SUNDAY 26TH JULY 2020

Buhari: $25bn Annual Diaspora Remittance Exceeds 80% of Yearly Budget Says it constitutes 6.0% of Nigeria's GDP Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday declared that the $25 billion annual remittance by Nigerians in the diaspora was more than 80 per cent of the

country's annual budget and formed about six per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Buhari disclosed this in a video message in commemoration of this year’s Diaspora Day, observed on

July 25 every year.

The president said home remittances by Nigerians abroad had in the last three years exceeded $25 billion annually.

According to a statement

by Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, Buhari appealed to Nigerians in the diaspora to support the country's post-COVID-19 economic recovery effort. He

implored them not to abandon their country in this time of global challenge. He said the annual home remittance by citizens abroad had aided productivity in various sectors of the country, and pointed

out that the remittances had been rated as the highest in sub-Saharan Africa.

The president said Nigerians in the diaspora should assist Continued on page 10

FG Saves $400m from Fuel Subsidy Removal, Says NNPC GMD…Page 10 Sunday 26 July, 2020 Vol 25. No 9239

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Magu Faces Questions over Assets Declaration Panel investigates alleged failure to account for recovered NNPC billions Allegedly excluded names of approving authorities in the misapplication of N3bn in FIRS trial Alleged to have victimised agency’s zonal head for working on a whistleblower’s lead Olawale Olaleye There are strong indications that the Presidential Investigative Panel headed by former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami, may be focusing attention on

the assets declaration of the suspended acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu. As early indications appear to show he may not have fully declared his assets if he declared one

at all contrary to law in the form submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).

Magu, who is being investigated for official malfeasance and fraud was allegedly said to have admitted on record to making false

assets declaration, THISDAY has learnt.

President Muhammadu Buhari had set up the panel to investigate various allegations of wrongdoing, including insubordination, failure to properly account

for recovered assets, abuse of office, and other corrupt acts levelled against him by the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mallam Abubakar Malami, SAN. The panel's ivestigation

of Magu is continuing in the precincts of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

The suspended EFCC chief had earlier been arrested and detained for 10 days before Continued on page 8

Buhari Mourns AbduRazaq, Says One of Nigeria’s Greatest Legal Minds is Gone Torrents of tributes as first northern lawyer is buried Lawan, Gbajabiamila, Saraki, Tinubu, governors, others pay homage Hammed Shittu in Ilorin, Adedayo Akinwale, Udora Orizu in Abuja and Segun Awofadeji in Gombe President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, joined millions of Nigerians to mourn the passing of Alhaji AbdulGaniyu Folorunsho AbdulRazaq, SAN, Northern Nigeria’s first lawyer and father of the Kwara State Governor, Abdulrahman

AbdulRazaq, who passed on at the age of 93 years in Abuja, the nation’s capital, saying the nation has lost one of her greatest legal minds.

In his tribute to the late First Republic Minister, Parliamentarian, pioneer Commissioner of Finance, Kwara State and until his passing, Matawali of Ilorin and Tafidan Zazzau (Zaria), Continued on page 10

Tambuwal: I Taught Obaseki How to Demobilise Edo Godfathers... Page 58

FAREWELL FATHER...

L-R: Eldest son of late AbdulRazaq, Dr Alimi AbdulRazaq; Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq; and Speaker House of Representatives Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila; at the Ilorin Airport to receive the body of the late AGF AbdulRazaq SAN who was buried yesterday at his IDi-Igba family house in Ilorin according to Islamic rites.

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OBASEKI FLAGS OFF CAMPAIGN...

Edo State Governor and PDP governorship candidate for the September 19, 2020 gubernatorial election, Mr. Godwin Obaseki (waving the PDP’s flag) after receiving the party’s flag at the flag-off of his campaign for the September 19, 2020 gubernatorial election, at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City...yesterday

MAGU FACES QUESTIONS OVER ASSETS DECLARATION he was released. According to a competent source privy to the investigation, the suspended chairman has now been availed opportunity to respond to more damning evidence against him before the investigative panel. After opening his defence last Monday, it was not immediately clear if he continued throughout the week as initially scheduled since he was said to have complained of not having the full scope of petitions against him.

It would be recalled that days after Magu was released from detention, a presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, told Nigerians, while fielding questions on a national television, to be prepared for more surprises from Magu’s investigation.

Shehu had said, “I am not going to pre-empt the panel investigation but I just advise Nigerians to hold their hearts in their hands. By the time they are done with this job and they come out with the reports, prepare yourselves for surprises.

“I don’t know what will come out but if the sense we are getting from what is being done over there is anything to go by, I think that Nigerians should not be confused by any outbursts by anybody.”

Magu's lawyers have, since put up a strident defence of their client to counter some of the allegations against him.

THISDAY gathered at the weekend that the former EFCC boss allegedly admitted to making false assets declaration after the panel confronted him with evidence uncovered by the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB). THISDAY source said Magu was found to have deliberately omitted, failed or neglected to fully declare his asset in banks in the assets declaration form he submitted or the subsequent updates.

Apparently shocked by the discovery, the source declared to THISDAY, “Can you imagine that Magu did not fully declare his assets while he was busy chasing

others for similar breaches.

He even admitted to not declaring his accounts in the asset declaration form he filled and returned to CCB. This is now a clearly established fact on record before the panel.”

Magu's alleged false assets declaration and the admission if true, would be a cruel irony to his public posture. As acting chairman of EFCC, his investigations of false assets declaration had ruined the careers of many high-profile public officials, who failed to properly and fully declare their assets. Such inquests had formed part of the charges against the erring officials at either the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) or regular courts. While Magu was leading some of those investigations, astoundingly, he was himself guilty of the same offence, at least going by his alleged admission of false assets declaration.

Prominent among those felled by the false assets declaration saga in recent times is the former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen. He was arraigned last year at the CCT on a six-count charge bordering on false assets declaration and convicted on all six counts preferred against him by the federal government. Onnoghen was ordered to forfeit monies found in five bank accounts he failed to declare in his assets declaration form.

The tribunal, in addition, ordered his removal from office and barred him from holding any public office for 10 years. He appealed the verdict, but for over a year now, the Court of Appeal has yet to hear the suit.

Charged also with the offence of false assets declaration was Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, a sitting Justice of the Supreme Court.

Ngwuta was dragged to the tribunal following the discovery of huge sums of money in his house by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) during a 2016 sting operation at the residences of some judges in

Abuja. He was arraigned in February 2017 before the CCT on an eight-count charge bordering on false assets declaration.

However, following the ruling of the tribunal’s chairman, Mr Danladi Umar, that Ngwuta could not be tried before it without passing through the disciplinary processes of the National Judicial Council (NJC), Ngwuta was cleared of the charges.

Former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, equally got a taste of the bitter pill of false assets declaration trial. The EFCC had in 2015 arraigned Saraki on a 13-count charge of falsely declaring his assets. The government later amended the charges to 16, and then 18. The major dispute was the source of purchase of an Ikoyi, Lagos, property.

But the tribunal later dismissed the suit, because the prosecution could not prove the ingredients of the charge.

At the Court of Appeal, Saraki was asked to answer to three of the 18 charges, but the Supreme Court nullified the decision of the appellate court. Saraki eventually won all the five cases against him, with a recent one returning his Lagos house to him.

Former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu suffered similar fate. The federal government, through the office of the Attorney General of the Federation, in 2018 filed a false declaration of assets charge against Ekweremadu before the CCT. Ekweremadu was said to have failed to disclose the foreign assets in his declarations to the CCB. The alleged properties included, nine in Nigeria, two in the United Kingdom, eight in Dubai, and three in the United States.

Ekweremadu was charged alongside the senator representing Akwa Ibom North-east district, Senator Bassey Akpan. Although the charges were filed at the CCT, they were never arraigned.

A more recent case was that of a former Acting RegistrarGeneral of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Lady Obiageli Azinge. Azinge was in December last year arraigned before the CCT on an 11-count charge of false assets declaration. She was specifically accused of concealing her Naira, Euro and Dollar domiciliary accounts in Access Bank Plc and Standard Chartered Bank. Azinge was also accused of receiving allowances, which she knew she was not entitled to as an Acting Registrar-General of the CAC. She, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

She was granted bail on selfrecognition, but the tribunal ordered her suspension from office pending the determination of the case. The trial is pending at the CCT. Apart from alleged failure to fully comply with the law on assets declaration, the source also alleged that Magu failed to account for the billions purportedly recovered for NNPC: “There is a problem with the money said to have been recovered for NNPC running into billions of Naira, which remains unaccounted for by the EFCC. “So far, Magu has been unable to explain or shed light on the whereabouts of the money. NNPC has yet to receive a single kobo from the EFCC.” Magu, THISDAY learnt, also allegedly failed to properly explain the rationale for leaving out some culprits in the alleged misapplication of N3 billion at the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), when Tunde Fowler was Chairman. The EFCC carried out an investigation into the misapplication of the amount and established the culpability of staff.

The source said, “After a diligent and painstaking review of the evidence, the decision was then reached to charge all those found culpable to court. But instead of following through with that decision, Magu curiously excluded major culprits or

the approving authorities from those presented for trial.

Only lower lever members of staff were put forward for trial.” This, according to the THISDAY source, essentially amounted to a cover-up – an attempt to shield high-level persons clearly culpable in the misapplication of government resources from accountability.

The source, which is privy to the Salami-led presidential panel, alleged that Magu was also grilled about an allegation of persecution of the head of EFCC in Gombe State, who, acting on a whistleblower’s tip-off, had attempted to mount an operation on a location, where identified loot was kept. But this, the source told THISDAY, did not go down well with Magu, who allegedly started to victimise the EFCC zonal head.

“He was suspended, harassed, chased around and his salary stopped.

The zonal head saw an opportunity following Magu’s suspension and subsequent investigation and approached the investigative panel to be allowed a hearing, which the panel obliged,” the source stated.

THISDAY further gathered that the federal government was preparing for a total overhaul of the anticorruption agency, as many of the senior staff had allegedly compromised the trust in the commission and turned it into an avenue for extortion and other forms of corruption.

Most of the senior level cadre are said to have one form of petition or the other against them. “Only a clean sweep and prosecution of all those found culpable will restore confidence to that all-important agency of government,” another source declared to THISDAY.

Powers of CCT to Impose Punishment in Cases of False Assets Declaration (1) Where the Tribunal finds a public officer guilty of contravening any of the

provisions of this Act, it shall impose upon that officer any of the punishments specified under subsection (2) of this section.

(2) The punishment, which the Tribunal may impose, shall include any of the following: (a) Vacation of office or any elective or nominated office, as the case may be; (b) Disqualification from holding any public office (whether elective or not) for a period not exceeding ten years; and (c) Seizure and forfeiture to the State of any property acquired in abuse or corruption of office.

(3) The punishments mentioned in subsection (2) of this section shall be without prejudice to the penalties that may be imposed by any law, where the breach of conduct is also a criminal offence under the Criminal Code or any other enactment or law.

(4) Where the Tribunal gives a decision as to whether or not a person is guilty of a contravention of any of the provisions of this Act, an appeal shall lie as of right from such decision or from any punishment imposed on such person to the Court of Appeal at the instance of any party to the proceedings.

(5) Any right of appeal to the Court of Appeal from the decision of the Tribunal conferred by subsection (4) Of this section shall be exercised in accordance with the provisions of the rules of court for the time being in force regulating the powers, practice and procedure of the Court of Appeal.

(6) Nothing in this section shall prejudice the prosecution of a public officer punished under this section, or preclude such officer from being prosecuted or punished for an offence in a court of law.

(7) The provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, relating to prerogative of mercy, shall not apply to any punishment imposed in accordance with the provisions of this section.

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FG Saves $400m from Fuel Subsidy Removal, Says NNPC GMD Vows to revamp Nigeria’s ailing refineries Obinna Chima The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mallam Mele Kyari has said the federal government was able to save over $400 million following the removal of its fuel subsidy policy in 2020.

The NNPC boss who said this in an exclusive interview with THISDAY, said he does not expect that the policy which had over the years drained the country’s scarce resources would be returned even when crude oil price rebounds.

According to Kyari, the federal government would deploy the amount saved to the development of critical infrastructure in the country.

The federal government in April bowed to long-standing pressure to restructure the downstream segment of the Nigerian oil industry through the removal of fuel subsidy, following the significant drop in the price of crude oil due

to the coronavirus.

The government had said it would no longer be paying for under-recovery or subsidy on petrol.

But shedding more light on the government’s decision, Kyari in the interview with THISDAY said: “As you aware, the Minister of State for Petroleum resources has made policy statement based on presidential directives on the issue of fuel subsidy. Also, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) has issued guidelines on the process for monitoring the pricing of petroleum products in the domestic market going forward.

“My personal view is that subsidy should be removed, and the funds deployed to areas of the economy particularly road infrastructure and education that need funds.

Fuel subsidy is a misallocation of resources and it benefits mainly people who don’t need it; the rich.

“What we need is investment that upgrades the general good

of the society and provide access and opportunity for social mobility for the poor.

I do not foresee the return of subsidy when oil price rebounds. Just by removing subsidy in the 2020 budget, the nation is able to save over $400 million. The savings would be better deployed to education or upgrade of the critical infrastructure in the country.”

According to Kyari, ensuring energy security is one of the cardinal agenda of the President Buhari administration.

Furthermore, he said closely related to energy security was the rehabilitation and expansion of the local refining capacity.

He said the NNPC has continued to support initiatives towards the actualisation of zero import of refined products by 2024, adding that the corporation has adopted a three-pronged strategy. This includes - revamp, restructure and encourage.

“The revamp of the existing

445kbo capacity of NNPC refineries is ongoing with the engagement of world class EPC contractors; to avoid a process gap we are concurrently undertaking a review and restructuring of the business model for these existing refineries.

“To further show our commitment, we are partnering with our existing partners and other interested stakeholders. This support and encouragement is expressed in our support of the Dangote refinery, Waltersmith and the promotion of NNPC condensate refinery project.

“The NNPC condensate refining project expected to add additional 250kbo refining capacity to the NNPC portfolio.

We have a number of interested partners and hope to make announcement on the Final Investment decision and project delivery timeline soon,” the NNPC GMD added.

According to Kyari, the NNPC is looking at different options that would deliver value for stakeholders and

improve the performance or efficiency of the country’s refineries. The options he listed to include third party operational and maintenance model; long-term lease or a joint venture model similar to the structure obtainable today at the Nigeria LNG. He, however, pointed out that irrespective of the form model adopted, the overriding interest would be to assure autonomy for refinery, embrace world class management and management practices and ensure value delivery to shareholders.

He emphasised that the corporation was determined to move away from any process or structure that does not deliver value or leads to an outcome not significantly different from the current state.

“I am determined to ensure that the refineries are brought back to their nameplate capacities,” he maintained.

Commenting on his medium-term projection for crude oil price, the GMD said: “at the fundamental level,

oil price determination is an interplay of demand and supply dynamics. However, sentiments or speculative behavior also influences prices.

Since COVID-19 began, we have seen crude demand drop from 100 million per day to below 80 million per day, while supply exceeded this threshold hence the collapse in prices.

“As activities return, demand returns, however given that supply has been extinguished in some of the production centers particularly shale in the US and curtailment by OPEC. “The expectation going into the next quarter with easing of lockdown across the globe is that supply would lag demand, and this would generally support price recovery. The recovery would be strong barring any third or fourth wave of infection. So, within the medium term, I expect that crude oil prices would trade between $50-70/bbl.”

engaging in its development.”

According to the statement, Chief Executive Officer of NiDCOM, Mrs.Abike Dabiri-Erewa, who spoke on the theme of this year’s celebration, “Leveraging Diaspora Resources for National Development in a COVID-19 Era," said the focus of the 2020 celebration was a reflection of the mandate of NiDCOM and what the agency had achieved since its advent.

Dabiri-Erewa said, “Since its establishment a year ago,

the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission has a lot to celebrate. This is because the passion and consistency that saw to the establishment of the commission have been maintained and sustained.

"The activities we have executed, those on-going, and the ones that are yet to take off are all definitive, of the theme. Our interaction today is expected to mobilise you to key into some of the programmes and chart improved or better ways on how to achieve them.”

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BUHARI: $25BN ANNUAL DIASPORA REMITTANCE EXCEEDS 80% OF YEARLY BUDGET in rescuing the country from the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The statement quoted Buhari as saying, “Over the past three years, Nigerians in the diaspora have brought in over $25 billion annually as home remittances to the Nigerian economy through official and non-formal channels. This is about six per cent of our annual GDP and upwards of 80 per cent of our annual budget. This has impacted on livelihoods of Nigerians

in terms of education, health, housing and estate development, industry, trade and investments, agriculture and technology/skills transfer.

“In terms of diaspora home remittances, Nigeria is rated as number one in sub-Saharan Africa and this is still growing, especially, with the advocacy and mobilisation programmes of the newly established Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM).

“Nigerians in diaspora are also known to be engaged

in skill transfer in ICT and industry. They are also active in our universities as lecturers, and in carrying out medical missions. It is, therefore, my sincere hope that even with the depressed economy under stress in the year 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Nigerians in the diaspora will rise up to the occasion of not abandoning their country of origin, but be active in our Post-COVID-19 economic recovery efforts.”

Buhari was also said

to have told participants from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania at the webinar event that his three-point agenda for Nigerians in the diaspora had not changed, as he proceeded to list the agenda: “You are our Ambassadorsat-large by your behaviour and character in your host countries.

“Whatever legitimate endeavour you choose, you must excel and be the best.

“Do not forget home, Nigeria, by giving back and

BUHARI MOURNS ABDURAZAQ, SAYS ONE OF NIGERIA’S GREATEST LEGAL MINDS IS GONE Buhari said he was highly saddened by news of the demise of the statesman and outstanding parliamentarian of his time.

“We will remember him as one of this country’s greatest legal minds and a national leader. He garnered respect that transcended our barriers visible and otherwise. His enormous contribution to the welfare of the people of his community, Kwara State and the country as a whole will serve to inspire future generations of our citizens.

“Whenever our Nation loses an elder in the class of Alhaji AbdulRazaq, it should serve as a moment of reflection on how the lives they lived and their sacrifices built the foundation of what we must continue to strengthen.

“On behalf of my family, the government and people of our nation, I extend our heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the Governor of Kwara – Alhaji Abdulrahaman AbdulRazaq and his family, His Highness, Emir Sulu Gambari of Ilorin, and the people of Kwara State.

We pray for the eternal peace of his soul,” the president said.

Meanwhile, torrents of tributes, yesterday, enveloped Kwara State’s socio-political milieu as the late Abdurazaq, who died at the age of 93, in Abuja, the nation’s capital, was buried.

The late AbdulRazaq, who was the Mutawali of Ilorin,

Tafida of Zazzau (Zaria) and Chairman of the Nigerian Body of Benchers, reportedly died peacefully at about 2am Saturday in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

A statement by Dr. Alimi AbdulRazaq on behalf of the family, announced the passing of the patriarch of the AbdulRazaq family.

"With total submission to the will of the Almighty Allah, the AbdulRazaqs of Ilorin Emirate of Kwara State hereby announce the passing of their patriarch and statesman, Alhaji AbdulGaniyu Folorunsho Abdul-Razaq SAN (OFR) at the age of 93 in Abuja and was born in 1927.

"The Mutawali of Ilorin and Tafida of Zazzau(Zaria), who was Chairman of the Nigerian Body of Benchers, died peacefully at about 2am on Saturday, July 25th, 2020 (the 4th day of Dhul-Hijjah 1441 AH.) "The first lawyer from the Northern Region is survived by his 90-year-old wife Alhaja Raliat AbdulRazaq, illustrious children (including incumbent Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq), and grandchildren,” the first statement added.

In yet another statement, also by Dr. Alimi AbdulRazaq, the family, while announcing the burial plans, said it would be strictly a family affair and low-key event and therefore appealed to members of the

public to respect their wish in the collective interest of everybody and in view of the current Covid-19 pandemic.

"We are overwhelmed by the outpouring of love, emotions, and prayers that have greeted the passing of our patriarch AGF AbdulRazaq SAN (OFR).

As a Muslim, the patriarch will be buried today (yesterday) in Ilorin.

"Given his stature as a national icon and a man of the people, the family understands that many people may want to witness the historic moment of his burial rites. However, we wish to make the burial strictly a family affair, because of the current mood of the world, which calls for physical distancing.

"We appeal to members of the public to please respect this wish in the collective interest of everybody. Those who want to have a feel of the moment may however join the funeral rites through live commentary on Radio Kwara 99.1FM." The remains of the elder statesman were however interred at his Idi-Igba family house in Ilorin, Kwara State capital, in accordance with Islamic traditions on Saturday.

The Janaazah was attended by a delegation of the Progressives Governors' Forum (PGF) led by its chairman and Kebbi State Governor, Abubakar Bagudu, who was accompanied by the

APC Caretaker Committee Chairman and Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni as well as their Niger State counterpart, Abubakar Sani Bello.

A delegation of the House of Representatives led by the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, also witnessed the arrival of Abdulrazaq’s remains at the Ilorin International Airport.

Gbajabiamila was in company with Hon Kashim Ibrahim Imam, Hon James Faleke, and Hon Babajimi Benson.

Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Yakubu Danladi Solihu led a delegation of the state lawmakers, including the House leader, Hon. Olawoyin Magaji.

The Janaazah (prayer) was led by the Chief Imam of Ilorin, Sheikh Muhammad Bashir Solihu and attended by the Imam Imale Sheikh Abdullah AbdulHameed and other prominent traditional titleholders and religious leaders from the Ilorin Emirate.

Governor AbdulRasaq later led a delegation of family members and government officials to the Emir of Ilorin, Dr. Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari to condole with him on the death of the statesman, who was till his death, the Mutawalli of the Ilorin Emirate.

Meanwhile, more tributes last night poured in for the distinguished Nigerian, with President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan, Dr. Bukola

Saraki, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Osun State Governor, Mr. Adegboyega Oyetola, and many other prominent Nigerians and groups, leading the pack.

President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, said the late elder statesman was a trailblazer, being the first in virtually all areas of his endeavour among his people.

According to him, the late Mutawali of Ilorin was the first lawyer in Northern Nigeria, who left indelible footprints on legal practices and public service in Nigeria, stressing that he lived a fulfilled life worthy of emulation by all.

The Senate President in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Ola Awoniyi, prayed Allah to accept his soul in the Aljannat Firdaus and grant those he left behind the fortitude to bear his loss.

In his condolence message, signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Lanre Lasisi, Gbajabiamila, described the passing of Abdulrazaq as a painful loss, saying the late former minister in charge of railways in the First Republic, was one patriotic Nigerian.

He recalled how his late father and the late Alhaji Ganiyu Folorunsho Abdulrazaq were best of friends, noting that the late Abdulrazaq would be remembered for his contributions to the development of the country.

Also, former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, in his condolence message titled, ‘AGF Abdulrazaq: Kwara has lost a Statesman’, described the death of Abdulrazaq as a loss of one of the statesmen produced by Kwara State.

He said, “The late AGF as he was fondly called by people, who knew him will be sorely missed and I believe he did his best in the service of our people in Kwara State and Nigeria as a lawyer, politician, diplomat and President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.”

Saraki, therefore, commiserated with “the entire family of the deceased, the Emir of Ilorin, Ibrahim SuluGambari, the entire Ilorin Emirate, and the people of Kwara State. He also prayed that Almighty Allah forgives the sins of the late Abdulrazaq and grants him a place in Aljannah Firdaus”.

On his part, Tinubu, in a statement personally signed, described the death of Abdulrasaq, as the end of an important era in this country.

“A nationalist in its true definition and a pan-Nigerian in all its adoring flavours, Papa Abdulrasaq did a lot for this country. He was an educationist, who founded the first privately owned secondary school, Ilorin College, Ilorin, now known as Ilorin Government High School, in the old Ilorin Province.

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Gbajabiamila: Insecurity has Made Nigeria Unattractive to Investors Udora Orizu in Abuja Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, says the current state of insecurity in Nigeria has made many areas of the country uninhabitable for citizens and unattractive to investors. Gbajabiamila stated this on Saturday in Abuja at the public presentation of the updated Legislative Agenda of the 9th House of Representatives, tagged, “Our Contract with Nigerians.”

He likened the country’s situation to a war with insurgents intent on remaking society in the image of a barbaric theocracy.

According to him, “Before now, the extent of our difficulties was well known to us. We have population growth that far outpaces the rate of economic growth.

“Insecurity has made vast swathes of our country uninhabitable for citizens and unattractive to investment.

We are at war, fighting insurgents in the Northeast who want to remake our world in the image of a medieval theocracy.

Our education system is producing graduates who cannot compete in the 21stcentury knowledge economy.”

The speaker said as a consequence of the new

realities imposed on Nigerians by the Covid-19 pandemic, the House had updated its legislative agenda to contend with the emerging issues.

“This updated Legislative Agenda, and the implementation plan, which we have tagged ‘Our Contract with Nigerians’, sets out the new priorities of this 9th House of Representatives and commits us to a plan of action over the next year, and for the rest of our tenure,” he stated.

Gbajabiamila added, “We have called this document a contract because that is what it is; a written account

of what we owe the people and how we intend to meet our obligations within the shortest time possible.

These documents represent our intention to be held accountable based on what we have freely committed to achieving, and which I am confident we will realise, to the glory of God and the edification of our people.”

Gbajabiamila said apart from presentation of the document to the public, the gathering, more importantly, provided an opportunity for frank conversations on how the objectives of the contract could be achieved.

“This is an opportunity to

empower ourselves with the confidence to dare and the skills to deliver,” he said, stressing that the ultimate aim of the gathering is to “deliver a House of Representatives that meets the highest expectations of its citizens.”

In his goodwill message, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, urged the lawmakers to draw from their collective wealth of experience and constitutional powers to chart a course that will take Nigeria to higher levels of sustainable development. Mustapha said this was the right time for

the legislature to reposition itself for the delivery of the expected outcomes of the contract with Nigerians, stating that the next three years will be critical to the country.

The speaker stressed that the challenges were numerous but the solutions lied in the hands of members of the National Assembly, which Nigerians look up to for solutions. The SGF also said the coronavirus pandemic had disrupted all global systems, including governance, economy, lawmaking, food production, transportation, education, and health systems.

PDP Begins Plans for 2023, Sets Dates for Congresses Chuks Okocha in Abuja The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has begun preparations for the 2023 general election, particularly the presidential election, and set dates for the conduct of congresses across the country.

PDP said the congresses were expected to take place in 24 of the 36 states of the federation.

However, National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, told THISDAY that the party had not decided where the presidential candidate of the party would come from.

Ologbondiyan said the party was concentrating on the Edo and Ondo states governorship elections for now.

Former vice president and the presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, and the governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambawul, are said

to be among those warming up for the presidential ticket of the party.

The congresses would take place at the wards, local governments and states in 24 designated states, ending with zonal congresses in five zones, except the South-west.

The dates for the elections have put politicians, including members of the state Houses of Assembly and National Assembly as well as governors on edge, because whosoever controls the elected officials at these levels would control the structures for the emergence of all categories of candidates for the general election.

A document obtained

by THISDAY, signed by the National Organising Secretary of the PDP, Col Austin Akobundu, titled 2020 outstanding congresses, stated that the congresses would take place in 24 states. The states are Abia, Federal

Capital Territory, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Benue, Cross Rivers, Delta, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba and Yobe States.

The documents said the congresses had been designated for different dates and timelines for their elections.

States like Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Benue, Cross Rivers, Delta and Ebonyi were listed as states that have completed their wards and local governments congresses and therefore do not need a repeat of the congresses.

However, for the above states, the national leadership of the party has mandated them to conduct their state congresses on August 8, while Akwa Ibom State is expected to conduct its on Thursday, July 30.

In Ekiti State, where Senator Biodun Olujimi and

Ayo Fayose are fighting for supremacy, the ward congress is slated to hold on July 27, in two wards, while the local governments congresses would hold August 8 and the state congress on August 12, 2020.

The ward and local government congresses in Enugu and Imo states were designated as concluded, but their state congresses will hold on August 8 and August 1 respectively.

In Gombe State, the ward congresses are designated as concluded, but the local governments congress would hold in only one local government of Bilari on August 8.

In Jigawa, the ward congresses will hold on July 27, while in Kaduna, it would hold in four wards alone.

The ward congress in Kano was concluded but in the three states of Jigawa, Kaduna and Kano, the local

governments congresses would take place on August 8 and state congresses on August 12 .

Katsina State is billed to hold its state congress on July 27, having completed its wards and local governments’ congresses.

However, there would be no congress in Nasarawa State because of court litigations.

Stakeholders of the party are in court over disagreements in the wards, local governments and state congresses.

The document indicates that there would be ward congresses in Ogun State on July 23, while the local governments congresses will take place on July 27 and in Ondo State, all the wards and local governments congresses have been concluded but that the state congresses would hold on August 8.

Congresses would hold in Plateau State on July 27 in the remaining 16 wards, while

local government congresses and state congresses would hold on August 8 and 12, respectively.

Sokoto State was listed as having completed its ward congresses, but would hold local governments and state congresses on August 8 and 12, respectively.

Taraba was listed as having completed its ward congresses but it would hold the local governments and state congresses on August 8 and 12 respectively, while Yobe State would hold its ward congresses on Monday, July 27. the local governments’ congresses would take place on August 8, while the state congress is billed for August 12.

PDP’s National Organising Secretary also said there would be zonal congresses in South-east, South-south, North-central, Northwest, and the North-east, on Saturday August 15.

FG Reintegrates 601 Repentant Boko Haram Terrorists Tobi Soniyi The Federal Government yesterday reintegrated 601 ex-Boko Haram terrorists into the society.

Their reintegration followed the completion of a de-radicalisation programme.

The 601 ex-Boko Haram terrorists include14 foreign nationals from Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

The repentant terrorists were reintegrated through their respective national and state authorities.

Coordinator of Operation Safe Corridor, Major

General Bamidele Shafa, who announced the development on Saturday at the DRR Camp in Mallam Sidi, Gombe State, said the programme was aimed at giving hope to ex-combatants who willingly give up their arms to embrace peace.

He said, “On arrival at the camp, the clients went through documentation processes to obtain vital background information after which they were subjected to comprehensive medical screening to determine their health status.

“Their DNA samples

were also collected while their biometrics were captured on national data using the National Identity Management Commission facilities for future references.

“The background information serves as a guide for the experts –

Local Treatment Team – to properly place the clients for treatment therapies and vocational training.

“The LTT are specialised experts in various fields of deradicalisation and rehabilitation therapies drawn from the Nigeria Correctional Service.”

Report: Nigeria is 3rd Most Terrorized Country in the World Tobi Soniyi A new report, the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) has ranked Nigeria the third terrorism most impacted country in the world.

The report titled, ‘Global Terrorism Index 2019’, which was released last week measured the impact of terrorism across the world.

Only Afghanistan and Iraq which ranked first and second respectively were ahead of Nigeria as countries that suffered most from terrorism.

The report indicates that Nigeria remains the most terrorized country in Africa with huge economic and financial loss. It stated that deaths from terrorism in Nigeria rose to 2,040 in 2018, a 33 per cent increase.

Excerpts from the report read: “This increase follows a steady decline in deaths since

2014. Terror-related incidents increased 37 per cent, from 411 in 2017 to 562 in 2018.

The increase was due to a substantial escalation of violence by Fulani extremists, whilst Boko Haram recorded a decline in deaths from terrorism.

“Violence between Nigerian herders and farmers intensified in early 2018 with approximately 300,000 people fleeing their homes.”

The report noted that with Sub-Saharan Africa recorded the second highest number of deaths from terrorism, overtaking the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), which is now ranked third.

According to the report, this marks the first year since the inception of the index that sub-Saharan Africa recorded more deaths than its neighbouring region.

It explained that the primary driver of the increase in terrorism in the region was a rise in terrorist activity in Nigeria, which was attributed to Fulani extremists.

The GTI 2019 states that Islamist group Boko Haram, formally known as Jama’tu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, continued to show a significant decline in terrorist activity since its peak in 2014.

“Despite this, Boko Haram ranked as the fourth deadliest terrorist group in 2018, and remains the deadliest in Sub-Saharan Africa,” it added.

The report said that since its rise in 2009, Boko Haram had been responsible for thousands of deaths throughout the Lake Chad Basin region of West Africa. It said: “The salafi-jihadi insurgency has led to 35,000 combat-related deaths and 18,000 deaths from terrorism since 2011, mainly

in Nigeria.

“The group is most active in the north-eastern Nigerian state of Borno, but has also perpetrated attacks in Burkina Faso and Cameroon. “Boko Haram’s demographic profile is unique among terrorist groups in its unusually high proportions of women and children.10 Two-thirds of Boko Haram suicide attackers are female; of these, one in three are minors.”

The report observed that internal rifts led Boko Haram to split into multiple factions, that appeared relatively distinct.

However, the report noted that the fatality rate of Boko Haram attacks had fallen from 15 deaths per attack to four in the past five years.

Nevertheless, the report said that just like previous years, about 85 per cent of attacks in 2018 were in

Nigeria. The report said that the Multinational Joint Task Forces (MNJTF), which operates in conjunction with the Nigerian military, had reclaimed territory from and significantly weakened Boko Haram in 2015 and 2016.

It however, noted that while the MNJTF had continued to claim military success over Boko Haram forces, Boko Haram was responsible for at least 615 combat-related deaths in the first eight months of 2019 alone.

The report also states that implementation of new antigrazing laws led to increased militia attacks.

It said: “In Nigeria, terrorist activity is dominated by Fulani extremists and Boko Haram. Together, they account for 78 per cent of terror-related incidents and 86 per cent of deaths from

terrorism.

“The Fulani extremists do not constitute a single terrorist group. Certain deaths within the ongoing conflict between pastoralists and the nomadic Fulani have been categorised as terrorism and attributed to extremist elements within the Fulani. This categorisation is reflective of terrorism used as a tactic within an ongoing conflict.

“In 2018, Fulani extremists were responsible for the majority of terror-related deaths in Nigeria at 1,158 fatalities.

Terror-related deaths and incidents attributed to Fulani extremists increased by 261 and 308 per cent respectively from the prior year. “Of 297 attacks by Fulani extremists, over 200 were armed assaults. Over 84 per cent of these armed assaults targeted civilians."

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JULY 26, 2020 Ëž T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R

EDITORIAL

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

A CURIOUS BROADCASTING CODE (1)

The amendments to the sixth edition of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code are unnecessary

L

ess than a year after launching the sixth edition of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) recently came up with new amendments. This is despite the fact that by its own law and convention, such new regulations should be introduced after every five years. The assumption is that within a five-year cycle, new innovations could have arisen that the code should respond to; in the context of the regulatory responsibilities of the Commission, as well as the dynamism of the broadcast/entertainment industries, globally. So it was curious that in less than a year, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Muhammed spearheaded the amendments that have proven so unwelcome by industry stakeholders.

Some of the contentious amendments include the proscription of exclusivity while at the same time compelling content sub-licensing to competitors. The code further empowers the NBC to determine sub-licensing fees to other broadcasters, including direct competitors of content owners. What this means essentially is that if a broadcaster bids for an international content, or produces a premium show, they no longer have the exclusive ownership of the content paid for.

With the new amendment, exclusivity, which is actually the reward for the broadcaster’s effort, has been taken away, and must now be shared, even to the competitor. The effect of this on the industry is very clear to see. The premium content acquisition or production outfits will no longer have the incentive to play in the Nigerian market.

These draconian and unenforceable amendments

are clearly against international best practices. And already, outfits like Iroko TV; Netflix and Multichoice, amongst several others, are beginning to ask uncomfortable questions about the intentions of the NBC with these amendments.

Similarly, another section mandates sports broadcasters to sub-license rights of acquired foreign sports content to their competitors. This also clearly vitiates the exclusivity that normally accompanies the purchase of rights for territories, and which is always the reason that broadcasters pay huge sums of money, to acquire such contents.

So instead of providing a regulatory ambience for content acquisition and the returns on investment, the regulatory body, is literally kneeling on the neck of the industry, as Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, so graphically described it.

What interest is being served by the insertion of amendments into the sixth edition of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code less than one year after it was publicly presented as the regulatory instrument?

Letters to the Editor

I

S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R EDITOR SHAKA MOMODU DEPUTY EDITORS OLAWALE OLALEYE, TOBI SONIYI MANAGING DIRECTOR ENIOLA BELLO DEPUTY MANAGING DIRECTOR KAYODE KOMOLAFE CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL BOARD OLUSEGUN ADENIYI EDITOR NATION’S CAPITAL IYOBOSA UWUGIAREN MANAGING EDITOR JOSEPH USHIGIALE

T H I S DAY N E W S PA P E R S L I M I T E D EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/CHAIRMAN NDUKA OBAIGBENA GROUP EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS ENIOLA BELLO, KAYODE KOMOLAFE, ISRAEL IWEGBU, IJEOMA NWOGWUGWU, EMMANUEL EFENI DIVISIONAL DIRECTORS BOLAJI ADEBIYI , PETER IWEGBU, ANTHONY OGEDENGBE DEPUTY DIVISIONAL DIRECTOR OJOGUN VICTOR DANBOYI SNR. ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS ERIC OJEH, PATRICK EIMIUHI ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR SAHEED ADEYEMO CONTROLLERS ABIMBOLA TAIWO, UCHENNA DIBIAGWU, NDUKA MOSERI DIRECTOR, PRINTING PRODUCTION CHUKS ONWUDINJO HEAD, COMPUTER DEPARTMENT PATRICIA UBAKA-ADEKOYA TO SEND EMAIL: ďŹ rst name.surname@thisdaylive.com

t is similarly clear that the amendment has not gone down well with the Nigerian broadcasting and entertainment industries, as the various industry stakeholders have been pointing out, in the past few weeks.

Pertinent questions therefore arise: Why didn’t the NBC wait for “the next review of the code� to present the amendments for a rigorous industry debate, as is the norm? What interest is being served by the insertion of amendments into the sixth edition of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code less than one year after it was publicly presented as the regulatory instrument? Whose interest is this code meant to serve if industry stakeholders are against it?

Clearly, the way to grow Nigerian broadcasting is not by asphyxiating the efforts of those who can and are willing to invest in the acquisition of desired and or popular content, or are willing to put their funds in the production of premium content. At the heart of such endeavour is the right to exclusivity.

The NBC must understand that it cannot protect local operators, promote creativity or maximize local content by imposing draconian and unenforceable amendments to the Nigeria Broadcasting Code.

What would be harvested is the obverse of their stated intention. We therefore call on the federal government to assist the NBC to help itself, by dropping the amendments to the sixth edition of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code. Kneeling on the neck of the industry is a sure way to kill, not grow it. r'JSTU PG UXP QBSU FEJUPSJBM

TO OUR READERS Letters in response to speciďŹ c publications in THISDAY should be brief (150-200 words) and straight to the point. Interested readers may send such letters along with their contact details to opinion@thisdaylive.com. We also welcome comments and opinions on topical local, national and international issues provided they are well-written and should also not be longer than (950- 1000 words). They should be sent to opinion@thisdaylive.com along with the email address and phone numbers of the writer.

Voodooism at The Minna Army Barracks

O

nce in a while I go to the Mammy Market at the army barracks in Minna for pork chops.

It was so last Sunday, the 19th of July 2020. After a mouthful and a belly-full of freshly-sautĂŠed chops of ribs, hocks, rinds and all, I embarked on a gentle stroll that will take me through the officers’ quarters sector of the barracks before I could hail a commercial motorcycle to transport me to the gate; at that main gate, a couple of army sentry details were patiently waiting for “big broâ€? to bring delicious chops to them.

Like I am wont to point out, a trip to this barracks always leave me with a

sense of awe and wonder because time seems to stand still for me each time I take a stroll through the neighbourhoods of this barracks; structurally, the barracks has been frozen, in my perspective, since 1984 when I joined my parents there.

My dad was transferred out of the Warri barracks in 1983 and I had to spend a year with my paternal aunt (Mrs. Ajuma Obe) in Otukpo, Benue State, in order to ensure that my schooling was not unduly interrupted; Wesley High School accepted me for one session. The then Majors’ Quarters and the then Officers’ Quarters at the present-day Minna

barracks are in terrible, horrid shape. What the hell! Weren’t these parts the most desirable in those days? What is happening to the Nigerian Army? More shock was in store for me this Sunday as I strolled through the apron roadway of the then Officers’ Quarters, heading to the main road artery that bisects this part from the then Majors’ Quarters.

Shock! At the second road junction from the “Corpers� Lodge leading to the residences of junior officers, I beheld an ugly sight of voodoo sacrificial items that had been placed at that junction and had by then been scattered about in the wind and misty rain

that pummeled that area some days before; white handkerchief, a collection of four amulets (laya in Hausa), traces of red stuffs and other unidentifiable stuffs.

Was this a dream? Wasn’t this the army barracks of my Catholic upbringing, with the catechism classes telling us about the Ten Commandments especially the admonition not to venerate graven images and everything idolatrous and voodoo? What has this barracks turned to? Don’t people go to Catholic Church anymore? See, Catholicism is the veritable evil-fighting force that mankind should embrace.

As I boarded a bike, I broached the issue of what I have sighted and the Hausa “mai achaba� had seen it too; he was the one who first men-

tioned those items had been there for days then. I called my pork-chop chef and he too had seen those evil stuffs at the road junction. Now, weren’t the officers concerned?

Silence. I asked if a Bini officer was resident at the quarters (you know the ways and mores of the Bini). Uh, dunno.

But those layas looked like Arewa tsafi stuffs. Were there officers of Hausa stock resident at the quarters who indulge in bori? Silence.

In this 21st century when everything can be explained by science, this is not what we need to see in our army barracks. ––Sunday Adole Jonah, Department of Physics, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State.

SUNDAY JULY 26, 2020 • T H I S D AY

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ JULY 26, 2020

OPINION

T HE NEXT NBA ELECTIONS The votes should not only be counted, they must count, writes Eric Ibe

A

s the 2020 NBA General Elections draw closer and tensions mount to near feverpitch, the various contestants are expected to put finishing touches to their campaign plans. At the Presidential level, the race is down to a contest between the old school and the new school. This struggle is best captured by the now famous epistle of the learned silk, Asiwaju A. Awomolo SAN, to the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (BOSAN).

In the gospel according to Chief Awomolo, Chapter 1, Verse 20- permit me to paraphrase- the Presidency of the Nigerian Bar Association is the exclusive preserve of the Inner Bar, and under no circumstances should a member of the outer Bar be allowed- nay- permitted to be President.

This monologue displays a shocking degree of cognitive dissonance on the part of a leading Yoruba lawyer.

Among the Igbo, the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten. The Yorubas have a saying "A witch cried in the night and a baby died in the morning, need we ask who killed the baby?" Before you begin to bind and cast all the witches into hell fire, please consider that the NBA Presidency has, over the past 20 years, been manned by an exclusive club of gentlemen SANs who have largely catered to the interests of the inner bar, leaving those of us in the outer bar rudderless and unaccounted for. Perhaps this is why we know the number of members of the inner bar but have no idea of the actual demographics for the remaining 99.9% of the association.

Let’s see if you can solve this riddle: how is it that a profession populated by more women than men cannot in 20 years produce a female president? Food for thought, although many lawyers cannot afford food for real, but that is a story for another day. Today's focus is on the evils of rigging.

It was recently reported that the EFCC preferred charges against some staff of the NBA in connection with the alleged rigging of the 2018 Elections. The caricature of an election

supervised by the A.B. Mahmoud SAN and Olagunju administration is an open sore in the annals of elections. The main gist of the rigging in that election stemmed from the manipulation of the voters register by which many eligible voters could not vote.

When the 2020 ECNBA assured us that this election will be all inclusive, we didn’t know all the details. But that is not the type of inclusiveness we need at this time. The Chairman of the ECNBA, a man of strong character, promised that our votes will count in this election. The issue now is how to translate this promise to reality in the light of the current circumstances.

The entire election is shrouded in secrecy. As I write, nobody knows what the platform or the procedure will be adopted.

We can’t blame the ECNBA, after all, na who pay the drummer go choose the song. The fault lies with the managers of the Secretariat who do not know how many lawyers exist at home and in diaspora.

Actions have consequences. The Good Book tells us that the Wages of Sin is Death. As Africans, our religious belief system recognizes the balance and interrelationship between the physical and the spiritual world. Yet the fact that the latter has

The NBA Presidency has, over the past 20 years, been manned by an exclusive club of gentlemen SANs who have largely catered to the interests of the inner bar, leaving those of us in the outer bar rudderless and unaccounted for

a greater impact on the former has not stopped some bad actors from doing bad and blaming it on the devil. News flash! The Devil does not rig elections- human beings do.

I am aware that many SANs and non-SANs have disclaimed the entire gospel of Chief Awomolo. At this juncture however, it is not enough to disclaim the gospel, we must also oppose the disciples of this dangerous doctrine who go about in the middle of the night sowing tares and spreading petty rumors in the minds of good thinking members of the Association.

In the final analysis, The NBA does not belong to any person, it belongs to us all. The issue for determination is not whether our votes should count, but rather that our votes MUST count. A people deserve the leaders they have and going by the past two administrations, lawyers should be confident to choose the best candidate for the job. We are all responsible for the sorry state of the bar; this indictment includes those who have been at the helm of affairs for so long and those who choose to sit on the fence. The time has come to get off the fence and ask the important questions. We all have a duty to defend our votes. In the words of the late Amos Tutuola "We had sold our death to somebody at the door for the sum of £70:18:6d and lent our fear to somebody at the door as well on interest of £3:10:0d per month, so we did not care about death and we did not fear again."

According to Newton’s third Law of Motion, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” My final message to those who will go to any length to impose one leader or the other on the rest of us is this: rig this election and contact leprosy for life. Leprosy has been a fitting punishment for bad behavior in the Bible and in traditional African society. We are watching. Any candidate who engages in vote manipulation or rigging shall enjoy both legal and physical leprosy.

––Ibe, is the Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association, Abuja Branch.

Tinubu, Aregbesola and South West Politics Adewale Adeoye argues that only unity of purpose in the South can win it presidential laurels in 2023

I

n the last few weeks, the social media has been filled with speculations that a rift exists between two important figures in Yorubaland, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu and his soulmate, Comrade Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola. Cynical cheers, glee and a sense of remorse, in some instance have seized the cyber space.

There are people who wish to see the two in a boxing ring. In fact, in many instances, the spectators have been obtaining tickets for what they imagine would be a political rumble in the jungle.

I begin with an impressive chronological account in Yoruba bygone. It has to do with the glorious era of the old Oyo Empire, when she had a formidable army with over 100,000 in numerical strength, at a time that no force in the Sahara could measure up to her feet.

In the later part of the 15th century, there was a certain man in the palace of Oyo. His name was Okolo. Tutored in native wisdom, driven by timeless tradition to sit at the feet of the king, observe the (Oyo Mesi) Senate take decisions on crucial state matters, but never to be heard. He was a palace courtier, a leech who earned his living by defending every word of the Alaafin, either false or true. He was destined to be a tick, accustomed to living like the king’s extra-ordinary flatterer. One day, the Alaafin had addressed his Senate briefing them on reports from his Defense Minister (Aare Ona Kakanfo) as Oyo prepared to wage yet another battle. Detailing the highly confidential military tactics and strategy to be employed, releasing the training manual and the budget needed to wage the battle, Alaafin then closed his remarks. Surprisingly, Okolo who by tradition was not permitted to speak in the royal court, raised his hands for comments.

The leader of the parliament (Senate President) ordered him to shut up, charging at him “Ta ni mon Okolo l’oyo” meaning “who knows an insignificant Okolo, a wretched of the earth in this Republic.”

The next few days, Okolo set a part of the palace ablaze. For the first time, Okolo gained fame, albeit a very loathsome one, but he became known nevertheless. It was not clear what punishment was meted out to Okolo, but the damage had been done, Okolo had proved to the world that he could make himself known even though he was previously a footnote. This sums up the danger of what the people in the gallery could do to disrupt the stage where they are not the main actors but trivial spectators. There is a growing perception of a rift between two of the most dominant political figures in Yorubaland, Asiwaju Tinubu and his godson, Ogbenin Aregbesola. This has been fueled by certain developments which the many ‘Okolos’, the spoilers within the political circle have tried vehemently to link with what they see as a brewing storm between the two soul mates. Why is the issue important to us? As indigenous people of the South West with a deep sense of history, we have always known that spectators have a devious way of igniting fire where there is none and could fuel the embers into a dangerous peril which may affect peace and stability of the dominion.

Promoters of this cite the dissolution of the Mandate Group and the Justice Forum. The action has been described as a plot to cut the wings of Aregbesola in Lagos politics. To be sure, though the two groups are domicile in Lagos, members cut across the entire South West. The activities of members reverberate in and out of Lagos localities, making the two groups a resounding model for regional political transfiguration.

The other event was what they describe as the “missing name of Aregbeola” in the list of Governors Advisory Council, (GAC) in Lagos. Again, why are these issues important to us? Let us face it, all over history, there have been disputes that began as a minor disagreement between two people that later spiral into a mass conflagration, consuming the actors and then the spectators leaving only the bias referees to their glee. These developments are local but have far reaching regional and national implications.

No serious people will ignore real or imagined dispute between some of her most outstanding political figures who are also cocaptains in the most influential political party in their protectorate.

However, the deliberate (mis)interpretation of these developments should be understood in content and form. There are forces feeding on the figments and realities. There are three tendencies involved with different goals, not really the same in character.

First is the politics of Lagos. No doubt, Comrade Aregbesola has a charm grip on the dynamics of Lagos electoral politics, not being his own creation alone, but courtesy of the responsibility placed on him as far back as 1999 by Asiwaju, backed by Aregbesola’s own power of insight and his knowledge of dialectics which enriches his understanding of Lagos political phenomenon. There is a small but vocal group in Lagos that wants to severe the Tinubu-Asiwaju almost blood-bound ties. They have overt reasons but a covert agenda. They argue that Tinubu may have been giving too much of influence to Aregbesola. But there is a covert game: to weaken Asiwaju’s technical strength and reduce his grandeur by cutting off a major of his roots making him more vulnerable to their concealed assault. In reality, it was not the first time non-party based groups were dissolved in Lagos. Bola Ahmed Tinubu Campaign Organisation, (BATCO) was dissolved. From all indications, the recent dissolution was by leadership consensus.

The other antagonists are equally within the APC and even beyond the party. Yet, a state governor in the North leads her own garrison, a plot. On his visit to Lagos few years ago, Kaduna State Governor, El- Rufai called for an end to ‘godfatherism in Lagos’ teaching his audience on the tactics and strategies of how to defeat the “Lagos godfather.” He suggested raising some billions to fuel the project. If there is a godfather in Lagos politics, what does Mallam El-Rufai stand to gain by being part of the group that seeks its destruction? Does it mean he loves the people of Lagos

more than themselves?

Only recently, during an event in Lagos involving Aregbesola, the same El- Rufai said he does not admire Tinubu but that he has fallen in love with his godson. Literarily, he does not admire a king, but he loves his first son. There cannot be a posture as divisive. Let it be admitted. El Rufai is a typical Fulani intellectual: brilliant, intelligent, as calculating as a stealth tiger, surgical in manners of scrutiny and essentially primordial. What then is the game plan? Simple: El-Rufai appears to represent a tendency within the APC that is obsessed with strong regional power blocs different from that in the armpit of his camp, or any other one unless it is subservient to it.

Outside his domain, El-Rufai’s group detests an organized political structure that cannot be broken into pieces, but wants each isolated and weakened. His tendency would love to determine the custodian of political treasures in each regional bloc, its shape, its content, its form. This caucus would love to determine the substance of political relationship across the country. I first met Tinubu in 1992 as a Correspondent with The Guardian. During the anti-June 12 struggle, I watched him closely. In 1999, I also had series of interviews with him while in The Punch. But I have never been intimate, not to the extent of calling or receiving his calls. Yet, I sum up his strength as fierce courage and indomitable will. He has weaknesses, like all humans.

So, it is not that the El-Rufai group hates Tinubu’s intimidating eyeballs, neither his mode of dressing, but rather detests his sheer courage, his lion-heart, his network of intelligence, to bestride over an intimidating political machine, his dexterity, his influence across the South West and even West Africa and beyond and the fact that the region cannot be accessed in piecemeal but in whole, and best through him. Under the British, it was called ‘divide and rule.’

Having fired many arrows at Asiwaju, including taking the ladder off his feet after his huge labour in the last two elections, the forces seek to varnish him not for want of love for the people he represents, but to viciously clear the strongest mortar, difficult to manipulate, to their establishing an unquestionable political garrison. So, it would be in the interest of the hegemony, to demolish what appears to be the most formidable political structure in the South West, supplant it and dissipate its strength.

In doing this, having succeeded in creating two blocs in the SW, it will be necessary to strengthen their stronghold by first dismantling one before seeking the destruction of the other. It was thought Aregbesola would be a pun.

––Adeoye is a journalist (See concluding part of the article on www.thisdaylive.com)

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ JULY 26, 2020

15

LETTERS

I

THE CHANGE THAT NIGERIANS SEEK

f Nigeria’s young are timid, tractable and apathetic to economic and political issues affecting their country blame the anvil on which they are forged. The government, the formative schools, the universities and the predatory politics – all are the forgers of today’s youth.

A system which lobotomises the young from nascency has already denied them not only the ability to emote, think, act, but also the power to speak up for themselves, fight for their rights and defend themselves.

There was a time in Nigeria when the youth held the fort. They were unbending to the caprices of the military and to the stimuli of fear and avarice. I will cite two epochs for emphasis – the dawn of Segun Okeowo, the provocateur of the Ali Must Go uprising of 1978, and the dusk of Omoyele Sowore – the trenchant voice of the June 12 struggle.

In April 1978, the ministry of education led by Ahmadu Ali announced an increment of 50 kobo (from N1:50 to N2:00) to the cost of the daily meal of students. But the National Union of Nigerian Students (NUNS) led by Okeowo will not have it down its throat without some justification. The union asked the ministry to revert to the status quo, but it balked, shifting responsibility to the supreme military ruling council. A head-to-head was inevitable.

Students poured into the streets to press home their demands but received police bullets as rejoinders. Eight students were reportedly killed. But this did not stop the righteous movement which engulfed the entire country. The youth held their ground. They made their statement and their

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Buhari power was felt by the military government. I call this epoch the dawn of youth activism in Nigeria.

Only 50 kobo increase in the cost of daily meals for students actuated a nationwide revolt. But today, what has changed? I will

explain. Our formative schools and universities are no longer centres of critical learning.

They are now robot factories where anyone who goes in as human comes out as a machine with flesh – beaten, broken, pliable and malleable.

The mould from which the

like of Wole Soyinka was shaped at the University of Ibadan which made him assertive and daring has long been smashed to smithereens.

University administrations in cahoots with scourges in the highest realm of government have over the years sterilised student unionism.

Student leaders no longer represent their constituencies but the school leadership which most times select them.

Students are stampeded out of reason and seized of the power of independent thought and critical thinking. They are instructed to parrot whatever the lecturer and the school say. In fact, the methods of some universities today are not distant from concentration camps – only that there are no gas chambers.

Another reason why we have a soluble youth population is our predatory politics. I believe student unionism was corrupted from 1999. Youth activism as we know it ended with the epoch of Sowore and the June 12 struggle. It is the reason I regard it as the dusk of student unionism.

The National Association

ering academic system and its corollaries. It will come from boys on the streets like we witnessed in Katsina when some protesters burnt the billboard of President Muhammadu Buhari.

I hate to say it, but Nigeria’s revolution (protests for change) lies in the hands of the Almajiris – even though they themselves are exploited for political gains. But they are the outliers of the system.

It is the reason I see no point haranguing young people taken over by the reality show -- BBNaija. They are victims of the situation themselves.

And why am I mulling protests for change in Nigeria?

With the shocking revelations from the NDDC probe and the mindboggling disclosure of sleaze across all sectors of the economy, I believe we cannot make any progress as a country this way.

Something must give.

It will happen. That change that Nigerians seek will come by the hands of the forgotten.

––Fredrick Nwabufo, fredricknwabufo@yahoo. com

Kaduna State: Where Good Men Do Nothing

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liesareonthenosesofthe good peopleofKaduna Statebuttheyneverriseto theflies. Theyclaimnotto doevil butarenotforces forgood in Kaduna.

The Auschwitz type of deathlike exhibitions has gone on for too long in Kaduna and I am forced to conclude that there are no good people from the place where these killers of the people of Southern Kaduna are recruited from. Surely, they are recruited by people that some good people know about.

These good people must

have heard something and seen something enough to report to the security agencies but they refuse to do so. Fraidy-cats! They probably gloat in the deaths of the people of Southern Kaduna, on religious basis.

I am also forced to conclude that there are no good people in the security outfits in Kaduna. I cannot understand why these good men, if there are, have never stood up to the bad people recruiting people to kill the people of Southern Kaduna.

Bad people gather together for months to plan evil, for acts of

vengeance. Where then are the good people in the Directorate of State Services? Shouldn’t the NIA also help in stopping chaotic disorders? Why do security chiefs only rush service men to places only when people have died? Restoring peace should be done before and not after people have been brutally murdered.

I am forced to conclude that there are no good people in political offices in Kaduna State.

How come they move about as though everything is all right?

Do they know the place of

Corruption Cannot Kill Nigeria

n a weekend of scandals, the NDDC and EFCC have been wrestling each other to grab the headlines in sordid details of corruption. It all started with Mr. Ibrahim Magu being picked up and whisked to the Presidential Villa. While Mr. Magu was busy asking for a bail, the Presidency in the characteristic media lynching, kept releasing one damning report after the other. Not wanting the EFCC to take its shine, the NDDC entered the fray claiming that it spent a whopping N1.3 billion on Covid-19 palliatives. From that frying pan, top officials of the agency have since taken to the mud to settle their corruption quarrel.

The immediate past Acting Managing Director, Dr. Joi Gbene Nunieh grabbed the microphone and rolled out some mind-shutting sleaze against the Minister of Niger-Delta. The short-list of dirty details ranges from a N40b fraud, to oath taking, and an alleged bombing of oil pipelines. Without contest, the wickedness and avarice in the heart of the Nigerian political

of Nigerian Students (NANS) is now a club of men battling middle-age crisis. The association is, in fact, a chapter of any ruling party of the day.

It is utterly porous of ideas and intellectual grit. There is no shade of difference between today’s NANS and the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) – led by MC Oluomo. NANS only thrives for its sheer industry of violence and capacity for noise.

Members of NANS leadership live like the quotidian Nigerian politician in unearned luxury, coursing through cities and towns in convoys labelled with vanity plates. The end of student unionism ensued with the meddling of the political class.

Agitators became one with the oppressors. Fundamentally, if there was to be a revolution in Nigeria; it would not come from the BBNaija-loving Nigerian youth on social media.

They are already seized of the mental alacrity for action.

I believe the biggest uprising in the country will come from hard-pressed young Nigerians insulated from the disempow-

class and their cronies in public governance, is certain to be a study in political science classes for years to come. But wait a minute, even as you are permitted to be stone-shocked about this level of degeneracy, there is a weightier matter.

Since May 29, 1999 Nigeria has been trapped in three chokehold presidencies - an arrogant rulership, a timid presidency, and aloof generalissimo. All three men possessed the state as their private fiefdom, affected the country by their personal deficiencies, while deducting from the frugal gains that had been made in previous years of unmethodical governance.

In continued episodes of a tiring, and perhaps, emotionally draining sequence of rulers, Nigerians have over the last 20 years watched of how things kept changing, but stunningly remained the same.

Is there any perfect leadership anywhere? No! Are there empathy-driven, energypowered, and purpose-guided leaders? Exceedingly and Abundantly! The expression ‘the buck stops on leadership’

is not a module in an Engineering Physics class nor is it rocket science. It is simple – vision, intelligence, drive, and taking responsibility.

In the fight against corruption, a leader does not have to be a professor of criminal intelligence, he only needs to be ideas-driven enough to recruit the best hands that would develop a first-class legal, administrative, policy, and social framework, that he himself will pursue vigorously. Such a leader does not delegate his job of leading to so-called longstanding close associates and recuse himself into a bland enclave, rather, he understands that outstanding governance in this age comes by the ability of a leader to overcome the evil called ‘nepotism’ and attract the best brains to drive innovation in government. Such leadership was not practiced in the early centuries, it cannot be an achievement in 21st century Nigeria.

How can this level of earth-shaking corruption have gone on in the country’s leading anti-corruption

agency, without the President’s knowledge? But is this question in fact necessary - if you school a man in illegality by stubbornly making him acting chairman for five years, what do you expect but ‘absolute power corrupting absolutely’?

As we journey towards 2023, we must know one thing - the quality of mind that engineered this damage, cannot be useful in mending it. The people must really be tired of the status quo and determined that come the next election cycle, to lift the lockdown on smart thinking and intelligent leadership that has been carefully programmed by the current political class. Corruption is not a man of war, it simply possesses the agility to incubate, remain silent, and borrow human legs to move around. It is not about corruption killing Nigeria, it is about leadership deficit being the assassin.

––Olusola Babatunde Adegbite, Faculty of Law, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.

resignation of political positions for gross ineptitude? Why are they so attached to governmental positions without action?

I am forced to conclude that there are many cowards in Southern Kaduna than there are heroes. Why aren’t we seeing protest movement to government house by good people, demanding the resignation of the incumbent for not being able to protect lives and property that he swore an oath to protect? Caveat: the protest movement must be in company of armed soldiers so they are not ambushed and killed the way they were killed during the peaceful protest movement over the planned introduction of the political version of Sharia in a cosmopolitan state. Recall, that these murders led to the Sharia crises that changed Kaduna State for the worse and forever.

The people of Southern Kaduna voted overwhelmingly for the APC government but all they get is deathly racket which the government cannot help bring to an end. In government offices, majority of the people only get second-rated appointments such as cleaning services and gardening, errand men and women, while people of

other stock sit in air-conditioned offices not by competence but by accident of birth and religion.

The military government helped in cementing the problems of the people of Southern Kaduna. The self-styled military president thought Katsina a thorn on the flesh of Kaduna and created Katsina State instead of one for the people of Southern Kaduna. That arrangement has failed and will repeatedly fail with the absence of good people especially from the other side who have failed to report acts of malevolence against the people of Southern Kaduna. The people of Southern Kaduna need a state by special act of parliament to manage their own affairs.

Injustice the world over lies in what people are not doing, there is nothing like a passive onlooker.

Passive onlookers in German society allowed Hitler to murder Jews in droves.

Passive onlookers in Kaduna allow screwballs to the type like Hitler to put Kaduna on the map as an unfriendly state and a state where life counts for nothing and can be stolen with excitement.

I remember the old line: “all evil needs to prevail is for good men to do nothing.”

–– Simon Abah, Abuja.w

Who's Talking But Not Listening?

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t appears Whitehouse Coronavirus press briefings will return but why did they disappear as the virus certainly didn't? Given what we see of many recent Whitehouse briefings what will actually return? Some facts haven't been mentioned lately, including the number of cases, the deaths, the lack of serious attempts to stop it and

the fact that a real vaccine is needed.

Will Dr Anthony Fauci be there, will he be allowed to speak and even more importantly will he be listened to?

This is not a virus that we can hide from nor run away from.

––Dennis Fitzgerald, Melbourne, Australia.

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ ͺ;˜ 2020

BUSINESS

Editor: Kunle Aderinokun 08033204315, 08111813084 Email:kunle.aderinoku@thisdaylive.com

‘Ali Baba’, NDDC, National Assembly And the ‘40 Thieves’ In 2018, Nigeria exported 3.8% of the world’s total crude oil with a value of $43.6 billion. For decades, the country has lived on the black gold but its oil-producing areas have lived in squalor and one of the reasons is illustrated by the ongoing corruption allegations levelled against the NDDC’s Interim Management Committee, reports Nosa James-Igbinadolor

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s weary as most Nigerians have become with corruption in the country, and the venality that exemplifies the commanding heights of national, state and local leadership, it is unlikely to get better any time soon. This sleazy reality was well put across by theActing Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Prof. Kemebradikumo Pondei, at the investigativehearingontheN40-billioncorruption allegation against the commission.

“Weusedit(N1.5billion)totakecareofourselves.

We are NDDC, we need to take care of ourselves too,” he had glibly lectured.

The Senate had on May 5, 2020, set up a seven-man ad hoc committee to investigate alleged financial recklessness of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the NDDC. The IMC had been empanelled in February by the President to allow for a forensic audit of the corruption-sickcommission.Whatemergedoutof the tragi-comedy at the NationalAssembly was a salad of corruption, financial recklessness, sexual harassment and voodoo fetish oaths, themselves, recurring themes in Nigeria’s political economy landscape.

In the Beginning The struggle for resource control by communities in the oil-producing areas in the Niger Delta, according to J.I Dibua in his analysis of Citizenship and Resource Control in Nigeria, assumed a central position in the discourse on the national question, ethnic minority politics and environmental degradation in Nigeria from the early 1990s.

“This was largely due to the activities of Ken Saro-Wiwa and his Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) that greatly helped to popularise and internationalize the issue,” said Dibua.

Itisparadoxicalthatdespitetheabundantwealth the region parades, which happens to be the fiscal basis of the Nigerian state, the majority of the people in the Niger Delta live in a state of chronic want. The region epitomizes one of the extreme situations of poverty and underdevelopment in the midst of plenty. Infrastructural development is very low, while poverty and unemployment levelsareveryhigh.Accesstobasicsocialamenities remains very limited.

There is an almost universal agreement that the Niger Delta region, which produces most of the country’s wealth, had suffered untold neglect in morethan60yearssinceoilproductionbeganthere.

Toaddressthis,theOilMineralProducingAreas Development Commission (OMPADEC) was created in July 1992 to rehabilitate and develop the Niger-Delta areas.

OMPADEC came short of that mandate.

The commission was hamstrung by financial imprudence, contract proliferation, and lack of goodwill from major ethnic groups in Nigeria, faulty project ideas, maladministration and lack of funding, nepotism, corruption and faults in the implementation strategy. Contracts were massively inflated, and full payments were made for shoddy or simply non-existent jobs.

ItwasagainstthisbackdropthattheNDDCwas established in 2000 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. While President Obasanjo’s intention was indeed noble, the reality of the NDDC clearly shows an agency of government unmistakably disconnected from its mandate.

“The story of NDDC in the last 19 years has not been so rosy. The NDDC, we believe could have

National Assembly panel investigating NDDC activities in session

achieved more. You have a stunted child who could have been a six-footer. We need to find out the reason why the child could not grow. Is it that the child was not given enough nourishment?

“And then the country is looking at the fact that a lot of money has gone into the NDDC, but we could not see commensurate results… I will like to see the NDDC build specialist hospitals. I will like to see the NDDC provide light to communities in darkness. I will like to see the NDDC support industrialization and food sufficiency in the Niger Delta. These things are possible, it is a question of commitment,” said Senator Godswill Akpabio, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs.

Akpabio has been fingered as being part of the rot when he was recently accused of corruption, fraud and sexual harassment by the former Managing Director of the IMC, Ms. Joi Nunieh.

On the instruction ofAkpabio, Nunieh alleged, some contracts were awarded by the commission to unregistered companies, some of which got registered after they were awarded the contract.

“In some cases, contracts were pre-awarded before the designs were given so you find out that most of the projects were abandoned,” she claimed.

Nunieh further said of Akpabio, “He told me, as he did to my predecessor Mrs. Akwagaga, to change all the dollars – $120million in the account of the NDDC at the time to pay for his contracts, the desilting contracts that he got, the water hyacinth and all.”

Corruption Extraordinaire The hideousness of the devastating corruption within the commission borders on treason; a crime of betraying one’s country. The litany of the grave and felonious accusations of malfeasance by the various actors in the macabre tragedy from the NationalAssembly is mind-boggling. The Interim Management Committee of the NDDC alleged that “the Chairman House Committee brought out an emergency training programme for N6.4 billion, claiming the job belongs to the Speaker and said the commission should pay him N3.7 billion.”

In addition, a company called Candour, owned byaservingsenator,claimedtheyinitiatedstatutory payments from LNG. In the letter, they collected $28 million and exchanged the money at N360 to $1, at a time CBN was exchanging for N225 to $1. They were also paid 20 percent of $28 million.

Aconsulting firm that was contracted to collect money from international oil companies (IOCs) on behalf of NDDC was paid N1 billion monthly.

In 2019, NDDC in just seven months awarded a total of 1,921 emergency contracts valued at NI.07 trillion while its budget total was N400 billion that year.

Part of what the forensic audit uncovered was that a particular project was awarded 55 times.

In addition, the NDDC awarded two projects to run from 2017 to 2019. First, a water hyacinth emergency project of which N800 million was budgeted but N10.3 billion was spent. Though a desilting project had N2 billion earmarked for it in the NDDC budget, N37 billion was spent.

Between 2016 and 2019 emergency contracts of over N2 trillion were awarded by the NDDC underthesupervisionofbothchairmenofNational Assembly’s committees.

Pondei said, “We have faced so much pressure from some members of the NationalAssembly to pay for 132 jobs which have no proof of execution.

We have refused to pay N6.4 billion for those jobs.

We believe an IMC set up as a cleansing structure cannot become part of the old story of rot.”

Thatself-righteouspontificationsoundedhollow against the backdrop of his disclosure of how the IMC shared N1.5 billion among its members and staff as COVID-19 palliative with Pondei saying, “Weusedittotakecareofourselves.WeareNDDC. We need to take care of ourselves too.”

Pondei received N10 million as COVID-19 palliative,whiletheActingExecutiveDirectorProjects, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh, got N7 million. Furthermore, the IMC paid N302 million as tour duty allowance to its members, even though the country was on lockdown and the NDDC offices were closed. The IMC also paid its members N85.6 million inApril and May as overseas travel allowance to attend graduation ceremonies abroad even though the

whole world was on lockdown.

But there is an individual, Kolawole Johnson ofAct for Positive Transformation, who does not like what was happening in the NDDC. Johnson alleged that multiple payments were made for the same contracts, such as to ClearPoint Communications, which was paid N536 million and another N641 million for ‘media support’ on 22 May. Johnson explained further, “Mr. Charles Odili, a director in the commission, got N1.15 million into his UBN account from ClearPoint Communications. He got another on the 21 May and N5 million again on 24 May into his UBN account. He got another one again. If you ask for the accounts of these companies and individuals, you will find how they made back payments to the NDDC directors.”

Johnson also gave details of how the IMC members and their internal collaborators shared millions of naira on fictitious tasks. Prof. Pondei collected N51 million monthly for maintenance of his guest house, while the IMC moved out money through the account of some directors. It was alleged that there were duplicate payments for project monitoring, with several millions of naira paid into the personal accounts of the IMC members.

Weighing in on the issue, Charles Harry, former president of Ijaw National Congress (INC), said, “Alot of people should go to jail. The impunity in NDDC has gone beyond the level where people should keep quiet. The level of stealing is mindboggling and this is aided and abetted by people who are supposed to be a watchdog over this institution (National Assembly).

“Instead, they are collecting hundreds of contracts that they don’t execute and they are paid upfront fully. It is sickening!”

Speaking in a similar vein, Ledum Mitee, a formerPresidentoftheMovementfortheSurvival of the Ogoni People, noted, “The NDDC is a scam on all of us people from the Niger Delta because there are people out there, who had hoped that what the NDDC would do might add value to them.

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER Ëž ÍşÍžËœ 2020

17

THE EXECUTIVE MELE KYARI

Fuel Subsidy is a Misallocation of 5HVRXUFHV %HQHĂ€WWLQJ WKH 5LFK Early this month, Mr. Mele Kolo Kyari, geologist, crude oil marketer and the 19th Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) clocked one year in the saddle. Since his appointment in July 2019, Kyari has breathed some fresh air and transparency to the otherwise opaque operations of the national oil company. In the last several months, he has built a reputation of a plain talker and straight shooter, who is blunt to the point on issues challenging his sector. He wants to fix all the problems he met on ground, and rewrite the story of the corporation.

Will he succeed? Kyari sure has the passion, energy, drive and more importantly, the will to succeed.

In this interview with THISDAY on Sunday, Kyari speaks on a wide range of issues

Mele Kolo Kyari

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his month made it one year after your appointment as GMD. How has the experience been?

My gratitude goes to the Almighty God and the benevolence of Mr. President for finding me worthy of this noble assignment. The role of the GMD is like that of captain of football team; you need everyone to play at their best to achieve success and the support of the NNPC family has been quite immense.

For the past one year, I have continued to learn and lead.

How is the oil price and crude sale impacting on NNPC JV Cash calls?

With the low oil price, every company including NNPC and partners have taken steps to review and optimise cost.

The process of cost reduction or optimisation results in budget reviews where we have a desire to do more with less without touching any safety critical spend. So, the impact of crude oil on Cash Call is related to amount of budget and level of efficiency we can squeeze out of every dollar invested in the business. In terms of payment, we are able to meet our obligations to partners within the

premise of agreed budgets.

What is the plan to fund more capital projects in the Upstream?

We have aggressive growth plan for the industry, which entails increasing both the reserve and production. More importantly, asset renewal for aging infrastructure and we recognise that without capital spend we can’t guarantee the barrels for tomorrow. Therefore, our outlook remains positive, keeping capex level at a consistent level, with NNPC contribution to industry expenditure $8-10 billion

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ ͺ;˜ 2020

Pivot towards Gas is a Deliberate Decision to Expand, Build More Robust and Resilient NNPC dollars per annum across all business over the next three years. To fund this, we would continue to deploy the optimal blend of both equity and debt. Also, focus would be to look at other funding solutions that have the capability to deliver value to NNPC and partners.

When is the PIB going to be concluded to allow for more direct foreign investment for the upstream exploration?

First, the existing legislative framework is not anti-business. The support structure to attract foreign investment exists. The PIB is expected to enhance the attractiveness and promote both local and foreign investors engagement with the oil industry and Nigeria as a whole. The PIB is at an advanced stage; the legislative process involved is that the Executive sends the bill to National Assembly for passage. The National Assembly will have to consider it and subject the bill to rites involved in the passage of laws. I am optimistic within the next four weeks, we would be able to have clarity on the transmission to National Assembly and afterwards work closely with both houses to ensure an enactment into law.

With the current unstable oil price, is the NNPC planning to diversify by focusing on gas to industries development?

NNPC remains at the forefront of business expansion and creating new opportunities.

Over the past decade, we have worked assiduously to expand the gas footprints particularly in the domestic market. The current domestic gas consumption has grown to 1.5bscf per day while with the NLNG train 7 would add another 8MMT to increase our capacity from 22MMT per annum to 30MMT. We value the resilience and flexibility that comes from playing in both the oil and gas space and every segment of the value-chain. The pivot towards gas should be seen as a deliberate business decision to expand the pie, build a more robust and resilient company and additionally, act as catalyst for industrial development and power generation in country. So, considering the gas play as diversification is a narrow prism, our goal and aim is much broader and wider, and no part of the business will suffer from less or no attention.

There are complaints by IOCs that NNPC is not complying with due processes. What do you have to say to these complaints?

First, the corporation cherishes the cooperation and professionalism of its partners be it local or international. For the international oil companies (IOCs), there is always an additional layer of scrutiny as public listed firms with strong corporate governance and a reputation value to protect. The cost of non-compliance can be damaging to them in terms of their stock value and devaluation of the corporate brand. Additionally, NNPC takes compliance seriously and we work in close alliance with partners to ensure that we carry out all operations in a manner that conforms with the extant rules and regulations. However, if any IOC is found to have behaved in a manner not consistent with the laid down rules and regulations, NNPC will work with the regulators to ensure compliance and adherence to the rules. It is important that we also focus on incentives that promote good behavior without shying away from sanctions when necessary.

What is the plan to increase daily production capacities from the local refineries?

Ensuring energy security is one of the cardinal agenda of the President Buhari administration. Closely related to energy security is the rehabilitation and expansion of the local refining capacity. NNPC has continued to support initiatives towards the actualisation of zero import of refined products by 2024. The corporation has adopted a three-pronged strategy; revamp, restructure and encourage. The revamp of the existing 445,000 barrels of oil capacity of NNPC refineries is ongoing with the engagement of world class EPC contractors;

Mele Kolo Kyari

to avoid a process gap, we are concurrently undertaking a review and restructuring of the business model for these existing refineries. To further show our commitment, we are partnering our existing partners and other interested stakeholders. This support and encouragement is expressed in our support of the Dangote refinery, Waltersmith and the promotion of NNPC condensate refinery project. The NNPC condensate refining project expected to add additional 250,000 barrels of oil refining capacity to the NNPC portfolio. We have a number of interested partners and hope to make announcement on the Final Investment decision and project delivery timeline soon.

Is NNPC planning to form a joint venture in the refinery management to increase performance efficiency?

NNPC is looking at different options that will deliver value for stakeholders and improve the performance or efficiency of the refineries. The options include 3rd party Operational and Maintenance model, long term lease or like you pointed a Joint venture model similar to the structure obtainable today at the Nigeria LNG. Irrespective of the form model adopted, the overriding interest would be to assure autonomy for refinery, emplace world class management and management practices and ensure value delivery to our shareholders. We are determined to move away from any process or structure that does not deliver value or leads to an outcome not significantly different from the current state. I am determined to ensure that the refineries are brought back to their nameplate capacities.

How do you plan to turn around NPDC performance efficiency to monetize the various assets under their portfolio?

Since the new management team came on

board, NPDC became a focal point. Similar to our peers, we intend to create a strong, vibrant and agile upstream E&P company.

We have made it our focus to turn NPDC into a centre of global excellence. Some of the challenges around what I consider as bad or sub-optimal commercial contracts, above ground risk particularly security and vandalism, delay in project delivery and portfolio optimisation are taken on board and fully addressed. We have revamped the security architecture around the major production artery of the company guaranteeing us better uptime in terms of both the assets and associated crude delivery pipeline, contractual processes have been streamlined to ensure speedy execution at competitive cost compared to industry peers. Also, the capital management framework optimisation is on-going. We continue to utilise a combination of the company’s internally generated revenue, debt from capital market and any other available novel development solution such as contractor financing to aggressively develop identified assets. For any fallow asset, we are willing to look at the best-fit option to ensure the reserve is developed timely and in a cost-effective manner. So, to summarise, the turnaround plan of NPDC is in full gear involving the deployment of not only human and monetary capital, but social capital. Social capital because we want to keep our licence to operate; without which we cannot develop the assets while deepening and strengthening the harmonious working relationship with our host communities.

Do you have a funding alternative for the upstream projects to JV cash calls considering NNPC’s dwindling revenue?

The simple answer is yes. We have a number of alternative funding options in

the industry. In the JV particularly, we have different carry arrangement, banks and other financial institution debt instruments and variants in addition to the equity finance through cash call. I must, however, point out that the deployment of capital goes beyond dwindling revenues, it is mostly a strategic decision based on the profile of the assets, outlook or expectations over the lifetime. The low oil prices and dwindling revenues have activated a paradigm shift in the way we look at funding for the entire basket of opportunities within our portfolio and this is not limited to the JV. We are looking at utilising bonds, as you know bond investors are separate class of investors in the debt market, which provide steadier and long-term financing to match fully the underlying nature of the industry.

What is your plan to rebalance the federal character quota in the NNPC management staff?

The corporation prides itself as the home to the most educated, competent and welltrained Nigerians. The ability to attract the best talent required to deliver on the mandate remains a unique proposition of the organisation. The corporation under my watch will ensure that we put our best human resources anywhere we need them and effectively utilise the talent embedded within the organisation irrespective of which segment of the country they come from.

But let me emphasise that as a law-abiding organisation, we follow the laws of the land and comply with federal character at the recruitment stage-making placement easy as career progresses. Today at the management level, every geographical zone is represented and same applies across every stratum in the organisation. NNPC is the only truly Nigerian company.

What do you have to say to the ongoing marginal fields bidding round?

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THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ ͺ;˜ 2020

With AKK Project, We’re Providing Springboard for Industrial Revolution and Restoration important factor, a reduction in volume with a commensurate upward swing in price will deliver a better value than high volume at a low price. The health of the national finances is the most important consideration. One often overlooked impact of the cut is the conservation effect. Oil is a non-renewable and depleting resource, therefore the cut serves to implicitly delay depletion rate. So, our goal is to work with OPEC to achieve price level that support the national budget and aspirations.

What are your expectations from the AKK Gas pipeline project, whose deal was signed recently?

NNPC is an enabler organisation. Our goal is to deliver energy to the domestic economy to spur industrialisation and provide viable means for power generation.

The AKK project has been on the drawing board for over 20years, to kick-start the project means we are providing springboard for industrial revolution and restoration within the northern axis of the country.

The reality not mere expectation is that the AKK route would turn into an energy and industrial corridor, providing opportunity to power businesses and homes, restoration of moribund industries while promoting the creation of new one, particularly gas-based industries like fertiliser plants, methanol plants and enhance agricultural storage.

Mele Kolo Kyari

What impacts do you expect from the outcomes?

The marginal field programme is a good initiative and I must commend Government particularly, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, led by the Honourable Minister, Timipre Sylva, and the Department of Petroleum resources (DPR) for the effort.

The marginal field programme speaks to need to expand the frontier of opportunities within the industry, optimise the usage of assets and ensure all fallow fields are developed. Today, the marginal field contribute only three per cent of the national production so the expectation post the bid round would be an increase in production through timely development of the assets.

I am very confident the process would turn out with the right players and NNPC will provide the necessary support required to make that happen.

One of the feats that has been recorded by the country since your assumption of office is the signing of the NLNG Train 7 FID contract, what is the update on that project?

We are moving beyond Train 7; the goal is to quickly get back to the table with partners and develop additional trains within the shortest possible time. We don’t plan to go on another investment hiatus. The position of Nigeria in the global LNG market is threatened, we continue to drop in global ranking, currently 5th largest LNG exporter contributing six per cent of the global LNG Trade. So, the goal is to develop the huge natural gas deposit and rival other players in the international market. Specifically, for Train 7, the project is experiencing appreciable progress in terms of early works, all preparatory works for full EPC are on course and we have tied all loose ends in terms of funding. The NNPC and partners are fully committed to the project completion within the defined timeline despite the new challenges faced as result of COVID pandemic.

In your inaugural speech you talked about the TAPE agenda (Transparency, Accountability and Performance Excellence), being a five-step strategic roadmap for NNPC’s attainment of efficiency and global excellence. Can

you outline some of efforts that have been made to achieve the target?

The TAPE agenda is the bedrock of all our actions while five strategic initiatives provide the yardstick for performance measurement. The need for transparency cannot be overemphasised. Transparency creates opportunity for engagement and trust is easy to achieve. We recognise our responsibility to all stakeholders particularly the 200million Nigerians, who we work for and serve. This means we must be accountable to them and we do not take assets and resources that are entrusted in our care as managers with levity. We cannot also deliver on this trust and expectations without performance and excellence. TAPE is therefore a vehicle or process towards achieving greater outcomes. My team and the entire corporation have kept faith and I am immensely grateful for that. We have continued to publish the monthly financial report, so our report card is available to everyone. You know our successes and the strides we are making to address our struggles in “real time”. Just to highlight a few success points, we have fully automated the process for procuring products from our downstream subsidiary, PPMC via our Customer Express Portal. This translates into savings in terms of man hours, reduced stress and gives every eligible customer irrespective of location and creed the same level of access and opportunity. We have cut waste in our contracts; our openness with contractors and partners has secured their buy in and we have seen a cost reduction across all segment of businesses. Also, we published the first audited financial statement of the corporation in 43 years.

This is no mean feat and we appreciate the support of Mr. President in making this a reality. The streamlining of our processes through full digitisation and automation is on-going. We have been able to onboard the new hires and future leaders of the corporation effective through the digital platform.

What did release of maiden NNPC audited accounts signpost? And when are the audited account of subsidiaries going to be released?

Thank you for the question, first let’s

state that we released the results of all the subsidiaries, and they are accessible to public through the corporation’s website.

Back to the questions of signpost, it shows commitment to the values we espouse in terms of TAPE. It shows respect for our shareholders and stakeholders that we will not shy away from rendering account of our performance. It shows we are willing to ask for help since we are not hiding.

More importantly, it has helped us in our transactions and dealings with international partners and financial institutions. We can now be measured and gauged against global standards. It also means more work and demands on myself and on my team. We have the task of improving and turning around the fortunes of the organisation.

We must deliver value to our shareholders.

So, the published financial statements put more pressure and spotlight on us, and we would not shy away from this commitment.

What is your medium-term projection for crude oil price?

At the fundamental level, oil price determination is an interplay of demand and supply dynamics. However, sentiment or speculative behaviour also influences prices. Since COVID19 began, we have seen crude demand drop from 100million per day to below 80million per day, while supply exceeded this threshold hence the collapse in prices. As activities return, demand returns, however given that supply has been extinguished in some of the production centers particularly shale in the US and curtailment by OPEC. The expectation going into the next quarter with easing of lockdown across the globe is that supply would lag demand, and this would generally support price recovery.

The recovery would be strong barring any 3rd or 4th wave of infection. So, within the medium term, I expect that crude oil prices would trade between $50-70/bbl.

What are your thoughts on OPEC’s production cut on the country?

OPEC’s goal is to ensure price stability in the world oil market and to obtain a stable revenue for oil-producing nations while ensuring steady and stable supply to consumers. Within this premise, the maximisation of revenue is the most

You were recently quoted to have said the NNPC would be investing in the healthcare sector by building hospitals, which drew some criticisms.

What informed that decision?

The decision to investment in healthcare was taken from an informed and enlightened position. In the oil industry, safety is considered paramount because it is cheaper to make good revenues when plants are up running and personnel are safe. To take the same corollary for a nation, the COVID19 exposed the weakness in our healthcare system, we cannot have a vibrant and healthy populace without making the necessary investment in the sector. The pandemic further raises the bar and scope for care. NNPC as a caring organisation sees a call to demonstrate it. Also, the amount of energy and funds expended on healthcare tourism not only by the industry I superintend, but the entire nation is humongous. It is estimated that Nigeria spends an average of $1billion on healthcare tourism focus mainly on oncology, orthopedics, nephrology, cardiology and other infectious diseases. This raises questions and need for intervention by all stakeholders. Remember, that based on our three-pronged thematic approach towards the industry-wide COVID19 intervention, we are ultimately going to bequeath medical infrastructure that will outlive us all. So, the intervention is targeted, well thought out and I deeply appreciate the support of our partners and other stakeholders in this regard.

Finally, what is the fate of fuel subsidy? Do we foresee a situation where it would be returned once crude oil prices rebound?

As you aware, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources has made policy statement based on presidential directives on the issue of fuel subsidy. Also, the PPPRA has issued guidelines on the process for monitoring the pricing of petroleum products in the domestic market going forward. My personal view is that subsidy should be removed, and the funds deployed to areas of the economy particularly road infrastructure and education that need funds. Fuel subsidy is a misallocation of resources and it benefits mainly people who don’t need it; the rich.

What we need is investment that upgrades the general good of the society and provide access and opportunity for social mobility for the poor. I do not foresee the return of subsidy when oil price rebounds. Just by removing subsidy in the 2020 budget, the nation is able to save over $400million. The savings would be better deployed to education or upgrade of the critical infrastructure in the country.

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SUNDAY JULY 26, 2020 •T H I S D AY

SUNDAY JULY 26, 2020 • T H I S D AY

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SUNDAY JULY 26, 2020 •T H I S D AY

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WEEKLY PULL-OUT

26.07.2020

CHEF GBUBEMI ‘FREGZ’ FREGENE

LEADING A CULINARY CULT OF CUISINE His bearded face sizzles with sweat as he tosses the egg in mid-air, uses his left hand, armed with a spoon, to stir a stewy pot of delicacy. He pours a potpourri of ingredients in the pot, stirs again, then, has a taste. His countenance signposts satisfaction. His recipes have produced a wonder of a meal. “Bon appetit,” he intones. That’s the culinary maestro, Gbybemi Fregene aka Chef Fregz. Fregene is more than a chief, writes Vanessa Obioha ASSISTANT EDITOR OLUFUNKE OLAODE/funkola2000@gmail.com

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T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R ˾ Ͱʹ˜ ͰͮͰͮ

COVER

A Chef’s Culture, Code And Cuisine

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rguably, chefs draw inspiration from different forms of art. It could be the rhythmic flow of music or dramatic motion pictures or aesthetic lines of visual art. Whatever they fancy is reflected in their culinary output. For Chef Fregz, it is the whole nine yards. He devours music, movies, and art with gusto. However, music stands out for the private chef. It sets the tone for his cooking. Even as the raging coronavirus pandemic altered the culinary business, the young chef still enjoys his sonics and sizzles.

“I love music a lot. It is a big part of my soul,” he gushes. “I love music from before I was born when I was much younger to today’s music. but I’m very stuck on music from when I was growing up and from the 70s and 60s as well.”

He adds, “Music is very important when I’m cooking because it sets the mood and tone. It makes me get through the cooking better.

Even my staff love playing music.

According to them, it gives them ‘ginger’. It is a really beautiful thing and I like listening to the lyrics, finding out who produced the song, why they wrote the song. I like researching everything about music.

It is really powerful and I love it.”

A visit to his social media pages reveals his love for the two vocations. He tweets ravishingly about his latest music favourites and often takes his fans down memory lane of some of the good oldies that tickle him. On his Instagram pages, he teases his latest culinary creations that are often named after a particular song. Think of Duduke jollof rice and Cajun barbecue turkey wings? Or perhaps order his latest Fregzybration boxes that come with a variety of his signature servings.

That’s the unique style of the gourmet king.

Two decades ago, his name would ring no bell as Nigerian chefs were not in the spotlight. But in the 2010s, there was a sudden interest in Nigerian food. Everyone lovingly hung the tag ‘foodie’ round their neck. An avalanche of ‘how to cook’ our local dishes videos and articles dominated the internet. There were also food bloggers who wrote passionately about the beauty of our culinary culture.

As the frenzy intensified, corporate bodies including banks such as GTBank and First Bank began to throw their weight behind the food industry, organizing food fairs that showcased the best of Nigerian foods in an appetizing way that can only be imagined. It was during this period that people began to put a face to the culinary magicians who for long were only popular within the four walls of their kitchens. It was within this period that Fregz gained popularity.

He was hailed for his fusion menus which presented an aromatic marriage between our local delicacies and international cuisine.

However, he would not take the credit alone. He modestly traced the rise of the Nigerian culinary art to others who started the movement.

“Our food was always in the spotlight but on the wrong stage.

We grew up with our mother’s food and that of caterers from the parties we attended. Their foods actually herald our great Nigerian food. but it was on the wrong stage because we were too familiar with it. We didn’t rate it. So familiarity actually bred contempt. But about 10 years ago, when we had young people like me and a few others like Lohi Busari (Lohi Creates), Ozoz (Kitchen Butterfly), and Dunni Obata

Gbybemi Fregene

(Dooney’s Kitchen) starting a movement on the culinary scene.

“They were Nigerian food bloggers in the diaspora — Dunni lives in London, Lohi lives in Canada while Ozoz used to live in the Netherlands but later moved to Nigeria — who were nostalgic about our foods and decided to champion it in a strange land. I think that being in a strange land or a country that isn’t really your heritage pushed people like them to say hey, ‘Nigerian food is good enough to stand next to any international food.’ So that triggered the movement for us to put it on the right stage: social media, next to international food, and fuse with international flavours as well. That spectrum for how grand and beautiful Nigeria food can be is expanding every day,” he says.

Indeed it is, with the growing popularity of our jollof rice across the pond and the features of some of these chefs on international magazines.

Before Chef Fregz became a reputable brand, he was known as Gbubemi Fregene, a young man who hailed from Abeokuta, Ogun State but grew up in Benin City, Edo State. He studied Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management at Covenant University. It was while in the University that Fregz suspected that he may foray into the culinary business.

His first business was Mai Suya where he made barbecues and finger-foods in the backyard of his grandfather’s house.

By 2009, he established his own catering service called DVARD. The following year saw him jetting off to Paris, France to hone his culinary skills at Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute. It was there that he learnt classical French cooking techniques while garnering different cultural influences. After graduating with a Diploma in Cuisine, the young chef worked as an intern at the Market

Restaurant and was later retained until he returned to Nigeria.

On his return, Fregz only had one mission in mind: to transform the Nigerian culinary scene by appealing to a younger generation. So he rolled his sleeves and brought magical transformations to the Nigerian platter, creating explosive deliciousness through his fusions.

If you ever look at asaro, the popular Yoruba yam porridge in a particular way, it is almost unrecognizable by the time Fregz puts his Midas touch on it.

“My affair with Nigerian food and how it could be better started with

just how we could present it better,” he explains. “I thought about eba and okra for example. I did a special which I called the Prada Eba and Lamborghini Okra and it was seafood okra. I just created it a little differently. So while I’m not doing mainly Nigerian food, there are still lots of Nigerian influences in my food. I have very forward Nigerian menus.”

His ingenuity has made him a household name. He is the first African chef to feature and do a live cooking show at the Dubai Food Festival. Fregz who is in his early thirties has cooked for presidents, diplomats, and other highly placed individuals in the society.

His business acumen came into play during the lockdown. While many restaurants were closed and events cancelled, leaving most chefs and restaurateurs out of business, the private chef’s catering delivery service Fregz Á Porter boomed. He curated new menus and delivered boxes of tasty meals to his customers, sometimes working overtime.

Despite the successful outcome, Fregz is not immune to the impact of the pandemic on the culinary business in Nigeria. He puts it this way.

“The picture is quite grim. The culinary business in Nigeria is broken down into many sectors. You have those who work in the hotel industry, the fastfood owners, bespoke chefs like me, the roadside food sellers, the bukas, just to name a few. Everybody’s affected. The roadside food seller doesn’t attract the number of people she used to, the hotels don’t have guests, people are no longer throwing big parties.

“Most restaurants have not fully opened. The option is to deliver food which seems to be working and people are finding ways to work with minimal staff or under minimal conditions to keep the business afloat and cover some percentage of the staff salary.”

He added that the pandemic marked the end of big parties. “People are not going to throw big parties anymore, rather there will be smaller events.”

Looking at the culinary business in Nigeria which boasts of over 800 Quick Service Restaurants (QSR) according to a 2014 report by the Association of Fast Foods and Confectioners of Nigeria (AFFCON), Fregz has no doubt that Nigerian restaurants can fetch a Michelin star — the European rating system that rewards restaurants for excellence.

“Of course, it is going to happen. But the only thing that we need to do is stop being pretentious. We should look at the range of restaurants that have Michelin stars. Some Michelin starred restaurants are in villages, some are street food vendors while some are established fine dining restaurants. I think we should just aspire to that level of quality and consistency; that is what really earns you a Michelin star. When people come over and over again to your restaurant and still get the same gastronomic experience.”

He continues: “But it’s also in the education of our system, of the people that work together on the team, to let them understand that what obtains in a Michelin establishment is some seriousness. The team in general has to be ready. Everybody that is involved in the establishment has to be ready because getting a Michelin star is no joke.”

Having been a private chef for so long, Fregz still harbours a dream to own a restaurant someday.

“Yes, I do plan on having a chain of restaurants someday. It’s always been my dream from when I was very young to have restaurants in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, London, Hong Kong. So definitely I want to change directions because I believe I have different stories to tell and they can’t be confined to one place.”

For now, he is the fusion forward private chef who likes to showcase different flavours, drawing from his experiences and loves. And by loves, you guessed right if you thought of music.

T H I S DAY, T H E S U N DAY N E W S PA P E R ˾ Ͱʹ˜ ͰͮͰͮ

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ENTERTAINMENT

New House, New Housemates, New Drama Vanessa Obioha reports that despite the technical glitch the Big Brother Naija season 5 launch suffered, the reality TV show is already sizzling with drama When the popular reality TV show returned to the screen last Sunday, not a few feared that the show was off to a poor start due to the technical glitch it suffered.

But by the time the contestants were revealed, the nine minutes the glitch lasted was almost forgotten. What dominated social media was this year’s selection of contestants who expectedly were a diverse mix. Much of the discussion on the housemates centred on their physical attributes. There was Ozoemena Chukwu (Ozo), a 27-year-old fair-skinned fashion consultant from Imo State whose handsome looks got many drooling.

There were also the muscled contestants like Terseer Kiddwaya (27), Praise Nelson (28), Eric Akhigbe (24), Nelson Enwerem Prince (24) and Emuobonuvie “Neo” Akpofure (26) who got fans wondering if the organizers selected them for their chiseled body. The contestant who set Twitter on fire with her looks, however, was Dorathy Bachor, a 24-year-old entrepreneur from Lagos with a voluptuous body. Donning a black dress with a V-neck that exposed her mammary glands, Dorathy inspired a lot of memes online that ranged from bewilderment to admiration. But her domination on the Twittersphere didn’t last long as the spotlight was shifted to Olamilekan ‘Laycon’ Agbeleshe, a 26-yearold singer and rapper from Lagos whose musical fame was unknown. At first, Laycon looked like the oddball in the mix. Not a sight for sore eyes, Laycom somehow managed to worm his way into the hearts of fans of the show with his charisma and rapping skills. The housemates were thrilled when he freestyled a song for them on their first night, fetching him admiration. With musicians like Oxlade and Chinko Ekun throwing their weight behind him, Laycon’s fame tripled. He is touted as an underdog that will clinch the coveted prize.

Though the contestants have barely spent a week in the house, fans already have their favourites and rooting for them aggressively. On the list of favourites are Laycon, Ozo, Neo for his endless gists, Ka3na for her incredible tales, Ngozi ‘Erica’ Nlewedim, the 26-year-old actress and model; and Rebecca ‘Nengi’ Hampson, the youngest in the house who clinched the Head of House title this week. The 22-year-old entrepreneur is also admired for her curvaceous body.

The housemates with least admiration include Praise,

whom fans described as talkative and two-faced; and the 30-year-old Lucy who many find irritating.

Relationships and love triangles are one of the staples of the show and fans are divided over the budding relationship between Boluwatife ‘Lilo’ Aderogba, the dietician, Eric and Erica. The two ladies seemed to have the hots for the young man who dwarfs everyone in the house. However, when it seemed that he would pick Lilo, Erica fans didn’t take it lightly. But Eric may find

himself without any of the ladies as Lilo revealed that she has a boyfriend outside the house.

For other housemates like Victoria “Vee” Adeyele, Timmy Sinclair (Trikytee), Florence Wathoni Anyansi, Tochukwu Okechukwu (Tochi), Ezekiel Bright Osemudiame (Brighto), Kaisha Umaru, Tolani Shobajo (Tolanibaj), their true colours have yet to manifest.

For this season, themed ‘Lockdown’, the organizers gave the popular Big Brother Naija house a facelift. The lounge and garden are aesthetically designed with colourful artworks. For the first time on the show, the head of the house has an exclusive lounge and bedroom that sits on an upper level above the common areas. Previous seasons only had a separate bedroom and bathroom for the HoH. Also new to the house is a beauty and grooming studio and a redesigned arena for the famous Friday night games. In adherence to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) guidelines on COVID-19, a disinfection tunnel was created where contestants sanitized their hands and were sprayed with a mist that disinfects the clothing before they entered the house. Another glaring change to this year’s season is the logo colours.

This year’s colours are purple and gold. Also, the housemates will be spending a shorter period in this edition, (71 days).

Akpororo Endorsed as Fedan Brand Ambassador

By Rebecca Ejifoma Nigeria’s popular ace comedian and gospel vocalist, Jephthar Bowoto, popularly known as Akpororo, has become the brand ambassador of Fedan Investment Limited (FIL), owners and manufacturers of electrical and mobile phone accessories.

Speaking at the endorsement in Ojo, Lagos, the firm’s General Manager, Joel Agba expressed that it became imperative for the company to maintain its top position and standard in the electrical and mobile phone accessories market locally and internationally.

He stated that it was the company’s penchant to spice up their essence by adding a new member on board to spread the gospel of the FIL range of products across the globe with a touch of his undiluted anointing.

The Chairman and Managing Director of FIL, Stephen Chinemelum, expounded the company’s several plans to regain its glory days before their consumers.

“Quality is important to us. That is why

we have made Akpororo, a man filled with anointing, brand ambassador to represent us out there. We intend to maintain our position as electronic dealers in Nigeria and West Africa generally”.

Reacting to his new appointment, Akpororo stated his readiness, zeal and commitment to push the brand to the next level.

“We are here to work. I think the brand saw something in me and came for me. I am equally excited to have been selected. We are going to do our best by pushing the brand to the next level.”

Not minding the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic, the ace comedian promised to use social media, his voice, and his knees at night.

“With the followership of over two million fans on social media, I will use my social media, voice, and prayer at night to do the work,” he chuckled.

FIL, with outlets in Nigeria and West Africa, deals in electronics like Bluetooth devices, extensions, power banks, chargers and a handful of other electronics for homes, offices, and individual use.

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Ͱʹ˜ ͰͮͰͮ ˾ THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER

High Life Roland Ewubare Recoils into His Shell

Ewubare

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

Inspiring Milestone of Oba Fredrick Akinruntan at 70

I

n both the political and corporate landscapes, things are almost never what they seem. Layers and layers usually have to be peeled back before the truth of things reveals itself. This was the predominant impression that Roland Ewubare left behind when he abruptly resigned on July 4 from his position as Chief Operating Officer (COO) in charge of Joint Ventures and Business Development of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Roland Ewubare has now completely recoiled into his shell, and is no longer a notable presence in the affairs of industry and management.

Because there was no suggestion of inconvenience and frustration, the resignation of Roland Ewubare was a shock to many. As a top staff of NNPC, Ewubare had proved himself to be a brilliant and strategic manager in the energy sector. That he just upped and left was perceived by countless observers to be suspicious and something worthy of a fireside chat.

In the days since his resignation, Roland Ewubare has been cast in a number of imaginary roles. One such role has him in bodily distress and a victim of undisclosed health problems. This is possibly the most widespread rationale posited to be behind his withdrawal from the top NNPC position. To this end, nothing has been communicated from Ewubare’s household to confirm— or refute—the claims.

However, another prevailing bit of gossip regarding Ewubare’s retirement is that he was at odds with Mele Kyari, the current Group Managing Director of NNPC. This one, at least, has been refuted vehemently, which means that Ewubare is still well and kicking.

Until his departure, Roland Ewubare was also the Group General Manager of National Petroleum Investments and Management Services (NAPIMS), as well as the Managing Director of the Integrated Data Services Limited (IDSL). All that is old news now.

Ewubare’s disappearance from the public view is quite the icing on the cake. There is a rumour that he is making good on his word to relocate outside Nigeria to be with his family—which is another reason given for his sudden resignation.

Whatever the case, Roland Ewubare is out of the game for now.

with KAYODE ALFRED 08116759807, E-mail: kayflex2@yahoo.com

Oba Akinruntan

At 70, Oba Fredrick Obateru Akinrutan is still the royal presence he was when he ascended the Ugbo throne in 2009. Suns and moons have risen and fallen in the intervening years, but the Olugbo, lord of wealth and colour, custodian of deep oil wells and taller socio-political standing, is still a manifestation of custom, education and power. While

his 70th birthday was not as thundered as expected, Nigeria’s high society still swayed towards him, extending amiable felicitations all the way.

If everything had gone according to plan, Oba Akinrutan’s birthday party would have rattled the peace and quiet of Ondo State, and indeed, all of Nigeria. With considerations for the COVID-19 pandemic and safety measures put in place by the government, the celebrations were kept to the barest minimum. Nonetheless, his family and close friends were still on hand—at the Ugbo palace in Ilaje—to clink and down a few glasses of expensive wine.

As the Olugbo of Ugbo Kingdom, Oba Akinruntan has run farther than his fathers and is jumping higher than his own sons might ever hope to. Although a traditional monarch, Oba Akinruntan has made a name for himself and his kingdom in the venerated and lucrative industry of oil and gas. His brainchild, Obat Oil, is reported to have over 50 gas stations across Nigeria, all of them generating enough

Nigeria’s Biggest Philanthropist, Femi Otedola Celebrates Father’s Posthumous Birthday Outside Femi Otedola, the number of men of wealth and affluence who have managed to retain a garment unsoiled with theft and swindling can be counted on one hand.

Because apples almost never fall too far from their trees, this nearly spotless reputation of Femi Otedola has been attributed to the influence of his late father, Sir Michael Otedola.

A few days ago, the former chairman of Forte Oil celebrated the posthumous birthday of his venerable father. As one of the most well-to-do gentlemen in Nigeria and Africa, Otedola has the option of making statues in his father’s image or effecting hashtags in his name. He chose instead to make a quiet mention of the man because that was what he would have wanted. In the days of his power, Michael Otedola was not a very loud man.

He wore the nobility of his Southwestern origin with a naturalness that remains unmatched in the six years following his demise. More than anything else, Michael Otedola’s selling point was intolerance for injustice and unfairness—which is hiding

Otedola

money to fund daily festivals in Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State—the area within which Ugboland is situated.

Although Oba Akinruntan is known in equal measure for his wealth (in 2014, Akinrutan was ranked the wealthiest king in Nigeria, and only second to Mohammed IV of Morocco in the whole of Africa) and industry, he is also a leading figure in social and political matters. The fact that his Obat Oil reportedly controls one of Africa’s largest tank farms—supposedly able to store 65 million litres of petroleum—is not without significance.

Although there was a small patch in his swagger a few months ago (the alleged seizure of his assets), Oba Akinruntan has continued to set his steps in the path of colour and class and luxury and opulence.

He celebrated his 70th birthday in this spirit.

At 70, the future of this monarch remains bright and nearing the luminescence of a young sun. today in the looting of national resources and treasury.

Before becoming governor of Lagos, Michael Otedola was a teacher. His talent for research and reporting soon led him to take up the notable leadership positions in the Guardian and Times media houses in England. He sharpened his editorial and reporting skills and eventually became a formidable figure in the Nigerian government, first as an information officer, and then editor of the Western Nigeria Illustrated. He also made a name for himself in Western Nigeria Television/Western Broadcasting Service and Mobil Oil Group of Companies. Then in 1992, he was elected the governor of Lagos State.

Michael Otedola’s penchant for justice and fairness—amidst progress and unity— is his most defining quality. All in all, he was a lover of people and one who bore compassion as a shield and the welfare of his people as an indomitable spear. It is therefore not altogether surprising that his son, Femi Otedola, is following in his steps.

Aside from individual interventions (recall how he saved the life of Christian Chukwu), Femi Otedola’s dedication to treating the bite marks of the COVID-19 pandemic is worth mentioning. It is reported that in less than six months, Femi Otedola has made donations to the Federal Government that eclipsed 5 billion.

Three Scores and Five for Gbenga Ashafa Senator Gbenga Ashafa was 65 on July 22.

Yes, neither words nor music nor a thousand epigrams will do, in commemorating the true essence and class of Senator Ashafa at 65. He is a true citizen of the world indeed. He would do any nation proud as her illustrious son considering his heartfelt contributions to his nation’s socio-political, economy and high art.

Timeless anecdotes seep from his being like whirlwinds writing on the grass and inscriptions teaching us that everything and anything about him offer priceless lessons in humility, fortitude and grace. It’s the imagination with which he perceives the world and the gestures by which he honours it that however, stand him apart from his peers in the nation’s political arena.

Interestingly, friends, family and political associates strongly believe that a man like Ashafa symbolizes the universe’s rarest gift to mankind.

Ashafa is no doubt a phenomenon and gift to this generation. While most of his friends, family and business associates are already in the know and appreciate this fact, like the infinite crowd of folks that constitute mere acquaintances to him, they are continually stunned, captivated and humbled by Ashafa’s infectious humility and generous spirit.

At the very least, everybody seems to love Ashafa. Magnificence, order, complexity, mystery and possibilities—the same things that draw folks to their most treasured daydreams lure them to Ashafa. The primary difference is that subtle and blatant idolatry takes a front seat in the flurry of emotion and perpetual elocution of the rare

civility and bounteousness of spirit accorded them by Ashafa.

Yet, Ashafa is forever quick to counsel folks about his ordinariness and thus prevent them from dressing him in what he considers spurious cloaks of a ‘saviour, ‘messiah,’ or ‘deity’ or ‘tin god.’ Yeah, Ashafa, for or his extraordinariness tirelessly seeks to be viewed as ordinary – which makes unlocking his core both a boon and conundrum to anyone.

It is hard to be more specific about the true worth of Ashafa’s humanity because unlike most of civilization’s great, contemporary statesmen and philanthropists, he has something quite different to offer to his several dependants and beneficiaries of his generosity. Ashafa is several things at the same time to everyone and anyone: he is a humanitarian who depicts raw compassion expressed with the greatest refinement and discipline; he is an aesthete with stormy sublimity, unimaginable genius and that famed vision of ingenuity that separates the practiced from the mediocre.

Forgive the seeming inclination to fawn and project the good graces of Ashafa but he is simply all that and much more.

Ashafa sees a relative in everyone. He believes humanity is simply one large family divided along race, religious and other bigoted Medayese lines and his response to this defies the depths of human failings and pretensions to altruism.

Ashafa defines ‘family’ beyond the word’s literal meanings hence his tireless bid to erase the established bounds of filial affection and comradeship by ceaseless acts of courage and compassion for the sake of humanity.

Ashafa

Gbenga Ashafa was born in the Luther Bamgbose Campos area of Lagos Island on July 22, 1955, to a household of merchants.

At an early age, the path to administrative domination was already set for him. Thus, after both primary and secondary education in Lagos, he was admitted to Morgan State University, Maryland, USA, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree (Cum Laude) in Biological Sciences.

Thereafter, Ashafa earned a Master’s of Science degree in Public Health Administration from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and promptly returned to Nigeria—around 1980—for his National Youth Service at the Federal Ministry of Health. This was the launching pad for his foray into public service.

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ Ͱʹ˜ ͰͮͰͮ

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Adebayo Adeoye bayoolunla@gmail.com; 08054680651

Fidelity Bank’s CEO, Nnamdi Okonkwo to Bow Out in Dec. How time flies!

It was just like yesterday when respected banker, Nnamdi Okonkwo, was appointed the Managing Director, Fidelity Bank Plc. His appointment in 2014 was applauded by many, including the management and shareholders, who described it as well deserved.

Quite expectedly, Okonkwo has, in past six years, contributed hugely to taking the bank to the next level.

In fact, the graduate of Agricultural Economics from the University of Benin has proved his mettle since he assumed the position, as the bank has reportedly experienced significant and unprecedented growth in the last six years, with a bagful of awards.

In 2018, Nnamdi Okonkwo won The Sun Banker of the Year Award; Fidelity Bank won the Outstanding Bank of the Year Award at the Brands and Advertising Excellence Awards in 2018; BusinessDay Banking Awards named Fidelity Bank as the Best Bank in CSR in 2018, and Fidelity Bank bagged the Best Bank in Infrastructure Financing at the BusinessDay Banking Awards in 2018.

Also, at the Financial Times Tech Award, Fidelity Bank bagged Best Digital Networking Bank for Entrepreneurs in 2019; Fidelity Bank bagged the Best Private Bank in Nigeria at the Professional Wealth Management (PWM) Global Wealth Tech Awards in 2019; DAAR Awards named Fidelity Bank, Entrepreneurship Bank of the Year in 2019. But as it is in life, whatever has a beginning must have an end. Okonkwo’s term of six years winds up in December, 2020.

At the expiration of his term, Okonkwo, it was gathered, will be handing over to Mrs. Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe in January 2021.

Leo Stan Ekeh, an Unsung Gender-Equality Advocate

Ekeh

Leo Stan Ekeh, Chairman of the Zinox Group, is a shining star in the nation’s business climate. His business drive is worthy of emulation by entrepreneurs and prospects, especially in Nigeria’s inclement business environment.

Without a doubt, the Imo Stateborn business magnate has represented everything good and progressive in

business for many years.

Today, he is easily a reference point in the ICT and e-commerce industry where he is a big player.

However, it is doubtful if many know that the ICT guru is one of the advocates of gender equality.

It was gathered that the billionaire businessman in the past had spoken in defence of women as well as the grudging refusal to empower women with leadership responsibilities.

It will be recalled that sometime in 2014, at a Women in ICT event held at Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, he had declared that women would lead the world, not as secondclass citizens, but in the management of global resources mainly in the corporate marketplace.

On the occasion, he had reportedly said that women were naturally more structured, trustworthy, less greedy, live longer and more prayerful than men.

These innate qualities, he added, had strategically endowed women with the basic ingredients for leadership.

According to him, “As entrepreneurs, all you need to do is combine these innate qualities with absolute commitment, capacity for innovation, credibility and sound digital knowledge and very soon, the male folk will be struggling to keep pace with the women in the industry.’’

Also in 2018, he had preached the gospel of women empowerment to the packed audience at the Landmark Centre, Oniru,

Victoria Island.

Listening to him make such statements, many had concluded that he was only playing to the gallery.

But Society Watch gathered that, at Technology Distributions Ltd. (TD Africa), which incidentally is arguably the biggest company in the Zinox Group in revenue terms, women occupy the first four management executive positions.

The company is led by his wife, Chioma Ekeh, a first-rate mathematician and certified Chartered Accountant, who had previously worked in the United Kingdom. Next to her is another woman, the Coordinating Managing Director, Chioma Chimere.

Following closely is yet another woman, Shade Oyebode, Managing Director (Operations) and then; Andrea Ijogun, Managing Director (Sales).

It was revealed that Zinox Technologies Ltd. is also led by a female Managing Director, Kelechi Eze-Okonta, who has an M.Sc. in International Business Management from University of Liverpool, United Kingdom.

The Group’s Head, Human Resources, is also a female in the person of Chioma Nwoke. Investigation revealed that these women were appointed to their respective positions based on their academic qualifications, skills, job experiences, brilliance and shared belief in the vision of the founder.

Top Oil Player, Greg Uanseru’s Heart of Thanksgiving at 61 To those who know him very well, Greg Uanseru, a top player in the nation’s oil industry, is courageous and determined. He has been in business for so long and his endearing entrepreneurial skills have been a reference point of sorts.

Indeed, it is often said that, if you are seeking an authentic information on the oil exploration business in Nigeria, you will be doing yourself a lot of good by consulting Uanseru, who is the President / CEO, GCA Energy Limited.

This oil magnate, who many regard as an encyclopaedia of some sort in the sector, is the brains behind this thriving indigenous oil company in Nigeria.

Though he started rather small, he has attained this enviable height through hard work and determination backed by ceaseless prayers. He recognizes that only God is the unseen hand behind his success story; and he submits absolutely to His will. His armour against failure is ceaseless prayers. In the course of plying

his trade, he has also made a lot of friends, who love him for all that he represents.

As proof of their genuine friendship, a good number of his close friends and families are said to be warming up to celebrate with him as he marks another birthday on Tuesday, July 28.

It was gathered that the event will, however, be low-key, particularly because Uanseru loathes loud celebrations. As revealed, the billionaire would only dedicate the day for prayers and thanksgiving, especially because of his belief in one of his favourite Bible Psalms, 145 verse 1 ‘’I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.’’

Uanseru, a silent billionaire, has lifted a number of less privileged members of the society; his philanthropy beggars’ description. The man who is also a rare

Uanseru

gem believes that “the amount of wealth you gather in life does not make you a successful man but the amount of people you have pulled up from poverty and render selfless assistance to.’’

Delta Perm Sec, Edwin Ogidi-Gbegbaje is a Quiet Worker

Okonkwo

Sir Edwin Egwonomu OgidiGbegbaje, Permanent Secretary, Directorate of Government House and Protocols, Delta State is known to strictly adhere to detail and handles his duties with dedication and utmost calmness.

He is one top civil servant who hates to court unnecessary attention, in spite of his enviable position in the society.

Very humble and genial, he also does not dance to the rhythm of mass hysteria. However, not too many know that he is so passionate about philanthropy. As a philanthropist, he gives scholarships to students and also empowers the less privileged. But he

Ogidi-Gbegbaje

does it without making any noise about it. Also, his dedication to Church duties as well as social activities stands him out.

Upon graduation in Political Science from the University of Jos, he followed the footsteps of his late parents who were both in public service.

Ogidi-Gbegbaje, who also obtained a Master’s degree in Industrial and Labour Relations (MILR) from the Delta State University, Abraka, has risen through the ranks from his humble beginning as an administrative officer to his present position.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ Ͱʹ˜ ͰͮͰͮ

LOUD WHISPERS

with JOSEPH EDGAR (09095325791)

Mena Joseph Edgar – This Will not Pass Last Saturday, the sun came down on me. I was summoned into the Lagoon Hospital in Ikoyi and told by one baldheaded doctor that my wife Mena Joseph Edgar had passed on. I just look the man’s big head and say thank you. They had tried their best but God knows best. She was diagnosed with diabetes that had gone into other complications which finally took her life. She was

my Erelu and mother of my son Alvin. This is as painful as it gets and I must say has shaken me to my very foundation.

Despite the fact that I had said no one should call me, Nigerians have inundated me with calls. Now I do not know if these calls have been helpful but then again, they have been made in good faith. But when over 600 people call in a day,

saying sorry with the next thing being what happened and you are forced to recall the circumstances of it all over and over again, it messes you up.

After it all, at night you are left with your weary soul, scared and lonely. It is not easy to be a man, I do not even want to be a man. I just want to cuddle up in a dark closet and cry. Please can the world let me be at this point? Let me cry. Thanks.

Akpabio

Pondei

Ngige

AKPABIO SINGS LIKE A BIRD This my uncommon politician continues to excite me. So I watched a clip of his presentation to a committee of the National Assembly. He was just talking o.

The kind of talk that would have killed the chairman. He said a lot of the contracts given out by the NDDC were given to members of the National Assembly. Mbok, come and see the chairman, he almost had a cardiac arrest on the matter. He was saying ‘that is enough’ and Akpabio kept talking, engaging a female member of the committee who obviously was in the dark about the goings-on in the place. As Akpabio talked, the chairman panicked. He was even seen tapping the lady while still screaming at Akpabio that that was enough.

Wetin concern uncommon politician? He still dey talk go with his thick Ibibio accent. The female committee member was not even helping matters as she kept egging Akpabio on who didn’t really need too much assistance to vomit. The chairman must have asked for aspirin when he got home because short of asking that Akpabio’s mouth be bandaged, he did everything possible within the limits of decorum to stop the verbal leakage from my townsman.

Be like say, if they allow Akpabio, we go need a major by-election for that place. Only in Nigeria.

Chairman of all chairmen na him we see that day. Na was.

So the idea was to carve out this parastatal, empower it so that it would ‘penetratively’ engage the socio-economic issues that affect the region. But like everything Nigerian, the place has now turned into a cesspool of corruption. We have been inundated with all sorts of allegations leading to the fainting of its boss at a National Assembly hearing. While this was going on, the supervisory minister was accused of all sorts, ranging from diabolical oath-taking to sexual harassment with massive looting of funds between. This is sad and shakes to the very core of my strong belief in this country.

Barbarians have held the keys to this country’s vaults for too long. The solution would be the increasing decentralization of wealth creation. For as long as control of resources continues to reside at the core epicenter of power, we will continue to have this madness. I am happy with the seeming decentralization of wealth with what the digital economy is doing forming 25% of GDP. Although this is slow, I really do believe that we will get to that point where you would be a billionaire without government patronage, where you can earn a decent living without access to power. By then, all this madness will stop. NDDC and its leaders are a total shame to this country and mankind. Please faint oga and don’t wake up. Rubbish!

head. He was up against Faleke and instead of answering questions went into a diatribe of how he is Tinubu’s mate and how Faleke was his boy, ‘a common Mushin boy’. He regaled us with his being a Victoria Island boy and an ‘okpolokpo’.

To him, the session was a joke and an opportunity to come and have fun. Sad, because he was dancing as the nation was burning. What manner of leaders are these?

This set of leaders are the worst we have seen just yet. They are maniacally destroying the nation while laughing and joking about it.

What is there to be happy about?

What exactly has this Ngige person achieved with all the portfolio he so gleefully announced that he has held in this country? Shame on him and his ilk, a real shame. I actually threw up watching him.

NDDC – A CHARTER OF THE DEVIL The agency was set up at the height of the genuine agitation for the development of the South-South region that was seen as the major source of the nation’s wealth but with no concomitant development.

THE JOKER CALLED DR. CHRIS NGIGE This politician who didn’t look like he had taken a bath in three days seized the opportunity of his National Assembly hearing to embarrass himself. As I watched this video, I was just shaking my

GOVERNOR KAYODE FAYEMI – NOW I AM AFRAID I have seen a newsfeed reporting that my friend, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, of Ekiti State, has tested positive for COVID-19. Even though it is looking like we now have a new strain of the virus that only goes after governors with a seven-day infection and cure cycle, I am still afraid. From Okowa to Akeredolu to the Abia governor - they all within seven days got infected and cured miraculously. Much as I would wish Dr. Fayemi the same route, I must still express my fear. In every picture or video that I have seen of Dr. Fayemi, he has displayed the highest level of caution with this virus. He has worn a mask, a shield and observed social distancing.

From what I have been seeing, I always used to just think that he would be the last. Except for what

Mena Joseph Edgar

Fayemi

he does when the cameras are not there o. But for the ones we are seeing in the open, the man was protected and protected himself.

So this his diagnosis come dey fear me o. Me that I am jumping all over Lagos with a mask that I bought for N10,000 and have been wearing it all over the place only to come and be told that I can only wear it once. The instructions were written in Portuguese but was imported from China and sold in a major prominent pharmacy on Victoria Island. Those ones had better be praying that nothing happens to me o. Right now we can only be praying because with the level of nonchalance in society, this virus can clearly just take us out. The other day I was in Iwaya, a Lagos suburb, and no soul, not even one person wore a mask.

Social distancing? What is that? We are all just in the Lord’s hands on this one. God help us.

NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA – YOU HAVE MY SUPPORT I really don’t know what this World Trade Organization (WTO) is all about. But the fact that our own sister is a candidate for its headship, I will support her. If for nothing else but for the PR value it will give our country internationally. We have continued to be buffeted by negative PR especially with this Hushpuppi person whose arrest and subsequent revelations about him have really dented our image, leading to some unfavorable reactions from his host country.

Madam Iweala’s election just may provide the much-needed balancing required. As for the importance of the position and its effect on us directly, I am at sea.

Thank you.

SUNDAY JULY 26, 2020 • T H I S D AY

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JU ͺ;˜ ͺ͸ͺ͸ ˾ THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER

INTERNATIONAL US Order Closing Chinese Consulate in Houston: When Action and Reaction Are Not Equal and Opposite

I

t was Isaac Newton who taught the world that action and reaction are always equal and opposite in physics. In the social sciences, there is nothing like equality of action and reaction, but the word ‘opposite’ features everywhere in international relations, especially in terms of force relationships. The issue of inequality in interactional relations is so much pronounced to the extent that Member States of the international community have to engage in the politics of balancing of power. The mere engagement in the balance of power necessarily implies that there is a situation of imbalance, centripetally or centrifugally.

In fact, contemporary international relations is increasingly becoming more disorderly because of increasing orders and counter-orders that have come to characterise bilateral ties between the major powers, on the one hand, and between the major powers and aspiring major powers, on the other. The bilateral ties between the United States and the People’s Republic of China (PRC or Beijing) constitute a good manifestation of the emerging disorderly situation.

For various reasons, the relationship between the United States and the PRC has tended more towards power rivalry, and therefore, it cannot be rightly described as good since the end of World War II for one main reason: rivalry between communism and capitalism that operate in the two countries. They are ideologically very antagonistic. For instance, the political crisis in the Hong Kong is nothing more than a contest between communism and capitalism. Hong Kong has been exposed to a capitalist lifestyle of freedom, openness, and economic productivity since 1842 when Hong Kong was ceded to the British on lease for ninety-nine years. At the end of the lease in 1997, the policy of ‘one country, two systems’, as agreed to in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration on the return of Hong Kong to China, became a new noisome problem in China’s relationship with Western Europe, particularly with the United States.

Another important reason is the fact that the United States and China do not have any former colonies. Consequently, they do not have a direct opportunity of an exterritorial space through which to project their national power, especially in terms of exploitation of local mineral resources. This situation compels both countries to look outwardly for strategic support which sometimes has taken the format of a Cold War. It is on record that the United States took an active part in the Franco-British decolonisation processes that led to the independence of many African countries in the early 1960s.

There is also the perception of inferiority-superiority factor which stimulates mutual suspicions in the relationship. In the classification of race in the world, the Westerners, the white race (Caucasoid), have made everyone to believe that they are the first or the best race. All other races, that is, the Negroid (black), Australoid (Australian aborigine and Papuan, Capoid (Bushmen Hottentots) and Mongoloid (Oriental/Amerindian) under which the Chinese fall, come after. They are considered inferior in international politics.

Most unfortunately, the Chinese quietly object to any argument of inferiority complex, and have in the past three decades, been making sustained efforts to demonstrate their capacity and capability at self-development, as well as readiness to take over global leadership from the United States, but which the Washingtonian authorities do not show any preparedness to condone.

The Manu Militari Order and Counter-Order

The non-preparedness of the United States to accept the emerging new status of China has prompted the development of an unhealthy rivalry in various forms. US main strategy is to prevent the increasing role and influence of China in international relations. In this regard, there is no disputing the fact that China has become a de facto military superpower in Asia and has developed technological capability in strategic sectors, such as in the 5G technology and artificial intelligence. The Chinese are much aware of this US anti-China policy.

It is against this background that the United States manu militari ordered closure of China’s Consulate General in Houston, on Tuesday, July 21, 2020 before Friday, July 24, 2020 should be explained and understood. The order is manu militari

VIE INTERNATIONALE with

Bola A. Akinterinwa Telephone : 0807-688-2846

e-mail: bolyttag@yahoo.com

Xi Jinping

Trump

in character as the US government gave only 72 hours within which the Chinese Consulate General must be closed down, that is, not later than Friday, 24th July, 2020. The order is also the crescendo of the recidivist manifestations of the deepening misunderstanding between the two countries, particularly as from 2018. In the thinking of the Chinese, US hostility to the rise of China as a global economic power must be promptly and effectively resisted.

One important background to the issuance of the order of closure is trade dispute. Washington has not only been complaining about China’s unfair trade practices, but has also accused China of stealing US intellectual property. The United States argues that Chinese steel and aluminium imports into the United States are quite cheap because they are subsidised by the Government of China. Washington sees this practice as dumping and therefore, an unfair trade practice. Donald Trump also considers as unfair the forceful transfer of American technology to China.

It was in light of these considerations that, in January 2018, Donald Trump put in place 30-50% tariffs and barriers on solar panels and washing machines. Two months after, 25% tariff was placed on steel and 10% on aluminium. Even though the tariffs were of general application, the tariffs were specifically hiked in the context of China, which also imposed retaliatory tariffs on US exports to China. As explained by Donald Trump’ in March 2018, ‘trade wars are good and easy to win.’

The situational reality in the relationship, however, has clearly shown that there is neither any goodness in any trade war, as both countries have suffered losses, even though in varying degrees. In fact, in August 2019, Donald Trump had to re-explain himself by declaring that he ‘never said China was going to be easy.’

In essence, Donald Trump imposed tariffs in the belief that US trade deficit with China could be nipped in the bud. In terms of further strategy, the United States adopted the policy of moving away from multilateral, to bilateral, framework in US economic relations with China. The belief is also that the United States will be better placed to negotiate and influence others bilaterally, rather than multilaterally, in its economic ties with China. This will be possible if China engages in fair trade by stopping the

All put together, the closure of the Chinese Consulate General in Houston is a case of the steam accusing the kettle.The US is reportedly giving asylum to a wanted Chinese dissident in Beijing, while China is protecting another Chinese fugitive in its Consulate in Houston. China does not want a territorially independent Hong Kong, which is precisely what the Westerners want.

China is increasingly becoming more assertive but no one wants China to make changes to the status quo. In fact, various sanctions are taken against China under various guises: fleeing Hong Kongers are given a warm welcome in the United Kingdom and Australia, with the ultimate objective of undermining the new national security law. The UK announced the blockage of Huwei in support of the United States, thus putting an end to the so-called ‘golden era’ in the Sino-British ties. And true, China has retaliated by also ordering the closure of the US Consulate in Chengdu in the South West. With the US order and Chinese counter-order, the implications have neither been equal nor opposite. It has been overreaction and Cold War.Which way forward for Nigeria?

US-perceived Chinese theft of intellectual property.

Apart from the question of trade dispute, alleged theft of intellectual property and forceful transfer of American technology to China, there is also another important question, that of Hong Kong. The United States signed an agreement with the Government of Hong Kong, officially referred to as a ‘Special Administrative Region’ by Beijing. The agreement gave Hong Kong a special status which has enabled it to enjoy special and preferential treatment, especially in the area of economic ties.

However, earlier in July 2020, a new Security Law was enacted by the Beijing parliament and introduced for implementation in Hong Kong. While China sees the security law as a reflection of its sovereignty over Hong Kong and in application of the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration on the return of Hong Kong, the United States, in particular, and US allies, in general, hold a contrary view. They argue that the security law is a threat to the principle of ‘One Country, Two Systems.’ They raise the issue of violations of human rights and of the 1984 Joint Declaration.

In fact, the United States has set aside the agreement done with Hong Kong. Thus, controversy over the status of Hong Kong has become another distant, but major dynamic of the closure of the Chinese Consulate General in Houston, Texas.

A third critical background issue to the closure is the question of Covid-19. Donald Trump sees it as a ‘China Virus’, arguing that it originated from a Chinese laboratory in Wuhan, China.

This Donald Trumpian view directly conflicts with the official position of the US intelligence community, which says that COVID-19 ‘was not man-made or genetically modified.’ China has simply responded by alleging that the origination was with the complicity of the United States.

As for the immediate causal factors of the order, perspectives have varied. However, the first, and perhaps the most important consideration, is deductive: Donald Trump might have considered that the United States has more to gain, while China has more to lose with the closure. The US gain is from the perspective that an end will be put to Chinese espionage and theft of intellectual property.

One school of thought has argued that it is a manifestation of the emerging Cold War between the two countries. There can be a scintilla of truth in this observation in that China is thriving tooth and nail to be a credible global power, especially beginning with the acquisition of a global superpower economic status, but to which the United States is not favourably disposed, be it at the limited level of global economic status or otherwise, especially militaro-technological. Anything that has the potential to boost any rise of the Chinese to the detriment of United States’ leadership of the world, is not acceptable to the United States.

Explained differently, Professor Jean-Baptiste Duroselle of the University of Paris-Sorbonne has theorised that ‘tout empire périra’, that is, ‘every empire shall perish.’ ‘The Chinese not only share this view but also strongly believe that the tenure of US leadership of the world has expired. Therefore, a global leadership vacuum has been created and has to be filled. The United States of Donald Trump vehemently opposes this view. There is nothing like any leadership vacuum not to talk of filling it. In fact, Donald Trump has a policy of ‘America First’ and ‘Making America Great Again.’ These twin policies necessarily imply the subjection of all other national interests to the whims and caprices of US exclusive interests.

Another immediate pointer to the closure is the allegation by the United States that China is harbouring at its Consulate General in San Francisco, a Chinese fugitive biology scientist, Tang Juan, who is accused of visa fraud by the US government.

US government has instituted a court prosecution against her for having lied about her connection with the Chinese military intelligence when applying for US visa.

In the thinking of the Donald Trump administration, the Chinese are preventing the trial of the fugitive by safe-keeping him in a Chinese diplomatic premise that is protected by both the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

Grosso modo, the US alleges that China has engaged in ‘massive illegal spying and influence operations’, as well as interfering in the ‘domestic policies’ of the United States and coercing ‘US business leaders’, and also threatening ‘families of Chinese Americans residing in China, and more.’ As summarily put by Ms. Morgan Ortagus, spokeswoman for the State Department, ‘we have directed the closure of PRC Consulate General Houston in order to protect American intellectual property and American’s private information,’ in other words, it was closed in the national interest.

The reaction of China, as at the time of our writing, has been quite measured but with a clear warning. As explained by Mr. Wang Wenbin, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, the order of closure was ‘outrageous and unjustified,’ it violates international law, the United States has only been ‘shifting the blame to China with stigmatisation and unwarranted attacks, and more significantly, if the United States insists ‘on going down this wrong path, China will react with firm countermeasures.’ Mr Wang reminded that ‘in reality, in terms of the number of Chinese and American embassies and consulates in each other’s place, the United States cannot but suffer more.

(See concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com)

ARTS & REVIEW A

PUBLICATION

26.07.2020

FORBLAISEGUNDUGBADEN,RESILIENCEISTHEWORDINTHETIMEOFCORONAVIRUS Studio practice, research work and the supervision of his painting students have kept artist Blaise Gundu Gbaden busy since the outbreak of the pandemic dissuaded social gatherings. Okechukwu Uwaezuoke writes

M

ost Lafia residents largely avoided social outings and already hunkered down indoors by early April. Then, the coronavirus pandemic had not yet officially been proclaimed a countrywide scourge. After all, the government-imposed lockdown was still restricted only to the federal capital, Abuja as well as to Lagos and Ogun states. “It was mainly [due to] an urban consciousness,” Blaise Gundu Gbaden explains. “On the outskirts [of Lafia], life continued as usual since there [seems to be this] congenital denial of the existence of COVID-19.”

With the eventual closure of institutions of learning, the Federal University of Lafia’s associate professor of painting and drawing retreated to his two main redoubts: his studio practice and domestic activities. “As early as March, I had begun to do miniature acrylic paintings on circular formats, some as small as 15 cm in diameter. Understand that being a member of ASUU [Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities], I had embarked on the nationwide strike action in February. So, I was at home for a while before the sanctions were imposed.”

Meanwhile, thoughts about the pandemic trailed the 54-year-old to his studio. Soon his thoughts on the pandemic lent themselves to visual expressions, turning his paintings into a vent for his pent-up emotions. “The virus completely took charge of my thinking processes and so I had to do art that would reflect its damaging effects on the human psyche, so to say,” he recalls. “I painted vigorously. And quickly too, to record the temperaments as they occurred.”

True, painting on circular formats had been his signature technique since 2018. But then, wasn’t this, incidentally, almost how the dreaded virus is being depicted? A globular object with blunt-edged spikes projecting from it?

Besides, circumstances corralled him to a mixed-media technique. And this technique admits a generous dose of acrylic paints as the major paint component. “This simply because at the time of the lockdown acrylics were the major artist supplies I had in my studio,” he discloses. “Again, I must confess that I have used acrylics in recent years because my art production requires an immediacy of response. Acrylics offer me this chance to see the effects of the creative process almost immediately. I abandoned oils a long time ago since they seem to choke, especially when used in studios. In fact, these days I work outdoors in the open.”

Expectedly, the lockdown period turned out to be heaven-sent for his academic research work. “Our dictum [in the academic world] remains to publish or perish. But, I am carrying out research work these days at my own pace. I have now consolidated on my career. The days of random writing have ended. It is now creative pursuance of a narrow strip of specialisation. What painting means to me and the way those around me, or those who came before me, have experienced the painting enterprise, the art they use, the formats they adopt, the spirituality that motivates them; all these elements inform the central fulcrum of my current research.”

continue doing art that is relevant to the social, psychological and spiritual well-being of the people. Art is a commodity meant to be consumed by the art public and so should be done to reach this group of people. I am aware that most pedestrian persons see art as a sideways distraction. But the reality is that art has enmeshed them and their thought-processes more than they know or are capable of admitting. So the artist should strive to keep the art alive by continually reaching out to the public good. And good does not mean mere grandstanding, but criticism as well, essentially of policies that are detrimental to the pursuance of peace, security and well-being of the people. And in doing so too the aesthetics of art should not be compromised; that is composition, colour, thematic focus and adherence to the principles of design.

The twinge of imagination and intuition that most successful artists have is based on years of contemplating and applying these truths in their art production.”

Despair, meanwhile, lurks somewhere in the shadows. This is as the pandemic lingers beyond the optimists’ timeline. Events seem to be edging both artists and stakeholders towards adaptation to new realities. “Adaptation is what we are prone to at this moment,” Gbaden continues. “Already, web-based conferences are going on all over the place. People use social media to engage art in a way never contemplated before. We should adjust to this reality.”

The University of Nigeria, Nsukka graduate of fine and applied arts urges his fellow artists to look beyond the internetbased facilities and seek new mediums of expression. “I may have to go back to drawing using the common pencil. Art materials are Blaise Gbaden beside one of his recent works often around us, but we neglect them. So, improvisation would be the key to survival. Use that which is available to express yourself.

Gbaden, like most artists, does not consider the lockdown Beyond that, turn to the internet to display your art.” detrimental to his art practice. Don’t many artists, after all, work at Creativity, he affirms, should on no account be stifled under home? “For me, the art studio has always been at home,” he says. these dire circumstances. He recalls being acquainted with “Yes, it’s true that as a university lecturer, I work in the art studios artists, who have resorted to fasting just to get inspired for before with my students during school hours and while supervising their producing paintings or writing poems. As an undergraduate, he art or doing demonstrations, but basically my creative work is done adds, he was practically sleeping at the Ben Enwonwu painting at home. The lockdown only extended this period of staying at studio of the Fine and Applied Arts Department of the University home.” of Nigeria, Nsukka, in preparation for his final examinations in Even so, the restrictions undeniably came with its inconvenienc- painting. “It was only on the eve of the submission date that I es. How, for instance, would he hope to replenish the supply of his finally got inspired to produce a painting. I remember earning an art materials under the circumstances? It became not only obvious ‘A’ grade in that paper.” that he could no longer freely move around, but also that he would Meanwhile, as he continues to paint “vigorously”, he is gearing be unable to get his artist supplies when he needed them. “As I up what he calls a “Corona Series” for an exhibition that would speak to you I have completely exhausted my art supplies. I have hold “as soon as this scourge is over”. His academic research been trying to get fresh supplies from Abuja, but the lockdown and writing, as well as the supervision of painting students at has affected the sales of art materials, as these are not considered the undergraduate, masters and PhD levels, are also keeping essential materials. So, if I fail, I may have to send for acrylics from him busy. “They had sent in their research papers, proposals and Jos. The problem with Jos is that I may not get the sort of acrylics I thesis chapters before the lockdown. I am perusing these. There want for my art production.” is work to be done. As for compositional formats and materials, I Gbaden’s pre-COVID activities used to be like this: as a univer- would leave that to the realities of the availability of materials. sity lecturer, he would spend a whole day teaching his students as a “I have applied for an artist residency programme scheduled top priority. On getting home afterwards, he would devote most of for 2021 and the selected candidates should be contacted soon. what was left of his spare time to any current art projects.

So, I am working with an open mind to accept the vagaries life On the role of the artist at times like this, he says: “It should be to throws my way.”

POEM

Tolulope-- Heroine From Beyond the Skies (Pioneer Nigerian Female Combat Helicopter Pilot)

Ayon a yon!

Wo ‘Boro bi se yon galegale Wo Boro See! See how This Exquisite Beauty from the skies Glides, and bestrides

Our awe-stricken world; She gallops and saunters Foraging the skies; See! Our warrior in the skies Our woman of wars.

Yes! I have borrowed OneAjon’s* cognomen To decorate Yeyeyedo’s** offspring From far atop the ancient hills of Ufe***.

This one is a warrior in the air She is a warrior in a deluge of prayer.

Tolu!

You emerge Fresh after early morning dewily dawn And the warmth of your early sunrays Taut our gaunt, cadaverous skins ––Olu Obafemi (See concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com)

EDITOR OKECHUKWU UWAEZUOKE/ okechukwu.uwaezuoke@thisdaylive.com

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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ JULY 26, 2020

PERSONALITYPROFILE

Bashir Jamoh: A Burning Passion for Service Vincent Obia

A

popular African proverb says the morning determines the day. The morning sets the tone for the rest of the day.

And experts say morning habits play a significant role in the success of an individual. That is why Dr. Bashir Jamoh’s early steps as Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) merit attention by stakeholders and the public, generally.

His coming happened under the shadow of COVID-19, at the start of the devastating hit to the national and global economies by the coronavirus pandemic. The world was virtually locked down, but maritime came to humanity’s rescue, offering strategic movement for badly needed goods and services. Jamoh was there to provide crucial direction for the safe and secure movement of the seafarers and the vital supplies they delivered.

NIMASA developed and published new guidelines, via marine notice, designating seafarers and dockworkers as essential workers who should be exempted from travel restrictions. It was in line with newly endorsed protocols by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) designed to lift barriers to crew change and support the shipping sector, amid the pandemic.

Maritime safety and security are topics that are close to Jamoh’s heart. Jamoh Doubling down on some of the industry’s biggest problems on assumption office in March, he flagged commitment to Maritime Safety, Maritime Security, and Shipping Development as his administration’s roadmap to the sector ’s progress in the next four years.

“I subsumed the critical responsibilities of the Agency into three pillars, a tripod, which I called Triple S or 3S, so that it can be easily remembered and understood,” he said. “They are Maritime Safety, Maritime Security, and Shipping Development. In this 3S you have the entire gamut of the mandate of the Agency.”

Jamoh is no stranger to the challenges in the maritime sector. He has seen the industry’s ups and downs in the last 32 years. And with the wisdom of hindsight – and foresight – he has set for his administration’s targets to overcome the challenges and move the industry forward.

The route is rough and long, but Jamoh knows the right place to start and how to invest where the shoe pinches. With great determination, he has set about fixing the mechanism for solution to the security issues behind the bad press that Nigeria consistently gets in the global maritime community.

“The first thing we tried to do when we came on board was to ensure collaboration and synergy among the actors,” Jamoh stated. “We improved our relationship with the Nigerian Navy, Nigeria Police, Department of State Services (DSS), as well as the stakeholders. We created awareness as regards what to do in the event of attack by pirates or sea robbers. We started with our own territorial waters and escalated it to the Gulf of Guinea.”

The new synergy between NIMASA, Nigerian Navy, Nigeria Police, DSS, and other maritime security actors in the last few months has yielded visible results. About 27 suspected pirates and sea robbers have been arrested, the first since 2016, in a strong message to the criminal elements and the international community. These suspects would be the first to be tried under Nigeria’s new antipiracy law, the Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences (SPOMO) Act, which was signed into law in June last year

by President Muhammadu Buhari. The law made Nigeria the first in West and Central Africa to have one such distinct legislation.

The law aims to ensure safe and secure shipping at sea by criminalising and prosecuting piracy and other breaches. It provides a legal basis for the criminalisation and prosecution of piracy and other maritime crimes through the country’s maritime security enforcement agencies: the Nigerian Navy and NIMASA. The Antipiracy Act contains unmistakable defi-

nitions of piracy and other maritime offences. It has provisions for penalties upon conviction for maritime crimes, restitution of violated maritime assets to owners, and forfeiture of proceeds of maritime crime to the government.

The law vests exclusive jurisdiction in the Federal High Court and provides relevant authorities with powers to seize pirate vessels or aircraft in Nigerian or international waters.

As part of the deliberate effort to ensure maritime security through concerted actions, NIMASA is leading moves to harmonise and intensify information sharing among the surveillance systems of the key maritime agencies.

Jamoh is determined to achieve the synchronisation of NIMASA’s C4i with the Navy’s Falcon Eye, and the C3i, which belongs to the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).

The Command, Control, Communication, Computers, and Intelligence Centre (C4i Centre), which commenced operations on a 24-hour basis last year, is the intelligence arm of the Deep Blue Project, also known as the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure. The initiative aims to comprehensively tackle insecurity on Nigeria’s territorial waters and Exclusive Economic Zone, up to the Gulf of Guinea.

The Deep Blue Project is a brainchild of the Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi. The policy intervention takes into consideration the lapses of previous security arrangements and seeks to address them, according to Jamoh.

“When the minister came in at the inception of the present government in 2015, he sought to emplace a maritime security architecture that is strong enough to overcome the failures of the past systems, sophisticated enough to outpace the ever-growing complexities of crime, and flexible enough to fit into the country’s own peculiarities as well as international best standards,” the Director-General said. “Those were the thoughts that went into the making of the Deep Blue Project, and that is why the current management at NIMASA takes very seriously the question of synergy among the maritime stakeholders, both locally and internationally.”

He added, “In trying to harmonise, we have agreed to make these platforms interface with each other because we all are serving the same government. After taking stock, we would be able to see where the gaps exist in terms of what is still lacking, so that we can connect the dots.

With this, we can build a concrete platform to fight maritime insecurity.”

There have also been vigorous attempts by NIMASA to ensure safety at sea. The Agency hosts the Regional Maritime Coordination Centre (RMCC), located at the Nigerian Maritime Resource Development Centre, Kirikiri, Lagos.

The Lagos RMCC, one of the five designated Regional Maritime Rescue Coordination Centres in Africa, is the secretariat of the West and Central African Search and Rescue Region. It coordinates Search and Rescue activities, and assists craft or persons in distress within the waters of nine countries in the region, namely, Republic of Benin, Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Congo Democratic Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Togo.

Besides the one located at NIMASA’s Nigerian Maritime Resource Development Centre, which is fully up and running, there are three other centres in the country.

They are located at Tarkwa Bay, in the Lagos/Western axis, Bonny, Escravos, and Oron. These three are expected to be fully operational by the end of this year.

The search for maritime safety and security through collaborative efforts has not been limited to domestic stakeholders. NIMASA co-chairs a working group of international stakeholders, including International Association of Independent Tanker Owners (INTERTANKO), an association of independent tanker owners throughout the world; International Association of Dry Cargo Shipowners (INTERCARGO); International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), which brings together the main international trade association in the shipping industry, representing shipowners and operators in all sectors and trades; international oil companies; and Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO), the largest international shipping association representing shipowners, with membership in over 120 countries. BIMCO members control about 65 per cent of the world’s tonnage.

The working group meets monthly with representation from the Nigerian Navy, Nigeria Police, Federal Ministry of Transportation, and local stakeholders. The meeting discusses issues of common interest and solutions are proffered, with the ultimate aim of ensuring safety and security in Nigerian waters.

The recent initiatives, especially the attempt to stem piracy in Nigerian waters and the Gulf of Guinea, have earned Nigeria special praise from IMO. In a letter to the NIMASA DirectorGeneral last month, Secretary-General of IMO, Kitack Lim, said with the current prosecution of arrested pirates, Nigeria was sending a “strong and valuable message” to the global community about its commitment to safety and security in its waters and the Gulf of Guinea.

Lim commended the steps “taken by Nigeria to address maritime security threats in the region.”

He stated, in a glowing appraisal of Jamoh’s style at the wheel of power, “I commend your leadership and proactive response. I would also like to reiterate my congratulations to the Nigerian Navy on the successful capture and arrest of pirates from the fishing trawler Hailufeng 11, and more recently on the rescue of the crew members of the containership Tommi Ritscher.

“Those actions, together with all the other initiatives you highlighted in our meeting, including progress with the Deep Blue Project, send a strong and valuable message to the international community with respect to the considerable efforts your government is making to curb piracy and armed robbery against ships in the Gulf of Guinea.”

Many believe Jamoh’s proactive early steps are likely to prove very consequential in determining the trajectory of the maritime sector in the years ahead. As one stakeholder put it, “This voyage certainly has the right man in the wheelhouse.”

––Obia is a staff of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

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NEWS

Acting News Editor ÌÙãÏÑË ÕÓØÝËØ×Ó E-mail: ÑÌÙãÏÑ˲ËÕÓØÝËØ×Ó̶ÞÒÓÝÎËãÖÓàÏ˛ÍÙט͸΀͹ͽͺͻͽ΁ͺͽͻ ̙Ý×Ý ÙØÖã̚

Yoruba Leaders Ask Buhari to Restructure Nigeria Before 2023 Elections

Say failure can stoke quest for self-determination Threaten to mobilise nationals against elections

Eddie Alegbe in Lagos Key leaders of Yoruba Nation yesterday requested President Muhammadu Buhari to restructure Nigeria fiscally and structurally before the 2023 general election in the interest of national peace and unity.

They warned that unless this peaceful step was heeded, so that Nigeria heads in the right direction thereafter, “the clear alternative would be for self-determination quests to proceed rapidly without any further restraint.”

The leaders warned that the current federal structure could no longer sustain the unity of the federation, pointing out that Southern Nigerian alone “contributes 90 percent of the country’s revenue to the federation account.”

They set a timeframe for the restructuring of the country in a communique they issued yesterday after a meeting convened by the Yoruba Summit Group (YSG) in Lagos.

Among others, Afenifere Leader, Pa. Rueben Fasoranti; his Deputy, Pa. Ayo Adebanjo; Convener of Yoruba World Congress (YWC), Prof. Banji Akintoye; daughter of late Yoruba political sage, Dr. Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu and Aare Onakakanfo of Yorubaland, Gani Adams attended the meeting.

As indicated in the communique, they declared that unless Nigeria’s social, political and economic structures were restructured in line with the Independence

Constitution of 1960, the unity, peace and development of Nigeria would continue to be a dream that would never be achieved.

The leaders accused the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari of frustrating the restructuring of Nigeria to consistently favour the north, notwithstanding the realistic fact that southern Nigeria contributes 90 percent of the country’s revenue to the federation account.

The communiqué said the permutations for 2023 presidency, zoning, selecting, rather than addressing the nature of the Nigerian union, the dilapidated structure of the farcical federation, would lead to the kind of chaos never before seen and experienced in history.

It said: “We, the Yorùbá Nation, therefore reject the holding of a future general election before restructuring Nigeria fiscally and structurally. We state that the ship of state is veering off precariously into a precipice, and that Nigeria is at the very edge of a political subsidence.

“We are persuaded that nothing short of restructuring can save this country. Any attempt to go ahead with elections in 2023 without addressing the issue of restructuring would spell doom for Nigeria.

“Notwithstanding the interests of some elements in our midst, it will be presumptuous to assume that the masses of the educated Yoruba Nation will dive headlong into being part of the 2023 elections, when all elements of its execution

- the military, paramilitary, INEC, the judiciary have been rigged and appropriated by a single very tiny minority ethnic group in a small corner of the country.”

The communique said the emerging resolve of the Yoruba “not to be part of the vassal state that Nigeria has become, is better managed with due accommodation before any further degeneration and obvious consequences.”

It added that the quest of

Yoruba Nation “shall henceforth be to mobilise the masses of our peoples not to participate in any further elections until the goal of restructuring or self-determination is attained.

“The Yoruba Nation is therefore making the clarion call for confidence building steps to be taken by the Buhari regime immediately, especially as the historic 60th anniversary of Nigeria as an independent nation beckons on October 1,

2020.”

The communique urged the Buhari administration to convene “an urgent meeting of all nationalities now to determine the nature of our relationships.

“It has become patently untenable for the Yoruba Nation to tolerate further incompetence and impunity as has been foisted on all other ethnic nationalities across Nigeria.”

The communique commended

the southwest governors on the take off of the Western Nigeria Security Network (WNSN), the region’s informal security outfit codenamed operation Amotekun.

It said: “With the granting of licenses for prospecting for gold in Yorubaland, we are aware of the dangers banditry, kidnapping and sundry criminalities this portends. Yorùbá nation has noted with great interest, the creation of Àmontekùn, a security network for the Southwest states.

ALL FOR NEW LAGOS. . .

L-R: Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Commissioner for Transportation, Dr. Federic Oladeinde; Consultant/ Supervisor, Mr. Iwayemi Olalekan, Special Adviser on Transportation, Mr. Toyin Fayinka and Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso, during an inspection of the Allen junction regeneration and Roundabout removal... yesterday

FG Increases Abuja-Kaduna Train Fare by 100% Kasim Sumaina in Abuja The federal government yesterday increased the Abuja-Kaduna train fare by 100 percent across economy, business and first class categories, attributing its decision to the impact of COVID-19 on the train services.

With the fare increase, the federal government disclosed that the Abuja-Kaduna rail services

would resume Wednesday, July 29, four months after it suspended the service to curtail the spread of the pandemic.

The hike was revealed in a statement the Federal Ministry of Transportation issued yesterday, announcing the resumption of the train service.

Before the federal government announced lockdown in Abuja, Lagos and Ogun States on March

30 due to the pandemic, economy class only cost N1, 500; first class normal N2, 500 and first class express N3, 000.

With the need to enforce social distancing aboard the coaches, the federal government increased the fare of the economy from N1,500 to N3,000; first class normal from N2,500 to N5,000 and first class express from N3,000 to N6,000, representing a 100 percent across

all categories.

Quoting the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi in its statement yesterday, the ministry disclosed that the Abuja-Kaduna rail services would begin Wednesday.

The minister disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari had approved an increase in train fares during an inspection and test run of the 10

newly acquired coaches and 2 locomotives deployed on the Abuja – Kaduna rail corridor.

According to him, due to the fact that the train will now be conveying half its capacity in order to maintain social distancing, we are increasing the fare price.

He said” “In a month (preCOVID-19), we get about N120 million, and if we run like this

(half capacity), we will realize N60 million. It means that we need another N60 million to complete the running cost.

“It is, therefore for the above reason that the rates have been increased as follows: First class, N6,000, Business Class, N5,000 and Economy, N3,000 to enable Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) meet up at least with the running cost.”

Again, Fulani Herdsmen Kill Nine in Southern Kaduna

Flood Submerges Abuja, Kills Three, Five Missing

John Shiklam in Kaduna

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja and George Okoh in Makurdi

Suspected Fulani herdsmen have killed nine persons in yet another attack in Zipkak community in Jama’a Local Government Area (LGA), the heart of Southern Kaduna, Kaduna State.

The incident occurred on Friday at about 6:30pm when the bandits, numbering about 20 and armed with AK47 rifles stormed the village, about two kilometres from Kafanchan, headquarters of Jama’a LGA and opened fire.

As a result, the state governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai extended a 24-hour curfew on Zangon Kataf and Kauru to Jama’a and Kaura LGAs following the killings.

At the request of security agencies, el-Rufai said on his twitter handle that the state government “has extended to

Jama’a and Kaura LGAs the curfew that is in force in Kauru and Zangon-Kataf LGAs, with immediate effect. This is to help contain violence, enforce order and protect lives.”

Despite the curfew, the killings have continued unabated. Findings revealed that information about the plan by the suspected Fulani herdsmen to attack Zipkak, had been circulating for days, before the bandits eventually struck.

In an interview yesterday, a resident of the area, Rev. Gideon Mutum said there was intelligence three days ago that the community would be attacked, but the security agencies did not do anything to prevent the attack.

Mutum said the bandits came to the community around

6:30pm and started shooting, killing nine people including a pastor of ECWA Church in the area.

He said 11 others sustained injuries from gunshots while five houses were burnt.

He added that six of those injured were in critical condition and were taken to the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), Plateau state, for treatment.

Mutum also condemned the curfew imposed on the four LGAs, ravaged by mass killings, arguing that the curfew had not stopped the ongoing massacre.

The cleric said the curfew “will only embolden and provide the killers with the enabling environment to continue with their evil activities.

Floods yesterday submerged some parts of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, thereby resulting in the loss of three lives while five members of the same family are still missing.

The disaster, which was caused by midnight downpour, also devastated scores of houses and displaced many residents.

The rain, which started at about 2:00 a.m., poured for hours Saturday morning, leading to the overflowing of riverbanks that affected several communities.

Consequently, findings revealed that the worst affected areas were Zuba, Dei- Dei, Giri, Angwan Tiv, Dawaki, Abattoir and Angwan Dodo of the FCT. THISDAY checks also revealed

that the rain swept off several cars and in addition damaged a bridge linking Ikwa, Yimi and other villages inside Zuba.

With the collapse of the bridge, according to residents, the situation forced several commuters and residents to explore other alternative ways of commuting as other roads became inaccessible.

Residents, also, claimed that three persons were reported dead in Zuba, Gwagwalada Area Council after the rain submerged buildings said to be built along the waterways.

Apart from the fatalities, residents of the affected communities told THISDAY that a family of five was also suspected drowned in the flood at Giri.

Residents affected by the deluge were making frantic efforts

to salvage some of their property and domestic items destroyed by the rain as well as trying to account for their family members and neighbours.

The Director General FCT Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Idriss Abbas, painted a grisly account of the humanitarian tragedy brought about by the flooding, when he led rescue operators on tour of the affected areas yesterday.

Abbas said rescuers had recovered a lifeless body of a missing family member, noting that they were still searching for the four other members.

He added that FEMA “rescued six people who were subsequently taken to hospital for medical care.

There was a building that collapsed in Dawaki as a result of the flood.

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NEWSXTRA Tambuwal: I Taught Obaseki How to Demobilise Edo Godfathers Wike, Okowa, Mohammed warn against rigging As youth factions clash at Oba palace Adibe Emenyonu in Benin City Amidst tense political climate in Edo State, the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party Governors Forum (PDPGF), Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal yesterday disclosed that he taught the state governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki how to demobilise godfathers.

Also, Rivers State Governor, Mr. Nyesom Wike, his Delta counterpart, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa and Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed warned that Edo State “is a no go area for the rigging machine of APC.” The governors yesterday gave the warning at the unveiling of the PDP governorship campaign at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City, saying any attempt by the APC godfathers to rig

the election would be resisted.

At Obaseki’s re-election campaign yesterday, Tambuwal counselled the people of Edo State to support the incumbent governor for the total and complete liberation of Edo State from the shackles of godfathers.

Tambuwal, the incumbent governor of Sokoto State and former Speaker of the House of Representatives, assured the Edo people that the prayer of the Sokoto people “is with them in the battle against godfatherism.

“You cannot eat your cake and still have it. You cannot be everywhere condemning godfatherism and you still want to be a godfather. In Nigeria, Edo State is a strategic state. We know where we are coming from and so no one can come to Edo to claim superiority.”

Tambuwal, therefore, disclosed that he gave Obaseki the hint on “how to demobilise godfathers. I advise that he should continue to hold unto God Almighty and not individuals. Persons can disappoint you, but God cannot.

“That was what we did in Sokoto State and it worked. Today, we have demobilised all the forces both within and from afar. Votes must count,” Tambuwal said.

He urged the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof.

Mahmood Yakubu to build on the legacies of his predecessor, Prof.

Attahiru Jega who ensured one man one vote during his tenure in office.

He also urged President Muhammadu Buhari to rise against election manipulation and ensure that one man, one vote gained precedence in future elections.

He said: “Even if his anticorruption fight has been challenging and failing, he should not fail to deliver a free, fair and credible election in Edo and to Nigerians in 2023.”

Also, at the campaign, Wike warned that Edo State would be a no go area for the rigging machine

of APC, saying any attempt to do so will be resisted.

Wike, Chairman of Edo Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governorship Campaign Council, said election manipulation and rigging “is the only thing that keeps APC going.”

He said: “Nobody can rig this Edo election. No one man can decide what happens in Edo. Today ends godfatherism in the state.”

Wike explained that the only thing that keeps APC going in the country today “is that they believe in rigging but this very one, it will be very difficult.”

He urged the Edo youths “to rise up and defend their votes and should not allow anyone, whether security agencies or INEC personnel rig the forthcoming election.

“Vote and protest your votes.

Nothing will happen to anybody because I believe Obaseki has done well and the election is already won,” the Rivers governor said.

He also told them “not to be deceived a second time by those who wear safari in Abuja, but come to Edo wearing khaki, campaigning for the same person they branded thief, cultists and fake pastor four years ago.

Northern Lawyers Endorse Adesina for NBA Presidency The Arewa Lawyers Forum (ALF) has endorsed a former General Secretary of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Dele Adesina (SAN) as its candidate for NBA’s presidential election scheduled to hold this week.

ALF, a northern group of legal practitioners, said its decision was in connection with Egbe Amofin’s adoption of the candidacy of Adesina The forum announced its decision in a two-page letter to Egbe Amofin on Friday. The letter was signed by ALF’s Secretary, Mohammed Monguno The letter said: “We have also pursued the notice of endorsement of Mr. Dele Adesina to contest for the office of the President of the Nigerian Bar Association in July 2020.

“We, the Arewa Lawyers Forum, have studied the process leading to the endorsement as painstakingly stated in the notice of endorsement dated March 11 signed by Egbe Amofin Oodua

and Branch Chairmen of NBA in the South-west.

“On our part, we took time to consult very widely that whoever we endorse is experienced, capable and has the requisite competence to lead the Bar at this moment.

“Accordingly, on behalf of the leadership and members of the Arewa Lawyers Forum and after a meeting of our executive committee, I have the honour to hereby convey our adoption, endorsement, satisfaction and the unanimous acceptance of the candidature of Adesina for the office of the President of the NBA in the forthcoming July 2020 election,” ALF said in its letter.

Also, a human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) has given reasons Adesina should be elected the next president of the association.

According to Falana, Adesina has the requisite qualities to successfully lead the Bar in the next coming years.

Bauchi, Society for Family Health Collaborate to Fight HIV/AIDs Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi The Bauchi State Government and Society for Family Health (SFH) yesterday agreed to fight the scourge of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in the state.

SFH’s Head of Strategic Information, Dr. Wole Fajemisin announced the partnership after a meeting with officials of Bauchi State Agency for the Control of Tuberculosis, Malaria and Aids (BACATMA) and the State Police Command.

After the meeting, Fajemisin observed that Bauchi State “currently has a low HIV/AIDs prevalence in the country, just as efforts are being intensified to ensure that those living positive were reached with more preventive services.”

He explained that the meeting

was initiated “to discuss issues pertaining HIV/AIDs and what could be done to improve access to HIV/AIDs services by the vulnerable population in the state.”

He said Bauchi state presently “has a low HIV/AIDs prevalence.

When this occurs, it is most likely that persons who are positive are concentrated among few special groups.”

According to Fajemisin, the next step in the HIV/AIDs programming in the state is to ensure that this concentrated population receives HIV/AIDs services.

In Bauchi, he explained that the group included sex workers, people who inject drugs and men who have sex with men and prisoners, saying all these “are groups that are usually confronted by police for the acts which they do.

IN DEFENCE OF GOSPEL. . .

L-R: Lay President Archdiocese of Lagos, Methodist Church Nigeria, Sir Peter Olorunfemi; Synod Secretary, Diocese of Lagos and Presbyter Wesley Cathedral Olowogbowo Lagos, Revd John Solubi and Archbishop of Lagos, Dr. Isaac Olawuyi at the 58th Synod of the Diocese of Lagos held at the Wesley Chapel, Lekki Lagos.

Jegede: We’ll Stop APC from Rigging 2020 Election James Sowole in Akure The governorship candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo State, Mr. Eyitayo Jegede (SAN) yesterday warned that the people of the state would resist the All Progressives Congress (APC) from manipulating the next governorship election in the state like it did in 2016.

Also, on Friday, no fewer than 10 persons sustained varying degrees of injury when students of Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo and Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology (OASUTECH), Okitipupa clashed with

the Aketi Students Support Group over distribution of palliatives.

Jegede gave the warning during a programme on Crest FM in Akure, the Ondo State capital yesterday, advising those plotting to rig the next poll for the incumbent governor, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) to stop at the boundary of the state.

The immediate past Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Ifedayo Abegunde had resigned from the Akeredolu administration in protest after the Deputy Governor, Mr. Agboola Ajayi, also defected from the APC to the PDP. After resigning his appointment

a fortnight ago, Abegunde alleged that the APC and its power brokers rigged the 2016 governorship election for the incumbent governor against Jegede, the then candidate of the PDP. Jegede, an erstwhile Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in the state, also said the state “is not a conquered people or territory,” saying the masses of Ondo State would not allow a repeat of the 2016 experience.

During the radio programme yesterday, Jegede warned that the masses of Ondo State “will no longer allow a repeat of the 2016 experience. Ondo State is not

a conquered people or territory.

If you are coming to the state to rig, stop at the boundary.

“This is because, our people have learned from that experience and are now on their toes, to resist any attempt by anybody to subvert their will.

“I have known my brother, Abegunde for a long time. He said the truth when he said Akeredolu did not win the 2016 election and that it was rigged for him.”

Jegede also described as baseless, a campaign smear that he would pursue ‘Akure agenda’, being a native of Akure, the state’s capital, if voted into power.

Court Reserves Judgment in Odinkalu’s Suit Against Kaduna State Tobi Soniyi in Lagos A Kaduna State High Court will on 22 October, 2020, deliver judgment in a suit filed by a former Chairman of the Governing Council of the National Human Rights Commission, Dr. Chidi Odinkalu seeking enforcement of his fundamental human rights.

Odinkalu had dragged the Kaduna State government and the Nigeria Police Force before the court claiming that his rights were violated after the Kaduna State government filed charges against him before a Chief Magistrate Court accusing him of inciting the public against the state governor, Nasir el-Rufai.

Odinkalu is accused of contravening sections 77, 373,

104, and 150 of the Penal Code Law of Kaduna State, 2017.

These sections proscribe inciting disturbance, injurious falsehood, public nuisance, and furnishing false information, respectively.

The charges related to a televised interview Odinkalu gave in Abuja, challenging the governor’s claim - made a day before scheduled elections in the state that 66 members of the Fulani ethnic group had been killed in Kajuru, Kaduna State.

In the interview, the Odinkalu further stated that the governor’s statement could not be verified by the relevant state agents. He further expressed concern that the governor’s statement could cause ethnic tensions leading to electoral violence.

Odinkalu, through his lawyer, Gloria Ballason argued that the case was a violations of his rights guaranteed by sections 34, 35, 36, 37, 39, 41 & 42 of the Constitution, and Articles 5, 6 & 9 of the African Charter and that the Kaduna State govt and police had violated these rights.

He also raised objections to the charges. He also accused the Kaduna State government and the police of fabricating court records and could not claim benefit of their fabrications, as they had tried to do in their filings.

He said that attempt by the state and the police to procure a trial against him for expressing his honest views was a violation of his rights to personal liberty and freedom of expression.

He also said that the Kaduna State government did not have the jurisdiction to prosecute him for an interview he granted to Channels Television in Abuja.

He asked the court to issue an order of perpetual injunction restraining both the police and the Kaduna State government from stopping him to enjoy his fundamental right to freedom of expression.

He asked for compensation of N200 million and general damages of N250 million for injury to his character, self-reputation, esteem and international reputation.

He also asked for exemplary damages of N500 million from the Kaduna State governor.

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T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ JULY 26, 2020

CICERO

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

IN THE ARENA

Time to Change the EFCC Narrative It’s time for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to open a new chapter in its chequered history, writes Samuel Ajayi

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hen the suspended acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, was arrested and made to face the Presidential Panel that was set up to look into allegations of mismanagement of recovered assets, many thought it was truly about time the anticorruption body was subjected to the kind of Spanish inquiry it had always subjected citizens caught in its dragnet to.

Magu and his EFCC were accused of underreporting recovered loots and also auctioning and selling recovered items without express permission from the supervising Ministry. Specifically, an amount of about N40billion was allegedly not accounted for by the Commission being part of monies recovered from looters of the treasury.

Beyond this, the EFCC boss was accused of living beyond his means and also hobnobbing with corrupt people – same people he was supposed to be hunting down and bringing into justice. He was also accused of selling recovered properties to cronies and his political friends.

He was further accused of not remitting interest on the sum of N553billion recovered, while also using a Bureau de Change that has 158 accounts as front to siphon funds. In the same vein, he was accused of having a house in Dubai worth over N570million.

Though he had denied these allegations, saying the Presidency was aware of how recovered properties were sold off including cars. He told the Panel, under the chairmanship of retired President of the Court of Appeal, Ayo Salami, that the allegations against him were totally untrue.

This, nonetheless, there is the need for the Commission to up its game. The EFCC was established with the responsibility of enforcing the provisions of other laws and regulations relating to economic and financial crimes.

These include the Economic and Financial Crimes Umar Commission Establishment Act or year 2004; The Money Laundering Act 1995; The Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2004; The Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 1995; The Failed Banks (Recovery of Debts) and Financial Malpractices in Banks Act 1994 and The Banks and other Financial Institutions Act 1991 and Miscellaneous Offences Act. Going by the provisions of the law setting up the Commission, it is supposed to have a board comprising of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria; a representative each of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Finance and Justice; Chairman, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency; Director General, National Intelligence Agency and Director General, Department of State Services.

On board too are Registrar General, Corporate Affairs Commission; Director General, Securities and Exchange Commission; Managing Director, Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation; Commissioner for Insurance; Postmaster General of the Nigerian Postal Services and Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission.

Also on the team are Comptroller General, Nigeria Customs Services; Comptroller General, Nigeria Immigration Services; Inspector General of Police; four eminent

Nigerians with cognate experience in any areas of human endeavours, finance, banking or accounting and the Secretary to the Commission.

The pioneer Chairman of the Commission was Alhaji Nuhu Ribadu, who at the time of his appointment was a Police Commissioner. He was in office between 2003 and 2007. He was succeeded by Mrs. Farida Waziri, who was in office from May 2008 till November 23, 2011.

Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, who took over, was in office from November 23, 2011 till November 9, 2015, before the incumbent, Magu, who, until his suspension, was appointed on November 9, 2015.

One can be pardoned if he or she says controversy has always trailed every EFCC Chairman. In fact, none of them had left office in a blaze of glory.

For instance, Ribadu was hounded out of office by loyalists of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, especially, those who contributed to his campaign funds and were being probed by Ribadu’s EFCC. Mrs. Waziri was accused of openly hobnobbing with criminal figures and those the Commission was supposed to be dealing with ruthlessly. Lamorde was not different in any way. In fact, someone accused him of not reporting

almost N1trn of recovered loot to authorities.

However, Magu was the longest serving “Acting Chairman” of any federal government since he was appointed in November 2015. He remained in acting capacity as the Senate, under Dr. Bukola Saraki, refused to clear him.

The Senate based its reason on two scathing security reports written by the Department of State Security (DSS), against the embattled police officer.

Even at that, the Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osibajo, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), claimed Magu could run the EFCC in acting capacity for as long as he wished.

Beyond all these, however, one area where the EFCC under new acting Chairman, Mohammed Umar, has to improve is in the area of notoriety for selective treatment of corruption petitions.

While many acknowledge that under Magu the Commission recorded modest achievements, it remains a sour point that 99 per cent of its targets were members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In fact, if EFCC went after an APC member, it was believed that he or she might have fallen out with the powers that be.

Some few cases more than justify this assumption. Former Lagos Police boss, Abubakar Tsav, had written a petition against former Governor George Akume, now a serving APC senator.

In fact, Tsav swore to an affidavit with his petition but Akume was not even invited. Surprisingly, Gabriel Suswam, who succeeded Akume as governor was arrested, investigated and tried based on anonymous petition.

Former Governor Danjuma Goje was interested in becoming the Senate President in 2019. But the Presidency wanted Ahmad Lawan since it did not want repeat the mistake of 2015 that threw up Saraki. Goje wanted to use the former governors’ bloc in the Senate to push his ambition.

But there was a snag: he had some N25billion corruption charge hanging on his neck with the EFCC. After some negotiations, Goje dropped his ambition but not before the EFCC shockingly withdrew the case against him. In fact, the Attorney General’s office entered a Nolle Prosequi on the case and that was it.

The most recent was a petition by a former managing director of Alpha Beta Company Limited, a business concern linked to a former Lagos Governor and one of the APC national leaders, Bola Tinubu.

In a detailed petition, the former chief executive explained how the company had been ripping Lagos State off and how it had underpaid its taxes. Magu’s EFCC simply played the deaf and dumb.

In fact, when Magu was asked why his Commission had not worked on another petition, this time on a former Governor of Edo State and recently removed national chairman of the ruling party, Adams Oshiomhole, he said he needed a court injunction to do that. Yet, Magu kept Oshiomhole’s case file at his residence.

If Umar, the new EFCC boss wants the public to take the Commission seriously and not seen in the same lenses as a political tool in the hands of the ruling APC, then he has to up his game. And there’s no better way to truly show that than to deal with cases based on merit and not political considerations.

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

What a Lagos Boy!

T Ngige

he seeming absence of accountability and decency in public office is, perhaps, one of the reasons corruption, is now a culture enabled as the only surviving industry in the country.

A few days after the dramatic showing of the Managing Director of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Kemebradikumo Pondei and the less than disappointing appearance of the supervising minister, Godswill Akpabio, another Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, practically appeared before a House of Representatives Committee to fool himself.

A man accused of outright corruption and a mutilation of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) budget had

the temerity to grandstand, an intended to intimidate Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, Hon. James Faleke, with his outlandish claptrap.

What had being Asiwaju Tinubu’s mate got to do with allegation of stealing? How did being a governor at a time Tinubu too was one or being senators at different times explain the staggering allegation against you? What’s the correlation in having lived in Victoria Island, Lagos and providing simple explanations to the grand allegations against you?

This is but another low from a man many ordinarily thought would put up a different showing amid the loads of mess already heaped on the turf by his colleagues. That these are the characters being paraded by President Muhammadu Buhari as his team to deliver the change agenda explains why change might remain inexplicably elusive. Indeed, a Lagos boy!

THISDAY, THE SUNDAY NEWSPAPER ˾ JULY 26, 2020

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BRIEFINGNOTES NDDC: The Dream Killer Agency The current picture of the Niger Delta Development Commission is an unfortunate reflection of the Nigeria state as a dream killer, writes Louis Achi

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t’s difficult suppressing a yawn of boredom, when news from the numbing, putrid drama flowing from the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) legislative probe flickers on national television.

But this position tends to minimise an extreme existential dilemma threatening the world’s third largest wetland, hosting about 25 per cent of Nigeria’s population. The Niger Delta region extends to about 70,000 km2 and makes up 7.5% of the nation’s landmass.

Today, almost all indices of human growth show that in the Niger Delta region, the quality of life is in a serious decline.

Sixty-four years after oil and gas exploration started in the region, Niger Deltans still cut a sorry sight on the Nigerian stage.

With a ruling elite in the grip of a gargantuan appetite, corruption gnaws at the resources of the region with a precision of a combined harvester chewing up both human and natural resources.

And worse, no consequences!

The NDDC has received approximately, four trillion naira, Pondei being revived after he passed out during investigation of his leadership at NDDC in the past twenty years. Available records show the following the commission.” accruals between 2007 and 2016: 2007 (N64.721 billion); 2008 When the committee resumed sitting last Monday, its (N84.790 billion); 2009 (N141.575 billion); 2010 (N135.097 billion); chairman, on account of ‘injured’ reputation, withdrew from 2011 (167.778 billion); 2012, (N140.605 billion); 2013, (N149.352); the probe and his Deputy, Thomas Ereyitomi, presided over the 2014, (N207.553); 2015, (N140.512) and 2016, (N181.637 billion). hearing.

Trillions with zero impact!

Pondei revealed that between January and May 31, N34bn The NDDC was established in 2000 through the NDDC Estab- was given to the NDDC by the federal government, stating lishment Act under the Olusegun Obasanjo presidency. This Act that from October 31, 2019 to May 31, 2020, the current interim repealed the Oil Mineral Producing Areas Commission Decree management committee led by him spent N59.1bn out of the 1998. It birthed a Commission with a re-organised administraN81.5bn spent by the NDDC within the period. He informed tive structure for increased effectiveness. that he assumed office on February 20, 2020.

The vision of the Commission is to proffer “A lasting solution “Out of the N51.9bn, it is also verifiable that N38.6bn was to the socio economic challenges of the Niger Delta Region” spent on capital projects. The Interim Management Committee while the commission’s mission is “to facilitate the rapid, even, (IMC) of NDDC published a list of contractors, who have been and sustainable development of the Niger Delta into a region paid up to May 5 (a total sum of) N35.3bn and no contractor said that is economically prosperous, socially stable, ecologically he was not paid. In all this, the IMC did not award any of those regenerative, and politically peaceful”. contracts; they are historical contracts that existed before we In September 2008, President Umaru Yar’Adua announced came. “On recurrent expenditure, N20.5bn was expended by the the formation of a Niger Delta Ministry, with the NDDC to current IMC between February 20 and May 31, 2020. It is good to become a parastatal under the ministry. One of the core mannote that a large proportion of the payments were from a backlog dates of the Commission is to train and educate the youths of of expenditure that the previous managements had incurred the oil rich Niger Delta regions to curb hostilities and militancy, and did not pay,” he explained. while developing key infrastructure to promote diversification, When the committee asked Pondei about the alleged N1.5bn productivity and mitigate poverty. Today, the region can only spent on COVID-19 palliatives by the NDDC, he graciously celebrate motion without movement. Any hope? corrected the honourable members by clarifying: “It was not It could be recalled that following the forensic audit of the N1.5bn please. The figure is shown clearly. It is N1.32bn.” He sleazy NDDC ordered President Muhammadu Buhari, over also revealed that the IMC had so far received about N72bn. alleged humungous financial malfeasance, both the Senate and Forty-five minutes into his presentation, Hon. Enwo Igariwey, the House of Representatives are currently investigating the asked Pondei where the commission would get money to pay commission. students on scholarship since the operation of the 2019 budget Penultimate Thursday, the acting Managing Director of ended on May 31 and the 2020 budget had yet to be approved.

NDDC, Prof. Kemebradikumo Pondei and other top officials of Perhaps giving Nollywood a run for its money, Pondei the NDDC walked out on the House of Representatives commit- suddenly ‘slumped’ at this point and security agents carried him tee probing the commission after calling for the resignation of its out, effectively derailing the session. Later, he strolled out of the Chairman, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, accusing him of “crime against NASS complex to be cosily chauffeured home.

On his part, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, who was interrogated on the committee’s resumption, accused members of the National Assembly of getting the lion’s share of NDDC’s contracts.

Defending the huge expenses of the commission during the pandemic lockdown, Akpabio said, “We cannot close down the Niger Delta, because of the security implication in the region. We cannot close down the NDDC, because of the fact that we are doing forensic audit.

“The NDDC plays a vital role in ensuring the peace and security of the region, and 90 per cent or more of the resources of the country, on a monthly basis, comes from there. If you close it in totality, all you will have will be chaos.”

Curiously, Senator Akpabio was to recant his bombshell allegation as Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila gave him 48 hours to publish names of lawmakers, who got NDDC contracts.

Akpabio wrote to House later recanting his earlier assertion that members of the federal legislature were major beneficiaries of NDDC contracts.

For good measure, Akpabio was also enmeshed in a bawdy controversy with feisty “Port Harcourt girl” Mrs. Joy Nunieh, a former Acting Managing Director of the Interim Management Committee of NDDC, who claimed to have slapped Akpabio over inappropriate advances to her.

The common focus of regional development commissions or regional planning mechanisms is the integrated management of the economic, social and physical resources of a spatially bounded area. Regional development commissions and policies have been proposed and carried out since the beginnings of civilised human settlement.

But in the Niger Delta region, this effort has become a total failure. There is pretty little to show for their natural bounty and worse, zero consequence for extreme, treasonable high crime.

For the region’s huddled masses, it’s yet morning on creation day. It is where human dreams die.

NOTES FOR FILE

Oshiomhole’s Tenable Apology

F

Oshiomhole

ormer national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, last week, returned to the turf with an apology to the Edo people for ‘foisting’ Governor Godwin Obaseki on them and promised to return the state back to them on September 19, when his choice candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu would be elected governor.

Saying it as it is, Oshiomhole, in the bid to sell Obaseki in 2016, badly damaged Ize-Iyamu, alluding mostly to untruths and mere political concoctions all in the name of campaigning in poetry and appealing to emotions. His campaign theatrics of 2016 are today a major challenge

that the APC and its candidate have got to contend with.

But, for how does the electorate have to hang on to lies told by a fellow against another just because he wanted something from them? Even if those lies sold some four years ago, time has shown that nothing to them was true and as such, would not be the basis to assess an otherwise innocent Ize-Iyamu on September 19.

This is why Oshiomhole’s apology seems more acceptable. If there’s any basis for a sincere analysis between Obaseki and Ize-Iyamu, it is the fact that through the windows of time, the things said about Ize-Iyamu in 2016 might be more fitting for Obaseki and vice versa. Above all, let this be an issue-based campaign.

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CICERO/REPORT

Obaseki’s Ride With Folly EdoStateGovernor,GodwinObaseki’sinabilitytochoosehisbattles,remainshismajorundoing,writesOlawale Olaleye

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f there’s any takeaway from the politics of Edo State in the last three and a half years of Governor Godwin Obaseki’s reign, it is the new reality that good deeds may not pay after all otherwise it must be measured and thoroughly evaluated.

The September 19 governorship election in Edo State has proven to be one of the most sought after political shows of the year, even though another governorship election is due in Ondo State on October 10.

But as the different tendencies battle for supremacy in the Edo election, one man, Captain Idahosa Okunbo hasn’t only become a recurring issue in the artery of the state’s polity, he is arguably a one-man power centre and ultimately, one of the game changers in the September 19 governorship election, a reason he’s become the cynosure of attention.

It is public knowledge that the businessman and philanthropist, Okunbo, is not going to be on the ballot on September 19, when Edo State would go to the poll again to either elect another chief executive officer of the state or re-elect the incumbent, Godwin Obaseki.

But he has remained an issue in the state’s political horizon, even before the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), declared the space open for the contest.

For a very long time, the swirling rumour was that Captain Hosa, as he is fondly called, had an interest in the Edo governorship, a mere assumption that was sculpted by agent provocateurs to set the political space on a fire of competing ambitions, pit certain political forces against him and close the space for further deliberate mischiefs.

Although Okunbo tried as much as he could to dispel the rumours, not many were sceptical. This was understandable too, because if he truly had an interest, it might have been a fait accompli, as he seemed to have everything going for him – money, influence, contact, goodwill, compassion and a staggering chunk of the grassroots is with him.

This, of course, soon precipitated unintended political animosities, which pockmarked certain power and political blocks against the retired commercial pilot, because they already considered him a potent threat to their many extrapolations.

It was not surprising, therefore, that Okunbo’s businesses and reputation started to face unceasing attacks, designed to willfully Obaseki damage him and vitiate whatever influence strategic and deliberate as his response was he might have in the political equation. aimed for an auspicious time.

Worse still, when his body language Nonetheless, it appears compelling to suggested he might be sympathetic to Pastor interrogate reasons the state has considered Osagie Ize-Iyamu and his party, the All Okunbo such a potent threat, that it has Progressives Congress (APC), the attacks deployed practically everything within its escalated, fuelling increased rivalry and reach to decimate him. animosity in the state.

Although Okunbo has not shied away All along, Okunbo maintained a dignified from discussing with close allies his many silence, even though many people and groups disappointments, not only about the state of stood in his defence and pushed back some of affairs in the state government or the characthe attacks to the enemy camp, considerably. ter of Governor Obaseki, particularly about But his stately and measured silence was how the situation had begun to poorly change the Edo narrative. And, finally, when Okunbo released the bombshell, Obaseki’s reply only passed for a waste of time as he failed to address the issues but danced around them.

After an evaluation of the attacks, he came to the conclusion that, as a good-hearted son of the soil, he did not deserve the embarrassing treatment, because his pedigree would not have allowed him to deliberately concoct any wrong against Obaseki, who today, enjoys the mandate of the good people of the state.

But he was shocked to observe that despite his sincere commitment to support the anticipated infrastructure development, progress and other social investment initiatives of the state through modest goodwill and network of capital, the response from the state has been to paint Okunbo with a brush of public odium that verges on mischief, he reasoned.

Regardless of his unpleasant experience, Okunbo continued to be at peace with himself, a situation, which according to him, made the governor, by his actions and inactions, uncomfortable. Yet, that didn’t stifle him from further supporting the Obaseki administration in different areas. And this is evidenced by facts.

From sponsoring the governor and his team on an investment trip to China, to mobilising support for him at the Edo

With an attitude that does not speak to any principle, philosophy or sound worldview, Obaseki, has consciously burnt too many bridges, such that even if he made it back to the Government House, his only legacy would be a sharply divided and bitter people with a sorry plight

Convention in Toronto, Canada; donating five houses worth N50m (Fifty million Naira) to support Obaseki’s housing project in Benin for indigenes in the Diaspora as well as donating to the state’s Covid-19 relief fund campaign, Okunbo insisted he had done nothing but wished the governor and his administration well.

He also mentioned how the governor requested of his daughter to work for his administration and how he (Okunbo) has continued to sustain her after the allowance approved for her didn’t run past five months, in addition to purchasing a brand-new Toyota Hilux to enable her discharge her responsibilities on the project she was assigned, all in the bid to see Obaseki succeed. Yet, that changed nothing as the governor’s mind appeared made up.

An objective analysis of Okunbo’s stories confirms the fears many others had expressed about Obaseki’s seemingly vindictive and vicious leadership disposition. From Oshiomhole, who is his main benefactor to others, who invested hugely in his governorship in collective interest, Obaseki has done nothing but repay their good with evil, as many are wont to infer.

Apart from crying wolf by alleging attempts to coerce him into fleecing the state resources, Obaseki has yet to provide any cogent reason, why he moved against those, who made it possible for him to become governor, yet, setting an all-new example of classic ingratitude, motivated only class suicide.

Unfortunately, for Obaseki, his popularity, many believed, is more of a façade, sustainable only to the extent of the patronage he is able to dole out to those currently goading him on.

With an attitude that does not speak to any principle, philosophy or sound worldview, Obaseki, has consciously burnt

too many bridges, such that even if he made it back to the Government House, his only legacy would be a sharply divided and bitter people with a sorry plight.

For an individual believed to combine the spirit of ingratitude, vengeance, treachery, betrayal, and the ‘pull him down syndrome’, Obaseki might have lost the chances to prove otherwise, especially, when he made preventive diplomacy impossible in the thick of his differences with Oshiomhole and by extension, other stakeholders in the state.

Little wonder, many consider it bothersome that Obaseki, whose performance as governor has been everything but stellar in the last three and a half years by allowing political disagreements to steal the show of his record, says more about a mindset that is more petty than constructive.

In the final analysis, there is just one instructive lesson from all of this, and it is that the battle line is drawn as far as the Edo governorship is concerned and for as long as this is about the survival of the state and her prosperity, Okunbo, with his goodwill and staggering followership, doesn’t sound like he is going to stoop to any form of oppression but instead, confront and suppress the collective fears of the people.

Whether or not the state and its agents are determined to change their style of deliberate subjugation of both the real and perceived enemies, what’s waiting on the other side also appears more like an organised resistance, designed to principally engage them in equal proportion and push back the many forces of the state. It goes without saying that Obaseki willfully chose to play it dirty with Okunbo, Oshiomhole and many others, who staked their goodwill, credibility, integrity and generosity for his governorship to sail through in 2016. But, without a doubt, there might be a payback on September 19, when the power centres would live up to their calling.

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Dapo Abiodun’s Agenda Paying Off in Ogun Governor Dapo Abiodun’s effort to reposition Ogun State appears to be paying off, writesTobi Soniyi

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hen he was sworn in as the Governor of Ogun State on May 29, 2019, Prince Dapo Abiodun had his work cut out for him.

He inherited a state with a few new shining bridges, roads, a high level of unemployment, dilapidated public schools, demoralised workforce, a health system begging for attention, and an education system in comatose.

As if all these were not daunting enough, he had to contend with litigation challenging his election.

Confronted with these challenges, Abiodun did not claim to be all knowing. In line with his decision to run an inclusive government, he consulted with community leaders, interest groups and other stakeholders across the state’s 20 Local Government Areas (LGAs).

He asked them to submit a list of infrastructural needs, in order of preference in their areas.

Their responses included roads, schools as well as Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs).

Sometimes, governors embark on projects that suit their fancy as against what the people actually need. This often results in waste. The Ogun State governor chose not to follow this path.

When asked for his reaction to the consultation with stakeholders, the governor said: “This exercise has been very rewarding, allowing us to strategically allocate resources.”

According to him, this approach sits well with the implementation of his “Building our Future Together” Agenda. But before he could begin to execute the projects the people asked for, he must as a matter of urgency, resolve some avoidable crises his predecessor had Abiodun plunged education into before he left office.

Ogun State used to be at the forefront in education.

This, however, is no longer so due to the negligence of the sector by successive administrations. Still, the state is home to the highest number of tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

Abiodun recognised the fact that all the firsts that Ogun State and her people had scored could be attributed to the state having a head-start in education. He had no choice but to declare a state of emergency in the sector.

“We are determined to deepen this legacy. In this regard, we evolved a multi-dimensional approach for further development of our educational industry,” he explained.

He started by setting up administrative and visitation panels to make recommendations on the situation in some of the tertiary institutions in the state.

A panel headed by Prof. Segun Awonusi resolved the lopsidedness concerning the status of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic and the intended Moshood Abiola University of Technology while Prof Kamal Balogun investigated the perennial crisis at the Tai Solarin College of Education, (TASCE) Omu-Ijebu.

So far TASCE has returned to its old glory and held its first combined convocation ceremony last year in December, something that was impossible for 11 years.

Similarly, Moshood Abiola Polytechnic (MAPOLY), Ojere-Abeokuta, which was an established tertiary institution, but for political expediency was supplanted and meant for conversion to a university of science and technology – a move that would have cost all academic and non-academic staff of the institution to lose either their jobs or some years of service, has been brought back from comatose.

It is back on its feet, with a good number of employed staff, matriculated students, robust IGR, an ecosystem conducive for caterers, traders, artisans and community working in harmony to give everybody a cause to smile.

The governor had also invested in infrastructure, capacity building for teaching and non-teaching corps; resolved industrial crises in that sector; appointed digitally compliant teachers while motivating staff with timely promotions and introduction of ICT into the teaching-learning process.

In addition to establishing a government delivery unit for education, the governor had successfully created an environment conducive for education to once again thrive in the state.

At the primary and secondary school level, his government has renovated and reconstructed 95 public schools fitted with modern corrugated roofs, furniture, halls and modern toilet facilities across the three senatorial districts.

Beyond the structures, he has also approved the backlog of 10,000 teaching and non-teaching staff promotion exercises for 2016/2017.

Unemployment is another challenge the nation is grappling with and Ogun State has its own fair share of the

problem. The governor is addressing this on many fronts, including Information and Communication Technology, agriculture, and creation of a unique job portal.

Recognising the fact that ICT offers tremendous opportunities for employment generation and wealth creation, the governor established the Ogun TechHub as a centre for incubation and innovation for tech start-ups, skills and acquisition. It is also a platform for engagement between venture capital providers and technology talents that abound in the state.

The development and deployment of the Ogun State Job Portal is yet another demonstration of the governor’s commitment to leveraging on the potential of the ICT for socio-economic transformation.

This initiative has already yielded positive results. Ogun State had received both local and national accolades, with two awards by the Federal Ministry of Digital Economy and Communication – Best State in ICT Penetration and 2nd position in ICT Human Capital Development.

For those working but whose incomes could hardly sustain them, the governor has different patterns of empowerment for them. For instance, there is a particular need for those involved in micro, small and medium enterprises.

Some of these initiatives are the “Oko’wo Dapo Scheme for Women, which provides economic empowerment and increased productivity for collective development; Empowerment of over 1,000 widows with start-off funds for their businesses; The state has keyed into the federal government’s Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) scheme.

It is worthy of note that Ogun State is just about to benefit from this scheme for the first time in the last 4 years, as a result of Abiodun’s vigorous effort. There’s the enrolment and graduation of 300 unemployed women and youths in the state trained in 4 different vocations.

The release of counterpart fund for the National Food for Work Programme (NFWP), which provides support for the development of living conditions of women in Ogun State, through grants, skills training, and the overall socioeconomic uplift of women.

There’s also the release of N50million counterpart fund for the World Bank-assisted Ogun State Community and Social Development project. The first and second tranches of the grant from the World Bank had been released to 13 selected communities in 6 LGAs, including Abeokuta North, Ipokia, Yewa, Remo North, Ado-Odo/Ota and Odeda.

Facilitation of the continued inclusion of the state in the Home-Grown School Feeding Programme, which provides that over 60,000 Primary 1-3 public school pupils will benefit across all 20 LGAs in the state.

The state is currently into aggressive distribution of palliatives to the poor, vulnerable and elderly on the one hand, and the youth across all 20 LGAs in the state during the

COVID-19 lockdown periods. Not less than 400,000 families had benefited. The governor’s relief package distribution to the poor and vulnerable youths had reached about 20,000 youths.

Agriculture has the potential to generate thousands of jobs. With a landmass spanning 16,000 square kilometres, 12,000sq km of which is fertile for food and cash crop production, the importance of agriculture is not lost on the Ogun State governor.

To create jobs, the state keyed into the CBN Anchor Borrowers’ Programme on Agriculture, which was commenced on Friday, 6th September 2019, and the FADAMA Graduate Unemployment Youth Scheme, (GUYS) launched on 29 August 2019, directed at women and the youth.

Under the Anchor Borrowers Programme, the state facilitated the crediting by the CBN of 3,500 farmers drawn across all 20 LGAs with over N700 million.

Other agricultural initiatives embarked upon by the governor included the Ogun Broiler Project under which day old chicks, feeds, inputs, and training are provided to young farmers. About 9,000 youths have benefitted with each making a profit of about N130,000 in each six-week cycle.

There is also the Joint Ogun State and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Value Chain Project already ongoing across eight LGAs of the State, including Obafemi-Owode, Yewa North and South, Ijebu North & East, Ifo, Odeda and Odogbolu.

Creation of Agro-Industrial Processing Zone is another great feat. After competitive bidding with other Southwest states, Ogun State was on April 8 2020, shortlisted by the African Development Bank (AfDB) as a major hub for Industrial Cassava, Poultry, Agro-forestry and Fishery production.

In the year under review, the Ogun State government has constructed and maintained 385 new fish ponds/tanks and 300 fish farmers across the state. In addition, 2,815 farmers were assisted in stocking 2,815,000 Clarias Fingerlings.

The government, in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, has also distributed improved varieties of plantain, banana, and pineapple to 100 farmers as a way to promote increased productivity of farmers.

Ogun State is also providing technical and logistic backstopping, such as training, and advisory service. The governor has approved the recruitment of additional Agricultural Extension Agents. They have jointly conducted 153,600 technical advisory field visits to service 360,000 farm families through contact farmers’ groups across the state.

To encourage more people to embrace farming, the state government has constructed four solar-powered boreholes, to make a total of 11 of the type, resulting in 2,500 beneficiaries of the Ogun State Value Chain Development Programme (VCDP) having access to safe drinking water.

T H I S D AY, T H E S U N D AY N E W S PA P E R ˾ LY 26, 2020

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PERSPECTIVE

Seven Days in Zamfara Femi Fani Kayode

I

give thanks to God for bringing me back home safely after spending seven wonderful, memorable and historic days in Gusau with my friend and brother, His Excellency Governor Bello Mohammed Matawalle of Zamfara state. I was received in Zamfara with joy, love and kindness wherever I went and I was treated as if I was a son of the soil. It really was awesome and I was humbled and surprised.

The overwhelming majority of the people of Zamfara state are warm, humble and kind-hearted and I urge every Nigerian to visit the state to see it for themselves.

During the course of my trip I saw the wonderful things that Matawalle has done in the state over the last one year since he came to power and how he has restored peace in most parts of the state and brought hope, joy, strength, confidence and prosperity to the people.

Whilst there I learnt about the massive gold and diamond reserves and mines in the top soil of the state which, once the ban on mining is lifted and after proper development and extraction, will eventually propel Zamfara to be the richest and most prosperous state in Nigeria.

I also visited one of the three massive Ruga settlements that were under construction and discovered how this initiative has resulted in a lasting peace process and healing amongst Femi Fani Kayode with Zamfara State Governor, Mutawalle in the control room of Government house, Gusau the various hitherto warring communities in the state.

I saw the massive infra-structural development that is going on in the state and witnessed the strong collaboration that exists between the state and Federal Government to fight and crush the local terrorists by deploying soldiers and police in strategic locations.

I went to every nook.and cranny of the state and when I paid a courtesy call on His Royal Majesty, Alhaji Garba Tambari, the Emir of Maradun, I was warmly received and treated to a massive and sumptuous lunch at the palace which was attended by hundreds of people.

This was a great honor for me and I was touched by it. What made it all the more moving was the fact that the Emir had been in the defunct National Party of Nigeria with my father and he knew him well. We had much to talk about!

The following day His Royal Majesty, Alhaji Muhammad Makwashe, the Emir of Shinkafi, and the Shinkafi Emirate Council conferred me with the ancient and historic title of Sadaukin Shinkafi, which means the “warrior/hero” of the Shinkafi Emirate.

I was deeply humbled by this great honor and this is all the more so because I never expected it. I thank his Royal Highness and the Emirate Council for the confidence they have bestowed in me and I pledge to live up to their expectations and build bridges of peace, mutual respect and harmony between our various communities and people.

After meeting so many other leaders in the state and exchanging views and ideas with various political groups Fani Kayode on a courtesy call to Alhaji Garba Muhammad Tambari, the Emir of Maradun, Zamfara state and NGO’s I spent much of the time resting, thinking and meditating about the importance of peace, bridge-building, unity and very existence of our people, depends on it. today, they do not believe in using violence as a means to an end and understanding in our country which are sentiments that my The easiest path to tread in any controversy or complex and neither do they believe in or are part of any hidden religious or brother Governor Matawalle also cherishes and holds dear. situation is one of conflict, acrimony, confrontation, extremism ethnic agenda.

We spoke extensively into the early hours of the morning and ultimately violence and war. We have all trod that path in the They do not believe in hegemony, suppression, subjugation, virtually every night and we agreed to build bridges between the past in various degrees but, if pursued to the bitter end, it leads to tyranny or racial and religious domination and persecution and north and the south and between members of the Christian and they see themselves as being Nigerians before being anything else. nothing but mutual annihilation and utter destruction.

Muslim faith in order to save Nigeria and pull her back from the Both Islam and Christianity confirm the wisdom and beauty These are the type of people that those of us with like minds brink. of dialogue and bridge-building and only the enlightened can from the south can work with, join hands with and build a new I might add that this is something that he has been in the appreciate the fact that dialogue does not mean capitulation.

Nigeria with. We have a duty to our respective people and an forefront of doing well before he became Governor and I am glad An attempt to make peace and engender good relations with obligation to our God to do no less. to see that he has continued, with even greater zest and zeal, after those that have like minds and similar values cannot be described Most importantly, as leaders, we must never be led, moved or he became Governor. as cowardice, betrayal, compromise, weakness or betrayal. motivated by hate or pain but rather by compassion, understandIt could well be that this is precisely why God removed his As a matter of fact the opposite is the case and it is rather those ing and a deep appreciation of the virtues of decency, equity and predecessor in office and put him power. The Lord never makes that refuse to seek peace and build bridges and that refuse to even justice. mistakes and His timing is always perfect. talk to those that they perceive wrongly and erroneously as their We must give hope and inspire rather than encourage division In my view the path that Matawalle has chosen proves his adversaries and life-long sworn enemies that are the cowards. and endless strife. We must attempt to heal the wounds of the past quality and worth as a leader and I have a feeling that over the Followers can afford to harbour such irresponsible sentiments rather than attempt to inflict new and even more painful ones. next few years he will play a critical role in the affairs of this but leaders cannot do so because it would result in drastic and It is leaders that have this mindset, regardless of their faith or country and will be instrumental in keeping her together. dire consequences. where they come from in the country, that can save Nigeria from a In order to make Nigeria a just, noble, civilised, humane and I believe that it is appropriate and wise to always extend a frightful and dangerous implosion and total collapse. equitable society that regards every single Nigerian as being handshake where one is offered. Only the mad and blind and If we fail to identify and build bridges with such leaders Nigeria equal regardless of tribe or faith we must identify those on both those that trade, thrive and derive sadistic pleasure in the shedis not only doomed but is also destined for a long and terrible war sides of the north/south divide that are moderate, reasonable and which no sane person wishes for and which will not augur well for ding of innocent blood and the destruction of lives and property rational, that believe in fairness, equity, justice and equality and refuse to do so. our people. that understand and appreciate the importance of peace, unity, Such people have no place in a civilised society or at the table Worst of all is the fact that no-one will ever win such a war: we mutual respect and understanding of peace and we should not allow their negative rantings and will all lose and we will all end up shedding tears for many years Once we are in a position to identify such people we must then cynical disposition to distract or deter us for making that peace to come. resolve to join forces and work with them in our quest to build a and building that bridge.

This is why we must build bridges no matter how difficult it better, greater, fairer and safer Nigeria in which all of our compaOn my 6th day in Zamfara Matawalle and I went to Sokoto may be and no matter how many hurdles may be put in our way. triots can live in peace and harmony. state to meet with our mutual friend and brother Governor We must build bridges regardless of the insidious motives and It is because Matawalle believes in this that he and I are close Aminu Tambuwal where we spent the night. misconceptions that many that know no better and that have and have been so for years.

Again we had fruitful and productive discussions about how been poisoned, embittered and blinded by hate have attributed to Thankfully there are many other leaders in the core north to move the country forward and I was once again received with those of us that have opted to indulge in such a noble gesture and that think like him such as Colonel Abubakar Dangiwa Umar, nothing but love and understanding. exercise.

Governor Bala Mohammed, Governor Aminu Tambuwal, Alhaji Contrary to the expectations of many Sokoto is actually a very We must build bridges even though a few shallow, undiscernSani Shinkafi (Wambai Shinkafi), former Governor Ahmed peaceful and beautiful ancient town and all those I met there ing, feeble-minded, misguided, naive, gullible, ignorant and Makarfi, Alhaji Tanimu Kabiru Turaki SAN, Ambassador Bashir treated me with love and respect. politically-motivated individuals believe and see our quest Yuguda, former Governor Sule Lamido, Col. Sambo Dasuki, Before leaving Sokoto and in the company of the two Goveras nothing but an exercise in futility and a total capitulation to General Aliyu Gusau and Alhaji Kashim Ibrahim Imam. nors, I paid a courtesy call on His Eminence, Muhammadu Sa’ad tyranny and injustice.

These are reasonable, rational and enlightened men who have We must build bridges even though the extremists on both sides Abubakar IV, the Sultan of Sokoto. a deep knowledge of history, a keen sense of justice and who of the divide shall hate us and cast aspertions on the character of -––Fani-Kayode, is a former Aviation Minister represent the last hope for Nigerian unity. those of us that seek to do so.

(Readers should see concluding part on www.thisdaylive.com) I say this because, unlike some that are in power in our country We must build bridges because everything, including the future

Sunday July 26, 2020

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Price: N400

MISSILE

Tambuwal to Buhari “Even if his anti-corruption fight has been challenging and failing, he should not fail to deliver a free, fair and credible election in Edo and to Nigerians in 2023” – Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal speaking in Benin, Edo State at Godwin Obaseki re-election campaign.

SIMONKOLAWOLE SIMONKOLAWOLELIVE!

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

Weep Not for the Niger Delta

W

hy is Nigeria like this?

Don’t look too far: the answers are well articulated in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) saga. I would say NDDC is a microcosm of Nigeria. If you understand the genesis of NDDC, as well as the latest revelations, you do not need to stretch too much to understand why Nigeria is perpetually moving towards the apocalypse — at full speed. The worst mistake you would make is to look at the NDDC scandals, snigger and conclude that the people of Niger Delta have underdeveloped their own region. That would be a poor reading and a misjudgement of the currents and undercurrents of the spectacle unfolding before our very eyes.

Where do we start from? Let’s take it from the beginning. Many believe the establishment of NDDC in June 2000 by President Olusegun Obasanjo was absolutely unnecessary. The late Oronto Douglas, a Niger Delta youth leader at the time, said all that was needed to develop the oil-producing region was political will, not some gigantic commission. He said no special agency was set up to develop Abuja, that various administrations were just determined to develop the city and, in no time, roads, bridges, edifices, water and electricity showed up everywhere. Actually, the Federal Capital Development Agency (FCDA) was set up for this purpose, but we will come back to that shortly.

In a sense, there was a political case for the creation of NDDC. The region from where Nigeria mines its livelihood had suffered neglect and injustice for decades, so it made sense for the federal government to seek to make it up to the Niger Delta through a special interventionist programme. While I understood Douglas’ position very well — that is, the federal government could still build infrastructure in the region without setting up the NDDC — the situation required good optics, especially as restiveness was on the rise. The problem, however, is that NDDC was born in sleaze.

It instantly became a cesspool of decay. The concept is cool but the delivery is disastrous.

Last year, President Muhammadu Buhari appointed an interim management committee (IMC) to oversee the commission pending the completion of a forensic audit. The first IMC fell apart as politicians dug deep. Buhari brought in a new acting MD. As we were busy waiting for the forensic audit, the interim managers were busy burning money. Give it to them: they know how to blow billions.

Nobody believes anybody will be punished for financial recklessness. Thus, as one MD steps out, another steps in and continues the rot — probe or no probe, audit or not audit.

That is typical of Nigeria, where a head is removed for corruption and the successor steals even more.

Professor Kemebradikumo Pondei, the acting NDDC MD, said with his own mouth before the senate panel probing the IMC that the commission spent N1.5 billion as COVID-19 relief for staff. He said, and I quote with due respect, that “we took care of ourselves”. That is Nigeria in a nutshell. When some people get into government positions, they first take care of themselves — professor or no professor, pastor or no pastor. When they are appointed

Pondei, NDDC acting MD or elected, they are eagerly looking out for the initial bank alert. Then they begin to search for where the real money is so that they can “take care” of themselves. It is not just in NDDC. It is a public office culture in Nigeria.

Pondei is a professor. Again, in Nigeria, it doesn’t matter whether you are a professor or an illiterate — we almost always get the same results from our leaders. Observe the state houses of assembly, state cabinets and agencies, federal bodies, federal cabinet, national assembly and civil service. You will see PhD holders and those with little or no education.

Their behaviours and conducts are quite similar in most cases: grub, grab and gulp. They could be economists, accountants, medical doctors, journalists, engineers, whatever. The attitude to the treasury is alike. Some want us to believe that it is paper qualification alone that will transform Nigeria. I can’t find the evidence yet.

Pondei pulled off a perfect Nollywood stunt at the house of reps hearing on Wednesday by fainting. I used the phrase “perfect Nollywood stunt” on purpose — because it is only in Nollywood that somebody will faint and will still be moving his hands. It is African magic.

If you don’t believe it is Nollywood, why did the speaker, Rt Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, say Pondei would no longer testify and that his written testimony would suffice? If I was the one that wrote the script, I would have followed a similar story line: faint and you won’t have to answer any more questions; I will let you off the hook and protect you from being subjected to serious questioning.

It is a simple trick.

“Is okay, off the mic, is okay.” That is another trick. When Senator Godswill Akpabio, the minister of Niger Delta, revealed that NDDC contracts were given to federal legislators, the chairman of the probe panel practically begged him not to spill the tea. Well, it is not just NDDC contracts, so don’t make it look like a Niger Delta problem. Check agencies that award mega contracts and you will see companies nominated by lawmakers cornering almost everything.

They see it as their birthright. That is their definition of “oversight” function. By the way, I hope I have not been misunderstood: I am not referring to the current federal lawmakers.

Those ones are super clean. LOL. Dr Cairo Ojougboh, NDDC’s director of projects, said getting the commission’s contract

was like winning the lottery: N70 million would do a job awarded for N700 million. Again, this is not an NDDC problem; it is a Nigerian problem. Do you know how much the road contracts in your state are awarded for? While we are at it, have we imagined what goes on in the Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (OSOPADEC), the Delta State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (DESOPADEC), the Akwa Ibom State Oil Minerals Producing Areas Development Commission (AKWAPADEC), and the other mini-NDDCs? “Is okay, off the mic, is okay.”

Now, what is my point? The shenanigans in the NDDC, as unfortunate and depressing as they are, should not be viewed from the narrow perspective of a Niger Delta problem alone. I know it will help the argument that “these people are their own problem” but we will be missing the bigger picture. Financial rascality is endemic in government institutions — north or south, east or west, federal or state. The levers of accountability are too low.

In theory, we have solid checks and balances in place: the procurement processes are tight, auditors vet the books and legislators do the oversight. If they all do their jobs patriotically and professionally, the Nigerian story will definitely read differently.

But, in reality, government offices are filled mainly with gold diggers and buccaneers.

Collusion is the operating principle. All the people that could conspire to subvert the processes gladly do so, and the money is snatched and shared. It is daylight robbery disguised as fraud. Most times, it is the failure to “shake body” that leads to probes, not a sincere desire to clean up the system. And as we can see with the NDDC, the elite cannot be bothered with the state of the nation. Nigeria is not like this — upside down — by mistake.

The elite conspiracy is real and lethal. As we weep for the Niger Delta, we should note that the NDDC is just a metaphor that explains Nigeria’s overall underdevelopment.

I conclude. What should we do with the NDDC? The commission has collected over a trillion naira in budgetary allocations over the years but can we say with every sense of responsibility that it has delivered value for money? It has not only been wracked with scandals for a long time, it is also difficult to point to any significant difference it has made in the region in 20 years of its existence, apart from being a slush fund for politicians and their associates — to finance their egos and libidos. There is no denying that the NDDC has missed the road. There is no kinder way of saying this. Only those who have feasted fat on the commission can claim all is well as things stand.

What next? The shortcut is to dissolve it. But that means so many bodies and agencies will have to be dissolved in Nigeria if we apply the NDDC as the benchmark. An option is to restore the commission to its factory settings and restart on a clean slate. It is very important to bring those found wanting to book. If there is crime, there should be punishment and it must be applied. The commission is due for a roots-and-branch review and reform. It has clearly derailed, and this is not because of the usual excuse of not having enough money.

A proper diagnosis is needed, followed by appropriate prescription and treatment. Whatever we decide, something has to give.

And Four Other Things…

FAREWELL, FUNTUA Alhaji Ismaila Isa Funtua’s death has robbed me of a very valuable critic. For over 13 years, we regularly exchanged banters over my articles. Anytime I got his call, I would joke: “Alhaji, am I in some form of trouble again?” Witty and frank, he had a very engaging personality. Whenever I visited him, I spent at least two hours because there was always something to argue about — and I always learnt a thing or two from his life journey. So many things have been said about his business dealings. I don’t know much about that. We discussed only politics and journalism (he was a newspaper publisher). His death was sudden, but at 78, he surely didn’t die young. Adieu.

THE AZURA BURDEN I am not a fan of probes by the national assembly — from experience, there is always more to it than the quest for accountability. Truly, I don’t know how many probes have yielded meaningful outcomes since 1999. Nevertheless, we should be happy that the senate has resolved to probe Nigeria’s take-or-pay deals with Azura Power and Accugas Ltd. These deals are killing our treasury. I will continue to say that Azura and Accugas did no wrong — you cannot begrudge them for winning the lottery. Those who have a case to answer are the Nigerian officials who foisted these deals on us despite knowing very well that we would not have the capacity to enjoy the full benefits. Wicked.

DOUBLE JEOPARDY In your quiet moment, please spare a thought for Chief Agboola Ajayi, the deputy governor of Ondo state. He had defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to vie for the governorship ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the October 10 poll — only to be defeated by Mr Eyitayo Jegede. But in life, there is always something to be grateful for. Attempts to remove him as deputy governor after his defection failed. If not, Ajayi would also have become a former deputy governor by now. Jegede will now square off with Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, the APC candidate, who defeated him in 2016. The Ondo election promises to be interesting. Loading…

INTEGRITY MATTERS I often say that those who lack integrity are often the loudest and harshest in attacking other people’s integrity. As it has turned out, Derek Chauvin, the racist American police officer who murdered George Floyd for allegedly spending a fake $20 bill, is going to face another charge: underreporting his joint income with his divorce-seeking wife by $464,433 from 2014 to 2019. They reportedly cheated the Minnesota state by nearly $38,000. So in addition to the charge of second-degree murder over a $20 bill, he will face multiple felony counts of tax evasion. He allegedly made the unreported income doing off-duty security work and weekend shifts at a restaurant. Poetic.

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