FRIDAY 9TH APRIL 2021 by THISDAY Newspapers Ltd

Pope Urges IMF, W’Bank to Cut Poor Nations’ Debts Global agreement saved oil market, says OPEC Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja Pope Francis yesterday urged the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to cut the debt burden of poor countries hit by the

economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and give their governments a greater say in global-decision-making. In a letter to the participants of the IMF and World Bank's annual spring meeting, the

pope said the pandemic had forced the world to come to terms with interrelated socio-economic, ecological, and political crises. This is coming as the Organisation of the Petroleum

Exporting Countries (OPEC) has told the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) via Videoconference that the global oil market was on the verge of collapse before its intervention

to stabilise it. The Pope called for a new "global plan" that "necessarily means giving poorer and less developed nations an effective share in decision-making and facilitating access to the

international market." In the letter, the pope noted that a spirit of global solidarity demands at the least a significant reduction in the Continued on page 10

Dangote, Flour Mills, BUA at War over New Sugar Refinery... Page 8 Friday 9 April, 2021 Vol 26. No 9497. Price: N250

www.thisdaylive.com TR

UT H

& RE A S O

Aisha is Presidency’s Voice of Conscience, Says Tinubu Osinbajo: She is an unusual first lady Deji Elumoye in Abuja National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Tinubu, has

described the First Lady, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, as a woman of deep convictions and feelings for what she believes in, saying she is the voice of conscience

Raises N150m at biography presentation

in the presidency. This is just as Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) also described the president's wife as an unusual first lady.

Both spoke at the presentation of Aisha's biography during which over N150 million was realised. Also speaking at the

public presentation of the book, "Aisha Buhari: Being Different," authored by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Administration

and Women Affairs, Dr. Hajo Sani, Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, described her Continued on page 12

FG Fingers Insecurity as Trigger for Rising Secessionist Agitations ACF expresses disappointment over unending strife Olawale Ajimotokan and John Shiklam in Kaduna The federal government yesterday stated that the general state of insecurity

in the country has triggered a rising call for secession as well as politicisation of ethnic and religious differences. This is coming as the Kaduna State Governor,

Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, has declared that a situation in which security agencies only reacted to cases of banditry and abductions is unacceptable and urged them to take the

war to the doorsteps of the criminals. Speaking yesterday during a Town Hall Meeting on National Security, held at the Kaduna State University

(KASU), Kaduna, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, expressed concern about the general state of insecurity in the country occasioned

by incidences of farmers/ herders clashes, Boko Haram insurgency, banditry, ethno-religious clashes and Continued on page 10

THE FLAGSHIP STORY... L-R: Head of Michael Ibru Dynasty, Chief Oskar Ibru; Publisher, The Guardian, Mrs. Maiden Alex-Ibru; Chairman, THISADY Newspaper/ARISE Media Group, Prince Nduka Obaigbena; Secretary to Delta State Government, Mr. Chiedu Ebie; Commissioner for Information, Delta State, Mr. Charles Aniagwu; and Executive Director, The Guardian, Mr. Toke Ibru, at the launch of the book, “The making of the Nigerian Flagship: The story of the Guardian,” and celebration of the life of the founding publisher of the newspaper, Dr. Alex Ibru, in Lagos…yesterday

FRIDAY APRIL 9, 2021 •T H I S D AY

FRIDAY APRIL 9, 2021 • T H I S D AY

FRIDAY APRIL 9, 2021 •T H I S D AY

FRIDAY, ΁˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

Group News Editor Ejiofor Alike Email Ejiofor.Alike@thisdaylive.com, 08066066268

I’m Having Brief Rest in London, Buhari Tells Jordan’s King

Deji Elumoye in Abuja President Muhammadu Buhari has written a letter of good wishes to King Abdullahi II

Bin Al-Hussein of Jordan in which he disclosed that he was having a short rest in London, the United Kingdom. The President, according to

Bandits Release Five More Abducted Students of Kaduna Forestry School John Shiklam in Kaduna Another five of the abducted students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, Kaduna are said to have been released. The first five were released on Monday, bringing the total number of those released by the bandits to 10 while 29 are still in captivity. On March 11, bandits invaded the school located along airport road Kaduna and abducted 39 students who have been in captivity. One of the parents confirmed the release of the five students yesterday in Kaduna, saying the students were picked up by the police somewhere in Giwa Local Government Area of the state and were on their way to the city. He said: "I can confirm that five more of our children have been released. Presently, we are waiting for them to come into Kaduna. I can confirm to you that they have already been picked by men of the Nigerian Police. We are yet to see them

ourselves. "As soon as they come in, they are going to be taken to the hospital for examination, but we are waiting to receive them first." Mohammed Jalige, spokesman of the Kaduna State Police Command could, however, not confirm the release of the students. But he said he missed a call from the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Kidenda, LGA, noting that the DPO probably must have called to brief him on the development. Jalige promised to get back as soon as he gets details on the development. He was yet to get back at the time of filing this report. The parents of the abducted students had at a press conference on Monday vowed to negotiate with the bandits for the release of their children, accusing the Kaduna State government of allegedly abandoning them. Governor Nasir el-Rufai has maintained that he will not negotiate with nor pay ransom to bandits.

a statement issued yesterday his media assistant, Malam Garba Shehu, sent the letter of solidarity to King Al-Hussein, King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, following the resolution of a recent rift in the royal family. In the letter, Buhari said he felt much disturbed when he

heard reports of the problem but felt reassured when he learnt that everything had been resolved amicably. The letter read in part: “While here in London taking a short rest, I was profoundly disturbed to read from international news agencies of attempts to destabilise the Hashemite

Kingdom of Jordan. “Your exemplary leadership since ascending the throne has attracted worldwide admiration. Relations between Nigeria and Jordan have been excellent and I thank you for the part you have played in this relationship. ‘‘Your Majesty, I am much heartened that matters have

now been resolved and I pray that the Hashemite Kingdom continues to not only remain peaceful but also a major beacon of hope for the region under Your Majesty's wise guidance.” President Buhari extended to the King the assurances of his highest personal regards.

BEING DIFFERENT... Wife of the vice president, Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo (left), and the First Lady, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, during the presentation of the ﬁrst lady’s biography, "Aisha Buhari: Being Diﬀerent," in Abuja…yesterday

Sanusi: Nigeria’s Political, Economic Structures Set up to Fail Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja Former Emir of Kano, Alhaji Lamido Sanusi, yesterday took a swipe at the country’s economic and political trajectory, concluding that Nigeria may never succeed if it continues with its current unsustainable structure. The ex-governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) spoke during an online roundtable with the theme: “Debt Relief for a Green and Inclusive Recovery in Nigeria?” organised by the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA) and the Heinrich Böll Foundation. Sanusi insisted that with a hugely unwieldy political system and an economy that mostly benefited those at the top, Nigeria would continue to struggle. The former Chief Executive Officer at First Bank of Nigeria (FBN), who posited that one of the conditions for debt forgiveness for Nigeria should be its commitment to enunciate clear policies on how it intends to control its population, noted that the benefits of debt forgiveness were lost in the past because of the country’s penchant for spending on overhead rather than development. Sanusi also described the

parameter for calculating the sustainability or otherwise of the country’s over $33 billion debt, which is Gross Domestic Product/debt ratio as useless, saying that debts were not paid or serviced from GDP but from the country’s revenues. The federal government has always argued that the GDP/ debt ratio was still below its projected ceiling despite the criticisms that have trailed the country’s increased borrowing. “My first comment on debt sustainability and obviously, if you have been following my comments since my days in the central bank is that the debt to GDP ratio is basically a useless parameter. You do not service your debts out of GDP; you service it out of your revenues. “If you have a debt to GDP ratio of 8 per cent, you are likely to have debt service to revenue ratio of 100 per cent. So, for a long time, I have been concerned with this idea that if you are on 25 per cent or 30 per cent of debt to GDP ratio, it is fine because you have got countries that have 18-19 per cent and revenues is from taxes while in Nigeria it is from oil,” he explained. He explained that highinterest rates with high debts could lead to difficult financial situations, saying that Nigeria

currently has a debt servicing ratio of between 90 to 93 per cent. Sanusi argued that Nigeria was not paying attention to the ratio of its external debts to its external reserves, stressing that while in 2011, total federally collected revenue was $8.9 billion, with debt being about $5 billion, it has since then skyrocketed. The former monarch stated that external debt increased to $33.4 billion by 2020, while oil revenue stood at $8.3 billion, an increase of about 400 per cent, saying that it was a red flag that had not been pointed out despite all the conversations around Nigeria's debt sustainability. A second element he noted, is the breakdown of the bilateral loans of which China is a major player, with $3.2 billion of Nigeria's $4.1 bilateral debt, that's about 78 per cent, adding that any talk about debt sustainability has to involve China as a very dominant player. Sanusi posited that very soon, as countries begin to lift COVID-19 restrictions, leading to personal travels, there will be increased demand for forex, further putting pressure on the country's exchange rate, describing the situation as dire. He said that the call for debt

relief is generally in the right direction, noting that although he supports the efforts at getting Nigeria’s creditors to do so, Nigeria needs to show serious commitment and generally review the structure of its government and economy. He said that Nigeria needs to invest in education and agriculture, which he said has grown because of the expansion of cultivation, rather than the productivity of the farmers, stressing that ultimately these two sectors will play a key role in lifting Nigerians out of poverty. "Another element is the rapid rate of growth in population and therefore I would suggest that if you really need sustainable development, debt relief can also be tied to very clear, very measurable and implementable population growth control policies. "We need to have social policies around demographic growth. There are parts of this country where the fertility rate is more than eight live births per woman. Some parts are also highly polygamous. "There's no way you can continue growing at 3.4 per cent when your economy is growing at a slower rate and expect to deal with poverty. We

should fashion policies around population, education, targeted programmes to reduce out of school children, quality jobs etc," he argued. Sanusi noted that setting up factories could also lead to economic growth, for instance, the manufacture of solar panels in-country instead of the current massive importation. He stated that what happened in the past when debt relief was granted was that Nigeria went back on spending on overheads, on unnecessary petroleum subsidies and paying scam subsidies on fertilisers, insisting that it has not helped the country. Instead, Sanusi urged Nigeria to invest in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including education, healthcare, renewable energy, skills development and productive agriculture. The former CBN governor opined that it wasn't the time for massive fiscal consolidation, which would include tax increases and retrenchment of workers and bemoaned the current political structure in the country, which in some ways encourages big government and recurrent spending. “We have 36 states, 774 local governments, each LG has a chairman, a speaker, at

least 10 councillors, the state has a governor, deputy and legislature. You can imagine the hundreds of legislators”. In his intervention, a former Senior Economist at the World Bank, Brian Pinto, said there was a need to help vulnerable countries surmount the huge impact of covid-19, but doubted if Nigeria was ready to do the hard work. Pinto, who is credited with heading the team at the World Bank that wrote the report leading to debt relief of over $19 billion under the Olusegun Obasanjo administration argued that history had continued to repeat itself in the country. "If Nigeria asks for debt forgiveness, I am guessing that official creditors could drive the process but will ask at least four questions: transitioning from fossil fuel to green economy which is a complicated transition. What can Nigeria do? The first is to improve oil wealth management and re-establish credibility,” he said. Pinto queried whether the poor and vulnerable Nigerians benefitted from the $19 billion debt relief in the past, saying that it remains a key question that has to be answered, noting that Nigeria has not learnt much from its recent history.

FRIDAY APRIL 9, 2021 •T H I S D AY

FRIDAY APRIL 9, 2021 • T H I S D AY

FRIDAY, ΁˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

Dangote, Flour Mills, BUA at War over New Sugar Refinery Project will curb arbitrary price hike, create jobs, says Rabiu Dangote Sugar denies involvement in price fixing James Emejo in Abuja Africa’s richest man and Chairman of Dangote Industries Limited, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, and the Chairman of Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, Mr. John Coumantaros, have said the establishment of a new sugar refinery plant in the country by BUA Group posed a threat to the attainment of the National Sugar Master Plan (NSMP) as well as sustainability of Nigeria's local sugar industry. They argued that the country currently has enough refining capacity to meet national demand. In a joint petition to the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Chief Niyi Adebayo, dated January 28, 2021, the duo protested the recent commissioning of a sugar refinery in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, by BUA International, one of the operators in the sugar industry. But in a swift response, Chairman of BUA Group, Alhaji Abdulsamad Rabiu, said the company took serious exception to what he described as the ludicrous claims by his two major competitors, pointing out that his sugar export-focused project in Port Harcourt, would not affect in any way, the backward integration programme, stressing that "the only way it will affect Nigerians is that Nigerians will pay lower prices for sugar." However, in the ensuing row among the major players in the industry, Chairman, BUA Group, Alhaji Abdulsamad Rabiu, said its investment in Port Harcourt does not in any way pose a threat to the country's sugar policy, adding that it will rather checkmate arbitrary price increase by the major players among other benefits to the country. Adebayo yesterday confirmed the rancour among the operators while reacting to THISDAY's enquiry. But, he declined further comments on the matter. The minister said: "Unfortunately, I'm unable to comment as the matter is already subjudice. Thank you very much for your understanding." However, in the letter to the minister, Dangote and his counterpart, argued that they had in 2019, warned about the risk of establishing a new refinery, adding that they got assurances that in line with the federal government's policy on Backward Integration Programme (BIP), "no new refinery will be allowed to operate in Nigeria." They also pointed out that a tremendous amount of work was required by all stakeholders to achieve the intended objective behind the sugar policy, which is to among other things, encourage backward integration to ultimately attain self-sufficiency in local sugar production. The petition stated that with the new refinery, the country's refining capacity had increased to 3.4 million metric tonnes per annum from 2.75 million metric tons per annum. The petitioners further demanded a level-playing field

that provides fair competition in the local sugar market in order for the country to realise the sugar master plan. They specifically urged Adebayo, to prevail on the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to ensure that the provisions of the NSMP are enforced and that no additional allocation of quota should be given for raw, VHP, or refined sugar for the sugar refinery in Port Harcourt for local market production. Among other recommendations, they said no allocations should be issued or applications considered for quota intended for re-export of sugar as this would be difficult to monitor and may be open to abuse. The petition added that, "an investigation should be conducted to determine the quantity of raw sugar imported by the refinery in Port Harcourt and the appropriate penalty in terms of duty (60 per cent) and levy (10 per cent) be levied on the company.” It added that the customs should be mandated to comply strictly with the authorised quota allocations in clearing cargoes and administering levy and duty and that the CBN be requested to monitor the registration of "Form Ms" in line with the quota allocation. In the petition, they recalled that under the revised guidelines released by the National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), it was made absolutely clear that the allocation of quotas henceforth shall be on quantitative and verifiable improvements in the BIP of operators in the industry. They maintained that key performance indicators for assessing and scoring performance had been clearly spelt out and communicated to all players in the industry. The petition alleged that the midterm assessment conducted by the NSDC had concluded that BUA had "failed to invest substantially in local production or comply with its undertakings under its BIP. "Even before its surreptitious investment in additional refining capacity, Nigeria already has enough refining capacity to satisfy demand today well into the future," they said. The petitioners maintained that the business logic behind the investment in the new refinery was clearly defective adding that, "BUA intend only on importing and refining raw sugar whilst claiming to be investing in developing sugar plantations in order to qualify for quotas to import raw sugar." They further alleged that the Port Harcourt refinery was clearly undertaken to deliberately undermine the federal government's sugar policy. "We are particularly surprised by the brazenness as we believe that the choice of location and the publicity campaign behind the investment has been deliberately engineered to provoke public sentiment and pit the federal government against its people," the petition added. It said unless the ministry of

FOUNDATION FOR THE FUTURE... Former Ag. National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Abubakar Baraje; former President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki; and representative of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Dr. Jamiu Salis, at the formal launch of the Abubakar Kawu Baraje Foundation in Abuja…yesterday industry, trade and investment plays an effective policing role of the NSMP, the country's dream of becoming selfsufficient and indeed a net exporter of sugar would be defeated. "The impunity with which BUA has contravened the provisions of the NSMP has placed the other players who are abiding by the regulations, not only at a significant disadvantage but has discouraged them from undertaking the huge investments that would deliver the desired objective of 100 per cent local production of sugar, unless, of course, the ministry wades in and addresses the situation," they added. Consequently, in a letter issued by Adebayo, dated February 10, 2021, which was addressed to the Chairman of BUA Group, Rabiu, following the petition by Dangote, the minister had requested for detailed information on the BUA Sugar Refinery in Port Harcourt, particularly the company's plan to service the Nigerian and export markets from its refineries. BUA, in its reaction to the minister, dated February 11, 2021, which it forwarded to THISDAY, however, took "serious exception to the ludicrous claims by its two major competitors that it aims to circumvent the BIP of the sugar industry." The company pointed out in its five-page response, that it was unreasonable for it to be working against the backward integration policy of the industry, having invested billions of naira in the initiative, which is almost nearing completion. Rabiu, specifically assured the minister that the company’s sugar-export focused project in Port Harcourt, would not affect in any way, the backward integration programme adding that "the only way it will affect Nigerians is that Nigerians will pay lower prices for sugar". He explained that though the Port Harcourt refinery is mainly for exports, BUA is allowed under the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) Act and

current approvals/rules to intervene locally in order to stabilise sugar price, "where it is absolutely necessary- in the face of arbitrary price increases and collusion to force scarcity of the product locally." He said: "The same NEPZA Act upon, which this project is based, gives the permission to process, add value, and export at the same time. Companies under this act are allowed to process and if they so wish, sell 100 per cent of their production in Nigeria with payment of duties based on the current raw materials tariff. "As a matter of fact, Aliko Dangote of Dangote Industries, who is one of the complainants alleging and attacking this approval has also applied and obtained the same approval for his refinery project in Lekki, Lagos State where he is currently enjoying the same benefits of being in an Export Processing Zone (EPZ)." He added: "What BUA sugar is doing is legal and within the confines of the law. We have not done nor are we doing anything wrong." Rabiu further explained that the EPZ under which its Port Harcourt sugar project is sited went through a rigorous two-year review process before being forwarded to the ministry for approval of President Muhammadu Buhari, adding that only the president alone is constitutionally empowered to approve an EPZ license." According to the BUA Group Chairman: "Anything that is done to attack this project in any way, form or any guise attacks Mr. President's approval and we will do everything to ensure our rights are not trampled upon." He said BUA's Lafiagi BIP is on track to be completed by the end of the year as well as commence production by the end of 2022. Rabiu also warned that any action that tampers with the current approval is capable of eroding investors’ confidence under the EPZ. He disclosed that the company had spent over $250 million on the Port Harcourt project, which currently employs over 1,000 Nigerians

and has a significant economic impact. He said: "To try to shut it down or stifle its operations will cost jobs and lost economic impact." He added that BUA remained the only company of the three dominant players, spending serious money and seeking to complete its BIP project by 2022, stressing that," we need to start asking firm, hard questions of the two other players." The letter, however, urged the minister to remain firm and resolute in the discharge of his duties as he had always done, adding that BUA remained committed to its obligations regarding the BIP and the NSMP, adding that "we believe that time has come to call all players to true account."

Dangote Sugar Denies Involvement in Price Fixing Meanwhile, Dangote Sugar Refinery PLC (DSR) has denied engagement in price-fixing, saying it is strongly committed to BIP. It said in a statement by its Group Managing Director, Mr. Ravindra Singhvi, last night: “DSR wishes to vehemently refute the allegations and assertions in their entirety as the false allegations are geared at tarnishing the good name and brand of Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc and Dangote Industries Limited. "DSR does not engage in artificial price manipulation of its products, either during the Holy month of Ramadan or at any other time. “We have never ever increased price of our food items or commodities during the Holy month of Ramadan in the history of our operations." It also added that the company is socially responsible and considers price-fixing to be unethical. “Such allegation is highly mischievous and a calculated attempt to smear the reputation of DSR. DSR can only sadly conclude that the online publication is mischievous and geared at creating some form of undue advantage to

some Industry players, it said. It explained that the company began its BIP with a 10-year sugar development plan, to produce 1.5 million MT per annum of sugar from locally grown sugarcane. The Project commenced with the acquisition of a large expanse of land in strategic locations in Taraba State, Adamawa State and Nasarawa State. To this end, it added, three (3) BIP sugar companies; Dangote Taraba Sugar Limited, Dangote Adamawa Sugar Limited, Nasarawa Sugar Company Limited were incorporated. The company, it explained further, had commenced rehabilitation and expansion of its sugar factory at Numan, while sugarcane planting had also commenced in the two other BIP locations. “DSR has a responsibility to the government, the good people of Nigeria and the Sugar Industry and all other stakeholders to protect the integrity of the Sugar industry and wishes to assure its stakeholders as follows: It will do all that is necessary to vehemently protect the integrity of the Sugar Industry, it is not engaged in price-fixing and it encourages healthy competition amongst the players,” the company said. It highlighted a matter (BUA’s operation of a Sugar refinery in the Free Trade Zone in Port Harcourt, exporting refined sugar into the Customs territory), which it said might circumvent the National Sugar Master Plan’s (NSMP) framework and jeopardize its objectives by taking advantage of the location of its PortHarcourt Refinery in the Free Trade Zone. It said it had notified the Minister of Industry, Trade & Investments through a letter dated January 28, 2021, asking the minister to investigate the matter. “We believe our action is in line with our responsibility as a major stakeholder to alert the supervising Ministry on activities that would derail the plan of the Federal Government in its drive to self -sufficiency in Sugar under the NSMP,” DSR said.

FRIDAY APRIL 9, 2021 • T H I S D AY

FRIDAY, ΁˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

PAGE TEN FG FINGERS INSECURITY AS TRIGGER FOR RISING SECESSIONIST AGITATIONS

intolerance, cultism, drug addiction and kidnapping for ransom. The Information Minister, in his opening remarks, said insecurity posed a dangerous threat to the unity of the country and its continued existence as one indivisible nation. He said the Ministry of Information and Culture launched the Town Hall Meeting series in Lagos on April 25, 2016, to provide a platform for the federal government to regularly give an account of its stewardship to the people, get a feedback and input from them to enhance citizens’ participation in governance. He said the 18th edition of the Town Hall meeting, with the theme “Setting Benchmarks for Enhanced Security and National Unity in Nigeria,” was another of efforts of the government, in its expansive consultation with stakeholders, to address the twin issues of insecurity and its concomitant effect on national unity and cohesion. Mohammed said: “Ominously, the general state of insecurity, as reflected in incidences of farmers/ herders clashes, Boko Haram insurgency, banditry, ethno-religious clashes and intolerance, cultism, drug addiction and kidnapping for ransom, are now triggering a rising call for secession as well as politicization of ethnic and religious differences. “Bluntly put, the insecurity and its manifestations pose a dangerous threat to the unity of the country and its continued existence as one indivisible nation.” He queried: “How did we get here and what can we do to change the narrative?” Mohammed said finding a solution to the problems would require teamwork, reflecting all diversities, and leveraging on the entire nation’s collective creativity to pursue with diligence the project of rescuing Nigeria. According to him, the correct starting point towards addressing these myriad of problems is the building of an elite consensus on the security, unity, indissolubility and peaceful existence of Nigeria. According to the minister, such elite consensus had worked in the past, adding: “This is why we have decided to bring all critical stakeholders together, under a Town Hall meeting setting, to deliberate

on the issues and possibly reach a consensus on the way forward.” The minister said the Town Hall meeting is expected to develop concrete, implementable resolutions, “because a lot of talks and postulations had taken place with little or no requisite outcome.” He expressed optimism that with the seriousness of the issues involved, “the expected contributions of a wide range of stakeholders and the quality of our panelists, this meeting will go a long way in proffering solutions to what has now become an existential crisis.” In his paper, the lead presenter, Prof. Jibrin Ibrahim, Senior Fellow, Centre for Democracy and Development, Abuja called for the reform of the security sector that will ensure the protection of all citizens not just the political class. He said democratic imperative in Nigeria, requires security sector reform that would enhance the human security of all citizens rather than limiting itself to the interests of the political class. According to him, human security involves not just national security but also the promotion of economic development and the human rights of citizens. He explained: “There is no choice between human rights and security operations. All legitimate security operations in a democracy should strive to protect the human rights of citizens. “That they are neutral in their operations and do not act on the basis of political considerations.” He said further that the persistent demands for true federalism must be addressed, if Nigerians are to get the assurance that their full participation, safety and welfare within the state are to be guaranteed. He recalled that the Constitutional Conferences organised by the Obasanjo and Jonathan administrations both got their constitutional reform agendas derailed. “The present legitimacy crisis facing the Nigerian state should be seen as an opportunity to address the issue of true federalism with the seriousness it deserves,” Ibrahim said. Also addressing the gathering, the Kaduna State governor said the country is

at war with terrorists, insisting that the security forces must collaborate to take the war to the criminals and recover the ungoverned forests being occupied by them in order for law-abiding citizens to engage in their legitimate businesses. He said the bandits were challenging the sovereignty and monopoly of the instruments of coercion of the Nigerian state and its territory, stressing that they must be wiped out completely. The governor maintained that under the constitution, the criminals have lost their right to life and deserved to be eliminated completely. He said: “Amidst the sorrows and suffering insecurity has caused to many of our citizens, some of our compatriots will be tempted to dismiss gatherings like this as futile and impotent gestures. “No one who is in a position of responsibility can deny the necessity for firm action in the form of proactive and sustained offensives against the criminals who menace us. “Such security operations will not only cripple the outlaws, but will also reassure ordinary citizens, bolster the morale of the security agencies and provide an alternative focus for the energies that are being dissipated on fractious endeavours.” The governor maintained that: “The situation in which the security agencies mostly only react to cases of banditry and abduction is unacceptable. “We are in a war with these terrorists who are challenging the sovereignty and the monopoly of the instruments of coercion of the Nigerian state and its territory. “Our security forces must collaborate to take the war to them, recover and restore the un-governed forests these terrorists occupy and enable our law-abiding citizens to engage in their legitimate pursuits, including farming and livestock production, without fear.” The governor argued that bandits had lost their right to life under the constitution and must be wiped out in their entirety. The governor said every Nigerian who is concerned about the danger insecurity posed to national cohesion should appreciate the importance of securing a collective understanding of the problems and the solutions. el-Rufai argued: “The Nigerian state has not jealously

and consistently protected its prerogatives and status as the leviathan, the ultimate guarantor of security, the protector of rights and the promoter of the rule of law. “That is why its power is being challenged, in a frighteningly sustained manner by a phalanx of armed nonstate actors. “Our national-level security response to these challenges has been uncoordinated and ineffective in wiping out the threats. “None of the military services nor other security agencies has been suitably expanded in numbers and equipment for over a decade since the insurgency in the North-east pushed things to a new low. “This country does not have enough soldiers, uniformed police and secret police to project state power across its vast swathes, particularly the forests.” He argued that the justice system operates with the ethos and at a pace that does not reflect the fragility of the situation and the urgency to demonstrate that the rule of law is meaningful. el-Rufai noted that prosecutions take so long that citizens often assume that the criminals have long been released, thereby encouraging criminal conduct and promoting dangerous self-help. He said delays in the dispensation of justice in Nigeria has made criminals to fall more in love with the courts than the innocent, adding that this is unsustainable and unacceptable. He lamented that at the sub-national levels, states and local governments have limited power, though they have various options for the exercise of soft-power, using the traditional institutions, community and political leaders at the grassroots – but which still need coercive power to be effective. The governor stated that unless state governments, local governments, emirs, chiefs and community leaders know that the state can protect them and deal with criminal elements decisively, the exercise of soft power is reduced to weak appeals to behave well. “Too many carrots without sticks lead to the near-anarchy we are witnessing, he said, contending: “Notions of common humanity, not to talk of a common citizenship is not as widely or deeply shared as

it would appear.” He suggested that the country requires urgent action by identifying and dealing decisively with all state and non-state actors engaged in conduct that amounts to challenging the supremacy of the Nigerian state and our constitution without ethnic profiling or discriminatory treatment. He called for immediate and enhanced funding to acquire advanced equipment for the armed forces, police, and security and paramilitary agencies. The governor reiterated his agitations for state police, saying that centralised policing in a federation is not only a contradiction in terms. According to him, the state governments today bear most of the burden of the running costs of the Nigeria police. He said: “So why not the sub-nationals have the state police now?” “So I repeat my persistent call for state police as soon as possible. We should also, devolve more responsibilities and duties to the states to enable greater accountability and minimise the habit of blaming the federal government for every ill in Nigeria. “We should, therefore, expeditiously amend the constitution to vest all on-shore minerals, including petroleum in the states now.” One of the discussants at the meeting and Chairman of First Bank Plc, Mrs. Ibukun Awosika, said the call for the breakup of the country is coming several decades too late since independence. In an impassioned virtual contribution, Awosika called on Nigerians to tend to the challenges that will make the country a better nation, warning that the political class would not have any power if the country eventually splits along regional division. "Now is the time to save our country. We need to decide on our national consensus. If the elite cannot do that, we should challenge ourselves and ask what kind of leadership we need," Awosika said. Other discussants were Prof. Chudi Uwazurike, Prof. Saka Nuru and Prof. Kokunre Eghafonaas. The meeting was attended by the Minister of Defence, Maj. Gen. Bashir Magashi (rtd), and his counterparts from Agriculture, Environment, Police Affairs, Interior, State Foreign Affairs, State

growth remains 5.4 per cent in 2021, saying that measures to stem the spread of COVID-19 not only severely affected global economic growth, they also caused a historic demand shock in the oil market, which led to extreme volatility in oil prices. It explained that the impact of the lockdown measures have disproportionally affected mobility and thereby fuel demand, with world oil demand now estimated by the secretariat to have contracted by a very significant 9.5 mb/d in 2020 and is forecast to grow by around 6.0 mb/d in 2021. Similarly, it disclosed that non-OPEC supply suffered from the unprecedented events and is estimated to have declined by around 2.5 mb/d in 2020, while it is forecast to grow by around 1 mb/d in 2021. “In response to the global

crisis and the massive oil demand contraction, OPEC and 10 non-OPEC participating countries under the ‘Declaration of Cooperation (DoC) acted swiftly and decisively to contribute to more stability in the oil market, by voluntarily adjusting production. “These are the largest and longest in duration in the history of the oil industry, lasting until well into 2022. These joint efforts succeeded in driving down the unprecedentedly high commercial oil inventories,” OPEC said. OPEC reaffirmed its commitment to supporting oil market stability for the mutual benefit of consuming and producing nations and contributing significantly to addressing the common challenges to the global economy.

Science and Technology and Humanitarian Affairs.

ACF Expresses Disappointment over Unending Insecurity Meanwhile, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has expressed disappointment over the unending insecurity in the country, especially in the North, complaining that the Kaduna State government has not done to secure the recovery of the abducted students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka in Kaduna. The students were abducted on March 11, 2021. In a communique issued yesterday at the end of its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Kaduna, the forum condemned the criminal activities of insurgents, kidnappers and bandits, saying it is a great set back to the North. The communiqué, signed by the spokesman of the forum, Mr. Emmanuel Yawe, also decried the utterances of some leaders, who sought to incite ethnic, religious and ethnic passion. The communique said the meeting was presided over by the chairman of the forum and former Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh. It said: “On insecurity, the forum expressed displeasure at the state of affairs in the North and in the country in general. “The forum condemned the activities of insurgents, kidnappers and bandits in the North saying that their activities are killing the peace and progress for which the north was noted for when the founders of the region were in power.” The communiqué noted that the forum decried the utterances of some actors and leaders who had sought to inflame regional, ethnic and religious passions out of the current situation in the country. The northern leaders called on Nigerian leaders to exercise restraint in their utterances in the current circumstances. The communique said the ACF was also briefed by parents of the kidnapped students of Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, Kaduna, who were abducted in the school on March 11, 2021. Continued on page 12

POPE URGES IMF, W’BANK TO CUT POOR NATIONS’ DEBTS debt burden of the poorest nations, which has been exacerbated by the pandemic. "The notion of recovery cannot be content to a return to an unequal and unsustainable model of economic and social life, where a tiny minority of the world's population owns half of its wealth," the pontiff said in the letter to the world bodies. Financial chiefs of the group of 20 large economies on Wednesday extended a suspension of debt servicing costs for developing countries but fell short of cancelling debt or expanding debt relief as requested by non-profit organisations. “Financial markets need to be underpinned by laws and regulations that ensure they work for the common good,” the pope said. He also called for what he

described as “justly financed vaccine solidarity.” He added: "We cannot allow the law of the marketplace to take precedence over the law of love and the health of all." With inoculation campaigns in poor African countries lagging far behind those of the rich world, particularly the United States and Britain, the pope further appealed to political and business leaders to provide "vaccines for all, especially for the most vulnerable and needy." "It is my hope that in these days, your formal deliberations and your personal encounters will bear much fruit for the discernment of wise solutions for a more inclusive and sustainable future. A future where finance is at the service of the common good, where the vulnerable and the marginalised are placed at the centre," he said.

Meanwhile, in a statement by OPEC to the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) via Videoconference, the cartel said that the global oil market was on the verge of collapse before its intervention to stabilise it. Describing the COVID-19 pandemic as one of the most severe crises in recent history, OPEC noted that in 2020, countries around the world virtually shut down, imposed travel restrictions and mandated social-distancing measures. It stated these measures are still necessary in some regions to combat new waves of infections and virus mutations, stressing that recovery to pre-pandemic levels is not yet projected for 2021. Following an estimated decline of 3.5 per cent in 2020, OPEC reiterated that its forecast for global economic

TOP GAINERS CHIPLC JAPAULGOLD OANDO AIICO ZENITHBANK TOP LOSERS ROYALEXCH JAIZBANK HONEYWELL

NGN NGN 0.03 0.34 0.05 0.58 0.16 3.26 0.06 1.26 0.80 21.80 NGN 0.03 0.36 0.04 0.62 0.06 1.13 DAARCOMM 0.01 0.20 LINKASSURE 0.04 0.80 HPE Nestle Nig Plc ₦1,420.00 Volume: 145.332 million shares Value: N1.575 billion Deals: 3,525 As at yesterday 8/4/2021 See details on Page 39

% 9.6 9.4 5.1 5.0 3.8 % 7.6 6.0 5.0 4.7 4.7

FRIDAY APRIL 9, 2021 • T H I S D AY

FRIDAY, ΁˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

CBN Gets Court Order to Freeze 193 More Bank Accounts

Obinna Chima

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has obtained three different court judgments from the Federal High Court, Abuja to freeze an additional 193 bank accounts belonging to corporates and individuals, pending the outcome of the investigation into the allegations of foreign exchange (FX) infractions against those affected. This comes less than 24 hours after the central bank revealed it had gotten a court order to freeze 11 bank accounts. The court ruled that there should be a restriction on the affected accounts for a

period of 45 days, pending the outcome of the ongoing investigation. The affected accounts in the three suits posted on the CBN website yesterday, belong to Bluebeam Capital Limited, whose 59 separate accounts were listed; 33 separate bank accounts in different banks belonging to Sethwealth Ventures; 17 bank accounts belonging to Seasons Bureau De Change; Lat-Ade Logistics (four bank accounts); Sani Polo Concept Enterprises (five bank accounts); Saneo Global Resources (eight bank accounts); Romvic Ventures Limited (seven bank accounts); and Enychristo Enterprises (three bank accounts).

In addition, some of the individual bank accounts affected were listed as Nuhu Abubakar (three bank accounts); Adenmosun Lateef Jimoh (five bank accounts); Lateef Adenmosun (six bank accounts); Sani Abdullahi (three bank accounts); Ezeh Onyebuchi C (three bank accounts); Okpalaugo Ifeanyi Paul; Chinweuba Okoye Sunday; among others. In all the cases, the judge ruled that the orders were granted, “in the interim and shall last for only 45 days pending the conclusion of an investigation by the CBN.” It added: “The applicant (CBN) shall publish this order in its website within three

days from today. Any person or persons that is aggrieved by this order shall approach this court to seek to set aside, discharge or have the order reviewed without waiting for the expiration of 45 days given in the law, but upon good reasons shown. “The order is renewable on expiration upon good reasons shown. This suit is adjourned to May 17, 2021, for mention.” Meanwhile, more facts emerged yesterday about the court order to freeze the bank customers’ accounts. For instance, sources close to the CBN disclosed that for the 11 bank accounts that were published on Wednesday, the

regulator may have sought the court order to enable it to investigate suspicious transactions on the accounts allegedly linked to illegal foreign exchange operators in excess of $160 million. But the finding revealed that the bank accounts owned by a certain Albert Austin Ugochukwu and five other business concerns were alleged to be involved in in operating as illegal foreign exchange operators; an act that contravenes the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring & Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1995 and Section 58(1) of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) 1991 (as amended).

When contacted for clarification, the Acting Director of the Corporate Communications Department, Osita Nwanisobi, declined comments on the investigation, but noted that the CBN would do all within its mandate and the extant laws of the country to check any act contrary to its goal of ensuring sanity in the Nigerian foreign exchange market. According to him, it was the Bank’s statutory duty to maintain external reserves to safeguard the international value of the Naira, hence it would carry out actions to check the pressure on the foreign exchange rate.

Forum believes in dialogue and consultation as a way of bringing peace and normalcy back to our troubled region and nation.” The forum also condemned the payment of ransom to bandits and called on the hoodlums and insurgents who are holding other citizens as hostages to desist from such

ungodly acts. “No religion that is practised in Northern Nigeria permits such sinful acts like holding other human beings as hostages for financial reward,” the communique said. It announced the setting up of an outfit called “ARECON Integrated,” to serve as its business arm and industrial

hub since the forum itself cannot engage in business activities. The communique added that already, contacts have been made with the minister of the FCT and some state governors of the North who have promised them land to facilitate the take-off of the company.

every once in a while she airs her own personal struggles, her annoyance, in a manner, probably unprecedented in the role of the First Lady anywhere.” The vice president stated further: "There is no question that Aisha Buhari is different. Her difference has been empowering for the Nigerian people and there is never any question that her comments come from a good place, a place of genuine love and respect for the Nigerian people and our several concerns." To capture the First Lady, Osinbajo also quoted her husband, Buhari, who said: “Aisha, as the world has come to know her, is kind-hearted. This made her transition to philanthropy and humanitarianism easily. When she became First Lady, her protective mien was exerted when women, children and other vulnerable people are abused. "I've observed with kin interest as she addresses many of the social concerns that have given her sleepless nights. She has, therefore, been a worthy partner and a beacon for some of the good things that Nigerians have come to identify with our government.' And I concur. I agree." On the book's expose on the First Lady's girl child advocacy and her stand that no girl should be given out in marriage before accomplishing primary and secondary schools education, Osinbajo noted: "We understand the roots of her relentless pursuit in these past years of the empowerment of women, especially through education, the need for young girls to get primary and secondary education before getting married. "We understand her stand

that no girl should get married before the age of 17. It is from her own experience of being married at 19 and her single-mindedness and determination in ensuring that our educational pursuits were not aborted by her obligations as a wife and mother. "We also get a glimpse of the role she considers primary, to borrow the expression, Mum-in-Chief to Halima, to Yusuf, to Zarah, to Hanan and Chuchu, and now many grandchildren. Her personal attention in the lives of her children, each and every one of them, and her fierce protection of their privacy and individuality, is a lesson in bringing up children under the scrutiny of a sometimes mischievous press. "Perhaps because of the undefined nature of their positions, it was Michelle Obama who said famously that there is no handbook on how to be the First Lady and sometimes the uncertain impact of their rules on the affairs of state. Fayemi, who spoke on behalf of the governors, said the frankness of Aisha endears her to many Nigerians. He said though the First Lady’s “candour may appear in a manner of indiscretion,” the governors are proud to be associated with her as the defender of the defenceless. He said: “If you are looking for the voice of the voiceless, the defender of the defenceless, if you are looking for candour, courage, for commitment, you have no other place to go than in the direction of her Excellency, the First Lady of the Federal Republic (of Nigeria), Dr. Aisha Buhari. “Yes, that candour may appear in a manner of indiscretion. Some might

even argue that when you are in this gilded cage otherwise known as the presidency, you are not supposed to be seen to say some things but I think it is in that candour that we have the authenticity of our First Lady and that is what endears her to the majority of Nigerians, that is also what being different is about.” Over N150 million was realised at the public presentation of the biography with the business magnate, Alhaji Aliko Dangote buying a copy of the book with N30,000 as the cover price for N30 million. Tinubu also bought a copy for N20 million, Chief Kessington Adebutu, who was represented bought a copy for N25 million and businesswoman, Mrs. Bola Shagaya bought copies for N10 million, among others. Those who graced the occasion include Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, who was represented by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HCSF), who delivered his welcome remarks; Deputy President of the Senator, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege; DirectorGeneral of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (recorded message); and Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), Dr. Amina Muhammed (recorded message). Others include wife of the vice president, Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo; former First Lady, Dr. Patience Jonathan; former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Pastor Godsday Orubebe; the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi; the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa'ad Abubakar III; wife of former vice president, Mrs. Amina Sambo, among others.

FG FINGERS INSECURITY AS TRIGGER FOR RISING SECESSIONIST AGITATIONS It said: “The forum regretted that the kidnapped students had remained in captivity and the Kaduna State government has not done much to get them released. “The forum agreed to take up their plight with the state government and the federal government too.” The communique said the

forum also received reports on “the unfortunate killings of some northerners in the Southeast that seemed suspicious” and called on security agencies to investigate the killings and fish out the culprits. The communique warned the “youths who have suddenly started distributing messages on social media

calling on reprisal attacks on Igbos and their business interests in the North. It stated: “We the Arewa Consultative Forum stand against all lawless acts of self-help and call on all northern youths to stop such evil plans. They do not enjoy our support. “The Arewa Consultative

AISHA IS PRESIDENCY’S VOICE OF CONSCIENCE, SAYS TINUBU as the voice of the voiceless. Tinubu, who was the chairman of the event, described her as a human being of deep convictions and feelings that is more than passionate about her husband and her family. According to him, "You can plainly see she loves them deeply. This depth of feeling extends to a love of country. From the very onset, she was totally committed to ensuring the success of the campaign of then-candidate Buhari and later to the success of the administration of President Buhari.” The former Lagos State governor said she had a naturally strong connection with the average person because she speaks with sincerity and belief. “We noticed this very early during the historic 2015 campaign. Thus, we convinced her to play a vocal and visible role in that groundbreaking campaign. Her efforts contributed to her husband’s success. She helped him make history during that campaign. Since coming to the office of the First Lady, she has not stopped making history,” Tinubu said. The APC national leader said she had also been an active and dedicated voice to those whom society sometimes forgets, adding that she gives comfort to the broken and seeks relief for the destitute. According to Tinubu, no one can doubt her concern, adding that her care for the wellbeing of women, children and the powerless has established the standard for the office of the First Lady for years to come. Tinubu said Aisha had shown that a First Lady should not stand aloof and detached from what

is happening in the country. “Mrs. Buhari never shies from what she believes in. This makes her a reliable and true advisor to her beloved husband. No doubt that Mr. President’s administration has been enriched because of her active role and the teamwork that exists between husband and wife." Tinubu also stressed that Aisha's voice of conscience in the presidency had considerably helped in the functioning of the Buhari-led administration. He noted the First Lady's sterling contribution during the 2015 presidential campaign that culminated in the then-candidate Buhari's eventual victory and the current functioning of the presidency. He stated that the president's wife had continued to play uplifting, unifying roles both in symbol and substance, adding that she has been "a voice of conscience calling us to be our better selves for the good of the nation and for the betterment of the weakest, most vulnerable among us. "As such she has been a strong pillar of support not only to the president but also to the Nigerian people whom they both serve with such patriotic commitment and high purpose,” he said, adding: "First Lady Aisha Buhari has done a masterful job melding the calls of tradition and the imperatives of today into a creative, benevolent role that has enriched society and the art of governance.” The APC leader also commended the author of the book, not just for documenting the background, education, career, family and public life of Aisha in an enjoyable, easily readable manner, but also in narrating the political and

constitutional context within which the president's wife has moulded the position of the First Lady in Nigeria. Also speaking, Osinbajo said Aisha had redefined the office of the First Lady. He noted that she had taken steps outside the box of what used to be the traditional roles in Nigeria's presidential history, adding that her unusual approaches had endeared her to the citizens. According to him, Aisha has regaled the Nigerian public with many firsts, including opening up her office through social media outlets and connecting with the public in real-time. On the book, the vice president declared: "Dr. Hajo Sani has written a most engaging book on an incredibly fascinating person, Her Excellency, Aisha Buhari, Nigeria's First Lady. It's unlikely that any First Lady in Nigeria's history has, in such a few short years, captured the imagination of Nigerians as profoundly as Aisha Buhari. "She's, of course, the first First Lady to be on Twitter, on Instagram, and other social media platforms, getting her unfiltered views across to the Nigerian people and she's probably the first to receive, in real-time, the opinions of Nigerians on her views. "With her views, forthright, crisp, truthful and once in a while controversial, she has established an ongoing conversation with the Nigerian people. The issues that concern them most, the issues that concern us the most; good governance, security, putting food on the table, the education of our children, prompt payment of pensions to army veterans, drug abuse, the violation and victimisation of women and

FRIDAY APRIL 9, 2021 • T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY • FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2021

COMMENT

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

FOR LOUIS, FOR EMMA

Tunde Olusunle pays tribute to Okoroma and Ugorji, two outstanding journalists

onday March 15, 2021, we woke up to the sad news of the shocking demise of a long time colleague and friend, Louis Okoroma. He was reportedly at work in the Atiku Media Office (AMO) for short, in Abuja, on Wednesday March 10, 2021. For the better part of the last decade, he was on the staff of AMO. Paul Ibe, head of the Atiku Media Team who announced Okoroma’s departure, noted that he was his lively self that day and wished his colleagues a nice weekend as he left the office. Within the next 24 hours, however, Okoroma was no more. Tuesday March 30, 2021, which coincidentally, was my birthday, another one hit me from the page of a Whatsapp chatroom to which the departed Okoroma also belonged. A post by a member of the platform had expressed sadness at the demise of Emmanuel Ekwueme Ugorji. I subsumed my disbelief under the fact that I knew Emmanuel Ugorji, but didn’t know Emmanuel Ekwueme Ugorji. I quickly made calls to colleagues in the media who should know. The news was confirmed from all the sources I spoke with. Emmanuel Ekwueme Ugorji, was the same as Emmanuel Ugorji. He reportedly closed from work on Monday March 29, and was driving home to Kubwa, a suburb of Abuja, when he had a fatal automobile accident. He didn’t survive it. By a curious twist of fate, Ugorji like Okoroma, was also on the staff of the AMO. Thunder had struck twice in the same vicinity within a fortnight of each other. This was doubly devastating. I have known about the AMO since the twilight of the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo, in 2007. With the rift between Obasanjo and his Deputy, Atiku Abubakar culminating in the wholesale decimation of the Office of the Vice President, at the time, Atiku’s media handlers suggested the creation of such an outfit, to help ensure that Obasanjo did not extinguish Atiku from national and international media consciousness. It was a concept to keep Atiku in the fore of public discourse in a milieu where he was being run aground by his Principal. Pioneer members of the AMO included Garba Shehu, incumbent Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari who was Head of the Team; late Dr Adinoyi Onukaba Ojo, who was Managing Director, Daily Times of Nigeria, and subsequently Senior Special Assistant on Media to Vice President Atiku Abubakar, and Prof Adeolu Akande, who was also an Advisor to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. Akande is now Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). Louis Okoroma and I were editorial staffers of the Daily Times of Nigeria Plc in those years of the glorious ascent of the organisation, under the leadership of the inimitable and charismatic Dr Yemi Ogunbiyi between 1989 and 1991. I started out in Sunday Times, the weekly publication of the newspaper colossus, while Okoroma was in Timesweek, the weekly magazine from the stable of Daily Times. It was later re-christened Times International as part of the Ogunbiyi project of revamping and revitalizing the various publications in the newspaper octopus. Fresh hands were recruited from the media and the academia, to work with subsisting personnel, in repositioning the organisation. Okoroma, however, was one of the serving staff who were retained on his own professional merit. To be sure, Okoroma acquitted himself as a

THE DEMISE OF LOUIS OKOROMA AND EMMANUEL UGORJI IS A SAVAGE BLOW NOT ONLY TO THEIR RESPECTIVE FAMILIES OR THEIR EMPLOYER, BUT ALSO TO THE MEDIA FRATERNITY IN NIGERIA

political scientist and analyst, and therefore survived the merit-based, Ogunbiyi-inspired reorganisation of the Daily Times. Okoroma was educated at two of Nigeria’s most notable universities. He attended University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he graduated with a degree in Political Science in 1983 and earned a Master’s degree at the University of Lagos. He welcomed you with this unmissable, big, friendly smile, whenever you encountered one another on the corridors of the newsroom block. We took turns to stroll on that corridor to catch our breaths, particularly when you needed some inspiration to push forward with your writing. At the outset of the Obasanjo Presidential Campaign in 1998, Okoroma was one of the young journalists called up by the Director of Publicity of the Campaign at the time, Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, to help drive the project. Following Obasanjo’s victory at the polls, Okoroma sought greener pastures in Abuja, the nation’s administrative capital, in 1999. First, he served as media assistant to the Minister of Works and Housing in the new government, Chief Tony Anenih. He was subsequently absorbed by the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), a parastatal of the Ministry of Works and Housing. He subsequently teamed up with the Atiku Media Office, where he functioned until his demise. A very tragic prelude to Okoroma’s exit, was the death of his wife, two months before him. Okoroma was therefore widower himself, just before his children, very sadly, were consigned to becoming orphaned. Ugorji also attended the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He was correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria in the State House, Abuja, when I served as a presidential aide on media liaison and special duties at various times, under the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo. I got along very well with the press corps because the archetypal bonhomie of the newsroom never left me. Sola Atere, Martins Oloja, Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, Yomi Odunuga, Emeka Nwankpa, Madu Onuorah, Ola Awoniyi, Paul Odenyi, Ibrahim Modibbo, Cletus Akwaya, among others, all of the State House Press Corps, were my good friends too. Emma would hail me “La Tunde” and in turn, I will give him that kind of hug that made our tummies come together, since we were both modestly gifted in that section of the human anatomy. He harboured no grudges against anyone, he was just your regular easygoing friend. Emma was witty, a fantastic guy. Presidential foreign trips meant trimmer, more compact media teams. Travelling on the advance party, usually a few days ahead of the president, brought you closer to your media colleagues and friends. You travelled together on the same flights and laid over while in transit at various airports across the world together. You stayed in the same hotels at your destination, had your meals together in the dining facilities of those hotels and interacted with the host Nigerian Embassy to ensure a successful presidential trip. All of these promoted bonding between you as a government official and the pressmen. Following his retirement from the NAN a few years back, Ugorji teamed up with the Atiku Media Office where he worked diligently, until his tragic death. The car he was driving home that evening of Monday March 29, 2021, somersaulted on the Kubwa Expressway and gave him no window for escape. Dr Olusunle, poet and journalist, wrote from Abuja

THE RISE IN WATER-RELATED DISEASES IN LEKKI

Increasing cases of dysentery and diarrhea infections have raised concerns in the Lagos rich suburb, writes Michael Owhoko

elp! Lekki residents are exposed to water-related diseases engendered by sub-standard and unregulated sources of water supply. Increasing cases of dysentery and diarrheainduced pathogenic bacteria infections have sparked concerns on public health in the area. Water is an essential element in human life, and inability to have access to clean water makes healthy living a hazardous matter. It is particularly worrisome for a cosmopolitan community like Lekki to live without guaranteed potable water, especially, during this COVID-19 era when the importance of regular washing with clean water is emphasized by World Health Organisation (WHO). It is a fact that Lekki conjures image of affluence and comfort, going by splendid architectural edifice and exquisite relaxation spots sprawling all over the place, but beneath these allures, is a menace – lack of drinkable water. If water is life, yet, it is extremely difficult to source, it means there is no life in Lekki, and unfit to be part of “Centre of Excellence”. By Lekki, I mean the geographical area straddling between the Tollgate and Victoria Garden City (VGC). Despite its aquatic location bordered by the sea and the lagoon, clean water is hard to find due to its peculiar topography. Unfortunately, the Lagos State Government has failed over the years to address this challenge, and nothing on ground to suggest it is a priority. There is no water infrastructure in Lekki. Of all the network of water mains and spur service lines that run throughout the state, none is linked to the area. And there appears to be no plans by the Lagos

Water Corporation (LWC) to build water facilities. Regrettably, this has encouraged all manner of water merchants, using boreholes, tanker trucks and bottled water with questionable hygienic conditions lacking capacity to pass purity test, to flood the area with their products. With an estimated water consumption of 90 million gallons per day (MGD) by Lekki residents out of the probable 800 MGD demand in the state, LWC is indifferent to the plight of the people as nothing to show succour is on the way. Desperation to bridge supply gap has forced residents to embrace these questionable boreholes, water tankers and bottled or sachet water, worsened by the absence of quality control and assurance by regulatory authorities. Therein lies the danger. Take the boreholes for example. The peculiar topography of Lekki makes borehole water not reliable. The water is characterized by mixture of iron, salt and colour due to contamination induced, perhaps, by non-availability of thick protective layer. Even the recommended borehole depth of approximately 230m to 260m by the LWC is defied by the water table structure, and does not guarantee purity. Though a few of the estates in Lekki have boreholes and treatment plants, and complying with the recommended depth of LWC, the water is not clean and fresh enough to reassure residents of its wholesomeness. Residents are therefore compelled to limit usage to other forms of domestic activities, save for drinking. Ironically, Ajah, an area adjacent Lekki, has good water table with thick protective layer. This has led to emergence of water vendors who use trucks/

tanks to deliver and sell water to Lekki residents. Nothwithstanding, there are concerns about hygiene. These tanker trucks are seldom washed, and are prone to contamination. Some of these trucks have been in operation for over 10 years, yet, operators do not deem it fit to wash them, thereby exposing residents to infections. Besides, in the course of dispensing water, tanker trucks pollute the environment through generation of noise and carbon monoxide, causing health hazards. This leaves Lekki residents helpless, confining them to bottled water, which they believe, are reliable. But they are wrong! The risk of contamination in bottled and sachet water is also high due to adulteration and imitation fueled by greed. There are so many bottled water brands in circulation, all contending to capture the Lekki market share. Those who believe their brands lack the capacity to compete, resort to producing counterfeit by faking notable brands already enjoying market patronage. That is why at party venues in Lekki, empty bottles of consumed water of big brands are quickly taken away by quacks for recycle. The impact is manifested in poor sales returns for these notable brands when compared to their visibility in the market. This simply means that some of those known products are just synthetic of the genuine brands. This has forced some of the honest big water firms to rebrand and redesign their labels, bottles, caps and lids. It is aimed at reestablishing their unique identity and retention of market share. But has this rebranding strategy worked? Who can differentiate original from fake? Your guess is as good as mine. As the genuine ones rebrand, the interlopers are also quick to raise their bars by

cloning the rebranded models. They too want to remain in business. Despite lack of full-proof purity, Lekki residents believe they are better off with bottled water than drinking directly from boreholes and tanker trucks. This desperation to consume any water in bottle has exposed residents to unprepared risk. If the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) did its job proficiently, and refusing any form of corruption infection, activities of fake water dispensers would have been curtailed. Recall that in February 2016, a former Lagos Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris was reported to have disclosed that 25 children died after drinking pathogen-infected water at Otodo Gbame community, Ikate, Eti-Osa Local Government Area of the state. There are still many of such communities along the Lekki corridor with their peculiar water tales. Implicitly, it is not by fluke that the biggest private hospital and, diagnostic and laboratory medical centre in Lagos State are located in Lekki. Obviously, the presence of these medical facilities is the outcome of well researched feasibility studies. Even in elementary economics, proximity to market is a strong consideration for location of industries. With water-related diseases on the rise in Lekki, there is guaranteed and fertile business for promoters of medical facilities. Patients are not only available, financial capacity of patients are also a reassuring incentive. Dr. Owhoko, journalist and author, is the Publisher of Media Issues, an online newspaper found at www.mediaissuesng.com.

T H I S D AY ˾ ˜ ͷ˜ 2021

EDITORIAL

TACKLING POVERTY IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA Leaders should promote economic growth through good governance

ontrary to the situation in other parts of the world where the number of poor people has declined, Nigeria and other sub-Saharan African countries currently account for half of the global poor. That is the verdict of the World Bank in a recent report which states that for the last several decades, East Asia and Pacific, South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa have accounted for some 95 per cent of global poverty. However, according to the bank in its policy research note entitled ‘Ending Extreme Poverty and IT IS IMPORTANT TO TACKLE Sharing ProsperHIGH LEVEL CORRUPTION ity: Progress and WHICH HAS IN MOST OF THE Policies’, the composition of poverty COUNTRIES, EXACERBATED across the three THE POVERTY OF regions has shifted MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE dramatically. “In 1990, East Asia accounted for half of the global poor, whereas some 15 per cent lived in sub-Saharan Africa; by 2015 forecasts, this is almost exactly reversed: subSaharan Africa accounts for half of the global poor, with some 12 per cent living in East Asia. Poverty is declining in all regions but it is becoming deeper and more entrenched in countries that are either conflict-ridden or overly dependent on commodity exports. The growing concentration of global poverty in sub-Saharan Africa is of great concern”, said the World Bank in the report. That poverty has become an ever-present situation in sub-Saharan Africa should be of great concern to our leaders most of whom are used to mouthing the cliché that we have no business being poor. However, what most of them fail to understand is that poverty goes beyond the shortage of common things such as food, clothing, shelter and safe drinking water, all of which determine the quality of life. It is inclusive of educational attainment and gender inequality, for example. But in the instant case, we are even talking about people for whom food is a challenge. According to most findings, poverty in sub-

Letters to the Editor

T H I S DAY EDITOR BOLAJI ADEBIYI DEPUTY EDITOR ˜ ˜ MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OLUSEGUN ADENIYI EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL MANAGING EDITOR

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 GROUP EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS ˜ ˜

˜ JEOMA NWOGWUGWU,

DIVISIONAL DIRECTORS BOLAJI ADEBIYI, ˜ ANTHONY OGEDENGBE DEPUTY DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR

SNR. ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS ˜ CONTROLLERS ˜ ˜

DIRECTOR, PRINTING PRODUCTION HEAD, COMPUTER DEPARTMENT ̓ TO SEND EMAIL: ﬁrst name.surname@thisdaylive.com

Saharan Africa can largely be attributed to the region’s venality and impuissant economic and social policies. Others assert that the region’s economic woes lie in the lack of well-structured institutions. However, poverty in sub-Saharan Africa could be traceable to a number of factors like lack of democracy, poor management of resource and revenues, high level of corruption, weak rule of law, and lack of infrastructure. Other factors which can also be both causes and after-effects of poverty are overpopulation, crime, war, discrimination, poor access to affordable health care, malnutrition, diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS, which overwhelmingly afflict poor sub-Saharan African countries. The inability of governments to control or effectively manage things like erosion, desertification and overgrazing, geographic factors such as access to fertile land, fresh water, minerals, energy, and other natural resources have continued to contribute to the expanding poverty in the sub-continent. Yet those living in poverty, experts say, suffer lower life expectancy as millions of people die every year due to lower access to quality healthcare induced by poverty. It is therefore time for leaders in sub-Saharan Africa to muster the political will to deal with poverty which can be eradicated if they promote economic growth, women empowerment, good governance and access to health care rather than depending on development aid from developed countries. Put simply, sub-Saharan Africa policymakers should enact policies and programmes that ensure a fair distribution of economic growth amongst its citizens. It is also important to tackle high level corruption which has in most of the countries, exacerbated the poverty of majority of the people. By diverting scarce resources to private hands at the expense of much needed projects such as schools, hospitals, roads and reliable institutions, poverty is being reinforced. This challenge must be addressed. And to the extent that literacy rates and tertiary enrollments are significant drivers of economic growth and poverty alleviation, there is need to make education a priority in sub-Saharan Africa.

TO OUR READERS Letters in response to speciﬁc publications in THISDAY should be brief (150-200 words) and straight to the point. Interested readers may send such letters along with their contact details to opinion@thisdaylive.com. We also welcome comments and opinions on topical local, national and international issues provided they are well-written and should also not be longer than (9501000 words). They should be sent to opinion@thisdaylive.com along with the email address and phone numbers of the writer.

A PALL OF FECAL-MATTER STENCH ENVELOPES MINNA

arly onset of rainfall, in March 2021 at Minna, surely had local meteorologists scratching their heads but I am confident that my academic confidant, Salihu Saidu of the Department of Geography (one whom I am unashamed to call the “most intelligent lecturer at my university”), can effortless explain this slight “meteorological quirk” away. Actually, residents of Minna got buffeted by a whiff of blustery windstorm and associated tiny shower-sprays on 19th March 2021 and Saturday 20th March 2021. I dread these windy “curtain raisers” at Minna because, now, this town becomes a veritable cesspool of the stinkiest kind. Yes, a cesspool! Minna town has lax public-hygiene enforcement measures and thus, homesteaders and other yobs plus urchins, do open-defecation everywhere with dedicated regularity. No acre of free space in the urban built-up environment is free from “shit-attack;” in fact, the “freer” and “cleaner” the green-space, the most desirable it becomes to deposit fecal-matter there because one must ensure that one is

“uncontaminated” by other peoples’ droppings as one prepares oneself for the series of evening prayers that the muezzin soon will yell for. (Strange logic, uh.) It is disconcerting to note that even “hallowed spaces” of the academic community (like the frontage of the Bosso Campus of my school) and the tract of land facing the magnificent Central Bank of Nigeria complex that once ringed the side of a branch of the defunct Oceanic Bank and lying directly opposite the driveway to a government judiciary department that deals with tax matters or something in that regard have been defaced by horrid eyesores in the form of dried human fecal-matter. These past months, whilst it was still hot, commuters only sensed the whiff of putrid matter in the air but with hydration associated with rain showers, man, does my town of residence stink! What kind of urban-space management thrives on revelling poverty and total wretchedness whence you’d be told that it is a “religious” duty to accommodate the poor in all their wretchedness and it is even more of a “piety” to tolerate their crude attitudes like the open-defecation

practice that they so much enjoy doing. After all, “religion” is meaningless without accommodating poverty. I think we are turning philosophy on its head here. How dare we? Minna is the retirement home of two ex-heads of state and the two local governments headquartered here cannot do any meaningful grassroots public-health enforcement and promulgation of public-hygiene codices. Minna is the capital of the state of Niger and, thus, it is the seat of the state government and the place of residence of the governor yet this town stinks badly. Interestingly, in my day-to-day interactions with commercial public-transport operators, a minor point of note but with significant implication and ramification, which does not always occur to the general population but one in which I have developed a keen interest is the remark I loosely throw at this segment of Minna society, “You know, from Chanchaga neighbourhood in the south of Minna to Maikunkele in the north and from Kpakungu in the west to Maitumbi in the east, you won’t spy ‘unbelievers’ doing open-defecation because when these ‘unbelievers’ go to

church every Sunday pastors tell them it is haram to shit in the open by the roadside and pastors also tell them that it is halal to build toilets in their homes. Have you ever spied an ‘unbeliever’ doing open-defecation in the heart of Minna built-up area?” Silence. The “okadaman” or “kekeman” is doing serious thinking. As I drop off to pay him his fare, I throw a quick jab, “do you still think we should be called ‘unbelievers?’” As he drives off, the shout of “kai, officer!” rents the air as a term of hail. In my very low-cut hairstyle, my ubiquitous jeans and tee-shirts, my big sneakers, and my assured gait even at my age, these ones always assume I’m a policeman in perpetual mufti. Fact is “unbelievers” do not do open-defecation and who knows if maybe this “officer” is out to round up they who are faithful practitioners of this “craft.” Walahi talahi, this “officer” pointed out the truth. Sunday Adole Jonah, Department of Physics, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State

FRIDAY APRIL 9, 2021 •T H I S D AY

FRIDAY APRIL 9, 2021 • T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY ˾ FRIDAY APRIL 9, 2021

POLITICS

Group Politics Editor NSEOBONG OKON-EKONG Email: nseobong.okonekong@thisdaylive.com 08114495324 SMS ONLY

As Amotekun Operations Begin in Ogun Bolu Adeosun welcomes the recent launch of the South-West Security Network codenamed Amotekun in Ogun State

o say the very least, Nigeria is currently at a crossroads security-wise. Only this week, hoodlums invaded the fortress housing the Imo State police command and the Owerri prisons, setting buildings and vehicles ablaze and freeing inmates. According to reports, policemen in the South-east geopolitical zone are afraid to put on their uniforms, and attacks on police and military formations are heightening in the South-south, North-west, Northeast and North-central zones. The North is groaning under the weight of banditry and kidnapping while the South-west, the focus of this piece, has become the site of ceaseless rampage by nomadic herdsmen who abduct, rape, mutilate and butcher people at will, particularly on farmlands. Food insecurity worsens by the day as life becomes nastier, shorter and more brutish.. It is therefore trite noting that the reality of the moment has made it imperative for states to look inwards in terms of security network, most especially in the South-west. These are indeed terrible times. At no time in history have the Yoruba witnessed the murderous influx of blood-thirsty herdsmen like the moment. Farmlands have become what the Yoruba call erujeje (palpable fear); they are sites of tragedy. The criminal herders have done a lot of havoc to the psyche of our people; they have made loss of life and property routine. From Oke Ogun to Yewa to Akoko, the story has been the same: every part of the South-west has felt the pangs of these marauders. Given the kind of constitution that the country operates, restoring normalcy is a big challenge to the chief executive of each state. The unitary constitution that the country currently operates gives states no latitude over the security situation in their domains. It is a fact that military and paramilitary personnel all take instructions from their headquarters in Abuja and not from the governors who are dubiously tagged Chief Security Officers of their respective states. It is a regular complaint that most of the people posted by the police to man specific areas are not familiar with the terrain. Security summersaults are thus routine. The foregoing explains why the Western Nigeria Security Network codenamed Amotekun, an initiative by the leadership of the South-west states, has come to stay. Speaking in Abeokuta, Ogun State last week while inaugurating the state branch of the outfit, Governor Dapo Abiodun placed the Amotekun phenomenon in perspective. He recalled that at the South-West Security Summit held on June 25, 2019, in Ibadan, the governments of the six South-West states of Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti agreed to establish a security outfit to be named Amotekun. The objective of the governors and leaders of the South-West was the critical need to complement the efforts of the Nigeria Police and other security agencies in the states, especially with a truly indigenous security agency that understands the terrain. Abiodun therefore submitted that the establishment of the security outfit was part of a holistic approach to addressing insecurity

The foregoing explains why the Western Nigeria Security Network codenamed Amotekun, an initiative by the leadership of the South-west states, has come to stay. Speaking in Abeokuta, Ogun State last week while inaugurating the state branch of the outﬁt, Governor Dapo Abiodun placed the Amotekun phenomenon in perspective. He recalled that at the South-West Security Summit held on June 25, 2019, in Ibadan, the governments of the six South-West states of Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti agreed to establish a security outﬁt to be named Amotekun

Why Buhari Should Inaugurate NDDC Board Now Boma Ebiakpo, National Chairman of Niger Delta Peoples’ Forum ampliﬁes the strident calls by ethnic nationality groups and governors from the Southsouth states on President Muhammadu Buhari to inaugurate the Senate approved board of the Niger Delta Development Commission

resident Muhammadu Buhari should listen to the voice of reason from all well-meaning Niger Deltans, and the elected governors of the region, the true representatives of the people, and inaugurate the Senate confirmed Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) which Senator Godswill Akpabio, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs had promised will be inaugurated on April 1, 2021. Beyond the well-stated and established case of the illegality of interim managements, not known to the law establishing NDDC, but which have been superintending over the affairs of the Commission since November 2019, there is also the urgent need to douse the rising tension in the region which has reached fever pitch. The patient but long-suffering people of the Niger Delta are beginning to lose their cool over an unending forensic audit that has been used as guise in the past 18 months to hold down development of the region despite a whopping approved budget of N799.5 billion that has been squandered by Akpabio’s illegal interim managements with not a single project to justify this humongous amount. Notable groups kicking against the continued stay of the Interim Administrator and demanding the immediate inauguration of the Senate-approved substantive Board include the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide, Urhobo Progressives Union (UPU), Pan Niger-Delta Forum (PANDEF), and the Movement for the Survival of the Izon Ethnic Nationality in the Niger Delta (MOSIEND). Like the governors of the South-south, the groups had insisted on the inauguration of NDDC board by President

Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday, April 1, in accordance with the Act setting up the intervention agency. Mr. President, these groups, The IYC, PANDEF, MOSIEND, and UPU have said that anything short of inauguration would amount to an aberration, and “would be resisted by Niger Delta people.” We also wish to remind President Buhari that during their March 8 meeting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, the South South Governors’ Forum (SSGF) chaired by Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State also advised that apart from payment of workers’ salaries, NDDC funds should be reserved in an escrow account, pending the inauguration of the board. We recall that the Minister, Senator Godswill Akpabio, had assured Niger Deltans in October 2019 that no contract will be awarded and no contractors will be paid pending the conclusion of the Forensic Audit which he stated will be completed within six months, to terminate by April 2020. The expectation was that he would quickly conclude the forensic audit within the stipulated timeframe without expending the resources of the Commission and then inaugurate the substantive board with representatives from the nine constituent states in line with the Act establishing the Commission Rather than do that he has gone ahead to expend N799b using various illegal interim managements, monies belonging to the entire Niger Delta region, without representation from them, while posing to be conducting an unending forensic audit NOTE: Interested readers should continue in the online edition on www.thisdaylive.com

in the South-west geopolitical zone. As he noted, the operatives of the security outfit had been carefully selected and trained to secure lives and properties, while the state government had provided the outfit with vehicles, motorcycles, communication gadgets, technical back-ups and the political will for an effective take-off and efficient operation. The governor indeed harped on a very crucial point, namely that the provision of equipment and recruitment of personnel would be a continuous exercise, as the government expected superlative performance from the operatives. His words: “Your role is primarily to prevent crime. You are to do this through systematic intelligence gathering and collaboration with other law enforcement agencies, especially the security network agencies of other states. Let me at this juncture reiterate and say unequivocally that no part of Ogun will be a safe haven for criminals and criminality in whatever form or guise.” Also speaking on the occasion, the Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, commended Prince Abiodun on the inauguration, saying that the outfit was set up to complement the work of existing security agencies. Soyinka urged the operatives to be professional in their duties, adding that they must not tamper with the fundamental human rights of citizens. Also speaking, the Alake of Egbaland, Adedotun Gbadebo, noted that the major assignment of any government is to provide adequate security. The Alake lauded Governor Abiodun’s efforts, urging the security outfit to collaborate effectively with other security agencies. With Amotekun on board the security train in Ogun, the landscape is expected to change dramatically. With proper linkage with communities and community heads and regular provision of information by the people, criminals will be in for a raw deal in the days ahead. There will of course be the regular attacks from the media mouthpieces of nomadic bloodlust, but it will be in vain. The Amotekun operatives should go about their duties with patriotic fervor and godly demeanour and end the banditry recently witnessed in parts of Yewaland and other places. They should stop the menace of people, including Kabiyesis, being kidnapped and rubbished. In any case, Governor Abiodun’s choice of a retired Commissioner of Police as head of the Ogun outfit shows the importance he attaches to the security of life and property, and the peace and prosperity of the Ogun populace. And also worthy of applause is the quality of people recruited into the outfit, and the equipment provided for them to excel in their admittedly daunting duties. But that can be no surprise given the governor ’s record of heavy investment in security agencies in the state in terms of telecommunications, vehicular and other logistic support. Happily, the Ogun Commissioner of Police, Edward Ajogun, has promised that the police would work closely with the Amotekun outfit in the area of sharing information and joint operations to send criminals out of the state.

T H I S D AY ˾ FRIDAY APRIL 9, 2021

PERSPECTIVE

Our Long-shot, Short-cut to Regional and National Transformation

Buhari and Nigeria’s Albatross of Insecurity Chido Nwangwu, Publisher, USAonline.com reiterates the singular importance of security as the foundation for all other indices of development

n April 6, 2021, amidst escalating violence in Nigeria, across every zone of the country and most local districts in the geo-political area largely known and identified as “the Northern Nigeria” Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Usman Alkali Baba, a Deputy Inspector General, to replace Mohammed Adamu as the acting Inspector General of Police of the Nigeria Police Force. The new pick fits the profile of what I will classify as the new generation of police leadership in a notoriously under-paid, disrespected and many allege very corrupt force. IGP Baba has major tasks ahead of him. There’s the issue of credibility of the pronouncements by some of the high-ranking Police officers whereby the common joke in Nigeria is that when Boko Haram, “bandits” or “herdsmen” violently attack and destroy a community, some of the law enforcement officials will say “not really… it was not by you.” On the other hand, when any major incident occurs in the East and the IPOB declares it is “not the IPOB”, the law enforcement people such as Adamu will first insist “it’s the IPOB.” He did so shortly after the attack that took place on the Police Command Headquarters and the Correctional Facility in Owerri, Imo State, on Monday, this week. On Wednesday, August 5, 2020, Buhari, a retired Army General, to all intents, conceded that his government fell short of what Nigerians deserved in the critical arena of security. I commend Buhari’s honest admission, and willingness to reposition in order to tackle the high level of insecurity in Nigeria. Today April 9, 2021, the sad but true state of things is that the situation seems to get worse, weekly — if not daily. Especially the Boko Haramites, the “bandits” and the increasing army of “herdsmen” (translation: AK-47 carrying Fulani foot soldiers) all across the country, the terrorists and soldiers of fortune who are scattered into Mali, Niger, Chad and Nigeria are physically imposing their black flags of medieval theologies and prescriptions as the only way. Buhari had a meeting with security chiefs in the country, where he promised a complete re-engineering of the “security architecture.” At the heart of the farrago of falsehoods is/was the claim that Boko Haram and similar terrorist gangs had been completely defeated or subjugated. But Nigerians knew they were being misled by the nepotism government of

Saint Buhari on their war against Boko Haram. Alas, this, one of my favorite quotes is perfect: `”The rules are simple: they lie to us, we know they’re lying, they know we know they’re lying, but they keep lying to us, and we keep pretending to believe them” wrote Elena Getorokhova in ‘A Mountain of Crumbs.’ On Sunday night January 11, 2015, CNN International called me to provide some insights for a live interview on the Boko Haram menace and killings, especially at Baga. The bloodied Borno city of Baga. I did. To understand the level of impunity and violation of the national security of Nigeria by the violent, terrorist radical Islamic group Boko Haram, you have to know about their horrendous massacre of more than 2,000 persons of all ages and gender in Baga. Baga is near Lake Chad and had not been conquered by Boko until Friday January 9, 2015. Boko overwhelmed both the local vigilantes and Nigeria’s armed forces near and into Baga . blood flowed like a river. Today, April 9, 2021, Baga is a shadow of itself; assaulted, raped, mangled. Baga, these days, is a city arrested by fear. Baga is/was emblematic of how Boko Haram’s vicious clout stretched from one presidency to another. Borno and nearby areas have remained Boko violent playgrounds, the capital territory of their medieval caliphate. Significantly, Nigeria‘s National Security Adviser, retired Major General Babagana Monguno, who briefed State House correspondents at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, after the August 4, 2020 meeting made a key point that “We must bear in mind that we owe a duty to the people that elected this government and at the end of the day, without securing the nation, all other things, such as revamping the economy and fighting corruption cannot be addressed.” The man is right. I think that Nigeria and the other African governments should position their actions and policies around the paradigm that terrorism since the emergence of human societies and into the 21st century remains an issue of domestic consequence. It affects the flow of economic investments, weighing in on the measure for or against international capital, and even the value and safety of domestic/internal business. My point? Offering excuses, dealing kid gloves or looking the other way believing the terror machines will relent is wishful thinking. They are like elephants; the more you feed them, the hungrier they become. Logically, therefore, a recurring concern for Nigerians at home and the diaspora, for American and the international investors remain: are we safe investing to do business in most parts of Nigeria? Are we safe from kidnappers and assorted violence? Curiously, the same government of Buhari is proudly showcasing its launch of a “rehabilitation” and “reintegration” scheme for “ex” Boko members as a high mark of its security “achievements.” The evidences are broadcast daily of how Nigeria’s armed forces remain, embarrassingly, incapable of protecting all Nigerians within its borders. NOTE: Interested readers should continue in the online edition on www.thisdaylive.com

Iboro Otu, businessman and politician argues that it is possible to awaken the ‘sleeping’ population who do not vote for various reasons

o evolve to where we are today, the first world has had its share of woes. Heretics have been burnt at the stakes, women excluded from voting and humans bought and sold in slave trade. The victory of evolution means there was a time when these were sound decisions and great business until things changed. What changed? Ideas. They say nothing stops an idea whose time has come. An idea is like flowing water descending the back of a mountain. No matter the obstacle, it must find its way to the bottom of the mountain because of gravity. Mind you, the idea is not the water, it is the gravity. The water is just a vehicle. Gravity is constant, so are ideas, so is change. Things always must change. I’ve been unable to write for weeks not because I’m bereft of content but because significant events occur on a daily basis in Nigeria so much so that my material become stale even before I send them to print. However, today I must condense my thoughts. The numerous incessant attacks on Nigerians by socio-economic and political hoodlums, terrorists and bandits are daily as well as dynamic, and although we have had many proposed solutions to our national crisis, for me, I always prefer simple ones, easy steps, low hanging fruits. It is possible that we can call a referendum, seek to restructure or secede in order for certain regions to exercise regional autonomy, but what baffles me is; isn’t it the same people occupying regional, state and local governments the people that will be in charge of the new whatever? I am not convinced that the Nigerian problem is majorly constitutional or structural, I believe it is to a very large degree a system problem. It doesn’t matter what region of Nigeria you live in, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or All Progressives C,ingress (APC) your representatives at state and local governments pilfer the little they get and put cronies and family members in position of power. How is this a constitutional or structural problem? Let’s solve systemic problems at local and community level first so we can be enlightened enough to rally challenge against national ones. Anyways, if the people calling for referendum can’t even rally 20 per cent of their voter population to turn up and vote for their candidate - regardless of the gimmicks of politicking and electioneering - how then, can they realistically rally people to support a weighty thing like a referendum or secession or at worst an outright war? Regardless of the trickiness at balloting and our collation processes, huge voter turnout in the first place indicates the desire of the people in support of any form of change. An Ibibio adage says, ‘if you can’t love the brother or sister you can see, how then can you love the Jesus you can’t see? It’s just a baffling thought. It all seems to me like political gimmickry publicized by proponents who have certain powers, interests and reach. Bad as it is, there is an established political system in Nigeria on which popular ideas, like Oduduwa Republic for example, can rally regional support and score overwhelming win in spite of corrupt electoral process and umpires - because their right idea will bring out overwhelming amount of voters in their candidate’s favor. Because the truth is, no matter how this war will be fought - ballots or bullets - it will always be a numbers game. If one can’t bring out their crowd to vote, they won’t have any to fight with either; unless they want to be terrorists or engage in sectarian warfare which always ends up hurting the people they intend to protect. The fear of Nigerian elections, especially for young participants, is (1) the sheer cost of it and (2) voter apathy - the inability to get the major voter block interested in voting;

the 18 - 30 age group who make over 65 per cent of the population. This voter apathy arises from lack of credible candidates to vote for and mistrust in the electoral system. We have been fighting over the years to address both concerns. Our hope is, before the 2023 election, President Buhari would’ve signed the electoral amendment bill to law. Coupling that with our our campaign to get the international community to activate institutional level punitive measures against acts of political repressions across the African continent - of which we are seeing result - would go a long way to mitigate youth voter concerns by more than 50 per cent. Winning on both fronts mean Nigeria stands a survival chance. For me, the breaking point for Nigeria would be, if come 2023, the existing political hegemony succeeds again in putting in power, 100 per cent their kind across the country. The mindlessness of our existing ineffective and largely nepotistic political office holders would push the already divided nation to collapse. It will be organic rather than orchestrated. Nigerians are tired. The dissatisfaction of ordinary Nigerians aren’t about constitutional inequality and amendments, regional autonomy via devolution of powers or whatever it is our politicians and non-state actors are bandying, it is about systems not working and our interests not carried along. With the little they receive, state governments and local governments are in far worse management and decay than the federal government is. Moving forward then means credible people need to come into politics in overwhelming numbers, stand for elections and vote. To my mind, this is the surest short cut. I have informed my constituents I will again be running for governor of Akwa Ibom state when the time comes, but it would be foolhardy of us to anticipate a win by struggling for space within the existing voter demography with the two major political parties. Like it is for any young fighter occupying a ‘mushroom’ political party space, we have to create a new voter base out of the over 70 per cent of eligible voters who don’t vote - white collar, blue collar jobbers and young people - and go beyond that, get them to fund and participate in elections. Yes, it is a long shot but it is also the only short cut. Our regional and national turnaround depends largely on political participation of 50 per cent of the voting population between the 18 - 30yrs age group. As such, come June/July 2021, we will again be putting Akwa Ibom state on stage, pushing ‘The Lazarus Project’, embarking on national town hall meetings across the country starting from Lagos, utilizing traditional media and social media space to address issues of concern, sell and make attractive political participation and elections just like SMAW (Stingy Men and Women Association) was sold to 50 million of us within a month. It will be sizzling, entertaining and dead serious.

FRIDAY APRIL 9, 2021 •T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY ˾ ͷ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

BUSINESSWORLD R A T E S MONEY MARKET OBB OVERNIGHT

A S

A T

REPO 30 % 32.50 %

CALL 1-MONTH 3-MONTH

25 % 28 % 30 %

A P R I L S & P INDEX INDEX LEVEL 1-DAY MONTH-TO-DATE

Group Business Editor Obinna Chima Email obinna.chima@thisdaylive.com 08152447875

1 , 2 0 2 1 558.78 % 0.00 % -0.67 %

S & P INDEX 1/4 TO DATE -16.64 % YEAR TO DATE -16.64 %

EXCHANGE RATE N379/1US DOLLAR* ̩

Quick Takes

Azman Apologises to NCAA, Sirika

MEDIA BRIEFING

L-R: Head, Corporate Communications, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry( LCCI), Dr. Segun Alabi; Vice President, Mrs. Bamidele Daramola; Founding Partner, The Future Project, Debola Williams; and Chief Operating oﬃcer, The Future Project, Bukola Adebakin, at a media brieﬁng on the launch of The Future Africa Internship Program in Lagos...recently PHOTO: ETOP UKUTT

Knocks, Kudos Trail New Airport Projects Chinedu Eze Criticisms have continued to follow the move to establish more airports in Nigeria. However, some experts hailed the move, saying it would spur socio—economic development in the states. Some experts see airport projects as unviable and a waste of resources, saying the resources ought to be channeled towards providing social amenities such as potable water, roads, health facilities and others in the states where such projects are ongoing presently. Some aviation industry observers frowned upon moves by some state governors to establish new airports and many of them spoke recently when the Anambra state government unveiled its new

AVIATION airport, which is near completion. They also criticised the plan of Ebonyi state government to establish an airport, a project which has already commenced. Additionally, they faulted the Ogun state government in its plan to build both cargo and passenger airports, just as Asaba airport which was given out recently to concessionaires was not spared by critics. But those in support of the ongoing airport projects in some states, stressed that it would help attract investments and in the long-run support the quest for diversification of the revenue base of the states. Industry consultant and CEO of Belujane Konsult, Chris Aligbe,

excoriated state governments that would build airports and later hand them over to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), which is already managing many unviable airports from the revenues it is getting from about three airports. However, Aligbe conceded recently that some state owned airports could be viable, depending on the location and if they are given out in concession so that private sector funds could be injected in their development. He said concession creates an opportunity for a world-class airport, world-class infrastructure to be developed with new approach to airport development. “This will be a lesson to other governors, who today, spend so much money building airports, and then turn around to hand it

over the FAAN. There should be a bandwagon effect from what has happened here. “If that happens, FAAN will be relieved of present burden of managing what today is called unviable airports. All airports can be viable if you determine how to go ahead and the only way to do it is to bring those who know how to manage airports. And that is a true concession,” he said. Travel expert and organiser of Akwaba African Travel Market, Ikechi Uko, told THISDAY that building airports is good for the country of about 200 million because in the new world, people need to move faster and even existing roads may not be alternatives because many of them are dilapidated and there is the challenge of insecurity.

FG to Enforce IMO Sulphur Regulation on Nigerian Waterways Eromosele Abiodun The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala-Usman, has stated that the federal government will adhere to the strict timelines for full compliance with and enforcement of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Sulphur Regulation on Nigerian Waterways. Bala-Usman, who stated this while speaking at a recent forum in Abuja, said by ensuring that all vessels sailing on its area of purview satisfy the requirements of the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) Conventions, which already include compliance with chemical and gas carrier codes, it has set the groundwork for safe deployment of OSVs to facilitate movement of gas especially in bulk as the NLNG does. The new regulations, known

MARITIME as IMO Sulphur Regulations 2020, mandates a maximum Sulphur content of 0.5 per cent in marine fuels globally. The driver of this change, she added, was the need to reduce the air pollution created in the shipping industry by reducing the Sulphur content of the fuels that ships use. She explained: “To demonstrate our seriousness, we have taken concrete steps towards the procurement of necessary tools to enhance our capacity for Sulphur analysis as well as put in place a sanction regime for vessels that contravene the Sulphur regulations. “This is in addition to granting approval for continuous capacity building training for MARPOL compliance inspectors in all our port locations. We have also charged our port environment officers to sensitise

and cascade knowledge gained from the trainings to relevant stakeholders.” She said the NPA had been deliberate about the improvement of equipment and building the capacity of personnel relating NPA’s core navigational and towage responsibilities. “The last few months has shown the capacity of our ports to berth the largest possible vessels anywhere. The need to articulate and aggregate all energy-transition and environmental-related port initiatives under one umbrella, to facilitate global maritime policymaking is also germane, and the NPA is keeping tabs in this regard. “As vice-chair of the FAL committee of IMO, we would ensure tracking of global policy shift and provide the enabling atmosphere for domestication, “she said. She added: “Our commitment

to building a sustainable shipping future cannot be devoid of the huge opportunities to reduce airborne pollution, carbon emissions that renewal energy technologies such as shipyards and energy parks offers. We are therefore, at the forefront of studies to unlock these possibilities.” Also, she said current trends across the world; eloquently speak to the pressing need to convert Nigeria’s rich natural gas endowments from potentials to actual dividends. According to her, “Internationally and domestically, the recognition and demand for gas as the safest, most effective and environmentally friendly source of energy has continued to increase and as an organisation that believes in the catalytic role that natural gas can play in the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, in particular Goal 7.”

AzmanAirhasapologizedtotheDirectorGeneraloftheNigerianCivilAviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Musa Nuhu and Aviation Minister, Senator Hadi Sirika over the publication of a letter defaming the person of the Director General aftertheairline’s operationwas suspended. The airline is a statement titled: Our Unreserved Apologies to the Person of the Director General of the NCAA, Capt. Musa Nuhu,” and signed by its AccountableManager,MuhammadHadiAbdulmunaf,statedthatanin-house investigationonthematterrevealedthat,“anoversealousstaff”wrotethe letterwithoutconsultationwithandapproval ofthemanagement. “WewishtounreservedlytenderourapologiestoboththepersonofCapt. Musa NuhuandtheNigerianCivil AviationAuthority. “We state categorically that there wasn’t and, there is still, no iota of truth intheallegationswhicharecapableofdamagingthereputationsoftheDG andtheNCAA.WeequallyextendourapologiestotheMinisterofAviation, Sen.HadiSirika,foranyembarrassmentsouractionsmayhavecausedhim andthegovernment. “We regret every inconvenience caused the DG, NCAA, the Minister of Aviation and the aviation industry in Nigeria as a result of our publication ofthatfalsehood”,theairlinesaid. Explainingfurther,Abdulmunafsaid,“OnMarch21,2021,weissuedapress statementexpressingoursurpriseandshockatapublicationcreditedtous inwhichtheintegrityandreputationoftheDirectorGeneraloftheNCAA, Capt. Musa Nuhu, came under attack as a result of the decision taken by theregulatorto suspendouroperations basedonsafetyconsiderations. “Inthesaidpressrelease,wedeniedmanagement’sknowledgeandapproval forsuchcarelessandunfortunateallegationsmadeagainstthepersonof theDGbutpromisedtoconductinternalinvestigationsastothesource/s oftheallegations.”

Ethiopian Records Strong On-time Performance

Ethiopian Airlines said it reached 91 per cent on-time performance of all globalflightdeparturesinthelastthreemonthswhiletheindustryaverage stands around 85 per cent.The airline operated a total of 18,385 flights in January,February,andMarchinwhichitscored91percenton-timedepartures. “Wehaverecognisedfromourcustomers’feedbackthattheCOVID-19travel requirements,andespeciallytheexpiryofnegativePCRTestcertificates bymanycountriesafter72hours,havemadeon-timeflightdeparturesand smoothconnectivitymoreimportantthaneverinthepast.Asaresult,our winningteamhasmadeititstoppriorityandachievedrecordlevelsofflight punctuality,”theairlinesaid. EthiopianAirlineGroupCEOMr.TewoldeGebreMariamsaid,“Asacustomercentricairline,wemakeasubstantialinvestmenttoenhanceourcustomer service.WhencustomerschooseEthiopian,wemakesurethattheygetthe bestpossibleexperiencewithusincludingarrivingtotheirdestinationsontime. “The last three months have been extraordinarily productive in terms of efficiency in our flight operation. I am proud of my colleagues who are committedtoeliminateanyinconvenienceforouresteemedpassengers.” “On-TimePerformancereferstoanairlinedepartureorarrivalthatoccurswithin 15minutesofthescheduledtime.Punctualityisofparamountimportance for passengers as delay or cancellation affects their itinerary and makes passengers incurextra costs.”

ICRC Okays Development of Jabi Lake

TheInfrastructureConcessionRegulatoryCommission(ICRC)hasissued theOutlineBusinessCaseCertificateofcomplianceontheimplementation oftheJabiLaketourismandrecreationalprojecttotheFCTAdministration, as theprojectis expectedto cost$21 million. Receiving the certificate on behalf of the administration, FCTMinister of State,Dr.RamatuTijjaniAliyu,recalledthattheadministrationhadamongst itspresidentialmandates,thetaskstoworkwiththeprivatesectortocreate jobs,andhelplift100millionNigerians outofpoverty. Inastatementwithreferencenumber:No.196HMOS/FCT/PR/2021/and signedbyS.AMediatoFCTMinisterofState,AustineElemue, theMinister revealedthattheFCTAdministration’sshorttermstrategicdevelopment planwasthedevelopmentofthetourismandrecreationpotentialsofthe territoryinpartnershipwithcompetentinvestors,stressingthatthiswas includedinitsperformancedeliverypresentationtotheFederalExecutive Council (FEC)onFebruary5,2020. “Inactualisingthismandate,theFCTAreceivedandconsideredanunsolicited proposalbyMessrsJabiLakeLeisureCruiseLimitedforthetransformation ofJabiLakeintoatouristdestination;providingboatcruises,watersports, hospitalityandmanymoretouristactivities.”

“One of the biggest challenges the airlines in Nigeria are having is that they find it difficult to come together” Managing Director, Aero Contractors,

Capt Abdullahi Mahmoud

T H I S D AY ˾ ͷ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

BUSINESSWORLD

ANALYSIS

Improving Air Safety through Self-regulation The recent issue concerning the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and Azman Air showed that effective regulation by the agency alone cannot guarantee safety without the commitment of airlines to self-regulate, writes Chinedu Eze

ew days after the Associated Aviation Flight 361 crash on takeoff from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos on October 3, 2013, the then Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Captain Fola Akinkuotu, had addressed industry stakeholders and journalists who accompanied him to visit the victims of the crash in the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital. He had said while it is the duty of NCAA to regulate the industry, it remains the responsibility of the airlines to ensure that their aircraft are safe and airworthy, noting that the airlines should have the intrinsic desire to fly safely and should do everything possible to ensure that they abide by the given safety standard. In other words, NCAA does not have omniscient powers to know everything. An airline could still hide a lot from the regulatory authority. That was why after one of the tragic accidents some years ago, NCAA concentrated on ensuring that every airline has accountable manager that meet certain critical conditions in terms of qualification, work ethic and subjected to continuous grilling by the authority. Today, many airlines in Nigeria have realised that any accident that happens, no matter which airline that is involved, is a huge setback for the industry and their own operations. But not all are awake to this reality. From its conducts as exposed by recent NCAA report, Azman Air might not be awake to this reality. Maintaining Safety Standard There was a story some years ago in the aviation industry where an airline operator got a charter deal with a former Governor from the South-east but the airline’s chief pilot had told the operator that he would not fly the aircraft because it was not airworthy. The operator became incensed and angry and physically assaulted the chief pilot. But the later stood his ground and the flight did not take place. Also, initial report about the Associated Aviation flight accident had indicated that the aircraft voice alerted the pilot to abort the flight but he continued with it and crashed moments after. Nigerians knew about the second incident because a crash took place. The first incident was a story told. But besides weather, malfunctioned aircraft and pilot error were behind some of the air crashes recorded in Nigeria and all had to do with the decisions taken by airlines. So without airlines choosing to fly safely, NCAA may not stop air crashes in Nigeria. This is why many industry stakeholders were shocked by NCAA revelations about Azman Air, which obviously indicated that the airline management was allegedly cutting corners. It also showed that the airline does not have the right personnel that would ensure that its operations are subjected to given safety standards. NCAA in a statement issues on March 19, 2021, had said it suspended the operations of Azman Air, to avert a national tragedy and loss of life, “which may become inevitable if the airline continues to operate with disregard for safety procedures.” NCAA said over a period of about six weeks, Azman Air’s Boeing 737 aircraft operating scheduled passenger flights were involved in three separate incidents, resulting in damage to the aircraft in each case but with no loss of life, “for which we are grateful to God.” “During a routine ramp inspection on 10th February 2021, at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, NCAA inspectors found an Azman Air maintenance engineer carrying out replacement of the right-hand main landing gear wheel assembly (nos. 3 and 4) of their Boeing 737-500 aircraft with registration 5N-SYS, without referring to the manufacturer’s maintenance manual. This is a violation of the Civil Aviation Regulations, for which both Azman Air and the engineer have been sanctioned but are yet to pay the fine. “On 11th February 2021, Azman Air flight AZM 2318 operated with the same Boeing 737-500 aircraft with registration 5N-SYS departing Kaduna for Lagos. During take-off,

Azman aircraft

a component of the aircraft was observed to have fallen off the aircraft and Air Traffic Control (ATC) notified the Captain, who elected to continue the flight to Lagos. Upon arrival in Lagos, the Captain failed to make entry in the aircraft technical logbook,” the authority said. It also explained that Azman Air maintenance team on ground in Lagos were notified of the detached part and carried out an inspection, which identified the missing part as the number three Main Landing Gear’s heatshield. However, NCAA said the maintenance team neither made an entry in the technical logbook nor rectified the defect but released the aircraft for a scheduled passenger flight from Lagos to Abuja. Suspension and Audit Report All these incidents and infractions prompted NCAA to suspend the airline and in the audit report, NCAA listed many violations of the airline and said Azman Air does not have the right personnel required for Commercial Air Transport Operations and the airline was found not to be in compliance with the provisions of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig. CARs) 9.2.2.2 (a) and (e) (2) with regards to provision of resources and discharge of the duties of the Accountable Manager. The audit revealed that there is complete non staffing of the Safety Management Department and staffing of the Quality Management Department with only one officer, thereby making it impossible to effectively implement Safety and Quality Management Systems functions as required by Nig.CARs 9.2.2.3 and 9.2.2.10, respectively. The report also stated that Azman Air Ltd was found to be in violation of Nig.CARs 18.10.3 regarding the submission of monthly financial health reports to the NCAA. “This is evidenced in Azman Air’s failure to meet up with the monthly obligation in submitting the required financial health report for months despite several reminders. Last submission was in July, 2020. During this audit, Azman submitted reports for December, 2020 and January 2021,” the report said. Azman Air was also found to be in violation of Section 12 (1) of Civil Aviation Act, 2006 as regards to non-remittance of five percent Ticket Sales Charge. “This is evidenced by the airline being indebted to the authority to the tune of One billion Five Hundred and Forty Five million, Two hundred and Sixty Two thousand One hundred and Twenty naira, Thirty One kobo (N1, 545,262,120.31) as at December, 2020. The airline was found to be in violation of Nig.CARs 18.12.6 as regards to signing an agreement with the Authority for direct debit. This is evidenced by delay in signing of the Direct Debit Tripartite Agreement with NCAA,”

NCAA said. In addition to so many other infractions, NCAA further said the airline’s Accountable Manager exhibited a lack of understanding of his duties and responsibilities as contained in the Operations Manuals, which indicated lack of evidence of the Accountable Manager’s involvement in Management Reviews of Quality Audit Findings. Arbitrariness and Connection Many Nigerians after reading these reports have become apprehensive about travelling by air. They also gave kudos to NCAA for being able to intervene at the time it did. But critics asked, why wait for all these corner cutting and obvious incompetence to take place before intervening? Why didn’t NCAA stop the airline after noticing the initial lack of commitment to abide to safety standards? Some industry stakeholders have criticized NCAA, saying that the top officials of the agency have started “looking at faces” before acting. This means that the law is applied according to the influence the airline owner can wield. In other words, a very influential operator can do many things, infringing on the laws and getting away with it. This is exactly what NCAA autonomy was supposed to eliminate, but indications show that NCAA still take arbitrary decisions, depending on who is involved. Some examples can suffice. Some years ago an airline, which has gone under now, operated one aircraft for almost one year. This was against the regulation that an airline must operate minimum of two aircraft. THISDAY also learnt that NCAA could extend date for mandatory major checks for some airlines and not others on the basis of who interfered for the airline. Some industry observers noted that the regulatory authority suspended an airline over safety concerns and the airline engaged in the defamation allegation against the Director General of NCAA said so much about the power the operator believes he wields and also indicated the extend the regulatory authority had brooked such excesses in the past. Airlines’ Obligation Reacting to the NCAA audit report on Azman, many experienced industry stakeholders expressed their views and noted that it is the responsibility of airlines to ensure that they operate safely while guided and regulated by NCAA. The Commissioner and CEO of Accident Investigation Bureau-Nigeria (AIB-N), Akin Olateru, while reacting to those who felt NCAA did not do enough to check the excesses of Azman Air noted that NCAA cannot realistically be expected to check all operating airlines every minute. The Airline has a responsibility, too. “Suggesting otherwise is akin to insisting

that the police force should stop every single vehicle on the street to ensure that they have complete and valid papers. Just imagine the number of policemen that will be required in a city like Lagos (for example) to carry this out. Not to mention the disruption it would cause to the daily flow of traffic and other activities. “It is an unachievable and unnecessary goal, especially when the rules, which govern the operation of every airline within the Nigerian airspace, are clearly stipulated. It is not right to castigate the NCAA in this instance, as there appears to be a worrying trend with this operator,” he said. He also noted that the NCAA initiates processes when it is necessary to do so and, “in my opinion, on this occasion their action is in order. What is important is that we should have a robust and simplified system in place” The Chief Executive Officer of West Link Airlines, Captain Ibrahim Mshelia, said the NCAA has responsibility to ensure all companies applying to operate aircraft in Nigeria for hire and reward to obtain an air operator certificate (AOC). “The same regulations or law requires all such operators to acquire and demonstrate ability to operate and maintain all equipment and machines they will use for such operation and must demonstrate all stated abilities in the manuals they presented they intend to use as guide. “NCAA having reviewed the qualifications, capabilities and demonstrated abilities will certify them, issue the AOC which entitles the operator to function as certified while NCAA henceforth will oversight them. “The company would have made so many pledges in their manuals that they demonstrated also during phase four. After certification, NCAA’s role now reduces from certification to oversights and to ensure compliance and or apply sanctions as necessary. “Azman failed to demonstrate continuous abilities to operate safely in certain areas and NCAA in its wisdom grounded it after positive proof. I personally think what played out was a good example of regulating and over-sighting,” he said. Mshelia also said the pilot of that aircraft and the maintenance engineers who ignored all the visible warnings should be responsible. “The engineers are guilty for releasing the aircraft with worn out tyres, but also if they had brand new tyres released to them in the stores. Perhaps the tyres would have been changed. “But even guiltier is the pilot who took the badly worn out tires into the air, a part fell off during takeoff and was told by the tower, yet, he continued even when there was a loud bang during the takeoff phase according to the report,” he said.

T H I S D AY ˾ ͷ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

Need for Major Aircraft Maintenance in Nigeria Chinedu Eze Events since July 2020, when domestic carriers resumed flight operations after the coronavirusinduced lockdown have reinforced the call for urgent establishment of major Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility in Nigeria. THISDAY investigations disclosed that a major problem the domestic airlines faced was the non-availability of their operational equipment. The aircraft they put on storage were ready to start operation, which they did, but shortly after many of them were due for C-check. So some of them had to be ferried overseas. THISDAY also learnt that some of the Nigerian carriers had some of their planes abroad for checks but because of the lockdown they could not be worked on. This is because most of the MRO facilities abroad were also on lockdown. Even now, some of the maintenance companies still shut down the facilities. Informed source also told THISDAY that another challenge that came up for the airlines was that even if they have aircraft that have completed their checks, the domestic carriers may not have the foreign exchange to pay for the services rendered to bring the airplanes back. Industry stakeholders said these two challenges would have been solved if Nigeria has major maintenance facility. Those aircraft would not have been ferried overseas and the services of the maintenance company would have been paid for in local currency. “This is the reason why it is very critical that we have maintenance facility in Nigeria; not just one but two or three because whatever we have will serve the West and Central Africa and by the projected growth of air transport in Africa, many more aircraft would come in in few years,” an industry source insider told THISDAY. In 2016 the Minister of Aviation, Senator

Hadi Sirika, said as part of the aviation road map this administration would establish aircraft maintenance facility located in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, but till today, there is no indication that there is any physical process to actualising that goal. The only succour Nigerian airlines have is the Aero Contractors MRO, which was revived when Captain Ado Sanusi took over the airline and today it has become very critical for Nigerian carriers. Although the facility is eligible to maintain Boeing 737 Classics, turbo props, like Bombardier Q400 and Q300 and other small planes, it is waiting for certification from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), to start maintenance on Boeing B700 and B800 the New Generation B737 airplanes. Existing aircraft in Nigeria are less than 40 per cent of the airline’s capacity; the rest are overseas. At least, 17 per cent of Air Peace aircraft are in maintenance facilities overseas. As the biggest carrier, having such number of aircraft outside the country, means that the capacity of Nigerian carriers is significantly eroded. Industry observers said that this has given rise to outrageous airfares, as more people are wont to travel by air when there are fewer aircraft seats on offer. Besides Aero Contractors, Akwa Ibom state government may have gone back to complete its MRO facility started some years ago and it is hoped that in the next two years the project would be completed. Nigeria also has 7 Star Global Hangar Limited, which may have completed its facility in Lagos. But Nigeria does not only need MRO facility, it also needs required skilled personnel. Head of Approved Maintenance Organisation (AMO) Aero Contractors, James Ominyi, once also told THISDAY that for Nigerian MROs to develop the capacity to take over the maintenance of aircraft and stop airlines from

AERO maintenance hangar ferrying their equipment overseas, they have to ensure that they have modern equipment and personnel. He stated that huge foreign exchange was being expended by Nigerian carriers on overseas maintenance of their aircraft. “MROs in Nigeria first need to spend money to improve their equipment, training and tools to be able to compete with MROs outside the country. One thing airlines think about is, if I go to Aero will they have everything to do what they need to do? But thank God that our Chief Executive Officer has been buying new equipment every month. “Last month, our set of jacks came in. So the truth of the matter is that in Aero MRO and other MROs locally, once you patronise us, your man-hour rate is lower than you can get in Europe.

“That is already a saving. If an airline has to leave Nigeria and fly six hours to Europe; that is a huge cost you would have saved if you towed your aircraft to Aero Contractors’ hangar. “The growing MRO sub-sector in Africa is a $3 billion business. Most of that business is going outside. We need to retain that business within Africa. For Nigerian airlines they need to retain their hard-earned foreign currency by patronising Nigerian MROs,” Ominyi said. But currently Aero and 7-Star do not have the capacity to take in the number of aircraft in Nigeria in need of maintenance, so a bigger facility has to be built. However, Aero is already expanding its facility to meet the surging demand of its service.

T H I S D AY ˾ ͷ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

BUSINESSWORLD

MARITIME

A Controversial Modular Floating Dockyard EromoseleAbiodun writes that the N50 billion modular floating dockyard acquired by Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency to put an end to the huge cost of dry-docking outside the country has generated more controversy than the purpose for which it was acquired

o ensure seaworthiness of the ships, most ships are required to be dry docked twice every five years. Some ships may have dry-docking postponed or the intermediate drydocking waived by performing an underwater inspection in Lieu of dry-docking. Dry-docking a ship is a complex task. The ship weighs a lot and the weight must be spread evenly to the dock. While a ship is floating the pressure holding the ship afloat is spread throughout the entire underwater hull. While in dry dock the load is spread among wood blocks. There are also interferences such as transducers and irregularities such as flare at the bow. In order to dry dock the ship the dock master must be aware of the characteristics of the ship’s bottom and its weight distribution. Therefore ships carry a docking plan, which specifies where the blocks are to be placed, the angle of the side blocks, and the height of the side blocks. It also lists where transducers, sea chests, tail shafts, and other items are located. With an average of 5,000 ships calling at the Nigerian ports annually, 400 active coastal vessels and several fishing trawlers, the demand for ship repair and maintenance facilities can only be on the rise. Before now, the dry-docking of vessels operating in Nigeria was done outside the country with huge implications in terms of foreign exchange costs running into several millions of dollars yearly. As a matter of fact, Nigeria was losing about N16.5 billion ($100 million) annually to neighboring countries through the movement of its vessels dry-docking to meet the International Maritime Organisations (IMO) requirement. Experts believe there is a huge investment opportunity for ship repair and ship building in the country presently that is not being exploited. THISDAY findings revealed that it cost between N45 million and N75 million ($300,000 and $500,000) to dry dock a vessel and that approximately 200 to 300 vessels go to Ghana, Duala and Robins Bay for dry dock annually. “Each dry dock cost the ship owner between $300 to half a million dollars each trip. If you can dry docks a vessel at $300,000 for dry docking for 25 days and if you have two docks a month that is $600,000 every month. “You can imagine having over 3,000 vessels (in Nigeria); they have to go for dry dock. It is a requirement by the IMO standard that a vessel goes for dry dock once every three years, and if you dock 200 to 300 vessels once every year at $300,000 per dock, you can then imagine how much it will come to, ”said maritime expert Lucky Amiwero. Controversy galore In a bid to put an end to the huge cost of dry-docking outside the country, NIMASA acquired a modular floating dockyard in 2018. With this facility in place, the agency promised to save the federal government over $100 million annually and about $1 billion in 10 years. The multi-billion naira floating dock was acquired as part of efforts to reposition the nation’s maritime industry to international standard and boost revenue. The plan to embark on the project predates the immediate past Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside. Before his appointment as NIMASA boss, his predecessor had already established a business case for a floating dry dock where owners of ship can dry dock their vessels from time to time. However, since its arrival in Nigeria, the modular floating dockyard has been enmeshed in controversy. Aside allegation of mismanagement, the floating dockyard acquired by the NIMASA, it is currently gulping $30, 000 per day, which translates to $10.440 million (N5.1 billion) a year in demurrage charges. The modular floating dockyard was expected to save the federal government $100 million annually via a direct saving from the drydocking of vessels operating in Nigeria, which

enable NIMASA to conclude the movement of the modular floating dock from the Naval Dockyard to the Continental dockyard. “This is a very welcome development for the sector and we look forward to patronising and using the dockyard facility for our vessels and other vessels of government agencies.” Responding, Jamoh said: “You have heard from the MD of NPA, within the next few weeks the Continental Shipyard will be ready to house the floating dock. The second aspect is the issue of operation; we have obtained the approval of the ICRC and we have been directed to move to the Federal Executive Council. “As far as we are concerned, the confirmation of certain aspects of the operations will be run concurrently. While we are seeking the Federal Executive Council approval, the issue of a managing partner will be considered and Expression of Interest will be published. So, we are good to go. “When fully operational, the NIMASA floating dock is expected to provide a lot of benefits to the maritime industry, ranging from conserving foreign exchange, to providing employment and boosting indigenous capacity, developing shipping, and providing training exposure for students of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron, and the Maritime University, Okerenkoko.” Jamo

is mostly done outside the country. However, the floating dockyard designed to berth in Okerenkoko Delta State, the permanent site of the Nigerian Maritime University, has been lying idle at the Naval Dockyard in Victoria Island Lagos. Providing more details at a press briefing in Lagos, a former Executive Director Operations of NIMASA, Rotimi Fashakin, explained that the insecurity in the Niger Delta region made it difficult for NIMASA to berth the dock at Okerenkoko as originally conceptualised. Fashakin, confirmed that the multi-billionnaira facility was currently lying fallow at the Naval dockyard pending when the agency would get a permanent location to operate it. He said: “Initially when the floating dock was acquired, the design was for it to berth in Delta State. But even at that time, there were a lot of reports advising to the contrary, there were lots of surveys advising to the contrary, these reports are still there till date. “When we got here, we were forced to review all these reports and take a decision that we think would serve all interest in the shipping community. The floating dock was not conceptualised by the Peterside administration, we only inherited it just like the Buhari administration inherits projects and goes ahead to actualise them. “Indeed, the floating dock was supposed to go to Okerenkoko in Delta State, but the conditions that exist now, for the dock to get to Okerenkoko now is almost impossible. A dock is supposed to serve the shipping community as a commercial facility, but which company or vessel would be bold enough to travel to Delta State because of the insecurity?” He added: “When the dock landed in Nigeria, there were various state governments that requested for it, all these are on record. When it came in, we thought of many ideas, first is to get an operator to operate it, but this is a government asset and not something you can just give to an operator, NIMASA is a regulator and not an operator, so giving the dock to an operator also needs to go through the bureaucracy of government. “The other thing was getting a place to berth it, if you know the complexity of a floating dock, the draft that you need to keep it and operate it is 12 meters. The contractor was spending over $30,000 keeping the dock afloat for many months and we had to pay many months demurrage on that. Eventually, we reached a situation where we had an agreement with the Naval Holdings Limited, a sub-sect of the Nigerian Navy to keep the dock “We are still looking forward to having a formal MoU which we would have an operator operating the floating dock. The Navy also

has a graving dock, the initial report shows that if that floating dock is operating as it is, it would imperil the graving dock. So the Naval Holdings Limited suggested another spot where we could use it, a consultant was asked to assess the spot, the report of the consultant is out, we would need to do some dredging at that spot where we can now operate the floating dock, ”Fashakin said. NIMASA assures Nigerians But the current Director-General of NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh, believes the purpose for which the modular floating dock was acquired will be achieved. He assured maritime stakeholders that the modular floating dock is in the process of being deployed. Jamoh disclosed this during a visit to Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) HadizaBala-Usman, in Lagos. Jamoh stated: “I am here to affirm that the modular floating dock has come to stay. We have concluded arrangements for its deployment and operation. The date for its commissioning would be announced soon.” In an interaction after the meeting with the NPA Managing Director, the NIMASA Director-General recounted the process of securing the NPA Continental Shipyard for the floating dock, and getting approval from the Federal Ministry of Transportation as well as the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC). He emphasised that obtaining these approvals were important preliminary conditions “because of the need to engage managing partners and ICRC is in charge of the mode of operations and Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.” In her remarks, Bala-Usman stressed the need to promote the NIMASA local dry dock to the maximum capacity by placing the NPA’s Continental Shipyard at the Agency’s disposal as a preferred location. She said NPA would go into an agreement with NIMASA on the handover of the authority’s dockyard, jetty locations, and warehouses within the area to facilitate the installation of the modular floating dock. “We believe the floating dock is an integral part of the maritime sector and we like to commend NIMASA for starting this and NPA will continue to provide the necessary support as it relates to the aspect of our shareholding within the SPV being guided by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC),”Bala-Usman stated. She added: “As it is, NPA has confirmed and reiterated that it will support and hand over those facilities within the next few weeks to

A revenue earner Following reports in the media that the floating dockyard has been made redundant and was gulping $30,000 daily in demurrages, Jamoh had last year stated that the floating dock was expected to generate N1 billion monthly or N12 billion annually when work on was concluded. NIMASA, Jamoh revealed, was partnering with the NPA to get a permanent place for the platform, adding that when it is fully operational it would amount to a very huge revenue earner for Nigeria, “because a lot of vessels would be able to dry-dock in the country.” That aside, he said NIMASA was working with the Navy and Police, the Army, DSS other relevant agencies to stem the cycle of criminalities in the nation’s maritime domain. NIMASA, Jamoh said he had acquired some vessels and other sophisticated equipment that would be a game changer in the fight against piracy and other maritime crimes on the Nigerian waters, as criminals could be easily reached and stopped. He said there would be rigorous training for NIMASA staff, who would man the platform, before going into full operation Meanwhile, sources at the agency told THISDAY that the floating dockyard was lying idle at the Naval dockyard in Lagos pending when the agency would get a permanent location through the NPA to operate it. According to the source, “Initially when the floating dock was acquired, the design was for it to berth in Delta State. However, at that time, there were reports advising to the contrary. There were lots of surveys advising to the contrary, these reports are still there till date. When the agency got there, it was forced to review all the reports submitted to it and take a decision that would serve all interest in the shipping community. “The floating dock was not conceptualised by the last administration. The truth is that the floating dock was supposed to go to Okerenkoko in Delta State, but the conditions that exist then and now, for the dock to get to Okerenkoko is almost impossible, a dock is supposed to serve the shipping community as a commercial facility, but which company or vessel would be bold enough to travel to Delta State because of the insecurity. “Another problem we had was getting a place to berth it, if you know the complexity of a floating dock, the draft that you need to keep it and operate it is 12 meters and that is why we are collaborating with the NPA because the previous contractor was spending over $30,000 keeping the dock afloat for many months and we had to pay many months demurrage on that, “the official said.

T H I S D AY ˾ ͷ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

BUSINESSWORLD

NEWS

Court Grants Permission for Fraud Claim against Transocean, Ernst &Young, Others Davidson Iriekpen

A Federal High Court in Lagos has granted the Chairman of Indigo Drilling, Prof. Fidelis Oditah permission to bring fraud claim against Transocean Limited, Ernst & Young, others. In a judgment delivered in an application filed by Oditah, seeking the winding up of Transocean Limited, a multinational offshore drilling company, Justice M.S. Hassan held that the proceedings and supporting affidavit to Oditah’s originating summons and exhibits attached showed that there was a prima facie case that required the granting of leave for the commencement derivative action against the defendants. The judge also agreed that permission applications are not intended to become mini-trials, nor are they supposed to involve any detailed or protracted consideration of the merits of the intended derivation proceedings. He agreed with the submission of the counsel to the plaintiff that the requirements of Section 303 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 1990 are satisfied in the present case. Oditah had recently filed an application before the court for the winding up of Transocean Limited, a multinational offshore drilling company. In his statement of claim, Oditah, also a Queen’s Counsel (QC) and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) told the court that in 2014, Transocean presented a prospectus for an equity private placement of US19.6million to investors. In the petition which has Transocean Limited, Indigo Drilling Limited, Sedco Forex International Inc, Field Offshore Design Engineering Nigeria Limited and Ernest & Young Nigeria as 1st to 5th defendants respectively, the QC said the amount, which contained an initial financial model, anticipated that Indigo Drilling would generate a cumulated cash flow of at least $95million over a 10-year period. He added that the prospectus also indicated

that five contracts existing at the time of the placement which were entered into in 2011, were expected to generate a cash flow in excess of $43million over the first four years, thus significantly outperforming the base case financial model. The professor of Law contended that the prospectus claimed that investing in Indigo Drilling was an opportunity for Nigerians to be involved in the oil and gas business in Nigeria and to profit from its potential rewards. He said: “In marketing Indigo Drilling to the plaintiff, Transocean stated: Transocean is a leading international provider of offshore contract drilling for oil and gas wells. As evidence of its long term commitment to Nigeria, Transocean has set up Indigo Drilling Limited to be a Nigerian NCD compliant company established to ultimately operate all drilling contracts for Transocean in Nigeria…” Oditah said on the basis of these representations, he acquired a 12.5 per cent shareholding for $4,375,000 in August 2014. The senior advocate disclosed that another Nigerian shareholder, Chime Ibeneche, also in October 2013 acquired a 12.5 per cent shareholding in Indigo Drilling for $5million. He said as a result of the acquisition of 25 per cent shareholding by Nigerian minority shareholders, Indigo Drilling was able to comply with the Local Content Law and bid competitively for work with the Nigerian regulatory authorities and got extensions of its existing contracts. The Queen’s Counsel said the remaining 75 per cent shareholding was held indirectly by Transocean initially through its subsidiaries –Sedco Forex and Transocean Support Services Nigeria Limited. He alleged that from 2015, Transocean parked 26 per cent of its shares in Indigo Drilling in a Nigerian nominee in order to deceive the Nigerian regulators into believing that Indigo Drilling was a Nigerian company under the Local Content law because Nigerians held 51 per cent shareholding.

Operators Seek FG’s Support to Build Viable Shipping Industry Eromosele Abiodun

Ship owners in the country have solicited the support of relevant stakeholders and government agencies, particularly the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) amongst others, to build a viable shipping industry and create wealth for Nigerians. The President of Ship Owners Association of Nigeria (SOAN), Dr. MkGeorge Onyung, stated this after he was elected president of SOAN for a second term of two years. Specifically, Onyung pledged to steer SOAN to create wealth, both for members and the whole country. While accepting the results of the peaceful poll, Onyung highlighted how some countries were prospering from global shipping. He singled out Norway, a country with about 45,000 vessels ownership, despite having only four months of free or unfrozen waters annually. Norway, he stressed, has prospered immensely from global shipping; and vowed that the SOAN under his watch would engage every relevant stakeholder, government agencies and international operators, to ensure Nigeria optimises its natural environment and endowments. Also, the SOAN boss stressed the need for government to disburse the Cabotage Vessels Financing Fund (CVFF). “It you like call it an ‘Esusu’ collected by government, from ship operators, solely for the development of indigenous Shipping, despite a consistent Esusu collection made in 18 years, the authorities had actually sat still on it. I want to say that the CVFF

fund is our money; we have contributed it for over 18 years, and this money needs to be deployed. “We have heard many stories about the CVFF, but I assure you this executive will bring you good news about the CVFF in the sense that we are going to engage the government about the CVFF; and we are going to use the CVFF to buy ships and deploy it in the maritime sector,”Onyung stated. He added that the support of NNPC could not be overemphasized stressing that SOAN is ready to work with the agency to grow the Nigerian economy. “We need to have the opportunities also because if the NNPC does not create the opportunity that awards a contract for us to utilize the CVFF fund, then there is no use giving the money to people who have no business to do with it, “the SOAN President stated. He said ship owners have been buying ships before the CVFF, and would continue to do so, in so far as conditions, which include availability of contracts exists; because contracts propel acquisition of vessels. He also assured that the body would subsequently, reinforce its collaboration with the National Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) and the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), in a bid to ensure Nigeria positively changes the business narrative or philosophy. He assured the nation that the current SOAN executive would raise the bar and tenaciously work to see that beyond the disbursement of the CVFF, indigenous ship owners actually get the opportunity to carry crude.

T H I S D AY ˾ ͷ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

Achieving Broadband Deployment Strategies Emma Okonji writes about government’s strategies in achieving its robust broadband plan as contained in the country’s National Broadband Plan

Pantami

fter achieving the set target for the 2013-2018 broadband plan , which was set at 30 per cent, the federal government, in 2019, constituted another broadband team. The Chief Executive Officer of MainOne Broadband Company, Ms. Funke Opeke and the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Professor Umar Dambatta, as co-Chairpersons to drive the 2020-2025 National Broadband Plan. Though robust in nature, the 2020-2025 broadband plan has its targets, which government assured Nigerians, would be achieved through identified strategies. The new broadband plan seeks to deliver data download speeds across Nigeria at a minimum of 25Mbps in urban areas, and 10Mbps in rural areas, with effective coverage available to at least 90 per cent of the population and penetration rate of 70 per cent by 2025 at a price not more than N390 per 1GB of data. The broadband plan also targets the deployment of nationwide fibre coverage to reach all state capitals, and provision of a point of presence in at least 90 per cent of local government headquarters. It also targets tertiary educational institutions, major hospitals in each state and fibre connectivity at statutory rates of N145/ linear metre for Right of Way (RoW). FG’s strategies Some of the strategies to achieve the broadband targets, according to the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, are around four focus areas, namely: infrastructure; policy; demand drivers and funding/incentives. According to Pantami, the four focus areas were further broken down into 55 initiatives towards the actualisation of the targets, which include infrastructure- 14, policy - 23, demand drivers- 12, funding/initiatives-6. “Infrastructure is focused on building integrated infrastructure that is sustainable and resilient to close the gaps in addressing the broadband needs of the country and is geared towards extending broadband services to undeserved and under served areas in Nigeria. The policy pillar addresses issues relating to the efficient use of spectrum, right of way, site acquisition policies, availability of infrastructure and market efficiency,” Patami said. “Demand drivers address barriers to the low usage rate and adoption of broadband services in the country. Funding/incentives identify the relevant financial incentives, fiscal policy, economic models and funding options to help the achievement of broadband penetration targets. The diligent implementation of the recommendations in these focus areas through a multi-stakeholder approach will give the country a push into economic prosperity and create opportunities for job creation and innovation that will influence the GDP

Danbatta

positively,” he added. NCC’s approach In strengthening collaboration for a robust broadband deployment, the NCC is also working towards achieving the set targets of the country’s broadband penetration. At a recent stakeholders’ meeting on broadband penetration, organised by the Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Danbatta, who was represented by the Director of Digital Economy at NCC, Dr. Austine Nwaulune, said: “The Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP) 2020-2025 is without a doubt an ambitious document with targets set that was developed jointly by critical stakeholders of the Telecoms and IT sectors of Nigeria. These stakeholders comprising government and private sector executives, experts, managers, associations and MDA’s, represent the who is who of the telecom and IT sectors and they are people with firm believe and optimism as well as assurance that the set targets are practically achievable.” He explained that the commission had already commenced some of this consolidation with the directive issued to Infraco licensees to commence immediate roll-out of optic fibre cables (OFC) as contained in their license agreements to all the LGA headquarters by giving them freehand to start from viable areas and gradually move to unviable areas while the expected counter-part funding from government is being finalised. “An equally important consolidation in the area of spectrum availability is the commission’s finalisation of the Spectrum Trading Guidelines as well as our collaboration with NigComSat that will make available 400MHz of prime spectrum for Next Generation Network deployment in the near future. “Collaboration with state governments has also seen the adoption of the N145/m or outright waiver Right-of-Way (RoW) by six state governments, although, here we must mention that more needs to be done by the states and local governments to ensure full adoption and cascading of the decision for implementation. This notwithstanding, the Commission will not relent in its effort towards addressing the issue RoW,” Danbatta said.

Regulatory thrust The commission’s regulatory thrust towards enabling national roaming, approval of e-SIM and 5G trials have also aggregated the efforts of the industry players towards achieving the set broadband target. According to Danbatta, although there had been a three per cent decline in the broadband penetration from a peak of 45.93 per cent in October 2020 to 42.93 per cent in January 2021, which was largely as a result of the suspension of registration of new SIM cards in December to facilitate smooth linkage and synchronization of the SIM-NIN databases that will not only address some of the security challenges we are facing today, it will help us determine the truly unique numbers in the country, thus further guiding Nigeria towards achieving the 70 penetration target. “The NNBP 2020-2025 has raised the performance bar for the whole telecom industry, however being a document crafted by experts and executives, there is no reason why it cannot be achieved to put Nigeria in a firm pedestal of nations with broadband access. I wish to assure you that the Commission shall continue to proactively provide the necessary regulatory interventions which will facilitate the achievement of not only the 70 per cent broadband penetration target but other associated targets as well, which will truly transform our economy into a digital economy,” Danbatta said. Economy policy strategy Speaking at the recent Anambra State Broadband Infrastructure Development Stakeholders Forum, Danbatta said the launch of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020-2030 by the federal government through the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, would facilitate broadband access across the country, including Anambra State. While thanking the Executive Governor of Anambra State, Dr. Willie Obiano, his Deputy, Dr. Nkem Okeke, and all the other eminent members of cabinet for inviting him to speak on the subject “Facilitating Broadband Access in Anambra State through a Favourable Right of Way Regime”, Danbatta said the

The NNBP 2020-2025 has raised the performance bar for the whole telecom industry, and there is no reason why it cannot be achieved to put Nigeria in a firm pedestal of nations with broadband access. I wish to assure Nigerians that the Commission shall continue to proactively provide the necessary regulatory interventions which will facilitate the achievement of not only the 70 per cent broadband penetration target but other associated targets as well

selected theme was a testament to the fact that Anambra State is cruising on the path of digital economy. Danbatta said the commission, in the drive for broadband, has licensed Infrastructure Companies (Infracos) for the South-east and five other zones of the federation including Lagos as a special zone. “Under this initiative, the South-east Infraco licensee (Messrs. Zinox Technologies Ltd.) will be required to provide at least one Point-ofAccess (PoA) in each of the 95 LGA’s that constitute the region and interconnect them with 1,314Km of optic fiber cable. Right-of-Way (RoW) charges, is a major limiting factor to provision of broadband services in Nigeria, as it slows down network deployment with the cost of the limited capacities ultimately passed to the subscribers,” Danbatta said. He applaud Anambra state for being one of the two states that have not just reduced the RoW charges offered to operators, but waived it completely. “This action, is sure, to put Anambra State on the global map of digital economy,” Danbatta said. Digital infrastructure Giving insights on how digital infrastructure and literacy will further help Nigeria in achieving the transformational benefits of broadband, Danbatta said robust digital infrastructure and digital literacy were key to achieving transformational benefits of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) across public and private institutions in the country. Danbatta stated this when he received a delegation of the Top Management Committee (TMC) of the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH), who paid him a courtesy visit recently at the Kano Zonal Office of the commission. Danbatta, who thanked the hospital management for the visit and the award, said the Commission would continue to support federal institutions with necessary ICT equipment across the country and would assist AKTH in this regard, adding that robust digital infrastructure and literacy are prerequisites to achieving transformational benefits of ICT. “As a commission, we are working to bridge the infrastructure divide, which is an element of the entire digital divide ecosystem. We do these via a lot ongoing regulatory initiatives. Also, through our training arm, Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), we provide digital literacy to critical sectors of the economy, including the health sector, through our Advanced Digital Appreciation Programme (ADAP),” he said. Danbatta stated that the digital divide can be bridged by making computers available and accessible to people and key services of the economy of the country, “Infrastructure that can be able to host this massive flow of information and knowledge is broadband infrastructure and this is top-most in the agenda of the Commission. Indeed, ICT is transforming every sector of the economy and the earlier we embrace the vast opportunity brought by ICT the better,” Danbatta said.

THIS WEEKEND WEEKLY MAGAZINE

NEWS METRO THISLIFE ART WEEKEND ENTERTAINMENT Group Features Editor: Chiemelie Ezeobi chiemelie.ezeobi@thisdaylive.com 07010510430

Sherisse Alexander: Women Empowerment is Crucial to Solving Gender Inequality

T H I S D AY ˾ ͷ˜ 2021

COVER

Sherisse Alexander: Women Empowerment is Crucial to Solving Gender Inequality Sherisse Alexander is an experienced fund manager and WATT’s chief investment officer with over 18 years work experience in the financial services industry. In this interview with MARY NNAH, she gives insights into why gender equity is crucial for social and economic development and what role the private sector has to play

of a doubt the importance of her value. Not because of her looks, or her body, but because of who she was as a person. And with my son’s, not only did I ingrain in them to value their sister, but all women alike that they meet. That isn’t to say that I encouraged my sons’ to coddle my daughter, in fact, I would often say to my daughter, if you want to be equal then you need to act on it. You can’t be coddled one minute and treated like an equal the next - pick your lane. So to all my sisters out there I would say the same thing, we need to be consistent. We cannot have it one way sometimes and another way other times.

hat actions have been taken by Watts Renewables as a company to drive gender equality

in Nigeria? WATT Renewable Corporation recognises that we operate in an industry that is largely represented by men, and as such, we strongly advocate for women within our organisation as well as potential new members of our team to feel free to have an impact within our company as well as the industry we operate in. We are mindful that women within Nigeria face unique challenges not only as it pertains to employment, but also within the communities where they are supporting their families at home and in business. We are also aware that women are not only raising and supporting their families but also in the labour force either as employees or business owners themselves. However, it’s also significant that women are conscious there are policies and programmes in place to empower them and set them up for success within the companies they work with. How can we promote more gender inclusiveness in the energy sector, most especially in a sector that once looks like an exclusive preserve of men? Gender inclusion as a whole, not just in the energy sector means acknowledging the differences between men and women and the way in which we operate. Additionally, it means allowing women the place and space to boldly wear all the things they love to wear, without making them feel like they’re at a disadvantage. For decades, and even now, women feel like they have to make a choice between their focus on their career or become a traditional woman, i.e. a wife and mother that stays home and takes care of the home, while men go out and work to take care of the family. With all the advances of technology, women don’t have to make all these choices. Although a handful of us have been able to have both a valuable career and raise a family, however, the number of women who still don’t feel empowered enough to have both is still far too large.

Can you share some unique challenges you have encountered in the energy sector, simply because you’re a woman? As a woman, generally speaking, I approach matters of business very differently than most men. My approach is much more about connecting with people and building valuable relationships that are mutually beneficial for all parties involved, and the idea I’m often faced with is that the way that I present myself must be more aggressive and dominating in order to have any value in the room. Many women also believe that for their voice to be heard, that they have to scream louder and be bigger than anyone else in the room. In my experience, women have to be okay with their way and not feel the need to behave a certain way because it’s what’s worked for men. I get the challenge, I honestly

What role does the private sector play in promoting gender equality and why is it important to take gender concerns into account in corporate strategy development, programme design and programme implementation? The private sector has a valuable and unique opportunity to truly effect change in promoting gender equality. While it is important to take gender concerns into account in corporate strategy development, programme design and implementation, however, ensuring that women have a seat at the table is the first step in working towards gender equality. Equality for the sake of equality is not equality at all. This cannot be treated like affirmative action, which in my opinion only breeds resentment within a corporate environment if not handled well. The key is to provide women the opportunity to show that they are capable, while still ensuring that the best individuals are placed in the best positions and environment for the success of the individual and the company as a whole.

Sherisse Alexander

do. But part of gender inclusion is really being okay with who you are and what you bring to the table. In your personal view, what are the societal challenges Nigerian women are facing and how do you think private organisations can help to solve some of these challenges? The societal challenges that I see that Nigerian women are facing are essentially based on existing conservative ideologies about the work that women should be doing. Traditionally in many parts of the world, a woman’s value in a work environment is to sit behind a desk and have a pleasant face and figure for the guests entering the premises. That is not to say that a woman cannot be valued for more than her face or body, it’s just to say, that it’s still an expectation that is present in Nigeria. For example, we operate a Network Operations Centre (NOC) that monitors all the sites under our management 24 hours a day which means there is always someone working day and night. We have women that are interested in working in this department; however,

they are only willing to work the day shift because of the preconceived notions around a woman working at night. The most impactful way that we can begin to create change is by enhancing community education and empowering women to feel confident by exploring traditionally male-dominated environments. In Sub Saharan Africa, especially Nigeria, poor cultural practices and gender bias have eaten deep into every fabric of our society, what do you think should be done to put an end to this? That’s a heavy and loaded question. When something is deeply rooted in the fabric of society the only thing that can begin to make way for change is persistence and commitment. It begins right from birth, with the woman who is giving birth to her daughter. And empowering not only her daughter to know her worth and her value, but her sons as well, to recognise the worth and value of their female counterpart, their sister. I am a mother of four children myself; three boys and a daughter. From the day my daughter was born, I made sure that she recognises without a shadow

Commemoration of International Women’s Day today ranges from being a public holiday in some countries to being largely ignored elsewhere; in some places, it is a day that celebrates womanhood. Do you think there is a need to make this day a focal point in the movement of women’s rights? The journey to equality is a very young one that has really only made strides in the last few decades. So yes, International Women’s Day should continue to be a focal point in the movement of women’s rights. Otherwise, how do we continue to bring about change? There are still many regions of the world where women do not have a voice, let alone equality. There’s something to be said about acknowledging a group of people and celebrating their contributions and the milestones in the movement to equality. Word of advice for aspiring young women in the energy sector Yes. #choosetochallenge. Choose to challenge the ideas of women and their role in the energy sector. As women, we do not need to be confined to the ideas that have been set forth by societal norms. The only way to change the idea is to be brave enough to challenge them. Although, there will inevitably be challenges along the way, however with each and every challenge there is inversely an opportunity. Look for the opportunity to do better and be better.

Ͱͷ

T H I S D AY ˾ ͷ˜ 2021

NEWS

9mobile Partners Cherie Blair Foundation to Empower Female Entrepreneurs Stories by Mary Nnah The world as we all know is fast evolving with more women participating actively in the development of national economies. This implies that women’s entrepreneurship is a key driver of women’s economic participation. However, as the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women’s new research on women entrepreneurs in low and middleincome countries reveals, COVID-19 threatens to roll back the clock on women’s entrepreneurship. The foundation’s comprehensive report draws on responses from 125 women across 32 countries, with the highest percentage of responses coming from Nigerian women. Most (83.8 per cent) women surveyed report that the pandemic has had a negative impact on their businesses, and nearly four in ten (38.5%) report their business will or may have to close as a result. It is also obvious that despite their contribution to the economy, Nigerian women continue to suffer a myriad of challenges in the labour market as entrepreneurs and as employees, in addition to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, in recognition of the outstanding roles of women entrepreneurs, as part of efforts to both support greater economic participation by women and prevent women from being forced out of the labour market by the pandemic, telecommunications operator 9mobile recently teamed up with the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women to bring the foundation’s award-winning business skills app, HerVenture, to Nigerian women entrepreneurs. The HerVenture app is a women’s mobile learning

A beneﬁciary of HerVenture app

app that supports female entrepreneurs to access the skills, confidence, and networks they need to grow their businesses. It has supported over 20,000 women entrepreneurs in Nigeria alone, and in response to the pandemic, the foundation recently added new learning modules to HerVenture to aid women with business digitisation and resilience, with fantastic take-up and results. Speaking on the partnership, the Executive Director, Regulatory and Corporate Affairs, 9mobile, Abdulrahman Ado, noted that the decision to collaborate with the foundation on the HerVenture app stems from its commitment to leverage its technology and networks in promoting sustainable initiatives that support economic growth. According to him, when women are empowered with the skills to make informed business decisions, the ripple effect is felt practically in all sectors of the economy. “It is a known fact that empowering women economically

boosts productivity, increases economic diversification, and stimulates other positive sociocultural developments. “Therefore we are harnessing our technology to support this very critical segment of society, to help build and grow their businesses, especially at this time when the world is going through a deadly pandemic that has continued to weaken economies around the world” Ado remarked. “Given the effects of the pandemic and the imperative to fast-track the world into a digital economy and create more women entrepreneurs, there is an urgent need to support women to develop the business skills needed to succeed now and post-pandemic. “The foundation has responded to this need by enhancing the HerVenture app to offer new opportunities in the digital space, including e-commerce and digital marketing. “That is why we are delighted to be working with the Cherie Blair Foundation

for Women to support their efforts to advance women’s entrepreneurship potentials in Nigeria by making available the HerVenture offerings to more women in the country,” he noted. Commending 9mobile for the support, Chief Executive Officer, Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, Helen McEachern, remarked that mobile network companies play an important part in providing the platform to reach the vast majority of women with the skills and support they need to grow their businesses and contribute their bit to national economic recovery and development. She said, “We are thrilled to be working with 9mobile to help bring HerVenture to even more women in Nigeria. By working with the Foundation, 9mobile is helping to level the playing field for women entrepreneurs with the essential skills they need to make their businesses resilient and grow.” Commenting on how HerVenture has helped transform her business, Idara Bassey, who operates a logistics service company in Lagos, remarked that the app has been instrumental in providing the insights to steer her business in the right direction. On her part, Susan Shagbo, an entrepreneur who has successfully used the app to support her business, remarked, “Fantastic and fully loaded app! I recommend this beautiful app for every woman considering becoming an entrepreneur or already an entrepreneur; your business will experience tremendous growth after going through the different modules.” With HerVenture, users say that on an average, their profits increased by 38 per cent and 88 per cent of users increased their customer numbers. Also 89 per cent of Nigerian women using the app also reported that the network they had developed using the app has been helpful.

Foundation Empowers Women with Vocational Skills In order to enable women pursue their ambition in business and revive entrepreneurial spirit, Living Encouraged (LE), last weekend, trained 50 women in vocational skills. They also donated cash to seven widows while it equally set up a young lady with beauty salon equipment in Egbe-Ikotun community. The convener of the initiative, a Nigerian in diaspora, Rosemary Akaette, explained her mission to economically empower women was for them to be financially independent. Akaette stated that empowerment will be a continuous activity that would positively impact women and their families, adding that her concern is to make them self-reliant, productive and effectively play their role as wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters in their various homes and the community at large. She added that the COVID-19 pandemic brought about certain hardship; hence empowering women with skills would give them a sense of belonging as well as make them productive. “I grew up wanting to help indigent women because of

Some of the women during the Living Encouraged empowerment programme

their vulnerability to different kinds of abuse since they practically depend on their husbands to provide for them even when he is also financially handicapped. There is a feminisation of poverty in Nigeria and the face of women is usually the face of poverty.” The Nigeria representative of (LE), and pastor of Love Christian Center, John Okwuone emphasised the need to scale up wealth for women, which the organisation started six months ago where it caters to seven widows who are given cash monthly for their up-keep.

Okwuone further stated that the skill acquisition training and the empowerment of women is the key to transforming society. “Today, N25, 000 cash was given to seven widows who had been receiving monthly upkeep for six months, they have been equipped with vocational skills and the cash is to enable them start a business”, he said, adding that their perceptions about life have changed. Guest speaker at the event Onipede Olubunmi gave the charge to women to courageously challenge societal

status quos, gender bias and disparities through excellence in service and responsibilities; dedicated hard work on the skill continuous self-development through the acquisition of relevant skills, creating opportunities for younger female women to learn and grow; collaborating more strategically with one another and with male acquaintance and also to proactively take up responsibilities that support their growth and visibility. One of the participants, Esther Sylvester, who spoke on behalf of the widows, said she was grateful for the vocational training and the craft she had learnt during the course of the programme and also thanked the organisers for the opportunity. Also Pastor Jedidiah Onuoha encouraged the women to make good use of the skills they have learnt and change their stories. Onuoha said the programme achieved its aim, because not only were the women trained, they were able to replicate what they had learnt. Thus the empowerment programme was tagged “Sought Out”.

AREAiPartnersCocaCola FoundationtoCommemorate GlobalRecyclingDay

A cross section of Community Recycling Champions under Mission Zero Plastic Initiative, shortly after a three-hour recycling exercise in Ibadan, Oyo State

A Non-Governmental Organisation, Aid for Rural Education Access Initiative (AREAi) recently observed the 2021 Global Recycling Day with a call for all stakeholders to not only reduce waste and increase recycling, but also to view recyclables as a resource, and not waste. This year’s observance of the “Global Recycling Day” was commemorated under the Mission Zero Plastic Initiative, an ambitious plastic recovery drive, funded by the Coca-Cola Foundation, which seeks to curb plastic pollution in six states across Nigeria through recovery and repurposing of 600 tons, over 18,000,000 PET Bottles in 12 months. Over 650 young Community Recycling champions were mobilised across multiple locations in six States - Kano, Kwara, Kaduna, Oyo, Yobe and FCT, to promote recycling culture in their communities through coordinated clean-up activities in locations with high rates of plastic waste as well as awareness raising on the harmful effect of plastic pollution on the environment and distribution of public recycling bins. About 30,000 PET bottles equivalent to 1200kg or 1.3 tons of plastic waste were recovered. In his remarks, the Chief Executive Director, AREAi, Prince Gideon Olanrewaju said: “The goal for Global Recycling Day is to show the world that recycling is a global issue, the environment is a global issue and this day celebrates that and pushes us all – wherever we live – to do more. “Thankfully with the funding support of the Coca- Cola Foundation, we have been able to contribute to various local efforts to reduce plastic pollution in our various communities,” he noted. In the coming months, other strategies geared towards the implementation of the Mission Zero Plastic project, he revealed, will be carried out with the 600 Community Recycling Champions who are foot soldiers voluntarily providing concise coordination, support and oversight functions for all of the processes within allotted states.

The Luxury Network Nigeria Launches Training Programme The Luxury Network Nigeria, in collaboration with The Luxury Network International HQ, has launched a high-level learning and development programme - a series of immersive training sessions and workshops curated for Nigerian businesses who provide or aspire to an international standard of luxury. The programme has been created to facilitate high-level training led by industry professionals and executives, and guest speakers from some of the world’s most prestigious luxury companies, to provide unique insight into brands, places, and people that embody heritage, legacy, and innovation, around the world. Programme sessions will explore best practices, traditions, and know-how that have always been key success factors of the world’s leading companies. Topics will also examine the language, gestures, and etiquette that are emblematic of the luxury industry, underpinned by in-depth knowledge and expertise adopted from a global marketplace. The programme officially commences on May 2021, but on Thursday April 22, Managing Director, The Luxury Network Nigeria, Cas Ojo, and Head of Events, Bvlgari Hotel London, Eleanor Turner will host the guest speaker, Global CEO, The Luxury Network, H.E Fares Ghattes in a live webinar, for ‘A Brief Conversation on the Fundamentals of Luxury’. The upcoming event will provide a launchpad for the 12-part Learning & Development programme. This groundbreaking programme is split into three subject areas - The Fundamentals of Luxury, Business protocol & Etiquette, and Language & Communication. The core objective of The Luxury Network is to facilitate collaboration and exciting new business development activities, and direct access to high net-worth private clients between top-end companies, under the umbrella of affinity marketing. Members of the network benefit from global expertise and experience with the world’s most prestigious brands such as Porsche, Ralph Lauren, Sunseeker Yachts, Bombardier Jets, Lamborghini, Cartier and many more. The network initiates brand partnerships, product placements, endorsements, media sharing, B2B and B2C networking, sales and luxury showcase events and numerous other affinity marketing activities designed to leverage the equity of participating brands. The Luxury Network is interested to hear from companies who wish to explore bold and innovative partnership strategies in the Nigerian and UK market. Please get in touch.

T H I S D AY ˾ ͷ˜ 2021

E-TRENDS

MUSIC SHOWBIZ

…Your weekly entertainment delight

NOLLYWOOD

Are Nigerians Only Interested in Nollywood Comedy Films? Stories by Vanessa Obioha A common comment passed by cinema exhibitors in Nigeria at conferences and webinars is that the Nigerian audience favours more comedy flicks than any other genre. The box office figures do not suggest otherwise. The first highest grossing Nigerian film in the past decade was the 2016 comedy film ‘The Wedding Party. It was recently displaced by Funke Akindele and JJC Skillz film, ‘Omo Ghetto (The Saga)’. In the list of the top 10 highest-grossing films in Nigeria, only ‘King of Boys’ is outside the comedy box, thereby giving weight to the assertion. The flip side is that many filmmakers now stick to the comedy genre, against their better judgment. There are few filmmakers though who would rather explore other genres and privately screen their films than having a wide theatrical release. Those who still pursue a big-screen debut, however, pray fervently that their films will challenge the norm For instance, before the release of ‘La Femme Anjola’, the director Mildred Okwo urged Nigerians to watch the film and prove that notion wrong. At a recent webinar organised by the Nollywood Studies Centre of the School of Media

A scene in The Wedding Party

and Communications, Pan Atlantic University, prolific filmmaker Femi Odugbemi tackled the assertion. The producer of the new documentary ‘Unmasked: Leadership Trust and the COVID-19 Pandemic in Nigeria’ that debuted at the recently concluded iREP International Documentary Film Festival, found the perception awkward. “It’s like we are underestimating how much the audience is educated. It’s like we think the audience is in a bubble.” He queried why there is no blockade on other genres from Hollywood if comedy was the standard.

Odugbemi argued that the Nigerian audience film viewing options are increasing every day with more streaming platforms showing Nigerian and international films. “When people make such assertions, they insinuate and obliterate the audience.” The effect of that assumption is also felt on the actors whom he said are often insulted by such scripts that lack artistry and focus on commercial viability, pointing out that most comedy films are a clutch of incongruous scenes. “Comedy is the hardest thing to do and because

humour is relative to one’s culture, it does not evoke the same emotions for everyone.” One of the reasons why such assumption thrives according to the filmmaker is because “we are running a multibillion structure without data. The filmmaker shouldn’t be telling me what the film made, it should be an independent body giving that information.” While not writing off the genre, Odugbemi emphasized that it is superiorly rare for a Nollywood film to win the best picture in the Academy Awards which is one of the top goals of Nollywood. ‘The Milkmaid’ became the first Nigerian film to make the Oscars longlist but failed to clinch a spot in the nomination list. The way forward, according to the Academy Awards voting member, is to bring artistry to our films and that can only be achieved through education. “We have to tell the story of our time and if a story is well told, it makes money.” Education, he said, has been neglected in the film industry, thereby damaging the future of the film industry we want. A paradigm shift, he noted, is needed to empower filmmakers not only to make money out of their films but also to make them meaningful.

The Voice Nigeria: The Third Season is a Charm for Vanilla After her breathtaking and electrifying performance on the second episode of The Voice Nigeria season three, Vanilla Chinagoro dominated social media discussions. On Twitter and YouTube, her voice was praised with many congratulating her for picking Yemi Alade as her coach. The 32-year-old mother of three auditioned for the first season of The Voice Nigeria six years ago but didn’t sail through. That period of her life is marked with

Vanilla performing at The Voice Nigeria S3

depression and she nearly gave up her dreams of becoming a musician. But with the support

of her husband, siblings and her adorable children who look up to her for inspiration, she found the courage to take another shot at the mic. This time around, performing ‘Freedom’ by American awardwinning singer Beyoncé, Vanilla nearly brought the house down with her powerful vocals. All the coaches turned except Darey (though regretfully). Falz, who was the first to get goosebumps from Vanilla’s performance,

Harsh Realities of the Pandemic in A Lasgidi Story For many who converged at EbonyLife Cinemas on Easter Sunday for the premiere of Efizzi Group’s expository documentary ‘A Lasgidi Story’, the nearly onehour film was a wake-up call for African leaders to improve the healthcare sector. Conceived by Collins Akpapunam, the helmsman of the group shortly after Nigeria recorded its index case of COVID-19 last year, the documentary captured the harrowing poverty of citizens who unlike their rich counterparts were subjected to hardship during the lockdown period of the pandemic. Akpapunam focused his lens on the paradox of a bubbling city like Lagos where poverty and wealth are unfriendly neighbours. He encountered ordinary folks who expressed their frustration at the government for imposing lockdown, thereby subjecting them to more privation as they were unable to go about their daily hustles. Among these were the hardcore believers of the COVID-19 hoax. This group of people were convinced that the coronavirus which has claimed more than two million lives globally only exist in rich neighbourhoods, therefore, only the rich die of COVID-19. The poor, in their views, were immune to the

Audience at ‘A Lasgidi Story’ premiere

disease. However, some concerned Nigerians expressed worry over the economic implications of the pandemic. They argued that the enforced lockdown could lead to death due to hunger and deprivation. But the documentary’s sole focus was not only on the ordinary citizens. Almost every stratum of the society was mirrored. A major highlight of the documentary was the story by Dr Amara Allison who shared her experience on diagnosing the Italian index case in Nigeria. ‘A Lasgidi Story’ also touched on the mental health of survivors and stigmatisation. “African leaders must be prepared to dig deep and seek an African solution to the next pandemic as history has taught us

that there will always be another pandemic and Africa must be ready,” stated Akpapunam on the aim his documentary. He added that the prediction by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that the pandemic will have a devastating effect on third world countries never materialised but it shouldn’t make African countries complacent. “Rather, they must seek their solutions than accept hook, line and sinker the use of lockdowns and restrictions as employed in the West.” The documentary which was supported by brands such as Wema Bank, International SOS, Avis, Alaro City, CIS Moist Beach Club among others will also be available on streaming platforms that will be announced soon.

made a compelling pitch to the contestant, playing with the flavorful meaning of her name. At the end of the day, Vanilla picked Yemi who exuded similar energy with the contestant. Yemi now has four contestants on her team after turning for Tim Ayo. Waje finally had her first contestant as Tim’s brother, Nuel performing British rock band Coldplay’s ‘Fix You’ chose her as a coach. His performance got four chair turns and was the

only one for the episode. Waje also stole the spotlight on the episode after breaking the rule of no turning for a contestant who didn’t meet their criteria. She turned to give a master class to Adedotun Adeloye, fetching her praise on social media. The contestant interestingly would receive a golden ticket at Nigerian Idol season six which aired the following night. Falz added a contestant to his team, Okemdiya Chimomez, too. The 28-year-old

AFRIMAisReady to Beatthe DrumAgain As vaccines administration on the continent offers hope, All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) is gearing up for the 2021 edition of the awards. It recently hosted media practitioners, music professionals and policymakers at a stakeholder parley at the Azaline and Pullman Hotels, in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire from March 24 to 26. Headed by the President and Executive Producer, AFRIMA, Mike Dada, the conference tagged “The Drums Will Beat Again” was set to commence AFRIMA’s continent-wide campaign for the unveiling of the 2021 AFRIMA Calendar of Activities scheduled to hold in May this year. Revealed at the parley were AFRIMA’s consistent journey in promoting and engaging music talents and content creators who are key stakeholders and beneficiaries of the awarding process within the francophone region of the continent. Strategic courtesy visits and stakeholder meetings were also held with the Acting Minister, Ministry of Tourism and francophone Relations, Mr Yves Konan; the country’s media powerhousesDirector-General, RadiodiffusionTélévision ivoirienne (RTI), Mr Fausseni Dembele; and Marketing Communications Giant, Voodoo Group; Executive Director, Magic

Konan and Dada

System Foundation, Jean-Louis Boua; and President, Association of International Press, Côte D’Ivoire, M’ma Camara. “We do hope that our partnership with AFRIMA Awards will strengthen the Ivorian and Francophone music industry while we look forward to organising the annual All Africa Music Awards ceremony in Ivory Coast soonest,” remarked Konan. The stakeholder conference at Abidjan is to continue the annual dialogue through which musicians, businesses, development partners, fans and the government broaden their perspective of music as a development tool while reviewing restrictions and adopting best practices in the music business amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

singer and songwriter from Abia State sang American band Maroon 5’s popular hit ‘Memories’. Darey is still stuck with one contestant. Perhaps, he may find the right contestants for his team on tomorrow’s episode. The Voice Nigeria season three airs every Saturday night on African Magic Showcase (DStv 151), Urban (DStv 153), and Family (DStv 154, GOtv 2) at 8pm, and Sundays on AIT, Views TV, Wazobia TV and Max at 6pm.

Old MutualAmazing Voices Returns For Season Two Old Mutual Amazing Voices singing competition is on its way to TV screens across Africa from April 11. Despite the global pandemic, the singing competition had over 500 entries, out of which the top 10 Acapella groups from Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa will be selected to compete for the whopping $100, 000 grand prize. Expressing her delight over the show, Executive Head, Marketing and Customer Experience at Old Mutual Nigeria, Alero Ladipo stated: “We are excited to be a part of season two, especially at a time like this when there is a growing appreciation for African music. It is an amazing opportunity to provide a learning platform for exceptional African talents and to show the world the quality of entertainment we are capable of showcasing.” For this season, the judges include Evelle, a previous Nigerian Idol winner; Zimbabwe’s afro-pop and RnB singer/songwriter, Ammara Brown; Kenya’s renowned performer and producer, Filah Tuju; Ghana’s award-winning rapper Trigmatic; and South Africa’s artist, Vusi Nova.

T H I S D AY ˾ ͷ˜ 2021

CNS Commissions Squash Court at NNS Delta Sylvester Idowu in Warri The Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Auwal Gambo has commissioned a squash hall to enhance the physical fitness of officers and ratings of the Nigerian Navy Ship Delta (NNS Delta) in Warri, Delta State. The navy chief performed the ceremony last week during his maiden visit to NNS Delta, Warri and other naval formations in Oghara, Sapele and Warri. The squash hall was conceived several years ago but came into realisation under the outgoing Commander, NNS Delta, Commodore Seidu Adepegba. It was gathered that the new squash hall will be put into use, along with a standard football field, to enhance the physical fitness of the officers and ratings of the

L-R: Commander NNS Delta; Commodore Seidu Adepegba; CNS, Vice Admiral Auwal Gambo; FOC Central Naval Command, Rear Admiral Kennedy Egbuchulam and Navy Secretary, Rear Admiral Sa’idu Garba during the CNS’s one-day oﬃcial visit to NNS Delta

command. The commissioning ceremony by the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Auwal Gambo, was witnessed by

top naval chiefs including the Flag Officer Commanding (FOC), Central Naval Command (CNC), Rear Admiral Kennedy Egbu-

chulam; Navy Secretary, Rear Admiral Sa’idu Garba; and host Commander, NNS Delta, Commodore Seidu Adepegba

Nwokolo Tracy: I am Developing Talents in Body Enhancements Beauty expert, Nwokolo Isioma Tracy, has stated that her sole aim of expanding her business, is to give back to the society by developing talents of those that are interested. She stated this, on Instagram, @persian_couturee1, where she encouraged females to be productive and take opportunities that come their ways. “I was one of those girls that could be written off in the past, because of my humble disposition. Some persons could not understand the enterprising spirit in me, but since I knew I was racing against myself, I put my foot down, and got to work. “Today, people come to me to help groom them. I am not relenting in teaching them what I know, because

Nwokolo

I believe in the growth of young persons like me. “Nobody should be shy of what he or she does, as long as it puts food on your table, and could help raise others. “I have groomed talents. I look back, and I’m always thankful to God for, but this is what I love doing, so I do it with passion”, Isioma wrote.

Folashade Joseph & Food Security

ne of the ways through which the government endears itself to its citizens, is by providing adequate food security. There is a popular saying in the lands of my father, that a hungry man is an angry man. This establishes the fact that no meaningful development can take place in a community where the people are poorly fed. Undoubtedly, malnourishment also results in poor health which affects productive capability of people. If there is anything that the govt of President Muhammadu Buhari deserves an accolade for, I think it is in the area of agriculture which is basically to ensure food security in the country. The deliberate and concerted efforts pumped into this critical sector should be highly commended. Against this background, it is important that while farmers are being encouraged to increase their yields, the risks associated in ensuring the increase in yields is being secured by the government owned agricultural insurance corporation, the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC). NAIC was established as a social scheme to ensure food security, job creation, wealth establishment for farmers and agribusiness practitioners across the full value chain of the agribusiness. It is in recognition of this important task that the President deemed it well by appointing Folashade Joseph (Mrs.) as the MD/CEO of NAIC on the 10th of April, 2017. Recognizing the onerous task ahead upon assumption of office, she swung into action by bringing together all critical stakeholders in the agribusiness sector of the economy. Farmers, co-operatives, commodity associations, corporate organizations, financial institutions, the Central Bank of Nigeria and all other stakeholders came together with her amazing leadership style which has resulted in the significant progress recorded in the agricultural sector of the Nigerian economy. Her amazing leadership style since her appointment has resulted in the prompt settlements of claims. To this end, the majority of farmers and those who had

Folashade

claimed settlement with NAIC, have expressed confidence and satisfaction in the way matters are handled, there is however a huge increase in the confidence level of farmers patronizing NAIC because of them believing that it can now effectively handle their risks. It is in recognition of her numerous achievements in four years that Mr. President re-appointed her for another four years effectively on the 11th of April, 2021 to consolidate her developmental strides in NAIC in particular and the agricultural sector of the nation’s economy in general. Coming from the private sector, Folashade Joseph (Mrs.) is a thoroughbred professional who knows her onions in the corporate world. As a board room guru, she is an exception in a male dominated business environment. She has proved her mettle hence the bold confidence reposed in her by Mr. President to continue her good works for another four years. She has been able to take NAIC to an enviable

height that has made the corporation a force to be reckoned with. There are a lot of things that she has been thinking and working on because agriculture is re-evolving. The corporation is working on the revenue insurance, has started weather index insurance and livestock index insurance to match with the re-evolving agriculture trends. In her words “As agriculture becomes our main attraction in the country, so many businesses will come along the line. So many lines of production, and of course, risks that we did not know as at yesterday will come up today”. Product development is a continuous thing in NAIC, there were challenges in the past, there are challenges now which she is assiduously working on to surmount. Herdsmen-farmers clashes is an issue that is prevalent across the country and she is actually working on ways to address these challenges. It can be from the herdsmen angle or from the farmers’ angle.

Folashade Joseph sits atop a business empire that has made the corporation give coverage to agricultural projects worth over N6.8 billion investments across the country since inception. On losses and compensation, under her leadership NAIC has also paid out over 4 billion naira as claims to farmers of various classes from inception to date, the recent being a N848 million insurance claim in the 2020 pandemic year alone. With the corporation’s various insurance products like the subsidized crops insurance, commercial crops insurance, subsidized livestock insurance, commercial livestock insurance, combined agricultural produce and investment policy and area yield index insurance, she has been able to bring in and work with professionals in the corporation to see that the best of services is rendered to the insuring public. The only challenge facing her tenure which she is working to change the narrative is the low awareness of insurance products and penetration, this she is continuously doing to change with the constant sensitization programs and workshops the corporation has been doing in educating farmers in various states to understand these agricultural insurance products. The sensitization programs have been going on across the six geographical zones of the country and tremendous success have been recorded so far. She is such a good human resource Manager with a resounding human relation that anyone who has come across her can attest to. Folashade Joseph is a matured woman, watching and listening to her contributions at meetings will tell you she is not your regular MD/CEO. Her matured contributions to issues are admirable. Her presentations are enviable while her approach to topical sensitive national issues are captivating. And so, as this Special Gift to humanity begins another term of four years, on the 11th of April, 2021, I join several other people to wish Folashade Joseph (Mrs.) another happy years of smiles and joys! Happy New Term! Happy New Tenure. Congratulations for another years of experience and memories. t5PMB 0HVOOVCJ %FQVUZ )FBE $PSQPSBUF "GGBJST /JHFSJBO "HSJDVMUVSBM *OTVSBODF $PSQPSBUJPO /"*$

T H I S D AY ˾ ͷ˜ 2021

ART WEEKEND

…For pure art enthusiasts

Dotun Popoola’s Monumental Documentation in ‘Metal and Metaphor’ Alongside the warmth of the surrounding wood atTerra Kulture inVictoria Island came an eye-opening session withDotunPopoola,Africa’sMetalKingwhosevoyageintohybridmetalsculptureformsthecruxofthecoffee-table book,‘MetalandMetaphor.’ Yinka Olatunbosun reports

Thought Pyramid Unleashes Duo Show ‘Transcendence’

n April 10, a select collective from the art community and beyond will experience the formal launch of the coffee-table book in Lagos. Edited by an art scholar, Moyo Okediji- a lifelong associate of a leading contemporary ‘synergetic’ metal sculptor, Dotun Popoola, the book titled ‘Metal and Metaphor’ is a potpourri of aesthetics, ideologies, history, culture, images and other elements of a career life spanning two decades. Its pages glow with beautiful pictures of his multi-coloured metal sculptures, emitting almost the visual appeal of a food blog. With an introduction by the editor, the book also features four essays by art historians namely Olusegun Fajuyigbe, Kunle Filani, Kehinde Adepegba and Tolulope Sobowale. Incidentally, all of these contributing scholars graduated from the University of Ife, now known as Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife. A native of Abeokuta, Popoola’s affinity for scrap art evolved through formal and nonformal training. His forefathers had laid the roots in the trade. His great and grand-fathers were blacksmiths, while his father is an auto electrician- with the moniker “Baba Rewire”. For Popoola, there is a deep spiritual connection in his lineage with the art. Still, critics often point to the Ife Art school’s influence that is palpable in the cultural contexts of his works. To break into international art markets, Popoola understands the danger of telling only one side of a story. Hence, his artistic statements are created as hybrid in nature, both in form and content. “I put different things together to produce one work,’’ he began, as his hand brushed over the menu on the table. “I can create a piece of work with a variety of meanings, using ferrous and non-ferrous items.’’ After studying Fine Art from Auchi Polytechnic and later, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife where he graduated in 2008, Popoola trained as a hybrid welder in the United

Little Light 1’ by Christain Allison

Yinka Olatunbosun Book Cover

States of America in 2016. There, he learnt to use the mig welder and a plasma cutter. On his return to Nigeria, he started repurposing metal junks from junkyard, assembling them into stunning pieces, mostly in animal figures. Bad spark plugs, discarded power generators, cutlery, bicycle parts all became assets to his artistry. His first experiment with scrap resulted into a huge sculpture of a cockerel made of discarded spark plugs and cutlery, showcased at a popular gallery in Lagos to a warm reception. “The title of the book, ‘Metal and Metaphor’ is just a play on words, using the works to convey messages and not just for aesthetic purposes alone,’’ he continued. “The Yorubas would call that ‘Aroko,’ that is a metaphor. ‘Aroko’ is a coded message. Each of my works has a coded message, like sculpture-within-a-sculpture. It is like having miniatures within the whole. Sometimes, I could hide the Benin Bronze or the Nok head or other bronze items to transpose the work into hybrid and also create a luxury effect. The coded message- most of the time- is personal to whoever commissions the work or whatever message that you would want to pass across. I love the book to appeal to even a casual reader. The book is a compendium, catalogue, brochure, research material; it is everything rolled into one.’’ The artist who enjoys telling stories around his works and their impact around the world recounted the story behind the metal sculpture

‘American Rottweiler.’ He once had a show in Texas where he was expected to bring six works. Realising that he needed to bridge the cultural gap, he picked the dog motif loaded with African symbols that an average American could relate to. On one of his posts on Instagram, he received a positive feedback, amongst many, from someone who had been struggling with suicidal thoughts. “He actually saw my post on that Monday morning. Most of my works I do analysis and interpretation by myself and I would post it. People would read and give feedback. I had written that morning that ‘Out of the broken pieces of your past, there can be an edifice of hope.’ I have assembled discarded materials to form a magnificent piece- a bigger picture. I think that is a bigger message in my works,’’ he said. His decision to have a coffee-table book on his artistry was founded on the need to a reach a wide range of audience, without the book turning into some abandoned piece on the bookshelf. Dr Odun Orimolade is the reviewer of the book which took some 500days to be completed. The artist had always taken pictures and short videos of his works periodically for many years- making them the raw material for this book. Popoola, who turned 40 this week, believes that the book will encourage young artists to take their artistry seriously and generate more scholarly reviews on scrap art.

Mydrim Gallery Returns with Future Masters Yinka Olatunbosun Christened ‘FOURTUNE,’ a group exhibition of paintings executed by four young artists- Raji Mohammed, Oluwafunke Oladimeji, Olufemi Oyewole and Olajide Salako will hit the Lagos scene tomorrow April 10. This show is a part of Mydrim Gallery’s Generations-Future Masters Exhibition series which was initiated by the master painter, Abiodun Olaku on the premise that there has been a decline in the standards of draughtsmanship among young artists. Thus, the idea of creative a platform to promote young creatives was formed. In a statement by the founder of the gallery, Sinmidele Adesanya, the ‘Fourtune Four’ artists were among the selected artists who had previously participated in three editions of the exhibition. “We recognized that they could no longer participate in other ‘Future Masters’ exhibitions as other artists had to be given the opportunity to showcase their works. Their works were really outstanding and so we proposed the idea of a joint exhibition,’’ she revealed. Raji Mohammed, a graduate of University of Nigeria, Nsukka paints in different media

Looking Within

such as oil, acrylic, charcoal, pastel, pen and graphite. Motivated by world great masters, he is inspired by every day realities of the people around him. In 2019, his painting titled ‘Reflection’ was selected among the 260 best works in the British Portrait Competition. His works at this show include the identity series titled, “Flower Girl,’’ and “Warm Feeling,’’ Oluwafunke Oladimeji, born in 1988, makes

incredible artistic statements with her pallete knife technique, landscape and portrait paintings. The graduate of Ekiti State University honed her skills through the industrial attachment programme at the Universal Studio of Arts. Her works at this show include “Ilu Oke,’’ “Oro Aje,’’ “The Communion’’ amongst others. Moods and emotions are the consistent themes in the works of Olufemi Oyewole, a graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife. The full-time studio artist is a contemporary representational artist with a knack for draughtsmanship. His contribution to the show include “Evening Veil,’’ “Mutual Rendezvous,’’ “Familiar Route,’’ and “Heading Home.” With Olajide Salako, learning from art masters such as Abiodun Olaku, Ejoh Wallace, Joshua Nmesironye and Olojo Kosoko at the Universal Studio of Art were some of his early steps to finding his own unique voice. The 40-year old artist paints in oil, acrylic and pastel. He has an eye for vibrant hues as well as the nose for the business side of art practice. His works include “Betrothed I and II,’’ “Preparation for Stardom V,’’ “Rising Star,’’ “The New Bride,’’ and “Shield.’’ The show runs till April 24.

On the heels of steady progression on the Lagos and international art scenes, two artists, Ikechukwu Ezeigwe and Christian Allison are heading towards canvas mastery. They are having a joint art exhibition titled, Transcendence from April 11 to 26 at Thought Pyramid Art Centre, Ikoyi, Lagos. The gallery had previously showcased their works in a juried group exhibition targeted at young talented artists tagged ‘Next of Kin.’ Ikechukwu and Allison had won at the 2019 and 2020 editions respectively and thus, this new show is a way of consolidating their artistic supremacy. On the one hand, the 32-year old Ezeigwe had one of his works, ‘Enemy of the State’ sold by the renowned Bonhams Private Auction house in the UK. His works are characterized by human figures with animal heads to highlight themes of politics, love, affection, amongst others. He effectively uses his unique painting style to advocate for good and credible governance in his country. On the other hand, Allison, 30, a native of Bonny Island and a graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife is an engineer turned full-time studio artist. A hyperrealistic charcoal and pastel artist, his works are also expressed on textured canvas and paper using graphite. Some of his outstanding pieces had been sold in Mexico and the UK. For the ‘Transcendence’ show, each of the artists will be exhibiting 10 works. The Exhibition Director, Thought Pyramid Art Centre, Mr. Ovie Omatsola, described the art of the two artists as “crazy” styles, capable of keeping the beholder glued to the works. From a curatorial perspective, Omatsola acknowledges their “out-of-thebox” skills, which result in incredible pieces. Undoubtedly, the gallery is commitment to not just discovering future masters, but also helping them to excel. “The underlying goal of ‘Transcendence’ is breaking the Nigerian curse of not strengthening talents discovered by a project, platform, or organization,” Omatsola who curated the past Next of Kin editions explained. “Next of Kin is focused on discovering, promoting, and supporting emerging talents who are capable of becoming the future masters”. Omatsola maintained that ‘Transcendence’ is a step further in sustaining and fulfilling the vision of ‘Next of Kin’ which is providing continuous promotion and support for discovered talents. He also predicted that “the exhibition will be a spectacle, presenting gripping artworks of two “highly-in-demand” and fast excelling artists who have grown bigger than what they were prior to winning the Thought Pyramid Next of Kin awards. Indeed, Ikechukwu Ezeigwe and Christian Allison have become two priceless Nigerian exports who continue to evolve in their particular art specializations.” This is not the first time the two artists would be exhibiting together. In 2018, the two artists exhibited in ‘Tales From Within’ at the National Museum Gallery, Onikan, Lagos.

T H I S D AY ˾ ͷ˜ 2021

Ito Ogbo Obosi: Celebrating the Aged Alive Ito Ogbo is a colourful festival of Obosi people of Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State, which particularly targets the celebration of octogenarians while they are still alive, David-Chyddy Eleke reports

n Saturday, March 6, the entire Obosi kingdom came alive, as the community celebrated its aged people in a colourful celebration, which has lasted over 600 years, known as Ito Ogbo. The festival is a triennial event, in which people in the community who turn 80 years are celebrated; first at the village square, then each retire to their individual compounds to make merry with friends and family. It is usually a great event for the people of the kingdom, and indigenes of the community from far and wide usually attend, to celebrate with the next set of octogenarians, and also to feel an air of conviviality which is usually very visible in the community. For the celebrants, their celebration of Ito Ogbo is no mean business, as even though they are old and retired, their children, grand children friends and well wishers spare nothing at all to ensure that the celebration is made a grand one for the celebrant. Participating in the Ito Ogbo festival as a celebrant is not an individual thing. Age groups, which are usually inaugurated by the monarch of the community during their youthful age, which is an age bracket of within three years all grow together, while some may die before the age of 80, those who are lucky to be alive to participate as celebrants of the festival are deemed to have fulfilled all their life’s goals and are thus celebrated by the entire community. As this reporter drove into Obosi Kingdom from Onitsha, it was very obvious that there was celebration in the air. First was that the roads were busy with vehicular traffic, while masquerades were seen on all sides of the roads, dancing either to Ogene music or other instruments, all being played by various age grades that were moving to the town square for the 2021 Ito Ogbo festival. Natives were also seen milling around, including youths and children, all gaily dressed, and radiating smiles and happiness. It is indeed very clear that the day was not the same as every other day in Obosi kingdom. From one point to another, one would notice canopies, public address systems blasting music, while chairs and tables were all empty. These places are compounds of people whose patriarchs and matriarchs newly attained the age of 80 and were participating in the Ito Ogbo festival. One may wonder why the seats are empty, but truth is that the celebrant, all his children, grandchildren, relatives, friends and well wishers have all moved to the town square where the monarch blesses them in the presence of everyone, before they retire to their individual compounds to cap the celebration. On the day before the Ito Ogbo festival, the monarch of the community, Igwe Chidubem Iweka had received theinister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed in his palace. Iweka while addressing the minister on the significance of the festival said, “Ito Ogbo is a unique celebration of longevity, which is original to Obosi people. It was instituted by our forbearers and has been here for over 600 years. “It marks the celebration of the respect that should be given to the elderly. Retirement age in the public service is 60, but most people feel that at that age, a man still has a lot to offer. Here, our Ito Ogbo is almost like retirement, and one must be up to 80 years to participate in it. In this festival, we get the opportunity to celebrate aged people. We do this because we know that they feel neglected at such age, and most times, at such age, people are already abandoned. But with this celebration, we are able to make them feel like part of us again, and we also get the opportunity to celebrate them while they are alive.

Ijele masquerade performing at the Ito Ogbo Festival

A sea of hers of fun seekers at the Ito Ogbo Obosi Festival

A masquerade performing at the square

Monarch of Obosi Kingdom, Igwe Chidubem Iweka and wife during the Ito Ogbo festival in Obosi

He decried the scenario where old people are abandoned, only to be celebrated upon their death. He said the culture gives the people to celebrate their parents while alive and give them the opportunity to be loved and seen as very important again. He said the essence of bringing federal presence to this year’s celebration was to ensure that the festival and its uniqueness

was brought to the consciousness of the federal government, with an appeal for them to make it a national festival He said, “Ito Ogbo is unique and it is a time honoured celebration. It shows the kind of wisdom our forbearers had. We have been trying get the federal government to come and see what we are doing here. This is the

first time we are having federal presence in the festival.” “ We are appealing to the federal government to make Ito Ogbo a national cultural festival, and to be emulated by others. It will go a long way to show respect for the aged and also celebrate them. Some go hungry, some don’t get their retirement benefits, others are thought to have been spent forces, so they are abandoned. It will go a long way to establish the importance of old age, especially among our youths,” Iweka appealed. Dr. Mrs Ifeoma Anyanwutaku, the permanent secretary, ministry of Information, culture and tourism who represented Alhaji Lai Mohammed said she was already thrilled with the colourful performances of the various cultural groups, in the reception put together to welcome her. She assured that she would be around the next day to witness the real event. True to her words, Anyanwutaku was at the village square on Saturday to watch colourful performances by various masquerade groups and also witness the admission of the Igwebuike age grade to the Ito Ogbo. In her remark, she said, “It’s a good celebration and we are here to witness it. We believe that our coming is a step towards making this festival not just a national event but an international one which even the whites will be happy to attend and watch. We will take the event, interviews and videos and package it to Abuja and we hope that it would yield positive result.” The traditional Ruler of the kingdom, Iweka in an interview with THISDAY expressed his happiness over the idea by the ancestors of Obosi for creating the Ito Ogbo Obosi festival. He said, “I thank our ancestors for urging us to remember and venerate our old people. Old age is sacred. So, we do not want this custom to go into extinction. I debunk the misconception that people’s enrollment into age grade is pagan practice. Ito Ogbo is based on the age grade system, and you grow with your peers to the age of Ito Ogbo. “There is nothing fetish or diabolical about Ito Ogbo Festival. If it is fetish, Anglican priests and other priests will not be here to felicitate with celebrators. Only those who belong to an age grade and participated in the Ito Ogbo are eligible to wear red caps and bear the title of Ogbueshi or Nwanyi Nokwudo eshi.” President-General of Obosi Development Union (ODU), Mr Ikechukwu Okolo, and the chairman of the planning committee of the Ito ogbo 2021, Mr Chinedu Nwogem described the event as epochal. Okolo said the festival was an ancient famous carnival that originated in Obosi. He said that it was a grand ancient festival that celebrated longevity and inspired the youths to live healthily so as to reach the age of 80 and qualify to be celebrated. Nwogem on his part said he was elated that this year’s festival was special because the visiting federal government delegation promised to make the festival a UNESCO recognised event. High point of the event was the celebration of different colourful masquerades on the square, with the Ijele and Izaga winning the attention of many. Madam Agnes Eze, a septuagenarian who spoke to THISDAY said, “I am looking forward to my own Ito Ogbo some years from now. This is a festival that I relished many decades ago, and from the time I was a child to this day, I always looked forward to it. “If it was when I was young, we already knew the homes of the people who celebrated Ito Ogbo today, and we would move from one persons home to the other eating, but now, we are old, so, I will manage to go to just one place today, before going back home. This is the day we used to say that food is wasting in every home in Obosi, but as age has set in, we may not be able to go everywhere that we wish to go.”

T H I S D AY ˾ ͷ˜ 2021

POLSCOPE Afaka Abductees, Gov El Rufai and Anxious Parents

áÓÞÒ ÎÎã ÎÓàáÜÓ ÏÎÎã˛ÙÎÓàáÜÓ̶ÞÒÓÝÎËãÖÓàÏ˛ÍÙ×˜ ͸΀͸ͽ ͻ͸; ΁ͻͽ;

Canticles…. Insecurity: Now that a Baba Has Come on Board

Usman Baba

think, for the ﬁrst time, Mr President has taken a critical decision to tackle a critical national challenge.

Did you not hear that he has appointed a Baba as the chief security ofﬁcer of the country?

Gov El Rufai

wenty nine days ago, some 39 students of the Federal College of Forestry and Mechanisation, Afaka, Kaduna were abducted. Last Monday, five of the abducted students were released by their abductors. It is not clear how and why just a few were released. The remaining 34 students are still being held captive. Before the abduction, the state governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai had been vocal on not having anything to do with bandits or terrorists which have severely harassed the people of the state. There is hardly a day past without an ugly news about how bandits have either killed dozens of persons, razed their homes or how persons have been kidnapped or subjected to other forms of dehumanization. Gov El-Rufai had vowed not to go along with the Northern Governors’ Forum which had tacitly approved the need to negotiate with bandits. An Islamic scholar, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, had gone ahead to canvass amnesty programme for the so-called repentant bandits. But Gov El-Rufai would have none of it. He had sworn that he would never be part of it and would not support it. He had argued, rather logically, that no amount of amnesty will wean the bandits of their evil ventures because they get lots of huge fund from the ransom they are paid, and that they will thus not agree to give up that mega income for the paltry allowance the amnesty programme will offer them. This is even as he was the first person to engage bandits and terrorists, in his first term in office, when he confessed that he was paying terrorists not to unleash havoc in the state. But I guess he stopped because the terrorists soon saw him as their faithful ATM, as they kept coming and coming demanding and blackmailing him. He drew a line, called their bluff and dared them. The abduction of the 39 students at the Federal College of Forestry, many people believe, is thus a way of the bandits testing the validity of El-Rufai’s resolve not to ever deal with them. Gov El-Rufai, has argued that the huge ransom the bandits collect from the families of their abductees are in turn used to support and finance the operations of the Boko Haram terrorists. That way, there is an endless circle of violence and unrest. So, for 39 days, the bandits have held on to their captives, expecting that the length of time plus the pressure from parents and other stakeholders would bend Gov El-Rufai and compel him to negotiate with them. But 39 days after, the governor has neither blinked nor budged. But not the same with the parents of the abductees. Understandably. They have been anxious, they have organized mass protests, they have held meetings with the governor, they have organized prayers and vigils, they have addressed press conferences…. But their children and wards are yet held. In fact, one of the parents of the abducted children has died out of sheer anxiety . Expectedly, many of the parents are willing to open negotiation with the bandits if that would

Really? What exactly did he do?

cause their children to be released. Many of them have even offered to go look for whatever money the bandits are demanding so they can have their children back and alive. They do not want a repeat of the Chibok Girls scenario nor a repeat of the Dapchi case. They want their children released collectively and without any condition. But again, Gov El-Rufai would not hear any of that. The governor has gone ahead to threaten to arrest and prosecute anyone who goes into any negotiation with the bandits towards the release of the students. So, is Gov El-Rufai being callous and insensitive to the anxiety and plight of the parents on one hand and the state of health and well being of the abducted students on the other hand? Or is it a case of being rigid in adopted principles? Some have asked, if Gov El Rufai’s son was among the 34 students still held, would he stick to his guns? Pro- El-Rufai commentators have argued that if the governor could send his six year old son to a public school, he can do anything to make his point in governance. But the two scenarios (sending your son to public school and being violently abducted by bandits from a school) are not the same thing. The variables are markedly different. It is bad enough that he has ruled out negotiation with the bandits with the aim of releasing the students, but it is yet worse to threaten to arrest and prosecute anyone who does. Would that not amount to double jeopardy? So should the abducted students be traded in in exchange for a government’s position? God forbid, what if the abducted students get killed or given the treatment of the Chibok Girls’ remnants? Would it be a tribute to principle or unwise obduracy? Is it not rather better and wiser to secure the release of the abducted students while government fine tunes its strategies to forestall re-occurrence? Surely, banditry, kidnapping, terrorism and other forms of violence are not going to vanish from our nation overnight. A deliberate recovery plan must be instituted by government to rescue society from wild brigands harassing the daylight out of innocent citizens. El Rufai must Ronu! Many of the parents explained that they are resorting to self help as they cannot see or hear what the government is doing to secure the release of their children. Days go into weeks and weeks almost going into a month now, yet there is dark silence from government. “We don’t get any feedback, nor any positive response from government and security agents”, a distressed parent said. The radar is rather blank, even though the government claims moves are being made and that because it is an issue of safety and security, noise should not be made. To avoid a repeat of the Chibok girls’ scenario where, till today, some abducted students remain unseen and unheard, seven full years after, the government and the parents cannot afford not to be on the same page on this matter. The strategy that was deployed to secure the release of the five students last Monday should be explored and deepened to effect the release of the other 34.

What do you mean by a Baba? Are you implying that the former IGP was a Mama? And that is why he could not tame the monster called insecurity? You said so. That is very uncharitable. Do you know the challenge the police as an institution faces? You think it is easy to police over 200 million people with less than 40,000 policemen across the country? Look, it just happened to be that the new man’s name is Usman Baba, and that does not confer any superior capacity on him. After all, the days and weeks ahead shall tell, bet me (stretching out his fore finger). Are you saying that this new IGP will also not be able to perform be he a Baba or not? I have not said so. I wish him well. But remember that people always see the grass on the other side as being greener. I don’t care what your proverb is suggesting. But what I know is that Mr Mohammed Adamu, the immediate past Inspector General of Police, was practically sleeping on duty. Under his watch, situations were going from bad to worse. With him, nothing was sure in terms of security. People were being kidnapped and killed at will with no indication or capacity of the Police Force to contain the menace of criminals. And I think the last straw that broke the camel’s back was the attack on the Police Headquarters in Imo State capital, Owerri, plus the burning down of the Owerri Prison. It was an audacity taken too far. No C-in-C would sit down and watch the nation drop so helplessly. And did you also not hear that even after the former IGP gave an order of tighter policing in the state, 24 hours after, another set of gunmen attacked another Police station and burnt it down after setting all the detained persons free? This is not to talk of the daily harvest of violence and blood shedding in Kaduna State. I think you are not seeing the whole and bigger picture. Don’t forget that this same Mohammed Adamu had his tenure extended for three months last February when he ought to have retired. So if he was that dismal, he wouldn’t have been rewarded with extra three months of service and privileges. Did you say reward? He was not rewarded for anything. Why should ineptitude be rewarded? Ok, point at one significant achievement of Mohammed Adamu as an IGP. Tell me… don’t mope at me. Look, it was the clear case of ineptitude and negligence on the part of Mr President that Mohammed Adamu had his tenure extended. It came as if his time of retirement suddenly hit the President who had not thought of who to appoint

as a successor at the time. So, the so-called three months period was to enable Mr President find a replacement, and thankfully, he found one before the three months window shut. So that was what happened and by no means a reward. Do you realise that under the former IGP several cases of attempted kidnap were foiled? Do you realise how many kidnapped victims were rescued by the Police? You think it is watching Ben Ten? Do you realise how many policemen paid the supreme prize trying to rescue others? Do you realise that even the police became so vulnerable that many policemen were themselves kidnapped and their families had to pay ransom before they were released? What kind of humiliation of a nation’s Police Force can be worse? It is not peculiar to the Police. Even Army Generals were kidnapped, some were even killed, others had to pay ransom to get released. So, don’t make it look like it is peculiar to the Police Force. Everybody is a victim, so to say. Let me tell you, if it is on account of kidnapping and killings, then Mr President should be ready to appoint six or more IGPs before he leaves ofﬁce in 2023, because the battle to secure and redeem Nigeria is not, and will not be magical. What Nigerians want is performance. Not excuses! Usman Baba has been appointed now. He has been in the police force for over 33 years. He had risen through the ranks and understands how the system runs. He should come with his own ideas of how to better secure Nigeria and Nigerians. The glory and glamour of office will make more sense to him, if he performs. We have had more than enough excuses over the years. Whether he is Baba or Mama, let him go after the criminals: smoke them out and work towards making Nigerians sleep with their two eyes closed. Anything short of that would be unacceptable. Let us wish him well. But if fire could consume the tortoise with the iron coat, you can imagine what it will do to a hen with a feathery gown. Usman Alkali Baba is not quite an operations man. He’s been more of an Admin personnel. He was promoted DIG six months ago. And today, he is the Acting Inspector General of Police. May his bright luck cause him to excel where others had stumbled. But if the truth be told, succeeding as an effective IGP would require more than luck. There is work to be done and for Heaven’s sake, let it get done! If Usman Baba must succeed, let him show activism and determination to rein in all the killer herdsmen ravaging the country without deferring to ethno-religious considerations. He is from Yobe State. Nigerians would watch out to see how he handles matters that concern other parts of the country. He should not be agile and cock-ready only when he hears of IPOB or Oduduwa Nation or Egbesu Boys. The killer herdsmen are a greater danger than self-determination groups. Somebody must tell Usman Baba that he has just two years to leave the force. Let him make meaningful and significant impact. It is more crucial to be credited with great good than just being listed in the row of former IGPs. He must hit the ground running. His time starts now!

FRIDAY APRIL 9, 2021 • T H I S D AY

FRIDAY APRIL 9, 2021 •T H I S D AY

FRIDAY APRIL 9, 2021 • T H I S D AY

T H I S D AY ˾ ˜ APRIL 9, 2021

BUSINESS/MONEYGUIDE

AGF Commits to Prompt Production of Govt Financial Reports James Emejo ÓØ ÌßÔË The Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Ahmed Idris, has reiterated his resolve to continue to ensure timely production of the federal government’s general purpose financial statements. He, however, stressed that the treasury had bridged the hitherto deficit in the production of the government’s financial statements, in compliance with the extant rules and regulations guiding its operations. Speaking while receiving the leadership of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria

(FRCN), led by the acting Executive Secretary, Iheanyi Anyahara, which paid him a courtesy visit, Idris, maintained that the treasury will continue to implement strategies that will guarantee timely production of general purpose financial statements. The AGF, also commended the courage of the council, in its determination to ensure compliance with internationally acceptable financial management and reporting standards, and advised that enforcement of the policy should be holistic to ensure optimal compliance by public and private entities. On the request by the council

for partnership and synergy with the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Idris, noted that the initiative was apt and will, among other things, promote healthy, mutually beneficial working relationship between both agencies. In a statement issued by Director, Information, Press and Public Relations, OAGF, Mr. Henshaw Ogubike, the AGF, also, approved the constitution of a joint committee comprising officials of the FRCN and his office, to work out modalities for the proposed partnership between the two agencies.

DLM Capital Acquires Links MFB Goddy Egene The DLM Capital Group has acquired Links Microfinance Bank as part of plans to expand into Nigeria’s million-dollar fintech sector. The Corporate Communications Manager at DLM Capital Group, Chinwendu Ohakpougwu, who disclosed this in a statement, explained that the acquisition would give the group the mandate to operate small scale banking services in Nigeria. According to Ohakpougwu, this will also allow the successive launch of its star digital lending brand, Sofri, in the second quarter of this year. “The acquisition, combined

with the bank’s many fintech efforts already underway, will position them to deliver even more value for corporates and consumers. “DLM Capital Group’s acquisition of Links MFB represents both an entry into new businesses and complementary enhancements to the institution’s existing subsidiaries. “First, this prospect opens new market opportunities for the bank on the African continent. Second, the acquisition will enable the institution to exit its ‘legacy bank’ visibility and work more closely with the fintech community to build a ‘challenger bank’ brand that proffers innovative technological solutions for the Nigerian market,” the statement

said. Ohakpougwu added: “We are particularly excited about our acquisition of Links MFB and how it enhances the growth trajectory of our business. “This highly strategic acquisition represents another significant milestone for us on our journey as a resilient and well-capitalised financial institution with advanced scale and capacity to deliver sustainable and best-in-class financial services within the Nigerian market. “We are confident that this decade will be bullish for Nigeria’s tech space and are ready to work with the fintech community in strengthening the solutions necessary to meet consumer needs.”

How RMB Assisted Ghana in $3bn Eurobond Issue Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) has disclosed that it acted as Joint Lead Manager and Joint Bookrunner (JLM), alongside other transaction parties, in Ghana’s four-tranche Eurobond. According to a statement, RMB also acted as Dealer Manager on Ghana’s Tender Offer on its 2023 maturity Eurobonds. “RMB is proud to have assisted Ghana to issue a new money Zero Coupon Senior Unsecured Eurobond, the first of its kind by an Emerging Market (EM) sovereign,” it added. Ghana’s Minister for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, who was sworn in on March, 30, 2021, had in the

past made a case for the creation of an, “inclusive global forum to rebuild the international financial and economic architecture and a new ability to respond equitably and rapidly to such a catastrophe.” The effective execution of the zero-coupon Eurobond tranche was another step towards achieving the vision and helps to create additional fiscal space to assist Ghana Build Back Better post the Covid-19 impact on the economy. “RMB is pleased to have been able to assist the government to achieve its goal on this transaction. The issuance further demonstrates the RMB Debt Capital Markets

Team’s expertise, innovation and ability to execute amidst a volatile market backdrop. “This issuance enables the Ministry of Finance to raise funds to refinance more expensive shorter-dated debt with affordable term debt,” the statement added. This transaction was preceded by a 3-day virtual deal roadshow, where Ghana presented its impressive credit story to global fixed income investor base, whilst emphasising the government’s focus on fiscal consolidation, completion and continuity as the economy recovers from the impact of the pandemic.

AirSmat to Participate in Global AI Conference AirSmat, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) startup has announced its participation at NVIDIA GTC 2021—a conference for AI innovators, technologists and creative holding on a virtual platform from April 12 to 16th, 2021. A statement described the NVIDIA’s GTC as a transformative global event that brings together brilliant, creative minds looking to ignite ideas, build new skills, and forge new connections to take on biggest challenges.

The five days virtual conference will kick off with a keynote address by the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of NVIDIA, Jensen Huang. AirSmat’s Vice President, Business Development and Operations, Uche Olukoju, will be joining other speakers and facilitators to present the business offerings of AirSmat. The presentation will be centered on how AirSmat is ‘Helping African Farmers Increase Crop Yield Guaranteeing Food

Security’ to the over 1.2 billion population in the continent. “The GTC conference will enable participants to discover new insights in AI and opportunity to network with a global community of developers, researchers, engineers, and innovators. “The conference will feature inspiring presentations from industry pioneers, connect with experts session, startup insight, DLI Training and Demos,” the statement added.

AccessBankLagosMarathontoFeatureVirtualParticipation In a bid to ensure the health and safety of all runners and essential service workers amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, the title sponsors of the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon, Access Bank Plc has announced that the competition will be held virtually for interested 10km runners this year.

The marathon, scheduled for April 10, 2021, can only accommodate 300 runners in line with the guidelines provided by the World Health Organisation (WHO), World Athletics and the Lagos State Ministry of Health. Speaking on the development, Access Bank’s Executive Director of Retail Banking, Victor

Etuokwu said, “Our primary consideration is the health and safety of participants, attendees and staff that will be a part of the Lagos City Marathon. “This is why we decided to have an exclusive virtual event - that allows participants from all over the world to run the race wherever they are.

MARKET INDICATORS MONEY AND CREDIT STATISTICS

(MILLION NAIRA)

JANUARY 2021 Money Supply (M3)

38,779,455.43

-- CBN Bills Held by Money Holding Sectors

1,039,129.55

Money Supply (M2)

37,740,325.88

-- Quasi Money

21,779,302.69

-- Narrow Money (M1)

15,961,023.19

---- Currency Outside Banks

2,364,871.13

---- Demand Deposits

13,596,152.06

Net Foreign Assets (NFA)

7,414,275.50

Net Domestic Assets(NDA)

31,365,179.93

-- Net Domestic Credit (NDC)

42,916,586.63

---- Credit to Government (Net)

12,304,773.44

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

0.00

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

0.00

---- Credit to Private Sector (CPS)

30,611,813.19

--Other Assets Net

3,892,112.74

Reserve Money (Base Money

13,264,585.14

--Currency in Circulation

2,831,167.19

--Banks Reserves --Special Intervention Reserves

10,433,417.96 317,234.17

˾ ÙßÜÍÏ ̋

Money Market Indicators (in Percentage) Month

March 2018

Inter-Bank Call Rate

15.16

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

14.00

Treasury Bill Rate

11.84

Savings Deposit Rate

4.07

1 Month Deposit Rate

8.82

3 Months Deposit Rate

9.72

6 Months Deposit Rate

10.93

12 Months Deposit Rate

10.21

Prime Lending rate

17.35

Maximum Lending Rate

31.55

˾ ÙØÏÞËÜã ÙÖÓÍã ËÞÏ ̋ ͯͱϱ

OPEC DAILY BASKET PRICE AS AT WEDNESDAY, 7 APRIL 2021

The price of OPEC basket of thirteen crudes stood at $60.68 a barrel on Wednesday, compared with $61.33 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations. The OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Djeno (Congo), Zaﬁro (Equatorial Guinea), Rabi Light (Gabon), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela). SOURCE: OPEC headquarters, Vienna

“A found ligenc startin precis Artifi “A Intellig gathe and s soil d “Th platfo rich our c farme and m

T H I S D AY ˾ ˜ ͷ˜ ͰͮͰͯ

Securities Dealers Call for Integrated Market to Harness Opportunities Goddy Egene The Chairman, Association of Securities Dealing Houses of Nigeria (ASHON), Chief Onyenwechukwu Ezeagu, has called for a more integrated capital market in the West African region to take advantage of emerging trading opportunities such as the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCTFA).

Appraising the current state of the Nigerian capital market, Ezeagu noted that all efforts must be geared towards enhancing global competitiveness and the government must also play pivotal role in this regard. “ Africa needs a connected capital market that can compete globally with the dispensation of AfCTFA. At the core of AfCTFA) is the need to lift

P R I C E S MAIN BOARD

F O R DEALS

Africans out of poverty. It should be pointed out that there has been an existing model of the West African Market Integration (WAMI) which has a great potential for expansion. There is a compelling need to exploit this opportunity for global competitiveness,” he said. Ezeagu explained that the demutualisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) would

S E C U R I T I E S MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N )

accelerate the transformation of the market as the investment destination of Nigeria. “ The exchange can achieve a market capitalisation of about $200 billion in 2022 with its approved demutualisation. For the umpteenth time, we are calling on the federal government to deepen the capital market through liberalisation of moribund state assets and corporations to become

T R A D E D MAIN BOARD

A S

profitable ventures. With its demutualisation, The NSE has joined the ranks of all demutualised markets globally. The process has taken our market several years to actualize and I commend all the stakeholders in the capital market ecosystem. Opportunities are there for demutualised exchanges in Africa to collaborate and operate as a single hub to attract capital and investment,” he said.

O F

Meanwhile, trading at the stock market closed on positive note as the NSE All-Share Index appreciated by 0.07 per cent to close at 38,799.83, while market capitlisation added N3.9 billion to be at N20.3 trillion. As a result, the year-to-date decline has stood at 3.7 per cent. The growth recorded yesterday was spurred by gains in Zenith Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and Access Bank Plc.

0 8 / 0 4 / 2 0 2 1 DEALS

MARKET PRICE

QUANTITY TRADED

VALUE TRADED ( N)

˾ FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2021

Friday, April 9, 2021 Thisday Afrinvest 40 Index Rose 0.3% dŚĞ dŚŝƐĚĂǇ ĨƌŝŶǀĞƐƚ ϰϬ /ŶĚĞǆ ƌŽƐĞ ϯϰďƉƐ ƚŽ ƐĞƩůĞ Ăƚ

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 INDEX

ϭ͕ϳϰϬ͘ϴϴ ƉŽŝŶƚƐ͘ dŚŝƐ ǁĂƐ ĂƐ Ă ƌĞƐƵůƚ ŽĨ ŐĂŝŶƐ ŝŶ GUARANTY (+2.7%), ZENITH (+3.8%) and ACCESS (+1.9%). These

Fundamental Performance Metrics for THISDAY AFRINVEST 40 Index

ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ĐƵŵƵůĂƟǀĞůǇ ĂĐĐŽƵŶƚ ĨŽƌ ϭϳ͘ϭй ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ŝŶĚĞǆ͘

Local Bourse Extends Gain... ASI up 0.1%

Ticker

THISDAY AFRINVEST 40

1,740.88

0.34%

930.00

0.0%

34.7%

72.70

0.0%

10.7%

28.75

2.7%

8.4%

dŚĞ ĚŽŵĞƐƟĐ ƐƚŽĐŬ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ĞǆƚĞŶĚĞĚ ƚŚĞ ďƵůůŝƐŚ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ

1 Airtel Africa PLC 2 BUA Cement Plc

3 Guaranty Trust Bank PLC 4 Zenith Bank PLC

ƚŚĞ ůů-^ŚĂƌĞ /ŶĚĞǆ ƌŽƐĞ ϳďƉƐ ƚŽ ƐĞƩůĞ Ăƚ

38,799.83 ƉŽŝŶƚƐ ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ďƵǇŝŶŐ ŝŶƚĞƌĞƐƚ in ZENITH (+3.8%), GUARANTY (+2.7%) and ACCESS (+1.9%). ŽŶƐĞƋƵĞŶƚůǇ͕ zd ůŽƐƐ at -ϯ͘ϳй ǁĂƐ ƐƵƐƚĂŝŶĞĚ ĂŶĚ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ĐĂƉŝƚĂůŝƐĂƟŽŶ appreciated by ʬϯ͘ϵďŶ ƚŽ ƐĞƩůĞ Ăƚ ʬ20.3tn. dƌĂĚŝŶŐ ĂĐƟǀŝͲ ty worsened as ǀŽůƵŵĞ ĂŶĚ ǀĂůƵĞ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ ϱϵ͘Ϯй ĂŶĚ ϲϮ͘ϰй ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůǇ ƚŽ ϭϰϱ͘ϯŵ ƵŶŝƚƐ and ʬ1.6bn. The ŵŽƐƚ ƚƌĂĚĞĚ ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ďǇ ǀŽůƵŵĞ ǁĞƌĞ FBNH (21.9m units), GUARANTY ;ϮϬ͘ϱŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ͕ ĂŶĚ ZENITH ;ϭϳ͘ϲŵ ƵŶŝƚƐͿ ǁŚŝůĞ GUARANTY

(ʬϱϴϵ͘ϮŵͿ͕

ZENITH

(ʬ379.9m),and

FBNH (ʬϭϱϳ͘ϮͿ ůĞĚ ďǇ ǀĂůƵĞ͘

ĂŶŬŝŶŐ ŝŶĚĞǆ ůĞĚ ƚŚĞ ŐĂŝŶĞƌƐ͕ ƵƉ Ϯ͘Ϯй ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ƉƌŝĐĞ ĂƉƉƌĞͲ ĐŝĂƟŽŶ in ZENITH (+3.8%), GUARANTY (+2.7%) and ACCESS ;нϭ͘ϵйͿ͘ ^ŝŵŝůĂƌůǇ͕ ƚŚĞ /ŶƐƵƌĂŶĐĞ ĂŶĚ Kŝů Θ 'ĂƐ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ĂĚͲ ǀĂŶĐĞĚ ďǇ Ϭ͘ϲй ĂŶĚ Ϭ͘ϰй ƌĞƐƉĞĐƟǀĞůǇ as we saw ďƵǇŝŶŐ interest

AIICO

;нϱ͘ϬйͿ

and

OAN-

DO ;нϱ͘ϮйͿ͘ ŽŶǀĞƌƐĞůǇ͕ ƚŚĞ ŽŶƐƵŵĞƌ 'ŽŽĚƐ ŝŶͲ dex ĚĞĐůŝŶĞĚ ďǇ Ϭ͘Ϯй ĚƵĞ ƚŽ ƉƌŽĮƚ ƚĂŬŝŶŐ ŝŶ INTBREW (2.6%) and HONYFLOUR (-ϱ͘ϬйͿ͘ &Z-ICT and /ŶĚƵƐƚƌŝĂů

ROE

ROA

P/E

5.1x

P/BV

Divindend Earnings Yield Yield

18.6%

74.1%

14.1%

3.7%

9.2%

7.9%

2.8%

0.5x

5.6%

13.1%

-6.0%

19.1%

11.2%

34.9x

6.6x

2.5%

2.9%

-11.1%

27.1%

4.6%

4.0x

1.1x

10.4%

24.7%

1.4%

21.80

3.8%

6.0%

-12.1%

22.4%

3.1%

3.0x

0.6x

14.0%

33.7%

0.0%

5.4%

-12.2%

31.2%

14.6%

13.3x

4.2x

7.4%

7.5%

162.00

0.0%

4.7%

-4.6%

16.1x

18.5x

5.8%

6.2%

1,420.00

0.0%

3.8%

-5.6%

38.4x

4.9%

3.5%

21.00

0.0%

3.4%

-0.2%

8.05

1.9%

2.7%

-4.7%

10 United Bank for Africa PLC 11 FBN Holdings Plc

7.00

0.7%

2.2%

-19.1%

7.25

0.0%

2.5%

1.4%

12 Nigerian Brew eries PLC 13 Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC

51.00

0.0%

1.9%

48.95

0.0%

2.2%

5.55

-2.6%

1.5%

31.00

0.0%

1.3%

8 Lafarge Africa PLC 9 Access Bank PLC

14 International Brew eries PLC 15 Flour Mills of Nigeria PLC 16 SEPLAT Petroleum Development C 17 11 PLC 18 Okomu Oil Palm PLC 19 Fidelity Bank PLC 20 Ecobank Transnational Inc

23 Sterling Bank PLC 24 NASCON Allied Industries PLC 25 Transnational Corp of Nigeria

Across sectors that we cover, performance was mixed. The

Price Change Index to Date

215.00

5 Dangote Cement PLC 6 MTN Nigeria Communications PLC 7 Nestle Nigeria PLC

21 Dangote Sugar Refinery PLC 22 FCMB Group Plc

Mixed Sector Performance

Price Previous Current Change Price YTD Weighting Change

Current Price

26 Presco PLC 27 Unilever Nigeria PLC 28 PZ Cussons Nigeria PLC 29 United Capital PLC 30 Guinness Nigeria PLC 31 Custodian and Allied Insurance 32 AIICO Insurance PLC 33 Total Nigeria PLC 34 Julius Berger Nigeria PLC 35 Wema Bank PLC

28.7x

-0.2%

8.8%

6.1%

11.0x

0.9x

4.8%

9.1%

-4.7%

15.6%

1.3%

2.7x

0.4x

9.9%

37.4%

1.4%

12.6%

1.3%

3.5x

0.3x

6.3%

-8.9%

4.5%

1.8%

55.3x

2.5x

1.8%

11.1%

24.3%

3.7%

6.5x

1.5x

8.2%

15.3%

-6.7%

-15.5%

-3.4%

19.2%

7.4%

1.0x

28.4%

-8.5%

0.8x

4.6% 7.2%

-15.5%

4.0%

3.6%

8.1%

37.3%

8.8%

14.3%

550.00

0.0%

1.4%

36.7%

0.0%

0.8%

0.0%

7.4%

3.2%

27.9x

2.1x

93.00

3.3%

0.8%

2.2%

24.6%

16.0%

11.3x

2.6x

2.46

-1.6%

0.7%

-2.4%

10.5%

1.1%

2.7x

0.3x

8.9%

4.90

0.0%

0.6%

-18.3%

0.3%

0.0%

129.2x

0.2x

17.00

0.0%

0.6%

-3.4%

25.5%

12.6%

7.0x

1.7x

2.89

0.0%

0.5%

-13.2%

10.3%

1.2%

2.9x

0.1x

5.2%

33.9%

1.55

1.3%

0.3%

-24.0%

9.2%

0.9%

3.8x

0.3x

1.9%

26.1%

15.20

0.0%

0.4%

4.8%

18.4%

5.8%

8.8x

3.3x

2.7%

11.4%

0.80

1.3%

0.3%

-11.1%

-1.3%

-0.3%

0.5x

1.2%

-2.7%

72.00

0.0%

0.3%

1.5%

17.9%

7.3%

2.3x

2.9%

13.30

0.0%

0.2%

-4.3%

-2.4%

-1.6%

13.7x

0.8%

1.2x

4.85

0.0%

0.2%

-8.5%

5.40

-1.8%

0.2%

14.6%

35.5%

4.2%

33.00

0.0%

0.4%

73.7%

-17.8%

-9.0%

7.00

0.0%

0.2%

19.7%

25.0%

7.8%

3.6x

0.9x

1.26

5.0%

0.2%

11.5%

21.4%

3.3%

2.8x

0.6x

7.3% -2.1%

2.1% 4.1x

1.3x

13.0%

1.0x

24.2% -19.6%

7.9%

28.0% 35.3%

142.00

0.0%

0.2%

9.2%

4.3%

4.7%

20.00

0.0%

0.2%

12.4%

3.2%

0.4%

23.3x

0.7x

2.1%

4.3%

-15.9%

6.8%

0.5%

2.8x

0.4x

6.9%

35.5%

3.26

38 Notore Chemical Industries Ltd 39 Beta Glass PLC 40 Transcorp Hotels Plc

17.8%

228.00

0.58

36 Union Bank of Nigeria PLC 37 Oando PLC

104.8%

0.0%

0.1%

0.0%

5.2%

0.1%

21.5x

-100.0% -11.9%

2.9x

-11.9%

14.5%

2.6%

62.50

0.0%

0.1%

0.0%

-29.7%

-8.5%

54.00

0.0%

0.1%

-2.5%

9.4%

6.4%

3.25

0.0%

-9.7%

1.4x

5.1% 0.2x 1.8x

8.0x

34.4% 71.2% -18.4%

0.7x

2.0%

12.5% -24.7%

'ŽŽĚƐ ŝŶĚŝĐĞƐ ĐůŽƐĞĚ ŇĂƚ͘ T o p 10 T r a d e s b y V o l u m e

T o p 10 G a i n e r s P ric e

P ric e C hg %

T ic k er

Vo lum e

C H IP LC

0.34

9.7%

FB NH

21.9

0.0%

J A P A ULGOLD

0.58

9.4%

GUA R A N T Y

20.5

2.7%

OA N D O

3.26

5.2%

Z EN IT H B A N K

17.6

3.8%

A IIC O

1.26

5.0%

A C C ESS

8.6

1.9%

Z EN IT H B A N K

21.80

3.8%

J A P A ULGOLD

7.6

9.4%

OKOM UOIL

93.00

3.3%

T R A N SC OR P

7.1

1.3%

6.9

-1.6% 0.7%

T ic k er

/ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ^ĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ ^ƚƌĞŶŐƚŚĞŶƐ /ŶǀĞƐƚŽƌ ƐĞŶƟŵĞŶƚ͕ ĂƐ ŵĞĂƐƵƌĞĚ ďǇ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ďƌĞĂĚƚŚ ;ĂĚǀĂŶĐĞͬĚĞĐůŝŶĞ ƌĂƟŽͿ͕ ƐƚƌĞŶŐƚŚĞŶĞĚ ƚŽ ϭ͘ϭǆ ĨƌŽŵ Ϭ͘ϰǆ recorded in the previous session as 13 ƐƚŽĐŬƐ ĂĚͲ vanced ĂŐĂŝŶƐƚ ϭϮ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞƌƐ͘ CHIPLC

(+9.7%), JA-

PAULGO (+9.4%) and OANDO ;нϱ͘ϮйͿ ǁĞƌĞ ƚŚĞ ƚŽƉ ŐĂŝŶͲ ĞƌƐ ǁŚŝůĞ ROYALEX (-7.7%), STANBIC (-6.9%), and JAIZ-

28.75

2.7%

F ID ELIT YB K

C UT IX

2.25

2.3%

UB A

6.1

LIVEST OC K

1.80

2.3%

WEM A B A N K

3.7

0.0%

A C C ESS

8.05

1.9%

C OUR T VILLE

3.1

-4.3%

GUA R A N T Y

BANK (-ϲ͘ϭйͿ ǁĞƌĞ ƚŚĞ ƚŽƉ ĚĞĐůŝŶĞƌƐ͘ /Ŷ ƚŚĞ ůĂƐƚ ƚƌĂĚŝŶŐ ƐĞƐƐŝŽŶ ŽĨ ǁĞĞŬ͕ ǁĞ ĞǆƉĞĐƚ ƚŽ ƐĞĞ Ă ŵŝůĚ ƌĞĚƵĐƟŽŶ ŝŶ ƚŚĞ ŵĂƌŬĞƚ ŐĂŝŶƐ ĂƐ ŝŶǀĞƐƚŽƌƐ Ɵůƚ Ă ůŝƩůĞ ƚŽǁĂƌĚƐ ƚŚĞ ĮǆĞĚ ŝŶͲ

T ic k er R OYA LEX

P ric e 0.36

T ic k er

Value

-7.7%

GUA R A N T Y

589.2

2.7%

379.9

3.8%

P ric e C hg %

0.62

-6.1%

Z EN IT H B A N K

H ON YF LOUR

1.13

-5.0%

FB NH

157.2

0.0%

LIN KA SSUR E

0.80

-4.8%

OKOM UOIL

69.9

3.3%

D A A R C OM M

0.20

-4.8%

A C C ESS

68.9

1.9%

C OUR T VILLE

0.22

-4.3%

UB A

42.6

0.7%

IN T B R EW

5.55

-2.6%

D A N GC EM

35.4

0.0%

N EST LE

22.5

0.0%

UC A P

5.40

-1.8%

F ID ELIT YB K

2.46

-1.6%

F LOUR M ILL

20.4

0.0%

-1.5%

F ID ELIT YB K

17.3

-1.6%

NP FM CRFB K

Afrinvest West Africa Limited

T o p 10 T r a d e s b y V a l u e

T o p 10 L o s e r s

J A IZ B A N K

come market.

P ric e C hg %

1.92

Brokerage

Asset Management

Investment Research

Adedoyin Allen | aallen@afrinvest.com

Robert Omotunde | romotunde@afrinvest.com

Abiodun Keripe | AKeripe@afrinvest.com

Taiwo Ogundipe | togundipe@afrinvest.com Christopher Omoh | comoh@afrinvest.com

FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

MARKET NEWS

ETI Appoints Fashina as Group Executive, Operations & Technology Goddy Egene

(ETI), parent company of the Ecobank Group, has appointed Tomisin Fashina as Group

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated 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

Executive for Operations & Technology, a position he will now hold in addition to his existing role

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 07Apr-2021, unless otherwise stated.

of Managing Director of eProcess International. Fashina has over 30 years of

experience, predominantly in technology management and financial services. Before joining

the Ecobank Group, he was the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Steward Bank Harare Zimbabwe.

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: +234 818 885 6757 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Afrinvest Equity Fund 150.28 151.75 -7.11% Afrinvest Plutus Fund 100.00 100.00 3.66% Nigeria International Debt Fund 323.33 323.33 -16.62% Afrinvest Dollar Fund 108.87 108.87 -2.84% 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 N/A N/A N/A ACAP Income Funds N/A N/A N/A 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 3.91% AIICO Balanced Fund 3.35 3.52 -5.46% ANCHORIA ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED info@anchoriaam.com Web:www.anchoriaam.com, Tel: 08166830267; 08036814510; 08028419180 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Anchoria Money Market N/A N/A N/A Anchoria Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Anchoria Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A 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 18.35 18.90 1.18% ARM Discovery Balanced Fund 404.02 416.20 0.91% ARM Ethical Fund 35.72 36.80 5.96% ARM Eurobond Fund ($) 1.19 1.20 -2.43% ARM Fixed Income Fund 1.04 1.05 -6.86% ARM Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 3.21% AVA GLOBAL ASSET MANAGERS LIMITED info@avacapitalgroup.com Web: www.avacapitalgroup.com Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AVA GAM Fixed Income Dollar Fund 103.47 103.47 1.73% AXA MANSARD INVESTMENTS LIMITED investmentcare@axamansard.com Web: www.axamansard.com; Tel: +2341-4488482 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn AXA Mansard Equity Income Fund 124.08 124.95 -1.66% AXA Mansard Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 3.36% CAPITAL EXPRESS ASSET AND TRUST LIMITED info@capitalexpressassetandtrust.com Web: www.capitalexpressassetandtrust.com ; Tel: +234 803 307 5048 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn CEAT Fixed Income Fund N/A N/A N/A Capital Express Balanced Fund(Formerly: Union Trustees Mixed Fund) N/A N/A N/A CHAPELHILL DENHAM MANAGEMENT LTD investmentmanagement@chapelhilldenham.com Web: www.chapelhilldenham.com, Tel: +234 461 0691 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Chapelhill Denham Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 3.28% Paramount Equity Fund 15.26 15.55 -4.55% Women's Investment Fund 128.86 130.22 -3.22% CORDROS ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmgtteam@cordros.com Web: www.cordros.com, Tel: 019036947 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Cordros Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 2.98% Cordros Milestone Fund 2023 126.10 126.97 Cordros Milestone Fund 2028 N/A N/A Cordros Dollar Fund ($) 110.69 110.69 CORONATION ASSEST MANAGEMENT investment@coronationam.com Web:www.coronationam.com , Tel: 012366215 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Coronation Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 1.02% Coronation Balanced Fund 1.13 1.15 -5.67% Coronation Fixed Income Fund 1.40 1.40 -11.88% EDC FUNDS MANAGEMENT LIMITED mutualfundng@ecobank.com Web: www.ecobank.com Tel: 012265281 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class A 100.00 100.00 2.39% EDC Nigeria Money Market Fund Class B 1,000,000.00 1,000,000.00 2.32% EDC Nigeria Fixed Income Fund 1,154.18 1,158.92 -3.74% FBNQUEST ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD invest@fbnquest.com Web: www.fbnquest.com/asset-management; Tel: +234-81 0082 0082 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn FBN Fixed Income Fund 1,354.49 1,354.49 5.91% FBN Balanced Fund 183.81 185.06 -2.06% FBN Halal Fund 110.54 110.54 5.00% FBN Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 3.43% FBN Nigeria Eurobond (USD) Fund - Retail 124.03 124.03 3.01% FBN Smart Beta Equity Fund 147.58 149.54 -2.38% FCMB ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED fcmbamhelpdesk@fcmb.com Web: www.fcmbassetmanagement.com; Tel: +234 1 462 2596 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Legacy Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A Legacy Debt Fund N/A N/A N/A Legacy Equity Fund N/A N/A N/A Legacy USD Bond Fund N/A N/A N/A 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 N/A N/A N/A Coral Income Fund N/A N/A N/A FSDH Treasury Bills Fund N/A N/A N/A

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 1.45% Nigeria Entertainment Fund 127.45 127.98 18.08% GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED assetmanagement@gdl.com.ng Web: www.gdl.com.ng ; Tel: +234 9055691122 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn GDL Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A 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 100.00 100.00 2.48% Vantage Balanced Fund 2.67 2.73 16.43% Vantage Guaranteed Income Fund 1.00 1.00 4.50% Kedari Investment Fund (KIF) 146.01 146.39 -6.07% Vantage Dollar Fund (VDF) - June Year End 1.07 1.07 4.94% 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 1.36 1.38 -0.69% Lotus Halal Fixed Income Fund 1,146.26 1,146.26 2.02% 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 N/A N/A N/A Meristem Money Market Fund N/A N/A N/A 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 1.58 1.61 7.52% PACAM Fixed Income Fund 12.32 12.45 0.72% PACAM Money Market Fund 10.00 10.00 1.50% PACAM Equity Fund 1.55 1.57 -1.80% PACAM EuroBond Fund 109.96 112.75 0.55% 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 129.47 131.64 6.33% 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 1.01 1.01 3.31% 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 3,084.72 3,108.07 -4.10% Stanbic IBTC Bond Fund 227.91 227.91 1.36% Stanbic IBTC Ethical Fund 1.13 1.14 -3.81% Stanbic IBTC Guaranteed Investment Fund 298.55 298.55 1.32% Stanbic IBTC Iman Fund 208.74 211.42 -4.45% Stanbic IBTC Money Market Fund 100.00 100.00 1.87% Stanbic IBTC Nigerian Equity Fund 9,718.85 9,842.46 -7.46% Stanbic IBTC Dollar Fund (USD) 1.24 1.24 1.51% Stanbic IBTC Shariah Fixed Income Fund 113.00 113.00 1.73% UNITED CAPITAL ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD Web: www.unitedcapitalplcgroup.com; Tel: +234 803 306 2887 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn United Capital Balanced Fund 1.30 1.32 -4.75% United Capital Bond Fund 1.92 1.92 1.60% United Capital Equity Fund 0.87 0.90 1.05% United Capital Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 4.20% United Capital Eurobond Fund 119.23 119.23 1.83% United Capital Wealth for Women Fund 1.04 1.06 -4.03% United capital Sukuk Fund 1.03 1.03 2.71% QUANTUM ZENITH ASSET MANAGEMENT & INVESTMENTS LTD service@quantumzenithasset.com.ng Web: www.quantumzenith.com.ng; Tel: +234 1-2784219 Fund Name Bid Price Offer Price Yield / T-Rtn Zenith Equity Fund 11.93 12.03 0.52% Zenith Ethical Fund 13.24 13.37 8.46% Zenith Income Fund 24.26 24.26 1.17% Zenith Money Market Fund 1.00 1.00 2.00%

REITS NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

121.90 52.85

0.96% 0.86%

Bid Price

Offer Price

Yield / T-Rtn

12.35 117.78 92.67

12.45 117.78 94.41

-6.51% -3.25% -6.74%

Fund Name SFS Skye Shelter Fund Union Homes REIT

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS Fund Name Lotus Halal Equity Exchange Traded Fund SIAML Pension ETF 40 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 Money Market 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

3.51 5.54 16.60 1.00 18.65 171.94

3.55 5.62 16.70 1.00 18.85 173.94

-6.74% -2.62% 1.62% 2.11% -9.05% -21.92%

NAV Per Share

Yield / T-Rtn

107.30

13.11%

INFRASTRUCTURE FUND Fund Name Chapel Hill Denham Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund

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.

FRIDAY APRIL 9, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWS

Army Confirms Killing of Officer, 10 Soldiers By Bandits in Benue Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja The Nigerian Army said last night that one officer and 10 soldiers were killed in Benue State while on a routine operational task. There were also unconfirmed reports yesterday that over 50 civilians and 200 houses were burnt following an invasion of Konshisha Local Government Area of the state by troops. However, a statement issued by the Spokesman of the Nigerian Army, Brigadier General Mohammed Yerima, said following the killings, the

Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Ibrahim Attahiru, had ordered commanders on ground to fish out and deal decisively with the criminal gangs in the area responsible for the killings. “Nigerian Army (NA) troops operating in Benue State came under attack while on routine operational task. The troops comprising one officer and 10 soldiers were initially declared missing, which prompted the deployment of a joint search and rescue team comprising NA troops and personnel of Operation Whirl Stroke. “The search and rescue team

unfortunately found all the missing troops dead in Konshisha LGA of Benue State. “While the bodies of the slain troops were evacuated immediately, efforts are ongoing to track down the perpetrators of this heinous crime with a view to bringing them to Justice”, it said. The statement said the Nigerian Army under the

leadership of the Attahiru remained resolute in ensuring stability in Benue State as well as other parts of the country that were affected by the activities of criminal gangs. It said the army was determined to ensure that the unprovoked attack did not disrupt the general peace being enjoyed by the local inhabitants.

“The COAS, has therefore, directed commanders on the ground to ensure sustained efforts in order to fish out and deal decisively with these bad elements who are threatening the peace in the area”, it said. The statement recalled that Benue State, which was a hot bed of violent clashes had enjoyed relative peace following

the successes achieved by the various security agencies who have been working tirelessly to safeguard law abiding citizens and ensure they go about their legitimate business without fear of harassment by criminals. It appealed to the public to volunteer useful information that would lead to the arrest of the perpetrators of the dastardly act.

After NEC Meeting, Doctors Say Strike Continues

Resume negotiation with FG today

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja After a meeting of its National Executive Committee (NEC) held yesterday, the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has vowed to continue its ongoing strike until the federal and state governments concede to its demands. The leaders of the association will however meet with the Minister for Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige in Abuja, today. But in a communiqué issued at the end of a virtual extraordinary NEC meeting, signed by NARD’s President, Dr. Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi, association said that the NEC had unanimously voted that the ongoing strike that started on April 1, would continue. “The strike will last until the federal and state governments meet our demands. “We want to use this medium to reiterate our commitment to the smooth running of all tertiary institutions in the country, and the provision of specialised healthcare to all Nigerians. “However, we need to first of all care for our own health and welfare in order to give standard care to our patients, which is in line with the physician’s oath,” the communiqué reads. NARD claimed the NEC

had observed that in spite of efforts by the National Officers Committee, to ensure that the Federal Government did the needful to prevent the strike, it failed to do so. It noted that NARD had given two months ultimatum before going on the strike when it became apparent that the Ministry of Health was not interested in any form of settlement to avert the industrial action. It expressed disappointment over the way and manner the government was passing “spurious” information to the public. The resident doctors also faulted the government for not holding a reconciliatory meeting at the expiration of the ultimatum on March 31. They said, “`Without prejudice to labour laws and other extant laws of the land, the industrial action had already begun before the MOA was signed, and as such, not tenable.” Meanwhile, the Minister for Labour and Employment, Ngige will be meeting with the association today. A statement issued by the Deputy Director and Head of Press and Public Relations at the ministry, Mr. Charles Akpan said the meeting was scheduled to hold at the Minister’s Conference Room by 3pm.

USSD: MTN, Banks to Work Out Long-term Pricing Structure Emma Okonji Officials of MTN Nigeria and Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), including their regulators, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) respectively, yesterday, continued with their series of meetings, where a fresh decision was reached on how to resolve the current USSD recharge impasse between the banks and MTN According to the agreement reached yesterday, both feuding parties were asked to come up with long-term pricing structure that is of international best practice that would be applied to all charges relating

to Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) code. It was also agreed that while the banks and MTN work out the new pricing structure, MTN should maintain status quo and revert to the old billing where it offered 4.5 per cent commission to the banks for all USSD charges. MTN and the banks had been at loggerheads over USSD charges and their commission, which is purely a commercial dispute, leading to the disconnection of all MTN customers by the banks, from the use of the USSD channels in all banking transactions, before the intervention of their regulators, the NCC and the CBN.

HONOURING THE FLAGSHIP…

L-R: Senior Technical Adviser on Media to the President, Mr. Louis Odion; Chief Executive Officer, Richy Consult, Mr. Richard Akinnola; CEO, Diamond Publications, Mr. Lanre Idowu; and Managing Director, THISDAY Newspapers, Mr. Eniola Bello, during the launch of the book, ‘The Making of Nigerian Flagship, the Story of The Guardian,’ in Lagos…yesterday

PDP Shifts South-west Zonal Congress to Osun Chuks Okocha in Abuja The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after further comprehensive deliberations on issues of concern in the South-west zonal chapter of the PDP has resolved to conduct the zonal congress on Monday, April 12. Following the rejection of the initial venue of the congress by a former Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayo Fayose, the party agreed to move the

zonal congress from Ibadan, Oyo State to Osogbo, the Osun State capital. Governor Seyi Makinde and Fayose had disagreed on the choice of the venue. Both leaders are supporting different candidates for the zonal elections. Fayose and Makinde have been at loggerheads over the leadership of the party in the South-west. While Makinde is said to be sponsoring Mr. Taofeek Arapaja, a former Oyo State

deputy governor, Fayose is said to be backing Mr. Eddy Olafeso, a former governorship aspirant in Ondo State and the immediate past chairman of the party in the zone. The feud between Makinde and Fayose has prevented the party from holding the zonal congress till now. But in a statement issued yesterday, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, stated that after a meeting with all stakeholders in the zone,

including Makinde and Fayose, it was resolved that the Southwest Zonal Congress of the party be scheduled for Monday, April 12, 2021 in Osogbo. The PDP national leadership promised to work with all stakeholders to achieve a seamless and unifying congress of party in the South-west zone. The PDP urged all leaders of the party, critical stakeholders and teeming members of the party in the South-west and the nation at large to be accordingly guided.

SEC Warns against Proliferation of Unregistered Investment Platforms Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has warned the investing public to be wary of the proliferation of unregistered online investment and trading platforms facilitating access to trading in securities listed in foreign markets. SEC’s warning was conveyed via a circular issued yesterday in Abuja, to capital market operators. It advised the investing public

to seek clarification as may be required via its established channels of communication on investment products. The circular read: “The attention of the SEC has been drawn to the existence of several providers of online investment and trading platforms which purportedly facilitate direct access of the investing public in the Federal Republic of Nigeria to securities of foreign companies listed on securities exchanges registered in other

jurisdictions. “These platforms also claim to be operating in partnership with capital market operators (CMOs) registered with the Commission”. The Commission categorically stated that by the provisions of Sections 67-70 of the Investments and Securities Act (ISA), 2007 and Rules 414 & 415 of the SEC Rules and Regulations, only foreign securities listed on any exchange registered in Nigeria may be issued, sold or

offered for sale or subscription to the Nigerian public. Accordingly, the SEC notified CMOs who work in concert with the referenced online platforms of the Commission’s position and advised them to desist henceforth. SEC therefore admonished the investing public to seek clarification as may be required via its established channels of communication on investment products advertised through conventional or online mediums.

Wase, Elumelu Demand Full Autonomy for LGs and councillors of local autonomous local government On his part, the Minority Udora Orizu in Abuja The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ahmed Wase and the Minority Leader, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu have called for full autonomy for local government areas so as to guarantee the dividends of democracy to the people at the grassroots. The lawmakers made the call yesterday at a leadership training sponsored by the Minority Leader for chairmen

government areas in Delta State. Speaking at the event, Wase recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari, had signed an Executive Order to declare financial autonomy for local governments. He said: “As for me, first as a member of parliament representing my constituency and my people, I think I am on the same page with my constituents to have an

system, anchored on the generosity of what the President has done. If you remember sometime in the past, he signed an Executive Order to have financial autonomy for local government. “It is not just about financial autonomy; we should also have a complete independence of their administration, apart from their finances. That is the only way it can work, to make Nigeria and Nigerians great.”

Leader, Elumelu said there was need to lobby governors to allow local governments to function independently. According to him, “what we need is lobbying. There is the need for those fears of the governors (to be allayed). One of the states that voted for local government autonomy (in the Constitution review exercise by the 8th National Assembly) was Delta State.

FRIDAY APRIL 9, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

NEWSEXTRA

DSS Denies Torturing Buhari’s Driver to Death The Department of State Services (DSS) has denied torturing Sai’du Afaka, President Muhammadu Buhari’s official driver, to death It described a report that it tortured the deceased as misleading.

The report had alleged that Afaka misled Buhari into approving a multi-million naira contract which was later discovered by the DSS. It further said the service arrested Afaka, tortured and subsequently dumped him at

the State House Clinic where he died. But the DSS spokesman, Dr. Peter Afunanya, in a statement on Wednesday night, titled, ‘President’s official driver not detained or tortured by

DSS,’ said the secret police did not engage in torturing of suspects and asked the public to “disregard the fake news spewed by the online platform.” It stated, “While the said

driver was never arrested or detained by the Service, it is a known fact that it does not torture suspects. Its suspect handling method is usually in compliance with the tenets of criminal justice administration

system and democracy.” The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, had on Tuesday, announced that Afaka died “after a prolonged illness.”

Customs Intercepts 866 Bags of Foreign Rice, Others in Katsina Francis Sardauna in Katsina

The Katsina Area Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has intercepted 866 bags of parboiled foreign rice and other contraband worth N58.6 million from smugglers between March 24 and April 8. The Acting Customs Area Comptroller, Mr. Dalha Wada Chedi, who disclosed this yesterday in Katsina, while briefing journalists, lamented that in spite of government’s efforts toward tackling smuggling, some unpatriotic Nigerians had continued in the evil act. He said: “Items seized include 866 bags of 50kg parboiled foreign rice, 181 cartons of spaghetti, 50 jerrycans of 25 litres of vegetable oil, 394 bags of tigger nut, 15 bags of foreign sugar, 10 cartons of macaroni, 18 cartons of couscous, 17 cartons of tomato paste. “Others are 40 gas cylinders

of 50kg each. Four vehicles used to convey the goods were also intercepted with two other used vehicles. All the intercepted items valued at N58,566, 300.00”. According to the acting comptroller, the successes recorded were as a result of designed and implemented strategies and anti-smuggling drive against the activities of deviant smugglers in the state. Chedi explained that the renewed synergy among different components of antismuggling unit in the state also assisted the command in countering the activities of smugglers within the command. While calling on the public to cooperate with the service to succeed in its anti-smuggling crusad, he urged the people to take advantage of the various federal government intervention programmes and key into it for a legitimate means of livelihood instead of smuggling.

Strike Continues, Say Judiciary Workers The Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) yesterday said its strike was still ongoing because no concrete resolution had been reached. The legal adviser to JUSUN, Mariam Usuf-Gusau, made this known in Abuja in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). ”The strike is still on while we await the outcome of the negotiation, we are not backing off until our demands are met,” she said. JUSUN began an indefinite strike on Tuesday over continued delay to implement financial autonomy for the judiciary. ”How can state high courts beg from governors for what

is constitutionally theirs,” Usuf-Gusau sais. In the same vein, an Abujabased lawyer, Mr. Sunday Adetola, urged government to meet the demands of JUSUN for financial autonomy. Adetola told NAN, ”Does government understand the symbiotic relationship between justice and social cohesion? Justice is the sacred womb where peace and tranquility are conceived and birthed. ”When the judiciary is strangulated through financial subjugation by the executive arm of government, the capacity to dispense wholesale justice without fear or favour is tragically impaired and dangerously undermined.

Matawalle Warns against Attacks on Northerners The Governor of Zamfara State, Mr. Bello Matwalle has warned against what he described as attacks on northerners and their economic interests. He has also condemned what he called a sponsored attempt to rubbish President Muhammadu Buhari in London by protesters whom he said could not hide their disdain and hatred for the North. In a statement issued yesterday, the governor said this is not a time to play politics or play to the gallery but a time to speak the truth for the benefit of peace and progress of the country. According to him, the lives, dignity and possessions of northerners “are being threatened by the increasingly unfriendly South even as we try, as northern

leaders to always calm the situation and to protect the interest, businesses and dignity of all southerners in the North.” “Despite what northerners are experiencing today in all parts of the South-west and South-east in particular, all we hear is the conspiracy of silence from northern leaders and elites who sponsored to stand firm, in the manner in which other leaders of the South are doing even when they know that their people are at fault. This must not continue,” he explained. Matawalle argued that in crisis situation, the South has more to lose in terms of its business interests in the North and the strategic nature they established themselves in the North than northerners living in the South.

PROMOTING MADE-IN-NIGERIA GOODS…

South Korean Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Kim Young-Chae (left), receiving made-in-Nigeria product from the Chief Executive Oﬃcer of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Mr. Olusegun Awolowo, when the envoy paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja...yesterday

Trans-border Trafficker Nabbed with 280kg Assorted Drugs in Kebbi A suspected fake security agent, Mr. Basiru Ibrahim, who specialised in trafficking illicit drugs from Benin Republic through Lagos State to Sokoto State, has been arrested with 280 kilogrammes of skunk and Diazepam in the North-west state. The suspect was caught at about 8.30pm on April 3 conveying 140kg of skunk and another 140kg of Diazepam in his personal Peugeot 406 saloon car with registration number Lagos KSF 60 BE at

Kingakwai checkpoint, Kamba, Dandi Local Government Area of Kebbi State. According to the state Commander of the NDLEA, Peter Odaudu, the claim by the suspect who is 38-year-old to being a senior official of the Sokoto State Command of a law enforcement agency is still being investigated. During interrogation, the suspect confessed to have trafficked drugs three times in the past from Benin Republic for a notorious dealer known

as Queen. Meanwhile, attempts by another trafficker to smuggle 2,800 bottles of diverse cough syrups into Abuja have been thwarted by operatives of the NDLEA in Suleja, Niger state, where they recovered 1,020 bottles of CS cough syrup with codeine, 390 bottles of CSP cough syrup with codeine and 1,390 bottles of barcadin cough syrup with codeine. The Commander, Niger State Command of the Agency, Haruna Kwetishe

said the illicit substances meant for drug joints in Abuja were procured from Onitsha, Anambra State and diverted to Morada market motor park in Suleja to avoid security scrutiny in Abuja. A 27-year-old Ezema Sunday who was to take delivery of the consignment was arrested on Tuesday, April 7, 2021 along with another suspect, Nehemiah Isa who was caught with 1.3kg of cannabis and 7gramme of Nitrazepam

Atiku, Saraki, Secondus Seek Investments in Education to Tackle Insecurity Chuks Okocha in Abuja Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar; National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus and former President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki yesterday reviewed the increasing scourge of insecurity, and poverty in the country and submitted that massive investment in the education

of youths would be the only formula for reversing the negative trend. They argued that investment in education and moral uplifting of youths as well as mentoring would help provide leadership for Nigeria especially at this stage that the country was passing through challenges. They spoke in Abuja at the launching of an educational foundation, owned by a former

national chairman of PDP, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje. Commending the former Acting Chairman of PDP, Abubakar Kawu Baraje for setting up the educational foundation, Atiku declared that the foundation was not only timely but also symbolised the urgency to salvage “our frail nation from the resultant negative impact of poor public investment in Human Capital

Development” which he noted is evident in “our abysmal ranking in the global Human Capital Development index.” The former Vice President linked Nigeria’s poor investment in education to the country’s “large army of out -of- school children, legion of the unemployed, rampaging insecurity, rising poverty rate and persistent underdevelopment”

Four Katsina Bandits’ Leaders Surrender, Hands over 26 Rifles to Police Francis Sardauna in Katsina Four bandits’ leaders terrorising communities in Katsina State have denounced banditry and surrendered 26 Ak-49 and Ak-47 riffles, 109 general purpose machine guns, 94 7.62mm live ammunition and 45 rustled cows to Police authorities in the state. The State Commissioner of Police (CP) Sanusi Buba, who displayed the weapons yesterday while parading the

repentant bandits, said the duo surrendered the dangerous rifles unconditionally. He said: “The Katsina state Police Command in its resolute and unrelenting determination aimed at ending banditry and other heinous crimes, wishes to inform the general public and indeed the good people of the state, that four leaders of bandits, namely: Sale Turwa, Mani Turwa, Ado Sarki and Sani Mai-Daji, have surrenderd.

“They decided unconditionally to come out from their hideouts in the forest, denounced banditry and surrendered two general purpose machine guns, one Ak-49 assault rifle, 23 Ak-47 assault rifles, 109 GPMG ammunition, 94 7.62mm live ammunition and 45 rustled cows”. According to him, “It became absolutely imperative at this juncture, to warn other recalcitrant bandits, who refuse

to surrender, that nobody has monopoly of violence and that government is mightier than any person or group of persons”. While calling on those he termed recalcitrant bandits to desist from their nefarious activities, the police chief said the command in collaboration with other security agencies in the state will leave no stone unturned in dealing decisively with bandits who refused to accept peace in the state.

Eight RCCG Members Abducted in Kaduna Regain The eight members of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) kidnapped by bandits on March 26 in Kaduna State have regained freedom. Shortly after their release, all the abducted persons were taken to a hospital for medical check-up, Pastor Enoch Adeboye

who is the General Overseer of RCCG said in a tweet yesterday. The clergyman announced the release of the church members two weeks after they were abducted by bandits while on transit along the Kachia Road in the southern part of Kaduna. “Today I got the exciting news

that our brethren who were in captivity of kidnappers have all been released and taken to the Hospital for checkup and tests. Glory be to Jesus. We pray for lasting peace in all troubled regions of the country in Jesus name,” he tweeted. Although it is unclear if any

ransom was paid, sources close to the freed victims told Channels Television that they were released in batches. Three of them were said to have been released by their abductors on Tuesday, while the remaining five persons regained freedom yesterday.

FRIDAY APRIL 9, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

24 HOURS...

One Officer Missing, Two Injured in Fresh Attack on Imo Police Monarch, cabinet members abducted Amby Uneze in Owerri Two police officers were injured and one declared missing when gunmen attacked the Mbieri Divisional Police headquarters in Mbaitoli Local Government Area (LGA) of Imo State, freeing detainees and burning

vehicles. Also, the traditional ruler of Umueze Nguru in the Aboh Mbaise Local Government Area of the state, Eze Charles Iroegbu was on Wednesday evening abducted by unknown gunmen. The monarch was said to be on his way back to his palace

after attending a public function in Mbano area of the state when unknown men blocked his convoy and made away with him. Some cabinet chiefs of the kingdom, who accompanied him to the function were also abducted When THISDAY visited the Mbieri Divisional police station two burnt vehicles were seen

while the detainees had been freed. It was learnt that the fleeing gunmen struck around 1 am yesterday and immediately released the suspects in custody in the police facility. The gunmen also took away the phones belonging to suspects and the police operatives at the division. But a police source at

Division said the gunmen were repelled by the policemen on duty. The police source said, “we resisted them but they overpowered us. They had more sophisticated weapons. They took all the phones they saw, released the suspects when they gained access and vandalised the police building”. The source disclosed that the attackers kidnapped one police

officer and injured two others. The attack was the third in one week in the state. On Monday, the Imo state police headquarters and Owerri correctional centre were attacked by gunmen and over 1,844 inmates were freed. No fewer than 50 vehicles were also burnt during the attack with the help of explosives.

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

Commissioner to Nigeria, Thamsanqa Dennis Mseleku, at the party’s Wadata Plaza headquarter in Abuja last Wednesday, Secondus said his party has a lot to learn from ANC, which he described as a mass movement. He said Nigeria has a lot to learn from South Africa in the conduct of free, fair and credible election which is one of the biggest challenges facing

the Nigeria democracy. The PDP national chairman told his guest that the biggest problem facing Nigeria presently is insecurity. According to him, “Nigeria is in distress as a result of the security challenges; we need help from anybody who can help in ideas and other logistics to bring peace in the land.” Secondus also commended the South African Government,

particularly President Cyril Ramaphosa, for the uncommon interest they showed in Nigeria’s Dr. Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala, which led to her victory at the contest for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) director-general. In his remark, the South African High Commissioner expressed the desire of his home government to continue to strengthen the relationship between the two countries.

Abia Shuts School over Explosive Devices’ Scare PDP, ANC to Collaborate to Save Democracy in Africa Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia

The Abia State government yesterday closed down a primary school in Umuahia, the state capital following the discovery of objects suspected to be explosive devices (EDs) at the school. Pupils of the Union Primary School, Afaraukwu in Umuahia North Local Government Area, were said to have discovered the suspected EDs at their school farm. It was gathered that the pupils had fled in panic after one of them out of curiosity struck one of the suspicious objects with a hoe causing smoke to filter out. It was when the panic-stricken pupils reported their findings to their teachers that the police were alerted and an anti-bomb squad was promptly sent to the school to investigate and remove the suspected EDs. The state Commissioner for

Information, Chief John Okiyi Kalu explained in a statement that the state government decided to shut down the school as a precautionary measure to enable the relevant security agencies do their investigation. He assured that “necessary measures have been taken to protect the pupils and staff of the school with security sweeps ongoing while the school is temporarily closed”. The commissioner stated that the state government was “working with relevant security agencies in the state to unravel the source and nature of the suspected explosive devices. “While initial examination of the devices show evidence of corrosion leading to suspicion of the materials being relics of the civil war era, we are awaiting definite the official report from the EOD squad of the Nigeria Police who are currently investigating the incident,” he said.

The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus, has expressed the urgent need for African National Congress (ANC), a South African ruling political party, and the PDP to work together to save and deepen democracy in Africa. Speaking when he received the South African High

Military Operation Displaces 12 Communities in Akwa Ibom Okon Bassey in Uyo At least 12 communities in Essien Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State have reportedly been displaced during last Tuesday invasion by soldiers over criminal activities in the area. The Chairman of the LGA, Mr. Anthony Luke, disclosed this in a message sent to the

displaced persons after the raid. He said the nefarious activities of hoodlums led to the displacement of the people from their homes as lives and property in the area were unsafe. Luke explained that heinous activities of criminals began in Essien Udim LGA on February 22, 2021, when the hoodlums attacked a police officers on patrol and their vehicle at

Ikpe Annang junction, on Ikot Ekpene-Uyo Road He said another havoc was repeated on Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) personnel at Nsasak junction on Aba-Ikot Ekpene Road before the hoodlums later set the Essien Udim Divisional Police Station at Nto Nsek ablaze and carted away a lot of ammunition. “By their criminal activities,

such as extortion, intimidation, robbery, and general abuse of the fundamental human rights of the people, the situation degenerated to a point that the people were living in fear,” the LGA chairman said. He listed the communities affected by the military raid to include Ntak Ikot Akpan, Ukana Uwa, Ikot Udo Ekpat and Ikot Otu.

FRIDAY APRIL 9, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

24 HOURS...

WORLD OF ISLAM

Nigerian Press, Fulcrum of Nationalist Struggle, Says Ramadan: A Comprehensive Approach Osinbajo

Edited by: MJO Mustapha Email deji.mustapha@thisdaylive.com

Aslam Abdullah/IslamiCity

Products of ‘Guardian school’ honour the flagship Segun James Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has hailed the courage of the founding fathers of the Nigerian media, describing them as the fulcrum of the nation’s nationalist struggle. Osinbajo, who stated this yesterday in Lagos at the launch of ‘The Making of The Nigerian Flagship: A Story of The Guardian,’ written by Aaron Ukodie and O’Seun Ogunseitan, said the founding fathers of the Nigerian press were “instrumental to the birthing of Nigeria.” It was a moment of reunion for many who passed out of The Guardian ‘journalism school,’ the Flagship, as they converged at the event. The occasion attracted

important guests such as Osinbajo; a former Governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba, who was chairman of the occasion; former Governor of Cross River State, Mr. Donald Duke; Chairman of THISDAY and ARISE Media Group, Prince Nduka Obaigbena; Dr. Patrick Dele Cole; the Publisher of The Guardian, Lady Maiden AlexIbru; Chairman, Ibru Organisation, Chief Oskar Ibru; the Executive Director, Toke Ibru, and the Managing Director of THISDAY Newspaper, Mr. Eniola Bello. Others are: Mr. Lade Bonuola and a host of old associates like Mr. Ted Iwere; Senator Ayogu Eze; and the Lagos State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Gbenga Omotosho, who all

added charm to the four-hour occasion. It was really an afternoon of reminisces, as everyone that spoke took time to remember the pioneering days of The Guardian. While pouring encomiums on The Guardian, Osinbajo said the story of the newspaper was significant, for the redefinition it meant for print media in Nigeria, and for its uniqueness in bringing public intellectuals and academics into journalism and breeding a generation of talented journalists. He said the paper represented “the proud and illustrious tradition of the Nigerian press that practised journalism with a social mission and a commitment to speaking truth to power.

PDP Govs Meet in Makurdi over Insecurity The governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will meet today in Makurdi, the Benue State capital to deliberate over the state of insecurity across the country. A statement issued yesterday by the Director General of the PDP Governors’ Forum, Mr. Cyril Maduabum, noted that the meeting would be hosted by the Benue State Governor, Mr. Samuel Ortom. It added that the parley would come up with implementable blueprint for tackling insecurity and sundry criminality facing the nation.

It noted that the meeting would also afford the governors, an opportunity to review the state of the party. Maduabum said the governors would fine-tune strategies on how to strengthen the party to “rescue the nation from the rudderless All Progressives Congress administration that has plunged the country into the current avoidable crises of governance.” The statement added that the Enugu State Governor, Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, had already arrived at Makurdi for the meeting.

It stated that the chairman of the forum, who is the Governor of Sokoto State, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, was being expected alongside Governors Nyesom Wike, Ifeanyi Okowa, Okezie Ikpeazu and Ben Ayade from Rivers, Delta, Abia and Cross River states, respectively. Others are Bello Matawalle (Zamfara), Godwin Obaseki (Edo), Bala Mohammed (Bauchi), Udom Emmanuel (Akwa Ibom), Duoye Diri (Bayelsa), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Darius Ishaku (Taraba) and Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa State.

Doctors Strike: House Threatens to Arrest MDCN Registrar Udora Orizu in Abuja The House of Representatives Committee on Health Care Services has threatened to invoke a warrant of arrest if the Registrar of Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), Tajudeen Sanusi, fails for the second time to appear before the committee next Friday. Sanusi was invited to appear before the lawmakers yesterday to answer questions on the ongoing strike by resident doctors and payment of house officers. The lawmakers had to call off the meeting after a letter was delivered to them informing the committee that Sanusi was attending a tribunal of the council. The Chairman of the committee, Hon. Tanko Sununu, said Sanusi failed to honour an invitation on a national emergency while attending a personal engagement. According to him, “We sent

CHANGE OF NAME I, formerly known and addressed as ORATOKHAI JOY OKHUOMON now wish to be known and addressed as OGUNLEYE JOY OKHUOMON. All documents remain valid. General public should please take note. I, OCHIE VICTOR KALU, my name was wrongly slept and written as OCHEI VICTOR KALU, henceforth my correct name is OCHEI VICTOR KALU. All former documents remain valid, the general public should please talk note.

out invitations to all major stakeholders to attend this meeting. Unfortunately, he (Sanusi) refused to appear. So because he is a major stakeholder, we have decided to call off the meeting today and summon him to appear unfailingly before us by 9a.m. on Friday, and if he failed, we are going to invoke

all the necessary powers of the National Assembly, including the warrant of arrest for the registrar. “We cannot watch while the people suffer. We also call on the striking doctors to please temper justice with mercy. Everybody believes that your demands are genuine, but there are processes to achieve them.”

Anti-Buhari Graffiti, a Sign of Public Resentment, Says PDP Chuks Okocha in Abuja The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday said the anti-Buhari graffiti in some major cities across the country is a demonstration of public resentment to the misrule of the Muhammadu Buhari presidency. The party further said the graffiti, which demands that “Buhari Must Go,” shows that Nigerians have completely lost hope in President Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) “given the unprecedented devastation, violence, poverty and economic hardship that have enveloped our country under their watch.” The PDP in a statement issued by the National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said: “These graffiti by Nigerian youths are a loud remonstration against the impunity, divineness, high level incompetence, massive

corruption as well as the insensitivity of the APC and its administration to the sorry situation they have plunged our dear country.” The Nigerian youths, the PDP said, are by the graffiti demonstrating against the failure of President Buhari and the APC, “who are expected to take decisive steps to address the incessant mass killings, high level unemployment, poverty and economic hardship that their administration has foisted on the country.” According to the PDP, “The graffiti is also an open aversion to the looting of over N15 trillion by APC leaders at the time our country is battling with 33 percent unemployment rate; at a time over 40 million Nigerian have lost their means of livelihood due to APC misrule and where most families cannot afford the basic necessities of life.

“So that you may attain Consciousness of divine guidance,” (2:183). This is how the creator defined the purpose of the month of fasting. Every religious community follows the tradition of fasting in different ways. Some fast for 40 days and abstain from food, some for a week, a few days, or a day. The purpose of fasting in Islam is to rejuvenate and energize their commitment to divine values that secure peace with justice and dignity for every human being. The month-long fasting has three primary dimensions: Self-improvement Community relation building Identifying with social issues For personal improvement, abstaining from food and water for a specific period, controlling intimate desires for married couples from sunrise to sunset, and disciplining oneself in situations that lead to anger, backbiting, lustful ideas, jealousy, and lying are essentials. Community relations building requires that those with means and resources address the needy and the disadvantaged Muslim’s needs. Identifying with society requires involvement in causes of social justice and dignity-related issues facing the society at large. It is a refresher program for the community to follow a comprehensive regimen to convince oneself and the people around

that divine guidance is beneficial to all. This pattern of observing the month of fasting is visible in the Sunnah of the prophet. He divided his time in worshiping, reflecting on divine guidance, helping the poor of the community, and inspiring non-believers to understand their conditions for a better life. In the United States, the Muslim community is diverse and from different ethnic backgrounds. The Prophetic approach can enable it to become a cohesive and stable community for its growth and make constructive contributions to society. The community is active in making efforts for individual self-improvement. However, it still lacks a cohesive and organized effort in community building and identifying with social issues. Perhaps, our religious scholars should come forward with programs that would enable us to focus on them. In each city or area covered by an Islamic center, a list of needy families would help streamline not only zakat ul mal or zakat ul Fitr but channelize the resources to disburse them appropriately. On social issues, the community can organize interfaith and local neighborhood breaking of fasting ceremonies to introduce itself to others. The prophetic model is easy to follow and beneficial to all. Let us hope that this month of fasting helps us focus on developing a genuine consciousness of divine guidance that revolves around social justice and dignity.

8 Health Benefits of Fasting AMohammed Tadeeb Ansari/IslamiCity A common misconception about fasting is that it weakens the body. On the contrary, there are many health benefits of fasting on the human body. Scientists have proved that fasting during the specific hours of the day in the whole month of Ramadan, brings healthy outcomes. However, for Muslims, it is obligatory to observe fast during Ramadan. Allah says in Holy Quran: “O you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those (who were) before you so that you become righteous. A few countable days. So whoever of you is ill or on a journey, let him complete the count in other days. And on those who do not have strength, is the ransom of feeding a poor person. So he who excels in goodness is better for him. And the best thing for you is to fast if you know.” (Q2v183-184) As it is evident from the above-mentioned verse, those who do not have the strength to observe fast such as in the condition of severe illness, are permitted to break/ leave fast and they will in return feed a poor needy man. Health Beneﬁts of Fasting Following are the physical health benefits of fasting during Ramadan: There are four major risks of heart disease i.e. high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, diabetes, and obesity, which can be reversed by fasting.

by the body to utilize this stored sugar is up to 8 hours. As a result, sugar levels are reduced, and the risk of developing heart disease too. Weight Loss: Obesity is one of the major causes of leading to heart disease. Being obese can lead to the development of fat material in your arteries, so the blood supply to the heart is blocked that leads to heart failure. During the hours of prolonged fasting, when glycogen stores are depleted, your body starts utilizing fat for energy instead of glycogen. This will result in reducing excessive fat from your body, reduce body weight, and ultimately the risk of developing heart disease is reduced. Digestive and Immune Beneﬁts of Fasting: Fasting reduces the stomach acid, which in turn digests the food and reduces bacteria. Fasting also assists in maintaining gut health. Fasting for a whole month during the month of Ramadan, stimulate the production of new white blood cells. It is the regeneration of the entire immune system. This will further strengthen the body in warding off the various bacterial and virus infections. Psychological Well-being: When people avoid unhealthy habits during the month of Ramadan, practice self-control, avoid unnecessary thoughts, they become psychologically more powerful and stronger.

Healthier Blood Pressure: Cognitive Improvement: Fasting helps to maintain healthier blood pressure. Studies show that fasting can assist in lowering blood pressure. As a result, it reduces the risk of developing heart disease. Maintenance of Cholesterol Level: High cholesterol levels may lead to the development of heart disease. When there are excessive levels of cholesterol in the blood, it may build up in the walls of arteries, causing a condition known as atherosclerosis in which the arteries become narrowed and blood flow to the muscles of the heart is compromised. This results in the development of heart disease. Fasting helps reduce the cholesterol level and maintains it to an ideal level. This in turn reduces the risk to develop heart diseases. Diabetes: Diabetes is caused by high blood sugar levels, which in turn leads to the development of heart disease. During fasting hours, the stored sugar (in the form of glycogen) in the liver, is utilized by the body. Time taken

Fasting improves cognition and thinking ability. It slows down neuro-degeneration, reduces brain damage, and improves functional recovery after stroke. The Pleasure of Allah: The most beautiful benefit of Fasting is the pleasure of Allah. It has been narrated in Hadith Qudsi that Allah says: “Every action of Ibn-e-Adam is for him, except fasting, So it is for (the sake of) me and will reward for it.” (Sahih Al-Bukhari) Conclusion: As Muslims, we must observe fasting during the whole month of Ramadan. Its benefits are not religious limited only. Fasting benefits us with many physical and psychological benefits. It helps to reduce the risks of many dangerous diseases. We must seek the pleasure of Allah in each deed, then we will be able to get the real positive outcomes.

FRIDAY, ΁˜ ͺ͸ͺ͹ ˾ THISDAY

BACK PAGE CONTINUATION TINUBU: NIGERIA IS NOT LAGOS (1) of heady self-declaration is known to cry out: “I am Lagos.” Tinubu’s continuous manhandling of Lagos has reached an unprecedented scale, such that nothing happens in the state without his knowledge. His spies are everywhere and report to him daily the activities and crucial decisions of government. In other words, Tinubu has been running the affairs of Lagos State since 1999 in varying degrees, depending on the personality of the governor in office. He has been able to achieve total control over succeeding administrations in the state with his firm grip on the State House of Assembly, a lackey house that is more loyal to him than the people they represent. He single-handedly handpicked and railroaded every member of his party into the state legislature. Election results were merely written by the godfather and his agents and rubberstamped by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the courts. With the loyalty of the assembly members well assured, Tinubu is able to threaten with impeachment and arm-twist any sitting governor who tries to assert his authority. Nearly all critical executive appointments are nominated by him. Having conquered Lagos and expanded some influence to one or two Southwestern states, Tinubu is getting more bold and confident of riding roughshod over the captive states and the people. And now, he wants to capture Nigeria to do with it as he pleases. Imagine that reality for a moment! How can any sane educated human being be promoting him to the highest office in the land? His ambition to be president is a slap in the face of all Nigerians of good old precious values. Ascending the presidency will be the ultimate reward for his impunity and will engender a brisk-street confidence that he can get away with anything - that the law is made for others and not for him. I concede that Tinubu has not been convicted of any crime, so all his rights and privileges are preserved and protected by the constitution. But he has never been tried for all his abuse of power and corruption in and out of office. I can bet my life that if he is investigated and sincerely tried based on facts already in the public domain, he will have a huge debt to pay to society. Now, let’s even leave his abuse of office and corruption (of “international dimension”) for a moment and honestly interrogate his political exploits. Tinubu is the main architect of the general malaise in our country today. His desire to be president at all cost led him to fetch Major General Muhammadu Buhari from retirement - a man he once described as “an agent of destabilisation, ethnic bigot and religious fanatic who if given the chance would ensure the disintegration of the country”, according to a Wikileaks transcript of a conversation between him and the US Consul-General in 2003. He had warned then that Buhari should not be trusted with power due to his ethnoreligious bigotry. He pointed to Buhari’s tribalistic nature as potentially dangerous to the unity of Nigeria. In his own concise summation, “Buhari and his ilk are agents of destabilisation who would be far worse than Obasanjo.” Tinubu later denied that he made those statements about Buhari to the US ConsulGeneral following his alliance with him in 2014/15. Tinubu and his apparatchiks made a complete about turn on Buhari and started to spew a new narrative on Buhari’s unblemished record of performance and competence, adding that he would be a unifier. Well, Buhari went on to win the 2015 presidential election and Tinubu’s influence/stature catapulted through the roof. His lackeys went to town, celebrating him as the hero of democracy and “the greatest political strategist to come out of Africa”. Of course you know in this part of the world, it is very easy to be celebrated as a hero no matter the crimes one has committed or continues to commit. Just spread some money around, memories will fade quickly and juries can be bought. However, Tinubu’s summation about the danger Buhari represents has proved so prophetic that I am just in disbelief how precise and forthright he was (forget all those denials). What manner of man recognises danger in all its ramifications and for selfish political ambition leads his people into it with false promises of security? Now we can’t sleep anymore with our eyes closed. We can’t travel by road anymore. What about Tinubu? He flies his private jets. While things are tough for you and me, Tinubu is enjoying his

Tinubu best moment ever. As herdsmen are killing your neighbours and burning down their homes, he (Tinubu) is safe in his house. He is even building another palatial palace in Ikoyi, that straddles between Bourdillon and Queen’s Drive, a mansion like no other. Never forget that it was Tinubu who brought Buhari and led the repackaging and rebranding of the man to make him president. So he bears direct responsibility for the complete failure of leadership our country is experiencing today on Buhari’s watch. Everyone kidnapped or killed, every woman or girl raped by the bandits or herdsmen, wherever, however, Tinubu shares part of the blame, let no one deceive you. He told us Buhari was capable of leading this country in a progressive way. He assured Nigerians that Buhari was the man to fix this land and clean up the ‘mess’ that then President Goodluck Jonathan and his team had created. He and his All Progressives Congress (APC) apparatchiks rewrote the man’s history and achievements in superlative terms and presented him as a saviour who was coming to right all wrongs, rebuild and restore the glory of our fatherland. With that, he successfully hoodwinked a gullible young generation who neither studied history nor learned any lessons from the past to fall over each other to support a man they barely knew, whom he had once described and rightly so, as a tribalist and an agent of destabilisation. Today, the catastrophic consequences of his false narrative that propelled Buhari to office are self-evident for all to see. Indeed, his depiction of Buhari as a tribalist, a religious fanatic and an ethnic bigot was on the money. The president’s six years in office have proved Tinubu right in every material sense. It is no longer a matter of debate or conjecture or some distant allusion based on hate that on the president’s watch, the country is broken and more divided than at any time in its chequered history. The level of lawlessness and the general insecurity across the country today are indescribable. All manner of terror franchises have turned our natural pristine forests into safe havens for their most heinous activities, while the government looks on in complete surrender. Many lives and properties have needlessly been lost due to Buhari’s poor leadership. I am curious to know what Tinubu’s campaign would be like? Whose mess is he coming to clean, Buhari’s or Jonathan’s? Can anyone help me out? Now, how can the man who foisted this calamity on the nation be the one to succeed him? How can any sane human being be promoting Tinubu for president? It is annoying that many educated persons are

behaving like dimwits by supporting a man who at the very least should be crawling on his knees to every household in this famished land of our fathers, begging for forgiveness from Nigerians for the tragedy he has brought upon them and their country. For God’s sake, how can Tinubu replace Buhari? What manner of people are we? Are we so cursed as a people that we keep groping in the dark for solutions to our problems? I know that the godfather of propaganda himself is about to unleash another round of propaganda, half-truths and lies on our country. But we must be vigilant and resist propaganda this time. The thinking, I presume, is that if propaganda did it for Buhari, why not for Tinubu? I fervently pray that his presidential ambition ends in smoke but I am not so unmindful of the fact that Nigerians are smart people, but with a history of foolish choices. Rewarding someone who foisted this tragedy on our country and who has not been able to keep his hand out of the Lagos cookie jar since 1999 with the presidency would amount to handing over to him a bigger cookie jar to do as he pleases. That will be a total surrender to the whims and caprices of someone whose deception doubles his appetite for primitive wealth acquisition. Imagine for a moment what will happen to NNPC, Customs, Federal Inland Revenue Service, etc. If I may ask, what on earth does Tinubu now stand for? On what endearing value would he stand for election that you are willing to risk the future of your children in his hands? He has since jettisoned those things that he used to champion; namely, restructuring or fiscal federalism to make the country work better for all its components parts, state police, free, fair and transparent elections, etc, all for a seat at the table of those with their foot on our neck. Talking about elections, they are only free and fair when his party wins. He celebrated and praised the daylight robbery that happened in the Osun gubernatorial election and the one that returned his new ally, Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano to office. Still on free and fair elections, many won’t forget in a hurry how in the 2019 presidential election, thugs of the APC targeted areas in Lagos they suspected would vote for the candidate of the opposition party and actively prevented them from voting. In the process, ballot boxes were openly destroyed by them, all in an effort to minimise the performance of the opposition candidate. The so-called great political strategist didn’t realise that the thugs were hurting Lagos’ overall voting relevance? Nor can one forget that in the run-up to the governorship election in 2019,

Nigerians from a certain ethnic group and their businesses were threatened by APC’s thugs in Lagos, leading to voter apathy in the election proper and a shoo-in for Tinubu’s chosen candidate (we are waiting to see how he will deny him a second term ticket). If Tinubu and his acolytes could get away with such electoral malfeasance at the state level, one can only imagine what he would replicate on the national stage, if given the chance. The truth is, in a free and fair election in Lagos, Tinubu would lose scandalously. Everything about the man Tinubu is doubtful and questionable. From the secondary school he claimed to have attended to other educational attainments, his state of origin, identity of his parents, to even his actual age, doubts and questions persist. Added to all these are his past misdeeds in the United States of America. What kind of person is that? In Lagos where he must be obeyed years after he left office as a governor, Tinubu has ensured he continues to draw from the treasury, courtesy of a nebulous and fraudulent pension law for ex-governors and their deputies. An ex-governor is now entitled to a house in Lagos, another in Abuja, cars, security, aides, paid medical expenses, full salary and allowances, all at the state’s expense. That law was rushed through the legislature in the closing months of his eight years in office. Unfortunately, eligibility to benefit from the law started with Tinubu. Alhaji Lateef Jakande, the first Executive Governor of Lagos State, the epitome of service, a visionary par excellence, the true father of modern Lagos was ineligible to draw from that pension law. Lagos under Tinubu was the first state to pass such a law in the country. With his bad example, others states followed suit. Is this the man you want to be your president? God forbid! In his eulogy to the late Jakande, he claimed he tried to walk in his spirit. How deceptive can this man not be? The late Alhaji Jakande didn’t live in a grandiose mansion in Ikoyi, or on Victoria Island even though he served as governor. He was not a moneybag or bullion-van politician like Tinubu, no one ever saw bullion vans ferrying cash into his house on the eve of a presidential election. He neither owned millions of pounds to sponsor candidates for elections, nor private jets after occupying public office. Jakande didn’t award contracts to companies he had interests in as a sitting governor. He didn’t have bulletproof high-end SUVs; he didn’t drive around in a convoy of glittering cars, no shrieking sirens to scare people off the road, no security escorts. His security and safety were in the hands of the people he once served, his neighbours were his companions. Until his death, he lived in a nondescript single-storey building in Ilupeju, among the ordinary people. He was a true hero, unsung by the vocal minority who make heroes and statesmen of villains like Tinubu. Unfortunately, our country doesn’t have men of conscience anymore. A cadre of old hacks and grifters is being lionized as Nigeria’s hope of redemption. A motley assortment of shady characters and activists is assaulting our sensibilities with warped new values. They take no prisoners and deodorise the manifest flaws of characters they crown heroes. There is a saying in the land of my fathers: “If you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.” Anyone who viewed the video of Tinubu at the Kano airport recently would definitely have noticed the sluggishness in his gait. Are those rooting for Tinubu saying they hate this country so much that they would prefer we move from one sick, broken man to another with a history of running abroad for medical treatment? We must be vigilant and respond decisively to his deodorised profiles so as not to repeat history. This is a clarion call to Nigerians to reject Tinubu and his presidential ambition because he has failed the personal attributes test of the president Nigeria needs. He is not even remotely charismatic, neither does he possess the gift of oratory to mesmerize the people. We want a leader who can express himself in a lucid manner, not one who mumbles and muddles up well-written speeches. We yearn for a leader who feels our pain and who understands that public office is a call to serve, not one who views it as an opportunity to appropriate state resources, and award contracts to companies he has interests in, or to have his hand in the cookie jar. We must reject Tinubu today, tomorrow and always, and state unequivocally that Nigeria is not Lagos.

FRIDAY APRIL 9, 2021 ˾ T H I S D AY

FRIDAYSPORTS

Group Sports Editor Duro Ikhazuagbe Email duro.ikhazuagbe@thisdaylive.com 0811 181 3083 SMS ONLY

EDO 2020: Presidency Intervenes, Saves NSF from Cancellation Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City

After the furore generated by the Edo State Government’s threat to shut down the ongoing 20th National Sports Festival in Benin City if the counterpart funding expected from the Federal Government was not released by noon yesterday, President Muhammadu Buhari is believed to have intervened in the matter. On Wednesday night, the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the festival headed by Deputy Governor of the state, Philip Shaibu, issued a statement that it could no longer go ahead with picking all the bills in connection with the hosting and that if by Thursday afternoon the state government did not receive the promised funds from Abuja, it was going to end the festival abruptly. That threat was restated yesterday with an additional 24 hours extension to Friday afternoon before calling off the hosting.

The Deputy Governor addressed a press conference where he insisted that all the state was hearing from the Sports Minister, Sunday Dare, were promises. He revealed threats by its vendors who are yet to get paid for their services to shut down the festival. He stressed further: “It took the grace of God for the traders not to shut down. Other vendors are threatening to shut down and hence the LOC will have no choice but to shut down the 20th National Sports Festival if we don’t get full commitment from the federal government by noon tomorrow.” “ We keep hearing that there is approval from Abuja but we don’t know how much is the money and when it will be released so that we can approach a bank to get a facility to complete the festival,” Rt. Hon. Shaibu informed reporters at the press briefing. Edo carried out the threat first by shutting down all activities at the Main Organising Committee

(MOC) and placed the secretariat under lockdown. However, with most of the athletes gripped with fears of going back to their respective states without competing in their events, the Presidency in Abuja was reported to have given a commitment of N500million to Edo State to cushion the effects of the hosting jacked up by the many postponements due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Project Manager, Media and Communications of Edo 2020, Musa Ebomhiana later yesterday issued a statement to reassure all participants that the Presidency had intervened with a commitment without giving the figure. THISDAY however learnt that the promised counterpart funding was to the tune of N500million. “The Local Organising

Committee, LOC, Edo2020 has just risen from another emergency meeting to review the Presidential intervention over financial crisis threatening the National Sports Festival. “At the end of the meeting presided over by the Chairman/ Deputy Governor, Edo State, Rt. Hon. Comrade Philip Shaibu, the LOC decided that the games have to continue. “The LOC agreed that the

Presidential intervention is a very strong and direct commitment which we must all respect, honour and take seriously. “We strongly believe and respect commitments from the Presidency. We take them by their words. It’s a strong message to us that they are strongly committed to redeeming their pledge to support us for the loses suffered arising from the three postponements of the games.

Chess: Blessing Davies Rescues Edo from Defeat against Delta

Femi Solaja

The much anticipated traditional rivalry between hosts Edo and defending champions Delta yesterday in chess ended in a stalemate as ‘The Heart Beat of the Nation’ was denied a team event win by Edo player, Blessing Davies in the female event at the Banquet Hall of the University of Benin. Top Nigeria star, Ofowino Toritsemuisa set the tone with a win against Hope Amadasun on board one for Delta but young Bridget Michael even the score for Edo as she outwitted her opponent Chemede Diachebe in the black side of Gugipiano opening. Michael took advantage of her opponent’s desire for a pawn sacrifice for positional play but met a witty chess queen who had a better middle play advantage and took the match to end play and won after 65 moves. Queen Princewill was tactical in positional play

as she edged Delta in the lead again with her win over veteran player, Vivian Dzaayem on board four. Princewill opted for a ‘discovered check’ against the Edo player and lost her queen in the process before a ruthless finish on move 35. However, Davies rescued the host from defeat with her win on board two against Hafsat Bello-Osagie in the third round of the Nineround Swiss event format win, a classical victory to the delightment of many chess enthusiasts from Edo. The score leaves Delta on top place in the team event while host Edo will continue with the catch-up game when the round four pairing comes out this morning. Plays were still on-going in the male section with Edo, Delta, Oyo, Bayelsa and Ogun all in battle for the top position. The blitz event will commence from tomorrow with 18 medals in contention for all the participating states.

North East Elite Basketball Camp to Dunk off Today The maiden edition of the North East Elite Basketball Camp 2021 will dunk off from today, 9th April through 11th April, 2021 at the Indoor Sports Hall of Gombe Stadium in Gombe State. The camp which is sponsored by two nongovernmental organizations, Adamu Yola Foundation and Jordan Nwora Foundation will see 60 boys and 40 girls from the North East region sweating it out on the courts

for the next three days. FIBA Instructors Alex Nwora and Nick Sepe with Natosha Cummings-Price (Head, Women’s Basketball & Assistant Men’s Coach, Eriee Community College) will team up with Cameroonian Head Coach, Lazare Adingone to engage campers and help them improve their skills set. The programme is aimed at grassroots development while affording exceptional talents the opportunity of overseas scholarships.

Edo State female cyclists at the ﬂag oﬀ of the Team Time Trials of the cycling event of the ongoing National Sports Festival in Benin City... yesterday

Cycling: Edo, Bayelsa Win Team Time Trials Gold Medals Edo and Bayelsa states have shared the gold medals at stake in the Team Time Trials event of the cycling events of the ongoing National Sports Festival decided early Thursday on Irhirhi Road in the outskirts of Benin City. The Edo women’s quartet team led Tombrapa Grikpa finished the 10km race in a time

of 12mins, 02.14secs to win the gold medal. Their closest rival and sister state, Delta with Ese Ukpereseraye as the pivot settled for the silver when they returned in a time of 12mins, 16.48secs. Oyo State quartet which had Joke Durogbade as lead rider finished in a time of 12mins,

42.36secs to pick the bronze ahead of Plateau State. The men’s gold was won by Bayelsa State propelled by Caleb Kalizibe. They clocked 10mins, 25.99secs ahead of Delta State which settled for silver after returning in a time of 10mins, 29.42secs. Edo finished third among 16

participating states to pick the bronze. They clocked 10mins, 29.49secs. So far in the nine events decided after five days of competition, hosts Edo, defending champions Delta and Bayelsa have three gold medals each but Edo leads the pack having won more silver medals.

Ex-Eagles Take on Comedy Stars in Celebration of Oba Elegushi’s Birthday One of the prominent monarchs in Lagos, Oba Saheed Elegushi of Ikate kingdom is to celebrate his birthday and 11th year anniversary of his coronation with two sporting events this weekend. In a statement signed from the palace by the monarch’s special assistant on public affairs, Temitope Oyefeso, stated that a novelty football match, tagged ‘Elegushi Peace Cup’ will hold at the Campos

Mini Stadium on Lagos Island and also the inaugural Oba Elegushi Golf Tournament is to tee off at the Ikoyi Golf course. The two-in-one event is scheduled take place today, Friday 9th of April 2021. Some of the ex internationals already on the team list include; Nwankwo Kanu, Tijani Babangida, Victor Ikpeba and Garba Lawal. The likes of Zlatan, Sexy Steel, Flavour, Patoranking are to represent

Team Music while Nollywood Team will have the likes of Fred Amata. IK Ogboona, Bolanle Ninalowo, Ijebu, Osita Iheme. Top Nigerian Comedy stars like Ayo Makun, Seyi Law, Bovi, Akpororo and others have been listed for the novelty game. In similar fashion, over 100 golfers from different golf clubs across the county have registered to participate at the maiden golf tournament. The

golf tournament is personal to the celebrant, Oba Elegushi, who is also a golfer and an active member of the Ikoyi Golf Club. He also plays at different courses within and outside Nigeria. Oba Saheed Elegushi, who is the 21st monarch of Ikate-Elegushi kingdom was born on the 10th of April 1976 and ascended the throne of his ancestors on the 27th of April 2010.

A C C E S S L A G O S M A R AT H O N

Elite Athletes to Speak on Expectations for the 2021 Edition Today The organisers of the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon will hold a world press conference today to herald the sixth edition of the World Athletics Silver Label Race. In a statement issued by Head of Communication and Media, Olukayode Thomas, the world press conference which will have in attendance the top elite runners

from across the world will hold at the Molade Okoya Thomas Hall at the Teslim Balogun Stadium. Thomas explained that only 25 journalists will be attending today’s event due to the strict protocols for Covid-19 spelt out by the NDDC as well as the Lagos State Safety Commission. “Yes, the stage is set for the

World Press Conference on Friday, all our elite runners from across the world are here already and are looking forward to the race “Sincerely, we would have loved to have all our media friends in attendance but due to the strict protocols given us by the Lagos State Sports Commission and even the NDDC, only 25 journalists

across the media platforms will be in for the press conference” Now in its sixth edition, the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon, the biggest one-day event in Africa usually attracts over 100,000 runners but the number has been reduced to just 300 runners for the 2021 edition.

Friday April 9, 2021

Book Your COVID-19 Tests & Vaccinations TEXT

‘COVID’ TO 58123

This service is provided in association with accredited service providers

UT H

& RE A SO

MISSILE

El-Rufai to Federal Government

“This country does not have enough soldiers, uniformed police and secret police to project state power across its vast swathes, particularly the forests.” – Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai’s speech at a Town Hall meeting organised by the federal government in Kaduna.

SHAKAMOMODU THIS REPUBLIC

Price: N250

shaka.momodu@thisdaylive.com

0811 266 1654

Tinubu: Nigeria is Not Lagos (I) “In Japan, a corrupt person kills himself. In China, they will kill him. In Europe they will jail him. In Africa, he will present himself for election.” Anonymous

ormer President Olusegun Obasanjo once said that Nigeria is the only country where if you catch a thief red-handed, the thief will be the first to drag you to court. The above quote whose real author I couldn’t establish and Obasanjo’s characterisation of the Nigerian thief are spot on and speak to the Nigerian conundrum. The fact is that no one has captured the reality of Africa’s leadership challenge better than the two. Nothing depicts the tragedy of Africa, particularly Nigeria, more than the above quote. It tells the story of how Africans have underdeveloped Africa. Nigeria which was long thought of as the hope of Africa, has unfortunately stuttered miserably. Hope increasingly looks like a distant illusion for the so-called Giant of Africa. A once promising nation has been subdued and scorched by a succession of bad leaders and their aspiring successors. It has witnessed the rise of tribal lords, religious fundamentalists, corrupt and amoral persons elevated to positions of power and authority to chat the destiny of their people, and unfortunately celebrated by the people. The tragic consequence is a nation heading to the brink of disaster. There is an old saying in the land of my fathers: “If you fill your mouth with broken bottles, you will spit blood.” Nigeria has been spitting blood since it allowed men with a violent heritage to fill its leadership positions. Frankly, our politicians’ understanding of democracy is threatening the security of lives and properties as well as the corporate existence of the country. Our so-called democracy has witnessed the rise of godfathers, whose sense of public office and purpose of governance is sharing public money and appropriating public property for personal use, creating gangs of armed thugs and militia armies to rig elections in order to perpetuate themselves or proxies in power. National interests are being undermined by tribal and religious affinity. To rub salt into the wound, many of the aspiring candidates for the different elective positions to replace the current crop of extremely selfish and bad leaders, or names being bandied about in the media as President Muhammadu Buhari’s possible replacement are not only unsuitable for public office, they embody the worst vices that any decent society with the desire to make progress should ordinarily strive to exorcise from its governance system to secure the future of the next generation. But here, many people celebrate and revere them for their incompetence and criminal pillaging of the state’s resources. People who should ordinarily be serving long prison terms or would have paid the ultimate price for corruption in saner societies are the ones jumping around, aspiring to be president, governors, lawmakers and local

Tinubu government chairmen. How can our country make progress with these sorts of people as leaders? Now, let’s go to the main focus of this write-up which is about former Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s overbearing influence and corruption – the big elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about. It’s an open secret that the former governor of Lagos State and strongman of Lagos politics, Bola Tinubu is interested in contesting the 2023 presidential election. For sometime now, the debate about his suitability for the position has dominated the public space. Even though he is yet to formally declare his intention to run, his body language has given sufficient indication that he is actively planning and preparing to seek the ultimate office in the land. Planning committees and contact groups have been set up across all zones in the country to advance that purpose. And he has been unusually careful not to intervene in burning national issues for fear of giving the all-powerful cabal the ammunition to block his candidacy or where he decides to speak, you come away with the impression of someone who has lost his testicles to his frenemies. What started as whispers, seen then as an unlikely possibility and perhaps, a mere intent to grandstand and dramatise without substance has swelled into staggering noisy stridency of voices of many recruits whose only interest is the cash windfall to harvest from what promises to be a massively funded presidential campaign, that is sure to come their way. Tinubu knows the power of money, and equally understands human frailty. In the last 22 years, he has amassed prodigious wealth by virtue of holding public office and continues to control the levers of power in Lagos State despite being out of office since 2007. He decides who gets what. He is rich, very rich, he even boasts of his massive wealth, owns two brand new private jets, pours millions of pounds into the governorship aspirations of candidates, yet no one can point to any legitimate means of income that generates that kind of wealth. No one knows how

much taxes he pays to the state and federal governments. Various businesses have been associated with him and his allies but a cloud of secrecy hangs over his links to the businesses - businesses clearly established with a corrupt intent, or a product of abuse of public office and trust. For those who hide behind a finger to ask for evidence of Tinubu’s corruption, the erstwhile Managing Director of Alpha Beta, the Lagos State controversial consultant on IGR, Mr. Dapo Apara’s petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) through the law firm, Adetunji Shoyoye and Associates, is your answer. It’s about the illegal activities taking place in Alpha Beta Consulting, one of the firms associated with Tinubu. Alpha Beta has held the exclusive franchise for revenue collection for Lagos State Government for nearly 19 years. Recall that Tinubu was in office when he awarded the contract to Alpha Beta, a company he had and still has interest in (held for him by proxies), to be the sole revenue collector for the Lagos State government. There was no competitive bidding for that contract. The current Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, a Professor of Law, was his Attorney General then. He must have seen that contract and must have known that it was a pure act of corruption. Mr. Apara stated in his petition to the EFCC that Alpha Beta has been an IGR consultant to Lagos State since 2002, earning about 10% of whatever it collects for the state. He accused the firm of corruption, tax evasion and money laundering, among other things. He said the company had failed to pay taxes in the sum of N100 billion. What did EFCC do? It simply allowed the petition from no other person than a former managing director of the firm to gather dust on its shelf. And seeing that nothing was done, the firm has continued its nefarious activities till this day. Long before Apara’s bombshell, precisely in 2006, then Chairman of the EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu at a plenary session of the Senate specifically highlighted Tinubu’s corruption as one that had “international dimension”. With such questionable financial dealings which have earned him prodigious wealth and the political power he wields over governance in Lagos in over two decades, he has held steady the loyalty of a horde of fanatical supporters, effectively using this to infuse his political base and spread his influence to other Southwest states. Not done with his material possession that has nearly crippled Lagos, he now wants to be president of Nigeria. What temerity! As much as I have tried to understand the rationale behind peoples’ support for this fellow, to the extent of enlisting the services of behavioural experts and social anthropologists, there is still a part of me that is at a loss to understand why otherwise educated and enlightened people are queuing behind his ambition to govern Nigeria despite knowing about his atrocities in Lagos and his vast unexplained wealth. Are these people saying to the rest of us that are not falling head over heels with his ambition that it is okay for one man to

maintain such a totalitarian control over Lagos State and illegally appropriate public resources the way he is doing? Are they saying corruption by others is condemnable while Tinubu’s own is tolerable? Are these people saying it is okay for him and his children to be running a parallel government in Lagos State? Indeed, he has been running a parallel government since he left office - he determines who becomes governor, lawmaker, senator, council chairman and even who gets government’s contracts. As a matter of fact, he determines what goes and what does not go. He has a finger in every pie in the state. After the death of his mother, Chief Abibatu Mogaji who was the PresidentGeneral of the Association of Commodity Market Women and Men of Nigeria, Tinubu arbitrarily and single-handedly appointed and imposed on the traders his own daughter, Folashade Tinubu-Ojo as her successor. He truncated the process of the traders to elect someone among themselves. His daughter never had a shop in any market prior to her appointment by her father as reported then. Who does that? Can anyone tell me where Tinubu derived such authority as a former governor to unilaterally make that controversial appointment? Anyone with well-tuned political antennae would have known that the motivation was to grab and maintain political sway, and had nothing to do with making the association better. It is all about the huge revenue generated from levies arbitrarily imposed and forcefully collected from market traders for which there is no accounting. The money doesn’t go into maintaining the markets or to the state government, but to wet the ravenous appetite of an overbearing godfather. It is also about ensuring that traders in Lagos continue to vote for him and his chosen candidates, knowing full well that traders in the informal sector and members of their families constitute a major political demographic in a state like Lagos. His son, Seyi Tinubu now bestrides the Lagos landscape like the lord of the manor. His presence anywhere in the city sends shivers down the spine of many a government official. Like his father, he gets what he wants. His Loatsad Promedia and E-motion outdoor companies have total control of outdoor signage on most lucrative routes, viz. Lekki-Ajah and Epe axis, Falomo and Bourdillon areas of Ikoyi on the Lagos Island, Third Mainland bridge, Murtala Mohammed International Airport road, etc. The implication is anyone wanting to advertise on billboards on the routes he now controls has to go through this rookie practitioner with doubtful certification from regulatory agencies. His only pedigree in the field is his father’s chokehold on Lagos. For a guy that made his debut in advertising four or five years ago to have risen so fast to pull off such a feat speaks to Tinubu’s overbearing political influence. Today, Seyi enjoys unfair advantage over other operators in the industry but who is Seyi without his father who in a state Continued on page 46

Printed and Published in Lagos by THISDAY Newspapers Limited. Lagos: 35 Creek Road, Apapa, Lagos. Abuja: Plot 1, Sector Centre B, Jabi Business District, Solomon Lar Way, Jabi North East, Abuja . All Correspondence to POBox 54749, Ikoyi, Lagos. EMAIL: editor@thisdaylive.com, info@thisdaylive.com. TELEPHONE Lagos: 0802 2924721-2, 08022924485. Abuja: Tel: 08155555292, 08155555929 24/7 ADVERTISING HOT LINES: 0811 181 3085 0811 181 3086, 0811 181 3087, 0811 181 3088, 0811 181 3089, 0811 181 3090. ENQUIRIES & BOOKING: adsbooking@thisdaylive.com