we have these daunting challenges facing us in the health and economic well-being. Even if it is only about saving lives, is it sector and the government obviously has limited resources. Obvinot worth it? That vaccines have saved millions of lives has been ous also is the fact that governments, over the years, have been long established. A study by the World Health Organisation Global rather restrained in terms of what it is willing or able to invest Vaccine Action Plan found that “a measles vaccine would save 10.6 in health care, but the question still arises – Are the resources million lives over the next 10 years, a Hepatitis B vaccine would available being applied judiciously and in the most cost-beneficial save up to six million people, a Haemophilus influenza type B manner? Can we not be more creative in addressing these vaccine would save up to 1.7 million lives, a Pneumococcus vaccine challenges, which I see as a sea of opportunities? would save up to 1.8 million lives, a Rotavirus vaccine would save I have made different arguments in previous public interven900,000 lives, and a Human Papillomavirus vaccine would save tions (See Faffing Around Healthcare: Whose Job Is It To Keep 500,000 lives if there were widespread coverage.” Yet the Rotavirus Nigerians Healthy?; Diarrhoea, Rotavirus Vaccine and Nigerian and Pneumococcal are not on the National Programme on Lawmakers; and Are we doing enough to manage this Annual Immunisation Menu for administration to all Nigerian children. Outbreak of Meningitis?) linking the level of attention at the A 2016 Study, published as part of the Brookings Private Sector primary level, especially calling for an expansion of the range of Global Health R&D Project, assesses overall health governance vaccines covered under the national immunisation scheme not capacity of 18 nations in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia by examinonly as a means of saving more lives of our children but to ensure ing 25 indicators related to the five dimensions of management that the cost of secondary healthcare goes down. I have argued capacity, regulatory processes, health infrastructure and financing, for a community-based, all-inclusive healthcare system founded health systems, and policy conditions in those countries. Needless on health insurance that will not only phenomenally grow that to say that Nigeria sits at the bottom of the Health Governance sector through a public-private partnership, but one which offers a Capacity Index (HGCI) rankings among the 25 countries assessed major investment opportunity if the right framework can be put which include countries such as Liberia, Mozambique, Ethiopia, in place. Congo (DR) and Sierra Leone. I am not convinced the policy drivers of the nation’s health Indeed, the statistics available out there do not look good. Some sector have the same understanding as I have or are headed in 37% of Nigerian children, under five years, have stunted growth; the direction I think they should. It does appear that the Federal 23% of children between six-23 months are underweight; over 90% Ministry of Health under its National Primary Healthcare of Nigerians are under malaria attack, with over 100 million cases Revitalisation initiative through the National Primary Health Care reported every year, with 300,000 deaths annually; 36,000 Nigerian Development Agency is still held captive by the brick and mortar women die in the process of childbirth with 69 children out of mentality with same emphasis on putting up structures, throwing 100,000 die in the process of birth. UNICEF tells us that, every good money at the problems without paying enough attention to single day, Nigeria loses about 2,300 under-five year olds and 145 the sustainability of the project. women of childbearing age, which makes the country the second ––Olorunfemi works for Hoofbeatdotcom, a Nigerian largest contributor to the under–five and maternal mortality rate in Communications Consultancy and publishers of Africa the world. We are told that malnutrition is the underlying cause of Enterprise.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ APRIL 30, 2017

LETTERS Osinbajo, Osborne and The Grass-Cutting Panel

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aivety is not an excuse in politics and certainly not after spending about two years in the topmost level of powers. Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo is certainly learning the ropes; but how very fast is only known to him. He could only be on top of his game in the nasty days ahead, in dealing with people who are vociferous about using powers to peddle influence and undermine anything. No doubt he had, in acting capacity as a President for 50 days less, demonstrated affectionate capacity to preside over the affairs of Nigeria, but the covert side of power play is far more than that. It is wickedly sophisticated in our clime. The daunting question is: has he, reasonably, learnt how to navigate the dangerous bend of power politics which is trapped with deadly potholes? This road destroys if; you do not know how to manoeuvre it with the right speed and sense. The VP has been saddled with a delicate task of unravelling the mystery behind the huge cash discovered in the Osborne Apartments in Ikoyi, Lagos State and to equally untangle the invasive scandal of grass cutting business allegedly awarded to self, by the now suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr David Babachir Lawal. This assignment is deceptive and is laced with some elements of conspiracy on all sides. It

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Osinbajo would require sound political wisdom for the vice- president to come out of it unscathed. He is presiding over a committee in which the remaining two other members have some level of interests and involvements in the matters under investigation. Caution. While the villa, albeit pretentiously, and some very naïve persons had bandied the rising unassailable and adorable

image of Osinbajo as the reason for being saddled with such “an unnecessary” task, the covert motive is very well known to the schemers. Remember the impulsive echo of Babachir Lawal: “Who is the Presidency?” While we were busy scolding him for that pregnant statement, he had strategically “unleashed the dragon,” by confirming the “government within government,” allegation once made

against the executive by the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki. Aso Rock has become a den of a few influence peddlers and power mongers who would continue to take advantage of our indisposed president to run the affairs of the state by “working from home.” In this unfolding tricky complex game, did Osinbajo really know, and has he ascertained who the Presidency is that constituted the panel and the underlying motive for it? There would be no excuse in future for a Professor of Law that he was used as a pawn by influence peddlers in a hatchet task. And if he is unaware, this is the time to put on his thinking cap to discreetly unravel the web of conspiracy spiraling around the seat of power. You don’t need to be a lawyer to know that the Osinbajo panel is inconsequential to the extent of its formation. The VP is advised to do his own backend findings, including the slant in commentaries by pro-establishment writers and commentators. This administration is soiled in divisive religious card; it is yet to acquit itself of some allegations bothering on parochialism and religious bigotry. Babachir Lawal has seen fellow cabal in the administration getting away with worse acts in a circle of impunity, and the system came out to defend them vigorously. He is still startled as to why his own should be different

BISI ADELEYE-FAYEMI’S FAUX PAS

n Thursday and Friday, April 20 and 21, former Ekiti State First Lady, Erelu Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi wrote a response to veteran social commentator, Sonnie Ekwowusi who wrote an article captioned ‘Sexualisation of Children: Matters Arising.’ She made mention of Mr. Ekwowusi and herself belonging to a Whatsapp group where there was regular discourse on gender issues. In her words, ‘After a while it dawned on some of us that Sonnie was the wrong man to have been added to the group. Sonnie was unrelenting in his rants against any reference to ‘bodily integrity’, ‘sexuality’, ‘sex education’, ‘choice’ and so on. He would go on and on about how our ideas were anti-African and were responsible for the collapse of our traditional values. He kept accusing us of promoting abortion and lesbianism. He would not listen to reason and he would make one absurd claim after another. After a while it was decided that because his views were so alarmingly anti-women, he should be removed from the platform because he had constituted himself into an unwelcome distraction ….’ It is no secret that Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi is a liberal and the core of their agenda is the aggressive backing of

abortion and the LGBT. In her husband’s book, ‘Out of the Shadows,’ he wrote that even though he was born Catholic, he vehemently disagreed with the church’s teachings on abortion and this was one of the reasons why himself and wife left organised religion as they couldn’t reconcile their pro-choice beliefs with what the church in its wisdom taught. Erelu Adeleye-Fayemi cofounded the African Women Development Fund in 2001 and the NGO has received about $30 million in funding from various stakeholders and interest groups. The same body domesticated the radical pro-abortion Maputo Protocol that was roundly condemned by conservatives the world over. When the same-sex marriage bill controversy bill broke out in 2011, what did we hear from the Erelu? Nothing! Conspiratorial silence as she didn’t want to hurt the liberal interests she so whole-heartedly and unabashedly serves. She misinterpreted Ekwowusi’s position when she said he opined that only parents should talk to their children about sex. That is highly fallacious. Ekwowusi has maintained over the years as we have been friends for well over two decades that parents have the greatest responsibility to teach their children about sex with the school playing a second-

ary, complementary role. Nothing can be farther than this undiluted truth. In her words ‘Children spend long hours outside of the home in school, and even when they are home, parents are either too busy, too prudish or in too much denial to have these conversations.’ Who created the conditions for parents not to have much time for their children? It is the same liberals that the Erelu so serves in a manner reminiscent of how the African Chiefs bowed down before the Caucasian raiders in the days of the Slave trade of yore. It was the Structural Adjustment Programme which has a large imprimatur of the Bretton Woods Institutions – International Monetary Fund and the World Bank that was the remote cause of the long work hours that hapless parents are forced to contend with today. The removal of subsidy from two critical sectors of the economy – healthcare and education led to the present mess where two working class parents can barely make ends meet. Has the Erelu called for an increase in maternity leave for the ‘women she so loves?’ In England where she was born and spent the first seven years of her life, women are entitled to one year maternity leave. It is currently a mere three months in Nigeria. Has she called for a slight increase to six months to alleviate the plight of the women she so

‘cares about?’ How can she be backing a curriculum that encourages impressionable and vulnerable teenagers to experiment with their bodies? She talked about the Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill (GEOB) which is currently being considered at the National Assembly. She said that the conservative lawyer should point out where abortion and homosexuality was mentioned. She shot herself in the foot by mentioning that the bill makes provision for the right of women to family planning. The latest resolution of the World Health Organisation is that abortion is tantamount to family planning and this bill has the backing of the United Nations which the WHO is a sturdy part and parcel of. While the bill may not have expressly stated abortion, the reference to Family Planning Rights is an implicit and tacit endorsement of the right to abortion which the liberals have been fighting for to take roots in Nigeria since the 1980’s. It is sad that Erelu has stooped low as to viciously attack Ekwowusi who has been fighting the pro-life cause without a dime from international donor agencies. When posterity judges and the history books are written, unsung heroes like Ekwowusi would definitely have their names written in gold. Tony Ademiluyi, Lagos.

as member of the cabal. But I always knew that Babachir would be used as the “fall-cabal,” someday, and sorry to tell him that, there are some cabals who are more equal than other cabals, and coupled with that, he is from the “guinea pigs” Christian minority, of the Hausa/Fulani dominated Northern politics. The top members of the club have found him suitable for the much-expected political sacrifice to remedy a discredited anti-corruption campaign and a failing government. The pastoral garb of Osinbajo, a Christian leader in the administration was found to be helpful enough, to sacrifice and exit Lawal from the notorious league of the presidency cabals, and equally neutralise the emerging allegation of “because he is a Christian” biases in the media. It is obvious that the suspension of Lawal by the same system that had, through the Attorney General of the Federation, Ababukar Malami, previously cleared him on allegations made by the Senate, is curious, suspicious and indeed an afterthought. But it is my take that Lawal and those who are found to have betrayed public trust deserve to go, but it should not be to the exclusion of other “sinful cabals,” because of the content of their bio-data. This may apparently be the worries of the suspended SGF. In a similar fashion, the Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ayo Oke, is also in a shock over his suspension. The media is awash with a claim that he had appropriately informed the National Security Adviser, Babagana Moguno, about the Osborne “covert” cash. The NSA on the hand has not denied this media report and back-channel

information that he indeed had knowledge of the cash. The superior information remains that the Presidency was aware of the money via the NSA. The question then is, why did Magu ignore the Galton’s whistle in the security circle and deliberately moved after the cash to burst “something?” Is it a payback? Yushau Shuaib, a media expert who had previously worked with the office of the NSA, in his latest article titled “That NIA’s Black-Budget and Mysterious Whistle-blower,” said something very instructive: “The incident is coming at a period of an intense inter-agency rivalry where security agencies were allegedly reported to be behind the leakages of classified and confidential information to smear their perceived oppositions within the same government… With all fingers pointing to the fact that the money belongs to NIA, the burden of proof is who is the mysterious whistle-blower? Could the whistle-blower have acted on behalf of an agency engaged in the rivalry or was it as major counter-intelligence operation by foreign interests to expose and embarrass our intelligence network?” The VP doubles as the most senior legal mind of the administration, but if he had accepted the headship of a needless committee in order not to be misconstrued; there was no justifiable reason in accepting the membership of the AGF on that panel. Also now that emerging facts have confirmed the culpability of the NSA in the “Black Money,” why then is Osinbajo still carrying on with these two “culpable” figures without asking the president to excuse them? Ariyo-Dare Atoye, Abuja

SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST M INORS

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nyone with an iota of red blood cells flowing in their vein would be shocked and sickened by the recent cruel case of infanticide in Katsina town. A married adult male raped a seven-month old baby to death! This incident easily falls on the level of “most despicable” on an assumed scale of sexual violence perpetuated against minors in Northern Nigeria, from the sodomisation of young boys to the ever-present certainty of molestation of young girls generally below the age of 10. The adult male involved in this infanticide claimed he had a case of super-charged libido and regrettably, a sevenmonth old baby was his avenue for release. If a super-charged libido was the reason d’état for this infanticide, then I should say with certainty that the Katsina I knew during my NYSC days in 1996 would not have experienced this heinous crime because back then prostitution was quasi-legal and sex was happily sold on the fringes of town outside the gated Kofars (Kofar Guga, Kofar Sauri, Kofar Yandaka, etc.) Amazingly, this child-murderer is building a strong case for himself by shielding under the

excuse of uncontrollable libido; really, science tells us that wanton sexual desires is a function of the pituitary gland in the frontal sector of our head and the bigger this gland the more the sexual drive of its possessor. The male specie is being considered in this context. Furthermore, science notes a strong correlation between sexual act and violence in the male specie; this means that, in the primordial recess of the essence of the male specie, sexual satisfaction or fulfilment is tied to the realisation of the magnitude of pain that has been inflicted on the female specie during intercourse. Thus, if the female does not react in pain during copulation then she is “spoilt” or “hardened” and this would leave the man disappointed to the extent of abrogating his responsibilities. To let peace reign, females have nothing to lose by feigning “pain” during intercourse. This is a fact in the animal kingdom and it is the pleasure that comes from inflicting pains during intercourse that drives sexual offenders to seek vulnerable victims like babies, little boys, little girls, and prepubescent girls. –Sunday Adole Jonah, Department of Physics, Federal University of Technology, Minna.

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ ͱͮ˜ Ͱͮͯ͵

INTERNATIONAL Franco-African Relations in a New Presidential Era of Uncertainty in France: The Challenges

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ranco-African relations can refer to the relations between France and Francophone African states in specific terms. It can also refer to the ties between the whole of Africa and France in general terms. In specific terms, Franco-African relations used to be a major component of French foreign policy, especially when emphasis was placed on the French Community. In this regard, French language was made a major instrument of Franco-African relations to the extent that even the 1957 Rome Treaty Establishing the European Economic Community was also negotiated to include a provision for Francophone African countries in Articles 131-136. Besides, a separate Ministry of Cooperation was specifically established to deal with the Francophone community only, while the Quai d’Orsay had the responsibility of dealing with all other countries of the world. But for reasons of politico-economic force majeure, the Ministry of Cooperation gave way to the Quai d’Orsay as the only Ministry of Foreign Affairs to deal with the country’s external relations. This development later enabled the openness of FrancoAfrican Summits to observer non-Francophone countries, including Nigeria. Economic considerations largely informed the decision of the openness. In this regard, one critical challenge with which France is faced is how to sustain French speakingness in the world, especially that French Language is no longer the only and first language of diplomacy following the extinction of Latin. It should be recalled that France is generally recognised as the Father of Diplomacy and that French was the only diplomatic language in the 18th Century which remained so until the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 when the Americans fought strenuously to include English language as an additional diplomatic language. Again, by force of necessity, other languages (Spanish, Russian, Chinese, and Arabic) would be included as working languages of the United Nations while French and English are retained as official languages. However, at the level of Africa, France’s political and cultural influence has the potential to wane in the foreseeable future for various reasons: dwindling French financial allocations for the development of French in Africa; lack of good rapports between French embassies and alumni of French tertiary institutions in non-French speaking African countries; French decision to be more involved in European affairs; deepening negative perception of France in intra-African relations, France’s own problems, terrorist threats, etc. For instance, France’s economy is in comatose. As recalled by Dr. Mehenou Amouzou, the French Treasury Agency said in March 2015 that 64.4% of French debts is held by non-residents, especially by Italy, whose own public debt is above 132% of its GDP and by Japan, whose debt-to-GDP is also not less than 245%. Consequently, in the words of Amouzou, ‘the two major creditors of France, Japan and Italy, have a comatose economy. And yet they are the only ramparts of a system about to sink. It is undeniable that the French State will sooner or later become as insolvent as Greece and the suburbs will be cut off from the supply lines... The claim of payment by the creditors if the debt is not honoured will be the property known as the African countries.’ Explained differently, if the French public debt is over 2000 billion euro and cannot be reimbursed, and if public services are ‘kept to a minimum and France’s future is really bleak... how can a country that ransom more than 400 billion euros each year (from Africa) find itself in such a critical situation that it cannot repay its debt?’ Dr. Amouzou has asked. Amore disturbing perception of France is the Nicholas SarkozyTeodoro Nguema Obiang saga. Dr. Amouzou has also drawn attention to what former President Nicholas Sarkozy of France told President Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea when he wanted

Macron

VIE INTERNATIONALE with

Bola A. Akinterinwa Telephone : 0807-688-2846

e-mail: bolyttag@yahoo.com

to go to Libya with four other African leaders to mediate the crisis in the country. President Nicholas Sarkozy simply ordered President Teodoro Obiang ‘not to set foot in Libya. President Sarkozy made it clear to him that his plane would be shot down if it ever happened... The International community has not reacted either. Who are the givers of these lessons? Now, it is Europe and Africa that are destabilised. Francophone Africa silently and automatically aligned itself with French policy and was the first to recognise the transitional government put in place,’ Dr Amouzou has submitted. Perhaps more interesting is the Franco-Nigerian disagreement over the use of Africa only as a source of raw materials for the development of Europe. Today, Franco-Nigerian ties have considerably improved and France has also remained Nigeria’s fifth territorial immediate neighbour by geo-political propinquity, a factor that makes the monitoring and interest in political developments in France necessary for the people of Nigeria, especially as they pertain to Africa-related global questions. It is in this regard that the May 7, 2017 second round presidential election in France is of interest to Africa, and particularly to Nigeria. As the French people will have a new leader as from May 7, 2017, what will the attitudinal disposition of the new leader be towards Africa and global questions? What are the likely dynamics of Franco-African relations under the new leadership? Will there be a Frexit? In the event of a Frexit, will there still be a strong European Union?

Future Dynamics and Global Questions The thrust of this column is that, regardless of whoever is elected the French president, there are some fundamental basics that cannot be set aside by any leader. Consequently, not much will change in France’s relationship with Africa. The ties will continue to be informed by crises and cooperation, suspicions and grant of development assistance to Africa. This is likely to be so because the existing dynamics are also likely to remain. The first is the obligation of protection of good relationship with political allies in foreign relations. For example, Article 87 of the French Fifth Republic Constitution of 4th October 1958 clearly states that ‘The Republic shall participate in the development of solidarity and cooperation between States and peoples having the French language in common.’ Article 88 adds that ‘The Republic may enter into agreements with States which wish to associate with it in order to develop their civilisations.’ From the foregoing, it is the Francophones, especially Francophone Africans, that are targeted by the French Constitution. The situational reality of international politics is such that solidarity can no longer be restricted to the Francophones. The foundation of the solidarity is French speakingness. But true enough, even at the level of Francophony, there is now a stiff competition in the use of French language in international relations. English language is increasingly

Le Pen

being used, and, in fact, more than French in diplomacy. French is being Anglicised in many ways. And true again, the working languages of the United Nations have not been helpful. In the same vein, the use of English and French languages, and to a limited extent, Spanish, does not allow the development of the use of An African language in intra-African relations. African functionaries and diplomats have therefore been seized with the challenge of how to evolve or develop an African language, especially from one of the existing popular languages. The problem of use of foreign languages as lingua franca is to the extent that the understanding of global questions has to be subjected to various interpretations of foreign words. Secondly, a nation’s foreign policy cannot but be moderated by international developments. As at today, global questions have become multidimensional in nature, and so complex to the extent that every observer has to be monitoring who is likely to become the next leader of a country. The presidential campaigns and eventual election of Donald Trump in the United States attracted global attention simply because of his declared foreign policy, considered as anti-the-currentworld-order. Donald Trump favours national protectionism. He is against immigrants and even good neighbourliness, if we consider US-Mexican ties. He supports Brexit. Russia is not only interested in EU politics but also in that of the United States. In the context of the EU, Russia is running away from EU sanctions and therefore wants a weaker EU. This is why Russia supports Brexit and Marine Le Pen for the French presidency. In the United States, Russia is seeking to assert an identity of a new superpower, which is not just a challenge for the United States to contend with, but also a signal to China, another contender targeting the super power throne. It is within the context of the foregoing global conflict of interests that the French run-off presidential election is taking place next week Sunday, May 7. The 49-year old and leader of the far-right Front National, Marine Le Pen, on the one hand, and the 39-year old Emmanuel Macron, generally considered as a political neophyte and leader of En Marche political party, which he founded about a year ago, are contesting for the presidential seat in the Champs Elysees. Either of the two will be president, regardless of the various forecasts. Even though forecasts have it that the next president of France would be Emmanuel Macron, there is nothing to suggest that Marine Le Pen cannot be elected. French voters generally do not vote on the basis of sentiments. Alast dynamic can change a long standing position of a voter. Perhaps more important, the French electoral principles of désistement and cohabitation can still go a long way to influence voting. The two principles are largely informed by the need for a strong leader and government, the determination of who and which should by a truly democratic system. It is useful to recall here that the French Fourth Republic (1946-1958) was most unstable: there were not less than 24 governments in the period and the government was not organisationally able to cope well with the Algerian crisis begun in 1954. It was the challenge of weak leadership that prompted the rejection of the indirect election of the President of the Republic by an electoral college and the amendment to the 1958 Constitution in 1962. The 1962 amendment introduced the popular election of the president by a run-off voting. Additionally, another constitutional amendment in 2000 reduced the tenure of the president from seven to five years. More significantly, the Constitution provides for a semi-presidential system of government in which the ruling party may be different from the party having the majority in the National Assembly. In such a situation, a president elected on the basis of a universal direct suffrage cannot but be compelled to invite the leader of the political party having the highest number of votes to form the government. It is at this level that the application of the principle of cohabitation also becomes a desideratum. As regards désistement, it is a political compromise in which a losing presidential candidate, who is not qualified to contest in the run-off election, decides to call on all his or her supporters to vote for one of the two leading candidates during the run-off election. In many cases, voters are told to vote according to their conscience. Many times there are, when voters are also requested to vote for a particular candidate, and, however, the voters still had the last option of accepting to do so or not to do so. This is where the limitation of opinion polls lies. Thirdly, the perception of France as Africa’s gendarme, as briefly mentioned above, cannot but continue to linger on for a longer time to come. The implication of President Sarkozy’s instruction and threats to shoot any aircraft carrying African leaders to Libya for peace making cannot but create serious political suspicions and impediments in how the new president of France, no matter how benevolent, will want to relate with Africa. Fourthly, the 2017 French presidential election is considered quite interesting. The election is the first time in France’s Fifth Republic history that neither the Socialists nor the Republicans, two main political parties in France, do not qualify for the second round of election. For the first time, political expectations are negated and met with surprises. For the first time, the election is also held under terrorist threats as the polling booths are kept under heavy security watch. However, these factors do not remove of the other more international questions with which Franco-African relations must also address. They include the new rivalry between the quest for greater nationalism to the detriment of supranational multilateralism and globalism. (See concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com)

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ APRIL 30, 2017

BUSINESS

Editor Vincent Obia Email vincent.obia@thisdaylive.com (08054681757)

LAST WEEK WEEK

Naira

The naira on Monday stabilised against the dollar at the parallel market. The Nigerian currency traded between N380 (buying rate) and N385 (selling rate) on Monday afternoon, maintaining the same rate as at Friday. The naira closed at N495 to the pound sterling and N415 to the Euro at the same segment. At the Bureau De Change window, the naira was sold at N362 to the dollar, while the pound sterling and the Euro closed at N490 and N420, respectively. Trading at the interbank window saw the naira closing at N305.95 to the dollar.

Recession Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, said with the various economic policies put in place by the federal government, the country should be out of recession by the third quarter of this year. He disclosed this during a meeting with the leadership of the Senate in Abuja. Emefiele assured that the CBN would continue with its intervention in the foreign exchange market, saying the interventions of the apex bank so far has been yielding positive results. The CBN boss disclosed that there had been a gradual fall in the prices of commodities, which indicates a reduction in the rate of inflation.

Forex

Nigeria Stock Exchange building

Financial Sector Accounts for 72% of NSE’s Weekly Trading Kunle Aderinokun

The financial services sector dominated activities on the floors of the Nigeria Stock Exchange, accounting for 72.03 per cent of the volume of shares that exchanged hands at the close of trading last Friday. The sector contributed significantly in lifting up the NSE All Share Index and market capitalisation by 2.26 per cent. The NSE ASI and market capitalisation closed the week at 25,758 and N8.913 trillion respectively compared to the previous week’s 25,189.37 and 1,597.51. Similarly, all other Indices finished higher during the week with the exception of the NSE Insurance, NSE Consumer Goods and the NSE Lotus II Indices that depreciated by 0.17 per cent, 0.05 per cent and 0.97 per cent while the NSE ASeM Index closed flat. In absolute terms, in the financial services sector, a total of 960.307million shares valued at N6.098 billion were traded in 9,675 deals, thus contributing 72.03 per cent and 63.06 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. The total turnover shares traded in the week was 1.333 billion shares worth N9.671 billion in 16,300 deals, in contrast to a total of 896.748 million shares valued at N5.918 billion that exchanged hands the previous week in 11,185 deals. The Conglomerates Industry trailed with 154.404 million shares worth

CAPITAL MARKET N330.132 million in 896 deals. Coming a distant third was occupied by Oil and Gas Industry sector with a turnover of 60.285 million shares worth N896.174 million in 1,379 deals. Trading in the top three equities namely , Access Bank Plc, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc (measured by volume) accounted for 489.178 million shares worth N1.731 billion in 1,665 deals, contributing 36.69 per cent and 17.90 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively. Thirty-eight equities appreciated in price during the week, higher than 24 equities of the previous week. Twenty-five equities depreciated in price, lower than 31 equities of the previous week, while 114 equities remained unchanged lower than 122 equities recorded in the preceding week. A cursory look at the top 10 gainers list showed that Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc appreciated by 28.24 per cent from N20.47 per share to N26.25. Ashaka Cem Plc followed with a gain of 15.61 from N9.03 per share to N10.44 and Livestock Feeds Plc with a gain of 13.85 per cent from N0.65 to N0.74. Others gainers are NPF Microfinance Bank Plc, 12.82 per cent from N 1.17 per share to N1.32. United

Bank for Africa Plc, 12.36 per cent from N5.18 to N5.82; Lafarge Africa Plc, 10.70 per cent from N46.00 to N50.92; Fidson Healthcare Plc, 10per cent from N1.00 to N1.10; Cutix Plc, 9.88 per cent from N1.62 to N1.78; NASCON Allied Industries Plc, 9.69 per cent from N7.74 to N8.49; C & I Leasing Plc, 9.68 per cent from N0.62 to N0.68. On the top 10 losers list, Diamond Bank Plc dropped in price by 12.22 per cent from N0.90 per share to In absolute terms, in the financial services sector, a total of 960.307million shares valued at N6.098 billion were traded in 9,675 deals, thus contributing 72.03 per cent and 63.06 per cent to the total equity turnover volume and value respectively

N0.79. It was followed by Unilever Nigeria Plc after falling 10.39 per cent in price from N35.50 to N31.81. Similarly, Transnational Corporation Plc shed 9.28 per cent from N0.97 per share to N0.88. Others are Continental Reinsurance Plc, 9.02 per cent from N 1.22 to N1.11; Berger Paints Plc, 7.84 per cent from N6.38 to N5.88; FBN Holdings Plc, 7.04 per cent from N3.41 to N3.17; May & Baker Nigeria Plc, 5.56 per cent

from N0.90 to N0.85; Julius Berger Nig. Plc, 4.98 per cent from N41.95 to N39.86 ; Champion Brew. Plc, 4.86 per cent from N2.47 to N2.35 and Learn Africa Plc, 4.65 per cent from N0.86 to N0.82. In the Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) segment of the market, a total of 533 units of ETPs valued at N32,204.30 executed in 15 deals compared with a total of 100 units valued at N6,799.00 transacted last week in 1 deal. Similarly, a total of 4,705 units of Federal Government bonds valued at N3.934 million were traded this week in 4 deals, compared with a total of 1,311 units valued at N1.346 million transacted last week in 7 deals. During the week under review, there was a supplementary listing of two FGN Bonds and an equity. A total volume of 34,040,100 units were added to 16.2884% FGN MAR 2027 on 26th of April 2017. Likewise, a total of 373,769,642 units of were added to 14.50% FGN JUL 2021 on 27th of April, 2017. In addition, a total volume of 206,237,723 ordinary shares were added to the outstanding shares of Meyer Plc on 25th of April 2017. This additional shares arose from rights issue of 291,489,840 ordinary shares of 50 kobo at 75 kobo per share. Also, there was a new listing of a total volume of 56,250,000 units of 16.2499% FGN APR 2037.

Forex demand shrank as dealers failed to absorb CBN’s $150 million offer. Foreign exchange dealers were unable to absorb fully the $150 million offered by the apex bank, as intervention in the new Investors’/exporters’ FX window commenced with the sale of $25 million to customers. On Monday, CBN supplied a total of $150 million to the interbank wholesale market for auction to authorised foreign exchange dealers. But, the dealers were unable to subscribe fully to the offer, CBN spokesperson, Isaac Okorafor, stated.

Crude Swap The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation confirmed Taleveras Oil and Gas Limited kept its pledge and obligation to settle its commitment to the crude oil swap programme. The company was one of three crude oil marketing firms that agreed to pay over $184 million for alleged under-delivery of crude oil recorded under the defunct swap regime, which involved allocation of crude oil to trading companies in exchange for processed petroleum products. The schedule included an initial settlement of $17.2 million within two weeks, and a further payment of $10 million later in tranches. Chief Operating Officer, Gas and Power in NNPC, Saidu Mohammed, confirmed on Tuesday that Taleveras had commenced the payment to the corporation.

NCC The Nigerian Communications Commission gave service providers a 14day ultimatum to quit the use of the 5.4GHz band spanning the 5.470 to 5.725 GHz frequency range. Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, Professor Umar Danbatta, said the frequency was not free but licensed in Nigeria, adding that no operator of whatever genre of service should jump on to the frequency without obtaining a licence for its use. He asked those who were already occupying the frequency to quit within 14 days or face dire consequences. In some jurisdictions, the frequency in contention is classified as free spectrum and can be deployed by service providers to render wireless internet services.

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ APRIL 30, 2017

18

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

As Nigeria Intensifies Call on International Community to Ease Grip on Looted Funds... Nigeria is intensifying its appeal to countries providing safe haven for stolen funds to change their ways. But the country also needs to strengthen its own institutions, writes Vincent Obia

D

eclaring Nigeria’s position at the just concluded 2017 World Bank/International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings in Washington DC penultimate Monday, Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, took the global community to task for not doing enough to ease the repatriation of funds looted from African countries. Adeosun had led a Nigerian economic team to the IMF/ World Bank meetings. And recovery of stolen public money from within and outside Nigeria is a crucial aspect of President Muhammadu Buhari’s economic agenda. Adeosun challenged the authorities in the world’s financial safe havens to facilitate the return of the huge sums of money in various currencies stolen from Nigeria and hidden in vaults across the globe – the same way those countries had accepted the fraudulent deposits without much ado. Intensifying advocacy along these lines to put pressure on countries that act as safe places for stolen assets is perfectly accurate. But Nigeria needs to strengthen its own capacity to effectively check looting and trace looted funds. Haven The West and some Asian allies host the bulk of the safe havens. In January last year, the chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign and Domestic Debts, Senator Shehu Sani, who is also Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, disclosed that over $200 billion was being stashed away in Dubai, the global financial hub in the United Arab Emirates, by corrupt Nigerians. In January, Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Professor Itse Sagay, lamented that Nigeria risked losing another $550 million recovered from the family of the late military Head of State, General Sani Abacha, to the government of United States. Sagay said the amount was different from the $480 million earlier forfeited to the US, following a court judgement. A report in January 2015 by the Thabo Mbeki High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa said Nigeria, the world’s seventh largest producer of crude oil, accounted for about 68.1 per cent of the total revenue Africa lost in a decade through illegal fund transfers abroad. The report commissioned by the African Union disclosed that about $40.9 billion of an estimated $60 billion lost to such transfers from Africa between 2001 and 2010 were traced to Nigeria. According to the report, the money was embezzled through corruption, tax evasion, and illegal transfer of profits by multinationals. Nigeria blames countries in the West and Asia for aiding the heist and hindering attempts to return the funds. Transparency To demonstrate their support and seriousness with the global anti-corruption war, Adeosun says countries harbouring the loots should now deliberately ease the process for their return. Addressing the Global Parliamentary Conference as well as senior representatives from the World Bank and IMF, which had over 150 parliamentarians from around the world, the finance minister challenged them on the need to ease the repatriation of the looted funds from Nigeria and other African countries. Adeosun stated, “When stolen money is transferred from Nigeria, or other African countries, there are too few questions asked by those countries that receive the funds, but when we identify those funds as stolen and seek to recover them, there are too many questions

being asked. There is money sitting in foreign bank accounts that we have spent over a decade trying to recover.” She called for greater transparency on the movement of looted assets. “That is money that could deliver significant value for Nigeria as we seek to increase spending on critical infrastructure and establish a basis for long term sustainable growth,” she said. “I hope that the Automatic Exchange of Information scheme coming into force next year will be a step towards achieving greater transparency, but we need more collaboration amongst parliamentarians in Africa, and across the World to ensure that this situation improves and that recipient countries are held to account.” Pressure Nigeria dearly needs the enormous resources carted away to foreign lands in fraudulent transfers and unpaid taxes by its citizens. And the country has of late tried to mount pressure on corrupt citizens and the recipient countries for illegal assets to facilitate the repatriation of the looted resources. Last year, the federal government set up an inter-agency Presidential Committee on Asset Recovery, headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, as part of its on-going fight against corruption. The committee is responsible for the coordination of the asset recovery process and management of recovered assets to ensure they do not fall into the hands of other looters. The government has also initiated a whistleblower policy, with an incentive framework, to encourage citizens to provide useful information that can lead to recovery of stolen or illegally concealed public assets. But the federal government’s anticorruption effort cannot bear much fruit without the sincere support and commitment of the international community. “Just as you have supported us in the fight against insecurity in the North-east, we need your institutional, technical and diplomatic support in fighting corruption,” Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, told the international community in November last year in Abuja when he received the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for West Africa, Mohammed Ibn Chambas. Adeosun told journalists at the World Bank/ IMF meeting that Nigeria was working out a strategy with Britain for the disclosure of Nigerians who own assets in the United Kingdom. She said information obtained under the arrangement would be used to compute taxes due to the Nigerian government that owners of the assets had hitherto denied the country. “There is going to be much better cooperation from the international community,” she said. “The British government under the beneficiary ownership register, which was signed with David Cameron before he left, is going to give us the list of everyone that owns property in the United Kingdom.” Executive secretary of PACAC, Mr Bolaji Owosanoye, had been quoted as saying that in a joint effort to eliminate safe havens for looted assets, “Britain has promised that by 2018, she will provide Nigeria with the information about who owns what and where.” He said, “These include all the houses that have been bought by public officials or accounts that are held by public officials on which they are right now not paying taxes or which they cannot explain the sources. So, if you cannot buy a house in England, you have to look for somewhere else. But if all countries criminalise this, then it becomes much more difficult, unless you want to buy the house on Mars.” Multinational companies in the country are

Buhari

said to have failed to remit over a one trillion dollars in taxes. Though, the illegal transfers from Nigeria have been blamed on countries that aid the transactions by providing safe destinations, an equally large part of the blame goes to the country’s weak monetary and fiscal institutions. Last year, the Nigerian government set up a Multilateral Competence Agreement and the Exchange of Country by Country Report as part of efforts to strengthen the country’s capacity benefit from multinational remittances. The initiatives were to make for a better understanding of the tax laws of various countries with which Nigeria does business in order to prevent tax evasions and other corrupt practices that lead to revenue losses.

summit. “Unfortunately, our experience has been that repatriation of corrupt proceeds is very tedious, time consuming, costly and entails more than just the signing of bilateral or multilateral agreements. This should not be the case as there are provisions in the appropriate United Nations Convention that require countries to return assets to countries from where it is proven that they were illegitimately acquired.” Buhari called for “the establishment of an international anticorruption infrastructure that will monitor, trace and facilitate the return of such assets to their countries of origin,” saying, “It is important to stress that the repatriation of identified stolen funds should be done without delay or preconditions.”

‘Hydra-headed Monster’ Nigeria has continued to make the point that transnational corruption is a cankerworm whose destructive effects do not discriminate between races or continents. Addressing the anti-corruption summit in London, May last year, Buhari told his international audience that they had a big role in the anticorruption war, and a huge price to pay if they failed to play that role. Among the audience were heads of state and government, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, business leaders, and civil society organisations. He said, “Corruption is a hydra-headed monster and a cankerworm that undermines the fabric of all societies. It does not differentiate between developed and developing countries. “ To tackle corruption on the global scale, world leaders signed the United Nations Convention Against Corruption in 2003. UNCAC came entered into force in 2005. But several years after the endorsement of the anti-corruption convention, the threat of trans-border corruption has remained a bid problem, no thanks to the collaboration of institutions in different countries. “It is for this reason that we are seeking the support of many countries for the prosecution of certain individuals residing in their jurisdictions. Of course, we will provide the necessary legal documents and whatever mutual assistance is required to secure conviction of such individuals, as well as facilitate the repatriation of our stolen assets,” Buhari stated at the London

Domestic Infrastructure As Nigeria keeps up the pressure on the international community to rein in corruption, many believe there is need for the country to strengthen its own domestic corruption fighting machinery. This includes, very importantly, the institutions dedicated to tracing stolen assets abroad. Unfortunately, the country’s effort to trace and recover its stolen financial assets and prosecute those responsible for the theft is said to be hampered by lack of funds. In February last year, PACC, reportedly, wrote to the United Kingdom-based anti-corruption organisation, Global Witness, asking assistance in raising funds for the prosecution of the anticorruption war. The letter signed by executive secretary of PACAC blamed the funding problem on the economic downturn caused by the fall in crude oil prices and the financial pressure from the antiterrorism war. Owasanoye called for the establishment of an Assets Tracing, Recovery and Litigation Fund to provide money for investigation and litigation in asset recovery cases. Nigeria is said to have received about $5 million aid from international organisations, such as the Ford foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and the Foundation to Promote Open Society, in its effort to recover stolen funds. Judging by the financial difficulties encountered in the prosecution and follow up of corruption cases, it does seem creation of an assets recovery fund would be an effective way to sustain the pressure for the repatriation of the country’s looted assets.

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ APRIL30, 2017

19

INTERVIEW

Adeosun

Adeosun: With Growing Confidence in Our Economy, Foreign Investors Have Signalled Interest in Aviation, Power The 2017 Spring Meetings of the IMF/World Bank ended last Sunday in Washington DC, United States of America. At the meetings, various economic challenges facing the country such as how investment in infrastructure can aid economic growth, government’s committed to affordable housing, the need for collaboration between the executive and legislature to curb leakages, prevent illicit financial flows, power sector recovery, crackdown on tax evasion and commitment to drive and increase domestic revenue were discussed. At the end of the meetings, Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun fielded questions from journalists. Kunle Aderinokun, Funke Olaode, Obinna Chima, Kasie Abone and Nosa Alekhuogie were there

T

he 2017 Spring Meetings of the IMF/ World Bank ended last Sunday in Washington DC. At the meetings, various economic challenges facing Nigeria were discussed.They included the issues of infrastructure, housing, executive/legislature cooperation in curbing fiscal leakages, illicit financial transfers, power

sector recovery, crackdown on tax evasion, and revenue generation. Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, later elaborated on the above subjects after the meetings, when she fielded questions from journalists. Kunle Aderinokun, Funke Olaode, Obinna Chima, Kasie Abone and Nosa Alekhuogie were at the media parley

Can you throw light on the outcome of the various sessions held at this year’s IMF/

World Bank spring meetings? Nigeria had a successful outing at the meetings held with stakeholders. Myself; the Minister of Budget and Planning; Minister of Power, Works and Housing; Minister of Water Resources; the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor; Director-general of the Budget Office, and other top government functionaries were at the meetings. We discussed the global economy,

emphasising the fact that there is a growing momentum in both developed and developing economies, but that further progress will be dependent on policies that continue to support recovery, lift productivity, growth and enhance resilience. The meetings recommended that working within a multilateral framework, countries should strive for strong and more balanced growth and focus

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ APRIL30, 2017

INTERVIEW

Britain Has Pledged to Help Nigeria Recover, Repatriate Taxes

Cont’d from Pg. 19 and some are even looking at buying the airlines from AMCON and just waiting to ensure that our policies are right. I think it is a welcome sign that investors are now looking to invest in Nigeria, which we are looking for. We have shown the world that we are fighting corruption; we have shown the world that we are serious and the next phase is investment. And, I am very excited about it. We have very multilateral meetings with investors.They want to invest in power project and they want to buy airlines.

on providing economic opportunities for all. The meetings actually prescribed some actions, such as a mix of policy buffers to implement countercyclical policies, especially for commodity producers, like Nigeria, with continuous adjustments and a clear focus on innovation and productivity improvements; keeping and accelerating the growth momentum through stimulation and boosting of both public and private qualitative investments, especially in utilities and infrastructure; urgent implementation of the right type of structural and macroeconomic reforms as well as better allocation of production and use of fiscal incentives in a strategic manner to drive growth and investment.

How do you think the energy sector can be reformed considering past failed efforts?

What are the takeaways for Nigeria in these meetings? All the delegates’ engagements focused on advancing discussions with development partners on the accelerated implementation of critical projects outlined in the economic recovery growth. As part of the efforts to adequately address the issue of domestic resource mobilisation, I addressed a group of global parliamentarians where I emphasised the need for collaboration between the executive and legislature to reduce leakages, prevent illicit financial flows, and crack down on tax evasion. We agreed with the World Bank Group to focus on scaling up the level of disbursements on projects in Nigeria, including projects that focused on enhancing the social safety net and improving life for our citizens. The World Bank Group commended the government’s affordable housing scheme, acknowledging its potential impact on job creation and the role it can play in reducing corruption.The World Bank Group pledged to support the further development of the scheme.We were joined by representatives from the National Assembly for very productive meetings with stakeholders – World Bank Group, IMF, African Development Bank, International Finance Corporation – on Nigerian power sector recovery plan; issues relating to financing, gas production and processing, generation and transmission. If there is one thing that will drive economic growth in Nigeria, it is power because of the number of opportunities, wealth and jobs it will create. So, getting power right is not negotiable. In summary all these projects are on economic recovery and growth.The major thing is implementation and putting the foundation in place is accelerating the implementation. And we are quite confident that we are going to get back to sustainable growth that would be less vulnerable, so that even if the oil prices fall in the future, Nigeria won’t be at the receiving end, as we found ourselves in the past few years.

The Nigerian tax base is large but the major problem is enforcement, which has been hampered mainly by the issue of tax evasion. What is the federal government doing to ensure that people pay taxes? The federal government doesn’t intend to introduce new taxes because the problem we have with the taxes is that Nigeria has six per cent GDP tax ratio, South Africa has 30 per cent, and most advanced countries are on 30 per cent plus. But even with six per cent, a lot of taxes we collect are resource taxes, such as petroleum tax. So if the price of oil goes up we collect more and if it goes down we get less. This is vulnerable. The solution is broader taxes that reflect the total economy. We have got to broaden the issue of tax in Africa. The society works when everybody pays tax. The problem is tax evasion and illicit cash flow. So we call for support from the World Bank, colleagues in other countries that the money leaving Nigeria going abroad not taxed is illicit money and we need it to develop Africa. Of course, they have agreed to cooperate with us to reverse the flows. If you are able to get away without paying tax, majority won’t and the work of the government is to ensure that people don’t evade tax. We have already started that job by gathering data and over 800,000 companies have been gathered, and registered. How was that done? We simply went to Corporate Affairs Commission to enquire about companies that are active and checked their tax rates and the accountant general’s office checks out the tax status of any company that wants to collect money from the federal government. Everything we are doing is driving people and forcing them to pay taxes. In developed countries, people pay tax because they have to. The other thing is that, there is going to be better cooperation from the international community on the illicit cash flow because a lot of money has left Nigeria and with what is happening now, there is a focus on data under the ownership beneficiary, which the president signed with former British Prime Minister David Cameron before he left. The British government is going to give us a list of every Nigerian that has a property in the United Kingdom. We would be able to compare if this person who owns one or

Adeosun

five properties in the UK is paying tax in Nigeria. So, it is going to be a very systematic process using a lot of data and moral persuasion telling people this is the right time to do the right thing. And this is the only way the country can move forward. We travel across the globe and see the level of their infrastructure in terms of good roads, etc. These countries have good tax systems. Nigeria has one of the lowest tax ratios in the world – six per cent. So we have to look for a way of making our tax collection effective. We have about 13 million tax payers in Nigeria and about 12.5 million are those who have their taxes deducted. Are we saying all the wealthy and self-employed are only 500,000? This is not possible. We are going to be more aggressive on tax collection; we are not witch-hunting anybody. Those who have been able to get away with it over the years know that the game is up.

What is the World Bank’s position on the funding of projects in Nigeria? As said earlier, we had a detailed meeting with the World Bank Group, where we discussed our projects and how we are going to focus on scaling up World Bank projects in Nigeria. Some of the projects are at the state governments level while some are at the federal government level, like polio, and there are lots of World Bank projects, such as North-east, school feeding, the N5,000 stipends. We are waiting for the National Assembly’s approval so that we can tidy up those loans. Of course, they are concessionary loans with about 0.75 per cent service charge; pay back in 20 years, because they are for social rebuilding programmes. About $500 million is committed: school feeding, N5, 000 stipend and empowerment. They have raised more money to be made available to the African countries. The point is, how do we design the projects that disburse quickly and take advantage of these monies? We have some projects that have been going on for four to five years. We need to address that and we agreed to use project preparation facilities, like pilot scheme, to check if it will work before rolling it out. There are some key schemes, for instance, financial provision for women and women having access to finance. We found out that when women have access to finance, there are multiple effects on the society. Basically, when woman have money, they spend it on their families. We asked the World Bank to help us with that and they are coming with a pilot project at local grassroots level where women can be given loans and this will complement social intervention programmes.

How confident are you on the successful implementation of the affordable housing project, considering the failures of successive administrations in the past?

The family housing scheme, which we are piloting, is a laudable achievement. Affordable housing is paramount to the fight against corruption. If someone worked for 35 years and did not own a home you are sowing a seed of corruption because if you put such person in charge of public money you know what will happen. We have to have a system, where you put 10 per cent down and pay installmentally for 20 years and by the time you retire you become a proud house owner. We need the mortgage market to be stabilised. The family scheme is going to back the mortgaging financing scheme to push the housing project. There is a housing pilot project going on in six states and we want to finish before we announce it. Already, it is going on in Nassarawa State. It is affordable housing of about N2.9 million. You can pay N290, 000 and pack in and spread the payment over 20 years. We are probably the only country that doesn’t have proper mortgage plans. We, in this administration, are very passionate about empowering people and providing affordable housing for the masses. It is going to create jobs for carpenters, welders, and bricklayers.

You talked about investors planning to invest in Nigeria. How comfortable are they with the government’s policies, the issue of corruption, and so on? Most of them are interested in making investment in Nigeria and just want to be sure that the time is right

It is a welcome sign that investors are now looking to invest in Nigeria, which we are looking for. We have shown the world that we are fighting corruption; we have shown the world that we are serious and the next phase is investment. I am very excited about it. They want to invest in power project and they want to buy airlines

I don’t think the problem in the power sector is related to the ethical issue. The problem really has been the structure, as government is trying to provide power and for so long couldn’t do so. Did the privatisation really save the sector? What the power sector recovery has done is to look at the problem holistically. Now the multilateral agencies have looked at the plans we put together and they like it that it is really stable: from DISCOs to GENCOs, end users and meter rate. What everybody is clear about is that, it is a big problem that will take time to solve. But the most important thing is that there are milestones in what we are expected to say. The multilateral agencies have pledged their support financially because those things are tied to results. For instance, if you look at issues around generation companies, there is an issue because the capacity to generate electricity is not there. So investing in generation capacity will change the power outlook. From the impression I got during the meeting, they were optimistic that we implement what we have planned and the minister of power promised to drive the implementation. So I am optimistic that it is a realistic plan, not a plan that says there would be electricity by December. We are not saying that you should throw away your generator by December. But it is a realistic plan that is going to take time but let’s move towards it so that we can make progress and meet up key needs especially on business because if there is constant power, a lot of companies that have closed down can reopen. There is a huge plan for economic recovery and growth. I am optimistic that this time we would get it right.

Considering the social and cultural inhibitions in many parts of Nigeria that tend to make it difficult for women to engage in certain economic activities, like property ownership, are there measures being put in place to ensure that women have access to the proposed economic empowerment Loans? On training women and collaterals, the World Bank came and did a study and discovered that in some cultures and even in Nigeria, women stay at home. How do you get loans across to those women? That was discussed. And in some countries women have to go and fetch firewood and that is where they discuss. With the discovery, women can actually get loans through cooperatives. Again, some start-up capital of some of them is just N10, 000 while for some their total working capital is N2, 000, which they turn out on daily basis. So every day, they have to go to the market. If you give such woman a loan of N20, 000 and she goes to the market once in a week you have changed the income and her life earning capacity. We had a similar project, while I was a commissioner in Ogun State, in collaboration with Ecobank. We gave them N50, 000 and they paid back interest daily.They had their own collectors, though. The payback rate was about 96 per cent. It was a different ball game when we carried out a similar project with men. The payback was 33 per cent. One of the things this plan is doing is to lend without collateral. Although it may sound unscientific, women don’t owe. If you lend to a woman she would pay back. So we need to develop trust and that is why the cooperative is key. They are not looking for big loans. As traders they are part-time traders trading to help and support their families. So we are going to do a pilot programme in all the local governments in the six geo-political zones in the country.

On the fight against corruption and recovery of looted funds, how are the recovered funds being utilised? On the recovered money, we have a recovery account that all the recovered money goes into. Also, in the budget, there are provisions that the recovered money will take care of certain things in the budget and we have to wait for any excess recovery and take a decision. So far, we haven’t recovered the expected money in the budget. What we did is to create a separate Recovery Account. Many agencies are recovering and we have to keep an eye on those recovering to ensure that the money is not re-looted. We ensure that the agencies send us a return on recovered money every month, how much they

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INTERVIEW

FG Has Created a Recovery Account for Lodgement of Recovered Loots

Cont’d from Pg. 20

have recovered, the account in which it is kept and central recovery account under the supervision of the Accountant-General so we can reconcile. Recovery is something that is new and I think it is good. We are now arguing about recovering, it is a good problem in Nigeria. And I think as we recover more, we will get it right. It is a good thing.

What is your assessment of the whistle blower policy, which is now popularly called Mrs. Adeosun policy, and how do you think it can be strengthened? The whistle blowing policy, I don’t know if it is Mrs. Adeosun policy. It started with us wanting to have a whistle blower policy for agencies under finance. We planned for customs where people complained about being forced to settle and FIRS wanting that policy to be there. But when we took it to the Presidency, the vice president said no, this can’t just be for finance. We want it to be a national policy. So, we took it to FEC and the president endorsed it and it became a national policy. Now, I am more interested in the deterrents because from the experience of what I have seen as Minister of Finance, all the money that went missing, two to three, four people knew about it. When we came in and asked them, they said, yes I knew, I saw so, so, moving the money to here and there. So, why didn’t you speak up and when we began to speak to them, there were two things: one was fear, if I speak up and I lose my job, who is going to help me. So, we now need to protect people who have information about missing money. It started with some bank staff, when TSA came, they were asked to rename accounts, the banks knew that the money belong to the government but they don’t want it to go to TSA and a lady came to us and said her conscience was heavy. She gave us information, we wrote to the bank, the bank admitted it and paid the money. It was about N1.6 billion but she lost her job. That really hit me hard and that was unfair. We should be able to compensate somebody like this for that loss. And that was why we said, let there be financial reward. So, that does two things, it makes somebody who is doing a bad thing to think somebody may go and blow the whistle and that stopped money from going out. But one of the consequences we did not really anticipate was money that has already been stolen now coming back. That is music to our ears. It is not nice but it can be a bit embarrassing when you see money in the soak-away, in the ceiling, in burial grounds but it is our money and we are entitled to get it back. When we started it was five per cent but if you notice now, the first billion is five per cent and it goes down to 3.5 to 2.5 per cent for anything over, I think N5 billion. When we began to do the number, some people will not even know what to do with the money. If you do five per cent on this amount, it is a life-changing money, but people should be rewarded. What is very interesting is the kinds of people that are bringing the information tend to be very low-level people. Now, people are treating their drivers very well as well as your cooks, house girls. One of them, who came to give us the information, was actually the one carrying the money. He said he was carrying the money and he could feel that it was money. So, we may end up with unintended whistle-blower millionaires. I am not so worried about how much they get. What we should worry about is the person that took 100 per cent of the money and would have kept everything. So, five per cent should not really be a problem for us. We have become a whistle blower nation, everybody now is looking over each other’s shoulders to see what is going on but I think that is a very good thing.

What is the federal government doing to try to institutionalise the whistle blower policy? You know there is a whistle-blower draft law that has been forwarded to the National Assembly and it has not been passed. This policy is like a stop-gap; we cannot wait for the law. The law is still going through the process of the National Assembly but in the meantime, we need to have a framework to protect whistle blowers. So, the policy covers things like loss of income, it provides anonymity for the whistle blowers. We have continued to refine it. Of course, we need a legal framework but in the meantime, a policy will do just as well. We have continued to refine it but now there is a legal document prepared by the Attorney General, which is signed between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the information provider and that is because some whistle blowers are concerned, when I give this information, how am I sure you won’t turn around tomorrow and say you already knew? So, there is now a legal agreement. We will continue to refine the policy as we go. If the law is passed, of course, it will subdue everything. It

Adeosun with IMF Managing Director, Christine Lagarde

When would these improvements begin to reflect in the standard of living of the average Nigerian? It is like building a house, you start with a foundation. If you go and look at the site you won’t see anything. That is the sort of thing, because these projects are major projects. We are not just doing a few things here and there. We are fundamentally trying to change the Nigerian economy, so that foundation stage can be very frustrating.You don’t see anything at first but suddenly things begin to come out of the ground and the impact will be very rapid, that is what we are saying. We have spent about N1.2 trillion this year on capital projects. We hope to do more than that in 2017. But then, you will get to the stage where projects begin to move from projects to actually delivering value for the people. The foundation work has been done, now, you move to the stage of creating jobs because people are building houses, creating jobs in financial services, carpenters will be employed, tillers, plumbers will be employed. That is the next stage of the type of projects that we are now focusing on and it is then people will really begin to feel the difference.

Adeosun at the Global Parliamentary Conference

is the way to go forward. It is not new; we did not invent it in Nigeria.You have whistle blowers in every other country of the world. But for us, because of the significant amount of money that went missing in the last few years, the amounts being recovered are just beyond what anybody imagined. But we must institutionalise it; we must protect people’s lives. For example, in the agreement, many whistle blowers use lawyers, some whistle blowers are illiterate. How do we protect them? We have to give them code names. That is why the whistle blowers unit was put in the Ministry of Finance. The reason for that was that it was seen as a less intimidating place for people to come. There was a long debate, should it be in the EFCC, DSS. The vice president said no, some people just walked into EFCC and they are already scared, you make it in the Ministry of Finance where people feel relaxed. We have a whistle blower unit with seconded staff from EFCC, ICPC, DSS, all other investigative agencies. They have been seconded to that unit and they work full time in the Ministry of Finance. Let them go and do the preliminary investigation and refer it to the various agencies and this is just to make sure that the whistle blower is looked after and is protected. I have one or two who said they were not going to speak to anybody except me. When my people went for preliminary investigation, I said these people are serious and I had to make time to see them. It is important because it energises your fight against corruption. For the first time, those who stole should be the ones to be worried, not we, the victims.You should be the one sleeping with one eye open, wondering whether their doors are going to be broken down. But there is a proper legal process. All those are obtained; they go back and get orders to search because some

of the money recovered becomes evidence in cases. So, it has to be done in a proper and legal manner and, of course, the Attorney General is involved, DG SSS, IG, ICPC, chaired by the vice president. I am also a member of that panel. We all refine the policy as we go because we don’t want to in the zeal to recover money compromise the case. So, we have to make sure we do it the right way.

What were the key factors responsible for the IMF’s recent positive assessment of Nigeria’s economic recovery effort? We have been very consistent. The recession we found ourselves is very unfortunate. We should have been heading in that direction for quite a while and we have always said that we will pursue the right long-term policies, not only to get us out of it but more importantly to also get us growing again, in a different kind of growth. A growth that will be more inclusive, growth that will be more sustainable and we just pursue the policies doggedly. We need to make Nigeria a productive economy. The only way you can create jobs, create business and wealth for Nigerians is to be productive.You cannot rely on oil because when the price of oil goes down, you wipe out people’s wealth and hope. We need an economy that, whether oil is high or low, Nigeria is growing. There are countries that don’t have oil and they don’t die. So, let us focus on the rest of the economy that has potentials for growth and that is what we have been doing. I concur with the IMF view, we will get out of recession but more importantly, we will start growing again in a new kind of direction, which I think will transform Nigeria.

But it does seem many Nigerians are yet to feel the impact of the economic improvements.

IMF and World Bank have had reasons to express reservation about certain economic policies, such as the administration of the new forex regime. Did you get any concrete assurance of their assistance or willingness to help the country to exit recession? There is the need to clarify, what is the role of the World Bank and IMF. IMF is your lender of last resort. When a country is in trouble and nobody else will lend, you run to the IMF and the IMF will put some conditions in place. You have to go and do this and that and say look, the things the IMF wants us to do, we will do by ourselves. We want to take ownership of Nigeria’s recovery, because when we got into problem, nobody helped us get into problem and so, we need to get out ourselves. If we don’t take ownership of this thing, it will look like the IMF came to rescue us. We are trying very hard to avoid IMF. It is not part of our objectives at all. We are not even trying to apply to the IMF for loans at all. There is no question they are not supporting us. We have not even asked for their support. What IMF does is that they go to every country, America, Britain and the rest, and they go on Article IV, on every country. It is not just because you are in trouble that IMF comes, no. IMF goes to every country which is what you are referring to in terms of growth. So, we have not asked them for money. What we care for is technical support for specific projects for our economic growth and recovery plans. We just finished a meeting on housing, we are going for another meeting on power, we were in a meeting on water. So, we are now saying these are the specific things that Nigerians want to do to grow its economy and how can you support us? That support could be financial, and it could also largely be technical. It is not that they have expressed reservations per se, it is just that we made a decision as an economic management team that we are Nigerians, we must take responsibility for this situation and we must get out of it on our own terms and that is what we are doing.

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ APRIL 30, 2017

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INTERVIEW

Mofe-Damijo: Constant Innovation is Key to Business Sustainability The Fidelity SME Forum is a weekly radio programme run by Fidelity Bank Plc. to educate, inform, advise and inspire budding entrepreneurs in Nigeria with knowledge and expertise that will enable them build sustainable and successful businesses. Its entertainment series tailored to highlight the business side of entertainment, the opportunities that exist therein and how these opportunities can be harnessed effectively and efficiently by players in the sector, featured veteran actor and former Delta State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Richard Mofe-Damijo (RMD), who shared his insights and experiences on achieving sustainability in the Nigerian entertainment industry, funding challenges faced by practitioners and the unharnessed business potentials in the industry, among other issues. Excerpts

F

rom the late 80s till date, you have remained relevant in the entertainment space up until when you moved into the political space and into business. Tell us a bit about your story.

usually tied to a need or our desire to pass on a message. I look at the redemptive values that are in scripts before I accept. Earlier on, the MD/CEO was talking about the body of my work; I still haven’t done up to 70 movies in spite of the fact that I have been in this business for 34 years. I try to choose well. Most of the younger people are more driven by other things so they tend to do up to a 100 films in a year. I would recommend that if you want to take a role, you look for the intrinsic values in it before you go ahead because you want to be able to live with yourself a 100 years after that.

Thank you very much. I studied Theatre Arts in the University of Benin and graduated in 1983. I had my National Youth Service between 1983 and 1984 before I moved to Lagos where I also studied Law at the University of Lagos. I think for anybody to be relevant or to achieve sustainability in the business that he or she is involved, there needs to be constant innovation. What I have tried to do is to constantly look for areas that I can use to enhance my craft. I got into Journalism because I discovered a connection between Journalism and my craft at the time. My craft needed reporting and like most of us actors, when we don’t get people to do the things that we want them to do, we take our destinies into our hands. At every point in my life and in any way I can, I try to do something different and expand my vista and world view. I have veered into writing, marketing communications, perception management and of course Law. I have also veered into politics but it was not an elective position. I was called to serve the people which was a great honour. That is basically my story in a nutshell.

Anybody listening to you would think it’s been a smooth sail, but in business if you haven’t encountered pitfalls you haven’t started. Please share with us, some of the challenges that you have had to face along the way. The challenges are always going to be there. There was a time when I used to squat around Lagos. I am also facing a challenge today. You would think that with all the experience that I have gathered if I walk through the doors of a bank or a telco, I’ll get whatever I want. I am currently trying to create a new TV series and until date, if I don’t have pilot episodes, nobody will be ready to listen to me. It is the same thing that happens in other industries that happens with us. People will only jump on your success when you have self-financed and done all the work that you need to do before they come in. No matter how well-written my proposal is right now, they still want to wait and see what happens to it. I have been adjudged successful in this industry, but I still go through these challenges. The challenges will always be there, but you have to never give up.

Speaking of innovation and diversification, would you say that your move to study Law was deliberate? Law is something that has always been there. My parents wanted me to become a Lawyer. We have a joke in Warri that says “every Urhobo man is a Lawyer.” So, that for me came naturally. Of course, intellectual property (IP) matters are not things that are as popular as regular litigation. Law was just another diversification for me along the line and I have found that it is probably one of the best decisions I have had to make in my adult life. Today, I have done a lot of work in the IP sector. We all are witnesses to what happened to ‘Okafor’s Law’, a film which I was involved in and which I also tried to mediate in before it got to the court. The grounds are wide open for anything that is connected. At the end of the day we are all interconnected by one thing or the other, which is business. I think that credit should be given to the man who came up with the phrase “show business”, because sometimes, we tend to concentrate on the show, but in reality the show cannot go on without the business side of it. We are hoping that with the entry of banks like Fidelity, the entertainment industry will probably get the resonance or the support that it should get. If the private sector can take as much time as it does for agriculture or technology, you will be surprised at how much more the entertainment industry can do. Some of us laugh at the figures that are quoted, but those are official figures. The figures that are not brought to the table are a lot more. We can have active collaborations in the entertainment industry beyond interventions by what BOI and the government are doing for us. If we can institutionalize government support for the industry, it will take us to the next level.

How can one succeed in the entertainment industry even when he or she knows it is not paying off as it should?

Mofe-Damijo

A lot of young people today think that all it takes to be an actor is good looks and all. How would you advice these people to start early and begin to think about sustainability and the business side of entertainment? It is a heavy burden on any creative mind to concentrate on both. Even for me, I would have loved to clock in and out of my life everyday as an actor. What I would usually advice younger people is to read and be voracious in their reading. Try to diversify as much as possible but stay connected within the arts. Consume as much literature as you can and as much business and soft-technology news as you can. A few years ago acting was the core thing that everyone wanted to do, but today there are ancillary things as important as acting itself. People can come in as makeup artistes, costume designers, sound engineers, architects and so on in the business. Like I said, there is a confluence where everything ties up together. You have people who are architects today and are working in the entertainment industry. There are people who are historians and are in the business doing documentaries because part of the changing narrative today is making sure that we are able to document all kinds

of things. Today in the film making business, everybody is welcome. What we lack is the fact that the private sector hasn’t looked at the business side of it. We have taken care of the show side of it, but the private sector needs to look at the business critically. We don’t need a Basketmouth to sell out at the Wembley arena before they come in. You don’t need an AY Show to sell out in Eko Hotel before you realize that there is money there. You also don’t need a ‘Wedding Party’ to make above N460 millions before you know that we need more cinemas. Imagine a country where, with less than 50 cinemas, a movie makes N460 million. Now imagine a 100 cinemas in Lagos at 2 or 3 million per cinemas; do the maths. So if the private sector can look at entertainment as a business and begin to get their people to study and look at what modalities can be used, it would go a very long way.

What do you consider before accepting to play any role in your movies? Every role for me is a chance to send a message out there. We are blessed in this part of the world, because most of the time we don’t do entertainment for just the sake of entertainment. Entertainment in Africa is

You will never get the amount of money that you want from day one. If I went into this business for money, I won’t be where I am today. Like you know, I was a Commissioner for 7 years and Special Adviser for a year, which means I was in politics for 8 years. I recall when I said I was leaving politics, there were quite a few people who thought I was mad. But that is who I am, the entertainment industry is what defines me. It is not the money, but the fact that it is a job that I enjoy. Someone once said that the best job in the world is having fun and getting paid.

What are the innovative steps you have taken as a player in the entertainment industry? Your body is your tool, so you keep retooling your body. If you’re an actor, you keep looking for projects that will enhance your brand and not take away from your brand. Your intellectual capacity really does help in that area.

You were talking about raising initial capital. How easy is it for someone like you to raise initial capital to start off a business? Not easy at all. You have to self-finance, unless you have an angel investor who really believes in what you are doing.

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ APRIL 30, 2017

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INTERVIEW/MEDIA

‘Through TEXEM, Nigerian Executives Will Develop Strategic Leadership Skills’ Prof. Andrew Chambers has always had a foot firmly in the business school world and the business world – both in leadership capacities. He was Dean (CEO) of the leading Cass Business School, London. At Cass he taught a highly acclaimed double module on organisational behaviour (including leadership) to 200 executives. In the business world he has been a board member of a FTSE250 financial institution, and a number of charities and private companies. He also chaired the board of a fast-growing software company and had served under good and bad chairs of boards, observing what has made them successful or not. In this interview, he speaks on how leaders can develop skillsets to better govern their organisations . Excerpts. Why does an executive need to attend TEXEM’s programme?

T

ell us about TEXEM

These Executive Minds (TEXEM) pride themselves on their ability to customise programmes for their clients and TEXEM have a deep understanding of Africa. Also, TEXEM and its world class faculty partners have a very good grasp of contextual realities of operating in developing countries. Those developing countries which may be ahead of Africa (in some cases) have similar features vis-à-vis fragile institutions, limited infrastructure and the huge size of government. TEXEM’s forthcoming programme on Strategic Leadership for Results Driven Change Management would be delivered by me and Clive Carpenter, Vice Chair Business Council for Africa at the British Deputy High Commissioner’s residence on the 24th and 25th of May. (For more information, please email exec@texem.co.uk or visit https://texem. co.uk/programmes/strategic-leadership-for-resultsdriven-change-management-in-a-recession.html)

Learn from leading international experts. Network with today’s and tomorrow’s Nigerian leaders. Find out what keeps others awake at night and how to sleep more soundly. Recharge your batteries.

How could organsations strike the balance between risk management and innovation in a recession?

Organisations need this balance at all times. Cars have brakes so that they can go faster. If you have truly identified your innovation risks, assessed them and put in place appropriate mitigation measures, you will be able to innovate safely within your risk appetite. You have no choice. You need to innovate always – especially in a recession. Good risk management is not just about managing threats (“downside risk”), it is also about anticipating future opportunities that may possibly arise and positioning the organisation to exploit them should they occur (“upside risk”), and that is all to do with innovation.

How could executives develop fresh ideas?

Take time out to think, ask the right questions, meet with peers and stakeholders-customers, regulators and employees at all levels including those at the shop floor. Attend a TEXEM training. Empower people to share ideas, develop an organisational ecosystem that generates ideas by creating the culture, structure and process that nurtures ideas. This would help create a system that pressure tests ideas so that great ideas and innovation can flow. If you were starting this business afresh, what would be different? Listen to what others say.

How could leaders optimise their decisionmaking process?

The Nobel prize winner, Herbert Simon coined the word ‘satisficing’ – that leaders tend to settle for ‘satisfactory’ not ‘optimal’ decisions. It is all about ‘limited cognitive capacity’ – we have tiny minds which can’t process the complexity of the information available in an efficient (optimal) way. Better use of IT can help. Different situations demand different decision making processes as Vroom and Yetton and many others have shown. This is too big a subject to dispose of in a few words.

What steps can be taken to inspire leaders

within an organisation in a recession? Whether markets are going up or down, there are always short and long term opportunities. Emphasise to your leaders that they should view the world this way.

How can leaders develop skillsets to better govern their organisations?

Practice makes perfect. But first know yourself, be self-aware and know the skills you need.Then work on building your skills-deficit. Don’t stay within your comfort zone. Encourage others to be frank about your leadership.

What can a leader do to achieve superlative business growth in turbulent times?

Turbulence means opportunity. First, brainstorm to determine where the opportunity lies for superlative growth. Boldly and quickly cut back on investment (and save costs) where opportunity for growth is low or non-existent; but try to retain market share and market presence until the upturn comes. Look after your cash flow.

How could boards inspire change at a time of low morale, finite resources and crises?

Lots of ways. Comes down to leadership, including making painful decisions. Early and timely wins will inspire confidence and lift morale. The quality of information available to the board and to top management is important. Always communicate transparently with those impacted. Be fair.

How could the board leadership ensure that strategy conceived at the board gets implemented?

It is a key question how boards know that their policies are being implemented as intended by management. First, the board must be clear to the CEO what is expected. Secondly the board must give the CEO the resources and encouragement he/she needs. The board must meet sufficiently frequently and must regularly receive the information it needs. The board should look for assurances from other parties apart from the CEO and top executives – such as consultants, internal audit, risk management, external audit and so on. Directors should never settle for opaque or non-existent explanations, and must come down hard when the executive springs surprises upon the board. Board members, including non-executive directors, should visit sites and customers, and be seen around at HQ – not just

How could organisations achieve Strategic Leadership for Result driven change management?

Chambers attend board meetings. And so on.

How can a leader turn a negative situation to a positive result?

If you have got this far, it means you know what the negatives are, and what a positive result would look like. So, you are half way there! Get your team focussing on eliminating the negatives and leveraging off what will lead to positive results. Hold them to account. No room for backsliding! Praise success to reinforce it.

What is your opinion on organizational challenges in Nigeria?

It seems to me that Nigerian organisations have challenges which are rooted in broader economic and societal challenges – such as a weak currency,

an unbalanced economy, weak government, high unemployment, corruption, the vestiges of tribalism, civil strife. These challenges are not unique to Nigeria of course. Everyone knows that Nigeria’s potential is immense.

How do you think these challenges can be resolved?

A big question, but the answer is to address each of the challenges in a determined way. Meanwhile, Nigerian organisations need to navigate their way through the maze of challenges. Good corporate social responsibility and enlightened corporate self-interest suggest a leadership role for Nigerian corporations to mitigate Nigeria’s economic and societal challenges.

Attend the forthcoming programme with TEXEM scheduled to come up on the 24th and 25th of Lagos! Laughs. We are talking here about successful management of meaningful change. Again, a huge subject! In a few words, it is important to design very carefully a strategy for the future which is deliverable, and everyone needs to know what it is so that all pull in the right direction. Many boards have ‘away weekends’ to thrash out strategy. You need to assign responsibilities clearly and hold staff accountable. Targets should be set and results should be measurable and measured, as what is measured gets managed. That means that the leader(s) needs to monitor and oversee performance. In turn that needs timely and reliable information communicated clearly to the right people. There is much, much more to it than that, but that is a start.

BBDO Clinches New Account, Foresees Brighter Future

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t a time many thought the advertising landscape had almost become saturated, BBDO entered the Nigerian market few years ago with the promise of changing the game. It was the first time the agency would spread its tentacles into the Nigerian market and by extension the West African sub-region with the setting up of its first office in West Africa. Located in Nigeria’s main commercial city of Lagos, BBDO West Africa was structured to oversee and develop the BBDO brand across the sub-region. Since then, the agency, which is the second line agency of DDB Lagos, has remained relevant in the market. At the last count, the BBDO handles the creative accounts of Guinness,VISA, Google and Wrigley’s. Others are Kates Associated Industries and Ensure Insurance. Fast forward to 2017, when many analysts predicted it would be a tough year, the agency has recorded an

impressive string of accounts wins. The feat, achieved within the first quarter of the year, has led to the winning and consolidation of two multinational accounts. The first of the wins was for Pringles, the global number one potato chips brand. BBDO’s triumph at the keenly contested pitch that involved top agencies in Nigeria, puts the agency in pole position to work for sister brands of Pringles, notably Kellogg’s cornflakes. Announcing the win, the pitch coordinator at Kellogg’s Tolaram Nigeria, Namrata Basu, remarked that at every stage of the multi-phased pitch, BBDO’s work consistently demonstrated a thorough understanding of the youth segment, a core target for the brand, and the type of creativity that resonates with them. Right on the heels of the Pringles win, BBDO successfully consolidated the SC Johnson business. The chemicals and insecticides giant is a roster client of BBDO worldwide. It manufactures globally renowned insecticides and mosquito repellents, including Raid, Baygon, AllOut and Off. SC Johnson, trading in Nigeria as Johnson Wax, is

reported to have plans to expand its West Africa operations three-folds, and wanted a marketing communications partner to help achieve its ambitions. BBDO West Africa was adjudged to fit the bill after a rigorous compliance and due diligence exercise involving local and global representatives of the company. Worldwide, BBDO is renowned for its mantra, The Work The Work The Work, which is said to underscore the total commitment and creativity that goes into supporting brands and businesses to achieve their goals. Commenting on kicking off the year with two big account wins, Managing Director of BBDO West Africa, Igbo Amadi-Obi, said given the prevailing business environment, such a feat was not just remarkable but underlined the young agency’s prospects. He added that BBDO West Africa was strongly aligned with the philosophy and character of BBDO agencies worldwide, to dedicate themselves to the relentless support of clients’objectives through focused creativity that wins for the client, rather than creativity that wins acclaim for the agency.

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ APRIL 30, 2017

24

BUSINESS/LAW

Supreme Court Set to Hear Statoil, Abebe’s Case On May 2, the Supreme Court will begin hearing on the appeal filed by a Norwegian oil firm, Statoil Nigeria Limited, against the judgements of two lower courts in favour of an indigenous company, Inducon Nigeria Limited, and Dr. John Abebe. The case could determine the legal nature of indigenous participation in oil concessions in Nigeria. Davidson Iriekpen writes

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igeria’s apex court, the Supreme Court, will on May 2 hear the appeal filed by a Norwegian oil firm, Statoil Nigeria Limited, against the judgements of the Federal High Court and Court of Appeal ordering it to pay an indigenous exploration company, Inducon Nigeria Limited, and business promoter, Dr. John Abebe, 1.5 per cent net profit interest accruable to it from the three oil blocks allocated to them in the early 1990s for bringing the firm to Nigeria to explore oil resources and promoting its business in Nigeria. The judgements were based on the concurrent findings of the two lower courts that Abebe and his company brought Statoil Nigeria Limited in the early 1990s for the purposes of oil exploration in the country. The two judgements, delivered in 2010 and 2012 respectively, had affirmed that, indeed, there was an agreement between British Petroleum (BP) and Statoil with Abebe based on a 50:50 alliance and agreement, contrary to the claim of Statoil. But Statoil, dissatisfied, had headed to the Supreme Court. However, while the appeal was pending, a new twist was added to the case when Abebe and his company, hinging their applications on an interlocutory orders of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal, which restrained Statoil from repatriating to any foreign account its monies, revenues and earnings derived from the sale of crude oil, accused the Norwegian company of transferring over $4 billion of its income from Nigeria against the orders of the courts. In an affidavit and application filed at the Supreme Court through his lawyer, Uche Nwokedi (SAN), the businessman asked that the orders of the two lower courts be enforced and that Statoil be made to return the $4 billion to Nigeria. They also urged the court to restrain the Norwegian oil firm from further repatriating all revenues accruing to it from the Agbami oil field and all other interests in Nigeria to any foreign account through any commercial bank in the country pending the hearing and determination of the substantive appeal. The respondents contended that since the orders were made, the Norwegian oil firm had completely disregarded them and instead, contrived an artifice whereby funds were immediately transferred out of Nigeria to foreign accounts. They alleged that to date, Statoil had repatriated over $4 billion which accrued to it from the said oilfields into foreign accounts with the assistance of a Nigerian bank in disobedience of the court orders. The documents filed at the Supreme Court by Inducon and obtained by THISDAY showed that while CITI Bank, Statoil’s original bankers, refused to facilitate the movement of funds for the Norwegian oil firm consequent upon the order, a Nigerian bank, since 2012, had been moving funds abroad on behalf of the oil firm. The documents showed that in March 2012 alone, the sum of $1.15 billion was transferred to J.P. Morgan Chase Bank in London on behalf of Statoil by the Nigerian bank. The documents added that in 2012, the total amount lodged in the account and transferred out of Nigeria was

Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen

$1.869 billion, and that between 2013 and December 2015, another $2.569 billion was lodged from oil sales and transferred to J.P. Morgan Chase Bank. They stated that unless the apex court restrained Statoil, it will continue to repatriate funds from the oilfields with a view to rendering the final judgement of the court nugatory in the event that the court enters judgement in their favour. However, Statoil denied the allegations, saying they are false and unfounded. It stated that from the date the non-repatriation order was granted, all its transfer of funds out of Nigeria had been consistent with the order of court. It further contended that the transfer of funds had been done in line with its normal banking operation and that the funds transferred had been applied for the purpose of servicing its obligations to its creditors and paying for services and expenses relating to its operations. The substantive suit started when the indigenous company, Inducon, and its

promoter, Abebe, filed an action against Statoil at the Federal High Court in Lagos, contending that in April 1990, he was informed by BP that it was interested in pursuing opportunities in the Nigerian oil industry together with its partner, Statoil of Stavanger, Norway, with whom it had entered into an alliance agreement. According to him, the alliance, as it was represented to him, would present the first ever opportunity for Statoil, then an indigenous Norwegian company, to operate outside its home base, Norway, and to venture into West Africa, among others. In his statement of claim, Inducon argued that at all material times, it was the representation of the alliance to him that BP and Statoil would be equal partners on a 50:50 basis in the alliance and that although the alliance would not be set up as a separate legal personality, the two companies would operate as one. Abebe, the promoter of Inducon, added that he was also instrumental to ensuring

that the production sharing contracts for the blocks were signed with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and all these were achieved due to his extensive contacts in government and the oil and gas sector. He argued that Statoil was granted those blocks because of the policy of indigenous participation and transfer of technology in the oil industry and that since Statoil entered Nigeria as a result of that policy, it denied that the policy existed and had failed to live up to its undertaking to encourage the promotion of indigenous participation in the Nigerian oil industry. Witnesses from the Department of Petroleum Resources and others corroborated Abebe’s statement of claim. But in its defence, Statoil described Abebe’s claims as unfounded, adding he and his company are retained by Statoil in Nigeria throughout most of 1990s and that the contract had long been terminated. It stated that the role of Abebe was to offer advice and assistance in connection with its business in Nigeria and that for a period, he had a seat on the board of Statoil’s Nigerian subsidiary until the alliance it had with British Petroleum (BP) was dissolved in 1999. Statoil wondered that if there was actually an oral agreement as claimed by Abebe, why did he not use his position as the vice chairman of the oil firm from 1991 to 1997 to regularise it. It stated that from the plaintiffs’ own evidence, there was no conceivable evidence to show that there was an agreement between them. In the judgement of the Federal High Court, it affirmed Abebe’s submissions and ordered the oil firm to pay Abebe and his company 1.5 per cent net profit interest accruable to it from the three oil blocks allocated to them for bringing the firm to Nigeria to explore oil resources. The court also held that there was indeed an agreement between him, BP and Statoil, contrary to the claim of the oil firm, which must be honoured. Dissatisfied with the judgement, Statoil headed to the Court of Appeal, which later dismissed its appeal and upheld the judgement of the Federal High Court. Since the substantive appeal was filed in 2012, not much has come out of the case due to the delay tactics by the appellant to frustrate the matter. Investigation by THISDAY revealed that part of the ploy by the appellant to delay the case was the frequent change of counsel. So far, the Norwegian company has employed the services of seven law firms to prosecute the case, with Abebe and company holding on to Nwokedi. Statoil commenced the case with Templars law firm, with Prof. Fidelis Oditah SAN, QC as leading counsel. When it lost the case at Federal High Court and Court of Appeal, it enlisted the services of Chief Richard Akinjide (SAN) and Mr. Tunde Fagbohunlu (SAN) of Aluko & Oyebode at the Supreme Court. On two occasions when the case came up under Akinjide, no progress was made due to his health challenges. Presently, checks revealed that the foreign oil firm has put together a formidable legal team of five Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) led by Chief Wole Olanipekun and others from the law firms of Udoma and Osagie & Co. and Aluko & Oyebode to tackle the appeal.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ APRIL 30, 2017

WOMEN IN MEDIA Ali-Balogun: Nurturing Relationship is Germane to Successful PR Practice Nkechi Ali-Balogun, one of Nigeria’s foremost female public relations practitioners, sees PR beyond putting stories in the newspapers and various social media platforms. AliBalogun tells Raheem Akingbolu about misconceptions in the profession and the place of relationship in PR practice

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principal consultant at NECCI Limited, a public relations firm, Nkechi AliBalogun is worried about the misconceptions that dog the public relations sub-sector of the marketing communications industry. The former chairman of the Lagos State chapter of Nigerian Institute of Public Relations says she has made effort to correct the misconceptions. But a lot still needs to be done. “In the last few years, I have committed a lot of my resources to organise workshops for practitioners within and outside agencies, with a view to bridging the knowledge gap in the industry,” Ali-Balogun says. “I have always been one of the practitioners championing the campaign that governments and their agencies should see PR as a subtle way of communicating their programmes.” She says, “I have always told whoever cares to listen that PR is not only about putting stories in the paper or television. But unfortunately, there are many quacks carrying briefcases around and misrepresenting registered practitioners and what global PR practice represents. Now that business owners globally have taken PR more serious than before, Nigeria must follow the trend.” Though Ali-Balogun appreciates the improvements that social media revolution has brought into the industry, she doesn’t believe that the entire practice should be hung on the new media. According to her, the belief in some quarters that the social media may soon send the traditional practitioners into obscurity is unfounded. To her, “Public relations is beyond posting on Facebook or any social media. We have what we call ‘Online Reputation Management’ and a PR practitioner still has to study that. Online PR is a professional arm of public relations and there are strategies to it. It’s not just pasting things on people’s timeline. I do not think anything can outshine public relations because the scope of PR can only get wider and wider. Our elders in PR never

thought the profession could be the way it is today and in fact, many of them can’t even handle it anymore because it just keeps expanding each day. It went from press agentry to public relations to brand communications, corporate communications and so on. They are all offshoots of public relations.” Another area of the practice this amazon of the industry is not comfortable with is the idea of ‘brown envelope’ which has always triggered debate among stakeholders. In addressing the issue, Ali-Balogun is tough and blunt. She states emphatically that she is not used to giving brown envelopes to journalists who help her projects. “What I build are relationships,” she says. “And these relationships are much more important to me and my friends in the media who I must be proud to say, are so many. They see me as their friend while I see them as my friends and partners. And there are so many ways friends help themselves.” She says, perhaps, that was why she did not last long in a paid job environment because she was not ready to compromise or dent her own integrity. “I’m not saying people that stay longer are compromising, no. I was faced with a situation where I needed to compromise. Rather than compromise, I resigned.” Ali-Balogun is an Igbo woman. But she is married to a Yoruba man. This relationship obviously makes her a complete Nigerian. Speaking about how she combines the home with her business, Ali-Balogun, who is married to her film maker, Mahmoud, for over three decades, says whoever cannot strike a balance between her job and family has no business in the PR industry. “It’s simply being able to identify priorities and ensuring they do not clash. This also involves the ability to make good choices when conflict arises. For me, any business dealing that will conflict strongly with my family must have to be compromised. There are, for instance, conferences I do not attend because of family engagements. I weigh my options, count my cost and make my choice. After

Ali-Balogun

all, what does it profit me if my business grows and my family suffers? I desire my business to grow but I also want it to grow alongside a stable family,” she says. Ali-Balogun set up her own PR consultancy firm, NECCI PR Limited, 22 years ago when she was 39. It was a plunge in the dark where she was not sure what laid ahead or what the future had in stock. She was the head of corporate affairs of the Nigerian Export/Import Bank with all the perks that went with such office before going into private practice. According to her, “What actually led me into private practice was because paid employment was no longer convenient. That was when my office was moved to Abuja and I had to fly every weekend from Abuja to Lagos to join my family and by 7am every Monday I was always at the airport, rushing back to Abuja to resume work. Then I was head of corporate affairs at the Nigerian Export/Import Bank. I eventually decided to return to Lagos and channel my energy into setting up my own business and that gave birth to NECCI.” She admits that it is not always easy when someone leaves paid employment; it is always like fish out of water. Many

My area of strength is rendering trainings in public relations and I actually identified that area a long time ago when I saw there was a need gap

of the things you had taken for granted will be gone. Apart from that, all those you had as friends will abandon you since you are no longer occupying that position. “I tell you, when you leave paid employment to start your own business, that first year, you’re like a fish popped out of water. All the pecks of office varnish and you also realise the friends you thought you made at work are actually not your friends. As soon as you leave, they disconnect. When you call them, they want to quickly do away with you because they think you need something from them. They just believe you’re no longer relevant. People you thought will also help you stand turn their backs on you. I remember I almost gave up on private practice in the first three years. I, however, got used to those shocks with time and I must say God has been faithful and my husband, too.” Ali-Balogun believes an average PR person must always hone his or her skills to be able to cope with demands of the profession. And that is why her agency does periodic training sessions for players in the industry. She says this has always been her area of strength. “My area of strength is rendering trainings in public relations and I actually identified that area a long time ago when I saw there was a need gap. That gap is still there, though. The best I can do now is offer consultancy in online PR but to tell you I’m managing your blog, I do not have that energy, even though I have the expertise. I believe older people must understand younger professionals are coming up and must also know when to bow out in certain areas. There are younger ones coming up with better ideas and also looking for ‘space’.” A gifted strategist with natural creative abilities, Ali-Balogun is an in-demand industry facilitator, motivational speaker, and mentor in her career. She is a graduate of the University of Lagos and holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and an MBA in Management from the same university.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ APRIL 30, 2017

NIGERIA’S TOP 50 STOCKS BASED ON MARKET FUNDAMENTALS

FCMB Group PLC: Remarkable performance brightens record despite harsh operating terrain

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irst City Monument Bank Plc (FCMB) in its reported full year, 31st December, 2016 financial result indicate a substantial growth of 15.63% in topline earnings to N176.35 billion and bottom-line earnings growth of 201.19% on the back of considerable increase in other income. The Bank which listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 2004 and issued her first public offering (IPO) in 2005 now has a record of 2 million customer base, over 270 branches in Nigeria and a licensed banking subsidiary in the United Kingdom (FCMB UK). First City Monument Bank Limited has continued its strive towards enhanced customer experience through innovation acceleration, enhancement of performance and security boosting. TRADING INCOME DRIVES GROWTH IN TOP-LINE EARNINGS Gross earnings for the 12 month period ended, 31st December 2016 grew by 15.63% to N176.35 billion from N152.51 billion reported in the same period 2015. Gross earnings growth was impacted by a 77.16% upsurge in non-interest income on the back of an extra-ordinary 504.82% increase in net trading income largely driven foreign exchange income to N5.69 billion from N940m during the period under review. Interest income on the other hand, rose by a modest 1.23% to N125.11 billion from N123.58 recorded at the corresponding period end of 2015. This stemmed from decline in customers deposit by 6.08% which impacts on advances. Interest expense for the period declined by 6.83% to N55.58 billion from N59.65 billion reported in December 2015. Hence, an 8.75% rise in net interest income to N69.53 billion from N63.94 billion over the period under review. Fees and commission income declined by 6.92% to N17.68 billion in December 2016 from N19 billion a year ago, while fees and commission expense increased notably by 10.66% to N3.51 billion from N3.16 billion over the same period. Due to decline in fees and commission income and rise in its expense, net fee and commission income decreased to N14.18 billion in December 2016 from N15.83 billion in December 2015; reflecting a change of 10.44%. OPERATING INCOME AND TAXATION POSITIVELY IMPACTS PROFITABILITY Total operating expenses increased by 23.51% to N101.30 billion in December 2016 from N82.01 billion in December 2015 primarily due to a massive growth of 136.29% in net impairment loss on financial assets to N35.52 billion from N15.03 billion recorded in December

BASED UPON THE BANK’S FLEXIBILITY TO THE CURRENT REGULATORY POLICIES AND THE MACROECONOMIC HEADWIND, WE BELIEVE THAT THE BANK’S MANAGEMENT ADJUSTMENT PLANS THAT FOCUS ITS EFFORT TOWARDS AN EFFICIENT PERFORMANCE WHICH STRENGTHENS EARNINGS, INCOME GENERATION CAPACITY AND GROWTH IN LIQUIDITY BASE

2015. Therefore, operating profit increased significantly by 107.94% to N15.98 billion in December from N7.68 billion a year ago. Pre-tax profit for the period grew massively by 109.19% to N16.25 billion from N7.68 billion year on year attributable to a considerable rise of 222.53% in income from investment in associates to N272m from N85m in the corresponding period of 2015. Expectedly, profit after tax followed suit with a remarkable 201.19% increment to N14.34 billion in full year ended, 31st December, 2016 from N4.76 billion reported in the 12-month period of 2015. Also, the Bank’s impressive performance in the bottom line can be connected to substantial decline in income ASSET QUALITY REMAINS RELATIVELY FLAT The Bank’s balance sheet reflects steady progress in performance over the period. The Group’s total asset grew by modestly by 1.14% to N1.17 trillion as at December 2016 from N1.16 trillion as at December 2015. Notable changes in total assets includes: 359.01% in nonpledged trading assets to N9.15 billion from N1.99 billion, 5.08% negative

change in investment securities to N128.44 billion from N135.31 billion, 22.69% decline in other assets to N16.78 billion from N21.70 billion and advances to customers rose by 11.30% as at 31st December, 2016. On the other hand, total liabilities decline by a negligible 0.32% to N993.91 billion as at December 2016 from N997.14 billion as at December 2015. Bank total deposits from customers and other banks shrank by 3.30% to N682.41 billion as at December 2016 from N705.68 billion as at December 2015; borrowings grew by 16.18% to N132.09 billion from N113.70 billion year on year. However, shareholder’s equity increased by 10.15% to N178.87 billion as at December 2016 from N162.39 billion as at 31st December 2015 due to retained earnings growth of 88.91%. CAPITAL AND LIQUIDITY RATIOS ABOVE REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS FCMB’s liquidity ratio stood at 31.2% as at December 31st, 2016 which is well above the minimum regulatory requirement of 30%. The Group’s Return on Average Equity (ROAE) stood at 8.40% as at December 2016 while Return on Average Assets (ROAA) stood at 1.23% over the same period. The Group’s cost-to-income ratio at 56.1% while Net interest margin (NIM) grew settles at 8.4% in December 2016 from 8.1% in December 2015 while pre-tax profit margin and net income margin notably to 9.22% from 5.09% and to 8.13% from 3.12% respectively. WE RECOMMEND A BUY The macro-economic headwinds of 2016 saw inflation grow steadily to a peak 18.6% in December, MPR at 14% and CRR maintained on all public sector deposits to 22.50% in November 2016. Nevertheless, FCMB delivered an impressive performance despite these harsh business environment and unstable monetary policies caused by the impact of naira devaluation, foreign exchange scarcity, rising commodity prices and the fuel price hike. Based upon the Bank’s flexibility to the current regulatory policies and the macro-economic headwind, we believe that the Bank’s management adjustment plans that focus its effort towards an efficient performance which strengthens earnings, income generation capacity and growth in liquidity base. With strategic innovation and execution the bank will enhance its deposit balance and advances leading to an better improved interest income and

Valuation Metrics 7-Apr-17 Recommendation

BUY

Target Price (N)

1.67

Current Price (N)

1.00

Market Cap (N'm)

23,169

Outstanding Shares (m)

19,803

EPS (N)

0.72

PE Ratio

1.38x

Forward EPS (N)

1.03

Forward PE

1.13x Source: NSE Data, BGL Research

Full Year 2016 Audited Results Gross Earnings (N'm) Profit Before Tax (N'm) Profit After Tax (N'm) Pre-tax Margin (%)

176,352 16,251 14,339 9.22

Source: Company Report 2016, BGL Research

Full Year 2015 Audited Results Gross Earnings (N'm) Profit Before Tax (N'm) Profit After Tax (N'm) Pre-tax Margin (%)

152,507 7,768 4,760 5.09

Source: Annual Report 2015, BGL Research

Shareholding Information Capital IRG Trustees Ltd.

8.27

Stanbic Nominees Ltd.

21.05

AMCON

6.73

Public Float

63.95

Source: Annual Report 2015, BGL Research

income from fees and commission. Furthermore, in line with its on-going target to translate foreign exchange differentials to bear positively on the Bank’s business, maintaining its current level of NII and NIR despite a challenging macro-economic environment that is easing up as well as a good record of expenses management. Based on the company’s performance, we cautiously make full year, December 2017 projection of N209.37 billion for gross earnings and N20.46 billion for net income. Using the Price to Earnings (PE) multiple of 1.38x, our valuation leads to a forward EPS of N1.03, and a 6-month average target price of N1.67. Since this represents an upside potential of 42.66% on the current stock price of N1.17, we therefore recommend a BUY.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ APRIL 30, 2017

NIGERIA’S TOP 50 STOCKS BASED ON MARKET FUNDAMENTALS

UNILEVER NIGERIA PLC – Food product business remains the Company’s cash cow

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nilever Nigeria Plc (The Company) was established in 1923 as a soap manufacturing company – West Africa Soap Company – by Lord Leverhulme. It later became known as Lever Brothers Nigeria. Today, it is the longest serving manufacturing organization in Nigeria. After a series of mergers and acquisitions, the Company diversified into manufacturing and marketing of foods and personal care products. These mergers and acquisitions brought in Lipton Nigeria Limited in 1985, Cheesebrough Industries Limited in 1988 and Unilever Nigeria Limited in 1996. The Company changed its name to Unilever Nigeria Plc in 2001 in line with the global strategic direction of the business. Unilever Nigeria’s confidence in the Nigerian economy is unwavering. The Company was quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 1973 and is a truly Multi-local Multinational organization with very outstanding international and local brands in her portfolio. The international brands include Close-Up toothpaste, Pepsodent toothpaste, LUX beauty soap, Lifebuoy soap, Rexona, Vaseline lotion and Vaseline Petroleum Jelly in the Personal Care Unit of the business; BlueBand Margarine, Lipton Yellow Label Tea and Knorr bouillon cubes in the Foods Unit; and OMO Multi-Active Detergent, Sunlight washing powder and Sunlight Dish washing liquid in the Home Care Unit. Other Regional and local jewels include the Pears Baby Products range and Royco bouillon cubes. Recently, Unilever Nig. Plc released its audited financial statement for full year 2016 showing an impressive performance. Growth was recorded in revenue and profitability. Remarkable growth in profitability markers above revenue growth is largely driven by management success in reducing operating expenses and substantial increase in finance income. The Company maintained its regular dividend payment, and has recommended a total dividend payment of N378m (on the basis of N0.10 per share) for every 50 kobo share payable on Friday, 12th May, 2017.

INCREASED COST OF OPERATION ERODES TOP-LINE EARNINGS For the twelve-month period ended, December 2016, Unilever Nigeria Plc grew turnover by 17.82% to N69.78 billion from N59.22 billion recorded in December 2015. The Company’s performance shows steady growth

IN THE LONG-TERM, WE LOOK FORWARD TO SUSTAINED GROWTH IN PROFITABILITY FOR UNILEVER NIGERIA PLC WHICH WOULD DEPEND LARGELY ON THE RESULTANT IMPACTS OF INNOVATIVE ADVERTISEMENT, EXPANSION AND INCREASED EFFICIENCY IN OPERATING COST REDUCTION

of 31.59% and 21.68% in revenue generated by personal care and food products respectively, while home care recorded marginal rise of 1.62%. Further insight reveals that the Company’s core business of food products production continues to account for the largest percentage of 52.16% of 2016 earnings and 50.51% in 2015. However, cost of operation grew notably to N49.48 billion from N38.17 billion over the period; representing a growth of 29.62%. The increment rose from the combined effect of rises in various components of operational expenditures especially: raw materials, assets, depreciation, IT cost and utilities expenses which increased by 24.59%, 105.97%, 21.34%, 57.29% and 30.99% respectively, which we believe was caused by inflation and prevailing macro-economic headwind in the economy. Expectedly, due to the higher growth in cost of operation over generated revenue, gross profit dropped by 3.57% to N20.3 billion in the full year 2016 from N21.05 billion reported for the full year 2015. REDUCTION IN ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES POSITIVELY IMPACT PROFITABILITY The Company’s management increased activities towards curtailing expenditures which yielded positive result as it was able to reduce administrative expenses notably by

15.96% to N11.46 billion in December 2016 compared to December 2015 figure of N13.64 billion. This was in spite of an increase in utilities. However, selling and distribution expenses requires specific strategic plan as it rose by 10.79% to N3.15 billion from N2.84 billion year on year. Hence, operating profit grew notably by 25.12% to N5.81 billion from N4.64 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2015. Net financial cost records a considerable decline of 40.79% to N1.7 billion from N2.87 billion over the period under review. This was driven by an impressive rise in finance income of 240.40% over finance cost significant reduction of 14.01%. As a result of the diminished operating expenses and higher growth in finance income, the Company recorded an enormous growth of 131.86% in profit before tax to N4.12 billion in the full year ended, December 2016 over N1.77 billion reported in the corresponding period of 2015. Income tax expense grew by a 78.77% to N1.03 billion from 2015 figure of N578.7m. Consequently, profitability preserves massive growth of 157.63% in Unilever Nigeria Plc’s profit after tax, which rose to N3.07 billion in December 2016 from N1.19 billion reported in December 2015. ASSET QUALITY The Company’s key performance metrics remains strong as current ratio rose to 0.79 as at December 2016 from 0.61 as at December 2015. Return on average equity (ROAE) currently stands 31.20% and return on average asset (ROAA) at 5.01%. It is noteworthy that as at 31st December, 2016 the Company long term borrowings increased to N20.50 billion from N7.43 billion a year ago, indicating a massive rise of 176.05%. Further insight into the financial statement shows that a 6.45% interest rate plus 3 months US Libor unsecured loan facility of $59.7 million (N18.8billion) was obtained during the year from Unilever Finance International AG for the purpose of clearing backlog of unpaid obligations to suppliers. The loan is repayable within one year. WE UPGRADE OUR RECOMMENDATION TO A HOLD In the long-term, we look forward to sustained growth in profitability for Unilever Nigeria Plc which would depend largely on the resultant impacts of innovative advertisement, expansion and increased efficiency in operating cost reduction. While consumer spending declines as inflation increases, we expect the

Valuation Metrics 21-Apr-17 Recommendation

HOLD

Target Price (N)

33.82

Current Price (N)

33.15

Market Cap (N'm)

124,849

Outstanding Shares (m)

3,783

EPS (N)

0.81

PE Ratio

43.72x

Forward EPS (N)

0.85

Forward PE

38.72x Source: BGL Research, NSE Data

Full Year December 2016 Audited ResultsTurnover (N'm)

69,777

Profit Before Tax (N'm) Profit After Tax (N'm) Pre-tax Margin (%)

4,106 3,072 5.89

Source: Company Data 2017, BGL Research

Full Year December 2015 Audited Results Turnover (N'm)

59,222

Profit Before Tax (N'm)

1,771

Profit After Tax (N'm)

1,192

Pre-tax Margin (%)

2.99 Source: Company Data 2015, BGL Research

Shareholding Information Shareholders % Holding

50.04%

Unilever Overseas Holdings B.V. Holland

50.04%

Unilever Overseas Holdings BV

10.02%

Stanbic Nominees Nigeria Ltd

10.43%

Source: Company Data 2017, BGL Research

potential of increased economic activities in the coming year to result in growth of its core business activities, revenue and profitability. Considering the above, we cautiously make our projections for gross earnings of N72.98 billion for the 12-months financial year end, December 2017 and a net income of N3.91 billion for December 2017, leading to a forward EPS of N0.85. With a company Price to Earnings (PE) multiple of 38.72x, we arrived at a 6-month target price of N33.82 for Unilever Nigeria Plc which leads to a potential upside of 2.48%. We therefore recommend a HOLD recommendation.

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MARKET NEWS

GTBank Boss Explains Impressive Q1 Performance Goddy Egene The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Guaranty Trust (GTBank) Plc, Mr. Segun Agbaje has said the improved performance recorded for the first quarter (Q1) ended March 31, 2017 demonstrates ability to deliver sustainable long-term growth. GTBank ended the 2016 with a profit after tax (PAT) N132 billion and paid a total dividend of 200 kobo per share. The bank last week consolidated

on the 2016 performance with improved first quarter (Q1) results ended March 31, 2017, where it recorded a growth of 64.3 per cent in profit. Speaking on the Q1 results and prospects for shareholders, Agbaje said: “We remain committed to maximising shareholders’ value and delivering superior and sustainable return, guided by our founding values of hard work, discipline and integrity.” According to him, given the significant progress 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

bank made in 2016, it came into 2017 the year better equipped to navigate any further economic headwinds, “and our performance in the Q1 demonstrates our ability to deliver sustainable long-term growth.” He further stated that “As we transform our organization into a platform for enriching lives, we are providing our customers with information and access they need to thrive. We are also leveraging our brand and networks to support small

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 27-Apr-2017, unless otherwise stated.

businesses through free business platforms and capacity building initiatives.” A review of the Q1 results shows positive performance across all financial indices, reaffirming the bank’s position as one of the most profitable and well managed financial institutions in Nigeria. Gross earnings for the period grew by 39 per cent to N104.66billion from N75.39billion reported in March 2016, driven primarily by growth in interest income. Profit before tax stood

at N50.39billion, representing a growth of 64 per cent over N30.68billion recorded in the corresponding period of March 2016. The bank’s loan to customers dipped marginally by two from N1.591trillion recorded in December 2016 to N1.563trillion as at March 2017. Deposit from customers grew marginally by one per cent from N1.986trillion in December 2016 to N2.012trillion in March 2017. GTBank’s balance sheet remained strong with a 1.6 per

cent growth in total assets as the bank closed the quarter ended March 2017 with total assets of N3.16trillion and shareholders’ funds of N546.9 billion. The bank’s non-performing loans remained low and within regulatory threshold at 3.62 per cent (with adequate coverage of 231.6 per cent. Capital remains strong with CAR of 20.03 per cent. On the backdrop of this result, Return on Equity (ROAE) and Return on Assets (ROAA) closed at 31.55 per cent and 5.28 per cent respectively.

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 135.17 135.86 6.50% Nigeria International Debt Fund 219.04 220.02 1.83% 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 0.71 0.72 2.18% 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 16.90% 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 12.58 12.96 1.86% ARM Discovery Fund 295.66 304.57 2.95% ARM Ethical Fund 22.55 23.23 0.94% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 15.84% 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 108.41 109.17 3.07% AXA Mansard Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 17.67% CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Chapelhill Denham Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 0.00% Paramount Equity Fund 9.70 9.94 3.59% Women's Investment Fund 88.41 90.68 4.51% 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 18.01% 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 1,062.47 1,063.59 5.22% FBN Heritage Fund 115.42 116.19 3.43% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 17.49% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Institutional $107.65 $108.40 4.60% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail $107.31 $108.07 5.00% FBN Nigeria Smart Beta Equity Fund 117.52 119.00 4.28% 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 1.00 1.01 6.91% Legacy Short Maturity (NGN) Fund 2.70 2.70 4.89% 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 2,268.30 2,295.64 2.69% Coral Income Fund 2,225.94 2,225.94 5.78% GREENWICH ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gtlgroup.com Web: www.gtlgroup.com ; Tel: +234 1 4619261-2 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Greenwich Plus Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 17.52% 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 17.04% Vantage Balanced Fund 1.76 1.78 4.91% Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 17.28%

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 1.04 1.04 4.00% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,017.71 1,017.71 3.46% MERISTEM WEALTH MANAGEMENT LTD info@meristemwealth.com Web: http://www.meristemwealth.com/funds/ ; Tel: +234 1-4488260 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Meristem Equity Market Fund 10.03 10.10 3.73% Meristem Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 16.35% 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 1.09 1.12 10.72% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 10.55 10.61 1.53% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 16.47% 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 113.05 113.98 11.04% 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 1.29 1.29 3.35% 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 1,877.11 1,886.71 2.48% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 157.22 157.22 2.12% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 0.78 0.79 1.95% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 195.75 195.75 4.74% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 131.15 132.94 1.05% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 18.05% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 7,466.94 7,553.69 -1.54% 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 1.16 1.17 8.48% United Capital Bond Fund 1.27 1.27 15.68% United Capital Equity Fund 0.65 0.67 -0.11% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.15 1.15 11.33% 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 10.37 10.56 7.51% Zenith Ethical Fund 11.55 11.67 5.78% Zenith Income Fund 17.63 17.63 6.68%

REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

11.41 126.01

1.01% 1.65%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

8.02 74.10

8.12 75.48

-8.61% -2.22%

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

2.75 6.11 11.98 17.23 129.35

2.79 6.19 12.08 17.43 131.35

0.00% -13.01% -0.16% 7.98% -0.40%

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.

A

WEEKLY PULL-OUT

30.04.2017

LIVINGSTONE ETSE SATEKLA (Stonebwoy) PRESSING ON WITH HIS DREAM

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T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R ˾ ͱͮ, Ͱͮͯ͵

COVER

LIVINGSTONE ETSE SATEKLA

PRESSING ON WITH HIS DREAM For someone whose life ambition was threatened by a crash that almost wasted him, it is a miracle that popular Ghanaian reggae/dancehall musician, Stonebwoy, refused to crawl, but stood to overcome his circumstance, even if he had to bear terrible pain. Nseobong Okon-Ekong writes

G

oing on his 29th birthday, Livingstone Etse Satekla, better known as, Stonebwoy, popular Ghanaian reggae and dancehall artiste hobbles along, adjusting gradually to the awkward manner that he is confined to walk. An unfortunate accident in his teenage nearly wrecked the ship of his life ambition. It is close to two decades since he was involved in that ghastly crash, but the pain and the scars are yet to go away. Perhaps, the biggest encouragement he needed at the time came from his late mother. But Stonebwoy is not a quitter. His movement may be slow and he still has to cope with some degree of pain, but this has not stopped him from becoming the CEO of Burniton Music Group. In 2015, he won Best International Act: Africa at the BET Awards. It’s been a long and eventful walk for someone who was reduced to a crawl by a crash that nearly wasted him. Today, he can move the knee of his right leg with some effort. In the past, the knee had become stiff from a surgery gone bad. He was in the university at the time, studying marketing. The accident nearly took his self-confidence away. However, his mother kept drumming into his ears that there were certain situations that one had no control over. She reminded him often that he was not born that way. These homilies were a great booster to his poise. She encouraged him to overlook his flaws and physical imperfection. Watching him prance about on stage, it is almost impossible to discern that he lives with some kind of handicap. Reggae/dancehall, his choice genre of music, demands liveliness and steady outburst of energy. However, Stonebwoy is a delight to watch at every performance. He hits the stage with such a force that he has been rewarded with Best Performer in Ghana many times. Many fans did not know he had a damaged knee until the publicity that attained the surgery. “People didn’t really know I had a damaged knee. It was in the way I

Satekla performing on stage

carry myself. It doesn’t really affect my performance. It used to be worse than this. I have since had another surgery to replace the whole knee joint which was not fixed well or damaged during the accident. I went to Germany, did the surgery. I stayed there for three months. I have been very active. I had to go to America for therapy,” he said. Stonebwoy has an interesting perception of pop music in Africa. “Pop music is popular music which usually takes trends from all sorts of musical genres. Pop music as a genre allows freedom to express creativity with whatever influences. In Ghana, we tend to consume different kinds of music. But it is a reggae/dancehall dominated country. It is rooted in reggae and highlife music. Hip hop comes across as its own indigenous hip life which originates from the fusion of hip-hop, highlife, reggae. Highlife is the foundation. For instance, my song ‘Go Higher’ is a combination of highlife and dancehall. The style you use defines your musical genre.” His growing fan base in Nigeria is argely nurtured by collaboration with popular Nigerian artistes. He does not hide his desire to make more than a passing impact in the Nigerian market. “I believe I’m one of those who are accepted in Nigeria by the youths. I just finished a video shot by Clarence Peters in Ghana. I have a song with Olamide, Banky W, Yung6ix, Phyno and Cynthia Morgan. I’m working on something with 2Baba, Wizkid. I already have something with Davido. So, I can say from 2009 to now, Nigeria has been so receptive. I think the Nigerian market is difficult to break in. Once you are accepted in Nigeria, it means you must be doing something right. The acceptance is large.” As much as he would love to work with more Nigerian artistes, Stonebwoy is careful and not easily swept off his feet. “I’m the type that chooses to do music for music; not because of the hype or anything. I have to love the music, to understand that what we are creating, even if it is not understood today, it will be tomorrow, then it will last. I will like to work with Asa and Simi. I just followed her recently and I love that her song ‘Love Don’t Care’. These two ladies sound

I BELIEVE I’M ONE OF THOSE WHO ARE ACCEPTED IN NIGERIA BY THE YOUTHS. I JUST FINISHED A VIDEO SHOT BY CLARENCE PETERS IN GHANA. I HAVE A SONG WITH OLAMIDE, BANKY W,YUNG6IX, PHYNO AND CYNTHIA MORGAN. I’M WORKING ON SOMETHING WITH 2BABA, WIZKID. I ALREADY HAVE SOMETHING WITH DAVIDO. SO, I CAN SAY FROM 2009 TO NOW, NIGERIA HAS BEEN SO RECEPTIVE. I THINK THE NIGERIAN MARKET IS DIFFICULT TO BREAK IN. ONCE YOU ARE ACCEPTED IN NIGERIA, IT MEANS YOU MUST BE DOING SOMETHING RIGHT. THE ACCEPTANCE IS LARGE

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APRIL 30, 2017 ˾ T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R

COVER

HIS GROWING FAN BASE IN NIGERIA IS LARGELY NURTURED BY COLLABORATION WITH POPULAR NIGERIAN ARTISTES. HE DOES NOT HIDE HIS DESIRE TO MAKE MORE THAN A PASSING IMPACT IN THE NIGERIAN MARKET indigenous and original. I will always like to put reggae, raga on Afrobeat to see how to create an authentic and original sound. I have been in Nigeria for a couple of times, having worked with certain artistes, MC Galaxy and Seyi Shay.” The nickname ‘stone’ is actually from his middle name Livingstone, pronounced ‘Livingstine’. He corrected the widely held impression that he adopted the name from another popular Ghanaian artiste, Reggie Rockstone. He explained why he holds Reggie in high esteem. “He is somebody who also paved a way for others. Reggie was a rapper. He was a good musician. We all grew up to know that. He actually pushed the hiplife initiative, that is having Ghanaian music with the highlife and the hiphop on top of it because he had lived in America for a while. He just blended what he learnt out there with what we had at home. There’s an argument with one of the foundation musicians, Gyedu Blay Ambolley, who also had been doing that since the 1970s. He is still alive and argues that it is not Reggie Rockstone that brought hip-life. Reggie must have brought it to light properly. It is not even a fight, it’s just for acknowledgement and knowledge to be sure that you did this or did that. But I think it should be straightened for history sake. But all of us know that Gyedu Blay Ambolley was there before Reggie Rockstone. You can take a record and listen. Reggie was spitting bars on top of the highlife and the beat was playing. He was a singer but like a slowgun or like a slang. He wasn’t really singing anything, like a chant.” As many reggae artistes are known to openly advertise the use of Marijuana, we sought his opinion on the use of the Ganja herb. Halting the conversation which hitherto flowed ceaselessly, he looked up and down as if searching for the answer in those places. Finally, he replied in a witty manner. “That’s a difficult one.”

We pressed for a more definite response. ‘Do you use it?’ This time, he was alert to good judgment, giving tacit support for moderate use of Marijuana. “It’s for proper use. If you overuse water, you will die. I think we should look at its uses for Africans. We shouldn’t be told what to do and what not to do. Why then is cigarette, which is more harmful, allowed in the system?” Stonebwoy does not claim to have a message of his own. He believes in deepening the existing spiritual and musical consciousness canvassed by social influencers. “I don’t think there is anything new under the sun. People will come and go. We will continue with the vibes that are already in existence depending on their inspiration. We found out that reggae music was left to the old people, just because it has certain vibes and consciousness. The youths are just doing any kind of music. As a youth, I was always trying to find a way to fully express myself that was what really inspired me - the Shasha Marleys, Afro Moses, Majek Fashek - all these people; I try to research on them. I found out that there are lots of youths who gravitate towards that reggae energy but most often, they are forced to listen to the ones who talk too much sex, money or guns. When it becomes too much, it determines the direction. So, I decided to use myself as a youth who can push vibes of consciousness; but in a modern way. That’s what I definitely preach. I have songs to that effect by the grace of God. That’s one of the reasons I believe I’m here today. Social media has made it possible for people to reach you anytime and anywhere. This is important in my trade as a musician. We need people to spread the vibes, to stay connected. I think women play a vital role in spreading these vibes than men. A man will do more for a woman than a fellow man. He gets attracted to the opposite sex. To me, the women factor is very important, but it depends on the way you handle.”

Satekla

ċ

T H I S D AY 46/%": "13*- Čĉ ċĉĊĐ

T H I S D AY t 46/%": "13*- Čĉ ċĉĊĐ

57

Bankers’ Committee Celebrates Financial Literacy Day As part of the initiative to promote financial literacy in Nigeria, the Bankers Committee of Nigeria celebrated Financial Literacy Day on March 30th 2017 by partnering with the Central Bank of Nigeria to teach the module - Learn. Save. Earn. as developed by Junior Achievement of Nigeria. The program focused on educating young people about social responsibilities, the importance of developing a savings culture and tips for developing livelihood skills in building and developing their careers

Representative of the GMD, Toyin Oluwatuyi with students of Phoebestar Royalty School, Oshogbo

Citibank Assistant Vice President Joy Ejemai, with students of Govt. Science Secondary School, Abuja

MD/CEO Coronation Merchant Bank- Abubakar Jimoh with students of Surulere Senior Secondary School

Cluster Head, Ecobank Nigeria, Babagana Kyari (middle) with students of Government Girls Unity College, Damaturu, Yobe State

Kayode Akinkugbe- MD/CEO, FBN Merchant Bank at Holy Child Catholic School Ado Ekiti

MD/CEO First Bank of Nigeria, Adesola Adeduntan flanked by staff and students of St Patricks School, Calabar

FCMB Regional Director, South-east/South-south, Mr. Okey Ezeala with students of St. John of God Secondary School Anambra

Mr Walter Akpani - MD/CEO, ProvidusBank teaching students of Falomo Junior High School

Senior Country Operations Officer, Mr. Damian Esekheigbe at Olomu Community Senior Secondary School, Jakande Roundabout Lekki

MD/CEO Rand Merchant Bank- Micheal Larbie- at ECWA Group of Schools.

Ayoku Liadi, Executive Director Lagos and West, representing the GMD/CEO UBA Plc.

MD/CEO’s representative, Hedima Manasseh, teaching students of Government Day Secondary School, Army Barracks, Bauchi

CEO Union Bank, Emeka Emuwa teaching students at St. Johns College Jos

CEO Stanbic Bank, Dr. Demola Sogunle at Government College, Umuahia, Abia State

Mrs. Titilayo Abraham GH, Corporate Planning & Strategy Unity Bank Plc teaching at Ibadan Grammar School

CEO FSDH Merchant Bank, Mrs Hamda Ambah surrounded by pupils of Oxford Success Primary and Secondary School in Benin

Representatives of GTBank- Tolulope Onipede (Corporate Social Responsibility), Abdullahi Ibrahim (Public Sector Group) and Tinuola Alalade (Divisional Head, SME Abuja) with the students of Command Secondary School, Benue.

Senior Executive, Figbene Briggs (representing the Heritage Bank CEO) at Tare Pet Montessori Group of Schools Bayelsa

CFO/Group head Strategy and Corporate Development, Dr. Muhammad Kabir Muhammad representing the CEO at City Model College Rivers State. Staff of Standard Chartered Bank in Kano

CFO Diamond Bank, Chiugo Ndubisi, represented the CEO at Owerri City College

Charles Aigbe (Head, Branch and Communication) representative of the MD Fidelity Bank at Nigerian Christian Institute, IBB Way, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State

Ben Uduehi, Divisional Head, Delta State, representing the MD/CEO Keystone Bank at Govt. Model Secondary School, Asaba, Delta State.

MD/CEO Sterling Bank, Mr. Yemi Adeola at United Christian School Ilorin Kwara State

Mr. Ademola Adebise (Deputy Managing Director Wema Bank) representing the GMD, at Federal Government College Enugu

Zonal Head Kaduna, Mr. Isaac Gado of Zenith Bank with the Principal of Government Technical College, Malali, Kaduna

58

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R Ëž ͹͎Ëœ Í°ÍŽÍŻÍľ

Ě“ ͎ͯͯ͜ͲͲ͡ͳ͹ͰͲËœ nseobong.okonekong@thisdaylive.com

Fela’s Prophesies Highlight Felabration 2017 Nseobong Okon-Ekong

F

elabration, the annual festival instituted by Yeni Kuti, to celebrate the life and music of her father, Fela AnikulapoKuti enters its 20th season this yearFELA, will this year, 2017, parade unprecedented contents to mark this milestone. Yeni KUTI is FELA’S eldest child/daughter. “Pansa Pansa�, which literally means “you ain’t heard anything yet�, had been aptly chosen as the festival’s theme song. The song is part of the 1992 album, ‘Underground System’. However, the central theme of Felabration 2017, is “Prophesy�, and it seeks to examine the extent of Fela’s Prophesies in today’s Nigeria in particular and in Africa generally. This year’s festival proper will run from Monday, October 9 to Sunday, October 15, which is Fela’s birth date. One of the highlights of thisy ear’s event is the Art/Painting Competition, which was flagged off on April 1, 2017. “Entries into the competition commenced from the 1st of April until 30th June 2017. The submitted artworks will be evaluated by members of the Felabration Organisign Committee (FOC), and the top three winners will be announced before the 31st of July. The winning works will be exhibited on the Felabration website, New Afrika Shrine and Kalakuta Museum. Details are available on www.felabration.net�. A tour package, designed to give tourists a walk through landmarks in the life of FELA, is another New entrant to the global event. Plans are already in top gear to commence the marketing of this package globally. From Abeokuta, the birth/childhood place of FELA to Lagos where he lived and died, the tourists will visit such places as the schools he attended growing up, house he was born in, the childhood neighborhood etc. They will also visit his first home in Lagos, his

WHEN GLO INVADED OWERRI WITH MUSIC Recently, seven of Nigeria’s most celebrated music icons assembled in Owerri to unleash seven hours of music and dance on the residents of the city, courtesy of mobile network operators, Glo. The Glo Mega Music Nationwide Tour was held at the International Conference Centre, ICC, Owerri and was attended by top government functionaries, members of the paramilitary forces, business tycoons in the city and environs and other socialites. The trio of Angela Okorie, the matriarch of Nollywood, Patience Ozokwor (Mama G) and Richard Mofe-Damijo were guest celebrities at the event. Anchored by the duo of West Africa’s movie divas, Juliet Ibrahim from Ghana and Mercy Johnson Okojie, the Owerri edition of the show, was a class act. Opening the floodgate of entertainment for the night was the energetic contribution by Omawumi and her band of salsa experts. The Who I Go Ask exponent was in feisty mood as she reeled out tracks after tracks from her inexhaustible music repertoire. Omawumi dazzled the mammoth crowd with her award-winning tracks such as Bonsue, Somori, kokoma, What a Bang Bang, and As I Dey. While the cheering crowd was still relishing the overdose from Omawumi, the queen of Afropop, Yemi Alade, announced her presence on the stage with her hit track, Charlie and by the time she moved from Tangerine and Pose, to No do me, Kom Kom, kissing, Ferrari and Taking, the expansive hall was in a frenzy.

Seun Kuti and Fela’s Egypt ‘80 Band

Femi Kuti’s dancers on stage at Felabration

first ever club of performance, Afro-Spot, Old Shrine and site of Old/First Kalakuta Republic. Informed Tour Guides will be on hand to conduct these sessions. This promises to be the proverbial “icing on the

cake�. Felabration 2017, will include such existing events like the Fela Debates, symposium and the secondary school debate. The annual Felabration Carnival,

will also hold. These usual ingredients of Felabration are coming, this year, with earth shaking contents that befit a milestone celebration. This year’s Felabration will retain its multi venue format. However, The New Afrika Shrine remains the main hub. Freedom Park which has emerged an important partner and Felabration venue, will be fun as usual, as the most preferred choice for Fela enthusiasts on Lagos Island. Other Felabration partners all over the country are gearing up for a historic celebration. The Felabration 2017 logo design was supervised Theo Lawson, chairman of the FOC and the architect who remodeled Fela’s house into a museum. He also renovated the old Broad Street Prison into the culture hub now known as Freedom Park. The logo is decorative image of Fela’s face surrounded by artistic representation of animals, birds and objects. number of hit tracks Olamide dropped in quick succession. Among the hit songs the Shakiti Bobo rendered were Omo abule sowo, Alowo majaye, Shoki, Jeje lomo Eko, and Introduction. The night of fun closed with the duo of Peter and Paul Okoye, the inimitable twins of PSquare fame. They were the icing on the sumptuous cake. The combination of these Jos-born music talents on stage was spectacular. For close to one hour, PSquare displayed why they remain relevant even after 19 years of magic in the nation’s entertainment sphere. The pair kept the massive crowd on their feet with Busybody, Personally, E No easy ee and the recent Bank Alert hit tracks. They ended their performance a few minutes before 2am on Sunday.

An array of Afrima awardees The next act of the night, who happened to be the master of dance hall, Runtown proved that he is indeed a master of the stage. The dandy artiste got the entire crowd on its feet throughout his nerve-sapping performance. His Lagos to Kampala track was the killer for the night, just as the crowd thoroughly enjoyed his other songs like Suddenly, Emergency and Fijo Gbowo. The organisers of the show once again unleashed on the fun seekers, the Igbo ethno-rapper, Phyno, who two weeks ago joined the league of Brand Ambassadors of Globacom. The Fada Fada originator was on fire. Phyno held the crowd spell-

bound with his tracks such as E Chop My Money, So Far So Good, Financial Woman and I Don Suffer. While the momentum kept growing, Globacom dropped Nabania Flavour on the crowd and the excitement knew no limit. Flavour spared no efforts at showing why he remains the lady’s man. The light-skinned and dreadlocked artiste wowed the crowd with various melodious songs from Professor Johnbull to Baby Cool Temper, E Don tey, Baby You Too Fine and Wakawaka Baby, Asewo and numerous others. Then came the King of the Streets, Olamide, who took the show to its crescendo. The crowd lost count of the

ARIYA REPETE QUARTER FINALISTS EMERGE A total of nine contestants, four from Akure and five from Ibadan, have made it to the quarter final stage of the ongoing Ariya Repete, a talent hunt competition for Fuji and Juju music in the South-West. The auditions that produced the winners held in Akure and Ibadan. After a breathtaking audition that judged the appearance, composure, creativity, vocalization and stage craft of each contestant, seven Fuji and three Juju artistes were chosen from each city to compete at the selection party, where two winners emerged from each category in Akure, while three from Fuji and two from Juju emerged in Ibadan. The Fuji artistes that were selected in

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ENTERTAINMENT

L-R: Daddy Showkey, Princess Dolapo Oni Sijuwade, Yinka Ijabiyi, Basket Mouth, Doja Allen and Akin Shuga of the Shuga Band fame, after their inspirational session at the recently concluded Nigerian Entertainment Conference (NEC) 2017

Ibadan are Aliu Inaolaji, Taiye Akanji and Ashafa Olusila, while the Juju artistes are Oshinbanjo Gabriel and Wale Daniel. In Akure Oladele Damilola and Afolabi Ibrahim emerged from Fuji category, while Osadare Abayomi and Ojo Abiodun emerged from Juju category. The artistes will compete at the quarter finals slated for June 30th in Akure with winners from other auditions in Ilorin, Ijebu Ode, Oshogbo, Abeokuta, Ado Ekiti and Ile Ife. The semi-finals will take place on July 7 in Abeokuta with the grand finale scheduled for July 14 in Ibadan, Oyo State. AFRIFF 2017 CALL FOR ENTRIES International Film Festival (AFRIFF) has formally started its seventh edition billed for Lagos in November, 2017 with a cal for entries. Entries are welcome in several categories: short films, feature films, documentaries, animated films, short films of film students. Filmmakers have until July 30 to submit their entries via https://filmfreeway.com/festival/AFRIFF. Entries are also encouraged from French and francophone filmmakers in the following countries as well: Bénin, Burkina-Faso, Burundi, Cameroun, Central African republic, Comores, Congo Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Gabon, Guinea, Mali, Madagascar, Morocco, Mauritania, Niger, Rwanda, Sénégal, Seychelles, Chad, Togo and Tunisia. This major film event, which promotes and celebrates the talents of the African continent and the African diaspora, is expanding its range of films in competition on the occasion of its 7th edition. AFRIFF will present a programme featuring more films from French-speaking Africa as well as French films. The festival wishes for its 7th edition to honor France and La Francophonie, in a long-term vision of artistic collaborations and partnerships. BAYELSA FAULTS INSPIRO’S N45M CLAIM The Bayelsa State Tourism Development Agency has denied that it owes Lagos-based entertainment promotion company, Inspiro Productions over N45 million in unpaid fees for various services rendered in the course of executing the first Bayelsa International Jazz Festival. Responding to our questions, Mr. Solomon Oyeindiepreye, Head, Human Resources Management of the agency stated categorically that Inspiro should produce the letter appointing it a consultant to the Bayelsa International Jazz Festival. He said there are irrefutable evidence showing the Lagos-based entertainment promotion company had earlier been paid NN61.8 million as full and final payment for services rendered to Tourism Development Agency. According to him, the payment was duly acknowldeged by Mr. Ayoola Sadare.

Clement Enajemo of MUDI Africa and U.S Consulate Public Affairs Officer, Darcy Zotter at the opening session of the conference for US entrepreneurship support program held in Lagos recently

Motherland Beckons Collaborates with Turkey on Music Motherland Beckons has created a new working partnership on music with Turkey through its Atunda Entertainment. It is called Africa Turkey Music Amalgamation (ATMA). Atunda Entertainment, which is a Motherland Beckons activation is noted for posting outstanding musical and theatrical productions and nurturing of budding talents to stardom. Its previous rehearsal with notable Turkish musicians eventually led to a rendition of an admixture of the best of African and Turkish music. This fantastic delivery got a 30 minute standing ovation from the distinguished audience, which had in attendance the president of MUSIAD, Founder of Motherland Beckons, Wanle Akinboboye and 35 African ambassadors in Turkey, ably led by the dean of the diplomatic community in Turkey, the ambassador of Congo Democratic Republic and following this acclaim and public demand, Atunda Entertainment decided on the creation of ATMA. ATMA, a joyous fusion of the best of African and Turkish music will feature the best of both music delivered to the world in the unusual cosmopolitan manner as exemplified

An Atunda Entertainment act performing in Turkey

by all the international acts of Atunda Entertainment, which include the stunning and acrobatic Ara, a female talking drummer; velvet-voiced Adigun Olohun Iyo; gifted and astounding Olo Omidan Bata; and the delectable beauty queen, Anu Lady Ekwe. It is instructive to note that these acts were only unleashed to the entertainment world after a minimum of four years of rigorous training and grooming, and they gave good account of their grooming over these numbers of years in Konya for Turkey and representatives of Africa. The group’s performance has since opened the door for deluge of invitations from Turkey and other European countries for a piece of the new found romance from a group of Turkish entertainment companies who are ready to market the new form of music across the world. They have also been booked for the Africa Day celebration on May 25 in Ankara, Turkey. This annual activation that will feature musical acts from 54 African countries and the Diaspora, and will no doubt further unite Africa with Turkey, engender friendship and ultimately create wealth and global fame for emerging artistes.

According to Oyeindiepreye, “a letter written and signed by Ayoola Sadare on behalf of Inspiro Productions Company, he wrote a receipt for the sum of N15,000,000.00 for its services which included Administrative Expenses, Attendance and Time with client and 3rd party contractors, programme management expenses, deployment of Resources and opportunity cost. “These are incontrovertible facts as the Tourism Development Agency has these receipts to prove that Inspiro Production has been fully paid for services rendered and as such has no claim whatsoever. If they have they would have gone to court.” AFRIMA 2017 SET FOR UNVEIL IN SOUTH AFRICA An impressive array of African music stars have confirmed attendance at the 2017 Calendar unveiling event scheduled to hold in partnership with the African Union Commission and the ONE Campaign on Tuesday, May 2, at The Maslow Hotel, Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa. The proceeding will feature a joint AUC-AFRIMA Cultural Conference on the theme “Enhancing the Creative Power of the African Youth”; a discussion forum to engage culture and music industries stakeholders and policy makers and for setting agenda for the formulation of culture policies. Other dignitaries expected at the event are Head of Culture Division, African Union, Ms. Angela Martins; members of the International Committee of AFRIMA represented by: President and Executive Producer AFRIMA, Mr. Mike Dada; Director, Brand Communication, Ms. Matlou Tsotetsi, Regional Director, Central Africa, Mr. Ernest Ewane; Member, AFRIMA Jury, Mr. Chris Syren and Associate Producer, Adenrele Niyi, including representatives of ONE Campaign led by Executive Director (interim), ONE in Africa, Ms. Nachilala Nkombi. The music, media and entertainment sectors of Southern Africa will also have a strong representation with the presence of Managing Director, Vth Season, Mr. Raphael Benza; Director, Vth Season, Ms. Ninel Musson; Founder Native Rhythms Productions, Dr. Sipho Sithole; CEO, Planet TV, South Africa, Ms. Mabel Mabaso, and MD, Content Connect Africa, Mr. Munya Chanesta amongst many others. AFRIMA is the biggest and number one music property in Africa developed to celebrate, reward and showcase the rich musical heritage of Africa. AFRIMA stimulates conversations among Africans and between Africa and the rest of the globe, about the great potentials and values for the purpose of reducing poverty through job creation. AFRIMA seeks to promote the positive image of Africa to the world for global competitiveness.

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ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

Only Madonna Can Tell Her Story Vanessa Obioha

Being in the spotlight often times opens one’s privacy to invasion irrespective of your thoughts or feelings. Sometimes, it grows your fame; other times, it leaves you incensed. The details may not necessarily be scandalous but the idea of someone else attempting to view your life from their lens without your permission could become irksome. Such is the case with the evergreen pop diva Madonna who recently took to her social media pages to denounce the unproduced biopic on her. Titled ‘Blond Ambition’, the biopic written by first-time screenwriter Elyse Hollander ranked first on the Black List- an annual rank of Hollywood’s best-unproduced screenplays voted by people who read them. Hollander in her script captured the pop-singer’s meteoric rise to fame as well as some of her struggles. For instance, there is a scene where Madonna was shoplifting from a drugstore; another suggested that the ‘Material Girl’ stole her iconic look from a character

called ‘Bianca Stonewell’. Hollander took a jab at the singer’s relationships. She suggested that Madonna fell for the charming late musician Prince, leaving her producer and boyfriend Jellybean Benitez brokenhearted. She would later inform him that she aborted their child heartlessly. While there are quite a few considerable facts to support the biography, Madonna feels her privacy is being infringed upon and that some of the facts are inaccurate. A typical example is the fact about her birth. Hollander had written that Madonna said she was born in Detroit, but the singer countered saying she was born in Bay City. Expressing her anger on the project, she wrote on Instagram: “Nobody knows what I know and what I have seen. Only I can tell my story. Anyone else who tries it is a charlatan and a fool.” Universal Pictures has already thrown its weight behind ‘Blond Ambition’ and two producers Michael de Luca and Brett Ratner are attached to the project, but no director yet.

Madonna

RUSSIA’S RESTRICTING POLICY SENDS NETFLIX SHOPPING FOR PARTNERS FAST AND FURIOUS TO MAKE HISTORY AT MTV MOVIE &TV AWARDS The franchise will make history at the upcoming MTV Movie and TV awards as the first film to receive the MTV Generation Award. Previous recipients of the award were individuals. The award which honours and showcases talent that have created an impressive body of work that speaks to the MTV audience has been awarded top actors like Will Smith, Tom Cruise, Sandra Biullock, and Adam Sandler. Also, J Balvin, Pitbull and Camila Cabello will perform their Fate of the Furious soundtrack single “Hey Ma,” for the first time on TV, at the ceremony. The award will hold on May 7 at the L.A’s Shrine Auditorium. ADAM SANDLER, CHRIS ROCK REUNITE IN THE WEEK OF The ‘Grown Ups’ stars will reunite on the set of a new comedy ‘The Week Of’. Directed by Robert Smigel, the film centers on the week before a wedding in which their characters’ kids get married. ‘The Week Of’ is the last film of Sandler’s four-film exclusive with Netflix. He co-wrote the script and will also co-produce the comedy. Other films he has worked on with the online streaming company include ‘Sandy Wexler’, ‘The Ridiculous 6’ and ‘The Do Over’. For Rock, it marks another dealing with Netflix. He had earlier signed a $40 mullion deal with company for two stand-up specials. The film will debut globally on Netflix in 2018.

Adam Sandler and Chris Rock

ENTER BEST COVER EVER COMPETITION There is a new rave on YouTube and it is called the ‘Best Cover Ever. Produced by Ryan Seacrest in association with Endemol Shine North America, Best.Cover.Ever will give musicians the opportunity to record covers of popular songs from recording artistes including Backstreet Boys, Demi Lovato, Jason Derulo and Charlie Puth. The competition will culminate in a duet between the winner and each recording artiste. The competition, which kicked off recently, calls for submissions from Backstreet Boys, Lovato and Derulo. They will ask emerging musicians to upload covers of their hits — “As Long as You Love Me,” “Confident” and “Trumpets” — to YouTube through May 19. Other artists will add their songs to the mix at a later date. Each recording artist will select two finalists from the submissions they receive. Those finalists will appear in the series, and a winner will be selected to meet the recording artist and collaborate on a performance that will debut on YouTube. There will be one winner for each recording artist involved in the series. That means Backstreet Boys, Lovato and Derulo will each select a winner and then perform a duet with that musician. “YouTube is the best place for emerging musicians to be discovered, and Best.Cover.Ever. will encourage these artists to go for their dreams alongside the best in the business,” YouTube global head of original content Susanne Daniels said Wednesday in a statement. “We’re thrilled that Ryan Seacrest will give new talent the opportunity to shine in front of over 1 billion fans around the world.” Ryan Seacrest

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Rashida Bello’s Heart of Gold Olaseni Durojaiye

primary and secondary schools spread across the three senatorial zones. “If you consider the prompt take-off of her pet projects, what KOWYAF has achieved in such a short period, you could tell that she had thoroughly thought through the initiative; that tells you that she is someone that is not content with savouring the grandeur of office or blinded by the affluence that she is soaked in,” stated Azeez Audu, a Lokoja resident. Like an apostle of the saying that success is a journey and not a destination, Hajia Bello is not fazed with the enduring accomplishments that KOWYAF has recorded thus far. Rather, she has elected to extend her brand’s reach to accommodate out of school children and get them back to school to acquire knowledge and skills that will guarantee them a bright future.

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other Theresa may be dead but her legacy lives on. Her rise to global acclaim, now common knowledge, was on the back of her charity and humanitarian works and how it impacted the world beyond the small town of Skopje, the capital of today’s Republic of Macedonia, where she was born to far flung places including India, Eastern Europe and Ethiopia in Africa among others. Her story is a vindication of the truism that the deeds of men live long after they have exited life’s stage. Fondly referred to as St Theresa of Calcutta, she defied a humble background, several challenges and criticisms to become a global icon of charitable and humanitarian deeds. Through her works she inspired a motley crowd, including late Princess Diana into taking up charity and humanitarian works. Many of her accomplishments remain unforgettable but one stood out. In 1982, at the height of a fierce battle that defied international diplomacy she brokered a temporary truce between the Israeli army and Palestinian guerrillas to rescue 37 children from a frontline hospital. In company with Red Cross workers, she travelled through the war zone to the hospital to evacuate the young patients. Besides, she also travelled to assist the hunger-stricken people of Ethiopia, radiation victims at Chernobyl and earthquake victims in Armenia. The tentacles of her charity and humanitarian works transcended borders. Treading a noble path It is not known whether she was inspired by the global icon but First Lady of Kogi State, Hajia Rashida Bello, is treading that noble path made endearing by Mother Theresa and impacting her sphere of influence in a futuristic way and the people of Kogi State are the beneficiaries of her noble gestures. Shortly after fate catapulted her husband, Alhaji Yaha Bello to power as the Governor of Kogi State, she quickly established the Kogi Women and Youth Advancement Foundation (KOWYAF), a multi-purpose intervention vehicle through which she has been impacting the lives of the people of Kogi across all the 21 Local Government areas of the state. Her accomplishments through KOWYAF have been both impressive and commendable. Nothing better sign post her strong conviction to ‘work the talk’ than the fact that “Within 45 days of being a First lady, Hajia Bello empowered Kogi women with skills and knowledge ranging from how to grow micro business, entrepreneurial skill even if in the level of small and micro enterprises scale and how to form cooperative societies to enable them access micro loans from Microfinance Banks,” said Azimora Agbede, an Okene resident. Besides the swiftness with which she

Bello

established KOWYAF what the platform has achieved affirmed the fact that she had always had the intent to impact her sphere of influence in a positive and enduring way. Hajia Bello first hinted at the philosophical underpinning of her empowerment initiative in April 2016. In a press statement, that reflected her deep thoughts and power of intuitive perception, she had stated thus: “Every society around the world depends on the productivity of healthy women. If women are not healthy, the society is not healthy. It has become indisputable that no nation can develop without first developing the girl child to blossom into a responsible, empowered and resourceful woman.” She added that “healthcare is not all about drugs and other medicals, but the capacity to empower homes to provide healthy diets and quality living.” She also stated that she was “prepared to work with women around the state to threaten the comfort of poverty in our dear state.” It was a profound statement that not only mirrored the quality of her being, but also of her thoughts. Some of her women empowerment activities include providing 420 women - 20 from each of the 21Local Government Areas of the State- with capital with which to start small scale businesses or boost the existing ones on International Women Day 2017. Apart from this, she also empowered 42 women from the 21 local governments of the state with working tools like hair driers, hair wash basins, sewing machines, etc., and provided assistance to 50

women to start small scale businesses on Isanlu Day 2017. Her impact is also felt in the area of rural water projects and primary healthcare with the commissioning of several schemes and centres. In a collaboration between Future Assured programme of the Wife of the President, Mrs. Aishat Buhari, and Mrs. Bello’s KOWYAF, relief materials in form of food items were distributed to widows, orphans and the physically challenged. Her regular visits to orphanages have taken her to Ekundayo Orphanage, Isanlu, Yagba East Local Government Area of Kogi State; Stagi Orphanage, Adankolo, Lokoja; MOM Orphanage, Crusher, Lokoja; and Margaret Garba Ohiani Orphanage, Zango, Lokoja with donation of food, beverages and toiletries. Some other orphanages that were beneficiaries of her support include Victory Orphanage Home in Kabba, Onyinoyi Orphanage in Ajaokuta, One Soul One Heart Orphanage in Okura, and God’s Will Orphanage in Anyigba. They were recipients of her kind gesture during the 25th Anniversary of Kogi State. Also as a show of love she took custody of Lily-Ann, a baby that was abandoned in a latrine in Egbe, Yagba West Local Government Area of the state. To date, through KOWYAF, she has renovated, equipped, and donated drugs, generator sets, refrigerators, etc, to Primary Health Care Centres in the three senatorial districts of Kogi State. She has also donated stationery and sundry learning materials to

Hajia Bello interacting with some young hawkers in her ongoing campaign to take girls off the streets

Taking Children off the Street The issue of out of school children in the Northern part of Nigeria, to which Kogi State belongs, stands out like a sour thumb. Regrettable, it has been with us for a long while. Besides being out of school, several thousands of them lack any vocational skill that could earn them sustainable income or a promising future. Touched by the plight of these children that are often subjected to child labour, like hawking wares which make them vulnerable to abuses, Hajia Bello took it upon herself to help the children return to school. She kicked off her latest interest recently with an outreach campaign on the Lokoja-Jamata Bridge along Abuja road. Her intervention, residents of Kogi State insist will go a long way to save the children from falling prey to perverts and religious extremists who could recruit them into all kinds of nefarious activities. During the exercise, she expressed dismay at the way the children’s lives were being endangered by hawking on the highway, and the fact that this makes them susceptible to all forms of child abuse. No doubt her latest intervention will reduce the number of out of school children, particularly the girl-child who constitute a larger number of victims of childabuse in the state. In company with the state’s Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Honorable Mrs. Bolanle Amupitan, Hajia Bello assembled all the children, a greater number of whom were girls, and immediately activated the processes of getting them back to school even as she assured them that Kogi State Government would take them off the streets and back to school or make them acquire skills to ensure a promising future for them. To be familiar with the disturbing menace of the almajiris will better make one appreciate the great gains of Hajia Bello’s gestures in reducing the staggering number of school age children that are out of school. So disturbing is the issue that Emir Sanusi Lamido recently called out political leaders of Northern Nigeria extraction and tasked them to fix the problem if the future of that region must be assured. The respected Emir had criticised the ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam in some parts of Northern Nigeria that has discouraged girl-child education, family planning and other progressive policies. Cheeringly however, feelers from the state indicated that more than 20 children that Hajia Bello rescued on the maiden outreach campaign have been enrolled in different schools and vocational skills acquisition centers in the state, while the outreach programme continues to spread to other parts of the state rescuing more and more children. Hajia Rashida Bello was honoured with numerous awards in recognition of her live changing activities last year. Some of the awards are: Kogi Woman of Inspiration 2016, Children and Women Most Friendly Personality of the Year, City People Award for Excellence, Amazon First Lady of the Year 2016, and Award of Excellence for Inspirational Women Empowerment Leadership in Africa.

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Celebrating Happiness Day with the Smurfs... Yinka Olatunbosun

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f the word “smurf” is not familiar to you, then you are absolutely missing out on something good. In celebrating the 2017 International Day of Happiness, the Silverbird Cinemas recently flung its doors open to children who were treated to tantalising ice-cream from Coldstone and a premiere of “Smurfs: The Lost Village”. The 3D animation movie, “The Smurfs”, produced by Sony Pictures Animation, was first released in 2011. It is the story of the smurfs’ adventure in New York, how they got lost in the city and their collective attempt to get back home before the villain, Gargamel, got hold of them. The sequels to this box-office hit are “Smurfs 2: A Christmas Carol” and “Smurfs: The Legend of Smurfy Hollow”. The latest sequel titled, “Smurfs: The Lost Village” which was screened for the first time in Lagos at the Silverbird Cinemas, Victoria Island, Lagos came as a prelude to the celebrations marking the day set aside by the United Nations for celebrating happiness. Since June 28, 2012, all 193 member states unanimously adopted the resolution to proclaim March 20 as Happiness Day. The resolution was founded on the recognition of the pursuit of happiness as a human right and a fundamental human goal. Founded by Jayme Illien, the day had been celebrated by global cultural icons such as American rapper, singer-songwriter, Pharrel Williams whose award-winning song, “Happy” was a landmark global campaign for happiness to be recognised globally as a birthright.

Smurfs

Back to the cinemas, the central character in “Smurfs: The Lost Village”, Smurfette, played by Demi Levato gives a feministic theme to the smurfs’ new sequel. Smurfette embarks on a journey with her best friends, Brainy, Clumsy and Hefty to find the lost village before Gargamel does. Her kind heartedness puts her friends in jeopardy as they move against the evil spell of Gargamel. But the strength of the

lost smurfs provides inspiration to the vulnerable. The Marketing Executive Silverbird Film distribution Limited for West Africa, Mrs. Elwoma Luther-Abegunde said the event was the blue carpet for the Smurfs movie. “We have also been encouraging people to spread happiness whichever way you can. We are happy to have partners such as Coldstone, Domino Pizza, and

Nickolodeon,” she said. She admitted that judging what gives people happiness can be tricky. “Happiness is relative”, she argued. “It is not something that can be bought with money. For some people what can bring them happiness is different from others. At the end of the day, happiness is a state of the mind. You can have all the money and still not be happy.”

Childcare: Now a Welcome Option for Career Mothers

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ite Titiloye and Tokunbo Dosunmu were advancing very well in their respective careers of interior decoration and marketing until the fire of a new dream consumed them. Dosunmu was indeed, a top marketing executive in the Dangote Group. But for two women who have from close quarters seen how women have been distracted in their career goals by their motherly devotions, the idea of providing a solution to the daily challenges that such women face was an inspiration. A major challenge for women has been how to provide care for their new born babies while at the same time continuing with their careers. The immediate response for some women has been to either get out of school children from their villages or from somewhere else to look after their children. Some of these women living in urban areas have also recruited house helps from within the cities. However, with more news of such strange house-helps being used to kidnap the babies they are supposed to look after, the difficulties for career women become more apparent. It was in that light that Mrs. Titiloye and Ms. Dosunmu in an interview said that they conceived the idea of a training institute for care givers. Their aim according to Mrs. Titiloye “is to train early years teachers, child carers, parents and anyone who will work unsupervised with children.” Their vehicle is Certa Support Training Institute, an offshoot of Certa Support Nigeria Limited; a company focused on people development, empowerment, and social change. The training institute is registered by the National Business and Technical Education Board (NBTE) and Lagos State Ministry of Education for the purpose of training child care givers. Miss Dosunmu said that “Certa Support Training Institute is focused on developing

Career mothers

and implementing vocational training courses on roles currently filled by untrained/ unskilled workers in Nigeria.” The advantage they claim to be bringing to the yet undeveloped sector is the expertise of graduates of the training institute who would be compared to their contemporaries in Europe. Asked on what kind of training is offered to students of the institute, Titiloye said: “our students are well equipped on safeguarding children and to identify any form of abuse and what to do when they suspect any such incident of child abuse.” They are also trained in first aid, behaviour management and special needs awareness, a development that prepares graduates from the school to progress on to further careers in such field as caring for children with special needs such as autism. Students also have the

option of picking up electives such as cooking, driving, swimming and girls hair-grooming. “The implication is that one graduate can offer herself as a driver to take the children to school, accompany them to swimming lessons and even help out as a cook or groom the hair of the female children under their care,” Ms. Dosunmu said. Graduates of the school Mrs. Titiloye said would also benefit from the Placement Agency that is a spin-off of the main company, Certa Nigeria Limited. The graduates from the training institute she assures could be assured of salaries of N85,000 and above depending on the scope of services they offer when they are placed in private homes, hospitals or schools. They can even take the bull by the horn and start their own in-home child care centres. The two women have in the course of their

preparations for the takeoff of the institute had to themselves undertake trainings locally and abroad on child care. “You know you cannot give what you don’t have, so we have also had to make sure that as the motivating persons behind this project that we are well trained,” Mrs. Titiloye said. On how Certa Support would be different from other child care trainers, Dosunmu said: “Our courses are developed by experts and the Childcare Professional 1 course is based on Early Childcare Education (ECCE) and UK best standards and practices in the industry. “The school is fully equipped with up-to-date facilities and resources ensuring a functional and conducive learning environment.”

ARTS & REVIEW

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A MUSIC SHRINE WITHOUT FELA...

Dancers from broadway

EDITOR OKECHUKWU UWAEZUOKE/ okechukwu.uwaezuoke@thisdaylive.com

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ARTS & REVIEW\\MUSICAL

A MUSIC SHRI WITHOUT FEL

Fela! the Musical relives the memory of the late Nigerian Afro-beat legend, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti in a rec in Lagos. Yinka Olatunbosun, who has been following the Lagos@50 events, reports

Band members in performance

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ife should have taught us all to pay more attention to what is not said. Radio jingles had it that Fela! from Broadway would be in concert. Simple! It was meant to be just that – a concert. Not a remake of the Fela! the Musical that made its debut in Nigeria

in 2011. To the chagrin of many who invested time and good money to see the show, it was quite a surprise that the two hours and some minutes’ show was without the drama of Fela. The Tonyaward winning musical had taken centre stage when the producers, Shawn Carter, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett got enthralled by the moving story of Fela who gave up his lucrative music career in highlife and jazz to articulate his anger at injustice through the ingredients of Afrobeat artistry. Seven years ago, it was first performed on Broadway with members of the Fela family and his international fans in attendance. The off-Broadway shows began about a year earlier. The face-painting stand powered by a cosmetic brand at the red carpet area was besieged like the box-office itself at the Lagos at 50 edition of the production. Wall papers leading into the hall had the images of Fela in performance, as well as his well decorated girls

A view of the red carpet at FELA! broadway produc who acted as dancers and back up singers. As wineglasses clinked and conversations lingered, a short announcement brought some silence which was quickly interrupted by the shuffling feet that formed queues at various entry points separated by each one’s ticket type. Opening with reels from the documentary on Fela released in 1982 titled, “Music is the Weapon” and Fela’s instrumentals, Sahr Nguajah, applauded at first sight, led the band, carrying on the Fela tradition of good sound design. One of the first things that would strike the frequent theatre-goer was that the choreography was unusual, giving room for dancers to use a lot of discretion. It was not the typical one where all dancers do the same dance routines but they often performed comfortable dances as individuals while taking the same sound cues for a change in stage position. Sahr acknowledged that it was not going to be the same musical as the band had taken the liberty to study the music of Fela. With a plea to the audience to enjoy the concert, the show began with its energetic dancers. After two hours, it dawned on the audience that there was no story to be told through the music of Fela. But Fela is an embodiment of stories on and off-stage. How could anyone have missed that? Fela is essentially a perfectionist even in concert. And that is a well-known fact. Every

chord, string, and clashing calabash must be in tune and on key. His eyes never fail to command attention whether he wants the pace to quicken or not. Afew videos of Fela in concert which are available online as well as oral narratives from those who made Fela’s shrine a second home provide the new generation of music fans and critics with insight into the world of Fela. If Sahr had any facial expression close to Fela that night, then it must have been largely lost on us since he had his back to us most of the time. One undeniable trait of Fela in Sahr is that remarkable voice which called out occasionally: “Everybody say yeah yeah”. Sahr tried to establish some connection with some members of the audience at the back of the auditorium by requesting that they make their own choice for the next songs to be performed. Some seemed unmoved, distraught at the discovery that Fela! story is gone with the wind. There’s no excuse for not recreating the Fela persona on stage. Even the synopsis has one of the popular stories of the Fela’s concert which is essentially a mix of consciousness-raising lectures, pamphleteering and enough “yabis” meaning Fela’s retinue of humorous pokes at his audience. Sometimes, his concerts are grounded to a halt with military invasion who arrest and detain Fela and his people. Sahr tried a few yabis when many

were not dancing and it worked. But that Fela persona didn’t shine through as he wasn’t carrying out any particular story that is furnished with dramatic elements such as plot, conflict, climax or theme. It was just a feel-good Afrobeat concert made worthwhile by the saxophonist, Morgan Price; percussionist, Lollise Mbi; the guitarists, Tim Allen, Bryan Vegas and Ricardo Quinones. We all loved Greg Gonzalez and Rasa an Elijah Talu Green on the beat and Billy Aukstik’s antics with the trumpet. One of the dancers jolted us away from personal speculations around how the show will end back to the stage when she spread her legs apart right before the mother of all drums, head pointing to the grounds. Even those who kept stern faces all the way joined in the overwhelming applause in appreciation of talent, hard work and free spirit. After each energetic dance routine, the dancers took to their sitting positions, chanting some hooks or drinking some water. By the time they were performing “Zombie”, they defied the fatigue to put up well-choreographed movement. Iris Wilson, who was part of the original Fela cast, maintained her sexy gyrations alongside the dance captain, Afi Bijou and the singer Rue Brown. It was heartwarming to see a New York-based Nigerian singer and dancer Olutayo

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INE LA...

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ction Bosede on stage with Jason Herbert who played Area Boy in Fela! the musical. But was it necessary to bring back Fela!, import our own art and fight the natural urge to watch the performance with critical eyes? No doubt it was a great show but the cry from the culture community is that some artists who have contributed to the Lagos story are complaining of not being included in the Lagos at 50 celebrations even as tabula rasa for main shows due to paucity of funds. It must have cost a fortune to bring Sahr and his band to show us how Fela has influenced Broadway and many international musicians. But how will the Lagos story be complete if we don’t look at our reflections on the world’s mirrors? Fela is the reason why many international music brands are paying huge attention to Nigerian afro-pop stars and very soon, any Nigerian artist who isn’t adding a touch of Afrobeat to his music won’t get a listening ear from international music companies. Even in the Lemonade album, which is Beyonce’s most critically acclaimed visual album, her video such as Sorry recreates Fela girls in preaching about female emancipation. The bottomline is that Fela sells and to be fair to ourselves, we should be more involved in the business of selling rather than buying it.

The Inverted Pyramid; Adapted from a novel by Emeka Dike

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APRIL 30, 2017 ˾THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER

ARTS & REVIEW\\LITERARY CAFÉ MUSIC SEFI ATTA: FASCINATED BY LAGOS An Evening of Sefi Atta is, in person, shy and almost diffident. She doesn’t talk much and seems intent on keeping interactions and conversations to the barest minimum. This is, of course, with people she doesn’t know. Once well acquainted she can be chatty and funny especially in a self-deprecating manner. But you wouldn’t know it from reading dialogues in her novels or watching characters banter in her plays. On Sunday May 7, Sefi Atta, author of the critically acclaimed Everything Good Will Come and an accomplished playwright will launch her first book of plays Sefi Atta: Selected Plays. In the lead up to the launch, Sefi Atta who is fascinated by Lagos, answered a few questions from Toni Kan

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even out of the eight plays in this book are set in Lagos? Why Lagos and what place does Lagos occupy in your imagination and world view? I begin my novels, short stories and plays in Lagos settings before I venture to other parts of the world, and that parallels my own journey. I was born and raised in Lagos and lived in England for a while before I moved to the United States. Lagos continues to be the seat of my imagination and where my primary audience is based. It is where I can speak directly to that audience. I intend to write plays set in England and the United States, which will come in time. Your plays seem to eschew spectacle for minimalism. They are usually set in one or two locales and the characters rarely ever exceed 10. Why is this and does it have to do with the accountant’s predilection for saving costs? Actually, my plays would not be considered minimalist overseas. When I think of minimalist theatre, Beckett’s work comes to mind. It is true, though, that I use fewer settings and characters compared to recent productions I’ve seen in Lagos – a deliberate artistic choice, in the interest of intensity. The dramatic scope and significance lie in the ideas, issues, situations and relationships, which are best served by focused dialogue and development, not distractingly largescale spectacle. Besides, if I have a character that represents a point of view, why have another? Why have a host of characters on stage when I can have one that speaks for all of them? It is also true that I’m practical and cost-conscious when I produce my plays and that may be because of my accountancy training. I see a lot of waste in the arts in Lagos and it shocks me because it’s not easy to raise funds there. A small budget, well managed, can still deliver high-impact art. Your plays are big on family, how they interact, the secrets they inhabit and how they unravel especially in ‘Last Stand’? What does family mean to you as a person, a playwright and a woman? I’m all three and can’t separate one from another. What I will say is this: Nigerians are no strangers to family drama and melodrama, so it’s no surprise that my plays tend to be about family conflict. The term “family” is deceptive, though. I write from the premise that the personal is political. I know you are a happily married woman with a supportive spouse, yet the women who people your plays except for Simi in ‘Absent Times’ seem to hate their spouses and loathe marriage. They also have a cynical view of the institution. Let’s look at ‘Absent Times’ and ‘Renovation.’ My plays explore the realities and complexities of marriage. I’m celebrating my twenty-fifth wedding anniversary this April, but I haven’t written about myself in this collection. I’ve written about other Nigerians, so if women are cynical about marriage, they and their cynicism will show up in my plays. Reading ‘Renovation’, I could recall conversations we had, and even real

Atta lines you used? Do these plays represent elements of your life or do you mine life for lines and scenarios? I listen and observe, and I am sensitive to what happens around me. I take in stories and make them mine, then I share them. If a character in my play uses a line, such as the one you’re referring to – “Did you give her face?” – that is not an idiom I invented. Women my age would use it and Yemisi, the character I wrote about in Renovation, happens to be my age. It’s tempting to look for me in my plays, but they are not autobiographical in the ways that people imagine. None of my stories are. Readers – and reviewers – think I’m Enitan, in Everything Good Will Come, or Deola, in A Bit of Difference. I get told off for their views and decisions. A friend of mine actually told me she flung Everything Good on the floor because Enitan’s voice sounded so much like mine. Another friend said I was copying life. I wanted to tell her that copying – or representing – life is what writing is about, but I figured she ought to know that as an English literature graduate. If she knew personally the Nigerian writers she’d studied in university, and witnessed their process first-hand, she’d probably find they used their experiences or wrote in their voices. Class and the consciousness of class is a recurrent element in your plays. Is this from experience and what does it all

mean? You’re quite right that they are recurrent elements in my plays, but you’d have to ask Nigerians why we are so class-conscious and what it all means. I’m just trying to hold the proverbial mirror up to society. Your plays seem to always address the generational problem from characterization to subject matter. How important is this to you? Let’s consider ‘Last Stand,’ ‘Absent Times’ and ‘Lengths to which we go.’ Intergenerational conflict is another source of drama and melodrama for Nigerians and I’m simply commenting on changes I’ve witnessed as we’ve shifted from a colonised culture to a globalised one. For instance, I come from a generation of Nigerians who were taught to respect their elders. Yet we’ve managed to raise a generation of Nigerians who don’t always pay attention to manners. I get emails from younger writers saying, “Hi Sefi”. These are twenty-year-olds who haven’t met me and they’re asking me to read their works. I reply addressing them formally and they still write back saying, “Hi Sefi”. I blame the banking industry for that. The new banks changed Nigerian culture by promoting a first-name-basis protocol. But that’s globalisation for you. I never thought I’d be the old fogey saying, “In my day,” but here I am. -Toni Kan writes from Lagos

Sakara Music Yinka Olatunbosun

Indigenous Lagos music can really be enjoyable when you have great friends and good wine. At Easter Sunday, Freedom Park played host to lovers of Sakara at the second edition of Sakara Music Fiesta organised by Evagrin Koncepts in collaboration with Eagles Aromatic Schnapps. Sakara is one of the least played songs on most Nigerian radio stations that often favour pop, dancehall and hip-hop. Sakara, a popular music genre which originated from Lagos in the 30s, shares semblance with folk songs from Northern Nigeria and Apala which is actually its sub-genre. Sakara became more popular amongst the Egbas, Ijebus and Oyo people. The main instruments for Sakara music are Goje violin and Sakara drum and the early performers of the music include Abibu Oluwa, Salami Alabi Balogun otherwise known as lefty who released over 35 records and Yusuf Olatunji popularly referred to as Baba L’Egba. To promote local content, the Evagrin’s Group Project Coordinator and Founder of the Sakara Music Fiesta, Mr. Hakeem Adenekan led the dance steps in celebrating the rebirth of Sakara music which featured live performances by the major Sakara music inheritors such as Jamiu Lefty Balogun, the son of Lefty Salami Balogun; Wasiu Oseni Ejire, the son of late Oseni Ejire (Omoolofin) and Abideen Yusuf Olatunji who is the grandson of Late Yusuf Olatunji (Baba L’Egba). It was until they began performing that many of us knew how infectious the Sakara dance is. With one leg raised, the dancer sways to the sound of the Goje violin. This reporter caught sight of Ayoola Shadare, the convener of the Lagos International Jazz Festival who was doing such comic dance. Curious to understand why the performers usually sit, this reporter sought answers from Shadare who was enjoying himself. “That’s what they call Ijoko Agba”, he said, emphatically and continued dancing, with every modicum of Lagos swagger. Ijoko Agba literally translates to the seat of elders. The performers were elderly, their wide-legged pants called kembe would nicely swallow the tight-fitting ones that pop stars usually wear. Mr Adenekan was the most excited, exhibiting the white Kembe flare as he did fantastic dance steps. The women who danced to Sakara were graceful not sexually provocative. The performances were punctuated by discussions around Sakara music. While the fiesta was in progress, a nearby food cafe had its speakers blaring pop songs that seemed offensive to Sakara music fans. “Please, tell them they are disturbing us with their noise,” shouted some vexed sakara fans. Incidentally, those who dislike Sakara music consider it as noise and even offlimits in an office environment. Meanwhile Sakara music has die-hard fans such as Wale Babalakin, a senior advocate of Nigeria and should not be misconstrued as the music of the unlettered. The lyrics of Sakara music include praise singing, maledictions for enemies, prayers for benefactors and insults for corrupt public holders. All these elements would later seep into Juju and Fuji music which have more crossover appeal across age brackets. Though not much has been said about the influence of Sakara in new music genres, the rhythmic patterns in it are very similar to Trap music. Sakara is an undying music tradition that has outlived its proponents. Little wonder why many expatriates were at the fiesta to share the joy of our cultural heritage being preserved on the platform of an evening entertainment.

Sakara musician performing

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THE RETURN OF THE GRAND FATHERS OF ROCK MUSIC

Tony Amadi

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n stage, the governor danced the night away with his beautiful wife. This was at the concert of the Pop Stars of the 70’s staged by his Ministry of Diaspora and Culture in the Alex Ekwueme Centre in Awka. It was the return of the grandfathers of rock music as we know it in Nigeria today, as the ageing rock musicians returned to stage in what was either their final act or the beginning of another era of influential pop sounds. Under the aegis of the Principal Secretary to the Governor, Sir Willie Nwokoye, the ministry sourced out the remnants of the musical groups that kept Biafra alive with the originality of a musical genre that would later take Nigeria by storm after the Nigeria/Biafra civil war. Because music was the only entertainment during the war, there was a special attachment to the music by the dozens of bands that emerged during and after the war in 1970. The governor’s spin machine, which is masterminded by Commissioner Tony Nnachetta tagged it all as “the resurrection concert�, because it was held on Easter Sunday. But there was no attempt to take the political mileage out of the event to help the governor’s second term re-election, which comes up this November. It was purely an attempt to touch the lives of people who made historical contributions to the growth of Igboland. For, apparently, the governor had kept former Rangers footballers like Emmanuel Okala, Nwabueze Nwankwo and others in return for the huge impact they made to social development in the eastern states, on the pay roll of government. Now, he has decided that it was time to extend the largesse to the musical sector, hence the crystallisation of the concert. This time the emphasis was on the musicians of the 70s and he assembled the pop stars that made that period the great decade it has become in Nigeria pop history. Even if the governor was doing this for politics, he didn’t need to because all seems to be going very well for him and his administration, since it appears that no politician in the state could out do him in good governance for now. Obiano has improved the internally generated revenue, IGR, to very high levels from where Peter Obi left it and the state is doing well with export of vegetables while his agricultural policy has led to improved results in rice production that was enough to feed his state. For me, the concert was historically important as I had worked in the pop music industry during the war and even afterwards. So, it was interesting meeting friends I had not seen for 50 years or more. Because many of the musicians had passed on, it was a bit of a puzzle how the promoters of this concert would resurrect the dead, literally. However, the musicians used their wisdom to recreate the sounds of the 70s and they managed to create some miracle. For instance, the Funkees who headlined the concert had only two members in the original line up alive and present. Chyke Madu and Danny Heibs produced the best music of the concert with some young and vibrant session men. With their hit single “Akula�, they opened their first concert in some 40 years. They began low-keyed and then built into a crescendo of heavy tribal African percussion and vibration before climaxing into “Dancing Time� to the emphatic “Onye Mmanya�, a tune played as a celebration of the palmwine tapper. Needless to say that they brought the house down and showed that if they wanted to, they could still produce some of the finest afro-rock sounds of all time. The Funkees were vibrant and played when the VIP audiences had long gone, but they ensured that those who waited for their show did not go home without the best music of the evening. I was thoroughly enthralled by the sounds of the Funkees and it amazed me that they could still produce the tightly-knit sounds

Chyke Madu and Dan Ebis that made them famous in the 1970’s. Billy Iyke their late singer, Manager Marcel Ihekweme and, of course, Harry Mosco had all gone to meet their Creator, but they should be happy with the musical representation of the group exhibited by Chyke and Danny and the young session men that worked with them. At the beginning of the concert, the music of the 70s was highlighted with a medley soul sounds such as Wilson Picket’s “Knock on Wood� and James Brown’s “Sex Machine�, delivered competently. The disc jockey embellished it all with Errol Brown’s “You Sexy Thing� with heavy applause all the way through the rendition. The concert had opened with Aktions led by Renny Nwosa, still looking as trim as ever and performing with a rare athleticism as he jumped around the stage, clutching his microphone and aiming to out-do Rolling Stone’s Mick Jagger in typical Jagger-antics format. He recreated his group’s hits like “Tell Me Baby�, “Sugar Daddy�, “I’m in Love�, the rocky “Groove the Funk� and “Masquerade� before bowing out with loud ovation for his effort. At age 66, Renny must be the youngest musician among the grand fathers of the pop acts that performed at the memorable event. Lasbury Ojukwu, leader of the Semi Colon, opened his set with his big hit of the same 70s titled “Dumia Gbossa�, “You Go High� before plunging into his all-time hit, “Slim Fit Maggie� to round off his set. His sessions was obviously rendered with competence and a highly professional style. Lasbury’s contribution to Nigerian pop music is vastly underestimated but he was essentially the lone bridge between Beatlemania and modern Nigerian pop in the 60s. He still carried his freaky outlook to his 75 years of age even though he looked more of a 50-year-old man during his Awka concert. Much was expected from the Wings, perhaps because of their new book by drummer Manford Best but they were under-rehearsed and their late singer, Spud Nathan, was sorely missed but they still got a huge cheer from the 3000-strong audience. With their “Loving You� and “I Need Someone� hits, they reignited the memory of their late colleagues and left no one in doubt that they can still revv up the fans. Governor Obiano had a special joker for the night. Mid-way into the event, his Senior Special Assistant Chido Obidiegwu having reeled out the achievements of his administration decided to call up the governor to the stage, with his wife and a number of his key aides in tow, unleashed his joker – the presentation of top-rated musician Flavour on the audience as a special guest. Flavour was delighted to appear on stage

with his musical fathers and thanked the Pop Stars of the 70s and said that it was because of their great work in the past that his own generation was able to breakthrough bigger than anyone imagined. Flavour then opened

up his repertoire of hits and Governor Obiano grabbed his wife for a dancing session that showed that the governor has not lost his dancing skills. The governor was moved by the passion that enveloped the concert and decided to upgrade the welfare package for the musicians by adding another one million naira to each of the musical groups and those specially invited including retired broadcaster Pal Akalonu, Comedian Zebrudaya Okorigwe Nwogbo Alias 4.30 and others. A devoted crowd of youngsters most of who were not even born when the musicians were top of the pops, remained, listening and enjoying the 70’s beat all the way to the end. By 3 am when the Sweet Breeze played, they still stuck their ears to the beautiful music pouring from the well-decorated stage and perhaps it would appear that the people of Anambra and neighbouring states of the South-east had a night to remember. When the Funkees ended the seven-hour concert, the lingering revellers seemed reluctant to leave. The organisers had provided enough food and drinks to go round, but not to the level to make them drunk as everyone drifted home happily with the foreknowledge that the deadly armed robbers and kidnappers who had made the state uninhabitable for some years, had now found new havens outside the state as the governor’s security strategy had produced outstanding results. It was a night to remember as I headed back to Abuja to the cheery news that Abuja Airport was set to reopen ahead of schedule. -Amadi was in Awka for this event

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T H I S D AY SUNDAY APRIL 30, 2017

50 @ My Jewel of Inestimable Value is 50. I thank the Almighty God today as always for the gift of a wife. Through thick and thin, you have been my helpmate indeed. You are worth more than Gold. My humble self and the children celebrate the grace of God upon your life. This special day avails us a golden opportunity to thank you for being a committed mother, a reliable friend, a strong pillar and a worthy ambassador of our family. Above all, thank you for an indestructible family alter. May the Almighty God keep you to witness many more fruitful years ahead and you will surely reap the fruit of your labour.

Love you forever!

ARC. (DCNS) MRS. YEMISI DOOSHIMA SUSWAM mnia Former First Lady of Benue State

HE Rt. Hon. Gabriel Torwua Suswam CON PhD Former Governor of Benue State

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ APRIL 30, 2017

CICERO

Editor Olawale Olaleye Email wale.olaleye@thisdaylive.com, SMS: 08116759819

IN THE ARENA

On the Hot Seat Emir of Kano, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, is paying the price for daring to be different in a politically rigid north. Olawale Olaleye writes

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hat the Emir of Kano, Malam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, delivered at the recent Kaduna Investment Summit (KADINVEST), Kaduna State, was a keynote address. And typically, as he is wont to do, his message and its delivery attracted a staggering applause from the enlightened audience, many of whom could relate with his hard home truth. Unfortunately, not everyone saw it as such and the dust raised by this “rebellious message” of his is yet to settle, almost two weeks after the event was held. Amongst other things, Sanusi was reported to have said the proposed $1.85 billion facility to be taken from the Chinese government for a light rail project in the state would be a wasteful venture and misplacement of priority. He was further quoted as saying the plan would never add any impetus to the socio-economic value of the people of the north but rather leave the state with a huge debt. This position was believed to have caused huge embarrassment to the sitting, as it was contrary to the position of the establishment. He also charged Muslims on the need to adopt western education and stop using religion and culture to set the region backward. He said it would be wrong to mirror the living standard in the north in line with the oil rich Niger Delta, commercially viable Lagos and business oriented south-east, declaring that the North East and West were the poorest in the country and perhaps, the world. “Other Muslim countries have pushed on. We are fighting culture, we are fighting civilisation. You tell me that you should not write love book in northern Nigerian,” he queried, adding that it was wrong to burn books of science based on religion. “What is the crime of those books?” he asked, even as he questioned the right of people to having more children in the region without having the resources to take care of them. “Of what benefit is it to the north, having three million children roaming about?” he asked. But soon after his address, an article popped up online, analysing the emirs alleged outrageous spending and extravagant dispositions since he came on board. The report, which was not unconnected to the system fighting back, alleged that the monarch authorised billions of naira from the emirate council’s coffer on frivolities. This immediately generated speculations that the Kano State Government might place Sanusi on suspension to give way for “proper investigation” of the emirate’s finances, an idea believed to have been mooted by some highly-placed politicians and elders from both within and outside the state, whose intended stop is for the emir to be deposed. It was also reported that some prominent northern leaders had begun to put pressure on Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje to depose Sanusi

for that one reason. Kano State Public Complaints and Anticorruption Commission, an agency of the state government, had since commenced investigation into the emirate finances over allegations that over N4 billion was misappropriated from the accounts of the emirate. It was also expected that the Kano State Emirate Council would debunk the allegations. A senior council official in charge of finance, who is also the Walin Kano, Bashir Wali, said contrary to the report in circulation, the emirate had only spent N3.4 billion since Sanusi emerged emir in June 2014. Wali explained that Sanusi only inherited N2.895,165,43.77 and not N4 billion as being touted in some media reports, prompting the emirate to say it was ready for a probe into its expenditure being planned by the state Public Complaint and Anti-Corruption Agency. The unfortunate slant to this development is that it is fast confirming the assumption that the northern elite do not really like the Kano emir especially given his often radical call on issues. But the very development upon which they are moving against the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is not a popular one as Sanusi appears to have the backing of the generality of the people.

Indeed, the north is not where it should be today in terms of development indices, when compared to other parts of the country and that is a fact of public knowledge. Thus, in analyzing the problems to understanding how best to situate them, some of the anti-development dispositions in the name of culture or religion must be skinned off. It is evident that the north requires a new approach to its development challenges and that cannot be identified in isolation of some of the areas that Sanusi had pointed out. To therefore go after him in obvious reaction to his position is in itself counterproductive and injurious to the emirate as an institution. Nothing however says the emir is above the rule of law, especially where he is clearly found wanting, pursuing such a just cause too must be done in a manner that would not leave room for suspicion of witch-hunt or sheer victimisation. It is good to put the emir on the spot, in fact, on the hot seat if need be, but those pushing such agenda must not be unmindful of its negative implications of this on the emirate and the traditional institution. For now, Sanusi is spot-on except there is a superior logic and argument to his constant stand on issues of common interest.

P O L I T I CA L N OT E S

Expanding the Frontiers of Whistleblower Policy

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Monguno

he news, last week, that President Muhammadu Buhari had directed his National Security Adviser, Maj. Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd.), to design a template that would be used to reward persons, who give information to government about individuals in possession of illegal firearms, was cheery. The idea, reports said, was aimed at disarming people with small arms and light weapons and that are believed to have

been using such to cause communal conflicts across the country. Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said the move was to prevent and eradicate illegal ownership of small arms and light weapons through a whistle-blower scheme that would turn the spotlight on the regime of gun ownership and control in the country. With the whistleblower policy targeted at recovering looted funds so far proven to be quite effective notwithstanding its minor hitches, this

initiative is equally a product of sound reasoning that would go a long way in stemming the tide of killings across the country. Although the office of the national security adviser already has a committee on the recovery of small arms and light weapons in the country, with the inclusion of the whistle-blower scheme, better results are expected in the days ahead and the mindless killings going on in different parts of the country would be contained considerably. The idea is good and indeed, commendable.

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BRIEFINGNOTES

Kanu’s Inexcitable Freedom For the first time since his trial began some two years ago, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, was last week granted bail but with stringent conditions. Olawale Olaleye writes

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t was with mixed feelings that the decision by a Federal High Court, Abuja, which granted leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu bail on health grounds was received. Whilst it was cheery on the one hand that Kanu, after almost two years in detention is being finally granted bail, the excitement arising from this was cut short when the conditions attached to the bail were considered too stringent. Justice Binta Nyako had granted Kanu bail on the conditions that many reckoned were too stringent and perhaps, forced. This included three sureties, one of whom must be a serving senator, a Jewish religious leader and a highly respected person, who must own a landed property in the Federal Capital Territory. The bail sum is N100million per surety. Nyako also warned Kanu against granting press interviews, holding rallies or being in a gathering of more than 10 persons while on bail. She warned him that the bail would be revoked if he flouted any of the conditions. Justice Nyako however denied bail to Kanu’s other colleagues – David Nwawuisi, Benjamin Madubugwu and Chidiebere Onwudiwe – who were arraigned with him. She claimed that the treason charges against them were a serious offence (as if different from Kanu’s). She also refused to vary her ruling on protection of witnesses because witnesses were security operatives. However, shortly after the news of his bail saturated the airwaves, Kanu was reported to have rejected it on the grounds of the attached conditions. But he has since denied any such thing, even as his lawyers promised to perfect the bail within 48 hours. Kanu’s lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, had told Premium Times, an online news portal, that the report that his client had rejected the bail was all rumours. “It’s all rumours. Were you not in court? How could he have rejected the bail, when he didn’t do that in open court? It is rumours. Know that now!” Certain that Kanu would meet the conditions within 48 hours, Ejiofor warned that any attempt by government to deny his client bail despite this would be vehemently resisted. “Nnamdi Kanu was granted bail. The court has listed a number of terms and conditions that we believe will be complied with within 48 hours. Any attempt by government to flout this court order must be resisted. In fact, it will bring to an end this trial, because we will opt out. We will not allow him to continue with the trial (as if it’s practicable). “And the court has made it quite clear that its orders must be obeyed. You saw what happened today, how the court made an order for Nnamdi Kanu’s wedding ring to be given to him along with his eyeglasses and, which was complied with. So, that time (of rejecting bail conditions) has passed, we believe,” Mr. Ejiofor said. Although government did not react to the development, it is common knowledge that the government had in the past refused to honour bails granted some politically exposed persons, including the ex-National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, and the Shiite leader, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky. The agitation for the Republic of Biafra was given a lifeline, when a group of activists led by Kanu formed IPOB. Presently, three groups are involved

Kanu...freedom at last in the campaign for Biafra’s independence – MASSOB, IPOB and the Biafra independent Movement (BIM), formed by Uwazuruike after he was pushed out of MASSOB. But Kanu’s IPOB overtook the others with his approach, especially the Biafran radio, which seemed to unsettle the federal government through constant incitation, the basis of which he was eventually picked up and detained for trial. Yet, there is a common pattern in the modus operandi of the pro-Biafra groups, which is their non-violent disposition in the agitation for recognition. Regardless, the Nigerian security agencies have always had cause to make any pro-Biafra protest become bloody engagements, an approach that has seen many of the agitators killed in the process. This development is also believed to have further hardened them. For instance, on February 9, 2016 some members of IPOB were killed by security agencies in Aba, the commercial city of Abia State, during the protest for the release of Kanu. A heavy casualty was also recorded at

Onitsha in Anambra State. Yet, the aggressive posturing of the security agencies towards the pro-Biafra movement is interpreted as a reflection of the attitude of the Muhammadu Buhari administration towards the idea of Biafra. Buhari is of the generation of the Nigerian Army that fought the civil war, which decimated the Biafran dream, and would not see any reason for the renewed agitation, hence his resolve to “crush” the resurgent separatist agitation. But the belief that the steam of the current agitation for Biafra could be undone with brutal force appears even more impossible. If anything, it has continued to encourage the senseless killings of unarmed and peaceful protesters as much as drawn more sympathisers to the Biafran cause. It is for this reason that the arrest of Kanu in October 2015 has become vexatious with the sustained clamour for his release from detention. Kanu is facing a treason trial and though a competent court of jurisdiction had previously granted him bail, the Department of State Service held on to him. This, ironically, was believed to have been further

encouraged by the president, who publicly defended the security agency. But IPOB has consistently maintained a non-violent approach to pushing its cause. Spokespersons of the organisation, Emma Mmeju and Dr. Clifford Iroanya, once pointed out that the unprovoked killings of their members were aimed at provoking them to violence, because the federal government has been desperately seeking evidence to tag IPOB a terrorist organisation and use same to nail Kanu. “In spite of the callous killing and conspiracy of silence by the cowardly eastern leaders, who have been cowed into submission, by Pharaoh and his minions, we remain unbowed, undaunted and resolute”, the IPOB spokespersons once said. Small wonder, the bloody encounter that marred the May 30 Biafra Remembrance Day in Onitsha has generated condemnations and even expression of solidarity with IPOB by several other affiliate groups and individuals, who shared the view that the approach of engaging them should be reviewed. Recently, representatives of 26 civil society groups from South-east and South-south met in Enugu and after reviewing the May 30 massacre at Onitsha, agreed to enlarge the coalition of IPOB’s non-violence “by consulting wider on the need or otherwise for the two regions to endorse the non-violent agitation of IPOB for a referendum to decide the future of Nigeria. However, signs that Kanu’s release was nigh, began to manifest, when prominent Nigerians started to visit him in detention. From Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose to former governors Orji Kalu of Abia State and Peter Obi of Anambra State, others who had visited him included former CBN governor, Chukwuma Soludo; renowned economist, Dr. Pat Utomi; former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode; Secretary-General of LNC, Tony Nnadi; National secretary of Alliance for Democracy; Udenta Udenta; Chairman, South-east, South-south professionals, Emeka Ugwuoju, Collins Ugwu, Law Mefor and Ferdinand Agu. Prominent Igbo leaders like the President of Alaigbo Development Foundation, Professor Uzodinma Nwala; chair man federal character commit tee, Mr Max Ozoaka; assistant legal adviser, Mr. Max Alaeto; acting administrative secretary, Mr. Uzo Anyaso, and member, Mr Dickson Isaac Chidera. Notable Nollywood actors were led byveteran Bruno Iwuoha, Ejike Asiegbu, Clems Ohameze and Chinaka Greatson, amongst top great actors. Interestingly too, the United Kingdom once said it had been visiting Kanu in prison. A spokesman for the British High Commission, Mr. Joe Abuku, said in an email sent to a correspondent of a national daily (not THISDAY), that in response to an email regarding Kanu’s letter to the High Commission, it had since been providing assistance to him. Finally, on Friday, Kanu’s lawyers perfected the bail conditions and he was consequently released to them and some prominent Nigerians, who facilitated the bail process. But not a few of his supporters were comfortable with the conditions attached to his bail, thus making it somewhat inexcitable. And now that Kalu is finally out, it is yet to be seen what future is ahead of the agitation for the Republic of Biafra.

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CICERO/REPORT

In Ogun, Standard is Key in Project Execution After a lull, contractors handling the various projects scattered across Ogun State have returned to site. And for about seven hourslastSunday, theOgunStateGovernor,SenatorIbikunleAmosun, went round some of the newand ongoing projects, starting with the state capital, Abeokuta. Olawale Olaleye, who was with him on the tour writes

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or some time now and over what could be regarded as obvious reasons, construction works had slowed down in Ogun State. The challenge of funding was clearly on the front burner amongst other factors reckoned to have been responsible for the lull on the different construction sites across the gateway state. Naturally, the temporary situation provided temporary opportunity for opponents of the governor to maximize the space and in their subjective analysis, deconstructed the government of Senator Ibikunle Amosun. But that only lasted a fleeting while before activities returned to the turf. The announcement, about a month ago, that contractors working on all the ongoing projects across the state had been mobilised to return to site, changed the tide completely. Amosun, while briefing journalists after the weekly State Executive Council meeting said, “Contractors working on all our ongoing projects have been mobilised back to site across the state in the last one week and activities will now resume fully in all those places”. The governor, who assured the people of the state that no project would be abandoned by him, said his administration would continue to make meaningful impacts in all the sectors of the state’s economy with special focus on Education, Housing, Agriculture and Health, noting that, “We are determined to change the landscape of Ogun State completely.” Amosun, who reiterated that he would continue to serve with vigour also assured the people of his administration’s commitment to always place the welfare of Ogun citizens on the front burner. “I will continue to serve the good people of Ogun State with more dedication, vigour and hardwork,” Amosun said. Consequently, the Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Ms, Adenrele Adesina, recently followed up on this promise when she urged contractors handling the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Conditional Grant Schemes (CGSs) to scale up projects split across the 20 Local Government and 37 LCDAs of the state, as well as uphold the “Ogun Standard” project and quality of performance that the state was known for. According to her, the CGSs projects were very germane to the state government, because they are the projects that would have direct impact on the grassroots and described the scheme as a way of ensuring even development across the nooks and crannies of the state. She, therefore, enjoined the contractors to expedite actions on the contracts with all diligence and seriousness and to uphold “Ogun Standard” in such a way that the image of the state would be projected to an enviable height among the comity of states. “Knowing that you are in partnership with the state government, and you must uphold the good standard of the state. Try as much as possible to execute the project to the best and world standard, if you must be appreciated”, she said. However, area that works are currently going on, according to Amosun, include Magboro-Arepo road, Ilara-Ijoun-Ilase road, Ejinrin-Oluwalogbon road, Ijoko-Akute-Alagbole road, Lafenwa-Ayetoro road and Enugada-Adatan road, Ikangba-Ilese-Itele-Ijebu Mushin road that spans across four local government areas, Ijebu Igbo bridge, Ilisan-Ago Iwoye road, Folagbade-Ibadan garage-Imowo road and Sagamu-Ogijo roads. There is also the Atan-Agbara-Lusada road, Ilo-Awela

What is not debatable by either of the camps is that he is doing a lot to change the course of history and development in the state and the last almost six years have witnessed the kind of change that many years to come would be a reference point in the political trajectory of the state

R-L: Ogun State Commissioner for Works, Mr. Lekan Adegbite, explaining some of the construction dimensions on the Lafenwa-Ayetoro road to Governor Ibikunle Amosun, while the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Suraj Adekunbi watches

road, Ilaro-Owode road, Ilaro township road, Ilaro Township Bridge and Ojuore Ota bridge, among several others. Added here are the pedestrian bridges that would be constructed in Panseke, Mowe and Ibafo areas of the state. Although capital intensive, contractors on the SangoOjodu Abiodun road have also been mobilised to return to site with five flyovers, the governor has equally called on the federal government to cede some of the federal roads in the state like the Sagamu-Ogijo road, Papalanto-interchange road, Epe-Ijebu Ode road and Lagos-Sango-Abeokuta road to the state for proper maintenance. Thus, last Sunday, Amosun, as he is wont to do, set out in company with the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Hon. Suraj Adekunbi, to inspect some of the ongoing projects, starting with those in the state capital. Although he had planned to start with Ogun West to assure the people of Yewa of his unalloyed commitment to his promise to them, his itinerary changed of a sudden and had to stay within town. But he has resolved to do Ogun West next Sunday. Taking it from the ongoing flyover at the NNPC mega station junction, shortly after the governor’s office and directly opposite the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) state secretariat, whose idea is to decongest the traffic that usually slows down vehicular movements in that axis with each to its own without let or hindrance, the convoy immediately left there for the President Muhammamdu Buhari Estate, where he only visited a particular part on the site designated to host a function few days after the inspection. The estate is going to be one of the most outstanding housing projects across the country with modern facilities already installed, coupled with guided building approvals. From here, the journey continued seamlessly to such other areas like Ago’ka, Iberekodo, Enu Gaga, OGTVBrewery, Mokola, Saje, Itoko, Olumo, Kenta and LafenwaAiyetoro roads. The common denominator for all the roads is that it is an expansion construction, which unfortunately, required the knocking down of buildings that did not observe the acceptable setbacks regulation before erecting structures. Whilst the demolition of structures on all the roads was meant to constitute huge hurdle, naturally, many of the residents, who rushed out to cheer the governor praised

and thanked him for the initiative that would bring the state closer to its peers in other parts of the world. A majority of them said though it was painful losing their property, they however understood the importance of the project in collective interest. In some of the places, some of the men and women came out with different complaints – some personal, others connected to the ongoing road works. Amosun, who patiently listened to them, in most cases, explained to them the eventual outcome of what government was doing on their supposed property, added that government would build houses for a majority of them as compensation. There were those who came to beg for employment for their children and he attended to them all, but not without asking relevant questions. Last Sunday’s inspection also saw Amosun emphasizing standard to the contractors and in other instances, seeking amendment to some of the construction dimensions. In most cases, he went into heated debate with his Commissioner for Works, Mr. Lekan Adegbite, on what was either doable or allowed on certain projects, while Amsoun for most of the time insisted on the overriding public interest. For a man, who had attained a desirable degree of comfort even as a private citizen, the only thing that could explain Amosun’s passion for the development of Ogun with global standard as the minimum requirement is the urge to make name for himself, family and his unborn generation, as a politician. The interesting thing is that he finds joy in service to his fatherland and this, he often says with pride. The other good thing is that he was sure that all the ongoing projects for which the contractors had been mobilised would be completed before he leaves office, but of course with the exception of the rail construction which would be hindered by time and not funding. Certainly, you don’t have to like Amosun and truth is, not everyone will like him. It is natural to have friends and foes on different sides. But what is not debatable by either of the camps is that he is doing a lot to change the course of history and development in the state and the last almost six years have witnessed the kind of change that many years to come would be a reference point in the political trajectory of the state.

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CICERO/TRIBUTE

Isiaka Adeleke: The Death that Stunned Osun Till he breathed his last, former governor of Osun State and incumbent senator as at the time of his death, Alhaji Isiaka Adeleke, rode on the moniker: Serubawon (scare or intimidate them) to prosecute practically all his political battles. Indeed, the circumstances of his sudden death, like his appellation suggests, still leave many stupefied. In this report, Yinka Kolawole pays tribute to a man whose bubbly disposition to life changed the conservative politics of his people

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ixty-two years old Senator Isiaka Adeleke as at the time of his death was the first civilian governor of Osun State, elected on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), in the aborted Third Republic. He was in office between January 1992 and November 1993. In 1999, when the nation returned to civil rule, he could not pull as much weight till he emerged candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to represent Osun West in the Senate from 2007 to 2011. He came from the illustrious Adeleke family of Ede. His father, Senator Ayoola Adeleke, was a progressive politician, an ally of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and a staunch member of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), under which banner he was elected to the Senate during the Second Republic. It was not surprising, therefore, that Serubawon, as Adeleke was fondly called, returned to the progressives fold in 2014, when he joined the All Progressives Congress (APC). He also used the platform to return to the Senate in 2015, to represent the same Osun West Senatorial district. Adeleke became the first civilian governor of Osun at the age of 37, barely a year after the creation of the state, at a period he was quite energetic. He was believed to have labored hard by giving his best to lay a good foundation for the then new state, the impact of which Osun still feels today, even though he was in office for less than two years. He was a charismatic politician and political leader with panache, passion and fervor that traversed the political spectrum of the state, appealing also to all social strata. He was at home with the grassroots as he was with the elite. Adeleke was a very generous man, who gave his all to the needy, friends and constituents, without favouring ethnicity, religion or background. Thousands benefited from his scholarship scheme and social empowerment programmes. He was a loyal party member and a team player, who was determined to help realise the progressive agenda of the party, through legislation, not just in the whole country but in Osun and his senatorial district as well. Adeleke was a personal friend of Governor Rauf Aregbesola, who was committed to his re-election with his entire being. He was unflinching in his support and commitment, even when the security agencies laid a siege on his residence on the eve of the August 9, 2014 governorship election. His death has been very painful and a blow to the entire state. He obviously has left a void in the Senate, Osun politics, his community in Ede and family that will be hard to fill by anyone else. Born on January 15, 1955, to the family of Ayoola Adeleke and Esther Adeleke, his father, also a Senator was born in Enugu State and was there in his early years before the civil war began. He had his Primary Education at Christ Church School, Enugu before his family relocated to Ibadan. He however completed his secondary education at Ogbomosho Grammar School, where he had his West Africa School Certificate in 1972. He then proceeded to the Jacksonville State University, United States of America, where he bagged a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science in 1983. In 1985, he obtained his Masters in Public Administration from the same institution. Prior to becoming senator, he was Chairman, Governing Council, Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Pro-Chancellor and Chairman, Governing Council, University of Calabar, Nigeria. He was also the Director of Pacific Merchant Bank and Chairman of Tadel Investment Limited. As governor, notable decisions made by Adeleke included the establishment of a polytechnic at Iree, a college of technology

Adeleke...end of yet another era at Esa-Oke and the completion of the Osun State Broadcasting Corporation. Curiously, different circumstances have been depicted on the cause of his death as sympathizers have differed on opinion on the cause of his death. One of his close associates and loyalists, Shola Akanji, who seemed to have an idea of his movement the day preceding his death, especially on account of the swirling speculations, said “Some people have been carrying rumor that the senator died of heart attack, as his Kinsmen we are compelled to wake up to the reality that the former governor is now on a journey where a return is forever ruled out. He was in Telemu Zone A and at another remote area Zone B under Iwo to round up his consultation for 2018. “After which he went to the ceremony of the APC senatorial leader of Osun West, Mr. Amobi, who buried his Mother. The late Adeleke and Osun’s Deputy Governor, Mrs. Titi Tomori toasted in camaraderie, unaware of what was ahead. He danced and merried with the dignitaries presnt. From there he was said to have attended another function of one of his disciples, Mr. Lasun from Iwo, whose wife hosted an event. It turned out that he arrived there

late and he proceeded to his country home in Ede. “Those on his entourage were discharged around 2am. Senator Adeleke went upstairs and slept only to wake up after a phone call early in the morning. After 5am, upon experiencing discomfort, he canceled all engagements for the day and went back to his recess. He began to struggle for life to the supportive hands of his aides. He was carried unconsciously into the car and sped heavily down to Biket Hospital in Osogbo via Owode. The Messenger of death was too impatient with the senator before he could see his doctor. Right now the lifeless body is being probed to know what went wrong scientifically,” he said. Largely seen to having brought political civilization to Ede in Osun, Adeleke was till his death, the prism through which the political barometer of Ede was read. He was a passionate homebased politician, who had no special abode outside of Ede. And the truism of the life he lived could also be located in the tributes that attended his passing. Whether in life or death, Adeleke sure has a place in the political, economic and social life of Osun and he would always be remembered for his positive contributions to the development of the still largely primitive Osun.

NOTES FOR FILE

Wike’s Distractive Drama

Wike

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, penultimate week, put up some serious dramas, which were no less distractive, over the recovered cash in a Lagos, Ikoyi, flat, claiming the money belonged to the state. Wike first held a press briefing, where he alleged that the funds were proceeds of the sales of the state’s gas turbine, which according to him, his predecessor, Rotimi Amaechi, stole and kept in the Lagos flat. When this had yet to settle, the governor called for prayers, seeking divine intervention for Rivers money to be returned to Rivers. Then, within the same period, former acting national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Uche Secondus, addressed a rally in the state, where he too claimed ownership of the money on behalf of the governor and state. He repeated the same narratives as Wike and

descended heavily on the former governor, Amaechi. But this was in spite of the fact that during the same period, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) had claimed ownership of the money. Amaechi too had denied having anything to do with the money and dismissed the governor as a child, fond of speaking without facts. Wike’s seemingly immature approach to a rather serious issue which weighs on the image and integrity of the nation is indeed worrisome.The whole drama had no correlation with the reality on the ground even when he could not provide evidence that the money was Rivers’. The office of the governor is highly revered, regardless of who occupies it hence the character, mannerism and general disposition of the individual must typify leadership. Wike’s opposition approach to the matter was ludicrous and unbefitting of the office of the governor. Political differences notwithstanding, it is only maturity that allows for issues to be treated on merit without any colouration.

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SUNDAYINTERVIEW Adebayo Shittu

Shittu...Oyo governorship is my next stop

PHOTO:Sunday Adigun

Buhari’s Anti-corruption Fight Not Discriminatory Behind his steely deportment is a simple, intelligent, down-to-earth and sincere politician, whose ideological threshold does not entertain the new age sleaze of political undercurrents and intrigues. The Minister of Communication, Alhaji Adebayo Shittu, is one of the cabinet members of President Muhammadu Buhari, who mans a highly technical, yet crucial ministry and has continued to push hard his resolve to deliver change as well as leave an abiding signature on the sand of time. With a background in law, his confounding understanding of the issues in the ministry of communication is admirable. He’s come to appreciate the challenges and had designed different templates to realising them, such that sit well within the collective change agenda. He is confident the president is delivering and simultaneously so in the three critical areas of his campaign thrust: economy, security and corruption. He also does not think the state of health of the president is a big deal or has in any way impaired good governance. And in a manner that is unlike the quintessential politician, he didn’t hide the fact that his next stop is the Oyo State governorship seat. He was straight to the point, even as he alluded to the disagreement between him and the incumbent governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, which he dismissed as not personal but in the interest of the Oyo people. Above all, his responses to questions are detailed and astounding in this no-holds-barred interview with Olawale Olaleye and Shola Oyeyipo. Excerpts: Continued on Pg.74

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CICERO/INTERVIEW t #6)"3* 4 $033615*0/ '*()5 /05 %*4$3*.*/"503: t Continued on Pg.73

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hat were the issues you had to deal with in the sector when you newly assumed office? In fairness, I must say that the sector has been on the upward swing early before I came in. It is like you have a building project on; every stage is a development. You start from the planning stage and then you put down the architectural drawings and then you start laying foundations and then you start putting blocks and all that. For buildings, it is finally when the interior decoration has been done. For ICT, it is an unending growth and development. Unending in the sense that for every minute you have new innovations coming to disrupt what had been in existence and that is why a lot of universities doing ICT in Nigeria particularly, are left behind because they cannot keep pace with the development of ICT and the development of communication and innovations. Many more people are finding livelihood and finding expressions in creating innovations, particularly because the innovations being created are aimed at solving human’s socio-economic and developmental problems Apart from that, if you look at the case of Nigeria in particular, all these developments started less than 18 years, particularly telecoms sector of the ICT. Recall that before 1999, Nigeria had to contend with only a telecommunications company, which was called NITEL, owned by the federal government. For all of its years of existence, Nigeria had only less than half a million lines to a then population of about 160 million. You know what ratio comes up from that and to own a line you know what you had to go through and the technology was not wireless. You had to get lines fixed to your home, office and so on. So, several communities were cut off. They couldn’t access telecoms service. I remember in those days, if you were living in Shaki, where I come from and you have somebody in London to talk to, you have to go all the way to Ibadan, where NITEL facility was and then you are given a pass and then you queue for a call of five minutes, and you had to pay through your nose. Even for those in Ibadan, who had lines to call abroad, it was not easy more often than not. You had to take a special line or go to a NITEL facility. So when the democracy that we are practicing now came, the government of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo had to find a way of privatising as he called it, NITEL, by selling it off and then he invited the whole world to come with their funds, their technology of GSM and with their skilled personnel, to establish companies. They bid and had to pay millions of dollars to get licensing and to deploy their facilities and float the company that involved a lot of investable funds from abroad and then we started. Today, from the less than half a million lines that we had then, we have more than 155 million lines now, so, we have made a lot

It is one war which is being fought on merit, whether you are PDP or whatever. Once you are not engaged or suspected to be engaged in it, you are completely free! God forbid, but even if it is the president family relation, he has given a signal that he would not discriminate and the same laws that affect his supposed enemies would also affect his friends

of giant strides. In the area of internet communications, in the area of GSM and data and all of that, again, we have made a lot of giant strides as a country and I want to say that the pioneers in managing ICT in Nigeria laid a solid foundation. What we are doing now is in fact to build on it and like I said, it is still work-in-progress. Telecoms subscribers are inundated over time with unsolicited messages, threat messages, SMS, unregistered sim and so, despite NCC’s warnings. What is your ministry doing to address this? It is a problem that is really bothering government and I want to say whatever pains, whatever extortions, inconveniences and whatever unsolicited messages and all of that that members of the public are victim to, I, even as Minister of Communication, I am also a victim to it. So, I chew the pain just as any Nigerian chewing the pain and we have taken a lot of measures particularly to NCC to try to resolve that problem. One of the major obstacles that we have is, for just one infraction, the effort you need to make to get correction will cost more than the infraction that has taken place. For instance, if there is an unsolicited SMS, to get redress you have to call the operator and then you have to make a complaint and they will promise and so on and so forth because they are individual violations, which are very small on the part of each person. It creates a lot of problems for enforcement agents likes NCC. But I am aware and I do know that NCC has been taking a lot of measures. The area that we have not gotten to is to say for any one infraction you pay this much. A few months ago, when the new board of the NCC was inaugurated by me, I again charged them to work hand-in-hand with the management to stem this tide, and we want to assure Nigerians that the NCC is doing everything that will be required to get things done. I am aware, of course, that the GSM companies also have their challenges. Some of these challenges are well known: the issues of electricity, which is a very huge problem. Nigeria is perhaps the only country I know, where telecoms operators have to rely, not on the public electricity system but on their own efforts and costs of providing generators, providing diesels on 24 hour-basis, and all of that. Usually, in other countries, these things are taken for granted and that reduces the cost of their operation but I want to believe that because of these unhealthy operating environment in Nigeria, they have to rely on value added service by private companies who buy space and use those spaces to inundate the public. But the operators would have to take responsibility for these. At the appropriate time, we will get to the ultimate. You know in law enforcement, the first thing is to appreciate what the problems are, the second is to give warnings and then punitive measures come. We are getting to that stage. Let’s talk about the issues of multiple taxations on these operators and the vandalism of their infrastructure. How are you helping them here? Well, the issue of multiple taxations is not about our ministry, it is about the Ministry of Finance, the tax office and all of that. But we have been supporting them in terms of advocacy to say that it is immoral, particularly for this very sensitive industry, which benefits virtually every Nigerian. I said earlier that today we have virtually 155 million active lines. That on the average means about 150 million Nigerians daily use this facility. If they daily use this facility for the convenience of their lives; for the convenience of their businesses; for even the convenience of running government in a seamless way – that means it is not a thing that we can turn blind eyes to. So, we have been doing a lot of advocacy and I am also aware that this issue has gotten to the National Economic Council consisting of the vice-resident and all the governors to try and harmonise these taxes. Again, on the issue of security, security is not our portfolio; it is that of the police and other security agencies. But, again, in that regard we have been doing a lot of advocacy, because we invited these people with a promise that we will provide an enabling business environment. So, when they have problems, they complain to us and we have a duty to also let government and all the other

agencies know that this problem must be attended to in order to make it easy for those you have invited to bring technology, money and so on to operate. Back to Nigerians, how are you addressing the problem of excessive tariffs from the operators? I must say that this is an issue that is arguable, whether there has been an excessive tariff on us. I want to speak not just as a Nigerian citizen but also as a responsible Nigerian officer, who has a duty, not only to the citizenry but to those you have asked to come and assist us with their technology and their services. For instance, if you take SMS, on the average, it is about N4. If you move to Benin Republic, you will pay N50. I was in a country recently, I think Algeria or so, for SMS message that I pay N4 here, I paid N200. We must also sympathise with these companies, because these are largely foreign companies that have come in with their capital to do business, they must be able to repatriate their profits abroad. The low value of naira necessarily affects them, so, if from the average that we can see from different countries, Nigeria appears to me, on an objective basis, one of the lowest tariffs. I don’t know which country has a lower rate. So, if in Nigeria, it is N4 and in Benin it is N50, can we in good context really ask them to go lower? How much will they be able to repatriate out of the profit. So, I believe that I have a duty to all stakeholders, to be able to mediate and temper this across line, except if we are asking them to provide free service. I know as private entities they will never be able to do that. If we drive them too hard, the consequence is that they will not be able to make profit. If they are not able to make profit they will simply pack and go and we will return to the pre-1999 era of NITEL. And we all know how beneficial these telecoms services, including the internet have been to Nigerians. So, I appeal to Nigerians for understanding. Ordinarily, as a politician, I should not be saying this because people will then say you are siding this, but as a leader, I must take responsibility to speak the truth and to defend the truth, and to let Nigerians appreciate that even in their private businesses, nobody wants to make losses. So, in the same vein, there must be an understanding that N4 is to my mind, one of the lowest that one can get anywhere in the world. In the places, where they pay N50 and so on, electricity is taken for granted. Even security is taken for granted. In Nigeria, their facilities are being vandalised, because our security is not effective enough to provide for them. Here, even though we have police, the DSS and everything, they still have to spend a lot of money to procure security managers and we have a number of cases, where their security operatives are being killed by hoodlums, who want to vandalise. When they have resistance, they simply go for the jugular of the security operatives. When you newly came on board, you promised that the federal government would establish ICT University to close the skills gap of the youths, is the promise still valid? By the grace of God, by May 2, we will inaugurate the implementation committee of the ICT University. A lot of people will be wondering: why are we looking for an ICT University since as a matter of fact, there is none on the African continent. When I came on board, my thinking was since we have Computer Studies Departments in many universities, perhaps, they will provide adequate man power. But I have since discovered that is not the reality. When people have degree from the university, it simply provides them a qualification to start learning about ICT. That is the truth. One of our agencies, which is NESDA, before I came on board, they had recruited 240 people without following due process. When we came on board, because it had violated all known laws of the federation with regards to employment, with regards to ensuring openness, transparency and providing all Nigerians with equal opportunity to be able to seek job in all government agencies, we had to lay them off. That is, NESDA had to sack them. NESDA then provided an avenue for them to have proper training, to enable them become self-employed in the ICT sector. So, three months training programme was done for them. After the first year and formal inauguration, I was there and I was listen-

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CICERO/INTERVIEW t #6)"3* 4 $033615*0/ '*()5 /05 %*4$3*.*/"503:t Continued on Pg.74 ing to testimonies of graduates of Computer Studies from various Nigerian universities come there to say that what they have learnt on that platform within a month they never learnt it in four years of their university education. So, this shows that for a sector that is the fastest growing in the Nigerian economy with bourgeoning new innovations, you need to have a specialised hands-on training institution to provide effective training for the production of skilled manpower for this sector of the Nigerian economy. If we succeed in doing that, we will also have provided enough man power in that area, not only for other African countries but for the entire world. I was again conscious that we have within the ministry what is called Digital Bridge Institute, which is for short time training of personnel for the ICT industry. That Digital Bridge Institute has six campuses spread across the country. I then felt that the proper thing for us to do would be to take this Digital Bridge Institute, transform it into a degree awarding ICT University. It would be the first of its kind in Africa but similar institutions already exist in India, Malaysia, Singapore, in China, South Korea and all that. This university will be fashioned along those specialised ICT training institutions in other parts of the country. When I approached the president with the idea, the president asked me, ‘where would you get the money to establish a new university’ and I told the president that I don’t need your money, all I need is your go-ahead. I will talk with the private sector. I will talk to all the big names in ICT: Google, Facebook, Ericson, Motorola and all of them to come and adopt campuses of this new university. In adopting this university, they will bring their technology, their faculty, their money and skilled personnel to train Nigerians. Already we have infrastructure on the ground in the six campuses of Digital Bridge Institute. With the training, technology and skilled personnel that they are bringing, they will be helping Nigerians to produce first class ICT experts to be unleashed on the ICT industry throughout the world and that will be a plus for Nigeria. There is this projection for about 30 per cent broadband penetration in Nigeria. Is that still feasible and again what is the government doing to make broadband available to all Nigerians everywhere? Let me say this, what government is doing is interventionist effort. It is not the business of government to be engaged in business as it is often said. We have done it in the past, we burnt our fingers. Remember Nigerian Airways; remember Nigerian shipping lines; remember even Nigerian railways and all government agencies. In Nigeria, once you get engaged in business, Nigerians, who come in, more often than not, will steal the place dry. So, we said government must see itself only as an enabler – to provide an enabling environment for private sector to thrive by legislation, by regulations, by laws and so on and so forth, so that private sector people will come in and do the business with our support. That is being done. So, what NESDA and Universal Service Provision do is to assist in areas of deficiencies. For instance, private sector people, who bring their money to invest, want to invest in areas where they can make gains very quickly. In other words, in areas where population is not very large – where a lot of people are not likely to engage their services, we fill the gap there. So, our mandate is not really to provide, as a government, broadband connectivity. That is not our job; it is to do that where there are gaps like in the rural areas and we are trying to do that through several efforts, particularly the initiative of Galaxy Backbone. Galaxy Backbone is one of our agencies, which seeks to provide constitutionally, connectivity to all state capitals, where federal government offices or agencies are located. When they do that, there will be excess of space to be leased out to the public, including the GSM companies and ICT companies. So, we are doing that and in this year’s budget, a lot of funds have been dedicated towards that. I am happy to say that the private sector is taking the challenge up because they know that the more connectivity we have throughout the country, the more patronage they would likely get. A lot of Nigerians would like to know what your ministry is doing in the area of upgrading the NIPOST, but unfortunately, that is one area that would also be competing seriously with the ICT initiative. How do you intend to balance that? Honestly, I get excited when issues about NIPOST arise. I recall that before GSM came on board, NIPOST was solely responsible for carrying mails and that was its sole mandate, carrying mails from one location to the other. You remember that to post a letter even from Ibadan to Lagos could take a week for the letter to get there. In other words, what you want to communicate cannot get there in real time. So, when GSM came, the patronage of NIPOST dropped because a communication that would be sent through a letter and which would take one week, for instance, can be done through SMS, Facebook and so on in real time. It costs down on money, so a lot of people needed no more to continue to use letters. That reduced the relevance of NIPOST and the patronage of Nigerians for NIPOST services. So, with that, NIPOST was almost running under. But when I came on board, I realised that despite the fact that patronage is growing low, the infrastructure NIPOST has is still very much there. Apart from the infrastructure, there is the goodwill. NIPOST is as old as Nigeria. The goodwill is there. The trust is there. Because of these I have evolved a reform package which will soon be formally inaugurated for the advantage of Nigerians. What are we going to do by reforming NIPOST? Number one, we discovered that Nigeria, with 774 local governments, most of these local governments don’t have banks available there and they are completely cut off from financial services. So, we felt that contrary to banks, post offices are in 1500 locations across the country. It means you can use post office agencies as vehicles to

Shittu undertake banking or financial services. So for these we are trying to come up with what will be called NIPOST Bank. Similar things exist in China and a few other countries. Many of the things that are fundamental which banks do for you, post offices will be doing. What are the specifics? You want to save money you will take your money to the post office. You remember in those days we used to have money order, postal order and all that. That was not deep enough but now we will have something to provide basic banking services so that people in the rural areas will also be able to benefit from this sort of banking. Again, you will agree with me that e-commerce has become a thing being utilised by a number of Nigerians. These e-service companies are mainly private sector companies. Some individuals are also doing it. Many of these companies are not known, so there is a risk that your interest may be undermined. But NIPOST which is already a household name in Nigeria can also be engaged in e-commerce services. Already they have infrastructure all over the country. If I want to buy something in Maiduguri and I told the provider of that thing I want to buy, I will pay online, take the thing to NIPOST and of course, just as NIPOST will carry mail from Maiduguri to my village in Shaki, they will also be able to carry the merchandise that I buy. The trust will be there better than any other private company engaged in this kind of service. Again, we are looking at a situation where we will have NIPOST Transport Property and Development Services. If you look around, particularly in Lagos, you will find a lot of NIPOST facilities having excess land. These lands are wasting and you know land is a valuable asset. Instead of allowing these lands to keep wasting, we can turn them into money by leasing out of these wasting lands to the private sector to build office complexes, shopping malls, residential houses, car parks and what have you on PPP basis. They pay something continuously to NIPOST. That will be an added income for NIPOST and the federal government. And the fourth thing is we want to also introduce NIPOST Transport and Logistic Services. Already, NIPOST depends on vehicles to carry postal material from one place to the other. As they are carrying these postal materials, we should be able to commercialise these NIPOST transport services so that they can also carry passengers. If NIPOST is taking postal material from Lagos to Ibadan, it should be able to also carry passengers or merchandise. Another service that we are looking forward to introducing in our NIPOST reform package is e-government services in all post offices and I will give you an example of what I mean. For example, everybody needs international passport and passport offices are found only in state capitals, so, if I live in Shaki, to procure an international passport, I have to come to Ibadan to process when there is a facility in Shaki, which is government’s and is popular and capable, why don’t I go to NIPOST in Shaki, fill the necessary form online, pay online, get that transmitted to Ibadan, where they have the passport office, when the thing is produced, it is sent to NIPOST in Shaki and I will pick it up. It will be applicable to all government services, not just passport alone: driver’s license and virtually everything that you would want to procure from government – you should be able to do it through NIPOST. It is being done in several other African countries, so, why don’t we do it? Doing most of these things will certainly bring a lot of ease and convenience for Nigerians. It will also cut down the cost in terms of money, time and other areas. These are some of the things that we are planning. I believe that by the time we unleash all of these on the Nigerian people it would be greatly commended because of its potential benefits to make life better for the ordinary Nigerians. Have you considered the acceptability of these ideas by the Nigerian people?

Your question is simply saying you have about a six year old child and if you take the child to school you are removing him from a familiar environment, would it be proper to ask ‘would you think the child would like to go to school?’ Of course, you must be able to make the child to love to go to school. In the same vein, Nigerians are intelligent people, the fact that they have not experienced this kind of ease in their lives in the past does not mean they will not appreciate the positive values that it would be adding to their lives. We would do a lot of advocacy on it. We would do a lot of publicity and get Nigerians to buy into it. We hear that government acquired some land for national ICT park and exhibition centre, are you still going ahead with it? By the grace of God, we got the land last month from the Federal Capital Territory administration and we set up a committee to implement it and the whole idea is…I have had the privilege of attending workshops all over the world, from Barcelona, Silicon Valley, China, South Korea, Indonesia and so on and in all these places, you have technology parks and exhibition centres, which are set up for industry stakeholders from the whole world to meet once a year, exhibit their new innovations and new products, and also utilise it to advance, exchange ideas, to buy technology, exchange technology and to provide also, a platform for people to come there and learn. What we are trying to do with the land – we are having about 10, 000 square metres of land. We would develop site and services on the land, we would invite all the big names in the industry from all over the world, not only Nigeria, to come and build their facilities and utilise them. And of course, they will be paying some form of royalties to government but the good thing is, once a year there will be an exhibition and people can also use it for training purposes. Is government considering additional satellite? Certainly! That is a very good question. Now, we have Nigerian Satellite Communication Company, it is one of our agencies. Currently, it has one satellite in orbit. Having one satellite in orbit for a satellite company can be likened to a transport company, which moves from Lagos to Ibadan on a vehicle without a spare tyre. If you don’t have a spare tyre and a potential passenger knows that this car does not have a spare tyre, nobody will want to travel with you. In the same vein, having one satellite in orbit, a lot of people who should be patronising you will think “if we put all our eggs in one basket and something happens, we would lose all our data”. So, because of this deficiency, a lot of Nigerian ministries, departments and agencies, including many universities prefer to deal with foreign satellite companies and that means a lot of foreign exchange being lost by Nigeria. So, we think the way to go is to try to acquire two additional satellites in orbit. Once we have that sufficiency, capability and confidence, we will then be able, even if by legislation, put a stop to Nigerian agencies, companies and ministries patronising foreign satellite companies to the disadvantage of Nigerian companies. The money for these satellite companies, we are thinking of $550bn, if you convert that to naira, it is whole lot of money. Now, China Exim Bank has agreed to give money but the condition is that we must provide $15m counterpart funding. That is about N30bn. Government does not have the money but we have appealed to the private sector to come and invest. I am confident that within the next three months, we should be in a position where we will go to China and say now we can provide the said counterpart funding and then we will sign the document. Once we sign the document, it takes two years to manufacture those satellites. I am actually praying that within my tenure as minister, we will be able to achieve that height for Nigeria. (See the concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com)

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Buhari during the campaigns. Behind him are his wife, Aisha , Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo (left) and former Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola.

In 2019, Performance Debate is Unavoidable With a few months to the election year, the indicators are clear that only performance will dictate the dimensions of the 2019 elections, writes Iyobosa Uwugiaren

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ay after day, anxious leaders and critical stakeholders in the ruling All Progressives Congress ( APC ) are troubled about how Nigerians and the international community would rate them as the election year draws near. And for many APC admirers and members, the equation doesn’t really look good for the party. For several challenges including the swelling complaints of lopsided appointments that seem to favour the north that were recently made by President Muhammadu Buhari, including the party’s national caucus and National Executive Committee (NEC) meetings earlier scheduled for April 24 and 25, 2017 respectively, but were suddenly put off penultimate Thursday. A statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said the cancellation of the two events was as a result of unexpected developments, even though an insider linked the postponement to the interminable squabbles among the “owners” of APC now struggling for the soul of the party ahead of 2019. Yet, while many concerned leaders of the party are making seeming panicky and jumpy moves to fix the teething troubles enveloping the party, some of them strongly believe and rightly so, that the swelling resentments against the Buhari administration,

instigated by the administration’s widely perceived incompetent and unproductive style in the last two years, combined with the obvious evidence that the next general election will be based on issues and performance, is not helping the APC . President Buhari was elected in 2015 with the main campaign message of “change”, predicated on a tripod of security, corruption and the economy. Widely believed to have been packaged by experts in propaganda and spine doctors, the party campaigned ferociously, promising to bring about change in all facets of the Nigerian life. And during his presidential campaign, Buhari and his party made a lot of promises to Nigerians. They promised “change”, which many thought would transform Nigeria overnight. Nigerians, who were won over by the powerful campaign messages of APC decided to try the “change” for a change even though a few of the president’s promises were extremely fanciful and impracticable, especially within the timeframe alluded to. Check it out: APC had promised to improve on the epileptic electricity, inadequate water supply and widespread unemployment, reduction of fuel price to N45 per litre, implementation of free education at all levels including free meal for pupils, payment of N5,000 to 23 million Nigerians monthly, increment of minimum wage and placement of every graduate on

salary for extra one year after their youth service, reviving all refineries in the first one year in office and building more to produce more for the nation’s domestic consumption, bringing naira at par with dollar and crushing the terrorist group, Boko Haram in the first three months in office. The ruling party also promised to stop importation of refined products. But nearly two years into the life of the APC-led federal government, there are mixed feelings over the performance of the Buhari administration. While one of the promoters of Buhari in the 2015 presidential campaign and Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, recently applauded the president for delivering on his campaign promises to Nigerians, political monitors said the recent action of some angry youths in Kastina State – Buhari’s home state – torching homes and properties of two politicians over unfulfilled campaign promises the president made during his campaign, was ominous for the APC. A mob of young men had stormed and set on fire, the country home of Senator Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya, Buhari’s close ally and the campaign office and poultry farm of politician Abdullahi Mahmud, located in the town of Gaya. Both members of APC were elected in the 2015 general election along with Buhari. To be sure, a governance tracking tool launched by the Centre for Democracy and Development, Buharimeter, stated sometime ago that Buhari had only achieved one of the

campaign promises he made during the 2015 electioneering. According to the report, the national survey — Buharimeter — received responses from a cross-section of Nigerians, representing different social groups and government officials. The responses were comments on three key issues that included corruption, economy and security. In the statement issued by the Director of CDD, Idayat Hassan, 84 per cent of Nigerians endorsed the approach of President Buhari towards fighting corruption in the country. The survey also showed that the president’s zone, the North West with 60.2 per cent had the highest number of citizens applauding his anti-corruption war. “Using the four categories: ‘Achieved’, ‘Not Achieved’, ‘Ongoing’ and ‘Not Yet rated’, which were developed by the tracking tool to rate the extent of fulfillment of the campaign promises, Buharimeter scored the President as follows: One promise was rated as ‘achieved’ and 45 promises were rated as ‘ongoing’. According to the tracking tool, within the period under review, President Buhari has only achieved one campaign promise, which constitutes 0.5 per cent of all the tracked promises.” The report said the state of the economy and its biting effects on the citizens, justified the low ratings the administration received in the national survey on the administration’s performance in the economy sector. According to the survey, nearly two-thirds of

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CICERO/ISSUE t2019 AND THE UNAVOIDABLE PERFORMANCE DEBATEtContinued from Pg. 76 the respondents rated Buhari’s performance in employment generation as either “very poor” (39.8 per cent) or “poor” (22 per cent). On job creation, the report concluded that the expectations of Nigerians had largely remained unmet. Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State, who is also worried about the unfulfilled promises of his party, had cause to write a strongly-worded letter to Buhari recently, highlighting what he considered were the factors compounding the challenges of his administration. He said there was a possibility that some officials in the presidency had persuaded Buhari that the governors of APC “must have no say and must also be totally excluded from political consultations, key appointments and decision-making at the federal level”. The governor said because of its failure to be proactive in taking key decisions in a timely manner, the ruling party had made the situation in Nigeria worse than it met it in 2015. “In very blunt terms, Mr. President, our APC administration has not only failed to manage expectations of a populace that expected overnight change but has failed to deliver even mundane matters of governance outside of our successes in fighting Boko Haram insurgency and corruption,” el-Rufai said in the 30-page memo to Buhari. Continuing, he added, “The situation is compounded by the fact that some officials around you seem to believe and may have persuaded you that the current APC state governors must have no say and must also be totally excluded from political consultations, key appointments and decision-making at the federal level. “These politically-naive ‘advisers’ fail to realise that it is the current and former state governors that may, as members of NEC of the APC, serve as an alternative locus of power to check the excesses of the currently lopsided and perhaps ambivalent NWC.” Overall, El-rufai said the feeling even among the party’s supporters today is that the APC government is not doing well, adding that he was distressed that Buhari is seen not to be succeeding mostly due to the failures, lack of focus and selfishness of some he had entrusted to carry on and implement his vision. “I am troubled that our own missteps have made the PDP and its apparatchiks so audacious and confident”, El-rufai lamented. But NOIPolls stated recently that the president’s performance rating had increased by five points. The results of the poll indicated that the rise was due to the president’s return from medical leave, his Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) policy intervention in the foreign exchange market, among others. NOIPolls revealed that with the five-point increase, Buhari’s job performance evaluation for the month of March 2017 now stands at 55 per cent. NOIPolls was however quick to say that the marginal increase was laudable but massive inroads still need to be made in terms of curbing inflation and poverty rates, which still remain the highest reason for disapproval of the president’s job performance. It advised Buhari’s government to focus on the adequate implementation of recommendations outlined by the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan to ensure sustainable economic growth and national development. The opinion poll, NOI said, was conducted in the week commencing March 27, 2017 and involved telephone interviews of a random nationwide sample. One thousand randomly selected Nigerian phone owners aged 18 years and above, representing the six geopolitical zones in the country, were said to have been interviewed. The National Caretaker Committee of the PDP recently took the Buhari adminsitration to task over its claim that the administration had struggled to meet Nigerians’ expectations, saying the administration has been a monumental failure in all ramifications. In the reaction to the claim made by Buhari in his Easter message, the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led PDP leadership said the achievements of the last PDP administration under President Goodluck Jonathan had been reversed under the present APC administration.

Buhari, during is swearing-in...he is still in the campaign mood, one year after “These comments from Mr. President are to say the least untrue and an insult to the intelligence of Nigerians, who have been at the receiving end of his government’s mismanagement in the last two years”, PDP stated. Urging Nigerians to reflect on the state of affairs before and after Buhari took over in the country nearly two years ago, the party reviewed progress on security, war on corruption and the economy and concluded that the ruling APC had failed in every sector. “The origin of insurgency in the North East part of the country is well known locally and internationally. We cannot forget in a hurry, the frantic efforts made by late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua to nip the ugly incidence in the bud that later escalated to the formation of the deadly Boko Haram sect”, the PDP noted on security. “Equally, when Dr. Goodluck Jonathan took over government, his administration made several efforts to procure ammunition from the West to prosecute the war on terror despite stiff resistance from some of the western powers to sell weapons to Nigeria, notwithstanding, before the 2015 general election, the Goodluck Jonathan administration was able to procure sizeable number of war heads, ammunition and other modern weaponry to fight the Boko Haram terrorist group. “This breakthrough led to the successful dislodgment of the terrorist sect in the North East before the March 28, 2015 elections. Nigerians can testify to the gallant display by the Nigerian Armed Forces that allowed elections to take place in virtually all the wards and local government areas of Borno, Adamawa, Kebbi and Gombe states, respectively.” The main opposition party however added that the result of the election from these states gave President Buhari the edge in the presidential election, saying APC governors and officials, who routinely condemn President Jonathan’s anti-insurgency effort conveniently forgot that without the relative peace in those states at the time, there would have been no elections from which they could emerge as governors. The PDP said its government not only defeated Boko Haram before it handed over power in 2015, it also reduced kidnapping and other anti-social vices in the country and there was palpable state of peace in Nigeria as at May 2015. “The same cannot be said today as kidnapping has taken a new turn. We are also facing another menace of insecurity in the name of Herdsmen attacking and displacing communities across the country. Suicide is also gradually becoming a household name in Nigeria as citizens, who cannot cope with the current harsh economic condition have resorted to taking their own lives”, the party further stated. On the war on corruption, the PDP noted that APC has failed as it had been selective and targeted only the political opponents of government. “The war on corruption like other policies

and programmes of the Buhari-led APC administration has failed as well. As we have mentioned in our previous statements, any war on corruption that is selective and targeted at humiliating only leaders and other members of the opposition is a total failure. The entire anti-corruption war of the APC since inception is just in the media with only one conviction. Many of the cases in courts have been set aside and suspects discharged and acquitted while others are in EFCC and DSS detention centres without trial against their fundamental human rights as enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. “Nigerians may also recall the several allegations of corruption made against prominent APC members that the anti-graft agency has not attended to. The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu, has been rejected twice by the Nigerian Senate because of damning corruption allegations against him made by another agency of government,” it said. Still boasting about its achievements in office, PDP added that the immediate past government of Jonathan grew Nigeria’s GDP from $270.5 billion in 2009, and handed over a Nigeria that had become the fastest growing and largest economy in Africa and the 24th largest economy in the world, with a GDP of $574 billion. In May 2015, the party said, the PDP also handed over a single digit inflation rate but today, inflation rate in Nigeria is at a double digit of 17.26%, adding that the recession the nation is experiencing today is as a result of the failure of the APC-led administration to properly manage the economy. “The Buhari government is indeed clueless and had no economic plan until March 2017, when it launched the so-called recovery plan. The economy is at a standstill. Major infrastructure development that began with the previous administrations of the PDP has been abandoned. Power generation dwindled from over 5,000MW in 2015 to the present all-time low of less than 2,000MW. The only project of note that this government has ever commissioned is the Abuja- Kaduna railroad, which was 99 per cent completed by the PDP administration.” In the estimation of PDP, there is nothing to show by the APC-led government, challenging the president and his team to articulate their two years achievements point by point and let Nigerians compare with the previous PDP administrations. President Buhari is however not unmindful of the state of the nation and the perception of his administration by Nigerians. A few days ago, the president took a stagy step to manage the damaging image problems created for his much touted anti-corruption crusade by ordering a full scale investigation into the discovery of large amounts of foreign and local currencies by the EFCC in a residential apartment at Osborne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos, over which the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has made a claim. In statement signed by the presidential

spokesman, Mr. Femi Adesina, the president directed a committee headed by VicePresident Yemi Osinbajo to also investigate the allegations of violations of law and due process made against the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. David Babachir Lawal, in the award of contracts under the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE), running into millions of naira. Consequently, the president directed the suspension of the Director General of the NIA, Ambassador Ayo Oke, and Mr. Babachir Lawal, pending the outcome of the investigation. This came as many political observers said Buhari’s action was designed to manage the “stinky mess” created by EFCC over the discovery of huge amount of foreign and local currencies in Lagos. In the statement, a three-man Committee comprising the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, and the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, is also to conduct investigation into the circumstances in which the NIA came into possession of the funds. The committee also has the mandate to dig up how and by whose or which authority the funds were made available to the NIA, and to establish whether or not there has been a breach of the law or security procedure in obtaining custody and use of the funds. The committee is to submit its report to the president within 14 days, while the most senior Permanent Secretary in the SGF office, and the most senior officer at the NIA, are to act, respectively, during the period of investigation. Already, many Nigerians, including civil society groups, labour organisation and others have saluted the President for having the courage to reset the anti-corruption war, but would rather an independent investigative body to handle the recent development, especially when a member of the committee, Malami had once cleared Lawal. Besides, the committee is said to have been making tremendous progress. Nigerians certainly can’t wait to hear it all, even though the investigations are behind closed doors. However, as the election year draws near and while many APC leaders may be relying on the weight of incumbency to win the next general election, not many political experts doubt that voters’ views of an incumbent’s previous performance greatly influence their decision. Unseating an incumbent president may be difficult, as was witnessed in the 2015 general election, because according to experts, for an incumbent to be defeated, some of the electorate who voted for the incumbent in the preceding election must shift loyalty. But political thinkers believe many voters reckon that an incumbent’s performance is based on the state of the nation’s economy, that if the economy is doing well, an incumbent has a good chance at re-election. And right now, this might be the headache and pain of some APC strategists, who understand the game very well.

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PERSPECTIVE Nnamdi-Ogbue: The Story of Her Exit from NNPC Jack Kalio

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e met in a restaurant. At first sight, you would mistake him for one of those welldressed, clean-looking applicants on Abuja streets. I was already seated when he walked in. The waitress was by my side taking my orders. As he pulled a chair opposite me, I took a sweeping look at his person. Then the compelling scent of his perfume hit me. It was now easy to place him in a certain class; even if wrongly. While fiddling with his mobile phone, he was apparently listening as the waitress wrote down my order and later repeated each item for confirmation. As the young woman moved over to his side of the table to take his orders, I noticed a smile of familiarity on her face; indicating that he wasn’t as new to the place as I was. He simply smiled back and told her: can you give me the same thing he asked for? He was referring to my order as being good enough for him. Then he smiled at me; extended his hand of friendship and I took it. At that point, the music on the television suddenly stopped and a smiling face appeared to present a news summary. The first news item was on the discovery and recovery of N13 billion in an apartment in Ikoyi, Lagos. While the newscaster read names of individuals and organisations that had laid claims to or were linked to the money, the man sitting opposite me sighed with such disgust that set my mind thinking. Then without looking at me, he said as though talking to himself: “Why are they still mentioning this woman’s name in connection to this their money? It’s senseless to believe that she could have cornered such an amount from NNPC and nobody would know!” Instantly, I knew he was referring to Mrs Esther Nnamdi-Ogbue, the immediate past managing director of NNPC Retail Limited. She was relieved of her appointment at the same time the hidden billions of naira was discovered by the Economic and Financial crimes Commission (EFCC). I simply smiled and replied: “It’s difficult to believe that she wouldn’t do that. These days, women are no more the women we used to think they were. They may look so innocent but there is a devil in all of them. It’s so unfortunate really but that’s the truth.” He looked at me and replied: “there are things I should be sure of. I worked with her. We were not the best of friends, or let me say, she wouldn’t describe me as one of her best subordinates, but I can say certain things about her with all certainty. She couldn’t have done it.” I became curious. I could feel all the hairs on my head standing at attention. Over the past week, I had been silently hunting for somebody who would tell me something about this woman. Principally, I needed to know why she was relieved of her appointment because in all the noise over the recovered loot, that aspect of the news seemed to have been buried; no investigation; no disclosure. Here was a chance to dig in and get the truth.

Nnamdi-Ogbue “I can guess what’s on your mind. You think she was sacked from NNPC because of this loot? Let me tell you and I will just stop there, she has nothing to do with this loot; and her so called retirement from the NNPC has nothing to do with this.” At this point, the waitress returned to say that our order was not readily available except we could sacrifice the next 15 minutes. I quickly answered: “okay, we will wait.” I needed time alone with Eke-Madua (not his real name). How I got Eke-Madua talking again still baffles me till now because he did not seem to be in the mood to reveal anything. For the next 20 minutes or so, Eke-Madua narrated, in reasonable detail, how and why Mrs Nnamdi-Ogbue was sacked from the NNPC by those he assumed were benefitting from the scam that has bedevilled the nation’s oil industry. He said that at the centre of the issue was alleged criminal activity embarked upon by an oil and gas marketing company that is currently being investigated by the appropriate government agencies but whose investigation he believes would not see the light of day because “you can’t trust these people especially when their interest is at stake.” His story went like this: prior to the deregulation of the downstream oil industry, NNPC used to have all its products from the Pipeline Products and Marketing Company. What this

In this country, there are still men and women of integrity; but there are so many wicked people who parade more might than the innocent. Tell me, is it right for somebody who raises alarm over a criminal activity to suffer because she is considered to have stepped on toes of collaborators?

into my face. “Based on the directive of the managing director, we were able to salvage the situation by trucking out the remaining PMS amounting to almost two million litres. Still, that left an outstanding indebtedness of almost 85 million litres of PMS in favour of NNPC Retail Limited. This is valued at more than N12 billion,” said Eke-Madua. The summary of his narrative was that the criminally-minded oil and gas marketing company had removed the unaccounted-for volumes of the product illegally because it was not done with the consent of the NNPC Retail Limited. And that all attempts by the NNPC Retail Limited to recover the unaccounted-for volumes from the marketing company, either in material sense or in monetary equivalents, yielded zero results. It sounded believable except for one missing link. My reasoning was that it was irresponsible of the management of NNPC Retail Limited to sit tight while the scam lasted. As if reading my mind, Eke-Madua said something that shocked me. “It is natural for you to think that madam deserved what happened because she presided over a huge scam. That would be correct if she did nothing about the situation; or if she was a part of the scam.” He disclosed that as soon as the scam was discovered, Mrs Nnamdi-Ogbue raised several memos to every agency of government and certain top government functionaries first, by way of information; and second, to call the offending company to order. Eke-Madua was emphatic that as someone deeply and strategically involved in the running of the enterprise, he was aware that several letters were written to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Department of State Services (the Secret Service) to investigate the scam. According to him, at the beginning, it was doubtful if some top officers of the retail company were not involved in the scam; meant was that NNPC Retail had no immedi- including the managing director and her management team. But the level alarm she ate need of operating its own depot facilities. raised and the vigour with which she pursued But this soon changed when the downstream the matter left no one in doubt that she was sector of the oil industry was deregulated in 2016. At this point, the retail subsidiary decided shocked and embarrassed by the magnitude of the scam and was bent on ensuring that the to seek alternative product sources through direct importation, third party supplies, among marketing company would not go unpunished. That was exactly what put her in trouble. It is others believed that she must have innocently stepped According to him, since NNPC Retail Ltd had no depot facilities, it decided to engage on big toes. He said that as soon as the offending comprivate depots owners under what he called the throughput arrangements so that products pany refused to honour its obligation to NNPC Retail Limited within the stipulated deadline, so imported or procured through third party the managing director alerted the EFCC and sources could be stored pending when they would be distributed to its stations nationwide. the DSS seeking their full-blown assistance to recover the money or the unaccounted-for Under this arrangement, any storage depots volume of the PMS. However, nothing seemed picked was expected to make available its facilities made up of storage tanks with not less to happen. After several letters were written to than two million litres capacity, loading gantry, these agencies without any action being taken against the marketing company, “we became truck parking areas and office space. curious and disturbed.” He said everything went on well until it Then just as the waitress emerged from the was discovered that two of the companies far end of the well-set dining hall with a tray of had decided to engage in criminal activities. It meal, he leaned forward and in a whisper, said: was observed that there was a wide disparity “Those behind the scam really had their back between the NNPC book balance volume covered by some heavy weights somewhere. and what he called the ending stock volume They continued to have a field day and enjoyed which indicated the actual volume of product their loots instead of being locked up and in the companies’ storage tanks. One of the their assets sold to recover the money. I can companies whose identity he disclosed was quick to make up for the scam while the other confirm that the managing director was sacked as a punishment for raising alarm over the one bluntly refused. Instead, the owners were fraudulent act. Have you ever heard of such a boasting that nothing would happen. thing before?” Eke-Madua went on to explain that the Then we had our meal; and as we parted inventory reconciliation indicated that while ways, Eke-Madua said something that left me NNPC Retail Limited book balance showed thinking: “In this country, there are still men more than N13 billion worth of product in and women of integrity; but there are so many favour of NNPC Retail Limited, the ending wicked people who parade more might than stock disclosure or the actual volume of product in the depot was about one quarter of the innocent. Tell me, is it right for somebody that. In his narrative, Eke-Madua said everyone who raises alarm over a criminal activity to suffer because she is considered to have stepped was rattled. Those directly responsible for supervision were immediately rounded–up and on toes of collaborators? I challenge the NNPC hierarchy to tell the world what this woman did subjected to investigation while the company was summoned for a meeting and demanded wrong. They won’t because they have nothing to either re-stock in favour of NNPC or pay the to tell the world.” monetary equivalent. ––Kalio, a former journalist, lives in Abuja “Guess what?” He asked looking straight

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PERSPECTIVE

Where is Africa in the Expanding Trajectories of Internet Tunji Olaopa

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rafting the article’s title as a question is both rhetorical and substantive. But the danger is that as a rhetorical question, it is assuming a lot. Of course, everyone, at a superficial level, knows that the Internet is a dynamic technological innovation that has become very significant to the ways we imagine our contemporary world today. The Internet makes a lot of things possible. For instance, at the entrepreneurial level, the Internet is critical to the networking of business ideas in a manner that is not limited by space and time. My business proposal, for instance, can be forwarded to a collaborator in Germany who in turn can ask for its assessment in Switzerland, and funding for the proposal can be sought in the United States, all without any of us having any physical contact. The Internet has therefore become an electronic communication highway that generates interdependence while providing transformational possibilities. There is no doubt that the development of the Internet has transformed humanity’s potentials to overcome its limitations. But however significant this understanding is, it is still superficial as to the full extent of the possibilities that the Internet possesses, especially for development purposes at a continental level like Africa and its many underdeveloped states. At a distinctly significant Roundtable coming up between May 2-4, 2017, a critical segment of the African academic community as well as a critical mass of Internet practitioners will be converging at Ibadan, under a collaborative effort between Google and the Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy (ISGPP), to deliberate on the crucial relationship between governance, Internet research and Internet policy to Africa’s development efforts in the twenty first century. At least, one objective is to initiate a discourse that goes beyond a surface appreciation of the potentialities of the Internet to exploring the deeper capacities it possesses for transforming Africa into a strong developmental continent with formidable and thriving digital economies. The starting point of this conference is to tease out how the Internet and the lack of an effective Internet policy complicate Africa’s development vision and efforts. The theme of the Roundtable itself foregrounds a compelling development narrative: “Strenghtening Internet Policy through Theoretically Grounded Research.” Africa’s development impasse is a protracted complexity that has so many hierarchies of difficulties. One of the most fundamental is the inability of the continent to convert plausible development ideas and paradigms to transformational policy that could be the springboard for the empowerment of Africans. From the Lagos Plan of Action to NEPAD, there have been myriads of development agenda and initiatives that all failed to significantly transform Africa’s development predicament. The reigning social science concept today is the idea of a developmental state. This is the idea of a state that is able to take the burden of macroeconomic and developmental initiatives driven by its critical regulation of the crucial factors of development. Factor into this complex underdevelopment of Africa’s development potentials the lack of a functional continental Internet policy that can backstop Africa’s, and especially national, development efforts. As a former permanent secretary at the Ministry of Communication Technology, I came face to face with the implications of this critical policy absence, together with so many others. There are therefore specificities to the Internet issues that go beyond the appreciation of its significance for international, transnational and global interdependence and interaction. The fundamental issue derives from what to make of the Internet and how to deploy its relevance for national and continental development purposes. For Africa, the challenges of converting the Internet into a development dynamics are legion. Consider the following. First, there is the challenge of inclusiveness and universal service that give the Internet the capability of enfolding the whole of humanity. But the usual underdevelopment issue rears its head with the Internet in Africa. Africa has a notoriously low internet penetration rate of 16%. The continent therefore remains in a dangerous development status as large swathes of the continent remains unconnected/under-connected to the internet. 16% Internet penetration level is definitely insufficient to instigate development planning! Internet inclusiveness ties in automatically with the problem of affordability. Technology opens up efficiencies and opportunities that development policies

Google CEO Sundar Pichai can piggyback on to resolve the thorny challenges of, say, poverty reduction and disease control while improving quality of life and service delivery. However, since technology itself does not come cheap, those very portions of the populace who are in dire need of the Internet to access development initiatives are the very ones that will be left out of it. The 16% Internet penetration level simply means that only 15 out of every 100 Africans can access the Internet. This is even more critical when entrepreneurial creativity and SMEs are constantly being stifled by their inability to afford the cost of connection. A larger challenge comes from the lack of local content that comes from the government’s capacity to take ownership of the Internet in its own domains. This challenge is a step higher than that of inclusiveness. If the problem of inclusiveness is overcome, then there comes that of owning the contents of the Internet and deploying them for development purposes. The evolving digital economy is a prime option for Africa to creatively utilize. On the contrary, however, most of the local content available on African networks are borrowed with very little customization for the African environment. This dismal situation sends a dangerous signal of an impending digital colonization of the African Internet presence. A corollary challenge arises from the specter of cybercrimes and security issues. Ownership of Internet content automatically raises the gravity of a state’s capacity to protect those contents. The digital economy dynamics is the most prone to cybercrime which has itself become as sophisticated as the evolving technologies that created the worldwide web. If the Pentagon and other critically guided organizations can be successfully hacked, what do we say about the Internet status of critical African institutions and economies that are still at the hesitant stage of incorporation? All these challenges outlined above only presage a really deeper one. And this is the absence of a sufficiently dynamic Internet policy grounded on a compelling theoretical research that would not only match the evolving research framework that gave birth to the Internet itself, but also incorporate an African technological component into the framework of the Internet. This is really the critical issue at stake. While African countries have been rather long on rhetoric, especially about the significance of a STEM education as well as science, technology and innovation (STI) for national development, they have been too short on practical implementation of significantly concrete policies that will translate their political rhetoric to cogent policy frameworks. It is still not clear whether, for instance, African countries have made any serious progress towards meeting the target of dedicating 1% of their total GDP to research and development (R&D). There are even no

available data to track development progress! Thus, for Africa to become truly developmental, it is not sufficient for the continent to just pursue getting an enlarged presence on the Internet. Rather, it must be willing to craft an Internet policy dynamics that will facilitate significant contributions in terms of an efficient Internet R&D. The Google-ISGPP Internet Policy Conference therefore becomes very timely and imperative because it brings to the Roundtable a multidisciplinary team of academics, practitioners and scholars to brainstorm on these outlined challenges as well as issues of governance and development, knowledge and capacity building, entrepreneurship and innovation, intellectual property and security, etc. The ultimate objective of the Roundtable is to jumpstart a critical development trajectory that will give birth to a Pan-African Think Tank on Internet Policy which will serve as a dynamic platform for inspiring new frontiers in academic research that will then critically advance digital industrialization by Africans for Africans. Recently, African leaders and scholars have come under the grips of the “Africa Rising” euphoria backed by some impressive economic growth data of about 7%. A further opportunity to boost a truly rising African development profile comes from the capacity of African states to boost the potential for efficient digital economies at the critical juncture of digital innovation and technologies, digital accessibility, governance foresight, and wealth generation. However, what kind of philosophy of innovation in Africa can bring about thriving digital economies? To answer this question means beginning with a glaring absence of such a developmental philosophy as a crucial antecedent to a formidable developmental state in Africa. The top ten states in Africa with very high Internet penetration are Nigeria (48.4 users), Egypt (29.8m), Morocco (16.5m), Kenya (12m), South Africa (8.5m), Sudan (6.5m), Tanzania (5.6m), Algeria (5.2m), Uganda (4.4m), and Tunisia (4.2m). In spite of this high penetration, these countries have still not become outstanding examples of digital economies or of a developmental state. At the minimum, therefore, the Google-ISGPP Roundtable will attempt to lay the foundation of an academic reflection on Internet policy and development initiatives that will (a) seek to connect emerging disruptive technologies to the efficiency of digital infrastructure on the continent; (b) generate the gem of research thinking on the idea of innovative ecosystem and economic diversification in the unfolding Internet and knowledge economy; and (c) map the relationship between the dynamics of the Internet and other digital trends to the awakening of the entrepreneurial creativity in Africa. All these derive from the will to go forward in the drive to establish an Internet Policy that will link both research and development efforts across the continent. Thus, this African academic collaboration will become a significant groundwork to establish the fundamental theoretical foundation that could identify the core issues required to nurture an African contribution to the dynamics of Internet policy across the globe. The Roundtable, at the end of its proceedings, will achieve two significant things. First, it will become the nucleus of an African academic community of practice on the Internet and Internet policy. This community will then be broadened and strengthened over time into a large theoretical space that will mainly define the African best practices in internet innovation and digital governance economy. This community of practice, through working papers, research themes, conferences and seminars, publication and social media marketing, etc., would be expected to continually define the relationship between digital infrastructure and governance in Africa. Second, as an immediate benefit, the Roundtable will produce an action plan—The Academic Action Plan on Internet Policy in Africa (AAPIPA)—together with a template for its dissemination and implementation across the continent. The Google-ISGPP Roundtable has only three days to unravel, but its impact is expected to become the seed for transforming reflection and policy research on the utility of the Internet and digital infrastructures in Africa. Finally, there is a real attempt, grounded in active research, that could lead in the final analysis to a truly rising profile for Africa in terms of a genuine economic matrix that can empower Africans, as the continent marches into the twenty first century defined by robust digital interactions founded on knowledge. Dr. Tunji Olaopa is the Executive Vice-Chairman of Ibadan School of Government & Public Policy (tolaopa@isgpp.com.ng; tolaopa2003@ gmail.com)

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ RIL 30, 2017

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That NIA’s Black-Budget and Mysterious Whistle-blower Yushau A. Shuaib

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reparatory to the daring and merciless military operations against Boko Haram members, top officers of security and intelligence agencies were in Lagos and Abuja, towards the end of 2014 to interact with critical stakeholders that matter in shaping public perception and opinions. The then President of Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Mr. Femi Adesina, was part of the audience. The interactive sessions involved the display of video clips of horrific atrocities of Boko Haram terrorists against humanity. Gory scenes of brutal executions of captured intelligence officers who were accused of spying on the terrorists’ group were shown. The officers and their informants were cruelly dismembered, buried or burnt alive by the dare devil terrorists. One of the heart-aching videos was that of a captured female intelligence operative who was “daggered” into pieces before she could plead for her life. Few months after some debriefing with the stakeholders, through miraculous strategies of operations against terrorists, positive images emerged on the gallantry of Nigerian troops. PRNigeria released some of the declassified videos on the storming of Sambisa Forest by the special forces and intelligence operatives from the air and on the ground. The original video showed hijab-dressed female intelligence operatives, guiding women and children from the air raid to safe military zone. There were also reported cases of captured men dressed in women attire by Nigerian troops who were later discovered to be security operatives assigned to spy in terrorists’ enclaves. Strangely enough, between January to May 2015, when Sambo Dasuki was the then National Security Adviser over two dozen occupied towns were successfully recovered and liberated from Boko Haram. The towns were: Abadam, Askira, Baga, Bama, Bara, Buni Yadi, Damboa, Dikwa, Gamboru-Ngala, Goniri, Gujba, Gulag, Gulani, Gwoza, Hong, Kala Balge, Konduga, Kukawa, Marte, Madagali, Michika, Monguno, Mubi, Vimtim among other communities. Meanwhile, while the military and security agencies took credit for all counter-terrorism campaigns, most of the highprofile terrorists arrested, especially at the borders and across the borders were facilitated by the intelligence service. The service also facilitated the participations of reluctant neighbours in Multi-National Joint Taskforce (MNJTF) and other special forces for the success of operations. Recently too, when 21 Chibok girls were freed by Boko Haram in October 2016, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo publicly disclosed that there was no exchange of detained members of the Boko Haram sect for the girls. The Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, also strongly denied the report that Nigerian government paid a robust ransom for their release. Since no one knows what influenced the ‘Father Christmas’ gesture of Boko Haram leaders in releasing the girls which even took a section of the military by surprise, it is purely exceptional intelligence operations. This writer has deliberately avoided mentioning any of Nigeria’s secret organisations on the above operations. The

Magu recent exposure of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) to disrepute after the discovery of cash haul in an Ikoyi Apartment is a sad commentary to one of the most organised, fine and respected intelligence organisations in Africa. Not only has the scandal damaged the integrity of the agency, it further exposed Nigeria’s intelligence community to global ridicule. It is necessary to point out that in security circle, a black budget is allocated for classified and other covert operations of a nation which can be expended under different covers and through different channels including funding of NGOs, Cultural groups, religious organisations, corporations, private firms and on most occasions through cash that could not be traced. Consciously and unconsciously patriotic and innocent citizens have supported or carried out intelligence activities without being identified with the secret service. The instrument relating to the establishment, structure and duties of National Intelligence Agency, especially under the National Security Agencies Act 1986 (Cap 278LFN), clearly states that “The account of the National Intelligence Agency shall not be subject to external audit but the Director General shall by first week of March each year, render to the President, a certificate showing the total expenses during the preceding period and under which the expenditure was made and copy the National Security Adviser.” Similarly, there are repeated keywords on NIA’s mandates

which include: National Security, National Interest, employing covert sources, using the cover of government or private concerns; conduct espionage, covert operations, and counter intelligence activities. Even though there are declared staff who are authorised to disclose their identities, most intelligence operatives are undeclared and barred from disclosing their identities but only to close family members and associates. While some live in opulence for covert assignments, others act beggarly and pretend to be poor in sensitive terrains. The intelligence agencies allow other sister agencies take the credit for successful operations. Most of the arrested terrorists’ commanders especially at the borders and across the borders were facilitated by the intelligence service. The scandal over N15 billion recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at Osborne Street, Ikoyi, Lagos is quite embarrassing because the Director General of NIA, Ambassador Ayo Oke, has claimed that the fund belonged to the agency. The incident is coming at a period of an intense inter-agency rivalry where security agencies were allegedly reported to be behind the leakages of classified and confidential information to smear their perceived oppositions within the same government. The above scenario is again playing out here. Now that NIA has laid claim to the amount found in Ikoyi apartment, does it mean the Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC) was misled? Is the mysterious whistle-blower a character in the inter-agency rivalry? Or is it another counter-intelligence by another foreign secret service against Nigeria? In a December 2016’s article by this writer on Magu’s EFCC: Between Suspects and Victims (http://yashuaib.com/blogs/magu-efcc-suspects-victims/) I warned that “President Buhari should ensure that the brewing inter-agency conflict among critical institutions should be urgently addressed. For instance, if the EFCC should attempt to retaliate against the report of DSS, the result will not only be dirty but likely to compromise national security.” While the EFCC publicized the discovery, it has totally failed to disclose the owner. Even the vibrant spokesperson of EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, had to put off his mobile phone for almost 72 hours during the fracas. With all fingers pointing to the fact that the money belongs to NIA, the burden of proof is who is the mysterious whistle-blower? Could the whistle-blower have acted on behalf of an agency engaged in the rivalry or was it a major counter-intelligence operation by foreign interests to expose and embarrass our intelligence network? There are many ways of removing public officers but such attempts should not be done by rubbishing the integrity of public institutions they represent, especially in Nigeria’s security architecture. I strongly believe at this critical period and with the unabated inter-agency rivalries and the incidence of leakages of classified information by some agencies of government, the current National Security Adviser, General Babagana Monguno, should be wary of these developments. Though a gentleman, he needs to be more pragmatic, charismatic, assertive and decisive in dealing with erring agencies.

ÒÙ ÓÝ ÐÜËÓÎ ÙÐ ØÎã ÌËˣ Ahiafor Owo Mez

T

he media attacks on Senator Andy Uba since his declaration of intention to vie for office as Anambra State governor again have been sustained and I want to register my disapproval of it. The situation reminds me of the principled stand Wole Soyinka had to take against cruelty to Igbos during the 1967-1970 Nigerian Crisis. He did take that stand: “the man died who kept silent in the face of evil.” Senator Andy Uba is coming to election with clearly demonstrated effectiveness as a manager of people and resources, a helper to the helpless and a bridge-builder who attracts goodwill nationwide and internationally to richly empower all Ndi Anambra. Andy Uba was like the biblical Joseph in Egypt. He won and retained President Obasanjo’s confidence before and after his eight years as the Commander-in-chief’s closest domestic aide. Carefully using his command of access to the President, he ensured that strategic positions did not elude Igbos and Anambra State in particular. He was instrumental to the appointment of many Igbo people among others into the Administration. His position, arguably a reward for exemplary sacrifice and maintained by continuing faithfulness, became a wide open door of inclusion and accommodation. As senator till date, Andy Uba continued to serve the people. Issues affecting Igbo rights always found a voice in him. Courageously he has acknowledged that Igbo

share of Federal Government jobs has reduced since the “change”, but added that the current ruling party would reverse the situation now that he is one of them. He is one of the senators that advocated the inclusion of the second Niger Bridge and the repair of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Railway lines in the 2017 Budget of the Federal Government. He has argued for the release of Nnamdi Kanu the detained director of Radio Biafra, London. He has also called for the investigation of the alleged extra-judicial killing of pro-Biafran agitators by the Nigerian Army. He was among the senators who paid tribute to the late ex-Biafran commander-in-chief Odumegwu-Ojukwu, thereby removing the obstacles for the Federal Government giving the departed hero a befitting burial. A quietly active lawmaker, Senator Andy Uba has sponsored not less than four bills which will improve the ease of doing business when they become law. Including Company Income Tax Amendment Bill, the National Roads Fund Establishment Bill, Consumer Protection Act 2004 Repeal Bill and the Competition (Anti-Trust) Commission Establishment Bill, these legislative efforts have occupied the minds of fellow senators who are making inputs to them towards enactment. Outside the senatorial scope, he has enlarged his people-oriented ventures to wide acclaim. He is lauded for building and donating a civic centre hall as well as a vocational training centre to his Uga community. An auditorium and an FM station for the Mass Communication department of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and an 8,000 capacity church building in Nnewi are

also ascribed to him. Also to his credit is the Faculty of Pharmacy building at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka where 120 students have benefitted from his scholarship programme. Again, scores of jobless youth have been empowered to provide food for their families through his donation of tricycles and motorcycles with which they freight people and materials. Today, good news of Senator Andy Uba; and tomorrow brings more. The excitement among Andy’s supporters continues to increase; the camp is gaining more and more activists by the day. No wonder, more and more stalwarts defect from APGA and PDP and join APC where Andy Uba has united with Chris Ngige, Tony Nwoye, George Moghalu, Phil Agbasi and other crowd pullers. And this is no small worry to those who think Anambra State shouldn’t ask for more. This is the only cause of the desperate attacks on Senator Andy Uba. Well anyone who aspires to serve his people comes in for a lot of flak. Mandela’s walk to South Africa presidency was no easy walk. He was arrested a couple of times and finally sentenced to life imprisonment. He was a prisoner for twenty-seven years until fortune smiled on him and released him to lead the healing of the apartheid-battered country. Likewise, Trump’s path to the presidency of the United States was strewn with thorns, but he fought on till the end and emerged victorious. Senator Andy Uba must therefore take all the attacks in his stride as he has so far done. ––Ahiafor Owo Mez, a poet, lives in Lagos

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BUSINESS GURUS R-L: CEO, TEXEM & Member Advisory Board of London Business School Africa, Dr. Alim

Abubakre, and Daughter of the President of Angola and Chair of Sonangol, Isabel Do Santos, at the London Business School Africa Summit held at Hilton Park Lane, London...recently

QUEST IN TOWN L-R: CNN International Anchor and Reporter Richard Quest, and Chief Marketing Officer of Sterling Bank, Henry Bassey, at a dinner held in Lagos‌recently

IG Has Ordered Raid on My Abuja Home, Wike Alleges

Investors Upbeat About CBN’s FX Policy Reforms, Says Elumelu

t Deputy House of Reps Speaker alleges threat to life

The Chairman of Heirs Holdings and founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), Mr. Tony Elumelu has declared that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has brought predictability to the foreign exchange (FX) market and that investors are excited by the apex bank’s reforms. Elumelu, who is one of Africa’s leading entrepreneurs and philanthropists, is confident that the country’s economic environment will improve soonest. He told CNN Money’s anchor Maggie Lake on the ‘Quest Means Business’ programme that the Buhari administration’s economic plan will help bring confidence back to the Nigerian economy. “The central bank has brought

Ernest Chinwo in Port Harcourt and Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike has alleged that the Inspector General of Police (IG), Ibrahim Idris, ordered his men to raid his (the governor’s) Abuja residence. The governor also restated his commitment to ensure that the $43 million recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at an Ikoyi residence, which he alleged belonged to Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, was returned to the state. Wike spoke yesterday at Government House, Port Harcourt while addressing journalists. He said Idris signed the order for the invasion of his residence on Friday before heading to Kaduna.

He also said the IG planned that the invasion took place over the weekend before getting a court order on Tuesday. “As I speak to you, the approval (to raid my house in Abuja) was made yesterday (Friday). They would have gone to court on Monday, but for public holiday. They will go to court on Tuesday to seek an order. I am not afraid, but I just want to let Nigerians know,� Wike said. He recalled that he had earlier spoken of a plot by the IG to eliminate him through the new commissioner of Police posted to Rivers State, Ahmed Zaki. His words: “About three weeks ago, I had an interview where I said the IG of Police is after my life. Yesterday, the IG had approved that they should

go my house in Abuja to raid my house. And that they would get the court order on Tuesday in Abuja. “First of all, I don’t stay in the lodge; I have never stayed in the lodge since I became governor. I live in my private house in Abuja, in Asokoro. Now, what they have done in that order they want to get from the court is that in the order they wanted to get from the court, they did not indicate who owns the house or who is living in the house. “Obviously, the court will be wary of searching a governor’s house because of immunity. But to beat that they did not indicate that it is the Governor of Rivers State House. I am not afraid. If you want to search my house, I live in Port Harcourt, I have my

house in the village and I have my house in Old GRA. So, you can come and search. “I don’t live in Abuja and I cannot keep anything in Abuja. They can go and plant either AK-47 or $1 million and say they found it in the governor’s house. They can even put wrist-watches that are so expensive that cost up to $10 million and say oh, we discovered it from the governor’s private residence. And I said I have to let Nigerians know that this is not the way to go about in democracy, rather this is an attempt to truncate democracy. “You cannot gag everybody; people must have their opinions on issues. That I have my opinion on a certain issue does not mean that you have to go after the person’s life.�

Recession’s Not Buhari’s Creation, Says Mohammed

Eight Sailors Abducted Off Bayelsa Waterways

t Ambode seeks capital expenditure increase as panacea

At least eight persons have been abducted along the Atlantic Ocean, off the waterways of Brass local council, Bayelsa State, after they were waylaid by their assailants. However, it was learnt that troops attached to the Nigerian Navy in the Niger Delta are already making frantic efforts to locate the whereabouts of the eight sailors who are all Nigerian nationals. Those kidnapped by the gang were identified as Smart Kungborde, Isaiah Ebiewe, Christopher Wisben, Gabriel Enayon, Sylvester Ovwigho, Mathew Enegbuma and Kelly Shaka and one other. All the victims, said to be staff members of Tethys Nig. Ltd and Sylver Global Ltd, were reportedly picked up at about 17 nautical miles off the Brass terminal. The company is said to be an indigenous Diving and Marine Contracting firm which provides technical services in the areas of underwater engineering, diving operations, marine transportation

Abimbola Akosile and Ugo Aliogo As the country battles to come out of the current economic recession, the Minister for Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has asserted that the ongoing recession was not a creation of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. Mohammedstressedthattherecessionwasbroughtaboutbythefall in oil prices, the crash in the volume of oil export, and the profligacy of the past government which in 2015 devoted 92 per cent of the budget to recurrent expenditure, 8 per cent to capital expenditure at a time oil priceshad crashed. The minister, who disclosed yesterday in Lagos at the 2017 Biennial Convention of the Nigeria Guild Editors (NGE) with theme; ‘A Nation in Recession: Whither the Nigerian Media?’ said the effect of the recession has led to a vast reduction in the country’s

dollar earnings, depletion of the forex reserves, stating that this led the administration to take drastic measures over the ban of 41 items, and importation of tooth-pick. Mohammed, who was represented by the Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Bayo Onanuga, said the administration has succeeded in shaming doomsday prediction that the recession could worsen into a depression, adding that leading economies such as the United States have undergone recession, and noted that the tone of the narratives would soon change as efforts are in placereversethesituation. Mohammed called on the media to be a conduit for a twoway communication between the government and the people which would present accurate and unbiased information to the people, adding that it is imperative that people are well informed about recession because of the impacts it has on their lives.

Emmanuel Addeh in Yenagoa

and offshore construction. The unidentified gunmen were said to have forcefully boarded the vessel after firing gunshots in the air to instil fear in the victims. The abductors were said to have stolen all their victims’ valuables, hounded them into their speedboats and driven them to an unknown place. It was, however, gathered that troops of the Forward Operation Base (FOB) Fomoso at Egweama in Brass were making some efforts to free the eight men. There was no official statement from naval authorities in the state yesterday, neither were they willing to make any comments on the kidnap incident, but a senior security source, who spoke in confidence, confirmed the development and said the victims were still being held by the kidnappers. He added that the security operatives designated to deal with the matter had already started work, giving the difficult terrain as reason for the difficulty in locating the captors and their victims.

Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja

predictability to the forex market and investors are excited by the reforms. The Nigerian economy is turning the corner and as an investor, I am optimistic this will continue especially now that there’s a clear economic recovery and growth plan,� he said. According to him, creating the enabling environment and improving infrastructure like power, will take Nigeria out of poverty and unemployment, while also empowering Nigerian women. Elumelu, who is also the Chairman of UBA Plc harped on the importance of bringing together government and business leaders to interface on ways to build upon the momentum with a view to further promoting economic growth, and helping the youth.

US Group Emphasises Economic Benefits of Anticorruption War Anayo Okolie The national president of Abia State Associations in North America (the UnitedStatesandCanada),Dr.Chris Ike, has said that Nigeria would attract billions of dollars in investments from America if it effectively and successfully prosecutes the war on corruption. Ike, who spoke at the weekend in Umuahia, also said the federal government’s sincere commitment to the payment of the agreed percentage of recovered funds to whistleblowers would be a major boost to the fight against corruption. The pharmacist on a medical mission to Abia State warned the Muhammadu Buhari administration against politicising the anticorruption war. “The government should not politicise this fight or use it as propaganda machinery

for people in authority against their political opponent, but it should put the right people in the right position for the war to be meaningful,� he stated. Ike said ASNANA had carried out many medical missions to Abia State since 2014 with over 40 medical personnel on each medical mission. According to him, apart from treating over 10,000 sick people and the aged, the medical missions had supplied medical equipment to hospitals and health centres in the state worth millions of naira. According to him, “We ordered a container load of medical supplies, it arrived Abia State from Atlanta, Georgia, in December 2016 and it was distributed to Abia hospitals. As we speak, there’s also a container load of personal energy transport we brought into Umuahia for cripples.�

GOtv Celebrates Africa Month

Þà Ă?Ă&#x;ĂŒĂ?Ă?ĂœĂ“ĂŒĂ?ĂœĂ? ĂĄĂ“Ă–Ă– Ă’Ă‹Ă Ă? Ă‹Ă?Ă?Ă?Ă?Ă? ÞÙ Ă?Ù×Ă? Ă?âĂ?Ă“ĂžĂ“Ă˜Ă‘ Ă?ĂœĂ“Ă?Ă‹Ă˜ Ă?âĂ?Ă“ĂžĂ?Ă—Ă?Ă˜Ăž Ă“Ă˜ ÞÒĂ? Ă—Ă™Ă˜ĂžĂ’ Ă™Ă? Ă‹ĂŁËœ Ă‹Ă? ÞÒĂ? Ă‹ĂŁĚ‹ ĂšĂœĂ™Ă Ă“ĂŽĂ?Ăœ Ă’Ă‹Ă? ÞËÑÑĂ?ĂŽ Ă‹ĂŁ ËŠ Ă&#x;Ăœ Ă?ĂœĂ“Ă?Ă‹ËŞ Ă“Ă˜ Ă?Ă?Ă–Ă?ĂŒĂœĂ‹ĂžĂ“Ă™Ă˜ Ă™Ă? Ă?ĂœĂ“Ă?Ă‹ Ă‹ĂŁË› Ă?ĂœĂ“Ă?Ă‹ Ă‹ĂŁ Ă“Ă? Ă?Ă?Ă–Ă?ĂŒĂœĂ‹ĂžĂ?ĂŽ Ă™Ă˜ Ă‹ĂŁ Í°Íł Ă™Ă? Ă?Ă Ă?ĂœĂŁ ĂŁĂ?Ă‹ĂœË› Ă&#x;ĂœĂ“Ă˜Ă‘ ÞÒĂ? Ă—Ă™Ă˜ĂžĂ’Ëœ Þà Ă?Ă&#x;ĂŒĂ?Ă?ĂœĂ“ĂŒĂ?ĂœĂ? ĂĄĂ“Ă–Ă– Ă?Ă˜Ă”Ă™ĂŁ Ă&#x;Ă˜Ă—Ă‹ĂžĂ?Ă’Ă?ĂŽ Ă?Ă˜ĂžĂ?ĂœĚ‹ ĂžĂ‹Ă“Ă˜Ă“Ă˜Ă‘ Ă?Ă™Ă˜ĂžĂ?Ă˜Ăž Ă?Ă&#x;Ă?Ă’ Ă‹Ă? Ă?Ă‹Ă?Ă™Ă˜ Í° Ă™Ă? Ă“Ăš ĂŁĂ˜Ă? ËÞÞÖĂ? Ă?ĂœĂ“Ă?Ă‹Ëœ ĂĄĂ’Ă“Ă?Ă’ Ă•Ă“Ă?Ă•Ă?ĂŽ Ă™Ă?Ă? Ă™Ă˜ Í°Í° ĂšĂœĂ“Ă– Ă‹Ă˜ĂŽ ĂĄĂ“Ă–Ă– Ă?Ă™Ă˜ĂžĂ“Ă˜Ă&#x;Ă? ÞÙ Ă‹Ă“Ăœ Ă™Ă˜ Ă‹Ă?Ă? Ě™ Ă’Ă‹Ă˜Ă˜Ă?Ă– ;ͰĚš Ă™Ă˜ Þà Ă?Ă Ă?ĂœĂŁ Ă‹ĂžĂ&#x;ĂœĂŽĂ‹ĂŁË› Ă˜ Ă“Ă?Ă?Ëœ Ă‹ ÍŻÍŽĚ‹ĂšĂ‹ĂœĂž ĂŽĂ™Ă?Ă&#x;Ă—Ă?Ă˜ĂžĂ‹ĂœĂŁ Ă?Ă?ĂœĂ“Ă?Ă? ÞÒËÞ ĂšĂœĂ™Ă?Ă“Ă–Ă?Ă? Ă?Ă&#x;Ă?Ă?Ă?Ă?Ă?Ă?Ă&#x;Ă– Ă—Ă?Ă˜ Ă‹Ă˜ĂŽ åÙ×Ă?Ă˜ ĂĄĂ’Ă™ Ă’Ă‹Ă Ă? Ă?Ă˜Ă”Ă™ĂŁĂ?ĂŽ Ă™Ă&#x;ĂžĂ?ĂžĂ‹Ă˜ĂŽĂ“Ă˜Ă‘ Ă?Ă&#x;Ă?Ă?Ă?Ă?Ă? Ă“Ă˜ ÞÒĂ?Ă“Ăœ Ă?Ă“Ă?Ă–ĂŽĂ? Ă‹Ă˜ĂŽ ĂŒĂ&#x;Ă“Ă–Ăž Ă?Ă™Ă&#x;Ă˜ĂŽ Ă–Ă?Ă‘Ă‹Ă?Ă“Ă?Ă?Ë› Ă’Ă?ĂŁ ĂĄĂ“Ă–Ă– Ă“Ă˜Ă?Ă–Ă&#x;ĂŽĂ? Ă?Ă˜ĂžĂœĂ?ĂšĂœĂ?Ă˜Ă?Ă&#x;ĂœĂ?Ëœ Ă?âĂ?Ă?Ă&#x;ÞÓà Ă?Ă? Ă‹Ă˜ĂŽ ĂšĂ’Ă“Ă–Ă‹Ă˜ĂžĂ’ĂœĂ™ĂšĂ“Ă?ĂžĂ?Ë›

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T H I S D AY SUNDAY APRIL 30, 2017

T H I S D AY SUNDAY APRIL 30, 2017

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SUNDAYSPORTS

Edited by Demola Ojo Email demola.ojo@thisdaylive.com

Joshua Knocks Out Klitschko, Remains Undefeated Heavyweight Champion Demola Ojo

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ritish-Nigerian boxer, Anthony Oluwafemi Joshua, knocked out former unified champion Wladimir Klitschko in the eleventh round of yesterday’s title fight in London to retain the IBF World Heavyweight belt and also claim the vacant WBA Heavyweight belt. Joshua produced the performance of his career to stop his Ukrainian counterpart with an enthralling knockout in front of a record 90,000 audience at the Wembley Stadium. It was the culmination of a close contest that saw Joshua dropping Klitschko in the fifth round, before being put down - for the first time in his 19-fight career - in the sixth. Both men looked in danger of being stopped over two rounds which will live long in the memory, before Joshua delivered the clinical blows in the 11th. The Briton landed a brutal uppercut which gave him the platform to send Klitschko down with an immediate flurry. Klitschko stood, but was again dropped by a left hook moments later, and then stood again, only for referee David Fields to save the challenger when pinned against the ropes. Joshua threw his arms into the air as roars rolled down the Wembley tiers. He had come through his stiffest test to date, while Klitschko had answered questions of his own, showing he remains competitive at world level, even at 41. The Ukrainian known as Dr Steelhammer will regret not finishing the job when he floored Joshua and appeared close to reclaiming two of the titles he lost in his last fight against Tyson Fury in 2015. “What can I say? 19-0, three and a half years in the game,” said Joshua. “I’m not perfect

Joshua (right) stopped Klitschko with a flurry of punches in Round 11

but I’m trying, and if you don’t take part, you’re going to fail. As boxing states, you leave your ego at the door and you respect your opponent. So a massive shout-out to Wladimir Klitschko.”Analysis - ‘Those punche In the process of claiming the biggest win of his career, Joshua showed amazing resilience, and this was, by far, his most impressive performance. He took the best punches from Klitschko (64-5), and survived to knock out a future Hall of Famer. After the fight, Klitschko wouldn’t confirm

that he would take a rematch -- neither, for that matter, would promoter Eddie Hearn -- but he was complimentary of his opponent. “The best man won tonight, and it’s an amazing event for boxing,” Klitschko told Sky Sports after the fight. It’s really sad I didn’t make it tonight. I was planning to do it. It didn’t work.” A rematch would be great for Joshua, now that he knows he can beat Klitschko. He also showed he could take massive punches from one of the best heavyweights in history, and even if after falling to the canvas, got

up to win. “It’s boxing. I’m only going to improve,” Joshua told Sky Sports. “Sometimes you can be a phenomenal boxer, but boxing is about character. When you go to the trenches, that’s when you find out who you really are.” It is not yet clear if the option of a rematchas stipulated in the contract of the fight will be taken. However, lying in wait asfuture opponents are for champion, Tyson Fury and the holder of the WBC heavyweight belt Deontay Wilder.

London Rumbles for Tottenham, Arsenal Derby

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orth London rivals Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal faceoff today in a Super Sunday clash at White Hart Lane in a match bound to have implications beyond bragging rights. Tottenham have not finished above their neighbours in the Premier League since 1995 but Mauricio Pochettino’s side can break that run if they beat their visitors. “It’s certainly one of the few times where, if you look at people’s opinions, Spurs are favourites,” Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger said. “It looks a bit like that but it doesn’t matter too much to me. It’s true that always in our press conferences we have to respond, if the worst happens what do you do? But let’s make sure that the best happens and give absolutely everything to make sure that we finish in a very strong way our season.” Tottenham boss Pochettino insists he “doesn’t think” about Arsenal’s position and says his focus is to “try to win every game and try to win the Premier League”. “I knew it was a big London derby but I felt the magnitude of what it means to the Tottenham fans when I started here and felt how the fans feel,” he said. A win for Tottenham will see them heap more pressure on Chelsea as the Premier League race reaches its final stretch whilean Arsenal win will boost the Gunners fading Top Four dream. Tottenham midfielder Mousa Dembele faces a race against time to be fit for the crucial north London derby as he’s struggling with an ankle injury. Danny Rose is unlikely to feature for the hosts, despite returning to training after three months out with a knee problem. Erik Lamela (hip) and Harry Winks

(ankle) are both unavailable but goalkeeper Michel Vorm has recovered from a knee injury and is available again. Wenger could be without Koscielny at White Hart Lane. The defender suffered a knee injury in Wednesday’s win over Leicester and is rated at only having a 60 per cent chance of playing. Fellow defender Shkodran Mustafi (thigh) is out for another two weeks while David Ospina (back), Lucas Perez (thigh) and Santi Cazorla (Achilles) are all absent. Tottenham are unbeaten in each of their last five league encounters with Arsenal (W1 D4); they’ve never gone six consecutive league games without defeat against the Gunners. Pochettino’s side have now won eight consecutive league games for the first time since October 1960, when they secured 13 successive victories.

Dele Alli (in front) and Harry Kane have spearheaded Tottenham’s Premiership title challenge

Everton Aim to Halt Chelsea’s Title Charge

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ntonio Conte has a full squad to pick from for Chelsea’s crucial trip to face Everton on Super Sunday. The Blues play at Goodison Park in the first installment of Super Sunday before Premier League title rivals Tottenham take on north London rivals Arsenal at White Hart Lane. Chelsea, who are four points clear of Spurs with five games remaining game, face arguably their toughest game of the run-in at Everton and Conte is not underestimating the Toffees pose. “Everton are a really good team, a strong team with great players in their squad, good quality. A physical team also,” said Conte. “They have a good manager and play exciting football. For sure it will be a really tough game for us but at the

end of the season, I think every game becomes tough for many different reasons. “When they play at home they are strong. For us it is very important to look at ourselves, to prepare very well for this type of game.” Meanwhile, Everton manager Ronald Koeman has called on his side to refocus and finish the season strongly after a poor performance in a 0-0 draw with West Ham last weekend. “Maybe we need to change our mentality a bit because I felt a bit less intensity in the game last week, maybe a bit less motivation. It is always difficult if you have already the seventh position in the pocket and maybe they get a little bit more holiday or end-of-season feeling. “That is what I don’t like. We like to keep momentum at home, we are strong at home

and we know what we need (to do) to face the best team of the Premier League.” Conte is expected to continue with his tried and tested regulars as his side edge ever close to the Premier League title, and that means Hazard and Costa look set to start. Chelseahavewon78pointsfromtheir33Premier League games so far. This is the eighth occasion that a side has won 78+ points from 33 games in the competition and half of those have been by Chelsea (Chelsea - four times, Manchester United - three times, Arsenal - once). Should Chelsea win their remaining five Premier League matches of the season, they will finish the campaign on 93 points. This would be the second-best points tally by a side in a Premier League season, after Chelsea in 2004-05 (95).

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R Ëž ͹͎Ëœ Í°ÍŽÍŻÍľ

High Life

͎͎͜;ʹ͜͜ͳ;ͳͰ

...Amazing lifestyles of Nigeria’s rich and famous

Raw deal! How Oba Akiolu ‘Snubbed’ Ooni Ogunwusi in Public

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ar brews between the royal circuits of Eko and Ile Ife, like badly brewed beer. It gives a heady whi, intoxicating the two kingdoms and goading them into a protracted and very dirty supremacy tussle and slugfest. The major characters are, Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, and the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi. The cool kindliness of silk, that smoothens away trouble and allays fears was all he sought but when Ooni of Ife, Oba Ogunwusi, encountered Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, last Tuesday, Akiolu gave him the rough, sandy kiss of the foot mat. The footage of the Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu snubbing the Oni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ojaja II, at a function has been trending on social media. Also in the footage is the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Achebe. It is such a shameful sight to see two paramount rulers and custodians of Yoruba cultural heritage act like cantankerous teens jostling for the love of a mutual crush. But unlike the anecdotal teens, they are not at loggerheads over some teen

crush, both traditional rulers are at war over issues of prestige and seniority. As the issue lingers, it has been revealed that those who are supposed to settle the dispute between the Obas are the ones fanning the embers of discord, thereby adding fuel to an already raging inferno. The Obas are supposed to be leaders by example and to bring peace in time of discord among their subjects, but this festering dispute portrays them otherwise. But Oba Akiolu, while reacting to the criticism that trailed the incident, said he was constrained by tradition from receiving and returning Ooni’s greeting, contrary to widespread belief that he snubbed the Ife monarch. “Anybody can imagine anything. There was nothing. The custom or tradition is like that in Lagos. We don’t hold each other; we don’t hug,� Oba Akiolu said. Meanwhile, Ogunwusi, has dissociated himself from a statement credited to Mr. Tunde Awoyeni who claimed that the palace would invoke the wrath of ancestors on Oba Akiolu for snubbing the Ooni at a public

function. Oba Ogunwusi said he would continue to hold the Oba of Lagos in high esteem and would not stop to accord him with respect. “Kabiyesi Ogunwusi is committed to his peace and unity agenda, which he has embarked on since he ascended

song and dance of their fortune and privileges. Though Lotana is easy-going and indifferent to the frills and thrills, vanities and shenanigans of high society. Not even her husband’s position and power have changed her outlook on life. Perhaps the tedious caucuses of rich, spoilt, garrulous wives of Nigerian bank chiefs would emulate her and desist from throwing their tiresome weights in people’s faces. Lotana is really enjoy now after all she has been with Kennedy through thick and thin. Lotanna Uzoka

IF EVERY BANK CHIEF HAD A WIFE LIKE LOTANA UZOKA... Ëž ËŞ

Lotana Uzoka, like her husband, is dignified. The dutiful wife of UBA MD, Kennedy Uzoka, affects the moon’s modest nature. This makes her entrancing to behold and relate with. Her splendour is never fully displayed for long for mortal eyes to indulge. Lotana is unpretentious in humility. Her unabashed modesty offers valuable lessons on what wantonness should be scorned and what values to court. She looks to simplicity, embraces purity, lessens the self and diminishes desire. It was so heartwarming to see her at the UBA CEO Awards night some days ago. She is no doubt one of the very few wives of top bankers who don’t make a

Adeyeye Ogunwusi

Rilwan Akiolu

HIGH SOCIETY THRONGS BAUCHI TO HONOUR NNPC GMD, MAIKANTU BARU’S MOTHER IN DEATH Again, bliss sputters to untimely death in the household of Maikantu Baru. Like a worn engine sputtering to sudden death, maternal bliss has disappeared from the abode of the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). The bliss and luxury of having a mother and basking in her goodwill and warmth has finally deserted the doorsteps of Baru. Baru recently buried his late mother, Hajiya Fatima Baru, who passed away last Thursday, at the age of 102.The late Hajiya Fatima, was buried in her hometown of Misau in Bauchi State last Friday amid an outpour of emotions and tributes. The top oil and gas players who want one favour and the other came in private jets to commiserate with Baru and register their presence apparently in consideration

the throne of his forefathers. We refrain from reacting oďŹƒcially, with a view to avoiding fanning any ember of discord as Oba Akiolu remains respected monarch and the Ooni had established a very robust and healthy relationship with him before his installation as Ooni of Ifeâ€?, a statement from Ooni’s palace said.

for future favours from the bereaved. Prior to the burial ceremony, Bauchi airport became a beehive of activities. It was indeed top-notch event and no doubt, the his late mom would turn in her grave for what her son did to honour her. From traditional rulers, captains of industry and top government functionaries to Misau indigenes, family friends, relatives and associates of the GMD, the funeral attracted a large turnout of guests from far and near. However, Baru will do well never to forget that it’s because of his privileged position that his mother ’s burial attracted such a large turnout by Nigeria’s high and mighty. The moment he leaves his position, he ceases to become the darling of Nigeria’s high society.

Maikantu Baru

THE GRAND BETRAYAL...HOW FOLORUNSHO ALAKIJA WAS DUPED BY STAFF Folorunsho Alakija is too rich to howl. But it hurts too much for the billionaire magnate and one of Africa’s richest women entrepreneurs to wave off her employee, Vincent Ayewah’s betrayal with a shrug. You could be forgiven for thinking Vincent has a dark heart. Donning false smiles like silk robes, he betrayed his employer, defrauding the latter of money amounting to three million naira. On Monday, her counsel told an Ikeja Division of the Lagos High Court how one Ayewah, an employee of Alakija’s Rose of Sharon Foundation, allegedly connived with his friends and siblings to forge the identity card of the foundation with different names to defraud the organization. The Rose of Sharon is an organisation founded by Alakija to empower widows as well give scholarships, up to the university level, for their children and orphans. Alakija petitioned EFCC and she was invited to shed more light on the incident. “The letter of investigation activities were written to banks like Fidelity Bank, Stanbic IBTC bank and others,� said Wasiu Ganiyu, an operative of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. “In view of that, other suspects were arrested for which they volunteered their statement under word of caution. “A search was conducted in the house and premises of the suspects

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R Ëž ͹͎Ëœ Í°ÍŽÍŻÍľ

At 65, Cherry Remains Apple of Gabriel Igbinedion’s Eyes ˞Esama of Benin fetes wife in London

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ondon listed like a cruise ship on the day Cherry, wife of the Esama of Benin, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion, clocked 65. On that day, Igbinedion feted his wife with a party so lavish it caused even the British aristocracy to go green with envy. That Igbinedion knows how to party at well over 80 years old is an open secret. The Esama of Benin has been throwing lavish parties for years. Thus when the opportunity presented for him to honour his wife in faraway London, Igbinedion caused the tourist city to stand still. It would be recalled that when she celebrated her

Folorunsho Alakija

including one Mr. George who is the maker of the forged identity cards. The forged identity cards and computer used were all recovered.� Mr. Ayewah is facing a two-count charge of conspiring with his siblings and friends to steal N3 million from the Foundation.�

FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS‌ HOW SANUSI’S FRIENDS BOUGHT HIM TWO ROLLS ROYCE AND GRANTED HIM ACCESS TO THEIR PRIVATE JETS

60th birthday five years ago, the Esama bought her a customized convertible Rolls Royce to express his love for the woman who has been with him through thick and thin. Though, he didn’t announce what he bought for her 65th birthday, family and friends are certain that it must be mind-blowing. The Esama, they acknowledge, never takes for granted any opportunity to give his wife a treat. So great is his love for her that he speaks of her in glowing terms, enthusing about the unflinching support he enjoys from her. He glowingly describes her as the “pillar� upon which his successes are built. class. Just recently, the social media was agog with news of Sanusi’s two Rolls Royce. Several commentators and critics believed he bought it with emirate money and thus vigilantly flayed him for grandstanding on crucial issues affecting the north. Among other things, they accuse Sanusi of living in obscene luxury and having the guts to accuse the northern elite of insensitivity to the commoner ’s plight. Sanusi’s comments on gender equality and almajiri kids particularly drew flak but a palace source has responded claiming the noble emir wasn’t grandstanding or playing to the gallery. According to the Kano Palace source, “The two Rolls Royce they talk about were never bought with emirate money. Emirs traditionally have friends and well wishers who buy some of these cars. “Ado Bayero’s limos were mainly from Aminu Dantata, Isiaku Rabiu, Fernandez and Sani Abacha. Sanusi’s white Rolls Royce was given to him

by an old friend Kola Kareem. The black other was given by another old friend, who was his classmate at ABU in 1977, Bola Shagaya.� The insider said Sanusi did not spend a kobo in the purchase of the exotic cars and the allegations of financial probes are “non-existent�. The insider adds that “the council has never bought a ticket for any of the emir ’s foreign trips and in fact on almost all of them he buys the tickets and pays accommodation for the two title holders who accompany him, even though it is council’s responsibility�. “His Highness has never chartered a jet but if he needs a private jet he has many friends, and when he calls one of them, they arrange it happily. These include Aliko Dangote, Tony Elumelu, Segun Agbaje, Aiboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Dauda Lawal, Wale Tinubu, Shagaya. Anytime he needs a plane, one of them obliges and he doesn’t pay and the royal council does not pay.�

ACCIDENTAL SOCIALITE...WHY CHURCHILL OLADUNNI DUMPED TONTO DIKE Ëž

Ëž Ëœ Ě•

You could liken Emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi to the lion king. Like a sovereign of the jungle to whom the pride defers and for whose sake the lioness stalks and hunts lower animals, Sanusi enjoys wonderful perks; all thanks to the throne he occupies. But a palace source argued that HRH Sanusi is today a recipient of innumerable favours because of his past generosity to friends and associates. This probably explains his access to wealth and luxuries befitting of royalty and the privileged

Chief Gabriel Igbinedion and wife, Cherry

Sanusi Lamido Sanusi

There is something grotesque and foolhardy about Churchill Oladunni’s broken marriage with estranged wife, Tonto Dike. Echoes of their crashed marriage resonates like Nazi Germany’s infamous cannon assault against London forces during the bloody World War. At the backdrop of the echoes, fresh facts emerge indicating that Churchill might truly be a social butterfly, whose specialty is in using and dumping his unsuspecting victims. Churchill reportedly used his estranged wife, Tonto Dike, an actress, to climb the social ladder, after which he

Tonto Dike and Churchill Oladunni

dumped her. Many believe his claim to fame was his ill-fated marriage to the Nollywood actress, Tonto Dike. He cleverly used the poor actress and took advantage of her popularity. Now, the marriage has packed up but they have a son together. Predictably, Churchill has become popular on the social media and he is using the opportunity to advantage. He was recently sighted at the burial ceremony of the father of Nollywood actress, Eniola Badmus, where he sprayed money on Fuji maestro, Wasiu Ayinde, like a drunken sailor. “You can feel it that this man (Churchill) is trying so hard to be known in Lagos happening crowd,� said a dignitary at the event

AMAZING EXPLOITS OF NIGERIA’S RICHEST BANKERS Ě’ Ëœ

These men are institutions on their own. Besides their intimidating wealth and fluorishing business concerns, they jointly constitute a formidable force in any political clime.

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˜ ˞ APRIL 30, 2017

HIGHLIFE

Iyabo Obasanjo’s Quiet Celebration at 50 ˞Why she won’t reconcile with her estranged father

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he is not a simple Bedouin neither is she some invisible wife or scion of the backwaters, yet when Iyabo Obasanjo clocked 50, she refused to make a show of it. Iyabo is the first child of former president of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo but when she turned 50 last Thursday she quietly celebrated the milestone in the United States of America without pomp or pageantry. Iyabo currently lectures Global Health and Contemporary African Politics at the Virginia Military Institute in the United States of America (USA). Since her embarrassing loss of the Senate

Seat during the 2011 general election, Iyabo has been absent from the political and social scenes. She withdrew from public arena to spend more time with her family. But contrary to speculations that she might be considering reconciliation with her estranged father, Iyabo nurtures no such plan. “Yes, it has been my last communication with him. I am very straightforward. I say what I mean and I mean what I say. I am a very practical person. I think all you have in life is yourself. I don’t owe anybody to solve anything. If reconciliation happens, then I would say, okay this is what happened,� she said.

Having attained great wealth and eminence by dint of hard work, initiative and perseverance, they have become so entrenched in the socioeconomic and political systems that they have become systems on their own, with the capacity to exert considerable influence or pressure on the virtually every sector in the country with interesting results. These men enjoy the best of a charmed life. While their business interests extend beyond the country’s shores, they also own impressive capital projects, residences and property in the most exclusive neighbourhoods at home and abroad. However, there is a huge gulf between the affluent and pretenders to wealth. The latter depict everything that is wrong with the

Tony Elumelu

aristocracy. This is because they project noise over matter. With their arrogant manner, they pursue acquisitions far beyond their modest means. For instance, during former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, men and women that ought to patronise commercial airlines acquired or chartered expensive private jets, just to keep up appearances and their membership of the billionaires’ club. Thus they filled up the runways and airport hangers with aircraft that glistened with their wantonness and lust for counterfeit status. Fastforward to Muhammadu Buhari’s era, and you see a radical downturn in the fortunes and status of these private jet aficionados. Today, because of the steep exchange rates it takes a steel heart and keen will to make

Iyabo Obasanjo

money. It takes character and wisdom to tame it. But very few bankers are aware of this fact. Thus many have fallen to the lure of money, the common whore and procurer of people and nations. But where their peer flounder and stumble, a privileged band of Nigerian bankers soar like falcons. These privileged few affect the depth of the ancients thus their capacity to command the bittersweet complexities of money and its steep per cents. These fortunate breed of entrepreneurs emerge as Nigeria’s richest bankers because unlike too many of their peers, they understand the actual value of the world’s hard currencies. Thus they engage in their pursuit and acquisition with the vigour and tact of the proverbial merchants of the Orient Express. Their industry glistens like polished

gold even as it emits the sweet, heady fragrance of rare and exotic olive vines. There is an innate strength in them that defies notions of valour applicable to their peer. In fact, very few men and women of their age and class can handle the onerous tasks of running formidable banking institutions with all the attendant headaches and challenges. But Tony Elumelu and Jim Ovia, Chairmen of United Bank of Africa (UBA) and Zenith Bank respectively unfurl into the task without a crease in their brows or the oft dreaded fear of failure and exhaustion. Like medieval knights with unrivalled valour, they did not crumble in fear or anticipation of failure in their march for excellence thus their extraordinary ascent the ladder of success.

Jim Ovia

Sunday, April 30, 2017

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Price: N400

MISSILE Soyinka to FG “This is a deliberate act of provocation. The trespasses have been frequent. We have reported to the police, but government is taking security lightly. We need to wake up the government, let them know the seriousness of the issue on ground” – Professor Wole Soyinka berating the federal government for not doing enough to address the menace of herdsmen

SIMONKOLAWOLE SIMONKOLAWOLELIVE!

simon.kolawole@thisdaylive.com, sms: 0805 500 1961

Buhari and the Enemy Within And Four

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resident Muhammadu Buhari’s government is seriously challenged. That is the truth and nothing but the truth. We can choose to play the Ostrich and sink our heads deep in the sand but then our nakedness is obvious from the back. The impression I am getting is that the factionalisation, or is it the fractionalisation, of Aso Rock has become so deep that except something drastic is done now, the damage may last even beyond the life of this administration. In my young life, I have never seen a Nigerian government so openly divided against itself as this one. This is ironic because Buhari is assumed to be a strong leader, at least as a man with military background. I will ignore the miscommunication that often comes out of the mouths of the various government spokespersons because, even though it is dangerous, I am able to admit that these things happen in life. The mismanagement of information on the health of the president is so chaotic I would be tempted to classify it as a national security threat but I will still resist any such temptation for now. We have been through this before, specifically in 2009 when President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua fell terminally ill and the nation went into a meltdown before commonsense prevailed. The president’s illness has been better managed this time around, but it still leaves much to be desired. My prayer for Buhari is that God will quicken his recovery so that he can be back on his feet again. But even before he fell ill, his government was already in disarray before his very eyes. My focus today will be on his security team. It is an open secret that his men are fighting each other and trying to outdo each other, but the most shocking thing, I would say, is that Buhari has not called them to order. Calling them to order is not just about telling them off at a meeting — it could mean sending some of his appointees packing. We are talking about state security here, not personal security or even State House security. We were recently treated to the spectacle of the Department of State Services (DSS) opposing the nomination of Magu as the EFCC chairman. Magu was nominated by the president. The DSS, which reports to the president, wrote to the National Assembly asking that Magu should not be confirmed because of integrity issues. I could not imagine President Goodluck Jonathan nominating Mallam Ibrahim Lamorde as EFCC chairman and Mr. Ita Ekpeyong, his DSS DG, asking the senate not to confirm him. Or President Olusegun Obasanjo’s nomination of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu being opposed by Col. Kayode Are, his DSS DG. Something has fallen apart in this government. If anyone is still in doubt that Buhari’s government is internally challenged, the recent raid on a “safe house” of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) should provide the biggest evidence so far. From what we have heard so far, the NIA director-general, Ambassador Ayo Oke, rushed to the office of the EFCC chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, asking him to abort the operation on the Ikoyi apartment. He was said to have told Magu the circumstances surrounding the “safe house” but his entreaties failed. We are still waiting to be told how much Buhari knew about the warehoused funds and the “clandestine” projects. It is no secret in government circles that Mr. Lawan Daura, the DSS DG, and Maj. Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd), the national security adviser, barely see eye-to-eye. There are essentially two factions, and those who

Buhari don’t belong to either camp are often caught in the crossfire. Monguno and Magu are aligned. It is understood that it was Monguno that recommended Magu to be EFCC chairman. The second divide is of Lawan and the army chief, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai. In the Lawan corner, it is believed that all negative media reports about the chief of staff, Mallam Abba Kyari, Buratai, and Lawan himself are orchestrated from the Monguno-Magu axis. The irony of ironies, though, is that Monguno, Magu, Kyari and Buratai are all from Borno state. Can you believe it? They are all Muslims. They also speak Hausa as lingua franca. Going by the way we normally analyse issues of ethnicity and religion in Nigeria, these men should ordinarily be the tightest of friends and colleagues. They should naturally have a sense of unity. When they are in the same room, they should be

I pray for Buhari’s speedy recovery. But shaking up his security team — and even his cabinet — should be his priority when he resumes work. Nigeria is a country of 180 million people and he cannot allow our security and welfare to be toyed with because some big egos are clashing

able to talk some sense to each other. Buhari, who is half Fulani and half Kanuri and would be considered their kith and kin, should also be able to get these grown men to bury their egos and work together. Yet this sore has been festering for so long. The ordinary Nigerian may not know the implications of this in-fighting. How can the heads of security agencies not be on speaking terms? Someone said there is also rivalry between CIA and FBI in America, and there is nothing strange about what is happening in Nigeria. This is a mistake. The CIA/FBI case is an institutional rivalry, often over areas of jurisdiction. What we are witnessing in Nigeria is a clash of egos. It has nothing to do with jurisdiction or national security. We just have top officials in Buhari’s team who despise each other so much they cannot bring themselves to be under the same roof. And the tragedy is that all this is happening with Buhari doing nothing. The NIA issue perfectly illustrates the consequences of this discord in Buhari’s security team. Monguno, as national security adviser, is the chief co-ordinator of all security agencies. Security reports should go through him to the president. In truth, that is not the situation on ground. Also, before any major raid or search is conducted by a security agency, the NSA should be in the know. From what we were told, Oke briefed Monguno (in writing) on the “clandestine” projects NIA is undertaking in various parts of the country. Oke also reportedly briefed Monguno on the amount of cash in its possession for the completion of these projects. If the information is accurate, did the EFCC conduct a raid on NIA’s property without preinforming the NSA? If Magu indeed pre-informed Monguno, did he still give Magu the go-ahead to raid the “safe house” despite being aware that it is NIA’s? Would he do that? On the other hand, could it be that there is suspicion that the NIA funds, which were released by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015, were really meant for the elections and the Ikoyi recoveries were the leftovers? There is a precedent after all — didn’t some of the funds meant for Boko Haram operations end up in the PDP presidential campaign? Is that why the apartment was raided? Questions gallore! The Osinbajo panel must tell Nigerians the truth and the whole truth about the Ikoyi affair. There are too many questions and insinuations that cannot be swept under the carpet. I understand that the sensitive nature of intelligence operations may make things a bit difficult for us. There are several details that cannot be made public in order not to compromise what is supposed to be a covert operation. However, we deserve to know the non-sensitive bits. I am particularly interested in how much of this fiasco was caused by the in-fighting in Buhari’s security department. This may be doing a grievous damage to Nigeria’s security architecture. Again, I pray for Buhari’s speedy recovery. But shaking up his security team — and even his cabinet — should be his priority when he resumes work. Nigeria is a country of 180 million people and he cannot allow our security and welfare to be toyed with because some big egos are clashing. This has gone on for too long. It is either Buhari calls them to order by reading them the Riot Act or he overhauls his team in favour of those who are ready to put the lives of Nigerians above every other consideration. As for the Ikoyi billions, I eagerly await how the government will come out of this self-inflicted embarrassment. Dicey.

Other Things... THE RUN OF PLAY Olusegun Adeniyi, chairman of THISDAY editorial board and former presidential spokesman, has demonstrated again why he is clearly the master storyteller of Nigerian journalism with his latest book, Against the Run of Play. His post-mortem on the 2015 presidential election is delivered in a very simple style, with the voices of key actors enriching the narrative. The book refreshes the memory on the remote and immediate reasons for the ouster of President Goodluck Jonathan — and, for me, the hard lessons every politician must learn from the misadventure. And now, Jonathan is disputing some of what the politicians said in the book. Interesting. CAGING KANU It was heart-warming to hear that Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), has finally regained his freedom after spending 18 months in detention amid a barrage of legal fireworks. In trying to prove that it would protect the “territorial integrity” of Nigeria against secession agitations, the Buhari government has been exerting too much force, killing many peaceful pro-Biafra protesters in Onitsha. Nothing in this world can justify the shedding of innocent blood. Hopefully, the government will now obey court orders and release Sheikh Ibraheem El Zakzaky, the Shiite leader, and Col. Sambo Dasuki, the former NSA. Imperative. OPPRESSING THE PRESS And so, Punch reports on the state of health of the president and its State House correspondent gets humiliated and kicked out by the chief security officer. The dark days of military regimes in Nigeria are being replayed — in a supposed democratic setting. I recall, with sadness, how soldiers, under President Jonathan, attacked the distribution vans of newspapers. I recall how a Deutsche Welle reporter was expelled from the State House. Under President Buhari, the independent press has continued to suffer indignity and attacks, starting with the barring of “opposition” AIT from covering Buhari’s activities in 2015 even before he was sworn in. Troubling. THECABLE IS THREE Thanks for your congratulatory messages as TheCable, the online newspaper I founded in 2014, clocked three yesterday. Our key promise is to deliver news and features with “speed and simplicity”. But as we have found out, the workload can kill! Luckily, we are blessed with a team of resourceful, energetic and extremely committed youngsters who work day and night to put TheCable ahead in newsbreak. Many think I write the stories in TheCable and I always joke with the team not to get jealous because I also get all the insults on social media! We know we are yet to fulfil all our promises, but we will get there someday. Appreciation.

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